Adventuring Fellow Equipment Guide

Adventuring Fellow Equipment Theories and Easter Eggs
This has been tested and proven incorrect. Fought Demons in Xarcabard, three pearls uses in a row and my AF's armor progressed along the beastmen armor path, while the region was under Windurst control. It seems the type of armor upgrade is dependant more on the type of mobs fought, rather than region control.
 * Whichever country is currently controlling the Region will control the NPC's armor path (i.e fighting in Xarcabard while under Windurst control will progress the NPC's armor along Windurst path).
 * Each armor piece operates independently. Thus, by satisfying the above requirements, any unlocked piece of armor can change.
 * Once your armor hits level 12, even if you level in a correctly controlled region, your armor will reset to level 1 if left unlocked.
 * There is a chance that rather than increase one level, the armor piece designated for change will be reset to level 1. In all likelihood, the higher the level you advance, the higher the chance that your armor will reset.
 * Your NPC's equipment may change after entering a new area with your NPC already called. This usually happens after killing monsters in the previous area (i.e. zoning into the Crawlers' Nest from Rolanberry Fields after killing a few Quadav).
 * If you call your NPC while wearing a Dream Robe +1, Dream Boots +1, and a Dream Hat +1 your NPC will also be wearing a Dream Robe, Dream Boots and Dream Hat. This requires the HQ versions of the robe, the boots, and the hat, it will not work if any piece is NQ. Similarly, if you call your NPC while wearing an Egg Helm, your NPC will also be wearing an Egg Helm.  The same goes if you are wearing a HQ goldfish scooping yukata (Lady's Yukata or Lord's Yukata) or the HQ fireworks yukata (Onnagimi Yukata or Otokogimi Yukata). This also works with the HQ Gilet and Trunks from the 2008 Summerfestival.
 * (The HQ swimsuit from the 2008 festival no longer makes your fellow show up wearing it now that the festival has ended. Tested both from summoning with pearl and at rendezvous point.)


 * Your armor will not change in Promyvion, regardless of whether it is locked.
 * With the June 9th update, you can now pay 8000 AF points to glamorize (upgrade to the next level armor) or 1000 AF to unglamorize (assumed to degrade to the lower level armor).
 * I believe wind mobs support San d'Oria, killing Diatryma in Misareaux Coast while under control of Windurst leave my NPC with San d'Oria's heavy armor.

New Findings since the introduction of Adventuring Fellow Points and Ajahkeem
Under the original NPC system of levelling equipment, the methods described below worked very well. However, after taking a long break from levelling my NPC, I quickly found that not only did the old methods not work, they actually put your NPC down the wrong equipment path.

Case 1 I started off with a locked Scorpion Harness (freestyle level 6). My goal was to get to a Demon's Harness (freestyle level 10). Under the old system, the best way to do this would be to kill in a beastmen controlled zone. At that particular week, there were no beastmen controlled zones at a suitable level for my NPC, so I decided to try out Rolanberry Fields (S). I didn't know yet how levelling in the past would affect gear, so I left the Scorpion Harness locked and waited to see how the hand armor changed.

Rolanberry Fields (S) was under beastmen control, yet, my NPC's hands started levelling along the Bastok light armor path. I originally assumed in the past, NPCs would level along the path of whomever traditionally controlled the zone (Rolanberry Fields (S) = Bastok, Sauromugue Champaign (S) = Windurst, etc.), but I later found this to be wrong. I was killing Goobbue Farmers, and *that* was what was determining the Bastok path.

Case 2 The next week, Valdeaunia fell to beastmen control with the beastmen as the dominant power. I thought it was a perfect opportunity to level along the freestyle armor path, so I unlocked my NPC's body (big mistake), and went out there with a full Tactics Pearl and Signal Pearl. After a few calls, she showed up wearing a Mythril Breastplate (heavy armor level 3). I thought it must have been a fluke, so I kept levelling her there. Sure enough, a few calls later, she showed up in an Eisenbrust (heavy armor level 4). There was no doubt about it, she was following the San d'Oria armor path... in a beastmen controlled area with beastmen dominance. During this time, I was killing Uleguerand Tigers and Variable Hares, which is what I believe led to the San d'Oria path.

Case 3 I returned to this page, trying to dig out what I was doing wrong and concluded that I needed to kill non-national affiliated beastmen, in a beastmen stronghold, under beastmen control, with the beastmen being dominant. Hello, Newton Movalpolos. In the old days, I would have never dreamed of levelling there with my PLD/WAR, but since I had PLD/DNC now, it was easy. After two weeks of burning countless calls there, my NPC's armor didn't change one bit.

I was confused, and, remembering my previous experience with Rolanberry Fields (S), figured that if armor went along the nation's path that traditionally controlled the zone, I might as well kill goblins in Batallia Downs (S). That way, she'd level along either the San d'Oria path or the Beastmen path, and I could switch her armor tier later at Ajahkeem. Again, killing goblins, did not change my armor one bit. Either goblins, or all beastmen do nothing for your armor. This will need further testing.

Case 4 Frustrated at the lack of change after nearly 3 weeks of doing this, I thought that the starting zones *must* at least have the amount of regional control necessary to change my NPC's armor. I was upset at losing a level 6 body piece, but I was level 4 now along the heavy armor path, so I might as well level along the San d'Oria line and just change it later. So, I dove down into King Ranperre's Tomb and tore the hell out of the Dire Bats, Tomb Worms, and Cutlass Scorpions. After three calls, my NPC showed up wearing a Doublet (mage armor level 1).

Conclusion I went from a hard-earned (under the old system which was very close to the lock method described below) level 6 freestyle body to a level 1 mage body in about 3 weeks. This happened because I operated under the assumption that the old system of regional control still had something to do with how NPC armor levelled up. Please don't make the same mistake I did. The methods described below were true for the old system, but they are not true anymore.


 * Regional control has very little, if anything, to do with the armor path your NPC is on.
 * NPCs level their armor much more slowly than they used to. Where you could see an armor change after every call in which you killed the max number of mobs, now it takes 3-4 calls to see a change.
 * Armor style seems to be determined by *what* you kill rather than *where* you kill.
 * Goblins do not change armor style. Other beastmen may or may not, this needs to be tested.
 * I have leveled my AF on the Goblins in Batallia Downs (S) and have, as I had hoped, reset my Leg armor to the Freestyle path. I will update info as i acquire more evidence.  2, 30-kill-calls to achieve reset - User:Ulnan of sandoria
 * Goobbue level your NPC along the Bastok path.
 * Tigers, and Rabbits level your NPC along the San d'Oria path.
 * Worms, Bats, and Scorpions may level your NPC along the Windurst path. One of those (probably scorpions, because there were fewer of them), may level your NPC along a different path, but the combination found in King Ranperre's Tomb definitely results in the mage armor path.
 * Crabs level along Windurst path.

--Celvantes 14:36, 28 July 2008 (UTC)

More Recent Findings: After another two weeks of calls, I've noticed my NPC's hand armor (the only piece I've left unlocked) progress steadily along the Bastok path. Goobbues most definitely contribute to the Bastok armor tier.
 * The first four levels took one call each to attain.
 * The next level took three calls to attain.
 * The fifth level too seven calls to attain.
 * I anticipated an even longer wait after that, but surprisingly, the sixth and seventh levels each took four and then three calls respectively.

During this entire time, I levelled my NPC on nothing but Goobbue Farmers in Rolanberry Fields (S) (at 30 kills per call). This leads me to believe that it is not a pure amount of kills that leads to an armor level up but rather a number of kills of the proper mob type leads to a *chance* that the armor will level up. As shown, the chance gets lower as your armor level gets higher.

There seems to be some kind of "strength" involved in the tier of the NPC's armor, similar to that of Moghancements. Let me explain:
 * I started out this entire experiment by levelling my NPC in Rolanberry Fields (S) with only hands unlocked, as explained above. I did this for at least three calls. After the first, I switched from my previous armor to the Bastok tier. After the second, I got the second level of Bastok hands and after the third, the third level.
 * After the long frustrating process described in the cases above, I wanted to work on San d'Orian hand armor. I left the hands unlocked and returned to levelling in Uleguerand Range as described above on mobs I knew would level me along the San d'Orian tier.
 * After a number of calls, my NPC's armor did not level up. Upon returning to the Rolanberry Fields (S), they levelled up immediately. I can only assume that I had not overridden the "strength" of the Bastokan tier. Based on the number of calls in the particular zones, It seems to me that the Uleguerand Tigers and the Variable Hares did not give as much "strength" as the Goobbue Farmers did. That, or only one of the mob types was contributing to the San d'Orian tier.
 * This concept is further supported by the fact that my NPC's original Scorpion Harness did not revert to the San d'Orian tier until after three calls in Uleguerand Range (though, interestingly enough, it did start at the third level Mythril Breastplate instead of the first level Scale Mail). While trying to figure out what was going on, I had eventually gotten it to the fourth level Eisenbrust.
 * When trying to level the Eisenbrust up along the San d'Orian tier, it also refused to change for a number of calls after killing worms, bats and scorpions, until after many calls it reverted to level one Windurst armor. This leads me to believe that my NPC had a certain amount of San d'Orian "strength" built up that I had to overcome in order to change armor tiers. Likewise, after getting the first level Windurst armor, it only took a couple of calls back in Uleguerand Range to switch her body piece back over to San d'Oria.

In Summary: This is what I believe based on my experience:


 * Each armor tier has certain mob types assigned to it as described above. More research will need to be done to discover which type belongs to which tier. Goobbues are most definitely Bastok. Not all mobs belong to a tier. Goblins do not appear to affect armor at all.
 * Each armor slot builds up a tier strength according to the number of mobs you've killed that are associated with that tier.
 * The minimum required to upgrade your armor is thirty kills (all associated with the current tier). Thirty is my maximum number of kills based on my current NPC bond. Lower numbers might also suffice, if they represent the max number of kills your NPC will stay for.
 * In order to change tiers, you have to surpass the current *total* tier strength with that of another tier.
 * For example, if you have level three San d'Oria, that means you have to surpass ninety strength in another tier. I'm sure there is some margin by which you have to clear the current strength in order to get the armor to change.
 * After the fourth armor level, level progression per each thirty kills is not guaranteed. There appears to be some random chance applied after each successful call (successful being thirty kills of the same mob type).
 * It appears that the odds of a level up from levels 4-8 are 25% to 33%.
 * Armor does not appear to regress, as it did under the previous system.
 * It is unknown whether 'glamorizing' your armor at Ajahkeem actually adds tier strength, or just changes the armor to the next level. The difference would be this: If I had level one armor and glamorized to level two, would I need thirty or sixty additional strength in order to get to level three? This needs to be researched.

If you are able to answer any of these questions or add to the list of what mobs contribute to what tier, please post here.

--Celvantes 03:24, 14 August 2008 (UTC)

I recently Glamorized the chest piece of my adventuring fellow, then went off to fight some more enemies with him. After just one full call's worth of fighting (20 Enemies) the chest piece upgraded again, this leads me to believe that you keep the Armor's tier strength when you glamorize, since normally it would take 3-4 calls to raise the armor from a 0 point (wherein the armor just went to the next tier). So from my perspective, glamorizing your fellow's armor does not reset the piece's points to 0. Or in other words, it keeps it's Tier Strength. Longstrider 06:44, 25 September 2008 (UTC) _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Mob Lists and their Armor Paths
After finding little information on which armor paths enemies types progress, I have started my own tests. Currently I have, myself, tested the following. Some were stated before but I'll make this an actual list and include everything I find.


 * BASTOK PATH:  Spiders,Lady Bugs, Bees, and Goobues.
 * SANDY PATH:  Rabbits, Tigers(Smilodons included), Giant Birds, Buffalo, Wivres., Bats
 * WINDURST PATH: (I have not tested any yet)--Crabs, Worms.  Scorpions may progress another path.  Will update when I test.
 * BEASTMEN PATH: (I have not tested any yet)
 * NO PATH:  Goblins

I just killed bees for 2 calls, and changed my NPC's hands from I.M. Gauntlets to Centurion Finger Gauntlets, which, as far as I can tell, is not a listed gear change. After 3 more calls on bees, my npc has still not changed gear. My friend leveled his npc with me on the bees, and changed from lizard gear to chain gear, the normal progression for Bastok path. As was suggested by Longstrider, npc gear changes does not seem to be associated with a mob type so much as a family. Bastok seems to be predominantly Vermin with the exception of the goobues. Sandy path seems to be beasts. I am in the process of further testing into this, and plan to test Amorphs next.

Looks like what happened is the Coral hands have been changed to Centurions hands. At call number 5 on bees, my npc changed her hands to Tekko, still progressing Bastok path and supporting the Family Type theory. At a later date I will test the other Coral armor pieces and see if they have also been changed to Centurions.

-Reeper

last update 10-4-2008

Advanced Armor Info - Fashionable Equipment - The Lock Method
It will be nearly impossible to have complete control of your armor at lower NPC affinity. As you progress, you will obtain the option to "lock" one single armor piece. This will allow you to unlock your armor when you are in the correct region to ensure your armor levels correctly, and "lock" your armor for the times you wish to summon your NPC outside of it's armor's region. This will become even handier later on because you will get more and more lock options. Once you obtain your third armor lock, you can then lock all pieces but the one you wish to change.

With that in mind, the best way to change your NPC's armor is...


 * Lock the 3 pieces you do not want changed so only 1 piece changes.
 * Grab a Tactics pearl and your charged Signal Pearl.
 * Go to the starter region (Sarutabaruta, Gustaberg or Ronfaure) that is controlled/dominant power you want the armor of.
 * Summon your NPC 5 times in a row killing max kills on lvl 1 mobs.
 * Unlocked piece of armor should have now changed from lvl 1 to lvl 6 in one sitting.
 * Now lock the lvl 6 armor piece so it will no longer change.

It seems like if you follow that formula exactly, you should get your NPC's desired armor in a couple weeks max (unless you want all 4 pieces to be lvl 10). However, every once in a while, even when doing everything correct, your armor will reset to lvl 1 for no reason. If you do not have the lock, you could theoretically just never lvl your NPC outside the region of control/dominant power, but it seems like when the upgrades jump from hand, to body, to leg, to foot, they have a tendancy to reset and not be as reliable. This being the case, the progression of armor levels is as follows...


 * Assume you want a piece of lvl 6 windy armor..
 * Start at lvl 1
 * Successfull/correct summon #1 - Windy L2
 * Successfull/correct summon #2 - Windy L3
 * Successfull/correct summon #3 - Windy L4
 * Successfull/correct summon #4 - armor resets to LV1
 * Successfull/correct summon #1 - Windy L2
 * Successfull/correct summon #2 - Windy L3
 * Successfull/correct summon #3 - Windy L4
 * Successfull/correct summon #4 - Windy L5
 * Successfull/correct summon #5 - armor resets to LV1
 * Successfull/correct summon #1 - Windy L2
 * Successfull/correct summon #2 - Windy L3
 * Successfull/correct summon #3 - Windy L4
 * Successfull/correct summon #4 - Windy L5
 * Successfull/correct summon #5 - Windy L6
 * Successfull/correct summon #6 - armor resets to LV1

Simply put, the pattern is 1234, 12345, 123456, 1234567, etc.

This does not always happen, but it can. In all likelihood, the higher the level you advance, there is a progressive % chance that your armor will reset. This is very likely why some people can get to lvl 10 in a couple tries, where as other people who do not level with the correct steps might have to follow the formula above.

Adv Armor info - Armor Progression Variables

 * Other Variables that can effect NPC armor change are fighting certain beastmen as well as mobs that drop certain crystal types. This may heighten the probability of your armor progressing on the proper path.


 * Elements
 * Fire: San d'Oria
 * Earth: Bastok
 * Water: Windurst
 * Dark: Beastmen
 * Beastmen
 * Orc: San d'Oria
 * Quadav: Bastok
 * Yagudo: Windurst
 * Goblin: Beastmen


 * You should note that using these variables significantly increases your chance at progressing your fellows armor without resetting. It is strongly recommended you fight Quadav only in Bastok controlled areas, Yagudo only in Windurst controlled areas, and so forth. However, with the exception of Palborough Mines and few other areas, your NPC cannot be called in Beastmen Strongholds.


 * Please note that killing Tonberries (Light crystal drop) with your AF does NOT count towards your Beastmen Armor. After leveling fellow on them from 50~56, the only result was Windurst type Armor level 1 the whole time.

Urat's Elemental Point Theory
This is merely a theory, and has about a 70% chance of being either entirely false, or semi true, though requiring great work on. I am not posting it here to say it is true. instead I am posting this here asking your help in working on all the various theory's parts, since doing this alone would take an extremely long time to do.

First off, I'll post my concept of the armor path. I came unto this conclusion reading various posts and testimonies on people's armor paths. Here's my conclusion.

The Elemental Points
Every level of armor requires a certain amount of elemental points to have been accumulated. How many it takes? I have no idea. Let's just say to get the level 2 body piece from the tank armor series from the level 1.

When you summon your NPC in a region controlled by sandy, she automatically gets a few points to her fire element. Thus she will be wearing San d'Orian armor. Probably scale gear if it hasn't been leveled before. Now you need to accumulate about 7 more points of fire. How?

Easy. Kill monsters that drop fire crystals. Orcs are an excellent example. So what's an area commonly controlled by San d'Oria that has tonnes of orcs,where you can also summon your NPC, but still kill the monsters efficiently?

Yughott Grotto! After calling your NPC in the grotto, chances are she's wearing scale gear. After killing enough to merit your NPC disbanding, you should have easily enough built up enough fire element for her armor to upgrade.

The game then selects whatever piece it can,and increases its tier by 1. If all but your body is locked, then it will upgrade. After an armor piece upgrades, that element will be reset to 0. Then you repeat and get your level 3 armor.

Sometimes when I summon my AF, her armor doesn't upgrade, even after killing 25 orcs! What's wrong?

This is simple. Once you start hitting the higher tier armor pieces, they require much more element than one summon can get you. Thus, when you summon her a second time, all the element you got before, you still have, which is added onto via the second summoning. You will almost always get an armor upgrade after a second summon if you follow this method.


 * Edit: I went to Yughott Grotto under San d'Oria control 31/09/2008 with my tactic pearl and killed all the Orcs and only the orcs 4x 25 times. The Body armor was the only one unlock. The armor didn't change at all! so in my testing the above method doesn't work. Perhaps killing Beastmen doesn't make the armor change?

I summoned my NPC, and instead of the tier 5 piece of armor I was expecting, she's wearing tier 1 armor from a different nation!

Whenever you zone, the game will check how much element you've built up. If it's enough for an armor upgrade, it will probably increase it's tier and reset that element. Problem is, you've probably got some leftover element points from some other time when you were leveling your AF. So now you've got, say, 0 fire, but a couple points, say 6, of earth.

Next time you summon her, the game will calculate how much points you have. You won't have enough to get another fire upgrade, but wait! you have enough to get the level 1 attacker body piece!

Thus, instead of the next piece of armor you want, you get ripped off and have to start from scratch.

Things to be Tested
Here I will keep an updated listing of various things I am testing or would like to test. Feel free to go ahead and try them out yourself, though try and go about it scientifically and keep as many variables you can under control.


 * Does AF's battle style effect rate of armor tier increases?

I am currently testing this, via setting my NPC's style to healer, and working from tier 1 shield gear to tier 8, then I will reset and try again as shield style, seeing if it takes less summons.


 * Does zoning into an area your AF can't enter, thus auto-disbanding her, merit a element check? Or will it pick up from what you had on the next summon?


 * Is the element checked after disbanding/dying/zoning/popping, or do they get checked every time your NPC appears/is called at a rendezvous point? (I'm leaning towards when summoned, due to her armor changing AFTER being called at a point, but I have yet to come up with a way to actually test this.


 * is their merely a chance on the armor upgrading based on how much element you accumulated, or is there an actual set amount of element you need to acquire, and the armor will upgrade at that exact level? (going to need paper and pencil to do this one)


 * Does summoning on an elemental day increase my elemental count? IE will a summon on Firesday give me a fire point boost?

Please feel free to add in your own questions and concepts/theories to be tested on this list, so I and other's upon reading them can try and test it for you.

Tested and Answered

 * Does Zoning while having my NPC out make the game check my elemental points?


 * Answer:
 * Yes. People will occasionally have the misfortune of disconnecting while their AF is summoned, then when they log back on, they are surprised to find them wearing a new piece of armor. At first it seems a blessing, but if you are almost done that charge, the next time you summon her, you will be lacking in element, which means chances are she may reset to another style of armor due to leftover element points from other categories.

More to come.

Demons, Crabs, and Rabbits
just to chip in some data collection. I lvld my NPC in Castle Z for awhile on Demons and that put her on the beastman track. I lvld my NPC in Boyahda Tree on Robber Crabs and it switched her to Windurst track. When crabs ran dry, we fought the rabbits there instead and my NPC switched to Sandoria track. So that would corroborate what has been previously reported about rabbits and also give you a suggestion of at least one mob (demons) to fight if you want to pursue a Beastman armor style track.

Also, I use windower to play, which includes a plugin (yarnball) that gives me timers for Refresh and other effects that have timed duration. When I cast on my NPC instead of a name, it lists her as a serial number. Recently I noticed that her serial number changes when I zone and when her armor changes after a resummon. I'm beginning to keep track of the serial numbers and the corresponding zoning activity/lvling/armor setups to see if this can give some internal clue about the correlation between these pieces of information. -Fenrir Muarg

I killed only Gigantobugards in Miseraux Coast while farming for leathercraft skillups and my NPC followed the heavy armor path. Sometimes she even upgraded 2 pieces of a equipment each call. Once she skipped from a level 4 piece directly to level 6. Perhaps building up a certain amount of path points is required for it to bump up to next armor? - Remora - User:Waku