[Byrthnoth]

10MAB = 5.5% damage for you, probably (78MAB about right?)
15INT = ~61 Damage for the same BLM, which is probably about 3% damage for you on the same spell

So you're trading 15% damage for 8% damage. You don't fuck with day/weather bonuses, they own you. If you toss Sorc. Tonban into the calculations above, they marginally swing in favor of getting all AM2.

[Fionaa]

You listed multiple valid reasons to merit freeze and burst to max. You didn't cover the topic in general. My potency optimization is Water and Fire. 5/5 on Water and 2/5 on Fire (so far). I think those are very pretty spell classes, especially Flood 2, and they are my favorite. I prefer to focus on elements I enjoy about the job since I generally dislike the job in general. I could argue the fact that Flood 2 can set up people merited in thunder, but I won't. Frankly, I don't play BLM for damage, numbers, or epeen. I also have no room to merit Elemental Magic unless SE raises the Magic Category from 16 to 24. I no longer collect Rare/ex gear for BLM at this point because I have no more space for inventory -1. I already tossed Zenith Mitts +1. BLM has been pigeonholed into either keeping mobs slept or nuking down the very few melee resistant mobs in the game. It's dull. I'm just trying to complete the merits in the BLM category and I'm having a little difficulty deciding whether I should cap Flood2 and Flare2 or just get each of the spells.

If you simply don't care about BLM, why would you even ask this forum for advice? Just go and merit whatever you want, get all the AM IIs if you want. Throw away your merits into Water and Fire Potency, maybe throw in some Stone potency too for laughs.

[ashke]

I already tossed Zenith Mitts +1.

[drwaffles]

Putting merits into unlocking a greater array of shitty spells is stupid. You should put merits into making the two shitty spells that you might actually use on occasion more potent. Topic over, ok?

[rambus]

lol i figure i would let someone else attack that

back to business

10MAB = 5.5% damage for you, probably (78MAB about right?)
15INT = ~61 Damage for the same BLM, which is probably about 3% damage for you on the same spell

So you're trading 15% damage for 8% damage. You don't fuck with day/weather bonuses, they own you. If you toss Sorc. Tonban into the calculations above, they marginally swing in favor of getting all AM2.

incorrect, well it depedons on your geat how much that 15% means to you. since the dude that did water merits and fire i will put my own gear and merits into the correct math.

i am going to assume 90 int (taken pudding INT as an example)on the mob on earth day using quake II vs freeze II with ice merits.

then i am going to applay my thoerical 7.8 mab on u neak (it is less then 8 but i am still not serten what it is unless it has been stealth changed.

for quake II:
earth HQ staff+15%
DH+1- 6 int
genie wisket - MaB-7
prism cape -4 int
U neak-7.8 MAB
Z mitts +1- 6 MAB
earth obi- 10% damage garentee for earth day
moldadite earing-5 MAB
Morion earing +1 - 2 int
snow ring- 5 INT
sorc's ring -10 MAB
INTcrystal-2 int
sorcs pants- 3 int ,+5%
yiget boots - INT 3, MAB 2

trait +32 MAB, base INT 84
gear + 37.8MAB , +25 INT
if this is added wrong let me know i might of skipped * for comparison purposes this can be double checked when i add for freeze II*

anyways totals:
69.8 MAB 109 INT

((109-90)*2+710)*1.698 )*1.15*1.10*1.05
1687

possable second way witch how i think the game does it

((109-90)*2+710)*1.698 ) drop decmal *1.15 drop decmal*1.15 drop desmal(combine day /sorc pants *hint is from the cap this can cause)
1679

freeze II:
Ice staff- HQ +15%,+5 int
DH+1- 6 int
genie wisket - MaB-7
prism cape -4 int
U neak-7.8 MAB
Z mitts +1- 6 MAB
Pen rope + 5INT
moldadite earing-5 MAB
Morion earing +1 - 2 int
snow ring- 5 INT
sorc's ring -10 MAB
INTcrystal-2 int
mah pants- +8 INT
yiget boots - INT 3, MAB 2
MAB merits +10

trait +32 MAB, base INT 84
gear + 47.8MAB , +40 INT

((124-90)*2+710)*1.798*1.15

1608

or drop desmals like the lower one on quake II:
1607

like i said it would be close but i know the day maching did more. but i got to ask you

is 80 points of damage worth meriting a spell you use for 1 hour out of 8 and the fact you need all 6 obis ( i do not have the space for this) just so you can do 80 points more?

80/1608 is a 4.9% difference.

compare lower floors:

72/1607

4.48% difference

but when i get the chance to MB my freeze II becuase i did not waste my merits matching AM II to day (casting AM II outside of MBs is sort of a mp waste to begin with)

you get

((124-90)*2+710)*1.798*1.15*1.30*1.06

2215

vs a level 1 freeze :
((124-90)*2+710)*1.798*1.15*1.30

2091

123/2091

is a 5.9%~ damage difference.

now i ask you you still think its worth matching day with different AM IIs?

ps the matching day compare to freeze IIwas a little more then i imagined since when i seen someone do that, their flare II did 10 more damage then my freeze II.

i still stand by my statement matching AM IIs to days on neutral targets is not worth it.

[drwaffles]

AMII are less MP-efficient than Tier IV. It's been proved before. There's nothing left to calculate or discuss. <_<

[rambus]

yes but lets teach others that ok and show them:

So you're trading 15% damage for 8% damage. You don't fuck with day/weather bonuses, they own you. If you toss Sorc. Tonban into the calculations above, they marginally swing in favor of getting all AM2.

plus it helps to show how off these estimates are that people try

[Ereshkigal]

Doesn't matter to me what spells are most useful. I wouldn't care if Flood2 and Flare2 did a dedicated maximum 4 damage to every mob in this game. They are so pretty I'd cast them anyways. I was just wondering what the benefits are to maxing it. I was wondering if the +15 MACC applied at all times, after someone suggested that it may only apply during MB. Obviously the rest of the community is just as confused and I'll see if I can get this answered by Square Enix. And Rambus; I'm not a dude.

[Fionaa]

This sounds like Poof of BG infamy, under the Server Switch thread. I was reading a bit of that thread... sounds pretty nasty, if you ask me.

[drwaffles]

It is Poof. :dozingoff If she starts posting here regularly I may just have to use those sleeping pills next to my bed in a less conservative manner.

[rambus]

what is poof? that lol pup? where?

esek chech this quote out on the other thread:

if you have the Jp version can you translate precisely what the AM II description is?

This is what it says for the Burst II merit:

バーストII: 敵に雷属性のダメージを与え、土属性に対する防御力をダウン。
能力値1でバーストIIのマジックバーストダメージボーナスを+3、魔法命中率を+5します。

Which translates to:

Burst II: Grants the magical spell Burst II. When cast, lowers the earth resistance of the target.
Additional merits: Burst II Magic Burst damage bonus +3, and when casting: Magic Accuracy +5.

this suggesting its on all the time but the way it is worded on my game it sounds like MB only.

"Increase Freeze II magic burst damage by 3, and magic accuracy by 5" is not asentance.

to me when trying to make sence of it if they wanted this worded to have magic acc on all the time they could of just flip the clauses:

"Increase Freeze II for magic accuracy +5, and magic burst damage +3."

or say something that is correct:

Burst II: Grants the magical spell Burst II. When cast, lowers the earth resistance of the target.
Additional merits: Burst II Magic Burst damage bonus +3, and when casting: Magic Accuracy +5.

[Tarusofo]

Oh Gawd. What you guys do to these forums. Not a question but an announcement.

[LucyLittle]

Kaparu :
Slight derail: Why do people merit anything other than Burst and Freeze? Don't people understand what Ninjutsu does? >_>;

I part of me dies inside every time I hear about someone meriting Quake II for Kirin...

Ninjutsu does the same as AM/AM2, there is a minor resistance down effect which only effects the next offensive spell cast on that mob, then it wears off. Chances are your Quake II or the ninja's Doton will be used up by a flash/stun/whatever by the tank instead of a nuking blm.

On Kirin, it's much more useful to have Tornado II and Flood II. Suzaku summon like all summons is a zerg fight, and if you're stuck with only Water IV, Water III, and Waterga III you're gonna be waiting on recasts and doing less damage than if you had Flood II to toss in. If you're free nuking Kirin then ES Tornado II is very handy, and if you're MB'ing then again Tornado II is very handy to have.

Flare II is nice for Jorm, and pretty much nothing else. Quake II is pretty lol all around.

[ashke]

What the hell is Jorm? (j/k, I know. It's that wyrm w/ obnoxious draw in that's always up on my way to Brothers. I hear it drops a skillup stick.)





As for NINs, I guess someone could be tossing Ichi on this stuff, but xxx/NIN usually doesn't carry those tools. To me, it's always been a good option to toss a spell for dmg (and let's face it, fun!) that has the same effect, rather than take a take a PLD off hate-gain or a melee off TP-gain. (We really don't use NIN mains.) I should clarify in *all* instances of using AM2 this way, the MOB either 1) dies fast, or 2) has a behaviour that allows me to rest for a period of time, making the MP cost less of an issue.

Clarification though: does it only effect the *next* spell? I was under the assumption the effect was a static -30 for 15 seconds, regardless of Ichi/Ni/AM/AM2.

[Kaparu]

Close, but no. The resistance down is static, but the amount of time it lasts is dependant on where it came from. I'm not entirely sure of the numbers, but I know the order of lasting goes:

Ichi > Ni ~ AM2 > San

[rambus]

Flare II is nice for Jorm, and pretty much nothing else. Quake II is pretty lol all around.

no it is Not. like i said i would ES BURST II cuz you know that is where my pot merits are in not fire and just use Fire IV fire III etc becuase its better use of mp...

here is that skill up pole:

[Setzerjr]

I have been wondering about this and whether to merit Burst II/Freeze II 3/3. Since the quote Rambus posted says that the magic acc from the upgrades is always on then 3/3 for both seems the better option for me - so thanks for clearing this up.

Anyhow I have also seemed to notice that AMII resist more than tier IV nukes (maybe just me, i'm not sure) and so maybe this magic acc from the upgrades would give the AMIIs as much acc as the tier IV nukes.

Another reason for me only wanting to merit those two AMII is that on tiamat I use thunder, it is fine for me and does more damage than water as long as you long as you have the resists controlled. For ouryu, sometimes people use Wind damage however as with above I use Ice for ouryu because it does more damage and with my setup I don't get many resists at all so tornado = meh. Kirin, well we don't use blm on kirin and gods aren't worth meriting AMII for since we don't do them often enough and they die fast enough for anyone to care.

Again, thanks for clearing this up for me Rambus. ^^