Ups and Downs?..

[Drynavere]

Ok.. so Im a HUGE retard with choosing jobs... and changing halfway to 75... and then wanting to be something completely different, and having to level a whole new subjob for it later on.

So my point is this: I am leveling ninja to 37 right now, no matter what I'm taking it to 37. Whether I stop or continue to be a ninja is a decision I've been having a HUGE struggle with... I love the idea of being a cool uber looking ninja... but I think I'd get bored with just spamming utsusemi and provoke in fights... I want something to DO. I wanna do more DMG.

So here's the scoop: In your own words, describe to me, and state what level you are as THF, what you think is fun about your job. What keeps you interested, what your role is in the job.... What makes you like THF so much that you stick with it?

I really like THF, but I also really like NIN (I think I like the gameplay of THF more than NIN, but rather like the look and style of NIN more than THF). Tell me about your life as a THF, what you like, dislike, and can you hold your own (solo quests/smaller missions and stuff for noobs) while solo as THF/NIN?

Please also note, I'll be subbing NIN. Thanks

[Mithrankittycat]

I got this soloing fetish as thf/nin. I don't dual wield... I use evasion sword + evasion shield with capped evasion/shield/parrying combat skill. With the last maintenance I was able to claim and solo behemoth for 15 minutes until backup came. I could've held it longer, but my damage is a bit low and makes it boring. X3 I also claim other hnm like serket, cassie, charybdis, and bune solo until the LS arrives. The big problem is actually claiming the hnm... nin/war would have an easier time claiming with provoke than thf/nin with crap like darts.

...but simurgh still rapes me =x_x=

To make money, I just stand at one coffer spot in oztroja and read websites or look at porn.

Treasure hunter gimp is an obvious job for hnm business. I'm our little placebo. :3

A problem thf faces at level 75 is not being able to do much damage or skillchains on the highest level NMs. I can do maybe 200 damage every minute with sneak+trick attack, but missing or hitting for 0 kinda stinks. The full thf cursed set doesn't help much with this either. So, I sub drk and use stun to interrupt spells. If the high level NM is stun immune, I borrow a kraken club and charge tp on weak monsters and then pump spirits within into the high level NM. This sometimes makes the monster turn on me, but I can handle evading it.

thf75/war/nin/sam/drk/whm/rdm/blm use them all

[Drynavere]

Mithran.... omg.... I love you.

I've never had a more perfect reply to a post in this entire website before, than the one you just posted for me. Thank you so much for telling me exactly what I wanted to know, and not being a dick whatsoever about it.

I went and checked the NIN forum to see if anyone had replied, and basically they said, 'Don't be NIN for looks', and 'I must be playing ninja wrong, because I'm a fuxxing asshole and a forum nazi' (Cade), or something along that lines.

Thank you again so much, your post is perfect, and I have a strong hope of staying with THF now once my NIN is 37. I just didn't wanna play a THF, and then at 75 have to stand around on HNM's, and wait to get the last hit, because I couldn't do anything else. But that doesn't sound like the case... Thanks again. One more for ya... Any high NM/low HNM's can a 74+THF/NIN solo?... Talking like BB, sozu rogberry, etc.

[Mithrankittycat]

You have to be the one who makes yourself useful at 75, hnm leaders won't do it for you. X3

Only nm I ever soloed was sozu, with style

[Roldarin]

I played THF/NIN to 56 before changing to BLM.

THF was my first job. I soloed mostly to 13 or 14, and started grouping after that. Got warrior to 15, THF to 30, then did NIN for a while before I started back as a THF/NIN. After trying warrior I was amazed at how crappy thieves soloed compared to warriors.

After I hit 15 I really started enjoying thief. I liked the damage that I did with SA. When in Qufim a JP group who spoke almost no english managed to show me how to do a SA+WS in a macro. I did SA+Combo and was amazed at the damage.

As I continue to level I enjoyed the pulling and the damage. I got several good comments about my pulling skills. Although it was frustrating to keep the tanks from moving around. That got worse at 30 when SANTA came into play. But once I reach my mid 30s it got better.

Pulling and SANTA. Doesn't seem like much but it kept me busy. But then something happened in my early 40s. It took longer and longer to get into pts. I had my hairpin and leaping boots and other decent gear. I would just solo outside of Jeuno gaining some money. Night after night. About 1-2 invites a week. Forming parties at my time didn't alway seem to work out well, but it did occassionally.

I did slowly level. Made it into my 50s and started working on AF. Its nice not needing to rely on people to farm coffer keys. The thing was my LS had FAR outleveled me. A Bard in my LS quit Bard and restarted as a Ranger when we were both in our 40s. By the time I was 56 he was 65. Other people were closing in on 70.

In non-exp capacities I love using a THF/BLM. Good for killing lots of too weak mobs, using Drain/Aspir to keep mp/hp up. Haven't done too much soloing of higher mobs. I also like THF/WHM for creeping around dungeons. If I get agro: np, just hit perfect dodge and scroll of instant warp.

But the whole waiting for parties got to me. I switched to BLM and I've never been happier. And in talking with my LS leader and other thieves it seems to be a good choice. Thieves have a hard time getting parties at almost any level past their 40s, at least from what I've heard. As a BLM, I have to turn down parties when I'm busy helping friends or doing quests. I now go anonymous when questing.

I imagine this isn't exactly what you were looking for. But this has been my experience. Thief was my first and still favorite job. I miss it a lot. I'd like to at least level up to 60 for Dancing Edge for farming. And if I didn't really care that I am excluded from most LS events because of my level, I would stick it out with THF and just take my time. But I'd like to go on a high level raid some day sooner rather than later.

[guyincorporated]

The thing about ninja that drives me crazy is that each time I'm leveling it up for my subjob, I feel just like I'm playing as my thief...except I don't get to use SA/TA every minute. I just sit there, chopping away with my crappy katana-daggers for 10-20 damage a hit, occasionally provoking or recasting utsusemi. It is very jarring going from doing 35% of the damage in an xp party as a thief to doing 9% damage as a ninja tank. Granted, they have different roles in the party, but still. Personally, I hate it.

Back in The Day (before the US release, when I was planning out my character), I was totally sold on Dragoon/Thief. I was going to be a solid damage-dealer with a cute pet who could either dump all his hate on the poor schmuck standing behind the mob, or jump it all off if I pissed the mob off anyhow. So I leveled thief to 30, had a blast (I couldn't stop laughing for about 5 minutes after I got sneak attack - same for trick attack). Then I tried dragoon, realized that I was doing a really crappy job in group because there was nothing to hold my attention. You just auto-engage, jump (and miss) if you have it, and toss out a lame weaponskill every few minutes. Thieves, on the other hand, are *always* busy. You've got to be constantly aware of placement and position relative to the monster, your skills are always used in conjunction with eachother, I just found that I was never bored. I mean seriously, dragoon has 4 abilities (2 damage jumps, a non-damage jump, and a never-used dragon circle). Thieves have steal, mug, sa, ta, flee, hide, and I use them ALL. I just could not go from being as active in combat as a thief was to something any more dull.

Other interesting things about thief:
I got the log parser a few months back because I was really curious about how much I was contributing to damage in the party. I group with a DD War and a taru blm. Well it turns out that in the 50's, I was consistently beating them both in damage. Now (much to my chagrin) the war has started to outdamage me with his stupid haubergeon and double axes, but still, it is close, and I'm still outdamaging the taru. Thieves are not just there to "control hate," we bring the hurt.

There's other really fun things about thief:
1. You just don't die in parties. Thieves are invariably the character with the least hate in the party. The only way you can get really hurt is it a full-hp goblin drops the bomb.

2. Steal/TH/Mug are just fun. Free money rules.

3. "{Help me out!} {Davoi} {Key} {Party} {Please}!" ...keys. how quaint.

4. And since you mentioned looks: I'm rather narcissistic about my character. If I do say so myself...I look PIMP in my Aketon, thief pants and winged boots. The sunglasses don't hurt either =D

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Edit: And BTW, Cat: How the HELL have you capped shield and parry? I'm at like 60 and 45, respectively! Are you a 75 paladin, too? Even then, the paladin in my SP doesn't have capped shield and he's had one strapped to his arm since Day 1!

[Mithrankittycat]

I used feral mask, shield/parry torque, 2 coral earrings, cavalier's mantle +1, muscle belt+1 against monk yagudos while soloing. The end of the skillups was at steelshells in boyahda. Evasion penalty means more shielding/parrying. pld is level 1.

[guyincorporated]

Originally posted by Mithrankittycat
I used feral mask, shield/parry torque, 2 coral earrings, cavalier's mantle +1, muscle belt+1 against monk yagudos while soloing. The end of the skillups was at steelshells in boyahda. Evasion penalty means more shielding/parrying. pld is level 1.

This is blowing my mind. What level where you when you really started doing all this skilling? And did you sub whitemage to regen hitpoints faster after each beating?

[Mithrankittycat]

75, capped evasion before doing shield/parrying which made things hard =>_<=. whm sub with full mp allowed me to live just long enough to kill the bird.

[SAVAGE]

So what are your parry and shield at?
I plan to skill them up also, i hear thiefs have an A in parry.
Dont you use bloodybolts or sleep bolts so you have a second to cast stuff or just to gain HP back?

[Mithrankittycat]

276 + 5 parrying
189 + 20 shield

I use ziska's crossbow and bloody / blind / acid / sleep bolts

[guyincorporated]

Btw, apologies for the thread hijack, but oohing and aahing over Kittycat seems far more important to me right now.

Can you estimate how much time you spent soloing up these skills? It must have taken many, many evenings (weeks?).

[Mithrankittycat]

months