Where is everyone? Can't find a party for days!

[ItazuraNhomango]

Re: Where is everyone? Can't find a party for days!

I do know a couple of players who are able to effectively use jobs they Astral Flow'ed to 75, but they were experienced players to begin with. The odds are, if you don't have a good idea of how a job is used how how to gear in the typical scenarios, then you should avoid Astral Flow burning it.

Just leveling slower would give you the time to ask questions and ponder upon different aspect of the game/job, and that's a good thing. Rushing to Lv.80 blindly is not the way to go one is unfamiliar with the game and the job's fundamentals.

[cidbahamut]

Re: Where is everyone? Can't find a party for days!

Give me one good example of what a job can learn in exp that he can't at endgame or at lvl cap?

Muscle memory of the macro layout. If you're only learning that shit during events you're likely to get your teammates killed if you're on a mage job.

---------- Post added at 09:08 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:05 AM ----------

Just leveling slower would give you the time to ask questions and ponder upon different aspect of the game/job, and that's a good thing. Rushing to Lv.80 blindly is not the way to go one is unfamiliar with the game and the job's fundamentals.

This. So fucking hard.
I could easily have hit 75 on my RDM months ago if I'd just blitzed exp through parties or burns, but taking it slow has allowed me to learn a lot.

[Truece]

Re: Where is everyone? Can't find a party for days!

You can easily learn your job at high level, what you miss out on is generic knowledge, of mobs and such

And then become the target of a rant in the Pet Peeves thread.

Short answer, you will solo a lot or wait a lot, long answer my non creative list is what people use to level take it as you see fit.

Let's think about the number of people in experience points parties at any given time. Now, what percentage of those people are the leech in an astral burn or abyssea party? You're giving advice that caters to a very, very small minority of players. The majority of he population levels their jobs in traditional parties. Your advice is unrealistic.

[MrMageo]

Re: Where is everyone? Can't find a party for days!

Let's think about the number of people in experience points parties at any given time. Now, what percentage of those people are the leech in an astral burn or abyssea party? You're giving advice that caters to a very, very small minority of players. The majority of he population levels their jobs in traditional parties. Your advice is unrealistic.

The majority of the population is no longer leveling low end jobs. The majority of the population has multiple jobs at 75+ and are busy exping in abyssea and exploring abyssea and fighting nms in abyssea. If they want a low level job leveled as a sub or a main they will do so exclusively with friends in the same mindset or use on of these avenues.

However when the new update hits, you will see a short lived revival of parties while ppl exp subs to a higher level. After that it will be more abyssea.

Hell I sat on my RDM in campaign seeking party level sync any in my comment and it took 2 days to gt me a party. the only invites I got were for abyssea, asking if I wanted to buy a leech spot in an astral burn, and finally an exp party @ lvl 70 on imps.

[ItazuraNhomango]

Re: Where is everyone? Can't find a party for days!

Just to clarify, I'm not really terribly against Astral Flow parties, but I am against people who AF a job without understanding how the job is used Lv.75+--if they planned to use the job. (If just want to run around town parading some Dynamis rot drop, by all means, AF burn that job.)

That said, most people gave themselves way too much credit when it comes to their knowledge and understanding of the different jobs and the interactions between jobs.

p.s. I'm hoping to be able to AF my COR to Lv.75 once I get around to leveling it. Yes, it's just to save bullet cost. (And, no, I don't plan to take the COR out to events or Abyssea exp with ultra wimpy Marksmanship, unless I'm absolutely sure shooting won't be helpful--I'm counting on skilling up costing less at higher levels than lower levels...)

[MrMageo]

Re: Where is everyone? Can't find a party for days!

W/E its the same crap arguments that occur when lvl sync was introduced. You have people who are generically good at these types of games who will be able to pick things up relatively fast at any level of play. They also know how to look for answers to question, by using the internet or socials. Then you have the others (usually the majority) who are idiots and couldn't fight there way out of a wet paper sack. Usually these people don't even get it after years of EXP. They are most likely the ones who are so opposed to things like lvl sync and astral burns, because they are afraid of gimp players coming out, mean while they will happily head to a party with uncapped skills, in AF gear, because they spent all their time EXPing and no time making money to actually get good gear.

Look I leveled to 75 the slowest way possible, I didn't get any kind of 20K/hr parties, we got 8K max and that was trucking it, that was a good exp party. All that it taught me was how much I despised the grind. When I decided to level DNC i did so in astral flow's because I knew that I could learn the job just as easily in a few weeks at 75 as I could in a few months grinding.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: Where is everyone? Can't find a party for days!

I do know a couple of players who are able to effectively use jobs they Astral Flow'ed to 75, but they were experienced players to begin with. The odds are, if you don't have a good idea of how a job is used how how to gear in the typical scenarios, then you should avoid Astral Flow burning it.

Well, I don't deny exceptions based on experience, but there's still the macro layouts. And for mage jobs, macro layouts are a very fine art. That's not to say melee jobs can't get there either, but I'd say Ranger had the largest macro palate of any melee I played and all others were easy to condense into a couple pages at most.

Something like SCH, though, I filled out all ten pages. And if you rewrite that many pages, you are not going out to an event until its second nature again. To do otherwise would be inconsiderate, not to mention you have to test for errors, gear swaps and make sure it flows well in action. You can test that in an event or Besieged where you're of no consequence to anyone, I always found Besieged and Campaign to be the best place for field testing.

And to write an effective macro set, you have to know your gear and what takes priority in your role. This includes party role, solo functions and which abilities and spells see the most action. You can't just throw that stuff together after blazing to 75 and expect it to work.

[MrMageo]

Re: Where is everyone? Can't find a party for days!

And to write an effective macro set, you have to know your gear and what takes priority in your role. This includes party role, solo functions and which abilities and spells see the most action. You can't just throw that stuff together after blazing to 75 and expect it to work.

Why not? if you are going to be following your advice

Something like SCH, though, I filled out all ten pages. And if you rewrite that many pages, you are not going out to an event until its second nature again. To do otherwise would be inconsiderate, not to mention you have to test for errors, gear swaps and make sure it flows well in action. You can test that in an event or Besieged where you're of no consequence to anyone, I always found Besieged and Campaign to be the best place for field testing.

Then why does it matter, you are practicing in Campaign or Besieged, So I ask again

And to write an effective macro set, you have to know your gear and what takes priority in your role. This includes party role, solo functions and which abilities and spells see the most action. You can't just throw that stuff together after blazing to 75 and expect it to work.

Why won't it work what is so special about 10-79 that isn't there at 80? Nothing, hell for the first 50 levels on SCH your gear swaps will be MND build INT build. 2 macro's

So again what makes 80 so different to set up macros and learn them on your own time? what is so special about 1-79, when for the first 50 levels you have 2 gear swap macro's and some abilitiy macros that don't change, besides the roman numerals you use.

Christ its like everyone here just got off the stupid train.

[cidbahamut]

Re: Where is everyone? Can't find a party for days!

What is so difficult to understand about the fact that there's more than one way to level and that each way has its pros and cons?

It's not a race to the level cap for everyone Mageo. Not everyone can grab a level 80 character and be phenomenal within the week. Not everyone wants to either, but that doesn't mean they are necessarily an inferior player and won't be able to kick just as much if not more ass than folks who burned their way up.

If all you want is that level 80 then burn away and hightail it back to the endgame. You won't get to experience all this game has to offer if you do it that way though. I guarantee it.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: Where is everyone? Can't find a party for days!

Why won't it work what is so special about 10-79 that isn't there at 80? Nothing, hell for the first 50 levels on SCH your gear swaps will be MND build INT build. 2 macro's

Do I really have the explain the nuances of each job in the game, things like growth of power and support ability. My macro set evolved as the job grew. I started with three lists. I didn't have much to work with on White magic til about 30 and didn't really come into my own as a healer until 40. Before all that I was a glorified Black Mage and a support healer, with /WHM at 56 and /RDM at 68+, the game changed yet again. And at 70+ SCHs become a n asset in Black Magic all over again able to help Manaburns keep chains more easily than BLM could on its own.

And it wasn't restricted to a certain type of party dynamic. I could solo, heal for a TP burn (and even manage well without a BRD, RDM or COR), participate in a TP burn or function in a traditional skill chain/MB party, able to be the healer if we had a BLM and a nuker if we had a WHM.

Seems you already forgotten the nuances in favor of the homogenized bullshit that is Abyssea. That junk even makes TP burn look like a balanced party. Kinda glad I quit while my jobs still stood out.

[TheGrandMom]

Re: Where is everyone? Can't find a party for days!

I have plenty of horror stories about incompetent players that got that way by "cheating the system" so to say. Like the time I was in leveling another job in Kuftal and our blm was sucking ass at magic bursting. So I'm gently discussing the problem with him in /t when he tells me he's been power leveled till now and has no idea how to make a macro. So I had to explain it to him and walk him through it, and we lost most of our party members because of it. I do not think people should be power leveled or be carried through the game in any fashion. We have enough idiots in the game, do we really need a larger supply?

[cidbahamut]

Re: Where is everyone? Can't find a party for days!

But TGM, they're getting MAD EXP! Don't you get it? Exp/hour > EVERYTHING! Besides he can just learn it all later...like during your party...getting everyone killed...

[MrMageo]

Re: Where is everyone? Can't find a party for days!

Do I really have the explain the nuances of each job in the game, things like growth of power and support ability. My macro set evolved as the job grew. I started with three lists. I didn't have much to work with on White magic til about 30 and didn't really come into my own as a healer until 40. Before all that I was a glorified Black Mage and a support healer, with /WHM at 56 and /RDM at 68+, the game changed yet again. And at 70+ SCHs become a n asset in Black Magic all over again able to help Manaburns keep chains more easily than BLM could on its own.

And it wasn't restricted to a certain type of party dynamic. I could solo, heal for a TP burn (and even manage well without a BRD, RDM or COR), participate in a TP burn or function in a traditional skill chain/MB party, able to be the healer if we had a BLM and a nuker if we had a WHM.

Seems you already forgotten the nuances in favor of the homogenized bullshit that is Abyssea. That junk even makes TP burn look like a balanced party. Kinda glad I quit while my jobs still stood out.

But what is your point. You say to practice your macro's until you are comfortable with them in Besieged or Campaign. How does that have any bearing on EXP. It means absolutely nothing at all. ANYONE AT ANY LEVEL can practice their macro's. Just because X player was PLVL or Af Burn or Leech in abyssea doesn't mean jack shit. The players who care about performing will always practice to be the best they can in each situation.

Stop referring to idiots who can't do a quick google search or don't know how to ask a question. It is not the systems fault they are morons, it is them it is their problem. If they don't want to take the time to learn the nuances of the job than that is their issue. But EXP does not make you an better player. It is an avenue of learning, learning the same shit you could do on your own by yourself, soloing FoV, in Beseiged or in Campaign. You do not need 5 other people or more around to learn how to play your job, if you do than maybe FFXI is too steep a learning curve for you and you should go play a much easier game like this one.

Information - The Game - Pokemon World Online

Stop pretending EXP parties are something they are not, there is just as many idiots who went 10-75(80) in an EXP party as there were that went through LVL sync, PL, AF, Key Bitch in abyssea. Like I said earlier just because they are lazy and idiotic, does not mean the system is flawed.

I have plenty of horror stories about incompetent players that got that way by "cheating the system" so to say. Like the time I was in leveling another job in Kuftal and our blm was sucking ass at magic bursting. So I'm gently discussing the problem with him in /t when he tells me he's been power leveled till now and has no idea how to make a macro. So I had to explain it to him and walk him through it, and we lost most of our party members because of it. I do not think people should be power leveled or be carried through the game in any fashion. We have enough idiots in the game, do we really need a larger supply?

The majority of Idiots were around a lot longer than AF, MMM, Level Sync, or Abyssea Leech. But to hone in a finer point. You think they should have to grind away for months, just so they can be worth it in your eyes? Does it get lonely on the pedestal of "Doing it the Right Way". Give me a break. That is hardly an excuse that BLM was just a scrub, one flip through the manual of the game can tell you all about macro's, on quick question in a LS or a shout "Hey how do I macro Fire" will yield an answer, a quick Google search will tell you anything you want to know from basic to an advanced macro.

Did you learn about macro's because you hit level 15 and said hey im in an exp party so I automatically know about how to make a macro now. No you read about it or you asked about it. You just didn't all the sudden learn something because you were in an EXP group without a PL. This guy was a scrub, but I can point out another 2 dozen on Lakshmi, who are equally as lazy or stupid, who are at level 80. Hell one of my good buddies is the shittiest Ninja I have ever seen, He leveled it up around the time I was leveling my RDM, he did it the old school way slow as 5K hour parties, he is still dumb as shit at the job. But he sure is one hell of a PLD which he just had powered through with AF party in March, he is now the main tank for LS events.

Want to know how he did it. He did this

"PLD tanking FFXI"

Oh a guide on how to tank on PLD. .. .. ..

Ok guys can I try and tank this... bam done

It is not hard if you put effort into it, however if you are lazy and don't care you will never succeed at anything.

[ItazuraNhomango]

Re: Where is everyone? Can't find a party for days!

Seems you already forgotten the nuances in favor of the homogenized bullshit that is Abyssea. That junk even makes TP burn look like a balanced party. Kinda glad I quit while my jobs still stood out.

I have no idea why you have such a strange idea about Abyssea. Exp rate there is heavily dependent on the gear and ability of the players and the set up used (and yes, more than one set up can work--but ability and setup both matter). It requires greater coordination than any WS spam party, in fact, while the old rule of gimped players/setups make gimped exp/hr still applies--just the "gimped exp/hr" can be a lot higher now.

You comment regarding the loss of "balanced party" is especially confusing; you do realize that for the first time in ages, the words "nukers" and "normal exp groups" can finally be used in the same sentence, right?

The idea that you need at least some experience to gain understanding applies not just to leveling a job, but to any significant aspect of this game.

* * *

My attitude is, I think I know about many aspects of FFXI, but it's always a good idea to at least double check and read up a bit on how others approach any particular problem. If you don't think you know everything, that's a good start.

It's easy to get tunnel vision; had a chuckle when a certain poster started foaming at the mouth when I pointed out there are generally better setups than ones involving his RDM/DNC hacking away at the monster. He called me various names for not valuing how enspell II and Death Blossom lowers magic resistance, while totally forgetting that DNC (which I proposed using) has Stutter Step himself. lol. Avoiding narrow focus and strive to see how everything interconnects is another essential approach, in my opinion.

The ability to see the bigger picture--moving from "What should I do on this job?" perspective to "How does the whole alliance work together to overcome the difficulties in this task?" perspective is something neither leveling up normally or via Astral Flow will teach anyone.

[Truece]

Re: Where is everyone? Can't find a party for days!

Christ its like everyone here just got off the stupid train.

Yeah, following you and your shitty, unrealistic advice.

If someone asks you how to make gil, do you suggest that they beg for it in LS? Buy it from a website? Based on your suggestions in this thread so far, I wouldn't be surprised.