Question about guides for new players...

[Achilleslastand]

Hi all...
Just got the game last night and was curious and looking for any guides for new players. Also what NA server would you recommend as far as population goes?

[Swear_Bear]

Yo! The only advice I can give is to try everything to get a feel for your preferred play style. As for servers, I'll always be biased and tell you to join me on Midgardsormr. I like new friends. :P

[Maero]

Well i am from NA but am on a EU server so not sure there, i would recommend to find a Free Company that you may join and help you out as you level up

[Anova]

You could roll on a EU server depending on your location. NA servers are located in Montreal, so if you have any problems connecting there, you might consider other servers.

For NA servers though, the most populous ones are Balmung, Gilgamesh, and Exodus. Midgardsamor and Leviathan are also good-sized servers, but not the largest. Community-wise, I have heard that Leviathan ranks near the top with a healthy world chat, although it will vary depending on time and which area your character is in. You will also notice that the starting areas are rather sparse in population, but don't let it get you down. Players tend to congregate near easy exp, so if you see lots of shouts for FATE groups, expect a lot of players.

Honestly, S-E already explains a lot of the basic game mechanics through the course of the story. As a new player, there is very little we can tell you except to enjoy the game and try to level to 15 (air travel between cities) or 20 (your first mount) so you can open the world up more and explore. The game is designed to provide tutorials where appropriate. If you have any particular questions, feel free to post and ask in the newbie section. I'm sure you'll get some useful responses.

As far as guides go, there are some basic class descriptions and tricks in the respective class forums. We can probably give specific advice in this thread if you have a specific class or question. The basic functions of the game and menu through the story although they only just mention macro commands and do not go in to detail about specifics. Macro guides are useful, especially for certain roles such as healers and some dps, but they are certainly not required. Hopefully the above link helps you get started. The class threads go in to considerably more detail and debate over which macros are useful and how they should be done, but that's another issue for the future.

[sinfull]

You could roll on a EU server depending on your location. NA servers are located in Montreal, so if you have any problems connecting there, you might consider other servers.

False all NA and EU servers are based in Montreal so doesn't matter which server you pick based on that assumption. I know Balmung is the unofficial RP server of the game. The legacy servers are fairly full with people but tends to have everyone at level 50 in everything so not many low level people around unless leveling an alt or new players join the legacy worlds. My opinion is sargatanus is quite a full server just have find a decent group of people it is a legacy world though.

[ShadowDan]

Also, don't forget that at level 17 he'll get access to Retainers and some much needed storage space. And by the way OP, when we mention levels like this, it's never about your character level but rather the Main Quest level that the reward comes from. Just play the game for a while, all should be made clear through the pop-ups that explain pretty much everything. And for the rest, ask around in game or here.

As for servers, Exodus is a prime example of a heavily populated server while Malboro is at the opposite end of the spectrum and is lightly populated. Each have their own advantages. High pop server = never gonna be alone but makes it easy to find people to party up with. Low pop server = peace of mind and the ability to solo some world content during the off hours (at 5am, there's nobody playing). If you intend to do some gathering, then i'd recommend a place less populated as it's very annoying to have 3 to 8 people all exploiting the same nodes. I used to be on Exodus and this happenened all the time, then switched to Malboro when it became possible to switch (RL friends there) and now even in the prime hours, I rarely have more than one other person gathering at my spot.

With that said, both high and low pop servers will have Free Companies (guilds) you can join, some small and some huge. Getting into a community is not hard if you are social and not a jerk. If you want a really big one, head on over to your server's forum here and check them out. If you want a smaller one, then make some friends in the game (or on these boards) and you'll get tons of invites.

[Niwashi]

As for servers, I'd suggest avoiding the high population ones. The usual advantage of high-pop servers in other games is about finding people to group with. Here you're likely to be using a combination of grouping with other people from your Free Company or Linkshells or else using Duty Finder to put together a group for you. In the former case, of course, it's the Free Company or Linkshell that determines your opportunities and not the server itself. In the later case, the DF puts people together from across multiple servers, so again, the server you're on doesn't matter. Thus, the advantage of a high population server doesn't really exist here, at least not to the extent that it might in some games.

On the other hand, the disadvantages of a high population server are quite evident. They have significantly more lag. They have a lot of problems in the popular FATE (open-world group content) areas in having far too many players all in the same place trying to attack the same few mobs, so the mobs are dead before many of the players even see them show up as available to target. You'll have a lot less frustration with such issues if you pick a low or mid population server but then find an active and friendly Free Company to progress through the game with.

As to other issues, pay attention to the content of the quests and to the tutorials that come up. The main quest line (the ones with a fiery outline around the quest markers) unlocks a lot of features as you go through the game, and, particularly through the first dozen or so levels, it combines explaining the story of the game with explaining the mechanics of it. Between that and the tutorial pop-ups, you should be able to understand what there is available to do. Then just try things out. There are very few irreversable decisions, so you have a lot of freedom to try things out and then change your mind later if you want to do something else. (For instance, if you decide you don't care for the class you started with, you can go ahead and try any or all of the others, and switch to whichever you prefer, or you can pursue all of them.)

[PetiteMalFleur]

Don't rely on online guides. Many have bad information. I'll only use them for quest or mob location info and sometimes dungeon help. Join a FC and ask the people you are playing with. They'll help you out.

[Houston009]

I suggest making as many friends as you possibly can. Find people who would love to go through dungeons with you just for the hell of it. In the long run, it's the people you meet in this game that keeps you playing, without them gaming can become stale and ultimately boring.