Alternate EXP locations at 58+?

[imstimpy]

Our static party consists of a PLD, DRK, WAR, BRD, BLM, and WHM. We have the potential of taking things a few levels before pickups do. Everybody knows their place so there is no downtime or risk because of idiotic actions.

We have been leveling on crabs, pugils, and raptors in Cape Terrigan since 57/58. The crabs are now good for 90-160 exp on #4, while raptors and pugils are good for up to 260 exp. Some raptors definitely leave us routed, but they are doable. This place has the potential for 4000 exp/hr as long as there are no interruptions and no other groups. With two groups in the tunnel exp goes down to 3000 exp/hr since crabs become rare and can no longer be used as filler and raptors and pugils become a long run. I pull on #0-3 and our BRD pulls #4 and #5 so the distance problem can be averted. Last few times it has been pretty busy and not a proper place to get experience. I've heard the outpost is good for gobs, but have not looked there to see if the spawns are any good.

Last night we leveled in Gustav Tunnel on robber crabs and goblins. Camp was inside the north-east tunnel that leads down into the high-level area, just before the gob and crab spawns. Our party was 58/59. Experience was only 2500 exp/hr because Wyvernpoacher was running around and getting in the way all the time. We had to escape 3 or 4 times because of him. The crabs there range from 120-210 exp and the gobs could push up to 240 exp. Basically, the crabs are one level higher than those in Cape Terrigan and the gobs are one level lower than the pugils and raptors in Cape Terrigan. It has a lot of potential, but a DRK is a must for stun, barfira and a smart WHM that keeps HPs above 700 in case of a suicide bomb is also needed, and you have to get the spawns staggered because the gobs clump up bad. Oh, and Wyvenpoacher walks all over the place so if he is there your exp is going to suffer.

I was just browsing mysterytour and their hunt map shows numerous places groups our level go exp including Sea Serpent Grotto, Upper Delkfuts, and coffer mobs in Davoi, Castle Oztroja, Castle Zvahl Baileys, and Beadeaux.

Sea Serpent Grotto is awesome from 32-35 and I think it would be no different at our level. There is a high concentration of mobs within the Grotto. Mysterytour mentions camping behind the gold door. I haven't tried it at 59, though.

I think it is kind of ironic that once groups are almost done with coffer hunting that we can actually exp off the coffer mobs. The problem is there are no filler mobs and there is usually only 4-5 coffer mobs at any given time. Any good coffer areas that can be leveled on? I think Castle Oztroja has the highest number of coffer spawns, but has been busy whenever we were there. Castle Zvahl Baileys might be good too. If memory serves, there are 5 spawns, all with valuable drops.

Bigokk mentioned that Valley of Sorrows proved difficult with a party of 60's and I may agree with him on that. Raptors are really good experience, but they must be staggered between easier mobs so your MP can built up. Nonstop on raptors is going to leave the group pretty beat up on an early chain. This changes once the raptors are no longer totetote++.

Anybody have any favorite spots?

[tomiko]

Terrigan and Gustav are the only places I hunted at those levels.
With the right PT setup I preferred the much less-camped Gustav.

Theres probably a reason why noone goes to the lesser known places. :sweat:

It's just a part of this game with over-camped hunting grounds...
It's pretty bad at the 70's with the lvl75's cleaning out hunting grounds for merit points.

[Thoronas]

A lot of players just don't know where else they can lvl. I hunted east altepa beetles from 43-44 then Cockatrice in Onzozo from 44 till now and it's been great and exp and there are NO other pt's around. If you and your pt are all friends and your whm has the teleports spells whats to stop you from checking a place out and if it doesnt look good teleport somewhere else? Lvling in new areas is one of the things I enjoy most in this game.

[tnt118]

First let me say I *really* wish I'd spent more time leveling in the "less popular" places. However this takes a good knowledge base, and willing players, to be successful. Some places I think would be worthwhile:

- Behemoths Domain (Weapons/Souls/Courels)
- Goblins outside Ifrit's entrance
- Saghrins outside SSG entrance
- Sea Serpent Grotto (entrance to Norg)
- Den of Rancor (Tormentors)

Note: most of this is either from 1) people on this forum suggesting them or 2) seeing other PTs there as I'm passing through.


As for a reply to your post: Once I moved to cape Terrigan, we did Valley of Sorrows (there's a second entrance, btw!), then briefly back to Cape Terrigan for Cockatrice... after that Onzozo followed by a return to Boyhada.

Oh! I almost forgot... did a night in Castle Zhval's... in the pit on the bottom floor. Exp was "normal" (nothing too phenomninal..but certainly nothing to complain about) but most of us walked out with at least 10k in drops, one person i think had around 50k. It was pretty crazy getting there, and then establishing our camp (it'll need cleared, and constant danger of pops). The demon's didn't sleep particularly well, but Lullaby had no problem landing. Still, everyone was on edge the whole night.... and everyone in that PT calls it one of the most memorable they've ever had.

[Sadeira]

you can hunt in kuftal tunnel near the area where the phantom worm pops. you'll want to do this outside of jp peak time since the place gets flooded when the jp exp.

the stellar fulcrum path in delkfutts is good from 60-62though you'll want to go when your pld is 60 since he'll take all the hits. (nins tank giants more easily). or you COULD hunt the bats in delkfutt's at your current level.

from 62 or 63 to 70, there's other places to level in besides the tree. you can go to davoi past the banishing gate. in the genkai 3 area. also in beadeaux in the genkai 3 area i think quadavs are much much easier than orcs since they don't have crazy tp attacks. i'm not sure when youcan take on weapons at the entrance of ro'maeve but that seems like a good place to exp too. but if you're not going through the moon gate, there really isn't a good place to camp. there are mobs EVERYWHERE and the aggro magic. the only other feasible camp i can think of in ro'maeve is perhaps on the stairs going towards the hall of gods. there maybe enough space there for you to fight mobs without fear of magic aggro. but i'm not sure of this myself. i can only think of the entrance as being the safest place. and if you can get tu'lia access, ru'aun gardens is a great place to exp. you can fight the birds there. they're easy as i hear but i don't know a good place to camp them.

from 71+, until CoP is released, you're limited to four areas: the moongate in ro'maeve, king ranperre's tomb, tu'lia, and kuftal tunnel. all of these areas get heavily packed (9 parties in king ranperre's tomb once when i was there; 2 parties in in aura statues, my party had to fight them like we were camping for nms and there was the danger of ullikumi popping as well since the pt leader decided we should camp in the middle of the golem's pop area; and 8 parties in ro'maeve moon gate; and 5 parties in kuftal) tu'lia and the moongate are "special" as in you can't get there normally. for ro'maeve, you can only get past the moon gate if you have a moongate pass or if it's a full moon. for tu'lia you have to be rank six and complete zilart missions up to 13. king ranperre's tomb is easy to get to and the brd in your static will give you an advantage there. alternatively, you could also camp manticores at around 70 to 72 near the entrance of either the cloister or sorrow valley. i was also once in a party at 72 where we fought in dragon aery (right inside fafnir's spawn area) fighting spiders and darters. it was pretty good exp since we were able to make chain 5 and i thought it was pretty crazy to fight darters because of links but we did pretty well there.

i hope this helps and let's you do some experimenting ^^

[csBahamut]

what about for lvl 52 on? Where are some alternate locations to the usual places? I hate crowded areas, and our static party can handle most bad situations. Places that are good for DRG and THF pair to renkei on are best. We tried beetles in Crawler's Nest and Garlaige Citadel, but it was always slow due to being overcamped, and the mobs not being full +9 ITs. We haven't anted to try Kuftal Tunnel yet because the crabs are +9-12 ITs. We were hoping to wait till 53 to try there at the soonest. We'd much rather go somewhere else. We have PLD/WAR, DRG/WAR, THF/NIN, BLM/WHM, WHM/BLM, and RDM/BLM. Any suggestions will be appreciated (and no, static party changes are not viable. The party consists of family members and real life friends.).

[Deodorant]

You can search for your own info here, all I'm doing is just giving an increasing lvl range based on mobs I've personally levelled off some time or other.

Assuming 52 is your highest lvl (I believe from 51+ mob needs to be 10 lvls higher than you are for 200 exp):

Garlaige Beetles are 56-58 <-- This sucks for lvl 52
CN Beetles are 59-62
Garlaige Skeletons are 59-61 <-- DRG+THF means no skeletons
Kuftal Crabs are 60-63
CN Knight Crawlers are 60-64
Boyahda Spiders are 60-64
Boyahda Crabs are 62-66
Terrigan Lizards are 62-66
Boyahda Knight Crawlers are 62-67
Terrigan Crabs are 64-67

Lvls 56+ mob needs to be 11 lvls higher than you are for 200 exp:

Gustav Skeletons are 65-67 <-- DRG+THF means no skeletons
Gustav Goblins + Crabs are 65-68
Terrigan Goblins are 65-68
Kuftal Raptors are 65-68
Terrigan + Sorrow Valley Raptors are 66-69
Onzozo Goblins are 66-69

61+:

Monastic Cavern 2nd Area Orcs are 69-72
Onzozo Toramas are 70-74
Terrigan Cockatrice are 71-74
Boyahda Skimmers are 72-74
Boyahda Processionaire are 72-75
Rancor (In front of Leviathan place) Pugils are 73-76
Boyahda Steelshell are 73-76
Boyahda Darters are 75-78
Rancor Lizards are 75-79
Dragon Aery Spiders are 76-80
Dragon Aery Darters are 77-79
Kuftal Tigers are 77-79
Ranp's Tomb Dogs are 77-79
Kuftal Greater Cockatrice are 78-80
Kuftal Ladon are 80-82
Ro'Maeve Weapons are 78-81
Ranp's Tomb Skeletons are 78-82
Ro'Maeve Golems are 80-82
Ranp's Tomb Ghosts are 82
Tu'lia Aura Statues are 79-84

Yeah, lots of that info above is redundant, I just needed to waste time at work

[csBahamut]

Thanks! That helps A LOT.

[Synbios]

Wyvernpoacher can be taken out with 2 levelling PTs there, previous static went there thrice, and he popped twice during our session.. >.> Kuftal raptors as stated above is good for that level, but Utsusemi and pulling from max distance is a must for puller. Haven't had the chance to try Delkfutt, but haven't heard anything good, must be the pots.. >.> Also, you can do raptors in Terrigan at the cockatrice area, where the 63~64 partys are. Just be careful not to aggro a cockatrice. Don't just stay in the tunnel all day long, there will be party clearing cockatrice, and raptors are only pulled when they are blocking the way, so they are usually untaken.

[imstimpy]

I have now partied in Valley of Sorrows and Gustav Tunnel with good success. Our parties were mostly lv60 with some lv59s.

The Valley of Sorrows was good for 3,000 exp/hr with no BLM and only one party at the entrance. Chain #3 was the norm but we did get a few #4s. This should be good up until lv62.

Gustav Tunnel was good for 4,000 exp/hr with a BLM. Chain #5 was the norm with a few #4s. I think Gustav Tunnel will be done at lv61 since we will become limited by respawn rates.

I'm lost as to where we can go other than Valley of Sorrows. I will hit lv61 after one hour of partying. I don't know where the stellar fulcrum path is in Delkfutt's Tower. I've leveled on Gigas before and have never been impressed since they are slow to die and hit hard. I've heard Toramas are just hell for melee to hit and that cockatrices are harder than others at the same level. Knowing what to fight is one thing, knowing the camp to fight them is another. Everybody in our party is leveling their highest job so we have no experience with the camp areas.

[imstimpy]

Monastic Cavern, beyond the banishing wall where the Oricish Warlord spawns, is viable from 61-63. At 61 most of them checked as VT to me with a few that were IT. Orcs were very evasive and have a TON of hitpoints. Chain #3 was the norm with some chain #4s. With one lv63 in our party, the lowest exp we got on any of them was 110 exp with the typical being 120-150 exp. Experience was painfully slow at 2,000 exp per hour and I considered our party to be well organized, intelligent, and strong. Reminded me of leveling off of Gigas.

Party was as follows:
SMN/WHM
RDM/BLM
BLM/WHM
WAR/NIN
SAM/WAR
PLD/WAR
(I haven't played a lot with a SAM, but my guess is two BLMs is the only way to go with them)

Valley of Sorrows is apparantly still viable at 62. You need a BLM and a THF or RNG to efficiently take the Perytons, though. They were getting consistant chain #5s there with some as high as 260 exp. You need a BLM since Perytons are evasive and you need a THF or RNG since the Perytons are weak to slashing/piercing. My friend reported 1000 damage Dancing Edge on one of the Perytons. I hit all 5 hits on my Rampage for around 250 damage so the stong against/weak against weapon stuff means a lot in there. They reported 16,000 exp, but I'm not sure how long they were there.

Party was as follows:
THF/NIN
DRK/WAR
PLD/WAR
BLM/WHM
BRD/WHM
WHM/BLM

[csBahamut]

Wow, you try to level up on VT's still? No offense though, nothing wrong with that if your party can't handle tougher stuff. My static can't stand getting below 170 exp for the start of an chain. And so far, we haven't had a problem taking IT's that are to tough(+11-13 levels higher than us). Though, we have been noticing the increasing suckyness of DRG. Jumps missing, nothing better than Double Thrust( Vorpal Thrust just sucks unless he has more than 200% TP and get's a double attack), and penta being unable to hit reliably. We're hoping skewer and dancing edge will change things.

My party did 16000 exp in 4 hours in Kuftal tunnel from lvl 54->55. Would would have done 20000 exp in 4-5 hours in Boydya Tree had there been no other parties there. We were even tearing apart the IT++ Crawlers, despite the whiff-fests.

I'd suggest you try to take stuff a little tougher and get more exp per mob. Considering you're not stuck with a THF and DRG, you should be able to do much better than my static can on full IT's.

[imstimpy]

You are assuming too much. I didn't make any mention of my SP in my last post and I should have outlined it: Monastic Cavern was not done with our SP. Our SP takes things in areas where groups 1-2 levels higher than us level. My experience in Monastic was done through a pickup group completely devoid of any of my static party members. This group was well structured despite being a pickup group. The experience in Monastic just doesn't seem to be that great.

Yes, our SP takes IT++. Yes, we rip through things. Yes, 4,000 exp/hr is the norm for our SP. Boyhada Tree was good for 200-260 exp mobs and insane exp.

Since the point of this thread was to outline some of the alternate possibilities for leveling up, I reported my experience (as bad as it may be) regarding Monastic Caverns.

[csBahamut]

Ah, ok. I thought it seemed odd for what seems like a good group to fight weak stuff. I guess I'm just used to seeing groups 1-3 levels higher than my SP leveling in the same area.

[Bigokk McGock]

Wyvernpoacher can be taken out with 2 levelling PTs there, previous static went there thrice, and he popped twice during our session.. >.>

Our single 58-60 PT killed Wyvernpoacher by ourselves and I tanked him

Also, you can do raptors in Terrigan at the cockatrice area, where the 63~64 partys are. Just be careful not to aggro a cockatrice. Don't just stay in the tunnel all day long, there will be party clearing cockatrice, and raptors are only pulled when they are blocking the way, so they are usually untaken.

Actually you can kill Cockatrice with a 59-60 PT as well if you agro them by accident...we were there hunting cockatrice because every single spot was taken in Terrigan, Valley, Onzozo and Kuftal one night and we had nowhere else to go (that we knew of)...we did chain 4's I think was the most we could to hunting cockatrices. There was a |Full Rest| after each chain though, so it's not the best, but doable.

I lost the parse results for that group because lightning hit and my power went out for a second, ending my parser before saving or I would post them .