Dunes Parties

[Taskmage]

I was in a berry grub party once, late in the life of the game, and it was perfectly serviceable. I prefer the diving beetle camp in Sauromugue if it's available. Iirc it was a linkshell party, because getting a PUG to try anything new is like pulling teeth. We always used off-the-beaten-path camps for our subjob leveling static party just to see new places and experience different things, and we ran across a lot of stinkers but also a lot of hidden gems.

I think the usage level of a particular camp probably has more to do with social network theory than any strict economic analysis of its efficiency. I mean, I'm sure we can all think of camps that are seriously awful that continue to be popular just because "that's what people do" and it can be hard to convince people to gamble their time on a camp or strat they've personally never heard of rather than take a sure thing, even if the sure thing isn't that great. By way of a parallel, Facebook sucks, but good luck getting enough of your contacts to migrate to a different service that you can extract comparable utility from it. The inverse applies to highly decent camps that continue to be unpopular.

[Raydeus]

I'll definitely be trying this out myself whenever I get around to leveling BLM, DNC, or Rune Fencer. Because I am most certainly not ever doing an exp party in Qufim Island ever again.

Considering it's mostly solo right now I seriously doubt a Qufim party would be even viable with all the new xp boosts. But back then it was easily the most convenient option for most new players.

[Armando]

I was in a berry grub party once, late in the life of the game, and it was perfectly serviceable. I prefer the diving beetle camp in Sauromugue if it's available.

Mind telling me the camps? Especially the Sauromugue one; I can imagine a couple of spots in Rolanberry Fields that might be good camps, but Sauromugue always struck me as kind of barren.

[Firewind]

Only Rolanberry Fields party I've been in would be the Rolanberry Fields [S] Dragonfly Camp. It's a pretty good camp actually, just need to watch out for the Chigoes.

[Taskmage]

Mind telling me the camps? Especially the Sauromugue one; I can imagine a couple of spots in Rolanberry Fields that might be good camps, but Sauromugue always struck me as kind of barren.

The Berry Grub party was outside of CN. I'm sure there are more efficient camps spawn-wise but the proximity to the zoneline gives you extra security in case your puller is a doofus and aggros an Ochu.

Good old campsitarus has an entry on the Sauromugue camp (Campsitarus-- The guide to FFXI xp camps! ^^: 18-21 Sauromugue Champaign). It's a very specific spot and only supports one party, but every single pop in that area is your target mob. There's a very similar camp on the zone line at K-9 in Jugner[S] that can be used as a substitute for Garliage, plus you get sigil bonuses. That only catch to that one is there's a 65 NM that spawns there every 90-120 minutes that will need to be cleared by a 75+ 1-2 times per party. Otherwise tons of pulls for awesome chains that keep the camp viable well after things start turning T.

[Armando]

It's a very specific spot and only supports one party, but every single pop in that area is your target mob.

Oh yeeeeah, I remember that spot now. Never really occurred to me to camp there. Which is weird, because that valley always seemed to stand out.

[Takelli]

They're $25 if the official site is still current. A bit more than what I'd like to spend just for one experiment.

25? That is quite a bit just to try that hmmm...

[Murphie]

As TM said above, people did go to unusual camps.

With friends or LS members. Why? Because straying away from the Valkurm > Qufim > Yuhtunga > Yhoator > Garlaige > Crawler's > Tree path was like pulling fucking teeth. Who cares if EXP is great in Korroloka tunnel in the teens? We'd rather compete with everyone for crab and IT++ goblin pulls in the Dunes. Oh, there are great spots for EXP right inside Delkfutt's and outside of Jeuno? Fuck you dude, those places aren't Qufim and the jungles. People would rather stand around for hours with their flag up waiting for a party in one of the "accepted" zones 9 times out of 10 than venture out and try something new. In early to mid 2004 my LS and I were hitting up all of these out of the way places, but even then we had a nightmare of a time because our static party (Me as PLD, THF, RDM, WHM and RNG) had a bitch of a time getting someone for that last spot. And yes, we probably should have gotten over the whole "Distortion or GTFO" mindset, but this WAS 2004 after all.

These camps were always viable. Viable for several parties at a time? Maybe not. But definitely viable. It was the player mindset that was the problem.

[Armando]

And yes, we probably should have gotten over the whole "Distortion or GTFO" mindset, but this WAS 2004 after all.

In 2004 I thought it was actually viable for me to keep Axe, Great Axe, Sword, Great Sword, Polearm and Archery leveled on my WAR for Skillchain purposes.

LOL.

[Taskmage]

I remember being mystified at the effectiveness of a party in that era where the leader built the front line around an induration closed by guillotine. Good times.

[Mezlo]

Next would be actually reading my post instead of just skimming it. There was no FFXIClopedia (or common sense) in 2003.Were you on Midgard (or whatever server it is now)?

LMFAO! Tell me again why we are limiting a ffxi discussion to 2003??? The discussion we were having is whether or not the camps in Rolanberry were better than Qufim camps. So GTFO with your limiting the discussion to prior anyone knowing anything or any real resources being developed...

[Yellow Mage]

LMFAO! Tell me again why we are limiting a ffxi discussion to 2003??? The discussion we were having is whether or not the camps in Rolanberry were better than Qufim camps. So GTFO with your limiting the discussion to prior anyone knowing anything or any real resources being developed...

His point was that people are stupid, and just because they continue to conform to a miserable camp site has little bearing on the merits of the camp sites themselves.

So, yeah. Do that think he said in the part of his post that you quoted: read his post instead of just skimming it.

[Raydeus]

Yes, but the premise of this discussion was:

A) That Rolanberry was theoretically superior to Qufim and other sites.
B) That players (myself included) did test those alternative camps around Jeuno back then and decided it was way more convenient to party Korroloka/Qufim > Tower instead of running around Rolanberry and the other zones.


And it was not :

- About the viability of alternative camps.
- Players being "forced to party" in Qufim.
- Having friends to join you in adventures where "no one cared about making less xp because they are having fun!"
- Etc. etc.


There are camps in Rolanberry, the one by Crawler's nest (which I forgot about) and the one by the weapons (if you even know where that is.) But my point was and still is that for all the numbers Armando had thought about the practice showed it was decent at best and not worth the hassle, plain and simple. Which is why people tried those camps, enjoyed the fresh air by the vineyards for a while, then never accepted another invite to Rolanberry ever again.

Was it viable? Yeah sure, as were many other places.
Were players forced to party there? Not really, but you can't deny just how convenient Qufim was in comparison both to get to and to find a party for.
Were players lazy to explore new camps outside the already tried and tested? Yeah, but we already knew that.
Was Qufim the preferred choice for a good reason? Yes, and that's all I'm saying here.
Should people with theories test them? Obviously, but to be blinded by the numbers because they look so pretty on paper will never yield good results even if there are 91 spawn points!™. Specially when so many others have already tested the exact same thing, 1% inspiration and 99% transpiration and all that.

[Armando]

So GTFO with your limiting the discussion to prior anyone knowing anything or any real resources being developed...

Sorry, should've known better than to use logic. In retrospect, TM answered the question of what probably happened to Delkfutt's and Yuhtunga outpost between when I camped there and when you did: Campsitarus. Which ties into his point that where people camp is based on social networking, not empirical testing.

2005: Campsitarus-- The guide to FFXI xp camps! ^^: 26-28 Yuhtunga Jungle
2006: Campsitarus-- The guide to FFXI xp camps! ^^: 29-32 Yuhtunga Jungle
2007: Campsitarus-- The guide to FFXI xp camps! ^^: 21-23 Lower Delkfutt's Tower

Both the Sahagin camp and Delkfutt's Tower showed up there post-ToAU era. Now the 99% can boldly go where there 1% has already gone (see also: Murphie's post on pulling teeth.)

B) That players (myself included) did test those alternative camps around Jeuno back then and decided it was way more convenient to party Korroloka/Qufim > Tower instead of running around Rolanberry and the other zones.
...
...and the one by the weapons (if you even know where that is.)

"The one by weapons?" Have you ever farmed Berry Grubs? That's the last place you'd look for them. You tried to camp that zone once, picked one of the worst possible spots, and concluded that the zone isn't viable. That's not testing; that's a joke. I could pick some really backwards camps in Qufim too.

Should people with theories test them? Obviously, but to be blinded by the numbers because they look so pretty on paper will never yield good results even if there are 91 spawn points!™. Specially when so many others have already tested the exact same thing, 1% inspiration and 99% transpiration and all that.

Ray, I'll give you a hint: those other 89 Berry Grubs were in the real camps, where the Rolanberries are. And just who are these "so many others?" Do I get to make up imaginary players to back up my claims too?

[Mezlo]

So, yeah. Do that think he said in the part of his post that you quoted: read his post instead of just skimming it.

Ummm... huh?

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Sorry, should've known better than to use logic. In retrospect, TM answered the question of what probably happened to Delkfutt's and Yuhtunga outpost between when I camped there and when you did: Campsitarus. Which ties into his point that where people camp is based on social networking, not empirical testing.

2005: Campsitarus-- The guide to FFXI xp camps! ^^: 26-28 Yuhtunga Jungle
2006: Campsitarus-- The guide to FFXI xp camps! ^^: 29-32 Yuhtunga Jungle
2007: Campsitarus-- The guide to FFXI xp camps! ^^: 21-23 Lower Delkfutt's Tower

Oh, ok, so yeah, Armando is correct if we pretend the year is 2003-2004. I was basing my arguement on when I played. So... carry on.

- - - Updated - - -

I'm looking forward to seeing your test results!