Returning RDM75/Nin37 - Solo at 99?

[Eice]

Hello!

My name is Eice, I played FFXI back in 2007 to 2010. I stopped before the level cap increased past 75, but for a while solo'ed (a little) as RDM75/NIN37 (still have WHM at 38, BLM at 37, and SCH at 37).

So, what all has changed specifically since the time when the increased the new level limits?

Is it any easier to solo as RDM at 99?

I like the idea of going back to RDM99/WHM49 and being able to teleport myself everywhere ... any ability to solo as RDM/WHM? Even just old-world content? LOL (half joking, but half serious here).


I got my Clothcraft to 89. Any real changed to crafting? Or is everything still mostly broken and useless for money making?


I'm on Leviathan now (I was on Remora back when I started ... apparently they got rid of it ... darn).


Looking forward to coming back ... just so much nostalgia :)

[Arcon]

RDM can still solo very well, but there's not much worth soloing that didn't exist back then. Most newer content focuses on killing mobs as fast as possible, and RDM is still horrible at speedy kills. It is still excellent at all other kinds of soloing though, anything that focuses survival over speedy kills, it's just not much related to new content. Some people solo NMs inside Abyssea for a challenge, but that's about all I can think of right now.

If you have some questions about content, can send me a /tell ingame, I'm also on Leviathan.

[Eice]

Yea, I kind of figured new content wouldn't be solo'ed. I was mainly curious about 1-75 content that previously was a challenge to solo. Genbu was fun (in a humorous sort of way) ... I used to solo it and kite just for fun and pretend I was walking a pet :-)

But, for instance, is RDM99/WHM49 capable of solo'ing any old-world stuff based on ... [insert new spell or ... better stats or ... whatever is new] ... like the AF armors for jobs or missions (particularly missions, I am Rank 10, but haven't done all the ToAU missions).

I'm sure I sound pretty old and rusted ... I haven't been around for about two years or more. I have about 0 clue what's new.


I'm just hoping that I can pop up to RDM99/WHM49 and teleport anywhere (because I'll have all the important Teles) and be able to walk all around the world and not fear death.


I am updating and it's going to take 9 more hours, but when I get in game if I remember I might send a tell :-)

[Mirage]

There is almost no old content that can't be soloed nowadays. The few exceptions there are would be things that summon a bunch of adds that then do some huge AoE move right away and/or can't be slept.

You can probably just melee genbu to death without problems now, for example.

Due to level correction, you will probably have good evasion vs for example sky gods, even as a rdm. Additionally, you will resist their magic a lot more.

[Arcon]

Oh yeah, almost all content is soloable by RDM, with a few select exceptions. Even RDM/WHM, not so much due to new spells though, but mainly due to the level difference. 24 levels is a lot to gain, and brought a lot of new gear with it as well. Your magic accuracy will be nearly capped even with lower skills on most older content, while you get to have a large amount of refresh in your idle set. You also get access to Refresh II, which helps a bit, as well as Gravity II, even if it's not very different from Gravity.

However, /WHM does not offer much more than /SCH does, and /SCH has a lot of advantages. You may wanna consider that if you have it, or are willing to invest in leveling it.

[Eice]

Well I have Nin40,Sch40,Whm38,Blm37 so I am partway to 50 with all of those.

Mainly, I was curious about /Whm49 because I would have access to all of the teleport spells, so no matter where I am I can just teleport wherever I want to! Of course I wouldn't have Warp to get back home ...

I was trying to think of the best job combination to be as self-sufficient as humanly possible (in fighting, but also in traveling and such). I hate asking for teles, just gets a little tiring.


It's good to know about the ability to solo older content though! I'm guessing Sea won't be that way though because of the cap when you go into promy.

I would like to solo a lot of the older NMs. Never got my JoyToy back then ... would love to solo that now!


I don't mind taking a long time to solo (for instance as /whm). As long as it's actually doable, I'm happy. I'd just like the best and most self-sufficient subjob.


Feeling excited again. FFXI is like my crack :-)

I appreciate the responses! I'm hoping I can find some of my old friends online, but I know a lot quite a long time ago.

[Arcon]

Just some additional info, all zones are uncapped now. In fact, level cap only still exists for ENMs and certain quests. All of CoP is uncapped as well.

[Eice]

Really! Did the monsters stay at about the same level they were? If so ... that seems like that would be a blast to solo. I loved roaming the promy sites, they look awesome. I never actually finished ANY of Sea though because of the cap.

That could be real fun :-)

[Arcon]

The mobs are the same, but they also added some high level mobs to previously low level zones. Promies are also an example for that. If you confuse an "Idle Wanderer" for a "Wanderer", it could mean your death.

[Eice]

That's alright, I'm thinking I'm going to probably level up all my previous subs to 49.

I'm still trying to figure out if there is a way to be /whm49 and also have a way to "warp" without running out of 'charges' or something similar (i.e. have infinite use of 'going home').


I appreciate your responses Arcon! :-)

[Arcon]

There isn't, but a) death warp is a lot cheaper these days and b) you get free warp scrolls every day from the Moogle in Ru'Lude Gardens.

[Eice]

Really! Free warp scrolls works! Don't you lose an awful lot of experience from blood warp? ... if they removed exp loss on death I will be on my knees thanking the man upstairs haha.

Are there any "important" equipments/weapons since the level increase? Obviously I'm going to be pretty gimped on equipment since all of mine is from the 75-cap era. Or are there any new "fun" things? Like JoyToy is "fun" to have, but not "important" by any means.

[Mirage]

It's more that exp is so easy to get that no one cares if they lost 2400 exp here and there.

[Rooj]

There is now content in FFXI called Abyssea and Voidwatch, and allow for teleportation to pretty much any zone. For the most part /WHM won't do much for you (these teleports still need to be unlocked though) in terms of transportation. Could be nice for -na spells but /DNC is good for that and better damage too. The cost of warp scrolls from Signet guards has been drastically reduced... Everytime I warp I go straight for the guard to get another warp scroll before I forget...and always check my inventory for one before I head out. Can keep a warp cudgel handy just in-case, but I've had to use that almost never. And as far as death warping... Abyssea has made experience points a joke. Even in Voidwatch, you get 20K EXP per boss kill...

[Eice]

Hmmm, then in that case I will probably stick with rdm99/nin49 (when I get there) for solo'ing. I haven't leveled dancer, so I don't know what that'll do. Also, even though I know RDM -can- be melee-solo, I've always preferred to stick more towards the magical side. I like the /nin for the shadow protection and at the time I was trying to get a half-way decent melee gear (JoyToy, stuff that would make melee-solo'ing doable in some situations).

I'm looking forward to solo'ing some of the old storyline content. I never got to do any of the CoP missions because of the cap and the ls I rolled with was on a timezone too different from mine.

[Eice]

I know there are super amazing weapons and equipment, but simple question ... of things that are solo'able to get, what items do y'all frequently use (solo or in group), just curious. Like, in the past, the Moldavite earring was important to have, but now on the AH I see some things you can flat out buy that are better! Also, MOST people wanted a Joyeus just because it was useful in some situations even if they didn't always use it (although for RDM/NIN it would be nice).

So, I'm trying to put together a list of the items I want to solo to get that would also be useful (either small use or big use).


1. Joyeus (just for fun)
2. Can the Duelist armor set be solo'ed? I never actually got the set believe it or not, not sure why, just never tried.
3. Are there any new weapons (like Joyeus for instance) that are useful to have or good (I'm not talking about the Holycrapthisisawesome +3 or whatever those things are because I'm doubting that solo'able or doable in less than like a year or something)


Rather than make a list, I'll just flat out ask. I know there are 1,000,001 things now, but what are some "important" ones that stick out in your mind?

[Arcon]

http://wiki.bluegartr.com/bg/Trial_of_the_Magians_Staves
http://wiki.bluegartr.com/bg/Estoqueur%27s_Armor_Set_%2B2
http://wiki.bluegartr.com/bg/Duelist%27s_Armor_(Augmented)_Set_%2B2

[Plasticleg]

As long as you already have all of your dynamis areas unlocked, there's no reason that your RDM shouldn't be able to solo your Relic armor drops. Only issues (if you don't have the clears) are a few of the dynamis zone bosses. The ones that have adds or summons, are generally a huge pain/impossible to solo.

Out of the magian staves, the Arka IV (cure potency +24%), and the Ice/Thunder damage staves are fairly standard for anyone playing a mage job seriously now.

Note: Idling in AF3+2 body and AF2+2 head, will net you a nice +4 auto refresh. There's also a plethora of newer gear that has auto-refresh tagged on it; they all stack.

Also, if you really wanna be a melee-RDM (hey it's your $12.95) only way to even try to scratch that surface is making yourself an Almace. It takes a little more (or less) than 2 weeks to make if you can play nightly.

[Ladyofdragons]

There is also a Chimeric fleuret RareExclusive
(Sword) All Races
DMG: 51 Delay: 218
Accuracy +5
Sword enhancement spell damage +7
Latent effect: Double Attack +4%
Lv. 89 RDM

[Aethon]

There is also a Chimeric fleuret RareExclusive
(Sword) All Races
DMG: 51 Delay: 218
Accuracy +5
Sword enhancement spell damage +7
Latent effect: Double Attack +4%
Lv. 89 RDM
This for sure if you can get the help to get it. For solo stuff it helps out a lot. Also look into the Dux armor set ( http://wiki.bluegartr.com/bg/Dux_Scale_Mail ). All you need for that is gil and pieces are always on the AH. It's a good start if you like to hit things. As a melee rdm i HATE seeing people running in mage gear swinging a sword. it defeats the purpose of being melee.
/Dnc is also a very good sub for melee. Waltzes help with curing and status removal, steps help debuff just a little more, and with the right timing you can use reverse flourish to self skillchain.

[Vicious]

As a melee rdm i HATE seeing people running in mage gear swinging a sword. it defeats the purpose of being melee.

So does swinging a sword in PDT gear.

[Aethon]

I said it's a starting point and can all be bought. Plus the dux gear has a lot of str/atk, vit, and acc on top of the -pdt. All of those are helpful while soloing. There are better choices such as the brego gloves/helm, the calmecac trousers, and erudus' leggings (which is most of the set i use) but as a starting point that is not cheap but still cost effective and extremely easy to obtain, they work.

[SpankWustler]

The Dux set seems like a decent option for somebody dependent on the auction house's value menu for a weapon-skill set. It's not to be worn during the TP phase if there are any options with Haste open to a bro, however.

Brego Helm is generally cheaper than the Dux Visor and it has Haste on it; Dusk hands and feet are dirt cheap and still work better than Haste-less hands and feet; Hidalgo Slops are cheaper than Dux pants and have some meager amount of Haste on them. There are probably some other options I'm forgetting because I don't care that much. I have little to no idea what Red Mage's quickest and dirtiest options for bodies are, so Dux might be decent for the body slot.

The only time anybody would want to be swinging at something in any amount of Dux Scale Stuffs is while wearing a DT-% set due to an emergency.

[Vicious]

Indeed. General rule of thumb: if you have to fulltime PDT gear to melee, you probably shouldn't be meleeing.

[ManaKing]

Indeed. General rule of thumb: if you have to fulltime PDT gear to melee, you probably shouldn't be meleeing.

Then you forgot that RDM breaks pretty much every rule.

to the OP: If you are serious about leveling and gearing a RDM semi-solo then a PDT gear set is just as important as your Haste set. Your Haste set is significantly harder to obtain than your PDT set and because of that you will have to make due with the next best choice for a while, which is PDT. There were plenty of mobs I had to fight in full PDT with partial Haste sets.

The other pieces you should focus on are Fast Cast, Enhancing magic, and Stone skin pieces. RDM is only exceptional in it's stamina. You need to be able to outlast opponents. Until you actually have 25.6% Haste with an Excalibur or other top end weapon, you are always going to be the challenger instead of the champ. Most of your battle will be battles of attrition. Cure Potency and Nuking are lovely secondary sets, but honestly they mean nothing if you can't cast fast enough to get them off quickly and efficiently. 400+HP Stone skin being cast in under a second makes you very hard to lock down and knock out.

[Arcon]

Then you forgot that RDM breaks pretty much every rule.

RDM always want to feel special, which isn't a surprise given their current position, but it still doesn't make it true.


to the OP: If you are serious about leveling and gearing a RDM semi-solo then a PDT gear set is just as important as your Haste set. Your Haste set is significantly harder to obtain than your PDT set and because of that you will have to make due with the next best choice for a while, which is PDT. There were plenty of mobs I had to fight in full PDT with partial Haste sets.

Haste gear is a lot easier to obtain than PDT gear, unless you're talking about Earth/Terra's Staff (which you shouldn't be). You can buy many Haste pieces for next to nothing, unlike PDT.

A few other notes: Haste caps at 25%. Cure Potency is easy to build and very important. Nuking is only for the battles where you actually nuke, which can be useful, but generally aren't many. Fast Cast is not mutually exclusive with either curing or nuking gear, and RDM already gets high Fast Cast, getting cures off is rarely ever a problem. Stoneskin items are very few, and they're either very easy (AH) or very hard (SCNM, VNM) to get, so focusing on them in any way is pointless. You get those along the way at some point.

[Carth]

The Dux set seems like a decent option for somebody dependent on the auction house's value menu for a weapon-skill set. It's not to be worn during the TP phase if there are any options with Haste open to a bro, however.

Brego Helm is generally cheaper than the Dux Visor and it has Haste on it; Dusk hands and feet are dirt cheap and still work better than Haste-less hands and feet; Hidalgo Slops are cheaper than Dux pants and have some meager amount of Haste on them. There are probably some other options I'm forgetting because I don't care that much. I have little to no idea what Red Mage's quickest and dirtiest options for bodies are, so Dux might be decent for the body slot.

The only time anybody would want to be swinging at something in any amount of Dux Scale Stuffs is while wearing a DT-% set due to an emergency.

AH-wise, the Dux Body is the best you're going to get. No body piece on the AH gives +Haste and nothing compares to the stat enhancements that Dux Body gives. So Dux body is good to start, but one should immediately gun for ACP Body or Goliard Saio.

[ManaKing]

RDM always want to feel special, which isn't a surprise given their current position, but it still doesn't make it true.



Haste gear is a lot easier to obtain than PDT gear, unless you're talking about Earth/Terra's Staff (which you shouldn't be). You can buy many Haste pieces for next to nothing, unlike PDT.

A few other notes: Haste caps at 25%. Cure Potency is easy to build and very important. Nuking is only for the battles where you actually nuke, which can be useful, but generally aren't many. Fast Cast is not mutually exclusive with either curing or nuking gear, and RDM already gets high Fast Cast, getting cures off is rarely ever a problem. Stoneskin items are very few, and they're either very easy (AH) or very hard (SCNM, VNM) to get, so focusing on them in any way is pointless. You get those along the way at some point.

Try getting getting 25.6% Haste, which is the actual haste cap and you have to get 26% Haste in game to get it, for cheap off the AH. Do it. Do it right now. Oh look, you're wrong. Guess he should be getting some PDT to cover up all those spots.

Sounds like you don't actually know RDM problems first hand. Thanks for misleading people.

[Arcon]

Try getting getting 25.6% Haste, which is the actual haste cap and you have to get 26% Haste in game to get it, for cheap off the AH. Do it. Do it right now. Oh look, you're wrong. Guess he should be getting some PDT to cover up all those spots.

Try getting 50% PDT off the AH, right now. What a retarded argument. RDM can get 19% Haste for under 1M from the AH, which is more than was even possible at 75 and still a very useful amount. More than what you could get in PDT, even for twice the price. It's almost possible to cap Haste just from AH gear if you're willing to pay extra, whereas PDT can't get anywhere near the cap. Just because you can't cap it in one go doesn't mean it isn't easy to come by or that it isn't very useful. You even said to invest in Fast Cast gear over Cure Potency, but Haste is usually more potent and a lot easier to get than Fast Cast gear.

And the cap is 25%, not 25.6%. The equipment display on gear is wrong due to rounding issues, that's why you need 26%. I have no idea where you pulled 25.6% out from, at this point I can only guess.

And by the way, for the same reason, PDT actually caps at 51% in gear, although you'll still only get 50%. Which means the true PDT cap is also harder to reach.

[Plasticleg]

Sounds like you don't actually know RDM problems first hand. Thanks for misleading people.

All of your posts lead people to believe that you are one of the below:

a)too lazy to macro in/out gear
b)ignorant as to the function of "/equip" macros
c)a special snowflake who don't need no man

[Aethon]

Can we stop the pissing contest common among us RDMs long enough to help this guy out please?
I said Dux for the reasons i've stated. People may not agree. That's fine. Haste is very important to damage output. -PDT and VIT are important to outlasting the enemy.
OP please take all things into account such as what you're fighting and tactics which may need more damage for fast kills(haste build) or slower kills because it hits harder (-pdt/cure potency).
I love this job and it's really the only thing i play. My main problem is that since it can do so much the community has widely varying opinions and gets rather vocal about it.
Take what you want from what we've said and play however you please. THAT is they joy of being a Red Mage.

[SpankWustler]

The main thing I'd stress for anybody playing any job nowadays is just to equip for whatever action you're taking, even if that equipment isn't so great, but that goes double for Red Mage. Ideally, one's character should be the invisible man while playing Red Mage.

Make sure you have whatever Cure Potency stuff you can obtain equipped while curing. Make sure you have whatever Magic Attack Bonus stuff you can obtain equipping while using Elemental Magic. Make sure you have whatever melee stuff you can obtain on while engaged in melee. Make sure you have whatever -DT% stuff you can obtain on whenever things are about to go bad. And so on and so forth for every single action, forever and ever.

This principle has always been important, but the amount of easily obtainable specialized equipment has skyrocketed over the past few years, so it is now more important than ever.

[ManaKing]

All of your posts lead people to believe that you are one of the below:

a)too lazy to macro in/out gear
b)ignorant as to the function of "/equip" macros
c)a special snowflake who don't need no man

Yes, let's listen to the PLD and WHM main in the RDM forums instead of the people that actually leveled a RDM as their main from 75 to 99 as their only main. Geniuses.

[Arcon]

Yes, let's listen to the PLD and WHM main in the RDM forums instead of the people that actually leveled a RDM as their main from 75 to 99 as their only main. Geniuses.

So because I set PLD as my "main" job, you can't be wrong? So the Lv.99 THF who doesn't know what TA does is to be believed over the smart non-THF who actually knows? And the term "main" job is completely retarded in itself because I don't have one main job, neither do most people, and it's certainly not PLD. I only chose to display PLD for nostalgia because it was the first job I played and loved, I didn't even play it in about a year or so. Yet that's your defining argument for why people should not listen to me, instead of actually saying why I'm wrong or why you're right, neither of which you tried to contend so far?

To all the newbies, you will come to find that, sadly, even at 99 some people have no idea what they're talking about, no matter how long they've played the job or how much they love it. Whom you should listen to is a very simple decision, though. Don't listen to either PLD or RDM, listen to the one who's right. And it's certainly not that nutter butter over there. None of what I said is a secret, every claim I made I can back up:
http://www.ffxiah.com/search/item?&jobs[]=32&stat=19
http://www.ffxiah.com/search/item?&jobs[]=32&stat=93
http://wiki.bluegartr.com/bg/Attack_speed
http://wiki.bluegartr.com/bg/Damage_Taken

To get back on topic, Haste will help you in a lot of different ways, and is very easy to come by. PDT will also help, but sadly it's not as easily obtainable. You should get as much of both as you can afford though, either will help you out noticeably. If you maintain you want to be RDM/NIN, MDT will be even more important, since the ratio of magic damage taken compared to physical damage taken shifts significantly if you have shadows to absorb melee hits. MDT also has some certain cheap to obtain items, but like PDT, not very much. Every bit helps though, and you should try to get as much of it as possible.

Like the monkey said, the importance of gearing for the moment is significant if trying to solo. Even if you don't have much gear for different categories yet, setting up proper macros and getting accustomed to switching gear around is very important and may save your life. Just start out with sparse sets for various purposes, and include new items as you obtain them.

[Eice]

Hey, sorry I haven't posted in a little while even though y'all were. I was reading and trying to take everyone's opinions into consideration. So, my head is officially swimming at the moment. I got my RDM to 99 ... I still have no idea how in the world I did that in just a few days. I only went to altepa, but everything felt like it was on fastforward mode. Crap ton of people, crap ton of exp, next thing I knew I had to go back and do the next limit. I went ahead and got my nin,sch,whm,blm subs up to.

Given that, since it was a subject of some people's thoughts ... I've decided to level another job to 99. I have not quite decided what job, but I've decided with how obnoxiously fast this was, that I can do it again. If it only took a few days to get 75-99, then it shouldn't take much more than like ... maybe a week to get a second job to 99?

Thoughts on what a good next job would be appreciated. I was -thinking- either Dragoon or Ninja. Dragoon could I use my Nin and Rdm as subs for it? Ninja I would need to level my war and dnc subs (dnc is at like level one). Those seem like two fun jobs and they're a DD job, so they're very different from my Red Mage job. Thoughts?

So, I'd still like to solo a lot of the old-world content since that's my major reason for coming back was doing that stuff. However ... I've come to realize that there are a few things that intrigue me in the new stuff, but I have absolutely no clue how to go about starting it.

I got the Estoqueur body and hands from one of the npc people in altepa. They're the normal ones, so now I just need to do those quest things to get them to +1 then +2. I have an absolute crap ton of cruor (at least I think ... it's in the six digits, is that normal?) so I can also buy the hat when I get another travel stone thing.

I only went to Altepa and haven't been to any of the others (I plan on traveling to each one to get the teleport, I found the guy in Jeuno that teleports and the moogle that gives you a warp scroll everyday ... crazy), but I don't know enough I don't think. I just sort of followed people and tried to keep up and by the time I could sort of stretch my knees everything was essentially over.


Given that, I think I might level another job to 99 since perhaps I could do it in a week time? Or is that too optimistic. I was thinking Ninja since it's already at 50, but I'd have to level my War and Dnc subs too. So Nin 50-99 + War up to 50 + Dnc up to 50. I was also thinking Dragoon since I could use my nin and rdm subs for that maybe? So that would be Drg 11-99. I'm not familiar with subs for drg, but the class seems pretty cool especially with the pet dragon. I'm just trying to think which of these two would be quicker to do.


Also given that ... are there any good linkshells that would accept a very old and very rusty player? Yea, I know people want the max of everything, but it would be nice to have a group of people that could just sort of help point me in the right direction (in regards to the new stuff and what's changed). I don't need hand holding for anything old, I just need a little help with all the new stuff and how to deal with what's changed (apparently Rdm is no longer a good main heal? Well, on one hand oh well, but on the other hand at least I don't have to be a pink mage anymore?).


I still have the following things to do before I am back to the swing of things:

1. Redo all of my macros - There is so much that is new and obviously I don't have my macros from years ago, so it is going to take some time. Also, there are still only 6 spaces for the macros and I forget how to make longer ones for when you need to gear in large sums of equipment (i.e. a full set of equipment and also a spell). Luckily the book system is there so I can make macros for different job combinations, which should help a little there

2. Sort out all of my inventories and sell the now useless old equipment. I've got so much crap now just from years ago when I had subpar stuff before quitting that are now useless ... and worthless. I only have about 200k gil left though and all the stuff I used to synth from Clothcraft is dead (Vermy is only like 20k now?? Well, guess that sort of makes sense given level cap)

3. Skill-up ... this is the only real part that makes me feel bad. My skills are bad. I don't recall them being that bad, but even going from 75-99 they are still very subpar. It's embarrassing where they're at, so I'm going to refrain from stating here.

4. Solo some things to get back in the swing of job management. I was usually main healer on parties back in '07, but still I knew how to main heal and still keep all enfeebles up and also toss a nuke or two here and there to help finish the mob. I usually rode my convert timer, but that was mostly by choice. Soon as I would get near the timer, the next few mobs I would nuke a bit at the end, convert, fully cure, and get back to business. I'd like to think that I was pretty good at it, but I feel much slower (I guess that's to be expected though).

5. Find a linkshell for social or fun things. Even though I feel like I was more a leech (metaphorically) in the abyssea thing, I enjoyed it. I don't usually have the time to a "dedicated life"/"hard core" style of ffxi, but I still would like to do some party things on some of the new stuff.



So ... given how long this post probably is by now, to sum it up, is there any linkshell that y'all know of (or are in) that would be willing to open the door for an returning player?

To reiterate, I do intend to level a second job to 99. I thought it was going to be like a year like with old ffxi leveling (to get a new job from 1-99), but after seeing what happened with my rdm ... I'm thinking I can bear the leveling. Maybe I can get a new job to 99 in a week?? That would make my laugh so hard if that was possible ... in that case I might even level a couple jobs to 99 .....



Oh yea, I'm on Leviathan server ... guess that would make a big difference.

[SpankWustler]

I'd highly recommend Ninja as a job to level to 99 early on, because it will be very useful for farming stuff you need from Abyssea. Having the second largest selection of red !! procs, with high evasion and a few green/yellow !! procs as a bonus, makes the job very useful there.

[Eice]

Alright, that was one of the ones I was thinking. Are War and Dnc still the best subs? I'm wondering how fast the leveling will be to get my War and Dnc each up to 50 and then Ninja to 99. I've never been a major blink tank past how I do it for Rdm, so hopefully it won't be too much different when main Ninja. It took a few days for me to get Rdm 75-99. So, it should take Ninja at least like ... 5-6 days for 50-99? And I guess the same for the two subs. So, it'll probably take 2 weeks to get my Ninja 99, War 50, Dnc 50.

That may or may not be accurate ... I have no idea if I was in good or bad parties before.

[Aethon]

War is a good sub for a lot of things in game. So is SAM if you go for 2 handed weapons. Hasso and Seigan/ third eye are pretty much a must in things end game anymore.
DRG can be a fun job. That's my wife's main job and she really doesn't play anything else. /SAM is her sub of choice for the damage output You'll here a lot about how drg is falling behind(or fell behind years ago) as a DD and while it may be true it boils down to "do you enjoy it?"
My nin is lvl 14 and i plan on it staying there so i can't give any input on that other than i've seen some damn good ninjas out there taking on all sorts of things by themselves. NIN in abyssea is what RDM was back in the day.

[ManaKing]

I'd highly recommend Ninja as a job to level to 99 early on, because it will be very useful for farming stuff you need from Abyssea. Having the second largest selection of red !! procs, with high evasion and a few green/yellow !! procs as a bonus, makes the job very useful there.

The yellow procs for /NIN will help you get your +1s. /DNC is mostly for Dynamis. If you want a relic. You can make one in a couple of months. Things have changed drastically.

I can't recommend subbing BLM WHM or SCH unless you know the situation you are going to walk into and need the specific bonuses they give for solo work. For low man, they all have their perks, but you are giving up a significant chunk of your DPS for it.

Also, if you don't have 26% Haste and instead have 25% in gear then you effectively have 250/1024 haste which means you are 0.6 or 6/1024 Haste short of the cap. At 26% Haste you have 260/1024, but you still only have 256/1024 Haste because that is the cap. It's impossible to be exactly on the cap, only over or under.

Horribly sorry that people have assumptions on game mechanics instead of actually knowing how they work. It's like someone didn't understand the pages they posted to back up their knowledge and passed on to you their inability to read.

[SpankWustler]

A couple of things that might be helpful.

Generally, enemy melee attacks are way less of an issue than they were at 75. Players are many levels above old content and have tons of evasion for that reason, as well as more favorable level correction when hit. Even on new content, due to a lot of factors, the danger of being slowly smacked into oblivion because the healer is out of MP is near-gone.

This is balanced by TP moves being worse. Much worse. Even Sobek, a resident of Abyssea-Misareaux who is a complete joke in every way and frequently soloed, has a TP move with a chance of inflicting instant death. In high tier Voidwatch and onward, there are AoE attacks with such vigor that they would engulf all Vana'diel and kill that dude creeping on a manthra back in Port Jeuno, if game mechanics only allowed them.

Obviously, that's painting in VERY, VERY broad strokes, but maybe that will give the returning solo-bro some idea why there is all this talk about -PDT% and -MDT% rather than Utsusemi shadows.

Also:

If nobody has mentioned it yet, the augmented Dark Rings from Abyssea-Konschat are a very large and entirely free source of -DT%. You'll be gaining merits and key items while you try for the rings, and you can sell all the sub-par rings for a very decent amount of gil.

They're good for any idle or OH NO! set from the moment they're obtained until eternity, on any job.

. . .

Sorry about derailing the topic with this, but it's not like I'm the first and I can not resist! The pull of the dark side is too strong!


Horribly sorry that people have assumptions on game mechanics instead of actually knowing how they work. It's like someone didn't understand the pages they posted to back up their knowledge and passed on to you their inability to read.

Out of just stuff I can remember clearly from this past week, you've been overtly wrong about paralyze's effect on weaponskills. So, is this really the attitude you want to adopt when you think someone else is wrong?

Also, I associate your name with somebody arguing "my testing is my playing" pertaining to Excalibur's additional effect and Enspell priority for a week, but I'm pretty much insane so that could have been anybody or maybe the argument never existed. Still, odds are pretty good it was at least in this forum being that it was an argument and very pointless.

Oh, Christ cavorting with midget-nuns, if I'm having hallucinations about banal internet arguments that don't actually exist...Somebody should go start the argument to make me feel better. It's the Red Mage forum; I know somebody wants to start a pointless argument!

I guess the point of this half of my post, if it has any, is that every new or returning player should be aware that everyone providing advice is liable to be misinformed, stone-drunk, or insane.

[Aethon]

If nobody has mentioned it yet, the augmented Dark Rings from Abyssea-Konschat are a very large and entirely free source of -DT%. You'll be gaining merits and key items while you try for the rings, and you can sell all the sub-par rings for a very decent amount of gil.

They're good for any idle or OH NO! set from the moment they're obtained until eternity, on any job.


I did forget about those rings. I won't say it's a must have but you can some good mileage out of having 2 of those rings on. +2 to all stats is nice (on the low side) and if you get lucky/keep farming and get the rings with -6 pdt/mdt on them that will help damage mitigation greatly. Also the 32k a pop they sell for is incentive enough to try for at least one. :)

[Mirage]

They're good for any idle or OH NO! set from the moment they're obtained until eternity, on any job.


"Eternity" is, of course, defined as "when a dring drops". :)

:(

[Demon6324236]

"Eternity" is, of course, defined as "when a dring drops". :)

:(Well 1 is always useful even with DRing either way~ :P

[ManaKing]

When you get a 6% PDT/ 6% MDT/ 6%Breath damage taken, life is pretty great. Not D ring great, but pretty much as good as it gets.

[Plasticleg]

Yes, let's listen to the PLD and WHM main in the RDM forums instead of the people that actually leveled a RDM as their main from 75 to 99 as their only main. Geniuses.

You are completely irrelevant and don't have anything to say on the topic, so you attack other posters.
Good job.

Also, this is a mule account.

[Crimson_Slasher]

A week later and you choose to counter-attack, 4 days before Christmas, while they may have attacked you, your post isnt contributing either and is only serving to fuel the flames. I still think a gear guide for various jobs (particularly rdm) would be a nice thing to make, but thats such a huge undertaking that i wouldnt know where to start.

[Demon6324236]

I may do that, problem is the thread would end up sinking probably, and hard to put up here seeing as I cant just show sets, and have a pic limit : /

[Crimson_Slasher]

Agreed, i was thinking either using one of the existing community sites, or another all together, basically a list of gear even in a scaling manner from say 75 to 99 which work well for X function and in comparison between the two.