Killer Instinct: The Beastmaster Compendium

It's honestly not a total fix. It works in some sets but when I see a literal delay from when I use a ready move to it actually going off on a pet that for years was fast in performing the move then that's a nerf and not a correction.

Also let's not forget that the same day BST's ready range got nerfed they increased SMN's range on the same update. I was one of those folks that kept on trucking with BST even after that nerf which made a lot of people literally quit the job or the game.

I'm still fine with BST but I'm calling it like I see it that this change was a general *** up on a job that has very little utility in real group events much less solo these days since Trusts are now a thing.~

Also I made that comment in the February 2020 update thread. and not in a SMN related thread.


This is pretty much my general feelings for the most part. While I do have other jobs I enjoy playing obviously, It's a shame one of my favorite jobs really is lost in a whirl of confusion with the devs and they have no real idea how to make the job work.

On a positive note, BST is really useful in this month's V1 ambuscade, as far as dropping the shield and all. Hopefully that trickles down into groups and people aren't asking for SMN only.

The issue is that its antithetical to a job with such a variety of pets to make it play like Dragoon!

Its also disregarding how the job has been played for years and years, and how the actual DPS output from the pet side has been deliberately kept virtually static since Reisenjima.

If SE wanted pets to provide more of a supportive role then they need to change the rate and ease with which they can be swapped in and out. Having a variety of "spells" is great, but when they are on effectively a shared 5 minute timer the value of that facility drops off hard.

The main problem right now with BST (imho) is its incoherence as a functionally designed job. Its just lost in the weeds, and every change SE has made has just pushed it further and further out.

I feel like the delay for Ready moves is longer than it used to be pre-updates. Am I crazy or did I get used to the shorter delay from last patch?

Also, last night I got to do pet zerg Kirin/WoC on BST for the first time since I'd finished my mythic and +2 neck, which was fun! We aren't beating SMNs by any stretch and I was a little rocky with my JA timing, but still it was a neat break for me from AFACburn. I'm hoping to do Reisenjima HELMs with BST with my LS as well!

Honestly though I feel like I could maybe do more damage with Doli/Decimation; like Inx says, pet damage has been pretty static since Reisenjima. Our multihit Ready set gained a bit with the JSE neck and Cait Sith ring but that's about it sadly.

You poor *** just can't win.

I'll pray for you.

Okay its been forever since I've edited a gearswap and I can't recall how to make it so the pet aftercast swaps into a petdt set its probably something simple I just can't remember how write the code line to do it.

It felt nice to stumble on this JP thread where they seem to be stating the same complaints about BST. I only use Google translate on the page to get a jist of what they are not happy with and seems to generally match with us.

Thank you for posting this - It was nice to see that us english BSTs were not the only ones complaining.

Google translate made me laugh on the very last post in the thread : "However, this bug was "Enhanced pet rides on the face.""

I've been thinking about the BST range issue, harping on OF about small increases for a long time, etc.

I think that they could actually correct the unexpected Out of Range (OoR) errors at least with a surprisingly simple solution.

My primary complaint has focused on getting an OoR error when it looks like we should be within the absurdly short range. (It also is a pet peeve for me that the range nerf actually reintroduced not-insignificant racial inequality back into the game due to the universal targeting range variances between player model race/size.) The best explanation for why this is happening is simple lag/latency. I'm betting that there is no client-side distance-to-pet check when we attempt to initiate a JA, and given that there is a MASSIVE (by today's modern software standards at least,) latency range for this game, it would be nearly a given that onscreen positioning vs registered positioning on the server are going to not match up.

I believe that if they added client-side player pos data to BST JA activation packets that we'd at least see the elimination of those cases where we move to get into range, pop Ready/Reward/etc macro, and have it fail when it looks like we are standing right next to our pets. This would not fix all of our headaches, but at least remove the one that genuinely sets us apart from all other jobs by making us drastically more affected by lag.

I have not actually verified packet data since I don't know how to, so someone else more knowledgeable in the ways of sniffing will be needed to confirm/deny my assumption.

I HAVE actually looked into the lag issue due to my attempts last year to make a silly addon to play music using /bell, and the determination of the guys in the windower discord who were kind enough to test things for me when I ran into trouble was that the latency had too large a variance to reliably perform a large number of consecutive <wait1>'s to allow it to function.

Applying that to BST ranges as-is would mean that we'd need a minimum of 12~14y JA range to account for ~1sec of travel time that may not be registered on the server at the time the command is received. Since they are so bizarrely stubborn about adjusting our JA range, slapping a forced pos update onto BST JAs may be the best potential solution.

I really fail to understand why if their vision is to force bst frontline why the ready moves aren't tied to distance from the enemy being fought. It really is mindblowing how ridiculously unreasonable they're being over this one.

Like ok sure, you can't use ready from 20, but does it have be to literally zero? There's so much in the middle to work with.

Such an easy solution.

Could you imagine if you suddenly couldn't talk to npc's without standing literally on top of them? (I know half of you can't resist standing on top Gorpa-Masorpa already...) that's what this is, it's absolutely crazy.

May as well force the BST to ride the pet and split AoE damage.

Looking on some info pertaining to BST being used in this months Vol.1 VD ambu instead of smn. Thanks guys

Pet TP moves can bypass the shield. Nothing else else to it besides that. Summoner is just a better option because it's stronger, can provide buff support, and stay out of range, which is a no brainer this month.

But If you're still looking to use a BST,

welp. bst is going to stay a lol job.

Their logic behind not allowing buffs to be party wide are ridiculous. Also, LOL at them basically saying NO to everything people have asked for, but then turning around and saying "if there's pets you want 119 or abilities you want added, let us know!" LMFAO THEY DONT GIVE A ***ABOUT BST HAHAHA its so comical at this point.

They do need to make a 119 Faithful Falcor so we can get Fantods on demand though. But meh.

Also, lol at them saying "if we improve reward, we're just gonna nerf the ***out of it and make you use 3 times as many pet items for the same effect. do you really want that???" LOL the utter contempt they have for BST is laughable.

And once again devs prove they don't really understand what's in the game and how people play. There is no way those buffs are too powerful or anyone who waste a slot on a bst that only buffed with them.

They've consistently proven that they don't understand how beastmaster works. That's not going to change.

I'm relatively happy with BST lately though. Like, I get to use mine pretty often. Some of the pain points, like having to lose TP to get a 10s Ready charge, are gone, and I feel like I'm valuable on wave 3's. Our damage, both melee damage and maybe even pet damage, is still too low.

I think I'm going to just cancel my sub for the month of April. They don't care about Beastmaster or at least, continue to come up with extreme examples for why they won't make the changes we're asking for....It's silly. They continuously contradict themselves.

I know my measly sub won't matter, but I'll gladly post it a screenshot up on the official forums to help properly convey this frustrated sentiment.

SE's lengthy explanations just feel like post-PS2's answer for "PS2 Limitations"

Make us a front-line DD already and stop spoon-feeding us horse ***, already. Damn. :/

Beastmaster friends, liking this post in response to the Director's response, would be greatly appreciated:

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxi/threads/56445-February-2020-FINAL-FANTASY-XI-Digest?p=625054&viewfull=1#post625054

I think the biggest issue is they dont realize how weak beastmaster is.

At this point I am just asking for ways to exchange gear and get out of bst. Needs more uses than wave three or bust. Want to exchange my aymur/guttler/pangu for other items.

To make things worse, our AF/Relic gears are almost garbage for a pet. More reward potency... yay?

Would also like to exchange my +3 Relic/af and my +1 empy as well. Maybe even pet path abjurations. Just get completely out of this dumpster fire. My favorite job is gone, i just need to accept it.

I'm greatly disappointed in them. The meltdown over BST distance is just ridiculous at this point. I agree, you can absolutely tell they have no idea what BST is or how it's played.

At this point they essentially want BST to just be DRG with an Axe with a "wyvern" that has a temper at anything that smacks it. Not a fan.

I am surprised after running into that JP thread, that's still going on about BST. They mirror a lot of our concerns and are just as confused about the direction they are trying to go in. [Google Translate Link]

I really like this quote from one of the posts:

Having read that whole thread, that's not exactly right. There's a few on the same page of ENG players' "old distance"; however most JP seem to be in the "10' plzkthx" camp. Most also seem to be fine with the idea of frontline BST, but that it's not being executed well. (and the lack of both pet and master stats on the same gear is the most common complaint there, especially with regard to the Artifact, Relic, and Empyrean +2/3 sets.)

They also agree in shortening the call beast timer though. That seems to be near uniform. As is the point how buffing a BST has to generally choose between the master or the pet.

There's also a weird desire for charm to be a thing again? Didn't expect that. (Not necessarily for taking mobs, but just give it an auxiliary effect like stun or dispel or something.)

One thing to note is that there's several UNM items that are relevant to BST, so it might be interesting to see if they made any interesting choices there.

Is there literally anything a bst uses in unity gear? Aside from universal DT items.

I guess 1 axe and 1 earring must be "several"

There are two axes, one of which has Charm. Speaking of which, I don’t know why they don’t just use “Charm” stat as like “Blood Pact damage” stat or something.

enmity set is some unity gear
emet harness
zoar subligar
unmoving collar


pet stuff is handler's earring... So yay, handler's earring +2... which might mean some people don't need shepherd's chain anymore? ... but still dt vs pdt.

the axes and shields not much use for, but maybe if they get buffed enough... but hard to imagine. wish there was a pet dt shield.

Unless the augments are pretty extreme, the only jobs that are likely to get better are the jobs that can use montante.

I didn't go through the whole thread, just the very recent posts. That sucks to hear about distance. I was more focused on the other stuff like Axe WS talk, pet/master stats on same gear, how BST isn't currently built as a melee focused job.

I did say a lot and not all of our concerns. I guess you can be nitpicky about if it constitutes a lot but that's semantics. The general consensus is a lot of us seem to not like the current state of BST. Versus it being a regional thing.