Final Fantasy XIV Party Leveling Guide

[bruiser]

To expand on this... (I don't think it was explained clearly yet by anyone, and SE's explanation could be interpreted in a couple ways)

Has anyone done extensive testing to see when/how the skill bonus applies? Couple people have said something about having the party leader set as the person who is in the 'middle' of the level (rank) range. Others seem to think the range of the entire party must be 5 levels. So:

Party 1: 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19 with party leader set at 10
Party 2: 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 18 with party leader set at 15
Party 3: 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 18 with party leader set at 19
Party 4: 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 20 with party leader set at 10

Would everyone in Party 2 get the skill bonus? And who (if any) would get the bonus in Party 1, 3, and 4? Is the skill bonus no longer in effect for everyone if the level range is not proper? Or does it only affect those who are out of range of the leader?

Or does it have nothing to do with who is the leader and the entire party must be in a level range of 5 like party 5 below?

Party 5: 13, 13, 14, 14, 15, 15, 16, 16, 17, 17


I haven't had the resources to test any of the scenarios above and would love it if someone could explain it clearly (hopefully someone who has tested it).

The rank of the leader seems unlikely to be a factor in my opinion, just because that seems completely ridiculous. In mind, it can only reasonably be one of two possible options:

1) Everyone in the party gets the bonus if and only if max - min <= 5
2) Everyone in the party gets the bonus if and only if max - min <= 4

[Karnja]

need an advise for a camp:

- a party of about 6 player +/- 2
- level range about 30-32
- dungeon with fast respawn would be nice
- mobs without stupid attacks like nockbakc would also be nice
- "big" mobs with high hp would be nice (like efts) instead of small mobs(like mouse)

did blind efts in mistbeard cove until now, but skill starts to be pretty low

[Zubis]

need an advise for a camp:

Black Efts in The Tam-Tara Deepcroft should be fine for you guys, there's a small room with fast repops in the south western part of the map.

[Elcura]

The rank of the leader seems unlikely to be a factor in my opinion, just because that seems completely ridiculous. In mind, it can only reasonably be one of two possible options:

1) Everyone in the party gets the bonus if and only if max - min <= 5
2) Everyone in the party gets the bonus if and only if max - min <= 4

It could also be that you personally only benefit from the members in your level range.

If you have 11, 12, 13, 13, 14, and you were the rank 11. You would gain the full bonus. But if you had an extra rank 19 and 20, you wouldn't get the bonus that having those 2 extra people should bring. However, the 19 and 20 would get a bonus from each other, but not from the 14 and lower (and vice versa).

[Zubis]

It could also be that you personally only benefit from the members in your level range.

If you have 11, 12, 13, 13, 14, and you were the rank 11. You would gain the full bonus. But if you had an extra rank 19 and 20, you wouldn't get the bonus that having those 2 extra people should bring. However, the 19 and 20 would get a bonus from each other, but not from the 14 and lower (and vice versa).

This is how I've been looking at it and I haven't come across anything that wouldn't support the theory.

[bruiser]

It could also be that you personally only benefit from the members in your level range.

If you have 11, 12, 13, 13, 14, and you were the rank 11. You would gain the full bonus. But if you had an extra rank 19 and 20, you wouldn't get the bonus that having those 2 extra people should bring. However, the 19 and 20 would get a bonus from each other, but not from the 14 and lower (and vice versa).

I feel like it used to work this way, and doesn't anymore after the most recent patch. Look at SE's wording from the recent Ask the Devs:

Q. What is all this hubbub about a so-called “party bonus”?
A. The party bonus is a feature that increases the amount of skill points awarded to players from combat while in a party. This feature will be in effect so long as the difference in class ranks between all party members is between the range of ±5. In addition, the bonus will be greater the more party members there are.

This says quite literally that the feature just isn't in effect for anyone if the level difference is too high.

[Carraway]

Speaking from personal experience, I had a party with a CON 6 ranks lower than the highest person in the group (29 vs 35) but he was receiving excellent SP, according to him. I don't know the exact numbers, unfortunately. The leader was R33. I've had another party with a GLA 6 ranks lower than the highest person in the group (28 vs 34) and he was still receiving some SP, better than solo according to him. In this case, the leader was the R34 person. And in both of these cases, I was still receiving the proper amount of SP, similar amounts as when in other situations with everyone in the +/-5 rank range.

[Aegis]

I've been doing 15 men parties from lvl 26 to 34 everyday for a week now, the rank difference is kinda big because some people have been leveling off time and stuff. I don't care what the "devs" are saying, we ARE getting bonus SP, my rank is around the average my group and I am getting amazing sp. 250-300sp for a provoke / taunt, I cap my sp 70% of times with fights that last 30 secs, with breaks and stuff, I average 16k SP an hour.. that is on a stage 5 or 6 fatigue! Thanks for the spot at treespeak!

If I don't get bonus sp, or have a 3 men party on the same mobs, I will get about 100-120 off a taunt or provoke.

Now my hypothesis is what the "devs" tried to say is that only the members that is +/- 5 level from YOUR level will provide you bonus.
Lets say: 26 / 26/ 26/ 27/ 28 / 28 / 28 / 29 / 29 /30 / 30 /30 /31 /32 /33
The lvl 26 will only enjoy a 13 members party bonus (Including himself)
The lvl 30 will fully enjoy the party bonus, which is at 15 members
The lvl 33 will only enjoy a 11 members party bonus (Including himself)

Also seeing what the devs wrote, that a party has to be in a range that is MORE or LESS (±) than 5 level do not make sense. You cannot say something's range is more or less without comparing to anything else.

I'm pretty sure that's how it works for now, but I'm still shifting the leader position to someone that is in the group's average "just in case" it affects sp.



Seeing how thing goes, we are bound to outgrow this place very fast, already I feel that black efts at treespeak are weak and surrender less SP than before.

Can anyone suggest me a good next spot? Preferences are the usual:
_High HP
_AoE damage that is not fatal
_Fast respawn


Thanks

[Zubis]

Can anyone suggest me a good next spot? Preferences are the usual:
_High HP
_AoE damage that is not fatal
_Fast respawn


Thanks

Raptors in Coerthas, close to Boulder Downs. However I wouldn't suggest going there already at 34, probably possible but it feels somewhat low since these hit really hard. Shell is necessary at all times or your party will wipe from their breath and NEVER pull hate from behind or the sides. Generally the entire PT is standing in front of the Raptor.

[bruiser]

Speaking from personal experience, I had a party with a CON 6 ranks lower than the highest person in the group (29 vs 35) but he was receiving excellent SP, according to him. I don't know the exact numbers, unfortunately. The leader was R33. I've had another party with a GLA 6 ranks lower than the highest person in the group (28 vs 34) and he was still receiving some SP, better than solo according to him. In this case, the leader was the R34 person. And in both of these cases, I was still receiving the proper amount of SP, similar amounts as when in other situations with everyone in the +/-5 rank range.

Define "an excellent amount of SP". Since the RNG is so heavily involved, it's pretty hard to use this to mean anything conclusively. Just because he was getting "an excellent amount of SP" doesn't mean he was getting the party bonus (or that anyone else in the group was either for that matter), and that it wouldn't have been better if there had been a lower level range.

Also, when exactly did this party take place? (What date)

[outzaidur]

tl;dr

MAKE 15 member parties NOW! stop soloing ffs!

[Carraway]

Define "an excellent amount of SP". Since the RNG is so heavily involved, it's pretty hard to use this to mean anything conclusively. Just because he was getting "an excellent amount of SP" doesn't mean he was getting the party bonus (or that anyone else in the group was either for that matter), and that it wouldn't have been better if there had been a lower level range.

Also, when exactly did this party take place? (What date)

These parties took place over this past weekend. As I originally stated, I don't have any additional information beyond anecdotal observation at this point, so take it for what it's worth to you (which, of course, could be nothing at all, and that's fine).

[Sarakyoten]

Anyone have any suggestions for a trio ranks 24-27 to get sp on? My tank(which is 24) is having a hard time getting decent SP from Island crabs in Cassieo If we're to do a 'big party' (5+ people) where would be best?

[Dakin]

Anyone have any suggestions for a trio ranks 24-27 to get sp on? My tank(which is 24) is having a hard time getting decent SP from Island crabs in Cassieo If we're to do a 'big party' (5+ people) where would be best?

Try Mistbeard cove Yarzons/Floating Eyes. Alternatively you could do Crabs around Bald Knoll and outside Mistbeard.

[Riposte]

I am lost concerning parties. How much higher level should parties arm for? Also how does one go about finding a monster that can handle 15 members...

[Drako]

I am lost concerning parties. How much higher level should parties arm for? Also how does one go about finding a monster that can handle 15 members...

everytime i had a pt with over 7 members i had this problem, i just couldn't find a mob that would last enough for everyone to get SP or would find mobs that the tank couldn't handle (this was before i knew THM could tank so well)

[Aegis]

Mobs like eft are amazing, it has lot of HP, does low damage 1 on 1 (Tanked nude as a 31 gladiator) Does good AoE damage (600-800) to everyone in front of him so you can chose who gets hit, who doesn't and it also gives you the possibility to have up to 3-4 healers which reduce the overall DPS (Sac 1 and Cure 1 tho)

Party composition is very important too, else nobody will get sp, something like
3-4 tanks with provoke&Taunt = Their debuff overlap each other and a voke/taunt lasts for about 5 seconds, with more than 4 tanks, you will constantly overlap each other and not get SP for doing so, watch out for that little icon under the mob, both taunt and provoke look the same.

3-4 healers depending on how strong the AoE is, but you'll rarely need more than 3.

Debuffers get kinda low SP unless you manage to land one... since you're fighting way higher ranked mobs, it's hard to make it work

So yea, you're trying to get as less dps possible while keeping viable SP for healers and tanks.

You know you overgrown a mob if it doesn't have enough time to cast it's special AoE attack, so move on next mob OR drop 2-3 dps.



BTW thanks for the grass raptors near bouldersdown, but we were too low as we just got slaughtered as half my melee DPS went down after 1 fire breath, lol.

Are piestes stronger than black efts at treespeak?



Thanks

[Drako]

Mobs like eft are amazing, it has lot of HP, does low damage 1 on 1 (Tanked nude as a 31 gladiator) Does good AoE damage (600-800) to everyone in front of him so you can chose who gets hit, who doesn't and it also gives you the possibility to have up to 3-4 healers which reduce the overall DPS (Sac 1 and Cure 1 tho)

Party composition is very important too, else nobody will get sp, something like
3-4 tanks with provoke&Taunt = Their debuff overlap each other and a voke/taunt lasts for about 5 seconds, with more than 4 tanks, you will constantly overlap each other and not get SP for doing so, watch out for that little icon under the mob, both taunt and provoke look the same.

3-4 healers depending on how strong the AoE is, but you'll rarely need more than 3.

Debuffers get kinda low SP unless you manage to land one... since you're fighting way higher ranked mobs, it's hard to make it work

So yea, you're trying to get as less dps possible while keeping viable SP for healers and tanks.

You know you overgrown a mob if it doesn't have enough time to cast it's special AoE attack, so move on next mob OR drop 2-3 dps.



BTW thanks for the grass raptors near bouldersdown, but we were too low as we just got slaughtered as half my melee DPS went down after 1 fire breath, lol.

Are piestes stronger than black efts at treespeak?



Thanks

which rank can you start those?

[qpoiuwer]

everytime i had a pt with over 7 members i had this problem, i just couldn't find a mob that would last enough for everyone to get SP or would find mobs that the tank couldn't handle (this was before i knew THM could tank so well)

I think for a party of 5-9 you should aim for around 15-20 levels above the average party level. 20-30ish for 10+. It depends a lot on which enemy you decide to fight. If you look at some enemies in the 40-50 range, you'll see coblyn have really low hp, while efts have really high, and something like dormouse is in the middle. Ideally you'll want to find something that takes around 60-120 seconds to kill, but has decent AOE. Yarzon, efts, and some others have good conal AOEs. Slugs have good radial AOEs. Stuff like dodos is probably bad for mages because most of their TP moves don't do damage and just put you to sleep and shit. I would suggest aiming for 1 tank/1 mage for 6 or less person parties, and no more than 2 tanks/mages for less than 10 person parties. It seems like adding mages/tanks to the party means you need to take longer during fights in order for everyone to get sp. But, damage dealers want to do as much damage as possible in the shortest amount of time, so there's this conflict. By limiting the tanks/mages to 1 each, one tank gets ALL the tanking sp, and one mage gets ALL the healing sp, and damage classes can unleash whatever they've got to get their sp. Our mages have also reported much more success using only cure/sac 1 multiple times instead of cure/sac 2 (excluding emergency situations of course). We also tend to aggro up to 2-3 enemies at once sometimes, which may or may not help the mages even more.

Ideally you don't want to be getting 500 sp every fight but around 200-300 on average with the occasional 0-100/4-500, otherwise all the time you're fighting and sitting at 500 sp is wasted. Unless you can figure out a way to get 500 sp per kill and still be killing in 60 seconds.

[Aegis]

Ideally you don't want to be getting 500 sp every fight but around 200-300 on average with the occasional 0-100/4-500, otherwise all the time you're fighting and sitting at 500 sp is wasted. Unless you can figure out a way to get 500 sp per kill and still be killing in 60 seconds

With 15 men you cap most of the time (for me at least) and fight lasts about 40 sec, 3 or 4 hours to level at lvl 33 is a good pace imo

which rank can you start those?

When I started those I was level 26, but I bet you could start earlier in mistbeard cove with Blind eft, they're weaker than the ones at treespeak and even nine ivies. If you're starting at low level, bring lot of people else it's gonna be long to kill, and try to kill near a wall because those things spawn so randomly, had 2 more spawn on top of each other while fighting one.





Are piestes stronger than black efts at treespeak?