Final Fantasy XI (XBOX 360)

First off... The game is Online only as most of you know.. so if you dont have a HDD and broadband, dont bother.

There is an additional charge from PlayOnline $12.95/mo + $1.00/mo for each additional ID you create up to a maximum of 16 IDs.

Play Online Only takes Visa & Mastercard as of right now.

Each game comes with it's own registration number. Therefore once it has been used this copy is yours forever. There will be no used copies of these sold at EBgames/Gamestop/Ebay etc. You must install the game in your HDD and thats when it asks for the reg #. Once you enter the reg # it checks the online database to see if it's already registered. Also, you can not get another Reg # from Square Enix.

I strongly suggest purchasing a USB keyboard for your 360 as entering all of the account setup information using the controller is a tedious pain in the ass. Not to mention from what I read in the instructions, you will really not want to try using all of the commands by having to go into the virtua keyboard mode while in the middle of playing.

Right now my game is installing into the HDD. It takes a long time for it to install. Make sure when you start the game install, that you go take a nap or go to lunch. Trust me you will have the time. I'm still waiting for it to finish.

I'll come back to post more once I get to the next stage ... whatever that is.

me = sad panda as i hoped to be already playing by now.

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Okay.... Here is a breakdown of the time it took me to get started.

8:00 pm Started the registration process for PlayOnline.
9:00 pm Finished registering and installing Play Online.
9:00 pm Started Installing FF XI
10:00 pm Finished Installing Final Fantasy XI to the HDD.
10:00 pm Start Game
10:01 pm Game tells me I need to update before playing.
10:34 pm Finished downloading initial update.
10:35 pm Secondary update says will be complete in 1:13:00

I then decided to go to bed as I didnt feel like staying up over another hour while this updated.

Phillip

So once you add up XB Live and the PlayOnline charges, you're paying what... twice as much as you do for the PC version?

No, youll be paying exactly what you pay for the other versions. All you need for FFXI is XBL Silver, the free version. If you have gold, well then, its no different then playing on a PC or PS2 while owning an XBL account.

No matter what, it's still FFXI.

I played it for a few months, and I got so bored with it I had to stop.

It's exactly like all the asian MMOs; a complete grind-fest. Completing quests gives you no XP, which makes them rather useless. All you do is wait for an hour to get a good party going, then just kill mobs.

That's the gist of it. I highly disliked it, and seeing as it was my first MMO, I almost swore off MMOs after that. Until I got City of Heroes, which was highly entertaining at first but got boring after 4 months.

Then I got into WoW. Seriously, as much as I don't like the fantasy setting, at least doing things actually gives you something. It's a lot more fun.

Okay.... Here is a breakdown of the time it took me to get started.

8:00 pm Started the registration process for PlayOnline.
9:00 pm Finished registering and installing Play Online.
9:00 pm Started Installing FF XI
10:00 pm Finished Installing Final Fantasy XI to the HDD.
10:00 pm Start Game
10:01 pm Game tells me I need to update before playing.
10:34 pm Finished downloading initial update.
10:35 pm Secondary update says will be complete in 1:13:00

I then decided to go to bed as I didnt feel like staying up over another hour while this updated.

Phillip

Anyone want to party with me im in Alexander server.

Name: Genmu

LvL 32 Nin/30 War

Current Homepoint: Jeuno

Ill be on tonight around 830cst.

BTW: wtf is with no achievements for FFXI??? I thought all games had to have em...I guess MS wanted this game very badly they let Square do what ever they wanted..

Well, the thing is, the SquareEnix MMORPG runs not only on their own servers, but they run underneath yet a service of their own; so I guess they're excluded from the whole Achievement point thing. Then again, we're talking about the SquareEnix Playonline System. It's like an operating system all on its own. I think in order to get Achievements to work, SquareEnix would've had to have Playonline itself, support Achievements and be aware of character data. But that wont happen as only the Content ID portion of the Final Fantasy XI server has any notion of character data or stuff that your Character has done. Playonline only knows jack about your Playonline account information (friendlists, mail, personal non-FFXI-specific stuff that's attached to your Playonline ID, at that level) Character data is about 2 to 3 systems deep into the online process. I don't think it propogates that information back to Playonline, nor can that share the information with the 360.

*So in short, the client that the 360 runs doesn't have knowledge of character data or actions, to make achievements work.*

Phantasy Star Universe might not have it's own operating service running, over top, that game. Something where character data, when loaded, may be known at the top-most level of the client. A much more likely game to have Achievements. Though I really need to read up on it. It may still not be an MMO, but I haven't read up on whether Universe will actually be a true MMO.

TimeKillr said:

It's exactly like all the asian MMOs; a complete grind-fest. Completing quests gives you no XP, which makes them rather useless. All you do is wait for an hour to get a good party going, then just kill mobs.

Click to expand...

FFXI's high level play makes it ultimately more rewarding than WoW, and most hardcore players get bored and quit WoW awhile after hitting max level. I can't deny that the grind to get to max level in FFXI is huge, though. Don't attempt FFXI while playing another MMO or regular RPG even... it will be your main game for a good year or longer if you go for just 1 level 75 character, some fully levelled subjobs, and the storyline missions (1+ cities, zilart, promathia). If you aren't planning to do all that, don't bother. You have to go the distance or the game won't be worth it. If you consider yourself a casual player, WoW may be a better fit for you.

You said it well, Neojedi. I too can't really blame either system as they cater to two entirely understandable groups of people. FFXI has more for people who are either willing, or even have to possibility to truly put their all into an MMORPG. Or least, put a major part of their gameplaying efforts into it. Very time demanding. WoW caters more for casual, or players who live busier lifestyles that can't afford as much time to it.

Nothing's better than a good party in FFXI. Nothing's worse than the time between getting in a good party in FFXI. So while WoW can never be as low as FFXI's low times, it doesn't get better than FFXI's high times. Of course, if you're on a schedule that sees mainly FFXI's low points, it's not the game for you. It just means, you're most likely going to miss out on the good points of FFXI, and the game experience will be less for you.

Still, there's going to be a whole bunch of new issues going around. Especially with the party usability of the new classes. Each party can only have 6 people, outside of alliances, and most already predefined classes handle just about every aspect a party could want. It'll be a bit of a struggle to see how the new jobs and potential subjobs will mix. I just seriously hope, people will be understanding, and wont go livid at people with less-than-optimal class mixups. If they're still useful, they work in a party, and be kind about explaining better ways to do what they want to do for a group. People take advice better when presented not as flames, otherwise, you come off as a butthole, and that's not the proper approach. Too many FFXI players forget this and makes the game feel a bit more hostile.

WoW, in general, has a much kinder player environment, so some people may enjoy that better. Plus, casual players take much longer to level, so a character in WoW may be just as fulfilling as an experience, for you. Thank the maker for FFXI having Linkshells and FriendLists. Sure, WoW has player guilds, which is fine; but they certainly don't have a social dependancy on them. Without those chatgroups and such, FFXI would be a very hostile grindfest, indeed.

About the Achievement thing:

Then why must my xbox live gamer tag be linked to my playonline acount? It will not let you log on unless 1) you are signed into xbox live and 2)you xbox live tag is linked to a play online account id. What else is annoying is that you can only link 1 POid with 1 gamertag...no more than one...WTF is the thinking behind this? I have to reat a bunch of silver accounts for my mules and guests that want to play on my 360..thats really shitty.


I know that you use playonlines servers for xbox live and its a completely seperate entity, but isnt that the same for EA?? Every online EA game you have to sign in to EA servers for thier games and sign a terms of condition to play on their servers...just like Square Enix/PlayOnline.......I think achievements could have easily been done, since xbox live is signed in and is aware of game you are playing, how hard could have been to put achievments in...After all its xbox live giving you achievments not Square.

EA has no separate Online system interface client for thier games. That's how EA gets to do achievements. If you play Need For Speed, you can hardly tell that you aren't playing directly on Live. That's because, while you may be running on EA's servers, you connect to them directly through Xbox Live and they support that. The client (game) you use with EA games is fully aware of everything you do, in game, and thus achievements are directly linked.

Playonline does the linking of your Gamertag to Playonline's system only. I'm guessing it is for security reasons and all as Playonline itself has no idea what your character is doing. The Final Fantasy XI services running via Playonline, know that character stuff. I'm sure this would be a good question to ask Square-Enix, and get their answer on the full reasons a Gamertag Profile is linked. I know one thing, that you are given the option for Playonline to automatically log your Playonline account in when starting the program. I guess one of the things it does is that it stores and verifies that information to and about the Gamertag, so that if that Gamertag is running FFXI, then they can automatically connect you through and only require 1 single password entry to get on Playonline.

Well, my experience in FFXI was probably much less than optimal, which made the game rather boring to me.

Not to mention that playing a Monk was (not sure if it still is) highly unpopular in groups and that soloing is basically impossible once you reach levels 16+ all get together to screw up the play experience.

Seeing the content is nice and all, but there are too many mechanics that I find insulting, not only as a player, but as a game designer. Losing XP when dying is a HUGE no-no, and can not only result in a TON of frustration but also in lost levels, which can then mean that some of your gear can no longer be used. The 1$ extra for additional characters is a big thing, too; if you need a mule (and you do, believe me) you need to pay for it?

Plus, aren't they raising the level cap to 100, while equalizing the amount of XP needed to level over 50?

All in all, I found it to be a pretty crappy experience. WoW also caters to more hardcore players; 40-man dungeons are highly difficult and quite rewarding. I also played City of Heroes/Villains for a few months, and while I found them to be incredibly fun, it's just another grindfest. It all boils down to preference, but I feel that once you've touched WoW, it's hard to go back to other MMOs. I felt FFXI didn't have much depth to it.

Depth?? FFXI has no depth???? OOOOk...first of all monks are very important damage dealers(DD) in the game, everyparty needs acouple of dd's. You must have just been unfortunate to not find a very good party, and you only played for 16 levels? Thats not very long, you didnt even get into sub jobs, advanced jobs, crafting, missions.......Look WoW,may just be the most fun you have had in a MMORPG, but like was said, it takes a specific type of person to like each,as they are very different MMORPGs, but FFXI, is in no way shape or form, shallow, or 'does not have much depth'.

@Kirk,

I played on ps2/pc/x360, and there is no less sign on, passwords, than with xboxlive, just that my gamertag is linked and for every character, i need to create a new xbl acount. There is not any extra security, its exactly the same interface, game, etc, just xbl has to be signed in to use. I dont get it.....

ajk1080 said:

@Kirk,

I played on ps2/pc/x360, and there is no less sign on, passwords, than with xboxlive, just that my gamertag is linked and for every character, i need to create a new xbl acount. There is not any extra security, its exactly the same interface, game, etc, just xbl has to be signed in to use. I dont get it.....

Click to expand...

It's something only SquareEnix can explain, then. Didn't know it was for each character. I only remembering having to link it for my Playonline account, not for my characters.

I think they link it to your gamertag to insure that you dont sell the game off second hand. If the next person purchases your game they will have to use the Registration ID#s in the back of the manual. As soon as they log in; PlayOnlines servers will see that the Gamertag doesnt match and would automatically not allow that person to play.

@ all of you that have played this game already...

This is my first time ever playing an MMORPG. I am a fan of the Final Fantasy Series so outside of the initial start up process, I am happy with what little I have played so far. What advice could you give me? I just started playing a little while ago. I am a Black Mage Level 1 Male Tarutaru (little ewok looking creature). The only thing I have done so far is give the adventurers coupon to Reet in exchange for 50 Gil (giving me a total of 60) I've had 2 people ask me for items and 1 person who asked me to synthesize a stone for them. The only spell I have learned is STONE. Basically I have no idea how I should approach this.

Should I go for the basic levelling up process by running around aimlessly trying to fight weaker creatures and earn Gil ( Which it seems the Big Hornets do not carry). Or should I take on tasks within the city such as finding flint rocks and buckets to sell to the Metalworks? A little confusing with soo many others running around.. but I like FF enough that I am willing to give it a try. Any help you guys can give would be greatly appreciated.


BTW .. Do you guys suggest getting a USB Keyboard for this?

Phillip

ajk1080 said:

Depth?? FFXI has no depth???? OOOOk...first of all monks are very important damage dealers(DD) in the game, everyparty needs acouple of dd's. You must have just been unfortunate to not find a very good party, and you only played for 16 levels? Thats not very long, you didnt even get into sub jobs, advanced jobs, crafting, missions.......Look WoW,may just be the most fun you have had in a MMORPG, but like was said, it takes a specific type of person to like each,as they are very different MMORPGs, but FFXI, is in no way shape or form, shallow, or 'does not have much depth'.

Click to expand...

I reached level 25 before I hit rock bottom and did not want to play anymore.

And believe me, DPS classes are much better dealt with using Black Mages.. Nobody wanted to party with a Monk.

I also hated the fact that I had to level to 30 (or was it 35?) to learn the "advanced" jobs. I have friends who leveled to 75 back in the day who still tell me tales of horror of how boring it was, but since they had no real alternative they kept on playing.

Crafting was also a joke, imo. Having the possibility of your crafting failing is just ridiculous. Just took more and more and more time to spend in-game.

Not to mention the horrid UI that is VERY console-centric with no real improvements in the PC version. Sure, it looks absolutely AMAZING, but I found no depth to the game at all.

As for you, Bullet, since you're a TaruTaru you have the best farming crap right outside town: silk. Kill those worms, grab a stack of silk, and sell it at the Auction House. You'll make tons of money, but beware: lots of other people are also farming it. Good luck.

Bulletnyourass said:

@ all of you that have played this game already

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That's my cue. What server are you on, BTW? Sounds like you are near Bastok. I tried to write a quick FAQ, but it got out of control. Heh, anyway, as a starting character, you are after 3 things:

1. Experience
2. Money
3. Fame

#1 is fairly simple and although a lot of people hate soloing because of the death penalty, I've always liked it. Just follow these tips to solo well:

1. Always con the mob (monster) before you fight it (ie highlight the mob and use the Check command). Fight monsters that con Decent Challenge or Easy Prey. Even Match and Toughs are probably a bad idea until you've levelled at least 1 job to midlevel and have money for good low level armor. If you haven't upgraded your armor in awhile, you may want to even avoid Decent Challenges. Move around or switch zones when you start to have trouble finding mobs that con what you are looking for.
2. Beastmen are tougher opponents early on than animals. Be especially careful of wandering goblins, as they can be much stronger than the area they are in. Until you are much stronger than your area, all beastmen will attack you if they get too close. If you are fighting something and a beastman is nearby, disengage the lock (numpad * on keyboard, not sure how on console) and move your character away, even if you take a hit or 2 you can't return. Re-engage the lock when it is safe to continue fighting. 2 on 1 situations in this game are deadly, at least early on.
3. Always rest to full HP and MP between fights, unless the final tick is so insignificant it isn't worth it (ie 1 hitpoint for another 5 seconds). The resting command on the keyboard is CTRL-H.
4. Once you have some money, look on the AH for cheap armor with high defense. Look for cheap weapons with a combination of good damage and low delay.

How to make money early on:
1. MOST IMPORTANT THING IN THIS POST!!!!!111!!: Get signet. Before you leave any town, talk to the signet person near the zone. That person will be a guard dressed in town colors with initials at the start of their name, like I.M something or W.W. or R.K. or something. Say you want to take part in conquest (it has nothing to do with PvP). You will get an oval-like dull blue icon near the top-middle of the screen. Don't kill monsters without that icon if you can help it... not only do you not get crystals, but you don't get valuable conquest points which can be redeemed for items later one.
2. Keep all of your crystals. Sell them on the AH (auction house) in stacks of 12. Note that you won't get crystals if your nation doesn't own the zone. This almost never happens to the starter zone, but if it does, consider toning down your xping until Sunday morning when the conquest regions change.
3. Pay special attention that there is NO auto-stack!! Use the stack function in your inventory periodically to make sure that your 30 slots aren't maxed out.
4. Check the AH price for stacks of other items such as Flint Stones, Rabbit Meat, etc. Sometimes it is worth stacking certain drops, sometimes not. Keep unstackable drops only if you KNOW they are worth something.
5. Ignore the craft system. If you are not level 75 with a large income to invest, it will not make you money, only take money. Foodcrafting can help midlevel characters, and certain crafts can help Rangers and Ninjas not get reamed by item prices, but by and large any craft other than food requires an investment on the order of 25M gil or more to pay off. Well, except fishing, which is boring as hell.
6. If an item isn't worth AHing or is a rare/ex item that you don't need, try selling it to an NPC instead of dropping it. The NPC price is actually good, but only in rare cases.

How to get fame early on:
1. DO NOT follow the RPG mentality that a strategy guide/website will spoil the game. This is an MMO... only a totally no-life geek could talk to every one of 200+ ppl in a town every time they do something to see if they unlocked a quest.
2. If you get bored with levelling, go to a site like Allakhazam or somepage. Look up the quests for the area you are in. Talk to the NPC that issues them to see if you can get them issued. Complete any individual quests that are within your ability to do so.
3. Talk to the gate guard in your local town (in Bastok would be near the Gustaberg zone) to get your first mission issued. Complete the mission once you can do so without trouble. If you can't get another mission issued, trade a few crystals to the signet person nearby to raise your rank points, and try again.
4. Don't believe in fame farming (doing a repeatable quest to raise fame). There are so many interconnected prereqs in the game, that it will just pay off to do as many individual quests as you can. And it's more fun!
5. If you happen to get a rare/ex item while killing monsters, look it up using the item search function on one of the MMO websites listed above. Chances are pretty good that you can simply trade that item to an NPC in town to complete a quest.

Final tips... soloing with a taru mage:
- For a good start to the fight, I'd engage (auto-attack) a mob from long range, then cast a spell to start the fight. If you want to cast another spell, wait until the mob hits you, then cast just as you get hit so that the vulnerable end of the spellcasting animation isn't interrupted. This is hard at first but gets easier later on. Bottom line, you need the benefit of both melee and magic damage to win solo fights because tarus can't take much punishment.
- Worms are different fight than other monsters. If you stay at range, they cannot approach you, and it becomes a duel of spells instead of melee hits. This may be easier or harder than usual depending on a variety of factors. Just remember, worms are Stone-element mobs, so don't except to do this until you at least have a Water spell. Be careful fighting worms at close range, because they can Silence you which will stop your spells.
- The early spells are cheap. An NPC in Bastok near the north end of Markets sells them, but they might be cheaper still to buy on the AH.
- If you get frustrated with Black Mage, switch to White Mage for awhile. White Mage is your first subjob, so you will need it at level 9 when Black Mage hits level 18. Most high level players think Red Mage is the best BLM subjob, but WHM is a better low-level subjob because of the earlier cure spells and status cure spells. Don't worry about an RDM sub until much later.
- Start looking for parties in the early teen levels unless you are really having a blast soloing. I solo to 16 or 17 myself, but most players start seeking at around levels 12-14. Buy the highlands and dunes zone maps in Bastok before you seek for a party so you know how to get to a higher level zone if you have to.
- Get the subjob quest (level 18 quest in either Selbina or Mhaura) done ASAP. Don't be frustrated if you have to level into your 20s without it, but know what items you need and how to get them so you are on the lookout for them.
- To get as many invites as possible, keep your subjob fully levelled at all times. FFXI veterans will virtually always invite someone with a fully levelled sub first.
- Final tip: Don't be afraid to spam Cure in the dunes or Qufim as a Black Mage with a WHM sub. If your party stinks, then slow safe xp is better than death-ga.

Oh, and I'm not sure you need a USB keyboard, but I wouldn't want to play this game without some kind of keyboard!

neojedi,

Thanks for that very long and informative post. I appreciate you taking the time to help me out.

For those of you playing on the 360... do you think I should get a Keyboard to coincide with using the controller?

TimeKillr said:

Losing XP when dying is a HUGE no-no, and can not only result in a TON of frustration but also in lost levels, which can then mean that some of your gear can no longer be used.

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LOL, try playing Lineage 2. i die I lose 4% of my xp! I also have a chane upon each death to drop my equipment. It takes months to grind for the money to even buy the equipement. My armor cost me 10mil adena (usually 1 in 4 mobs drops 800 adena) 4% is a killer too i get 00.02% for each mob i kill at my level.

I have played FFXI for months when it came out and I would gladly take its penalty system any day.

FFXI was a fun game for me but i eventually left because i wanted a more intense experience. I like to pvp anyone at anytime an that has no place in FFXI.

Also as others have stated it is too group dependant. I liek to group but there are times when you have 30 minutes to play and you just want to grind not worry about finding a group

Bulletnyourass said:

neojedi,

Thanks for that very long and informative post. I appreciate you taking the time to help me out.

For those of you playing on the 360... do you think I should get a Keyboard to coincide with using the controller?

Click to expand...

Hey Bullet,

You'll find you'll be wanting a keyboard to coinside with your 360 pad asap when you start trying to party and stuff. Obviously you cant talk via XBL to more than one person at once and you have to ask for there gamer tag to even do that, so getting a party of 4 you'll basically need a keyboard to make any kind of conversation or strategy.

I bought myself a fairly cheap wireless keyboard and that works a treat and goes well with the wireless pad Im using as you can just sit it on your lap.

I played the beta with the same char as you up until level 8 its a pretty fun class to play but you wont really be getting any good range of spells till level 7-ish same with armour and wepons for the most part.

Its never worth attacking creatures that say even challenge usually, I know you could take it down and grab the extra exp for doing so but soon enough you'll find its faster and easier to just attack the easy challenge since if you start to loose a fight theres almost no chance of escape, you'll die, loose a chunk of EXP and probably a chunk of your will to play the game too.

You loose less health and can attack easier challenges more often therefore it will seem a slow and long winded process but its a safe one that keeps you sane if you play it for 2 hours or so then play a different game for a bit to have a break.

Theres ZERO point in travelling anywhere at the start of the game until you reach a goo level 15-ish char, this is beacause enemies get hard fast, you will die, you will loose exp and you will gain nothing

I played the PC version a year ago and walked for miles at level 11 or something, saved my homepoints as I went and got myself so stuck I found it almost impossible to make it back out of the harder places without dying constantly and loosing exp each time

If your a Final Fantasy fan you'll love the characters and monster designs way more than most MMO's the villages look smart and the outside area's are good but fairly plain aswell.

To play FFXI online on 360 and enjoy it you need Time, Paintience, a USB Keyboard and the will to play the game, if you manage to get over level 10 sticking at the game you'll find after the game will get better 10 fold I had great fun partying with people I didn't know into groups of 6 or so fighting hard monsters etc really good online experience, also un-like WoW the annoying little kids that ruin these kind of games online give up because they find it too hard or not enough fun so its left to mature experienced players for the most part and a few geeks

Good Luck!

I keep going back to FFXI because of what WoW has become. WoW was a freaking blast to play, that is, until they noobified it as the beta went on. The game was great, leveling meant something, but now, it may have the subscribers, but not the better game. Blizzard butchered what could have, and should have, been the best MMO on the market. Instead, Ill just continue playing my FFXI which ive had since before the US beta ever started

PSU > FFXI

TrueTrials said:

Hey Bullet,

You'll find you'll be wanting a keyboard to coinside with your 360 pad asap when you start trying to party and stuff. Obviously you cant talk via XBL to more than one person at once and you have to ask for there gamer tag to even do that, so getting a party of 4 you'll basically need a keyboard to make any kind of conversation or strategy.

I bought myself a fairly cheap wireless keyboard and that works a treat and goes well with the wireless pad Im using as you can just sit it on your lap.

I played the beta with the same char as you up until level 8 its a pretty fun class to play but you wont really be getting any good range of spells till level 7-ish same with armour and wepons for the most part.

Its never worth attacking creatures that say even challenge usually, I know you could take it down and grab the extra exp for doing so but soon enough you'll find its faster and easier to just attack the easy challenge since if you start to loose a fight theres almost no chance of escape, you'll die, loose a chunk of EXP and probably a chunk of your will to play the game too.

You loose less health and can attack easier challenges more often therefore it will seem a slow and long winded process but its a safe one that keeps you sane if you play it for 2 hours or so then play a different game for a bit to have a break.

Theres ZERO point in travelling anywhere at the start of the game until you reach a goo level 15-ish char, this is beacause enemies get hard fast, you will die, you will loose exp and you will gain nothing

I played the PC version a year ago and walked for miles at level 11 or something, saved my homepoints as I went and got myself so stuck I found it almost impossible to make it back out of the harder places without dying constantly and loosing exp each time

If your a Final Fantasy fan you'll love the characters and monster designs way more than most MMO's the villages look smart and the outside area's are good but fairly plain aswell.

To play FFXI online on 360 and enjoy it you need Time, Paintience, a USB Keyboard and the will to play the game, if you manage to get over level 10 sticking at the game you'll find after the game will get better 10 fold I had great fun partying with people I didn't know into groups of 6 or so fighting hard monsters etc really good online experience, also un-like WoW the annoying little kids that ruin these kind of games online give up because they find it too hard or not enough fun so its left to mature experienced players for the most part and a few geeks

Good Luck!

Click to expand...

TrueTrials,

Thanks. I apppreciate all of the advise and info you have given me. As posted above, Tarutarus cannot take much damage so I have avoided alot of combat. I decided to go the mission route and see if I could complete one solo. It was the mission where you go to the mines and get the field report. I need to work on getting me some Gil .... because fighting with that onion staff is like showing up with a knife to a gun fight. I'll be going out today to get that USB Keyboard.

Bulletnyourass said:

Thanks for that very long and informative post. I appreciate you taking the time to help me out.

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np

I just remembered something... even though most BLMs start in Windurst because the rank 8 conquest gear is so good for mages, you have a nice advantage by starting a BLM in Bastok. If your fame is at a decent level, you will be able to do the Metalworks quest for a level 17 Warp spell... I think the quest is for a slime oil, which is cheap from the AH under Alchemy ingredients or from the Alchemy guild. Anyway, that spell is a big advantage for BLMs in the early game... if you leave your homepoint in Bastok, you can get back to the town without having to die or travel. If you set your homepoint in Selbina for dunes levelling, then you can bail if someone in your party does stupid shit like aggroing a ghost. (Some mobs that pop at nighttime (20:00-4:00) in certain zones such as the dunes aren't beatable even with a competent party of 6.)

Ah, and the 2nd thing I forgot, because it was such a recent addition... among the cheap conquest items are rings that increase your xp intake for a limited amount of time/xp. Once you have enough conquest points, talk to the signet person and see if you can buy one. I'd go straight for the Empress Band, though the Chariot Band might be just as good for low levels. When a ring runs out of charges, you can trade it to the signet person who will recharge it in exchange for some conquest points.

Final note: Both quests require fairly high fame, but look into the Drain spell quest in San d'Oria and the Aspir spell quest in Windurst once you hit level 20 and do the Chocobo quest in Jeuno. Both of those spells are lifesavers.

Ok I was just about to make a thread about this game b/c I hadnt seen one yet. But me and Bullet are in the same boat. This isnt my 1st MMO but this is my first time on FFXI after skipping on it for so long on PS2. Ive read all the posts in this thread but are there any other general tips and strats that can be given. Not about gameplay but about navigation and such. I have a friend on Ragnarok who says she can get me on that server and I dont understand how its possible for me to jump servers like that. I hate to sound like a noob but ANY and all help will be appreciated.

Also once I find out all my server info I will post it here. But I know I will be an Elvaan male and my starting job will be Monk.

O.