Random Question Thread (FFXI Related)

Even when geo is nerfed you still want fury / frailty (acumen/malaise etc)

I don't really know the purpose of SCH in a ranged setup if only the PLD is in range and needing any heals. PLD doesn't need a lot of healing to begin with. RDM can flurry and sub WHM for heals, if the goal is to keep the PLD alive. RDM provides more support for that particular party's needs vs SCH imo. Enfeebles, Dia3, Cures, sub -na, Phalanx. GEO can essentially cover the same role too with RDM or WHM sub, but with Fury/STR/AGI/Frailty added on top. I think RNG COR COR PLD BRD RDM or GEO would be phenomenal as a 6 box (think one of the Master Trials comps uses something like this). Multiple RDs, WCs, Triple and Double Shots.

Would I be better off just having the BRD/WHM for erase/-na duty to allow the RDM/SCH to do other spells ?

Usually default is BRD/DNC for melee but not applicable for ranged strategy.

Arebati-like setup, Run/Pld Rng Cor Geo Brd Sch.

A good rng is easily 60+% of dmg compared to an equally good ranged cor.

Are you saying a good RNG is only doing 60% of the damage that a COR would? Or that a good RNG is doing 60% more damage than a COR could? I'm pretty sure its the second one but wanted to double check

Also just curious, any thoughts on SCH vs RDM in that setup you posted?

The question is too vague. Elaborate on what fight you're planning this for. Because again, it's still not clear to me what SCH is there for (skillchains extending, magic bursts, or just healing support). There's very little to heal in this setup.

Not him, but I'd say the accurate numbers (judging from Arebati) are: RNG does 60% of the damage, COR does 40% of the damage. So they do (roughly) 50% more than a COR does.

This isn't entirely fair though, since the COR is giving buffs to the RNG, and the RNG isn't giving buffs to the COR. If you had a RNG without any COR buffs, it wouldn't do as much damage (as the RNG with the buffs). In isolation, with ONLY one job or the other, you'd end up closer to each other.

This also assumes RNG is using less-than-optimal weapon/WS (Annihilator) to keep themselves from pulling hate. If they're allowed to full-time use Pinaka or Earp, they'd do a hell of a lot more damage. Before being murdered by their target.

How can I can I use a macroable, sendable, or windows command to lot an item. Abyssea pop items are rare, so treasury doesnt work well if I want a single, varying character to lot something.

In a ranged setup with rng and cor rng is doing 60ish% dmg and cor 40ish%.

No one does dmg without buffs. Two cors do a lot less dmg than rng cor even with double the buffs and RDs.

Yeah! Put a SAM there instead of the SCH!
Shoot those arrows Mr. SAM!

The original request for for an 'all-around ranged team' that someone wanted to build out for 6boxing:


But I hear you, its FFXI so recommendations are always going to be content-specific. I was just musing about the relative benefits a RDM would give a ranged setup "in a vacuum," meaning before any fight specific mechanics need to be factored in. I know RDM has flurry but I feel less familiar with how difficult or important it is to hit ranged attack delay cap, and I'm also not sure how significant a difference SCH storm spells make for ranged magical WS. Its not exactly an apples to apples comparison but I'm curious what others think

It would be a 25% increase with the appropriate storm II buff that kicks in ~1/3 of the time or every time with Obi, though you'll have to subtract the damage whatever piece of equipment the Obi is replacing. You'll also have to factor in the day (could be +10 or -10) as well.

All Rdm provides in a ranged setup is debuffs and flurry. Hardly game changing, hence why arebati setup doesn't use Rdm.

You have to be fight specific or state the purpose because there are a different set of circumstances for an "all around ranged team" that is doing Ambuscade vs Arebati or Sortie. For Ambuscade, you can have 3 CORs or RNGs blasting TP away, and sub DRG to Super JUmp, so they never have hate issues. In something like Arebati you can't have repeat jobs and also have to deal with adds, plus subjobs are restricted, so now you have to account for hitting the hate cap. In Sortie, it depends on how you're fighting the boss (kiting, SC+MB, or just straight ranged shooting). For Aminon, shooting strats simply don't work so we're not talking about that.

In any case, I wanted to understand it specifically because if you are doing a ranged setup, you probably want your DDs out of range so they don't take damage (like August Master Trial), which means the healing would be minimal for the tank. In many instances, people forego the traditional "healer" slot and just have a support sub whm so it can cover healing+buffing/debuffing, which is why I suggested GEO or RDM for the comp. Both jobs can heal from far, support the party and tank, and RDM can crowd control or debuff the main boss to make healing easier on them. Even SMN fills this role nicely with a combination of buffs + support. I just don't see the reason for a WHM/SCH in a shooting strat since healing will almost always be minimal, seems like a waste of a slot to me, but again, have to be specific. If you just want a healer just to heal, I guess take SCH, but I just don't see what there is to heal in such a setup and would prefer another support or even another shooter instead.


Eh.
RDM can also shoot in a ranged setup. With Flurry II, they cap shooting delay with just 40 Snapshot in gear (easily achieved with ambu cape, taeon gear with +10 augment, carmine hands etc)

ItemSet 399543

RDM can use Ullr and Empyreal Arrow for +50% damage, and the WS comes with a native +100% Attack. RDM can also use Thibron for TP Bonus to further push damage (even two if you make a Magian +2 sword to offhand and sub /dnc or /nin), or Fettering Blade if they need Ranged Accuracy. If the target is vulnerable to Distract, RDM can definitely hit the target with the right buffs/enfeebles/food/gear. If you are the type to minmax, it can contribute to damage as well if you want, the main issue is that RDM has no DS/TS, so it will TP very slow. And if the fight is something like Sortie Boss that you'd prefer to kite tank, you can Gravity kite it and shoot from range (if Geomancy is nerfed and Indi-Gravity isn't straight up better)

ItemSet 380890

I made these sets a long time ago for shiggles, but never used them. Same thing I did for NIN+THF when we were experimenting early Arebati strategies.


Arebati is very fight specific. RDM isn't excluded because it doesn't offer much, but because of the nature of the fights themself. You don't have access to a subjob, can't repeat jobs, only have 15 minutes, you can only pick 6 jobs, and on higher vengs the bosses are just strong. And if you are doing multiple runs in one set, you have to be strategic on where you place your jobs on A/B/C teams. You need to include the top jobs for the fight and RDM is left out due to better options. On Arebati particularly, you're really concerned about the tank surviving, the PLD healing and holding adds, and the COR or RNG not taking hate and ending the run (because you have no super jump to shed hate).

Also, in old JP videos, RDM was used in Arebati melee clears with the RDM using Mandau for Mercy Stroke, the WAR tanking Arebati, and the PLD or whatever holding adds in a TP denial setup. It's even better now with Mpu Gandring Ruthless Stroke. It can be used in a comp if you think strategically, but that's just not what the meta shifted toward.

Rdm can do all the things. Just not well, except enfeebling/enhancing.

Rdm can also h2h Asuran fists till the cows come home. It will be doing ***dmg, same as it will be doing pew pewing.

The strength of RDM is the job is versatile. You can heal, buff, debuff, and also DPS. I used shooting as an example just to illustrate it does offer more than flurry and buff/debuff in shooting comp, because the comparison was between WHM/SCH and any other job in that slot. The only thing those two jobs are doing in shooting comp is healing, so if healing isn't needed, the job offers little to the comp. The point was RDM can fill the healer role PLUS other roles, so I'd sooner add them to a shooting comp than I would a healer like SCH/WHM. I wasn't saying to bring RDM because it's a phenomenal shooting job... Lol. When you consider even the GEO job in certain fights (Arebati for example), it's literally only there for attack cap only and nothing else. You can argue that's more valuable than whatever RDM offers, but it's all dependent on what kind of fight your talking about. I listed several examples above, so I simply disagree that RDM offers very little to shooting comp. It really just depends on the fight you're using it for.

As far as the H2H comparison; RDM has D Archery skill, no H2H skill at all. The two aren't even close in terms of performance, Asuran Fists is terrible and Empyreal Arrow is quite competitive with Ullr. You may have never tried it with buffs or just messing around, because it's not ideal. But it's pretty strong for a non native shooting job.

You're right, and with subjobs rdm/whm or rdm/sch can fill a lot of roles. With /sch it also has tier1 storms for magic ws, and still has access to -na with light arts.

I would not include whm in a purely ranged setup, even less so with pld tanking. Even sch is probably twiddling their thumbs after putting on a bunch of regens, adloquium, and storms.

All the same if I were to bring rdm to a ranged comp, they won't be shooting. Keep your Ullr in your mog house, thanks.

I mean, he's also making a "6 box team" which means he's botting. If you're already botting 5 other characters, why not bot the RDM shooting arrows for 25k WS as well?

That said, I wouldn't bring a RDM (for the shooters anyway). I also agree there's no single "shooting comp" because it's a silly question in a game as diverse as FFXI, but that's what you get when you're a 6botter who can't rub 2 braincells together and has to ask for other people to do everything for them.

RUN BRD GEO COR RNG SCH

Someone asked earlier "I'm not sure how easy it is to hit ranged delay cap without flurry." It's very, very easy on RNG and COR, quite difficult on a lot of other jobs. That said, you can swap Snapshot to Rapid Shot and get more "quick casts" if you have the appropriate swaps in your equipsets/macros/gearswap. It's a minor improvement, but it does technically exist.

Thanks to everyone for the input, this is really valuable info for a returning player. Another quick question, that +25% damage from a storm spell + Obi sounds... really significant? Is that the same type of damage bonus as a pixie hairpin / elemental staff? Is my understanding correct that the RDM would have to be contributing at least 25% of the RNG dps + all of SCH dps, just to be on par with a single storm spell in terms of damage contribution? Before even accounting for fight mechanics and the rest of RDM and SCH toolkit that they bring to the table.

(I realize this is getting abstract because everything is content dependent, I guess this would be for if I'm deciding between RDM and SCH and the missing piece to the puzzle is maximizing DPS within a ranged setup strategy)

If you have a sch sub (on GEO most likely, or RDM or BRD) then it's really 15%, just for the second weather.

The bigger factor though: magical WS aren't relevant the majority of the time and even when they are, it's very rare that both Leaden and Trueflight will be relevant at the same time.

So...unlikely. As everyone, including myself, has said: every situation is different and making blanket job setups is shortsighted at best.

What are the cluster bots doing with the tens of thousands of crystals they're farming?

Selling them to the / Using them on; crafting sphere/shield bots

Anyone know exactly how the eyes in Dynamis Divergence Bastok interact with physical WS?

The wiki says Physical and Magical based (insert elements here) for either eye type.

I'd assumed it was related to SC properties, but idk, a lotta of WS have properties on both sides of the isle, so... What's the deal?

Anyone know?

Physical must be a typo, because I've never noticed any difference with killspeed on quads regardless of what eye is pulled.

They take extra light/wind/fire/thunder damage and heavily reduced dark/water/earth/ice damage, or vice versa. Doesn't matter if it's physical (if that exists) or magical.

If you want to do any non-physical damage (blade ei, yu, jinpu, BLM nukes, seraph blade, whatever), you need to pull the right eye color.

Pure physical damage like auto-attacks and physical WS are totally unaffected by eyes, pull whatever you want

It's just some of my LS buds have been having weird weaponskill variations, and swear it's related to the eye color.

Is there anything else to that, or perhaps maybe, the Quadav's Shell Guard? Is their Shell Guard a more significant defense boost than Yagudo's Parry or Orc's Arm Block?

There is no difference wrt physical dmg from Bastok statue eye colour.

Shell Guard is a very potent defense+, similar to cocoon. With that up, expect physical WS dmg to be halved or so. This will naturally apply to hybrid WS as well.

I have no idea what whacky ideas your friends have, but the eyes are not affecting their WS at all, unless they're using magical or hybrid WS which will be dogshit if you pull the wrong color.

Maybe they are missing the first hit of their WS. Maybe the mob has buffs. Maybe they're not standing in a Fury bubble. There's no possible way to diagnose these vague ideas of "weird variations", but I can tell you it's definitely not the eyes.

I always felt there was something weird about wave 1 in bastok that I never could put my finger on.

Despite being a physical weapon skill something about if it was darkness based (grav/dist) or light based (fusion / frag) one of these properties based on the eyes I dont recall "felt" like it did more damage.

the last time I payed attention to this was well before primes came out

The eyeball test is rife with bias. You would notice a +30%/-95% effect if it was doing anything. Its likely skillchain damage taking a hit.