Extremely old player, need a little bit of help.

[Tanzuko]

Here's a little background story, sorry for the wall of text.

Let me first start off by saying, when I say "old" I don't mean age-wise. I mean I haven't played FFXI for over 6-7 years. I still have the big-ol'-box with 5 discs and the Rise of Zilart expansion box, along with the 2004 spring strategy guide. :P

Installing the game itself was completely new to me, along with the payment plan. I bought the whole 11/11 pack that included all the expansions. I have no idea how to install the expansions when I don't own CD's, the playonline viewer is no help, and I can't seem to find a guide of some sort. So my first question is, how do I go about doing so?

The last thing I remember in-game, was Chocobo's still being rented and not owned. I still have a character on Asura, but with so many expansions released since then, I figured starting out fresh would benefit me. (Got a nifty hat now. :D)

I've already logged in, made my new character and starting to grind a bit. It seems that the first 10 levels haven't changed, or at least the exp required. In the long run, I'd still want to be a RNG like I used to be but I had a bit of help from a linkshell to first of all get my sub-job, along with the quest to get the feather. (I think that was it.)

So I ask Bahamut, my new home, is there any help I can get, maybe a quick tell or anything info-wise I can jump onto? I'm not saying gil or items, but a linkshell would be nice. Thanks for taking the time to read a "veteran's" story, I hope I'm not asking for too much. :P

[Concerned4FFxi]

Can come to Bismarck, if you just are level 11 on this character you can make a new on here, instead of paying to transfer. I'll be glad to lend you a hand, ls though I cant help with as I'm not in a ls that is recruiting, sorry.

[Tanzuko]

Can come to Bismarck, if you just are level 11 on this character you can make a new on here, instead of paying to transfer. I'll be glad to lend you a hand, ls though I cant help with as I'm not in a ls that is recruiting, sorry.

Well the thing is, I already used the code to get my neat hat on this toon on this server. Am I able to get another one? I really don't want to lose it if it comes to that. Also, would I have to end up paying for another character as well?

[Rewyen]

I've heard like four different things regarding the Destrier Beret. I personally think it should be sendable to any of your characters like everything else, but meh.

Honestly, I restarted and created a new character that I gave the beret to and after deciding to just bring back my old character, the only noticeable thing from the beret that I missed was the movement speed bonus. Grab an exp ring and use a page from FoV and you can literally knock out the first ten levels in less than an hour. Switch to a low level GoV area to get to 15 and the rest is disgustingly quick. Like, seriously; you can literally go from 15 to 50 in a full day, so I would say don't really worry all too much about the beret because unless you plan to solo or use any 30 or lower mage jobs on a fairly regular basis.

[starfish]

I agree you can do without the hat. it's a nice offer from that guy but the community here seems to be nice And i'm sure you will find a Linkshell here sooner or later, just be patient and make friends.

here is my advice and how I started from scratch here about a month ago , I am also returning player after 5 years of absence.it seems hard and loonly at first but I read this post which helped a lot, if you have not seen it yet have a look:

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxi/threads/20735-New-Player-Returning-Player-Guide-for-FFXI-in-2012

First, I started leveling my warrior which is my fav job, , 1 to 10 in south gutsberg was easy enuf, going in the hill there is 2 levels you can eventually make it to 15 if your patient , no need even for pages really but it can be a bonus. at 15 I started killing easy prey worms in konschtat highlands, you can do ealyer but it was my first job and I was taking it slow.

I was looking for group in that area then i got invited to gusgen mines, where i managed to get 30 in about few hours. then I was able to solo my Subjob Quest easily and started leveling some other subjobs , getting choco licese on my own.

at first it was hard because of gill issues, no maps etc, but some people were kind to me they saw the ? on me and decided to give away some gil, so i managed to buy all maps in my area which helped when I wanted to do quests and such.

now one of the most comon mistakes I made was spending lot of gil on gear early levels, even the NPC stuff. there is 2 problems, you run out of space and you can't sell them back. buy the minimum gear you need to get through the levels you need, I would recomend a weapon, and maybe bone armor as it can be used by many jobs and its usefull in gusgen mines. if you choose to stay in those basic lvl 1 armor its ok till maybe crawlers nest.

at lvl 30 and above, I recomend to try and cap weapon skills of your main job, do that by going to valkurum dunes or qufim if you can solo the worms there.

when the above is done you can try crawler's nest, as thats the best place to lvl in 30s/ 40s now, and it helps your weapons skills to be capped.

after all of that, by now you will have met many people during this time I am sure you have found an offer or 2 to join some LSs. I would not go in town or fourm shouting for a LS, you best do it by meeting people and making friends. I got my My LS invitation in gusgen mines of a nice person who invited me to party, and i have been with them since then.

good luck!

[LordNick]

If you're still on Bahamut send Lordnick a /tell. I am a very busy and casual player and an old time vet returning like yourself. I would be more than happy to help where I can!