As the first on this thread, a serious question...

[Luvbunny]

Yopop, once you hit lvl 90s, the game is just starting. There are missions to complete, high level quests, and most of all, gears to collect. That is just the tip of the iceberg. With recent news of tweaking the older contents, there will be more stuff to do still. The upside is that at lvl 90s, things are more doable with less people. As for people being clueless, do not blame them, the game is NOT very informative at all, and the only way you can get info is by googling or go to wiki. No help is given in the game itself. You are not learning your job by having a 6 people party from 1-75. You will however learn your job A LOT by solo, duo, or trio. In fact, 1-3 people party forced you to really learn your job since there is no safety net and everyone has to pull double duty and work as a team or face wiped.

As for xp gained, Abyssea is the hands down best for xp per hour, though sometimes you do need to take a break, and it's nice to know that now you have a lot of options. By making the game much more doable with less people, it makes it more intimate, fun and less of a time sink. You get to know the 3-4 people that you do seals farming a lot, and everyone actually get something in return. The game is better than ever now simply because you have options and a lot of things to do once you reach lvl 90.

[Ryoushin]

The way I look at it, and I do apologize if I am wrong, is that I recently just returned to ffxi and brought my wife along to play. As she enjoys playing her hume/taru which ever she is in the mood to play. I try an teach her what I can, but even I am limited. Before my 2 year break I was playing healer in ToAU wiether it was whm/smn or smn/whm on my taru back when seraph was still up an running. When I get back into ffxi that server was down an now my only character is on bismarck which is where my wife an I created 2 new accts and I just use my original acct as a PL/run around (when need be). Yea there are things that I have long forgotten that I have to refer to wiki for i.e. quests, missions, etc.. But even I cant do it all alone.

When I started leveling and went to /sea i find all 90's an rarely anyone in the 10-20 range for the dunes. Then I learn about the level sync and the FoV, which is all still new to me because when it comes down to looking for members I dont know where to end the level search so its like /sea all 10-90 (example). Am I leading my wife down the wrong path as a beginner, no. She said herself she wants to learn her job before she continues any missions/quests. She favors SMN because of carby, as well as I favor fenrir, which when she is ready I geuss I would have to seek some help with this as my highest job on my original acct is 60smn.

Yes she has asked me if I can help her unlock smn once she hits 30 on her taru, which is her favorite char, but for myself its slightly easy because I sorta remember where to go an what to do without having to refer to wiki for help. Would I be able to assist her get all the smns so she has them at lvl 1 smn, not a chance. Do I give up on this... No. She an I play because we want to do the missions learn the story. So far ive helped her get to rank 2 and she found that enjoyable

Though I think im getting a bit off track here I will say this, as a returning player who seems more lost then ever, that brought in a new player to learn the ropes of old school, I think im doing an ok job. Do I claim to be a expert of ffxi, not a chance, but its a game, its enjoyable to my wife an myself, its just the lack of players on our server that I see the most.

Would I like to ask for help for my wife an myself so that not only she but myself as well has all summons for smn when she wishes to unlock it, sure I would, but its a matter of who is willing. Because truth be told when I unlocked smn back in 2007 I had to pay for not only each smn and my af. Getting help wasnt free. Did I want the summons... by all means definately. Would I pay someone to assist me with this. No..

That turned me off on asking for help so I have solo'd or tried to solo 99% of everything. Since I had my original acct ive used it to help unlock jobs on my new acct as well as PL my wife an i when we duo. Once thing I should note, that while she an I partied for the first time in the dunes we were invited to a ls, which my wife turned down because she didnt understand what an ls is. Though I did my best to explain this to her, she just prefers to play with me. Does that mean we are not going to join an ls. No.. When the time is right and the right ls comes along that isnt just about crying over abyss..

As is now my lvl 31 war, thats all I get invites for anymore. Yet I turn down everything except party invites for qufim or yuhtunga jungle (sp). So I geuss I have to sorta agree with an earlier post, its the older members who 1-90 leech thru abyss, while players like myself an a few others out there who go about it the old school ways of 1-10 solo 10-18(20ish) dunes 20-25(ish) qufim .... and im sure you get my point. Is that the same route im taking now with my wife.. of course because I remember the days when dc = 50 an em=100 ...

Is the game better, yes in same ways, its also hurtful to younger new players who have no one to guide them. So heres to the new players who need a guide who will try an do my best to help and assist. Your not alone, and my help is always /welcome on bismarck.

[Fayez]

I'm a new player and I've soloed to Lvl. 20 Thief. I have referred to Wiki for help because the first few days I was on there I didn't have a clue what I was doing or what I could do.
I still pretty much have no idea about my job class, but I think I'm slowly working it out.

The bigist problem I have at the moment is the fact I can't buy equipment from the shops as its all Lvl.1 and I bought it before, and there's nothing I can buy from the AH. After reading though peoples posts on here I think I should look more into quests to get items.

I've only talked to one person though, and he's offered me help to get items for my subjob and teach me a few things which I'm thankful for because I can't kill the monsters that have the items I need (I've tried and failed) Easy pray turns out to be monsters that kill me after I put up a 5 min fight.

I also think because I don't really know how I should ask for help I kinda just don't and try to work things out on my own, And thats not really the point of FFXI. I'm Sticking to the game though, because I think It'll have much to offer after I know more about the game .

[UltraBlackone]

I'm a new player and I've soloed to Lvl. 20 Thief. I have referred to Wiki for help because the first few days I was on there I didn't have a clue what I was doing or what I could do.
I still pretty much have no idea about my job class, but I think I'm slowly working it out.

The bigist problem I have at the moment is the fact I can't buy equipment from the shops as its all Lvl.1 and I bought it before, and there's nothing I can buy from the AH. After reading though peoples posts on here I think I should look more into quests to get items.

I've only talked to one person though, and he's offered me help to get items for my subjob and teach me a few things which I'm thankful for because I can't kill the monsters that have the items I need (I've tried and failed) Easy pray turns out to be monsters that kill me after I put up a 5 min fight.

I also think because I don't really know how I should ask for help I kinda just don't and try to work things out on my own, And thats not really the point of FFXI. I'm Sticking to the game though, because I think It'll have much to offer after I know more about the game .

Do you know which world server you are on? I'd be glad to help anyway I can.

[Lunarblue]

@ Ryoushin,

I'm also a player returning from a 1.5 year holiday, and thanks to all the changes in the last year, I'm a little bedazzled by it all. I'd like to catch up with you and people like you on Bismarck. I miss me some old school.

~Lunarblue (62SMN/31WHM)

[Ryoushin]

@LunarBlue,

I greatly accept the invitation LunarBlue.. Just have to encourage my wife to want to venture outside the playing with me only stage as this is her first mmo game. Lets hope our prayers go out to all in this event that has plagued our friends across the world.

[Malthias]

I just started back up two weeks ago after an almost 3 year break and i find I have no idea what im doing. Aside from low lvl quests the game is very different. I only have a few friends online but im stuck soloing all the way to 50. The game isn't as fun for me as it was before just because A) Every single person willing to accept a party invite will only do so for abyssea B) Few people have the time outside of trials and abyssea to help with quests i cant solo because of my level and C) Since no one crafts anymore there is almost no opportunity to farm for anything of worth and im forced to NPC otherwise low drops just to scrape by. Im Mnk42/Dnc21 yet i have only the gear i can get from Conquest points. It forces me to hunt NM's by myself for drops that aren't really worth it normally because i dont have the Gil or manpower to obtain items i need till im past the point i need them.

[Logandor]

I'm almost always willing to help on outside aby stuff because to be honest aby confuses the heck out of me so I only go when the party I'm with doesn't mind me making a few mistakes here and there. Outside aby though I love to level, farm, unlock level caps, get af gear, and NM hunt. If anyone is on carbuncle server and needs a helping hand let me know and you can probably have not just me but probably a good portion of the ls I'm with there helping out. ^.^

[Legomike]

Outside aby though I love to level, farm, unlock level caps, get af gear

i love this too and will help any non leech on Garuda(Lakshmi) with it

[Laban]

I'm a (voluntary) perma-lowbie myself, and though I'm pleased I'm not the only one trying to do as much as they can solo, I'm being forced to rethink that way of playing for non-traditional reasons. The game just keeps changing before I'm ready for it to. My main fear right now is an update that somehow nerfs G2 before I get tired of lying face down in the snow.

It kind of sucks that there's really no rational pace to take the game at where all the oodles of older content would be accessible, but still very challenging.