PSA: Stop wasting money on level IV materia for Novus

[Zyrusticae]

This is a public service announcement for those still working on a Novus weapon.

 

Do NOT bother with level IV materia. Seriously. Don't do it. You're spending millions of gil on literally nothing. See for yourself:

 

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/threads/194344-Relic-weapons-situation-post-expansion?p=2458893&viewfull=1#post2458893

People pay a ridiculous amount for Novus because they are uninformed / not aware of just how meaningless secondary stats are.

 

BLMs can deal 400+ damage per second on T8. The best BLM stats on novus per DMG calculators / testing is 44 spell speed and 31 crit. However, a 25 spell speed, 25 crit, 25 DET weapon will deal a mere 1 less DPS. Do the math. This means the 44 / 31 novus gains a laughable extra second of damage every 6.6 minutes. You get an itch on your face and have to scratch it and you've lost your worthless benefit. Nobody will notice a difference.

 

I'm sorry - but it's pointless to spend 10-15M gil for a benefit that nobody will ever notice. The 25, 25, 25 novus will cost 300-500k tops.

 

Ignore your crippling OCD. Find some other way to distract it. But DON'T spend a month or more's worth of income on something that will not tangibly benefit you in any way.

[Kage]

But I don't even have that type of gil either ; ; /shot

 

I always thought the 3-stat builds for novus were better anyway.

[Coatleque]

Suddenly I have a little more ambition to finish my Animus books.

[Warren Castille]

Even when upgrading to Nexus, the increases are very teensy. That said, someone did mention upgrading a budget bow and only seeing a single point of crit increase, so be mindful moving forward how the split might work.

[Enteris]

The problem for me is not so much the cost of the upgrading, but rather the tediousness of it all. I'm honestly surprised I lasted through the Atma and Animus stages with just how awfully boring they were. Grinding out the Alexandrite for Novus is certainly more fun by comparison, but still very much a chore to me.

 

I really wish that upgrading our weapons to the next tier was more of a challenge, rather than a time sink. Sitting in a zone running from fate to fate isn't a challenge... killing ten mobs, doing some leves, and running "stay out of the red stuff" dungeons isn't a challenge... doing a daily quest every day for 75 days (maximum if you don't go about grinding tomes/fates AGAIN for drops) isn't a challenge. They're all just snore fest time sinks. 

 

The only challenges I've faced through the relic chain(s) thus far are people's lack of red=bad on Titan HM... and staying awake through mindnumbingly boring fate grinds...

 

More on topic: Thank you for this link and insight. It certainly is nice to know that some people may be able to save a bit of their gil.

[Dravus]

You could get a 0.0001% stat increase and there would still be people out there rushing to try and embrace the perceived advantage in their perpetual quest to min/max every aspect of their character. I wouldn't bother doing it myself but if people are happy to buy my materia for a ridiculous price then I'm not going to complain.

[Ilwe'ran]

Even when upgrading to Nexus, the increases are very teensy. That said, someone did mention upgrading a budget bow and only seeing a single point of crit increase, so be mindful moving forward how the split might work.

 

It also depends on the stats you are willing to change on your weapon. If you keep the same stats, you will see only a slight improvement, but for me and my bow, I swapped from skill speed + accuracy to crit rate + determination + accuracy.. I can tell you that for me it changed a LOT !

[Coatleque]

They're all just snore fest time sinks.

 

It's still an MMO. Sorry to inform you, but just about anything they add to the game is going to be just this. It's how every MMO in existence operates.

 

You spend money, they give you a meaningless repetitive task to do that takes twice the amount of time required for the money you spent. Then you spend more money to finish it because you're OCD.

 

Disclaimer: The terms "you" and "you're" in the above comment are indicative of all of us, not one single person. The author is just as guilty of this same process.

[Warren Castille]

Even when upgrading to Nexus, the increases are very teensy. That said, someone did mention upgrading a budget bow and only seeing a single point of crit increase, so be mindful moving forward how the split might work.

 

It also depends on the stats you are willing to change on your weapon. If you keep the same stats, you will see only a slight improvement, but for me and my bow, I swapped from skill speed + accuracy to crit rate + determination + accuracy.. I can tell you that for me it changed a LOT !

 

Specifically, this:

 

Quote Originally Posted by Carraway View Post

Budget Artemis Bow Novus went from 33 crit/23 det/19 acc to...34 crit/23 det/19 acc.

[Enteris]

They're all just snore fest time sinks.

 

It's still an MMO.  Sorry to inform you, but just about anything they add to the game is going to be just this.  It's how every MMO in existence operates.

 

You spend money, they give you a meaningless repetitive task to do that takes twice the amount of time required for the money you spent.  Then you spend more money to finish it because you're OCD.

 

Disclaimer: The terms "you" and "you're" in the above comment are indicative of all of us, not one single person.  The author is just as guilty of this same process.

No, no. I know and understand. But, you can't blame me for wishful/hopeful thinking can you?

 

I'd honestly rather have a Chimera/Hydra EX at the end of the chains rather than staring at my map for little blue circles to pop up. A hard boss fight... or the fights like in FFXI you had to endure to be able to break the level caps. That sort of thing...

 

C'est la vie. I'll eventually buck up and deal with the tedium... but for now I'll stick to my wishful thinking and passive complaining.

[Aysun]

1: I'm not basing my decision off a thread from some person on the toxic waste dump that is the official forums.

 

2: I didn't mind putting the extra effort in to get the tier IV materia. Some people don't mind doing extra work for something they want.

 

3: I'm not a min/maxer (very few of us are here, I imagine, or we'd all be fantasia'ing), but I'm making my stats what I want, as are most people who do Novus. That's kind of the point, after all.

 

 

My main problem with this thread is you're not offering advice, you're telling them they're doing it wrong. You can advise people to do it your way without trying to completely undermine everything that other people do.

[Yssen]

There is some logic here. Each Novus plan should take into account your current and possible future gear builds. Yes, maxing out crit and skillspeed on a weapon will make you feels super cool, but if you have sacked too much of your accuracy doing it, you are going to be the fastest swinging, possible criting miss festival on Eorzea. It makes for becoming a sad panda. It is similar to the idea of "best in slot." There is no such thing as "best in slot" there is what is best for your overall build and what is not. Wasted stat points are still wasted stat points.

[Zyrusticae]

Even when upgrading to Nexus, the increases are very teensy. That said, someone did mention upgrading a budget bow and only seeing a single point of crit increase, so be mindful moving forward how the split might work.

If 19 points (11 crit + 8 det) barely makes any difference at all, not sure how adding 1 or 2 points of difference is going to change that.

 

It also depends on the stats you are willing to change on your weapon. If you keep the same stats, you will see only a slight improvement, but for me and my bow, I swapped from skill speed + accuracy to crit rate + determination + accuracy.. I can tell you that for me it changed a LOT !

Well, the problem in this case is that there are stat points that are just objectively superior to others (Skill Speed in particular suffering considerably simply because of the lack of strong TP management skills - once you run out of TP, SkSp does absolutely nothing for you).

 

Fortunately, the actual amount of difference between each stat is still minute enough that you can easily justify gunning for the cheaper option if you're so inclined.

 

No, no. I know and understand. But, you can't blame me for wishful/hopeful thinking can you?

 

I'd honestly rather have a Chimera/Hydra EX at the end of the chains rather than staring at my map for little blue circles to pop up. A hard boss fight... or the fights like in FFXI you had to endure to be able to break the level caps. That sort of thing...

 

C'est la vie. I'll eventually buck up and deal with the tedium... but for now I'll stick to my wishful thinking and passive complaining.

I perfectly understand and agree, and personally I can't bring myself to start working on a second relic weapon until they nerf the Atma and/or Animus phases to be less tedious and annoying timesinks. I will applaud the moves they've made with Novus and Nexus to be less horrifying overall, but Atma and Animus remain roadblocks that heavily discourage new players from trying to catch up, instead just gunning for an almost effortlessly obtained UAT weapon.

 

1: I'm not basing my decision off a thread from some person on the toxic waste dump that is the official forums.

Well, that's just silly, given that the basis of his argument is objective fact.

 

2: I didn't mind putting the extra effort in to get the tier IV materia. Some people don't mind doing extra work for something they want.

 

3: I'm not a min/maxer (very few of us are here, I imagine, or we'd all be fantasia'ing), but I'm making my stats what I want, as are most people who do Novus. That's kind of the point, after all.

 

 

My main problem with this thread is you're not offering advice, you're telling them they're doing it wrong. You can advise people to do it your way without trying to completely undermine everything that other people do.

The problem I have with this mindset is that you are effectively committing self-harm in the name of 'doing what I want'. Kind of like people pouring hundreds to possibly thousands of dollars into F2P games because they want this or that thing, without thinking about the actual financial damage they're doing to themselves in the process.

 

I mean, these are video games. There's already an element of 'what the hell was I doing with my life?' when you've poured hundreds of hours into a thing just because you want that thing (hell, just finishing Atma was enough to get me to question my priorities - though I still suffered through it in the end). When you voluntarily pour another few hundred hours into something just because you CAN? Well, now we're entering 'whoa, hold on a second!' territory.

 

You can still do it. Just don't pretend you're doing it for anything even partly resembling rational reasons.

[Warren Castille]

Enh. It's also true that some people were just sitting on Scrooge McDuck-sized piles of gil waiting for an excuse to use it.

[ArmachiA]

I've yet to start the Atma Animus Novus Nexus chain (I just got all my weapons from Raiding) but I may look into this for the future. I'm really just waiting for a remodel because I dislike the Relic Bow and I hate the glows. Urgh.

[allgivenover]

Huh, maybe I'll actually finish up this relic stuff then. The calculations check out from what I understand about secondary stats. Screw tier IV materia.

[Zyrusticae]

Enh. It's also true that some people were just sitting on Scrooge McDuck-sized piles of gil waiting for an excuse to use it.

In that case I guess I can just think of it as a generous donation to all those who put up level IV materia on the market.

 

No less silly or irrational, though if you already have a house (especially a large one) furnished and everything I guess you wouldn't have any other use for your gil.

 

At least until they add airships (hoo, boy)...

 

It's those who are actively saving up money to purchase these absurdly overpriced materia that I'm concerned about, as well as people who are completely avoiding Novus because they think that buying that materia is the only route to go.

 

I've yet to start the Atma Animus Novus Nexus chain (I just got all my weapons from Raiding) but I may look into this for the future. I'm really just waiting for a remodel because I dislike the Relic Bow and I hate the glows. Urgh.

Totally a fair reason, but why not glamour it? I'm pretty happy with mine:

 

[ArmachiA]

In my mind, it's just not worth it for me to do all that work on a model I hate when I have a perfectly fine 110 level bow right now (Though, granted, Nexus goes to 115 now) glamour or not. I'll get to it eventually - I'm fairly certain they said model changes were coming soon. Currently, my bow is up-to-date so I'm not in a huge hurry. I'll probably do it all in 2.4. I don't want to get TOO far behind, after all.

[Aysun]

Considering I make the ACC cap for T9 with my crit/det Novus with to my other gear, that's kind of a moot argument as well. Plus, I'm not sure how spending the 4mil~ I made myself on materia and SBing for the rest of it is self-harm. It's virtual currency in a game, and I'm not sure what else I'd do with it, as I have no interest in housing or the other expensive items. I'm happy with my what I put on my bow and it works divinely for my purposes, and if that's "irrational," so be it.

[Stormwind]

Enh. It's also true that some people were just sitting on Scrooge McDuck-sized piles of gil waiting for an excuse to use it.

 

If you know anyone like this the "Alexander Stormwind is broke as %@#$" fund is open and accepting donations. Just saying.

[Kage]

Enh. It's also true that some people were just sitting on Scrooge McDuck-sized piles of gil waiting for an excuse to use it.

 

If you know anyone like this the "Alexander Stormwind is broke as %@#$" fund is open and accepting donations. Just saying.

There is also the "Kage Kiryuu is a cute adorable lalafell and as such needs a nutkin" fund.

[Coatleque]

This is all well and good for DPS relics. I have no idea what I'm supposed to do with my Curtana. I'm guessing it's something like Strength/Vitality/Parry? I've only got two books to finish the Animus. I could have it done if I stopped all my RP and just ground tomes the rest of the week.

[Zyrusticae]

In my mind, it's just not worth it for me to do all that work on a model I hate when I have a perfectly fine 110 level bow right now (Though, granted, Nexus goes to 115 now) glamour or not. I'll get to it eventually - I'm fairly certain they said model changes were coming soon. Currently, my bow is up-to-date so I'm not in a huge hurry. I'll probably do it all in 2.4. I don't want to get TOO far behind, after all.

That's not a bad plan, really. They'll probably (hopefully?) nerf the first phases in 2.4 as well... I mean, if they're anywhere near as smart as I'm hoping they are.

 

Considering I make the ACC cap for T9 with my crit/det Novus with to my other gear, that's kind of a moot argument as well. Plus, I'm not sure how spending the 4mil~ I made myself on materia and SBing for the rest of it is self-harm. It's virtual currency in a game, and I'm not sure what else I'd do with it, as I have no interest in housing or the other expensive items. I'm happy with my what I put on my bow and it works divinely for my purposes, and if that's "irrational," so be it.

The "self-harm" part comes from the time investment required to make that money/do that much SBing for something that doesn't concretely benefit you at all. On a scale of "totally worth it" to "you just wasted your time", it's pretty freakin' close to the latter, and that's on a VIDEO GAME scale. On an absolute (i.e. real-world) scale, it's a complete waste of time (though to be fair, this goes for almost the entirety of the relic weapon questline).

 

If you're happy with it, all the more power to you. I'm not going to encourage anyone to follow in your footsteps, however.

 

This is all well and good for DPS relics. I have no idea what I'm supposed to do with my Curtana. I'm guessing it's something like Strength/Vitality/Parry? I've only got two books to finish the Animus. I could have it done if I stopped all my RP and just ground tomes the rest of the week.

Believe it or not, tank relics are the same. Note that your primary attributes (Str+Vit) are automatically raised no matter what secondary stats you pick, and those are the ones that matter most. You can throw on Parry if you want to (not like there's any other secondary defensive stats in the game), but it's recommended to just throw on crit/det until you hit the level IV barrier.

[Warren Castille]

This is all well and good for DPS relics. I have no idea what I'm supposed to do with my Curtana. I'm guessing it's something like Strength/Vitality/Parry? I've only got two books to finish the Animus. I could have it done if I stopped all my RP and just ground tomes the rest of the week.

 

Fun with Numbers time!

 

If you're not doing Coil or serious endgame raiding, as long as you're hitting the Accuracy cap for the content you ARE doing, you've got carte blanche on your stats. My shield ended up being acc/parry and my sword is acc/det. There's sort of two schools of thoughts for tank weapons: Either go full turtle with parry, or eff that, go with extra hate by stacking det or crit. Neither is really "wrong" so as long as you're not stacking spellspeed/piety you're fine.

[Coatleque]

If you're not doing Coil or serious endgame raiding, as long as you're hitting the Accuracy cap for the content you ARE doing, you've got carte blanche on your stats.

 

So the real question is, can this cap be reached with all other gear sans sword and shield? If so, I'm just going to stack avoidance because I've yet to see myself "miss" anything in this game. Even before I was i100 with tome gear.