People who don't grind FATEs...

[BlazeChronic]

Genuinely curious...

I know the majority of people grind fates to 50 in record time. I also read tons of forum posts, and see that there are lots of people who are bored at 50.

Personally, I have probably completed about 6 or 7 fates on my way up to a modest level 37. Now, before jumping to the attacks, I know I am a casual. I have kids, a career, and other engagements that limit my play-time to about 10 hours a week. In that time, I've leveled my main to 37, weaving to 33, armorer to 22, Botany to 26, Miner to 20, and most of the other crafts to level 5-10.

I feel that, given my short play-time, I've accomplished alot, and I am actually very content with this game. I look forward to the short play-time I have each day. I'm excited to log in, and I hate when 11pm rolls along and I have to go to sleep before my next work day.

I know I could just grind fates and hit 50 in a few hours, I'm totally aware of that. But why would I ever WANT to do that? I guess I'm lucky I don't fit into the North-American MMORPGer mold and wanting to "worlds first everything". So many people think this game sucks, and that they have nothing to do, and that they think it isn't worthy of a sub. Those same people grinded fates to 50, missed mostly everything this game has to offer, and are basically leaving already, without one new content patch ever making it live.

Although it is more than likely too late, for the people who aren't content with the current game, I suggest you try leveling a new class entirely through quests and dungeons, with the OCCASIONAL fate thrown in there. Don't join fate grind parties. Try to level up with a friend. It is such a different experience, and it has been tremendously entertaining for me, at least.

Also I'd like to ask, are there any more of you out there like me? Have you never joined a Fate grind party? I haven't, and I absolutely adore this game. And I know that if I would have zerged my way to 50, I'd probably be as bored as the rest of you.

This game has lots to offer, and I think you are doing it a great injustice by mindlessly zerging your way to 50, and then coming to GD to spread your vitriol about how 'boring' and 'generic' this game is.

Just my .02 gil.

I also agree that at 50 mobs exp should replace with something else, even a small amount of seals.

That is a great idea, and alleviates some stress from grinding fates for seals. Two birds, one stone, my friend! +1 from me.

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Bimble, perhaps the one and only problem I have with being so casual, is the stupid post limit being throttled by my character level. That is at once a blessing, and a curse. I'm not trying to rag on people who have more time to play. Sorry if my post gave you that vibe, and looking back at it, I see why you can interpret it that way. I think that's awesome for you, and I'm envious But even from that one post, I can gather that you are not just plowing through the game and coming here to cry about lack of content. You have looked for alternatives, and seem quite keen on the hunting logs (I think they are great, too!).

Upon leveling a second, third, fourth or whatever job, I see where you are coming from in saying that the leveling process is slow, and the game seems to be designed to promote FATEs. I agree with you. However; unless I am mistaken, the armory bonus is applied to Dungeon mobs as well, correct? Same with open-world mobs? This game is still in its first real iteration, if we consider ARR as a standalone launch. There is lots of time for Yoshi and the devs to tweak FATEs and their rewards.

Still, there is no debate that the most viable way to plow through levels is fate-grinding. And you can be sure, Bimble, that you are in the minority. The majority of the people you are running those fate groups with only have one class, and they will only ever have one class. It is that instant-gratification crowd that will never take the time to level a second class, and never truly experience how an FF MMO is meant to be played. They will fate-grind to 50, complain about 'end-game', and then spread these false rumors that the game has no content, is bugged and 'boring' and 'weak' to all of their friends, and never truly give this game the chance it deserves.

This game is all about having multiple classes leveled to cap, crap, look at how it was in XI and XIV 1.0. Did we ever complain then? We didn't even have fates, or quests, for that matter. Yet still people grinded away multiple classes to 50/75 without many complaints. I hope I still have the stamina to keep going without the help of Fates once I start leveling a DD class, but only time will tell.

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I also like that the replies from people who are taking their time are really enjoying the game. What a breath of fresh air, and thanks for remaining civil in counter-arguments, everyone.

[Tareel]

Been playing this char since the start of beta 4 and my highest level class is 42 (taking a comfortable pace). I have done hundreds of fates along the way, but haven't really done any grinding.

While I agree that fates in their current form are highly flawed, if you don't mindlessly grind them for hours on end they aren't as bad as some people make out.

[Serah1993]

If someone wants to grind fates to lever their character. Than let them. That their choice. You shouldn't tell people how to play the game they payed for.

[BlazeChronic]

If someone wants to grind fates to lever their character. Than let them. That their choice. You shouldn't tell people how to play the game they payed for.

They can do so if they want. Where in my OP did I forbid them from doing fates? I am just suggesting an viable alternative, the route I chose, since most of them seem so discontent with the current game. What I am saying is, they basically abused a flawed feature, got to level cap, and now they complain there is nothing to do at level cap.

I have never had that problem, and I never will, because I don't feel the need to rush to the end-game. If they want to grind fates, all the power to them. I just don't understand their perceived need to do so, and then come cry when they realize they circumvented most of the content.

I don't want to dictate how people play the game, I am just pointing out that fate grinding isn't the only viable way to play this game, and if you look through most threads, you'll see that most people think this is the case.

[Haprimac]

Try to level up with a friend. It is such a different experience, and it has been tremendously entertaining for me, at least.

I'll get slightly off topic with this, but bear with me.

I prefer to do all the quests solo, because I'm a slow reader and take time to process what I read (being non-native English speaker) and I always feel rushed and that I need to hurry up so my leveling-buddies don't have to wait for me. But I do agree it's tons of fun to level 1-2 buddies when doing the next round of classes. Been leveling monk with a white mage and paladin to lvl 33-34, we've learned to play our classes pretty well as we've mostly leveled through dungeon runs instead of mindless "aggro everything in sight asap" FATEs. Only downside is that two of us are at work on different times so we get to play together maybe once a week, so the leveling is slow. :S

[BlazeChronic]

snip

Not off-topic at all.

You are taking your time, and you are enjoying the game. That is precisely the point of this thread. The dungeons are fun. REALLY fun Maybe it's because I play tanks, but I really do like the dungeons. People keep saying there's too much trash mobs and such, but that is the point of the dungeon. Figuring out which target is higher priority to dps down first, moving room through room cautiously so as to not aggro stuff by accident, actually exploring and finding coffers everywhere...

I don't get why people call them trash mobs anyways. Do you just want a dungeon run to be all bosses and no elite mobs? That wouldn't be fun at all! The mentality nowadays is rush rush rush and that is killing MMOs, for me, at least.

[Itchyness]

You are taking your time, and you are enjoying the game. That is precisely the point of this thread. The dungeons are fun. REALLY fun Maybe it's because I play tanks, but I really do I don't get why people call them trash mobs anyways. Do you just want a dungeon run to be all bosses and no elite mobs? That wouldn't be fun at all! The mentality nowadays is rush rush rush and that is killing MMOs, for me, at least.

The only time they're really complaining about the minor mobs of monsters is when they hit level 50 and during the endgame dungeons. They do not drop any items, gil, nor do we gain any exp from them either. This is exactly why they're "trash mobs" at that level. Pre-50, however, they're amazing for experience. You'll see once you casually make your way there. But as you've stated before, just take it easy. There's alot of dbags in the lvl 50 crew. Good luck!

[SirenRanger]

I've Fate grinded one level so far, from 37 to 38 I believe. Then I realized that I hadn't even finished the Hunting Log. Yeah, so there's basically a lot to do I guess and I can recommend to do everything else before fate grinding.

[BlazeChronic]

The only time they're really complaining about the minor mobs of monsters is when they hit level 50 and during the endgame dungeons. They do not drop any items, gil, nor do we gain any exp from them either. This is exactly why they're "trash mobs" at that level. Pre-50, however, they're amazing for experience. You'll see once you casually make your way there. But as you've stated before, just take it easy. There's alot of dbags in the lvl 50 crew. Good luck!

Right, I didn't take that into consideration, and it does make sense, to a certain extent. However, these dungeons give ToM and ToP, and I think that the trash is added to those dungeons to give them some substance, and make them last longer, so that grinding tomes isn't ridiculously easy.

I think its a good thing, even though it is superfluously extending existing content. There still needs to be SOME amount of time-sinks. It's an MMO!

[Soulburn32]

I did dung leveling up till about level 40.

At 40 I did Story + Dung + Fates

At about 45ish you pretty much have to grind fates if you want to level up in a timely manor.

Now honestly I would rather be in a mob chain party than do fates but its almost impossibly to get people away from fates and you need atleast a good 6 man group to chain mobs in a timely fashion.