Niche FFXI Tips, Tricks And Other Oddities...

This doesn't do anything except knock you off the frog, from my testing.


This is true, your character slides around facing the same direction, while the ground slides along the ground. Looks quite silly.

Config > Windows > Shared. Turn the Window Effect off to stop the annoying flutter animation in the UI. It makes the using the menus and UI feel a little more snappy.

RDM/DRK can Chainspell > Absorb-TP the last bit of Aminon to speed up the last 10-15% of his HP, lets your main DD go wild.

I like to stack commands within the same macro like this:
On the first push it will trigger berserk and with a second push you get warcry, saves macros on the same line.

I've heard this can screw with your swaps. Not sure if gearswap can handle it by default with most luas these days but I guess if that wasn't the case you could still avoid it with good if conditions.

In some subjob cases like the example above it should be no issue anyway unless you want to swap into something like -enmity gear. Berserk/Warcry augmenting equipment is afaik main job only, which is the case for a lot of typcial subjob abilities.

Actually, this is bad, don't do this. It works in normal, low latency situations ....but this amplifies latency in high-lag situations. Imagine pressing Enter and Escape at the same time and hoping one of them registers (whether or not the timer is actually down), I'm referring to the processing of both of your commands).

This is a really bad idea. I thought I would be smart and use the same macro on BRD for SB and Cure4 in case I was either subbing DNC or NIN and meleeing or subbing WHM and healing. It will gearswap to the first thing in the list even if you are not engaged or have no access to the spell still so it didn't work.

It also only works because gearswap is converting both commands to packets and sending both to server. If you do it on vanilla or without gearswap, it'll always attempt the first command and never try the second.

I've been telling Corsairs to do this, specifically for Sortie, as it's improved my ability to maintain full buffs for groups in majority of scenarios.

Adjust your phantom roll set for Bolter's Roll.... make it ONLY have the Rostam and accessories like Gunslingers cape/Desultor's tassets (NO OTHER DURATION + gear). This should drop its Duration to just under 8 minutes or lower. Why?

You buff Sam OR Chaos before a boss, it should last around 10:30s -12 minutes depending on merits. You fight the boss. Depending on how early you pop the initial roll and how long it takes you to fight the boss, that roll decays to maybe 8+mins duration or so. THEN the boss dies and you pop Bolters roll to run to the next boss.

With this setup, your NEW Bolters roll will now have lower duration than the Sam/Chaos you put up prior to fighting the boss. ~9mins vs 8ish or less mins.

After you run to the next boss, you pop the Other buff (Sam OR Chaos) and it will overwrite the bolters, not the prior roll. Now your team will have Sam AND Chaos with little hassle. Rinse repeat


--------EDIT: Broke down the numbers more precisely.----------
I personally 2/5 Winning Streak (cuz i'm 5/5 SnakeEye, 1/5 Fold, 2/5 Loaded Deck);
which gives me +52 seconds for my main roll and only +40 for my bolters roll (not wearing the hat). If I wanted to further increase the divide, I could drop a point in LoadedDeck for 3/5 WinningStreak

300second base duration
+40 Gifts
+40 merits (2/5)
+60 Rostam
+20 Compensator
+50 Lanun+3 Hat
+12 Hat Augment (2/5)
+60 Chausseur+3 Hands
+30 Regal Neck
+30 Ambu Cape
-----Total: 642s (10minutes 42seconds)

VS
300second base
+40 gifts
+40 merits
+60 Rostam
+30 neck (I keep this in the set JUST INCASE I forget to unlock my weapon)
-----Total: 470s (7minutes 50seconds)- weaker set for Bolter's Roll

This gives you just under 3 minutes of leeway to finish rolling, engage + kill boss, and then roll Bolters, where your Bolters will still be weaker than your initial roll.
As stated before, this gap can be widened even further if you were to run more merits + cut out the neck from Bolters set.

While some may enjoy Max roll duration (12minutes), I find 10:42 to be good enough to maintain Crooked fulltime, while also dipping into the benefits of LoadedDeck.
-------------------End Edit Breakdown---------------

If you stack 2 JAs with /ja "ability" <me>, and there is no latency and no <wait 1>, there's a very high chance only one of them will go off, but it will screw up your gearswap. I do:

/ja "Ability" <me>
/ja "Ability" <stal>

For the most part, I stopped using the wait command because there are times where I don't want both (or multiple) JAs or spells to go off, but it's convenient to have the one(s) I need macro'd. Example of my "Vanish" macro:

/ja "Spectral Jig" <me>
/ma "Monomi: Ich" <me>
/ma "Tonki: Ni" <stal>

If I'm sub DNC, only the first one will execute. If I'm /NIN, Spectral will fail, and Monomi will execute with a hold to follow up Tonko.

I play a lot of thf and do some weird things, so here's some thf stuff...nothing tricky here, just stuff non-thfs may not know...

Hate Control
Collaborator has only a 1minute timer and steals more hate then accomplice with your empy cap. On a zerg (why are you doing a zerg on thf? Anyway...) collaborator the top dd then super jump (you're /drg, right?) and you'll erase most of their hate and keep them wailing away.

Trick Attack works on anyone in the alliance, not just party members. Works great in dyna d when the nin mob is spinning all over and you need it dead, now.

Sneak Attack
If you use "Bully" as long as it's active you can Sneak Attack the mob from any direction.

There's countless more... thf abilities are very sneaky and rarely fully explained in game.

I knew this about Sneak! ...but that Accomplice + /DRG trick is nice. :D

i haven tested with /JA but for magic this is really horribel as you will end up casting in your aftercast set.

Go into precst1
Do spell1 (start casting
go into precast
do spell2 (canst cast since already casting)
switch to aftercast set since spell2 didnt go off
...time..
Spell1 executes
Switch to aftercast set


You should really handle this mechanica in your lua
aka if doing bersern and bersek is on cooldown do warcry instead

but also warcry and bersek as to different tactical purpose so using the same button seems... not tactical smart

On the talk of gearswap.

If you use gearswap you dont need defensive stats in your precast set. (DT- SIRD Eva Def etc.)

If attempting to fight Ou (Omen megaboss), the person entering the alliance for access to the boss cannot die at any point before porting up to Ou or you won't be able to fight the boss.

Idk, if it's like never happens, that you stuck in your precast set because of some weired lag or packet loss?

You can be in your precast set or parts of it for some amount of time on windower+gearswap, at least as of 2021. I briefly tested it here, from the perspective of windower's packet size limitations:
https://www.ffxiah.com/forum/topic/48085/pldblu/5/#3580910

If you go back a page or 2, you'll see that someone demonstrated it using a group of mandies and midcasting their full SIRD.

I'm not sure if this has changed since then, but I guess someone will correct me if so.

If a monster tracks by sight, you can use Hide on it to drop aggro. You can even pair Sneak Attack with Hide (and a subsequent WS) and they stack, effectively gaining Sneak Attack effect from "any direction". The problem with this trick is it doesn't work on much of anything anymore; nearly all monsters are NMs, which Hide does not work on. You can only use it on Normal fodder monsters (Omen Trash, maybe Apex/Locus mobs), in addition to Hide being on a silly 5-min recast timer.

Unrelated to this thread: THF needs pretty much every single one of it's JAs rehauled or reduced recast.

Sorry im unclear if you were trying to say im wrong or the other poster is wrong

"You can be in your precast"

Becuase reading the threads is read it as you meant to write cant.

it is literally your explenation on that testing + one from 2016 I remember as proof that you cant get hint in fastcast set with gearswarp ( you can howevever switch into it after death giving the impression you died in it)

Can you clarify your stance on it ?

P.S.
I'm here assuming not spamming macroes which will cause issues with gearswap

Pasting from the mandies test

Conclusions:
2: Pre-Cast sets, do not appear to require SIRD, as they can not be interrupted. People far smarter than me explained it above, but Tl;dr it has to do with how the game handles 'packets'. Gearswap sends the precast, the spell, and the midcast all to the system at once.

Which would backup my statements

On Ashita, using AC/LAC, you cannot be hit in precast. This is true regardless of how many times you hit the macro.

My testing indicates that on Windower, high traffic may result in your midcast not going on immediately. Windower devs would need to clarify; I used a practical test, I do not have their source code to see how their injection is handled.

Cambion's testing indicates that if you hit macros multiple times, you also may end up in precast.

Ultimately, if you are on Ashita it is true that you don't need these stats in precast. If you are on windower, there are still times where they may be of benefit, so it's bad advice to neglect them, especially when there's likely nothing else to use the slots for.

It is also true that *most* of the time, if you only hit macros once, it is very unlikely you will be hit in precast on windower.

Ya, the hide->SA is an old trick that no one ever used due to so many mobs tracking by smell (yes, deodorize was a thing) or sound; so it basically never worked and the timer was trash so who cares anyway. Hide should have always shed all hate...would have been quite "thiefy"

Edit - oh but here's one for the thread people probably don't know...if you are fleeing a mob that tracks by scent if you run through water it'll lose your scent. They also can't track you by scent if it's raining. Pretty clever, SE.

Thank you for clarifying.
But I cant seem to read this the same way you did he clearly indicated to his testing that he was never hit in precast

quote:
2: Pre-Cast sets, do not appear to require SIRD, as they can not be interrupted...
2c) There is a limit to packets, that my previous test was able to exploit.... you can force an interrupt between pre-cast and mid-cast, by sending so many gear-swap requests to the server..

All his testing has 0 evidence to get hit in precast unless we are spamming that macros and fills up the packet..block... network data container. then they have to wait for the next transmit which in laggy situations can be... well laggy.

Doesn't it also depend on how much gear is being swapped with each state change?

Like if you're changing all slots for idle to precast and again for precast to midcast, it takes more data and is more likely to result in a delay?

My test showed that windower was pushing packets to the next sequence with amounts of data that were about the same size as a 32 piece swap + action packet.

His first test showed that he was being interrupted while mashing.

His second test carefully pressed the macro only once and did not observe interrupts.

The takeaway is that you cannot assume you will never be hit in precast on windower, because some circumstances will allow it. It is, however, very unlikely.

TLDR for extra emphasis:

Funny fail moment: If you use Sroda Belt to cast a healing spell with enough MP for the initial MP cost but not enough MP to cover the +25% cost, you will start casting the spell and then get the message "<player> does not have enough MP to cast <spell>" when the spell is supposed to go off. The game allows you to appear productive for a second but then reminds you of your failure :D

My memory is that on windower the queue of injected outgoing chunks can overflow from one packet to the next if there are too many to fit in the current packet. So if you slam your macro, inject a ton of chunks, and it happens to end with the chunk that changes you to precast gear, then you may be wearing that for ~half a second until the next packet gets sent.

If you are going to hit a macro over and over, tap about 3 time a second instead of spamming like you are boosting an esper in ffviii or something. This is a dignified game.

Thorny is correct on all accounts.

Official^{not really} Windower Team stance on this subject is that macro mashers deserve to get hit in precast, in midcast, in aftercast, and in the face.

Please look forward to it^TM.

In Alluvion Skirmish, Summoner's Buffs can buff the summons, which is how we farmed Cruel Joke as a 3 man group. Relevant for the Skirmish Campaign Plus monthly campaigns when you might find others who will jump in to help.

1 person on the book, summoning Kirin, so that Kirin summons the other sky gods.
Spam mobs as fast as possible, Mandies and Collibri work well with the SMN buffs in early levels.

1 Blue mage to solo killing the mobs to the sides for points (also the person being nice to the other two).

1 summoner that moves with the summoned group and cycles through:

• Fenrir for Endrain

• Garuda for Haste II, Blink

• Titan for Stoneskin

• Leviathan for Spring Water (AOE Cure & Status removals)

• Ramuh for Lightning Armor

Applying buffs liberally as needed.

SMN who have invested in duration have a slightly easier time keeping the group buffed.

In our runs for Cruel Joke, we saw Balamor's Adumbration on a regular basis, roughly the 4th or 5th round (but could be later). Don't be afraid to give up if you've hit the point where the enemies are spawning faster than you can keep up.

We got lucky and were able to get the spell on all BLUs in 1 to 3 runs each BLU over a total of 7 BLUs.