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Final Fantasy XI Guide: Getting Maat's Cap
MMORPG.com Final Fantasy XI Correspondent brandon Shaw writes this guid to getting Maat's Cap, a versatile chapeau in Square Enix's MMO.
By Brandon Shaw on May 22, 2009
Adventurers of Van'adiel love to run around town in their hard-earned gear, showing off their achievements in the game. So why not start the quest that will reward you with one of the most 'fashionable' head pieces in the game to show off around town, that also is a wonderful piece to macro in for situational use? The truth is, Maat's Cap is a wonderful hat to macro in for weaponskills, SATA, straight tanking, jumps, cures, nuking, etc. and the added enchantment of Ru'lude Gardens warp isn't bad either. So why doesn't every player have this hat? The versatility and potential of this hat would make it a wonderful addition to every adventurer's wardrobe, and the fact that all jobs can wear it entices even the laziest leveler to level up some jobs to be able to equip the hat. So what? How do you get it? It's simple, to obtain Maat's Cap, you must complete the quest "Beyond the Sun", which is accomplished by defeating Maat with Bard, Beastmaster, Black Mage, Dark Knight, Dragoon, Monk, Ninja, Paladin, Ranger, Red Mage, Samurai, Summoner, Thief, Warrior and White Mage in the 70 cap quest called Shattering Stars.
So it's simple, right? Beat Maat on every pre-CoP job, and then he gives you his hat. It's a lot harder than that: First, you must have these fifteen jobs leveled to at least 66, which is the minimum level to enter the battlefield "shattering stars" , in order to even begin this quest. Second, you actually have to beat Maat for it to count towards your progress in the quest. You can repeat the battle as many times as possible until you actually defeat him, but defeating him can be hard, depending on the job. At level 66, it's possible to beat Maat, yet it usually requires capped skills, expensive gear, and taxing meds and food. Even with the best gear, food, and capped skills, a win isn't guaranteed at level 66, so it would be smart to take into other things such as moon phase (if you're leveling Summoner, for example), the particular day (for Black Mage, Red Mage, etc.), and what time it is (for Ninja). All of these aspects will help you beat the relentless Maat the 15 times required for your hat.
;)
Maat's Cap will be a very arduous piece of equipment to obtain if you are the perfectionist that enjoys wearing the most expensive, hard to obtain equipment for whatever job you're leveling at the time. If this is the case for you, and you love playing Final Fantasy at your own slow-paced speed, then trying to speed your way to a Maat's Cap won't be any fun at all for you. If this applies to you, then simply level these jobs at your own pace, getting the jobs you enjoy all the way to 75, and the jobs you don't particularly care for to 66, fighting Maat only when you feel your character is able to defeat him. If you play like this, don't expect your Maat's Cap any time soon, if ever, but that's just how some people are. For you more fast-paced players that can get a job to 75 in three weeks, the thought of a Maat's Cap is more viable, and the reality of actually having one is a reality that can actually happen pretty soon with some hard work.
Here's some pretty decent advice when starting Maat's Cap quest and not knowing where to begin: Unlock (if you haven't already) all the extra jobs at the same time, and level all of them to 20 before you do anything else with them. This is made possible, because, through level 20 most gear is interchangeable between jobs, separated only by mages and DD's. So pick up some versatile, cheap armor, and spam through every job through the dunes, and decide which jobs you want to do from there. As disgusting as leveling 15 jobs through the dunes consecutively sounds, after you finally finish, then you'll never need to go back through that step in this quest again, and you'll thank yourself for doing that later, I promise. With every job unlocked, and every job at least level 20, the 'hardest' part of getting every job to 66 is finally done - with the horrible events that happen in the depths of noob-infested Valkurm Dunes, Qufim Island will be very promising -- and now it's time for some classic, grinding experience points parties in FFXI.
If you're serious about obtaining your Maat's Cap, then it would be very wise to conserve and recycle Gil as much as possible, spending large amounts for items only when you absolutely have to. The good thing about leveling up many jobs at once is that a lot of jobs typically wear the same gear at those respective levels. A Scorpion Harness, though expensive, can be used by almost all of your DD jobs that need accuracy, so it's wise to purchase these expensive, yet necessary items. For job-specific gear, such as Scythe's, Great Axes, Long Swords, Guns, Bows, etc. that you're sure you'll only use once, it would be wise to re-sell these items as soon as you level out of them, to effectively recycle your Gil. This will ensure that a little bit of Gil can go a long way, and also that your inventory slots won't be maxed out on unused items.
;)
There are some jobs, Summoner for example, that has essential items, that are unfortunately rare/ex, and some time must be spent to obtain them. Unfortunately these items are pretty much essential to the job, and time must be spent in order to receive them. So you can either take the time to receive these items the same day you unlock all the jobs, as you aren't even leveling them up at this point, or you can do them while you're completely exhausted from leveling, and need to do something else before you collapse from boredom. Some necessities that can be received fairly easily (and free!) include: some ichi spells for your ninja, all the summons, Carbuncle's Mitt's, Evoker's Ring, for Summoner, RSE for all jobs, and selected AF, there are some items you simply must get for survival in the experience points party world.
I hope this guide hasn't scared you off from trying to obtain Maat's Cap, rather, I hope it has served as a source of inspiration for all aspiring adventurer's out there wishing to obtain one of the most powerful headpieces in the game. So now it's time, absorb what I've told you, kiss your social (or endgame) life away, and prepare to be the envy of all your friends.
I played FFXI for a very long time - and even to me, with perhaps 4 level 75 jobs, it seemed as though Maat's Cap would simply be too far off. The rewards however, are fantastic :)
Starting to see more and more of those these days. It's funny how that happens. You don't see anyone with it... then it seems everyone's getting one.
That said... It is a very nice piece of gear to acquire.
Just one thing... please dont' let it go to your head when you do get one (no pun intended). Maat's cap has a tendency of turning otherwise cool people into arrogant assholes with huge egos, to put it bluntly. I've run into at least 5 who turned out that way after obtaining it. 2 of them had been on my friends list and were really cool 'til they got it.
It is a nice piece of gear and yes it does take quite a bit of effort to acquire... Maat can be a right pain in the ass to defeat. However, it's still only a bunch of pixels in a video game. Keep that in perspective should you get one.
Other than that...
Good luck!
Edit: Had to correct a number :-p
Every party I get into now somebody mentions "Oh I'm trying to get a Maats cap"
I see them all the time now, getting exp for people who are used to this game is cake now. I know a guy who got a Maat's cap in less than a year playing.
It used to be something that most people thought was unattainable, now its just sorta hard to get.
Which I guess is a good thing.... But its like beatting the game... I mean when you have all your jobs at max level then what?
I mean yeah you can raid and stuff but ultimately you pretty much just won FFXI.
Well then you have the storylines, the quests and subquests and sub sub quests and getting some really nifty items from various venues:)
Takes some time to do all that without burning yourself out:)
I think that's the beauty of FF, that there is always a story waiting to be discovered.
By the time you have a Maat's cap you probably have done all the missions and side quests and everything else, atleast until they relase more missions. Which FFXI is very good about doing no doubt.
Just sayin that if you have a cap you've pretty much done everything by then.
Edit: Well I supose you could level the jobs that you don't need to get a maats cap like Dancer, Corsair, Blue mage, Schloar, and Puppet Master.
My only point is that most of the jobs require you to have certian levels of fame and require you to do a lot of missions to unlock them or to level them. So its very likely that if you obtain a Maat's cap you'd probably have done most of the content by just getting all the jobs up to par and leveled.
Though I agree it doesn't require you to have done any Endgame content to get a Maat's cap so I supose you could always do that, but most people get involved in endgame and continue to strive for a Maat's cap while still doing all the other things at the same time.
You'd be hard pressed to find someone who had a Maat's cap and hadn't already done pretty much everything.
FFXI is a great game but lets face it without a solid Linkshell after you cap the jobs you like to play doing anything else that requires a party is nearly impossible ala Rank 10 or Sky and Sea
Are you saying that you need a party to do rank 10, i trio'd all the way to rank 10 i all three nations, with the exception of 5-2 we took 4. Although your wording is quite weird, maybe you can elaborate on what you are trying to say?
I remember the dunes parties and qufim island wasn't a walk in the park either. FFXI was a home game for me until CoP and I would level a random job through the dunes just for the laughs, it WAS a really rough crowd. I remember hearing the that "The Barrens" in WoW (sorry to compare but...) was the place that separated boys from men. But before the barrens there was "The Dunes" and if you didn't rage-quit then, you never will.
And good luck on maat's cap, FFXI always had the most interesting timing system WHEN you did something was almost as important as WHAT you did. I really never saw that again in a game or at least a game I played.
This used to be my best friends when I was crafting: Pyogenes
I also heard that they started a new "shadow world" from the latest expansion and now it is harder for newer people to level up. The reason is that everyone basically leaves the plane and it gets barren. Is this true IYO?
Great article, thanks for the letting me reminisce of fighting Maat, he was a pain.
Play safe,
Ink
Ha I remember Maat too except my memory is about how I three shoted him :). Apparently they gimped him quite a bit from what he used to be. Can't say I'm sorry though.
My comments about FFXI refer to how the game is so unfriendly to us solo fiends. I love to solo, frankly I'm rather anti social plus I keep odd hours and I don't want to wait for parties. I capped my Sam but the fact remains I spent countless hours waiting to get parties together. FFXI is old school so I knew what I was getting into but frankly sometimes waiitng two three hours for parties got old, that's all. Still I have good memories of it all and I suppose that's all that matters.
ko,
I hear ya on waiting in Jeuno for parties, that got lame real quick. What bugged me more is that by the time I finally got to sky NIN was the tank of choice, even though I had a geared out Galka PLD; jelly ring, sword o' gluttony and all the bells and whistles. The problem was that WHM's needed RDM's for refresh and noone wanted to have to keep healing the tank. It made sense since NIN's took virtually no damage if they kept Utsusemi up.
Bottom line, FFXI is not a soloists game. Never was and never will be, that's not what FF was all about, it is a party based game. So when my LS went to wow I was a little sceptical. When they told me it was a soloists paradise I gave it a shot and rolled a tauren hunter. Now THAT my friend is the easiest class to solo IMO. I solo'd all the way to 60 ( pre-BC) apart from instances or elite quests I rarely needed a party and I had a good guild so it was never a problem.
What I learned from FF was the heirarchy of classes, some classes are just more desirable than others. WHM and BLM are almost a given in a party, however unless you have a niche then you will have a tough time. I learned that melee classes have it rough, you need to have the best gear and sometimes have a good rep to get a party.
One of the things I can say about pugging and getting into random groups is that I met alot of different people that I wouldn't of normally met. Most of the time I would get the better ones in my guild and that made everything better all around. Guild is growing and so is my social network, these are social games after all. So even to this day if I'm sick of grinding solo which is mind-numbing and my guild is quiet I'll jump into a pug.
You never know who your going to meet.
What are you playing now?
Ink
I'm rather intrigued that the person who wrote this article neglected to mention one of the biggest details- in order to fight Maat, you need a Testimony. If you lose, you need to get another testimony, which is a time-consuming effort that involves a party of high-level players farming for a low-drop-ratio item.
That's what truly makes it a nightmare for me.