4 person static ideas

[cyrusblaze]

Greetings all!

I'll be getting back into this game when I can get a steady internet again, and me and a few others will be forming a static group to work together with.
We have been tossing together ideas for this for a couple weeks and have come up with some nice ideas and would like some additional feedback.
As a side note I will be duo-boxxing and will have two others with me.
The tank and healer will be me and will be a WAR/BLU and a WHM/SCH.
The WAR/BLU is an idea I've been tossing around with thme and they think it has great potential aswell (talked aboyut this in WAR forum here) but it can be chnaged to PLD or NIN if needed, but WAR/BLU is something we will try first.
WHM/SCH will the main healer (obviously) and SCH is new to me but seems like a very viable combo for a helaer (heard/read many good things)

The main thing we are trying to decide is what the 2 others should be, we plan on doing a semi-static party (4 man static +2PUG) so this gorup would need to be self sufficient able to add 2 of just about anything and still be very effective. (SC + MB with just the 4)

We have had several ideas on what the second 2 should be. We have pretty much decieded on the need of a BLM/WHM for backup heals and nukes, so the main thing is the last memeber.

DRK - Absorbs, another Big weapon with high DD
MNK - more steady DD than spike DD, 'better' as a backup tank if needed
DRG - Jumps, wyvern, spears another nice DD
THF - SATA (with a backup tank fomr PUG) TH, Gilfinder
SAM - TP/WS whore
DNC - (new class to me) Several dances to help party, cna heal if needed (but with WHM and BLM/WHM this should be minimal)

Those are the main one floating around, but we are up for any suggestions regarding any of the members, or a 'good' party setup that requires little to no outside help. The only requierments we have are a healer, tank, SC and MB.

Any insight or suggestions are fully wlcome and appreciated.

[Mog]

Re: 4 person static ideas

As a side note I will be duo-boxxing and will have two others with me.
The tank and healer will be me and will be a WAR/BLU and a WHM/SCH.

This statement alone tells me that this won't work. It's very, very difficult dual boxing a tank job, and a healing job in an exp party. (even to 75's) Plus, Warrior/Blue mage will not get you far as far as tanking is involved. If you want to tank in an exp party, I would suggest leveling paladin or ninja.

As far as the rest of the party members go, it's up to you and completely situational. If you decide to level up ninja instead(which is very gil-intensive), I would suggest somebody in your party level up thief, so you have the hate you need. I would also suggest somebody level bard for refresh and consistent buffs. As for the rest of the party members, whatever DD they feel like leveling.

And as another note...Don't decide what people level based on how it fits the party. People should level what jobs they like, not what fills the role in your party. Also, if you're staticing with 4 people, I would pick up 2 extra so that you fill up the party.

[cyrusblaze]

Re: 4 person static ideas

I should have said in the above I have experiance with duo-boxing, and been the tank and healer during my last time playing XI (WHM/BLM and WAR/MNK)
I did this for along time and had no problems with this.

As for the party, the others dont have any real preferense and are willing to do/try anything. And with this static its more of a 'whole' than individuals, we want to creat an efficient team. But we are open for anything and will have plenty of time to level other jobs and the like.

As I said with WAR/BLU this is something that we have talked about alot and I have read and asked about this alot and its something we are more than willing to try, but if it doesnt work well (will work just fine till at least 40) I will pick up as a PLD or NIN if needed.

I understand your concerns, but we are willing to experiment, and I have great confidence in my ablities as a tank/healer duo-box. I have duo-boxed in several MMOs including XI (did so for along time, and not just as tank/healer)

[ItazuraNhomango]

Re: 4 person static ideas

I'd forget the BLM/WHM idea, and set up the front line as:

• WAR + WAR

That'd give you maximum flexibility for tanking and DD'ing.

For the back line, the choices should be one of:

• BRD + RDM
• RDM + WHM
• BRD + WHM

Any of the above three combination will do.

Having a WHM will let you take on wider variety of exp critters earlier, while BRD+RDM is a very flexible and potent combination, able to support almost any party configuration.

This statement alone tells me that this won't work. It's very, very difficult dual boxing a tank job, and a healing job in an exp party. (even to 75's)

OP has done that before, and said he was able to do so well enough.

Plus, Warrior/Blue mage will not get you far as far as tanking is involved. If you want to tank in an exp party, I would suggest leveling paladin or ninja.

Already covered in details within another thread; let's leave that discussion over there.

And as another note...Don't decide what people level based on how it fits the party. People should level what jobs they like, not what fills the role in your party.

That's a good point; everyone's taste will differ.

I love RDM, many loathe playing it. I don't mind main healing at all when it's within my ability, while many RDM avoid it like the plague.

Probably should consider the preferences of other people involved...

[Vyuru]

Re: 4 person static ideas

I would say you don't need a Black Mage for backup cures/nukes, I would consider either Summoners or Blue Mages as well for that role. I think that Blm are better at the MB+DD/support role, but I think that Smn or Blu are better at the party support/DD role.

For the 4th, well, there are some things to consider. You've got a warrior in the party, Warrior's Roll would be godly then, so I would be tossing the idea of a Corsair as support/DD around. I would be thinking along the lines of, what other job would add a nice boost to some of the good Corsair rolls, probably either Thf or Drk.

I think what I would do if I had the options of making a (full) 6 person static with what you present:

Core four:

War/blu
Whm/sch
Blm or Smn or Blu (Leaning more towards either Smn or Blu, but not entirely sure which I'd take)
Cor/whatever

PUGs:

Drk or Thf
Drg or Sam or Mnk or Pup

Grabbing a Drk or Thf complements Corsair perfectly IMO. Drk and Thf also SC very well with Drg and I believe Samurai. I'm not a Samurai so I could be mistaken on that though.

Mnk and Pup, I don't know how well they SC with the other jobs, at least until they get Dragon Kick, but both are good DD in their own right. The advanced blm puppet can toss out some wicked nukes, and the advanced whm puppet is just awesome to have around (although Kintoki never seems to want to heal me when I party with my puppetmaster friend, but then I think Kintoki is just jealous of me )

[cyrusblaze]

Re: 4 person static ideas

Thanks for the comments :D

I talked with the 2 others again last night (we dont get to meet up too often over here right now) and brought up some of the things I've read and suggestions from others.
Concerning the others choices in job, once again they said it doesnt really matter to them. They have some ideas aswell and we are more than willing to try just about anything out.

One of the main ideas we came up with last night is the use of DNC and thier was a few questions with this aswell.
WAR/BLU
DNC/WHM?
BRD/WHM
BLU/WHM?
I've read some on what dancers can do and it seems like a combo like this could be effective aswell. DNC can use thier skills to heal and support the party, the BLU can add some DD and heals if the DNC cant keep up and the BRD.. well its a BRD nuff said.

We also thought of cutting out the BRD and adding another DNC/WHM to this for additional heals and the like but not sure on the effectivness of a DNC as a healer, or how well some of thier dances stack (Sambas ?) as we could have the HP and MP sambas going giving some added HP and MP to all (all have MP and with less rest time needed longer chains could be possible)
But this idea is soley based on how well dancers can heal, and how well thier sambas work (stackable from both DNC, one DNC capable of both) the BLU would be able to handle 'some' healing if needed but would rather have them deal with DD only.

AS I said we are willing to try just about anything even 'out of the box' ideas as we enjoy having fun and trying new things out.
We most likely will have a coupl statics to work together on, and will probably swap jobs around as needed to get a good effective combo to work with.

[little ninja]

Re: 4 person static ideas

I say go Nin, We kick major tail bone. Ohhh and while your at it grab a Bst. Hey 2 attackers for the price of one. Now how can you go wrong with a deal like that.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: 4 person static ideas

DNC/WHM is somewhat of an unneccesary combo. At 35, DNC gets the ability to erase status ailments for all but petrification status. Much like COR, DNC gains greater benefit from melee subs in EXP levels than mage subs.

See, DNC gets its cures from TP and not MP, in ToA zones, /WHM would actually be rather inhibiting to DNC since they'd have to rest for MP at the cost of TP, something they would not have to deal with in Conquest and Campaign Zones.

BRD/WHM in your group should sufficiently be able to cover status ailments for the DNC til 35, by which time DNC can take over those duties.

Good subs for DNC are:

/MNK pre-20 - for Martial Arts traits
/NIN post-20 - Dual Wield and Utsusemi
/WAR post-50 - Berzerk and Double Attack trait
/SAM post 60 - Meditate and Store TP traits

[cyrusblaze]

Re: 4 person static ideas

Thanks Kitten that definately cleared a few things up regarding DNC and the subjobs.

I went with the /WHM for the added cures and status as I wanst sure how well a DNC can heal or fix status effects. I hear alot of different things in the DNC forum leaving me more confused on some aspects and overall theres not alot of info as compared to other classes.

/SAM definately seems like the way to go after 60 and is something 'we' have thought would be a good idea aswell.
I've heard alot of mixed things about /MNK and H2H but it seems like it would be usefull, especially at lower levels.


Overall your ideas are very helpfull for DNC and subs and gives me more to talk about with the guys when i see trhem again :D

Keep the ideas coming

[Vyuru]

Re: 4 person static ideas

I've heard alot of mixed things about /MNK and H2H but it seems like it would be usefull, especially at lower levels.

General consensus from the people leveling dancer in my LS was that you wanted to use H2H while solo, daggers while party. Keep in mind that one of the people also has her dagger skill fully merited, so she'd be a bit biased towards daggers.

Since dancers need to hit the mob in order to keep the Samba effect on, I'd pretty much go for whatever weapon they had the highest skill in.

My only concern about dancers main healing is don't the healing line of dances gain alot of hate? You might be competing with the dancer a little too much with the hate line.

Other than that though, I've got pretty favorable impressions of dancers main healing in parties. I saw a party fighting goblins in Altepa, they had a dancer main healing, with a scholar backup who mostly only casted Regen II then went to nukes with a pld tank. Gobs where going pretty bomb happy, but the dancer seemed to have no problems keeping people's hp up.

[ItazuraNhomango]

Re: 4 person static ideas

My understanding is that Dancer has two main limitation as the main healer:

• Shared recast timer for Waltz
• Must have TP

The TP part is fairly easy: don't fight IT++ so wouldn't keep whiffing or hitting for 0. The recast timer is more problematic; if a tank needs urgently a status removal and a big cure fast, a Dancer alone can't do both in short order.

Either way, a party will want someone else for Protect and Shell, unless it's a DNC/WHM we're talking about.

* * *

DNC/NIN may be able to double as an emergency tank, and it has faster cure speed than any other job. I've not been terribly impressed by the damage output of any of the DNC I've came across (though VZX may disagree)--even the ones who seem to forget to cure much of the time--so a party probably should not count on DNC as a major source of damage.

[cyrusblaze]

Re: 4 person static ideas

The protect and shell were part of my reasoning for going DNC/WHM as they are good buffs and /WHM can help with healing before 15

I havnt been able to talk it over with the guys yet, just been a very busy past few days, but Its something I will bring up in our 'meetings' :D

As for H2H with DNC/MNK I was doing some looking and it seems very viable even past 20. at 37 theres only a 8 point difference between thier dagger and H2H skill (although the gap gets bigger higher up) and I know one of my friends would like H2H over dagger at least till then (hes a big MNK fan) but its something we will test out aswell.

DNC/NIN also seems nice and might be something we can work on aswell as dual weild and some shadow help can be of use while leveling.

We Plan on trying out different things so its probably not a 'static' as some might say, as we will vary things, try out different classes and see how things go before (or even if) we decied on a full time setup.

Any thoughts or comments are still welcome and will be put to use and can give us more ideas on what we can do/try, even out of the box suggestions or 'unusual' party setups aswell

[Celeal]

Re: 4 person static ideas

I have done DNC/WHM in Dunes parties, and it worked. In Qufim, my hume DNC/WHM mp can only support two Cure II, which is not enough to support a party.

If you include a BLU in your static, IMHO, a BLU should have more than one subjob and gear-set and ready to switch and fill in the holes depends on party setup and situations.

Another reminder is, for Extra Jobs, you would need to be level 30+ in order to unlock that. If you consider to start static at the 1st day joining FFXI, basically your group only have 6 starter jobs choice.