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I'm sure all of you are very excited about our new job trait. I know I sure am. Anyways, because of my curiosity, the ammount of speculation, and the current lack of knowledge on Shield Mastery, I decided to test what exactly determined the bonus TP. I reached two conclusions:
1) Shield Mastery grants an extra 2 TP when you shield an attack. This means that for every three-and-one-quarter or so shield blocks we get as much TP as we would've from landing a sword swing. Normal (non-MNKs, non-NIN, etc.) mobs give 2.1 TP per hit, and therefore, an attack shielded by a person with the Shield Mastery trait gives 4.1 TP.
2) The 2 TP bonus is constant regardless of the size of your shield. That means that against mobs on which your shielding rate isn't capped (i.e. IT mobs,) smaller shields should provide a better TP gain, due to the simple fact that they should allow you to shield more often. Wether as a PLD we shield significantly more with a buckler as opposed to a kite shield, and wether the trade-off in damage from using a smaller shield is significantly hurtful or negligible is something I haven't looked into.
Normally, to obtain the exact TP value of an attack, one would attack (or be attacked) 10 times. However, while it's possible to determine the TP gained from a full hit using this method, the probabilities of shielding 10 times in a row are far too slim. So, instead, I recorded each individual hit's TP gain, and wether or not it was a successful hit or a shielded hit. Knowing how much TP a successful hit would give, I then proceeded to find what TP value for shielded hits would fit the pattern. This is how I reached the conclusion that Shield Mastery awards an extra 2 TP to your normal TP gain. To keep the experiments "clean," I stopped recording data as soon as the mob hit me with a TP move.
My data will be listed as such:
Mob (TP gain from normal hits) | Shield (Size)
(Hit or Shield) (TP gained), etc.
H = Successful hit from the mob
S = Shielded hit
Double Attacks or simultaneous attacks (Mandragora) will be denoted with two letters.
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Goblin Smithy (2.1 TP) | Master Shield (Size 2)
HS 6, H 8, H 10, H 12, S 16, S 20, S 24, H 26, H 29, S 33, H 35, S 39, S 43, S 47, H 49, S 53, H 55, S 59, H 62, S 66, H 68, H 70, H 72
Goblin Smithy (2.1 TP) | Royal Knight Army Shield (Size 3)
S 4, S 8, SS 16, H 18, S 22, S 26, S 32, H 32, H 35, S 39, H 41, S 45, H 47, H 49, H 51, S 55, H 57
Goblin Smithy (2.1 TP) | Royal Knight Army Shield (Size 3)
H 2, H 4, S 8, S 12, H 14, H 16, H 18, H 20, S 24, H 27, S 31, H 33, H 35, H 37, H 39, H 41, H 43, S 47, H 49, S 54, H 56, H 58, S 62, S 66, H 68, S 72, H 74, H 76, H 78
Yuhtunga Mandragora (1.4 TP) | Master Shield (Size 2)
S 3, HH 6, H 7, H 9, H 10, H 11, H 13, HS 18, H 19, H 20, HS 25, H 27, HH 29, H 31, H 32, HH 35, S 38, H 40, HH 43, S 46, H 47, SH 52, H 54, HS 58, H 60, HH 63
Yuhtunga Mandragora (1.4 TP) | Royal Knight Army Shield (Size 3)
H 1, H 2, S 6, SH 11, SH 15, HH 18, S 22, H 23, H 24, HH 27, HS 32, S 35, H 37, SH 42, S 45, S 48, H 50, HH 53, HH 55, H 57, H 58, HS 63, S 66, H 68
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Remember that the TP values shown are only the whole numbers; the decimals are hidden. However, in all the tests against Goblin Smithies, if you add 2.1 for every hit, the only value for shielded hits that'll match every single number (i.e. the decimals add up properly so that the TP increases by 1 point on the right hit) is 4.1. In the test against the Yuhtunga Mandragoras, the only value for shielded hits that'll add up properly is 3.4.
1) Shield Mastery grants an extra 2 TP when you shield an attack. This means that for every three-and-one-quarter or so shield blocks we get as much TP as we would've from landing a sword swing. Normal (non-MNKs, non-NIN, etc.) mobs give 2.1 TP per hit, and therefore, an attack shielded by a person with the Shield Mastery trait gives 4.1 TP.
2) The 2 TP bonus is constant regardless of the size of your shield. That means that against mobs on which your shielding rate isn't capped (i.e. IT mobs,) smaller shields should provide a better TP gain, due to the simple fact that they should allow you to shield more often. Wether as a PLD we shield significantly more with a buckler as opposed to a kite shield, and wether the trade-off in damage from using a smaller shield is significantly hurtful or negligible is something I haven't looked into.
Normally, to obtain the exact TP value of an attack, one would attack (or be attacked) 10 times. However, while it's possible to determine the TP gained from a full hit using this method, the probabilities of shielding 10 times in a row are far too slim. So, instead, I recorded each individual hit's TP gain, and wether or not it was a successful hit or a shielded hit. Knowing how much TP a successful hit would give, I then proceeded to find what TP value for shielded hits would fit the pattern. This is how I reached the conclusion that Shield Mastery awards an extra 2 TP to your normal TP gain. To keep the experiments "clean," I stopped recording data as soon as the mob hit me with a TP move.
My data will be listed as such:
Mob (TP gain from normal hits) | Shield (Size)
(Hit or Shield) (TP gained), etc.
H = Successful hit from the mob
S = Shielded hit
Double Attacks or simultaneous attacks (Mandragora) will be denoted with two letters.
---
Goblin Smithy (2.1 TP) | Master Shield (Size 2)
HS 6, H 8, H 10, H 12, S 16, S 20, S 24, H 26, H 29, S 33, H 35, S 39, S 43, S 47, H 49, S 53, H 55, S 59, H 62, S 66, H 68, H 70, H 72
Goblin Smithy (2.1 TP) | Royal Knight Army Shield (Size 3)
S 4, S 8, SS 16, H 18, S 22, S 26, S 32, H 32, H 35, S 39, H 41, S 45, H 47, H 49, H 51, S 55, H 57
Goblin Smithy (2.1 TP) | Royal Knight Army Shield (Size 3)
H 2, H 4, S 8, S 12, H 14, H 16, H 18, H 20, S 24, H 27, S 31, H 33, H 35, H 37, H 39, H 41, H 43, S 47, H 49, S 54, H 56, H 58, S 62, S 66, H 68, S 72, H 74, H 76, H 78
Yuhtunga Mandragora (1.4 TP) | Master Shield (Size 2)
S 3, HH 6, H 7, H 9, H 10, H 11, H 13, HS 18, H 19, H 20, HS 25, H 27, HH 29, H 31, H 32, HH 35, S 38, H 40, HH 43, S 46, H 47, SH 52, H 54, HS 58, H 60, HH 63
Yuhtunga Mandragora (1.4 TP) | Royal Knight Army Shield (Size 3)
H 1, H 2, S 6, SH 11, SH 15, HH 18, S 22, H 23, H 24, HH 27, HS 32, S 35, H 37, SH 42, S 45, S 48, H 50, HH 53, HH 55, H 57, H 58, HS 63, S 66, H 68
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Remember that the TP values shown are only the whole numbers; the decimals are hidden. However, in all the tests against Goblin Smithies, if you add 2.1 for every hit, the only value for shielded hits that'll match every single number (i.e. the decimals add up properly so that the TP increases by 1 point on the right hit) is 4.1. In the test against the Yuhtunga Mandragoras, the only value for shielded hits that'll add up properly is 3.4.
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