Social Engineering

Optimizing the rate of return it critical to every investment, and as a part-time resident of Vana'diel, one is encouraged to optimize their approach in the continuing quest for entertainment and enjoyment. With limited time available to pull strings and move my puppet-self, I've worked to explore the mechanics of Campaign Battle and discover the best technique for extracting maximum benefit from each encounter.

I've also been operating under the helpful advice of the FFXI development team that has constantly lamented the fact that the players rely far too much on the allied armies (which are autonomous) to engage and combat invading enemy hoards. The allied armies mill about the fortification that is the goal of the invaders. Unless stopped, the invaders will attack the fortress and ultimately deplete the resources in the region to the point that they take over the territory and the roles of the game reverse in that zone. Reversals are tallied on a weekly basis.

Adjustments have been made by the development team to reward those that engage the enemy in battle, and as I have progressed through the level system to the old cap of 75, and having earned a few dozen merit points, I have improved my abilities and honed my battle skills in the process, to the point where I am competent and able to solo most of the grunt level monsters. I have found that doing so yields very high levels of experience. So, my basic rule of gameplay has been to operate outsize of the assistance sphere of the allied armies, and prevent as many enemies as possible (usually one) from reaching the target.

This is a sound military strategy. Able bodied soldiers that can perform 1:1, lay in wait, stripping the enemy from back to front. The unprotected leader (or Boss Mob) meets the powerful allied defenders with a mobile and vicious lag-ridden mob of players from around the world. The lag is the downside of having so many puppets on the screen at the same time - slow response.

By myself, I can secure and defeat a single monster, yielding 2000+ experience or limit points. In a similar period of time, assisting the allied armies near the fortification, I will earn 900-1200 experience points. Starting at level 74 for most jobs, two players can handle a single grunt level mob in a battle. I've personally pulled and fed several groups of players in Pashow Marshlands [S] and gotten good experience, which is anything better than 1500 points. Every time I got a new monster and softened it up, two, three or 12 people would pile on and pound it faster and harder than I ever could. Each time the target monster was less than half health, I disengaged and grabbed another, feeding the frenzy. Then there was the boss monster, and I got bored and pulled it too. Kiting like a Red Mage can, I kept a damage-over-time spell and several ailments on the monster as it bounced around like a ping-pong ball from adventurer to adventurer.

Why was I playing near the fortress? It was simple really. There were no allied armies in the region to defend the fortress, so I had a field day without the help of the automated allied armies. I will admit that I was pleased when the Field Musicians showed up to help take out the Boss. It will take some time before I am able to solo the bosses, but I believe it is possible.

Given this environment, should I really be concerned about the negative comments regarding my playstyle that I have received from players that are satisfied with less than 1000 points for investing half an hour of their lives in a video game? I'm fairly certain that once people get a taste of triple the experience, that they will change their tune and venture farther from the support of the allied armies, accepting the challenges of the open battlefield with bravery, valor and a good degree of strategy and planning.

I am encouraged by the fact that some zones in the game are displaying this "ambush skirmish-line" approach. It seems only natural by the design of the zone and the path that the attacking monsters take. They walk to attacks just as the armies do, and it is valuable to know the routes by which they take, for it is the same battles being fought day in and day out in the perpetual preservation of the Crystal War that is Campaign Battle.

Let the Engineering begin.