Random Question Thread XIX: Welcome to Flavor Country

[Mohit]

I went 5/5 ice/earth 5/5 slow2 para2

[Mojo]

There are a plethora of reasons as to why both Dia III and Phalanx II are aeons more useful than an slight increase in Slow/Paralyze potency. I listed a few, I can list many more.

I made zero assumptions about the nature of future content, it wasn't even mentioned in the original question, it's irrelevant. If future adjustments make other merits undesirable then merits can be changed, especially with how often you get dumped on with EXP these days.

[Toshiko]

I recently acquired a character from a RL friend of mine. I transfered their main over to my server so I can update them and use them, etc. If I wanted to transfer their mules (currently not active) would it cost me the 25$ fee again? Also they're on a server thats going to get merged, if I leave them inactive do they go to the new server? since It's not my character I don't want to just lose their work and they have some gear and things on the mules.

[drwaffles]

I recently acquired a character from a RL friend of mine. I transfered their main over to my server so I can update them and use them, etc. If I wanted to transfer their mules (currently not active) would it cost me the 25$ fee again? Also they're on a server thats going to get merged, if I leave them inactive do they go to the new server? since It's not my character I don't want to just lose their work and they have some gear and things on the mules.

You can't transfer them for 3 months, yes it'd cost you again and yes they'll be on the new server once they're reactivated. Pretty dumb move leaving them behind if they had gear etc. on them.

[Toshiko]

You can't transfer them for 3 months, yes it'd cost you again and yes they'll be on the new server once they're reactivated. Pretty dumb move leaving them behind if they had gear etc. on them.

its like level 20-50 leveling gear, not expensive things. If I have to pay I'm just not gonna bother with reactivating them at all, seems like a waste. The original owner was a packrat w/ his gear while leveling (played before abyssea & didnt like smn burns, etc) so I was just trying to see if it was worth transfering. (1$ each would have been worth it but not 25$~)

[Tsuko_Asura]

There are a plethora of reasons as to why both Dia III and Phalanx II are aeons more useful than an slight increase in Slow/Paralyze potency. I listed a few, I can list many more.

I made zero assumptions about the nature of future content, it wasn't even mentioned in the original question, it's irrelevant. If future adjustments make other merits undesirable then merits can be changed, especially with how often you get dumped on with EXP these days.

Pretty sure I stated exactly why current and future content are relevant. RDM is not group-friendly right now, and Phalanx2 and Dia3 are virtually useless when you're alone or duoing with another RDM.

Small upgrades in prime spells > huge upgrades in spells that go untouched

[Kaisha]

WHM is a far, far better healer than RDM right now. A lot of my RDM friends are getting pissed off and just levelling WHM. WHM is amazing fun right now if you're into the whole backline thing.

Only reason anything but WHM sucks for healing is because of HP buffs in Abyssea. Cure IV does jack shit when your DDs are toting 1.5k-2.5k HP, and the problem is that any job can sub WHM at 90 and have access to Cure IV, where-as 90 RDM & SCH still don't have access to Cure V.

Now that I'm done being productive, here's some tough love: meriting and maintaining SCH and PUP is a complete and utter waste of your time. They were never really good at/for anything, and that's not likely to ever change. SMN is barely worth keeping around, and RDM is pretty much for intensive solo or duo work only. Realistically, I only see RDM becoming (slightly) more useful in the future, but I'd still strongly suggest that you consider leveling a more useful job, including, but not limited to: WHM, MNK, NIN, BLM, or THF.

I'll probably make it a toss-up for SCH cat2 and 5/5 Stormsurge, then perhaps 1/1 the rest just so I have them accessible, even if their recasts are dreadful. As for the quoted bit, I get around 10-15 merits each LS run, so I just slot them in to my other jobs, and figured I'd at least ensure they weren't going to waste. PUP & SCH were primarily hobby jobs (took them both to 50+ before their first adjustment update, they were fucking hoooorrible back then, heh.), so I don't mind them being levelled for the fun of it.

As far as other jobs go, two jobs I was slowly taking up were DRG & BST. Aside from BST pets appearing virtually indestructible at first glance, how do those two fair in Abyssea? The only one in the group you mentioned that I'd bother with is BLM. MNK I can't be arsed to get the belts and proper gear for, NIN.....'eh. THF maybe, could use me a decent farming job, although BST would be dandy for that aside from no TH3.


@Mojo
Dia3 would be the only other cat2 I'd warrant my attention on. Phalanx 2 just doesn't have enough applicable usage in current-day FFXI for me to bother with, or at least with the way my LS seems to plow through everything.

[Tsuko_Asura]

DRG is an excellent DD, but its got zero utility. Its going to be one of the shittiest tanking options, and gains absolutely no benefit from eating damage directly. MNK and NIN are going to run circles around it in pure utility(and likely damage), while WAR is going to obliterate it if given the chance to take the brunt of the damage.

And IMO, BST's relative invulnerability is next to useless. Its only benefits are cockblocking people who want to be productive.

[Tsuko_Asura]

Also, WHM's got a fair amount going for it outside of Cure6. AF3 legs and easily-capped cure potency make it easily the most MP efficient healer. Afflatus Solace, essentially hate-free healing(Cure5 is still going to be very worth it pretty regularly outside of 3k+ HP situations), Auspice, and probably other things I'm forgetting make it significantly better than RDM outside of Abyssea, IMO.

[Cymmina]

For RDM, this is what I would recommend.

1x Slow II
1x Paralyze II
3x Dia III or 3x Bio III
5x Phalanx II

I'm sure many people will advise full potency Slow II over Phalanx II, I disagree. SCH subjob does enable Phalanx to be cast without it, although typically you're only doing this for the benefit of one person anyways. This means you end up blowing 2/3 of your stratagems on it. The boost in magic accuracy is pitiful in the overall scope of things, especially with the new gear around. That leaves you with potency. dMND will likely be capped off in any situation, so it's the difference between about 35%/39% Slow II. Slow actually experiences decreasing returns, so this turns out to be only a marginal decrease in attack speed of 2.88% (2.12% when stacked with Carnage Elegy, 4.71% with Saboteur, 3.64% with Saboteur and Carnage Elegy, in case you're curious.) Either way, those are never game changing in any way. The mob would actually have to be hitting your tank for over 1000 damage per round in order for Slow II to overcome a 300 skill Phalanx II in terms of sheer damage reduction (if effects on Utsusemi and the like are ignored.) I've found Phalanx to be useful in a variety of situations other than just having it on the tank to mitigate damage (cleaving, skilling up, magian trials, etc.) I'd say its usefulness is far beyond that of some marginal Slow II potency merits.

Phalanx II is situational, since it is 0/5 or 5/5 skill.

I took 5/5 Phalanx so that I could go RDM/BLM while trioing gold box farming + NM killing in Tahrongi, so that we didn't have to leave to go change subjobs and reset our lights once we filled up on key items. Because we used Coeurls (to avoid competition at Lycopodiums), Phalanx was less useful than I would have liked. We were just as well off having the WHM curebomb the cleaver, with or without Phalanx up.

As the only stunner, I spent every Glavoid fight wishing I had more duration on Dia III.

[mcb]

5/5 dia III/phalanx II on my mule. pre abyssea the phalanx was wonderful, post abyssea it was still wonderful when i was soloing/skillking up defensive stats. however, for anything stronger than farming/skill up mobs i don't see much of a benefit. turned the mule into a whm. instead of phalanx II + regen2 i have cure V. the cure V is just much more efficient (for a dual box) and its a hell of a lot better when fighting scars/hero's mobs.

[Mojo]

Pretty sure I stated exactly why current and future content are relevant. RDM is not group-friendly right now, and Phalanx2 and Dia3 are virtually useless when you're alone or duoing with another RDM.

Small upgrades in prime spells > huge upgrades in spells that go untouched

The OP is not concerned about future content, it's irrelevant (not to mention how absurd basing your merits on future unknown content is.) RDM not being the most efficient group job in Abyssea is not appropriate justification, he's clearly going to be using it in a group situation. Furthermore, if you're so content at making such superfluous generalizations, allow me to make one for you. Slow II merits are in fact bad because you always have a MNK/WAR tanking NMs in a group situation. Therefore, you do not want any form of Slow as you're lowering your DoT by lowering your Counter rate, right..!?

Capped Phalanx II merits are going to provide a reduction of at least 30 damage per hit (maybe more, I'm not sure how increased enhancing magic skill has changed this.) Is this small and in many cases insignificant? Yes. However, there is no good reason to round this small improvement down to zero. A marginal reduction in mob attack speed of less than 3% is also small and insignificant, perhaps moreso than Phalanx II. Furthermore, this 30 damage per hit reduction has niche purposes that elevate it from insignificant to consequential. These niche situations actually arise quite regularly in activities involving larger groups of players (cleaving for time, etc.)

Either way, if you're going to bring an inefficient job into Abyssea, you ought to be capable of doing the useful things that set it apart from other jobs, or just level something else (WHM etc.) to bring instead.

[Tsuko_Asura]

The OP is not concerned about future content, it's irrelevant (not to mention how absurd basing your merits on future unknown content is.) RDM not being the most efficient group job in Abyssea is not appropriate justification, he's clearly going to be using it in a group situation. Furthermore, if you're so content at making such superfluous generalizations, allow me to make one for you. Slow II merits are in fact bad because you always have a MNK/WAR tanking NMs in a group situation. Therefore, you do not want any form of Slow as you're lowering your DoT by lowering your Counter rate, right..!?

Capped Phalanx II merits are going to provide a reduction of at least 30 damage per hit (maybe more, I'm not sure how increased enhancing magic skill has changed this.) Is this small and in many cases insignificant? Yes. However, there is no good reason to round this small improvement down to zero. A marginal reduction in mob attack speed of less than 3% is also small and insignificant, perhaps moreso than Phalanx II. Furthermore, this 30 damage per hit reduction has niche purposes that elevate it from insignificant to consequential. These niche situations actually arise quite regularly in activities involving larger groups of players (cleaving for time, etc.)

Either way, if you're going to bring an inefficient job into Abyssea, you ought to be capable of doing the useful things that set it apart from other jobs, or just level something else (WHM etc.) to bring instead.

Read more, respond less. I've said multiple times now that my suggestions are based on the fact that red mage is virtually useless for most group activities, and that basing your merits around how things used to work is pointless. My suggesting capped Slow2 and Paralyze2 merits was based on the fact that red mage is only really good for intensive solo or duo work with another red mage.

I expect better reading comprehension out of someone like you.

[Yugl]

SCH: Helix + MV/Sublimation; Stormsurge + Enlightenment
RDM:
5/5 Phalanx II: Main utility comes from AoE burning (Whether cleave or BLU). You *need* 5/5 for this to be beneficial. The benefits diminish when sub SCH unless you're trying to maintain an entire PT (i.e. abusing accession).
Dia III: Beneficial for NM spam where Non-WAR/NIN/SAM DDs won't consistently have capped attack. It can still be relevant to those DDs during the downtime of berserk.
Slow II and Para II: The effects of the latter are unknown at this point, but it's good to at least have it unlocked. At least unlock the former too, but I wouldn't compare it to the damage you save from phalanx II. The benefit of things like Slow II are multifold and range from rate of TP moves to total melee damage (What he was looking at).

Also, Tsuko, your point is just as ridiculous. Of course Dia III and Phalanx II won't benefit you much when soloing. The bulk of your post should go to convincing him that merits should be spent towards solo activities. Reiterating that RDM is useless for group activities and that it is only good at solo and duo activities (With another RDM) doesn't deductively force you to merit towards solo activities unless your only concern is what RDM is best at. In fact, a good counterargument is to ask why you would need to solo or duo anything on RDM. The common notion today is that it is easy to prepare groups for abyssea. It is also the case that the ideal group does not involve RDM. However, adding an RDM to the ideal group is much closer to the ideal that stripping everything but the RDM, especially when given the impact of !!.

[Mercilessturtle]

5/5 stormsurge/enlightenment is the only option for sch that isn't completely retarded, the other strategems are worthless. 5/5 helix/sublimation for group 1. For pup you want magic 5/5 and optimization 5/5 no matter what, don't go with 4 optimization 4 fine-tuning just because you like numbers to be the same. Giving up 5 MAB for 5 acc is a terrible choice. Take 5 optimization, 1 role reversal, 1 Ventriloquy if you will actually use it ever for anything, and then the rest in fine-tuning.

[Atoreis]

About Phalanx II it has great use but only on mule. 5/5 Phalanx II and I broken latent on dagger, staff, club of trials in about 10-20 minut with 20 mendy hitting me for 0-10 dmg and retaliation up its constant self SC.

[Mojo]

Read more, respond less. I've said multiple times now that my suggestions are based on the fact that red mage is virtually useless for most group activities, and that basing your merits around how things used to work is pointless. My suggesting capped Slow2 and Paralyze2 merits was based on the fact that red mage is only really good for intensive solo or duo work with another red mage.

I expect better reading comprehension out of someone like you.

I'm aware that RDM is not the most efficient job for group activities and that's what you're basing your advice on, I've stated it a few times already. What you insist on ignoring is that the context of the question is how to improve this efficiency regardless of whether or not a different job would be more useful in Abyssea. You're essentially adapting the context of the question so that your universal views on RDM merits correspond with it. I don't think the OP is particularly interested in soloing or duoing, advising people to arrange their merits on something that they don't plan on doing is just bad advice.

[Moridam]

A Macbook would technically work with BootCamp, but if they're still using shitty integrated cards on the lower end models it's not going to work well.

A bit late on this, but lol. I ran FFXI just fine on my old macbook, which was the very first intel core duo model, and the cheapest one to boot. No problems with multitasking or compatibility or whatever. A new MBP would work perfectly, you really don't need a modern discrete GPU to run a 9 year old game that leans so heavily on CPU for the bulk of its workload.

[Atoreis]

In 99% situations where Phalanx II have a use RDM can just go /sch. Cleave, breaking trials, adding RDM to ideal setup, salvage mule ( :D ) etc. (inb4 I did phalanx 5/5 on mule instead of /sch for breaking trials only because it took 1h of exping instead doing SCH from 0).

Changing topic: SAM equip for fun (especially in abyssea with 15%TA ^^) TP WS Its 4 hit even for 1 HIT WS so it should be fun to make long (3-5 step darkness :D) SC with it.

[Mojo]

Regarding monster attributes~

I'm not too sure on where to find useful information on where to calculate these. The tables of monster ranks seem to be mostly incomplete. I was wondering if there were other places where this information is available. Looking to establish some expected values for mobs outside of Abyssea that you would encounter (Dynamis/Limbus/Salvage/etc. mobs and some HNM.)