Elvaan Mage Advice

[Jarlaxle]

Hello everyone this is my first post on this site and its nice to be here. I have been playing ffxi for about 4 months or so and have came to the conclusion that I would like to choose RDM to level to 75. Of course my LS and friends advise that i start a taru for this, but I can't bring myself to already start over after I have just started to get somewhere with my current char. I know there are items (i.e. Astral Ring) that can make my Elf a better mage. I think it is a bcnm somewhere that drops the astral, but I do not know who or where. Also, whom do I trade my beastmen seals to in order to obtain the correct orb for this fight, and what party makeup should I bring to the fight? I am on 360, and dont have access to any other websites as this site is the only one not blocked at work ><. Any info on advice on how to make my Elvaan a more worthwhile mage would be greatly appreciated. Thanks guys & I look forward to more posts in the future. ^.^

[Icemage]

Re: Elvaan Mage Advice

Elvaan RDMs do just fine, even without tons of gear. Low MP is a problem in the early levels, but as long as you don't waste MP you should do just fine.

Once you hit level 40+ and gain access to Convert and Refresh, things pick up dramatically for RDM regardless of what race you are.

That said, if you insist on acquiring an Astral Ring, I provide the information below.
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The BCNM that produces Astral Ring is called Treasures and Tribulations.

Since you cannot access other sites, I'll provide a synopsis here:

Treasures and Tribulations

BCNM 50 at Balgas' Dais (Giddeus)

Required item: Comet Orb, acquired by trading 50 beastman seals to the NPC named Shami in Port Jeuno (J-8).

Upon entering the battlefield, you will find 3 boxes in the middle of the arena. One small one, one medium sized, one large. The size of chests does not matter.

One of the 3 boxes (random) will contain the loot.

The other two boxes (random) will contain a Mimic that will attack you. If you can defeat the Mimic, you will get the loot.

The Astral Ring is not a guaranteed drop; supposedly it's somewhere around 25% chance of successful runs get an Astral Ring.

If you're doing this solo (and thus just assuming you die if you pick a "wrong" one and get a mimic), expect to get 1 Astral Ring per 12 attempts, on average.

Unfortunately I cannot give you any details on what sort of setup is required to defeat the mimics as there is very little information on it (most people try this solo, as it's just a way to burn off extra seals that you can't be bothered to organize groups for).

I've killed mimics before in Pso'Xja, and they're tough customers. They hit very hard, very fast, and have a single, extremely annoying, special attack, Death Trap. It is AoE poison (10hp/3 seconds) + Stun. I would imagine that you need 2 tanks, a refresher, a healer, and some damage dealers to defeat one (basically a modified XP party with some backup hate control).

Hope this helps.


Icemage

[Sabaron]

Re: Elvaan Mage Advice

You may also get an Astral Ring from Wings of Fury which can be done easily with a correct setup. There is a lot of stuff on this BCNM at Allakhazam. I believe one of the Allazites (posters on Allakhazam) mentioned developing a 6-player no-two-hour strategy for Treasure and Tribulations, but I have yet to see one. As Icemage said, Mimics are deadly and this is a capped battle.

It is a very nice ring, but it's expensive price tag might make you loathe to keep it (I've sold two of them, and have never regretted it as I can now buy 3 for the same price I sold 1 for earlier).

Having a giant MP pool is not a significant advantage. What you want to be able to do is restore your MP at maximum rate. I recommend that you use Pineapple Juice, Melon Juice, and/or Yagudo Potions, Cookies (or any RDM food that gives +MP when healing [aka +hmp]. The Baron's Slops and Pilgrim's Wand (if you're not engaging in melee) will be staples until level 51 when you ditch the wand for a Dark Staff.

Happy maging and {/welcome}.

[Mhurron]

Re: Elvaan Mage Advice

I can say only one thing:

Don't wear subligar.

[SharMarali]

Re: Elvaan Mage Advice

I don't remember whether it was on this forum or another one, but somebody made a post a long time ago about the Treasure and Tribulations BCNM and the pattern of which box it will be. Apparently there is a set pattern, and as long as somebody else isn't going in there in the time it takes you to go get another orb and come back, you will DEFINATELY hit the right box 1/3 times if you pick the same one each time, and if you manage to get it the first time, you can get it every time. I can't verify from personal experience though, because I've never done this more than once at a time.

Back to the original topic though, I'm a little disturbed by the OP's statement "I know there are items (i.e. Astral Ring) that can make my Elf a better mage." MP does not make you a "better" mage. No matter how many tarus you run into that boast about their MP, they're only better than you if they have more knowledge and practice at what they're doing. And even then, I've met a number of people with multiple high-level jobs who still don't know what the heck they're doing.

Gear will not transform a bad player into a good one. Good gear, in the hands of a good player, can improve the player's damage output, spell landing, etc. But don't think that by running out and buying an astral ring, people will go "OMG HE'S SO AWESOME!" and automatically invite you.

There was a time, years ago, when people had definate prejudices against galka and elvaan mages. In fact, I was in a lot of lower-level PTs back in the early days of the NA release when people would go "Oh, there's no taru WHM looking, I guess we'll disband now," even though there was an elvaan and a mithra WHM seeking PT in that level range. Those days are over as players have learned that max MP actually matters very, very little. Smart usage of MP is far more important, and a taru who wastes MP on useless spells and overcures is going to run out of MP twice as quickly as a galka who uses MP intelligently and rests when he sees an opportunity.

[Shinhiryu_Kage]

Re: Elvaan Mage Advice

I'll be honest.

Good equipment does not make a player "better" if you're talking about skill. Just equipping 2 Astral Rings on an Elvaan RDM suddenly doesn't make him savvy to play his job in a party setting or give him the experience to know when to heal and know when to enfeeble, buff, etc.

Good equipment "does" make a player better if that player already has good skill. Having a high MP pool on any mage character basically equates to better effectiveness and longevity for xp chains.

However, the only reason you really should concentrate on getting +MP and a high amount, is if you intend on main healing w/your job. Otherwise, you want to focus on +INT/+MND for magic accuracy and potency. You have to pick one or the other. You can't really do both for the job, per se. I play my Galka as a RDM/WHM and I can main heal, haste 5 ppl, refresh 4, and cast Dia2. If I cast enfeebles, my accuracy is good (now w/my af) but my potency is very bland. Para will rub off after about 10 seconds, which isn't long. However, I can carry party as far as healing and support goes til the cows come home. If I played the other way around, having more INT/MND, I can land enfeebles and they will stick nicely and last long, but now I can't really Haste my 4 melee jobs in the party and refresh myself the the SMN. Taru or Mithra probably can get away with it, but not me as a Galka.

Early on, I decided to play RDM/WHM til the end and I clung to my astral rings for dear life. I used that and Rolanberry pie while all thru the dunes and up til a while til I hit the late 30's early 40's. To this day, @65 RDM, I still use Astral Rings, but upgraded to the Ether Ring Convert 30mp. They have been a godsend to me to accomplish what I want to do. I also use Marron Glace for +85MP. I currently have 698MP on my Galka.

If you can't afford astral rings however, don't fret. There's more than enough low end, inexpensive equipment and food that will get you through to do your job and still do it well. You're going to do perfectly fine if you need MP equipment.

[Sabaron]

Re: Elvaan Mage Advice

RDM doesn't use nearly as much mp as other mages. Increased mp pool, as I said, must take a back seat to increased rate of mp recovery and spell effectiveness. As SK says, +INT/+MND. +MP is generally only used during conversion to bring your MP line as close as possible to your HP line--this gives you a big mp boost once every 10 minutes. The MND differential between you and your target determines the "power" of the effect of Slow and Paralyze (as was recently discussed elsewhere in this thread), so you should seek to maximize MND at the very least. If you plan to cast Elemental magic (you should, we don't exactly suck at nuking), INT differential effects that, but you should always prefer +Skill over +INT for nuking. You won't have to worry about +Skill items until later in your career however.

Summary:

+INT/+MND > +MP Recovery > +MP

Swapping items will maximize your potential and your goal should be to have all three by the time you get convert at 40th (you can get Electrum rings later on).

[Jarlaxle]

Re: Elvaan Mage Advice

Thank you guys for the advice. I guess better wasn't the best word. I understand the point about usage being prevalent over quanity when it comes to MP. I have my Barons set ready for 20(loaned by an ever-so-kind ls member ^^), and I guess ill go buy a pilgrims wand. What lvl 20-30ish sword/shield would you recommend i use? Once, again thank you and it good to be here ^.^

[Mhurron]

Re: Elvaan Mage Advice

Pilgrim's Wand is Rare/EX meaning you're going to have to go out and kill the NM to get it. As far as Sword and shield goes, I used a Decurion's Shield for a long time and a Centurian's Sword once I hit 30 until I got my AF weapon at 41. From 20-30 the sword I had was whatever I could afford, meaning nothing special. I had stopped swinging a sword in parties by then, not that I ever swung a sword in EXP parties much anyway.