Will there ever be an easier way to level up your chocobo?

[Sylari]

If we gave them super features, the bots that are already abusing them in their current state would love it even more.

I see this explanation thrown around a lot, for way more than just chocobos. At some point people need to realize that the best way to deal with bots is to try to fight them directly. Hamstringing your legitimate playerbase is a horrible way to try to deal with bots.

[WellFooled]

My Chocobo just got to rank 6 this morning! And while it is slow going, I don't mind. Its a long term goal with a very cool reward. On my sever I've only ever seen a chocobo rank 10 barding once, its a very rare item to have and really sets you apart. Some goals in the game should be quickly attainable and others should take awhile, this is one that takes a little longer.

I do not ask them to be party member replacement. I just ask them to be something like Emerald Carbuncle, something that can help you but not to the point of replacing party member. In fact, make them act just like a Topaz Carbuncle minus enmity generation and I'm very happy. Controlling chocobo is a dream I wish can come true.

I've never leveled an arcanist so I don't have anything to compare the Chocobo to, but I find my Chocobo fits the bill exactly. He's not as good as player healer, but when I'm soloing fates he makes a world of difference keeping my health up.

[Tzain]

The only real con I see is that the chocobo excludes duty finder, if that weren't the case, I'd have likely maxed it out by now.

[Raestloz]

@wellfooled:

That'd be because you level your chocobo as healer. Take defender side, and you're in for a world of frustration.

And do try to level Arcanist. IIRC level 5 nets you A carbuncle. See how you control them.

[FJerome]

I'm under the general impression, though it's hard to gather solid data on this, that if you're hunting for materials with your chocobo it boosts your drop rates as it counts as a second party member.

[Maelwys]

I get that having a summoned Chocobo is good for people leveling up while solo, but the player greatly outclasses his/her pet at such a fast rate that it's like a cheap version of the Arcanist.

It depends on how you build them.

I can understand specialising in a particular stance purely in order to get the barding... but from a performance point of view it's definitely better to go hybrid. My Chocobo became noticeably more decent after I got to Rank 6. The level 4 Healer Stance Cure ability and the level 4 Attacker Stance DoT are both great, and you only need the level 1 Defender Stance Ability in order for it to hold hate (albeit at a slightly lower rate than Topaz Carbuncle, and it really doesn't have that much HP). The problem is that specialising in only one stance really cuts back on the amount of passive buffs and useful abilities you can give your chicken.

I'm using my chocobo for levelling up alt classes. Since it's a fairly decent Healer/DPS Hybrid, it's decreasing the time it takes for me to run Battlecraft Leves quite drastically as well as letting me solo FATE bosses without paying much attention... though I agree that at higher ranks it takes AGES to notice the exp bar move.

(I main PLD. My chicken is quite capable at keeping my health topped up and it can do higher DPS than me whenever it's in the right stance. I'd quite happilly take one with me into a level 50 dungeon in place of a random Duty Finder party member if it let me...)

[LordSaviour]

I could have been dreaming, but I thought I read some where that they are implementing Chocobo Leves at some point.