Always wondered how expansions work.

[December]

Hello everyone. I had a few quick questions about the expansions in this game. I used to play back in maybe 05/06 off and on, and only till about level 18. I've always wondered if I always just played in the origional release content. Does the Rise of the Ziliart have it's own continent/towns etc?

For example, in EverQuest the first expansion brought new low level play areas, basically new areas for all levels. Is this the case with the expansions in this game? What did the expansions bring? new content for all levels? New missions? New major cities? I never heard (in my play time) anything besides the big 4 (windy sandy bastok and jeuno). If not, did they always just bring end game content? To my knowledge, the level cap in this game never got raised, it always stayed at 75? or did it start at 50?

I have the origional US release on PC (Rise of the Ziliart) and was wondering, if I start back up sometime, should I buy the new release with all the expansions or just stick with what I have until a certain level?

[Jei]

Re: Always wondered how expansions work.

If you're just waiting for FFXIV, the original should be able to keep you busy until then. But if you're planning to stick with XI, definitely get the new release with all expansions.

[Coinspinner]

Re: Always wondered how expansions work.

If you get past level 50 you will want Treasures of Aht Urghan. Below that you only need Zilart, which you have.

Aht Urghan has it's own map, the other expansions weave new zones into the original map.

[Iyouboushi]

Re: Always wondered how expansions work.

Hello everyone. I had a few quick questions about the expansions in this game. I used to play back in maybe 05/06 off and on, and only till about level 18. I've always wondered if I always just played in the origional release content. Does the Rise of the Ziliart have it's own continent/towns etc?

For example, in EverQuest the first expansion brought new low level play areas, basically new areas for all levels. Is this the case with the expansions in this game? What did the expansions bring? new content for all levels? New missions? New major cities? I never heard (in my play time) anything besides the big 4 (windy sandy bastok and jeuno). If not, did they always just bring end game content? To my knowledge, the level cap in this game never got raised, it always stayed at 75? or did it start at 50?

I have the origional US release on PC (Rise of the Ziliart) and was wondering, if I start back up sometime, should I buy the new release with all the expansions or just stick with what I have until a certain level?

A lot of questions. I'll try to answer a few of them.

The level cap started at 50, then moved up to 75 eventually over the years. Hence why we have limit break quests to raise the level cap.

There are some other towns but they're probably not what you're thinking of. For example, the first expansion Rise of the Zilart brought in Norg, a little pirate town that's hidden under ground. It's not like the big four though. Rabao, a desert town, is sort of the same way as Norg. A little tiny town in the middle of nowhere where people don't really hang out/use.

ToAU brought in the 5th major city that people actually use--Whitegate. It basically replaced Jeuno as the main hub of the game. ToAU also brings its own continent, unique monsters, unique end game stuff as well as a collective defensive battle to defend Al Zhabi (an offshoot of Whitegate).

Wings of the Goddess brought the first major 3 towns in a new light: them in the past. Basically it's a lot of the same zones as the present (a few new ones, but mostly the old ones) but they've changed slightly because it takes place 20 years prior to the present era.

All expansions bring new storylines, new quests, new missions. As for beginner-level content.. not so much, really. I'd say mid to end levels for the most part.


Hope that helps a little.

[Lunaryn]

Re: Always wondered how expansions work.

Glad to see someone tried to touch on what's there rather than 'these are the only important expansions'

Since you mentioned level-oriented content, FFXI's expansions have typically not added content appropriate to very low levels, but with the notable exception of ToAU they all have at least a little bit of content suitable to late-20s and 30s levelwise. I'll go through a quick rundown. Note that many things get added that require having all expansions up to some point so picking and choosing individual expansions won't always work well.

Rise of the Zilart: From what I understand this was intended to be part of the core game but was split off into an expansion for various reasons. The mission content is entirely high-level; you need to have rank 6 in at least one nation to even start it and the recommended levels start from 55. However, RotZ added many zones which have varying levels of mobs, as well as outland towns/quests (Rabao, Kazham, Norg). Of particular note, prior to the introduction of Level Sync the Yuhtunga and Yhoator Jungles were extremely important leveling areas in the 25-30 range, Eastern Altepa Desert was pretty common for the low 30s, and many other zones in the Kuzotz region were extremely important at various level ranges, though this has diminished since level sync. Korroloka Tunnel also provides an alternative to the late dunes levels. The oldest 'endgame' content is also typically associated with this expansion. This expansion is required to flag the Samurai, Ninja, and Dragoon jobs, and for obtaining critical content for Summoner (e.g. celestial avatars).

Chains of Promathia: Unlike the previous expansion, this tried to make the mission content spread out over a wide level range through the use of level caps, something that given the high difficulty/specialization requirements has led to its being fairly unpopular (especially considering that until relatively recently you had to have cap-appropriate gear for it or you ended up going in naked). The earliest missions cap at level 30, later ones cap at 40, 50, 60 and 75. It's typical for people to leave these missions until they are high-level, especially since the early ones can call for some odd job combinations that can be more easily met by tapping subjobs-as-main-jobs. CoP zones are somewhat more obscure than RotZ zones as most of them require mission progress to enter, but some you might encounter are Carpenter's Landing (portions connect to Northern San d'Oria and Jugner Forest), Phanauet Channel (a ferry connects the Carpenter's Landing sections through here), Bibiki Bay (obscure leveling spot in the 30s, formerly an extremely common leveling spot for the 60s). There are no job flag quests associated with this expansion.

Treasures of Aht Urhgan: The mission and mob content is pure high-level. This expansion offers practically nothing before level 50, and much of the content available at 50 is only really done at 75 anyway these days. This contains all the currently-prefered leveling zones from about the mid-50s onward. There are three reasons one would care about this expansion before the 50s: 1) Aht Urhgan Whitegate (Al Zahbi's Merchant Ward) has replaced Lower Jeuno as the everyone-hang-out-here-so-we-can-hear-each-other's-shouts hub of the game, 2) Mog Locker access (extra 'rented' storage), and 3) This expansion is needed to flag the Blue Mage, Corsair, and Puppetmaster jobs.

Wings of the Goddess: Interestingly, this has added a substantial amount of low-level content, but it's so thoroughly mixed in with high-level content that few people noticed. Mission-Quests are largely geared at 75s, Campaign battles are geared pretty squarely at 75s. There are viable xp camps, however, ranging all the way down into dunes levels, though with the exception of East Ronfaure [S] (late 30s colibri-burn camp) they're all considered highly obscure. Campaign ops also run the gamut between useful to any job level 10 or higher to largely the province of 75s. This expansion is needed to flag the Dancer and Scholar jobs. Note in particular that Scholar has practically become the One True Subjob for White Mage and is a strong investment for Red Mage as well.

*Job flag quests are all theoretically level 30 content as that is the minimum level to flag them, although some may require higher-level help to complete at 30.

[ItazuraNhomango]

Re: Always wondered how expansions work.

The Altana (WoTG) expansion also has Campaign Ops, which can earn experience points and Allied Notes fore characters Lv.10 and higher. The Supply Manufacture ones, in particular, can be done right there in the cities.

North Gustaberg [S] has worms at multiple levels, which are terrific for people leveling the likes of BLM, SCH, SMN, or RNG, both solo and in small groups. Sigil has exp bonus effect (just like Signet) with optional Regen, Refresh, and food extension effects, which made the expansion pack's zones the prime exp spots for solo or small group before Field of Valor was introduced. Even with FoV, some of the manaburn camps are still in constant use these days on Ifrit.

I think Campaign Battle is useful Lv.60 and higher, though Lv.75 jobs definitely get more exp from it.

Edit:
Don't think the OP would be terribly interested at the moment, but the Promathia expansion added some major endgame contents: Limbus and the Lumoria (Sea) NMs.

Anyway, IMO the OP should just get the free trial. If interest doesn't wane in 30 days, get the full whatever-it's-called package that comes with all the expansion packs and add-on's from Steam.