[shreks]

Hello

I'll be starting this game soon (on the Xbox 360 and PC) and this might sound silly but what is the best job for me? I'll list a few things I like and dislike, that would help you in what you think would be the best job for me. I know at the end of the day, it's down to personal preference, but since there are vets here, vets can tell what I would enjoy from my likes and dislikes because of their vast experience:

Things I like:

Uniqueness
Has at least some Power
Creativity
Fun
Has some respect from other players = not being brushed off

Things I dislike:

The healer of a party
Boring repetition
Always in constant competition with other players to be picked in a party
Very expensive to maintain
Stat heavy calculation
Over complicated to use
Boring


Before you tell me what Job you think would be best for me to start out as. Could you also state the best sub job to go with the primary job you chose. And also what would be the best level 30 job. Please explain your reasonings for selecting this job for me if you can, would be much appreciated.

While on the subject of Jobs, I have another question. I know when you are Level 18, you can pick a sub job. But I don't understand when you get to level 30. I know you can select another job, but is this a sub job to the beginning jobs? Or when you select one of these new jobs, it is now your primary? Please explain.

Thanks in advance for those who have been patient and helpful towards me.

Much appreciated

[Balfree]

I don't think FFXI is for you

[Mog]

So you don't want competion to be picked, eh?

Go with paladin. There's a great demand for them, and an even greater demand once the expansion comes out. While their main objective is to be a meat shield and take hits, they can also deal decent damage.

A great (and only) sub-job you want is warrior. Concentrate on leveling warrior, then take up pld down the road.

As for your other questions, use the search function.

[shreks]

Reply to: Balfree

Nice helpful post there, thanks

I played some of the Beta on my friends console and I actually enjoyed it alot and wanted more, so personally I think FFXI is for me, despite your incredibly helpful and insightful post.

EDIT:

Cheers Arcadia, may I ask why apart from competition you think Paladin is the best? I don't mind competition, but not to the extent where you have to wait for 2-3 hours (has ive heard with some jobs) to get into a party.

[Jei]

Always in constant competition with other players to be picked in a party
Very expensive to maintain

umm... maybe any DD. but they are not

Over complicated to use

however.

I guess European cars would fit your explanation.

[Sanim]

Originally Posted by shreks

While on the subject of Jobs, I have another question. I know when you are Level 18, you can pick a sub job. But I don't understand when you get to level 30. I know you can select another job, but is this a sub job to the beginning jobs? Or when you select one of these new jobs, it is now your primary? Please explain.

In this game you can have (and level) all the jobs. At level 30 you can unlock advanced jobs through quests. Those jobs will add to the normal jobs you get at level 1 and you will be able to level them when you want to level 75. You can play any combination of jobs (Starting job/Starting Job ie: WHM/BLM; Adv. Job/Starting Job ie: THF/NIN; ETC), your subjob will have half the level of your main (if WHM 30 and BLM 30, you will be WHM/BLM with WHM 30 and BLM15), this opens a lot of possible combinations.

I hope you have understood me

"Could you also state the best sub job to go with the primary job you chose"

When you know what job you want to level up to 75, you just have to check its forum and there will be a thread about best subjobs for that specific job.

Achieving Uniqueness in this game through your job/character is quite difficult. What will you some uniqueness is you and the way you strike up friendships. Creativity is also hard in my opinion. This game has been running for a long time.

[Caspian]

At level 30 you can start doing the quests to unlock the "advanced" jobs.
As far as what job based on your likes and dislikes, no job fits it to a "t".
Bard matches everything on your likes except for power, its a support job. Redmage would also work, but again, its a support job in party situations. Blackmage has everything, except for uniqeness.
Thief is great and one of the least "boring" jobs, but it can be aggravating when partying with morons, and its hard getting parties pre-15 and post-~60.
Ranger is great, as is Ninja, but both are very expensive. (More than the others as far as general upkeep anyway.) All the jobs require you to put money into them to bring them to their full potential. You don't have to go all out on your first 75 job, but you do need to be committed.
Monk gets everything on your likes list, except maybe uniqueness. But it can be boring for quite a while, and has a few intervals where getting a party can be difficult.
If you haven't figured it out yet, every job has lots of pros and cons. The cool thing with ffxi is that you can play a job, decide you don't like it, then go to your moghouse and just change jobs no problem. No making new characters or anything like that. Your best bet is to pick something that sounds fun. (Check the job forums and look at what all is involved for each job.) Decide what you wanna try and give it a whirl. If it isn't your cup of tea then try something else. If you want to do a melee job, then your best bet is to level warrior to 30 and then try some of the advanced jobs. If you want to go the mage route, then level White mage (yes its the main healing job, but its the most used mage sub, closely followed by black mage) and take it to 30 and try out bard or summoner. Note: Summoner will get you to be main healer a LOT until your near endgame and have more damaging Blood Pacts.
I know I just ran you around in circles, but hopefully some of it made sense and you atleast have an idea of what you might want. Again, if not, just peruse for awhile and see what strikes your fancy.

[Atma]

Originally Posted by shreks

Things I dislike:

Boring repetition

My advice: Save your money. FFXI is a fun game, but honestly, if sitting in the same place killing crabs one-at-a-time for 3+ hours (and quite possibly not even gaining a level off of it) is not your idea of a good time, you're probably just throwing away 30 bucks. This is not a World of Warcraft style casual player game. This is a hardcore, oldschool style sit-in-the-same-place-and-grind-fest, and anyone who tells you otherwise is, in my humble opinion, just plain not telling you the truth. I don't like pissing in people's wheaties, but I'm not going to sugar coat it for you and have you feel screwed once you hit 30 and learn "the truth".

If you're still with us, I'd say try Red Mage. They get complicated later on and are expected to do some backup healing, but you get 50 levels to learn to play before you're treated as anything but the second coming of christ, especially from level 40 on.

[shreks]

Atma that is quite a negative view and there is also no need to patronise me - "This is not a World of Warcraft style casual player game".

I already stated I have played the Beta

I played some of the Beta on my friends console and I actually enjoyed it alot and wanted more, so personally I think FFXI is for me

Also:

"if sitting in the same place killing crabs one-at-a-time for 3+ hours (and quite possibly not even gaining a level off of it)"

My friend played the Beta and got to Level 43 before it ended and he didn't once sit in the same place for 3+ hours and never gaining a level. So being honest here, you seem to me not a veteran of this game.

Thanks to Sanim & Caspian for their suggestions and answers to my questions.

[Sanim]

Atma may have sound a little harsh but he/she (is it a girls name? ) wants you to know that FFXI is a grinding and money dependant game. Repetition is part of this game. What can change is if it is Boring or Fun, and it all depends on you and your friends. Good luck!

[Balfree]

Originally Posted by shreks

Reply to: Balfree

Nice helpful post there, thanks

I played some of the Beta on my friends console and I actually enjoyed it alot and wanted more, so personally I think FFXI is for me, despite your incredibly helpful and insightful post.

EDIT:

Cheers Arcadia, may I ask why apart from competition you think Paladin is the best? I don't mind competition, but not to the extent where you have to wait for 2-3 hours (has ive heard with some jobs) to get into a party.

The beta times are gone, things are very different now, people are more competitive, prices are out of whack, things arent the same.

Sorry for my out-of-the-ass reply, but it's true, with all the things you dislike... it's going to be hard enjoying FFXI, every job has repetivive gameplay to an extent, the worst are the mage jobs and straight DD jobs (some people go afk, just /attack the mob and go eat a sammich, thats how repetitive it can be).

Then there's PLD and NIN tank jobs, PLD is repetive as hell, your job is to take damage, so you provoke+attack+use weapon skills+heal yourself, it may seem like alot, but it isnt, not when you'll be doing this for all your PLD career, and what a long career that is.

NIN will be casting the same 2 spells throughout the game, and forever on, not to mention how much gil it costs, i guess it can be a fun job, but it's not labeled as the most expensive job in the game for nothing.

RNG and THF are 2 of the most technical jobs ingame, i can't say theyre complicated, just technical, and still repetitive not to mention costy, specially RNG. And competition? those 2 jobs sit on the bench for most of your FFXI experience, much like most other Damage dealer jobs: DRK, MNK, DRG, SAM, WAR... expect huge downtime looking for a party, unless you make your own, which can soothen your downtime, or make it worse. When you said 2-3 hours, you were thinking more like 5-9 hours right? and also thought about not even being able to get a party for days? i hope so, because it will happen, unless you play WHM RDM BLM BRD or SMN (all boring and extremely repetitive jobs, maybe SMN and RDM not so much. Outside parties that is. And considering FFXI's gameplay, 5% will consist of solo play, so yea).

You dont like healing, so WHM and SMN arent for you, in the same shelf theres RDM and BRD, who play support roles similar to healers, these 4 jobs are all repetitive, usually labeled as boring too (maybe not RDM so much).

In terms of money, all jobs require tons, unless you ignore some uber gear, and if you do people will piss you off for more than it's worth your patience. NIN and RNG require tools and ammo, the most expensive consumables ingame, mainly because you rely on those to simply do your job, there's no avoiding it. All DD jobs benefit from some ... uber gear, i'm thinking about haubergeon, scorpion harness, ochiudo's kote, etc etc, those alone will cost you months of gathering money to buy, unless you play 24/7, and even so... it's hard, did i mention farming is the most boring thing ever? you dont seem to like being bored, so yea, even i who love this game like i love furry beings...i end up falling asleep after 10 minutes of 1-hitting the same thing over and over again, and then getting a drop after 20 kills, a drop that is worth 0.005% the total ammount i need, and then i'm gonna have to sell it on the auction house, and wait 2 days (or more) for it to sell, considering you can only have 7 items for sale at once, expect your 10million gil to come along by the time your kid has grown a beard.

Theres more means of getting gil, none of them are sure-shots, and all require alot of your time, in a boring/repetitive manner.

In terms of most repetitive, like i said, all mages are, i'm a BLM at heart, i love it for many reasons, know what i hate though? on a 2-3 min fight, worth 150-200 exp, i will cast 2-3 spells that are actually worth my while. The boredom adds up to a certain degree of insanity, then after many parties, and once you reach the top level.. ding ding! nothing's changed, youre still doing the same you allways have done ^^, same applies for WHM, BRD, SMN, and RDM.

And last but not least, unless you make alot of friends who are willing to give you a lung or three, expect to /shout for hours to get that mission you need done, or that quested artifact armor everyone expects you to have, did i say /shout will get you more /blacklists than it'l get you help?

By all means, buy the game and try it out, thats what you should do, specially with 3 new jobs coming into play in 2 days, who knows, they might be what you're looking for.



Double Post Edited:
O, i forgot to mention BST! The most boring, repetitive, sit-through-battles job in the game! But atleast you can play at your own pace, unless SE decides to screw you over... o oops, they already did.

[Sanim]

Ey, Balfree, I just returned to the game and you're making me wanting to leave again! Stop it!!

After returning 3 or 4 times, I think that the most important thing is friends you make ingame. If you have them, boredom will be nothing, hard things will become easy, you can even enjoy farming if you have a good social LS. Again, good luck

[Balfree]

Yes, the best thing is that good friends are the key to success, never again in any other game did i need such strong ties with other people.

[Caspian]

No game is perfect, and how Balfree pointed out all the time sinks in this game, they do accomplish one thing. They make you appreciate what you accomplish even more.
As for your friend being 43 on beta. At that level, you won't be xp'ing for 3 hours with no level up unless your party is having an extremely difficult time gaining xp. However (I think the switch is post 60 now, could be wrong may need someone to correct me) at a point the xp needed to level jumps up greatly, and even in great parties you will be going for about 3 hours before you get another level. At that level a great party gets 6-8k xp/hr. Sounds great until you realize it takes 20k xp to get that next level. Atleast on RNG it doesn't exactly get boring ,but it does get repetitive. I usually have music going to keep my mind going, but you start to get in habits in xp parties and only really get into it when the unexpected happens. Anyway, its not that some of the people posting here are being nay-sayers, its that they have a slightly different perspective and don't want you to assume the early levels you played in beta will be the same thing as the later levels on a regular server. Its a fun game, no doubt, I think everyone here truly enjoys it too. If they didn't they probably wouldn't be posting on a dedicated FFXI forum. Just realize there's two sided to the coin. But as Balfree said, buy the game, give it a whirl. You may end up loving it so much you take every job to 75. You may hate it so much you don't make it past 30. Its tought to make an informed decision off the beta. Geez I keep going in circles, its late, I'm sorry. Anyway, try it out and keep other people's advice in mind, but don't let it dictate your actions. There, I'm done, I swear.

[Balfree]

They make you appreciate what you accomplish even more.

No doubt. This is probably what keeps me going sometimes.