Alternativ Merit Camps

[Jakson]

I used to hear about Soulflayers being viable for a RNG-burn PT along with the imps, could anyone actually confirm or deny this? Dont really see how RNGs are going to survive the spellspam even if the flayer refuses to melee for a while.

If you can find the Mire open, basically the hill to fly lane and just roam. Had a RNGx4/BRD/RDM Pt. Would have been better with two brds and three rngs, but more for pulling than buffs. Couldn't find mobs fast enough. Expensive though ; ;

[Sonomaa]

for a lower-mid level level-sync camp, Colibri in East Ronfaure [S] are great. you *can* throw in ladybugs, too, but I found that just plain colibri was the way to go. from 37~40, my expwatch was sticking right around 12-13k/hr, without ring. Plus, these Colibri don't mimic magic, and (if I remember right, won't swear to this) they don't eat your food.

Granted I got through this range while leveling my bard, so it was always a bard pt. But still, 8-10k/hr is easily attainable.

this camp is amazing, do this with 4 melee (piercing makes it all the better), a bard and a corsair and two out of party whm or rdm healers and you can make close to 20k an hour with ladybugs in during their weak spot. I leveled here on nin and drg and it was just glorious.

of course the other option is make a PT of 5 people, mage, bard, 3 melee with a tank and do /sea all 53 inv and go after lesser colibri, its still amazing exp.

One thing to note is adding a dancer to colibri parties helps with the healing for the main healer so much its sick, using haste samba and the cures a good dancer can keep the RDM or WHMs mp up enough that they can keep haste up on a full group and keep a lot of MP. I actually triple boxed my DRG on lesser colibri, doing the main healing and randomly hitting my cure3 button while running my super long bard macro which puts songs on everybody

[Tsuko_Asura]

If you have the (legitimate) means to making an incredibly dull and mundane part of the game significantly faster and more productive, you'd be fool not to utilize it.

[Ryphen]

The problem though, if that you have to go with some pretty skilled people... especially a skill puller (since the aggro range and methods are different; any most pullers don't even recognize, for example, weaker colibri don't aggro). One of the parties I was with kept getting partial wiped by imps and flayers just getting to camp.

There are colibri in the game that aggro? Or did you mean to say that Lesser Colibiri and Colibri don't link like Greater Colibri do?

[Xanthe]

There are colibri in the game that aggro? Or did you mean to say that Lesser Colibiri and Colibri don't link like Greater Colibri do?

Lesser Colibri in Nyzul Isle aggro, but I digress...

[Max™]

Lesser Colibri in Nyzul Isle aggro, but I digress...

I gotta say, I really laughed the first time one of them bumrushed me all cocky like.

<Colibri> omfg guys, it's that fucking taru that killed my family!
<Pugil> Dude, you should totally go kick his ass.
<Colibri> I know right, he wouldn't expect it since we don't aggro huh... very well then! CHARGE!

*a couple seconds of horrifying violence later*

<Colibri> Hey uh... can anyone spawn in Nyzul and raise me?
<Capricious Cassie> lolnoob

[Max™]

We got Jaded Jody without white magic a couple nights ago.

My heart dropped when I saw white magic restricted and the screen shaking in that malboro crawl effect thing, but jody wasn't a problem.

[ronin sparthos]

There are like 7 or 8 lvl 60 something Goblins up where you'd zone to the Pass in Ronf [S], I may try to drag a 50 something party out there some time.

Pixie roams through there too, random big cures and raises if something happens ftw.

I've ALWAYS wanted to go to Xarc and convert most of the Gigas near the boreal mob tunnel to Bst type, and have a PLed exp party on Gigas Tigers at 30 something, I imagine if you had someone to sync too, and a babysitter to take care of the non-Bst Gigas/Eyes/master linking... you could get hella exp/hr there.

1 minute repop, IT mob with something like 1/10th the HP of most lvl 40~ mobs (seriously like 360~400 hp), and I've seen 4 or 5 of the Gigas up as Bst type in pulling range of that tunnel before if you have 2 Bst's in back.

For the goblins, is it low 50s or high 50s in terms of the EXP Range? Id kill to find another alternative to the 49-53 cockblock. Gotta love those level 50 parties going to birds only to get pecked to death and sent packing or those Robber Crab parties where it takes 5mins to kill one mob...

Ive used the Rolanberry Maw fly camp as a bridge between 49 and ToAU but you sorta need a good AOE healer to deal with Cursed Sphere spammage.


There are a few other pretty good camps to make life from 40-50 alot easier via WotG. Berry Grubs and Sauromugue Skinks are pretty good alternative camps to the usual beetle-fest in the Altepa.

On Grauberg [S]:

-Hippogryphs have an inherit EXP bonus and arent too bad for the level range you fight them. You will have to deal with Nihility Song (Dispel AOE) but its a free camp and hippogryphs are pretty squishy.

[Tsuko_Asura]

if a full pt can't handle themselves at a camp, then they aren't learning their jobs, and they suck and either they're overcamping (usually the case) or they need to go back to SJ school and lrn2play. Not everyone just gets jobs to 75 to sit at HNM camps for hours. Also, not everyone - most of everyone I know does not - has a 2nd character either =/

If only having an outside healer did more than enable horrid players to be productive? I'm not saying its particularly wise to go to Valkurm and get a horde of subjobless newbies to level 20 in the course of a half an hour while their White Mage sits there and spams Banish, but when it means you can add another DD or drop a member entirely, there's no reason not to utilize what you have available.

[Tubbers]

if a full pt can't handle themselves at a camp, then they aren't learning their jobs, and they suck and either they're overcamping (usually the case) or they need to go back to SJ school and lrn2play. Not everyone just gets jobs to 75 to sit at HNM camps for hours. Also, not everyone - most of everyone I know does not - has a 2nd character either =/

I only PT with people who I know, LS/friends/their friends etc. Those people don't need to learn anything about playing effectively, they already know that. The only thing adding a PL can do is increase EXP rate, so I agree with Tsuko here -- if you have the means to have a PL while leveling there is no reason not to use it, and it's certainly by no means fail.

[arshesney]

There are like 7 or 8 lvl 60 something Goblins up where you'd zone to the Pass in Ronf [S], I may try to drag a 50 something party out there some time.

Pixie roams through there too, random big cures and raises if something happens ftw.

I've ALWAYS wanted to go to Xarc and convert most of the Gigas near the boreal mob tunnel to Bst type, and have a PLed exp party on Gigas Tigers at 30 something, I imagine if you had someone to sync too, and a babysitter to take care of the non-Bst Gigas/Eyes/master linking... you could get hella exp/hr there.

1 minute repop, IT mob with something like 1/10th the HP of most lvl 40~ mobs (seriously like 360~400 hp), and I've seen 4 or 5 of the Gigas up as Bst type in pulling range of that tunnel before if you have 2 Bst's in back.

Those are about the level the gobs in Gustav Tunnel are (the ones where Wyvernpoacher pops), maybe 2-3 levels lower, as their Ladybugs pets are a nice alternative for solo at 50.

La Vaule is also a nice alternative if you settle for 12-15k/hr range, did it once and camped at the BC are, pulling orcs from the south. They have tons of HP, but they also give 276+ xp per kill, you can probably chain them with the right setup (we were there for splitting heirs, so not the best merit setup)

[Bakthi]

I only PT with people who I know, LS/friends/their friends etc. Those people don't need to learn anything about playing effectively, they already know that. The only thing adding a PL can do is increase EXP rate, so I agree with Tsuko here -- if you have the means to have a PL while leveling there is no reason not to use it, and it's certainly by no means fail.

This is precisely my situation, and my feelings on it. Sometimes, the 2-boxed account isn't even doing much; when we leveled as SCH BST SAM DNC, the SCH was 2-boxing a RDM, and ended up mostly using it to haste us, with her nuking and my DNC doing most of the curing. It was her 20th job to 75, and the rest of us had at least 4 other 75s each by that point. I don't really feel deprived of anything.

[rrynn]

what about demons in xarc? wasn't that the original 20k+ hr melee burn camp back in the day? you actually have to, like, pay attention there so that may be a downfall, but i remember really enjoying that camp.

xarc also has buffalos for an alternative manaburn camp to puddings.

ule.range, actually. clearly i need more coffee.

[Toth]

Ugh Manaburning buffalos was never worth the time actually getting up there. Sea is a better manaburn than there as well.

[Riki]

Ugh Manaburning buffalos was never worth the time actually getting up there. Sea is a better manaburn than there as well.

Not if you go there for manaburn only. But if you are there with a duo partner for Brothers ENM and waiting for weather it's really nice. Buffalos can be aspired, so you won't have to rest long between kills and Signet Xp-bonus for small groups (=duo) makes xp worthwhile. And then there is also the 3k XP you'll get from the ENM itself.

[Raineer]

what about demons in xarc? wasn't that the original 20k+ hr melee burn camp back in the day? you actually have to, like, pay attention there so that may be a downfall, but i remember really enjoying that camp.

xarc also has buffalos for an alternative manaburn camp to puddings.

ule.range, actually. clearly i need more coffee.

Uleg Range was the shit, imo. It was actually difficult enough to require skill to get 20k/hr. Oh how times have changes.

[fndragon]

<Capricious Cassie> Oh look, a party the floor below.
/tell GM [White Mage] [No Thanks.]
<GM> k

15 seconds later

Myrla: SONOFABITCH IT'S CASSIE WITHOUT WHITE MAGIC

<Capricious Cassie> oh look, exp time!

I laughed way too hard for that. I wonder if Cassie gets a Chain #5 bonus.

[ronin sparthos]

Uleguerand was the original goldmine merit location - you made money AND raked in EXP.

[Raychi23]

Non-Colibri, non-Toau merit camps for people that like to enjoy every part of the game as opposed to grinding
Exp per hour: who cares! If you care, then stick to birds.

Did a quick search of mobs across Vana Diel, I'm sure that I missed some, but here are a few camps you most likely will have all to yourself:

- Grauberg [S] Ajattara 79-82, 21 pops, 5 min timer
- La Vaule Orcs 79-83, 116 pops, 16 min timer
- Lufaise Meadows Abraxas and Rams 80-83, 16 pops, 5 min timer
- KRT Bones, Ghosts, Hounds 78-82, 60+ pops, 14 min timer
- Oztroya [S] Yagudos 79-82, 94 pops, 16 min timer
- Uleg Range Demons 81-84, 36 pops, 5 min timer
- Ro'Maeve Golems, Apo and Inf Weapons 78-82, plenty of pops, 5 min timer
- Riverne A 40cap Hawkers 44-48, 34 pops, 5 min timer
- Sacrarium 50cap Fomors 54-58, plenty of pops, 14min timer

Not faint-of-heart camps, use skillchains, MB if available. Have an exp buffer, haha. Have a legendary puller. Be ready to roam occasionally.

or use Level Sync with 5, 1 level appropriate person and go anywhere for a few hrs until exp totally sucks, just research mob levels for that zone (for example: Zitah outpost 36-39, all mobs (not golem) fun fun)

Peace

[Max™]

The Pld AF3 spot in Vaule [S] has like 29 VT-IT Orcs, lots of Rng and War, some Pld and Mnk, all within easy pulling range even if you didn't just dive in and roam, I was working out the viability if it was 14 min repop, you sure it's 5?