With my faithful Chocobo, Yupa, I scare away all invaders with my overpowering black armor. They thought they were getting the white paladin, the kind that would bring them mercy. This is not the kind of paladin they are getting.
Kasul and I met tonight to advance the story a little bit. Last time opened up Thousand Maws, an experience neither of us really enjoyed. And, since there were no gear upgrades in the dungeon, no reason to ever do it again (unless it comes up in a random low level dungeon at some point). Since we've well outleveled the story at this point, we were hoping that tonight's questing would get us a dungeon nearer our levels (me: 31, Kasul: 32). But no luck. The chapter we did brought us to a hidden desert town full of exiles rousted out of the nearby city now inhabited by undead and level 45 beastmen.
No new dungeon, though.
My Paladin/Gladiator is 31, backed up by level 17 Marauder and 15 Conjurer. Both those need to get to about level 26. I should take Marauder up to 30 and try out Warrior, but, I'm not really that interested in the other (current) tank class. Marauders use TP while Paladins use MP and combining these two power sets just isn't coming together cleanly. I'll figure it out. I've been a paladin for a grand total of one day.
I do like the Marauder Overpower, though. So much better than the Gladiator Flash in many ways. I tanked Sastasha as a Marauder, and had a lot of fun with Overpower. This was the first time Kasul had healed as a Scholar. I don't think we have ever done a dungeon with him as Scholar and me as Paladin yet.
FFXIV is still fun enough, but I feel like I am slipping behind in Battle, Field, and Trade paths. There is SO MUCH to do, that I feel paralyzed by indecision when I log in. What to work on? Roulettes? Offclasses? Do I start a dps class just for kicks?
I love leveling, but I don't love endgame grinds. So I have to balance wanting to level as fast as I can with knowing I probably won't like it when I get there.
My husband and I were discussing this last night, will we still play when we hit the cap? We’re loving the game as we level up together but grindy/raid-obsessed endgames just aren’t for me anymore and he still raids in WoW so doesn’t need another set of raids to do.
I’d suggest taking your time and not rushing to the cap. Unlock cross-class abilities on those alt classes you mention as the abilities can be really useful!
I’m a relatively new FF player too. Regarding dungeons, there are a few that aren’t unlocked via the main story. There’s an NPC in Vesper Bay named Nedrick Something (or Something Nedrick) that gives quests to unlock these. I didn’t discover this until I was far past the level of most of them.
Paladin only uses MP for Cure, Stoneskin, and Flash, and the rest is still TP. It’s just that Flash doesn’t use all the TP that MRD does for the AE hate building, so its TP drains a lot slower.
Haukke Manor opens up at level 28 and scales up to 31. I don’t recall if that’s one unlocked in Vesper Bay or if it’s the story that opens it up. I think that one’s actually the story. So… keep working on the story and you’ll get it…. Of course if you’re already 31 then you should be looking at getting into Brayflox’s Longstop too. IIRC that one is for 31-34. Then Temple of Qarn for 35-38, Cutter’s Cry for 38-41, Stone Vigil for 41-44, Dzemael Darkhold for 44-47, Aurum Vale for 47-50 and at 50 a WHOLE METRIC TON of new “hard” dungeons open up…. that aren’t really “hard” they’re just scaled for you to play at level 50. But they use different maps so it’s not like you’re doing scaled up dungeons — they’re actually completely different dungeons. Plus there are trials as you level up and then new trials at 50. and this doesn’t even mention the “expert” dungeons, or the 8-man and 24-man raids either. . . . Lots to do even before considering the expansion levels once Heavensward releases.
What did Kasul think of SCH healing in the low levels? At that point it’s pretty much “put Selene on sic and do dps” really. Some guides even suggest putting cleric stance as the 1st cross-class skill over Protect, saying that the SCH’s dps being higher is of more use to the group than the defense buff. I don’t really recall having to do much casting of Physick as a Scholar until the golem boss in the Temple of Qarn dungeon at level 35. It gets more involved eventually, at least, but since the fairy does so much in the way of heal output on its own (even in obey mode it will still cast it’s main single-target heal automatically) the Scholar is considered to be the “dps healer.”