Fellowship Bond requirements are now totally excessive for Fellow quests

[Kraggy]

Since the doubling of mob-kill-per-session .. no idea when this happened, it's a long time since I leveled an NPC from the start .. the Bond requirements for quests are now way too high.

For example, my NPC is 52, about to level to 53, with a Bond of 38. Even scaling back from non-optimal XP, ie. fighting mobs that are EP to me at 64, she's getting nearly a level per session.

So in about 3 or 4 sessions max she'll cap 55. The next Limit Break, Regaining Trust, according to the Wiki requires a Bond of 55, but my NPC at most will be 42-ish.

There is no way I can get Bond to 55 without wasting Signal and Tactics charges on simply summoning her to bump Bond, and talking to her at the Rendezvous Point every day.

The Bond requirements need to be halved to balance the doubling (more or less) of the XP-per-session that happened when the kill-per-session value was doubled.

[Karbuncle]

Talking to the NPC every day, and Summoning her every day, is a good idea. I'm pretty sure the Tactic's Pearl quest raises Bonds as well.

Though, i Agree completely with your assessment. The bond requirements should be lowered by some good margin.

Oh, and just another reminder, If you read this and agree as well? LIKE THE OP! Lordy!

[Zamms]

My npc is lvl 50, i can not do the limit break and i have been summoning her and talking to her at RP. she has around 20 FP and the quest for LB is about 30 and i can not even get it. I was getting around 4 levels a session fighting mobs EP-DC at 99.

[Jackastheripper]

Don't change a thing. It is called putting time and effort into the game to unlock things. Next thing everyone is going to say that chocobo raising is to hard and we should just be able to pick the chocobo we want and buy it. Not everything in this game is meant to be handed to you like it is in abyssea. It is nice to have things that still take a lot of time and effort to unlock and appreciate.

[Karbuncle]

Don't change a thing. It is called putting time and effort into the game to unlock things. Next thing everyone is going to say that chocobo raising is to hard and we should just be able to pick the chocobo we want and buy it. Not everything in this game is meant to be handed to you like it is in abyssea. It is nice to have things that still take a lot of time and effort to unlock and appreciate.


You're wrong, and while i fear its going in one ear and out the other "abysseaisthedevil" Ear, I'll try to explain why.

......

The Adventuring Fellows current Method of obtaining the next level cap, Or breaking the Current, Is based entirely around a system implemented upon the release of these Adventuring Fellows. Summoning them, leveling them, and speaking with them, over time, cause new quests to become active. However, Since recently Experience has doubled across the board, and Adventuring Fellows can stay out twice as long at base, The system currently in place is outdated and stalls progression.

Getting your NPC to 50 should be more than enough of a requirement to obtain the level cap. The Friendship System is a wonderful idea, and should as such not be removed, But there is absolutely no concievable reason that the current friendship cap should remain unchanged when two very drastic changes have currently been made to how exp is gained, and how long Adventuring Fellows remain at your side.

When a fundamental part of a system changes, certain additions and adjustments need to change to meet the afformentioned system changes. Hopefully this had made it clear. Theres nothing rewarding or challenging about wasting signal pearl charges on a capped NPC. If you've Summoned your NPC and reached level 50, As well as Spoken with them every day, Nothing should stop you from progressing in the storyling of the NPC.

I Can't think i can say it any more clearly than the above. Thank you for listening.

[Camiie]

Don't change a thing. It is called putting time and effort into the game to unlock things. Next thing everyone is going to say that chocobo raising is to hard and we should just be able to pick the chocobo we want and buy it. Not everything in this game is meant to be handed to you like it is in abyssea. It is nice to have things that still take a lot of time and effort to unlock and appreciate.


I bet you've never benefited from an adjustment. Your total XP required to 75 was never reduced was it? You've never taken advantage of FOV, GOV, Campaign, Besieged, or XP bands have you? If you had I'd say you hadn't put enough time and effort into your jobs and you had tons of XP just handed to you.

[scaevola]

Huh, this hadn't even occurred to me, but yeah, this would get really annoying.

[Darwena]

Don't change a thing. It is called putting time and effort into the game to unlock things. Next thing everyone is going to say that chocobo raising is to hard and we should just be able to pick the chocobo we want and buy it. Not everything in this game is meant to be handed to you like it is in abyssea. It is nice to have things that still take a lot of time and effort to unlock and appreciate.

Kinda agree here. Just talk to NPC, do the QST in Promy every week, and call him everytime you can and you won't have any problem with bond... Neway, "bond" take time to build. The "bond" is ok right now.

[Concerned4FFxi]

Don't change a thing. It is called putting time and effort into the game to unlock things. Next thing everyone is going to say that chocobo raising is to hard and we should just be able to pick the chocobo we want and buy it. Not everything in this game is meant to be handed to you like it is in abyssea. It is nice to have things that still take a lot of time and effort to unlock and appreciate.

Agreed, everyone should be happy they only have to grind 1/2 the xp, its not a problem for you to wait the normal time, you can xp for points or you can just summon and release, takes a few minutes of your day, no biggie.

[Teraniku]

While this isn't a problem for me (Fellow is 72) I can see how this could be a problem for some folks.

[Kraggy]

Don't change a thing. It is called putting time and effort into the game to unlock things. Next thing everyone is going to say that chocobo raising is to hard and we should just be able to pick the chocobo we want and buy it. Not everything in this game is meant to be handed to you like it is in abyssea. It is nice to have things that still take a lot of time and effort to unlock and appreciate.
LOL at the asinine reply.

There's nothing about 'take the time' here, fool, it's asking for a return to the game AS IT WAS when the initial mobs-per-kill limit was TWENTY-FIVE. It'a now FIFTY so you the NPCs level at TWICE the speed and thus half the number of summons, they hit the cap TWICE AS QUICKLY .. AS THEY DID WHEN THE NPC WAS INTRODUCED.

I'm asking for a RETURN TO HOW IT USED TO BE, ie. Bond requirements to uncap NPC levels, not asking for something to be dumbed down to a level it wasn't at the beginning.

Try thinking before replying, makes you look less stupid.

[zataz]

i think its fine the way it is

[detlef]

"It doesn't affect me so it's fine" is what I'm getting from this thread.

[Jackastheripper]

I am not saying I have never have benefited from an adjustment. I have had my share of complaints. I agree that the grind of some things can be tedious. I am not saying that Abyssea is the devil. I love Abyssea. It has changed the mentality of the game and brought with it a different kind of player. Not everything has to be updated to be super easy though and super fast. I actually quit this game at one point right after ps2 release because I thought it was to friggin hard. I came back about a year later and fell in love with it.

There are some thing though that, I believe, should stay the same for the sake of making it mean something to achieve it. The Maat fight, HLMN's, Adventuring Fellows, Skilling Up, Chocobo Raising, Crafting, the LB 10 fight, Final Magian Moogle Weapon/Gear, Meteor obtaining, and a host of other things(again, my opnion) need to stay the same because they are meant to be. If everyone had a pair of lvl 99 Verethragna, a Black Belt, a fully leveled NPC, their crafting/combat/magic skills capped, Meteor, and those other hard to obtain things, they wouldn't matter anymore.

Look at the Twilight set. It was meant to be a super powerful set of gear with bonuses to match and getting it was supposed to be of equal challenge. I remember the reaction to it when it was announced. Everyone was like OMFGWTFSQUEEEEEE!!!! People complained, SE caved, everyone has it, nobody cares anymore. Same thing with +2 Emperean Armor. Now everybody has it and it is more of a grind to get and you don't really get the sense of accomplishment that you would have if it would have stayed just as hard to obtain. Mythics and Relics (take heed of those names again) are in the same boat now. In a game like this, there are things that are meant to be trophy items that people have for putting the time and effort into doing it. If you take away the restrictions, lower the bar, decrease the difficulty, shorten the time, or anything else like that you just cheapen the experience.

I have a lvl 76 NPC. I went through all the same problems with having to wait for it's bond to raise, going through the quests, doing the running etc. Just because it is easier for us to get to a high level quicker shouldn't effect this. Evert time it makes a level, I actually feel like I have accomplished something. The time and effort put into it make the reward all that much better.

That is why I actually loved the new LB10 quest. I haven't had a fight that hard, and in the end, that satisfying to beat in a long time on this game. Not ashamed to say I went 1/8 on this one.

Once again, I don't hate Abyssea. I don't think it ruined the game. I just don't think that every aspect of the game needs to be tweaked to accommodate the inherent problems that come with going from leveling exponentially faster than what the game was originally intended for. It's the price we pay.

I am not trying to start a flame war here, I just want there to be some things for all of us to have to strain to achieve. I want to feel good when I finally get one of those trophy items.

[Zamms]

It has changed the mentality of the game and brought with it a different kind of player..


Yea it brought a different kind of player. A player who has no clue on how to play the job let alone gear it properly and have the right state of mind to achieve playing it.

[Darwena]

Yea it brought a different kind of player. A player who has no clue on how to play the job let alone gear it properly and have the right state of mind to achieve playing it.

So true... And about bond, like I said, they are perfect like it is now. Do the Promyvion Quest with you're NPC and call it 4 time a day... talk to him everyday in city... Seriously I Will prefer Devs will spend time to unlock new area to call them (thx to them, they will do it), get them new weapons, new Armor or new skill/book to improve them. Bond or XP... this is perfect the way it is.

[Karbuncle]

I don't feel there should be anything left to argue. Anyone agreeing that it should remain the same is nothing short of unreasonable. This isn't about any "Abyssea Mindset". This system was fine when it was released, because NPC'd leveled slowly, as players did, and you would naturally cap your NPC's friendship by doing the normal tasks, Speaking with them, Leveling them, and Tactics Pearl Quests.

However, Since its implementation. Experience Gained has DOUBLED, and Adventuring Fellow Time has Doubled at base! This system is no longer relevant. They should not remove the Friendship levels, But they should adjust it so that a person who has Called their NPC enough to reach level 50, and Spoken with them every day as such, Should be able to get the next quest by the time they reach level 50.

There is absolutely nothing rewarding or sane about wasting, yes, WASTING, Tactic's pearl charges outside of town to raise your Friendship.

I should let everyone know, my NPC is capped, at level 95 i think(?), Its been a while, But this is just going to say This update would not effect me AT ALL, But I still support it because the system is outdated. If Exp was the same, and NPC Duration was the same, I could say "Deal with it", and move on. But this isn't about "Abyssea era" Changing people. Its the fact 2 Fundamental Systems of the game were changed that drastically effect the Friendship Points of NPCs.

Again, Please pull your head out of your collective butts here and realize this isn't about dumbing down NPCs, Its about adjusting them to match the Doubled Exp Bonus, And Increased Adventuring Fellow Duration. Don't remove the system, Just make it to where you're not stalled at cap, and forced to either wait multiple real life days to raise your Friendship. Theres nothing challenging about Waiting to JP Midnight and talking to your NPC for a month just to get enough fame.

*Sigh*, I try not to sound to upset or resort to name calling, But I'm only Human. I'm upset because I'm baffled as to why people think any artificial challenge or cockblock should be remained to preserve the "Difficulty" of the game.

Nothing challenging, rewarding, or fun about Capping your NPC and blowing Charges or Wasting days listening to her babble about Jeuno's Archduke. If a player has done everything right (Summoned Every day, SPoke to NPC Every day, Done Tactics Quest each week), This should naturally reward them with the next Limit Break Quest without having to spend the next 2 weeks with your NPC at level 50, Wasting Signal Pearl Charges, and Talking to them to raise your friendship.

I'm not saying reward the lazy, No one is. They're asking for an adjusted Friendship level to match the drastic system changes. (Double Exp/Increased Duration). RIght now, I believe its about 50 Friendship for the 50 cap, Due to the above changes, It should be lowered to about 10-15. This will still require you do everything right, speak to NPC Daily, etc etc, But should allow players to cap their Friendship by the time they hit level 50 with their NPC.

[Jackastheripper]

^-------- Wants this game to be handed to him with no work or time involved. If you want that, go play WoW.

[Karbuncle]

^-------- Wants this game to be handed to him with no work or time involved. If you want that, go play WoW.

reducing requirements to raise an Adventuring Fellows Cap to meet the system changes in the last few years is not asking something to be handed to them, As for the whole "WoW is Easy" Sheep Mindset, WoW actually has way more difficulty than FFXI, But it actually rewards you for succeeding, So you get your armor in a quicker fashion. FFXI's difficulty comes in artificial walls and meaningless time sinks. I'll stop that explanation here, As i feel its wasted time.

Also, I said my NPC is capped. I capped it back when it first came out, my NPC always reached level cap within days of them increasing it. I did everything the old way, I've been playing since before CoP release, I was in the NA Beta, I beat CoP before they made it easier, I got a Maat's cap long before Abyssea. I've done more stuff in this game than you can spank too, But none of that gives me some asinine sense of self-entitlement that anyone asking for it to be adjusted is lazy, that you seem to wear around you waist. Theres nothing wrong with adjusting something that needs adjustment.

The bond System was designed to a point that if you Talked to your NPC Daily, and Leveled it, You would be able to obtain the Cap quest by the time you hit 50. It should stay that way now, Which means it needs adjusting. Nothing more, Nothing less.

Still, The worst part is? You say "Go to WoW", Only because you see other people use it. WoW is the popular thing to hate, So you use that as your come-back. Its pathetic, and that's the worse part. You've probably never even touched another MMO past the first 10 levels, if at all, to realize FFXI is pretty much the bottom of the barrel in a lot of aspects, and the only reason most of us still enjoy it is because it was our First MMO, and with most peoples first MMO, you can overlook a lot in the name of Friends, Fun, and Enjoyment.

As such, the fun and Enjoyment should be considered in the highest light for any game.

[Jackastheripper]

Wow. You hit the nail right on the head there. Not to mention the fact that, while I played FFXI, I also played Lineage 2, WoW, Warhammer online, and Rift all for well over a year, (exept for WoW that I only played for about 6 months because it was so easy that it was mind numbing) and I was a beta tester for Star Wars. You are correct on on thing though FFXI is not unique. It does have one unique factor to it though which is why I kept coming back. With those artificial walls and time sinks that are part of this game, it made you work with other people. That is why I play MMO's. WoW, Lineage 2, and Star Wars were all basicly the same game. The fact that there were no time sinks or walls that you needed other people to help finish was what made them all the same. You could play for hours and never have any contact with other people unless you wanted to do PvP and grind for gear.

On a side note, I usually enjoy reading your posts because you tend to be level headed and leave the childish name calling out, but you seem to have turned this into a flame war of name calling and berating. I never said the game shouldn't evolve and change, I simply said, like many other people believe that there are some aspects of the game that shouldn't be changed just because people don't want to put the time and effort into it. They added stuff (like the tactics pearl and letting them stay out longer) because people didn't want to spend time and effort and leveling them by calling them once a day and for a low amount of kills. Now people want it dumbed down some more. Excuse me for thinking that enough is enough.

Now this is the last response I will make because I think we are probably going to agree to disagree. I wasn't berating or name calling anyone. I was simply stating my opinion. If you don't like it, don't read it.

[Karbuncle]

Telling someone that they're asking for everything to be handed to them and telling them to go play WoW Isn't only stating an opinion, It is berating. Rather you choose to see it or not is entirely different story.

The fact that you may have played other MMO's and still tell people to "go Play WoW" if they ask for an adjustment that makes something more reasonable just means that you're not oblivious, just cynical or sadistic. I don't think thats really an improvement. The fact you've seen how well and rewarding other games can be and continue to think "challenge" comes from sitting outside Port Bastok and Waiting for your Earring to charge to blow through 4 Tactics pearl uses to raise your Bonds is nothing short of baffling.

For the record, Your posting on a Public forum, Its a place where you opinion is meant to be read. Its like posting your Information on facebook and being upset people are viewing it. Opinion or not, Its an illogical Opinion with no reasonable roots, and as Such, I will in turn give you my opinion on said subject. I can say the same, "dont read it if you don't want too". But i won't. I want you to read my opinion, Its why I bother typing it.

Point is, You still don't have a single good argument as to why NPC's Bond Requirements should not be lowered in light of the drastic system changes in the last couple years that have cause that systems balance to be torn asunder. So its really a moot point to even continue typing but hey, I enjoy doing it so Its not like I'm losing anything from it. But, As you so nicely wrapped up this post, I shall do the same. It doesn't look like we'll ever see Eye to eye.

Which is sad in a way. I can't help everyone. Just wish you could have realized this man isn't asking for it handing on a silver platter, Just for it to return to how it was when NPC's were released. That is, Leveling and talking to them naturally progressed the storyline within the time it should be, and not having to wait weeks talking to them to progress.

As a final thought. I'm only human. After quite some time of being baffled by what some people will do, I have the right to get angry. You should see my posts before i edited them, You would truly appreciate how much restraint i have when it comes ot "Name Calling" I spend the better half of 15 minutes after posting editing my posts because i realize they come off too mean. I don't really care how people tend to view me when i get angry, Because everyone gets angry.

If you don't like how i word something? Fine, I'm not always sugar plums. But don't start playing the victim and calling me out for using name calling when your first post here was basically "Fk Off and go play WoW" to the OP.

[detlef]

Oh, your npc is 55? You want to level to 56? Well no dice, you are a lazy player and you want things handed to you. Don't post on this forum, you should instead quit and play WoW. You probably are a product of Abyssea and don't recycle your bottles and cans.

Seriously, why would anybody protest this? Do you have nothing better to do? This thread is full of ridiculous responses.

[Jackastheripper]

In my own defense on my attacking response, I didn't say anything to attack you until you told those of us that had a differing opinion from your own to "Again, Please pull your head out of your collective butts". I was giving my opinion up until that point. Again, we will agree to disagree on this.

[Camiie]

Yea it brought a different kind of player. A player who has no clue on how to play the job let alone gear it properly and have the right state of mind to achieve playing it.

You haven't been around long have you? That player was always there. You can make the game impossibly hard or incredibly easy and that player will always be there... ALWAYS... I can't stress that enough. ALWAYS!!

[Zamms]

You haven't been around long have you? That player was always there. You can make the game impossibly hard or incredibly easy and that player will always be there... ALWAYS... I can't stress that enough. ALWAYS!!

I have been around since 2003, I have seen my fair share of hard leveling and trying to get atleast 1 level a day and if lucky 2 levels. I have seen the hnmls wars and what not. Also you need to make sure you are verifying who i am check out my ffxiah page sweetheart, I am no noob.

[Karbuncle]

I have been around since 2003, I have seen my fair share of hard leveling and trying to get atleast 1 level a day and if lucky 2 levels. I have seen the hnmls wars and what not. Also you need to make sure you are verifying who i am check out my ffxiah page sweetheart, I am no noob.

I think you're missing the point.

What our friend was trying to say is, quite clearly, Idiots have always been around. Hell, Back in my newbie days i was one of those idiots. But I eventually Enlightened myself. Idiots weren't created with Abyssea, There were people at 75 back in 2006-7 Who were as dumb as those new 99 players today.

Its not about when you started or how far you've come when it comes to not being an idiot. People playing since day 1 can be as dumb as sin. The only thing that sets apart skilled vs tard is the willingness to learn, and that wasn't anything new to Abyssea.

The real point is, Idiots will exist, Forever. Any Game, Any planet, Anywhere. There will always be stupid people. Rather a game is easy or hard, Idiots will exist. This is true for FFXI. Abyssea did not breed new idiots, They've been here since release, Its just easier to spot them these days because the population is so small they stick out.

[Darwena]

So sad... so few PPL are care about NPC and only thing they cry for: Bond... They are so many thing to improve on NPC BEFORE Bond problem:

-Place we can call them (thank Devs, you coming with new area this year)
-The gears for them (don't forget they didn't change anything else since we can level them to 95)
-The way the IA work:
-Soothing healer than spend all MP on 1st mob you fight.
-The way they use WS, using variety of useless WS sometime.
-No new Habilty, beside spell, after the new cap.

They are some point that our IA friend realy need improvement and Time to build bond should be placed pretty low on the list. I don't say go play WoW if you bla bla bla... I just say Devs should work on some other aspect of NPC.

[Zamms]

Yes 1 of my biggest issues on npc as a mage is spamming debuff spells on monsters then when you or it needs cured there is no mp and you have to stop and rest mp on it.

[Ralos]

I'm very much in agreement with OP as well. I've only just gotten around to start leveling my npc and after just a few sessions she's almost to level cap already but our bond can't be that high already (not sure how to check it). But I'd like to be able to get to the quests and LBs for her a bit more quickly. At the very least, if bond calculation is left the same, make the limit break quests independent of bond and make them rely on NPC level instead like actual LB quests do.

[Camiie]

I have been around since 2003, I have seen my fair share of hard leveling and trying to get atleast 1 level a day and if lucky 2 levels. I have seen the hnmls wars and what not. Also you need to make sure you are verifying who i am check out my ffxiah page sweetheart, I am no noob.

Well you have a relic and a few Empys. Impressive. You're way behind on your missions, and you have all of 2 jobs leveled to cap. You're even further behind on crafting than I am, which is a feat unto itself. Wait, what were we talking about again?

Oh yeah! Adventuring Fellows... Yes the true measure of success and accomplishment in FFXI which to make any changes to whatsoever would destroy the very integrity... no the heart and soul of FFXI! Yes, I see what you mean now! A max-level and max-bond Adventuring Fellow is the very essence of existence! Life as a whole would have no meaning whatsoever if it were made an easy process! Society would collapse into something far worse than the Dark Ages! We must maintain the status quo for the good of the future! For the children! FOR MANKIND!

Thank you! Thank you, Oh Magnificent One! You have shown this poor lost soul the light! Praise be unto you!

[Cabalabob]

I agree with the OP, the bond should be scaled. I've been playing since release and I had a level 65 adventuring fellow before there was even a 70 cap so I'm unbiased and haven't had anything handed to me.

Now let's look at this both from play style point of view and a lore point of view.

Playstyle, a level 50 adventuring fellow is going to be of no use to a level 99 player, if the fellow reaches the level 50 cap then it's stupid to have to wait a week maybe 2 to then cap your fellow bond. Would you be happy with that if, as a player, when you reached level 50 you then had to wait a week or more to reach level 55 then another week to 60 and so on? There is no added challenge in summoning an npc but there is also just as little reason to summon them at 99 because they can't do anything and they are gaining nothing. So in the end it's just a waste of time, the challenge of levelling an npc should not be in the fact that they hit a wall and have to wait to progress, it should be in actual game content e.g. The limit break quests.

Lore wise, <<character> uses a signal pearl>. <fellow> "Hi! I'm ready to go, what are we doing?". <character> "oh nothing, I just called you to say hi". <fellow> "oh... Couldn't you have done that at a rendezvous point?". <character> "nah, I did that earlier". <fellow> "um... Ok, so.. Why did you feel the need to say hi?" <character> "to make you like me". <fellow> "you called me, your level 50 friend, out here, to an area level 50's dare not tread, to say hi... In an attempt to make me like you...?". <character> "yep! And now I need you to leave, cause I don't want you in my party lowering my exp gain." <fellow> "**** you man, you're an ass...". <character> "watch out for the true sight death scorpions on your way home!" -<fellow> leaves-. <character> "...". <<character> uses a tactics pearl>...

[Rukkirii]

We agree with you guys. It can be pretty stressful when you can't level up your fellow due to your bond with them being left in the dust, so we will be looking into increasing the rate of gaining bond. :)

[Camiie]

Awesome decision by the devs! Thanks for the heads up, Rukkirii!

[Kraggy]

We agree with you guys. It can be pretty stressful when you can't level up your fellow due to your bond with them being left in the dust, so we will be looking into increasing the rate of gaining bond. :)
Thank you. :)

[Meyi]

On a side note, I usually enjoy reading your posts because you tend to be level headed and leave the childish name calling out, but you seem to have turned this into a flame war of name calling and berating.

You started it mate when you accused him of wanting everything handed to him on a silver platter.



I was simply stating my opinion. If you don't like it, don't read it.

Like you did with Karbuncle's opinion on you?

As for the OP, yes, please change the bond requirements. They're ridiculous and it's not fun calling out my friend just to boost it up. I took my NPC up to level 70 on my original character when it first came out, and the bond then was fine. But now that I'm doing it again on my taru, it's really a drag. Romidiant is up to level 60 but... I have no idea where my bond even stands. It's pretty low.

Edit: Saw the Dev team responded to this positively. Yay. ^w^

[Camate]

Hey everyone!

Just a quick update on adventuring fellow bonds! :)

The Development Team is currently testing and looking into what would be the best way to improve the rate in which your bond with your adventuring fellow increases. As long as everything goes smoothly, we should be able to implement it during the next version update.

[Babekeke]

There is no way I can get Bond to 55 without wasting Signal and Tactics charges on simply summoning her to bump Bond, and talking to her at the Rendezvous Point every day.

Wow, having to talk to your NPC at the rendezvous point every day must be taking up a whole 5 minutes or so of your day!

Instead of "Wasting signal and tactics pearl charges" think of something that you can do that the fellow would assist you with, without needing it to be higher level. Farming, learning blue magic, hunting for brown casket items etc. Have you even done all of the other fellow quests? Trading in weapons etc.?

[Kraggy]

Wow, having to talk to your NPC at the rendezvous point every day must be taking up a whole 5 minutes or so of your day!
Thankfully SE see there's a problem, even if you don't: cute use of 'bold' there, you made my point for me.

Hint: it's not the time it takes to do once, it's the days and weeks where the NPC is stuck way below my level, as I pointed at, and that this is NOT how it was in the beginning so SE didn't even then intend it to be this tedious.

[SharMarali]

OK, so, just to throw in my two cents. I'm somebody who actually just recently leveled my NPC. Funny side story, I did the quest to get the NPC the day it came out, when I had to stand in line for like an hour to check a ??? and pop a NM, and then I never bothered to level my NPC. Ha! But I digress.

I decided I wanted to level my NPC to cure me while I skilled up various weapons. So I got started on my level 30-something NPC. I made sure to talk to her every day at the rendezvous point and use my signal pearl daily.

I was fighting stuff that was easy enough for me, but still high enough for my NPC to gain experience. At first, she gained, I would guess about 5 levels a day before reaching her quota and disappearing.

I got her to 50 in just a few days... And then I was stuck. For about a week. Just because I didn't have enough bond to uncap her. Yes, it only took a couple minutes to go check the rendezvous point, but it was frustrating because I REALLY WANTED to do the uncap quest and I couldn't. I didn't even have access to get a tactics pearl because my bond was too low.

Eventually, I was finally able to get the quest, and I got her from 50 to 55 in two days. Then I was stuck again for another week or so. The same thing happened when I finally was able to get THAT uncap quest. Uncapping her to 70 from 65 took two solid weeks, during which time I couldn't do anything with her other than kill random things to watch her equipment change.

All told, I spent about a month simply waiting for time to go by so that I could gain enough fellow bond to get the uncap quests while she was sitting at the level cap.

I truly don't understand why anyone is arguing against this. If the NPC still leveled at the old pace and stayed out for the same amount of time, so each day they got 1-2 levels, then sure, I could see leaving the bond requirements alone. But the first couple of changes have already been made, and people like me are having to spend a month sitting around watching paint dry if they want to level their NPC.

I actually wanted to start over with a new NPC because the one I chose years ago isn't the one I would've chosen today, but I didn't want to go through all those waiting periods again, so I elected not to.

Thanks SE for giving attention to this issue!

[Windwhisper]

No offense to those that enjoy their fellowship companion, but this should be one of the developers' lowest of priorities. Right next to Pankration and Chocobo Racing. I myself have a fellowship i occasionally use to solo latents on weapons or i tag along during a trial, but still....

[Luvbunny]

Thanks Camate for the update, again this is great news indeed. How come you always get to bring good news while your other team mates get to delivered bad news after bad news :)

[Hashmalum]

While I'm glad to see that this is being addressed, I'd also like to see some adjustments to improve the usability of the adventuring fellow. In particular, the Stalwart Shield type can't keep hate off a wet rag on account of the fact that their self-cures don't generate enmity. The adventuring fellow is kind of weak as-is, they should be able to get the Signet/Sanction/Sigil defense/evasion bonus vs. the Even Match or lower mobs they are targeting (and should not lose TP when resting). Also you should be able to pay tabs for the NPC to get the fields/ground tome buffs, and maybe be able to give them some food somehow.

Not being able to choose what weaponskill your fellow uses limits their utility for things like making skillchains to break weaponskill trial weapon latent effects. There's really no reason that they shouldn't be able to enter the beastman strongholds when they can travel through time to be by your side; I don't mind if I have to do a quest to give them access, just as long as we can find a way to bring them. Also, at this point in the game where it's hard to find players to do low level content due to it being trivialized, perhaps fellows should be allowed into the level capped Beastman Seal/Kindred's Seal battlefields (note that most of them still wouldn't be soloable even with this help, it would merely cut down the number of players you need to find to help you to a more manageable number).

[Mirage]

You make it sound like changing the rate at which fellowship bonds increase is a gigantic undertaking. Doubling or tripling the amount of bond you get each time you summon/talk to her would probably take a whole 10 minutes for one single dev.

[Babekeke]

Thankfully SE see there's a problem, even if you don't: cute use of 'bold' there, you made my point for me.

Hint: it's not the time it takes to do once, it's the days and weeks where the NPC is stuck way below my level, as I pointed at, and that this is NOT how it was in the beginning so SE didn't even then intend it to be this tedious.

There's that little thing called 'levelling other support jobs' while you wait for your bond to increase.

[Karbuncle]

You've really already lost the argument, SE is adjusting it, Clearly it needed to be adjusted. Can drop it.

Its okay, Win some lose some.

[Mirage]

There's that little thing called 'levelling other support jobs' while you wait for your bond to increase.

Not when you don't have any subjobs left to level.

[Glamdring]

Hey everyone!

Just a quick update on adventuring fellow bonds! :)

The Development Team is currently testing and looking into what would be the best way to improve the rate in which your bond with your adventuring fellow increases. As long as everything goes smoothly, we should be able to implement it during the next version update.

easiest and best option IMO, the longer you keep it out, alive with successful kills the greater the bond grows. so you are simply rewarded for taking the effort to level it with <drumroll> the ability to keep leveling it without waiting for weeks.

Seriously, you redesigned the entire game with being at end-game levels in less than a week, why leave the NPC back in a playstyle you destroyed to all intents and purposes? I mean, everyone knows I'm against burning jobs and leaving massive skill gaps at end-game levels, but it IS a done deal and there's nothing we can do about it, so if we're gonna be burning then burn the NPC as well.

[Yespa]

We should also receive a higher tier (or tiers) of fellow ship bonds, given the new max of 95, an increase in max time/max mob kills per call would be nice, and also access to abyssea would be very nice, but unlikely. New abilities would be cool for the fellow as well! Maybe a special depending on your job? Well if I think of any more ideas, Ill return and post ^^

[Teraniku]

We should also receive a higher tier (or tiers) of fellow ship bonds, given the new max of 95, an increase in max time/max mob kills per call would be nice, and also access to abyssea would be very nice, but unlikely. New abilities would be cool for the fellow as well! Maybe a special depending on your job? Well if I think of any more ideas, Ill return and post ^^

I've said it before and I'll say it again. Please modify the automaton interface that PUP uses, and apply it to our npc fellow, so we can equip them with real gear.