The Weetabix, errm I mean Samurai, challenge

[Queen Uma]

Eat one bowl of Samurai every day for a week and see...... oh wait I'm getting confused again.

Sooooooooooo, I unlocked SAM yesterday with the intention of levelling it to sub on my drk at 60. Yes don't hate me for making a sub out of your job, I just want to have all my subs available.

Anyway, I started soloing with nothing more than the GK you get from the quest, a gold moogle belt and an xp ring. Whilst I was busy killing hornets in Gustaberg I was chatting to a few friends and one stated that sam is very expensive, due to GK prices I presume. The discussion continued as to what exactly you need to get from 1-40 as an Elvaan melee job and many items were discussed on their merits and availability.

Normally I am the sort of person who will throw everything into a job and make sure I have the best gear available/affordable even if it is only a sub or a sub of a sub, however this got me thinking;

Is it possible to level a melee job from 1-40 without spending any gil?

Probably not, so I changed my premise;

Is it possible to level a melee job from 1-40 without touching the auction house and spending as little gil as possible?

I believe I can, however, my friend disagrees. So he made me a wager. I have to level my samurai from the perspective of a new player so the following rules will apply:

• No use of the Auction House what-so-ever
• No use of any of my current equipment/gil
• Only gil made from my sam can be used on my sam
• Only subjobs allowed will be thf and war
• No using the airships until my sam is at least level 30
• Any farming must be performed by my warrior and the mobs must be killable by a level 30 character (as is the case with most new players who unlock sam as their first job)
• Synthesis is allowed but only if I farm the ingredients with my sam or war
• Items may be sold in my bazaar but I cannot purchase from other people's bazaars *I'm debating this rule*
• Borrowing items is not allowed
• Whenever I want to use my sam I must return my character to the same location I had my sam last
• Only CP earnt whilst using sam can be spent
• I must claim the NM to be able to use my rare/ex items
• Inventory limited to 30 spaces
• NPC fellow is not allowed
• I am not allowed to be considered "gimp" so all of my equipment must be within a reasonable range
• NO POWER LEVELS!

As you can see, it seems like quite a challenge because I can only purchase NPC sold equipment or have it crafted. Also my only source of income will be either sold through my bazaar or to NPCs. I think rare/ex items and NM drops will be the key here. Things such as the Empress Hairpin, Peacock Amulet and Bounding boots will be invaluable.

My plan currently is to solo 1-10 using the starter GK, get a Katayama Ichimonji at level 10 and use CP to purchase a set of Royal footman's gear. Farm materials to upgrade the gear to the set to the San d'Orian set at level 15. For food I will be using Meat Jerky and then Carp Sushi. Hopefully I'll get the ingredients for some bone earrings and I'll make myself a set of +1s.

After that I'm pretty much stuck as to where I can save gil. Maybe I can get a Gunromaru from a BC (yes I would prefer the good drops) then a Okanehira from the Tenshodo. Quest a Venerer Ring at 30...... like that is going to happen. Quest gear and rare/ex stuff is the key to this so any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks for any advice and I hope you don't see this as me sticking my middle finger up at dedicated samurai.

Hopefully I can win this bet

[Queen Uma]

I don't know if anybody is interested in this but I'll try and keep it updated on how I am doing anyway.

So far:

• Soloed 4-10 in West Ron/Ghelsba
• Picked up a few bronze pieces of armour along the way
• Crafted myself a rabbit mantle +1 using drops I collected
• Making my way to Gustaberg so I can get a Katayama Ichimonji

Incomings:
35k from fire crystals in bazaar
8k from various misc items sold to NPCs

Outgoings:
1,200 gil for a stack of meat jerky

I'm highly doubtful I will be able to afford a full set of Royal Footman's gear with my current CP gain on sam so I will buy the gloves and farm a scale set using my 30 (capped lol) Warrior. I really need to get the new GK because the Mumeito has been sorely lacking in damage for the past few levels.

[Neomage]

Katayama is awsome. The sheep NM spawns on a 2-hour lottery, but Somepage is off if your using them. He spawns a little north of where they say. The katana is 100% drop, and it should last you untill you can get the lv 16 Katana from the NPCs in Bastok, or if your short on gil, up untill 19/20. Get the Bounding Boots, they can be a real pain to camp but as a SAM the DEX and AGI is worth it. Also, there are a few other pieces of equip you need to pick up in Bastok - The Goldsmith Guild sells the rocks and stones for making the level 14 rings. If you get a chance, head down to Windurst and pick up Bone Earrings from the guild, and farm Silk down there and keep it in your invintory - It 's required for some later katana synths.

[Kisshu]

Just want to voice my opinion about some of the rules:

* No use of the Auction House what-so-ever (Why do this, it will limit you so much on a SAM)

* Only subjobs allowed will be thf and war (Why not allow DRG as a SUB at lv 20, the Jump and ATT bonus can be even better than anything WAR or THF would offer)

* No using the airships until my sam is at least level 30 (Rather strange, if not airship, why not also tele?)

* Items may be sold in my bazaar but I cannot purchase from other people's bazaars *I'm debating this rule* (The one rule that would make you gimp, and here's the reason:
Kotetsu is a LV 27 GK sold in Norg, so you could get it IF you were allowed to take the airship to Kazham

The next upgrade for most SAMs would be Homura, a LV 34 GK, but it's crafted and NOT sold in any shop, only way would be to get it from AH or bazaar then, but if you're not allowed to buy from neither AH nor Bazaar you can't get it.

Next upgrade for you would be Kagehide at LV 40 since Ashura and Hosodachi also both are crafted

This would mean you use a LV 27 weapon until LV 40, if this doesn't make you gimp, I don't know what does, the DMG on the weapons would jump 14 points, and that's alot at those LVs, this single rule is a contradiction of the NON gimp rule)

* Whenever I want to use my sam I must return my character to the same location I had my sam last (I can't see any reason with this rule)


* I am not allowed to be considered "gimp" so all of my equipment must be within a reasonable range (Again, see the weapon part I did)

Since 2 of the rules is contradicting you can never succed in this, sorry.

--------------------


My own experience as a LV 51 SAM:

GK prices begin to raise dramasticly around LV 42-50 and only have one realy cheap GK at lv 55, this is because most of the GKs are from BCNM, we don't have any crafted alternatives in weapons like some other jobs have.

What realy makes SAM expensive is ACC rings and HQ equipment, at LV 36 you might want to get the HQ STR rings, they cost over 100K on Remora and Sniper's, LV 40, is still going for around 2MILL, so if you want the best equipment you will need alot of gil.

But wait, all jobs have this problem, those rings can be use by many different jobs, true, the only difference in WAR and SAM post 30 is that they use different weapons, at 40 SAM gets Jujitsu Gi, it can be expensive, and WAR uses Royal Chain.

So IMO, WAR and SAM looks very much alike at the early LVs, even DRK looks like them alot since they want to do the same thing as the other jobs nd got nearly identically equipment.

[Queen Uma]

Just want to voice my opinion about some of the rules:

* No use of the Auction House what-so-ever (Why do this, it will limit you so much on a SAM)

This is kind of the main point of the challenge. I am trying to prove what good equipment is available from quests, NPCs and rare/ex drops from NMs. It is a matter of a job being self sufficient. You don't *need* to be eating sole sushi in Qufim or meat mithkebobs in the dunes. NPC bought food can easily do the trick and quite often do it better. You don't *need* to rush to the AH and buy all that +1 armour just to make you look good.

* Only subjobs allowed will be thf and war (Why not allow DRG as a SUB at lv 20, the Jump and ATT bonus can be even better than anything WAR or THF would offer)

DRG is an advance job, as I stated in the conditions for the challenge, I am doing this from the perspective of a new player i.e they levelled thf to 15ish and war to 30 then unlocked sam. All of my jobs are well over these levels that is why I have to pretend my war is capped at 30 for farming purposes.

* No using the airships until my sam is at least level 30 (Rather strange, if not airship, why not also tele?)

* Items may be sold in my bazaar but I cannot purchase from other people's bazaars *I'm debating this rule* (The one rule that would make you gimp, and here's the reason:
Kotetsu is a LV 27 GK sold in Norg, so you could get it IF you were allowed to take the airship to Kazham

Sorry I should of been more specific, no airships to the major cities. Kazham airship is allowed for obvious reasons and I never said I couldn't get teleports. I would assume a player levelling their first job would pick up tele crystals on the way to 30.

The next upgrade for most SAMs would be Homura, a LV 34 GK, but it's crafted and NOT sold in any shop, only way would be to get it from AH or bazaar then, but if you're not allowed to buy from neither AH nor Bazaar you can't get it.

Guess I'll have to get it crafted then, he didn't say I couldn't get items through trade sale

Next upgrade for you would be Kagehide at LV 40 since Ashura and Hosodachi also both are crafted

Unimportant because the challenge ends at 40.

* Whenever I want to use my sam I must return my character to the same location I had my sam last (I can't see any reason with this rule)

Simply to stop me cheating. For example, if I had my sam lfp whilst sat in Jeuno and got a party invite to the jungles, I couldn't change to my whm and tele myself then change jobs back in kazham.

* I am not allowed to be considered "gimp" so all of my equipment must be within a reasonable range (Again, see the weapon part I did)

Since 2 of the rules is contradicting you can never succed in this, sorry.

See explaination above. :p

What realy makes SAM expensive is ACC rings and HQ equipment, at LV 36 you might want to get the HQ STR rings, they cost over 100K on Remora and Sniper's, LV 40, is still going for around 2MILL, so if you want the best equipment you will need alot of gil

Already own all of that equipment tyvm. Hence why I am stopping the challenge at 40. I'm not getting these items again. I also already have bounding boots and a Venerer ring, but I will need to claim LL before I am allowed to use my boots.

I am not trying to be a cheapskate I am trying to prove to my friend that from 1-40 (at the very least) there are alternative to buying all your equip from the Auction House, some of which are actually better.

[Matera]

What do you get if you win? o_o

[Murphie]

A sense of accomplishment, I assume, which is pretty cool. I think it's a great idea, and I look forward to reading your experiences.^^

To those who have a problem with this personal challenge...why? It's something that this person is doing to test themselves. Picking apart their reasons isn't really necessary.

[nazlfrag]

Here are some of my favourite early gear quests, unfortunately lots of them don't have SAM applicable stuff and I edited them out so there aren't too many left, but enjoy!

Sandy: Lizard Gloves and Tiger Stole* from the same NPC and Wing Pendant

Bastok: Sitabaki, Fukoro*, Ram Mantle, Cotton Headband, Wolf Gorget, Scale Mail

Windy: Compound Eye Circlet, Power Gi* and Dhalmel Mantle

Jeuno: Garnet Ring though the first quest might be tricky for you.

The * means reccomended, they seem to be the best SAM pieces whereas the rest are more generic.

The orcs in Yughut Grotto drop scale armour from memory. Jerky is cheap, but dried marjoram is cheaper - cook some grilled hare or roast mutton for more attack.

Good luck with it, I'm sure there's plenty of useful NM drops out there too. I'm sure you can make it to 40. Lastly RSE might help you out for armour midway, depending on race.

[ikkleste]

are outpost warps allowed?

[Queen Uma]

are outpost warps allowed?

Yes

Wrote a very helpful list

Thanks for this. Its exactly what I am looking for.

Already quested my Power Gi, Dhamel mantle and Tiger stole though so I'm not too sure how I am going to be allowed to use them. Any suggestions on belts because I'm hard pressed to think of any useful ones.

What do you get if you win? o_o

That would be telling

Also thank you Murphie. I don't understand why people want to pick my challenge apart when it won't affect them in any way, shape or form.

[Queen Uma]

*Update*

Ok I haven't had chance to do any more levelling due to other commitments but this is what I have done so far:

Obtained a Katayama Ichimonji Traveler's Mantle (woot!!) and a Scale Gorget from NMs also claimed LL which means I can use my boots

Quested Scale Mail, Power Gi*, Tiger Stole*

Scale Cuisses dropped when I was in KRT

Used my CP to purchase Royal Footman's Gloves and Royal Archer's Longbow. I now have 5 CP left for my sam lol

Purchased from the weapons shop 12 stacks of Iron Arrows (~700gil a stack) and used the NPC in Sandy to make 12 Iron Quivers with flowers from the Jeuno shop. That should be enough arrows for pulling duty to last until level 30 (hopefully). Also purchased another stack of Meat Jerky (1.2k) and a stack of Carp Sushi (~8.4k)

I believe my power Gi will last me until I can use Chainmail although I will try to farm Lizard armour from Orcs in Ghelsba.

I still need to collect items to craft myself a pair of bone earrings (+1) and I also need to find a person to craft me a pair of Balance rings and a pair of Reflex rings. I purchased the Silver Rings from NPCs so will need to obtain the stones. This leaves me with about with about 30k from items sold to NPCs and in my Bazaar after I used numerous (expensive from Crags) chickens to get around with my warrior (see rule 5).

I am still lacking a waist piece.

*Having previously completed these quests I had to collect the relivant items and visit the zones/NPCs involved

[raidenn]

Im not entirely sure but I think they sell bone earrings in Kazam NPC really cheap.

[nazlfrag]

Err.. leather belts are cheap from the south sandy item store, the one across from the grocery store. Thats all I can think of sorry ><

Thanks for the update, it seems you're sticking well to the rules and are set up for quite a few levels now. as a bonus, my SAM is onlyu lvl 18, I'd like to know how to get to 30 without touching the AH as well ^^

[Queen Uma]

Thank you for the replies. I'm sorry to say but the samurai challenge has been on hold for the past week due to RL circumstances but hopefully I will be able to find time this week.

Nazlfrag, thanks for the suggestion, leather belt was all I could think of too. Thank you to Onionsoilder and Raidenn for the info on where to buy bone earrings. I might venture to Windurst to buy some or just craft some myself. I'd have to make the ignots myself but I would probably HQ the earring synth.

I will update the thread after I've had a good xp session or managed to acquire my next stage of gear (probably farming orcs for lizard gear).

[DrKakashi]

• No using the airships until my sam is at least level 30

So you not heading to Kazam @ 25+ o.O?