Rough Week, Updates and Experimental Design

Hey guys,

Sorry entries are going to be light for the next couple days, applying to the JET program and trying to get everything in order IRL and midterms just ended, thank god. 

So, next week me and a colleague are going to do some extensive testing on the enmity generated by abilities.  Some of these include:  Provoke, Light Slash, Heavy Slash, and Phalanx.  Doing more than these abilities, for example rampart/AB/SP (which do generate hate), but I feel the focus should be on attacking abilities.

For controlled variables we are going to have the same amount of stats allocated to attributes (STR, VIT, etc) and equip the same gear with fresh repairs.  Also, we will be the same rank.

Now this is trying to eliminate as many random variables as possible; however, the mechanics of enmity bleeding, or the natural decay of hate over time a mob has against a tank is not yet full quantified. 

Therefore, conducting these tests will give us approximate values of hate generated by X number of attack Y compared to 1 attack Z. 

This will give us comparative fractions or ratios in which we can look at the enmity generated by abilities, as more data is added we can assign quantified values for each ability.  For example, starting out we could find that 1 Heavy Slash = 3 Light Slash in terms of enmity.  Through more testing we may find that 11 Heavy Slash = 37 Light Slash in terms of enmity.  Such high values cannot be determined without knowing the enmity bleed mechanic and its role.

Anyways, just wanted to give you guys an idea of what to look forward to and to put my test out there to try and get opinions on possible ways to improve it or maybe get others to try out similar tests so we have a larger sample size.

Lastly, I wanna talk about updates.  Anyone who is a diehard and sticking with this game knew that FFXI had, in my opinion, the largest and most diverse content of end game PVE activities of any MMO on the market, so we knew we were waiting for SE to release content.  With the late november and december version updates they are promising us NMs and new leves.  This is exactly what the game needs and I cannot wait for it to be implemented.

Also, they are working on a CTRL+R for chat replies and have adjusted grouping exp.  SE is really listening to the community this time, something they didn't do much in FFXI i feel. 

And I am hopeful for what is on the horizon.

Yours Truly,
Ventus Invictus, a Saronian Gladiator