Is anyone even willing to allow new players in the game?

[PeaceWalker]

I just started today after ignoring most of the stuff people say against rolling a new character amidst the current community.
So I made a new character and spent over 2 hours trying to talk to someone, everyone would either ignore me or tell me my level was too low.
I ask you: why are most of the players so against new players?

[Juri_Licious]

Dunno, when you're a newb that's usually when people are most helpful.

[Ryce]

I don't think anyone is AGAINST new players. I'm sure some people are tired of the chore of bringing a new player up to speed... we've been doing it for 7 years. It's not as bad now as it used to be, but FFXI is very new-player-unfriendly. Not the player base, but the game itself. It forces you to find a large group of players in the same boat as you, or to find a high-level player to unlock stuff for you or walk you through dangerous territory.

I, for one, always enjoy helping a new player learn the ropes. If Bahamut doesn't work out for ya, make a character on Odin and look me up. I like revisiting the low level content and making a new friend in the process ^^

[Dfoley]

Honestly, you were probably talking to JP people who refuse to use auto translate because they are uncomfortable with languages they don't know. As a result they don't use AT because its not an amazingly accurate system (/shock i know).


Your best bet is to find 1-2 people who speak your native language and don't mind playing 1 million questions. It is not that most people hate newbs, its that they hate answering questions that are already posted on one of 12 fan sites.

[PeaceWalker]

I don't think anyone is AGAINST new players. I'm sure some people are tired of the chore of bringing a new player up to speed... we've been doing it for 7 years. It's not as bad now as it used to be, but FFXI is very new-player-unfriendly. Not the player base, but the game itself. It forces you to find a large group of players in the same boat as you, or to find a high-level player to unlock stuff for you or walk you through dangerous territory.

I, for one, always enjoy helping a new player learn the ropes. If Bahamut doesn't work out for ya, make a character on Odin and look me up. I like revisiting the low level content and making a new friend in the process ^^

Well, I might just remake on Odin.
I only picked Bahamut because it was the most populated server.
Are you really okay with me contacting you there?

[Drai]

I don't think anyone is AGAINST new players. I'm sure some people are tired of the chore of bringing a new player up to speed... we've been doing it for 7 years. It's not as bad now as it used to be, but FFXI is very new-player-unfriendly. Not the player base, but the game itself. It forces you to find a large group of players in the same boat as you, or to find a high-level player to unlock stuff for you or walk you through dangerous territory.

I, for one, always enjoy helping a new player learn the ropes. If Bahamut doesn't work out for ya, make a character on Odin and look me up. I like revisiting the low level content and making a new friend in the process ^^

I don't think the game is really all that new player unfriendly, because of Grounds of Valor and Fields of Valor it's never been easier to level jobs, the only tough part is getting the level caps done solo up to level 75, after 75 the caps are easy peasy

[Aikagi]

I think you just have to find the right people. My shell has gained several new players over the past month, and I've learned through helping them just how easy to is to get them going and up to speed with things. No, they're not 95 yet but within a week of playing they've got many of the advanced jobs leveled up and already in the 30s with more than one of them.

I helped a few of them find their way through Giddeus for kazaam keys over the weekend, which was really fun to see how people react to zones I've found to be "Old news" when they navigate them for the first time. I found it rather refreshing.

Not everyone is as nice, and I think a lot of older players are turned off by the large number of new players that have a habit of begging for things.

If Odin doesn't work out for you you're welcome to join us!

[Nianny]

The linkshell I'm in has gathered a group of returning/new players and some veterans.

From what I see Asura has quite an influx of new players so if you decide to come over here feel free to send a /t to Nianny or Suraj and I'll gladly pearl you.

[Varlan]

This game is not new player friendly. Though, I have had a couple of people help me get my level cap quests done, but mainly getting help is hard and getting information from the players is even harder. My wife has helped a few people who didn't have a subjob and couldn't get help. She said that no one would help them and there are no groups out in Valk. One guy didn't even know what a subjob was. The game at this point is totally massive. To this day I have no idea what Sky is or Dynamis. The only reason I really even know their name is because I did some research and checked some websites. After playing WoW for so long, I'm just in the habit of doing that. But not everyone is into that sort of thing.

The community as hole is really unforgiving like it is expected for people who are new to the game are supposed to spend a lot of time doing research and all that. When the reality is that the players are really the best resource. But in my opinion, the FFXI community is old and there aren't a whole lot of really new people joining in. Maybe ultimately that's a bad thing in more ways than one. At least in my experience.

[Drai]

Honestly, it's up to perspective how newbie friendly/unfriendly it is, I happen to think it's newbie friendly, but i'm also the only mentor logged into Bahamut on a given day lol, I honestly get like a million tells a day, and I do sometimes turn the mentor flag off during events, but otherwhise I am willing to help people that ask