To party or not to party??

[Spiritbear]

I just made bst to 17 last night. I had been soloing in Fort Ghelsba, Giddeus and La Theine Plateau but was not getting that much exp. So I decided to start a pt with a buddy of mine that was a 17 drk. We tried to duo but weren't getting much of anything as far as exp goes. So I formed a pt consisting of 15 Bst (me), 17 drk, 17 bst, 16 pld, 16 whm, 16 nin. We headed to valkrum dunes and each got 2 lvls before we disbanded. All in all it was pretty fun and we did alright on the exp end, nothing lower then 125 while fighting. I was curious if anyone else parties with their bst and how it went?

[Aether]

I started partying at 37, haven't stopped yet (at 66). So I can't really say how it goes at that level, as I solo'd to 37. But i'm sure if you're geared properly you can keep up with the other dds, doesn't necassarily mean you're gonna get the invite rate they do though.

[LyonheartLakshmi]

Pros of partying for exp: safer exp sessions

Cons of partying for exp: don't get the practice of soloing (you can easily get enough practice to be proficient as a DD with half a dozen other jobs); have to split drops with 5 other people

[DR2D2]

I have bst upto 13. The reason why I like bst so much is that it allowes you to level any job solo(just use bst as sub and charm Em to help with toughs). Remember, alot of the higher level things require at least some form of a party so eventually we will all need to be able to party(which using bst gives at-least some form of practice). With my time restrants I feel soloing with bst is a better use of my limited time than trying to find/use a party(except in specific situations)

[Shadowffvi]

I solo'd until about level 15-16, then thats when my Thief character actually started to become useful (ie: with sneak attack), and I've been partying for exp pretty much ever since.

[Sabaron]

I'm not a BST, but I wish more of them would PT every now and again... I fully realize that a good percentage of the BST population chose it for its soloability, but I like seeing them in PT--they parse nicely with their pet.

[Susurrus]

If I see them seeking I invite them sometimes. But I never see them seeking!

[little ninja]

You can tell when the servers are starting to slow down when bst get into parties more an more. I remember alot of threads asking how the invite rates were since the patch where we didnt lose exp for having a call pet, an 9 out of 10 didnt see invites.

Great thing about bst you can seek while you exp. You can duo all the way up to 6 man bst parties. Then you can jump into norm parties.. 7 different forms of pts.. Thats what makes bst so fun..

As for your ??? I did 1 norm pt while i was in the dunes. i think it was arounf lvl 16. That was the only time i was in a normal pt. Otherwise i was soloing or in pts with other bsts. An even then that wasnt til the 60's

[Haggai]

I got to BST20 without any regular exp parties. I had two duo sessions with the same guy out in Buburimu. That was fun. I'd totally PT with my BST, though.

[Kurb]

I'm biased here because of my long line of crap parties so i say no

[XNihili]

If I were to have a decent DD equipment (as I had when I were lower lvl), I would party at any opportunity.
But I have sucky wucky equipment and am too poor to buy these Haubergeon and Maneater stuff, I shy away from them.

As the invite rate of BST is kinda low, I think you'll have plenty opportunity to solo (and learn to die) anyway. Some solo camps are so good it would be a waste not to enjoy them.

[Spiritbear]

I have now been in several pts and I enjoy both pting and soloning on bst. I think the thing I like the best about bst is the fact that I can solo while I'm seeking. Every pt I have been in so far I out dmg the others in the pt by just a little bit, but once I got the Call Beast ability my dmg went up (counting pet dmg). I have only had one bad pt and that happened to be with my best friend, he has been playing the game for about 3 months longer then me and didn't want to believe me when I told him that my jug pet didn't effect pt exp. He said that some 35+ bst told him it did. We argued about it for about 30 min. I then got on my bst ls and asked them to /t him and confirm that I was right. He wasn't to happy about that. Maybe next time he will listen to me when I'm the one playing the job. I have made it a pt to give every job a chance to be in a pt with me, and while I have them in pt I ask then about their job and how it is played so I get at least a basic understanding of what they do so I can set up a pt when I need to and there are only a limited amount of jobs seeking.

[seq]

to be honest, i do party and i do solo.
sometimes soloing for countless hours is boring, so usually i solo half my level and party the other half.
with my DD setup, i parse good and like any other DD with my pet (Sabersiravarde).

[Raydeus]

I think BST can be a good DD and perform other functions in the party so I would be open to party with a BST in a conventional XP party.

Then again I've only duo'd with BSTs, but the experiences have been really fun and productive both XP and skill-wise.

Just one thing, you call me or the party normie and I'll kick you out of it faster than you can say "I'll go back to soloing".

[Spiritbear]

Just one thing, you call me or the party normie and I'll kick you out of it faster than you can say "I'll go back to soloing".

What does that mean??????