Aegis PLD's... Toss the Ethereal?

[Tekki]

So I've been racking my brain for quite awhile and debating on whether I should do away with the Ethereal for good, and replace the earring for a Static. The argument being; Small, situational mp regeneration vs. a solid /rdm SS piece and situational MDB piece.

The debate in greater detail: The ethereal of course requires you to take consistent damage to generate mp. At a minimum you must take around 30dmg a it for 1 mp. For a non-Aegis PLD this is a god send and I would recommend no other earring from AN.

But the longer I have my Aegis, the more I start to feel the Ethereal is a waste of a slot. With so much focus on damage evasion through shadows on HNMs, stoneskin/phalanx for /rdm soloing, or taking such little dmg /war on trash mobs, the more I feel the return is not worth the inventory slot.

There are still times I enjoy having the ethereal. Crowd control with your back on mobs in zones or finding myself blood tanking something that consistent hits me with a return from the earring. Its in these situations I know that if I DIDN'T have an ethereal, i would feel disappointed.

The flip side of this coin is picking a Static Earring. It offerers +2 MDB and +2 MND. The mind is nicer then most think for pld/rdm, especially with an Aegis. Fighting /rdm and casting SS midfights can be a challenge. You have decide to sacrifice defensive gear, specifically shield gear, for MND gear, or simply cast SS with the mnd build you have natively. For me, I have focused on getting HQ gear that allows me get as close to the MND cap for SS as possible, while having defensive gear on so I can actually safely cast SS. The idea is to basically form a perfect MND + Sheild Skill balance.

+MDB has become a huge focus for me lately. There isn't that much out there, and with Aegis/Dring/Shell V, MDB is something I have to focus on. (Any other -% gear is worthless when u reach the -% cap) +2 is a pretty solid amount, and desirable for a lot of the fights I focus on.

I'm wondering what other Aegis Paladins have chosen, if they have thought about both routes.

[Plow]

I'm no paladin but it would seem to me like in situations where MDB matters, Ethereal would be better.


And you're not exactly a person that's going to struggle to fund a mind earring if you really like that part that much ;p

[Tricen]

Can you reach stoneskin cap? I wouldn't doubt it, PLD has high enhancing O-o. If you can reach SS cap, then the mnd wont do you any good.

[Tekki]

I should also add to the arguement... Paladin has come along way in the ways of MP regeneration, gear and support wise.... If QQ ever decide to drop the 35 piece, its only going to put more weight on the Static side....

[Xavier]

I've found myself in a similar situation, where between shadows and the damage reduction, the earring is fairly worthless most of the time. However, there are still situations where you're going to take a considerable amount of damage, and as rare as they are, I'm always glad I have the earring when they happen.

If the alternatives were significantly better I'd consider the change, but since shits situational anyway, I've just stuck w/ what I have.

[Tricen]

Well... Since you aren't really taking much damage anyways, there's prolly more uses from static than ethereal. I mean, a lot of mobs use magic... JoL, Tiamat, ouryu etc.

[Xavier]

Well... Since you aren't really taking much damage anyways, there's prolly more uses from static than ethereal. I mean, a lot of mobs use magic... JoL, Tiamat, ouryu etc.

The inherent dilemma there is that those mobs that use magic are the mobs that will actually hit you hard enough to merit the earring in the first place.

[Minions]

Sticking with ethereal, Wings on Faf/Nid = mp, even if you can evade every hit its always a nice boost. Being able to live through ultima's pain and have a boost of MP always helps too. I just cant see a situation where I would rather have any other earing on from that bcnm. If it was "Physical damage taken" I'd probably go for something else, but as it stands its ALL damage.

-beaten-

[Tekki]

You can hit the cap, yes. But you pretty much have to build a MND gear list that covers all slots, including your most defensive slots. The idea with getting HQ mnd gear or other pieces that add a lot of mnd in one slot is freeing up the defensive slots. That way you can ultimately build a set that allows you to pull off a capped SS while blocking with your shield.

[Xavier]

And yeah, I think Ultima is a good example of ethereal trumping anything else in the slot.

Edit: That being said, I understand your logic too, but I don't really think either has a significant advantage over the other.

[Shuemue]

Obviously you'll want Static so you can MB Holy for uber dmg.

[Garret]

I think any fight where you'd care about 2 MDB from Static is one where even /Nin you would take more than enough damage to get consistent additional MP from Ethereal. Can never have too many sources of MP refresh in larger fights in my opinion. Think that adds a lot more survivability than Static.

[fantasticdan]

If you're taking very little damage, wouldn't magnetic save you more mp in the long run?

[Neosutra]

My ethereal is glued to my left ear and will stay that way.

No matter what I am fighting, its awesome.

Easy shit = extra attack/evasion.
Medium shit = steady mp flow.
Hard shit = That extra mp (while maybe just from AoE through shadows) to help me be able to SPAM cures/flash/hate tools.

/rdm is really the only place the earring doesnt shine and you have plenty of options for a replacement depending on what your doing.

[Ryko]

Only time I take it off is for resist build. It's not all that useful to have on my left ear but nothing short of another hades +1 would replace it anyway. In any situation where I might wanna use a different stat to help mitigate what little damage I take anyway, it means that I'm probably trying to mitigate one of the few instances where the earring actually would kick in. Meh.

[Serif]

Wow finally people start to realize that Ethereal is pure crap on Aegis PLD...

The whole reasoning behind PLD/NIN is to minimize the damage taken....

If you have Aegis PLD find another earring to help your other jobs.

Yay for being drunk when people finally fucking start to realize this earring is pure shit.

[Xavier]

Which uh, thread have you been reading?

[Minions]

Wow finally people start to realize that Ethereal is pure crap on Aegis PLD...

The whole reasoning behind PLD/NIN is to minimize the damage taken....

If you have Aegis PLD find another earring to help your other jobs.

Yay for being drunk when people finally fucking start to realize this earring is pure shit.

I love how you just skipped over everyones comments that have posted in this thread. No one has said ethereal earring is complete crap. Yay I add 2 more enmity in my ear slot, because you know I totally need more enmity. It doesn't take a freaking ton of enmity to hold hate on shit if you can actually tank. The only thing we're debating is whether another earring is better than getting a random 1-2 mp if a hit gets through on hnms (which does happen) or if another earring from that BCNM is worth getting over the ethereal. I can't see giving up ethereal for any of those other earrings, because there are more than enough situations where I can take a lot of damage from a) Ga Spells b) AOE's that go through shadows.

Omfg Xavier is reading my brain ;;

[Serif]

Which uh, thread have you been reading?

In any fight it is easy enough to not take damage.

Tiamat/Jorm/Baha...

The only ones where you could take some damage is Khim/Cerb but if you have the right setup you won't really take any.

2 BRD/BLMs in the alliance of each of these will leave you laughing on how easy it is to tank the HNMs and never take damage. If you are struggling with taking damage, just change your main equip macro with Capricorn Staff, I guess, for that extra haste you need. Ethereal is only used on my PLD for Wyrms I don't have a resist set for or on my MNK in Merit Parties. I don't see why any PLD/NIN or PLD/WAR would use this in a fight, ever.

You are going to get what from the Aga Spells? If you have a proper resist setup you will be getting hit for 20-90 damage? That is MAX 3 MP a aga spell, woopdie fuckin da. The Khim spells that hit you will give you 30 MP, which is a Cure II or if you have MP a Cure III but usually if you are tanking right your WHMs can cure you that you won't have to waste that MP.

[BerenTebogo]

Hey now, I'm not expert here but, I heard this rumor once that if the PLD cures himself, instead of the WHM curing him, it'll actually add to his tanking ability.

This isn't from a credible source though, I might be taking tanking for