Record Keeping Final Fantasy Record Keeper

[Shale]

Okay, so orbfest is live, hooray, along with the Hall of Rites. The latter is....what's the point of opening the doors and then telling people to come back in 10 days when you're actually going to start giving out lodes and hero souls?

[Jo'ou Ranbu]

Mostly getting the structure up. Also, starting with Firion's event on Saturday, events will start handing out character and MC lodes.

[Cotigo]

This style of ultimate fight is more enjoyable than past ones.  He doesn't have phases you have to keep track of, he's fast but not instantcast fast, he doesn't have a nuke move combined with his speed.  You just need to deal with continuous light physical damage. is really EZ and even a scrub like me can beat it.

Speaking of Scrubs (i don't want no scrubs, a scrub is a guy who can't get no love from me), I realized that FFT's Queklain fight only requires me to have Agrias and Ramza in it, not them plus FFT characters. Honestly if I just swap out Tyro with Agrias in my A-team, throw Protectga/Indoor Spell and Shellga/Curaja on Aeris and Agrias, I should have zero problems with that.

[Meeplelard]

Did the first Orbfest run, getting all the mithril, huzzah!

Got rekt on the Garnet banner.  Was considering pulling more but then the celebration banners dropped and oh look, Garnet's SSB reappears on Banner 5, aka the awesome one.  Yeah, I'll try to get it there.  My only reservation about Garnet as my Hastega user is how it'll mean I need to run 2 healers, and I don't quite have the resources to get Valduin up to justify running one as a pure Summoner.  Maybe at Summon Orbfest phase, I'll blow some mithril to farm more of those, since seriously when the hell else will I have the opportunity? 

My only reservation about Banner 5 is I already have Sentinel Grimoire and really don't have a use for a second.   Thing is? Everything else on that banner is awesome for me.  It says something that one of the worse items on there, for me, is Rinoa's Cardinal since I already have Terra's Maduin's Horn.  Should I somehow get that, I think I'm obligated to attempt Mage Meta...why isn't Kefka's Cloak on one of these banners speaking of which ?

Speaking of FF9 things, beat Silver Dragon in one go, mastery, no resets.

Might as well post team set up...FROM MEMORY!!

Vivi: Storm Staff, Black Hood, Terra's Pendant, R5 Blizzaga, R3 Blizzaja, Devotion
-Pretty straight forward.  Nukes with ice damage.  Probably should have given him Evoker's Horn as his armor just so he could have a Soul Break to do damage with, as he did run out of ammo.

Tyro: Aevis Killer, Edin's Coat, Vossler's Gauntlet, R4 Lifesiphon, R2 Fullbreak, Dr. Mog's Teachings
-...not wasting my time on this, since by now you know the drill.  Aevis Killer...I'll get to that later.

Yuna: Lullaby Rod, Minerva Bustier (I think? Who cares), Some +20 Mind Accessory, R4 Curaja, R2 Shellga, Mako's Might
-Like Tyro, Yuna's use is pretty much always the same, so no point repeating it.

Lightning: Ras Alghetti, Edin's Coat, Black Belt (FF9), R4 Blizzara Strike, R4 Aerora Strike, Dragoon's Determination
-Spellblade w/ Guns, basically.  Could have used Balthier, but Blazefire Rush > Tides of Fate, and she's level cap broken twice so she's legitimately higher leveled at a point where no amount of egging will catch him up.

Freya: Drill, Genji Helm (FF6), Godo's Mask, R4 Wind Jump, R4 Magic Breakdown, Self Sacrifice
-Token Dragoon.  With Realm Synergy, and Support 4, she seemed like an obvious pick.

RW: Lunatic High.  Hastega + Protectga, two things I don't have covered yet, seemed like an obvious pick.


The set up idea is that I can knock Silver Dragon back to the ground if necessary, but should my timing be off, all of my (offensive) characters save Freya's Magic Breakdown can deal with it.  Turns out that wasn't really necessary; timing was easier than I thought and hitting while flying is detrimental anyway, to the point where my resources starting running thin (Vivi in particular was the real issue) and was worried we'd have another Bahamut Sin of Win But No Mastery.  Ultimately didn't matter as I won with little difficulty, and didn't need to S/L even once
Didn't really need Lightning with Spellblades to hit weakness for conditions, but let's face it, Spellblade was the highest damage I'm getting out of physicals anyway, so might as well use it.  I could have probably used Squall instead of Lightning, but I won't deny the added insurance of "Lightning will always do SOME damage" thanks to Ras Alghetti was a nice bonus.

[Scar]

So is there is suggested group of characters we should lv break to 80?

Like are any of the available characters getting their memory crystal in any upcoming events?

If not, I'm thinking about cap breaking bartz, vivi, gilgamesh, Locke and vanille.

[Nephrite]

If you don't have Tyro and Cloud's MC2s, they're the first ones you should do. Otherwise, the correct answer is assuredly Gilgamesh.

[Scar]

Right.

Lucily, I've collected all the mc2s that have been available so far. I don't have to use a crystal for any character that's been previously provided.

[Cotigo]

If you don't have Tyro and Cloud's MC2s, they're the first ones you should do. Otherwise, the correct answer is assuredly Gilgamesh.

Yeah basically. Cloud and Tyro's RM3s are such game changers that they supercede any other character you should get an MC2 for regardless of what relics/skill hones you have. Gilgamesh is also hands down the best character you can unlock at this point as well, and his RM3 is Knight Skill fountain (good now since y'all have Banish Raid, gonna be even better when you get Saint's Cross). After that, anyone with Knight 5 who you don't have is good. The other two Knight 5s I recommend getting (FF12 Basch and FFT Agrias) aren't out yet. PCecil and Beatrix might be, I forget.

After that... Honestly, if you've been playing fairly consistently, I'd say go for characters whose Record Materia you want. After a certain point, the best characters become whichever characters you have relics for, so spending MC2 lodes on characters with good record materiae is a way better use of your resources than spending lodes on characters to bring into battle.

Disregarding that, (commenting as if you have no relics for any of these characters, since that changes things obviously)... Bartz is good. Steal Power plus Spellblade 5* is great. Locke really needs a relic to be useful; the best argument for getting his MC2 is that his RM3 grants +20% damage if you're using a dagger, which is going to be useful until the ATK+10%-without-downsides materia pop up. Vivi is OK, his RM3 is fine for autobattling, but I wouldn't prioritize him. Vanille is a horrible choice, you're going to get nothing but white mage MC2s in the next several events so don't waste a lode on her.

Ninja edit: Just read your new post. Yeah get whoever then, but I still recommend basing your decision on what record materia you want.

[Scar]

Right.

That helps.

Vanille can wait. She's just a ff13 character I have a relic for, but like you mentioned white mages are getting mc2s soon.

I have Locke's relic as well.

Gilgy and Bartz seem like must haves. I really hope I get one of their ssb weapons in the upcoming banners.

[DjinnAndTonic]

Oh cool, it's finally my turn! Daily Draw netted me Edgar's Drill! Not only my first five-star from the Daily Draw, but a Character Relic. And a relatively recent one. And for a character I -like-!

It's not gonna be a game-changer, but it's the fucking DRILL man! It is a Spear for some reason, which makes it so much better.

[Scar]

Totes jelly.

[Cotigo]

Oh, you have Vanille and Locke's relics? Depending on what they are that may make them worth unlocking over Bartz (probably shoukd still get Gilgamesh though).

Also congratulations, Djinn, you sack.

[Jo'ou Ranbu]

IIRC, though, Scar has Vanille's Deprotega relic, which ain't -so- hot. Locke's worth cap-breaking just for the early access to Thief's Revenge at 5-hits, though.

Personally, though, I'm going to wait until I get results on Lucky Draws and SSBS draws to reclaim those MC2 lodes.

[Cotigo]

Eh, unless you have the orbs to bring Theif's Raid to R2 I wouldn't go blowing a MC2 lode on Locke for that alone.

That said you are right. Wait for the results of your SSB fest draws, if you get anything good then level cap break that character.

Also, for the record, Bartz's MC3 is Dualcast Spellblade, which... honesty dualcast Materiae aren't that great compared to Devotion/Dragoon's Determination unless you're within the range of the damage boost you get from those materia from the damage cap. I mathed it out a while back and Dualcast black had to go off once every 6 turns in order for it to break even with Devotion, and it goes off 12.5% of the time. Spellblade is probably similar except that it consistently is much further away from the damage cap than Black Magic was. THAT SAID, it's not a bad materia option to have and Bartz is a pretty good character otherwise.

[Cmdr_King]

So I drew four gigantaurs in my post-work stamina.  Three dropped Major Black.  R3 Meteor get!  Also means I can drop grindans to clear the Firion event saturday night/sunday morning and have it done going into the all important Phase 2.

[Scar]

Yeah, vanilles deprotectga relic and Lockes aoe slow relic.

And yeah good point about waiting for the celebration banners.

Not like I can break them immediately anyways.

[DjinnAndTonic]

Has anyone else's Major Orb drop rate been ridiculous? I haven't done a full dungeon run yet without at least -one- Major Orb dropping. (In fact, at one point, I got 3 Major Orbs in one battle once, so I decided to my Daily Draw then, and that's when my Drill dropped.)

Good RNG for me or is the Major rate up?

[Jo'ou Ranbu]

RNG, I got three Majors total on over two days. It doesn't matter nearly as much with orb conversion (and I've been getting good Greater drops), but yeah.

[Captain K]

I got 5 majors the first day, nothing today though.

[Cotigo]

Queklain may be the easiest U+ boss I've ever fought, though this is largely thanks to my pulling on FFT banners like it's my dick giving me ridiculous synergy here. Agrias dealt 19998 damage with each Saint Cross post-Stongwater. Comparatively, her SSB dealt 12000-14000. Zack broke 500 STR thanks to the 6* Nu-Kai Armband combined with a 6* Main Gauche. No medals lost. FFT is officially my best synergy realm followed by FF5 and FF6, and I am perfectly OK with this.  Team was Ramza/Agrias/Zack/Tyro/Aeris with all the interesting bits already mentioned.

Cloud and Terra were a bit harder in the Dissidia event, but also eventually got it with the quest and no medals lost. The Darkness class skillset rocks face even at low hones when your opponents are weak to Dark. Dark Raid (Attack + Self ATKUP/DEFDOWN), + Dark Sword Wave (A Combat Skill, actually) had Sephy pumping out Constant 9s, and even without Memento Mori Kefka got a lot of use out of the 2-hit 5* Darkness skill whose name escapes me now. Too bad this is the only time ever that I've encountered a boss that mattered with Dark weakness.  This team was a bit more interesting, so,

Kefka (Drainga R3, 5* Dark spell R2), Devotion. Probably should have had dualcast here, actually, as Drainga was hitting 9700 without bufffs.
Sandwichman (Dark Raid R3, Dark Sword Wave R4), Dragoon's determination
Zack (Drain Sword, Indoor Spell), Mako Might
Tyro (Break Fever, R4 Curaja), Dr. Mog's Beatings
Aeris (Strongwater, R5 Curaja), Ace Striker
SG RW

Zack was nigh-useless except for his Hastega, but that'll do, pig. That'll do, and it did. I was more than a little amused that Zack, Sephiroth, and Aeris were teaming up to take down Cloud.

FF13 event up next. Cid is apparently a bird in this game? Whatever.

In other news, I finished up all of the Elite dungeons, though I missed mastery on 4 of them (3 when I was not taking Elites seriously, 1 recently when I don't even remember doing that dungeon so I must have been blacked out, gj bye bye 61 Stamina). Got up to 50 mythril again, and am reaaaaaaally tempted to try again for Scream, but I'm gonna hold steady and just bank on the assumption that it will show up again shortly during the Orbfest banners.

[Jo'ou Ranbu]

Welp, FF2 event is up and I only have Minwu recruitment left for wussy dungeons. Got Firion's MC along the way and I'm likely levelling him up because obsession. Currently I'm also pumping up Selphie, Garnet, Mean Cecil, Galuf and WoL and they should be fully levelled before Lucky Draw banners kick in. My life is expectations.

[Cmdr_King]

Dollar draw coughed up Werebuster, the Cure-tier medica staff.  It's crazy outdated (99 Mag and 88 Mind at L20) but hey, it'll do for this event at least.  I suspect it has a future as a Rosetta Stone though.

[Shale]

I haven't been getting nearly as good a Gigantuar rate as some of you (three so far) but it's been enough, combined with the rewards from the FF9 event, for me to finally bank enough majors to craft one 5* ability of my choosing. Given that it'll be a long time before I can hone whatever I get, what's my best bet? Full Break?

[Cotigo]

Welp, ridiculous-stat Ifrit's being re-issued. I was gonna math out damage numbers on DEF piercing abilities but I couldn't find consistent formulae for them so I just plugged the characters I'd probably be using into Fabul castle and tested them out.

Piercing Strike deals 4000 damage from Jecht, so I can expect a bit more thanks to synergy, Punishing Palm, and levelling him up on the last bit of Sundaily. That's actually pretty good.

Tyro would be my best bet for Ninja damage, and his ninja scroll dealllllls........................ 2400.

That's... really disappointing. :O And checking in on it, Ifrit's not even weak to Water, he's only weak to Ice, and there's no Ice Scroll. He was doing more with Blizzaja IIRC.

What the fuck, Ninja. Suck less pls.

I guess now my plan is to hone Punishing palm as much as I can, have Tyro use Lifesyphon a bunch to block magic with his BSSB, have Ramza on break duty and Zack hasting/Blizzara striking. Too much MT damage to try to cheese it with Grand Cross and CAMB. Hmmmm

EDIT: Shale, either Full Break or Meteo. Meteo will be better for farming, Full Break is probably better overall. Neither of them use the same orbs, either, so you can craft both. You may want to save Earth orbs for honing Saint's Cross to R2 (you'll get the skill itself for free in a few events), but yeah.

EDIT2: In other news, I realized that I had enough MC2 lodes to get every single one of the MC2s that are available in the game. go me

[Jo'ou Ranbu]

I haven't been getting nearly as good a Gigantuar rate as some of you (three so far) but it's been enough, combined with the rewards from the FF9 event, for me to finally bank enough majors to craft one 5* ability of my choosing. Given that it'll be a long time before I can hone whatever I get, what's my best bet? Full Break?

Full Break has more long-term use and it's useful even at R1 against bosses if you have decently honed (as in, R2-R3) Breakdowns, since it stacks with them. Meteor... it's great for farming/trash/dailies, but I'm not sure how useful it'll be for you compared to, say, R2 summons if we're talking trash clearing, and it takes a pretty stacked mage setup to make Meteor worth it against Ultimates at this point where their RES began rising higher than DEF. It made my life a lot easier for all the time I had it, but it was a different time and a different metagame.