Random Question Thread XVIII: Just an Ordinary Sword of Legend

[buddha_masta]

wowee i remember when this was still in early development stages. Thanks!

[Cream Soda]

Killing the PH and only PH speeds you up because you're not wasting time killing other mobs before the actual PH, as you stated.

Anyone who says otherwise is wrong.

Well not really. If you're killing other mobs that aren't the PH but only while the PH isn't up and waiting on respawn, how on earth could you possibly speed up the NM by not killing other shit? lol

[Fievel]

Well not really. If you're killing other mobs that aren't the PH but only while the PH isn't up and waiting on respawn, how on earth could you possibly speed up the NM by not killing other shit? lol

My point was that people just go in and kill everything, one by one. If you kill the PH with all the other mobs, and it's say a 5min repop on the mobs, once all the mobs repop the quickest way to pop the NM is to kill the PH immediately. If you kill all the other mobs before killing the PH, and don't get around to killing the PH for 3-4 min after it popped, you're obviously slowing yourself down.

I'm running off an hour of sleep, so if that ^ doesn't make much sense just bare with me.

[Francisco]

I think killing only the PH speeds up certain NMs, but not all. My friend was able to get Leaping Lizzy to respawn in 10-15 minutes every time by killing only the PH.

[Fievel]

I think killing only the PH speeds up certain NMs, but not all. My friend was able to get Leaping Lizzy to respawn in 10-15 minutes every time by killing only the PH.

Random lottery is random, though. Only killing the PH speeds you up because you're killing it as soon as it pops, that's all. It's not like killing other mobs magically makes the NM respawn later than it would, if you're killing the PH as soon as it pops, what else your killing doesn't matter.

[Nameless]

if you have stones to burn, just go into grauberg and do crabs. assuming you're skilling up on a job that isn't blm, because that's just silly with such terrible defensive and offensive capability. when i'm skilling on mnk, i go mounted champion, stronghold and razed ruins until my skill is 300ish, at which point i swap razed ruins for apocalypse. when i'm skilling on rdm, i just use mounted champion, razed ruins and apocalypse. i use cheap sushi and go wild. if crabs start popping T-IT (ie, if there's an exp pt there), i'll rely more on PC > ichi > ni, by which point i've recovered my hp. you will run into a problem with crabs if you're the only one out there once you reach 325-330ish skill, because you won't be able to kill fast enough for them to repop any stronger than DC. i got frustrated today trying to get the last point on dagger for rdm and pulled melo melo and just played with him for 40 minutes or so.

outside abyssea, your best bet is probably orichalcumshells on the dahak island in mount zhayolm. can't speak from personal experience on those, but they're some of the few 88-91 mobs outside of abyssea.

Does this apply to skills at 240 ish? I haven't touched dagger, GA, club etc after lvl 75 (which were capped at 75), and was thinking if those mobs are too high. Would definitely like to get those up to date. Also, what would be the best place to skill up enfeebling? I key whore my way to 90 rdm and my enfeebling is at 285 ish, where would be the ideal place to get that capped while perhaps skilling up dagger? Thank you.

[keitari]

Does this apply to skills at 240 ish? I haven't touched dagger, GA, club etc after lvl 75 (which were capped at 75), and was thinking if those mobs are too high. Would definitely like to get those up to date. Also, what would be the best place to skill up enfeebling? I key whore my way to 90 rdm and my enfeebling is at 285 ish, where would be the ideal place to get that capped while perhaps skilling up dagger? Thank you.

I started this at 235 with Club on Monk. You should be OK. Dunno about the enfeebling though. I just skill up that shit during exp/farming/curor parties or LS events when I am on Blm. Dia-spam ftw.

[Cream Soda]

My point was that people just go in and kill everything, one by one. If you kill the PH with all the other mobs, and it's say a 5min repop on the mobs, once all the mobs repop the quickest way to pop the NM is to kill the PH immediately. If you kill all the other mobs before killing the PH, and don't get around to killing the PH for 3-4 min after it popped, you're obviously slowing yourself down.

I'm running off an hour of sleep, so if that ^ doesn't make much sense just bare with me.

Main reason i brought this up is because when I used to camp Valk Emp (which I did for many frens cause I'm nice, etc.). I'd kill PH, use a 5 min JA timer. Kill another fly. 5 min JA timer, etc. Ppl camping against me would get confused and not know which the PH was, so in that case, I'd find it to my advantage to kill everything, lol. And yes i could clear the other flies before the PH would repop.

[Fievel]

Main reason i brought this up is because when I used to camp Valk Emp (which I did for many frens cause I'm nice, etc.). I'd kill PH, use a 5 min JA timer. Kill another fly. 5 min JA timer, etc. Ppl camping against me would get confused and not know which the PH was, so in that case, I'd find it to my advantage to kill everything, lol. And yes i could clear the other flies before the PH would repop.

Oh well yeah that's different all I was talking about was people not killing PH as it pops.

Had so many people over the years try to tell me that killing any mob other than PH slows down the NM pop, like it just magically changes when it's going to spawn, and that's not the case. It just comes down to if you kill the PH quickly. Anyways I'll stop repeating myself because I know you understand what I'm saying I'm just tired, and when I'm tired I ramble.

[Langly]

Anyone from Quetzalcoatl remember Peregrine?

Certainly, though never ran into him myself, I was around at the height of his self-proclaimed awesome-of-the-awesomeest-I'm-a-med-student-and-I'm-better-than-you-in-every-way status. I'm certain there were people leveling Dragoon just to take a SS of them 'throwing away' the af weapon for lulz.

Take it for what you will. But yes I remember him. Admittedly I could be wrong about the status above, that was just an example of how garish he was. He was way ahead of the times....

[Trix]

Oh, another mage question I've pondered for so long. Why is it always thunder or blizzard that people cast? Why not what mobs are weak to? Unless every single mob has a weakness to the aforementioned two... It must get boring using two types of spells.

And bump on my question on what are some good post 75 skillup spots for staff.

[Fievel]

And bump on my question on what are some good post 75 skillup spots for staff.

Several people answered this, why are you "bumping" it?

[Eldelphia]

Oh, another mage question I've pondered for so long. Why is it always thunder or blizzard that people cast? Why not what mobs are weak to? Unless every single mob has a weakness to the aforementioned two... It must get boring using two types of spells.

And bump on my question on what are some good post 75 skillup spots for staff.

It does a bit. However what it comes to is that in most cases Bliz and Thunder do more damage. The spells aren't equal. Thunder always does more damage than Aero/Fire etc unless the day/weather or a particular resistance comes into play. A lot of mages bemoan the fact that you can't nuke according to elemental weakness in most cases. One of the reasons that Bliz was always powerful was in part because of the stats on the Aquilo's staff. However that's less relevant now.

There are still some mobs where it's stupid to cast a particular element but its rare that you can't cast either thunder or bliz on em. Iron Giants are one where I find Fire and Water spells do more but that's relatively recent. It's just the way that SE has tiered the spells.

[Trix]

Several people answered this, why are you "bumping" it?

Oh I didn't notice for some reason.

[Esvedium]

Inside Abyssea, Tantra Tathlum or Thew Bomblet?

[Jeryhn]

I am getting ready to get Almace + Ochain now and was wondering about merits for PLD. I think Cover 5/5, Sentinel 5/5, Fealty 5/5, Chivalry 1/5 and later idk. Since Ochain is rather enough for not being interrupted Guardian looks more logic but maybe for when I cant use shield ( triggering !! with polearm, staff, gsword ) "Iron will" will have some use?

Inb4 Lvl MNK. lolPLD. It doesn't matter. etc.. I have Veret MNK Kannagi NIN and I know those jobs are better in abyssea and outside probably for 95% events but I dont want to start another discussion just asking if someone see some use for Guardian or Iron Will that I am missing or maybe some other options for merits.

Well, Cover is only going to be useful if you actively use it with Valor Surcoat for the MP recovery, Ochain covers that as well. More importantly, Cover requires the cooperation of your party members to stay in place while Cover is in effect, which is the biggest problem about the JA. Only people who have PLDs who used to tank flying wyrms with a Cover order seem to get it these days. Your best bet for group one is to do Sentinel 5/5 (standard) and either Rampart 5/5 or Shield Bash 5/5. Personally I went with Bash on the grounds that if both of them can be used to mitigate some big AoE damage, Bash is more useful than Rampart because it'll stop physical moves as well as protect people not necessarily in your party. Your mileage may vary here.

Unlock Fealty, unlock Chivalry, max out Iron Will. With spell interruption merits or gear, your interruption reduction will be 100%, making Rampart a good oshit JA through the combination of Magic Shield and preventing interruption. A shield won't always be there, shit can happen (Encumberment, I'm looking at you). The spell interruption bonus also extends to your party members, making it useful in a pinch when you're not necessarily the one tanking. Maxing out Iron Will could give your Rampart merits more bang for their buck as well. After doing all that, put the remaining merits into Chivalry or Fealty as you see fit (with Ochain, you'll probably go for Fealty).

Guardian is pretty much useless since they patched Sentinel to do exactly what Guardian does.

[etelosbo]

Blue mage: Charged Whisker
Is it better to load up on Dex than Int? Could anyone link me to a(some) examples of sets? In abyssea when AOEing I usually hit for around 3800-4000, but have heard of some people using more Dex.

[arus2001]

Does this apply to skills at 240 ish? I haven't touched dagger, GA, club etc after lvl 75 (which were capped at 75), and was thinking if those mobs are too high. Would definitely like to get those up to date. Also, what would be the best place to skill up enfeebling? I key whore my way to 90 rdm and my enfeebling is at 285 ish, where would be the ideal place to get that capped while perhaps skilling up dagger? Thank you.

Personally, I've found skilling up to have a sort of "prime range" relative to your level and the mob's where if you're in that range, skill ups will be more frequent. Outside of it on the low end (like player 16+ levels behind), you may get .5s and such, but they won't be more common. Whereas above it (Say 1-3 levels under your mob relative to current skill), you'll be tickling at .1s and .2s now and then. Either way, you can do it, but unless it's like an E skill, things will probably feel slow from 235 to 270ish on DC/EMs. Until about 310 you'll be in a prime range for non-As, then anything above will more than likely chug along since the mobs won't be IT. I figure once you get to the skill cap of a level 87, pick another weapon to work on or just quit. Only way you'll get ITs solo is if you opt to cherry pick mobs from another group, at which point survivability may become an issue for those can't cure or aren't /DNC.

[Guitarman]

Inside Abyssea, Tantra Tathlum or Thew Bomblet?

answer is heavily dependant on atma/gear, but threw should be fine for most things. Exception being In'drik and other high eva NMs.

[Koyangi]

With ducal guard changes, what's pdt % for avatar now? So far I've seen 87% mentioned.
Does the same amount of pdt last regardless of the avatar's HP %?
Does magic dmg nullify or otherwise screw with how this effect works on an avatar?
Any other info would be nice to know, thanks.