He's a Maniac, Maniac on the Floor

And he is dancing like he has never danced before! Songs aside, I have decided to try out (read: go and actually unlock) the new WotG jobs. Now under normal circumstances, I would not have bothered to level DNC with so many of my other goals outstanding, but I figured I could kill several birds with one stone. Namely:

a) Secret mule was in need of Beeswax/Honey, and low-level areas have plenty of Bees.
b) I wanted to confirm whether a BLU/DNC could solo his way to the top of any Promyvion spire.
c) I needed a break from Fishing.

The following is my DNC experience from levels 1 to 19:















Levels 1-10: South Gustaberg

The only thing I remember is death and a lot of it; I cannot stress how terrible DNC is prior to level 5. It is like being a THF with lower Dagger Skill, so choosing expensive, low-delay Hand-to-Hand weapons is recommended all the way to level 19. For the most part, I would not touch anything higher than DC because "Drain Samba" was not enough to handle my stronger foes. The picture above is the aftermath of a duel I had with a Young Quadav, ending in mutual defeat.















Levels 10-13: Valkurm Dunes

For the most part, I felt like a leech. "Drain Samba" was only marginally effective because only one person in my PT was being hit at any given time. By this point, I was in deep regret for not buying a pair of knuckles earlier: my Dagger was hitting for zeroes even with Meat Jerky.















Levels: 13-17: Korroloka Tunnel

I got an invite to a JP party, at level 13, where I was told to use hit-and-run tactics on the local Worms. Essentially, I would distance myself from a Worm, use "Provoke" at maximum range, and run far before my foe could retaliate. My comrades would then bash the Worm to death while it was distracted, and I would come back and "Provoke" if the Worm started beating on my comrades. The process would then repeat itself as necessary until the Worm died. Unfortunately, there were still deadly moments because Korroloka Worms can cast low-level Black Magic, and those spells tend to have quick casting times.

For the most part, there were few players who stuck around with our unconventional group, but things changed when our leader invited several JP DNCs and SCHs to join us! Our party ended up becoming a DNC burn with two SCHs to back us up, and we were killing Worms almost indefinitely by the time we hit level 15. Above, we took down three Worms simultaneously without breaking a sweat.















Levels 17-19: Qufim Island

Although I forgot to take pictures for these levels, I would like to mention that it took four Worms attacking us simultaneously before one of us actually died in the Korroloka Tunnel. A party of Dancers is a pretty strong force to reckon with even at low levels, and the same deal happened on Qufim. We engaged Land Worms, Clippers, and Dark Bats as a lvl 17, 18, and then 19 party and slaughtered everything in our path. Although my journey ends here because I only needed a level 15 DNC for a capped Promyvion sub, I look forward to prancing again in the distant future.



Notes:
a) "WotG" stands for "Wings of the Goddess" (the latest FFXI expansion pack), DNC is an acronym for "Dancer," and "JP" is an acronym for "Japanese." If I happen to have any new readers, please visit my Glossary & Acronyms page for any abbreviations that you do not recognize.
b) Apart from the six basic jobs (WAR, THF, MNK, RDM, WHM, and BLM), additional (advanced) jobs are unlocked via quests. These quests vary in difficulty, but all advanced jobs require you to have at least one level 30 basic job.
c) A FFXI leech refers to a relatively useless player, not the blood-sucking organism found in certain bodies of water.