New or Returning Players Discussion 2: SoA Homeless Veterans Edition

[Pikagreg]

How is the current meta for end game? Can you still do a majority of content with a small group of friends like in the abyssea days or has it gone back to needing large parties?

[dasva]

How is the current meta for end game? Can you still do a majority of content with a small group of friends like in the abyssea days or has it gone back to needing large parties?

Largely depends on gearing and your trusts but yes can do a lot of the content in smaller parties

[Silenka]

Are Rhapsodies tied to SOA expansion or are they now in the base game (you can do them without SOA installed)?

[Kincard]

You need every major expansion to be able to complete Rhapsodies, though I'm not sure if you need to have them installed to begin it. If not, you can get like 2/3 of the way through if you don't have Adoulin.

[Fiye]

I want to get into this w/ dual boxing. I got my old 75-era cap account and a new account. What job combos are recommended for dualboxing?

[DisturbedMidget]

It's pretty wide open as far a playing 2 accounts. I've had quite a bit of success on Blu + Cor and trust as well as Blm + Sch and trusts.. Geo + Blu, Bst + Cor, Pld + Whm

Basically you'll want some sort of DD and some sort of support and sub the rest with trusts. Be it a healing trust, a tank trust, a support trust etc.. they all work. Blu and Sch offer the greatest variety while Bst and Smn are safest.

[Byrthnoth]

GEO+___ will be your best bet for soloing lowtier endgame content. Most of the time ___ can be BLM or SCH.

[Fiye]

Fuck I'm seeing that lists of trusts and I'm like 'Who the fuck do I focus on getting'.

Jeez so much to learn, but its nice knowing i don't have to worry about getting party anymore.

[Isiolia]

Fuck I'm seeing that lists of trusts and I'm like 'Who the fuck do I focus on getting'.

Generally, I'd say to just grab any trusts you can while they're available, unless it's a tradeoff on something else (like what to use Mog Pells on). A good portion of them are (intentionally) not available all the time, so grabbing them for your collection when they are isn't a bad idea. The ones in that category tend to require very little effort to get - maybe doing a seasonal event or something, though most are simply bought for a nominal fee.

That said, a large number of them have niche use at best, particularly the DD types - at cap, their damage is largely mediocre. Some of them do have a move or two they do, or AI properties that can be useful - Ayame, notably, will attempt to open skillchains for you based on the last WS you used. Some of them will toss stuns out, or have HP/MP recovery moves as well. You'll wind up with examples of the latter from RoV (Zeid II, Selh'teus, Iroha II offhand).

Many of the staple trusts tend to be the support types and tanks.*

(*subjective, as your preferred loadout will obviously change based on what job your character(s) are on, activity, level, etc...I'm mostly basing it on doing things with BLU or SCH + GEO dualbox)

For tanks, you have August (PLD), Amchuchu (RUN), and Gessho (NIN) as the top ones. August you have to luck out on getting in Sinister Reign, Gessho is based on ToAU progression and is always available. Amchuchu is the one limited time one, though I don't think she's currently available. There are an assortment of others, but I'm not sure which (if any) stand out.

For support... Apururu is perhaps the best overall healer, and is available to anyone by being in her Unity and completing a few objectives (how you get access to any of the Unity leader trusts). There are other good options from those though, like Sylvie (the only GEO option) or Yoran-Oran. While they're all a step down, it's not a bad idea to grab all the other WHMs you can as they have different AI properties. Ferreous Coffin will raise party members and haste you with his last MP, but won't Prot/Shell... where say, Cherukiki will militantly maintain Protect and Shell, but won't bother to haste unless her MP is high.
The current trust campaign has two WHMs: Ferreous Coffin and Mihli Aliapoh.

Buffing jobs are pretty rare. Unless you're in Sylvie's unity, currently, there are no GEO trusts. There are two BRDs - Joachim (part of the trust campaign, definitely snag), and Ulmia, who is always available but requires you've finished CoP. The only COR that does rolls, thus far, is Qultada, who is not currently available, but pops up occasionally.
There are some aspects to these that are predictable - Qultada will do Corsair's Roll if you have an XP/CP bonus on from a ring, for instance - but they can also be a bit derpy. Kind of why it's nice to make a dual box character one that can buff.

There are also a few RDMs that can supplement both healing and status removal, along with buffs. While not currently available, Koru-Moru and King of Hearts are both good options. Arciela/II are good RDMs as well, though slightly more particular in their behavior. Hers are granted by finishing SoA or as part of RoV (for II).


An additional category are the passive trusts, which are basically little GEO bubble type effects. Their overall benefits may not be near what active trusts offer, but they can't get damaged, and they provide that benefit whether or not you're engaged to a mob. Worth grabbing if available.

I'd still generally try to grab most/all trusts as available, since you might find an application for whatever their damage type/traits/AI have.

[Pikagreg]

Just came back after two years and I love this thread~

Two questions!

If I unlock the Unity leader trust can you switch to another Unity to get the others?

I see that there are a bunch of random bonuses this month. Is this a thing that changes every month or is it just something for New Years?

[dasva]

You can only use the unity trusts of the unity you currently in

The campaigns are random. There is usually one each month but when it starts, stops or what it entails is anyones guess

[nyttyn]

As a new player - should I be too worried about my job choice? I know it's pretty late to get into this game, but I'm going through it with a friend to see all the content and get a taste for old school MMOs (holy hell the war stories, how did you people put up with no auto inventory sort??). Anyway, I was really interested in Rune Knight or Greatsword Dark Knight - should I be worried about those two blowing chunks and being incapable of doing things?

[Kincard]

Short Answer: Nope.

Long Answer: Really, most of the game can be done on your own these days, the only time people will be really picky about what Job you're on (or rather, the only time you'll probably need to interact with other players) is for endgame content. But given the game's history, the game's balance of power can shift again by the time you get the flavor of the month class up to spec, so you might as well not worry about it and just enjoy the game. If you've never played XI before you might end up spending hundreds or even thousands of hours just trying out all the different jobs and going through the story. Almost all of it you can do on your own with just about any job. Even if you decide after all that you really want to do endgame and find out that your favored job is crappy, you'll find it's going to be way, way easier for you to get another job to 99.

[nyttyn]

Short Answer: Nope.

Long Answer: Really, most of the game can be done on your own these days, the only time people will be really picky about what Job you're on (or rather, the only time you'll probably need to interact with other players) is for endgame content. But given the game's history, the game's balance of power can shift again by the time you get the flavor of the month class up to spec, so you might as well not worry about it and just enjoy the game. If you've never played XI before you might end up spending hundreds or even thousands of hours just trying out all the different jobs and going through the story. Almost all of it you can do on your own with just about any job. Even if you decide after all that you really want to do endgame and find out that your favored job is crappy, you'll find it's going to be way, way easier for you to get another job to 99.

Ah, thank you for the info! I'll keep that in mind...so far, the game's pretty neat, and all I'm doing is running around like an idiot and swearing about the third mandogra dew that refuses to drop. Hopefuly I get a chance to try out every class!

[Jem]

What can be soloed with trusts for gear? Anything pre-Delve 1, I already have / have access to. Anything after though I haven't touched (I do have 119 Relics / Delve Weapons).

Doubt relics make much of a difference nowadays but listed anyway next to jobs I have available. DRK/PLD/RNG (Apoc/Ragna/Aegis/Ochain/Annihilator) and BST/THF/DNC (Delve gear) is what I have access to and could immediately gear up. I guess BLM, RDM or WHM at a push.

Also my spellcast doesn't work anymore Is there a way to transfer spellcast stuff to Gearswap? Or would I have to start from scratch?

[Isiolia]

What can be soloed with trusts for gear? Anything pre-Delve 1, I already have / have access to. Anything after though I haven't touched (I do have 119 Relics / Delve Weapons)

There are a number of options, potentially:

Reforged AF/Relic/Empyrean all take REM chapters (and other items). You can buy them with Sparks, but the better route is to do Macrocosmic Orb fights (SKCNM20) for 1-5s to reforge to 109, then the merit point high tier missions (HTBs) for 6-10s. Those all have five difficulty levels - Very Easy, Easy, Normal, Difficult, and Very Difficult. Based on difficulty, you get a certain number of chapters deposited straight to your inventory, and then additional ones in the pool. You need 5 or 10 for 109 upgrades, according to your base item (IE, AF+1 takes 5, AF takes 10), and 8 for 109->119.
HTBs also drop i119 weapons and armor. Some of those are still fairly good, others are pretty dated. The drop rate on those is based on difficulty level. Maybe ~50% on N, D is one guaranteed slot, VD is two.

Those battlefields are pretty doable solo with trusts (or readily done in a duo, trio, etc). It's more a question of what difficulty you can do them on, which will come down to job/gear/etc. The gap between difficulty levels is fairly decent.

If you can secure some REM chapters, however, the rest can simply be bought for AF/Relic. Reforging Empyrean gear requires Abyssea boss items for the 109s, and then Vagary wins just to unlock the ability to make the 119s (and materials from Vagary to do the upgrades).


Yorcia Skirmish is also an option. You may have done the original version of it, and the i113 pieces from that can be upgraded to i119 with the KI from Outer Ra'Kaznar. That said, relatively few of those pieces really stand out still.
Alluvion Yorcia Skirmish drops 119 pieces off the bat, and the augment system is less bad...but still very random, and ultimately a little dated for straight DD type items. This is another where the baseline can be set -very- low, with room to improve as your gear/etc gets better. Ideally, you would want to have some Copper Vouchers stored to convert to Obsidian Shards for soloing this (allows you to convert them to puissance so you can summon mobs immediately).

Unity NMs can be attempted solo, and a good number of them are feasible to do that way. Does require using Unity Accolades every pop.

Escha uses a similar system to UNMs for pops, but it effectively costs Silt instead. Can pop solo, and for decently geared players a lot of T1s are feasible (at least). Zi'Tah and Ru'Aun use an augment system similar to Delve instead of Skirmish - fixed paths/cost. The nice change is that you can swap paths without giving up progress. Reisenjima gear augmenting is full-on random like Skirmish, though generally much cheaper.
Ru'Aun also has Warders to randomly pop, many of which are feasible solos and drop armor or accessories.

There are also i119 items on the AH with the Su2 tag, meaning you need 100JPs applied to equip them.

The NNI campaign is also going on for a couple more days or so, and can randomly appraise at least some Escha Ru'Aun stuff, along with HTB/UNM/etc items. Get a lot of junk or obsolete items too. I've seen a lot more i119 weapons than armor, personally.

[Pikagreg]

Sacred KC just drop off new stuff?

[The Assman]

Anything level 100+ so some mobs in older adjusted zones, too.

I think around 120 they stop dropping KCs and only drop HKCs+SKCs.

[Isiolia]

You can also exchange seals at a 3:1 ratio, if you have a stock of KS or something.

[Jem]

What strat do you have to use for soloing stuff? BST up and/or lots of WHM trusts?

Also what is the NNI campaign? Just get good stuff from Nyzul boxes? Can I use trusts in there too? And will lamps screw me over?