WK Plays FFXI

[chionos]

Alternatively, if you continue to have trouble with getting the subjob that way, the Rhapsodies of Vana'diel storyline provides a key item very early on that also unlocks subjobs.

[Wolf Kanno]

A mixed evening for sure.

The good news is that I discovered I had two Mog Wardrobes I didn't realize. So I had a place to dump all my equipment and now I can use the Safe and other Mog Storage options for crafting/quest item. So that was a plus. I also managed to finish a few quests and I must say, I haven't really been too invested in the characters or the plot of the game so far, just because it feels sparse due to all the gaming distractions, but I really love Halver. I unlocked the quest where he has to find a bride for the prince, and the cutscene explaining the whole sequence is hilarious and made him a more endearing figure than I thought. Shame I'm probably not going to be able to do this quest since it involves getting another player involved, but I really do appreciate the creativity of the whole thing.

On the other hand, I am still not close to getting my sub-jobs. I took chionos advice and tried farming Giant Wasps for Pollen so I can finish Rhapsodies of Vana'diel that gives me Gilgamesh's Introductory Letter, but the enemy did not like spawning or dropping items for me. I tried hunting Ghouls again, but only managed to get one to spawn all night before the server crashed (or my internet got spotty, not sure which) and decided to call it a night.

I do think once I acquire the sub-job ability, or get my RDM to lv. 30 I may, switch over to BLM and give that a whirl for a bit. I had not originally planned on using all the starter classes, but at least trying out different options has helped mitigate some of the game's frustrations.

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[Wolf Kanno]

Huzzah! I obtained sub-classes! Managed to obtain the Magicked Skull with the first ghouls I spawned for the evening. Unfortunately for me, it looks like the Mog Tablet's are somewhat like the Dragon Balls and need to be found every once and a while, so I ended up having to walk back to my Mog House to use them because I am not spending 1000 gil to teleport home. In retrospect, the Sub-Class quest has been one of the most disappointing. Not because it was a pain in the ass for me the last few nights, but more because it just felt incredibly underwhelming for a quest that is giving you a major boon to your play styles. Go to this beach town and talk to this old dude. He makes you fetch the last few items needed on his shopping list and voila! you can use sub-jobs now. Very underwhelming compared to say the quest I had to do to unlock Paladin or the story intrigue I am getting in the Dragoon one.

With all that said, I unlocked the Dragoon quest and it looks like I need to travel a bit to get that accomplished, so I was initially going switch to MNK/RDM to finally start making the trek to another nation, but I still have a few quests to unlock that are not going to be worth my time when I get back, but I could use the items or gil they give. So instead, I switched to BLM and I am leveling that up.

Funny enough though, I discovered that I am not as good at exploring as I thought and while leveling in the West Ronafure area, I stumbled on the mountain pass the Orcs had set up shop nearby to harass the Elvaan of San Ondaria.Which is a bit amusing because I am not really struggling here since I was likely suppose to have found this spot ages ago. I have also not been cashing in my Records of Eminence tasks like I should be. So suffice to say, BLM is at Lv. 10 currently.

I also have not been cashing in my Conquests Points and I bought two more Trusts. One is a Tantaru Ranger who is a bit ho-hum but I am using a new class. The other was amusing because he's an the Captain of the Guards who seems intricately connected to the Dragoon class as a potential villain. So that's kind of an odd synchronicity. I also unlocked a third one, but have not had the time to activate them, so I have no idea.

For now, I am leveling up BLM to around 20ish and then I might switch over to WHM or THF and get them all to the 20ish spot while doing these last couple of easy tasks before I really head out into the world. I might even level PLD.

[chionos]

Congrats! That's a relief.

Getting one's subjob was almost an afterthought in the early days of the game. Valkurm Dunes was THE party spot 15-20, so everyone would get their subjob items as a consequence of partying there.

[Wolf Kanno]

I had a few setbacks, but largely had a pretty good night.

I like BLM more than I thought I would. sub RDM with it was also nice just to get some WHite magic since I haven't touched WHM yet. Managed to get the class to Lv. 22 just fighting my way through that Orc base. Managed to fi9nishe the quest for the Temple Knight lady, and I got the holy tapestry needed to get that one lady to trust me for another quest. I unfortunately wasn't able to get a second Shaman Garlic for another quest, but I at least got one so far and I did manage to get a treasure chest key.

I need like one more fight to get BLM to 23 and then I'm debating about switching classes again. I might go white mage just to get it over with. I was a bit sad, but not necessarily surprised that BLM has very limited equipment options compared to other classes this early in the game. Like I was still running around with a few starting gear cause I couldn't find upgrades for certain equipment. The fact he is resticted from wearing certain belts feels a little bit like bulltrout, but thinking back on this class in other games, they usually get the shaft. It was amusing they use staffs, so my BLM does hit hard due to my high proficiency from my time as a MNK.

[Wolf Kanno]

And we're back! A brief holiday interlude and now I can go back to playing this for a bit.

A slow evening as I try to get back into the swing of things. I tried out my new Trust which was a Hume BLM or possibly RDM but overall, I like her. I finished one minor quest I had forgotten about that earned me a little gil and even started another quest that involves me making friends and trying to build a team of living people. Not sure if that will happen.

I did earn my level for my BLM who is now lv. 23 and opted to switch over to WHM and try to get that class up to Lv. 20 as well. Kind of annoying that WHM, RDM, and WAR seem to be the best sub-classes. WHM has been okay, at least I am back to using clubs and shield again. I am trying to raise my Healing proficiency but it is surprisingly slow to level, even as a WHM. I don't exactly enjoy using the toggle feature, so that might be the issue. I imagine like other FFs, healing other characters nets me more XP. WHM is at level 8 currently. Once at Lv. 20ish I will switch to THF and later PLD.

I also tried to synthesize a Rabbit Mantle after I tossed my old one for inventory sake before realizing I had way more space than first thought. Unfortunately it went disastrously, so I am going to have to find more Grass Thread. Crafting is kind of a tedious affair in this game. Like the possibilities are neat, but leveling skills is a chore and it requires way more materials than I feel it should for some jobs. Leatherwork especially seems to require four to five components for basic nonsense like Sheep Leather and that's foundational to almost every other basic recipe. I am not sure If I am going to get terribly far into it sadly.

[chionos]

Crafting in FFXI is insanely intensive, and it gets worse and worse as you go. I enjoy the process of it, but to get anywhere you have to have infinite money/space/time.

[Wolf Kanno]

Not as productive of a night as I would hope. Mainly leveled my WHM to about Lv. 14 but mostly spent the night delving a bit more into crafting in hopes that I can expand my inventory one.

I think the biggest beef I have with synthesis at the moment is that it levels so slowly. I understand their are items and gear I can acquire later to fix this issue, but that's the rub... later. I honestly feel like getting enough levels to be recognized by a guild should be easier so you can get into the thick of it faster, but I have been crafting quite a lot throughout this playthrough and I think I only have one or two skills up to Lv. 1 at this point despite a bunch of effort to show for it. Fishing is also just painfully slow to level up as well.

The other issue I am running into is the fact most of the beginner recipes need either Earth, Wind, or Fire Crystals to use. The issue is that the enemies around me drop a lot of Fire and a modest amount of Earth crystals, but Wind has been a bit trickier to get. Not helping is that the crafts that require this crystal are more prone to failing for me, and thus burning through the supply of crystals I have is exasperating this problem. I'll keep working at it though. I need Beeswax to finish one of my quests, so I am trying to farm Bee Hive Chips, though I don't think the enemy I think that drops it actually does (the Giant Bees in the canyon area) but rather the low level Orc Mesmerizers have dropped it, so I might be heading back to the orc camp.

WHM has been okay, definitely my least favorite class so far, but I tend to go for more offensive classes in general, so support is not really my thing. But if I head into the camp, I'll likely level pretty fast and can move onto THF.

[Wolf Kanno]

Not a lot happened last night in terms of serious momentum, but I did get quite a few things accomplished last night.

• I leveled WHM to 20, so I am switching to THF and focusing on leveling Daggers and Throw, so it will be interesting.
• I acquired the last Trust magic I can easily get with the starter quest line chain. He was a Bard with healing magic and support songs. I do have one other Trust I can try to acquire in San D'oria but I need to increase my Fame to get that one to budge.
• I managed to farm a ton of Wind Crystals, so I can finally start doing some serious crafting. I also managed to acquire some Beehive Chips I need to craft into Beeswax for a quest I have.
• I accidentally pushed forward one quest that involves a potential thief from the capital and a guard who is desperately waiting for his chance to shine.
• I made a Workbench for my Mog House. Still have to go through the nonsense that is crafting Paper to make a Parchment for the Padded Box quest goal. I also managed to make a Leather Bandana which was another quest, but now I need purchase more Distilled Water for all that.
• I finally managed to take down a Hunt that I was actually assigned! Still need to turn in my kill.

So the goal now is to level THF and possibly PLD while finishing up the last few quests I can do in the local area. I'm shooting for Lv. 20 for all the base classes. Then I'll probably do MNK/WAR to the next area. I don't quite know how to reach the foreign lands since all the direct paths require me have already traveled to these places. I am assuming I need to go through Jeuno, which is an area I know I have access to, but I held off because I didn't want to stray too far. I am a little annoyed because I was able to teleport to at least local areas awhile ago, but once the Mog Tablet thing reset, now it costs $1000 Gil to go anywhere and I am too cheap, but traveling is its own pain.

I am just chugging along, but still having fun.

[Wolf Kanno]

And of course the first evening when I had a lot of free time to play this is the night they decide to maintenance.
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[Wolf Kanno]

Okay, I did manage to get in a little time tonight.

I leveled THF up to about Lv. 13. Have been doing a good job raising my Dagger proficiency, but I am switching over to fists because the only knives I own so far are two low level ones, and one I can't use until I am lv. 20. So fists it is, and it will make the fact I am MNK sub class not seem so bad.

I was a bit distraught, because it seems I've lost one of my Trusts. Granted, not one I use a lot, but it still threw me off because I would hate to lose one I do use all the time. I am not quite sure how to get her back, but from what little I've been able to find on the matter, it seems this is more common than thought and depends on the Unity system.

I also did a bit more synthesizing and now am Lv. 2 at Leathercraft. I also made the first of the two beeswax items I need for one of my silly quests. Speaking of, I am having fun with one particular quest I unlocked that seems to involve helping a time traveler.

[Wolf Kanno]

Slow evening but I've been a little too tired from RL to play for too long.

• Got PLD up to Lv. 18. Been liking it so far, though I am not using the class the way I should be. Mainly been using it to level up spears while I let my PLD Trusts do the actual tanking. Interesting to see Banish back as a spell and a Holy one at that.
• Speaking of Trusts, one of the Moogle vendors redid their inventory for the new month and I managed to snag the Trust of Shantatto herself, so that's something to look forward to.
• I also pushed forward and met Gilgamesh, who wishes to whisk me off my feet and sale me across the ocean to meet my dream girl. I may go that route.
• I also turned in some Conquest points to get some decent gear for my PLD. Finally got a bow too, I just need to buy some arrows. So that's a new weapon option to check out.

Now that I've leveled all the starting classes, I may give a little WK assessment for them next post. I won't include PLD just yet, only the starters. But I'll debate what my next course of action will be. I guess I should move the plot along at this point, even though I do still have a lot of quests I could still potentially do. I may try to get the one with the creepy dungeon guard done so I can acquire the Drain spell. I also noticed the magic shop unlocked some stuff, but I am guessing they base it partially on level and class. I haven't eve touched the spell selection at Selbina. But I am sitting on a modest amount of money I could use to purchase some stuff. I mainly hope I can find an upgrade to the Brass Xiphos that I have which can carry me a little further without breaking my bank. I may switch back to MNK soonish to continue on the story just because I have better equipment options for it over my other classes.

So I guess I need to decide if I am going on a magical boat ride with Gilgamesh or if I am going to level up and fight my way to Jueno.

[Wolf Kanno]

Okay, I promised a quick WK style assessment of the starting classes. Going to rank them in the order of my enjoyment, starting with my least favorite class to my fave. I will not that this only really accounts for the first 20 levels of the classes and I expect to change my opinion as I get farther into the game.

WHM - I am not a fan of playing support classes, so this class was a bit of a drag. Not helped that I don't have any macros setup to make this class more efficient. But despite my personal play-style grievances, this is a pretty good class and I appreciate that it takes it's cues from FFI's version with the class being closer to a actual D&D Cleric build than the FFTactics style "healing mage" it eventually devolved into. There is enough equipment options to make this class a surprisingly tanky combat medic for a mage class, and I always feel that's the best way to handle this class. I do low key wish it was based off the FFIII incarnation and had access to Wind Magic but I guess I should be grateful I got Dia back and it's actually moire useful than it was in FFI.

THF - Again, not a bad class at all. It just lacks the satisfaction of other versions of the class within the series. Part of the issue is that I don't enjoy using thieves very much in games with crafting as a mechanics, because that usually means that 99% of the stuff you can steal is just crafting materials which just delays the gratification of getting something cool and useful. Other than that, I can see why this class is a popular Subjob because some of it's abilities are pretty damn useful. So it ultimately feels like a typical Thief in the series in terms of being the weakest melee option of the starting classes, but making up for it with some useful quirks.

WAR - This one surprised me a bit. I was expecting this to be my #2 but WAR just never felt right to me. I blame it on the nature of MMO equipment and classes innate weakness of being dependent on said equipment as the main issue. There were time when this class rocked and other times it felt like the weak link in my party, and it usually depended on what I had available for equipment. The other issue is that while the class is obviously the starter tank class since it gains Provoke, it just doesn't feel really well equipped for the task. Stat wise, MNK is beefier and more durable despite crappier equipment options, and that's when it kind of hit me the weird thing about this class. it is like one of THE Sunjob in this game if you're doing a melee build. So it almost feels like the point of leveling this class is so you can use it as a sub for a better class. I still like it, but I am hoping getting a more stable flow of gear will make this class click better for me.

BLM - The other surprise for me. I don't usually play mages often but I had a surprising amount of fun playing with this class. Outside of my favorite class, this was the one where I felt like I started using it, blinked, and then I was over Lv. 20 still having a blast nuking everything that came within proximity of me. One thing that certainly helped was leveling staffs as a MNK so my poor BLM wasn't completely useless at melee, especially since they have the most atrocious equipment selection of the starting classes. Like seriously, it almost feels like Vana'diel has some deep seated animosity for BLM's and purposely gives them the shaft in that department. The other nice thing was that this class made getting skillchains much easier. Which also likely attributed to leveling it up so fast. Still I had fun, and I like that you can also get spells that do elemental damage and inflict status debuffs. Overall, I really enjoyed my time with this class.

RDM - Of all the classes, this one was the one that reminded me how the game's producer Hiromichi Tanaka had said the game's job system had taken it's cues from Final Fantasy III, because much like FFIII's version, the XI version is a beast. I would argue it's the perfect starter class since it gives you a buffet taste of most of the starting classes. Obviously debuffing is the class' specialty, but overall it was fun jumping back and forth from healing to nuking to smacking. It is also a fairly solid Subjob despite the fact most of it's abilities don't unlock until the class is high level. RDM doesn't necessarily feel like a class you will ever need for an active party, but like it's single player counterparts, it's also a class that will never hurt a team it's part of.

MNK - Yes, I am bias. This was my starting class for this attempt and I don't regret it. Like Monks in the rest of the series, MNK is a surprising beast of a melee class. Fists being able to do two separate hits gives it a damage edge over WAR despite the damaging boosting skills WAR gets. Course MNK gets some too, and it gets more abilities than some other classes much earlier and makes a huge difference. Popping off Boost, Hundred Fist, and Focus in succession has allowed me to get out of some sticky situations where I was punching above my weight class with high level enemies. The high HP and decent evasion makes this a pretty soluid class, and I've been having a blast playing as it.

[Wolf Kanno]

Okay, so now for a real update.

• Managed to level PLD to 25. Had a lot of fun with this class.
• Trust Shantatto II is intense, but love having her on the team regardless.
• Finally managed to finish the Beeswax quest for the church.
• Discovered I am not strong enough to do the Time Traveler quest, because that enemy encounter wrecked me.
• I did finish the Eco-Friendly quest and I managed to get a Carbuncle Ruby while I was down there before my party was brutally murdered by, and I trout you not, Buds Bunny.
• I was able to collect the first Clay Tablet for the Mayor of Selbina.
• I've decided I really don't care for XI's way of doing Hunts. It's just too time-consuming. I still feel that XII does them better overall.
• I get frustrating pulls from the Goblin treasure dude when I get special keys. Managed to snag a Lv. 99 armor for my mages, and today I got a Lv. 30 gun for the COR class.

I am back to being a MNK and I feel like I'm going to need to finally move on from San'Doria. I might go do some stuff with Gilgamesh just so I can move that starter questline along and get the perks that will make doing the rest of the game less of a chore. Assuming I don't whisked away to Windhurst or Bastok by doing so, I'll eventually make my way to Jueno and will likely hit up Windhurst first. My overall goal though will be to reach Bastok and unlock my sweet sweet DRK class, but I'll play around with more classes as I move on. I doubt I'll unlock the advanced jobs past the first expansion. Though I really did want to try out BLU and COR.

[Wolf Kanno]

Forgot to update. I didn't get a whole lot done. I mostly played around Jugner Forest trying to get the quest for the Woodworking Guild that requires I get five different types of wood logs from the trees. I am only missing the Willow Log. Not sure if it's random what you get when you forage or if there is a a specific tree I need to find to get it.

I was also trying to find a Thread Leech around the lake in the forest and only discovered today that it appears only when you fish it. I'll probably try to wrap up these two quests tonight.