Dancer and Scholar Quests: The Journey Continues (02/12/2008)

[Zeri]

Exciting new quests for both dancer and scholar jobs have been scheduled for the next version update. Through these action-packed quests, you will be able to learn more than ever before about the Vana'diel of the past, as well as get your hands on new artifacts and even break higher limits!

What fate awaits our courageous adventurers? The following is just a taste of what you can expect in the next version update:

Dancer

Learn about the establishment of Troupe Brilioth as well as the shrouded past of its charismatic founder and leader, Laila.
Who was the mysterious piper by the lake?
And what is the significance of the seemingly innocuous glowing pebble?
All will be revealed as the wheel of fate sets the stage for the final dance-off...

Scholar

The grimoire--a tome of tactics and strategies in magic, penned by Schultz II... What secrets are concealed within this artifact of immeasurable value? Bear witness to the rise and fall of the Schultz School of Martial Theory during the Crystal War, and discover the truth lost within the dark passage of time.
Brace yourself for the shocking finale!

*Certain job level requirements must be met in order to undertake the above quests.

The AF is coming, yay!!! March sucks but... better late than ... even later.


P.S. Best line in there "Bear witness to the rise and fall of the Schultz School of Martial Theory"... I can tell you what the fall is. The job sucks so far. ; ;

 

[Varda]

The AF is coming, yay!!! March sucks but... better late than ... even later.

Not to mention AF2 for ToAU jobs. <_<;;

P.S. Best line in there "Bear witness to the rise and fall of the Schultz School of Martial Theory"... I can tell you what the fall is. The job sucks so far. ; ;

This AF better help a lot. I won't be holding my breath though....

 

[Heie]

Geez everyone is sch sucks sch sucks. Imo its not that bad of a job. I pted with more then few sch's in the mid to high 60's and it was freaken awesome. Yes I think the job needs to be tuned some to be on par with dnc but it really isn't that bad of job just takes a lot of skill to make it work good.

Yel will back me up here pting around 67-68 range and 3 people ended up dcing or leaving. It was just me as rng yel as sam and our sch. We never stoped pulling imps while looking for replacments. And we were still getting chain 4-5ish and MP was never a problem. Plus the sch was keeping SS up on us and nuking to help keep the chain going.

 

[Zeri]

The problem is you were high level enough where it actually does get good. But it's the first 60 odd levels of it that are just awful. I mean, every job has its sucky phase, like the first 15 levels of DNC or THF. But 60 is a helluva lot more than 15. That's the majority of your time spent on the job. Which is why in general people say it sucks. Who wants a job when you can't really enjoy what it's got to offer for most of your time leveling?

The fundamental problems have to do that
1) It needs to get more distinguishing spells/features lower level. 67-68 is high enough that SCH has come into its own with the helixes, which they don't start getting till 60. Have you tried playing/partying with a SCH <60? It's like a RDM with less spells but more MP. (and no dispel/refresh)

2) Again, 67 is high enough that they have a couple counters on their strategems. Pre-40 when you have only one strategem use, it's not terribly useful. It's a nice once every 4 or 5min random little buff, but nothing I relied on when trying SCH.

3) I think everyone still contends it should get native blink and stoneskin. Only reason that scholar could cover you is they were probably /whm. What if they wanted to go /blm? Again they're chipping away at people's ability to enjoy the job by forcing them out of viable subjob options to experiment and play with.

So they definitely need to add more to this to make it attractive. Dancer they just went overboard on and made awesome. I suspect/expect there to be some kind of a nerf eventually.


Edit:

takes a lot of skill to make it work good.

/shudder... work well! ; ; /cry

 

[Heie]

my sch is 37. And I tried blm/sch in a dyn-jeuno and I almost soloed 3 statues when we were close to a wipe. I acctully would have if I didn't get all hyped up and hit lock on by accident on my controler and ran into the statues. I also want to lvl sch but there other things higher on my priority list.

yes I know I fail at english :tounge-3:

edit: 3 statues at once!

 

[Benny]

SCH is just very much like pre-70 SMN - it doesn't offer anything that it does better than another mage job. Graviga has interesting potential uses in Einherjar but then your Gravity is pegged at a 2min recast and that's not going to cut it. Looking at endgame the helices are useful in minor NM situations (like good for Ix'MNK, I mean) but again anything major is going to make SCH's B skill in everything break down and cry.

This is just like when I was trying to defend DNC on HNM to someone and they more or less put the question to me "What is a DNC with Joyeuse going to do to Fafnir with D sword skill? Miss a hundred times in a row?", the alternative being attempting to hit for more than 0 damage with daggers.


Well, we'll see. Even if something is actually pretty good people are set in their ways and don't like to try new stuff very much...

-benny

 

[Zeri]

SCH is just very much like pre-70 SMN - it doesn't offer anything that it does better than another mage job. Graviga has interesting potential uses in Einherjar but then your Gravity is pegged at a 2min recast and that's not going to cut it. Looking at endgame the helices are useful in minor NM situations (like good for Ix'MNK, I mean) but again anything major is going to make SCH's B skill in everything break down and cry.

This is just like when I was trying to defend DNC on HNM to someone and they more or less put the question to me "What is a DNC with Joyeuse going to do to Fafnir with D sword skill? Miss a hundred times in a row?", the alternative being attempting to hit for more than 0 damage with daggers.

Well, we'll see. Even if something is actually pretty good people are set in their ways and don't like to try new stuff very much...

-benny

As much as I'd like to argue the pre-70 on SMN... I can't too much. It is, admittedly, a fake WHM up until 70. Stoneskin and acc/eva were useful on nin tanks. But those are probably on par with the strategems in terms of usefulness. A nice little buff, but isn't going to turn the tide of any given battle. Which is probably why many people don't level SMN. 70 levels before coming into your own is just too many. 60 isn't much better.

SCH on HNMs would definitely have to load up on macc and skill+ gear. Elem Torque, Enfeeb Torque, merits and such to bring that B+ up as much as possible.

Same for DNC. Their B+ in dagger will need some dagger merits and/or shitload of acc gear. I' m not sure why folks are so worried about hitting for 0. Just because my DNC sucks doesn't mean all DNC suck on damage ^^;; My question would be, "Do thieves have trouble hitting for more than 0 with daggers?" If yes, then okay DNC will too. If no... then they'll be fine. They just need to hit for anything >0 to get TP, then they can debuff the HNM (steps based purely on acc so should be doable with appropriate gear), which allows them to start hitting for more damage. It's just getting that ball rolling.

Now here's my question. Why does everyone knock a B skill up the ass? Is it really that bad? I mean, everyone's WAR wants a Ridill. WAR has only a B in sword so is everyone looking for phat lewt they can't really use? BLM gets a C+ in enfeeb for crying out loud, and Benny you still land a lot, even on some HNMs. While A is the ideal, maybe our expectations are a little to harsh on the B students?

 

[Benny]

It's a matter of how much you can enhance the skill. I have better than A enfeebling and tons of MND and INT after my gear is factored in. So essentially yea, they can cover for SCH by giving them a lot of good Elem Skill gear (or whatever helix are, I dun even know). WAR I can't talk about cuz I don't really know anything... but yea... we'll have to see. The real issue with dagger is the low DMG but maybe this is better now (I remember a lot of THF even used to have trouble with hitting Faf for more than 0).

-benny

 

[Heie]

Now here's my question. Why does everyone knock a B skill up the ass? Is it really that bad? I mean, everyone's WAR wants a Ridill. WAR has only a B in sword so is everyone looking for phat lewt they can't really use? BLM gets a C+ in enfeeb for crying out loud, and Benny you still land a lot, even on some HNMs. While A is the ideal, maybe our expectations are a little to harsh on the B students?

Reason is because ridill is for merit pts and/or mobs without super eva. For any war that has his/her head on his/her shoulders at a HNM would use GA or axe/axe.

 

[Zeri]

my sch is 37. And I tried blm/sch in a dyn-jeuno and I almost soloed 3 statues at once when we were close to a wipe. I actually would have if I didn't get all hyped up and hit lock on by accident on my controller and ran into the statues. I also want to lvl sch but there are other things higher on my priority list.

Honestly, I think I'd attribute that more to the power of BLM than the /SCH. But I'm admittedly biased as a member of the Benny ファンクラブ™. So how did the /SCH assist you? Only things I can think of are slight MP reduction and maybe slightly reduced casting times.

I remember a lot of THF even used to have trouble with hitting Faf for more than 0.

Okay then. Yeah, DNC would have issues too. ; ;



Random SCH question: The helixes say damage is greatly affected by weather. Is that weather on caster? Do they give themselves a storm before casting? Or weather on target? Is this something that can be tested in ballista? It'd be nice to get some stats on helix damage. If on target, can you party with someone on other team, storm them, and then helix them? I'm willing to be guinea pig if that's possible...

 

[Varda]

I think SCH is perfectly fine up to 40. You are basically a blm or whm whenever you want, minus the enfeebles and -na spells (well, minus 1/2 of them). But yeah, at 40 things do seem to drop off for a while. I don't think anyone has found a good use for the weather spells aside from highlevel blm parties, and I'm noticing nukes getting resisted a lot more often.

I'm hoping the helix spells will help once I get there, but for now it seems like I might have to stick with curing for a while.

 

[Varda]

Honestly, I think I'd attribute that more to the power of BLM than the /SCH. But I'm admittedly biased as a member of the Benny ファンクラブ™. So how did the /SCH assist you? Only things I can think of are slight MP reduction and maybe slightly reduced casting times.

I noticed tiny additions to healing, divine, and enhancing skill when using /sch and Light Arts on whm, so I'm wondering if maybe blm/sch would get a tiny boost on their skills with Dark Arts. In any case, the 10% MP savings and fastcast isn't anything to sneeze at. And the JA for 50% reduction is very nice, even if it's only every 4 minutes.

 

[Zeri]

I noticed tiny additions to healing, divine, and enhancing skill when using /sch and Light Arts on whm, so I'm wondering if maybe blm/sch would get a tiny boost on their skills with Dark Arts. In any case, the 10% MP savings and fastcast isn't anything to sneeze at. And the JA for 50% reduction is very nice, even if it's only every 4 minutes.

ORLY?! That's news to me. I had previously heard the boost pushed things up to B+ flat even on subjob. So that WHM heals would get no boost from light arts and BLM nukes nothing from dark respectively. But hearing this gives me a new hope for /SCH.

The fast cast didn't seem strong enough to me to really make a difference in the teens. Maybe it goes up with level? That'd be interesting.

And 10% is nice admittedly, but if I were a BLM, I think I'd opt for blink/stoneskin to save my ass and just snag a rdm. Alive w/no MP > Dead. For WHM I'll give you that /SCH is awesome, especially if you do get skill boosts after all. And probably only reason I'll take it to 37.

 

[Heie]

Honestly, I think I'd attribute that more to the power of BLM than the /SCH. But I'm admittedly biased as a member of the Benny ファンクラブ™. So how did the /SCH assist you? Only things I can think of are slight MP reduction and maybe slightly reduced casting times.

Ask any blm if you have 3 mobs coming at you that you need to kill what is going to be your two biggest problems? MP and getting your spells off. If you can't get the spell off before the mob starts beating on you, well enough said.

Random SCH question: The helixes say damage is greatly affected by weather. Is that weather on caster? Do they give themselves a storm before casting? Or weather on target? Is this something that can be tested in ballista? It'd be nice to get some stats on helix damage. If on target, can you party with someone on other team, storm them, and then helix them? I'm willing to be guinea pig if that's possible...

From my understanding you can only cast weather effect spells on yourself and PT members. The dot on helix dmg from what I have read is based on how much dmg you do. If you do 100 dmg from casting the spell then your dot is 100 dmg every two clicks. For some reason SE decided to make sch dots do dmg every two clicks rather then one

 

[Heie]

I noticed tiny additions to healing, divine, and enhancing skill when using /sch and Light Arts on whm, so I'm wondering if maybe blm/sch would get a tiny boost on their skills with Dark Arts. In any case, the 10% MP savings and fastcast isn't anything to sneeze at. And the JA for 50% reduction is very nice, even if it's only every 4 minutes.

I was doing more dmg then normal with blm/sch. My aspirs/drains were doing more then they normally do also. Didn't do any enfeebs but I am sure they are better also. I have only gone blm/sch to that one dynamis as not having blink and SS is the biggest problem. It was a lot of fun though. Casting 4 second AMII every 4 minutes is freaken off the hook. Blm/sch just isn't worth pulling out for anything that could make or break what you are doing if you die. As losing SS and blink is the only reason you don't see blm/sch.

Believe me, If there is ever an event where I am asked to go as blm and I know for a 100% fact that I will not be hit it will be sch sub all the way. Just those events don't exsist. :blue-cry:

 

[Shadowedge]

I noticed tiny additions to healing, divine, and enhancing skill when using /sch and Light Arts on whm, so I'm wondering if maybe blm/sch would get a tiny boost on their skills with Dark Arts. In any case, the 10% MP savings and fastcast isn't anything to sneeze at. And the JA for 50% reduction is very nice, even if it's only every 4 minutes.

Actually, whm/sch doesn't get a boost to healing or divine skills; only to enhancing. Lights Arts or Dark Arts will boost their respective magic skills to a B+ if the main job has that native skill (i.e. Enfeebling w/ whm), or a B- if the main job does not have that skill (i.e. Nin/sch).

Even so, though I haven't taken sch past 37 to see how it fairs at higher levels, I can definitely say it's the best sub for whm. 10% mp reduction, fast cast, Raise 3 for 125 mp, teleports that fire off at 33%, 100+ aspirs, being able to follow devotion with a drain, and with the boost to enhancing skill, I can get my elemental resistances well above 120.

 

[Heie]

Actually, whm/sch doesn't get a boost to healing or divine skills; only to enhancing. Lights Arts or Dark Arts will boost their respective magic skills to a B+ if the main job has that native skill (i.e. Enfeebling w/ whm), or a B- if the main job does not have that skill (i.e. Nin/sch).

Yeah if you have a skill higher then B+ having arts up does nothing for the skill lvl. But it does do something else that enhances it. As I mentioned on blm/sch I did notice about 30-50 more per nuke and drain and about 10-20 more per aspir then what I normally do.

Same goes for whm/sch what V said. I have noticed my flashes last longer. My cure 5's heal about 30-40 more on avg then normal. There is something more to sch then most people give it it credit.

Maybe its all in my head (Guess it would be in V's head also) but it does seem to boost things that are above B rating.

 

[Zeri]

From my understanding you can only cast weather effect spells on yourself and PT members. The dot on helix dmg from what I have read is based on how much dmg you do. If you do 100 dmg from casting the spell then your dot is 100 dmg every two clicks.

In my scenario of ballista, I'm hoping there's a way they can be a party member AND you can wail on their ass. Haha. So sure, storm them and nail a helix for a billion. If possible, might be fun. I haven't done too much ballista, but I'd imagine there'd be a way to finagle being in same party but opposite teams. That way can test weather effects. ^.^

Yeah if you have a skill higher then B+ having arts up does nothing for the skill lvl. But it does do something else that enhances it.

Maybe its all in my head (Guess it would be in V's head also) but it does seem to boost things that are above B rating.

That right there is VERY alluring, I must say. Definitely gives a +10 attractiveness of /SCH.

 

[Fodder]

I'm going to lol at you WHM/SCH who tele someone and then realize you forgot to change to BLM sub.

 

[Zeri]

I'm going to lol at you WHM/SCH who tele someone and then realize you forgot to change to BLM sub.

That's what we get you BLM for. D2 baby. ;P