Shield Mastery

[Armando]

Re: Shield Mastery

Lol, it's cool. I really don't understand how they can have a Delay low enough to get 5 TP per fist (that'd mean having around 360-ish Delay between both hands...unarmed Martial Arts III is 440!,) but at least Subtle Blow II fits the explanation.

And, thanks

EDIT: My bad! Martial Arts III IS 360 Delay. I was remembering the numbers wrong. All is explained!

[Aeni]

Re: Shield Mastery

I was in two PTs last night featuring PLD main.

Some of the bigger points I noticed was how auto-refresh made a huge difference. The impact was just to great to ignore. That's how significant it was. I was able to comfortably put the PLDs in both parties on every other cycle for refresh, whereas before this time, I had to put them at ~1.5 cycles, which was annoying as hell to keep track of.

Also what does this mean? PLDs rest significantly a lot less. Now, unless your foolish party takes on +14 level ITs w/o PL or significant down time, this should apply in about roughly 70% or more party type situations. This translates to the fact that with the shield changes and less need for rest, PLDs can also participate in skillchains.

With the shield improvement, both PLDs I've talked to noticed reduction in damage taken. Of course, one does not need to do much more than look at the MP pool after the end of each fight. Against high ITs in my first PT (MT listed the helm beetles in CN as about 52sh or so but we were 49/50s PT) we didn't have the significant downtimes I was expecting after each fight. This enabled us to *gasp* reach Chain 5s without issues, throwing in rumble crawler aggro in the mix. And trust me, this PT was far from even decent, since a lot of players were either new to the game (first main) or were just horrible players. Even the PLD was half-assed but the improvements made him look decent

What do you get with accumulating all this? PLD PTs don't see too much significant downtime compared with a NIN PT. A very good group of players and a very good PLD can really make NIN PTs run for their money (But I still have yet to see further evidence for me to go out on a limb and say "that they're equals now.")

Either way, as a RDM, this makes me happy.

[Armando]

Re: Shield Mastery

This translates to the fact that with the shield changes and less need for rest, PLDs can also participate in skillchains.

While I'm not surprised Auto Refresh makes a difference...that particular bit made my day. Skillchaining on my PLD is like a dream come true Good for party damage too, I'll bet.

[Aeni]

Re: Shield Mastery

While I'm not surprised Auto Refresh makes a difference...that particular bit made my day. Skillchaining on my PLD is like a dream come true Good for party damage too, I'll bet.

In my second party Armando, the only melee was the PLD and the SAM.

You'd be surprised at how the PLD was keeping up with TP too wwww I'm not exaggerating here.

SAM >> TP Call 127%
PLD >> TP call 105%

lolorz

Man, I'm beginning to wonder if a PLD + DD + 3x BLM + Support (Healer) is possible. Sure, the TP gaining will be slow, but throw in 3x AM for the MB and ... whoah.

[dirtyclown]

Re: Shield Mastery

I just got out of my Wednesday night party and I'm very impressed with my improved performance. I could keep hate very easily before the update, and now it's almost effortless. We were fighting spiders and I was taking significantly less damage from Sickle Slash and regular hits. The most blocks I counted in a row were 6. I can actually gain TP faster than the other melee characters in my party now, it's great! I didn't have to rest once tonight either, and my static's Red Mage is overjoyed that he doesn't have to refresh me as often. This update definitely helps out a great deal. We might not be able to completely nullify damage, but it's a step in the right direction.

[Armando]

Re: Shield Mastery

Damn, I need to party again. You two are getting me all excited x_x

I still haven't seen a Flashburn party though X3 I'm REALLY tempted to make one...if only I could find three other PLDs close to my level >.> Think about it, PLD/WAR x4, BRD, RDM, keep Berserk and Flash up, with Refresh they'll more than pay for themselves, and you'll only take about 1 out of every 5 hits XD

[Taskmage]

Re: Shield Mastery

Flashburn party sounds awesome. ^^

[dirtyclown]

Re: Shield Mastery

I'm excited to start trying to tank two mobs at once more often. It was a little tricky to do before, but now it should be quite easy. The only difficult thing will be trying to convey it to my static. They tend to shy away from situations like that and call me a psycho for even trying. D:

[Rostum]

Re: Shield Mastery

Can't wait to get back into merits for PLD. ^^

[bikkebakke]

Re: Shield Mastery

My tarudin is getting revived ^v^

[Armando]

Re: Shield Mastery

New info:
It seems the rumors were true. I went into Promyvion-Holla last night, and performed the TP test again. This time, instead of getting +2 TP, I was only getting +1 (Wanderers give 1.8 due to their faster attack speed, I was only getting 2.8 for shield blocks.) That means Shield Mastery really is divided into more than one trait. They say there's a third one at 75, and that you get +3 TP when you shield (well, ok, they haven't been saying it like that, but they say they get 5 TP when they shield.) I'll look into it.

[Taskmage]

Re: Shield Mastery

Has anyone checked if Store TP has any effect on this?

[Armando]

Re: Shield Mastery

Well, I know for a fact Store TP increases the TP you gain from being hit. Unfortunately, my SAM isn't levelled, so I can't check if Store TP only applies to the base ammount of TP, or if it applies to the whole after the bonus TP is added.

[Rolks]

Re: Shield Mastery

Armando, thank you for your research on this issue. I've been wondering about it myself. I've placed your theories into FFXIclopedia (http://wiki.ffxiclopedia.org/index.php/Shield_Mastery).

Please keep me updated as to your research.

[TenchiHawkwing]

Re: Shield Mastery

I'd also noticed this; I'm leveling PLD on a new toon. I want to see the benefits of Mastery and Auto-Refresh through all the levels.
Currently 29... Shield Mastery wasn't doing as much for me... though I was the top TP gaining melee in the PT(mostly due to the speed of the Mandragora strikes).