[Jamiracos]

So i read on the wiki about buying an axe and a shield as the first things to do so i can go killing things but i goto the auction house and the cheapest lvl 1 axe is 10.000 gil and shields around 1,500 gil.Considering i only have 250 gil from a quest and the adventurer ticket im thinking the guide cant be right can it?
I presume im supposed to do a lot of go-fetch quests before i can even attempt to hunt/kill anything as i went into the mines and 3 bats just wiped me out when i used the crappy onion sword.

[TheGrandMom]

Personally from level 1-10, just use what you can and go kill stuff. You'll be solo'ing these levels and while you are solo you can collect drops to make money. Worry about your gear when you are in parties.

[Jamiracos]

Yes but i tried this with the onion sword just taking on 3 bats and didnt stand a chance?
The wiki guide for warrior mentions bying the axe and shield on the 1-10 lvl guide.
Is there anything else i can attack other than bats then?

[Murphie]

You can buy an axe (bronze) from an NPC in the starter cities. Much cheaper than the AH if those prices you listed are correct.

[Malacite]

Axe and Shield is good, Great Axe is even better though. You should be able to find both fairly cheap from an NPC. Starting on Marksmanship with a crossbow and bolts is a good idea as well.

EDIT: You won't be able to use a shield with the Great Axe since it's two handed, but Shield Break is such an awesome weaponskill (-40 evasion to the enemy) plus you get more of a STR and DEX bonus for using a 2 handed weapon.

[TheGrandMom]

Originally Posted by Jamiracos

Yes but i tried this with the onion sword just taking on 3 bats and didnt stand a chance?
The wiki guide for warrior mentions bying the axe and shield on the 1-10 lvl guide.
Is there anything else i can attack other than bats then?

Are you checking your prey before you engage?? Don't be engaging Even Match, Tough, Very Tough, or Incredibly Tough if you are unsure of surviving. With the exp ring you can get from the event moogle right now, you can fight Easy Prey and Decent Match mobs and level very quickly. I leveled from 1-11 on a new character with a level 1 club just fine. Realize its going to take you a while and try not to rush things.

[Malacite]

Originally Posted by TheGrandMom

With the exp ring you can get from the event moogle right now, you can fight Easy Prey and Decent Match mobs and level very quickly. I leveled from 1-11 on a new character with a level 1 club just fine. Realize its going to take you a while and try not to rush things.

Waste of the anniversary ring >_>

save up those conquest points and get an Empress or Emperor Band and use that instead. Besides you'll be leveling too fast for your combat skills to keep up at that rate.

[TheGrandMom]

Originally Posted by Malacite

Waste of the anniversary ring >_>

To each their own, but for me it's not. It really doesn't matter when you use it, you still get the same amount of exp with it anyways.

[Feba]

Ok, some advice:

1- Always check NPC dealers AND the AH. A lot of times, low level items are more expensive on the AH (mainly because people will buy them and put them up at higher prices).

2- Don't worry too much about weapons until about lv 7 or 8. That's when you're going to be upgrading your armor for the first time, and it's also a good time to upgrade your weapon. Until then, just use your default equipment.

3- When you say three bats, people are going to be a little confused-- are you talking about Triple Bats (treated as a single monster), or three separate bats?

Bats are what are called 'linking' mobs, which means if you're fighting one of them, and another one sees (or hears) you, they'll also start attacking you. Obviously, if you get a few bats linked together, things get much harder pretty quickly.

4- Don't fight in the mines, at least not for awhile. They can be nice when you're on your second or third time around, you know what you're doing, and you don't want to worry much about the trip back to town or dealing with other new players, but where you are now it will just be painful.

Go outside, to Gustaberg, and fight the mobs near the entrance. You'll level up very quickly that way.

5- As TGM recommended, learn to check mobs. At your level, you can probably handle anything below an Even Match, and possibly even a Tough. As you level up, monsters will become harder, and you'll need to ratchet it down. For example, when I started leveling my MNK, I was able to chain together Very Tough mobs without difficulty for some great EXP. In fact, it was so great that within a few minutes I had to tone it down to even match. because I had leveled to the point where Very Tough mobs would wipe the floor with me!

Crash course in /check:
There are a few different levels that you'll get when you check a monster. These are, from hardest to easiest:

<Incredibly Tough> -- This is very many levels above you. This is what you'll fight in EXP parties most of the time, at least until you get to 75. Almost never should be engaged alone
<Very Tough> -- A few levels above you. Pretty much never a good idea to engage alone, unless you know what you're doing.
<Tough> -- One or two levels above you. At your level, you can probably fight these alone, but you'll need to break that habit pretty soon.
<Even Match> -- A monster at the same level as you. Despite the name, Even Matches can be extremely uneven past the first few levels or so. Take care with these.
<Decent Challenge> -- A couple levels below you. These are generally a good source of EXP up to level 12 or so.
<Easy Prey> -- A few to many (depending on your level) levels below you. These are the safest option, although of course EXP is lower for it.

Additionally, there is <Impossible to gauge!>, which indicates a Notorious Monster. These can be either far weaker than you, or tough enough that they require hordes of people to kill. Generally, you should give these plenty of space unless you know precisely what they are.

There are also markers telling you about it's evasion and defense-- these primarily indicate it's strength relative to yours. You probably won't get too much use out of these unless you're doing testing; but monsters which say "high" are usually going to be tougher than ones that say "low".

BONUS- Be sure to get signet. It was probably in whatever guide you read, but if it didn't have other basics, it might not have that. You can get it from the people near the gates that are marked with an initial ("I.M." in Bastok, I believe) by their name. This will make crystals drop, as well as reward you with conquest points (relative to how much EXP you earn) which you can use to buy the rings Malacite mentioned, which will help you earn EXP faster. You can also use it on items like scrolls of Warp and Reraise, which respectively return you to your home point and cast a spell of reraise on you so that if you die you don't have to wait for someone to raise you, or go all the way back out from town. Crystals of course can be sold for a bit of spare change.

[Armando]

To each their own, but for me it's not. It really doesn't matter when you use it, you still get the same amount of exp with it anyways.

You get the same amount of EXP out of it, the time you save isn't the same, nor will the quality of the time saved be the same either. If your EXP/hour is slow, that extra 3000 EXP saves you more time than it would if your EXP/hour is high. There are also many points in the game where a particular level just plains suck - usually when you haven't had a significant upgrade in quite a while. There are also those annoying levels where the mobs/camps are just a bit too high or too low for you to get good EXP. And most people have at least one job they need to level, but absolutely loathe it. Usually NIN.

Levels 1-10 are pretty easy and very profitable, and Anniversary Rings are a once-a-year thing assuming we get them next year as well, so I would certainly not advice the OP to blow it right now. It's best if he decides the best time to use it once he sees more of the game and understands what partying is like, so he doesn't regret it later.

Anyways, if you want the fastest, safest, most profitable EXP, stick to EP (Easy Prey) mobs whenever you can. They can't hurt you much, and on top of that, they go down fast. Once you learn your first Weapon Skill, you can take on a DC (Decent Challenge) mob whenever you have 100+ TP, since your Weapon Skill will take a very large chunk out of its life and make the fight very short.

Once you get some money from the drops you get, buy Meat Jerky and never fight without using it. It'll increase your damage by a lot and make soloing even faster. You can buy them for 124 gil a piece from an Griselda in Bastok Mines - she's at H-5, in the Bat's Lair Inn. Each piece of meat jerky lasts 30 minutes or until you die, which hopefully won't happen.

Also, I must disagree with Feba's advice on the topic of weapons - getting a better weapon as soon as you can will save you a lot of time and make soloing much easier. Onion Sword, quite frankly, sucks. You can buy a Bronze Axe for about 300 gil off of NPCs, and a Lauan Shield for about 100. You'll kill much faster with the axe, and you'll take much less damage with the shield. In fact, it may be in your best interest to buy that shield now. Like Feba said, always check the prices of NPCs before buying on the Auction House - I recommend you use FFXIClopedia for that. Search for the item and see which vendors near you will sell it, and for how much. That way you don't have to run all over Bastok checking every single merchant yourself.

You'll most definitely want to use a Great Axe once you start partying, though. No two ways about it - it's by far the best weapon there is for WAR at this point, and will stay that way until at least level 50. And always use Shield Break. Always. Forget Sturmwind, and pretend Iron Tempest doesn't even exist. By the way, NEVER throw away Beastmen's Seals, and always sort your Inventory so you don't lose items.

[Feba]

Mm, possibly. My lack of a problem with the onion weapon could be the fact that I started with BLM, and nukenukeswing was my tactic for the first few levels. From about lv2 to lv 6, though, it's hard not to kill things with extreme speed-- you're probably going to spend more time learning how to run around than you are actually attacking things. I would rank it as something that's going to speed up your levelling somewhere between singing folk tunes while you kill things and hanging a horseshoe above your PC/console.

Still, there is one benefit (edit: to be clear, one we can both agree on), and that's that you start gaining skill in that weapon straight away, which makes it easier to use when you switch. That, at lv7 or 8, is probably going to be more of a timewaster than the actual difference between a sword and axe.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Originally Posted by TheGrandMom

To each their own, but for me it's not. It really doesn't matter when you use it, you still get the same amount of exp with it anyways.

It can save a lot of time if you don't blow it on just any old thing. I want to level a NIN sub for my Taru, I don't want to PT since I've PTed NIN on my Mithra. I consider soloing a better time investment since I can also earn seals while I solo and not have to share.

I could use the ring on Kitten's COR for merits, but Kitten is a Corsair. A merit PT and fast merits isn't hard to get, so I'm saving it for pushing DNC to 50 since Kitten's go all the subjobs she needs knocked out. I could use it for RDM or BRD subs, but those jobs don't really have problems finding PTs.

As Armando said, he should really wait and use it once he's got a feel for the game and how he wants to tackle his goals. Last time I had these rings, I wisely spent Kitten's on a WHM subjob just to get it done quickly, then foolishly blew Foobar's to level BST to 65 just a little faster.