SAM in merits: /WAR Vs. /NIN
I've noticed that this is a recurring trend lately, SAMs that sub WAR or other completely useless subjobs in merit pts. The last one I was in we had a sam/war that just macroed on arhat's gi whenever he pulled hate. Seriously? Is the sam e-peen contest so important that they will make the party that much more difficult to manage so they can make bigger numbers? We lost chain several times because our whm couldn't keep mp high enough to keep Haste on everyone because the sam took so much damage.
I'll just start with this. Melee jobs are widely considered the 'easy alternative' to magery due to it's apparent simplicity, when the fact is it's just easier to be a bad player and get away with it. You can be a terrible player, but due to it's apparent simplicity you can get away with it. The 'milestone' is set higher for mages it seems, and it's much more obvious when a mage is a bad player, due to it's nature of looking more complex than a melee.
The problem is this. Like many other aspects of the game, the player is very much responsible for his/her performance (not so much the sub, or even gear to some extent). I'd take a guess here and say that 9 in every 10 players don't know how to play in an EXP/merit party properly, and that's the problem. I've been in countless situations whereby I join a generic 'good' merit or EXP setup (WAR WAR SAM RDM BRD COR for example, for arguments sake), and it turns out to be a total waste of time. Equally, I've been in a large number of parties whereby the setup seems ridiculous, yet it turns out to be a fantastic one (WAR WAR MNK SAM DNC RDM, go figure). It's very much down to the player/s.
I'm sure you can recall similar times where it's happened to you too -- where you've had a party with great communication, good chemistry going and one where it just seems to 'flow' properly, as it should do. People do their jobs, and are both considerate and aware of the others in the party. The sign of a good melee is no doubt his/her ability to put out good damage, while taking minimal. Balancing offence and defence (English spelling, before anyone calls the Grammar Nazis) in order to be the most efficient at the job.
In the right hands, SAM/WAR can be MP efficient whilst putting out almost double the damage over time as /NIN over the course of say 3 hours of meritting. Ultimately, that increased damage over time will lead to more EXP over time, and more merits (which I assume is the common goal of meritting for 90% of people, lol).
Problem is, you take a big gamble when making pickup parties with random people. 9 out of 10 times, you'll end up with at least one bad player in the group. Equally, 9 out of 10 people can't play SAM/WAR properly.
So is there some reason that sams feel special in regard to not subbing nin in merits? And no, I don't want to hear "Seigan" as an answer.
My short answer is this: SAM/WAR has a far better ratio of damage dealt to damage taken if used correctly, and that /NIN is the easier choice if you want to give your DDs a big bicycle helmet as it were.
Reason why I only really merit with people I know, is that I can be sure what to expect from them, and plan accordingly. In an ideal world though, SAMs would sub WAR, and other DDs would all sub SAM.
The bottom line is, people need to learn how to play. Sorry, but that does include how to use Seigan.
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Edit: Just saw this.
sam/drg - Ability to use polearm on Colibri for penta spam
Also, why do I keep hearing this from people? /DRG doesn't give you some magical boost to polearm skill. If you're referring to the +10 accuracy trait, that alone doesn't justify using polearm with /DRG over /WAR anyway.
. can still all erase/support/heal and debuff(uhh even if the entire pt was /dnc-1...which isn't gonna happen) still unlikely that all 10 SJ possible step counters would be up while the thing is still alive.
