Random Question Thread XXI: You're Not My Random Question Thread Dad

[Chun Liroy]

All seals have equal drop rates.

Sorry Byrth, you are a wealth of information, but I just can't believe this. x.x Unless you mean on this specific NM, then I can definitely see that.

And thanks for the info Marth, will do. Was doing it for the sch seals as well since my friend is levelling sch on his mule, will try whiro later today after maint.

[Byrthnoth]

Sorry Byrth, you are a wealth of information, but I just can't believe this. x.x Unless you mean on this specific NM, then I can definitely see that.

And thanks for the info Marth, will do. Was doing it for the sch seals as well since my friend is levelling sch on his mule, will try whiro later today after maint.

All seals have equal drop rate on all NMs. Within each quest, all seals have equal drop rates. Between quests, the odds of getting a seal is probably constant.

I have never seen any data that contradicts this claim, nor do I expect anyone will provide any. It took me 75 Orthrus claws worth of Amaroks to get 10 DNC body seals. This time I've gotten 15 DNC body seals in the first 32 Orthrus Claws. Omg ninja patch!? Ridillz on my Amaroks? No, it's called sample size.

Parsimony says they're equal. They're equal. Everything else you hear is bullshit by people that don't have any real data.

[Chun Liroy]

All seals have equal drop rate on all NMs. Within each quest, all seals have equal drop rates. Between quests, the odds of getting a seal is probably constant.

I have never seen any data that contradicts this claim, nor do I expect anyone will provide any. It took me 75 Orthrus claws worth of Amaroks to get 10 DNC body seals. This time I've gotten 15 DNC body seals in the first 32 Orthrus Claws. Omg ninja patch!? Ridillz on my Amaroks? No, it's called sample size.

Parsimony says they're equal. They're equal. Everything else you hear is bullshit by people that don't have any real data.

But what about the 150 sobek skins (most of which i've help with, more than 75% of them, numerous grellow) where I didn't get enough iga seals to even sniff +1 legs?

[Byrthnoth]

I'm not sure, because I've completed three pairs of NIN legs for people off Minax. All of my Amaroks had Grellow and Red, and most had TH3+3 with extra procs.

[Nightfyre]

But what about the 150 sobek skins (most of which i've help with, more than 75% of them, numerous grellow) where I didn't get enough iga seals to even sniff +1 legs?

Small sample size. For every story where someone took forever to get a certain amount of one seal there's another story where they wouldn't stop dropping. Shit is random, and equal.

[Chun Liroy]

Well then does drop rate vary from NM to NM in that case? From our extremely small sample size at wherwetrice, it dropped multiple seals only once, but it was small sample so obviously it probably was just being a bitch that day.

[Pendulum]

Well then does drop rate vary from NM to NM in that case? From our extremely small sample size at wherwetrice, it dropped multiple seals only once, but it was small sample so obviously it probably was just being a bitch that day.

Shit is random (as random as it can get anyway), I've done a lot of Berstuks with grellow and TH7+ to get 0 seals from a kill. I've done a lot of Berstuks with grellow and TH7+ to get 4 seals from a kill.

[Byrthnoth]

I've been sorting through the Mythic weapons lately, and my attempts to find real testing information on them are coming up pretty much empty. For instance
1) Does anyone know where Alma posted the Glanzfaust testing?
2) Where the shit did the Kenkonken numbers on FFXIclopedia come from? They seem wrong in pretty much every way that things can be wrong. The observation (TP was not reduced) is consistent with -5 delay, not -20.
3) Did anyone ever test the MAB Aftermath from SCH/RDM/BLM Mythics? I can't find any information on it.
4) Ranged Attack aftermath also has no information that I can find.
5) Carnwenhan increases song duration by 10% at 75, if I remember correctly. Does this apply to Debuffs? Where is the testing? I remember it was a JP blog.
6) Yagrush gives Accuracy from 200 to 299 TP. Is it 20 to 29 Accuracy, like an extension of the 100 to 199 TP range of melee mythics? How much is the Divine Benison, and where is the testing?
7) Murgleis is a sword of sadness, but where is the testing of its effect (looking for real mythic here, not fanfest)?
8 ) Anyone know what higher levels of Conqueror's Enhances Berserk give?
9) Vajra gave Sneak Attack/Triple Attack +10% damage each at 75, if I recall correctly. Where is the testing? Does anyone know how much it gives at 90?
10) What does Kogarasumaru's "Enhances Third Eye effect" do? Where is the testing?
11) Where is the Nagi testing? How does it "Enhance Mijin"?
12) How has Tizona's additional effect fared from the level ups? Where is the original proc rate/strength testing?
13) Is there actually any Terpsichore information anywhere? I swear I'd read about it, but I can't for the life of me find any. All I can find is the Warcry interview and one report of someone finishing one (Ena, DaFunk)

It's important to have the information about this stuff be correct. Mythic quests are incredibly time consuming, and presenting incorrect information could lead to small rage fires being started. For instance, if you finished Kenkonken and figured out that it only gave -5 delay.

[Draylo]

11) Where is the Nagi testing? How does it "Enhance Mijin"?

I believe it was said to bring you back at full HP after raise.

[AzazaelFenrir]

All seals have equal drop rates.

While I won't argue this entirely, one of my ls members half jokingly said 'maybe seals are effected by seasons like weather'. Only because the last time he did Byakko Clone in Ule it rained RDM for them. Over the weekend we were there for 6 hours and I left with 4 rdm seals, but we completed a Nin/whm/smn body from scratch, half a whm body, and then floored the rest. I am not arguing that it is seasons, or if there is anything at all, but sometimes it does seem like there is something influencing the different seal drop rates.

Or the easier answer, the seals you want you won't get because your luck sucks/the game hates you/RL Card bro/etc!

[Cleverness]

If you are sitting on the +2 items I am under the belief the game has a way of knowing and will just fucking screw you over on seals. Went to help a friend get WAR hand seals off the doll in Altepa, which I normally got alot from in the past(did the Altepa NM for iron plates). With procs and an Ukon WAR raping the NM in very short order, it took over 3 hours of constant killing to get 7 WAR seals. Another time I went to Gnawtooth Gary to help a friend get 5 SMN feet seals from Gary, saw a group there and we teamed up. After everyone else had finished theirs sets, the guy missing 3 PUP seals needed over 10 pops, all procced and with TH, to get them to drop.

I believe seals are equal in droprate but that doesn't make them anymore random. Wish they made seals like +2 items where multiple jobs are counted by 1 thing, some seals are just terrible to get.

[nikia]

Elemental Obi, just effect DMG potency or does it effect Magic Acc or debuff potency say for paralyze? Thank you.

[Seeko]

9) Vajra gave Sneak Attack/Triple Attack +10% damage each at 75, if I recall correctly. Where is the testing? Does anyone know how much it gives at 90?

I would just give you the link, except I'm not familiar enough with how to do it to point you directly to the post rather than the page (If someone could tell me, I'd appreciate it)

Spoiler: show

Breaze posted this on our forum, as she doesnt have an active BG account. Forwarded (without her permission so hope she doesnt get mad :3 ), so can people can ask her stuff & possibly have her test.

Daz: Sorry I post it here. I can't login the normal section. Please move this. Sorry again.
A few DR people asked me for info on Vajra. I posted this on allakazham since I have no account on BG. I post it here because for some reason most of you don't like reading on allakazham.

I finally have some time to post this. A short review of Vajra after a few events:

Thank you:

Spoiler: show

I want to say thank you to all the people who helped me get this dagger. It was a long journey. I was surprised to see there are a lot of nice people in this game. People I did not know at all sometimes gave me free alexandrites.

In random order thank you: Seeko, Tsola, Syagin, Dazusu, Metro, Casto, Neo (Dhamel), Ehud, Cinon, Thanopstru, Shaka (royal taru), Yarko, Rizko, Airplane, Dryroot LS, Metrosio, Brotherhood, Guyle, Arcon, Kani, Megaboss LS, Fuuun, Chiefbootron and all other people I am forgetting now. Thank you!

Quest:
The end of the quest is a lot of fun and had me worried. I want to explain it for people who will do this quest in the future.
This is the rat I have started to hate over time: Pararoon. He took all my alex ;_;
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a3...aze/Vajra3.jpg

Next a scene in the palace. I finally get Vajra (locked).
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a3...aze/Vajra4.jpg

Now you have to do a solo BC fight against a Hydra type monster. I was dreading this moment for months. Because I worried about getting d/c during the fight. If you d/c during the fight you get kicked out of the area when you log back in. And you lose all your T4 items.

The fight against Zahak (Hydra) was very easy. I only used one hi-potion here. Bolts do not proc on Hydra. You have to take of its heads with weaponskills. For some reason my Hydra glitched and I had to do four weaponskills. Maybe this is normal.
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a3...aze/Vajra5.jpg

After Hydra you fight Balrahn. He uses your weapon against you and does dagger weaponskills in my case. After you get him to 80% HP he will use Mandy stab and he says something. At this point you have to weaponskill him with Mandy stab. I used weaponskills at 100 -> 200 -> 300 tp. But I also read you can go 300 -> 200 -> 100 tp. If you go the second option you have to wait for the aftermath to wear off. Which is annoying.
Important bring bolts to this fight. Blind, acid and bloody all proc on Balrahn. Your inventory will love you for it. I used sushi to land bolts but looking back meat should have worked just as well. Again this fight is really easy. It is nearly impossible to lose. Unless you d/c.
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a3...aze/Vajra6.jpg

After you win there is a CS. You can find the rest of the quest info on wiki:
http://wiki.ffxiclopedia.org/wiki/Forging_a_New_Myth

Looks:
The weapon looks like it comes from India. It has this exotic look. I love it. It goes really well with skadi body. Good job SE on the design.
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a3...ze/Vajra10.jpg

SA testing:
A short test: Vajra enhances SA effect: how?

My prediction for this test:
I predict that Vajra "enhances SA" will work the same or a bit better then X's. That seems fair and realistic to me for a dagger that is hard to get and starts with a lower base damage: 31 vs 34.

thf/nin SA test with gear:
STR 65+16
DEX 82+54
attack 410
no food during all tests

Test1:
Area: South Gustaberg

Four rounds with different daggers:

I wanted to use behemoth knife as a control dagger. Since its base damage is 31, the same as Vajra. Too bad somebody jacked the price on my server for behemoth knife. AH history is 10k ten times in a row. And I could not buy it for 30k. Price jackers can kiss my Vajra.

thf knife, base dmg: 28 (control dagger)
All targets - Tunnel worm:
1. 525
2. 540
3. 514
4. 529
5. 539
6. 533
7. 515
8. 549
9. 528
10.527

high:549 low:514 average:529,9


X's knife, base dmg: 34 Increases crit damage
All targets - Tunnel worm:
1. 614
2. 624
3. 616
4. 561
5. 601
6. 577
7. 535
8. 574
9. 603
10.616

high:624 low:535 average:592,1


Vajra, base dmg: 31 Enhances SA effect
All targets - Tunnel worm:
1. 605
2. 595
3. 572
4. 579
5. 597
6. 603
7. 517
8. 614
9. 591
10.587

high:614 low:517 average:586

Oh dear do you see that? X's knife average:592,1. Vajra average:586. First test and X's beats Vajra on SA. SE please don't do this to me. Well it is a small sample size. So that should/could be the problem. Right SE?

Vajra/X's, base dmg: 31 Enhances SA effect, Increases crit damage
All targets - Tunnel worm:
1. 597
2. 643
3. 667
4. 671
5. 658
6. 660
7. 654
8. 666
9. 668
10.598

high:671 low:597 average:648,2

No surprize here. This tells me the bonus of both Vajra/X's stack with each other.

Test 2:
Area: Wajaom Woodlands

This second test is on Lesser Colibri. I left out my control dagger here. I was shocked to see the results from test 1. X's knife beating Vajra was a fluke. Right SE?

X's knife, base dmg: 34 Increases crit damage
targets - two Lesser Colibri (EP):
1. 696
2. 682
3. 657
4. 592
5. 688
6. 647
7. 596
8. 605
9. 601
10.641

high:696 low:592 average:640,5

Vajra, base dmg: 31 Enhances SA effect
targets - two Lesser Colibri (EP):
1. 583
2. 621
3. 656
4. 687
5. 708
6. 580
7. 627
8. 640
9. 652
10.566

high:708 low:566 average:632

Ouch! X's knife average:640,5. Vajra average:632 After my first euforic feeling of getting the dagger and seeing how pretty it looks this was painfull to see. X's knife wins this round again! Small sample size bla bla bla.

Vajra/X's, base dmg: 31 Enhances SA effect, Increases crit damage
targets - three Lesser Colibri (EP):
1. 803
2. 622
3. 752
4. 740
5. 708
6. 773
7. 815
8. 676
9. 720
10.830

high:830 low:622 average:743,9

Again no surprize here. Vajra/X's is a nice combo I think.

Test 3:
Area: Mount Z.

Now I am thinking does a monsters defense has anything to do with this? I mean will Vajra pull ahead on VT/IT monsters? Lets find out.

X's knife, base dmg: 34 Increases crit damage
target - one Hilltroll Ranger (VT):
1. 382
2. 314
3. 322
4. 331
5. 293
6. 380
7. 399
8. 385
9. 355
10.337

high:399 low:293 average:349,8

Vajra, base dmg: 31 Enhances SA effect
targets - two Hilltroll Ranger (VT):
1. 350
2. 401
3. 357
4. 340
5. 295
6. 336
7. 367
8. 356
9. 322
10.419

high:419 low:295 average:354,3

Okay that is more like it. X's knife average:349,8. Vajra average:354,3. Vajra finally wins a round. About time.

Vajra/X's, base dmg: 31 Enhances SA effect, Increases crit damage
target - one Hilltroll Ranger (VT):
1. 454
2. 341
3. 320
4. 315
5. 429
6. 336
7. 381
8. 357
9. 364
10.421

high:454 low:315 average:371,8

Aftermath:
Next up the attack boost on level 2 aftermath. I read something about it already on BG and I can confirm most of it.
http://www.bluegartr.com/forum/showthread.php?t=71538

The Aftermath effects for Vajra last for 60/90/120 seconds.

Base attack in tp gear no food: 354
tp at 207 attack:376 - 354 = 22 attack
tp at 299 attack 413 - 354 = 59 attack

The level 3 aftermath is pretty awesome also. It should work well in situations where you can start a fight with 300tp. But holding tp in a merit party to force level 3 aftermath does not seem to work well. More on that later.

Vajra parse
Now it was time to put this dagger to the test in a merit party with some proper DD. I asked Yarko (pimp amano sam) and Rizko (Pimp war E.body and all the nice trimmings).
Camp: Mamool Staging point - North side.

Setup:
Breaze thf/nin (food red curry bun then yellow curry bun)
Yarko sam/war used Amano
Rizko war/sam used GA
Metrosio brd/nin
Luckk brd/whm
Syagin rdm/whm

Damage done:
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a3...aze/Vajra8.jpg
Yarko (sam/war) destroyed us and did 40% of all damage. No surprize there. What can I say? Hax weapon, hax job, hax skillchain. Kaiten <-> Mandy stab is light. King's Justice <-> Mandy stab is light. It was so much fun.

This parse lasted 1 hour and 5 min. The actual party was longer in which Rizko (war/sam) died twice. When he died Yarko stopped the parse. That was too bad because I am pretty sure I would have beaten Rizko if they kept the parse going.
And even in this parse I don't think I did that bad. Me 28% versus the war/sam 31%.

Damage taken:
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a3...aze/Vajra9.jpg
In my defense I did not take a lot of damage compaired to the sam and war. But who cares about that right?

Aftermath level 3 in merits?:
When I started this party I wanted to test the aftermath level 3 effect. Is it good damage? Get 300tp -> WS -> get 2min double attack effect -> get 300tp -> WS -> ect. After 30 min Yarko asked me to use WS at 100tp. I did and he told me it looked better in the parse. It is too bad he did not save that very first parse. For now I am assumeing saving tp to 300 is not the way to go in a merit party.
But further testing is needed.

Conclusion:
After a few days I have mixed feelings about this dagger. Yes it looks great and Vajra is a very decent dagger. It certainly is not bad. Vajra/X's makes for a great combo.
My prediction about the SA enhancement did not hold up. X's won on too weak and EP monsters. Vajra won by a small margin on VT monsters. I was predicting them do the same ammount of damage. Or even Vajra pulling ahead in all situations. Unfortunatelly this did not happen.

The dagger seems to lack a bit of punch. Why is its base damage so low at 31?

I have this feeling SE had planned this dagger (and the whole mythic weapon line) for a long time. I am thinking they planned it even before the dagger update three years ago. Then when they finally realised the dagger they forgot to give Vajra the post-lvl-68-dagger-update.

From what I remember: Pre-dagger-update:
Mandau: 32 dmg
X's knife: 29 dmg?

Post-dagger-update:
Mandau: 39 dmg
X's knife: 34 dmg

It seems to me Vajra needs a boost in base damage it has never gotten. Lets say around 35-37 seems fair. This puts it right inbetween X's and Mandau. If SE decided to give Vajra a boost in base damage it would also show in the parse I did. I would have been even closer to the war/sam or I could have beaten him. Which seems fair to me.

Questions for readers:
1. How could I test the level 1 aftermath? Idea's welcome.
2. Is there someting you want me to test and how? (please keep it realistic, I want to play the game also.)

I worked with Breaze a little after she had done trials to 90. I vaguely remember her talking about an even larger increase in crit dmg. I *think* I remember her mentioning a 2-3k+ SA in abyssea, but I'm not sure. I quit playing for a while, and when I came back, I've only seen her online a few times, and only done anything with her once.

[AzazaelFenrir]

If you are sitting on the +2 items I am under the belief the game has a way of knowing and will just fucking screw you over on seals. Went to help a friend get WAR hand seals off the doll in Altepa, which I normally got alot from in the past(did the Altepa NM for iron plates). With procs and an Ukon WAR raping the NM in very short order, it took over 3 hours of constant killing to get 7 WAR seals. Another time I went to Gnawtooth Gary to help a friend get 5 SMN feet seals from Gary, saw a group there and we teamed up. After everyone else had finished theirs sets, the guy missing 3 PUP seals needed over 10 pops, all procced and with TH, to get them to drop.

I believe seals are equal in droprate but that doesn't make them anymore random. Wish they made seals like +2 items where multiple jobs are counted by 1 thing, some seals are just terrible to get.

And I did have the +2 items for my RDM body >< I am sure it is all random and everything has an equal chance etc, but sometimes you want to take that random number generator and shove it up SE's ass.

[Chun Liroy]

Does anyone know what vana'diel day it will be when servers are back up?

[Valisk]

Does anyone know what vana'diel day it will be when servers are back up?

Are you using this thread and the What's Better thread to boost your post count? I swear 723 of your 775 posts have been within the last couple days in these threads and some of the questions have been ridiculous. WHAT COLOR ARE SOBEK'S EYES GUYZ?!

[Phoenyx]

Does anyone know what vana'diel day it will be when servers are back up?

Firesday.

[Chun Liroy]

Are you using this thread and the What's Better thread to boost your post count? I swear 723 of your 775 posts have been within the last couple days in these threads and some of the questions have been ridiculous. WHAT COLOR ARE SOBEK'S EYES GUYZ?!

FFXI section adds to post count? And I have no place else to post, anymore, and I am full of questions and I'm quite lazy.

[Shiyo]

Relating to the seals conversation...

I'm curious as to why +1 items are actually more annoying/longer/harder to get than +2 items :/

I don't understand the logic behind making +1 seals actually harder and longer to get than the +2 items, I always have the +2 items ready to upgrade but it takes like 2-3 hours of going out of my way farming to get the stupid seals. Don't even get me started on bodies, those are pretty much impossible to finish in 1 sitting unless you're extremely lucky, yet the +2 items for them rain from the sky.

Maybe I'm completely insane, but like every mob drops +2 items, a lot drop them 100% WITHOUT a yellow, and up to 3 with yellow/TH(?) and you only need 6(9 for body) compared to 8/10.

[Draylo]

Are you using this thread and the What's Better thread to boost your post count? I swear 723 of your 775 posts have been within the last couple days in these threads and some of the questions have been ridiculous. WHAT COLOR ARE SOBEK'S EYES GUYZ?!

lol'd