Does Boost effect accuracy?

[Effedup]

I partied as 16 WAR/8 MNK in the Dunes the other day, and everytime I stacked more than 2 boosts between pulls I missed. Not just some of the time, or a lot of the time, but EVERY time. As you can probably imagine, stacking 8+ boosts and then whiffing it is irritating as all hell, especially when I'm trying to keep hate off of the RNG doing uber damage with her ranged attack (75+ damage to my 40 or so unboosted).

Anyways, when I attacked w/o boost in effect, I rarely missed. So is there a correlation between the two, or is it just a coincidence? I was using a Moth G.axe, skill was 39 at start of party (under cap but hadn't had a chance to skillup to cap beforehand) and 49 or so at disband, halfway to lvl 19.

So, if anyone knows please let me know, and save me from pulling my hair out ^^

Another question concerning WAR gear (first time playing WAR in full party so bear with me). Is it better to roll with G.axe or hand axe + shield at these levels, or should I roll with both? Is there any kind of benefit in party to macro gear-swaps mid-fight as WAR at these low levels, or am I once again over-complicating things?

Thanks for any help!

[Murphie]

Re: Does Boost effect accuracy?

Personally, I carry both, so that I can use whatever the party needs most at that time. Better safe than sorry.

Re: Boost and ACC, that was probably just coincidence. There isn't any evidence to suggest otherwise.

[Legal Fish]

Re: Does Boost effect accuracy?

This is easy to test as you can test your accuracy compared to a monster's evasion with /check. I've never heard or seen anything indicating the boost raises Acc.

[Vyuru]

Re: Does Boost effect accuracy?

I partied as 16 WAR/8 MNK in the Dunes the other day, and everytime I stacked more than 2 boosts between pulls I missed. Not just some of the time, or a lot of the time, but EVERY time.

That happens alot to me too, normally I can stack 2 fine, but 3+ boosts and I'll probably miss. I did try checking the mob before I engaged it with Boost in effect and after I attacked it and Boost wore off, it never conned different, the mob's evasion was always the same.

It's probably just coincidence, just a really annoying one. Until I actually see a mob's evasion change after Boost wears off I won't say there is any solid evidence that it lowers your accuracy.

[Icemage]

Re: Does Boost effect accuracy?

Boost only affects Attack score and gives a damage multiplier to Chi Blast. It doesn't affect Accuracy in any way.


Icemage

[Jarre]

Re: Does Boost effect accuracy?

Another question concerning WAR gear (first time playing WAR in full party so bear with me). Is it better to roll with G.axe or hand axe + shield at these levels, or should I roll with both? Is there any kind of benefit in party to macro gear-swaps mid-fight as WAR at these low levels, or am I once again over-complicating things?

Depends ony our role.

If you are tanking then use axe+sheild as this increases your defense, you can knock down dmage gained if your sheild blocks it which makes you popular with whm as you become less of an Mp leech.

If there is already a tank i.e. Pld, Nin or another war tank, and you are in the DD (damage dealing) position then use Great axe to give more damage. When using Great axe if you feel your hits aren't hitting very often try up ACC with food. i.e. for that level Jack O Lanterns or if you can afford it sushi.

[Armando]

Re: Does Boost effect accuracy?

Yeah, it's a placebo. We all want that boosted hit to land, so we focus a lot more on whether it does or doesn't than we do for normal hits.

As for Axe vs Great Axe, it's better to use Great Axe in the earlier levels unless you really need the damage reduction from shields. Shield Break is totally awesome. If you ARE going to use a shield, though, stay the heck away from Size 1 shields, their damage reduction is pitiful; use Size 2's (Size 1's are bone shields, bucklers, targes; Size 2's are the bigger round shields.)

[Pawkeshup]

Re: Does Boost effect accuracy?

Actually I wouldn't be surprised if this is true.

If you think about it, just about every power has a trade off. Berserk raises attack but lowers defence. Trick Attack raises your damage but requires someone be between you and the mob.

The trade-off also can be a cooldown, like for Divine Seal or similar powers.

I've noticed that my boosted attacks do tend to miss a little more often, even when I am loaded on +acc gear. Maybe I should run a test on this, a more formal one...

[ItazuraNhomango]

Re: Does Boost effect accuracy?

I think Boost already have enough trade off to get by fine without a hidden accuracy down property to its users.

The first trade off for Boost is a notable enmity gain for relatively little increase in attack power (per use) which lasts one attack around or less.

The enmity property can be exploited when tanking, especially on WAR/MNK. Or, can be of a great annoyance when other people are trying to set up SATA.

The second trade off for Boost is that it cannot be stacked unless the player is not attacking. Even a range attack will remove the status effect, IIRC.

Otherwise, stacking Boost lends itself nicely to, well, boosting Sneak Attack (or Trick Attack) damage, or boosting Jump attack damage on /DRG. Of course, that means a non-pulling THF, and a MNK/DRG who opens a fight with a (possibly) high damage Jump to make the monster hate him more--neither situation is entirely desirable.

[LyonheartLakshmi]

Re: Does Boost effect accuracy?

When you first get Boost, it's really cool to see that big attack boost from stacking 8 of them between pulls. But it'll get old after a bit.

When you're tanking, the biggest advantage brings to the table is the enmity it generates when you use it. You don't even have land the next hit. Just using the Job Ability generates something in the neighborhood of one-third to one-half the enmity that Provoke generates. So instead of wasting a Boost one second before engaging the mob, I suggest waiting unti you've already engaged, and then about 5 seconds after Provoke. That way, you can easily get into a Provoke-Boost-Boost cycle right off the bat.

If you're not tanking, then stacking Boosts only affects your first swing at the mob. Even if you land the hit, the extra damage from the stacked boosts is probably going to be marginal. And in the mean time, it's going to drive your party members nuts to hear the Boost animation going every 15 seconds.

Ask some career MNKs how often they sit there and stack Boosts between pulls. I'm guessing they only bother with it when they plan to start off with a Chi Blast (for which having stacked Boosts has a big impact on damage).

[Effedup]

Re: Does Boost effect accuracy?

Thanks guys for all the advice....I was (supposedly) primary tank, but like I said, keeping hate off the RNG was damn near impossible. RNG would run off and pull, I would voke the second mob was in range, but then RNG would do another ranged attack for 70+ dmg and that would be pretty much be that. In fact, pretty much the only way I could keep hate was to Voke, immediately fire off Shield Break, boost, and then attack and boost as available, voking every 30 seconds...and even then it was hard, RNG kept stealing hate, and BLU was also stealing hate. I was doing Iron Tempest at first but BLU suggested S.B. to lower mobs evasion and speed the fight's up, which may have had something to do with my difficulty holding hate. Any thoughts?

Given that scenario, it seems to me that using G.Axe was probably best in that I had enough trouble holding hate, and the increased dmg of g.axe vs. hand axe helped me at least Tank SOME of the time (if I'm wrong in that feel free to let me know, I'm trying to learn here ^^). Which leads me to my next question...in a situation like that, where RNG is out damaging me with ranged attack and stealing hate, would it be bitchy of me to ask RNG to melee instead until I can get hate focused on me? Sure, the uber dmg she was dealing helped speed the fight up, but by the time the mob was 1/4 hp down from full, hate was bouncing around all over the place. I know that my time as a WAR/MNK tank is going to be over soon once we start picking up NIN's and PAL's as primary tank, but I want to do the best I can as a point of pride.

I know it seems like there was problems in this party, but it WAS a good party, we lvl'd fairly quickly, but between the acc problems I was having w/ stacked boosts and hate management, it was also a very frustrating party for me. BLU insisted she should be primary tank, but everytime I turned around she was getting drilled (she died twice, luckily we had an ls mate nearby to raise her) so I continued trying to hold hate on myself because of my evasion bonus due to my Bone +1 set. Was I wrong in this, is BLU really a better tank at these levels? Any input is appreciated, since I'm going to be levelling WAR to 37 for my MNK's subjob, I'd like to know the proper way to play this job in party at lower levels so I don't look like an idiot.

[Ziero]

Re: Does Boost effect accuracy?

Boost has a nasty habit of creating a placebo effect, you're att is stronger so you pay more attention to the swing and when it misses you'll notice it much more often. The down sides of boost are painfully clear, short duration and high enimity per use, meaning you can't use it through out a fight without drawing hate. Mnks and War/mnks can use this side effect to tank, but otherwise it's a very bad thing.

As for Axe VS Gaxe, if it's your choice stay with your Gaxe. The minor Def boost and low proc rate of sheilds will not outweigh thehate increase and killing power of a Gaxe. Best bet is to Shield Break at the start of a fight and keep the length of the fight as short as possible. Up until, and even some time after, lvl 30 Shield Break is your number one WS.

When using Great axe if you feel your hits aren't hitting very often try up ACC with food. i.e. for that level Jack O Lanterns or if you can afford it sushi.

No. No no no no no. Do NOT use sushi and jacks in the dunes. No ones Acc is that bad, *especially* with an A+ ranked weapon with an Eva down, Ice element WS to warrent the use of pure Acc foods. Especially sushi. If you *really* need Acc, get Rice Dumplings, as they give you Acc AND Att, which for a 2-hander you will need a lot of. The best food advice I can give, meat jerky till 21ish, Dhamel meats till 35-40, meat kabobs till 60ish and at that point you should be able to decide what's best on your own. Remember, most food is affected by your lvl, and some foods aren't as good in some lvls as they are in other. So find out how to read foods and what stats each food increases before blindly eating anything you can get.

Edit: IMPO War/mnk is *the* best tank till 35-37. Voke-boost-boost-voke is a great hate holding tool, and counter is down right awesome. Stick with Gaxe and Shield Break and that'll make the mob die much faster. The quicker the mob dies the better the exp, and a tank that can DD as well as a full DD is certainly a great thing.

Also, never use Iron Tempest, ever. Shield Break and Sturmwind are much better uses of your TP.

[Effedup]

Re: Does Boost effect accuracy?

Ask some career MNKs how often they sit there and stack Boosts between pulls. I'm guessing they only bother with it when they plan to start off with a Chi Blast (for which having stacked Boosts has a big impact on damage).

Being that MNK is the job I'm most interested in taking up to 75, thanks for the advice. I always sit and stack boosts between pulls (funny thing is, I whiff it far less as MNK, regardless of how many I stack). I was told about the correlation between boost and Chi Blast when I first started playing, so I just got into the habit of boosting constantly as practice for when I unlock that job ability. I never even thought about the annoying boost sound effect...I usually play with the sound turned down because the music makes my ears bleed, so I never even thought of it before. Good to know that me spamming boosts is probably irritating as all hell ^^

I'm in a small social ls full mainly of people I know irl, and no one else has taken MNK to 75 that I've heard of, so outside of some observational advice from them, I get most of my knowledge of the job from forums like these. So once again, thanks for the advice ^^

EDIT: At least, it SEEMS like I whiff it far less...I'm giving my MNK a break while I lvl my WAR sub, so that's definitely something I can watch for when I start taking MNK up again...

[Effedup]

Re: Does Boost effect accuracy?

No. No no no no no. Do NOT use sushi and jacks in the dunes. No ones Acc is that bad, *especially* with an A+ ranked weapon with an Eva down, Ice element WS to warrent the use of pure Acc foods. Especially sushi. If you *really* need Acc, get Rice Dumplings, as they give you Acc AND Att, which for a 2-hander you will need a lot of. The best food advice I can give, meat jerky till 21ish, Dhamel meats till 35-40, meat kabobs till 60ish and at that point you should be able to decide what's best on your own. Remember, most food is affected by your lvl, and some foods aren't as good in some lvls as they are in other. So find out how to read foods and what stats each food increases before blindly eating anything you can get.

Edit: IMPO War/mnk is *the* best tank till 35-37. Voke-boost-boost-voke is a great hate holding tool, and counter is down right awesome. Stick with Gaxe and Shield Break and that'll make the mob die much faster. The quicker the mob dies the better the exp, and a tank that can DD as well as a full DD is certainly a great thing.

Also, never use Iron Tempest, ever. Shield Break and Sturmwind are much better uses of your TP.

I've been eating Rice Dumplings as WAR, mainly because I have a ton of them due to using them as MNK (wanted +acc to help with my misses, as well as +att). Glad to know this was a good choice as WAR and I wasn't wasting them. I was torn between the dumplings and Meat Jerky (have 2/3 of a stack left over from my lower level MNK days), but being that my G.axe was a little below cap I figured the +acc could only be a good thing.

Thanks for the advice re: Iron Tempest...I unlocked that WS right after we started, and was keen to use it, but my pt convinced me to use Shield Break instead, which I did. Good to know I was doing the right thing ^^

[Ziero]

Re: Does Boost effect accuracy?

...why can't all newbs be as cool as you ; ;