Final Fantasy Hacktics

• Reduce Concentrate's JP: I think Concentrate is fine where it is.  This will change if we remove C-Ev.


• Make Ultima max(PA,MA)*9: OK.


• Cheer Up (0 AoE MP healing): Sure, if the ASM hack is not too much trouble.


• Recover (self-targeting HP healing): Don't we already have Nurse for this?  Why not just move Nurse to Basic Skill?

• Boost Dark Holy to MA*15 : I disagree. I think Dark Holy is already plenty strong for an Unbrave spell.


• Poison gains Add Sap: Worth a shot I guess. (See my suggestions at the end of this post.)

• Reduce Consecration JP cost to 200 and increase accuracy : I agree with both.


• Increase accuracy of Lay on Hands by 5%: I am still in favour of making this UnFaith for optimum synergy with its host Paladin class, but this is compromise is easier to implement, I suppose.


• Preservation: Sounds neat. I recommend a low JP cost, as a winning team never counts on staying dead.

• Move Move-HP UP to Mediator: I am OK with this


• Geomastery: Cool idea, but geomancy is in need of a nerf.  To prepare for the introduction of this ability, I strongly recommend reducing geomancy damage across the board. (More on this at the end of this post.)

• Antidote cures Sap: I am OK with this, and also strongly in favour of this if Black Magic Poison adds Sap.


• Chrono's Tear cures Slow: Also OK.  Can we also rename this item "Chronos Tear" while we're at it?  This ain't Chrono Trigger.


• Echo Grass cures Charm, no longer cures Sap: OK


• Ether and Hi-Ether cure +10 MP: Absolutely in favour.


• Maiden's Kiss cures Petrify, no longer cures Sleep: Kinda ruins the Sleeping Beauty mythos of the name, but no particular objections here.


• Smelling Salts: I doubt the AI will heal 90 HP and 20 MP with Smelling Salts when it can heal 130 HP with X-Potion and 80 MP with Hi-Ether.  Rather, this will be used to counter Mimic Daravon teams, where units who spend a turn applying Sleep will have their efforts, as well as 90 points of previously-applied damage, negated with Smelling Salts.


• Phoenix Pinion: Nice idea for elevating Item as a support skill set. I suppose we can debate the exact healing amount later.


• Volatile Flask: I am cautious about the utility of this skill.  The AI will use it as it uses Wall, but it will have only half the efficacy 66% of the time, and none of the efficacy 33% of the time (i.e. when Transparent is added).  Good idea, at least.  Perhaps we can expand on it.

• Equip Polearm gives Cloth access: Sure.

• Rework mapwide Lore into random-fire AoE: Excellent idea.  I had completely forgotten about this proposal of Dokurider's.  Is Dokurider able to help with this hack?

• Misogi also removes Faith and Undead: Good idea about Faith.  Undead healing is also welcome, although if expanding Undead healing is what we're after, then it would be better to put Undead healing on a skill which can target other units. (See the end of this post.)


• Shuriken changes: Among all suggestions, I am in favour of reverting Shuriken to its form in 1.39.


• Adding Lightning elemental ton: Sure.

• Linear Punch Art damage: To clarify, I originally suggested that only Spin Fist and Earth Slash have PA*10.  Repeating Fist and present-day Aurablast would have PA*12.  However, these multipliers will need to be adjusted in accordance with patch 1.41.  For example, if we remove C-Ev or leave Monk's base PA at 13, then we will need to drop these multipliers by one or two points.  I will renew this proposal once the final form of patch 1.41 starts to materialize.


• Stigma Magic cures Berserk/Slow: If we add Berserk/Slow healing, then we ought to remove some other status healing to avoid turning Stigma Magic into a super Esuna. Petrify, Sleep, and/or Frog come to mind.

• Equip Ranged gives Harp access: I'm fine with this.  Pairs nicely with Equip Polearm giving Cloth access.


• Hawk's Eye changes: No comments for now.


• Monkey Grip: Cute idea, but I must reserve my judgment until I consider whether this skill would open up any potentially broken combinations or extinguish any currently viable combinations. (A 16 WP Gastrafitis with a shield triumphing over any other crossbow comes to mind.)

• Ruins: I wonder if it is possible to change these to reducing a significant amount of PA, MA, and SP, but only temporarily as if they were status ailments.


• Piracy: Nice idea for punishing speed freaks, although I'm not sure what the skill has to do with piracy.  Double damage to Hasted units seems a little extreme, however.  If there will be such a modifier, can we reduce it to 1.25~1.50?

• Short Charge moving to Time Magic: I respect Barren's argument, but nevertheless I find Short Charge just as useful on Summoners, as Summons have some of the highest CTs in the game (6 CT Odin? Yikes!).  Ultimately, it's a tossup. However, I would rather have 1/3 of MP moved to Time Magick over Short Charge.  While Short Charge works on both Time Mages and Summoners, 1/3 of MP is unquestionably better for Time Magic users because they do not have Carbuncle.


• Caution: It would be nice if this reaction ability could also subsume Awareness, as both reactions are a little lackluster on their own.


• Increase Short Charge's JP to 500: I need to disagree here.  Both Short Charge and Magic Attack UP have a place.  Among the damage magic, Magic Attack UP is a huge opportunity cost for Short Charge.  Among the status magic, of course Short Charge is more useful. However, this doesn't mean Short Charge is superior to Magic Attack UP.  Rather, Short Charge and Magic Attack UP fulfill different roles. For example, Magic Attack UP beats Short Charge when using 0-CT magic such as Draw Out, Elemental, Counter Flood, Cure 1, and Dia.

• Drop Insult's JP cost to 200: Assuming we leave Blind Rage unchanged, this is justifiable.


• Move Move-1 to Priests: OK


• Increase Solution's JP cost to 200: OK.

• Comet gains CM, CF flags: OK.


• Demi 2 damage increases to 66%: Hesitantly optimistic.  This will turn Demi 2 into a ~200 damage AoE nuke with no MA-stacking required. Then again, it is less accurate than Black Magic and can never 1HKO.  Maybe this is OK?


• Remove Float from the game: I'm scratching my head over this one.  Unless we're in need of memory space, Float is harmless on Time Magic. Float is nice; it lets me hard-counter Earth spam, gives me +1 Jump, and lets me glide over water.  I like Float. (I just like Move-MP UP better.) If we need to free up memory for new Movement skills, kill something like Fly instead.  Fly is a Teleport clone.


• Remove Haste 2 and Slow 2: Noooo ;~; . I like these 2 AoE spells.  If you think the AI spams Haste 2 and Slow 2, wait until you see them spam Haste 1 and Slow 1.  With 1 AoE Haste/Slow, you often fail to target all relevant units in a single cast, so you waste the second turn casting the same spell again. Meanwhile, 1 AoE Slow is too terrible to be worth the turn that's spent casting it.  If you're going for a 1 AoE Slow, you might as well go for a 1 AoE Stop instead.  Why are these 2 AoE spells seen as so OP that we ought to remove them?


• Sinkhole becomes unreflectable: OK.

• Nerf Cure 4: I say we reduce the multiplier or revert the CT to 3.


• Esuna cures Berserk: I would not like Esuna to heal Berserk if Stigma Magic does as well.  One or the other, I say.


• Esuna no longer heals Charm: Fine by me. White Magic could use some small nerfs.


• Esuna cures Slow: We already have an AoE spell that cures Slow.  It's called Haste.


• Nerf Holy to MA*15: Is the general consensus that Holy is still too powerful?  This spell has been getting nerfed and nerfed over the years.  I personally think Holy's position on White Magic is its biggest strength. Put it on something like Black Magic or Lore and we'll see it used much less.


• Buff Protect and Shell: Insightful analysis by Andrew. It was originally suggested that Protect and Shell heal some HP while applying their respective buffs, but this proposal was lost in the transition to 1.40. (Actually, I am not sure how dirty a hack is required to pull this off.)  A much easier and straightforward solution would be to make Protect and Shell like Wall.  (I think I'd still use Wall over Protect and Shell, though. And that's a shame, because I love the cast animations of Protect 2 and Shell 2)


• Raise 2 heals 99% to make Cursed Ring more viable: Even if we reduce healing from 100% to 99% undead's best safeguard from the Raise 2 nuke is, and will likely continue to be, MP Switch. At any rate, this is such a small nerf to Raise 2 that I cannot object.


• Regen changes: This skill has finally become useable (and is, in my opinion, the single greatest change of 1.40), so I'd hate to see it nerfed. Nevertheless, in the interest of weakening White Magic, I recommend moving Regen to Lore.  (See the end of this post for a detailed argument.)

• Blind Rage loses 10% accuracy: I respect Andrew's suggestion, but slashing Blind Rage's accuracy by 10% would likely consign it to oblivion. This is especially true if we also make Stigma Magic and/or Esuna cure Berserk, and also spread around Berserk immunity on caster equipment.

• Aquatic (M), +2 Move in water:Limited usefulness.  Not many maps have water.


• Back attack (M), +25% physical damage from behind: No opinion at the moment.


• Coated Weapon (S), Add Poison/Sap if target is in Critical after a (weapon?) attack: Sounds kind of weak.  Rather than play with poison, I'd equip Attack UP and kill the target outright.


• Mirror force (R), Add Reflect when taking HP damage: A hard counter to Black Magic and Yin Yang Magic users without Dispel Magic .  Are we OK with this?


• Elementalist (M), Reduce elemental damage by 12%: Sounds like a support ability to me.  I bet you can make some super tanky units with Elementalist and Magic Defend UP/Unyielding.


• Null: Reflect (M), support magic pierces reflect: Great idea for incorporating Reflect Ring on magic-based teams.  My favourite RSM suggestion.


• Requiem (R), inflict Bln/DM/Slw/Stp on attacker: Sounds sinister.  Not yet sure whether this is OP.


• Shed (M), remove one status ailment after moving: This is definitely OP.  Unless you are getting hit by Kagesougi, you will likely be inflicted with at most one ailment per turn, so limiting the healed ailments to one per turn largely irrelevant. Why bother with Poison/Sap/Blind/DA/Berserk/Slow/Frog/Faith/Innocent protection when this skill will automatically remove them after moving? Oracles and Mediators will dump turns into casting status magic over and over on these units, while these units will charge right ahead and punch them in the face on every turn the status magic misses.


• Vengeance (R), remove all buffs from the attacker when targeted by status magic: Cautiously optimistic about this one.

• Increase Black Staff's proc rate to 33%: Welcome change.  We can reduce its WP as well if needs be.


• Bow Gun, 8 WP, 0 W-EV, 33% Cast: Death: At first I thought it was 33% Add: Dead and got excited, but then saw that I misread the spell "Death" and felt sad.  This Bow Gun is pretty bad. Throwing Knife, another ranged accessory, outright kills its targets at 33% (although with a two-turn delay) and gives +15% W-EV and +1 Move as a bonus. 


• Chaos Blade removes Refresh: Good idea.


• Ethereal Spear inflicts Sap: OK.


• Reduce Gambler's Axe's proc rate or WP: Is this axe OP?  I do not have enough experience with this axe to comment.


• Gastrafitis becomes 12 WP, +2 PA, and one-handed: Nice idea. It's present form really doesn't fit with the other bows.


• Healing Gun gains 2 range: How amusing.  I was about to suggest the very same thing!


• Ice Brand and Thunder Blade gain +1 MA: OK. I don't think these swords are admired for their procs, anyway.


• Masamune 15 WP, +1 SP, 2 Range, Immune Slow, Forced 2H: So, basically a superior form of the current Masamune. The current Masamune has -1 SP, but gives back this SP through Always Haste.  In addition, it turns the next point of added SP into +2 SP.  For example, a Samurai with Masamune and Genji Helm has 10 SP. With this new version, the Samurai will also have 10 SP. However, the important difference is that with this new version the samurai can be hasted to achieve 12 SP. If we recognize and are OK with this, then I have no objections.


• Meteor Rod procs 200 damage comet: I'm OK with this for now.  Meteor Rod is certainly in need of a buff!


• Night Killer, 33% Add Blind & Poison: Certainly better than its current form.  I still think this weapon is weak, however.


• Platinum Sword, Immune: Slow: Welcome change.  Will help teams cope with Slow 2. (Fingers crossed that we do not kill Slow 2.)


• Spellgun nerfs: I am personally in favour of dropping their WP by 1 or dropping their range by 1~2, but not both.


• Dwarven Fan, 33% Cast Quake: Could be good on Scholars!


• El Bow, Two-Swordable Crossbow: Fun idea for extending the range of melee weapons.  However, I believe the only class that has access to both Crossbows and melee weapons is Squire.  Still fine by me.

• Swift Plate changes: My favourite suggestion is that the shield keeps +1 SP, but gains Haste immunity.  This will curb its use on Time Mages.  Also, I would suggest we also give the shield Slow immunity since Haste will not be able to remove this ailment.


• Chivalry shields: Wouldn't it be easier to simply put the new skills on Chivalry and let these skills be used in spite of the shield?

• Armor adding MP: Call me old-fashioned, but I prefer clothes and robes to be solely responsible for adding MP. Paladin, Lancers, and Samurai have access to robes for providing MP. As an alternative, there is 1/3 of MP.


• Chakra Band losing -1 SP: Although I was initially hesitant, I do not mind -1 SP on Chakra Band after seeing teams still using it in the present tournament.  If we remove -1 SP anyway, perhaps reducing its HP to 10~20 would be an appropriate trade.


• Golden Hairpin halves Holy & Dark: I am OK with this provided we add Holy & Dark strengthening to a robe as Andrew suggests.


• Light Robe now adds Don't Act immunity instead of Always Regen: By removing Always Regen we are forsaking Paladins.  Light Robe has always been a Paladin robe since Paladins (1) have high HP pools to leverage Regen and (2) need an MP pool to use Chivalry skills.  Light Robe in its current form will be more relevant than ever if P Bag is changed to add Always Refresh and only Always Refresh (like Rune Blade).


• Mythril Helmet provides +1 Move: Glad someone addressed my biggest concern with armored job: Their terrible Move stat.  I am completely in favour of turning this helmet into a Green Beret for armored jobs. 


• Robe of Lords gains Sap immunity: Welcome suggestion.


• Bronze Armor, Init: Innocent: OK.

• Cursed Ring provides 100% revival: Disagree with this proposal.  We had Cursed Ring like this before, and it was as OP as hell.


• Reflect Ring turns into a PA-based ring: Don't agree with the provided arguments. Reflect Ring is right at home on casters to cover high Faith, and this strategy is punished by Summon Magic.  The inability to cast support magic on units with Reflect Ring will be deftly solved if we implement DW's proposed Null: Reflect movement ability.

• Killing Float: I personally like Float as an additional means of nullifying Earth damage.  In exchange, we make (or at least try to make) Earth magic more powerful than average.  This adds a bit of diversity between the elements. E.g.
  
  
  
  • Fire is wide AoE, but weak
  
  
  • Ice is average in power and affordable
  
  
  • Lightning is powerful, but expensive
  
  
  • Wind is fast but weak
  
  
  • Water is average in power, debuffs, and pierces reflect
  
  
  • Earth is average in speed, but hits like a truck
  
  
  
  Owing to the potency of 1HKO strategies, players have additional options for countering Earth damage.  I suppose this is really a matter of personal opinion.


• Merge Poison and Sap: Not necessary in my opinion.  We need some easy ailments to apply, and Poison is one of them.  Merging Poison with Sap would make the ailment more powerful than it needs to be.

• Undead healing: This ailment is powerful owing to the dearth of ways to heal it.  (Currently, only Holy Water cures Undead). In the interest of turning Undead into a more manageable ailment, and also making Squires and their skill set more viable, I propose we buff Heal:
  
  Heal: 2 Range, 0 AoE, Cancel: Berserk, Charm, Darkness, Poison, Oil, Stop, Undead
  
  


• Scholars, Poison, and Regen: Persisting in my pursuit of the tank mage, I propose we give Scholars access to helmets as well as armor (and optionally also Shields at the expense of 1 or so base MA; Time Mages can lose shields while receiving something else, like +1 SP).  Hat access would be removed in exchange.  Next, we move Regen and Poison to Lore. The higher HP pool provided by full armor allows Scholars to leverage Regen.  Poison tags along as the antithesis of Regen, and viola: Scholars become the masters of HoT DoTs.
  
  


• Geomancy: I feel that Geomancy is too strong at present.  Let's list its strengths:
  
  
  
  • 5 range
  
  
  • 0 CT
  
  
  • 1 AoE
  
  
  • Inflicts status ailments
  
  
  • Ignores evasion
  
  
  • Ignores Brave and Faith
  
  
  • Works with Counter Flood (This last one is a big strength)
  
  
  
  In patch 1.40, on top of all of the above, we gave Geomancers +1 PA and MA and also boosted the constant of non-elemental geomancy by 2.  Now we have Carve Models doing over 150 evasion-piercing, non-elemental damage on and between turns.  At the very least, I suggest we drop non-elemental geomancy to pre-1.40 levels.
  

• Magic is the most represented type of offense. 53% of units use magic-based skills.


• Only 24% of units have 40 Fa, whereas 46% of units have 70 Fa. Of these 70 Fa units, 78% have 40 Br.


• 37% of units equip either Magic Attack UP or Short Charge as a support ability.

• Monks comprise the lion's share of physical offense; 30% of physical damage dealers are Monks.

• Catapulted from one of the least popular jobs to one of the most popular (e.g., only 3% of units were Time Mages in Season 2, but 8% of units are Time Mages here in Season 5.)
  

• Weapons, armor, and accessories that add PA, MA, and SP are the most popular choices in their respective categories. This is especially obvious among Staves: Of the 27 staves in use, 23 are either Healing Staff (+1 SP) or Wizard Staff (+2 MA).

• The most represented status ailments are Slow (18.6), Don't Act (17.9), Stop (15.5), and Charm (15.0)


• The least represented status ailments are Sap (0.8), Frog (1.0), and Berserk (1.4).


• The most represented status protections are Berserk (26%), Poison (24%), Sleep (24%), and Slow (22%).


• Berserk is by far the most overrepresented status protection: 39 units (26%) are immune to Berserk, but only 3 units inflict Berserk, two of which do so inefficiently using Salamander (20% Add: Berserk).


• Stop is the most underrepresented status protection: 19 units inflict Stop, but only 17 units (11%) are immune to Stop.

• Holy is by far the most represented element. 30 units (20%) are capable of Holy elemental offense.


• Wind is by far the least represented element. Only 5 units (3%) are capable of Wind elemental offense.


• Lightning and Earth are the two most resisted elements. 17% of units either absorb or nullify at least one of these two elements. An additional 8% of units halve at least one of these two elements.

Quote from: silentkaster on August 12, 2016, 12:56:24 pm
The top class on the male side is 10 PA that can use the platinum sword without a support. On the female side who can use Rainbow Staff, it's 11 MA. With the 2H, 2S support or Samurai with Equip Magegear, this weapon can wreak havoc. But I guess the platinum sword could too on a correctly designed unit.

Quote from: silentkaster on August 12, 2016, 12:56:24 pm
I disagree. These [Punch Art] skills can be built and played with...but I suppose that's really not here or there.