How do you guys do it?

[nanatsu]

Ugh. I think between managing work and the game and the other things I want to do I'm starting to get burned out. Right now I have 20K to my name and I know I need to do some heavy duty farming/mining if I want to get farther anytime soon. But I just can't bring myself to get out there and grind out the valuables. Methinks I might need to take a break from the game very soon, because I'm getting worn out. Anyone else have this problem? Are you winning or losing the battle?

[neighbortaru]

Re: How do you guys do it?

Well, sadly with my work schedule I don't have much time to XP and farm so it's usually one or the other. Since not much XP-ing can be acomplished in 1-2 hours, most of my time online is farming.

So at the end of the day (before Bandicoot got deleted) I had 5 mil and about 33 levels of WHM and various other jobs < 20.

[Enialas]

Re: How do you guys do it?

personally I burned out once before but I have a new plan now and I'll divilge my little secrets but my bid starts at 10M gil but since you can't afford that I guess you'll just have to wait.

I am a smart*** but i refuse to just flat-out be an *** so really this is what i do:

all basis is Kingdom of Sandoria on Valefor server, prices may be different on yours.

wind crystal + chocobofeather * 2 > chocobo fletchings * 6 > do 2x for stack

(166 + 14) * 2 > 360 gil sell for 1k -1.5k per stack or farm wind crystals for almost no cost.

then move on to:

dark crystal + sheepskin + windhurst tea leaves + distilled water (caps at leatherworking 2)

335 + 250 at leatherworkers guild + (valefor mule) 70 + 11 in pubs

4K + 3k + 840 + 132 > 7972 sell for 12k - 15k a stack, if you farm your own sheepskins and dark crystals cost is only 1k. i've gotten the max of ~24 sheepskins from leathworkers guild.

after this get a mule and buy them 10 brass pots and a table or something to keep it neat (you dont have to do this, but if you're stuck leveling in the dunes and it comes time to feed your plants, xp pts prefer "i'll be back in 2 minutes")

by doing the above you should have enough gil to flat out buy a stack of tree cuttings or saplings or you can farm the cuttings from gobbeues.

tree cuttings > doesn't matter when you plant them. if you every have empty flower pots, and extra cuttings, just plant them. Do Not fertilize them. takes approx 2 weeks

after you harvest them you get tree saplings.

now for the good part: (also takes 20+ days)
pick which "ore" type you want to grow and plant it on that day. ie. firesday for fire ore
when it comes time to fertilize, do so on that day again with the crystal of that day. ie for fire ore: fertilize fire crystals to it on firesday.
personally when i harvest i havent noticed any difference wether i harvested it on firesday, watersday or lightsday (yes I've been doing it for a few months) for the ore anyways, but the day does depend on the number of Ice Clusters and stacks of cinnamon i get. (results when you don't get fire ore)

I buy a stack of cuttings whenever I sell a fire ore so I don't farm in the normal sense anymore. I'm just a gardener now. although there at the end with refresh, really helped curb my flat-out annoyance of farming.

I do work up to 60 hours a week, and all it requires is that I check my plants upon login and away I go to what ever I need to do.

[Balfree]

Re: How do you guys do it?

Since i do not play that much unless on weekends, i've managed to live it large and yet not being burn out, my advice is .. just play less, it'l even be more enjoyable i asure you.

[Aeni]

Re: How do you guys do it?

Ugh. I think between managing work and the game and the other things I want to do I'm starting to get burned out. Right now I have 20K to my name and I know I need to do some heavy duty farming/mining if I want to get farther anytime soon. But I just can't bring myself to get out there and grind out the valuables. Methinks I might need to take a break from the game very soon, because I'm getting worn out. Anyone else have this problem? Are you winning or losing the battle?

Nana,

What's the sheap leather going on your server for? Do the math really quick. You're a RDM, you can solo DRK elementals in Beaucedine/Fei'Yin/Xarcabard - okay, maybe not Fei'Yin, I think those are tougher than the ones in the outdoor areas.

Anyway, get some dark clusters and go to Highlands. Sub THF. Smack sheeps. Get skin. Turn into leather. They move fast. I believe you could be moving 4-6 stacks a day depending just how diligent you are. That can make about 120 to 180k on Hades.

There's other different things you can make money off of as well. Just gotta look.

Edit: If my mules can make about 30 to 40K a day and that's nothing to do with my main either, then you should look into ways you can make money. Just the other day, moat carp was going fast for 8k a stack and I can fish about 4-5 stacks per mule and in one whole saturday, I fished about 22 stacks including with my main. That's about 200K for just ... fishing.

[nanatsu]

Re: How do you guys do it?

Well it's not that I have problems making money I can run down a couple of mil pretty easily in about a week. I have woodworking, goldsmithing, alchemy, and cooking crafts leveled up to 55-60+ which help out in that, and some others below that. It's just that...it requires so much time and effort on my part to gather up that amount in the little bit of free time I have. There are other things I'd also like to do besides play the game. But I'd also like to play the game. I end up trying to do everything and well...it gets kinda frustrating really to try to find the time to farm, play, and do rl activities.

Double Post Edited:
I was just wanting to know how you guys balance real life and the game and if you're able to do it successfully. If I really wanted to ignore everything else real life related, then I'd have no problems. And I also have work to worry about. So bleah.

[Jei]

Re: How do you guys do it?

have to limit the play time somehow.
I am in an art school and no part time job atm, so I have time to play when it's not nearing dead line for my projects.
I have my schedule plan out about what stage and progress I want my project to be. And that's my top priority. Once my project reaches those dead lines I considered myself free and just sit down and play.

[Aeni]

Re: How do you guys do it?

Oh, that. Well, I just don't get too caught up with what other players are doing. If I do, I'll get in trouble. So what if player X got to 75 already, even when he was 30 levels below me 3 months ago? Those kinds of things will affect your psychology when you play.

As for setting up time to play. Have you considered gardening? At least, when you're not able to put in large amounts of time into the game, just log on to say hi and check your plants and log out. You need a strong will to do this, but it can be done. I had a friend that did this, when he was a med school student at UCLA. When school had started, he just logged in every day to check on plants and if harvested, would go and sell the goods. He made millions in his 3 months of absence.

Don't worry about your inability to put large amounts of time into the game. I have the very same problem as you with the only difference that I had suffered two burnouts in the process. If need be, take a break from the game. Peg it at about two weeks. When you feel that you want to do stuff other than FFXI, stretch that break out longer. When you get really bored or itching to play, log back on and do what you need to do.

[Tan'o]

Re: How do you guys do it?

My primary source of money is 4 mules + main (5 characters) gardening a combination of ore/nuggets/fire crystals. 10 pots each character. I pull in an easy couple million every month. It might be slow but a steady stream of gil is very nice. All I do is log in a few times a day to check on various rotations of plants and feed them on the proper day. I have a ridiculously large spreadsheet documenting my gardening operations.

It requires a hefty capital up front to start gardening, and more than a little research/testing, but after a few months you'll be set. It seriously adds up over time and for large purchases I'll camp money NMs with my friends (Sea Serpent Grotto NMs!) and BCNM when I can. ^O^

As for balancing the game and life, I only play seriously on the weekends (i.e. log in for more than a camp). Like I said before I just schedule times to log in and check my plants.

[Enialas]

Re: How do you guys do it?

ah, since you mentioned farming I thought you meant more for gil collection

after work and checking my plants, i usually do log into the game, but if i'm feeling a little burned out, I do have a subscription to Bluckbuster (thier version of Netflix) and i watch movies, hang out with my rl friends or whatever.

except for some exceptions, even though we aren't in a static, there's about 15 people who's main stays approx the same as my main. Sometimes I'll go on a leveling binge and leave them behind and sometimes they do the same to me. they're on a lot, like I am but we're just having fun and not too busy leveling. I think it's the leveling that actually burns people out, because when you are, you're skipping past all the content.

[Jei]

Re: How do you guys do it?

hmm I think levelling from 1 to 60 is really fun personally :D It's pretty fast with not too much exp needed for each level. It's after 60 that the exp gets so high I feel like I have to PT forever.

[Aeni]

Re: How do you guys do it?

hmm I think levelling from 1 to 60 is really fun personally :D It's pretty fast with not too much exp needed for each level. It's after 60 that the exp gets so high I feel like I have to PT forever.

Someone had told me that, according to his sources, at level 65-66, that is considered your halfway point in the game (for job levels and experience points) I was mortified when I considered that.

[Enialas]

Re: How do you guys do it?

Someone had told me that, according to his sources, at level 65-66, that is considered your halfway point in the game (for job levels and experience points) I was mortified when I considered that.

ie. the total accumulation of xp from 1-65 = 66-75? and people tell you not to spend your CPs. whatever. i just need rank 6 so my signet will last an hour longer. >.>

wow. i just leveled to 64 last night too. the xp pt's i'm in are averaging ~13k before I have to leave for sleep, when I xp.

burning out while xping: let put what I mean in a different way, when you want a specific level, and you play just to xp, to get that level (30 for example) almost get there, then have to restart and then when I made it, I really didn't feel like I accomplished anything, I was just tired, tired of FFXI. took a break, came back and since then my philosiphy has been "i'll get there, when I get there."

xping has been fun since then, I've also come to realize, I'd rather end the pt right before I level than right after, that way if i die, i don't delevel and if I level at the beginning of an xp session, I'll definately have my death buffer before the party ends.

[Genrou]

Re: How do you guys do it?

I want to start playing again, but in between my girl, classes, and work, it's hard to find time for much of anything. Heh. If I figure something out, I'll let you know.

[Goat]

Re: How do you guys do it?

I dont seem to have much time to play ff that much either with my time schedule. But ive made it work i only get xp when i have a good 5 hrs to play, if not ill only go on to see how my friends and how my items are selling on the AH and on my day off ill play to my hearts content.