New to the game. Totally overwhelmed.

[Galdous]

I played the game originally back in 2002 with rise of the zigart but never really made it past level 30 because I could never get use to the gui.. I want to play the game and really dig into it to see if I can enjoy it between ff 14 and this game but seeing all of the information about the game is really overwhelming. I want to be a scholar but reading about the hundreds of spells we have, job points and 20-30 sets of gear to act as a stunner, healer,debuffer,nuker and support with our sky shifting spells and helixes is just a mind bender to me.

I am not looking for someone to take me into the game and power level me. It took me 3 days of dying constantly to get to the main city that most people hang out in and last I played I had to do a quest line to be able to hatch my chocobo. I am looking for someone to mentor me and teach me about the game please. I also heard you can do quests to unlock npc adventurers to journey with me. I sort of want to try to go through most content in the game and just enjoy being a scholar. If anyone on my server or another semi active server is around and wants a pet newbie a few weeks/months that will play scholar for his main I do not care to be a heal bot or debuff/stun bot for whatever you want. I will be your student and move to the server that you are on. In that regards I bid you a fond farewell and if you play on ff 14 I can help you in return on that game if you so wish it.

Honestly I only made it to level 30-31 on my white mage because some group kept seeing me die a few years back over and over and let me leech in some mines event long enough to let me become a scholar. That is where I left off.

[Naraku_Diabolos]

The reason I left FFXI is the same as yours. This game doesn't explain what to do. In an age way before modernized MMOs, this game made you explore on what to do. It's a dying breed. Like me, I went back to FFXIV and finally canceled my subscription to FFXI. Even as it pains me, FFXI is a shell of it's former self and the last of a dying breed.

[vienne]

Welcome back to FFXI, I'm on the same server as you...Vienner on there though. I'll gladly help you with w/e info you need, its alot easier to just ask things to long time players who know the ropes then having to look everything up
Do not listen to the bitter people on this forum, FFXI has become a very enjoyable game with alot of content to do and alot more comfort then it used to be.

[detlef]

That person is particularly bitter. Check out his post history. Yowza.

[Shirai]

As above, I'm happy to answer questions and play on the same server.

Don't fret however if I do not answer for extensive times as I am away from keyboard quite a lot.

[Deede]

The reason I left FFXI is the same as yours. This game doesn't explain what to do. In an age way before modernized MMOs, this game made you explore on what to do. It's a dying breed. Like me, I went back to FFXIV and finally canceled my subscription to FFXI. Even as it pains me, FFXI is a shell of it's former self and the last of a dying breed.

Yet you linger, waiting for threads like this one to put the game down whenever you get the chance. You seem bothered even more so when it is a new returning player from your adored game FF14. I am genuine glad for you that you're content playing FF14... move on and quit trying to intimidate other returning players from experiencing the game themselves. IMHO I feel FFXI is better than ever, still beaming with life. Times have indeed changed and they have eased up on a lot of quests/missions etc.. that would normally take longer to complete.

[Catmato]

Yet you linger, waiting for threads like this one to put the game down whenever you get the chance. You seem bothered even more so when it is a new returning player from your adored game FF14. I am genuine glad for you that you're content playing FF14... move on and quit trying to intimidate other returning players from experiencing the game themselves. IMHO I feel FFXI is better than ever, still beaming with life. Times have indeed changed and they have eased up on a lot of quests/missions etc.. that would normally take longer to complete.

Trolls are like advertisements: if you ignore them, they lose their effectiveness and go away. Don't feed the troll.

[Galdous]

The game not explaining it all to you is fine to me. FF 14 did not give you the best rotation off the bat but people had to run tests and figure out the best rotation which according to the devs was higher then internal dps tests. EQ did not tell you everything and figuring out the epic quest line when the epics came out in EQ was daunting as well. Eventually websites had the info but learning is fine to me. It was the horrid GUI that really turned me away but this time I am going to overcome my self limitations but I think I need alot of help. Having to swap out sets of gear based on my role as a scholar seems the most confusing. Something about weather change to increase dark art potency as a scholar and having a set of gear based on elemental type or even when used as a stunner just goes over my head. Seems I need a set of gear to dps/stun/debuff/heal/support along with macroes swapping between my mortarboard for the mana to hp regen then swapping back to a gear set to increase the duration of my regen 5. Wow is all I can say at how complex this game appears with such a archaic GUI.

Had SE finished development of a new GUI I could have stomached the rest and yes I will look forward to a few long conversations within the next day or two about how to properly set my gui up for efficiency.

[Moppet]

The game not explaining it all to you is fine to me. FF 14 did not give you the best rotation off the bat but people had to run tests and figure out the best rotation which according to the devs was higher then internal dps tests. EQ did not tell you everything and figuring out the epic quest line when the epics came out in EQ was daunting as well. Eventually websites had the info but learning is fine to me. It was the horrid GUI that really turned me away but this time I am going to overcome my self limitations but I think I need alot of help. Having to swap out sets of gear based on my role as a scholar seems the most confusing. Something about weather change to increase dark art potency as a scholar and having a set of gear based on elemental type or even when used as a stunner just goes over my head. Seems I need a set of gear to dps/stun/debuff/heal/support along with macroes swapping between my mortarboard for the mana to hp regen then swapping back to a gear set to increase the duration of my regen 5. Wow is all I can say at how complex this game appears with such a archaic GUI.

Had SE finished development of a new GUI I could have stomached the rest and yes I will look forward to a few long conversations within the next day or two about how to properly set my gui up for efficiency.

Keep in mind that a lot of guides and player advice are pointing to absolute optimal setups. You shouldn't need to worry too much until you're facing difficult content.

Gear switching has been made a lot easier now though with the inclusion of gear sets. You can make a number of gear sets and switch to different ones easily in a macro with /equipset # (http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxi/th...Equipment-Sets) Using those simplifies it a lot.

[Shirai]

Keep in mind that a lot of guides and player advice are pointing to absolute optimal setups. You shouldn't need to worry too much until you're facing difficult content.

Well said, you shouldn't worry about optimizing those sets or even getting all sets just yet.
For normal every day things you'll be fine with having sets for healing, nuking and support, it's only when you start going for the high end content where you need to think about situational sets like stun sets and optimizing your regen set.

For now, play the game, do and definitely enjoy the stories, level Scholar and your subs and familliarize yourself with its tools, gimmicks and quirks.
Only then, when you want to move on and want to become a top notch Scholar specialist, start investing time in becoming one.

While there is no wrong in doing some research beforehand, don't break your head over it, enjoy the game first.