The Divine Protector: PLD Guide 2024 - (Under Construction)

While the CE/VE values are untested Crusade is almost certainly 0 CE, and a very small VE value. Though the VE is probably not 0, just negligibly small. Most enhancing spells follow this pattern now.

Testing small amounts of VE is... a pain. It's quite likely that the VE is 180 or less, which means that there'd be nothing left by the time you can Atonement 3 seconds after completing the spell.

There are other methods, and perhaps it's something I'll try to pin down at some point when I'm resubbed. But it's a low priority.

That answers basically the only question I needed answering, thank you both.

Hi everyone,

I’ve been trying to establish clear definitions for what constitutes a mid-tier gear set, especially in contrast to low-tier setups. For low-tier, I feel comfortable using Ambuscade and Sparks/Domain Points gear as the baseline, as it’s accessible and realistic for new, returning, or rerolling players.

However, when it comes to defining mid-tier, I’m much less certain. At what point do we consider gear mid-tier? Is it tied to financial investment, progression milestones (e.g., AF/Relic/Empyrean +1/+2 upgrades, completed storylines), or access to specific content like Dynamis Divergence, Omen, Odyssey or Sortie ?

I’d love your input on how the community defines mid-tier, both in terms of the gear itself and the progression/resources required to acquire it. This would help me propose realistic and meaningful sets that reflect the actual experience of players without being overly simplistic or inaccessible.

Thanks in advance for your insights!

"Ease of acquiring" is, IMO, the only criteria worth considering.

In that vein, I would place R0 Sakpata over +2 ambuscade, upgraded AF and relic or all the rest.

That it's also a higher tier armor set is a very big plus as well.

Even solo with trusts, V0 for clear can be done with +1 ambu gear. Or someone does it for you from LS.

It’s true that in an active linkshell, new players can quickly progress from low-tier to accessing high-tier content within a few months, especially with group support. For me, it’s been a long time since I went through all this. Back then, I had the resources and people to unlock everything easily.

Now, I’m trying to think more broadly and consider players who might be more isolated, progressing on their own or with limited help. The goal is to define something relevant for most players without being overly simplistic or too elitist.

Do you think it’s reasonable to assume group support as a baseline for mid-tier, or should we also factor in those playing solo?

I'll speak from experience, others can weigh in.

I was out for a long time, before ilvl, and when I came back pre-Ody I did 99% of things solo up to +2 ambu because I don't like being carried and feeling like dead weight in a group.

It took several months to grind v2 ambu to get a single set of +2 ambu gear.

If I were to do the same thing again, I would get the vouchers for +1 ambu gear then go straight to sheol A for segs. Then v0 clears to unlock the armor sets.

That's from a pure solo perspective. The obvious easier option is someone takes you in to v0 and you unlock it in one go.

Both these options are far far easier than grinding out +2 ambu gear, most of which is completely unnecessary once you have Ody unlocks.

As far as group support, yes, most people in even the most casual linkshells are very willing to help with unlocks. Have done it myself many many times for many people. It's an MMO, you don't have to solo everything.

But even if someone does not like or want that help, the soloing Ody option is also easier than soloing ambu or omen for +2.

Thank you for sharing your experience! I can relate to what you mentioned about Ambuscade. I had a very similar experience grinding +2 gear solo, and it took quite a while to complete even one set.

Your perspective on prioritizing vouchers and moving straight to Odyssey makes a lot of sense, especially for solo players. It’s definitely something I’ll keep in mind as I try to define these tiers more clearly.

Thanks again for your insights!

Definitely gonna second getting into Odyssey early and getting Sakpata. Ody always gets looked at as end game content, but you can walk into Sheol-A with trusts or other players with ambu gear and kill ***. It's decent xp/cp/ep/gil + segs to get you to nms. Then ask LS or friends for a carry, or try a V0 yourself. Entry to Ody is a lot lower than people think cause everyone just looks as C runs and V15-25 wins. Getting Ody gear early helps out a lot. I think it's a perfect fit for mid tier before Empy/Relic/AF +2/+3 upgrades.

This is great advice for every job! Thanks!

Thank you for your constructive feedback regarding Odyssey access and progression.
I completely agree that obtaining Sakpata with help from a few players is extremely quick and efficient. However, I notice a significant gap between two typical scenarios:

A returning player who just obtained Ambu +1:
May struggle with specific Unity NMs solo (like Carousing Celine for Odnowa Earring +1) - content that might seem trivial to experienced players but can be quite challenging for a fresh character with limited resources
Would find Kalunga V0 nearly impossible to solo (unless they already have well-geared alternate jobs and significant game knowledge)
May have limited trust options
Still building their resource base

A player getting support from endgame players:
Quick access to Odyssey/Sakpata
Bypasses several progression steps
Early access to high-tier content
Much faster gear progression

This leads to my main question: what should we really consider as prerequisites for a mid-tier PLD (post-Ambu +1)? Specifically:

Story completion status?
Regular access to endgame content (Odyssey Unlock/ Dyna-D / Omen / Sortie)?
Expected gil reserves?

For context, while BG wiki suggests full Abjuration +1 as mid-tier, I find this somewhat dated for a pure idle set today (considering both the excessive HP pool and the high cost investment required).
My core question becomes: should we consider truly isolated/new players in defining mid-tier progression, or am I overthinking this? Perhaps a mid-tier player is already assumed to have necessary human and material resources?
Would love to hear your perspectives on this.

I think you're overthinking it a bit, you can't always account for how someone is going to play the game and how difficult one may want to make it for themselves to complete certain things in games. I don't think gil reserves or anything like that matters, your gil is going to go all over the place while gearing up. Considering this is a MMO and most endgame content is group content, I think by the time someone hits mid-tier they should already be doing group content, so that means Rhapsodies completed and they're grouping up to work on end game content.

Really because of how good a lot of Ody gear is it really changed up what I'd consider the differences between Mid-Tier and High-Tier. Nowadays it's mostly just how far along you are on augmenting it. I'd say most mid tier sets would be R0 Ody, +1/+2 AF/Relic and +1 Empy.

Thank you very much for your response, it really helps clear things up for me!

Agree, there's a limit to solo progression, grouping up should always be encouraged.

Granted I don't know how difficult it would be to solo with trusts a V0 Kalunga, never tried it.

Possible, sure. Easier on some jobs, like blu, probably Sam with SP2 too.

Also depends on other gear, particularly malignance or higher than Ambu tier armor. There are reports on bg-wiki of blus soloing V0 Kalunga without already having Nyame, so it's definitely doable.

But really, take a couple LS people and do it together is the better way.

The later TVR missions are the same, they're not really solo-able.

Thanks for your input! I tested Kalunga V0 with an end-game WAR, not with the intention of quickly defeating it, but to evaluate how manageable the fight would be in a more casual, no-brain setup. My goal was to see if it could reasonably be attempted by a returning player with lower gear, such as Ambuscade +1.

For the majority of the fight, things were smooth and manageable. However, near the end, when Kalunga starts spawning feathers, the trusts struggled significantly. They burned through their MP rapidly trying to heal and eventually failed, leaving me to die from DoTs. Despite that, I still managed to bring Kalunga down to 4% without much effort.

With a proper support player, like a RDM or WHM, this fight would likely be very manageable, even for a WAR. I also think other DPS jobs, like DRK, SAM, BLU, NIN, or DNC (with swords), could handle it solo with trusts if they’re end-game geared. The fight itself isn’t horrible—it’s more about having some form of real support rather than needing a full group.

That said, it’s clearly not something I’d recommend for a returning player in Ambuscade +1 gear. At this point, the fight assumes you’ve progressed enough to have either a stronger setup or at least one other player to assist.

This discussion has also helped me refine my understanding of what a mid-tier set should look like. Defining this stage has been tricky, as I want to avoid creating obvious sets that don’t serve any real purpose in practice. Thanks again for your input—it’s been invaluable! :)