Random Question Thread X: Fucking 99 Level Cap, How Does it Work?

[Karbuncle]

I think it's more noticeable as a melee than as a support member. As a SCH, the run is generally constant as far as difficulty goes, but I notice the kill speed staggers. As a DRG, I notice that my work increases greatly throughout the run.

I've noticed a few times myself i'd go from hitting the mobs for 150~200 DMG and then suddenly on mobs of the same job/fam/etc for like 75~150.

i thought it was pretty well known mobs in dynamis have varying levels as well =O

[Byrthnoth]

Their levels may vary a little in cities, but part of the variation in kill speed is due to people leaving, people not eating food after they die once, people generally afking moar as Dynamis wears on.

Also:

Does M.Crit effect Drain/Aspir?

It is very very likely that it does not. MCrits have been shown to add MAB, but not MAcc, so you're likely gaining nothing from it.

[Xno Kappa]

Did you use the Vista/7 version from the POL site?

Thanks a lot! That did the trick. Can log in now. :D

[Sifer]

I googled some dynamis screenshots to show you 2 different tiers of dynamis mobs.

These are the 3 low tier quadavs. You can see that they are about the size of a galka/elvan. the humes are about shoulder hight.
http://img820.imageshack.us/img820/6...0050404571.png

these I believe are the BLM NM and his links. you can see that they're much bigger. the elvaan is about shoulder hight and the humes are about half hight. these mobs have higher defense and evasion.
http://img823.imageshack.us/img823/3...629201000a.jpg

[Shamaya]

I'm looking for help with soloing Erebus.


Background: Experience & Gear
I've searched a lot through this forum and it doesn't seem like people are having much trouble with it, so it really irks me that I'm having such a hard time. I just came back from a 2 month hiatus, but I don't really feel like I've lost my game. The Rdm I use is my 2nd character that I brought up myself, but I don't have a lot of solo/low man experience. I have decent equip for it though. I've trio'd zirnitra with 2 other Rdms, solo'd lolgenbu, done Boompadu with just a couple people, duo'd a ton of things Thf+RDm, but not a whole lot in the solo dept, so maybe I'm missing something from experience.

I don't have much of a problem getting Erebus to the trees at H-7 in Xarcabard, but while others have written that it's easy to kite him there without getting hit, I find it to be a death trap.

My MDB set is a bid shabby; I idle in Terra's/Raptor, Lamian Kaman NQ, AF+1 hat, Morgana's Choker, Loquacious, NQ coral ear, Dalmatica +1 (lol), Coral finger gauntlets, 2x merman's rings, lamian mantle +1, jungle rope (mp+45), go fast, zenith pumps. If I want, I can swap in coral cuisses +1 if I know I'm gonna eat an AOE. My utsusemi macro (now more specifically for ni, as I found equipping dusk in my ichi was getting me killed) has 11% haste and fast cast from AF hat and ebon talar. I've got essentially capped merits of the correct assortment for solo. My dark magic tiers up my bio3, and my elemental magic set is decent.

The various ways in which I get raped during the fight.
When it comes to the fight, I find it and pop it. I'd go for Feuerunke as well but it looks like someone is hording it. I could use powder boots, but I don't see the need. I have ultimately opted to not really cast anything on it until I get to 'camp', unless I want to change its magic mode to something more tame.
When I get to camp, I start to kite around the trees but it's not 20-30 seconds before things start going wrong usually. I find the safest time to cast on it is when it's casting a tier4. If I decide to cast ele magic to change it's form, poison it, bio it, or god forbid nuke it at a time other than when it's casting a tier 4, essentially what happens is that it catches up to me, I blink tank it for a bit, it starts to -ga me, and then I eat it with my MDB set. The problem here is that since I was tanking it before, my timers are not yet up so I have to keep kiting it before I can get my shadows back up. If I stop to cast, it'll hit me. If it doesn't kill me, it'll make it rough to continue the fight as there's not always time to stop and cure. Alternatively, I could continue to kite until it starts to cast, and recast my shadows then. Oftentimes, it does cast and I am able to get out of range, and cast my shadows and continue as normal. But oftentimes, it just catches up (since it has enhanced movement speed) and, well, just kills me.
I don't seem to have any time to even cast poison or bio, it's always on my tail. Kiting it around the trees seems useless. I seem to have better luck just running straight out in an open plain and not using any obstacles. Which just seems absurd. Even if I'm able to kite it around the trees decently for awhile, I'm forced to exit the trees if it chooses to 'ga. If I choose to go back into the trees, I'm running straight towards it and it starts to get free hits on my shadows, meaning I have to stop and cast more often, at which point it -ga's and I'm forced to leave the trees again, or just get owned right there since I can't get out of range.

Can't wrap my mind around how this is such an easy fight. I've lost like 5 times already solo, and several times duo as 2x rdm/nin and rdm/nin + rdm/drk. What I'm looking for is a step-by-step run down explaining what the fight is like for people who do kill this solo. What happens, and how do you respond to it? I can't even get the thing to 90%

[Byrthnoth]

You don't kite it around the trees. You pin it. If you're using the right trees, Erebus cannot make a full circle around them. There's one point that he can't pass through, yet you can. It's by the wall.

Because he can't pass through that point, his AI will force him to run back around the trees the other direction when you take one step over the line he can't cross. That removes melee hits from the equation entirely, and just leaves the spells for you to deal with.

[Chen]

There definately is increasing strengths of mobs in cities as your progress . I wa wondering if anyone knew if/where mobs in dynamis xarcabard started getting harder?

[Rionel]

It is very very likely that it does not. MCrits have been shown to add MAB, but not MAcc, so you're likely gaining nothing from it.

To continue from this question...

Dark Magic and MACC always for Aspir/Drain?

[Nightfyre]

Haste in slots where you can't get much macc/Dark skill, otherwise yes.

[Chen]

swift v crimson belt?

[Nightfyre]

I use Swift. 2 skill isn't worth the inventory space or time to get for me.

[Shamaya]

Thanks for coming to my rescue, Bryth. I should have known to look into Kaeko's LJ. I was indeed using the wrong set of trees. Mad props though to those soloing Erebus without any proper terrain abuse, it really takes a Rdm that knows what they're doing. Using the terrain trick I went 1/2. I died the first time at 25% because I got hit by a -ga for more than my total HP. Really shows the importance of a good MDB set. Buffed my set and won the next round easy.

[Kyte]

I'm trying to decide if I should sell some dynamis currency I've kept in my safe for a couple years. It isn't much, but it isn't completely insignificant either. My concern is over whether or not now is the optimal time to sell. The level cap increase (provided of course that it applies to dynamis zones- and it probably will) may alter prices.

The way I see it, a few things could occur:

1) Prices go down because increase in supply from more low-man groups
2) Prices go up from the increased demand, since people may see relics as being more obtainable
3) Prices go down because of the new relic-like weapons, and people may divert their attention towards those

I'm just not sure which of those forces is the strongest, so a second opinion would be helpful.

[Rionel]

Boy I'm blazin' with the questions lately.

Fast Cast.

If you wear Fast Cast gear at the start of a spell, then swap it all out for other gear once the spell has already been started, you'd still get the effect of Fast Cast for it right?

A friend of mine was wondering if this also applies for Cure Clogs on Cures.

Edit: Extra followup on Aspir/Drain!

So if MACC does actually affect these two spells, wouldn't INT innately affect them too because INT naturally adds MACC? Unless the INT mod is just totally ignored...

[Nightfyre]

There was some fairly brief testing a while back indicating Drain/Aspir's macc are not affected by INT. Other dSTAT options don't really make sense for Drain or Aspir, so it's fairly safe to say they simply have no dSTAT component a la Breath spells.

Fast Cast at start will give you the effect on cast time but not recast.

[Khajit]

Any good mystic boon setups for hume? limbus gear not applicable since i've not gone to that event in a while.

[rog]

I'm trying to decide if I should sell some dynamis currency I've kept in my safe for a couple years. It isn't much, but it isn't completely insignificant either. My concern is over whether or not now is the optimal time to sell. The level cap increase (provided of course that it applies to dynamis zones- and it probably will) may alter prices.

The way I see it, a few things could occur:

1) Prices go down because increase in supply from more low-man groups
2) Prices go up from the increased demand, since people may see relics as being more obtainable
3) Prices go down because of the new relic-like weapons, and people may divert their attention towards those

I'm just not sure which of those forces is the strongest, so a second opinion would be helpful.

I think it'll probably stay about the same.

[Quedari]

I googled some dynamis screenshots to show you 2 different tiers of dynamis mobs.

These are the 3 low tier quadavs. You can see that they are about the size of a galka/elvan. the humes are about shoulder hight.
(pic taken from third person)

these I believe are the BLM NM and his links. you can see that they're much bigger. the elvaan is about shoulder hight and the humes are about half hight. these mobs have higher defense and evasion.
(pic taken from first person)

Yes, with different camera angles I can make my small-size hume look as tall as an elvaan too. Please, real proof, numbers, etc. Cause after that statement was made in my shell last night, we proceeded to kill mobs just find and at a decent speed (considering we only had three real DD left) for the rest of the run. I tend to agree with Byrthnoth:

Their levels may vary a little in cities, but part of the variation in kill speed is due to people leaving, people not eating food after they die once, people generally afking moar as Dynamis wears on.

[drwaffles]

Anyone have any tips for soloing the Young Behemoth for the Sandy(S) quest "Bonds That Never Die" on RDM/NIN? I just tried it and got it to 10% before timing out. Perhaps I'm just unobservant, but I can't find a particularly good path to kite it around the small pond. I can keep it out of reach for a while but it always manages to get hits in due to its large size affording it a ridiculously far-reaching melee range. Especially at low HP, the Thunderbolt > Shockwave combo triggered by each nuke ends up eating too much mp for me to keep damage outside of Bio II/Poison II coming steadily.

Any testimonials?

[Kyte]

Yes, with different camera angles I can make my small-size hume look as tall as an elvaan too. Please, real proof, numbers, etc. Cause after that statement was made in my shell last night, we proceeded to kill mobs just find and at a decent speed (considering we only had three real DD left) for the rest of the run. I tend to agree with Byrthnoth:

Any melee who's ever done dynamis can conclusively say that their damage goes down later on through the zone. It's especially obviously for multi-hit WS and spells.