Question about endgame demand for jobs

[pearlsea]

Currently im leveling both my pld and my blm and and just wondering which one is in more demand at endgame for dymamis and HNM because id rather focus on getting one to 75 fast then do both at the same time alot slower. Also will be being taru effect my chances in getting into an endgame ls as a paladin?

My blm is lvl 42 and my pld lvl 38 and i like both jobs equaly.

[Murphie]

Re: Question about endgame demand for jobs

Well, I don't know much about endgame, but I can tell you that as a Taru BLM you'll probably get a better reception than as a Taru PLD. I personally love Taru PLD, but for endgame things, people just love the Taru BLMs.

Plus, you'll level faster with the BLM. I mean, I wouldn't recommend choosing a job just to rocket to the top, but if you love it, then go ahead.

[TheGrandMom]

Re: Question about endgame demand for jobs

Go with blm. As a taru, you might run into some discrimination on your pld.

[tordall]

Re: Question about endgame demand for jobs

Pld has gotten a lot better lately. It's generally accepted that Pld/nin is the best HNM tank. That said, you're at a serious disadvantage as a taru. Most HNM shells need 4-5 plds at most (fewer if they're all active), but will keep a small horde of blms around (which means that it takes a while to get blm gear). For Dynamis everyone wants more blms.

[kenshin-san]

Re: Question about endgame demand for jobs

It's generally accepted that Pld/nin is the best HNM tank.

I would have to disagree with you on that statement. NIN is still the best HNM tank because of all the -dmg gear, blink, and with merits they're just crazy.

BLM is a big part of end game so it'll be better going that route as a Taru. Once you put some merits in to HP you can think about leveling PLD. Getting one shot killed is the biggest problem for Tarus as a tank.

[tordall]

Re: Question about endgame demand for jobs

Probably the best way to sum up end-game tanking is that there is a different 'best' tank for different mobs and for different party/alliance setups.

Pld/war is a very standard HNM tank because it offers rapid hate build, the ability to take hits (although it requires healing), and the ability help with healing.

Nin/war is an acceptable HNM tank because it offers shadows, provoke, and a decent selection of hate building tools.

Pld/nin offers about the same hate build rate as Nin/war but also provides Cover if a mage pulls hate (or to allow another member of the tank party to retain more hate), and very high vit/def for absorbing damage when they loose shadows.

When compairing the damage absorbing abilities of -%physical damage keep in mind that it it's calculated in serial. That is if you have several peices of gear with -% physical damage, the 2nd one absorbs a % of the damage that goes through the first one, etc. Your total damage reduction is actually best calculated by (1-% from item 1) * (1 -% from item 2) * (1- % from item 3) etc. While it helps a ton, it doesn't make up for the relatively low vit of ninjas (vit affects damage taken pretty much linearly, so all those big +vit items plds wear end up having a huge effect).

Anyway, there are linkshells that actually use bard/nin for all their HNM tanking (trust me bards can build a huge amount of hate), Dark knights have tanked tiamat (souleater + kraken = one hell of a hate grabber), and other groups that have manaburned HNMs like fafnir ala the nuke -> sleep -> nuke method. It's all about what you're group can support.

The people that advocate pld/nin also say it's more difficult than pld/war or nin/war for the group to support (need lots of thf and /thf).

[Murphie]

Re: Question about endgame demand for jobs

Having never experienced endgame (but having done 65 levels on PLD) I'm intrigued. How does PLD/NIN work in a situation like that? I mean, how does it grab and hold hate, I guess.

EDIT: NVM. I just read the rest of your post. That's what I get for hitting reply too soon!

So essentially THF and /THF players SATA the PLD/NIN to keep them in the hate, and I assume they just trade off between multiple tanks?

[tordall]

Re: Question about endgame demand for jobs

Pld/nin gets used a couple of ways. The most standard way is that they build some hate themselves via flash, and cures, but the alliance also supports them via TA+weaponskill.

Another very good use of Pld/nin is as a 'support tank.' This takes advantage of the paladin ability cover in order to allow the main tank to maintain more hate. Often this is done to help someone like a nin/war, pld/war, or bard/nin to maintain hate since while they are being covered they loose only a minimal amount of hate. Often alliances using pld/nin for this have 2 pld/nin to support either a pld/war, brd/nin, blm/nin, or whatever.

For the record in end-game a lot of the race + job combos that are bad for xp can be made to work well (if not better than) the traditional race + job combos due to the potency of end-game gear. E.g. Glaka bards have the most mp in end-game due to their RSE items, and Elvaan blms tend to be the leaders of the blm party since they live through pulling hate & aoe spam (and unweakened blm > weakened blm), etc.