Duo-Box and small parties from a returning player

[cyrusblaze]

Greetings all, I am Cyrusblaze. I will be a returning player that hasnt been around ingame in a few years.

Even though I am a returning player, I put this in the general forum as this isnt completely about returning, more of a guidance needed kinda thing as you will see belowe :D
First off heres a little bit about myself....

Back Story:
My name is Cyrus, I'm a 24 year old male, and currently serving in the US ARMY stationed in IRAQ.

I started playing this game years ago shortly after it was released in NA. I had played for about a year and a half before my first 'vacation'
During that time I had 2 main characters, a mithra and a galka. But at the end my galka took the backseat as i loved the versatility (and the tail) of the mithra far better than that of a galka.
At the time I had unlokced every subjob and had all of them level to at least 20 (although most made it to roughly 35-40)
I Primarily played as my WHM/BLM as I loved healing and it was a great way to always get invited. my WHM was the highest at the time but was still only lvl49.
Then I took my first break.
I returned roughly a year later after hearing about duo-boxing, and having just recenlty got a nice laptop I was finally able to duo box efficiently.
I created 2 accounts and played primarily as a WHM/BLM and a WAR/MNK (tank style) and had tons of fun doing so. but many things in the game made it harder to keep playing, along with many other issues at the time. I only got them both to lvl 45 but it was alot of fun.
well thats a quick and dirty back story of the game or me.. now on to a bit more...

I will be returning to the game with a fresh start, it wont be for several months due to some issues at the moment. MAinly due to being in IRAQ my internet is crappy to say the least, not to mention time restraints, so i wont be getting back into game for at least several months. But that doesnt stop me from looking over various sites, reading information, and planning on what I will be doing.

Now I know theres been alot of changes in the game, especially with several expansions, new jobs and all of that cool stuff. I've heard RMT is at a new low (I know there still around) but it seems like its not as bad as when I left (one of the bigger reasons the first time)

Now to start with what the post is truly about...

When I start back up I plan on Duo-boxing once again, I love being able to do it, and makes the game much more fun for me whaen I have more to do. Playing as just the tank.. or just the healer would get boring after a couple hours, but playing as the tank and the healer got my blood flowing and made the hours and levels go by extremely quick.

As I said I plan on duo-boxing, and I would like to setup some nice duo parties with myself, and from what i have read with these new subjobs (BLU, COR, PUP, DNC,SCH) there seems to be a much greater potential for small parties to level much more efficient than ever.

Now I have several ideas on what to do with my duo, and just curious as to some feedback on my current ideas, as i have yet to see any of this in action, only what I have read. The questions here arnt about the physical ablity to control the 2 toons togethr, but on the choices of the jobs, I am confident I can handle just about any 2 jobs at the same time, especially in a duo setting. In a full group I would adjust, and have different combos for jobs (my main would once again be a WHM and WAR combo but with ne jobs come other questions)

Heres for the douing
1. Duo BLU's - I have read that BLUs are now one of the top soloers and with the right 'spells' set can get some nice added bonuses and with two BLUs duoing would be very good due to the types of abilities available, the solo SC's and the versatility of subjobs to create and extremely potent duo.

2. DNC and BLU - once again with the BLU, most likely as the Primary 'tank' of this group, add the many abilites a DNC adds, along with the versatility of the BLU I believe this would also make a very nice combo.

3. WAR/BLU and DNC/? - Similar to #2 but with a WAR/BLU add cacoon for added defense, added abilites from BLU (though limited due to MP) seems like this guy will take the hits and be able to dish them out very, very well (GAXE only most likely) and with the DNC using Sambas? and Waltzes? to heal and add a little extra damage, this combo also seems rather viable.

4.. I have several other ideas but for now I will stick with those 3 for now for the solo-duo

Now for my main party effort.
As I said I plan on doing WAR and WHM, as thos are the 2 classes i love to duo in group the most and creates some of the most fun i have ever had in the game.
But with these new jobs comes some very nice ne SubJob combinations possible.
First off my WAR.
I have been heavily thinking of using /BLU primarily for cacoon (50%def if i got it right) allows me to have more def and also able to use attack food, without worry of the loss of one or the other from DEfender/Bezerk toss in the added abilities from certain spell equips seems like this would make a great tank.
As a side note, I love WAR tanks, never been a big fan of PLD, and have had more issues with NIN's (these are just personal opinions only) and I tanked as a WAR/MNK from the start and loved it. With a good healer (wich was me :D ) I never had to worry, and partyies were able to do more without as much hate issues as I have seen with PLD or especially NINs. I hear the term 'Blood Tank' wich is a new one to me, but from what I read i would guess my kind of tank is a blood tank?
Second is my WHM.
I have read alot about /SCH and from what I have read, I am loving it, it definately seems like it compliments the WHM very well with lower MP costs, abilites to lower cot even more and drop cast time. It seems like a very viable sub to my WHM.
Now with my WAR and WHM i was fully effective as WAR/MNK and WHM/BLM regardless of the situation (work great under pressure and stress) and recieved many of compliments, and confusion on to how I controlled both at same time and was still fully fuctional as both.

I will end this here and I appreciate any feedback, As I said, I know alot has changed in the past years since I plyed. ( think it was rouhgly 2 months before the Expansion that added BLU, COR and PUP) And just have many ideas that I cant really try due to being in iraq and having no steady/reliable internet to play such games on.

Thanks in advance for any comments/insight :D

[ItazuraNhomango]

Re: Duo-Box and small parties from a returning player

I'm not a big fan of WAR/BLU tanking, but that's mostly from less than stellar experience tanking on BLU/WAR as it came close to Lv.40. Armando is the big booster for WAR/BLU tanking, so perhaps he'll chime in.

As someone with PLD, NIN, and WAR tanking experience, IMO PLD seems to provide the best party safety, while NIN is the more MP efficient tank when done right. WAR/MNK tank requires more of the party's MP resources than either, but it works nicely on not too dangerous critters like mandies. Two WAR/NIN's together can do great things, but they usually just both stop provoking and other party members get clobbered.

If WAR tanking is what you like, you're welcomed to try. However, you should be warned that most parties do not want the WAR to solo tank, and only duo tank as WAR/NIN's.

Now, if you're just solo-"two-boxing", probaly any of the combinations you listed will work, as long as one character is WHM or /WHM for status cures.

[cyrusblaze]

Re: Duo-Box and small parties from a returning player

I appreciate the feedback :D

IMO PLD and NINs have been more of a pain to party with from my experiances.
With PLD they can hold hate pretty well (far better than NIN could) but them being fully MP dependent for HATE makes it hard with longer chains or adds.
With NIN in all honesty in my time playing I met only one NIN that was a good tank, maybe it was just bad luck on my part but they had a really hard time holding hate (my WAR with no food, no bezerk or anything that added aditional damage including WS would pull hate form auto attack only) That and unless they are really good with thier shadows, they end up causing more problems with healing due to thier low armor and low hate generation causing other party members to take hits more often.

I'm not saying the PLD or NIN arnt viable tanks, as I know they can be, I just prefer to tank as my WAR, but if anyone in the party 'can' tank I will allow them to, as long as they dont suck. The moment they start to slack behind or start doing things that can get the party killed, I put my WAR into tank mode and instantly take the hate and fix the mess.

I'm not saying I'm the greatest with my WAR, but I always came prepared to do what needed to be done with her, wich was damage or tank. and I would swap as nessecary to achieve the smoothest leveling as possible.

I am aware of alot of people not wanting just a pure WAR as a tank, but back in my time I showed people that PLD and NINs arnt the only tank, and if setup right a WAR will do the job just aswell.
That and being the main healer for the group also allows me the freedom to say what we can or cant handle with a WAR tank. But for the most part my WAR tanked her whole career with little problems.

As for WAR/NIN I've never been a fan of NIN (I did level and use it on occasion) Dont get me wrong, NIN is a nice class and can do some cool things, its just not my style. I hated fighting with shadows and my personal playstyle is to stand my ground and take the hits. (that and at the time I was always broke and powders wernt exactly cheap at the time)

As for my solo-duo, i should have mentioned (especially with the duo BLUs) that I would try to at leats have a /WHM in each of them fore the status cures as they can be a true pain in the arse

Once again I appreciate the response :D

[ItazuraNhomango]

Re: Duo-Box and small parties from a returning player

Heh. It's OK to have a preference, but try not be too dismissive of other tanks; PLD and NIN really do work well in the hands of capable players.

For the record, I've tanked on PLD(70), NIN(41), WAR(40), BLU(40), and... DRK(42). Thankfully, not too frequently on the last one.

[cyrusblaze]

Re: Duo-Box and small parties from a returning player

I try not to be dissmisive of them, and will let them if they say they can (if i'm not tanking I can do a bit more damage if the current tank can hold the hate)

And I have seen what they are capable of, but as you said they are only capable as the player controlling them, and unfortunately when I was mainly playing there was alot of.. umm.. well idiots around. Wich I have no doubt that there are any less even now

It just sucks that for now the only thing I have for this game is some forums, I just cant wait to start playing all over again, I have soo many ideas and want to see amny of the things ingame again, but for now its just reading and reaserching. Which i dont mind as it allows me to see whats new, and understand more about whats changed than if i were to jump in without it :D