Stormblood Early Access Leveling-Ala Mhigan Earrings and You!

[TheRealMadruck]

I wanted to create this posting as a advisory to all those that are planning to level up during Early Access before and After the official release of Stormblood. As in the title in this post, those that pre-ordered Stormblood will gain access to this incredible item....a earring described by SE to provide the traits and bonuses listed below while it is equipped:

VIT+5
STR+5
DEX+5
MND+5
INT+5
Increases EXP earned by 30% when level 50 and below.

Now the crucial part of this posting is asking you to look at the part where it says "Increases EXP earned by 30% when level 50 and below." You read that right.....that means that all the XP you earn as a Level 50 or below will grant you a bonus on top of the already available bonuses in game for having a job at 60. So why may you ask is that awesome? This one item will make farming Level 50 Dungeons the most ideal way to level from 50-60 and quite possibly even higher levels than that. That is also not including the bonus to xp from doing your daily roulette or since you will be fighting mobs at equal level while synced.....you will also receive Chain XP!

Chain XP in FF14 is described here: http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Chain_(term)

As per the information in the webpage above, "Experience Chains work similarly to Final Fantasy XI exp chains. They can only be gained while fighting monsters that are of the same level or above the player's current class level. Chain bonuses stack with linking, guildleve, level difference and party bonuses."

So if you look at the way EXP Chains works in FF11:

Chain# Bonus
1 20%
2 25%
3 30%
4 40%
5+ 50%

Time (in seconds) 1-10 11-20 21-30 31-40 41-50 51-60 61-75
Chain #1 50 100 150 200 250 300 360
Chain #2 40 80 120 160 200 240 300
Chain #3 30 60 90 120 150 180 240
Chain #4 20 40 60 80 100 120 165
Chain #5 10 20 30 40 50 90 105
Chain #6+ ?? ?? ?? ?? 50 60 60

With this data, you clearly see that if you add up all the bonuses to XP....from the 50% you get for having a Lvl. 60 already, then adding in the Ala Mhigan Earrings 30% buff, with food XP bonuses, farming Level 50 Dungeons with a Pre-made Group if you are a DPS/Healer or solo queing as a Tank is the best and optimal way to level during this time to get to 60. I would also add that HW dungeons can be farmed this way as well as long as the mobs you are fighting are the exact same level as you to get the chain xp shown above but at a lose of the bonus 30% xp from the earrings. Then during those times you are no longer the same level, you can return to level 50 dungeons to receive the bonus chain XP once again!

Lastly, this method is guaranteed to be better for leveling than POTD or any other method as long as you are in a Premade group as a DPS/Healer or Tank solo. If you are a healer/DPS and you truly cannot find others to party with.....at that moment POTD is a better option for you since you can more than likely have a shorter que time than waiting for a level 50 dungeon que! But remember, rested XP cannot be used for POTD and if you are farming floors 51-60 you are level 60 inside and the bonus xp you get from the Ala Mhigan Earrings does not apply. POTD only gives a static amount of XP per 10 floors completed as seen here:



So good luck to everyone in Stormblood and I hope this information will be useful for all!

[Astrus]

I get how the earrings help with getting from 50 to 51 but doesn't the bonus XP turn off after that?
At that point you're no longer "50 and below", right?
If simply level syncing down to 50 reactivates the XP bonus wouldn't syncing to 30 or below provide an even higher bonus with the brand-new ring thrown in?
Or even to 25 and below if one also has access to a friendship circlet?

[Lexia]

I don't level jobs just to level them, I only level the jobs I plan on playing.

[savageink]

I get how the earrings help with getting from 50 to 51 but doesn't the bonus XP turn off after that?
At that point you're no longer "50 and below", right?
If simply level syncing down to 50 reactivates the XP bonus wouldn't syncing to 30 or below provide an even higher bonus with the brand-new ring thrown in?
Or even to 25 and below if one also has access to a friendship circlet?

xp for lower level monsters drops with every level you are above their level as well. I'm not sure it would even be worth the time going even lower, but I have no idea if the rings reactivate when you sync either. and if I had an item that was better in stats after the regular xp bonus expired I'd probably use that and the increased xp from the higher level content.

but an additional bonus for levelling above the friendship circlet and the new ring i'm actually kind of thrilled to hear about.

[TheRealMadruck]

xp for lower level monsters drops with every level you are above their level as well. I'm not sure it would even be worth the time going even lower, but I have no idea if the rings reactivate when you sync either. and if I had an item that was better in stats after the regular xp bonus expired I'd probably use that and the increased xp from the higher level content.

but an additional bonus for levelling above the friendship circlet and the new ring i'm actually kind of thrilled to hear about.

To answer both of your questions, items that grant a bonus to xp activate as long as you are at the level or below the level the item states. So if you have a item that gives you a 25% bonus to xp as long as you are at/below Level 25 for example.....you will still get the bonus XP as long as you are at/below 25. So lets just say you are farming at The Thousand Maws of Toto-Rak which is a level 24 dungeon and you sync down from lets say level 40....the item then activates since you are in that dungeon as a level 24! It only stops working once you step outside the level synced content. The same applies to the Earring. If you are level 52 for example and put on the earring and do a synced level 50 dungeon...the earring will activate since you are level 50 inside that instanced dungeon and all xp earned will also apply the bonus xp until you leave and un sync!

EDIT: The Thousand Maws of Toto-Rak is a mistake I made for a example because it will not sync you below level 25....it will sync you to level 27. But the facts still apply to any dungeon that syncs you below level 25 or in case of the earring for the level 50 dungeons.

[Fawkes]

If simply level syncing down to 50 reactivates the XP bonus wouldn't syncing to 30 or below provide an even higher bonus with the brand-new ring thrown in?
Or even to 25 and below if one also has access to a friendship circlet?

I don't think it's worthwhile. I think you get a lot less exp per mob when synced into a low level dungeon, and since the bonus is a percentage of that smaller amount of exp it ends up being less than you'd get from a dungeon your level with no bonus items.

[savageink]

I don't think it's worthwhile. I think you get a lot less exp per mob when synced into a low level dungeon, and since the bonus is a percentage of that smaller amount of exp it ends up being less than you'd get from a dungeon your level with no bonus items.

yeah. that's what I was thinking. plus you still get the levelling bonus for a second class.

[Amelia_Pond_Behemoth]

To answer both of your questions, items that grant a bonus to xp activate as long as you are at the level or below the level the item states. So if you have a item that gives you a 25% bonus to xp as long as you are at/below Level 25 for example.....you will still get the bonus XP as long as you are at/below 25. So lets just say you are farming at The Thousand Maws of Toto-Rak which is a level 24 dungeon and you sync down from lets say level 40....the item then activates since you are in that dungeon as a level 24! It only stops working once you step outside the level synced content. The same applies to the Earring. If you are level 52 for example and put on the earring and do a synced level 50 dungeon...the earring will activate since you are level 50 inside that instanced dungeon and all xp earned will also apply the bonus xp until you leave and un sync!

But if you're synching down from 40 to do Tota Rok, you're going to be level 27, not 24.

[TheRealMadruck]

I don't think it's worthwhile. I think you get a lot less exp per mob when synced into a low level dungeon, and since the bonus is a percentage of that smaller amount of exp it ends up being less than you'd get from a dungeon your level with no bonus items.

Exactly, but level 50 dungeons are different. The amount of XP you get plus the Chain XP from being equal level+the 30% on top of it makes it ideal for 50-60! The amount you get from HW dungeons may be slightly more....but every odd level you will not get the Chain XP which eventually end up you losing XP since you are above the level of such dungeon. If you are level 54 and farm Sohm Al, you will only get the base xp from killing mobs except for the chain you would get no matter what qued level 50 dungeon you do!

[TheRealMadruck]

But if you're synching down from 40 to do Tota Rok, you're going to be level 27, not 24.

Your right Amelia....Totorak was a bad example dungeon since you do sync to 27....but any other dungeon will work as long as it syncs you below level 25! I still think the others that read this will get the idea!