Submitted by sam on Tue, 04/12/2005 - 14:04.

Last night while I muled, I noticed that there was some discussion about melee attack foods. The general consensus was that the Meat Jerky was the most cost effective food in terms of what it gives you. While this certainly is true at some levels, it is not the case generally due to the Food Effect Limits. Food Effect Limit confusion keeps coming up again and again, so I thought I'd try to explain it.



Since the Dec. 2004 Food Patch, many different food items now have limits to their effectiveness at different levels. For example, it could be that at level 25 your Monk should be chomping down on Meat Jerky for the best skill gain, but later on at 45 that same Meat Jerky has an effect cap and no longer gives you the +22% attack. I could be that, by this level, Meat Jerky is only giving you +10% attack and you should be eating Dhalmel Steak now.



Sound confusing? It really isn't. Read on to see why.

What is the food effect cap?

Since the Dec. 2004 patch, most foods that affect attack, defense, accuracy and other stats will increase those stats by a percentage, but only up to a certain limit. Once that limit has been reached, they will no longer boost by that same percentage. After this, they lose their effectiveness.



For example, let's take a look at Meat Jerky, which gives the following stats:

• Strength +3
• Intelligence -1
• Attack +22% (Cap: 30@136 Base Attack)

Notice that Meat Jerky has a cap of 30 attack points once your base attack reaches 136. Past 136, it will only ever give 30 more attack points, and will no longer give you 22% of your base attack. Now let's compare this to the Meat Mithkabob:

• Strength +5
• Agility +1
• Intelligence -2
• Attack +22% (Cap: 60@272 Base Attack)

Meat Mithkabob gives you +22% attack just like Meat Jerky, but it caps at a higher level. It caps at 60 attack points once your base attack reaches 272.



This means that at a base attack of 200, Meat Jerky will only give you 230 attack while Meat Mithkabob will give you 244. At 272 (the cap limit for Meat Mithkabob) the Meat Jerky will only give you 302 attack while Meat Mithkabob will give you 332. Take a look at the following chart to show how they diverge past the Meat Jerky's attack cap:

Base Attack	With Meat Jerky	With Meat Mithkabob
136	166 or 22%	166 or 22%
180	210 or 17%	220 or 22%
200	230 or 15%	244 or 22%
250	280 or 12%	305 or 22%
300	330 or 10%	360 or 20%

The exact same thing happens with defense food. Boiled Crab gives the following stats:

• Vitality +2
• Defense +27% (Cap: 50@185 Base Defense)

So it has a cap of 50 attack points once your base defense reaches 185. Compare this to the Fish Mithkabob:

• Dexterity +1
• Vitality +2
• Mind -1
• Defense +25% (Cap: 90@360 Base Defense)

The Fish Mithkabob actually raises Defense by a smaller percentage than the Boiled Crab. So, before defense 185, Boiled Crab is a better defense food than the Fish Mithkabob. However, the Fish Mithkabob very quickly overcomes the Boiled Crab's defense. Take a look at the following chart showing the base defense and effects of each food (bold indicate which one boosts more):

Base Defense	With Boiled Crab	With Fish Mithkabob
100	127	125
150	191	188
185	235	231
200	250	250
250	300	313
300	350	375
360	410	450

The short and skinny of it is that what may be the best food for a given job, a given race, at a given level, may not be the best food for them later on.

Why did Square do this to us?

Before the patch, there were only a few foods that melee attackers would eat. This meant there really wasn't much motivation to level up cooking beyond 60 or so because everything you needed to eat was under that level. However, there are hundreds of different foods, with many different boosts and benefits.



This patch really forces us to more closely examine what we eat. It also makes cooking a much more viable tradeskill than it was before. I'm not certain if this was the reason Square made the change, but it certainly has made my game more interesting because of it.

Where can I get more information?

You probably want to start with my Eating Vana'diel chapter in Raprot's Around Vana'diel in 80 Days book.



Then, you will want to check out the excellent Food Effects guide at ffxi.somepage.com. This guide is really just about the best thing since sliced bread (HA! A food joke!)



Finally, if you want to pick up cooking yourself, the Tradeskills Recipe book has a chapter on Cooking.



I hope this clears things up. If you have any questions, just ask ;-)