Amano's tips, tactics and strategiesFollow

so... i would really like to see some miscellaneous tips and strategies for this game. there are a lot of things that go unsaid, and even more things that go unknown. anything from exping, to moneymaking, skilling, to farming. try to think of some obscure or abstract tips you might be able to add, to help anyone and everyone out.

ill start.

Strategic Item Selling Placement.

if youre interested in money making, and you are constantly killing monsters, keep in mind what you are killing. try to reference the guild lists, to know what the recipe materials are. both the common and the uncommon. memorize where each guild is located to maximize profit.

for instance.

logs of all sorts will sell best in sandoria. why? the woodworkers guild is there. youll find they will sell the fastest there. goldsmithing materials will sell fastest in bastok, etc. try to reference the guild listings often, to know what to farm where, and where to sell it. youll get a greater profit.

likewise, the resulting crafts might sell quickly but not expensively in the towns the guilds are based in. if you make, say, a leather ring +1, you will often sell it for more money in jeuno than you will in sandoria. the leatherworkers guild is in sandoria, and many people will be churning out leather rings +1 just by leveling crafting. this will increase the supply available, and it will decrease the price. in order to maximize profits in this way, the best idea would be to truck your wares to areas they are not common. take a leather ring +1 to jeuno, windurst, bastok... whereever.

another tip, watch the level of the item you want to sell. if it is a weapon, armor, or scroll, see what the minimum level is for it. if you win, say, a maul off of a garnet quadav, youll notice its level 31. a level 31 item will seldom sell in the base nations. this is because the majority of the population of the home nation, the majority of people who browse the auction house, are going to be levels 1-20. around level 20, people will start looking at the jeuno AH for things. jeuno becomes a home away from home after that.
when i am selling armor... i always look. if it is level 1-19, i will sell it in a nation, usually with the previous paragraphs in mind. anything above that will go to jeuno. think of who your buyer is going to be, your item will sell faster, and usually for more money.

this will work the same for crystals. fire crystals, for instance, will sell fastest in bastok, due to the goldsmithing and smithing.

strategic placement of items is a logical formula. gain money, do it the easy way!


Experience Chaining.

everyone knows the best way to get exp is to hit those high exp chains. just about everyone knows, also, that its not always possible. when faced with a situation like that, its best to remember one specific strategy. start small, with Ts. Ts will carry a chain just as easily as an IT will, but youll tend to kill them faster, and get higher chains. the base multiplier for exp chains increases with each additional chain.
keeping this in mind, you are able to turn other peoples trash mobs into something glorious for your party.
frustrated by kazham at level 28? i can imagine. go to qufim. you heard me, back to qufim! but its too low, right? wrongo.

notice all the snippers people are ignoring, or all the pugils. position yourself by a cliff... now, kill one or 2 pugils to start a T exp chain, and build TP. after that, pull an IT acrophies, and let loose. after killing that, chain back a couple of Ts. youll gain fast exp this way, due to the multiplier. make sure that the healer is aware of the plan. if done correctly, they will seldom need to heal during the Ts, and the ITs will go very fast due to weaponskills. the healer can almost rest during the first and/or second T battle, and kick in on the IT. this is a working strategy... i went 28-30 with my monk doing this. very fast exp. this can be done anywhere.

simply pull in a smart manner, be a responsible puller. if you are in a highly concentrated area *with players, not mobs*, suggest a move to a more mob populated area. when you scout around, remember what cons as what, and where. if you notice 3 Ts, 1 VT, and 1 IT mob... and you have little to no competition for it, try to pull accordingly. put thought into the construction of your exp chains, and it will go smoother for everyone.

Skillchaining.

this is almost common knowledge, but im suprised at how many people do not know it. when constructing a skillchain, make one that the mob is weak to!

i went through allakhazam's beastiary, and pulled out all the posted weaknesses, so here they are by family:

Fire: Doomed, Weapons, Ghost, Hounds, Leech, Mandragora, Morbols, Sapling, Shadow, Skeleton, Slime, Tiger, Treant

Wind: Antica, Bat, Cockatrice, Dhamel, Lizard, Mandragora, Worm

Earth: Coeurl

Water: Bomb, Manticore, Orc, Orcish machine, Rabbit, Raptors, Sheep

Light: Adamantoise, Ahriman, Bat, Beetle, Crawler, Demon, Doomed, Weapons, Funguar, Ghost, Goblin, Hecteye, Leech, Scorpion, Shadow, Skeleton, Tiger, Worm

Dark: Crawler, Mandragora, Rabbit, Sabotender, Sapling, Treant, Dark

Lightning: Crab, Dhamel, Doll, Mandragora, Pugil, Quadav, Rabbit, Sahagin, Sea Monk, Sheep

Ice: Bee, Beetle, Bird, Bomb, Crab, Crawler, Fly, Lizard, Mandragora, Pugil, Sabotender, Scorpion, Sea Monk, Spider, Yagudo

there you have it. when fighting these types of mobs, construct an appropriate skillchain. also, keep in mind. a light based skillchain will have a greater effect on lightsday. match the corresponding elements, and strengthen your chains.

here is a list of the skillchains, and their elemental effects:

LVL 1

Liquefaction: Fire
Detonation: Wind
Impaction: Lightning
Compression: Dark
Transfixion: Light
Reverberation: Water
Scission: Earth
Induration: Ice

LVL 2

Fusion: Fire/Light
Fragmentation: Wind/Thunder
Gravitation: Gravity/Earth
Distortion: Water/Ice

level 3s are just darkness and light, i believe (have not done one myself, personally.)

so... looking at this, a fusion skillchain on an undead (Fire/Light vs a creature weak to both), will give a huge effect. in addition, the greater the damage on the last hit of a skillchain, the greater the effect damage will be. this game is programmed with many possiblities, keep that in mind.

that about wraps up my tips for now. please post some that people should know about, or correct me where i am wrong. this information was widely based on my own experiences, so some many be wrong...

thanks!

good point! i forgot to mention that.

it is included with the strategic selling placement. items that are required for quests will definitely go fast in the areas that require them.

also, nice addition about khazam. also very logical. thinking ahead, see what your buyer is going to want, will get more money.

the maul was a random example, thanks for placing it where it belongs. ;)

You could also add to your guide some simple tips about crafting and making money, the number one rule being of course to farm your own items if you want to make a profit in the early levels.

Hereis Mystery tours info on items you can craft for different guilds and the levels that those items will cap at.

There's further info relating to synthing regarding such things as days the crystal is strong and weak against etc. I'm going to bed very very soon so i can't find it in myself to gather everything in my post.

Well, this is a nice duo setup me and a RL friend discovered. BST/WAR and WHM/BLM make a really nice combination, we kite things around while i have agro and the xp is that of a normal pt. Nothin special but if your up in those 50 grind lvls and need a break its nice to chill with a friend and duo some bunnies in valk ^^.

Kitiva 42 thf blah blah blah aww noone really reads your job lvls :D

like any tips, it's common sense..but like many players, they need someone to spell out the tips for them.

good post!

people forget that before kazham there was qufim acrophies and batallia goblins/tigers.

the only problem is people do tend to leave grps suddenly..so being in a zone w/o someone to fill in easily means bad down time if someone had to go.

but ill be anyone you ask will be willing to leave kazham jungles to lvl somewhere else...that is, they're willing to leave the normal places as long as they're near a town.

i've heard too many meleers stay outside the kazham gates longer than they have to because they dont want to die to get back to kazham.

here's another tip: use instant warp scroll or prism powder.

i really like to emphasize the spreading out of exp parties.

there are so many equal level zones, but people crowd in the common ones. dont be afraid to try a new place, leave yourself open to suggestions.

youre level 38, you think that crawlers nest is it for you, you must level on beetles.
oorrr... you could truck yourself over to gustav tunnel, and have a whack at those creatures.

so few people will make the effort to go somewhere. yes, it could be a pain to get to the area, but youll make it up in exp. the biggest headache comes from convincing the party to actually move their butts.

there are soooo many areas, why confine yourself? it makes it so much easier for everyone if the parties are spread out. keep an open mind. instead of valkurm, go to korroloka, jugner, pashhow, so many different areas!


Edited, Thu May 27 08:49:23 2004 by AmanoJ