Quote Originally Posted by Phileas View Post
Im finding it super difficult to rank up when im under rank 8....

I am late to the bozjan party and i was in a capped instance where the lowest rank was 11...

How on earth can you gain mettle without the ability to solo skirmishes.

I gave up after my third fruitless try to rank up. This is very frustrating
You are correct, it is pointless to try to get anything done in Bozja solo. Getting to rank 8 was difficult already on day 2, and since HW FATES have a 100% drop rate, not many players will remain in the lower section of Bozja to farm those particular memories if they are after the relic specifically. The first 10 ranks are also loaded with cutscenes, along with lower rank can prevent other members in your party from participating in CEs. In short, it sucks to get to rank 8, but once you do then the entire area opens up, and the only other thing you are excluded from at that point is Castrum at rank 10 with the exception of fragment appraisals that are locked behind the higher ranks.

Even after getting to rank 8 and 10, you have to contend with a increasingly larger gap to get promoted to the next rank, and the increased loss to mettle if you are KOd. There are particular encounters you might want to avoid if you are concerned with losing too much mettle as a result of being incapacitated multiple times throughout the instance.

In your position, what I would do is hangout at camp and wait for a CE to pop up, join it and announce your are looking for a party, or start inviting those who are (might be easier to just say you're looking tbh). If there are other people in the group around your rank, they will likely be thinking the same thing you are, and will want to remain with those players to help get things done. The higher ranks will just...leave. Especially if Castrum is about to pop, or a CE is up they can't join because of the lower level players in the group.

In any case if you find yourself with a group of players around your rank, try to stick it out with them. I am actually really surprised players aren't selling their help to get players up in rank. The lower portion of Bozja is actually a great place to farm clusters.