[Apple Pie]

may I ask the rational behind as my tendency is kind of agreeing with Icemage on picking up Bio III.

This is because there may not be any situation where Bio III is required among my RDM activities. Dia III is, on the other hand, a nice upgrade of Dia II. In fact, it is often used when I farm EP/DC mobs for money and I play RDM at merit PTs.

[Hamlet]

I got slow2 to level 2 last night and tried it soloing on some parrots. It seemed to make a good bit of difference (I was able to get off utsu:ichi pretty easily in between hits, without fastcast hat on to boot). Best part is it stuck for a really long as time. This was cast without a mnd boosting setup too, just my normal melee solo gear. I'm looking forward to level 3 and still regretting para2.

Definately stuck a whole lot longer than para2 on the same mobs, but I don't know if thats because para2 is at lvl1 or not.

[Gobo]

Nothing super offical, but just some stat data on Para II, Slow II on Angler Oboron (ISNM75 Talacca Cove) and Para II, Slow II and Blind II on Proto-Ultima.

ISNM 75, Angler Oboron:

Para II (lvl 1). 65+45 MND, 285 enfeebling skill (just skill and torque). 0 Ice acc merits. Decent stick rate, horrible proc rate, poor duration. Jubaku: Ichi proced more.

Slow II (lvl 1): 65+45 MND, 285 Enfeebling skill. 0 earth acc merits. Great stick rate, amazing duration. Lasted well over 4 min, with or without ES.

Proto-Ultima (stats are of another RDMs not 100% certain; I was SMN):

Para II (lvl 1): 64+29 MND, 320 Enfeebling skill (skill, merits, Tabard, torque and W head), 2 Ice acc merits. Good stick rate, random proc rate. Durration was decent.

Slow II (lvl 2): 64+29 MND, 320 Enfeebling skill, 1 earth acc merit. Great stick rate. Good duration. Very noticable attack speed down, like watching it move slow motion.

Blind II (lvl 1): 70+31 INT, 320 Enfeebling skill, 0 dark acc merits. Ok stick rate, couldnt really tell how stong effect was, though none of its physical WS ever missed.

[Aeni]

On Para proc rate, did you try casting Paralyze and then Paralyze II to compare? What I'm getting at is that if Para II lands for way more than Para I, then to increase proc rate, one has to fully merit that. In other words, either you have everything, but they're all mediocre, or you have a couple fantastic spells.

Basically boils down to jack-of-all-trades and master-at-none. I think SE senses that we do have a lot of 75 RDMs running around and that, like WOW and Talent Specialization, meriting allows players to customize the way they want to play.

Unfortunately, it's to premature to speculate on just which direction SE wants to go with meriting. It's almost guaranteed that the 75 cap won't be lifted anytime in the future...

[Saku]

I just recently upgraded my Para II to lvl 2. I think that proc rate is better than Para II lvl 1. I can't really say 100% sure cuz I didn't do extensive testing and just randomly casted at some mobs. I tried on EM mobs (gobs in newton), the proc rate was really good but when I tried it on a NM(rutter sabatton NM), proc rate was somewhat random but still better than lvl 1 Para II so I think it worth it to upgrade Para II and I am planning to max my Para II. I had around +40 mnd, 4 ice accuracy and 285ish Enfeebling btw and I never have problem with sticky rate as I have 4 ice accuracy and Aquillo's staff.

The problem is I am not sure what to put with 3 points left; it's a dilemma between DIA III or SLOW II. DIA III is good for meritting and SLOW II is also nice for jobs with utsusemi casting.

I don't want to put just 1 point in DIA III or SLOW II; it's either don't put anything or max it to lvl 3.

just my 2 gils ^^

[Khidir]

Good thing I'm not lv75 yet with all merits into wind and ice acc I have to rethink how I am going to invest into these spells when I'm up there

Thanks for info guys!

[Jei]

Sorry for digging up this kida old thread. But I was away when all these merits were put in so i miss all the discussion xD. And this still looks like the best place to talk about this it seems.
Looking through other forums, I notice quite a lot of people follow this same formula of meriting 1 slow, 2 paralyze 3 phalanx. Just wondering is 1 in slow enough to make it a decent spell? I'm planning to get 2 paralyze 2 slow myself, haven't decided on other spells yet.

only got 1 into paralyze so far. On EXP mob it lasts really short, sometimes it wears off without the mob paralyzing even once. Really hope it will be better at level 2. Does it increase proc rate the higher level it is? Or just duration?

[Saku]

Originally Posted by Jei

Sorry for digging up this kida old thread. But I was away when all these merits were put in so i miss all the discussion xD. And this still looks like the best place to talk about this it seems.
Looking through other forums, I notice quite a lot of people follow this same formula of meriting 1 slow, 2 paralyze 3 phalanx. Just wondering is 1 in slow enough to make it a decent spell? I'm planning to get 2 paralyze 2 slow myself, haven't decided on other spells yet.

only got 1 into paralyze so far. On EXP mob it lasts really short, sometimes it wears off without the mob paralyzing even once. Really hope it will be better at level 2. Does it increase proc rate the higher level it is? Or just duration?

It does increase duration and proc rate at lvl 2 or even better at lvl 3. Imho, if you are going to put just 1 in paralyze II, it's a waste of 3 merit points.

I put 3 in Paralyze II an I never regret it ^^, however, when I just put 1 in Paralyze II, I kept thinking if I just wasted 3 merits on this stupid spell lol.

[Jei]

How well does your paralyze work in merit PT? Decent proc rate :O?
I just got level 2. Going to try on some EM/DC mobs and see xD

[Gobo]

I think in one of the TGS interviews (not the main one) the developers said that lvl 1 Para II is equal in strength to an unresisted Para I but with a shorter duration.

And random plug for Slow II. @ lvl 3 it has a max slow% of 37% with your MND being at most 40 below that of the targers. Comparied to Slow I which has max slow% of 30% with your MND having to be at least 30 above the targets. Quick draw does NOT boost Slow II, although it does boost Slow I to 34%-35%. (Also works with the BLU slow spells, all of which cap at 12%-15% slow pre Quick draw).

personally, if I ever decide to merit again (not my most favorite thing to do), I'll just max Slow II and Para II.

[Saku]

Originally Posted by Jei

How well does your paralyze work in merit PT? Decent proc rate :O?
I just got level 2. Going to try on some EM/DC mobs and see xD

It works very well as it procs quite often against T - IT mobs. The difference between lvl 1 and 2/3 is very noticable. I think you will see quite a big difference on lvl 2 para on EM/DC. Lvl 1 on EM/DC is still random,however, it's not the case with lvl 2 para. Lvl 3 para wll cripple DC/EM mob ^^.

I can summarize lvl 1 , 2 and 3 Para II as the following:

lvl 1: Did I just waste 3 meritss (30k limit points) on this stupid spell?
lvl 2: Oh hey, Para II is quite good
lvl 3: Zomgwtfbbq, I can't live without Para II ^^

Of course, that's based on my observation and I didn't do intensive testing.

[Aeni]

Originally Posted by Saku

It does increase duration and proc rate at lvl 2 or even better at lvl 3. Imho, if you are going to put just 1 in paralyze II, it's a waste of 3 merit points.

I put 3 in Paralyze II an I never regret it ^^, however, when I just put 1 in Paralyze II, I kept thinking if I just wasted 3 merits on this stupid spell lol.

I was right on the mark, then. I had thought that being able to max out a couple of spells was more worth than having a lil bit of everything. It is specializing for a RDM and any RDM that doesn't see this is bound to create their own shortcomings.

Even with this, I still haven't made up my mind on how I'm going to raise my RDM. >.<

[Jei]

2 para, 1 dia so far :O I think I'm going for 3 para 1 dia 2 slow. Dia 3 I'll use mainly in merit PT I guess. Gotta try level 1 a see how long it lasts.

Originally I really wanted phalanx 2. I still think it's the coolest spell we can have xD however everyone were telling me the same thing "it's only for HNM or PLD tank." Now, when I go to HNM, my LS only wants my Blm lol ; ; and I rarely PT with PLD tank at all at level 75. I figure it may not be that useful (I think my LS wants more firing power. They even want me to level up SMN.)