Well, here be the site. I haven’t rushed it or anything, just lazy. For the people in the ZNM shell with me that isn’t aware of what I do, I solo the majority of FFXI (job/level wise) and this is a site where I plan to put the stuff I documented while soloing for people to view.

Anyways, guides aren’t up yet, I need to make them readable and/or pretty. However, I am adding more ZNM stuff specifically for the people in the ZNM shell. This includes guides for zeni farming, the linkshell rules and explaination as to how the system works to upstart it. Guides will come eventually.

I’ll get the message across to you now. In the simplest terms, to be able to solo with BST as a subjob, having BST at 75 is crucial. There is no way around it. The idea is that, the success rate of the Charm ability is dependant on your BST’s main level, not subjob level. To illustrate this, please look at the following graph:

The graph shows the level of monsters you can charm, against your level and the monster’s level, depending on your BST level when used as a subjob. Rather than explain it thoroughly, I have listed a few typical scenarios of how players have their BST levelled, please bear in mind that all of these scenarios are in the context of you, as the player, soloing with BST as a subjob and you are charming monsters with a rating of Even Match or lower:

[Case Study 1]

Your main BST level: 75

Your main job level (that you are levelling): 53

Conclusion: Your charm success rate will be Normal

[Case Study 2]

Your main BST level: 37

Your main job level (that you are levelling): 42

Conclusion: Your charm success rate will be Poor

[Case Study 3]

Your main BST level: 37

Your main job level (that you are levelling): 25

Conclusion: Your charm success rate will be Normal

I hope that those case studies are fairly clear. When initially explained to people, they seem to think that if their BST is 75 and their main job they are going to level with BST as a subjob, they will be able to charm level 75 monsters easily. This is sadly, not the case. When BST is subjobbed, you’re restricted to the level barriers of how well you can charm, like a normal main job BST would. Therefore, it is safe to assume that your charm rate is going to be less than normal if you attempt to charm anything above the rating Even Match.

Pack Well

This is a list of recommended items that you should have while soloing. Please note that I rarely carry any of these. I’m a cheap person. I like to save gil, but these items should come in use during panic situations, although I’d like to say if the worst comes to worst I rather die than spend 10000g on consuming medications only to still inevitably die… :

Reraise Earring | Level 24 | Enchantment: Reraise | 10 Charges

Hi Potion x 5 | Restores 100 HP

Antidote x 12 | Cures “Poison” effect

Echo Drops x12 | Cures “Silence” effect

Prism Powders x12 | “Invisible”

Silent Oil x12 | “Sneak”

Reraise Gorget | Level 56 | Enchantment: Reraise II | 10 Charges | WAR / RDM / PLD / DRK / BST / RNG / SAM / DRG / BLU only

Otherwise: Reraise Hairpin | Level 60 | Enchantment: Reraise II | 10 Charges

Warp Item of some kind i.e. Instant Warp Scroll/Warp Club

It is situational as to what it is you will need and dependant on your inventory space or capability to obtain the items, as the Reraise items don’t come cheap, but will save you EXP in the long run. Likewise, if you’re not using jobs like NIN or WHM as a main or subjob then you would benefit from stealth items.

Keep Calm

When soloing, you are inevitably going to die sometimes. This is fairly normal, and in some instances, beneficial. In my view, everytime I die, I learn something new (unless the death was caused by a stupid mistake …) and therefore it reinforces my “skill” at soloing so I don’t do it again. Being stressed is not going to help, and in instances where you have no reraise and no one can come raise you, just swallow hard and homepoint. The EXP loss isn’t that much (2400 max at high levels), and you’ll earn it back quick rather than sit there for 45mins until someone walks by and raises you.

In times of great stress (trust me, we all go through it), turn the game off and relax/eat some comfort food, or do something else and then return back to it. If you’re highly stressed and attempt to go back and solo again, it could lead to more deaths, which is counter productive eventually.

Search the Area

Before heading out to any zone, especially where level ranges where one specific camp is the most popular and people will go there no matter what. A good example of this situation is the bomb camp in Garlaige Citadel during levels 54-60, where it is used by BSTs mainly but also potentially SMNs. One other example is the “Red Kisser” camp in Bhaflau Thickets for levels 68-72, where EXP is, very fast and no other camps can beat it, but due to how the camp is setup, sharing is not really feasible.

Please bear in mind that some potential camps may also be shared by other jobs, BLM specifically, but others apply, in terms of where Beastmen’s Pets can be killed for quick and easy EXP. So in your search, if your target prey includes these types of monsters too, be aware of other jobs around too.

Look ahead, not in front of you

While soloing, especially when pets are involved, always plan your next move before your prey is dead. Have your next possible pet and prey in mind and always come up with backup solutions should something go wrong (i.e. a stray player walks by and kills your intended pet/prey). Plan an escape route, should you need to run during battle.

Run, if you need to

“Give up all bad qualities in you, banish the ego and develop the spirit of surrender. You will then experience Bliss.” – Sri Sathya Sai Baba

If during a battle and you begin to realise that you cannot turn the tides to your favour, attempt to run instead of insisting that you could win. Chances are your prey will gain the following boosts unconsciously: Mighty Strikes + Perfect Dodge. Sod’s/Murphy’s law dictate that while soloing, your prey will for sure get that last laugh in before it dies and transfers 100~ EXP to you, or floor you with double attack rounds with critical and then a TP move (i.e Goblin double attacks, readies Goblin Rush, add another attack on top) where you will lose up to 2400 EXP.

Since this guide is primarily on soloing with a pet, attempt to let your pet stall your prey so you gain enough distance to run and hopefully zone before it will kill you. Smart actions like this is an EXP gain itself, since you just saved yourself from dying. Remember, your pets are brainless/mindless. You do not need to develop any sort of relationship with them!

Take your time (Part 1)

If you’re soloing, chances are you do not need to advance very quickly through the levels in the game. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be soloing, would you? Try not to rush things just for that extra chain of EXP. It is like Friction, the more you rush, the harder the game will throw it back at you and eventually overpower you (as in, kill you). Go at a pace and try to maintain it, as it will likely work out better than having spikes of progress.

Take your time (Part 2)

And I think this is my approach to soloing in this game and getting things done. I highly recommend that you read the following story. If you don’t read it here I have it as another article!!!:

Balancing Effort and Patience

There is a story about a young man in Japan who wanted to be the greatest martial artist of the land. He thought that to reach this goal, he must study with the best instructor, who lived many miles away.

One day he left home to go study with this great Zen teacher. After travelling for several days, he arrived at the school and was given an audience with the teacher. “What do you wish to learn from me?” the master asked.

“I want you to teach me your art and help me become one of the best martial artists in the country,” the young man replied. “How long must I study?”

“Ten years at least,” the master answered.

The guy thought, ten years is a lot of time. I want to get his done sooner than that. I don’t have that much time. Certainly if I try harder I can complete this task quicker. So he asked the master, “What if I studied twice as hard as everyone else? How long would it take then?”

“Then it would take twenty years,” replied the master.

The guy thought, ‘That’s even longer! I don’t want to spend twenty years learning something. I’ve got other things to do with my life. Certainly if I tried really hard I could learn it much quicker’.

So the student asked again, “What if I practised day and night with all my effort, then how long would it take?”

“Thirty years,” was the master’s response.

The young student became confused and wondered why the master kept telling him it would take longer.

He asked the master “How is it that each time I say I will work harder, you tell me that it will take longer?”

“The answer is simple. With one eye focused on your destination, there is only one eye left with which to find the way,” the master said.

(Another way of saying this is, “With half your attention on your goal, you only have the other half to focus on the work.” Any endeavour takes effort, but it also takes patience. If we have one without the other, we get off balance. with only effort, we try and try but get frustrated when we do not see results as fast as we would like. Or we get burned out and tired very quickly. With only patience and no effort, we never really put our full attention to a task. We never give it the commitment we need. This is as true with school work as it is with a meditation practice as it is with sports. In the story, the master knew that the student had enough effort; what he needed was to balance that effort with patience.

“Just say Om! – A Teenager’s Guide- Your Life’s Journey” (Soren Gordhamer)

This story is to tell you, that for soloing, you can’t achieve Level 75 in, for example, a week (or month, etc). Technically, you might be able to, but may involve long periods of play or even partying. But you’ll be burned out by it eventually (although this doesn’t really apply to the real hardcore people). Regardless, I often get PMs/tells from people on forums or ingame respectively that seem really keen to get going and start doing it, but the flaw here is that they are TOO keen, which in my mind, scream “impatient”.

The people who message me often express their frustration of looking for a party and would like to solo to me. However, I think that you can’t just “go” from party to solo instantly, because you will need to adapt, as there’s a lot more to get used to while soloing than partying. In this instance, similar to the story above, these people had the effort to do so, but wants to do so as soon as possible, therefore lacking the patience.

The balance of effort and patience is very delicate. I often think that I have it quite “tamed” but I still think I lack effort instead of patience (i.e. it took me a while to get this site up and done because I was too lazy).

Also, another side to the story is that getting to Level 75 (solo) doesn’t mean throwing your whole life away, but you should do it while doing other things as well in life.

NOTE: As mentioned in the About page, with the advent of “Astral Burning” this site might be a bit invalid, but then again it can take some effort to get people together and find a puller for the mobs. Your call.

There is a story about a young man in Japan who wanted to be the greatest martial artist of the land. He thought that to reach this goal, he must study with the best instructor, who lived many miles away.

One day he left home to go study with this great Zen teacher. After travelling for several days, he arrived at the school and was given an audience with the teacher. “What do you wish to learn from me?” the master asked.

“I want you to teach me your art and help me become one of the best martial artists in the country,” the young man replied. “How long must I study?”

“Ten years at least,” the master answered.

The guy thought, ten years is a lot of time. I want to get his done sooner than that. I don’t have that much time. Certainly if I try harder I can complete this task quicker. So he asked the master, “What if I studied twice as hard as everyone else? How long would it take then?”

“Then it would take twenty years,” replied the master.

The guy thought, ‘That’s even longer! I don’t want to spend twenty years learning something. I’ve got other things to do with my life. Certainly if I tried really hard I could learn it much quicker’.

So the student asked again, “What if I practised day and night with all my effort, then how long would it take?”

“Thirty years,” was the master’s response.

The young student became confused and wondered why the master kept telling him it would take longer.

He asked the master “How is it that each time I say I will work harder, you tell me that it will take longer?”

“The answer is simple. With one eye focused on your destination, there is only one eye left with which to find the way,” the master said.

(Another way of saying this is, “With half your attention on your goal, you only have the other half to focus on the work.” Any endeavour takes effort, but it also takes patience. If we have one without the other, we get off balance. with only effort, we try and try but get frustrated when we do not see results as fast as we would like. Or we get burned out and tired very quickly. With only patience and no effort, we never really put our full attention to a task. We never give it the commitment we need. This is as true with school work as it is with a meditation practice as it is with sports. In the story, the master knew that the student had enough effort; what he needed was to balance that effort with patience.

Source: “Just say Om! – A Teenager’s Guide- Your Life’s Journey” (Soren Gordhamer)

You can find my thoughts and comments regarding this story in the “General Information” article of the same category.

The way ZNM works is that monsters are grouped into tiers and paths. Obviously the higher the tier the more difficult the monster. And as we approach the higher tiers, it becomes more difficult to pop again. This is because to get items for the next Tier NMs you have to kill whatever is below it.

However, the point is everytime you wish to purchase a pop item above Tier I, you have to go back to Tier I to reobtain the item that unlocks your permission to purchase Tier II items. And so on for the Tiers above.

If you’re still confused, the best analogy/explaination would be this:

You’re in a corridor (within a house/castle/etc) with a series of doors. There’s a person selling a key to the first door before the series of doors for $10. You buy the key from this person which gets you through the first door. Upon going through, you find a token on the floor with another door ahead of you. You, not knowing what this token is for, goes back to the person selling keys. Upon handing in the token, he decides to sell you the key to the second door for $30. You go back to the second door and go through it, but this time you find 3 more doors.

To unlock these 3 doors, you pick up the 3 tokens in front of the doors and hand them to the person again. This time he sells you 3 keys which can unlock the 3 doors for $50 each. You go back to the 3 doors and unlock them, only to find 3 more tokens and a single door.

And so on…

That’s how it basically works, as confusing as it may sound. There are exceptions though. For ZNM, once you’ve killed a Tier I NM and obtained the item to unlock Tier II NMs. The moment you purchase a Tier II NM item, you LOSE the right to purchase another Tier II NM item until you go and rekill a Tier I NM. Each ZNM drops a specific Rare/Ex item which when traded to the NPCs in Whitegate will grant you a key item (the key) which unlocks the above Tier NMs. It’s a series of one way doors essentially. Moving on now to the more detailed explaination…

ZNMs/The Paths

There are 3 paths to choose from in terms of ZNMs, upon completition of all 3 paths will unlock a Tier V NM, Pandemonium Warden. But that isn’t a NM we need to consider thinking about yet. At the time of writing, July 17th 2008, it hasn’t been killed yet. The paths are listed below with their respective tiers per NM.

The Mamool Ja Path

Tier I: Chamrosh | Cheese Hoarder Gigiroon | Vulpangue
Upon trading the Rare/Ex item from these NMs to Sanraku will grant you the key item Maroon Seal (used to purchase Tier II pop items)

Tier II: Iriri Samariri | Iriz Ima | Lividroot Amooshah
Upon trading the Rare/Ex item from these NMs to Sanraku will grant you the key item Apple Green Seal (used to purchase Tier III pop items)

Tier III: Armed Gears | Dea | Gotoh Zha the Redolent
Trading Armed Gears’ Rare/Ex item will grant you the key item Charcoal Grey Seal
Trading Dea’s Rare/Ex item will grant you the key item Chestnut-colored Seal
Trading Gotoh Zha the Redolent’s Rare/Ex item will grant you the key item Deep Purple Seal
All 3 key items must be obtained to purchase a Tier IV pop item.

Tier IV: Tinnin (Hydra)
The Rare/Ex item has a low drop rate. Upon trading this item to Sanraku will grant you ONE of the THREE key items to purchase a Tier V pop item, Lilac-colored Seal.

The Troll Path

Tier I: Brass Borer | Claret | Ob
Upon trading the Rare/Ex item from these NMs to Sanraku will grant you the key item Cerise Seal (used to purchase Tier II pop items)

Tier II: Anantaboga | Dextrose | Reacton
Upon trading the Rare/Ex item from these NMs to Sanraku will grant you the key item Salmon Seal (used to purchase Tier III pop items)

Tier III: Achamoth | Khromasoul Bhurborlor | Nosferatu
Trading Achamoth’s Rare/Ex item will grant you the key item Copper-colored Seal
Trading Khromasoul Bhurborlor’s Rare/Ex item will grant you the key item Gold-colored Seal
Trading Nosferatu’s Rare/Ex item will grant you the key item Purplish-grey
All 3 key items must be obtained to purchase a Tier IV pop item.

Tier IV: Sarameya (Cerberus)
The Rare/Ex item has a low drop rate. Upon trading this item to Sanraku will grant you ONE of the THREE key items to purchase a Tier V pop item, Bright Blue Seal.

The Lamia Path

Tier I: Chigre | Lil’ Apkallu | Velionis
Upon trading the Rare/Ex item from these NMs to Sanraku will grant you the key item Pine Green Seal (used to purchase Tier II pop items)

Tier II: Verdelet | Wulgaru | Zareehkl the Jubilant
Upon trading the Rare/Ex item from these NMs to Sanraku will grant you the key item Amber Seal (used to purchase Tier III pop items)

Tier III: Experimental Lamia | Mahjlaef the Paintorn | Nuhn
Trading Experimental Lamia’s Rare/Ex item will grant you the key item Taupe-colored Seal
Trading Mahjlaef the Paintorn’s Rare/Ex item will grant you the key item Fallow-colored seal
Trading Nuhn’s Rare/Ex item will grant you the key item Sienna-colored
All 3 key items must be obtained to purchase a Tier IV pop item.

Tier IV: Tyger (Khimaira)
The Rare/Ex item has a low drop rate. Upon trading this item to Sanraku will grant you ONE of the THREE key items to purchase a Tier V pop item, Lavender-colored Seal.

Summary/Notes

Each purchase of a Tier II NM pop item loses your key item. Likewise, a purchase of a Tier III item is the same result. Purchase of a Tier IV item will result you in losing all 3 key items from the Tier III NMs.

So to pop anything above Tier I several times, we will need to repeat a lot of the work done previously. This is where the point system falls in. It helps other members obtain items they otherwise might not have gotten.

1. Unlock ZNMs
Unlocking the ZNMs “quest” is pretty simple. It’s not a quest but it will enable you to start trading plates in. Head to Whitegate, E-8 and you will find a pair of NPCs standing there. You can tell it’s them simply by the large amount of people that are probably gathered there.

Talk to Sanraku first, who will give you an explaination, then talk to Ryo. Upon doing that, Ryo will give you a choice of selections from a menu. The most important thing here is “Sanraku’s Subject of Interest” and “Recommended Fauna”. The former basically tells you the family of monsters that Sanraku is interested in. 9 times out of 10 this is what you’ll be snapping. The latter tells you of a specific monster, typically a NM (but it’s not named) from a specific zone, which will probably be out of reach for you. For example, it could ask for a behemoth type monster from the Assault Area, Nyzul Isle.

Anyway, that’s the first part done. Please note that the interest CAN change, and if you arrive back with the subject already changed, it doesn’t matter too much, you can either hang on to your plates or trade them in for small amounts of zeni. Typically if you hand in the right pictures according to interest, you can earn between 50~90 zeni.

2. Film, Camera, SNAP!
Time for you to find film (plates), a camera (snapshotter) and to get snapping. If you don’t do “Panktration” continue reading, otherwise hop to the next step. Buy an Imperial Gold Piece and zone into The Pit at K-11.

The moment you enter, there’s a NPC to your left called Zandjarl. Talk to him to open up the “Jetton” currency. Jettons are the currency used in Panktration battles for entering/winning fights. You are NOT required to do Panktration to earn Jettons. This is why I asked you to bring an Imperial Gold Piece. You can exchange the Imperial Currency for Jettons. The exchange rate is as follows:

• 1 Imperial Bronze Piece = 1 Jetton
• 1 Imperial Silver Piece = 10 Jettons
• 1 Imperial Mythril Piece = 30 Jettons
• 1 Imperial Gold Piece = 200 Jettons

200 Jettons will last you a while. Talk to the NPC again and say you want to browse his wares, then go under the “2 Jetton Items” and buy a Soultrapper and 12 plates. This will cost you 4 Jettons. If you’re an impatient or rich type, you can buy a highspeed Soultrapper (Soultrapper 2000) for 500 jettons, which has 48 charges on it compared to 12 on the normal equivalent. The difference is obviously the amount of charges (snaps) you can do, but also the reuse time. The high quality one has a 30 second reuse timer compared to the 60 second timer on the low quality one.

What you wish to do is up to you. I am content with the cheap stuff personally. Get your camera and plates, and then head out.

3. Snap. Snap. Snap. Snap. Snap.
Time to head out into the field. To get the most Zeni per picture, you have to make sure that:

1. Your target is near death (typically @ 1% HP)
2. It is of a high level (60+) (Unconfirmed)

The best way to do it is with someone who can tank and damage and another person to cure and sleep. Get the monster down as much as you can, sleep it, and snap away. Take 10 photos and then run back to Whitegate.

4. Zeni!
Trade your plates back to Sanraku and he will comment on them. There are 3 tiers of comments and each of them will determine your Zeni reward:

• 1-32 : Hmmm… Surely you can do better than this, my friend. But I will accept it nevertheless.
• 33-65 : A fine piece of photography ! You have my thanks !
• 66-(at least 99) : Magnificient ! Truly a triumph in photography !

You’ll typically get higher amounts of the subject of interest remains the same. If it by chance changes then you’ll recieve less Zeni, but some nonetheless. Make sure to do it quick to lessen the chance of the subject changing.

NOTE: I gotten 32~34 zeni each for my bat photos. I’m not sure why it was so less, but they were only level 60 odd, even though the subject of interest was correct. It all seems a little random.

5. Repeat & Notes
You can only hand in 10 photos per Vanadiel Day. Anymore will be rejected. If you take the time to do this each day just for maybe 30 minutes you should rack up Zeni fairly quickly.