POL News: Ranger Love.

SE loves Rangers more than they love you. Well, Ranger's did get the biggest shaft in the universe back in the day. I don't even know if that many people remember it or where even around for it, but this new update looks pretty good but also appears to be very interesting for Rangers.

Ranger's are getting a pretty big buff in the coming update but it's not in the standard form of just another job ability. This is quite a bit different than most of their changes in the past, but it's a good idea. There are many jobs that have useless or near useless job abilities, and though you can say that SE started revising them with the last update and the changes to the circle effects, this is the first major overhaul that we have seen to a whole set of JA's to make them completely different or improved. And not only JA's have been affected, but some major changes that should have been made when they originally changed RNG back in the day have been fixed.

Let's dive right into the meat of the changes after the break.

Job Ability Adjustments
- Velocity Shot
The duration of this ability will be increased from five minutes to two hours.

This is a good quality of life improvement overall for RNG even if it doesn't really improve anything damage-wise. The five minute duration was pretty annoying because you had to stay on top of it along with all of your other JA's like Hasso or Berserk, but it didn't have a diminishing effect and couldn't be cast over itself to justify having it on a 5 minute timer and 5 minute recast. The real question I have is what is the recast on the ability, because if you lose it to a status effect wipe then can't cast it again for a long time then the situation really isn't fixed at all. I would think it's going to be on a 5 minute recast because that just seems right. It could be less because there are no alternative JA's that can balance with it like some other jobs get, but then it would just mean that it would always be up and there really wouldn't be a need for the JA and it should just be made base line for all RNG. So 5 minutes would seem right for a recast.

- Unlimited Shot
Once activated, this ability will remain in effect until you successfully hit your mark.

This one looks a lot better than it is in reality. When you use Unlimited Shot, you use it to fire off one of those really devastating Conquest Points ammo for a WS. The problem with WS's as you well know is that hit or miss that WS is going to take all of your TP. So keeping the effect until you sucessfully hit would be awesome if you know you kept your TP too, but sense you don't it really isn't that great. I really don't get this one that much, I guess you can still shoot that CP item ammo even if you miss your WS but it just isn't going to be like using it for a WS.

- Camouflage
Rangers with this ability in effect will incur less enmity for ranged attacks. There will be a chance that the ability remains in effect even after a ranged attack, depending on your position relative to your target.

Now this is when things get really interesting. Before this update Camouflage was a crappy invisible that wore really quickly and basically just saved you one sneak oil or ninjutsu tool every 5 minutes. Now it will be quite interesting and hopefully helpful when you are ready to unload a big Sidewinder or Slugshot without pulling hate. The distance factor is the really interesting part, as it will probably mean that the further away from the target you are the less likely you are to lose your Camouflage effect. This is pretty good as is, but it seems like it will stack well with the other changes that were made in this update.

Ranged Attack Adjustments
- Ranged attack enmity
Less enmity will be incurred the further away you are from the target of your ranged attacks.

I find this one a bit interesting because the further you are away from the target the less damage you will do anyway, so your enmity is going to be lower to begin with. This obviously goes much farther than this simple mechanic though. This will make Iz happy I hope because when the RNGs start showing up for events Iz starts getting pissed at us for not knowing how to control our own damage. :) A lot of fights that require you to be at a distance (like the SCNM fights) are very good for RNG but they can build up a lot of hate too. This will mean that they will build up less hate over time and maybe Odin won't try to come and bash my brains in as often.

- Detailed damage messages for ranged attacks
Damage messages displayed after a successful ranged attack will indicate the effectiveness of the attack, allowing for players to better gauge their positioning. Critical hit and missed attack messages will remain unchanged.

This change is at the same time probably the most mundane and the most helpful change for RNG in the entire update. For years us RNG have been fiddling with our ranged attack distance. What is the best for damage? Does it change for larger mobs (I am almost positive that it does)? This will now tell us the best place to stand without having to use Distance and then adjust for different sized mobs. It's pretty basic, but it is something that has been needed for a while and I glad to see it finally show up now.

That is it for the Ranger changes in the November update, but BST and SMN still need to be discussed. Look for those tomorrow!

<a href="http://www.playonline.com/pcd/topics/ff11us/detail/4952/4952.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://www.playonline.com/pcd/topics/ff11us/detail/4952/4952.jpg" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 415px; height: 100px;" /></a>SE loves Rangers more than they love you. Well, Ranger's did get the biggest shaft in the universe back in the day. I don't even know if that many people remember it or where even around for it, but this new update looks pretty good but also appears to be very interesting for Rangers.<br /><br />Ranger's are getting a pretty big buff in the coming update but it's not in the standard form of just another job ability. This is quite a bit different than most of their changes in the past, but it's a good idea. There are many jobs that have useless or near useless job abilities, and though you can say that SE started revising them with the last update and the changes to the circle effects, this is the first major overhaul that we have seen to a whole set of JA's to make them completely different or improved. And not only JA's have been affected, but some major changes that should have been made when they originally changed RNG back in the day have been fixed.<br /><br />Let's dive right into the meat of the changes after the break.<br /><span class="fullpost"><br /><blockquote>Job Ability Adjustments<br />- Velocity Shot<br />The duration of this ability will be increased from five minutes to two hours.</blockquote><br />This is a good quality of life improvement overall for RNG even if it doesn't really improve anything damage-wise. The five minute duration was pretty annoying because you had to stay on top of it along with all of your other JA's like Hasso or Berserk, but it didn't have a diminishing effect and couldn't be cast over itself to justify having it on a 5 minute timer and 5 minute recast. The real question I have is what is the recast on the ability, because if you lose it to a status effect wipe then can't cast it again for a long time then the situation really isn't fixed at all. I would think it's going to be on a 5 minute recast because that just seems right. It could be less because there are no alternative JA's that can balance with it like some other jobs get, but then it would just mean that it would always be up and there really wouldn't be a need for the JA and it should just be made base line for all RNG. So 5 minutes would seem right for a recast.<br /><br /><blockquote>- Unlimited Shot<br />Once activated, this ability will remain in effect until you successfully hit your mark.</blockquote><br />This one looks a lot better than it is in reality. When you use Unlimited Shot, you use it to fire off one of those really devastating Conquest Points ammo for a WS. The problem with WS's as you well know is that hit or miss that WS is going to take all of your TP. So keeping the effect until you sucessfully hit would be awesome if you know you <span style="font-style:italic;">kept your TP too</span>, but sense you don't it really isn't that great. I really don't get this one that much, I guess you can still shoot that CP item ammo even if you miss your WS but it just isn't going to be like using it for a WS.<br /><br /><blockquote>- Camouflage<br />Rangers with this ability in effect will incur less enmity for ranged attacks. There will be a chance that the ability remains in effect even after a ranged attack, depending on your position relative to your target.</blockquote><br />Now this is when things get really interesting. Before this update Camouflage was a crappy invisible that wore really quickly and basically just saved you one sneak oil or ninjutsu tool every 5 minutes. Now it will be quite interesting and hopefully helpful when you are ready to unload a big Sidewinder or Slugshot without pulling hate. The distance factor is the really interesting part, as it will probably mean that the further away from the target you are the less likely you are to lose your Camouflage effect. This is pretty good as is, but it seems like it will stack well with the other changes that were made in this update. <br /><br /><blockquote>Ranged Attack Adjustments<br />- Ranged attack enmity<br />Less enmity will be incurred the further away you are from the target of your ranged attacks.</blockquote><br />I find this one a bit interesting because the further you are away from the target the less damage you will do anyway, so your enmity is going to be lower to begin with. This obviously goes much farther than this simple mechanic though. This will make Iz happy I hope because when the RNGs start showing up for events Iz starts getting pissed at us for not knowing how to control our own damage. :) A lot of fights that require you to be at a distance (like the SCNM fights) are very good for RNG but they can build up a lot of hate too. This will mean that they will build up less hate over time and maybe Odin won't try to come and bash my brains in as often.<br /><br /><blockquote>- Detailed damage messages for ranged attacks<br />Damage messages displayed after a successful ranged attack will indicate the effectiveness of the attack, allowing for players to better gauge their positioning. Critical hit and missed attack messages will remain unchanged.</blockquote><br />This change is at the same time probably the most mundane and the most helpful change for RNG in the entire update. For years us RNG have been fiddling with our ranged attack distance. What is the best for damage? Does it change for larger mobs (I am almost positive that it does)? This will now tell us the best place to stand without having to use Distance and then adjust for different sized mobs. It's pretty basic, but it is something that has been needed for a while and I glad to see it finally show up now.<br /><br />That is it for the Ranger changes in the November update, but BST and SMN still need to be discussed. Look for those tomorrow!</span>

Morning in Vana'diel: Is Ninja a Legitimate Tank Again?

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! Today, Ring takes a good look at what whether Yonin can make Ninja a good tank again.

NIN is my neglected friend. I loved NIN for so long, but it gradually had more an more problems and got left behind for other more suitable jobs as our PLDs got stronger and stronger. Before the most recent update NIN was in the same basic place it was since it started moving up the tanking food chain. But it never evolved to keep up with the changes that PLD has experienced. And then came Yonin.

Yonin, as you might already know, is a JA that increases enmity and Ninja Tool Expertise (which is glitched at the moment), while decreasing Accuracy. It also improves Evasion and decreases Enemy Critical Hit Rate when in front of the target (which is really all that matters, because there are only a few mobs where you would care about the Evasion and Enemy Critical Hit when you are behind it). Kaeko's testing shows that the enmity gain is +30 at the start and then degrades to +10 over time. This is a big bonus to enmity for NIN, but it still doesn't get them up to where PLD can get on most gear. An additional nice benefit of Yonin is that it provides a decent amount of hate just from using the JA.

Does Yonin get NIN to where PLD is now? No, it doesn't. NIN still has a myriad of other issues before they get back to where PLD is now. They are missing a good amount of damage mitigation compared to PLD, and sub job selection has a much great effect on damage mitigation vs. hate generation than PLD. NIN/DRK is great at building and maintaining hate, but it is much more dependent on support and has little to protect it when shadows are down. This doesn't matter as much in large groups or with a settled mob, but PLDs are able to do all aspects of tanking from holding to doing damage (and how strange is that?). In a higher damage/damage mitigation situation, NIN falls behind because they have to give up their Katanas, and even if they did not they don't have a WS that is as viable as Atonement for maintaining good WS damage. I will expand on this further in another post on how to fix NIN, but for now I think that Yonin is a great start, but isn't enough to even get NIN back to equal with PLD.

What do you think about NIN tanks? Is Yonin going to encourage you to bring a NIN out of retirement? Do you think NIN even needed a boost? Leave a comment and tell us what you think!

<a href="http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff151/ringthreetheicp/NIN_Yonin.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff151/ringthreetheicp/NIN_Yonin.png" style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 219px; height: 250px;" /></a><span style="font-weight:bold;">Morning in Vana'diel</span><span style="font-style:italic;"> is your daily dose of FFXI and all things Vana'diel. Give us your thoughts on the interesting topics of the day! Today, Ring takes a good look at what whether Yonin can make Ninja a good tank again.</span><br /><br />NIN is my neglected friend. I loved NIN for so long, but it gradually had more an more problems and got left behind for other more suitable jobs as our PLDs got stronger and stronger. Before the most recent update NIN was in the same basic place it was since it started moving up the tanking food chain. But it never evolved to keep up with the changes that PLD has experienced. And then came Yonin.<br /><br />Yonin, as you might already know, is a JA that increases enmity and Ninja Tool Expertise (which is glitched at the moment), while decreasing Accuracy. It also improves Evasion and decreases Enemy Critical Hit Rate when in front of the target (which is really all that matters, because there are only a few mobs where you would care about the Evasion and Enemy Critical Hit when you are behind it). Kaeko's testing shows that the enmity gain is +30 at the start and then degrades to +10 over time. This is a big bonus to enmity for NIN, but it still doesn't get them up to where PLD can get on most gear. An additional nice benefit of Yonin is that it provides a decent amount of hate just from using the JA.<br /><br />Does Yonin get NIN to where PLD is now? No, it doesn't. NIN still has a myriad of other issues before they get back to where PLD is now. They are missing a good amount of damage mitigation compared to PLD, and sub job selection has a much great effect on damage mitigation vs. hate generation than PLD. NIN/DRK is great at building and maintaining hate, but it is much more dependent on support and has little to protect it when shadows are down. This doesn't matter as much in large groups or with a settled mob, but PLDs are able to do all aspects of tanking from holding to doing damage (and how strange is that?). In a higher damage/damage mitigation situation, NIN falls behind because they have to give up their Katanas, and even if they did not they don't have a WS that is as viable as Atonement for maintaining good WS damage. I will expand on this further in another post on how to fix NIN, but for now I think that Yonin is a great start, but isn't enough to even get NIN back to equal with PLD.<br /><br />What do you think about NIN tanks? Is Yonin going to encourage you to bring a NIN out of retirement? Do you think NIN even needed a boost? Leave a comment and tell us what you think!