Want an easy Dragon Chronicles every week?

[LyonheartLakshmi]

Page from the Dragon Chronicles.

This nifty little item gives whatever job you happen to be at the time a random amount of exp between 500 and 1000. Chances are, you've gotten one at some point, most likely through one of the Eco Warrior quests. Eco Warrior is a big effort, and you need to amass a large group of players willing to work together to pull it off.

There's a way for you to get a Dragon Chronicles every week without all that work and risk. Anyone with a Chocobo License can do this, and entails minimal risk.
Enter the "Chocobo Riding Game" for Bastok and San d'Oria.

The gist of this not-quite-a-quest is this: instead of giving you the option to simply rent a Chocobo, one of the three stable workers in Bastok/Sandy/Windurst/Jeuno will ask if you have the time to return a Chocobo to the stables in one of the foreign nations. If you ride your Chocobo to just outside the zone for that nation without getting off, or before you run out of riding time, you will be given a reward. You don't even have to worry about where/when to dismount. The game takes care of it for you once you get close enough to the zone. The reward depends on the destination and on how fast you made the trip.

If you make the trip from Bastok to Sandy, or vice versa, fast enough, you get a Page from the Dragon Chronicles! I normally start in Bastok and do Sandy as my destination. If the available destination happens to be Windurst or Jeuno, I simply wait a game-day or two (the destination asked changes each game, and cycles through all 3 possible destinations in a very predictable manner.
The most efficient path between Bastok and Sandy is pretty easy to pick out. The only time I've failed to get a Dragon Chronicles while doing this was due to a phone call interrupting me in the middle of my trip.

According to wiki, you can potentially get a Page from Miratete's Memoirs by picking Windurst as your destination. Beware that if you start off in Bastok, the path to Windurst will take more than 30 minutes, and you will need Chocobo Riding gear to extend your riding time if you want to avoid running out of time before finishing your trip. Even if you choose to ride out from Sandy toward Windurst (which won't require the use of Chocobo riding gear), the path through Meriphataud Mountains and Tahrongi Canyon can be rather difficult to pick out.

Apparently, Miratete's Memoirs are also a reward for the Kazham version of this mini-quest. Check out the posted map for the shortest path between Kazham and Sea Serpents Grotto.

This mini-quest can be repeated once-per-conquest-tally. Give it a try, and good luck!

[LyonheartLakshmi]

Re: Want an easy Dragon Chronicles every week?

I tried the Kazham one yesterday. I had to wait a couple of game days before the option was given to me. It was during the same hour where Windurst => Port Jeuno version would have been available. Without more opportunities to try this, I won't know for sure whether they always conincide in that manner.

I took the shortest path, as outlined at wiki. I hit a few shrubs, a mob or two, and had to back track a short distance once around F-8. I still only managed the run in 3 minutes and 36 seconds. The NPC told me that the current record was 3 minutes and 21 seconds. Both times are well off of the 2 minutes and 30 seconds that wiki reports as the requirement to obtain a Page from Miratete's Memoirs.

The Kazham version of this mini-quest seems to be very unforgiving. I may try some test runs with a stop watch, just to see if I can possibly cut my time down to 2:30.

[Nakti]

Re: Want an easy Dragon Chronicles every week?

My fastest speed for the Sandy => Bastok run is just under 19 minutes. But that's on my husband's computer.

On my laggy laptop, my fastest speed is 19 minutes and 30 seconds. So lag can have a big effect over a large amount of time.

There might also be a latency issue. I've seen 2 JP players do the run in about 18 minutes 30 seconds. I live in the US.

[Aksannyi]

Re: Want an easy Dragon Chronicles every week?

I have tried this thing many times, but I can never seem to get there fast enough. I always get hung up on something stupid, like a mob in my way or a bush that I can't ride through. The Highlands are the worst for this one, as there are many slight inclines that any normal person could walk/ride over, but you actually can't in the game.

I should practice this one, though. Extra xp is always nice.

[neighbortaru]

Re: Want an easy Dragon Chronicles every week?

wait lyonheart, the chocobo return has been in the game for 1-2 years now and you've just discovered this?

[Vyuru]

Re: Want an easy Dragon Chronicles every week?

I would recommend against some of the starter towns, looking at Wiki it says you have to get to some of them in a 1:30 time span, if you get there earlier you get a gate glyph, later you get crap.

I've been researching how to get the exp scrolls lately as well. I think I'm going to try to solo one of the escort quests, the Crawler's Nest one. From what I've heard, the NPC won't stop to attack anything unless it cons easy prey, I can handle most anything in there. Also bsts, NPC levelers, and other farmers typically inhabit the lowers areas in the lizard/knight crawler rooms, so those *should* be fairly safe for me I think.

[Macht]

Re: Want an easy Dragon Chronicles every week?

lol, I use to do those runs. When you get use to it they aren't that bad. Kazham's run might be unforgiving but also you are not going through zones which cause most of that latency issue that the Bastok to Sandoria and Bastok to Windurst ones have.

For good time results you just need a very good computer (without spyware or other unwanted processes lagging it down) or the PS2 and the delay due to zoning should be significantly less. Wouldn't hurt to be sure your network can handle streaming data at or better then 56k modems.

Yeah, if your system is able to zone fast enough then you could make those bastok to windurst runs under 30 min. just fine.

[Murphie]

Re: Want an easy Dragon Chronicles every week?

It just seems like more work than necessary for a bit of exp. I mean, if I'm going that way, and they happen to ask me, I'll take the challenge, but otherwise I can't be bothered to camp the chocobo stables and wait.

[LyonheartLakshmi]

Re: Want an easy Dragon Chronicles every week?

wait lyonheart, the chocobo return has been in the game for 1-2 years now and you've just discovered this?

I think I've know about it for at least a year. But I don't think most players know that you can get a Page of the Dragon Chronicles from it. The first time I did this mini-quest was the Kazham version, and all I got were some chocobo tickets. Not exactly worth going out of the way for.

I would recommend against some of the starter towns, looking at Wiki it says you have to get to some of them in a 1:30 time span, if you get there earlier you get a gate glyph, later you get crap.

I read the rewards diagram a bit differently. It looks to me that the only way to get a gate glyph as a reward is to do the mini-quest when your destination is Jeuno. If you start in Bastok, and your destination is San d'Oria, the best possible time will still yield a Page from the Dragon Chronicles. It might list the required time as "19:00 to 20:00". But that's because you can't make the trip in less time than that. It might as well list it as "0:00 to 20:00".

It just seems like more work than necessary for a bit of exp. I mean, if I'm going that way, and they happen to ask me, I'll take the challenge, but otherwise I can't be bothered to camp the chocobo stables and wait.

If you compare it to exp/hour you get in parties, yeah, it seems inefficient. But that exp scroll can be nice for those subjobs that you just can't seem to get invites for.

[Feba]

Re: Want an easy Dragon Chronicles every week?

eh, it would've been helpful if you had more exact instructions, but it's still not a very good use of time. I imagine most people could solo that much EXP in about the same time.

[Vyuru]

Re: Want an easy Dragon Chronicles every week?

Well, just tried an escort quest......

Um, yeah, don't solo these. The NPC is NOT matching the level of the lowest level member in the party, this is FALSE. Olivia ran into the Doom Scorpion room and promptly died when they all aggroed her. Sure I could have diaga'd them all, but what would I have done with the Soldier Crawlers and other high level aggro that I was counting on avoiding? She died in 6 hits, 2 hits from each of the 3 scorpions that aggroed her, so I'd guess her level around 40 perhaps.

A bst with charm and leave might be able to solo this though.

[LyonheartLakshmi]

Re: Want an easy Dragon Chronicles every week?

A bst with charm and leave might be able to solo this though.

I duo'ed this with a BST friend a while back, and we were both in the high 50s (high enough to consistently charm anything in our way). It was quite easy. I don't see any reason why a solo BST wouldn't be able to handle this one.

[Kaickul]

Re: Want an easy Dragon Chronicles every week?

Ive been doing Chocobo races, Bastok(CN) escort, Sacrarium ??? spot, and sometimes Riverene ??? spot for over a year. These are the easiest way to get 4-5k exp per week when you are seeking or just dont feel like leveling.

[Celeal]

Re: Want an easy Dragon Chronicles every week?

Well, just tried an escort quest......

Um, yeah, don't solo these. The NPC is NOT matching the level of the lowest level member in the party, this is FALSE. Olivia ran into the Doom Scorpion room and promptly died when they all aggroed her. Sure I could have diaga'd them all, but what would I have done with the Soldier Crawlers and other high level aggro that I was counting on avoiding? She died in 6 hits, 2 hits from each of the 3 scorpions that aggroed her, so I'd guess her level around 40 perhaps.

A bst with charm and leave might be able to solo this though.

In the middle of the run, you can ask the NPC to stop running if you talk to her: you need stay within the target (NPC) range and mouse click on the NPC. To have the NPC resumes running again, talk to the NPC. That way, you (or your party) can control the pace of the NPC, so that it does not aggro the mobs. What my old LS did was 5 players escort in the front of the NPC, hack-n-slash the way, while one whm stay back with the NPC and control its movement.

The Escort quest rewards multiple Exp Scrolls each run. The 1st run our party got 3 Exp. scrolls (altrough it was a 6 ppl party).

P.S.
Maybe Besieged is an alternative for Exp. too.

[eticket109]

Re: Want an easy Dragon Chronicles every week?

As for the choco quest, I strongly recommend the Bastok <-> Sandy routes. Once you get the pathing and terrain down, those are very easy routes. I've seen records as low as 18:35, though the best I ever did was 19:30 or so. You can actually still get the exp scroll as high as 20:01 or 20:02.

I also agree with what ND said, the Sacrarium quest (and Riverne if you can do it) is a very easy way to get weekly exp. You need to complete the Riverne quest at least once before you can unlock the Sacrarium quest though.