LVL 51 staves

[Rones]

I hit 51 a few days ago and am gil grinding like mad for one of these. Dark Staff with its +10 mp per tick while resting or the Light Staff with +10% cure potency. There are even stronger versions of those staffs that cost millions, but dark and light cost 500k and 250k respectively.

So what I woud like to know is why mages will spend 300k+ on spells like erase and phalanx and expensive blm spells, but never buy one of these staves that can be later resold for a complete recoup of your gil. The dark staff means 30 mp per tick instead of ~20. That's 1/3 less downtime spent resting. Why does no one ever use these (with the exception of lvl 70+)? Are they not nearly as useful as they look?

[Arturo-B]

I bought a dark staff at level 51, as the prices have been coming down on Bismark. All I can say is wow! It was worth every penny. My downtime with the staff and a refresh is minimal. I love my staff. I expect to hold on to it easily until 75. It's so good I'd almost say it's a must have for casters eventually (at least whm's, I'd probably get an ice staff first if I was a blm).

I've been pondering a light staff as well, but am not sure how the 10% cure bonus will balance against the loss of mnd and mp from my Tactician Magician's Wand and Holy Shield, particularly when a lot of my mp goes to erasing, regening, and hasting rather than cures per se. I may just save my money for an Ocean Stone.

[FantasiaHume]

Probably they will spend the gil on spells and not equipment because most mages are advised to buy spells first, equipment second. I myself just bought Phalanx yesterday (since I spend lots of time soloing with my RDM waiting for a certain Bard to catch up to me in levels), and now I wish I had the gil for the Dark Staff instead Though it is very expensive on my server (well over 600k I believe, though may be confusing it with another staff). Ah well, time to do some more BCNM's and raise some more gil ^^

On second thought, since I rarely rest my RDM due to Refresh and Convert being ready when my MP is gone, do I really need a dark staff? Or should I wait until I return to levelling WHM?

[Fourinkmaaya]

my light staff cost me 680k ;_;
now it's 550k or so, dark staff as well.. grabbing that one asap.
light staff ooowns though, and i regret i bought erase before getting dark staff.

[Arturo-B]

Originally posted by FantasiaHume

On second thought, since I rarely rest my RDM due to Refresh and Convert being ready when my MP is gone, do I really need a dark staff? Or should I wait until I return to levelling WHM?

From my experience I don't really think a dark staff would benefit a rdm. If you're resting you're probably not working as hard as you could be. You want to time your mp every 10 minutes to empty so that you can get the full benefits of convert. From those I've partied with and talked to, as awesome as the staff is, I think I wouldn't encourage a rdm to get one.

"light staff ooowns though, and i regret i bought erase before getting dark staff."


Fourinkmaaya, what sort of overall improvement do you find with that light staff? Is it really worth ditching the shield and wand? I've been debating saving for an ocean stone, but the light staff has dipped under 500k on my server. Do you think it's worth it? Thanks!

Best Regards,
Alex

[Rones]

+10% cures means from cure 2 you get 91+9=100 and for cure III you get 190+19= 209. Which results in you being much more mp efficient, but at best it would cut your downtime by 1/10 if you cast only cures and nothing else. That's why I think dark staff would be so great for whm, get back that mp 1/2 half faster. Optimum would be have both and switch between them when casting or resting, but that's something we can only dream of. :sweat:

[InterSlayer]

-

on Cure4 the lightstaff turns a 380 heal into roughly a 402 to 420 heal (it might have been light day for the higher number)

For Cure5 it becomes 740ish. Its wonerful =p

[Arturo-B]

Originally posted by Rones
+10% cures means from cure 2 you get 91+9=100 and for cure III you get 190+19= 209. Which results in you being much more mp efficient, but at best it would cut your downtime by 1/10 if you cast only cures and nothing else. That's why I think dark staff would be so great for whm, get back that mp 1/2 half faster. Optimum would be have both and switch between them when casting or resting, but that's something we can only dream of. :sweat:

Yeah I would absolutely go for the dark staff first. The difference in down time is incredible. But since I've got one, I'm starting to lean towards a light staff instead of the 15 mp and +mind from my shield and wand.

[Fourinkmaaya]

wand/shield for debuffing, if you actually bother with that.. the difference in enfeebling skill between rdm and whm gets too high at this level so it's pointless for me to debuff. i am playing in a set pt with a rdm too.. if you usually debuff you could always make equipment-changing macros, such as:

/equip main "Wand"
/equip sub "Shield"
/ma "Slow" <bt>
/wait X
/equip main "Light Staff"

or the opposite if you'd rather macro your cures.
light staff boosted my efficency tons, especially with cure5 and curaga-spells, where the difference is huge. so yeah, it's worth it.

[Arturo-B]

Originally posted by Fourinkmaaya
wand/shield for debuffing, if you actually bother with that.. the difference in enfeebling skill between rdm and whm gets too high at this level so it's pointless for me to debuff. i am playing in a set pt with a rdm too.. if you usually debuff you could always make equipment-changing macros, such as:
/equip main "Wand"
/ma "Slow" <bt>
/wait X
/equip main "Light Staff"
or the opposite if you'd rather macro your cures.
light staff boosted my effiency tons, especially with cure5 and curaga-spells, where the difference is huge.

Yeah my set party has a rdm as well, and I've noticed a big drop in my enfeebling power over the last few levels compared to him, so I'm not too worried about enfeebles. I will start setting money aside for a light staff then

[navpops]

Originally posted by Fourinkmaaya


/equip main "Wand"
/equip sub "Shield"
/ma "Slow" <bt>
/wait X
/equip main "Light Staff"
/equip sub "Shield"

light staff is 2handed \('`~`)/

[navpops]

has anyone considered making a macro such as just for when you see the mob coming and know you will get aggro/hit?

/equip main Earth Staff
/echo Earth Staff on~

(example)

followed by

/equip main Light Staff (or Dark. whatever you usually use)

[Arturo-B]

Originally posted by navpops
has anyone considered making a macro such as just for when you see the mob coming and know you will get aggro/hit?

/equip main Earth Staff
/echo Earth Staff on~

(example)

followed by

/equip main Light Staff (or Dark. whatever you usually use)

You could. I do swap with a macro from dark staff while healing to light staff when standing. I think an earth staff is really more useful for a pld to be honest though. If the mob is coming for me, 20% isn't going to make a big difference when at 59 I get hit for 100+ per hit if I draw agro. Fortunately it's somewhat of a rare occurance.

[navpops]

it could apply for all classes, such as a DRK that is expected to voke before SATA and wont take as much daamage, or a BLM that is fighting HNM (hume++) and may live thru 1 hit if it has -20% damage..

[Persephone]

In regards to the Light Staff, there's also the Healing Staff.

Light Staff lvl 51
Stats+1
Cure Potency +10%

Healing Staff lvl 55
MP+50
Cure Potency +10%


Granted, you'd need to wait 4 levels to use Healing over Light, but I love the MP bonus. But I have no idea about the AH price for Healing Staff - never looked into it before.

Ever since reading this topic I've started to consider having both Dark and Light (or Healing) Staves. Just hadn't dawned on me to get both and switch them for casting/resting. Thanks guys. =)