Producer Matsui, you have significantly improved the new player experience.

[OKOA]

They could merge servers to make things better. I am on Carbuncle, and we have maybe 600-700 people on during NA peak time. I have not played in 7 years, so i am completely lost and am finding it hard to get into a linkshell. Thank god I was at least able to solo to level 28, get my subjob and chocobo, and now I am working on rank in Windurst along with trying to go from broke to get enough money to buy my vendor spells. I have 25k gil at level 28, this isnt enough. I know some can be quested for, and thank god because there is no way I can afford the AH hehe.

Fortunately for me I am NOT looking for the fast way to 99. I want to experience most of what I can from all the expansions, but I am worried that some will require grouping, and grouping at low-mid level does not exist on Carbuncle

Make sure you are checking one of the various wikis online to see where you can buy spells from NPCs.

They have made most spells NPC buyable for MUCH cheaper than you'd get off of the AH.

Also, see my posts above in reference to a smooth solo path to level ~70 or so.

Using only gil I made from 3 sources ( Valor pages, Missions, Selling Crystals ) I could afford every single one of my spells if I always bought from NPCs.

[Stubbin]

Thanks, where is your post?

[OKOA]

Thanks, where is your post?

I'm going to condense it a bit to make it easier.


|-----------ZONE----------|---Page--|---Fiend 1-|--Fiend 2-|-Level Start--|--Level End|
|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|--N/S Gustaberg----------|----1----|---Bee-----|----------|-----1--------|----14-----|
|--Dangruf Wadi-----------|----3----|---Hare----|--Leech---|-----14-------|----23-----|
|- Korroloka Tunnel-------|----1----|---Bat-----|--Worm----|-----23-------|----33-----|
|--Korroloka Tunnel-------|----4----|---Leech---|----------|-----33-------|----43-----|
|--Upper Delkfutt's Tower-|----1----|---Gigas---|----------|-----43-------|----49-----|
|--Crawler's Nest---------|----1----|---Crawler-|--Bee-----|-----50-------|----57-----|
|--Crawler's Nest---------|----4----|---Exoray--|--Fly-----|-----57-------|----70-----|
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I am not 100% sure on the page numbers because I did not look them up and just went off of memory.

3 trust NPCs can complete that entire progression even if you do not have armor or weapons.

[bungiefanNA]

Thanks, where is your post?

You can click her name to view her post history.

[Blbelt]

I am thinking of returning myself. Currently trying to decide whether to dust off my old duo or start anew with one character as you have. I am in no hurry to get to 99 and have no desire to do endgame content at the moment. The joy for me is exploring, doing quests and missions, and camping NMs to gear up as I level.

Very disappointed to learn that Trust NPCs cannot be used for mission battles. I hope they change this soon.

Also, it seems sparks can only be used to purchase weapons at lower levels. Is this correct or is there armor available as well?

Lastly, I would like to see them ease some of the older reputation grinds. If I start over, I am really not looking forward to trading 100 stacks of millioncorn to the guy in Selbina...

[Demonjustin]

Also, it seems sparks can only be used to purchase weapons at lower levels. Is this correct or is there armor available as well?

This is correct, however, gear often drops from chests and chests drop from monsters very often now so its not much of an issue unless you kill things only in caves.

[OKOA]

I am thinking of returning myself. Currently trying to decide whether to dust off my old duo or start anew with one character as you have. I am in no hurry to get to 99 and have no desire to do endgame content at the moment. The joy for me is exploring, doing quests and missions, and camping NMs to gear up as I level.

Very disappointed to learn that Trust NPCs cannot be used for mission battles. I hope they change this soon.

Also, it seems sparks can only be used to purchase weapons at lower levels. Is this correct or is there armor available as well?

Lastly, I would like to see them ease some of the older reputation grinds. If I start over, I am really not looking forward to trading 100 stacks of millioncorn to the guy in Selbina...

Sorry I could not get to your post sooner Blbelt, but thank you for taking the time to write here.

I think now is 100% the best time to return to the game there has ever been. Now, that all depends on what your goals are, but for me, my goals are to experience the story. They have made it significantly easier to do so on several levels.

1) There are systems in place that make it possible to obtain levels and equipment without having to rely on unreasonable measures—I still think the Genkai quests need further revision.

2) Additional level cap increases and powerful gear along with reduced travel times make it much easier to focus on the story & cutscenes, and less on the frustration of losing or needing help to advance the story.

3) Almost 100% of the storyline content can be experienced solo on a wide variety of jobs, assuming the player has spent the time and effort perfecting at least 1 job.

Deciding what to do next…

For pretty much every storyline in the game I was “about half way through.” So I simply decided to start fresh and try to experience the storylines from scratch.

As of a week and a half, and a little over 48 hours of playtime, I am ready to turn in my storyline quest for Rank 5 & the airship pass, and I have completed the requisite limit breaks to power through to 70.

All of this solo, save two small instances where I needed player help.

( One was with the NMs in Xarcabard for LB2, the other was in Castle Oztroja—I had the Yagudo Torch, but another player on the same quest actually lit the fire and opened the door for me )

Here are some miscellanea I am working on or have completed in the same time span:

1) Unlock Kazham, travel there, activate homepoint. – In Progress
2) Unlock Whitegate, travel there, activate homepoint. – In Progress
3) Unlock Abyssea, start generating stones. – Finished
4) Travel to the past, activate campaign & Ops, unlock a [S] homepoint. – Finished
5) Receive a promotion in the Fighting Fourth. – In Progress
6) Farm a testimony. – Not started
7) Beat Maat. – Not started

I plan on completing the entire list above within the next 2 days and under 72 total hours of time played. And I will have done it almost entirely solo.
So as far as whether you want to return or start fresh?

My advice is to look at the list and the allotted time, and ask yourself if you are ok exhausting about 72 hours of play time to get “caught up.” To me, it was a trivial matter—I enjoyed starting from scratch.

At the point of being 75 and unlocking merits, it is a very short jaunt to being able to easily solo the entire game’s storyline. It will just be a question from there of how you want to handle that.

[OKOA]

I think now is 100% the best time to return to the game there has ever been.

One thing I think is worth mentioning is that itemization is pretty much broken at this point below level 78.

There are 3 factors to that:

1) The auction house doesn't have enough supply to keep up with recent new player activity.

2) Store bought goods are not priced in a way that makes them practical versus the gil rewards of FoV/GoV.

3) With the relative strength of the Trust NPCs on Easy Prey mobs and the speed at which they can complete a page, neither 1 or 2 even matter.

4) This means you end up running around in a Chocobo tunic at level 60 if you spend your money on keeping spells current.

5) Not sure this matters either, because hitting level 78 and getting a few thousand cruor puts you in Perle / Aurore / Teal.


I honestly wish I had a better answer to the armor question, and maybe I'm just too jaded.

What Matsui and Co. need to do is come up with a level 60 version of Perle / Aurore / Teal that can be bought with Sparks.

( Since this is the missing link in the Spark reward tier ).

It would take someone at most one afternoon to design (stat-wise), and would help new players get through their limit breaks.

My solution?

I picked WHM for my first job so I didn't even need to bother gearing, and could just kite Maat.

Alternatively, BST can easily beat Maat naked at 70.

Again though, in the spirit of the thread, there's nothing heroic about either of those things.

I find the places where this game really breaks down and becomes un-fun to be where utility and practicality trump autonomy.

i.e. You bought the game because you love Summoners, and so you unlocked the job and raced to level 99, but now no one will invite you. Then you went on a forum and everyone told you "Level BRD or COR if you want invites." So now you have the option of playing a Bard if you want to party, or just quitting, which is most likely what you will do--because the whole reason you bought the game was your love of summoning, not tooting your Faerie Piccolo for the villagefolk.

So that's the one saving grace...that the Trust system and RoE system give you a lot of capability to just play the game your way--assuming you don't care about end-game and are just here for the storyline.

[Blbelt]

Thanks for your replies, OKOA. I've decided to start a new character on Odin! Made it to level 15 last night and will be applying for my chocobo license soon.

While I will surely be bumbling along at a much slower pace, let me know if you ever need a hand with anything. And keep me posted on your adventures -- I enjoy reading these updates.

**Character name is Nozzleton. Having some problems getting a forum account set up for the new character.

[Stubbin]

You can click her name to view her post history.

I did that before I replied, it only shows me the replies to this post.