Re-taking umbrage.

So, apparently I have had two detracters to my suggestions about PLD's DDing. The first was a concern was presented by Ailee about the cost-benefit balance of such an investment, to which I can not dispute. Elitist pricks aren't going to invite PLD DD's to "burnz" parties no matter how well set up they are, but my discussion was definitely more abstract than that. Luckily, I have found someone that is willing to engage in the discussion on its merits, and to some of my points Willriker has taken umbrage. To his umbrage, I will re-take umbrage, and a discussion we will have on his detractions.

Lets get to it.

Willriker point 1: Paladin's must eat meat.
Ringthree response 1: Sure, but so do all DD's. The kind of balancing you are talking about is very subtle, and it is something all DD's do depending on where they are going to xp. Mire, Zhaylom, Thickets. All require subtle differences in equipment to maximize damage potential. You are a not a unique snowflake. As much as we want to eat meat in the Thickets its probably going to be better to start with Sushi then move up to Meat as you round out your gear selection.

Willriker point 2: You need a wide variety of gear.
Ringthree response 2: Sure, but so do all DD's. XD Yes, exactly like I said above, you are right on this, but here is the point that is missed by almost all of the PLDs that I have talked to about setting up DD equipment. DO NOT USE STRENGTH GEAR ON TP BUILDS. Use attack. ATTACK. STR gear is worthless on a TP build for a couple of reasons. One, it is just gimp Attack gear. Two, it does not raise your damage cap by almost anything on your standard melee hit. Three, and probably the most important, it is wasting an important equipment slot, usually much better used for accuracy or attack. If you are at 90%+ accuracy, then start shifting gear around to get to a better balance.

Willriker point 3: I am not a paladin.
Ringthree response 3: LOL Ummm... LOL. LOLOLOL. Sorry Will but there is nothing about being a PLD that gives you a unique perspective on being a DD. I have three DD jobs leveled (/wave Ailee). If I wanted to tank Bahamut I would defer to your opinion on the matter, but for DDing, the differences in jobs is based mostly on the weapon type, WS and equipment selection. These factors are so much more important than job selection for setting up a DD. Weapon type for paladin is similiar to War and Ninja, dual-wielding, main-hand high damage, off-hand low delay/multi-hit weapon if available. Vorpal Blade, multihit critical hit WS like Blade: Jin and Rampage. Equipment selection is pretty much right in between NIN and WAR. So again, you are not a unique snowflake, go with what works for NIN and WAR because you have to capability to act like them in "burnz" parties.

The rest of what Willriker says is incredibly insightful, especially the calculations he provides for what level of attack you should have before you start considering what food to eat. Very, very good job Will, I appreciate the input from a PLD. /bow His point about having a set and a half of gear to be ready to use meat over sushi is very insightful not only for PLD's but for DD's in general.

The umbrage has been broughten. *snips*

And Ungur strikes back. Since we had ToD on Ungur we headed back out to collect out second Ungurang last night. It was supposed to go quickly, it was so supposed to be easy, we were supposed be able to go and do Assaults right afterward. Yeah, that went right out the window.

As an interlude, I tried helped my buddy Zenji to level last night. Lets just say he didn't make it too far with all of the AoE's from the mobs in that area, but I did finally get to see him level up. The really funny thing is that I never even noticed when he got level 31. XD

Borin, Azy, Omoi and I pulled him and things were going really well. That is until we had back to back Radiant Breaths or Fang Rushes or whatever. Ungur was not pleased with us last night, and Omoi ended up home pointing something like 4 times to come back because her Reraise kept getting dispelled. So Borin, Azy and I got to enjoy the finer points for sand eating in Gustav tunnel.

We needed reinforcements because we could get him down to 3% or so but he kept wiping us. So we called in Skam to help on his COR. Apparently this was all that we really needed to take him down, because even though we struggled a bit we did finally manage to get me one of these:
I lotted something like 244 on it, and I thought it was Borin's for sure. Until he lotted a 190 something. Wow, he really does have bad lots. But he does have Haidate and Osode so he doesn't have much to complain about, LOL. I do owe him an Ungurang and a Swift Belt now.

That took forever and I went to bed pretty much right after that.

And now for your Borin comedy corner: Apparently, Omoi likes to make the baby Jesus cry. Mean, mean Omoi.