Seeking some advice.

[Dyft]

Hey all, I would first like to say "Hello". This is my first post here, however I have been reading the forums here for a while now. I have played FFXI for about a year and a half off and on. I have almost every job 20+ and a good few 30+. The problem is, my highest is 58.

I was thinking about trying out PLD. What I enjoy in a character the most is being a "bada$$" if you will. I want people to say, Man watch out for that guy hes a pimp. I had that feeling on my BLU (58), however its just too time consumeing to me at the moment for all the spell hunting. I only ever took PLD to level 8 initially. I 2box (2nd computer) a WHM/BLM (41 atm).

With all that being said, do you ever get that sense of being feared? I know that they are (debateably) the best tank in the game. So I figured that since most of my higher level jobs were jobs that were mainly support or jack of all trades types, that maybe a job that was "the best" (once again debateably... i really dont want to start any flame wars or whos the better tank wars) at something I might actually stick with.

So i guess in a really long way I wanted to describe the kind of player I am, and see if you all thought that I might like PLD. Also if you had any words of advice for a Level 9 (hopefully 15ish by the time i go to bed tonight) Elvaan PLD.

I apolijise for the wall of text and appreciate any sincere responces.

Thanks

-Dyft

[Callisto]

Re: Seeking some advice.

PLD is one of the better jobs for that, as being the main tank in many situations is sort of the quarterback position of FFXI...that said, as far as people seeing you as 'the man' because you're a good PLD, don't bet on that right away.

First off, everyone and their mother has PLD at 75(same goes for RDM and SAM). 98% of those PLDs have almost the exact same gear setups, though there's sort of tiers to the AH-able sets as an experienced player can distinctly tell if someone is properly mixing and matching their gear. 2% of the PLDs actually have the really nice stuff that makes you double-take when you /check them, though this is not always indicative of their actual tanking ability.

By the time you're 75, it's pretty much guaranteed that whatever linkshell you end up doing endgame with will have at least 4-5 75 PLDs, and most of them will probably be better geared than yours if they've been 75 longer.

If you really want people to 'holy crap' at you, you'd be better off learning the game as a whole, how the mechanics of it work, learning when you should equip accuracy/haste/STR/attack/whatever in different situations, being a better all-around player. Level your subjobs properly, and come to things prepared with food/meds/reraise items. Learn which mobs are weak against which attacks, and what the different attacks are that mobs do so that you know how to fight them. Pay attention to the screen in front of you, follow directions, and hit the buttons you need to press when you need to press them.

As an officer in an endgame shell, when I gauge how 'good' a linkshell member or applicant is, I don't go just off of their gear. I go by if they know how to properly use what gear they already have, if they don't do stupid things like running headfirst into something that kills then in 5 seconds or wasting tons of our healer's MP by taking loads of damage; if they only need to be shown the way around a specific area once or twice before they know how to not get lost every time we go there; if when told to turn around and not hit something they actually do what they are told.

[Ellipses]

Re: Seeking some advice.

Bless your little heart, that's not a wall of text! There are paragraphs!

A lot of my time in this game has been spent on support jobs. As a healer, a good Paladin is one of my favorite sorts of players. I can think of several simple experiences with Paladins where I've walked away impressed.

Though that's also true of Thieves, Samurais, Dragoons, Ninjas, and White and Blue Mages. Not that other jobs aren't impressive. It's just that those are the ones I've seen being played in the right circumstances* by impressive players.

And that's the thing. For me, at least, it doesn't matter what job you're on. Whether I'm impressed or not depends entirely on how you play.

*A 75 anything making mincemeat of something they can obviously make mincemeat of does not make an impression.

[Mezlo]

Re: Seeking some advice.

I'll say this, a PLD that can keep hate in any circumstance pre TP burn parties is considered a badass, and gets mad respect from all party members...

[Callisto]

Re: Seeking some advice.

I'll say this, a PLD that can keep hate in any circumstance pre TP burn parties is considered a badass, and gets mad respect from all party members...

Hah, maybe I'm just a pessimist, but when leveling PLD the parties where I had perfectly cemented hate 100% of the time with the mob never turning from me I usually chalked up to mediocre DDs rather than me being an awesome tank.

[Durahansolo]

Re: Seeking some advice.

So i guess in a really long way I wanted to describe the kind of player I am, and see if you all thought that I might like PLD.

Its not if we think you'll like PLD, its if you think you'll like PLD. I think PLD is the kind of tank I'd like to have in most situations. Any tank requires a special type of person to play the job, IMO any tank has to be someone serious about the job and williness to die for the idiocrity of others to save all. I'm not saying that certain player are idiots, but in this game anything can happen. I'm a PLD at heart and mind but my job will always most likely be a Warrior Tank lol. If the tank is not doing a good job and the mob is trying to kill the party and we are 'gunna die', you better bet your behind that I'll try my best to pull all the hate and save at least one person. (The scary thing is I play like that on almost any job I sub Warrior on.)

I was in a party once in the dunes and yeah that was the main reason why this happened. PLD in the party was new to the job and was just learning, mind you he was level 10ish and I ended up partying with him like 2 days in a row in the dunes lmao. He was doing OK but he would not heal himself to save his life, and when I said "Dude you might want to heal yourself so the WHM doesn't waste MP." he replied "I got a PL on the way." Well that was fine and good but there was no PL around at that moment. 3 mins later the WHM said something to him and he said the same thing. 2 mins later WHM started running out of MP and what happened:

*PLD starts casting cure*
*PLD was defeated by the Lizard*

The biggest thing is just like Ellipses said, certain jobs can amaze you at one time in a specific set of circumstances where in different circumstances that same job will not. BLU amazed me alot around 30ish, but it really amazed me at 42 when I pulled out the parser and started realizing how much damage I was raking in on the mobs. RNG impressed me when I saw it doing 1000-1200 each WS to Imps lol. It all boils down to what you want to do and what type of job you play whether it be DD/Healer/Tank/Hybrid as long as you do your job as best as you can you'll turn heads.

On a sidenote, I miss WAR/MNK maybe I'll do something crazy one day and go grab a Merit Level Sync Party as WAR/MNK or WAR/DNC. I wish DNC had been out back when I was originally leveling warrior lol.

[Szkol]

Re: Seeking some advice.

I'm not anywhere near endgame, so I can't speak to you in that context, but I think in general, playing a DD job and throwing down some big spike damage is a generally crowd-pleasing way to go.

That said, I think if you're looking to impress in a more practical way, especially as a Tank, keep hate, don't waste your healer's MP, and add a little DoT if you can.

If you want to impress in a practical way that still gets you a lot of attention you can try a DD job that throws out big numbers, but be smart about it- you can put out big impressive numbers and not steal hate.

The last thing is to experiment. I don't know PLD at all so I'm not sure how plausible this is, but I'm working on a NIN build that adds a lot of DD- my hope being that I can both DD and tank, and possibly remove WAR as the subjob in favor of something that adds evasion/parry stats. I have no idea if it will work, but you never know until you try.

[Solymir]

Re: Seeking some advice.

I love the Paladin job, and I loved having the mobs attention all the time. I just never get the sense of being a badass while I'm playing it. I feel that more when I am playing Warrior. The two jobs that I think would give you that feeling above Warrior are Dark Knight and Samurai. Of those two I would guess the Dark Knight would be less time consuming as far as getting the gear and spells you need, but I'm not 100% sure on that.

[Dyft]

Re: Seeking some advice.

First off, I would like to thank you all for your very valid and appreciated responses. I have always worked very hard to try and know everything about what I am fighting. Ive always done my best to do skill chains and MBing, as well as to not mess those up when I'm not a part of it. (i.e. when I'm on my Blu and i SC myself or when my weapon doesn't play in the needed SCs.)

Also, to clarify, I don't feel you have to be putting out huge numbers to feel like a "badass" either. I never feel like one when im playing a glass cannon style class. I like to be the guy that is left standing after a huge battle when corpses litter the battlefield.

In actuality, I have always played a Shadow Knight style class. So when I first started the game I was instantly drawn to Dark Knight.... That was until I found out they couldn't take hits. See I've always seen a "Dark Knight" if you will as an evil Paladin. (i.e. Tanks the same only dark and evil looking in comparison, swap heals for life taps that are essentially the same effectiveness, buffs for absorbs, ect)

Anyhow, I would like to thank you all again for your advice and help. I will continue to check back and try to give you all a couple updates on my thoughts.

-Dyft

[Durahansolo]

Re: Seeking some advice.

I never feel like one when im playing a glass cannon style class. I like to be the guy that is left standing after a huge battle when corpses litter the battlefield.

That quote reminded me of this. One of our ls leaders posted this on the linkshell message board. Made me lol when i saw it. I told him not to edit his pictures in MS Paint anymore.

[Yellow Mage]

Re: Seeking some advice.

As I have said before: Summoners are not glass cannons, they are glass next to cannons. But still . . . hot dang (incredibly lame pun entirely intended). That's the power of level 70 Pacts for you, though.

To the OP, if you're concerned about taking hits, just go NIN or /NIN. It's what everybody else does . . .

[Ameroth]

Re: Seeking some advice.

What I enjoy in a character the most is being a "bada$$" if you will. I want people to say, Man watch out for that guy hes a pimp. I had that feeling on my BLU (58), however its just too time consumeing to me at the moment for all the spell hunting.

Well you can't claim to want "badass" status but not be willing to put in the time/effort that's required. A 75BLU can be just as BA as a lot of other jobs can be. I'd recommend continuing on your BLU path and not giving up yet.

Also, this is FFXI. You're not going to find a job that's got a 1UP on any other job all of the time. The devs do a remarkable job (in most cases) making sure the game is as balanced as possible. No one job is ever going to be invincible (at least not for more than 30s).

[Susurrus]

Re: Seeking some advice.

I know I felt pretty good playing Paladin several times. All the way till colibris I had no problem holding hate. As a Taru, I kept having Warriors trying to grab hate off of me during Valkurm, Qufim, and even Yuhtunga/Yhoator (anyone else find this ironic?), and the enemy wouldn't budge, or if it did, I got hate back quick. Even had parties where a THF wouldn't even bother SATAing me, and would SATA the other dude since I held hate well enough.

I haven't tried endgame yet with PLD, but I have seen a couple PLDs impress me. One example: (At the time at least,) Everyone kept saying "only NIN can tank CoP 6-4 Omega/Ultima fight", yet this guy managed to pull it off. Granted, he used a lot of items, but he held down hate, and (mostly) stayed alive. Really the only time he died was when we were wiping anyway, and also near the very end. But we won thanks to him tanking as well has he did.

[Tipsy]

Re: Seeking some advice.

I'm a Ballista whore.

The only way to be "feared," is not depended on by your job.

I know what you want, and everyone thinks the same way.

It is called an ego.

An "epeen," if you will.

And mine is bigger than yours

Anyway, if you want a reputation, to be "feared," or whatever, I'm sorry but, you don't just get it through your job.

I've seen BRDs destroy PLDs, in PvP.

And if you want to be "the last man standing," you're gonna have to be a wuss.
You're gonna have to hide and suck your thumb cause the monsters in this game are just too powerful.

Play BST if you want to do things other jobs can't.

It's not just going to be your job that'll make you what you want to be.

It takes TIME.
It takes skill.
And equipment (mostly).
And dedication.
Then it's job.
And situation.
Timing (skill).

Just think out side of the box.
Know your game, know how it works, know weaknesses, debuffs, ele wheels, skillchain charts, etc. Know how to time things right, know what to wear. Have equipment for every situation.

Don't just be ohswordandshield kind of player. Do your own thing.

And sorry, no one will "fear," you. This is a video game, they'll just think you have no life.
And that means they'll avoid you in combat, leaving you bored out of your mind.


But I supposed some jobs have advantages when it comes to PvP, and through the years, I can tell you those jobs are most likely:

SAM - Weaponskill spam, obviously. As well, the added affects from them are killer. High defense, good eva, third eye, just really good at killing.
MNK - HP, VIT, Speed, and over all damage. Alot of people likely won't pick you from a group of people to go after, simply because it'll take too long to take you out, if they could.
BLM - ES Sleepga II / Thundaga III / Sleepga / Blizzaga III <_< kill 6 people at once.
THF - Evasion..., it's ridiculous how hard it can be to hit a well equipped THF. Throw on a Ridill, max out EVA / Haste and.. wow.
NIN - Speed and evasion, shadows, and debuffs. Reeally really good at one on ones, or more
BLU - Disseverment. That's all there's to say. Disseverment. 600-800 damage plus a poison that ticks 20? health each time.


In no specific order, and talking mostly in PvP.

I left out a lot of jobs like, RDM.. <_< I just didn't feel like typing any more.

So, I hope I helped.

Good luck on your epeenquest >_> we've all been there.


EDIT: And oh, something I found that could satisfy your ego (besides trying to nitpick everyjob and figure out what you want) is to just level Dark Knight to 75.
Really, in my opinion they are the coolest looking job in the entire game, hands down.
Buy the lv71 JSE for DRK, hell, even the AF looks cool. The relic is even cooler.

And I'll leave you with this:
You don't know a job unless you've played it end game. And even then, there's so much to know, leveling to 30 or to 60, you don't know crap about it. Honestly, you don't. Elemental wheels, SC charts, are just common sense. There's formulas and calculations, and things so far outside the box alot of people don't even realize it after years of playing.

So what I recommend to you (from experience), is to pick a job you're comfortable playing, pick a job you won't get bored of looking at, pick a job that's diverse and can adapt to any situation. Pick any job you like, 'cause- not to be mean-, but there's always someone out there who plays it better. Maybe not skill wise, but in this game, equipment really can be everything. It's make or break, and some people have been playing this game so long it'll take you years to catch up.

It's not impossible, but it's a commitment.

[Durahansolo]

Re: Seeking some advice.

And if you want to be "the last man standing," you're gonna have to be a wuss.
You're gonna have to hide and suck your thumb cause the monsters in this game are just too powerful.

Especially if you are the tank, chances of being the last man standing are pretty low.

EDIT: After rereading I realized he was talking about PVP but IDK too many people that do PVP in this game anymore, and on a sidenote I haven't done it before.

And sorry, no one will "fear," you. This is a video game, they'll just think you have no life.
And that means they'll avoid you in combat, leaving you bored out of your mind.

I don't think he ment fear as in "ZOMG HERE COMES THAT DUDE RUN"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I think he meant Ph33r as in "ZOMG THAT DUDE IS SO ELITE LOOK AT HEZ GEARZ."

SAM - Weaponskill spam, obviously. As well, the added affects from them are killer. High defense, good eva, third eye, just really good at killing.

Missed Seigan and Hasso. Seigan makes Third Eye more powerful and able to "anticipate" more than one hit, and sometimes counter hits. Sometimes it works great (I dodged like 6-8 hits once with one third eye.) other times it doesn't work as well (Dodges 1-2 hits.). Hasso adds STR dependent on your level as well as 10% Haste and 10 Accuracy. Hasso and Seigan cannot be up at the same time and will cancel each other out. Meditate = 100TP in a few seconds.

BLM - ES Sleepga II / Thundaga III / Sleepga / Blizzaga III <_< kill 6 people at once.

Because some of the mobs in Aht Urgan areas are able to reflect magic BLMs kinda disappear between 50-60ish and solo or duo/trio with other BLMs. I partied with a BLM in a merit party one day and that was the first one I had partied with since around 55.

EDIT: And oh, something I found that could satisfy your ego (besides trying to nitpick everyjob and figure out what you want) is to just level Dark Knight to 75.
Really, in my opinion they are the coolest looking job in the entire game, hands down.
Buy the lv71 JSE for DRK, hell, even the AF looks cool. The relic is even cooler.

IDK PLD with Aegis screams "My Hero, Please Protect Me!." Also my 75WAR carrying a Foolkiller would probably disagree with you and somebody else will disagree with me, but that's just how we all feel about our characters. Not because Foolkiller is a good weapon, but it has one of the coolest gear names ever lol. If gear/looks were the only thing that turned heads, I had my head turned when I saw a Taru with the WHM Hauberk on. I thought he was a Warrior with a Haubergeon on until I checked him a second time.

Elemental wheels, SC charts, are just common sense. There's formulas and calculations, and things so far outside the box alot of people don't even realize it after years of playing.

The dreaded Elemental Wheel, I'm sure there are plenty of NINs that went to 75 without it. Most just carry maybe 2-3 tools, utsu, tonko, mono, and maybe 2-3 spells. Does that make them better NINs than those that use the wheel? Most likely not. There are programs out there that can tell you the skillchain between whatever weapons you are using which may or may not be easier than following a SC chart.