V-Cloak, Worth It?

[obliviously]

I'm soon to be WHM59 and I would like to know if V-Cloak is even worth using? The price of it on the Phoenix 10mil and I can easily get the money from HNM's but I just want to know is it even worth my time/energy to buy?

[Brayden]

Re: V-Cloak, Worth It?

I think many people will say yes it is. Unlike a lot of the WHM only pieces, V cloak can be used by other jobs which makes it more versatile if you plan to level other mage jobs to 60+. Granted its not essentail nor will it make or break your whm career, however if you can afford it, go for it.

[Gwynn]

Re: V-Cloak, Worth It?

Hmmm... this piece of equipment is one that has often confused me. On the one hand, I do very much like the auto-refresh. But on the other hand, thats pretty much all it gives. Sacrificing your body and head slot just for auto-refresh seems a little much. If you have problems with having enough MP then it'd be worth it, but otherwise I'd just say get equip to make your spells more potent. Thats just me though... I'm a Red Mage, so I'm used to having Convert to replenish my MP so I guess I'm not the most objective person .

[Rones]

Re: V-Cloak, Worth It?

Except there are no pieces to equip on your head/body to make your spells more 'poten't. You can always use gear swaps in your macros for the occasional enfeeble. Outside of that, vermillion will be very useful. If you can afford it, pick one up. Otherwise don't worry about it. I'm surprised vermillion is 10mil, that's almost the same as Nobel's tunic now. Just look at it like this, vermillion will give you 1,200 free mp every rl hour. That reduces the risk of downtime and lets you throw out more hastes if nothing else.

[tdh]

Re: V-Cloak, Worth It?

I'm inclined to agree with Gwynn on this one. For a RDM there are much better items for body and head at Lv.59. So it doesn't make much sense to spend 10mil on an item that you'll only be using when /heal. At that level you'll have a Dark Staff so 1MP per tick doesn't seem worth it.

Now, for a WHM, they may say it's worth it. I mean you can't sneeze at 1MP/tick from Cloak, 3MP/tick from Refresh, then Ballad 1 & 2 if available, and then Auto-Refresh from /SMN. That's a lot of MP gained. But even in an "ideal setup" like that for a WHM, that extra 1MP/tick isn't going to make a whole helluva lot of difference.

I used to want one, but considering my MP usage, and my /heal I don't really use Convert that much. 1,200MP/hour isn't going to change much for me.

[lionx]

Re: V-Cloak, Worth It?

Personally at the prices of the cloaks, i rather keep the money and use it on a Noble's Tunic. I feel more Cure Potency can potentially save more MP than vermillion. I never think V Cloak is a necessity really..for any mage and if it has to be a mage, i feel SMN benefit the most from it anyway. So all in all...overrated in its usefulness...not that its useless but its not THAT good.

[TheGrandMom]

Re: V-Cloak, Worth It?

I've had both the Noble's and the Verm. At first I thought I would prefer the Verm so that thats what I got. I have whm, rdm, and blm lvled so it would be perfect for all those jobs. As mentioned all you get is the refresh benefit from it and I was swapping out equips so often I got little of that. When I was resting it was nice but I rarely rest on my rdm so it was actually the least useful for that job. So that left blm and whm to decide on. Blm gets Black/Demon's cloak at 68 so....... I then got a Noble's and I've never been happier for my whm. I do sometimes miss my Verm for my rdm but it was worth the switch.

[Icemage]

Re: V-Cloak, Worth It?

I like vermillion cloak a lot for WHM. *IF* WHM is the only mage job you plan on taking to level 59+, then if you've got that sort of resources, by all means go with the noble's tunic. But other jobs can make excellent use of vermillion cloak (bard, black mage, red mage, summoner, paladin), so I think it's an excellent long-term investment.


Icemage

P.S. You'd have to peel the vermillion cloak off my RDM's stone cold body in an XP party. I only need the Warlock's Tabard for casting enfeebling magic, and only need the Chapeau for nuking or recast-critical stuff like Refresh.

[Aeni]

Re: V-Cloak, Worth It?

If the refresh rate on the VC is equivalent to my Vampire Cloak at night, then it's not worth it. If you're out farming, I can see this happening. But when you're out stun whoring some NM/HNM, that refresh is barely acceptable and you'll end up just going with cookies and taking a kneel ...

Just my 2 cents.

[TheGrandMom]

Re: V-Cloak, Worth It?

P.S. You'd have to peel the vermillion cloak off my RDM's stone cold body in an XP party. I only need the Warlock's Tabard for casting enfeebling magic, and only need the Chapeau for nuking or recast-critical stuff like Refresh.

I'm far to busy casting and swapping out my tabard and my hat to get more than 2 or 3 mp a fight from a Verm. Then when the fight ends I just know my refresh cycle is going to start again so I rarely get off even one tick of healing before I'm back up and casting again. >.< About the only thing I disliked for a Verm is the hood.....I love my pigtails to show! LOL

[Karinya]

Re: V-Cloak, Worth It?

I like vermillion cloak a lot for WHM. *IF* WHM is the only mage job you plan on taking to level 59+, then if you've got that sort of resources, by all means go with the noble's tunic. But other jobs can make excellent use of vermillion cloak (bard, black mage, red mage, summoner, paladin), so I think it's an excellent long-term investment.

P.S. You'd have to peel the vermillion cloak off my RDM's stone cold body in an XP party. I only need the Warlock's Tabard for casting enfeebling magic, and only need the Chapeau for nuking or recast-critical stuff like Refresh.

And the errant houppelande (or warlock's tabard+1 if you have it) for resting, which leaves... when exactly do you wear the vermy? During casting heals? Considering I mostly heal in emergencies, I'd rather have the fast cast then too.

Now, of course, whm doesn't have access to some of that stuff, and some individual whms don't have the Dynamis gear, Noble's, Zenith, etc. So the situation is a bit different. But errant is still way better than vermilion for resting, if you have the level to wear it. And most whm can level up and get a cheap errant way faster than they can earn that many million gil. That's even aside from vermy's total lack of -enmity, which can be a fatal liability.

The only job that might not have better options (IMO) is SMN (while standing) - which says more about available SMN gear than about the vermilion itself.

As far as being an investment - i.e. if you don't want it later you can probably sell it higher than you bought it - that might be true, but I'd consider any gear investment risky with an expansion coming possibly in the first half of 2006. There's almost guaranteed to be a ton of new gear and some of it may knock vermy way down in desireability for some or even all of those classes. I'm sure those rank 9 conquest weapons with the +7 mp while resting looked like a great investment before dark staffs were introduced.

[Icemage]

Re: V-Cloak, Worth It?

And the errant houppelande (or warlock's tabard+1 if you have it) for resting, which leaves... when exactly do you wear the vermy? During casting heals? Considering I mostly heal in emergencies, I'd rather have the fast cast then too.

Uh... I never, ever rest on RDM. Taru RDM 62, 750ish HP/MP balanced, with Bard subjob for Ballad means I recover 5MP/tick. Convert does the rest.

Vermillion Cloak is also superior when casting enhancing magics in a party:
- Haste
- Regen
- Singing songs from /BRD

I sometimes do away with the chapeau when casting Refresh too, unless I have more than 4 spellcasters in the party. The improvement in casting time and recast isn't significant enough to merit losing the extra 1 MP.

But errant is still way better than vermilion for resting, if you have the level to wear it.

Not true for the first 20 seconds. I swap into Errant right before I get the first heal tick, which means v. cloak/noble's tunic gives 5 additional MP before that happens. If you're REALLY insane you can swap in the errant every 10 seconds and use the v. cloak/noble's for the rest of the time and gain 2 extra MP every heal tick (I've done this a few times when I needed to get MP back as fast as humanly possible).

And most whm can level up and get a cheap errant way faster than they can earn that many million gil. That's even aside from vermy's total lack of -enmity, which can be a fatal liability.

Swap in Crow gear while curing and casting Flash if you're worried about enmity. Nothing else you cast is going to draw enough enmity to worry about, except in the case of extended HNM battles like Tiamat or Jormungand (at which point a hefty investment in -damage% gear will go a lot further towards keeping you alive than -enmity).

As far as being an investment - i.e. if you don't want it later you can probably sell it higher than you bought it - that might be true, but I'd consider any gear investment risky with an expansion coming possibly in the first half of 2006. There's almost guaranteed to be a ton of new gear and some of it may knock vermy way down in desireability for some or even all of those classes. I'm sure those rank 9 conquest weapons with the +7 mp while resting looked like a great investment before dark staffs were introduced.

I paid 3M for my vermillion cloak about a year and a half ago, and its current value is floating somewhere near 7M now. Seems like a good investment to me. If I ever get all my mage jobs high enough and get a dalmatica, I might consider selling it (but there's always level-capped activities too).

Granted, it's possible there will be new alternatives introduced, but I don't see the price of Emporer Hairpins falling like a brick despite the fact that there are now multiple ways to acquire one. Highly unlikely that S-E will introduce anything that will completely destroy the value of a (currently and consistently expensive) item.


Icemage

[Armando]

Re: V-Cloak, Worth It?

Verm Cloak is now 15 million on Midgard @_@

[bikkebakke]

Re: V-Cloak, Worth It?

damn gil buyers...

[Icemage]

Re: V-Cloak, Worth It?

Verm Cloak is now 15 million on Midgard @_@

Is it? I hadn't looked in the past few months. Last I knew it was in the high 6-7M range in the summer - amazing what a few months will do to the price of items. @.@...


Icemage