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In the Final Fantasy XI, Beastmasters are the experts of the solo playing. You can solo at much higher level. The main ability that allows BSTs to do this is the charm ability. This puts a monster under the BSTs control, and will fight for the BST as long as it remains charmed. Charmed pets will eventually turn on their master, but the more charisma you have, the longer the monster stays your pet, and the easier it is to charm monsters. At higher levels it is wise to not try to charm anything past "Even match" because tough mobs, if charmed at all, tend to turn on their master rather quickly.
Now, you can get to the party information, BSTs do great damage per second (DPS) with a pet, but there is a big problem (mainly for the BST), you get a 30% exp cut from having a pet! This generally means that you will prefer going solo unless you choose not to charm a pet, thus killing your DPS and making you somewhat useless in the party, depending on your sub job.
Beast-masters do amazing Damage per Second with a pet. But there is a problem that they take a hit in the EXP department. But even if the Beast-master doesn't want to charm a pet, they still make decent tanks.
They are able to wear great armor so their defense should be high enough so they don't take major damage. With a WAR sub, they will have even better defense, but WAR is pretty much needed to tank.
Though, a real bonus from a BST tank is the "Killer" job traits. Assuming your party is going after anything that is affected by any of the BST traits, there is a chance that the mob will not be able to attack the BST.
The role of a BST is to kill stuff. Either this can be done alone or in a group. The main role of a BST is to tame monsters, and have them fight for him/her. What they do is determined by their sub job. Most of the BST skills are related to melee and charming monsters.
Probably, you will do a lot of solo playing as a Beast-master so it can be kind of hard to make a cookie cutter leveling guide. The main thing that changes how you will be leveling is what sub job you're sporting, because it will have different effects on your skills and how you can solo. There are two ways of leveling your Beast-master while soloing.
One is to charm a mob and attack other pets at the same as your mob. This allows for less downtime, since you and your pet will be doing damage. But you will have to put up with an annoying exp decrease, but it isn't that bad. This is the easiest and safest way to level, as long as your pet stays charmed. A good way to do this is to charm a Decent Challenge, and then you can exp chain up to 3 evens, as long as they don't link and you can find them fast enough.
Another is charming a mob and having your pet solo a mob that's slightly stronger, and debuffing the strong mob with magic so that your pet can get in a lot of damage before it dies. This way of leveling is a lot riskier. Not only do you have to make sure your pet dies, but you have to make sure your pet at least did enough damage to allow you to finish off the mob. The easiest and safest way of doing this is to charm an Even Match and have it attack a Tough. Then use spells or skills to give your pet any kind of advantage. Hopefully your pet will get the mob down to HP low enough for you to finish off the mob with few problems. In general, this means more down time, but you get higher exp from the kills. Since it's at a higher level, it cuts the whole parties EXP.
Now, you can get to the party information, BSTs do great damage per second (DPS) with a pet, but there is a big problem (mainly for the BST), you get a 30% exp cut from having a pet! This generally means that you will prefer going solo unless you choose not to charm a pet, thus killing your DPS and making you somewhat useless in the party, depending on your sub job.
Beast-masters do amazing Damage per Second with a pet. But there is a problem that they take a hit in the EXP department. But even if the Beast-master doesn't want to charm a pet, they still make decent tanks.
They are able to wear great armor so their defense should be high enough so they don't take major damage. With a WAR sub, they will have even better defense, but WAR is pretty much needed to tank.
Though, a real bonus from a BST tank is the "Killer" job traits. Assuming your party is going after anything that is affected by any of the BST traits, there is a chance that the mob will not be able to attack the BST.
The role of a BST is to kill stuff. Either this can be done alone or in a group. The main role of a BST is to tame monsters, and have them fight for him/her. What they do is determined by their sub job. Most of the BST skills are related to melee and charming monsters.
Probably, you will do a lot of solo playing as a Beast-master so it can be kind of hard to make a cookie cutter leveling guide. The main thing that changes how you will be leveling is what sub job you're sporting, because it will have different effects on your skills and how you can solo. There are two ways of leveling your Beast-master while soloing.
One is to charm a mob and attack other pets at the same as your mob. This allows for less downtime, since you and your pet will be doing damage. But you will have to put up with an annoying exp decrease, but it isn't that bad. This is the easiest and safest way to level, as long as your pet stays charmed. A good way to do this is to charm a Decent Challenge, and then you can exp chain up to 3 evens, as long as they don't link and you can find them fast enough.
Another is charming a mob and having your pet solo a mob that's slightly stronger, and debuffing the strong mob with magic so that your pet can get in a lot of damage before it dies. This way of leveling is a lot riskier. Not only do you have to make sure your pet dies, but you have to make sure your pet at least did enough damage to allow you to finish off the mob. The easiest and safest way of doing this is to charm an Even Match and have it attack a Tough. Then use spells or skills to give your pet any kind of advantage. Hopefully your pet will get the mob down to HP low enough for you to finish off the mob with few problems. In general, this means more down time, but you get higher exp from the kills. Since it's at a higher level, it cuts the whole parties EXP.
