SAM merits done! (Kinda)
I've been doing a lot of pickup parties on BRD during the weekends and on weeknights when I have time. I have to say that it's been a pretty long time since I subjected myself to meriting with randoms, since when I was in Karasu on original Xerlic, we merited all the time as a linkshell. I have to say that after several years of putting myself into that pool of 75s, for the most part nothing has changed. First off, I almost always seek for party on BRD. My reasoning is simple:
-If I'm on BRD, then the pt has to have a BRD. Logic ftw.
-Playing a DD in a pt of randoms is a mixed bag. Ideally, you either want the DDs to have similar capabilities to keep hate somewhat level, or be strong enough that mobs die fast enough for shit not to matter. Also, you need a competent mage. All of these are wild cards when it comes to partying with randoms.
The thing about randoms on BRD is you get these princess DDs who rely on your songs to make them be super awesome without giving a shit about the rest of the party. For example, many times I've partied at Colibris (btw, I have yet to party at mamools from seeking) where a DD will ask for Madrigal because "I need it to do damage". Also, 99% of the time said DD is using something like an Askar Helm. This is usually the result of said DD using a wacky weapon such as a WAR/NIN using Axe/Ridill or a Polearm SAM who doesn't want to use Sushi. Most of the times I'll pianissimo madrigal onto that DD because I know madrigal will be completely wasted on the rest of the DDs, but I still get vexed that in 2010 you still get these people who think that all they have to do is swap a weapon and use the same gearsets for TP and WS and call it a day. Oh, and forget spending 15k on a few stacks of sushi, because that notion is just bat-shit crazy.
The best was a merit party where a WAR/NIN aka a DD with Utsusemi didn't want to voke mobs and the RDM died after a convert. I said something in party chat and got this response:
Holy crap, get over yourself man. I wasn't aware that a DD with Utsu tanking a colibri for the 30 seconds that it's alive = mp sponge.
Anyways, the goods news from all of this nonsense, is I'm kinda done with SAM merits.
Store TP was finished a long time ago, and I'm not too concerned with the rest of group 2s. Shikikoyo and Blade Bash would both be nice to have 1 merit in, but I have other priorities in terms of merits. I'm still unsure on what to do about Combat Merits. Since SAM is my only DD, it would make sense to just do 8 polearm and 8 great katana. However, putting 8 merits into an A+ weapon seems kind of pointless in case I do level another DD, but as time goes on I'm thinking that's even more and more unlikely to happen. I plan to do HP/MP next then finish up RDM since I need like 4 more to cap Group 1, then start the grind on STR.
ENMs have been fairly nice, though Hagun's price is dropping like a rock. Still, considering it's a solo it's still a decent chunk of change into my pocket.
I'm convinced that I spend way too much time on BG because I got it in my head that having a PDT and MDT set is key to success is whatever I do. So, I've been blowing money on mats to get Darksteel+1 and Coral +1 crafted. I wanted to get the body pieces out of the way, and managed to snag a Darksteel +1 body off of the AH. Coral took quite a bit of gil, but I about broke even since it took roughly 7 stacks of coral@100k each (1/19).
Thanks for synthing Dre. :)
I did the Odin fight that was put in the last update, but not the Alexander one. I was planning to do the fight 3 times to get earring, torque, and summon, but lost interest in spamming it pretty quickly given what it takes to get the key item to enter the battle.
I went with the earring first for Penta Thrust and to use in campaign on RDM. Speaking of Campaign, I began working on ranking up to get some of the items.
Still got a ways to go, but I'm pretty close to being able to get the Medal Rank items.
-If I'm on BRD, then the pt has to have a BRD. Logic ftw.
-Playing a DD in a pt of randoms is a mixed bag. Ideally, you either want the DDs to have similar capabilities to keep hate somewhat level, or be strong enough that mobs die fast enough for shit not to matter. Also, you need a competent mage. All of these are wild cards when it comes to partying with randoms.
The thing about randoms on BRD is you get these princess DDs who rely on your songs to make them be super awesome without giving a shit about the rest of the party. For example, many times I've partied at Colibris (btw, I have yet to party at mamools from seeking) where a DD will ask for Madrigal because "I need it to do damage". Also, 99% of the time said DD is using something like an Askar Helm. This is usually the result of said DD using a wacky weapon such as a WAR/NIN using Axe/Ridill or a Polearm SAM who doesn't want to use Sushi. Most of the times I'll pianissimo madrigal onto that DD because I know madrigal will be completely wasted on the rest of the DDs, but I still get vexed that in 2010 you still get these people who think that all they have to do is swap a weapon and use the same gearsets for TP and WS and call it a day. Oh, and forget spending 15k on a few stacks of sushi, because that notion is just bat-shit crazy.
The best was a merit party where a WAR/NIN aka a DD with Utsusemi didn't want to voke mobs and the RDM died after a convert. I said something in party chat and got this response:
Holy crap, get over yourself man. I wasn't aware that a DD with Utsu tanking a colibri for the 30 seconds that it's alive = mp sponge.
Anyways, the goods news from all of this nonsense, is I'm kinda done with SAM merits.
Store TP was finished a long time ago, and I'm not too concerned with the rest of group 2s. Shikikoyo and Blade Bash would both be nice to have 1 merit in, but I have other priorities in terms of merits. I'm still unsure on what to do about Combat Merits. Since SAM is my only DD, it would make sense to just do 8 polearm and 8 great katana. However, putting 8 merits into an A+ weapon seems kind of pointless in case I do level another DD, but as time goes on I'm thinking that's even more and more unlikely to happen. I plan to do HP/MP next then finish up RDM since I need like 4 more to cap Group 1, then start the grind on STR.
ENMs have been fairly nice, though Hagun's price is dropping like a rock. Still, considering it's a solo it's still a decent chunk of change into my pocket.
I'm convinced that I spend way too much time on BG because I got it in my head that having a PDT and MDT set is key to success is whatever I do. So, I've been blowing money on mats to get Darksteel+1 and Coral +1 crafted. I wanted to get the body pieces out of the way, and managed to snag a Darksteel +1 body off of the AH. Coral took quite a bit of gil, but I about broke even since it took roughly 7 stacks of coral@100k each (1/19).
Thanks for synthing Dre. :)
I did the Odin fight that was put in the last update, but not the Alexander one. I was planning to do the fight 3 times to get earring, torque, and summon, but lost interest in spamming it pretty quickly given what it takes to get the key item to enter the battle.
I went with the earring first for Penta Thrust and to use in campaign on RDM. Speaking of Campaign, I began working on ranking up to get some of the items.
Still got a ways to go, but I'm pretty close to being able to get the Medal Rank items.