Ares Body for PLD

[GSDragoon]

DRG's don't want it either, especially if you have Homam Corazza. It's just a DRG/mage toy. With Ethereal Earring, it's value is greatly dimished.

[Ferien]

I'd argue that Ares is pretty good for a WS macro (if you don't have Adaberk), but you'd have to shift around other gear to make up for the loss of acc.

[Nikko]

People who underestimate Auto Refresh are idiots

I agree.

My LS has gotten 3, all 3 on PLDs, 4th will also be going to a PLD.. melee aren't particularly interested.

[layoneil]

you're not going to Cover anybody in most of Limbus, Dynamis, Salvage, Assaults, etc on PLD. +4 Enmity means jack in almost all of those areas as well. so situationally, having the Auto-Refresh makes this at times the single most useful PLD body piece.

for WARs and DRKs, 12 Imperial Wootz Ingots, 10 Imperial Gold Pieces and a whole lot of time devoted to Salvage is a lot to invest for something that is unquestionably #2.

loldrg, don't know enough about the job but it doesn't seem much better than Homam if at all. i think if they care more about attack than accuracy, i'd see more DRGs in Assault Jerkin than SH before Homam.

[Gafgarionn]

I think with a setup designed specifically for Ares Body melee can put it to good use. This setup may not be as effective as the traditional one with Adaman Hauberk, but you don't have to sit around in Aery for it, either. SE says in recent interviews that they do not plan on changing the current Kings system because players have options now. I think Ares Body is their idea of an alternative to Adaman Hauberk. Right now the two may not seem to be on the same level, but I think once a little innovation is applied Ares Body will become a very effective piece for certain builds.

[Damane]

autorefresh + parade gorget + ares body = yummie 3 MP per tic. Sounds hot to me for pld.

[Kazen]

I can't imagine using Ares Body over Gem Cuirass, and at least on my server Gem costs less in terms of pure gil (Imperial Wootz Ingots). The only time I would is like... XP. Even then, if I don't need the ACC from haub, I'd just eat meat.

Your gem body doesn't give you refresh, and that refresh over time will allow you to cure yourself and others more, which in turn, will generate more enmity.

^

I use Ares's Cuirass on Pld mainly because the Valor Surcoat doesnt drop, however, the Ares's Cuirass is a pretty amazing piece when your needing mp back (Parade, Ares's, Ballads, Refresh, excluding Ethereal since theres no way to add that to this situation but that would be even more mp, That brings you to 9mp a tic in non sanction areas.) So shit is kinda situational as they say, even if I had Valor I still wouldnt retire Ares's completely, its a great macro in piece. Oh and I use Ares's Body on my War to mainly because I lack an E body, and I dont really parse that much below them, I havent had to much trouble keeping up and holding my own in pts.

[Yutuyu]

I was mostly basing my "you don't need autorefresh with Ethereal Earring" comment off of experience. Between Chilvary, refresh, and Ethereal, I never really have MP trouble when tanking HNMs.

[Kazen]

Meh you can always use mp for most things (some things excluded) but I always can find people to tab and cure so I use the mp up.

[Beckwin]

I'm working on Ares body (have my 35 and stack of ingots). I have pld and drk levelled. How I intend to use it for pld is a no brainer: full-time. I don't have Valor coat, so I'm gonna get the hell out of AF1 body. Even then, giving up 4 enmity for another refresh would be considerable. Most pld/nin will idle in Parade Gorget, which is dropping 3 enmity for an auto refresh (a less reliable one at that).

Plds spam mp. I really don't get the "I always have plenty of mp" thing. You may not have "trouble" now, but more mp simply allows you to do more on top of what you're already doing.

For DRK it's not so clear cut. I don't have an Ebody (Haub+1 instead), so I'm looking at 15 accuracy versus 15 attack and the autorefresh (the autorefresh is naturally of diminished importance compared to pld). For /thf WS, sure, Ares body. Eating sushi? Ares. Sushi + atk build on HNMs? Eh, probably Ares.

I like meritting on drk/sam eating meat (full scythe merits yada), and that's where the biggest problem is. Without madrigal, I hit just under 90% on Colibris and just a hair over 80% on Mamools. I'm thinking a couple gear upgrades would make tp/ws in it doable on Colibri- sniper to sniper+1 (I do have the gil atm), getting amir/homam boots, and using fowling/minuet over Ethereal in the other earring slot. Abyss/Aileron as a long shot. For Mamool however, I just can't see ever using it in a meat setup- maybe on non thf or nin mamools.

[archibaldcrane]

I think it's a combo of it being a "good" piece for PLD tanking (not necessarily epic, but definitely good) and general melee disinterest.

If you have the 3 million for ores (current approx. price on our server), or even better, an LS that will just buy them for you, I don't see why a PLD wouldn't want it. The thing that you'll notice Ceph is that while few people say it's epic for PLD, you aren't getting an uproar of DRGs or whatever saying "Yeah, you're right, that's bullshit, that piece should go to XXX job". Melees just don't really care if they can get the Hauby line, or in the case of DRG may be too brow-beaten 3.5 years into the game to assert themselves.

[Akanei]

DRG's don't want it either, especially if you have Homam Corazza. It's just a DRG/mage toy. With Ethereal Earring, it's value is greatly dimished.

I want it. I'm certainly not in a position where I need the corazza and have accuracy problems without it.

[aurik]

The stunning lack of accuracy on the piece obviously screams DRG item.

Attack+24 STR+12 is far from bad, especially if for some reason you're a sushi user or have a heavy accuracy build in other slots. Yea Adaman Hauberk smashes it, but comparing against a NQ hauberk

DEF: 47 STR +5 DEX +5 Accuracy +10
Attack +10 Evasion -10
Lv.69 WAR / DRK / BST

7 str 14 attack vs acc 12.5, not exactly clearly better one way or the other.

As for on PLD, autorefresh on pld is great. Full-time 4 refresh a tick with parade/ares/auto/sanction...remember how crazy it was back in CoP when people found out Gjallerhorn gave +4mp/tic with double ballad? Yup...

[Julian]

We gave ours to a DRG.

No one else wanted it.

[Cephius]

I guess I'm just surprised about how many PLDs think an extra tick of autorefresh is needed that much. Especially since no one blood tanks anymore, the only thing you are spending your MP on is flashing and curing other people (and yourself when applicable) in the alliance. From constant experiences curing people in the ally is easier said than done.. if someone is critical its a race between myself and the WHMs in the ally to cure him fast enough. Even after a hurricane wing, unless we're low manning it I barely have enough time to Cure IV 2 people. Not to mention how pissed off BLMs get if you constantly cure them out of latent.

Add to that that 95% of the time I have refresh and ballad; the only time I've ever had MP problems was when I solo tanked a manaburned Ouryu where I was just Cure IV spamming myself until I ran out of MP. Even then, either Chivalry or Devotion was up to bring my mana pool back up. I can't think of any other situation where I run out of mp quickly enough where that extra 1mp a tick would make me want to sacrifice enmity. Someone mentioned it being a refresh body that doesn't require you to give up a headpiece. I can't agree on that usefulness because its obviously comparing it to a vermy, and the only time any PLD (should) wear that is when idling or resting. I guess it's just personal preference or constantly dealing with decked out melee and black mages but I hate sacrificing enmity during an extended fight.

AF1 looks pretty good with homam, and Ares looks pretty retarded on a PLD, so I don't get the "it looks better" argument either. Then again, I imagine some of you have been a PLD much longer than myself, so I understand the sentiment.

All in all though, I think the "shit is situational" cliche is appropriate here. I'm not trying to say everyone who gives Ares body to a PLD is a moron, since it seems its not a good melee piece as I thought it was.

[Kazen]

I cure the Blms anyways, I dont give a dam about the latent thing, and i'm pretty sure our Blms dont use it regardless. If your HP isnt max i'm curing you on pld (I play on Ps2 though so its easy for me to tab up the ally list).

[Gafgarionn]

I guess I'm just surprised about how many PLDs think an extra tick of autorefresh is needed that much. Especially since no one blood tanks anymore, the only thing you are spending your MP on is flashing and curing other people (and yourself when applicable) in the alliance. From constant experiences curing people in the ally is easier said than done.. if someone is critical its a race between myself and the WHMs in the ally to cure him fast enough. Even after a hurricane wing, unless we're low manning it I barely have enough time to Cure IV 2 people. Not to mention how pissed off BLMs get if you constantly cure them out of latent.

Add to that that 95% of the time I have refresh and ballad; the only time I've ever had MP problems was when I solo tanked a manaburned Ouryu where I was just Cure IV spamming myself until I ran out of MP. Even then, either Chivalry or Devotion was up to bring my mana pool back up. I can't think of any other situation where I run out of mp quickly enough where that extra 1mp a tick would make me want to sacrifice enmity. Someone mentioned it being a refresh body that doesn't require you to give up a headpiece. I can't agree on that usefulness because its obviously comparing it to a vermy, and the only time any PLD (should) wear that is when idling or resting. I guess it's just personal preference or constantly dealing with decked out melee and black mages but I hate sacrificing enmity during an extended fight.

AF1 looks pretty good with homam, and Ares looks pretty retarded on a PLD, so I don't get the "it looks better" argument either. Then again, I imagine some of you have been a PLD much longer than myself, so I understand the sentiment.

All in all though, I think the "shit is situational" cliche is appropriate here. I'm not trying to say everyone who gives Ares body to a PLD is a moron, since it seems its not a good melee piece as I thought it was.

Most of the time in HNM fights I'll ask the WHM to delay their cures a little... This might not be safe in certain situations like Gates of Hades on Cerb, but against Faf it's nothing to worry about and helps the PLDs build their hate up really fast.

[BRP]

I remember VIT being a modifier of Jump, doesn't increase a DRG's interest in this piece at least for macros? (Or is the modifier not potent enough to matter?)

[Bagel]

If only there was some way PLDs could lower their HP for a split second then bring it back up so they could cure themselves for hate whenever they wanted.

[Kazen]

If only there was some way PLDs could lower their HP for a split second then bring it back up so they could cure themselves for hate whenever they wanted.

Berserker's Torque?!?