Returning Player, key things to know?

[Hawklaser]

Well, that Catch22 is there because there is very very little in this game that was actually designed to be solo'd. You need to be overgeared to compensate for the 5+ other players that you are lacking. XD

It's not quite as bad as what you are thinking though, since trusts perform around the level of an SoA geared 119 player (with a strict/limited understanding of their jobs.) It is sometimes simpler to solo+trusts than fullparty certain content even. Your trusts' levels are dependent on your ilvl, so you do kinda need both in order to play effectively.

Yeah, that was the one thing about this game that has always been love/hate for me, loved needing groups for things as made an awesome community, but the flip side was unless you were on something popular made it hard to progress at times ie CoP when it was still level capped.

What I saw of the trusts last night seems like a very nice addition. If they are approximately the strength of an an acceptablly geared character for the level, that would end most of the catch22. As a lot of it I ran into was more being unable to find the extra 1-2 people consistently to get that initial gear up going, as once got past the initial hurdle it was much easier. And I remember times when I would rather have had an empty slot than some players, like when had to tank on drg in a cape terrigen xp party because a pld/war had no clue how to tank.

So with the 117 spark gear, getting a decent variety of trusts, I should be able to do most things outside of whatever the current endgame is, right? Is it possible to do ambuscade solo with the 117 gear and trusts if needed for initial 119 gear? Or at least get gear to do so.

About the only other thing would be what are the current go to wiki's? As seems to be different each time have came back after longer breaks.

[Nyarlko]

Yeah, that was the one thing about this game that has always been love/hate for me, loved needing groups for things as made an awesome community, but the flip side was unless you were on something popular made it hard to progress at times ie CoP when it was still level capped.

What I saw of the trusts last night seems like a very nice addition. If they are approximately the strength of an an acceptablly geared character for the level, that would end most of the catch22. As a lot of it I ran into was more being unable to find the extra 1-2 people consistently to get that initial gear up going, as once got past the initial hurdle it was much easier. And I remember times when I would rather have had an empty slot than some players, like when had to tank on drg in a cape terrigen xp party because a pld/war had no clue how to tank.

So with the 117 spark gear, getting a decent variety of trusts, I should be able to do most things outside of whatever the current endgame is, right? Is it possible to do ambuscade solo with the 117 gear and trusts if needed for initial 119 gear? Or at least get gear to do so.

About the only other thing would be what are the current go to wiki's? As seems to be different each time have came back after longer breaks.

While yes, you technically can, please don't solo Ambuscade regularly. :x You get a tiny fraction of the rewards you get by grouping, plus the bonus of pissing off everyone else in Mhaura simply for being a soloer... At least attempt to grab other players if you can, since group size directly impacts reward currency amounts. We're talking ~5x the rewards vs soloing (aka 1/5th of the time to reach same currency amounts,) plus there is an entire currency locked behind grouping that is impossible to get while solo. Basically, avoid soloing if at all possible, and be prepared for a grind if you can't avoid it. ^^;;

Oldwiki still works for some older stuff (tho the ads tend to drive my laptop CPUs berserk, Altana bless the makers of ABP lol), ffxiah is still around and has an active community, and bgwiki is probably the best general source we have at this point. Alla and atlas are still not-shutdown, and the content they covered is still 95% correct, tho neither has been updated in close to a decade.

[Hawklaser]

While yes, you technically can, please don't solo Ambuscade regularly. :x You get a tiny fraction of the rewards you get by grouping, plus the bonus of pissing off everyone else in Mhaura simply for being a soloer... At least attempt to grab other players if you can, since group size directly impacts reward currency amounts. We're talking ~5x the rewards vs soloing (aka 1/5th of the time to reach same currency amounts,) plus there is an entire currency locked behind grouping that is impossible to get while solo. Basically, avoid soloing if at all possible, and be prepared for a grind if you can't avoid it. ^^;;

While I don't plan on soloing ambuscade often, my view on it is likely gonna end up being "If others don't want to invite me to theirs, or join me when I go to do it, they get to deal with someone soloing it", as I have no intention of waiting for hours for a group at this stage of FFXIs life if one is not needed to do something, as I would much rather be playing the jobs I enjoy, instead of forced on to the current popular stuff as much as possible.

I checked the sparks gear, and actually had enough to get enough for all 3 of my old 99's (blu, drg and sch) so at least I'll have some variety to mess with on the higher stuff.

[Nyarlko]

While I don't plan on soloing ambuscade often, my view on it is likely gonna end up being "If others don't want to invite me to theirs, or join me when I go to do it, they get to deal with someone soloing it", as I have no intention of waiting for hours for a group at this stage of FFXIs life if one is not needed to do something, as I would much rather be playing the jobs I enjoy, instead of forced on to the current popular stuff as much as possible.

I checked the sparks gear, and actually had enough to get enough for all 3 of my old 99's (blu, drg and sch) so at least I'll have some variety to mess with on the higher stuff.

Good attitude on the Ambuscade/grouping thing. /thumbsup