Final Fantasy XIV Party Leveling Guide

[Groovebox]

I don't know about you guys, but this game is a lot more fun when you party up. If you're happy getting 20-60 SP per kill soloing, good luck to you. If you want to bring in 150-500 SP per kill (hate random SP gain!), grab a group of adventurers and read on! I'll be keeping this thread updated, so feel free to post your experiences and hawt party spots.

Based on my experience so far, in groups of 4-6 players, it's good to bring a tank and 2 people that will be responsible for keeping the group healed. PGL and GLA make great tanks as long as they set Provoke (GLA) and/or Taunt (PGL). Having a combination of two CONs, two THMs, or a CON and THM is perfect for support.

I'm going to start this guide off at Rank 14. Soloing up to this point is extremely easy with leves and lowbie grinding. If you still need some suggestions on where to solo, I suggest checking out The "Good exp spot" thread (http://www.bluegartr.com/threads/99116-The-quot-Good-exp-spot-quot-thread). If anyone finds some good grouping spots from 10-14, let me know.

FYI: My groups have mainly consisted of 4-6 people, I've duo'd a few times with a friend but we usually end up picking up random people and others from our linkshell to team up. That being said, YMMV if you head out to one of these camps with a duo or trio.

RANK 14-22

Location: La Noscea
Teleport/Home Point: Camp Skull Valley
Target: Giant Crab
Party Size: 4-6 Players. If your members are rank 17+ you'll probably want to keep it to four people.

http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f390/logicbox9/FFXIV%20Group%20Guide/giantcrab1422.jpg

The designated area on the left is an amazing location, there are numerous crabs (and only crabs) here that spawn very quickly, this can easily support two full groups, or a few trios, with zero downtime. The camp on the right is good too, it just involves more roaming and probably only has enough crabs for one full party or trio.

Crabs are basically identical to their FFXI counterparts, easy. They have high defense and can take a bit longer to kill, but they rarely pose a threat to a group. I grinded here quite a bit and the SP started to dwindle around 21... but it was still viable. If you are going to resort to shouting for members, I suggest doing so in Limsa Lominsa. Camp Skull Valley tends to have a lot of low ranked people standing around it.

RANK 15-20

Location: The Black Shroud
Teleport/Home Point: Camp Tranquil
Target: Antelope Doe, Thickshell, Canopy Galago
Party Size: 3-5 Players. I would suggest 4-5 players if you're going to be killing antelope and crab at rank 15.

http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f390/logicbox9/FFXIV%20Group%20Guide/tranquil1519.jpg

The zone to Eastern Thanalan is just below this camp, so it's easy for people to get to if you're walking from Camp Drybone. The SP gain from Canopy Galagos may die off around 18/19, but you can still kill them in-between antelope and crab spawns.

This spot is close to Camp Tranquil, and finding members there should be easy.


RANK 15-20

Location: Eastern La Noscea
Teleport/Home Point: Camp Bloodshore
Target: Aldgoat Nanny
Party Size: 4 Players if you're starting at level 15. You can easily turn it into a trio spot at 18.

http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f390/logicbox9/FFXIV%20Group%20Guide/nannyalt1520.jpg

A nice spot, especially since the area outlined contains a large amount of concentrated Nanny spawns. In fact, after spending about 90 mins here, I didn't see a single Billy spawn in that area. The Billies tend to stay to the northeast of the camp area.


RANK 16-22

Location: Western Thanalan
Teleport/Home Point: Camp Horizon
Target: Rank 16-20 Aldgoat Nanny, Rank 19-22 Aldgoat Nanny & Billy
Party Size: 4-6 Players, can work for higher rank (and phys level) trios as well. I would suggest 5 or 6 if you're going to fight Aldgoat Billies at rank 20.

http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f390/logicbox9/FFXIV%20Group%20Guide/aldgoatnanny1520.jpg

Even though I circled two camps, the entire zone right here is full of goats. The biggest drawback to these camps is how spread out the nannies are. You can target the billies once you hit rank 20, and honestly they can probably take you to 25ish. Make sure you have decent healers because the knockback move can do considerable damage. Camp Horizon is very close to a bunch of goats, so refreshing MP shouldn't be an issue.

Finding party members should prove somewhat easy. Camp Horizon is the rank 20 camp, so feel free to do some shouting there. Ul'dah is a 10 minute walk and another great place to look for members.


RANK 16-19

Location: Lower La Noscea
Teleport/Home Point: Cedarwood (Aetheryte Node) or Camp Bearded Rock
Target: Fat Dodo
Party Size: 3-4 Players.

http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f390/logicbox9/FFXIV%20Group%20Guide/fatdodo1620.jpg

*Belch!* Who doesn't love Dodos? Anyways, if you're not sick of Dodos yet, this is a good spot. I came here at 16 with two other people and tore it up. Rancid belch is annoying, but easy to deal with. Dodos have some decent drops: skins, feathers, wind crystals... so keep some room open in your inventory.

I'd suggest shouting in Limsa Lominsa or Camp Bloodshore to find members. -- It is worth noting that Magicked Bones spawn at night in the Cedarwood area. They aggro, some are in parties of 2, but they aren't any more difficult than dodos. Easier than dodos if you have a PGL or two.


RANK 16-20

Location: Coerthas Central Highlands
Teleport/Home Point: Camp Glory
Target: Arbor Squirrel, Antelope Doe
Party Size: 2-3 Players. 4 Players would be ok, just expect to increase your roaming distance due to fast kills.

http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f390/logicbox9/FFXIV%20Group%20Guide/coerthas1720.jpg

To get to this camp the first time: zone in from Gridania, west of Camp Emerald Moss. Once you step foot here you're gonna see a bunch of squirrels and antelope. You can pretty much roam around half the map killing these things. The spot I circled above is my favorite spot though, there is a high concentration of squirrels and antelope. With a party of three people at rank 16, you'll rarely have to roam outside this area. It's close to the aetheryte as well, so when you get facepwned by stampede the run back won't feel so grueling. Both of the target mobs are relatively easy and don't have a lot of HP. My skill gain at this location started to die at rank 20 in a trio. Save or sell your squirrel pelts to other players.

Finding members for this camp may be difficult due to the fact that a lot of people don't even know about this place. You can probably shout at Emerald Moss and find some people, but the big cities would be your best bet. I'd suggest taking a trip by yourself and unlocking Camp Glory first. Once you get your group together, you can teleport your party there.


RANK 18-24

Location: Nanawa Mines
Teleport/Home Point: Camp Black Brush, Nanawa Mines Aetheryte
Target: Rank 18-22 Iron Coblyn, Rank 21-24 Cellar Puk
Party Size: 2-3 Players

http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f390/logicbox9/FFXIV%20Group%20Guide/ironcoblyn1822.jpg

Thanks for the camping spot Koga. To get to Nanawa Mines, head out to Camp Black Brush and look to your north, you'll see a green zone arrow. Once you step inside, you'll notice that Iron Coblyns are all over the place. Coblyns are squishy and don't have any horrible TP moves, so you may be able to get a group of 5-6 players and head out here at rank 15. Once you hit 20/21, move towards the back of the cave and target Cellar Puks. Puks have a somewhat annoying aoe move that just does damage, so make sure you have a healer that pays attention.


RANK 20-24

Location: Coerthas Central Highlands
Teleport/Home Point: Camp Glory
Target: Dreadwolf, Antelope Doe
Party Size: 2-3 Players at 20-22, Duo at 23-24.

http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f390/logicbox9/FFXIV%20Group%20Guide/dreadwolf2024.jpg

Thanks for camping spot Gulkeeva! Dreadwolves are a joke to kill, so have fun. They drop all sorts of Leatherworking materials. Roam in a counter-clockwise circle around the camp spot and mix in Antelope Doe if you have to. Feel free to hop in that cave and kill the four humanoid bandits, they are easy and fun to kll. Do yourself a favor and take 10 minutes to check out SE's classic RPG town... Owl's Nest. I can't wait to see what they do with that place, it rocks.


RANK 21-26

Location: Western La Noscea
Teleport/Home Point: Cedarwood or Camp Bearded Rock
Target: Island Crab
Party Size: 4-6 Players. If most of the party members are going to be on the low end (21/22) you may want to stick with 5 or 6 people.

http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f390/logicbox9/FFXIV%20Group%20Guide/islandcrab2126.jpg

More crabs! Same mob, different name. The camp is close to the Cedarwood aether and a short walk from Limsa Lominsa.

MORE CAMPS COMING SOON!





Note: Again, please feel free to post your experiences and new camping spots (if you feel like sharing). I'll be updating this frequently as I discover and experience new locations.

[Zubis]

Nice thread, I've been duoing the entire time with a friend and we're 26 and 27 now starting to feel that larger groups are definitely gaining on us way too fast so we've been wanting to try this. Do you have anything in that range or should those crabs close to Cedarwood still work for us if we brought a few people a tad bit lower than us?

[Groovebox]

Nice thread, I've been duoing the entire time with a friend and we're 26 and 27 now starting to feel that larger groups are definitely gaining on us way too fast so we've been wanting to try this. Do you have anything in that range or should those crabs close to Cedarwood still work for us if we brought a few people a tad bit lower than us?

Thanks. The crabs near Cedarwood might be ok, worth a shot. I think they cap out at level 35 (mob level)... so SP gain should be decent.

I just asked my 25 Glad friend that I grouped with at cedarwood Island Crabs, he said his SP gain was fine.

[Celeras]

I approve of this thread, for none of my camps are on your list.

[TacoTaru]

I was wondering with then XIV version of Campsitaru was going to pop up, if at all. This is certainly a decent start to that.

[Rumo]

Thanks so much for this!

[Almalexia]

It is worth noting that Magicked Bones spawn at night in the Cedarwood area. They aggro, some are in parties of 2, but they aren't any more difficult than dodos. Easier than dodos if you have a PGL or two.

Speaking of which, I don't suppose anyone has found a new King Ranperre's Tomb yet, have they?

[Meresgi]

Hippocrefs to the west of Camp Glory are nice skill gain mobs for a party of 2, rank 20-24. They only have an annoying AoE stun and hit like pussies if you have protect on or an actual tank. I was tanking them as a lancer w/o much problem. Spawns can be slow though so not really able to fund enough mobs for 2+ parties.

[Dantrag]

Me and a friend duo @ camp #1 <_<; He's 16 and I'm 18. 1 more person would probably screw over our SP gain :(.

[Elcura]

Hippocrefs to the west of Camp Glory are nice skill gain mobs for a party of 2, rank 20-24. They only have an annoying AoE stun and hit like pussies if you have protect on or an actual tank. I was tanking them as a lancer w/o much problem. Spawns can be slow though so not really able to fund enough mobs for 2+ parties.

To add to this, their ranged attacks are really slow, and they don't seem to run over to melee range, so it might be worth staying out of range if you can. As a THM I could cure tank without much trouble at 19 while the MRD slowly chipped away at health. Slow helped a lot when it landed, I could do damage then.

[Gulkeeva]

Fast east of camp glory/south of clear water area is many wolves, 100-150 exp, semi challenging solo at Lv 24 pugilist 100 stamina +up to date gear.

also they drop buffalo hide, antelope+ hippo sinew, very nice farming for a LW...!

Wolves con mostly yellow some green.



Recommend not going near clear water, there be dragons.

[Groovebox]

Fast east of camp glory/south of clear water area is many wolves, 100-150 exp, semi challenging solo at Lv 24 pugilist 100 stamina +up to date gear.

also they drop buffalo hide, antelope+ hippo sinew, very nice farming for a LW...!

Wolves con mostly yellow some green.



Recommend not going near clear water, there be dragons.

Duo'd here with a glad, was sick. I'll add it to my post when I get done with work.

[Jaxzer]

Tyvm for this thread, keep it up.

[Falisa]

This is actually making me want to log on and attempt to get a party going when I get a class up that high. One of the main things I was looking forward to for FFXIV was the leveling in parties like FFXI. If 14 is truly going that route, then I have more hope for the game than I had before.

[deadplayer]

Good job. Thank you.

[Koga]

Nanawa Mines - Iron Coblyn

Can easily solo Coblyn (Green/yellow - sometimes red) at Rank 23. Probably a good camp for 2/3 people at 18-22.

[fussel]

Hint: If you're a mage, shoot a Dart on each mob before doing anything else (including buffing).

[JaredFNDow]

the squid on the islands northeast of camp bloodshore were good duo for my friend and i rank 19 and 20. kills were fast and there's plenty of squid. there's a small island where a humanoid spawns and 3 or 4 squid on it that respawn extremely fast (not sure if spawn time is so low on all of them or not just noticed when we were on that island. the magic move they do is extermely reduced with shell..(220~230) on me as 20glad w/o shell and 50~60 with shell.

prolly better duo or trio for lower ranks since they die pretty fast

[Koga]

Update --

Do Iron Coblyn from 18-20/21. 21/22-24 can do the Cellar Puk in the back of the caves.

2/3 Person Parties.

[Kurokikaze]

Mun-Tuy Cellar: 3-4 people 20-23.

Meleeburn it up and kill anything that walks. Just don't go into the small rooms with Kalongs. By far the best exp/skill I've gotten in game.

[Groovebox]

Keep em coming guys! If you can, take a screenshot of the mini-map or world map if you find a good camp.

[Elona]

Cassiopeia Hollow crab room is good sp from 24-? Im 29 now and been sping off these since 25 in random parties of 7-15 members. SP range is 0-500, average about 200ish and fast kills if have good setup. Place can hold 1-2 pt depending of pt setups.

http://img42.imageshack.us/img42/7315/crabbattlew.jpg

More western people need to start using the party search/recruitment system, most random pts ive had so far have been jp. In NA time there is like only 1-2 people recruiting in 20+ range. This is the case in Lindblum atleast.

[Elcura]

I tried to use the search, but it's... too odd. Rather ask around in shout really.

[Koga]

(48,34) to (50,35) in Coerthas

Loads of Thickshells. Green/Yellow at Rank 25 so maybe good exp spot for 2/3 people at 20-23.

[Kurokikaze]

I did those in beta with a group of 3. CON/PUG/ARC ~R18. Really good exp and easy enough with shell/protect.

[Kurokikaze]

Yo guys... I know this is gonna sound crazy but...

15 man skill up PTs are fucking awesome. Just running around Tam-Tara with a bunch of 20-30s and killing anything that moves. Lots of 250-500s. Its pretty epic. Quick video later. lol

[Anthonystar]

Yo guys... I know this is gonna sound crazy but...

15 man skill up PTs are fucking awesome. Just running around Tam-Tara with a bunch of 20-30s and killing anything that moves. Lots of 250-500s. Its pretty epic. Quick video later. lol

~_~ Was hopping to get a few days before anyone said this lol...

[Kurokikaze]

Don't worry, it'll be ok. Not that many people late 20s anyways! By then we'll have moved camps. :P

Unless you're worried SE is gonna nerf it? haha

Edit: Watch my sig jump 2 ranks when it updates. Fuck yeaaaaaaa.

[Milks]

i thought your name was familiar. good pting kuroki.

[Hyan]

So what, the skill up gain keeps increasing until the party is full? That sounds... Awesome? lol

[Elona]

So what, the skill up gain keeps increasing until the party is full? That sounds... Awesome? lol

Definitely better with 15 members than low man pt (depending of hunted mob), get sp hits more often and higher.

Last nite I was partying with 10ish peeps near camp Nine Ivies. Party range was r27-r37 and sp was great for r30 (average 200+). I guess everyone was happy for the sp since no one complained. We hunt black efts and buzzards. Get fair amount of adds in this camp.

http://img824.imageshack.us/img824/5047/ivies.jpg

[miokomioko]

So, some Abyssea-style playing carried over to XIV... :3

[Kurokikaze]

Yeah Milks, shit was a blast.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QsNN4TEluKA

Fairly easy onces your tanks grasp the simple concept of:

1. Point away from mages.
2. Voke adds.

[Nevex]

Unless mages risk to be KO'd easily, why would you want to point away from them? Cures actually healing more people = more skill up for mages.

[Kurokikaze]

Cause they get one shot most of the time. We're fighting mobs about 15 ranks higher than us.

I feel this would be much better if you keep the level spread around 2-3 ranks. We had to keep bouncing between lower and higher level mobs so SP is decent for everyone. The spread in this PT was... 12 I think? If the rank range wasn't as wide I could see what you said being better for mages. lol

[Nevex]

I see. Meh I don't think this is nerf-worthy, aren't players expected to group for grinding and aim for the most efficient way to do that in a MMORPG?
By the way get me in your parties. Post-20 soloing sucks. :(

[Kurokikaze]

And thats why I posted it. More people should know that partying up is much more viable than they think at the moment.

You can do this in many different areas/rank ranges.

Edit: If this were nerf worthy, I'd keep it to myself.

[Hyan]

Good good, now if they could make it viable for quest grinding too that would be perfect. 15 players means a shitton of leves to do.

Not that I'd mind mob grinding in a large scale like that, but short term goals are always nice (and the extra gil).

[plue]

Yeah Milks, shit was a blast.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QsNN4TEluKA

Fairly easy onces your tanks grasp the simple concept of:

1. Point away from mages.
2. Voke adds.

I'm curious, why are you using Punishing Barbs? Doesn't it just kill the mob faster, thus reducing the SP you can get from it?

[Kurokikaze]

Those bats (and many other 30+ bats) have a ridiculously overpowered HP Drain move. I've seen fights get carried out for 5+ minutes cause of it. Got tired and just pop barbs on bats and hope people get decent procs. Only other time I use barbs is when we get too many adds.

[Frein]

The skill ups seem nice but zerging with so many people kind of reminds me of Dynamis... =(

[Xone]

Let me know next time you go Kuro. Sometimes i think our server is devoid of Archers and people at our level range.

[Zubis]

Ok, so I tried this out for the first time today and joined a group consisting of 9 people. We were grinding on crabs in Cassiopeia like has been mentioned before but it wasn't as great as I was expecting. Granted I'm rank 29 ARC so perhaps I'm a bit too high or something but I averaged about 50-200 SP per fight.

I feel like Crabs aren't the best way of doing this, perhaps the safest and most consistant way for most classes though but I'm not so sure about that either. Going to try Kuro's way tomorrow if I'm able to or I'll go back to 3-5 man parties.

Or was I just.. unlucky? Did we not have enough people for it to be the most efficient way?

[Milks]

we were doing puks and bones. they died easily within 15-20 seconds

[Nevex]

More western people need to start using the party search/recruitment system, most random pts ive had so far have been jp. In NA time there is like only 1-2 people recruiting in 20+ range. This is the case in Lindblum atleast.

The search/recruit function confuses the hell out of me. What's the "correct" way to use those if all you want is joining a normal exp/skill up party a-la FFXI?

[Kurokikaze]

Zubis: 29 Archer is too high for CH crabs. In this particular situation; if there were any 17-23s in your group, they were probably getting more skill ups.

[Groovebox]

15 member battles sound fun, gonna try it out tonight and update the OP when I get home from work.

[Zubis]

Zubis: 29 Archer is too high for CH crabs. In this particular situation; if there were any 17-23s in your group, they were probably getting more skill ups.
I take back what I said actually. Getting tons of SP now that we're 13-15 people in the PT.

You're probably right though.

[Kurokikaze]

We need to test the exact bonus that we get per party member and figure out at what point we start getting diminishing returns on skill gains. I say this because it would suck to have to round up 15 people everytime you wanna skill up. Heh.

I only know that its:

100% for the first member
100% for second member.

But I suppose that's something for the other thread.

[Nevex]

Just tried the cellars with a group of 5 and... what's wrong with those bats? Whenever my HP dropped to 0 I would still be alive with Weakness on. No death animation, no Return only option. Died twice against bats and both times this happened.
Did this occur to anyone else?

[Kurokikaze]

Just tried the cellars with a group of 5 and... what's wrong with those bats? Whenever my HP dropped to 0 I would still be alive with Weakness on. No death animation, no Return only option. Died twice against bats and both times this happened.
Did this occur to anyone else?


Yes this happened to me quite a few times. More often with the flames then anything. It seems that they have a spell that can inflict weakness... also if they do it back to back you get double weakness. Pretty annoying lol.

For the bats in particular... I'm gonna assume its the HP drain that is killing you but not killing you. If that makes sense. Probably a bug with bat move.

[Elona]

The search/recruit function confuses the hell out of me. What's the "correct" way to use those if all you want is joining a normal exp/skill up party a-la FFXI?

menu > party > search > select class u wanna search on > begin search. It will list party leaders who are looking for your class and rank. Mainly pts are for levequests, grind, LS event etc. You can see more info about the party by clicking the leader name, usually grind pt leaders write description what pt is hunting and where. Same window has join button, and by clicking it you join the party.

[Aodh]

If you happen to die while receiving the effect of an AoE cure, you get inflicted with weakness (because you died) and are immediately cured so the death animation/flag doesn't go off.

[Enygma55]

I tried the party recruit function to try to setup a party and it worked wonders......once I learned how to use it or even knew it existed.

This basically sends out a targeted message to any job in any rank range your looking for, an invite into your party with full purpose and description. Once they accept the terms they're automatically added into the group.

I read a bit more in-dept on the lodestone and you can search for parties that are actively recruiting. All of this is totally awesome if SE would actually tell the general populaces how it works.

Its like putting up an ad about your party and anyone who looks at the ad can join in.

I'll definitely keep an eye open for parties that are using this to recruit for grind xp sessions. These 15 man parties where your getting 150 sp per action look hot.

Edit bonus: Servers are up and all the wards are renamed for specific crafts/jobs/items.

[miokomioko]

Looks like you gotta make sure you got everyone within a 5-rank range now... ;/

[Kurokikaze]

Yeah this update made it so you need to have people in the same area and rank range. Not that bad but it screws up helping lowbies get better exp. :/

[Hyan]

I wonder if it scales or if it's just a straight cut only after 5+ rank difference.

[Kurokikaze]

It's probably a straight cut and you wont get the bonus to skill up multiplier that you would for adding that extra person.

Once we figure out exactly how much we get for adding each person then we can see when we're allowed to have someone "leech" I suppose.

Edit: To touch up on the rank ranges... You can have 20 to 30 in the party and get same results as before as long as the PT leader is 25. This is assuming that its adjusting skill calculations for the entire party and not the individual. If it does it for the individual then someone that is Rank 20 would not be getting the bonus for members that are 25-30 in the same party.

This is how I understood it. Feel free to test post results here!

[Celeras]

Edit: To touch up on the rank ranges... You can have 20 to 30 in the party and get same results as before as long as the PT leader is 25. This is assuming that its adjusting skill calculations for the entire party and not the individual. If it does it for the individual then someone that is Rank 20 would not be getting the bonus for members that are 25-30 in the same party.

To me, the wording is pretty obviously on a per-individual basis. While a 25 would receive benefits from the entire range of the 20-30 scale.. the top and bottom would receive less due to being on the outskirts. It's easy enough to test and confirm.

[Milks]

this patch makes me sad. most of my lsmates are ahead of me for the most part, so if its on a per-individual basis, i'm gonna be struggling a bit. does anybody know how bad it scales? or does it cut exp all together?

[Rokku]

To me, the wording is pretty obviously on a per-individual basis. While a 25 would receive benefits from the entire range of the 20-30 scale.. the top and bottom would receive less due to being on the outskirts. It's easy enough to test and confirm.

Level range in a crab party for us last night was 21-29, setting the leader as the 21 resulted in an average of 80-100 SP per crab for me as rank 29 LNC, switched the lead to a 25 PUG after about an hour, skill gains jumped to 130-350 per crab. Draw from that what you will, but I think it's actually based on the party lead and not the individual. The 21 GLD was still complaining about lowered skill gains, but there was a noticeable shift in the amount of SP I was earning when the leader changed.

[Celeras]

Level range in a crab party for us last night was 21-29, setting the leader as the 21 resulted in an average of 80-100 SP per crab for me as rank 29 LNC, switched the lead to a 25 PUG after about an hour, skill gains jumped to 130-350 per crab. Draw from that what you will, but I think it's actually based on the party lead and not the individual. The 21 GLD was still complaining about lowered skill gains, but there was a noticeable shift in the amount of SP I was earning when the leader changed.

Fair enough, but 'noticing' a 30SP difference on average seems a bit weird/unreliable to me.. especially with how random it all is mob-to-mob. I'll see if I notice anything next time im out.

[outzaidur]

good thread. too bad there are no english players that actually know how to use the party menu. never ever seen a single recruit in english and JP is all like: LS onry and JP onry.... either you play with friends or you don't party at all it seems.

[Rokku]

Fair enough, but 'noticing' a 30SP difference on average seems a bit weird/unreliable to me.. especially with how random it all is mob-to-mob. I'll see if I notice anything next time im out.

Well, for the sake of clarification, I should have probably mentioned that not once with the leader set as the 21 did I break 100 SP on a crab in about an hour's worth of kills that encompassed probably 60-80 crabs. The minute the lead switched, my SP started falling on 200's almost immediately.

I can definitely understand the skepticism, what with SP gain being random and all that shit, which is why I didn't try to claim it as hard evidence or anything. It's possible what I observed was just dumb luck and I haven't really had the opportunity to check it out again recently, since now no one wants to do any groups with too wide of a range or just for the sake of testing shit.

[Celeras]

Whenever I try to notice differences, I tend to focus on the procs. For instance I had a 24-30 PT(Im 28 and leader) the other day and was getting decent gains, dart procs around 37/tick and heals around 115. A 30/27 leave, replaced with a 25/20.. making the range now 20-28 with me being the highest and still leader. Dart procs were now noticed in the teens/heals for 60-80 on some mobs. On others, there didnt seem to be a difference. I speculate that the party level dropped, so the higher level crabs stopped giving adequate skill while the lower level variety (theyre 35-39) was unchanged.

Then again maybe I just started dissecting things too much because the party changed and I was trying to make comparisons.

[LinktheDeme]

Yeah this update made it so you need to have people in the same area and rank range. Not that bad but it screws up helping lowbies get better exp. :/

Does this mean that only people you can recruit is in the same area or something else?

[Almalexia]

good thread. too bad there are no english players that actually know how to use the party menu. never ever seen a single recruit in english and JP is all like: LS onry and JP onry.... either you play with friends or you don't party at all it seems.
Most NA/EU don't know how to use the search function, it's true. But that doesn't mean they don't want to PT. If you don't mind someone outside your LS/FL, shout in cities or at Aethers of the appropriate rank range. Easy to score people who are bored out of their mind of soloing.

Coming from FFXI, it's a little uncomfortable to resort to this (/sh was always taboo for EXP PT). There is no other option until the search catches on. I think SE should do a Lodestone entry on the search function, like regimen and incapacitation, in order to get things rolling.

[Achitophel]

Yeah, just need to start talking about it, it seems. I'm using the party recruiting tool on Lindblum as I type this, and have no bites. I can't be very bitter, though, because until like...yesterday...I never bothered with searching for a party through the interface, let alone making one.

[Gulkeeva]

Lv27-28 tank with a lv 27-28 healer (perferably conj) duoing hippocerfs west of dragonhead or whatever camp on corethas zone, was pretty decent exp.. many of them and with shell buff, their ranged only hit like 50-60.

about 150-250 exp per kill, very very fast once we both were lv 28.

[Elona]

Efts Efts Efts, anyone know other mobs to sp on these ranks? We did a bit scouting near Limsa r40 levecamps, but didnt find any camp worth sping for. I guess gotta check Uldah when get some reasonable leves there.

Anyway, Treespeaks black efts are a bit higher level than Tamtara Deepcroft and Nine Ivies efts, was still hitting cap at 36 in r31-36 range 7 member pt. Sometimes Ixlan Fencer will spawn instead of Eft, it has strong aoe and sp is little better than efts.

http://img405.imageshack.us/img405/8646/treespeak.jpg

note: Its good to have a member that can cast shell in these parties, we did ok without one last nite with thm healing, so its doable also. But for lower lever parties its a must. Efts front area lightning attack is pretty strong.

Also again, please start using the party search/recruitment system. Its all we got for now. Wish there was a way to make yourself available like in FFXI.

[Arximiro]

I'm looking for some people to do crabs in CH with sometime this weekend on Saronia. If you are interested let me know so I can set it up. I started 2 weeks after CE release and now I'm way behind my LS, it doesn't help that they are hardcore as shit either!

[Eanae]

Island crabs are awful. Three people, 21, 24, and 25. 0 to 50 skill points per kill. Anything GOOD for the 24+ level range?

[Milks]

try adding more people. we had 12 people 21-26 in CH doing crabs and i was pulling anywhere from 375-500 a kill. i am a pugilist though, so that may have made a difference. our mages were crying about getting no exp, but i don't know what that's like.

[Celeras]

Island crabs are awful. Three people, 21, 24, and 25. 0 to 50 skill points per kill. Anything GOOD for the 24+ level range?

Doing it wrong. Seriously, read what Milks said... the more the merrier. When you get a good party setup.. it doesn't really matter what you kill. So long as they're alive long enough for everybody to get their whacks, yet die quick enough to be chainable.

http://img246.imageshack.us/img246/692/howitshouldlook.jpg

It shouldn't even be possible to get under 50 on a mob (unless its zero, which is attributed to randomness) if your party is setup correctly. That's what I usually get on debuffs, and my 40 damage darts proc for nearly 80.

[Groovebox]

I'll be updating the original post once I hit 30, i'm 28 atm... should be 30 by the end of the weekend.

[Rokku]

Doing it wrong. Seriously, read what Milks said... the more the merrier. When you get a good party setup.. it doesn't really matter what you kill. So long as they're alive long enough for everybody to get their whacks, yet die quick enough to be chainable.



This, completely. I've had feints go off and give me 345 SP a couple of times in a party of 15. Shit is crazy, crabs are an awesome big group mob. So are efts.

[LinktheDeme]

How do people avoid the whole not being able to join in combat and your seek disappearing while in combat? (This is dumb btw I don't even know why it's like this should be bitched at to SE about)

And how do people counter the whole people rarely joining your group through the normal party function because no one uses it? Is there some sort of search function I'm missing?

[Enygma55]

Best way is to put up a recruit and start shouting like ur doing dynamis or abyssea and tell them to join thru the party search. I can barely manage 7-8 people at most when shouting and jobs are not always optimal nor rank spread. Its rough when no one knows it exist. I see tons of JP recruits function perfectly getting 10/14 without having to shout once.

[Twentytwo]

[QUOTE=Elona;4192218]Efts Efts Efts, anyone know other mobs to sp on these ranks? We did a bit scouting near Limsa r40 levecamps, but didnt find any camp worth sping for. I guess gotta check Uldah when get some reasonable leves there.

Anyway, Treespeaks black efts are a bit higher level than Tamtara Deepcroft and Nine Ivies efts, was still hitting cap at 36 in r31-36 range 7 member pt. Sometimes Ixlan Fencer will spawn instead of Eft, it has strong aoe and sp is little better than efts.

http://img405.imageshack.us/img405/8646/treespeak.jpg

Elona, the Piestes west of the bridge on the way to Camp Riversmeet in Corethas are really good, tons of them, no one there (on Rabanastre atleast) and repop quickly, try that out. Theres another Eft camp as far east as you can go in a little circle like area near treespark too, although I'm sure you've found that one.

[Crizto]

I've been using the party recruit/search function a lot over the past couple days and I just want to clarify how it works. If I set up a recruit, I typically will not setup up a purpose, but I will set up a location (ex. Camp Bloodshore), and then set classes to Any and the desired level range (ex. 18 - 23). Now if someone searches, it automatically searches for groups that are recruiting for their specific class? And do they need to be within the required level range as well?
For example...

Jim sets up a recruit at Camp Bloodshore, seeking Any class, level range 18 - 23, and sets a comment.
Bob is a level 19 Lancer, presses the search function and sees Jim recruiting. Correct?
Dave is a level 25 Pugilist, presses the search function and does not see Jim recruiting. Correct?

I've also noticed that you can join a PT from anywhere on the entire server as long as they see the PT in the search. I had a friend join my PT while I was at Bloodshore and he was in Gridania. I really wish this was explained in the Adventure book, because I really did not figure any of this out till literally 3 days ago, and hopefully I have the concepts down so I can explain it to anyone I PT with lol.

[lancaster]

I've been using the party recruit/search function a lot over the past couple days and I just want to clarify how it works. If I set up a recruit, I typically will not setup up a purpose, but I will set up a location (ex. Camp Bloodshore), and then set classes to Any and the desired level range (ex. 18 - 23). Now if someone searches, it automatically searches for groups that are recruiting for their specific class? And do they need to be within the required level range as well?
For example...

Jim sets up a recruit at Camp Bloodshore, seeking Any class, level range 18 - 23, and sets a comment.
Bob is a level 19 Lancer, presses the search function and sees Jim recruiting. Correct?
Dave is a level 25 Pugilist, presses the search function and does not see Jim recruiting. Correct?

Correct.

[lancaster]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRMSfqngweE

[Milks]

I finally got to try out the party function, and it works better than I thought it would have. I tried it in the morning the other day when i joined a random japanese party going to skill up on skeles in nanawa. despite the stereotype, they were very friendly and glad to have me come along. the system would work just fine if more people would use it. like someone mentioned earlier, it needs a lodestone entry on the front page.

[Joyo]

Jim sets up a recruit at Camp Bloodshore, seeking Any class, level range 18 - 23, and sets a comment.
Bob is a level 19 Lancer, presses the search function and sees Jim recruiting. Correct?
Dave is a level 25 Pugilist, presses the search function and does not see Jim recruiting. Correct?
If Dave has a level 19 MRD but is on his level 25 PGL right now and sets "Target" in the search window to MRD he should see Jim recruiting right?

Does anyone know the range of group teleport?
If Jim is at Bloodshore, Bob in Limsa, Dave in Uldah and Bob decides to teleport to Camp Glory will everyone get the teleport option?

The search option is really better than i thought at first and even if we cant get a Lodestone entry on it maybe the fansites should do it. Im sure a lot of people read ZAM, Core, Eorzeapedia etc.

[Ratatapa]

Ok Great video but got 2 quick question

1) When you recruit, exemple you are 1/6 and want a pt of Conjurer THM Glad and Pug outside from shouting you cant make the limiting to only them joijing or recruting for only a conj then only a glad etc right?

2) When you recruit and choose a job to recruit I find it stupid that you can only choose jobs that you played, make it stupid to buy weapons just to seek a special job.

Thanls

[Vermilion Wake]

Thats the job that YOU would like to party with, not the ones you're recruiting.

[lancaster]

Ok Great video but got 2 quick question

1) When you recruit, exemple you are 1/6 and want a pt of Conjurer THM Glad and Pug outside from shouting you cant make the limiting to only them joijing or recruting for only a conj then only a glad etc right?

2) When you recruit and choose a job to recruit I find it stupid that you can only choose jobs that you played, make it stupid to buy weapons just to seek a special job.

Thanls

1. That's what the big + button is for when choosing the parameters for your party. You can say, "Okay, I want one PGL from rank 24-26," then add another parameter that says "I want one LNC from rank 23-25," and so on and so forth. When each parameter is fulfilled, it will be closed.

2. Your terminology is incorrect. When you search, as stated above, you are searching for parties that want you. So you search for openings based upon the class that you want to join a party as.

[Kurokikaze]

Oh wow that video was a big help. :O

Must spread the word and get more people using that.

[Drako]

what happens if you have 1 rank 20 and 4 rank 26 in party?
what happens if you have 3 rank 20 and 3 rank 26?
and what happens with 3 rank 20 , 1 rank 23 and 3 rank 26?

please dont say everyone gets solo sp because thats not really what i have been seeing.

[Meresgi]

Not sure if anyone has said, but Antling diggers in the mines east of Horizon are nice SP gain for a group of 4-5 at rank 25ish

[lancaster]

what happens if you have 1 rank 20 and 4 rank 26 in party?
what happens if you have 3 rank 20 and 3 rank 26?
and what happens with 3 rank 20 , 1 rank 23 and 3 rank 26?

please dont say everyone gets solo sp because thats not really what i have been seeing.

It depends on who the leader is. In your third example, if the 23 is the leader, skill gain should be kosher across the board. But if one of the 26s is the leader, the 20s get screwed.

[Anthonystar]

Thx for the video, helped a lot w/ understanding the system.

Only it's too bad no one beside my group is in 42 range on my server.

[Drako]

It depends on who the leader is. In your third example, if the 23 is the leader, skill gain should be kosher across the board. But if one of the 26s is the leader, the 20s get screwed.

im not sure leader has something to do with it... we need more testing!!

[Fated E]

Doing a LS party with little to no group experience, need advice on a camp.

Likely going to be full 15 or at a minimum 10 people, rank range is 17-22, have 2 Conjurers.

[Angry Panda]

I would just like to add that a low 20's party of 5-7 people don't have to just use Cedarwood Island Crabs. If you go to Cassiopeia Hollow towards the lake to the North you will find it is surrounded by the jelly mobs (Cassiepeias) and island crabs. I ran a party tonight with ranks 19-24 and it went pretty smooth. I would highly recommend finding a GLA to tank that is more towards the 22/23 rank. The melees were fine at 19/20/21, but we tried to switch over to a 20 GLA and it just didn't work well for the two fights we tried it. Their stats were diversified for their mage class too rather than being GLA specific which might have caused the trouble, but it was really smooth with a 23 GLA tanking these crabs. He was high enough to hold the hate well and tank the hits effectively. The party was essentially one person healing the GLA, the GLA tanking, and some melee classes (2 mrd, archer, pug) mashing away on the crabs. The water elementals that pop were easily taken out. The jellies provided intermittent mobs to face between crabs for some 20 second TP building fights for the melee, and provided 0 SP upwards to almost 200 on them for my 21 MRD. The higher ranks (23/24) complained of no SP from them, but the fights literally took 15 seconds for melees to build TP to use their debuff WS on the crabs. The 19-21 rank members still pulled SP from them and got TP.

Pus Gnats also spawn in a little room near that north cave. We fought and killed 3 of them just to test them out. They have an insanely quick respawn. They were really "soft" and died quickly. However, they had shock spikes up which would cause everyone to take counter damage and it had some AOE move that stunned some of the time I believe. The SP was really good on the three we fought, but they were a nuisance with the spikes/aoe and the tp move where they would disappear and randomly reappear (like the moles that burrow).

Highly recommend trying this camp for a 19-24 rank type party camp.

[bruiser]

Might be a stupid question, but to get the skill bonus the level range has to be 5 right? Does that mean max - min <= 5, or max - min + 1 <= 5? e.g. I have a 17 and a 22 in my party. Obviously 22-17 is 5. but 17,18,19,20,21,22 is a range of 6 values. Do I still get the bonus?

[Franzer]

wow +1 on that video, thanks for that.

[VentusInvictus]

@ Angry Panda

Just wanted to add that another viable option for those in the lower 20s, I'd recommend 21-24, is a group of 6-8 at Copperbell Mines. The Ants there are basically in a line like pac-man pellets that go around the bottom zone. It is easy to get to and you've got plenty of mobs inbetween you and the time it takes for respawns to pop.

[Jackyl]

Might be a stupid question, but to get the skill bonus the level range has to be 5 right? Does that mean max - min <= 5, or max - min + 1 <= 5? e.g. I have a 17 and a 22 in my party. Obviously 22-17 is 5. but 17,18,19,20,21,22 is a range of 6 values. Do I still get the bonus?

To expand on this... (I don't think it was explained clearly yet by anyone, and SE's explanation could be interpreted in a couple ways)

Has anyone done extensive testing to see when/how the skill bonus applies? Couple people have said something about having the party leader set as the person who is in the 'middle' of the level (rank) range. Others seem to think the range of the entire party must be 5 levels. So:

Party 1: 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19 with party leader set at 10
Party 2: 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 18 with party leader set at 15
Party 3: 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 18 with party leader set at 19
Party 4: 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 20 with party leader set at 10

Would everyone in Party 2 get the skill bonus? And who (if any) would get the bonus in Party 1, 3, and 4? Is the skill bonus no longer in effect for everyone if the level range is not proper? Or does it only affect those who are out of range of the leader?

Or does it have nothing to do with who is the leader and the entire party must be in a level range of 5 like party 5 below?

Party 5: 13, 13, 14, 14, 15, 15, 16, 16, 17, 17


I haven't had the resources to test any of the scenarios above and would love it if someone could explain it clearly (hopefully someone who has tested it).

[Ezekial]

sorry wrong thread.

[bruiser]

To expand on this... (I don't think it was explained clearly yet by anyone, and SE's explanation could be interpreted in a couple ways)

Has anyone done extensive testing to see when/how the skill bonus applies? Couple people have said something about having the party leader set as the person who is in the 'middle' of the level (rank) range. Others seem to think the range of the entire party must be 5 levels. So:

Party 1: 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19 with party leader set at 10
Party 2: 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 18 with party leader set at 15
Party 3: 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 18 with party leader set at 19
Party 4: 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 20 with party leader set at 10

Would everyone in Party 2 get the skill bonus? And who (if any) would get the bonus in Party 1, 3, and 4? Is the skill bonus no longer in effect for everyone if the level range is not proper? Or does it only affect those who are out of range of the leader?

Or does it have nothing to do with who is the leader and the entire party must be in a level range of 5 like party 5 below?

Party 5: 13, 13, 14, 14, 15, 15, 16, 16, 17, 17


I haven't had the resources to test any of the scenarios above and would love it if someone could explain it clearly (hopefully someone who has tested it).

The rank of the leader seems unlikely to be a factor in my opinion, just because that seems completely ridiculous. In mind, it can only reasonably be one of two possible options:

1) Everyone in the party gets the bonus if and only if max - min <= 5
2) Everyone in the party gets the bonus if and only if max - min <= 4

[Karnja]

need an advise for a camp:

- a party of about 6 player +/- 2
- level range about 30-32
- dungeon with fast respawn would be nice
- mobs without stupid attacks like nockbakc would also be nice
- "big" mobs with high hp would be nice (like efts) instead of small mobs(like mouse)

did blind efts in mistbeard cove until now, but skill starts to be pretty low

[Zubis]

need an advise for a camp:
Black Efts in The Tam-Tara Deepcroft should be fine for you guys, there's a small room with fast repops in the south western part of the map.

[Elcura]

The rank of the leader seems unlikely to be a factor in my opinion, just because that seems completely ridiculous. In mind, it can only reasonably be one of two possible options:

1) Everyone in the party gets the bonus if and only if max - min <= 5
2) Everyone in the party gets the bonus if and only if max - min <= 4

It could also be that you personally only benefit from the members in your level range.

If you have 11, 12, 13, 13, 14, and you were the rank 11. You would gain the full bonus. But if you had an extra rank 19 and 20, you wouldn't get the bonus that having those 2 extra people should bring. However, the 19 and 20 would get a bonus from each other, but not from the 14 and lower (and vice versa).

[Zubis]

It could also be that you personally only benefit from the members in your level range.

If you have 11, 12, 13, 13, 14, and you were the rank 11. You would gain the full bonus. But if you had an extra rank 19 and 20, you wouldn't get the bonus that having those 2 extra people should bring. However, the 19 and 20 would get a bonus from each other, but not from the 14 and lower (and vice versa).
This is how I've been looking at it and I haven't come across anything that wouldn't support the theory.

[bruiser]

It could also be that you personally only benefit from the members in your level range.

If you have 11, 12, 13, 13, 14, and you were the rank 11. You would gain the full bonus. But if you had an extra rank 19 and 20, you wouldn't get the bonus that having those 2 extra people should bring. However, the 19 and 20 would get a bonus from each other, but not from the 14 and lower (and vice versa).

I feel like it used to work this way, and doesn't anymore after the most recent patch. Look at SE's wording from the recent Ask the Devs:



Q. What is all this hubbub about a so-called “party bonus”?
A. The party bonus is a feature that increases the amount of skill points awarded to players from combat while in a party. This feature will be in effect so long as the difference in class ranks between all party members is between the range of ±5. In addition, the bonus will be greater the more party members there are.


This says quite literally that the feature just isn't in effect for anyone if the level difference is too high.

[lancaster]

Speaking from personal experience, I had a party with a CON 6 ranks lower than the highest person in the group (29 vs 35) but he was receiving excellent SP, according to him. I don't know the exact numbers, unfortunately. The leader was R33. I've had another party with a GLA 6 ranks lower than the highest person in the group (28 vs 34) and he was still receiving some SP, better than solo according to him. In this case, the leader was the R34 person. And in both of these cases, I was still receiving the proper amount of SP, similar amounts as when in other situations with everyone in the +/-5 rank range.

[Aegis]

I've been doing 15 men parties from lvl 26 to 34 everyday for a week now, the rank difference is kinda big because some people have been leveling off time and stuff. I don't care what the "devs" are saying, we ARE getting bonus SP, my rank is around the average my group and I am getting amazing sp. 250-300sp for a provoke / taunt, I cap my sp 70% of times with fights that last 30 secs, with breaks and stuff, I average 16k SP an hour.. that is on a stage 5 or 6 fatigue! Thanks for the spot at treespeak!

If I don't get bonus sp, or have a 3 men party on the same mobs, I will get about 100-120 off a taunt or provoke.

Now my hypothesis is what the "devs" tried to say is that only the members that is +/- 5 level from YOUR level will provide you bonus.
Lets say: 26 / 26/ 26/ 27/ 28 / 28 / 28 / 29 / 29 /30 / 30 /30 /31 /32 /33
The lvl 26 will only enjoy a 13 members party bonus (Including himself)
The lvl 30 will fully enjoy the party bonus, which is at 15 members
The lvl 33 will only enjoy a 11 members party bonus (Including himself)

Also seeing what the devs wrote, that a party has to be in a range that is MORE or LESS (±) than 5 level do not make sense. You cannot say something's range is more or less without comparing to anything else.

I'm pretty sure that's how it works for now, but I'm still shifting the leader position to someone that is in the group's average "just in case" it affects sp.



Seeing how thing goes, we are bound to outgrow this place very fast, already I feel that black efts at treespeak are weak and surrender less SP than before.

Can anyone suggest me a good next spot? Preferences are the usual:
_High HP
_AoE damage that is not fatal
_Fast respawn


Thanks

[Zubis]

Can anyone suggest me a good next spot? Preferences are the usual:
_High HP
_AoE damage that is not fatal
_Fast respawn


Thanks
Raptors in Coerthas, close to Boulder Downs. However I wouldn't suggest going there already at 34, probably possible but it feels somewhat low since these hit really hard. Shell is necessary at all times or your party will wipe from their breath and NEVER pull hate from behind or the sides. Generally the entire PT is standing in front of the Raptor.

[bruiser]

Speaking from personal experience, I had a party with a CON 6 ranks lower than the highest person in the group (29 vs 35) but he was receiving excellent SP, according to him. I don't know the exact numbers, unfortunately. The leader was R33. I've had another party with a GLA 6 ranks lower than the highest person in the group (28 vs 34) and he was still receiving some SP, better than solo according to him. In this case, the leader was the R34 person. And in both of these cases, I was still receiving the proper amount of SP, similar amounts as when in other situations with everyone in the +/-5 rank range.

Define "an excellent amount of SP". Since the RNG is so heavily involved, it's pretty hard to use this to mean anything conclusively. Just because he was getting "an excellent amount of SP" doesn't mean he was getting the party bonus (or that anyone else in the group was either for that matter), and that it wouldn't have been better if there had been a lower level range.

Also, when exactly did this party take place? (What date)

[outzaidur]

tl;dr

MAKE 15 member parties NOW! stop soloing ffs!

[lancaster]

Define "an excellent amount of SP". Since the RNG is so heavily involved, it's pretty hard to use this to mean anything conclusively. Just because he was getting "an excellent amount of SP" doesn't mean he was getting the party bonus (or that anyone else in the group was either for that matter), and that it wouldn't have been better if there had been a lower level range.

Also, when exactly did this party take place? (What date)

These parties took place over this past weekend. As I originally stated, I don't have any additional information beyond anecdotal observation at this point, so take it for what it's worth to you (which, of course, could be nothing at all, and that's fine).

[Sarakyoten]

Anyone have any suggestions for a trio ranks 24-27 to get sp on? My tank(which is 24) is having a hard time getting decent SP from Island crabs in Cassieo :( If we're to do a 'big party' (5+ people) where would be best?

[Dakin]

Anyone have any suggestions for a trio ranks 24-27 to get sp on? My tank(which is 24) is having a hard time getting decent SP from Island crabs in Cassieo :( If we're to do a 'big party' (5+ people) where would be best?

Try Mistbeard cove Yarzons/Floating Eyes. Alternatively you could do Crabs around Bald Knoll and outside Mistbeard.

[Riposte]

I am lost concerning parties. How much higher level should parties arm for? Also how does one go about finding a monster that can handle 15 members...

[Drako]

I am lost concerning parties. How much higher level should parties arm for? Also how does one go about finding a monster that can handle 15 members...

everytime i had a pt with over 7 members i had this problem, i just couldn't find a mob that would last enough for everyone to get SP or would find mobs that the tank couldn't handle (this was before i knew THM could tank so well)

[Aegis]

Mobs like eft are amazing, it has lot of HP, does low damage 1 on 1 (Tanked nude as a 31 gladiator) Does good AoE damage (600-800) to everyone in front of him so you can chose who gets hit, who doesn't and it also gives you the possibility to have up to 3-4 healers which reduce the overall DPS (Sac 1 and Cure 1 tho)

Party composition is very important too, else nobody will get sp, something like
3-4 tanks with provoke&Taunt = Their debuff overlap each other and a voke/taunt lasts for about 5 seconds, with more than 4 tanks, you will constantly overlap each other and not get SP for doing so, watch out for that little icon under the mob, both taunt and provoke look the same.

3-4 healers depending on how strong the AoE is, but you'll rarely need more than 3.

Debuffers get kinda low SP unless you manage to land one... since you're fighting way higher ranked mobs, it's hard to make it work

So yea, you're trying to get as less dps possible while keeping viable SP for healers and tanks.

You know you overgrown a mob if it doesn't have enough time to cast it's special AoE attack, so move on next mob OR drop 2-3 dps.



BTW thanks for the grass raptors near bouldersdown, but we were too low as we just got slaughtered as half my melee DPS went down after 1 fire breath, lol.

Are piestes stronger than black efts at treespeak?



Thanks

[Drako]

Mobs like eft are amazing, it has lot of HP, does low damage 1 on 1 (Tanked nude as a 31 gladiator) Does good AoE damage (600-800) to everyone in front of him so you can chose who gets hit, who doesn't and it also gives you the possibility to have up to 3-4 healers which reduce the overall DPS (Sac 1 and Cure 1 tho)

Party composition is very important too, else nobody will get sp, something like
3-4 tanks with provoke&Taunt = Their debuff overlap each other and a voke/taunt lasts for about 5 seconds, with more than 4 tanks, you will constantly overlap each other and not get SP for doing so, watch out for that little icon under the mob, both taunt and provoke look the same.

3-4 healers depending on how strong the AoE is, but you'll rarely need more than 3.

Debuffers get kinda low SP unless you manage to land one... since you're fighting way higher ranked mobs, it's hard to make it work

So yea, you're trying to get as less dps possible while keeping viable SP for healers and tanks.

You know you overgrown a mob if it doesn't have enough time to cast it's special AoE attack, so move on next mob OR drop 2-3 dps.



BTW thanks for the grass raptors near bouldersdown, but we were too low as we just got slaughtered as half my melee DPS went down after 1 fire breath, lol.

Are piestes stronger than black efts at treespeak?



Thanks

which rank can you start those?

[qpoiuwer]

everytime i had a pt with over 7 members i had this problem, i just couldn't find a mob that would last enough for everyone to get SP or would find mobs that the tank couldn't handle (this was before i knew THM could tank so well)
I think for a party of 5-9 you should aim for around 15-20 levels above the average party level. 20-30ish for 10+. It depends a lot on which enemy you decide to fight. If you look at some enemies in the 40-50 range, you'll see coblyn have really low hp, while efts have really high, and something like dormouse is in the middle. Ideally you'll want to find something that takes around 60-120 seconds to kill, but has decent AOE. Yarzon, efts, and some others have good conal AOEs. Slugs have good radial AOEs. Stuff like dodos is probably bad for mages because most of their TP moves don't do damage and just put you to sleep and shit. I would suggest aiming for 1 tank/1 mage for 6 or less person parties, and no more than 2 tanks/mages for less than 10 person parties. It seems like adding mages/tanks to the party means you need to take longer during fights in order for everyone to get sp. But, damage dealers want to do as much damage as possible in the shortest amount of time, so there's this conflict. By limiting the tanks/mages to 1 each, one tank gets ALL the tanking sp, and one mage gets ALL the healing sp, and damage classes can unleash whatever they've got to get their sp. Our mages have also reported much more success using only cure/sac 1 multiple times instead of cure/sac 2 (excluding emergency situations of course). We also tend to aggro up to 2-3 enemies at once sometimes, which may or may not help the mages even more.

Ideally you don't want to be getting 500 sp every fight but around 200-300 on average with the occasional 0-100/4-500, otherwise all the time you're fighting and sitting at 500 sp is wasted. Unless you can figure out a way to get 500 sp per kill and still be killing in 60 seconds.

[Aegis]

Ideally you don't want to be getting 500 sp every fight but around 200-300 on average with the occasional 0-100/4-500, otherwise all the time you're fighting and sitting at 500 sp is wasted. Unless you can figure out a way to get 500 sp per kill and still be killing in 60 seconds

With 15 men you cap most of the time (for me at least) and fight lasts about 40 sec, 3 or 4 hours to level at lvl 33 is a good pace imo



which rank can you start those?

When I started those I was level 26, but I bet you could start earlier in mistbeard cove with Blind eft, they're weaker than the ones at treespeak and even nine ivies. If you're starting at low level, bring lot of people else it's gonna be long to kill, and try to kill near a wall because those things spawn so randomly, had 2 more spawn on top of each other while fighting one.





Are piestes stronger than black efts at treespeak?

[qpoiuwer]

With 15 men you cap most of the time (for me at least) and fight lasts about 40 sec, 3 or 4 hours to level at lvl 33 is a good pace imo
60-120 seconds is probably too long, that was just some estimate. It's probably more like 45-75 seconds for the sweet spot. I've been getting between 10-15k/hour in my last two parties which seems pretty decent, though I'm not sure how much others are getting. That would be about 1 level in 3-4 hours though.

[Nevex]

Ideally you don't want to be getting 500 sp every fight but around 200-300 on average with the occasional 0-100/4-500, otherwise all the time you're fighting and sitting at 500 sp is wasted. Unless you can figure out a way to get 500 sp per kill and still be killing in 60 seconds.

You could pop Voke/Taunt+Punishing Barbs, recasts are low enough to set a rotation but of course good luck doing that with random people.

I found that GLAs not only are completely useless in a party right now, but they kill mages' SP if you're fighting anything that doesn't have a decent radial (and not rarely used) AoE.
You should have a GLA only if you're not sure your party can handle the mobs you're fightning without deaths, but if your party is good enough they're a deadweight.

[Aegis]

Nothing is a dead weight in a party, even an afk party member is good for SP bonus. The damage that a gladiator does is proportional to the SP he's gonna chew away from other DPS which is not a big deal, they get SP from his own voke taunt and it's not affecting healers OR damage dealers.

[Karnja]

nevex, im con 32 and thm 30. i static with 2 gla 1 mrd and another con. i switch between my jobs.

the prob is not, that the gla dont take enough damage. we fight alot of efts, and the 3 melee stand all at the same pos and get hit by aoe. also we usually pick up 1-3 more random player.

the problem is the other con a static with. a regular skill up party cant handle 2 mages for skill. well i know you know because you mentioned that in antoher post. and it really becomes awefull if a third mage is in pt.

[Nevex]

nevex, im con 32 and thm 30. i static with 2 gla 1 mrd and another con. i switch between my jobs.

the prob is not, that the gla dont take enough damage. we fight alot of efts, and the 3 melee stand all at the same pos and get hit by aoe. also we usually pick up 1-3 more random player.

the problem is the other con a static with. a regular skill up party cant handle 2 mages for skill. well i know you know because you mentioned that in antoher post. and it really becomes awefull if a third mage is in pt.

That too. Mages are too reliant on cures to gain SP since their direct damage is considerably lower than melees so it's not optimal for that task.
I'm sure they'll fix these issues but right now one mage doesn't seem to be enough, especially if you need to handle adds. Add the occasional cure casting times taking much longer than it should because of lag and whatnot and you can end up in a wipe even if you were paying attention.

Of course melees don't give a damn about mages' SP and try to invite as many as they can because they only care about their own survability, while mages aim to heal the most damage by themselves. The whole system is fucked up and needs to be adjusted.
Which leads me to doubt about GLA's role in a party. Ideally you want to fight something that can damage more than a party member enough to allow mages to curespam without killing each other's SP but at the same time you need to survive if said curespamming is happening.

This conflicts with GLA because they aim to take the most damage by themselves because of SEN skill, but they're not contributing other than mitigating damage. You need damage and cures to kill a mob before it kills you and gain SP... so if damage mitigation is useless, what's a GLA good for in a party?
Obviously being able to heal up to 15 people for 350 HP each in a single cast is better than one guy reducing his own damage by 100ish.
I'll be glad to eat my own words as soon as I grind on something that really needs a GLA, but right now I really don't see them being useful.

[blomba666]

Awesome post, very helpful keep up the good work! I need some help from anyone willing to give some input. My gf and are are lvl 21 and looking for a good spot to ex together, any suggestions? preferably duo but maybe getting another member or 2 and taking some harder stuff would be better? any suggestions are appreciated ty

[lancaster]

Awesome post, very helpful keep up the good work! I need some help from anyone willing to give some input. My gf and are are lvl 21 and looking for a good spot to ex together, any suggestions? preferably duo but maybe getting another member or 2 and taking some harder stuff would be better? any suggestions are appreciated ty

You should try to grab as many people as possible in your rank range and slaughter Island Crabs in Cassiopeia Hollows. Barring that, you can duo in Coerthas starting with antelopes/squirrels/puks, just killing everything you can find, then moving to hippocerfs around ~22-24 (I don't really remember when you can start doing them).

[Zubis]

You should try to grab as many people as possible in your rank range and slaughter Island Crabs in Cassiopeia Hollows. Barring that, you can duo in Coerthas starting with antelopes/squirrels/puks, just killing everything you can find, then moving to hippocerfs around ~22-24 (I don't really remember when you can start doing them).
I wouldn't reccomend doing crabs unless you get atleast 10 people or more at that level, though. However if you do get together a group it can be really good and net you a few ranks very quickly and while waiting for people you can always grind on the Cassiopeias/Puks that are in there.

[Celeras]

the problem is the other con a static with. a regular skill up party cant handle 2 mages for skill. well i know you know because you mentioned that in antoher post. and it really becomes awefull if a third mage is in pt.


That too. Mages are too reliant on cures to gain SP since their direct damage is considerably lower than melees so it's not optimal for that task.

The only reason this is the case is cos most mages are bad, waiting for damage and trying to snipe heals. I've been in plenty of multiple-mage parties.. and always end up laughing at the others playstyle. Mostly consisting of idle time waiting for Thundervapor to charge.

I get that it's a new game and theres a learning curve. I also get that seeing multiple 100s on a single cure is pretty sweet, and I certainly take advantage of it should the opportunity arise. But the above quotes, to be blunt, is absolute nonsense.

http://img201.imageshack.us/img201/7852/baddies.jpg

Those numbers are on the low side, but it's all I could find in my screenshots. Usually debuffs are procing for 150-250 when the parties setup correctly.. and a double-proc banish can top 300. Yet I still get rejected from an undersized group because the leader was a the lone mage and wanted to keep it that way? L2p already.

[Karnja]

Celeras dont mess with me lol...

I can show you the same screenshots you post here; like i said my con is 32, and my thm is 30, i grinded now for some times with diffrent setups and tried lots of diffrent stuff.

i know how enfeeblings etc can proc; the amount of sp is great and not the problem; the rate it is.

Im with nevex for most parts he said.

[Nevex]

Double SP proc on Banish/Scourge is cool and all if you like their long casting times, absurd stamina costs and the ~25% proc chance... or you know, you could cast a Sacrifice 2 which can potentially net you 500 SP in a single cast (and even if it doesn't it gives you way more SP gain chances) and helps your party more while melees safely kill stuff.
There is no "good" or "bad" mage when you have 10-15 people zerging mobs that can never oneshot you. It's mindless grinding plain and simple, and people are looking for the best SP/time ratio they can find.

Melees get up to 450 SP from a single WS on those mobs, if you think that mages can consistently get that amount by simply DDing good luck with that.

[Karnja]

i even use purge.... was also thinking about getting taunt and voke, but dont want any other jobs 10+ beside thm and con because of guild marks.

[Aegis]

i even use purge.... was also thinking about getting taunt and voke, but dont want any other jobs 10+ beside thm and con because of guild marks.


Only affects low level leves like those in bloodshore, you won't get marks for low levels jobs such as 10 at R30 leves.

[Karnja]

i gott offered thm marks on 30er leve when i was 17 thm (con 25 at that time). guess what, i did the quest on thm and didnt get a single mark.

[Elcura]

guess what, i did the quest on thm and didnt get a single mark.

I dunno what you want to hear. Sounds like a case of doing it wrong though.

[Celeras]

Melees get up to 450 SP from a single WS on those mobs, if you think that mages can consistently get that amount by simply DDing good luck with that.

Have, and will continue to do so while the other mages fight eachother over damage and complain about poor SP.

[Ratatapa]

Celeras dont mess with me lol...

I can show you the same screenshots you post here; like i said my con is 32, and my thm is 30, i grinded now for some times with diffrent setups and tried lots of diffrent stuff.

i know how enfeeblings etc can proc; the amount of sp is great and not the problem; the rate it is.

Im with nevex for most parts he said.


All I see is I'm an Internet tough guy don't mess with me or i will send you millions of ping -t mwhahahahaha

[Meresgi]

Melees get up to 450 SP from a single WS on those mobs, if you think that mages can consistently get that amount by simply DDing good luck with that.

Seriously? I get maybe, tops 150 SP from a weaponskill on occassion. I've never got 450 SP on a WS. o_O

[Crizto]

Seriously? I get maybe, tops 150 SP from a weaponskill on occassion. I've never got 450 SP on a WS. o_O

Doing it wrong then! Nah but I don't tend to get SP anywhere near that mark either.

[Karnja]

I dunno what you want to hear. Sounds like a case of doing it wrong though.

no, i did it as intended. it just doesnt work as aegis said.

[Frein]

no, i did it as intended. it just doesnt work as aegis said.
I'm pretty sure you're doing it wrong because it's always worked for me. You need to complete the objectives on the class that the marks are for. So if the quest is to kill 4 of X, every X you kill while being on the wrong class reduces your marks by 25%.

Why it's like this I don't know. I think it would be perfectly fine if we could do the leves on our mains even if the marks are for a sub. Even better would be if we simply got "guild marks" and were allowed to use them in any guild.

[Karnja]

I know if i get offered thm marks i have to do the leve on thm. i already posted i did the complete leve on thm.

like i said, at this time my thm was 17, and con 25. was a 30 leve, which i only got cause my con was high enough.

again, i want to use taunt and voke in parties, but thatfor i would need to level gla and pug to 10 and i would get offered guild marks on higher leves which i cant get (on a lev 30 or 40 leve for example)

what i know is that i could not have gotten the 30 leve if i only had the 17 thm. Since i still got it and completed it but did not get any marks, i dont know this is intended or a bug.

[Aegis]

dude like i said, the limit is 10 for a R30, if you're above 10 you're probably get marks for R30, might be higher, but I stopped getting marks for ALL my R10 jobs when I hit R30 leves. So R10 jobs are fine. Same with R40 leves, I stopped getting any kind of marks for my jobs R20.

[sruon]

Did R14-22 Crab Camp in a 6 man party R10-R15 (CON, PUGx4, MARx1) today and it was pretty cool, everyone got 2 ranks or so, some guy said we were averaging 10,000 skill / hour, managed to learn 2-3 things about party mechanics... people really need to party more now :/

[Meresgi]

Good thing to do with a group of 6-8 rank 26ish people is blow up crabs in North of cassio and every now and then head to east room with skellies and wipe that room out. The skellies have slow respawn but give tons of SP and die fast.

[sceptre]

anyone got any ideas on some camps at rank30 been doing mistebeard cove on efts with my LS but ppl are bored to fcking death with it lol.

any decent confirmed camps at that rank?

we get around 170sp per eft at the moment.

[Dakin]

anyone got any ideas on some camps at rank30 been doing mistebeard cove on efts with my LS but ppl are bored to fcking death with it lol.

any decent confirmed camps at that rank?

we get around 170sp per eft at the moment.

Welcome to the current non-leve party system of FFXIV. 170sp per mob is pretty good in a party, I would stick there as long as you can stomach.

[Tezz]

anyone got any ideas on some camps at rank30 been doing mistebeard cove on efts with my LS but ppl are bored to fcking death with it lol.

any decent confirmed camps at that rank?

we get around 170sp per eft at the moment.
I have no idea in regards to a party, but as R38~ Glad the Hippocerfs near Camp Dragonhead (In Coerthas) gave 70-80SP solo (and have low HP), and are VERY abundant all over.

It could be worthwhile to try out a R30-32~ PT of about 3-5 there. I'd love to know if it's any good.

[Telliani]

It could be worthwhile to try out a R30-32~ PT of about 3-5 there. I'd love to know if it's any good.

level 26-27 - 5(Thm, gla, gla, pug, lnc) of us were getting 90-100sp a kill, about 20-30s per fight. No risk of death.


Plus we started up there with a group of ...8? with a 19-24 spread before the last patch in Nov. I don't recall having problems when we were all 23-24, either.

[Tezz]

ah, ok.

So, it seems more like groups of 2-3 in the 30's might be best.

[sceptre]

party of 3 was getting 80sp per hippo at rank 30, not great but its someing i guess :/