-enemy crit vs -spell interruption

[piroko]

Finally, after two and a half years of grinding my butt off and chopping appart almost every type of enemy with my axe I'm now a 75 BST.

What the hell does it have to do with PLD? Merits. I plan on leveling a few other jobs to 75 (WHM, BLM, RDM, BRD, PLD, WAR...) or atleast to 60.

Since I suddenly have a tank job stuck there in the middle of nowhere I can't really merit +emnity since I don't want WHM, BLM, RDM... to draw hate during a party but I can't merit -emnity either then playing PLD would be moot.

So, my choices are currently +crit to help increase my emnity and damage out put as melee and something between spell interruption -8% and enemity crit -4%.

Which would you rather take as PLD?

[Gtsgunner]

Re: -enemy crit vs -spell interruption

I'd take Spell Interruption rate hands down never know when that extra cure might save ur life yah know. Especially in dynamis with all the lag spell interuption rate down would help a crap load =)

[Davitron3000]

Re: -enemy crit vs -spell interruption

I would probably cap + crit first.

I personally like + crit. I asked on the ninja forums what I should merit with Paladin for
Ninja and most everyone said + crit. I did it and I am very happy. Can you merit
shield as Bst? Having shield merits as a lower level Paladin would be really nice. Only
thing is I don't think they would be very useful for any other job.

I have read that - enemy crit is not that good/noticeable, but I don't have any merits in
it so I couldn't tell ya.

Not sure if I answered you question, lol. (but hopefully something in what I said will
be useful )

[Bishop]

Re: -enemy crit vs -spell interruption

Definetly +crit hands down.

As a mage, you should not be getting hit anyways in the ideal party, so - spell interruption is useless. It COULD save you on that last cure before you die, but in all honesty, you're pretty much screwed anyways if you're that close to dying and you just busted a cure V on yourself. The hate alone will have the mob stuck on you and that -spell interruption really doesn't up your chances of survival overall.

+crit on the other hand will not only increase your dmg output in both your ws and your regular hits, but will also increase your enmity due to higher dmg output. Since you will not be meleeing as a mage, you wont have to worry about the extra enmity that would otherwise occur when you merit enmity+.

[Taskmage]

Re: -enemy crit vs -spell interruption

Is the effect of -spell interruption noticable? I've noticed when playing with rdm and ninja that the effect of Aquaveil and -spell interruption items like Nikkariaoe is practically negligable if you're fighting something in the IT range which already has a very high chance of interrupting you. Those effects are -20% interruption and -25% respectively, spell interruption merits are only a 2% decrease. Doesn't seem like it'd be worth it to me.

[WishMaster3K]

Re: -enemy crit vs -spell interruption

Well i think the important thing would be that every little bit counts. . . So ultimately, it's better than nothing. =[

[Taskmage]

Re: -enemy crit vs -spell interruption

True insofar as you're not sacrificing something better to get it. The category that contains the spell interruption rate merit also contains enmity increase, crit increase, and enemy crit decrease, all of which seem more valuable.

[WishMaster3K]

Re: -enemy crit vs -spell interruption

Ah, good point, but he also has mage jobs At the very least, you can cap out one ( I think at 4) and then cap the other one later.

I guess that's why merits are up to the specific player. I foolishly wasted 3 merit points on Criticals, but I guess they made a marginal difference when leveling my subs.

[piroko]

Re: -enemy crit vs -spell interruption

The catagories are:
Emnity+
Emnity-
Crit Hit Rate+1%
Emnity Critical Hit Rate-1%
Spell Interruption Rate -2%

You can have up to 8 points in this catagory, 4 max per "ability".

Some of you miss understood me, I'm capping crit hit rate for sure (increases damage as melee and helps with hate), and I'm currently debating between the last two.

But is -4% enemy cirt rate or -8% spell interruption rate really that noticible? Should I just get PLD to 60 and then put in my -emnity since wearing the AF is the sole reason I'm leveling PLD

[Maju]

Re: -enemy crit vs -spell interruption

-Spell interruption seems pretty useless to me. You can't count on curing through hits anyway. If you don't learn to time your cures correctly you won't survive as a PLD no matter how much -spell interruption you have.

[Karinya]

Re: -enemy crit vs -spell interruption

Timing won't help you *that* much at the high levels when mobs regularly hit through Flash. It's still important to reduce the chance of interruption, but it won't save you by itself. -interrupt merits are small, but you cast under attack a LOT (or at least I do). Then again, I also wear Guardian's Earring figuring whenever I need it, it'll be on, which it seems not many PLD do.

Anyway, I don't see the point of +crit for a PLD. Instead of hitting for 15 you crit for 35... yeah, that's going to make a huge enmity difference on a monster with 10k HP. Sure.

I'm focusing mainly on -enemy crit in that category because a lot of my deaths are to strings of crits, especially in Dynamis. Getting crit a couple times by a vanguard sentinel, or worse, a hydra monk that just aegis schismed me, is very dangerous. I'm not sure how much it reduces the chance, but even one less crit at the right time can save your life, so as long as it isn't *completely* broken, I'd say it's worth it. The rest of the category is kind of weak for my jobs anyway.


Two things annoy me about the merit system: you can't buy more merits than the cap and select which ones to activate when you change jobs, and enmity merits are often counterproductive. I think the game needs a merit configuring system - merits you buy go into a pool and in your MH you can choose which ones to set up, like blue magic (or like FFIX). Especially for +/-enmity, which is actually counterproductive in many situations; but anyone who has two significantly different jobs (and isn't that one of the main attractions of FFXI?) gets screwed by this to some extent. The present state of the merit system works directly against the overall design of the game that encourages people to play different jobs on the same character.

[Davitron3000]

Re: -enemy crit vs -spell interruption

Timing won't help you *that* much at the high levels when mobs regularly hit through Flash.

This statement is strange to me. Timing is everything for my Cure casts. I try
to not rely on Flash to get Cures off if I can help it.

(I realize everyone tanks in different ways )

[piroko]

Re: -enemy crit vs -spell interruption

Anyway, I don't see the point of +crit for a PLD. Instead of hitting for 15 you crit for 35... yeah, that's going to make a huge enmity difference on a monster with 10k HP. Sure.

Well, like I stated above, I'm playing a lot of mage jobs, +emnity isn't -really- the smartest thing to merit... especially WHM, BLM or even RDM... and I play BST... -not- the smartest to draw hate off your pet... >.>;;

I'm focusing mainly on -enemy crit in that category because a lot of my deaths are to strings of crits, especially in Dynamis. Getting crit a couple times by a vanguard sentinel, or worse, a hydra monk that just aegis schismed me, is very dangerous. I'm not sure how much it reduces the chance, but even one less crit at the right time can save your life, so as long as it isn't *completely* broken, I'd say it's worth it. The rest of the category is kind of weak for my jobs anyway.

Yea, I know, Dynamis mobs hit for a lot but I'm not all that into end game play, gods, AFv2, relic... not very worth it in my opnion. I'm just leveling different jobs to experience different aspects of the game.

Two things annoy me about the merit system: you can't buy more merits than the cap and select which ones to activate when you change jobs, and enmity merits are often counterproductive. I think the game needs a merit configuring system - merits you buy go into a pool and in your MH you can choose which ones to set up, like blue magic (or like FFIX). Especially for +/-enmity, which is actually counterproductive in many situations; but anyone who has two significantly different jobs (and isn't that one of the main attractions of FFXI?) gets screwed by this to some extent. The present state of the merit system works directly against the overall design of the game that encourages people to play different jobs on the same character.

So true, wish they could do that, one could actually "master merits" and equip what will be the most useful for their job.

I'm starting to think maybe I should just give up on PLD all together (or level it on another character) and merit -emnity

[Maju]

Re: -enemy crit vs -spell interruption

This statement is strange to me. Timing is everything for my Cure casts. I try
to not rely on Flash to get Cures off if I can help it.

(I realize everyone tanks in different ways )

I agree. Curing during Flash is nice and easy, but I Flash as soon as the cooldown is over anyway so I can't use it as a cure buyer when I'm hurt. Besides, if the mob hits you through Flash you're screwed if you can't cure between the mob's normal attack cycles.

[csBahamut]

Re: -enemy crit vs -spell interruption

I went with +crit first, then -enemy crit. I have 3 merits in -enemy crit so far, and it's awsome. Spell interrupts really shouldn't be a problem. When the mob decides to WS in the middle of your casting, it's going to interrupt you no matter what. Timing between attacks should be a no brainer.