How are players supposed to beat maat these days?

[Pixela]

How is a player supposed to beat maat now?

There is almost no equip on the auction house, let alone level 70 gear. You can get weapons with sparks but not armor.

Am I missing something here? Friend started playing a few days ago and they can't gear up to beat maat.

[vienne]

Doing it on whm for my alt in AF worked for me, the survival method, dont hit, just run around like a headless chicken.

[Zarchery]

Well you can do the AF quests. I was in mostly AF when I did Maat as MNK back in 2005.

[Raxiaz]

Make sure all relevant combat/magic skills are capped, too. Using food can help as well.

[Edyth]

Sparks of Eminence. Buy armor with them.

[Zarchery]

Sparks of Eminence. Buy armor with them.

I think all the Sparks armor is level 99, but anyone fighting Maat for the first time is capped at level 70.

[Rubicant82]

I personally level WAR to 70, cap out G.AXE and Raging Rush him to the face for the first Maat fight on new characters.
why? because I am lazy, but WAR Maat is very very easy if you have capped g.axe skill.
But yes, AF is perfectly acceptable for Maat fight, in fact if you are a brave you will do it right at 65 in all AF :D
good luck!

[Hoshi]

Had to fight Maat on a mule about a month ago. I did the fight as a level 70 monk and it was crazy easy. You can buy scrolls of protect and shell in adoulin and as people have suggested above wear AF.

[Raydeus]

How is a player supposed to beat maat now?

There is almost no equip on the auction house, let alone level 70 gear. You can get weapons with sparks but not armor.

Am I missing something here? Friend started playing a few days ago and they can't gear up to beat maat.

Started playing "a few days ago"?

If that's the case it sounds to me like the problem is he/she still doesn't know how to play the game well, rather than the lack of gear.

[Pixela]

The point of the thread is that it would be nice to have an npc at the side of maat that you can purchase level 70 gear (rings/armors etc) with gil or sparks so new players can enjoy and fight maat properly.

If you can no longer fight maat properly and gear up etc what is the point of still having the fight there?

[Elexia]

The point of the thread is that it would be nice to have an npc at the side of maat that you can purchase level 70 gear (rings/armors etc) with gil or sparks so new players can enjoy and fight maat properly.

If you can no longer fight maat properly and gear up etc what is the point of still having the fight there?

"Properly" was back in 2004 when you only had gear like AF and very very select pieces like Scorpion Harness or Haubergeon as most good gear started at 71. The only speciality gear needed was things like the TP collar that raises your TP when you're asleep, MAYBE the blink band/stoneskin ones down the one.

Otherwise most of us old time players did Maat in AF, very few actually "geared out".

[vienne]

"Properly" was back in 2004 when you only had gear like AF and very very select pieces like Scorpion Harness or Haubergeon as most good gear started at 71. The only speciality gear needed was things like the TP collar that raises your TP when you're asleep, MAYBE the blink band/stoneskin ones down the one.

Otherwise most of us old time players did Maat in AF, very few actually "geared out".

this is correct, it also took a couple of tries depending on the job. You also had to farm your testi over again if you failed...and dont we now have some kind of warp thingie to get there easily?
SE has made Maat fight alot easier already, there should be no gear handouts.

[lllen]

Way back in the day, I fought Maat on Rdm (the fight from hell), outside of some jewelry, All I had was a my AF and Elemental Staves, and a lot of drugs... and knowing how to fight with magic only

[Pixela]

"Properly" was back in 2004 when you only had gear like AF and very very select pieces like Scorpion Harness or Haubergeon as most good gear started at 71. The only speciality gear needed was things like the TP collar that raises your TP when you're asleep, MAYBE the blink band/stoneskin ones down the one.

Otherwise most of us old time players did Maat in AF, very few actually "geared out".

Rings.
Neck.
Earrings.
Consumables.
Mantle.

Make a brand new account, level rdm, mnk or drg and try beat maat in af with all other slots empty. If nothing else it's unfair for new/returning players to be so disadvantaged when we had a wealth of gear to fill every slot available to us. Half the fun of it was gearing up properly and making up a strat to win.

Unless they added a new set of AF quests that give all those, AF quests aren't adequate alone depending on job.

Either give players access to proper gear for all slots to make a fight of it or remove the fight. When I did maat back in 2005 or whatever it was I had a full inventory and every slot was filled, and I still nearly died beating him on rdm.

[vienne]

Rings.
Neck.
Earrings.
Consumables.
Mantle.

k lets take the feared RDM fight as an example, the one I broke my limit on.
Staves are no problem, HQ elemental staves are cheap these days a tenth of what they used to cost.
neck... enfeeb torques are still sold, and if not the spider torque is a decent alternative that can nowadays be farmed from an nm thats not highly sought after.
mantle : there's no red cape +1 on ah on my server atm but there is a NQ one
rings : ether rings are on AH, so are astral rings
earrings : get a moldy, that nm is always up. there are 3 astral earrings being sold on the ah atm
consumables: 7 vile-elixirs+1 on ah and 21 yag drinks

your arguments arent much funded, the game has been eased down enough now on the old content.

[Lithera]

Most people wore their AF when beating maat even when the cap was 75. Heck thf has to wear their AF if they're wanting to do the steal method as it is where they'll get most of the steal+ they can get that doesn't involve getting lucky with jaggedy eared jack. Amongst other things. Capped or almost capped weapon/spell skills, and opo-opo necklace and sleep pots. Heck most guides for various maat fights tend to tell you to wear your AF.

[Redbeam]

so new players can enjoy and fight maat properly.

As said, most people did it in AF back in the day anyways. I don't see how maat would be much diff now than it was then; unless you're looking for things like Toreador's rings to use. Aside from hq gear (which most people didn't have to begin with), most armor for a maat fight was either quested or easy to get (not hard to go kill amemet and have someone craft a mantle for you)

[Crevox]

Players get tons of weapons and armor out of the gold boxes as they level.

I was a completely new player and did my Maat fight just fine. It's supposed to be a hard fight. Don't dumb it down.

[Pixela]

k lets take the feared RDM fight as an example, the one I broke my limit on.
Staves are no problem, HQ elemental staves are cheap these days a tenth of what they used to cost.
neck... enfeeb torques are still sold, and if not the spider torque is a decent alternative that can nowadays be farmed from an nm thats not highly sought after.
mantle : there's no red cape +1 on ah on my server atm but there is a NQ one
rings : ether rings are on AH, so are astral rings
earrings : get a moldy, that nm is always up. there are 3 astral earrings being sold on the ah atm
consumables: 7 vile-elixirs+1 on ah and 21 yag drinks

your arguments arent much funded, the game has been eased down enough now on the old content.

Your server is not every server.

The point is, (and I dare people to argue against this) that the auction house is dead. At 99 this does not matter because of sparks but below that you have to deal with the auction house for many slots. Add level 70 gear to the spark system or add an npc that sells basic stuff, this is about new player/returnee experience, not you guys trumping your horn about back in the day you walked up and down the hill in the ice... twice for a cold chip for breakfast. Old ffxi is dead and buried and most of the players that inhabited it have quit and left it to play other games.

Some of you people argue just to argue without actually thinking of something from a new/returnee players perspective, this is nothing but a good thing for people facing this fight for the first time and looking at an empty auction house...yet some of you act like I'm asking something game breaking. It's not even about making maat easier, it's about allowing people to get gear for a fight that will be above anything they have done upto that point because they have been fighting nothing but EP.

[Bamph]

Rings.
Neck.
Earrings.
Consumables.
Mantle.

Make a brand new account, level rdm, mnk or drg and try beat maat in af with all other slots empty. If nothing else it's unfair for new/returning players to be so disadvantaged when we had a wealth of gear to fill every slot available to us. Half the fun of it was gearing up properly and making up a strat to win.

Unless they added a new set of AF quests that give all those, AF quests aren't adequate alone depending on job.

Either give players access to proper gear for all slots to make a fight of it or remove the fight. When I did maat back in 2005 or whatever it was I had a full inventory and every slot was filled, and I still nearly died beating him on rdm.

Why would you have all of those slots empty? There are GREAT Rare/EX items for you to use. I beat Maat as a BLM way back in the day with only AF, and Rare-EX slots (probably could have not used those slots either and still won...) Made sure all my appropriate skills were capped (staff, check. elemental, dark, enfeeb, check. Scythe? WTF? Which blm would scythe Maat to death... ummm... I'm gonna go and farm another test to scythe maat to death on blm :P)

If you're looking for crafted armor, get the mats and shout for a crafter.

If you want rare armor, farm it. (If you can't solo it, I'm sure there would be some nice people out there to help if you have friends or are part of a linkshell)

Editing to add the options from campaign... There are many pieces of armor to fill those slots that you can buy from the past with campaign notes. You could also try and save up some conquest points and use those to buy items from the present gate guards. Finally, you can get some items (if memory serves me correctly) from Whitegate with allied notes.

[Zarchery]

The point of the thread is that it would be nice to have an npc at the side of maat that you can purchase level 70 gear (rings/armors etc) with gil or sparks so new players can enjoy and fight maat properly.

If you can no longer fight maat properly and gear up etc what is the point of still having the fight there?

Sorry that was my bad. I thought you were asking a genuine question and not making another complaint against SE cloaked in a rhetorical question.

I've actually seen several new players come through my LS over the past year and none of them seemed to have any trouble gearing up to fight Maat.

[vienne]

Your server is not every server.

again lame argument, last time i checked leviathan wasnt the most active server. last week we had at some point 340 people online, yet these items still get sold. I'm sure the situation is quite similar on Sylph.
Lets do our homework and compare.
sylph:
staves: i disagree, NQ are on sale, HQ are sold all in a 3 day time frame (apparently someone took action last week and bought them instead of going on the forum to whine for free gear)
neck: enfeeb torque one on sale
mantle: HQ red cape sold yesterday
rings: astral sold yesterday, ether ring in stock
earrings: moldy easily farmed if you can get a high lvl to help you (since you're so adamant to cry for help for new people on the forum i'm sure you can find some spare time to farm one for the defenseless plebs) astral earrings 2 on AH

[Raxiaz]

She wasn't asking for free gear, she was asking for a general vendor of some sorts for new players to be able to buy level 60-70 gear from for the Maat fight. There's a difference...

...However I would have to agree. There are items which can be farmed up for Maat fight rather easily if you're resourceful with wiki pages and the like.

[Zarchery]

It's just that there are NPCs all over Jeuno and the three starter cities. You also get gear from doing the various "Conflict:" Records of Eminence objectives.

[Raxiaz]

It's just that there are NPCs all over Jeuno and the three starter cities.

Do these NPCs sell gear specifically for levels 60-70? I don't think so...

[vienne]

She wasn't asking for free gear, she was asking for a general vendor of some sorts for new players to be able to buy level 60-70 gear from for the Maat fight. There's a difference...
Oh well then do tell what would be the appropriate price for these items? How much would a starting player be willing to pay? Anything beneath 50k I consider free in this day and age, making gil has never been easier. So yes, it would still be the same as handing out gear for free since we dont want to scare new people with to high prices...right?

[Bamph]

Oh well then do tell what would be the appropriate price for these items? How much would a starting player be willing to pay? Anything beneath 50k I consider free in this day and age, making gil has never been easier. So yes, it would still be the same as handing out gear for free since we dont want to scare new people with to high prices...right?

Let's see... a wool cap (lvl 48) from the vendor is 45,760
Judging by this, a hat/legs/feet/hands slot, could be 70-100k from a vendor for level 70.
Body is a huge difference, let's make that 300k

Any of the big gems (diamond, ruby, etc...) can vendor from the guild merchant for up to 248,andchangethousand
So we can say rings, earrings, and neckpieces (jewelry) could go for anywhere between 500k-1mil per piece. (up that if there are more jewels used)

Backpieces are clothcraft and leathercraft, so I'd think it would be about the same as a headpiece. 100k each.

You can get weapons from sparks. that's a freebie.

Total it up and you get... um... carry the 10, minus the mandy

~400k + 300k main set (HBHLF)
~2.5M - 5M for earrings, rings, neck
~200k for other accessories

3.5-6Mil. Quadruple that if you want the HQs.

(Add another 2mil if you want to get a weapon)

[Raxiaz]

Oh well then do tell what would be the appropriate price for these items? How much would a starting player be willing to pay? Anything beneath 50k I consider free in this day and age, making gil has never been easier. So yes, it would still be the same as handing out gear for free since we dont want to scare new people with to high prices...right?

Anything below 50k you consider free? That's nice.

But what applies to you DOES NOT apply to the general whole. You must've never taken macroeconomics in school.

[vienne]

Let's see... a wool cap (lvl 48) from the vendor is 45,760
Judging by this, a hat/legs/feet/hands slot, could be 70-100k from a vendor for level 70.
Body is a huge difference, let's make that 300k

Any of the big gems (diamond, ruby, etc...) can vendor from the guild merchant for up to 248,andchangethousand
So we can say rings, earrings, and neckpieces (jewelry) could go for anywhere between 500k-1mil per piece. (up that if there are more jewels used)

Backpieces are clothcraft and leathercraft, so I'd think it would be about the same as a headpiece. 100k each.

You can get weapons from sparks. that's a freebie.

Total it up and you get... um... carry the 10, minus the mandy

~400k + 300k main set (HBHLF)
~2.5M - 5M for earrings, rings, neck
~200k for other accessories

3.5-6Mil. Quadruple that if you want the HQs.

(Add another 2mil if you want to get a weapon)

Ic it from a different perspective then you do which is the point of the discussion i guess. There are a couple of things to consider, If SE would sell gear through npc's with the goal to help new people with gear for their maat fight what are their options?
-They can sell them cheap so everyone could do their maat fight with the smallest amount of effort. One of the last remaining low lvl quests that matter being turned obsolete. Why even still do maat quest then? maybe we can just ask to hand 10 beastmen seals to maat like they did with the other.

-They can sell them expensive as the prices you stated above. Would they still be catering to the new people then? whats the point in those prices. Yes new people go farm 8 mil~ so you can buy gear to do your lb? I think most new people would consider finding that crafter or finding that friend that will lend some gear, or just go camp that nm instead of farming 8 mil

[vienne]

Anything below 50k you consider free? That's nice.

But what applies to you DOES NOT apply to the general whole. You must've never taken macroeconomics in school.

Thanks for your relevant comment, i'm sure the undergeared appreciate it and they will now see you as their beacon of light, defender of the poor.
I wonder how long it takes nowadays to farm 50k... specially since we're talking about a lvl 66~70 quest

[Bamph]

Ic it from a different perspective then you do which is the point of the discussion i guess. There are a couple of things to consider, If SE would sell gear through npc's with the goal to help new people with gear for their maat fight what are their options?
-They can sell them cheap so everyone could do their maat fight with the smallest amount of effort. One of the last remaining low lvl quests that matter being turned obsolete. Why even still do maat quest then? maybe we can just ask to hand 10 beastmen seals to maat like they did with the other.

-They can sell them expensive as the prices you stated above. Would they still be catering to the new people then? whats the point in those prices. Yes new people go farm 8 mil~ so you can buy gear to do your lb? I think most new people would consider finding that crafter or finding that friend that will lend some gear, or just go camp that nm instead of farming 8 mil

I guess I misunderstood you. How about we have an option for Maat to just pay him 1000 gil and have him look the other way? That way, he'll vouch for you to all of the world to see that you have mastered your job and beat him! --> This would be the "easy" option.

The second option would be: Maat has seen that you have gotten the entire set of Artifact Armor and you may now level up to 75. --> A bit harder, since you need to beat dark spark, and farm coffer keys for the rest of your AF. Finally, you would need to get into a party (or a high level player to solo) for your AF3 quest.

We could get a set of "Maat armor" used for beating Maat (generic equipment that will not accentuate any specific skills for your job, and only equippable as a set).

We could let other people go in and fight Maat, like the level 95 LB.

- On the subject of the level 10 LB, Why is it so hard to find a group of people to help you? Why don't we make that one easier too?

[Xantavia]

There is always gear you can buy with conquest points. Of course, that can be a problem if you leveled using abyssea or did nothing but pages against incredibly easy mobs. I did the limit break on blu in the recent past without anything special that hard to get. Full AF (took less than 5 minutes of shouting to get help with the head piece), chivalrous chain, amemet mantle, swift belt, echophoria ring, and rogetsurin. Don't remember what I wore in the ear slots or the other ring. Didn't even have sword or blu magic capped. Even getting the testimony was simple with the help of trusts.

[Lithera]

*Points to Crevox* newest person on the forums and he somehow beat smn maat with this lacking of gear. Even if he wore his AF which doesn't help you in the areas you need it at those levels for that job he still beat him.

[Raxiaz]

Thanks for your relevant comment, i'm sure the undergeared appreciate it and they will now see you as their beacon of light, defender of the poor.
I wonder how long it takes nowadays to farm 50k... specially since we're talking about a lvl 66~70 quest

There are ways to make gil at all levels, I'm sure they could farm up the necessary currency needed within a few hours if they were smart about it. Thanks for labeling me though, makes you a really relevant poster! *eyeroll* get a life outside of posting on internet forums.

[vienne]

There are ways to make gil at all levels, I'm sure they could farm up the necessary currency needed within a few hours if they were smart about it. Thanks for labeling me though, makes you a really relevant poster! *eyeroll* get a life outside of posting on internet forums.

The pot calling the kettle black... since you insist on going that way i'll bite! Think my 79 posts that i have made on here since I started in 2004 are a legit proof of my "having no life outside of posting on internet forums" compared to your 464.


I guess I misunderstood you. How about we have an option for Maat to just pay him 1000 gil and have him look the other way? That way, he'll vouch for you to all of the world to see that you have mastered your job and beat him! --> This would be the "easy" option.

The second option would be: Maat has seen that you have gotten the entire set of Artifact Armor and you may now level up to 75. --> A bit harder, since you need to beat dark spark, and farm coffer keys for the rest of your AF. Finally, you would need to get into a party (or a high level player to solo) for your AF3 quest.

We could get a set of "Maat armor" used for beating Maat (generic equipment that will not accentuate any specific skills for your job, and only equippable as a set).

We could let other people go in and fight Maat, like the level 95 LB.

- On the subject of the level 10 LB, Why is it so hard to find a group of people to help you? Why don't we make that one easier too?

Lets be clear, I'm not in favor of an npc standing next to Maat selling gear for the LB. The content is fine as it is, they have eased the requirements enough and various players in this thread have mentioned different ways to get gear for this event.

[Economizer]

Thanks for your relevant comment, i'm sure the undergeared appreciate it and they will now see you as their beacon of light, defender of the poor.
I wonder how long it takes nowadays to farm 50k... specially since we're talking about a lvl 66~70 quest

A stack of skillup books from sparks goes for that much, for the incredibly unimaginative adventurer. Not that you really need that much in terms of preparation.

Perhaps leveling White Mage and skilling Divine Magic and Healing Magic is too hard, even with cureskin, Repose, and the updated Aquaveil to survive the time? Most White Mages did it in AF and with an NQ Light Staff and an Earth Staff, with maybe a Noble's Tunic (they're cheap on the AH, if there are none available farm the drop from Myradrosh, what you lose in cure potency you get in spell interrupt resists), usually using some refresh drinks at most. We didn't have trusts to help farm tests back then either, and spells were just as if not more expensive in comparison.

Instead there is Thief, which requires some cheap or free daggers to level, and only needs to Steal for their fight. You can wear your AF for that as well. Then when it comes time to fight, you just Steal, and if that doesn't work, leave and try again. You get three tries per testimony, and you can use trusts to help farm the testimonies you need. You don't need special gear.

Having a level cap every five levels is a big inconvenience for new players on their first job, but the Maat fight is not that much harder than any of the other quests.

TL;DR: Level Thief, get trusts. Farm testimonies. Steal. If it fails, try again.

[Pixela]

*Points to Crevox* newest person on the forums and he somehow beat smn maat with this lacking of gear. Even if he wore his AF which doesn't help you in the areas you need it at those levels for that job he still beat him.

Nice, do you agree or disagree with my idea of adding an npc that gives level 70 gear in exchange for sparks though.

Sure you can beat mat naked on certain jobs, but on an mmo where most of the skill is in picking the correct gear it's silly to have a level cap solo fight where you can't get gear to do it. Especiallsy on an mmo like this now where they are new players that have never fought anything over EP or without some trusts to back them up.

[Raxiaz]

If new players aren't fighting decent challenge/even match mobs, they're not playing the game right...

Also, it's pretty stupid to expect people to level one specific job just to make it past a certain point in a game. :\

[Lithera]

Nice, do you agree or disagree with my idea of adding an npc that gives level 70 gear in exchange for sparks though.

Sure you can beat mat naked on certain jobs, but on an mmo where most of the skill is in picking the correct gear it's silly to have a level cap solo fight where you can't get gear to do it. Especiallsy on an mmo like this now where they are new players that have never fought anything over EP or without some trusts to back them up.

Disagree because everyone can use their AF. There are many other ways to get gear as has been stated. I also doubt many new players have just been chaining EP all the way to 65 or 70. Please stop painting new players like they are that one person you know who can't even figure out how to turn on a computer. I understand that some might need some hand holding, but I doubt every single one of them does. Yes, the AH might be highly lacking of things, but it doesn't mean people can't find ways of getting stuff to do this fight that the various guides say you should or items that are just as good.

[Lithera]

If new players aren't fighting decent challenge/even match mobs, they're not playing the game right...

Also, it's pretty stupid to expect people to level one specific job just to make it past a certain point in a game. :\

Lol I know a person who rdm maat just had his number so they said f this crap and leveled thf up and did a 1/1. Though they probably are one of the few people who did level something else just to get an easier win. I still think if they do change this fight he shouldn't be allowed to use hand to hand ws on fights that are not for monk. I know this doesn't happen often, but the fact people have testified that they would have won on their non mnk job if he hadn't gone n cheated.

[Lambtor]

What job is this person trying to beat Maat on? It might take some time, but on PLD I was a fan of multiple ring; that's 50hp, 20mp in a ring slot while your lvl is a multiple of 10.

[Poo]

Despite the fact that I should know better--since my response will likely be buried under many posts--I am going to try to provide some constructive information.

I personally do not see any issue with the current state of the Maat fight or any of the limit breaks before it.

My short answer is thus:

Conquest gear + Artifact quests + Gil from RoE quests (to buy vendor-sold spells) + Time spent skilling up = Success

This is a viable formula for most jobs.

It is either disingenuity, laziness, or simply ignorance--which is ok for new players--to suggest there is any issue to the contrary.

A player capped at level 70 should make their sole drive breaking through this barrier.

There are MANY ways to do so with ANY job (see the 4 part plan I posted above).

However, since I consider that amount of work impractical for the average new player, let me propose a few alternatives.

1) Burn BST to 70 in Abyssea (approximately 5 hours of work) or simply level it with trusts.

Many persons in my linkshell have recently used this strategy to beat Maat without wearing any gear, doing any skillups, or investing in strategy at all.

You literally send your pet in and wait for a victory. If you fail, try again.

2) Burn WHM to 70 and purchase the Repose spell.

I have done this fight naked with no skilling up at 70. Maat will be asleep for half the fight, this is an ultra-easy win.

3) Burn THF to 70 and use the steal method.

Game over.

4) Burn PLD to 70 and skill up swords.

This one will take a little bit longer, but the job is so resilient it is a very easy fight.


-


That is 4 great jobs, each with their own usefulness in a number of events.

BST is great for soloing and catching up on missions.

WHM ... everybody should level WHM.

THF has a lot of utility in a number of events where TH is useful.

PLD is a great job if you'd eventually like to try tanking.



2 nights of work is probably enough to get any of the first 3 jobs into shape to fight Maat.

Once you are done with this fight you can move on with whatever other pursuits interest you.

This is really a no brainer, just beat the fight with a cakewalk job and let's all pretend this thread was never created.

If you can't be bothered to take 2 nights off from your main pursuit in order to get this barrier out of the way, it will be very hard for people to take you seriously in the current state of this game.

Source: my account is less than 1 month old and I solo'd every single LB except for the last one, which I duo'd.

[Ris]

I'm a bit late to this thread but I thought I would chime in...

I'm just getting into the upper half of levels, not at the maat fight yet, but gearing up is getting to be a problem. Even before reading this thread, though, I noticed through wiki research that my best bet is probably to overlevel for the AF fights and take those down when I can solo them.

SMN AF kind of... isn't that great though x.x But I guess on a pet job it probably doesn't matter much.

Anyway, I just mention this because I think gearing up is a larger problem than just the Maat fight. I've been watching all week and I haven't seen a single austere robe on the market, and there's lots of things that just aren't available or are kind of crazy expensive.

It would be nice if Sparks vendors had armor in their level tiers, instead of just at 99...

[Alhanelem]

I think all the Sparks armor is level 99, but anyone fighting Maat for the first time is capped at level 70.
No. In fact, sparks of eminence was designed to help new people as much as old. There is equipment for all (most) levels.

[Ris]

No. In fact, sparks of eminence was designed to help new people as much as old. There is equipment for all (most) levels.

Most of the time it's only weapons.

[Kraggy]

Well you can do the AF quests. I was in mostly AF when I did Maat as MNK back in 2005.
While that's true, soloing some of the AH keys is still not child's play even today.

A worse problem though is lack of weapons for some jobs.


No. In fact, sparks of eminence was designed to help new people as much as old. There is equipment for all (most) levels.
There is NO armour till level 99, only a couple of selected weapons per job per 10 levels until 51-70 and 71-98 ranges when you get 3 weapons per job for that 20 level range.

Crucially, for Maat there are no level 70 weapons and only 1 (or maybe 2) level 69 ones for one or two jobs, for the majority of jobs they're several levels lower with hugely inferior damage than the level 70 ones people used 'back in the day' for Maat.

Take THF or DNC, they need daggers and the highest dagger available from Sparks is IIRC (Darksteel dagger maybe), level 64 with a DMG of around 24 I think. Pretty much everyone who beats Maat on those jobs used Behemoth weapons with 31 DMG and some + (forget the stats). The difference between the sparks weapon and that is huge when it comes to Maat but they appear once in a blue moon on the AH on Phoenix or Siren where I now play.

[Economizer]

I'm just getting into the upper half of levels, not at the maat fight yet, but gearing up is getting to be a problem. Even before reading this thread, though, I noticed through wiki research that my best bet is probably to overlevel for the AF fights and take those down when I can solo them.

This might in fact be a problem for getting your AF gear, if say, getting someone to help you is somehow not an option. I'm reluctant to believe this though, finding a linkshell with someone helpful can't be too impossible even now. Worst case you could even shout and beg for help.

Still, this might not be ideal for you. So grabbing gear in other ways might be your priority until you can go back. I'll revisit this idea in a moment.


Anyway, I just mention this because I think gearing up is a larger problem than just the Maat fight. I've been watching all week and I haven't seen a single austere robe on the market, and there's lots of things that just aren't available or are kind of crazy expensive.

Whereas I'd just recommend you level THF once you get to 70 so you can do your fight with the Steal strategy, I'll give you some thoughts on gearing your Summoner at 70 for the fight.

You'll want to get a Chatoyant Staff. Assuming you're on Odin this is about half a million gil. This isn't change for a new player, but since it will last you until item level gear, and possibly longer if you're a Scholar, it is worth every gil.

Considering that most Summoners had to do this fight back in the day with NQ Elemental Staves, you won't need the extra Avatar Perp from the Austere Robe unless you really want it, since you'll have the same amount with just this one item. More ideal would be a Vermillion Cloak anyways, but these are hard to locate (although less hard than the Austere Robe). Consider shouting to either buy one, or failing this, get the materials to make one and shout for a crafter to maker you one, if you're so inclined.

You also might look into getting an Earth or Terra's Staff for the Physical Damage Taken reduction. The Earth Staff goes for about 40k on your server if FFXIAH is correct. Cheviot Capes are also typically available on the AH and aren't too pricy - if you get one mind the latent effect of doubling the cape's potency at night.

You might also consider Carbuncle's Mitts, from Crimson-toothed Pawberry. I don't know if you can, but at 70 you might be able to do this with Trusts. If you get the pop item and set yourself as party lead you might be able to ask for help for the fight instead - it gives a moderate amount of gil at least, with a shot at a Light Spirit Pact you can also offer lotting rights on for help if you're really desperate.

If you really want to go retro you can get an Astral Pot from the level cap 60 solo ENM, "Pulling Strings" for your fight.

A lot of gear in general is pretty terrible for actually affecting Summoner's outside of increased MP pools or augmenting your subjob before level 71, so you're going to want to just slap on whatever you can if you can't find something that helps, such as evasion or defense related gear such as the Battle Gloves, Martial Slacks, Vampire Boots, or the Empress Hairpin. These examples are all solo obtainable items.

Don't forget consumables for the fight. The Protect/Shell Scrolls are options older players didn't have, but items that give you Reraise, as well as Yagudo Drinks and Vile Elixirs are also great. Don't forget food - personally I'd suggest Tavnazian Tacos since they boost defense even more, and defense is super important, more than the 50 MP you might get from a pie.


Take THF or DNC, they need daggers and the highest dagger available from Sparks is IIRC (Darksteel dagger maybe), level 64 with a DMG of around 24 I think. Pretty much everyone who beats Maat on those jobs used Behemoth weapons with 31 DMG and some + (forget the stats). The difference between the sparks weapon and that is huge when it comes to Maat but they appear once in a blue moon on the AH on Phoenix or Siren where I now play.

If you're fighting Maat on THF, you should be doing the Steal method. Farming testimonies will be most of the work.

[Mizuno]

Here's a fun fact, limit break can actually be beaten in full af.

If you're a PLD, get a honey wine and go get a Hrotti for a free sword. A bomb Queen Ring, and a Jelly ring.

Twin wing/drone earrings, a Chivalrous Chain (to make sure your vorpal blade hits.), an Amemet Mantle (NQ or HQ) and finally I used a potent Belt

All you really need is a TP wing, maybe some hi potions, but definitely a tavnazian taco.

[Ris]

Snip!

TBH I'm not worried about the fight as SMN. From what it sounds like, it's just the level 20 avatar battles all over again, except I only need to use the astral flow attack twice to get Maat down and so gear basically doesn't matter. But slightly better gear would really help me if I accidentally pull aggro just out in the world, or leveling and stuff.

For now I'm just working through my AF quests until I can move to empyrean gear. But I definitely want those carby mitts when I can get them ：Ｄ

[Economizer]

For now I'm just working through my AF quests until I can move to empyrean gear. But I definitely want those carby mitts when I can get them ：Ｄ

You'll love the Evoker's Ring.

The Caller's Bracers +2 do much the same thing but based on Day/Weather instead (basically, you can /SCH for a limited selection of the weather spells if you really want to make them work).

Reforging your AF gear when you get to 99 should also be a priority if you're really into Summoner - and if you get lots of Sparks you can buy the chapters to do this too.

[Ris]

Just as a quick update... Last night I took down Maat at level 68. Only had to use howling moon twice at that, and it wasn't even darksday, and my gear is still pretty crappy (gremlins handed my @$$ to me so I decided to come back to the AF quests later). Easier than the level 20 trials... so Maat specifically doesn't seem like an obstacle to SMN.


You'll love the Evoker's Ring.

The Caller's Bracers +2 do much the same thing but based on Day/Weather instead (basically, you can /SCH for a limited selection of the weather spells if you really want to make them work).

Reforging your AF gear when you get to 99 should also be a priority if you're really into Summoner - and if you get lots of Sparks you can buy the chapters to do this too.

Yep, high level gear doesn't seem like it will be a problem. It's those awkward middle levels...

[dasva]

Haven't browsed thru this thread but sch is a super easy fight if you just trying to break the cap. Though annoying in having to do the af quests first. Ran several mules thru it who had gotten every last level thru coalition assignments and the only skill they had that wasn't 0 was like 5 enhancing and 10 evasion and were missing a lot of spells. But tabula is just that awesome

[Pixela]

The dev team has stated they plan to add mid level gear to sparks vendors, so they listened!

The thread did start off with amazement that my friend could not get gear and he asked me if there was a way to get gear some other way (which their obviously isn't and crafting is as horrible as ever so people can't even craft their own).

The point wasn't that you can't beat maat without gear, it's that A) new players or returnees will have a harder and unfair time on a compulsory level cap fight and/or that this is an MMO where gear is an important hook to keep leveling. I remember over the years on my first character that getting that haub or SH was a huge thing that kept me grinding away.

A large part of playing an MMO is about getting stronger and getting better/pretty/cool gear, if players can't get gear during leveling then you're missing an important part of the core principle of an MMO. Considering Square are desperate to bring XIV players to play XI and XIV they need to put more thought into that idea beyond free weeks.

[Numquam]

Level a job to 30, unlock BST, level that to 70, get the HQ diremite pet, 2 hr, have some reward food, and have your pet on maat while you rampage from the back, you'll need to skill up your axe. Once you finish fight, toss all the BST gear away, and pretend like it never happened and go on your merry way leveling real jobs to 99. :D

[SMD111]

to beat maat all you need is a lvl 70 whm with repose cast it on maat wait for it to ware off then cast it again after a few cycles you will win no challenge

[Bebekeke]

DD mage gear (http://wiki.ffxiclopedia.org/wiki/Cobra_Unit_Robe_Set)
Light DD gear (http://wiki.ffxiclopedia.org/wiki/Cobra_Harness_Set)
Heavy DD gear (http://wiki.ffxiclopedia.org/wiki/Fourth_Brunne_Set)

Will cost you 255k allied notes for a full set (assuming that you switch to the nation that you require this gear from), though for most jobs, you'll find that you won't want all pieces as some of the AF might be better, or you may manage to get something better off the AH. But generally, if you're struggling to get gear with which to fight Maat, you can't go far wrong with this stuff.

Alternatively, shout for a crafter to make what you want. If you've already farmed the materials, many crafters won't even charge a newbie for their time.

Edit: Remember that you can get allied notes from trading in your copper vouchers, too^^

[Vtgar]

As a new player that started a month ago, the Maat fight really worries me. I'm still running around in level 40 CP gear since I am not able to acquire the artifact stuff and the auction houses are either are short on items around my level or the stuff goes for unreasonable prices.

I for one would love to see some armor for Sparks.

[Kensagaku]

I personally just did my Maat fight on my mule (1/2 at NIN66) completely self-funded with no help from the main. I understand what a pain it is to get things like the AF done, but many of the things can be farmed or earned. If you want to talk about your artifact armor (I'm assuming SAM, since that's listed), most of the mats for the first armor quest are readily available from vendors sans the Hecteyes eye, which can be farmed in a number of areas, and the second quest has Gold Thread, which I recall being fairly common on the AH but I don't know Leviathan's AH either. Granted, you could just get the materials and get the item crafted, too. So the artifact armor is relatively easy to get, and for SAM it's handy, particularly the headpiece. The hands are pretty decent with rice ball food, too, at earlier levels. The difficulty, I think, for the Samurai ones would be the enemies; for a new player, I can imagine they'd be daunting without some help from a friend.

As for other gear, you can probably get it crafted from the AH. I'd definitely look into getting materials for a Haubergeon (for WS, if not for general TP, depending on situation) and a Scorpion Harness (for those times you have to be evasive) if you can't find the direct items on the AH. You can look both of the recipes up online to find materials. If the materials are too expensive, there are several farming options, the best of which is sparks; you can convert sparks to gil at roughly a 1:10 ratio, so if you need 100k gil, you just need 10k sparks, etc. Leveling, provided you followed objectives and did things like Damage Taken, Total Damage, and Enemies Vanquished, should have gotten you a lot of sparks that can be converted to gil towards making those items. These are just some suggestions, of course; there's also CP armor (if you've been keeping up with rank missions and making sure you always have Signet up) as well as armor from events like Campaign.

Granted, with all of that in mind, I don't really have an objection to mid-level NQ armor, something like the Harness sets that don't offer anything besides DEF, giving players something to tide them over as compared to more useful items that are more of a luxury than a necessity. This is just advice towards helping a player get some more effective gear, because Maat can be a jerk. Double Asuran to a Mijin was not a pleasant end to my first fight...

[Jybwee]

I just got back to the game a few months ago, haven't played in many years. Starting fresh, first job to 70 was whm which i got a few days ago. Wearing all arti gear, real crap earrings... some random + a few mp and + some divine, one being lvl 10. Rings were like.. one +acc one and some other junk. I just went into the Maat fight just seeing what it was gunna be like. I ending up winning first try standing toe to toe with him and just outlasting him. Buffing the crap outta myself before going in and keeping regen III up is really the only 'strat' i had, lol.

Lvl'n up i did keep all my skills capped. I did go with staff over clubs since the 50's tho so i had Spirit Taker which really is a game changer :). IDK, was honestly perty surprised it wasn't harder.

As far as gear goes leveling up. So far it's just random NM pieces and things from brown caskets or roe 10 kill quests.

BLU is 62 now, i hear that one is harder? We'll see how it goes, as with blu i haven't been able to complete the 2nd arti quest (no trusts allowed :()

[Xantavia]

I beat the BLU 2nd artifact quest on 60 RDM (though I really shouldn't have won). I finally had to shout for help for the last piece though. Couldn't take down that mob after many attempts with different trust set-ups. I did use BLU on both characters to complete G5 though. A lot of it comes down to which spells he decides to use against you. No asuran fists spam from him, though vorpal blade is painful enough.

[Lithera]

The fight for the Blu hat was tough even in the old days. One of those few AF fights that you needed others to help out with.

[Apie]

Just have him/her use THF and have your friend successfully steal, with 3 attempts per testimony and if you use a reraise item, then that's 6 attempts without having to "gear up" <---although getting steal+ gear (AF) wouldn't hurt and while your friend works on his/her AF gear, you can go after the NM that drops the Thief's Kote which gives steal+3, you could also buy/farm the rabbit's charm for ur friend while s/he is working on the AF gear.

I just took a mule to fight maat a few months ago, had BST at 70, decided I didn't want to bother with the fight, instead I leveled her THF to 70 and stole successfully on first attempt (although my other character took like 9 steals to win...)

Also, getting to maat in a few days, I have to agree with some poster a few pages ago, that's just too fast, your friend didn't have the time needed to master a job of any sort. Takes more than powerleveling to play this game, you have to get used to all the attacks and the best way to fight as the job you are, something that is learned as you level, but if you're just plowing through, you don't actually learn much about your job. I have a similar problem with a friend that plays ff14 with me, he just wants a sword and shield so he can be a knight (yes Im aware that isnt a real job/class.) So I tried to explain that tanking is a big responsibility and how he needs to play, such as focusing on maintaining hate and taking the hate away from others. Yet, he just plays it like some offline single-player hack-n-slash. Then he constantly wonders why he is being kicked out of parties nearly every single dungeon. He even convinces himself that he gets kicked out cause the rest suck at playing the game and that they could learn a lot from watching him play. I've even had to yell at him cause he won't listen, so I told him that I will not party with him until he does research online on how to tank (since he won't listen to me) and that he needs to understand that only people who don't do their job get kicked out of dungeons, not people who are doing too well (like he thinks he is.)

Sry to rant like that. lol

[dasva]

Only problem I have with thf is the whole horror stories of people taking 50 attempts and such.

[Xantavia]

Only took me 6 attempts to give up. But that was because trying to steal the testimony must have taken me 5-6 hours each time. THF doesn't have the luxury other jobs do to keep killing mobs. They get 12 attempts an hour thanks to the steal timer.

[Lithera]

Only problem I have with thf is the whole horror stories of people taking 50 attempts and such.

That's because even with all of the steal+ gear in the world and the correct positioning the old man doesn't like to have his butt grabbed just by anyone at anytime sometimes.

Of course there are horror stories out there for probably any job.
Had a guy in an LS I was in that almost paid someone else to do their sam maat fight for them because they kept on messing up on their self light.

[Apie]

Only problem I have with thf is the whole horror stories of people taking 50 attempts and such.

I hear ya, that would be horrible, it's a coin flip. I was annoyed as hell when it took my other character 9 or so tries cause that was back in the day when each testimony was 1 try only, so I had to get many THF testimonies, which is such a pain to get. Didn't help that my first attempt I forgot to get reraise on me...

I would still go the THF route (I have another character, got her RDM up to 70 and decided I didn't want to do the maat fight, so I leveled her THF to 70, Im halfway through her AF quests, once done, let's hope I get lucky...)

Also, the NM that drops the Thief's Kote dropped 2 THF's testimonies if I remember correctly, so that's an ?easy? way to get more testimonies if your friend fails the first few tries (assuming he tries the steal route)

[Bluestar2kx]

How is a player supposed to beat maat now?

There is almost no equip on the auction house, let alone level 70 gear. You can get weapons with sparks but not armor.

Am I missing something here? Friend started playing a few days ago and they can't gear up to beat maat.

Sometimes there is pre/lv 70 gear, but yes, the AH caters to only the lv 99 equipment and lower level crafted armour generally.

But the solution is already in the game.
True crafted is the best in some slots, but really, there's plenty of gear enough to beat Maat. There's BCNM, KSNM, standard NM's, there's Allied notes, Conquest points, artifact armour, assault equipment, or just buy the materials, and find a crafter to make it, and go leech someone in dynamis for the relic accessory.

There's tonnes of gear out there, players just need to take 5 seconds away from their power grind to notice and learn it's not all Adoulin, and FFXIclopedia is excellent for the old content, and Bg wiki is great for the newer stuff.

Most of beating maat is just luck, second is having your skills capped, but it's all a matter of pride, after all, who didn't feel proud inside when they beat maat the first time?

But if you can't beat maat on a given job, go power grind ninja, monk, or samurai to 70, skill it up, and just ruins maats day. Ninja and Samurai esp are easy. (I know ninja is, I beat him at 66 with it, and monk at 66 on another character which was a taru long before the HP boost... Not done samurai yet so that's based off what I hear.)

So the answer is already there.
Have your friend go seek it, and you should help them do so.