Since this board get's more traffic then even the VN boards, just wanted to repost this hear to see what some more experianced people thought.

Title is a little misleading, because this isn't about just getting a party recently that was amazing, it's more of a question as to what kind of parties some people think is normal.

For some reason, I hear this alot:

"WOW YOU GUYS RULE I LOVE YOU ALL BEST PT EVER!!!"

Now I love a good PT, but it really seems like some people never get groups that chain IT's for 190+ XP on a regular basis.

What really makes me wonder is when it comes from someone that is like lv 35+ or even around 20 with an adv job, or someone that is rank 4+.

Is it really that uncommon to get a good group?

Don't get me wrong, I've seen some bad ones and some HORRID ones, but most of the time it seems that groups kinda expect xp to come fast.

Here is an example :

Leveling in Qufim, pt just disbanded so I was waiting around as a lv 22 blm/smn. After about 2 hours of just sitting there, I started putting together a group. got Mccrae(sp?) as 22 smn/wmg, a 23 drg, 21 war, 24 wmg, and 22 rng.

So everyone starts heading there, and the war get's a little lost and dies by Wrights. As we wait for a Raise, the drg goes "U guys suck, i'm out" or something like that. Oh well, grabed a drk, raised war, went into the low delk. tower for gobs. now since we had people that could summon, I told the rng that if he could not pull a single, to let one of us. He says "whatver", goes to pull, get's link, dies, HP's and disbands. We run to zone but the war dies again saving the wmg.

Ok, so bad start, found a drg and got ready to go back in and the 24 wmg says "we need to just kill pugils, gobs can't be done at this lv". I tell him that we will be fine, and that it was just a bad pull, and he goes "well I ain't ok'ing to anyone, pugs or I disband!" So I kick him.

Well, we have to wait around for a bit, so I get a rdm and we go in. No problems, we kill about 8 and the rdm levels and says he is leaving soon. I try my luck and we land a JP wmg from Jeuno. He get's to the tower, the rdm leaves and we are all lv 22 at that point. PT stayed together for about 2-3 hours, had to replace 2 more people along the way, but when we left, everyone had either hit lv 25 or was close to it. We got chains up to 5 with 160-260 XP every time.

So the question is what do most people thing is supposed to happen? You get a group and kill one IT for 150 XP every 5 minutes?

It just seems really odd to me that people always complain about slow XP, but no one sticks around for a good party to be put together.

What was really funny is the next night I was telling a group in Crawlers Nest about this, and one 37DRK started saying that you can't take gobs in Lower Delk Tower until lv 25. Seriously makes me wonder how some people get the levels they have.

I don't know, but I see rants on message boards that talk about soandso who is the worst <job> of <level> and makes me wonder.

Anyway, my compliments go out to the members with easy names to remember from last night =P

Neebler - Great tank, held hate like a champ
Munkee - Uber Bard
Batholemu(sp?) - has the patience of Job =)(and big time rng damage)
Jamik - Needs to lay off the caffinee
All the rest I can't remember - was great fun

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Krystan ( with an "a" )
LS - theLostBoys
57WHM-40RNG-30BLM-30SMN-25THF-20SAM
20NIN-20MNK-20WAR-20DRK-20PLD-20DRG
1(RDM,BRD,BST)

---- NEXT DAY ----

This is the real reason I decided to repost this here, some of the crap that happened in the first PT.

Yea last night was odd =P

First PT was nice XP wise, but there is such a thing as being TOO picky with people to add. It was kinda funny that the rank 2 PT leader kept making comments about how poor other classes were. There was a point that we were waiting for quite a while with only 5 people because she wouldn't invite anyone.

I made a suggestion of Spork 26WAR-rank6 (already had whm,blk,rng,war,drk) and the leader (who was a warrior (using a dagger?)) replied "I make it a rule not to invite worthless jobs" I left that pt with 2 of it's members perma added to my blist. Party because of how arrogant they were, that and I don't stand for racist crap.

Even if alot of JP players kinda ignore NA players at times, that is no reason to start insulting players that happen not to speak english. So yea the XP was great, but I left the first group on principle.

Second group was just kinda funny. One class that I usually think should know their job pretty well is RNG. Had one in PT#2 last night and they were all sweethearts, but OMG they were timid. There was one point that we were the only group in the area, and they still would not pull mandy's until everyone was full HP/MP (group was whm,blm,smn,rng,war,mnk)

And even though that last group had that run in with the freak MAD BOMBER GOBLIN ON PCP, it was still fun because the people in it at least talked to each other. I was just getting waaaaay to sleepy, and figured a rdm was better for them then a half dead blm =P

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Krystan ( with an "a" )
LS - theLostBoys
57WHM-40RNG-30BLM-30SMN-25THF-20SAM
20NIN-20MNK-20WAR-20DRK-20PLD-20DRG
1(RDM,BRD,BST)

having a 21 tank and a 24 white mage is a mistake. the enemies you can fight efficiently hp/mp wise are based on what level your melee's and especially your tank are. a 21 tank should be fighting worms and crabs.

but if you throw in a 24 mage it will greatly reduce the exp you receive from those mobs. if you want to make good exp per battle, you would have to fight pugils and gobs, which put too much strain on your melee's (missing) and especially your tank (getting beat up means more cures from the mages which leads to the tank not being able to hold aggro and the mages not having much mp after battle).

also the subjob you chose, summoner, will cause your party to be slightly less efficient every time. if you choose white mage sub, you will relieve some of the pressure on your main healer, and you will have more options for who you can invite as the 3rd mage.

but if you stick with blm/smn, an acceptable party would be:
22blm/smn @500
24pld/war @4000
24thf/nin @2000
23drg/war
23whm/blm
22rdm/whm @1500

or something like that. try to keep the melee's equal to or above the mages.

Whisp, if you read the whole thing, the party ended up being all around lv 22, the 24whm left after one fight because he wanted to fight pugils instead, because goblins were too hard. the group went fine after we replaced him with the JP whm.

Thank you for the advise about the subjob, I realize the effect it can have on a party, and I sub whm when requested to.

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Krystan ( with an "a" )
LS - theLostBoys
57WHM-40RNG-30BLM-30SMN-25THF-20SAM
20NIN-20MNK-20WAR-20DRK-20PLD-20DRG
1(RDM,BRD,BST)

i noticed at low levels (like 40 or less) parties had about an equal chance of completely sucking, being totally wonderful, or being just plain average. there are a lot of factors, like what skillchain you set up and how effective it is on the mob, levels of the party members, commitment of the members to stay for many hours, and each member's understanding of each other, understanding of tactics, how crowded an area is, quality of equipment and spells, food--especially for melee's, knowing your roles in emergencies, etc.

if you party with people you know, you have the ability to help each other improve in these areas. also, it's nice to get to watch other people play your job, like how i got to watch yarr for all those months in our 2whm party, you pick up little tips like how yarr used divine seal as often as possible. being a veteran player with multiple jobs such as yourself, you can watch people playing white mage while you're playing black mage and vice versa. new players don't have that experience, so usually parties before 40 are a bit hindered by that.

hmmm..... tell me more about using Divine Seal, I have been under the impression you want to save it for mini-benedictions to cut down on downtime.

Also, since I just got Haste, when and on who is that usefull?

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Krystan ( with an "a" )
LS - theLostBoys
57WHM-40RNG-30BLM-30SMN-25THF-20SAM
20NIN-20MNK-20WAR-20DRK-20PLD-20DRG
1(RDM,BRD,BST)

as long as you have trust in your party and feel safe enough, you can use divine seal every 10 minutes (it's been a while, it is 10 right?). the way to use it depends on the mob you are fighting. if it's a mob that dishes out AOE on everyone, like damselfly mobs, use divine seal curaga before the last fight of the chain so you will eliminate downtime and get that chain5 you wanted or whatever. if it's a mob that hits 1 person hard, like an exoray, you should use divine seal+your most powerful cure spell to save a lot of mp. use it during battle if you think you can, but chances are it's safer to wait until after battle. of course you have to allow the tank's hp to fall enough so that you make the most use of divine seal.

haste... at lvl 40 it's very hard on your mp. i would probably only use it on one person per battle at level 40. the universal rule with haste is if you have a ninja, use it on the ninja so he can cast utsu quicker. otherwise if you have a pally or war having trouble holding hate, give him haste. same with if the mob does a slow spell like crawlers' sticky thread. haste the tank. if the tank is doing fine holding hate, but instead you have 1 melee having trouble keeping up with the other's tp, haste the slower melee. at level 60+ however, you should try to haste the tank, then the slower tp builder, then the faster tp builder, over and over. you'll know if you have enough mp for it.

As far as I can tell, there are 4 members that are critical to a PT, however the order of importance I'm not too clear on.

1> Healer - Need someone that knows how to keep people healed, and how much to keep them heal at the least cost to MP. Also knows how to coordinate enfeebling of mob.

2> Puller - In charge of the flow of XP, knows when to pull and what to pull, without having to wait for an OK from the rest of the PT. (IE realizes that you can see PT mp/hp in the lower right of the screen)

3> Tank - Keeper of Hate, meatshield of think skin. Important that they can take more then one hit before needing to be healed

4> Damage - Archor of the group, more dmg > shorter fight > less downtime/healing > faster XP.

leaves you with 2 slots to fill, and most times I find it works out that the last two are the floaters so to speak

5> Damage/Heal - Able to backup heal when needed, but can dish it out mostly

6> Damage/Tank - can Voke when needed, but better to cause short fight via dead badguy

Yea it's not perfect, and alot of times you have people that fill multiple roles. Like RNG: pulls and also deals lotsa damage, or BRD: enhances party, adds to eerything.

But, leaving stuff like that out, what is the most important?

1 - Heal
2 - Pull
3 - Tank
4 - Damage

Just kinda want to see what people thing on this, as WHM I end up forming the PT alot, and it's nice to know what makes people feel more comfortable.

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Krystan ( with an "a" )
LS - theLostBoys
57WHM-40RNG-30BLM-30SMN-25THF-20SAM
20NIN-20MNK-20WAR-20DRK-20PLD-20DRG
1(RDM,BRD,BST)

Tank and Pull.

As a puller I can handle low dmg PTs. I call them conservative PTs because they normally end with high HP and MP. These PTs won't chain 5 much, but they'll match a loose PT's chain 5 XP because of the pull style.

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Dark is banned from ever touching my computer again.

1. Bard
2. Everyone else

i think the only way you get a good party is to have a good leader.

ive joined many many parties and you can instantly tell when a party will go well or not.

tips for getting a good party

1- when invited he leader tells you the party config

2- the party config is balenced ie all jobs are different

3- you have a tank in the party yes i joined a party at lvl 50 once where they wanted the dark to tank and said cause i was a bard they would have little/no downtime. i left the party and said they need to invite a nin or pld cause no way was their dark gonna tank even if he was a galka.

4- pulling, rng or thf in pt is a good start but imo you want a rank 6+ person to be the puller almost regardless of job, heck i used to pull as a bard pre lvl 40 and i still pull when our rng wants a break. whm and rdm use dia/silence and can pull blm can use poison, most other jobs can use a rng weapon etc so anyone can pull you just need experience on it.

5- time, first 10-15 mins in a new team you will suffer slower xp and maybe a death or 2, this is often cause people are settling into the party, sure everyone *should* know their roles but a little patence is needed and if after 30mins its all going wrong or you have died 2-3 times i guess you should move on.

end of the day you cant ever guarentee a good party, so just enjoy the game and be nice to everyone

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Kasdaye Regnar

you know what kinda gives me a hint if the party is good or not? If they can get SC's right, or even TRY to get them right.

I love playing my blm job and getting into a party and asking what to MB with and they say:

We are all going solo on WS's

/em is dumbstruck!

I mean even if you don't have a GOOD SC, it's always helpful to practice.

It also kinda bugs me when groups won't invite certian classes because "they suck"

Personally I love having a THF in a pt anything past lv 15, but they seem to get shortchanged a lot.

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Krystan ( with an "a" )
LS - theLostBoys
57WHM-40RNG-30BLM-30SMN-25THF-20SAM
20NIN-20MNK-20WAR-20DRK-20PLD-20DRG
1(RDM,BRD,BST)

Well at least the JPN love us.

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Dark is banned from ever touching my computer again.

sometimes i'd be in a level-balanced party of nin, mnk, rng, blm, brd, whm and it wouldnt work at all, then i would switch to a party of war, drk, drg, drg, smn, whm or something and it would be wonderful

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RIP Shiloh - I'll never forget ya

Dinav you love yourself more than enough to compensate.

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Nephrenia
Red Mage: 60 Black Mage: 30

2-Leaf Mandragora Bud Finder Extraordinaire.

Heh...well yes.

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Dark is banned from ever touching my computer again.

I'll say there's really no "right" way to create a party. It depends on what's working, and if the players can adjust and work well with each other. I am suprised that with the lvl differences you were able to get such good exp. Grats on that.

I personally hate putting together parties, for some reason, it always ends bad, people don't like listening, or don't think they are worthy of criticism, or whatever. So my hat goes off to you for making a party that worked, well, when you did.

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Lildog Drk75/Thf37
THE DOG DEMON'S OTHER/STRONGEST SON