Random Question Thread XV: This Is Not The Sticky You're Looking For

[Clerix]

In abyssea with Latent Rings (Minstrel's Ring):

Does it work with CURRENT HP being in yellow, or pre-cruor buff HP being yellow?

[Tavjon]

My sorcs ring never works with all my Convert HP gear I bring so I think it's just current hp

[Scrooge]

what katanas should i upgrade to from old school senj/perdu? can someone give me like a 1>2>3>4 etc.. with magian included etc.. i might do a ws dmg one for when i kc. also, oat, or oa2-3 would be a better upgrade from soboro for (strictly) spamming namas?

In rough order:
Kannagi, Tobi +1, Kikoku, Kamome, Enchu +1 oat, Uzuru +1 dmg, Sekka +1s Dex.

[Thorny]

Question for motenten since I assume he already has the answer somewhere: Does Sanguine Scythe pull ahead if using Verethragna(85)?

[Enedin]

Doing ToM dagger trials, wondering about Kila+1 (fire/thunder) and/or Fusetto (ws dmg+10%) : which daggers are you guys using? Don't say Rapidus Sax 'cause I'm never getting that XD

[Kirschy]

While I don't have the gear that Thorny does, I've been working on my Fire Tapian+1 trial in Abyssea last few firesday so I ran my own test. I did Wamoura /w MNK/WAR + Red Curry Buns + Dia III ~60% of the time. Had March x2/Haste and I saw RR only slightly above SS. The parses weren't 100% equal for obvious reasons, and it was only for ~45 min or so. But based on that I'd say the difference between SS and RR is very small in practice~

Someone asked me to post the parse data for this:

Trial #1 ~ 45 min - RR + SS

Melee Damage
Player            Melee Dmg   Melee %   Hit/Miss   M.Acc %  M.Low/Hi    M.Avg  #Crit  C.Low/Hi   C.Avg     Crit%
Kirschy              249581   62.37 %   1566/101   93.94 %    27/145    86.37    852   115/304  220.56   54.41 %

Other Physical Damage  (Counterattacks and Retaliations)
Player            CA.Dmg  CA.Hit/Miss  CA.Low/Hi  CA.Avg   Ret.Dmg  Ret.Hit/Miss  Ret.Low/Hi  Ret.Avg
Kirschy            29576        185/0     32/271  159.87         0           0/0         0/0     0.00

Weaponskill Damage
Player                 WSkill Dmg   WSkill %  Hit/Miss   WS.Acc %   WS.Low/Hi   WS.Avg
Kirschy                    121037    30.24 %      84/0   100.00 %    260/3168  1440.92
 - Ascetic's Fury          120077    99.21 %      83/0   100.00 %    260/3168  1446.71
 - Asuran Fists               960     0.79 %       1/0   100.00 %     960/960   960.00

Trial #2 - ~38 min - RR + VV

Melee Damage
Player            Melee Dmg   Melee %   Hit/Miss   M.Acc %  M.Low/Hi    M.Avg  #Crit  C.Low/Hi   C.Avg     Crit%
Kirschy              211959   60.09 %   1555/102   93.84 %    28/136    88.66    804    75/220  180.81   51.70 %

Other Physical Damage  (Counterattacks and Retaliations)
Player            CA.Dmg  CA.Hit/Miss  CA.Low/Hi  CA.Avg   Ret.Dmg  Ret.Hit/Miss  Ret.Low/Hi  Ret.Avg
Kirschy            26313        179/0     42/220  147.00         0           0/0         0/0     0.00

Weaponskill Damage
Player                 WSkill Dmg   WSkill %  Hit/Miss   WS.Acc %   WS.Low/Hi   WS.Avg
Kirschy                    114442    32.45 %      83/1    98.81 %    336/2535  1378.82
 - Ascetic's Fury          114442   100.00 %      83/1    98.81 %    336/2535  1378.82

[Motenten]

Question for motenten since I assume he already has the answer somewhere: Does Sanguine Scythe pull ahead if using Verethragna(85)?

Attempted to max out the gear build with Verethragna (though buffs not maxed; just haste/marches, bison steak). Full Tantra +2, Juogi +1, Anguinus for weaponskills (which in turn allowed Heafoc Mitts), 4 str/2% WS MKE head, etc.

2482 avg VS with RR+SS, 354.478 DPS
2556 avg VS with RR+VV, 354.208 DPS, not counting Regain

So SS gains a couple percent on base damage, putting it equal to VV, but still loses out due to the Regain element.

Adding 12 Regain TP per cycle (6 ticks worth, which is the weaponskill cycle time with this setup) increase DPS for RR+VV to 366.688, a 3.5% gain.

With 2.5 rounds of over-TP instead of 0.5 (ie: having to hold TP to give time for !! triggers to be tested), RR+SS is 337.052, RR+VV without Regain is 333.405. Regain bumps RR+VV to 344.743, a 2.2% lead over RR+SS.

Figuring out the value of the Regain between fights is a bit fuzzier. An extra weaponskill per 5 minute fight (ie: ~3 minutes of building TP between fights) would be about a 2.5% gain in total damage done during the fight.

Of course if the +HP from SS saves you even one death per 2-hr run, it's pretty much a wash. If you don't die much (which should be the case most of the time), yeah, VV still holds the lead.

[Thorny]

You'd put Juogi+1 over Loki's Kaftan with razed ruin active? Or has Kaftan been proven to be additive instead of multiplicative with the atma boosts? Think that's the only piece I'm missing from an ideal set.. guess I'll start looking into sashes c_c

Related note: There's not a time where Warwolf will beat Anguinus on either Ascetics or Asuran unless attack is completely capped, correct?

[Motenten]

Re: Kirschy's parse data: I'm quite relieved to see averages that are quite close to my predicted values (~1375-1450). I also did a check for what the top-end damage was using my formulas (since I was dealing with averages, I forgot to account for actual max values, and is probably my issue between reported values and estimated averages), and for A.Fury (and the gear/buff setup I have in the spreadsheet right now) it's around 2700 with one DA, 3600 with two DAs using RR+SS. Kirschy's 3200 is easily within bounds. Max for RR+VV was about 2500 with one DA, 3300 with two DAs; again, Kirschy's 2500 is within line for that.

I also see that Kirschy's damage per minute (subject to moderate margin of error due to only being approximated to the nearest minute) is about 4.4% higher with RR+VV than RR+SS, which is similar to what I predicted.

[Motenten]

You'd put Juogi+1 over Loki's Kaftan with razed ruin active? Or has Kaftan been proven to be additive instead of multiplicative with the atma boosts?

Ah, I'd completely glazed over that after seeing the ranged attack on it, I think... >.>

Ok, assuming it's additive with the atma, for a 1.35 crit damage multiplier, VS damage would be 2556 with Juogi +1, 2530 with Loki Kaftan. If it's multiplicative (so 1.365 total), Loki's Kaftan gives 2553, more-or-less equal to the Juogi +1. NQ Juogi has a 2530 average, identical to the Kaftan if the Kaftan just adds.

Overall DPS, if keeping Juogi/Kaftan on fulltime:

Juogi NQ: 348.977
Juogi +1: 354.208
Loki's Kaftan (add): 338.103
Loki's Kaftan (mult): 340.986

So in general, Juogi/+1 is equal to or better than the Kaftan, even assuming the accuracy doesn't come into play. The Kaftan does slightly outdo the Osode on weaponskills, though.

Related note: There's not a time where Warwolf will beat Anguinus on either Ascetics or Asuran unless attack is completely capped, correct?

Correct. Even pushing up against the attack cap (and assuming accuracy is already capped), Anguinus still wins for both weaponskills.

[Kirschy]

Re: Kirschy's parse data: I'm quite relieved to see averages that are quite close to my predicted values (~1375-1450). I also did a check for what the top-end damage was using my formulas (since I was dealing with averages, I forgot to account for actual max values, and is probably my issue between reported values and estimated averages), and for A.Fury (and the gear/buff setup I have in the spreadsheet right now) it's around 2700 with one DA, 3600 with two DAs using RR+SS. Kirschy's 3200 is easily within bounds. Max for RR+VV was about 2500 with one DA, 3300 with two DAs; again, Kirschy's 2500 is within line for that.

I also see that Kirschy's damage per minute (subject to moderate margin of error due to only being approximated to the nearest minute) is about 4.4% higher with RR+VV than RR+SS, which is similar to what I predicted.

For what it's worth, those Wamoura have some kind of damage taken or defense boost or something. My averages are a bit better against other mobs like Coeurl.

Used RR + SS this time:

Melee Damage
Player            Melee Dmg   Melee %   Hit/Miss   M.Acc %  M.Low/Hi    M.Avg  #Crit  C.Low/Hi   C.Avg     Crit%
Kirschy              359675   63.64 %   1751/104   94.39 %    49/165   114.58    972   130/325  278.20   55.51 %

Weaponskill Damage
Player                 WSkill Dmg   WSkill %  Hit/Miss   WS.Acc %   WS.Low/Hi   WS.Avg
Kirschy                    150455    26.62 %      93/0   100.00 %    333/2839  1617.80
 - Ascetic's Fury          150455   100.00 %      93/0   100.00 %    333/2839  1617.80

[Strawhat]

anyone know best way to farm gold chests for AF3 armor feet? (got 4+ af's waiting to be upgrade, just need the feet-.-)
i got both destiny abysites and went yesterday with 3 people, sam nin and rdm, sam was doing all the kill shots, messed up at start and got like 7 ruby lights, then switched and got 12+ amber lights and 4+ peerless, took about an hour, only seen one huge gold chest and 2 small ones.
what could we fix?

[Byrthnoth]

anyone know best way to farm gold chests for AF3 armor feet? (got 4+ af's waiting to be upgrade, just need the feet-.-)
i got both destiny abysites and went yesterday with 3 people, sam nin and rdm, sam was doing all the kill shots, messed up at start and got like 7 ruby lights, then switched and got 12+ amber lights and 4+ peerless, took about an hour, only seen one huge gold chest and 2 small ones.
what could we fix?

First, have the NIN (or one of the SAMs) come a mage job. BRD/WHM would be best in my opinion, but any mage job would work. Then you do this:
1) Have your best magic DD (one of the two mages you now have) go solo Ephemeral mobs around the zone for Azure lights. They should be able to get 3-4 kills in 10-15 minutes if they're decent.
2) While s/he's doing this, have your DDs go kill a set of monsters that doesn't give Ruby lights, supported by the other mage. Don't be irresponsible and wipe, but the goal here is to try and build up Pearl light. If you see an Ephemeral mob, pull it and Pearl it.
3) When you have capped Pearl and Azure (I'd count ever Ephemeral kill around ~10 light strength in my experience), build up some time. Because you're fighting a monster that doesn't give ruby lights, you can WS kill.
4) When you're comfortable with your time (I'd aim for around 1 hour less than when you plan on quitting), you can switch to making Amber light. If your current monster doesn't give Amber, run around the zone and Amber some Ephemeral mobs (3-4 should work again).
5) Return to your no-Ruby monster and continue killing. Large gold chests will abound.

Oh yeah, most important thing. It has been my experience that large gold chests don't contain AF3 any more than small gold chests, and may even contain it less often (due to key items). However, building amber light should increase their frequency enough to counter this. Even in a good party that goes for several hours, you're unlikely to see more than a half dozen AF3. Them's the breaks.

[Kirschy]

It's possible I'm mistaken but I've been soloing a lot in Abyssea lately and I notice there's a base rate on red and blue chests. Even if I get 0 ruby kills and max out pearl and azure, I still get a roughly equal amount of blue + red chests. (And about 2% gold chest rate.) Maybe this is due to abyssites I have, but I'm under the impression azure and ruby lights only increase the chest tier and not occurrence.

Also def agree with you on gold chests. While they probably show up less frequently in big gold chests, the higher frequency of gold chests from max lights makes up for it~

[Strawhat]

k thx, i'm going to try what Byrthnoth has suggested.
when i was killing NMs i seen dnc/nin solo mobs in abys-vun. isl and he had like 3 huge gold chests up, he got drg and dnc feet in under 10 min since i saw him, but he was JP and due to language barrier couldn't get info i wanted on how he done it, i got like 20 stones in stock, so enough time to burn trying different methods. would rather avoid going with exp alliance.
first target zone is abys-att. chasm ... and what mobs don't give ruby lights? (we were killing scorpions last night, think they do give ruby, only got 1 thou)
also where can i get the "light watch" or w/e it's called O.o?
thx

[Massimo]

Abyssea Watch.

Murex's and Chigoes doesn't give ruby.

[Byrthnoth]

If you go with Chigoes, remember to bring sushi or pizza. I've heard they're evasive. If you go with Murex, bring silence.

And yeah, another way to get AF3 is just to join an Abyssea XP alliance and use it to build up time on a job that can solo/make amber light (like BLU, DNC, etc). Then you leave when you feel you have enough time and go solo build up Amber light, then farm some DC mob population for gold chests.

[Karbuncle]

Doing ToM dagger trials, wondering about Kila+1 (fire/thunder) and/or Fusetto (ws dmg+10%) : which daggers are you guys using? Don't say Rapidus Sax 'cause I'm never getting that XD

Kila+1 Fire/Thunder both good, it varies inside abyssea though, but the Fusetto from my understanding is awful.

That being said, Rapidus Isn't really all to great, a great close second, but... Kila+1/Auric/Kila+1 combos etc usually beat any Sax combo.

So rest easy

[Yugl]

It's possible I'm mistaken but I've been soloing a lot in Abyssea lately and I notice there's a base rate on red and blue chests. Even if I get 0 ruby kills and max out pearl and azure, I still get a roughly equal amount of blue + red chests. (And about 2% gold chest rate.) Maybe this is due to abyssites I have, but I'm under the impression azure and ruby lights only increase the chest tier and not occurrence.

Also def agree with you on gold chests. While they probably show up less frequently in big gold chests, the higher frequency of gold chests from max lights makes up for it~

I think we need to reopen light discussion because I've seen some puzzling suggestions that might explain your issue. While farming pop sets and augmented items at the Highlands, on of our members stated that pearl light "washes" out the effect of other lights. He wouldn't explain what he meant, but he simply stated that he tends to see red chests more frequently if they stop to do nothing but pearl light. If this is the case, there is reason to believe that pearl light might affect the 1000 light-cap. If that is the case, and you're not backing up pearl light with enough azure, it makes sense that you would see more red boxes than would be expected. Alternatively, as you mentioned, this might be the result of your abyssites. If that is the case, then am I right to presume that you have no gold abyssites?

[Mercilessturtle]

Even if I get 0 ruby kills and max out pearl and azure, I still get a roughly equal amount of blue + red chests. (And about 2% gold chest rate.) Maybe this is due to abyssites I have, but I'm under the impression azure and ruby lights only increase the chest tier and not occurrence.

What? Every time we farm feet we get only a few red chests and tons of blue and gold. Like, easily 10 times more blues than reds.