PLD noob question

[fantasticdan]

If you're fighting anything that doesn't have some form of magical attack, this is true. However, I can't think of hardly a single mob in the game that this would apply to. Jelly Ring is pretty pointless. I got mine and put it in storage a week later, never to be heard from again.

Hi2u Colibri, unless Pecking Flurry is magical all of a sudden.

But why would you be gearing for defense on colibri?

[Furionstormrage]

But why would you be gearing for defense on colibri?

People love to overcamp.

Personally I just /pcmd leave, but just like it was a good ring tanking Dhalmels at 60, it's a good ring tanking Colibiri at 50.

[Zilong]

Too bad jelly ring's level 63 :/

[Bregor]

If you're fighting anything that doesn't have some form of magical attack, this is true. However, I can't think of hardly a single mob in the game that this would apply to. Jelly Ring is pretty pointless. I got mine and put it in storage a week later, never to be heard from again.

Hi2u Colibri, unless Pecking Flurry is magical all of a sudden.

But why would you be gearing for defense on colibri?

I probably would have done so on the Colibri by the tower in the Thickets around level 63, depending on the setup. I'm leveling WHM in that range now, and finding a BRD or enough competent DD to make a decent party has been challenging. Also, I'm not talking about Greater Colibri TP burns, if that's what you're implying by gearing for defense on a colibri mob.

[Sylvrdragon]

To answer the OPs question, phase out the DEF/VIT stuff the moment you stop fighting ITs. If you have the gil, I would say get whatever bit of DD gear you can ASAP and use it whenever your PT starts getting high for your area. Bring alternate food too. Even in the jungles, switching from Fish Kabobs/Boiled Crabs/Tacos (if you like spending a fortune at that low of a level) to Rice Balls will make your PTs go much faster once those mandies hit VT. Also, always keep the best DD sword available for your level. Don't even worry about the +Enmity or +VIT swords, they won't make as much of a difference as that Centurion's/TM Espadon/Joyeuse or whatever. All the gear that people sing the praises of in end-game aren't usually good UNTIL end-game. Until then, think like a DD.

[riddaraan]

The truth of it all is that it is better to take more damage, if you can cause more damage, because faster kills mean faster chains, mean faster levelling up, even if it's a litte more stressful on your mages. Go for attack Paladin after 50. Do it.

As for magical attacks in WS & such... when I levelled PLD 60+, my PT was: PLD, DRG, RNG, MNK, RDM, ???. So ... our mobs TP'd a lot I think.

Gosh... that seems like forever ago. ; ; I miss Steelshell PT.


NOT.

[Spekkio]

the bottom line is that the ring is definitely situational. if you put it on for a JoL fight, you're crazy. if you put it on when suzaku chainspells and your group is napping on the job (you know this has happened to you...) you're asking for trouble. on the other hand, tanking Gomory in xarc, i hardly think hecatomb wave is going to do marginally as much damage as his 2 hr can. while having that ring vs not having that ring may not make the difference between surviving and dying, the effect certainly can't hurt. while i make absolutely no contest that it is not by any means a full time or even a most of the time ring, it's worthwhile having in a toolkit, should the need arise.

[riddaraan]

If we're moving to talk about endgame ... which is how things always seem to go ... my equipment priority is as follows:
Enmity > Haste > HP > MP > Otherstuff

[Yutuyu]

If you ask me it's like what most people said, situational. The sort of gear you should choose depends on what you're fighting. Jelly Ring DOES have its uses. For one you should be XPing on Colibri every chance you get and when you're focusing on damage mitigation and not dealing it's perfect for that. Also *gasp* you can swap it out when a mob (such as an imp) starts casting on you. It's really not that hard to swap during a cast.

Sadly VIT rings are really only good early on if you ask me, by the time you get to higher levels, it makes such a small difference because lower fSTR by a few points isn't gonna help reduce the massive base damage mobs have in comparison.

60+ really in almost any circumstance if you want to help your xp/hr unless you're really getting pounded and the mages can't keep up, you need to have a hybrid damage mitigation and DD setup.

Your ultimate goal in an XP party should be fighting without defender up, taking reasonable damage, and wearing as much DD gear as possible.



EDIT: Things are situational even in endgame. A shijin fight for example, you're going to be getting a lot of hate from other people SATAing, so hate isn't really a problem. Your primary concern then is just mitigating damage.

But in a Wyrm situation you're going to be focusing on survival and holding hate. Enmity becomes a lot more important when you can't be SATA'd.

[Furionstormrage]

Too bad jelly ring's level 63 :/

Doh >< I fail

[onigami]

Get BQ ring as soon as you can, its the best ring in the game IMO. On PLD I wear it full time with hercules' ring, not to mention full time on SMN and WHM and for certain macros on DRG. I wear jelly very rarely, mostly when I was skilling up on shield. Low level I wore one VIT ring and Bomb Ring until I switched to BQ and Herc. As for leveling on the mountain 64-68 on Eruca, I switched to Demon Rings (+1), after breath one shotted me a few times (LOLtaruPLD)

[Atlasion]

Get BQ ring as soon as you can, its the best ring in the game IMO. On PLD I wear it full time with hercules' ring, not to mention full time on SMN and WHM and for certain macros on DRG. I wear jelly very rarely, mostly when I was skilling up on shield. Low level I wore one VIT ring and Bomb Ring until I switched to BQ and Herc. As for leveling on the mountain 64-68 on Eruca, I switched to Demon Rings (+1), after breath one shotted me a few times (LOLtaruPLD)

Ah. I forgot about BQ ring. I wore mine full time with Herc before getting Shadow. I'm not sure how useful it would be for exp though. If you're a taru then would probably be useful. If you can, get one anyway. Its great for endgame.

[Neosutra]

Get BQ ring as soon as you can, its the best ring in the game IMO. On PLD I wear it full time with hercules' ring, not to mention full time on SMN and WHM and for certain macros on DRG. I wear jelly very rarely, mostly when I was skilling up on shield. Low level I wore one VIT ring and Bomb Ring until I switched to BQ and Herc. As for leveling on the mountain 64-68 on Eruca, I switched to Demon Rings (+1), after breath one shotted me a few times (LOLtaruPLD)

BQ is good for /nin and kiting, and mobs that dont have alot of fire attacks. It is also good for pushing up your HP% for parade gorget latent activation (the more hp you have in rings/earring/non visible items the more hp you can lose before laten becomes inactive).

[Ferien]

I use Herc/Sattva as my standard now, but BQ was in Sattva's slot before I finished CoP. Now, it's relegated to my Cure3 macro and my ichi/ohshit gearset. If you /WAR a lot of things, BQ is nice, but it's a macro piece /NIN, and it's completely useless for xp from 57-75 (unless you're a taru).

[Woozie]

Even if you're a Taru, if you require a BQ ring to tank in exp you (or your party) are doing something seriously wrong.

[Yutuyu]

BQ is useless in XP. XP is all about damage in and damage out, and BQ only allows you to take more damage quickly without dying. Shouldn't really be a problem. I'm surprised no one's mentioned blitz ring, it's only 1% haste but every little bit helps.

[Capo]

BQ ring doesnt make you take extra damage from fire attacks, it just puts your chance of resisting very close to 0

[Elesirdur]

Arrrgh +HP gear in an XP situation drives me freaking insane. It is totally, totally useless as soon as you lose that +HP from taking damage. I would much rather see people stacking VIT in the place of HP items (though Enmity, Haste, Acc, and Shield Skill would be much better).

As for Jelly Ring, I just cannot think of a situation where you will use it to make that 5% worthwhile (are you getting hit for 300dmg/hit in XP? I sure as hell hope not) and will outweigh potentially much more damaging magic damage. Honestly, I fussed about getting a Jelly Ring back in the 2004 Earth Staff tanking days and have not pulled it out in years. Similarly with the BQ ring, it's Spirits Within gear only for me.

[Kyupi/Kij]

Back to the newb questions, yaaaeeey.

I'm kind-of thinking of leveling Paladin (since I want to level a tank and I already did Ninja before) and I'm kind-of wondering what the proper shield progression is for exp parties. I remember reading size-3's are the best for overall damage mitigation but as they seem to be few and far between until you're almost done exping. Does anyone know of a general rule of thumb to go by? Or better yet - does anyone just like, have a list, lol.

Also, how much equipment to properly gear oneself for endgame/HNMLS activity is acquirable without said HNMLS activity? (Feel free to define that as you will.)

[Luto]

Whatever shield
Kite Shield
Jennet Shield/Heater Shield
RK/TK Shield/Sentinel's Shield (although that last one is pretty stupid imo, you may as well wear a blitz ring at that point.)
Wivre Shield or wait until General's Shield
Koenig Shield

I may have missed a shield or two along the way, but that's what I remember off the top of my head. Kite shields are first available at 28 starting with the Kite Shield. Jennet and Heater Shield are about the same, Heater is like 2 levels later and much cheaper iirc.