BST hard to level ?

[Shen]

Hi,

I was talking with a pt last night during rest and asked if bst was the fastest job to level up, or among the fastest, and they seem to said: no and actually that it was one of the hardest/slowest.

I thought that it would, because you are solo so all XP is for you as well as loot.

So you BST , what do you think about it ?

[Gman]

BST hard to level ?

Yes and no.

It's nice to never have to wait for a party. In this respect, after level 60, if you figure in the time a DRG, SAM, MNK, and DRK wait around for invites, while a BST is out getting exp whenever they want, we get exp at a more reliable, steady pace. When you factor in deaths (and you will die many, many times) you will find some levels very slow and frustrating.

BST solo cannot match what a well balanced PT can get in terms of exp/hour. In a good hour a BST earns 2k exp. This is not constant, it can range from 1k-3k/hour.

The part about the loot is correct though. You can make tons of cash leveling BST, since you keep all the crystals and dropped items. Just last night, after leveling for a few hours mostly on Anticans, I left there with over 2 stacks of Dark Crystals (4k/stack) 2 pauldrons (4k each) 2 robes (600 gil each) + some other stuff. When you consider I was there to exp, not farm, almost 20k worth of stuff isnt too bad. Honestly, the good loot doesnt come till later levels like 32+ though, as most of the stuff before that is pretty common.

[Shen]

tx for answering.

Actually i'm in the dunes for the moment , and the xp/time ratio is not the best one as i heard, can be 1k/3k xp/h .

I was considering testing that job after reaching 30+ or maybe stick to WHM/BLM which I enjoy playing But the solo , no pt thing of the bst looks quit appealing to me too

[Gman]

Experience in the dunes is very inconsistent. One day you can get a great party and make 3-4k/hour, and some days you have a bunch of people who either dont know what they are doing, or dont know how to make a party, and only get 1-2k/hour.

A good, experienced party will always kill things that give more experience, and are tougher than a weak, inexperienced party. trust me, you can tell the difference as soon as you witness it.

By the way, if your BLM and WHM are both level 19 and you have your subjob quest done, leave the Dunes and head for Jeuno. Qufim is much better at your level, killing worms and Clippers.

[Shen]

Yes i'll go to qufim island soon , i got my subjob quest done. I just wanted to get rid of the dunes forever ^^ so i wont have to put a feet there again (at least for leveling)

[Funguwari]

The way I see it is. Even though at solo you have a 3k/hour w/o deaths. If you duo, this can get better. Also, you can never ever seek. Which is a good thing. If you only have 2 hours of playing. If you're a regular job. You're forced to look for a hour, PT for one, and that's it. BST can go out at his/her free will. That is worth the less EXP. Also, you'll never need to farm agian because you can gain EXP and farm at the same time. You'll get crystals like nuts, CP points like nuts (which you can buy then, sell items) and you get the monster loot. From my experience... TH2 or not, ITs always give good drops since they're... well... IT... So that's good.

Also, you can always take a break and be totally free. With a melee job, you're forced to PT sometimes when you don't want to because a friend invited you or something. As a melee, you're forced to take that invite even though you don't want to. Otherwise, you'll need to wait 4 hours.

Is that worth the less EXP? IMO, yes.

[little ninja]

dont foget that bst party with other bsts. so you can solo whenever you want to, or you can seek a pt invite from other bsts.

[Gman]

Originally posted by little ninja
dont foget that bst party with other bsts. so you can solo whenever you want to, or you can seek a pt invite from other bsts.

I've been duoing with another BST since level 32. Our best exp/hour was about 4.5k when we were level 41. Right now we are struggling to find a good spot. Some levels are definately better as solo rather than duo just because of whats available to charm and kill. For soloing you are looking for EM-T prey, while duoing you need VT-IT to get decet exp. Tough++ will work too.

[little ninja]

i been lvling my bst on an off. it was sad the other night i was doing so good. then my evan match lost its fight, i took aggro from a zombie dog. that was so far from where my fight was. the mob i then tried to charm to get the zombie dog off of me didnt charm. so i had 3 mobs on me beating the crap out of me. i charmed them 3rd mob again an it didnt stick again. soon after i died. all my hardf work an careful fighting ruinned by a mob aggro from so freakin far away..

my question is,,, HOW THE HELL DO YOU BSTS DO IT??? :confused:

[Gman]

Taking aggro while you already have a mob engaged is never a good thing, especially if you cant charm it. Unfortunately this happens sometimes, and more often than not, it results in death, especially if you are in area where there are undead who aggro low HP.

Out of curiousity, where were you exp'ing?

How do we do it? Well, when something as you described happens, we usually die too. Number one cause of death for BST's is failed charms. At level 30 you get Tame, which can help a lot by making it so you dont have 2 mobs beating on you, but ultimately, if the failed charm happens at a bad time (as it usually does) then youre likely gonna die.

[little ninja]

since im from bastok i always lvl in the highlands. so thats where i was last night. it seems hard to lvl there, just for the simple fact that mobs are so spread out. it usually causes me to grab a link, fail a charm. an then die..

so right now im lvl 14 there, an let me tell you it is going slow. my bst buddies tell me thats the slow lvl. to low to move, an to high to gain decent exp..

[Gman]

Level 14 was really bad. I ended up getting a powerlevel for the last 1k exp or so because I was getting frustrated. At 15 it gets much better, since you can go to Tahrongi and use Dhamels against Yags, Gobs and other Dhamels. You can also try poison Funguars in the ravene in La Theine Plateau, but there arent many of them there, so its slow. At 16 I went to Ordelles caves and fought bats at the entrance.

It gets much better later on. Right now, just to give you an idea of what to expect, I'm leveling/farming in CN on Labrynth Lizards. They all check DC to me with exp ranging from 50-72 each. While I'm leveling slow, get this. These Lizards drop nest keys. The chest has a 15k axe in it. There are 6 chest spawn points within a few seconds of my camp. On top of this, each lizard i kill drops an average of 4-5 items. I get at least 2 eggs from each one as well as a mix of skins, tails, and fire crystals. In just 1 hour, I managed to open a chest and get 1 axe, got 3 stacks of Lizard eggs, 1 stack of skins, almost a stack of crystals, and threw out the tails because of lack of room. That's like 25k in one hour, while gaining about 1.4k exp. I'm using saplings as pets, and they are much stronger than the lizards, so the kills are very easy, and my participation in the fight is voluntary. Great spot.

[little ninja]

the problem with the highlands now is there is no evan matchs anymore. so to fight the toughs i have to either grab ep, or dc mobs. the results are me running around like a mad man looking for a mob to charm. i go thru 2-3 mobs to take down the tough. sometimes i get the fail charm here, or i grab a link. so now im running around with an ep sheep killing every last thing. an when i come to a d/c+ i dia an fight along side the mob. so at 15 im going to try an seek while i exp in the dunes. if thats not good i will go to the canyon an do what you said..

i still dont understand how the young bsts complain there broke. i must have made around 40k just in crystal drops. almost 2 stacks of sheep leather, an a stack of glass fibers. plus a host of others.

i know the room you speak of in the nest. not many exp there. but i had the chance to exp there one time, we had slaughtered the lizards for great exp. it by far was the best id have ever gotten there. only bad part was once that one person hit that certain lvl, exp went terribly down. lol but im a long ways away from the nest.. :spin:

[little ninja]

there is no way a lvl 15 bst solo can survive, let along get good exp anywhere in all of valkum.. only a few mobs scanned evan match +, the rest were toughs , very toughs an inc tough. so i guess im off to the canyon..

[Gman]

Originally posted by little ninja
there is no way a lvl 15 bst solo can survive, let along get good exp anywhere in all of valkum.. only a few mobs scanned evan match +, the rest were toughs , very toughs an inc tough. so i guess im off to the canyon..

Valkurm is not good at 15. Even the Hill Lizards are 15-18, I believe. Like I mentioned, Tahrongi is your best bet. In fact, i wouldnt hit the dunes until level 20 when you can start charming Flies and Sheep (level 20-23)

Dhamels in canyon are level 14-16, although there arent enough level 14 ones to get decent exp. At level 15 there are DC, EM, and tough, so a nice blend. You can exp here from 16-17 as well, but it slows down quite a lot. If youre really brave, I think at 16 you can try Stink bats against Maze makers in Shakrami. This is dangerous because of wandering Gobs, worms binding you, and links. Great exp if you can do it though.