teamwork, teamwork, teamwork.

[asiamise]

Last night I died twice, Why? lack of teamwork.
to the party I was in, I apologize for leaving but after a raise you would
think the leader would've learned not to aggro a mob we cant handle.
I also watched someone aggro a ghoul all they to the entrance, real smooth.........
I may not be a veteran by any means, but I was fortunate enough early
on to learn the ropes from vets.
Too many people in parties aggro either without conning the mob
or checking to see if the party is ready.

Any FFXI player should know the basics.

Melee in front attacking, Melee with highest HP (pref warrior) provoking
and healers to the back.

I lead a group of greenies into the shakrami maze the other day and
it started out like hell. no direction. I took command and used the above
strategy and everyone leveled within 30 mins.

If there are any lvl 13-16 players looking to maze party and gain
good xp /tell me.
I assure success if we all follow a plan, agree on it and stick to it.

To anyone just learning, please listen to those more experienced.
They are not trying to be A$$holes, they are trying to teach and gain xp.
The bonds you make with good players are gold. I find this out more everyday. And if you show you can follow a plan you will get invites allot
more from good players.

I will close this with a shout out to one of the baddest Taru out there,
Rimushima! this Taru selflessly followed us around and assisted on heals.
He also raised me yesterday after our leader aggo'd a carniverous crawler and killed us all. YOU ROCK!!

spread the word on the forum!!!

 

[Akamu]

Just wanted to note that "highest HP" should not always be your tank. Speaking as a former monk (galka), I always had the highest HP.. but only at a few times did I have the highest DEF. I spoke out so much about how with the highest VIT and close to highest DEF that Monks are great tanks.. but now I realize.. they do take a fair bit more damage than war's and especially pallys.

It's not all about "one person" taking the damage, it's all about the person who will take the LEAST, being the tank so that you have to heal less total HP during the fight. If the hate is shared, that's not a big deal, as a whm, I have macro's to heal everyone in the party, even set up one for an alliance person once..

Lower level people need to learn what hate control is all about. It's essential for a good party. If your whm isn't really ready.. or you fight a mob that is too tough, you may need to share the hate, but for the most part, whoever is tanking should be provoking whenever they can to keep that hate up. When the mob turns away, if they can't provoke, then the non tanking wars should provoke, but only then.. or if the whm is out of MP, then you may need to share the hate to spread the damage across the party so nobody dies.

Pulling and tanking are art forms. But then again, most jobs have some form of a cycle to them that you learn only by playing them.

 

[asiamise]

Thank you for your input
Thats what I'm talking about, the vets know whats going on and we
n00bs would do well to listen.

 

[Akamu]

NP. I try to help when I can.

When I was low level, I was always thinking I was bad ass cause I had tons of HP and would beat down mobs like nobodies business, until I hit level 25 and started messing stuff up by using provoke all the time. I cursed at the pld's for being pushy and jackasses for telling me not to do that. I kind of have a running joke with my friends that all pld's are assholes.. which is funny cause I'm working on unlocking that job. hehe.. I can be an ass too!

Anyways, I've also learned that high level people can be wrong too, so don't take everything you read as gospel.. but most of it is pretty good info.

I've had a lot of good parties but I can say I've probably had even more bad ones. It's easy to forget the bad ones though.

Some simple info for new players to become better:

Learn how to do skill chains! - you get an xp bonus for doing them, plus you really rock the monster when you do a big chain! You don't necessarily need to have chart or know how to tell everyone what to do, but you do NEED to know how to perform them and do them at the correct time.

When you get your party all set - figure out what mobs you want to fight. Fight one to see how it goes. At that point decide if the party is strong enough to handle say 4 in a row. If they aren't, maybe scale back a monster type.. or see if you can do 3 in a row. The best way to gain lots of XP is by getting xp chains. If you can fight 2-4 monsters without resting, you will be better off than fighting one at a time and resting in between. Now at certain levels you may be fighting IT's for 200xp and having to rest between each fight. That is all well and good, but if you can fight 3 VT's without resting, you will be getting more XP in a shorter period of time and getting lots more skill practice and skill chains which offers yet another xp perk.

Also, unless you are a bard, you really shouldn't party until you get to level 10 or 12.. Most jobs can solo to 12 without too much trouble. Just last night I was leveling my summoner. I was at the low end of 10, and I know that at 10, you can fight dc-t worms in la theine (near sandoria one zone from low level area), so I snuck my way passed all the mean mobs that would kick my but to find the area I wanted to solo. "The Lake", as it's commonly referred to by anybody who has leveled near sandoria in latheine. Your monster selection is a very important part of good xp'ing in solo or party. Worms are above the curve for xp compared to how tough they are. As a smn/whm I can solo tough worms and follow up with a dc one. I wish I could have found lots of evens so I could get xp chains, but the dice weren't in my favor last night.. so I just dealt with dc's, some evens, and some toughs.

Shortly after I got going, an old ls friend /t'd me asking if I wanted to party.. I really didn't want to because I'm well aware that it would slow me down in my xp'ing, but I did anyways, I was only 800 till 11th level. I solo'd until they got to where I was, I was @500 or so when we actually partied up. It was a group of 4, 3 subbed whm's including me. We took on some T and VT thickshells.. which I knew I couldn't solo. T thickshell = way tougher than a T worm. Anyways, we would get like 80 xp per and couldn't chain them.. so what was the point? I got more xp solo and could chain if the right mobs spawned. We dragged on for awhile and I finally got 11.. I would have had it a good 10-15 minutes sooner had I not partied..

So basically.. unless you CANT solo, like bards really can't.. you shouldn't party till lvl 12. I've done it so many times and I know it doesn't work.. actually.. sub 10 bard can somewhat solo.. LOL.. I subbed beastmaster so I could charm the mob if things got bad. Saved my skin many times.

What else can I offer? Hmm.. don't be afraid to ask for help.. but don't be annoying about it. I helped a few people last night when I was doing some pld quest stuff. Did some sneak/deodorize and guided a guy through parts of davoi. Took me a few minutes and saved him from a lot of problems. It's all about karma. I've been helped so many times with things like that, you just have to repay people, even if it's different people.. LOL.. I've had JPN help too, learn to use the translator and maybe even print out a cheat sheet of romaji phrases.

Oh and use the "search comment" thing if you are on a quest and need help. JPN players use search instead of examine.. so if you have that search comment flag up, they will look at it and possibly help out.

 

[Akamu]

Oh wanted to note that I surely don't think of myself as a veteran of ffxi! And I know there is still much for me to learn.

 

[annabelle]

Oh wanted to note that I surely don't think of myself as a veteran of ffxi! And I know there is still much for me to learn.

Yep! Like for instance...

Some simple info for new players to become better:

Learn how to do skill chains! - you get an xp bonus for doing them, plus you really rock the monster when you do a big chain!

LOL, you do not get an xp bonus for doing skillchains. You've confused skillchains with exp chains, of which you go into detail later on about fighting multiple T+ enemies within a given time limit.

But heck, even most veterans still have lots to learn. There are simply too many jobs, crafts, quests, etc. to know it all. I even just learned today the true proof that Dia and Bio don't stack, and this after having leveled a WHM through 41 levels! O_O

 

[Taruwaru]

I'm pretty sure you do get an xp for doing skillchains. I've heard it from many, many, many people. One of those wonderful myths.

Try killing a VT in the dunes with and without a skillchain.

 

[kazthegun]

you do not get an xp bonus for doing a skillchain.

you get an xp bonus for chaining mobs.

 

[Taruwaru]

You're right

And I should have known better. FFXI Mystery Tour doesn't mention skillchains anywhere in their XP tables.

I don't remember where I heard this first, but there's apparently a lot of confused people out there, because I have heard it from at least 5 or 6 different people.

 

[annabelle]

Indirectly, effective usage of skillchains can help parties kill the mobs faster, making it easier to perform exp chains. But there is no direct correlation between the two.

 

[TheOsyris]

HI TARUWARU!!!!

 

[Taruwaru]

HI OSYRIS!!!! :lol:

 

[Akamu]

I'm not convinced one way or another about the xp bonus for renkei.. but I guess it really doesn't matter.. The simple fact that if you kill it faster and with less usage of your HP and MP, you can keep a chain going, and get more XP overall.. so it's really moot.

 

[annabelle]

Well, just remember, I don't consider it "moot" if you decide to share this uncertain information with new players. That kind of misinformation leads to ugly headaches when I'm managing new people in parties. ^^

 

[Akamu]

I have yet to see any proof that xp isn't affected by use of renkei..

 

[Sculli]

That shouldn't be too tricky to find out I imagine. Kill a DC with renkei and kill the very same type mob (DC, same defense, same kind) without and see what the XP for the two kills is, no?

 

[Daclade]

It's prolly best to do the expieriment with even match, since decent challenges could still potentially be different levels.

 

[annabelle]

I have yet to see any proof that xp isn't affected by use of renkei..

As far as obtaining proof, I think it speaks for itself that I have never ever heard of this "skillchain exp bonus" from anywhere since playing the game since November. Even in-depth FAQs that go so far as to provide specific multipliers and exp formulas never mention this. You are the first person I've ever heard this rumor from, so I believe the burden of proof falls on you, my friend. ^^

I honestly wouldn't mind trying this, but my schedule is completely booked between leading my LS, helping friends fight their Rank 3 dragons, organizing an Event for this Saturday, performing my own experiments in aggro, and the occasional leveling in-between.

As far as testing this, Even Match or Very Tough are only 1-level con ranges, I believe, so you should get the same base exp everytime.

 

[Akamu]

Well, I can't say I ever read it anywhere, I just heard people mention it in the game.. but I've noticed xp fluctuate a LOT.. but there are many factors that play into that.. like level range in party, how the mob cons to the highest level person, etc, xp chains, etc.

I could very well be incorrect, and I'll be man enough to admit that if it's true.. Next time I'm screwing around.. waiting for a party member or something, I'll whip out some renkei with someone on a few dc's and evens and take a note on the xp gained. It's not a big deal.. regardless of the xp, people still need to learn how to do them.

 

[annabelle]

It's not a big deal.. regardless of the xp, people still need to learn how to do them.

Very true! And as I mentioned before, there is an indirect exp benefit in that you're able to kill harder enemies at a faster rate. But there are other good applications of weaponskills as well, like having a G-axe WAR start an IT battle with Shield Break to lower its evasion, or having my lvl 25 MNK wait on Shoulder Tackle as a bombstopper, meaning the WHM has to cure less and we have less downtime. But if, while doing this, I had some gullible DRG in my party that said, "No, renkei plz. more xp," I might have to scream.

Either way, I'm in a static party of MNK, PLD, WHM, RDM, BLM, and maybe another WAR. With that much mage power, the skillchains are worth far more for the magic burst oppurtunities than the actual skillchain damage. ^^