Lv. 60+ Starting to get discouraged, any hopes?

[Potsnu]

Well I must say, these levels are rather depressing. Ever since Level 35's, I have never sat in Jeuno once and relied on the Looking for Group tool. Let's face it. Drg's fit in a role where 4-5 other melees can fulfill and sometimes other jobs can do it better than us. Instead, I have made every single one of my groups. The Exp grind from the early levels weren't that bad at all. Made 1-30 in a week, 30-40 in a week. Eventually got 60 in a month after that. Currently I'm 66.5 and that took close to 2 months.

I really love my Dragoon, despite these set backs and I would love to continue further. But lately, the long agonizing levels and the rigid grouping system have started to deter me. I'm even considering stopping Drg at 70 just to start a new job away from the stress. When you're a hardcore NA player, the only viable choice of gaining any exp is during JP prime time. Since I'm east coast, this can mean 4-5 A.M. The sad part about JP groups is that, they do everything very very slow. Can take 2 hours before your PT is ready to go. Anywhere from finding the right members to even deciding where to go. The biggest time sink is no longer trying to find a Whm (hell they're a dime a dozen) and Smn might even be better choice (aside from Raise1 and lack of Teleports). So the biggest problem now is trying to find a Rdm or a Brd. Rdm for me takes about an hour to find. You see one Looking for group, 5 mins later they're gone. Brd is even harder because nearly every single one I know are in a Set PT.

So I'm wondering from high level Drg's, is there any hope for me? The way I see it, this problem can only get worst as I approach 70. With the upcoming Maat fight which I'm still very worried about (hopefully I can win this fight with enough X-Potions). 70+ is around 40k a level and very limited spots we can hunt due to the Undead situation. At the rate I'm going, I don't see any way of getting 75 until June lol. I mean some nights I get a great group and can push out 12-15k exp a night. Other nights I'm in not so ideal groups and only get 5-8k exp in 4-5 hours......Than again, I guess exp is exp. The only reasonable method I see of getting 75 is with a set PT. I've tried this many times through out my Drg's career and I say it is very hard to get it to work. Let's face it, we all have different real life schedules and due to time zones, it is nearly impossible to implement a schedule that can accomodate 6 people. Than you have people who are late or don't show up at all and this really hurts the group. Trying to stay within the same level range causes a lot of stress as well. So really, I would like to hear some feedback from high level Drg's that are doing this, or hit 75. I really don't want to give up and continue playing my Drg, but right now, it doesn't seem possible.

[Ayako2]

Leveling guide:
69-70 Bohyada Steelshells
70-71 Dragons Aery Spiders
70-75 Kuftal Cockatrice, Tiger
74-75 Kuftal Ladon
72-75 Ro Maeve Weapons
72-75 Tu Lia areas

Make your own parties, learn the camp spots. Know how to compensate if you can't find XXX job. No BRD, then bring 3 mages, and make sure you have a BLM and a good renkei. No RDM, see if someone can sub BRD. Know what works for you, and headhunt them. Refresh search every minute, and blitz tells, even if you are 99.99999% sure they will say no. But be patient. Don't just crackerjack your party for the sake of rushing out there. No matter the time of day, people WILL pop. I have no problems making parties during my play time (EST afternoons) Only flag if you are in a lazy mood or have other things around the house to do. But when you do that, don't expect to be invited anywhere. If you are going to flag, pimp your search comment. Put everything in there. Whether you can go to Tu Lia or not, whether you learned Impulse Drive, your stat bonuses, everything. Don't be discouraged. It takes a long time, I won't lie to you, but keep at ti.

[Dark Aphalite]

Coolness, I was worried about future levelling too but thanks Ayako.

[Weezingpipes]

When you're a hardcore NA player, the only viable choice of gaining any exp is during JP prime time. Since I'm east coast, this can mean 4-5 A.M. The sad part about JP groups is that, they do everything very very slow

And how! Almost every japanese group I've been in they take ages to form up people, or decide where to go. They take forever to respond also, it is quite odd. I have a JP RDM friend who has pretty good english understanding so often when I am online on an off time (ie, during JP prime time) I form a group with him and have him ask people since I can't speak any japanese, and translator is shit. Well point being, I point out people for him to ask, and it can often take up to 10 minutes before he says yes or no - not that he has a problem communicating to me, literally they just take forever to decide. Annoying! Anyway I've had good success in NA parties oddly enough...often better than japanese groups. Jp groups tend to last maybe 2, maximum 3 hours I find, take forever to set up, finally get where we are going, and 2 hours later the party is done. Super frustrating especially when I want to group for a decent period of time. Also I guess its just some of the newer Jp players, not all of them are utter gods at the game. Even the ones you would expect would know something (good equipment, rank 10 etc) often leave something to be desired ie Black Mage I grouped with, tons of great items, was like level 61, and all he ever did was heal and nuke on bursts, no other time. Gee, we'd get chain 5 every time if you were to nuke a few times a fight. Guy is sitting at basically full mp constantly simply because he didn't really have to heal, and the rare times he nuked anyway he just got it back before the next skillchain.

While many NA players can be annoying to deal with, it seems better post 60 than before then..the people who only leveled to get to 60 and get their AF usually don't really wanna deal with 30k+ exp every level - they feel full AF is "uber" enough and often quit. That being said you might want to actually get to know more of them and try grouping with them instead. I just find there are more people to choose from during NA primetime than during JP primetime, but that might depend on what server you are on. Post 60 I haven't had much of a hard time finding a group at all no matter the time of day, and I've never had a static party. Sitting with seek on isn't productive of course. I basically form my own parties still or group with people I am familiar with. I met a lot of people doing missions and different alliances for whatever so it gives a decent base to work with. Even with the known shitty players, its easy to avoid them and make a decent party that can reliably churn out 3-4k an hour and thats plenty good for me.

Try playing at different times of the day, get to know people in your parties, make conversations with them literally at random times just to say hi and the invites tend to not be a huge problem. Hell I have no idea what rank you are, try to find people to do whatever missions to meet people which could potentially turn into consistant group members.

I don't expect to get 75 within the next month or anything, probably in the next 2 or 3, but I doubt I'll be getting it in a static.

[baddwin]

As the time will advance, problem of getting good NA group should reduce. Alot of NA players from EQ and other's game are getting near high level now. So we won't need to always look for Japoness players, not that i don't like them they prolly the most polite players to team with (it make a change from some of NA players).

Already there alot of peoples on my server, those that started about same time as me, that getting in the 50+, soon that batch will move up. Still getting group are hard some night, a good reputation help alot + making friends so they look for you when making group.

[Nightrider]

I am pld so i have no trouble with that....
But my friends that are lvl 60 and lvl 50 drg have trouble getting pts too. Just start your own party. I have a theif friend and they get even less pts. I told her to lvl her sub so she gets more invites, also to start her own pts and not get discouraged because all thats needed for a pt isn't on /sea all right at that moment. Forming pts take time, i know you know this but yeah give it a try. ^^ I'm not reaming since you are higher up than me

[Yoss]

Think I reached my breaking point with dragoon this past week...

Right now the ratio of mages to melee is just horrendous. Around lvl50 there will be 4-5 drks, 3-4 sams, 2-3 dragoons, and a couple monks always seeking. There's no point in even putting your seeking flag up, you have to start your own group.

The problem is most NAs won't wait more than 15-20 mins to get a party going. I'll find a rdm or whm and scoop them. If the party isn't on the way in about 15 mins, the mage just drops and turns seeking back on. This has happened all freaking week =/

I got so fed up I just switched to bard. I'd like to eventually get my dragoon to 60, and hopefully past that if I can stick with it. I guess for the casual player, I just don't have the time to wait 1-2 hours every night to get a group going. Most nights I have 3 hours or so, so it just isn't an option.

Oh well, my lvl50 drg/thf is a farming machine, so I am glad I got it that far. And if the ratio of mages/melee settles back down I will definitely go back to it...but for now...i am a spoony bard

Now should I trade in a sniper ring for a monster signa....? hell no ^^

[Hibiki]

I've had the same delusion on our server potsnu, even jp players have trouble as drg, but i feel like NA suffer more. if you're on during jp prime time, do /sea all 60 drg, you'll see that EVERY drg is either leader of a pt, or lfg, maybe you see one or two thats in a pt and not a leader. I think the hardest is trying to start a group and having the majority of jp refusing to group with NA. I can speak enough jp to usually carry a small conversation, but usualyl as soon as they see romanji in /tell the majority of them will just ignore it. WHen a jp party starts, they would probably invite a rank <5 over me as soon as they see my comments, even though i'm rank 7 and probably have better equip. THe only solution i see from this is trying to get my hands on the jp client or continue starting groups until lvl 75.

[Jifan]

I have hit 52 now. I still wait for some PT's unless my LS people at my lvl get on. A PLD, SAM, BLM, and THF. THen we search for mages.

Its getting harder to found higher lvl mobs that I can damage to effectivly. With this, I am consirdering lvling my Monk. I know that will be harder to get groups if my LS isnt on, but seems more fun at higher LVLs with monk. Plus, search comment BCNM Fight wanted with 2hr ready seems like alot of fun. 31 Monk currently, going to have maxed out gear at lvl 40.


I really love DRG, but can only see myself going to LVL 60 for the total AF set.


I think I will follow Ayaka's advice and Start adding Stats and where I can go in me Search Comments.

[Ayako2]

My search comment:

17136/43000 ƒTƒ|?F?í”’Ž˜?@‹ó‚w
–½’†?{‚R‚P?@?U?{‚T‚S?@ƒCƒ“ƒpƒ‹ƒX‚n
—U‚Á‚Ä‚_‚¾‚³‚¢?@‚æ‚낵‚_?[

Translation:
17136/43000 Sub: War, Whm, Sam Tu Lia cannot
Accuracy +31 Attack +54 Impulse Drive OK
Please invite

Simple, but it gets the point across.

[Zafron]

My search comment:

Dead sexy Hume male lfg. Likes to bring the pain,
take long walks on the beach, and eat by candlelight.
<please invite me>

Simple, gets no point accross, but still gets me groups oddly enough.

Of course i am no where near your guys level.

[Tidane]

Originally posted by Zafron
My search comment:

Dead sexy Hume male lfg. Likes to bring the pain,
take long walks on the beach, and eat by candlelight.
<please invite me>

Simple, gets no point accross, but still gets me groups oddly enough.

Of course i am no where near your guys level.

That comment seemed familiar, what's up?

I used to put my comment as
@4000
(Teleport-Altep) OK.
ACC+10 ATK+15

but now I get disconnected so often, I've given up remaking my comment.

[Weezingpipes]

Some other things which may be useful to add (some depends on level)

1. If you have all the Teleport Crystals (means more options to exp at if you have Altep/Yhoat and such, doesn't really matter by high levels to put in your comment, its generally assumed everyone has them all by 60+). Write like Teleport : All or TP : All is generally understood I find

2. At low levels, feel free to include whether or not you have Kazham Pass (pre 30) or Airship pass. While rank 5 generally assumes you have an Airship pass, again means you can access places better. I've seen JP write PASS : All depending on the level

3. List sub jobs obviously as mentioned, while its not completely vital to have max sub job level at all times, it is important to have sub jobs leveled to relevant abilities i.e. big difference between being 50 with a 15 war sub and a 25 war sub, or being 63 with a 22 thf sub vs 30 thf sub.

4. At lower levels, people usually include they have food, or maybe they are mages/pld who carry components to make juices (mostly see Galka mages/pld include this) for use within the party. At higher levels it is assumed people are using food, its kind of a given, but most low levels cannot afford it/don't use stat foods for whatever reason.

5. 49+, some people include a comment like GC all - refers to the level cap limit quest - if they have them all completed to the relevant level. Generally I would hope people aren't dumb enough to not have one done and go exping and not actually be able to gain exp...but it can't hurt I guess. Didn't seem relevant to me to include it in search comments, but I've seen it anyway.

6. If you are out farming somewhere and have seek on and you aren't close to Jeuno (or at least some town), its harder to find groups because people do invite based on proximity. However, including something like "I have a scroll of instant warp, will use if invited" helps. Also if you are seeking away from town it is a good idea to include what your home point is, again relates to how long it will take you to get to the party you are being invited to.

7. Can't hurt to list relevant stats. This can make it easier if you are say a lower mp race mage like Elvaan, or a Galka PLD to say how much mp you have. A lot of people won't invite Elvaan mages or sometimes Galka PLD due to having such low mp, and people really don't know any better if you do have enough mp to be functional. I got in the habit of inviting Galka PLD and I was fairly sad when I invited a Galka PLD with utterly craptastic gear who only had the base 98 mp at 60. Needless to say, he had some agro issues. Anyway for DRG listing Accuracy and ATK is fine, the more the better!

Personally, I just list my accuracy and atk in comment and sub jobs, how much exp to next level is relevant info. Usually don't bother with food comment cuz it takes up a lot of space and it is generally assumed melee use food always by 60+ so no point stating the norm. Just add comments which make you appear to be the most desireable person to add to your party over other people. While long walks on the beach is funny and all, people who want to maximize exp gain don't really care if you have a sense of humor, they just want to make as much exp as they can.

Search box should be bigger though. It seems it was designed with japanese characters in mind, and really you cannot include all that much information using english.

[Ayako2]

GC means Gate Crystals, not Genkai.

[Weezingpipes]

Ok ignore that one, some jp told me that was what it was in reference to. ; ;