A Proposal From Dramanue... An Honest Request

Hi, I'm writing this quickly during my lunch hour because, well, I dunno, I just want to write it I guess. I'm sure at a later time, I'll elaborate on a few points, but I'll just drop the main weight of it in this post.

First off, I've been around for many, many years... well, probably not so "many", but at least since the initial US release of the PS2 version. I now play on the PC, although I still use the PS2 controller.

As far as I know, I'm a good player. People have told me this, people have always said I'm a good person and an excellent player (usually talking about my rdm). Why is it, then, that I have such issues getting anything in the game?

I guess that's my main issue. The few pieces of rare/ex items in my inventory have been due to either my "excellent" rdm'ing, or it's been because I had to solo for them. I don't have Sea or Salvage or anything else that would involve countless hours of missions mainly because I never see shouts for said missions which leads me to believe that these missions are either done only by groups of friends (which I have little to none for some reason, even though I'm a "good person") or done by linkshells for their people.

I don't have Charlamagne's Joyeuse even though I've been promised it oh-so-many times by people who said they would help me and then later say they're busy. The few times I've fought the ex-sea princess, Charybdis, the sword has gone to others (and in one very nerve-wracking occassion, it went to a whm who quit the game two weeks later).

I want an LS. An LS that will accept me and will see that I am a good person. At least, I believe I am. I fear I am becoming a bad person by even writing this. In stating that I am a good person and that I am an excellent red mage, am I not degrading my humility and, in its stead, making me look like a bad person?

I don't know anymore.

All I know is what others tell me, whether in game or through private messages here. I'd love to have Sea. I'd love to have Salvage. I'd love to fight Kirin. I'd love to have the title of Simurgh Poacher or any other HNM title. I'm a good player. I just want to show that I am what I was once proclaimed to be.

I don't have an infinite number of hours to spend on the game. I work Monday through Friday from 8:30 to 5:30pm CST, and on Saturdays and/or Sundays I spend time with my gf. But I can try to make more time for the game, to get what I need, and to help others get the same.

My Red Mage is ready. He's merited to a point that I believe will do even better than before. But it is not my merits or my spells that define me, it is the amount of dedication I grant my character. So grant me a chance.

In b4 "baaaaawwwwwwwwwwwwwwww"
In b4 "Go make your own LS"
In b4 "You don't need Sea, Salvage, or Joyeuse -- you want them."

tl;dr
I'm a good player and I want an LS that I can join where we can do missions to get others and myself Sea and other such areas.

tl;dr kinda... I just skimmed through the post. But... Came out with that you want an LS to do missions with / chat / etc. Soooo.... Could join Fairy. =) My shell does all that. And there's free gil too! =D

^What Tbest said. If you feel like jumping to Sylph, send me a tell! I'll pop you a pearl ^^

Joyeuse for RDM is pretty much a luxury and isn't needed unless you're a melee solo. I cannot think of any large-scale LS events where RDM will be meleeing instead of buffing/debuffing/healing/kiting.

That said, you don't need Joyeuse to get into an EGLS. However, EGLSs are give-and-take relationships. Your EGLS provides the manpower for you to obtain items that you are seeking to obtain. In return, you give them your ability and adaptability. Many EGLSs will require you to have Sea in order to join them, because Limbus and Sea are huge events. Any LS that requires Salvage gear is just stuck-up, though.

Fortunately for you, RDM tends to be higher up on the demand list for groups, as it's needed or useful in virtually every event. It shouldn't be too hard for you to get accepted by a group as long as you're willing to catch up in places where you're behind.

Keep a "what's best for the LS" attitude always.

EDIT: If you do come to Fairy, Tbest's Lumiere is a good shell. I had joined but couldn't attend events because my schedule didn't work around event times :\

I know how you feel Dramanue.
Ask around the people you know about some end game Linkshells. Thats what I do. Even though, I do not have an HNMLS, I do Einherjar, Salvage (3 days a week), Dynamis, Limbus (one day a week).
Anything else, like missions and quests, I usually have to jump on the bandwagon and get them done when they come out or I cant find anyone to do them (still need past sandy nation quest last two fights ><)

But ask! I asked around and thats how I found my salvage and Einherjar shells (took awhile). I would ask people idk even, like in exp/merit parties and nyzule floor runs.

Look up Maiev and DuckHunt on Fenrir, although I'm not sure if he is on much anymore or the current state of the LS.

I met him through reading his blog, The Star Onion, and have corresponded with him many times. When I once pondered leaving Odin, he told me if I needed a home on Fenrir to look him up.

Even if they do a lot of stuff that you don't (like Sea), I can tell you that he really is a great guy and at the least would point you toward an LS that would better suit your needs.

Hope it helps! If you wanted to come to Odin (which you can't), I could recommend a few good LS for you, but it's not an option unless SE unlocks it.

I like to solo, mew. T_T; Well, I mean, I like to melee solo as Rdm. Actually, it's how I farm... >_> And I used to melee solo NM's as well (I was known for a while for soloing summons for the low, low price of 0 gil and accepted only donations[my reward was in getting 10k from just doing the fight]).

Two responses to this sentence.
a. True, I never said I needed a Joyeuse to be in an EGLS, I just.. well, it's a pretty sword and it's all sparkly, mew.
b. Second, what's an EGLS? You keep saying it over and over again.

I guess I must've not explained myself clearly. I meant to say that I straight up don't have access to Salvage missions or any of that higher up stuff. It's odd since I've been 75 for like 4 going on 5 years and yet I don't have any of those end-game areas open to me. Cute name, btw. ^_^

I see a lot of requests from other servers, but unfortunately, due to financial instability (read: I spend money on junk I don't need irl), I can't move servers. It's surprising that no one from Fenrir (aside from one person via private message) has contacted me. I guess people in Fenrir don't really like me... the truth begins to show itself. Makes me wonder if I'm really the good mage they've told me I am.

simple fact is what most peeps dont do anymore is push to get things done instead waiting for others to do. Just recently i saw a blm push his way through to geting cop cimpleted and i think tiah and zilart jst by doign shouts for peeps and workign on getign the help for it instead just waitign for someone else to do it. Was very impressive to see.

Unfortunately, people don't do that anymore in Fenrir. They could care less for helping us lowerclass get up to their "ranks". Most of the elitists that are around in Fenrir usually spend their time fighting HNM's and doing high end missions and quests (or whatever they are) in order to get better gear so they can do.. well, do the same over and over again. I've done the whole shout for 8 hours for a mission without success before, countless times, usually met with "you can solo that, dumbass!" type of remarks, when, well, I can't.

So I've given up on that.

I'm not sure what I am anymore. I'm not sure if I'm weak and not good enough to do what others can so easily solo, or if I'm just looking for a group experience like I once so enjoyed doing years ago. After all, this is an mmo...

i was born on fenrir. i moved to asura for a while for friends.... i missed fenrir. the first ls i ever had was called "griffonknights". it is run by a man named xidain and his family (wife, daughter, etc). this group owns. they help with missions and everything else to get to endgame (sadly they do not do endgame). if you are looking for some fun on fenrir i can help you whenever i have time (this is only mon and thurs nights now and i have endgame events both nights; ;) but i'm available for contact anytime during that so /t me anytime you /sea me. i am usually available for help anytime and i have a circle of friends that is always willing to help(somewhat). /t me some time bro

It's kind of hard to reply to this because the problems you're having don't really have anything to do with the game itself, but rather socialization within the game.

I'm not completely sure of your current situation, are you completely without an LS at the moment? Have you ever been in one or do you just hang out by yourself? If you were in one, why did you leave, etc...

I kind of feel like you're just having trouble with a lot of the people you meet in game. I'd say try and find people you're comfortable with first, all the other things like missions and what not will come later.

On a side note, being able to do Salvage only requires one actual fight which is fairly easy to duo or trio, is it really so bad on there that you can't even find one or two people for that? Or can't just ask like one of your friends to tank it for you?

And EGLS stands for End Game LS.

Yeah, I know exactly where you're coming from... same way for me, although more along the lines of I don't have the time (or a huge desire) to join an EGLS (end game linkshell; general term, HNMls are generally for the kings and NMs like that (king behemoth, cerberus, etc), although sometimes hnmlses include sky and sea... (and limbus and dynamis))

I wanted a joyseuse for my pld and brd, and took me 8 months of getting the ToD (34 times, of getting its ToD, then being there for the next pop and watching it die w/o me getting ***), finally it got to the point NOONE would help me except for one pld... who happened to have a 72 nin, so we got his nin to 75, and I spent 1.2mil on gear/meds so we could duo it, and managed to get the effing thing--- WELL worth it

So if you know any thfs, nins, (and honestly any plds with a good def setup, at the time it was unheard of for plds to tank charby, but just read a thread about one pld/rdm soloing it, and selling the drops to others), ask them to come, and you guys can duo it, or bribe them even... I was to the point I'd spend 2mil on anyone who'd help me, because noone'd come >_<;;

Just going down there to get ToD helps though, there was one with 3 of us all getting tod, and noone camping it... so we teamed up, and fought it, and all 3 of us lotted on it; I lost of course, but that was a close call, and could happen again, so you might run lucky... and w/ ToD you can ask for more help more often =/

As for other endgame stuff... theres nyzul isle, which is a smallman thing, not a huge time investment, that you can use to get some half-decent gear (rdm doesn't have too too much they want, but its more than nothing, plus getting your disk up for that new ws)

You seem to have sky (since you didn't mention you don't), and if you don't, its actually fairly simple to get... I've duoed it for 3 friends now (as pld, and them as either rdm or pup *shrug*)-- only part is the bcnm thats a challenge (first one in tonberryhelldom), so you might be able to solo the rest, or find one friend or other soul who needs as well to get-- once you have that there are just sky linkshells, gets you gear and experience and ppl to help with other things (like getting sea access)

Dynamis you should be able to join right away, also provides gear, and might get to know some ppl there as well

Salvage I wouldn't recommend due to the massive cost of upgrading, but you only need toau17 to get it, which only requires 2 fights, one is probably soloable (if not, most definitely duoable, most jobs can solo it though it seems), and the other is an often shout on my server...

HNMlses are usually picky in choosing ppl, so might needa be ina sky shell for a bit first before getting in, but for ground kings and toau hnms you can access already, just if they do sea stuff won't be able to until you get access (which hopefully they'll help, because a lot of shells help ppl get access to those things)

I personally wasn't a huge endgame fan, and noone to help me with, so I got sea access completely via shouts... but might be better on asura for that (I still can't get my apoc. nigh fight done, and only needs 5 other ppl >.<;;; soloed the climbs, but can't get the other souls for it ._. but got divine might and stuff =/), but if your server isn't really good with shouts, that can be difficult (might wanna try in a more prime time, or different time).. sea is one of the harder things to get, especially without a static group of friends/ls to help you...

I agree, however its a common problem... I'm rather talkative in the game, but I find it extremely difficult to get ppl to help me on things... I've helped countless ppl, and joined a bunch of shells, but for some reason or other, its still too difficult... I love my server because shouts are common, and I'm able to join via that and get a lot of stuff done... if not, I wouldn't have gotten anywhere =/

I know a lot of ppl who find it hard to get good linkshells, or a good group of friends, for one reason or other... its strange, but a common occurrance

I'm kind of the opposite in that I'm not very talkative at all and I rarely ask people for help, but when I do ask for help, I'll pretty much never get turned down for it.

I personally got Joyeuse twice (one for each char) and I pretty much did it the exact same way. Got TOD, after that came back and killed PH's til Charby popped, then I dragged like 2-3 people to come real quick and help me kill. I actually have not spent all that much time on that thing but maybe I just got lucky, lol.

As for the making friends thing... well, it's just the same as in RL, not everyone connects with others well, and making real friends is just not as easy as it seems like it should be, hehe.

It doesn't sound like the OP's actually interested in end game really atm anyways, he's just looking for a LS where he'll fit in.

I agree... and yeah, making friends irl can be a pain ; ; (now on the flipside, I'm really talkative ingame, and not so much irl, but I ask for things and noone'll help... ._.)

And yeah, which is why I'd recommend Asura, but he's got no mula for it, and dont want him to come here and not get what he wants outta it :P

But yeah, Charby's my nemesis... noone'd come down, even though I had ToD, and was close to popping (was overcamped a lot of times too), everyone just said "help me get mine, and I'll help you get yours" when I was the one there, with the ToD asking for help >_<;;;

There are plenty of alternatives to use until then. Mensur Epee comes to mind. Martial Anelace, too.



EGLS = Endgame LS. You could probably get a couple people to help from the LS if you have ToD and can offer to help them with something sometime.



Well, Salvage access is for Salvage gear. I really can't think of any decent LS offhand that REQUIRES the ability to do Salvage.



A server transfer isn't THAT bad... try to not spend so much on things you don't need? Anyway, I'm sorry I can't really help you with a Fenrir LS seeing as I'm not on Fenrir.

I read your entire post, skimmed over responses and I agree with most of the things said.

If you're really having trouble rounding up people to kill it for you, you can always save up about (I think) a mil and find someone who will merc. it for you. As stated, Joyeuse is a luxury item. When you solo anything major, you're not supposed to melee anyway, it's more of a sleep/gravity/bind nuke technique.

It's hard to make friends, and find a good LS but maybe post a request in the server forums here? You can always look up LS websites, etc too.

Wish I could help you more :s

Situational situations are situational. Many RDMs prefer melee solo on certain mobs, e.g. Enspell Cactrot Rapido, straight-tank Bune, etc. Although generally DoT kiting is easier and essential on some mobs.

Since my last response that took me well around 20 minutes to type got deleted right when I hit the Submit button... >.>... I'll just comment on this instead.

I have a Mensur Epee which took me a good while to save up for. The damage output is nice, but could be nicer. What interests me the most is the multi-hit capability of the Charlamagne's sword, due to its high damage output through quick buildup of TP.

Plus, it's blue.

this is the only post that actually touched me.. i really feel where your comming from with this and i hope all goes well for you.. alot of ppl with o skill are now 75 because the level sync was added.. so now all the truely good players (skillwise) are mixed wih qufim worms to 55 nd wajaom to 75 players..

i say again i do really hope you find the ls your looking for

Be glad you even get either, 'cause BLU sure doesn't ; ;

At least you can enjoy tier II Enspells with the Mensur until then, heh. Anyway, keep in mind you're dropping from 47 DMG to 35 DMG when you swap to Joyeuse. Your damage output really won't increase as much as you might think, but you're right about gaining TP faster.

I'm not 100% sure about this, but I heard Death Blossom is unaffected by weapon DMG stat? That could be false, so don't shoot me. I'm not a RDM.

It is pretty, and it is blue, and it does occasionally attack twice quite frequently. I wish you luck in acquiring it D:

I didn't want to copy the whole post mainly because that was a long post. Earlier I stated that one of my responses had magically vanished into thin ether, so I'm going to try and repost it (and this time I'll be saving it into a .txt as I type).

Pretty much, I've been reading a lot of "get a friend to help you get the sword". Main issue with this is the fact that I have little to no real "friends" on the game.

The only friend I had quit a few months back and gave the account to his little brother. I won't mention the name so as to not get killed by anyone. Anyway, I also had another irl friend who I met just recently whom I found out also played on Fenrir. I then found out that he was in an elitist group who really didn't care much for "newbs" like myself who didn't have Sea or Einherjar [sp? In her jar?], etc etc... So that didn't go well either.

As far as in-game friends, most of which forgot about me even if they used to compliment the living hell out of me. So, there again, is another opportunity lost.

In the end, all I see are elitist players who really don't care much for those who put in tons of work into their char in terms of actually playing the character versus the elite equipment they may have equipped. I don't use plugins that display spellcast times, enemy weakness, enemy HP percent, or even multi-equipment swap macro sets. I don't. I started off playing on PS2, and that's the way I've continued since then. I'm the kinda player who counts the seconds between casts, calculates what spells can be casts in any series of moments, creates chain combinations for casting multiple spells on multiple people, etc etc. That's just the sort of person I am. And I know there are others out there who do the same.

I just want to be given a chance to show that I am good.

For once, I'd like to try and cast Paralyze on Kirin. Or get the title of Behemoth or Simurgh or even Serket... whatever their title might be (Yes, I'd rather fight them for their title than for their spoils XD). I want to have those pretty equipments, then help out people that need the same. I seem to be getting ahead of myself, I apologize...

Yup, also why I suggested raising gil to bribe a friend... I was lucky that my one friend helped (even if I was in SSG for ~8months straight), sometimes he'd call me while I was at school, to tell me maintenance just happened, and get on asap for it, lotta times he wasn't available to help *shrug*

technically its soloable by rdm, so you could try to claim it, and attempt soloing for a while, while begging/bribing others to get their *** to you now >_< (other jobs, like my brd, couldn't really hold it/solo it)

But join a sky shell, you'll get to kill some gods, and kirin, and hopefully be able to get help for other missions and personal things like charby (my sky shell went out for charbydis for a few members and stuff)-- they're usually pretty lax on inviting ppl because its usually the first thing ppl do... you've got the merits and you know your job, so you should be able to get in pretty easily

I don't want to sound like an elitist stick in the mud, or tell you how to play the game when it's clear that you play it and enjoy it for the sake of playing (remembering that you play with /names off, I'd die if I did that.) Anyway, now for my friendly advice that shouldn't be taken the wrong way. If you play on the computer, there are some things you should have. Not only does it make your life so much easier, but it actually improves your gameplay. Counters and the likes are crutches, (though really nice for Summoners so they know when they should summon and Blood Pact again <.<;;) but they're really nice crutches. If you have your own system for counting and enjoy it, then power to you.

Now here I don't want to tell you how to enjoy the game but I'm trying to give you some friendly advice, don't take it the wrong way. You should have multi-equipment swap macros. If you feel like you're cheating by using things like spellcast or windower scripts, by all means put a few important pieces into your normal macros, or have tons of buttons to push (like I know some people to do) to swap into a certain set. Especially as Red Mage, having gear to do different things is of utmost importance.

I really do wish you luck in finding players that aren't elitists and wish to help you become the best you can be.

Biggest thing here is, you just have to push yourself. Find some dedicated people, make a static for CoP. yes, I know these things aren't always easy, but if you truly want this stuff you'll need to push yourself. Not to sound like I'm tooting my own horn, but I've done CoP from start to finish in 2 weeks time, roughly 2-3 days a week. I used to be the same, just a more casual player. Until I realized all I have to do is do it for myself and not wait on others. I don't know what kind of LS you're in atm if any. But remember, don't let other players drag you down.

So when I read your first post, I felt pretty sympathetic. I've been playing just over seven months, and i don't have sky or sea. I know exactly what you mean. The missions are damned near impossible to do with shouts.

As the thread went on, though, people offered you solutions, which you then naysay and continue to bemoan your fate. Tbest and Hitetsu offered you pearls, which you responded to by saying that even though you've got no freinds holding you on your current server, you can't be bothered to spring for 25 bucks to server switch, because you like buying RL stuff for yourself.

As for your Joytoy, Ninian gave you the excellent suggestion of farming up a mil and mercing it, which you seem to have ignored. That's an option for just about any player over 50 with a little bit of patience.

Sure, FFXI can be a harsh game, but solutions to your problems are out there if you want it badly enough. If you're expecting sky, sea, and a great EGLS on a silver platter, sorry, it's not going to happen.

The only advice i could offer is to help people, help people, and help people. Some people will take you for a free ride, but some will become the friends you seem to lack. I've been offered five linkpearls while i was powerlevelling parties that my freinds were in.

One of the linkshells i'm still on daily, and that i do events with on a regular basis, i got by randomly walking up and powerlevelling a random JP in valkrum for a few hours.

I started way behind my lsmates. I'm still way behind them now, but i like to think i'm a little bit closer. Since then, i've levelled the jobs that would benefit my ls, offered my help as much as i could, and shown up for every event. Now they are taking me through ROTZ, COP, and TOAU, and i'm almost done with ROTZ and TOAU.

I think if you help people until you get a linkshell, and help that linkshell to the best of your ability, eventually you will find yourself helped back. At least, it worked that way for me.

This may sound a little harsh but I'm just trying to be helpful


Seeing part of this line, as well as some of your other posts I've seen (like about FOV tabs), makes me wonder how much effort you do put learning into the game. Einherjar at least, has no requirements to enter other than having TOA installed and being over lvl 60 which you are.

Different people will always be at different stages in the game, but things like this make it seem like you're not really trying to get stuff done or learn things about the game. Salvage, which you've also mention wanting access to, also doesn't have a really high hurdle for entry, ONE fight, that's it. One of my personal pet peeves is people who just want everything done for them, who don't put any effort in themselves to prepare for things or to learn about missions or what not. You can't just sit there hoping someone will just pick you up and take you along for the ride, you have to do something about it.

You talk about not using multi equipment swaps even though that's something that's built into the game, something any PS2 or Xbox user can use. You also talk about "combinations for casting multiple spells on multiple people" which I'm not even sure what you mean by it. Maybe you really are that good, but just a lot of things you do strike me as indicating a lack of effort on your part.

"newbs" generally aren't newbs because they have crappy gear or haven't completed missions, they're newbs because they just don't know about the game.

Once again, I know this may sound harsh, but I'm just trying to help you better yourself.

I actually really have to agree with Tarowyn. At first I really felt your pain, and while I understand where you're coming from, but being a 75 rdm for 5+ years, playing what seems to be every night during NA peak times and still not having sky access? I mean seriously, wtf!?

If you really are a good rdm, Charybdis can be soloed, bind it and run like *** up to the pond outside the beastcoin door where mobs don't agro you and kite it around the pond. I'm sure it's not easy, but you've had 5 years of opportunities to try it, and if you can solo avatars then I'm sure you can solo this even if it does take you a few tries.

Considering the hours you play, there really is no excuse to not have any sort of end-game shell, or even a social shell that can help you get through ToAU, CoP and ZM. A good 75 rdm is ALWAYS welcome to ANY event in the game.

If you've never had any type of shell, it sounds like you simply haven't asked. I find it hard to believe that ANY sky shell would turn you down. Einherjar and Dynamis shells are also ridiculously easy to get into in general because VERY few shells will have more people that can enter the zone anyway.

Seriously, you already have access to Dynamis and Einherjar (unless you're not even rank 6 in any nation), and judging by this screenshot:



And this screenshot:


You also have access to salvage and sky as well, so all you need to do is ask. Ask your friends, even the ones who you say don't care for noobs, ask people you help out. If that doesn't work, stand in Whitegate and shout, unless you have some crazy reputation for being the scum of the earth, I GUARANTEE you will at least get sky, dynamis and Einherjar. Then once you're in those shells, you'll have access to anywhere from 15 to 150 new people who you can ask to help you get through CoP and whatever else.

The main thing is that you actually have to try, don't just expect someone to randomly come along and tell you "let's go, we're doing that mission you need". I've seen people *** and moan time and time again that they need such and such mission or such and such NM, but that's all they do. At the same time, I've seen people who actually ask people to help and organise times where every body can be on together, and get all their CS's done and get through CoP in about a month.

Seriously, either you're incredibly annoying and no-one wants to talk to you (and you don't seem THAT bad from your posts here), or you're just damn lazy.

I've seen your story time and time again. And at one point i was in your shoes.
I currently run an End-Game LS on Unicorn, I got here by standing up and taking charge. I've seen many a people come through my ls in your same situation, some didn't want to put in the work to reep the rewards and others are still with me and now are some of my best skilled/geared players.

It sounds like you need a fresh start, and a LS and good friends. Join a shell and lay low for a month until they know you and see you have skill. Go out of your way to help others, make good friends, and in turn they will go out of there way to help you.

Or there is a loner route. Get a craft, or something to make you lots of gil and buy what you want. Pretty much everything in this game is for sale.

Ultimately its up to you to put in the work required to go places, question you need to ask is how much are you willing to put in.

If your looking for a new start on a new server feel free to drop an application to my LS at http://www.Smokeoutls.com (website is new and still under construction, but applications are working)