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

[Byrthnoth]

Low drop rate is real gay. Good to know you can kill it if you prevent TP, sad that I don't know a SMN with a lot of free time who can land a BP without letting their avatar hit. . . . OR DO I?!?!?! To be concluded the next time I find Smokey.

[Thorny]

Thorny is so good SE allows him to go past 350+30+30? Or Thorny can't math?

thorny hit the wrong key and didn't notice, ty random nobody for showing me the error of my ways

[Byrthnoth]

Pshaw, wrong key twice. Weren't there tests a while back (Belkin maybe?) that showed Stoneskin actually capped at 351? Then you'd have a 411 Stoneskin!

[Thorny]

Pshaw, wrong key twice. Weren't there tests a while back (Belkin maybe?) that showed Stoneskin actually capped at 351? Then you'd have a 411 Stoneskin!

i hate you(care to link me to the tests? most stoneskin tests use 1k needles, are you positive they weren't misinterpretting their dmg-% to be an actual %?)

[nitsuj]

I have COR WHM and SMN decked out. What's the best lowman combo/strat I can do with my jobs to farm Ix'drg?

[Thorny]

I have COR WHM and SMN decked out. What's the best lowman combo I can do with my jobs to farm Ix'drg?

You mention decked out, but do you have other jobs? For example, a naked BLM with hq staves from other jobs will still outdo all of those. Realistically, your best bet will be to COR or SMN and whore buffs for a BLM that's essentially soloing it. You can't expect to increase their efficiency by more than 20-30% though /= Sleep/grav/nuke standard kill method on PHs until it pops, then you keep dia2 up and zone it repeatedly while they nuke/zone. Break party beforehand and never both be on hate list at once, just party up for last nuke to kill.

[Byrthnoth]

Yeah, best strat for those jobs is COR/BLM with W-legs and luck. Keep Bio II on and use as many shots as you can. Your biggest problem is that you can't easily solo PHs on any of those jobs, and he can take hours to pop.

[Thorny]

Yeah, best strat for those jobs is COR/BLM with W-legs and luck. Keep Bio II on and use as many shots as you can. Your biggest problem is that you can't easily solo PHs on any of those jobs, and he can take hours to pop.

COR can't solo them, no place to kite. He said combo, so I assume he meant with friends :\ But yea, it takes forever to pop.. currently at 55k exp since last pop duo(at ~450 exp per aern with RR rate that's 0/122).

[nitsuj]

Nah, I only have those jobs. I stopped leveling a long time ago when I got caught up in endgame and just have spent the last few years on subjobs/gear collecting.

I have a BLM mule, though, but his gear leaves a lot to be desired..

I can probably get somewhere between 3-6 people to come out with me, if there's a good single party strat.

I just want a good way to farm, and sadly I haven't spent enough time on a lot of the sea mobs so I'm not sure the best way.

[Thorny]

Nah, I only have those jobs. I stopped leveling a long time ago when I got caught up in endgame and just have spent the last few years on subjobs/gear collecting.

I have a BLM mule, though, but his gear leaves a lot to be desired..

I can probably get somewhere between 3-6 people to come out with me, if there's a good single party strat.

I just want a good way to farm, and sadly I haven't spent enough time on a lot of the sea mobs so I'm not sure the best way.

Depends what jobs available, but a bunch of BLMs is the easiest approach. 4 BLM can split into 2 groups of 2 and each group clears 2 rooms. There are only 12 total mobs it can pop from, so really it's just a matter of time.

[Greyman]

Curious if Sandworm is killed as opposed to Doomvoid, does it still follow the 20-25hr respawn? Or does it follow a different timer?

[Vyrha]

Not exactly sure if this is the right spot... But what the fuck here goes. I currently run FFXI on a partitioned macbook pro, and I have the partition set as Windows XP, now I really only use partition for FFXI, and a few other select PC only games, but overall it gets most of its use for FFXI.

I recently aquired a vista and 7 CD, would it be worth replacing the XP partition with Vista or 7?

I'd have to say it's not worth it. I run FFXI on an XP partition on my MBP as well, and I don't see any advantage of upgrading it to 7 (and honestly, I use XP for everything, I hardly use the Mac OS). I haven't come across any reports of people running FFXI on windows 7 on bootcamp, but I have heard about a lot of problems with Windower on Windows 7 (if you use Windower..). I just don't think it's worth the risk for what I see as no real benefit.

[nitsuj]

I'd have to say it's not worth it. I run FFXI on an XP partition on my MBP as well, and I don't see any advantage of upgrading it to 7 (and honestly, I use XP for everything, I hardly use the Mac OS). I haven't come across any reports of people running FFXI on windows 7 on bootcamp, but I have heard about a lot of problems with Windower on Windows 7 (if you use Windower..). I just don't think it's worth the risk for what I see as no real benefit.

Windows 7 should work fine on the macbook pro. It's going to use slightly more system resources than XP, of course, so if your machine is older or you ONLY use XP for FFXI, then keep XP. But if you find yourself using windows quite a bit, I'd definitely upgrade to 7.

Also, as far as I know, the problems with Windower are related to embedded video cards. If you have a macbook, you *might* have a problem, not sure. But if you're on a macbook pro with dedicated video memory, you're likely in good shape.

[Mojo]

How does shield size factor into the damage reduction for shield blocks?
How does shield size factor into the block rate for shields?
Is Aegis an exception to these in any way?

Please provide some data, if you know of any.

[Trauma]

How does shield size factor into the damage reduction for shield blocks?
How does shield size factor into the block rate for shields?
Is Aegis an exception to these in any way?

Please provide some data, if you know of any.

There are 5 types of shields: Buckler, Round, Kite, Tower and Aegis. The smaller shields have a lower damage reduction but a much larger block rate. The larger ones are the opposite, blocking less and reducing more damage. Aegis is the only one of its type and appears to block as if it were a Buckler or Round shield but reduces damage like a Tower shield.

[Mojo]

That's something you just pulled off wiki. I'm looking for actual data here, not just some generic stuff someone put up there at one point and that everybody has been going by for no particular reason.

[Yugl]

Might answer your question (Didn't check thread, just remembered it): http://bluegartr.com/forum/showthrea...ghlight=shield

[stewie]

Aegis is treated as a Kite Shield and is no exception to the rules. I believe Neo did testing sometime but I can't seem to find it at the moment.

[Mojo]

Hmm, thanks for the info. Maybe nobody really knows the answers to these questions with the degree of precision that I desire.

[ZhiGaruda]

How does shield size factor into the damage reduction for shield blocks?
How does shield size factor into the block rate for shields?
Is Aegis an exception to these in any way?

Please provide some data, if you know of any.

Use search, I'm at work and too lazy.

There is an Aegis PLD here on the forums who has tested it to all hell, and found that Aegis provides absolutely no benefit over a typical shield in terms of damage reduction beyond the usual calculations.

Edit; didn't read Stewie's post. Yes, It's Neosutra(sp)