[wdwhero]

Good mornin all!

Old Warcraft raider, still plays with wife, but can't stand the raiding seen alone. Tried different games (City of Heroes, Age of Conan, was in the Warhammer beta, and lots of free ones) and noticed they launched a new trial here... and after 4 days of the trial, I am going to puchase! I like the mechanics, i love the simplistic complexity compared to other games, and most of all the atmosphere. I've been a FF fan since the original US NES release, and I have played/beat all of em except this one.

A few questions, for anyone who wishes to answer...

- Are there player groups / guilds / etc in game one can join? While i rarely ask for help, I have n oticed that this is more of a grouping game then solo... would be nice to search out and find a group of players for a base (especially helping a nub like me)

- Is it impossible to solo, very hard to solo, or just plain crazy to do while levelilng things up?

- Final question: Anyone have a server reccomendation? I'm in CST (US of course), am a noob but competent learner and mmo player for what that's worth.

[Nuriko]

Some jobs are more suited to soloing than others ... the best jobs for it, you need to reach 30 to unlock (BST, DRG, DNC, probably PUP).

As for guilds, here they're called linkshells, and they're items you carry and can equip to join in LS chat. They're marked by the dots by people's names, though the dots are overridden by various settings, like seeking PT, selling items and especially losing connection!

[wdwhero]

Thank you Nuriko!

Do linkshells have a place to recruit/at least post who they are?
(Yes, i hate to just walk into a place and spam "hey any LS's need a noob" in chat, i would rather visit the website/at least know who to talk to lol)

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

- Are there player groups / guilds / etc in game one can join? While i rarely ask for help, I have n oticed that this is more of a grouping game then solo... would be nice to search out and find a group of players for a base (especially helping a nub like me)

As previously stated, guilds are called Linkshells and more or less items you equip to connect to chat with a specific group of players. Its not quite the same as a guild and some linkshells are simply social/help your friends kinda groups while other linkshells have more specialized focuses.

-Is it impossible to solo, very hard to solo, or just plain crazy to do while levelilng things up?

Soloing is becoming increasingly easier since SE recently made EP and DC mobs give up more EXP. There are lots of jobs that solo - such as BST, DRG, PUP, NIN, RDM, BLU, DNC and others - but each also have thier own unique approach and some are more capable of it in earlier levels than others. That said, EXP PTs are still where you'll be seeing the most and the quickest EXP.

And I'll say it now, but you've probably also started to pick up on it, FFXI solo is a little more harsh than WoW solo. Serious soloists in this game have to earn it by leveling appropriate subjobs. A lot of quests in FFXI are purely there for entertainment and item rewards, not all of the quests you'll take part in will grant you EXP like the Tutorial NPCs do (another recent addition).

- Final question: Anyone have a server reccomendation? I'm in CST (US of course), am a noob but competent learner and mmo player for what that's worth.

Odin and Bahamut have the widest range of players from all regions and the largest populations. FFXI does not have time-zone or language-specific servers, though.

[Ameroth]

Originally Posted by wdwhero

Do linkshells have a place to recruit/at least post who they are?
(Yes, i hate to just walk into a place and spam "hey any LS's need a noob" in chat, i would rather visit the website/at least know who to talk to lol)

There isn't really any official in-game area for recruiting linkshell members. In certain cities, people might shout to recruit people for their linkshell, but many of them may be endgame shells. The best way to find a good linkshell is to interact with other folks, and make friends. It's not too hard to do given the grouping style of the game.

[TheGrandMom]

One suggestion, if someone gives you some advice on equips, how to play, etc please try to understand they are trying to help you out. Don't be offended. If it does offend you just grit your teeth and say "Thanks for the info". Too often new players get short tempered with people when they try to help, this does not leave a very good impression. In order to get into a good linkshell, keep your reputation clean.

[The Mauva Syndicate]

There is also the Linkshell Community pages on the official SE website - they will often tell you if a LS is recruiting and who to send a /tell to in-game to inquire about joining. You can also sometimes learn a bit about the LS by reading their information (and lists of member names).

On Remora (my server) there are a lot of mostly social LS's that people may be members of, in fact, more than one - and the Dynamis /HNMS/ Endgame linkshells which are usually equipped only for those LS specific activities and events. I've got like four pearls and a sac from different linkshells. Once you join one, most have a private website or Vent server they use to communicate within the LS.

Once you get your Support Job (after finishing the quest at lvl18), things get much easier.

[Armando]

One suggestion, if someone gives you some advice on equips, how to play, etc please try to understand they are trying to help you out. Don't be offended. If it does offend you just grit your teeth and say "Thanks for the info". Too often new players get short tempered with people when they try to help, this does not leave a very good impression. In order to get into a good linkshell, keep your reputation clean.

QFT, and to add to that, do some research every now and then and always ask if you have questions. There's plenty of people that, despite being high level, still don't know what they're doing, so you'll likely get some bad advice at some point or another.

[Ameroth]

Originally Posted by Armando

do some research

Great resource: FFXIclopedia