Is the best gear a standard now?

[Oracle]

I've been playing FFXI for about 4 years now and I've always felt pressured to get the best of the best gear that is available for that job level. Now that I'm starting a new character, I'm wondering if I should really put so much emphasis on gear, and just worry about my "skill"? By skill, I mean the ability to perform various types of cognitive or behavioral activity effectively and even more so under pressure. Is FFXI meant to be played with a mediocre outlook on what a job should wear?

Let me give some info on my new character, Winters; he is focusing on most of the mage classes (excluding smn, blu for now). He is wearing everything that he can quest/buy with gil or conquest points. He cooks what he finds which is at the moment, grilled hare. He has done most of the quests in Bastok he could possible do with level 2 fame and only being a level 20 character. This means that he has gear in every slot... and stays mostly up to date, but +1 stuff is pretty much dismissed as an unnecessary expense. I have this theory that +1 stuff is pretty much pointless until endgame,
but this is coming from a minimalist.

My gear from top left to bottom right;

Decurion's Hammer/Maple Shield/Bonze's Circlet/Onyx earringx2/Doublet/Battle gloves/Empress band/Bastokan ring/ Brais/Gaiters

My dune parties seem to vary on weather or not they know what they are doing... I'm still rusty with near deaths and what not, but I haven't had a single character die while I'm healing.

Feedback would be lovely.

 

[neophytal]

skill > gear -- however, your skill can't make your character better than what your gear has.

so really.. uh... skill>gear but gear > * as far as character ability. i've seen characters with great gear that just sucked, and ones with not as good of gear outperform. however, two skilled players, better gear wins.

 

[Ruffyreborn]

Depends on who you talk to.

To me, as long as your gear slightly enhances what your job is supposed to be doing, then thats fine with me. I consider that to be standard.

But to a lot of other people, standard gear is the 'hard to obtain' gear, which takes lots and lots of time and/or patience, so to them, youre gimp, no matter how hard or often you try to get that desired piece of gear.

I have mediocre gear, and I know 100% I outperform a lot of other players, just because I know how to play my jobs effectively, and how to prepare for where I exp at

But anyway, Best Gear is a luxury, not a standard, despite what anyone says

 

[Negorissimo]

Using the best gear needs to be a standard for everyone and Neo has a point there when he says equally matched players stand apart by who has better gear. ^^

 

[jamal]

I've been playing FFXI for about 4 years now and I've always felt pressured to get the best of the best gear that is available for that job level. Now that I'm starting a new character, I'm wondering if I should really put so much emphasis on gear, and just worry about my "skill"? By skill, I mean the ability to perform various types of cognitive or behavioral activity effectively and even more so under pressure. Is FFXI meant to be played with a mediocre outlook on what a job should wear?

Let me give some info on my new character, Winters; he is focusing on most of the mage classes (excluding smn, blu for now). He is wearing everything that he can quest/buy with gil or conquest points. He cooks what he finds which is at the moment, grilled hare. He has done most of the quests in Bastok he could possible do with level 2 fame and only being a level 20 character. This means that he has gear in every slot... and stays mostly up to date, but +1 stuff is pretty much dismissed as an unnecessary expense. I have this theory that +1 stuff is pretty much pointless until endgame,
but this is coming from a minimalist.

My gear from top left to bottom right;

Decurion's Hammer/Maple Shield/Bonze's Circlet/Onyx earringx2/Doublet/Battle gloves/Empress band/Bastokan ring/ Brais/Gaiters

My dune parties seem to vary on weather or not they know what they are doing... I'm still rusty with near deaths and what not, but I haven't had a single character die while I'm healing.

Feedback would be lovely.

Read this thread, ignoring the comments of the mediocres. There's a vicious cycle of people telling others its ok not to spend time to get needed gear...and frankly, I'd hate for you to fall into their cycle and be arguing with me one day.
http://www.qcdn.org/ffxi/showthread.php?p=722667#post722667

 

[Soujiro]

Player skill is very important in this game. Many of us have seen great players leave the game and someone else inherit their characters and you can see the difference in skill like night and day immediately. Like Neo said though, it's not everything.

You need to realize that a large amount of your performance is based on math being done based on your stats. If you are a lvl 37nin you are not going to evade more hits than someone who has +20 evasion over you simply based on your player skill. Your player skill is not going to make you hit mobs more than a war that has +25 acc over you. Your blm is not going to outnuke another that has +10 MAB more than you. There are alot of things where player skill plays virtually no role whatsoever.

As far as HQ gear goes, I've always believed that it has more of an impact at lower levels than at higher simply because proportionally it's more of an increase since the lower level you are the lower your base stats are. If you have a base 20 STR then +1 is going to be more noticible than if it's a base of 75. If you have a base MP pool of 90 then +10 is going to be more beneficial than if your base is 1100. Also note that usually the HQ gear for lower levels isn't that much more expensive and when you outlevel it you simply sell it back and most of the time you will get what you paid for it or more.

A large amount of the best gear you can get is not going to be found on the AH either. It's not exactly free since time isn't free but if you are playing a MMO then you probably have more than an hour per week to put into it. Yes, ultimately this is a video game and you should have fun with it. Just like anything else you do though, if you half-ass it then it will show.

On a side note, is it just me or does anyone else find it weird when people talk about their characters in the 3rd person like it's a real person who is someone else? You're controlling the character, it's not a seperate life form.

 

[Myrrh]

There is a difference between "best gear", "okay gear", and "I spent a total of 10k on all my gear"

Most people are happy with the middle one. But a lot of it is players skill. Hell the last 4 days showed me how stupid people can really be.

 

[Garvin]

"Okay" gear will do, something level appropriate that boosts relevant stats. Personally, I will strive for the best gear I can possibly obtain, even if it means a little extra work, balancing of finances, or what have you.

In other words, if you're actually putting forth effort, you're doing it right. By attempting to do your best overall at a job, gear will follow.

 

[jamal]

"Okay" gear will do, something level appropriate that boosts relevant stats. Personally, I will strive for the best gear I can possibly obtain, even if it means a little extra work, balancing of finances, or what have you.

In other words, if you're actually putting forth effort, you're doing it right. By attempting to do your best overall at a job, gear will follow.

I think this is what I've been trying to say for two days now. My very little patience for people that are defending coasting through a job made me think too hard, you phrased it really well.

 

[Garvin]

I think this is what I've been trying to say for two days now. My very little patience for people that are defending coasting through a job made me think too hard, you phrased it really well.

I'm not sure I agree with your standards (at least from the other thread), especially for a first job, but the idea remains: Boosting appropriate stats is good. Boosting appropriate stats more is more gooder. Coasting is doubleplus ungood, for anyone and any job.

Skill is important as well as gear, but a truly skilled player will also see what is good equipment and attempt to get it as well. It's iffy, and the semantics of "necessary" vs "must-have" can be argued back and forth till everyone is blue in the face, but if you're putting forth a good effort, you're probably going along the right path. I say just stick with that thought and you'll do fine, no matter the job.

 

[Arctyrael]

I've got 2.25 jobs that can use staves, so I got the HQ staves. (BLM/SMN/WHM)

Other than that, HQ gear like Amemet +1 is definitely worth it, where as Zenith Mitts vs. Zenith Mitts +1 is definitely not.

 

[Rappa]

Honestly, what I would do if I were making a brand new character that was a mage:

-Level cooking to 25 or so. This is cheap and you can actually make a profit if you do it right.
-With cooking at 25, start cranking out Insect Balls. The ingredients are totally dirt cheap.
-Obtain either a yew or a hume fishing rod and fish the hell out of moat carp. 3k a stack and you can easily get 8-10 stacks a day in a minimal amount of time (a couple hours)

Now, there are a few reasons you did the above. Insect Balls cap at lvl 29 cooking. Pineapple Juice caps at lvl 30 cooking, so now as a mage you have a convenient and easy to craft source of refresh even at lower levels. I wouldn't break it out for a shitty pt, but if you're in a great one then go to town refreshing yourself for better xp. The moat carp you sell will finance everything you need at lower levels with ease outside of astral rings which I honestly don't consider important or really all that necessary.

Also, you want to get your hands on a Pilgrim's Wand. It's a 100% rare/ex drop from an nm bird in West Sarutabaruta that no one camps. It's like a baby Dark Staff that every mage job can use until lvl 51. It's free, and it's amazingly good for a mage.

 

[Vilurum]

There is a difference between "best gear", "okay gear", and "I spent a total of 10k on all my gear"

QFT. Aim for at least the middle one, and if you're really feeling gung-ho (and especially if you already have one job at 75 and can presumably use that in a variety of ways to make money or get rare/ex items), aim for the first one. The third one is more or less unacceptable, and generally translates to "level less, make money more".

What's more up for debate really, is what items fall into what categories.

 

[jamal]

Honestly, what I would do if I were making a brand new character that was a mage:

-Level cooking to 25 or so. This is cheap and you can actually make a profit if you do it right.
-With cooking at 25, start cranking out Insect Balls. The ingredients are totally dirt cheap.
-Obtain either a yew or a hume fishing rod and fish the hell out of moat carp. 3k a stack and you can easily get 8-10 stacks a day in a minimal amount of time (a couple hours)

Now, there are a few reasons you did the above. Insect Balls cap at lvl 29 cooking. Pineapple Juice caps at lvl 30 cooking, so now as a mage you have a convenient and easy to craft source of refresh even at lower levels. I wouldn't break it out for a shitty pt, but if you're in a great one then go to town refreshing yourself for better xp. The moat carp you sell will finance everything you need at lower levels with ease outside of astral rings which I honestly don't consider important or really all that necessary.

Also, you want to get your hands on a Pilgrim's Wand. It's a 100% rare/ex drop from an nm bird in West Sarutabaruta that no one camps. It's like a baby Dark Staff that every mage job can use until lvl 51. It's free, and it's amazingly good for a mage.

I was thinking about money making strategies over lunch...and something I've yet to find is a gardener who uses me directly. I've had 5 goldsmith's make offers to craft beads, but no one has offered to work out a deal for supplying me with ores. I've had people offer them once in a while, but nothing where I could count on a regular amount coming in at certain intervals. If you talk with my goldsmith, you know my tips aren't dependant on failure or success during the craft.
I'm sure there are a ton of crafters out there who would love to have a steady supply of materials they use on a regular basis, for AH price - tax outside the WW'rs as well. Its guaranteed income, they can tell you when not to farm because they're building a surplus, and if you do end up with extras and clear it with the crafter, you can still make money by then AHing the rest.
This will reduce the headaches of undercutting as soon as you put something up, so having to resell time and time again.
Note: This idea was in the Brady Games guide if I remember correctly too, just thought of that while typing it up lol

 

[Morwen]

I think this is actually a pretty good experiment.

Personally, I always strive for the best. I will get 'okay' for the time being and then work upwards. That is what I did with my BLM, it was my first job to 75. I upgraded where I could (prices were horrendous back then) and got multiple equip for certain slots to swap out (macros are my friends). With the other jobs I've leveled I've done my absolute best to maximize all potential in gear and otherwise.

It all comes down to personal preference I believe. You can merit the crap out of yourself at 75 and still have the OK gear and that's fine by me as long as you can keep up with your surroundings and do your job correctly.

 

[Oracle]

Honestly, what I would do if I were making a brand new character that was a mage:

-Level cooking to 25 or so. This is cheap and you can actually make a profit if you do it right.
-With cooking at 25, start cranking out Insect Balls. The ingredients are totally dirt cheap.
-Obtain either a yew or a hume fishing rod and fish the hell out of moat carp. 3k a stack and you can easily get 8-10 stacks a day in a minimal amount of time (a couple hours)

Now, there are a few reasons you did the above. Insect Balls cap at lvl 29 cooking. Pineapple Juice caps at lvl 30 cooking, so now as a mage you have a convenient and easy to craft source of refresh even at lower levels. I wouldn't break it out for a shitty pt, but if you're in a great one then go to town refreshing yourself for better xp. The moat carp you sell will finance everything you need at lower levels with ease outside of astral rings which I honestly don't consider important or really all that necessary.

Also, you want to get your hands on a Pilgrim's Wand. It's a 100% rare/ex drop from an nm bird in West Sarutabaruta that no one camps. It's like a baby Dark Staff that every mage job can use until lvl 51. It's free, and it's amazingly good for a mage.

Great idea! I'm already level 2 cooking by stuff I just come by! Pilgrim's Wand is annoying ;-;' But I'm working on it asap. I'm also after the fasting ring.

 

[Khajit]

I wouldnt mind helping you on that bird. I get bored pretty fast and destroying half a zone sounds fun. I was gonna suggest to ya to solo it earlier on but i kept on forgetting to hit the "post" button. My whm did it at 17. you can do it too!

 

[Aaleel]

There's a distinct difference between grinding through the game until you have pretty much everything and not wanting to do that stuff anymore when you're barely playing the game, and coasting through the entire game while you're leveling new jobs.

But apparently to some people on the game you have to be working to get the best of everything at all times or you shouldn't be playing at all.

 

[Celvantes]

Skill > Gear, however...

There should be a "sanity check" involved when making the call about whether to level vs whether to farm longer to get better gear before you level. Some things are worth the time, and others aren't. For instance:

Getting all +1 stuff for the dunes is not smart. Considering one's ability to earn money at that point in the game, the cost (at least when I was going through) was not worth the benefit of one more defense in an armor slot.

As you leave the dunes, however, this changes. I spent a week (as a level 15 THF for my 20 WAR main) farming Quadav Backplates because I knew I'd need Beetle Armor and later Chainmail for Qufim and the jungles respectively. It was hard work for a new player, but I got 50k (a fortune to me back then), and I was able to show up to Qufim with good gear. It separated me from everyone else looking for party and helped me get through those levels faster. For these levels, +1s aren't critical, but current gear is a must. People that show up in lv 10 gear to Qufim are basically saying they don't care.

When I hit 30 WAR for the first time, I outfitted myself with some Centurion gear (substituting Royal Squire pieces where stats made sense for a tank). But before I went back to exping, SE released an update that contained the Eisen/Kampf gear set.

Wow. The gear was better than anything else I'd seen, and moreover, I saw that it would last me a *long* time. Some pieces coudn't even be improved upon until AF. Here's where I made the decision to put my levelling on hold in favor of getting better gear. It took me a week of *very* long days doing nothing but mining, but eventually I raised 300k (more than I had ever seen before that point) to buy a full set of Kampf (Eisen +1) gear. It was the best investment I ever made because the gear lasted me through 7 levels of WAR and 11 levels of PLD (as a full set - I kept the hands/legs until 50 and the feet until AF). I *still* have pieces of that armor today for capped missions.

Is it absolutely critical that you put off levelling for the "best" gear? No, but there are cases when doing so makes a HUGE improvement to your character. As a DD, should you get a Peacock Charm when you can first equip it as a new player? No, but you should take a break and earn the gil for 2x Sniper's Rings because getting that accuracy at 40 makes a HUGE difference.

A lot of people who play this game don't realize that.

Aside from linchpin items (i.e. Gluttony Sword for the PLD), the rest of your gear, imo, should really be decided on how much bang you get for your buck. In my own case, dropping 180k (a lot at the time) on two Verve Rings was worth the added VIT. Dropping more than three times that on Verve Ring +1s would have been a waste because the added def didn't make that much of a difference.

Like most things in this game, there's not a clear line. Wear gear that makes sense, and is upgraded so that you can do your job well. While skill > gear, there is a point where even the most skilled player can't make up for crappy gear that they're wearing. And truth be told - skilled players normally don't put themselves in that position in the first place.

 

[Lanien]

I was thinking about money making strategies over lunch...and something I've yet to find is a gardener who uses me directly. I've had 5 goldsmith's make offers to craft beads, but no one has offered to work out a deal for supplying me with ores. I've had people offer them once in a while, but nothing where I could count on a regular amount coming in at certain intervals. If you talk with my goldsmith, you know my tips aren't dependant on failure or success during the craft.
I'm sure there are a ton of crafters out there who would love to have a steady supply of materials they use on a regular basis, for AH price - tax outside the WW'rs as well. Its guaranteed income, they can tell you when not to farm because they're building a surplus, and if you do end up with extras and clear it with the crafter, you can still make money by then AHing the rest.
This will reduce the headaches of undercutting as soon as you put something up, so having to resell time and time again.
Note: This idea was in the Brady Games guide if I remember correctly too, just thought of that while typing it up lol

I used to do that when I was still playing. I actually had guides up on GameFaqs on how to properly garden since that was the biggest money making craft. There was actually one point in time where Ice Staff plummeted in price because the harvest came out ridiculously expensive and the JP I was selling all my ore too decided to put up all the staves at once like an idiot, therefore single-handedly destroying ice ore as a means to get profit.

However, the idea is a great one that will help to stabilize prices of ore, beads, and staves, but no one has really done that to my knowledge since I used to do it. I had at one point 50 plants going at once, and could almost always pop at least 15-20 out each time.


And as far as the OP, go for the best for every slot. Everyone will like you more and you will being your job to its maximum potential unless you just totally suck. Gear doesn't make the character, but gear takes the character to the next step beyond skill.