Looking To Return To XI

Ahoy, so I'm not one for the forums but I've played FF from the NA release until late 2009ish and I'm thinking about returning once my new CC comes in the mail. As you can imagine, a lot has changed since I left... (85 cap was shortly on its way when I decided to quit and abyssia was just being announced) So I'm going to need to be informed on a few things if anyone could spare the time. First off, do you still gain like 200 exp with a band effect on even at chain 200? That seems a little harsh for a 99 cap since 42k when I played took almost an entire day depending on the party. Also, what is abyssia, void watch etc? I know OF it just not the details on how it works and what makes it different from the normal game world. Also a new fishing system? I used to love fishing. And lastly (sorry to be a bother) but I played on the Alexander server, which apparently was wiped or something? If I need to choose a new server does anyone have any suggestions? :]

I'm sorry if that didn't make much sense I'm posting from a portable device so it's hard to read back what I've written very well.

TL;DR
What's new in XI since 80 cap and how do things work now?
Thank you

Games pretty easy you would be on Shiva, Alex and them merged. but there too much new to say all xD

You can earn 100-250k+ exp per hour in abyssea depending on how you manage your time.

Fishing is still the same as 2009 (though they will be updating it here in a few months but nothing major).

Only event's you'll be doing NOW are Abyssea and Voidwatch. Over the next few months Nyzul is coming back, as well as Limbus, Salvage, and Einherjar. SE is working on making old content more appealing.

Well when I was around I was camping out for 24 hours at a time for HNM pops, doing sky, sea, dyna and limbo weekly and farming endlessly so if it's any easier that'd be nice lol

What is the new way to gain exp? And what is the average exp per/h or per/kill nowadays? When I played it was like 8-11k per/h and like 120-200 per kill

Lovely, I got up to floor... 65? In nyzul before I quit. I really wish I had stuck it out to 100 now :/

The XP caps were lifted a while back, solo killing an IT is like 600 XP now. That said, most XP isn't really done the way you'd remember it.

First, you have changes to Fields of Valor tomes, along with the newer Grounds of Valor (FoV...inside!) that can now be set to repeat. The XP granted works regardless of level, group size, etc. So you have XP alliances in places that will get most of their XP from whatever page they're doing.

Abyssea also can give a ton of XP. There, as long as you're killing the same mob, the chain rises (you also need to get Gold light to raise the XP cap some). Caps at around 600XP/mob, but will take a little time to build to that. XP rings/Corsair's roll are useless for it. Some of the zones have Ops to do, similar to FoV/GoV. Per-mob XP doesn't scale based on group size, so again you can do alliance XP. You get an XP penalty for level, but only to a point, so leeching is common.

You can fairly easily do 200k-300k/hr in Abyssea. I've done 140k/hr or so in a trio. In all seriousness, XP is a joke in today's FFXI.

HNM's are now all forced pop except for Wyrms.

Sky was renewed for synergy and still has some use.

Sea has not been updated yet and has no new content.

Dynamis has massive new content, forgot to mention that, and just about everyone does it now. Limbus hasn't been updated yet.

Nyzul gear is being upgraded to +5 too.

Average exp/hr is what i said, 100-250k exp per hour.

Also they are coming out with new Wyrms to fill in the missing elements.

Leveling is basically this:

Speed level to 10 (takes like 20 minutes).
Do FoV til 30 (or get in a GoV group or with someone doing GoV). This will take a few hours.
Do abyssea from 30-99 in about 12 hours depending on the group.

Do your self a favor and don't bother coming back. Best advice I can give.

New Wyrms as ... DRG pets?

Before I left I had 75 PLD DRG BST SAM with 80 THF.
I also have 66 BLM, 60ish COR etc etc..
I'm super interested in the cool new PLD gear but I'm not sure what job to go with... I was told BST was great for Dyna solo since anyone can go in once per day now? But I thought THF would be nice for solo too

Wyrms are dragons like Vrtra, Tiamat, ect.

Wyverns are DRG pets.

Also yes, get BST to 99 if you want to solo stuff. It will help a lot

30-99 in 12 hours?! WTF? That's insane I remember when 1-75 was like a 6 month in-devour with quests and NMs in between @.@

Yes I realized my mistake after posting, it's been a while lol

Yup >.>;

I miss those days XD I wouldn't go back to them though. It's nice getting a new job at the end of the day to start gearing it up instead of gearing up 6 months later.

Well hell, I was all like "Okay I'll choose one job out of my 75s and just zerg it to 99 since it'll take forever"

Also, I have 70 inv space along with a 50(?) satchel, is inv space still a problem?

Not all Hnms are forced popped. The classic one's like King Arthro etc still remain 21-24 hours but I know SE is gonna lower their spawn times. But you did forget Fafnir/Nidhogg are Wyrms as well lol.

I grinded like 7 jobs from 95-99 starting around 1 p.m EST and kept going, where I started to get real headache after 2 a.m ( while from starting at 9 p.m I opened a few cold beers and gamed with friends, becoming a alliance party lead and getting LS friends into camps so we all could level together..)

It is definately a push to get jobs at 99.

Also you might want to start looking at magian weapon trials. Also what +2 armor you need.

If you want to read up on what is upcoming (some already implemented) you can take a look at this post. I've gathered all the update information there.

Some one in LS told me that those NM's are divded into 2 pops, H.Q and non Hq. the Non- H.Q still spawn w.o pops, amiright?

Kalilla, I forgot.. when are the Summoners getting Cait and Atomos?

Inventory will always be a problem :)

It is much more so now that players have more jobs. You can use characters on the same account (aka your mules) to send rare/ex items to them now (except a few). This helps a lot, but also the porter moogle helps greatly. You get 13 books to store armor in, from a wide variety of events. learn to use this and you'll have less problems.

I'm not sure ; ;

No the NQ Hnms are forced pop by items of course that are dropped in KSNM99 100%. Wyrm KSNM: Faf pop you get the idea. Anyways the NQ Hnms drop pops for the HQ but the % rate is nasty.

Well, my gear is incredibly dated lol
Still rocking a rindomaru because hagun was too expensive at the time haha, I have nearly all dyna gear sets for my jobs aside from TH hands and valor body, if those count for anything these days upgraded. I know nothing of +2s and I never even started magians because when they came out and I was playing they weren't worth it

Okay, I didn't mean to say ALL of the HNM's, but the main ones when you think of HNM.

Yes but the rate of skilling up isn't all that faster. There's expensive food to make it faster, but it's still pretty slow.

Also, because most of the gear you'll get is gotten from Abyssea, unless you can leech it all you have to devote time to getting the dozens of key items to make you powerful in Abyssea zones, stuff that will double your HP and give incredible boosts to attributes. This will take months. And when you're starting out, you have very limited time in Abyssea, which will be frustrating.

I have capped inventory space available, and still have an issue. It could go up 40 more slots and I'd have an issue, I'm sure, lol. However, SE's recognized this and has expanded the porter moogles to accept alot more gear. In addition, Limbus/sea/Einherjar gear is now sendable through your PoL account. Ergo, you may send them to a mule.

You'll want to get started on a GK trial. You can go the Empyrean route or you can go a damage or STP route. I'm not sure what SAM's really do as I'm not one but those are a few paths you can take. Go to ffxiclopedia or gamerescape (both are the same thing, gamerescape is the new wiki) and search for Great Katana Trials. You'll find a list there.