What's Better?

[Nishida]

With full merits, that's 329 ele skill, like 115 int, and 17 m.acc.. incredibly subpar. 320/120 is a guideline; 321/119 will give essentially the exact same results, as will 322/118. Aim for as much as you can get, period.. and if you must use the 320/120 guideline, don't count aquilo's toward it because you won't be nuking tiamat or cerb in it anyway. (Why the fuck would you nuke cerb/khim to begin with though?)

Cerb: Rare, but we have blms help stun..though I can RDM/DRK so I guess Cerb is moot. Khim on the other hand we use BLM/SMN/RNG DD's mostly..BLMs dont do too bad if they have good gear.

Change balrahn's to snow, get an elemental earring, hq your AF gloves asap, ice grip->bugard, and consider oracle's->errant if you're still getting resisted frequently. Sorcerer's Petasos, Merciful Cape, Witch Sash, and Nashira Crackows help, but I assume you don't have any of those.

I have Nashira Feet, but not the rest. I am going to be working on getting Snow Rings, but atm I only use Diamond Rings. The gloves I am going to be working on, but our shell doesn't do Temenos so I have to lowman it (easy if people actually decide to go) to get my temenos pieces. Witch Sash I will have soon enough. Merciful cape..slow slow work in progress. Relic I can get pretty fast..I don't need anymore dyna gear for my jobs that isn't freelot stuff except blm body/head..and almost everyone in my shell already has..so it's just a matter of time.

I was mostly trying to gear myself out for pre-relic/HQ upgrades until I can get said pieces.

[Taruking]

I stopped right here. Just as a general rule of thumb, the IQ of a player goes down exponentially when they obtain a Maat's cap and there is really no avoiding it. I'd suggest dropping it and deleveling all of your jobs, you might realize how retarded you look.

Here is an idea, go to FFXIAH.com and look for players who own Maat's cap and repeat what you just said to them. You may find a few familiar names that will make you think twice before you post something stupid again.

[Khajit]

Oh the irony is so thick in here you can make a sammich from it.

[Juravial]

Oh the irony is so thick in here you can make a sammich from it.

Stop posting nonsense and answer the damn questions that I had about your post. I'm tired of snarky comments and "har har go back to 2005" bullshit, just quote the damn questions I have and answer them.

OMG derock, seriously, please post something of value instead of a not-so-witty "iq of players goes down when..." bullshit. If you're the derock from remora, use the experience you have with your 75 jobs to argue for or against a side. Otherwise, kindly shut your damned mouth and go back to smn burning, or camping some hnm everyone else has given up on.

Now I've tried to be pleasant, but hardly anyone wants to argue with any damned sense.

Just so this post has a modicum of worth to it, Nishida I suggest you air on the side of caution to begin with, go ahead and max out that ele skill and M.acc as much as possible, to try to get your damage as regulated as possible (even if its a few hundred less each time). Baseline it from there, and start replacing M.acc with M.A.B. or int. (wife is blm, that's what she did until she came to a comfortable medium where she didn't get resisted and did respectable damage each time).

[Nightfyre]

Just so this post has a modicum of worth to it, Nishida I suggest you air on the side of caution to begin with, go ahead and max out that ele skill and M.acc as much as possible, to try to get your damage as regulated as possible (even if its a few hundred less each time). Baseline it from there, and start replacing M.acc with M.A.B. or int. (wife is blm, that's what she did until she came to a comfortable medium where she didn't get resisted and did respectable damage each time).

No. INT contributes to MACC as well, gearing up in the manner you suggest is counterproductive.

[Juravial]

I apologize, I suppose what I meant to say was to try skill before int, and int before MAB, and see how that works. I'm not sure if there are any pieces of AHable M.acc that might be better than their int. counterparts.

[Nishida]

http://www.ffxiah.com/item_sets.php?id=145490

319/120/5 Macc Non-Ice
329/125/5 Macc Ice
w/ Cream Puffs

How's that look? =o

[Varaha]

Seeing as I'm probably never going to get a shadow mantle, what back piece should I use for ichi recast on war? Boxer's? Also, what earring should I use other than loquacious?

[Juravial]

Ooh Nishida, just a few weeks ago, I helped my friend Oracant get the two earrings from the nms that give MAB +5 and Macc+5 when together.

They are called Helenus's Earring and Cassandra's Earring, and drop from these two nms. It might be worth your while if there isn't that much competition. We went 1/1 for the first one (just saw him up, killed him, got drop, decided to get the other), then 1/6 for the second.

Might be wroth checking out ^_^

[homerun]

Seeing as I'm probably never going to get a shadow mantle, what back piece should I use for ichi recast on war? Boxer's? Also, what earring should I use other than loquacious?

If you really wanted to min max you could use Magnetic earring or Avenger's earring.

[Nightfyre]

http://www.ffxiah.com/item_sets.php?id=145490

319/120/5 Macc Non-Ice
329/125/5 Macc Ice
w/ Cream Puffs

How's that look? =o

I'd drop Oracle's Cap for an INT hat, but other than that looks good. Seconding the Helenus'/Cassandra's recommendation, they'll be useful even after (if) you get a Novio for enfeebles and dark magic and they'll be a decent upgrade to your current resist set.

[Byrthnoth]

I'd like to add that they're a pain in the ass to get though. 1/1 and 1/8 is not typical at all.

[Nishida]

I'd drop Oracle's Cap for an INT hat, but other than that looks good. Seconding the Helenus'/Cassandra's recommendation, they'll be useful even after (if) you get a Novio for enfeebles and dark magic and they'll be a decent upgrade to your current resist set.

Dropping Oracle's hat for INT puts me at 314 Skill though

I want the earrings especially for my RDM, but they're a bitch to get. Competition + low drop rate..meh..

[Byrthnoth]

Dropping Oracle's hat for INT puts me at 314 Skill though

See, 320/120 is a guildline that is in no way the solution. On average, on things with very high INT, that was a ratio that was found to give good results way back in the day.

315/126 might give equal or better results depending what you're fighting. Personally, I'd lean towards better as you're losing (at most) 2 magical accuracy and gaining 6 INT worth of damage. Also, if the monster is mean enough to warrant a resist build, you may still be within 10-15 INT of the target's INT and not losing MAcc at all or gaining it.

[Nightfyre]

See, 320/120 is a guildline that is in no way the solution. On average, on things with very high INT, that was a ratio that was found to give good results way back in the day.

315/126 might give equal or better results depending what you're fighting. Personally, I'd lean towards better as you're losing (at most) 2 magical accuracy and gaining 6 INT worth of damage. Also, if the monster is mean enough to warrant a resist build, you may still be within 10-15 INT of the target's INT and not losing MAcc at all or gaining it.

^ this was my logic. You're giving up some skill but your net macc will either be about the same or only slightly reduced with a decent increase in damage per nuke.

[Nishida]

^ this was my logic. You're giving up some skill but your net macc will either be about the same or only slightly reduced with a decent increase in damage per nuke.

Ok, so maybe go with Demon Helm+1 instead? or what about MKD hat?

[Nightfyre]

What's on your MKD hat?

[Yubar]

Dropping Oracle's hat for INT puts me at 314 Skill though

I want the earrings especially for my RDM, but they're a bitch to get. Competition + low drop rate..meh..

Nish, there is hardly any competition for those earrings now. The only time I ran into any one were JP who were on rdm. Other than that there was really no one there to camp those earrings and you know how dedicated I can be when I need something, and allowing me to stay in one camping spot for hours and hours.

But yea, you'd still have to deal with the shit drop rates. I'm 1/13 on Cass. Earring and 1/24 on Hen. Earring and this is with TH3.

[Juravial]

I heard a rumor from a friend who attended an alleged focus group where a quote taken out of context suggested that the drop rate of those items may increase when you kill one with treasure hunter II in your party and performing some action on the nms for the 2 earrings.

I'd say, try it and if you can't get one after a few tries, then stick with what you have. Um, and don't mind the sentence above, I just like to quote dilbert, and sometimes when I use Th or TH2, that's how it kinda feels.

[Lenn]

Ok I am Leveling my first mage job (SCH) after a lifetime of melee and I have a question about priorities in regards to buying/camping gear. I mostly plan on Soloing in regards to how I will play my mage so keep that in mind.

Earrings: I know shit is situational but assume a kiting/nuking situation, 5MAB earring/loq earring or should I put the effort in and camp the 5MAB 5MACC set?

In what order should I buy the HQ staves in regards so solo usage?

what are general pieces of gear I should strive for/work to afford. ATM I only do dynamis and have SCH hands.

Edit: I also have the add-on expansion gear ready to be made into mage stuff, so feel free to use that in things I should get.