Deciding on Vermillion Cloak

[Lambeaus]

Assuming we ever get past 50 (stupid genkai quest :vent:), I need to start deciding where to put my money. I have a few options.


Body:

I'm getting this for 'free' for my AF quest
http://wiki.ffxiclopedia.org/images/e/e0/Wizard_coat.JPG

The enfeebling skill is ok, elemental would be better. The -3 emnity is pretty great.


I WILL be getting this (1.1mil now) at level 68
http://wiki.ffxiclopedia.org/images/6/6f/DemonsCloak.JPG



The question, is do I grab this at level 59?
http://wiki.ffxiclopedia.org/images/8/8b/VermillionCloak.png
I will be out on the emnity and the enfeebling. However, with the refresh effect I will be able to cast a lot more, and should never have to worry about MP. With Baron (our RDM) keeping Refresh on me, it should stack, right? I'd be able to use my ancient magic each fight to finish a mob off, so we'd be flying through. I'd have my Wizards coat for the enmity incase the last spell didn't quite finish it off, not that it would matter.
Or should I just wait another 9 levels for the Demon's cloak?


The only thing about skipping the Vermillians coat is that I could spend the money on rings and earrings instead. Only thing is, I'd be spending about 500k on as little as +1 extra INT :wtf:

The only other worthwhile items are the HQ wands (which I have Aquilos already) and spells (already have the most expensive ones, the ancient magic scrolls).

The more I think about it, the more I want the Vermillians cloak. I'll be out -3 emnity from my AF coat, but that just means I'll have to wait a little longer to nuke while the tank builds hate, and I can spend that time debuffing the mob.

However, with both robes I can't equip headgear.

http://wiki.ffxiclopedia.org/images/7/7f/Wizard%27s_petasos.jpg
Having the MP, INT, and Enmity is hard to let go of. I could throw this on with my wizards coat for the big spells, then switch to the Vermillians immediately after.


Why can't I wear a robe with my hood down http://www.kittiesandrainbows.com/images/smilies/custom_smilies/icon_down.gif

What should I do???

[Jei]

If you have multiple mage jobs 50+, then vermillion is a worth investment.
If you only have Blm tho, not really.

The key is to have macro set for different set of equipments. Later on, most people will macro on the black cloak when they're not nuking, and when nuking, people have 2 more sets for this.

1 set is for fighting tough mobs, go for most skill to ensure least resistance (+elemental skill, +magic accuracy) and another set for normal mobs that boost the most damage (+magic damage, +INT)

[Lambeaus]

I doubt I'll bring my other mage jobs this high, and if I do it won't be for a LONG while. There is plenty of other stuff that I probably won't even get to with BLM.

When you say black cloak, I assume you are referring to Demon?

Yep, I've planned on having two macros for gear slots like that. Just not sure if I want to include the Vermillion in one of those, or in another set.

The way I see it, if I buy the Vermillion, I'll just sell it at 68 and use that gil for the Demons cloak.

[Auron517]

Not a Black Mage at all! (Though I do plan on taking it up more soon.) Just chiming in to answer some of your more general questions.

The "Adds Refresh" effects on Black Cloak, Vermillion Cloak, will indeed stack with refresh. But, if you're going to have a Red Mage in your static, the appeal for a vermy lessens a bit I think. It's only 1 mp per tick, so it's not gonna make or brake your Black Mage. Your Wizard's Coat is useful to macro in for enfeebles at the appropriate times.

I would say, if you're really lookin to boost your performance a bit, I recommend getting a couple friends to help you camp Centurio X-I for a Shaman's Cloak (http://ffxi.somepage.com/itemdb/4351) in Quicksand Caves. It's free, and would benefit BLM more than blowing your gil on a Vermy,imo, when you can just ride your Red Mage until Demon's Cloak.

[Lambeaus]

Not a Black Mage at all! (Though I do plan on taking it up more soon.) Just chiming in to answer some of your more general questions.

The "Adds Refresh" effects on Black Cloak, Vermillion Cloak, will indeed stack with refresh. But, if you're going to have a Red Mage in your static, the appeal for a vermy lessens a bit I think. It's only 1 mp per tick, so it's not gonna make or brake your Black Mage. Your Wizard's Coat is useful to macro in for enfeebles at the appropriate times.

I would say, if you're really lookin to boost your performance a bit, I recommend getting a couple friends to help you camp Centurio X-I for a Shaman's Cloak (http://ffxi.somepage.com/itemdb/4351) in Quicksand Caves. It's free, and would benefit BLM more than blowing your gil on a Vermy,imo, when you can just ride your Red Mage until Demon's Cloak.Nice, thanks for the input.

I've always dreamed of having the Shamans cloak, but I'd couldn't drag my static down there and camp it for myself, there is so much other things we could be doing.

I'll have to look in on Centurio's spawn rate and how well it drops again.

[Omni]

I'd wear a shamans over a vermillions cloak. I'd say save your money on the vermy.

[Auron517]

I'm not entirely sure about this, but I believe the spawn rate is about every two hours-just like Mysticmaker Profilix.

Dunno if your perma ever has any off-days, but you could venture out to his spawn and try to get lucky and find it up and lurking about or atleast get ToD. Then you could rally your ls or friend's list for some backup. Just a suggestion ^^

EDIT: Whoops! According to ffxi.somepage it's actually a lottery spawn. and you know how those can be :worry: but you still have the possibility of being lucky! maybe...lol

[Omni]

check ffxi.somepage.com or ffxiclopedia.org for an idea of his spawn conditions.

[Callisto]

I do have a bit of a bias because I personally feel that the V cloak is an overpriced red turd, but still, I can't recommend it for BLM. 1/tick Refresh gives you 200 MP over 10 minutes of play, that's enough for maybe 3 more decent nukes in a 10 minute span, not even 2/3 of what you need for an AM spell. Considering that a BLM has a bit more leeway on when they can rest than other jobs, I don't think it's worth giving up a 10 Enfeebling skill, in addition to +4 INT from not being able to wear the AF hat.

V cloak is decent as something you swap in while resting to give a tad more mp, but really 1/tick in between fights isn't going to do much, and you're more effective with the stat boosts from other pieces.

[Vyuru]

Seeing as how you aren't on Unicorn, go with the AF gear until you can get your demon's.

If you were on Unicorn I'd say wait for me to gain 10 more levels in weaving and then buy a Vermy from me :P

The Shamans cloak is pretty nifty for a blm, taru blm in my old static was able to get it, and as I recall it can be used for other mage jobs if you are so inclined to take any others that high.

Also, you get what, -7 enmity from AF body and hat? That's pretty good IMO. In the off chance that your AM doesn't kill off the mob, it'll make it just a tad bit easier to get hate off of you.

But yeah, I would not waste the gil on a Vermy if I was going to get a Demon's Cloak, none whatsoever. 1mp/3seconds is not worth the cost.

[Lambeaus]

Thanks everyone, the thread has served its purchase, and I've saved a lot of money! I didn't realize it was only 1MP/tick :(
and a lmao @ over price red turd http://www.kittiesandrainbows.com/images/smilies/custom_smilies/biggrin.gif

[Necropolis]

Personally I wouldn't bother with a Vermy or a Demon's cloak. They only use of the 1mp/tick refresh would be incase I'm soloing and need a few more MP for a last drain to kill the mob.

A black cloak (much cheaper) serves the same purpuse of Demon's cloak in terms of refresh. For body piece between AF and Errant's/Igqira I'd recommend a Black Cotehardie. It has 2 int (plus 4 since you can wear a hat) and converts 25hp -> mp.

If you insist on a over priced HQ item, go for a Demon's Helm +1 for the 1 extra int and a bit of skill over the AF hat. Makes you look bad ass as well.

Though if gil is of no consequence to you, I'd highly recommend HQ staves. No other singular piece of equipment will increase your damage more than the HQ staves. Personally I'd recommend them in this order:

Aquilo's, Jupiter's, Pluto's, Austers, Vulcan's, Neptune's, Terra's, Apollo's.

These help with resist, damage, and thier varying stats.

Also, while AM is fun, and MBing Freeze is fun. It isn't really MP effiecient. You'll do a lot more damage over time generally buy using your highest tier single target nukes with a lot less downtime. AM however is extremly usefull in soloing though, as you'll be able to one-shot BST pets fairly steadily.

[Lambeaus]

Holy crap, how did I miss the Black Cloak :wtf:

A little easier to swallow than the Demon cloak


Another thing I'm not quite sure on is what spell to use what staff. When is it better to use a Fire staff for a fire spell over the bonus INT and Elemental skill from the Aquilos wand?

[Necropolis]

You'll ALWAYS use the corresponding staff. Fire for fire spells, Ice for ice spells et cetera.

NQ staves give a 10% increase in damage, and a 10% better chance against resistance. HQ give 15% correspondingly. Also, you'll get the opposite effectif you have the opposite stave equiped. I.E. you have wind staff on when casting an earth spell. No matter the spell, the +10% to resistance and damage will outweigh the skill and int on Aquilo's.

You'll also want to equip the appropriate staff for your enfeebes as well. Wind for gravity, silence. Dark for aspir, drain, sleep. Earth for slow. Et cetera et cetera.

[Lambeaus]

You'll ALWAYS use the corresponding staff. Fire for fire spells, Ice for ice spells et cetera.

NQ staves give a 10% increase in damage, and a 10% better chance against resistance. HQ give 15% correspondingly. Also, you'll get the opposite effectif you have the opposite stave equiped. I.E. you have wind staff on when casting an earth spell. No matter the spell, the +10% to resistance and damage will outweigh the skill and int on Aquilo's.

You'll also want to equip the appropriate staff for your enfeebes as well. Wind for gravity, silence. Dark for aspir, drain, sleep. Earth for slow. Et cetera et cetera. Holy crap. I'm going to end up spending 8 hours setting up my macros :worry:

[Mhurron]

Holy crap. I'm going to end up spending 8 hours setting up my macros :worry:
Yep, but thank god for macros :P

[Necropolis]

RDM probably have more macro swaps, but for blm I have at least 3 equipment swaps for each spell I cast. Then I have have max int, max mab, max skill (elemental, enfeebling, dark) macro sets.

For all my enfeebling spells I have igqria legs, tiara, AF1 body, enfeebling torque macroed in.

Elemental get elemental torque, (hands vary, depends on resist rate, might use AF1 if getting resisted).

Dark gets Pluto's, AF1 pants, igqria feet

Then my nukes have the staff, pants and waist swap. I have Penitent's rope and errant legs in macro that I swap out if conditions are right for elemental obi or AF2 legs.

For macros I suggest setting two sheets aside with identical macros, and if you feel like messing with something just change one sheet and see if it works better, if it doesn't, you don't have to remember what the old macro was. Of course if you're on PC you can just save the actual macro files and go from there.

[Callisto]

RDM probably have more macro swaps, but for blm I have at least 3 equipment swaps for each spell I cast. Then I have have max int, max mab, max skill (elemental, enfeebling, dark) macro sets.

Haha, yes, yes we probably do. Although this is pretty much the way to go, as RDM I do it similarly. I have skill+ pieces in the individual spells(they swap in torque/earring, cast, then swap back in my normal neck/earring), and then different sets of armor for different functions. As BLM you can also add your Elemental Staves swaps right into your nukes to simplify things, I don't as RDM because I don't want to kill my TP by nuking, instead I keep each staff on an individual swap macro so I can change as needed.

Will it take time to create good macros? For sure. When I changed from PS2 to 360 it took me a little over an hour to redo all of my macros. But you'll tank yourself for it later when your gameplay is simplified and you're still at max effectiveness.

[Necropolis]

There is also another advanced technique to macros that you'll experience later on, and thats fast cast.

The fast cast trait is calculated at time of casting, and damage/resistance is calculated at the end of the spell. So you can macro in fast cast gear (Loquacious earring, Rostrum pumps) before the spells, /wait 1, then macro in your int/mnd/damage gear.

I.E.
/equip ear1 "Loaquacious earring"
/equip feet "Rostrum pumps"
/ma Drain <t>
/wait 1
/equip main "Wizard's tonban"
/equip ear1 "Moldavite earring"

But I often run out of macro space at that point ; ;

You *could* use windower macros, but I play mainly on xbox, and don't generally use windower unless on a mule wear I want to see the desktop as well. Or you could hit the macro, then have the later equips in a seperate macro to press. Takes a bit of work, and best that you set it up for you than copying someone elses macros. That way you know wear all your macros are.

[hongman]

Macroes are the bane of my life.

SRSLY.

Thought Id add that in. :/

[Olorin401]

1) Get Black/Demon's Cloak.
2) Get Shaman's Cloak
3) If you get Vermillion Cloak you're wasting money that would be better spent on a Penitent Rope and Elemental Torque.
4) Macros? Who need macros? Just do equip swap and spells from the menu! You have plenty of time to do it while you're casting spells that take 10-15 seconds each.

[LoneGamer]

If you're staticing with a RDM, then the Enfeebling bonus from your AF is useless if the RDM is doing his job. Except if sleep resists are so plentiful that you're sleeping as well as backup. The real benefit of your AF is the enmity reduction.

[Mhurron]

4) Macros? Who need macros? Just do equip swap and spells from the menu! You have plenty of time to do it while you're casting spells that take 10-15 seconds each.
Obviously you don't swap 4-5 pieces of gear for a spell. Why in the hell would you use the menu when you can set it once in a macro and just hit that to do it all at once?

[Olorin401]

Obviously you don't swap 4-5 pieces of gear for a spell. Why in the hell would you use the menu when you can set it once in a macro and just hit that to do it all at once?
Because I'm just that good.

[LoneGamer]

Because I'm just that good.

Right. You'd never make it as a RDM. I'm swapping up to five pieces per spell, and wish I had room for more so I could start macro swapping earrings as well.