Dunes Parties

[Taskmage]

Re: Dunes Parties

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.

[Armando]

Re: Dunes Parties

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.

[Murphie]

Re: Dunes Parties

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.

[Takelli]

Re: Dunes Parties

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...

[Armando]

Re: Dunes Parties

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.

[Taskmage]

Re: Dunes Parties

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.

[Firewind]

Re: Dunes Parties

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.

[Armando]

Re: Dunes Parties

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.

[Raydeus]

Re: Dunes Parties

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.

[Taskmage]

Re: Dunes Parties

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.

[Yellow Mage]

Re: Dunes Parties

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.

[Raydeus]

Re: Dunes Parties

This should be interesting. I still see no reason for it, but it should be interesting.

Good luck guys. XD

[Armando]

Re: Dunes Parties

But, Transfers can't be all that much.

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

[Takelli]

Re: Dunes Parties

.Were you on Midgard (or whatever server it is now)?

No, Alexander Server. Which is now Shiva. But, Transfers can't be all that much.

[Yellow Mage]

Re: Dunes Parties

Hmm.

Catnarok.

Carbymesh.

Midgardsalcoatl.

If I recall correctly.