Just to go back to the STR builds. Just checked the marketboards and managed to pick up a HQ i150 VIT ring with 2 T4 STR's already on it for 500k. So either crafters are stupid or these rings are easy/cheap to make meaning that cost of a STR/VIT building is going to be largely down to what the melds set you back.
There were plenty of non-melded ones up for 450k too.
EDIT: Also got the earrings for 600k with the same melds on.
On Hyperion the total cost of mats assuming I buy all HQ comes to 88k so pretty sure they suckered you into it.
Yeah those rings don't even require all HQ either. The mastercraft III's are like 80% HQ rate once you get gear for it.
Not sure what VIT IV's go for around the world but they're like the most expensive non-gathering/crafting materia at like 15K a piece on my server.
Not overly concerned because at that price they're dirt cheap either way and I don't know any goldsmithers at 60 yet. Even if you were poor, it would only take like 60-90 mins of farming an in demand material to recoup the costs since plenty of that stuff is still 5k+ per single mat here.
Basically I'd rather pay that off the marketboards than try find a goldsmither to make them for me. Will already suck finding one to finish the melds for me.
I grabbed the VIT versions rather than STR because VIT IV is 60k and STR IV is 15k on my server. I do have some VIT IV's hoarded but nowhere near enough to do the melds.
Vit4s on Hyperion fluctuate between 15 and 30k depending on how much someone is buying out at a time. The mats for the accessories are not that demanding. My co-tank and I farmed practically all of it HQ for our current best crafter in a few hours and I'd say it was probably excessive. HQ Deepeye Tears are the worst.
Haven't actually gotten them made yet though. Looking forward to breaking all 100+ of these VIT4s and Acc4s.
I've actually got near 100 each of Crit/Det/STR/VIT/ACC IV's since Heavensward and only spent around 5M total.
Retainers are also good for farming mats. Seems to be about 5:1 NQ:HQ over time.
Can I get away with buying Fending accessories and melding STR to them? Strength materia on Balmung are cheaper than Vitality by a factor of 10 and I'm a poor, poor Paladin.
The crafted i150 fending accessories have less VIT than the STR ones have STR, and STR materia adds less STR than VIT materia add VIT.
So you can, but they're gonna be worse.
You can cap them both out at the same stats (31 STR, 29 VIT I think?). It's just the different STR / VIT caps gives you different options on each one
STR Accessories can do any of the following
4x T4 VIT, 1 slot free
3x T4 VIT, 1x T3 VIT, 1x T1 VIT
3x T4 VIT, 1x T3 VIT, 1 slot free (Only 28 VIT not 29)
2x T4 VIT, 3x T3 VIT (Only 28 VIT not 29)
3x T4 VIT, 2 slots free (Only 24 VIT but more DPS stats)
VIT Accessories have only one option
4x T4 STR, 1x T3 STR
Basically the STR accessories give you greater versatility with melds to either use lesser materia or get yourself a slot for a secondary stat.
On my server the VIT accessory with STR melds is probably still cheaper as VIT materia is like 5x more expensive than STR.
It's kind of pointless to cap the VIT on Slaying though. Only need so much; 3 VIT4s is plenty.
Going by the precedent set by all of Coil beforehand: max VIT is super overkill, melded halfass is more than plenty.
If you ever need more you can just swap out meld for a real VIT acc anyways.
So what order are we getting our bits in, or is it universal? I'm going waist/acc(from quest)/head/head/body this week, unless I'm chastised thoroughly for thinking such. I already have the first 3 of that.
That's exactly how I'm approaching it. I did VIT4x3 on all of mine plus ACC when applicable. I can easily swap in Slaying/Fending as needed. (i180 Fendings/i190 Slaying is what I'm building towards)
I wouldn't drop too much coin on anything right now, but I would have Materia ready while its cheap. 3.05 will be a big reality check for everything once we get into Savage.
Why is swipe not off the GCD at this point? Why didn't we get a goddamn trait at 58 or something that took it off so we could actually use it? I literally cannot swipe if I'm cycling through halone >> goring >> royal rotations without delaying something to the point where it may drop off.
With the ability bloat that's coming in the next Xpac where we gain levels, SE's going to have to start introducing some passive talents that start merging and enhancing preexisting abilities. Merging things like Awareness and Sentinel or taking swipe off the goddamn GCD would go a long way to not only reducing bar clutter, but allowing me to use more actual moves in a fight. I hate seeing the swipe ability highlighted for 90% of the fight, taunting me because I can't hit it without fucking up a rotation.
Its a counter. Its something you sneak in when the opportunity presents itself. Its not something you sit there and set up for and fire off. It feels so clunky having a goddamn counter that can't be fired off until your GCD resets. It feels like something out of 2001. It really, really needs to be changed. I'm about to remove it from my bar because I have 0 opportunities to use it in an actual fight.