New Player/Returning Player Guide for FFXI in 2012

[Ritsuka]

You forgot to add how your able to make a 6 man party. Like use command "/sea inv all" to check everybody who has their flag up who wants to party (even tho not many ppl ever do this is very helpfu) If you find out that everybody seems to be lvl 99 then you can narrow the seach by picking the very top option and click on the level button and adjust the level cap sea. And if nobody's showing up then just use "/sea all" command and ask the people who are in the zone's you are going to be heading too. Or just ask anybody close to your level if they would like to party. Only takes a little time to get a group together a little longer now then ever cuz most newbs only want to spam grounds of valor but you well find some people who want too. Worst they can say is no thank you ^^

[IngyPie]

Very nice guide for returning / new players! I was just hoping there would be some more information about end game content for returning players. I stopped playing pretty much the moment Abyssia came out and there is so much new stuff that I just can't seem to figure out. Are there any guides about how all the new content works? Thanks!

[lordinuyasha21]

Where can I redownload the abysea edition that I purchased from the square enix store? it keeps trying to make me re purchase it -_-.

[Kevor]

Loved the guide, im going to have to look into the field of valor thing. I stopped playing just before wings of the goddess...big mistake. I was big into dynamis when I was still playing. What is the new level cap by the way? And I am super excited to see that solo play has improved a little lol.

[Reinard]

This is just what i wanted to know after rejoining and starting over - last time i played was 7 years ago~ Also looking for people from Shiva server to join me the more the merrier

[Anarai]

Gave me a good idea what to do on some questions I had, Thank you! Had completely forgotten about needing to do the subjob quest, not looking forward to trying to solo it hehe.

[Pachux]

thank you! this is a very nice guide for newbies in FFXI like me.
I just got lv 10 with my thief.
Can you give me advice about how can i get gil?
you said that npc sells armor, but i only can afford a vest.
I'm in San'd oria, where should i go next?
Also, where i can start my story missions?

Thank you in advance! I'm very lost lol

[Rustic]

thank you! this is a very nice guide for newbies in FFXI like me.
I just got lv 10 with my thief.
Can you give me advice about how can i get gil?
you said that npc sells armor, but i only can afford a vest.
I'm in San'd oria, where should i go next?
Also, where i can start my story missions?

Thank you in advance! I'm very lost lol

The guards at the gate exits from the city are on two sides. One's the fellow who will give you Signet. Usually on the other side of the gate is someone who'll give you one of the missions to rank up (your storyline missions), IIRC for Sandy the first one is to go find an Orcish Axe off one of the Orcish Fodder in Ronfaure.

Gilwise, there's some decent suggestions already in this thread, but I'll add in some easily repeatable ones that newbie monsters drop the items for.

Bat Wings: Go out in forest at night. Massacre bats. Trade Secodiand them 2 at a time in Northern San d'Oria. 200G each time you do it.
Flint Stones: Worm mobs drop these like mad. 4 stones to Legata in Southern San d'Oria (in the Lion Springs Tavern) = 120G. Do it as many times as you like.
Rabbit hides: Every 3 you get, Parvipon in the Tanner's guild will take them for 120G.
Honey: You'll need a little reputation to get this, but a few reps of the quests above will do the job. Raimbroy (the Grocery in Southern San d'Oria) will take 5 honey for 400G. Talk to him twice. First time's a cutscene, second time he'll offer you the quest. Dead bees = money!

As you can see above, knowing about repeatable quests like that can mean the stuff you've likely been selling off to the vendors makes you more money if you trade it to the right NPC. Also, finishing quests = reputation. Basically, the more times you finish quests in Sandy, the better you'll be known there. Some quests take reputation (aka fame) to open up in the first place, like the honey-trading above, and the higher your reputation is, the lower your prices to buy things in Sandy also become.

Also, you'll end up needing to visit King Ranperre's Tomb if you're doing storyline missions. Talk to Aurege in the Carpenter's Guild in North San d'Oria. He'll complain about a missing worker. That's Varchet in South San d'Oria. Gamble with him (trade him 5 Gil at a time) until you win, then go back to Aurege. He'll give you a map to the Tomb, which'll come in handy. Drop on in. Near the entrance will be a "Grounds Tome", with training routines (basically, kill X mobs). Page 1 or 2 should be doable at your level, and you can sit there whacking mobs that drop the aforementioned items while getting a nice bonus in xp and Gil now and then from finishing the page in question, as long as the mobs themselves still give exp. The brown caskets you occasionally find in there can make a nice bit of supplemental income from selling them (often on the auction house more than to vendors), and once you have a decent amount of Gil for gear from the repeatable quests, it can actually be more profitable to sell stacks of the quest items (in stacks of 12) on the AH as well. On my server, 12 flint stones go for 1000G- while the quest only gives you 300G (3 trades of 4 each). Do increase your reputation- Namonutice in the Lion Springs will give an idea of how well known you've become, see http://wiki.ffxiclopedia.org/wiki/Reputation for what he says = what level of fame- but mix it up with boosting your income a bit more with AH sales.

Also, check the AH regularly for how much what you get in drops goes for there. Those slices of hare meat you keep coming across (and can Steal off rabbits)? A stack of 12 sells for 12,000-15,000 Gil on the AH. That's a lot of newbie gear money, eh? The Auction House is likely the biggest source of Gil for a new player, long as you learn what's worth selling.