Random Question Thread (FFXI Related)

Dragon Steak kits work, that's why they're never in stock.

(Well it's a little more complex than that, dragon meats got hard to get cause no one does the things they come from anymore, they used to stay capped)

Everything 92+ in cooking is super annoying. If there's kits for steaks they sell on the AH above cost. Free skill and free gil.

IDK why anyone would ever make these for CP, but that aside...

On Carbuncle these sell for less than the kit (assuming 0 breaks) and sell .5 per day. If you want to get ~5 levels using these kits, it would take you about...4 months to sell all the results?

On Asura they sell 1 a day, so that's an improvement, it would only take you 2-3 months, assuming you undercut every other seller for several months straight.

Or you can farm verboshrooms at 50% drop rate and use them with 3 sandorian carrots and sell the proceeds for a profit to an NPC.

Dawn mulsums sell for a profit and the only thing you need to get for those is White Honey, which is also a common drop (and hive chips make it even more common).

Eh farm means effort, time is money. If theyre in and you dont have to give time its a win.

Plus you can eat the steaks 8 hours of attack food is nifty for junk content.

Sure, but if you eat the food then you just spent 23k for a low chance at a single .1 skillup, so...rich people problems I guess.

I'd much rather spend a half hour farming 100 verboshrooms and then get 100 chances at .1 skillups for free.

I dont think you're getting 100 verboshrooms in 30 minutes. The only funguar with that drop above 40% (48.8, 47.2, 46.1, 42.6, lets just say 45%) drop rate are in cirdas and sih. I havent killed ***down there in a while, but I believe theyre on 16 min repop. Is there enough fodder down there to get 223 funguar kills in 30 min? I dont know where the camps are and how theyre spread out, ffxidb's fodder map is broken and neither wiki is listing spawn counts.


Furthermore, it seems Maletaru doesnt understand opportunity cost. If you spend 30 minutes to farm 160k of materials (20k/stack, 8 stacks), you're assessing that you can farm at 320k/hr. If you're sitting on 500 million gil because you have the ability to farm 10 million gil / hr at will, spending 22,590 per synth aint ***.

Regardless, most people would run their thf bot to farm the shrooms overnight if crafter kits werent available.

What? Are you agreeing with your little bro?

No, because he suggested hoarding 200 of the non-stackable food item.

It's 22k each, not 22k/stack. That would be ~2.2m for less than 100 synths.

Here's a way to think about it: every Verboshroom is worth 23k. Do you think it's worth killing 2 mobs to get paid 23k? I would say yes.

They're definitely on 5m respawn, or lower. I farmed the Efts in one of those gates for a coalition assignment and it was sub-5 before they respawned.

Why was a few hours farming when you can spend a few years camping the auction house?

This is mostly right, time is your most valuable currency. You take the option that has the best cost:benefit, whatever it may be.

Pre stock. Pay a bot. Farm it. Just don't do it at all. Whatever costs(time and/or money) least, while accomplishing the task. (Or finding a better task)

Most food ingredients 92+ are increasingly less common, so the kit is viable, except it's also never in stock, rapidly decaying economy.

Sometimes?


I understand you have a different arrangement, but FFXI is just entertainment for me. It's already written off as 'things I waste time and money on'. I don't take it that seriously.

That state of mind is always silly.

You're already deciding to use your time poorly, at least do it in a fun way. Optimize the chore so you can maximize the "fun".

Don't waste 5 hours farming a thing you can just buy it and have those 5 hours doing literally anything else.
(If you count the mindless obtainment of items farming as your fun, please, re-evaluate)

Optimal doesn't exist in the 'fun' equation.

can anyone explain to me how to do 4 songs without messing up rotation?

is there any manual macros that is not LUA that is possible to do?
and how do u add the aeonic song in-between?

i never understood Gearswap lua i play all manuals but i made a 4 song bard with barely any knowledge of overlapping songs

For someone who isn't dopamine fried and can play for a reasonable amount of time, farming is an enjoyable and low-effort activity. You click a mob, wait 5 secs, ws, repeat. If you want to take a break, you take a break. If you want a show/movie/song in the background, you do that. It isn't a chore unless you view it as a necessity.

Sometimes I need to tire my dogs out quickly, so I take them to play fetch and toss the ball nonstop insisting they return it asap. They're pretty tired in 20 min, task accomplished efficiently.

Sometimes I have more time, so I sit outside for a couple hours and let them determine the pace they return the ball, stop to roll around in the grass, whatever. Certainly not optimal efficiency, but I think it's hard to fault that approach.

For someone who considers farming a leisurely activity, an easy farm that allows gradual progress to a greater goal is not a chore.

[If you really want to argue about efficiency though, dungeons in adoulin still have 1min respawns and I'm sure you could do a couple of bot farms for the verboshrooms in a relatively short time period. I'd do that just for the speed of completion, and I have no issues throwing gil at things.)

Equip daurdabla, sing 4 or 5 songs, then equip the ghorn then sing the final songs in proper sing set.

Not the fastest, but easily done

I don't know what you mean by "4 songs without messing up rotation" could you explain the problem you're experiencing...?

I do all of my songs without a LUA so I'm sure I can answer your question but it is not very clear.

Assuming you only need to do the same songs for all party members, this is what I prefer:
1 song in potency gear
HMarch in potency gear
3 song in potency gear + Daurdabla
4 song in potency gear + Daurdabla
3 song in potency gear
4 song in potency gear

You're done and they had the best songs possible the whole time.

If people already have 4 (or 5) song slots, all you need to do is cast 4/5 songs on them.

If you're using NiTro, then you can just lock this gear on and cast the songs (from menu or from macro). If you're not using NiTro, you can use a macro like this:
/equipset FC
/ma "Song name" <me> <wait 1>
/equipset potency <wait 2>
/equipset idle/TP

For HMarch/Aria, you need to do:
/equipset FC(with instrument) <wait 1>
/ma "Honor March" or "Aria of Passion"
/equipset potency(with instrument) <wait 2>
/equipset idle/TP

Some Bards are adamant that it is only acceptable to sing two full potency and duration songs with Ghorn/Marsyas first, then sing 2 dummy songs with Daurdabla then overwrite them with full potency and duration songs with Ghorn. This saves all of a few seconds if you used nitro before singing, but causes a right mess if a DD runs away. Singing 4 dummy songs first ensures you can scream at people to be in range for as long as it takes for them to have enough songs on before doing proper songs, so I always did this because people are dumb.

If people walk away while you're casting songs they will have the wrong songs regardless of your approach. Could you explain how doing 4 dummies then 4 songs solves the "people running away" problem?

If they ran away for any of your dummies, they will not have songs. If they ran away after your dummies, they will not have the right songs. If they didn't run away, then they wouldn't have run away from the proper song rotation either.

What's the gain by doing it slower and weaker?

edit: to steelman this argument, it's possible that the range from Daurdabla could help you land the first/second songs on someone who had run away, but I wouldn't personally build a song strategy/habit assuming that someone is running out of flute range for your first 2 songs.

Another factor to consider w/r/t the time savings, it may seem miniscule, especially if you're using nitro to cast all of your songs, but also consider that it's a 25% decrease in time spent casting songs (from 8 songs down to 6), or doing it the other way is a 33% increase in time spent casting songs.

Frankly, if you can't rely on your targets to be within range of your first 2 songs, you are casting at the wrong time or there's a breakdown in communication. Either way, I wouldn't suggest getting into a bad habit.

Remember that topic about skill issues in FFXI?

DDs running away from songs is a skill issue that transcends “we all have the same gear”.

I don't nitro until DDs have 4 songs, in which case I don't have to worry about nitro timer wearing off. Massive problem in pug Ody Sheol C.

I would do songs properly if in Ody NMs and with people I trusted, and where time matters more. Depends on context, just saying beware of idiots that will make you want to never play BRD again. Doing it my way with people you don't know saves stress IMO.

Actually I'm lazy asf and had Windower scripts for all Ody NMs for initial songs and for when I 2boxed Omen bosses, etc. to tell the truth. Sheol C with random people though... have to adapt.

Probably a problem because you're casting 8+ songs instead of just doing 6. It's not very challenging to cast 6 songs in 80 seconds, believe it or not.

Turn on the blue range indicator and you can see who's in range of your songs. Don't cast until they're in range.

If someone goes out of range and misses a song (or dummy), recast that song on them with Piannismo.

If you have a brain and can read the text that appears on your screen, it's actually not very difficult to get songs up on people.

If you use timers, partybuffs, mod your dats, etc. then it's even easier. You can see in your partybuff which songs everyone has and which ones they're missing. Check which songs are landing on whom by looking at the song icons next to their name. If they're missing one, glance at it and you'll see which one. Cast that song on them.

If you have no idea how songs work, how buff bars work, what the words in the chat log mean, how your job abilities work, etc. then sure, the simplest possible way to ensure everyone has all the songs is to do 4-5 paeons with Daurdabla before you sing. But it's slow and inefficient and the benefits are miniscule.

Even using the 4 Daurdabla -> 4 potent songs strategy, you still have to hit the entire party with 4 horn-ranged songs....which so happens to be the exact number of horn-ranged songs you need to hit people with in my example.

This should be the go-to, but a firm understanding of overwrite mechanics is more useful than memorizing an order without understanding why.

I have a toggle to cast with no duration+ gear for song 3/4 with daurdabla. This way, if both ballads and melee songs are needed, I can hit min-march-min-min, tag the mage(s) with pianissimo ballads, and then upgrade the melee songs. The lower duration mins can be overwritten with pianissimo ballads without removing the march, and everyone's happy with minimal extra casts. (initial min will have less duration than march because of marcato)

Relatively niche example, but something that you probably wouldn't see from anyone who doesn't understand how overwrites or daurdabla work.

There is also considerable benefit to not using N/T for your initial songs, if you won't be receiving a wild card shortly after. By casting the first soul voice songs without it, you can get an extra ~2min engaged time with them then hit N/T and overwrite.

There are lots of different scenarios with different requirements which is why I make custom macros or, in most cases, cast the songs manually. Unless I get stunned/silenced/terrorized, I always have lots of time to cast all the songs I need to in 80 seconds. For something as simple as melee songs + mage/tank songs, it's very easy with lots of time to spare. It can get tricky in something like Arebati with ranged songs, 2 sets of tank songs, and some debuffs, but still feasible.

SV is a good example but for those I still do the same thing. SV CC -> 3 potent songs, 2 regular songs with daurdabla, re-cast those 2 with Gjalla.

If your mage has long-duration melee songs (because they were out of position or whatever) then another solution I use all the time is to equip FC gear and piannismo another copy of the melee song on them. This allows that song (or set of songs) to be easily replaced by Ballads

If you did HMarch Aria 3 minuet, then you can do 2-3 minuets on the WHM with crap gear on, then do 2-3 ballads on them in potency gear.

In your example of Min HMarch min min ballad ballad min min, it assumes the mages aren't in range of the second min min. If they're not, then they wouldn't be hit by my 5th or 6th songs either, and you can freely cast ballad on them regardless.

I fully agree though, actually bothering to learn how songs work, checking ranges, and communicating with the team is the best way to effectively play BRD. Barring any interest in knowing what you're doing though, I still think the 6-song opener (7 with CC) is better than an 8 (10) song opener with Operetta or Paeon.

My point is it's not 6 songs if a DD runs away. If you don't understand the fundamental point then your responses are irrelevant. Plus, those songs plus 1 Ballad on the healer and 2-4 songs on the tank are never "6 songs". It would be 7-11 songs and assuming noone moves out of range, etc.

Yeah, no, not chasing people around causing myself more work because they *** up. Have you even played BRD in pug Sheol C? Your posts indicate otherwise.

Nothing to do with intelligence, everything to do with not being *** to chase noobs around that run off. Everything to do with principle and not being a ***. If you don't scream at people to get the *** back and wait for presongs they will never learn and expect BRDs to chase them around making sure they have songs forever. *** that.

Well he is clearly new to BRD in which case I would suggest he starts out this way until he is comfortable with it. Then switch to your way if he prefers and is with people he trusts.

As for "slow and inefficient" - you live in a fantasy world of theoretical situations. In actual real world actually playing FFXI? When you get down the stairs on the first floor there is plenty of time to get up 4 presongs and 4 songs (plus healer and tank) without using nitro off the bat in the time it takes the COR to get rolls up, tank to buff up, etc. No actual real world time is actually lost, only some theoretical few seconds which is irrelevant to easily being able to full clear in 30mins now. Keep discussing idealistic theoretical situations, and I will keep advising a new BRD which I doubt has a static how to play with random unreliable people while he is learning. Actually usefully advising him in the relevant context.

Depending on the fight I prefer to do 4 presongs and tell the healer and tank to move away in Ody NMs. This way you can do dd songs then all the songs you want on whm and tank without only being able to do 2 with proper potency and duration.

The process I outlined still gets the mages (and tanks if applicable) proper potency and duration. By casting the initial songs in reduced duration, honor march has the greatest duration and will be last overwritten. Since everyone typically wants honor march, that means you'll be able to overwrite the minuets with full potency/duration ballads(or whatever you want) and save the march. While you're doing all of your mage/tank songs, your melee have full potency buffs. If you really want to give the mages victory march for a bit more haste, you can still do that after ballads and they'll have a bit more recast reduction in the meantime than paeons would give.

No matter how you try to validate it, the process of doing 4 full pre-songs is wasting 2-4 casts. If people aren't willing to stand still, you're doing the same amount of extra work whether you waste those 2-4 casts or not. The only argument in favor of prebuffing is if the person doing it is unable to understand mechanics or think fast enough to plan out their songs in real time. If they're likely to screw up their order or something, then yea, go for it.