The importance of the Kazham pass...Follow

When I first started the game I wasn't sure what I wanted to play so I took RDM. Got that up to level 21 before it became really clear that melee was going to eventually go away. I played WHM as my sub so I switched that to primary. Found that I enjoyed playing WHM better so it worked out =)

At about 25th level pickings became slim in Qufim, and so I went to Battalia. I joined and created mediocre group after mediocre group. Not because I don't know how to build one (its really not that hard if you use common sense), but I just didn't have a lot to work with. /sea all 26-28 usually showed that most people were in Kazham, and I had to take what I could get.

Most of the people I grouped with had mismatched subjobs at 7th level, and equipment that was many levels below them (one WAR was using scale and bone armor at 27th). No renkei. Bad pullers. WHMs didn't have their spells past 25th, RDMs didn't debuff...it was a nightmare.

I tried (politely) trying to help some of these people, but since they had reached their 20s most seemed to assume that they knew everything there was to know. Not that I know everything, but come on...RDM should never have a full mana bar at the end of every fight.

Most people told me they didn't have the money for better equipment. My favorite was a BLM/THF. His subjob was 4th level and he was wearing STARTING GEAR. His asnswer was...oh well in two levels I am switching to DRK anyway so it doesn't matter.

I got desperate so I came online and did some research on alternate areas to hunt. The most prominent, of course, was the Y jungle outside Kazham. So I went through the seemingly endless quest of getting the keys for my pass, and when my PAL/WAR was high enough level went to check things out.

I was amazed. The mobs are not really any better. The hunting spots are not really any better. But the people were a whole different story!

Most people either have an advanced job or know how to play the one that they do have. People Renkei and use food! Their subjobs actually make sense!

So I thought about it and came to this conclusion- Batallia is (for the most part) the dregs. The players who don't take the time or just don't know about Kazham.

For those of you who have yet to leave Qufim I highly recommend getting your airship pass and skipping Batallia. Maybe things are better on your server, but for myself and several other people in my LS Batallia just wasn't worth it...

The quest is detailed on this site, but here is a quick overview. You need to go to Giddeus near Windhurst, Pal Mines near Bastok, and Ghelbsa near San Doria to get a chest key in each dungeon. These three keys are turned in to an NPC in the Kazham airhip dock to obtain your pass.

^^ the npc at jeuno will ask you if you want to go on an adventure or pay like 150,000 gil for the pass. If adventure is not your thing just pay da man. hehe.

Thanks for the reponses, all very enlightening. I did see the quests on allakhazam.com, but it helps to get a little context from a human source.

I'll try not to resort to my linkshell's higher members when getting the keys. It should be fun. Unless you guys suggest otherwise?

yurik (Unicorn) MNK/23 WAR/11 -- Windurst

I just got Khazam Airship pass. You need to go there to finish a ton of advance job quests. Also i found that around lvl 25-30 its is a very very good place to lvl.

You get quest from Guddal in Jeuno Port at the Khazam Airship terminal (note you dont have to talk to him first can just get keys and then come back to him).

http://ffxi.allakhazam.com/db/quests.html?realm=Jeuno&fquest=215[/link]


Some people have hella hard time getting keys others have easy time. Personally i was lvl 25 when i did quest and i did it mostly solo. All the monsters i needed to kill were Easy to me. Got Pal key first kill, Giddeus key 2nd kill and Ghelb key in under 30min. Also if your doing this quest you should do it with your rank 3 quest since your going to all the same places anyways it saves on extra running around.

For some the quest is a pain. Killing the mobs for hours and hours and never getting a key drop. For others, like me, it was simple and painless.

3 yagado's for the Giddeus Key
4 quadav's for the Pal Key
4 orc's for the Ghelsba key

All soloed with my 26 BLM/11 WHM

Took me all of about 2 hours and most of that was travel time.

I've found Kazham to be pretty much the same a Qufim. Same retards, but in a jungle setting this time. The biggest problem with these places is the misconception that everyone has to go there to hunt. Plenty of places to hunt at any given level, but if you want a group you have to go where the people are going.

The best group I was in there (or ever been in for that matter) was me and 5 JP players. Huge difference from the NA groups I've known and loathed. Since I don't know Japanese, I just watched the others and figured out how to fill in best. Made 10k exp in under 4 hours, and that was with a half hour break as we were getting a replacement for the WHM that had to leave. Whereas I can count on one hand the number of NA groups that I didn't need to grumble about.

Please don't bash Batillia Downs! Thanks to that zone I went from 27-32 pretty easy. The last party I went with in that zone was a japanese group hunting dancing weapons and it went pretty well.

I didn't get my Kazham pass until level 41 since I was lazy ^^

It's not necessary either; I leveled in citadel from 33 to 38 in one day! The experience in that dungeon is simply amazing. Then I wen't to Crawler's Nest which also isn't a expansion zone either...