[Grizzlebeard]

Really nice idea on the two levels of Refresh.

[Lmnop]

I just want to mention that it says right in the title "Pre-Merit"... Some of you are doing way too much end-game/merit analysis (though most merit party foci can be applied to level 55+ Colibri parties).

[Yellow Mage]

Even before level 30, a good Red Mage will be keeping themselves quite busily focused on the mob as, barring Dispel, we will have gotten all of our basic Enfeebling spells by then.

With all this already existing busy-ness, I could only imagine what kind of stress keeping all of your allies Hasted and/or Refreshed could put on a Red Mage.

[IfritnoItazura]

Originally Posted by Firewind

Resting does NOT count. Name me a party in ToaU areas that rest for anything OTHER than the tank dying and I will name you a pig that has sprouted wings.

I was on RDM/WHM in a Greater Colibri merit party last night. I managed to snatch a tick or two of rests here and there between Haste (x5) cycles, when no one needed curing--and, yes, I always bring hMP gear and food as a RDM.

That helped to give me some MP buffer between Convert recasts, since the BRD couldn't always keep Ballad up.

* * *

Name me a pig that has sprouted wings, please.

[TheGrandMom]

Originally Posted by IfritnoItazura

Name me a pig that has sprouted wings, please.

I know one has for a fact. I told my grandmother I'd marry when pigs grew wings. So it happened Feb. 14, 1982.

[Lmnop]

On the subject of how busy Monk is -- I don't mind it being such an empty job if it had some... accountability. These days, the trademark of a bad Dark Knight is one who isn't beating me (WAR) in TP. Dragoons are at least actively hitting some buttons and they have a wyvern to take care of (and it annoys me to see a DRG that won't use Spirit Link. The healers will be fine).

Warriors who are afraid to provoke: suck.

Samurai takes some effort to maximize damage... THF gets screwed over by everyone else... etc etc. (ok, a little bitter on the THF part but anyway...)

I think some small additions to Monk could make them more entertaining to play but still rather relaxing.

[Omniblast]

As a fellow Career Summoner, I can related to some of the points that are being made here. Pre-Merit/Pre-70 though, the only time a Summoner is needed is when they need to cure. Some buffs are too weak to be used, and they cost too much MP for those levels to be constantly using.

Perhaps prior to merits while leveling up, a summoner's bloodpact costs should be scaled according to level or according to Summoner's Skill.

I have been doing a ton of Campaign Battles as of late, as it seems to be the most fun where I am not needed necessarily to cure people, but instead able to buff and attack and rest and heal when I please. I have gotten over 30k exp from Campaign ( for me that's a lot in 1 or so weeks with constant beastmen attack on Windy) I do raise people whenever I find them dead, and I have mp, and I have been subbing /SCH for Sublimination and Dark Arts + Aspir. (Been getting anywhere between 3 and 102 mp per Aspir)

There are too many problems for Summoner and too many ideas to implement those that are reasonable. There is no *quick fix* for our job. We've been taking it in stride for the past 5 years. Hoping something would fix our favorite job.

Some Bullet points of what I would like to see for Summoner.

• Blood Pact costs would scale according to Summoner's Level. Costs go up higher, as Summoner levels higher.
• Blood Pact costs would scale according to Summoner's Skill. Costs go down as the Summoner's Skill Increases.
• Avatar Perpetuation costs would be scaled and reduced according to Avatar's TP.
• Elemental Siphon's ability would return double the MP. A current Paultry less than 300 mp amount is hardly signifant to fill any normal Summoner's MP pool.
• More methods to obtain Spirits. Perhaps they can start dropping off Elementals themselves? Or we should be able to somehow "tune" with the Elemental to obtain a pact with them.

[Yellow Mage]

Omniblast, like I said in my first reply, the fact that you have to spend obscene amounts of MP on abilities that are technically not even considered "Magic" by the game in the first place is completely asinine. I've already made my points on the front page, though, so I see no need to repeat them further.

As for your bullet points:

• Fluctuating Blood Pact costs would only serve to make Blood Pacts less like the other magic there is in the game. To me, at least, that would seem to be a step backwards.
• Avatar Perpetuation lowered according to Avatar TP? I can sort of see the train of thought behind this, but would perpetuation shoot way up the moment you use a Physical Pact?
• You know, it just makes all too much sense for Spirits to drop off of Elementals. Why wasn't this the case from day one? You defeat Avatars to form pacts with them, don't you?

[IfritnoItazura]

Originally Posted by Lmnop

On the subject of how busy Monk is -- I don't mind it being such an empty job if it had some... accountability.

Well, in merit parties, well equipped MNK/NIN's will turn the critter with WS. Is that a good measurement? Used to have a MNK/WAR in a static party who set up SATA, so he had visible responsibility.

Other than that, the only 'accountability' test I can think of is a parser; MNKs generally do not disappoint on that front.

[Omniblast]

Originally Posted by Yellow Mage

Omniblast, like I said in my first reply, the fact that you have to spend obscene amounts of MP on abilities that are technically not even considered "Magic" by the game in the first place is completely asinine. I've already made my points on the front page, though, so I see no need to repeat them further.

As for your bullet points:

• Fluctuating Blood Pact costs would only serve to make Blood Pacts less like the other magic there is in the game. To me, at least, that would seem to be a step backwards.
• Avatar Perpetuation lowered according to Avatar TP? I can sort of see the train of thought behind this, but would perpetuation shoot way up the moment you use a Physical Pact?
• You know, it just makes all too much sense for Spirits to drop off of Elementals. Why wasn't this the case from day one? You defeat Avatars to form pacts with them, don't you?

Yes I know I reiterated all your points. It just seems like a half assed job they did, designing this job. All my bulletpoints need to work together or else it fails. Actually point 1 - 3 work well together. Others, can be placed in spratically.

I think, or bet, for now, they are going to use the Nyzul weapons to try to compensate for the avatar perpetuation or bloodpacts atleast. Some how I have a gut feeling about it.

[Yellow Mage]

Originally Posted by Omniblast

I think, or bet, for now, they are going to use the Nyzul weapons to try to compensate for the avatar perpetuation or bloodpacts atleast. Some how I have a gut feeling about it.

They did that for Divine Veil, that's for sure.