Moderating Rate of Exp Gain

[Youby]

I do however think that it's too much to expect increased or additional drops based on level capping. Part of level capping yourself is your own chosen restriction and in most cases the experience and enjoyment are the only rewards needed. Don't forget that if you crave rewards, the new high tier battlefields are putting out new gear which really shines and are definitely worth doing. Multiple difficulty settings makes these new fights accessable, even by people who are not geared well.

I think that is what is so fantastic about the OP's motivation behind the post. He did not ask to be rewarded for optional level cap. It is a unique request (at least in my experiences of the game) because it is a request for assistance to learn HOW to become a better player (in a group setting) BEFORE reaching level 99. Unless I read it incorrectly, that is the reward they are looking for.

The more and more I hear about this Phoenix Valorian group, the more and more curious I get. From what I can gather (largely thanks to ISLANDWAHINE1107 video find from earlier), they have successfully completed the following:

• West Ronfaure Garrison - in a full alliance; with no subjobs; with no advanced jobs
• Defeated Hundredwall - with jobs at only 17-19 (from what I could tell); with just 8 members; with no advanced jobs; with 4 consecutive renkei and a magic burst at the end
• San D'oria Mission 2-3 Black Dragon fight - with no job higher than 19; 5 consecutive skillchains
• All 3 Eco-Warrior Quests - with no more than 8 party members; with no high level assistance; with no advanced jobs
• San D'oria Mission 3-3 Appointment to Jeuno - with the intentions of doing the entire climb at level 25; defeated Porphyrion, but complained that he only lasted 2 consecutive skillchains
• Made the most adorable 'awwwww'-n00bie video (Neo Mini-Project??) about their experience as a group

Not brag-worthy achievements in the slightest, but certainly not meant to be overlooked, either. Promyvion can sort out how good/bad this group is but only provided they're able to fight monsters in the zone (including bosses) at original intended level caps.

For anyone reading this and is part of the group that Tristian is talking about, could you give me a rough timetable of when you plan on starting Chains of Promathia missions? If it's ok, I would like to keep tabs on your progress (or lack of)

[Sandmaste]

It wouldn't hurt to have the level cap for mission BC's, and even some mission area's. The optional reward could be Sparks of Eminence, and that would also allow all the people who completed those missions back in the day to tick off those Records as well.

Otherwise, as fun as it seems, there were some parts of CoP that did take up a lot of play time, and were amazingly challenging.

When it comes to say the Airship fight (the most challenging CoP mission by far) after a few trys i'm betting you would just scrap the level60 cap and run through it. I remember that fight well, on our 6th or 7th attempt we lay there wiped, double weakend, with Ultima or Omega? I forget which at 1%HP and frustrated, then all of a sudden after 30secs of us all laying there wiped the mob dropped down dead - our RDM had landed a Bio on him and it dropped with us all wiped. It was a memerable feeling but,

From someone who loves a challenge, if the option is there to fight a battle like that uncapped then chances are you after a couple of trys and spending time gathering items needed for the fight you probably will just think 'F-it' and burn through that one forgetting all about it.

Even now, having just returned to the game after a 3 year break, I'm enjoying solo-ing content like Dyna, Limbus, Campaign Battles then VWNM's and Walk of Echo's for getting the WS's for my 4 jobs. I haven't even downloaded the Seekers edition to play Adoulin as I have far to much to do to take up my time, and I know once I have Adoulin I'd be stuck in skirmish and Delve so enjoying these other aspects of the game to the max first is fine with me, I'd like 4 emp ws's unlocked, all the Dyna+2 gear, and AF+1 gear and WotG storyline complete before I move on. Some of it is a doddle (95% of Limbus) but then other things are challenging (tierII+ WoE) solo so I enjoy a nice mix of easy and hard.

[mdjohns23]

We actually did our first Spire fight last week and it was sooooooo AWESOME!!! I don’t think I’ve ever been so nervous about a video game before My teammates were fantastic! We did the fight at level 30. Everyone used their animas on time. Oh!! Even when the little baby things started popping out (I forget what they were called) no one panicked and the melee kept them off us mages.

The only bad thing was we found out that we got more exp after winning the fight (it was a reward for winning the fight) and it caused some of us to level to 31. At level 30 the fight seemed easy. Does that mean when we fight the next spire boss that it will be even easier because we’re 31? Bren tried his best to keep us from getting too much exp by having a friend place a level 38 mule in the zone and we created an alliance with her. It helped only a little bit, though. Now it makes even more sense for us to keep hoping for the optional level cap, because Bren should not have to go through so much trouble to help keep things challenging for us.

I know that the exp reward for winning our boss fights cannot be avoided. But, if we had optional level caps, it wouldn’t have made a difference because we would still be able to stay at level 30 for the next Promyvion fights. Can we please get optional level caps?

[Rexaliya]

At level 30 the fight seemed easy. Does that mean when we fight the next spire boss that it will be even easier because we’re 31?

Invited three friends to try out the game during the promotions this past week… realized that I could not join them on their lower level adventure mission fights… found myself back at this thread. I was hoping it would have been addressed by now, giving the four of us something to look forward to, but I guess not.

All of my jobs are at level 60 or higher. I convinced my friends to try it out under the promise that we would be adventuring together. For us, adventuring meant going through the different mission storylines together. So far we have done nation rank missions 1 thru 4 and CoP missions up to the Minotaur fight. In all cases, I joined them with my jobs and destroyed the mission fights quickly and easily, with no challenge. Two of my friends are already bored because instead of adventuring with them, I ended up pretty much doing the fights for them.

So, once again, I really support this thread and I hope that optional level caps will be available soon. Please give us a chance to create our own challenges at any level, together. It will be hard for me to keep telling my friends that they have to wait until level 99 before we can enjoy challenging fights together.

I’d like to point out that right now blazing through 90% of the game just to get to the remaining 10% for a challenge together seems unnecessary and wasteful to me. FFXI is a great game that I feel lends itself to being enjoyed with friends. Rushing through to get to the end/challenging part shortens the enjoyment.

[Ranmikel]

For anyone reading this and is part of the group that Tristian is talking about, could you give me a rough timetable of when you plan on starting Chains of Promathia missions? If it's ok, I would like to keep tabs on your progress (or lack of)

Thanks kindly to those of you who have supported this post up to now. For those that might be cautious (or even skeptical) about our request, I’m hoping that by explaining a little more about our linkshell, our reasons for requesting the optional level cap might become clear.

VALOR is a static linkshell. This means we move through all aspects of FFXI as a unit. Whenever we enroll new members, the veterans halt storyline progress and join the new members as they work to catch up to everyone else. When the newer members are caught up, everyone moves forward in the storyline together, once more.

In an attempt to make do without an optional level cap, we have had members level 5-8 different jobs with newer players. As our linkshell grows, we are running out of jobs to join newer members with. Level sync is only good for non-mission caliber events and, as the OP noted, is severely limiting when it comes to managing rate of exp gain.

We recognize that our style of play is an older, outdated way of approaching the game, and our goal is certainly not to force our beliefs on everyone else. This is why we are requesting the optional level cap. An optional level cap allows us to go back and join in the fight with lower level players without stealing a new experience from them (i.e. Mission Battlefields). We aim to fight with them and not for them.

Please consider the OP request. Our linkshell only has 31 members at the moment (up from 13 members in May), but that may not be enough to promote change. Still, V.A.L.O.R. is structured for providing all members with teamwork development and leadership opportunities. Optional level caps would help enrich that experience that much more.