Leveling areas question...

[Satori]

Re: Leveling areas question...

I've still to join an abyssea party for exp but a few things I was wondering.
What do you do if you have 0 atmas?
Are you meant to pay to be in and aby party? I've seen a ton of shouts mentioning a fee or people shouting for invites with < Reward > Where the heck am I meant to pull such a ton of gil from and how are newbies meant to have that much?

[Takelli]

Re: Leveling areas question...

I never had atmas when I was in an aby party. I never farmed them or anything, because I just didn't have the time to spend on them. As for paying... Maybe that's for people to leech? I never had any issue getting an Abby party on my sam.

[pxch]

Re: Leveling areas question...

I soloed SAM to 30 in about 12 hours. Starter zone till about level 10, Crag zone entrance till about 15, then near the crag till 16 I think. Then Buburimu outpost till about 20, then outside Mhaura till 25, then Battalia Downs till 30. After that it was another 6 hours to 71 in Abyssea.

You can do parties for Grounds of Valor EXP bonuses, but I was doing short stretches of play late at night, so I just soloed them.

Yea well I have started out as a job in Abyssea a few times and then they needed some one on keys so since i have over 1mil curer I was chosen. I went from a lvl 33 job to a lvl 90 + 20 merits in about 8 hours in abbysea. But doing it this does not let you learn how to do your job. Infact as a player you are behind and not well versed in your job so you don't know how to do it. I am learning how to do ninja because of this gimped. It works great for abyssea parties for exp only but if I want to do something in abyssea I will not be ninja since I don't know how to play the job. That is a big problem with the advent of abyssea. it will probably take me a month or two for me to learn the job well enough to play it proficiantly in a normal party setting.

[Squiggs]

Re: Leveling areas question...

it will probably take me a month or two for me to learn the job well enough to play it proficiantly in a normal party setting

You've got one week to learn, then I need you to tank something for me...

[cidbahamut]

Re: Leveling areas question...

I've still to join an abyssea party for exp but a few things I was wondering.
What do you do if you have 0 atmas?
Are you meant to pay to be in and aby party? I've seen a ton of shouts mentioning a fee or people shouting for invites with < Reward > Where the heck am I meant to pull such a ton of gil from and how are newbies meant to have that much?

If you don't have any atmas you're either gonna bank on the cruor buffs being enough or you'll just be an active leech, like the majority of the people in the party will be anyway. Seriously, there's usually all of about 4 people that carry the entire alliance and everyone else is just there for the ride in some form or other. I wouldn't stress over it too much. Jump in, get your feet wet and watch for shouts in Port Jeuno to go atma hunting.

As for the gil, that's more for when people want to just park their character and afk while they level. That's how I finished /WHM. I leveled it to 37 back at the 75 cap and hated it. So this week I finally decided I should probably get it up to speed on the off-chance that I ever need it, but I couldn't be arsed to actually play White Mage so I paid a few hundred thousand to afk in somoene's party. It was that or leave it buried forever at 37.

[Elwynn]

Re: Leveling areas question...

Abbyssea Grounds of Valor happened.

Level 1-10 in a couple or hours solo
Level 10-30 in a couple of hours in Gusgen mines.
Level 30-57 in about 6 hours in Crawler's Nest or Garlaige Citadel, and to 60-65 after a couple hours more, but probably a bit slower than other things. (and unlike Abyssea, you can log out in zone for things like food and sleep, while keeping your XP/Prowess bonuses)
57-75 ???
65-75 Campaign Battle (you get no skill-ups, but now you can hit Kuftal and Teriggan crabs)
75-cap Abyssea worms, etc. alliance (70 or even less for healers, just need Cure IV and Raise)
... PROFIT!

I haven't needed to figure out the 60-75 range yet (still six jobs to get there), but Bostoneaux Oubilette GoV sounds like it may do what is needed.

Also, if it's your first time, you have to stop every five levels starting at 50 for limit break quests.

And this is with essentially no leeching. Going in a little under-leveled for GoV means that you will become a sync soon enough (always important with all the over-leveled players trying to get to 75 in the Nest), so it's not really leeching. Leeching is when you're so far underleveled that you can't hit anything, or you can't heal for a decent amount, or you just go AFK except to use a book every 5 minutes or so.

[Belus]

Re: Leveling areas question...

Curious as to why SE would do this. Just because the game is in its last stretch I suppose?

[Squiggs]

Re: Leveling areas question...

I don't know the exact reason, but it makes it more accessible to the casual player. So, I'm thrilled with it.

[Belus]

Re: Leveling areas question...

I guess, but... I dunno. Doesn't seem to give any more incentive to check out the less-explored places. If everyone's just doing what they can to get to Abyssea, what's the point anymore?

Also, is it me, or is every other character a RDM/WHM? I see way too many of them. All level 90, of course.

[Squiggs]

Re: Leveling areas question...

Compared to WHM/RDM, RDM/WHM is pretty scarce nowadays.

Was there ever any incentive to check out the less-explored areas? Before Abyssea, wasn't it: solo to Qufim; then sync to Qufim until you can do E.Ron (S); then sync to E.Ron (S); until you can do Woodlands or Thickets; then skill-up in the Tree or do pages in Terrigan? At least now you are in the less-explored places. I only had one or two parties in Garliage and the Nest while levelling, but now they are the go-to places for upper-30s to upper-50s. I never went to Gusgen unless I was farming a skull for someone, now that's the place for low level exp. And I had never been to the lower level of Bost{tab} before. Seems to me that the "less-explored" areas are now the areas that used to be the most-explored.

I explored plenty while I was levelling up, but rarely did I do it for XP. I usually just wanted to see the place, I didn't want to party there.

[Murphie]

Re: Leveling areas question...

Because leveling was ever content that was worth spending a lot of time doing.

[Mhurron]

Re: Leveling areas question...

Because leveling was ever content that was worth spending a lot of time doing.

Yes, basically removing leveling has been such a boon to the game.

[Murphie]

Re: Leveling areas question...

Actually, I feel that it has. You still have to skillup, but now the tedium of just getting that next level so you can skill up or get new gear, etc, has been seriously limited.

[Jessamy]

Re: Leveling areas question...

Actually, I feel that it has. You still have to skillup, but now the tedium of just getting that next level so you can skill up or get new gear, etc, has been seriously limited.

I hate tedium at work, much less in a game I play for fun.

I understand the logic behind levels. What would a game be like if it was just boss battle after boss battle? I think it's a problem with MMOs that because they want to keep you subscribed they institute a grind and call it content. Sure you feel satisfaction when you finally achieve the level or whatever, but it only took a long time because the game developers made it that way to keep the $$ rolling in.

I'm not sure what an alternative is, but I wish a developer would figure one out so I could say, "Yeah, that's what I want to spend my time doing." Right now I'm enjoying the pace of leveling in FFXI. It still takes some time and I'm still learning how to play, but I don't feel like any of it is punishing me for playing the game.

[Squiggs]

Re: Leveling areas question...

What would a game be like if it was just boss battle after boss battle?

Shadow of the Colossus?