Thoughts on Return to Vana'diel Campaign

[Zumi]

Ok so last return to Vana'diel Campaign I finished the Rhapsodies missions. So this time I thought get some merit points, because they uncapped all the stats and weapon/magic skills. I need tons of merits to cap out my stats.

Now here is the main problem I am running into. There is no exp parties at all. In FFXI you always needed a group to get good exp. Since I came back just seems really inactive. Feels like they need to merge servers or something seeked a very long time did not find a party. Nobody is doing abyssea alliences either. It is very hard to get any kind of merit points. You can solo random mobs in seekers mobs with trusts but that is very slow.

There is the ability to get 105 in your main stats now which that grind seems to be very huge and with no parties seems like a impossible task at the moment.

How do you find other people that need merits to exp with because I can't seem to find anyone.

[Ulth]

Escha Zi'tah, go to the monkeys, the dragons are usually taken by people cleaving. It's easy, they are weak, the NM that randomly pops is about as hard as the mosquitoes. Old Abby parties move at a snail's pace compared to this.

[Zumi]

I was just in one of the Escha areas and hit rate is too low to kill anything solo. Yes it gives a lot of exp when you finally kill something but not when it takes avg of 5 min per mob to kill.

[Ulth]

You finished the RoV missions but can't hit the monkeys in Escha Zi'tah? The problem is probably with your gear then.

[Zumi]

I got ark angel gear soloed them the AF1 119 gear. Says I am ilvl 119

[Obysuca]

If you're 119 and can't hit, summon up some trusts, go kill aerns in Escha Ru'aun, let them do the work, takes about 10-15 seconds to kill an aern for about 10k+ a kill

[Zumi]

Well I am a Paladin not exactly a high damage job so stuff dies slow.

[Zumi]

Someone in my LS just told me that Escha zones are like Abyssea and I don't have the abyssites that drop from NMs that increase stats which is probably why its hard to kill anything in there. They said you have to kill NMs or something which I never did and I don't think anyone does now so I am pretty out of luck there I guess.

So probably need a group for merits or something.

[Pixela]

How can you have full 119 gear and have finished Rhapsodies and not be able to destroy escha zitah mobs in seconds?

Did someone just carry you through the entire story? I can solo kill escha mobs in seconds and get 10k xp per kill (unchained), merits are nothing now. I haven't even finished Rhapsodies yet because I had to gear up in order to do it but you have finished it and can't kill zitah mobs?

It sounds to me like you have 1 piece of 119 gear and all the rest has no item level or something, or are you trying to kill with no trusts? Your real level is based on your gear level, type /checkparam <me>

Your average item level is your level compared to the monsters and your trusts levels too, I'm guessing it's very low. No way you're fully 119 and can't kill those fast.

[Zumi]

How can you have full 119 gear and have finished Rhapsodies and not be able to destroy escha zitah mobs in seconds?

Did someone just carry you through the entire story? I can solo kill escha mobs in seconds and get 10k xp per kill (unchained), merits are nothing now. I haven't even finished Rhapsodies yet because I had to gear up in order to do it but you have finished it and can't kill zitah mobs?

It sounds to me like you have 1 piece of 119 gear and all the rest has no item level or something, or are you trying to kill with no trusts? Your real level is based on your gear level, type /checkparam <me>

Your average item level is your level compared to the monsters and your trusts levels too, I'm guessing it's very low. No way you're fully 119 and can't kill those fast.

First of all I beat Rhapsodies all solo except for the last boss. Asked a few people, shouted for others too fill out the party. I have a paladin i have full 119 gear upgraded my Excalibur to 119 and have ochain lv 90.

Proof of beating the last boss recorded it for youtube in November of last year.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MoY3kiuGxss

proof of ilvl 119


If you watch the video you can see how I miss so much because this boss is the same as Escha mobs in that they set the evasion too high. Its the other damage dealers that are killing him not me.

I definitely do have full 119 gear from soloing ark angle bcnm fights a couple years ago, this gear cost about 50m gil back in the day from having to be expensive crafted items required to get it.

I play paladin, I went in the Escha zone at teleport mea I don't remember which zone it was but, I can kill the mobs it just takes so long that its not worth the time it takes. Yes you can get 10k exp a kill its not worth the 5+ min it takes to kill them. On a tank job which is meant for taking hits not doing damage is part of the problem.

Merits are not nothing they take a long time considering each stat merits are like 15+ merits now. The lack of finding other people to do merits with is what is totally infuriating now.