Enter: the newb.

[Redimus]

Way back I owned an SNES and on it played a game called ogre battle.

There they had a specialty class called "Doll Mage" http://img408.imageshack.us/img408/3047/dollmageyt8.gif They weren't particularly liked by most fans of the game....

I fell in love.

The idea of a specialty school of adventuring where you focus your talents on animating and utilizing a single "doll", "golem", "automaton", or puppet :thumbsup: was just awesome. An eternal companion of course filled with the outdated but none the less romantic and incredible technologies of clock work and/or wooden mobility.


Constructing and harnessing life in a doll.

Anyway naturally the second I heard about FFXI's puppet master class I went out and bought a brand new $100 video card, the game, and subscribed as quickly as possible.

For most of you that $130 with $13 subscription price tag might not seem like much, but to my income it was a hefty little amount.

but hopefully worth it.

So now I'm leveling and working to become a puppetmaster. Hopefully the best one!

and to start, I'd like advice on my subjob. I love monk, and am one currently, but is that going to work out well with pup as my main?

Let me explain: I'm hoping the monk-like benefits of pup will stack and work well with the 37 levels with mnk as a sub allowing me to easily play that role while my puppet fills in whatever area I or the party seems to be lacking.

Basically monk, which isn't meant to draw hate but still melee combat, fills in a nice upfront damage dealing niche while my puppet can be customized to back up where ever theres lacking talent in the party. There by creating a versatile and effective element to almost any party.

Or so my thinking goes. What are you guys' thoughts on my plan?

[Tule]

Well monk sub would only take you so far, later on war sub will beat monk sub. If you want to go monk sub I say 1-25 will probably be a good sub for it. After 25 war sub would be better. Dragoon would work as well but would need at least 5% haste to keep up with war's double attack. Monk can be used up to 75 but your output will be lower from people with other subs.

I would say optimal subs should go as:
1-25 = monk/dragoon/warrior
26-49 = war/dragoon
50-69 = war
70-75 = war/dragoon

[eticket109]

you may want to level whm as a sub as well for some solo ability.

[Pup~king]

Mnk, is a great sub up to 25. But Whm, Thf, and War are more commonly used. Each has its own set of pros and cons. War increases your STR but not by much It also gives you double attack and has some cool j/a to boost your dmg output. Thf gives you an Accuracy bonus which is much needed considering our acc. it also gives you evasion bonus and SA/TA. Personally i use Whm. it gives you a lil CHR bonus which is probably the most valuable attribute we need. Chr makes our maneuvers more effective and lowers our chances for overlaoding. whm also gives you regen, blink and stoneskin at higher levels. You could also sub bard. It has a great CHR bonus but the detrimentals are that you can only cast one song. and your enfeebling songs wont stick. PUP doesnt really have an "ultimate" subjob its versatile depending on what you like, one sub isnt necessarily better than another. Oh , and if you decide to level pup, understand that most of your DMG output comes from your automaton, so be sure to keep its skills capped as best you can. :wasted:

[Tule]

war sub would probably be best to solo in but whm would work to but might have to stop and rest for mp while a war sub could fight without ever resting. When I solo as /rdm automaton takes hate when fighting some mobs.

[Redimus]

The thing is I'm a Galka. I figured monk with the racial strength would make monk particularly effective over warrior

[Tule]

Racial strength does not matter toward end game, since the difference in stats would only mean a couple dmg difference.

[Rosalie]

@.@ So atm I've been a lil' baby PUP, with Calcobrena and I being only lv17 now...

I am so very very very confused by this job so far, however.

I've been trying to play it well, focusing mainly on gearing up Calcobrena rather than myself, but I'm just so darn POOR that the only attachments I've been able to afford so far are the NPC ones from Nashmau, and whatever I can get off of Troll Merit pt's from my WAR75.

I'm still very very very lost as to what I'm doing as a puppetmaster since I have virtually NO solo experience except for, (dun dun DUN) PUP.

Heck, I still don't know what *I* should be wearing, either.

[Wise Donkey]

Thf gives you an Accuracy bonus which is much needed considering our acc.

I would LOVE for you to tell me what level THF gets an Accuracy Bonus at.:huh:

Maybe you were thinking DRG?

[eticket109]

I don't think he meant an actual Accuracy Bonus trait. Some people believe the increased dex from subbing thf for most melee jobs will result in better accuracy.

[Wise Donkey]

I don't think he meant an actual Accuracy Bonus trait. Some people believe the increased dex from subbing thf for most melee jobs will result in better accuracy.

Subbing THF does not add any DEX worth noting over jobs that add better Traits and Abilities. Sure, the Evasion Bonus traits are nice, but do nothing for DD. Not to mention the fact that PUP already has Evasion Bonus I.

IMHO, the bottom line is that a SJ should not be picked for stat boosts, because none of your stats will be greatly effected by your SJ. Go to Allakhazam and play around with the Character Profile. I know it is not the most accurate as far as exact Stats, but let's look at some example Base Stats for a Galkan 75 PUP.

/SJ - STR, DEX, VIT, AGI, INT, MND, CHR
/37WAR - 44, 37, 49, 34, 30, 33, 26
/37THF - 40, 39, 49, 35, 34, 32, 24
/37MNK - 42, 38, 53, 30, 29, 35, 26

At most the difference in DEX is 2. +2 DEX = +1 Acc, correct? IMHO, not a big enough difference to sacrifice Double Attack, Warcry, Berserk and Attack Bonus I. All for what? SA, TA and +2 DEX?

For pure DD, I think /WAR is by far the best choice.

You could also sub bard. It has a great CHR bonus

Also based off Alla's Character sim - /BRD would get you 30 base CHR. Again not a big enough boost, IMHO, to justify the loss of some great DD traits.

[Tule]

Rosalie- as a pup I focus solely on evasion gear for soloing with stormwalker frame. For pt purposes I focus heavily on acc and then str. For tanking need enmity gear for hate. The store bought attachments are good for now, later on should get tier 2, at 60 do ENM for those attachments, try to get assault attachments but you can hold off on those for a while.

Another great sub for pup is drg if you have haste. A pup/drg with haste would do about the same dmg as a pup/war from 70+ and 1-50.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

I recently decided to shift my PUP focus from my Taru to my Mithra. I decided this mainly because I'm going NIN on the mithra and would certainly be stocking up evasion gear to play that job and possibly merit evasion as well.

However, my Taru is more focused on the CHR-based jobs and I noticed PUP plays into that stat now. I don't really need gobs of it for BST and BRD can stand to shed of bit of CHR these days for other gear. Just how much CHR are we talking about for PUP manuvers?

I will say I'd prefer to have PUP as a secondary solo job on my mithra. RNG and COR leave me mostly PT-dependant with the character atm, its the only thing I want to address on her. Most of the taru's jobs are soloable anyway and I've already set him up to be a BLU next.

[Malacite]

Where is the proof that CHR affects PUP at all? Not calling you a lier, but some specifics would be nice. I can see it being true too, since PUP is essentially an entertainer just like BRD >.>

[Redimus]

I'm actually in valkurm dunes now. Unfortunately I joined some bad parties and am right back at level 12 again. :(


This is really frustrating, getting to be a puppetmaster is alot more difficult then I anticipated, and everyone is so busy worrying about their own characters they just don't have any desire to try and even party with some one so obviously new as myself.


I guess I should have been more patient and stayed back in windurst for awhile, but I thought I'd find better equipment, and a plethora of partying opportunities in valkurm.... I was mistaken....

*sighs*

Maybe I should start heading back tonight.

[Shroo]

What server are you on? and yes Valkrum can be a bitch at times..some people will screw you or atleast try to screw with you in this game, and not care weather you win or lose..acording to what I have saw myself lol. I am only a level 11 RDM right now..I just started like 2 days ago xD. But anyway dont worry about it takes awile for some people to get to level 30 before they can get a adv. job so dont worry about it. Its not sapost to be easy lol....