Best sites for play through guides?

[Deathgiver]

Just wondering which websites have the best, most up to date information on getting started and working through the storyline of the game, as well as how tos on crafting/gathering?

[Amaroq]

I found ffxiclopedia had pretty much all i needed to know for missions and quests...also has all the maps!

[Nakts]

Search for Grimdesires on youtube.

[Economizer]

Just wondering which websites have the best, most up to date information on getting started and working through the storyline of the game, as well as how tos on crafting/gathering?

The best information is to learn how to find information.

Get on BGwiki, FFXIAH, FFXIDB, FFXIclopedia, and Gamerescape. Read stuff as necessary.

They all have some guides (such as BGwiki's Returner, Abyssea, and Voidwatch guides), but you'll want to get in the habit of looking things up, especially prices and drop rates. FFXIAH is your best friend period.

There are two important things for new players to do in FFXI.

• Get level 99 to make everything easier.
• Make gil.

I'm going to assume that you can learn how to get to level 99 fairly easily. In the meantime, you'll need gil.

You can get gil just from leveling, whether it is from selling drops you get from killing mobs like Crystals (never leave town without Signet), or from the gil you get from training pages from Fields/Grounds of Valor books.

While you can always sell your crystals for gil, that will only get you so far. But there are a handful of ways you can turn a bit of your time into money fairly easily.

Currently Hare Meat is up in price, although you can always make some money selling Silk Thread, Beehive Chips, and Honey, as these are all fairly essential staples. Keep an eye out on supply/damand and the price when deciding how and what to list.

You can make a bit of gil doing busywork crafting and selling staples on the AH. Key things for this are Copper Ingots and Sheep Leather (which involves farming), although if you are willing to level your crafts a bit there are other recipes (such as Meatballs, and many of the Ingot synths) that will net you nice profit.

You can also go into Fishing after you have your character at level 20 when Fishing and have had your account for roughly two weeks (this involves Fishing Fatigue).

As with all crafts, look at the recipes and guides on community websites, then cross-reference them with price data from FFXIAH. Wiki sites and guides get outdated fast as the market moves, so always pay attention to FFXIAH.

When you do reach 99, you can start farming more lucrative sources of gil, such as Abyssea pop set items (again, FFXIAH is your friend), or you can try your hand at farming much tougher mobs for things like scrolls and high level synth materials.