Can i still get a mount in the game?

[Spectreman]

Im returning after 8 months and i just found that there are mounts in FFXI like the crab one. Can i still get them? I never got into the chocobo thing because they are slow and i dont like playing tamagotchi.

I'm also starting a new character without any help from my main to feel some fear from doing nation quests or even Maat. I wonder if i should use trusts or really solo all the way to 99.

Sucks there are no merit parties anymore, they were boring most of the time, but soloing is boring all the time. SE could make meriting being fun again for parties?

[Rooj]

There's really no reason for merit parties anymore - they literally just THROW EXP at you now everywhere you go in this game. You'll soon be to the point where you're just sitting there with capped merits and the EXP is going to waste.

All event stuff eventually comes back around, you're probably going to have to wait a year to get the crab since it was just a month ago. You should have the raptor for now from the quest, though.

[Morovich]

There are parties for Capacity Points when you get to that point at least some feel for the old merit parties. Merit parties aren't really needed now since, as Rooj said, EXP is so easy and quick to obtain now with trusts and such.

As for mounts indeed you get the Raptor after completing the quest, yoy can also turn your chocobo into a mount as well. I'd say just stay tuned and watch the website for announcements they should/will bring them back at a later point.

[Vinedrai]

Im returning after 8 months and i just found that there are mounts in FFXI like the crab one. Can i still get them? I never got into the chocobo thing because they are slow and i dont like playing tamagotchi.

Your first mount (raptor) is a reward from a quest. Others are from campaigns and mount speed is the same across all of them so you may as well not worry about missing any of the additional mounts.

I'm also starting a new character without any help from my main to feel some fear from doing nation quests or even Maat. I wonder if i should use trusts or really solo all the way to 99.

You should solo them with trusts. You can do the mission/quest battles at their intended levels if you really want a part of the old school challenge. You will most probably never be able to find people to challenge those battles at their intended levels anyway.

Sucks there are no merit parties anymore, they were boring most of the time, but soloing is boring all the time. SE could make meriting being fun again for parties?

Capacity points parties are the new merit parties.