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Newbie Ambuscade Advice SoughtFollow

#1 Dec 06 2016 at 12:06 AM Rating: Good
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So, a family member and I recently re-subbed about 3 weeks ago, and after getting our bearings and completing a few initial projects, I've been reading up on this Ambuscade thing, and it sounds like it is THE place to go for gear these days, especially if you don't have a linkshell and/or aren't really up for getting into groups.

My family member is older and is not the kind of person who is interested in difficult complex fights; she plays the game more to pass time, she likes to do crafting, farming and other "casual" activities.

I have a bit more skill than she does, though with so many changes to the game, I'm still re-learning all of my jobs and the plethora of new job abilities, spells, and other things that didn't exist the last couple times I re-subbed.

Anyways, our characters look like this:

Hers
-99 THF with 109 Reforged AF and Homestead/Eminent Daggers and Exenterator (sp?)
-99 WHM with Sparks gear and dual 117 wands (Homestead/Eminent) and Realmrazer
-99 MNK and IIRC, she either has or almost has enough Rem's Tales to upgrade her AF to 109. I don't remember if she has the fist WS or not, but that's easily gotten.
Spell and Combat skill is capped IIRC except shield.

Her WHM is likely missing spells, and she's not hugely skilled at casting spells and quickly targeting people, etc.

Mine

-11 Jobs on 99, though only my WHM, and THF have anything better than Sparks gear. My WHM has Gendewitha +1 (I used a mule's mog pells to get the wings to buy it and upgrade it) and I recently bought a melee club (that 119 morning star type club that PLD can also use, forget the name of it) but otherwise, sparks gear all the way. I recently got SMN and GEO up to 99, but their magic skills are nowhere near cap and GEO is missing spells (I didn't get the geocolures yet, and I'm missing the last few Indi plates).

Both

We did up to, IIRC the 5th or 6th Rhapsody (the one that requires partial WoTG completion that unlocks Walk of Echoes early), but the main problem we have, is that our jewelry (rings, capes, earrings, neck) suck. They are years out of date and obsolete and the few we can see in the AH do not appear to have very good stats on them, or if they do they are crazy expensive and we're hesitant to pay that much money.

I did see a pair of earrings that we can get from Adoulin that buffs Dual-Wield that looks reasonably do-able.

That brings me to another point... we need to do more stuff in Adoulin, lol. I don't really know much of anything about the place, but then again, it's difficult to find information that tells us what we can duo and what we cannot.

I'm currently in the process of leveling DRG to get her a better throwing weapon (the 119 Unity Bird in Buburimu, do-able with our two THFs but a rather difficult fight, I figure with the upcoming Unity Campaign, if I can get my DRG on 99 by then, we should have a much easier time of it).

Otherwise, I'm just looking for some suggestions on where I should be looking, and what to expect when trying to do Ambuscade. I read BG-Wiki's Ambuscade article, but I'm wanting to wait until the 11th because what little progress we could make in 6 days, we would lose when the update happens since monthly updates erase your Hallmarks and Gallantry anyways.

I also could not find any information on how often you're permitted to do Ambuscade -- I remember in the past days, that nearly everything in the game had a lockout, some of them up to a week so I'm not entirely sure if Ambuscade is like that or not.

Any suggestions/etc muchly appreciated!
#2 Dec 06 2016 at 9:25 PM Rating: Good
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You can do Ambuscade as much as you want. The only requirement is farming a new KI between wins.

The downside of this, however, is that you're gonna have to do a lot of runs to get the +1 gear, and anything not Very Difficult is questionably of worthwhile time. This introduces the Catch 22 of PUGs wanting you to be well-geared so you can do repeat runs. And since Ambuscades cycle every month, telling you what jobs would be best to focus on is a bit of a gamble. A combination of WHM and GEO would probably be the safest bet, but even then, if the Ambuscade set isn't worth it for your preferred jobs, you might not wanna run the event, either. They do plan on making the vouchers a permanent reward option at some point, but for now, not so much.

In terms of general progression, if you haven't already, get sparks gear from clearing RoE objectives. It's still way too low for VD Ambuscade, as per ACC reqs for melee, but it will help you get a leg in on other content. The next step from that, presuming you don't find outside help, would be to run Yorcia Skirmish with your friend and alternate obsidian fragment expenses. The 119 gear there will generally be better than sparks stuff, and a duo should enable you to clear 2 floors with one person staying at the book to spawn monsters. Actually augmenting this gear probably isn't financially viable these days, but it's still an option to make them a bit better if RNG cooperates.

After that, you're pretty much in Escha farming territory, which will require other bodies. You can mix upgrading AF/Relic/Empy to 119 into this phase, but they're generally going to be comparable to the Yorcia gear, if not worse. However, SE does plan on releasing a new event called Omen that allows such items to be upgraded further, which may very well be the nudge one needs to be more PUG friendly. Unfortunately, we don't know enough about it in terms of solo/low-man friendliness and the feasibility of upgrades. Honestly, I wouldn't expect them to exceed the quality of Ambuscade gear, since cursed stuff seems to be their darling on ceiling quality with augmented Reisenjima gear as runner up.

Kinda feel like messing with Unity fights is a waste of time. There might be some situational stuff here and there, but if you're duoing it, it's probably in the relative garbage tier as far as optimal builds go. Anyway, if you do get a Yorcia set, you should be able to finish Adoulin missions. Only snag here is the enforced time delay associated with imp refreshes. Oh, and look into either augmented WKR weapons or the Oboro JSE weapons. The former will require a KI from clearing all WKRs, which may be rough to do with no events going on (and even then, Yumcax is often ignored), while the latter is something that'll probably take 2-3 mil in currency to fully upgrade. I know for my BLU, the sword persisted as a good +ACC secondary, with something like the Ambuscade cape also being a significant boost once augmented. Mileage will vary per job, and unlocking Oboro does require some specific high-tier BC clears that may be difficult with a low-geared duo/trusts.

Think your best bet is just hoping Omen is casual friendly.
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#3 Dec 06 2016 at 10:18 PM Rating: Good
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Seriha wrote:
You can do Ambuscade as much as you want. The only requirement is farming a new KI between wins.


Key Item?

AFAIK, the only key item needed is the Volume 1/2? Or is there a 2nd Key Item that's needed too?

Quote:
The downside of this, however, is that you're gonna have to do a lot of runs to get the +1 gear, and anything not Very Difficult is questionably of worthwhile time. This introduces the Catch 22 of PUGs wanting you to be well-geared so you can do repeat runs. And since Ambuscades cycle every month, telling you what jobs would be best to focus on is a bit of a gamble. A combination of WHM and GEO would probably be the safest bet, but even then, if the Ambuscade set isn't worth it for your preferred jobs, you might not wanna run the event, either. They do plan on making the vouchers a permanent reward option at some point, but for now, not so much.


Wasn't really planning on PUG groups, but looks like I might have to, if I ever decide to do Ambuscade (more on this later)

Quote:
In terms of general progression, if you haven't already, get sparks gear from clearing RoE objectives.


Already done, in fact I have Gendewitha +1 already, but the rest is the 109 stuff from the Sparks NPC.

Quote:
It's still way too low for VD Ambuscade, as per ACC reqs for melee, but it will help you get a leg in on other content. The next step from that, presuming you don't find outside help, would be to run Yorcia Skirmish with your friend and alternate obsidian fragment expenses. The 119 gear there will generally be better than sparks stuff, and a duo should enable you to clear 2 floors with one person staying at the book to spawn monsters. Actually augmenting this gear probably isn't financially viable these days, but it's still an option to make them a bit better if RNG cooperates.


Hopefully I can find some information that actually tells me how to do this, lol.

Quote:
After that, you're pretty much in Escha farming territory, which will require other bodies. You can mix upgrading AF/Relic/Empy to 119 into this phase, but they're generally going to be comparable to the Yorcia gear, if not worse. However, SE does plan on releasing a new event called Omen that allows such items to be upgraded further, which may very well be the nudge one needs to be more PUG friendly. Unfortunately, we don't know enough about it in terms of solo/low-man friendliness and the feasibility of upgrades. Honestly, I wouldn't expect them to exceed the quality of Ambuscade gear, since cursed stuff seems to be their darling on ceiling quality with augmented Reisenjima gear as runner up.


I would hope that they would introduce more solo/duo friendly stuff, because even the older Adoulin content is rather difficult. We had trouble getting a Heartseeker Earring just earlier, and that's only Lv110. Took us a couple deaths to figure out how to do it and it's still somewhat dangerous.

Quote:
Kinda feel like messing with Unity fights is a waste of time. There might be some situational stuff here and there, but if you're duoing it, it's probably in the relative garbage tier as far as optimal builds go.


Not looking for optimal builds... we're still wearing junk like spike earrings, sentry belt, etc. Pre-75 stuff. So nearly ANYTHING would be an upgrade. I was looking at that Triple Attack cape from that one ram, and the wing cutter boomerang from the bird that has some stats on it and it's 119 (do-able, but dangerous).

Quote:
Anyway, if you do get a Yorcia set, you should be able to finish Adoulin missions. Only snag here is the enforced time delay associated with imp refreshes. Oh, and look into either augmented WKR weapons or the Oboro JSE weapons. The former will require a KI from clearing all WKRs, which may be rough to do with no events going on (and even then, Yumcax is often ignored), while the latter is something that'll probably take 2-3 mil in currency to fully upgrade. I know for my BLU, the sword persisted as a good +ACC secondary, with something like the Ambuscade cape also being a significant boost once augmented. Mileage will vary per job, and unlocking Oboro does require some specific high-tier BC clears that may be difficult with a low-geared duo/trusts.


Yeah I was reading up on some of this stuff... and I'm wondering if it's even possible to get half of this stuff with the two of us.

Quote:
Think your best bet is just hoping Omen is casual friendly.


I kinda have my doubts, to be honest, unless they've gotten enough complaints about Ambuscade not being very casual/low-man friendly.

And on the subject of Ambuscade.... what's the point of allowing solo/duo with trusts when it is practically impossible?

I chose the 109 Very Easy (the lowest tier possible) and the stupid mob we had to fight was doing AoE attacks every 3-5 seconds and we were like "just HOW are you supposed to do this, anyways?"

What's the point of putting 109 "Very Easy" option there, allowing someone to go in solo/duo knowing they're just gonna get killed anyways? Our item level is ~115, but yet the stupid thing just roflstomps us anyways.

Edited, Dec 6th 2016 11:19pm by Lyrailis
#4 Dec 07 2016 at 3:42 AM Rating: Good
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Sadly, not all Ambuscade fights are created equal. The frog is pretty beotch tier for various reason. That said, I'm assuming you meant the i117 gear from Sparks NPC (Wayfarer, Espial, Outrighter, etc.). The ilvl is listed higher than their actual power attributes, but such helps makes Trusts stronger on summons.

As for skirmish, in eastern Adoulin there are a pair of NPCs near the goddess statue waypoint, an old man and woman. There are probably some minimal requirements to unlock them, but once you do you trade him a Yorcia Head I, and tier I of torso and feet. Higher just needlessly ups difficulty. Additionally, use a sash in the trade. This will give you a KI you use to access the event in Yorcia, not far from BV2. Prior to this, however, you will want to trade copper vouchers to the sparks NPC and exchange them for 1k Obsidian Fragments each. Once you've entered the skirmish, you'll be in a starter area where you can call out trusts/buff, but be quick about it since the event timer is running. Once you're ready, you warp to the next floor and the event starts. From here, this is where the Fragments are key. Clicking the book near your base, you'll have an option to summon monsters. You'll be limited to 1k points via the voucher method, but use this to summon the Shijin. This lone unit will be strong enough to beat every enemy unit on the floor, as well as take their base to 1%, as it summons versions of the old sky gods to help.

Now, you do not want to personally fight the summoned enemies, as they're coded to essentially hand you your ***, trusts will aggro them, as well. What you do want to do, however, is explore and kill things like twitheryms and elementals to get more fragments for more summons/defenses and speed things up a bit. Arguably, this mechanic is more important if you're trying to do skirmish the "right way" but the voucher method is kind of a shortcut. In any event, you may chance upon other mobs like a fomor or pink murexes. The former is more of just a pain in the butt while the latter will get you some bonus augment mats. When the enemy base is at 1%, a player will need to engage and kill it. If you're good on time, you could try repeating this process on the 2nd floor (though I'm unsure if only the leader is limited to voucher fragments, and if so, you WILL need to kill monsters), or you can use a key to end the event. This will pop a chest under the player (so if you're running and someone else does it, pay attention!) which will hook you up with some loot. As the event is progressing, you may see a message about receiving a certain piece of gear if you clear the floor.

In the end, you could technically do this event naked and solo. It's also not free, for obvious statue KI formation needs. I wouldn't be surprised if each attempt costs 100k minimum, so farm accordingly. You also have no control on what gear it decides to drop. Since there are 5 sets, it's possible you'll never see certain pieces even after dozens of runs. Excess can at least be traded to the reclaimer NPCs for 600 points toward another voucher.
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#5 Dec 07 2016 at 8:57 AM Rating: Good
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Well, the good news is that we both have 100+ Vouchers stored on the Sparks NPC, lol. We could try this, we were getting said simulcrum parts from doing Reives in Ceizak. I should have told her to hang onto the tier 1s if I had known this, lol. We sold them all on the AH, haha. But then, I've got 50+ million gil on my characters if nothing else.

Thanks for the Yorcia Weald info! We need to try that. Only thing, though, is that you get the non +1 versions from that, right? Don't you need Pulchidropt Wings which are gained by Ru'Kaznar Skirmishes to upgrade the armor? Or is upgrading the armor not necessary?

And, well, Gendewitha +1 is actually i119 -- we used Red Mog Pells last year to buy Lebondopt/Pulchidropt Wings to trade to Lola and Oston to get that armor. I thought I did this for both of my characters, and one of her characters is holding 1 single Lebondopt Wing, but I can't find the armor... I think I might have stored the wings on Lola/Oston because she wasn't sure what kind of armor she wanted yet.

She has THF Reforged AF that has i109 for her THF, but her WHM is still wearing Espial, yes.

EDIT: Also, what do you mean by "sash"? I'm reading BG-Wiki's description of these skirmishes but I'm not seeing anything about any sashes.

EDIT2: Oh, they're talking about Euadaemon Sash... okay. I found a "Fresh 99 to 119" guide over on BG-Wiki, lol. That at least explains how you navigate Ubulka anyways, haha.

Edited, Dec 7th 2016 10:30am by Lyrailis
#6 Dec 07 2016 at 5:22 PM Rating: Good
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Yeah, that's the sash. And to be more specific, I think this is an Alluvion Skirmish and not the normal Skirmish. Yeah, stupid SE for redundancy. Anyway, I'll presume the guide will navigate you some from there. If something seems unclear, just ask.
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#7 Dec 07 2016 at 5:42 PM Rating: Good
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Seriha wrote:
Yeah, that's the sash. And to be more specific, I think this is an Alluvion Skirmish and not the normal Skirmish. Yeah, stupid SE for redundancy. Anyway, I'll presume the guide will navigate you some from there. If something seems unclear, just ask.


The guide suggests going through the RoE Quests for WKR, Yorcia/Rala/other Skirmish (kill 10 mobs in each) and then the AF upgrade quests, to get Kupons and using the Mog Kupons to get a couple weapons and lots of Rem's Tales to get more 119 AF gear.

Basically, the guide is leading someone from Fresh 99 to all-but-one piece of 119 gear + Skirmish Weapons.

We started on that guide today, got about halfway through unlocking all the waypoints, Reive/navigation KIs, and WKR Home Crystals.

I'm glad that guide exists; I was getting confused on how you actually GET to some of these places in Adoulin, lol.

And of course the Limit Points... I think we're gonna periodically have some fun in the Gates... ridiculously crazy limit points going on, 1500-1800 per kill without any kind of XP rings and of course the 250-300 CAP is rather decent too. Kills are fast and easy, little to no danger and we still need lots of limit points.

Edited, Dec 7th 2016 6:47pm by Lyrailis
#8 Dec 15 2016 at 2:13 PM Rating: Good
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So another curious question...

This past update allows us to have Reforged AF+3 armor, but yet all of these armors are 119, but yet there must be some difference between them.

My question is... how does the +1 compare to, say, Ambuscade Armors, or Skirmish Armors?

I've got nearly enough Rem's Tales for my 119 WAR Legs (because of the ridonkulous Double Attack rate on them, same for the feet), and was wondering if it was worth upgrading the rest of the set for easier 119, maybe even use those as a bridge to get better stuff?

Also, a very kind gobbie gave me a 119 Great Sword (has a really weird name, it comes from the Ark Angel High Tier fights) from the special dial.... I know WAR has 20 skill level less (404 opposed to 424 for GAX), but my GAX is the Sparks 117 Axe... the GS has like +30 damage and other stuff on it, so I assume it is better I use the GS? Both are fully skilled and I have the merit weaponskill for both. In testing, it seems like the GS is out-performing my GAX, so I've been using that.

Edited, Dec 15th 2016 3:17pm by Lyrailis
#9 Dec 16 2016 at 5:08 AM Rating: Good
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Resolution isn't a bad WS, either. So I wouldn't feel bad about using it with your WAR, there.

As for the i119 stuff, the answer there, really, is that not all stuff is statted equally. The main reason it stayed there instead of seeing 120 or higher is SE didn't really want to empower Trusts more. That said, prior to the Omen upgrade options, a lot of AF/Relic/Empy were stuck in situational status compared to augmented skirmish/reisenjima/cursed gear. Ambuscade stuff could be iffy on a per-job basis. Nonetheless, that puts most of it in third tier or later quality, if not worse. And MMOs being what they are, everyone wants top tier everyone or GTFO. :P

When it comes to the new stuff, I can't bring myself to say in good faith that the upgrades are readily accessible to the more average player. The 20h lockout on the event hurts, meaning those who do group are going to be exceptionally picky to guarantee the most possible progress per run. On the other hand, soloists may be lucky to see a card every other run should they complete various mini-objectives. Should the bosses have gimmicks, people are also still trying to figure them out. Which obviously doesn't bode well for the low-man if qualifications get too specific. Plus these are going to be high on the gil cost side with the new content rush. Anything under 5m per slot would surprise me, and that's before considering the cost of earlier upgrades like the VW or WKR mats.
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#10 Dec 16 2016 at 8:52 AM Rating: Good
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Well, I already knew that AF+2 or +3 is probably way out of my reach, I was more considering getting the +1 (the fresh 119) set for the time being, if nothing else to at least power the Trusts up.

Though, annoyingly, WAR AF is stacked with lots of Enmity+ .... do they seriously still think WAR is a tank? I mean, really?

Makes things rather difficult if I'm forced to tank everything because the first couple swings, I rip hate off of Valaineral....

And that's to say nothing about using Resolution, lol..
#11 Dec 16 2016 at 12:57 PM Rating: Good
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Trust tanks can suck even with some -enmity on should you do enough damage. So, while I understand the concern, if you're fighting things that will survive a resolution or two, you're probably gonna be tanking anyway.
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#12 Dec 18 2016 at 7:09 PM Rating: Good
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So, I got an Anathema Harpe (i119 unity dagger) from a chest.... on one of MY characters, blaaah. Wish that had been my family member's account that got it, lol.

Oh well, I guess my THF is a slightly better farmer now, lol.

So how is this month's Ambuscade? Worse or better than last month's for trusts/low-manning? I know it's a Corse, but bg-wiki doesn't have any info on it last I checked.
#13 Dec 20 2016 at 3:32 AM Rating: Good
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Don't have my account going at the moment so couldn't really give a personal run-down, but I'd probably expect the usual move set like AoE Silence, Burn, and nukes.
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#14 Dec 20 2016 at 10:45 AM Rating: Good
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Well, the gobbie seems to love me or something, because he gave me a Lekboza (Delve II GAX), so I can start mezzotinting that up, lol.

I got rank 5 so far, going down the double attack path. I don't mind another (eventual) +3% DA, lol.

Edited, Dec 20th 2016 11:49am by Lyrailis
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