Randomer Question Thread

[Bakthi]

brd earrings, mind you my brd is going to be an hnm brd only. Musical & ???, I've heard wind or singing earrings work. Which would be best?

I have loq/magnetic on normally with musical/wind macroed into song casting. There's really no reason to idle in skill earrings.

Unless, of course, you don't play on PC and your macros are full already.* Although for that matter, since you're swapping them in and out, there's hardly any reason to idle in MP earrings either.

*I don't even have enough space to idle in Marduk hands, which provide -enmity and Regen, let alone swapping in MP earrings.

[Bakthi]

Why does DNC sub NIN so much? Doesn't Dual Wield have a net TP gain of 0?

I pulled a ton of hate in parties until I got Curing Waltz IV at 70, so that's one very good reason. 70+, it allows me to offhand a Joyeuse while keeping a main dagger in case I want to do a WS, and for better step/finishing accuracy.

[Valyana]

Not really, THF just need to be on hate list once for the TH status to get applied.

It's not enough to be on the hate list, the THF needs to perform an action on the mob. THF/WHM curing the tank won't apply TH, but anything that would turn a yellow mob red will.

[Abraxas]

What katanas are best for solo and merit? (exclude Perdu blade)

[Quixote]

When a DRG has his wyvern out, does the wyvern consume exp loss per kill to the owner?

No. He never gains, thus taking it from you or your party, or loses XP.

However he does gain levels. You must dismiss and call out Donryu (in my case) for him to level up when after you've gained a level.

[Valyana]

Why does DNC sub NIN so much? Doesn't Dual Wield have a net TP gain of 0?

That depends on the weapons. With Dual Wield TP/hit is calculated for the reduced delay, and weapons with a delay below 180 still have a TP/sec advantage even though it isn't as large as it was with the 5TP floor.

Behemoth+1/Joyeuse: 201+225 delay, average 213, -20% DW2+Suppa = 170
5+(170-180)*1.5/180 = 4.9 TP/hit, 1.729 TP/sec (ignoring Joyeuse double attack)

Behemoth+1 alone: 201 delay
5+(201-180)*6.5/270 = 5.5 TP/hit, 1.643 TP/sec

Joyeuse alone: 225 delay
5+(225-180)*6.5/270 = 6.0 TP/hit, 1.600 TP/sec (ignoring double attack)

But yeah, I imagine the main reason is for Joyeuse offhand, and shadows don't hurt either.

[GuntarHolyFlame]

Tips on how to use the Search function here at BG? I tried searching for "+Bio" and "Bio" according to the search string parse rules on the search form and both came up with nothing (literally no search results). I find it hard to believe no one has ever said the word "Bio" on BG.

I've been browsing through Wikia, BG Wiki, and Alla looking for any and all information about differences between Bio II and Bio III, but all I've come up with is the skill tiers for damage per second. I know Bio III merits increase duration, but what else do they affect? Has anyone tested the attack reduction of Bio III?

[Callisto]

Tips on how to use the Search function here at BG? I tried searching for "+Bio" and "Bio" according to the search string parse rules on the search form and both came up with nothing (literally no search results). I find it hard to believe no one has ever said the word "Bio" on BG.

I've been browsing through Wikia, BG Wiki, and Alla looking for any and all information about differences between Bio II and Bio III, but all I've come up with is the skill tiers for damage per second. I know Bio III merits increase duration, but what else do they affect? Has anyone tested the attack reduction of Bio III?

I wish I could dig it up for you, but I honestly don't remember where I saw the tests...but yes, additional Bio III merits are only for duration, without bumping it up to level 3 it's outdamaged by Bio II IIRC.

[GuntarHolyFlame]

I wish I could dig it up for you, but I honestly don't remember where I saw the tests...but yes, additional Bio III merits are only for duration, without bumping it up to level 3 it's outdamaged by Bio II IIRC.

I found the following over at the Alla Red Mage forums. Starfox there posted these links to a couple of Japanese blogs that contain some detailed DoT info about Bio, Bio II, and Bio III. If you have an intermediate level Japanese proficiency, there is some good info in here. In short, Bio III DoT tiers are the same skill as Bio II, but do one more damage per tick.

Also, another post linked from a sticky stated an approximate attack decrease of about 15% on Bio III, which is about 5% more than Bio II.

[fantasticdan]

brd earrings, mind you my brd is going to be an hnm brd only. Musical & ???, I've heard wind or singing earrings work. Which would be best?

I have loq/magnetic on normally with musical/wind macroed into song casting. There's really no reason to idle in skill earrings.

Unless, of course, you don't play on PC and your macros are full already.* Although for that matter, since you're swapping them in and out, there's hardly any reason to idle in MP earrings either.

Keeping loq on to start any casting (including songs) will proc the fast cast, so if you have a skill earring macroed into the sing during casting, you will get the effects of both the fast cast and the skill on said song. Magnetic isn't as useful, but the conserve mp is at least minutely does something on /whm, and the spell int. down is better than nothing for casting utsu. If your on console I can see why it would be inconvenient/impossible, but on PC there's no reason not to just macro skill earrings into songs if you have the above (or something like a novia), other than inventory space.

[Mosh]

For THF: Double Attack vs Triple Attack

Now, I know how DA and Ridill works.. but was wondering if that was "special" for items with "Attacks x-x times". Does my natural 5% Triple Attack JT overpower the 5% from Brutal? Or is DA always checked before Triple Attack? Don't really want to use Brutal in WS if DA checks first.

[Maxxthepenguin]

For THF: Double Attack vs Triple Attack

Now, I know how DA and Ridill works.. but was wondering if that was "special" for items with "Attacks x-x times". Does my natural 5% Triple Attack JT overpower the 5% from Brutal? Or is DA always checked before Triple Attack? Don't really want to use Brutal in WS if DA checks first.

From what I heard, DA overwrites TA, but brutal will always be your best earring regardless.

[Pendulum]

Tenzen is chainstun-able right? And can certainly be killed in that minute? (Would have at least 2 sams, smn and a mnk to beat on him) I'm levelling my drk to 37 and this will probably be my first use of it, I understand best way to do it is select the spell from menu and not recast until it says target is no longer stunned rather that just mashing Ctrl+1 for 60 seconds, is this right?. And lastly, should I use it as soon as we engage him or wait till he uses Meikyo?

Thanks

[Drunkenmonk]

Tenzen is chainstun-able right? And can certainly be killed in that minute? (Would have at least 2 sams, smn and a mnk to beat on him) I'm levelling my drk to 37 and this will probably be my first use of it, I understand best way to do it is select the spell from menu and not recast until it says target is no longer stunned rather that just mashing Ctrl+1 for 60 seconds, is this right?. And lastly, should I use it as soon as we engage him or wait till he uses Meikyo?

Thanks

dont even need CS stun, if anything CS cure if thats your setup, HF and 2 sam 2hrs shouldnt have a prob winning

[Thestrife102]

Anyone know what the cap is for magic defense bonus? and if it counts the same as -% magic dmg taken?

[Suiram]

Anyone know what the cap is for magic defense bonus? and if it counts the same as -% magic dmg taken?

No cap, and no.

[Max™]

Uncapped fight, sleep some TP before the fight starts/meditate or whatnot, run in 2hrs fly, Tenzen goes down in 30-45 seconds with a well decked group.

[Tricen]

Is my Shark Bite supposed to be better than Dancing Edge at 66? My DE has yet to break 1k and I've done 1.1k SB.

[Max™]

Don't have the gear, songs, I'd assume not plinking the squishiest targets unless you're in Colibri still, or at mire a little early, Heca, DH, Ohat, Gorget, Blau... all sorts of things to help get the DE hits landed/hurtfully, where SB is just load the mods and rely on SA/TA to get it stuck most of the time.

[Tricen]

Well I suppose I have as good as you can get SATA gear... Need some r/e's soon ><. I'll prolly stop at 69 or 70 til I get surrico so it gives me time to get some other random stuff.