Questions your too afraid to ask threadFollow

I think you are referring to 'HNM' which was discussed earlier in this thread.

Maybe somebody with wayyyyyy too much time on their hands could compile the questions and answers, put them into FAQ format, then let the originator of this thread update the original post?

Then sticky it! =^D

Well, I was going to ask why I was a Sage, and then I posted, and became a Scholar again, but I look and now I'm a Sage again.

Go figure. =P

Edited, Tue Nov 9 03:02:32 2004 by nataraja

Sticky requested:

http://ffxi.allakhazam.com/forum.html?forum=3&mid=1100007983509144897

Yay stickied! I was gonna send another request in a day or two, I'm sure the admin's are busy with the battle of the boards hehe.

Battle of the boards?

Going back to the very first question asked in this thread.

I came across some interesting info.

The question was what do the 7 character stats influence?

Here's a more complicated answer I came across.

Certain stats, such as Strength and Vitality, have a correlating stat, like Attack and Defense. The way these work is more complicated. It has to do with how "random" numbers are determined in battle.

We'll use Vitality as an example, since its something I'm particularly familiar with as a Paladin.

Your character has a probability curve associated with their physical strength. It "weights" the dice, so to speak, meaning that damage done is more likely to be equal to the values in the middle of the curve rather than the ends.

Your Vitality determines where that curve is on damage scale. The higher your vitality, the lower the values on your curve will be. For example, lets say Paladin A has a Vitality of 8, and the possible damage associated with his curve ranges from 2-5. Paladin B however has a Vitality of 9. His curve might range from 1-4.

That's overly simplistic, and understand that my example isn't neccessarily representative of the precise calculations the game uses, but it should give you a basic idea.

To simplify, Vitality lowers the amount of damage you take overall.

Defense adds a second layer to this. What defense does is load the dice in your favor, so to speak. Rather than changing the position of the curve on the damage axis, it changes the shape of the curve along the probability axis (yes I realize this would be much easier with visual aids, but I have none =P ).

Meaning that the higher your defense, the better chance you have of receiving reduced damage.

For example, Paladin A has 21 defense and Paladin B has 22 defense. Assuming that both Paladins now have the same vitality, Paladin B has better chances of taking less damage than Paladin A.

To summarize, Vitality lowers your overall damage taken, and Defense then increases your chance of taking less damage.

Strength and Attack work in the same way. Strength raises the amount of damage you can do overall and Vitality raises your chances of doing more damage each regular hit.

Accuracy, Ranged Accuracy, Evasion, Magic accuracy, etc, all follow the same pattern, but are further complicated by the addition of combat and magic skill levels. Nevertheless the same rules apply. The "basic" stat, such as Dexterity raises or lowers the overall curve, the secondary stat changes the shape of the curve in your favor.

Complicated, but I found it interesting. Lesson taken from this? Generally speaking, raising your basic stats benefits you more on the whole than raising your extra stats.

Which isn't to say neccessarily that you should hold onto that Vit+1 armor forever, just because the armor available for the next 10 levels doesn't have it.

It just requires some experimentation. ^^

Edited, Fri Nov 12 01:06:17 2004 by nataraja

I think Zylle's question was more along the lines of what elemental attacks the different mob classes use, so she can use her bar spells appropriately.

Where(Here or in-game) can i find a lvl-13&up party? I really need a static one!!!

Ah, thank you for your advice! I will take that into consideration!

How about the answer to the ultimate question instead?


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Douglas Adams rocks.

I always feel bad if I have a question to post without an answer to a previously question to post with it, but unfortunately I don't know the answer to Nights question.

In any event, two things. It was recently very forcefully pointed out to me that the renkei chart I was using was inaccurate in a couple of areas. Could someone provide me with a link to a more accurate one?

Also, I've always wondered, is there any actual pattern or logic behind how renkei work? I spent some time looking for patterns last night, but while I found some general rules a comprehensive system escaped me.

What? HOW much time did I spend staring at an SC chart looking for cryptic patterns and hidden lore? Um... two hours... >.>

Okay, so I was a bit OCD last night. So? ^.^

[Mental note: Nata should really get more sleep. He's gone silly in the head today.]

Oooh, one final question.

Wintaru, can I have a cookie? ^^

If I am not mistaken it does, just like Mages Ballad and Refresh Stack. Could be wrong but 75% sure that it does.