Why does an RDM cap Ice Magic merits?Follow

Are there situations when RDM could viably swap staves?
Yes.
Are there situations when RDM could viably use sword?
Yes.
Are there situations when DD armor is viable idle gear?
Yes.

WOO-HOO I've correctly answered three trivia questions!

Almalieque's turn! First question...
...Are there situations when DD armor is intelligent to cast spells in?
*tick tock tick tock*

Edited, Sep 4th 2011 1:59am by IcookPizza

Alma, there were actually a few reasons as to why I opted to "single" you out, and none of them were meant to entail any malice or ill-will towards you. Primarily though, the reason I did so was because when I receive reports on post content, I will often make specific reference to the person whose post has been reported, so there's no question as to who I am addressing. Some may find it embarrassing, but many times have I ran into people that would continue to behave inappropriately because they "didn't know I was meaning them" when I'd make a comment in a topic.

As for you feeling that the comments you made weren't insulting, just because you don't find them insulting or offensive doesn't mean that the person you're directing them to feels the same way. Though some people might just take it in stride or openly accept that they're trolling, there are others that genuinely dislike it. I mean, if memory serves, you took some offense to being called a troll in the past, so you can understand how others might as well.

My warning stands though towards everyone in here involved; though you may not like the other person, at least try to show some respect towards them and cut out the name calling or rude remarks. Not only is it hurting your case on the matter by being rude in your posts, you also run the risk of getting in trouble. Like I said before, I don't expect you guys to become friends, I just want you all to lay off the negative, condescending comments and at least be a bit more respectful.

From the horse's mouth, folks.

And I've admitted at least twice that I'm not swapping as much as I should, but I do. I'm not creating various scenarios just for opposition.

Alma, I meant no ill-will, and I apologize to you and everyone else I've openly called out to in the past like that. All the same though, regardless of who started it or whether someone feels that someone else deserves more severe punishment or anything else, you all need to settle down and be more respectful towards one another. Not just issues of going off topic, but the general condescending attitude that a lot of you have towards one another was the reason that I had to lock the job adjustments topic and why I've had to clean up a good deal of this one. It wasn't a matter of breaking any of the word filters, but just the overall negativity and hostility going on. I don't consider what I'm asking unreasonable by any means. Just be more respectful, drop the condescending comments, and things will work out better.

Edited, Sep 4th 2011 10:16am by Vlorsutes

You really don't see the point in capping dMND?

When I'm dealing with someone who can't understand/accept how [spell] is easier, faster, and safer to perform than [JA -> JA -> spell] and only seems to be interested in arguing semantics all the time, my interest in keeping with the "conversation" fades rather quickly.



Welp, this is the kind of thing that inevitably happens when forum mods aren't able to simply ban stupid.

Most forums are like this (regarding their lenience, I mean) so I can somewhat understand the mod frustration here, but at the same time, I don't really see how you can be surprised when someone's being blatantly obtuse in order to piss people off and it somehow actually ends up (gasp!) pissing people off.

Edited, Sep 4th 2011 10:28am by Fynlar

Yeah, but you're not casting it in TP gear either.

Uh, I don't have to equip mnd rings to know it wont make a difference to a mob with elegy, sabo+esto +1 3 merited slow II. Are you telling me that it might or will make a difference? If so, that's implying that every bit counts, which means you should favor 5/5 slow II.



Even though your apology was not necessary, I respectfully accept it. As I said, I do my fair share of insulting people and you calling me out did not offend me. I was merely letting you know how that made you look to me by doing so. I will probably slip up in the future and I would have no problem with any "calling out" at that point, since you had given a warning.

My "concern" is that this is the environment of the forum. This is what we do and the level of this and the job adjustments thread are child's play to what is typically said in the OoT and Asylum. I understand that those are different forums, but the rules of respect should be the same. My personal opinion is that if you're weak hearted, then don't say anything. I believe that there should be a limit, I just don't think it got there.



Yes, because mobs stop hitting you when you cast spells. Why in the world would you swap in fast cast gear for a 3 second spell that's practically impossible to interrupt for a fraction of a fraction of a second difference as opposed to maintaining your gear?

I swap in fast cast for spells such as stone skin, not for slow II. You're grasping at straws now.



1. Didn't say that you were, but that was the argument made that I was offending people by calling them a troll.

2. No, I'm not the only one. Go back and reread. THe simple fact that everyone harped on me and don't even recall anyone else in agreement is evident of your tr*ll*ng. Also, the belief in numbers of people must equal correct is laughable, especially given RDM melee history.

3. Once again, we started off in agreement, you just kept arguing with me in order to find something to argue about. This has nothing to do with advice or wrong information. You agree with me, but you don't want to admit it.

It implies no such thing; simply that if you can have a more effective spell for the low, low cost of writing more effective macros, why wouldn't you? As for the opportunity costs of carrying different gear, Rings are a pretty poor choice as an example; +7 in each slot is not something you should be passing up. Earrings, sure, those can go if you're pressed for space.

Honestly though the inventory issue is a bit of a diversion.. I can carry melee, WS, PDT, MDT, MND, and idle gear on my person with zero problems, and I have most of the very best there is to have.

And finally, basing your argument around Saboteur being available for every cast (and I've found it to be much better paired with Paralyze II when the NM nears low HP, especially if it's dangerous, even moreso if it's a caster, and furthermore if its spells get stronger at critical HP), as well as a BRD with Elegy always being present, is a little too situational for me to swallow; and this is coming from someone who has BRD on a second character.

deleted because it is to advanced for Alma as it required and understanding of basic math.



Edited, Sep 4th 2011 6:52pm by rdmcandie

I answered your question in the first sentence... let's read it again; slower this time.

To simplify it for ya:
I have good reasons for 5/5 Slow2.
NatePrawdzik has good reasons for 1/5 Slow2, Paralyze2, and Blind2.

Why is OK for me to max dMND, but not NatePrawdzik?

I seriously doubt that you've exceeded me in the Math realm.



It is comparable, because that's the point. If you are *needing* convert, then you haven't "capped" MP either, yet you decide not to cast a spell that enhances your MP. You can't have this "everything helps" mentality when it refers to something you like (slow II), then turn around and say that +3 MP/tick isn't worth the effort to cast while using convert.

If you believe that "every little bit counts", then you should support 5/5/ slow II. If you don't believe that "every little bit counts", then I ask again, what's the problem?

Worthwhile mobs is the argument because he claimed that casting refresh could make the difference between life or death. That scenario is highly unlikely for anything NOT "worthwhile". So, we're either talking about a mob that isn't "worthwhile", where doing J/A + sleep, refresh, etc. is no big deal OR we're talking about a worthwhile mob where those things do matter, but not required. You choose.

I'm very easy to work with. I do not deny the existence of a scenario where you are correct. The problem is that the scenario in question continuously changes to support an argument. Every time I point out a scenario where I'm correct, instead of saying "Yea, you're right for this particular scenario", it's "No, because what about x,y and z (a totally different scenario).



I'll just quote myself. If you are *needing* convert, then you haven't "capped" MP either, yet you decide not to cast a spell that enhances your MP, because you decided that the cost wasn't worth the benefit.

I guarantee you, that you do not attempt to max out every aspect of your character. It is simply impossible to do. You wont have the inventory and you actually would end up hurting every other aspect of the character. This goes back into casting in a sword as opposed to a staff or a club. No one switches out a sword to cast cure because the benefit of the cure enhancement doesn't outweigh the TP loss.

It's the same concept.



How is that wasting a JA? Now you're going into opinions. Our playing style is different. I hardly play now that I'm in Iraq. I'm working on my wireless and a decent working schedule where I"m not at work for 14+ hours.

My duo partner is my brother who was on summer vacation from college, so he was on more than I was.

Honest questions here. Blaze spikes? Is there some hidden effect to it besides fire damage? Can an enemy get stunned 2 or more times in a row from only hitting you once? IF so, then what's the difference?

If I have to go 5/5 para II to make it worth while, then I wont have it. Given my play style, ice spikes is WAAAAAAAAY more efficient than para II. I would rather gear set up and cast para I than 5/5 para II. That was what I learned from the other thread I referred to a while back. Of course now that I agree with it, you all will disagree with it. go figure.

Yet using fast cast gear to cast in is stupid... I guess thats why you have your BRD play madrigal/minuet instead of double haste too.

Fine, hand-wave it with playstyle choice, np. If you choose to melee nothing but trash mobs and lowest-tier NMs and nothing else (evident by Hands+1.. c'mon, RDM can solo the +2), then I'm sure your subpar choices work out just fine.



Blaze Spikes deals more damage per proc, and that is some weird logic regarding Shock Spikes, as Ice Spikes can only proc once until the effect wears off; the optimal strategy there would be to cast Ice Spikes until Paralyze lands, then cast Shock for the Stun or Blaze for the damage... which is kinda retarded.

This is why Ice Spikes is really the worst of the spells for the serious RDM; you can produce a better Paralyze effect at any time by casting it directly and opt for the extra damage of Blaze if you're focusing on offense, or the added Stuns of Shock if you're focusing on defense.

Edited, Sep 5th 2011 1:51am by LyltiaofLakshmi

All I'm doing is presenting the skilled, well-geared RDM's side of the debate, and when everything I say gets handwaved with 'it doesn't matter because my playstyle is different,' when I know for a fact that not utilizing the strategies I espouse will lead to inevitable failure against any target above moderate difficulty, what conclusion do you expect me to reach, exactly?

As for your reference to old endgame, 95% of that gear has been replaced by either Abyssea or the Auction House, so I'm not sure what that has to do with anything.

The content I call crap easy is about 90% of Abyssea, and that 90% includes +2 armor and accessories, with very few exceptions. The content is months and months old at this point, and it's the best time:reward ratio for every job, including RDM. Even if you've had an average of 2 hours of playtime a week since it launched, there isn't much excuse for not having it finished for your main job, at the absolute least.

Depends on your definition of "serious", firstly.

Perhaps the simplest, most overlooked, and ...possibly irrelevant advantage "Ice Spikes" has over "Paralyze II" is its ability to act as an AoE spell. So, meh... there's that.

From a 1v1 perspective and otherwise:
Ice Spikes costs 16MP for a 9 minute duration. (and that's without considering the AF3+2 bonuses!)
Paralyze II costs 36MP for a 30-60 second duration.

Over 9 minutes:
-'Slow II' & 'Paralyze(II)' costs 621MP*, and 220,000exp worth of "Group 2" upgrades that could theoretically be spent on another spell
-'Slow II' & 'Paralyze(I)' costs 270MP*, and no merit points
-'Slow II' & 'Ice Spikes' costs 151 MP (again, that's without AF3+2), and no merit points
***with the loose assumption that Paralyze I/II lasts 45 seconds, average***

That's an extra nuke every convert timer!

And for the meleeing RDM, having to repeatedly cast Paralyze could feasibly cost anywhere from 5 to 7 swings worth of damage/TP, every convert timer.

Edited, Sep 5th 2011 3:54am by IcookPizza

OK part of my last post was copy>pasted from an older post of mine...
I don't know why I included Slow II in the math, but it doesn't really change anything. It's still about a nuke's worth of saved MP.

Paralyze II still has a huge place in this game, especially in Abyssea where MND is so plentiful.

5/5 Paralyze II, 1/5 Slow II, 4/5 Bio III looks like the optimal Shock Spikes merit setup.

I'm feelin curious...

Well my ice spikes must be broken, because I get several procs in between a mob being "paralyzed". When the mob is no longer "paralyzed", he becomes "paralyzed" after a few more hits and then the procs roll in.




Well, according to your own skewed logic, I have a reason not to have +2 as I currently DO NOT have roughly an hour of time to play on a semi regular basis. As I said, I"m currently in Iraq, working 14+ hour days. 90% of my responses to this game have been during my breaks. The other 10% have been while checking my email before I go to sleep and when I wake up. Majority of the rest of the time I spend contacting my friends and family back in the U.S. So no, I don't have the time. Hopefully this will all change soon, but as of now, no.

And before you say "What about before you left?". As I said, I'm more of a solo person. Just because new stuff came out, doesn't mean I magically received the older content. I was doing the LS thing for a minute, just to get atmas and wins. I later went back to solo because I wouldn't ever get anything worthwhile because of my schedule.

So, stop pretending to know people's schedules. Yes, I could sacrifice some sleep to play ffxi, but I'm not.



It's about not wasting gear, time, etc. to shave off a fraction of a second vs maintaining your current gear. Stoneskin is worth it, slow II is not. Plain and simple.



/smh



How you focus on the wrong part speaks for you lol.

Because 28% more melee uptime per spell is a waste of time... 28.6% actually, and that is from casting in just a Wchap/Dtabby, and that is per spell. Every spell you cast, you gain nearly 30% melee uptime.

This doesn't even factor in using AF+2 gear to get the enhancement to duration when buffing yourself. That is an additional 20%+ of melee uptime per spell cast.

By not swapping to this type of gear you are taking 50% more time from melee to cast, per spell. You are giving up on about 3~5% damage over the course of a cycle because you deem it useless to swap from melee gear.

learn2math.

Edited, Sep 5th 2011 2:44pm by rdmcandie

ITT: Scars of Abyssea is old content, Alma doesn't have time to play but has plenty of time to tell us how we're all wrong and Ironclad Executioner isn't soloable.

Difficulty is relative. I've managed the majority of non HNM content (Read:Mission content.) of this game before the difficulty was lowered and before the level cap rise with Sub-par gear. Particularly on RDM, gear was optional on everything but Melee. As our performances really haven't improved all that much in many respects since then, our gear has gotten more of a requirement, particularly in curing.






So Duelists Chadeau isn't default Idle gear? Could have fooled me. If your referring to Sea Gear, RDM barely got anything of merit out of it anyways. Salvage Gear we'll hold off the ruling on until we see what they plan to do to Augment it. But there's no denying the use of AF3+2 gear. That'll likely bet the majority of my gear goals for a long time to come.




"Months and Months old"

Are you forgetting this game is nearing a decade old? That's 120 months my friend. "Month's and months" is not a long time to be calling content old, given the age of the game as a whole. I was gone for *stops and thinks about it* Pretty much a year or so, it was shortly after the FIRST Abyssea expansion came out. And honestly, the attitude I see here on the forums isn't encouraging for a return.

It's the same elitist bullsh*t that it was years ago. I get that the gear is easier to obtain, it doesn't make my accessibility to the game any more so. Remember, RDM is not a popular abyssea job. When I return I'll resume working on BLU so that I do have one that's at least semi-popular (wanted to raise that job up anyways, no point not leveling it now.)





The answer for most of the last 9 years is no. We'll see if restricting it to the weekends works. (Sans Sunday nights as that's XBL night with my brother.)

The answer beyond that is I don't want to dedicate the entirety of my in game time to trying to catch up on everything and enjoying none of my playtime in the process. Loot rules pretty much screwed me out of everything in the old endgame unless I dedicated every ounce of my game time to endgame, and even then I fell behind in other ways such as Gil. Now that the game has shifted to abyssea, my biggest problem is the fact that my work shift is in the middle of the afternoon during the week and all of my friends enter more dedicated endgame activities by the time I get home from work, and pass out soon afterwards. And I flatly loose interest in the game when they're not on, as they're the reason I returned to begin with.

Again, I got back what, early July, and I took the entirety of Augest off and was gone for a year before that.

I think I made out good going from 0/5 to 5/5 Relic in that timeframe, thanks.

But when you insult the content of the game that's available to the casual player, it insults those who actually have a life outside FFXI, even in recreation. I don't mind if you caution people to be more prepared if they are going to enter the same field as you as far as Voidwatch or high tier Abyssean NMs go. But half of these arguments shouldn't even be taking place because people are playing entirely different sections of the game from each other.

People still think I want to walk up to a HNM and melee it, after years and years of me explaining that what I want is more of the Assault style gameplay, and a section of endgame that focuses on more frantic fights in which the playerbase is outnumbered by monsters they could probably solo. (Note that I have a field day in the current Dynamis.) I tired of the same old formula of "Fight X tier NM, kill it, move on to Y Tier." It's boring to me because the game isn't that action orientated compared to other games, and other MMOs.

Assaults, Beseiged, Campaign, Bastion, some NM soloing, (Insert Currency)Notorious Monsters and Missions these are the parts of the game I love the most. I do the rest usually just for the gear. You can keep the HNM fights, thanks. Not that I don't get the appeal of it, and the loot. But I really doesn't appeal to me, even if I had the time. I'll do the ones I need to in order to gear myself, and my closest friends, but it's not something I want to do on a regular basis.

Between that and my availability, yeah, I've got difficulties getting the things I want. Life is hectic here. (Divorces, moves, drug addictions, marriages, and all sorts of lovely drama, and most of them are just family.) I've moved several times in the past decade and have gone through jobs which are 'you come here when I call you here' type bids. My life doesn't lend itself well to MMOs. Dosen't make me any less of a person, or a player for that matter.

Though I do understand your concern with Alma trying to get away with not swapping for things. I had to tell someone the value of swapping gear earlier in the summer.

It's not an excuse NOT to have gear, cid, it's the reality of my game. I've multiple hobbies and limited time to spread between them. I'm not going to hate myself for not prioritizing this game over other parts of my life.

Speaking as someone who tried to do macros without Windower, I did fine for years.

There's a command that switches pages within the same book of macros, so if you set up your macros properly, you can essentially spam one macro to perform up to 10 different sets of actions in sequence. Still not as good as Windower/Spellcast, but workable.

ALT1 Page1
equip~ (Fast Cast gear)
equip~
equip~
equip~
equip~
changepage2

ALT1 Page2
spell~ (Cast spell)
equip~ (Potency/Accuracy/Recast/whatever gear)
equip~
equip~
equip~
changepage3

(Insert more pages if you want to equip more gear here)

ALT1 Page3
equip~ (Idle gear)
equip~
equip~
equip~
equip~
changepage1

Using this, you press the macro once to change to Precast, press it a second time to fire the spell, plus one additional time for each additional page of gear swaps (3 times to switch 14 slots worth of gear is the most you'll need), and press a final time (or times, depending how much gear needs to be swapped to go back to idle) to go back to your idle gear and return to the first page.

As for your other post, D.Chapeau is now stupid easy to get, all you have to do is pay 50k for unlimited Dynamis access and be capable of soloing EP demons; not a very good example.

In regards to the rest, if you have so little playtime, obviously none of what we said really applies to you, so there's no reason to get so bent out of shape about it. Playing your overused "I hate elitists" card is not the correct response, as anyone can tell by taking a stroll through Port Jeuno these days that +2 gear is hardly rare. When we say this stuff is easily obtainable, we don't mean you have to join some endgame LS, kiss ass, and sit in line for a few months to get it (although some, amazingly, still do this); we mean that you can either go solo it yourself and get it done in a few runs, or grab a friend and finish it in one go.

Edited, Sep 6th 2011 8:50am by LyltiaofLakshmi