SMN All-in-one Hybrid Set

So, imagine you were a guy who plays a few different jobs, uses a lot of gear swaps, and knows how most stats go together. Now imagine you have a girlfriend who plays on Xbox, and will under no circumstance use any macros at all, ever, for any reason. Now, they want you to make them a Nirvana more than anything, but you personally can not even think of doing such a thing without at least making their SMN respectable.

With that in mind, you know where I stand and my situation, now I think SMN is quite a heavy macro job, but it is a job I never got into or really played, so I am curious what the optimum build for 'everything' would be. I plan to have her use another set for some occasions, like if she is coming to an event for just PD then I want to have her in SMN skill gear using a Ramuh staff and such so she can use SS with a high duration PD. Basically I am wanting 3 sets for different situations which can maximize her effect without having to swap or macro anything.

I want Avatar damage, Avatar survival, and PD for her, if there are any other needs for a SMN those would be great too, but seeing as she refuses to macro anything it would be a set she would be wearing an entire event probably, so I figure its probably unlikely. In either case thanks for any help, and I am sorry to ask such a dumb thing, but after so long I have given up on arguing with her about this subject, and would to just get some sets to work for.

I will be making her a Nirvana, I just do not want it to goto waste, and if she can at least get some great gear to go with it I hope it will make up for the problems that not macroing creates. Also if its possible to give me some medium and high end sets that would be great, so I have easier goals to go for now and then harder goals to go for when we get closer to finishing the work on her Nirvana.

Is there much of a point in Nirvana now that this exists? Unless she's meleeing, or just wants something that looks cool, it seems like a ton of effort for not a lot of gain now.

I understand the question, but it doesn't seem possible to have an all in one set, while still being useful at all.

You can't do this with a hybrid set brah

In light of this and the other similar thread (regarding sam gear), I'd say get her a pc, install windower and spellcast, and make (or borrow) some .xmls for her. -.-

I don't know your GF but she's making me facepalm, I'm sorry.




More on-topic though - my suggestion is forget about avatar survival, and as for avatar damage, well they have both physical and magical BPs, a gearset that can be used for both will mean both kinds are going to be gimped.

Another thing is -BP time - that really should be capped seeing as it's the only source of damage a smn has (and Shock Squall can be invaluable for some events), and 45 seconds is long enough of a wait already.

Edit: pretty much what a couple of others have already stated - you cannot make her a respectable smn with a Nirvana using a hybrid set or two.

Making a Nirvana for a SMN who doesn't use macros? I'm sorry, but that's the stupidest thing I've read today. It's extremely disrespectful to the job, and she is definitely not worthy of having that weapon.

Furthermore, it is impossible to make an all-in-one set that includes no macro swaps at all. SMN is indeed a very gear-swap heavy job. You will need a Blood Pact Delay reduction set, a physical damage set, a magical damage set, and a summoning skill magic set at the bare minimum.

Getting a decent duration on PD, especially after the nerf, would require her to just make a summoning magic set, which means BPing in that set will only result in laughably poor numbers that will just lead to more "lolsmn" comments and further condemning of the job due to the performance of people like your girlfriend, ESPECIALLY if she was to perform this badly while wielding a Nirvana.

Get a new girlfriend.

Calintz, I was hoping you'd chime in - and thanks, you said what I really wanted to say. I'd like your post a thousand times over if I could.

In all of the fights I have had with her about it she has made it clear she wants it simply because she wanted it for years and it has been a long standing goal of hers, because SMN is one of her favorite jobs from Final Fantasy as a series. Because of that, no matter if the weapon is surpassed or not, it is something she will want, and for that reason I am wanting to get it for her since it would make her quite happy. Basically she does not want it because she wants to be an amazing SMN, or because she wants to have an amazing weapon, she wants it because she likes the job and she has wanted for a very long time but never had any chance to get it.

No need to be sorry about it, I know shes being unreasonable and stubborn about it, and I have every intention on getting her a PC with spellcast and setting it up to be exactly like her Xbox so there are 0 complaints, but for now I am unable to do it, and until that is possible I want to do what I can to at least try making her suck less.

Avatar survival I figured would be a possible set like how BST has pet focused sets to keep your pet alive, but I do not play SMN like I do BST so I have no idea, just a thought. As for a single BP set, well I know its going to be gimped, but so is the entire idea of a hybrid set, so its not to be unexpected.

As for the BP reduction I figured there was some middle ground since the cap is so low that she could have some of that in gear in random spots like the earring where I do not think there are any items for BP damage items, again, gimpness is expected, perfection is impossible.

Perhaps saying I want her SMN to be respectable is incorrectly wording it. Let me say it this way, I want her SMN to be as good as it possibly can be without macros even though it will be terribly gimp anyways, so that her gimpness is at a minimal. Basically I am trying to make her terrible SMN as least terrible as I possibly can.

I agree with the entire first paragraph, but I love her and I am tired of arguing with her about it, so I am going to make it for her either way.

I know it is impossible to make an all in one set that doesn't suck, but I want one that at least sucks a lot less than simply having her throw whatever gear on that pops in her mind like full AF3+2 and rolling with that.

As I said the PD set would be for Shock Squall with a Ramuh Staff, it should not lose her much SMN Skill and would provide her with most of her Perp and BP Recast Reduction. I know what I am asking is stupid, I said that already, but I want to do it for her, and until I can get her a PC/Spellcast this is my only real choice unless I feel like arguing with her for hours about it as I have been for the past 3 months every time the subject comes up, which I don't.

Not really looking to ditch my GF cause of the game, sorry.

In honesty I can sympathize with that post, especially the last paragraph, I myself suffer as a good RDM which gets to barely use my job because of all of the terrible RDMs out there. At the same time, this would make my GF happy, and for that reason, I want to do it for her. Like I said, I know it will be gimp, and I know it could never really be good, but I want to do something which will at least make it suck less, and that is very much possible because I highly doubt full AF3+2 is the best possible gear for her to be running around in.



Contrary to how it may seem to everyone, she is not stupid, she is simply an incredibly stubborn person, and since she hates macros I have little to no hope of changing her mind on using them. Until I can get her a way to change gear without them, she will never do it, so I am working with what I can till then, is it so wrong of me to do such a thing? I think not, so I would just like some decent sets that will make her suck as little as possible, they need not all use the staff, for all I care they could all completely ignore the thing because she does not have it yet. If she demands it be in all of her sets than I will tackle that demon when it arises, but for now, I simply want some decent sets to go after. For now, I am simply trying to make my GF happy, and I think doing this would make her happy, and at the same time even if its incorrect, it would make me feel like I am not simply wasting my time on something like this even if its not going to be used properly.

Wouldn't you want her to suck more?



Anyway, I like what you try to do for her, you have all my respect(not so much her as a fellow gamer).

What I don't understand is her fear/unwillingness to use macros even without gearswaps. Surely it's easier to hit a macro instead of opening the different menus and then find the right spell/JA/ws? It really boggles my mind to be honest. @.@


Your gf doesn't happen to be Rosina on the OF by any chance??? - and sorry, that's mean of me I know, I just couldn't resist!


Seriously though, she's damn lucky to have you - like Seha said, you have all my respect too (but not so much your gf as a fellow female gamer).

No, she doesn't. Easy enough to tell by the lack of effort she puts towards it

While the thought of a non-swapping Nirvana-SMN is indeed insulting to the job I could give you a few ideas if she agrees to use a bar of macros. That shouldn't make it 'harder' for her compared to pick everything from menus.
Just Name how many Lines a macro has on XBox (I only played PC) and how many of them are easily clickable for her.

Nirvana


+ Girlfriend



= We know how that turns out.

Well so far as Rosina, no... just... no... and as for the respect, thanks to you both.

Now, as for the macros, in all honesty... I myself do not use macros for many things, I use them for swaps for sure, but most spells and JAs I have their positions memorized and find it easier and faster personally to go through the menus and get to them that way, it may sound dumb or weird, but its how I am, and it works for me.

Its not a matter of lack of effort, she will put effort into making Nirvana, and she will put effort into gearing her SMN. What you are mistaking for lack of effort is simply her being stubborn refusal to comply with using macros/swaps.

I could not get her to use 3 macros for TP/WS/Meditate on SAM, so yeah, that would not work either sadly.

No, I didn't mistake it for anything. Just because you put effort into some areas doesn't mean that you aren't putting it into others.

Refusing to swap gear and use macros is a complete and utter lack of effort. I don't even have smn unlocked. I could build a better one than hers by the time she has a nirvana.

Yeah, I know, thats not to hard to do, especially with how easy a ton of gear is to get and the fact Nirvana is mostly worthless as far as I can tell when compared to all of the other gear there is like the Skirmish weapon and such.

In all honesty I am going to try doing just that so I can show her the difference, but for that I have a wonderful guide in this forum. Something that guide is missing is hybrid sets for this kind of thing, something which no one has provided still or even attempted to because they are to busy telling me how my GF is insane, doing this is an insult to the job, or that she does not care about the job because of a lack of willing to macro, just like she refuses to do with every other job in the entire game.

Forgive me if I sound a bit annoyed, but I find it kind of sad that almost every post in the thread has to focus on the fact she refuses to play the job with macros rather than simply accepting I have dealt with trying to get her to change her views on the matter for months and am finally giving up. After months of dealing with it I broke down, came here, and made a fool of myself posting a thread asking a bunch of people I do not know how to gear a job in a way that is stupid so that I can make her a weapon which will take months and tons of gil so she can have it as what is essentially a trophy at this point.

Well, Nirvana is a more realistic option than a Skirmish weapon. With shitty players who refuse to swap gear, it's not even an option for her.

You need to just make macros for her when she's sleeping or something.

Everyone is making a big deal out of it because no hybrid set that you're asking for is going to come close to even a few simple macros. There is really no excuse.

Casual gamers and mythic weapons don't really mix well.

Oh I do the same thing for certain spells/JAs/ws that I don't use as much. But take something like Shock Squall that you yourself specifically mentioned - you need to open not just one, but two menus then, which seems incredibly cumbersome and slow to me.

I really do wonder why on earth she's apparently perfectly content being mediocre (at best) at her jobs.

It's a game, if she doesn't want to go all out then let her, she's playing to have fun and if making a mythic with her bf makes her happy so be it. And in all reality she's most likely just going to be an Alex-*** in any event so maybe just make a smn skill set so PD lasts longer.

You guys should just quit ffxi and hop on board ffxiv, really. Won't have to worry about macroing gear in that game

This ^ there really is no simple all in one set. If anything you might as well just have her throw on all her prep- and refresh gear to keep the avatars out because anything involving BP delay or DMG and even PD is going to require macros/gear swaps and playing on xbox will require double the work because of the macro line limit.

Please please please tell me this is a RL girlfriend ._.

I think the OP deserves a mythic instead if he successfully drags his stubborn-***-no-macro-using girlfriend through assault clears x2, ToAU king camps+kills, ichor and nyzul token farming.

She has no idea how much grind ppl have to go through for this or any mythic weapon and that kinda breaks my heart.
You are gonna farm all the alex for her too aren't you....

Theres a fine line between it being an act of love and being epic-mithrawhipped to do that kinda quest for someone.

First, Nirvana isn't built in a day so here is a set to answer your question. It is passable and none is particularly difficult to obtain. She will probably enjoy the WotG storyline compared to grinding drops. I suggest Windy [S] storyline as it's the most heart-wrenching one by far, imo.

I don't know how to make one of those little things people use for sets on here, so here you go:

Now since Nirvana isn't built in a day, you'll also want to work on the:
http://wiki.ffxiclopedia.org/wiki/Summoner%27s_Attire_%2B2_Set

Don't try to get her to use macros. Just let her figure it out on her own. She'll learn, as time goes on, about things like swapping out max MP sets once that MP is gone. Changing to a physical damage taken set when idle may come eventually, but some people aren't even that worried about it to this day. Take her to a few of those NMs with TP moves that make you naked. lol She may quickly want a macro just to put her clothes on.

Anyway, I hope this helps, but there is no need to force anyone to do anything. She's obviously a casual player that isn't about the mechanics of getting the highest numbers. In some cases it can't be helped. It actually reminds me of the difference between casual Pokemon players that play for the RPG and just to collect versus the competitive battle Pokemon players that take their time to breed and train their Pokemon to the extremes. Is one way better than the other? Maybe. Depends on what you want out of the game. At the end of the day, is it still just a game? Certainly. You can put your FFXI or Pokemon down and you seriously don't want to look over at your partner and be irritated at each other because of play-style. It's sweet that you're going to put so much effort into a Nirvana for her and hopefully as you two get closer to that goal, she will have come around a bit.

Not disagreeing with you, I just don't see what's fun in being bad/mediocre because apparently macros are the devil or something. It makes no sense to me, and while the OP's gf isn't stupid, her stubborness certainly is.

Good idea, Ill make macros for her that she will never even use... Her problem is not making the macros, its using macros...

She is not playing it to be good at them, she is playing for fun, I request she be better than complete ***, not her, which is why I am here, not her, and why she has no problem with it. She wants the weapon, the fact she will not swap gear or use macros should not be a reason to condemn her for it, nor should it be a reason to refuse to help, yet people seem to doing just that. Not you specifically Tamoa, but just in general, so many negative comments it the exact reason I never really come to these forums or wanted to ask, but this is a job I have no experience with, so I am forced to basically.

Exactly, I mean I don't expect her to get much use out of the job other than solo besides for PD anyways so whatever, but in my mind it makes me feel less like ***if I see she has some good gear to go with it, and hey, for those who feel insulted, think about which is worse, seeing a SMN in some great gear which is weirdly thrown together with a Nirvana, or a SMN in full AF3+2 with a Nirvana, which really seems like it would cause more lolSMN?

You should really just bite me... I am trying to do something to make my GF happy, if you have such a problem with that then ignore this thread, ignore me, ignore her, and pretend we don't even exist, then all of your problems with us will fade. If you can not do that, then simply shut up, I'm tired of arguing semantics with you about if shes putting effort into the job or not, and I'm tired of comments saying to leave her or leave the game.

She is.

I plan to run all of this with 2 other friends, we are all making something, one making the DRG Mythic, one making the WHM, so its not like I'm running through it all alone or getting nothing. As for my Mythic, that shall be kept to myself since I'll just get more ***for it anyways, and I have had enough of that already here.

She knows, I have explained it, and explained how long it will take and how much work it will be on her part, she agreed to do it and I told her if she is not there I am not working on it, meaning if she is not with me, I will not do Salvage, if she is not with me, I will not be camping her Kings, and so on.

I would like it if she did, sadly, I have little faith in such an outcome, one of my friends thought the same thing about her learning to change in time, yet she has had her SAM with her Masa for a long time now and yet, no change, so I can not think there will be a difference now. In either case, I am happy you bothered to grab all of the links to the basically full AF3+2 SMN gear which I mentioned before, but really I was meaning more advanced gear, like Neo-Salvage, Neo-Limbus, NNI, basically whatever, about the only thing I cant get her into is Legion because it takes to many people and there is no way I could get that many people who know and like us both enough to do it for her. I do like your post though, and thank you.

I could not agree more, I myself find it funner to use macros, then again one could argue that I have become more of an elitist compared to my friends, which is also probably why I fought with her for 3 months trying to get her to use macros, if not for the fact I love her I probably would have actually just continued with the fighting.

There are plenty of casual players like this tbh, they just aren't the type to come to forums since this is mostly for those of us who care about a more indepth experience. Being casual is fine, as long as you stay away from the players on the other end of the spectrum cause in that case interests come into clash, and the hardcore gets annoyed and the casual offended for being treated poorly(most likely).
I mean, we see plenty of these players at random stuff like Qilin, but we survive, maybe we poke fun at it in ls chat like "you should see this noob, it's ridiculous", I would too, but at the end of the day it doesn't matter that much. However, if someone like that showed up in your Legion group he'd likely be booted in a matter of seconds.
You can play the game however you want, at the leisure you desire, but you also have to know what to expect in relation to your efforts.

edit: sorry anyway I cannot help at all on this one, I have 0 smn knowledge lol. But agree would probably just go with skill so that Alexander at least works fine.

Only problem with SMN skill only gear is that I really rather her not be completely useless in everything else, I mean I know she will not be good, but really... I would like at least something.

I've been working on a mythic for a year, from a time/gil investment perspective all mythics are 'bad'.
But you make one because you love the job, your girlfriend has that mindset right at least!

Why so secretive on your choice? Hmm you own an almace and an excal, and posts mostly in RDM forums... good luck on your Murgleis (props for loving RDM that much if thats what you are makin)