[Corrderio]

The release of the Aht Urghan expansion killed many things, BLM's and skillchains being two of them. There should be a way to get all of the expansions and have them shipped to you, you will most likely need them or find advancing very difficult. It would be great if you could make a static party with people that didn't mind leveling in the old areas and that would allow you to level your BLM.

From my experience BLMs in PTs and SCs died off before ToAU. I know when I was leveling WAR (Before ToAU came out) a majority of my PTs were TP Burns past 50.

[Sebazy]

By TP Burns you mean just melee going for it as they see fit? No chains etc? That's kind of a shame if that's the case as I always felt that the old reliance on skillchains was one of the things that made FFXI unique

[ToK Darius]

By TP Burns you mean just melee going for it as they see fit? No chains etc? That's kind of a shame if that's the case as I always felt that the old reliance on skillchains was one of the things that made FFXI unique

I completely agree. I love skill chains, but I still love seeing a mob die in 5 seconds because no one gives a damn about them. I still love them though.

[mintyice]

I started playing this game sometime in 2003. I played off and on until about 2006. I got rid of my old character when I stopped (75BLM/WHM and 60somethingBLU/WHM). Basically, I was wondering how much easier is it to level from 1 to 75 now? What things make it easier and how are they used?

Also, what job usually gets the most PT invites and wouldn't require much downtime waiting around? Basically, which is the quickest to level? Are there still lowbies around?

After a brief stint with WoW for a few weeks a few months ago I see how superior FFXI really is. Any help is appreciated. Thanks!

[Kagemitsu]

I started playing this game sometime in 2003. I played off and on until about 2006. I got rid of my old character when I stopped (75BLM/WHM and 60somethingBLU/WHM). Basically, I was wondering how much easier is it to level from 1 to 75 now? What things make it easier and how are they used?

Also, what job usually gets the most PT invites and wouldn't require much downtime waiting around? Basically, which is the quickest to level? Are there still lowbies around?

After a brief stint with WoW for a few weeks a few months ago I see how superior FFXI really is. Any help is appreciated. Thanks!

The jobs that will get invites the fastest are those that are the most needed in a PT: tanks (usually PLD, NIN), healers (usually WHM, SCH, RDM) support (BRD, COR). Damage dealing jobs will get the lowest invite rate because there's just a gajillion of them running around.

And onto the leveling topic:
Level Sync
Fields of Valor

Have a good read, my good sir.

[Glucian_]

I left just after ToAU had been released.

Returning now and starting fresh is there anything that players should do that is important while leveling to 75?

Catch a certain WotG mission at level 45 or faster xp doing xxx activity while 50 for example.

Any tips would be appreciated.

[mintyice]

The jobs that will get invites the fastest are those that are the most needed in a PT: tanks (usually PLD, NIN), healers (usually WHM, SCH, RDM) support (BRD, COR). Damage dealing jobs will get the lowest invite rate because there's just a gajillion of them running around.

And onto the leveling topic:
Level Sync
Fields of Valor

Have a good read, my good sir.

do people use those two things? do they make them that much quicker to level to 75 or is it still very slow going?

[Kagemitsu]

do people use those two things? do they make them that much quicker to level to 75 or is it still very slow going?

Of course people use those two things ._. They make leveling faster as in:

- Fields of Valor: You can go solo/duo for decent exp while waiting for a party invite (and remember to bring some sort of Warp or the PT will have to wait hours for you to get to the camp) or if you have, say, just 1 hour to play and want to get some exp. It makes soloing worth your while by giving you a decent chunk of exp while you complete the objective you chose. Exp from the mobs + exp from the completion of the mission you chose = win.

- Level Sync: let's say you're in a level 30 party and desperately need a certain member, you can broaden your search for jobs in the 30-75 range instead of 30-33 like it used to be before. Finding a party is made much easier by this feature because it eliminates the problem of a pt member being too high or too low to join a PT. Just have the whole party sync down to the lowest level member and pick a camp accordingly.

[mintyice]

oh i bet the 2nd thing makes life so much easier then and pretty much opens up any camp.

[Sebazy]

With regards to the field of valor thing, how difficult are the mobs it throws you against for weaker/slower solo classes? And that level sync thing looks rather handy for sure

[Kagemitsu]

With regards to the field of valor thing, how difficult are the mobs it throws you against for weaker/slower solo classes? And that level sync thing looks rather handy for sure

The areas you can choose to play Fields of Valor at vary a lot, and the variety of mobs you can kill with that. My personal advice is that you should aim for an area where the mobs /check as EP-DC max for you, because tougher mobs yield more experience per kill, but considering the time it takes to beat one solo (not to mention how dangerous it is), a funny ep-dc onslaught usually yields better xp per hour.

I think pretty much any job with the /DNC subjob can deal with weaker mobs. Of course it's gonna take a different approach from you, that means you should wear something that mildly resembles melee gear if you decided to go out and kill things as, for example, BRD. It takes some creativity for weaker/slower solo classes to make it work, like job/subjob combos that might look weird at first glance, but with some work I think any job can efficiently solo the FoVs.

[Corrderio]

With regards to the field of valor thing, how difficult are the mobs it throws you against for weaker/slower solo classes? And that level sync thing looks rather handy for sure

You get to choose a page and it'll give you a list of what mobs to fight. There's a list on Wikia with info on each page:

http://wiki.ffxiclopedia.org/wiki/Field_Manual

[Kagemitsu]

Might as well delete this sticky D: no one reads it lol

[Banshi]

This was great.

I've been thinking about coming back after about a year of a 'hiatus' and this just reinforced my decision.

[Blason]

Kagemitsu, on 12 June 2009 - 05:35 PM, said:

Might as well delete this sticky D: no one reads it lol

I read it, and it helped me.


More on starting anew.. I am reactivating, and have one of my old accounts with an old character still on it. He has some things, some nice rare/ex stuff, mediocre missions completed, several leveled subjobs..

But I feel like I have forgotten a lot of the storyline that I did complete, and with all the new changes I dont want to start up and be lost right away.. I think im going to bite the bullet and reroll completely...

Now I just have to decide between taru and hume. I love taru, but the floor camera situation gets to me after a while... ; ;

[Prophecyy]

The ultimate collection for PC is on it's way. It will be here tomorrow. I used to be a Warrior/Mnk until I became a Dark Knight/Warrior. I want to try some completely new route. Was thinking Summoner/WHM or BLM/WHM or something. Any suggestions??

I know for MP i should be a little Taru but I love being a hume so IDK. I'm just excited I'll be back.

[Audard]

After the burning of a lifetime from 14 i am considering coming back to this game.

There is so much i miss but the one thing i don't is the price.

I was paying about $32 AUS a month for one main and 4 muels.

If they lowered the price i would come back in a heart beat.

[Banter]

Well don't come back then.

[draugo]

Drop some mules. No real reason to have them any more unless you have a ton of jobs already leveled that you hoard every possible level of gear for. Plus all the gear you sell should give you a nice little start over nest egg.


edit: Would be nice to get this stickied, coming back threads happen quite often.

As far as 2011 XI is concerned, leveling is quite easy and now becoming even easier according to the latest news from SE.

The real stretch now is from 1-30 just to get access to "'key whore" in abyssea. From there the xp flows like mana from heaven, the skillups become very lacking though and you will need to spend time getting them capped so you are not a useless level 90.

Gil has become a lesser issue as well, with really good gear being available in the level 90 range and with determination much more reasonable to acquire compared to older gear. The main gil needs will come from needing to stay stocked up on consumables like tools, food, ammo and misc. other items.

Endgame old and new still have gems that make them worth doing, usukane feet for instance are very nice, relic/mythic weapons (although the time spent acquiring might not be worth it to some people) are still very good weapons for the most part. There are niche uses for plenty of other items as well that can still be utilized at level 90.

SE has clearly gone towards a more low man friendly environment. This could be attributed to a presumed loss in game population, or just to get people to come back and enjoy the game as it enters it's "golden years."

As far as coming back, if you enjoyed the game before you may really want to return. I do not think they are going to shutdown the servers for a long time to come, so it will be here for a while yet still. I enjoy it, I enjoy the ability to set goals and get them accomplished on a reasonable time table, and not having to spend 5-6 hours each day to get things done.

Some people are very upset as to the new direction that XI has taken, feeling jilted that the time investment they made has become overshadowed by the new stuff. If you liked the more hardcore challenge that the game used to present then it is possible you will not like the game when/if you come back. Chances are pretty good though you quit in the first place for that very reason.

My take anyhow.

Please sticky this thread so people who want to answer these queries do not have to continue to repeat themselves.

This post has been edited by draugo: 28 January 2011 - 01:28 PM

[Mirae]

Good post. An offline friend who plays the game has been telling me to come back for quite some time. Considering the fact that I quit 2-3 years ago (to be honest, I've forgotten how long it's been), it was pre-Abyssea. Way way waaaay pre-Abyssea, so I have no idea how the game works now.
This post has helped me some, but still don't know if it's a good idea that I come back considering I work part-time and have a study. Let's not even look at the fact that I gave away all of my gil and equipment when I quit...
How much can be accomplished in a short time on FFXI now? Whether it be gil, missions, gaining equipment or exp, etc.
Thanks again for the informative posts.