New Player

[NiceShotNub]

Hey guys, I'm new to FFXI (Well...Sorta) and am looking to get into the party thing, the only thing is, it would definitely appear that the game has dated itself, and after walking up to a few higher level players and receiving nothing but negative responses, I've almost given up on it.

I'm still in the free trial phase, but at this rate I'm definitely not looking at paying monthly for the game. What would you guys recommend I do? Should I change servers (Currently on Fenrir) or should I just keep looking? Recommendations? Ideas?

I'm an English speaker exclusively, too, so that also limits my range.

[Economizer]

Hey guys, I'm new to FFXI (Well...Sorta) and am looking to get into the party thing, the only thing is, it would definitely appear that the game has dated itself, and after walking up to a few higher level players and receiving nothing but negative responses, I've almost given up on it.

Players can be hit and miss. If players on the forums were the judge of the general mood of the game, I don't think it would bode well for playing the game in general. That said, you can find nice players to team up with on occasion.


I'm still in the free trial phase, but at this rate I'm definitely not looking at paying monthly for the game. What would you guys recommend I do? Should I change servers (Currently on Fenrir) or should I just keep looking? Recommendations? Ideas?

Currently if you changed servers, that would probably involve making a new character altogether, and having them start on a different server, since moving an already existing character to another server costs ~$30. This said, if you have the Chocobo Beret on your character already, you won't be able to transfer it to a new server unless you transfer the character with the hat to a new server.

I'm not really sure how the community is on Fenrir, but you can probably find a group there if you look hard enough. If not, you are welcome to make a character on Valefor. Although I can't help you with everything, I can help you with a few starter missions and quests, and even some limit breaks.

This game is much easier to solo these days, but even then, it is an MMO, and it is nice to work together with other players. Having a linkshell, even just to talk to, makes the game much easier and nicer to play.


I'm an English speaker exclusively, too, so that also limits my range.

It doesn't. Some players will be Japanese, but a good chunk of the playerbase is English speaking. While there is a slight language barrier between the two communities, most players can be very polite as long as you do your best to communicate using auto translate, although it is much easier to get help from an English speaker due to the language barrier.

You'll want to join an English speaking LS, especially if you are up during unusual times (if you are up when its morning in Japan, but night in North America, you'll have a slightly harder time of finding English speakers without one).

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Basically, the game is more solo friendly. I would even say it is more friendly for new players - but it still will take some concentrated effort to rise to the level cap and have a decent set of gear. If you do decide to change servers, you are more then welcome to choose Valefor. If not, good luck anyways, this game can be quite fun and friendly when you finally get into the rhythm of things.

[Tohihroyu]

Wat is "party"? ¯\(°_o)/¯

I actually wont be surprised if this gets asked one day.

Anyways as the above said took for an English speaking ls, socials are great, don't worry (or in some cases don't even bother!) with EGLSs (End Game Linkshell)

Expect to solo A LOT your first levels, subjob items, missions & ect, depending on the server "help" is a four letter word, but if you get in a good linkshell should be all good, there's a few who even look for new players by shouting in town.

When you start getting to the Limit breaks...you might get a little discouraged from the lack of assistance (and for the first one all but 1 have moved into dangerous parts of the zone full of level 80+ mobs.

Fields of Valor & Grounds of Valor are great ways to gain levels, Grounds of Valor even more so cause so long as you stay in the zone you get more & more exp, gil & "tabs" (gil & tabs are only awarded once per game day) tabs get you buffs, food & can warp back to your home nation (Grounds of valor also lets you warp to your home point & free sneak & invisible) but a GoV area to Avoid is Dangruf Wadi...right at the first Geyser is a T-VT (Tough - Very Tough) to 90 Goblin, very dangerous area for low levels to GoV in.

Also sometimes Linkshells will have "Old school" parties, maybe try & join a social that dose that.

You gotta pay monthly, though I guess if you buy a surplus of "Crysta" you wont have to? many went this route by ether buying like... $50 of Crysta or using Ultimate Gamer cards.

[Zarchery]

Fields of Valor & Grounds of Valor are great ways to gain levels, Grounds of Valor even more so cause so long as you stay in the zone you get more & more exp, gil & "tabs" (gil & tabs are only awarded once per game day) tabs get you buffs, food & can warp back to your home nation (Grounds of valor also lets you warp to your home point & free sneak & invisible) but a GoV area to Avoid is Dangruf Wadi...right at the first Geyser is a T-VT (Tough - Very Tough) to 90 Goblin, very dangerous area for low levels to GoV in.

Oh I dunno about that. Page 1 and Page 2 are great for levels 9 to about 16. The high level goblins are easy to avoid if you just stay on the lower levels and don't go near the geysers.

[Aikagi]

If you'd like to give it another chance, and aren't high enough that you don't mind making another character, come to Ragnarok. I've got a decent group of people that are trying to attract new/returning players to join us. The majority of us have been around since early 2004, and have no issues with lending assistance to anyone.

www.fellowtravelers.iftopic.com

Send a tell to Sealdorie, Mareck or Koromer if you do decide to come over for a pearl.

[NiceShotNub]

That's the thing guys, I'm only level 12. I can move if needed.

Yesterday I got my first "Positive" response, although I was AFK at the time. I was sitting in Selbina (I think that's the name? Desert Town) and someone sent me a tell asking if I was new. By the time I returned they were gone, though.

I only played this game for a couple months back in '06, '07ish. I had a level 20 Warrior (I didn't spend every waking minute on it) and alot of my time had been spent doing EXP Parties in Valkurum, and later moving onto Jeuno and local areas there. The thing I've noticed lately is that at any time, I can globally search for players between 5-20 and only get 25 people online in the level range. When I played before, I could easily find 50-100 (I was on Kujata, back then) on all at once. In just Valkurum. The population is definitely significantly smaller.

Aikagi, I think I may move over to Ragnarok as you said. Although I think I'll stay away from Warrior, because it seems alot of people are already playing the class. Does anyone have any recommendations? I WAS thinking of being a tank, but after watching 6 tanks run right by me, I think I'll switch to something more DPS involved. Black Mage maybe, or possibly Monk. Recommendations?

Thanks for the positive responses guys!

[Aikagi]

You're certainly welcome with us!

As far as jobs go. A lot play warrior because it's widely used at later levels during NM hunting for red procs. A good war with all of their weapons leveled is a very useful thing. That being said, if you don't want to go tank or war MNK or BLM are good choices. My only concern with BLM would be the cost of the spells involved for a new player.

See you on game later tonight! (At work atm lol)

[NiceShotNub]

Yeah, I created a Taru BLM on Ragnarok, so far I'm liking. The spells aren't TOO bad, although out of my price range atm.

[Zarchery]

You may want to stay away from mage jobs. The spells are pretty costly. You can quest some of the more expensive ones (Warp II, teleports, recall spells, Retrace, Sleepga II), but some are only BCNM or NM drops, or rare drops from high level mobs (I'm thinking here of the high level elemental magic for BLM).

[Tohihroyu]

Also for those (well almost all scroll quests) you need to get "fame" in which ever city its in & also there's a few quests before the scroll one for a couple (Sleepga II requires A LOT of prerequisites but its worth it) For windurst I found Mandragora-Mad (http://wiki.ffxiclopedia.org/wiki/Mandragora-Mad) to be the best for windurst fame since you don't need to zone after each trade, you can farm Cornette's from the Mandies in East & West Sarutabaruta.

and San d Oria has Fear of the Dark (http://wiki.ffxiclopedia.org/wiki/Fear_of_the_Dark) (save up your bat wings) & Tiger's Teeth (http://wiki.ffxiclopedia.org/wiki/Tiger%27s_Teeth) (save up black tiger fangs) but for all nations but Windurst (San d Oria, Jeuno & Bastok) Only the best (http://wiki.ffxiclopedia.org/wiki/Only_the_Best) is the best the Corn & Cabbage are pretty cheap from vendors, but if you can afford it buy Boyahda Moss from the AH.

For Windurst fame some also do Something Fishy (http://wiki.ffxiclopedia.org/wiki/Something_Fishy) but you must zone after each trade, but if you set your homepoint at the homepoint crystal at F-7 in Port Windurst & warp it counts as zoning & its not a far walk, if you fish the Sardines you can also skill up fishing skill too.

[Economizer]

That's the thing guys, I'm only level 12. I can move if needed.

That's the thought.


When I played before, I could easily find 50-100 (I was on Kujata, back then) on all at once. In just Valkurum.

Funny mentioning that, Kujata was merged with Valefor a while back.


Although I think I'll stay away from Warrior, because it seems alot of people are already playing the class. Does anyone have any recommendations? I WAS thinking of being a tank, but after watching 6 tanks run right by me, I think I'll switch to something more DPS involved. Black Mage maybe, or possibly Monk. Recommendations?

While WAR can tank, it is primarily a DPS. There are a lot of Warriors because it is a powerful and popular job.

As for suggestions, your choice with Black Mage may be expensive, but it is a popular job. Warrior and Monk are also very popular and powerful. Thief and White Mage are also very popular. Red Mage is very powerful but at the moment it's popularity has declined somewhat.

For "advanced" jobs, Beastmaster, Summoner, Blue Mage, Bard and Ninja are the most popular choices, but all jobs have a lot of potential.


Yeah, I created a Taru BLM on Ragnarok, so far I'm liking. The spells aren't TOO bad, although out of my price range atm.

Congrats on finding a new home. Hopefully your experience in FFXI will be a good one. If you are ever frustrated with leveling Black Mage for any reason, remember that you can always level another job. Monk is a great choice because you don't even have to buy a new weapon.

If you need gil to buy things however, the two things a new character can do for money are crystals and beehive chips. The prices of most other things have either dropped, or are harder to get items. Quests are also an okay option for getting gil, but farming is much easier. If you plan on fishing to make gil, remember that if you fish below level 20, your fishing fatigue is limited to around 10~20 fish per real life day, rather then the ~200 fish limit you get when fishing above level 20, and this still applies even if you changes jobs.

[Zarchery]

As far as fame goes, you can do Only the Best over and over in Selbina and it builds enough fame in several cities for all the teleports. Mandragora Mad you can't do if Bastok is in 3rd place in conquest.

[Aikagi]

Hey! We looked for you over the weekend, but didn't see you. If you've still decided to play on Ragnarok don't be shy! Send Sealdorie, koromer or Mareck a tell. You can contact me on Ikagi too!

[Ninian]

If you're still on Fenrir, you're welcome to send me a tell. My characters are Niniann and Novion~

[Medrix]

Not sure if your still looking but I am on CST timezone playing on carbuncle I play mainly on sunday afternoons or midnight on thru the week I am max level of 14 and deffinitly want someone to chew the fat with and to party with send me a tell name is medrix in game