Leveling: The Sub-Job Static (?) in Eastern Altepa Desert (34-37)

Elboron, Grym, and Itera all had had their subjobs for their main jobs at 34, and as we approach 70, it was time to get them leveled. Itera got his to 35 before we managed to get around to this, and Kiki had both BLM and DRK at 34, and decided on DRK, and Rovont's WAR was at 34 and Elbryan's BLM was 35, so on Saturday afternoon, we ended up starting out as:

Itera WAR35/MNK17
Elbryan BLM35/WHM17
Elboron WHM34/BLM17
Grymalkyn NIN34/WAR17
Rovont WAR34/DRG14
Tsakiki DRK34/WAR17

We headed out to East Altepa, and camped just north of the zone to West Altepa. We didn't get off to a great start, with Grym getting killed on the second Dhalmel (so much for her three-hour Navarin), and Rovont was killed soon after Grym's weakness wore, but we settled in pretty well after that. The dhalmels in the east desert have such a broad level range that some are too easy and others will tear you apart, but we were the only party camped there, so at least there was no competition. The Japanese players seem to love this area, while North Americans feel it's too much trouble to get to and head to Garlaige Citadel instead. As long as it's the middle of the night in Japan, it's usually pretty quiet in the desert.

When Elbryan hit 37, he left us, and Itera brought out his NPC Fhig as our sixth, since we probably wouldn't be staying too much longer anyway, and it wasn't worth dragging some stranger out to join our party for a short time. Things actually went pretty well with this set-up. We ended up disbanding soon after Itera hit 37, since I was really hungry and needed supper. The rest of us ended up at 36, and I think we all want these jobs to at least 40 (except Elbryan), so we'll go out again some time in the not-too-distant future.

I enjoyed being a damage dealer for a change, but I still am not really sure what I should be doing as a DRK. My only two absorb spells at this level are charisma and mind, and the first seems totally pointless, though the second is useful to help slow and paralyze stick, so I was doing that. I also shot acid bolts and had a decent hit and process rate for the Defense Down effect, so that was useful. But I don't know when to use Berserk, Last Resort and Souleater to their best effect, I just know you're not supposed to stack them all with a weapon skill or you probably end up dying. We were doing a couple different Fragmentation skillchains on the dhalmels, since they're weak to both wind and thunder, and I would burst aero and then thunder when I got it at level 35. I'd cast Drain when I needed HP, but we fought so few beetles that Aspir wasn't much use. With Grym using Ninjitsu for Blind, and having a BLM for most of the party, I didn't cast much. Perhaps Bio would have been useful, since when Itera pulled hate, he was getting hit really hard.