[Tonberrychamp]

Basically i've been playing wow for a while (big surprise) and i'm just tired of it. Ive always been a FF fan anyway, so heres some background to get started.

1) Ive played FFxi before in the past to around level 40 or so i have not gotten very far, but i understand the basics.
2) Any of my friends who played while i did are gone, including the linkshell i was in.

1)Those two things being said, i want to start playing again, but i don't know exactly what will happen if i can't get in a decent linkshell, its my understanding to do more of the higher level activites you need a decent group of coordinated people. In that sense, if anyone has advice on how to find a good LS please let me know

2) Since all my friends are gone, should i pick up and start on a new server? i think i was on Diablos which i dont believe was very populated, if i could get in a good LS on a different server that would be willing to help me out once in a while that would be great ,but realistically i know its a pain to travel around in FFXI (at least since the last time i played) so i dont exactly expect for anyone to drag me around. Again, advice here would be good

In summary i don't think this game is one to played alone and i'm sure if i just sit around not talking to anyone waiting for groups all day i will stop playing again and id rather see some end game this time around. any input would be greatly appreciated thanks for you time!

[Ellipses]

1) Play. Talk to people. Eventually you'll find people with a social shell you can join. By the time you're ready for higher level activities, you'll have made connections and can worry about that in its own due time. You can browse forums to see if you can find a shell that seems up your alley, but IMO it's hard to really get a good feel for anything by doing that, assuming you can even find up-to-date info.

2) Start wherever you want. If you find people you knew before, great, if not, you'll find other people instead.

The only other thing is that the game will seem a lot more empty than it really is when you first start out. The starter areas (not just the towns, the leveling spots too) are empty these days. You won't see hardly anyone, and the people you do see are probably mules or just picking up crafting supplies or something. People gather in Whitegate and (to a lesser extent) Jeuno, so don't assume your server is dead until you've made it to Jeuno; you might just have bad luck finding anyone to party with before 20.

[Tonberrychamp]

Yeah, at least that has not changed i remember Jeuno being much more populated then any of that started towns, that being said another one of my concerns is travel, i heard they implemented personal chocobos, but im not sure can anyone confirm deny? overall i just want to have fun again i like the whole FF setting and bringing some friends with me and making new ones would be great.

[Ellipses]

Yes, you can raise your own bird now. Category:Chocobo Raising - FFXIclopedia - a Wikia Gaming wiki

You still can't ride it 'til you get your license at 20, and it's not some automatic chocobo everywhere all the time for free kind of thing, but it's there. Check out Category:Transportation - FFXIclopedia - a Wikia Gaming wiki for all the generalities of transportation, see what's changed.

[Tonberrychamp]

That helped a lot thanks, one more thing i have been looking at servers and people seem to have a problem with two many people (odin) or too little people (cant think of one off the top of my head), but from the nature of the game i would think having more people available is much better, do the issues that come with so many people outweigh the benefit? thanks again!