Is it all really worth it?

[AtraposBLM]

I had a group today that really threw my understanding of the gears in this game out of whack. First off, the rundown:

1 pld/war
1 whm/brd
1 rdm/blm
3x blm/whm (68/34, 66/32 (me), 66/33)
We pulled darters in the Boyahda Tree, got Chain #5 every time (could've attempted 6 but paladin was too low on mp), and averaged 4,500 exp per hour (with 2 escapes, 1 for too many links and 1 for aquarious).

The thing that threw me was the setup of each blm. As follows:
The 68/34 blm had what to me seemed like pretty shitty gear. He didn't have a black cloak yet, nor did he have any staves, torques, or otherwise. He had slightly more +int than I did (wore mythic wand and astral aspis), but he only used melon pie.
The 66/32 (me) blm had what I consider fairly good gear. While casting nukes, I have +23 int (74+23), and I have ice and dark staves, but no torques.
Here comes the kicker. The other lv66 had:
Vermillion Cloak
Full AF
Shaman's Cloak
Phantom Tathlum
Arachne Obi+1
Eremite Rings+1
Pluto's Staff
ALL ELEMENTAL STAVES (only HQ one was dark staff)
Serket Ring
Astral Ring
Elemental, Dark, and Enfeebling Torques

Now, from what I noticed, the damage output was as follows, from highest to lowest:
Uber blm > Me > lv68 blm
However, by the end of chain 5, I had about 200 mp left, the uber blm had about 240 mp left, and the 68 had about 150 mp left. So we weren't exactly *squeezing* out the chain 5's.

So my question is...why bother? The lv68 with poor gear was able to contribute just as much (maybe not as much based purely on the numbers, but in terms of how much exp/hour we gained) as the lv66 with ridiculous gear. Yeah, it was sweet seeing the uber blm hit a 601 damage thunder III (mine is 550-560), and it was ridiculous how he could pull hate off who I consider the best pld on midgardsormr in my level range (Helpme, no offense to the others...I've pulled aggro off helpme exactly twice...and neither was particularly easy. No other paladin makes me work for my aggro ) without trying much, but I didn't feel like if we replaced him with a different blm anything would've changed.

So wtf? Why should I bother spending hours of my time getting gil for this crap instead of just leveling to 75? I don't get it. It certainly hasn't helped me get any invites, as today I got more invites than I've gotten in the past week (4) and I had exactly zero in my search comment. Not even a TNL announcement. Meanwhile, since buying my dark staff, I had Apple Pie +1, Dark Staff, Ice Staff, and Sleepga II (all auto-translated) all in my comment, as well as my current exp (as in @20,000/34,000) and an obligatory JP/EN oK^^ as well. I didn't notice anything significant about the invite differences.

Maybe somehow word spread that I'm a good blm. Somehow I doubt it. Somehow, I find it hard to believe that doing what a blm does is so hard that finding someone who isn't an idiot is so difficult that I stand out that much. Maybe I'm just that wrong...


Anyways, I'll continue to farm my ass off and get all this crap, if only for the fact that I don't want to stand out as a BAD blm. That, and if melee's are forced to do all that crap for their gear...its only fair that I show the same dedication.

[Taga]

skill > equipment imo... really the only reason I have top notch equip is because all my HNM money has to go somewhere... I think I farmed maybe once or twice in all of my playtime and that's when I needed a spell.

[evilution]

I've found the only thing you can really do to improve your group invites at high levels is to be japanese.

=(

[Netrus]

speaking of gear. i am a 33 blm as of now i was wondering what all gear should i get to last me until lets say 50ish..because i need to catch up to my LS.

Gear Now:
2 Eremites Rings
Chestnut Wand
Ryl. footman tunic. lvl 10 (higher blm sed he had no need to change until lvl 40)
Light Solea
Black Slacks
Black Silk Neckerchief

There are a few i didnt mention for i know i dont need one thing i have, and i am at school so a couple of things i cannot think of off the top of my head.
I have no earrings tho. i also know about the morion tathlum which i would like to get eventually once i find someone to help me hunt the NM that has it.

Any reply would be appreciated

[Toede]

OK, now compare the group you had, but where all 3 of you BLMs had the uber equipment.
Now your looking at more damage per spell(so less casting needed, so more MP at the end of the battle for more chains) It probably makes your EXP per hour jump over 5K. Its all about efficiency at that level(specially when it takes a SHITLOAD to gain a level)

Yes you could go with subpar equipment and still hit 75, but think over the many days you put in leveling, if you lose 500 EXP an hour due to your equipment, that adds up over the days(4 hours a day leveling, meaning your missing out on 2K exp, times 5 days thats 10K EXP in one week you could have had if your whole party had uber gear) Thats how i look at it, could be wrong though =)

[Nodoka]

Very interesting points. Perhaps I wont turn down invites as much for my uber gear.. then again I'm a hume so I'm naturally a gimp. But the thing is Im going to be in a static party. o.x;

[AtraposBLM]

I don't know...it's just really frustrating thinking that I spent 1.3 million on my 2 staves thinking it would make a difference...and the other blm spent countless millions getting his gear...and we weren't any more effective than the blm who spent almost nothing.

Maybe had all 3 of us had the ridiculous set of gear, but as I said, we were all probably able to go for a chain 6 attempt (with a little adjustment to the nuking so we'd each have ~300 mp for the last fight), but the pld had no mp left, so to be honest I don't really see how being MORE efficient would've helped. Getting consistent chain 5's means that you're doing SOMETHING right, so maybe instead of 4.5k/hour we would've gotten 5k/hour, but to be honest, even losing 10k exp/week, I'd rather spend 2.25 more hours leveling than 100+ hours farming for that amount of gil....

[evilution]

up to you.

I pride myself on my gear tho. It may not get me more group invites but I know that with the millions i have spent on items I am being the best BLM i can be

[Icemage]

Honestly speaking, most pieces of gear are notoriously overrated. With the exception of a handful of really stand-out pieces for each job, a lot of stuff just makes the numbers bigger/smaller without really impacting how much you contribute to an XP party.

Good game play and communication >> gear >> race

Most mediocre players aren't mediocre because of their gear, but rather due to ineffecient playing style.


Icemage

[Crowzukin]

I think that some pieces of equipment (e.g. Ice/Dark Staves) can make all the difference, while others are totally overrated and not worth the gil (e.g. Phantom Earring +1). It's all about weighing the cost and benefit of each piece of "uber" gear your have your eye on and deciding what will give you the most benefit for the least amount of money, and buying them first. Buy the rest if you are bored and have cash burning a hole in your pocket.

But like the above poster said, you can be a skilled player with all shitty gear and still be better than a shitty player with teh ub4r l337 gear.

[Akeda]

I don't think she/he was looking for "skill > gear" responses. It's a very good point. It's posts like these that makes me wish INT had more weight on spell resistance. I'm a taru, have both staves, zircon rings and I run by and /check a level 63 elvaan blm who is fucking wearing some wand and 2x eremite rings and black earrings. What. Please make int/elemental skill have more of an impact on damage and resists.

[AtraposBLM]

funny how everyone immediately assumes I'm an idiot ; ;

Anyways, the entire point was grasped mostly by the above poster. I have weighed and balanced out all the various purchases I've made, and carefully chose what I would spend a lot of gil on. Rather than phantom/morion earrings, I have moldavite/enhancing. Rather than 2 zircons, I switch between 2 electrums and 2 eremites. I have a black cape +1, merc captains belt, morion tathlum, full af, black silk neckerchief, Dark Staff and Ice Staff.

Yes, my staves IN MY HEAD made a big difference, but compared side to side to another blm...they didn't really seem to make that much of a difference. So what, I did 570 damage when he did 589...I seriously don't understand it.

In addition to that, in that particular party, skill is much less of a factor than in a regular party...as it was simply nuke as much as possible and pray a different blm took hate before you died. Iunno...maybe the difference is more apparent in a regular party...

[shwiggy]

Akeda is asking for MORE racial advantage? =p

It's true...gear means pretty little for a mage as long as you can do your job and keep confidence in your peers. Keeping up with your spells and skills far outweighs any gear that you can get. Though I suppose mages are so rare that even those without subjobs over 30 can get to 70+ without much of a problem ;\

[Akeda]

HAhahaha, You know what? yes, I am. I chose taru because I wanted to be the best black mage I could be. Hume is decent at everything, and can play pretty much any job. Taru's fucking suck at a LOT of things, and if I'm going to be extremely crippled in other jobs, and be confined to a certain few(those of you who say otherwise please shut up, I don't enjoy the pain of playing a bad race/job combo)jobs that I'm supposedly "good" at, I want to be really fucking good.

I -don't- want to see a Hume hitting near as much as me.

I -don't- want to see a hume not getting resisted as much as me.

We chose our race for a reason, be it aesthetic or mechanic, but I think people who stick it out and confine themselves to ONLY mage jobs by picking tarus should at least be rewarded with something besides extra MP.

[Tan'o]

Originally posted by Akeda
We chose our race for a reason, be it aesthetic or mechanic, but I think people who stick it out and confine themselves to ONLY mage jobs by picking tarus should at least be rewarded with something besides extra MP.

No exactly mage job but.....

How bout a PLD with 400 mp. I own all. No on can match my hate holdgin skills