Square One (ish)

[Murphie]

Ok, so imagine, just for a moment, that you're a 75 RDM with virtually no gear at all. You have your AF, and you have all eight NQ staves. But that's it. You don't have any DM rewards, or CoP rewards, or ToAU rewards. You are a Private Second Class, with only a couple of Assaults (and only one successful) under your belt. You don't have any Imperial Standing credits to spend.

You have about 1.5-2Million-ish gil. You can make more, but not quickly.*

What gear would you buy that would allow you to Merit, do things like Dynamis, uncapped Missions, and other assorted level 75 activities without being completely embarrassed by your gear. So I'm not talking about Hedgehog Bombs, or HQ Staves, or anything like that. Gear that will allow you to perform all the functions of your job, without blowing all of your gil on one big-ticket item?

Ideally I'm looking for what you'd get for every slot. Keeping in mind that staves are covered, and body/head are partially covered (AF Feet/Legs/Hands aren't really too useful for the activities mentioned above).

Keep in mind that you're a Taru. A particularly clever and dashing Taru, but still, Taru. So gear that speaks to playing as an Elvaan/Hume/Mithra/Galka won't do you much good.

So again, here is where you stand:

Main: NQ Elemental Staves
Sub: n/a when using staves
Range:
Ammo:
Head: AF Hat
Neck:
Ear1:
Ear2:
Body: AF Body
Hands:
Ring1:
Ring2:
Back:
Waist:
Legs:
Feet:

Tell me, fellow Red Mages, what would you get that would enable you to get back into the swing of things?

*Unless maybe you get lucky and find a chance to burn through those 600+ Beastmen's Seals you have. But that would require finding two trustworthy friends who have the time and inclination to run some BCNMs with you.

[MrMageo]

Re: Square One (ish)

Ammo: Phantom Thatlum
Neck: Spider Torque
Ear 1: Geist Earring
Ear 2: Harvest Earring
Hands: Zealot Mitts (MND), Errant Cuffs (INT)
Ring: Hale Ring
Ring: Zicron (INT), Aquamarine (MND)
Back: Red Cape +1
Waist: Reverend Sash
Legs: Errant Slops
Feet: Erran Pichages

If any money left over Id begin buying HQ staves, any money made from BCNM's would be put to this as well
Pluto>Aquilo>Auster>Jupiter> rest any order.

[Murphie]

Re: Square One (ish)

To clarify. I'm looking to be frugal. Not gimp.

HQ staves are probably the last thing I'll spend my gil on.

Still, thanks for your input. I'm interested in everyone's suggestions here.

[MrMageo]

Re: Square One (ish)

NP, errant is a good way to go for the MND boost i really dont think there is anything else we can use that will boost it as much. Since thats our primary draw back as a taru RDM i focused more on the MND set of things. This will help you get your spells full effects.

Also if this is for you and not just as a random topic, Id look into an enfeebling tourque I got mine for 600K a long time ago, funded through the sale of 3 spider tourqes so if your feeling lucky id recomend hunting dune widow. Spider Tourque is a nice bonus, and can save you a chunk of gil for +5 enfeebling skill.

DW is located @ G-8 of eastern altepa desert and is a lotto spawn of the giant spiders in the area. You will know your in the right spot if you see a corpion and a couple worms next to a sand pit. Its on a 4 hour timer, easily soloed (via melee) by a 75 RDM.

[Murphie]

Re: Square One (ish)

I know where she is. That's not a problem.

I used to have all the gear I needed. But I gave it and all of my gil/seals/IS/CP/etc. away. No sense in crying over it now though.

The problem is that I'm a bit blind when it comes to useful gear that is not all-HQ. I tend to go for the best always, so I'm curious what other RDMs think would be the best way to be at the peak of my usefulness while not buying all HQ or rare/hard to get items.

[ItazuraNhomango]

Re: Square One (ish)

Well, I had (have) cheeapish gear, but I like to think I've been effective in Dynamis, Sky, Sea/Limbus, Merit parties and such.

Main: NQ Elemental Staves, [some HQ staves]
Sub: Bugard Leather Strap +1
Range: <none>
Ammo: Phantom Tathlum
Head: AF Hat, [Elite Barret]
Neck: Spider Torque, Elemental Torque, [Dark Torque]
Ear: Antivenom, Insomnia Earrings, Moldavite earrings
Body: AF Body, Errant body
Hands: Errant hands, Devotee's Mitts (replaced by Yigit later), [Yigit hands] , [Mst.Cst. Braclets]
Rings: Hale, Diamond, Serenity, Ether, Electrum Ring
Back: Rainbow Cape, [Intensifying Cape]
Waist: Penitent's Rope, Hierarch Belt
Legs: Mithra RSE (for MP), AF legs (for bar spells), Errant legs (for everything else).
Feet: Mithra RSE (MP, MND, INT)

Obviously the Mithra RSEs won't apply to you, but I thought I list what I use the slots for. Things in square brackets are the items I added to improve my performance, but I felt I was able to do what was expected of me without them--just that I wanted to do a better job.

The biggest category I'm lacking in is enough enfeebling gears to land enfeebs on major critters, but those gears are mostly from endgame, for which there is a long line. Things I can possibly get from AH with major farming won't make enough of a difference (yet) to be worthwhile. Since you don't seem to be too interested in heavy endgame, I'd say you can just grab a Spider Torque and call it good enough, and maybe an Elite Barret if you're a tad on the obsessive side.

The other major weakness is in my hMP set; I have an Yigit head which I should incorporate, and really should consider other slots like legs, neck, and ear. Maybe even up/downgrade the waist to a Qiqirn Sash +1. Of course, this is only critical useful for reducing down time between nuke-kiting sessions, like when farming Diorites.

So, hMp shouldn't be as much of a problem for what you want to do; your Convert as a Tarutaru can easily shame mine on comparable MP gear anyway.

Once you're back on your feet, you may feel inclined to work on some of the items I listed in square brackets, or the critical HQ staves: Wind, Dark, Ice.

[Akashimo]

Re: Square One (ish)

Main: NQ Elemental Staves#
Sub: Bugard Stap + 1#
Range:
Ammo:Morion Tathlum#(to be cheap or if you can phatom)
Head: AF Hat
Neck: Spider Torque or Enlightened Chain or Holy Phial# (Elemental Torque# for nuking)
Ear1: Moldy#
Ear2: Morin#/Phantom Earring
Body: AF Body/Errant Houppelande#(nukes, aspir, cures, SS)
Hands: Errant Cuffs(if you have relic, relic then*holds onto Duelist's Gloves# tightly*)
Ring1: Sapphire Ring (my case, nq lvl54 mnd)
Ring2: Diamond Ring (my case, hq lvl 36 int v.v )
Back: Rainbow Cape#
Waist: Al Zhabi Sash#
Legs: Errant slops# (or for stoneskin/phalanx/II af legs, and for nukes, relic#)
Feet: Errant Pigaches# (same deal with hands)

# = what I currently have /cry.

[Murphie]

Re: Square One (ish)

Thanks for all of the suggestions so far. I asked on LJ, and the responses so far have ranged from "Start by getting all HQ staves" (when I don't have any other gear at all?) to "Buy Jet Seraweels, and full Mahatma."

I guess I'm not the only one who has trouble finding the balance between economy and efficiency.

edit: Oh wait, someone just suggested I get an Enfeebling Earring. I wonder if they actually read my OP? Also, nearly everyone has told me to just finish CoP/ToAU/Divine Might already. Apparently I should be able to knock it out in a week or so. What am I, a loser?

[Aksannyi]

Re: Square One (ish)

Really Murphie, you could merit in full AFv1, I've seen it, and as a RDM people will allow it. The gloves and feet have INT and MND bonuses if I remember correctly and also MP. You can also get away with the full Errant set if you want, before I had some of my relic pieces I wore Errant in those slots. You're not trying to solo Genbu here, just to Refresh yourself and Haste x4 or 5 so you don't need anything special. Just put some INT and MND on your little taru dude and you'll be good to go.

Oh, and don't forget to get a Bugard Strap +1. It's worth it, and it bugs me to no end when people don't have at least something in the strap slot. SE gave them to us for a reason!

You could maybe work on some assaults and get some of the Yigit pieces but they're not really necessary. In merits your main focus will be on maintaining a steady flow of MP and in Dynamis you'll be concerned with the same thing and also sleeping stuff.

Get an enfeebling torque if you can afford it. Also a dark torque if you plan on doing Chainstun. I think the two level 50 earrings from assault (which are also buyable at the AH) are decent, they give MP boosts and hMP.

I can't think of much else that hasn't been covered, I could list my own gear but you're not looking for most of what I have. (Lots of white boxes and expensive buyables)

EDIT: Re: Jet Seraweels, I think they're better than Mahatma anyway, none of that minus crap going on, and they're a whole hell of a lot better looking. Seriously, SE, those damn slops are ugly. I want to scratch the eyeballs of whomever designed them with an x-acto knife. They are also more affordable than Mahatma, though more expensive than the NQ.

People on LJ sound a lot like me, lol. I'm so incredibly picky about gear, but I know this isn't what you're asking so I'm trying to be helpful. There's a difference between "for now gear to get back on my feet" and "gear that I someday hope to get when I get a more reliable cash flow." And even the most elitist of elitists (myself included, lol) can understand this concept.

[Murphie]

Re: Square One (ish)

Apparently I should just be able to stand in Whitegate and shout my way to Sea. God, why am I being so difficult?

Jet Seraweels are 195k more than Errant Slops. Definitely something to work on eventually, but they probably shouldn't be at the top of my list.^^

I'm waiting for the people who understand that concept to reply there, Aksannyi. I guess we'll see! (Meanwhile, everyone here has pretty much got me covered).

EDIT: So right now, I'm looking at about...

490k, before Penitent's Rope or any Torques. With Penitent's the total is 790k, and with Spider Torque 990k. Elemental adds another 200k (so 1.19M). Sundries like Intensifying Cape (200k), Jet Seraweels (200k) will probably have to wait.

How hard is it to get Assault runs as RDM? I don't really have a static, nor do I expect to find one.

EDIT2: If only I could get some BCNMs done. But seriously, I think I'm destined to not have any success there, ever.

[ItazuraNhomango]

Re: Square One (ish)

Bah. Use my set (sans the square bracket items) as a template.

Enough MP for merit parties, enough skill to enfeeble and MB for most things, and enough INT/MND for potency. Mostly AH purchasable, and the earring set even had Icemage's approval! (Well, sort of.) Didn't calculate the price, but you should be able to get them them on your budget comfortably, I think.

Obviously the number of items listed indicates heavy macro usage, but you're probably the macro'ing type anyway. Overall, it's more than enough to carry you through lightweight activities like meriting, even allows some funny activities like burning down walls with elemental enfeebs (an Assault thing; need to stack INT), and even sufficient for more serious business like Dynamis, as opportunities come up.

Does use up a lot inventory space, but that's fate of any "I want to be ready for anything" RDM.

And, yes, use AF legs and feet for MP, like Aksannyi says, if you can't think of better options.

* * *

Forgot to add that I have an Enhancing Torque, too. Most people would say that's useless, but I played main healer (i.e. no WHM in party) enough to warren making better use out of bar spells when I was leveling up, so bought one. Don't think most RDMs would want one, though.

As for the Dark Torque, that was bought after I noticed a few Stun resisted during a certain CoP fight. >_> You might well just get it; stun resist is very much not-funny, and you don't want your team mates to be checking your gear after one. <_<;

[Murphie]

Re: Square One (ish)

I used to have a Dark Torque back in the day. I swapped it in for Drain/Aspir, because I thought maybe it might help. I honestly have no idea if it did or not.

[ItazuraNhomango]

Re: Square One (ish)

EDIT: So right now, I'm looking at about...

490k, before Penitent's Rope or any Torques. With Penitent's the total is 790k, and with Spider Torque 990k. Elemental adds another 200k (so 1.19M). Sundries like Intensifying Cape (200k), Jet Seraweels (200k) will probably have to wait.

You're joking? No?

Move to a less expensive server, get gear, screw around for three months, then move back?

Ifrit Prices:
Penitent's Rope: 120k
Spider Torque: 130k
Elemental Torque: 70k
Intensifying Cape: 160k

You can probably find a cheaper World, I bet.

How hard is it to get Assault runs as RDM? I don't really have a static, nor do I expect to find one.

No idea, since I'm in a static. =/

Overall, it feels like my RDM is nice to have, but not irreplaceable by another job. Some examples:

Lamia 13: Dispel, Gravity, lightweight nuking; SCH/RDM or BLM/RDM can replace.

Preemptive Strike, Imperial Agent Rescue: Healer. Can be replaced by WHM, SCH, SMN, especially if there's BRD. Heck, even a BLM may be able to substitute as healer.

Excavation Duty: Solo a Brittle Rock with DoT spells. Can be replaced by BLM.

Seagull Grounded, Golden Salvage: I was a dead weight on those runs.

Saving Private Ryaaf: Supposedly, can slowly get rid of all the Chigoes as RDM/SAM, but I elected to use PLD73/SAM for it--faster TP since in addition to Meditate x2, can use Sentinel and get hit for TP. SAM is the best for this.

I really don't pay attention to shouts much, but I'll hazard a guess that RDM is mostly wanted as healer, and often just one of many jobs which can fill the role. RDM is not critical for success, but nice in many places to have.

[Murphie]

Re: Square One (ish)

I just moved back to Bahamut. So I guess I'll have to ride out the storm. Wish I'd thought to buy all of this stuff before leaving Kujata.

[Karinya]

Re: Square One (ish)

Penitent's isn't that important anyway. It's nice, but like most expensive gear, you'll hardly notice the difference. Al Zahbi Sash or, since you're taru, Steppe Rope will save you a bundle for only a little worse performance. (Except the -enmity, but that's rarely a problem for RDM.)

Elemental torque is a luxury for RDM, not a necessity. You won't land full damage nukes reliably no matter what gear you're wearing (outside of ES and maybe magic bursts), so getting resisted slightly less, while nice, isn't crucial. Enfeebling/spider should be the first priority once you have every slot filled with something, though, IMO.

Really, nq errant is ok in most slots until you can get something better (relic, yigit, nashira, etc. depending on the slot).

Oh, you might also look into the wise set, if you like swapping for int and mnd (or if you just want to stack mnd and rely on your natural int for the few things that int matters for as RDM). I think the wise hands and feet each have the stat the corresponding piece of errant doesn't.