wich melee dmgdealer?

[Eidolon]

I am kind of new to the game. Started playing a year ago but stopped, and now reacently started playing again. Well, only made it to level 38 with my mnk and I got a few questions about the melee damagedealers, to know wich one I am going to play this time.

1. Wich melee dmgdealer (mnk, war, drk, drg, thf, sam) get invites to group easiest?

2. Wich melee dmgdealer does most damage, in general, in the game?

This is probably hard to answear, but what do u think about it? and btw, I don't need to hear things like, it depends on ur gear. I know that, compare the jobs with aproximitely "equal" gear =)

ty

[Ouch!]

I'm sure the thief will get most invites because they have other functions than being just a damage dealer. THF's real only purpose as a damage dealer is to SATA weapon skills, other than that their damage out-put is rather sub-par.

It all really depends on what a party needs. My understanding is that DRGs have the hardest time getting parties. SAMs don't really come into their own until level 30 when they can do two skillchains at a time. DRK are always good for damage dealing. They hit hard and if you're a hume, mithra, or tarutaru they can magic burst decently if they keep elemental magic up and drain can do some serious damage. You should already have a good idea how MNK works. WARs are also really good because they can tank well while dealing big damage to keep hate.

I can't really tell you which is going to do the most damage, it's all situational. Goes with whatever seems to suit your style.

[Lionx]

Most melee dmgers now have a hard time getting invites because of the sheer number of them and the slander that people put on them unfairly.

All melee damage dealers can deal high ammounts of dmg. Most of em are pretty equal in power. It just depends your set up and what you are fighting and the camp you are in. There is, to my knowledge, no one true better damage dealer for the most part especially now with the Ranged Attack change. Equal gear is also not availible since different jobs use different gears. So i will assume top end gear. As well these are party related only.

THFs are actually not that liked when you have a PLD tanking. PLD dont really need a THF in their party to hold hate well. THF also dont work unless you play with a proper Transfixion Weapon Skill partner as their SATA are prime for Distortion and no other WS. So DRG RNG NIN, high lvl MNKs(60s) are proper partners. They do subpar dmg on every strike, but burst out big numbers when they SATA and transfer hate to the tank or melee equivalent. Transferring hate is a big part, not just the damage.

MNKs are damage over time, their fists alone dont do alot of huge numbers but they add up(remember to count BOTH fists). Their blunt weapons make them hard to attack hard shelled enemies, but they excel in killing bone type enemies in which end-game has tons of. So they are pretty good espcially during the endgame. Can semi-tank medium hitters with WAR sub and most of their WS are multi-hit making it so using Sushi is important to boost Acc so all hits land. Some even say at end-game, they are overpowered vs bones and certain HNMs.

WAR are very versitle. A differently subbed WAR can spell different things. Say if you sub MNK you will be very good at holding hate(not as good as PLD course), and you take hits like one. You also gain the power of Counter and Boost which are good hate holders as well as Dodge helping you(using a Hauby of course that wouldnt matter..but it still helps) along with Focus for Rampage.

a THF sub is great for closing Skillchains. Its the WAR's choice for DD most of the time and can deal good dmg per Weapon skill stacked with SA. They arent that good for tanking however.

a NIN sub is versitle as in that with a BRD and the right set up you can tank with Utsusemi Ichi alone. They can also dual wield viking axes and get good Acc so they can focus more on other gears. Good damage, however to bring out maximum performance requires a BRD most of the time. However as a WAR it would be wise to get both tanking AND attacking gear for your party when needed. Most WARs at high lvl refuse to tank and some say they cannot even. That is not true and is a reason why i do not invite WARs as much. However they are some of the top dealers that can adapt and thats their strong point.

A DRK at lower lvls is inferior to a WAR. However as they go higher they get on par if not a little better at times. They can Stun which is a DRK's job and Aspir and use Dark magic, however their power lies in doing a huge ammount of dmg on a WS. However after 60 because of the WS they get are so dmging, they sub THF to transfer hate and do less dmg when using GSword, and Scythes are fine with WAR sub. However skilling up both GSword and Scythe are hard things to do. Their power lies in that Scythe and GSword are on equal dmg terms to just about all monsters, and that they can do good dmg if they hit and WS. However their price is of course, long delay.

DRG are shunned by some people. Why i would never know. DRG are really fast TP Gainers, if they Time Jump and High Jump they can gain TP really quick. Even when a WAR with Kraken club he was able to keep up with TP and SC twice in a battle which is really amazing. They do good DoT as in that lances swing faster than most other two handed weapons. The lance is also exclusive to DRG only and they do great dmg on flying enemies with a Piercing + bonus. However unlike the MNK they are detrimented against bones where MNK are good vs.

Their wyvern make excellent damage over time that while it doesnt do a lot of dmg per hit, its reletively fast and consistant and goes through mob DEF. Their wyvern is essenstial to mantaining dmg and that with it can outdmg most other classes in the long run, but stumble without it. Key is the DRG and Wyvern are one unit and should be considered as so and not just the DRG alone. Post 60 most DRGs with good gear can do a 607 dmg Skewer along with a 140 dmg breath attack from the wyvern totaling up to 700dmg which is not bad at all(although lower than some other figures). Just do not exclude the Wyvern... and dont take a DRG to a bone fight without their blunt lances. Also note AoE is not good since it can hurt the wyvern if its too damaging, and their WS are not as high number as other DDs at later levels, however that makes it up with consistant wyvern dmg. They are reliable and hence why i prefer them over RNGs.

SAM is a typical 2her pre 30, then afterward they can do good dmg through skillchains til the higher levels. For a large portion of their life, SAMs cannot do HIGH dmg, and usually do medium acceptable dmg. However their strength lies in doing many skillchains with two different partners with Meditate and more magic burst and culmatively they do more dmg in that sense. After a certain point, if they sub THF and load up on STR, their dmg can exceed alot of oother DDs in WS dmg. They lose DoT however for switching WAR to THF. GKatana also gain the most TP back per strike and Store TP helps argument that.

RNG lately has been changed, before they were god DDs, now they are still very much god but require more skill to play. They do great dmg when they are smart about the weapon they use and can find their spot that does more Acc and Dmg. However they arent so good in cramped camps where they have trouble adjusting their ranged atks and are kinda not so good like DRGs vs bones. They excell at doing consistant dmg if they are in the right spot and can pull hate with their WS(however their light DEF doesnt make it a smart idea..lower than mage def) if standing at right distance and are great vs flying enemies. If you got a PLD tank and a competent RNG the RNG can let lose their power more better.

All that being said all DDs get to wait a longer time than tanks or mages. Doesnt mean they arent important however.

[lordblazer]

Don't do WAr lol

WAR = overextended all the time.

lol man IT was this one time this PT made me tank and pull and I didn't mind htis at all. The thing that pissed me off was they gave me the crpapy end of the deal by neglecting to heal me before I go out and pull and neglecting to heal me while I'm tanking.I died 6 times in that PT in kazham and the bastard WHM who was the PT leader said I am the worse tank ever.WTF? no one healed me at all.I stayed to see what this bastard was gonna say and he said it. So yeah pretty much anytime I lvl my WAR I do it with friends.Trust me dude you need to start making circles on this game.The only reason why I been playing for a year and havent gotten a job to lvl 40 because I've been too busy making my own circles and now I do an d now my BRD is lvl 38 about to be 40 due to these circles to help me out when in trouble lol.IF you pursue a melee job yeah they give you the crappy end of the deal.Get some circles while you can.Get some good connections on your server is my best advice.

[Lionx]

You are talking pre 35 here. At higher levels is what i am talking about. They either pull and/or DD, or they tank at higher levels. Pre 35 isnt really a good representation of the game as those are learning stages and bad things happen.

I leveled WAR twice, once on Hume and once on Taru, my Hume's is 36 and Taru is 34, both have had their share of mishaps, however nothing as bad as you say. I actually find parties go faster if i do pull and tank, as i can do it better than most newb WARs out there and reek in faster exp. At Valkurm and some of Qufim, it was common for stupidity as people are still learning but when i hit Altepa, that stopped. I still never died like that. I would have just left of kicked the WHM, hence why i always make my parties and make them go the way i like them to for the most part.

Melee dont get the crap end of the deal, only at the lower levels where anyone is a new face, once you get higher level a few people become familiar and you can get to know them. Because players ALWAYS go through the first 30ish levels. Only the better people move forward into the higher levels and a community is more well formed there. So while it might be true lower levels, at higher levels, stupidty is once in a blue moon thing unless they leech up there with RDM BRD WHM jobs.

[Eidolon]

wow, impressive. especially you lionx =) Thanks for the answears.

I have 4 friends that started at the same time, and they are playing blm, pld, whm and thf. And I will hopefully build a static party with (atleast some of) them in the future. And since we have a pld tank thf goes out then.

My choice from the beginning was drk. But I have to admit I havn't thought about the drg very much. Its a cool class, although I don't like spears very much. And I don't use tp play with the drgs in other FF games ^^
Maybe I should stick with the drk, or maybe warrior or maybe go drg ...

One thing I need to take in to the conclusion is that I don't have very much gil ^^ and should therefor not play an expensive job.

[Lionx]

Oh no dont think that THF is useless with a PLD. However just most PLDs seem to say they are better off without one sometimes. The proper positioning for SATA to go off sometimes isnt worth it they say. PLD can easily generate alot of hate even at the lower levels if they are smart about it, and hence why they do not like THFs because unlike NIN or WARs, they have the least ammount of problem holding hate. THF are not useless with PLD tanks, its just most do not prefer them and other tank classes would love to have them more.

At level 60 THF gets the ability of Assasin, where you dont have to be behind the monster to SATA to transfer hate, and you can just TA behind the tank while facing the monster to transfer the hate. Its helpful but lvl 60 only. The dmg that TA does is not as much alone even with Assasin(its WAY better than pre-assasin, but its still doesnt equal up to SATA), but its very useful. If you guys are very fast and coordinated SATA would be less than 4 seconds and it might be helpful. I hope you see what i mean.

Also one thing i want to correct is that around lvl 50s DRK get Vorpal Scythe which opens Distortion, so add that to the list of people THFs can SC with. Also DRKs at lower levels if they use GSword can use Power Slash to open Distortion even though its inferior to Vorpal Scythe, its a lower level.

Play the class that you truly want to especially if you are staticing. Statics mean that you are not at the mercy of certain jobs being online most of the time and can be very very good. If you want to be DRK, do so, if you wanna be DRG, do so! Be what you wanna be really. You are paying for the game too ^^

As for gil try farming on bees and crawlers, they do drop very good stuff. I have to farm pretty hard too to get some good gears and i am sure anyone that wanted those great gears had to farm to get them. All jobs are expensive if you wanna do them good. Just do your best and your abilities usually will show with that work. I sugguest actually not leveling sometime, and plan out with your friends what possible gears they would like to buy(probably something possible..if its like a Haubergeon it might depend on how close your friends are >_>;a) and actually devise ways to get the item instead of leveling all the time. Statics are not limited to exp only, and can easily benefit one another if played right and with certain players, the ammount of trust. ^^;a

[Rostum]

Well, I'm a level 50PLD, and I love having THF SATA (and SATA Viper Bite) onto me. It does make it that extra bit easier to keep the hate through fights - but even then I can keep the hate extremely well because of my large mana pool. (Love you RDM's out there)

WAR is actually pretty good at level 40 (what mine is at, at the moment). I've tanked all the way from level 10 with flying colours. But I also know that WAR's can do some good damage post 40! I had a WAR in my party just tonight with PLD, and he was doing some pretty good consisten damage with Ragin Axe.

Anyways, Lionx explains it pretty well.

[Eidolon]

I don't think farming gil is what I need to do. That is just to slow and I might risk to drop the game again ^^ I need a class that can do pretty good without big amounts of gil to buy new gear for. When thinking again, maybe melee dmgdealer is wrong in that case, since it seems like a hard fight for thoose spots in the party.

How about red mage, always welcome in parties? I am kind of used to play hybrid classes after playing druid and shaman to 60 in wow =)

[Lionx]

Unfortunetly you might as well quit now when you dont want to farm. You said you play WoW, things are easy to get there i heard, in FFXI nothing usually comes free and most of the time it takes work to get the item you want/need. You pretty much are required to, which is why to ease some boredom have a good LS, or do them with a friend. It makes the item more worthwhile and have more value however, in which i value whatever gear i spent alot of time getting as well.

All classes need big ammount of gil to be really good at, but every class can get by minimally or decently without too much gil spent(if you think under 100K too bad D: ). However its still better to farm as gear will increase in price as levels go up. Theres many ways to farm, you just have to find out which one fits you the best.

RDM is always welcomed in parties yes. However lately there are a ton of bad ones. The main problem is, that RDMs melee alot. They should not melee in experience parties as it benefits the party nill(past the Valkurm Dune stages). They also insist that they melee and that they should, but that is a mistake and it also adds onto a bad name for RDMs Sure they can wield a sword, however they are better off using a sword soloing or doing anything outside experience parties and boss fights/critical fights. Wands and Elemental Staves are better for RDMs and staying in the back line with the mages. Red Mage is a mage first, melee last(however some dont even count it). Theres many reasons why but i wont go into them unless you are interested. . (long post otherwise)

RDMs main draw at lower levels is the same a WHM, at a reletively low level you get higher level Cures. Its not as early as WHM but its good enough that RDM can main heal, and that is your biggest draw. It will continue to be your biggest draw until you get to level 33 where you learn Dispel(77K at vendors) which is very good vs DEF up mobs at those levels and the levels beyond. Watch those status buffs. Around level 25 you will find that your enfeeblement skill is greatly better than every other mage, hence you are to fill that role as well. Around 41 you will learn Refresh and that will be your primary draw from then on, as Refresh is MP regen. Using Refresh and proper conservement of MP and Convert(which switchs MP and HP) you can get theoretically unlimited ammount of MP and therefore more exp and faster chains.

So the role of a RDM should they level past 41, would be to do a Refresh Cycle for all magic users(with good priority i hope), Enfeeble the monster(later on other mages cannot enfeeble as well as RDM, as a 64 WHM i swear RDMs are much much better), back up Cure, and the occasional Nuke and Magic Burst(in order of priority). However you could be asked to do many mage duties as well that might make you neglect one or two of these and you have to adjust according to your party, the strength is flexibility as a mage.

You might also be recommended to level both subs up(i highly recommend it) as in both WHM and BLM. When you are asked to main heal and WHM is not availible, a WHM sub with for Curagas, Status heals and Bar-ra spells. If theres is no BLM and you are not asked to main heal, a BLM sub for Elemental Enfeebles(Shock Burn Choke..etc) are nice to have to cover it up. Of course when asked to main heal refresh and curing takes precedence over other things.

When soloing and with right gear you can take Toughs although it is a battle of who will last the longest. Here Sword and Shield, and add on Phalanx, Stoneskin, and Refresh can make you last quite a while, not to mention Regen. Of course be smart, RDMs are not invincible soloing and it depends heavily on your equipment and the mob you are facing(depending on toughness). You definetly cant solo for exp well like every other job but you CAN solo, just not for exp usually. For example with right gear and level RDM/WAR can tank Avatars, a RDM/NIN at 74 can fight Shadowlord alone, and RDM/RNG for specific parties can do decent damage(mostly skillup though).

Big spells for RDM that cost alot are Phalanx, Dispel, and most higher Tier Elemental Dmg magic. Magic cannot be refunded so i always put them as more than the gil value indicated. If you are needed to sub WHM post 64 i might recommend you to get the 700K-1mil Erase scroll as well as you might be main healing and some status effects like Slow are detrimental to some tanks.

Anyway...blah blah blah blah Oo;

[lordblazer]

I don't think farming gil is what I need to do. That is just to slow and I might risk to drop the game again ^^ I need a class that can do pretty good without big amounts of gil to buy new gear for. When thinking again, maybe melee dmgdealer is wrong in that case, since it seems like a hard fight for thoose spots in the party.

How about red mage, always welcome in parties? I am kind of used to play hybrid classes after playing druid and shaman to 60 in wow =)
lol he doesnt have to quit because id ont even farm either.lol I fish lol.

its a lot easier to fish on FF11 and make the big gil then it is to farm.

[Lionx]

Fishing is considered farming. Anything that pretty much gathers gil can be considered farming. However if you like to call it another way Farming can mean killing mobs for drops. Fishing can be called seperately and BCNMing for gil can be called seperately. I think it depends on the context and the intent...i meant you have to spend effort getting gil somehow. You cant keep exing and expect to keep up with expenses and get gear that way most of the time if at all.

[lordblazer]

Fishing is considered farming. Anything that pretty much gathers gil can be considered farming. However if you like to call it another way Farming can mean killing mobs for drops. Fishing can be called seperately and BCNMing for gil can be called seperately. I think it depends on the context and the intent...i meant you have to spend effort getting gil somehow. You cant keep exing and expect to keep up with expenses and get gear that way most of the time if at all.
so begging can be considered farming?

[Lionx]

An unaccepted way of one yes it could be ones way of getting money although it doesnt bode well long term.

[Eidolon]

Thanks for the big walktrough on red mage lionix =) really nice, but u don't have to tell me more. It would be a to big spoiler ^^ the one u gave me was pefect, much info but not to much

1k gil for a spell ... insane. will take me years if I farm crawlers ^^ I have actually never tried fishing, it just seems extremely boring. I need to find a faster way, but anyway, I don't think I need to start farming to around level 50 maybe. At that time, I might be addicted to the game so much I want to do it. All I can do is hope, lucky I have heard its the last thing that abandons humankind.

Gonna think about red mage some more. wont give me shiny gear but will hopefully atlest give me groups =)

[Rostum]

I quick way to get a decent boost in your gil at those early levels is to farm things that drop fire and wind crystals, silk, wild onions or bat wings / fangs. You basically level up while you gather in those items, so it won't even seem like you're farming.

I'd suggest starting in windurst to do this, I'm not sure about the other areas. In any case, the items all add up, so early on you won't have to worry too much about gil.

Just a suggestion though. ^^;

[Eidolon]

yeah. Thanks Omecle, I have actually noticed this. It was one of the reasons I started out in windurst, it just seemed better than the other areas because of the crawlers and stuff. When levling up at the same time, farming isn't that bad =)