BeastMasters

[Lockheart]

Are there any high level BSTs in this forum? I have a question? ^^ How long does your charm work? Is it minutes by level or longer? Can you solo well? Is it a job worth leveling? Thank you for your time. *bows*

[Lionx]

I am not a BST. But i will say from what i know and just about everyone knows that the BST is the ultimate soloer. Sure RDM can solo(actaully just outlast t hem), but BST is the only job that you can use to solo out through the entire game. For thsoe that are pulling their hair out because of bad parties or arent good with the party attributes of the game can choose this class once they hit lvl 30.

But i wont comment on the abilities of the BST since i aint one nor have i really looked into this job since its THE solo class.

[Ichy]

Not only that, but as a beastmaster you instantly gimp yourself into soloing most of the time, whether you like it or not. You see, your greatest strength comes from the highest lvl mob you can charm to do your dirtywork for you and that mob's lvl will affect the exp of everyone in the team. This basically means that if you want to team with others you need to charm only mobs of equal or lesser lvl than your teammates. Seeing as though you are only an average melee fighter and can't tank very well at all, this drastically reduces your overall usefulness to the group. Maybe you'll have a good sub, but those skills will be reduced to half, too, with your sub being half the lvl of your main.

On the flipside, with Charm bonuses as you lvl and extra equipment that boosts Charisma, you can do some really cool stuff with a Beastmaster, like charm mobs much higher lvl than you (if you're good enough) and slaughter just about everything in a zone. If your charmed mob dies, charm the one who killed it and keep going.

Most notable BST incidents I've seen:
Guy fishes up a Sea Horror on the ferry, charms it after everyone runs away, pirates attack and the charmed mob slaughters them all in no time.
Watching 10 Damselflies beat the snot out of one. Mob dies, BST charms the next one and continues the fight, he's got lots of "ammo" there.
Kraken chasing everyone around Qufim at night. BST charms it and wipes out all the undead mobs so it's safe to travel at night, then kills the Kraken once it's already near death, eliminating yet annother overwhelming threat.
BST charms a mob someone is running at with their weapon out. Other player looks dumbfounded, he doesn't know what a BST is, nor why he can't attack this mob thats just standing there doing nothing. Other player runs off to fight annother mob, only to find that the first mob has magically beaten him to it and is killing it's own kind! This went on for fifteen minutes.... Yeah, I was the other player who didn't know what was going on. Hilarious now that I look back on it, but man was I upset at the time... :D

[Camanche]

Wow. Some of those instances are quite funny. I'm getting this game in a few months, and was thinking of becoming a BST.

Which is a better race for the BST- Hume or Elvaan? (I heard Galka and Mithra are bad choices, and I don't want to be a pygmy Tarutaru.)

I heard that overall, WHM is the best sub, but is THF that bad of a subjob? I want THF as a subjob to help me make money because I want to be able to do different types of crafting (like cooking, and things like that.) Or how about having both as available subjobs, switching betwwen them when I deem it necessary?

Also, would it be bad to start the game as a THF with an eventual WHM subjob when I'm high enough to have one? I don't want to spend too much time leveling jobs that I won't use as subjobs for my BST.

Any advice on the BST job is quite welcomed and much appreciated.

[Fullmonty]

no, BST is pretty mucg stuck with WHM sub solo if you wanna chain, i have a 75 BST friend and i come PL him sometimes when we lose XP in stuf flike dynamis and such. Most of the time a BST will duo with another. I dont know what lvl the ability is but BST have the ability to release their pets before they kill the mob so the pets they charm dont absorb XP. The way i have seen most BST do it is they will let their pets atack for a couple mins and then join in and let the pets tank, they will build up TP till the mob is almost dead, release their pets, and then use a WS chain to kill the mob, cure up and go again, since they released their pets, they dont absorb XP and just the Beastmasters get the Awesome XP, while i sit back and cure em.......

[NemesisX]

ok a few things to put out here. i'm a lvl 55 bstmaster and i'll tell you how it works. First of all, this is an extremely frustrating job. You will die so many times it isn't funny. heck i died 7 times right after getting lvl 55, luckly i had a good buffer up or i would have de-lvled.

Charming - Charming works on almost all the mobs in FFXI, with the exception of a few. you can't charm beastmen, you can't charm ochu classes, I.E. overgrown rose and marlboros, and you can't charm Notorious monsters. there are a few others, and there is no exception to this rule.

The duration of charm is variable to your lvl vs the mobs lvl your trying to charm. a charm will hold on an even match mob for about 3 min. long enough for most any fight you'll have to do. DC lasts for about 5-6 min, and so on. you can keep a too weak charmed for a long time. although IT mobs only stay charmed for a few seconds.

Exping - while exping, it is quite simple how it works. you simply grab an even match mob to use as a pet, and fight alongside your pet. Beastmasters are masters of hate control. there is a very thin line on how well your pet holds hate. one extra cure, or one hit too many, and you'll take a pop in the face. the line for bsts is so much smaller than a regular exp parties. in fact most bsts don't even start fighting with thier pet until lvl 35. you have 3 main subjobs that are used while soloing. in order of greatness whm-rdm-nin. whm gives you the least amount of downtime while lvling. with divine seal + CureIII your up and ready to go in no time.

party/duo/trio - a few bsts like to party all of the time. while this may seem like an easy route, i do not recomend it at all. bsts that party CAN NOT SOLO. they are absolutly horrible at soloing. i know a lvl 75 bst, and while he's been playing the job longer than i have, i can solo circles around him because all he does is party. Duo's and Trio's are good for getting past rough lvls. some lvls the exp just plain sucks. i tend to stay away from duo's and trios as best i can.

Abilities - your two hour will save your life. some think it's useless, but when you have a scorpion running you into the ground, and it's IT so the charm isn't going to last at all, you can just two hour it. it makes your pet stronger, and it WILL stay charmed for at least a half an hour.

Leave is your best friend by far. it allows you to release your pet at any time you wish. this allowes you to get full exp for your kills, and allowes you to save yourself when you have 6 crawlers breathing down your neck.

[Camanche]

That is all very helpful. Thank you.

Still, is THF a terrible subjob? I'd like to start out as a Mithra/Hume/Elvaan THF until I can get to a high enough level to become a BST.

[Vaprice]

Playing as a mithra all I can say is its one of the best races to play as anything. Humes are the saem but dont excell in any certain job. But playing as a THF in Mithra is probably yhe best...elvaan has strength, and humes are good....as I said they are okay at anything they try.

[lordblazer]

Not only that, but as a beastmaster you instantly gimp yourself into soloing most of the time, whether you like it or not. You see, your greatest strength comes from the highest lvl mob you can charm to do your dirtywork for you and that mob's lvl will affect the exp of everyone in the team. This basically means that if you want to team with others you need to charm only mobs of equal or lesser lvl than your teammates. Seeing as though you are only an average melee fighter and can't tank very well at all, this drastically reduces your overall usefulness to the group. Maybe you'll have a good sub, but those skills will be reduced to half, too, with your sub being half the lvl of your main.

On the flipside, with Charm bonuses as you lvl and extra equipment that boosts Charisma, you can do some really cool stuff with a Beastmaster, like charm mobs much higher lvl than you (if you're good enough) and slaughter just about everything in a zone. If your charmed mob dies, charm the one who killed it and keep going.

Most notable BST incidents I've seen:
Guy fishes up a Sea Horror on the ferry, charms it after everyone runs away, pirates attack and the charmed mob slaughters them all in no time.
Watching 10 Damselflies beat the snot out of one. Mob dies, BST charms the next one and continues the fight, he's got lots of "ammo" there.
Kraken chasing everyone around Qufim at night. BST charms it and wipes out all the undead mobs so it's safe to travel at night, then kills the Kraken once it's already near death, eliminating yet annother overwhelming threat.
BST charms a mob someone is running at with their weapon out. Other player looks dumbfounded, he doesn't know what a BST is, nor why he can't attack this mob thats just standing there doing nothing. Other player runs off to fight annother mob, only to find that the first mob has magically beaten him to it and is killing it's own kind! This went on for fifteen minutes.... Yeah, I was the other player who didn't know what was going on. Hilarious now that I look back on it, but man was I upset at the time... :D
I did Duos and Trios with my BST.Man my BST aint htat high but with my Bard i would go with BST in duos or trios.Last weekend I was in the jungles.Man they out flanked us and 10 mobs atacked us form both sides they told me to use my warp scroll i did and barely made it out alive.But BST is the best job you can have besides bard it is.Because you can solo it and duo or trio it.You dont have to deal with competitive camping and EXPing.You can jsut travel with your partner and kill monsters nad level as you go.

[NemesisX]

Still, is THF a terrible subjob? I'd like to start out as a Mithra/Hume/Elvaan THF until I can get to a high enough level to become a BST.

thf may be a decent subjob for the pting bst, but some go w/ war and nin. as for soloing, you will have a tough time lvling w/ thf sub. the downtime would be too much.

[Camanche]

Hmm.. yes, I intend to be a solo BST. I suppose WHM is the best subjob for this? Would I be better off starting as a WHM as well? Or would playing a THF until I can get a subjob be a good idea? I want to play a Mithra THF, and then take on WHM as a subjob until I can get to lvl 30, and become a BST. That isn't too ridiculous, is it?

Being a Mithra with this job isn't too detrimental, is it?

[Lionx]

Mithra have lower CHR than Hume so Charms might fail more at mid levels but i am sure theres MORE than enough CHR out there.

[Lockheart]

True,but a Monster Signa should help that :) +8 to CHA is great.

[Roogle]

I just want to say that there are some misconceptions to the EXP rate of a Beastmaster. They are the only ones to receive a penalty for partying with a pet out, NOT the whole party. There is nothing wrong with partying with a Beastmaster as long as the Beastmaster realizes that he won't get EXP as fast as the group if he uses a pet constantly.

[Lionx]

There is something wrong in the sense say if the BST does not use a pet however, because all his traits and abilties are weaker and even his best weapon (an Axe) will be overshadowed greatly by a WAR's Axe. So in a way it DOES sorta gimp your exp if the BST does not play right. But that also means that the BST to play right, most likely will need a pet..therefore gimping his own exp. So in short...meh O_o its just less of a hassle. Theres tons of DDs out there that need a PT over a BST...and i really dont know how reliable a BST will do tanking with a pet...at least with charmable ones i aint sure about Jugs and with Biscuits.

[NemesisX]

Hmm.. yes, I intend to be a solo BST. I suppose WHM is the best subjob for this? Would I be better off starting as a WHM as well? Or would playing a THF until I can get a subjob be a good idea? I want to play a Mithra THF, and then take on WHM as a subjob until I can get to lvl 30, and become a BST. That isn't too ridiculous, is it?

absolutly no job should determin your race. in ffxi you will lvl a lot of jobs. The thing you have to remember is it's PLAYER SKILL greater than EQUIPMENT greater than RACE. in other words, race doesn't have much effect on your job, as long as you play it right, and have good equipment. on that note, monster signa isn't worth it in my opinion. i have never used it, and the majority of bsts on valefor server doesn't use it. it's just not worth the gil. I am an elvaan, and i lvled ranger to 54, whm to 50, and blm to 45. all of which are supposable horrible jobs for elvaan. if you know how to play the jobs, your race doesn't matter.

at lvl 51, light staff playes a huge part of your charming equipment. it will be your best piece of equipment by far. making the monster signa even more useless.

for every race, as long as you have 2 chr rings, a bird wistle, and nobles ribbon, you will be fine.


There is something wrong in the sense say if the BST does not use a pet however, because all his traits and abilties are weaker and even his best weapon (an Axe) will be overshadowed greatly by a WAR's Axe. So in a way it DOES sorta gimp your exp if the BST does not play right. But that also means that the BST to play right, most likely will need a pet..therefore gimping his own exp. So in short...meh O_o its just less of a hassle. Theres tons of DDs out there that need a PT over a BST...and i really dont know how reliable a BST will do tanking with a pet...at least with charmable ones i aint sure about Jugs and with Biscuits.

Beastmasters in an exp party, w/ an even match pet can do damage a little less than a ranger. i ran a parcer while in a party (i only pted once, so it's just one instance), and my damage was the second highest. i recieved the same exp as the rest of the party because of Leave, and it was constant chain #5's.

and just to show you how good exp can get from bst, here's a picture.

http://www.angelfire.com/rpg2/ff7wars/exp.JPG

http://www.angelfire.com/rpg2/ff7wars/exp2.JPG

[lordblazer]

BST in a EXP PT aren't that bad.They help out alot when they carry around hummus.Extra muscle power my friends.But most BST choose to solo because it really is the best way to go.If you do nothing bt PT you start to lose touch within your inner BST.

[Camanche]

Does anyone have any screenshots of Beastmasters from various races? I'm curious about their general appearence.

[Lionx]

Ahhh interesting then i guess the BSTs that i partied with just plain sucked then. But thats understandable since they solo more than party. Ah well thats is mighty interesting to know that they can function well. ^^ We dont know them enough due to the solo factor.