Greetings folks. I've been essentially a full time lurker on these boards for years. I've hardly ever posted but tonight I'm going to break that trend and try to get some opinions. I'm having a hard time deciding between several relic options and hoping I can get some info from people.
First, some background so you know this isn't a waste of your time. I've been playing this game since the day it came of the NA PC release. I've put lots of time into most aspects of the game, having leveled two different crafts to 103 over the years, obtained most of the gear I ever wanted for all my jobs, and (most importantly) having a good time. I've been in the same HNMLS for years and have been friends with scores of people on my server for just as long. I am very active in both new and old content as my LS does pretty much everything from Odin kills every other week to sky, sea, Ixion, etc.
The last few months I have really wanted to upgrade a relic weapon. It feels like one of the only milestones I haven't reached yet (except Maat's cap, but I'm not really interested in pursuing that one.) I have had some amazing luck in the past few weeks. The FFXI gods have been very kind, dropping in my lap not only Dusk gloves +1 but also a cursed Dalmatica -1 within 24 hours of each other. Having sold these items as well as a variety of other big ticket "luxury" items that I found myself seldom using- along with having saved up a decent amount of gil to get started even before these things happened- I find myself in the position to make a run for a relic.
The problem I have is deciding which one to get.
Now, I know a lot of the answers I get here are just going to be "just get the one for the job you like most" or "It doesn't matter how good it is, pick the one you will enjoy the most." The simple fact is I have selected four that I like equally and I really can't narrow it down any further. I can't simply pick "the one I like" or the one for the job I enjoy the most because I honestly would be immenseley satisfied with any of these four.
What I'm really looking for in this thread is some feedback from people that own these items or are intimately aquainted with them and can offer some commentary on how good they are. I know, theoretically, they are all pretty good but I always hear things like "Martial Bhuj is better than Relic GA" etc, etc, and I want to get some info from people that actually play with these items on which to base my decision.
First, here are my jobs: RDM, BLM, THF, NIN, almost RNG.
I enjoy the melee jobs more but my character is Taru. Take that as you wish. Currently my RNG is not 75 but it is my project. I really enjoy leveling it and it's the one job I've wanted to play since day 1 but never managed to find the time to level. Here are the pro's and con's for each relic as far as I'm concerned.
Katana
+ Doesn't require a lot of Jadeshells, which are scarce and overpriced on my server
- I don't get to play NIN all that often because my LS uses PLD to tank everything nowadays. Thus, not sure how much action it would see.
Dagger
+ At this moment I would probably say THF is my favorite 75 job
+ My THF is nicely pimped out. I tend to outparse 75% of other melee when I'm paying close attention and going all out, despite racial shortcomings.
- My LS doesn't use THF's as DD all that much. I fear being relegated to offhanding thief's Knife, hitting stuff once or twice "to get TH on" and sitting out the rest of the fight.
Bow
+ Seems to be a pretty kickass piece. Two of my friends have this and they love them.
+ My LS uses RNG heavily for DD on all sorts of things such as Dynamis Lord, Ixion, KV, the list goes on and on. It would get lots of use.
+ I've always wanted to play RNG and having this would probably allow me to play it a whole lot.
- My RNG isn't 75. It could be with a week or two's effort but as of now it isn't.
- RNG not being 75 means I have no end game RNG gear. I guess it might be kind of silly to have the relic and none of the other good stuff i.e. AF2, etx.
GUN
+ Once again, minimal number of jadeshells needed which is a huge plus on my server (most servers I think)
+ Once again, RNG is used a lot in my LS so it would get lots of use
- I keep hearing people say "gun sucks" but I've not heard why. Is there some glaring problem I am missing out on?
- I know guns do lots of damage but I've also seen the numbers my friends put out with their relic bows. Is gun going to perform significantly higher/lower than a bow or is it all really the same? I dunno...
Sorry if this thread is not the sort of thing that belongs here. I'm just turning this over in my head all day long and need to open it up for some objective opinions. I wanted to appeal to a large group of people that may have actually put these weapons to use and can tell me a bit abou the performance to expect.
Thanks in advance!