I’m not going to pretend I expected to skyrocket to Mastery Rank 6 or 7 on day one… but I absolutely hoped I would. Unfortunately, reality had other plans — and by “reality,” I mean Final Fantasy XI’s infamously opaque Mastery Rank system.

Despite being in the game for quite a while now, the devs have never formally explained what actually contributes to Mastery Rank progression. The community’s best speculation? Achievements — especially Titles, which you earn from quest chains, notorious monster kills, and other assorted tasks often forgotten in the sands of Vana’diel time. Other theories suggest total playtime, number of jobs at 99, jobs mastered, capped combat/magic skills, key items collected, crafting levels, Monstrosity progress (please, for the love of all that is holy, let this be a joke), and maybe even the alignment of the moon phase on Firesday. At this point, no one truly knows.

To kick off the grind, I opened up my Records of Eminence log and cleared every objective I’d completed but never bothered to check off. Job-level achievements? Clicked. Artifact unlocks? Clicked. Mog House exits? Clicked. Basically, if it had a checkbox, I hit it like it owed me gil (and some of them did!). I naively hoped this would nudge me into Rank 6, but — shocker — it did not. Whether those completed tasks had already been counted toward my Rank 5 behind the scenes or whether RoE is just a glorified participation trophy, who can say? Either way, the dopamine was nice.

With mild disappointment and maximum determination, I pressed on during stream. We hunted Roc. We unlocked all the Ark Angel Trusts, defeating each High-Tier Mission Battle on Very Difficult like responsible adults seeking imaginary titles. And perhaps most impressively of all:

I entered my Mog Garden for the first time in at least a year.

The moogle looked… rough. Thank Altana there’s a food source on that island, because that poor creature absolutely would’ve perished if it relied on me alone.

Most of my Mog Garden features are sitting at Rank 3, and apparently I’m midway through the quest Hypnotic Hospitality. I also haven’t unlocked Monster Rearing. Well, no turning back now — time to get pruning, dredging, mining, and whatever else this neglected island demands.

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