[Liona]

I made a Mithra Thief and started in Windurst. I am level 7 and I just bought some leather armor. I can't find any new daggers though. I checked the Auction House and there weren't any until way higher levels. Is it ok for me to still be using my starting dagger? Leveling is getting slow as well, can you start to party at level 7? And finally should I be in a ls by now? No one invited me yet

[Thalyn]

You might want to check for swords as well. I think many thieves use swords to start off with because they tend to do better damage/have more damaging weapon-skills earlier on. Daggers and dagger based weapon-skills start to do well starting around level 25-30, so you'll want to keep a decent dagger around to practice your skill-ups in the meantime.

I adventure with a thief friend and we've been grouped together since level 1, so I'd say it's never too early to start grouping if you have more fun that way.

[Armando]

You'll definitely want to resort to swords as your primary weapon for now, though as Thalyn said also keep an up-to-date dagger to keep your Dagger skill high. To find the best weapon for you, use FFXIAH's Power Search. You'll want to search for swords (and daggers) that THF can equip, within a level range close to yours (if you're Lv.7, you'd try searching around 4-11 for example) and sort the results by DPS (descending, so higher DPS end up on top.) The higher the weapon's DPS, the better.

Note that FFXIAH only lists Jeuno prices, not home nation prices. Also note that you can often find low level equipment cheaper from NPCs than from the AH, so search FFXIClopedia for any gear you're planning on buying and check the NPC prices. Also, in the future, when you do want to look up Jeuno prices, be sure you're searching in the right server.

Leveling starts at around level 10 at the lowest.

It's unusual to get a LS so quickly so don't sweat it. You don't want to pick a random LS anyway. Make some good friends, they'll no doubt invite you, and at the same time it helps increase the odds that you're getting into a shell with intelligent and trustworthy people.

As for slow soloing, updating your weapon will help a lot. Also never leave town without Signet and eat Meat Jerky. Make use of Field Manuals too. Finally, get a shield if you haven't already; stick to large round wooden ones (there are different types of shields, the smaller more dome-shaped ones and bone ones are worse even if they have better defense.)

EDIT: Getting yourself a ranged weapon will also help give you an edge when soloing. You'll want one for pulling when you're partying anyways (when you're Lv.15 you'll want to start using a Crossbow and Acid Bolts to lower the monsters' defense.)

[Malacite]

You'll want to get used to pulling, so you may wish to pick up a cheap bow & some wooden arrows from an NPC or a boomerang if you can get a good deal off the AH.

As others have said, stick with swords until about 33 when you can reach dagger skill 100 and learn your 1st good weapon skill, viper bite. From there on it will be daggers all the way. You'll also need to keep your marksmanship skill capped alongside dagger as Acid Bolts are critical to being a good THF. They are used for pulling and lowering a monster's defense rating, which helps out the whole party big time.

The problem is you can't really skill up until 16 THF, as THF can only use status-inflicting bolts. To compensate for this, skill it up on Warrior, which you will need as a support job anyway for THF (and later Ninja, the primary support job choice for THF)

Read the THF guides in the job Q&A forums as well as the wiki for more info on how to be a great THF. As for EXP, a good level to start partying is lv 12, though you'll have a hard time getting one outside of Valkurm Dunes. This means you'll need to make your way towards Mhaura, avoiding all the goblins on the way there and taking the ferry to Selbina. It's a pain in the ass but you won't regret it.

Also have you been using the various EXP bonus rings you can purchase with conquest points and fields of valor training regimens? In each field zone (no dungeons) you'll find at least 2 or 3 "Field Manuals" you can use to undertake training regimens. You basically kill X amount of Y mobs for extra EXP, Gil and Tabs. The tabs you rack up can then be used to get various buffs. If you haven't started doing this yet you should, it makes the lower levels so much easier and THF is not an easy job to level.

It requires a little more finesse and attention to detail compared to other DD's, but mostly it's the invite rate that makes it a pain. It's just not that popular of a job for EXP parties. Don't let that discourage you though! Just because it's not the most popular doesn't mean it isn't an asset to parties (starting at 15 when you get Treasure Hunter & Sneak Attack)

[Dux]

You should definatly consider using Monk as your subjob instead of Warrior. THF does really well with Combo in the low levels and has good enough Hand-To-hand skill at those levels.

I'm sure the THF forum will give you more details but I seem to remember that THF/MNK with Combo gave out the best damage for alot of the lower levels with Swords coming back into play before you earn Viper Bite on dagger.

[Evion]

As mentioned, you should check subjob combos before you want to start as a THF. You can check HERE for equipment options and HERE for prices. Also, for other general questions you could check HERE. Good Luck!

You will start to "Party" at around level 10/11 at the DUNES. That's a good place to start picking up LSes.