weapon, armor, scrolls

[LegendaryFire]

This question has probably been posted before, sorry if it has.

In my early levels from 1-15, should I worry about armor and scrolls over weapon. Or just try to keep everything updated.

armor > scrolls > weapon?
scrolls > armor > weapon?
scrolls > weapon > armor?
weapon > scrolls > armor?
weapon > armor > scrolls?

Maybe that will clear up my question.

*bows* :handsdown

[Nexus]

hmm In genral for RDMs IMO should be:

Spells --> Wepon ---> Armor

[Jei]

cure+enfeeble > sword > armors > protect > black magics

[LegendaryFire]

hmm. so it wasn't like what I thought it would be.

Thanks Jei and Nexus. :handsdown

I shall make red mages proud ;x

plus my friend told me there are hardly any red mages on Diabolos. I might get a lot of invites.

Does it change after 30? like keep getting scrolls and stuff, and keep getting weapons, but buy armor 1st then sword 2nd?

(sorry if I sound like a pain in the arse, just learning, since I don't know about equipment all that much yet)

~LF

[Jei]

hmmmmm there are some critical spells you should get as soon as your level is enough. let me see. here's my personal choice.

cure1 cure2 learn them asap. cure2 is lv16 i think?

paralyse slow silence, learn them asap. you are the best at casting those spells (will be very obvious after 50. low level you won't feel it so much)

around 1-20 i'll keep my sword upgrade. armors can wait a bit.

around 16 you start getting En spells. They are very useful but at low level you don't need all elements yet. get 1 or 2 will be enough. then buy the rest when you have extra cash.

25 gravity. very helpful. you still be ok without it but it's very very helpful.

25 again regen. very helpful. get it.

not sure when you learn cure3 i think somewhere between 20-30. get it asap.

Lv30 if you're from bastok you can get a centurian sword. very good to have but that's optional.

Lv32, your first expensive spell is there. Dispel. cost 70-80k. you need it, get it asap.

Lv 41 you get refresh. again get it asap.

I'll use my AF1 weapon at 41. then upgrade it again when I hit 55, couple nice swords around that level.

then cure4. get it asap.

black magics can be very handy. not as important as what i listed above. you should get as many black spells as you can but won't hurt anything if you wait a couple levels or even ignoring some of them.

the spells i didn't list is up to you. protects are nice to have. shells are not so important. bar~ are useless generally.

[LegendaryFire]

Thank you Jei :handsdown

that magic list helps me a lot *prints it out* :)

[Shiia]

CureII is 14
Gravity is 21
Regen is 21 too.

Guess its been a long time for Jei to remember the lvls :P Or could be a patch which lowered the lvl to learn these spells.

[Jei]

:eek:

aww my memory is fading with my age :dead:

[Echo]

Originally posted by Jei

the spells i didn't list is up to you. protects are nice to have. shells are not so important. bar~ are useless generally.

I know where you're coming from on Bar-spells, they sucked completely in beta, to the point where I wondered if they were even implemented, or just another way to waste gil...

But there was a patch shortly before NA Retail started that changed their behavior based on Enhancing skill (which should have been the case all along...)

Have you tried them recently? Do they still suck as much as they used to? (Um, I would try, but I'm too cheap and not sure of a good test...) Just wondering if your bias against them is from after that update or you're so disgusted with their earlier behavior that you're as biased as I am about their usefulness.

Seeing the little ball for Air-Defense show a bigger number doesn't seem like much of a test, since I'm still not conviced those dots mean anything...

[LegendaryFire]

if I do buy the en spells. Would that help any soloing, or would that be a waste of mp?

hopefully, I can keep my gil up and be able to buy whatever my heart desires. I'll probably make a mule to help. Would look nice to be at a 25 and have all magic spells but oh well ;x

Should I even try if I have the money to carry 2 sets of equipment, melee and for mp boost? or does that come a little later?

[Jonnyram]

Originally posted by Echo
But there was a patch shortly before NA Retail started that changed their behavior based on Enhancing skill (which should have been the case all along...)

This is exactly what I was looking for. I've been wondering the past few days what is the point in raising enhancing skill, but I've noticed recently that it does make the bar- spells more effective, even though I'm quite a way off maxing the skill. I know it's a pain in the ass to max it, because it doesn't go up anywhere near as much as it should in battles, but I'm gonna spend a bit of time trying to raise it now. I've also noticed when I use barsleep and we get slept by mandragoras, I'm usually the first to wake up by a few seconds.

I used to think those spells were totally useless, but I'm getting more into them now. Still haven't bought barbreak though...

[Yuanlung]

Have you tried them recently? Do they still suck as much as they used to? (Um, I would try, but I'm too cheap and not sure of a good test...) Just wondering if your bias against them is from after that update or you're so disgusted with their earlier behavior that you're as biased as I am about their usefulness.

I am guessing the update did make them more useful. I have been using them on regular basis against enemies with specific elemental attacks, and I do see a noticable reduction of the damage my tanks take with the bar- spells on.

For example, my party is currently fighting Maze Makers, and the tanker takes 20+ damage each attack consistantly, and it drops to about 15 as soon as I cast barstonra. Another place I'd use it is for goblin bombs, but since the damage is pretty random, I could't really tell if it's taking effect or not. (don't have this one myself yet, but WHM in my set party uses it)


I have even heard people claim that the bar spells not just work for elemental-based attacks, but all normal attacks if you bar the element of the crystal the monster drops. However, I have yet to test that one out myself.

[Apple Pie]

if I do buy the en spells. Would that help any soloing, or would that be a waste of mp?

If we train our enhancing magic skill enough, they work great.

I these days often go to Castle Zvahl to hunt both Dark and Ice Elementals. As we know, Elementals cancel 75% of physical damage. Even though I eat Meat Mithkabob and equip Royal Guard Fleuret, every hit does 12 - 17 damage.

I'm able to hit them 16 times in a minute (w/o Haste). Suppose average damage per hit is 15. Total damage is 15 * 16 = 240.

However, with Enfire on myself, total damage is doubled (480) since it adds 15 damage to every hit. En- spells are reliable in that they aren't affected by physical deffence of mobs'.

[Jei]

After 41 my enhance skill pretty much max itself when i solo. I have en > phalanx > haste in 1 macro and regen refresh which i keep them on all the time. repeatedly using them while farming and i max my enhance no problem ^^;

another way is to spam bar spells. bar-element spells are the best for skill training, they are fast and use low MP.

[LegendaryFire]

you can cast en spells while you're in town, but the percentage of enhancing spells don't go up as much as in a battle right? Is that the same with refresh?

[Apple Pie]

But there was a patch shortly before NA Retail started that changed their behavior based on Enhancing skill Yes and after the patch, we're able to see something like "Grendal resisted @@@@ effect" against their attacks inflicting abnormal status such as blind, paralyze, poison, silence and so forth.

Here's what we found to work so far.

Bomb & Gob [Bomb]: Barfire
Crab [Bubble Shower]: Barwater
Crawler [Poison Breath]: Barpoison + Barwater
Pugil [Aqua Ball & Splash Breath]: Barwater
Raptor [Various Breaths]: Barblizzard, Barfire + Barvirus (against "Foul Breath"), Barthunder
Tiger [Group Paralyze]: Barblizzard + Barparalyze

[Tulerin]

I seemed to notice a little difference with barpoison against crawlers in groups (..whm subbed, used barpoisonra~) Others in group said they didnt notice anything, guess it was just me ><

As for enhancing, once you get refresh and you casting it a thousand times every exp run, your enhancing will raise nicely.

As for using af1 till 55...what about at lvl 47? the knights sword or something 31/240, im thinking about picking that up as soon as I get 47 ^^

[Jei]

I never upgrade my sword to knight sword :o
I like the Lv 55 sword too much. between 45-54 i basicly farm the same thing too so, well, just me, i feel no need to get knight sword.

I upgrade my farming place after 58 when i start going for beaucedine/feiyin or garnets.

[Echo]

Originally posted by Tulerin
I seemed to notice a little difference with barpoison against crawlers in groups (..whm subbed, used barpoisonra~) Others in group said they didnt notice anything, guess it was just me ><


I wish I knew a decent way to figure out if it's effective instead of how things 'feel'. Barthousandneedles or something would be useful. :P

I've been working on Enhancing for ages. It's now usually capped mid-level. Not just refresh, but regen and casting-spells-mindlessly while waiting for the airship or between casts fishing... Enhancing does affect Stoneskin and Phalanx as well as the En-'s to your benefit, so it is good to raise. At low levels, I just made sure to waste every bit of mana before entering the Mog house with Protect and Bar's.

For the late 40's, I like the Crimson Blade. A bit spendy, but not that bad on Midgardsormr. MP+10 INT+5 is nice and a bit more damage.