Hello!

[Ritsuka]

No reason to be shy, you obviously have a good sense of humor. Best to go to some Gusgen Mines party and start random chitchat with people, maybe even ask if any of them is in a social shell. Can also /shout in Jeuno for a social LS, many are always accepting members. Even if it doesn't turn out to be the right shell for you, you still get to meet some people and it'll spread from there. It also gets easier in endgame when you can team up with lots of random people to do VW, for example. I think I met more people during VW than my entire previous FFXI career because it basically forces lots of new people on you almost every run you do. Not all of them will end up on your friend list, but it helps make these fights more entertaining, and you will remember people and /wave at them when you see them again, which happens a lot in here.

If you really want to learn how to play this game right then you stay away from grounds of valor fields of valor big a$$ 18 man party's you wont learn how to play your job like that and your skill will be very low as well as your damage. Sure you can skill up on your own but its best and smart to do it as you level if your behind then you can solo skill up or even
make a skill up party (god i haven't seen one of those for years -.-) If you have a lot of time try forming a party of 6 man
you can do pages in some spots if you like. You kinda notice the exp is a lot faster and is not pain like it use to be. Its 5x faster then it use to be some 6 man party's are really good exp wise better then 18 man. After a wile if you do make your own party's your notice they are easy to make as you get use to forming them.

[Arcon]

Sure you can skill up on your own but its best and smart to do it as you level if your behind then you can solo skill up or even make a skill up party

I'd ask you to elaborate on the bolded part, as it sounds utterly ridiculous to me, but I'm afraid it'll turn this thread into yet another leeching discussion, and Lord knows we've had plenty of those.

The best way to play is to play how you like it. If you feel you need to get to know your job some more before you get into the higher levels, then by all means, take your time, solo, try some lower level NMs or do quests/missions at your level. Otherwise just level it up, jobs and their roles change a lot at higher levels and aside from general gameplay-lessons you won't need much of what you learn at lower levels later on. And skill is a lot faster to gain at higher levels as well, so shouldn't worry about that too much. As I said, just play how you feel like.

[TentacleMayor]

I'm new too. Which worlds are good in general for new players?