PLEASE CAP THE ZODIAC DROP RATE

[BobbinT]

Sorry, almost a month and still 9/16 zodiac KI. I have to agree, RNG is way too much.

[Kikoten]

I'm on my Atma -> Animus right now. All I want to know is this: is Animus as big of a disappointment as Atma, considering how long it took me to get the dag-blasted Atma stones?

And is Zodiac much better than Zeta/much better than Novus/much better than Animus?

Thanks~

[synesthetic]

I'm on my Atma -> Animus right now. All I want to know is this: is Animus as big of a disappointment as Atma, considering how long it took me to get the dag-blasted Atma stones?

And is Zodiac much better than Zeta/much better than Novus/much better than Animus?

Thanks~

Not sure in what sense you consider Atma a disappointment, but I can at least say that Animus is a real i100 weapon whereas Atma is not. Atma says it's i100 but has the same weapon/magic damage stat as an i90.

Zodiac is not better than Zeta; Zeta is better than Zodiac.
Zeta i135
Zodiac i125
Nexus i115
Novus i110
Animus i100

But otherwise, yes, upgrades by 10-15 iLvs for a weapon are much better.

[Kikoten]

Not sure in what sense you consider Atma a disappointment, but I can at least say that Animus is a real i100 weapon whereas Atma is not. Atma says it's i100 but has the same weapon/magic damage stat as an i90.

I guess it was a disappointment because when I went from Zenith to Atma, I was expecting a stat boost, and to actually feel stronger. Instead, I found out I had to get 9 books to actually get those upgrades, so I said screw it and put my ambitions to bed for a while. Now I've gotten back into the grind, so I was just wondering if I somehow get Animus, will it actually feel like an upgrade, and not a letdown in the sense that my weapon transforming into Animus means not actually feeling stronger.

[Allyrion]

This thread is discouraging. I came back recently after a year long break.

I farmed Atma non-stop when it came out and got it within a week (though I died a little inside). Then I did Animus.
I heard they raised the Atma drop rates, which is good. And Yoshida said he understood the complaints and wouldn't make it as bad going on.

Animus books were great. No RNG other than having to wait for certain fate spawns (which isn't exactly RNG either).
I'm fine with RNG in stats or combat mechanics. I hate ring when it comes to rewards.

Back then, I accepted Atma for what it was, but I *really* hoped they would make it more like the books going forward.
Especially since complaints back then were that the Atma could take a few minutes to eight hours in one zone. Worse if you're unlucky.
My average was 6-7 hours of pure farming per zone.

I restarted as a NIN now that I'm back and now I'm not sure if it's worth doing with the expansion around to corner or if I could finish.

[synesthetic]

This thread is discouraging. I came back recently after a year long break.

I farmed Atma non-stop when it came out and got it within a week (though I died a little inside). Then I did Animus.
I heard they raised the Atma drop rates, which is good. And Yoshida said he understood the complaints and wouldn't make it as bad going on.

Animus books were great. No RNG other than having to wait for certain fate spawns (which isn't exactly RNG either).
I'm fine with RNG in stats or combat mechanics. I hate ring when it comes to rewards.

Back then, I accepted Atma for what it was, but I *really* hoped they would make it more like the books going forward.
Especially since complaints back then were that the Atma could take a few minutes to eight hours in one zone. Worse if you're unlucky.
My average was 6-7 hours of pure farming per zone.

I restarted as a NIN now that I'm back and now I'm not sure if it's worth doing with the expansion around to corner or if I could finish.

There's enough time to start a relic from scratch and finish it. Even more so considering the 3.0 relics won't be released until a couple of weeks after launch, and i130 will be the best for a lot of the new content (and still extremely good by level cap).
There's also still hope that Yoshida will follow through with his comment on people who've finished their zetas getting some kind of compensation.

Is it worth it though? Depends on your tolerance for grind.

Farming up a full set of atma can be done within a day or so.
Animus book FATEs aren't tied to other FATEs' anymore, and have respawn times of around 30-90 minutes, from what I've seen.
I can't say what materia for a Novus sphere scroll will be like on your server, but it's probably still modestly expensive for a 3-stat build, and extremely expensive for a 2-stat.
Nexus light grind still sucks, but how much lights are given per message was all bumped up a tier.
Zodiac is a major test of patience and luck. But if you can get through it, you're done. You're also going to need ~1mil gil; 400k minimum from buying quest items, and then more from buying crafted turn-in items. Hopefully you have a crafter friend, or can find someone willing to craft with given mats.
Zeta light grind isn't so bad. Inflated numbers compared to Nexus' grind, but lots of tiers in between so it doesn't feel like such a chore. Also a lot of people do this step (or Nexus) while farming zodiac drops for their next relic.

[TetsuyaHikari]

Sorry, almost a month and still 9/16 zodiac KI. I have to agree, RNG is way too much.

Yeah... After getting this one, I'm never bothering with this again, lol. I'm currently saving up my Poetics to get my NIN an i130 weapon (already have the tomestone). I don't mind that they expect the relic questline to take a long time to finish. Hell, I played FFXI, so that's not what bothers me.

What bothers me is how many RNG hoops you have to jump through just to advance in it (see: Atma farming, Alex farming (if you're going through F.A.T.E.s instead of grinding for tomes/seals all the time), and the Zodiac drops). The moment a quest turns from something skill based to something luck based is when you start having problems. This system is holding up players from joining static parties because their ilvl isn't high enough on their weapon, so they either have to spend 3 weeks saving up Poetics or possibly spend 3 weeks just trying to get these godforsaken drops before they're able to advance in the quest and get something decent.

Either way, you're being left behind. I can think of two players just off the top of my head that got all of their Zodiac drops in the first day they started farming for them, so if you have a friend like that, suddenly the gap between the both of you has increased and you're stuck continuing to repeat the same dungeons over and over again for possibly the next month just to catch up. He's not going to sit around with his thumb up his ass and wait for you because you're having bad luck. He's going to join a static for FCOB without you and tell you, "Let me know when you finish!" or something similar.

Whoever thought "let's leave their advancement up to chance" was a good idea didn't think this through long enough. That's for sure.

[BobbinT]

snip

lol not really. Already have 3 zeta. This set is for my 4th one, and I'm still planning to get at least 2 more set maybe.

But I do felt each set I do felt like become worse and worse in term of RNG drops. ^^;

[Evangela]

RNG needs to go away from this game completely.

[BobbinT]

RNG needs to go away from this game completely.

Name one MMO that's completely devoid of RNG. lol