Returning player in need of help...

Hi,

I played a while ago (I think I played up until Jan of this year) and heard about all the changes and decided to come back and see what has changed. Obviously a great deal has, and I find myself pretty lost. The core of my questions are centered around my pre-existing character, a lvl 18 Lancer. I have been reading guides about lancers in 1.19 and so far, they've not been very helpful. In fact, doing what they suggest has actually made things somehow worse, so I decided to come here for some more personalized help.

Here are my questions:

1. Dated gear - I have a ton of it, but in some cases, it appears as though my dated gear has better stats than current gear (i.e. the defense on my hauberek is green compared to anything else for my level). Is it still better to wear the dated stuff or should I get new stuff with lower stats?
2. Is there anything I can do at lvl 18 to generate TP faster? My lancer eats TP so fast that I can barely perform any skills, and the cooldowns on buffs are way too long.
3. Are there any good leveling guides for lancers (or archers, for that matter)? All the guides I have found (like Carraway's) seem to be centered around endgame and require skills/traits that I don't have/won't get for a long time.
4. Where do I get traits? Every guide I read suggests a ton of them, but I haven't found a single one yet and nothing I've found talks about when/where to get them.
5. Are guildleves still the fastest way to level up or should I be looking for something else now?
6. Are guildleves still the fastest way to earn gil or should I be looking for something else now?
7. Can we own a chocobo or can we only rent them?
8. I've seen that the repair system has changed and now involves dark matter at various levels. Where do I get dark matter and do I have to have a certain class to get it/use it?
9. Is there any way to have one set of equipment equipped, but look like you're wearing something different (i.e. a cosmetic 'costume' like most MMOs have)?
10. What's with the EXP chain? Sometimes it triggers and sometimes it doesn't. Does it have a cooldown after your time expires?
11. Are there any good solo guides for 1.19? The only solo guide I've seen suggests I should be able to take out things 10 levels above me and that hasn't been the case at all (even with my new, post patch character).

Sorry for all the questions, but I really am lost here - so many things are different than when I played before. Thank you for reading this and thanks in advance for any help.

1. Dated stuff will work fine, just replace it with the new stuff as it gets to 100% Spiritbond. Also do the materia quest in Ul'dah so you can convert it.

2. Invigorate you are using I'm sure, but also try any of the activate-able attacks like Full Thrust.

3. You really need to get CNJ to 16 for Protect, Shell, Stoneskin, Shock Spikes, and Cure. It helps with soloing immensely.

4. Traits are bought from guilds. You unlock them at 20, 30, and 36.

5. Guildleves are still fast. Parties are significantly faster.

6. Gathering and crafting is the most lucrative thing to do, but quests and leves can provide enough gil to get by.

7. You can buy a chocobo license for 3000 seals once you formally join a Grand Company. This requires you to progress through the first 3 major quests for all of them and then a fourth quest for the one you want to join.

8. Dark matter is obtained from gathering, chests in dungeons, and from many vendor NPCs.

9. Not yet, but you can hide your head gear and weapon with /display (head|mh) off. Use 'on' to turn them back on.

10. You have to kill mobs at your level or higher to trigger an xp chain. A timer appears on your xp bar when you're in one.

11. I don't think so. Any mob will do now I think since the xp reward is based only on level, not mob type any more. Just look around in the area where you're doing leves.

Hope that helps!

Yes, that does help, but it also raises three additional questions:

1. What is spiritbonding?
2. What is materia?
3. I think I read on the forums somewhere that you have to be lvl 25 to join a Grand Company. Is that still the case or should I be looking now?

Thanks!

1. You will find out what spiritbond is when you do the Materia-related quest. But in short, when you wear any equipment and do some stuff, like, kill monster, gather items from DoL class, craft something on DoH class, the equipment will gain a tiny bit of Spiritbond with you. When the Spiritbond is full, it can be turned into a Materia.

2. Materia is a new kind of item which can have different stat bonus, and can be meld (put into a slot) on a piece of equipment. Dated item won't have an open slot for a Materia. Most of the new equipment will have a slot for Materia.

3. I can't answer the Grand Company question because I was already overranked when I started GC quests.

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1. Dated gear - I have a ton of it, but in some cases, it appears as though my dated gear has better stats than current gear (i.e. the defense on my hauberek is green compared to anything else for my level). Is it still better to wear the dated stuff or should I get new stuff with lower stats?

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Dated gear are still good, especially if you compare stats and find that your dated gear gives you more stats than the new one. Dated gear just doesn't have slot for Materia. Items marked dated are a piece of equipment that was made before the patch 1.19 with the old recipe (or was made using old recipe after the patch). Some of the dated gear have their new counterpart, which is made by new recipe, and will have different name (no "dated" in the name). Some dated gear, however, don't have their new recipe. You can still make dated gear, or use old recipe as long as you have or can get the old materials, but it is usually easier to make new gear because they have simplified the recipe a lot.

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10. What's with the EXP chain? Sometimes it triggers and sometimes it doesn't. Does it have a cooldown after your time expires?

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You get skillchain which adds more bonus to your EXP when you kill monsters consecutively before each timer runs out.

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7. Can we own a chocobo or can we only rent them?

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Also, even if you don't have your own chocobo from Grand Company, you can rent a chocobo from any city. It costs 800 gil (not sure if this is everyone's price or if the price adjusts to your levels like the Airship fee) and can last for 10 only minutes, unlike personal chocobo which will never kick you off (unless if you aggro an enemy and get hit hard on the chocobo back).

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8. I've seen that the repair system has changed and now involves dark matter at various levels. Where do I get dark matter and do I have to have a certain class to get it/use it?

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You have to be of the craft class and level that meets the requirement to repair the equipment. Most of the time it requires a crafter of at least as high as 10 level below the recipe's level. And most of the time the equipment's level reflects its own recipe's level too. Say, I can repair my level 38 ring because I am lv 28 Goldsmith.

New equipment from new craft recipe might go by different rules. I haven't found out yet. They might have smaller gap between craft recipe level and repair requirement level, I am not sure.

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Originally Posted by Tantalus010

Yes, that does help, but it also raises three additional questions:
...
3. I think I read on the forums somewhere that you have to be lvl 25 to join a Grand Company. Is that still the case or should I be looking now?
...

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You have to be 25 to join as a full member, yes, but you can start doing the earlier quests as a provisional recruit at 18 or 22, I forget. Just visit any Grand Company headquarters in a city's market wards to see if they'll offer you a quest yet. You have to do 3 major quests for each company to be eligible to join one. You can take on the fourth quest for all 3, but you are only required to do it for one. After it's complete, there will be a fifth trivial quest for your induction.

Welcome back, Tantalus. :)

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Originally Posted by Tantalus010

1. Dated gear - I have a ton of it, but in some cases, it appears as though my dated gear has better stats than current gear (i.e. the defense on my hauberek is green compared to anything else for my level). Is it still better to wear the dated stuff or should I get new stuff with lower stats?

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You mean a Bronze Haubergeon? I'd be careful with that. That's level 27 armor, so if you're level 18, you're going to be under it by quite a bit.

Before the patch, you could get away with wearing gear above your level because the attributes scaled. So you weren't hurt too much if you wore gear above your level. But that seems to have changed. You'll probably want to stick to gear that's at or below your current level, if possible. (Especially for weapons.)

Having said that, "Dated" gear works fine. Just be sure to check its stats first, because the stats on some items were adjusted in the patch. And most new gear of the same level seems to have better stats than Dated gear. For example, my Dated Jade Crook +2 is worse than my NQ Jade Crook made with the new recipe. (I suspect that's to encourage people to buy new gear.)

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2. Is there anything I can do at lvl 18 to generate TP faster? My lancer eats TP so fast that I can barely perform any skills, and the cooldowns on buffs are way too long.

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Robert pointed out the two biggest ways: Invigorate and additional basic attacks, like Heavy Thrust, which you can buy with Guild Marks.

Also, be sure you keep Speed Surge active. It increases the speed of your auto-attack, so it gets you more TP.

Another thing you can do is buy, equip, and use throwing weapons. The level 12 throwing weapon for Lancers is Bronze Javelins. Throwing weapons have a short cooldown time -- so you can pop them often -- and they give you free TP every time they land. You can buy them from the Market Wards, or you can buy them for 204 gil from NPCs like Kerrich in LL or Twyrmoht in Grid.

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3. Are there any good leveling guides for lancers (or archers, for that matter)? All the guides I have found (like Carraway's) seem to be centered around endgame and require skills/traits that I don't have/won't get for a long time.

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Sorry, but I can't help you with leveling guides for Lancer. But I would encourage you to level a few classes. If you take all classes to level 10 -- which shouldn't take long at all -- you'll get some hugely helpful skills for leveling your Lancer. For example, Cure from Conjurer, Sacrifice from Thaum, Bloodbath from Marauder, Second Wind from Pug, Raging Strike from Arc, etc. Trust me when I say that the ability to heal yourself makes life much easier for melees.

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4. Where do I get traits? Every guide I read suggests a ton of them, but I haven't found a single one yet and nothing I've found talks about when/where to get them.

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Robert's right on this one (as usual). I'd just point out that at those levels -- 20, 30, and 36 -- you can pick up quests from the respective job guilds. You have to complete those quests before you unlock the skills.

Also, you'll notice that the melee guilds give some traits that give more Int/Piety/Mind, and the mage guilds give some traits that give more Str/Dex/Vit. That's to encourage players to level other job types. :)

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5. Are guildleves still the fastest way to level up or should I be looking for something else now?

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Again, Robert's right. Leves are basically aimed toward solo play now. When you successfully complete the leve, you get a "bonus" for the difficulty of the leve, and another bonus for the speed at which you complete it (I believe it's under 8 minutes?).

But if you can get in a grind party, that's probably the fastest way to level now. When you kill mobs above your level quickly, you can get "chain" bonuses, which give more XP per mob killed. You get 10% more XP per mob chained. So if you can kill several mobs quickly, you'll get tons of XP. But because the chain bonus only works for mobs above your level -- and it's now more difficult to kill mobs at or higher than your level -- the best way to do it is in parties.

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6. Are guildleves still the fastest way to earn gil or should I be looking for something else now?

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You'll get much less gil from leves now. The best way to make money is through gathering or crafting. At low levels, I'd suggest picking up mining or botany. Logs, ores, and dyes sell well on the Market Wards.

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8. I've seen that the repair system has changed and now involves dark matter at various levels. Where do I get dark matter and do I have to have a certain class to get it/use it?

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Robert's explained the Dark Matter. I'd just add two things:

1) If you're 10 levels lower than the class required to make or wear the gear (whichever is lower), you'll repair the item at 100%. In other words, there's no chance you're going to fail the repair.

2) The repair NPCs now repair gear to 99%, and they're very cheap. So the only reason to repair your own gear is to save a little money, or because you're planning to sell it.

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10. What's with the EXP chain? Sometimes it triggers and sometimes it doesn't. Does it have a cooldown after your time expires?

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What Robert said. Also, the chain timer gets lower and lower every time you chain. If you want higher chains, at some point it gets better to just kill all the mobs at the same time. :)

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11. Are there any good solo guides for 1.19? The only solo guide I've seen suggests I should be able to take out things 10 levels above me and that hasn't been the case at all (even with my new, post patch character).

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10 levels used to be the gold standard, since it was possible to kill mobs 10 levels above you and that gave the max amount of XP per mob. While it's still true that killing mobs 10 levels above you will give you the max XP (in other words, killing a mob 10 levels above you will give you the same XP as killing the same mob 20 or 30 levels above you), the game is now geared towards fighting mobs at right around your level. Mobs above your level are going to be harder fights. So you're probably not going to be able to kill mobs 10 levels above you unless you're in a big party.

Try fighting mobs at your level or up to 2 levels above you. Or better yet, get in a party, fight mobs 2 levels above you, and string them together to get chain bonuses.

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Sorry for all the questions, but I really am lost here - so many things are different than when I played before. Thank you for reading this and thanks in advance for any help.

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Hey, we're happy to have ya back. :)

Finally, I'd suggest that you consider getting into a Linkshell, if you're not already. It's an easy way to get a party together, and they can answer your questions and help you out when you need it. If you're looking for one, here's a link to the Besaid server forum, where there are some ads for linkshells.

Hi again,

Thanks for all the replies - you guys have helped tons. I've played around quite a bit and done some digging here and on other websites and the clouds are starting to part a bit on the way things work now - at least enough that I went from lvl 18 to 21 in one sitting, so I'm reasonably pleased (except now I'm out of favor and leve allowances, so I'm stuck until the reset - oh well).

I've got a few more questions, though (big surprise, right?)

1. These additional attacks - you mention I can buy them with guild marks, but where? I went to the Lancer's guild last night looking for traits only to find that I had no lancer guild marks (I'd be willing to bet I have no guild marks whatsoever, actually) and didn't see any attacks offered, which brings me to my next question:

2. I've read that you're supposed to have a chance to earn guild marks from levequests that are above lvl 20 - well, I did four of them today at lvl 20 and nada. Is the drop rate for marks just that low or did I get something wrong somehow?


Again, thanks very much for the help!

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Originally Posted by Tantalus010

1. These additional attacks - you mention I can buy them with guild marks, but where? I went to the Lancer's guild last night looking for traits only to find that I had no lancer guild marks (I'd be willing to bet I have no guild marks whatsoever, actually) and didn't see any attacks offered, which brings me to my next question:

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At the guild of that specific class. But you have to first "join" the guild by doing their first Guild Quest (Level Quest/Rank Quest) which will be offered to you if you walk into the guild and talk to the quest giver NPC while on the correct class with the level that meets requirement. First quest would be level 20.

After finishing the quest, you'll now gain access to Guild Mark abilities shop. It's usually the NPC right next to the Guild's quest giver. You will have to unlock the higher tier of skills/traits in order to purchase them. Higher tier skills/traits require you to finish higher level of Guild Quest.

One can join as many guilds as they like. You won't belong or be limited to just one guild, joining guild means you gain access to their main guild quest and the abilities shop.

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Originally Posted by Tantalus010

2. I've read that you're supposed to have a chance to earn guild marks from levequests that are above lvl 20 - well, I did four of them today at lvl 20 and nada. Is the drop rate for marks just that low or did I get something wrong somehow?

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Now in order to have a chance to find LQ which give Guild Marks, you have to take LQ from the Adventurer's Guild in the city where the Class Guild belongs to. So if you want Lancer GMs, you have to go to Gridania, or for Pugilist it's Ul'dah.

And since the introduction of new LQ system, the LQ desk will refresh the LQ choice list every time you finish 1 LQ. So, you can pick up just one or two LQ which give the GM you want, then go do them, either 1 at a time or both, then come back to check the LQ desk to see if other LQ rerolled and will give GM instead of gil now.

For gear - one of the newer patches (1.19a I think - check the patch notes on the forums) gives a list of locations for NPCs in the wards that sell lower level gear for probably cheaper than one's being put up on retainers. Good idea to check those to see if there's some regular gear to grab.

Otherwise something you can do that I'm not sure anyone suggested - while you can't add materia (SOME) to these pieces (the plundered items) - take a look outside of Limsa to the south-east of the level 1 aetheryt camp for Shposhae. Stuff there is level 19-22 or so and drops keys, which in turn you can use to pop open a chest. They do also drop leather gear and what not too from the chests.

http://www.bluegartr.com/threads/107...5-Dungeon-1.19 <-- maps and item drops. The mobs there also drop items that I've been throwing up in my bazaar to sell and they sell "okay", just take a look to see what they're going for on your server.



First quest for GC requires level 22 I think.

You can also grab low level gear relevant to the class by visiting its guild and talking to the new vendor NPC in there. I think the gear tends to go up to the 20's or 30's. There are NPCs in the adventurer's guilds that sell Level 1 starter gear for all classes now, too.

Edit: Also, I just want to throw out that if you have trouble finding a linkshell, if you're willing to remake your character you're welcome to join our little LS on Istory, which the ever-helpful Vydarr Tyr is a part of. It's fairly dead during the weekdays with everybody playing on the weekends, dunno if you are looking for anything more hardcore.