Morning in Vana'diel is your daily dose of FFXI and all things Vana'diel. Give us your thoughts on the interesting topics of the day! This morning we will consider what to merit and when.
So, my BLM has hit 75 (I will go over that a bit later) and I am left in the unenviable position of having no merits to improve it with. See, I have this problem, and it really does need a support group, I just can't seem to stop leveling jobs to get enough merits to finish off the old jobs I already have at 75. MNK and SAM are already finished and have been for a while, but it took quite a long time to get to that point. My WHM languishes in incomplete merits hell, which is especially sad considering the fact that WHM has a good set of merits, like Cure Cast Time and Bar Spell Effect or Regen Spell Effect. My slack ass only has level 3 in Cure Cast Time and that needs to be fixed pretty quick, and I haven't even considered tier 2 merits like Shellra V and Devotion yet. Then I really should merit my BLM because not only do I need the normal tier 1 and tier 1 merits, but I also need to invest a ton of XP into Elemental and Enfeebling magic merits.
The real problem is how do you balance leveling a new job compared to finishing off an old one? I am not the completionist that some people are, but I also don't like feeling my job is gimp because I haven't dumped several hundred K of XP into the merits for the job. The other problem that I have is that the jobs that I always use most are always shifting depending on current LS and party make up. So, should you invest the time in a job you use rarely, but that also benefits greatly from the merits in question? When can you hold off on some new merits? If you already have 5 jobs at 75, how can you possibly perfectly merit them all when there are so many tradeoffs in the merit system? What would you do? Leave and comment and tell us! :)
Friday, June 05, 2009
Morning in Vana'diel: XP-wise and Merit-foolish.
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#1 ~ Monk
#2 ~ Samurai
#3 ~ Ninja
#4 ~ Dragoon
Chaotic Pellucidity
Teabags and KY Jelly
The Bloggaru!
9 comments:
What do I do?
I stay up late at night and cry.
Every single patch I hope they up the cap for combat and magic skill merits.
I have prioritized my merits as to what jobs I want to play. But even then I'm woefully behind. I try to get the first level or two on anything I'm considering, as you get the most bang for your buck that way. Thus I have like Overwhelm level 1, Devotion level 1, Burst2 and Freeze2 level 1.; I don't do much past that.
That said, my focus lately has been to NOT start levelling another job (even though pld is tempting me) and focus on getting merits to enhance the jobs I have. Boy it's hard though. It feels so much less rewarding to me to merit for 2 hours, and get 1 boost, vs leveling a job for two hours and getting a level.
Personally, I aim for things that I need as opposed to the things that make me leet. Let me preface my merits by saying I have 5 75s(in order they got to 75): BRD, RDM, BLM, WAR, SAM
SAM - Some GK merits and 5/5 Store TP. Store TP 5/5 is necessary! Yes Meditate is great, as is Overwhelm, but not NEEDED.
RDM - As I also have BLM at 75 I got 8/8 Elemental Magic and 8/8 Enfeebling Magic as they help GREATLY for both jobs. I did 5/5 Ice Accuracy for solo reasons but not really needed. Phalanx 2 is a must to at least 1, but I am trying to max it for Salvage purposes.
BLM - Again 8/8 Ele and Enfeeb Magic. Burst II and Freeze II I believe are necessities because they give you more high end fire power. Potency is nice but not needed.
WAR - 0 merits.
BRD - Only need Troubadour and Nightingale. Minuet and Madrigal bonuses are really fluff but again, not required.
This is how I did my jobs because I liked to be versatile instead of pimped out. Although this is why I'm going for Maat's Cap now. After that I will probably go back and finish off those merits that really would help out.
Sorry for the long comment... and this is even after I took a bunch out.
Feel free to leave long comments, as I try to use them time to time to further discuss a post.
I would argue no merits are NEEDED. It's all about the minuscule improvement to a job to make it just slightly better. You can get a 6 hit on Sam without any merits in Store TP. You just have to gear appropriately.
A Blm can do a lot with just T4 nukes, and no AM2. I also have minimal for Elemental and Enfeebling (maybe 1 level in each?), and again, I don't get resisted on anything I normally fight. My damage may be lower, as I wear more elemental skill gear, but probably not significantly. All merits give you is more options for gear selection.
That said, picking up the merits that add spells (like AM2) or Job Abilities (like Devotion) you'll likely get a good return on. Even then, most of them (that I know of, as Whm, Blm, Blu, Rng, Sam) aren't really worth taking past level 1.
Treubond is also in a different situation than I, and you. Combat skills: He has 2 jobs that matter. pick primary weapon for each and go 8/8. Done. Ring and I have more. I have to go 8/8 on Gkat, Sword, and Marksmanship or Archery to keep up with all my jobs. But you can't. Magic skills? He gets 8/8 enfeeble and elemental, and he's flying. I need Blue Magic too. What do I cut to get that up?
I really think the biggest change the merit system needs is to make your combat and magic skill category caps dependent on how many jobs you have at 75. Just say 10 combat skill slots and 8 magic skill slots per 75 job. That would promote people to level diverse jobs (as my BLM doesn't need it's combat skill ones, so it's 10 free combat skill ones to use for other jobs, opposite true for non-mage jobs and magic skills). Also, if you only have 1 75 job, You'd likely be fine with 10 combat skill, and 8 magic skill for merits. But I'm sure that violates some sort of PS2 limitation.
Maybe the skill based system that FFXIV comes out with will aid some of these "problems".
How's that for a wall of text to promote further discussion?
Don't let the amateurs fool you. If you're going to be serious about BLM, the merits that matter are elemental skill and thunder/ice potency. Get 320 elemental skill and 120 int, and even then you'll hit some sad numbers on sky gods half the time. The really hard targets are even worse.
AM2 is a nice toy but it's just a toy. Most of the time you're better off using the same MP on two T4 nukes.
Merit necessities first, fun second, then fill up on the helpful bits. It may help to know when to stop, too, like my DRK has only one merit and that was to unlock Dark Seal. For a zerg-only job, that was the only thing even remotely useful.
--cele
I wont make salvage tonight sorry ; ;
Cele, you hit it right on the nose, "If you're going to be serious about BLM, the merits that matter are elemental skill and thunder/ice potency. Get 320 elemental skill and 120 int." I don't take BLM seriously. :P
Technically, any job at 75 isn’t _needed_. A BLM70 or DRG73 or RDM48 could still contribute to the fight. That being said, any of those jobs at 75 functions better than at 70, 73 or 48, so you’d pick the 75 job.
Likewise with merits, it’s technically not _needed_ that you come with a merited job, but you would function a lot better if you did. It’s one of those differences that separate an “end-game player” and “a player with a job at 75.”
Going back to the level gap, somewhere down the road, people labeled JOB75 as a “necessity,” which would refer to the difference in performance between a job at your current level and that at 75. Some have gone ahead and labeled certain merits a “necessity” as well, obviously depending on the shell.
NineInchNinjas, for example, set the bar really high for their BLMs at one point, you were expected to have a 320 Ele skill build, full potencies and a Sorc Ring setup just for consideration into the shell. Other linkshells would drool just to have a BLM like that.
So, the real question is, where do you draw your line? ^^
And I'll concur with Celes here. Bad R3! Bad, bad R3 for meriting Burst II over Elemental skill! /frown
I can't say that I share in your worries Ring. I'm actually pretty excited about getting more jobs to 75 after I finish THF and BLM for the simple fact that they'll be easier to merit for. After you finish HP\MP, Attributes, Combat\Magic Skills and Other -- you've only got at most 300,000 Limit Points for Category One and 220,000 Limit Points for Category Two. That's about 1\3rd the Merits you need when you get your first\main job to 75.
So, I'm just going to attribute all of this to you being either, a, lazy. b, you dont have enough time or c, your getting too old and winded very easily.
So, unless I misunderstood the entire post. =) Get off your lazy ass and merit old man!
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