when EXPing in parties.....

[Markus. D]

what is more quicker?


kill a bunch of even monsters faster?


or what I ussually do with the party and follow them to the monsters that are diffucult/ies above us?

[Mirage]

If you find the right VT/IT mobs, it'll be better EXP than EM ones, cause it's still hard to find enough of those fast enough.

[coll]

I would say chaining the monsters is the fastest, but only time I have done this is when theres has been 2 whm's in a party, and 1 whm constantly heals the tank while the other heals the rest of the party.
But to do this you have to be quick and know what you are doing, I got into a party who wanted to chain lizzys and I got from lvl 12 to 14 in about an hour but you do need 6 people who know their jobs otherwise it will just be a massacre.

[Mirage]

That really doesn't answer his question though, as you can chain anything from EM and stronger.

[Fuego]

VT and IT is the bestest ~!

But make sure they are just barely IT ... some of them can be like 2-4 lvl's higher than you ... and make it a total Bio-tch to kill and they usually end up killing you ... :(

[Yeargdribble]

This issue has made me leave so many PTs. If you are gonna fight IT they'd better be BARELY IT and all of your melees need to be at the top of the spread. People have the idea that if you have PL you can fight things much higher than yourself and it's not true. There are many things to be factored in.

Your Acc vs the mob's Eva.
Your Atk vs the mob's Def.
Your INT vs the mob's INT.
Your Def vs the mob's Def
Your Eva vs the mobs Acc.
Your MP resources.

If you are fighting IT mobs you will be hitting them far less often, for far less damage and nuking far less hard. Meanwhile, the mob is hitting your tank far more often for far more damage and soaking up your MP much faster.

Essentially it might take you 4-5 minutes to kill one mob and rest your MP back to full. You might make 200 XP because it was IT. Meanwhile another PT is killing lower mobs and absolutely tearing through them. In the same 4-5 minutes they have killed 4 mobs and may not even have to take a prolonged MP break because of how much MP their WHM can conserve.

1x200 = 200
4x100 = 400

In terms of XP/hr it is almost always better to go with lower mobs and tear through them. Sure people will whine that they are not getting the biggest numbers but in reality it is far faster XP. There is a plugin for windower that will let you see your XP/hr calculated as you go. I've seen low level PTs drop from 4-5k/hr to 1-2k/hr because they wantd to move on to the next highest mob. I'm watching the counter tell us that we're making less XP but for someone reason everyone in the PT is saying, "Wow, this XP is much better!!"

In general people are obsessed with big number syndrome. It's the same way for damage. Almost every job (and most notably BLMs) love to see huge numbers. They will blow every ounce of MP to do the biggest damage nuke they can, and then take much damage, soak up the WHMs MP (possibly dying) and slow the PT down as a result. They could've just as easily used small nukes and let the tank have a solid hold on hate throughout the fight and made much more progress.

Granted, sometimes an area can have a lot of competition for pulls, but still a group shouldn't aim specifically at mobs that are way too hard for them.



EDIT: As a note, endgame merit PTs chain low mobs and often are getting less than 100 XP per mob. However, these PTs, killing low mobs for fast, low XP... are getting 15-20k/hr (in a good one).

[Del Murder]

But if the areas are crowded (which I've found them to be so far) and you can't get 2-3 mobs per minute, wouldn't it be better to take the high level ones instead?

[Mirage]

Sure, any amount of exp is better than no exp. I've had mostly positive experiences with IT mobs, but we usually make sure they're just above VT, and not more.
It would have been so much easier if the enemies levels just showed up instead.

[Yeargdribble]

I think there may have been a time where I would've made the argument for higher mobs in crowded areas. However, endgame merit PT spots are the most crowded areas in the game. Still it seems being able to pull mobs that give 70-90 XP consistently gives more XP over time.

I think the biggest reason is that there is still no down time. In a crowded area you often need to pull as soon as a mob pops. If your PT is overcamping and is still resting because the last mob took 5 minutes and all of your MP, you may not be able to pull because your mages will still be low on MP. In this situation it's best to never be caught with your pants down so to speak. If you are always ready to pull and have a good, competitive puller, you will still make more XP/hr.

[Del Murder]

I guess those pullers are just hard to find. I certainly haven't had once fast enough to make that worth it.

[Vincentsinnerdemon]

It takes a very alert and awake person to be a great puller. You need to be able to know when to rest for MP and when someone is AFK. And most of all you need to know the area's mobs and what their levels are.

The general most common pullers are RNG and THF but on many occasions a WAR, SAM, NIN, and sometimes a DRK or DRG may pull. I'd rather have a DRK that knows how to pull than a THF that doesn't know the basics of it, though.