Blm Potency Merits

So, with the advent of Atinian Staff and stone spam, are BLM putting on earth potency merits? And if so, should I remove thunder or Ice? Just got back into BLM, so not sure currently. Thanks.

Ironic that you should answer, and so quickly. Your BLM videos are the sole reason i picked up BLM again. Thanks so much.

I will then! I cant seem to locate the vid with SMN,WHM,BLM on Yorcia weild. I believe that was yours no?

Youre supposed to give me the link man! I cant seem to find it lol.

bah, w/e. You done great! ty.

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?

Ah, I had noticed before that /SCH gave only 5 of the 8 storm spells, but I hadn't made that connection. SCH was still a new job when I had to quit back in early 2008. I actually have it at 99 now, but leveling is so fast these days that I'm still trying to master its intricacies. Thanks for the information.