Randomer Question Thread

[Valyana]

MDT gives increasing returns like Haste, which is why it's capped; MDB gives decreasing returns.

Which piece will be better depends on how much MDT and MDB you have without that piece; basically you want to compare (100 - old MDT)/(100 - new MDT) and (100 + new MDB)/(100 + old MDB); the one that gives you a higher number is better for you.

[VZX]

go to power search
http://www.ffxiah.com/power_search.php
put STR+ in description
select the slot you want (important, or too many results)
select your job (important, or too many results)
sort field 1: level, decending

you can't do a "higher than X" (or lower for that matter) yet. the best you can do is sort the results by level and chances are the higher stuff will be at the top.
adding min and max level might not be a bad idea if you get too many results too.

Still can't do "search this stat AND that stat"

I just take this kind of power search has yet been implemented.

[Arcanesoul]

what are the easiest/smallest setups that are practical to take out dragonscaled bugaal ja? i've been trying to get help with it for months now, since those hands look remarkably nice for my bst (plus w/ bst being a nice tool in the past strongholds, i'd love to tune it up some) but the constant answer is "lolbst." also, for those who have killed it/gotten drop, how bad is the drop rate and how noticeable is the def boost?

Not sure about easiest/smallest setup, but as part of a pet ls, in the very few times we have gone after him, we take around 4 bst minimum. Three bst charm IT Spinners (around G-9), and another charms a VT Brei (Slime at E-8). Camp is the tunnel at D-6, but mamools are cleared in loop at D-5/6 since this is where the Bst with Slime kites everything around.
Once prepped bst with slime, invis and snk up and put pet on Bugaal Ja. Run back to camp, and then Heel and start kiting anything you link around that D-5/6 loop. Reward as necessary since you may get the mirror guards or other bugards link, but just keep running. As Bugaal Ja comes into the tunnel, everyone put their pets on him and start meleeing (with 3 Bst this is still a tough fight). I think the fight itself takes about 10 minutes, but it's been a while since I've done the fight.

I suppose if you can't get any other bst to help you, you would need a good party to help, while you kite the additional stuff.

Like I said before though we haven't gone after him many times, despite being a pet ls (although members do want the item). In the three runs we've done, it's dropped first time, and not the second two.

I got the bazubands, and while I don't see much difference, I don't have any of the other pet def gear either yet, which should make things more noticeable hopefully. I do think it helps though. I'll go later and see what numbers I can get for you. Although according to Monsters Inc they really are helpful. Perhaps ask on their forums as well, since I think Neurotic has at least 3/4 pieces of obtainable pet def gear.


###
OK, tree was packed but I did get these two fights in. low sample size, etc..
EM Steelshell (pet) vs EM Goobbue both times.
No Beast Bazubands:
119,106,97,93,87,211(crit),115,101,116,234(crit),8 5,109,126,276(crit),117,118,118(Blow),129,212(crit ),114,122,127,134,93,117,198(crit),89,127,118,112, 118,207(crit),95(Blow),118,96.
with Beast Bazubands:
133,114,114,95,81,107,111(Blow),131,235(crit),135, 113,115,122,119,116,87,115,118,115,87,89,121,366(B eatdown),91,124,131,119,117,101,100,84,130,360(upp ercut),109,115,106,88,115,357(Uppercut)

So basically you won't see much difference (or any) in just having the hands. Sample is probably too small to say how much it reduces but the average normal hit (non-crit,non-TP move) is 111.2 without bazubands and 110.5 with, which is basically nothing. Hmm. I wonder who did the testing to say it had a 5% bonus to def? If anyone wants to do some proper statistics with this go ahead.

[Deband]

Kinda grip do those crazy SAMs wear?

[Amele]

Still can't do "search this stat AND that stat"

I just take this kind of power search has yet been implemented.

right; can't do it.

the kind of power search I'm suggesting hasn't really been implemented either (although the PHP script supports it; there is no way to actually run a form query for it)

sam grips

mostly, it's a binary choice:

soboro sukehiro: claymore/platinum+1
else: pole strap

obviously prior to the relevant levels you wear whatever gives the best acc.

[Spekkio]

Not sure about easiest/smallest setup, but as part of a pet ls, in the very few times we have gone after him, we take around 4 bst minimum. Three bst charm IT Spinners (around G-9), and another charms a VT Brei (Slime at E-8). Camp is the tunnel at D-6, but mamools are cleared in loop at D-5/6 since this is where the Bst with Slime kites everything around.
Once prepped bst with slime, invis and snk up and put pet on Bugaal Ja. Run back to camp, and then Heel and start kiting anything you link around that D-5/6 loop. Reward as necessary since you may get the mirror guards or other bugards link, but just keep running. As Bugaal Ja comes into the tunnel, everyone put their pets on him and start meleeing (with 3 Bst this is still a tough fight). I think the fight itself takes about 10 minutes, but it's been a while since I've done the fight.

I suppose if you can't get any other bst to help you, you would need a good party to help, while you kite the additional stuff.

Like I said before though we haven't gone after him many times, despite being a pet ls (although members do want the item). In the three runs we've done, it's dropped first time, and not the second two.

I got the bazubands, and while I don't see much difference, I don't have any of the other pet def gear either yet, which should make things more noticeable hopefully. I do think it helps though. I'll go later and see what numbers I can get for you. Although according to Monsters Inc they really are helpful. Perhaps ask on their forums as well, since I think Neurotic has at least 3/4 pieces of obtainable pet def gear.


###
OK, tree was packed but I did get these two fights in. low sample size, etc..
EM Steelshell (pet) vs EM Goobbue both times.
No Beast Bazubands:
119,106,97,93,87,211(crit),115,101,116,234(crit),8 5,109,126,276(crit),117,118,118(Blow),129,212(crit ),114,122,127,134,93,117,198(crit),89,127,118,112, 118,207(crit),95(Blow),118,96.
with Beast Bazubands:
133,114,114,95,81,107,111(Blow),131,235(crit),135, 113,115,122,119,116,87,115,118,115,87,89,121,366(B eatdown),91,124,131,119,117,101,100,84,130,360(upp ercut),109,115,106,88,115,357(Uppercut)

So basically you won't see much difference (or any) in just having the hands. Sample is probably too small to say how much it reduces but the average normal hit (non-crit,non-TP move) is 111.2 without bazubands and 110.5 with, which is basically nothing. Hmm. I wonder who did the testing to say it had a 5% bonus to def? If anyone wants to do some proper statistics with this go ahead.

hmmm... fascinating information. thanks for putting all that effort in for me. i'm still interested in exploring the hands, but from your information, they're not a critical priority. what other pet def gear is there out there that's practical to get? obviously askar shouldn't be THAT bad if i ever finish w/ salvage, but the breeder's set seems borderline impossible to construct. is it really worth trying to build a pet def setup, or does it make more sense to just forget about it and focus on other gear? thanks for all the information.

[Sanoske]

Joy/MKris for COR/NIN in merits? I plan on having MKris for COR when I hit 50, and obviously will be getting a Joyeuse. I know a COR in my LS is in love with this combos, but I've heard a lot of negatives about it (mostly in reading thru BG). Although I'm hoping my LS friend is right, simply because it seems to have a lot of fun potential. (Remember, I'm talking about merit only . I know this setup wouldn't fly for 99% of the other things I'd be using COR for.)

I know theres something about not dw'ing multi hit weapons because it actually slows down TP gain, but not sure how that applies to both weapons being multi-hit. Keep in mind, I'm extremely melee retarded for the most part.

[Howard Roark]

what's that plugin for telling how many weapon skills are left on a trials/nyzul weapon?

the descriptions in the plug in list on windower.net don't seem to account for it

[Sanoske]

what's that plugin for telling how many weapon skills are left on a trials/nyzul weapon?

the descriptions in the plug in list on windower.net don't seem to account for it

You have no friends and no one to get weaponskill points with. Why bother with the plugin?

<3u.

[Mytiwar]

Does Snapshot have a cap? Like you can merit it 5 times but there's that new hat from the quadav stronghold bc in the past that enhances it. Also by how much does that hat enhance it?

I reiterate.


And aboot the cor dw'ing joyeuse and m.kris, I'd stick with joyeuse only and sub rng. It's free and all that.. and yeah by subbing nin and dual wielding you'll end up being disapointed compared to subbing rng imo.

[Sanoske]

I reiterate.


And aboot the cor dw'ing joyeuse and m.kris, I'd stick with joyeuse only and sub rng. It's free and all that.. and yeah by subbing nin and dual wielding you'll end up being disapointed compared to subbing rng imo.

Yea, the arguement Ive heard is that while your DoT/max WS dmg will drop slightly, the ability to basically spam WSs will make up for it.

Although I plan to test things out for myself once I get 75, just wanted to get a preliminary opinion.

[Noobta]

I just started playing again, do I still need to buy capped gear for BCNMs? Or will it cap it like level sync?

[Amele]

I just started playing again, do I still need to buy capped gear for BCNMs? Or will it cap it like level sync?

it caps like level sync. but unless it was a BC you can win naked, I'd still buy gear for it (note that alot of bc's can be won naked but some can't) the level sync is *harsh*.

[Arcanesoul]

hmmm... fascinating information. thanks for putting all that effort in for me. i'm still interested in exploring the hands, but from your information, they're not a critical priority. what other pet def gear is there out there that's practical to get? obviously askar shouldn't be THAT bad if i ever finish w/ salvage, but the breeder's set seems borderline impossible to construct. is it really worth trying to build a pet def setup, or does it make more sense to just forget about it and focus on other gear? thanks for all the information.

Yeah, breeder set is more or less impossible.
Askar Dirs are doable with a good Nyzul group.
Lion Tamer can be done with a pair of bst/nin although the more the better.
Pallas's Shield can be done with a party, but best not to go bst for it. Best option for him is get someone who can sleep all the tigers, and either get right out the way, or can stall them long enough for the rest of party to zerg Pallas [S] down (pet's despawn on death). After 50% pets are unsleepable, and will cause havok and a wipe if not kept under control and away from those killing pallas [s] (by himself he's a walk over though). His pets repop if killed and have en-paralyze.

I personally don't know how good a pet def set is, but I'm trying to build one my self anyway. I recall reading somewhere Monsters Inc said the pieces were great especially for HNM's, but I've yet to see any data on the difference it makes.
One set that does seem worth constructing if you do stuff that highly damages your pet, is a reward set including mnd gear. 750+ rewards seem great to me.

Our group also had another go at Dragonscaled Bugaal Ja tonight (6 bst + 2 drg), but sadly no drop. I subbed sch to dispel warm up which to me seemed to help. Not sure one of our drg did angon too, but either way the actual fight lasted about 3 minutes if that. He-he great fun. Took us an hour to knock out Devout Radool Ja though after a member left, thanks to how long it takes get past that def or regen he develops at 5% and then benedictions.

[Kiaru]

If I activate sword mythic weapon skill tonight with top floor of 80, work on getting up to 250 points, then obtain floor100 tomorrow, will atonement be unlocked on brave blade?

EDIT: Never mind, found the answer!

[Fryte]

Joy/MKris for COR/NIN in merits? I plan on having MKris for COR when I hit 50, and obviously will be getting a Joyeuse. I know a COR in my LS is in love with this combos, but I've heard a lot of negatives about it (mostly in reading thru BG). Although I'm hoping my LS friend is right, simply because it seems to have a lot of fun potential. (Remember, I'm talking about merit only . I know this setup wouldn't fly for 99% of the other things I'd be using COR for.)

I know theres something about not dw'ing multi hit weapons because it actually slows down TP gain, but not sure how that applies to both weapons being multi-hit. Keep in mind, I'm extremely melee retarded for the most part.

SAM roll and Joy/kris dual wield is the best thing since pussy when it comes to COR on Colibri. 1k Detonators and you get 30TP/combat round. 2x COR parties are awesome with DRK, SAM, COR, and THF(orRNG) rolls, you'll be doing so much damage you won't even need "heavy" DDs. Couple this with Haste and March and wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee...

[Kaeko]

This one's for anyone that does T3 Einherjar a lot...

1) Is there any merit to what OldWiki says about silencing Dahak mobs preventing XXXSong use (like Voidsong)?

2) How do you typically deal with Logis? Also, how does the self destruct on them work? Seems to use pretty early sometimes...

3) Just generally how many you take and what job distribution you use. Which melee types including subs, how many BLMs, do you use BLU or PLD, etc.

Thanks!

[drwaffles]

This one's for anyone that does T3 Einherjar a lot...

1) Is there any merit to what OldWiki says about silencing Dahak mobs preventing XXXSong use (like Voidsong)?

No idea, never read that before but if it's true it'll be a godsend. I'll be sure to test it the next time we get Dahaks.

2) How do you typically deal with Logis? Also, how does the self destruct on them work? Seems to use pretty early sometimes...

Logis were only a massive issue pre-update when you'd have to deal with 10+ at the same time, and the way we coped with them back then was to leave them until last and then have a PLD with W.Legs kite them around. It never ended up being that simple, though, and fighting them always resulted in multiple deaths and several people being forced to kite a couple themselves.

Now we just take care when pulling them so we don't get overrun, and in the case of links have a few WARs and such pull one each and tank them far apart. They shouldn't be a huge issue if you pull correctly. As for Self-Destruct, we've never really had a problem with it since we generally kill mobs so fast they don't have time to get such TP moves off (or at least not until low HP when it doesn't matter). I'd say your best option might be to have a couple of BLMs or RDM/DRKs focus on trying to Stun it. I'm able to stun Friar's Lanterns' Self-Destruct with Sleep on RDM, so assuming Logis have a similar wind-up time this should be doable by people with good connections.

3) Just generally how many you take and what job distribution you use. Which melee types including subs, how many BLMs, do you use BLU or PLD, etc.

Generally we take a melee alliance (each party usually has 4 WARs/SAMs/DRKs, a BRD and a RDM) and a BLM/tank party alliance (at least one type of Refresh per BLM party, and RDM WHM BRD Aegis PLD in tank party). Usually we have WARs sub NIN, SAMs sub WAR and DRKs sub SAM or NIN. Melee party RDMs sub WHM, and BLM party RDMs sub DRK for Chainstunning difficult bosses and tossing out random Stuns on regular mobs. I always ask BLMs to sub WHM for Einherjar because I'm sick of seeing 10 people in one alliance screaming for Erases or Paralynas if they forget to bring Remedies. The ability to Raise others in case the shit hits the fan is always nice as well.

Hope some of that helps. We very rarely lose Wing III Chambers with our setup, but of course it helps that we're not short on available members.

[Alistaire]

Yea, the arguement Ive heard is that while your DoT/max WS dmg will drop slightly, the ability to basically spam WSs will make up for it.

Although I plan to test things out for myself once I get 75, just wanted to get a preliminary opinion.

You don't spam more WSs with it though.

M Kris = average of 2 attacks per round
Joyeuse = average of 1.5 attacks per round
Dual Wield /37nin = 15% delay reduction

So with just M Kris you have a straight 2 attacks per round.
M Kris/Joyeuse you get 3.5 attacks every 2 rounds but the 2 rounds take 15% less time, so each round is 7.5% less time and gives 1.75 attacks. 1.75 attacks divided by 92.5% of the time = 1.89 attacks in the amount of time you'd get 2 from M Kris.

This is not considering the accuracy bonus (+22 acc/racc), barrage, sharpshot you'll get from /rng (and rapid shot if you ever do ranged attacks for tp like on wivres), and also not considering the fact your tp per hit is lowered by dual wield to the extent that the 15% lower delay doesn't help your tp gain at all.

IMO in a pro merit party you should be going /whm anyway, so it's all a moot point, but /nin is only for pulling and even with that COR has instant sleep anyway so once you get timing down you shouldn't have a problem pulling as /whm.

[Kaylia]

This one's for anyone that does T3 Einherjar a lot...

1) Is there any merit to what OldWiki says about silencing Dahak mobs preventing XXXSong use (like Voidsong)?

2) How do you typically deal with Logis? Also, how does the self destruct on them work? Seems to use pretty early sometimes...

3) Just generally how many you take and what job distribution you use. Which melee types including subs, how many BLMs, do you use BLU or PLD, etc.

Thanks!

1) Yes. It works on any WoTG Dahak as far as I know

2) Just be careful with the pull, and you shouldnt get many (pre nerf, you had to kite them around). I think we just ask people to pay attention and stun self destruct when they see it, but they die pretty fast.

3) 3 melee party with brd rotating (when they don't have to sleep mobs). Around 3 blm and 3 blu for sleepga. We try to balance the 2nd alliance, but it doesnt really matter, as long they can stay alive and deal some dmg.