Suggestions: Quality of Life Stuff and other suggestions

[Blbelt]

I am a returning player starting over. Even with my previous characters I never made it past 70 and I have never participated in FFXI's end game, nor am I in an hurry to do so. Here are my thoughts about the early game though:

1) Make Trust NPCs usable in mission fights. I want to go through the story *as* I level, not once I'm level 99. Makes the leveling experience much richer.

2) Make Trust NPCs usable for garrisons, and make garrisons soloable by a player with 3 alter egos (albeit with some difficulty). This would be a great introduction to group combat for new players. Heck, revamp garrisons completely -- so much you could do here.

3) *removed*

4) Add a mini-map (can be toggled on and off)

5) Clean up early-level quests. Some I've noticed are very finicky as to when they are available. For example, Windurst quests "Food for Thought" and "All New C-2000" were not readily available to me at level 10. Had to keep checking back.

I don't like that the lower levels are treated as a bland chore to be sped through as quickly as possible. I don't like that level 1-70ish gear is "pointless," and the idea is to get to 99 before you even bother with things like story line or quests. Personally I want to experience something other than FoV/GoV/repeat *as* I level, not once I get to 99.