Duoing - BRD/WHM & RAN/NIN questions

[Icemage]

Re: Duoing - BRD/WHM & RAN/NIN questions

I am thinking of buying the game without the third expansion right now.
When my boyfriend gets the game next month (the whole collection with the third expansion releases on 7 Nov ) am i able to install the third expansion with his CD?

Is there some registeration code involved?

Or should i wait for the whole collection to launch next month and buy both of them together?

Wait for the collection. Each of you will need your own copies of the game - not because you need the discs, but because you need to create a PlayOnline account for each player. There are registration codes for the main game as well as for each expansion which "unlock" the content on the servers for you. Without the unique codes to unlock content, installing the expansion content from the disks does nothing for you except let the other person log in from your computer and use that content. You won't be able to use it yourself even though the software is on your system.


Icemage

[AverRal]

Re: Duoing - BRD/WHM & RAN/NIN questions

ok thanks alot guys ~ we will be joining the game very soon.

[Kenki]

Re: Duoing - BRD/WHM & RAN/NIN questions

I believe that Rdm and Nin combo are the best duo/solo/pvp combo. Both jobs are powerful in both offense and defense. Rdm and Thf or Brd and Thf are also very good combinations but I prefer a good balance in attack/defense.

Rdm is powerful in healing, casting enfeeble spells and some powerful elemental spells along with decent melee skills. One of the most... tough to be killed job if played right. A good Rdm is compatible with almost any other job from mages to melees. They are best played with melees as a support/mage and best played as a semi-tank/melee with other mages.

Ninja is a high speed tank with incredible damage dealing capability. With the right setup their damage out put can rival even the best of pure melee power house like Monks and Warriors. Ninjutsu allows them to evade almost all attacks as well as crippling most monsters. In terms of enfeeble spells they can even match Rdm (the best!). Ninjas are excellent soloers with the right equipments and are incredibly powerful when combined with Whm, Rdm or Brd.

You might want to consider Monks if you like doing some incredible hittings. Mnks are very powerful alone. A very good soloer when you sub /nin or /whm. Even though they can't defend themselves as well as ninjas; they can do a lot more damage than ninjas can. Combine a Mnk with Whm or Rdm or even any mage with some healing power, you will have an unstoppable duo combo that will destroy stuff in seconds. In fact Mnks are so powerful on easy preys/too weaks/decent challenges monsters they can wipe out 8~10 easy preys in matter of minutes.

Dragoon is also a very very interesting job. Unlike Ninja or Mnk, this job can solo even Toughs and Very Toughs fast enough to earn exp surrpassing a normal PT. However, they aren't the best support or prime damage dealer most of the time so you might find them unapealling sometimes. Still, if you can play them right you should be able to do some amazing stuff that leave other people's mouth wide open...

Stay away from jobs like Warriors and Rangers. They are incredibly powerful in a PT or Alliances but when you run them as duo/solo they won't be as effective or rather... they are pretty weak in survival games.

[Icemage]

Re: Duoing - BRD/WHM & RAN/NIN questions

I think Bard is a better complement to Ninja in a duo, and it has a lot to do with overlap.

While a RDM has potent healing and enfeebling power and can deal quite good damage on their own, a Bard can deal comparable damage in melee while offering better support magic, since RDM and NIN enfeebling magics overwrite one another (Blind, Slow, Paralyze effects). Bards use a completely different set of enfeebles, particularly Carnage Elegy, which adds huge amounts of delay to enemy attacks. A Bard can also selectively choose to improve any two attributes they choose for the Ninja - Haste, Attack, or Evasion being the most influential.

The drawback to BRD + NIN is obviously that Bards have no inherent healing power, but I think that's greatly offset by the fact that the Ninja will deal with far fewer attacks and generally evade more of them (thus taking less damage).

In cases where a Ninja in a duo is expecting to take damage, then yes, RDM is a better match. But there's a lot of stuff that BRD + NIN can do, and everything that combination does is more efficient than RDM + NIN.


Icemage

[Mini Neruto]

Re: Duoing - BRD/WHM & RAN/NIN questions

I'd like to add a few things.

Bard is always a good addition to any duo because of buffing songs obviously but in a duo, someone has to tank. If that tank is /NIN AND a ranger it might get a little messy. Rangers dont have the best defense to begin with. I believe that BRD/WHM and PLD/? is the best combo. Attack songs and mages ballad for the PLD's mp (and your own). It works very well, fast and efficient.

Have fun and welcome to Vanadiel!

[Kenki]

Re: Duoing - BRD/WHM & RAN/NIN questions

Yeah, brd would be very good if the tank doesn't take a lot of damage. I'm not so sure about the level 2 enfeeble spells that Rdms got would be overwrite or not so I can't really say about that.

The thing about Rdm is that I usually PT with one in doing several stuff. This is a rdm/blm who actually does a bit of everything from enfeeble to magic bursting her getto SC with lv3 elemental spells. Not only she does decent damage on melee but also has good elemental spells - the damage is equivalent to that of a normal 500ish damage WS.

She was incredibly helpful when fighting shadow lord when he resisted melee attacks. Also, when it comes to kiting (not duo/solo obviously) Gravity spell is a great spell to use. We often farm in the upper floor in Castle Oj. healing and silences were incredibly useful when we got a flew blm yagudos on our tail (not count escape when things get hairy).

With Brd... I think Paeon is very very powerful, enough to offset the lack of strong healing spells. I think it's 20~25Hp per tick - close to Regen III of whm. Mambo is better suited for Thf I think because it greatly enhances evasion, bringing thf to almost untouchable. March is as good as Haste and they stack together, however, Haste is slightly stronger since I think you need 2 March songs to provide a boost in speed similar to Haste. Brd lacks the offensive power compares to Rdm, most of the stuff Brd can do is to enhance the melee power of the tank. Also, Brd is more favourable when it comes to more than 2 people since the songs affects all members.

On the pvp note, I believe it'd be better to have a Rdm as support that a Brd. This is b/c it's quite chaos in pvp where everyone runs away when it gets hairy. Rdm i quite powerful in pvp since they can defend themselves as well as supporting other characters. Nins are good too since they can use both spells and melee. Well, almost any job can be very good in pvp if they know what they are doing - even Whm can destroy 3~4 people in a row with a hammer. You wouldn't be getting a lot of 2-on-1 matches; it's more like a tug war and occational 1-on-1. It'd be best to be self-suficient.

[Icemage]

Re: Duoing - BRD/WHM & RAN/NIN questions

Couple of quick corrections:

With capped instrument and singing skills, Army's Paeon V heals 6HP per tick (plus whatever your intrument bonus gives), so you'd get 8HP per tick with a +2 instrument, 15 per tick if you use Paeon IV and V. Not nearly 20-25, but still noticeable.

2xMarch with a +2 Instrument provides slightly more Haste than the Haste spell.

In PvP, I agree RDM is a more self-sufficient job than a BRD, though BRD is invariably useful for the same reason as they are everywhere else; boosts the entire party.


Icemage