Getting From 46 to 49?

[Dat Oni]

So, I was just skipping along, all merry, enjoying the story cutscenes and getting pumped up for endgame, when I turn in my quest, expecting to be given another lovely, blue "!" above the NPC's head...Only for it to turn the dreaded red color.

 

"Oh no..." I says to myself. "Okay...what's the damage. I'm 46, so the next one should be 47, right? Surely the game is at least going to be fair-"

 

"49."

 

 

 

 

One episode later, I decided to see just how bad of a position I was in. Leveling to 49 wouldn't be that bad if I just had some quests available!

 

And the Twelve did sigh... 

 

"Zero side quests available and DPS role wait times for the Duty Finder."

 

So with no other options besides *shudder* levequests, I took to Northern Thanalan, land of endless FATES and delved into the realm of FATE grinding. 2 hours later, I had 1 quarter of my experience bar filled. Progress.

 

To cut a long story short I'd like to know if there's a way to make this grinding to 49 (and inevitably, 50) a little less painful. 

 

Please and thank you.

[Darien Cadell]

Did you get in a group with those fates? 'cause I finally gave in and got into a North Than group halfway through 47 and was 50 within a few hours.

[Olofantur]

Hello EVG,

 

just to check have you used the "suggestions" tool in game to see what quests might still be available? Mor Dhona and pretty much any area with the beast men strongholds will have 40+ Quests (Camp Overlook, the U tribe in South Thanalan, the Slyph camp outside the Sylphlands ect.) It is slim pickings to a certain extent, but you can make a go of it with the first character at least.

 

Hope that helps!

[Kismet]

Right now, the most popular way to go about this is to grind FATEs in the Northern Thanalan (Ceruleum Processing Plant). Typically, when players hit 44-45, they will go there and stay until they're 50. The FATEs there give immense amount of exp and it's the probably the most optimal way to earn those last five levels (at least to my knowledge).

[LiadansWhisper]

You probably need to grind FATEs.  It's honestly the fastest and most efficient way to get those last 4 levels.

[Brave]

Yeah I'll second the FATE's crowd.  Other things I did was do the initial guildheist for each bracket because they give you a completion bonus that's nice.  But they stop at 40.  So FATEs are still going to be the better route I think >

[Nebbs]

Things to do rather than fate grind.. 

Hunting log

Leves

Fates as you pass them

Queue for dungeons 

Crafting gathering or another class while waiting for dungeon

Check out areas you have not been to

Use the thing that tells you what is available in a zone

[LiadansWhisper]

Things to do rather than fate grind.. 

Hunting log

 

Won't give you enough XP to actually get from 46-50.  Trust me, I tried.

 

Leves

 

Give abysmal XP as compared to actual quests OR Fates, regardless of whether you get fast completion bonuses.

 

Fates as you pass them

 

Give far less XP if you are not in an actual FATE group.

 

Queue for dungeons

 

The only dungeons really "worthwhile" to queue for at that level are Stone Vigil and Aurum Vale.  Neither dungeon is "enjoyable," and both have a surprisingly high failure rate in the DF.  You could also make the argument for Dzemael Darkhold, which has the further bonus of BoE gear you can sell on the Marketboards.  However, I don't think the XP would necessarily be worth it, especially when compared to FATE grinding.

 

Crafting gathering or another class while waiting for dungeon

 

Crafting is perhaps viable.  Gathering is not (unless it's Fishing), as you have to wait for GP to regen. Neither of these options gives the OP any XP towards his goal of 50 on a DoW/DoM class.

 

Check out areas you have not been to

 

There simply aren't enough quests to get you from 46-50.  And quite a few of the quests are, for whatever reason, locked until you're 48.  At that point, it's just plain faster to FATE grind.

 

Use the thing that tells you what is available in a zone

 

The only things that tells you about are Trials and Dungeons.  Trials aren't worth doing past the first time you do them, because of the lack of bonus XP.  You could argue that dungeons aren't really worth it, either, again because of the lack of bonus XP.

[Kismet]

Yeah, I'll have to second everything Liadan said. Doing as much of those things as you can simultaneously makes for pretty good exp gain, but only at lower levels. Once you hit about 35-40ish, it mostly becomes all about the FATE crunch frenzy! (Of course, you don't have to grind FATEs... It's just the most efficient way to level.)

 

You can look up some FATE leveling guides that suggest what areas are best to grind in according to your level range if you want a concrete idea of where to go for future leveling.

[Nebbs]

All I can say is I didn't fate grind and I made it. Individual things may not seem like a lot but they all add up especially with rested bonus. 

 

I did this as an Archer/Bard so suffered the long DF waits.

 

(edit) I fully expect for my 2nd class that I will have to learn to like the fate grind.. or go play something less boring instead.

[LeCard]

For those thinking of FATE grinding in N. Thanalan: make sure your party farms the lunatics near the Dark devices spawn point(between fates). You can average between 2-5k exp per spawn of the mobs. if you do this in between FATE you can level alot faster (did my 45-50 grind yesterday).

 

Also, important notes, FOOD and SLEEP. when you log hit an inn, and always have some food. It may not seem like much but having that bonus to add to chain kills during fates/mob farming you can get from 50%-almost 100% bonus to you exp.

 

and remember if the mobs durring the FATE are giving you 300exp killing 10 gets you 3k plus however much you get for gold completion of the FATE.

 

I know mobs don't seem like a good farming source, but if you camped a high level mob(47-49) and killed 10 every 5 mins getting an average of 400exp per mob you could gain 100k in about 12mins. so in about 5hours you could go from level 45-50 off Mob farming alone.

[Sophia_Grave]

FATEs are your best bet.

Just make sure you join a party, get gold medals, and put on some great music. It's a pain, sure, but you'll get there.

[Illira]

FATEs are your best bet.

Just make sure you join a party, get gold medals, and put on some great music. It's a pain, sure, but you'll get there.

Apl speaks the truth. As does... pretty much everyone else here. 

 

I know that when I got to this point with my main, I was pretty annoyed that the quests just dropped off and that I pretty much had to suck it up and just run FATEs. Its actually not so bad (though I still very much disagree with that design decision, but... in general I have an issue with their quest threading, etc...). 

 

Anyway, just be sure to join a FATE group. Its actually pretty easy up there. Just keep an eye on the /shout looking for member spams and send out a few of your own. Don't be shy about whispering the ad shouter for spots, everyone is doing it, just jump in! Its a bit mindnumbing, but it helps to listen to awesome music or watch TV while doing the FATE grind. Its also a plus if your group ends up being chill and fun to talk to and having a guild to chat with to pass the time.

 

Do make sure your rested as can be and eat the foods for the extra xp % gain. Every little bit counts! 

 

It is a lot faster and less frustrating in the long run to just FATE it, otherwise you'll likely be running a bit aimlessly around trying to figure out where to go next. And its more time/xp efficient than just dungeon spamming, especially because of the queue time in between those.

[Naunet]

I feel like Twinflame and I were the only people who did not run out of quests even once leveling to 50. Do not understand. We never deliberately FATE grinded, though we did them when we ran into them. The bulk of our leveling was just quests, hunting and GC log, and dungeons.

[Olofantur]

I feel like Twinflame and I were the only people who did not run out of quests even once leveling to 50. Do not understand. We never deliberately FATE grinded, though we did them when we ran into them. The bulk of our leveling was just quests, hunting and GC log, and dungeons.

 

Seconded, never touched FATEs on my WHM, which was the first one I leveled that wasn't at 50 from 1.0. I made a point of stopping by pretty much every high level zone and snagging the 3-4 quests that had to do with the Beast tribes in each area.

 

http://ffxiv.gamerescape.com/wiki/Category:Sidequest/26-50

 

Sorted by level and look at the size of the 45-50 group, while spread out, and hardly as numerous as lower level, I don't get how people seem to think FATEs are the only option. (most efficient cost/effort yes, even with the Dark Devices nerf)

[Illira]

I feel like Twinflame and I were the only people who did not run out of quests even once leveling to 50. Do not understand. We never deliberately FATE grinded, though we did them when we ran into them. The bulk of our leveling was just quests, hunting and GC log, and dungeons.

 

Seconded, never touched FATEs on my WHM, which was the first one I leveled that wasn't at 50 from 1.0. I made a point of stopping by pretty much every high level zone and snagging the 3-4 quests that had to do with the Beast tribes in each area.

 

http://ffxiv.gamerescape.com/wiki/Category:Sidequest/26-50

 

Sorted by level and look at the size of the 45-50 group, while spread out, and hardly as numerous as lower level, I don't get how people seem to think FATEs are the only option. (most efficient cost/effort yes, even with the Dark Devices nerf)

Even if those quests do get you through to 50, I know for me, I ran out of quests in Mor Dhona around 44/45 and then just gave up and FATE grinded. I think a big issue, as I've expressed, is the way in which SE does quest threading, which is exacerbated after Mor Dhona. It gets sporadic in its spread, with no real indication of where the player needs to be to continue questing. If there is a thread that does so... its obviously not a strong/highly visible one, because a large % of people don't see it, and just FATE grind. And believe me, I was probably the last player to /want/ to FATE my way through the last few levels.

 

Even after I got to the point where I could pick the main quest back up (lvl restrictions had kept me from so), it just wasn't worth it to try to scrape the bottom of the barrel for quests, as I know that I would have found that much more frustrating than just continue on the path that I was on. And having an outside list of quests doesn't excuse bad quest thread design. Its helpful if you happen to have it, but that isn't an answer to the problem, which there obviously is one, when a large percentage of the player population finds themselves without quests. 

 

The recommendation list they have added helps, but its only good at picking up quests when you are in that particular area, and if you happen to exit it on login its not easy to get back on screen (can you even? I haven't found a button/key to bring it back up >.>).

[Olofantur]

Even if those quests do get you through to 50, I know for me, I ran out of quests in Mor Dhona around 44/45 and then just gave up and FATE grinded. I think a big issue, as I've expressed, is the way in which SE does quest threading, which is exacerbated after Mor Dhona. It gets sporadic in its spread, with no real indication of where the player needs to be to continue questing. If there is a thread that does so... its obviously not a strong/highly visible one, because a large % of people don't see it, and just FATE grind. And believe me, I was probably the last player to /want/ to FATE my way through the last few levels.

 

Even after I got to the point where I could pick the main quest back up (lvl restrictions had kept me from so), it just wasn't worth it to try to scrape the bottom of the barrel for quests, as I know that I would have found that much more frustrating than just continue on the path that I was on. And having an outside list of quests doesn't excuse bad quest thread design. Its helpful if you happen to have it, but that isn't an answer to the problem, which there obviously is one, when a large percentage of the player population finds themselves without quests. 

 

The recommendation list they have added helps, but its only good at picking up quests when you are in that particular area, and if you happen to exit it on login its not easy to get back on screen (can you even? I haven't found a button/key to bring it back up >.>).

 

Yes you can get it back up on screen, as to the rest, I suppose i'm just used to having quests being tucked away in the corners of the world, EQ and 1.0 were a harsh mistresses. I wasn't saying its easy, just providing an outside resource, the Srirachi sauce to an otherwise bland meal.

[Illira]

Yes you can get it back up on screen, as to the rest, I suppose i'm just used to having quests being tucked away in the corners of the world, EQ and 1.0 were a harsh mistresses. I wasn't saying its easy, just providing an outside resource, the Srirachi sauce to an otherwise bland meal.

.... You wouldn't happen to want to spread that knowledge of how to get the recommendations list back up on screen would you?

 

I actually did play EQ1 back in the day, lol. I know it all to well... But its really pretty hard to compare EQ1 with ARR in this instance, at least not as being very similar studies in this case. EQ1 was /far-and-away/ more of a sandbox world in its design right from the get go. While ARR depends on a lot of back and forth fetch questing to lead you around. Both approaches are valid. The problem is that ARR suddenly keeps all the bread crumbs in its pocket during the last stretch, breaking the previously established game flow. Which isn't great. 

 

As a side note: I spent most of my time in EQ working to become the most awesome chef ever.

[Nebbs]

The recommendations are in the abilities/actions thing. Press P and it us in there someplace (not at my pc atm). Looks like a pointing hand. You can also get it to popup when you enter an area.

[Olofantur]

As a side note: I spent most of my time in EQ working to become the most awesome chef ever.

 

I was lobbing fireballs and leveling A sub character for Teleport. Made a few forays into potion making but it was kinda... blech and I had little patience for advertising myself in those days. I can understand the sand box comparison, I suppose I meant it more along the lines of people yelling at me over Ventrillo not to enter certain areas because Ogres would beat the daylights out of me so I got used to exploring and sneaking around.

 

The list should show up on the red button area under actions iirc?, but i'm not at home to bring it up at the moment. Maybe some one who can RDC from work and check could chime in with a screen shot, if not i'll take one when I get home.

 

Back to the topic at hand, have you also made sure to do your Guildhests? they're a pretty sizable chunk of exp for the first one. Not worth farming, but (on the later ones.) a decent intro to 8-mans for people still leveling.

[Illira]

The recommendations are in the abilities/actions thing. Press P and it us in there someplace (not at my pc atm). Looks like a pointing hand. You can also get it to popup when you enter an area.

Sweet, I'll see if I can find it under actions when I'm next on. I was looking for it under journal, maps, etc. but never saw anything. Actions seems like kind of a strange place for it.

 

I can understand the sand box comparison, I suppose I meant it more along the lines of people yelling at me over Ventrillo not to enter certain areas because Ogres would beat the daylights out of me so I got used to exploring and sneaking around.

Haha, I loved that about EQ. It encouraged caution and thought in travel, because the world was legitimately dangerous and held consequences for stupid, weak, and underprepared (xp loss and corpse running /hurt/ man [... I almost lost my corpse in an ocean one time...]). 

 

I also recall making a low level wood-elf rogue to go sneak around mistmoor to explore. It was quite a lot of fun to do that, lol. Some of the folk who were around would help me out with environment triggers so I didn't get locked in a closet

 

Back to the topic at hand, have you also made sure to do your Guildhests? they're a pretty sizable chunk of exp for the first one. Not worth farming, but (on the later ones.) a decent intro to 8-mans for people still leveling.

 

Nope, stopped doing those around... 20s? They were never something on my mind, and most other folk ignored them as well. Not saying they maybe shouldn't be done for the xp, but a big issue with them is that they are maybe more explicit in their teaching of dungeon mechanics, but they don't really add much to the game as a whole.

[Olofantur]

 

Nope, stopped doing those around... 20s? They were never something on my mind, and most other folk ignored them as well. Not saying they maybe shouldn't be done for the xp, but a big issue with them is that they are maybe more explicit in their teaching of dungeon mechanics, but they don't really add much to the game as a whole.

 

As a note, the advice i've offered is for EVG, not you as you already sound to have a set path and aren't the thread OP.

 

But not doing them? Really? I always make a point of making sure new people have run through them, while they introduce mechanics they also reward a very large chunk of XP, its kind of bonkers for the amount of effort required. Like the Hunting Log.

 

At least I know that my FC always runs people through them before they're allowed to do HM's & AK with us since the level 40 8-man can be taxing if people don't pay attention. Again just another tool in the large set Squee has provided.

 

EDIT: my attempts to sound less like an ass.

[Illira]

As a note, this advice is for EVG, not you as you already sound to have a set path.

Me? Yeah. I capped a while back. I was just offering my own set of advice and opinions on the matter of design and FATEs.

 

At least I know that my FC always runs people through them before they're allowed to do HM's & AK with us since the level 40 8-man can be taxing if people don't pay attention. Again just another tool in the large set Squee has provided.

As I wrote, I don't think that they are useless. Their xp the first time you run them is good, and they do explicitly teach mechanics. 

 

All I'm saying is that, I've never run into folk that swear by their necessity, much less think about them after they initially run into them in the early game.

[LeCard]

one other important point of note that people really need to be made more aware of.

 

On the FATEs where you turn items in please, please do not turn things in until time is about to run out. If your party kills the (endless) mobs as they spawn you can rake in the exp by having a very high kill chain and continuing to kill the mobs. If you turn the items in early you only cut the FATE short and lose out on alot of potential exp. 

 

I said it in my first post, but I will restate it here, if you kill 10 mobs in 5 mins at 300exp a pop you get 3k exp. Now, with the fetch FATEs you can push that kill amount to maybe even 40-50 mobs in those 5 mins. that=12-15k exp in 5mins. if the FATE last 15 mins you can get 45kexp from a single FATE no including the bonus when you turn the items in at the end.

[LiadansWhisper]

I feel like Twinflame and I were the only people who did not run out of quests even once leveling to 50. Do not understand. We never deliberately FATE grinded, though we did them when we ran into them. The bulk of our leveling was just quests, hunting and GC log, and dungeons.

 

I did every single quest available to me, as well as my entire GC and class logs.  I even did Leves, and I did dungeons, too, and I started running out of quests around level 44-ish.

 

I've gone back and looked in areas, and the only quests I can find are locked to level 48 or 49, which would have been helpful when I was 46 trying to find quests to do instead of Fates, but by the time I actually hit 48 it just made more sense to keep going farming the Fates with the group I was with.