Leveling your buddy

[DakAttack]

So we know it starts at level 30, and that it starts with Shield fighting mode which is basically a tank. How do we know when we're leveling it, or how much EXP it's recieving/recieved? Are we supposed to be around the same level for this to work?

Earlier I was skilling up while waiting for a party, so I called out Yoli. She fought well, while my wyvern was doing ~100 damage she was going 20. She provoked which could have been useful if she wasn't level thirty. She didn't do any weapon skills, or anything else special but the damage was surprisingly consistant. It was like having a second wyvern.

After 19 minutes she left me. She said something, and then teleported out leaving me with 19:41:00 left on the recast timer. How am I supposed to level her if she leaves whenever she feels like it? How do I know when I'm making progress?

Anybody else having these issues?

[ShadowHeart]

Hmm ... I don't know how to level difference affects things, but I leveled Yoli (lol) in Sauromogue today with a friend of mine who had also just got his NPC. He is a Lv. 50 Rdm, so we had a 4 person PT, his taru, and my cat, both lv. 30 (seeing as we had just gotten them). Well, we killed some bats, raptors and then I targeted Yoli and she left (silly me). Anyways, Ermine had his taru out for just a couple of more fights with some weapons, and then the taru got killed. We return to the Rendevouz point in Ru'Lude and his NPC had changed most eqp (all but the scale boots :S) - It was still level 30 though -- But from this, I take that even though stuff to TW for you, ur NPC will still get exp from it ...

I don't know ... Tomorrow I'm leveling Nin, so I hope Yoli will stay with me a bit more than just 19 mins :S ... Silly cat

[DakAttack]

I'm very concerned about her lack of interest in these fights. She reminds me of the Mithra from the Travel Abroad BCNM fight in Balgas Dais. Maybe if I had chosen an Elvaan he'd stick around and uphold some honor or something.

[lionx]

Or maybe the elvaan will insist on tanking even if he is like 20 levels below you and the mob cuz he is just that cool :3

So everyone got 20mins max..? If thats so whats the point?

[WishMaster3K]

I think the point is not to go overboard like a BST. Imagine if a BST could target one thing with his NPC, another with his pet, and another for himself ; ;

Of course, this limited timer is ass. You dont think that they disappear when someone else calls them, do you?

[Pai Pai Master]

I would think that them disappearing when you enter town or when one of you dies is limiting enough, especially with a 20 hour recast. If the 20 minute limit is true, this thing is as useless as my savings account.

[Jei]

japanese players made a guess on their forum that the npc might change style depends on what you do. like, if you cure it, it will have more chance to become tanks. You provoke and it have chance to become mage.

In the patch note, it says the NPC "lower their stats to match your level" instead of *capping* their level. So I think they possibly remain their level even when you're level 5 and can still level up normally when you use your low level jobs.

[Ziero]

The growth of the NPC's is all speculation as of now and no one knows for certain what may change about them. Anything, from the equip they wear to the abilities they use to even the time they are able to stay out may or may not change depending on how they grow. The most someone could have used one of these things for is 40 minutes, assuming they updated when it was released, did the NPC quest first, had it out the whole 20 minutes, waited for the recast time to charge and called them again. I doubt much can change with the NPCs in 40 minutes of use. They're probably more of another 'time sink' where you need to spend large amounts of time training them to be what you want them to be. So in the end we just gotta wait and see.

[Tipsy]

I had my NPC out in Batalia Down way over 20mins. I think if their inactive for a certain amount of time they dip. I think you just have to talk to them or whatever. The other night I was on my NIN and I was soloing some exp at lvl 27 and I clicked my NPC which made him wait in one spot while I got a monster back to camp. He tanked it very well lol. we were in Sauromogue Champaion (sp?Oo). After I dismissed him I went to the Rendezvous Point and he had new armor on. A Doublet and Brais ; ;. Maybe one day he can have a Ridill. Kraken Club, Crimson, Relic, lol....

[Jei]

hmm clicking on your NPC makes it stay? Do you get to choose what you want them to do? What about clicking to disband?

[Tipsy]

No, if you click it he says "Were done already!?" and he stays in that spot. I click him and don't wander far, just out of link range, so I don't know how dar you can go before he either leaves or comes to you.

[Malachite]

I'd like to see everyone consolidate all of the info they find out about their new partner in this thread. Maybe then we can figure out what exactly causes the changes in their advancement.

For starters: As a 75 Bard I took my little henchman out into Rolanberry to fight. She stood around for 38 minutes then left after a battle was over. The leaving dialogue was something like:

Ripokeke: We have fought many battles today! I must take a break.
Kalit defeats the Death wasp.
Ripokeke: It is time for us to part.
Farewell.

Not the exact wording but pretty close. Since it was so close to the death message I wasn't able to tell if she warns you midbattle or not if they're leaving.

As for how I used the partner; I alternated between slaughtering mobs by myself while she assisted and letting her solo melee things while I healed. Since you have to stay in "engaged" mode for them to keep attacking, I switched between hand to hand and just hitting it once then turning around. Unfortunately she was terrible at holding hate against weapons(higher level than her) and my cures alone made me the tank. Against weaker opponents(wasps, quadavs) she had less problems doing damage, taking hits or holding hate. But what caused her to provoke wasn't really certain, since she rarely did it.

After she left, I immediately went to the rendevouz point to see what changed.

Picture here <--

She was still level 30. Still the shield combat type. But three pieces of equipment changed. The gloves and boots changed to the same model as the lizard set(no clue if its the same armor though). The most notable change is that the pants changed to the same model as the tarutaru STARTER pants. What the hell?

Now I have to admit(though unrelated), being a rapid leveling bard at a time when bards were so rare that /sea all brd yielded less than 30 players at all levels, I was able to get away with using some embarrasingly weak armor. But this is just silly. I heard of some people having their partner switch to a few plate items and mine switches to newbie crap. This could be important but I really have no idea what it means yet. Maybe my henchman is turning into a mithakbob vendor.


Due to the stupid 20 hour reuse, I was not able to do any more tests but I'm hoping if everyone submits their info we can find out more. Will eventually try out bringing the low level henchman to a high level area and maybe if she gets level 31, abandon her and get a new one to see if the new one starts at 31 or at 30.

Info i'm looking for : Anything really, but mainly what armor they switch to. How you used them and what race your companion is. I'm sure in a few days we'll be seeing people's companions switch combat types. Emphasis on days due to the retarded 20 hour reuse. :magmad:

[nickofearth]

After finishing up some fishing in SSG with a friend we went to the jungle and I called my npc. We fought some fishdudes and pugils. I was amazed to find that my npc used Fast Blade and did 70+ dmg to boot.

[Xtek]

Well, they're probably just like everyone other PC. They have to skill-up and whatnot and dependong on what you do with them I guess determines the type of armor/weapon/fighting style they'll have.

-Xtek

[Caspian]

I'm kind of worried about getting them to be a healer. If they're that bad about voking and trying to get hate, it would reason that they're going to be bad at keeping me alive.