Quick informal post in response to the MV patch update. See here if you have no clue what Modus Veritas (MV) is.
Direct Quote from SE Patch Notes:
After a helix spell is cast on a target, a predetermined period of time must elapse before Modus Veritas can be used effectively. Furthermore, certain Notorious Monsters will now demonstrate resistance to the effects of Modus Veritas.
I only wanted to post about this to try to alleviate some confusion on how this actually affects the "MV gank" strategy. Despite what most people are saying, the fact that you have to wait a certain period of time before a MV can be used after helix is cast does not change the strategy in any way. To repeat, the fact that you must wait "X" amount of time after a helix lands to use MV does NOT change the strategy. The strategy works equally well whether you go immediately after helix lands or if you were to even wait 10 seconds. What will kill this strategy is likely the "resistence to the effects of Modus Veritas", of which AV is likely included.
To explain the concept, say you land a helix that will land 60 seconds, then layer 9 MVs on it immediately at the same time (theoretical case here - there is obviously some timing error involved). The amount of time remaining on the helix after 9 MVs can be calculated:
60 seconds * (0.75)^9 =~ 4.5 seconds
Now let's say this new patch requires a 10 second wait period after the helix before any MVs can land (this is an extreme example... it's likely much much less):
(60 seconds - 10 seconds) * (0.75)^9 =~ 3.75 seconds
We find that the duration remaining after all MVs have landed is actually not that bad, even with a nasty 10 second delay on Modus Veritas usage... so what's going on?
It turns out that the most important thing is that all the Modus Veritas are landed as close to each other as possible. It does not matter when the MVs are started usually - only that they are landed very close to each other. To give you an extreme example of this, I'll give you 1 last example. Say this situation occurs pre-patch. 60 second helix, and 8 of the 9 helices are landed immediately after the helix lands, but the last person messes up and delays 2 seconds after everyone else. Let's see what happens:
[(60 seconds * (0.75)^8) - 2 seconds] * 0.75 =~ 3.01 seconds
By having that 1 person go late by just 2 seconds, the duration has been severely diminished - much more so than in the previous case where everyone went together, just 10 seconds late. I think if you logic this out in your head at how Modus Veritas works, this will make sense without the math.
Even with this, though, the strategy is basically useless since it's a near certainty that AV has some sort of resistance to Modus Veritas, making the "gank" useless. Considering the difficulty of pulling this strategy off, it's pretty much not worth it on anything that can be killed in a "normal" manner; however, I just wanted to point out that it still does work on things without this mysterious "resistance."
Cheers!
________________________________________
________________________________________
Direct Quote from SE Patch Notes:
After a helix spell is cast on a target, a predetermined period of time must elapse before Modus Veritas can be used effectively. Furthermore, certain Notorious Monsters will now demonstrate resistance to the effects of Modus Veritas.
I only wanted to post about this to try to alleviate some confusion on how this actually affects the "MV gank" strategy. Despite what most people are saying, the fact that you have to wait a certain period of time before a MV can be used after helix is cast does not change the strategy in any way. To repeat, the fact that you must wait "X" amount of time after a helix lands to use MV does NOT change the strategy. The strategy works equally well whether you go immediately after helix lands or if you were to even wait 10 seconds. What will kill this strategy is likely the "resistence to the effects of Modus Veritas", of which AV is likely included.
To explain the concept, say you land a helix that will land 60 seconds, then layer 9 MVs on it immediately at the same time (theoretical case here - there is obviously some timing error involved). The amount of time remaining on the helix after 9 MVs can be calculated:
60 seconds * (0.75)^9 =~ 4.5 seconds
Now let's say this new patch requires a 10 second wait period after the helix before any MVs can land (this is an extreme example... it's likely much much less):
(60 seconds - 10 seconds) * (0.75)^9 =~ 3.75 seconds
We find that the duration remaining after all MVs have landed is actually not that bad, even with a nasty 10 second delay on Modus Veritas usage... so what's going on?
It turns out that the most important thing is that all the Modus Veritas are landed as close to each other as possible. It does not matter when the MVs are started usually - only that they are landed very close to each other. To give you an extreme example of this, I'll give you 1 last example. Say this situation occurs pre-patch. 60 second helix, and 8 of the 9 helices are landed immediately after the helix lands, but the last person messes up and delays 2 seconds after everyone else. Let's see what happens:
[(60 seconds * (0.75)^8) - 2 seconds] * 0.75 =~ 3.01 seconds
By having that 1 person go late by just 2 seconds, the duration has been severely diminished - much more so than in the previous case where everyone went together, just 10 seconds late. I think if you logic this out in your head at how Modus Veritas works, this will make sense without the math.
Even with this, though, the strategy is basically useless since it's a near certainty that AV has some sort of resistance to Modus Veritas, making the "gank" useless. Considering the difficulty of pulling this strategy off, it's pretty much not worth it on anything that can be killed in a "normal" manner; however, I just wanted to point out that it still does work on things without this mysterious "resistance."
Cheers!
________________________________________
________________________________________
Overview
I was recently asked to do an informal interview with the Russian site can be found here. Here is the English version of the interview for anyone interested. I had no role in the making of the questions and they are aimed towards readers with little to no experience with Final Fantasy 11 specifically.
Special thanks to "Trotsky" for interviewing and translating.
Enjoy!
________________________________________
________________________________________
( Read more... )
________________________________________
________________________________________
I was recently asked to do an informal interview with the Russian site can be found here. Here is the English version of the interview for anyone interested. I had no role in the making of the questions and they are aimed towards readers with little to no experience with Final Fantasy 11 specifically.
Special thanks to "Trotsky" for interviewing and translating.
Enjoy!
________________________________________
________________________________________
( Read more... )
________________________________________
________________________________________
EDIT: (11/09/09 Update Notes) MV is patched on certain NMs. The fact that you have to wait "X" amount of time after a helix lands for MV to be used actually does not affect this strategy. However, NM resistance probably will and AV is almost certainly on the list of resistance mobs.
>>「Absolute Virtue」 新SS <<
Screenshots had to be removed or severely edited due to some privacy complaints. Also, the videos are currently "private" until I get them edited somehow. You can view the descriptions still though. Sorry.
Overview
For the better part of 4-5 months, myself and a team from Odin Server comprised of TeamKanican, LimitBreak, and BBQGold members have been working on the fabled "SCH MV Stack" trick, which basically involves stacking the little-known JA "Modus Veritas", leading to exponential damage increases. As I write, this I am incredibly disappointed as this strategy was essentially outed on BG by a group that failed to even kill anything of significance with this method (basically AV); however, I suppose this is the nature of things when you deal with potentially game-breaking oversights in mechanics.
I write this on September 26, 2009, a few hours after the method was outed on BG, and fully expect a ninja patch within a week maximum. As I actually no longer / rarely play, it's impossible for me to muster up the coordination necessary to make one last ditch attempt at this idea before patching. In an effort to hopefully see Absolute Virtue killed before this inevitable patch comes down in the near future, I hope that this information provided here can give any group with the resources the ability to quickly pull together an AV attempt.
________________________________________
________________________________________
( Videos - The Basics )
( Damage Potential Charts )
( AV Attempt )
( Current Issues with Timing )
( History of the MV Stack )
________________________________________
________________________________________
Conclusions
If any group out there actually has even 6 Scholars with the merits (even OK if some do not have them) and wishes to make a real attempt, feel free to comment or contact me via BG PMs. This post is very insufficient in fully explaining the mechanics of this process. This post goes over the "1-shot kill" method involving 9 Modus Veritas stacking; however, there is an alternative AV killing strategy that was proposed involving a combination of normal tanking and locking methods combined with less potent 7-8 MV attacks. This is also a potentially viable killing strategy.
Overall, I feel a bit disappointed in the original poster on BG who outed this method's choice to do so. Having worked with so many in the community behind the scenes in hopes that ANY of our groups could record a single AV kill, it is very disheartening to see one out the culmination of multiple groups' work over the course of half a year or more. Despite this, no one should be surprised that a secret of this magnitude would eventually be outed - my only regret would be if this were to be patched in the next few days without a recorded AV kill.
Regarding the "moral" issue, I feel that objectively, you could make the case that nothing about Modus Veritas is being abused in this strategy. It was clearly meant to stack - it was clearly meant to double damage. The best phrase for this instance for me would be "an oversight in game-mechanics". Unlike the Salvage Dupe exploit, nothing is really being used here that resulted in oddities (e.g. disband allies, triple items drop from the sky). Still, it was clear to us all that this would be patched if SE knew about it, and for this reason, you could make the case of inherent guilt - we knew it was wrong so we hid it basically.
Personally, I make no attempt to "morally" justify the use of this method. All I can say is when it comes to Absolute Virtue, any method is fine by me. I have always believed, and still do, that the only true way to beat Absolute Virtue is to cheat or exploit. I sincerely hope some group, any group, is able to figure this out before we all decide to move on from FFXI to bigger and better things. Until then, best wishes to you all.
Cheers.
________________________________________
________________________________________
>>「Absolute Virtue」 新SS <<
Screenshots had to be removed or severely edited due to some privacy complaints. Also, the videos are currently "private" until I get them edited somehow. You can view the descriptions still though. Sorry.
Overview
For the better part of 4-5 months, myself and a team from Odin Server comprised of TeamKanican, LimitBreak, and BBQGold members have been working on the fabled "SCH MV Stack" trick, which basically involves stacking the little-known JA "Modus Veritas", leading to exponential damage increases. As I write, this I am incredibly disappointed as this strategy was essentially outed on BG by a group that failed to even kill anything of significance with this method (basically AV); however, I suppose this is the nature of things when you deal with potentially game-breaking oversights in mechanics.
I write this on September 26, 2009, a few hours after the method was outed on BG, and fully expect a ninja patch within a week maximum. As I actually no longer / rarely play, it's impossible for me to muster up the coordination necessary to make one last ditch attempt at this idea before patching. In an effort to hopefully see Absolute Virtue killed before this inevitable patch comes down in the near future, I hope that this information provided here can give any group with the resources the ability to quickly pull together an AV attempt.
________________________________________
________________________________________
( Videos - The Basics )
( Damage Potential Charts )
( AV Attempt )
( Current Issues with Timing )
( History of the MV Stack )
________________________________________
________________________________________
Conclusions
If any group out there actually has even 6 Scholars with the merits (even OK if some do not have them) and wishes to make a real attempt, feel free to comment or contact me via BG PMs. This post is very insufficient in fully explaining the mechanics of this process. This post goes over the "1-shot kill" method involving 9 Modus Veritas stacking; however, there is an alternative AV killing strategy that was proposed involving a combination of normal tanking and locking methods combined with less potent 7-8 MV attacks. This is also a potentially viable killing strategy.
Overall, I feel a bit disappointed in the original poster on BG who outed this method's choice to do so. Having worked with so many in the community behind the scenes in hopes that ANY of our groups could record a single AV kill, it is very disheartening to see one out the culmination of multiple groups' work over the course of half a year or more. Despite this, no one should be surprised that a secret of this magnitude would eventually be outed - my only regret would be if this were to be patched in the next few days without a recorded AV kill.
Regarding the "moral" issue, I feel that objectively, you could make the case that nothing about Modus Veritas is being abused in this strategy. It was clearly meant to stack - it was clearly meant to double damage. The best phrase for this instance for me would be "an oversight in game-mechanics". Unlike the Salvage Dupe exploit, nothing is really being used here that resulted in oddities (e.g. disband allies, triple items drop from the sky). Still, it was clear to us all that this would be patched if SE knew about it, and for this reason, you could make the case of inherent guilt - we knew it was wrong so we hid it basically.
Personally, I make no attempt to "morally" justify the use of this method. All I can say is when it comes to Absolute Virtue, any method is fine by me. I have always believed, and still do, that the only true way to beat Absolute Virtue is to cheat or exploit. I sincerely hope some group, any group, is able to figure this out before we all decide to move on from FFXI to bigger and better things. Until then, best wishes to you all.
Cheers.
________________________________________
________________________________________
This was originally a private post written months ago as an AV strategy after we (as in Odin server) were given the "AV lock mechanism". I am now publicizing this post as the lock mechanism has been openly posted on BG. Ultimately, this strategy was never tried due to the fact that (1) it requires an immense number of bodies, and (2) it requires an even more immense amount of coordination to pull off within time limits. While I personally do not believe this strategy I wrote could be pulled off, perhaps someone can pick apart the better pieces, such as moving AV to the ramp.
Before continuing, I would like to state that this method does NOT use FFXIAPP ONEVENT and is thus technically "legit" as far as I can tell; however, I am unaware of any successful lock attempt that did not involve APP. Personally, I do not condemn the use of FFXIAPP for the purposes of testing AV - I see it as a personal choice which does not necessarily hurt the community in this instance. If you were to attempt this strategy with ONEVENT, I think you would fair at least half-way decently with 1-2 attempts.
On perhaps a lighter note, I find it funny that all the previous AV kills were considered not legit (glitches?), but that in order to "legitimately" lock AV reliably, you have to use a 3rd party APP. Just a small bit of irony.
Overview
We have verified the AV lock mechanism (6/13/09) given to us from an outside-server source:
One player must match the same 2 hour AV uses within a very small time frame (for instance, if AV uses Manafont, 1 BLM must match with his 2 hour to lock). The problem is the window of time to lock this is so small, that by the time "AV uses XXX" appears in the log window, the time has past. Because of this, it is not humanly possible to react to your log. This is why the many attempts to copy the SE video have failed.
( Read more... )
________________________________________
________________________________________
Before continuing, I would like to state that this method does NOT use FFXIAPP ONEVENT and is thus technically "legit" as far as I can tell; however, I am unaware of any successful lock attempt that did not involve APP. Personally, I do not condemn the use of FFXIAPP for the purposes of testing AV - I see it as a personal choice which does not necessarily hurt the community in this instance. If you were to attempt this strategy with ONEVENT, I think you would fair at least half-way decently with 1-2 attempts.
On perhaps a lighter note, I find it funny that all the previous AV kills were considered not legit (glitches?), but that in order to "legitimately" lock AV reliably, you have to use a 3rd party APP. Just a small bit of irony.
Overview
We have verified the AV lock mechanism (6/13/09) given to us from an outside-server source:
One player must match the same 2 hour AV uses within a very small time frame (for instance, if AV uses Manafont, 1 BLM must match with his 2 hour to lock). The problem is the window of time to lock this is so small, that by the time "AV uses XXX" appears in the log window, the time has past. Because of this, it is not humanly possible to react to your log. This is why the many attempts to copy the SE video have failed.
( Read more... )
________________________________________
________________________________________
Overview
A Scholar in Dark Arts functions essentially as a Black Mage, requiring standard nuking sets such as maxed damage and high skill. In Part IV, we covered the elemental skill set for Scholar and reached the conclusion that when maxed, functions at similar efficiency to a near maxed Black Mage; however, the gear required to reach this difficult to near-impossible to attain. So while theoretically a maxed Scholar should function at equal or better capacity to a maxed Black Mage in Elemental Skill in the long term, this is actually near-impossible to see in practice due to current gear limitations.
In this post, I hope to move back into normal nuking sets outside the realm of resist rates and do a real in-depth comparison of the nuking efficiencies between Scholar and Black Mage. I had previously done a rather basic analysis of the nuking capabilities between the 2 jobs, and this time hope to provide a little more depth. Previously, I only provided comparisons between Black Mage and a Scholar nuking under various charges, but did not consider the fact that charges are not infinite. This analysis will attempt cover this issue.
Lastly, I hope take the basic concepts behind the Scholar's inherent MP efficiencies and apply it to an underused set of nuking equipment - the maximum Enmity Down set. For various reasons, this set never became popular on Black Mage; however, because of the innate MP efficiency advantage of the Scholar's nukes when paired with stratagems, in addition to gear selection differences between the 2 jobs, this set can be used to great effect on a Scholar.
I highly recommend at least taking a glimpse at the math portion of this post; however, if you would like to skip over this section, begin reading at "Scholar Efficiency and Gear" and focus on colored text and conclusions.
Also, please forgive the randomness of the pics. I just threw together anything that had me on SCH.
Enjoy!
Scholar Guide (Part I)
Scholar Guide (Part II)
Scholar Guide (Part III)
Scholar Guide (Part IV)
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________________________________________
( Gear Sets )
( Scholar Versus Black Mage - MP Efficiency )
( Analysis Including Charge Limitation )
( Scholar Efficiency and Gear )
( Why an Enmity Down Set? )
( Cases Using Enmity Down Set )
( Enmity Down Set and Black Mage )
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________________________________________
Conclusions
I realize this post is long, even for my standards, so I'll try to provide as best a summary as I can of the take-home points. I highly encourage you read the contents of this post if you want to cite this for any potential arguments though. The math and "assumptions" are absolutely critical for you to accurately use the numbers I have provided. But still I realize it's good to summarize... so here's this post in five easy statements:
(1) A completely naked SCH in Parsimony nukes at a higher efficiency than even a perfectly geared BLM.
(2) Even when considering the fact a SCH doesn't get infinite charges, it still nukes at a much higher efficiency.
(3) The use of a "Max Enmity Down" set for SCH requires little to no "cost" in inventory slots.
(4) This Enmity Down set is potentially very useful in a variety of both mundane and endgame situations.
(5) SCH makes better use of this Enmity Down set than BLM due to inventory differences and its innate abilities.
My intention for this post is not to fuel a Black Mage versus Scholar debate, something I know this Scholar guide series has been cited for on a number of occasions. I would like to continually point out that (1) Black Mage has and always will be my favorite job; (2) I am most competent on Black Mage; (3) all my unique solos were first accomplished on Black Mage; (4) my most difficult solo (LBC) could not be done on a Scholar in its current form. I do not care to fuel this debate in these guides - if I choose to it would be in a separate post.
The undeniable fact is that Scholar provides an unrivaled MP efficiency in Dark Arts, even when spamming nukes at an insane rate of 4 nukes a minute (something you would be hard pressed to pull off even in a solo). This post hopefully illustrates both this and the added fact that its innate efficiency gives it advantages when using non-damage-maxed gear sets like the Enmity Down set described in this post.
My hope for this particular post is just to give you the best and fullest understanding of what characterizes a nuke-based DD and why a Scholar can amply compete with, if not straight up blow BLM out of the water in many nuking situations. To be fair, this post does not talk about maximizing damage in short bursts, which is something Black Mage still excels at; however, I still feel that this post covers the vast majority of nuking situations, where MP efficiency is by far the most important stat.
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________________________________________
Pic of the Day
( Macha's Coat )
Drama Thread of the Day
It's a good one.
Wait... Seriously?
( Special Task Force )
________________________________________
________________________________________
A Scholar in Dark Arts functions essentially as a Black Mage, requiring standard nuking sets such as maxed damage and high skill. In Part IV, we covered the elemental skill set for Scholar and reached the conclusion that when maxed, functions at similar efficiency to a near maxed Black Mage; however, the gear required to reach this difficult to near-impossible to attain. So while theoretically a maxed Scholar should function at equal or better capacity to a maxed Black Mage in Elemental Skill in the long term, this is actually near-impossible to see in practice due to current gear limitations.
In this post, I hope to move back into normal nuking sets outside the realm of resist rates and do a real in-depth comparison of the nuking efficiencies between Scholar and Black Mage. I had previously done a rather basic analysis of the nuking capabilities between the 2 jobs, and this time hope to provide a little more depth. Previously, I only provided comparisons between Black Mage and a Scholar nuking under various charges, but did not consider the fact that charges are not infinite. This analysis will attempt cover this issue.
Lastly, I hope take the basic concepts behind the Scholar's inherent MP efficiencies and apply it to an underused set of nuking equipment - the maximum Enmity Down set. For various reasons, this set never became popular on Black Mage; however, because of the innate MP efficiency advantage of the Scholar's nukes when paired with stratagems, in addition to gear selection differences between the 2 jobs, this set can be used to great effect on a Scholar.
I highly recommend at least taking a glimpse at the math portion of this post; however, if you would like to skip over this section, begin reading at "Scholar Efficiency and Gear" and focus on colored text and conclusions.
Also, please forgive the randomness of the pics. I just threw together anything that had me on SCH.
Enjoy!
Scholar Guide (Part I)
Scholar Guide (Part II)
Scholar Guide (Part III)
Scholar Guide (Part IV)
________________________________________
________________________________________
( Gear Sets )
( Scholar Versus Black Mage - MP Efficiency )
( Analysis Including Charge Limitation )
( Scholar Efficiency and Gear )
( Why an Enmity Down Set? )
( Cases Using Enmity Down Set )
( Enmity Down Set and Black Mage )
________________________________________
________________________________________
Conclusions
I realize this post is long, even for my standards, so I'll try to provide as best a summary as I can of the take-home points. I highly encourage you read the contents of this post if you want to cite this for any potential arguments though. The math and "assumptions" are absolutely critical for you to accurately use the numbers I have provided. But still I realize it's good to summarize... so here's this post in five easy statements:
(1) A completely naked SCH in Parsimony nukes at a higher efficiency than even a perfectly geared BLM.
(2) Even when considering the fact a SCH doesn't get infinite charges, it still nukes at a much higher efficiency.
(3) The use of a "Max Enmity Down" set for SCH requires little to no "cost" in inventory slots.
(4) This Enmity Down set is potentially very useful in a variety of both mundane and endgame situations.
(5) SCH makes better use of this Enmity Down set than BLM due to inventory differences and its innate abilities.
My intention for this post is not to fuel a Black Mage versus Scholar debate, something I know this Scholar guide series has been cited for on a number of occasions. I would like to continually point out that (1) Black Mage has and always will be my favorite job; (2) I am most competent on Black Mage; (3) all my unique solos were first accomplished on Black Mage; (4) my most difficult solo (LBC) could not be done on a Scholar in its current form. I do not care to fuel this debate in these guides - if I choose to it would be in a separate post.
The undeniable fact is that Scholar provides an unrivaled MP efficiency in Dark Arts, even when spamming nukes at an insane rate of 4 nukes a minute (something you would be hard pressed to pull off even in a solo). This post hopefully illustrates both this and the added fact that its innate efficiency gives it advantages when using non-damage-maxed gear sets like the Enmity Down set described in this post.
My hope for this particular post is just to give you the best and fullest understanding of what characterizes a nuke-based DD and why a Scholar can amply compete with, if not straight up blow BLM out of the water in many nuking situations. To be fair, this post does not talk about maximizing damage in short bursts, which is something Black Mage still excels at; however, I still feel that this post covers the vast majority of nuking situations, where MP efficiency is by far the most important stat.
________________________________________
________________________________________
Pic of the Day
( Macha's Coat )
Drama Thread of the Day
It's a good one.
Wait... Seriously?
( Special Task Force )
________________________________________
________________________________________
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chasethestars
chasethestars