What's your "favorite" new Grounds of Valor monster placement?

[Ziyyigo-Tipyigo]

Mine has to be Inner Horutoto Ruins. Windurst players need to go down there for the missions "Lost for Words" (level ~20) and "Written in the Stars" (level ~30), and the only ways to get to the pertinent parts are past aggressive level 90+ monsters.

I mean, sure, you could buy sneak and invisible from the tome at the entrance, but everybody knows you can't open a door while invisible, and guess where these new monsters are lurking!

I'm glad that Square-Enix is working hard to keep those alchemists in the black.

[Glamdring]

the one that isn't camped/competed over by 47 different people at once going for a Prousse ring?

[wish12oz]

New monster placement was indeed very stupid. But with the amount of whining going on from the 'i hate abyssea' crowd, SE thought it was a good idea to add a bunch of camps for people to exp at because so many people hated abyssea. And in the end we're stuck with a bunch of crap monsters barely anyone will ever fight that simply pose more of a problem then a solution.

[Fyreus]

There are many of us who went to abyssea and are done getting the gear it offers and some without abyssea. What else would we do once we're done or have no reason to enter?

Staying on topic i think my favorite placement is the one where the mobs are all the same level except for 1 of them who happens to have a way of being much higher than the other guys with the same name as him... an ls member had the same problem with a goblin somewhere so it's a pleasant surprise although unwelcomed.

[Byrth]

I did Crawler's Nest for almost a week. The monsters are a 6 minute round-trip from the book with Chocobo Jig. All non-aggressive, and the flies don't link though.

[Alhanelem]

I spent about 5 hours in crawlers nest, doing page 1 the whole time. Since the page EXP keeps going up, it's still worth it even when the mob EXP drops.

[Siiri]

I solo'd both ninja and dancer from 45-49 to cap them as sub jobs in Garlaige Citadel. Did page 2, it was great. Bats no longer aggro so can roam a bit, just watch for beetles. As a soloer you will need to get away from entrance where parties gather. Bats still link though. With dancer sub or main just jig up to run by the occasional beetle and back to book for a new page.

[Ziyyigo-Tipyigo]

I just found something almost as bone-headed as Horutoto: Ranguemont Pass. You have to get through there at least once if you ever hope to get past level 55 (to say nothing of getting through rank 5), but the new monsters make that tricky. Sure, you can get sneak and invisible from the Grounds Tome, but you'll have a hard time getting past Myffore that way...

I really have to improve my alchemy. I could be making a mint on sneak oils and prism powders! Thanks, S-E!

[Byrth]

Oooookay. I remember a day when Silent Oils / Prism Powders were essential for every melee that went anywhere. How the heck are you complaining about using 2-3 to walk through a zone?

R-Pass actually has some of the better monster placement because you can do one of the regimes right at the Beauc exit.

[Bumbeen]

I just found something almost as bone-headed as Horutoto: Ranguemont Pass. You have to get through there at least once if you ever hope to get past level 55 (to say nothing of getting through rank 5), but the new monsters make that tricky. Sure, you can get sneak and invisible from the Grounds Tome, but you'll have a hard time getting past Myffore that way...

I really have to improve my alchemy. I could be making a mint on sneak oils and prism powders! Thanks, S-E!

You already posted this.

Also is it weird to carry oils and powders? I have at least 2 stacks of them in satchel at all times.....

[Ziyyigo-Tipyigo]

No, I complained about Inner Horutoto Ruins, and it was part of a broader theme of complaining about the problems low-level players face with ridiculously overpowered monsters in their way. Thanks for reading!

No, it's not "weird" to carry around oils and powders, but once upon a time they were considered a convenience, not a requirement. They were used to avoid aggro from monsters you could otherwise kill; if not alone, then with a party of people at your level. If you couldn't successfully slog through an area without oils and powders, you really had no business being there to begin with.

S-E seemed to at least recognize the new state of things by offering Circumspection at the Grounds Tomes, but seem to have completely forgotten about age-old game mechanics like having to be visible to complete certain simple tasks like opening a door or talking to an NPC. So now doing something as basic and fundamental as completing rank missions absolutely requires either:

Leveling a job you may otherwise have no interest in playing, just to be able to cast Sneak and Invisible or the like
Kill a great many of the local weaker monsters, hoping to find temporary oils and powders in blue caskets, or
Disproportionately supporting practitioners of a craft of which there is only one guild in the Middle Lands