Final Fantasy XI Then...

[C']

Was fortunate to get Suzaku's Sune-ate last night:



4/5 on the set now with just Osode to go. Really the only non-Kirin drop I need from Sky are Wyrmal Abjuration: Hands to get a pair of Blood Finger Gauntlets then it's all Kirin for Osode, Dryadic Abjuration: Body (low priority) and Wyrmal Abjuration: Legs.

Also, did Jailer of Hope which was incredibly fun to tank and Hope Torque dropped. Decided (against the protests of others) that I wouldn't lot as it was only my second attendance at a Sea event but look forward to next one.

EDIT - Dj, I registered on the site but I think it needs admin authorisation. Can you sort that?

[C']

Currently up to A Manifest Problem on the Windurst WOTG quest line Dj so should be at the point you are soon.

With some direction from Rep, I also finished the Bastok storyline up to it’s current point (I had the last quest remaining). The cutscenes for this were absolutely superb with some great twists.

->Open Spoiler<-

When the Antica burst out of the sarcophagus was a proper OH ****! Moment then in pops Zeid and kicks its ass. Also, the dynamics between him and Voler were so intense. I thought he was going to rip Volker apart when he dared to use his given name (War Cloud) rather than Zeid

Really good stuff. S-E get these cutscenes better and better with each expansion.

[Rep]

NPC squads are spawning in the town zones with chatlog notifications that the groups have undertaken the stalwart defence of Southern San d'Oria [S]/Bastok Market [S]/Windurst Waters [S]. Nothing ever happens so I'm not sure why they appear?

Is it fooked?

No



Also having the same problem as Rare, i've signed up but not been authorised.

[Kerushi]

haha! "Autherisation for you to engage the enemy has beed denied ... have a nice death"

[Rep]

A bit of advice needed, i'm not really up on the melee side of things so could use some recommendations. I'm after some new clubs, but trying to decide what's best. There's a really nice selection so it could be down to personal preference.

For mainhand i'm guessing this for better for Hexa strikes.



As for the offhand (or maybe even main) it's hard to choose. I don't know if i should be going for DPS or stats.
This which i'm 0/1 on, i imagine is better for tougher stuff.



Perdu has a high DPS (10.83) compared to other clubs, atk+14 and acc+5 while TP is under 100%. Is it worth it?



Not forgetting the Pirate ones, which i'll try and get anyway.

[Kerushi]

it all depends on what are the modifiers for hexa strike. but str + acc seem a good combination fot wacking things usually

[C']

According to Wiki Hexa Strike is:

Delivers a six-hit attack. Chance of critical varies with TP. (Modifiers - STR20&#37; MND20%)

Remember if you are dual-wielding, you also get an off hand strike per WS so it is technically 7 hits.

Generally,for multi hitting weapon skills I'd choose accuracy over modifiers if it came down to it purely because, if you don't land all the hits, your damage is likely to suffer more than any benefit from having extra STR/MND would offer. This in mind, I'd disregard Sea Robber Cudgel immediately.

I'm not sure if Hexa is the same, but I find that the crit modifier can make the damage of Blade: Jin (3 hits, TP=critical) so variable indicating that critical hit activation (or Double Attack proc which won't be a factor for you) is key to get the big numbers. This is why my most NIN will sacrifice a Fudo (DMG:39 Crit+3%) for a lower damage Senjuinrikio (DMG:38 Crit+6%) as we get more benefit from the increased critical hit rate. With this in mind, I'd really think a Morgenstern is your best mainhand choice (the critical hit rate +% on these weapons only applies to the hand it is equipped in btw, hence why you mainhand it as 6/7 hits of Hexa Strike are with mainhand).

Offhand is a little trickier as I can see cases for both Perdu and Seawolf Cudgel. I think if you need the accuracy (i.e. consistenly not landing all WS hits) go with the Seawolf (Acc+15 is godly). Otherwise, Perdu would be best for the speedier attacks.

[Tsingtao]

Ok I'd say sea robber and morgenstern, if you are genuinely looking to do damage with clubs also you need to go get your optical hat, reverend mail and I'd throw in a brutal earring for TP gain.

With the WHM haubie and o-hat I'm guessing you could use sea wolf as well over morgenstern. Morgenstern is at least easy(ish) to get. Comes from contaimated coloseum which can be soloed by RDM and maybe BLM.

[talizker]

"Final Fantasy XI Team Talks Patches, Future MMOs, and More - Four devs sit down for an extremely in-depth discussion"

http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3168323

[C']

Was just about to post that. An interesting interview but 3 guesses which part made me (metaphorically) spit out my Corn Flakes in disgust this morning...

So much of what they said about NIN had me really worried as they genuinely don't seem to see a problem with the job which is completely at odds with what 95&#37; of the NIN playerbase (what little there is of it left) feel (seriously, how often do you see NIN at end game camps/events lately?)

What's worse is the answers they gave. Gonna multi-quote this one.

The simple reason behind the katana being A-minus is because the Ninja can dual wield, so we wanted to give a little bit of a penalty to keep it from being too strong. So that's why it became A-minus.

hmmm, contradiction here much? MNK says "Hi!" Maybe in the days of "weaker" 2 handers this could be an arguable case but not any more. For a NIN coming up through the levels and in merits this is something that NIN really needs.

As for the Jubaku and Dokumori, the Ni spells you mention, they do exist, but because the Ichi are so powerful, by bringing in the Ni on those certain spells, they would make the Ninja stronger than the Red Mage in those sets, and we didn't want to do that.

I'm speechless (almost ). A 3HP/tick poison effect isn't going to break anything and giving NIN access to a more potent Paralyze isn't going to make the playerbase suddenly decide not to invite RDM any more (Hint to S-E: RDM are invited for Refresh, Haste etc.) Let's not forget also that a well merited/geared Slow 2 is of greater potency than Hojo: Ni so again this wouldn't be an issue at 75.

As for why Paladins are so much better at keeping hate because they have more abilities...because the Ninja is a tank that tanks by avoiding damage, by giving them the type of abilities that would make it easier to hold hate by themselves, that would make them so powerful -- more powerful than the Paladins -- that we think this would be the problem. So we would rather have them maintain what they have now and work with other jobs to help maintain that hate, rather than taking all that hate themselves and going beyond the abilities of a Paladin.

This is the real kicker that indicates S-E really don't seem to understand what is happening in their own game. Do they not realise that any half-decent PLD, at an event that matters is going PLD/NIN? *shock horror* they are tanking by "avoiding damage". To be honest, I don't need more hate abilities. NIN/DRK is actually better at generating Cumulative Enmity and keeping it at the cap than PLD (who can spike Volatile Enmity to insane levels very quickly with Sentinel) but the advantage in this area is very slight and outweighed by the PLD's near indestructable nature and self-sufficiency (a PLD has to be pretty poor these days to actually die). The issue is survivability to those (increasingly more common) attacks that Utsusemi is wholly ineffective against.

[C']

ok, a happier post now. Picked up a couple of new items last night.

Firstly, Theirreplaceable kindly allocated one of the sky trigger farming sessions to Bomb Queen instead and 5 of us (myself included) alked away with one of these:



Main reason I wanted it was HP build (mostly for Spirit's Within). Think I'm sitting at around 1600HP now before food. Needs moar Gigant Mantle. However, it will be used when tanking big stuff with no fire-based attacks in place of Bloodbead.

Later on, I realised it was New Moon so after duoing Leviathan with Rep (Water Belt - gogo Fire Resist build), headed over to Uleguerand Range with a stack of San d'Orian Carrots and popped Black Coney. Went 1/4 but scored this:



Not sure if I'll get much use out of it but it intrigues me enough to test if there is any moonphase where it may actually outperform my Eurytos'.

[Kerushi]

the trick to the moonpahse may be in the history behind that bow.

[talizker]

Also, we're thinking of making a new type of place where people can level or a type of enemy or a battlefield, where you don't need a tank to level. Maybe instead of adjusting the jobs, we could be adjusting of the monsters, so you wouldn't necessarily need that type of tank to level.

Interesting comments, the second point appear to suggest they could adjust the way the monster attack if the tank isn't a PLD or NIN. Or maybe they just mean specific monsters but then that would make things weird with a 'proper' tank... I am glad that i'm not responsable for the balancing issues vs keeping a player base happy in a mmorpg.

Good interview, now that i've fully read it...!

[Kerushi]

i think they will create a new area like nyzul with loopy mobs in WoTG i guess thats what i think that means ... loopy to "tank jobs". its the easiest way around it ... it will also probabily mean that BSTs and other solo jobs might ramsack the areas.

[C']

We have these mobs.

They're called Campaign Fortifications. no tanks needed at all (just a high boredom threshold).