How to Build a PLD, needing tips plz.

[GreyJorildyn]

I don't think you can make any decisions about what the best gear to have in all situations is by running a PUG. For the sake of discussion, CC/AV should be done in 25mins or less, and even then running 20mins is pretty average for groups that know what they're doing. When we discuss "how to build a PLD", we should not be setting low standards for players and making that acceptable. If everyone did "just enough" to run raids in PUGs, then speed runs would be non-existent and bodies would never drop for that reason. Why set the bar low for your MMO's community by touting VIT/DEF builds being the best for end game raids? It isn't, not even close, and no one should be teaching new players that it is. I am glad a player stating that way can "hold their own" in a PUG, but the question is comes down to is "how long did it take?" Princess can be killed in 90-120s depending on your setups.

I could take a gear set for PLD and build a crappy party to go "test" it in a dungeon run. If efficiency is low, then it's low, and a tank should not be contributing to that if they can help it. Gimping yourself on purpose because you're headstrong about a build is not the way MMOs ought to be played by people who have goals for themselves.

On the way up in leveling, VIT/DEF isn't useful either. People run DPS builds for GLA/PLD because hate doesn't matter. When you get to end game, Enmity is #1 for gear choices. If someone here has full HDL and full DPS DL for PLD and wants to compare, go for it. I guarantee that against players worth their salt, HDL wins every time. I personally look at what is possible in a MMO. The upper echelon of the class is what should be aimed for at all times. Yes, "sacrifices" get made along to way (such as taking a little bit more damage on PLD), but when the rest of your party is working towards their strengths as well, everything just works better. Healers can keep a PLD with 3k HP alive just the same as a WAR with 4k when they know how to play their class.

tl;dr don't make yourself a victim of bad advice and roll with it because it looks like it works. Just as there is always a bigger fish, there is always a better way to gear yourself if you're not wearing best in slot.

Lastly: what is your gear setup that you can consider "stressing" him? Also, stripping out common aspects of battle does not give you a good indication of anything. As a DPS, you should be using attack food, bringing that gap up, and the tank has to be able to accommodate for that in real time. In other words, your test is not really accurate off the bat.

[Tman]

The reasoning behind stripping out a so called common aspect, is to get rid of an unneeded/unwanted extra variable, as well as prevent manipulation of results. a hardcore min maxer would swap out food buffs for certain aspects of the fight, IE hp food at the start, Def/Vit food for heavy physical portions, any sort of magical mitigation food when a big hit is about to come. This over-complicates the test as well as can manipulate results

[Molly_Millions]

You can't really test anything in a dungeon reliably, there are simply way too many variables like player skill to worry about that will skew any test results. That goes for the PLD, the WHMs and everyone else.

[Aceofspades]

There's a simple way to end this Ace vs The World nonsense.

http://www.fraps.com/

All it takes is two videos to end the bullshit. Who mans up, and who stands down?

you would think it was that easy... surely nothing I post , be it video, parse, or just pure facts about stats and the nature of the job's build, will satisfy these people. I will say that I do and have always agreed that HP adds a cushon for the WHMs charged with keeping the tank alive, but that cushon is only usefull on hits (mainly magical) that would near empty the tanks HP bar. That being said, most whms would have started casting a cure bomb on the tank as soon as the animation for the tp/magic ability began, this tatic makes the HP cushon even less of a concern, especially if that is the only time the whm/s are cure bombing the tank, assuming the tank dose not get hit like a truck off normal attacks, (in wich case def/vit is obviously the better build).

Also side note, Spirits within dose not grant higher enmity for higher HP all together or the action dicription would say so. It says "current hp" wich, and this is simply how I understand it, the % of your HP bar in corralation with the amount of HP you currently have. soo , given that all other stats are the same (for producing damage) as long as subject a and b have full HP they will produce the same ammount of damage reguardless of actuall number value of HP either jubject has.

I will, however , accept that challange, but first, I require that somone in oposition post a video of a hp build or w/e including stats of gear worn and food used. Everytime I post somthing , their story changes or they pick apart my videos/parses without ever offering any actuall evidence to support their case. I have nothing further to prove to the oposition. Enless they put their chips on the table I have nothing to show them either. Hell I have somone who is normally against vit/def build making somewhat of a case for the build and that dose nothing for them, they pick appart the test totally disreguarding the facts the test was focused on, wich was damage taken , stress on the healers, and hate management. Soo as far as who is being "head strong about a build" you tell me, I open myself to be cunstructivly analized and instead the only analisis offerd is critical without any evidence to base there analysis off of, I realy want to get off this subject but anytime I offer advice to new tanks who seek some guidence , I am bombarded with "thats stupid" type comments. Here is a thought, there are currently two types of builds that are dominating the game, why dont we let the newcomers figure out for themselves wich build works best. No one gave me adivce when I built my tank set, I just went with what worked best, I simply promote using vit/def build over other builds other then that , to each their own.

[GemGenie]

The Hp vs def/vit build is always difficult choice even back in ff11. Though I like hp build in ff11.

This is from a newbie ff14 pld perspective that I think conceptually, def/vit is better because taking less dmg requires less healing and also less enmity for the whm. In addition, the current available cure magic cannot fill up 3-4k hp in a short time.

However, I think the most problem in ff14 now is that def/vit build doesn't really have much noticeable improvement compare to a lower def but high hp pld.

If ff14 eventually fix the def thing, such that def build really taking 30%+ less dmg, then def/vit will be the way to go.

Oh well, for my gear choice, it's appearance > everything

[GreyJorildyn]

The best WHMs out there are maxxing out their regens to lower the enmity over time. Furthermore, a well-geared enmity tank will never lose hate to the WHM, not in a million years. You can think that "conceptually" DEF/VIT is better, but the reality is that what is on paper and what is in practice are different most often (and really what is on paper doesn't say much about DEF/VIT either when fighting things almost 10 levels above you like most end game mobs).

[YuriSan]

first things first you wanna equip an ax...

Theres an "E" in the word "Axe"...
And this is a PLD thread. shoo.

I used to stack MND and VIT only. had it at 320 MND and 322 VIT.
Now i use HDL so meh. stats are stats, whatevs.

May wanna use a sword with some ACC and ENM on it tho, and some ACC accessories too.
Shield, maybe use a Vintage Kite Shield +1 with some DEF on it.
(mine just has +5 MND & +20 DEF on it )