You know, there's a lot of things in FFXI that we often overlook or not really give much of a damn about. One of them, at least the way that it falls in my LS, is claiming a mob. Its such a simple concept yet, like everything in the world, there are rules. No, this isn't your typical "rules are meant to be broken" type of rules, this is your restriction as a client to the server. Lets dive into this topic, shall we? >.>
First things first, what is it to claim? The way that the player perceives a claim is when the monster cannot be interacted by themselves due to it being under the possession of another party or alliance. So, someone else claims means you can't do anything to it for that time. A mob can be unclaimed (or "go yellow") and a mob can have players on the hate list without it being claimed. So, our definition of claim is set: When a monster is under a controlled possession of a player/party/alliance.
How do you "claim" a monster then? Simply:
1. The player invokes an action towards the monster while the monster itself has no one on its hate list.ex. A monster is sitting there, minding his own business. Random player runs up to it and uses Provoke. The player claims the mob.
or-
2. If the monster itself has a person on their hate list, the player must invoke another action that would increase their enmity enough so that they are the highest on the hate list.ex. A monster aggros a player. The player does nothing but attempts to run away from the monster. Another player runs up to the monster and casts Provoke. Monster is still not claimed. The same player that provoked the monster uses Shield Bash ability, the monster is now claimed.
There might be an exception to that rule if the player that aggros but has no hate on the monster. I'll test this when I'm not relaxing on my bed with my laptop. >.>
A monster can go unclaimed. For the most part, it is a bit unclear as to why exactly they do so but we can agree that it occurs when there are no player actions being done to the monster for a long duration of time.
A few years back, SE implemented an anti-bot mechanism to the claiming system. This has been the bane of a lot of HNM campers, especially to the non-botters. I'll explain why.
When a monster pops, it fades in to the player's screen. This is what we see in the game. What really happens is this:
1. The server tells the client (Your machine) that the monster spawns.
2. The client picks this up and renders the monster on screen.
3. The server, at this point, detects to see if there is anyone attempting to claim. For a duration, it cancels out the attempt to claim until the time period is over.
4. After the time period is over, it takes the very first action invoked by a player and sets claim to them.
To separate the client and the server:
Client Side:
1. Receives information that monster is spawned.
2. Renders monster on screen.
Server Side:
1. Sends information that monster is spawned.
2. Has a grace period where no one can claim and will negate the attempts.
3. Immediately after grace period, first player to invoke an action, wins claim.
This little list is to attempt to give you a better look at what really happens and how claiming HNMs and such really work. Because of latency, computer hardware, and so on, often times players see a monster spawn as claimed. In all reality, it never spawns claimed but that doesn't change the fact that your ability to try to claim never occurred. Reason being: You couldn't target the monster anyways because your system is still trying to work out the Client Side portion.
There are ways around this but it still becomes a game of luck. It can be a game that you can manipulate for your own advantage. Allow me to explain.
One thing to note is that you can target (and even see) the monster before it even loads up on your screen. Now, there are various ways to see the monster before it loads, but the moment that the game picks up a spawning mob, you will be able to target it. So, if you have some way to see that a monster is spawning, you will know when to look out for it. Does this require 3rd party tools? Not really, but there are some programs out there that will help but will not go anywhere in the grey area.
Another thing to note is that when you can target the mob, DON'T SPAM YOUR ABILITY/SPELLS. Why do I say this? Well, I like to think of HNM Claiming as a game of darts... except you only have one Dart and the Dart Board just flies by you, giving you only one small window of chance to hit the bullseye and you're also blind folded at the same time. You basically have to go with your gut instinct and hit your claiming ability/spell the moment you think the window of opportunity is. You have two things to consider: The Server's Grace Period for that monster and the other players attempting to claim. This is just something you'll have to get lucky with and unfortunately, such a system really shouldn't exist in FFXI... but here we are now and we simply just have to learn to play the game.
Oh and finally: Don't use non-st macros for claiming HNMs. Your timing ends up being stricter and an added benefit of using the menu is that it allows you to easily determine when a mob is targetable (such as when an HNM spawns).
And that's pretty much all I have that involves claiming mobs. Just remember: A bot can be defeated easily, it just simply attempts to hit a macro at the right time and it is also limited by the randomness of hardware and latency, much like how you're limited.
