--------- Original Message ---------

DATE: Mon, 8 Mar 2004 15:35:27 
> From: "Bear Powell" <replicant@northstate.net>
To: <tenchi@usagi.org>
Cc: 

>
>I myself camped Spiny Spipi in hopes of earning me
>a Silk Mist Cape, but he hasn't spawned for me so far.
>Killing the gobs, bees, and crawlers I did earn over 2k
>exp solo though. That's not too shabby. I'm about 350
>from lvl 11 so that shouldn't take too long now. :-)
>
>Sucks to hear you are still having group troubles. When
>I get high enough I'll group with you if you're still within a
>reasonable level. :-o At my current rate of exp I would guess
>I should catch up around December. :-p Now if I can just
>get that stupid crawler to drop me 2 capes. Since my
>friend wants one as well. :-)
>
>If you have ideas on PLing let me know. My friend tried
>to help me, but it was kinda a waste of time. He could heal
>me, but mp still caused the same amount of downtime. We
>played a little last night when I got lvl 9 (His sub is a Lvl 10
>BLM) and we played in the canyons a bit before he had to
>log and we're getting decent exp. Other than my friend I've
>had horrible grouping experiences so far. Seems none of
>the ones I have grouped with understood that monsters
>can link and they should be careful pulling. Grrr..... Trying
>to run away from a mob in this game sucks balls. Bah!
>
>I even had a person refuse to raise me, because I didn't
>have a sub-job. WTF!?!!
>

Mages get Clear Mind eventually, which vastly speeds up the MP regeneration 
process while healing (BLM get the first level at 15, while WHM get it five 
levels later).  At WHM 50, I got Clear Mind level 3, which gives me 21 mp at 
the end of the second tick, and +2 mp per tick thereafter (as opposed to the 
+1 mp you get at your level, starting with 10 mp at the end of the second 
tick).  So you have to have a bunch of levels to have a serious advantage.  
The other advantage of high level healers is that the mages have a bigger mp 
pool to start, which means I can cast Cure I (or Cure II) for a lot longer 
than a level 10 WHM without having to regain MP (not that I'm casting those 
spells in my groups...).  On the other hand, the high level Protect and Shell 
buffs have a much shorter duration when cast on low level players, so they're 
of limited utility for powerleveling.
 

Also, at level 40, RDM get a spell called Refresh, which is basically a short 
duration form of Clarity.  It doesn't last long, and provides 3 extra mp ever 
2 or 3 seconds.
 


However, the real advantage of having high level friends is that they can 
help with quests and missions.  You should do the missions when you have the 
chance.  They make Signet last longer, and the items you can purchase with 
conquest points get significantly better as your rank increases (you also get 
access to a few additional areas, as well as the airship pass, at certain 
ranks).  The Conquest points items may look so-so now, but take a look at the 
Rank 9 items.  Missions get noticeably easier if you have friends to help 
with the tough spots (except for some that have level limits on the fight - 
such as the final fight in Mission 9).  And the subjob quest (which can be 
started at level 18) is much easier with a high level friend to help out.  I 
did mine in Selbina, and the hard drop is a rare item from a rare spawning 
mob (magik skull from a ghoul - every night, a handful spawn in random 
locations in Valkurm Desert).  If you start it in Mhaura, then the hard drop 
is a pie!
 
ce 
of cloth from one of the Bogies.  Its a common drop, and the Bogies are 
easier to find.  The trick is that the Bogies are tougher than the Ghouls 
are.  But if you have a high level friend to deal with the Bogies...
 

At any rate, as should be abundantly clear, power leveling is doable, but is 
somewhat limited (particularly as your level goes up).  On the other hand, 
with high level help, you can blaze through some of the quests without too 
much difficulty.
 

Also, don't sweat too much about experience.  Start getting into groups 
around level 10 (Valkurm Desert is typically the spot to go for this sort of 
thing), and take things as they go.  You'll meet lots of idiots (something 
about this game seems to attract the incompetent - dunno why), but you'll 
group with some solid players.  And if you can ever get into a group of 
experienced Japanese players (btw, for some reason Japanese newbies are often 
even worse than most North American players) then you'll watch the experience 
fly.  I've pulled in 3.5K exp in an hour in a Japanese group, and people have 
reported even more.  The average for a decent NA group (meaning everyone at 
least knows the basics of their job) is around 2K an hour.
 



junior