Instead, this is a more text-heavy post xD
Random items
Seems like last week was the week where I picked up various random items. First was Valor Gauntlets -1 from Dynamis... basically since I already had the NQ hands, I picked this up last Wed. Seems like not many people are going for the +1s anyway as they want to be able to store their relic.
So... obviously since I already had one item for Sagheera to upgrade, I'd pick up a few more xD Later that Wed night, I picked up both the PLD & DNC AF+1 upgrade pieces from Temenos, finishing those sets -.-; I wasn't able to find the DNC material for upgrading, so this week I upgraded the PLD AF feet piece for some extra shield skill. Next week will be DNC AF+1 feet for extra evasion, and the week after that I'll FINALLY be able to upgrade my Valor Gauntlets x.x
On Sunday, Tasya took me to go... basically manaburning all day in sea. We went hunting for all types of mobs, even Yorva(UFOs) for organs. In the process, I completed both my Korin Obi(light weather) and Soil Gorget (Weaponskills). The improvements from the Korin Obi were easy to see, especially with Aurorastorm forcing light weather. I managed to push Cure IV up to around 650HP cured together with Rapture. The Soil Gorget, on the other hand, I couldn't tell the difference in Dancing Edge or Vorpal Blade between using it and my Peacock Charm or Chiv Chain. It's in my macros for DNC WSing, but it might take some time before i see how good it is.
Ironically, all these random items are depleting what little gil I have in my Roundel Earring fund x.x Between the chips, gorget, obi and the AF+1 materials, I think I'm down almost 100k, and no source of income to replenish it. My only source of income, ancient beastcoins, is also being used up for the AF+1 upgrades, so I'm very definitely poor again x.x
Merits
Since picking up my Joyeuse, I've been highly focused on getting merits through any means possible and dumping them into sword. This has meant a lot of campaigning since none of my jobs really fit in a merit party. I'm currently 5/8, with 9 merits left to go before I finish sword. Like most things, this benefits mainly Dancer as it should help overcome the D rating on sword, and hopefully put that "occasionally attacks twice" function to good use. In theory, this should make DNC/NIN even better compared to DNC/SAM for TP gain if I can hit enough with the Joyeuse on my off-hand.
Oh... PLD & BLU just happen to benefit from sword merits too :)
After this... need to finish my HP merits. I'm 6/8 right now, so just two more upgrades left at 5 merits each. So... basically, 19 more merits to go in the short-term, or 190,000 limit points to get x.x Only other category I can consider meriting would be Dex, which is sitting at 1/8 at the moment, and looking like it won't be going any further x.x;
Next job?!
Fuuji, and some others, have been /poking me to go level another job... like... a "real" DD or something for a zerg. I guess people don't consider BLU a "real DD", which I don't blame them since BLU has the problem of stamina. It's good for shorter things, and highly flexible, but not for longer battles and does not gain much benefit from Soul Voice Bard songs.
The job that I've been taking to "zerg" fights so far has been DNC. With Saber Dance, a full Reverse Flourish and if I'm /SAM with Meditate up, I can usually get off at least 2, sometimes 3-4 Dancing Edges off before the mob dies. I'm also using at least one Box Step for some defense down on the mob (reportedly 5% for the first level). Of course, this pales in comparison to the 5-6 that a SAM can pull off using their job abilities, but I think most mobs that are handled through zergs do not last through a full 2-hr. The downside is that daggers are simply a weak weapon to begin with so damage output isn't that high.
Anyway, now that summer is coming to an end, Fuuji has been talking about bringing back the "Sunday static exp" time that we used to do some time ago. It was pretty fun, and supermules + level sync makes it a lot easier to actually pull off. Hence, I'm sorta considering leveling a 5th job. However, merits and gil making are still a higher priority so I really want to do those first xD
Still... it makes for a fun exercise to consider what jobs I'd level up... figure that I'd post my thoughts behind this and let people make their own comments.
Now, in no particular order, the jobs!
Ranger
- Expensive... see gil problem where I don't have any gil... I doubt I'll level this just for that reason. Also, I haven't unlocked it yet xD
Dark Knight
- Emo... ok, that's not a good reason. I haven't unlocked DRK either
- Leveling it might make for some interesting applications as SCH/DRK with Stunga. Plus SCH can shorten recast timers, so SCH/DRK might make for an interesting stunner
- Can think of nothing significant against DRK, but nothing for it either
Monk
- So Rooks, Weap & Rizon took me out UFO hunting using a MNK with a Subtle Blow setup to demonstrate what the job is capable of. I never considered the implications of Subtle Blow before and was quite impressed at how using just one MNK it was possible to do a significant amount of damage to a mob over time, plus keep the mob under control, preventing it from using too many TP moves since you're just not giving it that much TP
- 100-Fists is also a really good zerg-type move
- However, the annoyance/difficulty of obtaining a Black Belt would turn me off from this job, considering how many people out there who have been playing this for years longer compared to me do not have this piece of equipment xD Also... MNK1
Warrior
- Haven't seen anything for or against this job... I never really thought too hard about WAR, just considering it as a good backup Provoke, and just another damage dealer
- WAR37, but only 1H axes skilled up. I never considered taking it past sub so skilling up other things would be painful D:
Dragoon
- Come to think of it, this is really a hybrid class given your subjob choices... Probably not a good choice just cos I already have too many hybrids
- DRG1, unlocked, but never played
Samurai
- Seems like the obvious choice given how many job abilities SE has dumped on the job. I also picked up a Soboro a long time ago that Aqqy made me get when AP was getting them for real SAMs, so at least I'm setup for that
- SAM37, but no polearm or archery skill... plus if I were to level this, I'd have to go unlock and level RNG as a sub, so that would get expensive. Skilling up polearm would be annoying, but at least doable on PLD
- No gil for a Hagun, or for that matter, any other good gear... Considering how popular SAM is as a job, most good SAM gear is relatively expensive
Thief
- Weird choice for a DD... not really a strict DD, but I have a lot of equipment that overlaps with this job, homam armor, daggers from DNC
- Job abilities make this job more interesting, controlling the hate and flow of a party
- However, the main reason people bring THF to events is mainly as Treasure Hunter, so... while I have the gear for it, it doesn't seem like something I'd want to do x.x
Alternate choices... well, for job #5, I might be considering a DD, but I'm also considering:
Bard
- What makes a "zerg" fight possible...
- Be able to pull for merit parties. I actually like pulling ^^;
- BRD16 at the moment... unfortunately, Bard songs can get expensive, as can BRD gear... at least I have 20k Assault points in nearly every zone for that weird armor that BRDs like
Corsair
- Expensive x.x Dice are expensive, as are the bullets and everything... even if I do have a Coffinmaker, the cost of this job would be too much for me
- COR5 now xD
So... looks like SAM & BRD are currently the top contenders. The other bad news for any DD job I choose is that my combat merits will be capped at 8/8 sword & dagger, and 4/4 on evasion, so there isn't really any space to put into a weapon the job would use. Since my fun job is still Dancer, I'm unwilling to reduce merits in any of those categories, making only THF & BRD the two jobs that would benefit from the combat merits.
Thoughts? Of course, this is all speculation/random thinking since I still want to finish my 19 merits first... plus any job I level up will require gil, which is something I currently have very little of x.x Need to get some people together and do some gil gaining activities :(
8 comments:
I had 3 of those DD jobs, and of them all I recommend Sam. I found it alot of fun and very useful. You can do alot of damage fast, but also live for a long time, including tanking. Hagun is annoying, but you can ENM for it low man, with Foragers dropping for helpers. Polearm skillup is very easy and quite optional till at least colibri and probably till merit parties. Sam/dnc is amazing solo, making parrying match up well with polearm. Archery takes alot of effort and gear, but it is really only useful for a couple of very rare events. Not worth worrying about as you will be on other jobs for things you would need sam/rng for. Only other issue with sam is how much Sky stuff you need.
Given how much I know you love the idea of doing 6+ months of regular sky, I would recommend against SAM, WAR, and MNK, as they need sky gear more than your other options. I'm personally planning on leveling SAM, but I'm already in a position in my sky LS where I can start cashing out on kittypants, shura, osode, etc.
Given that you have most Askar and full Homam, I'd actually recommend DRG or DRK for you. DRK would particularly suit Her Emoness. DRG and DRK ideally would want hecatomb gear which is also from sky, but that's WS gear, there are some OK alternatives, and it's cheap-ish to buy from mercenary LSes.
I wouldn't recommend THF. It uses the same gear that DRK and DRG do, and I love leveling the job, but invites are slow as nails.
I'd have to say I agree with Tasya on Drg and Drk. They are great jobs and can deal some incredible damage with some fairly easy to get gear. Remember when I leveled Drg with you? I think at most I spent 100k taking it from 1 to 75... though I already had a lot of gear for it. It does overlap gear with Dnc some though, so that should help with costs, and as Tasya said, Askar is great for it at endgame... and you already have the important pieces.
The downside to Drg is, outside of jumps it doesn't have a whole lot for you to do in a party on it's own. It's sub is really what adds to the job.
Drk is just insane at damage dealing. If you have a good tank, too, I've seen mobs put up defense boosts just after I've used Souleater and my attacks seem completely unaffected as long as Souleater is up. Granted, I'm sponging up all the MP I can while it's on, but it's good for speeding up a kill every 6 min.
Sam would still be my highest recommendation though for obvious reasons. And despite the fact that so much of their best gear comes from Sky, I've found times where I've out-damaged hagun users consistently for the duration of the event and I have neither a Hagun nor sky gear. Also to note: Hagun does NOTHING for WSs performed while under the affect of Sekkanoki or Meikyo Shisui. While that may not be very often, you also have to consider that the base damage on Hagun is 75 while Shinsoku is 80 with +5 Str and occasional TP Drain.
Anyway, I'm not much of a Hagun lover even after having used Aque's when she was still around. The funny part though is... I only have 3 merits in GK and I can occasionally match a max merit Hagun user's dmg when using the same TP and a Shinsoku. ^^
Sorry for the long post btw...
Mmmm... good thing I posted this! You all brought up some good issues that I did not consider :)
- Sky gear... I really don't want to do sky, so even having gear in sky that I would want in such a job is an issue. I want to be an effective DD, but don't want to put that sort of crazy effort into it! (Effort I reserve for DNC!)
- Already obtained gear. As Tasya and Zurar point out, I have Homam and Askar armor available to me, so leveling a job that makes use of these would make sense. Even on PLD with Askar/Homam gear I'm already surprised at how effective it is during campaign.
And... I forgot the most important reason for leveling any job, the looks! I think DRG AF (and relic) looks a lot better compared to DRK armor.
DRG overlaps nicely with DNC, BLU & PLD in terms of gear, and I'd be almost fully equipped at level 75 except for needing a polearm, plus a Love Torque overlaps both polearm and dagger skill, making it desirable.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but DRGs are desired for merit parties, right? I also admit that the flexibility of DRG with the sub choices which turn it into a hybrid job does appeal to me. Finally, I'm also horrible about skilling up weapons, so only having one weapon to skill up would be a plus :P
I guess it's time to start up DRG1 xD
Lol, yes, drg is a nice job for merit parties... especially /sam. Though brd does get more invites than any other job (besides maybe rdm) for merit parties i believe.
Let me know if you guys do decide to do the exp party on sundays... i'd be up for joining if you have room... though i can't go all night long like we used to cause of classes.
Level SAM. It'll be the easiest, fastest job you'll ever level.
The all night long thing was something Connie liked to do... definitely not for me x.x
Ok, I figure it's time to give that Askar/Homam armor a workout! DRG it is... at least for a while for a comparison to SAM :)
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