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http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxi/threads/44866-dev1239-Job-Adjustments#post529940

Skillchain properties for our bloodpacts, I'd like to say only 10 years or so late...

I'm confused on Avatar's Favor. It used to be its effect would lower and drop when you blood pact. If I use a lot of mp for a blood pact, is it going to go up now?

I must admit, I am also kind of in the dark about that one..

basically it looks like you're going to have to "charge" favor by burning mp on bloodpacts.

Possibly.
But that would mean that they changed the base function of it charging with respect to time, rather than just inverting the sign on the BP term of the ability.
Since it doesn't say that it will no longer charge with time... Chances are, given their programming changes with the first update, that it will charge via time AND BP instead of being hindered by BP...
But we'll have to wait and see.
It's also nice to have it increased overall potency.

And I'm calling it now:
The BP SC update will give them 1/2 Light and 1/2 Dark properties.
Flaming Crush: Fusion
Rush: Distortion
Preadator Claws: Fragmentation
Mountain Buster: Gravitation
Chaotic Strike: Fragmentation
Spinning Dive: Distortion
Eclipse Bite: Gravitation

Maybe SE finally realized that the reason quest, merit, relic, mythic, and empyrean WSs are favored 100% of the time... Is not cause of their stat mods or http://fTP... But because they SC Light and Darkness in 2 steps....
Hopefully anyways.

From when they originally mentioned the plan for it.

Hopefully, 1-2 bps will be enough to cap it, and I wonder if Apogee will make them more potent. Hope you all have your 512 w/ emp head sets ready to go.
I was really hoping for the new BPs we were promised 6 months ago or whenever it was, esp for ramuh, that +21% crit rate definitely would've helped SMN see more pt time, But I guess DA+24% will do.

Hopefully the new potency is enough to be useful.

Potency increase is probably proportional to MP spent.

Use Claw, get a tiny increase in potency/tiers.
Use Predator Claws, get a huge increase in potency/tiers.
Use Apogee + Predator Claws to increase the cost... go even further.

Skillchain properties are a nice surprise. These add more use for Apogee, allowing you to close skillchains into a magic burst from the Avatar or other such things. Interesting change, not really expected, but could be useful depending on how good it is.

Still waiting on those new BPs they said we were getting.

I was going to lookup the old skillchains to get an idea of which staff ws would sc with which bp, but I noticed on the POL site the picture shows a light SC with Garuda, so hopefully they can all do light/dark.

derp
LoL sometimes I can't read.

Though wow... that's super dumb... Blood Boon is one of the best things about SMN... and that really borks off iLv empyrean set...
Cause.... Favor becomes slowed as BB procs... which with more BB procs, more damage procs... so...

BLUH.

REALLY hope now that what's taking so long with the empy set update is this style of fact.
Already knew that they are deliberating the empy set bonus itself since it goes against mixing all 3 AFs as a base (ala 75era gearing paradigms)... since many of them promote 5/5 or it's not worth it. (SMN is especially egregious about that...)
Hopefully they change them to Salvage/NNI style set bonuses where the effect is always on with 2 but gets more potent as you increase the number of stuff.

(SMN: now it works such that when BB procs a random x/16th will be taken from the cost, where at most 8/16 happens. THEN the empy set proc checks to see if that value is inverted into a damage multiplier, 8/16>>>16/8>>>2xdmg.
What they should do, to maintain their vision and to just make the set/job better, would be to change the 2~5/5 bonus from proc rate to an additional % modifier.
Since BB isn't 100% and I don't even think it CAN be... Don't think it would be too powerful. Not to mention if 20k Fudos is 100% fine.....
Then it would work such that BB has a % proc, when that triggers a random x/16th will be taken from the cost, where at most 8/16 happens. Then the empy set converts that value into a damage multiplier, 8/16>>>16/8>>>2xdmg, THEN the set imposes a multiplier based on # of piece: eg 5/5=100% 4/5=90% 3/5=80% 2/5=70%. Or any tiering such that 5/5=100% potency, and that 2/5>50% cause 50% would negate the effect entirely.
So then, with say 3/5 empy pieces, that 2xdmg would be then multiplied to a 1.6xdmg multiplier in a 1/2mp BB proc.
Could copypaste that for BLM too since their empy set is basically the same bonus.)

They're already like that. SMN set with 5/5 adds 10%, I remember that much. I just can't remember if it goes 2>2>3>3, or 3>3>2>2. I think it's 2>2>3>3, so as you add pieces to the set, you'd go from 0% to 2% to 4% to 7% to 10%.

No, that's not how it works. The Empy set bonus blood boon is separate from normal blood boon, and cannot proc on a normal blood boon proc.

What actually happens is more like this: The game checks to see if set bonus proc. 1/10 chance if you're wearing the full set. If it does set bonus proc, then it figures out what x/16 MP savings you get and which damage bonus goes with that savings. If the set bonus does not proc, it then determines whether you have a normal blood boon proc, based on the job trait and any "blood boon +x" gear you're wearing. If the normal blood boon procs it then figures out what your MP savings are, but the set bonus cannot proc on normal blood boon.

So for example, adding Diabolos's Rope to your BP set will not increase the rate at which the empyrean set bonus procs.