The "Perfect" Merit Spot (which spot has the highest returns

[LastHope]

Friend and I were having a "friendly" conversation about this the other day. Basically we were wondering what the best merit cap was, assuming a clear camp (not being overcamped) and the basic support jobs. Basically our disagreement was this:

Nyzul Isle > Bhaflau Thickets (Mamool Ja Savages up top)

PT: BRD, BRD, RDM, WAR/NIN, WAR/NIN, NIN/WAR

- I think this camp if open will bring in the highest xp per hour with the least downtime (I think I've hit around 20-25k/hr here before? Wasn't really keeping track.)

Nyzul Isle > Bhaflau Thickets (Middle Bird Camp)

PT: BRD, WHM, RDM, DRG/SAM, WAR/NIN, DRG/SAM

- He thinks that this camp would bring higher returns than my preferred (Mamools up top). I say that Mamools would come out on top.

I know this is a big 'if' but assuming that all the melees were equipped in the top tier (ie, all DRG had good gear for DRG, all NIN had good gear for NIN etc.) which camp do you think would come out on top after say, 3hrs of exping? Anyone else think another spot is better?

[Weeks]

Bottom bird camp is significantly better than the one he chose, and I would rather have 4 great DDs subbing NIN than 3 DDs and a WHM. Better yet, COR BRD RDM WAR/NINx2 THF/NIN.

[Leeto]

I like BRD BRD RDM SAM SAM SAM (honestly, any 3 DDs that have some way to get burst hate work) in middle birds. both bards have to be really active in pulling, including stealing from the bottom party's camp. You don't need an optimal setup as long as you can kill quickly because eventually you're going to be struggling to find something to kill, not to actually kill it.

Nyzul mamools can be a huge pain in the ass because you usually have to pull the mob wayyyyy over by the tunnel to keep your chain going, which can suck if you get backed up and forget to go early or something. also, don't know why you'd need two healers at birds

[Francisco II]

My favorite camp, from a monk's stand point, are trolls in Mt. Zhayolm.

Mob availability aside, their most powerful weapon skills, Potent Lunge and Overthrow, cap out at ~450 damage, and that's with Counterstance up. MNK/WAR with full counter merits is VERY viable here, and I've been using it the past few merit parties. I can post some parses if you'd like...

I find trolls to be much "cleaner" fights, there is less lag in the area and the TP moves are less frustrating.

With Mamool Ja staging point, I feel somewhat forced into /NIN, because a MNK/WAR without Counterstance up is a huge MP sink, and with Counterstance up, you run a risk of being one-shotted by Rushing Drub, Rushing Slash, Fang Rush, Deadly Drive... etc... also, Flashga from Puks and the high evasion of Mamool Ja will make Counterstance much less effective.

I don't get everyone's obsession with Greater Colibri either. These mobs that constantly steal food and reduce TP to zero are just a wretched pain in my ass.

Imps/Flies don't bother me very much, I've learned to accept that Amnesia spam really doesn't effect MNK much in the long run, and it actually helps us in our parses, since SAM and WAR usually blow us away in WS damage, while we blow them away in DoT.

Other than that... what else is there? Soulflayers? I'll pass, thanks.

I'd rank my camp choices (assuming free camps) as:

1: Zhayolm Trolls
2: Caedarva Imps/Flies
3: King Ranperre's Tomb
4: Decorative Weapons
5: Mamool Ja Staging Point
6: *insert any unmentioned, viable RoZ/CoP area*
7: Uleguerand Range
8: Greater Colibri
9: Soulflayers
10: Tavnazian Rams / Abraxas

[Weeks]

I don't get everyone's obsession with Greater Colibri either. These mobs that constantly steal food and reduce TP to zero are just a wretched pain in my ass.

They die ridiculously fast, respawn ridiculously fast, and there are a ton of them at two camps. Even mediocre pickup parties can push 20k/hour there. Your list seems to utterly ignore exp rate. I'll take 2 hours eating cheap food and dealing with Feather Tickle over 4 hours in the Mire any day.

[Damane]

with COR BRD RDM SAM SAM MNK pt I had lately the bird camp wouldnt have been enough to satisfy the people. an alone left mamool ja staging point and we pulled a 30k exp/h pt clearing all mobs in the middle includeing skoffins. it was crazy.

[mikazuki]

nyzul>bhaflau upper mamool pops run out much too fast for even mediocre pts.
middle and lower colibri are fairly equal (but it's easier to steal the pops from lower if you are in middle), but again you run out of pops unless you chain the wivres too.

and concurring with the poster above~
my favorite camp is basically the middle of mmj stagingpoint > bhaflau dragging mamool, puks and skoffins in from both directions, slightly biased towards the mamool (north end) because the puks aren't substantial enough (and obfuscate sucks more than feather tickle/rushingwhatever/etc).

rdm/whm brd/nin cor/nin(me) war/nin(provoke) sam/war drk/war(chaos roll)

however someone always comes and camps next to your ideal pt with their whm smn drg pup pld blu set-up, so you're pretty much fscked wherever you choose.

[Loren]

Best exp rate I've ever received is option A (Tandjana Mamools).
Party was NIN NIN THF(me) BRD BRD RDM

Was a double Empress Band day, but I received 79k exp in 3 hours.
We lost chain twice due to killing too fast and waiting for the Pikemen to repop.
These Mamools occasionally TP for 900+ dmg so I'm not sure if we could have sailed so smoothly without highly evasive frontliners like we did.

Lurker spawn syncs perfectly with Feint timer.

[VZX]

Tandjana Islet top level will have the best exp/hour return if you could handle the repop. Most of the PT I have here never ends without at least 1 accident. But when no one dies, exp/hr rate is definitely higher here compared to mid and lower level G colibri
So basically, on Tandjana I'll rate : Top>Bottom>Middle

Second place: MJSP: North > South/East
Third place: Azouph Isle
4th: Mt. Zhayolm, whichever
5th: I'm not gonna merit, better make money/level sub/etc

[evilpaul]

I'm a fan of Trolls on Mount Z. Not as good as Colibri, but they are sooo easy. It's not usually crowded, and easier to see where the puller is bringing one from for first voke purposes. (I go NIN. ) Pulling two makes their stoneskinga weaker people here tell me.

The PUP ones drop attachments you can sell for more than stacks of wind crystals also, and I like when my meriting pays for itself.

[TB]

Nyzul Thickets Mamool Camp caps at 20-21k/h!

[Isiolia]

I'm partial to Greater Colibri, in part because it's so hard to screw up on 'em. Clear camp with two brds (or brd + cor) and competent DDs practically guarantees 20k/hr. I've basically never had a terrible party on them. I've had slower parties (like 10-12k/hr), but that was usually with overcrowding and/or LS/screwaround parties. Low stress, high yield camp = win in my book.

Mamool are good, potentially great, but they do tend to require a better party to really get the most out of. The top Nyzul camp there is probably the best for them. Personally, I'd still opt for Colibri first, but that camp definitely has great potential. Just harder to take advantage of.
Staging point and inside Mamook are nice too, but low XP Puks and crappy-to-support-on Skoffins make them less appealing in my book.

Trolls are fine. I never can quite see why so many people ignore them (or inside Mamook for that matter). They're not top end XP/hr material, but generally it's made up for with the empty zone.

I absolutely despise the Mire for merit. IMO, it's a 69-73 camp. At 75 the base XP is low, it takes more healing/support than nearly anything else, and it's inevitably going to be crowded in 30 minutes if it isn't already.
Personally I have basically the opposite experience from Colibri there. I've gotten nice XP there pre-75, but no merit-level party I've had has been even good. All 10k/hr or less. To me, this is an area that should just be left to XP parties.

[Valrath]

I absolutely despise the Mire for merit. IMO, solo/duo/trio blu camp. At 75 the base XP is low, it takes more healing/support than nearly anything else, and it's inevitably going to be crowded in 30 minutes if it isn't already.

Fixed. Tired of faggoty 67 pts cockblocking me out of good xp by tying up all the imps, take 2-3 mins to kill one. It's not good xp, it's annoying as shit, and there are other places to go than can give better xp/hr. Leave the imps to blus that can solo them for better xp than what shitty pts can do.

Blu/nin x4, rdm, brd on birds is pretty cool, easily 20k/hr, erm scratch that, it's not easily. Apparently it's too much to ask for properly equipped blus these days. I'd also imagine blu/nin x2, rdm, brd on imps be really cool. I've done a pt with 4 blu, 2 brd, but the other 3 blu's were so fucking gimp I could solo faster. 2 good blu's could tear imps up, and brd/rdm can provide enough support.

[Isiolia]

Eh, 67 is too low, 69 is fine there, better than most other places you can go. Point is, it's a crappy merit spot for a full party.

BLU, eh, I dunno, I've yet to party with a BLU that left me with the desire to party with one again. Wouldn't the Imp/Soulflayer camp work for them too though?

[sb]

I guess I'm a slut because I'll go to almost any of the main camps(I don't like imp camp). My main concern is is finding a nice open camp where I'm not competing against anyone. Other than that I'd rather mix it up a bit than keep at the same camp. It gets boring, especially as a puller.

[VZX]

I absolutely despise the Mire for merit. IMO, it's a 69-73 camp. At 75 the base XP is low, it takes more healing/support than nearly anything else, and it's inevitably going to be crowded in 30 minutes if it isn't already.

You still can get 15-16k/hour there w/o COR (I mean no corsair's roll). Still decent to me

[Cletis]

I absolutely despise the Mire for merit. IMO, it's a 69-73 camp. At 75 the base XP is low, it takes more healing/support than nearly anything else, and it's inevitably going to be crowded in 30 minutes if it isn't already.
Personally I have basically the opposite experience from Colibri there. I've gotten nice XP there pre-75, but no merit-level party I've had has been even good. All 10k/hr or less. To me, this is an area that should just be left to XP parties.

thank you. i had the hardest time getting my bard from 68-70 just because of 1 merit party coming in everytime i got a decent party in mire. everytime they would show up we'd ask them in JP to leave and they just kept killing all the mobs. i kept asking them why they dont go to birds or mamool. just kept killing everything..

Fixed. Tired of faggoty 67 pts cockblocking me out of good xp by tying up all the imps, take 2-3 mins to kill one. It's not good xp, it's annoying as shit, and there are other places to go than can give better xp/hr. Leave the imps to blus that can solo them for better xp than what shitty pts can do.

people like you are the reason i dont party with blu's. why the hell should one person get 150 exp in 2-3 min when 6 people get 150exp off same mob ?

[Isiolia]

I absolutely despise the Mire for merit. IMO, it's a 69-73 camp. At 75 the base XP is low, it takes more healing/support than nearly anything else, and it's inevitably going to be crowded in 30 minutes if it isn't already.

You still can get 15-16k/hour there w/o COR (I mean no corsair's roll). Still decent to me

On a perfect day, sure. But that's a "meh" day on Colibri or Mamool. I see it far more as the place gimp melee want to go to stroke their ePeen than an efficient merit location. From a backline standpoint, it's one of the worst places to go.

Getting great XP there basically means having the place to yourself. Like I mentioned, that's not going to happen often, or for long. I would much rather go to an out-of-the-way spot like trolls or Mamook for 10-15k/hr than get it treading on level 70 XP parties.

[sephir]

Nyuzul Mamool camp. I like Drk, war, Sam, brd, cor rdm for this area. Cor can give either Fighters/Chaos or Corsair Roll(which is very sexy on Mamools) while bard gives offensive buffs. Sam drk and war will rip mamools apart even if they are a thief job due to new accuracy bonus.

But ya, I hate exping on Collibiri and every brd I know hates the Mire, and tries to avoid it if possible.

[Naramaska]

Nyuzul Mamool camp.

Am I the only one who's ever had problems with killing too fast there? <_<