Samurai Part 3 - The Conclusion.

I have been going on for two days now about how Samurai is complicated and piecing together a 5-hit build with Masamune is quite difficult, but I haven't said what those sets are. So lets finally get down to it.

My current best possible haste/Store TP build:

Main: Masamune
Sub: Rose Strap
Ammo: Thew Bomblet
Head: Unkai Kabuto +2
Neck: Unkai Nodowa
Left Ear: Bushinomimi
Right Ear: Brutal Earring
Body: Unkai Domaru +2
Hands: Ace's Mufflers
Left Ring: Rajas Ring
Right Ring: Hoard Ring
Back: Athling Mantle
Waist: Goading Belt
Legs: Unkai Haidate +2
Feet: Ace's Sabatons

That is a build that will give me a total of 83 Store TP which, if my math is to be trusted, should give me 20.3 TP per hit. This will give me 81.2 TP for the 4 melee hits, and leaving me still needing 18.8 TP on my WS.

And now the sacrifices come... lets take a look my WS build.

Main: Masamune
Sub: Rose Strap
Ammo: Thew Bomblet
Head: Twilight Helm
Neck: Unkai Nodowa
Left Ear: Bushinomimi
Right Ear: Brutal Earring
Body: Usukane Haramaki
Hands: Hachiman Kote +1
Left Ring: Rajas Ring
Right Ring: Flame Ring
Back: Athling Mantle
Waist: Sentry Belt
Legs: Unkai Haidate +2
Feet: Unkai Sune-ate +2

This set-up is going to give me 18.8 TP on my WS with only a few major sacrifices to be able to maintain this set-up.

I have to mention that I have not done the math to exactly prove that getting to a WS one swing faster with slightly weaker gear will do more damage than a stronger WS a little more often. I am going to try a perfect 6-hit build with Masamune (which will make it a lot more "perfect" because you don't have to make any sacrifices in gear because your best gear already has tons of Store TP on it anyway) and see how that parses against the "perfect" 5-hit build.

The problem is that ultimately you can swap around about 10 different pieces to get varies amount of Store TP in your TP and WS sets. I think this is pretty much optimal for me for now, and considering the fact that SE has been handing out Store TP on SAM gear like crazy lately, I am beginning to think that I may not have to worry too much about making sacrifices if there are some new pieces with Store TP, especially on WS gear.

Ok, that is all for SAM for now, I promise. Next week, we will have some discussion on some other jobs, or hopefully some more news about the coming update!

I have been going on for two days now about how Samurai is complicated and piecing together a 5-hit build with Masamune is quite difficult, but I haven't said what those sets are. So lets finally get down to it.<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff151/ringthreetheicp/ffxi_20110309_003829.png"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff151/ringthreetheicp/ffxi_20110309_003829.png" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 500px; height: 352px;" /></a><br />My current best possible haste/Store TP build:<br /><br />Main: <a href="http://www.ffxiah.com/item/19406/masamune">Masamune</a><br />Sub: <a href="http://www.ffxiah.com/item/19041/rose-strap">Rose Strap</a><br />Ammo: <a href="http://www.ffxiah.com/item/19249/thew-bomblet">Thew Bomblet</a><br />Head: <a href="http://www.ffxiah.com/item/11075/unkai-kabuto-2">Unkai Kabuto +2</a><br />Neck: <a href="http://www.ffxiah.com/item/11597/unkai-nodowa">Unkai Nodowa</a><br />Left Ear: <a href="http://www.ffxiah.com/item/14743/bushinomimi">Bushinomimi</a><br />Right Ear: <a href="http://www.ffxiah.com/item/14813/brutal-earring">Brutal Earring</a><br />Body: <a href="http://www.ffxiah.com/item/11095/unkai-domaru-2">Unkai Domaru +2</a><br />Hands: <a href="http://www.ffxiah.com/item/11896/aces-mufflers">Ace's Mufflers</a><br />Left Ring: <a href="http://www.ffxiah.com/item/15543/rajas-ring">Rajas Ring</a><br />Right Ring: <a href="http://www.ffxiah.com/item/11642/hoard-ring">Hoard Ring</a><br />Back: <a href="http://www.ffxiah.com/item/16260/atheling-mantle">Athling Mantle</a><br />Waist: <a href="http://www.ffxiah.com/item/11729/goading-belt">Goading Belt</a> <br />Legs: <a href="http://www.ffxiah.com/item/11135/unkai-haidate-2">Unkai Haidate +2</a><br />Feet: <a href="http://www.ffxiah.com/item/11432/aces-sabatons">Ace's Sabatons</a><br /><br />That is a build that will give me a total of 83 Store TP which, if my math is to be trusted, should give me 20.3 TP per hit. This will give me 81.2 TP for the 4 melee hits, and leaving me still needing 18.8 TP on my WS.<br /><br />And now the sacrifices come... lets take a look my WS build.<br /><br />Main: Masamune<br />Sub: Rose Strap<br />Ammo: Thew Bomblet<br />Head: <a href="http://www.ffxiah.com/item/11798/twilight-helm">Twilight Helm</a><br />Neck: Unkai Nodowa<br />Left Ear: Bushinomimi<br />Right Ear: Brutal Earring<br />Body: <a href="http://www.ffxiah.com/item/14554/usukane-haramaki">Usukane Haramaki</a><br />Hands: <a href="http://www.ffxiah.com/item/14878/hachiman-kote-1">Hachiman Kote +1</a><br />Left Ring: Rajas Ring<br />Right Ring: <a href="http://www.ffxiah.com/item/14630/flame-ring">Flame Ring</a><br />Back: Athling Mantle<br />Waist: <a href="http://www.ffxiah.com/item/11741/sentry-belt">Sentry Belt</a><br />Legs: Unkai Haidate +2<br />Feet: <a href="http://www.ffxiah.com/item/11155/unkai-sune-ate-2">Unkai Sune-ate +2</a><br /><br />This set-up is going to give me 18.8 TP on my WS with only a few major sacrifices to be able to maintain this set-up.<br /><br />I have to mention that I have not done the math to exactly prove that getting to a WS one swing faster with slightly weaker gear will do more damage than a stronger WS a little more often. I am going to try a perfect 6-hit build with Masamune (which will make it a lot more "perfect" because you don't have to make any sacrifices in gear because your best gear already has tons of Store TP on it anyway) and see how that parses against the "perfect" 5-hit build.<br /><br />The problem is that ultimately you can swap around about 10 different pieces to get varies amount of Store TP in your TP and WS sets. I think this is pretty much optimal for me for now, and considering the fact that SE has been handing out Store TP on SAM gear like crazy lately, I am beginning to think that I may not have to worry too much about making sacrifices if there are some new pieces with Store TP, especially on WS gear.<br /><br />Ok, that is all for SAM for now, I promise. Next week, we will have some discussion on some other jobs, or hopefully some more news about the coming update!

Samurai flexibility.

First things first, yesterday I was wrong about the amount of Store TP you need for a 5-hit build with a Masamune or Amanomurakumo. I multiplied when I should have added.

When you are putting together your gear for your 5 or 6-hit build, the best place to start is with your WS set. This is because your WS set is almost always going to have less Store TP than your melee set, and it is important to know how much extra Store TP you are going to need to make up for the deficit. Lets take a quick look at my current WS set up. It has not been perfected, and having perfect gear doesn't really matter all the much when it comes to learning how to create your build.

Well, let's not because Photofucket is failing again. Just take my word for it that I have 61 total Store TP on during a WS and that give me 17.8 TP return on a regular WS. That means to get to a 5-hit build I will need at least 20.6 (rounded up, of course) to make sure I get to 100. That means I will need to get a whooping 86 Store TP. Of course, 35 of that Store TP will come from traits and merits, but that still means I will need to come up with 51 Store TP from gear.

A few critical pieces of gear:

Rajas Ring: The goto for SAM's ever since the X-hit builds were created. I would be nice if it continued to scale, but it is still great even though it doesn't.

Rose Strap: Obviously not the best for the slot when it comes to pure damage output, but it is usually critical for getting to that max Store TP build. Take the hit to your damage so that you can WS a lot faster.

Unkai Nodowa: Another piece that is a sacrifice in damage for more Store TP. It doesn't hurt as much if you think of Store TP as Haste. You like haste right? Then just grin and bear it.

Getting these pieces will be critical to any Store TP build for a SAM, but they are not enough. You will need several more pieces of Unkai +2, and you will still need old Usukane gear if you really want that perfect set. If you have any suggestions for more critical pieces, be sure to include them in the comments.

First things first, yesterday I was wrong about the amount of Store TP you need for a 5-hit build with a Masamune or Amanomurakumo. I multiplied when I should have added.<br /><br />When you are putting together your gear for your 5 or 6-hit build, the best place to start is with your WS set. This is because your WS set is almost always going to have less Store TP than your melee set, and it is important to know how much extra Store TP you are going to need to make up for the deficit. Lets take a quick look at my current WS set up. It has not been perfected, and having perfect gear doesn't really matter all the much when it comes to learning how to create your build.<br /><br />Well, let's not because Photofucket is failing again. Just take my word for it that I have 61 total Store TP on during a WS and that give me 17.8 TP return on a regular WS. That means to get to a 5-hit build I will need at least 20.6 (rounded up, of course) to make sure I get to 100. That means I will need to get a whooping 86 Store TP. Of course, 35 of that Store TP will come from traits and merits, but that still means I will need to come up with 51 Store TP from gear.<br /><br />A few critical pieces of gear:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.ffxiah.com/item/15543/rajas-ring">Rajas Ring</a>: The goto for SAM's ever since the X-hit builds were created. I would be nice if it continued to scale, but it is still great even though it doesn't.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.ffxiah.com/item/19041/rose-strap">Rose Strap</a>: Obviously not the best for the slot when it comes to pure damage output, but it is usually critical for getting to that max Store TP build. Take the hit to your damage so that you can WS a lot faster.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.ffxiah.com/item/11597/unkai-nodowa">Unkai Nodowa</a>: Another piece that is a sacrifice in damage for more Store TP. It doesn't hurt as much if you think of Store TP as Haste. You like haste right? Then just grin and bear it.<br /><br />Getting these pieces will be critical to any Store TP build for a SAM, but they are not enough. You will need several more pieces of Unkai +2, and you will still need old Usukane gear if you really want that perfect set. If you have any suggestions for more critical pieces, be sure to include them in the comments.

My favorite subject.

Samurai is still my favorite job. I may have been doing a lot more on MNK, WHM or BLM recent, none of them have the inherent mathematical appeal that SAM has. There are certain considerations that are available to SAM that just aren't as available to other jobs. Sure other jobs need to take Store TP into consideration to make sure they are getting the best TP per swing, but no other job has the flexibility that Samurai does, and no other job can make decisions about haste like SAM does.

Last night, I finally got my level 80 Masamune, and while I am not going to use it yet because I already have a crappy WoE Fudo-stick, I am going to look at the current state of my gear, and the current and future state of my Store TP build.

To start, let me say that while I like the actual design of many of the AF3 sets and I like the concept for the art on the new SAM AF3, I don't like the bulky look of many of the items in the SAM set. The head piece is really big compared to Usukane and the shoulders on the body are freaking huge. I think they may be the only body piece that has shoulders that are that big and separated from the actual body piece. This is the first time I have ever really been concerned with how I look outside of my melee gear, but now that I use spellcast and I have it swap in my Danzo Sune-ate anyway, I have just started sporting a "town" set or really more of a "I prefer the look of Usukane anyway" set.

Now for the fun part! The math behind the Store TP build for a Masamune! The first think to know about the Masamune is that it has a lower delay than most normal Great Katana. 437 is the same as Amanomurakumo and it requires a higher amount of Store TP to maintain the proper 5-hit build that is now an option for most decent SAMs. 437 gives you a standard unmodified TP per hit of 11.1. 11.1 per hit for a SAM with full Store TP merits gives you an adjusted TP per hit of 14.9. This means you will need [i]at least[/i] 35 store TP to get to 20 TP per hit in your melee gear. How much you specifically need is largely dependent on how much Store TP you do your WS's in. Remember, there are now many different competing options for how to get that Store TP.

Photobucket is being a shitbucket today, so I don't have any pictures for this post. Tomorrow, I will have some pictures of different equipment sets so we can go over different options for Store TP gear.

Samurai is still my favorite job. I may have been doing a lot more on MNK, WHM or BLM recent, none of them have the inherent mathematical appeal that SAM has. There are certain considerations that are available to SAM that just aren't as available to other jobs. Sure other jobs need to take Store TP into consideration to make sure they are getting the best TP per swing, but no other job has the flexibility that Samurai does, and no other job can make decisions about haste like SAM does.<br /><br />Last night, I finally got my level 80 Masamune, and while I am not going to use it yet because I already have a crappy WoE Fudo-stick, I am going to look at the current state of my gear, and the current and future state of my Store TP build.<br /><br />To start, let me say that while I like the actual design of many of the AF3 sets and I like the concept for the art on the new SAM AF3, I don't like the bulky look of many of the items in the SAM set. The head piece is really big compared to Usukane and the shoulders on the body are freaking huge. I think they may be the only body piece that has shoulders that are that big and separated from the actual body piece. This is the first time I have ever really been concerned with how I look outside of my melee gear, but now that I use spellcast and I have it swap in my <a href="http://www.ffxiah.com/item/12997/danzo-sune-ate">Danzo Sune-ate</a> anyway, I have just started sporting a "town" set or really more of a "I prefer the look of Usukane anyway" set.<br /><br />Now for the fun part! The math behind the Store TP build for a <a href="http://www.ffxiah.com/item/19406/masamune">Masamune</a>! The first think to know about the Masamune is that it has a lower delay than most normal Great Katana. 437 is the same as <a href="http://www.ffxiah.com/item/18318/amanomurakumo">Amanomurakumo</a> and it requires a higher amount of Store TP to maintain the proper 5-hit build that is now an option for most decent SAMs. 437 gives you a standard unmodified TP per hit of 11.1. 11.1 per hit for a SAM with full Store TP merits gives you an adjusted TP per hit of 14.9. This means you will need [i]at least[/i] 35 store TP to get to 20 TP per hit in your melee gear. How much you specifically need is largely dependent on how much Store TP you do your WS's in. Remember, there are now many different competing options for how to get that Store TP.<br /><br />Photobucket is being a shitbucket today, so I don't have any pictures for this post. Tomorrow, I will have some pictures of different equipment sets so we can go over different options for Store TP gear.

And so it begins...

The new FFXI and FFXIV forums opened today, and I have to say it is a lot better and worse than I expected.

Better: It is very comprehensive. General discussion forums, update information and even job forums. It should be easy for people to see where they want to post and post the correct information.

Worse: It's going to be a huge cluster fuck. People are going to whine 100% of the time, and beg for stupid shit like forcing people to go back to old XP parties and buffing the hell out of PUP.

On-balance: It is for the good. Even with all the idiots out there that just don't understand that some (most, if not all) people like the game the way it is right now, I believe that the NA community leaders are quite capable of ignoring what they know to be bad for the game.

I don't think it is going replace other forums like BG or even some of the smaller forums, but it is a new place for some people to contribute and some people to whine like children. And since the whiners care about posting most often than the people that want to contribute, the official forums will sometimes be a shit fest. Though, that doesn't mean that their won't be good threads too. While BG is obviously for more advanced players, it can still be rather off putting to even me at times. There are certain players, some thankfully banned, that would posit nearly insane damage calculations and scream down anyone that didn't agree. Hopefully, this situation will be less likely to occur on the official forums.

More stupidity for less negativity? It's a trade off and it is definitely the reason I believe that places like BG will be largely unaffected by the new official forums.

The thing that I really want to see is SE letting Matt Hilton and the guys on the NA community team actually make comments about the state of the game, planned updates and bug fixes. I don't expect them to be as active as say Blizzards moderators, but actually responding to a post instead of just adding a new post to the announcement forum would at least provide the perception that they are actually participating, even if they aren't in reality.

<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff151/ringthreetheicp/Forum_FFXI.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff151/ringthreetheicp/Forum_FFXI.jpg" style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 239px; height: 105px;" /></a>The new FFXI and FFXIV forums opened today, and I have to say it is a lot better and worse than I expected.<br /><br />Better: It is very comprehensive. General discussion forums, update information and even job forums. It should be easy for people to see where they want to post and post the correct information.<br /><br />Worse: It's going to be a huge cluster fuck. People are going to whine 100% of the time, and beg for stupid shit like forcing people to go back to old XP parties and buffing the hell out of PUP.<br /><br />On-balance: It is for the good. Even with all the idiots out there that just don't understand that some (most, if not all) people like the game the way it is right now, I believe that the NA community leaders are quite capable of ignoring what they know to be bad for the game.<br /><br />I don't think it is going replace other forums like BG or even some of the smaller forums, but it is a new place for some people to contribute and some people to whine like children. And since the whiners care about posting most often than the people that want to contribute, the official forums will sometimes be a shit fest. Though, that doesn't mean that their won't be good threads too. While BG is obviously for more advanced players, it can still be rather off putting to even me at times. There are certain players, some thankfully banned, that would posit nearly insane damage calculations and scream down anyone that didn't agree. Hopefully, this situation will be less likely to occur on the official forums.<br /><br />More stupidity for less negativity? It's a trade off and it is definitely the reason I believe that places like BG will be largely unaffected by the new official forums.<br /><br />The thing that I really want to see is SE letting Matt Hilton and the guys on the NA community team actually make comments about the state of the game, planned updates and bug fixes. I don't expect them to be as active as say Blizzards moderators, but actually responding to a post instead of just adding a new post to the announcement forum would at least provide the perception that they are actually participating, even if they aren't in reality.