This is a followup rant to this earlier post about SE and FFXI wasting people's time. You can read the first part of this rant here: http://ascule.blogspot.com/2008/09/respecting-time-and-lack-thereof.html
So, last night we did ZNMs again... Tier III mob, and we didn't wipe this time. However, out of all the mobs, we only got one drop that someone actually wanted. This is really taking things too far SE. Let's see how much effort was put into this:
1. Farming the zeni necessary to buy the pop items. This is at minimum 6000 zeni for Tier I, II & III
2. Actually going out to kill the Tier I & II mobs
3. 14 people spending 3 hours to pop and kill these mobs for a total of 42 man-hours
Ignoring points 1 & 2, even looking at just item #3, that's a lot of people's time spent on this mob. Let's put it in perspective... Assuming the US Federal Minimum Wage rate of $6.55/hour, that's $275.10 of productivity spent on getting this one item. The very least they could do is have the drop rate be reasonable instead of this crazy low drop rate that leaves everyone doing ZNMs feeling discouraged at the end of the night.
(Just for comparison, the China minimum wage is $0.138/hour. To accomplish the same thing hiring players in China would have cost $5.82. Is there any question as to why there is a gil farmer/RMT problem?)
Similarly, on Sunday night, we had 3 Nyzul runs with... absolutely no drops. 6 people, 1 1/2 hours wasted and logging off discouraged.
The reasons behind the low drop rates is simple... SE wants to keep people playing FFXI for as long as possible. Almost all "endgame" events are designed to make you keep your subscription going for as long as possible. For example: the time limitations on how often you can enter Limbus & Dynamis, the limits you have on the number of assaults or campaign ops that you can do a single day and more. Would it really break things that much for SE to at least throw people a bone? Let's say they changed Nyzul such that a boss fight would give a 100% drop of an armor piece... a group of 6 people would still be spending 30 straight runs (or 30 days) of farming armor before they each got one full set. Additionally, the drops would not necessarily match up with what is wanted, so a little bit more time would be spent on it. Or people could end up working on multiple sets, bringing the amount of time "invested" in this activity to up to 3 months. The very least this would do is allow people to move on to something else instead of spending months or years at one repetitive activity. It would also free up assault tags to either: Do other assaults, accumulate assault points for Salvage, or even help other people do their assaults! As far as I know, very few people have actually "completed" any single event. They either grow frustrated and quit, or too many people lose interest and the event disbands.
Instead, by making it probability, they're allowing statistics drag the time out instead. 1 month stretches out to 4 months, 3 months to a year... and meanwhile, while you're stuck doing one event, you don't have time or resources available to do a different event, or help someone out, or do something fun, level another job or just goof around experimenting with other things. Adding new content to the game no longer matters as people do not have time in their schedule to actually try it out. WotG zones are empty except for people doing campaign. The [S] NMs remain untouched, and nobody (at least on this server) bothers to try the campaign ops, or to invade a beastmen territory. Instead, due to the way the game is set up, you end up going to the same event week after week, month after month, year after year. It's gotten to the point where people have been going to same events for 3, 4 years.
That's no longer a game. It's a job.
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Puppetmaster - Most complex FFXI job?
I think I have a pretty decent understanding of most FFXI jobs. The jobs I've played to sub levels I know how to play, or how to effectively sub. Most other jobs are fairly straightforward with clearly defined roles such as tank, DD or healer, and I have a decent idea of how to effectively use hybrid jobs such as BLU, RDM, DNC, DRG, and force some hybrid jobs like SAM/DNC. I've even played with BST a few times (though I think only taru should be BST since it's soooooooooooooo cute watching them run away from a mischarmed mob!)
PUP on the other hand, still confuses the heck out of me. Just looking over the sheer amount of attachments that they have, the different manuvers, frames, heads, and how you can make am automation behave based on your own behavior, or putting up different manuvers or gear... and all this at level 1! It seems really complex... and it seems to have a high amount of potential.
BLU is complex enough already, from having to choose your spells for the right mix for the job, to choosing between different traits, subjobs. Add onto that the issue of equipping not just yourself, but your puppet with the right attachments and put up the right manuvers, it's easy to see why people don't understand PUP are afraid to invite them to parties. Still... I'd like to see more PUPs in events to see how they work!
Is there a PUP out there who would come and show the job off?
PUP on the other hand, still confuses the heck out of me. Just looking over the sheer amount of attachments that they have, the different manuvers, frames, heads, and how you can make am automation behave based on your own behavior, or putting up different manuvers or gear... and all this at level 1! It seems really complex... and it seems to have a high amount of potential.
BLU is complex enough already, from having to choose your spells for the right mix for the job, to choosing between different traits, subjobs. Add onto that the issue of equipping not just yourself, but your puppet with the right attachments and put up the right manuvers, it's easy to see why people don't understand PUP are afraid to invite them to parties. Still... I'd like to see more PUPs in events to see how they work!
Is there a PUP out there who would come and show the job off?
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Back and doing crazy stuff already!
My DSL came back sometime on Saturday, and since then I've somehow managed to get pretty busy pretty quickly again.
Let's see... what did I do...
- Managed to get killed twice in Einherjar!
Ok, so one of those times was basically the boss looking at me, and everyone else that the boss looked at went down as well, so that part wasn't too surprising. What did catch me by surprise was being targetted during the one giant pull. This happened before during Dynamis where near the end of a big pull, I end up being targetted by mobs as soon as they wake up. As far as I can tell, this is just based on the face that curing generates hate either doesn't dissapate, or does so very slowly. As a Dancer, I usually end up spamming Divine Waltz to keep my party healthy. Doing so cures a lot of HP over time, but mobs do not pay attention to this compared to Provoke and flash until someone on their hate list has been cured by a lot. I think I had a BLM in my party, so that explains that.
- Promy as WHM/SCH
This is kinda weird... I don't know why I felt like it, but i brought out my WHM after... over a full year of not playing the job. I just felt like playing it when Connie mentioned needing help for Promies. WHM was my initial job that I took up to 30 in order to unlock BLU. I had a good mix of equipment from leveling SCH to 37, sO i was actually decently equipped. WHM/SCH was a good combination too, with Light Arts helping a little for MP efficiency.
The promies themselves were fairly easy once we got the necessary items to actually win. Anima for both promies, and poison pots to prevent Sleepga. Ironically, between the exp from the missions themselves, and the one ENM we did, my WHM hit level 38 and now I need to go do two more teleport quests!
- ZNMs - Enkidu's Cap
We did 2x Tygers this week. Quite a few people did not have the 500 zeni necessary to enter the area for Tyger... There really is no excuse for this since we have the schedule up at least a week before the event, plus reminders in party chat, and finally, if you're doing ZNMs, you should be farming zeni in the first place! 500 zeni isn't even enough for a Tier I pop item. For every mob we fight, someone has to go out there to farm anywhere from 1-4k zeni. Newcomers are forgiven, of course, but everyone should have some zeni on them and help share the load
Unfortunately, Tyger didn't drop much of consequence... first pop we nearly lost when both Frodo and Wuwu went down, but Connie stepped up and did great in blood tanking the doggie while everyone basically kept him alive for almost 10 minutes before Fro & Wu were able to take over again. 2nd Tyger was very smooth, but the only interesting drop was Enkidu's Cap, which went to me since... well, nobody else had it on their list ^^;; Personally, I put it up there just cos I hate having incomplete armor and I wanted a full Enkidu's Harness set! (I even have a full Scorpion Harness set... probably the only full set across all servers!)
Enkidu's Cap is pretty decent... DEX+3, AGI+3, Accuracy+8, Ranged Accuracy+8 and Subtle Blow +2. Overall, it replaces my O-hate permanently so I don't have to look at it anymore! I still find it kinda funny that my "endgame" armor seems to come in on specific slots. So far, I have 3 head pieces (Enkidu, Homam and Denali) and two hand pieces (Enkidu and Homam), but no other slots.
- Crazy party for Nyzul Isle
After a super-long 14 hour day, I felt like doing some Nyzul... plus I promised to take Connie sometime to give him a taste. We also grabbed our new LS member... (forgot how to spell the name) and put together a pretty crazy party. We had BLU/SCH, DRG/RDM, SAM/DNC, WAR/NIN, PLD/WAR and THF/NIN. Three non-traditional hybrid job combinations, and three "traditional" jobs. The basic idea is that I was to main heal + support with both Teia on DRG/RDM and Zuzu on SAM/DNC backing me up.
We ran into a few big problems... first is that people were careless and ended up aggroing a bunch of mobs unnecessarily (Mousse anyone?) With me as the only sleeper, it's really hard to keep a party alive while sleeping 3+ mobs ^^; Not going to name names, but people should know better ;) Second problem is that we ran into a series of crazy hard floors. Chariots are hard enough on their own, but we got Chariots + Gears. Got a series of Eliminate Enemy Leader floors which prematurely ended both climbs. Connie did great for his first time through, and we introduced our new people to the AP tradition of wiping for no good reason. :D
I still think that crazy job combinations can handle Nyzul. Just need more experimentation to figure it out :)
Let's see... what did I do...
- Managed to get killed twice in Einherjar!
Ok, so one of those times was basically the boss looking at me, and everyone else that the boss looked at went down as well, so that part wasn't too surprising. What did catch me by surprise was being targetted during the one giant pull. This happened before during Dynamis where near the end of a big pull, I end up being targetted by mobs as soon as they wake up. As far as I can tell, this is just based on the face that curing generates hate either doesn't dissapate, or does so very slowly. As a Dancer, I usually end up spamming Divine Waltz to keep my party healthy. Doing so cures a lot of HP over time, but mobs do not pay attention to this compared to Provoke and flash until someone on their hate list has been cured by a lot. I think I had a BLM in my party, so that explains that.
- Promy as WHM/SCH
This is kinda weird... I don't know why I felt like it, but i brought out my WHM after... over a full year of not playing the job. I just felt like playing it when Connie mentioned needing help for Promies. WHM was my initial job that I took up to 30 in order to unlock BLU. I had a good mix of equipment from leveling SCH to 37, sO i was actually decently equipped. WHM/SCH was a good combination too, with Light Arts helping a little for MP efficiency.
The promies themselves were fairly easy once we got the necessary items to actually win. Anima for both promies, and poison pots to prevent Sleepga. Ironically, between the exp from the missions themselves, and the one ENM we did, my WHM hit level 38 and now I need to go do two more teleport quests!
- ZNMs - Enkidu's Cap
We did 2x Tygers this week. Quite a few people did not have the 500 zeni necessary to enter the area for Tyger... There really is no excuse for this since we have the schedule up at least a week before the event, plus reminders in party chat, and finally, if you're doing ZNMs, you should be farming zeni in the first place! 500 zeni isn't even enough for a Tier I pop item. For every mob we fight, someone has to go out there to farm anywhere from 1-4k zeni. Newcomers are forgiven, of course, but everyone should have some zeni on them and help share the load
Unfortunately, Tyger didn't drop much of consequence... first pop we nearly lost when both Frodo and Wuwu went down, but Connie stepped up and did great in blood tanking the doggie while everyone basically kept him alive for almost 10 minutes before Fro & Wu were able to take over again. 2nd Tyger was very smooth, but the only interesting drop was Enkidu's Cap, which went to me since... well, nobody else had it on their list ^^;; Personally, I put it up there just cos I hate having incomplete armor and I wanted a full Enkidu's Harness set! (I even have a full Scorpion Harness set... probably the only full set across all servers!)
Enkidu's Cap is pretty decent... DEX+3, AGI+3, Accuracy+8, Ranged Accuracy+8 and Subtle Blow +2. Overall, it replaces my O-hate permanently so I don't have to look at it anymore! I still find it kinda funny that my "endgame" armor seems to come in on specific slots. So far, I have 3 head pieces (Enkidu, Homam and Denali) and two hand pieces (Enkidu and Homam), but no other slots.
- Crazy party for Nyzul Isle
After a super-long 14 hour day, I felt like doing some Nyzul... plus I promised to take Connie sometime to give him a taste. We also grabbed our new LS member... (forgot how to spell the name) and put together a pretty crazy party. We had BLU/SCH, DRG/RDM, SAM/DNC, WAR/NIN, PLD/WAR and THF/NIN. Three non-traditional hybrid job combinations, and three "traditional" jobs. The basic idea is that I was to main heal + support with both Teia on DRG/RDM and Zuzu on SAM/DNC backing me up.
We ran into a few big problems... first is that people were careless and ended up aggroing a bunch of mobs unnecessarily (Mousse anyone?) With me as the only sleeper, it's really hard to keep a party alive while sleeping 3+ mobs ^^; Not going to name names, but people should know better ;) Second problem is that we ran into a series of crazy hard floors. Chariots are hard enough on their own, but we got Chariots + Gears. Got a series of Eliminate Enemy Leader floors which prematurely ended both climbs. Connie did great for his first time through, and we introduced our new people to the AP tradition of wiping for no good reason. :D
I still think that crazy job combinations can handle Nyzul. Just need more experimentation to figure it out :)
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Offline
Fast post... my internet is dead at home. I'm completely offline, soooo... that means no events, and I'm not updating the other blogs!
Zurar has graciously taken over the ZNM blog. Nain has taken over the Limbus blog as well, so those two are taken care of. For the time being, I'm completely out of FFXI and all the events... it's kind of a relief really ;)
Anyway, for Nyzul, this week looks really empty. Utaru, Kurai & I are all out. If you all want to go do it tonight, that's up to you. So far, you have Ghiren, Zurar & Ashle who will be around. For replacement members, we have:
Flayer - Has already agreed to come... just send him a /tell and let him know what's up. Have him come RDM/WHM
Zerofaith - SAM/NIN. Wants to come, but is inexperienced. He'll be waiting for a /tell too
Additional backups:
- Lazymashi - We've gone before... may or may not be on
- Vertiigo - I think we've gone before. Utaru said that he would like to farm armor too
Stratagy wise, follow Ghiren. He knows what to do and has lead our Nyzul before!
Zurar has graciously taken over the ZNM blog. Nain has taken over the Limbus blog as well, so those two are taken care of. For the time being, I'm completely out of FFXI and all the events... it's kind of a relief really ;)
Anyway, for Nyzul, this week looks really empty. Utaru, Kurai & I are all out. If you all want to go do it tonight, that's up to you. So far, you have Ghiren, Zurar & Ashle who will be around. For replacement members, we have:
Flayer - Has already agreed to come... just send him a /tell and let him know what's up. Have him come RDM/WHM
Zerofaith - SAM/NIN. Wants to come, but is inexperienced. He'll be waiting for a /tell too
Additional backups:
- Lazymashi - We've gone before... may or may not be on
- Vertiigo - I think we've gone before. Utaru said that he would like to farm armor too
Stratagy wise, follow Ghiren. He knows what to do and has lead our Nyzul before!
Friday, October 31, 2008
Nyzul - Farming update
Whee... finally getting some decent Nyzul results from our farming!
Last night, we got:
Denali Bonnet (head) - Ascy
Goliard Clogs (feet) - Kurai
No drops on one run, and failed the final run because we basically had me weakened when we reached the boss floor and was running low on time.
Big thanks to Flayer & Zerofaith who filled in for a certain taru that decided to go play inside scary houses! It looks like we might have additional guests for the next few weeks too since both of our tarus are probably going to be out for at least part of the next few weeks. Flayer is going to join us as a replacement for most of these, including those next Thurs. He'll be wanting Goliard stuff!
Current armor pieces so far:
Ascy: Denali - Head
Ashle: Nothing
Ghiren: Nothing
Kurai: Goliard - Feet
Utaru: Askar - Body & Denali - Hands
Zurar: Askar - Feet
Guests:
Lazymashi: Askar - Head
Flayer: Nothing (wants Goliard)
Zerofaith: Nothing (wants Askar)
Ghiren & Ashle still have not gotten anything yet, so they're next up on the priority list. Ghiren would like Askar Feet & Body, so next week we're going to concentrate on floors 20 & 80. Ashle is being a nice guy as usual and is passing on stuff other people want, but he would like some nice Goliard gear for his up-and-coming RDM. Of course, when we have guests along, they're welcome to lot too for items that they can and will use.
Statistically speaking, if we get on average 2 armor drops per 4 runs, we should be done with getting everyone a full Nyzul armor set in about... 3-4 months... This is also assuming we maintain this drop rate and the items we want drop instead of getting a ton of Askar. That's not too bad given that we took 5 weeks to get up to floor 100 doing 7 runs a week. The climbing schedule was a little crazy, so I don't want to hold people to that for farming, but we can always still go on Sundays or Tuesdays.
Actually, I'd like to find out if there are any people who would like to go on Sundays or Tuesdays for farming runs. That way I can look out and pick up some guests to fill in for those who do not want to go and we can get some more armor for everyone. Sundays would be ideal, around 8:30-8:45pm PST gather time for up to 3 runs. That gives the tags enough time to refresh before Thursday. Let me know if you're up for that!
Last night, we got:
Denali Bonnet (head) - Ascy
Goliard Clogs (feet) - Kurai
No drops on one run, and failed the final run because we basically had me weakened when we reached the boss floor and was running low on time.
Big thanks to Flayer & Zerofaith who filled in for a certain taru that decided to go play inside scary houses! It looks like we might have additional guests for the next few weeks too since both of our tarus are probably going to be out for at least part of the next few weeks. Flayer is going to join us as a replacement for most of these, including those next Thurs. He'll be wanting Goliard stuff!
Current armor pieces so far:
Ascy: Denali - Head
Ashle: Nothing
Ghiren: Nothing
Kurai: Goliard - Feet
Utaru: Askar - Body & Denali - Hands
Zurar: Askar - Feet
Guests:
Lazymashi: Askar - Head
Flayer: Nothing (wants Goliard)
Zerofaith: Nothing (wants Askar)
Ghiren & Ashle still have not gotten anything yet, so they're next up on the priority list. Ghiren would like Askar Feet & Body, so next week we're going to concentrate on floors 20 & 80. Ashle is being a nice guy as usual and is passing on stuff other people want, but he would like some nice Goliard gear for his up-and-coming RDM. Of course, when we have guests along, they're welcome to lot too for items that they can and will use.
Statistically speaking, if we get on average 2 armor drops per 4 runs, we should be done with getting everyone a full Nyzul armor set in about... 3-4 months... This is also assuming we maintain this drop rate and the items we want drop instead of getting a ton of Askar. That's not too bad given that we took 5 weeks to get up to floor 100 doing 7 runs a week. The climbing schedule was a little crazy, so I don't want to hold people to that for farming, but we can always still go on Sundays or Tuesdays.
Actually, I'd like to find out if there are any people who would like to go on Sundays or Tuesdays for farming runs. That way I can look out and pick up some guests to fill in for those who do not want to go and we can get some more armor for everyone. Sundays would be ideal, around 8:30-8:45pm PST gather time for up to 3 runs. That gives the tags enough time to refresh before Thursday. Let me know if you're up for that!
Monday, October 27, 2008
Scholar - 1st impressions
Hey! That's weird... results show a sudden influx of votes for RDM and BRD, but no supporting evidence in the comments of the last post! Someone's stuffing the ballot box!
Anyway, this post is about Scholar and my initial impressions for the lowbie levels.
Magic
First up... the magic side of things. Having access to both black magic & white magic at essentially the same time feels very much like playing RDM. Basic play seems to be the same in a party... throw out some enfeebles, regen the tank, maybe throw out some nukes. Unlike RDM, I didn't really feel like meleeing with the weak staff or club, so after taking care of the party, I'd end up /healing once I'm comfortable that the party has enough health to last till the end of the mob.
After getting Light Arts & Dark Arts, it took a little more thinking and planning as to when I was going to cast spells. Due to the 1 minute recast on switching arts, I'd throw out all the White Magic enfeebles and cast regen before switching to Dark Arts and finishing off with Black Magic enfeebles and nukes. Regen really makes main healing easy, and SCH getting it earlier than WHM makes me a happy schoolgirl!
As expected, I'm enjoying the healer side of the job a lot more than the nuker side...Nuking just isn't that fun, and level sync is making it even worse since my elemental magic skill is lagging behind what it should be. While level sync has made it a lot easier to put parties together, I'm finding it a little annoying cos my skills are lagging behind, and the satisfaction of leveling up is taken away when I realize that I can't use the new skills or spells I just obtained until the sync'ed person levels >.>
Strategems
So, I found that the fun part on SCH came with the various strategems... saving half MP cost when casting a big nuke makes for very efficient nuking, and being able to regen a couple of melees back to back helps a lot when you're trying to get through a cycle. Basically, it feels a lot like forcing Conserve MP & Fast Cast to come on whenever you want!
Tabula Rasa really shines with these active... It kinda feels like a miniture version of Chainspell or Manafont. I tried Tabula Rasa out twice in parties, once for an emergency situation where we needed some Cures fast among many people, and another to nuke the last mob in an exp party down. Being able to regen a whole party without waiting for that recast timer is quite effective, and doing a ton of nukes for half MP cost almost made it feel like a manafont nuke!
Sublimation
Sublimation is niiiiiiiiice! Being able to pool up a bunch of MP and taking it out when you need it is just too cool. It effectively expands my MP pool by 25%. Since I don't have Stoneskin yet, it's necessary to turn Sublimation on when getting up from /heal, then switching it out before /healing again. I've taken to essentially using up my MP while Sublimation is up, then taking out the store before /healing, or using it as necessary.
Subjob choice
I didn't realize what a difference the various subs would do for SCH. I had originally figured on just going SCH/WHM until level 40, then switching to SCH/RDM for en-ga spells. Turns out, there are good reasons for choosing one sub over another.
SCH/WHM: Gains access to White Magic enfeebles (Dia, Paralyze, Slow), the Bar-ra spells. Especially important when you need to Bar-ra groups of people. In the Jungle, I went as SCH/BLM once, and regretted it as I lost access to Barsleepra
SCH/BLM: Gets the Black Magic Enfeebles (Bio, Blind, Bind), and the other ones like Choke, etc. and of course, Elemental Seal. My last party had me coming as a nuker, but I showed up as SCH/RDM... could probably have done a little more damage if I came as SCH/BLM
SCH/RDM: Gets all the enfeebles from both schools of magic, but loses the -ra spells and elemental debuffs... probably still the best overall choice for versatility, but there are some situations that call for the other two subs.
Soooo... looks like I'll have to finish leveling /BLM & /RDM at some point so I can switch between all 3 as necessary. Both BLM & RDM are at level 18, so that's another 19 levels to finish them up as subjobs. I'd really want to get RDM up before leveling SCH past 40 since I still think Ascension & En-ga is nice and broken!
Scholar as a Sub
This will be quite interesting... the obvious benefit is of course, Sublimation. Other benefits include:
- Job traits: /SCH gets Clear Mind II, Conserve MP and Max MP boost. This means I no longer have to set my Conserve MP spells
- Light Arts: Since this boosts healing skill... supposedly it actually helps with BLU heals like Magic Fruit & Healing Breeze
- Strategems: Being able to cast Raise faster, or for less MP should be useful in various situations
- Addendems: Access to Dispel, and Aspir... this still needs some testing to see how effective it will be subbed.
The main place I'll be trying this out is Nyzul Isle since in Nyzul, just having Sublimation would be a huge upgrade as we do not have a RDM or BRD in our group!
Unfortunately, SCH will have to be put on hiatas for the time being... I want to level up at least the RDM sub, possibly both subjobs before going further, and I actually need to raise some gil! SCH spells are starting to get expensive, especially those that can only be purchased from vendors, and I do need some gil before taking it further!
Anyway, this post is about Scholar and my initial impressions for the lowbie levels.
Magic
First up... the magic side of things. Having access to both black magic & white magic at essentially the same time feels very much like playing RDM. Basic play seems to be the same in a party... throw out some enfeebles, regen the tank, maybe throw out some nukes. Unlike RDM, I didn't really feel like meleeing with the weak staff or club, so after taking care of the party, I'd end up /healing once I'm comfortable that the party has enough health to last till the end of the mob.
After getting Light Arts & Dark Arts, it took a little more thinking and planning as to when I was going to cast spells. Due to the 1 minute recast on switching arts, I'd throw out all the White Magic enfeebles and cast regen before switching to Dark Arts and finishing off with Black Magic enfeebles and nukes. Regen really makes main healing easy, and SCH getting it earlier than WHM makes me a happy schoolgirl!
As expected, I'm enjoying the healer side of the job a lot more than the nuker side...Nuking just isn't that fun, and level sync is making it even worse since my elemental magic skill is lagging behind what it should be. While level sync has made it a lot easier to put parties together, I'm finding it a little annoying cos my skills are lagging behind, and the satisfaction of leveling up is taken away when I realize that I can't use the new skills or spells I just obtained until the sync'ed person levels >.>
Strategems
So, I found that the fun part on SCH came with the various strategems... saving half MP cost when casting a big nuke makes for very efficient nuking, and being able to regen a couple of melees back to back helps a lot when you're trying to get through a cycle. Basically, it feels a lot like forcing Conserve MP & Fast Cast to come on whenever you want!
Tabula Rasa really shines with these active... It kinda feels like a miniture version of Chainspell or Manafont. I tried Tabula Rasa out twice in parties, once for an emergency situation where we needed some Cures fast among many people, and another to nuke the last mob in an exp party down. Being able to regen a whole party without waiting for that recast timer is quite effective, and doing a ton of nukes for half MP cost almost made it feel like a manafont nuke!
Sublimation
Sublimation is niiiiiiiiice! Being able to pool up a bunch of MP and taking it out when you need it is just too cool. It effectively expands my MP pool by 25%. Since I don't have Stoneskin yet, it's necessary to turn Sublimation on when getting up from /heal, then switching it out before /healing again. I've taken to essentially using up my MP while Sublimation is up, then taking out the store before /healing, or using it as necessary.
Subjob choice
I didn't realize what a difference the various subs would do for SCH. I had originally figured on just going SCH/WHM until level 40, then switching to SCH/RDM for en-ga spells. Turns out, there are good reasons for choosing one sub over another.
SCH/WHM: Gains access to White Magic enfeebles (Dia, Paralyze, Slow), the Bar-ra spells. Especially important when you need to Bar-ra groups of people. In the Jungle, I went as SCH/BLM once, and regretted it as I lost access to Barsleepra
SCH/BLM: Gets the Black Magic Enfeebles (Bio, Blind, Bind), and the other ones like Choke, etc. and of course, Elemental Seal. My last party had me coming as a nuker, but I showed up as SCH/RDM... could probably have done a little more damage if I came as SCH/BLM
SCH/RDM: Gets all the enfeebles from both schools of magic, but loses the -ra spells and elemental debuffs... probably still the best overall choice for versatility, but there are some situations that call for the other two subs.
Soooo... looks like I'll have to finish leveling /BLM & /RDM at some point so I can switch between all 3 as necessary. Both BLM & RDM are at level 18, so that's another 19 levels to finish them up as subjobs. I'd really want to get RDM up before leveling SCH past 40 since I still think Ascension & En-ga is nice and broken!
Scholar as a Sub
This will be quite interesting... the obvious benefit is of course, Sublimation. Other benefits include:
- Job traits: /SCH gets Clear Mind II, Conserve MP and Max MP boost. This means I no longer have to set my Conserve MP spells
- Light Arts: Since this boosts healing skill... supposedly it actually helps with BLU heals like Magic Fruit & Healing Breeze
- Strategems: Being able to cast Raise faster, or for less MP should be useful in various situations
- Addendems: Access to Dispel, and Aspir... this still needs some testing to see how effective it will be subbed.
The main place I'll be trying this out is Nyzul Isle since in Nyzul, just having Sublimation would be a huge upgrade as we do not have a RDM or BRD in our group!
Unfortunately, SCH will have to be put on hiatas for the time being... I want to level up at least the RDM sub, possibly both subjobs before going further, and I actually need to raise some gil! SCH spells are starting to get expensive, especially those that can only be purchased from vendors, and I do need some gil before taking it further!
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
More blogging for procastination!
The ironic part about being so busy is... that... sometimes I just get into a mood of not really wanting to do anything, and that tends to be when I update my blog ^^; I'm really busy this week, with deadlines on Thursday, plus lots of other things going on that I'm in no mood to really do, sooooooooooo... here's another blog post!
Yet another poll is up, this time focusing on the possible {Support Role Job}s that I might possibly pick up next. My exploration into PLD as voted did not end well. I ended up being super-bored with the job, partially because tanking at lower levels mainly consists of letting the PL take hate, partially because trying to cast spells while being hit is an exercise of frustration when your spell is interrupted. At least with NIN you know that if you're being hit, it's your fault for not counting shadows correctly!
So, going back to the jobs that seem enjoyable, at least to me...
Scholar
Ok, the main reason why I'm leaning towards this job is... it's brand new, seems really flexible and... it's not BRD4life or RDM4life >.> From what I've seen, it seems to be a weaker combination of both a WHM & BLM combined into one. You get all the -na spells, along with Raise II & Reraise II, but you can also switch to BLM mode and nuke to a reasonable degree, even Dispel. Just about the only utility spell you can't get at all is Haste.
Other considerations... how useful would it be as a compliment to my existing jobs? Considering that I can do a good portion of "Back Line Job" roles as BLU/WHM including -na spells, Diamondhide, and even an occassional Haste via Diffusion-Refueling, the WHM side of things wouldn't be too big of a deal. Dancer is of course, a frontline healer, so if it were a situation where I'd be main healing, I'd much rather take Dancer out. The other side is the nuking side, and I'm not certain how well SCH would hold out when it comes to nuking big things such as Proto-Omega. Anyone with any experience with this?
Red Mage
The big reason why I'm hesitant to level this, or BRD is... the attitude of RDM/BRD4life that seems to be around. I'd be really annoyed that... if after I leveled up RDM, that people would expect or demand that I play RDM only instead of BLU or DNC. The sad part is that I actually like RDM. It's a flexible job, capable of doing a lot of things both in a group and solo, and most importantly, is not dependent on /heal to get MP back.
The last time I leveled RDM was... during an age where WHM was the preferred healer, BLMs were the core of a party with skillchains & magic bursts, and a RDM was a last pick after you got the tank(PLD) and other melees. I was a frontline RDM that would keep up a haste/refresh cycle while fully enfeebling the mob, backup healing and magic bursting together with a BLM. That was also a time when I experimented with RDM/BRD for even more MP regen, even though it nearly drove me crazy xD
Leveling RDM again would have some other challenges. For starters, from what I understand, a full array of elemetal staves is now expected past level 50? I'd also probably want to pick up various +MND or +INT accessories for the job, which would represent quite bit of gil. Time for more NM camping? Moldy earring, Joy-toy... not sure what else I'd need for a RDM equipment wise. Oh, and finally I'd want to go unlock and level up a DRK sub o.o; That's a large investment of gil & inventory slots...
Bard
So, BRD seems to be an interesting job, if only for my recent interest in pulling. It's a great supporting job, and getting positioning right for the mages and melees is a headache at any level past 25. Being able to go out, pull a few mobs and sleep them without any concern about MP usage makes it seem like fun in a merit party situation. BRD equipment is mainly CHR based, so some of it would overlap with what DNC uses. I intend to pick up a Delta Earring from Einherjar just for the +2 Chr at some point.
My only concern about BRD is that it seems that it would get too boring under other circumstances. In emergency situations, there's not much a Bard can do to turn things around in a pinch. The nature of the job and the songs mean that the abilities take time to show effectiveness. Also, the job is basically performing the same 4 songs over and over again. It's busy, but it seems highly repetitive...
Conclusion
In any case, I won't be leveling anything seriously at least until December when this quarter of school is finally over @.@ Currently, the jobs sit at SCH12, RDM18 and BRD16, so they're all pretty low at the moment and really need some fun lowbie parties to get up to the levels which they start showing their own job traits... BRD25, RDM41, and... I have no idea when SCH starts becoming unique.
If you vote on the poll, put a comment in this post on why you voted for the job and try to convince me why I should level it :)
Yet another poll is up, this time focusing on the possible {Support Role Job}s that I might possibly pick up next. My exploration into PLD as voted did not end well. I ended up being super-bored with the job, partially because tanking at lower levels mainly consists of letting the PL take hate, partially because trying to cast spells while being hit is an exercise of frustration when your spell is interrupted. At least with NIN you know that if you're being hit, it's your fault for not counting shadows correctly!
So, going back to the jobs that seem enjoyable, at least to me...
Scholar
Ok, the main reason why I'm leaning towards this job is... it's brand new, seems really flexible and... it's not BRD4life or RDM4life >.> From what I've seen, it seems to be a weaker combination of both a WHM & BLM combined into one. You get all the -na spells, along with Raise II & Reraise II, but you can also switch to BLM mode and nuke to a reasonable degree, even Dispel. Just about the only utility spell you can't get at all is Haste.
Other considerations... how useful would it be as a compliment to my existing jobs? Considering that I can do a good portion of "Back Line Job" roles as BLU/WHM including -na spells, Diamondhide, and even an occassional Haste via Diffusion-Refueling, the WHM side of things wouldn't be too big of a deal. Dancer is of course, a frontline healer, so if it were a situation where I'd be main healing, I'd much rather take Dancer out. The other side is the nuking side, and I'm not certain how well SCH would hold out when it comes to nuking big things such as Proto-Omega. Anyone with any experience with this?
Red Mage
The big reason why I'm hesitant to level this, or BRD is... the attitude of RDM/BRD4life that seems to be around. I'd be really annoyed that... if after I leveled up RDM, that people would expect or demand that I play RDM only instead of BLU or DNC. The sad part is that I actually like RDM. It's a flexible job, capable of doing a lot of things both in a group and solo, and most importantly, is not dependent on /heal to get MP back.
The last time I leveled RDM was... during an age where WHM was the preferred healer, BLMs were the core of a party with skillchains & magic bursts, and a RDM was a last pick after you got the tank(PLD) and other melees. I was a frontline RDM that would keep up a haste/refresh cycle while fully enfeebling the mob, backup healing and magic bursting together with a BLM. That was also a time when I experimented with RDM/BRD for even more MP regen, even though it nearly drove me crazy xD
Leveling RDM again would have some other challenges. For starters, from what I understand, a full array of elemetal staves is now expected past level 50? I'd also probably want to pick up various +MND or +INT accessories for the job, which would represent quite bit of gil. Time for more NM camping? Moldy earring, Joy-toy... not sure what else I'd need for a RDM equipment wise. Oh, and finally I'd want to go unlock and level up a DRK sub o.o; That's a large investment of gil & inventory slots...
Bard
So, BRD seems to be an interesting job, if only for my recent interest in pulling. It's a great supporting job, and getting positioning right for the mages and melees is a headache at any level past 25. Being able to go out, pull a few mobs and sleep them without any concern about MP usage makes it seem like fun in a merit party situation. BRD equipment is mainly CHR based, so some of it would overlap with what DNC uses. I intend to pick up a Delta Earring from Einherjar just for the +2 Chr at some point.
My only concern about BRD is that it seems that it would get too boring under other circumstances. In emergency situations, there's not much a Bard can do to turn things around in a pinch. The nature of the job and the songs mean that the abilities take time to show effectiveness. Also, the job is basically performing the same 4 songs over and over again. It's busy, but it seems highly repetitive...
Conclusion
In any case, I won't be leveling anything seriously at least until December when this quarter of school is finally over @.@ Currently, the jobs sit at SCH12, RDM18 and BRD16, so they're all pretty low at the moment and really need some fun lowbie parties to get up to the levels which they start showing their own job traits... BRD25, RDM41, and... I have no idea when SCH starts becoming unique.
If you vote on the poll, put a comment in this post on why you voted for the job and try to convince me why I should level it :)
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