Mastery Rank has helped me to explore Vanadiel [Archive]

Gwydion

01-17-2026, 05:14 AM

I just wanted to say that the addition of Mastery Rank has made me feel like I should go back to other areas of Vanadiel and try parts of FFXI, I would have never tried otherwise.

I really enjoyed all of the Windurst WoTG storyline and so many of the quest NPC interactions in Kazham.

I have been work towards Abyssea's Atma of the Savior to increase my master rank further (currently Rank 7).

Also, I entered monstrosity for the first time today and got my rabbit up to level 35. The XP campaign that started today this fun and enjoyable and makes me want to try to unlock other monsters. I absolutely love the mix of job abilities and monster abilities. The monster abilities have various TP costs, which is different from player weaponskills that require 1000 TP (However, I must say that I am upset that there is no Monstrosity connection to Beastmaster).

I also started evolving the monsters in my Mog Garden. I've had Rank 7 Monster Rearing for years, but I just got my first evolution from Wyvern to Abyssal Wyrm. (Again, there really should be a Beastmaster connection to these in game events!). I think the Mementos are a great way to add variety to my character configuration! I do wish the stats on Mementos were stronger.

So, I think that Mastery Rank gear is a great incentive. Please continue to reward players for playing FFXI and seeing everything it has to offer. (But please, do not neglect Beastmaster, Monstrosity and all of the unique characterists of Vanadiel that keep us connected).

Thanks!

Alhanelem

01-17-2026, 06:11 AM

This is going to be a hot take. But before I get into that, I am glad that some people are finding value in it. Unfortunately I don't.

Mastery Rank doesn't make me want to do anything in particular. It was added purely as a metric to help Novices in the Assist Channel gauge the general level of experience a Mentor has with the game and not any other purpose. This is also one of the reasons they didn't give specifics about how it works. But for some reason people are using this as a crude form of an achievement system and doing whatever they can to make number go up. I still prefer to play the game my way, enjoying the content and jobs I like to enjoy. If I come across something that I haven't tried that seems interesting, sure, I'll do it. But I'm not going to bend over for content that doesn't interest me just to increase my title count (I might be interested in a given title if it's a "cool" title though.)

In this case I fully acknowledge my opinion on this isn't going to be popular. But it is my truly held opinion that Mastery Rank is meaningless, and at best is just a condensed version of the number of titles you've earned. For you and for the others that this has worked out for, that's great. I'm not judging anyone for liking it. But I think it was unnecessary and it has been completely bent from its original purpose and intent of gauging experience, rather than making it a bragging rights contest of who can complete the most stuff in game. I am glad you like it, but I just don't understand what it is with people and making a number go up for no other reason than to make the number go up. I absolutely do not want to see rewards for increasing it. I would rather enjoy content based on its merits than do it just because my mastery rank will go up.

Of course, this is coming from someone who doesn't understand how people get so infatuated with xbox achievements and PS trophies for doing random arbitrary things in games. I've always liked Nintendo for NOT jumping on this bandwagon with a centralized achievement system that every game has to make up a bunch of stuff for. Like I said: I admit it's a hot take. But I don't understand this stuff.

nixRidge

01-17-2026, 12:40 PM

That's really cool, I never knew what Mastery Rank until I read this post. At first, I thought you were talking about Master Levels. Like Alhanelem I'm not an achievement hunter, but actually I think it's really cool that you're using it as a checklist of sorts, or a guide of sorts to help you discover the "forgotten" parts of Vana'diel :) I might try it myself, just to discover what the game has to offer behind things I would normally not think to interact with.

I've been playing for a while at this point, but there's still new and exciting things around almost every corner..

Catmato

01-17-2026, 10:26 PM

I absolutely do not want to see rewards for increasing it.

You're about two months too late. (https://www.bg-wiki.com/ffxi/Hoxne_Earring)

Alhanelem

01-18-2026, 03:04 AM

*shrugs* well I guess even more will start bending over for it.

Gwydion

01-18-2026, 05:33 AM

What? Bending over? This is a game. We're being incentivized to play the game that we already pay for...

Personally, I LOVE monstrosity and I can't believe how well developed and fun it is! I would have never tried it without mastery rank ...because the rewards don't tie well to the rest of the game.

This is shame because it was announced to have more stuff, like Monstrosity parties! That would be amazing!

http://www.playonline.com/ff11us/guide/monstrosity/index.html#4

https://i.imgur.com/QDPCNYt.png

I'm really looking forward to investment that SE is making to preserve the longevity of FFXI. With modern updates to POL.exe and converting assetts to Maya ...SE will be able to attract developers with modern skills. This is a great time to be an FFXI player! :D

Alhanelem

01-18-2026, 08:26 AM

What? Bending over? This is a game. We're being incentivized to play the game that we already pay for...I don't need an incentive beyond the normal rewards that come from winning fights/clearing missions/etc.

Like I said, I've never been a big fan of the achievement systems on consoles and while this is far simpler than that, I'm still really not a fan. The best accomplishments are the ones we make for ourselves not the arbitrary conditions someone else makes up.

That item linked above definitely isn't much of an incentive, considering how I've played the game for 20 years and only just reached the threshold where that item gives +5 stats instead of none at all (and it gives minus stats below mastery rank 4 lol). Who knows how many dozens of unique NMs I'll need to go after that are otherwise useless just to make that earring a little bit better? That is definitely not much motivation lol.

I would have never tried it without mastery rank
Why not? I guess it shows that we only do content in MMOs if it has rewards, and not because it's fun. It's half the reason the PvP in this game failed, befcause there was basically no reward for doing so. Other than titles. Which you might need for Mastery Rank. Have fun collecting every Ballista title...

I did monstrosity when it came out and i put a lot of time into it because it was fun and collecting the monsters and mods was fun. it shouldn't have taken a number you want to go up in order to make that happen in my opinion.

Content should stand on its own, it shouldn't take "achievement unlocked" to make people do it. Which, as an aside, I hope you don't have an xbox and care about gamerscore, because FFXI had xbox achievements during the time it was avialable on that platform (there was even one for ranking 1st in a ballista match, you can probably count the number of people who got that on your hands)

If they wanted to do something like this, they could ave at least done the effort and make a complete achievement system rather than just a number stuffed in your profile that we don't even fully know what it takes to increase it.

Gwydion

01-18-2026, 08:33 AM

I don't need an incentive beyond the normal rewards that come from winning fights/clearing missions/etc.

Like I said, I've never been a big fan of the achievement systems on consoles and while this is far simpler than that, I'm still really not a fan. The best accomplishments are the ones we make for ourselves not the arbitrary conditions someone else makes up.

That item linked above definitely isn't much of an incentive, considering how I've played the game for 20 years and only just reached the threshold where that item gives +5 stats instead of none at all (and it gives minus stats below mastery rank 4 lol). Who knows how many dozens of unique NMs I'll need to go after that are otherwise useless just to make that earring a little bit better? That is definitely not much motivation lol.
Why not? I guess it shows that we only do content in MMOs if it has rewards, and not because it's fun. It's half the reason the PvP in this game failed, befcause there was basically no reward for doing so. Other than titles. Which you might need for Mastery Rank. Have fun collecting every Ballista title...

There is a valuable datapoint here. You've played this game for 20 years (like many of us) ...but you're only at Mastery Rank 5? So ...for 20 years you've only been interested in the base battle content of FFXI? What do you enjoy most out of FFXI? What do you want to see more of?

I will save my responses for your reply, but I hope that SE will see this and do a few things: Introduce more Mastery Rank gear, expand Monstrosity and create battle content that is engaging for folks who in your category of player, as well. (Personally, I think BLU/BST/DNC should be allowed to buff the party on the same tier as BRD/GEO/COR....but I digress as that is an entirely different conversation).

Alhanelem

01-18-2026, 08:37 AM

There is a valuable datapoint here. You've played this game for 20 years (like many of us) ...but you're only at Mastery Rank 5? So ...for 20 years you've only been interested in the base battle content of FFXI?
Dude that's the other thing. This mastery rank frankly minimizes my own accomplishments. I've completed all of the mission lines, I've got at least a majority of quests completed, I've killed god knows how many different NMs including all the HNMs (except maybe Ixion if we count that as an HNM), I've got plenty of other titles (including several of the afformentioned Ballista ones). Yet I've been playing and enjoying this game as much as anyone else. Unfortunately since we don't really fully understand how mastery rank works, I can only guess as to why

I'm not mad that it's not as high as some other long time players- but my point (for this post) is there's a lot to this game that mastery rank doesn't really cover.

As far as things I want to see, well like quite a few people I wish they'd get someone on figuring out the monstrosity system and completing it as it was intended to be, but it's a pipe dream at this point. We only have like a quarter of the monster families and that doesn't even include new ones introduced since. Monstrosity was not a failiure. They had big plans for it but the lead person on the project left SE and then it stalled.

nixRidge

01-18-2026, 12:03 PM

This is shame because it was announced to have more stuff, like Monstrosity parties! That would be amazing!

Imagine a 6 Monster vs. 6 Gladiator showdown. The sight would be pretty incredible. I think I'm finally going to try Monstrosity next time I get the time to play :)

Alhanelem

01-18-2026, 12:54 PM

Imagine a 6 Monster vs. 6 Gladiator showdown. The sight would be pretty incredible. I think I'm finally going to try Monstrosity next time I get the time to play :)
in terms of fun factor alone monstrosity is up there. Although there are some things I would have done differently (pvp enabled areas covering all level ranges, and not flagging monipulators with an obvious icon so you can actually pose as an NM), it's like playing a bunch of unique jobs, there's a collection aspect to it, you get to feel powerful, etc.

nixRidge

01-18-2026, 01:14 PM

in terms of fun factor alone monstrosity is up there. Although there are some things I would have done differently (pvp enabled areas covering all level ranges, and not flagging monipulators with an obvious icon so you can actually pose as an NM), it's like playing a bunch of unique jobs, there's a collection aspect to it, you get to feel powerful, etc.

Wow, it seems a lot more in-depth than I imagined, and I agree with the name icon. It'd be too fun to spring a surprise on an unassuming adventurer lol

Voidstorm

01-18-2026, 02:20 PM

I really wish SE would take Monstrosity back up and try to actually finish it someday.
Just look at all those monster families completely empty.
I also remember they mentioned partying up as monsters for EXP, which would also be neat, especially for the support job monsters which have a hard time leveling the further along you go w/o joining belligerency.

And find ways to actually tie it back with normal play in the game. Like maybe giving 1 instinct point per lv.99 monipulator that carry over for use as adventurers. (or less per lv.99)

Gwydion

01-19-2026, 03:43 AM

I just unlocked Sandworm and it's so much fun to be a big worm. Even funnier, I can use this worm to eventually unlock Gigaworm!

https://streamable.com/k5tl8s

Edit: I'm not sure how to embed videos in posts, so here is an image:

https://i.imgur.com/wMCpOQD.png

Rosalie

01-19-2026, 05:34 AM

I'm sorry you hate something that has made the game fun for a lot of people that aren't you.

Rosalie

01-19-2026, 05:36 AM

It was supposed to have carried over into the regular game through Belligerency, with the Gladiatorial system rewards. That SMN neck used to be BiS for... well I forget what, but it WAS.

Alhanelem

01-19-2026, 09:31 AM

I'm sorry you hate something that has made the game fun for a lot of people that aren't you.

I don't hate it, I just don't think it adds anything. I just see a bunch of people trying to make a number go up for the sake of making a number go up. The feature was added specifically for the aid of novices in the assist channel so its true purpose has been warped.

If they had put some actual effort into it with a full achievement system I'd understand better people being into it even if I wasn't very interested. But this is just a number, shoved in a corner and only ever seen by others if you're participating in the assist channel. So I really don't get why anyone cares about it.

This isn't about yucking anyone else's yum- if it's adding to your experience, great! I'm just not a fan. Which is why I clearly labeled it as a hot take, because I knew my feelings on this weren't going to be popular.

Gwydion

01-19-2026, 12:31 PM

How exactly you earn Beligerency? I'm having fun just leveling monsters! I've got 2 at level 70 right now.

Alhanelem

01-19-2026, 12:52 PM

How exactly you earn Beligerency? I'm having fun just leveling monsters! I've got 2 at level 70 right now.
I'm not sure what you mean. You can activate belligerency at any time in the Feretory. Doing so limits you to one of three areas (each covering a different level range). You can play as normal in this mode, but you'll be level capped depending on the area you go to. You must be in this mode in order for any players with the Gladiator status to attack you.

Some of the bigger monsters like the behemoths and the sandworm are pretty tough and probably need more than one adventurer to kill you .

Unlike Ballista though, there actually are some rewards (other than titles) available for doing this at least, although they weren't anything too great even when they were introduced.
https://www.bg-wiki.com/ffxi/Category:Monstrosity#Rewards

(https://www.bg-wiki.com/ffxi/Category:Monstrosity#Rewards)These are the only PvP-related gear rewards ever introduced (except for the caps awarded to the teams that won the Ballista tournaments years ago, which are among the rarest items in the game. I wonder if anyone who has one of those is still playing)

Dragoy

01-19-2026, 05:24 PM

It was added purely as a metric to help Novices in the Assist Channel gauge the general level of experience a Mentor has with the game and not any other purpose. This is also one of the reasons they didn't give specifics about how it works. But for some reason people are using this as a crude form of an achievement system and doing whatever they can to make number go up.

Well, the game manual [1] does say, under Game Basics / Adventurer Support System / Mentor Program - Mastery Rank:

Feel free to take it as a measure of your progress in the game.

So... maybe they did have something more in mind with it.

I thought I remembered a post referring to 'achievements' as well, but couldn't find it right now. Very possible it was just this bit in the manual (could have been something said during a stream I guess).

It also has this bit, which I suppose could use an update:

This rank has no effect on gameplay.

This is obviously no longer true.

Monstrosity was not a failiure. They had big plans for it but the lead person on the project left SE and then it stalled.

I thought they were assigned to something to do with FFXIV, but I could very well remember wrong. Certainly don't have anything to quote at this time.

In general, I'm not a fan of achievement systems myself, especially if they're about tasks you'd complete in any case, while progressing normally through the game (things like "look to the left", though I'll probably do something like that for a joke at some point, some place).

I may be a bit of a completionist, though, so usually achievements will happen naturally because of it, but I can't really think of a time where I'd do something specifically for them (aside from when play-testing a game, making sure they work as intended).

For FFXI, I do also like completing things, but I did do that already before the Mastery Rank, so no change for me there (currently rank 7; it went up from 6 when they adjusted it recently).

Not excited about how they added items like this, but I suppose I don't really mind them being there either... especially if getting one when they're still selling for so much gil. Not that I'll be getting any without trying...

I do think it is a good thing if it gets people into doing more things.

1. http://www.playonline.com/ff11/manual/index.html?loc=en-GB#041101

Voidstorm

01-19-2026, 06:14 PM

How exactly you earn Beligerency? I'm having fun just leveling monsters! I've got 2 at level 70 right now.
there's not Beligerency to earn?
It's just a sign-up for PvP, which limits your level and the zones you can access. It's my preferred method of leveling since I can set enough additional Instincts to easily kill VD and weaker IT mobs. You can get additional Instinct Points to use based on total Infamy, up to 20,001 i think.
The NPC to sign up is the one in the Ferretory on the far left.

*WARNING*
you lose all buffs aside from EXP+ when you pick your zone.
so don't bother giving them to yourself.

I typically take a monipulator to 25 in Giddeus.
Sign up for Beligerency.
Set traits and go to Xarcabard until 50~53. starting with Gigas' Tigers.
Set traits and go to Uleguerand Range.

Alhanelem

01-19-2026, 08:44 PM

This is obviously no longer true.

Yes, and this is my biggest issue with this honestly. If it was some vanity item (like the glory crown for instance) I'd probably be fine with it, but... yeah. that item giving a stat boost based on mastery rank.... not a fan.

Voidstorm

01-20-2026, 02:24 PM

Yes, and this is my biggest issue with this honestly. If it was some vanity item (like the glory crown for instance) I'd probably be fine with it, but... yeah. that item giving a stat boost based on mastery rank.... not a fan.
It wouldn't be as bad if they had an actual system to mastery rank to work towards.
As you said, it's just a number no one ever sees. No one knows exactly what affects it, yet now there's an item with end game stats that requires it...
I'd have no issue at all with it being a modifier to gear if we could check progress or if the number were at least x1000 what it is now that way minimal impacts would be visible on that single line in our status window.
If it were 1000x times the number, make the cap instead 9999 in true FF fashion.

Alhanelem

01-20-2026, 03:54 PM

No one knows exactly what affects it, yet now there's an item with end game stats that requires it...Well we know it in vague terms. It's based on the titles you've earned. There are not many things, including leveling jobs, that don't have a title associated with them. The thing is apparently not all titles hold the same value, for example the title final campaign medal carries significantly more weight than the others (apparently) so all we know is not every title has the same value attached to it.

So at the least it indirectly measures:
Jobs leveled (limit break and job master titles track this)
Content cleared (each Dynamis area, the storylines, etc. etc.)
NM/HNMs killed (Pretty much every NM not associated with a quest or content)
Quests completed (most quests have some title associated with them though I think there do exist some that don't)
Missions completed
PvP participation (Job specific and medal ballista titles- These can't be kept permanently though, so I'm not sure if they actually count)

Gwydion

01-21-2026, 01:04 AM

Yes, and this is my biggest issue with this honestly. If it was some vanity item (like the glory crown for instance) I'd probably be fine with it, but... yeah. that item giving a stat boost based on mastery rank.... not a fan.

I understand you want players to go do content for the virtue of the content itself without SE dangling rewards in front of us. But you're also not factoring in longevity or replay value. SE doesn't just want us to play the game (as you also would like) ...they want us to KEEP playing it. How do you expect this to be accomplished, without any incentives?

Alhanelem

01-21-2026, 03:39 AM

I understand you want players to go do content for the virtue of the content itself without SE dangling rewards in front of us. But you're also not factoring in longevity or replay value. SE doesn't just want us to play the game (as you also would like) ...they want us to KEEP playing it. How do you expect this to be accomplished, without any incentives?
If you've ever played or seen anyone play FFXIV, you'd know that you don't need stats to give an incentive. People will go after stuff just because it's rare, or cool looking, or because they simply don't have it yet.

For instance, it puzzles me- Both games have an orchestrion furnishing, in both cases it adds music changing functionality to your personal space, and in both cases, you can get more songs for it. But in FFXIV, music scrolls are rewards (often the rare reward) from all kinds of content but in FFXI they haven't added a lot of the music and it tends to come from events rather than content.

Rosalie

01-25-2026, 09:33 AM

How exactly you earn Beligerency? I'm having fun just leveling monsters! I've got 2 at level 70 right now.

Belligerency is the PvP side of Monstrosity. You can either be a monipulator at level 30/60/90, or you can be a gladiator adventurer and take on the monipulators. The monsters are EXTREMELY overpowered compared to adventurers though. Most people just trying to get prestige points just find a friend to let them take infamy from by standing there and getting whooped. (Prestige earned is half of the monipulator's current infamy.)

Alhanelem

01-25-2026, 10:09 AM

Belligerency is the PvP side of Monstrosity. You can either be a monipulator at level 30/60/90, or you can be a gladiator adventurer and take on the monipulators. The monsters are EXTREMELY overpowered compared to adventurers though. Most people just trying to get prestige points just find a friend to let them take infamy from by standing there and getting whooped. (Prestige earned is half of the monipulator's current infamy.)

Players can of course form a party to take on the monipulators. While it was planned, monipulators can't form parties. Most monsters monipulators control are not remarkably stronger than similar monsters at that level, but where you gain strength is through the mods you apply- and certain monster types are stronger than others- like the sandworms or behemoths.

Rosalie

01-25-2026, 01:04 PM

Players can of course form a party to take on the monipulators. While it was planned, monipulators can't form parties. Most monsters monipulators control are not remarkably stronger than similar monsters at that level, but where you gain strength is through the mods you apply- and certain monster types are stronger than others- like the sandworms or behemoths.

It really depends on what type of instincts the monipulator has unlocked and applied to their character. A level 90 Mandragora with only very basic instincts on it is not going to be nearly so much trouble as one with instincts really gearing towards double/triple attack/haste etc.

Alhanelem

01-25-2026, 05:16 PM

It's really fun to build the strongest monster you think you can and then challenge your friends to try to beat you.

Gwydion

01-27-2026, 12:30 AM

Thank you everyone. I figured it out:

As a monster monipulator, you can earn Prestige by killing ordinary monsters while under Beligerency.
As a player character under Beligerency, you can kill player monipulators for 20% of their Infamy added to your Prestige.
When you defeat a monipulator, they will also drop treasure chests according to their Mon/NM/HNM level! You can open those chests based on your Gladiator status.
If your Prestige is over 20,001 you will get the status of "High Champion Gladiator" (HCG).

Monstrosity is so cool. Personally, I really dislike Limbus and find Monstrosity to be so much more engaging. (Maybe I hate limbus because of the short U-turns on various floors, and we literally stare at a progress bar on each floor? ...I dunno).