A few months ago I posted about a bug report regarding Quick Draw's effect on the second tier of applicable Enfeebling Magic (Blind II/Paralyze II/SlowII) as outlined in this dev post. The bug report stated that Quick Draw had no effect on applicable tier II Enfeebling Magic and was moved to "Working as Intended." I did some research looking for other "recent" Quick Draw testing and found some done with Slow II and Paralyze II, along with testing mentioned on the BG Quick Draw talk page. These tests also found that Quick Draw had no effect on these spells.
Afterwards, I looked at some much older testing (2007) and found some data points that piqued my interest. In this testing the conclusion was made that Quick Draw had no effect on a dMND capped Slow II. The single data point presented was not exactly at cap (1 MND off), but did seem to have no effect. Conversely, Quick Draw seemed to have a varying effect on Slow I depending on dMND potency at the data points presented.
After reviewing these findings I still had some lingering questions: Does Quick Draw interact with applicable tier II Enfeebling Magic at varying levels of dSTAT potency like their tier I counterparts? How does Saboteur and Enfeebling Magic Effect+ equipment affect Quick Draw's enhancement?
First, I leveled COR to 40 for access to Quick Draw. Next, I went out to South Gustaberg as an M lvl 40 (99RDM/40 COR) and did some quick tests with Blind on the Huge Hornets outside. After creating an equipset that set my accuracy to 1285 (an arbitrarily chosen value) I cast Blind on the Hornets naked with 142 INT and used an Absorbing Shield to check potency. Blind potency caps at +120 dSTAT so total potency should be -50 accuracy. Just as predicted, my accuracy dropped from 1285 to 1235. I cast Blind again and with a Troll Gun/Bronze Bullets equipped I used Dark Shot, absorbed the freshly cast Blind, then checked its potency. According to BGWiki, Dark Shot should increase Blind potency by 10. My accuracy did not change from the previous value of 1235. I performed the same test again but with a 99 COR main using Dark shot and came up with the same results. This turned out to be an interesting result. I decided a new approach was necessary.
New test/Target: As an M lvl 40 (99RDM/40 COR), cast Blind/Blind II/Slow/Slow II at varying levels of dSTAT potency and number of Quick Draw shots on level 127 Apex Jagils (222 INT/MND, monster stats here) in Sih Gates and use Absorbing Shield to check potency. Target level verified by setting Accuracy to 946 and picking monsters that /check as "High Evasion" from the options of Low Evasion/no evasion message/High Evasion.
For Blind/Blind II, the same setup as described above was used to check the difference in accuracy from a base of 1285.
| INT | Accuracy(Potency) | + Dark Shot | + Dark Shot x2 |
| 142 | 1280(-5) | 1270(-15) | 1260(-25) |
| 222 | 1265(-20) | 1255(-30) | 1255(-30) |
| 235 | 1262(-23) | 1255(-30) | |
| 240 | 1261(-24) | 1255(-30) | 1255(-30) |
| 248 | 1259(-26) | 1255(-30) | |
| 266 | 1254(-31) | 1254(-31) | |
| 286 | 1249(-36) | 1249(-36) | |
| 341 | 1236(-49) | 1236(-49) | 1236(-49) | [/td]
| INT | Accuracy(Potency) | + Dark Shot | + Dark Shot x2 |
| 142 | 1266(-19) | 1256(-29) | 1255(-30) |
| 168 | 1257(-28) | 1255(-30) | 1255(-30) |
| 197 | 1246(-39) | 1246(-39) | 1246(-39) |
| 222 | 1236(-49) | 1236(-49) | |
| 341 | 1192(-93) | 1192(-93) |
For Slow/Slow II, I used the recast time of Impact with only Twilight Cloak equipped to measure potency. Base Impact recast time is 2:00. As a Job Master RDM with a total of 38% native Fast Cast Impact recast time is 1:37.
| MND | Impact Recast | + Earth Shot | + Earth Shot x2 |
| 142 | 1:44 | 1:53 | 2:03 |
| 222 | 1:51 | 2:00 | 2:10 |
| 261 | 1:58 | 2:08 | 2:11 |
| 295 | 2:05 | 2:11 | 2:11 |
| MND | Impact Recast | + Earth Shot | + Earth Shot x2 |
| 142 | 1:53 | 2:02 | 2:11 |
| 222 | 2:04 | 2:11 | 2:11 |
| 261 | 2:09 | 2:11 | 2:11 |
| 295 | 2:14 | 2:14 | 2:14 |
Looking at the data above we can infer that Quick Draw's enhancement effect is not a static value and varies by initial spell potency. We can also infer that there is a threshold where Quick Draw will stop having any effect and that this threshold seems to be set at the same potency value at both tiers of each spell. This is especially easy to see when looking at the potency values for Blind/Blind II. Quick Draw grants a maximum of -10 accuracy down per Dark Shot, but can only bring potency to a maximum of -30 accuracy down.
Now, how does this this effect interact with Saboteur?
| INT | Accuracy(Potency) | + Dark Shot | + Dark Shot x2 |
| 142 | 1275(-10) | 1265(-20) | 1255(-30) |
| INT | Accuracy(Potency) | + Dark Shot | + Dark Shot x2 |
| 142 | 1247(-38) | 1247(-38) | 1247(-38) |
| MND | Impact Recast | + Earth Shot | + Earth Shot x2 |
| 142 | 1:51 | 2:00 | 2:10 |
| MND | Impact Recast | + Earth Shot | + Earth Shot x2 |
| 142 | 2:09 | 2:11 | 2:11 |
Quick Draw appears to have no effect on a Saboteur enhanced Blind II, but this is likely due to the level at which the enhancement threshold is set for this particular spell when compared to the non-Saboteur enhanced Blind II values in the previous table. Saboteur's bonus alone overshoots this threshold giving the appearance of no effect. As for the other spells, it can be seen that Quick Draw's bonus is added normally to total potency until a threshold is reached.
What happens when we add in Enfeebling Magic Effect+ via Regal Gem into the mix?
| INT | Accuracy(Potency) | + Dark Shot | + Dark Shot x2 |
| 142 | 1274(-11) | 1264(-21) | 1255(-30) |
| MND | Impact Recast | + Earth Shot | + Earth Shot x2 |
| 142 | 1:52 | 2:02 | 2:11 |
| MND | Impact Recast | + Earth Shot | + Earth Shot x2 |
| 142 | 2:12 | 2:12 | 2:12 |
Again, Quick Draw's effect is added onto the total potency of each spell until it reaches its respective threshold in each spell. Blind II was not included in this round of testing since it had already exceeded its Quick Draw enhancement threshold with just Saboteur. The Paralyze spell line was not tested but likely also operates the same way as these spells.
I double checked some of the values in the tables above with a COR main using Quick Draw and found no difference in potency. Quick Draw's enhancement effect seems to be the same regardless of whether COR is set as main or subjob.
Lastly, the cited dev post states that not all Enfeebling Magic is affected by Quick Draw, and that only the Dia/Bio/Blind/Slow/Paralyze/Elemental debuff spell lines are affected. The testing from 2007 found that Quick Draw affects the slow effect inflicted by Filamented hold. There are likely not only other Blue Magic spells that inflict the above statuses that are affected by Quick Draw, but also other schools of magic that inflict those same statuses. That is outside the scope of this testing for now. I decided to check a few other variable potency Enfeebling Magic spells to see if they were affected by Quick Draw using the same Jagils as test subjects.
Distract III at 516 skill/142 MND. Base 991 evasion
Initial cast: 898 evasion
Distract + Ice Shot: 898 evasion
-No change-
Poison at 516 skill, 142 INT
Initial cast: 55 DMG/tick
Poison + Water Shot: 55 DMG/tick
-No change-
Poison II at 516 skill 142 INT
Initial cast: 85 DMG/tick
Poison II + Water Shot: 85 DMG/tick
-No change-
I was not surprised to see no effect on Poison as its modifier is not based on dSTAT. This contradicts the information listed on the BG Quick Draw page. I did not do any testing with Addle as I did not feel like counting casting timer frames due to this testing already being very time consuming.
To summarize these findings:
-Quick Draw does affect applicable tier II Enfeebling Magic as outlined in this dev post.
-Quick Draw's enhancement effect on the Blind/Slow/(likely)Paralyze line spells is not a static increase and depends on the initial potency of the affected spell including potency bonuses from all sources.
-Quick Draw will enhance these spells up to a certain potency threshold.
-This potency threshold is the same value for both tier I and tier II versions of a spell line, with the tier II versions reaching that threshold at a lower dSTAT value due to their inherently higher potency values.
-Prior testing found did not list any equipment or stats (aside from the 2007 testing). However, these tests likely exceeded the potency threshold based on the description of the test conditions listed.
-The cited dev post seems to be correct in its assertions about what spells are affected, and any outliers like Filamented Hold are likely affected on a case-by-case basis possibly due to how they are coded.
In conclusion, Quick Draw's enhancement effect on the Blind/Slow/Paralyze line of spells is basically useless when they are being cast by any job that is able to meet the dSTAT threshold potency requirements. Between the ability to alter base stats via Gain- spells and boost spell potency via Saboteur and Enfeebling Magic Effect+ equipment, the effect is especially useless for any of these spells cast by a Red Mage. Unfortunately, this aspect of Quick Draw is still stuck in the past in its current form.
Edit: Clear up some wording
