[lantis-zagato]

Hello everyone. I have been considering trying FF11 for several years now but never could because of other games and my work schedule. I've spent the better part of 2 days looking through the forums trying to get an idea of what the game is all about. I have no idea what class or race I want to use and need a little help in this regard. From what I read, race plays little role in defining endgame characters so I thought I might go Hume seeing as how I have no idea what class this character will end up becoming. My friend and I agreed that at least one of us needs to have the ability to heal so with that said, does anyone have any suggestions for what class/subclass I could shoot for in the long run? Any suggestions are greatly appreciated and let me say thanks up front.

[cidbahamut]

If you and your friend are planning on duoing from the get go I'd recommend Red Mage to you. One of you can take care of massive damage output and as a Red Mage you can handle everything else. Red Mage also allows you to get a little bit of a feel for most aspects at low level, so if you decide you enjoy swatting things with a sword more than anything in the world you'll be able to learn that early on. Maybe you have a knack for healing and will end up switching over to White Mage later on.

A word of warning though, Red Mages aren't really allowed to keep hitting things as they grow older, at least in parties. If you're just gonna duo with your friend you'll need to, but in six man parties you're often expected to step back once you reach the mid game. But hey, you're leveling Red Mage to see what part of the game you like most, so it's all good.

[Reilk]

If you're unsure of class direction down the road, Hume will allow you the most leeway to do what you'd like to with minimal difficulties.

As for class choices, I'd say try and pick something that you think you'd enjoy and discuss it with your friend. If either of you doesn't mind healing (and the other tanking) I'd suggest WAR and WHM to start out. From there you can duo and still have the ability to get invites rather quickly. Down the road, this combo would most likely turn into a PLD/WAR and WHM with whatever sub in order to keep exp and invites coming (relatively quickly). Sure, it may not be the best duo set up out there, but it requires less investment than things like double BST or XXX/NIN.

[Takelli]

Originally Posted by Reilk

If you're unsure of class direction down the road, Hume will allow you the most leeway to do what you'd like to with minimal difficulties.

Race has almost no difference on what you can do with your job in the game. The stat losses can be changed with the simple use of gear, and later on, merrits. It all depends on your gear later on.

Bst Duo, or Rdm/Nin Duo is fun. Especially with the introduction of Enspells 2. A Rdm with the right gear and skill can out tank even Plds on certain mobs. In a Duo as well, Rdms are a great job. Rdm/Drk with Enspell 2 on can deal some really nice Dmg. Rdm/Pld can take some Major hits, and out live a Pld at certain parts.

[Kailea]

Originally Posted by Takelli

Race has almost no difference on what you can do with your job in the game. The stat losses can be changed with the simple use of gear, and later on, merrits. It all depends on your gear later on.

Bst Duo, or Rdm/Nin Duo is fun. Especially with the introduction of Enspells 2. A Rdm with the right gear and skill can out tank even Plds on certain mobs. In a Duo as well, Rdms are a great job. Rdm/Drk with Enspell 2 on can deal some really nice Dmg. Rdm/Pld can take some Major hits, and out live a Pld at certain parts.

yeah what Takelli said, and I would like to add that Hume Mithra and Elvaan are not that much diffrent, there are only 2 things that matter really and that HP and MP among the races Hume, Mithra and Elvaan all are very close in these two fields, and Taru are on the extreme side of MP and Galka are on the HP end.

Those are the only two races someone might look at when it comes to a Melee class or mage class. Again though like it has been said, all things can be fixed with gear.

[lantis-zagato]

Thank you guys for the advice. My friend made a mithra redmage and I think I am going Hume warrior for now. Guess we will see where this takes us. We picked the Asura server and started in Windurst. By the way, what are the real differences between servers as well as your starting town? Sorry to ask so many newb (not n00b hopefully) questions. Thanks again.

[cidbahamut]

Servers are pretty much the same from what I hear, or at least they are when you're starting out. You'll end up in a deserted ghost town that you'll call your home city because everyone has eight level 75 characters running around in Whitegate.

Personally, I think Windurst is just too damn big and the Tarutaru are obnoxious in their speech mannerisms. Then again I'm from Bastok so it's just in my nature to despise Windurst. There's not really too much difference aside from what crafting guilds you have access to as most of the cities are fairly well balanced and everyone has migrated to Jeuno or Whitegate anyway.

[Elwynn]

Originally Posted by cidbahamut

Personally, I think Windurst is just too damn big and the Tarutaru are obnoxious in their speech mannerisms. Then again I'm from Bastok so it's just in my nature to despise Windurst.

I think we can both agree on one thing. Bagpipe background music is annoying as hell.

[lantis-zagato]

Another few questions for the more experienced players here. I'm currently level 9 monk and I am interested in trying some of the craft skills. I see people talking about fishing etc. but I have no idea how to go about getting started. I can't remember what all of the options are but does anyone have any suggestions as to what I could start crafting, or cooking, or whatever? I started in Windurst. Also, can someone better explain how to set up the macros for job abilities and stuff like that? And the last question is skill chains for when in groups. From what I read there are 3 different types. Could someone give me a brief example of how they work. I'm afraid to look for a party because I don't want to be that guy who can't really contribute because I don't even have a basic understanding of these important aspects of the game. Let me apologize for the length of this post. I have searched on the forums here but often times the acronyms(spelling) used are well beyond my comprehension. Thanks again everyone.

---------- Post added at 09:13 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:07 PM ----------

Oh, and on a side note my friend wanted to become a redmage but I can tell he isn't enjoying it so far. He's only level 4 but I got the impression that he isn't happy with his damage output. I tried to explain that we are like infants in this game and you wont start out casting spells left and right and ripping through monsters with ease. Any suggestions that I could pass on to him would be awesome.

[cidbahamut]

Oh jeez, you guys did the Red Mage and Monk tag team?
Yeah, I started out like that too. If he's unhappy with his damage output now then he might want to reroll because partying with a monk he is always gonna feel like his damage is third rate. Red Mage takes freaking forever to kill anything in my experience. If he doesn't have the patience for long drawn out battles either solo or in a party he's probably not gonna make with Red Mage.

Another problem with figuring out Red Mage is that he really needs to get it all the way to 41 to get a real sense of it. Once I got Refresh I felt like I had turned into the god damn Energizer Bunny, able to keep going and going and going and going while soloing.

I'd try to make it into a bigger party before letting him completely give up on it. Don't force it though, Mage classes aren't for everyone.

Crafting
I'm no expert but the basic theory is:
* Use appropriate Crystal from inventory
* Add appropriate ingredients
* Push OK
* Watch Crystal spin and be shiny
* Get new shiny items
* Repeat until you get sick of it or run out of gil

By then you'll have gained two or three crafting levels.

There's a few places around you can look up the recipes. I usually use Allakhazam.com: Final Fantasy XI: Guild Items as a reference.

As for which craft to level up...I couldn't tell you. I think the general consensus is that you don't really start to make money of it until much later. It's not gonna be a quick fix for gil early on if that's what you're hoping.

Macros
Macros generally follow this formula:

/prefix ability <target>

/ja = job ability
/ma = magic

If a spell is more than one word you'll need quotes around it, like this:

/ma "Cure II" <stpc>

Hope something in there helped you out.


@Elwynn: Yeah, Elvaan are pretty stuck up too so no love for them.

[Takelli]

Well, if he continues, he can try the Rdm/Drk. Once he gets Enspells, he will also have increased damage. Level 15 or was it 16? Cant remember oh well, but once he gets his first enspell, he will see a small increase of damage out put. As his enhancing skill goes up, his enspell damage will go up as well. Rdm/Nin with maxed enfeeblin and two daggers can help pump out the damage fairly fast. (Rdms dagger skill is the same as their sword.) So, having sword and dagger capped on Rdm can help with the damage. Later on (lvl 50), you get enspell 2s which lower the mobs resistance to a certain element and can deal up to 32 estra damage per hit. But, it will only go onto the main weapon, so subbing Drk at lvl 50, or Pld (Depending on what he wants to do.) will be better than subbing nin.

[cidbahamut]

Doesn't really change the fact that as a Red Mage he's never going to see huge numbers. If watching a mob drop in three hits is his thing then he might be better off rerolling.

[Takelli]

Yes, I know that. I was just pointing out that at higher levels Rdm's Dmg out put increases by double if played right. If he wants to drop a monster in three hits, then go with Sam, Drk, or Even War, they can dish out some major damage. But, as for that Rdm (Dmg wise), I was just saying that their damage can be increased with Enspell which all Melee Rdms should do, and hsould have.

[lantis-zagato]

Thanks for the input guys. I think I'm gonna switch over to warrior after I hit level 10 monk because from almost all of the class guides I read for tanks and DD's the most preferred subclass was warrior. Since I don't know if I will keep monk I almost feel like it will be more beneficial for me in the long run since I am still unsure of where this character will take me. Who knows, maybe I will like redmage and my friend and I can swap roles. Do you guys think it would be smart to just keep close to Windurst and just level up all of the starter classes to 10ish? Sorry for all the questions but because of my work I don't have thaaat much time to play each week. On a good week hopefully 10-12 hours. Lately its been a lot less than that so I'm trying to pick up on as much as I can while I am not actually playing. I do realize however that I will probably be moving at a snail's pace compared to most people. As always, thanks for all the help and advice.

[Takelli]

Level Monk to lvl 20, and get your sub job before leveling your warrior. With a sub job, even at level 1, you will see a huge increase of survivability, and faster kills. Getting lvl 20, and your sub job also is useful. Also, you might want to lvl War to lvl 37 when you get monk to lvl 20 so you do not have to level up Warrior again.