I don't understand quests, how do I know how a quest is available?

[Ukhree]

So at $12 I decided to try ffxi, but man it's difficult for a newb...

There's nothing that indicates which NPC wants to help me or not. And better weapons are non existent in auction house.

Can someone please let me know if I can turn an option on that shows some sort of icon above an npc's head to know there's a quest available?

[Deifact]

Unfortunately/fortunately there are no quest indicators in this game. Quest indicators are a "modern" mmo thing.

If you stick around you'll find you will need to use online resources for quest information like where to find objects or how to complete objectives.

However there is no need to complete any quests to level up as you can just kill mobs outside.

[Rubicant82]

Ukhree - First off welcome to the game! :)
There as Deifact has pointed out there is not indicators for our quests, however, the Records of Eminence which is a new feature king of gives indications about what quests are available, and gives "kill quests" and the likes you can find more information in both these offical forms (and here: http://wiki.ffxiclopedia.org/wiki/Records_of_Eminence) but also a great resource of information is the quests is the ffxi wiki quest page http://wiki.ffxiclopedia.org/wiki/Category:Quests I hope that helps a little bit.

[Olor]

There's nothing that indicates which NPC wants to help me or not. And better weapons are non existent in auction house.


Another thing worth noting is you can use the points from "Records of Eminence" (called sparks) to buy weapons from an NPC.

You can also get weapons by doing missions for your city then you can buy them with conquest points - but ROE has a better selection and the points are easier to get.

You should also unlock trust magic if you have not already: http://wiki.ffxiclopedia.org/wiki/Category:Trust

Also you can try your hand at farming gear from notorious monsters if you're having trouble finding good stuff- http://wiki.ffxiclopedia.org/wiki/Notorious_Monsters:_Level_Guide

(though be warned, farming NMs can be a bit of a crap shoot!)

If you just talk to npcs you'll naturally find a lot of quests... but as you will note, most of them you'd need a guide for even if you could easily find them all, they are often really confusing. I mean some of them are straight forward but others ... I don't know how anyone ever figured them out. They also give rewards that are often not worth all the work.

You really should consider quests in FFXI as a side activity not the core leveling experience. They rarely give worthwhile gear, gil, and none of them give experience points. (Except for records of eminence!)

[Raydeus]

There's nothing that indicates which NPC wants to help me or not.

Whenever I see posts like this I feel like hugging XI. :D

[bungiefanNA]

So at $12 I decided to try ffxi, but man it's difficult for a newb...

There's nothing that indicates which NPC wants to help me or not. And better weapons are non existent in auction house.

Can someone please let me know if I can turn an option on that shows some sort of icon above an npc's head to know there's a quest available?

FFXI is from 2002, and follows the design of EverQuest and some offline console RPGs. SNES/PS1/PS2 RPGs didn't give you indicators on NPCs to say someone had a quest, you had to talk to them to find out, and some games didn't even have quest logs to show you had started one. NPC quest indicators were introduced in later generation MMOs like WoW.

Many of the relavent quests for now are mentioned in Records of Eminence, such as limit breaks, inventory expansion, and artifact armor, with more details on who to talk to and the requirements. Otherwise, it's talk to every NPC when you have a new reputation level and check your quest log.

[Karbuncle]

Whenever I see posts like this I feel like hugging XI. :D

Hey, be nice, sometimes I get lost on the way to the bathroom if there isn't a large green question mark over the door. I mean, its hard enough standing up and find the bathroom, but then having to think for myself on how to use it without a quest log describing the exact coordinates I should sit? terrible.

...

*Ahem*, okay, I had to get the sarcasm out of my system. Anywho. As has been explained, FFXI is an older game, about 12 years now, back in an era where the game and quests revolved more around exploring and talking to people, using your brain, and trial and error... rather than following mini-map icons from point to point bashing the enter key and shoving whatever 5 items you collected into the NPCs ass so he spits out your exp. Its a good and bad thing honestly, because some of the old quests were so random and vague it was maddening and impossible without a wiki >_>. But as Bungiefan stated, I would recommend in the quest log checking out the "Records of Eminence" section, specifically the tutorial section, which will point all the best information on what the important quests are... like unlocking your subjob, and so forth.

After that, I recommend doing any Records of Eminence you can, as a lot of low level weapon upgrades can be purchased through the RoE NPCs, which is the best way to get lowbie armor these days... But I do find theres a lot of armor in Treasure Caskets now too.

some good resources to have on hand are

www.ffxiclopedia.org

and

http://www.bg-wiki.com/bg/Main_Page


FFXIclopedia will have a lot of info on older quests, while BG will have your level 99 and beyond stuff most of the time. I'd also suggest finding a Linkshell, as a lot of people don't mind helping new players. Personally I really enjoy helping new players as well so long as they're not the "Can I has gil" type. FFXI has gone a long way to helping new players out, easier leveling, trusts, and so forth... but its still a rough start for a level 1 player with no friends in game and no linkshell... It gets easier when you make your way to jeuno, once there I suggest /yell-ing once or twice for a new-player friendly linkshell.

Anyway... its a rough start I know, but I'd focus on exping and doing the RoE quests, the other stuff will come to you as you progress, and again, those Records of Eminence "Tutorial" quests really help you out on getting the important stuff done.