Progression Guide

This is intended as a quick summary guide to the levels of content available on Caldera, and suggestions to help players progress through the content levels by suggesting what to tackle at each stage.

Notes

In most cases, content is balanced around a 6 person party, with a tank, healer, support & damage dealing classes. Content is not built around face-rolling on a keyboard. There are physical/magical/ranged resistant mobs, status effect heavy mobs, instant KO mobs, etc., and the best way to win is to try different strategies.

Fresh 99

Farm some gil buy selling NM drops or from scrolls in Sea Serpent Grotto or Castle Oztroja. Buy the library gear to start out. This includes:

• Andreine's gear based on job level.
• The HQ level 99 Voidwatch Abjuration armor pieces from Geography.
• The accessories from Reja Ygridhi.
• The BST pets from Trystol.
• Various ammo from Vainrachault.
• Various grips from Makel-Pakel.

You can and need to mix and match. Example: Iaso Mitra HQ head piece (WHM/RDM/BRD/SCH) gives Cure Pot. +11%. The ilvl 105 head does nothing compared to that for WHM and the level 85 Orison Cap +2 WHM only JSE piece gives +10%.

Tiered Content 1:

• Sky and Sea 1st tier NMs and Low 5 BCNMs

- The idea here (and future content) is to mix and match and not stay in 1 place the whole time. You won't be able to tackle harder content without doing that.

- Work on getting your ilvl 109 weapons from Sky tier 1 NMs (and pop items).

- Work on getting your ilvl 109 armor from Sea tier 1 NMs, some 109 pieces will come from Sea tier 2 NMs (and pop items).

- During this time, team up and tackle the Low 5 BCNMs as well for some 109-110 pieces and some nice accessories as well.

- Keep the material drops for future Reforged JSE AF armors.

Tiered Content 2:

• Sky and Sea 2nd tier NMs and T1 Abyssea NMs

- At this point, you can start working on the lesser Sky gods and 2nd Tier Sea NMs for your Kirin and Jailer of Love (JoL) pop sets.

- You can also start tackling the T1 Abyssea NMs if you want to building Empy armor sets, though Abyssea will have more challenging fights.

- Keep the material drops for future Reforged JSE AF armors.

Note: You should be a bit more familiar with the game if you haven't done these in a while or are newer to FFXI.

Tiered Content 3:

• Arbitrary NMs, Kirin and JoL clears.

- At this point you can go after Kirin and JoL clears with a full group. Strategies are, or will be posted, on their respective pages.

- In the mean time, with some 109 gear and decent accessories from the library or above places, you can go after the Arbitrary NMs spread out for higher tier gear (Skirmish - 113 armor) that can be upgraded (119) and augmented later. 115 weapons also drop. Some of these will have group recommendations.

Su1 unlock point:

• Being present for 1 Absolute Virtue (AV) clear is required to gain the ability to equip Su1 equipment. AV has a chance to spawn upon the death of JoL. It is completely possible to beat him following retail strategies, though you are always welcome to come back when you have better gear.

Tiered Content 4:

• Sparks gear, Promy NMs, Intro to Augments, Sagheera KI battlefield trades

- The world has opened up a bit!

- With Kirin and JoL cleared, you have access to the 117 sparks weapons and armors. For armor, each full set offers something that is useful. Heavy armor (Outrider set) has -10 PDT, light armor (Espial) has Crit Damage +10%, and mage armor (Wayfarer) has a Refresh +3 (which is still used as an idle set at higher content). The weapons are also a nice upgrade as well, most of which have a latent bonus that is active under 1k TP.

- You can tackle the Promy Dem/Mea/Holla NMs for entry level 119 gears, upgraded through Vesca. They are Empty mobs and can be a challenge, however there are some nice pieces that can be augmented.

- Speaking of augments, since you have Kirin and JoL cleared, you can start the augments in Adoulin for the weapons and armors obtained from the Promies.

- Sagheera in Port Jeuno has now been unlocked for flower trades to get battlefield entries. At this point you can clear a couple of fights, namely the Shadowlord fight for Dynamis access.

Tiered Content 5:

• Vesca - HP Bayld trades, Dynamis farming and augments, higher tiered KI battlefields, Avatar Prime fights

- Vesca is a wonderful NPC who can get you trades for accessories and Skirmish armor upgrades (from Arbitrary NMs) for HP Bayld, which is farmed from Promy Vahzl.

- Dynamis city farming has also opened up with the Shadowlord defeated. You can enter San d'oria, Bastok, Windurst, and Jeuno for a chance at augmentable weapons and armor. You also will start working on Reforged JSE Relic armor from the material drops from Dynamis cities.

- Now that you have higher tiered gear, you can tackle more the higher tiered battlefields for various upgrades. With a well geared group, you can beat Tenzen, Omega and Ultima, and others. These will be challenging but are doable with teamwork and strategy.

- Avatar Prime fights are also a good place to farm Reforged AF materials as well as HP Bayld boxes for Vesca trades and gear from the 6 main Avatars.

Tiered Content 6:

• High 5 battlefields, JSE capes and augments, Beast Tribe Leaders (HNM) and Alluvion Skirmish armor augments, Ark Angels (AAs) and Tier 1 VWNMs

- Wow that's a lot.

- So at this point you should have a good variety of gear, including weapons, armor, and accessories. Food will start really being beneficial. Fights are less of build TP and WS it to death, and will start having more strategy. You should also be working on Reforged AF, Relic, and Empy armor.

- High 5 battlefields contain Unity weapons and armor, as well as crafting mats, and Reforged 119 upgrades. This also introduces Kupon I-S2 for...

- JSE Cape time! With 3x of the Kupon I-S2 and a testimony for the job (RUN and Geo are different testimony's), you can now get a JSE cape. But wait, there's more! These are augmentable and all of them have the maximum stats for augments. Upgrade details are found on the JSE capes page.

- There are 3 HNMs for the original game (Orc/Quadav/Yagudo) in their respective strongholds. These fights can be done with a small, well-geared party, but are better and faster with more people.

- There are 3 HNMs for the ToAU expansion (Lamiae/Mamool Ja/Troll) in their respective strongholds. These fights are more challenging requiring strategy and dealing with adds.

- All of the HNMs drop Alluvion Skirmish armor which can be augmented via stones, which are the same stones to upgrade the JSE capes.

- AAs will be challenging but manageable at this point. They are Sagheera KI trades and you can attempt 1 per day. This is also the earliest you can get moon materials for crafting gear AND future Reforged Relic upgrades.

- Tier 1 VWNMs. These will also be challenging but manageable and are recommended to have a full and balanced party. This is the biggest mechanics challenge yet.

Tiered Content 7:

• Escha - Zi'Tah, Tier 2 VWNMs, Wilds Keeper Naakual, Avatar Primal fights

- With the AAs cleared, you also unlock Escha - Zi'Tah access. Tier 1 NMs are completely set up and the drops are nice and augmentable. Escha - Zi'Tah is also the best place to farm Kindred's Crests, used later.

- Tier 2 VWNMs are unlocked upon completion of defeating all 3 Tier 1 VWNMs. There are 6 and clearing these will unlock future content. Alluvion Skirmish weapons drop here and are augmentable, as well as some nice pieces. T2 VWNMs is also one of the first enrage timers you will end up facing. They all enrage at 30 mins.

- Wilds Keeper Naakual NMs are also one of the first enrage timers you will end up facing. They enrage at 30 mins as well. More mechanics are used here.

- Avatar Primal fights are at a good spot here. Challenging and manageable with some nice drops spread out.

Tiered Content 8:

• Big 3 battlefields, Volte NMs, Dynamis Dreamlands, Tier 3 VWNMs

- Currently the top content.

- To do the Big 3 battlefields, you will use Kindred's crests, which I mentioned are best farmed in Escha - Zi'Tah. These battlefields are the Unity +1 weapons and armor. There are Kupon I-S3 for unity accessories upgrades found elsewhere. This is also a place guaranteed to have moon items.

- Dynamis D is the place to go to work on your Reforged Relic +2 gear. The mobs and NMs are stout and will need a good mix of gear and people to deal with. Currently we have Dynamis - Buburimu, Valkurm, and Qufim open. Tavnazia is in progress.

- Tier 3 VWNMs are also here and drop Kupons to redeemed for an already augmented piece of Sinister Reign equipment.

Su2 unlock point:

• Clearing the 3 Tier 3 VWNMs (Akvan/Kaggen/Pil) will unlock the ability to equip Su2 equipment.