Sad state of party invites

[Ameroth]

So, here I sit, typing this post up on my laptop while I've just hit the 2-hr mark of being LFG, and it gets me wondering: Is DRK invite rate bad throughout the entirety of the career, or just in my level range (DRK46)? I got DRK from 1 to 37-38 in about a few weeks time, but I mostly attribute that to people leveling jobs to 37 as subs.

After level 40, however, I am very lucky to see a party invite maybe once every 4-5 days, and most of the invites are DDs needing a replacement. Problem with this is that more often than not, the party is preparing to disband before my empress has even worn off.

So, I guess I'm just wondering if any experienced DRKs can share some light on if I should expect to wait until next year to hit 55+ or if it's just conditional (level range, times I am able to party, server, etc)? I really love this job, but the daunting wait between parties is really bringing me down.

[TheGrandMom]

It all depends on when you lvl'd your drk too. I lvl'd mine when drg's where pentawhores and trying to get a pt then was worse odds then winning the lottery. I don't know what its like nowadays though. I would think with the 2 handed weapon update that it might be a bit easier than back then. I just remembering sitting at my desk doing other stuff for 11 hours a day without an invite and that could happen for days on end.

[Caspian]

I don't think its b/c you're a drk. More likely its b/c you're a DD and the population for 37+ sucks. So many people at 75, only rarely lvl other jobs and thats usually with a static. I remember seeing the census a year or two ago, and only like 10% of people had characters in the 50-70 range. I don't know if thats the highest lvl on the account or all the jobs period, but its abysmally small no matter how you slice it. Hate to say it, but not a lot of options, other than use your empress ring as much as possible when you do get invites and tough it out, or try and get some friends to static with you.

[tdh]

It's partly your level range, it's party you're now a DRK. Even at Lv.75 DRKs LFP for hours on end. In that case it's more because DRKs are slow and everybody wants to fight mobs that automatically make you a leech. (Imps & Great Colibri)

I recently tried to merit up at least 7 merits for my SAM75 DING~age. One day I actually had my flag up for 6 hours before I got an invite that lasted 45 minutes. Now of course I got my full Empress worth of EXP, but I wanted much more.

Now at the level you're at, you may actually be put into a Skillchain party, but the TP Burn has taken over the lower levels now as well. At that range, DRK has crappy Weapon Skills, no Haste gear, and slow TP gain even with Abs-TP due to under leveled Dark Magic skill.

My suggestion would be to build a static. I think if not for several statics, I'd still be DRK51 like it was when I returned from my first break. Static got me to Lv.51, another static got me to Lv.55, another static got me to Lv.70. At Lv.70 I got tired of waiting and struck out on my own. It still took me 3 months to get to Lv.75 due to non-existent party invites.

As much as I've always enjoyed DRK, it's basically useless to me now since nobody wants it. (Spare us the Kraken Club DRK arguments please.) Of course having a RDM and now SAM at Lv.75 don't exactly help, but I wish it was more useful than a sub job at this point. DRK can do some pretty awesome things if allowed.

[TheGrandMom]

You know you might have a pick up on invites after the expansion is released. All of the high lvls are going to want to exp a new job probably and parties may be more easy to come by. In the meantime, farm and work up your stash of gil for food and equips so you don't have to take time out to do these things later. Good luck, getting pt's 70+ is much easier with melee burns!

[IfritnoItazura]

I was seeking for over 2 hours last night... on RDM75. Finally resorted to murdering Lesser Colibris to kill time.

Should've leveled BRD instead. >_>;

[Menelaus]

I have never leveled drk. If i do it will be to 37 for chainspell stun for rdm.
some reasons or ->opinions<- i have on the subject which may or may not be agreed with. I lvled mnk along side a drk (Drebian retired Ifrit) ; ; back before the tp burn days and leveling rate was about the same.

1. /sea all invite 45-48 = DRK DRK DRK BLU BLU MNK MNK SAM SAM PLD SMN(mayb)
2. Disbanding DD's search for replacements and get the same results
3. 3 out of 5 DRKs think its better to own and die than moderate and live
4. 2 out of 5 Drks believe its up to the main healer to keep them alive as if they were a tank
5. some Drks /thf and disregard trick attack
6. Even after they are dead they continue to brag about ws damage in party
7. They tend to argue how awesome they are compared to others

These are based off of my own experiences with DRK's and a personal friend who wasnt like that at all and left the game. He would have loved ABS TP ; ;
On a side note I love DRK's my best friend was a DRK. I'm on Sereph now and any DRK who just wants to go out an train a zone... duo an nm or just hang out in dunes messing around for no reason let me know I am so wishing the fun would come back to this game.

if you read this.... COME BACK Drebian ; ;

[TheGrandMom]

3. 3 out of 5 DRKs think its better to own and die than moderate and live
4. 2 out of 5 Drks believe its up to the main healer to keep them alive as if they were a tank

Amen. I have a drk in my ls that has this attitude. He's a great guy but he just doesn't get that maybe he should tone it down. Aggressor + Berserk + Last Resort + Souleater + WS = DEATH, get it through your thick skull! lol He was in the outside alliance at Dynamis the other day and I was on rdm/blm and the only healer in the alliance. I had 2 people with the above attitude and trying to do the sleeping, healing, hasting, and refreshing with them in the ally was insane. He died, more than once, and there wasn't a damn thing I could do about it.

5. some Drks /thf and disregard trick attack

Interesting issue I had with this recently. I was in a regular exp pt. *gaspshockgasp* We had a nin, war, thf, drk (me), rdm, brd. So the war and nin (pt leader) were supposed to be bouncing hate back and forth. The thf took the nin and I got the war. Well the war /t'd me after several fights and told me to stop tricking onto him because he didn't want the colibris to steal his food. The nin and I discussed it and I didn't do it all the time but there were times I had to do it and the war had to take that chance. Well, the war had a solution for it. He'd save his TP/abilities and wait till I hit my macro and then ws and turn the mob briefly so that sneak/trick wouldn't do squat and my ws's sucked. It just aggravated the hell out of me! >< Or my favorites are the ones that do a little jig to the side so that sneak/trick doesn't land on them. I think some people get aggravated and just give up on trick attack.

[Lmnop]

He'd save his TP/abilities and wait till I hit my macro and then ws and turn the mob briefly so that sneak/trick wouldn't do squat and my ws's sucked.

I would have found this person's RL address and purchased a tazer for the impending confrontation. Or at least blisted and kicked out of party. My biggest hatred of /thf is that you're too dependent on the rest of the party for you to perform at your best. It's bad enough just with ignorance or people not paying attention. To me, purposely screwing up a thf or /thf is unforgivable. But then, that attitude is why my THF will never go above level 45. I couldn't bear stupid people.

[DakAttack]

Well the war /t'd me after several fights and told me to stop tricking onto him because he didn't want the colibris to steal his food.

You're not supposed to use food while fighting Colibri unless you've got a competant Paladin or Ninja. It's not like you really need food unless you're fighting naked.

[Menelaus]

I am not sure how Drk is but as SAM/THF i have a nice macro setup

F1 GEKKO/sneakattack Same for Kasha
F2 GEKKO/Trickattack
F3 GEKKO/SNK&Trick

a three macro set with Yukikaze/trick attack (on the tank)
GEKKO/ normal WS
KASHA/ sneak attack for light.

on the note of the food deal just do this.
lol ><
works for me.
I would sugjest this order in battle if possible, keeping in mind that its more important to keep the hate on the tank so you dont get smoked later on.

Save your tp for the beginning of a fight. Trick the tank with whatever WS
then build tp for the end of the fight for sneak attack. I still grab hate even after that.

If you just put pinning the mob on the tank as your priority and let the other DD's worry about trying to pull it off him this should keep you pretty safe. Tricking others gets anoying. If you have already tricked the tank then unload at will.

[Vyuru]

Well, still haven't unlocked Drk myself, but....

Are you only LFG or are you trying to make a party yourself?

Most likely I think the best advice would be to make a static simply because nothing beats a good static party. My next best advice would be to make your own parties.

Making your own parties is great because in the low levels you have a ton of places to camp, the world is your oyster.

However once you get to the higher 70+ levels, I will warn you that you will most likely get burned out due to the, Imp ONLY!!!! attitudes that you will run into.

*rant*

(I mean seriously people?!?!?! There are 80+ people at the fricking mire camp, EIGHTY+ MERITED PEOPLE EXPING THERE, AND YOU STILL WILL ONLY GO TO THE MIRE?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!)

Sorry, that's been festering in me for a few days now....

If you've just been LFG, I would say to do some searches and see how many other people in your level range are LFG as well to start to get an idea of what is the best time to LFG.

Alot of times though nobody wants to be the party leader, so you could have many optimal party setups that just don't get started, so I would highly recommend that you make your own parties.

Another thing, if you make your own parties and you see a job you want but the person isn't LFG? Ask anyway, alot of people will take the party even if they aren't LFG.

Some might argue that it is rude to ask people who aren't LFG, but hey, that's what /anon is for, and it doesn't cost them anything to either respond with a "Yes", "Maybe", or "No" to your question.

[Ameroth]

Ya I'm thinking about just building my own parties whenever I can. The past few nights there were tons of DDs looking, but not a single mage. And a simple /sea of mages in my level range shows maybe one or two people already in a party.

I had a static getting started, but then it fell through and that LS disbanded. ><

If all else fails, I'll just give DRK a break for now and continue to party on another job.

[Lionheart]

I've waited 6 hours or so before, and by the time I finally got an invite I turned it down because I didn't feel like playing anymore. At lv62 currently.

Long story short, we're not a priority class, maybe more-so for missions and bosses because of our ability to stun, etc. But we just don't have much love in leveling parties. Maybe that will change when I can close level3 skillchains. Who knows.

[Menelaus]

OR! do what everyone else seems to be doing.
Level BST to 75 then change to DRK/BST and solo it up like all the grumble grumble blue mages.
iv seen it done with rdm, drg, blu, nin, on and on.

one more thing the party invites in general have sucked all up ons. I remember when you had to fight for party spots.
I really hope they introduce new areas to level lower end jobs in the expansion. With newer areas it seems that this would boost interest in raising another job or push people away from the mire and whatnot.
Seriously your badass now move on ^^

Imagine if they doubled the amount of low level xp spots.
Take the same amount of viable xp spots for lower levels double it and add like 3-4 jobs. It would pump some major life into the game.