State of Beastmaster.

[Plow]

Can you think of a good reason why they should invite a mediocre melee job and invest their time/effort to gear up one when there are 14 other DD jobs which can potentially outperform BST?

Because every BST ever in the history of FFXI has leveled RDM so they can get the gear?

[Bakthi]

OMG after reading all this I'm thinking about stopping my bst at 71..... sounds like I've wasted my time ; ;

You have to level BST because you enjoy it, or because you want Maat's Cap. If you enjoyed it, great. You know...game, and all. Personally, I feel that it's a lot more fun 35-74 than it is at 75, although I still use it for some stuff (every Dark Spark, the SAM helm BC, etc.). I enjoyed leveling all the jobs in my sig; it doesn't bother me that most of them are only occasionally used, and then mostly for my own purposes. BST and DNC, in particular, fall into this category.

This is a little different, of course, if BST is your first 75, or you plan on it being your only 75. I won't say it's impossible to get into an end-game LS with BST/PUP/DNC as your only job, or the one you expect to play most of the time. We'd certainly give someone a shot who looked like a good player. It'd be a real uphill climb, for the most part, though.

[Soa]

1. Is Beastmaster still the king of soloing?

Not like they used to be, but they can still solo very well 1-75. I've taken 2 solo jobs to 75 (well my BLM is 15k to 75) and some stretches BLM was better while others BST was better, namely before AM and being able to 1-shot pets. When it comes to high end NM's or Birds than RDM and DRG trump them there.

2. Will finding XP Parties be possible for a BST?

I don't see why it wouldn't, at least pre-60. A BST with a good DD jug pet is very powerful in exp until the 60's, as are most pet jobs.

3. How does BST perform in END game Content. ENM ANNM HNM etc?

I don't do any end game but from what I understand they are a lower tier DD for the most part. I was allowed to bring it to farm when I did sky but was always asked to come Monk when we did God fights. One aspect of the BST job that most people overlook is their ability to be a very effective kiter. Charm both binds an enemy and creates a ton of emnity, and if they need to dump hate for any reason just call a pet and Snarl it away.

4. My group left right after we completed the CoP missions. How will BST perform in the completion of the remaining expansion content?

I don't see why it can't be used for any of the ToAU, WoTG, or ACP missions, they can play a role in any of the fights.

Like many jobs BST has a niche that they excel in, and other things that they don't do well with. They are great for many BCNM/KSNM fights, and fights like Hakutaku and some WSNM fights. They don't do well as DD in merits, on harder NM's or HNM's, and are a terrible zerg job.

[Liquidedust]

Not like they used to be, but they can still solo very well 1-75. I've taken 2 solo jobs to 75 (well my BLM is 15k to 75) and some stretches BLM was better while others BST was better, namely before AM and being able to 1-shot pets. When it comes to high end NM's or Birds than RDM and DRG trump them there.



I don't see why it wouldn't, at least pre-60. A BST with a good DD jug pet is very powerful in exp until the 60's, as are most pet jobs.



I don't do any end game but from what I understand they are a lower tier DD for the most part. I was allowed to bring it to farm when I did sky but was always asked to come Monk when we did God fights. One aspect of the BST job that most people overlook is their ability to be a very effective kiter. Charm both binds an enemy and creates a ton of emnity, and if they need to dump hate for any reason just call a pet and Snarl it away.



I don't see why it can't be used for any of the ToAU, WoTG, or ACP missions, they can play a role in any of the fights.

Like many jobs BST has a niche that they excel in, and other things that they don't do well with. They are great for many BCNM/KSNM fights, and fights like Hakutaku and some WSNM fights. They don't do well as DD in merits, on harder NM's or HNM's, and are a terrible zerg job.

Well, BST has one spot they can always fill. On and forget damage, once you have your jugpet on a mob its essentially another mediocre DD you don't have to care one bit about. And if it dies, you just replace it with a new fresh one.

Oddly enough the tougher stuff gets the higher damage jugpets do relative to other melee jobs. Sure an army of 18 BSTs wont zerg down Kirin in 2 minutes, but 18 angry crabs that run after him will still kill him in 25-40 minutes (depending on gear etc . . . .).

Even Jorm, Tiamat etc . . . can be downed quite fast with jug as well a native pets. The real problem really is, where do you find 18 BSTs (plus a few swaps) that are willing to try it out?

[The Stig]

Jorm isn't much of an issue, but there's no wild pets near it.

Tiamat isn't much of an issue compared to pets, but when 10 other LSes are desperate for the mob I'd say it can get messy really really fast (rival LS kills pets or tries to MPK, etc)

[Liquidedust]

Jorm isn't much of an issue, but there's no wild pets near it.

Tiamat isn't much of an issue compared to pets, but when 10 other LSes are desperate for the mob I'd say it can get messy really really fast (rival LS kills pets or tries to MPK, etc)

Jorm is easy enough since no-one really cares. Tiamat would be easy since Antlions maul her down quick. The problem is the random unclaim bug you get with BSTs and pet swap (and some twat will obviously try jack Tiamat then since they see it unclaimed).

[Ahlah]

Because every BST ever in the history of FFXI has leveled RDM so they can get the gear?

I think it's a bad advise to tell new players who are interested in exp party and endgame events to start the game with BST as their first lv75 job.

I always say the same thing to ppl who just join the game - level a backline job such as RDM, WHM or BRD first, these jobs are highly popular exp jobs and can function reasonably well without expensive gears and make good sub job. They are also in high demand when it comes to endgame events.

A lv75 RDM with the proper SJ and gears can handle majority of the missions/quests alone and solo a large number of NM/BCNM/ENM (more than BST ever can). Why share your profit with 2 other BSTs when you can solo Like the Wind as RDM/NIN? On top of that RDM/BST easily outperform BST main at lv75 under most circumstances. I simply point out what I believe is the route which offers the best result and it's entirely up to the OP whether he/she still wants to start the game with BST.

[Gergall]

I simply point out what I believe is the route which offers the best result and it's entirely up to the OP whether he/she still wants to start the game with BST.

Read the OP again. He is a returning former player with CoP complete, so I am sure he already has a level 75 job.

[Gergall]

I lvld BST before ToAU, so im biased towards all those questions and hate SE for implementing all these changes that made BST so easy to lvl now a days.

On the plus side for you, with FoV now in place, leveling BSTs are getting less skillups (I'm mainly thinking of Parry and Shield), conquest points, beastmen's seals, kindred's seals, money drops, etc.
FoV is also dictating where to level and what to kill, driving BST even further away from money drops if they wish to pursue the fastest XP route.

So you spent more time on your BST but I think you have a little more to show for it too.

[Tjonke]

Also BST can solofarm the SCNM boxes in La Value [s] (well most of them) or just team up with a few BST buddies. And the NMs in there that drop the boxes also drop some decent moneymakers. I wouldn't wanna try to solo these with anything except BST or RDM/NIN, and RDM/NIN is a big NONO on the Warmachine that my BST soloes with some difficulty.

[Keoki]

admin: Link removed due to possible virus infection

We have done many things all BST of course SMN just speed things up most of the time. I would say to answer your question with a short and sweet answer, BST is fine, with the additions recently, like snarl, beast affinity and Feral Howl BST has become even better at what they already did great before.

[vagus]

OMG after reading all this I'm thinking about stopping my bst at 71..... sounds like I've wasted my time ; ;

If you thought Bst was gonna be an insane end game job, then yes you've wasted your time. But to get it to 75 is a big accomplishment. There are some things in this game that can be done with bst that are really fun. Alot of WotG NM's in the past, Tiamat (Yes, the 1st ever Tia was killed with smn/bst) & pissing off warriors without e.body.

I love Bst to the point where i'm leveling it to 75 a second time. . I think bst could have a bigger impact if a few things were changed. Jugpets deal out a alot of damage, especially if u have maxed merits. One of the biggiest problem is the Sic move. If the Sic move was changed to something similiar to what smn's have where moves are seperated into offensive and defensive moves, this would make summoning jugpets more worthwhile. Also stronger and larger variety of jugpets. Heca eyes for magic, Manticores, Buffalo, Puks. The list goes on and on.

Aslong as you can wrap your head around the fact that bst has its niche uses just like a few other jobs (pup, blu, drg, smn) you'll be fine.

[Plow]

Aslong as you can wrap your head around the fact that bst has its niche uses just like a few other jobs (pup, blu, drg, smn) you'll be fine.

Not to be insulting to bst, pup, or drg, but they have no business whatsoever being mentioned in the same sentence as smn and blu when talking about overall usefulness.

They have their niches, smn and blu have their niches and also happen to be 2 of the most useful jobs in the game across virtually all endgame activities (other than trying to merit as smn >.>).

[Gergall]

OMG after reading all this I'm thinking about stopping my bst at 71..... sounds like I've wasted my time ; ;

Your time wasn't wasted if you plan to get a Maat Cap someday!

[Ahlah]

Also BST can solofarm the SCNM boxes in La Value [s] (well most of them) or just team up with a few BST buddies. And the NMs in there that drop the boxes also drop some decent moneymakers. I wouldn't wanna try to solo these with anything except BST or RDM/NIN, and RDM/NIN is a big NONO on the Warmachine that my BST soloes with some difficulty.

Warmachine has been soloed successfully by RDM, in fact I am pretty sure Avesta has done most of the SCNM (Know he cleared all Beadeaux SCNMs).

I think for most parts ppl are trying to make BST sound more useful than it really is, which is actually quite interesting because I can't recall last time I ever read anything negative about the job from the BST community. A simple comment like "BST does decent damage in merit party and endgame events" sounds very different when translated into "arguably the worst DD job for exp and endgame events".

[Liquidedust]

I think for most parts ppl are trying to make BST sound more useful than it really is, which is actually quite interesting because I can't recall last time I ever read anything negative about the job from the BST community. A simple comment like "BST does decent damage in merit party and endgame events" sounds very different when translated into "arguably the worst DD job for exp and endgame events".

Well to be brutally honest towards BST, BST is not good in any event that is approached in a "normie" job way. It just cannot pull their own weight there (zergs, merits, you name it).

I have DRK, WAR, MNK, SAM and BST at 75 melee-wise and I cannot think of any situation (cept when you go all BST obviously) where I'd pick BST over any of the other four melees I currently have at 75.

Merits: WAR, SAM, DRK and MNK all outparse a BST. Not due to gear diffrences or anything since BST get decent gear, BST just completely lacks options when it comes to physical performance since so much emphasis is put on their pets.

Zerg: Well when was last time you actually thought "we need a BST's damage to zerg this down fast" -case in point

Limbus: Well BST doesn't work -that- badly here but my other melees works better yet again. Omega and Ultima I wouldn't even consider BST on btw just the regular zones.

Nyzul: Same as Limbus, but BST really doesn't perform well on the bosses here.

Salvage: I would -never- utter Salvage and BST in same sentence really. I men jugpets work decent on the first floor, but to be even use them you need ranged and job ability cells which really isn't an option (plus BST has no h2h skill either on top of that for first floors)


I mean BST is sorta fun to play, and was I still have a love/hate relationship to exping it up, but once you are at 75 your options and abilities are really sub-par or outright work against you in end-game content sadly.

BST is good if played togather with other BSTs and pet jobs, but they sadly doesn't mesh well with "normie" jobs which also is their downfall.

You either do stuff with other BSTs end-game, or not at all since the job is too weak to bring anything to table on its own as a main job.

[Keyln]

The problem with BST is that the features that make BST unique are rather useless in most events. In a time where the majority of players have at least two level 75 jobs meritted, geared, and ready to go, why would anyone go as BST when they have XYZ job available.

In fact, most of the time, the only reason I see people go BST is because they have no other job to go as, or they're going for the lulz.

SE really does need to boost BST and give it something useful for events.

[Ahlah]

BST is good if played togather with other BSTs and pet jobs, but they sadly doesn't mesh well with "normie" jobs which also is their downfall.

You either do stuff with other BSTs end-game, or not at all since the job is too weak to bring anything to table on its own as a main job.

Pet linkshell has its own disadvantages too. Petburn is less effective than most standard HNM approach. Kirin meleezerg only takes 2mins. A balanced group of 8-10 can hold/kill Tiamat without much difficulty. There are still plenty of HNMs which cannot be defeated by BST alliance. Hecatomb cap and E.body are the two most important pieces of gear in their corresponding slots and yet petburn won't work on Faf/Nid and Einherjar. Plus members in the same linkshell will be competing for the same gear - haidate, temperance torque, Hecatomb cap/hands/feet etc.

Has it ever occured to BST that they can just be as good (useful) as any other DD job in this game? SAM/DRK/DRG used to be 2nd line DD jobs before 2h weapon adjustment. It seems that the main difference between BST and other DD jobs is that players who level BST hardly ever ask for job adjustment to boost their performance in exp party and endgame events. It should be obvious by now SE will not waste their time and effort to change a job unless ppl actually ask for it. The BST community is surprisingly contented with what they have right now despite being one of the least favourite lv75 job in this game.

[Red Demon Taoist]

It seems that the main difference between BST and other DD jobs is that players who level BST hardly ever ask for job adjustment to boost their performance in exp party and endgame events. It should be obvious by now SE will not waste their time and effort to change a job unless ppl actually ask for it. The BST community is surprisingly contented with what they have right now despite being one of the least favourite lv75 job in this game.

Really...?