Critical Break is our crafting and economics column written by Qtipus. Q is an experienced crafter and also well versed in using the Auction House to turn a decent profit. Enough so that he was able to fund his own relic, Gungnir. Every Tuesday you will find Q's rants, raves and good crafting practices here. Today, Q is poking around to see if he can find anything of value in the July Update.
In July's update, SE released a number of new weapons and crafting ingredients for the various crafts. While they typically will release a number of new crafting items in each update, it's not all that often they actually release something useful.
On top of that, it's not all that often they actually release something that's not only useful, but affordable. Most of these require one or two subs that should already be leveled to some degree if you're serious about making money in the crafting market. A lot of them won't be in high demand due to the lack of people that either A) Don't have the job leveled or B) Don't see anything particularly appealing about the weapons. Some of them will be though. Particularly the 1h weapons where the Dancers, Blue Mages et al of the world will be subbing NIN more often than not.
The money and demand portions of these are not why I'm writing about them though. Keep reading to see why I'm hyped about these.
First, a run down of the items themselves:
Crafting Materials
Dweomer Steel Ingot(Smithing 67)
Ruszor Leather(Leather 83ish)
Feyweald Lumber(Woodworking 67)
Oberon's Gold Ingot(Goldsmithing 69)
Oberon's Gold Sheet(Goldsmithing cap unknown, but probably within a couple levels of the ingot)
New Weapons
Fay Crozier (Woodworking 63)
Fay Gendawa (Woodworking 70, Bone ??)
Fay Lance (Woodworking 67, Smithing ??)
Fay Staff (Woodworking 63)
Fane Baselard (Smithing ~64)
Fane Hexagun (Smithing ~67)
Oberon's Sainti (Goldsmithing 64, Woodworking ??, Smithing ??)
Oberon's Rapier (Goldsmithing 69, Smithing ??)
Oberon's Knuckles (Goldsmithing 64, Smithing ~53, Woodworking ??)
Ogre Jambiya (Bonecraft 64, Smithing 52, Goldsmithing ~30)
Ogre Sickle (Bonecraft ~67, Smthing ~52, Woodworking ??)
Dweomer Knife (Smithing ~64)
Dweomer Scythe (Smithing ~64, Alchemy ??, Woodworking ??)
Dweomer Maul (Smithing ~64)
Erlking's Blade (Smithing 61)
Erlkings's Tabar (Smithing ~66, Woodworking ??)
Erlking's Kheten (Smithing 74, Woodworking ??)
Erlking's Sword (Smithing ~67)
Rindomaru (Smithing ~64, Leathercraft ~52, Woodworking ??)
Tsukomo (Smithing ~70, Goldsmithing ~54)
The pattern I want you to notice here are the level ranges for the crafts involved. For most of these crafts, 60-75ish is a veritable sinkhole of gil. Obviously some can argue anything above 20 for Goldsmithing is a sinkhole, but to that I just say these synths become even more important. At least for the time being. SE adding these in this range gives a player some very solid options for skill up and a little profit along the way.
The other thing to notice here are the sub-crafts on these weapons. It's not all that often that we run into crafts where the sub is nearly the same level as the main. This will generally discourage a lot of people from making these as they're usually too lazy to level their subs to begin with.
Depending on how much gil one wants to sink into that "perfect augment", these things shouldn't drop below the break-even point for at least a couple months. If you're at the latter points in skilling up subcrafts (like I am with Smithing and Goldsmithing), give these items a good look. Odds are, you can make a little gil and finish off your subs at the same time. That's particularly difficult to say for some of these crafts. Smithing obviously got the lion's share when it comes to these new items (and it was sorely needed as this is as close to a "consumable" as smithing will probably ever get).
The last thing to note here is that these weapons do drop from union spoils in campaign. Some may choose to take their chances there instead of buying off the AH. This will also add to the influx of weapons on the AH for sale.
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Critical Break: July Update - Weapons
A Review of the New Campaign Items.
Enough time has passed since the update to get a fair look back on the number of things that were added as Campaign Items you can purchase with Allied Notes. It is time to take a second look at these items because while none of them stood out as game-breaking items, many of them are definitely beneficial to many jobs and some are even brilliant for certain situations. All of these items can be obtained with 30k Allied Note in your home nation in the past or XK from other nations if you are of the medals Campaign rank. Truth in advertising: I have not yet gotten my Medals Campaign rank so I haven’t yet been able to personally test these out. Most of the items are really straight forward though so it’s not like any major testing is going to make much of a difference in the usefulness of these items. Also, these items have absolutely HUGE campaign bonuses and I will definitely make mention of these, but since the bonuses are not universal, I will just mention them. So if you are a Campaign whore then you will love these items even more than the normal person.
Let’s start with the San d’Orian items.
Rose Strap:
The Rose Strap can be a very good piece of gear if you need it. The +4 Store TP lets many people get back a lot of the utility they had in slots that they had to give up for more Store TP. People that had to use Chivalrous Chains and Ecphoria Rings to maintain their build can now make a different trade off and get some of those lost bonuses back. If you are a melee, you will likely be losing the +2 Double Attack on the Pole Grip, but that probably isn’t much of a loss and probably a comparative gain for the people that are giving up gear to maintain their x-hit build now. For RNG, it is especially nice because it means that for most people they don’t have to worry about using a Mekki Shakki instead of a Fire/Vulcan’s Staff or even better for those that couldn’t get to the next rung of an x-hit build they can now add this to their totals and they might be able to kill themselves just as well as their the rest of us x-hit build RNGs. (It really is just a death warrant).
Of course in Campaign this item gives a huge amount of Store TP which might radically change your plans for what you want to do with your x-hit build.
Crimson Belt:
Another very nice situational piece, and this time situational doesn’t mean “Hey I am fighting a mob I fight 5 times a year so let me grab that one random piece of gear that I probably forgot I even had but kept around because I might use it for this one time”. This time situational piece means you will be using it for some different situations. This isn’t like one of those elemental magic accuracy pieces which are nice, but aren’t really the true skill. This sucker is the real McCoy, +2 Dark Magic Skill. That means you will actually get some benefit for your Drain and Aspir spells, and also Bio, Stun and other spells depending on what else you have going on and what tier of Dark Magic you are at. So, BLM, WHM, SCH and even RDM should definitely think about picking this baby up.
In Campaign this is one hell of a boost to those same spells, much better than anything else you will see. But then again I am pretty sure that Campaign mobs tend to resist a lot more, but I never go to Campaign on a mage job so I am not positive.
Temple Earring:
Well, not everything can be totally awesome, but even this not-completely-awesome earring isn’t totally unawesome either. While +1 to Light Elemental Accuracy isn’t spectacular, it is something that some certain jobs can use because they really don’t have much else in those slots. Those jobs? WHM, BRD and COR with those light-based sleeps. I know that on my WHM I get resisted a lot on Repose (that is mostly because my Divine Skill is horribly underleveled, but let’s keep that between you and me) and this will help in that regard, not much, but more than the nothing that my other earrings are doing.
As for Campaign? +15 should be a lot right? Well, it would be if most of the Campaign mobs didn’t resist the hell out of sleep no matter what kind it is. Maybe this big boost in accuracy will help get you over the hump to sleep them, maybe it won’t, but you can certainly give it a try.
Fox Earring:
Likely named for the Silver Fox regiment of the San d’Orian archers, this earring has a little bit of Ranged Attack on it. I believe this is another one of those items from the update where it is a rare/unique stat for the slot. I don’t think that most RNG or COR are going to be too bugged by this item because they probably already have their +2 Ranged Accuracy or +2 STR earrings. Even though I do play RNG and enjoy it, I am not that up on the math between Ranged Attack and STR and which one you are going to want to use if you can balance them out. I will guess that some people will use this for sure, but I just don’t know how much. It definitely isn’t a stand out item, but it is definitely a different choice from the things that are already available.
For Campaign, while it looks like a huge increase in damage I have found that ranged damage and accuracy in Campaign doesn’t really justify the loss of gil, when you could just melee on another job. So unless you really have nothing else to use for Campaign this item isn’t going to be a must-have.
Patronus Ring:
Conjuring up images of Harry Potter and the Dementors, the Patronus Ring does provide some protection for people that pick it up. Physical Damage down gear is pretty rare for some jobs to get their hands, and even for those that have it available it is still pretty good. Now this doesn’t give a huge increase in Physical Damage down but it is better than nothing, and for tanks it can be a life saver when you are trying to get shadows back up. For my NIN it has to be better than the silly Mermaid Ring that I still wear because there really isn’t anything else good for that slot. Now PLD does have more options than NIN, but still Physical Damage down can help out a PLD from time to time also. Do I think it is the best thing available? No way, but it’s good, and since most people don’t have a Defending Ring, they can always use a little Physical Damage down from time to time.
This is the first item that you really could justify getting just for Campaign. The -10% Physical Damage does really get it pretty close to a Defending Ring in Campaign. Sure, magic damage will still rape you, but the real XP/AN is gained through doing damage and taking damage to heal yourself. If you are subbing DNC or a PLD/RDM or something then this ring will help you take a little less damage and maybe focus on doing some more damage or tanking a couple more mobs at one time.
And now for some of the Bastokan items.
Sturm’s Report:
This is actually a rather interesting ranged item because it isn’t a ranged item, it’s a book. You can definitely throw books, and if you do enough bad things sometimes you will get the book thrown at you. But this is a book you will probably want to keep and no just throw at people (besides the fact that in some cultures book-chucking is considered to be rather rude). The stats are also quite unique for this slot; it is rather rare (unique?) to find Magic Accuracy in the ranged slot and +2 is not something to scoff at. While the stats are not going to make or break you, and there are generally better INT items you can use here, for enfeebles and dark magic there really isn’t much that is better. So if you want a little bit of help helping make sure that Paralyze or Slow sticks, or if you believe that INT doesn’t do anything for those dark magic spells like Drain and Aspir then this may be a book you will want to snuggle up with.
In Campaign this item is really great for nuking, enfeebling or whatever you may be doing on a mage job. There is absolutely nothing in the ammo slot, let alone almost all slots that are going to net you +15 Magic Accuracy. So if you are in Campaign and on a offensive mage job just set it and forget it.
Shield Collar:
This is one of those items where I don’t know if SE is being stupid and thinking that people really care about VIT for tanking things still, or if it is a sly nod to those jobs that have VIT WS modifiers like WAR and MNK. Either way this isn’t an outstanding piece for the neck if you want to tank anything, so let’s get that out of the way, there are much better pieces that have HP, Enmity and other good stats. For WS it isn’t that great because there are much better pieces for the neck that have STR, Accuracy or both. Now for MNK, it IS a good piece for Chakra if you don’t have the Sea Torque with VIT on it. So, this is more situational than most pieces, but it is something you might want to pick up if you are a completionist.
For Campaign, now it really begins to shine for those MNK and WAR VIT based weapon skills, and if you want to get really crazy Chakra numbers then there is nothing better at all. It must be said though, that even if you have a VIT based WS you might still want to pick up the next piece.
Bull Necklace:
Depending on your gear and WS accuracy this piece might actually be something that you want. For SAM and DRG who naturally have a lot of accuracy for their WS because of gear or traits it is definitely a damage improvement over the Chivalrous Chain just because of the obvious increase in STR. This definitely isn’t an end of the road piece by any means, but if you are still farming for those Sea organs for the In the Name of Science quest or still waiting for that Jailor Torque then this isn’t that bad.
In Campaign this item really fits it’s name, strong like bull! I don’t think that 25 STR for any job is going to be beaten in pure WS damage. So if you Campaign a lot then this is definitely a must have piece. More STR, more damage, more AN, and more XP.
Sonia’s Plectrum:
Bastok really gives you some really fine pieces named for the Republic’s heroines. This ranged slot item may look like a just another tathlum but it is supposed to be a pick for harp or guitar or something. Now, I don’t really know anything about DNC gear, but I can tell you that increasing your curing potency is always a great deal for DNC especially at higher levels. For people that are subbing dancer it is only going to be like 1 or 2 HP per Waltz, so it’s not really that great for non-main DNC. This stacks well with other cure potency gear for DNC and I don’t think it trades off with other amazing DNC gear.
If you are a Campaign melee and you like to sub DNC then this is an absolute must have piece. Seriously, this is going give you a decent boost to all of your dances and it can even be switched out for just when you need it, and you can keep your other good ammo gear. I am even seriously considering picking up this piece for my SAM/DNC, and I think Campaign specific gear is stupid.
Arrestor Mantle:
While Bastok offers you some very obviously good pieces, this piece doesn’t shine as well as its brethren but it still has its uses. There is not much that the back piece offers in terms of enfeebling outside of rare drop Sea capes, so this can definitely be an improvement. Then again there are +5 stat capes that are available for the respective kinds of enfeebles. A mage can probably tell you which one is going to be better but for a situation where you need to land Gravity when you are soloing or need a Slow or Paralyze to stick for a low man situation, then this isn’t that bad of a choice.
For Campaign, like the Sturm’s Report this item will definitely be better for landing enfeebles than anything else available. But unlike Sturm’s Report it only helps with enfeebling and not your nukes in general. So if you need to enfeeble a Campaign mob then get this, but for the most part this just isn’t the best of the best like some of the other items available.
Finally, the Windurstan Warlocks have a few more items.
Capricornian Robe (Rope):
Despite being misspelled, this item is still pretty neat. While the belt slot is generally considered to be an MP slot for WHM and other Cure casting jobs, this could be a decent trade off considering what other gear, merits and subjobs you have available. You are probably going to get a cut in max MP, but depending on the situation you might want to get a faster cure off. Cures are already pretty quick so 1% isn’t going to make or break you, especially for a WHM… or RDM… or SCH for that matter. But stacking it up is definitely an option, and it is like haste in that the more you have you will get an exponential increase in speed, but there is likely a cap on the cast speed anyway. If you are an Elvaan then you might want to pass this piece up, but if you are a Taru this might be something you want to pick up.
For Campaign this item is pretty interesting. If you are a non-melee mage (any mage that is not RDM) then you already know that curing is going to be the main way that you are going to be getting your XP and AN, so the faster you can cast those cures then the faster you will be able to get that XP and AN. The problem? It doesn’t decrease your recast time, and that is going to be the real limit on your casting.
Earthly Belt:
Ok, so this is one of those too specific items. Look, if you are a BLM then you are never going to use this because Stone nukes suck. If you are a RDM you are never going to use this because there are better belts for Slow for potency, and if you are another job then maybe you will use this for Slow, but for situational gear that is really situational. This is definitely like a SCH’s perfectionist item. The 3 Earth Magic Accuracy is nice, but you will need to make the decision if you think this worth the inventory space.
While definitely more useful in Campaign than out of it, the Earthly Belt again is going to be for only very limited situations. You should get it if you think you can benefit from it, but be ready for your friends to think you are a little bit odd to have so much extra inventory space.
Cougar Pendant:
Interesting, very interesting. HP is not the preeminent stat of tanking or melee, but it definitely not an unworthy stat. For Taru more HP is never scoffed at, and while there are definitely better neckpieces for HP like the Ritter Gorget – the Cougar Pendant actually has more HP – but this is way easier for most people to get. That makes it like several other pieces in this list; they are in between pieces outside of Campaign, something you get knowing it is relatively cheap and you will probably be getting something better soon.
For Campaign the Cougar Pendant turns a Taru into a Hume, a Hume into a Galka and a PLD into a MNK. This one is a nice straightforward survivability bonus. There is nothing in the neck that is going to make it so that you will have less chance of being one-shot. Sure max HP isn’t everything, but 200 HP gives everyone a little more breathing room in Campaign.
Crocodile Collar:
Some stats don’t do much for people, but some do. AGI pretty much effects a larger group of players than say VIT, so this might get more use than the Shield Collar. RNG, THF, NIN and COR stand out as those that could drool over this piece. For RNG, it is both a slight increase in accuracy as well as damage for most WS. But, and there is a big BUT here, there are a lot of better pieces for RNG in the neck slot. THF is almost the same way but the AGI modifies Trick Attack instead, but then again most THF don’t solo TA’s as much as stack them. If a THF is going to solo a JA it is usually Sneak Attack (if I am wrong on this all those THF out there please let me know!) NIN will get some benefit out of this for soloing evasion which AGI modifies, but it also modifies (and I am pretty sure on this one but again if I am wrong, let me know!) Parrying which is a great stat for a soloing NIN. Finally CORs will love this piece for the AGI which is an accuracy modifier for their Quick Draw shots as well as a little bit of accuracy for their regular ranged attacks and WS too.
Now for Campaign, like the Bull Necklace, this piece becomes much more impressive in Campaign. While for RNG and COR the damage modifier for WS still isn’t that great it is a definite improvement, but the accuracy is where this will really shine, especially for Quick Draw. For THF, this is a huge boost to stacked TA WS damage. And for NIN this probably is a huge benefit if you are the kind of person to sneak off with your own mob and solo it. Just make sure you don’t drag out the Campaign while everyone else is waiting for their Union rewards!
Ariesian Grip:
Last but certainly not least is this nice little resting MP piece. There is nothing much for mages in the Grip slot, and certainly nothing with resting MP on it. You might lose a little bit of max MP when you get back up which really isn’t an issue for some races, jobs and gear sets. It might be a little more tenuous if you are low on Max MP but then again even with the highest boosts in MP you aren’t going to be losing that much MP just from that slot (besides, you could just rest one or two more ticks in your standing/Max MP gear). Since people will kill flowers in hours for more resting MP this is probably something that a lot of people are going to want to get.
In Campaign, this is a must have for any job that uses MP and needs to rest at all. +20 resting MP is like a couple of Clear Mind traits. It is a huge difference maker. So if you use MP at all in Campaign, then you should probably pick one of these sexy babies up.
Conclusion:
This list of items is pretty comprehensive, but I didn’t include the new bodies mostly because they speak for themselves. Most of the time items you get from a world conflict system (Conquest, Besieged, and Campaign) barely have much of a use and are very poorly itemized. While in the past there have been one or two good sets of items (Conquest ammos and Besieged weapons) this time there are a plethora of good items at the medal level. They are definitely going to be inventory hogs because they are either situational or alternatives but they are in general upgrades instead of more sidegrades. As much as I complain about SE’s current level of attentiveness toward the game in general, I have to admit that these items must have required at least a modicum of thought into the stats they give for their slots.
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
The Thin Black Line- On Beastmaster Pets
The Thin Black Line is here to protect you! Tuufless, our resident cute Taru (every site needs one!) is here to tell you all there is about magic and mages of all colors, especially Black. So much potency in such a small package, delivered straight to you! Today, we'll explore beastmen pets in light of the glory that is Xarcabard [S].
Ever since Treasures of Aht Urhgan shunned Black Mages from parties, Black Mages around Vana'diel were forced to find other ways of getting experience points, which led to the development of leveling off Beastmen pets. Since then, beastmen pets have long been the favorite of aspiring nukers and is now the de-facto route for those who aspire to wear the pointed hat.
With the recent July version update introducing at least one excellent pet camp in Xarcabard [S], which I have been obsessing over lately, I figured I might as well talk about leveling off pets for the time being.
What is it?
As the name suggests, your target xp mobs are beastmen pets. Essentially, you are looking for a Beastman whose job is either BST or SMN, and taking their pet as your xp mob. Oftentimes, people either solo or duo pets, but there have been entire 6-man parties that set out to kill pets.
For now, I’m going to refer to both Beastmaster pets and Summoner elementals as just beastmen pets, regardless of which it actually is.
Why does it work?
Beastmen pets have one very interesting characteristic- they have abnormally low HP for their level. Technically, any job can get solo xp through killing pets, but the task favours mages for two reasons.
First, mage attacks are ranged, which makes pulling very convenient. However, the important factor is that mages specialize in dealing burst damage—that is to say, only mages can deal lots of damage out of nowhere. Melee jobs have to build TP before they can use a weaponskill, while mages can stand up from resting and immediately deal a 1000-damage nuke.
That is not to say that other jobs cannot enjoy the perks that come with pets— player-controlled Beastmasters can also level off beastmen pets, using their own pet to mitigate the damage dealt by the beastman’s. However, melee will struggle a little more, because they cannot kill the pet as quickly as mages can, and may need some outside assistance, like a powerleveler to see them through safely.
What do I need?
Level 24 is an important level because you get both Utsusemi: Ichi from /NIN and get to wear Reraise Earrings. Level 42 gives you Gravity from /RDM. Which you use will depend on personal preference, although as a general rule, /NIN favours camps that are cramped or involve pets that move faster than normal, while /RDM is better for more open camps.
You will also need to keep up to date with all your spells and gear, as this is a solo task, you will only have yourself to rely on. As advance warning, you will die a lot, especially if you are just starting out. Remember your Reraise!
How do I start?
There are lists scattered around the internet that can tell you where to find pets appropriate to your level. I personally use this one over on FFXIclopedia.
Before you start, you will need to know the basics about mob behaviour. First, the pet will always assist the beastmaster, but the Beastmaster will only assist the pet if it sees the pet engaged. This means that when you need to pull the pet from behind or at least from the side of the Beastmaster, so the Beastmaster does not see the pet.
You will also have to be mindful of the terrain, as mobs have erratic pathing when it comes to uneven terrain. Usually, this is a good thing, especially when it comes to soloing NMs, but in this case, it means the pet might illogically run in front of its master and cause it to link if you try pulling it from the side and there's a slope involved.
Next, all pets do not link with other mobs of the same family. However, outside mobs will still link with the pet, so you will need to exercise caution when dealing with pets that come from linking families, like Leeches and Rabbits, especially when there are other family members around.
If the beastmaster in question is actually a Summoner, there are two things additional things to keep in mind—first, summoner elementals have more HP than beastmaster pets, though still within a manageable range. More importantly, elementals will always start to cast a spell immediately upon aggro. The problem here is that elementals will stand still and will not follow you immediately once you pull, so there is a very real possibility of the Summoner turning around and linking with the elemental, especially if the elemental opens with Ancient Magic.
Once you get there, your xp/hr rate will depend on the following few factors:
First, how quickly you can kill the mob? This is the most obvious one, but still bears mention. This is the part where nukers outshine melee jobs, because they are able to quickly deliver damage whenever it is needed.
Secondly, how open is the camp? Camps that are in small, cramped places generally see lower xp/hr rates because you may be forced to just wait long periods of time for the Beastmaster to turn around before you can pull. Essentially, the more directions you can pull from, the better your xp/hr rate will be. Camps that are in open give you lots of freedom to move around, so instead of waiting for the Beastmaster to turn around, you can move to a good location yourself.
There is an exception to this rule, and that applies to Black Mages and Ancient Magic. Normally shunned because of their inefficient use of MP, Ancient Magic spells have much higher base damage for their level range and are single-target. This means that Black Mages are able to one-shot pets until around level 60, depending on how well they are geared. Black Mages that can one-shot pets will see their xp/hr will skyrocket as they are freed from the restriction of having to wait for the Beastmaster to turn its back—if the pet dies in one-shot, the beastmaster will not link, even if the pet dies in front of it.
Finally, how many Beastmasters are around? Typically, with one Beastmaster, you can expect to get Chain #3 consistently. Two or more Beastmasters let you go up to Chain #5 or possibly even Chain #6.
Xarcabard [S]
With that in mind, I’d like to conclude by introducing the inspiration for this post- the new pet camps in Xarcabard [S].
This camp has everything a pet soloist could ask for- it is very accessible, literally right where you teleport into Xarcabard [S]. It is open, which means a lot of room to maneuver into good positions, and lastly, I counted up to five Beastmasters (Gigas Floggers) in the area. The picture you see above shows you what one can do with a camp like this.
For those who have yet to try this way of leveling, I highly encourage you to do so. Best of luck!
Morning in Vana'diel: Fairy's on Fire.
Morning in Vana'diel is your daily dose of FFXI and all things Vana'diel. Give us your thoughts on the interesting topics of the day! One end of the Augments is FoV, but the other end is even better.
I have to say that I really like the Fey Weapon fights. They are quick, but they are repeatable which makes them a little better than most things that SE cooks up. The base weapons are really cheap to come by and they will get even more cheap and easy to get as people do more and more campaign. The Augments for some items are great and some are mediocre and some of them make me question if there are just a bunch of monkeys programming this game, but in general you can get a pretty powerful combination of stats... after a while.
I have already gone over what I thought about the Rindomaru. I think it is very good if you don't have a Hagun and in some cases it will even beat the Hagun, but for the most part you are going to go with the Hagun in important fights. There are other things like the PLD sword that has neat bonuses like enmity and Magic Defense Bonus. And then there are things like the NIN Katana which doesn't have any of those things.
It is definitely a really random system, and I think that is something that a lot of players are finding more and more obnoxious. The randomness in trying to get the item you want is ok because that is what keeps the event going. But when the augments are random between jobs then it gets to be annoying. Really, in this day, does NIN really need more Subtle Blow when they are trying to tank? Where is the Magic Defense Down for NIN? Where are the stats for the COR weapon? Is there really a combination that will beat Destroyers for MNK?
Do you like the new Fey Weapon system? Is it time that SE get their house in order when it comes to properly itemizing gear? Leave a comment and tell us what you think!
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Morning in Vana'diel: Risk vs. Reward.
Morning in Vana'diel is your daily dose of FFXI and all things Vana'diel. Give us your thoughts on the interesting topics of the day! Is the gamble worth the bet?
Risk vs. Reward has always been something for crafters to me. Most of the things in this game are time sinks, but eventually if you do something long enough you will get the items that you really want. If you camp something long enough you will get the claim. If you kill something often enough you will get the drop. I am fine with that and I accept it as part of the time-sink in the game. I am undecided if I like the new FoV system.
Now, I don't have a problem with it upsetting the balance of the gear universe. People that can't except that there gear is inevitably going to be obsoleted are playing the wrong game. Hell, they are playing the wrong genre of games. I am more concerned with the risk in trading in high-dollar items just to get a crappy or even detrimental Augment. Now, you could be Izman and get the item you see above, or you could be me and get -1 AGI, -1 INT and +2 MND on your Warwolf Belt.
As I have written here in the past, I know that this new system is good for crafters. The items are always consumed irrelevant of the quality of the Augment, and unlike the new Fey weapon Augments you only get one chance. It basically makes items that once were rather saturated on the AH into consumables like food. This is especially true of items that have good NQs and the Augments make it possible to surpass the HQ. So crafters get a more stable source of income while I either get to risk some high value item or just upgrade some cheap stuff.
Do you like gambling with your gear? Or are you more of the conservative type? Leave a comment and tell us what you think!
Friday, July 24, 2009
Hagun vs. "Perfect" Rindomaru
With the appearance of the new "Fey" weapons there has been a great gnashing of teeth about it's comparison to the Hagun and if something besides a relic or an AV drop could finally dethrone the King of Great Katanas. I decided to take a closer look at the issue and try to figure it out.
I wanted to create a "perfect" Rindomaru to compare it to a Hagun because I wanted to see how go it really was in a situation that favored it. The Rindomaru I used for my calculations, as far as I know, does not exist. The best I have seen is the one that you see in this post. But to make sure that things worked perfectly and most favored Rindomaru, I used Store TP +15, Accuracy +5 and WS DMG +4%. Any more Store TP would not really help, +5 Accuracy prevents a loss compared to Hagun builds, and that WS DMG is necessary to keep up with Hagun in general.
So without further ado I give you Rindomaru with Store TP +15, Accuracy +5 and Weaponskill Damage +4% vs. Hagun.
Here is a gear comparison. I did this with basically my gear set up, but the only slots that are really going to matter are those that change trying to get to the 5-hit build. I also tried to maintain full Usukane for these sets. Mix and match may results in different results.
Hagun gear for TP
Hagun gear for WS
Total delay from zero = 2619
Total delay after WS = 2183
Rindomaru gear for TP
Rindomaru gear for WS
Total delay from zero = 2250
Total delay from WS = 1800
From zero TP to ten WS it should take Hagun 22266 delay and Rindomaru 18450. So, assume no interruptions, no meditate, and a perfect world in the time it takes Hagun to get 10 WS, Rindomaru would get 12 WS. This is just an observation, for the following calculations I am just assuming you start with a WS because almost all SAM's are going to meditate before they start anything. All WS are assumed to be Tachi: Gekko also.
A few observations about delay here. First, without the sword strap there is a 20% increase in speed to the next WS going from a 6-hit build to a 5-hit build, and this is assuming you are starting after a WS (the difference is 16.7% when not starting from a WS). Second, with a sword strap on Hagun there is a 17.5% increase in speed to the next WS going from a 6-hit build to a 5-hit build, again assuming you are starting after a WS.
I am not going to get into the pDIF details because they are too complicated and too much for me right now. If someone else wanted to take this info and add the pDIF calculations I would really appreciate it.
In this scenario there is not much different in TP stats:
Rindomaru has 2 more base damage, 1 less DEX and 4 less Attack (it also has 3% more delay but I handled that above) compared to Hagun.
For WS the difference is larger:
Rindomaru has 2 more base damage, 6 less STR, 9 less Attack, and ~3.5 DEX related Accuracy but it does have 4% WS damage (depending on when this procs can make a big difference).
Here is the difference in WS calculations:
For Hagun, D = 75, fSTR2 = 37, WSC = 79 and fTP = 1.825. This gives a damage value of 358 * pDIF.
For Rindomaru, D = 77, fSTR2 = 34, WSC = 76 and fTP = 1.5625. This gives a damage value of 292 * pDIF. But also remember that Rindomaru is going to have a 4% increase in (assumed) total WS damage.
Also, we need to consider the 19% damage increase from Overwhelm. In this perfect example we will consider all WS to benefit from Overwhelm.
I absolutely HATE doing this but I am going to use Greater Colibri because of their known values for the next set of assumptions. If you have the value of better mobs to check this on then please feel free to add them. Greater Colibri are especially bad because both weapons are going to have their max pDIF capped, which will not happen on just about any mob that is more difficult. Also, all of this is completely wrong anyway because the old formulas have been proven to be inaccurate and I don't think we have definitive new calculations.
So for Hagun we have Damage = (358 * 2) * 1.19 = 852
And for Rindomaru we have Damage = ((292 * 2) * 1.19) * 1.04) = 722
Moving on, to get an exact equal amount of WS in the same amount of time, you have to go out to 2183 WS for Rindomaru and 1800 WS for Hagun.
So for Hagun you get 852 * 1800 = 1533600
And for Rindomaru you get 722 * 2183 = 1576126
In the end, in this perfect situation you should see a 2.77% increase in damage over that time. Haste should not make a difference in this calculation.
So that means you should run out and get a Store TP +15, Accuracy +5 and WS Dmg +4% Rindomaru, right? RIGHT?
Not so fast. This is the perfect scenario for Rindomaru with a perfect Rindomaru. As accuracy falls (this scenario assumed perfect accuracy) and especially as mob strength increases (this is especially important because Greater Colibri are one of the weakest common opponents in the game and Rindomaru was just barely capped with Tachi: Gekko) this will very quickly revert to Hagun being the dominant GKT again.
Another issue is that all of this operates on the assumption (a very flawed one) that the second you hit 100TP, you WS without any time consumed and immediately have 20 and immediately swing again. This can never happen. And the more delay both weapons have the less comparative speed the Rindomaru gets over the Hagun.
In full disclosure, I will be keeping my Hagun, and I might try to pick up a Rindomaru, but I don't think I will use it for much of anything. As I have said before, I do not gear myself for XP parties, I gear myself for important mobs. If you are the kind of person that has a polearm build for your SAM then a Rindomaru might be right for you. But then again, a Rindomaru isn't going to beat a polearm build on Greater Colibri, so that is kind of self-defeating. On anything of more difficulty than a Greater Colibri though, the Hagun is still the right choice.
If anyone has a problem with the builds I used, my calculations, or any of my assumptions just let me know and I will try to fix them.
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Morning in Vana'diel: Is Ninja a Legitimate Tank Again?
Morning in Vana'diel is your daily dose of FFXI and all things Vana'diel. Give us your thoughts on the interesting topics of the day! Today, Ring takes a good look at what whether Yonin can make Ninja a good tank again.
NIN is my neglected friend. I loved NIN for so long, but it gradually had more an more problems and got left behind for other more suitable jobs as our PLDs got stronger and stronger. Before the most recent update NIN was in the same basic place it was since it started moving up the tanking food chain. But it never evolved to keep up with the changes that PLD has experienced. And then came Yonin.
Yonin, as you might already know, is a JA that increases enmity and Ninja Tool Expertise (which is glitched at the moment), while decreasing Accuracy. It also improves Evasion and decreases Enemy Critical Hit Rate when in front of the target (which is really all that matters, because there are only a few mobs where you would care about the Evasion and Enemy Critical Hit when you are behind it). Kaeko's testing shows that the enmity gain is +30 at the start and then degrades to +10 over time. This is a big bonus to enmity for NIN, but it still doesn't get them up to where PLD can get on most gear. An additional nice benefit of Yonin is that it provides a decent amount of hate just from using the JA.
Does Yonin get NIN to where PLD is now? No, it doesn't. NIN still has a myriad of other issues before they get back to where PLD is now. They are missing a good amount of damage mitigation compared to PLD, and sub job selection has a much great effect on damage mitigation vs. hate generation than PLD. NIN/DRK is great at building and maintaining hate, but it is much more dependent on support and has little to protect it when shadows are down. This doesn't matter as much in large groups or with a settled mob, but PLDs are able to do all aspects of tanking from holding to doing damage (and how strange is that?). In a higher damage/damage mitigation situation, NIN falls behind because they have to give up their Katanas, and even if they did not they don't have a WS that is as viable as Atonement for maintaining good WS damage. I will expand on this further in another post on how to fix NIN, but for now I think that Yonin is a great start, but isn't enough to even get NIN back to equal with PLD.
What do you think about NIN tanks? Is Yonin going to encourage you to bring a NIN out of retirement? Do you think NIN even needed a boost? Leave a comment and tell us what you think!
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Grading the July Update.
Initial reactions are never a good grade of how good anything really is, and this update is no exception. Iceblazek went from hating the update as he was downloading it, to absolutely loving it when it appeared that we may have been killing the first Amphiptere on Odin and maybe even the whole game.
After an enjoyable night testing out new mobs and the new Union system even I have to admit I was much more pleased with this update than I thought I was going to be. To evaluate this update though, we need to look at other updates and juxtapose this one with those to get an idea of just how good it is. The last update was on-balance pretty disappointing, in fact, I didn't really remember what was added in the last update, so I had to check. There were some significant additions, but nothing really said "new" like we have had in the past. There were four significant additions in the April Update. 1) The new WHM JA's (and the RDM and SMN additions), 2) ANNM's and Augmented Items, 3) Gobbiebag expansion. There was definitely more and people will love pointing out the things I missed, I am sure.
Compare that to this update and we can see that this update is probably a little better overall. We got two new zones, which is something we really haven't gotten in almost a year and a half. Included in those zones are three new mobs and several potential melee and BLM XP areas. We got new JA's for NIN, which I believe was sorely in need of some kind of improvement to balance them with PLD. Now, I still believe that those improvements don't fix what is really needed for NIN, which is a bit more survivability.
The Union system is definitely interesting and rewards doing Campaign even if you have to be lucky to get those rewards. It definitely spices up Campaign a bit. We got the long awaited Campaign bodies which were about as good as I expected, the tanking body is great but the rest of them are pretty mediocre. Finally, we have a little bit of a surprise in the large number of Wings missions that were added. There are other things that still need to be determined, like the quality of the Fairy weapon quests and if this FoV stuff is even worth it.
Overall, I would have given the last update about a C- and this update was a little better than the last, that being said, and even considering the positive things I have said so far, this update doesn't really have that much going for it either. New zones are nice, but you need to have a reason to be in those zones besides just doing Campaign. New JA's are good too, but why do they share a recast and have diminishing effects? Union is decent, but the rewards are pretty weak and will soon flood the market and crush the cost of all of the items, except for the ancient currency which don't drop very much at all. One of the Campaign bodies is good, the rest are in line with the "mehness" of the other parts of the set.
I am holding out hope for the Fairy weapons, the packs of mobs you have to fight to get the rewards looks pretty difficult. I am thinking it will take more than a party to handle these and it looks like at least some of them resist sleep. The additional effects for these looked pretty good in the preview, but so did the FoV ones and we all know how they turned out.
So far I am giving this update a C+, but I still have my pen out and I am willing to improve the grade if things turn out to be better with the Fairy weapons. This update still has the problems that I had discussed before. It is tiny, it is uninspiring, it is flawed and it feels like there isn't anyone at SE that is motivating the forward momentum of the game right now. I can't wait until this cycle of crappy scenarios is over, but we still have at least one more coming before we get a regular update without all of this fluff. We can only really judge the direction of the game at that point.
Morning In Vana'diel: Give Me a Sign.
Morning in Vana'diel is your daily dose of FFXI and all things Vana'diel. Give us your thoughts on the interesting topics of the day! Today, Ring is confused about the update, and can't really seem to get his head around it.
I am confounded. For the first time in a while, I was really excited when I was playing FFXI. I very much enjoy playing, and I do get excited for rare drops and close victories. But last night was enjoyable for a whole new reason... or should I say it was enjoyable for a very old reason? Last night I got to explore for the first time in ages. It wasn't the exploration of a zone I had already seen that was exciting, it was the fact that I actually had to pay attention, dodge mobs that I had no idea what they would aggro to and kill new stuff. And kill new stuff we did.
The new zones are a much better re-imagining of the Northlands in the past than the other past zones. While I very much like the fully new zones in Wings, I didn't think that the reworked zones really did much to stimulate the imagination. This is not the case with the new (old?) Beaucidine and Xarcabard. While the structure of the zones is the same as it is in the present the appearance is very different. And the music in Xarcabard is simply excellent, and fits the mood of the area very well.
And for killing stuff? We definitely got to test out the new Amphiptere and Greater Amphiptere mobs, and they are fun. We will have a post up specifically about them later on today, but lets just say they take very good advantage of the fact that the zone has a whole lot of mobs that are willing and able to eat your face whenever they please. And they aggro in new, interesting and face-eating ways. You thought UFO's were bad? LOL At least they are not true everything though.
So, did you have fun exploring the past yesterday? Did you think that the past Northlands was just a rehash? Did you get to fight any of the new mobs? What about Cointeach? What are your plans for today now that everything has settled? Leave a comment and tell us what you think!
Monday, July 20, 2009
POL News: What You See Is What You Get.
The Update Notes are out and there really isn't anything more than what they have told us about already.
The Union System is in there, but there are still no details on what it entails and what it means. It looks like you just join an alliance, then join the Union and then lot on the rewards when things drop. This does look like it could be abused a lot though. Will people try to Ninja lot things? Is this supposed to be something you only do with people you trust? Do the items drop from Campaign mobs? Are people to pull and hide mobs all the time? I am guessing they considered all of these factors, and we still have no idea what it is going to look like. Here's hoping it's good, but honestly it sounds convoluted and rife for abuse. 
New missions, new quests, new synths, new BLU spells. We don't have any specifics about these except for the fact that the new BLU spells will probably come from the two new mobs that they have added to the new past Northlands areas.
Personally, I think the new "evil Walrus" looks way better than the Gargoyle, but that's just me. The new MMM stuff is in there, and so is the FoV stuff, but there is no mention of these new synths for weapons that you trade with the Fairies. I wouldn't be surprised if that got cut from the update, which I believe will be the first time they had a major announcement about something then cut it from my recollection. The Circle abilities look decent, but if they are still on a 10 minute recast with a 30 second duration then they are still just about as useless as they were before just with better buffs. They even mentioned that the main problem was the duration, but mention notion about changing the duration in the update notes.
The new Ninja JA's are in there, but we already knew everything about it. I think this is probably the only solid known improvement in the entire update. 
They will definitely be useful for NIN, but the shared timer on a 5 minute recast can make it even more difficult for NIN that need to switch between DD and tanking quickly. There is also no mentioned of the diminishing effect over time, so hopefully they got rid of that part of it. Also, the Mijin Gakure change is nice, but like so many things that SE does, it should have happened from the beginning if not a long time ago.
Dragoon got a tiny buff to Empathy in that they can now wake up their Wyvern with Spirit Link. Again, should have happened a long time ago. There was mention that the effect of the rage timers for some HNM was changed but in standard SE fashion, they don't tell us how at all.
Finally, they mention that there are some new furnishing from Campaign and the Campaign bodies are now available. A new item called the Pendant Compass was introduced that will give you your coordinates, [i]when you wear it[/i] and it will be used for some event that has nothing to do with the game, like many of the things that SE has been adding lately.
Ok, I am done. This update has nothing new, no surprises, no avatars, nothing interesting. Just like the last update, it just feels like that slapped some things together, tossed in a new JA and called it an update. I, for one, am not pleased at all.
Click here for a full list of the update notes.
Morning in Vana'diel: Millions of Voices of Summoners Suddenly Cried Out In Terror and Were Suddenly Silenced.
Morning in Vana'diel is your daily dose of FFXI and all things Vana'diel. Give us your thoughts on the interesting topics of the day! Today, Ring can't figure what SE is doing and how they are going to survive the Summoner Holocaust that is currently descending on their offices.
Update day! And no word on a new Avatar. The new Avatars were announced over a year and a half ago, and restated 6 months ago, and essentially promised for the last update then this update. And still absolutely nothing. This really is getting pathetic. There are only three major items in this entire update: the NIN JA's, opening Northlands in the past, and the Union system. And it remains to be seen just how good this Union system is going to be.
I am now convinced that these mini-expansions are killing our updates. They are working on getting everything done for them and cutting out all of the meat of the updates. And Summoners are probably getting screwed the most out of this all. For most jobs you just get a JA here or a new spell there, but nothing is so definitive about the change for Summoner as a new Avatar. They are iconic and the main stay of the job. Promising them and then not delivering for a year and a half is just irresponsible to the player base.
I normally don't care about SMN outside of Summoner-burns, but they have their place in the game and they should get what is promised after such a long time. I don't know, vaporware seems to be an American tradition, but then again SE does love teasing stuff then taking forever to put it out. Not just in FFXI but all of their games. But knowing that doesn't make things any better for the Summoners that have been left out in the cold with no Alexander or Ixion or Cait-Sith or whatever.
Do you feel for the Summoners? Do you care about them outside of Summoner-burns? Do you want to see more Avatars? Or do you think that Summoners are just spoiled kids begging for new toys? Leave a comment and tell us what you think!
Friday, July 17, 2009
POL News: The Shortest Post Ever.
What
The
Fuck
Is
This
Shit...
Don't really know what else to say... Bells? Really? Ebisu? Ok, that is fine, but is it even worth an update note? Fucking Curry Buns? Does SE think we are 8 years old?
If you care about the update notes today, then go ahead and click for more. Don't blame me if you want your thirty seconds back. You won't get them back from me.
In addition to the hoards of adjustments and new content promised thus far, the fast-approaching July version update will boast numerous overall improvements including an upgrade to the /bell command added this past April and scrumptious new synthesis recipes that will leave streets drenched in adventurer drool.
More Bells and Whistles for the /bell Command!
The /bell command added in the April version update will be expanded to allow two full octaves, including sharp and flat notes, to be played. From full-scale hand bell orchestras at Vana'dielian weddings to solo performances of your favorite tunes on street corners, the possibilities are limited only by your imagination!
Enhanced Ebisu Fishing Rods!
The ebisu fishing rod, looked upon by many as the mythic weapon of the angler community, is set to be on the receiving end of a potent upgrade. From the July version update onwards, wielders of this mighty king among fishing rods can expect an even bigger haul after a day at their favorite fishing spot.
Curry Favor with Curry Buns!
In response to popular demand from fans at the official 2008 festival event in Japan, it is with great pleasure that we announce "curry buns" as one of the latest additions to the diverse food synthesis menu. Be sure to pack a few in your gobbiebag before you head off on that next big adventure!
Morning in Vana'diel: We Now Return to Your Regularly Scheduled Programming.
Morning in Vana'diel is your daily dose of FFXI and all things Vana'diel. Give us your thoughts on the interesting topics of the day! Today, Ring wonders just what the fuck everyone at SE is doing to have such a completely empty and useless update. Is it FFXI? Or is it a more likely candidate.
Well, at least one day of happiness is more than none. It's back to the normal grind of complaining about SE today.
I don't even know where to start. The update is scheduled to be released on Monday and SE almost never releases new information on weekends. The update today is utterly worthless. Even those that apologize for everything SE does (me) and even those that enjoy aspects of the game that are not interesting at all (MMM, I am looking at you) have nothing at all to care about with the update notes that were released today.
So it's back to complaining for me. I could complain here about the update but I will handle that in the POL News post, so I will complain about something else: these stupid mini-expansion-scenario-crap. I think that SE really screwed themselves over with these things. Unlike working on a full expansion, which requires a lot of front loaded work before release, these mini-expansions probably require a bunch of programming for the cutscenes every update. Which means that more time is being spent on content that no one cares about or is going to be disappointed in because they are spreading themselves too thin. The state of updates are pathetic and increasingly so. I would much rather that SE just focused on improving the current content than working on poorly written, uninteresting, unrewarding and filler crap.
Are you getting fed up with this crap? Will you just take anything that SE gives you? Do you think my indignation is worthless? Leave a comment and tell us what you think!
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Morning in Vana'diel: The End of the Season of the Bitch.
Morning in Vana'diel is your daily dose of FFXI and all things Vana'diel. Give us your thoughts on the interesting topics of the day! Today, Ring was going to blow his brains out, but decided not to because of one persons nice comment. Ok, so I wasn't really going to blow my brains out. And I know someone will whine that I should joke about things like that. And then I really will want to blow my brains out.
I don't mean the bitch as in "the bitch broke my heart" or "the bitch stole my XBOX", I mean the bitch as in "ZOMG, I hate everything about FFXI and yet I still play for 6-8 hours a day." And no, this criticism isn't about the proverbial them, it is about me. I was going to write a bitchy post about SE, and about how all my columnists are busy this week or about how Omoikitte doesn't have internet for two weeks. But that all ended when I was checking the comments from yesterdays POL News post.
I've been reading your blog for a long time and I just wanted to take this chance to complement you on what a wonderful blog you have.Thanks Stardust. :) It actually make me feel nice to have people appreciate the work we do, and even though there are slow days sometimes, we do try pretty hard to make this site for everyone that loves FFXI.
I really enjoy the new format and it's so refreshing to see so many good people (even though I don't know you personally) write about the game we all know and love.
Keep up the good work!
So to Stardust and everyone else that enjoys this site, thanks from us all!
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Morning in Vana'diel: Is Crafting Worth It?
Morning in Vana'diel is your daily dose of FFXI and all things Vana'diel. Give us your thoughts on the interesting topics of the day! This morning Ring reconsiders the crafting benefits of Augments and whether it's worth it at all.
Here is the thing, can you make money on crafting? Yes, you can. Is it worth it to try? That's the real question. I made the argument yesterday that the new Augment system was good because it basically consumed the crafted items that people are going to Augment increasing demand. The problem that I have read about is not with the randomness of the event which I still think is somewhat necessary for it's benefit to crafting, but rather that those that craft will drive down the price, either by those skilling up and trying to sell off the extra items quickly or by those just trying to undercut everyone else. The real benefit will go to the farmers or the middle men, or so the argument goes. I generally agree that there are negative pressures on the pricing of all items, and it is definitely true that a low supply increases prices more than high demand, but I do not think that higher demand is bad for the prices of items. Remember, this is not a situation like after an update where everyone needs an item for a quest. This is a continual demand situation, where people are going to need many of the same item over and over, and this demand may cause an increase in supply too, but over time it should work to increase prices and for crafters, increase profits.
The problem is that is it worth it for the crafter over the farmer? The farmer, if they find the right items to farm will be able to set the prices on the raw materials and get the largest chunk of "pure" profit. Increase demand for them will directly increase profits, and the only risk of will come in the form of undercutting. The crafter is then further at the whim of the farmer for creating these items if they choose not to farm the raw materials. It's a rather complicated scenario, and in the end I still think it will be net beneficial for crafters, but it definitely is not as clear cut as I thought it was yesterday. One can still hope that the market could be more rational this time because of the constant stagnation it has been in since the large majority of RMT were killed off several years ago. But I doubt it. I have seen players do too many strange and silly things to destroy the price of items for no reason for too long to think that we can really predict what is going to happen.
Do you think the new high-level Augments will be good for the economy? Will they be bad? Do you think things will stay pretty much the same? Are you looking forward to this as a crafter? What about as a farmer? Leave a comment and tell us what you think!
Monday, July 13, 2009
Morning in Vana'diel: Augmenting Your Pants.
Morning in Vana'diel is your daily dose of FFXI and all things Vana'diel. Give us your thoughts on the interesting topics of the day! Today, Today, Ring looks at Augments in the July Update and can't stop giggling. I can't even say Titmouse without giggling.
God, Augments have to be the best thing ever created for blog post titles. "That's gold Jerry! Gold!" Alright, so we have the potential to Augment decent gear now. What does that mean for everyone? Well, my first thought is that this is finally the crafting solution SE has been promising for a while. Augmented items can't be resold. They are economic dead-ends if you don't get the Augment that you wanted. This means that there will be increased demand for just about any item that can be used for Augmenting. More demand means more profit for crafters, more profit for crafters means more gil spent on other things. Stagnation in demand is the worst thing for the FFXI economy and this is an artificial boost to demand.
Someone will always complain about improvements, and the complaints this time come in the form of randomness being the evil of all games. I agree with this complaint, at some point randomness becomes annoying when you have to do the same thing over and over just to get a small improvement in gear. I do have two responses that overwhelm this concern though. First, it's the nature of FFXI, all MMO's and even all modern RPG's to have RNGs determine your gear, your strength, your survival, everything. Second, even if it is annoying to have more randomness injected into the game, it is still better to improve the economy and deal with the randomness. I think the effect of this is going to be huge. It is going to effect a large number of crafts, especially smithing, clothcraft and leathercraft because they have viable synths for good end-game gear that can be purchased off of the AH. It will even benefit those items that are in mass supply because of BCNM drops, like Warwolf Belts for example.
Of course it is too early to tell the exact effects of these new Augments, especially the ones that come from the Pixies which are a completely different issue. If you can't look past the system itself to see the benefits to the economy, though, then I think it is more a case of general frustration instead of weighing the pros and the cons.
Do you think this is a boost to crafting? Do you think this is just going to turn into one more time sink? Are you looking to get a sweet augmented item? Or are you unwilling to risk the sweet gear you already have? Leave a comment and tell us what you think!
POL News: Augment the Size of Your Weapon!
There are just too many good jokes to be made about the Augment system, but I will leave that for another day. Today the news on POL is that the next update will feature further (final?) expansion of the Augment system to top-level (useful?) gear. I understand the nature of things like this being rolled out over time. SE wants to test it out first, see if it works, if there are problems or whatever, but I don't understand why after they know it works they would still want to piece it out over time. Anyway, there are two different parts of the Augment announcement, the first deals with Fields of Valor. SE is adding new "elite" training regiments to the Zilart-era "high level" areas:
Cape Teriggan / Eastern Altepa Desert / The Sanctuary of Zi'Tah / Ro'Maeve / Yuhtunga Jungle / Yhoator Jungle / Western Altepa Desert / Valley of Sorrows / Ru'Aun Gardens
The only really important thing to note about this is that you will be able to hand in high-level gear. Not only will this let you actually get some gear that you might use out of Fields of Valor, but it might be a huge boon for crafters. I am not into the economics of crafting like some people but my thoughts are that if you take something, make it so that you can't sell it again, you are going to need more of those things. Which is what Fields of Valor should do for some of this gear.
The second thing of note from POL is that there something to do with Augments and Pixies, and it gets kind of convoluted from there. All I know is that I will get to hear Omoikitte squeal like a school-girl about the "fairies" in her best British accent. This is what I can glean from the situation so far: there will be new craftable weapons, that will be commissioned by the Pixies, you will fight a monster with your friends, that will give you a random Augment, that you can change up to five times, and other people can get it too, or they can get another reward. I think I covered everything with that run on sentence.Check below the cut for the full update notes.
Hear ye, mighty champions of Vana'diel!
Have you gazed longingly at the augmented apparel donned by your lower-level peers, wondering when similar equipment would be introduced for those of powers puissant?
Consider your wait over! A host of new augmented items designed especially for high-level characters will be one of the many exciting additions in the upcoming version update.
Further Fields of Valor!
Elite training regimes will be added to the following areas:
Cape Teriggan / Eastern Altepa Desert / The Sanctuary of Zi'Tah / Ro'Maeve / Yuhtunga Jungle / Yhoator Jungle / Western Altepa Desert / Valley of Sorrows / Ru'Aun Gardens
Thus far, Elite training regimes have yielded augmented items intended for players level 50 and below. Those who demonstrate their valor by completing the new regimes in the fields above, however, will be rewarded with a new selection of augmented items suited for levels above 50.
A New Challenge Awaits!
The greatest heroes and heroines of Vana'diel—those who have achieved the pinnacles of their respective professions—can also look forward to a new quest that will test the limits of their prodigious powers, and promise rich rewards in kind.
With hordes of fell beasts threatening their ancestral homelands, the pixies would entreat your aid. By entering into a pact with the fey folk to slay one of their notorious foes, high level players will have the opportunity to obtain an augmented item to add to their arsenal.
While Fields of Valor and the elite training regimes offer quick, straightforward objectives that can be enjoyed by lone wolves, this new quest is intended to provide a significant challenge to full parties of up to six veteran adventurers.
To participate in this quest, players must first craft a suitable weapon via a set of new recipes that will be introduced in the coming version update. Entrust one such weapon to the new quest-giving NPC and successfully complete the assigned task, and your weapon will be retuned, freshly endowed with an augment of impressive potency. Should the initial enchantment not be to your liking, you will also have the opportunity to slay a different foe—up to a maximum of five times—to receive a new augment that may better suit your needs.
This quest will offer something for everyone, as each member of the victorious party who has accepted the quest will be eligible to reap the augmented reward. Even players who have not accepted the augmentation quest will be compensated for assisting fellow adventurers with a bounty of their own.
Friday, July 10, 2009
POL News: When Moogles Attack!
The Trailer for A Moogle Kupo d'Etat is now available on the mini-expansion website. It's a little better than the trailer for the last mini-expansion, but it really tells us next to nothing about what to expect from this scenario. It definitely looks a lot more silly than the last scenario, but I don't know how much more it is going to offer compared to the last scenario. The main complaint about A Crystalline Prophecy is that it was too short, had too many fetch quests and it didn't finish out the storyline at all. It was like a bad sequel to an interesting but unresolved movie that didn't really resolve the original and just made things more convoluted. Sometimes it's OK for a storyline to stay unresolved, sometimes a sequel is not what is needed. Sometimes, SE should get their ass in gear and give us a real expansion, with real content and real new areas.
A lot of SE's actions dealing with FFXI have been blunders. Mass automated bannings, failure to delivery new and interesting content, and horrible explainations and understanding of game design.
I still love this game, but it seems that lately SE has been trying to screw with me enjoying their own game.
Thursday, July 09, 2009
POL News: Circles and Spells.
New Job update thing on POL. I don't know what else to call it really, I supposed there are job ability adjustments here but there is really nothing "new" except for two new BLU spells. I certainly hope this is not the last installment of job adjustment for this update because this is really next to nothing. I am hopeful, but there is nothing in this update note to indicate that there might be more on the way.
The first thing that was mentioned was the fact that skill ups for low and middle levels has been improved. This was because Level Sync parties and Campaign was limiting the opportunities that players had to get skill ups appropriate for their levels. Now, there could be an issue with this. If it is only for low or middle levels of the job then this is next to useless, because you will still be leveling under Level Sync or Campaign. I assume that they mean low and middle levels of the skills, so if your skills really lag behind you will get more skill ups, but once you get to the cap and you are not understand Level Sync as much because you are doing normal XP or Merit parties, then the skill ups will normalize. This is just another one of those cases where SE is pretty unclear and they will never clear things up, we will just have to find out for ourselves. And I will have to wonder when I will finally get that last level of Parry skill up on SAM or NIN. :(
Circle JA's are getting a boost too. We have no idea what kind of boost they are getting though. SE again is very vague here. Just stating that they know that the Circle JA's are pretty useless compared to their delay, and that they are going to get a big buff. This is going to effect PLD, SAM, DRG, DRG and BST's merit circle ability. Like with many changes, I have to wonder how much SE worries about game balance between the jobs. Instead of looking at the jobs themselves, they are looking at the ability types to get people to use them more often. But does PLD really need another buff? Does SAM? DRG? DRK? BST does definitely, but they are just buffing a merit ability, and not something that effects all BST and more importantly BST that have already handed over their merits for other abilities that might have to now switch them if this JA is really good.
Finally, BLU gets some more spells. This is nice for BLU I suppose, but with very many things in this game these spells will either be awesome and used all the time or they will suck and will never be used. This is especially true of BLU that usually has a limited store of spells they can use and it is already full. I understand that when they put new mobs into the game they will want to add new spells, but a lot of the spells overlap because the TP moves of the mobs overlap. This is fine for the mobs because they still have unique combination of TP moves decided by the developers. But most players are going to just pick the strongest spells, and SE wants people to use new spells they are going to have to provide something strong and unique that BLU's don't already get. Again, I have to wonder if they are just creating to be creative or if they are considering game balance and player choice in any of their development decisions.
Here is the full text of the update notes:
As a follow up to last week's article on new ninja job abilities, it is with pleasure that we introduce other job-related additions and adjustments scheduled for the fast-approaching July version update.
Rate of Gain for Combat and Magic Skills
The introduction of in-game systems such as Level Sync and Fields of Valor, while expediting job level increases in the low and middle level ranges, has caused gains made in combat and magic skills to lag behind.
To address this issue, the rate at which combat and magic skills increase during low and middle job levels is set to be given a boost.
Circle-type Abilities
Up until now, the benefits granted by Circle-type abilities have been lackluster relative to their ability delay. The July version update will see these abilities imbued with additional effects for greatly enhanced usability.
The following abilities will benefit from the above adjustment:
Holy Circle / Arcane Circle / Warding Circle / Ancient Circle / Killer Instinct
Blue Magic
Two new blue magic spells are scheduled to be added in the coming version update.
Friday, July 03, 2009
Morning in Vana'diel: One Tank.
Morning in Vana'diel is your daily dose of FFXI and all things Vana'diel. Give us your thoughts on the interesting topics of the day! Today, Ring wonders why it's so hard for SE to balance tanking.
See that guy in the pic? He is just some generic PLD. There are about a million of them in FFXI. They were all AF until they get AF2, they know Provoke, Flash, Cure III and Utsusemi, and that's it. They have some random shield, and probably even have VIT rings. And you know what? They can tank most end-game mobs better than a NIN, and NIN is the only other real choice that would be able to tank most end-game mobs. Sure, other jobs can tank stuff too, but it's usually rather limited or the hate build is far too slow. NIN and PLD are your real end-game tanks, and NIN can't even keep up anymore. You might see a NIN in some places, but they know and the PLD knows that the PLD could do a better job in much worse gear. It's been this way for a while, and I have to wonder why...
These new JA's for NIN are probably going to help it. More instant enmity, less damage taken, more evasion? But are the bonuses enough? Is there anything as good as not being interrupted while casting? What about those JA's that PLD gets? All that enmity gear? NIN hasn't gotten a tanking gear upgrade in years. Why not try and make WAR a viable tank? Give them a damage reducing JA that really works. I don't know, for all the complaints about having only 1 and a half tanks for a game with 20 jobs there really isn't much of a tanking shortage. A lot of times NIN and PLD are waiting in lines to tank stuff.
I have to hope that these new bonuses for NIN do a good job at rebalancing some of the tanking issues. I just think variety, even if not necessarily needed is still a nice thing to have in these situations? Would all those people that leveled PLD like all those people before them leveled NIN even want there to be another tank option? I don't know if SE even really cared that much, they just like to see how people play instead of worrying about balancing all that much. Some balance is nice, but letting us play our own game instead of changing every job every update is also a very nice change of pace from most MMOs.
Are you a generic PLD? Are you an old-school NIN that got pushed out by an AF PLD? Do you think PLD should be able to tank end-game because they get shunned everywhere else? Do you want more tanking jobs or do you think things are fine? Leave us a comment and tell us what you think!
#1 ~ Monk
#2 ~ Samurai
#3 ~ Ninja
#4 ~ Dragoon
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