New/Returning Player

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New/Returning Player
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By Ecaidiana 2016-03-03 14:50:13  
Good Afternoon!

I started playing FFXI last week on a fresh account/character. I played previously, but have been away from the game since early 2008. So much has changed since then and there has been a learning curve on all the new features and zones. I did find some help in-game with new aspects of the game, but I still have a few questions.

As of writing this, I'm a level 87 THF with both WAR and DNC leveled to 49 as sub-jobs.

1) I've been using Trion, Apururu, Ayame, and Zeid II as my Trust NPCs for leveling. This has done well up to this point as I can Light SC using Shark Bite off Ayame's WS which stacked with Sneak or Trick Attack currently deals in the 7-9k damage range against the Blanched Mandragora I'm hunting (7-9k is the combined damage of the WS & SC). I'm running into an issue though where Ayame and Zeid seem to miss about 80% of their melee attacks and WS which is really slowing down what could be excellent EXP/hr. Is there a better Trust combination available for this, or a way to buff their accuracy by a large amount?

2) What is currently considered "end-game"?

3) Are there any Linkshells currently accepting new members specifically for merit/job point farming and some end-game type content?


THank You! :D
 Sylph.Jeanpaul
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By Sylph.Jeanpaul 2016-03-03 15:31:06  
1) Blanched Mandragoras are like level 100, so you might want to find stuff that's lower level than that. I can't recall any specific camps, but I think there are people here who can name a few.

2) Endgame stuff is possible pretty much as soon as you hit 99. There's a sort of progression as you can gear up better, as your gear has levels attached to it (called item level, or ilvl) that go up to 119:

  • Starting Point (just returned): Records of Eminence (sparks gear), lower end Unity NMs, Reforged Artifact/Relic/Empyrean armor (at least 109), Macrocosmic Orb BCs, easier difficulty Merit BCs, Wildskeeper Reives, regular Skirmish (not necessarily recommended) and probably Yorcia Alluvion Skirmish

  • Next Step (your gear nearing ilevel 119): 119-128ish level Unity NMs, Reforged AF/Relic/Empy armor 119, higher difficulties Merit BCs (Normal/Difficult), Delve, Alluvion Skirmish, Escha Zi'Tah/Sky Tier 1/2, Incursion (pre-level 130), maybe Vagary

  • Mid-point (full 119, good practice with mechanics and strategies): level 130 and up content like Sinister Reign, Vagary, Escha T3 and some HELM NMs, Reisenjima T1, Unity 135 NMs

  • High-end (great gear, more experience with complex enemies): Reisenjima T2/3, Escha Gods/AAs, generally level 140ish content

  • The Hardest Crap in the Game: level 145+ content like Super Kirin, Warder of Courage (super Absolute Virtue), HELM NMs in Reisenjima, Tumult Curator (super Pandemonium Warden), fighting me in Ballista



On average, I'd say most people who play regularly are in that Mid-point stage, occasionally messing with the High-end stuff if they band together or get help from more seasoned friends. The bulk of endgame content is between the Next Step, Mid-point, and High-end stages. The Hardest Crap in the Game is currently taken on by groups of people who have put a considerable amount of effort in their gear, and are extremely well versed in strategies and mechanics. It consists of like 10 specific NMs.

3) I'd like to think there are people on Odin who would take you. Off the top of my head, I know I could pearl you for my own LS on Sylph, and there are probably one or two on Asura that welcome returning players. I don't think you'll need to change servers though.
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By Ecaidiana 2016-03-03 16:16:12  
@Jeanpaul,

Thank you for the detailed reply! It seems I still have a lot of new things to learn about and start doing once I reach the cap of 99. Doing a /sea all I've noticed generally between 600-900 players online on Odin at any given time, but there is very little in the way of chatter or responses to /shout questions. I guess everyone is busy, or simply AFK with bazaar up (which I've noticed will d/c you quite quickly for inactivity...)

The Blanched Mandragora aren't particularly difficult for me to damage personally. I rarely miss attacks against them and can regularly hit exp chain #5 against them which yields around 3400 XP (no ring bonus). The issue is my Trust don't seem to have anywhere near the accuracy that I have, missing the bulk of their attacks. I've found on many occasions that I can reach 3000 TP before Ayame hits 1000...then she misses 1/2 of her weaponskills (when she doesn't miss, the SC is enough to shave off 80% of the Mandragora's HP).
 Carbuncle.Rajang
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By Carbuncle.Rajang 2016-03-03 16:38:59  
Under Config, Global, you can turn auto-disconnect off for inactivity.
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By Ecaidiana 2016-03-03 16:55:12  
Carbuncle.Rajang said: »
Under Config, Global, you can turn auto-disconnect off for inactivity.

Thank you!

I was unaware of this...
 Sylph.Jeanpaul
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By Sylph.Jeanpaul 2016-03-03 18:14:11  
That you can personally do so well against enemies much higher level than you is a good sign. Mandragoras are nice targets since they take extra damage from piercing. If you can stick it out a little longer, you'll start to see your kill speed pick up. This might be a better time saver than trying to search the world over for a better camp, unless someone has some ideas for you.

Trusts are a bit limited since they have few boosts, and largely depend on abilities and buffs for accuracy. The result is that many melee/ranged trusts become less desirable against much higher level enemies. Anyway, consider using say, Joachim over Zeid II, since he'll use March and Madrigal. While there are many useful melee trusts, Ayame is notable for opening SCs instead of closing them (though a few will also just use TP as soon as they can). As you level up, you'll need to resummon the Trusts in order for them to level up as well.
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By Ecaidiana 2016-03-03 18:38:37  
Yeah, I've stuck it out and I'm up to level 90 now and farming merit points for the Limit Break quest (so I can go to 95). I was also picked up by a Linkshell that saw this post and got in touch with me in-game.

I have swapped to Joachim over Zeid II and it has helped speed up Ayame's Tachi:Kasha a little bit to open Light SC for me to close with SA or TA and Shark Bite (if I have Berserk up, it will 1-shot a Blanched Mandragora).

I'm bringing in something like 115,000 XP/HR at this camp currently...
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By Mesic 2016-03-03 20:05:42  
I do yorcia alluvion skirmish pretty regularly. When you get to a point where you can get to adoulin and do alluvion yorcia ill let you leech. Char name Moonflyer
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By Ecaidiana 2016-03-03 21:24:20  
Mesic said: »
I do yorcia alluvion skirmish pretty regularly. When you get to a point where you can get to adoulin and do alluvion yorcia ill let you leech. Char name Moonflyer

I have gotten myself to Adoulin and completed LB9 and LB10 to raise my cap to 99! I'm not familiar with alluvion yorcia or skirmishes though...can you clarify what this is?
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By Ecaidiana 2016-03-04 17:47:32  
UPDATE: I hit 99 on THF and bought the 117 sparks gear...turned in points to unlock the merit WS line, and started the Emp Dagger trials (both paths to Rudra). I have both WAR and DNC at 49 to sub for my THF.

I guess at this point it is just farm Merit & Job points until I figure out where everything is, and what I'm capable of doing (or need to do...)

Ideas?
 Carbuncle.Rajang
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By Carbuncle.Rajang 2016-03-04 20:12:33  
A good place to start would be to get any IL119 weapons/equipment to gradually replace those spark pieces, since your average IL affects your NPC stats too. Maybe you could start by 119'ing some of the AF1 and AF2 pieces. The Rem's shouldn't be too hard to collect, maybe with a little bit of help, at least on the lower difficulties. I would also get the key items associated with the RoV storyline ASAP since the added bonuses to EXP/CP etc. are all extremely helpful.

I'd offer some help if you were on my server, but I'm sure you could find some assistance with the fights involved in RoV and such. Good luck!
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By Ecaidiana 2016-03-04 20:22:48  
Carbuncle.Rajang said: »
A good place to start would be to get any IL119 weapons/equipment to gradually replace those spark pieces, since your average IL affects your NPC stats too. Maybe you could start by 119'ing some of the AF1 and AF2 pieces. The Rem's shouldn't be too hard to collect, maybe with a little bit of help, at least on the lower difficulties. I would also get the key items associated with the RoV storyline ASAP since the added bonuses to EXP/CP etc. are all extremely helpful.

I'd offer some help if you were on my server, but I'm sure you could find some assistance with the fights involved in RoV and such. Good luck!

I've done enough of RoV to unlock 3 of the EXP boosting key items and 4th Trust slot, though I have not been able to go farther as it requires progression into CoP Missions which I have not even started.

I have my AF Dagger from level 40...haven't done anything else with AF gear since I assumed it was pointless with level cap being 99. I was not aware that it could be upgraded to be higher level.

I really have a lot to go back and complete it seems :(
 Carbuncle.Rajang
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By Carbuncle.Rajang 2016-03-04 21:29:39  
Ah, I see. Well, at least the CoP missions and AF quests are very easy, although a little time consuming. Farming Dynamis for the AF2 pieces will be easy for you with IL gear, so you could get those to upgrade also.
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By Ecaidiana 2016-03-04 22:31:13  
Carbuncle.Rajang said: »
Ah, I see. Well, at least the CoP missions and AF quests are very easy, although a little time consuming. Farming Dynamis for the AF2 pieces will be easy for you with IL gear, so you could get those to upgrade also.

Working on the CoP Missions as we speak, since I need them to get into Dynamis and also for the rest of the RoV key items. I looked at the Relic +1 gear and it is better than my Sparks gear...plus it has the added THF skill boosts.

I only need to figure out the weapon situation...as right now I have the sparks dagger and the thief knife (TH+1)
 Sylph.Jeanpaul
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By Sylph.Jeanpaul 2016-03-04 22:54:39  
If you can get some bayld (perhaps by trading in some copper vouchers at the sparks guy), you could get a Homestead Dagger. It's not a long term solution, but it's immediately available without any gil cost or need for assistance.
 Carbuncle.Akivatoo
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By Carbuncle.Akivatoo 2016-03-05 02:36:28  
Sylph.Jeanpaul said: »
If you can get some bayld (perhaps by trading in some copper vouchers at the sparks guy), you could get a Homestead Dagger. It's not a long term solution, but it's immediately available without any gil cost or need for assistance.
or just spam WKR until you get http://www.ffxiah.com/item/8731/kupon-aw-wk for buy an http://www.ffxiah.com/item/20636/izhiikoh from moogle if u'r not lucky enouth to drop it directly.
 Carbuncle.Rajang
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By Carbuncle.Rajang 2016-03-05 02:54:53  
Izhiikoh is from Delve, but you can get an Atoyac by doing what Akivatoo said. The WKR pieces can be augmented with the KI you get for completing the WKR RoE. Atoyac will be pretty good with an augment on it, until you can get some of the higher end daggers.
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By Ecaidiana 2016-03-05 17:27:58  
I've working towards getting the JSE dagger (Sandung, ilvl 119) and realized I need to figure out how to make semi-reliable gil as a noobie 99 THF. I'm starting to get the hang of Dynamis proccing...did a Dynamis:Bastok and walked away with 56 one Byne bill and an assortment of Wootz ore and items after about 30 min of messing around.

It's a start o.o
 Bismarck.Bloodbathboy
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By Bismarck.Bloodbathboy 2016-03-05 18:49:31  
If you have not started SOA yet and need gil you can amber in Abby for sellable weapons and mats to auction to. Made so change while I was farming my Charmers for BST.
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By Ecaidiana 2016-03-06 00:53:01  
Bismarck.Bloodbathboy said: »
If you have not started SOA yet and need gil you can amber in Abby for sellable weapons and mats to auction to. Made so change while I was farming my Charmers for BST.

Abby?
 Carbuncle.Rajang
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By Carbuncle.Rajang 2016-03-06 01:00:53  
Abyssea!
 Cerberus.Anjisnu
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By Cerberus.Anjisnu 2016-03-06 02:22:21  
can also farm siren hair in the 2nd tier zones for people chasing apogee+1
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