Black Mage Lovin'
Posted 04-08-2009 at 09:18 AM by Gorvi
So, Black Mage was my first real job in FFXI. It's the job I started out as when I first entered the world of Vana'diel in nothing but my Tarutaru RSE equipped with an Onion Staff. I took the job to 75 back in a time when parties still sought after Black Mages and the Skillchain/Magic Burst style of leveling was all the rage. Back then 6k xp an hour was godly, we mostly got by with 4-5k an hour and we liked it! 
I hit 75 back in November of 2005 and did a bit with it, but real life issues took me away from the game for a bit, and by the time I got back ToAU had come out and everything changed for BLM. Suddenly, BLM wasn't wanted for parties 55+ because people just TP burned through the ToAU zones on Colibri, who have the wonderful ability to Mimic and cast your magic back at you. So now, Black Mages solo to 75 now for the most part, and for merits (though Manaburns are still common).
With all that I fell away from the job. I played very, very casually for the next year and a half, jumping between different jobs, be it Thief (to 45) or Red Mage (to 52) or Beastmaster (then, only to the mid-40s).
Anyway, fast forward to now, I'm getting back into the game after not being able to play much for a long time (kids will do that). So I'm talking with a friend about the new White Mage adjustments and how they really need to do something similar to BLM to "fix" it to make it work better in a party setup. For whatever reason this gave me the itch to go back to my old first love, BLM.
So over the past few days I've been getting the hang of soloing BLM for merits. I worked on getting some buffer xp first (I'm now up to a rather safe 12k) and I've been getting merits. Wow, I'm out of touch with the job. Last night I was in a real manaburn for the first time in a long time and holy shit some of those career BLMs can push out some numbers. 1.45k Tier IVs (compared to my 1.17k) and 2.2k AM2s (something I don't even have unlocked yet). Those just make me jealous. So now I'll be working towards getting BLM pumped up a bit, which thankfully will also help SCH as well aside from the job specific merits. But damn, that manaburn was fun last night. 5 75 BLMs and a 70 SCH running around Mount Z blowing up puddings, that was great.
Now I'm doubly glad I didn't choose to level yet another job to 75, I think I've got my hands full with BLM, SCH, and BST.
I hit 75 back in November of 2005 and did a bit with it, but real life issues took me away from the game for a bit, and by the time I got back ToAU had come out and everything changed for BLM. Suddenly, BLM wasn't wanted for parties 55+ because people just TP burned through the ToAU zones on Colibri, who have the wonderful ability to Mimic and cast your magic back at you. So now, Black Mages solo to 75 now for the most part, and for merits (though Manaburns are still common).
With all that I fell away from the job. I played very, very casually for the next year and a half, jumping between different jobs, be it Thief (to 45) or Red Mage (to 52) or Beastmaster (then, only to the mid-40s).
Anyway, fast forward to now, I'm getting back into the game after not being able to play much for a long time (kids will do that
). So I'm talking with a friend about the new White Mage adjustments and how they really need to do something similar to BLM to "fix" it to make it work better in a party setup. For whatever reason this gave me the itch to go back to my old first love, BLM.So over the past few days I've been getting the hang of soloing BLM for merits. I worked on getting some buffer xp first (I'm now up to a rather safe 12k) and I've been getting merits. Wow, I'm out of touch with the job. Last night I was in a real manaburn for the first time in a long time and holy shit some of those career BLMs can push out some numbers. 1.45k Tier IVs (compared to my 1.17k) and 2.2k AM2s (something I don't even have unlocked yet). Those just make me jealous. So now I'll be working towards getting BLM pumped up a bit, which thankfully will also help SCH as well aside from the job specific merits. But damn, that manaburn was fun last night. 5 75 BLMs and a 70 SCH running around Mount Z blowing up puddings, that was great.
Now I'm doubly glad I didn't choose to level yet another job to 75, I think I've got my hands full with BLM, SCH, and BST.
Total Comments 14
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>Back then 6k xp an hour was godly, we mostly got by with 4-5k an hour and we liked it!
Indeed. I haven't played in so long, I assume they have made leveling easier now? What's a normal exp rate now? |
Posted 04-08-2009 at 10:45 AM by Stoke
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For normal parties 5-6k is pretty standard, at least with a competant party. If you fall into the 3k range you're in a pretty bad party, and that used ot be somewhat standard. Merit parties can get kinda nuts, where in some you can average 12-18k per hour if you're doing it right.
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Posted 04-08-2009 at 10:47 AM by Gorvi
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I always want to play FFXI when I'm not able to, then once I get everything installed and resub, I end up only playing for a few days. What's the deal with that?
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Posted 04-08-2009 at 12:12 PM by Goronmon
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Goronmon, did you ever get to a point where you got to partying? I can remember running into you in Sarutabaruta a few times, but you were still a sub-less Warrior at that point. That's not even coming close to scratching the surface of the game.
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Posted 04-08-2009 at 12:15 PM by Gorvi
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>12-15k
Man, even if that's a pretty rare rate to get stuff like that could have kept me playing. The worst thing about FFXI was always the extremely slow going unless you had a set exp party you ran with. I think that's probably the same issue new players have/had. FFXI is just unique (in the US anyway) in that the worst part is the first 20 levels or so since you have no sub, no friends yet, and no idea what to do except slowly level up all by your lonesome. And die a lot, but maybe that's just me  |
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Posted 04-08-2009 at 01:31 PM by Stoke
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12-15k is mostly in merit parties (level 75 characters working towards earning merit points), you don't see that in regular leveling parties. Ok, well, I did once, but that's so rare I wouldn't even want to mention it as it would sound misleading. A very good party pre 55 can do about 7k fairly reliably, though average is still closer to 5. Post 55 average can get to be around 7k with a good party, but closer to 10k with a very good party. A lot of that depends on how camped the are you're in is and what jobs you're with.
That's not to say you still don't find shit parties with pickups. I've had merits that barely made 6k an hour and leveling parties that did barely 3k. It all depends on who you're with, and one awful player in a key role can royally screw things up. |
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Posted 04-08-2009 at 03:32 PM by Gorvi
Updated 04-08-2009 at 03:34 PM by Gorvi |
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No, I pretty much am still stuck at the level that you saw me at, haha.
Damnit, I'm getting the urge to resub again. This is ridiculous. |
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Posted 04-09-2009 at 07:13 AM by Goronmon
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As much as I'd love to see another CoGer playing, if you're not going to make it "your game" for at least a couple of weeks and really try to get into it, you'll just be wasting your time. That sounds kinda negative, but it's true.
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Posted 04-09-2009 at 07:22 AM by Gorvi
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When I quit a few months ago, the bad pick up groups were the exception more than the rule. I sort of feel like the people playing FFXI are mostly people that have been there for the long-haul. They've been playing long enough to know their roles and the roles of others well. That is the key to a good party in FFXI more than any other MMO I've played. You can really play to the strengths of your other party members (buffs, de-buffs, skillchains, foods, drinks, etc) to increase your exp per hour. The combat system is so incredibly deep that people weren't realizing the potential when the game was young.
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Posted 04-09-2009 at 11:50 AM by Cyndair
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That is mostly the case. You do still, however, have those lazy idiots "just leveling a sub" who put no effort into the job they're playing. Of course, post 37 that goes away, but that can lead to bad experiences for newer players.
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Posted 04-09-2009 at 12:22 PM by Gorvi
Updated 04-09-2009 at 12:47 PM by Gorvi |
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Yeah.. I guess the dunes will always be the dunes. There is something about it though... maybe the excitement of the first time you are trying out your new job in a party setting.
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Posted 04-09-2009 at 12:26 PM by Cyndair
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Is there still no real way to get a free trial for this game?
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Posted 04-11-2009 at 08:29 AM by Lint of Death
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A friend of mine recently got back into this, so I think I might resub sometime this summer, and see if the Moogle Conspiracy is still around. Those were a good bunch.
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Posted 04-11-2009 at 09:07 AM by Panthera
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Lint, there's a link to the free trial here. Really, though, like I said to Goronmon, if you're not really going to put some time into it you're just not going to see the appeal. Even with as much as they've made it easier over the years, the game is still tough at the beginning, especially if you don't do your research. It is a hell of a lot easier, but if you don't seek out the things that are there to make it easier, they don't help much. To really get a grasp of the game you need to probably get at least one job to 30 or 40, do some missions, and start seeing how much there really is to the game, especially 50+.
Panthera, TMC is still around, but it's pretty small these days, with 10 people on being a lot. I'm actually going to be moving my character (and my wife's character for if I can ever get her back on again) over to Lakshmi from Asura in a few weeks to play with a RL friend. If you do come back I may try to pester you into moving. |
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Posted 04-11-2009 at 04:39 PM by Gorvi
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Recent Blog Entries by Gorvi
- Something New! (04-09-2009)
- Black Mage Lovin' (04-08-2009)
- Teleport, Chocobo, Warp, Teleport....... (04-02-2009)
- Day 2 (04-01-2009)
- Gamin'! (03-31-2009)
