Equipment Qs(lvl 50 mark)

[lionx]

Heyo, i just dinged to 50 and all i need is the bomb coal thing to go beyond lvl 50. However i have neglected some parts of my gear lately...-_- And i like to upgrade everything before going into the lvls beyond the 50 mark (where i heard things get alot tougher, like to be prepared). The gear i currently have can be found on my sig, but the point is, at this point, what should i get? The feet i am going for AF, and i know i need a Darkstaff eventually. Is Erase actually worth selling for a Darkstaff(i dont have Erase yet)? What would be first priority to get?

Any farming tips for a Darkstaff is greatly appreciated, its probably the only real hurdle in my way because i am not that great at gathering money. Any other constructive comments on my gear is appreciated, and i know i really need to upgrade them. Thanks for your time ^^

EDIT: I just found out the feet is 52 for AF...is it worth it to change the feet now? O_o i mean i did not upgrade it for a while...should i upgrade it now?

[Scarlet Phoenix]

lol I had the holly clogs til level 50 as well. But I bought the mocassins once I hit 50 because I'd need them to make my Healer's Duckbills anyways. They're only about 6k. I'm probably no better than you at making gil. >.< So I can't offer any advice on that.

As for equipment, I'm probably going to buy a White Cloak as it gives 2+ mnd. I can make up for the hairpin easily with another electrum ring and food. So you might want to consider that. Its only 10k, which can be earned easily enough merely by doing tele-taxi.

[Icemage]

(note: Where's your RSE? oO... you didn't sell it, did you?)

Weapon: Dark Staff. Can't stress enough how good dark staff is. Yes it costs 400+K gil even now on Midgardsormr. It's worth it. This item needs to be #1 on your wish-list.

Ammo: If you have the Fortune Egg from the Easter Egg event, this should go here. Otherwise I wouldn't bother with things like Holy Ampulla unless you have tons of money to burn.

Head: Oy. Gold Hairpin if you can manage it, or at least Horn or Silver if you would rather spend less.

Neck: Justice Badge is ok at that level still, though Holy Phial or Star Necklace (high fame quest item from Star Onion Brigade quest) would be better.

Earrings: Your earrings are fine, unless you want to get one of the LV30 subjob-specific earrings to replace the Onyx. If you do Zilart missions, you could eventually get a free Bat Earring to replace that Onyx as well, but that's some levels away for you yet.

Body: Frost Robe is ok. I actually like the Wonder Kaftan RSE body armor for Tarutaru white mages, as it offers very nice stats.

Rings: If you switch to the Wonder Kaftan, you could wear a second Electrum Ring for more MP.

Back: Red Cape or Red Cape +1 not a bad idea by level 50.

Hands: I used Devotee's Mitts until I could wear my Healer's Mitts (AF), and highly recommend them. Actually if it weren't for the -Enmity from AF, I'd still be using the Devotee's Mitts for the huge +MND boost.

Waist: You're Windurstian... wait till Windurst gets #1 in conquest and buy yourself a Mercenary Captain's Belt. Friar's Rope is still ok though.

Legs, Feet: Er... RSE?


Icemage

[lionx]

Well the main reason why i did not have any RSE at the moment was that because RSE usually offsets the things your race lacks, i did not care to get it since i was a mage mostly and i dont see how VIT and STR and HP matters alot....if i was to get any RSE HP would only be my concern but i rather concern myself with MP. So...is it even worth to get RSE for HP? The body part offers MND+1 which is the only part i looked at, everything else seems to be stats that do not concern me. Should it concern me? O_o

For Waist i didnt get a Merc Belt because it only offers +1 stat in everything and only MND concerned me...while Frairs Rope offered MP as well as MND...is it really worth the Merc Belt? Because if you really recommend it, i will pick it up sometime..

Rings: If you switch to the Wonder Kaftan, you could wear a second Electrum Ring for more MP.

Is MND really that useless? Or will my Wand(thinking of Tact. Mag. Wand) cover it?

I think i will switch to the Mosaccasins just because of AF..i dont want to go through the hassle for RSE feet, seems 52 is a bit too close to warrant that much time when i should farm for a DarkStaff.

[Silkiv]

Dark Staff is still #1 on the list though, lowers downtime. Makes Mages who don't have it envious, etc. I think Erase and Light Staff are more important than the equipment below.

I don't think mercenary belt is better than friars. And I don't see why you would upgrade to red cape.. well maybe if you wanted int for casting sleep or elemental. If Steppe Stone wasn't expensive I would suggest that for belt.

Changing the (Frost and Saint -> Wonder and Electrum) robe and ring gets you a stat profit of +16 hp, +16 mp , -1 mnd, -3 def. The Mnd and def is recoverable if you upgrade your neck to Holy Phial or Promise Badge, so I think that's why it was suggested. Star Necklace is lvl 59 unfortuantly.

If you have a ton of CP points you can go Tactician Magician. I like the Coat, and I think Tarus look great in it too. Doesn't help much in the stats but it has more defense than the hands leg and feet you have.


I bought Inferno Sabots for the feet which gave +10 mp at lvl 41, but you are close to whm rse.

[Icemage]

Ooops, sorry for the bad call on Star Necklace. I've been 60+ for so long (all fishing and no XP makes Icemage a rusty WHM... ; ; ) that its hard to remember what levels some of this stuff is.

Merc belt is an improvement over Friar's Rope, though not significantly so (VIT and AGI are useful when you draw aggro, though). Its not like we have tons of things to buy with our Windy CP anyhow.

The RSE legs (Wonder Braccae) for Tarutaru are awesome. +21HP, +2 STR +2MND. Nothing else in that level range even comes close for a Taru WHM. As for the boots, its not like there's so much other fantastic stuff to use, and as noted above, its the first piece of WHM AF armor you get anyway.


Icemage

[METDeath]

a possiblity to look at is the Oracle's Belt (mp+7 mnd+1 def3) basically a slightly more powerful version of the friar's rope, however, a good deal more expensive (i think it was like 10 or 20k, i was doing a lot of whm price checking, so not too sure...)

also, your rse would be good for some +hp so you can get another electrum ring and a hairpin. and the TM coat is nice (mnd+1 int+1) but is a rank5 cp item or roughly 30k on the AH

as for earrings, switch the onyx with a black earring, even though it's not much mp gain it's still nice for that extra little bit, but don't push for it, the earring at 49 that does +6 mp is like 100k (i just got something a bit more useful for me, a morion earring)

as for total +mnd a HQ rose wand would make up the difference nicely (when you aren't using the dark/light staff) but mostly what i've found with +mnd is that it's mostly useful at lower levels when your cures simply aren't effecient, i guess i make out like a bandit since half my rse (gloves/pants) are +mp +mnd and +vit

[lionx]

I have been looking at the light staff and healing staff(light is cheaper). Any difference between the two really? And is Light Staff a NEED that i have to farm my ass off for it? Or something i can get at a later time?

[Feenicks]

Light Staff is nice but isn't a necessity, same goes for Healing Staff. Dark Staff is a definite necessity.

[Tifa]

Dark Staff #1. This is so great, you will know once you get one. At level 50 you will get 34 MP on your first tick (medding for 27 seconds.) And if using food like Witch Kabob or Roast mushroom, even more.

As you move through the 50's you'll want to replace your armor with AF. Here are my suggestions to tide you over:

Main- Blessed Hammer
Sub- Holy Shield is the best shield at this lvl, but may be costly. Just grab the latest shield if you can't buy this.
Ammo- Holy Ampulla. Not needed for a taru but looks attractive.
Head- Gold Hairpin.
Neck- Holy Phial is the best piece for here really. On my server its around 25k which isn't too bad for something you could conceivably wear to 75.
Earrings: Black Earrings. Switch to Bat Earrings when you reach that level (54 i think)
Hands: Devotee Mitts. Yup.
Body: Royal Squire's Robe is pretty good (+10mp). Taru RSE is another option to save you some money. (if you have it). Sandorians can get the robe through CP, so maybe trade CP items with a friend to get one.
Rings: Electrum are the cheapest way to go. I never bothered with Astral Rings until I had the money to burn. Astrals are meant to be worn from level 10, so if you don't have them by now then Electrums are just fine.
Back: Aurora Mantle for +10 MP. White Cape or Red Cape for stat bonuses.
Waist: Adept's Rope. HP+8 MP+8. Not much for this slot for a whm. I'm mithra, still using this at 69. I'll upgrade to my RSE Jungle Rope at 70 (+45mp plzkthx). I don't think Taru RSE belts help a mage much.
Pants: RSE? Nothing really good to wear here until AF at 56. Just use RSE.
Feet: Moccasins and then AF boots at 52. That's a fine plan to me.

Good luck making it to 60, it's quite a haul when you need to get full AF while leveling. Keep your focus and you will make it.

[Rawls]

Originally posted by Tifa
Dark Staff #1. This is so great, you will know once you get one. At level 50 you will get 34 MP on your first tick (medding for 27 seconds.) And if using food like Witch Kabob or Roast mushroom, even more.

As you move through the 50's you'll want to replace your armor with AF. Here are my suggestions to tide you over:

Main- Blessed Hammer
Sub- Holy Shield is the best shield at this lvl, but may be costly. Just grab the latest shield if you can't buy this.
Ammo- Holy Ampulla. Not needed for a taru but looks attractive.
Head- Gold Hairpin.
Neck- Holy Phial is the best piece for here really. On my server its around 25k which isn't too bad for something you could conceivably wear to 75.
Earrings: Black Earrings. Switch to Bat Earrings when you reach that level (54 i think)
Hands: Devotee Mitts. Yup.
Body: Royal Squire's Robe is pretty good (+10mp). Taru RSE is another option to save you some money. (if you have it). Sandorians can get the robe through CP, so maybe trade CP items with a friend to get one.
Rings: Electrum are the cheapest way to go. I never bothered with Astral Rings until I had the money to burn. Astrals are meant to be worn from level 10, so if you don't have them by now then Electrums are just fine.
Back: Aurora Mantle for +10 MP. White Cape or Red Cape for stat bonuses.
Waist: Adept's Rope. HP+8 MP+8. Not much for this slot for a whm. I'm mithra, still using this at 69. I'll upgrade to my RSE Jungle Rope at 70 (+45mp plzkthx). I don't think Taru RSE belts help a mage much.
Pants: RSE? Nothing really good to wear here until AF at 56. Just use RSE.
Feet: Moccasins and then AF boots at 52. That's a fine plan to me.

The only thing I would change over this is instead of dual Black Earrings to use an Enhancing Earring (gives 1 more MP and some HP), its nice but nothing to set as a major goal.

If you see yourself being able to afford it in a reasonable amount of time go for a light staff instead of Holy Shield. Its much more benficial than the +10 ever will be ^^. Bought one a few days ago and just finished by first xp pt with it. Using Cure III i was getting to 210 HP cured on Darksday (at a certain point Darksday seems to stop affecting a cure spell, it won't affect Cure III very often but it does affect Cure IV for me at Lv 55) and 230 on Lightsday /cheer. Like said before it isn't necessary but I think if you can get it go for it.....

[Brayden]

not that the point really needs to be restressed, but at lvl 43 Im already saving $ for the Dark Staff, which isnt till what, 51? Its definatly that important.

[AtraposBLM]

Here's the way I think about it, and have thought about it since having to buy elemental staves for my blm.

What will benefit you more, Light Staff / Healing Staff, or some +mnd club and holy shield?

Let's think about this - Light Staff improves every single one of your healing spells by 10% (even the ones that are capped for your level). How many times do you cast healing spells in battle? Every time you cast 10 spells with the light staff, you've saved yourself an additional one, just by using the staff. So every time you cast 10 cure III's, you've gotten an additional free Cure III. You won't get that with a +mnd club and shield. Use 10 Cure IV's, get a free Cure IV (definately won't get that with +mnd club). Use 10 Cure V's...get a free Cure V. You see the trend here? It improves every one of your spells...while mnd's benefit will decrease the higher level spell you get. Light staff improves your MP efficiency - but here's the key - it does so without requiring any effort on your part at all. You can play your game just as you normally would...only you're automatically more efficient, you use less mp, and you have more breathing room. 10% bonus is 10% bonus no matter what.

So yes, you can think about light staff as a "luxury"...but this is an item that will single-handedly make your life MUCH easier. Saving up tons of gil for a shield that'll give you +10 mp by comparison is retarded...But hey, it's your headache you'd be saving by using a Light Staff.

Furthermore, in the interest of reducing your mp costs...Dark Staff is amazing. By lv60, you'll be getting about 22 mp on your first resting tick. Gaining an additional 10 from dark staff is *nearly* a 50% bonus to that. Granted, this bonus gets smaller the longer you rest...but we don't care about that. We only care about the INITIAL increase, as we want to reduce the amount of time spent resting, so we can decrease the amount of time required to wait until you pull the next mob. So, for all intents and purposes, dark staff gives you a shade under a 50% improvement in the amount of MP you get while resting. Add a witch kabob or some roast mushroom into the mix, and suddenly, you've reduced the amount of time you need to rest by 50%. That's fairly huge, if you ask me.

Plus, as a whm, you won't be limited by the other mages not having a dark staff. As a blm...frequently, the fact that I had enough MP to kill an additional mob didn't matter, as the whm didn't have enough MP to cure the tank for it. As a whm...you won't have that problem as much, as the blm can rest during a fight without endangering anyone's lives.

To sum up, I'd put dark staff as your number one priority...but light staff a close second. Both help reduce the amount of MP you use...and the only thing better than having one of them is having both. The only reason you might want to not use a light staff is if you can get an askelopios...but that's really just the poor man's excuse for a light staff anyways. There's no reason you'd ever really want to use a shield if you have something better...and light staff is that something better.


Final note - yes, Healing Staff is better than Light Staff. But..since you have to switch to dark staff to recover MP anyways...the additional MP really doesn't do anything (how many times do you rest to full anyways?). Not only that...the only difference between the two is the 50 mp...so if you don't get to take advantage of it, why spend 1.8 million gil more on the healing staff over the light staff? Plus...light staff looks cooler

[Shiia]

Couple of cheep upgrades. Although Your No1 Upgrade should be Drk staff. Light staff can be 2nd but you can upgreade the rest before going to this one.

Main: AF (swap to drk staff when resting)
Shield: No need. Holy shield if you are rich
Head: Electrum Hairpin (gold if you want more MP)
Neck: Holy phial or Promiss badge
Earing: Enhance is ok, Get Black Earring its +4mp
Waist: Should be fine with that (RSE belt if you are rich)
Rings: 2 Electrum Rings (Astral rings if you are rich.. serklet if you are super rich)
Body: Ryl.Sqr. Robe (10MP) or Tct.Mgc. Coat
Back: Should be ok with that
Hand: Zealot's Mitts this one is super cheap and good stats
Legs: RSE
Boots: RSE (AF at 52)

I think that was what my friend was wearing. Dark staff was not in game when he were around 50. MND doesn't really affect your healing skill. Having some Mnd gear with you could be a good idea should you have to be the PT's debuffer.

[lionx]

I really appreciate everyone's input, i really have a clearer goal now and to how to try to optimize my gear with the expenses i can afford.

Weapon: AF Hammer, Tact Mag Wand(Debuff), DarkStaff. I plan to get LightStaff a bit later...mainly because i know i will be sick of farming for awhile....so i will do it maybe when i get my AF feet.

Shield: Ima hold off Holy Shield til i feel like getting it. It seems more of a luxery from what i hear of you guys. So thats what i will do.

Range: Friend getting me Holy Ampulla XD So thats great.

Neck: Holy Phial seems pretty good.

Head: I will compare prices of the hairpins, but i am leaning torwards Gold.

Body: Going Robe, i like my headgear piece, and unless the body is THAT good to have to lose the head piece, i am going with robe.

Hands: Ima go Zealot....seems reasonable i think

Feet: Mocassains or however you spell it. Too close to AF feet, just not worth it to get RSE and then dump it later. =/

Pants: I might just buy my RSE and then sell it back when i get AF pants.

Belt: I might just keep it this way...but i never heard of RSE belt O_o

Back: Keep...no need to change...might do later but i like to keep it.

Again thanks for everyone's input, if you can put more i gladly appreciate your help. Thanks for taking time out to help ^^