Finally, at long last...rank 6!!!

Keavy · Post by **Keavy** » Tue May 01, 2007 3:52 am

Yes, after a year of waiting and many, many failed attempts I have finally gotten past the Mission 5-2 fight and gotten myself to Rank 6.

Currently on Mission 3 of RoZ and just finished 6-1 and looking forward to doing 6-2 with my LS mates this weekend along with the Ghost fight for ToAU and maybe work on that 20K TNL on my WHM if I have time.

So, yeah. Woo Hoo!!! I got that damn mission done.

Now I know more than one of you will chime in about how easy it is but let me tell you...I always seemed to get the worst parties for it. It would easily take us three hours just to get there then with the SL at 1% HP in his second form someone would screw something up and we'd wipe then everyone would HP.

Not this time. I Bene'd when the PLD hit the red and I ran out of MP (RDM lost shadows and AoE attack killed him) and then went to heal up by the coffin and after three more Cure V's that bitch was eating dirt.

I'm so happy right now. You all have no idea what the last year has been like for me. Failure after failure and once I tasted sweet victory it was so good.

Rishutlaw · Post by **Rishutlaw** » Tue May 01, 2007 4:02 am

Woohoo! way to go Keavy!

Rishutlaw cheers keavy on!

ScarlettPheonix · Post by **ScarlettPheonix** » Tue May 01, 2007 4:20 am

Grats keavy- getting rank 6 is a big milestone for a lot of people since now you can do some ZMs and get sky:)

Eviticus · Post by **Eviticus** » Tue May 01, 2007 12:54 pm

When you do ZM4, remember to keep the Smn's avatar ASLEEP. I watched the CS you get for winning ZM4 while dead.

RoZ explains alot of interesting story line. I'm at the point where I've gotten Sky, but not been up there yet. Ro'Maeve is hard enough.

Post by **Shirai** » Tue May 01, 2007 1:39 pm

Eviticus wrote:When you do ZM4, remember to keep the Smn's avatar ASLEEP. I watched the CS you get for winning ZM4 while dead.

You can't sleep the avatar

the summoner tonberry has an Elemental out during the fight and only summons a real avatar when it astral flows.
So the chance to die is quite big anyway, but don't let that stop you!

RoZ explains alot of interesting story line.

RoZ has an amazing storyline which connects greatly to the main FFXI storyline along with the Shadowlord (Although the Shadowlord storyline itself continues in Dynamis), continuing in CoP which also has a very large connection with the RoZ storyline in the later missions up until the very last "Mission"/BCNM against both the Archducal brothers.
(I will not spoil anything, but the storyline is amazing and connects both CoP and RoZ very nicely.)

Alas I will have to spoil something and that is that I haven't found a single connection between the main FFXI storyline and Aht Urhgan yet which I personally find very disapointing.

Post by **Sugami** » Tue May 01, 2007 2:05 pm

Astral Flow did a grand total of 0 damage to me

Gotta love Stoneskin

Vatrina · Post by **Vatrina** » Tue May 01, 2007 3:32 pm

Wish I could get that kind of enthusiasm up for completing CoP and getting Sea, but after going 0/30+ on every mission, and still only being half done, victory just isn't as sweet when I know the massive failure is gonna happen all over again...

Gratz on rank 6, and enjoy Sky when ya get it ^^

Keavy · Post by **Keavy** » Tue May 01, 2007 8:30 pm

Yeah, my LS right now is more focused on getting rank 10 in Windurst mainly because we're mostly Windy peeps and almost all of us are on 360 and we're achievement whores

I'm loving the RoZ story so far and as soon as I get a win in Promy-Holla I can continue the CoP storyline.

Honestly, I haven't been this excited to play FFXI in a long time.

Pheonixhawk · Post by **Pheonixhawk** » Tue May 01, 2007 10:41 pm

You should of told me you hand beaten the shadow lord yet keavy? My rdm can solo that big air ballon ;p (Yes ive finnaly got ninja high enough to sub for my rdm)

Keavy · Post by **Keavy** » Wed May 02, 2007 5:36 am

Pheonixhawk wrote:You should of told me you hand beaten the shadow lord yet keavy? My rdm can solo that big air ballon ;p (Yes ive finnaly got ninja high enough to sub for my rdm)

I don't like to ask friends to do things for me. My LS made an event out of it and I got to be a huge help in the fight which made me feel better about the whole thing.

Hell, my emergency Banish III that I threw out when the PLD's Invincible wore off did 700 damage to the SL, I got a .4 divine skillup, and got to see "Keavy defeats the Shadow Lord" scroll across the screen.

I hate feeling like I'm a burden or that people are doing stuff for me.

Post by **Sugami** » Wed May 02, 2007 12:51 pm

You kinda need Ni to solo Shadow Lord and your NIN isn't up that high yet

Post by **Shirai** » Wed May 02, 2007 1:13 pm

Sugami wrote:You kinda need Ni to solo Shadow Lord and your NIN isn't up that high yet

No not really,

NI helps soloing him and absorb some of his melee or dark based spells but honestly rdm/blm or /whm can easily solo him.
Stoneskin, Blink and Phalanx is more then enough.
You can gravity and bind him in case you need a convert.
He is not really harder then an easy prey mob at level 75 he just has just a little more HP.
(The exp you get for beating him at 75 is equal to exp from an easy prey)

I've soloed him on Summoner meleeing alongside my avatar to Spirit taker some MP back.
True my Avatar is the one taking the hits, but he doesn't really hit any harder then the said before: easy prey.
Even better he hardly hits my avatar at all.
(Aka on a bit evasion built rdm he will go *whiff, whiff, whiff, whiff*)

Eviticus · Post by **Eviticus** » Wed May 02, 2007 3:01 pm

I've seen a Drg/Rdm solo the Shadow Lord. :p And Shirai's right, can't sleep the avatar, my bad.

Post by **Fiye** » Wed May 02, 2007 5:18 pm

Tips for ZM4. Get a group of people WHO ARE PREPARED FOR THE FIGHT. I did it with an unprepared group. Got slaughtered while attempting to get the lanterns lit (Bomb aggro by yours truly x,x)

As for the BC. If you want to survive the Astral Flow. I would deeply recommend you wait until you level up a bit more. So you have a bit of a change of surviving it as a WHM. If you don't care all too much about living. Then you'll be fine. I went in as a 60 WHM, and still made it. SO you should be good.

ZM5 is easy enough. The hard part is getting to the stones.

ZM6 is another easy BC fight. Hell. Its easier than ZM4.

ZM8 Might give you a bit of trouble. Just research a path. Bring Powders/Oils or in your case. Have some MP at all times for Sneak/Invisible

ZM10 is another easy one. Just have a single Oil/Powder and you can get through Ro'Maeve without a single aggro. Make sure you know where you're headed.

ZM12 {Too weak} NM fight. Seriously. You'll be done with it as soon as you can.

And after you're done with that. You have Sky access. As far as ZM14/DM goes. I did DM, and I was a WHM. I didn't have my ears at attention for who to heal. I just typed /target <a#> and hit my cure macro. But. I'd say the only trouble you'll have is really the Elvaan AA. Benediction is never a good thing in the hands of your enemy. Especially when they can use it multiple times.

Pheonixhawk · Post by **Pheonixhawk** » Wed May 02, 2007 11:48 pm

Ive killed him as rdm/blm and rdm/nin already. Ni isnt necessary.

And also Keavy true I could solo him but you would of been super helpful because I wouldnt have to burn mp curing myself. Also you could help melee and do some dmg with your divine magic. So no, you wouldnt be any dead weight.

Keavy · Post by **Keavy** » Thu May 03, 2007 8:56 am

Well, maybe someday if I lose my sanity and decide to redo the missions in another nation we can duo him.

Then again, I'm not sure I have any sanity left to lose.

Also, for the record, I do plan on leveling WHM again. The reason I stopped was mainly due to the string of godawful parties. Leaders who assumed that my Pineapple Juice, +hMP gear, and Sanction Auto-Refresh with a PLD tank were enough to keep my MP good for burn-style pulling. I'm not a Taru SMN/WHM. I'm a goddamn Mithra WHM/BLM you ass and even the best player has their limits as to what they can do.

Then there were the NIN tank parties. Pro/Shell every 30 mins, Reraise II every hour, and the Haste cycle along with the occasional Barfira was all I had to do to keep that party going. I was bored out of my mind and would spam spells to pull hate just for some excitement.

Also, the furious reactions of the leader made me smile: "Goddamn it, the WHM is spamming Cure IV again! WTF, dude?"

Stockyboy · Post by **Stockyboy** » Thu May 03, 2007 9:54 am

Nin parties are fun, you can buff them, turn on the console and play a game for 1 minute 40 seconds, redo your haste and cure tank if need be, then play again.

Post by **Shirai** » Thu May 03, 2007 11:48 am

Keavy wrote: Also, for the record, I do plan on leveling WHM again. The reason I stopped was mainly due to the string of godawful parties. Leaders who assumed that my Pineapple Juice, +hMP gear, and Sanction Auto-Refresh with a PLD tank were enough to keep my MP good for burn-style pulling. I'm not a Taru SMN/WHM. I'm a goddamn Mithra WHM/BLM you ass and even the best player has their limits as to what they can do.

Yay for mindless exp areas where you basicly unlearn everything you have learned in the previous levels...

New generation highlevels: Light skillchain? NOWAI Detonation on Puks is the way to go!!
And let's add in a thf with Sirocco Kukri!

And um.. Pineapple Juice?

Don't you party with rdms or brds? If not, it's not surprising you run out of MP...

And even Taru smn/whm run out of MP with that style eventually.

ScarlettPheonix · Post by **ScarlettPheonix** » Thu May 03, 2007 12:09 pm

Agreed- even RDMs run out of MP without some sort of support in TP Burns, expecially since we don't have all the healing toys you WHMs do

Trying to keep 5 non-shadow counting DDs alive with 0 support too many times is why I started soloing. Nuking Marids, Chiggers and W. Princes to death may be slower exp, but its a lot less stressful.

Depending on how high maintenance/diva-ish you want to be Keavy- you could always insist on there being some sort of second healer/support mage in you parties before accepting invites.

Shirai- I've actually met a few newer high levels who don't even know what makes Light or Darkness SCs. Its pitiful ><

I've been in one ToAU Skillchain party- Lamia and Qutrubs in Arrapago Reef- and that was a year ago, right after ToAU was released. There are quite a few places were a Skillchain party could make good exp and have little/no compitition in ToAU but very few people are willing to be in a party like that anymore in game. /sigh

Post by **Sugami** » Thu May 03, 2007 12:40 pm

Hmm well Shadow Lord's second stage where he spams AOE is pretty nasty but shadows won't help with that obviouisly

Remember the days of Light Skillchains? When you'd have not 1 but 3 mages? Wow 3 people with the ability to Cure, we were spoiled back then.

On COR I find WHM seem to be better healers due to Cure V they get little hate and just have to wait until someone is reasonably hurt. Whereas RDM have to spam III and IV, get hate and take beats then have to Cure themselves and get hate again.
However a RDM can help me out if Light Shot/Sleep "misses" whereas a WHM will just watch me take beats

ScarlettPheonix · Post by **ScarlettPheonix** » Thu May 03, 2007 2:31 pm

Cure V is a big asset to WHMs but in my experience some WHMs wait too damned long to use it. When they wait too long the person needing healing either a) dies, meaning down time or b) everyone capable of healing uses thier highest cure, hate starts bouncing leading to more cures which of course leads to downtime.

Don't know if its the new generation of WHMs or just players who just aren't very good, but it's happened enough times that I really only prefer WHMs I know if I do get roped into a merit party.

Good RDMs/alternate healers try to save Cure IV and DS+Cure IV (if they have Cure IV of course) or Curaga II for between fights or emergency situations and instead rely on Cure III, Curaga and Regen spam to keep everyone alive. Or try too anyway.

Its easier in some parties than others.

Post by **Shirai** » Thu May 03, 2007 5:02 pm

ScarlettPheonix wrote:Cure V is a big asset to WHMs

Cure V is an amazing spell, it has no "hard cap" and has the same hate gain as Cure III.
Other spells which are a major help for a whm but too often forgotten are the Regen series and Flash.

but in my experience some WHMs wait too damned long to use it. When they wait too long the person needing healing either a) dies, meaning down time or b) everyone capable of healing uses thier highest cure, hate starts bouncing leading to more cures which of course leads to downtime.

Seriously, some whms don't even cure at all and just watch the tank die along with the rest of the party and use their MP only to raise people.

I have seen enough parties wipe with the whm still standing and the mobs that destroyed the party despawn..
Unless you were just standing there seeing your party get decimated you should be dead too or your party still alive...

Don't know if its the new generation of WHMs or just players who just aren't very good, but it's happened enough times that I really only prefer WHMs I know if I do get roped into a merit party.

Either, I've seen veteran players which are amazing at their other jobs just plain suck on whm and seen newer players be amazing whms, there is no comparison.

ScarlettPheonix · Post by **ScarlettPheonix** » Thu May 03, 2007 5:34 pm

Same, I've seen some really really good new players at their chosen jobs too and I >try< not to paint all new players with the same brush. Newb =/= noob

What I find really painful is seeing/having to deal with veteran players who've taken mulitple DD jobs to 75 but haven't touched any mage job before WHM and think they suddendly know everything there is to know about healing/enfeebling/nuking/whatever.

Keavy · Post by **Keavy** » Thu May 03, 2007 7:11 pm

Shirai wrote:
Keavy wrote: Also, for the record, I do plan on leveling WHM again. The reason I stopped was mainly due to the string of godawful parties. Leaders who assumed that my Pineapple Juice, +hMP gear, and Sanction Auto-Refresh with a PLD tank were enough to keep my MP good for burn-style pulling. I'm not a Taru SMN/WHM. I'm a goddamn Mithra WHM/BLM you ass and even the best player has their limits as to what they can do.
Yay for mindless exp areas where you basicly unlearn everything you have learned in the previous levels...
New generation highlevels: Light skillchain? NOWAI Detonation on Puks is the way to go!!
And let's add in a thf with Sirocco Kukri!

And um.. Pineapple Juice?

Don't you party with rdms or brds? If not, it's not surprising you run out of MP...

And even Taru smn/whm run out of MP with that style eventually.

I do usually start a party with a RDM, Bard, or COR in the group. I make my limitations explicitly clear: Either get me a refresher or a competent backup or we rest at the end of a chain. Things go great then either the refresher or my backup healer leaves, they're replaced with a damage dealer with the explanation that "No RDM/BRD/COR or backup healers are LFG" even though I was invited without my flag up, and off we go just like we were before yet when I run out of MP no one says "Geez, maybe getting an extra DD wasn't a good idea" its "Man, all of a sudden this WHM sucks. Should stick with RDM from now on for our healing needs."

Some people have asked "Why not use Melon Juice or Yagudo Drink?" and here's my answer: My cooking skill is 42. This means high failure rate on Melon Juice and leaves me unable to make Yagudo Drink. Melon Juice requires two types of melons which, if Windurst isn't in control of that region, requires a trip to Rabao to get them. Also Melon Juice is expensive and honestly, for one more MP per tic, its just not worth it.

I'm not a cheap WHM; I'd just rather invest my money into gear, whose effects last for as long as I wear it than into a pricier drink whose effects are finite and requires me to take time to prepare it in-party since I can't stack it. Time that could be spent healing.

When I get my cooking skill high enough to reliably make Yagudo drink and if the benefits outweigh the cost then it will replace Pineapple Juice. Until then, Pineapple Juice and Ginger Cookies work just fine.

The only time I use Mushroom Risotto is when I have a refresher. I love the stuff but the +hMP that the cookies give is a huge help when I am Refresh-less.

Post by **Sugami** » Fri May 04, 2007 2:20 pm

"hard cap"?

Vatrina · Post by **Vatrina** » Fri May 04, 2007 2:55 pm

On SMN, I just tell my pts straight up, "if you don't get a refresher, expect to get a low xp rate, or die." Nine times out of ten, they find a refresher, even if there aren't any looking. And when there aren't any, they find a NIN tank if they don't already have one. Just cuz I have over 1000 MP at 70 doesn't mean it'll last forever. Auto Refresh and Sanction Refresh are not the omgz-uber-refresh-unlimited-mp everyone makes them out to be. And I do actually like to play SMN from time to time, not gimpy-Cure 3-spamming-WHM-wannabe. Espically when I make random Light SCs with Eclipse Bite

I have straight up let people die because I ran out of mp in the middle of a fight. Or at the end of the fight and they run off and pull.

Just hope you don't get any PLDs who refuse to cure themselves..."cure-assisted suicide" has become a common term when I'm on SMN...

Keavy · Post by **Keavy** » Fri May 04, 2007 3:21 pm

Sugami wrote:"hard cap"?

Cure has a hard cap of 30 (I think) and minus modifiers like "Cure Potency +10%" that's as much HP as it'll give back.

As for PLD's 99% of the time they're on my side because they know if I run out of MP and they run out of MP they die.

The other 1% they're looking for a way out of the party because its just that bad.

Rishutlaw · Post by **Rishutlaw** » Fri May 04, 2007 6:50 pm

I filled my intire rank points bar up yesturday, but it won't let me gain rank 3 (windy) without completing the quests.

p.s. Too many times I've been stuck tanking with my monk (no sub), and even if we come across two tanks in the party (yesturday) niether of them uses provoke. Because of this I'm forced to take most of the hits and just dwindle down my hp (which lasts for 5 seconds because of my low vit, being a mithra). For this reason I can't wait to start lvling cor, so I'll be nowhere neat the front lines.

Post by **Alya Mizar (Tsybil)** » Fri May 04, 2007 8:43 pm

Keavy wrote:
Sugami wrote:"hard cap"?
Cure has a hard cap of 30 (I think) and minus modifiers like "Cure Potency +10%" that's as much HP as it'll give back.

It isn't a hard cap, its a soft cap and easily broken. I have often gotten 31 from Cure and 92 from C II without Healing enhancements or Lightday. 33 from Cure on Lightday, or 93 - 96 on C II is dead common.

My question is, why with two 10% Healing enhancements do I not get 108 From C II? Indeed, even with Lightday, 100 is hard to come by.

ScarlettPheonix · Post by **ScarlettPheonix** » Sat May 05, 2007 12:34 am

Really? I'm almost always hitting 100+ for my Cure IIs when I'm in full healing gear as RDM. My Cure IIIs are well over the 150(?) soft cap for that and Cure IV is normally between 390-412 or higher. I've had it go as high as 460ish on Lightsday.

MND does have a small effect on how much hp is returned with Cures, so maybe that's it. I notice the difference between just using Healing Skill items and Healing Skill + MND.