Thaumaturge leveling: confused...

Hello All

The queen of the questions is back already! ;)

Situation: I would like to try playing black mage. I created an alt who is arcanist and when I reached the level unlocking Thaumaturge, I took the class.

Problem: My thaumaturge is level 7 only and the next job quest requires level 20. :confused:

My question: There is no quests package specific for that? I can only hunt for all available side quests everywhere?

Thank you :)

Issue closed. It must have been a bug. I regret I didn't take a screenshot. I was doing side quests and when I reached level 10, I got a notification that my next job quest is now available. So, the required level was 10, not 20, although I can swear that it was written level 20 when I checked - several times to be sure - at the NPC.

Anyhow. The problem was non existing. Glad me. See you soon again :D

There are thaumaturge quests at 1, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25 and 30 - same as any other starting class. I wonder if the display is showing you the next arcanist quest, rather then the next thaumaturge one? Once you accept the job, all the quests start in the back of the guild with Cocobuki and his brothers.

Thanks for info. Re the bug I had, really, I don't know, but that could be an explanation yes. I really regret that I didn't take a screenshot.

I must admit, it's a massive bother for me to level up my thaumaturge between level 10 and 15.
Reasons:
- I have no side quests available for my level, because I did them as arcanist before.
- The only side quests left to do, are locked behind reaching level 15.
- The Hall of Novice is locked behind level 15 as well.
- I have tried to just kill foes around, but it's a massive grinding and my thaumaturge is so weak that it takes ages to kill a simple level 12 foe.

My question: What can I do to do to level up from 10 to 15? Is it intended to be such a grinding (at least for me it is)? Or do I fail to understand something maybe?

Any idea(s) and hint(s) will be very welcome. :D

Leveling from 1 to 30 is pretty quick for me:
- Kill enemies until level 8.

From there, switch between:
- Doing the hunt log for Thaumaturge. Press H to view it. It has a fresh set of entries every 10 levels.
- Doing your class quests every 5 levels at the Thaumaturge guild.
- Starting from level 10, you can do the 2 new guildhests every 5 levels. There is a first-time EXP bonus for each class. You can queue for this while doing the other tasks.
- Daily guildhest roulette. From level 15, daily leveling roulette.
- If you have got through all of this, you can farm FATEs, but you likely won't need to.

Make sure you unlocked the Challenge Log, because that increases the EXP you get from these activities at the start of the week.

Thank you Jeeqbit! I knew about the hunting log, but I had underestimated the amount of XPs it brings and didn't care going for it. It was an error, because thanks to your hint, I went for it and it has been sufficient to bring me to level 15.
Aside of that, yes, I have challenges unlocked. I took care of that earlier on. I have never tried guildhests, not even with my main toon. I must go for that sometime. Otherwise, I dislike Fates so much that as far as possible, I stay away from them... LOL

Now with level 15, the hall of novice is unlocked as well as many side quests I couldn't touch up to now. So my next progression should be by far easier, funny and less tedious.

+1 to your hunting log, also your Grand Company's log if you already have access to it! You will need to do it regardless if you'd like to rank up in the company, so might as well make use of the XP!

Since I last posted, I progressed to level 29. Am at the half of it and that's long to complete to 30... Honestly, it's tedious. That's why I make this follow up post, in case it can help others to avoid the hassle I have to go through currently.

I did 2 major errors for my first alt:
1. I pushed my base class (arcanist) too far. It resulted in a huge gap between my thaumaturge, born level 1, and the msq status already at level 29.
2. I did almost all side quests as I was on base class. It was idiotic because later, I had nothing left for my thaumaturge level 1 to level up to 29 (job quests are very far from sufficient).

So, all in all, I'm not sure what would be the ideal level at which we should change class, but personally, for the next alt, I will swap to 2nd class as soon as it's unlocked and avoid doing side quest as long as on base class. That way, the level gap will be minimized and I will have a scope of quests to do to cover it comfortably (I hate fates... LOL).

Don't forget Leves, they are a great EXP boost.
https://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodes...0/blog/3067075
https://ffxiv.consolegameswiki.com/wiki/Guildleve

Also, keep your character buffed with a food, that gives you +3% EXP on every EXP granting kill.
If you are a member of a Free Company, have or ask to have the FC EXP buff enabled (last 24 hours).
When you log out for the day, make sure you park in a city state, the FC estate, or a "Sanctuary" area, as you gain "Rested +EXP buff" while logged out in those areas, which greatly increases EXP per kill until it's used up.
If you are doing any kinda of "courier type quest", as in go from point A to point B to do whatever for the quest, instead of just doing that/going there as quickly as possible, mow down any EXP granting mobs that are in route, so you get a bit of extra EXP while doing the quest objectives.

Personally, as soon as I get to lvl15 I do my daily leveling roulette. Even if you don't like playing with others, it's not a very long instance, it's easy low level stuff and you get tons of EXP. Always have any sort of food, anything you can eat will give you the previously mentioned +3 EXP buff, which you can buy from nearly any merchant NPC or those at the crafter guilds also sell food. If you have a squadron, you can invest in getting them to bring you +15% EXP buffs you can stack with your food (these do not stack with FC buffs). Once a day is enough, if you see your role is in need for a roulette, you can get the Adventurer in Need buff as many times as you can be bothered to run the roulette while it is there (don't stress if the AiD role changes while you're in queue, it locks the bonus in once you begin queueing, you can check if you were given the bonus at the end of a duty in your chatbox)

Re leves: Yes, I do them, but first since I'm above 20, because before, I couldn't manage the ones requiring kills. My thaumaturge was very weak against damages and the foes could kill me in no time. It goes a bit better now that I'm above 20, because I damage faster, but my defenses are still quite weak.

Re roulettes: For me, it's not a matter of liking - or not - going with other players, it's more that with my low level, I'm afraid to be a dead weight for the team and I feel very embarrassed at that.

Generally, my thaumaturge does not resist well against damages. I can give you a typical example: I am now level 30 and have the quest to swap to black mage (my objective). That quest requests to kill two foes coming out of a fissure: I keep failing. Reason: I don't damage fast enough compared to the speed at which the foes get my health down. That's annoying and really typical of what I experience as a thaumaturge (I never had that problem of weak defenses as an arcanist).

Since 2 minutes, am level 31 and a black mage. I do hope it will be a better experience than thaumaturge. :D

Hmm, a few things that caught my attention:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by LuSnow

My thaumaturge was very weak against damages and the foes could kill me in no time. It goes a bit better now that I'm above 20, because I damage faster, but my defenses are still quite weak. [...] That quest requests to kill two foes coming out of a fissure: I keep failing. Reason: I don't damage fast enough compared to the speed at which the foes get my health down. That's annoying and really typical of what I experience as a thaumaturge (I never had that problem of weak defenses as an arcanist).

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This sounds like your gear is in serious need of an upgrade. You should not be this weak, and it does not make a lot of sense to me that your arcanist is stronger than your thaumaturge, when they wear the same gear type. Check your gear's level, and see if you can buy anything better from a merchant NPC. Check your gear's state: if it is 0% you might as well be running around naked, you must mend it at a Mender NPC and keep it anywhere over 0% for the gear to work. Are you wearing jewelry, and jewelry appropriate for your role? Check your weapon's stats (+Critical Hit, +Determination, +Mind, etc) and try to wear jewelry that matches your weapon's main stats. Make sure you're not wearing random jewelry like +Dexterity, it's no use to you. This should fix your defense issues.

If you are overwhelmed by enemy attacks, you may have a Role Action called "Sleep" - it's an aoe that sleeps weaker enemies for a long time, but be aware that you will wake them up if you hit them (so sleep them all, then kill them one at a time if you must)
You may also have Swiftcast - which you can use to either quickly sleep enemies or to insta-cast an attack. Sometimes, the best defense is pure, destructive force lol

Remember to keep an eye on enemy cast bars and aoes! Although it sounds obvious, maybe they're casting something that you're having trouble seeing? It may be worth checking it if you're running out of ideas.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by LuSnow

Re roulettes: For me, it's not a matter of liking - or not - going with other players, it's more that with my low level, I'm afraid to be a dead weight for the team and I feel very embarrassed at that.

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Here's the thing: The more you avoid other players, the more this feeling will intensify over time, and at some point you will be unable to socialize or accept help from other players. You're not a dead weight as long as you're not trying to be, and I promise that just like people are helping you on the forums, they'll try to help you ingame too. Just be honest when you're struggling like you are here and many will offer helpful advice!
If you are worried about your personal damage, check out this useful site: https://www.icy-veins.com/ffxiv/black-mage-leveling (using black mage as an example, but there's a page for every class)
Use the slider to select your level and it'll spit out an example rotation and some tips for you to learn your job. Practice this at a training dummy nearby most settlements. You'll get the hang of it in no time.

When you go into a roulette, everyone is synced down to a similar level. As long as you're pushing any button at all, your damage should be comparable to your teammates'.


Also, don't be embarrassed, because many of us were absolute menaces to society (and we were shameless in it too) when we were sprouts.
I'm telling you now, I was an archer (not a bard, an ARCHER) until nearly lvl50! I was wearing tanking jewelry too, because I didn't know about the stats and just bought whatever the game listed first (let's not talk about the time my best friend showed up to an alliance raid without his pants. Straight up no pants, nada, nothing!). My DPS was abysmal and I struggled to remember to look at the chatbox, so I often missed useful advice from my teammates... nowadays I'm reclearing ultimates! We all get better at our own pace, but avoiding roulettes is doing you more harm than good, I promise. In the future, you'll be glad you embarrassed yourself as a sprout and you'll be able to share some funny stories with others, because we all did some seriously silly stuff when we were learning our jobs, and we all had to go through that to become better at our jobs. You feel nervous now, but in the future it'll enable you to step into any kind of content that interests you with confidence in yourself.

If you're nervous, I can go with you on your first roulettes. I'm happy to help, so let me know!

When i read this, my initial thoughts were either your THM weapon was out of date or that you might have the rotation wrong(it isnt unusual to see lower level THMs who either only use ice spells because of the mana cost or who alternate fire ice fire ice - both of which significantly lower your damage). Weapon contributes more to your spell damage then any other piece of gear, so when in doubt that slot should be the first you upgrade. As for the rotation, THM/BLM is a little odd in that the correct rotation changes a lot more often as you level up compared to other classes. Stripped down to the most basic parts, the idea is that you spam fire spells until you run out of mana then switch to ice spells to recharge. That much is true from level 1 to level 100, but which spells you prioritize and how you change back and forth goes through several revisions. THM/BLM also uses a spell naming scheme that confuses some people. If you dont read your tooltips, you might think that Fire 2 is an upgrade to Fire 1. It isnt, its the AoE version. Is Fire 3 an upgrade? Not exactly. It does more damage(and is single target), but it costs too much and is too slow to cast. But Fire 3 lets you switch from ice to fire with your full damage buff in place, and you get to cast it for free+instant some times(via the Firestarter trait) so it definitely is used. What about Flare? Well its AoE, but also very strong even on a single target. But with Flare, the cost is deceptive. It says it costs all your mana, and indeed it uses all your mana when you get it(you later get a trait that lets you use it once for only most of your mana). But you dont need to be full mana to cast Flare, as little as 800 is enough - which means you can use Fire 2 repeatedly and still finish that AoE round on a Flare as long as you save your last 800. It also means that you could drink an Ether that restores at least 800 and use it again.

Ok, that was a lot of words. And many of them probly dont apply to you yet. The overall point was just to read what your spells do, and when in doubt ask questions.

@Shistar: For info, with my main toon, I do roulettes and party with other players for lot of other stuff and enjoy that. You're fully right with all what you say. My "problem" was limited to my newly born alt, with whom I didn't feel comfortable. When it's like that, going with others puts an enormous stress on me (can't help it). Such a case where I prefer to grind alone rather than coping with the stress of teaming up. Idiotic, but can't help it... :o

@Frizze: Thanks for your post that came as a confirmation that my understanding of my skills is correct. Lucky me! Arcanist also has that concept of skills existing simultaneously, one for single target and the other for AOEs. So I'm already used to it. I will keep in mind everything you say in your post.

I'm by now level 32 and black mage, with better equipment, so I start to enjoy it.