Which craft for a Dragoon?

[Reichter]

So I'm new to the game. Going WHM to 18, THF to 30, DRG/THF till 60, then getting SAM up to 37 and switching back to DRG.

Now, that being said, which craft(s) should i be looking into? I figure I've got some time until I'm a DRG, and didn't really want to waste time on a craft that wouldn't benefit me. Thanks for the help!

[Murphie]

Re: Which craft for a Dragoon?

Welcome to the game and to FFXIOnline.

First, your job level progression isn't exactly ideal (you'll have to level BLM to sub to WHM, and something other than WHM to level to THF, etc). But maybe you just didn't explain it the way you intended to.

Are you looking for a craft that will make you money, or one that you'll get use out of? If it's the former, I can tell you right now that most won't make you much money, at least, not without an initial investment, and lots of money lost in the process. If it's the latter, I'd say Cooking.

Also, Fishing can start making money right away (though not very quickly at first), and requires minimal investment to get going. Also, it can help with Cooking.

[Reichter]

Re: Which craft for a Dragoon?

Well, I guess I should better explain myself.

WHM to 18 until I get the Sub Job Quest.
THF to 30/WHM Sub till I get the Dragoon Quest.
DRG to 60/THF Sub then switching to SAM until 37
DRG/SAM from there.

I know it sounds a bit unorthodox, but I recently started playing with a friend who, ultimately wants to be a DRK. So, I told him to make a WAR and I'll go WHM just to help to get to 18 as fast as possible. Healer and a tank right there, you know? Anyways. That was my thinking behind it.

And yeah, I've heard about Cooking/Fishing and their usefulness, but I'm talking about Gear for the later levels and such. I saw Smithing and it seemed better suited for a Tank type. But again, I don't know much about the game :|

[Prons]

Re: Which craft for a Dragoon?

Well, I guess I should better explain myself.

WHM to 18 until I get the Sub Job Quest.
THF to 30/WHM Sub till I get the Dragoon Quest.
DRG to 60/THF Sub then switching to SAM until 37
DRG/SAM from there.

I know it sounds a bit unorthodox, but I recently started playing with a friend who, ultimately wants to be a DRK. So, I told him to make a WAR and I'll go WHM just to help to get to 18 as fast as possible. Healer and a tank right there, you know? Anyways. That was my thinking behind it.

I think you kind of mis understand the concept of the subjob system.

See, your sub is supposed to compliment your main job. WHM has no beneficial statistics that can be added to THF. THF\WHM can't heal very well due to low healing-related stats, as well as as a low mp pool. Longstory short: Your cures won't cure very well, you won't be able to do much damage, and no one will want to invite you to parties because of these two problems.

Before you read this paragraph take in mind I've never leveled melee very far, adn don't know the jobs throughouly:
Here's an idea, have the guy who wants to be DRK start as THF, and you start as WAR. After you two get to level 18 by managing and forming parties, you level MNK, and he level WAR. That way you can be tanking while he DDs and vice versa. Continue that until level 30. I believe DRG eventually wants to sub WAR, and DRK eventually subs THF, but I could be wrong.

I strongly suggest going to ffxiclopedia.com and reading about ALL the subjobs. It will help you decide which route you want to go in the game, and give you some insight into what the other jobs do. Which is great when you're getting a party together and you have to figure out what a BRD does or what a Ranger does.

I started as White Mage, subbed black mage, and now I'm doing Bard. I could also do BST and RDM.

[Murphie]

Re: Which craft for a Dragoon?

And yeah, I've heard about Cooking/Fishing and their usefulness, but I'm talking about Gear for the later levels and such. I saw Smithing and it seemed better suited for a Tank type. But again, I don't know much about the game :|

Making your own gear is kind of impractical in FFXI. You have to have considerable levels in several skills in order to make most pieces, and the cost of leveling the various skills in order to make your own armor would be better spent just buying them from NPCs or the AH for considerably less.

The same goes for weapons, for the most part. The market is just really, really saturated, so new crafters are pretty much SOL, to be quite blunt.

[Reichter]

Re: Which craft for a Dragoon?

Making your own gear is kind of impractical in FFXI. You have to have considerable levels in several skills in order to make most pieces, and the cost of leveling the various skills in order to make your own armor would be better spent just buying them from NPCs or the AH for considerably less.

The same goes for weapons, for the most part. The market is just really, really saturated, so new crafters are pretty much SOL, to be quite blunt.

Appreciated. As for my job levelling career...shrug. I never really saw anything mindblowing that I made me say, "OMG I NEED THAT FOR MY SUB JOB" for when I levelled a thief to 30. The most I'd be getting out of that subjob would be their abilities to level 15...

defense bonus and provoke from a WAR is /yawn.
BLM would be just as useless as a WHM according to what you're saying.
MNK Boost is nice and all, but that's about it.
RDM would be have the same con's as a WHM or a BLM.

So, if I'm levelling a THF...honestly what subjob should I have? I figured the crappy heals were still heals nonetheless, and protectra is protectra, right?

If I missed something, please let me know, but that's what I got from the Subjob thing.

[Malacite]

Re: Which craft for a Dragoon?

Can't go wrong with Fishing and Cooking.

Fishing will net you money and give you something to do while looking for a party, and two the crafts naturally compliment each other.

You can catch fish which you can then in turn cook into food or fish bait.

[Prons]

Re: Which craft for a Dragoon?

Also, fishing can be done right in your nation town, and has a pretty nice turn around rate. I wish I started fishing at the very beginning. :_

[Prons]

Re: Which craft for a Dragoon?

If I missed something, please let me know, but that's what I got from the Subjob

THF subs WAR, and later on Ninja if you're cool enough. THF\WAR allows you to deal nice damage.

As for cures being cures and protectra being protectra, you have to understand that there's stats that "strengthen" your cures and protectras. If I remember right, the Mind stat makes your healing magic more potent. THF and DRG don't have much in terms of Mind because well, it's not in their job.

What you have to imagine is, when you're partying you need to do something beneficial for a party. THF\WHM can't deal damage, and it can't cure enough to keep up with the damage the enemy deals.

Ffxiclopedia has guides for every single class, go there, Search for DRG, and read about it, and what subjobs are good for it.

[Wise Donkey]

Re: Which craft for a Dragoon?

Your SJ choices will be pretty limited without access to any advanced jobs. None of them are going to "wow" you until you either get access to the Advanced Jobs or get to a higher level and get access to the better Job Traits.

Group Partying in FFXI is all about efficiency. It's a long damn road to 75, and FFXI society dictates that you need to have the most effective Job/SJ combo, to maximize your effectiveness and get through it as fast as possible. For some people, this is a turn off, because "it's their game and they will play it how they want to". The reality is that this is a MMO, and not a single player game, and FFXI uniquely requires much more cooperation than other MMOs. Thus, you pretty much have to conform to what society dictates. But believe it or not, the community as a whole usually has it pretty right when it comes to Job/SJ combos. </soapbox>

I would recommend either /MNK or /WAR for a THF with access to only the 6 Main Jobs. Sure /WAR only gets you a Def Bonus, but all /WHM gets you is a few weak cures, coupled with the need to have to rest to regain MP. There will be a main healer in your PT, so your ability to toss around a few cures won't mean much, and coupled with your low MP pool, you would be required to rest after just a few Cures. Resting slows down the speed at which your PT gains XP. That small Def Bonus from /WAR will allow you to take a little less damage when you get hit after pulling hate, which will ease the burden on your Main Healer to a much greater degree than you tossing out a few cures will. Plus there will be no need to rest for your MP. /MNK will get you Boost, which doesn't really have a great effect by itself, but when you combine it with the Combo Weaponskill and the Sneak Attack ability, you have the most powerful move in the game at the low levels, again far outweighing what /WHM could provide.

[Armando]

Re: Which craft for a Dragoon?

You need to level WAR to use as a sub for your DRG. Even more so than THF. Ideally you'd level both, but WAR sub is more useful more often.

[Nuriko]

Re: Which craft for a Dragoon?

WHM sub does have a use for soloing, but then, that IS soloing, not party play.

[Vyuru]

Re: Which craft for a Dragoon?

I would say go with the craft that compliments what you like to do best.

If you like harvesting, I would recommend Weaving. If mining, consider GoldSmithing and Smithing, and so on.

If you're into the chocobo digging aspect then I would recommend Smithing and Woodworking.

As others have said, it's more or less impossible to make all of your own gear, many of the gearsets you will be using later on in the game require say, 80+ main skill in GoldSmithing, Smithing, or Leatherworking I would say are the most common, with a few oddball Weaving recipes in there.

You can only take one craft to lvl 100, or 2+ crafts above lvl 60 and split the rest of the 40 points amongst them. Generally speaking most people find it best to take one craft to lvl 100 to maximize their HQ synth rate and to try to make profitable high level armor to sell.

Experiment some and see what you like to do =^.^=

[Reichter]

Re: Which craft for a Dragoon?

Thanks for all the advice guys!

So basically, I'm gonna solo WAR to 15 while my friend isn't online so I don't pass his WAR with my WHM. When I get to 18 and switch to THF and sub WAR till 30.

And everything I've read has stated that DRG isn't a tank (although they can take a few hits at lower levels), so wouldn't THF be a better sub for damage than WAR?

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: Which craft for a Dragoon?

There's nothing wrong with taking up WHM first, it will be beneficial to your DRG later on down the road. Thing is, you haven't unlocked DRG yet, so how can you know you'll like it? When you hit 30, play the field and unlock everything (Go get WotG, too, because if you do fall in love with another melee job, Dancer subjob will help them solo).

I was dead set on being a RDM when I started and learned I hated it. Then I thought DRG and were the jobs for me, it wasn't. I ended up going with RNG, COR, SCH and BST. So give them all a chance and see what you like best.

WHM and WAR are two universal subjobs you'll find use for in many, if not all, the jobs in the game, so progressing those to subjob level (37) would both be very beneficial. However, there are some subjobs more useful for partying and others more useful for other situations.

Party subs for DRG are as follows:

WAR - For Double Attack, Attack Bonus and Berzerk
SAM - For Seigan, Hasso, Store TP and Meditate.
THF - For Sneak Attack and Trick Attack

All these subjobs serve to improve your damage dealer capability and you should strive to have them all prepared for party situations, though admittedly, /THF seems less and less common of a Dragoon subjobs these days.

Additional subjobs you may wish to level for DRG are:

WHM - For its Cures, status removal spells and they Healer Wyvern Function
BLU - For Cocoon, MP and STR bonuses and faster Healing Breath trigger with Power Attack, also Healer Wyvern.
DNC - This sub will, after 30, allow you to take your TP and put them into cures, meanwhile gaining the Offensive Wyvern.
RDM - for its protective magic, ability to dispell, its enspells and Cures.
NIN - grants balanced wyvern, also called upon for merit parties at high level due to Utsusemi's effective protection.

Again, WAR and WHM will have applications in just about every job. /WHM is commonly used for mage jobs and solo functions, /WAR commonly used for melee jobs in EXP PTs but can also serve mages in solo and non-party situations.

If you want to complete your Warrior subjob here's the job path you should take:

Monk to 18 first. Why MNK? Because the boost ability helps WAR's attack and you get Max HP Boost, helping your WAR be more survivable. WARs are commonly called upon to tank at low levels, so MNK helps you gain durability and helps you hit harder. After you get MNK to 18, take WAR all the way to 37 and you have a full WAR sub for any melee job in the future.

If you chose to level WHM, take BLM to 18 first. BLM gives WHM extra MP and spells such as Aspir that allow a WHM to steal MP from certain mobs. So get BLM to 18 first and then take WHM to 37.

Your plan for THF/WHM will not work because players will not invite it, they'll just see you as someone that doesn't understand the subjob system sufficiently. If they see THF/WAR, then they know you've probably not yet unlocked /NIN (because you can't before 30) and they'll be more inclined to invite you.

If you're still set on THF as your first subjob to complete, take WAR to 18 first. But if you're still set on being a DRG, you'll have to go back and finish WAR at some point anyway.

/THF has fallen out of vouge in the way higher level EXP parties function, so its a hard subjob to recommend. Players are scared to line up for Sneak Attack/Trick Attack because they're used to "burn" style PTs. I highly doubt you'll get much use from in in the context of EXP.

As for crafts, cooking and fish will never fail you. Fishing plays into cooking and if you're dilligent and farm your own materials, you'll see worthwhile profits. If you strive to build fame from quests (preferably repeatable ones), you'll be able to buy materials more cheaply and work at a profit if you farm the other materials.