Feri Force Feri/Force Hunt Strategies? Drop Rates?

[Mystic_Nessly]

For people who have found Feri/Force, I want to know what your strategy was in finding the item. I ask because I want to see if a different strategy than mine will help in getting this item. If you haven't found Feri/Force, but have a strategy in mind, you're free to input as well!

フェリ/フォース


Reduces the PP cost of all TECHNICs to 80%.
Reduces TECHNIC casting time by 33%.
Increases TECHNIC range.
+250 tech

It drops from Hiru Vol (red haired Vol Brother) at the very beginning of the Ohtori Encampment GAM mission on S3.

According to people I have played with and that have found it, it's a pretty easy drop that can be found within an hour or so of hunting. I have hunted this unit for over 6 hours with no success. A few people I know have multiple Feri/Force units in less time.

My strategy has been nothing but using "just attack" Rising Strike on Hiru Vol with level 5 buffs as Acrotecher. Occasionally I'll accidentally hit another brother, but 95% of my attacks go to him. Doing this, I'm able to defeat'em in 2 mins 30 secs on average. If I don't get hit or he doesn't move around too much, I'm able to do it in 2 mins. After his death, I'll restart the mission.

The impatient side of me is telling me to bite the bullet and fork over 60mil to buy it from a player shop, but I want to first try different strategies.

I really do believe there are more factors that come into play when determining rare drop rates than just than just X enemy has Y% of dropping Z item. Take for instance these possible ways a drop rate may be determined:



what if only a certain number of X items can be distributed within Y time frame? After Y time, replenish stock? When replenishing stock, change number of items in stock and extend/shorten time frame?
Another thought is that "popping" Hiru Vol in the air repeatedly will decrease chances of the drop. Maybe increasing variety of attacks increases or doesn't decrease drop rate?
(Number of combinations of photon arts) / (weapons used to defeat an enemy) ratio may affect rates?
Status effect inflicted to enemy or received from enemy may affect rates?
(Damage dealt) / (number of hits) ratio may affect rates?
(Number of hits dealt to enemy) / (enemy max hp ratio) may affect rates?


Anyone have similar thoughts on how PSU drops may be calculated?

[Cloudstrife xx]

No just no....to all those crazy theories however if u have either fortefighter wartecher acrofighter or fighgunner lvled up might i suggest you switch to one of those and use Assault Crush it will kill hiru vol alot quicker than rising strike.
On my female cast fortefighter i can clear that first room and kill lina in the 2nd room ( for feril wall) in about 2-3min

[Nereid]

If you can only stick with AT, use Spinning Strike, you will probably take him down more quickly...but honestly switch to a class that has access to Assault Crush and you will greatly improve your time. If you have drop tickets those probablic help.

[Hero-Break]

Just keep hunting it is the only thing I could suggest. You are probably gonna hate me after reading this, but I got one after 5 runs aka 10 minutes of hunting on my WT. I pretty much did the same thing you did: defeat Hiru and then repeat the mission. I just used Robado with Juggernauts. I guess it just comes down to odds and luck.

Now only if I can get the stupid De Rol Le Shell for Evil Crust to drop... over 100 20-25 min. runs and counting (sigh).

[Vent]

I got it in like...~30 runs I think. Maybe less.

I used Masterforce. Equip a rod with all ice techs. Spam barta from the stairs. Barta ignores relief and will climb up the stairs whereas the foie and the bullets of the two Vols will not hit you. Sometimes you need to back up a bit if they come too close. They can't come down the stairs though and Hiru Vol will cast the big boom sometimes, forcing them to go back and giving you more room. I can kill Hiru Vol under or around 2 minutes.

But as others have mentioned, Assault Crush spam is the way to go these days.

[cristfc]

Ill upload a video showing exact thing that I do when hunt feris, basically it was next what Vent does...
Hope that you got your unit soon

[pikachief]

my strategy is to walk up the stairs and kill hiru vol. then i abandon, start the mission, walk up the stairs and kill hiru vol.

after about an hour i call it a day and try again the next day :/ I'll get one soon lol

[cristfc]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7acnVNr4n9A

[Pofo]

Random Luck is random luck. There's no special strategy for making things drop. Me and Rozalin pulled 7 Forces and 2 walls in a couple days of hunting (on and off for a couple hours at a time). About 1 minute and 30 seconds per run roughly. Just keep at it, I'll come help you if I'm free, just send me a message when you're on.

Oh and don't buy it for 60M >.< Before I realized how easy it was to hunt I dropped 40mil on mine, so if you really do just want to buy it, just monitor the prices carefully.

I do have a question though, regarding the video in the above post. How do you set it up so that you cast while afk? I know lots of people do it during buff parties, etc., but I never knew how.

[pikachief]

Random Luck is random luck. There's no special strategy for making things drop. Me and Rozalin pulled 7 Forces and 2 walls in a couple days of hunting

random luck sounds about right. Been three days for me an hour a day of hunting, also about 1:30 min a run and no forces yet :/

[Pofo]

random luck sounds about right. Been three days for me an hour a day of hunting, also about 1:30 min a run and no forces yet :/

Ouch >< Was that before or after we lost our luck from the event rewards? I'm seeing a noticeable difference in drops since we lost it, even on GBR with 300%, no more THPs ; ;. But I did manage to scoop up a Vijeri/Resist this morning in a random JP group :-D

Also, someone answer my question about afk tech leveling please ; ;

[pikachief]

first hour was with gold luck, other 2 times was with 2*

[cristfc]

Ouch >< Was that before or after we lost our luck from the event rewards? I'm seeing a noticeable difference in drops since we lost it, even on GBR with 300%, no more THPs ; ;. But I did manage to scoop up a Vijeri/Resist this morning in a random JP group :-D

Also, someone answer my question about afk tech leveling please ; ;
well, Iam using a joystick with PS2 layout, then its easy, since that controller have autofire function, set autofire in desired button, turn off analog button, then right analog stick can activate technics, all I do after this is put a object on right analog for keep holding left direction (and activate technic).

Only noticed that Nessly got a tutorial using joytokey:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGjwhD-9H8s

sorry my bad english ^^;

[HienkyakuX]

just had a go on this to see how fast it drops and got it in about the 40th run

http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg154/HienkyakuX/psu20110702_194945_000.png

[Keilyn]

What I did was I went to Guardians Cash area and used Service Coupons to get +50% drop boost rate. I then attacked S3 Ohtori and targetted hiru vol and abandoned afterwards.

I kept on spamming that battle until I got it. All you need to kill is hiru vol and then get out of there. I spammed and killed the three because I was also killing Liina for Feril Wall....

You should go for both Units...

Below are Feril / Wall Stats:

+200 DFP
+250 EVP
+15% Line Shield Element
~100% Protection from being debuffed.

[HienkyakuX]

well I didn't have any intentions to look for that thing but went for it after your post Keilyn and on the run 2...

http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg154/HienkyakuX/psu20110702_205514_001.png

[Mystic_Nessly]

success story below!


...use Assault Crush it will kill hiru vol alot quicker than rising strike.


... switch to a class that has access to Assault Crush and you will greatly improve your time.


...Assault Crush spam is the way to go these days.
So many of you guys suggested Assault crush, so I switched to acrofighter and leveled the assault crush up to 21 just for this hunt. It shaved off nearly a minute, bringing down my time to kill Hiru Vol to 1:30 on my newman! Now, I know why Assault Crush is so often used. This is what I used the rest of the hunt.


....I just used Robado with Juggernauts.
I wanted to try this by my Robado is still very weak. I did try Zubba (the single strong punch animation) with decent results. It got about the same time as when I used Rising Strike, but it was definitely easier using Zubba.


...Equip a rod with all ice techs. Spam barta from the stairs...

Ill upload a video showing exact thing that I do when hunt feris, basically it was next what Vent does...

I tried using barta with a rod, but I got much worse times, about 4+ mins. This mostly due to the fact that my barta is still in the teens. I also frequently had a hard time getting Hiru to come down the stairs. Often, he would walk sideways and get caught at the side of the doorway causing me much frustration. crisfc makes it looks so easy in the video demonstration though (thanks for uploading that Cris!!), so I must be doing something wrong. I'm thinking keeping a steady wave of attacks is most important in getting Hiru to walk straight.


I'll get one soon lol
Good luck! It gets tiring and discouraging, but when you finally see the item drop, it'll all be worth it!


...Me and Rozalin pulled 7 Forces and 2 walls in a couple days of hunting (on and off for a couple hours at a time).
You got 3 MORE! Lucky bastard. I don't want to hear more from you. D:


You should go for both Units...

Below are Feril / Wall Stats:

+200 DFP
+250 EVP
+15% Line Shield Element
~100% Protection from being debuffed.
I must admit it's a killer of a unit. Thanks for the suggestion. As of now though, I'm content with my simple freeze/sleep/stun resists. After so many hours of hunting, I just wanted to keep the time as low as possible and aim for what I wanted most, Feri/Force. When my mesetas start dwindling and I want to hunt another Feri/Force for cash, I'll definitely consider going for the wall too!


well I didn't have any intentions to look for that thing but went for it after your post Keilyn and on the run 2...
Shoo! Get out of here! You and Pofo both make me jealous. :no:
No, but really... way to go! There is nothing better than an unexpected surprise!
_____________________


Thanks for all the help guys! After 7+ hours and 100+ scape dolls ^^;, I finally have it! I'll definitely keep the strategies in my bookmarks for safekeeping come the next time I need to hunt one (such as when low on $). For anyone who is curious, I ended up using Assault Crush with Newman Acrofighter averaging 1:30 for killing just Hiru Vol.

Good luck to anyone else hunting this! Don't give up! It's arguably the best head unit for FO's and worth all the trouble!

Now, I've had enough of hunting. Time to get back to some actual gaming!

For anyone who is curious, I found the item with 0 luck and around 8PM Central time (10AM Japan time).




http://img221.imageshack.us/img221/3097/psu20110702200717001lfcn.png

[GeordieP]

Wow loads of spoilers here....

[Nereid]

Spoilers of what...

[pikachief]

Spoilers of what...

All the stuff he's never gonna get in game. Like... a head and wall unit... and umm... 2 rooms? Fighting Vol Bros and Liina? Thats basically the only things discussed in this thread lol.

So basically the first 4 enemies of a party mission that he may never see in-game is a lot of spoilers :/

EDIT: Sadness, I went completely broke hunting the feri / force buying healing items and scapes :/ I cant even buy a monomate now :'(