Revelations Strategy Guide FFXI

[Daemon]

Networking in FFXI

Many people wonder why they can't find a party or cannot get a group together. Even several players sit in town all day shouting endlessly. For one, you are dealing with people who don't know each other.

Ever see those people on the street asking for money? Begging for help? Maybe someone is trying to sell you something? Most of the time people ignore the person and carry on. Had it been someone you actually knew, then thats a different story.

I'm going to give you some Networking tips to help you avoid being that person who needs help and can't find it.

First off you have tools in front of you, use them.
Linkshell, Friendslist, Search.

1. Add friends to your list every opportunity you get from EXP parties, VW events, LS Friends etc.
2. Offer to help others around you than be that guy always asking for help and never helping anyone in return.
3. Bargain with friends, You help me with this trial and I'll help you with your seal hunt.
4. Always keep your promises and never let anyone down. How many times someone said they would help but something came up and eventually never got back to you? (Either they were never seriously going to help you or their needs were more important than attending to you.)
5. Do free favors for your friends and LS mates
6. Reward people for helping you by doing something nice in return such as sending that person a stack of Meat mithkabobs or a stack of silent oils.
7. Stick around till everyone gets what they came for rather than leaving after getting what you wanted.
8. Don't leave your friends hanging

Now lets sum up these 8 points
When you need help with something, you now have many friends in your list because you've spent so much time in parties inviting several cool people. Since you've offered to help others around you people know how awesome you are and how you've helped them to get their things done. They know you are not the person whose always asking for help and are very grateful that you've done free favors for them such as helped them enter Salvage rather having them spend 100k asking a stranger. They were surprised when they found a stack of prism powder in their moghouse the very next day after helping you the night before and they noticed while a few people left after getting their items, you stuck around and stayed til they got theirs. They know you never leave them hanging so there is no reason to say "NO" when you needed a favor.

As for using search function, when you need a job, sometimes one of your friends or someone you partied with before a few times thats not on your friendslist could be somewhere on another map and didn't see your shout in town.

Also add people who have unique jobs that you know you might need when the time comes.

Instead of asking in LS for help, open the list and ask them in private. When you are asking in LS people don't feel obligated to answer you.

Sometimes when you can't find a Blu for your VW party, having lots of friends you've added can help or /Sea Blu and check the list. Knowing a lot of people helps in this situation. You'd be surprised at how many people will say yes when you ask them in private.

Tip: Once in a while it doesn't hurt to check your Friendslist and say Hi, what are you up to? Need any help?

Waiting for people to ask you to do something rather than taking the initiative to get people to do things with you can change once you've built a relationship with others on a more personal level than just hanging out with people for events and exp.

Always stay positive and never let anyone give you a reason to feel down. It's important to remember that your actions define who you are in game and some people tend to have snap judgments and be rude but there are also cultural differences that tend to give people the wrong impressions. However you should know that FFXI is a small world where we interact with each other on a daily basis.

Friendslist 101
So now you have friends on your list. Just when you thought inviting people was the tough part, here is where the real work begins and here's why.

1. Only having people on your Friendslist will get you nowhere. You need to start building a personal friendship with the people you've singled out and invited.
2. Just because you had a good time with that person once doesn't automatically mean you are best friends the moment they accepted your friends request.
3. Reason 1 & 2 should be a good enough to move on to the next part.

Here are some tips:
1.The best approach anyone can take when getting to know someone on your friendslist for the first time is to invite them to your events. Invite them often.
2. Never start off asking those you barely know if they can help you. Otherwise this will make you look like you only added them because you needed help.
3. Announce your parties as "events" and "not another one of those seal hunts again."

Example 1
"Hey buddy, I'm holding an event with some friends. We plan on taking out some bosses to help each other get some seals for AF3, thought you might be interested so I'm offering you a spot if you want in."

As oppose to..

Example 2
"Hey do you want to help me with my seal hunt? I can't find anybody lol. I need my AF3 boots done. Can you please help me?"

4. Encourage your friends to join and that you can help them progress.

"Hey Dave, If you need help with AF3, come party us, I'm sure we could help you get a few done tonight.

5. Invite your friends to other things such as Missions, Farming, Questing, EXP and not just for moments you need help.

6. When partying with others, this event is not about you anymore. You must base your attention on everyone invited. That includes making a change in your plans for the purpose of giving everyone an equal opportunity to be rewarded for putting in the same time as everyone else so no one feels unfair or left out.

FFXI is a small world where you interact with the same people everyday. What you do with your time and how you spend it with people falls in your hands.

Remember in this game most people have millions of things they need to get done too and many wont help you unless they know you've helped them.