Random Question Thread VI: I'm No Mathologist, But...

[drwaffles]

Is it more efficient to go TH4 THF + RDM dualbox for farming smoky flasks then warp and change to ninja, or simply go on ninja when attempting to shut up retards in a thread that isn't very advanced? I have insomnia and don't want to keep girl awake moving around in bed.

Flask drop rate is fucking awful even with TH4. Not quite as bad as Diorite, but I've gone for hours without seeing one.

[Despain]

How do I activate FFXI windower? The actual windower, not Aikar's windower. Reinstalled FFXI on my new laptop, and I can't figure it out D:

[Argettio]

How do I activate FFXI windower? The actual windower, not Aikar's windower. Reinstalled FFXI on my new laptop, and I can't figure it out D:

Using the FFXI config program.

There is a tick box on one of the tabs.

Its under Start -> Programs -> Final Fantasy iirc.

[Despain]

Thank you sir!

[Alvinho]

I feel silly for even asking this, but I just want to be sure. Will I still get any mileage from an Umbra Cape (75 onry) if I have a Shadow Mantle? I guess I'm asking if there's any situation where I would somehow benefit more from the cape, than from the mantle. Thanks.

[Nightfyre]

I feel silly for even asking this, but I just want to be sure. Will I still get any mileage from an Umbra Cape (75 onry) if I have a Shadow Mantle? I guess I'm asking if there's any situation where I would somehow benefit more from the cape, than from the mantle. Thanks.

If we consider Shadow Mantle a 10% proc rate and thus essentially -10% PDT, Umbra is superior at night (12%) and also superior during the day if you have more than 34% PDT before the back slot since Shadow Mantle's PDT is separate from any normal damage reduction and thus doesn't benefit from other PDT gear working with it. On the other hand, Shadow Mantle simply annuls the damage so it's nice for things like casting Ichi (shouldn't get hit but it will happen from time to time). inb4 pchan's SID set.

[Kirschy]

I feel silly for even asking this, but I just want to be sure. Will I still get any mileage from an Umbra Cape (75 onry) if I have a Shadow Mantle? I guess I'm asking if there's any situation where I would somehow benefit more from the cape, than from the mantle. Thanks.

It realli depends on what you're using the cape for. Shadow Mantle proc rate is roughly 1/16 (6.25%), while Umbra is -6 pdt during day, and -12 during night. So in terms of pure damage mitigation, you'd want Shadow Mantle during the day, and Umbra at night. The benefit of mantle is that it gives you a chance to annul damage and not be interrupted during a cast.

Also factor in the the price tag on Umbra cape if you choose to sell it, while Shadow Mantle is usable on all jobs, and the best source of damage mitigation for many.

[Demosthenes11]

id use shadow mantle and sell umbra, honestly it will save you more times than umbra.

my own question:
do summoner spats +1 have more acc than nq?
or is the only piece worth upgrading the feet

[DrRuler]

I'm at a loss on something and need a mathologist, I have a friend new to XI who is leveling up samurai as a second job, WHM being his first (slightly gimped) 75. He will most likely be Rajas-less for at least another 2 or so months, as we have limited time outside of events to gather people interested in the hell of CoP missions. We have access to Sky/ZNMs/Dynamis and the ASA pants (which would be sacrificed from his WHM, and hopefully shared with his PLD he plans to level next) Salvage gear will be a later option (he is currently low on the list for Usukane), but by then he should be geared well anyhow.

I'm wondering how would be the best way to gear up his SAM for meriting and salvage (which is going to be the main use of it) without the use of a Rajas, and on a limited budget. (No +1 Hauby's or that shit for him yet.)

Thanks in advance, also reasoning behind the set for my own future knowledge would help as well.

[Kuroyou]

You're misunderstanding the wiki. RNG Cat.2 Snapshot MERITS are -2% per point. The SS on ACP body is 5%

Didn't misunderstand it, asked the question instead of taking it either way. But thank you for clarifying. Any one have an idea on the AF2 Hands (Commodore Gants)?

Thanks

[Shinryuu]

I'm at a loss on something and need a mathologist, I have a friend new to XI who is leveling up samurai as a second job, WHM being his first (slightly gimped) 75. He will most likely be Rajas-less for at least another 2 or so months, as we have limited time outside of events to gather people interested in the hell of CoP missions. We have access to Sky/ZNMs/Dynamis and the ASA pants (which would be sacrificed from his WHM, and hopefully shared with his PLD he plans to level next) Salvage gear will be a later option (he is currently low on the list for Usukane), but by then he should be geared well anyhow.

I'm wondering how would be the best way to gear up his SAM for meriting and salvage (which is going to be the main use of it) without the use of a Rajas, and on a limited budget. (No +1 Hauby's or that shit for him yet.)

Thanks in advance, also reasoning behind the set for my own future knowledge would help as well.

Firstly, a gimped SAM contributes a whole lot less than a WHM in Salvage. Just to get that off my chest.

Alright, this is what you do: get Byakko's Haidate. This is the most time-intensive task, I'd say. Then you start meriting his guy (WHM/SCH is fine in merits so bring that). This needs to be merited: polearm, great katana, third eye, store TP, overwhelm, blade bash. Since you don't have rajas, I'd say prioritize it like this: 4 polearm, 5 third eye, 5 store TP, then polearm, overwhelm, great katana, blade bash. If you have capped polearm and great katana you can Salvage right away but you'll still be gimpy. Buy a cheap PDT set (arhat x2, gavial x2, jelly) too.

I'd say you'll have your rajas and brutal by the time you've finished store TP, which brings us to 6-hitting. Grab a hachiman kote from AH and there's your 5hit polearm and 6hit gkt if you shouldn't eat carbo (due to low ACC or so).

[FailureMidgard]

Firstly, a gimped SAM contributes a whole lot less than a WHM in Salvage. Just to get that off my chest.

Alright, this is what you do: get Byakko's Haidate. This is the most time-intensive task, I'd say. Then you start meriting his guy (WHM/SCH is fine in merits so bring that). This needs to be merited: polearm, great katana, third eye, store TP, overwhelm, blade bash. Since you don't have rajas, I'd say prioritize it like this: 4 polearm, 5 third eye, 5 store TP, then polearm, overwhelm, great katana, blade bash. If you have capped polearm and great katana you can Salvage right away but you'll still be gimpy. Buy a cheap PDT set (arhat x2, gavial x2, jelly) too.

I'd say you'll have your rajas and brutal by the time you've finished store TP, which brings us to 6-hitting. Grab a hachiman kote from AH and there's your 5hit polearm and 6hit gkt if you shouldn't eat carbo (due to low ACC or so).

What? All debates of meditate vs third eye aside (I think it's retarded to say that third eye "needs" to be merited also), the order you prioritize is completely what the fuck. A Sam without 3 in overwhelm isn't even worth talking about. Furthermore, one without a proper hit build is equally not worth talking about. There is absolutely no way you should be meriting third eye before 3/5 overwhelm and as many StoreTP as needed (for the record, a GK sam with 5/5 overwhelm will outdamage a pole sam without at birds, esp at lower gear levels).

I'd give more specific advice to the OP, but that seems like a lot of effort atm...

[DrRuler]

Firstly, a gimped SAM contributes a whole lot less than a WHM in Salvage. Just to get that off my chest.

Alright, this is what you do: get Byakko's Haidate. This is the most time-intensive task, I'd say. Then you start meriting his guy (WHM/SCH is fine in merits so bring that). This needs to be merited: polearm, great katana, third eye, store TP, overwhelm, blade bash. Since you don't have rajas, I'd say prioritize it like this: 4 polearm, 5 third eye, 5 store TP, then polearm, overwhelm, great katana, blade bash. If you have capped polearm and great katana you can Salvage right away but you'll still be gimpy. Buy a cheap PDT set (arhat x2, gavial x2, jelly) too.

I'd say you'll have your rajas and brutal by the time you've finished store TP, which brings us to 6-hitting. Grab a hachiman kote from AH and there's your 5hit polearm and 6hit gkt if you shouldn't eat carbo (due to low ACC or so).

OK, thanks for the Salvage advice for him, but we already have 2 SAMs (3 when my own finally dings) that are above him on gear, the only time he would come SAM to salvage would be when he is the extra member basically coming to lot something. We sometimes get all 9 members of our shell showing up on the same day, and he becomes the bored, basically cell-less, whm in the corner dancing, or he is forced to sit out. Having a melee job would let him at least beat on trash mobs and be SOMEWHAT useful on those runs. I mostly just listed Salvage to make this job look somewhat important.

For the short term I'm looking to see if we can build him a 6/5 hit without looking too gimp lacking a Rajas/Byakko's/Brutal. I figured Rose Strap/Enki legs or some thing I have no clue about to make it work while he waits in line for Bya's and does CoP. Sorry for the misunderstanding of the job's planned use.

TL;DR: It's basically going to be a merit whore so he can stop coming on whm as he hates meriting on it.

[Shinryuu]

Eh I guess you could do store TP before Third eye, and possibly the first 3 levels of Overwhelm but keep in mind the limit point costs of all of 'em. Third eye is mainly because the guy wants to do Salvage. In Salvage SAM tanks. Now, whenever I Salvage I /DRG and on the bosses I sure enjoy my Third Eye merits. I prioritized my own SAM way differently, probably roughly the way you did bar TE (finished store TP first, then did Overwhelm x3, some Third eye too and I'm about to finish both of 'em when I get 10 more merit points)...

... but keep the guy's case in mind. Store TP merits aren't that good without a rajas (not sure if polearm has a 6-hit with just base traits so it's still worth capping soon), Overwhelm isn't that good when you don't have hagun and a good WS set (he says cheap). Also the Salvage thing, which brought me to TE merits. Cutting off the 5 worst seconds of a TE cycle isn't a 20% increase in TE, it's way more due to the way TE works with seigan.

Major edit:

OK, thanks for the Salvage advice for him, but we already have 2 SAMs (3 when my own finally dings) that are above him on gear, the only time he would come SAM to salvage would be when he is the extra member basically coming to lot something. We sometimes get all 9 members of our shell showing up on the same day, and he becomes the bored, basically cell-less, whm in the corner dancing, or he is forced to sit out. Having a melee job would let him at least beat on trash mobs and be SOMEWHAT useful on those runs. I mostly just listed Salvage to make this job look somewhat important.

For the short term I'm looking to see if we can build him a 6/5 hit without looking too gimp lacking a Rajas/Byakko's/Brutal. I figured Rose Strap/Enki legs or some thing I have no clue about to make it work while he waits in line for Bya's and does CoP. Sorry for the misunderstanding of the job's planned use.

TL;DR: It's basically going to be a merit whore so he can stop coming on whm as he hates meriting on it.

Alright if he can keep coming WHM to Salvage this changes a lot. Don't do shit on his SAM unless he has the basic 20% haste, combat merits (focus on polearm first), Overwhelm (at least 3), Hagun and Store TP. Build on all of that while not using it (order doesn't matter here). By here you should have Rajas/Brutal and now you have a pretty decent SAM already and it's worth a merit slot.

For GKT 6hit you can use body (askar, if you don't have that use hachiman. Yes, hachiman) if you're on pizza (capping ACC), full haste/ACC when you're on Carbo, and hachiman kote when you're not. Rose strap is more work than Byakko's haidate and hagun together. By the way, I don't get 'in line for Bya'. Don't be passive! Farm Byakko pops (or buy triggers) and do Byakko! Since it drops more than just Haidate people'll help (especially if they're friends).

[Cream Soda]

In Salvage SAM tanks.

When you don't have a competent mnk, sure.

[DrRuler]

When you don't have a competent mnk, sure.

Ahahaha I was 2 seconds away from posting almost an identical response, but I decided to F5 first... And yes, our main 2 monks (myself being one) TP in Hades*/Usu feet (and the other has full Emn. Merits from PLD) making it basically impossible to take hate short of a 100% HP WS.

*When tanking.

[Shinryuu]

Mainly meant boss fights (and SAM can start off with up to 13 weaponskills there depending on chest luck). Also I easily keep hate off our full Usu MNK on Gears with love halberd or gondo. Piercing-weak sure but another example. Plus, it's entirely possible to not have MNKs.

[Cream Soda]

Mainly meant boss fights (and SAM can start off with up to 13 weaponskills there depending on chest luck). Also I easily keep hate off our full Usu MNK on Gears with love halberd or gondo. Piercing-weak sure but another example. Plus, it's entirely possible to not have MNKs.

yea, i know boss fights. A sam fulltiming seigan and mixing in and out pdt gear is not going to keep hate off of, yet alone deal more damage than a mnk, ect. If you have both sammie can go full dd on gears ect, and leave the chariots to the mnks.

[FailureMidgard]

Eh I guess you could do store TP before Third eye, and possibly the first 3 levels of Overwhelm but keep in mind the limit point costs of all of 'em. Third eye is mainly because the guy wants to do Salvage. In Salvage SAM tanks. Now, whenever I Salvage I /DRG and on the bosses I sure enjoy my Third Eye merits. I prioritized my own SAM way differently, probably roughly the way you did bar TE (finished store TP first, then did Overwhelm x3, some Third eye too and I'm about to finish both of 'em when I get 10 more merit points)...

... but keep the guy's case in mind. Store TP merits aren't that good without a rajas (not sure if polearm has a 6-hit with just base traits so it's still worth capping soon), Overwhelm isn't that good when you don't have hagun and a good WS set (he says cheap). Also the Salvage thing, which brought me to TE merits. Cutting off the 5 worst seconds of a TE cycle isn't a 20% increase in TE, it's way more due to the way TE works with seigan.

Again, I don't want to get into TE vs Meditate, it depends what you're after, and even in salvage, that comes down to how much MP your support has available. Chariots are not really lethal in their damage per hit, just MP drain potentially. If your support is fine, then meh.

Anyway, I disagree on the Rajas thing. 25 base, 10 merit, 1 neck, 1 ring, 8 hand is 45 storeTP, that's 16.6 per melee swing, need 17 on WS. Since I'm assuming he doesn't have sea with all this (due to no Rajas), I'm going to assume no Gorget, and he can fulltime Chiv chain. 25base, 10merit, 1 neck, 8 body, 5 feet on WS will get a 6hit. 17.1 on WS. That is 5/5 merits, ecphorias, chiv chain, hachi hand for TP; chiv chain, hachi feet and hachi body for WS.
A Rajas is nice, but it's in no way the end-all. You only need 3/5 IIRC for Rajas, so you can make up most that storeTP anyway.

As for salvage, sam can tank, or be an extra DD, it doesn't really matter, make the better geared character tank, which won't be him either way.

Overwhelm is always good, I'm sorry, even with an Onimaru, you're still going to be at ~50%+ WS damage, and a sam without overwhelm is still really pretty bad. Sam gets the most damage from their merits of any DD at 75, and it's what makes sam a good job (in addition to getting to essentially ignore attack on WSes).

Anyway, I'd do 5 storeTP (less if he manages a rajas, or wants to use shinimusha haidate) until he gets Byakkos, which would be my short-term solution...) and 3overwhelm, then start swapping between other merits just because of merit cost, and depending what he's doing. If he plays a support DD in salvage more, and gets no gear, I'd suggest unlocking Shiki sooner, I'd probably unlock blade bash relatively early, perhaps hop between various weapon skills and 3rd eye or meditate (again, depending what role he wants to fill and what kinda support he generally has).

I think you are vastly overrating pole at low gear levels; The benefit to pole over GK is that it scales better with buffs, and is obviously piercing, but even at bird camp, the chances that he is even getting above 85% accuracy with the gear he will be using seems unlikely to me.

[FailureMidgard]

When you don't have a competent mnk, sure.

Ahahaha I was 2 seconds away from posting almost an identical response, but I decided to F5 first... And yes, our main 2 monks (myself being one) TP in Hades*/Usu feet (and the other has full Emn. Merits from PLD) making it basically impossible to take hate short of a 100% HP WS.

*When tanking.

Mainly meant boss fights (and SAM can start off with up to 13 weaponskills there depending on chest luck). Also I easily keep hate off our full Usu MNK on Gears with love halberd or gondo. Piercing-weak sure but another example. Plus, it's entirely possible to not have MNKs.

Hi, welcome to 2010. Any DD worth their salt can cap enmity in a very short amount of time. Furthermore Sams get provoke, which is quite nice, and really the best geared/skilled DD is what you want tanking.

It's cute you think that the +12 enmity is really a huge deal when it comes to your enmity levels though.