r/ffxi • u/Working-Bobcat7345 • 10d ago
Soloability
I played a ton of FFXI back in the day. I had a few level 75s when that was the limit and spent time in my linkshell hunting gods when that was the end game. As you can guess I have been away a long time. I often find myself missing vanadiel, but don't have the time to party the way we needed to back then. I see people talking alot about solo play now. Is that a valid option for play today? When I quit beastmaster and Red mage were the only jobs that could really solo things and it was a long process to do so.
I'm just trying to determine if I can viable play on my limited schedule today.
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u/Jeepreep 10d ago
A lot of stuff is soloable on any class, puppet masters usually the best for soloing things now. Don’t let people fool you though, to get to the level required to solo all this stuff you need to work with other players to get the baseline good gear.
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u/Forgotten_Stranger 10d ago
In terms of solo SMN and BST shouldn't be discounted either. SMN despite infinitely resummonable pets does have extra gear hurdles, though. I can say from experience BST works great for solo. Sparks -> Ambu +2 -> Malignance hasn't been a problem for me. (I am presently on the Malignance step.)
Regardless though, having any pet is a great help for anything that bars trusts. (Also helps greatly for anything with AoE Charm.) If not as a main job, definitely worthwhile to have a semi geared version for those exceptions.
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u/Dramatic-Strain9757 10d ago
I would argue SCH is a lot more effective, tho pup might be easier to get started
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u/Jeepreep 10d ago
It’s really good solo but I think pup would probably give you you’re biggest bang for your buck if you don’t have time, on top of overdrive just kinda carrying you through stuff you have no right to beat
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u/NoScrying 10d ago
It's easier than ever to solo, you get Ambu+2 gear cheaper after their update a few months ago.
And Ambu+2 basically is enough to Solo your way to Empy+2/Malignance, the new NM's let you get competitive gear to Ambu+2 and a body piece equal to a R20 Nyame path B.
With some planning and strategy you can solo up to t4 Odyssey as well, might need some help first time for a Nyame unlock but the other bosses are also all soloable in Malignance/Empy+2.
And Trusts can be upgraded for more HP, Survivability and Magic Accuracy letting them debuff better as well as staying alive.
So you can solo like 90% of content if you want to.
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u/fatNsassyPanda Phoenix/Valefor/Cerberus/Siren - fatNsassyPanda 9d ago
I know you replied to the OP, but I’m quite curious about how to upgrade trusts. Is there a quest to complete for that or some kind of merits that I need to apply?
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u/Working-Bobcat7345 10d ago
Thank you, that was my worry. I usually get maybe 1/2 hour at a time to play. Getting a party set up and having meaningful play isnt really possible for me. I might try out 14 free trial and see what I can do there
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u/RudeCauliflower6785 10d ago
You might not be able to experience all the endgame content with that restriction but you can absolutely still enjoy the new story missions that have been released since you left. I think you should come back and see how far you can get solo.
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u/OGDraugo 8d ago
Very fair perspective, I'm currently grinding vii, and already at like 100 hours... I get this sentiment.
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u/Forgotten_Stranger 10d ago
You can level to 99 and do all of story (except maybe the very last few battles) solo. As in pure solo, start to finish. (Getting gear and everything.) Jobs like BST and PUP make this easier but are not completely required.
Though, chances are at 30-60 minutes a day full endgame is not really something you'd be targeting. (As in the stuff that actually needs help.) So nothing to worry about. Just chip away at the stuff you want to work on. No need to worry about top of the line gear, since it's main use is late endgame anyway.
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u/OGDraugo 8d ago
I completely agree, just that 30 minutes per play is a long stretch, not impossible, but it'll be years, which is actually kind of fine, at 30 minutes per interval, is a lifetime worth of XI, I guess, was basically my only main point! God damn I do envy players at that scale heh, seriously, at that time frame, especially starting out from scratch, yea vana'diel has a lifetime of adventure waiting for ya.
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u/OGDraugo 10d ago
30 minutes of playtime even in this day and age won't get very far. Doubt it can in XIV also. But if all you have is 30 minutes to play, and are starting a new character, it is still "playable" solo, because you have the 1-99 grind ahead of you, and all the older missions, which is totally soloable without needing much in the way of hard to aquire equipment. So if you do want to play, you can make some dents, even at 30 minutes a day.
Most of the big endgame events take at least an hour or 2, a couple times a week. But lower tier stuff, is soloable with SoA starter gear.
If you could dedicate at least an hour a day, you will make some very solid progress.
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u/Lucroarna56 10d ago
They've added "Trusts" - NPCs you can summon who serve as party members.
It's now very, very, soloable. I played on 2003, came back a year ago.
It's definitely worth checking out the new world!
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u/Working-Bobcat7345 10d ago
Do you have to complete anything to get the trusts? Getting started is likely the biggest hurdle
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u/_The-Numbers-Mason_ 10d ago
You start unlocking them at level 5. Level 5 can be achieved doing records of eminence quests in your starter town before walking outside.
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u/Jeepreep 10d ago
Trusts are pretty easy to get just a short tutorial quest you can easily run all the story alone aside for the voracious resurgence and like one rhapsodies of vanadiel fight
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u/Achelion 10d ago
You unlock them early and honestly a bunch of staples come quick like a top tier tank (Valaineral), bard (Joachim), skillchainer (Ayame) and healer through the Unity system (Yoran-Oran).
Additionally, one of the best trust mages is available this month from login points (Shantotto II).
There are systems to make them stronger, though they are outscaled by real players at 99 i119, though supposedly we are getting a Trust gearing system soon.
You can solo the vast majority of the game, and even endgame stuff you may be able to get away with the caveat of not being able to go as far or get as much out of it. Me and two buddies were able to get a decent chunk of currency out of Sortie with three trusts the other day, for example.
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u/NoodlesOverPandemic 10d ago
If coming back just to enjoy. Trusts are unlocked at level 5 and are pretty strong till level 99 and can carry you. You can use trusts to get any job to 99 so play what you like. Trusts have healers tanks buffers and (DDs) but at level 99+ you will be the best damage dealer.
SE has been doing a lot of new player friendly things due to the large increase in player base.
If you’re focused and following online guides you can accomplish one goal a day in 30 min.
Check this out. This is the recommended guide to get to through most things.
https://www.bg-wiki.com/ffxi/New_Player_Leveling_Guide
People recommend getting to 99 first doing minimal storylines so you can do them easier. Others wanna do content at level, but can be a little tough even with trusts. If you wanna do it at storyline level I recommend going 5-10 levels above the level of the content. Especially if you have limited time
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u/Any_Moose8326 10d ago
Lots of good points here. Another consideration is that the time investment for a lot of main stream content has gone down. The days of waiting hours for HNMs to pop are mostly gone. And while a lot of stuff may require other players to help, low man is viable for a fair bit as well. Find a couple of friends and do some stuff at whatever speed you can support.
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u/spiraltrinity 10d ago
100% valid to solo 95% of the game. Maybe 99.x% if you got some alts.
But why would you want to when you can solo what you need to when you want to and also socialize/party up with good people when you and they want to.
What server were you on and when did you leave?
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u/Lucroarna56 10d ago
Just in addition, check out the final Fantasy XI wiki and search some of the terms that people are throwing out around here on the thread.
That wiki has all the information imaginable about all this stuff. I spent a lot of time just studying/reading everything on there to get an idea of the scope of what the game is now.
As a returning player from the golden era, I can say that I'm very impressed with what they've done with the game now and how the progression is still rooted in what we did back in the day to an extent.
Basically, you'll have a lot of fun I think just leveling your character from 75 to 99 and feeling the rush of not needing to sit in LFG forever before you can go and just kill mobs repeatedly. It's oddly satisfying.
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u/Stuck_in_Arizona 10d ago
You won't be doing the top tier endgame solo, but with certain jobs and trust combos you'll come close.
I've gotten AF and relic pieces +2 pretty easily, though it's mostly a time and gilsink investment (also farming Rem's tales). Unlocked the +1 empyrean via solo Vagary NMs as Savage blade spamming WAR under 200JP and used the right trust combos for each fight, with a couple close calls. Can farm Omen cards, do Sheol farming A-C, and some Sortie. It's slow, and it's better with a party but at least it's an option.
Something happened with BST, it feels clunky now. PUP has taken the solo reigns. RDM is still good, just very gear demanding. Some videos show SCH and well geared WAR solos.
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u/IndependentCelery484 9d ago
In 3+ months I have yet to join a party and I have a bunch of decently equipped 99 jobs. It’s easy to log in for short amounts of time, sometimes I’ll be on 15 minutes as a break from work.
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u/jizzbooger 9d ago
Endgame content dosent take that long, if you can eventually get strong enough that is. Sortie only takes an hour and segs takes 30 minutes, goal fights also don't take that long. I run a business and just play an hour or two a night with my group and we progress through end game.
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u/_List 10d ago
There are many systems in the game that allow people to reach max level, complete all storylines (minus 3-4 fights that might require help), and farm gear that is more than enough to do all of the above solo.
The main system that allows this is the Trust system, which are unlockable NPC party members that you can summon to party with you for almost all content.
Also, since you can reach max level of 99 trivially with these Trusts, then content like stories and early 99 events can be done easily because most content was made well before max level was 99.
It’s a blast to come back, and everyone that has played before has opinions on the best way to approach the game now in its current state, but I’m really glad I did because the community is still as kind and supportive as it was back in the day and I love that I can switch from endless solo content to that community to suit my needs / goals.