By Valefor.Teratron 2013-12-19 23:46:00
I've only been back to the game for a few months after having to leave for five years, and BLM is one of the jobs I've taken back up. I'm curious why you picked Earth and Ice. I understand Earth now with how ridiculously efficient low-tier spells are thanks to all the Magic Damage equipment. And I likewise understand why Lightning potency doesn't pack the punch it used to. But is there a particular reason why Ice is preferred over the other four elements?
My first thought is that Ice potency suffers pretty much the same as Lightning Potency. It just doesn't gain as much from Magic Damage as something like Water or Wind would. And since all the top staves now are element-neutral, it's not like we still have Aquilo's Staff giving Ice nukes an inherent advantage.
On the other hand, I also realize that tier 1 nukes have essentially no recast timer, allowing you to spam them as much as possible. So since Stone spells are almost always going to be the most efficient option, it's not like there's any need to merit Water to alternate with it. So aside from maybe elemental resistances, the second choice of potency merits seems pretty arbitrary.
So is there any particular reason to select any given element for the other 5 upgrades? Did you keep Ice just because it's what you had and there's no compelling reason to change it? Is it that Ice still is the element that has the most enemies weak to it and the fewest that resist it? Is there some other reason I'm not seeing?
And on the topic of BLM merits, between low-tier spells with Magic Damage equips and Tier V nukes, is there any use now for any of the Group 2 spells? Or are they just fancy fireworks now?