FFT Arena: Balance Discussion Thread

[CT5Holy]

Oh that's right, forgot about +SPD shield. I feel silly now.

[FFMaster]

Here's the current changes. More changes will be added when I'm done asm hacking it. For pretty much all of it, it's follows Raven's proposed changes, so if you missed it, you can read it here.

Changelog
Bug fixes and other random noted changes
- Swapped Thief and Scholar back around... again. Added Xif's Calculator slowdown fix(this will make the ppf smaller overall)
- Added fdc's checksum hack


Items
Knives
- Throwing Knife  gains 33% Add: Death Sentence
- Dual Cutters WP increased to 7
- Blind Knife replaced with Repel Knife - 9 WP, 15 W-EV, Yes Two Swords, No Two Hands, +1 Move, 50% All or Nothing Add: Don't Act and Haste
- Mage Masher - WP increased to 9, proc changed to 50% Cast Bizen Boat
- Main Gauche is now 2 Handable
- Orichalcum is now 2 Handable
- Assassin Dagger replaced with Katar - 12 WP, 15 W-EV, No Two Swords, Yes Two Hands, +1 Move, +1 PA
- Air Knife is now 2 Handable

Ninjato
- Spell Edge gains 50% Cast: Spell Absorb

Swords - New
- Phoenix Blade - 16 WP, 25 W-EV, 1 hand only, Always: Reraise, Slow, Immune: Dead, Undead, Haste, Death Sentence
- Tactician Blade - 14 WP, 10 W-EV, 1 hand only, +1 Move, +1 Jump
- Parry Edge - 9 WP, 20 W-EV, Yes Two Swords, Yes Two Hands
- Moonlight - 9 WP, 0 W-EV, No Two Swords, Yes Two Hands, 50% Cast: Blade Beam
- Shieldrender - 8 WP, 5 W-EV, No Two Swords, Yes Two Hands, 50% Cast: Shield Break
- Lionheart - 10 WP, 0 W-EV, No Two Swords, Yes 2 Hands, +2 PA
- Ultima Weapon - 10 WP, 10 W-EV, No Two Swords, Yes Two Hands, 33% Cast: Ultima

Swords - Old
- Blood Sword W-EV reduced to 0, becomes 2 handable
- Coral Sword gains 33% Cast: Water Ball
- Ancient Sword WP lowered to 9, gains 2 swords/2 hands, proc chance reduced to 20%
- Sleep Sword WP increased to 9
- Platinum sword WP decreased to 12, gains 2 swords/2 hands
- Diamond Sword removed to become Shieldrender
- Ice Brand WP increased to 14, proc chance reduced to 20%
- Rune Blade is now 2 handable

Knight Swords
- Defender WP increased to 15
- Save the Queen WP increased to 16
- Excalibur WP increased to 13
- Ragnarok WP increased to 16
- Chaos Blade WP increased to 17, gains 100% Cancel: Regen in addition to all other cancels

Katana
- All Katana are now 2 handable/2 swordable(even the ones not listed)
- Asura WP increased to 10
- Kotetsu WP decreased to 9, gains Strengthen: Dark
- Heaven's Cloud loses 1 PA, gains 50% Add: Slow
- Kiyomori WP decreased to 10, gains 2 MA
- Muramasa WP decreased to 9
- Kikuichimoji WP decreased to 10, gains 33% Cast: Quake
- Masamune WP decreased to 8, gains 50% Cast: Dispel Magic
- Chirijiraden gains Strengthen: Earth, Wind, Water

Staves
- Rainbow staff loses all elements(still retains neutral: all)

Guns
- Blaze Gun WP reduced to 13, always casts Fire 2
- Glacier Gun WP reduced to 12, always casts Ice 2
- Blast Gun WP reduced to 11, always casts Bolt 2

Crossbows
- Bow Gun proc changed to 50% Cast: Armor Break
- Crossbow replaced with Silencer - 10 WP, 0 W-EV, No 2 swords, No 2 Hands, 4 Range, 50% Add: Silence
- Poison Bow WP increased to 12

Bows
- All bows gain 1 WP
- Silver Bow gain 20% Cast: Holy
- Ice Bow proc changed to 25% Add: Stop
- Lightning Bow proc changed to 25% Add: Don't Act
- Windslash Bow gains 20% Cast: Hurricane (33% Max HP damage)
- Ultimus Bow gains 1 PA

Books
- Battle Dict renamed to Necronomicon, WP increased to 14
- Monster Dict proc changed to 33% Cast: Magic Ruin (50% MP damage at PA+60% chance to hit)
- Papyrus Plate WP increased to 12
- Madlemgen WP increased to 13

Bags
- All bags are now 2 handable/2 swordable
- C Bag gains 1 MA
- FS Bag gains 1 PA
- P Bag loses Weak: Dark

Shields
- Ice Shield P-EV increased to 20, M-EV decreased to 15
- Flame Shield P-EV decreased to 15, M-EV increased to 20
- Diamond Shield P-EV decreased to 5, M-EV increased to 25
- Platina Shield P-EV increased to 25, M-EV decreased to 5
- Crystal Shield P-EV increased to 20, M-EV increased to 20, gains Neutral: All Elements
- Genji Shield P-EV decreased to 10
- Venetian Shield replaced with Swift Plate - 5 P-EV, 5 M-EV, +1 speed

Helmets
- Gold Helm loses Immune: Chicken, gains Immune: Don't Move
- Genji Helm loses Immune: Don't Move, gains Initial: Berserk

Headbands
- Cachusha renamed to Focus Band

Armor
- Genji Armor HP decreased to 40, MP increased to 40, gains Always: Protect, Shell, Don't Move(placeholder item until I can work something in, for now, have fun with HEAVY ARMOR OF NO MOVING)

Robes
- Light Robe loses Weak: Dark

Accessories
- Reflect Ring loses Immune: Silence, gains Immune: Berserk
- Defense Ring gains Immune: Dead, Silence, gains Absorb: Water
- Cursed Ring gains Immune: Crystal (Immune: Death Sentence was there but not documented)
- Diamond Armlet gains Null: Earth, gains Immune: Oil
- Jade Armlet loses Immune: Chicken, gains Null: Ice
- 108 Gems loses Immune: Blood Suck, gains Immune: Oil
- N-kai Armlet loses Immune: Confusion, gains Immune: Undead
- Small Mantle P-EV increased to 10, M-EV decreased to 20
- Leather Mantle P-Ev increased to 20, M-EV increased to 30
- Wizard Mantle P-EV increased to 15, M-EV increased to 25
- Elf Mantle P-EV increased to 25, M-EV increased to 25
- Dracula Mantle P-EV increased to 25, M-EV increased to 15
- Feather Mantle P-EV increased to 30, M-EV increased to 20
- Vanish Mantle P-EV decreased to 20, M-EV increased to 10


Jobs
Squire
- Bullrush proc changed to 100% Cancel: Haste
- Cheer Up remade to Alacrity: 10 MP, +1MA, self only, 200 JP
- Squire gains Concentrate(400JP)

Chemist
- Antidote gains Cancel: Darkness, JP increased to 100
- Eye Drop changed to Chronos Tear: Cancel: Stop, 100 JP
- Echo Grass gains Cancel: Berserk, JP increased to 100

Paladin
- Nurse gains Add: Regen
- Transfusion MP cost removed
- Iron Will gains Add: Shell, loses Add: Regen
- Magic Ward replaced with Reraise: 3 range, 3 Vert, 16 MP, 200 JP, 0 CT, Add: Reraise
- Grand Cross gains Target Self
- New Skill Northern Cross: Same as Grand Cross except cannot target or hit self, no status, 250 JP

Archer
- Greased Bolt removed
- Hawk's Eye gains 100% Add: Poison, Oil
- Execute Y increased to 40
- Cover Fire formula fixed to Random[1...3]*(PA+70)
- Speed Save increased to 25 CT on proc

Priest
- Dia added to White Magic
- Raise 2 JP increased to 300
- Regen/Protect/Shell JP reduced to 50
- Esuna JP reduced to 200
- Holy is now M-Evadable

Wizard
- Wizard base job gains 1 MA
- Black Magic Fire/Bolt/Ice tiers remade to Fire/Bolt/Ice/Water(check the tables)
- Tiers are now Level 1 Magic(old level 2 magic), Nether Magic, and Level 2 Magic(old level 3 magic)
- Poison Y decreased to 90, AoE increased to 2, vert increased to 3

Time Mage
- Haste/Slow Vert increased to 1, JP increased to 100
- Don't Move AoE increased to 2, Vert increased to 3, JP increased to 100
- Balance MP cost reduced to 15
- Demi MP cost reduced to 12, Y increased to 90
- Demi 2 MP cost reduced to 24, Y increased to 75, X decreased to 50, CT decreased to 4
- Critical Quick JP reduced to 300

Summoner
- All summons with CT >= 5 are now M-Evadable
- Leviathan Y increased to 8, gains 20% Cancel: All positive statii, MP increased to 20
- Salamander Y increased to 8, gains 20% Add: Oil, MP increased to 20
- Titan Y increased to 10, MP increased to 25
- Odin remade - Dmg_F(MA * 9), Darkness elemental, 20% +Dead, 35 MP, 6 CT
- Lich loses darkness elemental, Y increased to 65
- Cyclops CT reduced to 5

Thief
- Spellbreaker formula changed to Dmg_(Weapon) with 50% proc

Oracle
- Blind JP increased to 100

Geomancer
- Geomancer base job gains 20 MP, 1 PA, 1 MA, 1 Jump
- Geomancy statii reshuffled

Samurai
- Asura Y increased to 7
- Kotetsu range increased to 1, AoE decreased to 2
- Masamune Range increased to 1, AoE decreased to 0,  hits self+target

Ninja
- Meiton, Fuuton and Suiton are now M-Evadable
- Doku no Kyoukai removed
- Kagesougi proc changed to 100% random add: Blind, Silence, Poison, Don't Move, Don't Act

Scholar
- Natural Selection replaced with Maelstrom( same as other all target Lore except water element)
- Bio 2 JP increased to 200

Bard
- Life Song gains 15% Add: Regen
- Nameless Song loses Add: Regen, Haste, gains Add: Reflect

Dancer
- Wiznaibus gains 15% Add: Poison
- Nameless Dance loses Add: Poison, gains Add: Oil

Status
- Poison is now 96 CT, does not get removed on Dead
- Regen does not get removed on Dead
- Dead now cancels Oil and Frog
- Oil now causes the unit to be weak to all elements except Holy/Dark, dispels on all  elemental attacks except Holy/Dark

EDIT: I will accept weapon/armor/skill renames. Basically, my goal is to tidy up everything. After the initial testing, the usual quickfixes for bugs/major balance issues will be done, and will be released as version 1.0. After that, we can start development on monsters. Ability descriptions will start as soon as I decide on a decent format for Arena.

Anything glaringly wrong or anything I've missed should be noted here so I can fix them.

[Eternal]

Oil -> Imperil (Status in FFXIII that makes the enemy weak to all elements)
Tactician Blade -> Tactician's Blade
Parry Edge -> Broadsword (Parry Edge? What is this, FFVI SNES?)
Moonlight -> Estrella (Same meaning, sounds nicer. Sword in FFTA2.)
Silencer -> Silenshot
Swift Plate -> Zephyr Shield
Barette -> Choice Band
Ribbon -> Chakra Band
Southern Cross -> Saint Cross (Southern Cross usually has to do with Ice/Freezing status)

Nameless Song imbuing Reflect would make me use it even less, particularly if I use White Magic. Also, I still highly object to M-EVDable Summons.

[RavenOfRazgriz]

Tactician's Blade is too many characters.

Moonlight is a reference even you should get Eternal.  It refers to the clear, magical blade that appears in King's Field, Demon's Souls, and Armored Core.  In Armored Core it fires a projectile weapon as well as initial blade damage which explodes for extra damage (Blade Beam).  Not everything has to reference a Final Fantasy game, bro. See: Focus Band.

Celdia will disembowel you if you don't let her have Southern Cross I think. :U

[Barren]

Not everything has to be final fantasy related yet we can't have ballistic knives

In all seriousness though i can understand why we're using the reference moonlight. its some pretty nice insight on your part raven

[Gaignun]

Do the names I suggested before still count?  Here's my list of recommendations:

Tactician Blade -> Scout's Blade
Parry Edge -> Epee
Defense Armlet -> Oven Mittens (It's more descriptive than "Defense Armlet," considering that it now nulls fire)
Alacrity -> Focus (you can accumulate, you can focus, but you can't alacrity)

Crystal Shield P-EV increased to 20, M-EV increased to 20, gains Neutral: All Elements

This shield is as good as useless.  The only weakness it can cover for is Cursed Ring's weakness to fire.  How about putting it in a more useful niche, like "Null: Haste" with benefits like "Null: Slow, Stop" or "Always: MP/CT Regen" (if either existed)?  As long as we make the benefits attractive enough to lure people away from depending on Haste, the shield will have more personality.

Nameless Song loses Add: Regen, Haste, gains Add: Reflect

Wasn't this supposed to add Reraise instead of Reflect?

- Grand Cross gains Target Self
- New Skill Northern Cross: Same as Grand Cross except cannot target or hit self, no status, 250 JP

Do you mean that Paladins will have the old Grand Cross in addition to the new one?

[RavenOfRazgriz]

This shield is as good as useless.  The only weakness it can cover for is Cursed Ring's weakness to fire.  How about putting it in a more useful niche, like "Null: Haste" with benefits like "Null: Slow, Stop" or "Always: MP/CT Regen" (if either existed)?  As long as we make the benefits attractive enough to lure people away from depending on Haste, the shield will have more personality.

The issue is there's no room in Item Attributes.  See: the odd change to Genji Armor in order to squeeze space.  If you want the Shield to do something else, it needs another pre-existing effect.  While this shield for now only affects Cursed Ring (as a stronger alternative to Flame Shield), it also opens up future design space since there are many unused Clothing, Armor, Helmet, Hat slots which could involve elem weaknesses, etc.

It could do with something better most likely, but since there's no space, there's not many other options to put on there.

Wasn't this supposed to add Reraise instead of Reflect?

Yes, yes it was.  I missed that proofreading his changelog, not sure why it does that.

Do you mean that Paladins will have the old Grand Cross in addition to the new one?

That was always the intent, yes.

[FFMaster]

It has both Reflect and Reraise currently.

[RavenOfRazgriz]

Oh that works.

[Barren]

If anything I'll still run tests for 1.38 anyways then from there we can decide if the changes are good or bad

[Gaignun]

The issue is there's no room in Item Attributes.  See: the odd change to Genji Armor in order to squeeze space.  If you want the Shield to do something else, it needs another pre-existing effect.  While this shield for now only affects Cursed Ring (as a stronger alternative to Flame Shield), it also opens up future design space since there are many unused Clothing, Armor, Helmet, Hat slots which could involve elem weaknesses, etc.

Ah, I gotcha.  Our hands are tied, huh?

I'm wondering how easy it would be to make abilities add elemental weaknesses to their targets.  It wouldn't be like Oil, which expires on hit, but something that would last until death.  If this is possible, we could add a new class of skills, or perhaps a new job entirely, that manipulates targets' elemental affinities.  Then, equipment with "Neutral: All Elements" can null these kinds of attacks.  The easiest way to pull this off would probably be to create eight status effects that add weakness to each element and making the equipment null every one.  Otherwise, an attack parameter which acts upon target affinities will need to be added, which will probably require a messy ASM hack.

That was always the intent, yes.

I'm a little confused, then.  Is the only difference between the two skills that one hits self and adds blind and the other doesn't?  They seem similar enough to be two tiers of a group.

[FFMaster]

Sothern Cross is usable with basically any setup, while Grand Cross requires specific setups. That's about it really.

Tactician's Blade can fit, so there's no problem with that name.

[RavenOfRazgriz]

I'm wondering how easy it would be to make abilities add elemental weaknesses to their targets.  It wouldn't be like Oil, which expires on hit, but something that would last until death.  If this is possible, we could add a new class of skills, or perhaps a new job entirely, that manipulates targets' elemental affinities.  Then, equipment with "Neutral: All Elements" can null these kinds of attacks.  The easiest way to pull this off would probably be to create eight status effects that add weakness to each element and making the equipment null every one.  Otherwise, an attack parameter which acts upon target affinities will need to be added, which will probably require a messy ASM hack.

FDC and I discussed this a long time ago.  It'd involve gouging out your eyes with a rusty spork then trying to put them back in with some duct tape.

I'm a little confused, then.  Is the only difference between the two skills that one hits self and adds blind and the other doesn't?  They seem similar enough to be two tiers of a group.

Yes, that's basically the difference, one hits you and one doesn't.  That makes both skills play out very differently in application though despite being almost exactly the same.  One is generic, easy to use, but is only good for DPS, the other is harder to use, requires setups, but can do many different things at us (status, healing, DPS). 

This is why I think Grand Cross should be renamed Northern Cross to better make it look a counterpart to Southern Cross.

[Gaignun]

FDC and I discussed this a long time ago.  It'd involve gouging out your eyes with a rusty spork then trying to put them back in with some duct tape.

So you're saying it's possible? :D

[SoySauceMaster]

So you're saying it's possible?

Maybe if units had a sub-equipment menu that equips items that only halves one element, each. The sub menu would need to have 8 slots to account for all the elements, even though there's only 5 spaces available. Then you'd have to make a sniping class to target only the sub-menu items. Of course, all units would start out with innate half-elemental damage, so there would probably need to be some rebalancing issues with elemental weapons/abilities. There's also the issue of overlapping original elemental-guarding equips.

Seeing how there's already a sniping class, as well as teams that use equips which offer elemental protection, as is, I find it quite redundant. If you want to inlict more spell damage, then that's what Faith manipulating and Shell-dispelling abilities are for.

[RavenOfRazgriz]

It's "possible" Gaignun, but the amount of work required to make it happen isn't worth it and it will disappear if a unit as its equipment broken or is otherwised forced to refresh its properties.

[formerdeathcorps]

I propose the following:

Thief Hat: +80 HP, +1 SPD
Secret Clothes: +60 HP, +1 SPD, Halve: Wind, Earth, Water

Reasons:
1) Secret Clothes needs to see more use.
2) Stops teams from walling all elements (which is fairly cheap if the team doesn't rely on damage).  In particular, it discourages the overuse of black costume and white robe (both of which had perfect synergies with thief hat).  The metagame can handle this reduction in defensive ability because we reduced the effectiveness of some of the more potent damaging options, namely: Blaze Gun Kagesougi's damage, Koutetsu's AoE, evadability of holy/ninjitsu, etc.

[Gaignun]

While I agree that Secret Clothes needs a buff, I'm not sure if removing defensive options is the way to go about it.  The only gear combination right now that blocks all elements is Diamond Shield, Thief Hat, White Robe, and N-Kai Armlet.  The only classes that can equip these abilities without support skills are Squire and Geomancer.  However, this combination grants no positive buffs, with the exception of Thief Hat's +1 SP, so these two classes are going to be comparatively weak.  Mage classes can block all elements with Equip Shield, but then they are giving up their support slot for other valuable skills like Short Charge or Magic Defend UP, not to mention spending 250 JP unlocking a skill set (Geomancy) they're probably not going to use for anything else.  They'll also be squishy, which will leave them exposed to powerful non-elemental magic (the most potent of which is turning out to be simply the "Attack" command with all these new weapons coming out).  Exchanging offense/defense for elemental resistance is a fair trade, wouldn't you think?

Ultimately, if elemental resistance becomes a problem, you just need to start playing the meta-game with breaks and steals.  At least with Venetian Shield gone, playing the meta-game will be easier.

This is my thought on the issue, anyway.

EDIT: I've been wondering: is Ultima Weapon's Ultima proc going to hit its user?  The spell does have 1 AoE, after all

[RavenOfRazgriz]

Weapon Procs do not have an AoE so no it would not.

I don't see any issue with the Black Costume + Thief Hat or White Robe + Thief Hat combos.  You used to be able to make far stronger defensive setups in Arena, and now will Elements being pushed harder, having an answer to them that leaves you gimped in other ways seems fine to me, especially with Venetian Shield gone, since the main combo was Venetian Shield + Thief Hat which gave huge protection for low opportunity cost.

[The Damned]

(Indeed. While I concur that Secret Clothes needs some type of boost, as does Sprint Shoes, that seems a bit much, formerdeathcorps.)

Well, good to see this thread hasn't moved too much from last Thursday, which is when I meant to post before everything kinda went to Sheol. Again. Well, moreso, but nothing major.

Anyway....

Ah, so the Item Attribute room did run out. I suspected as much.

First things first, though I suppose it's related to that since it doesn't call for any new Item Attribute room. I finally remembered to find that damn suggestion I had for Hair Adornments after not seeing any mention of those on FFMaster's...master list aside from the random Pokemon reference change. So, of course, it would be all the way back on page 23...as the first thing I ever replied with in regards to this:

6. Diversify the "Head-bands" more please - Decrease Ribbon's HP to 60 and decrease Barrete's HP to 70 while letting it block Sleep given that a) Ribbon doesn't and b) Confusion & Chicken don't exist anymore. I really can't remember the last time I ever saw anyone use Barette or Cachusha even before they became Monk-exclusive. Perhaps let Cachusha keep its 80 HP, lose a bit of its 80 MP and gain immunity to Undead, Charm, Innocent & Faith (basically sharing Item Attribute with Crystal Armor) since it honestly needs to block something if the other two block so much; meanwhile Ribbon loses both its immunities to Undead and Charm to stop the aforementioned monopoly of serious status.

Given that no one objected to this--if only because everyone seems to have ignored it, perhaps because their eyes understandably glazed over at the length of that post--and I honestly feel like Hair Adornments still need changes, I am still going to push this. In fact, I'm going to elaborate further because I made an addendum to this some time after that I don't feel like finding to also quote:


1. Cachusha (or whatever the hell we're call it, even if I don't get this "band" talk): It shares the Item Attribute of Crystal Armor, which means that it comes to Block Charm, Undead, Innocent and Faith as well; we honestly need at least one more thing that blocks Innocent and Faith and if there's no more room.... It retains its 80 HP, but its MP drops down to about 30 or 40 or even 50.

2. Barrette: Its Item Attribute loses Confusion and Chicken since those no longer exist in ARENA and gains Sleep. As such, it would thus Block Dead, Silence, Poison, Slow, Sleep, Don't Move and Death Sentence. It retains its 70 HP and 0 MP.

3. Ribbon: Its Item Attribute loses Undead and Charm since it already blocks too damn much as it is. It would then "only" Block Petrify, Darkness/Blind, Berserk, Frog, Stop and Don't Act. Its HP might still be fine at 70 given that now it doesn't trump Barette (as egregiously at least), especially with the upcoming change to Poison, but maybe it should fall to 60 HP given Ribbon still covers almost all the other "serious" status effects sans Charm now.

4. Availability: Even if Monk continues to be the only class that gets to innately equip Hair Adornments/Headbands/Ribbons/Whatever, they really need to be still accessible to other classes somehow, even if that means they take hit in HP. As such, I think it would be "fine" to either include them with Equip Clothes, since it's not like anyone really uses that at present, or Equip Armor, even though that already sees plenty of use and would possibly obviate Helmets given the amount of HP that Headbands currently have (for some reason, given Monks are tied for the highest natural HP among classes that can wear equipment). Still, Equip Clothes getting Headbands might be a bit much considering it would largely obviate Hats there and mean that Equip Clothes were capable of blocking more status than Equip Armor, if only with less HP. Hmmm.... Maybe put it with Equip Shield considering they're--well Ribbon and the currently inferior Barrette, anyway--basically headshields against status; hell, male Geomancers wear headbands in their sprites anyway....


That's pretty much it with regards to Cachusha, Barrette and Ribbon (for now), though if someone can tell me why Cachusha was suggested to be named Focus Band, that would be great.

Oil -> Imperil (Status in FFXIII that makes the enemy weak to all elements)
Tactician Blade -> Tactician's Blade
Parry Edge -> Broadsword (Parry Edge? What is this, FFVI SNES?)
Moonlight -> Estrella (Same meaning, sounds nicer. Sword in FFTA2.)
Silencer -> Silenshot
Swift Plate -> Zephyr Shield
Barette -> Choice Band
Ribbon -> Chakra Band
Southern Cross -> Saint Cross (Southern Cross usually has to do with Ice/Freezing status)

Of these, I disagree with Tactician Blade, Silenshot, Choice Band and Chakra Band outright. It's not that I mind Pokemon references, but I'd rather have them...make sense considering that Focus Band and Choice Band are nothing like the two items they're being suggested for. (Maybe if Cachusha were getting Initial: Berserk, I could see Choice Band working....) The first two don't fit any better--the first one literally, in terms of length. Silencer already references another type of projectile-related apparatus and Scout's Sword/Blade/Edge just seems better anyway.

On the flipside, outright agree with Imperil and Zephyr Shield. I had forgotten that Imperil even officially existed. That's probably because I've only ever looked it up once, way before I "stole" formerdeathcorps' "Exposed" idea, and I've never played FFXIII (and still have no intention to do so). Zephyr Shield is something I agree with because the random "Plate" among everything else being a Shield (sans the two initial shitty shields and then the ultimate shield) always kinda bugged me.

The rest--Broadsword, Estrella and Saint Cross--I'm kinda ambivalent about, but as for which way I lean, I'd go with "yes, no and it depends." Broadsword does make better sense in a practical manner, even if it reminds everyone of the shitty initial sword. Estrella should stay Moonlight for reasons Raven explained even though I've never played that game and thus have no idea what he's referencing.

You're right about Southern Cross, and I feel like an idiot for suggesting that, partly because I forgot about Saint Cross myself despite working closely with Paladins as of late; as such, I'm probably using that for Embargo now and saving Southern Cross for something else. That said, I also concur with Raven that Northern Cross should be used if Southern Cross gets used, even if it won't (always) be Ice element. If Grand Cross is the name still getting used though, then Saint Cross should be used, even as much as Grand Cross being the name of that technique still weirds me out.

That said, the current Grand Cross animation works for...the current "Grand Cross" technique, so that should stay regardless of the name; you could probably get away with using that same animation for Northern Cross/Southern Cross/Saint Cross too.


I'll handle FFMaster's post in spoilers, though my reply won't be terribly long...for me:

spoiler: FFMaster List

Here's the current changes. More changes will be added when I'm done asm hacking it. For pretty much all of it, it's follows Raven's proposed changes, so if you missed it, you can read it here.

Changelog

Knight Swords
- Chaos Blade WP increased to 17, gains 100% Cancel: Regen in addition to all other cancels

Books
- Battle Dict renamed to Necronomicon, WP increased to 14
- Monster Dict proc changed to 33% Cast: Magic Ruin (50% MP damage at PA+60% chance to hit)
- Papyrus Plate WP increased to 12
- Madlemgen WP increased to 13

Armor
- Genji Armor HP decreased to 40, MP increased to 40, gains Always: Protect, Shell, Don't Move(placeholder item until I can work something in, for now, have fun with HEAVY ARMOR OF NO MOVING)

Accessories
- Defense Ring gains Immune: Dead, Silence, gains Absorb: Water



Jobs
Squire
- Cheer Up remade to Alacrity: 10 MP, +1MA, self only, 200 JP

Paladin
- Grand Cross gains Target Self
- New Skill Northern Cross: Same as Grand Cross except cannot target or hit self, no status, 250 JP

Priest
- Dia added to White Magic

Wizard
- Wizard base job gains 1 MA
- Black Magic Fire/Bolt/Ice tiers remade to Fire/Bolt/Ice/Water(check the tables)
- Tiers are now Level 1 Magic(old level 2 magic), Nether Magic, and Level 2 Magic(old level 3 magic)
- Poison Y decreased to 90, AoE increased to 2, vert increased to 3

Time Mage
- Demi MP cost reduced to 12, Y increased to 90
- Demi 2 MP cost reduced to 24, Y increased to 75, X decreased to 50, CT decreased to 4
- Critical Quick JP reduced to 300

Thief
- Spellbreaker formula changed to Dmg_(Weapon) with 50% proc

Bard
- Nameless Song loses Add: Regen, Haste, gains Add: Reflect


Anything glaringly wrong or anything I've missed should be noted here so I can fix them.

Knight Swords
- Chaos Blade change is new. It seems a bit...excessive considering the WP upgrade, what it already canceled, the new Paladin technique that makes it the weapon to use with that (in terms of straight damage) even without the WP upgrade and the upgrade to Poison. I don't think it makes it broken or anything; I'm just not sure it's necessary, even with Chaos Blade's 0% W-EV.


Books
- I approve of the name change to "Battle Dict". Actually, can we just use the PSP names for other books as well?


Armor
- Genji Armor...is new. For a "placeholder", I actually kinda approve of it.


Accessories
- Defense Ring blocking Dead...and Silence is new, though I suppose we don't want too many things to block Oil/Imperil. I also did say we needed something else to absorb Silence, even if I didn't want it to be something else that absorbed (or nullified) an Element given my feelings about Magic Ring. Regardless, please rename Defense Ring "Coral Ring".


Squire
- Please rename Alacrity "Focus".


Paladin
- Uh, didn't Grand Cross already Self Target?
- Technically, Northern Cross is "supposed" to be Southern Cross; I'm fine with this, though, since that's actually the name that I'm using for it in Embargo. Regardless, as I said above, what you name it should depend on what Grand Cross ends up (re)named as.


Priest
- Dia needs some type of nerf if it's going to White Magic considering how cheap it is in both terms of JP & MP and how powerful it is relative both of those, its instant speed and its ability to cause Blind. Yeah....


Wizard
- Looks good. Thanks for reducing the numbering scheme, even if that made the Guns using Whatever "2" initially confusing. Speaking of that, I'm guessing the new 1s are still able to cause 20% whatever and it's just not noted?


Time Mage
- Looks great. I'm a bit weary of Demi being almost half of Demi 2 all over the field, but meh, we'll see how it works. Critical Quick might need to be reduced a bit more, but otherwise it's a start. I'm tempted to suggest renaming Demi, but it wouldn't work with other "2s" currently around, so also meh.


Thief
- Whoa whoa whoa. Spellbreaker is supposed to be MA*WP, not straight weapon damage. Otherwise it becomes rather...ridiculous. Mind you, it could still rather easily be quite powerful as MA*WP, but probably not as absurd as PA and on universally squishier units that would have to get close. Also, please make sure this isn't usable with Two Swords, regardless; preferably Two Hands as well, but that shouldn't be a problem if it's MA-based.


Bard
- You should note that Nameless Song will still be adding Reraise if it's actually still there. Reflect being there is new and, as some people have already noted, potentially ripe for backfire. Still, I'm more or less fine with that since I feel that White Magic needs/needed a nerf overall and we'll have to see if the AI even uses Nameless Song still anyway.

EDIT: I will accept weapon/armor/skill renames. Basically, my goal is to tidy up everything. After the initial testing, the usual quickfixes for bugs/major balance issues will be done, and will be released as version 1.0. After that, we can start development on monsters. Ability descriptions will start as soon as I decide on a decent format for Arena.

I'll make a formal list of suggested name changes next time I post, which will probably on Friday.

If you need help with Ability Descriptions, then I can (try to) help with those since I still need to work on them myself for the most part.