Public Service Announcement: Using Thavnairian Onions Correctly

[Inzoum]

We've had a few unfortunate misuses of Thavnairian Onions in our FC due to the whole system being ridiculously unclear, and the criminal lack of safety features to prevent incorrect use.

I put together this little diagram showing the Chobobo exp bar from the Companion menu (or View Details inside stable):



It's a common misconception that Thavnairian Onions are required to make your Chocobo rank up. That's not how they work. They let your Chocobo resume earning exp towards the next rank.

Update:
Alice_89th points out that you must Train your Chocobo with a Thavnairian Onion yourself, as Chocobos trained by another member will not see their rank cap increased.

[Felis]

It's a common misconception that Thavnairian Onions are required to make your Chocobo rank up. That's not how they work. They let your Chocobo resume earning exp towards the next rank.

Thavnairian increase the level cap by 1 until lv20. The Chocobo have to be at the current level cap first before the cap can get increased. I thought that is common knowledge.

But i wounder why the Chocobo don't get automatic a level up at 1714000/1714000 but need still 1 exp? Was it feed in the stable? That it don't get a level up in the stable was also written in a patch note.

[Niqote]

It's good to have an understanding, but it does give you a warning message; to tell you the Onion will be wasted if you do not do it correctly.


Edit: I had to wait 45mins to be able to feed again to grab you the message.



Short and sweet: 0/x,xxx,xxx Exp = Feed Onion.

[Inzoum]

Thavnairian increase the level cap by 1 until lv20. The Chocobo have to be at the current level cap first before the cap can get increased. I thought that is common knowledge.

But i wounder why the Chocobo don't get automatic a level up at 1714000/1714000 but need still 1 exp? Was it feed in the stable? That it don't get a level up in the stable was also written in a patch note.

Chocobos never rank up in the stables, they only rank up when they earn exp in battle, so when the exp bar is full, you need to take them out and kill something. You'll get that at all ranks, and not just those past 10.

In a lot of people's minds, a full bar means "maxed" more than an empty one does.

[Inzoum]

It's good to have an understanding, but it does give you a warning message; to tell you the Onion will be wasted if you do not do it correctly.

The warning you get is "Further training will not result in additional EXP unless the rank cap is raised. Continue training?". To be fair, that warning isn't explicitly clear about the Thavnairian onion NOT lifting the cap (you get the exact same warning regardless of chocobo feed used). It only says you won't get exp. To be even more accurate, this warning ALSO triggers when it's OK to feed a Thav, adding to the confusion, since you need to trust the system and train anyway despite the warning.

The warning is triggered by being unable to earn further exp. That is the ONLY criteria for the warning. It happens when:
- Max exp for current rank (need to take chocobo out in battle to rank up, Thav will have no effect)
- Max rank locked at 0 exp (need to feed a Thav, and then you actually get exp despite the warning)

They done farged up.

[Alice_89th]

Like Niqote says, the game does give you are warning message if you try to feed a Thav onion when it won't have any effect.

But since you made a post, you might want to add that you yourself need to be the one to feed the Thav onion to your chicken chocobo. Otherwise you'll get a warning message like this:



I never tried to feed an onion to someone else their chocobo, but I guess it is safe to say it won't work. (I feed Sylkis Buds to all chocobos and it definitely doesn't change their food preferences).

[Inzoum]

Like Niqote says, the game does give you are warning message if you try to feed a Thav onion when it won't have any effect.

But since you made a post, you might want to add that you yourself need to be the one to feed the Thav onion to your chicken chocobo. Otherwise you'll get a warning message like this:



I never tried to feed an onion to someone else their chocobo, but I guess it is safe to say it won't work. (I feed Sylkis Buds to all chocobos and it definitely doesn't change their food preferences).

Good observation. I'll add it to the OP

[Yukariko]

It is very unclear, I recently ran into the same puzzle of how to use the onion correctly without risking loosing it.

this is withg my Bo stabled.
selecting "attend to my chocobo" > train gives the warning message seen in insert #2
this message is really unclear,
yes I know my Bo wont earn exp, yet i can still waste a krakka feed and wait an hour.
selecting "yes" will allow you to select the thav onion, but there's no message or prompt asking you "would you like to raise your Bo's level"
this if anything should be an option that is preminantly greyed out unless
1 - your bo can use an onion AND you have an onion to use.

[Inzoum]

It is very unclear, I recently ran into the same puzzle of how to use the onion correctly without risking loosing it.
(snip)
selecting "yes" will allow you to select the thav onion, but there's no message or prompt asking you "would you like to raise your Bo's level"
this if anything should be an option that is preminantly greyed out unless
1 - your bo can use an onion AND you have an onion to use.

The "Feed" option only concerns feed that alter your bird's plumage color. "Train" is the option, but that warning is like "you're about to do something wrong", when you're not.

I approve your suggestion a million times, having a dedicated menu option for raising your chocobo's rank cap that's only available when all conditions are met would be PERFECT.

[Yukariko]

The "Feed" option only concerns feed that alter your bird's plumage color.

Ah so that's what that one is for.

but that warning is like "you're about to do something wrong", when you're not.

yeah, that's what completely through me, and it's a little disconcerting when an onion can cost 400k gil or a months worth of work to successfully grow.
*from my experience