Howdy, I’m Harticus, level 153 Buccaneer of Windia server.  

     The purpose of this guide is to share the lessons I learned as an unfunded, first time player looking to reach high levels. I started playing Maplestory at the beginning of 2011. In addition to my Buccaneer, I have leveled a Cygnus Knight to 105.  I play about 10 hours per week, mostly on weekdays. 

By the end of this guide you will have a good understanding of training objectives, training strategy, training areas, and gear selection.  

If you are unfamiliar with the jargon used, check the glossary included at the end of the guide.  

     Before going too far down one training path, it is useful to identify what you are training for:

     -Are you challenging yourself to get to the highest level possible as quickly as possible?

     -Are you looking to relax and have fun while exploring the world on your own?

     -Is it most important for you to meet new friends while playing the game?

     Your priorities may be some combination of these or something different entirely.  However, they will dictate the best training method for you.

     If you’re looking to meet people and socialize while training, I suggest party questing.  Search the web for specific guides to party quests for players of your level. They provide opportunities to work as a team to accomplish a common goal. 

Party quests are not without pitfalls. Depending on the number of people who also are participating in a particular party quest, you may sometimes have to wait to start while you recruit party members.  Also, depending on the skill level of your members, you may have to be patient with people who are new to the quest.  These factors can slow down your training speed.

     Try to remember that other players are people, other people are important, and that their hard work is valuable just as yours is.  If you behave in a way that indicates that you care nothing about them and are constantly wrapped up in the things that THEY can do for YOU, it may be harder to make friends.  (i.e. always begging for meso, begging for PC, putting up commercials in ally/guild/buddy chat, begging for help with quests, begging for teleports, etc.)  Instead, think of ways that an activity will be good for everyone.  An invitation to have fun is more appealing than a plea for charity! ;P  To put things in perspective, ask yourself which of these sounds more fun to you:

"Howdy, guys.  Would anyone like to join me on a Scarlion run? We can start in cc13 just as soon as we have an additional party member.  I will summon you here if you are far away! :D”

Or

"SOMEONE PLZ HELP ME GET A SCAR HELM

HEY CAN SOMEONE HELP ME GET A SCAR HELM

Cmon I RLY NEED A *$@% SCAR HELM”

     If you’re playing the game to "chill out”, don’t want to stress about competing over training locations, and don’t particularly feel the need to be level 200 immediately, I suggest world quests.  Just visit towns and talk to NPCs with a light bulb over their heads.  They will point you in the direction of places you may not have been before and monsters you haven’t fought yet.  They can provide short term goals that can be satisfying to accomplish.

     The rest of this guide discusses leveling up as quickly as possible.

     In order to gain experience points, EXP, as quickly as possible, the following elements should be considered:

      -Experience point to hit point ratio, EXP/HP, of monsters you are fighting

     -The number of hit points, HP, the monsters (mobs) have

     -The spawn rate of the monsters, you are fighting

     -Your ability to fight the monsters

     Training strategy involves finding the optimal balance of these elements for maximum EXP gain.

Ancillary EXP from quests should be considered a mere "bonus”, if obtainable in the course of fighting monsters.  The reason it should not be the primary focus of training is that, more often than not, time spent researching EXP yielding quests takes longer than gaining an equivalent amount of EXP fighting monsters.

Job selection is not considered one of the elements of strategy because different people may want to play different jobs for a variety of reasons, even if one job generally levels faster than another. 

However, if you are a new player who seeks to have a character of "ultimate” power, you will eventually need to level up a Cygnus Knight for the Empress’ blessing buff which can add +24 weapon attack and magic attack.   Therefore you may want to consider making your first character Cygnus Knight, especially since they level up much more easily than other jobs.

     All other things being equal, defeating monsters with a higher EXP/HP ratio will, of course, result in faster leveling because each point of damage your character does to the monster will yield a greater amount of experience.

     One fallacy that some players have embraced is the idea that if a particular monster grants a greater incremental increase in EXP when defeated, it necessarily means that such a monster is the best for training.  The following example demonstrates why this is false:

Scarlion is a boss in Maplestory that goes through a few transformations, the highest level of which is 140.  The combined HP of these transformations is 300,000,000.  The combined EXP gained from defeating each of the transformations is 2,016,000.  The EXP/HP ratio for Scarlion is 0.0672.

Papulatus is a level 125 boss in Maplestory that goes through one transformation.  The combined HP of Papulatus is 24,590,000.  The combined EXP from defeating it is 1,566,000.  The EXP/HP ratio for Papulatus is 0.6392.

A player who hasn’t thought things through entirely might think "Scarlion gives 2 million EXP whereas Populatus only gives 1 and a half million EXP.  Therefore, Scarlion is a better monster for training.”  However, as you can see, Papulatus is actually more than 9.5 times better exp than Scarlion!  It has an EXP/HP ratio more than 9.5 times greater.  You will need to deal almost 10 times as much damage to Scarlion to gain the same amount of EXP from Papulatus.  Because it takes time to deal damage, fighting Papulatus(high exp/hp ratio) will help a character level faster than fighting Scarlion(low exp/hp ratio).  

     I’m not trying to insult anyone’s intelligence.  Many of you may be thinking "Well, duh…”  I only mean to drive home the point that EXP/HP ratio is an important principle regarding training.

     All other things being equal (like EXP/HP ratio), fighting monsters with a greater total amount of HP will result in faster leveling because after defeating one monster, it often becomes necessary to move somewhere else in the map to fight another.  Time spent moving about the map or from map to map is time NOT spent dealing EXP yielding damage.  By fighting monsters with high HP, you reduce the amount of time wasted running around.

     After defeating monsters in a map, new ones will spawn to take their place after a few seconds.  If you are able to defeat monsters fast enough, you may find yourself waiting for monsters to respawn.  All other things being equal, it is best to find maps where you aren’t waiting for monsters to respawn, but instead spend all of your time dealing EXP yielding damage.

     Characters with varying levels, jobs, and equipment will have different ability to fight particular monsters.  You must be able to defeat monsters effectively in order to gain EXP from them.

     Here is a list of training areas that will take a character from start to finish.  It is only a snapshot in time as of 3/18/2011 and, of course, it is not the only way to go.  But, time spent researching the absolutely PERFECT training spot for your job, your level, and your gear is time NOT spent actually training.  I’ve already identified some excellent training areas here and the reasons why they are excellent through research, trial and error.  I include a brief explanation of where to train, on what, and why for each level range.  Enjoy!

Maps: Starting area

Just follow the introductory tutorial quests.  You’ll finish them and level up quickly.

The exp is plenty fast and, if you’re new, you might learn something.

Maps: Starting town for your job, singing mushroom forest

Do the quests given by your job leader NPC.  In particular, make sure you finish the quest that gives the job specific helm.   The helm gives good weapon defense, WD, and stats for new players.

Or fight Zombie mushrooms.  The spawn rate is good.

Maps: Singing mushroom forest, north rocky mountain

Fight: Zombie mushrooms, Boars, and Masks. 

The spawn rates are good.

Maps: Mushroom Kingdom

Do the world quests here and, if you like, the party quests.

Fast spawn rates, ancillary bonus exp from quests, opportunity to gain decent equipment for nonfunded players.

Maps: Singapore: Suburban Area 2, Haunted House

Fight: Trucker, Dead Scarecrow

The spawn rate at Truckers is EXTREMELY fast, so fast that the EXP there eclipses Scarecrows if you’re able to get around the map quickly.  If you play a mobility challenged class (like a brawler), you might consider Dead Scarecrows instead.  They have a higher EXP/HP ratio but a slower respawn rate.

Maps: Haunted House

Fight: Hoodoo, Twisted Jester

The EXP/HP ratios and total HP here are unmatched for this level range.  They are so high that it makes little difference if you miss half the time when fighting Twisted Jesters. 

One drawback to this place is that it gets pretty monotonous.  If you get bored, you can head to Magatia and do world quests there around level 8X.  The exp will be slower, but it can break up the boredom.

Maps: Mysterious Path 3, Entrance to Spooky World, Red Nose pirate den

Fight:  Selkie Jr., Slimy, Gallopera,

The spawn rate at Mysterious Path 3, MP3, is very fast, so fast that the EXP there probably eclipses Galloperas even though monsters there are lower level.  Galloperas, on the other hand, drop scroll for glove for attack – 60% as well as power crystals.  So, consider training here if you need either mesos or else a Scarlion Helm or Targa Helm.  You can do the prequests needed to face Scarlion and Targa while you are on your way to fight Galloperas.  

Maps: Mysterious Path 3, Entrance to Spooky World, Red Nose pirate den

Fight: Selkie Jr., Slimy, Gallopera, Kru, Captain

Same as before, the spawn rate at Mysterious Path 3, MP3, is very fast, so fast that the EXP there probably eclipses Galloperas even though monsters there are lower level.  Galloperas drop scroll for glove for attack, 60 percent as well as power crystals.  So, consider training here if you need either mesos or else a Scarlion Helm or Targa Helm.  You can do the prequests needed to face Scarlion and Targa while you are on your way to fight Galloperas.  Kru and Captain may be better exp than at MP3 for very well geared , well funded players because they have more HP.

Maps: Ludibrium Path of Time, Leafre

Fight: whatever mob is in your level range and, if you use magic, is weak to your spells.  Take the VIP taxi from Ludibrium to get there and nearest town scrolls to get back so you won’t waste training time running around.

Spawn rates at Ludibrium are good.  Also, while there, you can do the Papulatus quests upon reaching level 120.  Papulatus is the fastest EXP you will find between level 120 and 130.  However, you can only fight him twice per day.  Not only that, but he drops useful potions and items for new players.

Leafre contains world quests for these levels.  Also, if you are broke, you will need to kill Manon and Griffey, bosses near Leafre, to make the 4^th job advancement.

Maps:  Lion King’s Castle, Ludibrium: Path of Time, Crimsonwood Keep (CWK)

Fight: Papulatus, whatever mobs are in your level range except Castle Golems

     Recently, Lion King’s Castle (LKC) was introduced into Maplestory Global.  Experience gains here are FAR beyond ANYTHING available before.  The reason is because every mob there has Boss HP.  (Millions of HP)  So, little time is wasted running around the map. And, while the raw EXP/HP ratios aren’t the best, 50 percent bonus party experience is awarded for every additional member of your party.  Even if your original training objective wasn’t to make friends, you’d better start now if you want to reach high levels sooner! ;D  Even if you’re having trouble finding a party, you can still gain reasonably fast experience fighting Ani on the roof of each tower.  Ani has a very high Exp/HP ratio.

     Perhaps the fastest exp currently possible for unfunded, new, 4^th job players is at the maps containing Bearwolves such as Under the Castle Walls 4.  (In a full group, of course, to take advantage of the party EXP bonus.)  The reason is that all mobs at Lion King’s Castle aside from Ani and Castle Golems have the same Exp to HP ratio.  Among those, Bearwolves have the highest total HP.  Not only that, but they don’t have invulnerability frames like the Vultures nor do they have knockback and ministun like Castle Golems.  If your party is half-way savvy, you can frequently attack 5 Bearwolves simultaneously.  One way to do this is to have your single mob attackers like Corsairs and Nightlords keep the top platforms clear.  Have your rushers and multi-mob attackers push the mobs on the bottom platform to the middle of the map.  This way, when you defeat one of the bearwolves in the pack, you have a greater chance of spotting the respawn and pushing the respawn into the existing pack with the others.  (As opposed to pushing mobs to either the left or the right, thereby missing respawn that pops up on the other extreme of the map.)  I know  some players find it easier to pin mobs against the wall.  However, easy is not always fast.  It is better to fight 4 mobs, hitting 3 and missing 1 with your attack than to pin only 2 mobs against the wall and hit them both with certainty.

Castle Golems…many players train on them under the misconception that because Castle Golems award greater incremental amounts of EXP, they are necessarily better for training.  Other mobs in LKC have a 17.6 percent GREATER EXP/HP ratio than Castle Golems.  Not only that, but when Castle Golems knock you back, you get stunned for a brief moment and then may have to run somewhere before you can start applying EXP yielding damage again.  Time spent while stunned and running around the map is time NOT spent gaining EXP.  They also deal more damage than other mobs, requiring more frequent potion use.  As one data point:  I spent over 10 hours fighting Castle Golems and then 10 hours spent fighting Bearwolves with similar parties in each case.  I’d gain 50 percent per hour at level 14X on Bearwolves and 3X percent per hour on Golems.  (In each case I was using 50% Bonus EXP card.) Now, if your character becomes so powerful that you are able to keep the entire map clear of mobs, or if your group is unwilling or unable to group mobs together at Bearwolves, Castle Golems may start to catch up but will still be more of a potion burn.  Some players just like to see that greater incremental increase.  If you are one of those, that is OK.  Every player’s situation is different.  Be honest with yourself, though; and don’t take my word for it.  If you’re looking to maximize your EXP gain, time it for yourself.  (With a clock! No "guesstimating” ;D)

     Drawbacks to LKC are that, it isn’t good for making Mesos.  In fact, it is a pretty hefty potion burn and the drops there are lacking since the mobs there have so many HP.  (low meso/HP ratio) Also, it takes time sometimes to find a party.  If you only have 30 minutes to play each day, you could easily spend at least that long trying to find a good one.  (Another good reason to make friends… An active guild is likely willing to work together for fun and mutual benefit making party forming easier.  Besides…friendship is its own reward! :D)  If this is the case, you can stick to Ludibrium and solo Papulatus which gives a nice "shot” of EXP for a small time investment at levels below 135.

     Besides Papulatas,  Ludibrium contains mobs with good spawn rates useful for training below level 132.

     Really only useful for training if you have a savvy group that can quickly get to boss fights.  Otherwise you just end up waiting a long time to get organized and start the PQ.  The primary reason to participate is the loot.  You can find Mark of Naricain, a great neck item for new players, and some neat things from the treasure chests in the bonus stage.

     It is likely that, during the course of your training, you will encounter some players who are less than friendly.  They may even barge into a map that you have been training at for an hour and begin to kill the monsters you were fighting without saying a word.  (This is considered by many to be bad form.  If you want to make friends, it may be wise to avoid behaving similarly yourself.)  If you are a new player, it may be difficult for you to deal enough damage to the monsters being stolen from you to gain any serious amount of exp.  Two good means to deal with a KSer are:

     -Patiently waiting them out

     -Changing channels

     I do not recommend a KS war because aside from the unnecessary strife and angst that may result, it will not help you train faster unless it is during a double exp event and you happen to quickly win the war.  (By KS war, I mean logging on a higher level character to KS the KSer or inviting friends and guild mates to do the same.)

     If you are able to gain SOME experience from monsters while being kill stolen and you have enough time to play that day, you can try waiting the KSer out.  First, kindly ask them to change channel.  ("CC please”) Or, if the map is big enough for the both of you, invite them to party.  (You’ll gain bonus exp that way anyhow.)  If they don’t respond and don’t reply, just continue training as if they aren’t there.  If they are motivated by EXP gain, your presence will encourage them to move on because, even though you may only be dealing enough damage to get 1/3 of the experience, that is 33% of the experience that they are NOT getting that they could if they went elsewhere.  If they are motivated by sadism and are only looking to grief other players, you can hasten the time that they get bored and leave by ignoring their asinine actions and trash talk.  Don’t get sucked into a pointless argument or insult war.  It will not help you achieve your objectives.  (Unless your objective is to bring justice to jerks by making them feel worse about their self than they already do.  I submit that this isn’t a worthwhile objective, however.  It is too easy;  where’s the challenge?  Leveling up in spite of a KSer is a more gratifying challenge in my opinion.) Time spent typing insults is time not spent training. 

     It may be that you simply cannot deal enough damage to motivate them to move on.  Or you may not have enough time to play to wait them out.  In these instances, you may want to just change channels.  You’ll start gaining EXP again more quickly than waiting them out.

If you’re like me, you may be somewhat vexed because it will seem as if you’ve rewarded their bad behavior by granting them the map.  Try to keep focused on your training objectives and not the minor obstacles.

     The aforementioned training areas are no secrets.  Many players know that they are primo training spots and so you may have trouble finding an open channel.  Three good ways to handle crowds are:

     -Request a party

     -Ask when the map will be open

     -Go somewhere else

     Ask the people already in the map to party.  They might accept.  You might meet a new friend.

     If you can do something else while you wait, you might ask when the occupants expect to be finished training at that location and return when they are.

     Sometimes a map is just too crowded on every channel to make training there viable.  (This happens frequently during double EXP events.)  If you can’t find an open channel or willing party, you may be better off going to a map that, under normal circumstances, would be less exp, but is contemporaneously faster training than the Haunted House "sardine can”.  Just check the world map for a monster around your level that looks to be "off the beaten path.”

     Because EXP gain is dependent on damage dealt, it having equipment that enables you to deal more damage helps with training.  (Of course!)  If you are already funded, you don’t need to read the rest of this section.  Have fun romping around with your gear! ;D

     However, if you are a new player, you may not have the resources to devote to the latest, greatest, most uber, maximum potential, g0dlyk3 gear.  Do not worry.  It does not take the best gear to reach the highest level.  In fact, time spent trying to get the best gear is probably counterproductive when it comes to training.  If you believe that, move on.  Otherwise, consider the following example:

   A very commonly sought after piece of gear is a workglove that adds ATT.  This is because work gloves can be used at low levels by any class and because ATT helps training more than other stats such as WD.  On Windia server in March 2011, it is possible to get a 6 ATT workglove for about 8 million meso.  In contrast, a 10 attack workglove will run about 140 million meso.  Let us determine if it is worth it for a new player to spend the time needed to earn the extra 132 million meso for the stronger glove.

   Suppose you are playing an assassin.  If you are around level 100, an extra 4 ATT will increase your damage range average by about 133.  The skill lucky sevens does 340% damage.  So, this extra 4 ATT will ultimately yield 452 more damage per attack.  Sounds like a lot, right?  Well, say you could fight Gigantic Spirit Vikings, a level 122 monster, and collect their meso.  A gigantic spirit Viking has 109,000 HP and will drop meso about half the time.  So, you must deal around 218,000 damage in order to collect about 917 meso.  At this rate, you must deal about 31 BILLION damage in order to make the money for the stronger gloves with meso drop alone.  Since the stronger gloves yield about 452 more damage per attack, this makes the break-even point over 68 MILLION attacks.  How long will it take you to make 68 million attacks on monsters and collect their meso?  I do not know exactly, but I’m certain it takes less time than the 15 minutes to 4 hours it takes to level up and increase your damage range more than the stronger work glove!

   It may be worth it to buy the more expensive gloves if it takes you less time to make 132 million meso than it does to level up 3 or 4 times AND there is nothing you can spend money on that would increase your damage more per meso than the workgloves.  Guess what?  There probably is.  Warrior pills, for one, only cost 500 meso and add 5 ATT for 10 minutes.  So, it will only cost you 3 million meso to have +5 ATT for 1000 hours of play time.  I submit that extra meso may be better spent items that will be profitable in trade rather than effective on the battlefield.  This will allow you to achieve ultimate power sooner.  (Although, if you’re like me, training is fun and trading is a chore.  You might opt for more fun over more meso.)

     There are two lessons that can be learned from the above example:

     -Top quality equipment is only a slight edge when it comes to training, if you’re new

     -Less than top quality equipment is FAR more cost effective if you’re new

     Ok, so maybe those are really two aspects of the same lesson.  At any rate, new players might be wondering, "But how am I ever to afford even the CHEAP workglove?  8 million meso is two orders of magnitude out of my price range! QQ ".  There are a few ways you can get started.   The easiest is probably to just buy NX with dollars and hunt the MTS for deals.  If you’re a younger player without a job or an older player who’s significant other would take exception to you spending vacation money on Maplestory, this may not be an option for you.  But, fear not; fewer options doesn’t mean no hope!  There are items you can obtain at lower levels that you can sell to other players for the capital to get suited up respectably.  Some of these are:

     -Random scrolls and ores you find

     -Broken glasses from Ludibrium PQ – Level 3X(will require modest NX purchase to sell)

     -Scrolls from Subani’s legacy quest line – Level 5X

     -Scroll from Elpam Gorlab quest – Level 5X

     -Rex’s Earrings from HPQ – Level 8X

     -Onyx apple  from APQ – level 9X?  (Need verification)

     -Scroll from Scarlion prequests – level 9X

     Sell these items in the Free Market by either spamming, (a boring, obnoxious, stressful, and time consuming method of commerce if ever there was one.) or else by buying a store permit with NX and setting up your wares for sale when you aren’t playing the game.  Determine how much to sell them for by walking through the Free Market, checking the vendors’ wares, and writing down how much each is selling the same item for.  If you want to gain capital quickly, undercut their prices.  If you want to maximize profit and don’t care how long it takes, charge as much or more.

      Try not to beg.  In real life, when you are approached by a beggar, you might be as equally put off by their request as you are sympathetic to their situation.  Similarly, in Maplestory, some players might not like you begging because they feel that, by asking them for meso, you are showing disrespect for their time and hard work.  As an alternative to begging, consider offering some kind of service.  Try to think of something you can offer them that would be worth meso.  By focusing on the other person’s needs, you can more easily arrive at an exchange of mutual benefit.  I never tried this, but you might sell your services as a Maplestory family member.  If you become the "Junior” of another player, that player gets special in game bonuses for each time you level up.  This is a useful, concrete service that a new player who is about to gain 100 levels this month can offer.

     More hairs have been split over this subject than any other in Maplestory.

There are four stats in maplestory, STR, DEX, INT, and LUK.  When you start to level up, you gain ability points that should be put into your primary and possibly secondary stats.  Because the primary stat is the only one that increases damage, some players are concerned that they will cripple their character’s damage potential if they add any AP into their secondary stat.

     They will not.  The reason is that only special weapons can be equipped if you don’t add any points into your secondary stat.  These special "statless” weapons generally have lower damage than "regular weapons” which require a certain amount in the secondary stat.  So, it all comes out in the wash.  The primary advantage to going "statless” is that you don’t have to waste as much training time shopping for the next level weapon.

Keep in mind that you’ll gain a decent "regular” weapon from the mushroom kingdom quests that will take you beyond level 50.  (Research this on the web.  Some jobs may not be able to.)

     Don’t stress too much about "statless”, "low-stat”, or "regular” AP builds.  Time spent thinking about it is time not spent training.  If you have meso right off the bat for a maple weapon, go ahead and be statless. If you obtain weapons as you level up, go ahead and add AP into your secondary stat until you can equip the new one.  If you are hardcore enough to make it to very high levels, you probably won’t care about the paltry amount of NX it will take to either turn yourself from low stat to statless or statless to level 140 equipment capable.

     If you have or would like to spend NX, read the next section.  If not, skip to the next.

     If you have the NX to spend, a pet is a useful tool for leveling up.  You can purchase NX items besides the pet that will allow it to pick up meso and items for you.  This enables you to spend more time dealing damage that would otherwise be spent looting.

Also, the Auto-potion items make playing easier since you don’t have to pay as much attention to your HP.  When purchased, you can tell your pet to use a HP potion when your HP drops below a certain percentage. Care should be taken when using auto-potion items as demonstrated by these scenarios:

Suppose you are using the auto-hp feature and have your pet set to use a potion when your health drops below 25%.  This may work great until you start fighting a monster that is capable of dealing 26% of your total HP in damage.  You may not realize that you are in danger until "the stars align” and you are hit by a monster while at 26% HP before your pet can potion, and are killed.  Be sure to set your auto potion according to the damage range of the monsters you are fighting.

If you are using a potion that heals less HP than damage dealt by monsters each time they attack, you might eventually die if you leave the responsibility of your survival to your pet. :P

Using many more potions than usual is referred to as "potion burn.” If you set your HP setting too high, you will just waste more potions than you need to.  This could possibly even kill you if you forget to pay attention to the number of potions you have and run out just as a monster delivers the final blow!

     Another useful NX item is the safety charm.  Having one in your inventory keeps you from loosing EXP when you die.  (Perhaps during a lag spike or while AFK in a place you thought was safe.)  These become more valuable as your level increases and are more useful for jobs that do not use LUK as their primary attribute. 

     I do not recommend gachapon tickets in order to make meso.  If you are very lucky, it is possible to gain valuable items from gachapon.  But, when you research the probabilities that you will get such items and do the cost-benefit analysis, you may find that gachapon is only worth it for the fun/excitement of playing rather than the monetary rewards.  (Much like slot machines, the longer you play, the more certain it is that you will
loose money.)

     The most important piece of gear to focus on with regard to training is your weapon because it has the greatest effect on your damage, especially before the 4^th job.  If you are unfunded, consider scrolling your weapons with 100 percent scrolls until level 120+.  Meso that would otherwise be spent on 60 percent scrolls or something similar can be put to better use on potions for training. 

If you have a weapon scrolled with 100 percents, enough HP and MP potions, and plenty of +ATT potions, consider a bathrobe scrolled with 100 percents in your secondary stat.  This will enable you use 10 less AP in your secondary stat to equip the most current level weapon and allow you to move around while training slightly faster. 

     After that, consider cheap gear that adds +INT.  If you intend for your character to achieve "ultimate power”, you should wear +INT gear when leveling up because it will more greatly increase your MP pool when leveling.  This will become important for players who choose to HP wash, a process by which NX are spent to increase the character’s maximum HP.  (HP washing is explained in detail in other guides.) Potential items with only 2 lines can be an affordable way to improve any stat, including INT.

If you have a set of INT gear, go ahead and keep an eye out for a cheap ATT workglove.

If you never plan on HP washing and don’t care about being "low dex”, go ahead and wear the most current level armor for your job.  It looks cool and adds decent WD.

     Eventually you will likely want to start accumulating more powerful gear.  You can likely sell a deputy star neck item from Lita’s quest line in New Leaf City and use the proceeds to buy a Mark of Naricain from a guild running CWKPQ after you reach level 110.  (If you don’t have a guild that will take you on a run.)  You can similarly obtain a Scarlion or Targa helm by paying higher level players to fight the bosses for you.

By the time you reach the 4^th job you’ll have a good idea of what equipment you want next and how to go about getting it.

     That’s it!  If you’ve finished this guide you’re either a very patient or extremely hardcore individual.  I hope you found something useful within.

Happy Mapling!