Take Advantage of the EXP Boom

[Taylor_Morris]

I have leveled Thaumaturge from level 1 to level 44 since Saturday afternoon. Once I get the job to 50 today I will immediately begin CNJ to maximize my usefulness as a THM. I haven't played the game otherwise since about a year ago in the first months of release but that seems to be the intelligent companion job to Thaumaturge. Afterwards I'm definitely going to be looking for a job to provide Thaumaturge with some personal defensive support, as the job is very, very fragile. I'm assuming I'll end up choosing Gladiator, which now worries me because I was just reading in the Gladiator forum that GLDs are at a "low point" in their effectiveness as tanks due to an AoE-based enmity-generating skillset that is favored by the current nature of "AoE Parties" (I don't know what other name this method has) that target large groups of enemies for chained experience point bonuses. (My main point of this post These AoE Parties could quite possibly be, in my opinion, the peak of experience-points grinding in the entire life of FFXIV. I was just in a party in Natali (I believe that is the name) from level 38 to level 44. The rest of my party started at level 40 and went up. By the time I was hitting level 40 others were hitting level 46. I don't know why I was invited, but I was definitely grateful to be in this party as I was no where near as useful as someone else who was a higher rank may have been. We were fighting the Natali-beasts. First they were level 46-49, then they were around level 51-56 I believe. Even with other party members' levels very close to the levels of the beasts were chaining 10-15 of them at a time and completely obliterating them for experience points earnings of around 15,000 per every ten minutes. Is that hard to believe? I may be incorrect in my estimation, but I feel confident that it is correct or perhaps even too low. I once saw a "Chain #16" for over 1,200 experience points. It was absolutely stunning. In all my leveling experiences from levels 1 to 38 I have not had as great a levels earning as this one. Even a power-leveled party at level 20 chaining cactuar, for the most ridiculous amounts of experience points I have ever seen in any MMORPG (although I am only truly versed in FFXI, mildly in Rift and Aion), did not compare to this one. Once maintenance is complete I will definitely be grinding all the way to level 50 this evening and will take a well-deserved brake.

In my opinion, the experience-points boom can be directly attributed to the overwhelming power of AoE melee attacks from classes that can absorb incredible amounts of damage.

Anyway, I just wanted to say that it's my advice not to take the current partying atmosphere for granted. I think that this could quite possibly be the greatest partying era of the entire game and I think the developers know that. I believe that the developers purposely overcompensated the potential of parties to make up for all the frustration that has build up over not being able to party as fluently over recent months as some would prefer. Not only that, but the new developer also stated that the "Job" system is being implemented in 1.20 or 1.21 I believe. At least one job that I know of is being renamed, other jobs are potentially being overhauled, created, or transformed as well. I believe that the current experience-point boom is the developers way of saying "Hey, things are unbalanced right now, things need a little bit of polishing. What's most important right now is that you have fun, so we're going to make you ridiculously overpowered in groups so you can destroy whatever you want to and level up as much as you want to until things become more balanced, fair, and fun." The best party of the experience-point boom before the Job-system overhaul is that all of current levels are guaranteed, and will transfer to the new job system. It is important to me to level what I can as fast as I can before the overhaul because I hate low-level grinding, I dislike the pressure to achieve max level in order to participate in the most-fun parts of the game, and want to be able to spend more time in the future perfecting my preferred jobs as opposed to grinding sub-job levels.

[Xeno]

Yes, they are. I expect a nerf to all strongholds in 1.2, could be wrong though...

[Irondude]

yoshi said he doesnt want to make leveling harder. It's not about having a lot of level 50 jobs, where are you going to get the gil for all that gear? You will probably end up inevitably on the job you like the most and have the best gear for. Or if your a hardcore player you have 2-3 jobs. Lets not forget the level cap is at 50 I'm sure we are going to really hate 50+ aka 100,000+ exp per level.

[Kopuno]

I would expect a nerf of some sort coming soon. Or when the level cap increases a HUGE increase to exp needed to gain a level. For now though, I'd just level what you want and be happy. Until they add some actual content there isn't much to do besides level classes. Then when you've capped em all in a month or so, well.. Go play something else til they release the next patch.

[Taylor_Morris]

Yes, they are. I expect a nerf to all strongholds in 1.2, could be wrong though...

So, I'm trying to get to level 50 from 44 right now, are strongholds the best way to do that?

[Wynn]

I also think this crazy leveling will be changed in the near future. MMOs are about keeping you paying to play. This current rate of xp can get a person in and out, having done everything the game has to offer, in under two months. Quite honestly, even two months is a generous time frame.

What ever happened to Yoshi's opinion about getting a single job to max level should take four months of play time?

Leveling is currently a joke and I hope they fix it sooner rather than later.

[Taylor_Morris]

yoshi said he doesnt want to make leveling harder. It's not about having a lot of level 50 jobs, where are you going to get the gil for all that gear? You will probably end up inevitably on the job you like the most and have the best gear for. Or if your a hardcore player you have 2-3 jobs. Lets not forget the level cap is at 50 I'm sure we are going to really hate 50+ aka 100,000+ exp per level.

I mean no offense when I say that I wish everyone's mindset could forever be so naive as to believe that leveling would remain this easy forever in an MMORPG, a business that profits ONLY from long-term player-based subscription fees. A limit amount of content coupled with quick leveling equals a quick loss in playerbase and an increased loss in long-term subscriptions. "Well, I finally beat FFXIV". Not happening.

[Irondude]

why do people play ff11 still? they just keep raising the level cap and adding content. this game is no different. they will be adding new classes and jobs. Jobs will all be quest based. New main story, avatars, buddy system. A lot of things to do not just grind to max level. Yoshi has repeatedly commented about this. He does not want to make the game too difficult to level up.

[Irondude]

ok why does my avatar keep changing WTF

[Xeno]

So, I'm trying to get to level 50 from 44 right now, are strongholds the best way to do that?

For sure dude.