New or Returning Players Discussion 2: SoA Homeless Veterans Edition

[Cliron]

Recently finished WoTG. Any suggestion on best moonshade augments (or should I just leave it blank for the time being?)

Jobs from order of importance to me: Mnk-> Bst-> blm-> brd.

Danke

[Priran]

Recently finished WoTG. Any suggestion on best moonshade augments (or should I just leave it blank for the time being?)

Jobs from order of importance to me: Mnk-> Bst-> blm-> brd.

Danke

Somebody correct me if I'm wrong but I believe 4 att, 25 TP bonus is best in slot for VSmite

[Cliron]

Thanks Priran,

Silly question though, in what situations would you want to use Vsmite? I thought the rule of thumb was to use it if you have Empy upgradged and or in abyssea?

I've 5/5 Spiral.

[shepardG]

If you have vertnaga 119 i'd use VS, but if not, then you'll probably see overall better output stiking with spiral. In abyssea, yeah you'll see the best results with VS when you have all the crit shit stuff (RR,GH, etc.)

[Darkmagi]

VS is better in almost all situations. To the point that you could demerit shijin if you were not anal about MNK.

[shepardG]

Even when the mobs are higher level than you?

I assumed 5/5 merits would put it ahead of VS, but i'm still new about it all myself, since i just came back a week or so ago

[nikia]

I have yet to find any situation where shijin would out perform smite

[Priran]

How do you charge your luopan for the GEO quest? Because I've done this at 4 different loci (this is Bud of the Fragrant Breeze in Marjami) for about 20 minutes each with nothing and the wiki says 5 minutes. And yes I checked with the quest NPC that it didn't charge and I missed it or something.

[Anoat]

It's been a while since I did that quest, but I think you have to specifically use the one in Ceizak Battlegrounds that is along the coast on a little island.

[Priran]

Yeah that worked. Somebody should fix the wiki article, it says you can do it at any locus.

[Miltani]

What jobs are most wanted for delve? I'm thinking of returning back to 11. I stopped just as SOA expansion released. Is it easy to get black belt items now?

[Rehn]

People tend to spam behemoth semi-regularly due to login campaigns. I'd camp out there and try to mooch a tongue.

Eggs are still a PITA, but you can get 99+ KS per login campaign if you don't buy the other stuff.

Also, 3+ song BRDs are always in demand for delve, along with SCH stunner. At least from stalking my server shouts.

[Miltani]

How has the game changed that require a sch stunning?

[bunz]

Sorry, incoming wall of text: Seeking advice for paths of progression! I stopped playing a couple years ago - some time between Abyssea and Voidwatch; I believe I have most of the vital Atma.

Where I stand currently is SAM, MNK, DRK, and WAR are the jobs I prefer to play. Mostly decked in AF3+1 and AF3+2's. SAM and MNK have WoE weapons +2 (lol inorite). DRK and WAR just have some HNM drops which are probably severely outdated - Plaga Scythe/Widowmaker).

If I don't want to farm up an Empyrean weapon (no dual-boxing resources, little time to find new linkshell/helpful people), are Magian weapons still viable options or just a waste of time (if so, which?). Maybe I should just keep upgrading the WoE weapons since i've already started?! Are there any easily obtainable gears or AH gears close to par with the high end current stuff out there? Does my Adaberk still fit in with the cool kids (I forget what augment I have, maybe DA)? Should I invest time in this Delve thing? Just out of curiousity, how long does it take to farm a relic nowadays, and how much extra effort to get that relic to more powerful levels?

Also have WHM at 99 and RDM (outdated gear) with which to accomplish things at endgame but at this point would rather play the DD jobs that I truly enjoy (DRK/SAM/MNK/WAR).

If there is something within reach that I can work toward to, I don't mind the grindiness so much, as I do miss the game. Also, I have not seen what SoA has to offer. Though I will probably be more focused on FF14 so this would just be on-the-side casual playing, I would still like to inject some life into my ancient FFXI char who has seen it all since the beginning!

I will give this thread a more thorough read when I have time, but thanks in advance for any input!

[Malithar]

How has the game changed that require a sch stunning?

Schs are able to get a very low stun recast through stratagems, buffs, and proper gearing. A few of the NMs (mostly the bosses) have TP moves that are highly damaging and/or inconvenient. Most notable are Tojil's aoe weakness TP move, and the pieste's aoe gradual petrify TP move. There's other things of course, but for the most part, those moves can be rough for an under prepared group.

However, Delve is being changed in the next update to support 6+ players. They haven't fleshed out the details of what exactly they're changing, or if these changes are just for the outside Delve NMs, or for the actual Delve Fracture itself. It could become much easier and require far less than it does currently, or it might be some minor changes that allow low man groups to more easily farm plasm and get KIs for plasm items.

If there is something within reach that I can work toward to, I don't mind the grindiness so much, as I do miss the game. Also, I have not seen what SoA has to offer. Though I will probably be more focused on FF14 so this would just be on-the-side casual playing, I would still like to inject some life into my ancient FFXI char who has seen it all since the beginning!

This will take care of any casual catching up you'd want to do. It's extremely easy to get geared to a decent enough point to be useful in current content with RoE. After this, you'd want to aim for Skirmish Rala/Cirdas to collect weapons, Skirmish Yorcia to collect armor and upgrade weapons to 113, and after next update, Skirmish v3, to 119 armor and weapons. Delve has it's uses and good gear still, but that's being changed next update, so who knows how easy/hard it'd be to freshly get into it.

There's also 109 and 119 AF available through scaling difficulty BCNMs and mission fights (AAs, DM, Eald, and Kam fights atm, with a Shadow Lord fight expected at some point), and 109 relic, and 119 relic head, legs, and feet next update.

Most of your old gear isn't very useful (though Armada still has it's uses in some sets), but hold onto your Empy +1/2s, as those will be getting the ilvl treatment at some point for sure. Of note, your WoE weapons can be easily upgraded to 99 and used to learn the Empy WS. They have no further uses beyond that though. The RoE ilvl 117 weapons are very good as a starting point for any returning player however, and are extremely easy to obtain. After these, your next weapon would be a ilvl 119, from Delve, AAs/mission fights, AH for some jobs, upgraded 99 RME, and after the next update, Skirmish v3.

Also have WHM at 99 and RDM (outdated gear) with which to accomplish things at endgame but at this point would rather play the DD jobs that I truly enjoy (DRK/SAM/MNK/WAR).

Until your DDs are fairly well geared, I'd prep yourself to play Whm at least. FFXI is still a game of "but im da bestest DD evarz!" Of note, Mnk has been very popular lately as a melee DD. However, quite a few PUGs have adobted an "Oats only" policy, so good luck in that regard.

[Twilight Sky]

It took me 2 hours and 41 minutes to read this entire thread, post by post. And unfortunately, I'm not "re-sold" on coming back. Big mistake I made the last time I played, was I sold my staves, except dark and light, along with all my INT gear. So my SCH and RDM is pretty much dead in the water. Not bashing FFXIV or anything, but I gave up on that game after only 3 months, where as I played FFXI from 2004 to 2011. I think what brings most people back, is the feeling of tying loose ends( i have one with Sea Horror heh, and still need to beat CoP). Surely, FFXI was a large part of our lives. Maybe some day I'll return, but I don't think now is the time.


If there is any memory that sticks out the most, it's when I beat Maat on RDM. That was the hardest shit I ever done. On my second attempt I refused to go down. LOL that old man smacked me with 2 asuran fists, but I didn't survive the 3rd.

[MaachaQ]

It took me 2 hours and 41 minutes to read this entire thread, post by post. And unfortunately, I'm not "re-sold" on coming back. Big mistake I made the last time I played, was I sold my staves, except dark and light, along with all my INT gear. So my SCH and RDM is pretty much dead in the water. Not bashing FFXIV or anything, but I gave up on that game after only 3 months, where as I played FFXI from 2004 to 2011. I think what brings most people back, is the feeling of tying loose ends( i have one with Sea Horror heh, and still need to beat CoP). Surely, FFXI was a large part of our lives. Maybe some day I'll return, but I don't think now is the time.

With Adoulin and RoE, it's crazy easy to get really good gear really quickly. Just doing some of the basic RoE quests and a few of the time-limited ones will get you enough sparks to buy a full set of armor and a weapon with ilvl 117. You can use that gear to go do Adoulin missions until you get to WKRs, Delve, and Skirmish where you can get even better gear. All the while, you'll be getting sparks that you can use to buy pages to upgrade your AF to ilvl 109, and if you're killing enough things you'll get seals to use on the BCs for pages and items to use to get AF to 119.

I've been back over a month now after a 2 year break, and I'm making good progress at upgrading/replacing all my old gear and learning the new fights. I've got a long way to go yet, but I've been having plenty of fun so far.

edit: Among the awesome things that I've had happen since my return, this was from last night just before maintenance

[Malithar]

It took me 2 hours and 41 minutes to read this entire thread, post by post. And unfortunately, I'm not "re-sold" on coming back. Big mistake I made the last time I played, was I sold my staves

The way the line breaks, I anticipated that to say "sold my account." But staves? And you read this thread?

Those staves are largely useless anymore. And for any use that you do want them, can get a Chatoyant Staff (all 8 in one as far as ele properties are concerned). As Maacha mentioned, it's silly easy to get caught up. To hinge the reason for not (if the desire to come back is there) on something as silly as you sold ele staves, after reading this thread... well, just comes across as trying to make a reason to not come back.

Which is cool. But then why post? <.<

[Gaz]

I have recently installed FFXI again, haven't played since 2009 just before Abyssea was released. I have a NIN and PLD 75. Couple of questions if someone wouldn't mind answering them?

Is NIN or PLD worthwhile to use anymore?
I jumped straight in and have started leveling my NIN and am Level 80 from solo exp now but Skill Ups are well behind, how do people handle skill ups, particularly weapons after leveling up?
Any jobs I should definitely level (my subs were leveled to tank endgame, so don't have much)?
And again how do you keep the skill ups if I PL to 49 or 99?

Any advice is much appreciated :D

[Anoat]

PLD is highly valued if you have OChain or Aegis. The 117 sparks shield is an ok holdover until you can get OChain or Aegis. But without one of those, you won't be desired. NIN is useful in the AA fights as a dd/tank hybrid.

There is a skillup enhancing food, as well as skillup enhancing items you can buy from sparks. And sometimes you'll have Martial Master from mog enhancement.

I'd suggest leveling up THF for farming purposes to get some gil. BRD and COR are always in demand for activities. And also WHM, because nobody likes playing WHM.