Been gone for 2 years...

[Araelus]

Weapon Delay -3% is good if it doesn't increase your number of hits to reach 100% TP.

I've tried and failed to make a build that includes Sword Strap and is still good. It's very telling the AH has these for 3~5k gil. Samurai would need +51(? something wrong with my TP calculator) Store TP with 450Delay-Strap is just a bit too much for Samurai it seems. The "What's better?" thread has mentioned it on occasion and some other jobs can use it no problem.

Are these crafted? Quested? AHable? How much do they cost (roughly, obviously)?

In the order I've seen them used by Samurai...

Pole Grip : Double Attack +2% : ~10k
Platinum Grip +1 : Accuracy+3 Additional effect: "Stun" : ~60k
Mythril Grip +1 : STR+2 VIT+2 Accuracy+2 : ~30k
Axe Grip : HP+20 STR+3
Claymore Grip : Critical hit rate +3%
Sword Strap : Two-handed weapon delay-3% : ~5k

Everything except the Platinum+1 and Mythril+1 is a KS30 drop. Not sure on all the prices on my server, but you should check Final Fantasy XI Auction House - FFXIAH.com

[Azalee]

Level Sync~

I have absolutely 0 to contribute to the SAM discussion but Level Sync is a fairly large change.

You can create a party of people ranging at different levels and "sync" them down to a designated player. So say you build a 35 party, with one member being your synced player, then any player at or above 35 will be synced down to level 35 while Level Sync is activated. You get to keep your gear on whether or not it fits in the level range, it just reduces all of the good stats. This synced gear affect also works when doing level cap missions, so no more keeping 12 sets of gear for any capped mission.

Basically makes it so you don't have to find people to party with that are within in that 3 level range.

[Psion]

PUP is now a powerful job (though you need a parse to really notice, and it requires a good pup that isn't in full AF at 75, etc) and you will feel bad when a good one outparses your sam on greater colibri, then the BLMs in your ls will QQ when they see an automaton beat them in nukes on HNMs.

Sorry, pet peeve of mine, tired of everyone saying SAM, DRG, or WAR ONRY in meripo when ive beaten all but some of the best of those jobs, and im not even fully merited or have 1337 gear on my pup yet.

Anyways, for sam, not much has changed popularity wise, you still are very much loved in exp partys and everywhere, not sure if you left before that teir 2 merit that sam gets that you can give tp of yours over 100% to other party members with, thats pretty useful. Theres also hasso/seigan, though not being a sam I cant remember for the life of me when those were added, useful stances for offensive/defensive mode. There's also the new zeni notorious monster system, some gear is pretty nice for a lot of jobs from that, theres the new beastman stronghold NMs for other gear though i'm not sure if theres any good sam gear from that (requires WoTG expansion though) oh, and theres moblin maze mengerie, or MMM for short, that offers a lot of different options, though recently theres been discovery you can make a sort of exp maze, with a static of 6 people that all bothered to actually work on it you could probably make quite a nice chunk of exp in a short time...but as a samarai you're a well loved princess and wont need it and i hate you because you get invited to partys much more than every 2 days, of which 4/5s are invites to nyzul isle investigation or apocolypse nigh or a crappy smn pup duo that won't work without me losing exp or something and ::RAAAAAAAAAAAGE::

[Araelus]

PUP is now a powerful job (though you need a parse to really notice, and it requires a good pup that isn't in full AF at 75, etc) and you will feel bad when a good one outparses your sam on greater colibri, then the BLMs in your ls will QQ when they see an automaton beat them in nukes on HNMs.

Sorry, pet peeve of mine, tired of everyone saying SAM, DRG, or WAR ONRY in meripo when ive beaten all but some of the best of those jobs, and im not even fully merited or have 1337 gear on my pup yet.

The sad but true fact is that just like 2005~6 DRG people think PUP is weak and so they treat is as weak.

Maybe we should call this "PUP Derangement Syndrome" but it's just the way the human brain works. Impression outweighs reality a lot of the time and in the marketplace at least it causes self-fulfilling prophecies.

The relevant quotes are, here we go:

We (as in one-hander jobs) didn't make the game unbalanced, you morons. If you run into an inanimate tree in a park, do you seethe in rage for years until it gets cut by park services and then go gloat over it? Really?

No, but if someone stood behind the tree going "HAHA NOOB LEVEL CHAINSAW IF YOU WANNA WALK IN THE PARK" we probably wouldn't be too supportive of them when they started complaining.

PUP would be well served to just do a good job and publicize their strengths but I guess if they have to complain to do it then so be it.

For that matter, a maxed WAR/sam is stronger than SAM/etc in some situations, nothing and I mean nothing can zerg better than a Dark Kraken Soul Eater, and so on.

SAM is strong but people know it. PUP is strong but people ignore it.
SAM got some buffs and some "nerfs" or "readjustments" or w/e the term of choice is but people treat it as "overpowered".
PUP got buffs and is strong but people say it's "lol" if they don't know about it.

FWIW that's what happens.


EDIT: SCH is at least on BLMs' radar as a "threat" in terms of taking its role over in every aspect of the game. PUP isn't there yet and won't be, because PUP can't do crowd control. But go ahead and nuke stronger than BLM, I don't think it's a bad thing (since I have more than one 75 job) and we'll see what happens in April. OK? Do the best you can and don't get mad.

[Psion]

Telling pups to do a good job and publish our strengths is all well and good, but the problem is NO ONE lets us do said things. Hell, I got lucky that our dynamis leader is pure awsome, and even he was reluctant to let me try taking pup to dynamis the first time, the day I joined. I had to bug him and convince him to let me try it and see if it did any good first, and since hes japanese and they seem to have a bit of a confrontation phobia in general i managed to get my way and try it. after seeing it in action, nuking down statues like no tommorrow and then joining in with normal mobs and timed nukes on bst pets, ive gone as blu to dynamis a grand total of... of... actually, ive never gone blu to dynamis cause they always have me go pup in the 5 months or so ive been in it lol. So far onis best nuke is a 859 bliz IV on a statue in dyna sandoria, which took it to about 11% hp... my drain with diabalos pole and /sch dark arts finished it off. =D

The problem though is that while dynamis can have up to 64 people and so it doesn't matter too much in leaders opinions what people with nonessential jobs come as, in everything else theres that pesky 6 or 18 man limit (except einherjar) that they veiw pup as inferior to other jobs like sam, thinking pup can't even hit the mob higher than 0 damage or single digits and feeding it tp. Well, you know what? their right, the master might not be able to on high defense mobs. but you know what? our automaton is gonna hit harder and more accuracely on said mobs, ignoring their defense/evasion by a ton and making your DDs look bad, all without the major hate spikes that jobs like SAM and war get, and no need of a brd to buff them either. (though having a COR for pet rolls is a bonus) Need magic damage? a max magic merited automaton can hit for AMII damage, requires no refresh, can reset its mp once a minute, can cast while running, and the best part is, can shed it's hate completely once a minute, meaning it will easily outlast a blm. The only downsides of course, are lack of crowd control, and AoE nukes. Timed nukes isnt an issue as the automaton casts the instant we hit deploy if its magic timer is ready (about 20 seconds or so recast, reset to 0 cooldown if deactivated reactivated) Typically, a pup can get off two nukes a minute, usually done as 3 ice nuke, deactivate deploy, once ice or water nuke, then water ice ice ice full ice nuke, deactivate, activate repeat.

Even when I parse the rare times I manage to get a meripo going and wind up beating everyone on parse, then people just say those DD sucked and go on saying lolpup. Even if I only parsed 4% behind the SAM spamming 1400-1500+ tachi gekko/kashas (never seen a sam do so high on ws damage since that one, they really did a great job), and me in my average gear/decent merits. Though it does really motivate me to do my best and get the best gear/full merits possible so I can challenge some BB mnks and hagun sams and other fully merited 1337 geared DDs to a meripo and see who really comes out on top.

Plus, pup doesnt have the coolness factor of sam. lets face it, samarai is a popular mainstream culture thing, pup is a... jester with an adorable (some think frightening) automaton and hideous AF (thank god SE made our relic look more stylish) Though we did get nerfed at one point... Magic mortar doing 3.5k+ damage anyone? Though I think I set a record for highest skillchain damage ever done on a non qutrub mob.

http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/h...315_214117.png
http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/h...315_214704.png

[Araelus]

our automaton is gonna hit harder and more accuracely on said mobs, ignoring their defense/evasion by a ton and making your DDs look bad, all without the major hate spikes that jobs like SAM and war get, and no need of a brd to buff them either. (though having a COR for pet rolls is a bonus) Need magic damage? a max magic merited automaton can hit for AMII damage, requires no refresh, can reset its mp once a minute, can cast while running, and the best part is, can shed it's hate completely once a minute, meaning it will easily outlast a blm.

a max magic merited automaton can hit for AMII damage, requires no refresh, can reset its mp once a minute, can cast while running, and the best part is, can shed it's hate completely once a minute

can cast while running

OK this part alone is unfair in every way.

But seriously, this is very impressive. OP: Level PUP.

[Lithiani]

I'm not really that interested in PUP. The Job just doesn't attract me.

Anyhow, before this goes any further off topic, this appears to be what gear I had.

Full AF and AF2

Head: Genbu, Wyvern
Body: Hachiman, Hauburgeon
Hands: Hachiman, Seiryu, Ochiudo's
Legs:
Feet: Suzaku
Neck: PChain
Waist: Life Belt
Rings: Triumph, Snipers, Scorpion+1
Ear: Bushi, Triumph, Minuet, Beaters

Weapons: Hagun, Soboro Sukehiro, Onimaru, Ushikirimaru, Kamewari, Stone-Splitter, Shigeto Bow +1


I am almost totally broke, so I have to make the best of what I have for the time being.

What's the advised +acc for merit groups?

[Araelus]

I am almost totally broke, so I have to make the best of what I have for the time being.

What's the advised +acc for merit groups?

Some ideas on gear from that:
Head: if you have Imperial Standing points, trade 1,000 Imperial Bronze Pieces to Gajaad at (J-6) in Al Zahbi and you get a 5% haste helmet for TP.
Feet: if you can afford Fuma Sune-ate or some other haste feet, that pairs with the Hachiman Kote for your 6-hit (EDIT: wait, no Rajas >_<;)
Waist: a Warwolf belt (5str/dex/vit) should be less than 10k on the AH
Neck: you have a Pile Chain?
Legs: ? really not sure, I guess you can use the +3 STR AF

Values for Bird merit cap, offhand, is not in my brain, but it's over 400 total accuracy.

[Lithiani]

I don't believe I have the standing for the head item. I might have Fuma Sune-Ate down among my NIN gear. I'll check tomorrow.

I meant PCharm for the neck - Peacock Charm.

[Araelus]

I don't believe I have the standing for the head item. I might have Fuma Sune-Ate down among my NIN gear. I'll check tomorrow.

I meant PCharm for the neck - Peacock Charm.

Oh, good, I was really worried there because Pile Chain is totally incongruous with the other gear. Best of luck and welcome back!

[Valyana]

You don't need to have the IS, you can buy coins from the AH.

[Ollieyk]

Get a Turban! Also - Seeing as no Rajas yet - Would Shinimusha Haidate legs be enough Store TP with Hachi Hands to get a 6 Hit - Assuming capped Store TP merits? If so, those could be a good choice until Haidate + Rajas.

EDIT: Oh, and look to get a Swift Belt

[Lithiani]

I have both pieces of Shinimusha (that's the level 50 red set, right?) from my level 50 cap gear (I'm aware that is no longer necessary).

Also, I remember the Turban, it's fugly beyond compare

[Shinryuu]

Get haste gear, your 6-hit is worth nothing if some AH-ed scrub melee gets TP faster in 7 hits (and does more damage in the progress).

If I were you I'd sell every great katana you own barring hagun. Get a turban, get dusk gloves, get fuma, and until you get byakko's, use store TP legs to get your 6-hit (assuming you go get rajas now and get a swift belt in the progress).

[ringthree]

Weapon Delay -3% is good if it doesn't increase your number of hits to reach 100% TP.

This pretty much requires Usukane body and feet for TP phase though.

[Shinryuu]

Weapon Delay -3% is good if it doesn't increase your number of hits to reach 100% TP.

No, apart from the store TP story, versus pole grip:

- You need to go through 67 consecutive attack rounds for it to become better than pole grip, however, that doesn't include:
- Pole grip does more for WS; Sword strap does absolutely nothing for it

[FailureMidgard]

No, apart from the store TP story, versus pole grip:

- You need to go through 67 consecutive attack rounds for it to become better than pole grip, however, that doesn't include:
- Pole grip does more for WS; Sword strap does absolutely nothing for it

Said this in other threads, I'll say it again, you do -not- need to go through consecutive attack rounds for it to become better than Pole.

Any time you stop attack (mob dies, you have to run, you die), there is a chance you have gotten an extra swing due to it. When you actually killed many mobs, the reality is you did gain an extra swing, at some point there (unless every mob survived for the exact same time interval), which a: upped your parse # vs someone elses, b: saved someone taking a melee hit, c: rarely saved someone taking a TP move, d: kept chain, etc.

As I also said elsewhere, you can look at -any- stat the same way. X extra attack will probably not save anyone a single attack round, thus it saves no times. But via random chance, occasionally it will save an attack.

[Shinryuu]

The chance of you being able to utilize the 3% extra delay to engage faster/kill something approaches zero pretty much. In theory, yes, you're right. I've been arguing the same point as you for years. If there's n equal melee, ceteris paribus, and you give one of them a sword strap, fights on the average end 1+(3%/n) times faster.

However, in reality, sword strap is not ever going to notably win over pole grip ever since rune chopper zerg died, simply because of a truckload of outside factors negatively affecting sword strap. WAR, DRG and SAM need the extra TP from notsword strap to maintain a 6-hit. Due to lag and not-perfect pulls, you'll not likely gain advantage because of the 3% delay reduction while engaging after a mob dies. Many times, despite the 3% reduction, another melee would've overkilled a monster either way. Perhaps it does outdo pole grip for DRK in extended fights (a non-zerged, meleeburned Kirin or so).

[FailureMidgard]

The chance of you being able to utilize the 3% extra delay to engage faster/kill something approaches zero pretty much. In theory, yes, you're right. I've been arguing the same point as you for years. If there's n equal melee, ceteris paribus, and you give one of them a sword strap, fights on the average end 1+(3%/n) times faster.

However, in reality, sword strap is not ever going to notably win over pole grip ever since rune chopper zerg died, simply because of a truckload of outside factors negatively affecting sword strap. WAR, DRG and SAM need the extra TP from notsword strap to maintain a 6-hit. Due to lag and not-perfect pulls, you'll not likely gain advantage because of the 3% delay reduction while engaging after a mob dies. Many times, despite the 3% reduction, another melee would've overkilled a monster either way. Perhaps it does outdo pole grip for DRK in extended fights (a non-zerged, meleeburned Kirin or so).

And Dusk gloves+1 won't ever notably win over Dusk gloves.
Haub+1 won't ever notably win over Haub.
Ace's won't notably win over Usu.

But when you start adding it up, it is noticeable. You can take any piece of gear, and put a gimp item there, and it won't be a noticeable difference.
And again, you don't need a perfect pull or anything...I'm not sure what your goal in a merit party is say, but if you're parsing vs other people, and your goal is to beat them, it will help to that end. It WILL give you extra swings over the course of the party.

Small things add up, it's completely pointless to take 1 small thing and say it doesn't matter.

[Shinryuu]

Sword strap is different from things that affect hitrate, PDIF or haste% in the sense that it's a completely seperated pool of delay reduction, meaning its returns are very small for such a low number.

Compared to yourself (soloing, for instance), pole grip reduces fighttime by 2% minus the probability the double attack procs on the last hit of the fight (and is therefore forfeited), plus a boost in WS, and sword strap gives a 3% reduction in the combat time. Here, it depends on how many WSs you'll do in a timeframe. For zero WSs, sword strap will always reduce the combat time by more.

However, in a party environment (which we're talking about here, I guess), comparing old situation (n melee, no strap for 1 melee, rest of melee are constants) to new situation (n melee, sword strap for 1 melee, rest of melee are constants) the chance sword strap ends the fight sooner is 3%/n. Also keep in mind it will not cut the fighttime by the whole 3%, but rather by 3%/(n-1), on accounts of the next swings from the other melee after your sword-strapped last swing coming faster than the whole delay duration of their weapons (it will be distributed equally). The marginal benefit of sword strap contributing to reduction in combat time approaches zero. Now, add pole grip. The chance of it reducing combat time is 2%/n, and it will reduce combat time by 2%, not even accounting for weaponskill boost.

This is all assuming sword strap doesn't hurt x-hit builds.

Does it hurt to pick up a sword strap, then? That depends on your personal utility function: 1 inventory space versus situational marginal combat time reduction.