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[Road]

Clock is ticking and I'm still torn between the Candle Rod (AoE heal is by far the best soul break of the three) or Holiday Mittens (I really need any 5* defensive gear). Think I'll flip a coin...

 

[AdawgDaFAB]

I have Aerith's rod and Zack's Buster Sword, so I think I'll go with the Mittens. Plus, it'll be nice to have a Rallying Etude SB.

 

[HungOverOnATues]

I only decided an hour or two ago and ended up with the Rod. I do have Planet Protector which definitely affected my decision, but aside from that, I also have a number of bracers and helms from other realms and the SB only boosts by 15%, the same as Garnet's default SB and the Rallying Etude ability. If it were 25-30% it'd be a lot more enticing.

As far as the Rod goes, the stats are trash and it's a MND based Rod but luckily healing doesn't benefit a whole lot from extra MND and I often use my white mage to Heal/Mitigate. The amount it heals may be small, but it's better than nothing and you can't craft any Medica abilities, so this is the only guaranteed one you'll get. I have Selphie's Morning Star, but I almost exclusively use either Aerith or Y'shtola now and this lets me party heal with either of them.

 

[Falk]

It's not nearly as bizarre as Esthar Bracers or any of the other ATK-oriented bracers with an AOE heal.

Although at least on those, you don't have to give up a lion's share of primary stats like a gimped not-quite-5* MND rod. And they make great Paladin bracers. :V

 

[Balphon]

At least Cactuars in this phase give bonus items and exp.

 

[alcheim]

This game is doing its best to annoy me. During the orb phases, I had a total of 6 Gargantuar encounters, and only one of them dropped a major orb.

Now that it's on the upgrade material phase, I've had 3 Gargantuar encounters on the + difficulty since the update started --and all of them have dropped shimmering blue treasure chests. So I think my luck might be on the upswing. I do an 11 pull, and get 0 soul break relics... not even shared soul break ones.

Anyway, I think I've syphoned off a lot of bad luck, so I hope everyone has better luck today.

 

[Surreality]

I'd been pretty stuck deciding on which banner to pull on to complete my trinity for the upcoming Ultimate fights with both Lenna and Banner 4 offering a high end medica.

After throwing my first 50 mythril into Banner 4 as it had better items overall, 2 Lullaby Rod's fall out. The less you expect a favourable outcome, the more you get it seems.

 

[GDJustin]

Taking a break from OPTC and picked up FFRK in the meantime. I played at launch and got my core party to high lvl 40s, and then didn't touch the game for ~6 months.

It's been... pretty confusing coming back. I don't really understand Record Materia, how Soul Breaks work (when I played each character just had one), why my Buster Sword had an EXP bar and what happened when it filled... the list goes on. Basically all of the core mechanics beyond basic ability creation/equipping is a mystery to me.

I've been using Stam to clear story dungeons - Eggs and Relics made my party strong enough to auto-battle up to difficulty 50+ so far without trouble - but it looks like I'm actually going to have to figure out what I'm doing pretty soon. I don't really know what the meta is, if there is one, or what I should be building towards. Current party is Tidus, Gilgamesh, Vivi, Aerith, and Cloud.

 

[Stumpokapow]

spending all that adamantite and scarletite was fun. now my combine equipment screen is empty.

 

[CuthbertAllgoodz]

New Year Countdown rewards:

12:00 AM 12/29 PST (8:00 AM 12/29 UTC) to 11:59 PM 12/31 PST (7:59 AM 1/1 UTC)
- 1 Mythril
- 10 Greater Orbs
- 5 Growth Eggs

12:00 AM 12/30 PST (8:00 AM 12/30 UTC) to 11:59 PM 12/31 PST (7:59 AM 1/1 UTC)
- 1 Mythril
- 10 Greater Orbs
- 5 Growth Eggs

12:00 AM 12/31 PST (8:00 AM 12/31 UTC) to 11:59 PM 12/31 PST (7:59 AM 1/1 UTC)
- 1 Mythril
- 10 Greater Orbs
- 10 Growth Eggs

12:00 PM 12/31 PST (8:00 PM 12/31 UTC) to 11:59 PM 12/31 PST (7:59 AM 1/1 UTC)
- 2 Mythril
- 10 Greater Orbs
- 5 Greater Growth Eggs

6:00 PM 12/31 PST (2:00 AM 1/1 UTC) to 11:59 PM 12/31 PST (7:59 AM 1/1 UTC)
- 2 Mythril
- 10 Greater Orbs
- 10 Greater Growth Eggs

9:00 PM 12/31 PST (5:00 AM 1/1 UTC) to 11:59 PM 12/31 PST (7:59 AM 1/1 UTC)
- 3 Mythril
- 10 Greater Orbs
- 5 Major Growth Eggs

*10 Greater Orbs includes one of each of the following types: White, Black, Non-elemental, Fire, Ice, Lightning, Earth, Wind, Holy, and Dark.

 

[Purple Cheeto]

Barely managed to get 50 mythril for this last banner, was worth it though.

4x 5 star (rune axe, lullaby rod, thief blade, genji helm)
3x 4 star
4x 3 star

 

[Star Falcon]

New Year Countdown rewards

That came out of nowhere. Logged it to see all these notifications, was a nice surprise. No Power Orbs at all then?

I did a 3 pull on the Faris/Krile Banner 1 and got Thor's Hammer. Anyone know what multiplier this has versus Planet Protector/Hand of the Emperor etc for ATK increase? Galuf is hitting like a train now.

 

[MicH]

That came out of nowhere. Logged it to see all these notifications, was a nice surprise. No Power Orbs at all then?

I did a 3 pull on the Faris/Krile Banner 1 and got Thor's Hammer. Anyone know what multiplier this has versus Planet Protector/Hand of the Emperor etc for ATK increase? Galuf is hitting like a train now.

Thor's Hammer gives ATK +35% to the party. PP gives +50% ATK and HotE gives +30% ATK + DEF

 

[BassForever]

Now that I've maxed every weapon I can go through with synergy and figure out what 3++ gear is not useful to fodderize later

 

[ezodagrom]

9:00 PM 12/31 PST (5:00 AM 1/1 UTC) to 11:59 PM 12/31 PST (7:59 AM 1/1 UTC)
- 3 Mythril
- 10 Greater Orbs
- 5 Major Growth Eggs

(5:00 AM 1/1 UTC) to (7:59 AM 1/1 UTC)

Really?

 

[MicH]

Really?

Yeah, that's really shitty.

 

[Star Falcon]

Thor's Hammer gives ATK +35% to the party. PP gives +50% ATK and HotE gives +30% ATK + DEF

Thanks. I'll have some fun with a physical FFV party for the event up until Ultimate ExDeath at least.

It's been... pretty confusing coming back. I don't really understand Record Materia, how Soul Breaks work (when I played each character just had one), why my Buster Sword had an EXP bar and what happened when it filled... the list goes on. Basically all of the core mechanics beyond basic ability creation/equipping is a mystery to me.

I've been using Stam to clear story dungeons - Eggs and Relics made my party strong enough to auto-battle up to difficulty 50+ so far without trouble - but it looks like I'm actually going to have to figure out what I'm doing pretty soon. I don't really know what the meta is, if there is one, or what I should be building towards. Current party is Tidus, Gilgamesh, Vivi, Aerith, and Cloud.

Record Materia (RM) is a passive enhancement that is unlocked when breaking a characters level cap. Each character that can be level broken has a unique Record Materia to unlock, some have several such as Cloud. You aren't restricted to equipping the Materia unlocked by that character either - for example Squall could equip Clouds RM provided he has broken the lv.50 cap.

Beyond the default Soul Breaks (SB), there are Unique and Shared SBs which are associated with Relic drops (5* relics only, exception being a couple 4* pieces which give the Core Characters like Knight and White Mage a Soul Break).
So for example, if you have Clouds Buster Sword, Cloud will be able to use Braver. The XP bar for the weapon is the SB Mastery - once Mastered you will be able to use Braver without needing to equip the Buster Sword.

There isn't really a be all, end all Meta. There are several approaches you can take but IMO its worth being versatile as one strategy doesn't necessarily work against everything. Your current party sounds pretty good although might be worth considering a support character - the latest event unlocks Faris from FFV and she is pretty awesome! There is also another event about to end called Vale of Memories which is a good catchup event as you can earn and unlock some of the characters and their Memory Crystals (MC) that you have missed. MC are required to break the level cap and unlock Record Materia so they are pretty high priority acquisitions.

 

[BassForever]

Really?

Yeah, that's really shitty.

So stay up late and get free shit? Good to know

 

[Falk]

WHERE IS EX DEATH

 

[BassForever]

WHERE IS EX DEATH

The void

 

[Star Falcon]

He actually hits pretty hard even on the Elite version... good warm up for Ultimate battle.

 

[Falk]

Bonus battles looks like a snoozefest.

Spoiler

sleep everything ololo

Speaking of Elite Ex Death, I brought my Ultimate team and demolished him...

...but forgot the Slow requirement.

Oops.

 

[Star Falcon]

What setup are you guys thinking of doing for it? I just did another clear of it with the best Mage team I could put together... though given that I have relics for Bartz & Galuf i'm not sure if a physical team would work better. Here's what I got:

Question marks over Diaga + Valefor but Flare/Meteor are only R1 for me (and Bioga useless from what I can tell) and need Y'Shtola to do something other than buff Wall and apply Breakdown.

Planning to hopefully get regen on everyone before phase 2 and then put Carbuncle up. Risk then is not being able to heal up from Earthshaker and Vacuum Wave - I could swap Lenna out for Eiko as I got the Golem Flute.

 

[BassForever]

What setup are you guys thinking of doing for it? I just did another clear of it with the best Mage team I could put together... though given that I have relics for Bartz & Galuf i'm not sure if a physical team would work better. Here's what I got:



Question marks over Diaga + Valefor but Flare/Meteor are only R1 for me (and Bioga useless from what I can tell) and need Y'Shtola to do something other than buff Wall and apply Breakdown.

Planning to hopefully get regen on everyone before phase 2 and then put Carbuncle up. Risk then is not being able to heal up from Earthshaker and Vacuum Wave - I could swap Lenna out for Eiko as I got the Golem Flute.

Why not bring Kirin if you want regen on everyone?

 

[Falk]

Krile - Ice Staff - Blizzaja (+20% damage), Firaja, Devotion - No Soul Break, constant nuke, summon Boon at start
Rinoa - Thunder Rod++ - Thundaja (+20% damage), Drainga for emergencies - +SB meter, open with Witchcraft
Yuna - Lilith Rod - Valefor, Maduin (both will easily cap damage with the RS 5* rod) - Eidolon's Bond, Hymn of the Fayth backup heal
Y'shtola - Judgement Staff - Curaga, Diaga - +SB meter, open with SSII
Faris - Enhancer++ - Full Break, Magic Breakdown - Dragoon's Determination

Depending on how bad the counters are, I may swap out Yuna's RM for auto-reflect and bounce stuff off her instead. Or if Yuna passes away too easily because of inability to be healed, using Rinoa with auto-Reflect and keeping topped off with Drainga.

Considering I'm essentially cheating with +20% damage Blizzajas and Thundajas and stacking wall/Boon, AND I have an AOE heal, this should be a complete stomp.

 

[Jyrii]

...but forgot the Slow requirement.

Uncharacteristic of me, but I remembered to bring slow

Spoiler

..but forgot to use it

 

[Star Falcon]

Haha them hones. Nice setup though, I might try Eiko in a similar role to your Yuna and just make Y'Shtola dedicated healer (can give Terra the Breakdown). Will see how I get on without Protectga.

Why not bring Kirin if you want regen on everyone?

Good idea - completely forgot this ability existed.

 

[Falk]

Haha them hones.

Still haven't honed Drainga.

Stupid Blizzaja cleaned out my Greater Blacks

Stupid Ice Staff

 

[MicH]

I'm probably gonna bring Carbuncle and Yuna (with her Lullaby Rod) to bounce back his magic for some extra damage. Not sure what else yet, though

 

[ccbfan]

Whats the best difficulty level to run for phase 5?

I'm running Heroic since the exp is better and the increase from a giant and large upgrade mat and a regular one isn't that great (Where on the other hand the difference between a major orb and a greater orb versus a regular one is 10x or 100x)

 

[BassForever]

Does Kirin's regen get reflected or does it ignore that?

 

[Falk]

Yeah, I'm running Heroic for the exact same reason - Could use the XP.

Does Kirin's regen get reflected or does it ignore that?

It ignores Reflect as it's a magical AOE.

 

[Star Falcon]

I'm kinda swarmed in upgrade materials for now. Going to catchup on some Elite dungeons (could use the Mythril if nothing else) and maybe run a few dailies for last few orbs.

Of course I am being pretty short-sighted as i've dedicated all my farming/planning into ExDeath, not even really thinking about the upcoming Ultimates against Yunalesca, Rubicante etc.

 

[MrDaravon]

Yeah, I'm running Heroic for XP as well. This entire orbfest I've just been running stuff as hard as I can, and even though mats are fairly low priority I want to build up a big a stockpile as I can so I don't need to worry about it for a long time.

I have total garbage luck with orb drops on the daily dungeons, so now that I've run as much as I can this orbfest (where I still had shit luck, I think I only ever had 4-5 Major orbs as drops the whole time ._.) as soon as this is over I'm going to ignore daily dungeons (except Sunday) for a good while and focus on clearing core dungeons, I'm still only at 115 Stamina.

 

[Shouta]

New Year's super dungeon for orbs is back for JP. So much XP, So much gold, so many orbs. =o

 

[Valus]

Come on DeNa that's not cool.

 

[dantehemi]

So I have squall and cloud mc2 down and I have 3 more crystals to use..who would you guys think is best? Tyro? Cecil? Rinoa?

 

[Negator]

I would go with them if I had to choose. I don't really care for Tidus.

 

[Random Painted HIghway]

Tyro for mogs teaching rm, same as mako might, and rinoa since she will be the only level 80 bmage for a bit.

Tidus rm is better than p Cecil's, I would go that one.

 

[Negator]

Oh yeah, I hadn't considered materia. Tidus one is pretty good.

 

[Starwolf_UK]

A really funny fact about the upgrade material dungeon. In terms of material:stamina cost running easy is the best due to how poorly upgrade materials scale though easy gives next to no EXP. Of course probably the best thing to do is try and not run that dungeon at all but do other content (which I've been putting off, I've got two parts of Vale of Memories left, elite FFV and a dungeon update).

 

[CuthbertAllgoodz]

Lulu's Hairpin coming back in the next months? Sounds like if I don't pull something like Kefka's Cape to give me my own Hastega so that I can RW Lulu, my mage team won't be able to keep up at some point. The game never gave me much for melee, getting scared and annoyed that I worked so hard on my main team and Reddit make it sounds like it will almost be irrelevant because I was not lucky on this banner...

 

[LucaMac]

Best place to grind RMs? It's never been an issue for global but I need Tyros to drop in Japan. I've been soloing the orb dungeon with him but he's going to hit 80 soon and all that lovely xp will go to waste. Need Dr Mog to teach him how to SG instantly for the superbosses.

It's insane that I'm nearly able to handle the same level of content in Japan as I am Global seeing as I'm a day one player. Rolling gatcha is just far too good. I may have mentioned that before. A lot of global stamina went to waste today :/

 

[Jarekx]

Well, SSBfest has been pretty good to me overall. Got Oerba's Boon to go along with Deprotega for Vanille, and a gunblade from the first banner. Managed to grab Sentinel Grimoire on the second banner and just did a single pull for Lulu's Hairpin. I've got one 11 pull saved for the second FFV banner so hopefully I haven't used all my good luck.

 

[MicH]

I haven't had very good luck with the SSB fest.

Phase 1. Two 11-pulls. One with no 5* and one with the Cardinal
Phase 2: One 11-pull. No 5*
Phase 3: One 11-pull. Got Vivi's rod
Phase 4: One 11-pull. No 5*

So, going by that pattern I should get lucky on tonight's banner, right? I need that Squall SSB! Overall though, I got the Cardinal (most wanted relic on that banner) and the Cypress Pile (second most wanted relic on that banner)

 

[MicH]

OH RREALLY

11 pull on phase 5 banner: NO FIVE STARS

ONE last 11 pull: NO FUCKING FIVE STARS

WHY

 

[HungOverOnATues]

Two 5*
... Betrayal Sword
and a second Morning Star :|

 

[BassForever]

100 gem

Sophie's 5 star weapon

So now I have Y'Sholta's, Aerith's, and Sophie's healing weapons

:X

Guess I never need to worry about healing

50 mythril

4 5 stars, 2 of the ff7 head gear that has a healing shared sb, a 5 star ffx head gear, and another fucking Sophie weapon

No ff4 weapon, but I'm fucking drowning in healing items

 

[Kaiterra]

Well I went from completely not caring about Edward not having his Memory Crystal to now being REALLY MAD about it as my reward from pulling on phase 5 was 9xJunk, 1xGiant's Axe (also junk because I have real FF5 weapons) and Fabled Harp. Should've pulled on the FF5 banner. I'm gonna save until the FFT one now I think.

Fabled Harp would totally make Edward a go-to support character and I'd be damn happy about it, if only he had his Memory Crystal. :\

 

[RivalCore]

Did a 100 gem pull on The second FFV banner. Got Lenna's staff! Fucking stoked that I finally have an AOE heal. Now I actually stand a chance with Ex-Death.