My Dream...

[Weezingpipes]

Save your money on those! At least for a bit. So I'm grouping last night with some folks I know, PLD has to leave, and we replace him with a Galka PLD. I thought well shit, this is gonna suck, since every one of my experiences with Galka PLD has been poor. But not so! We're fighting, the dude never loses agro, ever, casts constantly, yet how does he do it with his paltry mp? So I inspect him : Electrum Hairpin and 2 Astral Rings. I wasn't sure what is the difference between -HP and +MP rings and Astral Rings, but thats pretty phenomenal, just swap em in and out when ya need mp. The 25 hp loss is negligable. When I say this guy had 0 hate issues, I mean it, and every fight he never sat and was always able to participate in skillchains. It was impressive if nothing else. I didn't look but I assume when he wasn't wearing Astral Rings he had Phalanx rings or something or other. I don't play a PLD, but I have seen around 50 PLD needs to cast more to keep hate which can be a problem for the lower MP PLD, and because of these rings, this guy had 0 hate problems EVER.

The rings are 125k or so on Midgardsormr (not sure on other servers) so seriously, pick up at least one, and you will notice a big difference in agro maintenance. There are of course Serket rings too, but that isn't really something just anyone can afford.

[Lilandra]

heh yeah, cant wear the hairpin (Hopefully getting af circlet tonight or tomorrow) but the rings are good times. But quick question. Im not in game right now but but what is the difference between electrum ring and astral ring (brain is not working rightnow)

[Weezingpipes]

Actually I'm fairly sure all jobs can wear hairpins. RDM in my LS explained the difference : with -hp +mp, you lose the HP, but the MP isn't added to your current mp, it increases the total. Items that say Convert makes you lose that much HP, but also increases your current MP and MP total. So the PLD had something like 110 MP without the rings. Between fights he equipped the Astral Rings and the Hairpin to increase his total to 177 I think, cast a buncha crap til he was under 100 MP, and switched back to higher DEF/stats equipment, which I assume it was macroed for fast changes in battle. I seriously believe the rings could be the best cash spent for a level 50 something PLD, comparatively bigger longterm benefit to be able to not have to heal for MP every fight and be able to do skillchains which helps the hate even more when you don't have to wait a long time to do it.

[Weezingpipes]

Sorry correcting myself! The explanation I got last night was wrong. There is in fact 0 difference between using items with -hp +mp and items which says convert hp to mp, so basically if you are 40+ you pay an extra 180k for 10 mp compared to using electrum rings. Sorry for the misinformation, I guess the PLD was just that good. Although if anyone could give insight why one would bother purchasing astral rings I'd love to hear it, the answer "well level 10's can use it"...who cares?

[Arnda]

Originally posted by Weezingpipes
Although if anyone could give insight why one would bother purchasing astral rings I'd love to hear it, the answer "well level 10's can use it"...who cares?

More money than sense?

[Weezingpipes]

Or just enough money to burn on 10 MP ^^

[imac2much]

I don't recommend this. I tried this as well (except with 2 Electrum Rings instead of Astral Rings... just a 10 MP difference). Right now even with 500 defense Knight Crawlers do regular hits for like 60-80, when not using job abilities and such they can hit for 100+... In this case, the defense you lose from your Hairpin and Rings is VERY significant. That's like 40+ base defense you are losing, which is multiplied even higher when you add boiled crab/fish mithka, defender, and sentinel (all which increase Defense by a percentage). From my testing I found the best combination is 1 Electrum ring and 1 Phalanx... also, if you have no RDM/BRD, it's good to start with Elder's Bracers, then switch to IM gloves/Gallant gauntlets later. Elder's Bracers is +32 MP and only a 6-10 defense loss... compare this to the sacrifices you make for a hairpin and astral rings and you'll notice the difference.

Also, even when I don't use Elder's Bracers (with them I have 161 MP, without I have 129 MP), I don't have a problem keeping aggro. It's not just me, other galka PLD I have talked to don't really have a problem keeping aggro. So if we can have more defense without any sacrifices... why would we sacrifice more defense for more MP we don't really need? Also, you say that he switched out midbattle, but that means at the start he is taking hits with 50+ less defense than someone else his same level. That number is significant.

I assume you had a RDM/BRD in your PT (how else can he recover MP without sitting?).. in that case all that extra MP is unnecessary.