Random Question Thread

[Gwynplaine]

Noobass question, how much of a "skill" stat does it take to beat out a certain # of a more particular stat like racc or acc?

[Hitou]

For acc, 1 skill = 1 acc until 200. After 200, 1 skill = .9 acc. Same goes for racc. For attack, it's always 1 skill = 1 attack. For evasion, I'm not sure if it was ever quantified, but I think it's similar to acc where you have less after 200.

[Modoru]

I'm looking to ressurect my PLD for SoA. I left at 90 cap and came back a couple months ago to EMP+2, Seigneur Shield, PDT Shamshir (90), Twilight Stuff, and a few random DT Gears.

I'm working towards an Aegis but I don't know what else to aim for. What's necessity? What are some more immediate concerns or quick fixes? Band-aid gear until I can get the good stuff?

Everyone these days says you need ochain, so take that one as you will. I'm not super savvy on PLD but I think emp+2 holds you over on a lot of things. Twilight mail-helm combo is good for reives because of auto-reraise, that much is true.

[Dotsudoku]

Playing PLD these days without both of the legendary shields(granted, Aegis is far more important) is relatively pointless

I'd work on completing those before digging it out of the closet

[Darkmagi]

Having just ochain is fine if you're looking for a job to solo adoulin things on though.

[dasva]

But you really need one or the other if not both

[Yimoa]

I must be missing something, nexus cape isn't broken.
Field areas only, and towns...
Blah.

[Malithar]

I must be missing something, Nexus cape is broken.
Both of my party members have been to the area they want to warp to but says they can't.
Boyahda tree not part of the list now or something?
Happened in sea serpent grotto couple days ago too.

Can't warp into dungeons.

[NynJa]

Mummers has the most bayld by far. use those for tags and spam reive.

Lost Article ops offer 1500 per tag, but are completely not multibox friendly, and can last a while if you're unlucky in finding it. Though it seems odd that tracking down the lost article in other areas yields the same xp/bayld. Behavioral research in Foret/Moria offer 1750 per tag, but are once again not multibox friendly (the character has to be hit with the specific attack).

Scouts Survey in Cirdas yields 2k xp/bayld per ergon locus, though theyre both behind reives. If you have the means to get through though...

If you've ranked up in Couriers, you can do two ops at once, though they may be kinda timely. Pick up a Supply Delivery as well as a Frontline Support op, then start hoofin it. Supply Delivery will net you 2000 per tag, and the Frontline Support will net you 2500 per tag.


Pioneer/PCK arent good "get rich quick" schemes, but you do have to consider that while you're doing other ops (tracking down a lost article, running around cirdas, running to/from moria/foret) and not reiveing (reiving?), youre not getting reive bayld (which is approx 1-1.5k bayld per reive target)

I believe the lair reive tags are also 1800/3 tags unless I am missing something? Thanks

When discussing maximizing bayld/xp, NEVER use multiple tags at once.

[detlef]

Lost Article ops offer 1500 per tag, but are completely not multibox friendly, and can last a while if you're unlucky in finding it. Though it seems odd that tracking down the lost article in other areas yields the same xp/bayld. Behavioral research in Foret/Moria offer 1750 per tag, but are once again not multibox friendly (the character has to be hit with the specific attack).

I've found Fuscous Ooze and Sanguinary Slash to hit both of my characters if they stand on top of each other. Fuscous Ooze seems to be directional, I'm not sure about slash.

[Nattack]

Lost Article ops offer 1500 per tag, but are completely not multibox friendly, and can last a while if you're unlucky in finding it. Though it seems odd that tracking down the lost article in other areas yields the same xp/bayld. Behavioral research in Foret/Moria offer 1750 per tag, but are once again not multibox friendly (the character has to be hit with the specific attack).

Scouts Survey in Cirdas yields 2k xp/bayld per ergon locus, though theyre both behind reives. If you have the means to get through though...

If you've ranked up in Couriers, you can do two ops at once, though they may be kinda timely. Pick up a Supply Delivery as well as a Frontline Support op, then start hoofin it. Supply Delivery will net you 2000 per tag, and the Frontline Support will net you 2500 per tag.


Pioneer/PCK arent good "get rich quick" schemes, but you do have to consider that while you're doing other ops (tracking down a lost article, running around cirdas, running to/from moria/foret) and not reiveing (reiving?), youre not getting reive bayld (which is approx 1-1.5k bayld per reive target)



When discussing maximizing bayld/xp, NEVER use multiple tags at once.

shit, I never thought of that at all. this will come in handy when I get back on.

[Kaisha]

After NPCing 980k worth of Dark Rings, I just have to ask: Is there a preferred range to keep amber at for rings/hairpins in Konschtat to minimize on temps/KI chests?

I've been trying to get me a damned refresh hairpin, but ended up with a decent starting set of 2x 5PDT/4MDT & 2x 6MDT/4PDT dark rings on my first farming session.
Need to find me a better mob family to farm in the zone though, was doing Bugard, and while they're nice with their +Movement and sound aggro, their spawn camp is huge and takes 2-3min to round up.

[Sechs]

Playing PLD these days without both of the legendary shields(granted, Aegis is far more important) is relatively pointless

Not saying I disagree, but isn't it a bit "strange" when in a game a weapon that's supposed (was!) to be rare and still takes several months of work is "mandatory" to be able to make playing a certain job meaningful?
Shouldn't it be just something that makes the job much better and not something mandatory?

I wonder up to which point this "E/R/M mandatory" attitude that we're all unwilling victims/perpetrators of is really "healthy" for the game and the community in the long run?
I think it's kinda unavoidable for the state the game has been left into over the last 2 years, and possibly even more unavoidable for a MMO this old, but still I can't help but think I wish things could have gone a different path.

[Prothescar]

After NPCing 980k worth of Dark Rings, I just have to ask: Is there a preferred range to keep amber at for rings/hairpins in Konschtat to minimize on temps/KI chests?

I've been trying to get me a damned refresh hairpin, but ended up with a decent starting set of 2x 5PDT/4MDT & 2x 6MDT/4PDT dark rings on my first farming session.
Need to find me a better mob family to farm in the zone though, was doing Bugard, and while they're nice with their +Movement and sound aggro, their spawn camp is huge and takes 2-3min to round up.

Distribution of the types of gold chests will remain mostly the same as you add amber, just the things inside will change, but you'll lose the ability to regularly get 2 items per "powerful items" chest once you start getting big gold chests. I prefer to keep my amber at around 70 and azure just high enough to get TEs when I farm konsch. As far as camps go, try leeches.

Not saying I disagree, but isn't it a bit "strange" when in a game a weapon that's supposed (was!) to be rare and still takes several months of work is "mandatory" to be able to make playing a certain job meaningful?
Shouldn't it be just something that makes the job much better and not something mandatory?

I wonder up to which point this "E/R/M mandatory" attitude that we're all unwilling victims/perpetrators of is really "healthy" for the game and the community in the long run?
I think it's kinda unavoidable for the state the game has been left into over the last 2 years, and possibly even more unavoidable for a MMO this old, but still I can't help but think I wish things could have gone a different path.

Takes a couple of weeks, as little as one depending on the time you can devote to the game, to build a 90 ochain (99 ochain is a complete waste of time and resources). Takes a month or so at most to build a 95 Aegis if you're economically savvy and have the time to run Dynamis frequently. Really wouldn't say it takes several months to build either, let alone both, shields. While it is a barrier to entry, I don't feel that a tanking job should ever be readily accessible to people who aren't willing to go the extra mile and take it to extremes to bring it to the upper echelon and thus make themselves desired members of a group, it minimizes the chances of error and ineptitude to some degree and increases the enjoyment of the experience for all involved.

I feel the same way about any position of relative importance, but healers are pretty easy to set up and get ready for action. It's a double edged sword in that you have less people that are able or willing to take those roles, but the idea is that it creates a stronger pool of more capable players, that are less likely to end or otherwise ruin a run, to choose from. Unfortunately it doesn't really work, so what I believe and what happens in practice are two different things.

[Buffy]

After NPCing 980k worth of Dark Rings, I just have to ask: Is there a preferred range to keep amber at for rings/hairpins in Konschtat to minimize on temps/KI chests?

I've been trying to get me a damned refresh hairpin, but ended up with a decent starting set of 2x 5PDT/4MDT & 2x 6MDT/4PDT dark rings on my first farming session.
Need to find me a better mob family to farm in the zone though, was doing Bugard, and while they're nice with their +Movement and sound aggro, their spawn camp is huge and takes 2-3min to round up.

I've gotten 2 refresh hairpins. I had maxed amber at both times with them.

One theory is that the higher the amber is the, the better the augments are.

However, despite the fact I got mine with capped amber (were farming KI at same time), I actually think that is crap. I think augments are random, and that's all.

[Sechs]

Takes a couple of weeks, as little as one depending on the time you can devote to the game, to build a 90 ochain (99 ochain is a complete waste of time and resources). Takes a month or so at most to build a 95 Aegis if you're economically savvy and have the time to run Dynamis frequently. Really wouldn't say it takes several months to build either, let alone both, shields.

Don't want to get into bits and details but in all honesty Prothescar I don't really consider the point of view of a particularly skilled and accomplished player such as you (or the majority of important people in these board) as objective or representative of the typical average FFXI player.
I fear that sometimes people like you are way too good to understand that what is "average" for you is not for many other people and lose track of the "reality" outside the group of "highly competent players". Yet what's outside is the majority and it's not exclusively composed by complete noobs.
And I'm not trying to reduce the issue to blacks and whites of coures, but rather ye old shades of gray.

"Several" months might be too bold of a word, probably a side effect of me not being english-ML. I should have used "a few months" because that's what I really meant.

The point of my post wasn't to debate how realistic, unrealistic, fast or slow it is to achieve those goals, but rather its mandatory-ness.
I was asking myself, and the others: Ok, this is how things are going these days and I don't see how it could be any other way because of several reasons, but are we sure this is "healthy" for the game and its community?

I don't feel that a tanking job should ever be readily accessible to people who aren't willing to go the extra mile and take it to extremes to bring it to the upper echelon and thus make themselves desired members of a group

Why is that?
Not saying you are wrong, absolutely not. Just willing to further investigate your point of view.
Why do you feel that way?
And why just for tanking job and not for any other job?

For instance: my post was rather general and about DDs as well, didn't want to focus just on PLD.

Unfortunately it doesn't really work, so what I believe and what happens in practice are two different things.

Why do you think it "doesn't work"? What exactely is not working?

[Obsidian]

It has less to do with preference in Paladin's case and more to do with usability. Without Ochain or Aegis, you take as much damage as any DD, and contribute far less to the party.

[Sechs]

It has less to do with preference in Paladin's case and more to do with usability. Without Ochain or Aegis, you take as much damage as any DD, and contribute far less to the party.

Not so sure about this.
If I were to rephrase your sentence in the post abyssea era of the game I would say:

Paladin's can't hold hate, to do so DDs have to hold up too much and in the long run that's not beneficial. With how easy cures and MP are these days, the difference of damage taken between PLD and a DD is not worth.

It's been this way for the past 2 years, probably more.
Yet I'm unconvinced by saying that there is no other difference in damage taken between a PLD and any other DD, aside from Aegis/Ochain differences. There are other good shields in-game, one specific for Reives (altough I assume they do not allow you to break the caps like Aegis does), PLD has access to easier PDT/MDT/DT options than the majority of other jobs and also has cool JAs that other jobs don't have (Invincible, Palisade, Sentinel, Shield Mastery, Merit JA/JT etc).
Now that Enmity is slowly starting to matter again, and that DDs take more damage and certain JAs (Last Resort, Berserk, etc) suddenly became something to use carefully and not on cooldown, could things start to go in another direction?
If so (big if), how long will it take before us, the players, realize it and start to change our mindset?


How much is the "Aegis/Ochain or GTFO" game-instilled or player-instilled?

[Obsidian]

No DDs have issues capping -DT, they all do more damage, and nearly all of them get abilities that mitigate damage better, on a shorter cooldown. Primarily, any two-hander has access to Seigan/Third Eye from /SAM, MNK gets Counterstance, and everyone can just /NIN for shadow spam. The hard cap on shield block rate for non-R/E shields is ~65%, but on tougher content that block rate falls. Aegis caps at ~75% (I think?) and reduces damage on blocks by 80%. Ochain has >95% block rate and reduces damage by 60% on a block. These two have a huge advantage over every other shield. You can try to rely on Reprisal and Palisade (another ability on a long cooldown with a short duration) but you can't have them up all the time and there are a lot of enemies in the game that love to dispel buffs now.

Without one or the other you're not really doing anything that a random DD couldn't do just as well.

[Sechs]

Without one or the other you're not really doing anything that a random DD couldn't do just as well.

So basically you're saying that the first step of the enmity and att/deff cap revisions did absolutely nothing and the situation is exactely as it has been over the last years?
(not sarcastically implying that you are wrong, btw, just naively asking to make sure I correctly understood the core of your post)