Rank 4/5/6 <| Do You Need it? |>Follow

I'm unsure if you have to be level 50 to start 5-1. If you do, you'll need to be at least lvl 50 when we start 5-1 or it won't let you participate. You're still welcome to tag along for 3-3 through 4-3 to get the airship pass though.

sign me up for the rank 5 mission, I just got 3-3 done and was wait till a few more levels to try for rank 5 and I saw this post.
I am level 40 mnk/war.

You're going to help level 40ish people get rank 6?

I don't approve =/

I don't see why they should. All rank missions can be done with a balanced party before they're 'needed'. If you'd like you can even get sky access with a level 60 party.

All this is going to do, really, is help lower level characters leech their way through this game, something they might end up getting used to and then you have level 75's that feel entitled to help because that's what's happened to them the whole time. Most of the people I know who actually worked with people their level to complete things appreciate this game much more and are less selfish and all those good little traits.

What's the point of a level 40 killing the Shadow Lord? Really? It does nothing at all, let them get to 55 or so and they can be at least somewhat useful through the fight.

And finally, I've both been PL'd through missions and worked to earn them myself. I'm much more proud and feel much more accomplished for being able to work for what I got than what was simply handed to me.

i concede that you are right that its more fun and rewarding to get that rank 5 with a balanced party.

But, don't you think "I don't approve" sounds kinda high-handed isnt it? Its not like you're being asked to help out anyway.

Honestly, I'd say I don't really care about rank 4/5 missions, those are easy, even 5-1 is easy and probably one of the harder ones to do since it's 50 cap. But 5-2, that fight, I think it's a lot more fun because it's a real "boss fight" if you do it in the 55-60 range.

I never said my approval meant anything. And I highly doubt Sophus will cancel the event because I said I don't approve. I'm just...letting him know...

Actually, 50 is the level cap for 5-1 not the minimum requirement. I participated in a 5-1 PT as a lv42WHM, not because I was looking for a PL through the mission but because the PT leader had been shouting for a WHM in Jeuno for like 30min (incidentally, we also set the then-current server record of just a little over 3min...really helped that we had 3 MNK's^^).

Anyway, what is the "proper" level to do 5-2? The PT I was in went on to do 5-2, but I dropped out since I didn't think I'd be much help fighting Shadow Lord.

SirEaglestrike is probably just one of those people who think that rank means something.

It doesn't really. Anybody can get to rank6, and most do, but it's going beyond that, rank7, 8, 9 or 10, that's a testament to skill, dedication and determination. Alot people get to rank6 and stop, because they only wanted it for, Sky and Dynamis.

But what does it matter? Sophus wants to help people, why should your approval mean anything? I didn't feel any less proud when I got rank5, and I didn't do anything. The entire time I was dragged along by my hand through the missions. "Go here, go here, kill that dragon, buy this item, trade it to this npc".

Same can be said for my subjob items, I got the worm and crab apron in exp, but a blm friend brought me to Gusgen to kill skeletons for my skull. I didn't even know what the items were for really, everybody just told me to keep them, and then trade it to a npc at lvl 18. A friend bought me the items for chocobo license, and told me what to do.

For the first 30 or so levels, I relied entirely on help from others in getting alot of things done, and contributed very little. Even LB1, I didn't do anything. A high lvl rdm got me bomb coal, a high lvl drk got me mold. And my paper dropped while I was busy getting mpk'd by the Wangcai's (remember them?) in Eldieme. My alliance, who was going for coffer keys, had to raise me so I could lot. It wasn't until my mid-50's that I was able to help others the way I was helped.

And it's in that spirit, of knowing how I was helped, that I do help others. I've gotten many people their subjob items, I've walked people through various missions, killed a few 2-3 dragons, and killed the Archlich god I don't know how many times. Not too mention the slew of coffer keys and AF NM's I've helped decimate.

I don't define myself as exceptionally helpful, but I have my days. If Sophus wants to get people to rank6, that's his choice. Your input to the contrary isn't needed at all.

What an assholish statement. I don't approve.

Level 40 is past subjob territory, and it's when I noticed the parties became a lot more proffessional. Also in a larger group, there is a larger emphasis on taking care of yourself in the group.

As a white mage doing rank 4, all I could offer was to heal and sneak/invis, which I did, despite being with higher levels. I could have done the same job I did at the level I got sneak/invis as I could have now pretty much. When I duo-ed it many levels later for my friend who was a lower level black mage, it was a real challenge, his job was to sleep any links we got and my job was to make sure he didn't die whilst we killed those NMs at the top.

It was actually a challenge for both of us, but I'm sure heaps of people think it's powerlevelling.

The more people that Sophus takes, the more responsible each of those people will need to be really. And beyond 40, most people aren't that noob anymore that they can't appreciate their normal role when doing a rank mission.

Here we go, the recap :). Please keep in mind that not all the names mentioned here are FU, they were just people eager to help. Quite frankly, I was overwhelmed with offers for support.

The first run went off without a hitch. I started at 3pm CST on the nose, and waited for 20 minutes to get replies for 3-3. Since no one did (not even from Lower Jeuno!) I moved onto 4-1.

We got a couple random people from Jeuno, as well as some FU members their airship passes. Special thanks to Tigerlily (for her willingness to teleport *****), as well as Morbo and Scurvery (Scravo)for their man power....and Galka power in the magicite missions.

After that, we moved onto 5-1. In the battle were Scurvey, TL, Morbo, Rev, and Minswaye. They trecked all the way to Fe'Yin to battle a nasty skeleton--and his lackies. But the group won the battle on their first try! Morbo (the PLD) was even nice enough to let Tigerlily (the BRD) and Scravo (one of the DRK) to tank for a bit. What a nice guy!

Because everyone was prepared, 5-2 wasn't that bad. But before I go too much into detail, THANK YOU!!!!!!! to:

Shenobi
Akriel
Purutaru
Isadora
Niekohumper
Cornholio

They all offered to join up and help us defeat the Dark Lord. Most of 'em even went twice (which meant they had to run all the way back through the castle to get there). Thanks to them, Revenant, Scravo, Morbo, Tigerlily, Minswaye, Enaz, and Siviard were all able to achieve rank 6 on the first try! The last group were only 7 seconds away from beating the record as well.

Great job, everyone.

I'll be doing this again next Sunday for anyone who is interested. Since we made it all the way through, I'll start up with 3-3 at 3pm CST and go from there. Anyone is welcome to join, especially people who want another go at the Dark Lord.

Thanks again to everyone for your help and your support.

NP man, I'm a slacker too. Getting rid of the competition helps ensure job stability.

Well, we had another successful run last night :)

I actually had some people that needed 3-3 last night, so I got to try out a little trick. First, I went through the cerment gate on the bottom floor on the way to the basement. I then had the 3-3 members die right by the gate, and I tractored them through. From there, we teleported to the top floor, killed Poryphrion (sp) and ran back down. All in all we saved about 30 minutes.

From there, we went on to do the Magicite. Learning from my experiences last week, we were able to complete the whole thing in a couple of hours. It would have been faster, be we met up with another group and decided to help them. Thankfully, the entire thing went off without incident.

And last, the 5-1 and 5-2 battles. After last week's fun, these were also no problem. It's funny how easy the most difficult things become when you can learn from your mistakes.

So when it was all said and done, we had 2 people get rank 4, 3 people get rank 5, and 3 people get rank 6. Special thanks to Aelia and Raistalon for their help on the Dark Lord, and Tigerlily and Morbo for their help onthe 5-1 battle. You guys were awesome :D

Raist ended up biting the bullet after several AoEs on the Shadow Lord. Thankfully Aelia had raise 3 ready to go, so not much exp was lost. Sorry about that though, Raist.

Next week will be the last week I'll be doing this. Since we completed rank 6, I'll be starting on rank 4 again. Be sure to let me know if you plan on attending, or if you want to help with any part. :)

Welp, I finished the last Rank 4-6 run on Sunday. A lot of people went over these past few weeks; a lot also got that airship pass or Zilart access that they always wanted.

Now I have to admit, I wasn't doing this solely to help people; part of it was selfish. It was an experiment, if you will.

We've all been pretty down on the community lately. Now more than ever, we feel alone here. At times, it seems like no appreciates the help we give them. And when we do go out of our way, it seems like people no one pays attention. Things get much harder than they need to be...and we never want to do it again.

Well my experiment was to test if things are really as bad they appear. And you know what? They aren't.

What I found was that there is a whole layer of player out there, frustrated (not at us) that they can't accomplish the things that we expect of them. Some of them don't ask for help either--either because they are too proud, too new, or too afraid of getting turned down. In their own ways, they are as alone as us.

But when I did these runs, I always had the same experience with them. I started off by telling people what I expected, and then I followed through. They not only listened and paid attention, they did everything they could to make *my* jobeasier. And in their own way, everyone was appreciative that someone took time out of their day to help *them*.

No one thought twice when I told them to die so I could tractor them through a door. No one complained when I told them to buy stacks of oils and powders. And when I told them what I expected of them, they followed me word for word...as best as they could anyway :).

So remember this the next time you hear someone shouting for a Windurst Dragon or a Magicite run. Not everyone is like us. Sure, it was tougher when we did it...but they're not us. They don't have those high levels that would make the job easier. They don't have the friends who would make the job easier. That's why they are reaching out to us.

At a time when everyone is feeling more alone in this sea of thousands, try finding a random person and help them out. It's a good feeling. Tell them what you expect, then lead them. You may find part of that connection you thought you lost long ago.

Personally, I'd recommend this experiment to anyone.