I never understood Thieves before...

[Haggai]

As stated in the subject, I've never really understood why people like Thief so much. I originally leveled it to 15 for Treasure Hunter, which was very nice.

Since I hit BLM50, I had been thinking about geting Thief to 25 so I can Flee while camping NMs and long-walk questing.

Last night I dinged 24 in Lower Delkfutt's Tower. All I have to say is "Wow!" It is a very exciting job. I now understand what people see in it. I found myself really getting into it. I enjoyed pulling so much that I got anxious and pulled when WHM MP was low and had to zone it. I LOVE Sneak Attack. Preloading it just before a pull, using it another time or two during battle. SA + Fast Blade is pretty sweet. I was pulling hate and I wasn't even Black Mage! XD

I was only planning on going to 25, but I may go further. I'm very tempted to go 30+ so I can experience SATA.

Now that I'm THF24, I think it's time to sub NIN. I'll have to go THF/NIN past 25 anyway, as my WAR is only 12.

[Lunaryn]

Re: I never understood Thieves before...

Yeah, it works pretty well, though positioning can be a nightmare when not all the party melees know what you need (mob turning = no SA, melees not opposite each other = no TA, and TA w/out SA doesn't do much).

I've got /NIN now, I'll say it's great for solo and has advantages for pulling, but it's actually not indispensible for xp parties. I used /WAR to 30 since THF was my main, but I've actually gone for a while as THF/RNG, a combination I recommend (THF/RNG is also excellent for farming).

Of course, situationally /NIN can become important, for instance if you have to pull tigers...

[Myaku]

Re: I never understood Thieves before...

/NIN is great for when you are pulling fast mobs, like the tigers that Lunaryn mentioned, and soloing. /WAR is great for fighting High DEF mobs, like Crabs. For all your "average" monsters, i.e. Lizards, Pugs, etc., it is really a toss-up where personal preference reigns. My personal preference is /WAR as often as possible. I highly recommend having both leveled, it will make you a better Thief.

[Tirocupidus]

Re: I never understood Thieves before...

I'm leveling THF, WAR, and NIN together through bronze, leather, brass, bone, and beetle armor. I'm currently at THF07, WAR07, and NIN05. Once I get to 24. I think I'll start to level THF exclusively to get Treasure Hunter 2. Then I'll go back later to take WAR and NIN to 37. My plan of attack! :D

[Lmnop]

Re: I never understood Thieves before...

heyyyy

If you do decide to sub nin, I'd very strongly suggest offhanding a Dagger. Sword main for the uber Fast Blade and offhand dagger (some great CP daggers @20, 25, and 30) for stats and that A RANK Dagger skill to keep your accuracy good.

Err that's all. enjoy

[711rocks]

Re: I never understood Thieves before...

Level h2h, most people skip this cause it's not needed nor a high skill, but at low levels it's sick. Level 20 I was doing 250 to the worms in QI with SA Combo.

[Myaku]

Re: I never understood Thieves before...

Level h2h, most people skip this cause it's not needed nor a high skill, but at low levels it's sick. Level 20 I was doing 250 to the worms in QI with SA Combo.

QFT. THF/MNK w/HtH is the way to go 1-33. Boost+SA+Combo=Sick

[Feba]

Re: I never understood Thieves before...

Yeah, I saw a picture of a 399 on a Yuhtunga mandragora SA+Combo...don't underestimate the power of fists.

[Lmnop]

Re: I never understood Thieves before...

I broke 500 on a VT lizard in 1st jungle with SA Combo. x.x Musta been lucky or something, but I saw a few 400s in that party as well.

/point bard. Wtg Minuet

[Murphie]

Re: I never understood Thieves before...

I wish less people fought me on the joys of Hand to Hand. Even my LS is like "Nuuuuuuu!", to which I then reply by doing a crapton of damage with an SA+Combo.

[711rocks]

Re: I never understood Thieves before...

See, moral of story:
H2H owns j00.

[Sethe]

Re: I never understood Thieves before...

So long as you keep your dagger capped through so youre not gimp when you should have Viper Bite - do whatever you want ;P

[Lunaryn]

Re: I never understood Thieves before...

Well, I had trouble keeping Dagger skilled much (NIN was only level 9 when I hit THF33, still didn't have either fame or money for Tonko or Utsusemi) though I swapped it in when I could get away with it. I ended up going out to Sanctuary of Zi'tah with a friend to skill it on bats. Be aware that you'll need to break 32's Dagger cap once you hit 33, but don't stress too much about it.

If you can, try to find someone with a healer job you can accompany on quests. Anything you don't need your full strength against, use Dagger on. If you're not going to be able to SA+WS in a situation anyway, then Gust Slash will work reasonably well for dmg. If your dagger's up to speed for THF29 when you hit THF33 you won't have too much to worry about in the skillup process.

Also, don't abandon sword entirely once you get Viper Bite. At least not for a while. Dagger gives too many benefits to THF in xp parties to mainhand anything else, and eventually you'll probably want to always offhand one to keep delay down. Sword is still a lot better for solo, though, IMO. Your accuracy will still be fine for Too Weaks and Easy Preys, and you'll do much better DoT, not to mention have better WS dmg w/out SA (and you'll almost never pull off SA+WS solo, I've managed it exactly once). Also, stick with Fast Blade over magic WS, a DEX+ build, usual for THF, is very friendly to Fast Blade, but doesn't do anything for Burning or Shining Blade.

[Zempten]

Re: I never understood Thieves before...

Too bad the fun scales down as you lvl up higher ; ;

[Lmnop]

Re: I never understood Thieves before...

Too bad the fun scales down as you lvl up higher ; ;

By level 40, I was hating the job. I hated absolutely every moment of THF 40-45 where I quit. Now I need some exp pages so I can go mining again. :/

When you start to realize how much potential you're losing through the clunky FFXI interface, it really drags you down. I would just love the option to you know... engage and not attack the damn mob. Once you're through realizing that, get stupid party members who wish you were a Sam or a War and don't work with you at all.

But that's negative speak. I'd imagine with a smart party, the fun never stops =) Some day, when I don't have to worry about SATA >> get hit with bard buff that freezes me >> VB for 21 damage, I would love to buy back thf gear and level it again.