Ignore the big shiny XP numbers.

[CubsWoo]

Yes, yes, yes, I know we can get 250 a kill on Mob X - but that doesn't mean we should try to.

Not a flame on anyone in general, just my own two cents on leveling spots. That is to say, people go places waaaaay too early. I've seen Yuhtunga at 22, Garlaige at 30, hell, Valkrum at NINE. But this is more about later-game spots.

Boyhada Tree, for example. Even with the gear I sport, I'm really shaky heading there before 53, simply because the mobs there are:

a) Too evasive to use Mithkabobs
and
b) Too strong to use Sushi

But parties have dragged me out there as early as 51. I /sigh, go out there and watch myself do pathetic damage because the mobs I'm fighting are 9-12 levels higher than me. But the party wants to see that 200+ every kill, so off we go.

Now, I'm not doubting that in properly geared and set up parties, this works fine. But in your random pickup, I think you need to be a lot less ambitious. At 51, for example, you can chain Ants and Beetles in the W. Altep entrance to Quicksand. Or go to Crawler's and chain Helms. Hell, Garlaige isn't terrible at that level, and if you have a Monk or 2 you can throw in some Fallen Majors/Mages for even more XP.

Now 53 hits, and I'm once again shuttled off to Boyhada. Some people in the party get impatient with the 160 first kill and 200 chain kills we're getting on Spiders, so we move to Crabs. While, admittedly, not a horrible time, the fights were noticably longer and chain 2 was the exception and not the rule. But hey, at least we got 230 on the first kill, amirite?

I hate suggesting alternate XP paths, too, because... they're alternate. I tried to get a group to go to Ule(tab) Range a few days ago because I've been told the XP there from 51-4 is excellent and there's no competition. The three responses I got were:

a) "Where is that?"
b) "I don't have the Vahzl crystal."
c) "Let's just do Boyhada, it's closer."

Even Kuftal was out of the question because it was too long of a trek.

Call me what you will, but I prefer the easy fights and massive chains of a high VT-low IT leveling spot over the big numbers and chain 1s of a IT++ spot. Am I alone in this, or am I just crazy?

 

[Lanien]

You're not alone in this. I feel the same way, but often find myself being pushed into a new area I shouldn't be going to. But hey, I'm a melee and a Dragoon. I won't turn any xp down lol

 

[meeze]

i know what you mean, everyone is so eager to get out of one shit hole and go to the next. the reason you dont like it somewhere is because you go to fucking early.

of course your party is going to wipe in CN when your melee is lvl 33 and misses more than a shaq freethrow.

i had the luxury of being with a brd everywhere i went, and that allowed my rng to do damage consistently to mobs where i didnt belong, and allowed our tank to tank where he didn't belong.

That is the exception, most pt's with the uber melee rdm/nin and the 54whm/17blm is gonna get their ass kicked.

i like to stay in a zone until my chain 4 and 5 start dipping dramatically under 180.

i love getting fast xp, and nothing faster than taking out low it's(at the 30- lvl's vt's). chains are fast and long, and usually dont require any down time in between them.

 

[Rappa]

My static managed to have a few chain #3 300+ xp fights in Boyahda Tree fighting against the mandies and rats instead of the crabs that everyone loves so much there. We did our best to never go to the "chain #1 at best" zones and instead went to the chain #3-#5 camps that no one wants to go to. You just have to have an open mind and be willing to try new things out.

 

[Lanien]

of course your party is going to wipe in CN when your melee is lvl 33 and misses more than a shaq freethrow.

lol That made me laugh.

 

[CubsWoo]

That's something else I neglected to mention - people going too early while at the same time not being equipped properly. Reminds me of a 52DRG I partied with (no offense to you awesome DRGs out there) - Balance Rings, I think +3 accuracy in total, no headgear, and didn't eat food the entire time.

It didn't shock me one bit when I had hit 300% TP, did my report macro, and saw

"Dragoon TP: 75%!"

And she wondered why we weren't killing fast enough for the big chains. Makes you want to rip your hair out.

 

[Lanien]

That's something else I neglected to mention - people going too early while at the same time not being equipped properly. Reminds me of a 52DRG I partied with (no offense to you awesome DRGs out there) - Balance Rings, I think +3 accuracy in total, no headgear, and didn't eat food the entire time.

It didn't shock me one bit when I had hit 300% TP, did my report macro, and saw

"Dragoon TP: 75%!"

And she wondered why we weren't killing fast enough for the big chains. Makes you want to rip your hair out.

No offense taken. I've been noticing that more and more dragoons have been popping up, but more and more of them are sucking. It's kind of hard to get a party when the people who suck are the ones complaining about not getting a party. New flash assholes, LEARN TO FARM. I didn't spent over 8 million in gear to have it ruined by piss-poor lowbies who think they can go out with their wyvern and hit shit with no Dex or Accuracy whatsoever.

/end rant.

Sorry I hijacked a bit lol That definitely goes hand in hand with what you said originally. Most pickup parties just don't have the ambition, knowledge, and gear to go to these above and beyond locations just so they can shit themselves when they break 200 xp on the first kill but not even have enough MP to cure the tank before the next fight. Why fucking bother partying when you're pulling down 2K and hour. It's not worth your time, and definitely not worth mine.

And along the same concept, FUCK BIG SINGLE HITS. When was the last time someone ever looked at DoT and said "Hey, that dragoon (insert other DoT job such as Monk) did some pretty wicked damage." A party would rather pick the DRK just cause a single hit looks pretty, or a thief with SATA every minute. Now I'm not bashing DRK or THF, but us other jobs have our worth too. Just cause we aren't pouding out giant numbers, doesn't mean that in the same time, we are pounding out just as much damage.

/end 2nd rant

DoT and Consistent Fast XP > One-Hit Wonders and Chain 1's

 

[Rappa]

I've been noticing that more and more dragoons have been popping up, but more and more of them are sucking. It's kind of hard to get a party when the people who suck are the ones complaining about not getting a party.

I think that's happening with every job, not just the drgs. I've seen crappy players in just about every position. It's just harder for crappy DDs to advance as fast as crappy "desireable" jobs like tanks and healers/support. God, "Regret" is probably the single worst player I ever teamed with (PLD). Somehow he's in the 70s now. That's just sad.

 

[meeze]

Personally i boot shitty equiped/skilled players from xp parties i form. when their slot begins to slow down xp they are gone.

i think people need to take responsibility in the people they xp with.

the other day couple guys in my ls were complaining about the rdm not refreshing the pld. they are mainly a static, rdm being a sub for someone who couldnt make it. the set up is 3 blm rdm brd pld.

they acknowledge the fact that this rdm had never been in this set up, but conitinue bitching about it over ls. i tell them to say something. they dont, they keep bitching. finally i get the name and send the rdm a tell(turned out to be a friend of mine) and miracoulusly it worked.

had the rdm not changed his ways, i would have booted his ass, no replacement, i'm over i'll go make some gil, or skill up.

you folks should not have a problem booting or leaving from a pt that has morons that should not gain a level. you sit and complain to your ls about how dumb this guy is, but you are going to keep getting xp for the gimp, which will get him to the next level.

a few weeks later someone in your ls will be bitching, and low and behold you speak, i pt'd with that guy, you will exchange horror stories, and your ls mate will continue to rake in shitty xp with the moron and allow him to level again.

its ridicoulus, if someone sucks tell them how to be good, if they dont listen, boot their ass or leave yourself. someone is responsible for letting idiots level, and i'll be damned if i'm going to be one of them.

 

[Svina]

You can go harder places sooner with a bard. Only because the spells they give boost the melees and whatnot almost 2 whole levels it seems. Whenever I have a bard in my party and we do the "ideal" level mobs, things are way too easy... and then there's those sketchy places you think "ehh I dunno if we can do this" but a brd makes it seem alright.

Now if only they were available all the time =x

 

[Kelsilv]

Call me what you will, but I prefer the easy fights and massive chains of a high VT-low IT leveling spot over the big numbers and chain 1s of a IT++ spot.

Peoples' insistence on leveling on IT+++++++ is what led to the gear Nazism that exists in this game in the first place. On the VT-low IT stuff the primo gear is awesome and pushes your performance up, but it's far from the necessity having super-boosted stats is on harder mobs.

 

[Quieren]

I agree with meeze

I've seen a few (no offense to rdm's) rdm's that are lvl 70+ now and I know they are still horrible. But as long as we require refresh, and the lack of bards, they'll lvl. It really does make ya wanna pull the hair from your head, cause if I don't know what I'm doing, and the mages are getting drilled, I know I'm not doing my job. The main reason why some players still suck ass is because the arn't open to positive critisism. They know you need them, so they'll do whatever they feel like.

As for the exp chain topic, you're right. People focus on that first kill exp way too much. I'll take a chain 5 120-180 per killl, over chain 1-2 for 400-500 total exp and resting. Personally, I refuse to lvl in areas I know i'm not ready for. I'm tanking (being a pld) and I refuse to be thrown under a bus for the benefit of 5 other impatient asswipes

 

[Anderithe]

Yeah, (Refresh)(Do you need it.) :twisted: tell me about it.

It's also bad when you get into a good pt, that doesn't want to move on after you get a few levels and can get better xp elsewhere.

I was in a nice canon pt yesterday from thirty to halfway to thirty-three. Nin, Rng, Rng, Blm, Blm, Blm... but god xp sucked near the end.

I mean sure, we even got a chain seven in there, but the most exp we got a kill was around 187...

Okay, I didn't want to go to bat train hell either, but what about makara and sahaghin? Or crabs outside Norg?

I was about the fourth one in the leveleing too, so we had three 33's by the time i was 32.

 

[Bajaratt]

Heh, these people will get really disappointed when they hit 70 and most of the time they'll be getting under 200 exp per kill, maybe 200+ on some chain 2+. These guys need to experience a monk cannon, nothing about 200, but killing mobs so fast the exp just floods in.

 

[Kurgon]

People are always going to be impressed by big numbers. It doesn't matter that when you fight that IT++++ that you'll take 5+ minutes to kill it, you'll see the dreaded "Out of MP" <call3>, you'll have to rest afterwards, and someone may have died. At least you were able to see that 200 exp kill. :roll:

That is one of the major reasons that I dislike pulling for a group. God forbid that with the mobs I am pulling we could get a chain 5 ~240 exp but the first kill results in 150ish exp. Immediatly you start to hear OMG the exp is horrible. I'm wasting my money/time/ect. Pull something harder. Is it also a crime to raise TP on a slightly weaker mob to skillchain on a tougher mob the next fight? Give me VT's with a couple IT's with one modifier thrown in (either high evasion or high defense) all day long. An area isn't bad for exping until everything there is T. When you like to exp like that though it is important to watch those level gaps.

Heh I had a group try to pull me over to Crawlers Nest when I hit level 33 and I had to refuse. The bats and beetles were still giving good exp as far as I was concerned. The fights in the Citedal hadn't even hit that easy point in which the exp to effort ratio was hitting the sweetspot. Luckily I was able to convince them to stay and I almost gained two more levels there before the group disbanded.

 

[Kurgon]

People are always going to be impressed by big numbers. It doesn't matter that when you fight that IT++++ that you'll take 5+ minutes to kill it, you'll see the dreaded "Out of MP" <call3>, you'll have to rest afterwards, and someone may have died. At least you were able to see that 200 exp kill. :roll:

That is one of the major reasons that I dislike pulling for a group. God forbid that with the mobs I am pulling we could get a chain 5 ~240 exp but the first kill results in 150ish exp. Immediatly you start to hear OMG the exp is horrible. I'm wasting my money/time/ect. Pull something harder. Is it also a crime to raise TP on a slightly weaker mob to skillchain on a tougher mob the next fight? Give me VT's with a couple IT's with one modifier thrown in (either high evasion or high defense) all day long. An area isn't bad for exping until everything there is T. When you like to exp like that though it is important to watch those level gaps.

Heh I had a group try to pull me over to Crawlers Nest when I hit level 33 and I had to refuse. The bats and beetles were still giving good exp as far as I was concerned. The fights in the Citedal hadn't even hit that easy point in which the exp to effort ratio was hitting the sweetspot. Luckily I was able to convince them to stay and I almost gained two more levels there before the group disbanded.

 

[Kurgon]

Sorry for the double post. The forum lagged on me and I swear I only hit the Submit button once.

Another thing I dislike is when you are pulling in an area you almost have outgrown. A case would be Secret Beach in the Dunes. I'm in a group of all 19's and there are very few mobs there that are conning IT+, many of the pugs are VT, the Crabs are T to VT, and many of the gobs were VT. So I am doing my best to pull any IT's I can find but the majority are VT's and I am ignoring the T's so I am already getting grumbles from the group on the quality of the exp. "Pull an IT, pull an IT, pull an IT" Over time as mobs respawn damn near everything is now T so I start pullling them just so that they can respawn as , hopefully, something a little tougher. The shit hit the fan then. People were threatening to leave, to kick me from the group, ect. I explained what my rational was and all I was told was to pull IT's and nothing but IT's. I had to put my foot down finally and told the mage that was complaining the most that he could pull for the group if he wanted to and that I hoped he would have a better time in finding all those IT's that I was missing. :evil: Man I didn't realize that I was still mad about that. *deep breath* *deep breath*

 

[Sethala]

Kind of a side note about CN...

Depending on where you camp, level 33-34 parties can actually go there. The main thing to know is that you need to camp near the entrance - don't drop off the cliff. Crawlers near the entrance are a few levels lower than ones in the sack room. I had a pretty good party near the entrance a while ago at that level that was chaining bees and crawlers (we would have chained only crawlers, but people kept zoning worker trains and taking them all away from us).

Also found out the hard way that Final Sting ignores Utsusemi... (luckily I didn't die)

Anyway, I do agree that big numbers doesn't mean it's a good party. You want good exp/hour, not exp/kill.

 

[reddogneo]

Once again another person that agrees with yall. I remember being in a group rng rng pld thf smn blm 55-57 in KRT chaining VT bats and some scorpions everyonce in a while. And we kicked ass by choosing to take the weakers mobs we managed to pull almost 8k xp an hour with very little if any down time. We need to plant more seeds that these stupid ppl need to look at xp gained per hour instead if per kill. I was in a party gettin 250 xp per kill but the down time was ridiculus we only averaged 3k xp per hour not to mention we had a dumbass blm that refused to MB cuz they said they didnt see the point. Also that kelp using freeze every mob and almost dieing every mob and we had a nin tank they even freezed early in the battle . Im a rng and if the xp aint worth it ill leave the group in a split second I much rather chain VTs cuz thats the best xp i ever got is chaining VTs. Also chaining VTs opens up u to have fewer healers and more DD which kill ALOT faster. One of my best parties ever was 3 rangers a nin tank and a whm no 6th and we chained close to 8k per hour also on ITs but thats what happenes when you have 3 rngs in one party. What was also funny is the whm got really bored with 4-5 members with utsusmi noone ever gets hit ever. Our whm was healin other parties and raises other ppl while I was still pullin mob after mob I luved that party and I hope to bake a static with that set up one day. But anyways back to the point. We all just need to start sayin something and if there to stupid to listen leave party and set up your own or even bet gill that you can promise better xp in a weaker area. Something. Alot of ppl dont read these flame boards so we need to take these opinions to the game alot more offen. Regardless of how desprate we STOP KISSING ALL RDMS ASS. I say fuck a bad rdm I rather take a good blm than a bad rdm just to stop these arrogant noob who know that rdms are important from takin advantage and gettin easy lvls but thats my opinion :twisted: :twisted:

 

[Reishu]

Personally i agree... shit holes aren't bad if it's fast-paced and fun

when i choose my zones (which i almost always do, since i hate bad boring parties), i always opt for VT. unless it's a heavy-DD cannon party

Parties with good exp, i rarely bother to do more than cure, mb, and refresh, since the mobs die so fast (kind of sad to blind something at the start of a fight, only to see it die half a minute later...)

parties that i end up finding a replacement for are parties that just take too long. no offense, but fast big exp/hr > slow big exp/mob. if i have to convert just because the mob takes so long to kill, i'll avoid your parties i'll keep my convert for a party that actually lets me keep it for better reasons (like dealing with a bad set of links).

and wonder of wonders, my good parties are always VT-chaining...