Int question

[Beav]

I read somwhere that all int does is add around 1 pt of damage per int point. If thats true then whats the point? I have around 22 int at level 11 and can spend a bit of cash to bump that up but Im not sure if its worth it.

[AtraposBLM]

at lower levels (pre-51), int is definately worth it. It's pretty much the only thing you can do to improve your performance. At lv51+, you have other things to worry about (elemental staves), so you can afford to look over SOME +int gear. That doesn't mean you get to get rid of all your +int, it just means you have to pick and choose so that you don't spend 300k getting +2. Certain things like Morion Earrings, Zircon Rings, etc. pale in comparison to having an ice staff and dark staff...but that doesn't mean +int is worthless. It just means less than +10 elemental magic skill or +10 mp recovered while healing.

For taru's, I'd say a safe number of +int to hover around is +20-+25. For non-taru's, I'd say push that up to +30 or so. With food, I usually have about +23 int without my mythic wand, +27 with. In a few levels I get to wear errant gear...so that number might jump a bit.

[Netrus]

so should i keep my eremites til 75?...or what cuz i mean i am lvl 42 now and im wearin a lvl 10 tunic. cuz i think the next one is 1 extra INT...kinda hoping to wait on somehtin else with a little more. and i got a lvl 32 wand (name isnt coming to me atm), but its like +4 INT, if im right. and i got a black cape and black silk neckerchief...anything you recommend me changing altraposBLM?
that would actually be worth changing to. i guess i could get another tunic, but help would be nice to get so i know what to change or keep

[Tokitoki]

Ever notice how this board is overrun by Tarus

Anyway... Im Elv and im gonna fool around with BLM a lil after i take my THF to 60 because i need WHM sub to farm for Astrals at Oztroja. I was thinking of buying astarls first to get a good amount of MP and get other MP+ things because of our lack of MP period.

The problem is that i wouldnt have ring spots to upgrade my INT which also isnt extremly high. And this is low levels keep in mind please.

Rings: Astrals
Earrings: Onyx +1s

So i was wondering if i should focus more on MP or INT, or maybe i could get away with the +MP stuff in the Earring and Ring spots cause there are enough other armor/weapons that give +INT?

[AtraposBLM]

Originally posted by Tokitoki
Ever notice how this board is overrun by Tarus

Anyway... Im Elv and im gonna fool around with BLM a lil after i take my THF to 60 because i need WHM sub to farm for Astrals at Oztroja. I was thinking of buying astarls first to get a good amount of MP and get other MP+ things because of our lack of MP period.

The problem is that i wouldnt have ring spots to upgrade my INT which also isnt extremly high. And this is low levels keep in mind please.

Rings: Astrals
Earrings: Onyx +1s

So i was wondering if i should focus more on MP or INT, or maybe i could get away with the +MP stuff in the Earring and Ring spots cause there are enough other armor/weapons that give +INT?

There's another thread devoted to this particular discussion. It's entitled something along the lines of Elvaan BLM : INT>MP or INT<MP. Read that for some good advice.

Netrus -
At lv42, you should have the following or better:
Club: the lv32 +4 int club (Chestnut Wand) or HQ (forget name) +5 int wand
Body: Combat Caster Cloak
Back: Black Cape +1
Waist: Mercenary Captain's Belt
Pants: Anything
Shoes: Anything
Rings: 2 eremite rings, and 2 electrum rings (switch to the electrums any time you have max mp, then switch back to the eremites when the 40 mp is gone)
earrings: enhancing earring and anything (ideally 2 morions, but they're generally not worth it)
ranged: Morion Tathlum
Neck: Black Silk Neckerchief (keep this until lv65 and Elemental Torque)


People seem to be misreading what I say - I'm not saying that because there's more important stuff that you should slack on your gear. I'm saying that once you've reached a certain level of +int, adding any more is stupid...UNTIL YOU'VE GOTTEN ALL THE STAVES. Once you have all the staves, you continue maxing out your int.

The way I think about it is the following. Say you have 2 black mages. Both have made about ~1 million gil in addition to the money they've spent on their spells. Both use Black Silk Neckerchief. Assuming midgardsormr prices, taru A picks the following gear load out at lv60:
Full AF
2 eremite rings, 2 electrum rings, 1 morion tathlum, 1 enhancing earring, 1 moldavite earring, black cape +1, mercenary captain's belt. Total Cost: ~115k
Ice Staff, and Dark staff. Total Cost: ~900k
Total Bill: 1,015,000 gil

Taru B picks the following:
Full AF
2 zircon rings, 2 astral rings, 1 morion tathlum, 2 morion earrings, red cape +1, merc.capt.belt. Mythic wand (useable at 60? dont remember) Total Cost: ~1,000,000 gil.
No staves, so that's the total cost of everything.

Which taru is better? Clearly, the first taru is a superior black mage. I'll provide some stat differences:
Total +int for Taru A: +18
Total +mp for Taru A: +40

Total +int for Taru B: +25
Total +mp for Taru B: +50

However, Taru A will land every spell against the torama in Onzozo. Taru B will get at least a partial resist on every spell (meaning -20 or so damage off max). The difference in damage between spells will be (on max on exp mobs) from what I noticed, assuming both use food (so +22 int vs +29, even though the difference is the same, the damage difference is less), will be 10-30 points in favor of Taru A. I know from experience - Taru A's gear setup is nearly identical to what mine was at lv60, and I partied with a few blm's with a setup similiar to Taru B.

Ideally, you'd mix both. However, the entire point of what I've been saying is that on your way to getting the more important items, it's ok to skimp on the less important ones in order to get the more important ones faster. If given the choice between: I can get an ice staff in 2-3 weeks if I save for it and I can get an ice staff 2-3 weeks after I farm back all the gil for my int gear...which doesn't help much...and costs the same...I'll take the first.

And if you look at the prices, I'm actually not skimping on gear, I'm in fact spending MORE than a similiar black mage. I just choose better things to spend my gil on than 5-15 points of max damage.

[Tsama]

Hmm... I might be wrong here. I think I am not though, but it is also what controls you being resisted. So if you have 40 int over 22 int the person with the extra 18 has a lower chance of being resisted.

The staves are good because they increase your elemental skill which ups, your damage. Not your chance of being resisted. So taru B would have a better chance of not being resisted. While Taru A might hit harder. Taru B is hitting more often for full damage. While Taru B is hitting for more but less often for full damage.

Hmm.... I think I really need to read up. Because if I remember correctly. It's int over mobs mnd. I could be wrong about this though.

Damn I have to go check something brb.

Oh and for the dude that asked the question about his lvl 40 gear. Blm's along with Whm's are given leway to slack on there gear, as long as it isn't to much. Now at 40 and your still using your lvl 10 tunic is kind of bad. True blm's aren't suppose to get hit, but shit happens. You are definately making it easier for you to go down when you get hit.

I personally believe blm's and whm's don't have to change there gear ever 4-5 lvls like melees but should do it atleast ever 10-15.

Now int is a great thing to work on, along with mp. But since you are elvaan you have shits for both of those. Grab something to help out one of the 2. Spend EF points to get equipment.

[AtraposBLM]

Int has little or no effect on the amount of resists you get. The amount it helps also decreases the more int you add. Elemental magic skill is a much larger factor in determining whether your spells land fully or get resisted.

[Tsama]

hmm... That is really interesting. So if int isn't for resists. It is only there to increase the amount of damage.

Hmm...

[Erasmus]

Yes but before you reach the 50's, its impossible as far as i know to artificially raise your elemental skill as a blm. So before the 50's your focus should be as much int as you can possibly get.

From 51-70 or so, resists become hell. you need to focus on as much elemental skill as possible in order to be effective.With my ice staff and AF gloves i maybe get resisted 5-10% of the time on ~200 xp IT mobs when XPing.

After 70, you no longer level on ITs, so resists arent as much of a problem. You can now go all out INT again and do some crazy dmg At least I hope. After 70, you will want all the elemental staves to increase your dmg 10% for that spell. Which is more than any +int wand will ever increase it. Plus that will stack on top of the +int bonus, whereas int has a diminished affect the more you have. *** this paragraph is based on info from some 70+ JP and NA blms i know, and it makes sense to me. This is not from personal experience.