**In-Game**
Oki, you are now Standing in the game.
Open the main menu and either use the command a second time, or use the arrows at the top of the menu, to access a second set of commands.
Config is one of the choices. Open that and look at the different Config options and make the game better by changing things to suit you better. I found the Colors very washed out when I started, and ended up lowering the Gamma in the Config to the minimum, making the colors more vibrant.
Read everything that all the NPCs say to you, you will learn more from the game that way, and if you took my advice above, you aren’t chomping at the bit because you knew it would take this long to get here.
The mistake most new players make is to just equip their weapon and head right out and start attacking Mobs(Monsters) so they can level up. This MMORPG plays a lot more like the single player FF games than other MMO games do, so talking to NPCs and running quests for NPCs is much more important in this game than in others, making the benefit of heading right out to level, much less worthwhile than heading into town to talk to all the NPCs. There are literally Hundreds of quests in this game, and none of them are broken that I know of, so thinking you can do the 5 quests later would be an ignorant thought.
Many of the lower level quests will give you GIL(money) or Items you can use, and every quest you complete gives you Fame for your city, and in the the case of Windurst, the nearby seacoast city of Mhara as well. Fame is needed to advance in the game, so if you head right out to level, you will just have to head back in later, and then you’ll get items and amounts of Gil that don’t help your character near as much as if you start with quests and such right away.
There is a difference between Quests and Missions. Quests give you Fame in the region, while missions give you Rank for your city. Rank is also needed, and is used by players to gauge another player’s experience in the game. Quests can be obtained all over the city from townsfolk, while the city guards located at the gates give out Missions.
Lots of websites have resources on quests, and missions, to help you find them, and to help you complete them as well as information on jobs, crafting and items. ffxionline.com, ffxi.stratics.com, ffvault.ign.com, gamefaqs.com, and ffxi.allakhazam.com are all good sites, and offer information on the game.
When an NPC wants an item or items, you just select them, and pull up the main menu, and choose Trade, and trade them the item or items.
Oki, so now, you have learned about your city, visited a few shops perhaps, and have even maybe figured out how to use the map which can be found as the bottom choice in the main menu.
Feel free to ask other players; the Auction House is an area in the cities that lots of people hang out at, so it’s a good place to ask questions.
**Etiquette**
Never beg. Asking for money is considered very Rude and some people will Blacklist you the moment you do it. Asking for help making money, or asking for someone to please buy something from you so you can get some money fast is not as rude, though some will still think you are just a Noob, since you can’t manage your money. The one time asking for money is considered acceptable that I know of, is if you ask for just a few Gil to pay for the cost of listing an Item on the Auction House, though even this can make people think you don’t know the game or how to manage your money well.
When asking questions, don’t use /shout, just go to an area where there are lots of players and ask in say, the default channel. People who shout are considered Rude by many players, and if not Rude, then they are considered a Noob.
Using Check on people is also considered Rude. If you want to know something about what someone is wearing, ask him or her. If you want to just get an Idea of what items there are, go to the Auction House and look up the Items there, all tradable items are listed in categories at the Auction House.
**Commands**
Macros will become very important in speeding up the things you do in battle and in other areas of the game, so get used to using them as soon as possible.
When you open the main menu, there are arrows near the top of it, which you can use to scroll to another set of commands. Macros are under that second list.
There will be default macros there already and you can scroll to an empty set with the arrow keys, which you should do, while keeping the defaults for your reference.
I am by no means listing all the commands, just those that will get you started.
This is the basic standard for a macro layout
/ll “Job or Weaponskill or Spell Name� <t>
…Or <stpc> or <stnpc> maybe <me> if you know you will always be Targeting yourself. The L stands for letter letter.
The spell or Weaponskill or Job ability names will Always use capitals at the beginning of each word. No other capitals are used in macros.
So a macro for healing might be something like:
/ma “Cure� <t>
A macro for a Weaponskill might be:
/ws “Fast Blade� <t>
A simple attack macro would be:
/a <t>
A useful alternate to <t> for healing other party members and yourself is <stpc> . The “st� stands for Switch Target. When this is used, you are selected by default, and can then switch targets among your team members by using the F Keys. F1-6 are used for your party members. Press enter and the <stpc> macro executes.
Commands are as follows:
/ja = Job ability
/ma = spell
/ws = Weaponskill
/a = Attack
/ra = Ranged attack
There are commands used within a macro or which can be typed in chat to display in chat channels different types of information.
<hp> =Health points, expressed as current amount and Maximum, such as 14/78
<hpp> =Health points percentage, such as 34%
<mp> =magic points, current amount and maximum, such as 14/78
<mpp> =magic point percentage, such as 78%
<tp> =Tactical Points; which is always expressed as a percent and used to enable a Weaponskill and affect the amount it may do ( Minimum 100 TP is needed to execute a Weaponskill as well as at least 10 skill in the given weapon type) such as 112%
An example of this might be:
/p My TP is **<tp>** My MP is **<mp>** <call21>
<pos> =Displays in the default channel your location on the map in grid Coordinates, like (I-8).
<call> =Makes a sound to alert other members of the team of a special ability, or Weaponskill you are about to use. This sound only functions in the party channel.
/befriend name =Add someone to your friends list. Entries can be deleted within Playonline, but not in the game to my knowledge.
/blist add name =Add someone to the Blacklist, used for ignoring people that are not the kind of person you want to play with.
/check =examine target, this is something greatly used on MOBs, but seen as rude by many when used on players. Many people even wear nothing when selling items in their bazaar to discourage being examined.
/help =This frees up a MOB so that anyone can attack it. When someone starts an attack on a MOB, only they and their party members can attack that MOB. So if you are in over your head attacking a MOB and others are around, type or use a /help macro. In the Say or Shout channel(I think Shout) it will say “Playername calls for Help!� and If anyone is near, they will come to your aid in killing the Beast. If you use /help you will get no xp for the kill, but, you won’t lose any from Dying either.
You can switch the default channel you chat into with the /cm command, which stands for Chatmode.
An example of the command to switch to the party channel as default is:
/cm party
Channels are:
Party, say, Linkshell, etc
An example of the Panic emote is:
/panic
To run an emote without the Text that accompanies it in chat you add the word motion, like:
/panic motion
For a unique emote of something you write:
/em looks up at the Stars
Which displays as “Playername looks up at the Stars�
/t name =Tell Sending a message to the player named.
People add /p blah blah to many macros to let people know what they are doing, like /p casting Cure on <t>.
These messages are sent to the server and then sent from the server to players to be displayed. This can increase lag in the game. Any of these messages that are not necessary should be avoided. Ones that do not happen in the middle of the battle matter less, and others are more needed, like /p Im Pulling that <t> with an arrow!
Others, like those that alert other team members that a Renkai, or Skillchain(executing weaponskills one after another to create additional damage when combined in the correct order) is starting, are much more necessary. Black mage spells are the best example of abilities that do not need a chat line attached. They happen at the end of a Renkai, and so no alert is needed. Even WHM cures really don’t need any chat added, if the Heal isn’t enough to save someone, saying it was a Cure IV won’t help, and the lag of the text may be what didn’t get the spell off fast enough to save someone. Those worried about 2 healers healing the same person need to find a Team organization Guide; look for the assigning Roles in the Team for healer and backup healer section.
Selecting things can be done several ways. You can click on it with your cursor, which can be very tough, especially in battle, or at a distance. You can use the enter key, for the closest selectable there is, not including you. You can use the Tab key, which will select the closest, and when you press it again and again after that, will cycle through all the selections in range. F8 selects the closest NPC and F9 selects the closest Player character.