Quickest way to rank up in Campaign?

[Yugl]

You're spending more time without the item you're after, and that's the point.

When there were exclusive items first available only through having progressed ranks in Campaign, there should be a little lightbulb going on in everyone's head saying: "hmm, although none of these current exclusive items appeal to me, there is a good possibility that, at a later date, they may implement additional ranks which could potentially make available other rewards that I will be interested in."

"All this shit sucks. Fuck Campaign forever."

*spinning batman scene cut*

"Ohno! They added an item I actually want! Now it is time to finally get working on something that takes at least 80 days to accomplish while always being painfully easy to maintain once achieved. Wait, I need to ask around about how I can cut the most corners since it's an event I don't find fun and/or rewarding and proceed to also bitch about it!"

Damn, someones upset. You are not to choose what "the point" is. If he decides that effort:reward is more important than time of receiving item:introduction of item, then that's his choice. Quite frankly, I agree with Spider-dan on this one.

I personally hate campaign. It's a very boring and unrewarding event (Save for maintaining Splitting Heirs). While I had the option of ranking up before this patch in anticipation of new useful items, I too decided to wait. Unlike Spider-dan however, I did not find any new items worth campaigning for. What if I had decided to campaign? Lots of time and effort wasted.

Moreover, if the *sole* purpose of campaigning is for the items, then ranking up after their introduction is the best approach. You spend less total time in Campaign if you simply rank up, buy what you need, and leave than if you maintained your rank the entire time (Which is basically the former + time spent maintaining rank).

[bungiefan]

I can't even fathom being Ribbon § in Campaign still.....

I've never been able to get above the second medal as a BLM in campaign, so I've been stuck at the lowest one since I gained access. Doing campaign for 200 or less EXP per battle drove me away from doing it.

Then again, I'm someone that has had an active account since July or August of 2002 and still doesn't have a 75, and only 83 days of playtime. I'm currently stuck at BLM 70 because Maat just won't die (keeps resisting my speels and taking less than 100 damage from Tier 3-4 spells and tier 3 AoEs with capped Elemental Magic Skill), and my next-highest job is WHM at 48.

[Tradition]

If you don't have the time, why do you keep playing?

On topic: It took me two weeks of ops and campaign battles on THF to get to Emblem §§. I can see why most people play SAM, PLD, RDM in this stupid event. Not like I can bring my BRD to the party, either. I figure I'll be Medals §§§§ in 2010.

[Hanyoko]

THF/DNC try and tank some of the mobs and keep yourself cured up. Does not have the hate holding that a rdm/dnc or pld/dnc would but it is doable.

And along the way you will get ~9 merits.

[BRP]

I've never been able to get above the second medal as a BLM in campaign, so I've been stuck at the lowest one since I gained access. Doing campaign for 200 or less EXP per battle drove me away from doing it.

Then again, I'm someone that has had an active account since July or August of 2002 and still doesn't have a 75, and only 83 days of playtime. I'm currently stuck at BLM 70 because Maat just won't die (keeps resisting my speels and taking less than 100 damage from Tier 3-4 spells and tier 3 AoEs with capped Elemental Magic Skill), and my next-highest job is WHM at 48.

I've found new interest in doing Campaign as BLM. It requires other people though since you won't be able to tank anything but Imps. Go around enfeebling(poison, bio/dia, elemental dots, paralyze, etc) and nuking for killshots. Spam the hell out of Aspir and Drain. Meleeing will help some MP recovery. Thunder/Jupiter is probably your best bet. When monsters are not around, cure NPCs. I don't really bother hitting on fortifications. Maybe like 5-10 hits, and then I'll drop DoTs on all them if there is NOTHING to do. Maybe a nuke or two if things are really getting boring.

[Phaal]

I've found new interest in doing Campaign as BLM. It requires other people though since you won't be able to tank anything but Imps. Go around enfeebling(poison, bio/dia, elemental dots, paralyze, etc) and nuking for killshots. Spam the hell out of Aspir and Drain. Meleeing will help some MP recovery. Thunder/Jupiter is probably your best bet. When monsters are not around, cure NPCs. I don't really bother hitting on fortifications. Maybe like 5-10 hits, and then I'll drop DoTs on all them if there is NOTHING to do. Maybe a nuke or two if things are really getting boring.

^ This

BLM can be great in campaign, its just not a job that's great for taking damage in the face (though its not like you're going to die after 1 hit). BLM is one of the best jobs for stealing killshots with big nukes near the end as well. Other thing I'd tell any mage jobs that wants to do campaign, is level your staff skill (or for whm club + mystic boon) and actually use a weapon for damage dealing. Honestly the extra exp and ease of playing (using ws to recover mp instead of sitting bored /healing) is going to easily out-way the benefits from switching elemental staves to get their bonuses.

Personally my current fav job in campaign at is WHM/WAR, gear it up for DD with Mekki-Shakki (don't have mystic boon) and just hitting things with auspice up tossing cures about I usually get 200-300 mp returned from Spirit takers, and best retribution so far was 900+ damage on imps and this is with a staff skill of C+

[bungiefan]

Ugh, capping Elemental for Maat was mind-numbing enough. Taking staff skill from 125 or so to where I can actually hit campaign mobs for melee sounds depressing. I used to Campaign as WHM until they nerfed it, so I've been standing on about 20k AN that I've been using for teleports for the past few months. WHM 40 I could get near 1k EXP per battle, and I've only done that once with BLM 60+ in a party.

My experience in Campaign is that my Mithra dies in one attack if I do get aggro, or I get enough that I'm unable to lose aggro and die anyway. Then again, I haven't done it since going back to PS2, and I would be getting 2-5 FPS in battles on my PC no matter what drivers I use. Even targeting mobs for spells and being able to even fire off a macro are a pain with that frame rate.

[LM17]

BLM in campaign isn't the best but works fine.

A few ideas:

If there is a huge pack of mobs, -aga bomb them. I've done 6k+ damage in one spell this way. Reraise yourself, recast reraise, top up MP, and then? -aga bomb that pack again. Rest off the res sickness while you regen mp and go check facebook for 5 mins. Just don't die in a stupid place.

If there are sporadic singles being killed, T4 nuke them, and go for kill shots. a T4 nuke will normally do 3-6% of a beastman, so start dropping it at 10-15% depending on how badly it is getting beaten. One nuke might get you agro, just run it back to the melees that were beating on it.

Add in some random cures, and you're fine.

Also, a physical dmg set is huge if you do pull agro. All BLMs should already have a standing set which includes stuff like cheviot cape, jelly ring, sorc earring, earth/terra staff, and a refresh piece. All items can be bought or soloed including jelly ring (did it with /whm).

I nuke pretty freely and rarely die unless there is no one else around and I'm using the -aga method.

Also, basically every mob can be aspired that isn't undead. Stay in beastman areas.

Given the mass of people now doing campaign, it should be easy to nuke stuff and get a decent pace going with a +HMP and a standing set. Just stay out of physical dmg range... if you are hitting stuff with your staff, you are wasting time that you could be resting and nuking for 900+ dmg.

I'm currently Wings 2 just from using BLM.

[LM17]

Here is my standing set: ffxiah.com/item_sets.php?id=98128

I'm basically an AH BLM (casual player), and there are some things you could do, like add some VIT pieces, etc.

The new HMP item is also gold for BLM (working on my medal currently).

[BRP]

Though getting kill shots takes quite a bit of skill. You don't want nuke too early or too late and each monster is going to lose a different amount of health per second.

EDIT: Fanatic Drink + Manafont makes me think evil, evil thoughts. Getting Ballista flashbacks.

[Enedin]

Devaluation of medals as a reason for not doing campaign is crap. In the long run, you'll only ever lose ONE medal even if you don't campaign for 2 years, as long as you don't make the mistake of talking to the evalution dude every now and then.

From rank 1 to rank uh... Starlight Medal is 17 evaluations, so 85 days minimum. 3 months of campaign, ugh. I'm glad I levelled my PLD in campaign.

For me, the easiest job to get AN with is PLD/DNC, since you can do everything required to get points and it's super easy to stay alive. RDM/NIN, I imagine, would be about the same. BLM/WHM is very fun, not huge points though. THF/DNC is nice too, but pointless if you got PLD. DRK/SCH is pretty fun as well, and you get RR so you can go nuts if you like.

[Uubu]

I made a post on this before but in order to get campagin ranks witht he least effort is to ensure you save all your campaign ops for the day you can get an evaluation (every 5 days) since your credit toward your next medal diminishes over time. For the early ranks you should only need about 3k AN per rankup. The easiest / fastest campaign ops were the crystal fist / iron (something) ? ops until you can do Slaughterhouse (if its available).

So basically spam ops on the day your can get an evaluation and 1-2 battles and your good. If you miss a day youll have to get alot more AN.

[Suited Aces]

One nuke might get you agro, just run it back to the melees that were beating on it.

This is wrong. The correct way to deal with aggro is to run around the fort like a little bitch while the melee chase down the mob. Great laughs and enjoyment will be had by all. Remember: the more you get hit the more points you get!

[BRP]

RDM/NIN, I imagine, would be about the same.

I don't see why the RDM should sub NIN really. /WAR, /DNC, /BLU, and probably some others would probably be better.

[LM17]

This is wrong. The correct way to deal with aggro is to run around the fort like a little bitch while the melee chase down the mob. Great laughs and enjoyment will be had by all. Remember: the more you get hit the more points you get!

That's what you're supposed to do in XP parties, and then come back with more mobs or just die while a WHM chases you and the tank gets an out of range error on voke... oh wait this isn't 2005 and BLMS don't get XP parties anymore.

Also people who take one mob and run across the map while 89 other people wait for it to die so we can get the Union loot can /uninstall please.

[Yugl]

Devaluation of medals as a reason for not doing campaign is crap. In the long run, you'll only ever lose ONE medal even if you don't campaign for 2 years, as long as you don't make the mistake of talking to the evalution dude every now and then.

What if you server gets Splitting Heirs every once in a while. What then?!

[Gergall]

Remember: the more you get hit the more points you get!

Woosh? You really do get points for taking damage. Ideally, you escape by the skin of your teeth to avoid the penalty for dying, but going from full HP to death is generally still a net gain.

It is for this reason that NIN sub is lame in campaign battles. Sub DNC so that you can take damage (and get points for it) and then heal it back (and get points for it again).

[Antithesis]

To get the most points out of Campaign Battles you have to grab one mob from the incoming wave /defesne group and drag it to Madagascar. Once their melee / bloodtank it for a while. This honestly gives so much XP / AN. It is annoying that you have to drag away from everyone to get any decent amount in my opinion. PLDs and any DD that can effectivly Bloodtank / DD will earn the most points in Campaign. Mages will have a slightly harder time.

[LM17]

To get the most points out of Campaign Battles you have to grab one mob from the incoming wave /defesne group and drag it to Madagascar. Once their melee / bloodtank it for a while. This honestly gives so much XP / AN. It is annoying that you have to drag away from everyone to get any decent amount in my opinion. PLDs and any DD that can effectivly Bloodtank / DD will earn the most points in Campaign. Mages will have a slightly harder time.

This is a total cock block to the Union system. Effective yes, but a dick move IMO. I hope they patch this so mobs de-agro and run back if moved too far from the fort.

We sat for 10+ minutes waiting for some guy to kill 1 mob so we could get the union loots and then leave.

[Antithesis]

It is a total cockblock but its the most effective way to get your points sadly . It's really counter-productive in a way. They need to adjust Point values per-action if they don't want players cockblocking each other.