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

[Weezingpipes]

Thank you for your very insightful reply ~.~

I live to give.

[Lan'Urk]

I never said that weezing Posts are not informative or insightiful, because most of them are...I was Implying that that specific reply was very useless and unessessary... but hey im fighting a lost battle here, Im done arguing about this... this matter does not concern me, and I saw that my ideas go against everyone, and are not welcome... so fine I wont continue...

~Lanurk

[FrozenChrono]

Well seeing as the main problem for late game Drg's is getting a party, and Pld's are pretty good in that area I think any insight you may have into the way dragoons balance into partys is great Lan'Urk. And since you're not a damage dealer you have a realativly unbiased opinion about how well Drg's function in partys. Don't get too discouraged if no one agrees with you, that's what boards are about, disagreeing and then flaming about 1337ness.

[lammy]

Hmm...I agree with Lan'Urk


I am actually one of those guys who sits around seeking in Jeuno. I don't like it, but I love playing as a drg so I accept the fact that I am going to wait for a long time. I will make parties if I see enough people around my lvl to start one.

The JP/NA issue I can understand, because sometimes I get invites from JP parties and sometimes I don't. Then I get declines or no responses when I invite. You just have to remember the cultural differences and game play style and be willing to accept the differences...just a matter of opinion on this one.

Overall....I love the drg job...and I willing to wait around for an invite or start my own pt.

[Dano]

almost every melee has their bad times..

and the faster you go the more you'll find yourself have to party wif JPs.

[MoRph3u5]

Keep going!

Potsnu! Keep lvling~~~ Where are you these days O.O

[BurntOchre]

There comes a time when a man learns he can't fight against the tide. Either you find the strength from within somehow to reach the shore; you get swept out to sea in hopes of finding land again someday; or there is the 3rd option:

You sink.

It's hard being a Dragoon post 60. I had a good japanese friend tell me this once. IIRC, to paraphrase "you have to make your own parties, be nice to people, help out. in time you will level."

He's so right and at the same time so wrong.

My journey as a Dragoon on the Bismarck server:

1-10: I felt incredible. I was there at last, I had a dream come true. IRL I am a bit of a polearm nut, would like to learn to practice combat skills one day, and am a large fan of dragons. But it wasn't the polearms that made this job attractive, it was my darling Khocha. (I wish she was real some times)

11-25: The hell that is Valkurm and Qufim. I learned that a lot of things can kill your poor wyvern very quickly...and a lot of people don't bloody care if it dies or anything.

25-32: The jungles for the first time, having leveled in Batallia post Qufim w/warrior, this was an exciting experience. I started seeing more of the world.

33-45: Weird times, lots of chaos due to the new zones and the fact that you have to remember that you aren't viable as a backup tank anymore. A lot of people this level started becoming rude. I rolled with the punches, and went on. Strange people I don't even know are sending tells asking to help with various things, or even for me to lend them money...

For AF1...I remember asking and asking and asking and asking sooo many different people who had time on their hands to help me with the Antican. In fact, to get pity votes, I went and attempted to SOLO it, and died miserably. After which, I finally got help from a friend, who dragged along a few people who were completely miserable the entire time. All that complaining for a mob that died in less than a min and a half.

46-50: Right about now I start noticing how much people are in it for themselves. Several times I was invited to Genkai 1 parties only to be used and thrown away w/o ever completing it myself. There would be several instances where I start to blist people due to their behavior. In spite of this, I tell every genkai party I am in that I will not leave until everyone has completed their item in the zone. Then I do something reprehensible...I get my Papyrus and leave afterward.. (I don't regret it, the person who organized the group was one of the people constantly asking me to lend them money/buy them stuff)

PENTA THRUST? : Eh. I might be one of the only Dragoons in existance that doesn't care for it.

50-55: AF Time. Oh boy. Coffers were mostly simple, although I died in front of a group in Boyhada thanks to a crab finding me after I opened the coffer. They did nothing to help me, except I did get a Raise from a friend in the group.

Genkai 2? Bleh. I got a pity invite from a friend, and was quickly lambasted by several others who didn't get to go.

I can remember a lot of different people going from 50-60. Most of which were friendly to the point of sucking the life from you. "Can you please help me with my AF quests? I will help you when the time comes!" Bleh. All honey and lies. Sturmtiger proved that the adage "If you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours." isn't something to apply to FFXI.

All while this is going on, I start asking around if anyone would like to form a Set Party with me. I get some people interested, some declined, all of which never got back to me.

55-60: At this point, lfg, I start to get somewhat discouraged. I get pickup parties where the party is pretty unbalanced either on the mage side or the melee side, and I still struggle through as best I can. I ask around for help with Ifrit's Cauldron key help, and like before, don't get any help. I go there with the intention of attempting my AF1 ploy again... (nothing like a lost kitten eh?) Instead, I find a very very kind Japanese BST who gets a key for me in under five minutes.

Several of the other Dragoons my level approach me with "deals". If I get help with AF3, I promise to invite them along as well. One night, while I am taking a nap while the game is on, I get a tell from a friend saying that someone is organizing DRG AF3. Turns out, ha, one of the DRG that came to me before. I send them tells asking to join, and why they didn't inform me about it. 'It was completely last minute' they tell me. They agree to wait for me, and ask me to pay for a port to Altep. I do, and what do I see after a 5 minute wait? THE ENTIRE ALLIANCE pours out of the gate crystal! =)

At this point, I am done making any deals with anyone concerning anything AF related.

1st time out to Uggalepih, I get some people asking me if I wanted to get my AF3 done. This bunch of people was organized together by the same person who grabbed people for my AF1. They all don't want to be there obviously, and we try to get it over with as fast as we can. Needless to say, we all died, and some blamed it on me being a useless Dragoon. (I accidentally pulled both elvaan, it was an honest mistake.)

Sometime later on, I pick a night of the week to organize DRG AF3, and ask only the people I know and trust the most completely for help. The night comes, we do MNK AF3 first, and most of the people I invited for DRG AF3 decide to leave. ^^ In the meantime some other DRG that I had met asks to come along for AF3 as well, I am happy to oblige.

This time, everyone lolligags for 40 minutes outside Uggalepih killing Tonberries until I start to go in by myself... We get there, complete success, pulled only one, the other one vanished, didnt even have to fight it. AF complete.

Later on, I find out that most of the people I had invited were just there to support the other DRG instead of both of us. I was just a means to an end, and I suppose I was in the right place at the right time then. Huh.

I'm STILL asking and asking and asking (sometimes begging) people about setting up a Set Party. By now most of them have gotten themselves organized. Who needs a Dragoon?

60-61: Parties are scarce. I manage to get lv 60 in one full week. Lv 61 follows in a week and a half total.

At this point, I stop playing DRG and go RDM mostly full time, getting it to 55. However, growing tired of spamming Refresh to 1/2 an ungrateful Bismarck populace, I start yearning to play DRG again.

Since then, I've had about 4 really bad parties. 2 of which, the puller FORGETS to bring arrows...and I have to go pull raptors and rocs, coming back with 100 hp usually.

The most funderfull party ever was the one the other night. BRD I did Rank 6-1+6-2 w/ is in it, and I ask for a space. The leader agrees, and we go to Onzozo. The PLD hasn't even installed the expansion pack, so the other DRG/WAR (Jp), the RDM/BLM, the WHM/PLD, and the BRD/WHM and I go inside and kill cockatrices/leeches/goblins for fun for around 50 minutes. The PLD gets back and we go to a Torama camp, when the PLD runs off to PULL. -_-; He comes back, gets eaten alive by the Torama, (the whm wasnt even paying attention, he was just meleeing), followed by the RDM. The BRD has connection failure sometime during this, and the WHM scampers off and uses a scroll of Instant Warp, and disbands in Jeuno. The Jp Drg and I are getting the snot beat out of us by the cat and we finally kill it with her having 100 hp left, and me having 350 hp left.

I was completely dumbfounded. I'm sure the Jp DRG thought that he should never PT with retarded Americans again...... and so did I.

In fact, I'm ready to leave the game behind. All of my friends have outleveled me. I can't farm anymore for anything... the costs are going up day by day, and it's just so tiring to log on and be disappointed every single night. I can't even get a group as a RDM sometimes, even during the very busiest hours. Several people I have respected/loved/cherished have also left before me, and maybe it's time I did the same.

Things you all should learn from my experiences:

== Make friends early and often. Figure out the ones who are using you before it is too late. (too late for me)

== Help people out, when they ask for it. It's incredibly saddening to me seeing the same people looking for help with AF2/AF3/key help night after night.

== Get your set party started early. If/when you do, make sure they are REALLY tight friends with you. I have seen many a set pt replace certain members simply because they didn't like the dmg output people gave them, or if they missed more than one night in a row. In fact, all DRG I help with Cyranuce/AF2 I tell them the exact same things.

== Find a linkshell that will help you. Almost all of the LS I had belonged to were the opposite. They don't listen to advice, they don't care about what you want, only what they want you to do for them.

== Take heart. You will find there are people out there who will play with you even if you don't do the damage that BLM and RNG can do. Make sure you stick with them as long as you possibly can. They are the good ones.

== Learn this: Most people are out for themselves. Don't be like that. I had a dear dear friend give me a /tell the other day, begging me not to quit. He said "You're not like them. You have a heart. You have a brain. You care. You're stronger than all of them put together."

I hope he is right. I guess we will see after the server patch whether I will continue my struggle or just fade away.

I salute you, Dragoons of FFXI.

*Kylindar salutes*

- BurntOchre