[cidbahamut]

The last few days I've been having some pretty abysmal pick up parties, and I can't shake the feeling that there's a better way for me to go about this.

For my level range the two most popular camps seem to be Valkurm Dunes, which I am sick to death of, and Qufim Island. At both of them everyone seems to be dead set on level syncing to the absolute lowest level possible and then they want to run out and hit things that the party can barely manage to take down. God forbid we have a link because with our level sync I can't cast Sleep to hold it off and we'll be wiped out by the time we finish the first thing anyway.

Also the parties tend to fall apart after a half hour of fighting. That's just discouraging.

As a level 31 RDM I want to know whereabouts I ought to be going for some better partying experiences. I don't want to sit there pretending to be level 20 all day long, I want to be forced to learn to use all the tools I have at level 31 and read situations that are a little more challenging. I'm at the point where I'm almost afraid of leveling up because I don't feel I'm learning anything by joining an exp party.

There's only so much soloing I can do and I want to meet people, but almost every party I get into seems to be an absolute nightmare. What can I do to improve my chances of finding better parties or heck even do something on my end to make the experience more pleasant and rewarding for all involved?

I'm so tired of waiting hours for an invite only to have it turn into yet another headache.

Help?

[Icemage]

I really don't understand why people want to level sync down to Valkurm levels. Qufim's sort of sketchy too.

If anything, the best place to level sync down to would be Kazham at your level (31). It's only a few levels below where you're at, and provides a reasonable level of challenge and really, really good XP for the party that knows how to take advantage of the spawns / deal with the dangerous goblins.


Icemage

[IfritnoItazura]

Well, the mid point between soloing and a full party is... A three-some!

Grab two friends, go for Fields of Valor.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Originally Posted by Icemage

I really don't understand why people want to level sync down to Valkurm levels. Qufim's sort of sketchy too.

Crabs are easy.
Crabs are dumb.
Easy access to the Field Manual.
Mindless adherence to easy and lazy play, basically. EXP on, brain off.

For as much as people criticize SE for the choices they make, people sure do use their best designs in the strangest of ways.

Hey kids, now we can solo or party in many places with incredible ease and sync all our levels to get effective EXP almost anywhere. Hey, I know, let's go camp in Qufim, you know, that place we always complain about and wish to get out of quickly? Yeah, let's EXP there forever!

Is it any surprise that after getting SCH to 75, I haven't looked back at leveling through these camps again? If I do bother to finish my NIN sub for BST (what's the point? I'm quitting come the end of WotG), I'd just as soon solo the rest of it.

[Icemage]

Crabs are easy, but they're also incredibly slow XP due to their ability to slow down your party damage output. I really, REALLY do not understand why people go back to the same god-forsaken camps, Fields Manuals or not.

At least in the Jungles you can earn decent XP from chaining without people mucking about running all over for a field manual. :/ Granted, getting OUT of the jungles is a bit of a chore if you haven't thought ahead and brought a warp item of some sort, but that's still no excuse...


Icemage

[IfritnoItazura]

Qufim Island Crabs are not bad if a party member can land Acid Bolt on demand. (Of course, even I forgot to ask if anyone have Acid Bolt last time I was there.)

[Aksannyi]

Qufim with the right set up can also yield ridiculously good xp/hr, which is why people want to go there. Parties there can either be exceptionally good or exceptionally bad, and as with any other camp it requires that only one or two parties are there. Really, Yuhtunga is not a better alternative. The xp/hr there is fairly safe but slow as molasses at best. If I'm going to choose between Qufim and Yuhtunga, I'm going with Qufim.

Then again, I've leveled enough times to be sick of it entirely, so I have little patience for extremely slow parties, which is all you really get at those levels, unfortunately. I think it's why Qufim parties picked up as much as they did, once you get 11k/hr in Qufim synced to 21-22, the xp just flies in.

Valkurm is just idiotic by comparison, though. I have no idea why anyone would want to go back there. Ever.

[Zoltar]

When invites are slow, I find myself making burn parties in Qufim Island. I know, many frown upon it, but it's easy xp. Either setup works great, get the following:

1 tank, 1 fisherman, 4 black mages
1 fisherman (nin, pld, or war) and 5 black mages.

People rarely die, unless they over-nuke and pull too much hate, but using the pinball method works pretty well to avoid this kind of situation.

[Armando]

Really, Yuhtunga is not a better alternative. The xp/hr there is fairly safe but slow as molasses at best. If I'm going to choose between Qufim and Yuhtunga, I'm going with Qufim.

Eh, Yuhtunga/Yhoator are only slow because people are fucking morons that overhunt Mandragoras for the very same reasons they'll overhunt crabs - it can't kill them so apparently it's ok to make slow as fuck EXP off of mobs you should be fighting in 3 levels.

The smart people kill the goblins in Yuhtunga near the outpost. These are always either WAR (standard mob, which is already much better than PLD mobs or AoE Sleep-spamming MNKs in terms of kill speed) or RNG (absolute pussies, sub-par HP/Defense/Evasion) and of course they can spare you the trouble and kill themselves. Like you said, though, this won't support much more than one party (I'm almost certain there should be another goblin camp somewhere but I've never looked), so it's more or less on the same boat as good Qufim parties. Still, I'd much rather do Goblins than Crabs or Pugils, and having to deal with undead blood aggro. Not to mention the fact that now there's a Field Manual at the outpost.

Smart people also redirect Bomb Tosses away from the party to reduce downtime. This is pretty much win/win (if it's not a suicide only the tank gets caught in the blast, if it's a suicide then the tank will be out of range and that's one person less to patch up) but I seldom see people do it.

Best of all if the party is really on a roll but the EXP is starting to wane, you don't even have to leave - the SSG zone line is only like 2 minutes away, and you can pull sahagins to the waterfall base.

[Takelli]

You are at lvl 31 right? Well, you can grab a second healer, and get a party in Sauramaugh Champlaign (I know I killed the spelling lol), and fight the weapons. They are quite fun to fight, especially as a Rdm :D. You can also sync down to 24-26 and go into the Jungles again. Exp there isn't that bad. Or, if you don't mind Semi-slow exp for a little while, you can start in garlaige citadel. Its a nice place for exp, it isn't that bad if you have a "Piercing Party" in there at 31. It may be a bit slow, but as soon as you hit 32, exp will be come very fast.

Make your own parties and experiament with what you want for a set up. Most people that I talk to in game HATE making their own parties. I love it as you can decide where to go and Exp, and if theres an ass in the party, you can just kick them

[vulcan]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I always thought people went after worms in Qufim for lvl sync. Near the lake with the Bogys.

[Aksannyi]

That camp is almost always taken, and without a PL to kill the Haunt it's crap anyway. Better camp is 21-24 camping Pugil Alley, fighting pugs and crabs and doing page 3 of FoV.

[Nuriko]

Originally Posted by Takelli

Or, if you don't mind Semi-slow exp for a little while, you can start in garlaige citadel. Its a nice place for exp, it isn't that bad if you have a "Piercing Party" in there at 31. It may be a bit slow, but as soon as you hit 32, exp will be come very fast.

You know, I always thought that camp STARTED at 33, and you were basically in the zone until 35, with the possibility of fast-but-weak kills through to 37. If somebody said to go there at 32, I'd say it sounds a bit tough, and at 31, I'd just refuse...

On the other hand, this might be just part of the current "PL or no PT" tactics that seem to be everywhere at lower levels.

[vulcan]

Thanks Aksannyi. I wasn't quite sure. I constantly get invited to Qufim syncs but don't take them. I dont craft/farm gil for equip at my lvl to be gimped in a sync.

To the original OP, the best way to go about this is make your own parties as Takelli put it. Yuhtunga/Yhoatar are excellent places if to sync to if you take Armando's advice. Garliage Citadel is nice as well, just dont go there to overcamp or it will be real slow. I notice the killing becomes fast at 33.

Other than that hang in there. I know your feeling as I had to deal with this from lvl 40-54. Everyone wants to do East Ronafure {S} Colibri burns it seems. Its great xp if done correctly but not everyone knows how to do it correctly.

[cidbahamut]

Thanks for the tips guys, they sound dead useful and I'll try getting some folks to venture off the beaten path by forming my own party tonight.

I really couldn't care less about xp/hour, I'm far more concerned with fun/hr.