The Journal of a New Character

[MrLion]

So I decided to delete my character from Lindblum and start over, only this time as a conjurer because I never got to level CON correctly. The reason why I'm doing this is to end all speculation of how new players are going to level once and for all. So here we go...I will be editing this post and reserve some posts if I need more space.

The First few levels.

So as you can see I started with my saved character data only this time as a CON. I picked Lindblum because it has a medium population and thus means a bit less lag (I hope...) I don't know anyone in Lindblum save for a social linkshell that my THM joined which is no longer active (or no one was talking at the very least). I do not have any currency of any kind or gear or materia. This is like a clean install, nothing but a level 1 character. I will also not ask my friends from Rabanastre to join me, nor do they know I was gonna do this (I'm sure they'll find out by now) so everything is new.

Level 1 you are greeted with story missions, I won't mention much about them since some of you already know the story or haven't played them. I started in Ul'dah because I want to be part of the Twin Flames (seems to be interesting) and I've always started there so they are familiar grounds to me. The story missions gets you from 1 to 3, if you stick around for the cut scenes it should be a good hour-hour and a half, if you skip its a lot less.

After that it was natural for me to go get some guildleves

The First Guildleves

The first thing I noticed is the "Guildleve Allowances" which I had 12, keep in mind that I started this character last night but it was pretty late so I didn't play too much. So I did the first 4 leves at Camp Black Brush. The first two I did it in One Star (which signifies the same level as the leve states which is level 1 mobs), they were easy I AoE'd them down with no problems.

The last 2 I did it at 2 stars (+3 levels above leve mob level) and it was the same by the time I increased the difficulty I was level 5, thus they were level 4. I ended at level 6. I'll say this took me a good 30 minutes, so...so far solo is not a problem.

The Next Guildleves

The next set of 4 leves were the same as the last set, basically killing the same mobs. This time I gave them different difficulties. The first one I did 2 stars again since I was level 6. The next 2 leves I decided to increase it to 3 stars which is 6 levels above the suggested level so again the mobs were the same level as I was, still saw no difficulty and got me to level 7.

I decided to go a bit higher with the last leve and the mobs now were level 10, it was a bit more difficult because it seems their HP is higher so it wasn't the one/two-shot fest that the other leves were. I died once because a Copper Coblyn decided to get in the way and ruined my no-death streak.

My level now is 8. It does seem like leveling is faster, I have not tried group yet because it doesn't seem that no one really groups this early. I am waiting until level 10 to start a bit of grouping see if people wants to stick around.

I will do more leves until I get to level 10 that way I don't bore you with these guildleve explanations, I will try out grouping next post edit...stay tuned.

Level 10-15

Unfortunately the leves did not get me to level 10, but did get halfway there, so I decided to grind to it. Unfortunately, renting chocobos are restricted only to level 10+ so I had to walk about halfway between Black Brush and Horizon to grind some spriggan collectors. Took me about 15 minutes to get there, but I didn't EXP chain because the mobs were level 8, so that means you can't chain unless its at the same level or above.

After that I went back to Ul'dah but instead of immediately looking for a group, I decided to look for a Linkshell. It got me a bit sad because people did mock me that I was looking for a Linkshell at that level, someone sent me a tell (I won't mention names or LSs btw) saying that I should wait till level 25. Finally after about 45 minutes I managed to find one which is friendly to new players.

In there, one decided to join me to try and create either a leve link or an EXP link party, but in those 30 minutes there were no one who wanted to make a party at the 10-15 level range, so we gave up and I logged off for a bit.

A little later, we created an EXP Chain party killing Dodos in Skull Valley followed by a bat run at Shposhae the new zone at La Noscea. In the two hours that I spend with these guys it got me to 15, this is where leveling started to get slower. This means that they actually fixed the XP problems with groups as well as PL (though I'll have to test PL first, but definitely groups had a much longer time).

To be honest I had a wonderful time, parties are a lot more fun now, I was the healer and healing and buffing is definitely harder than what it was pre-1.18. For the new players what concerns me is that they'll have no idea what to do after the initial story missions. Yes it is true that SE should open up these possibilities a bit more, but its also up to the community to teach the new players instead of mocking them and say "lolol noob you need a level 25 character to party lolol".

More entries tomorrow.

[MrLion]

reserved for more space

[MrLion]

reserved for even more space

[MrLion]

I'll reserve this post as well I think i need more space but that's it.

[Kaida]

Bookmarked keep it up!

[Rokien]

Mr. Lion, My name is Rokien Vinland of Lindblum. I am almost done with dark souls(beating it the first time), once I do I will be on more. I should be on tonight(if I die a billion times in dark souls) I'm always willing to help the new(if im not busy) soo please add me to your friends list, also have an ls you can join as well(people don't like talking in it though).

[Tezz_Xivectro]

Just don't forget about behest, company leves, grinding, town quests, & choco defense(once you're high enough). Can't wait to see how it goes. Have fun.

[MrLion]

new entry above.

[Aion]

wait...people put level as requirement to join LS?

[MrLion]

wait...people put level as requirement to join LS?

Not sure, but that dude did make it seem like EVERYONE expects people to get to level 25 in under an hour...well that's not the case. Yes, you could use all of your allowances to level up a class, but you have to be a bit smart about that. What about the crafting classes? The allowances affects ALL guildleves, including the regional ones, so you have to be careful in that regard.

But yes...I did find it annoying that he said that.