My RNG isn’t even 24 hours old with a decent buffer and it’s already being dragged to events. This is both cruel and unusual. Does everyone REALLY hate my PLD, WAR, and DNC that much?! Erm, anyway.
Current gear outline:
Melee Weapon: Fire Staff (+4STR, R.Attack+10)
Grip: Axe Grip (+3 STR)
Ranged Weapon: Vali’s Bow (STR+3, AGI+3, R. Accuracy +2, R. Attack+23) / Othinus’ Bow (R. Attack +18)
Hat: Hunter’s Beret (R. Attack+5, “Rapid Shot” rate increase)
Neck: Peacock Charm (R. Accuracy +10)
Left Ear: Vision Earring (R. Accuracy +2)
Right Ear: Drone Earring (AGI +3)
Body: Mirke Wardecors (STR+5, AGI+5, R. Attack +10, Snapshot +5)
Hands: Crimson Finger Gauntlets (R. Attack +10, R. Accuracy +10)
Ring1: Behemoth Ring (R. Accuracy +11)
Ring2: Behemoth Ring (R. Accuracy +11)
Back: Amemet Mantle +1 (+2 STR, R. Attack +15)
Waist: Precise Belt (R. Accuracy +5)
Legs: Galliard Trousers (+2 STR, -2 AGI, +5. R. Accuracy)
Feet: Scout’s Socks (R. Attack +10)
This totals to about +85ish R.Attack, more or less depending on the weapon, and +56 R.Accuracy (plus another four traits of Accuracy Bonus, or +48 for over +100 R.Accuracy). According to FFXI Calculator (which I highly suggest everyone use if you play FFXI), this amounts to about 88.8% accuracy on a generic level 82 mob with 350 evasion, which seems pretty good. Eating Pot-au-Feu will easily bump that to 95%, as well increasing R.Attack.
So, yeah. I have both a V.Bow and an O.X-Bow, which has made me take pause. I wasn’t really expecting to get either, and to be a full out gun-and-bullet ranger. So I don’t actually own a gun yet. I’ve primarily used V.Bow for the time being, and it’s worked out well.
Do rangers still use holy bolt setups? I think I can build a decent +MND set.
I like using Scout’s Beret (Recycle trait) instead of Hunter’s Beret sometimes to help save on ammo, especially if I’m just futzing around. Demon arrows are going for 90,000 gil for a stack of quivers at the moment. If I need more accuracy, I have an Optical Hat (R. Accuracy +10) on standby. You can bet your ass that the first thing I’m meriting on RNG is Recycle. Yeah, yeah. “Blah blah should merit snapshot first blah blah you’re a gimp blah blah go die in a fire you gimpy fuckface.” You want to give me free gil, then I’ll merit what you want me to.
Really want to work on those earrings. I don’t like either of them, but RNG has severly limited options there that don’t at least cost millions.
I have Seiryu’s Kote (R. Accuracy+10/AGI +15) for times I can’t use Crimson Finger Gauntlets (in other words, anything with Dragon Killer).
The belt… needs work, for sure. Hopefully my dynamis shell will come through there and get a Scout’s Belt (AGI +5,R.Attack +7, R.Accuracy +7) soon.
The “Kurrea is hard. Well used to be.” Galliard Trousers. Man, I’ve used these stupid pants so much for so many jobs when they’ve hit 75. I wonder if they’re better than Scout’s Braccae (which I don’t have yet, R. Accuracy+7). They seem like they should be, since they’ve got the +STR on them. If anything, they’re a good weaponskill piece.
Speaking of, I’m assuming RNG works like every other melee job in that you want to deck on STR/Attack as much as possible for weaponskilling. I could be wrong here, and maybe I am. I’m still kind of new to this rangering thing. Anyway, I wonder if +3STR (Denali Gamashes) would be better than Scout’s Socks (R. Attack+10). Also, there’s a compounded problem of Sidewinder/Slugshot having an accuracy penalty, which is just kind of cruel. So how much accuracy do I remove in favor of +STR, if any at all?
Anyway, the subjob joice for now is /SAM, since that reduces the amount of projectiles I need to hit 100TP down by one without severe changes, plus Hasso, Seigan, and Meditate are all nice. My goal is to get to be able to come RNG/WAR, I think, while maintaining a -1hit build. Berserk does a really good job at increasing RNG damage, especially when there aren’t BRDs available to do it for you.
But we’ll see. I’m still new to this Ranger thing. It’s kind of exciting, since it’s different. Which, in this game, is hard to come by lately.
I thought most people like being able to bring their newly leveled jobs to events :) As you said, it’s different, which is hard to come by and keeps the game interesting!
<3 your PLD, but I like to be able to swap people's roles around a bit whenever possible to give everyone some variety… Fuuji thinks so too. We really should make use of your WAR more often though… sometimes I forget what jobs people have xD
One of these days we should do ZNMs with multiple Dancers to do most of the healing xD
Oh, btw: High chance we're going to do the Paddock Trousers Tier II ZNM in 2 weeks. They drop the pants that have Recycle on them, so if you want to add that to your wishlist, let me know! Spengler has them on his wishlist for his COR already.
I like coming on new jobs…
…just when they have a buffer, and I’m not in danger of deleveling to 74. I haven’t yet, and I’d like to not start now! :p
Ranged WSs (i.e. Slugwinder really) benefit most from adding STR, despite lacking STR as a modifier (Both Slug and Side are AGI 30%) until you cap fSTR, at which point R.Atk and AGI are both better. In terms of STR vs R.Acc, if you have Rajas, drop a Behe ring for it. STR Earrings too, along with Osode. Basically, in slots you can get a high degree of STR, push STR. Of course, don’t totally forsake R.Acc, but play around with it. Guessing you wont have Marksmanship or Archery merits so you might need a little bit more R.Acc than a full time RNG. You shouldn’t be missing very much on RNG anyway, what with 4 Acc traits. If I can nearly cap Slug Shot acc on COR and still do 1200-1900, you sure as hell can in spades on RNG. Side note: If you’re using a 600 delay gun, /SAM + Rajas (Total of 20, 15 from trait + 5 from ring) will net you a 5 hit build if you go the gun route, though I think you can get as far as a 4 hit build (though I haven’t looked at all the sTP available for you)
I’ll give you my gear setup so you can compare the two.
Melee Weapon: Fire Staff/Kriegsbeil (/NIN)
Offhand: None/Francisca (/NIN) (don’t have enough imperial standing for the axe grip and I’m way too cheap to buy it)
Ranged: V.bow/O.bow/Hellfire +1
Ammo: Demon Arrow/Darksteel Bolt/Holy Bolt/Silver Bullet
Head: Hunter’s Beret/Scout’s Beret (MND build)/O.hat (R.acc build)
Neck: Qiqirn Collar/Spectacles (R.acc build)
Ear1: Minuet Earring
Ear2: Triumph Earring
Body: Kirin’s Osode/Pahluwan Khazagand (R.acc Build)
Hands: Crimson Finger Gauntlets/Seiryu’s Kote (R.acc build)
Ring1: Flame Ring/Behemoth Ring (R.acc Build)
Ring2: Rajas Ring/Behemoth Ring (R.acc Build)
Back: Amemet Mantle +1
Waist: Potent Belt
Legs: Scout’s Braccae/Hunter’s Braccae (MND build)
Feet: Scout’s Socks/Suzaku’s Sune-Ate (MND build)
My standard TP set for non /NIN has 388 r.acc with Vali’s before food (4 Archery merits), with 401 for /NIN (yours has 406 /SAM, I believe, assuming you have no archery merits). Base R.att is 414 with Vali’s (yours should be 400). Once you get up into the 400 range, it’s really up to preference. I don’t have accuracy problems on standard mobs or on the ANNM mobs I bring RNG to (about the only time I get to flex some RNG muscle). Generally when I’m having issues, it’s because of range penalties (KS99 Wyrm gives me issues, for example, since I’m forced to stand right next to it most of the time). These can be alleviated by swapping weapons (I should’ve used gun on that wyrm, for example).
Having a gun isn’t really crucial since you have a V.bow, but there are certain situations (like the one illustrated above) where being able to swap to a weapon with a different range is beneficial. Again, though, it’s up to you, since in most situations you’re probably going to be using a bow.
I have a Holy bolt set (Scout’s beret, Osode, Hunter’s Braccae, Suzaku’s Sune-Ate), but I don’t think I’ve ever used it before except in crappy XP parties. I’ve been informed that they cam be useful in certain situations, but I am generally stuck on THF for a majority of our shell events, so I don’t know what those situations are offhand.
I could be wrong on this, but I don’t believe that Ranged Attacks can be intimidated. I know that the strat for the assault “The Price is Right” generally involves RNGs or SAM/RNGs because they can continue to attack the boss during his intimidation phase by shooting rather than swinging. If they can be intimidated, I’ve never seen it.
For your earrings, I would personally go with double triumph earrings, but I also can’t afford them (the one I have was a gift). Minuet has been a good filler in the meantime.
Belt… Yeah, I’ve had this problem as well. I use potent for the STR. There’s an Einherjar belt (Buccaneer’s Belt) that is excellent until you finally get Scout’s if you have the ampoules for it (15000). Other than that, options are few.
If you want R.acc pants, get dusk (+10) or wait till Scout’s braccae. Otherwise, the Galliard are fine (for both WS and TP). You could also consider upgrading to Pahluwan Seraweels (essentially +1 STR over the Galliard) if you have the assault points.
As far as WSs go, My set is essentially the same with a few minor tweaks. I use Wyvern Helm (+5STR) over Hunter’s Beret and Skadi’s Jambeaux (+3STR, +5 R.acc) over Scout’s Socks. Denali is the piece I’d use if I didn’t have the Skadi’s. I use appropriate WS gorgets, as well, but you probably already do that.
I don’t have an Osode. Maybe I should talk about my adventures in my sky linkshells and why I hate sky so much. Anyhoo…
I had a suspicion ranged attacks not getting intimidated, but I figured it had something special to do with gnoles. Good to know.
I was leaning towards guns since I was working on Alchemy, and making bullets is a decent way to save on the costs of ranged ammo. Once that’s 60, Woodworking will be next, and I’ll decide which of those two I’ll get to 100 (if I last that long).
I had a lot more thoughts written out, but I kind of lost a lot of them since the stupid google blocking crap thing. Oh well. I’m sure they’ll come back to me.