Want solo job? why?

[Neomage]

Re: Want solo job? why?

Want a solo job? No, I love whitemage from the bottom of my soul upwards. I already have what, fifteen other jobs, and not an iota of interest in playing them? I haven't the right to ask for more from SE.

For me, soloing on whitemage used to be an art, something I did for the challenge, for the recreational value it had, and for bragging rights. Which I probably overused.



Unfortunately, somehow, things changed when I hit 75. My whitemage stopped getting invites. I can't figure it out. Everyone I talk to says they need either whm or rdm in their merit pts, and that rdm is never available. There aren't that many other 75whms competing with me. My gear isn't shitty, and I don't THINK I play the job poorly. I try hard not to be an asshole to anyone.

Yet... put my seek flag up for two months straight without a single invite.



I don't bother seeking anymore, I've decided that for some reason, whatever reason, people aren't going to invite me. I dont' know why and I wish I did, but....thems the breaks.


I can make 2k an hour soloing buffalos in Ulgerland range, without my npc. If I had all day and all night to play ffxi this wouldn't be a problem. But I don't. I have a few hours a day.

Getting my full regen merits has become a grueling endurance test.

What do I want SE to do about it? I'm not sure. I know it would help if I could use devotion on myself. Perhaps there will be a patch saying, in the absence of other pt members, these types of non-self-targetable spells and abilities will become self-usable?

Maybe make NPC gear more customizeable? Mine is of limited use to me. If he outdamages me, he pulls hate and becomes a mp sink, requiring me to stop and rest more, and slowing me down. If he doesn't outdamage me...well...I'm a freakin whm.

I can't regen him. I don't need a healer and his defense is so retarded low in comparison to mine, I don't want to set him on shield mode because he'll get murdered.

Honestly, I don't have the answers to any questions except why people might be wanting more solo jobs lately:


Because getting a party can be impossible.

I agree with you 100%. Unless you fit into the TP Burn Mould, you practicly HAVE TO solo 65 ish -> 75. Some jobs can band together and fight, like Manaburns or Monkburns, but for me those are repititious and boring. For ages I have longed for a real party, one with skillchains and MB. But since, I can't get that, I have to solo. In respect, I would like my soloing experience ot actually be rewarding. I don't care if TP Burns can get 20k/hour, I just want to get that 4-5k/hour I used to get in the mid-levels. Not a lousy 2k.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: Want solo job? why?

Not at all. Simple solution, add solo mobs. lower HP and damage, and have the exp change if you're in a party or not. If you're in a party, exp would be extremely low off them, similar to a solo player attacking party (any) mobs now.

Doesn't effect PTs or missions in any way, and allows people to solo well.

I don't think its possible to have mobs that auto-scale in difficulty like that. At least not with today's videogames. And really, let's look at how many jobs can actually solo EM and higher if you have the skills to do it:

Beastmaster
Summoner
Dragoon
Puppetmaster
Red Mage
Blue Mage
Thief
Ninja
White Mage
Black Mage
Paladin

That's most of the jobs in this game. Monk, Samurai, Warrior, Corsair, Ranger, Dark Knight and Bard have it a bit more difficult in terms of soloing or chaining for worthwhile EXP.

Now, I'm sure someone is going to try to argue otherwise about the last few, but again, I'm talking soloing and chaining worthwhile EXP. I'm not talking about taking 20 minutes to kill an even match - that's filibustering. I'm not talking about being able to kill EM or lower and having to rest each time. Talkin' chains and worthwhile solo EXP here. Getting chain #3 or #4 most of the time or getting 3-5k per hour at least.

Most of the latter jobs mentioned just can't do it. The rest of the jobs in this game can hit that minimum or higher if they know what they're doing.

That said, I don't think mob defense or difficultly has to be skewed down for the handful of jobs that can't solo at all. I think the other jobs could just use some better soloing tools for when they need them.

I'm pretty sure COR could be a solo job, its just more to the ends that people are still exploring the potentials. /NIN has not been terribly good for me, so I'm now looking into /BLU to that end. BLU, BST, RDM and DRG have always served me well for solo purposes and most of my BLU and BST levels have been soloed.

[Irisjir Callard]

Re: Want solo job? why?

I agree, specific monsters for solo exp sounds like a good idea, but the execution is meh.

But what about the Signet upgrade?

That boosts exp for parties from two to five, and adds a lot of other nice buffs, like defense and evasion up. But to my knowledge, it has minimal effects for solo players, and why? Perhaps signet/sanction effects should be expanded to be MORE effective for solo players than players in a party. Instead of scaling the monsters, scale the player buffs.

On another note, BBQkitten reminded me that I really need to get a soloing sub. My WHM cannot feasibly EXP off EM (or anything above mid-range DC for that matter) with /blm. I'm not sure where to go from there, though, because BLM offers:

Aspir (I had an endless stalemate with a crab once because for every time he ate through my stonesin/my buffs wore/his debuffs wore, I aspired back all the MP I spent.)
Sleep (Yeah I really Really REALLY don't want to let go of this one)
Bind (Because alot of stuff is immune to sleep)
Elemental Seal (Not always for sleep and bind!)
Ice Spikes (Paralyze +1)
I don't really use anything else my blm has to offer.
Conserve MP (Which I personally love to hell)

By contrast, nin:
I can have another darksteel maul, but I have to give up my sheild. Meh.
I can have poison and blind, neither of which are spells I use very often, although I could. Silence and paralize I already have. I don't think nin has a sleep or bind tool.
I have utsuemi to back up my stoneskin, this sounds interesting on it's own. I can see a whole strategy based around stoneskin eliminating cast interrupts for utsuemi.

What about /pld? That gives me refresh, defense abilities, and sheild mastery. I do so like my sheilds. But if I have a link, I'm dead in the water and I can't do anything about it.

/rdm? I have sleep and bind back, but I don't think phalanx is subbable, and I'm pretty sure I lose ice spikes. Not to mention I really don't want to level rdm.

/blu? I'd be interested in seeing a breakdown of what /blu has to offer.

/sam This is my personal "what if" that has absolutely nothing to offer if I get in over my head. On the other hand, if I have access to meditate, I can sc and bust my own sc's. But I kill my MP pool.

/smn? Oodles of MP. Auto-refresh. A level 37 link handler....uhh...might not be very useful. I don't think 37 smn has many useful bloodpacts for 75, anyway. This is more of a 'For dynamis' sub for me. It's only to 24, so I haven't equipped it yet, don't know how it's gonna work out.

I dunno, any other nominations?

[Feba]

Re: Want solo job? why?

I don't think its possible to have mobs that auto-scale in difficulty like that. At least not with today's videogames

I'm sure it is, given I'm playing a game that does that right now.

[Raydeus]

Re: Want solo job? why?

The only reason I'm liking Guild Wars right now is that you can level on your own spending half an hour or less at a time, also travel is waaaaay faster.

And while I understand why dedicated players woulnd't like that kinda changes in XI sadly for people like me it's the only way to enjoy and online game without feeling I wasted 1 out of 2 hours just trying to build a party.

The only thing that keeps me playing XI right now is my desire to do more missions (finish Zilart and Aht Urgan) and play the new expansion.

But if my playing time keeps being as limited as it is right now I might just quit because XI isn't a game where you can acomplish much (in terms of xp, missions and quests) unless you have at least 3 hours to play at a time.

[KoukiRyu]

Re: Want solo job? why?

It is rather annoying getting groups together for the most part, but I'd never want to solo all the time. Sure I'd have an LS to talk to, but it's more fun with those few parties that just work well and we do a good job.

I kind of see solo'ing as something that you do for fun, to test how good you are. I'm going to solo Sea Horror on MNK right now...or try at least, while I'm fishing. I'm also hoping for Pirates ;D

I like the solo jobs we have, and the people that innovate and solo on jobs that weren't quite made for it are quite cool. I think we have enough options as it is, and I'd prefer to see some people who are "forced" to solo, become more prominent in parties.

And...I invite BSTs, PUPs, SMNs, BLMs, cause they're good DD's, I don't exclude them like most.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: Want solo job? why?

I'm sure it is, given I'm playing a game that does that right now.

You can scale an Assault instance in FFXI because they were built to do so, you can enter a 30 cap zone and everone else will scale to level 30.

But a FFXI mob cannot be scaled to your difficultly level just because you engaged it. Possible in a single player game? Sure. MMO? No way in hell and it would be stupid if you could. A Level 35 Goblin Pathfinder should be able to kick the crap out of your level 20 character.

There are plenty of jobs that can solo in FFXI, it just requires some skill and experience with the game, you can't just go out and solo from level 1 as you do in WoW, FFXI demands you spend at least some time in a party to make the subjobs system work. In other words, you earn the ability to solo in FFXI, its not scaled so mobs are so easy you can solo them from 1-65 like you do in WoW.

Hell, even without the ability to solo, most of the other jobs in the game make excellent duo partners. A BLU and a COR can duo 10K+ an hour in the Nyzul Mire camp easily. BRD can duo with a BLM. DRK and RDM can go lay waste to mobs too.

Its all in how you play it.

[Feba]

Re: Want solo job? why?

But a FFXI mob cannot be scaled to your difficultly level just because you engaged it. Possible in a single player game? Sure. MMO? No way in hell and it would be stupid if you could. A Level 35 Goblin Pathfinder should be able to kick the crap out of your level 20 character.

Oh, ok, so you just didn't read my post at all. And yes, the game I'm referring to is an MMO.

[Murphie]

Re: Want solo job? why?

The con-system is a big part of how FFXI works. I find it hard to believe that SE would remove that system in order to create one that scaled to the individual character.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: Want solo job? why?

Oh, ok, so you just didn't read my post at all. And yes, the game I'm referring to is an MMO.

What substance of your post was I missing?

Oh right. Feba post.

Am I supposed to assume which game you mean? Its not FFXI, which is what we're discussing and MMOs that come out after FFXI don't really pertain to how you solo in FFXI. If SE was going to revamp the code to make the game so braindead you didn't need a PT - like Blizzard has with WoW - they would have done it years ago.

Its not a simple tweak and its not a needed one.

[Feba]

Re: Want solo job? why?

What substance of your post was I missing?

Oh, about the entire post? Seriously. Show me one bit of your post that had anything to do with mine.

I find it hard to believe that SE would remove that system in order to create one that scaled to the individual character.

Murphie, get on AIM.

[Murphie]

Re: Want solo job? why?

I don't have time for AIM right now. Sorry.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: Want solo job? why?

Oh, about the entire post? Seriously. Show me one bit of your post that had anything to do with mine.

I'm sure it is, given I'm playing a game that does that right now.

Its not FFXI, which is what we're discussing and MMOs that come out after FFXI don't really pertain to how you solo in FFXI. If SE was going to revamp the code to make the game so braindead you didn't need a PT - like Blizzard has with WoW - they would have done it years ago.

[Feba]

Re: Want solo job? why?

And your point?

Where in the bloody fuck did you get changing con levels out of my post? SRSLY, Reading is fun kids.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: Want solo job? why?

Oh dear christ. I'm just not going to bother anymore. One who lacks reading comprehension shouldn't be preaching to others about it.