I think I forgot to mentioned something yesterday, like why this post is called Cheap Loots. Well, to put it simply, this is just to help find places you can save money by replacing relatively expensive gear with cheap or free stuff. The Aesir gear that comes from the Odin fight is pretty much free. Yes, you will need to spend some time collecting the items to do the fight again, but when you compare the items to the equivalent AH prices you are saving a ton. Hopefully this will provide an appendix to the On the Cheap series of articles. Instead of providing a slot by slot analysis for each job, this is more of a gear analysis for all jobs. And most importantly it's about free gear for those jobs!
On to the cheap loot! Remember, you can always get the 10k gil or the Summoner Pact from the fight, but if you are doing that then you shouldn't be reading this anyway! LOL
Aesir Ear Pendent
+7 Attack is pretty decent for MNK, but it has this curious new stat Conserve TP too. What is Conserve TP? Pretty simply, it is a trait much like Conserve MP, but instead of saving MP after casting a spell it saves TP after doing a WS. So this is awesome, right? Well, maybe not. It really depends on how much TP you conserve and more importantly how much TP you are going to end up saving. It is still pretty unclear how much TP you can actually conserve from a WS, but if you are not able to get back enough TP to replace a full attack round then it is pretty much worthless. Keep in mind that it is already pretty worthless for most jobs already because you are generally going to be using a Brutal Earring and a STR earring (SAM especially won't be using this item if they have a Bushinomimi). If there is no chance that you can reduce the number of attacks needed for the next WS then the Conserve TP function is essentially completely useless.
So this sucks, right? Well, maybe not on that count either. MNK's like to use a lot of Attack for Asuran Fists, and the Brutal Earring is completely useless for Asuran Fists, so they tend to use Attack Earrings already and there isn't that great of a supply for them either. So it's already one of the best Attack Earrings for MNK, but the Conserve TP could actually be a great boon for MNK. It really depends on how Conserve TP procs end up working out, but it seems to me that with the lower TP return per swing on a MNK (this applies to NIN too but I don't know if it would be worth it for them to use it just for the rare proc compared to other options) it should be easier to get the Conserve TP proc to cover a whole attack round, or at least one swing of an attack round that might be missed. So far it looks like the proc is pretty low and the amount of TP you can conserve is veritable so I would be hesitant to use this just for the Conserve TP proc, but if you are a MNK and are going to use an Attack earring like the Merman's Earring anyway, then the Aesir Pendant Earring is a slight boost there and the Conserve TP boost just might be pretty cool.
That is all, right? No quite, there is one other job that might actually be interested in the Conserve TP effects, especially if they stack well, that job is Dancer. No other job uses TP like Dancers do. A Dancer is going to have far more opportunities to proc the Conserve TP trait, and they don't have to worry about whether they get enough to replace a whole swing because they can burn their TP whenever they please. This should even apply to jobs that sub Dancer for low man events like Assault or for Campaign where you want to cure yourself as much as possible. Here is where I am going to fail you, because I have no idea what Dancers generally use for the earring slots. While I presume they use the Brutal Earring, I don't know what they use for their other earring (Roundel Earring? Maybe, but that is quite an expensive investment) and I don't know how this would stack up for them, but this might be something that jobs that are subbing Dancer might consider to use for self-curing even if they don't use it for WS's.
Aesir Mantle
I am much more unsure about this item than I am about even the Aesir Pendant Earring. Sure, it looks like it could be great, and while Double Attack is a trait that people like to see on gear, it isn't a trait that people generally go out of their way to pick up unless there isn't anything else that great available (e.g. Brutal Earring) or it has something else on it that makes it important (e.g.... Brutal Earring for the Store TP). 8 Attack just isn't make or break for any job, and it is a big cut from even the cheapest available options like Amemet Mantle +1 which also has more STR on it. For the TP phase, 1% DA just isn't going to over come at the minimum 2 STR and 7 Attack on every hit, and the situation gets even worse for WS's when the 2 STR and 7 Attack are going to mean even more. Sure it is 1% more during Darksday, but even then it just isn't going to cut it. If you are down to choosing between the Aesir Mantle or the 10k, take the 10k.
Aesir Torque
The real gem of the bunch, this torque is the King of Cheap Loots. An Elemental and Dark Torque rolled into one with a little splash of awesomeness on Darksday, and it's free? It doesn't get any better than this. Surprisingly, there isn't much else to say about this. If you are a BLM it is a must have. It lets you sell two expensive torques and saves you one inventory slot. The only drawback is that it is level 75 which is higher than the level 65 requirement of the other torques, but really does that matter at all? Just rent the Elemental Torque from the AH until you hit 75, then use the Aesir Torque. It really is a no-brainer.
It looks like the Odin fight is a great option for Cheap Loots, and it is pretty much mandatory for some jobs. Tomorrow we will go over Alexander and see what kind of fruit that will bear.
Thursday, May 06, 2010
Cheap Loots: Aesir Gear.
Wednesday, May 05, 2010
Cheap Loots: The Rider Cometh
In the last update, SE added both Alexander and Odin as new summons. This is pretty common knowledge I suspect, but what is lesser known is that like all of the rest of the quests to obtain summons, there are other rewards besides the summoning pacts. The quests to prep these fights are longer than the tuning fork quests for all of the rest of the summons, but they are not that difficult to complete. Today, I am going to focus on the Odin quest and the gear rewards from the fight that might be enticing for everyone, not just Summoners.
To start the quest to fight Odin you will first need to go to the Walahra Temple in Whitegate. If you have completed the Aht Urhgan storyline, then a cutscene will immediately be triggered and you will be able to begin the quest The Rider Cometh. While you are in Aht Urhgan you might as well take a moment to pick up a Sutlac and a Irmik Helvasi at the tea house NPC, trust me on this one, it will probably save you some money and time as you will need them later.
Next, you are going to head to Nashmau, head all the way North and talk to Yoyoroon. You will get another cutscene and you will be sent out to kill Ephramadian Shades (Fomor type mobs) to get a Timeworn Talisman. Interestingly and I believe quite rightly, Yoyoroon will not talk to you if you on Blue Mage. I believe this is not because of the general Qiqirn distaste for Blue Mages, but because Yoyoroon has a well developed understanding of FFXI end-game and also recognizes the complete uselessness of Blue Mage. LOL *cough* Where was I? Ah yes, I was able to solo the higher level ones in Caedarva Mire relatively easily on SAM/DNC, but I can't vouch for other jobs. Just be careful to pull them someplace safe because everything in that area aggro low HP, and there are true-sight Imps in the area too. Kill two or three of the Shades and even without TH you should get your Talisman in due time.
Head back to Nashmau and trade the Timeworm Talisman, the Sutlac and the Irmik Helvasi to Yoyoroon. The Sutlac is necessary to get Yoyoroon to accept the Timeworn Talisman and the Irmik Helvasi increases the chance that Yoyoroon will accept the Timeworn Talisman. There is always a chance that Yoyoroon will find that your Talisman will be what Yoyoroon is looking for, and you will have to get another Talisman, Sutlac and Irmik Helvasi. Once, Yoyoroon does take your Talisman, you will need to zone, and then come back and talk to the little Qiqirn one more time and he will give you the Talisman of the Rebel Gods which is a key item. Head back to Walahra Temple, and you will get the Talisman Key (another key item) and you will basically be ready to do the Odin fight after a cutscene at the door in Hazhalm Testing Grounds.
I haven't done the fight yet, but as soon as I do I will report back on it. It doesn't appear to be too difficult though and I have haven't heard any bad reports about the fight so far. Once you take down Odin you can take the gil (definitely not worth it), take the summoning pact (not so great if you don't care about your SMN), or you can pick between some pretty decent gear. Tomorrow I will go over the drops, which one is the best, which is the worst, and how many times you are going to need to do this fight to get everything you want.
Friday, August 07, 2009
Morning in Vana'diel: How Good is RNG?
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 Ranger the most neglected job in the game? Is it the new Dragoon? Is it time that people take notice of it's strength in almost every aspect of the game? Ring thinks so.
So I have been playing my RNG a little more lately, and after I do some gear tweaking I would like to play it a lot more. The reasoning is simple: RNG is incredibly powerful. You might not really realize this anymore, because everyone bases damage off of their XP parties instead of things that have real defense and require real gear choices. Why do I say this? Because I can’t stop from pulling hate off of the tanks while fighting Odin.
Odin provides the perfect example of the difference between were most people judge gear and most people use. In an XP party, RNGs are at a general disadvantage. They have to constantly reposition themselves, they have to constantly be using a ranged attack macro and they can’t really get any consistency going. In a fight like Odin, a RNG can put themselves in position, even if it is at a sub-optimal range, and just fire away. Melee on Odin are the ones that have to constantly move in and out and can not take full advantage of their greatest strengths.
I often find myself pulling hate at Odin and that is not because I am being aggressive or stacking abilities, it is just through general damage done. There are many different fights were RNG can really take advantage of that but for some reason melee are still preferred, but this is mainly because of TP accumulation problems. I think that if SE creates more mobs especially HNM were TP is less of an issue (Odin has different moves, but the main concerns are the HP related moves that he does so TP is far less of a concern) so that more jobs can shine. Or they need to at least fix the issue were ranged attacks give more TP than equivalent melee attacks.
Whatever is done, I think it is time to reconsider the relative strength of RNG. If you ask a RNG they will tell you that this has been the case for a long time and that people are just ignorant. I definitely believe this is true for the most part. And I think it is time for the damage output of RNG in all situations, not just XP situations, to be considered.
#1 ~ Monk
#2 ~ Samurai
#3 ~ Ninja
#4 ~ Dragoon
Chaotic Pellucidity
Teabags and KY Jelly
The Bloggaru!
