Good to know

Jobs

Players start with all jobs unlocked and at level 1. Players are also not required to unlock their subjob.

Best job on Caldera

No job specifically is "king" on Caldera. Since Caldera emphasizes functionality any job that seems to have a distinct advantage will hit a wall somewhere. There will always be a content fight that humbles any job.

Ranged Weaponskills

Ranged Weaponskills have been made available to any job that can use a ranged weapon (archery, crossbow, and gun).

EXP differences

Players that are more than 11 levels apart will not receive exp for kills. Caldera has a functional ilvl system in a way most other private servers do not. If you find yourself meriting and another character is getting less EXP than you, check your equipment. ilvls are treated as real levels for the sake of EXP and will reduce the EXP given to non-ilvl characters.

Trusts

Trusts are a nice Caldera feature early on. Players will unlock the base set of trusts by clicking on the Institutions book on the wall in the Library or by using the !addalltrusts command. These trusts are the only available trusts on Caldera starting out, and players will be unable to get more trusts through their retail acquisition path. There is an assorted list of Custom and Special acquisition Trusts available on the Trusts tab on the wiki. Here you will be able to obtain additional Trusts through Quests and fights. Trusts aren't meant to replace player characters, but support player Characters as they work through the Progression Guide We encourage teaming up and using discord shouts for arranging groups for the more difficult content at later tier levels.

The 4th trust slot will be unlocked by killing all Sea/Sky lower NM's or all Abyssea T1 Zone Bosses. Sky NM's: Olla Grande, Zipacna, Brigandish Blade, Faust, Mother Globe, Steam Cleaner, Ullikummi, Despot Sea NM's: Jailer of Temperance, Ix'Aern MNK, Jailer of Fortitude, Ix'Aern DRK, Jailer of Faith, Ix'Aern DRG Abyssea T1 NM's: Kukulkan, Briareus, Glavoid

The 5th trust slot will be unlocked when both the Sea/Sky lower NM's and all Abyssea T1 Zones Bosses have been defeated.

iLVL Difference

Players coming from other private servers will notice an accuracy penalty from trying to fight monsters significantly higher level than them. This becomes extremely apparent at ilvl where a player using a i109 will suffer a 10% greater accuracy penalty against a monster at level 125 than a player in i119. The penalty for level difference is 2% per level.

pDIF

pDIF is the variable in damage where one entities attack stat is placed against another entities defense stat. This variable has an upper and lower limit threshold. Any stat that falls outside the threshold will be automatically defaulted to the lowest or highest value, until the player enters the threshold. This is especially important for tanks and physical DPS, as the player needs to be aware of the monsters DEF and ATK stats. Players seeking to maximize party and alliance damage should ensure bonuses are dispelled and that JAs/WSs/Spells are being used to lower the monster's defense stat in order to optimize their damage. Tanks should look to raise their DEF significantly above the monster's attack stat to ensure that monster pDIF is floored. If a tank is unable to break this threshold on their own, parties should consider enfeebling monster attack over defense, as a dead tank holds hate off noone.

Nuke Wall

Nuke Wall is a retail mechanic that imposes a 60% damage penalty on elemental magic damage used within 6 seconds of the same element of spell. This prevents players from spell spamming, and also forces BLM teams to be more deliberate in their selection of spells when casting in unison.

Treasure Hunter

Caldera Treasure Hunter works very similar to retail. Take a moment to read it.

Missions

Upon interacting with institutions in the Library players will automatically complete COP and ROZ. Players may use !rankup to set their city rank to level 10. RoV is not enabled at this time, but players may begin RoE to generate sparks and have access to sparks NPCs, however there is no progression beyond the initial. As a whole, missions are unable to be completed. A few steps are possible, but players will quickly land against repurposed battlefields.

One size does not fit all

Caldera is focused on diversity. There will be content where your preferred job or strategy is not the ideal build. It is encouraged that if you fail a fight you adjust your party composition or strategy and try again. Different methods of damage, debuffing, buffing, and tanking options can often make significantly difficult fights much easier.

DT/PDT/MDT/SDT

DT refers to "Damage taken" and affects all forms of non-direct damage. Direct damage being attacks like Spirits Within. DT is applied as a direct % reduction of the final damage calculation.

PDT refers to "Physical Damage Taken" and affects most attacks and TP moves. Final PDT is calculated by adding your base PDT from equipment with your DT from equipment. This % reduction is capped at 50% (will reduce total incoming physical damage by half)

MDT refers to "Magic Damage Taken" and affects most spells and any magic based TP moves. Final MDT is calculated by adding your base MDT, DT, and Shell. This % reduction is capped at 50% (will reduce total incoming magic damage by half.

SDT does not follow the same rules as above, and is a key factor towards the mechanics of Rune Fencer. SDT is primarily granted by Rampart, Valiance, and Vallation. SDT is typically restricted to magic damage, but provides a reduction beyond base MDT. Once damage has been calculated and MDT applied, SDT is applied to the final damage and reduced further. If a player has -50% MDT and -50% SDT, damage will be reduced by half of the MDT, then reduce by half again by SDT for a final value of 25% of the original damage. Since SDT is multiplicative with MDT, it becomes stronger the less MDT to you have, but reducing your base MDT will increase the overall final damage.

Auction House

The Auction House will not buy items from players, nor will it be stocked by the server itself. Players are welcome to use the AH to list items to sell between other players in lieu of using the bazaar.

Soloing

There is a wide variety of content on the server, all recommending different levels of party composition. Caldera is not a solo server. While gear and skill can compensate for smaller parties, fights are set up for 6-12 character teams in gear that is on level with their positioning in the Progression Guide. There are several content options for players to enjoy if a party is not available, but higher end and progression content is intended to be challenged with a group.

Item Special Effects

A variety of equipment effects on Caldera operate differently from retail. Please see the page linked in the table title.

Superior Equipment

Superior equipement, SU, is unlocked progressively through content and crafted.

SU1 is unlocked for players who have beaten Absolute Virtue.

SU2 is unlocked for players who have clear Pil, Akvan, and Kaggen.

SU3 is unlocked for players who have defeated Fleetstalker, Shockmaw, and Urmahlullu.

SU4/5 is unlocked for players who have conquered The Wyrm King Descends.

NPCs in Combat

There is a large portion of content that is either a battlefield or instance based content. When challenging this type of content that gives you a status effect (Like BCNMS) it is crucial to remember that trusts and pets cannot receive the effects. Players must be sure to call their trusts and pets AFTER entering the battlefield or acquiring the stats for their allies to be able to participate in the fight. NPCs called before receiving the status will still go in with you, but will be unable to engage the target or assist the party.

Charm and trusts

Due to game limitations, trusts are immune to charm. This would give trusts a massively advantage over players in fights with charm mechanics. To balance this, most charms will inflict a terror status with hate reset on trusts. This is to provide a level playing field where players do not experience an unfair disadvantage to their trusts.