Mesharr’s cooking has gone up, to the point where she can semi-reliably make grilled mutton, which is a poor man’s mithkabob. She’s up to level 10 THF, level 20 MNK, and has some good archery skills. She’s also made it to Jeuno and is one step shy of the chocobo quest, which will be completed as soon as I log back on.
I am, however, growing increasingly disenchanted with monk. It’s about as exciting as fishing, which is only marginally more exciting than watching grass grow. The good news is that I can do my taxes while fighting, without compromising my role in the party or putting myself at great risk. The bad news is, I want to do my taxes while fighting.
There seems to be a perpetually short supply of casters on Garuda at low levels. And THF 15 is calling to me with the sweet siren song of lots of toys. I think what I’ll do is get up to thf 15 or more likely 20, then whm/blm my way up to warp. Further plans can be made after that. =)
Cooking and woodworking skills will figure prominently in these plans, however.
Monk is the easiest job in the game. I imagine it’s also the most boring. I prefer mage jobs because there is actually something to do besides stand there. Granted, you hit a macro saying what your tp is to get ready for a skill chain. But, that’s about it. As you said, you can just position yourself and fight. Zzzzzzz. Being a mage usually leads to parties too. Usually very quickly. Much more so than monk. Yes, monk is a nice damage dealer. But, it’s never at the top of anyone’s list when they are putting together a party. Although, the AF armor looks awesome and I’d love to have it.
Take thief to 25 for flee. At the very least. Although, my thf is only 16. But, it’s purely for farming. Although, I really want flee now that my main job is past 50 and I could flee while farming. I just don’t want to actually level it.
I always envied Monks’ style, but I suppose they are pretty straightforward to play. I hear this turns around at higher levels for a few reasons:
-Chi Blast is super fast for claiming notorious monsters
-Hyper notorious monster parties love Monks for Subtle Blow (slowing down the beast’s game-ending special techniques)
-Some swear by the unconventional MNK/SAM and SAM/MNK tanks (requiring Trick Attack to set up) where dodge, counter, counterstance, and third eye keep you alive while you unleash rapid weapon skills to keep the enemy on you. I’ve only seen this is action once however. =)
Flee is wonderful for mining/logging/harvesting and for notorious monster hunting. I recently hit THF25, and I want to take it higher so I can use it as a main job against some notorious monsters (coincidentally, a proper THF needs things like leaping boots and emperor hairpin >_<). I actually had good luck with parties from 15-25. Sneak Attack makes us major damage dealers at that level. At 22, I put on a Platoon Gun and bullets and blasted everything to smithereens up to 25. I think our WHMs got upset with me since I'm harder to heal and had quite a lot of monster attention after a Sneak Attack and Sharpshot->Split Shot in rapid succession. ^_^ In fact, if you’re dreading leveling THF, consider /RNG as support. Soloing RNG up to 10, 15, 20, or further is fun (if you stick to worms), Wide Scan makes pulling a breeze, and the ranged weapon skills make THF a lot more exciting in combat.
I don’t think it’s that hard to get a party as a thf after 15. In fact, it’s probably easier than MNK is. Past 30, with trick attack, a THF becomes even more valuable. Still, from what I understand, it can be difficult to get parties. Another reason I haven’t leveled THF is the lack of leaping boots and the emperor hairpin. I actually got the hairpin to drop many months ago and sold it back when Phalanx actually cost gil. Now, I wish I had it back. I have gotten the Emperor three times. I’m sure if I really wanted to camp him, I could get it again.
My ranger is 12. I already have so many jobs that I can’t focus on leveling that too. Lately, all I’ve been doing is leveling crafting. I haven’t actually leveled a job in about a week. Technically, I tried today to level my bard. But, it was a disaster. Our white mage shot down the myth that all Japanese players are super and know what they are doing. Of course, I already knew that. I just wish others wouldn’t be in awe of them as if they are the only ones who truly know how to play the game.
Yeah, I’m consistently underestimating the time & effort involved in leveling jobs. But at least Mesharr’s catlike agility is making her an ace with a bow. Those daggers are highly overrated in terms of damage done.
There is a reason that ranger is one of the biggest damage dealers in the game.
Monk is your standard damage dealer. Damage dealer is probably the least exciting melee to play, as your only goals are to do as much damage as possible and to avoid getting aggro. This changes at 30, when you have to set up for a THF’s Trick Attack. On top of this, DRK, RNG, and SAM are generally considered better at your job until the later levels (60+). While this is actually somewhat open for debate, popular opinion is what determines invites, not actual effectiveness. If you are set on being a damage dealer, I highly recommend DRK or RNG. (Probably DRK, because it’s a lot cheaper to be effective) This is based solely on your ability to get a party, which turns out to be one of the most important choices in this game. Unless you get a reputation for constantly pulling aggro off the tank, or an inability to fuidama, you’ll never lack for parties.
I have yet to see MNK/anything work as tank after the 20s, or SAM/anything after the 30s. Neither job can handle the punishment (mediocre armor at best) or keep the hate (not enough damage dealt, especially if you aren’t wearing the damage-boosting lighter armor). Once you get out of the low levels, everyone wants a PLD/WAR, a NIN/WAR, and failing that, a WAR/NIN. When desperate, they’ll ask a WAR/xxx. Some american parties will mistakenly try a SAM/WAR.
I recommend avoiding THF unless you have a regular party. Most americans simply don’t understand how important thieves are for aggro control (and the average skill level of an american THF does nothing to help this bad reputation), which means you’re going to spend an average of 2-3 hours looking for a party each time you want to level. Then again, damage dealers usually spend this amount of time as well unless they’re DRK. THF and damage-that-isn’t-DRK are the two least wanted jobs in an american party.
Your WHM is rightfully annoyed at you. If you’re getting the monster’s attention, you’re doing too much damage. There is such a thing, and too much damage is the point where you’re regularly pulling hate off the tank, and need significant healing. Go NIN sub to raise this cutoff, and you’ll be able to blink the first 3 hits away. THF/RNG is going to have a much harder time finding groups than THF/NIN, which is already tough.
This advice sounds like it only applies to hardcore players, but it really starts applying to everyone once you hit Jeuno. FFXI is a hardcore game, which is why I recently stopped playing it (lack of time). If one person doesn’t know what they’re doing, XP can drop from ~3k per hour or more to under 1k. When you look at the amount of XP you’ll need to level (~64k to get from 74 to 75), most people start min/maxing, because no one wants to spend 60 hours of levelling (more like 90 after time spend forming a party) when they can do it in a dozen. The result is that people who don’t have the generally accepted subjobs, underlevelled subjobs, or unusually low rank/race start having to wait hours for a party.
Sometimes there aren’t enough mages, and sometimes there are a ton. The two jobs generally in demand the most are tank (PLD or NIN), and BRD. I had trouble as RDM some nights. If there’s a Taru RDM your level (and the Japanese ones are usually higher rank), you’re not going to get a group until after they find one. Same thing with WHM. Half the time, there aren’t enough WHM to go around and you’ll get an invite in under a minute. And some of the time, there are a couple other WHM with flags up with higher rank than you, and most of the parties your level are led by a WHM… Being a mage is no guarantee for an invite, but it sure beats MNK or THF.
Warning: excessive stat wankage behind cut, proceed with caution
It’s better than excessive Wank Statage…oh, wait. Maybe not 🙂
Hmm…all this talk about FFXI makes me want to play my BLM/WHM again :-). I miss BLM, blowing stuff up is fun hehe, we just die way too fast 🙁
What, are you taru? =P
I’ve never really had a problem with dying as BLM. Of course, you need a competant tank. That is unfortuantely a problem I ran into today at 43. I was hoping they would know what they were doing by then. Sigh.
Yeah I’m Taru….Hume’s suck
😉