75+ Abyssea and Certain Jobs

I'm just coming back to XI after a two-year break. I recently started levelling RDM again, getting close to 75... Yet, what I'm reading is that RDM have somewhat lost their "effectiveness" in end-game. If that's true... I suppose it's unwise to main a job not a lot of people need... In that case, what works in end-game anymore? What other jobs can I work on to be successful?

Thanks in advance!

It's not a bad job to have or anything. It's just that when it comes to getting the job done at endgame, there are more specialized jobs that are both more suitable for their roles and are also quite plentiful.

Rdm hasn't been endgame since pre-WoG. lol
Realy in this day and age it has become a game where you have to level other jobs to get stuff for the job that you want. Say, if you want stuff out of abyssea, it's best to level blm, whm or war. That will enable you to be able to get stuff for abyssea with ease for whichever job you want. As for endgame, as long as you're not rdm(sorry), bst, pup or sch you're pretty set to do voidwatch. Though keep in mind that in VW, nearly everything is a proc so which ever job you run with, you'll want to have all of the aspects of it.

Thank you! I didn't know RDM wasn't used in a lot of endgame stuff. I hardly know anything about it haha... still learning. Thanks though!

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Originally Posted by FatChocobro

Thank you! I didn't know RDM wasn't used in a lot of endgame stuff. I hardly know anything about it haha... still learning. Thanks though!

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Some people will take rdm for VW, since it has unique spells(merits), but that rarely ever happens.
Ninja is also a good abyssea job since it can tank nearly everything and has a red proc that only it can do.

Hello!

Since you're just returning, I'm sure there are a TON of things that you need to do for your jobs (RDM in this case). That being said, you will most likely spend 90% of your time in Abyssea at lv 75+.

The truth: Abyssea has essentially all the gear you will need for your RDM at 99. The reason is: the current "endgame" is negligible content.

Endgame: Voidwatch drops side grade gear (gear that is not necessary to make your job function well, but gear that will give you a small % of an increase). However, Voidwatch drops are ridiculously low, which means that it is not a viable option to collect gear from. Legion too, simply because it is brand new, has not been mastered enough or improved upon enough to lead to people consistently getting "the best" gear. That being said...

We come back to Abyssea. Abyssea is the best, easiest, and most fun way of getting gear. For every hour that you spend in Voidwatch, with a very low % chance of actually getting something, you could be actually accomplishing things in Abyssea. Especially since you are returning, there are a lot of things you need to get from Abyssea.

The Semantics: RDM is not used in current "endgame". RDM however, does make for a great job to use in Abyssea. It can solo most mobs, act as a healer in a group, proc things (which causes higher drop rates), etc. If you like RDM, by all means, play it. That applies to every job, I am simply just saying that you shouldn't worry about "endgame" as it is now. Endgame will change either by new things added or changed, and whatever job you want to play will have its place. For now though, RDM is a fun job that could be very useful in helping you get the things you need from Abyssea. If you like other jobs, by all means level them. NIN (as stated in the post above me) is also a very good job for Abyssea. But hell, every job has its place in Abyssea, and since you're just starting out, I would highly recommend forgetting about current endgame.

Good Luck!


Edit: Personal Testimony- To this day, I still spend most of my time in Abyssea. I have almost every job at 99 (between two characters) and still think Abyssea is the most fun there is in this game. People do like VW and Legion, and I am not bashing them. I think Legion will be a lot of fun. I can't take the random drops from VW when I know that I could be actually accomplishing something in another part of the game. Before I get flamed for an "Abyssea is the best don't do anything else" post,I realize that VW and Legion have their places when you're done Abyssea and trying to max out a job's potential. I'm just giving the OP a realistic opinion for someone who is returning.

May want to tell him that he will need to collect those atmas first. Also about jobs that give you most bang for your buck. Abyssea can be done with 2-3 people to do small group contents. Basically thf, dancer, ninja, monk, warrior are all very good to have, on mage side: white mage and black mage. Those are jobs that are your bare minimum, dnc/ninja + blm/whm can pretty much duo those seals for your gears, many other jobs combo exists, but those two probably will give you the most bang for your bucks. As usual beast master and summoner also great for abyssea solo content. You may also want to level void watch jobs, legion jobs, neo dynamic jobs and neo nyzul jobs. Pretty much need a good 5-6 jobs leveled up, 2 mages, 2 melee, 1 pet based job.

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Originally Posted by Savlyn

Hello!

Since you're just returning, I'm sure there are a TON of things that you need to do for your jobs (RDM in this case). That being said, you will most likely spend 90% of your time in Abyssea at lv 75+.

The truth: Abyssea has essentially all the gear you will need for your RDM at 99. The reason is: the current "endgame" is negligible content.

Endgame: Voidwatch drops side grade gear (gear that is not necessary to make your job function well, but gear that will give you a small % of an increase). However, Voidwatch drops are ridiculously low, which means that it is not a viable option to collect gear from. Legion too, simply because it is brand new, has not been mastered enough or improved upon enough to lead to people consistently getting "the best" gear. That being said...

We come back to Abyssea. Abyssea is the best, easiest, and most fun way of getting gear. For every hour that you spend in Voidwatch, with a very low % chance of actually getting something, you could be actually accomplishing things in Abyssea. Especially since you are returning, there are a lot of things you need to get from Abyssea.

The Semantics: RDM is not used in current "endgame". RDM however, does make for a great job to use in Abyssea. It can solo most mobs, act as a healer in a group, proc things (which causes higher drop rates), etc. If you like RDM, by all means, play it. That applies to every job, I am simply just saying that you shouldn't worry about "endgame" as it is now. Endgame will change either by new things added or changed, and whatever job you want to play will have its place. For now though, RDM is a fun job that could be very useful in helping you get the things you need from Abyssea. If you like other jobs, by all means level them. NIN (as stated in the post above me) is also a very good job for Abyssea. But hell, every job has its place in Abyssea, and since you're just starting out, I would highly recommend forgetting about current endgame.

Good Luck!


Edit: Personal Testimony- To this day, I still spend most of my time in Abyssea. I have almost every job at 99 (between two characters) and still think Abyssea is the most fun there is in this game. People do like VW and Legion, and I am not bashing them. I think Legion will be a lot of fun. I can't take the random drops from VW when I know that I could be actually accomplishing something in another part of the game. Before I get flamed for an "Abyssea is the best don't do anything else" post,I realize that VW and Legion have their places when you're done Abyssea and trying to max out a job's potential. I'm just giving the OP a realistic opinion for someone who is returning.

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You might also want to mention that BLM can proc yellow far better than RDM and the majority of melee's can proc red and blue for everything else. There is very little a Red Mage can offer in an Abyssea team. Not to trying to nit-pick, just stating a fact.

Inside Abyssea, Red Mage isn't used much because of easy access to Refresh Atmas and MP potions rendering their major tools pretty useless. Enfeebles can be done by almost any job, and their merit ones aren't really notable at the best of times, let alone Abyssea where everything dies very quickly.

Voidwatch you might see invites thanks to Refresh II and other buffs, but since PLD was given a Phalanx of its own, the value of Phalanx II merits has decreased considerably. Ninja's don't really need it since they rely more on blinking damage away entirely rather than absorbing it, and Scholar's can Accession the spell at will anyway.

It's a tough life for Red Mage. Here's hoping they do as promised and make enfeebles land on HNMs better. Most VW mobs are practically immune to all the status effects anyone actually cares about landing!

Since he is just returning, I imagined that he would be doing Abyssea either solo or very low man. Perhaps in shout groups too. I shouldn't have assumed, you guys are right. But if he likes the job, I really don't think he should be worrying about if it useful in VW or Legion currently. Like I said, VW and Legion are bound to change over time, and *hopefully* RDM will get something to bring it back into the realm of usefulness. Like I said, I was just suggesting that he level it since it's an easy job to solo/duo for a lot of things in Abyssea (where he will be spending most of his time).

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Originally Posted by Tsukino_Kaji

Rdm hasn't been endgame since pre-WoG. lol
Realy in this day and age it has become a game where you have to level other jobs to get stuff for the job that you want.

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aka. The game is broke. Job BALANCE!! is non-existent. Not that this is anything new, mind you, it's just the lolJOBS as far as endgame have shifted a bit.

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Originally Posted by Savlyn

Hello!


Endgame: Voidwatch drops side grade gear (gear that is not necessary to make your job function well, but gear that will give you a small % of an increase).

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I agree with most of your post, but I take issue with this statement and definition. I'm not saying you did this in your post, but people use the term "sidegrade" a lot to denigrate gear from VW (or Legion). But I don't think they mean what they say. To me, "sidegrade" connotes a piece where you can essentially get most or all of the benefits of the piece from preexisting gear. A perfect example to me is the new Iaso Boots for WHM, a piece that combines 4% cure potency and 12% movement speed. You can achieve capped cure potency from other pieces, and you can achieve 12% movement speed from Herald's Gaiters. Thus, the Iaso Boots are a "sidegrade". Nice if you have them but replicated by other gear setups (well, we don't know its augments I guess, but still!).

You say VW gear gives you a small % of an increase. To me, that isn't a sidegrade. That is a piece that replaces other pieces in a gear setup because it does represent an increase, however small. If you meant that Abyssea gear clearly gives you more bang for your buck than VW, of course I agree with you. But I think people should be more precise. VW gear may not confer as much of an increase as Abyssea gear, but it contains pieces that are clearly "best" for certain functions.

Some of the VW gears are worth having and very very good on its own and yeah can replace some of the Abyssea gears. There are reasons some of these VW mobs are constantly being killed over and over :) But I agree with you, any returning players should try to get at least a set of AF3+1 for a starter. And then can do +2, or even Relic +2 as well for some pieces. There are soooooooo many things to do now, abyssea itself is a content that keeps on giving generously and one of the best one there by far. Voidwatch is fun but can be tedious after awhile when you keep going for 200-300 and keep getting craps.

Well most of your end game time will be in Abyssea so I suggest these jobs to level whm, blm, war, nin. Cor and pld are good jobs if you want to do VW.

Also blu for abyssea.

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Originally Posted by Mahoro

I agree with most of your post, but I take issue with this statement and definition. I'm not saying you did this in your post, but people use the term "sidegrade" a lot to denigrate gear from VW (or Legion). But I don't think they mean what they say. To me, "sidegrade" connotes a piece where you can essentially get most or all of the benefits of the piece from preexisting gear. A perfect example to me is the new Iaso Boots for WHM, a piece that combines 4% cure potency and 12% movement speed. You can achieve capped cure potency from other pieces, and you can achieve 12% movement speed from Herald's Gaiters. Thus, the Iaso Boots are a "sidegrade". Nice if you have them but replicated by other gear setups (well, we don't know its augments I guess, but still!).

You say VW gear gives you a small % of an increase. To me, that isn't a sidegrade. That is a piece that replaces other pieces in a gear setup because it does represent an increase, however small. If you meant that Abyssea gear clearly gives you more bang for your buck than VW, of course I agree with you. But I think people should be more precise. VW gear may not confer as much of an increase as Abyssea gear, but it contains pieces that are clearly "best" for certain functions.

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VW gear is situational at best unless you're talking about the weapons but Empyreans are better and you can probably farm them faster.

I wasn't just talking about the weapons. Some of the pieces themselves are superior or "best-in-slot" for certain functions.

As far as weapons are concerned, Magian Swords are good to get (STR, MAcc, VIT will work well if you don't have the patience or desire for the Almace). I cannot speak reliably on Magian staves since I've only done the Avatar legs of the trials, But I'd say flip a coin between MAcc and MAtk depending on what you want to do most. Otherwise, get the HQ level 51 staves if you don't already have them. They're dirt cheap these days compared to when you left.

By all means, get your Estoqueur's gear to +1 and +2 whenever you can. Any other melee gear you can find will do for soloing purposes. Also look into organizing or getting into a Yaanei party. The Estoqueur's Cape it drops is well worth the effort.

More than anything, don't buy into the garbage that passes for conventional wisdom on these and other forums. Red Mage is nowhere near useless and is still a good job to have in a group.

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Originally Posted by Mahoro

I wasn't just talking about the weapons. Some of the pieces themselves are superior or "best-in-slot" for certain functions.

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I don't do VW much but I haven't seen a sinlge piece of gear that I would use over my af3+2 for nin, mnk, whm, blm, war, or brd: the main jobs that I play. I have seen the abjuration pieces and people say those are good but I can't find any info on those.

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Originally Posted by svengalis

Also blu for abyssea.

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Blue is great for abyssea and voidwatch as well - hard to find one and always needed.