So, I've hit a wall...

[Stompa]

To be fair, your other methods aren't that much quicker. It involves farming a SKCNM, which means farming for seals, and on anything besides easy or 'very easy' they can be quite challenging for players without higher level gear.

As for materials, the same problem applies. If it's not on sale, it's going to be difficult to obtain. I ended up farming boss monsters in Abyssea for a few hours just to get a sailcloth for one of my upgrades recently, since no one seemed willing to craft it at my behest, and no one was selling them on the auction house. I do have members of my LS who can help with certain items, but the majority are rarely seen on sale, certainly for my mages at least.

Delve items, on the other hand, do at least seem plausible. I have friends in the LS who can help me with some of the tougher ones, and I was recently able to acquire some nice items. I think the artifact gear is more of a long term goal for me, but thanks for the advice all the same.

Yes, I am just trying to help you, and also trying to help any other returning players who may be reading the Forum and are confused and concerned about 119 stuff.

I was only suggesting Reforged AF, because your original posts were saying that you had problems getting 119 gear.

Reforged AF is completely soloable, so it is the first stop. Reforged AF is also pretty cool, and often has nice stats.

You mentioned you had problems beating those couple of spooky Rhapsodies mobs in Reisenjima, which made me think that maybe you would find sparks method for Rems Tales more easy than actual SKCNM fights.

"To be fair, your other methods aren't that much quicker. It involves farming a SKCNM, which means farming for seals, and on anything besides easy or 'very easy' they can be quite challenging for players without higher level gear."

Again, go to my first post, where I say "you obtain Sacred Kindreds Crests from Login Points" and they cost 10 points per SK crest, you can get loads of them basically for free. You can also exchange beastmens seals etc. for SKC at Shami NPC.

It is quite easy to beat a Very Easy SKCM if you have 117 sparks armor and 3~5 useful Trusts. The same goes for HM Battles for the Chapters 6-10.

Really though, the point is that there are lots of new ways to get reforged Artifact gear quickly and on solo, compared to a few years ago, when we didn't have the free bonus stuff of today.

Obviously if you have a LS, and friends, and they help you with Delve, then that is very good. I'm happy to hear this. I hope you get loads of cool stuff and have a lot of fun adventures.

[Seiowan]

Again, go to my first post, where I say "you obtain Sacred Kindreds Crests from Login Points" and they cost 10 points per SK crest, you can get loads of them basically for free.

Ooo... phenomenal information there, thank you. I'm surprised I missed it. I don't have a massive number of login points at the moment since I'm still kind of freshly back from the Return to Vana'diel campaign. I did buy a summon with it (Shantotto II) and a crab mount with the few I had. Still, it's got to be easier than farming them, as despite my merit grinding I've only been able to find 7 so far.

I knew about the trades, but I didn't really have a lot of seals to begin with. I had converted a motherlode of them into beastman seals in an attempt to get Phalanx and Utsusemi: Ni from BCNMs before I 'retired' before. Incidentally, I still don't actually have either spell.

[Seiowan]

So while you can of course do the solo Very Easy mode, I would really urge you to talk to your Linkshell, and request they do some really Smashy Splatter runs for you, on Difficult+ mode.

I ran one recently, "Kindred Spirits" in Castle Zvahl on normal mode. I got completely destroyed as a Thief. So, I ran it again as a Scholar and succeeded on normal difficulty.

Joining a team for 'difficult' runs is great and all, but it suffers one fatal flaw. You only get a limited number of Rem Chapters out of it. On that one run, I was able to obtain 6 chapters in total with 4 of them dropping from the coffer, and two for beating it on 'normal'. Seems like a more efficient way of farming them than splitting the loot between friends.

Or maybe I'm just greedy. Now the only issue is trying to find the upgrade items. Ideally I'd have +2 gear so I don't have to spend too many chapters, but that's easier said than done with some of them.

[detlef]

If SKC are the limiting factor then you are certainly best served going in a group because you get personal drops for every fight including ones where your orb wasn't used. Tackling difficult is okay, but a lot of people will just spam normal because it's a lot faster and safer.