Guildleves create a barrier to new players

[Hinotori]

I recently rejoined the game and feel the game has made good progress over the past year. That said the current Guildleve system creates a huge barrier to actually playing the game with everything in its current state. I've been able to hit 24 on one character and at this point I'm effectively stuck. Guildleves really seem the single best SP source in the game, but you are available in such limited quantity that you can't level on them alone. This leaves behests, party grinding, or solo grinding. Behests and party grinding are great, but with the population in the game at it's current state they aren't really viable at this level. I don't think anybody wants to sit and shout in town for hours trying to get a party invite. It ruins the fun of the game. Behests also could be fun, but at this level it's rare to ever see another player doing them. That makes doing appropriate level ones difficult. So that leaves solo grinding which is neither fun, nor efficient at leveling.

So my feeling is that the timer on guildleves should be shortened to 1-2hrs, or completely removed with random leves being accessible whenever you exchange a completed one. The rewards can be almost completely removed and it wouldn't matter so long as the level experience is improved. This is almost necessary to keep new players coming into the game since it will continue to be difficult to find parties to grind out SP at these levels. The server populations just don't seem to be large enough to support that kind of play style.

[Denmo]

First off: Join a linkshell. Your major complaint seems to stem from a lack of people to party up with. Dev's aren't worried about that right now. For one the game is free, and two, it's 15 bucks at Gamestop. Invite some friends. Make your own linkshell. Remake your character in a more populated server (oh noooo, you say to me, those 24 ranks took me FOREVER /sarcasm).

Secondly: 1-2 hours? No. Not likely going to happen. At best I can see them allowing for unused guildleves to be stored up for use on a day that people have time for. Your character's rate of growth is something that's closely monitored by the dev team. They're not about to make it so everyone can get to rank 50 in a couple days (which is what will happen at 1-2 hour guildleve refresh).

Thirdly: If you find yourself unable to do the 6 rank 30 guildleves on your own, and you refuse to party up with people around you, might I suggest you beef up your other jobs a bit? They're full of abilities that can help you survive better. And it doesn't take more than day's worth of guildleves to get 3 to ~rank 10.

Fourth: Join a linkshell. The dev's aren't going to spoonfeed you this game if you refuse to utilize what's there for you.

[SeraviEdalborez]

Tough it out. If you find yourself soloing, remember that stuff you can kill quickly for "ok" SP will far outstrip big numbers that you need a minute or two to kill. Earns more money this way too, depending on what you fight.

Seconding Denmo for the most part. The first 24 levels are almost too quick anyways due to the innate low-rank-SP-boost.

[MariyaShidou]

Look at it this way, if they are going to allow unlimited Guildleves, then the SP and gil reward will be severely lowered to match its effect and in the end you have an even more grindy game. They are, for all intention, not going to make this a game where you can easily hit the cap in a week or so.

However, they are going to allow you to store leve coupons when you're not online during the reset, and you can do your whole week worth of Leves at weekend. That way, casual players who only play at weekends will be able to get as much benefit as someone who log on every day without having to do so.

[Hinotori]

I've read about the leve coupon storage in the next patch. Maybe with the travel options coming in also it won't be as bad, but they never mentioned adding additional leves available at one time. So you're still stuck with the 3 level 20 leves per city. 20-25 you don't have access to the level 30 leves yet, so that limits the options.

I understand there are some level 50's with strong opinions on this, but my perspective is one of a new character. I don't really appreciate the unfriendly snipes. This is just what it feels like as a player entering the game, which is something the Dev's should be most concerned with right now. Finding a linkshell that actually has enough people at the level you are wanting to party at is not as easy as it seems. What you think of with a linkshell is how awesome it is to have a bunch of level 50's willing to do NM's and stuff. Of course there are people appropriate to your level...it's where everyone ends up eventually. While you say this would make leveling "too easy", you don't just level 1 job in this game. In the end you will want to pick up abilities from several jobs which effectively multiplies the number of levels you have to gain.

If the game creates these feelings in new players, it is going to continue to have difficulty gaining new players. While several things can be done to improve that experience, I really feel giving greater access to leves would be the best benefit. If the concern is about not having access to quick reward quests every day, then leave the current leves in place and add a less limited set that lacks gold/marks rewards.

Also, how is this making leveling "too easy". A good grind party can already make a level an hour. 8 guildleves/hr is not going to be any faster than that. It will just be an alternative for when there aren't enough people on to support a party. This supports new players joining until that time happens.

[Perrin_Aybarra]

the limitation and reset seems fine to me, on top of it the ticket system will make it even better.

Plus I will suggest this. If the rank 30 leves are not available to you yet (when you get those you'll have 6 per city since there are 2 camps) then you can do the rank 20 leves and pick up the rank 10 leves which you can do at 5 stars difficulty. They will still give you about the same SP as a 1 star leve level 20.

You have to use what is given to you and stop complaining about things that doesn't really need to be fixed.

[SeraviEdalborez]

You have to use what is given to you and stop complaining about things that doesn't really need to be fixed.

This.

I will say that if you're a THM, invest in a shield if you haven't already. Aegis Boon is practically 15 seconds of invincibility + free healing against regular attacks (use a shield with a Blocking stat of at least 80, doesn't matter if it's under or overleveled).

Spend time getting some melee classes to 12ish. There are a lot of useful low-end abilities that will make your life easier. Second Wind from Pugilist is especially useful; turn 250 TP into ~300 HP every 45 seconds. Featherfoot at 12 PGL is 1 free dodge every minute. Invigorate at 14 LNC is free TP in battle every ~1:30.

From your mage classes, Punishing Barbs, Repose (see next line break), Poison (any Damage over Time spells), and Spiritbind (if you have MP issues) are things to consider if you haven't already.

Even if enemies having ranged attacks seems to defeat the purpose of bind, most of them are slower and weaker than their regular auto-attacks. Bind wears off when (non-DoT) damage is dealt, but otherwise lasts quite a while.

On leves with multiple enemies, abuse the fact that you have AOE casting.

Plug in your points to VIT for more HP, a little MND for more MP. Practically DEX and PIE will do almost nothing, and STR/INT don't provide high boosts. Until they remove physical, at least.

You are not limited to leves. Grinding (something you can kill easily and quickly even if the reward sucks) at least makes you money, even selling to npcs. Fur/hides go for a fair bit.

Take something from this, as exasperated as it may sound. You're not doing it "wrong", but you could be doing it a lot less painfully. In what way are the leves "impossible" to solo? Running out of MP, or getting killed in like 3 hits?

[Archadius]

The 5-star speed and difficulty bonus is a Godsend. Couple it with Guardian's Aspect and you will gain ranks like crazy at any level.

Also, something to keep in mind for "speed" purposes is that you only need to fulfill the requirements listed, you don't have to "kill everything that pops". In some leves this is crucial to getting that speed bonus. Seriously, if all you have access to right now is r10 and r20 leves, try doing the r10's on 5 star and the r20's on 4-5 star. Use the method I suggested. Pop stuff and run away if the leve doesn't require that the monsters be killed. The bonus will be well worth it. I consistently earned 50k+ SP on a r45+ MRD doing 6 leves in roughly an hour, maybe two, SOLO, having a party makes it even more of a joke. At lower ranks this will be even faster due to the high SP gains and how easy monsters are pre-30.

Hope that helps.

[Hinotori]

I'm pretty sure doing a 4-5 star is near impossible even for the level 10's in the lower 20's unless you have a really high physical level. As a THM a level 20 2 star is dangerous and I can easily get 2 shotted by mobs even with VIT as my second highest stat and current level gear. Disregarding feedback and complaining how someone "isn't using every possible tool" is not going to help get new blood into the game. People starting are not going to have great linkshells or the ability to do leves on 5 star difficulties solo. It's a system that is frustrating. Right now it's do the few available leves at 20 and 10 then log out. If the game was costing money with this system, I wouldn't be playing. I'm pretty sure that's how many starting players would feel.

Given that Square needs to get new players in, the opinion of someone in my position is worth more than the feelings of those who are high level and established. I'm sure things are better after 30 when I can actually do the level 30 leves (I hit 25 and attempted the 30 leves, and that is completely impossible to solo at this level with my character for a while. 2x lvl 35 mobs in each pull mean that I get 2 shotted). But getting to 30 is a problem with the poor access to leves which is the frustration.

Feel free to continue to express your irritation that a player who is new has a different opinion of the system than you do at your higher levels. I just don't think it's in the best interest of getting new players.

[Perrin_Aybarra]

I'm pretty sure doing a 4-5 star is near impossible even for the level 10's in the lower 20's unless you have a really high physical level.

Look, i am honestly not trying to call you down or judge your playstyle, but instead of crying about the leves maybe you need to adjust your tactic. THM are very powerfull even if it's your only class. It is actually very easy to do a level 10 leve with 5 stars when you are a level 20 THM. Please, learn to play your class, adjust your startegy before requesting a change in the way leves work.

I solo leves all the time, I did not have a shell until I got level 25-26 and I found that getting to 30 was easy and fast with just leves and quests/story missions. Not saying that my feedback is better than yours, but the system works fine as it is, soloing 5 star rank 10 leves is more than doable when you are level 20.