After months, and months of waiting...
Hard work, twice a week every week. Great drama and frustration.
Achievement, reaching up to the lofty heavens. One by one, the five pieces fell.
Until the last. It ended this week.
After months. The full set was mine. My glorious dream since I had started doing endgame, roughly 14 months ago, finally achieved. Suffice to say I was absolutely ecstatic at having received my full set.
Ignore the random gear in that screenshot; Paladin looks set. Full Homam (head not pictured due to it being pretty crappy)! In other FF news, I've been levelling BLU lately and this may just be my next to 75... though learning spells can either suck or be fine. Very mixed; sometimes I spend 5 minutes, sometimes 5 hours. Oh well, it's a nice diversion and unique to the job at least. Need a Voyager Sallet now but nobody to camp it with sadly, but I can hardly be unhappy with 5/5 Homam (and by extension, the prospect of dinging into full Homam at 75)!
I'll likely write more later! Just had to relate this monumental occasion.
Hey, I know this update is late in coming but I've been so busy both in real life and ingame, and just haven't had the time to update this. Plus I keep forgetting to take screenshots as I'm playing which is annoying! There'll be some detailed THF stuff later in this post, but I'll save it until near the end since it's a very niche interest.
So what have I been up to? A lot of things. I've forgotten to screenshot most of it so it'll be very boring. Suffice to say, WHM is 42, RDM is 37 and BLM is 22 and going up to 37. Also levelling BLU at least as a subjob now, and it's a lot of fun; my spell-learning luck is terrible though. Took a mob a good 30+ TP moves before it used Queasyshroom on me for instance (luckily I went 1/1 on it).
Been meritting a lot too, in an attempt to cap out some merits (aiming for Feint 5/5 right now, currently 4/5 with 3/5 merits). Now, THF is largely melee DoT damage in merit parties and it's inefficient to combine SA and TA, but it makes for fun epeen damage shots!
My WS set is rather meh as well; still no Hecatomb Mittens! I've been approaching many LSs to buy them (hopefully for in the range of 300-400k) and no real success so far. Unlikely to see X's Knife/Love Torque/Hecatomb Cap and Hecatomb Subligar either. It's a shame.
Mandalic Stab is also hugely underrated; I love the ability to almost ignore accuracy on it and stack DEX, as well as having an Attack bonus -- basically a later game Viper Bite. Excellent for situations where you cannot trust your accuracy/attack, or opponent defence is so high you really need to pierce it; just beware that it is VERY weak unstacked. Hey, like I said -- think Viper Bite in terms of how to use it.
I also meritted on mamools recently on THF! I was a bit pessimistic about my accuracy at the start, but I managed ~85% accuracy using a single madrigal and meat and that I am happy with. After I get Homam Hands and 5/5 Feint, it will be a bit higher. Meat is always an option for your good and well-geared THF in merit parties!
In order to revamp some of my sets and get a WS gorget for Insurgency and Mandalic Stab, I went out and farmed Sea a LOT earlier this month. Almost solo'd the entirety of two gorgets until people came to help, minus the UFOs. Treasure Hunter really does help a great deal on the drop rates, and contrary to popular belief THF can solo Om'Phuabos quite easily! Just bring echoes. Always carry echoes on THF solo unless you're 100% sure it can't silence you.
The result~!
3/8 of the elemental gorgets! Need to get a Soil Gorget sometime for Evisceration but not too bothered about that right now; barely use the WS anyway. Maybe if I got an X's Knife I'd mess around with it more but... 0/10 on that thing so far and I don't see it dropping anytime soon. Dying for that knife. Wish SE would fix that damn ENM.
I levelled /RDM for my PLD and tried it in campaign. It was wonderful. Stoneskin, Blink and Phalanx are great defensive tools and it doesn't require you to use Shihei! Atonement is also wonderfully broken; contrast normal hit damage and Atonement damage (yes I know how it works but it is SO good for holding hate);
Yeah, I've decided I like pld/rdm in campaign. Was a 20~25 minute battle for that much exp.
Also did UO recently and got fantastically lucky; PCC and Ni! I was however splitting drops and nobody else got anything so I only got 1/3 of the money; still good though! Nice to see this too;
Okay, on to THFy stuff; I'll try to take more pictures for next time, I just completely forgot as I said.
Thief playstyle varies a lot from person to person; some people insist only on WSing with SA or TA, some people use SA and TA alone and WS alone in a burn situation to create a larger maximum damage; some people swear by sushi and some use meat, etc. There are many different ways to play THF. One thing I notice is a lot of people don't use dedicated soloSA and soloTA sets, which makes me sad. You can do some fantastic damage this way, bearing in mind I have no X's Knife;
First one is a soloTA, second is a soloSA, third is a soloTA. It's like mini WSs, and I don't even have an X's! Imagine that damage when the critical hit is amplified even more. Serious THFs, investing in a SA/TA set will not leave you disappointed.
Daggers
Let's talk about the daggers in detail. Damage on THF is split into two scenarios:
1. Your attack/accuracy are high. Your melee DoT soars ahead of WS damage. Typically in merit parties. We will call this scenario "speedburn".
2. Doing damage with melee is very challenging. SA/TA and WS tend to be the largest source of your damage; typically high-end endgame fights. We will call this scenario "sustained battle".
What are good daggers for one scenario are often not so good for others! Let's examine the top daggers.
S > A > B > C > D
In reality, S is much greater than A, A is greater than B, B is greater than C, C is much greater than D. If you see what I mean;
S >> A > B > C >> D
Mandau
DMG:39 Delay:176 Attack+20
Speedburn rating: S
Sustained Battle rating: S
Would you expect anything less from the relic dagger? Mercy Stroke is a huge benefit particularly to "Sustained Battle" situations.
X's Knife
DMG:34 Delay:201 Enhances Critical Hit damage
Speedburn rating: B or A
Sustained Battle rating: S or A
X's Knife is a mythical but incredibly potent weapon. I have not got one so I cannot comment, but it's hard to tell in a true speedburn situation whether the greater WS damage and SA/TA damage will overcome the slight melee DoT deficiency. I may give a definite rating to this when I get one, but for now it's either A or B at Speedburn. Exceptional dagger.
Blau Dolch
DMG:26/33 Delay:178 Acc+5/Atk+18 when TP <100% style="font-size:130%;">SA and TA's respective impacts on WS.
The formula for a SA(TA) WS's first SA(TA)-enhanced hit is;
[(D + fSTR + WSC) * fTP + DEX (+ AGI)] * Pdif
What does this mean? Adding one to D, fSTR or WSC increases damage by (fTP * Pdif) and adding one to DEX or AGI, ignoring WSC benefits, increases damage by (Pdif). Does that then mean SA/TA isn't as strong as you'd expect? Yes, in some ways. Relative impact on each WS compared to D, fSTR and WSC varies though.
Let's consider fTP modifiers of the first, modified hit.
Dancing Edge: 1.1875
Shark Bite: 2.0 / 2.5 / 3.0
Evisceration: 1.0
Mandalic Stab: 2.0 / 2.125 / 2.5
Mercy Stroke: 3.0
Normally, 4str = 1d = 1dex/agi for normal hits, right? (4str being very slightly better there). Well that's not necessarily true in this case. Let's look at Shark Bite at 100% TP vs Evisceration. 2.0 fTP vs 1.0 fTP. D, fSTR and WSC damage benefits from fTP and Pdif, whereas SA/TA additional damage benefits from Pdif only. Therefore; D, fSTR and WSC are TWICE as effective as increasing damage on this first hit on Shark Bite comparatively! 2.5x as effective at 200% TP, 3x as effective at 300% TP etc.
Increase in damage by D, fSTR, WSC = (fTP * Pdif)
Increase in damage by DEX/AGI bonus = (Pdif)
If fTP = 2 in Shark Bite;
Increase in damage by D, fSTR, WSC = (2 * Pdif) = 2Pdif
Increase in damage by DEX/AGI bonus = Pdif
If fTP = 1 in Evisceration;
Increase in damage by D, fSTR, WSC = (1 * Pdif) = Pdif
Increase in damage by DEX/AGI bonus = Pdif
So increasing damage by D, fSTR and WSC in Shark Bite on the first hit is 2x as effective as on Evisceration, if you can see what I mean.
What does this mean?
It has a few implications.
- Do not sacrifice too much to boost AGI in a TAWS because you will do better boosting fSTR or WSC, especially since the AGI bonus only applies to the first hit in a multihitter!
- If you look at that with Mercy Stroke, with fTP 3, where it will be 3x as effective adding fSTR and WSC (and D but this is constant), with a 60% STR mod -- you can see very clearly why STR is superior to everything for that WS.
- The lower the fTP on the WSC, the more that SA/TA bonus damage affects overall damage with emphasis on the damage on the first hit relatively speaking.
The lower the fTP, the more relative impact the bonus damage from dex/agi has compared to increasing D, fSTR and WSC -- but these are on your multihit WSs, where only the first hit is going to benefit from said bonus anyway! Generally, interpret this analysis as you will; be wary about adding AGI to a WS to increase its final damage (this generally only works well on Mandalic Stab I find since it's one hit and pdif will be very high due to TA + the Attack x1.66 effect). Hybrid pieces like Denali Kecks are very good, and AF+1 hands are very good and have 3DEX on them anyway.
If you've read this far, you're a Thief. You're used to having to make intelligent decisions. Read this information carefully and use it relevantly. Thief is a complicated job and SA and TA mechanics are no exception. Whether this information helps you or not, thanks for reading~
Just horribly busy.
So much stuff both ingame and real life to do at the moment that I haven't got around to making a new blog post. It'll come soon. Sorry for the readers who don't care about THF but it'll be fairly THF-heavy again. Not too bad though. Coming soon!
=== WATCH THIS SPACE ===
Just making a quick post since I've posted enough text for one week. THF has jumped forward a GREAT deal this week...
This lootpool must be symbolic in some way. It was the last Omega lootpool I ever saw in Cetra ... signifying the end of that era, but also the beginning of another. Why? Read on...
Wish is a fun LS to be in because everything is much more lowman than what I'm used to in Cetra and from a lootwhoring perspective, it uses a points system and so is very fair in that you WILL get a return on your hard work.
By some miracle... my points were high enough to lot the body!!
It's like a dream come true to be honest, never thought I'd get that dream body... so insanely good for THF and I'm debating TPing in it on mobs I have no trouble hitting for damage (since triple attack +2.5% should outdo the str and atk thing in a TP build sense over time)... however, info on BG contradicts 2.5% TA and says it may only be 1% TA, though people aren't sure yet. I'd like to see some conclusive proof.
Seku, Shanian and me from Wish there in order. Congrats on your err Homam Heads guys! I would've brought mine along for 4/5 Homam but Bahamut's Mask looks better and is actually useful. SO! Yeah.
The second part of the THF upgrade involves perseverance and an annoying bird.
4-boxed kill, I was controlling everyone involved at that time so it was a VERY rough fight. Also notice my fail lot. Before I get people wishing me to die etc, that puts me at 1/33 so I'm hardly that lucky with it! So happy... Thief is getting so pimped. Now if only X's Knife would drop, hint hint!
Trotter Boots: most appreciative thanks to Miah (as always), Jexen, Tenbroya, Sakurawr, Muramasamune, Cipura, Klown, Bautier, Bigjon, Nemises, Ginge and Rienea who all helped for certain kills along the road. I appreciate it, guys! If I've missed anyone poke me ingame or something and I'll add your name here too!
Oh, and if you read this blog and/or can somehow tolerate me writing too much, gimme some comments! I always like to hear input and that. I realise nobody will read my huge Thief rant last post but still! It feels good to write it down.
Oh, and for the record, Homam Corazza is as freaking amazing as hoped.
Laters~
Raen Ryong
I haven't updated in awhile but that's because I don't do much in the way of fillers! Today the blog will be victim to me ranting about many different things, not only restricted to FF.
However I did forget to take that many screenshots so there will be a lot of text this time around. My apologies~
First of all, I've been burning to write something comprehensive about THF for a while now, since there are so many misconceptions about the job going around. So here goes.
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The Thief Codex
Okay, first of all I have conducted testing on the Sneak Attack and Trick Attack damage formulae since they are so important to Thief as a job and understanding them is crucial. The following is what I have deduced;
SoloSA: (D + fSTR + DEX) * (critical) Pdif
SoloTA: (D + fSTR + AGI) * (critical) Pdif
SoloSATA: (D + fSTR + DEX + AGI) * (critical) Pdif
SAWS: (D + fSTR + WSC) * fTP + {DEX} * {(critical)} Pdif
TAWS: (D + fSTR + WSC) * fTP + {AGI} * {(critical)} Pdif
SATAWS: (D + fSTR + WSC) * fTP + {DEX} + {AGI} * {(critical)} Pdif
Key:
D = Base DMG on weapon
fSTR = STR-VIT function
Pdif = ATK/DEF function
fTP = TP modifier of that hit
DEX = Total DEX
AGI = Total AGI
{} = First hit only
The issue with ffwiki's formulae has been resolved; they were correct as are mine, just written differently.
From my formulae, you are able to deduce that
During Sneak Attack or Trick Attack, 1 DEX or AGI = 1 fSTR = 1 weapon D. It follows that 1 fSTR = 4 STR for melee hits in most cases, so;
1 DEX = 4 STR = 1 DMG.
(note that 4STR is in fact slightly better than 1dex/1d because you also add 2atk -- minor, but it's there).
Further testing shows that each point of dex/agi is worth "pdif" and each point of d/fstr/wsc is worth "pdif * ftp", meaning the bonus is weaker than d/fstr/wsc on its own -- but remember that dex also gives wsc; agi does not. See "Dagger in the Dark" for more information.
Attack is also not as valuable as it would otherwise be during soloSA/soloTA/soloSATA because you are criticalling it anyway, which reduces the impact of adding further attack. During multihit WSs, Attack still helps subsequent hits a great deal so it becomes a balancing act of sorts.
Tests were performed on THF/SAM onehanding a Sirocco Kukri and using the weaponskill Wasp Sting (previously tested -- it indeed has 1.0 fTP and no WSC). Test mob was Savanna Rarab in West Sarutabaruta.
Basically, to sum up:
- 1 DEX or AGI on Sneak Attack/Trick Attack ~= 4 STR ~= 1 DMG.
- 1 DEX = 1 AGI for soloSATA potency.
- On SATAWS and TAWS, 1 AGI does add a great deal of damage but only to the first hit. DEX increases the WSC as well.
- Attack does not help soloSA, soloTA or soloSATA a great deal but is still useful in Dancing Edge.
- Wiki's formulae are WRONG, very clearly and easily seen in tests (damage using theirs would be ~300 lower than it was -- VERY clear)
Okay, now let's talk about other aspects of THF.
What type of DD is THF?
Thief is largely melee DoT-based on anything without a huge amount of defence, otherwise you are largely spike-based (by virtue of SA/TA and WS). In THF's early levels, it is mainly spike based for this reason but as soon as your attack and haste become decent, your melee DoT really pick up.
For stacking WSs (ie SAWS TAWS etc)... the lower your attack is compared to your opponent's defence and the difference between your levels, the more stacking it helps. Basically, the more buffed you are relatively, the less useful stacking becomes in terms of overall damage, and vice versa. Stacking is ALWAYS stronger of course, but in areas you are largely buffed, it is often more beneficial to do soloSA, soloTA and bareWS for more overall damage. All very situational! Think intelligently -- as you have to do on THF.
Shark Bite vs Dancing Edge is largely the same issue. If your acc/atk is reliable, go Dancing Edge. If not, Shark Bite. This is looking at it purely from a damage point of view of course, skillchain properties aside.
Meat vs sushi is a similar issue; Meat will almost always outdamage sushi as long as you can maintain respectable accuracy (usually using an accuracy body over Rapparee Harness etc). The Thief Paradox on gods and high level mobs is thus;
Thief is a low accuracy DD, and so needs sushi to hit. However, you need meat to damage respectably.
How to solve this paradox? I just stack accuracy and build for meat, and end up parsing very respectably (see a recent Proto-Ultima where I parsed above all of the other DDs and BLMs, using an acc/slight haste build + meat). This becomes a LOT more possible with Homam of course, and I have 2/4 useful Homam (Feet/Legs as of this moment)... Body would be a HUGE upgrade for this kind of thing, obviously.
Since you are largely DoT based, you want to emphasise this in your build. Ie, don't use Daggers like Stylet/Garuda's Dagger which only emphasise damage during WS or once every 50s-1min in the case of SA/TA. Focus on the DoT inbetween. Low delay IS important but I see so many Thiefs using trash daggers like Hornetneedle at 75 just because they have low delay. It is the delay/damage ratio that is most important! Sirocco Kukri and Blau Dolch are exceptionally strong in this respect, as is Mandau obviously. The only other obvious amazing endgame Dagger for THF is the X's Knife... an incredibly rare (0/4 at the moment and not expecting one until the /50 mark) and incredibly powerful dagger. It increases the power of criticals, including those forced by SA and TA and it has a high base D. I shouldn't have to tell you why this is so broken for THF. Shame it's so damn rare!
Mandau/X's Knife > Mandau/Blau Dolch > X's Knife/Blau Dolch > Blau Dolch/Sirocco Kukri > Else in my opinion.
Thief myths and the essential Thief problems
Myth #1
Starting with the myths. Haste is an incredibly good stat, but it is not incredibly good to the exclusion of all other stats, especially on Thief -- low accuracy (a problem covered later in this section)! A lot of Thiefs use a certain body piece thinking it will always trump accuracy. It won't.
Let's examine the prime symbol of this myth, the RAPPAREE HARNESS.
DEF:32 Racc+2 Haste+4%
0 Accuracy. On a low accuracy DD. Not so good. As accuracy is low, adding more accuracy is comparatively better than adding it at high accuracy. There are five situations Rapparee Harness is better than a 10acc+ body;
- During Feint
- Using sushi in most scenarios
- When accuracy is otherwise capped or near to
- When haste values are VERY high and accuracy is still sufficient (~40%+ in meripos with ~85%+ accuracy otherwise)
- When recasting Utsusemi solo (less recast time)
The biggest thing I see even Mandau THFs doing is using it over Homam Corazza. NEVER do this outside of the scenarios listed above. 15acc is a huge advantage especially on a low accuracy job for overall damage, and 2.5% TA on top of that just boosts it further. Homam Corazza is an absolutely godly body for THF. Rapparee Harness is situational at best.
Myth #2
Another myth, and a very prevailant one. "Thief is not a DD". Not true at all -- it requires a lot more intelligence and initiative than most DDs and requires you to be far more adaptable, but it is very powerful when played properly. Of course it's not going to be amazing in every possible situation, but what DD is?
Thief has low accuracy and low attack and low base DMG and low STR. This means you must REALLY know what you are doing and not be lazy to make it work. Since this is not achievable without a huge amount of effort, most Thiefs do fail to damage. If you are a dedicated THF, you WILL do damage. A large fear of mine when I started this job was that it would be as second-rate as people say, but it simply isn't.
That means using a Fire Bomblet > Bomb Core for when you are not having to use bolts and having both SA and TA sets! Thief uses a lot of inventory space and requires a lot of micromanagement; deal with it! If this doesn't sound appealing to you, then Thief is not the job for you!
Myth #3
"Thief can only eat sushi". Not true, it just requires a lot of effort on the user to build for a meat build. On things like Kirin/Jailer of Love etc I can see it being ridiculously difficult to eat meat. This would come under the type of fights where Thief isn't very good, I guess. Still working on that.
Myth #4
"Don't give a Thief Haste, it'll mess up his SA and TA timing". I had to contend with this so many times when levelling. Learn to time your SA or TA. Activate your macro the second you've started the previous attack round (despite the attacks not happening simultaneously on your screen, they're processed simultaneously on the server so after you've seen the first hit the others won't take the SA or TA). Learn to time it.
Problem #1
Low accuracy, low attack, low DMG, low STR. Due to this as well as the pivotal role of DEX and AGI in dealing damage during SA and TA related things, Thief is VERY sensitive to gear choices. Think VERY carefully about what gear you are choosing for any situation; that AGI may be enhancing that first hit of your Dancing Edges wonderfully during TAWS, but what about the others? Is it better using War Brais +1 for 5AGI for the first hit or Dusk Trousers for +14atk over the rest? This is all situational but THINK about it and make different builds for different situations. Thief is far too sensitive not to do so. This leads on to problem #2...
Problem #2
Thief gear experiences a huge gulf. Let's examine good TP pieces for instance.
Body: Homam Corazza >> Enkidu Harness > Skadi's Cuirie > Pahluwan Body > Antares Harness = Scorpion Harness +1 > Scorpion Harness... and Rapparee Harness in there situationally.
Hands: Homam Manopolas ~= Dusk Gloves +1 (on Thief the accuracy on Homam Manopolas can equate with Dusk Gloves +1 for overall DD potential) > Enkidu's Mittens =~ Dusk Gloves...
Legs: Homam Cosciales > ... getting the point yet?
All of the top tier stuff is rare/ex, hard to get, expensive etc. And this is only looking at TP build! Check out all of that Hecatomb in WS build... then look at the next best alternatives. Yeah, not pretty. Thief requires prohibitively expensive and/or hard to obtain gear, and this gear is MILES above the alternatives. Heck, look at your top daggers.
Mandau: Relic
X's Knife: Insanely rare and hard to get
Blau Dolch: Very costly
Sirocco Kukri: Depending on your playtime etc, can be very hard to get
Thief has a very hard time with gear with little feasible alternatives. This is quite the problem. Get used to dealing with it, but look forward that due to Thief's gear sensitivity, getting these pieces will lead to a dramatic increase in damage potential!
Problem #3
Otherwise known as Dancing Edge. Multihits become exponentially stronger with acc/atk, more hits = more of an exponential increase. So let's give Thief, very low acc/atk, a 5(6 when Dual Wielding) hit WS. Yeah, it's a problem. This is why bodies like Hecatomb Harness are -generally- superior to Dragon Harness... despite the fact Dragon Harness will do a lot more a lot of the time, you NEED that accuracy on this WS. No way around it. It's good to have a separate WS macro for during Feint/low eva mobs though!To summarise, Thief is a very powerful and fun DD, but also a very challenging one to play. It will take a lot of effort, intelligence, and micromanagement to bring out the best of this DD. Good luck!
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In other FF-related news...
After 14 months, I am no longer with CetraSanctuary LS. More accurately, I was kicked after a dispute with one of the sackholders (you can guess which). It is a testimony to the favouritism within the LS that one member who shall remain unnamed MPK'd the LS once during Dynamis-Xarcabard (Diaga on slept mobs for fun) and received a slap on the wrist whereas I received a full kick for a dispute with a sackholder. At any rate, it turns out the drops I thought were not counting against me were and the attendance records they kept of me was much lower than I had recorded, so my future was limited anyway.
Bitterness aside, I am very thankful to CetraSanctuary for the drops I did receive and regret it had to end this way. But meh, new starts. I am now in Wish LS and have already finished my Valor Paladin
AF2 set!!
Better screenshot coming when I can be bothered! Sexy anyway, I know.
Wish does things with a lot less members than I am used to, though this is not a bad thing at all! The group is more focussed due to less people and events like dynamis are more entertaining when you feel like you are contributing rather than monsters dying the second they are targetted.
I've also been levelling mage jobs recently! Yes, me as a mage. Who would've thought it? My BLM sucks but I'm okay with WHM and RDM I think! Except I forgot I didn't have Silena in Qufim against worms which was kinda embarrassing.
Getting there! And yes I know I need /rdm for my PLD really.. working on it!
Look at that hardcore white mage warcry. Feet are now Garrison Boots for the record, just were none up!
So what else has been happening. Oh yeah, Nyzul Isle; my static which I lead has hit a few problems with conflicting times and so we are being forced to do a lot less than usual. Still got to floor 40 this weekend though, with the following results;
My sister the Sakurawr wanted Askar Dirs sadly, though I got a nice new situational legpiece (isn't everything?) for THF! Tenbroya got a Radiant Lance for his level ... 30ish? Maybe? DRG. Not even a 75 job yet either, but he performed quite well as 60RDM~
Also have been focussing on my NPC a lot lately, level 61 now and nearly 62! Love my Sahyu despite her lack of an MP pool. Did the Vassago LB fight recently...
Something messed up the image quality there, but whatever. Redhead Mithra (so hot), sword/shield, Soothing Healer, heavy armour look. The fight itself was quite easy as a level sync'd 50thf/nin; only got hit by attacks which bypassed shadows.
Rushed out to Kreutzet after maintenance to assist an LS member...
Grats to Amrik on your new dagger~ hellish NM but a great drop.
Finally did the COR AF3 fight with THF/NIN THF/NIN BRD/WHM as the setup, Requiem of Sin style. Get one THF to kite around the big deck on your left (around the stairs) while you pull the other and kill. Very easy win.
It's actually snowing there but you can't really see it Pretty dramatic. Realised afterwords how much cooler that would be if I had turned the names off!
Other than that, nothing too exciting. Sorry about not so many screenshots this week, I'll try to take more. Gonna try my luck with Simurgh... Trotter's please!!
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Neverwinter Nights 2: Mask of the Betrayer
Been playing the Neverwinter Nights 2 Expansion, Mask of the Betrayer recently and I finally understand the game mechanics and battle engine (impressive I know)! It actually had a really good storyline unlike the pre-expansion campaign which I did not like so much... time to finish that original campaign now. Basically... and spoilers ahead so be warned.
When you die, if you are atheist, ie one of the "Faithless", your soul becomes imprisoned within the Wall of the Faithless until it is eventually consumed and becomes nothingness. Akachi, a high priest of sorts serving Myrkul, God of the Dead at that time. However, when his lover died, he was aghast, knowing her faith as an atheist. He pleaded with his God but Myrkul refused to make an exception for her. So he cast off his faith and gathered an army consisting of undead, celestials, dragons and other races, and led an assault on the City of Judgment to save his lover's soul... hence how he came to be known as the "Betrayer". He successfully freed her soul but his crusade was lost and he was imprisoned within the City of Judgment and tortured horribly, until all that remained was a spirit hunger, a spirit desire...
... a spirit hunger that becomes imprisoned within your character at the start of the campaign, which you can either choose to feed or suppress, giving you different powers either way. I suppressed it and fought against it, and gained incredibly powerful healing abilities as a result. You have to actually feed it to stop yourself from dying though. Eventually, it turns out that the one who basically exposed you to the spirit eater contagion was the incarnation of Akachi's past lover, seeking you to lead a second crusade against the City of Judgment and free his soul...
The climax of the game has you leading said crusade into the City of Judgment, into the Bascilia of Lost Hope and Eternity's End, the real name of the City... and finishing at the Wall of the Faithless and in your own soul. The final battle is against all that remains of Akachi's hunger and its different aspects (appearing as different opponents periodically throughout the battle), Remorseless Instinct, Infinite Despair, Unrelenting Fury and Insatiable Hunger. After defeating him, you can choose to destroy him or reform the Mask of the Betrayer (you are his Mask basically -- a Mask for the hunger that lies within and should eventually consume you) and so finally end the curse and set things right... however this "good" ending is rather bittersweet because it is noted that Akachi and his love are doomed never to see each other again. This crusade was to be their last act of love~ bittersweet.
Great game though.
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Age of Wonders: Shadow Magic
Also been playing another game recently which is quite old, Age of Wonders: Shadow Magic. I used to play it so much with one of my good friends, though we've drifted apart much to my dismay though he doesn't seem to care at all. Looking back at some of the dates of the saved games of the matches we played against/with each other (it's a TBS -- turn-based strategy), it stretches back as far as 2003~2005. Scary stuff... really scary.
But yeah, I've digressed enough about stuff most people won't even care about, especially given the notable absence of pictures! The title of this weeks blog entry could mean many different things, decide for yourself!
Laters~
Raen Ryong~
It's been a rather exciting week, sort of, with lots and lots happening. The main focus of my entry today is my recent expeditions into having a signed Haubergeon+1 synthed for me.
The signing in question was to be done by a good friend of mine, Muramasamune, known as Murameows and also known as Breaker of Damascus for reasons which will soon prove apparent;
First synth NQ, second synth almost critical break. Not the best start ever, but at least we've got the worst part out of the way now! I'll be sure to get him to break some more of my ingots soon. Of course, as if this wasn't enough insult to injury... Haubergeon +1 is a tier 1 synth. He goes to craft GP items, and when he synths the next item (also tier 1)...
THAT WAS MY HAUBY +1! Argh. So yeah, 0/2 thus far, we'll see how much further it goes next week or so. Damascus Ingots are spiked at the moment so I'm going to leave it alone for a bit. Let's see... what else did I get up to?
Well, after a lot of levelling recently... my RNG subjob is finished!
Style shot beneath! Gonna miss the look of Noct and that...
I do enjoy RNG to an extent, though it's woefully uncomplicated at this level, which is true of most DDs. I didn't use any set other than TP since it's just a subjob, but if I were to go back to it I would use full RACC for Barrage (HATE missing hits or even worse, full Barrages), then a meleeTP set to swap into between shots. Kinda perfectionistic but meh. No point really with a WS set yet since I'm struggling just to make the WSs land! Some epeen shots (all at level 32 due to level sync);
Just for reference, my RNG gear when it was finished;
Hawker's Knife/Hawker's Knife/Great Bow +1/Horn Arrow
Empress Hairpin/Peacock Charm/Drone Earring/Genin Earring
Noct Doublet +1/Custom M Gloves/Horn Ring +1/Rajas Ring
Nomad's Mantle/Brave Belt/Noct Brais +1/Bounding Boots
Custom M Gloves vs Noct Gloves +1... unsure. 3STR vs 2Racc at this level is sort of so-so; Noct+1 is probably better for TPing at the end but couldn't be bothered with it to be honest. Nomad's Mantle and knives aren't HQ'd but I didn't want to bother with that resale rate. As for PCC vs something like Ranger's Necklace, it is true that RNG gets a lot of accuracy and accuracy bonus traits, but this is something people exaggerate or don't abuse properly in my opinion. 5racc => 5ratk (pcc => rng necklace) is NOT a good tradeoff. The same RNGs who boast they have too much accuracy are those trading too much of it off and then eating sushi.
You have accuracy. USE IT. Eat meat. Do damage to your finest. Don't think "I have too much acc, let's remove a load of it for a bit of ratk/str" ... meat is your ultimate attack enhancer in this way, especially vs NMs with huge defence. A lot of RNGs are content to lose 5racc here, another 5racc there... and before they know it, they're eating sushi. I would strongly caution you against doing this. Equipment like Archer's Jupon, Venturer's Belt and such are all trash and should not be used in any serious situation.
Another thing I do not understand for the same reason is using a Staff in most situations... and then using sushi. Onehanding a Fransisca -- the cheaper of the two axes -- gives you 7racc/7ratk, vs 8str from Vulcan's Staff/Axe Grip. Cancelling str=>atk benefits, we get 7racc/3ratk vs 8str. One will obviously perform better on WSs, whereas one will help with DoT a lot more and produce more WSs for more overall damage, plus can be used to build TP. This gap only widens when you /nin with two Axes and get Kreigsbeil on top of that -- 6~7racc and 8ratk on top of that. 13~14racc/11ratk vs 8str. VERY easy to make that choice... plus Axes are good at building TP, far moreso than with a Staff (they can do fair damage over time too).
I would argue Staffs are only really best on mobs you never actually get the chance to hit.
In terms of other stuff I've done this week, it's been the debut week for my Nyzul Isle static, and in our very first set of runs;
Yay for a weapon whose WS I won't unlock until getting floor 100; I value my sanity too much to work on 5,000 WS points or so. Wish I could afford the Mythic too... Burtgang is broken. Lots of NMs to farm new weapons, lots of awesome drops;
Yeah, thrilling I know. WHM weapon dropped for Kirsteena and a second Brave Blade for Ruman, so it's all good. Congrats guys~
On the subject of swords, in related news... my Great Sword DRK is no longer gimp!
I didn't even die kiting him that time, though I had a few close encounters... Firespit manages to do huge damage very frequently and busts through shadows. Very annoying. Smartass of the week:
AH price ~300-350k! My 1h zerg DRK is happy. My aforementioned Haubergeon smash was probably to counteract my rare good luck I found here.
Been fighting some of the new NMs on a whim from the update to enter the BCNM for a shot at Gnadbohd's Helm (such a nice Hecatomb Cap alternative)... 3/8 items so far!
We would've gotten a fourth but we wiped to Cogtooth Skagnogg (warmachine, think Jagidbod's but 100x worse) at 1%. One. Percent. So yeah. Finally, for the main bulk of this post, I was called to fight Tinnin, aka the tier 4 Hydra ZNM. A very fun and epic fight in a unique battlefield... I loved the setting.
A shame the drops were so wretchedly awful. Oh well, very good fun. I died near the end to a rogue Serpentine Tail and the other PLD fell shortly thereafter so it turned into a BLM zerg. Nice and frantic. On a side note I hate Nerve Gas/Pyric Blast spam (Curse/Poison and Paralyze with large damage each respectively)!
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MIAH MENTION
She demanded one so here it is. She was finally planning to come back to the game to level her COR (I have AF needs... so sexy) but then it turned out her .dats rejected level sync. After a long struggle we rectified it then she logged in mortal fear of losing the effect of her Anniversary Ring before it was spent. She also doesn't like bald men.
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I may well add another section to this since I was requested to explain fSTR a little, but I'm tired now. Maybe later!
~ Raen Ryong
Tyranny. For those looking to join LSs, do NOT join one without a point system. Open /point LSs are too prone to tyranny, favouritism and discrimination.
Nice lootpool, especially when you are only missing those two pieces to complete your Homam set. Not when you are hated by your LS... yet again I was not allowed to lot these. Let's give a bit of background information though...
I have been a member of CetraSanctuary for nearing 13 months and have been fairly good with regards to attendance and effort invested at events. As such I had received a few drops... however, within the last 5 months or so, it has been intolerable. My Valor Surcoat has been given to a retired PLD (though no hard feelings towards him -- his was not the fault here), and they have cockblocked me on drops time and time again.
What's more, due to a disagreement with one of the sacks with regards to the starting time of an event, the following occurred;
Sorry for the small pic but if you can decipher that... yeah. Everyone I've spoken to agrees it was too harsh and hey, it just cost me rare Homam pieces and potentially future drops. I love how my thirteen month stint in the LS is so easily forgotten with a chance to abuse power. So, would you turn up for two weeks under a harsh unjust punishment knowing you are getting nothing out of it nor are likely to get things in the future? Yeah, I thought not.
Normally the thought of getting big drops and doing events with my friends propels me and excites me. However, given my bad drop record as of late and little hope for any future (if we get big drops from Einherjar, there is no way I would even be in consideration, simple as that... let alone this comparatively less valuable Homam and AF2 I hope goes freelot so I have a chance), along with not enjoying the general animosity of the LS... I am far from enthusiastic, put it that way.
Of course people from my linkshell will invariably read this but hey, this is my blog, this is where I state my very frank views. Of course the side of the story I am telling is onesided, so use your own judgment to decide. I'm not perfect, but I don't deserve to be treated as a trial member.
Angry. Disappointed. Confused.
Oh, and for the record, 0/2 X's Knife -_- empty box.
~Raen Ryong
And so it begins I guess! I have thought about writing a blog of sorts for a long time, but just pushed the idea aside. I finally decided to give in and, well, this is the result.
My blog will consist mainly of ramblings about FFXI and other games, maybe a few mentions of real life stuff here and there. I have no idea how often I'll update the blog, or whether anyone will be unfortunate enough to stumble upon this and bored enough to read it, but meh.
May as well say a few things about myself since you all don't have the misfortune of knowing me!
I play Raenryong on the Bahamut server in FFXI, and have been doing so since October 2006. I actually owned the game for a much longer time than that, but I always put it aside because monthly fees scared me. Eventually I decided to give it a go and have never since looked back.
I chose Windurst because I liked the idea of a natural utopia of sorts (the hippie in me), and... well, err, because Mithra looked appealing! I decided to play as a Hume as an online persona of myself in a way, and chose the face model I use because it resembles me in a way (long hair etc) and in the most masculine way possible, I like the idea of a sense of grace and I feel that character has it.
That and the other face models either look like convicts or pre-pubescent boys.
At this time, my sister and I were playing using the same account and as such had to share, which was incredibly bad. She came under the name Sakurarules and eventually bought another account and now goes under the name Sakurawr, formerly Sakuraryong. Sakurarules is a mule of mine now!
I first began the game as a WAR and, like all noobs, had absolutely no idea what I was doing and probably died about 10-20 times on the way to level 7, which I was really excited about getting! A friend of mine, Masaeus, whom I met at Sarutabaruta's outpost sold me his leather equipment for cheap and I thought it looked so awesome and showed that I had come so far when I first wore it. Sadly, I am having trouble with finding pics like that so you'll have to look at me in subligar;
Hot I know. That picture there was from my very first proper Valkurm Dunes party for the record; not sure if the people above still play. I know I befriended Nyss after a very long party but she disappeared after that day and never reappeared...
Losia also there became a friend and disappeared for about a year and then reappeared!... then disappeared again. It's a shame really, when I think of how many people I have known and whom have disappeared. Such is life, I suppose. Carrying on this theme...
This is a screenshot showing another of my early friends, Koreana, who also disappeared not long after we met... we grouped up to hunt Spiny Spipi since we heard that it dropped this awesome 120k cape (we never found the worm).
One thing I really loved, and still continue to love about the game is the way it goes through different periods of days and night and just looks so visually good. I really loved the Sarutabaruta area and hoped it was much larger than it was; it was a whole world to me when I started playing and the gentle yet adventurous music I still adore today. It was just the embodiment of adventure: open plains, filled with both danger and enterprise and under a sky with different weathers and times of day and all of that. I'm a sucker for day/night systems in games, but I especially loved how it would seem more stormy on some days than others... the subtle effects really enthralled me.
Tell me this isn't awesome. A shame it doesn't actually rain and that... it would be even more amazing. Oh, and also...
... for the record, I did eventually find Spiny Spipi much later on and killed it -- very gratifying given how long I camped the damn thing. Never seen it drop to this day though...
My very first LS was DiveatFive which I got at level 26 (a stranger's generosity granted me my Magicked Skull for my subjob), and it was in this LS that I met a lot of people whom I would spend a lot of time with in future times, notably Seylie and Castille, who became long-term friends (though me and Seylie have since very regrettably fallen out, the friendship between me and Castille remains). A CoP static would eventually be formed from this linkshell; one which would endure up until the very end, when Neficus, one of the members, suddenly had to quit.
Had to finish CoP without Neficus sadly and he has not reappeared to this day. It was sort of because of this static that I got to know Miah so well, and would go on to form a long-term relationship with her that has endured to this day and hopefully will for a very long time still. She is really a wonderful person.
Another old screenshot...
We were trying to get Imani a Minstrel's Coat for his Bard but we ended up going 0/3 in the end... Imani still plays but takes month breaks at a time, really a shame. As you may have deduced from the above screenshots, my first job was Dark Knight due to a love for dealing damage, liking the utility of both magic and melee, and just because I thought it was cool. It was going to be between Paladin and Dark Knight, since I liked tanking and doing damage as my WAR (both roles were used in my first levelling experience). I did however come back for Paladin!
I really do and did love the look of Paladin! Thief was my third job and newest love and I have no idea what should be my fourth.
Well, hopefully this hasn't been too boring! It hasn't even touched on many aspects on my ingame life but it's not too bad of an introduction I hope. My Dark Knight guide is on ffxiclopedia so avoid at all costs! Feel free to critique it or anything. Also, my current jobs and their progress are listed alongside this blog so you can check at any time. Constructive criticism welcomed, though note that not all possible sets are shown.
The Dark Knight one will work as soon as Blogger realises it's not a spam blog, having to put it up for review now because it got locked...
But yeah. I will hopefully write more, look forward to it!
~Raen Ryong
