Final Fantasy Record Keeper II: Also FFRK IV in Japan

[SuperPanda]

Best of luck on that MC II!

Character Relic wise after all lucky draws I came out ahead of the 4-5 probable pulls with 7 relics in total plus the 3 I'd gotten in pulls before that.

My character specific 5*s are: Ice Whip IV (Rydia), Blood lance IV (Kain), Polymorph Rod IV (Tellah)* Healing Rod V (Lenna), Partisan VI (Edgar), Enhancer VI (Terra), Hardedge VII (Cloud), Crystal Glove VII (Tifa), Runeblade XII (Ashe), Ninja Chainmail XIV (Thancred)

Bolded because it was one of my "just because" relics that I'd been hoping for on every pull.
*The first character 5 * I ever pulled and the only time I've ever gotten a 5* on a single relic pull.

Other 5*s I've accumulated: Crystal Sword VII x2 (Shared SB double thunder strike), Genji Armor V, Ruby Curias II (Shared SB Blaster), Balamb Garden Uniform VIII, Butterfly Edge VII. (and I'll include Gold Sword VII from the log-in campaign).

I'm thinking it might be time to combine the Crystal Swords. The shared SB is actually rather nice against enemies that don't resist (and very nice against weak enemies) though so I'm unsure. Butterfly Edge at 20 will have 2 more points of attack (not sure about Hardedge though).

[Chen]

Got pretty lucky on this last lucky draw. Four 5* item, four 4* items and three 3* items.

5*s are Tidus' sword (Lightning Steel) , Edward's harp (doh), P. Cecil's shield (ok I guess) and Eiko's crown (interesting item). Overall I'm pretty happy.

Last phase of farming for the orbfest. Good phase with power orbs and such. Here's hoping for a few major ones so I can hone Full break sooner.

[Starwulf]

Got pretty lucky on this last lucky draw. Four 5* item, four 4* items and three 3* items.

5*s are Tidus' sword (Lightning Steel) , Edward's harp (doh), P. Cecil's shield (ok I guess) and Eiko's crown (interesting item). Overall I'm pretty happy.

Last phase of farming for the orbfest. Good phase with power orbs and such. Here's hoping for a few major ones so I can hone Full break sooner.

Is lightning steel the one that gives Tidus the Spiral Cut SB? If so, you suck. I would almost(almost, but not quite) trade my mastery of the +++ fight for that.

[SuperPanda]

Is lightning steel the one that gives Tidus the Spiral Cut SB? If so, you suck. I would almost(almost, but not quite) trade my mastery of the +++ fight for that.

You'll have a shot at Tidus's SSB on banner 3 of the "Rift of Recollections" event. That's when I'll be trying for Cecil's SSB (on banner 4) since I got neither the shield or his older sword.

That said, I understand the feeling.

[Starwulf]

You'll have a shot at Tidus's SSB on banner 3 of the "Rift of Recollections" event. That's when I'll be trying for Cecil's SSB (on banner 4) since I got neither the shield or his older sword.

That said, I understand the feeling.

When is that? I've burned out all of my mythril on this lucky draw event(not that it wasn't worth it, I did get a few 5*, and managed to make quite a few 5* out of 3* equip), I am down to just 1 Mythril now, which will be five once I've done the current Orb stages.

[SuperPanda]

When is that? I've burned out all of my mythril on this lucky draw event(not that it wasn't worth it, I did get a few 5*, and managed to make quite a few 5* out of 3* equip), I am down to just 1 Mythril now, which will be five once I've done the current Orb stages.

8 Events away (including the XIII event coming up).

There will be 5 banners including SSBs for Rinnoa, Cloud (same weapon), Squall (repeat of VIII event), Cecil, Tyro, and Tidus. Info here: http://ffrk.kongbakpao.com/rift-of-recollection/

I'm expecting to be able to save 100 Mythril for that if I can resist banners until then while 4 of those banners excite me in one way or another.

[Starwulf]

8 Events away (including the XIII event coming up).

There will be 5 banners including SSBs for Rinnoa, Cloud (same weapon), Squall (repeat of VIII event), Cecil, Tyro, and Tidus. Info here: http://ffrk.kongbakpao.com/rift-of-recollection/

I'm expecting to be able to save 100 Mythril for that if I can resist banners until then while 4 of those banners excite me in one way or another.

Nice. 8 events is definitely plenty of time to save Mythril, and since I'm planning on trying to make progress in the regular dungeons again, I'll likely have well over 100 mythril by then.

I'm just still patiently waiting on some news of an FFXI event. I mean, they did a FFXIV event, they should absolutely do a FFXI one considering it was(and based on over-all QUALITY content, still is) superior to FFXIV in pretty much every way possible. I want my Prishe and Lion damnit!

[Mr.Sandman]

Any word yet on who will be holding Squall's MC2 in his event? I'm hopeing its not TDD again, but it probably will be.

[danzibr]

Holy flipping hell guys! I not only beat the +++ fight, I MASTERED IT!!!!!! I lost 3 medals, 1 for actions taken, 2 for damage taken, but because no-one died during the fight, I got all 9 of those extra medals which kept me just in the green zone for mastery! WOOOOT! I had to leave my attempt from earlier and I stuck Venom Buster on Barret, it stuck the first time and I am quite positive that is what made the difference. Super stoked! Oh, special props to 5* Relic Rod Yuna is using, it's SB is a healing thing that allowed me to cure my guys three extra times.

This is officially the first event that I have entirely beaten and entirely mastered. Woot!

Edit: As to the 11 lucky draw, I got Aeriths Aurora Rod 5* and that was it. Rest was junk :-(.

Grats!

Any pointers?

I'm about to (well, probably tomorrow night) attempt the ++ fight. The boss rush didn't give me much trouble. I have high hopes.

EDIT: To stop Jenova LIFE should I use the 4* physical ability? I can make it but not hone it...

[Starwulf]

Grats!

Any pointers?

I'm about to (well, probably tomorrow night) attempt the ++ fight. The boss rush didn't give me much trouble. I have high hopes.

EDIT: To stop Jenova LIFE should I use the 4* physical ability? I can make it but not hone it...

I just used the Black Mage spell Stop and I hit it every time. The fight wasn't that hard, just remember: Stop, other damaging spell, Stop, other damaging spell, etc. That's how I did it, the stop would wear off just as it was Vivi's turn again. Oh, and Venom Buster on one of your guys will be your friend, the ticks off poison were about 3500-4k each time and that definitely did a substantial amount of damage throughout the fight. Sleep buster is a decent back-up if you run out of stops and she's still alive, you can sleep her and then just nuke her with your remaining damage spell uses(I had 6 uses of stop, and 8 uses of Firaga, by the time she died I had 2 uses left, so if need be I could have slept her and used those before resuming physical beatdown).

[Mr.Sandman]

Is it worth putting the RM that gives instant Soul Break on Vivi if I have his Oak Staff for the chance to poison and high damage early? Or should I stick with Rod Mastery for more consistent damage?

Edit: I am a moron. Got ATB and soul break mixed up.

[SuperPanda]

Any word yet on who will be holding Squall's MC2 in his event? I'm hopeing its not TDD again, but it probably will be.

Defeat Seifer to claim his MC 1
Mobile 8 ++ to claim MC 2

[Forbiddenwar]

I'm thinking of retiring my Roaming Warrior tidus with spiral cut for Rinoa with Angel Wing Quake because it hits twice and slows everyone. But I don't know what equipment to give her. Should I max out her magic stat or attack stat? What are non fighter soul breaks based on?

[Red Fel]

Holy flipping hell guys! I not only beat the +++ fight, I MASTERED IT!!!!!! I lost 3 medals, 1 for actions taken, 2 for damage taken, but because no-one died during the fight, I got all 9 of those extra medals which kept me just in the green zone for mastery! WOOOOT! I had to leave my attempt from earlier and I stuck Venom Buster on Barret, it stuck the first time and I am quite positive that is what made the difference. Super stoked! Oh, special props to 5* Relic Rod Yuna is using, it's SB is a healing thing that allowed me to cure my guys three extra times.

This is officially the first event that I have entirely beaten and entirely mastered. Woot!

Grats! I didn't even try the +++ fight, so you're ahead of me on that one. Bask in the victory!

Well, final phase of Orbfest, did my pull, and got Firion's Demon Axe, Auron's Shimmering Blade, and Steiner's Defender. Those get added to my previous pulls of Sabin's Kaiser Knuckle and Rinoa's Valkyrie.

Of those, I am most pleased with Shimmering Blade (because 5-star katana) and Valkyrie (because 5-star thrown, and because Rinoa will get an MC2 in RoR).

So, just before the last phase started, I got the final ingredient for Full Break. And I'm staring at it... and I can't quite bring myself to craft it. I mean, if I do, I get two uses of it. That's actually pretty useless. And it will sit in my ability inventory until I've honed it up, taking up space. A sobering, sad realization.

I'm thinking of retiring my Roaming Warrior tidus with spiral cut for Rinoa with Angel Wing Quake because it hits twice and slows everyone. But I don't know what equipment to give her. Should I max out her magic stat or attack stat? What are non fighter soul breaks based on?

Pretty sure it keys off of Magic. Physical attack SBs typically key off of Attack, magical attacks off of Magic, buffs and healing off of Mind.

[Chen]

Is lightning steel the one that gives Tidus the Spiral Cut SB? If so, you suck. I would almost(almost, but not quite) trade my mastery of the +++ fight for that.

No it's the other one that does 6 random non-elemental damage hits. Better against a single target (by a little) worse obviously against multi-targets.

Any word yet on who will be holding Squall's MC2 in his event? I'm hopeing its not TDD again, but it probably will be.

I believe most of the MC2s will be held by the ++ boss from what I've read about the Japanese servers. Not sure about the ones obtained in the Rift of Recollection though.

[danzibr]

Quick question: who do you follow?

When I first started I followed anyone high level. Then I realized some abilities weren't as useful and kept following them but didn't use them. Then just recently I realized that defensive SB's are actually really good (holy cow Rufus hits like a truck in the boss rush) so I started following them, *and* I went back and culled my follow list.

Now I'm thinking I should unfollow almost all of the direct damage SB's (just keep a few of the best, like the dude with the 80 Cloud with Blade Beam) and follow mostly Sentinel Grimoires and Lunatic Highs and Boons.

[SuperPanda]

I tend to try to keep 3 or more copies of defensive / utility SBs on my list so that they are almost always available and easy to find.

I like to keep a collection of good damage SBs because I'm optimistic that i'll get to a point where I no longer "need' Sentinel Grimorie every fight to stand a chance.

Because Rift was kind to one of my mutual followers and someone else i follow, I now also am following two "Advance" users. :)

[Deadline]

Well, my final pull in the lucky draw has happened, and my "grand" haul for the whole thing is:

Edward's Harp - *sigh*
Selphie's Morningstar - Yay! My first decent mage/healer weapon aside from the Light Staff/Light Rod!
Irvine's Gun - Well, at least it's a good gun.

That brings my total list of character specific weapons to 4 (I've also got Rinoa's Ice Whip). Yeah, that's about right with my luck. I really hate gatcha systems. At least with my luck, I know better than to spend money to try and pull, as it would demonstrably be a tremendous waste. *grumble*

At any rate, Orbfest is going well. I've leveled tons of characters and collected a tremendous amount of orbs. Just need several Major Non-Elemental Orbs so I can make some good 5* abilities.

[Red Fel]

Quick question: who do you follow?

When I first started I followed anyone high level. Then I realized some abilities weren't as useful and kept following them but didn't use them. Then just recently I realized that defensive SB's are actually really good (holy cow Rufus hits like a truck in the boss rush) so I started following them, *and* I went back and culled my follow list.

Now I'm thinking I should unfollow almost all of the direct damage SB's (just keep a few of the best, like the dude with the 80 Cloud with Blade Beam) and follow mostly Sentinel Grimoires and Lunatic Highs and Boons.

I tend to try to keep 3 or more copies of defensive / utility SBs on my list so that they are almost always available and easy to find.

I like to keep a collection of good damage SBs because I'm optimistic that i'll get to a point where I no longer "need' Sentinel Grimorie every fight to stand a chance.

Because Rift was kind to one of my mutual followers and someone else i follow, I now also am following two "Advance" users. :)

Yeah. There are a few priority options. Boon, Lunatic High, Sentinel Grimoire and Stoneskin II are all high priority choices. Advance is great if you use the Reta Meta. From there, it varies. You want your AoEs to carry riders - so Shadow Flare (which deals solid melee damage and Blinds) is good, but Oblivion (which is straight AoE damage) is meh. You might want some strong single-target multi-hit abilities, but keep in mind that there is a difference between multi-hit with crap damage (e.g. Sonic Break) and multi-hit with powerful damage (e.g. Doublecast Venom). Also keep in mind that while having strong multi-hits is a good way to deal damage to a boss, you probably want something like Lunatic High to mitigate damage instead.

Bottom line, you want defensive RWs, and RWs with multiple effects.

[danzibr]

Bottom line, you want defensive RWs, and RWs with multiple effects.

Hmm, thanks! I'll have to look up what Advance does when I'm at home. I use Retaliate (what's the meta for?) quite often.

EDIT: As for my total loot from the Lucky Draws...
Quistis's whip
Terra's sword
Pally Cecil's sword
Balthier's gun
Aerith's armor
Lightning's sword
Firion's axe

And I think that's it. I mean, I'm really pleased with it... might be missing something though.

[tyckspoon]

Hmm, thanks! I'll have to look up what Advance does when I'm at home. I use Retaliate (what's the meta for?) quite often.
something though.

Advance is like super-Boost and, I think, stacks with Boost. Advance-Boost-Armor Break(down) means your retaliator can be doing near black mage levels of damage with normal stacks. Reta meta I think is mostly used because it rhymes, since metagame doesn't make much sense to me in this game, but that would refer to a team setup maximized for Retaliate output - Boost, as many copies of Double Cut/Tempo flurry as you can fit, maybe skipping a black mage because they don't contribute much to retaliating unless you need to hit an elemental weakness.

[DiscipleofBob]

Just 3 more mythril and I can get one more 11-pull from orbfest. After that, I'll just save up mythril until the next big event. Sure I'd rather be farming XP and orbs, but not going to get another opportunity like this for awhile.

Currently my leveling focused are on getting Aerith, Terra, and Auron to 65 as well as getting Barrett level broken, and Cloud to 80. Any suggestions on who I should be leveling instead/after these characters?

[Red Fel]

Hmm, thanks! I'll have to look up what Advance does when I'm at home. I use Retaliate (what's the meta for?) quite often.

Advance is like super-Boost and, I think, stacks with Boost. Advance-Boost-Armor Break(down) means your retaliator can be doing near black mage levels of damage with normal stacks. Reta meta I think is mostly used because it rhymes, since metagame doesn't make much sense to me in this game, but that would refer to a team setup maximized for Retaliate output - Boost, as many copies of Double Cut/Tempo flurry as you can fit, maybe skipping a black mage because they don't contribute much to retaliating unless you need to hit an elemental weakness.

Tyck has it. Advance jacks up your Attack and drops your Defense. Advance + Boost + Armor Break(down) causes explosive damage, as Tyck says. Put that on your Retaliatemans and give your party Double Hit and the like, and your Retaliatemans can pretty much mow down almost any boss. Best of all, Retaliate bypasses counter abilities. That's why it's called the Reta Meta (Retaliate metagame) - because by stacking buffs and debuffs, you can basically overcome any challenge using a single character.

That and because it rhymes.

As for which abilities stack, check page 15 of this PDF. There is a chart noting that buffs/debuffs with the same ID # do not stack, but that buffs/debuffs with different numbers do. For example, the Bard's Valor Minuet I/II SBs both have ID #603, meaning that they do not stack with Boost or Chakra. However, Luneth's Advance SB has #513 (as opposed to his Mark of the Warrior, another #603). #513 seems to be a number unique to Advance, so it stacks with anything.

Now, to be clear what "non-stacking" means. If you use a buff or debuff with the same ID # as another buff or debuff already on that target, it will replace that buff/debuff. This is true even if the new buff/debuff is worse. For example, if you use Power Breakdown (ID #603) on a target, and then Power Break (also #603), only Power Break will be applied, meaning that you will have reduced the debuff. Keep in mind also that when a debuff and buff have the same ID #, one may be used to negate the other.

Currently my leveling focused are on getting Aerith, Terra, and Auron to 65 as well as getting Barrett level broken, and Cloud to 80. Any suggestions on who I should be leveling instead/after these characters?

Personally, I've been making sure all of my characters are 49-50, to LB them if they have an MC, or to make it easy for when they do. As for characters who are already LB'd, I'd focus on the ones who will be getting MC2s. Cloud has one now, and Squall will be getting one in a few events. Come RoR, we'll also have Rinoa, Pally!Cecil, Tidus, and Tyro. Getting them to 65 now would make using an MC2 even easier.

[DiscipleofBob]

Personally, I've been making sure all of my characters are 49-50, to LB them if they have an MC, or to make it easy for when they do. As for characters who are already LB'd, I'd focus on the ones who will be getting MC2s. Cloud has one now, and Squall will be getting one in a few events. Come RoR, we'll also have Rinoa, Pally!Cecil, Tidus, and Tyro. Getting them to 65 now would make using an MC2 even easier.

My only problem is a party of <50s doesn't last on its own, so I usually need at least someone to spam Quake or whatever else is necessary. My 65s include Squall, Rinoa, Wakka, Tidus, Yuna, Vivi, and Sephiroth, so the only ones I need to get ready for MCII would be Cecil and (ugh) Tyro. I may just throw eggs at the latter's face until it stops working, but eggs are also great for getting new characters up to survivable.

EDIT: Forgot Irvine as far as 65s go.

[danzibr]

My only problem is a party of <50s doesn't last on its own, so I usually need at least someone to spam Quake or whatever else is necessary. My 65s include Squall, Rinoa, Wakka, Tidus, Yuna, Vivi, and Sephiroth, so the only ones I need to get ready for MCII would be Cecil and (ugh) Tyro. I may just throw eggs at the latter's face until it stops working, but eggs are also great for getting new characters up to survivable.

EDIT: Forgot Irvine as far as 65s go.

Hrm, I had little problems bringing people 40+ into the Orbfest heroic dailies. Slap on the best gear and abilities, make liberal use of offensive RW's, quit after the first wave if necessary :P

[Red Fel]

Hrm, I had little problems bringing people 40+ into the Orbfest heroic dailies. Slap on the best gear and abilities, make liberal use of offensive RW's, quit after the first wave if necessary :P

Frankly, I'm able to bring 20-somethings in, if I have somebody with Quake to sweep mobs, and I'm lucky enough that my 20-somethings don't get hit until they're 30-somethings.

[DiscipleofBob]

In my experience, and maybe it's just out of personal failure I don't know, I need at least a >50 Mage who can cast Quake and someone else who can reliably cast Diara to one-shot the cactuars.

Last phase, the soldiers could occasionally use Shell or confuse characters, and if that happened my squishy characters were at risk RWs take a long time to activate too. I'd rather not risk the stamina when every point counts. Haven't really done a lot of waves in phase 4 yet.

[danzibr]

In my experience, and maybe it's just out of personal failure I don't know, I need at least a >50 Mage who can cast Quake and someone else who can reliably cast Diara to one-shot the cactuars.

Last phase, the soldiers could occasionally use Shell or confuse characters, and if that happened my squishy characters were at risk RWs take a long time to activate too. I'd rather not risk the stamina when every point counts. Haven't really done a lot of waves in phase 4 yet.

I failed to mention I did a fair bit of S/Ling when I brought in low level characters. Like, I brought in people at level 1, would just S/L if they got 1-shotted.

[DiscipleofBob]

I failed to mention I did a fair bit of S/Ling when I brought in low level characters. Like, I brought in people at level 1, would just S/L if they got 1-shotted.

Cheater.

Seriously, doesn't that waste stamina though?

[T.G. Oskar]

On the Orbfest Heroics, I mostly took two heavy hitters and three characters I want to level up. Before, it was Terra, Wakka, Josef, the Bard and Steiner (with Terra holding Quake and Revive, while Steiner has Bladeblitz and Draw Fire; no healer whatsoever). Since Wakka level-capped, I switched him out, placed the Ranger (level 34) and switched Steiner for Cecil (which can hold either Curaga or Bladeblitz).

In both occasions, they've been capable of surviving, unless facing Cactuars/Gigantuars, in which case it depends on whether they don't get hit by the Spines attack. If that were to happen, I can just have Terra use Revive, then have Cecil use Curaga or have the Bard and Josef use Salve and Chakra, respectively.

That said - enemies in Orbfest are a whole lot easier than on the XP Heroic daily. Very rarely I lose 2 medals for Expert rank; almost always it's 1 medal because of the amount of time taken. I keep AoEs for the last few rounds, just to finish things fast. Also - Josef is with a 4-star claw (Venom Claws), the Bard is with a Silver Harp moved to 5-stars (still does about 200-300 HP worth of damage), and the Ranger is with a 3-star, so heavy equipment is not that necessary. Terra can one-shot, or nearly one-shot, just about everyone, but she has a Blitz Sword equipped (not to mention a Hero's Ring), while Cecil has a Defender (he's more for the Defense and Draw Fire to avoid most of the hefty damage). Aside from Terra (and Steiner, where available), none of them are level 50, so there's that.

I'm also advancing on the Core dungeons (I might still have time for one or two more battles on the FFVII event to get Barret's MC, but I'm not entirely interested in the event anyways - fat load of good does to aim for Cloud's MC when he's still at level 1 and with no intentions to level him up ever anyways), and I feel it'd be a good idea to plot out what's the most efficient path to get Stamina Shards; it's been long since I passed the range where you get 2 Stamina Shards per dungeon, but there's some Elite quests that still offer 2 Stamina Shards. Being at 75 Stamina (recently; I've been at 74 Stamina for a while) is no fun.