Devs state that Steal IS NOT affected by stats

[Spider-Dan]

http://ffo.warcry.com/scripts/column...site=21&id=306

Q: 8) As mentioned before: What status (if any) effect Steal and Mug success (Dex, Agi,Int,etc..) -Xarddrax

A: The success rate of Steal and Mug is affected by certain equipment, and is not affected by attributes.

Can people finally shut up about about random stats on AF now?

edit: link location changed

[John Doe III]

Thief Steal is affected by INT silly.

[DM337]

I stopped believing in that INT affects steal thing a long time ago. If it did, my RDM/THF would've been able to steal from newbie Yags in Sarta, but he couldn't, despite having a good 70 INT.

[Marcial]

Originally posted by John Doe III
Thief Steal is affected by INT silly.

Did you even bother to READ the article that he linked?

[Rones]

I kind of have to question how reliable this article is because of this statement:

3) Does player level have any effect on drop rates from monsters? (excluding
Treasure Hunter) -Zeron

No, player levels do not affect drop rate.

Last I checked player lvl has a giant affect on drop rates. I can kill 40+ mobs in Tahrongi canyon in a few mins with 64 whm and get all of 2-3 drops, but if I kill them solo at lvl 6-12 I'll get a drop on nearly every one. Maybe its not lvl specifically, but it is a very strong correlation.

[Ixaera]

Per my experience steal success is usually dependent on two things: your level vs. mob's level, and I believe different mobs have different inherent steal difficulty levels. Example: Goblins I think are medium-difficulty steals in general, but the higher your level compared to the goblin's, the more likely you will succeed. I've tried boosting INT, AGI, DEX, and notice the same results everytime.

IMO it's easier to steal a coin from a gob than a whisker from a coeurl that is the same level.

[Spider-Dan]

Originally posted by Rones
I kind of have to question how reliable this article is because of this statement:

Last I checked player lvl has a giant affect on drop rates. I can kill 40+ mobs in Tahrongi canyon in a few mins with 64 whm and get all of 2-3 drops, but if I kill them solo at lvl 6-12 I'll get a drop on nearly every one. Maybe its not lvl specifically, but it is a very strong correlation.

Have you ever actually logged your drop rate? Newer versions of the FFXIParser will do this.

If the devs say that drops are not affected by level, you better have some pretty substantial, hard statistics to contradict them. Anecdotes won't cut it. Simply searching this forum for how many people swear that extra INT has helped their Steal rate sooo dramatically will show you how unreliable anecdotes are.

[Alontier]

Spider-Dan

Where does it say that this was stated by devs?
the Q&A was signed by Brad "Maotut" Wilcox.
That is : United States Community Manager Brad Wilcox

http://allakhazam.com/forum.html?for...82475743&num=0

I have had the absolute worst customer service from Square Enix and the Play Online staff.
I can't even begin to describe my grief with these people.
If you to have had a less than desirable experience playing Final Fantasy XI please make the effort to contact their United States Community Manager Brad Wilcox and express your grief.
I'm sure I am not alone out there so please help get the message to this guy that he needs to get it together and create a positive online community.
I must forwarn you that he is not very congenial, in fact hes a total jerk.
And this is not a first line manager, this is the head of customer service.
for the United States.
His corporate contact information is...

Maotut@us.playonline.com

Direct Line: 858-577-3929

And even devs are known to be wrong quite often...

[Spider-Dan]

Originally posted by Alontier
Where does it say that this was stated by devs?
the Q&A was signed by Brad "Maotut" Wilcox.
That is : United States Community Manager Brad Wilcox

OK, so I suppose it would be more technically accurate to say "Square-Enix says blah blah" rather than "the devs say blah blah." (though we don't know exactly what hats Brad Wilcox wears at Squenix... he may, in fact, do both) Anyway, duly noted.

And even devs are known to be wrong quite often...

I think forum posters are wrong more often than developers... a 30 second search can probably provide ample evidence to support this theory.

The bottom line is, if we are now going to start claiming that Squenix doesn't know what they are talking about, all bets are off. If we refuse to believe the statements of the developers, there's no way we could believe the statements of random forum posters with a straight face.

[Alontier]

Well, while I listen to what developers say, I still trust a good parse better (tho they are a rare find).

The reason I take what the devs say with a pinch of salt, is that this is a large game that require a LOT of devs,
so what one dev says is often what he think he knows but may actually be completely off.

Actually, this mistrust comes from my 4 years with EverQuest where the so called answers from devs were ...
Seems to have gotten much better now tho where they do some research before spewing out an answer.

Q&A like this from sales, customer relations and likes tho...

One mor thing.
I've seen 300mob/test parse from a JP board that shows a higher droprate from mobs within your expable levelrange.
(will post the link if I can find it again)
But I haven't seen anything definate about INT and steal yet.

[John Doe III]

Originally posted by Marcial
Did you even bother to READ the article that he linked?

I wassss...KIDDING....did you not even bother to figure it out? The face? OHHH YEEAAHHH...

[Marcial]

I'm no authority on the matter, but in my experience people roll their eyes when they're uninterested, or think that someone is full of it when they say something.

i.e. "Britney Spears can sing"
90% of american society: /em rolls eyes.

[Macht]

Originally posted by Alontier
Well, while I listen to what developers say, I still trust a good parse better (tho they are a rare find).

The reason I take what the devs say with a pinch of salt, is that this is a large game that require a LOT of devs,
so what one dev says is often what he think he knows but may actually be completely off.

Actually, this mistrust comes from my 4 years with EverQuest where the so called answers from devs were ...
Seems to have gotten much better now tho where they do some research before spewing out an answer.

Q&A like this from sales, customer relations and likes tho...

One mor thing.
I've seen 300mob/test parse from a JP board that shows a higher droprate from mobs within your expable levelrange.
(will post the link if I can find it again)
But I haven't seen anything definate about INT and steal yet.

I have to agree with Alontier here. The person that signed it "United States Community Manager Brad Wilcox" I think his title is self explanitory of what his hat is in the company. He's the liason between the US Community of gamers and the producers of the games from Square Enix.

I personally doubt the Liason is going to have the data correct given the fact that he most likely didn't have any hand in programming a single scrap of it. Out of first hand experience when I create simple queries and have my Manager ask me what that query does I just made, after explaining it to him I'll hear him a few seconds latter explaining it to someone and be totally off.

Unfortunatly you'll have people making bogus info claiming it to be real, then you have people putting up theories and mistakening them as facts, and so on and so on.

Bottom line there is going to be tons of stuff you'll hear from people don't write any one of them off till you've actually experienced it and have had some actual impact with it. Parsers will help to a degree but I've yet to see one that is complex enough to take into account all possible factors.

[guyincorporated]

Originally posted by Macht
I personally doubt the Liason is going to have the data correct given the fact that he most likely didn't have any hand in programming a single scrap of it.

OMG guys...if an official squaresoft representative in charge of speaking to NA gamers gives you square's official stance on the game, I think its safe to say he's right.

The fact that he didn't program any of it doesn't matter. I'm sure that the warcry people just emailed him a list of questions. He takes those questions, forwards them on to the developers, edits out any questions that square doesn't want to answer and sends them back.

I'm all for having a healthy amount of skepticism, but even I have my limits...

[Spider-Dan]

Originally posted by Macht
I have to agree with Alontier here. The person that signed it "United States Community Manager Brad Wilcox" I think his title is self explanitory of what his hat is in the company. He's the liason between the US Community of gamers and the producers of the games from Square Enix.

1) He didn't sign any such thing; that title was reported in a random forum post of someone complaining
2) Even if his title is accurate, just because he handles the US community, that says nothing about whether or not he has a regular interaction with the programmers

Here's what it boils down to. Who is more likely to be able to obtain official info from the programmers:

a) A high-level Squenix employee who has been specifically selected to answer technical questions from a fansite

or

b) random forum member #38742