HNM Gear QuestionFollow

Well, I was just sitting around one night thinking (nothing else to think about, was a snow day) about the difference between HNM gear and EXP gear. And I was wondering, why is there a HNM set of gear? I realize somethings, such as the Paladin's Earth Staff, but what about the other kinds of things? If they're used on the "strongest" mobs in the game, how come they arent used on ones that aren't as strong? Wouldn't it theoretically help things move along faster?

Just a few questions, I'm doing this because I wanted to know and because I don't want to be as noob as I am, so please! Help get rid of more noobs and just tell me without chastising me eh?

Thanks,
~Ram

Since with HNM fights you are not worried about chains and such the gear is more specialized to what you are trying to do in order to SURVIVE the 1 fight.

PLD get adaman and other high end gear so that they can take the hits better though they lose the other stat boosts that would make normal XPing go smoother.

Almost all jobs can have multiple sets of gear.

As a BLM I have a set of INT gear and a set of MP gear i can choose between about 100MP or 22 INT (i usually pick a middle ground). BST's have Melee Gear and Charm Gear. It's all about perfecting yourself for the situation at hand.

Ahh, I guess that having different nsets of gear for different types of battles does make a bit of sense. Thanks for the help guys, as a DRK I hear I won't be doing many (if any) HNM battles but was just curious after having a discussion with a friend of mine.

~Ram

Quick correction. Koenig/Kaiser are obtained by martial abjuration for the relevant slot and the relevant cursed armour traded to an NPC in sandoria. Relic refers to the dynamis weaponry and sometimes the armour, although most refer to the armour as AF2.

Dying in Dynamis isn't really fun at all. When I went with IRON to do Dynamis-Sandy, I got hit with EES and it hurt >.<. After that, a NIN mob did its 2hr and wiped out almost the entire alliance. I think I died 3 times that night.

The max xp you lose with Raise III is somewhere around 500. So if you die three times, you're out ~1500 xp. But yeah, you can't go into Dynamis and not expect to die at least once; it's like going to the Dunes and expecting a fantastic party with no complete morons or trains: it can happen, but you'd better not hold your breath.

Edited, Wed Jan 12 17:32:06 2005 by Alauce

I can't wait to get to 70+.
This endgame stuff is what I continue leveling RDM for; I have countless videos of the HNM fights, and the idea of casting Gravity larger than life on Kirin--and STICKING it--thrills me.

I have heard tales of the boringness of the RDM's role in an HNM fight, but I can't see the boredom in it; it's what I've done since I took the job, support. Being the oil in the machine - especially when that machine is devouring some beastie that will take an hour to kill - is excitement enough for me.

This is a bit off topic so far, so I'll kind of veer back and ask any RDMs that have fought in an HNM LS; what gear do you use? Typical exp gear, with the MND and INT boosts, or crazy stuff like the Scorp harness?

I am very interested in joining one of these LSes when I achieve Sky access, and I want to have a set of gear I can be comfortable showing up in.

Sioux thats exactly what I am talking about endgame. Remember how fun it was to kill the trees, SE gave us NA players a taste of what the JP had been experiencing for years. The trees were mini HNM battles for lvl 20 n00bs.

rofl. It's so true though, isn't it? :D

"GUYS A TREE"
"KILL IT!!!"

Then it's like Running Man trying to get to the thing before someone else. I remember soloing one at 24, and god was it good to see that thing collapse.

Rate up, that is so true.

Since I'm not quite level 70 yet and can't stick debuffs 100% of the time on HNMs (I managed to land almost all my debuffs on Seiryu though, woot), I focus mainly on refreshing, healing, and casting aerial armour. Yes, I sub summoner for HNMfights - or at least God fights. Yes, I do have my gear optimised for enfeebling: macroed-in equipment switches (eg mnd and int rings, all the elemental staves for their corresponding element) and it helps ungodly amounts.

As a RDM, there's not a certain set of "HNM Gear", really.. RDM AF works just fine pre-errant as long as you're able to control your hate, but post-errant is where you shine; not only because your enfeebles stick more often, but also because of the nice enmity- stat on the errant. It's so much easier spamming spells and the likes in the middle of a tough battle without having to worry if you're going to be the next ingredient in suzaku souffle or something.

I've only died twice in the IRON dynamis runs i've been on. On the last Daikon run I went on I died three times...though the last one was sort of out of boredom after having warped out of the dynamis and coming back in to raise a stray puller who had made it all the way back to the beginning.

I put off joining an HNMLS for as long as I could. The most frustrating thing about it is that if you and a friend join different LS's, things can get ugly; especially if they are rivals or enemies. Loyalty sort of waivers and greed from the amount of money that can be made from HNM's and other stuff sort of changes even the nicest people into cutthroat hussies. It sort of get's annoying after a while.

When I finally joined a shell, Aurora, I didn't know what to expect. I joined it knowing that it was rather small and I was happy to be part of something that needed lots of work compared to shell's like IRON or the Lunarians which had all that they needed. Another thing was that I got along with most everyone there. I think that that is essential. Knowing and getting along with your shell mates can make or break a fight.

As I went from 70-75 with Aurora, I found that the amount of friends I had had grown but the list of enemies / rivals had increased 10 fold. I kind of got thrown into the middle of a million things. I didn't know what genbu was or what a pop-window was, but you learn things quickly as it only takes making a noob of yourself once or twice to go out and research all this stuff.

I get yelled at a lot because I have opted for an MP build on WHM. My hp is dipping to about 500 but my MP is a little over 1300. At 500hp, I can't take much damage, but I swap in gear to reduce damage and add mp as I use it so it's not so bad in the end. I guess as far as gear is concerned it's pretty much just asking other people your level who are trying the same thing. I have a few WHM's whose purchases and equipments I check on a semi-obsessive basis and if I wonder about certain items i'll send them a tell or try and figure out just why they might want to use it. I also try a lot of experimentation on enmity builds and HP builds in high damage AOE camps.

All in all, it's a ton of fun. Lately though, it's been even more fun to see just how much you can do with so little. There is always the God runs and the really big HNM's like Aspidochelone and Fafnir (which we haven't really attempted yet) but over the past month we've killed Overlord Bakgodek with 6 people, Tzee Zucu (the Yagudo God -spelling error) with 5, Bune with 4, and just today me and a Shellmate killed Amamet while running from 2 gigantic trains of crabs from angry gil sellers with only me dying because of a lag pocket that angry button mashing put me too close to a crab.

It's sort of a sad thing, but as i've gotten higher in level i've found myself dying in more bizzare and fantastical situations and not really caring. I think my favorite was getting mauled by Byakko as I sat medding while one of our rangers shadowbound it next to me.

Aside from some of the people i've met from other linkshells, the end game stuff is so much fun it's kept me coming back again and again. I can't wait to see what's at the end of the Promathia missions just so I can find another excuse to keep playing.

I guess I rambled but i really just wanted to say, 'it's so much fun! I know it sucks leveling but trust me, it's totally worth it!'

Best. Death. Ever.

On-topic: exp and HNM gear are different because of how much harder HNMs are than exp mobs. At level 70ish+ melees can start hitting OK without much +ACC gear, like even +20 or 30 ends up being fine for EXP, and then you use spare slots no longer monopolized by +ACC to boost STR and ATK and whatnot, but on HNM you can have +60 or more ACC and a bard singing Madrigal and still not hit even half the time. For tanking the gear is different because Koenig set really isn't about hate generation like Adaman and Gallant is, but more about damage mitigation, since when Byakko does triple attack into Claw Cyclone, it's best if the tank is still standing. This is also why things like Earth Staff come into play, 20% of 1k+ damage is a sizeable chunk that could mean your tank is still alive, while in EXP nothing is anywhere near threatening enough to force that kind of caution. On the same example, another reason to switch to Earth Staff is that 1h weapons don't hit for crap on HNMs for the most part, even high damage 1h weapons like Woodsville's Axe hit for 0-15 unless you get a critical. So while at endgame MNKs and WAR/NINs and NINs do sick damage over time on exp mobs because of attack speed and high damage per hand, on HNMs they go back to doing nothing with melee (WAR/THF can still do well with 2h weapons, MNKs have Chi Blast, and NINs can spam Shuriken if they feel like it though) and it takes strong 2h weapon users like DRKs or cheaters like RNGs to hurt stuff.

So to sum up gear and roles are just different because the mobs are that much harder, and you're usually looking at 10 minutes to an hour or more per fight, as opposed to EXP where you can reasonably kill mobs in less than a minute with a good setup. You gear up more for endurance and not dying than you do for dealing damage and fast kills. Rules change if you have a lot of summoners and rangers in your linkshell but that's another story. XD