FFXI GOM - Goal Oriented Management

Yes, I play what many would be considered an aging MMO. Considering that fact that I have explored perhaps 15% of the entire game in the time that I have been playing, I'd say that it is aging rather gracefully. I only hope that I do the same.

That being said, I am also one of the less party-prone players in the game, and this has me at somewhat of a disadvantage. Beastmaster would be the job choice for most such as I, however, I do like the swiss-army knife of options that Red Mage brings to the table, and so, this is my high-level job. Weidling either dagger or sword give the Red Mage a number of options in the weapon skill department.

Recently, a fellow player was coerced into obtaining their Sapara of Trials, which once used enough, will earn you the right to fight a Notorius Monster. Once said NM is defeated, you can gather a special key item that will unlock a new and more powerful weapon skill. How the use builds up on the Sapara of Trials (and other trial methods) is simple. You get a point for using a weapon skill. If it closes a first-level skill-chain (follows a combining skill used by another player) you get two points. If you are the 3rd player to use a compatible skill in a chain, that adds another element, you get 3 points, and if you are the 4th player that adds yet another element, you can get 5 points for the effort.

Now, consider the fact that you can fire a weapon skill after amassing 100 or more Technique or Tactical Points, with a maximum of 300 TP. Yes, it takes three times as many strikes or damage taking opportunities to achieve 300TP as it does to achieve 100TP, so, if you were alone, you would want to fire a weapon skill every time >=100TP was available. If you have someone to open the skill chain, and they can generate TP faster than you can, then it makes sense to close skill chains rather than solo them, and it will take half the time. On the other hand, if you find yourself waiting till you have 200TP before your partner opens the skill chain, you're not much better than if you were solo.

When choosing a skill chain or a weapon skill to fire, it is advisable to use skills that are skill chain compatible. If you are tackling mobs that meet the minimum required Easy Prey, and you can handle them comfortably, then milking them for TP is well advised. Apply these rules to your battle as long as you can handle it.

• choose a low damage weapon skill or skill chain


• let your weapon do the damage


• avoid DOT spells (Dia, Bio, Poison, Choke, Rasp . . . )


• minimize casting to maximize weapon use


• letting the mob heal will make more skill activations per mob


• take damage now and again to get more TP

Using these techniques, I was able to break the latent effects on both the Sapara of Trials and the Dagger of Trials. While there is an arduous set of steps necessary to access the Sapara NM for unlocking the weapon skill, there is a NM that spawns in the zone that is highly sought after. These NM hunters were kind enough to offer assistance, and hence my success at acquiring Savage Blade.

Evisceration was acquired without ever firing a skill chain, leading to the discovery that only attacks that land on the opponent are counted. My record keeping recorded 317 weapon skill activations, which was 17 over the requisite 300. Missing 17 of 300 indicates and accuracy of 94.33%, so feel free to budget accordingly: forget to record one every 20 activations.

-.\\