Leveling.

[Chveya]

 

In Aion, it was a breeze until you hit mid level, then you tripped over a pretty hard fence, halfway through the mid levels, you were introduced to a brick wall. High levels? Well, brick wall, covered in grease, with you handed rubber gloves, then told to climb it.

 

Rubber gloves, and naked. With all of your elementary school classmates pointing and giggling.

 

I'm not bitter or anything.

[Koti Nexus]

I level by guildleves as well. Sometimes a bit of monster hunting, and sometimes I get physical levels from doing crafting. I also have 4 characters which I bounce around on (mostly 2, but sometimes all 4) and each one do different things and are stated different ways, so no character acts the same.

 

I guess I'm just lucky that I enjoy the leveling system as it is?

 

Lucky indeed. At the moment I have been reduced to rotating my alts so I have some way to progress when my guildleves are on cooldown on one character. At this rate I'll have a fully fleshed out character, skill wise, in oh.. a year.. maybe more?

 

*Scratches head* How bad was the leveling in Aion/FFXI again? I thought SE said they wanted to move away from that.

 

FFXI was easy to hit lvl 10, and then it got harder and harder and more time consuming, and if you died you lose more and more exp as you went up higher and higher.

It was heavily time consuming, as far has I was concerned and I like taking stuff casual due to my RL situation.

[DAISHI]

I agree you are right that most companies don't scrap their systems. I have one shining, noticeable exception.

 

Star Wars Galaxies.

 

I miss you, Galaxies. *sniff*

 

I haven't played that Galaxies.. or any Star Wars game, really! ^^;

But yeah, that would be the first I hear who done that, then.

 

 

It destroyed the game and scattered players to the winds.

[Volkai]

I guess I'm just lucky that I enjoy the leveling system as it is?

 

Lucky indeed. At the moment I have been reduced to rotating my alts so I have some way to progress when my guildleves are on cooldown on one character. At this rate I'll have a fully fleshed out character, skill wise, in oh.. a year.. maybe more?

 

*Scratches head* How bad was the leveling in Aion/FFXI again? I thought SE said they wanted to move away from that.

For the first few years, before the ToAU expansion came out, you would never see more than, oh, probably 6k XP per hour in FFXI, and even that would be really good. 4k /hour would be more reasonable.

 

It also used to take 968,349 XP to go from lv.1 to lv.75 with a capped XP buffer. (968,349/6,000 = ) Just over 161 hours of constant XPing to do that.

 

Then ToAU came out and the Colibri birds were so squishy (and full of XP) that the high rate hit 20k/hour, with average for 70+ XPing being 8-10k/hour. On top of the the XP rates were revised for levels 50+ and you only needed 801,349 XP to go from 1 to 75 with a capped buffer. (801,349 / 20,000 = ) A mere 40 hours of XPing to do that.

 

NOWadays your lower level parties can actually hit higher XP rates, thanks to the addition of Field Manual trials. On top of that, at level 30+ you can get XP in Abyssea, where XP rates skyrocket up to 60k/hour. We have also seen the advent of higher level caps, though, from 75, to 80, to 85 now. It's slated to go up again (probably to 90) in December. That has changed the total XP needed 1,312,849 to go from lv.1 to lv.85 with a full XP buffer.

 

(1,312,849 / 60,000 = ) Just under 22 hours of constant XPing to do that.

 

These are 'fastest possible' rates, mind you. From 161 originally hours to 40 hours some four, five years ago, to 22 hours today.

 

Because of the time involved, it was (and is) unsurprising in FINAL FANTASY XI when an XP party runs for four, eight, twelve, even fourteen hours straight with only occasional breaks for such necessities as players using the restroom or getting water.

 

==========

 

In XIV, however, SE is trying to avoid players feeling the need to grind XP for hours on end. That's what the XP limits are for. So if you're trying to hurry to the level cap you're doing it wrong.

[Akashi]

It was more of a rhetorical question hehe, I am a veteran of FFXI (novice of Aion though the grind was too brutal to continue). Shocking about that change in EXP though, didn't know that. I stopped playing FFXI just before the level syncing came out. So my whining about their EXP grind comes from prior to that.

 

The problem I am having with FFXIV though isn't the cap, quite the opposite. I can't get anywhere near the Surplus. I feel the need to grind for hours on end in FFXIV far more than I have in any previous game because I am just not getting anywhere and it is driving me insane.

[Freyar]

At the moment I have been reduced to rotating my alts so I have some way to progress when my guildleves are on cooldown on one character. At this rate I'll have a fully fleshed out character' date=' skill wise, in oh.. a year.. maybe more?[/quote']

 

Why not run out and do some gathering or crafting? Who says you need leves to do that stuff? I sure haven't been needing a leve to fish and in one day I managed rank 9.

 

I haven't played that Galaxies.. or any Star Wars game, really! ^^;

But yeah, that would be the first I hear who done that, then.

 

Originally it was nice to see the animations work together rather than snap as they do. FFXIV suffers from that a little bit, particularly when combat lag gets involved.

 

In Aion, it was a breeze until you hit mid level, then you tripped over a pretty hard fence, halfway through the mid levels, you were introduced to a brick wall. High levels? Well, brick wall, covered in grease, with you handed rubber gloves, then told to climb it.

 

I got to 28 and gave up at that point. It felt like a pointless waste of time doing nothing. At least with FFXIV I've been able to give myself goals to work towards due to it's versatility.

 

FFXI was easy to hit lvl 10, and then it got harder and harder and more time consuming, and if you died you lose more and more exp as you went up higher and higher.

It was heavily time consuming, as far has I was concerned and I like taking stuff casual due to my RL situation.

 

The XP penalty in FFXI made it absolutely infuriating. This was the experience that my father and I both had trying to work our way up beyond Level 10, and every time we got forward, we got pushed back. Sure it's important to make death something to avoid, but it just made it not fun. The lack of income made buying weapons and equipment impossible, and crafting was far above our heads at the time. Yes, the technical XP/hr before was impressive, but that's assuming those rates are gained by people that know what they're doing.

 

"What the hell is this boat? Where are we?"

[Akashi]

I don't really like crafting, but I may do fishing for the heck of it though.

 

It isn't my physical level I am having problems with though, it is class levels, so that doesn't really help the issue.

[Freyar]

I don't really like crafting, but I may do fishing for the heck of it though.

 

It isn't my physical level I am having problems with though, it is class levels, so that doesn't really help the issue.

 

Naturally improving your PL will help you with your Ranks.

[Akashi]

I don't really like crafting, but I may do fishing for the heck of it though.

 

It isn't my physical level I am having problems with though, it is class levels, so that doesn't really help the issue.

 

Naturally improving your PL will help you with your Ranks.

 

Really... I was not aware of that. How so? :?

[Freyar]

I don't really like crafting, but I may do fishing for the heck of it though.

 

It isn't my physical level I am having problems with though, it is class levels, so that doesn't really help the issue.

 

Naturally improving your PL will help you with your Ranks.

 

Really... I was not aware of that. How so? :?

 

Increased points means more HP, more MP, more defense and accuracy, making it easier to push even at R1.

[Akashi]

So more efficiency. Something I was wondering; if you are at a certain with your physical level, like Camp Drybone (the level 10ish area for Ul'Dah) and decide to go back and work on a Rank 1 Class, should you go back to the noobie area or should you stay in the current area to kill things?

[Freyar]

It entirely depends on the enemies that you are fighting. I can fight up to orange on a new class without too much of a problem by bringing in abilities FROM OTHER DISCIPLINES.

 

The key here is that you need to mix-and-match things that are useful. IE: Bring in Scourge, Slow, Gravity, or Cure from THM/CON to augment your developing discipline. These extra abilities will prove useful as well as the pure HP/MP buff from having a higher Physical Level.

 

Combat is much less about "spamming spells" and much more about keeping yourself open to change tactics when needed.

[Kaiz]

My problem with the system is the lack of consistent 'quests'. At least a portion of the really simple leves should not have a cool down.

 

In the beta I got to around base-13, pugilist 10 without it becoming a hassle, but I can understand the players in the 25+ range feeling the pace just break to a crawl.

 

I like the system as it is, but I hope they add to it more ways to gain your EXP. A flat reward for being in a party that drops a monster, for example, would be nice. At least then we're guaranteed a base amount.

 

I also wish they'd add more actual monsters. With the majority spawned seemingly by the leves, the actual wilderness doesn't seem very populated by stuff to beat up. Even the grind I wouldn't mind as much if I wasn't running around for half a minute between fights because the enemies are so spread out, and so inconsistent of difficulty.

 

But perhaps that's just how it is early on? I can't comment on monster frequency past the level 14 range.

[Jinxsy]

There are areas with fast respawning creatures suitable for grind spots, caves around Uldah, the moles outside limsa.

Trying to find the right area is hard work and as for monsters I've come across many on my travels around the world. Nothing beats exploring the deserts around Uldah hunting for new mining spots or secret fishing pools and walking into a Drake! :bounce:

[Kaiz]

Did said drake one-shot you? I've been a bit surprised with how frequently unusually-powerful monsters pop up admist the normal enemies.

 

I remember the first time I took the ferry from Limsa Lominsa to the Ul'dah region, I decided to attack some unassuming monster that looked like the ones near U'dah and it one-shot me for like 4k damage. This was right after beating up a mouse that was clearly above my level, but not unmanagable and I was saying to myself "What the heck is -this- doing here?"

 

Then there are all those aggro rose-flowers that shoot at you in Limsa Lominsa areas and sap a quarter of your health or more each shot.

 

Then again, I suppose I'd be much safer if I figured out which colors meant what and what I shouldn't be attacking in the first place I'm used to other MMORPGs where the 'way above your level' color really means 'eh, it's just a bit more difficult'.

[Akashi]

The patch today might help a little bit at least with inconsistent skill ups and groups.

 

http://lodestone.finalfantasyxiv.com/pl ... f60fa6524c

[Skye]

 

Then again, I suppose I'd be much safer if I figured out which colors meant what and what I shouldn't be attacking in the first place I'm used to other MMORPGs where the 'way above your level' color really means 'eh, it's just a bit more difficult'.

Good guide-line: If it's red, you're dead.

[Ceadol]

See, but that's not always the case. As a Conjurer, I was soloing Dodos at about rank 8. They were red to me and I struggled with them, but I've never actually been killed by one since Open Beta. Even now at Rank 12, some of them are still showing up as red and I can still take them pretty easily. The con system in this game really has a way to go before it's even decent. It's one of the very few aspects of the game that I'm displeased with.

 

Best way I've seen to determine if they're too strong for me? I try to kill them. If they eat me alive, I know. If I struggle and then die? I can take it in a few levels. It's worked well for me so far. I now know NOT to jump on the Aldgoats for a while, for example.

[Skye]

Like I said, a guide-line, not a rule.

[MysticMatter]

My way for lvling is to first do all my leves at 5 star. The exp is much more and once I exhaust all my leves, I goto the grinding spots where most the spawns are yellow and orange to me. So far its worked good, but I am limited to playing for hours on end due to work and family. Usually I can gain 1 rank for every 1-2 hours of solid 5 star leves/grinding.