Random Question Thread XVI: + Post New Thread

[Foldypaws]

Nothing in the game adds flat +x tp like you're suggesting.

Not quite true. Whatever those SAM zanshin merits are called adds flat TP, as does the various Jump: TP Bonus gear around (Barone being the old example.)

But yes, sTP doesn't work like that.

[cdgreg]

If you get hit with SS up for 0 dmg, does that remove some of the "absorbs" from aquaveil? I've been doing a lot of -ga staff trials and trying to figure aquaveil out. Sometimes it lasts a bunch of hits, sometimes it wears off super fast. Is there a static number that it will absorb and then after that point it's a chance to wear? Also what is the name of the armor piece that enhances aquaveil and does it seem worth the inventory space?

[Myrrh_Quetz]

What's a decent Jishnu's Radiance set up?

[GeneJackit]

Thinking about the lvl cap increase...at 90, it seems to the layman (ie me) that COR/RNG is going to be a primo shooting DD with Velocity Shot. Would this be a dumb assumption? I know /WAR and /SAM are popular (and should be) but with the 15% snapshot effect it seems like it is going to be ballin for a COR who likes to shoot for TP

[Greatguardian]

COR has high skill in Swords and Daggers, access to OA2 and OA3 weapons off the bat (Joyeuse and Mkris), and Dusk/Aurore/Skadi access. If you're getting any form of Haste, you're likely still going to do more damage Melee'ing for TP /WAR. Add a DNC and/or a BRD to the mix and the gap only widens. That said if you don't want to melee the mob for some reason, /Rng45 will be pretty awesome.

[Jeryhn]

Make me a case for PLD merits.

Already have Sentinel 5/5, looking at Rampart and Shield Bash for Group 1.
While Rampart seems good, it seems to me that Shield Bash would be more effective at mitigating an incoming big attack than Rampart is.
I've unlocked Iron Will but put no upgrades into it, if it matters.

As far as Group 2 goes, all I've done is unlocked each ability, but keep hearing different things about what to upgrade.
Fealty 5/5 seems to be a popular choice, but I'm kinda lost as to what to put the remaining 3 points in.

Help me decide.

[Tsuko_Asura]

Serious suggestion: wait until heroes and/or an additional level cap to see if paladin actually becomes useful again

[JustaWAR]

Haven't played in a few months, are the galkan sausage and delivery quest still the easiest/quickest AF3 quests to solo?

EDIT: does the weight of the box in the delivery quest effect AF rates?

[blowfin]

Serious suggestion: wait until heroes and/or an additional level cap to see if paladin actually becomes useful again

He probably has capped merits in other jobs?

[rog]

If you get hit with SS up for 0 dmg, does that remove some of the "absorbs" from aquaveil? I've been doing a lot of -ga staff trials and trying to figure aquaveil out. Sometimes it lasts a bunch of hits, sometimes it wears off super fast. Is there a static number that it will absorb and then after that point it's a chance to wear? Also what is the name of the armor piece that enhances aquaveil and does it seem worth the inventory space?

No. Nor do hits that wouldn't have interrupted you anyway use up a charge. Emphatikos rope. I use it, and it seems to make aqua last 2-3 more hits based on loleyeballing. For blm it's a no brainer, since inventory shouldn't be an issue anymore. For rdm, it depends on what gear you have. I've still got 2 free slots with it, and nothing better to use, so it's obviously worth it, but like i said, depends on your gear.

[blowfin]

Haven't played in a few months, are the galkan sausage and delivery quest still the easiest/quickest AF3 quests to solo?

EDIT: does the weight of the box in the delivery quest effect AF rates?

Depends on jobs. Cookbook quest in Mis is pretty quick and easy for SAM, THF, BST, WHM. Some runs will take under 3 minutes and cost you nothing.

Pretty sure the weight only effects cruor reward.

[Motenten]

Make me a case for PLD merits.

Already have Sentinel 5/5, looking at Rampart and Shield Bash for Group 1.
While Rampart seems good, it seems to me that Shield Bash would be more effective at mitigating an incoming big attack than Rampart is.
I've unlocked Iron Will but put no upgrades into it, if it matters.

As far as Group 2 goes, all I've done is unlocked each ability, but keep hearing different things about what to upgrade.
Fealty 5/5 seems to be a popular choice, but I'm kinda lost as to what to put the remaining 3 points in.

Help me decide.

With the usual caveats about pld...

Iron Will to 5/5 seems to be a very good option for the t2 merits. That plus one of: Knightly Earring, Valor pants, some sort of -interrupt obi or 4/4 interrupt merits will put you at 103%+ interrupt down, making you uninterruptable for 30-45 seconds (depending on relic head). I've read, but not seen any actual support or verification for, that the 95% interrupt down effect applies to everyone hit by Rampart as well. If true, that would be nicely useful.

Chivalry used to be the bomb. Not so much anymore, if you get a refresh atma. If you get pure DD atmas it can still be handy. Should definitely have it unlocked, at the very least.

Fealty on its own is a very nice JA. However even at maxed merits you're only able to use it every 10 minutes, which may be every two fights if you're spamming some easy NMs. Very hard to suggest a balance between this and Chivalry, as each can be more useful than the other depending on circumstances. Given whm healing power and higher refresh available, I'd lean more towards Fealty nowadays.

Guardian: useless. It reduces the amount of CE lost when Sentinel is up, but when Sentinel is up the damage you take is reduced to the point where you're hardly losing any CE anyway.

So probably: 5/5 Iron Will, 4/5 Fealty, 1/5 Chivalry.


On the t1 side, while one might argue for Rampart to support the Iron Will bonus, I think Shield Bash is a more generally useful one to merit after Sentinel.

And, to be frank, Cover 5/5 can also be considered quite valid. Up to 50 second duration with a 3 minute reuse, usable to protect the DDs that generally are always going to have hate instead of you. Using this (and AF crown for both physical and magical protection) means they don't have to give any thought at all to their own defenses for nearly a full minute, which could easily be the majority of the fight.

[blowfin]

With the usual caveats about pld...

Iron Will to 5/5 seems to be a very good option for the t2 merits. That plus one of: Knightly Earring, Valor pants, some sort of -interrupt obi or 4/4 interrupt merits will put you at 103%+ interrupt down, making you uninterruptable for 30-45 seconds (depending on relic head). I've read, but not seen any actual support or verification for, that the 95% interrupt down effect applies to everyone hit by Rampart as well. If true, that would be nicely useful.

Chivalry used to be the bomb. Not so much anymore, if you get a refresh atma. If you get pure DD atmas it can still be handy. Should definitely have it unlocked, at the very least.

Fealty on its own is a very nice JA. However even at maxed merits you're only able to use it every 10 minutes, which may be every two fights if you're spamming some easy NMs. Very hard to suggest a balance between this and Chivalry, as each can be more useful than the other depending on circumstances. Given whm healing power and higher refresh available, I'd lean more towards Fealty nowadays.

Guardian: useless. It reduces the amount of CE lost when Sentinel is up, but when Sentinel is up the damage you take is reduced to the point where you're hardly losing any CE anyway.

So probably: 5/5 Iron Will, 4/5 Fealty, 1/5 Chivalry.


On the t1 side, while one might argue for Rampart to support the Iron Will bonus, I think Shield Bash is a more generally useful one to merit after Sentinel.

And, to be frank, Cover 5/5 can also be considered quite valid. Up to 50 second duration with a 3 minute reuse, usable to protect the DDs that generally are always going to have hate instead of you. Using this (and AF crown for both physical and magical protection) means they don't have to give any thought at all to their own defenses for nearly a full minute, which could easily be the majority of the fight.

Much better than "pld sux, don't bother for 6 months"

[TheDirtyHobo]

Guardian: useless. It reduces the amount of CE lost when Sentinel is up, but when Sentinel is up the damage you take is reduced to the point where you're hardly losing any CE anyway.

It doesn't effect the rate VE decays at? Can anyone confirm this for sure? I might have to redo my lolpld merits, not that it matters since I've got nothing else left to merit anyways.

[solanis]

playing brd and whm all the time makes me want to kill myself, and having a beautifully geared drk doesn't mean shit. so, I need to decide between leveling mnk and war. any suggestions on how to pick?

[Deader2818]

I assume if you have a "beautifully geared drk" you have a lot of gear that WAR could use so prob go with that unless you really want to get gear for mnk.

[Villian]

Can use both as a tank in abyssea, mnk has more survival chance than war but war can fell cleave and proc most red/blue !!. Up to you~

[solanis]

I assume if you have a "beautifully geared drk" you have a lot of gear that WAR could use so prob go with that unless you really want to get gear for mnk.

that was my initial feeling about it, but after having a look at the gear war uses there seems to be less of an overlap than I had thought. I'm not sure how to predict which one will have better longevity when we're done with abyssea, since it looks like 90->99 will be outside. :/

gearing drk has been my focus until now, but working on getting it perfect is still meh at the end of the day.

[Mazmaz]

What would be better for MNK/DNC solo tanking WoE mobs? -25PDT 25% haste or -31PDT 19% haste.

[Steelreserve]

Question about laptops. I am going to get my wife a new laptop for Christmas. I have to say, I dont know much about computers at all and want to make sure that what I get will run FFXI and FFXIV smooth without annoying lag.

The main thing I dont know about is the graphics cards. I read about the approved cards by SE but they dont list out any of the "Intel HD Graphics with 128MB of dedicated system memory". Would I have any issues using the built in Intel HD graphics?