Final Fantasy XI Then...

[Tsingtao]

Was good to get my level 38 katana out the way and the JSE subligar for NIN all something of a bonus really. Was a shame Mahisha ate the whole night but it was productive and its best to do as much as you can when you're there.

Think Rabs got the codex with a lot of 997.

What else are we still after from the aquaducts, must be people still after subligars. Its not urgent but I would like thief though I join the end of that queue I think with Saerik wanting one as well and probably others. We have a Sinister Mask and the Dagger to get and need to finish 203 for Grimm so next time I'll come on thief.

As for server transfers you can't restart now on Seraph if you want to join us.

[Darwock]

I'll be there this evening, like I said I've become obsessed. edit - I couldn't xp tonight anyway as I've got my telly programmes from 9pm.

I'm not hopeful though, reason being I was previously in there at around 10:30pm on the saturday night, at which time Mahisha wasn't present. I was in there on sunday morning, right through to mid-afternoon (on the laptop while watching the GP).. only left to do that ENM & assault, then went back... was in there all evening checking during the ad breaks for 24, checked again last thing at night.. he never appeared.

It *could* be entirely coinicidental, but the Aqueducts are completely empty of people most of the time, and as demonstrated by us last night there would typically be a lot of debris left if there was a group at work in there (dead bodies etc). I'd be very surprised if there'd been a kill during one of the periods where i wasn't actually there, but it is possible.

[djtickle]

Not a bad night for me, i Exp'd my War for a while hes almost 31 now, then did some exp with my drk and hit 53 again.

Then after my grp ended I warped out of quicksand caves to my home point in Al Zahbi.

BAMM im thrown stright back into the fight as Al Zahbi was under attack by beastmen. WOW its was insane, never seen anything like it in my life. There was +600 people just running around killing everything insite and these beastmen were IT to everyone i spoke to some 70+

Sadley i didnt get much exp on the first wave as i lagged out. Second wave got some, and i lagged out on the thrid again which pissed me off cause i gave it my all.

I only died once though which was quite good as there seem'd to be alot of high lvl bodies lieing about waiting for R3.

It gave me a fun feeling which i havent had from FF in a while, maybe thats because it was just crazy!

So when are we doing the lvl 30ish EXP Party again?

[Darwock]

I can't do that xp group now until friday at least... plenty of time for you to get your thief from 9 up to level 16-17 to use as a sub

[Tsingtao]

I'm not around for a while next xp session for me that I can gaurantee would be next Monday assuming we are taking on Ouryu on Sunday.

[Tobal]

Yep you should really work on your Thf and take it to 30/37 using War as it's sub. Thf and war are both vitial subs for Drk. Then you can use a thf sub to take war to 37. This will also allow you to get SATA and Flee(as well as teasure hunter 1).

[mikewl]

Last night the next level curse struck again.

I set off to get the 3k exp I needed to get level 70, all is going well with just a few 100exp to go when I my pathway pulling mobs got blocked, I quickly died with a mob on top of me, so reraise was pointless.

HP and logged needing 500exp more than when I originally set off.

On another subject, I soon will have some new options for DD gear but weighing up the stats im left unsure which to go for.

At 70 there are some nice Attack + gear but this would result in a considerable drop in + Str and Dex, and even some Acc, so I guess the question is how worthwhile is + Attack compared to Str Dex.

Also, no I cant afford a Hauby, Hauberk or anything over 1mil.

[Tsingtao]

THF is quite unpopular sub 33, or I found it to be you might want NIN to 20 to speed up your invites. Its that time of the game when levelling need lots of subs for optimal performance. DRK definitely needs the THF sub post 60, most people own't invite without one.

As for attack gear etc I'd really recommend the haubie, yes its a lot but rice gardening on 4 mules will pay for one in about 6 weeks. Its an amazing peice, really the king of kings unless you can wear the Hauberk which I can't. some of the new armours are nice as well I'm think of a pair of Sipah Distanas for hands for more +STR. Ecven on PLD damage up is noticable of WSes macroing in the haubie.

[djtickle]

I can't do that xp group now until friday at least... plenty of time for you to get your thief from 9 up to level 16-17 to use as a sub

Yip thats what i was thinking, and with tsing not being about until monday gives me plenty of time to hit Thf hard

Good point about NIN though, apart from equipment is nin expensive to lvl for the ninjitsu spells? As i have no norg fame at the moment.

As i want to get a decent sub up for say monday it doenst give me much time to be raiseing fame and lvling also.

What u guys think?

[Tsingtao]

I'll be around but I just can't say when or for how long, Darwock away Wednesday and Thursday. Friday is well Friday night so I think a night out is required and then stag do on Saturday with hopefully Ouryu on Sunday.

I'd just raise THF for now NIN has no value for a THF sub till 20 then you get dual weild from you sub. As for Norg fame you'll nbeed to set asside about 6 - 8 hours of farming yag necklaces to raise it high enough and get Utsusemi:Ichi.

The quest itself is easy but time consuming, you'll need a help I think at 53 but not to much.

[Tobal]

End Game its more Str vs Vit than Attack vs Def, plus your axe weapon?s rely on STR. Even when I had over 700+att(food,beserk,songs,warcry) compared a normal 500, it would at best do 10-20 more damage a hit, Attack needs STR to be able to hit higher.

As I understand it

STR gives you the Minimum and Maximum Damage, Attack gives up an average consistency to hit close to your max damage.

I would rather go for Acc over Att/damage as hitting for 5/10 damage at the cost of missing more isn?t worth it.


As for Thf subs, the only benefits of NIN are slightly better AGI, and shadows for pulling which you won?t get till lvl24 anyway and at lvl20 dual wield which will offer the benefit of off-handing a Stat heavy dagger... but if you a good thief you shouldn?t be taking hits when pulling or using SATA(past 30) so war is perfectly serviceable. I wouldn?t use any over sub pre20 for thf.

[Tsingtao]

As I understand it STR and Attack work in a similar way to VIT and defence.

STR increases you're theoretical maximum damamge, the more attack you load the closer you get to your maximum damamge with more consistency. I used to use defendr on PLD for balancing VIT vs DEF guess you could use Beserk in the same way.

With more def you get hit for a narrow range of damamge, if you're suffering eratic spikey damage you need more def. Once you damamge has settled to a steady amount within a good range and racking on more def has little impact its time for VIT. VIT lowers the damage received curve within which the damage taken sits.

So in short its a balance

[C']

DJ there really is no need to concern yourself with NIN just yet. As a WAR SJ it really is second fiddle to /thf until lvl50 (there are a couple of exceptions) If I was you I would focus on the following:

Level THF to 20. This can be done perfectly well with a WAR subjob. When THF is 20, your WAR has a suitable subjob up to 40 and you probably only plan to do WAR37 for now anyway.

After that, if you want to level THF more you can think about NIN too. Leveling NIN need not be expensive if you only plan to level it to 18 (to allow you to sub it on THF up to 37). Only 2 spells are necessary up to then, both of which can be questable with a bit of prep work beforehand.

I realise this may sound like a lot of effort with lots of job levelling but when you get to 66 and start bussing out 1000+ damage SATA Spinning Slash weapon skills it will all be worth it

Plus, more levelling = more beastman seals which means more BCNMs to help towards that lovely Haubergeon that I?m sure you will want

[Tsingtao]

Some fantastic tales starting to come out of n00b land again, its nice to see them back. Warriors with Polearms aiming to be DRGs, subless warriors in the jungle aiming for NIN, underlevelled subs as somewhere a rumour got out its ok below 30.

Had a super one this morning must have been super n00b, invited me to party with them I had to decline being 46 levels higher and explain the whole xp thing. My favourite to date was an invite from a 26 SMN to go kill ramuh for them ><

I'm starting to enjoy this, may have to get back to the dunes on RDM ^^

On the upside I've no seen beggars with this wave, the give me gilz u r high level bunch

[C']

I saw a little Taru last week in Port San d?Oria by the AH setting off fireworks whilst asking in say for ?spair [sic] gil??. I did actually feel kind of sorry for the little guy but not enough to get that deep into my pockets.

Things is I may be more tempted to give people that little bit of incentive that may be the difference between someone deciding the game isn?t for them and someone carrying on and becoming a valuable community member, but part of me can never be certain that the person in question is not just a high level player on a mule out for a bit of easy gil.

I wonder how many genuine newbies have given up and missed out on what can be a fabulous game because the higher level players like myself and become a little cynical and jaded? ;_;