I’ve got to be crazy. I suspected I was for a while, but I think it’s proven now.

For Glory, the Chains of Promathia guide that I love dearly and was accepted so well by the community, changed the way I play Final Fantasy 11. On the day I released it I stopped being a normal player and started becoming something of a field researcher. On the upside, this had quite a few benefits. I became a celebrity on Sylph and basically everyone started treating me nicely. Whenever there was some new CoP-ish thing released, I always had people that wanted me to come along. Unraveling the mysteries of a world, being one of the first to attempt and conquer a hard fight, and putting pictures online for everyone to see… it’s the stuff of dreams for a wanna-be hero.

That said, writing and updating the guide is probably a larger chore than you think. In addition to doing every mission and quest personally and writing down notes as I go along, I also sift through other guides and personal accounts of other players with different party setups and different problems. People had the darndest problems in CoP; things I thought of, things I was unsure of, and things I hadn’t even considered. And every time an update was released it meant rechecking old facts to see what was changed and how it would affect things.

It’s fun, but it’s a hassle. And I wasn’t sure I was willing to go through it again. A part of me misses just being a normal player, you know? Looking up quests written by other people and doing them without a care in the world. Not worrying about the spelling of “Al’Tiaeu” or that the Ru’lude Gardens palace is at (H-8). Another part realized that I had a pretty thing going with For Glory and it would be a shame to not continue the road. I have a sneaking suspicion that part also enjoys all the attention my works are getting, but it feigns ignorance.

As you can see from this site, my mental battle has ended. And so, once again setting out mostly alone to hopefully write a strategy guide with some redeeming value, I give you A Land Besiged – Erecia’s Guide to All things Treasure of Aht Urghan. Enough of my inner demons. Let’s get into the heart of the new expansion, at least how I see it a few days after release.

Erecia’s “I Hated CoP!” Concerns List

I, obviously, liked Chains of Promathia. Some of you did not. I’m not going to start a debate about that here. Instead I’ll address some of the common complaints about CoP and how ToAU is different.

Barring how someone could be 0/152 on Holla for the moment, you don’t need to do any missions to access ToAU. There is a single access quest that gets you a boarding pass to take a ship in. The quest requires any of a number of items, and it’s strangely well balanced to be easy for both high and low level players. Once you complete it you can travel to the new city and start doing stuff immediately. No Promyvions.

There are, to the best of my knowledge, no manditory level-capped anythings in ToAU at this time. You can set a level cap on assault runs if you want or you can choose no cap at all. Chill. But it’s a mixed blessing; monsters in the areas around the city are powerful and will aggro to even level 75 characters.

ToAU isn’t going to be a party in a bag. You’ll still have to, ya know, go find things to do. But between a score of new zones to explore and get exp in, at least one new HNM to camp (Cerebus anyone?) and assault runs that you can do every single day, ToAU has options.

Agreed. ToAU has them. Blue mage, Corsair, Puppetmaster. The access quests aren’t difficult and can be done by low level players, though you’ll have to be sneaky.

Blue mage is a melee damage dealer that can use monster skills to do damage, strongly debuff enemies, and heal / buff themselves. Corsair was best described as “a bard that can actually fight.” Corsair’s luck-based abilities are bizarrely interesting and not as random and terrible as people feared. Puppetmaster, which everyone thought would be a lame knock-of on beastmaster, is very different. The automation can be modified to be a damage dealer, tank, or magic user, letting the job fit whatever roll the party needs rather smoothly.


Should I Buy Treasures of Aht Urghan?

Don’t ask me that >_> I can’t answer it. But I will give some general hints.

You might want to pick up the expansion if…

• You’ve been looking for a new job to level and BLU, COR, or PUP sound interesting.
• You’re a bored high level player that wants some new things to fight.
• You find having new horizons to explore and new quests to unravel a fun part of the game.

On the other hand, you may want to wait a while if…

• You’re still having a lot of fun with what’s in the game now.
• You’re very dedicated to your current job and don’t want to start anything.
• You’re below level 50 and don’t want to level a new job. ToAU content is clearly geared towards 50+.
• New quests and zones to wander around don’t really interest you much.

ToAU is basically 1) new end game content and 2) new jobs. That’s making it sound rather narrow and lame. It’s not, okay? But I can see a level 40 black mage that likes his job buying this and having almost nothing to do. Of course, if you’re a 40 BLM that just wants a new city to hang out in and some new content after not being able to do much with CoP, by all means, pick it up.

You'll probably want the expansion eventually though. There are some wacky things to do. I'll see you on the shores of the near eastern empire.

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