
Originally Posted by
Ayasha
To Jar: Out of sheer curiosity I would like to know how you can consistently see 2.6k Guillotines, triple/double attack notwithstanding. I'm a huge fan of the weapon skill, however I can't possibly see how you can catch damage like that even with your superb gear. I'm not flat-out calling you a liar, I just have my doubts. The modifiers for the weapon skill just don't seem to play along with your numbers. Your guillo gear is badass by anyone's standard, don't get me wrong, the math just doesn't support your claims.
A 90 DRK with a 90 Apoc, 200 STR, 130 MND, capped pDIF, and all 4 strikes hitting the intended target should see at MOST 2,474 damage alone, 2536 with an elemental gorget OR belt, and 2,598 with both, given the best case scenario, scaling upwards with extra attacks, of course. To save room in my post, I'll forgo posting my maths, they're convoluted at best, but I have it available if you would like to see it.
To the OP... Damage will suck early on post-75 in abyssea, and like was posted earlier, 90% of the time it's the level correction/pDIF problem. It WILL get better as your level and skill improve. I don't play Dark Knight as a DD job anymore, not in FFXI Abyssea, at least. I gear more toward a support role that can throw out some decent damage and a decent WS occasionally. I'm still working on my Lv 85 Caladbolg, so I can't lay any claims to that of course. Basically I sub Dancer to everything now. With an A+ rating in Scythe, Violent Flourish rarely misses or fails to stun on things that aren't immune to it, and healing waltz really helps out the WHM in the event he/she gets silenced or is otherwise incapacitated. This set-up was invaluable for low man Glavoid, Carabosse, and Sobek spams, but it's far from ideal.
Basically if you sum up all my ramblings, play the job how you enjoy to play it. We kind of got screwed as far as weapon skill damage is concerned, and "slow" attack speeds don't help either, although the latter can be mitigated. There's better options in abyssea, but I have fun with the job, and really that's all that matters. Get your +2 gears as Dart suggested, work on an empyrean that isn't the scythe, and don't get discouraged. We got spoiled the last update, hopefully there's more to come.