Target Goals - PLD

[Alereth]

I've been a 75 PLD for a while, and i've gotten quite a bit of the stuff i've had my eyes on. For a while I was content, but now that creeping feeling of more power is starting to tug at my thoughts.

I want to build a Fast Cast / Shield Skill setup, and this is what my thoughts are:

Sword - ???
Shield - Koenig* (until I go for Aegis one day)
Head- Koenig (+shield skill)
Neck - Shield Torque (+shield skill)
Ear1 - Knight's earring* (+shield skill)
Ear2 - Loquacious earring (+fast cast)
Body - Nuevo Coselete* (+fast cast)
Hands - ???
Ring1- Defending Ring
Ring2- Jelly Ring*
Legs - Homam (+fast cast)
Back- Boxer's Mantle (+shield skill)
Belt- ???
Feet - Gallant* +1 (+shield skill)

Asterik marked are the things I already have. Obviously not having Sea access yet makes things like Homam, Boxer's and Loquacious earring out of the question at the moment.

My question is more along the lines of would this build work and be practical for everyday use?

 

[Shady]

simple answer - no

try to diversify for situational use. I.e. there's absolutely no reason to stack VIT/DEF in a meripo. Also, rule of thumb +enmity is more important than pretty much any other stat for pld so the easy answer for the belt is get a warwolf and call it a day. Sword - macahuitl+1 is good, Joyeuse is good, if you're into big game go for the one with the gold handle I'm totally forgetting the name of it atm dropped by Aht Urgan HNM I forget name of.

I used to have a macro specifically set for all my fast cast gear on pld so I could flip that, cast a spell, flip back to my tanking gear and all was good. It's a *little* dangerous to do that tho because if you flicker when you change gears your mages cant cure you so beware what gears your switching - earrings for instance is fine, main equips not so much. Just my 2 cents

 

[Alereth]

The input is very much appreciated.

Prehaps for a campaign setup? I use PLD/RDM most of the time, and with shield blocks nullifying spell interruption and casting spells faster, this seems like a great build for getting stoneskin, blink, and some other longer casting spells into place faster than other means.

 

[Nakoa]

Sword - Sinfender
Shield - Koenig
Head- Koenig
Neck - Shield Torque
Ear1 - Knight's earring
Ear2 - Loquacious earring
Body - Nuevo Coselete
Hands - dusk/askar/homam
Ring1- Defending Ring
Ring2- Jelly Ring
Legs - Homam
Feet - Glt+1/Homam/Dusk/Aurum
Back- Boxer's Mantle
Belt- swift/speed/velo.

If you're going for fastcast/shield you may as well use haste in the slots where you can't get those.

 

[Blazeoffury]

Haste + emnity should be your number one priority.

Make a seperate macro for Loq earring, and trash that jelly ring, once you get into anything big, it all casts magic, or parts of the fight plain attacks are magic. Throw the Sat ring or a herc ring on in its place, for more of an "always" ring.

Get a ritter gorget, Etheral earring/hades+1, homam/askar for feet. Homam for hands, go cerb Nq/HQ(only because theres a good possibility of you getting an HQ for not much more than a NQ if you have the craft leveld). I'd also say use Swift belt macro'd in for casting utsu, and you can put a emnity belt in its place when not casting. As for sword, get a Macahuitl+1 unless you can get your hands on a Hauteclaire.

Remember gear swaps are your friend.

 

[Alberic]

I mean this nicely, but please give up on Defending Ring--it's nigh-impossible to get except from first place in the Mog Bonanza, and Aegis is almost as bad.... I'm no PLD, but you might wanna consider more realistic shield and ring options.

 

[Alereth]

I mean this nicely, but please give up on Defending Ring--it's nigh-impossible to get except from first place in the Mog Bonanza, and Aegis is almost as bad.... I'm no PLD, but you might wanna consider more realistic shield and ring options.

Not to be rude, but that is an extremely poor attitude when estimating goals. Both those items are attainable and simply require patience and hard work.

I have no problem using Koenig shield until that time comes, nor do I hold issue with using Herc. ring and (because it will come before Defending) Sattva.

No matter how nicely you mean it, the statement "please give up on [item]" is uncalled for and insulting to a degree.

 

[LadyKiKi]

Do you camp HNM?

 

[Alberic]

Not to be rude, but that is an extremely poor attitude when estimating goals. Both those items are attainable and simply require patience and hard work.

I have no problem using Koenig shield until that time comes, nor do I hold issue with using Herc. ring and (because it will come before Defending) Sattva.

No matter how nicely you mean it, the statement "please give up on [item]" is uncalled for and insulting to a degree.

It's not rudeness, it's realism. Defending ring doesn't come with hard work and patience--it comes with luck, loads of it, the luck to get the HNM in the first place, with a group skilled enough to kill it, months (possibly years) of dedication to that group to have the points to lot it, and even more luck to get the 1% drop in the first place. I've heard of people going years without even seeing it.

As for relic, I'm on stage 4 of my own, so I know the kind of dedication that requires.... unless you're the leader of an endgame shell that's willing to throw a hundred million gil at your relic for you, it requires work. Not just dedication, determination, whatever, but daily, day-in day-out work, consumption-of-all-your-free-time style work. I'm not trying to shit on your dreams, trust me, I know what it's like to have big dreams myself D: But I think everyone should go into these sorts of things knowing what they entail and being prepared to either make the necessary sacrifices or adjust their hopes accordingly.

 

[Lyall]

Not to be rude, but that is an extremely poor attitude when estimating goals. Both those items are attainable and simply require patience and hard work.

I have no problem using Koenig shield until that time comes, nor do I hold issue with using Herc. ring and (because it will come before Defending) Sattva.

No matter how nicely you mean it, the statement "please give up on [item]" is uncalled for and insulting to a degree.

The problem here is that most times, when people have a goal for gear, they tend to slack on the slot until they get what they're after. Sometimes people will hold off on upgrading armor until they level into a full set of something, people will go without earrings or rings because there's a better one a few levels later...

When making long term goals, its best to have an excellent set-up BEFORE you polish it off with the best pieces.

To elaborate on the D.ring: If you aren't out camping HNMs as part of a shell and earning points or standing or whatever your shell uses, expect the wait for D.ring to take LONGER than if you started Aegis two weeks ago. King B is stingy from the stories I've heard, and even if you get into a capable HNM shell you're going to be behind EVERY other paladin and ninja who wants it before you. Given a 10% droprate, a pop of once a week (average) and your shell getting EVERY claim...

Two and a half months to each drop, mathematically. Per person.

Aegis will be even more of a nightmare: If you aren't an upgrader in a shell RIGHT NOW you can expect it to take something like two or three years.

It wasn't meant to be a rude reply, I know Alberic in real life. The point was just to bring the goals down to the "best" available widely, and move the Aegis and D.Ring into the "pipedream" category. HNMs take alot more to farm regularly than just "hard work" and patience.

 

[Alereth]

Aye, I understand completely. I'm not the type of guy to go "Hmmm, in two months I can have D.ring and eight months later I can have Aegis." That is completely unrealistic.

These are goals in terms of overall FFXI PLD career. Something that I want to work towards and get to eventually. I'm not setting up a timeframe in the near to mid future, because of the very reason Alberic stated.

But I think it is a good idea to have "final" goals. Something to look at, work towards, and one day obtain, while still doing what you can to upgrade or further your current and more available gear.

 

[Nicholette]

Aegis is always realistic. There was a period where Dring didnt drop for over a year on quetz, this was after mikemans.

 

[snowfoxx]

The D.ring hasent dropped in over a year and half.

 

[mdkuser]

Aegis is realistic more than D. ring. You just need a slave LS that farms your coins , its fast now that any dynamis city is a huge profit.

You don't want to be one of those crappy 75 PLDs that don't want to evolve, start adapting now and build you char into a PLD/nin and PLD/rdm; You don't want to be a PLD upgrading aegis, kiting kirin as /war and only getting hate, even after invincible, when DDs die.

haste gear ( turban dusk swift belt minimum) is the most important. Shield gear to macro during utsusemi recast, some enimity gear for your PLD JAs and spells, a HP swap macro for cures, and a max HP build because the enimity loss when being hit is less when you have more HP, and a MND/enhancing magic build for phalanx and stoneskin.

 

[Mystery]

Well ideally every PLD wants similar gear. However, it's ridiculously difficult for the most part. If you stick it out though, wait long enough you may be able to get some of that. However, more than likely you'll want to evolve your gear before get what you want in the end. Also, PLD is a very situational character with /NIN mostly, some /WAR and brief /RDM. I'd say 90% of the time, at least for me, I'm going /NIN. BCNMs I go /WAR and sometimes I've been asked to go /RDM but it's really really rare. Definitely work on enmity and haste first. Also, merits help too. It might not seem like a lot, but having the ability to use fealty (you really only need 1 in fealty), Chivalry and having reduction of loss on sentinel all help. Also faster Sentinel helps too. In the end, just cater your PLD to your play style as much as you can but be prepared for others to try and make you PLD the way they are use to, aka /NIN setup (personally I like to use the other two subs but /NIN is quite useful).

 

[Layeena]

if you're into big game go for the one with the gold handle I'm totally forgetting the name of it atm dropped by Aht Urgan HNM I forget name of.

Hauteclaire, dropped by Khimaria. Big ass behemoth like thing with wings. The drop rates sucks worse than the PCC. :dwarf:

As for Aegis, I watched Corvinus get his not too long ago. (Was uber weird, was on my Dragoon at the time, couldn't Shield Bash ._.)It does take hard work and dedication. Hope to be watching Zelaris get his soon. Zelaris is on 4/5 of his Aegis. mg:

I, myself, need to start on my haste/rdm builds. :medic:

Enmity+ gear is a must for all paladins. I have +26ENM without my Mac-whassit+1, including merits. (I tend to use my Joyuese) So +30ENM all together, when I'm using my Mac-whassit+1. :lurk:


...Jesus it's going to be hell leveling Ranger with Enmity merits ... *stares blankly* fftopic: