Curious about leveling speed

[Zfz]

While it IS possible

This is what I'm talking about: everyone claims "it is possible" yet few if anyone has done it. Everything's based on leveling alt classes which has the powerful Armoury Bonus. And FATE grind is only efficient when there are hordes of people doing it, i.e. during launch month, during the month when new classes came out. What about now?

PS: Also LodeStone achievement lists are private by default. I would have had more material to work with if it was public by default.

Also, leveling multiple classes slowly is REALLY inefficient. higher level cross class skills are amazing, and you can help your low levels much easier with a single level 50 character on-hand.

Cross class skills are not necessarily at all on the leveling path save a few special cases like Provoke (WTF Square Enix) where a crucial tool to the role is missing. And as long as you have a class with higher level, you get the Armoury Bonus on every other battle class, so it isn't necessary to first get one to "50" before working on others. Having a 50 does mean that sometimes you get to ride into a camp of enemies, pick up the quest objective and leave on your 50, but if you do that on all the quests you probably slow down the leveling speed.

Still, I'm really only interested in the leveling speed of a fresh character. Perhaps it turns out that this "2-3" days started as "a week or so" and people gradually shorten it in their comments wanting to appear knowledgeable or being good at the game, vaguely referring it to "a few days", and finally "2-3 days".

There's also the factor of that particular mob grind bug position (AOE hits mobs but mobs can't hit you), a particular FATE with infinite mob spawns as long as you don't complete it, and the Bomb guildhest oversight---all of these granted extremely efficient EXP gains and were all patched away. Some people may have been using these now unavailable shortcuts in their leveling but genuinely forgot about this fact because it was considered "normal" at that time.

[Nominous]

This is what I'm talking about: everyone claims "it is possible" yet few if anyone has done it. Everything's based on leveling alt classes which has the powerful Armoury Bonus.

What are you trying to accomplish, prove, or learn here? Are you trying to prove it isn't easily done? Or are you trying to learn how to do it yourself? Most people saying that they hit 50 in 3 days are talking about after their first capped Job. That doesn't make it any more relevant, which is what I feel like you're getting at.

The majority of players have a capped Job already, and that's the most important asset to leveling to 50 in 3 days. Otherwise, the other bonuses kind of pale in comparison. Other than the 50 bonus, here's what you need to fast track to 50 in that amount of time.

1) Have 99 leves stocked. 1-21 can be done in roughly 3- 3 and a half hours by completing leves such as, "Adamantoise Tears", which can be done without combat, and only take around 50 seconds (at max).
2) Hit up FATES while queued for dungeons, at this point. As long as you get decent credit, you're not missing out on EXP. However, if you have an FC party that will boost you, simply spam dungeons until roughly 30-ish. That's probably a solid 8-10 hours out, depending on how fast you complete dungeons. At which point...
3) Either you grind Coerthas FATES, or you continue doing dungeons, however... dungeons will take slightly longer than organized FATE grinding. This is until 41 or 42, which should take you another roughly 15-20 hours.
4) At this point you can FATE grind until 45 (about 7-10 hours depending on your dedication), and then you can DD run spam, which takes no longer than maybe 5 hours to hit 50, with a WHM/good party.

That is how you hit 50 in 3 days. The times are a bit off, I know, but the general idea is there. I didn't hit 50 in 3 days when NIN came out, but I was at roughly 40 by the 3rd day, it really isn't that difficult. Anyone trying to hit cap from a brand new character will never hit it in 3 days, it's impossible. You need the dungeons, which are unlocked via story, and there's Primal fights mixed in with that, not to mention tons of running tea around.

[Zfz]

What are you trying to accomplish, prove, or learn here?

To find out what "2-3 days to 50" really means. I've met a few newcomers lately and one thought (after reading through forums, although I'm not sure which ones) that he should be able to get to 50 and start on end-game content in 2-3 days, saying that everyone's saying this. With this thread and the solid info people have provided, fewer newcomers will be misled.

Because I have not done it myself, nor do I plan to do it, I cannot say to a newcomer whether it's true or not, or advise them on how to do it if they plan to do so. Hence I came seeking people who's actually done it to share the experience.

Note that I'm seeking people who had done it. Otherwise I know the leveling game as well as most other people, having participated since beta. But I don't want theorizing, I want actual experience.

For example some people think it's not possible to clear the main quest at least up to the end of 2.0 in 3 days, but it's been done as revealed early on in the thread. So the "2-3 days to 50" actually apply to clearing the 2.0 main quest. The "easily" part though is busted as a lot of people would probably consider 50-60 hours of play time in 3 days not something easily done.

Think of this as a mythbusting thread. The result: FACT.