Final Fantasy XI

It has been fairly hard to advance in this game lately as I have been not grouping with many intelligent players.I'm just wondering if this is an issue on all worlds or just Odin. I'm currently a level 17 DRK/WAR with a 30 Thief and have been playing a little under two weeks.

I lead 90% of my parties and each one of them complains if there is no white mage. Generally since whm hardly every seeking a party, I will find a rdm/whm and couple it with another class that is subbing whm. This is only in 10-20 parties in Valkurm Dunes as later parties generally do need a good main healer.

Is this not a correct format for parties?

Tank

Healer

Sub healer

DD

DD

Support

So if one of these slots is not "perfect" people in the pt leave and put their flag back up and sit around for another two hours looking for a more perfect party. I think getting 75-100xp per kill is better then getting 0xp/hour.

Odin has a large population but I am still finding it hard to get into good parties or find players that know what they are doing. I'm finding that rank 8 people with advanced jobs still do not know how to pull, tank, or heal.

Have other people been having the same problems or difficulties in advancing their jobs? I realize FFXI is a social game with a great community but a lot of people don't even talk or communicate in parties.

Well it seems to me that you are doing the right thing. 75-100 xp a fight isn't too bad in the dunes, not great, but not too bad. Not having a whm or sch at that lvl can be kind of a pain at times we all know this. What i would recommend is maybe a dnc thrown in to your mix. Another thing is depending on what kind of tank you have will depend on how much healing you need. If you have a pld or nin tanking in the dunes things can go really well but if you use War you are gonna need more healing to keep them alive. On top of that if you have a decent tank a main healer and backup healer my question is what is your support job you are using? I myself would go with 1 tank, main healer, backup healer/support, and fill the rest of the slots with DD whether melee or the spell type.

So again my question would be what job(s) are you using in that support slot?

Sometimes having a bunch of healing and support won't do the trick and you need some damage because the shorter the fight is the less healing your healer and backup healer need to do.

Another note people these days are used to the fast pace of higher lvls and mid lvls. So sometimes people get bored when they are only getting 75-100 xp a fight.

And for your comment that some people with 75 jobs and rank 8 can't do their task in the dunes. My answer for that would be that they might not have had to fill that role ever before. I know my first job to 75 was a tank so when i had to learn to pull i wasn't too great in the dunes because i had never had to do it before. The dunes have always been a learning experience area for anyone no matter what job they are playing because that is usually the first time they party with that type of job.

For the talking part i know many people don't really talk in parties these days unless its some kind of downtime. Most might be socializing in their linkshell as well when they have time for idle chat. I know i like to listen to music and chat with my ls on vent even during merit pts so i wouldnt put it past people to do this in lower lvl parties.

I hope things turn up for you soon though. You seen to know what you're talking about and your complaints can be pretty common place but i assure you that later on when you find yourself a great linkshell and some good friends it will be hard to get away from ffxi and you'll see why it is known for having a great community with fun and challenging experiences.

I agree with K11keeper.

One of the problems is that most FFXI players have been playing for years. It's an old community. A lot of these people expect VT-IT chains rather than T chains. Most players have at least one level 75 job (probably more) and aren't all that thrilled with leveling another character from 1 to 75. At lower levels it isn't as easy to have a RDM main healer, especially when the group has a couple of members who are bitter about leveling in the dunes.

I would generally get the occasional group member who would be a dick and leave just because the group setup wasn't perfect. I personally just kept going with the dedicated players until the job I needed popped LFG. Try to find a LS mate to PL you through the dune in a day. I know a lot of people have alt accounts with a PLing bot and it makes 1-30 nice and smooth. It is very tedious for someone with a 75 or even a 55+ to go back to the dunes and backtrack to slow ass parties that they aren't used to. IMO just give the group members that stay some time, generally they will stay with you because they are smart enough to know they may not get another invite for 2+ hours. Also, soloing in la theine/ konschtat is viable while LFG and you can usually get a couple levels solo. Hope this helps as you have the same mentality I have towards those people lol.

@OP, I would say that since Odin is so jam packed, people are just being picky bitches.  I play on Bismarck and I've been through the dunes at least 6 times, maybe 7, and i've rarely heard anyone complain about the makeup of the party.  The only times was when it was obviously there would be issues like WHM x 2, RDM, BLM, tank, and a semi DD.  All for exp but even Tough mobs would take forever to kill in that format.  The party makeup you said is the way to go.  I think people are just being asses because they can with a high population server.  My theory is, even 50 exp a kill is 50 more than sitting idle and LFP.  If they wanna be picky bitches, let 'em. find someone else i say. 

Also, i do agree with what was said by someone else. Being Rank 8 and having a 75 job doesn't mean they know how to play the one they are currently with in the dunes.  Hell, i got NIN 34 currrently and I'm just now getting the tank thing down.  I spent my whole time playing this game for 2 1/2 years avoiding hate (SAM and RDM both to 75) so it's kind of hard to learn against what i already know. 

@SquirrelMaster, I would never reccomend someone get a PL in the dunes. I've actually asked parties to tell their PL to go away.  Dunes is where you learn your job (And Qufim, and to a lesser extent i think Jungle).  A PL does not let you learn to how to avoid or keep hate as you can just do whatever you want without consequence.  PL's are evil and i think should be avoided if you possibly can.

Originally posted by Suplyndmnd

@OP, I would say that since Odin is so jam packed, people are just being picky bitches.  I play on Bismarck and I've been through the dunes at least 6 times, maybe 7, and i've rarely heard anyone complain about the makeup of the party.  The only times was when it was obviously there would be issues like WHM x 2, RDM, BLM, tank, and a semi DD.  All for exp but even Tough mobs would take forever to kill in that format.  The party makeup you said is the way to go.  I think people are just being asses because they can with a high population server.  My theory is, even 50 exp a kill is 50 more than sitting idle and LFP.  If they wanna be picky bitches, let 'em. find someone else i say. 

Also, i do agree with what was said by someone else. Being Rank 8 and having a 75 job doesn't mean they know how to play the one they are currently with in the dunes.  Hell, i got NIN 34 currrently and I'm just now getting the tank thing down.  I spent my whole time playing this game for 2 1/2 years avoiding hate (SAM and RDM both to 75) so it's kind of hard to learn against what i already know. 

@SquirrelMaster, I would never reccomend someone get a PL in the dunes. I've actually asked parties to tell their PL to go away.  Dunes is where you learn your job (And Qufim, and to a lesser extent i think Jungle).  A PL does not let you learn to how to avoid or keep hate as you can just do whatever you want without consequence.  PL's are evil and i think should be avoided if you possibly can.

The point of an experience points party is to get experience points, no? While I can see where you're coming from on this, it's just another excuse to give people who don't know how to play their jobs a factor to blame in what could of prevented them from learning how to play their jobs... even though the only thing preventing someone from learning their job is themself.

Tanks still can still learn how to provoke/hold hate, even with a PL.

*Situation: A party of six people (war, mnk, thf, rdm, whm, blm) gather in the dunes with a PL. When the party finds a camp, and buffs up, the thf goes ahead and pulls a goblin. The thf and the goblin get to the camp and the war provokes it. About mid-fight, the blm over nukes and pulls hate off of the PL. Once the blm pulls hate off of the PL, it uses bomb toss. The PL cures the tank first, but the blm still has hate. The war uses provoke on the goblin to pull hate off of the blm so he doesn't die, and because the war has full health from the PL curing him. The goblin then dies.

See? The war still learns how to tank with a PL in a party. He learns to provoke at the beginning of each fight, and to provoke off of members with low health who are about to die.

Healers can also still learn to heal with a PL.

*Situation: Same scenario as before, at the goblin using bomb toss. When the goblin uses bomb toss, the PL can only heal one person at a time, and is probably going to start with the tank. The healer is then left with healing everyone the PL doesn't get a chance to heal right away, thus learning how to heal.

Damage dealers as well, can still learn how to do their jobs with a PL.

*Situation: Again, same scenario as before. Engage, hit the enemy, weapon skill when you have 100 TP. In the blm's case, sit back with the healer and nuke accordingly (as the blm learns, over nuking can lead to disaster). In the dunes, it doesn't get any more complicated than that. By the time damage dealers truely start to get in to more complicated stuff (skill chains, magic bursts, etc), they won't even need a PL anymore.

You see? Every type of job still learns how to play their job, even with a PL. Saying otherwise is just giving lazy people an excuse to be lazy, and flat out suck. Farming, questing, soloing, doing missions... there are a variety of other activities people can do to learn how to play their jobs.

On another note, regarding my first sentence. If a person is willing to PL a party, there really is no reason to decline if they're offering to do it for free. The faster the experience, the better. That's the point of an experience points party in the first place. If you wanted to get slow experience, you'd be soloing instead.

You see? Every type of job still learns how to play their job, even with a PL. Saying otherwise is just giving lazy people an excuse to be lazy, and flat out suck. Farming, questing, soloing, doing missions... there are a variety of other activities people can do to learn how to play their jobs.

 

First, i have to say, that your post came off a little pissy when my post was nothing of the sort.  Maybe just because tone of voice doesn't lend to text so i'll chalk it up to that.  However, i don't understand your statement quoted above.  Wanting to not party with a PL makes me lazy? I have to work more and harder to get exp so that makes me lazy?  And partying is faster exp than soloing, that's why I do it.  Having a PL makes it even faster but like I said before. With a PL, people don't learn their jobs.

As for your situations, this isn't how a PL works.  The BLM over nukes so the PL spams cures on him and the Warrior and takes hate.  They then steal hate the whole time and BLM overnukes still but cant steal hate from the cure spamming. 

I've PLed many people and this is how it always goes.  Infact, most PL's yell if the Warrior provokes at all because then you got the squishies getting hit instead of the RDM or WHM PL getting hit for 0 with stoneskin or missed all together.

Originally posted by Suplyndmnd

You see? Every type of job still learns how to play their job, even with a PL. Saying otherwise is just giving lazy people an excuse to be lazy, and flat out suck. Farming, questing, soloing, doing missions... there are a variety of other activities people can do to learn how to play their jobs.

 

First, i have to say, that your post came off a little pissy when my post was nothing of the sort.  Maybe just because tone of voice doesn't lend to text so i'll chalk it up to that.  However,