FFT Arena: Balance Discussion Thread

[The Damned]

(I'm just going to assume no one knows about the Xifanie Maintenance hack thing, so I'll have to try to remember to ask FFMaster when he comes back to the forums.

Also, I'm not yet sure about the "completely redo Time Mage & Scholar" thing yet, though I am increasingly leaning towards it....)

Ugh. Accursed need for sleep. Apparently I was so tired that I ended actually being sleepy, but I have yet to annotate because I was seriously trying to do four things at once last night. So now the Youtube stuff won't be annotated until well into this afternoon. Joy.

Anyway, I'll just type up a few things that (re)occurred to me while compiling all that equipment and ability information for the SSC tournament. I figure I might as well put it down now because, as always, I might otherwise forget:


1. Crossbows: So, when I made that list concerning all the weapons about a page or two back, Crossbows were one of the things I was ambivalent about changing. Outside of "fixing" Bow Gun's proc, the only suggestion I had was to switch Poison Bow & Silencer's WP and even that was only a "maybe" thing. However, the more I think about it, the more I'm convinced that Silencer needs to have the highest WP after Gastrafitis/Gastraphetes because otherwise it will continue to see no use due to how commonly Silence is blocked. After all, Bizen Boat (the katana) still sees very little use despite causing Silence at 100% and being one of the few weapons innately accessible by a class with innate Two Hands.

That said, I think I've come to understand why Poison Bow probably has the most power of the non-Forced Crossbows. Actually, I'm pretty sure I've understood for a while: it's so that it isn't obviated by Hawk's Eye, especially since Hawk's Eye is currently one of the few reliable/useful sources of Poison across the board as well as being a source of Oil and good damage. To that end, I would agree that dropping Poison Bow down to 10 WP would probably be the "unofficial death of it" between having to compete with Hawk's Eye and both Night Killer & Hunting Bow as well now being out-damaged by Silencer; it would also technically be out-damaged by a working/fixed Bow Gun, but more on that in a bit.

So...in that light, here's what I propose again for Crossbows:

spoiler: Crossbows ver 139.2

As I said before, I continue to think Night Killer, Hunting Bow & Gastraphetes are fine as they are; I'm tempted to say that Gastraphetes could maybe use a bit more, but that's probably Spellguns and those being able to be used with Shields mostly coloring my idea. The other three do need changes though:

Bow Gun: 8 WP stays as it is, but its Armor Breaking ability falls to 33% if that recent hack that makes Breaks not act as attacks after the target doesn't have the viable equipment is not used. Even if the initial Armor Break (even with Concentrate) has a "low" chance of hitting off the 50% as it is as Raven pointed out months ago, after Armor is broken, I can't remember if the double hit aspect would become 100% or not (with Concentrate). Regardless, there really is no reason for this to outpower already barely used Dual Cutters so much IMO. Otherwise, if the hack is used, then that its Armor Break chance staying at 50% seems fine even with Concentrate lurking around.


Silencer: Its 10 WP becomes 12 WP and it becomes the strongest of Crossbows that can still be used with Shields, which should be enough for it to see use finally even as much as Silence is blocked.


Poison Bow: This will technically die just as...whatever Silencer replaced died; I honestly don't even remember what Silencer replaced already apart from being really blandly named "Cross Bow". This is partly because both of them weren't ever used, with Silencer's disuse being literal at present.

Regardless, the Crossbow that would "replace" Poison Bow would have 10 WP and have a 33% chance of adding Poison and Oil to whomever it hits; please, no Repel Knife repeats where it's really "either, or or maybe both"--Separate sucks outside of Swordskills for a reason. That may seem a bit much, but it allows it to not be obviated by Hawk's Eye's (admittedly still kind of dubious) existence and instead directly compete with it without obviating Hawk's Eye either (on Range 4- weapons at least).

Despite the direct competition and Eternal currently showing in the tournament how unlucky one can with 50% chances (if that's what Spell Edge really is), it probably shouldn't have 50% because it's instant and Concentrate is back. That and it is (slightly) more powerful than Hawk's Eye on average from the get-go. It would also be only the second weapon--though Repel Knife technically isn't working--to add two statuses and the first and only one to do it at a distance.

As for what to rename it, I've always felt that "Poison Bow" was rather bland, just like Cross Bow--whatever it did--was before it "died" and became Silencer. It doesn't mean that a name can't be "on the nose", so to speak, since I don't have a problem with Shieldrender doing exactly as says, but just "Poison Bow" wouldn't really fit anymore anyway. As such, I propose one of the following variants, which are legion: Hawk Bow, Hawk's Bow, Hawk's Band Bow, Hawkeye Bow, Avenger's Bow, Hawkingbird Bow Hawk's Eye Bow, Riza Bow, Marker Bow or Target Bow.

This may just be me though.

2. Recent Break Hack: So this is basically a "yay or nay" question: Do people think that the hack that makes it so that breaks miss and don't act as attacks if the target doesn't have the proper equipment to broken should be used in ARENA?


3. Damn, "Daravon" Dryly Drones Dutifully: So...with it popping up more and more lately, I've been thinking again: Mimic Daravon seems like it might be a hell of a lot more fair if was just single-target, especially since Mediator's never really ever been a complete pushover without it. This even if half of their skills are still sort of dubious. At present, though, Mimic Daravon seems a bit too "swingy" for something that's more or less unavoidable & multi-target & instant and it has hell of a lot more freedom than Oracle's Sleep & it thus obviates that more or less. Reducing its targeting to one target doesn't seem like it would make it instantly useless either, even if it would now have to "compete" with Blackmail since Don't Act and Sleep are similar; ultimately they're quite different though. Its JP cost would probably have to be reduced, though, especially if Oracle's Sleep is only 150 JP.

I've been kind of ambivalent about this and still kinda am admittedly. This is partly because aside from Spellguns, Mediator's innate damage sources of Knives & Guns have been "meh" until recently and they didn't get Books & Robes until relatively recently as well. Additionally, with Spellguns obviously needing some type of change and Insult or at least Berserk possibly able to get "nerfed" in terms of actually getting a CT, I'm not entirely sure it's merited. It gets increasingly "hazy" given the AI tends not to use Preach or Solution and, for some reason, doesn't seem to be using even the buffed form of Persuade despite the fact that it "should" be whoring CT 00 skills as much as it whores Defending.

So shrug. Just a thought like everything else.

I agree with this because I have several teams that spam lore.

I picture you saying this in a completely serious and deadpan tone for some reason...in the voice of Daria.

Regardless, even if Scholar did lose 2 MA, there's no way in Hell I'd support increasing Lore damage except maybe to be F(MA*5). That said, I'm not as convinced that Mace of Zeus "needs" to lose Strengthen or Absorb, but that requires...more "investigation" I suppose.

I'm also starting to be a fan of Un-Fury based gun damage, having the guns proc nether fire/bolt/ice with MEV applying to the shots

Also AOE2 Vert 3 for Dispel magic so it can be an effective masamune counter

AoE 2 is rather overkill. I think you meant AoE 1, which I actually wouldn't be that against, though that then pretty much "screws over" all buffs just because of Masamune and I say this as someone who loathes the current Masamune. So...I suppose I'm ultimately ambivalent about this and feel that there is likely some better solution.

Good to know that's one more person on the Nether Gun idea though.

I am kind of indifferent toward priest stats at the moment.  If we're going to drop Time Mages to 8 SP, then priests could still be bumped up the 9 SP, if only for the sake of variety.  But if 9 SP is truly awkward for caster types, then let's not bother.

Priests having 9 Speed shouldn't be awkward for them at all since they're more reactive anyway. Hell, they have access to the still-instant Dia, which is already a hell of a lot more reliable than Time Mage's current sources of damage sans Comet. 9 Speed is only so awkward for Time Mage because they have crap HP and attacking options (esp. equipment-wise), they lost Short Charge and the AI has that obsession with casting/trying to inflict/add Haste and Slow even if it would get them killed; the last part is made all the worse by having to compete with Masamune and the soon-to-be instant Yell.

So 9 Speed should be fine for Priests and be a nice parallel to Chemist having that Speed. Hell, maybe "we" could even bump them or another mage--Oracle? Redone Scholar?--up to 10 Speed.

Oracles are...definitely suited for shields, but, in my opinion, giving them shields makes them too good.

I see. I suppose I agree...somewhat.

*snip*

I propose three options [for Spellguns]:

1) Make magic guns mildly strong, but let them continue to bypass M-EV.

2) Keep magic guns strong, but subject them to M-EV. 

3) Make magic guns use the current Nether formulas, but let them continue to bypass M-EV.

Yeah, I agree that 3 would be bad; I'd rather they just be dead if that was the case.

So that only really leaves 1 and 2. I lean towards 1 at present, but I'll need to think about it more.

Thanks for running the numbers. I'm sadly so atrocious at that.

[Malroth]

no to 10 speed scholars,

[Avalanche]

- I dont like the idea of casters with shields.
- If you want to boost Time Mage give it Speed 10. It makes sense since its the units controlling time.
- I Agree the idea to make Magic Guns subjects to M-Ev

[Eternal]

Some thoughts of mine:

The Cure line seems very iffy to me right now. Cure2 and Cure3 get the most use, whereas Cure and Cure4 are barely touched at all. I propose a change to that line of spells.

-Cure stays the same, but has Cure3's formula/MP/CT/etc.
-Cure2 becomes Nether Cure, which would cost more and be a bit longer to cast, but would be based on Unfaith (not Unfury).
-Cure3 becomes Pray, which would be single-target heavy healing, but it wouldn't cost as much as Cure.
-Cure4 becomes Heal, which would heal the entire party at once for a bit of HP.

Nether Cure would exist so Priests could have -some- use with low/medium Faith units. I feel something should be done with Protect/Shell, but I can't think of anything decent to replace them with currently. My only guess would be replacing Protect with Vanish and Shell with Wall (as in 1 HP damage until next turn Wall), but I know the AI has issues with the latter.

[reinoe]

Recently FFMASTER announced that he's going to begin work on 139.  Normally I don't offer too many serious suggestions in this balance thread because I quickly realized I suck at balancing the game.  However there are some things that I hope that we can hammer out a general consensus on.

With that being said here are the things that seem to NEED changes.  I suppose RavenofRazgriv can then present our ideas to FFTMASTER because he seems to be our "GO TO" person to relay info.

spoiler: Time Mages

Speed 10 vs Speed 9 Remains the same but they get shields vs Speed 8 but get MP, HP, MA BUFFS.

Of the three I actually think that speed 10 is the best option.  I say this because as much variety as shields offer, at the end of the day if a Time Mage gets hit mid-charge then any evasion on the shield is useless. 

spoiler: MAGIC GUNS

Lower their attack power vs make them UNFAITH vs Make them Subject to EVASION
Interesting is that while Masamune has been everywhere for a long time, it turns out that what's really, truly, OP right now is Pumped up Spellguns.  Anyway  I actually don't want Spellguns subject to evasion.  Hitting everyone nearly 100% of the time is what guns are about.  However they should stand to get a lower power AND subject to UNFAITH.  This prevents them from getting OP with Pilgrimage.  They can still stack with MA UP and Shields.  I recommend lowering their POWER BY 2.

spoiler: SPEED +1

I think we came to a consensus that this will be a movement ability but did we ever decide whom it would actually belong to???

spoiler: Staves

I think this idea fell off the radar when the Masamune/Spellgun power issue started becoming prominent AND obvious.  Once it also became increasingly clear that the problem wasn't so much Staves but Time Mages.  I don't think we ever came to any conclusions except that...

Rainbow Staff needs a change but we're not sure what.
Healing staff needs some sort of boost.
White Staff may actually be even more useless than Rainbow staff

I would like to see Healing Staff (and murasame) get an increase in power by 2. 

spoiler: Golden Hairpin/FLARE

It needs to lower it's HP, and MP OR it needs to lose it's HOLY/DARK BOOST.  No matter what it needs to lose +1MA
I think the HOLY/DARK boost should remain and it should have less HP/MP.  Gaignum recommended that it go down to +60HP AND +30MP while keeping HOLY/DARK boost.  This seems acceptable.

FLARE should get it's MP costs reduced by 10.

spoiler: BLACK HOOD/BRIGANDINE/GRAND HELMET/MAXIMILLIAN

I think the idea was that Black Hood and Brigandine would get +10mp while GRAND HELMET AND MAXIMILLIAN WOULD GET +10HP

spoiler: Thieves

Thieves should get a boost in MP because so many of their abilities rely on MP.  While there has been some discussion of raising the cost of quickening, I think this idea was dropped because the A.I.'s unreliable use of Quickening.  If it were human vs human there would definitely be a need to nerf quickening.

spoiler: Ninja

Ninja needs to gain "Heretic" and then have the skill renamed "Mushin" or something like it.  Did we come to a conclusion about Kagesougi losing Don't act?  I think that idea was dropped because as powerful as DA is, there are a lot of items that neutralize DA.

spoiler: Axes

Decapitate needs to lose its 80% proc.

There was also talk about dual-weilding axes.  I don't know if that was or lol's or not.

spoiler: Stuff Raven Brought up

spoiler: Knives

Throwing Knife - This could easily be 12 WP to match Katar and Orichalcum with range being its perk compared to stats and Two Hands. 

Air Knife - I'd say this is better dropped to 11 WP, because Katar, Orichalcum, and Throwing Knife are meant to be your primary "high WP" Knives anyway unless the wool's been polled over my eyes on that one.  It is fairly strong for a Two Hands compatible weapon, though.

spoiler: Ninjato

I'mma just post a list of weapons instead of replying to you directly here.

(Note: All of these would be compatible with both Two Swords and Two Hands.)

Hidden Knife - 8 WP. 0% W-EVD, No Element, Always: Transparent, +1 SPD
Ninja Knife - 11 WP, 5% W-EVD, No Element, +1 PA
Short Edge - 10 WP, 5% W-EVD, No Element, 50% Add: Oil
Ninja Edge - 9 WP. 15% W-EVD, No Element, 50% Add: Don't Move
Spell Edge - 11 WP, 5% W-EVD, No Element, 50% Cast: Dark Sword (P-EVable) or 100% Cast: Spell Absorb
Sasuke Knife - 11 WP, 10% W-EVD, Fire Element, Boost: Earth (Insert Naruto Joke Here) (Make Icon Red)
Koga Knife - 11 WP, 10% W-EVD, Earth Element, Boost: Fire
Orochimaru Fang - 12 WP, 0% W-EVD, No Element, 50% Add: Blind

Keeps them doing more or less what they're already doing, just better and a bit more varied about it.  Also removes the Iga Knife / Spiked Futon overlap.

spoiler: Swords

Phoenix Blade - Gain Immune: Critical.

Parry Edge - Boost to 25% W-EVD.  20% W-EVD each is shit and not worth using Two Swords for any unit that could use Attack UP and Escutcheon II, and Two Swords Parry Edge isn't much stronger (if at all) than a 14 WP Sword with Attack UP supplemented by Escutcheon II.  That's why I originally proposed this to have 25% W-EVD but everyone flipped a shit over it, and now it's kinda garbage.

spoiler: Knight Swords

Defender - Becomes 16 WP.
Save the Queen and Ragnarok - become Always: Protect and Always: Shell and 15 WP.

Since status is permanent now, Defender needs to be stronger to be worth using, so WP swaps around.

spoiler: Axes

Battle Axe - W-EVD reduced to 20%.  Decap Proc damage reduced to 50% Max HP. This really is stupidly strong lol.

Slasher - W-EVD reduced to 25%.  Gain compatibility with Two Swords for optimum hilarity.

That's all I can think of for now.  Most of the stuff seems to already have a consensus.  But there are some things that can stand to be hammered out.

[Gaignun]

2. Recent Break Hack: So this is basically a "yay or nay" question: Do people think that the hack that makes it so that breaks miss and don't act as attacks if the target doesn't have the proper equipment to broken should be used in ARENA?

Makes sense to me.  Breaks doubling as physical attacks struck me as odd ever since I first played FFT on PSX.

3. Damn, "Daravon" Dryly Drones Dutifully: So...with it popping up more and more lately, I've been thinking again: Mimic Daravon seems like it might be a hell of a lot more fair if was just single-target, especially since Mediator's never really ever been a complete pushover without it. This even if half of their skills are still sort of dubious. At present, though, Mimic Daravon seems a bit too "swingy" for something that's more or less unavoidable & multi-target & instant and it has hell of a lot more freedom than Oracle's Sleep & it thus obviates that more or less. Reducing its targeting to one target doesn't seem like it would make it instantly useless either, even if it would now have to "compete" with Blackmail since Don't Act and Sleep are similar; ultimately they're quite different though. Its JP cost would probably have to be reduced, though, especially if Oracle's Sleep is only 150 JP.

I think Mimic Daravon is one of the few redeeming skills in the Mediator's toolset - the others being Insult and Refute.  Taking away their sole AoE skill might make them kind of toothless.

The Cure line seems very iffy to me right now. Cure2 and Cure3 get the most use, whereas Cure and Cure4 are barely touched at all. I propose a change to that line of spells.

-Cure stays the same, but has Cure3's formula/MP/CT/etc.
-Cure2 becomes Nether Cure, which would cost more and be a bit longer to cast, but would be based on Unfaith (not Unfury).
-Cure3 becomes Pray, which would be single-target heavy healing, but it wouldn't cost as much as Cure.
-Cure4 becomes Heal, which would heal the entire party at once for a bit of HP.

Cure 2 with Magic Attack UP tends to be a better option than Cure 3 with Short Charge.  For around 5% less healing strength, it costs fewer MP and JP and lets its user put the bonus MA into offense when the user isn't healing.  I'd hate to see it go.

Cure is also great for sneaking in some healing between enemy turns.  Again, though, it requires the caster to have a lot of MA to be worthwhile.

I feel that Cure 4 is unpopular because it is single-targeted.  For single-target healing, most people stick with Item; while items heal for less, they're much easier to use.  Your proposed skill "Pray" might be unpopular for the same reason.

As for "Heal," isn't that kind of like Angel Song?

Anyway, I'm open to shuffling around Cure spells, myself, especially if it means axing Cure 4 for something better. 

I feel something should be done with Protect/Shell, but I can't think of anything decent to replace them with currently. My only guess would be replacing Protect with Vanish and Shell with Wall (as in 1 HP damage until next turn Wall), but I know the AI has issues with the latter.

I've been thinking about Protect and Shell, too.  How does making them heal a bit of HP in addition to providing Protect or Shell sound?  The AI only casts the spells when their party members are injured, anyway.  I'm not sure whether having a skill concurrently use a MA*X formula for restoring HP and a MA+Y formula for adding a status effect is possible, though.  We might have to make the spells add the status at 100%, then bump up the JP, MP, or CT (or all three) to compensate.

Whom Speed +1 belongs to

My choice is Ninja.

Staves

I like The Damned suggestion of combining Healing Staff with Wizard Staff into a new staff (... called Healing Staff...) that gives +2 MA and heals.

Armour

Somebody (was it Raven?) made a nice post a few pages back about rebalanced armour.  I'll repost it in FFMaster's new thread.  I wasn't following the weapon changes as closely, so I'll let somebody else take care of that.

[RavenOfRazgriz]

Hold on Gaingun, I'm going to postdump EVERY half-competent idea from here into the other thread.

Sorting through all about 400 posts now, gimme 20mins.

[Gaignun]

Too late!  I got most armour-related and skill-related suggestions.  I added in a few of my own, as well.

[RavenOfRazgriz]

I sorted through every post there was so I posted anyway, y'all can screw. :v

[Eternal]

@Gaignun: Pray would be cheaper than Cure4, and would (hopefully) have lower CT. I suppose that if it were to be buffed further, you could make it Holy Elemental so that it could be further boosted. As for Heal, it'd be similar to Angel Song, but it'd heal for more, would be based on Faith, and wouldn't add Regen.

[Malroth]

Hasn't come up in a while but Every dance except witch hunt is currently worthless.  Its either so Innaccurate that you only get a proc 1 out of ever 4 uses or has no useful effect when it does.

[Otabo]

Hasn't come up in a while but Every dance except witch hunt is currently worthless.  Its either so Innaccurate that you only get a proc 1 out of ever 4 uses or has no useful effect when it does.

Agreed. IMO, Witch Hunt is worthless too, with all the Move-MP Up/Absorb MP/MP Restore running around.

[The Damned]

(No[t] going to touch the Dance talk outside of saying that the Dances aren't worthless, though Last Dance, like Last Song, should probably go back to being 50% again.)

Yeah, something probably does need to done with the Cure series of spells, especially since Cure (1) is rather pathetic in most instances. Similarly, despite it being usable, Cure 4 does kind of get obviated by Item a lot of the team, especially with Spellguns punishing such high Faith with damage almost equal to Cure 4; this if it even gets to go off in time.

Cure 3 has similar problems that Gaignun already pointed out.

So Cure(1) getting a boost and Pray & Heal don't sound unwelcome. That said, I can't really get behind Nether Cure, if only because there's really no reason for a low-Faith unit to otherwise use White Magick even for AoE healing since Angel Song, Chakra and elemental-absorb tactics exist. The only thing that doesn't take Faith in White Magick right now is Wall, which currently sucks.

Speaking of which, can we do something about that? For something that's 100% on a class has MP to spare unless it's Holy'ing everything in sight or has some (expensive) attack Secondary, it's rather telling that it hasn't seen use in at least the past three months, if not longer. Hell, it was barely used before my months long self-imposed hiatus in April of last year.

And it seems to have only gotten worse from there what with further having to compete with Chivalry having a now for some reason instant Reraise ability/"spell" that hits 100% and is a third of Wall's cost. This when Wall already had to compete with the Perfumes, Iron Will, the Protect & Shell spells, a Nameless Song that AI will actually use now, and even the two lesser Knightswords & the two lesser Cloths.

So...yeah, something needs to be done with Wall.

That said, I don't see why we should be touching Protect or Shell, much less replacing them with things that we know makes the AI extremely dumb in the form of Vanish (Transparent) and Wall (status). They aren't broken. So why are we trying to "fix" them and make White Magic even more powerful and necessary when it's already mostly fine?

[Eternal]

Sorry, I should have been more clear about Nether Cure. It'd be based on the -target's- Unfaith (I think I used a formula like that in PW somewhere a while ago), and flat out ignore the Priest's. This way you can run a high Faith Priest and still be able to help out your low Faith other units. If people are against the idea of Nether Cure, I suppose it could be made into either Refresh (MP healing) or the like.

As far as Vanish/Wall goes, since Vanish exists now on that one Ninja Blade and the AI works fine with it, I don't see how Vanish would be a problem. I think there's a fix for Wall, too. I'm mostly against Protect1/Shell1 because unlike Haste1/Slow1, the AI barely uses them as is and better versions exist and are far better.

[The Damned]

(Oh.)

Hmmm...I'll have to think about it more in that case though. I wouldn't mind seeing Refresh, though I'm biased towards that obviously.

As for Vanish, the AI only uses that fine because it has as Always: Transparent. If it was Initial: Transparent only, they would act a lot more wonky and dumb. Additionally, IIRC, no one has used Weapon Break on a Ninja with (just one) Hidden Knife, so we really don't know how the AI acts. Didn't we see it act rather stupidly when Sunken State was around though? Or was that only really used with Grand Cross?

As for Wall the status, meh. I'm less against that one, but I've yet to see it be used in any context save for videos of Kanbarif's (or whatever his name was) busted ass, so it immediately rubs me the wrong way. If we're just talking about Protect 1 and Shell 1, then I guess I could see some changes. When you said "Protect" and "Shell", I thought you were talking about changing the statuses on Priest as a whole for some reason.

That's what happens when most spells and statuses are named the same I guess.

Suffice to say if Wall the status gets in, though, then Wall the spell is deader than dead since that thing would instantly become even more worthless, if that's possible. Guess Refresh could replace Wall instead then.

[Dokurider]

Witch Hunt isn't worthless. Sure Absorb MP walls it, but Move MP Up loses to a decent Witch Hunt and MP Restore doesn't come into play until late game. Casters lose turns having to heal up or can't use their more potent spells and that wins games. It especially hurts Physical MP users like Kagesougi spammers and Hawk's Eyers.

Nameless Dance is good, it's just really variable.

Do I need to remind you what Slow Dance does and why it's needs to not that successful in the first place?

Last Dance is just plain inferior to Last Song as adding turns is strong that taking away turns.

Disillusion/Polka Polka is just too much of a guessing game to be useful. Perhaps if they were combined into one with Slow Dance's odds...

Wiznaibus is useful on paper, but in practice, it's walled by Auto Potion, the most common reaction ever.

Why do I feel like I'm repeating what someone already said?

[Eternal]

Random thought. Add: Undead to Wiznaibus. Too overpowered?

[Wiz]

Yeah, we're gonna have to talk about quickening with thieves plus a few other things I have in mind.

spoiler: Quickening with Thieves

Black Hood: Damned was going somewhere with Quickening discussion before, but alas. Raven's suggestion for this item would actually facilitate Quickening spam even more than it does now.
Taking one of my thieves as an example

Before 139
Male + Thief + Green Beret + Black Costume/Santa Outfit = 324 HP with unyielding (388 in actuality; 324 * 1.2 = 388~ HP Physicially and Magically), 39 MP, 5 Move, 5 Jump at 40 Br/Fa

139 (Black Hood = +110 HP, +50 MP)
Male + Thief + Black Hood + Black Costume/Santa Outfit = 354 HP with unyielding (424 in actuality; 354 *1.2 = 424~ HP Physically and Magically), 74/79 MP (+5/+10 Base MP to Thieves), 4 Move, 4 Jump at 40 Br/Fa

Only con there would be is the -1 jump since it's debatable as to whether -1 Move is actually better/worse. Everything else would just completely go against Gaignun's objective and make my thieves even more difficult to take down

Quickening: increase MP cost to 20 (from 15).  With hats and clothes getting an MP boost, this is done to prevent "Move-MP UP + Quickening" from being easily used on tanks with huge HP pools.
Give Thieves around +5 base MP (on par with Ninja)

Quickening: The move's meant to be spammed, not to be applied just one to four times in battle and that's it. Defense's best friend is speed  and when the two are combined, they're nearly impossible to kill single-handedly. Not only that, but it increases their offense as well with the constant double, and even triple turns if it comes to that. Quickening's only flaw to it is that the death counter will work against you now, nothing more. Take my thieves again as an example, would you prefer to do 300 damage via double-turns (150+ HP swipes from the Sasuke Knives after only gaining a few points in speed, a few as in only 7 or so) or would you want a PA/ MA Stacked Glass Cannon that does that same amount of damage in one turn to non-tanky units, but never gets hits off because he/she's so slow at a measly 8 SPD and has only a less than 50% chance of connecting his/her shots due to the darkness status inflicted from Kiyomori-Spamming Mediators? If Quickening's not rid of and the changes to the Black Hood are implemented, you're just going to see the same thing happen from my team and it'll be easier for them to pull it off (Higher HP Pool and all). And if Quickening's not rid of and the proposed change to the black hood is taken off the list, then you'll just punish and detract everyone from using it at all since it'll be more difficult to use effectively otherwise with the units that currently use it (Can't really imagine mages using it all that much).  Basically, all what I'm saying metaphorically speaking is that Quickening requires a niche strategy and is most effectively used only on a team like mine because Speed + Defense are mutually exclusive:  Although increasing speed doesn't yield a higher DPS compared to Pure-Offense initially, the constant additional turns from speed-building will inevitably increase that DPS just enough (And even higher compared to Pure-Offense if it gets to that point) to take down any other Defensive force a vast majority of the time.

TL;DR Quickening's broken (Meaning it needs to die), and won't be used more effectively any other way compared to how I'm using it because as a component and despite the +5 MP increase to 15 as opposed to its former 10 MP Cost, it's still beating a majority of the metagame like YUSD.  Being able to do 300 damage from one unit at 40 Br in two turns (Commonly double-turning people I may add) is wrong.

Now that one of the biggies is out of way

spoiler: A few pittley things

Sasuke Knife: It can stay as is, it's a nice little one-trick pony for my thieves currently...if everyone wants to have Quickening stay around that is. If not (As well as Sasuke Knife I may add), then I propose the next thing below should be on the chopping block due to it being irrefutably broken in its given context (And niche like my team is)...

spoiler

Iron Boots: Before I get into the details, let's just do a little math.

Attacking Raven's 40 Br Defense UP/Protect Dancers (Monk/Dancer now), with a 70 Br AU (Attack UP) Stone Gun User at Neutral Compat = 56 Damage

Attacking a 70 Brave Unit, with a 70 Br AU Stone Gun User at Neutral Compat = 211 Damage

56/211 = 26.54~ % ; 1 - .2654 = .7346~ = 73.46~ Damage Reduction

Yeah, reducing the damage output by that much from the two layers of physical defense is absurd in addition to essentially protection from Magical Offenses (Sans Draw Out, to some extent) via Shell + 40 Fa. At the very least, I'm willing to keep it intact as long as it loses Always: Protect (For now). Right now, this is the equivalent of DU(Defense UP)/MDU (Magic Defend UP)/Move=0 conveniently packaged all into one accessory. I know this accessory's here for Dancing/Singing and and I guess used to be lore spamming (Scholars being changed to Druids) , but frankly, it's only been really effective through YUSD, which has gone about beating probably 90% of the metagame. And imo, having a team win that often (More so than my S1 Team, which I've proven also has broken elements to it; Quickening, Masamune...although it's only OP, Insult, etc...) only verifies that Defensive/Offensive Extreme teams need to be toned down, i.e. the damage scale should be narrowed. I mean, if Akuma was banned and he was only beating the metagame 62.5 % of the time (100/160; Assuming players are of equal skill level) and other outlets like this or shoryuken verify that as such even after supposedly being rebalanced in HDR, then I think it's safe to say YUSD shouldn't exist in its current form as explained above.

Berserk subjected to Evasion: I don't think so. The status, although is considered neutral to the AI, is meant to be a debuff, not a buff. And since it already is subjected to reaction abilities anyway, there's no need to go any further steering it away from its intended direction especially since it's only applied through only one reliable way that's broken, which is...

Insult: It can die. Decreasing it's hitrate will only make it useless (Another niche strategy best used defensively), The Damned. You'll just see the same fate happen to those that have already incurred my team's wrath if left alone in its current form. (And even if all you're units are immune to Berserk, that's not a guarantee for victory. Test out DomieV's Famous Knights against me and see what happens). Imo, combining Berserk (Oracle Skillset) + Poison (Wizard Skillset) for a faith-based skill (In the Oracle's skillset) with an AOE of two would be far more beneficial since people would have more of an incentive to pick it due to its deadly nature. Besides, it would free up one additional skill slot + an AOE Poison/Berserk spell would actually see some use although it would have certain risks to it with having smart-targeting and what not.

A few more biggies...

spoiler: The Fundamentals aka a few monkeywrenches

No JP Cap, No Ability Cap, No Item Cap: Gonna be blunt and just say I'm suggesting these because that'll significantly increase the scope of team creation. There are other reasons like the fact that if something were to be deemed OP or Broken as a result of these, then they just can simply be Nerfed or Rid of and replaced with something else accordingly. Putting it into practice (hypothetically speaking of course), if I created 4x of the Mediator design I have now from my S1 Team, it might sound cool on paper and beat a lot of teams that aren't immune to Berserk, but all what it takes to stop it in its tracks entirely is the Diamond Armor. And hell, it'd probably only take immunity to poison + having Auto-Potion since 10-25 damage bag smacks I doubt are gonna cut it. It also might sound cool if you gave everyone the Brigandine as opposed to varying it up with Black Costumes/Santa Outfits/Rubber Costumes/Earth Clothes, but now you're less diversified in regards to elemental-oriented teams. There's checks and balances. The changes made to the gear and abilities then become the rules of the game. I don't see why anyone wouldn't want to take advantage of that.

One last tiny thing...

spoiler: Ramza Up

HP/MP/PA/MA Buffs: I was thinking of buffing the MP/MA Raw Stat Values of Males to that of Females and vice versa of Females to that of Males(HP/PA Raw Stat Values) if only because I'd like to see more male mages and female warriors (Especially the Sprites). It'd help out everyone especially Female Thieves since the only reason why someone would pick one is for Steal Heart, and that's it, which is pretty lame. And, as a result, you're more capable of fiddling around with the Zodiac Stats without having to worry about drawbacks in stat discrepancies as well.

I would elaborate more on those last few spoilers, but I'm lazy, so yeah.

There's just a few bugs though (more or less) that I should point out before concluding.

spoiler: Bugs

-I mentioned it to FFM, but the Thieves/Scholars have their Sprite type switched around (Shishi ftw). That's why thieves look like they're swinging awkwardly and the motion from the Scholar's arms looks odd.

-Not that it matters all too much, but the yellow and purple palettes for the female summoner are inverted (Palette 5 = Yellow; Palette 6 = Purple)

-It's been said before, but units with transparency are still taking in evasion (From Mantles I know that much, but everything else, I'm not sure).

[RavenOfRazgriz]

There's no reason to edit Dance further.  How many versions of Arena did I have to dominate with Y U SO DERP to get people to realize how strong that stuff is?

It's still useful, just not omgwtfoplol.  The only Dance that truly has no use and could potentially be buffed is Wiznaibus, but Wiznaibus being buffed essentially makes Auto Potion and HP Restore even more mandatory, so I'd rather leave it alone.  Dancing for damage is generally the worst reason to be Dancing when the entire skillset is based on hazing.  Wiznaibus mostly exists as a hard-counter to Life Song and leaving it that way is fine, personally.

[The Damned]

(Yeah, the only real change that I could see to Wiznaibus that wouldn't necessitate Auto Potion becoming even more popular is just giving it [back] a cheaper JP cost compared to all the other Dances like 150 JP or even 100 JP. No way that thing needs to cost 200 JP unlike Life Song, even with Mime Spam due its longer CT now.)

I pretty much agree with Wiz about Quickening, but I've always admittedly hated the hell out of that that thing since the beginning. Only way I'd maybe ever be "comfortable" with it was if Xifanie's stat hack was implemented, but I think that's only for Maintenance and losing stats. Even if it isn't, I'm sure I would still not like Quickening (though I'd use it because, hey, winning).

Can't really say where I stand his other stuff at present, though I've already watched his team and DomieV's fight for the record. I just need to record it--damn pseudo-homonyms. Suffice to say, even without Berserk being a factor, the results...weren't pretty due to Quickening and a few other things.

Random thought. Add: Undead to Wiznaibus. Too overpowered?

Too overpowered since nothing really cures Undead (and I think it should stay that way), though amusingly we had the same thought.