Yo, Chia! Wanna party, baby? (FFXI)
May. 3rd, 2006 02:11 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
thistlechaserI almost forgot that I was going to post a bit about how to make your own party in FFXI. I'm a little (a lot) distracted by work, but hopefully I won't miss anything big.
Anyone else who happens to read this, feel free to leave comments with ideas, corrections, or whatever.
First: What do you want in your party?
* In general, you want no more than three levels of difference in the party. 15-17? Cool! 11-13? Rocking! 21-24? Not so good. The closer in levels everyone is, the better.
* You need to cover three basic roles: 1) You need a tank (at low levels it could be a WAR, PLD, or NIN). 2) You need a healer (WHM is best, but a SMN could work or a SMN and a RDM or two RDMs). 3) You need a puller. (Anyone who can use a ranged weapon.)
(Oops, I better add that at later levels the roles get more complex and parties need more to do well. Things like a refresher (RDM or BRD who can restore MP) and various kinds of mages. Since you're lower level, we can keep things simple.)
Second: Where do you want to go?
I could say "At level X go to Y, and at level Z go to..." but who will remember all that? There's an easy "cheat" to find out common places to go. The /search command.
If I'm level 22 and want to see where level 22 folks are XPing, I do a "/sea all 22". Names in yellow are party leaders, names in blue are party members. (Later, when you're higher level, you can do this to see if a zone is too full to go XPing in.)
Third: Making the party.
So you know what roles you need and about what levels you want. Now you need to look for people! The /search command is your friend. In this example, let's pretend that you're level 15.
To see who is searching within range of you, you can do:
/sea all 13-17 inv
(search) (everywhere) (level range) (inv = looking for a party, short for 'invite' I guess)
"But wait! You said the party should be within three levels of each other! Search for '13-17'? You suck at math!"
Why yes, I do suck at math, but not in this case. Your three levels could be 13-15 or 15-17, so for now just look at the whole range.
NOTE: This is where people differ.
For me, I will only try to start a party if I can get both a tank and a healer.
Some other people will start a party and grab only a tank or a healer and try to hold everyone until the missing role starts seeking. Personally I don't like wasting people's time and I HATE having this done to me. It's not uncommon though, so... :/
To invite people to your party, you know you never want to blind invite them. At the bare minimum:
/tell Name {Party}? (Make sure you use the autotranslator, it will let people know you have at least minimal clue even if they're NA players.)
I like to make my requests more than that. If I know I'm asking a NA person (a little "E" next to their names in search) I'll do:
/tell Name {Hello!} {Experience points} {party} {Do you need it?}
If I know I'm asking a JP player (only a "J" next to their names) I handle the request totally different:
/tell {Excuse me...} {Party} {(Location)} {Do you need it?} (list of jobs already in the party. Use the translator! JPs may know "MNK", "DRK", etc, but they may not. They shorten job names their own way. In Japanese, a Dark Knight is shortened to "Souleater", not "DRK" because "Souleater" is the first (um, letter, kana? little squiggly thingie) of "Dark Knight" for them.)
As you probably know, Japanese customs are pretty different than ours. A while back I read a guide about how best to phrase things like party invites and such, so I try to do it right to make them more likely to accept.
Oh, how about an added bonus?
A search comment is a great way to increase your chances of being invited into a good party. Higher level folks almost always use them, so if you use one at a lower level it will make you appear more clueful.
You'll want to include some basic information in your comment. The most important is your @ or your tnl ("to next level", the amount of XP until you level). That should go on the very first line. Another good thing to include is something like "JP/NA {party} ok!" -- at least if it is okay with you. (It's harder to be part of a JP party, but the translator makes it doable. And not always, but often the XP is better.) Including facts like you use food (if you do, which you should!) or that you're willing to go to X area is also helpful. But at the very least, put your @ in there.
By the way, @ is JP and "tnl" is NA, but at low levels NA (or JP I guess) folks are often confused and don't know they mean the same thing, so I put both. "@(whatever number) tnl".
I don't have the game in front of me, so this part might not be totally right. (You'd think after doing this for years I'd have it memorized...) To set it, I think it's main menu -> search -> set comment -> experience (?) -> seek a party? And from there you'll get a three line window you can type in.
Let me know if you have any questions or if anything's confusing!
Anyone else who happens to read this, feel free to leave comments with ideas, corrections, or whatever.
First: What do you want in your party?
* In general, you want no more than three levels of difference in the party. 15-17? Cool! 11-13? Rocking! 21-24? Not so good. The closer in levels everyone is, the better.
* You need to cover three basic roles: 1) You need a tank (at low levels it could be a WAR, PLD, or NIN). 2) You need a healer (WHM is best, but a SMN could work or a SMN and a RDM or two RDMs). 3) You need a puller. (Anyone who can use a ranged weapon.)
(Oops, I better add that at later levels the roles get more complex and parties need more to do well. Things like a refresher (RDM or BRD who can restore MP) and various kinds of mages. Since you're lower level, we can keep things simple.)
Second: Where do you want to go?
I could say "At level X go to Y, and at level Z go to..." but who will remember all that? There's an easy "cheat" to find out common places to go. The /search command.
If I'm level 22 and want to see where level 22 folks are XPing, I do a "/sea all 22". Names in yellow are party leaders, names in blue are party members. (Later, when you're higher level, you can do this to see if a zone is too full to go XPing in.)
Third: Making the party.
So you know what roles you need and about what levels you want. Now you need to look for people! The /search command is your friend. In this example, let's pretend that you're level 15.
To see who is searching within range of you, you can do:
/sea all 13-17 inv
(search) (everywhere) (level range) (inv = looking for a party, short for 'invite' I guess)
"But wait! You said the party should be within three levels of each other! Search for '13-17'? You suck at math!"
Why yes, I do suck at math, but not in this case. Your three levels could be 13-15 or 15-17, so for now just look at the whole range.
NOTE: This is where people differ.
For me, I will only try to start a party if I can get both a tank and a healer.
Some other people will start a party and grab only a tank or a healer and try to hold everyone until the missing role starts seeking. Personally I don't like wasting people's time and I HATE having this done to me. It's not uncommon though, so... :/
To invite people to your party, you know you never want to blind invite them. At the bare minimum:
/tell Name {Party}? (Make sure you use the autotranslator, it will let people know you have at least minimal clue even if they're NA players.)
I like to make my requests more than that. If I know I'm asking a NA person (a little "E" next to their names in search) I'll do:
/tell Name {Hello!} {Experience points} {party} {Do you need it?}
If I know I'm asking a JP player (only a "J" next to their names) I handle the request totally different:
/tell {Excuse me...} {Party} {(Location)} {Do you need it?} (list of jobs already in the party. Use the translator! JPs may know "MNK", "DRK", etc, but they may not. They shorten job names their own way. In Japanese, a Dark Knight is shortened to "Souleater", not "DRK" because "Souleater" is the first (um, letter, kana? little squiggly thingie) of "Dark Knight" for them.)
As you probably know, Japanese customs are pretty different than ours. A while back I read a guide about how best to phrase things like party invites and such, so I try to do it right to make them more likely to accept.
Oh, how about an added bonus?
A search comment is a great way to increase your chances of being invited into a good party. Higher level folks almost always use them, so if you use one at a lower level it will make you appear more clueful.
You'll want to include some basic information in your comment. The most important is your @ or your tnl ("to next level", the amount of XP until you level). That should go on the very first line. Another good thing to include is something like "JP/NA {party} ok!" -- at least if it is okay with you. (It's harder to be part of a JP party, but the translator makes it doable. And not always, but often the XP is better.) Including facts like you use food (if you do, which you should!) or that you're willing to go to X area is also helpful. But at the very least, put your @ in there.
By the way, @ is JP and "tnl" is NA, but at low levels NA (or JP I guess) folks are often confused and don't know they mean the same thing, so I put both. "@(whatever number) tnl".
I don't have the game in front of me, so this part might not be totally right. (You'd think after doing this for years I'd have it memorized...) To set it, I think it's main menu -> search -> set comment -> experience (?) -> seek a party? And from there you'll get a three line window you can type in.
Let me know if you have any questions or if anything's confusing!
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no subject
Date: 2006-05-03 11:06 pm (UTC)I'd add is that pre-30, MNK can tank too if they're not weenies about it. Ask them! (If they have crappy gear it won't be a good idea, but if their gear is current their DEF is as high as a WAR's). This is especially true during the teens and early 20s when I'd say a MNK is even preferable because they have the highest base HP (Valkrum / Qufim levels).
Also, if you're inviting a SMN to mainheal, speak with them first and see if they're comfortable with it. SMN doesn't get Cure II until lvl22 (see: WHM gets it at 11...) And that's quite a gap at early levels. If you do have a SMN mainheal, you should make sure you have another mage to back them up (a RDM or a BLM who isn't being a turd could do it).
To add a bit to what you've already said about ranged attacks, it might be worth listing (and again, asking that person if they're comfortable filling the role before expecting them to just do it).. RNG, THF, SAM, DRK, and WAR are all common pulling jobs with COR (I'm sure) coming in there too once they hit 15. Make sure they have a ranged weapon! Other jobs that can do it without much fuss (they have ways to range attack and pull the mob back to camp, but it might be trickier/less convienent): NIN, BST, PUP, and BLU. DRG and MNK's only range attack is via Pebbles, which is do-able but they've have to be prepared for it. Also keep in mind that using Provoke to grab a mob and bring it back to camp is rarely a good idea unless you're the tank. (I have played NIN where I was both tank and puller. NIN doesn't need to rest for MP, so if there wasn't any SATA going on I could run out and grab the next mob while the mages were resting.)
So, uh, yeah, every paragraph I've said more or less the same theme: talk to your party members and make sure everyone is on the same page regarding expectations. If they say they can't do what's expect, thank them for their time and keep searching o.ob
no subject
Date: 2006-05-04 01:02 am (UTC)"Have {food} will travel!"
Or ...
"Queen of the Disco-wisco!"
no subject
Date: 2006-05-04 04:39 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-05-04 04:54 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-05-04 05:04 am (UTC)*waves the nerf bat threateningly*
:)
no subject
Date: 2006-05-04 05:05 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-05-04 01:10 pm (UTC)XP is based on the highest level in PT too, so if you have 5 people in PT all exactly the same level, don't ruin it all by inviting a 6th person who is 2-3 levels above everyone else. That will force you to fight mobs 3 levels higher for the exact same xp per kill as a mob 3 levels easier...
(unless you're really desperate for PT members like you are missing a tank still). In that situation, if you have your main job roles like tank healer and DD you might still be better off with just 5 =P
no subject
Date: 2006-05-04 01:44 pm (UTC)@2000 / HP: {The Shrouded Maw}
{food}: X {magic}: X
I eat babies and sell gil
no subject
Date: 2006-05-04 02:33 pm (UTC)When I was running around on WHM, I set a comment like:
I have a box of kittens
Everytime I'm asked to PL
I'll kill one.
And yet I still got asked a few times an hour! *snerk*
no subject
Date: 2006-05-04 07:34 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-05-04 07:36 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-05-05 04:43 am (UTC)*pokes a Woman* Thistle needs to talk to Woman on-game! But I'm sleepy tonight so we'll catch up another time. :D
no subject
Date: 2006-05-05 04:44 am (UTC). Some such as *coughRollchan* even assume the BLM in the party (me)
Hee! I should have added that to the guide: Never invite Rollchan to anything. Ever.
no subject
Date: 2006-05-05 05:02 am (UTC)Thanks for adding the info!