Summoner Merits?

[Haziko]

Well, I was bored, once again stemming from a 'certain someone' being on the PS2.

So I figured that I would go look at the Merits. Oh boy...

This is what I came to, despite the 10,000 exp per merit. A total of 185 merits. This is based only on the SMN job, due to the fact that I havent' even hit 75 yet, nor do I think I'll hit 75 with another job anytime soon.

HP/MP Merits

[1>2>3>4>5>5>5>5]
Max combo: 8
Max per item: 8

---Max HP (+10 per upgrade)
---Max MP (+10 per upgrade)[/center]

Merit Possibilities:

• Max MP [x8 = 30 Merits]

Reason: Elvaan already have entirely way too low MP for the job, and HP does really nothing but keep me alive. Judging by higher level players' skill usually, I likely won't have to worry much about gaining hate and living. Elvaan already have a very high HP rating as it is.

Attribute Merits

[3>6>9>9>9]
Max combo: 5
Max per item: 5

---STR (+1 per upgrade)
---DEX (+1 per upgrade)
---VIT (+1 per upgrade)
---AGI (+1 per upgrade)
---INT (+1 per upgrade)
---MND (+1 per upgrade)
---CHR (+1 per upgrade)[/center]

Reason: I'm not very sure at all about this one, so its very, very subject to change. The reason being is how much this could affect my character. None of these actually really help a SMN, as none of them affect his/her avatars. However, Elvaan do already have pretty low INT as it is, so I figured I would throw most, if not all, there for the moment. Samurai, however(my next job) would be great for the DEX. Therefore, I haven't marked anything here. These will likely be the last merits, if I should ever reach them, that I will do, unless i go to start on Samurai.

Combat Skill Merits

Only skills that the current (level 75) job possesses can be adjusted.
Depending on his/her main job, raising combat skills may not necessarily allow a player to use certain weapon skills.
[1>2>3>3>3>3>3>3]
Max combo: 12
Max per item: Varies depending on the item
Weapon Skills

[1>2>3>3>3>3>3>3]
Max per item: 8

---Hand-to-Hand Skill (+2 per upgrade)
---Dagger Skill (+2 per upgrade)
---Sword Skill (+2 per upgrade)
---Great Sword Skill (+2 per upgrade)
---Axe Skill (+2 per upgrade)
---Great Axe Skill (+2 per upgrade)
---Scythe Skill (+2 per upgrade)
---Polearm Skill (+2 per upgrade)
---Katana Skill (+2 per upgrade)
---Great Katana Skill (+2 per upgrade)
---Club Skill (+2 per upgrade)
---Staff Skill (+2 per upgrade)
---Archery Skill (+2 per upgrade)
---Marksmanship Skill (+2 per upgrade)
---Throwing Skill (+2 per upgrade)


Defensive Skills

[1>2>3>3]
Max per item: 4

---Guarding Skill (+2 per upgrade)
---Evasion Skill (+2 per upgrade)
---Shield Skill (+2 per upgrade)
---Parrying Skill (+2 per upgrade)[/center]

Merit Possibilities:

• Staff [x8 = 21 Merits]
  
• Staff [x4 = 9 Merits] and G.Katana [x4 = 9 Merits]
  
  
• Evasion [x4 = 9 Merits]
  
• Evasion [x2 = 3 Merits] + Parrying [x2 = 3 Merits]

Reason: Although I can reach any and all Staff Weapons Skills without raising the skill at all(Caps at 230 - Retribution), it might be nice to raise this a bit just for a place to put these. The other option, would be a few on Staff, and a few on G.Katana, to help when leveling Samurai. If I'm not mistaken, it raises the cap here and there while leveling, right?

The Evasion merits would be basically for SMN, as thats the only thing out of all of those that really helps. If I am to solo, or get attacked, the Evasion helps. As for the second possibility, that would be to add SAM in there. Parrying helps a good bit for SAM, as they seem to be quite talented at it here and there.

Magic Skill Merits

Only skills that the current (level 75) job possesses can be adjusted.
[1>2>3>3>3>3>3>3]
Max combo: 8
Max per item: 8

---Divine Magic Skill (+2 per upgrade)
---Healing Magic Skill (+2 per upgrade)
---Enhancing Magic Skill (+2 per upgrade)
---Enfeebling Magic Skill (+2 per upgrade)
---Elemental Magic Skill (+2 per upgrade)
---Dark Magic Skill (+2 per upgrade)
---Summoning Magic Skill (+2 per upgrade)
---Ninjutsu Skill (+2 per upgrade)
---Singing Skill (+2 per upgrade)
---String Instrument Skill (+2 per upgrade)
---Wind Instrument Skill (+2 per upgrade)
---Blue Magic Skill (+2 per upgrade)[/center]

Merit Possibilities:

• Summon [x8 = 21 Merits]

Reason: Really, this will help my Spirits a little bit. Where they aren't entirely helpful during the leveling experience, they get a lot better with Capped SMN Skill and level 75. The Light Spirit, for example, can be considered a whole new Healer in the party. If used Correctly, Spirits are a great thing. I was considering a little bit of Enhancing or Enfeebling for my buffs and enfeebling in parties, but not sure.

Other Merits

[1>2>3>4]
Max combo: 8
Max per item: 4

---Enmity Increase (+1 per upgrade)
---Enmity Decrease (-1 per upgrade)
---Critical Hit Rate (+1% per upgrade)
---Enemy Critical Hit Rate (-1% per upgrade)
---Spell Interruption Rate (-2% per upgrade)[/center]

Merit Possibilities:

• Enmity - [x4 = 10 Merits] + Spell Int [x4 = 10 Merits]
  
• Enmity - [x4 = 10 Merits] + Critical+ [x4 = 10 Merits]

Reason: The Enmity always helps when having to back-up/Main Heal in parties, and definately when issuing blood pacts. I always want the Hate on the avatars and not myself, so the less I have into my character, the better. The Spell interruption helps in instances where I have to get my avatars up while under attack. The Critical + would be for Samurai.

Job Specific [Group One] Merits

Group 1
[1>2>3>4>5]
Max combo: 10
Max per item: 5

---Avatar Physical Accuracy (+3 per upgrade)
---Avatar Physical Attack (+2 per upgrade)
---Avatar Magical Accuracy (+3 per upgrade)
---Avatar Magical Attack (+2 per upgrade)
---Elemental MP Cost (-1 perp per Merit)[/center]

Merit Possibilities:

• P.Accuracy [x5 = 15 Merits] + M. Accuracy [x5 = 15 Merits]
  
• P.Accuracy [x5 = 15 Merits] + Spirit Perp- [x5 = 15 Merits]
  
• P.Accuracy [x5 = 15 Merits] + P.Attack [x5 = 15 Merits]
  
• P.Accuracy [x5 = 15 Merits] + M. Accuracy [x1 = 1 Merit] + P. Attack [x2 = 3 Merits] + M. Attack [x2 = 3 Merits]

Reason: I'm mostly leaning towards the second option, with the last one close behind it. As I said before, the spirits are really good if used right, so you wanna be able to keep them out for as long as possible, if needed. Physical Accuracy is a must, as it helps for them to Build TP, and actually hit with their attacks. I've had horrible experiences with this, but yet my Magical Accuracy is never that bad at all. A miss here and there, if anything. The last one helps because it spreads everything out, and helps just about everywhere.

Job Specific [Group Two] Merits

[3>4>5]
Max combo: 6 (for each job)
Max per item: 3

---Meteor Strike (+20 TP Bonus per upgrade)
---Heavenly Strike (+20 TP Bonus per upgrade)
---Wind Blade (+20 TP Bonus per upgrade)
---Geocrush (+20 TP Bonus per upgrade)
---Thunderstorm (+20 TP Bonus per upgrade)
---Grand Fall (+20 TP Bonus per upgrade)[/center]

Merit Possibilities:

• All 6 Blood Pacts [x1 = 18 Merits]

Reason: Well, for one, I want them all : P. For another, although the TP bonus helps, there will be times where I may be limited to an avatar that I may not have the ability for. Therefore, if I get them all, I can experiment with them and decide whether or not there are any that I do not like. From there, I can get rid of them if I want, and merit others.

This is, in no way, the order that I will start getting them in. Nor am I assuming that I'll actually go through and get almost 2,000,000 exp to get those. I have a feeling that very few people, if any, even on this server, have that. I know Katonen, someone I've seen around, has 156 Merits. Months, upon months of constant exping, and lots of hard work.

Although it technically pays off, I highly doubt I could do it. Would drive me insane x.x I'd have to split things like this up, because I do have QUITE a few Merits to get. The Physical Accuracy on the avatars will likely come first, if not second after the Six Blood Pacts.

Now, I would like to hear opinions, suggestions, etc from anybody and everybody that reads this, please.

[Paman]

did you know that lvling oe job from 1-75 takes about 830.000 exp?

getting all of those 2m limit points might take a while. or not.

it all depends on what jobs you merit on. take blm and war as a example. a good manaburn will be able to reach slightly over 10k exp / hour. in most cases however it' somewhere around 6-8k / hr.

as for war, and generally other melee with high DoT AND spike dmg (sam drk drg etc.) exp / hr can be a lot higher. tp pr ws burn parties usually consist of 3-4 heavy melees a tank a healer and a refresher (rdm+brd or cor optimal). with the constant ws spam fights last for very short periods and you can get high chains, resulting in large amounts of exp. i myself have only gotten up to 15k / hours but i know it can go higher by a few thousand.

as for smn im not sure how well meriting will go. i cant recall ever meriting with a smn -.-

and btw i've aquired about 15% of your 2m limit points so far lol
it did not take long - probably 1 week at most (if you add it up, say 5 hours / day, with an average of 10-13k / hour)

[Haushinka]

yea... the 2nd job to 75 is much easier. you can do what i did and take another job to 75 just for merits. With WAR i've gotten over chain 100 and 17.5-18k an hour exp. It could have theoretically went higher too, we were actually competing with 2 other parties when I did that, we just had the best brd. You will find that in TP burn parties the only limit to exp is how fast mobs can be consistantly pulled.

Also in any good TP burn PT i've been in there was no tank, the WAR just take turns voking. I've also been in more than one PT where I was the worst of 4 WAR as far as equip goes. I've got everytyhing money can buy but they had adaman hauberk and ridil.

[Haziko]

Well my next job to 75 will most likely be Samurai. Always enjoyed that job, just hope I can find someone to borrow a pair of O.Kotes off of for leveling

Know anybody, let me know please ^_^

Anyways - I'll talk to Skully about how he merits, and see what works. I guess it all depends on who is seeking for merits too, and whether or not I make the party (Which I highly likely WILL NOT)

I just wanna merit ;_;

[Paman]

better get your lvl 75 fast then

[Yuroni]

lol....highly likely =P

[Haushinka]

we should all merit together. we can use it to make up for the exp we lose doing assault

[Yuroni]

lmao! yeah!


once i get to 75 that is! =P

[Paman]

yay i dont have to be rdm anymore

[Haushinka]

yay and you have an O-hat for your thf too!