Avesta's Merit Recommendations?

[Dragonsword]

At link:
http://redmage.k-free.net/others.html
I trust they are:
HP +8
Int +5
Enfeebling Magic +8
Sword skill +8
Dagger +4
Enemy Critical Hit Rate +4
Spell Interruption +4
For Rdm
Convert timing +5
Ice Magic Accuracy +5
Slow II +3
Bio III +3
For Blm
Ice and Thunder Magic attack +5 each
Every II ancient magic +1 each
Read also his analysis of Rdm merit spells and respective rating for solo and partying
^^)b.

[Aeni]

Re: Avesta's Merit Recommendations?

Which is very subjective. First of all, what works for Avesta may not work for 90% of RDMs out there. He does a lot of soloing and with that knowledge, this is where his choices come to play.

For some of you, this may not work for you, especially in a group setting where certain benefits outweigh others. All I can say is, just treat this as someone's personal "build" but don't take this as "you need to use this because Avesta does."

[BurningPanther]

Re: Avesta's Merit Recommendations?

It still a good setup, one that I think would work well for every RDM, regardless of how they spend their in-game time.

However, I keep my own ideas on Merit assignments, for soloing and group setup:

MP: 8 merits
MND: 5 merits OR MND 3/STR2
Sword skill: 8 merits
Parrying or Evasion skill: 4 merits(haven't made up my mind yet)
Enfeebling skill: 8 merits
Critical hit rate: 4 merits
Spell interruption rate: 4 merits
Convert recast: 3 merits
Ice magic accuracy: 4 merits
Wind magic accuracy: 3 merits
I chose to get all six of my spells, and have yet to decide to drop the rest and merit just two.

It's a setup I think would work as well for group play as for solo play.

I chose full into MP since I don't have the HP-MP discrepancy a Taru would.
Full into MND, since it's such a big, but undervalued part of enfeebling(and M.Def), I'm still deciding whether to go 3/2 on MND and STR, since I could benefit from an extra 2 points into STR, but I think full MND might mean more.
Full merits into sword, since I simply value it more than the dagger, and just see myself using it more.
I'm torn between Evasion and Parrying, but might go with evasion since it's already naturally higher, but the disparity between the two is small enough that it might not matter which I merit.
Enfeebling skill? That one's obvious. I've three merits into it and I'm noticing a marked difference in spell proc rates(though for whatever reason, it seems like resist rates have increased).
I'm a big fan of Paralyze, and thus put more merits into Ice magic accuracy than the others, and Wind magic accuracy merits to benefit Silence and Gravity.
I'd love to have a fully merited Convert recast timer, but with increased MP, MND, Enfeebling, and magic accuracies, I should be able to get more mileage out of each spell, thereby reducing my need to Convert regularly.
I was irked at the idea that I'd have to sacrifice the potency of my new spells to get all of them and vice versa(especially for three of which we should have had 10-15 levels ago, and two of which were rightfully ours to begin with), but being something of a completist(no mage should go without all his spells), I chose to get them all, and dedicate what gear and stats I could to making them better, in the hopes that S-E will offer more merit opportunities for them, instead of making us choose like that, the bastards.

But anyhow, that's just my opinion, and my target for RDM merits. Your ideas will vary accordingly.

[arkaine23]

Re: Avesta's Merit Recommendations?

For one thing I play RDM and MNK, and am planning to take BRD and BLM to 75 down the road.

MP: 7/8 merits (for RDM, other mage jobs, and melee/mage soloing)

Stats: 2/3 STR 1/1 MND 0/1 VIT (I'm a cheapskate when it comes to these costly merits, STR for any job that melees, MND for RDM and Chi Blasts, VIT useable by all jobs for taking hits, and for Chakra, MNK WS mod)

Weapon skill: Sword 4/4 (meh) H2H 0/4 (enough to get +2 base damage from 291 skill with Faith Torque)

Evasion skill: 4/4 (useable by all jobs all the time, MNK has high natural evasion)

Enfeebling skill: 4/4 (plenty)

Elemental skill: 4/4 (quite useful)

Critical hit rate: 4/4 (mostly for MNK and RDM melee soloing)

Spell interruption rate: 2/4 (rest of the category is prety meh)

Convert recast: 3/4 (much )

Ice magic accuracy: 2/3 (bind, paralyze, blizzards)

Wind magic accuracy: 2/3 (gravity, silence, aeros)

Slow II 1/2 (lots of RDM will have it, pretty standard)

Paralyze II 1/1 (same as above)

Dia III 2/3 (because Dia > Bio most of the time, increases kill speed, can overwrite Bio II, and its fairly mp efficient vs Dia II: 36 vs 45 mp 2 minutes vs 1:30)


Not quite finished yet....

[Aeni]

Re: Avesta's Merit Recommendations?

It still a good setup, one that I think would work well for every RDM, regardless of how they spend their in-game time.

But that's still a subjective posturing. That's what you might think, but your LS leaders may not think the same way. In short, it comes down to what the LS needs and when and where. I know, it might seem a bit (restrictive) but there's certain LS that requires what members need to sub, what to do, etc. when it comes down to events. I don't think meriting is any different.

[Raydeus]

Re: Avesta's Merit Recommendations?

I think every RDM has to decide for themselves what is worth to merit or not, but if anyone wants to be like Avesta then just follow Avesta's 30 steps guide to a healthy RDM life.

[Dragonsword]

Re: Avesta's Merit Recommendations?

I totally agree that we should not blindly follow Avesta's merit choice, as he is a Tarutaru so merit on HP instead of MP. Yet there is something interesting on his choice:

(1) He obviously put emphasis on ice magic accuracy and attack (rdm/blm merits). Could it be his understanding of the game mechanics that silence and gravity are more enfeebling skill governed o.O and hence his 8 merits on enfeebling skill has covered that need;

(2) He put priority on enfeebling skill (all 8 on it) instead of elemental skill but put alot of merits on Int and magic accuracy to counter balance it. Is it also his understanding of the game mechanics that "Int" and "magic accuracy" has more potency on inflicting magic damage than elemental magic skill o.O

They are points to ponder!! Of course, despite his recommendation on Dia III on party scenario, his choice of Bio III for solo DoT and minus attack purposes are quite obvious.

Edit: the game mechanic also render paralyze so difficult to land, even more so in God/HNM, so I kind of agreeing Avesta's choice to concentrate on Slow II which is to my opinion more potent and effective for the time being.

[BurningPanther]

Re: Avesta's Merit Recommendations?

But that's still a subjective posturing. That's what you might think, but your LS leaders may not think the same way. In short, it comes down to what the LS needs and when and where. I know, it might seem a bit (restrictive) but there's certain LS that requires what members need to sub, what to do, etc. when it comes down to events. I don't think meriting is any different.

I was saying as a general rule. For the most part, Red Mage will be needed only for the mage aspect. Whether that be nuking, healing, enfeebling, etc. The melee part is ignored, so we can ignore that aspect of Avesta's merits. What I was getting at was the magic based merits. For the most part I'm sure if every RDM followed Avesta's merit recommendations, they'd still be of significant benefit to whatever party or LS they are in. Will there be HNM shells that favor Dia 3 over Bio 3? Sure. Are there Galkas that would need MP mreits more than HP? Of course. Does the rest of the player population even care what merits we put into Sword or Dagger? HELL NO.

The point is, I'm sure if every other RDM followed that setup, it'd still work out just fine, they'd still be wholly effective. But again, merits will vary with prefernce and necessity.

[arkaine23]

Re: Avesta's Merit Recommendations?

I'd never let anyone dictate to me what to merit. Whenever I hear a rah-rah-HNMLS-owns-my-character-and-tells-me-how-high-to-jump-cheerleader it makes me sick. That's totally ridiculous and shows either lack of independent thinking or vertebrae. Being told what to sub and how a fight/event is planned to go is one thing, but being told what to merit is a whole other level. Merits enhance your character in smalll but significant ways, letting you customize some strengths, and also give you some advantages on lower level jobs and in level caps. It's your character, so merit what you think will benefit what you do and your other jobs the most. Certainly the needs of your linkshells can factor into your decisions, but you shouldn't merit something because so-and-so told you to. Similarly if you team up with other RDM in alliances frequently, you can play off each others merit choices if you think its a good idea to do so. There's no one best way to merit RDM since it can do a little bit of everything.

Avesta's merits are pretty easy to analyze.

Maximum Enfeebling skill, Ice accuracy, and INT for Bind and Blizzard III. Some of the hardest solos he does are /NIN with Bind kiting while DOT'ing with Poison II. Sometimes Bio also if mob TP moves are not horribly hazardous, hence Bio III for better inital damage and an extra 2/tick over Bio II, in addition attack down making melee soloing easier. With his extra mp in a covert cycle, he drops nukes. Blizzard III usually being RDM's best nuke. He's got W. Legs, which can make gravity less useful (also the fact that resistence to Gravity builds over time). Seems he's also a BLM so the INT and Enfeebling merits are no surprise. Being taru it makes sense to go for hp over mp. Full convert merits for a soloist is no surprise either. All you're really doing is making yourself last from Convert to Convert while needling away at mob hp.

[Dragonsword]

Re: Avesta's Merit Recommendations?

Great analysis, Arkaine23 ^^)b

[Auremir]

Re: Avesta's Merit Recommendations?

I think every RDM has to decide for themselves what is worth to merit or not, but if anyone wants to be like Avesta then just follow Avesta's 30 steps guide to a healthy RDM life.

I apologize for digging this thread up after its death, but I am curious what Raydeus is speaking of here? I know of Avesta's site, but unfortunately cannot read any Japanese. Was this reference to the guide a joke, or does it exist and are there any english translations?

Thanks in advance,

Auremir

[Jei]

Re: Avesta's Merit Recommendations?

A joke. But we can always learn from all the video Avesta had made.

[Auremir]

Re: Avesta's Merit Recommendations?

Guess I need to get less gullible. *grin* But thank you for the quick response.

[SharMarali]

Re: Avesta's Merit Recommendations?

I'd never let anyone dictate to me what to merit. Whenever I hear a rah-rah-HNMLS-owns-my-character-and-tells-me-how-high-to-jump-cheerleader it makes me sick. That's totally ridiculous and shows either lack of independent thinking or vertebrae.

Thank you.

I don't understand the mentality where people allow others to tell them what jobs to raise, how to play the job, what equipment to buy, etc. Asking others for advice is great. I completely recommend it. But I can't fathom why people would blindly follow what someone else tells them to do.

Hello? We're playing this game to goof off. Are you too lazy and stupid to goof off for yourself???

Edit: No, this was not "aimed" at anybody. Everyone who has posted in this thread appears to be fairly intelligent and shows the capacity for independent thought. "You" in the above statement is a subjective term.

[Dragonsword]

Re: Avesta's Merit Recommendations?

Well, its our own character we are talking so everybody has the right on how to lead and develop his/her character.

For me, I would rather learn from others, as some merits may not be that effective and efficient as we have limited choice here ^^