Consensus on PLD +1 vs AF2

this has probably been asked before and likely comes down to individual circumstances but what do people feel is the best use of those 900 mythology tokens as full DL paladin with no alagan pieces, is it best to invest them into relic +1 or spend them on AF2 gear?

Well you upgrade your shield and sword separately. The shield is only 300 tomes, so that's a good, cheap upgrade, and you can spend the 600 to upgrade your sword later on. Upgrading your lowest ilvl pieces is a bigger upgrade than the 10 ilvl upgrade from your sword getting a +1, unless you have issues with threat, but even then you're not gonna generate oodles more with a +1.

+1 sword is actually your best use of myth if you're doing Coil as anything else drops there before turn 5. Ring is the same deal since you want one myth ring + one allagan ring ideally. Rest is just a matter of figuring out what's best in slot for you and spending your tomes accordingly.

Alternatively if you don't care about Coil gearing then just wait 'til 2.1 where the real AF2 will come out and you'll have to grind even more tomes for it but it'll be superior to AF+1/Allagan gear until later turns etc. But no one wants to do that apparently, so I'd recommend +1 sword first. Then get 75 next week and get your ring. Then decide from there. If you're not running Coil then just upgrade w/e.

Edit: Oh, the head also drops on turn 5 (apparently) so you can spend your myth on that too but it won't be as much of an improvement compared to the ring.

For the love of God do NOT plan your myth tome spending on whether a piece can technically drop for you in coil. That's terrible planning and you'd waste your tomes on the weakest upgrade.

Here's what you do if you're super paranoid and you're totally convinced that not only is a bunch of tank gear gonna drop but YOU'RE gonna be the one to win it:

1. Get in contact with your other tank. This is for static groups. If you're doing randoms... God help you with getting loot reliably.

2. Ask that tank what piece he's spending his myth on, and tell him what you're spending yours on. You should both get pieces the other doesn't have. (i.e. you get chest when he gets legs) That way, if something good drops, one of you will likely already have it and can simply pass to the other, and if neither of you have it, you can simply roll on it.

Don't hinder your group by being stingy with your myth tomes because someone on a forum convinced you that all your gear is TOTALLY gonna drop as soon as you start running coil.

^ Very true. Basing your myth upgrades on RNG isn't a good idea, but it's good to prioritize your upgrades to compensate for IF they do drop. It's safe to go Sword -> Ring -> Gloves, then if the body has dropped for you, Headpiece, then if the legs drop for you, Pants. If the body doesn't drop, prioritize body. After that if the legs don't drop I feel like it's still safe to prioritize pants over legs, but I'm not sure if the time merits the reward.

Also splitting the gear up 50/50 with the other tank is a good idea. It's usually best to go half and half aka one tank gets body + gloves if they drop and one tank gets pants + legs. Same deal with jewelry. Buying things that drop on Turn 1 CAN seem like a waste no matter what, but if the upgrade will help your group progress through turns then it's worth it in the long run.

Cheers guys,

Confirms my thoughts really. As we will be moving onto coil shortly once we get a few more FC geared my plan was to +1 the shield and get the ring then +1 the sword a week later as i'm sat on about 680 mythology at the minute.

Been clearing t4 for a month. Our group has seen exactly one piece of tank gear (shield). If i wouldn't have bought 3 pieces of valor, my gear would be terrible.

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Originally Posted by MBTL90

Been clearing t4 for a month. Our group has seen exactly one piece of tank gear (shield). If i wouldn't have bought 3 pieces of valor, my gear would be terrible.

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Exactly my point. While getting your sword early might SEEM like a good idea in theory, the RNG gods have to be on your side for it to really make sense. After 2 months of no gear your group might look at your +1 sword and raise their eyebrows just a little bit. Doubt they'll call you out on it, but I think it's smarter planning to save the sword for when you've gotten at least a few pieces of real myth gear.

Since I personally don't really care much about PLD I haven't compared af2/allagan for it but this is in general for all jobs.

Check and compare the allagan and mythology counterpart as some pieces are the EXACT stats as mythology so they would "technically be a waste of myth points"; example allagan hands and legs are the exact stats as af2 for warrior, so you may want to upgrade mythology pieces around those and farm content in the hopes that they drop. I believe BLM boots and allagan casting boots are exact stats too? (someone else can confirm etc idc) but just saying.

My upgrade path, just to have it out there, granted I never purchased the DarkLight body/helm (ugly ass thing anyways).
I spent my Myth on the Valor body and then the Valor helm to replace my Hoplite, that was the best upgrade path for me.
Rest of my gear is Darklight with 1 hoplite ring.
My next upgrades will probably be my +1 Shield and Hero Ring, not sure which order yet.
My FC should be starting Turn 1 this week (I hope) and I'm not placing my bets on RNG.

Honestly, the sword is a godsend if you are AoE tanking. (shield too ofc). With +1 sword, your threat when taking the left route on turn 2 is better, and throttles the group less. Also, it makes it easier to hold AoE packs on turn 4, as you generate more threat with flash (yes it matters for flash too).

The two bits that (allegedly) drop from Turn 5 are the Headgear and Sword.
They're the most obvious ones to go for, aside from the Ring.

My gear progression is going to be RING (got) > BODY (getting this week once Myth is capped) > SWORD (two weeks away) > HEAD > WRIST > LEGS...
...followed by whatever gear hasn't dropped from coil by then.

Shield is an obvious cheaper upgrade to go for, but there are usually other upgrades that give you better Stat Boost return per Myth point over Darklight (not to mention that the Allagan Round Shield is normally better)

I *Hate* the look of the Darklight body piece, so I have stuck with Hoplite Body and Head (even doing Coil in them) though everything else is Darklight (including accessories, plus the aforementioned Heros Ring).
Technically the Allagan Body is a drop from Coil Turn 1, so I'll likely get it eventually... but the Valor Body and Wrist are "Best In Slot" for almost all of the possible gear setups, and the Legs are BIS for several others... :)

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Originally Posted by Aegrus

Honestly, the sword is a godsend if you are AoE tanking. (shield too ofc). With +1 sword, your threat when taking the left route on turn 2 is better, and throttles the group less. Also, it makes it easier to hold AoE packs on turn 4, as you generate more threat with flash (yes it matters for flash too).

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Honestly if you have any sort of threat issue anywhere in Coil without a +1 you have extremely serious tanking issues. The bit of additional threat you get is NOT one of the selling points for any tank who is good at what they do.

And Maelwys, the "most obvious" upgrades should be your weakest pieces. Do not rely on RNG to get gear, upgrade your weakest link, don't act like you'll just get a tanking piece "just because," that's bad planning.

i'm coordinating with my off tank for coil (who is a warrior.)

because he already has af2 chest, i will not be getting my chest. if i do, and the allagan chest drops on turn 1 for us: it becomes situationally useless to us.

so my gear progression will be head(aquired)-->legs(aquired)-->arms(next week)-->pants(if allagan does not drop for me)--->(jewlery that has yet to fall onto my lap in coil)--->sword--->chest (if allagan has yet to drop for me by this time.)

and i'm not relying on RNG, i simply don't want RNG to shaft my team.

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Originally Posted by Xbob42

And Maelwys, the "most obvious" upgrades should be your weakest pieces. Do not rely on RNG to get gear, upgrade your weakest link, don't act like you'll just get a tanking piece "just because," that's bad planning.

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They're the "most obvious" because very few FCs have cleared turn 5 and even if you've a regular coil party you're very unlikely to see them drop anytime soon... so therefore you're practically guaranteed to need them eventually. They're not the "most obvious" in terms of efficiency gains per point of myth spent.

I agree with your point - and that's exactly why I said I'm getting the Valor Body first (even though the Allagan body is technically a turn one drop).

If you're aiming for efficiency, then the upgrades you go for should be the pieces from which you'll get the highest benefit per point of myth tomes spent over what you're currently equipped with. In nearly all cases, that will be Heros Ring first, then whatever gives you the highest boosts to VIT/Parry/STR without dropping below the accuracy threshold for whatever parts of Coil you're doing.