I'm A Lost Ninja, Would Appreciate Light

Hello!

I couldn't resist not playing my favourite job in my favourite game and once again I installed FFXI and fired it up.

Last time I did anything like that was during abyssea, during which I made a new account and got myself up to Kannagi (85). That was 2012.

Now everything's changed once again and I find myself lost.

Not so much over what I should do - that's Eminence points, get some stuff and go from there to do storyline solo, that's fine.

I just don't have any clue how to proceed to properly gear up, and any guide seems outdated.

If anyone's willing to give it a go, I'd appreciate some pointers and general help in how to get started with decent gear after I get basic stuff from sparks.

Thank you, and I'm glad a good amount of people are still playing this wonderful game.

(I may move to Asura if I like how it goes)

A question to ask yourself is "what do you want to do as NIN?", by which I mean roles and content. Most of the perks for NIN have come in the form of DD boosts, such as a trait that adds a free shuriken throw to normal attacks. Tanking hasn't changed much aside from newer gear choices and the addition of Rune Fencer as subjob. As for gear, there are a variety of ways to get quality gear without going nuts or being a total mooch.

Hit me up in-game sometime if you need a hand with stuff. I have a linkshell that's full of people who are or were in the same boat as you, and catching people up is like, one of my things.

Thanks for your answer.

I have a busy schedule, what with other games, work, social life (yeah right), so I don't really plan to play too much, I think I'll play mostly solo.

A good linkshell with some people would be awesome so that I can talk to somebody, but I don't expect/ask for actual help ingame, unless it's absolutely needed.

To answer your question, I suppose I'd just want to be able to solo using Trusts, content like storylines and stuff. Nothing fancy, really.
Which I suppose would mean some evasion tanking and mostly dps.

I'll attempt to send you a tell next time I manage to get in-game, thanks for your offer :)

I have a precise question, as yesterday I got my bearings with sparks.

From what I can see, eminence sparks gear equippable by ninja could be a way to begin, but it's not that good, but it's very cheap.

After that I'd need 1 more weapon, which I suppose I can buy a random one (Kannagi 85 doesn't seem up to par).

Then I can begin farming eminence sparks (somehow?) in order to get Rem pages to upgrade AF1/2/3 to 109 and 119.

Is that the correct way to go about it, to have decent gear in a decently efficient way?

Farming Pages with sparks is a possible way to do it but I personally do not suggest it.
Farm Sacred Kindred Crests or buy them with login points, or ask a friend to "offer" some of their crests for you.
Most of us longtime players have like over9000 crests, I personally helped a lot of friends by "offering" my crests for their Chapters farm.

It's more efficient to convert Sparks into gil, which which you can buy useful gear (tbf not a lot of AHable good gear but there's a couple of 118 drops from WoE that NIN can use and that are still pretty nice) or in worst case scenario you can offer gil to merc people into helping you.


Some nice Katanas for NIN
Ochu ==> Sinister Reign, this is probably out of your league for the moment
Raicho/+1 => excellent katana, you can MH the +1 and OH the NQ
Izuna => Drops from Alluvion Skirmish

Also Delve 1 boss Bee drops a decent 119 katana you can start with.



Gear wise you can start with Eminence stuff (and a couple of 118 items you can buy from AH. Sasuke Tekko +1 comes to mind, not sure if it's still cheap or very expensive though...) and the things you should look forward to are your AF/relic/Empy stuff and Alluvion Skirmish.
You can totally be the "book" guy in an Alluvion Yorcia run even with zero gear, if you know some friends who want to carry you over.

Thanks, that also answers how to spend login points.

I'll get sparks for katana/basic gear, then farm kindred crests, make spending money through remaining sparks and work on katanas doing these things you mentioned.

Sasuke tekko +1 do not seem to be available on Sylph right now.

I don't really know anyone anymore, only 1 person is left in my friend list, so I don't plan on getting things done other than through solo.

Still, that's a good list of things to get done.

Also I just found out about utsusemi: San and job points, I wasted about 11000 sparks of eminence without knowing about it D:

I also read around that I can learn Blade: Hi regardless of the weapon I use, I'll work on that too.

What are usually the self-chains ninja goes for? From the screenshots I see Hi > Hi, so I probably need to learn the weapon skill thing as I won't use Kannagi anymore.

Thank you very much for those pointers.

Well, Jeanpaul has been very kind in offering you a pearl and help, I wouldn't turn such a kind offer down, especially from a famous player like him!

Not sure I get what you mean.
How are sparks and job points related?


To learn Blade: Hi you either need Kannagi 90 or WoE weapon 99.
There are two paths for WoE Weapon 99. The old one (lots of NMs to kill, then coins, voiddust etc) or the new one (no NMs, just a plethora of Coins, Voiddust etc).
Both can be started from the TotM moogle in Ru'lude gardens.


Hi>Hi is darkness.
Kamu>Shun is Light
Not sure you're in a position to bother about self SCs though, yet. Need a lot of haste/dualwield to be able to self-SC reliably and I'm afraid you're not quite there yet

Until you're done with unlocking Blade: Hi, Blade: Shun 5/5 is an excellent WS.
Otherwise Blade: Ku at 1000TP and Blade: Ten at 3000 TP.
Not sure how Blade: Jin does these days. Probably it's the best option inside Abyssea but when you're outside I'm not sure about that...

Famous or not, I'm glad for his offer, and will try and send a tell sometime he's not busy. I barely see 300 people online during the evenings, it's not that much, but one does not need many people to not feel alone within that huge world, anyway.


Eminences also give some kind of points or something, from what I read, that eventually accrue into job points. But I suppose once I unlock job points, I'll just accrue them when doing stuff.


I see. I was not aware of the actual requirements.
I was about to say I could easily solo my way to 90 Kannagi, but after reading how it works, I got the chills. Oh man, that sound like it requires a LONG time.
I suppose I'll add to the list a WoE Weapon 99.


Thanks, I will work on unlocking Hi and in the meanwhile will use Shun.

I know it won't happen now, but I'm just asking questions as they come so that I can plan what I do.

Farm seals (though from what I read, it requires people and KSNM or w/e they're called now), work on sparks, unlock Hi, get another weapon through one of the mentioned methods, slowly get AF1/2/3 up to 109 and 119, those are the goals it seems.

Thanks a lot for your help.

Lol don't worry you didn't miss out much.
Only a couple of Record of Eminence trials give Capacity Points (which transform into 1 JP once you reach 30.000) and the amounts are so miniscule they barely make a difference.
The main and arguably only source of Capacity Points is killing ilevel targets.


The coins/voiddust/thirdmat needed for the WoE 99 weapon are kinda rare in these days where nobody cares about Voidwatch and WoE.
Especially in a semi-deserted server like Sylph.
Honestly I think you'd have a faster time going 85>90 on Kannagi.
The monster needed for Kannagi is Apademak, right?
Once you get full ilevel gear that guy will go down in a few seconds, especially now that you can use trusts.
Just put Blade: hi on a temporary break, and once you get decent gear solo it yourself. There's hardly any competition on the NMs these days, you can get it done in a couple of days of work imho, definitely faster than gathering the mats for the WoE 99 weapon, unless you can find them for cheap on the market but I doubt that's gonna happen.

You could get a nice jump start by purchasing a Pamun on the ah, and grabbing kaitsburi for 7k sparks. Having those will help you kill things in adoulin zones a lot faster. Speaking of which, you accrue bayld by killing monsters and participating in reives and coalition assignments. There's better katanas and gear you can get with bayld to hold you over until skirmish and beyond.

*scribs*

Thank you both, I made up a list and should get me started.

Plus I'm way less confused now about all those new things, 't was very helpful.

One last question that I can foresee for now, regarding which Trusts to use; I read I can eventually get up to 5, but for the time being I can use 3 it seems?

I would say a support with March (Ulmia? I can solo-finish Cop easily I suppose), and a healer with Haste (Apururu?) should do the job, third one something that does damage maybe.

RDM types will tend to use Haste II, which is something to consider. Even if they have the same basic spells/etc, Trusts often differ on AI.

If you go with a DD trust, I would say to pick one based on utility (like Stun from Zeid II) as their general damage isn't too great.

You may find it advantageous to use a tank to free you up to DD better (Innin, etc). Amchuchu also uses Valiance pretty much as often as possible, so even if she can't hold hate off of you, you'll get that (Fast Cast, elemental DT bonus).


Also - and I only mention because I initially missed it when gearing NIN back up - Daken doesn't actually consume shuriken. As Jeanpaul said, it's free. You're basically adding Kick Attacks style extra attacks by equipping one for TP. So that's a very effective, dirt cheap improvement to make if (like me) you didn't pick up on that little detail.

I'd also add that Joachim can be a higher quality BRD that Ulmia in some situations, as he will remove status effects.

Qultada is also worth considering, as he's an awesome COR. Besides DA/Acc/Atk rolls, he will also use the exp/cp bonus roll when you have a exp ring of any kind active. (very helpful)

I'd go with whm, rdm, brd or cor for now. (personally I wouldn't ever go without haste 2)

Cool, thanks for the info.

And yeah Isolia, at first I was wondering whether that would take up a real shuriken, but I figured it would've been too stupid. and I also see people swapping throwing slot during WS, meaning that TP don't get reset (I believe).

I'll purchase the sparks shuriken to begin with, then we'll see.

Thanks for your help, and @Orestes, I stole your gearswap file too, I had one that I used way back but I figure it's way too complicated and old, so I'll make it anew with yours as a skeleton. It's awesome :D

Yeah, TP doesn't get reset when equipping/unequipping the ammo slot ^^
When you get up to the final chapters of Rhapsodies the Curio moogle vendor (I go to the one in port bastok by the mog house) will sell all the AH-style shurikens, and even the sparks/bayld ones too. Specifically stacks of Happo Shuriken for I believe it was 16k.

Speaking of Rhapsodies, if you haven't started those yet I would. Each key item gives 30% exp, and the final ones give 30% CP bonus. Really handy when capping merit Categories and generally just getting JP.

I haven't started Rhapsodies yet, but I guess that's the first one I should get going given the bonuses you speak of (and more Trusts at the same time).

Turns out it's gonna take way more than I thought, given the economy's status. I had to spend 30 minutes getting Yagudo Necklaces since they're not at the AH and I needed 4 to finish the quest prior to getting a Trust in Windurst.

Same as Gobbiebag, for which I can't proceed because I'm waiting for Peiste Leather to come up.

I guess that's normal, given the amount of playing people.

Thanks to everyone's suggestions I've gotten basic sparks gear, katana and shuriken, so I can at least fight now :D

The game is as amazing as it used to be, that's a plus.

It is for sure^^

Get into some Yorcia-Skirmish for Taeon gear, and some Cirdas Skirmish for a couple Izuna. If you can do those two things your NIN will be ready to start having some fun. Also WKR's can offer some great gear for starting up. These events take about 45min.

Can use "Moblin Stew 880" to trade to the goblin instead of the series of items he requests to complete the Gobbie Bag series of quests.

Yeah, I read about it, but I'm going to spend login points for Rem books, Ciphers maaaaaybe just maybe, certainly not for a Gobbiebag :P

I can only get so many points within the campaign.

I also think I may have to server transfer, being european and all and considering I cannot play at NA times anymore like I used to back in the day, the server is literally empty during my playtime.

Haven't even been able to check in with JeanPaul for his Linkshell offer so far, probably a time-zone issue there as well!

I'll get into Yorcia-Skirmish and Cirdas as soon as I finish getting some 100+ gear and get my bearings, thanks.

Honestly it seems like I can be geared with the bare minimum in not overly long, which is a surprise considering how long it used to take back in the day. I still remember the months/years before getting a good piece of gear :D

Can't buy Goblin Stew for Login Points anymore.
Can buy it for 100k gil from the Moogle in your Mog Garden though.

Ah, that's wonderful news. Both wikis were not updated for this, thanks!

It's a temporary campaign, it's not normally sold there, but it has been for the past 2 months' campaigns.
Current campaign ends on November the 30th or sometimes around that.

Ah, that's fine. I just need 4 I think to get to 80, 400k is an affordable price so that I don't have to wait/farm stuff.

There's no katanas at the AH so I suppose I'll get my 2nd katana off the ones you suggested, Sechs.

As I begin to understand what Delve is and how it works, am I safe to assume I can solo the bee boss you mentioned, so that I can get my 2nd katana?

It's either there or the Raichu, from what I see, which seems to be involved with Unity.

I'd recommend taking up the offer and joining that LS. All of the above options require help, and some are not very common events these days.

You wouldn't be putting anyone out, if that's what you're thinking. People may not do delve very often, as the gear is generally outdated, but Rangers still get their best ammo from plasm. (general currency acquired in delve) Unity and skirmish are still pretty current, and if you have a decent group it's extremely easy content, and highly possible for you to succeed under-geared without being a liability.

Otherwise, you'll have to shout, which is like the wild west sometimes.

p.s. Don't forget about bayld weapons/armor if you need something to tide you over. This katana is pretty nice, especially during reives. There's also Thurandaut Chapeau from Vesca. You get bayld from doing reives, which should be do-able solo in most outdoor areas with trusts.

Oh yeah, bayld to get the katana, right! Thanks :D

I cannot seem to be able to get the Goblin Stew 880 from the moogle, is there a rank requirement of some sorts for the garden to unlock more items?

Unfortunately since it's a limited event it's not even shown in wikis so I can't find any information :/

Tons of good advise in here for returning Ninjas (All playeres really).

WKR:
I know Wildkeepers's Reives was mentioned. That's a good place to start once you have done a few of the Seeker's missions.

The WKR Bee drops a nice offhand katana (Taikogane) that can be augmented with occasionally attacks twice/crit hit/acc/other stuff. Also drops pants that can be aug'd with Fast cast for Utsu/casting or stats for ws's.

The WKR Shark drops a mask that can be aug'd with fast cast for your early stage Utsu/casting sets.

Yorcia Tree drops a decent pair of acc gloves that can be aug'd with the above or stats for a decent ws piece.
WKR info: https://www.bg-wiki.com/bg/Category:Reive#Wildskeeper_Reive

WS:

Blade: Hi - I know this was covered above by Sechs, its a great ws.

Blade: Shun - Farm up merits and get it to 5/5. It's a great weaponskill. Very strong multi hit with a DEX mod.

Blade: Kamu - Great ws to have (SC's), but its overshadowed by SHUN/HI in terms of DMG.

Skirmish:

Would do this and WKR's at the same time. Yorcia (A) will drop Taeon armor that can be aug'd with att/acc/TA/DEX/STR/CRIT/blah blah. Great items for very minimal work. You can pretty much go naked and do the book while some of your mage friends go to town on the elementals. It can also be done DD style if you wish.
Skirmish info: https://www.bg-wiki.com/bg/Category:Alluvion_Skirmish

You can get multiple pieces of Taeon so you can augment sets for ws/tp/fast cast/jutsu MAB/etc.

AF/RELIC/EMPY GEAR:

Just get it all upgraded.

There is really no reason not too, as each set has some decent and useful pieces. I have put an order of which items you should focus on first below. I would make the relic pieces your top priority out of the AF/Relic/Empy. Just note that Empy requires clearing Vagary.

Relic:
#1 - Relic Body -go to body piece, great for DW/WS/ACC builds
#2 - Relic Legs -go do TP legs for DW situations
#3/4/5 - Feet (Jutsu sets), Hands (good WS piece until Taeon), Head (Jutsu DMG sets) - Really can be done in any order.
Relic info: https://www.bg-wiki.com/bg/Mochizuki_Garb_Set_%2B1

Empy:
#1 - Empy Feet - They are great! Adds an extra shadow to you Utsu's
#2 - Empy Head - great head piece for low Haste/DW sets and when Innin is up
#3 - Empy Body - Great ACC/WS ACC piece and a nice Blade: Hi piece as well
#4 - Empy Legs - Great ACC piece
#5 - Empy Hands - Awesome for Shun and ACC sets. Good for Jutsu DMG as well
Empy info: https://www.bg-wiki.com/bg/Hattori_Garb_Set_%2B1

AF:
#1 - AF Head - Jutsu skill sets
#2 - AF feet - Running fast! (could argue this is #1)
The rest of the AF really isn't used
AF info: https://www.bg-wiki.com/bg/Hachiya_Garb_Set_%2B1

Weapons:

Tancho(+1) - Completing Unity Orctrap
Raicho (+1) - Completing Unity Vampire
Ochu - Sinister Reign
Aizushintogo - Drops from a T2 NM from Escha Sky (Palila)

I know some others where mentioned above. The ones I posted are all 119 and have a good amount of ACC on them.


Once you have done some Yorcia Alluvion Skirmish and completed some relic gear I would look into Vagary/Delve. As stated above you will need to clear this to get the empy upgraded gear. One of our best offhands drops from this event (Achiuchikapu) as well as some other goodies. You will need a decent ACC rating for this event. Delve has some good accessory items like earrings/rings/belts. Delve does not require as high of an ACC rating to complete as Vagary.
Vagary info: https://www.bg-wiki.com/bg/Category:Vagary

Once you have some of this completed I would look into Escha armor. Will need to clear Escha zitah for vorseals but most of the armor is not going to be good enough to replace Taeon/Empy gear. Escha sky has some killer gear though! Would look into the Adhermar and Ryuo sets. Both sets are stacked with tons DEX/AGI/CRIT/TA/ACC, they are just awesome.
Escha abj info: https://www.bg-wiki.com/bg/Category:Abjurations#Abjuration_Sets_.28Escha_-_Ru.27Aun.29

I would place Sinister Reign here. This event will need a good amount of ACC. One of our best main and or offhands drops from here! Tons of goodies from this event like insane ws pants (with perfect augs), and a great head piece as well. This stuff is a gamble though since you get it aug'd. Like Skirmish it could take a few rounds to get what your looking for.
SR info: https://www.bg-wiki.com/bg/Category:Sinister_Reign

All of this will lead you to Reisen Escha. The gear that is dropping from the new zone seems to trump all of the above. However, this content is pretty high and will require a decently skilled group to complete. Will require very high ACC ratings.

Would definitely hop into JeanPauls LS like he offered. Very knowledgeable person on the forums and would be a great source of info when in game. I listed quite a bit of crap here (I apologize for the shitty layout!) but the most important thing? Have fun! You have a lot to experience so just take your time. Best of luck to you and your ninja adventures.

That's a very huge work of recollection made stronger by your own additions.

Awesome, thanks!

I managed to get Bayld and Sparks katana, all the sparks basic stuff (useful for WS for the most part, for now), and am working on Aldouin missions. Just unlocked Wildkeeper Reives.

A bit confused on how to find people for content groups such as wildkeeper reives and skirmishes and how to join Unity fights, but I'll figure it out, just going to progress through storyline in the meantime, as I see there's advantages and zones to unlock.

Smooth sailing so far, and Trusts are amazing.

This game's always a blast to play, even if you just do a few quests and experience the storylines.

Thanks to all these suggestions I've been able to get things done this weekend.

A little update on my quest to catch-up, or ketchup:

Managed to unlock all survival skills, get story going along with aldouin fame required, farmed a few WKR bees to get a lot of Bayld and finally got enough points for Relic body to 109.

It's been a lot of fun so far, and I look forward to doing more things, even though I am in no rush to get into group content for the time being.

Were you able to get Taikogane from bee?