[illsbury]

Hello,

Both I and my brother are planning to start playing FFXI. We have never really played FFXI, looked into it briefly when it was first released here in the states, but I believe we were too immeresed in EQ/WoW at the time.

I have quit the monotony that is WoW, and from my research, I noticed that FFXI seems to be a rich and challenging game. I'm kind of worried that as a player coming so late into the game, that there wont be many new players to party with.

Coming from two games where I was so heavily involved in the end game and had full knowledge of game lore and mechanics, to a game that I have zero knowlege of is both exciting and disconcerting.

I would like to make the right choice first on which server to play on. I'd like to try for one of the higher populated servers where I might have the chance of finding parties and making friends early on. Any recommendations?

I'm still researching race/job etc. I'm not sure if I would like to go for a Melee DPS role, or Caster DPS role. Will have to see.

Thanks everyone for all of your input. I've read over the stickies and some of the posts here and have found a wealth of information.

---------- Post added at 10:47 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:53 AM ----------

I do have a question about Windower for the PC Version of FFXI.

What is the benefit of Windower? Doesn't the existing client already have Window mode? I noticed that Windower also has plugins, which would you recommend as the most beneficial?

[Satimasu]

I wouldn't worry about server population. Bigger isn't always better. On my server Kujata, I see plenty of new people running around and it's not huge either. Level Sync makes partying a lot quicker anyway. If you happen to choose my server, let me know.

I wouldn't be worried about race too much. Just pick whatever race you feel most comfortable with or you like the best. You can make up for any handicap a race has with putting more effort into it. I wouldn't go the route of picking best race for job because since you can change jobs almost on the fly, what if you want to level a job your race is weak at? You're not going to just make another character for it. This game has a lot of content of your character and a lot of work goes into it. You can't just jump in and get to cap with no effort. You have the cap quests that start from 50. I'm sure you wouldn't want to do that with a new character every time you decide to change a job. Again, just go with what race you like best. Don't worry how handicapped they are with the job. It will make things a bit more difficult, but you will be a better player because of it.

If you want to play the game in windowed mode, the game version is your best bet. That and the windower version is not approved by SE and you can get in trouble if they find out you have it. The only real way for that to happen though is if you strut around town shouting you're using it. I don't really see the point of most of the plugins anyway.

Hope that helps.

[illsbury]

Thanks! I appreciate all of your feedback here.

I'd like to ask about Weapon Skill Chains. I've read and understand that in a party, different classes can use a Weapon Skill and another class can follow up with their own WS, causing it to Chain with extra damage correct? Am I to understand that this is a very important aspect of the game? I'm sorry if these questions sound so noobish, but until today I haven't really read anything about FFXI.

I've traditionally played Melee DPS classes in my past 10 years of MMORPG. What would be the ideal melee DPS job in FFXI? Or are mechanics in FFXI different that other traditional MMORPG's where certain classes shine? For example, in EQ I played a Rogue and Ranger, both of which I would top all DPS with. In WoW I played a Hunter, which again, since I knew the class and the mechanics of the game, I would traditionally sit in the top tier DPS for our raids and such.

I'd like to try out Samurai, Ranger, and other jobs as well. I also prefer the Taru race aesthetically. Would I still be able to play as a melee DPS job as a Taru? And match or even excel over other races?

Subsequently, how powerful are BLM's in end game? Do they bring a lot to the table? I've always been traditionally party oriented and want to make sure I bring something to the group.

All of these quests, unlocks, sky, dynamis etc seems very daunting. I have a very long career ahead of me.

---------- Post added at 12:00 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:45 AM ----------

Is there a resource I can read that breaks down leveling areas? I dont want to trivialise my experience within the game, but I would like some guidance on where I should go at what point.

Can someone also explain Chocobo's? I understand you can rent Choco's to ride between towns and such, but your also able to hatch and raise one of your own? When are you able to do that? Is it something I have to watch out for early on?

[Satimasu]

Yeah, that's how Skillchains work. It's all about timing and of course making sure you use the right weapon skills together to skillchain. Mages can also magic burst if they time their spells right and it's of the correct element of the skillchain. So you can pull off some big damage if you do it right, making fights a lot faster and easier.

The thing is there are melees and all of them can pretty much do substantial damage. They all have different ways of working. Thing is, with all that damage, you have to be careful with your hate. The monster will come after you if you don't control yourself and you'll find out real quick it's not in your best interest to just spam damage as fast as you can in an exp party. BLM's have to learn that early on because of MP and their weak defense.

I've seen great Taru SAM's so I wouldn't worry about that. Yes, they are the weakest melee race, but like I said before, you can make up for that with more effort put into the job. Taru's make pretty good RNG's though. The thing with RNG though is that it's pretty much the most expensive job in the game. You pay for your damage through arrows, bullets, and/or bolts. Definitely wouldn't recommend trying RNG as a new player unless you can find your niche and don't have gil problems or don't mind having to make a lot of gil to fund it.

BLM's are definitely one of the most damaging jobs at end game. They actually have more issues getting parties in mid to higher levels due to the type of mobs that parties fight. But they are very desirable at end game. Luckily, they can party with each other and solo pretty well.

Yeah, there are a lot of things for you to go through. That makes it all the more rewarding after you complete it. This game isn't going anywhere anytime soon, so just buckle up and enjoy the ride.

---------- Post added at 12:14 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:04 PM ----------

Because the forum seems to be broken for me and I can only use the quick reply...

There are sites like Campsitaru and such. They can help you figure out where to go next. Also, when you get an invite to a party, they can usually show you where you're going as well.

You need a license before you can ride a chocobo which you have to do a quest for. Can't do that until level 20. You can raise your own, it take a lot of time and gil though. It's not something I would focus on early in the game.

[illsbury]

How do Guilds and Clans work here? I read briefly about Linkshells. You can swap around Linkshells and be a part of various different guilds? Is there a site that kind of lists the more advanced LS's? Sort of like wowjutsu.com for WoW Guilds? I'm hoping, eventually, to join a well organized, structured, linkshell to party and socialize with. Someone mentioned that they had a Social LS and a Dynamis LS? How does that work? Why not have just one LS?

[Ellipses]

Yes, $race makes a good $job. You can fill in that sentence with any race and job and it's completely true. Don't worry about it at all.

The melee DDs in this game are all very well-balanced. There's no real king of the hill. It's more a matter of the type of damage, and the situation (e.g., XP party? Mission? NM? End-game event X?). My response on this is going to be awfully generic but, honestly, you only have access to 6 jobs when you start the game. You can't unlock the rest until level 30, and by then you'll have a better idea of the way things work anyway, so you'll be able to make a more informed decision. The only thing you lose by leveling the "wrong" job at the start is a little time, and odds are you'll end up wanting it as a subjob for something anyway.

If you haven't already found it, FFXIclopedia is a great resource for lots of this stuff. For an idea of the leveling areas, there are Campsitarus-- The guide to FFXI xp camps! ^^ and Vana'diel Bestiary.

You do a quest to get your Chocobo license at level 20. There are various ways to ride rental Chocobos before then, but basically, you won't be doing anything with them until level 20. Then you'll be able to rent a Chocobo at most cities, plus a few points out in the wild, wild world. Raising your own Chocobo is another quest, and takes quite a while once you've started it. These can be called out in the field (basically anywhere you could normally ride a Chocobo) with a whistle you get from the quest, which costs gil to recharge.

[Satimasu]

LS's are more of like different chat rooms which you can only join if you have a link pearl for it. Some strictly social and some are strictly for certain events. That's why you have Dynamis only, Sky only, ect. You do have certain end game LS's that will only permit you to have only their LS. You're not bound to any LS unless it's a part of their rules. LS's tend to make their own websites and most of those are the end game stuff, which you won't get into until you fulfill their requirements (75 job(s) and such). You'd even have to submit an application.

Just look for a social LS to start off with for the time being. Like I said before, if you choose Kujata, let me know. I have a small LS, but we can help with plenty of things.

[Durahansolo]

Originally Posted by illsbury

Someone mentioned that they had a Social LS and a Dynamis LS? How does that work? Why not have just one LS?

I assume the main reason would be to keep order in the linkshell. For example, Dynamis is mostly a Endgame thing (I think Level 65+, might be 60, I forget) so you wouldn't want to have a bunch of peeps that are lower than that making comments while you are trying to talk about the event.

Another example: I am a sackholder in a social linkshell, linkpearls can only be created and given out to anyone by someone who has a pearlsack or also the Linkshell Owner. The sackholders in my shell have to meet in order to make a decision (Possible decisions: discussing giving someone a linksack, discuss what troublemakers to boot/temporary kick from the shell, and discuss possible lowbie events.) So, all of the sackholders have a linkpearl to a linkshell that only we have so we can discuss things. That way we aren't talking out loud or inside the linkshell where everybody can hear us.

So basically its to cut down interferance, almost all of the shells are either social shells or endgame, there are also some that do lowbie events at times as well.

[Ellipses]

Originally Posted by illsbury

How do Guilds and Clans work here? I read briefly about Linkshells. You can swap around Linkshells and be a part of various different guilds? Is there a site that kind of lists the more advanced LS's? Sort of like wowjutsu.com for WoW Guilds? I'm hoping, eventually, to join a well organized, structured, linkshell to party and socialize with. Someone mentioned that they had a Social LS and a Dynamis LS? How does that work? Why not have just one LS?

Linkshells are all there are. Most of them end up functioning like a guild, but at the base level all they really are is a specialized chat channel that takes up an inventory slot. You can equip one linkshell at a time and that's the only one you can communicate with in that way (much like a party; obviously you can still /tell whoever you want).

I don't think there are any sites for listing LSes, but I could be wrong on that. Forums will sometimes try to list a server's LSes, but they just end up outdated too fast. Mostly LSes start their own sites if they need to, and you just find out what's what through word-of-mouth or on the various general forums.

The reason a lot of shells split into Dynamis/Einherjar/social/Limbus/etc. etc. etc. shells is to keep the chat uncluttered. When a shell is doing Dynamis, they don't want to be distracted by all the "Did you guyz see that new movie?" from all the people not doing Dynamis, and the people not doing Dynamis don't want to be bothered by all the strategy etc. from that.

[Ameroth]

Originally Posted by Satimasu

If you want to play the game in windowed mode, the game version is your best bet. That and the windower version is not approved by SE and you can get in trouble if they find out you have it. The only real way for that to happen though is if you strut around town shouting you're using it. I don't really see the point of most of the plugins anyway.

Sorry, I need to correct you on this. The official windowed version is only better if you're an overly-paranoid person. The unofficial windower exceeds the official SE one by several jiggawatts. Windower has plugins that don't break the game or give unfair advantages, but that just make sense to have. Examples: seeing your party members TP, seeing your alliance member's MP and TP, shows the distance between you an other objects, an auto-sort for your inventory that doesn't suck, increasing the game's draw distance on better computers, etc, etc. Plus, windower allows you to write more complex macros for jobs that want to have 6+ line macros. Finally, the unofficial windower just does what it does better.

If you are going to play on PC, and you want to window the game, or have the ability to minimize it, I, and most others, fully recommend the unofficial windower.

[illsbury]

Thanks for all of your replies! I'm finding myself a bit lost already trying to sort through all the lore and such.

Can I ask, on average, how long it would take someone to level up to 75? Excluding the time it takes to your subjobs to 37? Is the grind pretty painful?

---------- Post added at 03:07 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:40 PM ----------

Ah, Nevermind. I read through a few threads and it seems the level to 75 can be quite arduous, not to mention the time spent just simply leveling your subjobs to 37 and completing your nation quests as well as the storline quests.

This is great, looking forward to it!

[Ellipses]

The trip to 75 really depends on too many factors to pin down. Whether you make sure you have every subjob you might need leveled or not, how picky you are about gear, missions, quests, etc. Whether you level any crafts, or what you do for gil. Some jobs are more in demand during some level ranges, some jobs solo during the down time between parties better.

If you have a lot of time and a singular focus and manage to be... frugal... with your gear, you can crank it out in a couple months. If you do a bit of everything and get all your subs out of the way first and work on getting the best gear, it's a much more significant commitment.

[illsbury]

Am I to understand that there are JP players mixed in with NA players? How do we communicate? Do all of the JP players know english as well? Hmm. I was reading a few posts earlier and someone commented that JP can be a bit discriminatory on who they party with, is this true?

[Ellipses]

All the servers are global servers. There are Japanese, North American (English), and European (English, German, French) versions of the game.

Many players are bilingual to some degree, but one of the main methods of communication is the auto-translator. Many common game terms are available, and when you use it, players see those terms in whatever language they play the game in. You start typing in a word, hit tab, and select it from a list of known words (if it's available).

For example, instead of:

/shout Sum1 plz halp me I needz a beetal subdagurr I payz 1000 gilz!

One rolls like this:

/shout (Excuse me...) (Beetle Subligar) (Do you have it?) (Can I have it?) (Reward:) 1000g

And then everyone gets to see the words in colored thingies in their language.

[illsbury]

Haha that's awesome!

If I want to play on a server like Odin, which isn't on the new character realm creation list, how would I do that?