Field Manuals: Suggestion - Add a Few More for the "Gaps"?

Hey there,

I did a quick forum search to make sure no one mentioned this already; I found one other post regarding field manuals in a different manner and I'm not really sure if Japanese players have posted anything since I can't read it.

Field Manuals, in theory seems to be easy to add--drop a book, offer buffs, ask certain mobs to be killed and reward EXP/Tabs/Gil based on completion quota (minus Tabs/Gil if the day hasn't rolled over).

I know I'm definitely weird in this aspect, but I'm not big on the idea of Abyssea-leeching all the way to 90. I've done it before--it's not bad, and I can see why some people like it...but I do kind of enjoy the process up to the appropriate levels. This never really occurred to me until my friend recently came back, and I've been duoing with them--there is a huge gap of FoV's available between the high 50's and low 60's! In fact, I looked at the pages available up until 75 and it was...sparce to say the least.

Basically, we have been doing page 5 of Eastern Altepa Desert and Page 5 of Xarcabard--we're both around level 62-63. We've tried Ro'Maeve and honestly those weapons are just such a pain to kill...Aoe Stuns, not to mention the place is filled with magic-aggroing mobs. They con anywhere from DC to VT for us and there's always a bunch of 90's soloing in there. In terms of FoV leveling, it is basically whiff at @70 exp per mob or take 3 minutes to kill a weapon for 120~190 exp.

It seems like a lot of the indoor zones are missing pages in fact; what's wrong with adding a book for places like Crawler's Nest, Quicksand Caves, Kuftal Tunnel, Boyahda Tree and so forth? it would definitely help to bridge the gap in the mid 50's and lower 60's--there seems to be an ample amount once you hit 65+ (Cape Terrigan, SoV, etc.)

I actually searched on other FFXI forums to look for suggestions as to where to go, and it seems like a lot of returning players are having similar issues. While it's definitely possible for me to set up a key-whoring alliance for my friend while I hop on one of my 90's, I know this is not an option for returning players that don't have any people to hook them.

As a temporary bandage fix, we're going to level sync our subs with each other's mains since the 20-50's range is generally plentiful in FoV pages.

What do you guys think? Seems simple enough to throw in on any version update!

I did the level to 75 before aby party thing myself too, a good bit of FOV action. And yeah, there were some spots where it did grind down a bit, but that about went away with the xp tweaks (at least when soloing). I can see the need for some variety to crossover in between though.

Valley of Sorrows is a nice bridge between Terrigan and Sky. I think Ro Maevej is supposed to be a bridge to after Zi'tah (almost on par with Atelp), but those RDM weapons can eat your face if you aren't prepared for them. Just not sure just where they would put one for that grind at 57-62. There are already a lot of zones with FOV that cover it where you're either fighing weak or really strong mobs--they don't blend as smoothly as the lower ranges.

As for the 60-63 level, page 1 in Terrigan has one mob that spawns as 62 and up I think, so as a duo you can go there a little early--just have to watch for that petry move on the lizards. I went there and started some jobs at 61 (WAR, DRG, etc. jobs that can solo T's well). Otherwise I just stayed on page 4 in W. Altep to 63/64 (was solo)--it's a bit of running around, but you can make it a nice loop from the book at zoneline to the gobs and back killing scorps along the way out and back. Once you get into the 70's you can start looking at Sky. Think page 1 up there has one target that pops 73 and up. I was still pulling down close to 3k a page up there up to almost level 90 on dolls page.

Another thing you could try too is Bastion. I went in there on both DRG and DRK around 63 to quest seals and would hit some fights when they were up. I actually did an entire level on DRG by Bastion alone one after noon. It's nice for some quick chunks of xp, and gets you a spot of cruor/resistance points for getting base armor when you need them for AF3.