Yeah, it's pretty obvious I'm new, huh? No, I wasn't even considering going after high level mobs - I only attacked mobs that checked as "easy prey" and only if there aren't any nearby mobs that it can link with (e.g. I figured that I can take on a single mist liz but not on three at the same time). While it did work (never actually got killed once) some mobs were way more difficult than others even though both check as EP, so I opened this thread basically to figure in which cases I shouldn't attack a mob even if it's EP.


OK that can actually explain some stuff because it's not the best gear possible (neither do I have enough gil to buy that).

The variation in difficulty of easy prey mobs will only increase as you level. "Easy Prey" means that the mob is any one of a range of levels below you, and that range increases as you level. At level 9, for example, anything from 1 to about 6 will be easy prey. At 75, anything from 55 to about 68 will be.

So generally you mean that at 75 it's still not wise to take on a 68 mob?

Most if not all jobs can kill an easy prey at level 75, no problem. Once you reach 75, your character gradually get stronger with better gear and merits. Since the enemies say the same strength you will, over time, be able to kill stronger and stronger things.

It depends on gear, character skills, player skill, and merits. I only meant that there can be a huge difference in difficulty.

To directly answer the question, I wouldn't want to be a fresh 75, in gear meant for a character 2/3s my level, with underleveled combat skills, fighting a 68. For many classes, that would be asking for a quick death.

Put it this way; at the moment you're playing as a Red Mage which is definitely not a heavy hitter (better than the other mages but not really a front line fighter), so for the most part you're going to rely on "Surviving" all of your battles compared to something like a Warrior who is going to be mowing down everything they come across.

When it comes to soloing there two general ways to play; you can play it safe by focusing on defeating lots of Easy Prey monsters in a short amount of time, or take on fewer more difficult monsters for higher XP reward. Either of these have their merits it all depends how bothered you are about your time spent, for the most part keep your party flag up as you'll learn a lot more in parties.

It's important to understand that /checks give a value that's generally rated for a party of your current level. Can one man beat an Easy Prey at X level? Possibly, likely even depending on what job you are, but everything is gauged against your level. Things like "low evasion, low defense" etc. are checked against your current accuracy and attack values. These reasons are why a low eva/low def mob that checks Easy Prey can give you a run for your money in later levels depending on what job you are, your gear, capabilities, etc. As you progress from 1 to 75, you'll find individual characters are (generally) less able to solo mobs above Too Weak until they reach an equipment break point where the stats and skill bonuses from 75 gear beat out the raw stats of enemies. This is why you'll find that a single appropriately geared 75 red mage can solo Tough and higher mobs with their more than adequate acc, fast cast, magic accuracy, etc, and why you'll see comments about certain job/target combinations being extremely skewed in favor of the player (damage type vs weakness).


Use this information as a gauge for your current combat stats compared to the given enemy. This is very useful when fighting VT-IT in a group and looking to maximize exp/hr. Are you a DD and getting fulltime /c reporting high evasion? Put the meat away, use seafood if madrigals are still causing this to occur.


This is accurate, and you can use the same to gauge your prowess during the mid levels. Did you just reach a gear break point where you equipped a bunch of beefy/strong items? Then you can potentially handle EP-DC mobs with a lot more leniency than before. Have you not had an upgrade for a dozen levels and you're seeing an EP /c? Probably best to assume it's more than a pushover.

Bump. At level 28 RDM I had a bad day finding pt's so figured I'd grind a level by soloing easy prey at the dunes. Found a method that worked successfully on goblins, crabs, flies and ghouls. Tell me if you think there's something to improve -

• A lot of defensive gear - Used mainly scale greaves and beetle mask plus some other cheap gear.
• A sword that does a relatively great deal of damage - I used fire sword
• Protect + Shell + Aquaveil
• Verify no mobs that can link with the target or mobs that aggro standing close to it
• Aggro with dia
• Only cast Cure and Cure II, all DD done melee

add some level appropriate attack food. also, enspell might be worth using.