Level 99 Relics and Empyreans

[Leonlionheart]

Zumi is trying to tell you what he/she has found, its up to you to listen

I did, and I've found him to be wrong

[Greatguardian]

Excal has already been shown to be mathematically inferior to Almace outside Abyssea a few times on these boards.

[Zumi]

You can check my FFXIAH, I really do got both of them. Tried them both on various fights.
http://www.ffxiah.com/player/Phoenix/Zumi

This is Excalibur 95 vs Almace 85. Was doing Jeuno VW today KoR seems to do around 200 more damage on average then CdC. I am getting a lot of 450+ add. damage procs with Excalibur. I switched swords half way through noticed, I did worse almost every time I swapped to Almace.

Working on Alamce 90 though to see if it will preform better then Excalibur.

[Leonlionheart]

Was your WS set up to date?

[Amador]

As far as Empyrean's being King of absolutely anything is completely dependent on the job the Empyrean is for and the caliber of player that utilizes the weapon.

Current standing augments made on weapons are unbalanced. They know this, they see it. They have stated that upon Level 99, afterwards balancing will take place between the final trials of these weapons. What I can see is that the thought out the path of Empyreans well, and have been implementing more appeal to Mythics. A strange order.

However, if the balancing is to be taken seriously then it's going to show a lot. In time, at this current stage in the game the hardest weapons to obtain are Mythics and by that right they have gained Occ. Attacks Twice or Thrice at what has been stated to be a 40 40 20 Rate. Which is fairly intense. These weapons also bolster +15% Damage Increase to their respective WS. King's Justice, Drakesbane are amongst two of the most powerful in the Mythic case.

As far as Relic Weapons go their power has been enhanced slightly however, not enough to compensate for some. They still require massive balancing in the aftermath scenario.

The new introduction of After circle has been mentioned, and hopefully that'll be something great and beneficial for all weapons as well as the wielder.

[Insaniac]

This again!? I've decided to make a list. These are just my opinions based on observations, and opinions of owners of both including myself. I'm trying to base this on over all usefulness. Some of these are hard to compare because they can be used by different jobs.

Mandau = Twashtar - Very well balanced weapons at 95.
Ukon > Bravura - Ukon is the clear winner for anyone who has seen both used by competent players.
Rhongomiant > Gungnir - Not a huge win for Rhongo. Both of these weapons are absolutely crushed by Ryunohige
Apocalypse >>> Redemption - Without a doubt Apoc is the ONLY relic that crushes it's emp counterpart
Masa > Amano - On a lot of hard stuff both weapons will probably be using Gekko but Fudo > Kaiten when they do get used.
Caldabolg > Ragnarok - Ragnarok has some hype behind it but scourge is a terrible WS unless stacked with SA.
Verethragna >>> Spharai - VS > enhanced counter.
Almace > Excal - On extremely tough mobs excal could potentially get close but I don't think it could ever win.
Guttler > Farsha - Farsha got screwed with an inexplicable elemental WS.
Kannagi >>> Kikoku - I can't think of a single situation where one would use Kikoku over Kanaggi.
Gambanteinn > Mjolnir - Meh. DD WHM. At least with Gamb you can pop wings in VW for MP. Yagrush is king.
Daurdabla > Gjallarhorn - Gjallarhorn doesn't amount to much but a space saver. A 3rd song is kinda game changing.
Anni = Armageddon - I don't think this should really even be considered. Arma is clearly a COR weapon and Anni is RNG only.
Hvergelmir > Claustrum - Who cares.
Ochain > Aegis - Aegis has it's uses for sure and is an awesome shield but most of the damage most mobs are gonna do to you is physical and Ochain puts a stop to that and turns it into infinite MP.

EDIT: Forgot the bows!

Yoichi > Gandiva - A static enmity WS changes the game for RNG. Gandiva is beast for damage but as mentioned before. You don't do damage while you take a dirt nap.

[Insaniac]

Oh yeah. As far as the OP goes. I agree 100%. If it's some terrible grind to get my Mandau to 99 I will nerd rage so hard it will echo through the heavens. I will RMT my character, buy a plane ticket to Japan, a Hattori Hanzo sword, and a yellow suit. Then I'll take out the devs like they are the Crazy 88. Except since it's the ffxi team it will be the Crazy 4.

[Atomic_Skull]

Oh yeah. As far as the OP goes. I agree 100%. If it's some terrible grind to get my Mandau to 99 I will nerd rage so hard it will echo through the heavens. I will RMT my character, buy a plane ticket to Japan, a Hattori Hanzo sword, and a yellow suit. Then I'll take out the devs like they are the Crazy 88. Except since it's the ffxi team it will be the Crazy 4.

An easy upgrade quest basically ensures that relics are going to be second place. I don't mind a hard quest as long as the end result is worth it.

[Insaniac]

An easy upgrade quest basically ensures that relics are going to be second place. I don't mind a hard quest as long as the end result is worth it.

You can see the stats on the 99 relics and unless they have some outlandish hidden effect almost all of them are still 2nd or 3rd place. SE is never gonna put relics back in 1st place so I would rather just have moderate to easy trials. I wouldn't doubt that all we are getting at 99 is AoE aftermaths which for most relics is junk. Even the better aftermaths will be a joke compared to AoE ODD or OA3. This trial will be a bitch and will likely have us even further behind than we were at 95 so gimme the cake walk trials.

[Dragonlord]

You can see the stats on the 99 relics and unless they have some outlandish hidden effect almost all of them are still 2nd or 3rd place.

Well they do have a hidden effect. Occasionally deals 2 to 3 times dmg. The amount and proc rate depends on which weapon. We also can't tell how the proc rate increases until relic owners upgrade to the final stage, and they've gotten sizable boosts the past 2 updates.