In November 2025, Final Fantasy XI released a rather sizable update, and with it introduced several new items as part of a revamp to the A.M.A.N. Trove system. Included in that update was a curious little accessory that immediately caught my eye: the Hoxne Earring. I was lucky enough to snag one off the Auction House, though “lucky” might be the wrong word, because what I bought wasn’t just an earring — it was a problem. A problem with a previously largely ignored stat: Mastery Rank.

Now, before you ask — no, I don’t mean Master Level. Mastery Rank is that mysterious number tucked away in your Character Profile, a kind of philosophical “how much have you really played this game?” rating that, until now, served only as an obscure badge for achievement hunters and masochists. It had absolutely no effect on gameplay. That is, until the Hoxne Earring arrived and decided to turn the entire system on its head.

This unassuming little accessory scales from –30 to +30 to ALL STATS depending on your Mastery Rank. Yes, you read that correctly. According to folks far more adept at spreadsheet wizardry than I am, anything in the +20 to +30 range would make the Hoxne Earring best-in-slot for nearly every weaponskill in the game. The multipliers behind base stats and WS scaling are wild enough already — this earring just pours gasoline on the fire.

So of course I bought one immediately (for probably way too much gil.)

There was just one slight issue: I had never actually looked at my Mastery Rank. I log 50–60 hours a week, run high-end content, have checked off all the major missions, have almost every job capped… and yet, when I finally checked?

Mastery Rank 5.
(Sound of record scratch. Moogle judging me silently.)

And that, dear reader, is how we arrived at this blog.

Mastery for Masochists follows my journey to raise my Mastery Rank in Final Fantasy XI — an endeavor that requires spelunking through forgotten quests, abandoned systems, and content no rational player willingly engages with in 2025. Think of it as archaeology… but with more cutscenes, more confusion, and probably more deaths.

You can follow along with the journey here, or, if you're feeling social, drop by twitch.tv/heghmoh where we live-stream FFXI several times a week — you just might catch me hitting rank 6 live!