Final Fantasy XI Then...

[Marvelon]

Productive weekend here too. 700 exp or so away from 30 PLD
It's gonna be nice when I pip 30 - New Sword / Helmet / Body / Gloves / Trousers / Feet armor, Cure III and Protect II

Going to try and hit 31 tonight. I'm not too happy about being stuck in Yhoator Jungle till 32-33 (i'm not sure when it will be beneficial to move onto Garlaige)

[Phlebas]

Heya. Been lurking in this thread for a while now actually ^^;
You could try fighting sahangin and makara (basically Yuhtunga Pugils) in front of the entrance to the sea serpent grotto till 32 or 33 then move on to Garlaige. I ran away from Yhoator Jungle as quickly as I could. A alternative to Garlaige would of course be Eastern Altepa Desert to fight Beetles, I think someone mentioned this somewhere already. Anyway good luck!

[?pint]

Bah, maintenance time again... so bored

[Bayan]

Got DRG to 26 and WHM to 27, Then Decided I Should Really Get RNG Through Dunes, OMG RNG Owns! Even A PLD Couldnt Pull The Hate Off Me, 60-70 a Hit Versus Damselflies, With 100 ish From Piercing Arrow, I Love This Job Class

[Marvelon]

I think you'll find that's "bad-to average PLD couldn't get hate off you".
Was in a party yesterday Where the RNG and DRK made skillchains together. Mobs stuck on me like price stickers on nicelooking CD covers.
Earlier this weekend I had a whm cast Curaga to clear the whole party of sleep (damn mandragoras) and then I was still keeping the hate.

My def has gone through the roof at lv 30 btw. I now have +9 VIT without food, 166 base DEF, 190odd with Protect 2 (which I can cast myself) 240 with fish kabobs and 268 with Sentinel on. Hear me roar: Roar!

[Darwock]

Well I finally got my damselfly worm, so all 3 subjob items are mine! I had to abandon the idea of getting it in a party, it just wasn't working... so I charmed a lvl 50 mage into helping me. Poor guy had to kill about 20 flies, but I got there in the end!

I'm going to sub RDM so I can use some of the scrolls taking up space in my moghouse.

[mikewl]

I have been finding it hard lately to motivate myself to continue playing this game, the only thing really keeping me on it is the fact that there is nothing else to do in the evenings (for me anyway).

Although I seem to go through phases where im wanting to play it alot and then just lose interest, usually when I need to do alot of lvling, partying is so boring now, basically waiting ages to get in a party and then the amount of exp needed to lvl just makes everything feel so slow.

Im sure soon I will get back in the mood to play it but for now its a case of nothing better to do.

[aegen]

same here mikewl, been reluctantly playing Ninja Gaiden lately...damn this game is hard.

but there are times when i just wanna party and get good xp, but its rather rare latety...

[Marvelon]

I've researched my equipment for the next 9 levels:
Mercenary earring at Lv 30 (where I am now) 100k
Hunting sword at Lv 34 - 25k
Drone Earring at 35 - 20-25k
Sphene Rings at 36 - 5-10k each
Silver mail set at 36 - bout 50k for the lot (shame it looks exactly like normal chain, I might go for Iron scale at 37 instead which at last looks different to previous sets of armor.
A lot of money? Yes. Doable? Yes.

[Darwock]

Wow, I spent a couple of weeks getting my first job (Black Mage) up to level 10 when I first got the game.

After completing the sub-job quest I started my second job (Red Mage) last night and was level 7 by the time I logged off! Is this just the benefit of experience or does the subjob make that much difference?

I'll probably get it up to 10 and then concentrate on getting the Black Mage to 30. I'm not really interested in being a red mage so I don't want to put too much time into it (got to go after those advanced jobs!)

[Chief H]

I think it's a bit of both, I know what you mean though, the experience pours in! I think the big difference is that the sub lets you solo much more easily and you can tackle quite high exp. fiendsthat you can't without those stat bonuses. Mind, I think the added confidence of knowing what you're doing adds to that effect as well.

Multiple GRRRRR!!!! The observant among you may have noticed me logging in to Vana'diel for the first time in a while yesterday afternoon (half and rare were the only ones i recognised online - have I been out that long?) Anyway, it was a sadly shortened burst online for me - about five minutes in, before i even get to say hi, all hell breaks loose. I'd swapped in a new psu to my pc (old one was giving me all sorts of grief) and firing up FFXI for a couple minutes fried my graphics card! so now i'm having to make do with an old Voodoo3 PCI card whilst I contemplate footing the bill for a new card. Good news is that i'll most likely step up from the old, burnt out GeForce4 Ti4400 to a nice, sparkly Radeon 9800 Pro. Won't make the bank balance look too pretty, but at least Vana'diel will!

[Darwock]

..ahhh... the joys of PS2 - widescreen and no fried PC components

[C']

Darwock, I too noticed that when levelling my subjob (and subsequent advanced job) the levels flew by. I think it?s a mixture of many things like Chief and yourself have said. You have the stat bonuses that the subjob provides, you have the experience and as such confidence to be slightly more daring, plus you (probably) have greater funds available to you in order to purchase better equipment (which can make a big difference).

However, don?t feel that it is a race to get to lvl 30 in order to access the ?uber? advanced jobs. A lot of players (myself included) make the mistake of assuming the new jobs are somehow better.

This is completely not true.

Advanced jobs are simply different to the standard 6 jobs. Don?t feel obligated to ditch your BLM. A BLM with a well chosen (and levelled) subjob (RDM is fine) will be one of the most sought after PT members as they are no doubt one of the premier damage-dealers in game. RNG are on a par, but many high level players say that BLM will outdamage them in the long run.

[Darwock]

I never really intend to ditch my black mage, I chose it cos that's what I want to do. But at the same time, in such an open-ended game you have to have goals... and the next one I can see is the advanced jobs.

Although to be honest it's the only one I'm aware of! I'm not a big fan of looking at guides, hints and spoilers... so I haven't got a clue when or how I can get a chocobo or an airship pass (don't tell me though, hopefully I'll stumble into it myself) or what other secrets might be waiting. I only knew about the sub-jobs because that's all people in their teen levels talk about.

[C']

I would never dream of telling you about the stuff awaiting you in game.

I'm completely the same with my approach to the game, and can't think of anything less appealing than having every facet of the game revealed to me.

Over the weekend I spent time building my 'fame' level in San d'Oria by speaking with every NPC in town seeing who offered quests then went about trying to figure out how to complete them (as opposed to simply looking at a guide which would lay it all out for me in idiot proof steps). Not only did I find this much more involving, there was also a sense of excitement to be had in wondering what my reward was going to be each time.

Had a few nice surprises.