General

I thought I'd test again to see if inner ability buff duration does anything, because of what @PeaBucket said. This time I used buff mastery both times. The first time I had a 27% buff inner ability, the second time I recirculated, giving me 0% buff inner ability.

Average damage with infinity blinking, 27% buff inner ability: 2,983,983
Average damage with infinity blinking, 0% buff inner ability: 2,651,727

The damage without 27% buff inner ability was significantly lower (only 88%) than with the extra 27% (10 seconds).

I think that proves pretty much without a doubt, the description is accurate. Every [b]4 seconds[/b], not any other weird formula, your damage increases. Buff duration boosters, including inner abilities, will increase your damage, not just prolong the effect.

@sevenofnine: It sais so in the item description.
It only works for ONE circulator.
You have to pay a lot of money if you want to have 3 lines of S.

[quote=TripleBladez]No, that's a mistake a lot of people make. It's not the same as Potential Locks. You can only lock the rank of the Inner Ability (e.g. A, B, C), and not the potential line (e.g. % Boss Damage, % Buff Duration, Attack Increase).[/quote]

+

@natty2
I knew about Potential Locks from the CS, but I thought they operated in the same manner than Potential Locks for item works. Clearly, I was misinformed. In which case, if I knew that you couldn't lock one and reroll the others until I was happy with them and then lock them too, I would have never even suggested getting three of the same IAs @ 50%. That's just sheer stupidity. I'm short on time ATM, but I'd like to actually calculate the statistical probability of that actually happening. AND OMGWTFBBQ! The Potential Lock expires after one use? Seriously?

@putnamehere
@Shyally

Thank you for going through the trouble of testing this out. I was pretty sure this was the case for me but I didn't have access to MS to try it out.

[quote=godman111]http://www.basilmarket.com/forum/1729758/1/How_does_infinity_skill_work.html
scroll to like mid-dish part, the post is old but it still works as of today's infinity[/quote]

That description was clearly not correct, as it's been tested and confirmed by others in this thread to not work in that way.

@PeaBucket:
Yes, Nexon's dropped the ball on many important details. However, play testing does support my claim of how the skill works. Out of curiosity, do you have a Bishop? (It's not in your player's list.) Because "I've read many places that the damage boost remains the same and is just drawn out" =/= helpful and reiterating what you have heard, but cannot verify yourself, only adds to the confusion.

About the infinity thingy, buff mastery has a weird effect and it increases duration AND the intervals where you get buffed/healed, that's a fact, I measured it.
My theory is that regular +buff duration doesn't increase the intervals, just the duration, which would result in you getting more heals/buffs.

@godman111: Impossible, I get more damage when I activate Buff Mastery, [b]THAT'S A FACT[/b].

[quote=natty2]@sevenofnine: First of all - you CAN get 3 of the same IA, but the change is so slim, that it's considered impossible.
Even if you had an INFINITE number of circulators, it could take YEARS until you RANDOMLY get 3 of the same IA, that is exactly the one you wanted, AND all 3 of them HAPPEN to be 50%.

Considering every time you use a criculator, ALL 3 lines are changed to a random new IA, with a RANDOM level of effectiveness.
Heck, even getting ONE line to 50% could a LOT of time, because you would have to change all 3 IAs until you get the exact IA you wanted with the exact number you wanted out of ALL outcomes.

I mean, go [url=http://www.basilmarket.com/MapleStory-Inner-Ability.html]here[/url], and count how many options there are.
You can literaly get ANY option out of those lines.
there's not gurantee that if you get a line of Buff Duration it will nessecarily be 50%. it could be ANY number between 2 and 50!
The chance of getting 3 lines of Buff Duration is SO slim, I don't believe anyone has even got it legitimatly.

EDIT:
I have read all of the comments now...

@godman111
Yes, increasing the buff duration DOES increase Infinity's power. Tested by me, and lots of other people before.
Read Infinity's effect: MP -80, Recovers HP and MP by 10% every 4 secs, Increases damage by M.ATK by 10% every 4 sec, Chance of Activation Power Stance Effect: 50%, [b]Duration: 40 sec[/b].
Only the duration part is changing. which means that instead of 40 sec, if it would be, say, 100 sec, then you would have an increase of 250%! Amazing, isn't it?
Also, on some illegal Priv-Server (I can't say the full words) the buffs have an infinite duration. Activating infinity makes every player hit max if he waits a few minutes.

@AidenAtack
That's true, such item does exist in the cash shop, but it only allows you to keep THE LEVEL of only ONE line, and you'll have to buy one for EVERY CIRCULATOR you use![/quote]

http://www.basilmarket.com/forum/1729758/1/How_does_infinity_skill_work.html
scroll to like mid-dish part, the post is old but it still works as of today's infinity

@sevenofnine: First of all - you CAN get 3 of the same IA, but the change is so slim, that it's considered impossible.
Even if you had an INFINITE number of circulators, it could take YEARS until you RANDOMLY get 3 of the same IA, that is exactly the one you wanted, AND all 3 of them HAPPEN to be 50%.

Considering every time you use a criculator, ALL 3 lines are changed to a random new IA, with a RANDOM level of effectiveness.
Heck, even getting ONE line to 50% could a LOT of time, because you would have to change all 3 IAs until you get the exact IA you wanted with the exact number you wanted out of ALL outcomes.

I mean, go [url=http://www.basilmarket.com/MapleStory-Inner-Ability.html]here[/url], and count how many options there are.
You can literaly get ANY option out of those lines.
there's not gurantee that if you get a line of Buff Duration it will nessecarily be 50%. it could be ANY number between 2 and 50!
The chance of getting 3 lines of Buff Duration is SO slim, I don't believe anyone has even got it legitimatly.

EDIT:
I have read all of the comments now...

@godman111
Yes, increasing the buff duration DOES increase Infinity's power. Tested by me, and lots of other people before.
Read Infinity's effect: MP -80, Recovers HP and MP by 10% every 4 secs, Increases damage by M.ATK by 10% every 4 sec, Chance of Activation Power Stance Effect: 50%, [b]Duration: 40 sec[/b].
Only the duration part is changing. which means that instead of 40 sec, if it would be, say, 100 sec, then you would have an increase of 250%! Amazing, isn't it?
Also, on some illegal Priv-Server (I can't say the full words) the buffs have an infinite duration. Activating infinity makes every player hit max if he waits a few minutes.

@AidenAtack
That's true, such item does exist in the cash shop, but it only allows you to keep THE LEVEL of only ONE line, and you'll have to buy one for EVERY CIRCULATOR you use!

This thread made me curious if the description was accurate or not, so I decided to test it out myself. I cast infinity and waited for it to start blinking, and then I used Heaven's Door. I tried it once without buff mastery turned on, and once with it turned on. Results:

Buff Mastery Off: 2560000~2640000 damage
With Buff Mastery turned on: 3390000~3550000 damage

It's clearly more powerful with buff mastery. Your damage becomes more powerful every 4 seconds, not every x/10 seconds.

PS: The highest buff duration increase I've ever gotten was +40% on a single line. I am currently aiming for attack speed + 1, because I don't want to deal with using gloves. I got this IA once out of approximately 960 special circulators. If you're aiming for +150% buff duration, you will require literally millions of circulators; it may be theoretically possible, but it's not realistic. Not to mention, 50% is a S-rank ability. I don't ever recall getting 3 S-rank abilities in a row (best I've gotten is 2 S and 1 A) out of those 960 circulators.

I had attack speed + 1, and I loved it. I decided to re-circulate because I had almost 600 special circulators left over and thought I might be able to get something better. Well, it turns out I never got it back I recommend as soon as you find something you're relatively happy with, you should just stop; getting greedy didn't end well for me =/

[quote=sevenofnine]

Incorrect. Infinity states: "Increases damage by Magic ATT by 10% every 4 sec". Thus, the longer it lasts, the greater your damage, as there is a greater interval of 4 seconds. Unless that description of the skill is incorrect.[/quote]

Just because nexon translated it that way doesn't mean it works that way. I've read many places that the damage boost remains the same and is just drawn out; it's not the first time nexon's goofed with skill descriptions.

[quote=AidenAtack]i heard somewhere that you could lock an inner potencial,
so if you get one that you like you lock it and keep using circulators[/quote]

No, that's a mistake a lot of people make. It's not the same as Potential Locks. You can only lock the rank of the Inner Ability (e.g. A, B, C), and not the potential line (e.g. % Boss Damage, % Buff Duration, Attack Increase).

[quote=CrystalShadow]MDR and PDR have their own variables, but essentially do the same thing. Just one's for magic attacks and the other is for physical attacks. They are different to damage reduction however. Damage reduction is another element a boss can have entirely, which is completely unaffected by PDR/MDR, although they both stack against the player.

@sevenofnine

But it seems like you don't have any idea of the amount of circulators it takes to even get a single decent line. The amount you would need, statistically, to get decent inner abilities on multiple lines just isn't worth the effort. Once you get something decent, don't circulate over it, until you have 600+ (although 1000+ would be better) circulators. Even then, just remember you're not guaranteed anything.[/quote]

Again, two things. First, to clarify - I don't think I worded my question well, so, my bad there - I know that PDR and MDR are separate, it's just that Nexon has a very annoying tendency to omit important information. For example, the Empress Set says it gives a +Weapon Attack bonus for 4 and 7 pieces ... even on the Mage set, yet, it mentions nothing about M. Att, which it does give. So, here they use W. Att for a 'catch all' phrase for attack, even though M. Att and W. Att are two separate things in game. So, my question was more along the line of 'do you by PDR mean I'm also getting that same amount in MDR?'.

Second point, I haven't started using circulators much (only lvl 22 Honour, hence the purpose of starting this thread. You're definitely right that I don't have much experience with it. After a few thousand circulators, I might begin to realize how naive my pipe dream actually is! lol

[quote=godman111]Also, Buff Duration doesn't mean your dmg increases with infinity. It just lasts longer but it'll just take longer time for the dmg to increase. For example, maxed infinity originally lasts for 40 seconds. With your buff duration skill, it lasts 60 seconds, but your dmg will increase every SIX seconds instead of 4 seconds.[/quote]

Incorrect. Infinity states: "Increases damage by Magic ATT by 10% every 4 sec". Thus, the longer it lasts, the greater your damage, as there is a greater interval of 4 seconds. Unless that description of the skill is incorrect.

as @godman111 stated, Infinity doesn't give stronger boosts the longer it lasts. the way it works is it boosts you every x/10 secs, where x is the total duration of infinity. the boost is kept at a constant 10%. meaning at base, without Buff Mastery, you buff 10% matk/HP/MP every 4 secs, which is 100% Matk by the 36~40 second mark (or 90%. never bothered testing). with buff mastery, it just changes to 10% every 6 seconds.
that's not to say Buff Mastery isn't completely awesome for Mages. having 100% matk for 12~13 secs is freakin great.
also, as people have mentioned, it's difficult to get 1, let alone 3. and the potential line is actually "Ignore enemy Defense", which refers to PDR or MDR depending on your weapon, but people generalize to PDR since most have the same @sevenofnine

Also, Buff Duration doesn't mean your dmg increases with infinity. It just lasts longer but it'll just take longer time for the dmg to increase. For example, maxed infinity originally lasts for 40 seconds. With your buff duration skill, it lasts 60 seconds, but your dmg will increase every SIX seconds instead of 4 seconds.

@natty2, @CrystalShadow: % Defense or Magic Defense to Damage Conversion isn't a good Inner Ability. The increase does show up in your Attack Range, but that range increase is actually false. It only adds to the final damage you deal. I tested that Inner Ability before, and confirmed it myself.

@Deadly1337: There is MDR. It's just that there aren't many bosses that possess a different PDR and MDR, so many people generalize the two together. VL is the only boss I can think of at the moment where it has a different PDR and MDR. VL's PDR is 55%, and VL's MDR is 52%.

[quote=Deadly1337]theres no MDR PDR is universal
pdr might mean physical damage reduction but at this point its just their defence/damage reduction.[/quote]MDR and PDR have their own variables, but essentially do the same thing. Just one's for magic attacks and the other is for physical attacks. They are different to damage reduction however. Damage reduction is another element a boss can have entirely, which is completely unaffected by PDR/MDR, although they both stack against the player.

@sevenofnine
As for desirable inner abilities, that depends on what sort of funding you have. If you have DSI, then there's no need for the "Attack Speed +1" inner ability, because you'd already be hitting the speed cap with VA. (That's not to say it wouldn't be nice to have though.)

I'd recommend anything that significantly increases your range (such as a high % M.DEF -> Damage conversion, +M.Atk, etc), buff duration, boss damage and PDR. (Note that %ignore enemies' defence potentials, nebulites and inner abilities ignore both PDR and MDR.)

Additionally, there's the "+1 target for skills that hit multiple targets" which would definitely be nice for training, not so much for bossing, though with the 250 level cap coming soon, it might be nice if you plan on continuing levelling. The "+1 passive buff skills" isn't that great for bishops if you were considering that, since it only applies to Buff Mastery, since Arcane Aim is considered an active skill.

@Deadly1337 's explanation for your second question is adequate.
But it seems like you don't have any idea of the amount of circulators it takes to even get a single decent line. The amount you would need, statistically, to get decent inner abilities on multiple lines just isn't worth the effort. Once you get something decent, don't circulate over it, until you have 600+ (although 1000+ would be better) circulators. Even then, just remember you're not guaranteed anything.

[quote=sevenofnine]Two things:

1) PDR also includes MDR?
2) Why would three 50% duration be "impossible"? You can't get the same IA more than once? I know it would take an obscene amount of circulators, especially for perfect stats, but I have time on my hands since I don't need to train anymore lol[/quote]

thats like saying someone can just cube 36% all stats on any level 71+ equip
the chance of any single IA is low to begin with, then you want the maximum amount, then do that on the SAME reroll for three lines at once?you'd have more luck winning the lottery a dozen times in a row.

theres no MDR PDR is universal
pdr might mean physical damage reduction but at this point its just their defence/damage reduction.

[quote=natty2]First of all, getting 3 lines of buff duration to +50% is impossible.

You don't always get 50, I for example have my one-line 30% and I'm happy with it.
You'll get al 3 lines a random effect, with random numbers, not always the max.
Buff Duration is great for bishops (Amazing, actualy)

Also, Boss %PDR would be great, and if you get it - relish that.
Attack speed is also awesome (best there is for any class in general), and it does increase the attacking speed.
I heard something about converting Def / M.Def to range, and someone said it's better than boss %PDR, But dont take my word for that one.[/quote]

Two things:

1) PDR also includes MDR?
2) Why would three 50% duration be "impossible"? You can't get the same IA more than once? I know it would take an obscene amount of circulators, especially for perfect stats, but I have time on my hands since I don't need to train anymore lol

First of all, getting 3 lines of buff duration to +50% is impossible.

You don't always get 50, I for example have my one-line 30% and I'm happy with it.
You'll get al 3 lines a random effect, with random numbers, not always the max.
Buff Duration is great for bishops (Amazing, actualy)

Also, Boss %PDR would be great, and if you get it - relish that.
Attack speed is also awesome (best there is for any class in general), and it does increase the attacking speed.
I heard something about converting Def / M.Def to range, and someone said it's better than boss %PDR, But dont take my word for that one.