Guide to getting YOUR Moldavite EarringFollow

Guide to getting your Moldavite Earring
Note: I'm not sure if this topic has been touched on before, but I'll just give it a shot since I personally camped this Earring for quite some time.

What is this? In case you do not know, here's the link to it:
http://ffxi.allakhazam.com/db/item.html?fitem=3059
Undoubtly one of the best Black Mage/Red Mage Earrings. What's more? Its free ^^


•Where and how?•
The Moldavite Earring is dropped by an NM (Noctorious Monster) by the name of Mysticmaker Profblix. He's a Black Mage-based NM and has a respawn time of about 2 to 2.5 hours. Mysticmaker Profblix is found in Labyrinth of Onzozo. It is a Level 50 NM according to Allakazham.
http://ffxi.allakhazam.com/db/bestiary.html?fmob=1554
Please note that the respawn time of this NM VARIES. But for most part of my camping experience, this NM pops 2 to 2.5 hours after the last one is killed. Wanna play safe? You could always to to the spawn site earlier ^^

To get to the spawn site, enter Labyrinth of Onzozo, walk straight in a one-way tunnel, till you reach a big room. Move into the first room on your right and move in further. You should enter another room, filled with a great deal of Cockatrices and Goblins.
Map of the spawn site can be found here:
http://www.speakeasy.org/~sticks/ffxi/named/img/exp1/drinnen/Labyrinth_Of_Onzozo.gif

I'd like to bring close attention to this section, because many people believe that Mysticmaker Profblix is an NM which is spawned by killing PlaceHolders. This is not true. Many camping attempts on this NM prove that Mysticmaker Profblix is an NM which spawns on a 2 to 2.5 hour basis.

In case you're wondering what an NM which is spawned by killing PlaceHolders is all about:
Take for example, that Mysticmaker Profblix is spawned by killing Placeholders. The Goblins or a particular Goblin in the site which Mysticmaker Profblix spawns will be known as PlaceHolders. Killing a particular Goblin, will allow another to Respawn after a certain period of time. Therefore, if the NM is one spawned by killing PlaceHolders, the next spawn after the PlaceHolder is killed MIGHT have a chance to be Mysticmaker Profblix.
This isn't the case for Mysticmaker Profblix though. Whether or not you kill Goblins in its spawn site, it will still spawn within 2 to 2.5 hours prior to its last death.
Remember this respawn time is tentative! Its just a mere AVERAGE!

•In the Room•
Now you've gotten into the spawning room. What should you do?
Firstly, you would need to ensure that either you or your party members have a fast ability/spell capable of claiming Mysticmaker Profblix faster than any other people.
Some of the examples are:
1)Provoke (Subbing or having a Level 5 and above Warrior)
2)Dia (Not exactly fast, not reccommended if you have competition)
3)Flash (Excellent choice if you have a White Mage friend)
4)Stun (Your best bet if you're a Black Mage, fast enough.)

There are several spots in the spawning site which provide crucial camping positions. I'll reccommend that on your first trip, get a party and wipe out the whole room. Then, pay close attention to where the Goblins spawn. Either one of those positions have a HIGH POSSIBILITY of having Mysticmaker Profblix spawning. I'm not listing this out as an absolute accurate statement, but it is just one observation I made. Don't be mistaken, I'll still like to emphasis that Mysticmaker Profblix is not a PlaceHolder NM.

When you camp something, try to refrain from talking too much on the Linkshell Chat or with your fellow party members. Focus on your agenda and then pay close attention to whatever is popping up. If you have competitors, I strongly discourage you to go around clearing mobs in the area.
Either let the others who are camping against you clear them, or if the other parties do not wish to clear them, leave them as they are. Sounds pretty selfish, but if you want to increase the probability of obtaining the earring, such little details do come into place.

I personally do not like spamming a single macro even if the room is cleared, because I found that it makes you a little over-relaxed. Camping this against other people can also be very exciting, so you tend to be nervous. Calming yourself down is defintely going to work towards you. I always do a /check on my competitors to see if they have the earring or not. Some people are just there to farm the Cockatrices so don't get too panicky!

Finally, since most of the readers here are North Americans, I'd like to highlight on the when you should be spending time to camp this earring.
I'd highly reccommend that you camp this away from the NA PrimeTimes, where you can face less competition. That should be around 2am EST onwards I believe. Forgive me if the timing is a mistake, because I'm personally living on the other side of the globe. Also, camp this on weekdays >< Weekends make this place a crowded bazaar.

•My Moldavite Earring Force•
You must be wondering how many people do you need for this NM. Not many I'll say. I personally camped this with my girlfriend (70 RDM/BLM) and myself on my main job (70 BRD/WAR), and we handled it with no problems. BUT, please take note that the goblins in the room do aggro most people, even Level 60s.

The NM casts Ancient Magic too, which can be very devastating. Having a Red Mage to tank it should be a piece of cake since StoneSkin would be utilised at all times. It might get a little tricky. Having friends to come with you on this definitely helps. The more the merrier!

•Macro Help•
For example if you're subbing Warrior for Provoke, your macro should be as follows:

/targetnpc
/ja "Provoke" <t>

This macro is extremely useful if you have someone to clear the room free of Goblins and Cockatrices. But its utility comes in best when its being spammed, or, pressed repeatedly. Good choice if you know that the spawning time is coming up.
This macro automatically targets the nearest mob and then performs the following Ability/Spell.

The disadvantage of this macro is that there is a chance that you will target the wrong mob. But, it allows flexbility in the sense that you can target the mob manually and still use this macro. It'll still work as normal.

However, if you have extremely quick reflexes, you might choose to stick with the regular macro that goes:
/ja "Provoke" <t>
The reason is simple, by inputting an extra /targetnpc before your actualy Provoke command, you are wasting about half a second because the interface checks if a mob is targetted or not before performing the following action.
I personally chose the /targetnpc macro though ^^

•Drop Rate•
As a conclusion to this Guide, I'd like to touch on a little on its drop rate since so many people have been asking about it.

Personally for me, I'm 2/7 (2 drops in 7 kills) on the earring, but I have had friends who got them on their first kill, and worse cases are like 0/20. It all depends, so this part is a little on luck unfortunately >< Its pretty random, but it's not extremely heavily camped.

Enjoy.


Edited, Mon Mar 7 10:41:17 2005 by fedex

Excellent work as always fedex. A friend of mine recently obtained his Moldavite Earring and he is very happy with it. I think it took him a couple of days camping him to get it.

Profblix also has a 2-hour, Manafont. Why he has this, I have no idea. I always just figured mobs cheat with MP anyway, as many seem to be able to cast magic into infinity without regards to MP. I did notice in my fight (1/1) that he did go crazy with the magic after he used Manafont although none of it was particularly scary to my low 70's monk.

He's NOT always camped. When I got him, the only reason I did was cuz he was lonely. A good 20 minutes went by with him just waltzing around alone in the room, so I played with him. If you are planning to camp him, check ahead. Do a search on Onzozo. If you see any 60's there, look for a multiple of 6. You find 6, 12, 18 people there in the low 60's, it's a good chance it's just EXP parties. Even many L70's are just there to farm cockatrice meat and could care less about Profblix. That's why I was there. Odd combos with /THF sub (whm/thf, brd/thf) are indications that they probably aren't after Profblix. I did notice JP's who are after him will happily put it right in their search comments. If you can read kana, you'll know why a particular JP is in Onzozo.

His L50 ranking felt low. He was a little harder than a typical L50 mob I would fight, and he had a good pool of HP. He's sorta HNM-ish in this respect. I'd put his difficulty at about L55.

Please note that Blink Stoneskin are not 100% effective in stopping Ancient Magics. When I was going after this for my BLM on my 70BRD, he was a very fun/tough solo camp. Once, he cast Freeze and it totally ignored Blink, ate through my Stoneskin and left me in panic mode at 130HP. Other times, AM was blinked per usual.

Bring a friend and have some fun with cockatrices :3

I'm probably the one person that was the most unlucky on this earring. I'm 1/32 on the earring. Yes, 31 claimed NM, no drop. It's a nice guide, but I'll add a few things :


- Gobs will aggro anyone below lvl 67. Cockatrices are a lvl or 2 below that.

- They will aggro people resting without sneak/invis.

- Gobs will link with Mystic

- The best spot to wait is at the entrance of the southeast tunnel ( which ends up in a dead end ), facing north. Mystic will usually spawns between you, the 3 stone pillars and the east wall of the cavern. Personally, I'm not pro-macro when it comes down to claim NM. They're sloppy and slightly delayed. I use the spell/ability directly from the menus. Ctrl+M in case of magic, Ctrl+J in case of a JA. You can easily slide through targets that way and press enter once you get the one you want.

- Mysticmaker is a lvl 56 goblin black mage. He has access to all BLM spells up to his level, and will use them randomly. He might cast Burst, Firaga II, Sleep II in a row, just like he might cast Stone I three times in a row. He's immune to sleep and silence.

Edited, Sep 24th 2006 at 12:19am EDT by Zachiel

soloed gobbie as 75 whm/37 nin, gobbie gave me on first try

i resisted every spell it threw at me

Once you find the TOD, the mob is very easy. I camped this mob 13 times solo and claimed it 11 times before the earring dropped (at least I\'m good at claiming...)

I found that the mob ALWAYS spawns 120, 135, or 150 minutes after it dies. I was able to get the claim frequently only because I would wait till the exact time, if it didn\'t spawn, i\'d take a break for 15 mins and try again.

I hate camping, and when the spawn times are extremely long I lose intrest very easily. This mob was very predicable so it made my life much easier. If it could spawn at any time during the 120-150 minutes I would have given up on the second attempt.

Hope this helps.

To the above poster, true. But I seem to have more success claiming with Charm. A lot of the time when a NM pops I have seen a White Mage in mid-Flash cast and watched them stop casting to see my Charm fire.

Charm owns.