Trial of the Magians

Those of you who know me, know that I've been actively working on the Trials since they were introduced, I seemed to be one of the early adopters of the system as it was quite clear to me I could get far better katanas than what was currently available in the game.  The BLM Staves (before the update) showed promise, but because they all had the same name I wasn't crazy about going after them.  I had a hard time understanding why folks weren't all over this (I found them exciting and couldn't wait to get things done, tedious though they were), but since the update the Odin server seems to have flocked to the Magians like bugs to lightbulbs.  Who knows why this is, and while I'm happy to see my fellow server mates getting in on the fun, the side-effect is there has been a ton of whining.  I don't plan to get into it so I'll just say this, it called the "Trial" of the Magians, not "Giveittomenowbecauseiwantit!" of the Magians, you gotta fucking work for your supper, so shut up and do it (unless BST are taking over your camp, then you have my permission to piss and moan).


Ninja Trials

While others went directly for the High Damage and Occasionally Attack Twice katanas, I personally took a different route.  You see for me, while those katanas looked like great DD weapons, I saw something altogether more amazing in the Elemental Trials.  The reason here is because NIN can equip two katanas, so anything in the Elemental paths could be doubled.  This meant NIN could get things like STR+8, Attack+24, or AGI+8, Evasion +24, without sacrificing any other gear slots.  Top that off with Kuinas are the highest DoT katanas your average player can get a hold of (they have higher DPS than either Senju or Fudo) and you got something special for Ninja.  With the update SE upped the ante by giving us Sekka, with even better stats!  The update also brought us the Empyrean Kannagi path, this path was part of the High Damage path, which means I will have to camp NMs at some point, whether I like it or not.  We also got what looks like the first stage of Weapon Skill trials, if this is indeed the first stage then there's a lot of reason to be excited here also.

Kannagi

I've come to accept I may never get a Kikoru or Nagi, however a base Kannagi is very obtainable, the only drawback here is the VNM kills, getting the abyssite (and kills) for this will require time help from other people, and I hate asking for help on things that only benefit me.  At any rate, I still plan to do this, but I'm holding off until the September update because I want to see what the Kannagi augments are, and I'm curious about the next stage of requirements.

Uzura

This is the Weapon Skill path, currently there are three initial trials with a fork after the third.  I plan to do this up to the fork (and given the simplistic requirements, these first three should only take a day or two to complete), the reason I am stopping at the fork is I will only be using one of these katanas in my DD build (the other katana will be a Sekka) and I want to see if they are going to add more weapon skills.  Currently the first fork produces a result of DPS 12.22 and Blade: Ku Damage +10%, which is kinda meh as I rarely use anything outside Jin and Kamu.  The second path has a DPS 11.94 and Store TP +8, this is the path I'll take if no other Weapon Skills are added (which is possible, the next tier may simply end with a 15% increase on Ku, which still won't beat Jin).  If we get Jin +10%, then it's entirely possible my head will explode from the excitement.

Sekka

The Elemental trials have a ton of customization to offer.  For me I'm looking at acquiring 8 of these.  Two each of Evasion, Physical Damage Down and Magic Defense Bonus for tanking and then a combo of the Attack and Accuracy for DDing, though these will likely be the last two I go after based on how the Kannagi and Uzura paths unfold.  The tanking ones are obvious winners to me, a set of -PDT will give me VIT+12 and PDT - 16%, a set of MDB will give me MND+12 and MDB+16, the Evasion set would give me AGI+12 and Evasion +32 (which is also very nice for pulling or kiting).  I feel like having those six katana will give me a ton of flexibility when tanking/pulling/kiting/soloing.  As it stands I'm on the last trial for the first -PDT katana and I'm in the middle stages of the first Evasion katana.  For Ninjas who like to tank you NEED to be getting on these trials now, otherwise you're going to have a hard time justifying yourself in endgame events as PLD is the ever increasing preference.  Further, a pair of these are better than any previous combination of katanas in pure damage alone, you have to be fucking daft to hold onto the old stuff (though I did shed a tear when I put Senju away and removed it from my macros).


Black Mage Trials

Before the update I was looking at getting only one Teiwaz (Thunder path) and just getting an HQ Ice Staff.  The reason for this wasn't because the Teiwaz weren't awesome staves, but they all had the same name which makes them impossible to macro in and out.  However, with the update SE had the good sense to give the final upgrades unique names so my interest in getting these has increased dramatically.

Hvergelmir

This is the Empyrean weapon for BLM, and if it does nothing else, it's still a beast for DD BLM (which I love to do), DMG 87 and Delay 390 for a DPS of 13.38 just blows anything previously available for DD out of the water.  Currently I have a Somnus Signa which is DMG 62 Delay 402 for a DPS of 9.25 (which was at the top of the food chain after Relic), it's nice, but I might be willing to prostitute my mom just to get my hands on Hvergelmir.  I highly doubt this is the much touted Rainbow Staff (the eight elemental staves combined into one), but I am very curious as to where SE plans to go with this in future updates.

Elemental Staves

Put simply you are now gimp without these.  Base testing has already shown they blow the current HQ Elemental Staves out of the water.  The only catch here is actually killing the mobs without getting yourself killed in the process.  BLM is not exactly the king of melee, so a certain amount of teamwork goes into finishing these, even worse is it's counterproductive to team up with other BLMs because of the kill objectives.  What I like about them, at least from a BLM perspective is you can start and stop whenever as the trial objectives are not based on the day or weather, but what elemental spell you kill the mob with.  When I initially looked at this path I chose Magic Damage +4 for all eight staves, however, it occurred to me that logic wasn't entirely practical.  I don't use light and dark magic to do damage as much as I use that magic to land DoTs or add buffs; so the sensible solution here is to get Magic Accuracy +4 for those two paths.


For me, I'm in fucking heaven doing these trials, yeah weather it's a bitch to wait on, and it's easy to get distracted, but the Trials fill in big holes with my free time much in the way Campaign does.  In other words, I'm actually accomplishing something every single day and not just staring aimlessly at the screen waiting for something to happen.  Thank you SE, and fuck off to the complainers.

Digesting the Update (BLM)

So my other main job in the game is BLM and at some point I'm bound to get it leveled to 80 (full disclosure, I was level 76 for about 18 hours, then Dynamis happened and I have done nothing but go backwards since).


Subjobs

Unlike NIN the subjobs for BLM haven't really changed, all three remain situational.

• BLM/WHM: I would suspect most people are still subbing this as it still meets the status quo. Virtually nothing has changed; you get the Altep and Yhoat teleports at 76, Stona at 78 and Haste at 80. There's nothing gamebreaking here, especially since the Afflatus Job Abilities remain WHM main only. At 80, a BLM would be using /WHM because they are a support job, if they nuking only, then one of the other two would be better options.

• BLM/RDM: There are two major changes to using RDM sub now, Raise and Convert. Raise isn't that big of a deal (personally I'd much rather have Reraise), but Convert is a big deal to a job like BLM. Before the update the big reason for subbing this was for soloing (though people would still sub it to events for the defensive additions it adds), however, Convert changes that. You essentially trade Blink for Phalanx, but you also gain another MP bar worth of nukes which is especially useful on bosses like Dynamis Lord where you do nothing but straight nuke the shit out of the mob. Coupled with Manafont a BLM can go through their entire AMII tier in one volley.

• BLM/SCH: Gamebreaker with Resist Silence II Job Trait! Kidding, like WHM, nothing has really changed here, if you were using /SCH before the update, there is no reason to change. At level 80 you get access to Accession and Manifestation, and as BLM you're probably going to get a lot more mileage out of the later. Sleep and Sleep II become AoE spells without the hate of their -ga equivalents and you can also AoE Blind, Bind and Dispel. The drawbacks here are recast times getting tripled and you can only use it once a minute, which makes Manifestation something great for those oh shit moments, but not overly helpful on a consistent basis. I know a lot of people seem hyped up about being able to sub /SCH now, but realistically it still doesn't beat out /WHM or /RDM...yet.

With the subjobs there is nothing gamebreaking about them, you have a few more options and reasons to sub all three, but at the end of the day, BLM is still the job it is because of it's native spells, traits and abilities, the other stuff is just fluff.


Abilities, Spells and Job Traits

• Stone V and Water V: The first of the Tier V spells are really only for people who insist on completing things (like me). Because of merit limitations most BLMs have put their focus on the higher elementals of Thunder and Ice, which actually allows some folks to outnuke these two spells. Obviously no one should be surprised here, what we are really waiting on probably won't be in the game until December (Ice V and Thunder V), I just wish they weren't so damned expensive to get from NPCs. People have been finding them in the Walk of Echoes and Abyssea, but that hasn't eased the prices any, though I'm sure the prices are affected equally by the newness of the spells and the (still) relative scarcity of obtaining them. They'll probably be worth 20k at best by the end of the year.

• Mana Wall: This Ability seems to be a fairly polarizing addition, some BLMs think it's the best addition in years, others are furious SE is messing with their MP pool. For me I only had a brief chance to use it in Dynamis and it did save my life once, but it put me on the sideline briefly while I got my MP back. Regardless of how you look at that, it's better than sidelining me for five minutes from Death weakness. I think for events like Dynamis, this is something I will want up all the time, but for other stuff like Einherjar, it won't be that useful (since most mobs there require light sleep, BLMs either stun or nuke).

• Magic Burst Bonus: This would be great about five years ago when the game was centered around Skillchaining and Magic Bursting, but in the post Two-Hand Update world, Zerg is King. There are times when MBing is still used, in Obsidian we try to MB on Sky Gods, though with the additional levels we should be able to spank the shit out of those mobs anyway, so it's not like MBing is going to give us much of an edge. I'm not sure if the early testing has been confirmed but the increase here was only marginal going from a 33% increase to a 50% increase. To make that an example, say you land a nuke that does 1,000 base damage on a mob, before you would get an MB in the neighborhood of 1,333, now that MB is 1,500 damage. It's a nice increase, but nothing that blows one's mind either.

At the end of the day, BLM didn't get anything amazing, there are some nice side additions to what the job could already do, but if they were taken away tomorrow, I doubt many people would care.

I think my next update will focus on the Magian Trials as that's been my primary interest in game since the update.

Digesting the Update (NIN)

So what did the update do for NIN? Well, on the surface not much changed at all, but dig a little deeper and one finds things have changed a lot.


Subjobs

One of the biggest shifts are the tanking subjobs, with many of the common hate generating spells being nerfed this changes how a NIN has to approach tanking. The familiar subjobs are still there and they are still viable, but a new one has been added and it will eventually jump to the front of the pack.

Tanking

• NIN/WAR: This sub will always be the preferred sub for leveling or meriting since it's easy enough to manage and more often than not you're only there for first voke anyway. The other subjob choices require MP and expecting refresh and ballad will do nothing but gimp your entire party (and piss off your refreshers). Additionally /WAR is the best choice for Tank/DD hybrids which are ideal in the above parties.

• NIN/DRK: While not totally nerfed by SE with the adjustments to Bind and Sleep, NINs will have to take more time to lock hate in with /DRK. Stun and Aspir were not affected so they still have their CE enmity, and after the next update Absorb-TP will also be in this group so this still remains a good option for NIN. In addition to the CE spells, NIN will still have the high VE job abilities Last Resort, Weapon Bash and Souleater for those oh shit moments.

• NIN/RDM: Sub RDM was never the popular choice, and it looks like it will be regulated to soloing and small groups even more so now. There are no instant CE spells here anymore, but literally any spell you cast will generate VE so it isn't totally dead, the difference is you have to constantly keep up the casting. I was really hoping this would move ahead of /DRK with the update because it offers a lot more self defense, but this is the hand we've been dealt so people just need to learn to deal with it.

• NIN/BLU: The new kid on the block and the one I think will eventually move to the front of the pack. The reason BLU becomes an option is because in this update is the ability to cast Blank Gaze is gained at Level 76. It has a 10 second recast and pulls 320 CE, which is equivalent to what Dispel used to be able to do. It doesn't stop there, Sheep Song and Soporific are also available right now and they both generate 320 CE. This update isn't moving it to the front of the pack just yet, but by the December update that will all change. In addition to the above spells, MP Drainkiss (Level 82), Stinking Gas (Level 88), Geist Wall (Level 92) and Jettatura (Level 96) will all be available, making this a very powerful subjob for anyone tanking, not just NIN.

DDing

• NIN/WAR: As I stated above, /WAR is a great DD subjob, with the Double Attack job trait, a hasted NIN can almost appear to be constantly hitting the mob and over time that damage will move ahead of any frontline DD except a Black Belt MNK.

• NIN/SAM: The real game changer here is Sekkanoki, before this was a niche subjob that most would use when they needed TP without hitting the mob (this meant using Meditate). The problem with using /SAM is you need to be using a Great Katana to get to Hasso and that just kills a NIN's potential for straight DDing (not to mention, Weaponskills on Great Katana suck ass for NIN).

• NIN/RDM: I'm still using this in Campaign, for mobs that take time you just can't beat having Enspells. As a DD subjob though, /RDM still has a few updates before we see it's full potential, it won't be a top choice obviously, but depending on the situation it has the potential to be a great DD subjob.

• NIN/THF: As of this update /THF doesn't offer anything it didn't at 37 (unless you want to be picky and claim Resist Gravity II). But let's face it, this is a farming subjob, you could possibly tank with it, but it's not advised and DDing with it in a party is just asinine. The good news is the September update will give everyone access to TH2 at Level 90, so there is that.

• NIN/RNG: This isn't something you see often, but there are some benefits, in particular Sidewinder (if you have the Ranged Accuracy that is). Wide Scan IV becomes available at 80 as well as Shadowbind so if you're hunting NMs solo or in a small group, this is a highly useful subjob choice.

• NIN/DNC: It's obvious SE wants every job in the game to start subbing DNC, but you know what? I don't give a fuck how awesome it is, I refuse to dance. I'm not a fucking monkey.

• NIN/BLU: Like tanking with BLU, before the update this wasn't the best of choices, but with the new magical direction SE seems to be pushing on NIN, it's time to take a look at this and possibly get some use out of it. I don't think I need to go into any great detail here, but there are some very nice offensive spells, coupled with the curing and enhancing spells, I think BLU will make a fine choice as a DD (assuming you have Refresh).

Overall the status quo hasn't changed much, but under the surface the currents are moving and the next two updates will going to require us to rethink our approach to playing NIN. This is still my favorite job and I don't see that changing, but NIN may have to fight for its survival as it moves into RDM territory where it's good at a lot of things, but great at nothing.


Abilities, Spells, and Job Traits

Sometimes it's hard to guess just what the hell SE expects NIN to do in the game. Recently they finally admitted to looking at NIN as a viable tank option in the game and we started seeing enmity+ gear, so most NINs were expecting that trend to continue. It didn't…or at least not in a way that's obvious to anyone but the developers.

• Tactical Parry: Of the new things available to NIN, this is the only one where we have to be tanking to get use out of it. My Parry skill is still shit (like 195 or something) so this isn't something that triggers that often for me, but I can see where this is will be something very useful. Basically you get 2% TP for each time Parry triggers, even triggering once this removes an attack round for Weaponskills (at least for me, I see 98% and 99% quite often).

• Magic Burst Bonus: Huh? Granted, we've always been able to MB on mobs, but I'd be surprised is most NINs have any idea when to start casting and to be quite honest, elemental nukes aren't going to return big numbers regardless of whether we MB or not. The only way this works is if…

• Futae: …we use this Job Ability beforehand in conjunction with a San nuke and Innin. This means we could very well approach Tier IV nuke numbers, but only once a minute. There are just too many things have to be lined up just right to see the big numbers though, and neither help any with tanking, it's strictly DD stuff.

• Aisha (Ichi): Instead of getting our Ni tier finished off, SE decided to give us a new spell that is like Bio, but without the DoT (Attack Down). How this helps NIN in anyway is beyond me. As tanks we are supposed to avoid getting hit to begin with as DD this will only benefit whomever is tanking and that will most likely be a PLD who didn't exactly need the help to begin with. Had this been a Defense Down spell then I would have been all over it, the benefit there is obvious, but this one just has me scratching my head. I just don't get it.

NIN didn't really benefit from this update, which I guess is okay with me as other jobs did (though I feel they went overboard with DNC), and NIN did get a boost when they added Yonin/Innin awhile back, so it's not like SE is completely ignoring the job (a la BLM). Maybe in the next update we'll get a clearer vision of what SE has in mind with these additions, but right now I'm just not seeing it.

Next up will be BLM and then hopefully Gear (I'm waiting to go over the gear until people start obtaining it, no point getting excited about stuff that may be near impossible to get).