Drain...worth it or not?

Mollina · Post by **Mollina** » Thu Mar 02, 2006 12:37 pm

Hi Kitties,

I have another question for all you BLM's. I am currently leveling up my BLM/WHM combo and have been busy buying speels. The next available spell is Drain, which as any FF vet knows saps HP from the monster to you (at least that's the way I have known it in previous FF's). It is currently 10,000 in the AH. My question is...is it worth it? Are you able to drain a good amount of HP with it or is ti really a spell I can do without?

Wilemina · Post by **Wilemina** » Thu Mar 02, 2006 12:55 pm

I'd say that Drain is an essential spell and if it's only 10k on your server then you should snap it up right away.
Drain is a good way of regaining health for the BLM, for when you get hate when partying or if you have to farm with BLM as your main job. Not to mention when skilling up.
It's really only 10k?

Kintrra · Post by **Kintrra** » Thu Mar 02, 2006 1:07 pm

Why bother with buying it when all you have to do is get to San D'Oria where most likely you can purchase the item needed for the quest to get the spell. ^^;; And Drain really is a handy spell, trust me, it's kept my rear alive long enough to run from an overly rambunctios worm a time or two as BLM. But BLM and DRK are the only ones who get good numbers out of it for the most part. RDM can occasionally, WHM less so, any other job, definitely less so. ^^;

btw, the item you need is called Beastman Blood, it drops off of the Leeches in Pashhow Marshlands, and is typically (on Alexander at least) sold for about 1/10 the cost of the Drain scroll, since you can only get the scroll once. When you've got that blood, you go to the Bosteaniux Obl????? (for once I can't remember the full name XD ) which is underneath the Chateau D'Origaulle and talk to Novalmauge, who is in the first hall to your right from the entrance. I can't remember the fame requirements, but they're not too high. ^^

Mollina · Post by **Mollina** » Thu Mar 02, 2006 1:45 pm

Wilemina wrote:I'd say that Drain is an essential spell and if it's only 10k on your server then you should snap it up right away.
Drain is a good way of regaining health for the BLM, for when you get hate when partying or if you have to farm with BLM as your main job. Not to mention when skilling up.
It's really only 10k?

yeah it's only 10k. It's Hydra...the economy hasn't gone nuts yet. Since I've got the gil I think I may just buy it as opposed to going to Sandy cause I'm lazy lol.

Keavy · Post by **Keavy** » Thu Mar 02, 2006 2:19 pm

Keep your Dark Magic skill capped and Drain and Aspir will be your favorite spells as BLM and DRK.

Sylphine · Post by **Sylphine** » Thu Mar 02, 2006 2:59 pm

I suggest you do the quest.

I'm confused between 2 quests, both give an essential magic scroll. One of these quests is the drain scroll, another is the warp scroll.

------------------------------------------------------------

I think the quest NPC located in the castle of San O'ria, in the basement.

He'll ask you to bring him a beastmen blood, you may bid this on AH.

Trade it to him, and he'll reward you with a magic scroll.
........................

Another quest located in Bastok in the Machinery.

Look for a Galka, talk to him and he'll ask you to bring him a vial of slime oil.

You may go to Korroloka Tunnel and kill Jellies until you get one, or bid it on the AH. (Sometimes the Alchemy guild has this item on the list too)

Trade the oil to him, he will reward you with another scroll.

ScarlettPheonix · Post by **ScarlettPheonix** » Thu Mar 02, 2006 3:28 pm

Like everyone else, I advise doing quests for spells as much as possible. Its cheaper in the long run and gives you additional fame (if needed) which helps you get needed quests later on.

Something that hasn't been mentioned yet, for the Drain quest, you need to be at least rank 2 to be able to get into the Chateau to complete the quest.

Hope this helps and welcome to Vana'diel^^

Post by **Alya Mizar (Tsybil)** » Thu Mar 02, 2006 5:47 pm

For Drain you need to be Rank 2, if not a San d'Orian citizen be on M 2 - 3 or beyond, and fame 3 in San d'Oria.

For Warp all you need is Fame 2 in Bastok.

I don't know how much time it takes you 360 folk to earn 10K Gil, but it has got to be more time than it takes to get to San d'Oria.

As RDM/BLM in my 20s I could Drain over 80 HPs regulary, that's a 160+ HP swing for what, 12 MPs? 15? And BLMs get higher Dark skill than RDMs.

You want to do the quest anyway, title, "Vampire Hunter D-"

AgentSeethroo · Post by **AgentSeethroo** » Thu Mar 02, 2006 5:54 pm

Tsybil wrote:I don't know how much time it takes you 360 folk to earn 10K Gil, but it has got to be more time than it takes to get to San d'Oria.

It takes a LONG frickin' time. Took me a couple days to get about 3k gil.

I'm sure I could do it more quickly, but with lvling my sub and whatnot, I have a hard time keeping stuff in the AH.

But as a Shellholder, I probably should use my Bazaar more often...people are more likely to check and see the shell, and then subsequently ask for a pearl...hmmmm......

Post by **JediKitsune** » Thu Mar 02, 2006 7:03 pm

Don't you get like... 10k for attaining Rank 3?

Mollina · Post by **Mollina** » Thu Mar 02, 2006 7:13 pm

I have about 15k-18k that I've built up in the last 2 days. I haven't had a hard time making money on Hydra

Thu Mar 02, 2006 10:07 pm

Mollina wrote:I have about 15k-18k that I've built up in the last 2 days. I haven't had a hard time making money on Hydra

Has an actual economy built up there? Or are you getting your Gil mostly from quests?

The last picture I got of your economy was over a month ago, with almost everything in the AH that didn't sell for penauts either not bid on or never posted for sale. Hardly any crafters at all. Sounded both grim and strangley interesting.

Post by **Amiricle** » Thu Mar 02, 2006 10:23 pm

Drain is a Hugely essential part of your repertoire, and as such get it a.s.a.p.
Drain & Aspir scale upwards in damage done verry nicely (better than any other spell). Also, Drain is/will be your most Mp to damage efficient nuke, as such cast it always to get & keep your dark skill capped.
There is no need to wait until you take damage to use it either. It will always do damage even if you cannot be healed by it. The combat log simply does not show you the damage caused by drain... only the amount you are healed by it.

Mollina · Post by **Mollina** » Thu Mar 02, 2006 11:30 pm

Tsybil wrote:
Mollina wrote:I have about 15k-18k that I've built up in the last 2 days. I haven't had a hard time making money on Hydra
Has an actual economy built up there? Or are you getting your Gil mostly from quests?

The last picture I got of your economy was over a month ago, with almost everything in the AH that didn't sell for penauts either not bid on or never posted for sale. Hardly any crafters at all. Sounded both grim and strangley interesting.

The economy has built up tremendously...I have mainly made my gil in three places: Mining in Zeruhn with my bastok mule (ores sell VERY well), Farming (getting like 700 per stack of wind crystals, 1k+ for a stack beehive chips, 800 for a stack of dhalmel meat etc, etc it adds up), and low level cooking (started by making 200 a piece for grilled hare...currently getting 400-450 for oast mutton). I really have had no problem making money. The key is just being persistent and putting some time into it.

Mollina · Post by **Mollina** » Thu Mar 02, 2006 11:32 pm

Isania wrote:Drain is a Hugely essential part of your repertoire, and as such get it a.s.a.p.
Drain & Aspir scale upwards in damage done verry nicely (better than any other spell). Also, Drain is/will be your most Mp to damage efficient nuke, as such cast it always to get & keep your dark skill capped.
There is no need to wait until you take damage to use it either. It will always do damage even if you cannot be healed by it. The combat log simply does not show you the damage caused by drain... only the amount you are healed by it.

I'll be buying it tommorrow

. Got stuck on a 16 hour shift today

Althaia · Post by **Althaia** » Fri Mar 03, 2006 1:59 am

10k? Lucky kitty. Let's hope your server's economy never goes the way pretty much all the older servers' have...

Buy the scroll then do the quest later and sell the scroll. It'll probably be worth more eventually, heh heh.

Sylphine · Post by **Sylphine** » Fri Mar 03, 2006 5:01 am

If drain is 10k, go for it! Buy it, then wait until later time. Do your quest, and sell the scroll!

(It's a non-repeatable quest, so the scroll WILL be dramatically at high price in later time. But you also may get this scroll when fighting the BCNM lv 20 too, but geez...the mob is damn hard and it hardly drops...)

Post by **JediKitsune** » Fri Mar 03, 2006 5:54 am

The quest for the scroll is painfully easy... Well, on the non-beta servers, you just buy the beastmen's blood from the Auction House and trade it to the guy. Quest over, 100k spell scroll for about 10k.

I suggest you get it cheap though before the price starts shooting up.

Go build up your Bastok and Windurst fame too to get Warp and Aspir, both of which are the same level of ease (if you don't want to go farm the items up, which can be difficult, especially Aspir if you haven't completed mission 3-2, the skippable one).

Eviticus · Post by **Eviticus** » Fri Mar 03, 2006 7:13 am

Alot have been talking about how to get it, how much to pay, etc. But let me tell you something. Having recently taken Blm to 37, and having quested for drain and aspir, I can tell you they are the most important spells I have as a Blm.

If you can ever get away with it in a party, use Bio earlier on. If nothing else, to raise your Dark magic skill. I duoed a bit in Qufim with a guy and so Bio was more useful then Dia. Also we were fighting worms and crabs, so I got to use Aspir alot.

Anyways, as a Blm, if you pull hate odds are people will voke it off you. Now unless you've unleashed the MB of the Almighty on that mandy's ass, you have enough leeway with hate to pop a Drain on it to get back the HP you lost. For me, I was draining 90ish hp when I stopped leveling Blm. Also, on top of that 90 hp of damage, there is a small extra amount of damage it does that it doesn't tell you. So you actually not only do more then the drained amount to it, but a little bit more, along with healing yourself.

90 hp healed, 90 damage delt, + small damage delt is -well- worth the 21 mp used in casting. Be careful though, spells like that tend to get a monster's attention really well. Also, recast is painfully long.

In short, drain and aspir are both really well worth the effort.

Wilemina · Post by **Wilemina** » Fri Mar 03, 2006 11:04 am

Mollina wrote:
Wilemina wrote:I'd say that Drain is an essential spell and if it's only 10k on your server then you should snap it up right away.
Drain is a good way of regaining health for the BLM, for when you get hate when partying or if you have to farm with BLM as your main job. Not to mention when skilling up.
It's really only 10k?

yeah it's only 10k. It's Hydra...the economy hasn't gone nuts yet. Since I've got the gil I think I may just buy it as opposed to going to Sandy cause I'm lazy lol.

I'd buy it now, then quest it next year when it's up to 300k+