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[Ashodin]

Finally mastered dark bahamut. Feels good man

 

[Starwolf_UK]

I'm not caught up in classics yet, so I'm still gotta do those, and I'm also way behind in Elites. Like, the only elites I've cleared are the initial set, and random ones where the boss was just in an event, or I did it for the MC

Although today is black orb day so...

I notice now I didn't quite finish the post . I was going to go with a point of how I sometimes do dailies or events when I'm one shard away from another stamina point+refill but have too much stamina to do the dungeon that gives the shard (as any leftover stamina is wasted) but with how expensive dungeons are these days those situations will be rarer. On the other hand number of dungeons left to do also drops.

When it is equal I honestly let what RW I have decide I should do.

Finally mastered dark bahamut. Feels good man

Any particular dramas? I had the following things happen in my run: left Cecil in the front row, let draw fire expire (so Tellah took more damage than needed) and did not use dispel on time (Cecil took a flare to the face). I also didn't bring shellga relying on the defend command and healing from hymn of the faith RW instead (it works well).

I might actually fight it again to see what difference not making some of those mistakes makes (shellga is in the air, I didn't really need mitigation but on the other hand Tellah could not really use faith on my mages due to being on dispel standby...perhaps haste instead as that worked great on the white dragon...). It won't make any medal differences but more of an idea of if can go more smoothly.

 

[MicH]

I just found an old XIII classic dungeon I never mastered, I only completed it. Mastered it - stamina shard! Then I unlocked the elite and it has two stamina shards! Score!

 

[Ashodin]

I forgot shellga for the second mega flare, ate it and still lived, got two medals for damage tho

 

[Road]

Is that FFXIII really hard? Seems like a big deal out of nothing. We already had to fight 2 ranged bosses in a row in a previous FFXIII dungeon. These days, I'm way more worried about the trash than the bosses themselves.

My next classic dungeon is the one with Archeoaevis as the boss, I'm looking up how to beat it and jesus that's daunting. I'll try it and probably beat it, but it sounds awfully complicated

It's not that hard. If you're going with a mage party, you have to pay attention to the phases that absorb elements (check this). Otherwise, Retaliate works just fine or plain physical if you have enough strong weapons for everyone. Just don't forget to bring Death or Pressure Point for the last phase. It actually slipped my mind on the elite version so I had to kill an additional 100k of HP. Gladly I went with Advance, so it wasn't a problem at all.

 

[Balphon]

Is that FFXIII really hard? Seems like a big deal out of nothing. We already had to fight 2 ranged bosses in a row in a previous FFXIII dungeon. These days, I'm way more worried about the trash than the bosses themselves.

Not objectively, but it's harder than those bosses. Barthandelus is more of a pain with his high damage output and doom timer.

 

[Ashodin]

Used the same strat on elite Odin, gg Dena you broke the game with dark bahamut

 

[Razmos]

Bartz "Spellblade User" - have a chance of double-casting a Spellblade ability
Vivi "Black Mage's Awakening" - Attack turns into a non-elemental magic attack
Vanille "Pulse Girl's Effort" - Attack turns into a medium heal

Yes, yesss

 

[Valkerionseven]

Oooo this first annivary event on the Japanese version! Free characters that you missed, and memory crystals. Not to mention gil, mythril, and eggs.

 

[ShalashaskaEx]

Whoa, those sound nice.

 

[Star Falcon]

Hi RKGaf, More questions!

I've just unlocked the IX and XII dungeons, but stamina shard gain has dried up quite a bit. Is it better to start clearing the early Elite paintings at this stage, or would i get better XP/rewards continuing with classics at a slower pace long term? IE is Stamina increase > all.

Can you control which RW you select? Returning to front end and re-entering didn't seem to change the selection.

Is it a waste of stamina going for Golbez memory crystal? I managed to beat Rubicante in Cave of Eblan relatively comfortably, so i am only 2 stages away but the advertised difficulty jumps from 55 > 70.

Long and short is stamina doesn't seem to be as abundant as it was for first few days and wondering what best investment of it will be. Will definitely go for Mastery on the daily dungeons again tomorrow.

 

[Xetherion]

Is that FFXIII really hard? Seems like a big deal out of nothing. We already had to fight 2 ranged bosses in a row in a previous FFXIII dungeon. These days, I'm way more worried about the trash than the bosses themselves.

I mastered both classic and elite easily, but thanks to recent luck during the SB fest I'm able to field a full mage party with all 5* weapons. I used Tyro with the Ice Whip (counts as ranged) to apply Mental Breakdown. I also have Firaja, Waterja, Diaga, Valefor, and Shiva all at r3, along with Firaga r4 and Meteor r1.

On elite some of my members ran out of offensive spells right at the end of the 2nd boss fight, but overall I had more than enough uses for both boss fights. Had Tellah's Font of Wisdom but didn't even use it.

RW was Lunatic High. Also could have used Quistis in place of Tyro, but I have Tyro's SG mastered, though I didn't need it. With Lunatic High and everyone in back row damage was already mitigated enough, especially with Hastega making sure the boss only got 3 or 4 attacks before going down.

 

[Xetherion]

Hi RKGaf, More questions!

I've just unlocked the IX and XII dungeons, but stamina shard gain has dried up quite a bit. Is it better to start clearing the early Elite paintings at this stage, or would i get better XP/rewards continuing with classics at a slower pace long term? IE is Stamina increase > all.

Can you control which RW you select? Returning to front end and re-entering didn't seem to change the selection.

Is it a waste of stamina going for Golbez memory crystal? I managed to beat Rubicante in Cave of Eblan relatively comfortably, so i am only 2 stages away but the advertised difficulty jumps from 55 > 70.

Long and short is stamina doesn't seem to be as abundant as it was for first few days and wondering what best investment of it will be. Will definitely go for Mastery on the daily dungeons again tomorrow.

You have to spend stamina to reset RW list. You can do so for 1 stamina in Fabul Castle FFIV Classic. Just do one stage then retreat from the dungeon.

If you did Rubicante comfortably, do the next one. If you're still comfortable with that one, try for the MC. MC's from events don't come around again for a long time, so I would definitely at least try to clear it.

 

[Starwolf_UK]

I've just unlocked the IX and XII dungeons, but stamina shard gain has dried up quite a bit. Is it better to start clearing the early Elite paintings at this stage, or would i get better XP/rewards continuing with classics at a slower pace long term? IE is Stamina increase > all.

Can you control which RW you select? Returning to front end and re-entering didn't seem to change the selection.

Is it a waste of stamina going for Golbez memory crystal? I managed to beat Rubicante in Cave of Eblan relatively comfortably, so i am only 2 stages away but the advertised difficulty jumps from 55 > 70.

Long and short is stamina doesn't seem to be as abundant as it was for first few days and wondering what best investment of it will be. Will definitely go for Mastery on the daily dungeons again tomorrow.

Notice how the classic FFIX and FFXII paintings are difficulty 43. The early elites are lower difficulty than that and many offer 2 shards per completion. Do note that FFVI stars with some difficult (and expensive) dungeons for some reason then difficulty drops massively starting with the Phantom Train (which is also very cheap in terms of stamina spend).

In terms of RW. You have to do one battle to generate another list. Classic Fabul Castle in FFIV is usually used for this. 1 stamina, 1 battle retreat from dungeon after that. If you used someone not on your friend list this is also enough to be able to add them.

Ultimately you should build up a fairly lean deck of RW friends you want to use to minimise having to do this. A good starting point would be something like 2xBoon, 2xLunatic High, 3xSentinel Grimoire, 1xAdvance (note: Advance is in very high demand and not great supply due to only ever appearing in one banner and unlikely to return, of course the Tyrfing can be pulled from any banner in theory but the chances are tiny, in short if you see the RW appear on the list you follow it and use it every day). The problem with having too many is it can become harder to find what you want or take more Also don't be afraid to clear out the list if some RW are not as useful as you hoped.

 

[Ashodin]

Bartz "Spellblade User" - have a chance of double-casting a Spellblade ability
Vivi "Black Mage's Awakening" - Attack turns into a non-elemental magic attack
Vanille "Pulse Girl's Effort" - Attack turns into a medium heal

Yes, yesss

FF5 confirmed best FF. Thank the gods of order

 

[Star Falcon]

Awesome, thanks guys! That is odd with the FF6 dungeon order difficulty. I think i'll clear a couple of these out first then, and hopefully get a couple levels by this time tomorrow to give those events a crack.

I cleared out some of the not so useful RWs. Kept the Lightning one (Blaze Rush?) and Vivi as they seem to over 9999 and have been helpful for bursting stuff down.

 

[MicH]

That's one 102 stamina dungeon out of the way. I've done all XIII dungeons except the last elite. The ranged ones haven't been an issue for me. I usually bring two black mages, a white mage, Wakka (with a bow) and Lightning (with the gun we got in her event). Could use Sazh with the gun, but then I can't use Lightning

At 126 stamina now

 

[Ashodin]

Black power orbs or try to farm White Dragon/DB?

 

[Random Painted HIghway]

Finished with the new dungeons. The new medal calculation method really made things much easier, you can take some damage now and not be concerned. I was very pleased with my team, I restricted myself to only one level 65 character at most and did not use retaliate or advance or draw fire at all. All mages all the time, at least for the final dungeons. Sazh, wmage summoner bmage bmage is a nice setup with my abilities and equipment. Need to do the bonus quest for the greater egg I guess.

Now what, I think farm humbaba until the next event. I need a ton of greater wind orbs. And a ton of greater black orbs as well, obviously. I will be at a seminar for the next three days so will not be stamina efficient in the day time. Wifi rounds against humbaba in the bathroom hopefully will kill enough stam, will not have the time to properly farm the event bosses.

 

[Hours Left]

Thank you Refia for dropping your second RM before I start the elites.

 

[ShalashaskaEx]

How many people can die before you lose a medal now? Two? I had one dead character but still didn't lose any medals.

 

[cactrotofrbc]

no new announcement today

it should be standard to have 2 event banners active at all times!

 

[johnsmith]

no new announcement today

it should be standard to have 2 event banners active at all times!

Someone on reddit said the new event should start Thursday night, announcement should be tomorrow.

How many people can die before you lose a medal now? Two? I had one dead character but still didn't lose any medals.

Yes, you get 1 free death without penalty.

 

[Gaming Truth]

How many people can die before you lose a medal now? Two? I had one dead character but still didn't lose any medals.

On that note, I think it's also 3 actions per mob now instead of the 2.? the first balance changed.

This is just from observing

 

[Balphon]

How many people can die before you lose a medal now? Two? I had one dead character but still didn't lose any medals.

Three Medals = 1
Two Medals = 3

 

[Falk]

XP daily became a lot less tedious.

Someone dies? "Sorry better luck next time"

 

[Razmos]

On that note, I think it's also 3 actions per mob now instead of the 2.? the first balance changed.

This is just from observing

I'm not sure about that. I did over 3 actions against each of the dragon trash mobs in the Golbez event, I felt for sure that I lost a medal but nada. Unless the formula changes when it is a single tough enemy rather than a normal trash wave?

Also the better requirement for the damage taken medals is AMAZING. I don't think I've lost a medal for damage since the update happened.

 

[MicH]

Yeah, I'm really liking the medal condition changes. Its much easier to get through trash mobs without losing any now

 

[Hours Left]

Spoiler

Jecht event starting soon in Japan.

 

[Falk]

Ran out of things to do.

WHITE DRAGON FARMING IT IS

 

[Nohar]

Spoiler

Jecht event starting soon in Japan.

Yup. The new SBs are also very good:

RELIC DRAWS

Spoiler

Set 1
Full Metal Rod (X) (Yuna), SSB "Dragon's Roar" - 5-hit non-elemental magic damage on all targets and raise whole party RES; MAG +10 for learning
Sin's Claw (Jecht), SB "Jecht Beam" - 3-hit physical attack on all targets and raise whole party ATK
Traveler Shield (Tidus), SB "Haste Form" - whole party Haste and refill 1 random ability
Buster Claw (Rikku), SB "Hazard Shell" - all-target damage and chance to cause Sap

Set 2
Jecht's Bandanna (Jecht), SB "Jecht Rush" - 4-hit single target physical attack and cancel action
Lullaby Rod (Yuna), SB "Prayer Song" - medium heal and large regen on whole party
Guard Armor (Rikku), SB "High Mega Baor" - whole-party ATK and RES up
Shiranui (Auron), SB "Ryuusei" - 3-hit single target physical attack and cause Paralyze

Credit to Reddit.

 

[Falk]

Rikku's armor looks godly. It's yet another buff type that stacks ATK.

unrelated: Was expecting Golbez's friend summon to hit for more than 14k in FFIV realm. Disappointing

 

[Road]

Rikku's armor looks godly. It's yet another buff type that stacks ATK.

unrelated: Was expecting Golbez's friend summon to hit for more than 14k in FFIV realm. Disappointing

These past few months DeNA has been on a crusade to put physical ATK back on the spotlight (from physical SSB being stronger, to change in damage formula, to multiple ATK buffs soul breaks and new physical abilities) and I think they have succeeded. I wonder if they have gone too far...

Yup. The new SBs are also very good:


Credit to Reddit.

That RES increase had better be good (+100%) or else it'll be another disappointing magical SSB. Also weird that Tidus got a new SB before Cloud.

Ran out of things to do.

WHITE DRAGON FARMING IT IS

I woke up to finish the last dungeons, but I see the next clear will level up my stamina, but it only costs 46 and I have I full bar of 128.

White Dragon farming it is...

I mastered both classic and elite easily, but thanks to recent luck during the SB fest I'm able to field a full mage party with all 5* weapons. I used Tyro with the Ice Whip (counts as ranged) to apply Mental Breakdown. I also have Firaja, Waterja, Diaga, Valefor, and Shiva all at r3, along with Firaga r4 and Meteor r1.

On elite some of my members ran out of offensive spells right at the end of the 2nd boss fight, but overall I had more than enough uses for both boss fights. Had Tellah's Font of Wisdom but didn't even use it.

RW was Lunatic High. Also could have used Quistis in place of Tyro, but I have Tyro's SG mastered, though I didn't need it. With Lunatic High and everyone in back row damage was already mitigated enough, especially with Hastega making sure the boss only got 3 or 4 attacks before going down.

It turned out to be a cakewalk for me too. I realized I have a Hunter Rod now after the Soul Breakfast and I also have a Healer Staff+ . My mages just walked over it. This was my party setup: https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/v...3X6hOd10MqBRNHKeEyl3vPSx7vGaYjeY=w489-h869-no

Worst case scenario, the boss is vulnerable to Poison. Just sit back and relax.

 

[Falk]

These past few months DeNA has been on a crusade to put physical ATK back on the spotlight (from physical SSB being stronger, to change in damage formula, to multiple ATK buffs soul breaks and new physical abilities) and I think they have succeeded. I wonder if they have gone too far...

Specifically related to buffs, there are a few stacking MAG buffs too.

Since the topic of buffs came up in chat, have a copypasta

I always thought that e.g. Sentinel Grimoire is a flat damage reduction, which is why it stacks with Shellga/etc.

That's actually incorrect - all buffs/debuffs affect stats, and stats affect damage done/taken. The catch here is:

Buffs of a certain type will overwrite each other. DEF buffs will overwrite other DEF buffs. AOE DEF buffs will overwrite single DEF buffs since it basically applies it to the entire party. On the other hand, an ATK/DEF buff (Advance, etc) is considered a different type, and thus will not overwrite. Ditto DEF/RES (Sentinel Grimoire)

This is why SG (DEF/RES) stacks with Shell (RES) and Protect (DEF)

This is why Status Reels (DEF/RES) stacks with Armor Breakdown, but Deprotega (DEF) doesn't.

This is why Full Break stacks with all the individual Breaks or Breakdowns.

This is why Advance/Boost works, or better yet Advance/Boost/Class Change (ATK/DEF/MAG/RES)

So since Rikku's armor is ATK/RES, it will only overwrite other ATK/RES buffs. Which is... uh. Yeah.

 

[Shahadan]

My game has been having a lot of problems these past few days. It's even more annoying to play now, I didn't think it could. I'm so tired of this piece of crap.

 

[johnsmith]

Did they raise the attack cap again? Hitting 9,999 retaliates even without realm synergy weapons on elites.

 

[Star Falcon]

Happy to say i managed to beat Rubicante and get Golbez MC just in time!! Thanks so much everyone here for all the tips and dealing with my constant questions!

Setup i used:

Rydia lv.42 (Waterga/Stona)
Cloud lv. 41 (Blizzara Strike/Blizzard Strike)
Tellah lv.41 (Curaga/Cura)
Kain lv.40 (Magic Break/Power Break)
Golbez lv.44 (Blizzaga/Blizzara)

RW i chose was Boon which nullified his Infernos and let me get a decent number of hard hitting spells of quickly. Was actually very controlled in the end, but satisfying nontheless

 

[elty]

Just beat big bridge on elite without much trouble. The FFV 4* rune axe is surprisingly good at 179 atk. Is ronka ruin part 2 easier or harder?

 

[johnsmith]

FF14 event announcement, confirmed for tomorrow.

 

[CuthbertAllgoodz]

Got ok luck on GSO with White Dragon by fuck Dark Bahamut... 8 kills, no drop of any kind. Blank, empty, big sad nothing. At this point I'd take 2000 gils. At least I get 50k for completing it...

 

[Balphon]

One day I will get more lightning than wind orbs from a stage.

One day.

 

[HungOverOnATues]

Mastered the last of the elites. Guess it's time to farm the white dragon for the rest of the event.

 

[Nohar]

Currently completing the Elites. I had a scare against Titan, since I forgot Magic Breakdown. Thanskfully I brought SG as my RW, so with a little luck I managed to kill it.
I am not looking forward doing the FFXIII battles, especially the one against the flying boss.

*sigh* I need more Luneth RW. The ones I had either disappeared or didn't connect in days. It is getting a little depressing. If any GAF member has a Luneth RW, please send me a PM, I'm interested (my RW is Tyro with SG).

 

[MicH]

All done with I, II, III, VIII, IX, XII and almost XIII (need one) realms. Have two elites left on VI and VIII and three in X. Need the most in IV and Villager. Currently at 128 stamina. So close to catching up! I've never been completely caught up with the story dungeons!

 

[Falk]

or didn't connect in days

This shouldn't matter. I still have that Paladin Cecil with Sentinel who logged in all of once three weeks ago and 40+ days absent prior who still shows up on my FS list.

 

[AdawgDaFAB]

Currently completing the Elites. I had a scare against Titan, since I forgot Magic Breakdown. Thanskfully I brought SG as my RW, so with a little luck I managed to kill it.
I am not looking forward doing the FFXIII battles, especially the one against the flying boss.

*sigh* I need more Luneth RW. The ones I had either disappeared or didn't connect in days. It is getting a little depressing. If any GAF member has a Luneth RW, please send me a PM, I'm interested (my RW is Tyro with SG).

The flying boss was pretty easy with a mage team. The one I'm actually dreading is Barthandelus Elite. He's the only FFXIII Elite that I haven't done yet.

 

[Falk]

The secret best part about mage meta is not even bothering to change anything to do dailies. Just nuke everything.

 

[Shahadan]

I still need good rods. I think I have one false 5* and that's about it.

 

[elty]

Does anything drop GSO other than white Dragon?

 

[Falk]

Right now? Dark Bahamut at about half as lucrative the orb/stam ratio, but you get small shots at 5* Black orbs.

White Dragon is the best GSO/stamina ratio we've had since virtually forever, but I'm finding it more and more of a chore as Orb Dungeon creeps closer and closer.

Right now I'm sitting here with a full stamina bar and don't even want to take 10 minutes to empty it on white/power daily, let alone White Dragon.

OH WELL.