How to evaluate mage applicants for your endgame linkshell?

[terranova]

A stoneskin setup is pretty lol though < <

I have one . Can absorb up to 247HP(gonna need kirin's pole to increase this some more). Swap all MND in before casting is done, and then swap back whatever else. Base SS sucks, not even 150HP. One hit will knock it down + do a lot of damage, as opposed to taking 2-3 0's of damage. That's just me though, in my dynamis shell, that 247SS +24DMG Phalanx has allowed me to pull off some sleepgas. Without it - 2 hits I'm dead, and the first hit will be a spell interruption :/. (repetition for emphasis).

As for req to engame shells/sky/dynamis/etc, while I used to have a serious problem with this, I don't now, after having some..rather incompetent people join my dynamis shell. We had to do some spring cleaning. Now you need access to Dynamis-Beacedine to join. Even then you still don't know exactly what you're getting.

[Not Kuno]

For most BLM a stoneskin setup just involves having a kirins pole. I get a TON of mind with my regular blm gear (errant body, cape, p.rope, morrigan legs/mahat legs, yigit shoes etc). A stoneskin setup is fairly useful as sometimes you can't avoid aoes and you need to rest through them.

[Aux]

Really? I've always felt (read: no parses were used in the making of this statement) that a recruiting LS will be slightly more forgiving to an applicant with an array of mage/support jobs than to a melee. While more people have multiple jobs to offer to an LS, a primary-melee really needs to present themselves well -- I have yet to run into the LS that says "Oh, but I do wish ever so much that we had more WARs, SAMs, and DRKs! This plethora of BRDs, CORs, and RDMs does so tire one!"

Oh, nono I'm referring to the playstyle of melees vs mages, as in what they need to do during trial to get in.

As you're aware, if you're a DD melee, all you have to do is not suck at your job while fighting the targeted mob and that's pretty much it.

[Zosi]

For most BLM a stoneskin setup just involves having a kirins pole. I get a TON of mind with my regular blm gear (errant body, cape, p.rope, morrigan legs/mahat legs, yigit shoes etc). A stoneskin setup is fairly useful as sometimes you can't avoid aoes and you need to rest through them.

QF-mother-fucking-T. I have capped SS on BLM, WHM and RDM, and like... 344 damage SS on BRD, and it's one of the single most helpful gear sets I have. With a good SS set on BRD, you can rest through Hurricane Wing and some Tiamat AOEs, as well as multiples of a lot of weaker stuff. I'd highly recommend capping it for any mage with native enhancing skill, and wearing as much MND as practically possible for BRDs.

[LinktheDeme]

I meant requiring a mage to have one in order to apply for the ls. A stoneskin setup won't determine anything. Normally I just use my enfeeble mind set for stoneskin.

[Tajin]

You are doing it wrong, unless your enfeeble set happens to cap your stoneskin, having a capped SS is so amazing there is no way to describe it until you experience it.

Plus I would not recruit a mage if he does not even stoneskin when necessary, and on the other hand there are mages that use stoneskin too much >.> , oh how I dislike that haha.

[LinktheDeme]

except for the fact that majority of players don't really give a shit about an entire stoneskin set to carry actual gear for it because it won't make or break anything. Majority of the time you're out of range from every AOE unless your tank sucks or your fighting fafhogg or using it for discoid / 1000 needles. Or you could just suck and be casting too close either or.

Just checked ffxi calculator and it does actually cap it off because of i have 120+ mind on enfeebling mind set as any decent rdm should.

[Judai]

except for the fact that majority of players don't really give a shit about an entire stoneskin set to carry actual gear for it because it won't make or break anything. Majority of the time you're out of range from every AOE unless your tank sucks or your fighting fafhogg or using it for discoid / 1000 needles. Or you could just suck and be casting too close either or.

Just checked ffxi calculator and it does actually cap it off because of i have 120+ mind on enfeebling mind set as any decent rdm should.

Since the entire Stoneskin set was about BLMs and not RDMs you are an idiot. RDM is fucking easy to hit Stoneskin cap, BLM you actually need to carry some extra shit. People who think capping Stoneskin doesn't matter don't get it. It makes and breaks plenty of things, like killing CR, soloing on RDM or BLM and is very nice when you don't have to re-stonskin/re-rest when Fafhogg wings.

It's lovely when you don't have to worry about AoE on most fights but if shit happens, and it does, and you aren't prepared or you gimped your shit up, you are probably going to be dead. Plenty of times you need to run into AoE range as well, whether to tractor, raise or buff people, might as well not die because you were an idiot and didn't think a stoneskin set was worthwhile.

Nothing pisses me off more then people who just gimp it up and think, it doesn't always matter so why do I need it for those few times it does.

If you don't think Stoneskin matters, you are doing it wrong. There is a gigantic difference between players who skim by shit and those who make sure they have everything covered.

[Kaylia]

A player who completed recent (and old) missions and want to farm the new shit is generally a good player. People who are stuck in 2004 always suck.

[Lordwafik]

buff people

buff people on blm?

[Keria]

buff people on blm?

shellra II saves lives! :>

[vagus]

Require references.

[LinktheDeme]

Since the entire Stoneskin set was about BLMs and not RDMs you are an idiot. RDM is fucking easy to hit Stoneskin cap, BLM you actually need to carry some extra shit. People who think capping Stoneskin doesn't matter don't get it. It makes and breaks plenty of things, like killing CR, soloing on RDM or BLM and is very nice when you don't have to re-stonskin/re-rest when Fafhogg wings.

It's lovely when you don't have to worry about AoE on most fights but if shit happens, and it does, and you aren't prepared or you gimped your shit up, you are probably going to be dead. Plenty of times you need to run into AoE range as well, whether to tractor, raise or buff people, might as well not die because you were an idiot and didn't think a stoneskin set was worthwhile.

Nothing pisses me off more then people who just gimp it up and think, it doesn't always matter so why do I need it for those few times it does.

If you don't think Stoneskin matters, you are doing it wrong. There is a gigantic difference between players who skim by shit and those who make sure they have everything covered.

You must be fucking retarded if you think anyone should care about a 50-70(depending on race) difference in stoneskin being able to save a life. A gimp BLM makes 202 damage resistant stoneskin. An average BLM should be able to carry a few mind things to maybe boost it to 295 if he's an over achiever on mind alone. And by overachieve I mean simple things like neptune's, errants body, mahat slops, pentinents rope, and rainbow cape. If you think anything requires an extra 50 damage on the stoneskin cap then you are the idiot. And you ALWAYS have to restoneskin after nidhogg wings even with capped because they do about 200+ damage on average and if you don't you'll just be taking extra damage that you could have avoided with stoneskin.

Fact of the matter is that if any linkshell required me to post a serious enhancing set for stoneskin on any job then that linkshell is either full of complete fail if there judging based off of that. Because in 90% of cases it won't matter unless theres a freak accident and even in freak accident cases theres still a very high percentage death will occur anyway.

edit: actually the LS can currently beat absolute virtus while curing cancer I just might consider doing it.

[Zosi]

except for the fact that majority of players don't really give a shit about an entire stoneskin set to carry actual gear for it because it won't make or break anything. Majority of the time you're out of range from every AOE unless your tank sucks or your fighting fafhogg or using it for discoid / 1000 needles. Or you could just suck and be casting too close either or.

Just checked ffxi calculator and it does actually cap it off because of i have 120+ mind on enfeebling mind set as any decent rdm should.

You are doing it wrong, unless your enfeeble set happens to cap your stoneskin, having a capped SS is so amazing there is no way to describe it until you experience it.

Plus I would not recruit a mage if he does not even stoneskin when necessary, and on the other hand there are mages that use stoneskin too much >.> , oh how I dislike that haha.

You must be fucking retarded if you think anyone should care about a 50-70(depending on race) difference in stoneskin being able to save a life. A gimp BLM makes 202 damage resistant stoneskin. An average BLM should be able to carry a few mind things to maybe boost it to 295 if he's an over achiever on mind alone. And by overachieve I mean simple things like neptune's, errants body, mahat slops, pentinents rope, and rainbow cape. If you think anything requires an extra 50 damage on the stoneskin cap then you are the idiot. And you ALWAYS have to restoneskin after nidhogg wings even with capped because they do about 200+ damage on average and if you don't you'll just be taking extra damage that you could have avoided with stoneskin.

Fact of the matter is that if any linkshell required me to post a serious enhancing set for stoneskin on any job then that linkshell is either full of complete fail if there judging based off of that. Because in 90% of cases it won't matter unless theres a freak accident and even in freak accident cases theres still a very high percentage death will occur anyway.

edit: actually the LS can currently beat absolute virtus while curing cancer I just might consider doing it.

This is the perfect example of someone who should stick to non-critical melee jobs, where you can just TP and WS and not have to have any responsibility for what actually happens. There's a large number of things that we do that won't matter in 90% of cases. Hell, you can probably kill 90% of the mobs in-game with nothing but AF and the cheapest 70-75 AH weapon you can find. Does that mean that we shouldn't use anything better? No, it just means that players who do and strive to be better are better players than people who sit there and go "That won't make a difference most of the time, so I'm not doing it!". The bottom line is that while those 90% might be easy, I'd rather have 99% or 99.9% be easy, rather than failing on the 10% that I deemed it "not worth" gearing for. However, that's your choice, if you'd rather be mediocre, be my guest, there's plenty of LSs that probably love people like you.

[Aux]

A player who completed recent (and old) missions and want to farm the new shit is generally a good player. People who are stuck in 2004 always suck.

Hmm, that sounds fairly true. A great way to check that up would be via the POL FFXI Linkshell Community where it displays all their missions.

Granted, some people may not have the opportunity to do such missions (read: Divine Might) due to whatever hardships or mishaps they may encounter.

But if say, the the LS were to ask what was the person's /playtime and the mo/year they started, THEN started examining their mission completion

Such as:

John Doe Started: 11/2004
Playtime: 424 days
JOB: BLM RDM
ZILART: The Celestial Nexus
COP: Dawn
TOAU: (Something before black coffin - Salvage access)
WOTG: Isn't big enough to make an impact yet, imo


Jane Doe: Started: 01/2007
Playtime: 230 days
JOB: SCH RDM
ZILART: The last verse
COP: The last verse
TOAU: Eternal Mercenary
WOTG: -


James Doe: Started 08/2003
Playtime: 140 days
JOB: BLM
ZILART: Ark Angels
COP: Promyvions
TOAU: somewhere first 10 missions
WOTG: -


Obviously Jane would catch the "accepted" majority to certain LS'es. But what about someone like John? Would most people take on that chance? How about if John had killed AV before with his previous LS using wall of justice or not.


This brings me thinking, if it would be ideal for the applicant to list any major NM/HNM/event NMs they have completed. Granted some may have leeched their titles off previous linkshells doing nothing at all. But what about say, a guy with the Virtuous Saint title, would that draw the line between "consideration over experience" vs their missions completed counterparts.

And referring to sky, I seem to have this personal notion that in Zilart it's easier to catch the "I'll stand while curing my PT for 10 minutes" RDM or WHM because they simply can't just stand there, they have to rest to sustain the chain or they'll be out of MP at a certain point. In G. Colibri camp with my RDM these days, I can pretty much (not) rest and maintain healthy MP while curing my whole party, keep them in haste cycle, and even pull vs the competition to boot, which brings me thinking that TOAU area meriting is too easy on the mages. This is why I get the notion that Zilart meriting (Decorative Weapons) is a better indicator of mage performance due to the "mage sense" that certain players need to possess in order to prove their worth rather than Greater colibri/Mire/Mamool Ja and the such. Aura statues on the other hand.. I don't think anyone with the right mind would like to merit on those all day for a living..

[The Blackrose]

I'll expand on that. I'm a firm believer that communication is far more important than solo play. Most, if not all, events are pretty simple if key players know what they're doing. Reacting to situations in an alliance setting is completely different to solo play. This follows on from my comments about being unwilling to undertake tests. If I'm unable to convince a shell to give me a chance simply by talking to them, it's not the shell for me.

This, this and this again.

Since taking Scholar to 75, my Black Mage (which didn't see much use in the first place and I felt sort of out of shape on) and Samurai have taken something of a back seat. I commonly find myself in the Black Mage parties for the sake of inflating and supporting their e-peens. But at the same time, I work with a good core group of people who not only know what they are doing, but communicate amongst each other in case shit potentially hits the fan. Right now we're going through a good number of new people, and they're catching on quickly.

It also makes my life ten times easier by not having to track down each of them because they think they're fucking Rambo just so I can buff them up.

Oh, and I tend to find myself being a real nazi when it comes to stuff listed on apps. Mostly boils down to this:

1.) Did they actually put effort into the application?
2.) Depending on what I know about the job, do they seem acceptable?
3.) If I play the jobs they play, are they configured correctly or are on the path to take advantage of their full potential?

I'm really bad when it comes to number 3. Don't ever let me catch you take Third Eye merits over Meditate.

[Kaslo]

Don't ever let me catch you take Third Eye merits over Meditate.

lawl I remember that application

[Aux]

From my years of FFXI, I've observed many BLMs come and go. It's quite the prevailing experience for me to associate them with one or more categories that I subconsciously make up in my mind.

A. Average BLM - silent/quiet guy perhaps new to the game, just leveled, blm is his only job, etc.
B. Soloist BLM - Puddings, Ix'Aerns, Fortitude etc.
C. Rambo - often found dead in dynamis
D. Drama guy - sits around and chats or complains all day
E. E-peen guy - who is too concerned about how much damage he put out on xyz mob, wants xyz BLM item
F. Go with the flow BLM - leveled for the sake of making certain events easier for them or their group.

Granted, some BLMS may express one or more of all these symptoms at once. But I've learned not to judge them on these premises alone due to some being exceptionally great at their job even while sporting one of these "ingame disorders".

[Wizerd]

C. Rambo - often found dead in dynamis
E. E-peen guy - who is too concerned about how much damage he put out on xyz mob, wants xyz BLM item

Orz, my LS has one BLM member who displays both of these.

Also, how do I convince my BLMs to stop using AM2 *at all* in Dynamis? Insta-fucking-fail if you die to a statue in Dynamis or use AM2 (unless to kill an MP statue).

[Judai]

You must be fucking retarded if you think anyone should care about a 50-70(depending on race) difference in stoneskin being able to save a life. A gimp BLM makes 202 damage resistant stoneskin. An average BLM should be able to carry a few mind things to maybe boost it to 295 if he's an over achiever on mind alone. And by overachieve I mean simple things like neptune's, errants body, mahat slops, pentinents rope, and rainbow cape. If you think anything requires an extra 50 damage on the stoneskin cap then you are the idiot. And you ALWAYS have to restoneskin after nidhogg wings even with capped because they do about 200+ damage on average and if you don't you'll just be taking extra damage that you could have avoided with stoneskin.

Fact of the matter is that if any linkshell required me to post a serious enhancing set for stoneskin on any job then that linkshell is either full of complete fail if there judging based off of that. Because in 90% of cases it won't matter unless theres a freak accident and even in freak accident cases theres still a very high percentage death will occur anyway.

edit: actually the LS can currently beat absolute virtus while curing cancer I just might consider doing it.

You obviously don't get it, so shut up. You obviously don't solo much or suck at it. 350 Stoneskin is a godsend for serious players who push shit to the limit. You obviously are the exact type of player these "tests" would get rid of, people who slide by and gimp shit up. People who don't care about getting the maximum out of there gear, spells, etc.

I've also seen gimp BLMs without Stoneskin sets each damage after one wing, while resting during Faf/Nid, when I keep resting to full. It slows you down, yes Faf/Nid are easy but when you are 6-8 manning them you need people who aren't exactly gimp.

90% of the shit I do in game is with 12 or less people. If those people all gimped up their shit, we wouldn't be killing half the shit we kill. The point of the question is to find out whether the player actually cares enough about his job to maximize it or just slides by with what he has.

Defending Ring is -10% Damage. That's 50 off of a 500dmg hit. You are telling me by adding some Mind and getting 50 more damage reduction on your Stoneskin that is worthless? Kind of odd when one of the most sought after rings does the same thing a little extra mind will do for your stoneskin and you call it worthless.