@ Tequila: Since we're on the subject of clerics, I'd like to say a few things.
First off: Yes, Divinity is good for SP, but it is ONLY good for SP. By putting points into SPR, you increase your chances of landing critical hits and your magic defense. Sure, you could keep leveling and keep adding points into STR, but you're already getting a lot of it each level you gain. Someone said before that for the difference between a STR build and a non-STR build to be noticeable, you'd have to be a MUCH higher level (even though that person was applying this to Fighters, it still applies to Clerics as well).
By that level, you have denied yourself a great amount of extra SP and magic defense. Clerics can't dish out damage if they can't survive, and at some point, you will need to survive magic attacks better. Furthermore, you can conserve stones by having to use them less frequently (since stones heal based on a percentage and you'd have a lot of extra SP to spare before you had to use one).
Since SPR = magic defense, SP, and critical rate, adding points into it will increase your survivability, durability, versatility, and damage. Meanwhile, STR will give you damage and only that.
Summary: Clerics benefit more from SPR. It helps them survive magic damage, increases their own damage through higher critical rates (albeit by chance), and gives them more SP to spam Heal and buffs with (when you're partying, you find yourself concentrated more on the welfare of your party members than how much damage you're putting out, if you're fighting at all). Divinity may be able to cover max SP, but it is not to be used as a substitute for SPR simply because it doesn't have the same effect.
To put it simply, you may argue that a STR/END build will be more powerful than a SPR/END build, but keep in mind what you are denying yourself by getting STR instead of SPR - you sacrifice further endurance for damage, when you could retain that damage and STILL be able to last longer in battle.
At first, people thought clerics would be more efficient for battle than support because "OMG GIANT HAMMERS AND HEAVY ARMOR". This is not the case. Clerics play the largest support role in parties regardless. They make viable soloists, but training is more efficient in a party later on and your party will expect you to be healing and buffing them more than fighting (unless the mobs are weak enough, in which case they probably won't mind). Your party will count on you to support them the entire way - if you can't survive, can't last very long, or constantly run out of SP, what good will that do for the party?
Furthermore, you seem to advocate 2:1 END/STR, yet you less strongly recommend 2:1 STR/END and definitely do not support a pure STR build. Why deny yourself an extra point in END or SPR every 3 levels when the extra points in STR will not make a huge impact until much later?
I respect your point of view, but I do not agree with it because I cannot comprehend why adding STR instead of SPR is more practical.
|