**OFFICIAL** FFXIV:ARR Thread

[PowerYoga]

all (?) the DOH level quests: useful if you want to hawk the market boards for some mats.

http://www.bluegartr.com/threads/118234-DoH-DoL-Class-Quests

 

[pontifex]

I can't remember any mmorpgs where any instants are not on a cooldown. Even in wow stuff like shield bash/kick/interrupting stuff is still affected by the GCD. It's just the GCD might be shorter (.5 seconds in wow i think) so that you don't really notice it. But there's no game where everything's instant, since that results in you making one single macro and spamming the shit out of it to hit every single ability at once. There's always some sort of limiting factor, like animation or a GCD or a built in GCD that you don't notice.

Check your abilities, you'll notice most self-buffs are off the GCD but they're somewhat limited by animation. (0.5 seconds is what I count)

i never said instants were not on a cooldown, i said they were on a different cool down timer. like as soon as i cast a non instant spell, i could cast an instant spell. I didn't have to wait for the cooldown timer on the non-instant before i could cast an instant.

 

[pontifex]

The more I play this game the less I like it and start realizing it's just a very watered down version of SWTOR, even at release.

There are only 2 things I can see that FFXIV has done better. One is the Duty Finder, SWTOR didn't have anything like that at release (does it now?). Second is the multiple jobs on 1 character. However, this feature is severely crippled IMO due to the awful lack of efficient methods to level additional jobs. FATE trains? No thanks.

Probably crafting too, but not all that interested in that myself so I can't say.

It has inspired me to load up SWTOR again though. From the looks of it they moved me to another server, the only reason I quit in the first place was the ghost town my server became. I imagine there is a boat load more content added since I quit too.

I agree that not having a way to level the multiple classes besides grinding, leves, hunter logs, and fates is dumb.

 

[TheUnk]

I agree that not having a way to level the multiple classes besides grinding, leves, hunter logs, and fates is dumb.

Rewards from leves are extremely low. Hunter logs you'll be lucky to get 1 level out of.

 

[PowerYoga]

i never said instants were not on a cooldown, i said they were on a different cool down timer. like as soon as i cast a non instant spell, i could cast an instant spell. I didn't have to wait for the cooldown timer on the non-instant before i could cast an instant.

You're gonna have to give some examples here. In wow, I don't honestly remember if "emergency" CDs like shield wall, bubble, divine intervention, etc or whatever are on a separate CD of their own, and Tera is similar but you're mostly dodging and blocking and timing those abilities so I never relaly noticed.

All I know is in FF14 if you do a weapon skill, you won't be able to pop abilities until that gcd wears off and then you can pop as many in a row as you like without waiting for the GCD.

And I've mentioned this before: this cooldown is a mechanic that is affected by the game later on, like slow, +weapon skill speed and whatever.

And what else are you expecting when you're lvling your 2nd or 3rd class? I think something like the adventurers logs like in FF11 (repeatable quests... which are kinda like leves I guess) would be nice for each zone.

You can also run dungeons or guildhests, but that may be a problem for DPS classes.

 

[tedrodai]

This game is so damn aggravating at times. Where the hell is the broken weapon to start the relic quest? I talked to Gerolt and finished the main storyline quest, but I cant find any broken weapon in u'ghamaro mines. Pissing me off to no end.

You have to kill beastmen there. It's a random drop. I'm not sure if there's specific beastmen in the area you have to kill...I couldn't find info that specific on a cursory google search. It might also require you to be on the job you're questing for while trying to get the drop--that's an educated guess though. I quit 1.0 before the relic quest was out and haven't started it yet in AAR.

 

[TheUnk]

And what else are you expecting when you're lvling your 2nd or 3rd class? I think something like the adventurers logs like in FF11 (repeatable quests... which are kinda like leves I guess) would be nice for each zone.

You can also run dungeons or guildhests, but that may be a problem for DPS classes.

I would totally be happy doing dungeons, but once you get 1 level above the mobs then the exp rate is horrible.

Other games leveling an alt isn't a problem usually because the quests have all reset.

 

[PowerYoga]

I would totally be happy doing dungeons, but once you get 1 level above the mobs then the exp rate is horrible.

Other games leveling an alt isn't a problem usually because the quests have all reset.

I was getting 400~ a pop (700~ with rested exp) in brayflox's on my 37 gld (synced down to 34 because of dungeon limitations), I wouldn't consider that bad by any means especially when you're running mostly for loot. I actually want the exp rate to be lower so I wouldn't be too over leveled for my next destination, but I want the full calvalry set, so...

But fate grinding is by far the fastest. Get a group of people, tag, and get infinite chains for massive exp. fate grinds are the reason why people have multiple 50s by now, and it's not even a month into the game yet.

 

[robvp]

i gotta say i havent gotten in the fate train yet, mostly by not having a chocobo license until last week and spending all weekend in storyline quests and crafting.


Edit: digital sales have resumed according to the ffxiv facebook

 

[darkewaffle]

I agree that not having a way to level the multiple classes besides grinding, leves, hunter logs, and fates is dumb.

Personally that seems like a pretty good breadth of options, particularly when you take dungeons into account lol. Though battle leves are a waste, yes. But you also get a pretty massive XP bonus for kills/fates while levelling alt classes (provided you have a 50 (?)), I've not found levelling my alts to be bad at all, though they're still only 20something while I focus on crafting. Ultimately though quests were never particularly great XP I found; at least at higher levels. You're looking at 500k XP per level and the max reward for a quest is like 12/13k.

And that guide is basically how I've been crafting all along (except I use Great Strides > Byregots Blessing rather than repeated ruminations and touches), at least after I obtained more of the sub abilities. I don't agree with his Waste Not / Manipulation analysis however. Looking at the abilities measured strictly by CP per Durability is missing what makes Waste Not so good, it's increase to your actions per durability (and is far less CP expensive while doing so). So Manipulation would let me perform 3 more actions at the cost of 30 durability and 88 CP. Waste Not lets me perform 4 more actions at the cost of 20 durability (or 3 at the cost of 10) and 56 CP.

Neither is perfect for all situations (extremely low durability scenarios is when Manipulation is more useful) but I find that Waste Not is far superior. Though his approach of cycling rumination may necessitate durability restoration, I almost never use any of them.

 

[tedrodai]

I'm pretty sure +skill speed reduces it by some factor, not sure what though. +8 skill speed made a noticible dent in my GCD, like .25 seconds or some such. But i'm sure it hits diminishing returns.

edit:

great guide for crafters and harvesters.

http://www.reddit.com/r/ffxiv/comments/1mh6um/crafting_guidetheorycrafting_dont_let_crafters/
http://www.bluegartr.com/threads/118238-DoH-DoL-Leves-Dyes-Material-Tiers

I agree, that crafting guide is pretty good. It's almost exactly what I worked out, except having access to the Lv50 abilities gives you some better options (as you'd expect).

The 1 thing I'd disagree on is Waste Not vs Manipulation, at least for the 1st use of Waste Not. 5 durability left over at the end gives you the same # of turns as 10, so you're always free to waste 1 turn during that 1st use of Waste Not. He even mentions that but still declares Manipulation should always be used instead of Waste Not when you have the CP.

Manipulation buys you 3 turns. Waste Not buys up to 2 turns. TotT can possibly show up twice for each buff, so if you use TotT every time it shows up:

0 TotT
Manipulation = 88CP / 3 turns = 29.3 CP / turn
Waste Not = 56CP / 2 turns = 28 CP / turn

1 TotT
Manipulation = 88CP - 20 CP / 3 turns = 22.7 CP / turn
Waste Not = 56CP - 20 CP / 2 turns = 18 CP / turn

2 TotT
Manipulation = 88CP - 40CP / 3 turns = 16 CP / turn
Waste not = 56CP - 40CP / 1 turn = 16 CP / turn

Therefore, that 1st use of Waste Not is always at least as efficient as Manipulation or better. And it gives you the option between +20 CP or (an extra turn of +50% quality) if that 2nd TotT shows up.

 

[PowerYoga]

I use waste not only 40 DUR synths, I just don't have the CP to burn through everything else. I'll try this method on alchemist crafts now that I got advanced touch on it. I'm sorely lacking lvl 40 gear for him and this really helps.

Speaking of which, I tried making an cook's apron (or whatever) the other day and failed miserably at it. Lighting sparks coming out and rapid synth only yielded a pitiful 25 progress?!

Wasted a perfectly good crystal and a few HQ mats, I thought I could just blast through it like the other crafts. Any idea how to deal with those conditions?

 

[tedrodai]

I use waste not only 40 DUR synths, I just don't have the CP to burn through everything else.

Yeah same...on 70+ dura recipes, I just use Master's Mend II. Kinda funny dark and I were tryin to comment on that same topic at the same time lol. He beat me to it while I was on the reply page.

Speaking of which, I tried making an cook's apron (or whatever) the other day and failed miserably at it. Lighting sparks coming out and rapid synth only yielded a pitiful 25 progress?!

Wasted a perfectly good crystal and a few HQ mats, I thought I could just blast through it like the other crafts. Any idea how to deal with those conditions?

Vintage Chef's Apron? If you look at the Characteristics when you select the recipe, you'll see it says "Aspect: Lightning". Personally, I haven't tried any of those recipes, but from what little I've read, that's where you'll find a use for your "Brand of X" (lightning in this case, learned at Lv37 WVR) actions. All the vintage gear + some others like Dodore Doublet have an elemental affinity.

At least I think you'd use Brand of Lightning for that one...the tooltips for all the other Brand of X's say "progress is doubled when recipe affinity is X", but for lightning, it says "when affinity is wind" lol...think that's a typo and they meant lightning.

That's all the advice I can give on that one. I'm not even sure how brands work...looks like a simple progress synthesis action.

 

[Chiropteran]

Minor rant time:

Why the hell does the game let me pick up a quest, complete it, but then tells me I can't turn it in because my level is too low? It's not like I picked it up as a higher level class before switching, no it actually let me start the quest at level 8, do it, but when I try to turn it in it says the minimum level is 10.

WTF.

 

[PowerYoga]

That's all the advice I can give on that one. I'm not even sure how brands work...looks like a simple progress synthesis action.

Yeah I failed MISERABLY on that one. Like not even close to getting the thing done. I guess I'll have to get the different aspects before trying to craft them lest I fail again. The mats were not cheap to have a complete failure like that...

There's a goldsmithing skill that lets you always complete 40 progress, might have to look into spamming that one.

 

[nanobreath]

Yeah I failed MISERABLY on that one. Like not even close to getting the thing done. I guess I'll have to get the different aspects before trying to craft them lest I fail again. The mats were not cheap to have a complete failure like that...

There's a goldsmithing skill that lets you always complete 40 progress, might have to look into spamming that one.

You do not NEED the affinity skills to be able to craft those items. It only provides a faster (higher efficiency) synthesis when you use the affinity skills. The basic synthesis etc. still work just fine. Your problem is that the item is probably a higher level than you. Lets say you're level 30, and the recipe is level 35, you get a penalty to your progress on each synthesis. On top of this, the higher level a recipe is, the more progress is required to actually complete.

Read the tool tip on the skills:

Brand of Lightning:
Increases progress. Progress doubles when recipe affinity is lightning.
Efficiency: 100% (200%)
Success Rate: 90%
CP Cost: 15

Standard Synthesis:
Increases progress.
Efficiency: 150%
Success Rate: 90%
CP Cost: 15

Basic Synthesis:
Increases progress.
Efficiency: 100%
Success Rate: 90%
CP Cost: 0

As you can see, a branded synthesis is the same efficiency as basic synthesis normally, but costs 15CP. But if you match it with the appropriate affinity, you get 200% Efficiency. This makes it better than Standard synthesis for the same cost.

 

[nanobreath]

Minor rant time:

Why the hell does the game let me pick up a quest, complete it, but then tells me I can't turn it in because my level is too low? It's not like I picked it up as a higher level class before switching, no it actually let me start the quest at level 8, do it, but when I try to turn it in it says the minimum level is 10.

WTF.

I think the way they have it coded, is that as long as one of your classes is of appropriate level to do the quest, it will let you pick up the quest. This problem also occurs with levequests. If you are lvl 20, it will let you pick up lvl 25 leves as long as you have a lvl 25 class already. You can still complete (or try to complete and fail) with the lower level class.

 

[PowerYoga]

You do not NEED the affinity skills to be able to craft those items. It only provides a faster (higher efficiency) synthesis when you use the affinity skills. The basic synthesis etc. still work just fine. Your problem is that the item is probably a higher level than you. Lets say you're level 30, and the recipe is level 35, you get a penalty to your progress on each synthesis. On top of this, the higher level a recipe is, the more progress is required to actually complete.

Read the tool tip on the skills:

Brand of Lightning:
Increases progress. Progress doubles when recipe affinity is lightning.
Efficiency: 100% (200%)
Success Rate: 90%
CP Cost: 15

Standard Synthesis:
Increases progress.
Efficiency: 150%
Success Rate: 90%
CP Cost: 15

Basic Synthesis:
Increases progress.
Efficiency: 100%
Success Rate: 90%
CP Cost: 0

As you can see, a branded synthesis is the same efficiency as basic synthesis normally, but costs 15CP. But if you match it with the appropriate affinity, you get 200% Efficiency. This makes it better than Standard synthesis for the same cost.

I've crafted +3-4 level items before (and still quite often do) and I've NEVER gotten a 25 progress on a rapid synth, which is 250% efficiency. So I'm just trying to understand whether an elemental affinity lowers the normal synth progress or not, or whether the item is just way higher ILEVEL than what I was supposed to make. The item is lvl 38 to equip and I was 36 at the time, which is why I was super surprised.

Minor rant time:

Why the hell does the game let me pick up a quest, complete it, but then tells me I can't turn it in because my level is too low? It's not like I picked it up as a higher level class before switching, no it actually let me start the quest at level 8, do it, but when I try to turn it in it says the minimum level is 10.

WTF.

Any quest you can pick up you can turn in. You switched classes to one that didn't meet the level requirements. I quite often pick up quests, finish them on my pld and turn in for exp on miner.

 

[TheUnk]

Any quest you can pick up you can turn in. You switched classes to one that didn't meet the level requirements. I quite often pick up quests, finish them on my pld and turn in for exp on miner.

I don't think that is correct. I too ran into a few quests it let me pick up but not turn in, and I am pretty certain I never switched classes.

One I distinctly remember was one of those kill quests, and the quest giver was right next to the enemies I had to kill, so I had no reason to switch classes during taking the quest and walking 10' to start killing.

 

[PowerYoga]

I've never seen that, but I also never hit the limsa chunk of quests. Are you guys questing there? I have a few low level classes (< lvl5) that I can test this out with too.

I'd actually report that as a bug if it is occurring. I've already reported a fair share of bugs from beta and 2 from yesterday questing in bronze lake.

 

[darkewaffle]

I think the way they have it coded, is that as long as one of your classes is of appropriate level to do the quest, it will let you pick up the quest. This problem also occurs with levequests. If you are lvl 20, it will let you pick up lvl 25 leves as long as you have a lvl 25 class already. You can still complete (or try to complete and fail) with the lower level class.

Yeah, picking up quests is based off your highest level class. While levelling my Gladiator in Drybone he could technically pickup the level 40something quests that are available there for my archer. That actually happened to my archer a few times as well because my crafters were higher levelled than it for a while.

And any pre-50 recipe that uses a Crystal as a component is an elemental aspect craft as far as I know. I think five of the crafters get 'elemental brand' synthesis abilities which are 'super effective' against crafts of the corresponding element. However if you have 15 armorer, you can fudge it pretty effectively with Rapid Synthesis regardless of the element. There do not appear to be any of them actually at 50 however, they're pretty uncommon really and I don't even bother 'equipping' any of the elemental brands anymore.

I'm going to say that materia grade has a pretty minor, if any, effect on spirit bond. I have two pairs of items I'm comparing with different materia grades in it, one pair still have equal progress (havent used them much though) and the other pair is at 12% and 13% respectively, the former being HQ w/ 3x Grade 1 (200%) and the latter being HQ with 3x Grade 2 (200% + X%?). Maybe 10% difference or something like 3% per materia per grade perhaps? Still need to XP them up some more.

 

[robvp]

man i was hoping to get some mining exp last night but i got stuck changing the hard drive on an alienware laptop, i forgot to download the drivers/alienware crap previous to the hard drive arriving, did not expect the dell servers to be so damned slow, normally my connection caps at 1mbps, i was getting 50-90kbps from dell

hopefully tonight i get to play a bit more

 

[tedrodai]

Regarding bugs, I did the GSM class quests last night, and noticed something funky when doing the early "turn in 3 brass chokers" quest. I NQ the first, then decided to HQ the second to see if it would let me turn in HQ. After completing the second, the quest completion status popped up on screen, but it didn't increment the counter...it still said 1/3. 1 more NQ choker gave me 2/3, and I couldn't complete the quest yet. Another NQ gave me 3/3, and allowed me to turn in... But when turning in, she would accept the HQ as 1 turn in.

I'm mainly posting it here cause I'll forget to report it otherwise...was focussed on a goal last night and didn't bother.

 

[robvp]

i dont think class quests accept hq items, unless noted in the quest requirements, only leves take hq items as well as nq, class quests will tell you up front when they want you to turn in an hq item

 

[PowerYoga]

No they do. I've accidentally HQ'd stuff and handed them in, you just don't get any extra credit (sob).

I think my next goal for crafting is going to be getting culinarian to 37 so I can have steady hands 2. It's just too important for HQing stuff, and I'm not about to do my alchemist lvl 45 (with that fucking 10k pudding flesh) without every single tool at my disposal.

Might end up buying the damn potion just to be on the safe side...