Co-operative Play! (for new players)

[jcbdrzr]

Firstly, I want to say Hi! I'm new here to the FFXI forums

I was wondering how I should go about co-operative play. Me and friend have always teamed up in the past mmo's we've played all the way up to end game. My question is which pair of jobs would be well suited to helping each other through the game, as we will be questing, leveling and adventuring together almost all the time. I want to know which jobs will compliment each other, and which secondary jobs we should take.

We're not too fussed about which job's we take, as in our past history of mmo's together we've played all class types from tank to healers to mages etc.

Thanks!

[Mog]

Re: Co-operative Play! (for new players)

For exp purposes, all parties need at least a healer and a meat shield (not so much for higher levels) I would suggest one of you level white mage or red mage, and the other level ninja or paladin.

Red mage and ninja are also some of the most self-sufficient jobs in the game. You'll be able to do a whole lot more duoing, I assume.

[Temagori]

Re: Co-operative Play! (for new players)

First off welcome to the forums and FFXI. ^^

If you would like to take an easy mage route RDM and WHM would be a great duo combo to 75. I personally static with a friend of mine and have gone from 1-75 on 2 different jobs. The RDM + WHM combo let's you start off with base jobs and requires no added quests/requirements.

If you do, however, get any of the advanced jobs and then decide to take different jobs you can go many many different ways. 2 BST is nice especially higher and and what I am finishing up leveling is SCH and DNC.

Truthfully you are going to party most of your time if you want to hit 75 in any reasonable amount of time so almost any combo works, but some combos just have a higher rate of success. I.e. White Mage and Red Mage offer main healer and back-up healer as well as Refresher at higher levels. with these two jobs you only need a tank and DD to finish up the pt so your odds of getting in pts together is high.

SCH and DNC works much the same way. a SCH or DNC can main heal and whichever one is not main healing can take a back-up healing role as well as a DD support role.

2 BST is phenomenal because you have, in essence, 4 party members fighting at any given time. It takes skill and patience, but this combo is extremely efficient higher up.

That's my two cents and I hope it helped you out. ^^

[jcbdrzr]

Re: Co-operative Play! (for new players)

Thanks for the help the Red mage White mage combo sounds good too me, we were thinking of that or maybe, Warrior and either WHM OR RDM. In the past we usually roll a healer/support and then a tank. Would you advise leveling to 75 first and then working on an advanced job, or picking one mid game?

Thanks

[Mog]

Re: Co-operative Play! (for new players)

Thanks for the help the Red mage White mage combo sounds good too me, we were thinking of that or maybe, Warrior and either WHM OR RDM. In the past we usually roll a healer/support and then a tank. Would you advise leveling to 75 first and then working on an advanced job, or picking one mid game?

Thanks

If one of you wants to be a tank, do not level warrior. You want to level ninja or paladin if tanking is your goal.

Also, take a look at the newbie threads Ifrit posted. It's stickied and it tells you all you need to know about the jobs.

[Kailea]

Re: Co-operative Play! (for new players)

DRG/SAM and DNC/NIN

DRG/WAR and DNC/BLU

SAM/WAR and DNC/NIN

SAM/NIN and DNC/BLU

[Pteryx]

Re: Co-operative Play! (for new players)

If one of you wants to be a tank, do not level warrior. You want to level ninja or paladin if tanking is your goal.

Except that warrior is a fundamental subjob for a tank, and WAR itself is not completely incapable as one at lower levels. Not to mention that ninja and paladin aren't available from day 1, but must be earned at level 30.

Job choices in FFXI are slightly more complicated than in most MMOs. You don't just pick a class and go. There is a job change system, allowing you to try and level new jobs from 1 at no penalty, and there is the subjob system, by which you can (and basically must) assign a half-levelled additional job to complement your main job. Your subjob must be levelled seperately as a main, as well. -- Pteryx

[LadyKiKi]

Re: Co-operative Play! (for new players)

Hmm, assuming you get to the point where you can unlock advanced jobs and won't mind "starting over"

BST and BST support each other brilliantly

[Temagori]

Re: Co-operative Play! (for new players)

Jcbd, honestly you will almost have to level your subjob eventually so it actually ends up being more convenient to level your subjob first when you first start out the game. Since 37 is the cap for this you end up having to sub something under your "sub".

The reason this is more effective is you get a longer time of leveling the job you want to as your main with the influx of people. If you can level it once a day for such and such amopunt of time you will be able to follow the trend of levelers. The break taken to level another job interrupts that flow, but doesn't neccesarily destroy the possibilities.

If you take WHM and RDM then I would suggest leveling BLM at least to 10. Then level WHM to 20. Get your subjobs and then continue leveling BLM with your WHM sub until 37. Then level WHM all the way to 75. The same can be done with your RDM except you can substitute the sub as BLM or WHM.

That's the most efficient way to level WHM to 75 imo, but it doesn't mean it's the only way or the "right" way. Take any path you desire, but enjoy the game. If you start getting too annoyed or frustrated take a break. ^^ Good luck.

[Dux]

Re: Co-operative Play! (for new players)

Hi

In contrast to any other game I have played FFXI is an almost entirely co-operative play system. What you may think as co-operative play may not be very co-operative in FFXI terms. As a general philosophy FFXI game was designed with co-operative play in teams of 6 at its core. While you and your friend are at liberty to duo your way to 75 you really are missing out on the massive co-operative aspect of FFXI and focusing just on the duo-ing aspect which I feel is not what you wanted to do.

It is worth knowing that for the majority of job combinations duo-ing is slower than parties of six in FFXI, not wanting to labour this point but the difference in EXP-per-hour can be huge. If speed of levelling is not important then this is not an issue.

If you and your friend are dead set on duo-ing all the way and this is your primary objective in FFXI then if it was me I would level WHM + RDM together in normal co-opertaive EXP parties of 6, find a good beastmaster linkshell (guild) then switch to BST together once you hit 37 and go off into the big wide world BSTing your way to 75.

[jcbdrzr]

Re: Co-operative Play! (for new players)

Thanks for the replys! While we do want to duo together, we will also want to join other parties together along the way. I can see that WHM and RDM seem popular for beginner jobs and that BST when we reach a higher level.
Would you advise subbing straight away or go for the adv. jobs at lvl 30?

[Nuriko]

Re: Co-operative Play! (for new players)

Subjobs are highly important ... often enough, people don't think much of somebody with a subjob that's too low for the main (for example, a WAR30/NIN11 I saw, it just screamed "I want to dual-wield axes!").

Moreover, for RDM at least, subbing WHM will add utility, what with status cures and divine seal. It's also worth levelling BLM as a sub, for when status cures aren't such a concern ... RDM/BLM is better at nuking and can still toss heals perfectly well at need.

[Pteryx]

Re: Co-operative Play! (for new players)

Thanks for the replys! While we do want to duo together, we will also want to join other parties together along the way. I can see that WHM and RDM seem popular for beginner jobs and that BST when we reach a higher level.
Would you advise subbing straight away or go for the adv. jobs at lvl 30?

Definitely level a subjob immediately -- heck, even ahead of time. You'll need a subjob to hold you until you get to 30, if nothing else.

BST duoing is great for if you're out to duo to the top, but it's not good for getting into parties. RDM and WHM are a great pair for getting into parties, but don't have much damage output to duo mobs with.

Planning ahead with a path of jobs to follow works very well. For instance, start with a MNK and a WHM, go from 1 to 18 together with that ad do the subjob quest, use those as subjobs for WAR and RDM from 1 to 30 (or 37, as the highest level is 75 and subjobs are capped at half your main job level), then unlock PLD and SCH and use WAR and RDM as subs for those. -- Pteryx

[Intensity]

Re: Co-operative Play! (for new players)

My Wife and I used to duo as Ninja and Bard. Epic combo imho. Plus, if you decide to build a full party, having those two classes to start will generally get your party filled very quickly.

Good plan to get there would be level maybe MNK or THF to 18, get Subjob. Level Warrior to 30, unlock Ninja, level Ninja. BRD would go BLM to 18, WHM to 30, BRD to cap.

[Kitalrez]

Re: Co-operative Play! (for new players)

Actually, if you plan to do 2 BST combos, I would suggest you do this:

1. Lvl BLM to 18 before you do anything else. Both of you. Once there, unlock your subjobs.
2. Switch over to WHM and level both of you to 37. You will never need to touch BLM or WHM again if you both do this. Once there, unlock BST.
3. Start leveling BST and you'll be just fine to 75.


It may be slightly hard to find a party as two WHMs, but you don't slide out of Powerlevel group ranges until 40s now, so it's still doable.