PL Guide

Here now, is my first attempt at a powerleveling guide, both for the PL and for the party or player receiving PL assistance.

The Powerleveler

I don’t know yet if there’s a hard and fast rule about what job(s) are best to be a PL, but almost all I’ve seen were WHMs or RDMs. Certainly a Raise-capable job setup is a must! Since a PL can’t use any enfeebs or elemental spells, and is not a member of the party, the PL is limited to Cures, Protects/Shells, Haste and Raise (I believe – please correct me if needed). Actually, the PL can also use –na spells to cure various status ailments – think Paralyze or Blind. But those don’t come up often.

Also, PLs need to be far higher in level than those they are PLing. Probably not an absolute rule, but you’ll need lots of mana and the ability to take a hit or three without dying. Plus, higher-level job abilities like auto-regen and clear mind help a lot, as do higher-level stat gear like Light/Dark Staves or Cure potency/INT+/MPR gear.

Use a macro with <stpc> for curing and keep it active. This way you can cycle only player targets and drop a cure quickly once someone gets knocked around. You might consider standing so the party is all to one side of you so you can just cycle in one direction repeatedly.

However, be careful of roaming party members – if a ranged melee or back-line mage chooses to relocate behind you they may not appear in the target sweep and if they are ambushed you may not find out until after they die. Sweep the campsite periodically with the camera to see if anyone is standing in your blind spot, or to look for a better position to make watching the whole party easier.

Find out, either by /search or by questioning the party, who is tanking and if they are PLD or NIN. While the powerleveler tries to hold hate, once the mob refocuses on the party their tank needs to be effective. Overcuring a PLD tank or failing to Haste a NIN tank can limit their ability to control hate. Also, overcuring a PLD could lead to a waste of MP for you or the PLD.

Consider using Haste especially on blink-tanks. If nobody takes damage, the party can keep killing, building up chains and TP. Haste increases the success rate of Utsusemi casts by giving the blink-tank more chances to cast around the mob’s attacks.

[Added 12/13/07] Dancers are formidable party enhancers and moderate DDs in their own right. Because all their abilities use TP, Hasting a Dancer will help them build TP faster and then allow more dances per mob. Dances work as enfeebles and enhancers so it’s a win/win for you and the party if they are productive.

Since you won’t have direct visible access to each member’s total HP, what looks like a good amount on the “percent bar” for one player (Galka Paladin) can be downright near-death for another (Taru Ninja). Pay attention to race and job to know who might take severe damage easily. You can always ask the party to relay its numbers if you aren’t sure.

Also, consider coordinating with the party leader on the player roster so you know who to watch if the camp is crowded or if there’s a lineup change. You can also work with the leader to decide how to handle links or unexpected aggro. The PL can use their full arsenal on unclaimed targets but if the party engages multiple mobs (on a link for example), the PL’s going to have to work harder to keep everyone alive.

[Added 01/22/08] While you as the PL can use various spells for crowd control, any mob so hit will not give XP if your party kills it. In my experience the mob’s name never changes from yellow on a Flash or Repose but recent field testing shows that they still are claimed briefly and so shouldn’t be killed by the party. If crowd control is needed the PL should aggro the mob and kill it fast since it is only cluttering up the area and wasting time the PL could use otherwise on the party.

You can also work with the leader to set rules like, “Don’t provoke off me”, “Have mages avoid curing unless party gets into orange or red”, and so on. The best thing you as a PL can do is pull hate and keep it, allowing the party to focus on beating on the mob uninterrupted. Again, the less damage the party takes and the less mana it uses, the longer it can keep a run going.

Random or needless Provokes from the party once you have got the mob trained on you must be avoided. Such voking defeats the whole purpose of a powerleveler. If the PL can absorb attacks, especially AoEs like the Goblin Bomb Toss or Damselfly Cursed Sphere, then the party won’t take much damage, if any. With someone voking every 30 seconds, the mob ping-pongs between the voker and the PL and interferes with the DDs ability to hit.

One way to make the vokers’ lives easier is to position yourself opposite the party’s regular mages, so that you, the melee core and the back-line form a straight line. This way, it will be obvious when the mob is headed for vulnerable back line members versus headed to the PL’s position. If this positional arrangement is workable in your campsite, it can lead to fewer needless provokes. Due to “party creep” you may need to realign between pulls, especially if the mob hate on you is causing the party to follow it to your spot.

Powerleveling is a great way to repay community kindness, help out friends and scout recruits for a linkshell. It can also be a way to boost healing and enhancing skills so don’t neglect such spells by using Cures only.

The Party

Rule #1 – Don’t voke off the PL unless the PL has requested it! A possible exception is if a strong mob has a go at your mages – a timely Provoke then would be better than hoping your mage doesn’t get one-shotted by a TP move following a powerful attack before the PL lands a high-level cure.

Rule #2 – Mages should not heal except in emergency situations (bad AoE, links, etc.) and should consider switching to offense, skilling up magic or combat skills. Check with your PLer first – I have known one to find mage-melee very offensive leading to a dust-up between the mage, the leader and the PL!

Rule #3 – Do continue your usual enfeeble cycle – anything that leads to faster kills or less damage for the party is a good thing.

Rule #4 – While being PLed, start pulling IT++ mobs – try one to be sure but with a PL keeping the party healthy and taking some damage for the party (and with all members on offense) killing much stronger mobs should be very feasible. Look for 200 XP per kill, unbanded. But if the only “tough” mobs are taking far longer to kill than the party’s usual diet, switching back to improve XP per minute is advised.

In many cases, a PL is only doing this for your party as a favor to someone or because they’re waiting for their own invite. Annoy them at your peril.

Remember, the only way a PL can hold hate is through curing and limited enhancing magic. Don’t waste the limited time a PL can hold the mob by voking constantly. DO use full attack and don’t worry if a large nuke/SC pulls hate – just take the hits and the PL can re-pull by curing.

In summary, assuming the PL is on board, don’t do anything to generate hate ASIDE from full attack, or initial enfeebs. The PL’s cure-hate will more than equal that but artificial hate from provokes or Flash or other non-damaging means is a waste.