The Official Forums II: Out Here Grindin'

[Pharaun]

I think we can agree that either way the vast majority of the playerbase won't mess with it, honestly even if they made some decent augments available it will still be so fucking random that unless you get lucky on your first few attempts most people will say fuck it and walk away.

[Karbuncle]

Meh, Then those of us who persevere would benefit from a system that wasn't designed around mediocrity :X.

I admit both sides had big flaws, I just picked what i figured would be the lesser of two evils. I'd gladly sacrifice time for the chance at something amazing. This is all just assuming they'd muck up Static buffs. Wissh we had a little more info on it

[Pharaun]

I just don't have the time to play that I used to, so I prefer to work on things that offer concrete rewards and not random ones.

[Karbuncle]

I Can concur, I just hope the static ones dont suck ass, i just assume they will. Some armor would have to be completely rewritten to be relevant.

Which they may do, iDK. They did say static Additions would be less impressive then Randoms.

[Pharaun]

Like you've said, I really wish they would give more details on what the difference would be so we could make a better judgement. I'm just skeptical that they can make the random augments not suck total ass, and with the static hopefully a few pieces would end up being decent.

[Greatguardian]

To be honest, it doesn't bother me either way. Worst case scenario, all of the relic that's useless now will stay useless and all of the relic that's useful now will stay useful. At least with Static augments I'd bother actually doing them, because I'd know what I'd be getting from it. And with Static augments, they'd have the option of boosting the Job-Specific boosts that Relic give (in most cases, the only useful bonuses) which would be pretty neat. Eg: Boosting Melee Gloves+2's chakra modifier, boosting Duelist's Tabard +2's Fast Cast value, boosting Cleric's Briault +2's Regen bonus, etc etc.

Wishful thinking I know, but honestly I'll take a nominal upgrade that I'd bother to complete over a random chance for a super upgrade that I know I sure as hell can't be assed to pursue.

[Yugl]

Part of the issue too, aside from randomness and trash augments, is the dilemma for perfectionists.

A player goes out and acquires, we'll say Melee Gloves with STR+5, Critical Hit Damage +4%. Those would far and away be the best gloves for Victory Smite, and probably for TP. A few days later, someone goes out and gets Melee Gloves with STR+6, Critical Hit Damage +5%. Does the perfectionist trash his STR+5/CritDmg+4% gloves and try for +6/+5, knowing it may take hundreds, perhasp thousands of tries to get such a pair, or does he settle for the +5/+4 gloves, and never feel quite satisfied?

I realize the gloves are absurd, but just an example.

The issue isn't even just perfectionists. Some pieces just aren't that great unless you get max augments. As for concern about reduced stats, given that they mentioned stuff like "Enhance Berserk", I imagine they're going to maintain Relics as macro pieces rather than TP/WS pieces. Stuff like that doesn't need an absurd boost to warrant using in many cases.

[Karbuncle]

To be honest, it doesn't bother me either way. Worst case scenario, all of the relic that's useless now will stay useless and all of the relic that's useful now will stay useful. At least with Static augments I'd bother actually doing them, because I'd know what I'd be getting from it. And with Static augments, they'd have the option of boosting the Job-Specific boosts that Relic give (in most cases, the only useful bonuses) which would be pretty neat. Eg: Boosting Melee Gloves+2's chakra modifier, boosting Duelist's Tabard +2's Fast Cast value, boosting Cleric's Briault +2's Regen bonus, etc etc.

Wishful thinking I know, but honestly I'll take a nominal upgrade that I'd bother to complete over a random chance for a super upgrade that I know I sure as hell can't be assed to pursue.

To be fair i think you're overstating the randomness.

When people do Byakko's Haidate from Synergy, they know they're going to get Critical hit Damage +3~4% with relative certainty on HQ2/3. They also know theres a random pool, and a high chance at Store TP+.

Each Augment through Synergy for Sky gods has a very tame list of possibilities, to the point when you augment it theres always the chance for "WTF awesome" like STR+6 from a random pool, but for the most part, you'll always know what you're generally getting.

for shura Kabuto, its WS damage and Skillchain Damage, For Shura haidate, its Dual Wield, for Hecatomb Feet, its STR/Polearm/Great axe skill, fo rHeca hands its Critical hit Dmg(?) Sword/Dagger skill, etc etc.

For the most part its really not as "Random" as some make it out to me (not exactly you in general...) I think people are mostly freaking out cause when they think "Random Augments" they go into "NEWP NEWP NEWP NEWP NEWP" mode and ignore that it wouldn't really be that bad.

Plus with random they even mention they'd be able to add better stats. I'd rather take my chances of great stats, then be stuck with "okay stats", Wouldn't you agree Mr. Guardian!?

Then again I think we do both agree that i don't see them making Relic armor useful, especially considering most of it is abyssmal junk.

[S N K]

Or kill hundreds of NMs to try for a shot at the legendary 14%potency/Refresh body.

I got that thing in 8 tries the 1st time I attempted it..















Don't hurt me....

[Cymmina]

To be fair i think you're overstating the randomness.

When people do Byakko's Haidate from Synergy, they know they're going to get Critical hit Damage +3~4% with relative certainty on HQ2/3. They also know theres a random pool, and a high chance at Store TP+.

Each Augment through Synergy for Sky gods has a very tame list of possibilities, to the point when you augment it theres always the chance for "WTF awesome" like STR+6 from a random pool, but for the most part, you'll always know what you're generally getting.

for shura Kabuto, its WS damage and Skillchain Damage, For Shura haidate, its Dual Wield, for Hecatomb Feet, its STR/Polearm/Great axe skill, fo rHeca hands its Critical hit Dmg(?) Sword/Dagger skill, etc etc.

For the most part its really not as "Random" as some make it out to me (not exactly you in general...) I think people are mostly freaking out cause when they think "Random Augments" they go into "NEWP NEWP NEWP NEWP NEWP" mode and ignore that it wouldn't really be that bad.

Plus with random they even mention they'd be able to add better stats. I'd rather take my chances of great stats, then be stuck with "okay stats", Wouldn't you agree Mr. Guardian!?

Then again I think we do both agree that i don't see them making Relic armor useful, especially considering most of it is abyssmal junk.

I agree that this system was a lot better than the FoV augmenting, but unless I can storage it, I don't want it. It's bad enough that you can't storage stuff that multiple jobs can use once it is augmented, but can you imagine having a wide assortment of pieces you can't storage anymore that's only usable by 1 job? It will be the earrings all over again, but worse. Maybe I'm the only person who feels like they still don't have enough inventory.

[Clash Perez]

Maybe I'm the only person who feels like they still don't have enough inventory.

Not by a long shot. There's no way I'd have the inventory space to hold all of my relic without NPC storage and still be able to switch jobs in any efficient manner.

I'm pretty certain that anyone who has more than a few jobs leveled and bothers gearing them decently has the same inventory woes.

[Karbuncle]

I agree that this system was a lot better than the FoV augmenting, but unless I can storage it, I don't want it. It's bad enough that you can't storage stuff that multiple jobs can use once it is augmented, but can you imagine having a wide assortment of pieces you can't storage anymore that's only usable by 1 job? It will be the earrings all over again, but worse. Maybe I'm the only person who feels like they still don't have enough inventory.

I think the Storage thing is the only negative i really hate about Synergy augments

[Appie]

Being a poker player, I don't mind the RNG that much. Sure it will fuck you sometimes, sometimes you will get super lucky though. Seems boring to have to grind without the anticipation of something awesome coming up next. I would rather grind 10,000 with a chance of getting lucky in the first 100 than have to grind 5,000 knowing I won't get anything until it's done.

I never understood since Salvage why SE couldn't have had both systems in place. You can have the random augment game for super stats, but the game would also keep track of how many augments attempts you did. At X amount of attemtps you would get the same max stats for the item some lucky dude got on his first try. People with good luck happy and people with bad luck know they will at least get the same augment after X amount of tries.

Coming from a turtle shitluck fest I always wondered why SE couldn't have done some magian trial-ish shit in there. 200 turtles guarantees an Usu 35 body and if you get lucky on the drop from the turtle in those 200 runs then congrats.

[Karbuncle]

I'm actually taking up Salvage for fun (and helping a friend work on Nirvana)

So far i'd like to mention its the worst event I've ever played. Its kinda fun, but the drop rates/Bhaflau Remtants Pop-rate can blooooooooooooooooooooooow me.

Not looking forward to doing this for a while, especially Bhaflau Remnants, I opened BG wiki for the "Walkthrough" and the first thing i see is "Welcome to Bhaflau, We don't pop anything ever" banner... Cause thats not soul crushing :X.

[Cymmina]

I'm actually taking up Salvage for fun (and helping a friend work on Nirvana)

So far i'd like to mention its the worst event I've ever played. Its kinda fun, but the drop rates/Bhaflau Remtants Pop-rate can blooooooooooooooooooooooow me.

Not looking forward to doing this for a while, especially Bhaflau Remnants, I opened BG wiki for the "Walkthrough" and the first thing i see is "Welcome to Bhaflau, We don't pop anything ever" banner... Cause thats not soul crushing :X.

Other than Bhaflau, the drop rate isn't that bad. My group has been doing it recently to kill time, and we average a 35 about every 3rd run. I'm actually sitting on 2 35s (Marduk feet, Morrigan Legs) I can't finish because the Zhayolm chariot won't give me the 25s.

[Lyall]

I got that thing in 8 tries the 1st time I attempted it..















Don't hurt me....

I got my haste4 pants relatively quickly, too, so I guess this is my comeuppance.

I know SE says we'll be able to have better stats on random augments but we're speaking comparatively. If my options are STR+12 on a slot with a random augment compared to a static 8? I'd rather take the known quantity over an unknown one.

I also freely admit that part of my gripe about this is that it's almost 100% guaranteed to be a Synergy upgrade and despite my best efforts, I cannot find it in myself to grind that boring-ass skill so I can get in on the fun of hoping for HQ3 to get the augment I want.

And for now, some philosphy. If the known "random" stats are as predictable as they have been recited to be, wouldn't that mean that they're technically static if you put the long hours into skilling synergy to all-but-ascertain the augment you want?

[Deader2818]

Shit ive been trying to get crit damage +4 on my byakkos for a while now, highest I got was crit damage +3 and that was like within the first 4 tires. Since they, I have gotten tons of HQ2-3 and have hardly seen ANY crit damage at all. Lots of STP+5 and AGI+5. Saw an AGI+6 once too, lol.

[ronin sparthos]

Static upgrades are ideal simply because you can store them away when your done.

At this point in XI, I have so many different pieces of gear that it has become impossible to augment certain pieces because that means yet another spot occupied by something that is now impossible to store.

Give me a Magian trial like the Empyrean pieces that can then be stored away and it'd be great for people like myself who juggle 7-8 classes and can't afford tons of situational pieces that cannot be stashed away.

[Byrthnoth]

Salvage was by far the most fun event in the game when it was released. The drop rates are a lot higher now, but the event is much less rewarding because the gear is less relevant. Some of the gear has always been questionably relevant though (Ares hands/feet/head, Morri head, Skadi head/body, etc.)

I've gotten either 5 or 6 SSR 35s in about 30 runs, which would have been unheard of back when I was doing Salvage seriously.

[Clash Perez]

i get tp so fast anyway that i hardly use meditate.

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxi/th...l=1#post168952