**OFFICIAL** FFXIV:ARR Thread

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PowerYoga

Diamond Member
Nov 6, 2001
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Once you hit 1 star and 2 star items you won't wish that. 80% chance on a hasty touch is still prone to multiple unlucky failures, and you basically NEED ingenuity or you can forget about getting past 15% HQ rate. Highest I've hit with almost every cross-class skill available is about 90% HQ rate, which I'm not comfortable with.
 

darkewaffle

Diamond Member
Oct 7, 2005
8,152
1
81
Eh, even 2star stuff is pretty easy at this point. The decision to make it so that the 2star base material is first crafted into an 80 dura component and then into the 80 dura item (true for most items at least) itself is pretty clearly intended to give you multiple 'chances' to HQ, since if you get one then the next one comes that much easier. Even then NQing the material is usually inconsequential as the end product items typically have multiple other components and the value of the 2star mat is not significantly greater than the others.

Certain items, basically those equipped on the right side of the character sheet, will sometimes be crafted directly from the 2star mat. But again, other components give you enough base quality to work off often and ultimately HQing the mat itself is not too troublesome with the right skills at your disposal.
 
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PowerYoga

Diamond Member
Nov 6, 2001
4,603
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You'd need some pretty good equipment for that though, or at least a few good HQ pieces with good materia slotted. When you have some of the best gear, I'd say it shouldn't be difficult to HQ stuff.
 

darkewaffle

Diamond Member
Oct 7, 2005
8,152
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Well, while that's true the stat requirements necessary for even attempting 2star crafts kind of implies that you have that to some degree anyway. 347 craftsmanship is more than enough to complete the mats in a single Standard Synthesis with Ingenuity (I think, I tend to use Ing2 just because I cbf swapping skills that much) and the items themselves can be completed in 2-3 swings. And between my most well equipped craft and my least equipped, I'm still able to HQ easily.

I think LW is up to like 356 control because I severely overestimated how much I would need for reliable HQs but on the classes I equipped after that, I'm working with like... 330ish control? Which is good, but only 12 more than the base requirement; nothing astronomical. I guess the biggest caveat however is that I am able to hit the stat requirements without food, freeing me up to use CP food which I really like doing.
 

PowerYoga

Diamond Member
Nov 6, 2001
4,603
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I would probably pick crafting back up this weekend. I'm kinda tired of doing 6 leves a night and then running out, so I stopped to let it accumulate so I can level my paladin.

What's the general procedure for lvl 50s? Do Wanderer's Palace for the weapon and some gear, and then farm CM for darklight before heading to ifrit?
 

tedrodai

Golden Member
Jan 18, 2006
1,014
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Heck, even if i did sell all my excess gear, I'd probably still be pretty short on what I need for 2 of those things. I'm going to have farm some money somehow if I want the artifact weapon, for sure.
<snip>
...but, seriously, this is what I don't like about end game for mmo's. Doing the same thing over and over again, forever and ever.

And considering that I have to wait anywhere from 15-45 minutes for 1 run...I have lost all motivation :\

I feel ya lol. I tend to enjoy them up until the end-game grind...some of which is fun, but the sheer amount of runs you have to do can be mind-numbing, and it starts to feel like a waste of time no matter the in game 'rewards'.

Anyways, if you manage to get a little more motivation, I wouldn't suggest aiming to purchase full darklight. A couple of people here have already mentioned that darklight sometimes isn't much better than some of the other entry-level end-game gear you can get from Wanderer's Palace & Amdapoor Keep. You can throw in some runs of WP & AK to get some upgrades, and use darklight to fill in the gaps (especially darklight accessories). Though feel free to replace some of the monk AF you hate so much first with darklight.

For weapons, the next upgrade to shoot for would be an Ifrit (ilvl60) or Garuda (ilvl70) weapon from the Hard fights. I'm guessing you can jump right into Ifrit hard without needing gear better than AF + lvl50ish weapon. Prolly want armor upgrades before Garuda Hard, but don't necessarily need another weapon upgrade.

Finally, to make some good quick gil, use your tomes to buy a few pieces of crafting mats needed for the crafted 2* recipes (like Coke, Potash, etc). Crafters need a lot of those per 2* finished product (at least 9, up to 3x that much), and they sell for good gil on the AH currently.
 

KaOTiK

Lifer
Feb 5, 2001
10,877
8
81
I would probably pick crafting back up this weekend. I'm kinda tired of doing 6 leves a night and then running out, so I stopped to let it accumulate so I can level my paladin.

What's the general procedure for lvl 50s? Do Wanderer's Palace for the weapon and some gear, and then farm CM for darklight before heading to ifrit?

At 50, generally you can get away with doing Ifrit HM probably. I'd do Wanderer's Palace once just to do it but otherwise start farming CM and buying DL. Once you get Ifrit HM weapon and maybe a couple of pieces of DL you can do AK but you might be able to get away with just a piece or two of DL (if that) since you are a Paladin since AK for a tank isn't difficult. Farm AK for your 300 mytho's a week and just continue doing CM. I'd suggest working on your relic quest as well during this time.
 
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tedrodai

Golden Member
Jan 18, 2006
1,014
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Okay, that makes sense that there's a stat limit to each item which is why adding that stat materia to the item won't produce a result. Thanks for pointing that one out!

#4 I forgot to mention Quick Synth being the point. My mistake. >.<

For the record, I HQ most of my stuff @15+, btw. Steady Hand II, Rumination, and Waste Not Want Not make for fairly consistent HQs. Ninety-five percent of my gear is as current level as possible and HQ with +control/craftsmandship/CP slotted. ;)

Yeah, at least for ilvl50ish+ items, you're generally reduced to choosing which minor stats to add rather than your major stats (str/int/etc), because all the major stats will already be present AND be at the stat cap (or very near). So you're picking whether to add crit hit rate, speed, and the like. But when the minor stat is missing from the item to begin with, you can usually add a lot of it.

And I agree, the failure rate on quick synth makes it not even worth having, imo. I hate wasting mats (including crystals), and the first time I failed a lvl5 synth as a Lv50 crafter using quick synth, I quit using it. FFS, I can hit 1 button on most recipes up into the 40's (or very near) to finish in 1 turn with 100% success rate, and it fails on a lv5 item?
 

PowerYoga

Diamond Member
Nov 6, 2001
4,603
0
0
At 50, generally you can get away with doing Ifrit HM probably. I'd do Wanderer's Palace once just to do it but otherwise start farming CM and buying DL. Once you get Ifrit HM weapon and maybe a couple of pieces of DL you can do AK but you might be able to get away with just a piece or two of DL (if that) since you are a Paladin since AK for a tank isn't difficult. Farm AK for your 300 mytho's a week and just continue doing CM. I'd suggest working on your relic quest as well during this time.

I only have a 44 sword and AF (and some lollvl38 belt), but I can have good HQ jewlery. That's still ok for ifrit? I guess the job would be to OT and stun eruptions instead? >_>
 

KaOTiK

Lifer
Feb 5, 2001
10,877
8
81
I only have a 44 sword and AF (and some lollvl38 belt), but I can have good HQ jewlery. That's still ok for ifrit? I guess the job would be to OT and stun eruptions instead? >_>

It should be. Ifrit HM is really easy. The biggest thing that will decide your outcome in that fight is 1. If you have a BLM, if you do he just LB's the shard things, or 2. If you don't have a BLM, you need good dps to destroy the 4 shard things quickly.

That is the hardest part of the fight really. The interrupts that need to be done are easy and avoiding all his aoe attacks are easy.

Watch a video to get a feel for it (I suggest this for all bosses from now on and obviously let the group know you are new, there are high chances that at least a few people have done it a few times and can tell you anything as well).

Don't jump right into Garuda HM. She is easy but you need a little gear for her as she can hit hard with one of her abilities. Otherwise the fight is a lot of moving around after you get out of the first phase.

You can work on your relic quest too, you'll need to kill the Chimera (easy, just needs 2 abilities interrupted) and Hydra (easy again). After you kill them you are sent to kill the HM primals, so might as well just get those other 2 I named done before dealing if Ifrit to start with.

If you are in an FC and have members that are already running AK and such and are geared, they can carry you through AK pretty easily. 2 relic DPS in AK will tear that place up and make the tanks and healers job easy. I do my AK runs with my FC and I spent most my time DPS'n as a WHM in there lol
 

PowerYoga

Diamond Member
Nov 6, 2001
4,603
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alrighty, sounds like the thing to do is to start off the relic while fleshing out the rest of my gear... looked up the guide and it's a long drawn out process. Will focus on trying out ifrit HM and wanderer's keep while I flesh out the various pieces that need to be upgraded. I already have like 200 stones from running AV and other random places, so I think I will be able to get the belt upgrade fairly quickly. :D
 

KIAman

Diamond Member
Mar 7, 2001
3,342
23
81
I couldn't play for couple days so I logged in this morning to see if I needed to refill my retainers, felt so nice to come into 300,000 gil. Refilled 20/20 on my retainers and logged out.

To whoever said they were low on gil, I was in the same boat. I got to 50 on my DRG and Carpenter at the same time and I had around 20k gil total. I couldn't even buy my AF carpenter stuff I was so poor.

Here are some BIG money making tips. Fleece, boarskin, diremite web are easily farmable and sell for 400-800 each on my server (Gilgamesh).

Also, see if you can get cheap (less than 3k gil) lvl 46+ jewlry on the AH and BUY THOSE UP!!! You wear those and grind out fates and then convert them to material and sell them.

Just those 2 alone, if you put in 2 hours a day into it, you'll easily have over 250k in a week. Easily!

GL, HF. Come to my server and join my FC, we all help each other out. :)

http://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodestone/character/2834114/
 

TheUnk

Golden Member
Jun 24, 2005
1,810
0
71
I couldn't play for couple days so I logged in this morning to see if I needed to refill my retainers, felt so nice to come into 300,000 gil. Refilled 20/20 on my retainers and logged out.

To whoever said they were low on gil, I was in the same boat. I got to 50 on my DRG and Carpenter at the same time and I had around 20k gil total. I couldn't even buy my AF carpenter stuff I was so poor.

Here are some BIG money making tips. Fleece, boarskin, diremite web are easily farmable and sell for 400-800 each on my server (Gilgamesh).

Also, see if you can get cheap (less than 3k gil) lvl 46+ jewlry on the AH and BUY THOSE UP!!! You wear those and grind out fates and then convert them to material and sell them.

Just those 2 alone, if you put in 2 hours a day into it, you'll easily have over 250k in a week. Easily!

GL, HF. Come to my server and join my FC, we all help each other out. :)

http://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodestone/character/2834114/

2 hours a day of doing AK or CM can net you a lot more than 250k a week
 

tedrodai

Golden Member
Jan 18, 2006
1,014
1
0
5 CM runs a week would net over 250k on my server. Legacy server though, so prices may be different. 75k a pop for the best selling 2* mat.
 

KaOTiK

Lifer
Feb 5, 2001
10,877
8
81
As a fresh 50? Goodluck getting a CM or AK speedrun group. So in 2 hours you get 1, maybe 2 runs per day.

Everyone speed runs CM in DF now almost. Even a "long" run is fast. I don't know about on your server, but on mine tomes mats sell for 40k a pop.
 

PowerYoga

Diamond Member
Nov 6, 2001
4,603
0
0
Sold a bunch of materia yesterday for about 200k, plus a bunch of HQ low-level things that nobody longer makes as part of their leveling process. I know I hated it when I didn't see any mythril mortars on sale when I was lvling alc... :D

Ran wanderer's palace twice yesterday. First group was new, but they were terrible. On the slime the healer didn't cast esuna once, we kept wiping because there was no AOE dps, and one of the slimes would gravity someone and that shit never gets cleansed off so nobody can kite, and our DPS kept dying because they'd get gravitied and then targeted by the slimes. Wiped until we had 10 minutes left, then it drops 2 DOW pieces that nobody can use. Wipe on tonberry king because DPS was way too low.

Second run was smooth as butter: 1 shot every single boss, speed pull everything, done in 35 minutes. Boss drops a bow.... when there's no bards in the group.

this is why I like crafting for crap instead of relying on RNG...
 

TheUnk

Golden Member
Jun 24, 2005
1,810
0
71
Second run was smooth as butter: 1 shot every single boss, speed pull everything, done in 35 minutes. Boss drops a bow.... when there's no bards in the group.

this is why I like crafting for crap instead of relying on RNG...

I don't mind RNG, but this is one thing they need to change. They just need look at the party makeup and exclude items that can't be used.
 

KaOTiK

Lifer
Feb 5, 2001
10,877
8
81
I don't mind RNG, but this is one thing they need to change. They just need look at the party makeup and exclude items that can't be used.

No thank you. A lot of people do runs to get stuff for their other class/job they are leveling. When we do AK runs in my FC we all pass on gear that others want for their other jobs they are leveling. I also like going back to older dungeons to get gear for my alt and queue as a healer since the dps queues are so damn long.
 

KIAman

Diamond Member
Mar 7, 2001
3,342
23
81
Ahh I see what you guys are saying about making money on the runs. On my server, the 125 tome mats sell for 25-30k a piece.

The level 3 crafting material sells for 10k-25k a piece depending on which. With 5 pieces of Jewelry spirit bonding in a fate group for 1 hour, you have the potential to make 50k-125k minus expenses and tax.

Food for thought.

Edit: Grade IV material selling for 200k, those are from iLVL 55 stuff. :)
 

darkewaffle

Diamond Member
Oct 7, 2005
8,152
1
81
No thank you. A lot of people do runs to get stuff for their other class/job they are leveling. When we do AK runs in my FC we all pass on gear that others want for their other jobs they are leveling. I also like going back to older dungeons to get gear for my alt and queue as a healer since the dps queues are so damn long.

Yeah, I've got a bunch of WP and AK gear ready for my Warrior which is quite convenient.

What they could stand to work on though is the Need/Greed system. You should be able to switch your roll from Greed to Pass and the Needing restrictions could be loosened up a little bit.

Also lifting any need/greed restrictions entirely when in a pre-made group would be nice.
 

redrider4life4

Senior member
Jan 23, 2009
246
0
0
All my friends who started playing have quit, they enjoyed it at first, but the lack of character response and shoddy hit boxes during boss fights forced them back to WoW after quitting for 2 years (WoTLK).
 

PowerYoga

Diamond Member
Nov 6, 2001
4,603
0
0
No thank you. A lot of people do runs to get stuff for their other class/job they are leveling. When we do AK runs in my FC we all pass on gear that others want for their other jobs they are leveling. I also like going back to older dungeons to get gear for my alt and queue as a healer since the dps queues are so damn long.

Yeah but it's really annoying when I have 3 marauder axes, a pugalist fist, 3 DOW helms/gauntlets/leggings and just 1 piece of tank armor to show for the number of times i've run some of these dungeons. Seriously RNG is possibly the worst mechanic in any game, right after low drop rates because it removes skill and hardwork and rewards random luck. At least I'm getting tomes which I can use to buy crap and I can craft my pre-relic weapon.
 

pathos

Senior member
Aug 12, 2009
461
0
0
Well, I was running 1 CM a night, and decided to bust a few out tonight. Got 4 before I called it quits.

Such a varied night for dungeon runs. First one, 1 of our tanks was either new, or didn't want to speed run, so we were killing everything. Managed to get all the cannons killed with a few of the big mobs left, and someone managed to aggro the last boss, and lock the room with only 3 of us in it.

Me, and dragoon, and a healer finished the first phase by ourselves. Crazy. Fortunately, the room opened up after that, so we didn't have to try a 3 man final phase :D

The 2nd run, we did pretty well, but had some new people. they did ok

3rd and 4th run's were very business like. In and out with minimal effort. Very fast.

Got me within 75 points of buying a peice of visible armor, but I broke down and bought a ring and wrist. I'm going to buy another ring after 2 more runs (if it will let me, I know I can't buy another savage ring, but I think it will let me buy a maim ring, maybe?).

After that, i'll definately save up for the pants/shirt/boots/gloves before I finish off the accessories though. I'm not getting any hp's out of the accessories, so not edging me closer to the 3.3k rule for the primals I hear so often.