The problem with FATES

[tukuiPat]

So I wanna lay down some maths, I've not gotten to deep into this but, per hour from grinding instances is about 150k EXP an hour at high 40s, if it takes you ~2 minutes to complete a FATE, and you get ~12.3k EXP per FATE, you would need to do 12.19 FATEs per hour to get 150k EXP an hour, now in theory at 2 minutes per FATE you could get 30 done if you could travel fast enough to the FATEs, you'd earn ~369k EXP per hour, BUT from personal experience, I've seen it take up to 10 minutes for a new FATE to pop up on any point on the map, some times they will pop faster, some times they take their sweet time. So if it takes ~5 minutes per FATE to pop up (excluding the chances of 2 fates being near each other or up at the same time) you're only gonna get ~12 done per hour if you even make it to the FATE in time to get gold.

unless someone can point me to solid data on FATE timers, FATEs are unlikely to be faster EXP then instances if you have a 4 man party for spamming instances

[Dad]

Excellent post! To be honest this is what made ffxi great! You had to learn how to play with people early on, you had to learn how to play your job early on. Fates, or dynamic events, are just for zerging down mobs. It's so chaotic. I can barely see what the hell is going in with all the abilities from people popping off.

You can disable seeing abilities in your character settings, although I do agree that it is too chaotic. My first FATE as a healer, I have the pleasure of finding out that healing people grants me no exp, and I was wasting my time. To top it all off, I'm playing on a PS3 that requires all players to load before enemies. Even if I'm at a FATE, most likely I won't be able to target any enemies because they don't load in time. PS3 FATE is completely broken and most PS3 players won't be able to level with them unless they can get to the FATE before 20~ other players show up.

[Bustercucumbers]

unless someone can point me to solid data on FATE timers, FATEs are unlikely to be faster EXP then instances if you have a 4 man party for spamming instances

If you are in a fate party, you will almost always get gold. Also you need to consider in your math the fact that dungeons have large down time too. Sure you get 150k in a dungeon, but then you are sitting around waiting another 30 minutes to an hour for your next dungeon, while you could have been in a fate party grinding it out nonstop.

[Cairdeas]

No Fate Except What You Make

[Meimei]

Battlecraft leves (and to an extent, grand company leves as well) need to receive a huge buff to their rewards. The exp/gil is pitiful as it stands.

That alone might solve the whole dilemma of FATE being the only viable route to exping.

[seikenflash]

If you are in a fate party, you will almost always get gold. Also you need to consider in your math the fact that dungeons have large down time too. Sure you get 150k in a dungeon, but then you are sitting around waiting another 30 minutes to an hour for your next dungeon, while you could have been in a fate party grinding it out nonstop.

Not if you have that FATE party go into the dungeons, I find having a group spam dungeons is the fastest way to level, not FATES. Why does everyone seem to think having a FATE party is the fastest way, when you can take said FATE party and dungeon non-stop, no downtime waiting for a cue, this, would effectively give you more xp in the long run then grinding FATES. You don't cue up for FATES, you shout to build the party, you don't have to cue up for the dungeons either, you can shout for the party effectively removing the long wait time of the duty finder.

[tukuiPat]

If you are in a fate party, you will almost always get gold. Also you need to consider in your math the fact that dungeons have large down time too. Sure you get 150k in a dungeon, but then you are sitting around waiting another 30 minutes to an hour for your next dungeon, while you could have been in a fate party grinding it out nonstop.

I'm actually getting ~200k EXP from instances. I'm also queuing for them with a Tank, Healer and 2nd DPS. Granted not everyone can have friends that cover these roles but nothing stops people from trying to find them in shout either.

[Dyvid]

Not if you have that FATE party go into the dungeons, I find having a group spam dungeons is the fastest way to level, not FATES. Why does everyone seem to think having a FATE party is the fastest way, when you can take said FATE party and dungeon non-stop, no downtime waiting for a cue, this, would effectively give you more xp in the long run then grinding FATES.

I think this is right. Though right now FATEs my seem like the fastest way to 50 I found it isn't. I did questing and dungeons all the way to 48 with a little FATE here and there to cap out my level and earn some seals. Now if a person wants to level up solely by FATE that's on them.

P.S. You are right about Guildhest though because the rewards are meager after the initial run and SE needs to address this.

[Itchyness]

TBH i enjoy fate grinding if you have some sort of large aoe. I just like to sit there and stare at all the pretty lights and colors and treat it like a fireworks show.

[necrosis]

Also adjust FATE's so that mobs have more HP so people can get to them in time and contribute enough to get full credit. There's nothing more annoying than running across a map to get to the next FATE only for it to be almost completed and have the cycle repeat itself all the time.

Welcome to being a mage in FATE. If there are a good deal of people at the event and you are there when the wave starts you can power nuke maybe one mob. After that because of cast time you can not get any attacks on other mobs that are now less than 1/2 HP.