Beginner's Guide - PLEASE READ!

[sweetooth]

Oki, this is a guide to go over the basics of the game to get you started, and hopefully become a great player.

This is just the basics and will not help you in more advanced areas of playing; read forums like the job specific ones for more info on handling your character in a certain job or crafting, quest and mission forums for those things.

**Loading the Game**

Oki, first off, if you have a few hours to play, even say 6 hours... Forget playing.

This game has a Front-end Browser called Playonline that handles Mail, In-game messages, pictures you take with the In-Game screen capture, and more.

Playonline will have to be installed, and upgraded as well as FFXI, and you will need to enter registration codes and set-up a Playonline Email ( which you should do, think of a nickname, K? We all hate those people that have the default string of numbers and letters) and Handles for each and every character you will make. This process will take at least an hour if you want to even begin to understand all that Playonline has to offer. Even if you do rush through, and regret it later when you can’t Ever change your E-mail, it will still take 25+ minutes.

Then you have to Install and upgrade FFXI, which on my DSL took over an hour and a half, and if you have a phone line, it will take more like 8+ hours.

So, without even getting to the Game, you are going to burn like 3 hours or more.

My advice, Don’t get antsy trying to get into the game, go in knowing it will take forever, so you aren’t pulling your hair out.

**Playing the Game**

First thing. The only things you cannot change in this game are your race and your name; so choose these carefully, as you can switch jobs and crafting as much as you want with no penalty or loss of the former jobs, which you can go back to at any time. So think long and hard on some good name choices that you will feel good about while playing.

The basics of Race are From Toughness and less magic capable to More magic capable and less physically tough: Galka, Elvaan, Mithra, Hume, and Tarutaru. Some say the Mithra and Hume are interchangeable; some think the higher evasion on Mithra lends more to Melee, while the higher Charisma on Hume lends more to the Mage job Bard.

If you want to follow naming conventions in the game, Galka have names like SingingViper, and Tarutaru have names like the race name, with at least the final 2 letters being the same in both first and last, like Gohrabohra. Mithra names I can’t figure out, an example is NanaaMihgo. Elvaan and Hume seem to just have average or fluffy fantasy names.

Oki, Loaded and ready to Play. If you had a certain server choice, you should know that without a World Pass (A number code for a certain server, that is only good for 5 times, over the course of 6+ days) that you will be placed on the server that currently has the Lowest server population. This is not as bad as it sounds. Almost all the servers are at the same level, as those servers that are lower get all the new players and fill up fast to the point where players are assigned back and forth across several servers. Keep in mind choosing a server based on a name alone is probably not a very good choice. Age of a server is probably a better choice, as prices on items are lower…unless you are a Crafter. If you think you will be crafting, an old server will already have an overstock of items that players have already made, that didn’t go away, since they don’t get damaged or destroyed. This means you will not be able to sell any items for a profit other than some alchemy and food items which do go away, on an old server. So in general terms, just a player, old is great, but if you are planning to craft things, newer is better.

I do not know if, without a world pass, you can get to a fuller server if the current lowest population server already has a character of that name, or if you just get the “There is already a character of that name� message as it only checks the lowest population server for that name. It is most likely it only checks the lowest population server, but It’s a question some people would like answered, and if anyone knows, please post.


**Job and Race Choice**

At the same time you are trying to get in, you have to choose the race and job you will be starting on.

Choices are Warrior, Monk, Thief, White mage, Black mage, and Red mage

If you are not sure what you want to be, or if you are shooting for an advanced job, may I suggest,. Warrior or Red Mage. This is only Advice, you can of course do whatever you want, and the game isn’t so hard you can’t do whatever you want.

Even if you want to be a MNK or THF, you should probably start WAR if you haven’t played the game before.

Every melee job is considered made better with a Subjob of WAR, as only the WAR job has the Provoke ability, which is used to Taunt a monster. This means that leveling up a MNK will likely just have you switching to WAR once you reach 18 and can do the Subjob quest. Subjobs do not level up, only the main job does, so you must level up the WAR with your MNK or THF as a Subjob to the WAR, so that you can later switch the WAR to your Subjob to finish leveling up to 30; the level you have to be to complete an advanced job quest.

WAR has a lot more to offer a party at lower levels, and if you are probably going to level it anyway as a Subjob, you may as well just start with it.

Keep in mind, these are guidelines, and you can do whatever you want, but it will be easier getting into low level teams as a war, then as a MNK or THF, and if you are learning the game for the first time, easy doesn’t hurt.

For mages it’s not an easy answer like melee. Red mages are by far the most capable at low levels for soloing, but for teaming, both White mage and Black mage are needed as well. If you are unsure, I would suggest RDM, as they use both black and white magic, and can use better armor and weapons as well. So you will get an idea of what a WHM and a BLM job is like(And even melee a little), and be more versatile and able to survive while figuring out what kind of mage might best suit your style of play.

**Starting city**

There are bonuses to starting in certain cities. First, if you start in the city that your race is located in, you will get a magic ring when you start that is a nice little bonus. Do not confuse NPC stores with the Auction House in the list below, the Auction House is where players buy and sell goods from other players.

Sand’oria-Elvaan. Crafts are Blacksmith, Leather working, and Woodworking. More likely to find WAR based Items for sale at the Auction House.

Bastok-Hume and Galka. Crafts are Blacksmith, Alchemy, and Goldsmith. More likely to find a Mix of Items leaning more to WAR at Auction House.

Windurst-Mithra and Tarutaru. Crafts are Clothescraft, Cooking, and Boneworking. More likely to find Mage based Items for Sale at the Auction House.

These rings are not game breakers at all, so you shouldn’t choose just on the ring, but if you don’t have a better reason, then that is a fine way to go.

For money making, I think Windurst is best, a Mob that can be killed at about level 7 called a Crawler drops Silk thread, which is worth a lot, like 600 gil or more each. Though there are items outside every city that sells well this is the highest single moneymaker at low levels that I know of, if anyone knows more, please reply post.

[sweetooth]

More :O

**In-Game**

Oki, you are now Standing in the game.

Open the main menu and either use the command a second time, or use the arrows at the top of the menu, to access a second set of commands.

Config is one of the choices. Open that and look at the different Config options and make the game better by changing things to suit you better. I found the Colors very washed out when I started, and ended up lowering the Gamma in the Config to the minimum, making the colors more vibrant.

Read everything that all the NPCs say to you, you will learn more from the game that way, and if you took my advice above, you aren’t chomping at the bit because you knew it would take this long to get here.

The mistake most new players make is to just equip their weapon and head right out and start attacking Mobs(Monsters) so they can level up. This MMORPG plays a lot more like the single player FF games than other MMO games do, so talking to NPCs and running quests for NPCs is much more important in this game than in others, making the benefit of heading right out to level, much less worthwhile than heading into town to talk to all the NPCs. There are literally Hundreds of quests in this game, and none of them are broken that I know of, so thinking you can do the 5 quests later would be an ignorant thought.

Many of the lower level quests will give you GIL(money) or Items you can use, and every quest you complete gives you Fame for your city, and in the the case of Windurst, the nearby seacoast city of Mhara as well. Fame is needed to advance in the game, so if you head right out to level, you will just have to head back in later, and then you’ll get items and amounts of Gil that don’t help your character near as much as if you start with quests and such right away.

There is a difference between Quests and Missions. Quests give you Fame in the region, while missions give you Rank for your city. Rank is also needed, and is used by players to gauge another player’s experience in the game. Quests can be obtained all over the city from townsfolk, while the city guards located at the gates give out Missions.

Lots of websites have resources on quests, and missions, to help you find them, and to help you complete them as well as information on jobs, crafting and items. ffxionline.com, ffxi.stratics.com, ffvault.ign.com, gamefaqs.com, and ffxi.allakhazam.com are all good sites, and offer information on the game.

When an NPC wants an item or items, you just select them, and pull up the main menu, and choose Trade, and trade them the item or items.

Oki, so now, you have learned about your city, visited a few shops perhaps, and have even maybe figured out how to use the map which can be found as the bottom choice in the main menu.

Feel free to ask other players; the Auction House is an area in the cities that lots of people hang out at, so it’s a good place to ask questions.

**Etiquette**

Never beg. Asking for money is considered very Rude and some people will Blacklist you the moment you do it. Asking for help making money, or asking for someone to please buy something from you so you can get some money fast is not as rude, though some will still think you are just a Noob, since you can’t manage your money. The one time asking for money is considered acceptable that I know of, is if you ask for just a few Gil to pay for the cost of listing an Item on the Auction House, though even this can make people think you don’t know the game or how to manage your money well.

When asking questions, don’t use /shout, just go to an area where there are lots of players and ask in say, the default channel. People who shout are considered Rude by many players, and if not Rude, then they are considered a Noob.

Using Check on people is also considered Rude. If you want to know something about what someone is wearing, ask him or her. If you want to just get an Idea of what items there are, go to the Auction House and look up the Items there, all tradable items are listed in categories at the Auction House.

**Commands**

Macros will become very important in speeding up the things you do in battle and in other areas of the game, so get used to using them as soon as possible.
When you open the main menu, there are arrows near the top of it, which you can use to scroll to another set of commands. Macros are under that second list.

There will be default macros there already and you can scroll to an empty set with the arrow keys, which you should do, while keeping the defaults for your reference.

I am by no means listing all the commands, just those that will get you started.

This is the basic standard for a macro layout

/ll “Job or Weaponskill or Spell Name� <t>

…Or <stpc> or <stnpc> maybe <me> if you know you will always be Targeting yourself. The L stands for letter letter.

The spell or Weaponskill or Job ability names will Always use capitals at the beginning of each word. No other capitals are used in macros.

So a macro for healing might be something like:

/ma “Cure� <t>

A macro for a Weaponskill might be:

/ws “Fast Blade� <t>

A simple attack macro would be:

/a <t>

A useful alternate to <t> for healing other party members and yourself is <stpc> . The “st� stands for Switch Target. When this is used, you are selected by default, and can then switch targets among your team members by using the F Keys. F1-6 are used for your party members. Press enter and the <stpc> macro executes.

Commands are as follows:

/ja = Job ability
/ma = spell
/ws = Weaponskill
/a = Attack
/ra = Ranged attack

There are commands used within a macro or which can be typed in chat to display in chat channels different types of information.

<hp> =Health points, expressed as current amount and Maximum, such as 14/78

<hpp> =Health points percentage, such as 34%

<mp> =magic points, current amount and maximum, such as 14/78

<mpp> =magic point percentage, such as 78%

<tp> =Tactical Points; which is always expressed as a percent and used to enable a Weaponskill and affect the amount it may do ( Minimum 100 TP is needed to execute a Weaponskill as well as at least 10 skill in the given weapon type) such as 112%

An example of this might be:

/p My TP is **<tp>** My MP is **<mp>** <call21>

<pos> =Displays in the default channel your location on the map in grid Coordinates, like (I-8).

<call> =Makes a sound to alert other members of the team of a special ability, or Weaponskill you are about to use. This sound only functions in the party channel.

/befriend name =Add someone to your friends list. Entries can be deleted within Playonline, but not in the game to my knowledge.

/blist add name =Add someone to the Blacklist, used for ignoring people that are not the kind of person you want to play with.

/check =examine target, this is something greatly used on MOBs, but seen as rude by many when used on players. Many people even wear nothing when selling items in their bazaar to discourage being examined.

/help =This frees up a MOB so that anyone can attack it. When someone starts an attack on a MOB, only they and their party members can attack that MOB. So if you are in over your head attacking a MOB and others are around, type or use a /help macro. In the Say or Shout channel(I think Shout) it will say “Playername calls for Help!� and If anyone is near, they will come to your aid in killing the Beast. If you use /help you will get no xp for the kill, but, you won’t lose any from Dying either.

You can switch the default channel you chat into with the /cm command, which stands for Chatmode.

An example of the command to switch to the party channel as default is:

/cm party

Channels are:

Party, say, Linkshell, etc

An example of the Panic emote is:

/panic

To run an emote without the Text that accompanies it in chat you add the word motion, like:

/panic motion

For a unique emote of something you write:

/em looks up at the Stars

Which displays as “Playername looks up at the Stars�

/t name =Tell Sending a message to the player named.


People add /p blah blah to many macros to let people know what they are doing, like /p casting Cure on <t>.

These messages are sent to the server and then sent from the server to players to be displayed. This can increase lag in the game. Any of these messages that are not necessary should be avoided. Ones that do not happen in the middle of the battle matter less, and others are more needed, like /p Im Pulling that <t> with an arrow!

Others, like those that alert other team members that a Renkai, or Skillchain(executing weaponskills one after another to create additional damage when combined in the correct order) is starting, are much more necessary. Black mage spells are the best example of abilities that do not need a chat line attached. They happen at the end of a Renkai, and so no alert is needed. Even WHM cures really don’t need any chat added, if the Heal isn’t enough to save someone, saying it was a Cure IV won’t help, and the lag of the text may be what didn’t get the spell off fast enough to save someone. Those worried about 2 healers healing the same person need to find a Team organization Guide; look for the assigning Roles in the Team for healer and backup healer section.


Selecting things can be done several ways. You can click on it with your cursor, which can be very tough, especially in battle, or at a distance. You can use the enter key, for the closest selectable there is, not including you. You can use the Tab key, which will select the closest, and when you press it again and again after that, will cycle through all the selections in range. F8 selects the closest NPC and F9 selects the closest Player character.

[sweetooth]

Even more :O

**Battle and Partying**

Oki, now you are out there, wanting to kill a baddy.

Open your main menu. Select equipment. Choose a box, in this case [Main] and select it. A choice of items that can be utilized in that slot are shown at a list that appears just to the right. Choose your startup weapon using this.

If you are a mage, after equipping your weapon, click on the screen wherever you are not selecting something and a small menu pops up. One of the choices on this menu is Items. Choose that and any scrolls you have will be available for use there. Use the scroll and you have learned the magic, and can now use it.

Select the MOB, and then click somewhere that will not select something Else.

A small menu pops up. Many choices are here and this is how most players play the game when they start.

If you set up a macro for attacking, or casting an offensive spell like Stone on a mob you will quickly notice how much worse the manual method is compared to macros.

In this small menu at the bottom is Check, this will check the MOB to see how tough it is compared to you.

A macro with: /check <t> or /c will do the same thing to the selected target.

Here are the Ratings of toughness for Mobs:

Easy Prey = This should be somewhat easy to kill solo.

Decent Challenge = This will be tougher to kill, and if you aren’t using a job that Solos well like WAR or RDM, it can be very tough.

Even Match = This will be Very tough to kill alone, and most times until you have mastered the game, an EM will kill you… mark my words.

Tough = If you are not in a Team, Run! Or at least stay clear of this mob; for a team that is not well balanced, this can mean death.

Very Tough = Running won’t even help with this one if you are solo, and teams that are not full of 6 people, with a good mix may still die fighting this if they don’t have the game down.

Incredibly tough = Even full teams may fall to this level of mob if the melee don’t have some TP saved up for a WS during the battle, and or if the mages don’t have full MP.

There will be a second line in the check on MOBs that will give an Idea of the defensive ability it has compared to your attack. This will also tell you if you will get skill gains with a weapon when fighting a MOB.

People will list the above ratings in Chat for the team to know with just the letters; like EM or IT.


**When to Team**

Most people will tell you that you should solo till at least level 8, and then find a team, as the loss of experience points as team members share experience is greater at lower levels and so not worth the time.

I would disagree, and here is why I suggest you try and team at more like level 5.

Mobs are tougher as their level increases. An Even Match at level 15 is tougher than an Even Match at level 5, and some Mobs, like undead and elementals, don’t even really Rate correctly, Those two types of Mobs can be much tougher than they check. Additionally, when in areas where Mobs are DC and up for a solo player at level 5, there are often roaming Mobs that will agro you. Keep in mind, in this game, low health will cause some Mobs that don’t normally agro you to agro. Both resting and low health are conditions for the Mob AI to consider attacking, depending on the Mob.

This means, leveling solo is much more dangerous and likely to get you killed. You will be taking on less tough creatures in levels 5-8 and have to run your character around like a scared rabbit for fear that another Mob will Pounce on you while you rest. The problem with this is that with a Mob that is safe for you to solo, you will get less skill gains on the weapon you are using, so you will not have maxed skill in your weapons by the time you are ready to team up at level 8. Mages will also not be using there magic as much when solo, and so their skills will also not be maxed when they get to 8, unless you hit tougher Mobs and really risk dying several times, just to get skill gains.

If you team at level 5, the Mobs you can battle will be tougher, so the Melees will get skill gains and Max the skills in their weapons earlier, and mages will be casting a greater amount of the overall battle, so they too will increase their main skills to maximum before they would normally start to team.

Teaming early will also help you learn about the team mechanics and how teaming works; what makes a better team, what parts are needed more than others. All these lessons will make you even more effective as a team member when you go to areas where almost no one is soloing, and everyone is looking to get into a team; which in turn will make you the kind of player people will respect more and want to team with again. More soloing will not necessarily make you a better team player.


Hopefully this information will get you off to a good start in FFXI Good Luck!


P.S. If you are a high level player and tempted to reply with a comment that some of this doesn’t apply to you now that you are higher level, please keep in mind, it’s not supposed to apply to you.

[valru]

best guide i hav seen for noobs mods sticky this thread now!

[doctor 7]

Thanks very much. Best n00b guide I've read (and I admit I need it).

[sweetooth]

I have applied

Thanks, I have appplied with Pia Pia Master for consideration, so maybe it will be made sticky

I made this in response to all the questions I see here, most of which seem to be within what I wrote, or really not for this forum at all, like the technical questions you see here.

That and the fact that there wasn't already a beginner guide to help people get started if this is where they went looking.

[Taurius]

Very well made. The macros are the things all new players really need to learn how to do.

[sweetooth]

bump

Bumping this, I would have thought there was a reason to have a guide like this here or main topic.

Most new players seemed to post questions here, so this is where I posted this.

[Yamasaki]

wow a good FAQ for the begineer.
Extra more a bit ok? Well all the begineer was also aim this goal.
Lv 18 support job
Lv 20 Chocobo Quest.
Lv 30 Extra job quest.-BRD,SMN,RNG,BST,SAM,DRG,DRK,PLD & NIN

[rippel]

Originally posted by Yamasaki
wow a good FAQ for the begineer.
Extra more a bit ok? Well all the begineer was also aim this goal.
Lv 18 support job
Lv 20 Chocobo Quest.
Lv 30 Extra job quest.-BRD,SMN,RNG,BST,SAM,DRG,DRK,PLD & NIN

whats the difference between the support jobs and the extra jobs?...i thought the extra jobs were the support jobs..or are you just saying its only quests, not acutally more jobs

[rippel]

Originally posted by Yamasaki
wow a good FAQ for the begineer.
Extra more a bit ok? Well all the begineer was also aim this goal.
Lv 18 support job
Lv 20 Chocobo Quest.
Lv 30 Extra job quest.-BRD,SMN,RNG,BST,SAM,DRG,DRK,PLD & NIN

whats the difference between the support jobs and the extra jobs?...i thought the extra jobs were the support jobs..or are you just saying its only quests, not acutally more jobs

[stabby]

The support job (usually referred to as subjob) quest gives you the ability to have a second class at half level to your main class, giving you additionaly abilities and stat boosts.

The advanced job quests all unlock a certain advanced job (see the ???s in the 'change job' menu in your Mog House? You unlock each of those individually) as listed above.

[Yamasaki]

Main Job &amp; Support Job

Main job was the any job that u wish to use in the first time. You may change it anytime in Mog House.

Support Job was the 2nd job that use with the Main Job. Also can change it anytime when in Mog House.

In the FFXI only Main Job will gain Exp, but Support Job won't.
Support Job also need to see How many LV did Main Job gain.
Such as Main Job is RDM 40 then Support job can raise LV up to 20 as the Limit. I prefer use RDM as Main Job with the Support job of BLM at my first time decide.So I gain RDM lv up to lv 18 then get the Support Job in Selbina. This quest is more easy compare with the Mhaura quest.... Bogy is the hardest hunt when in the low lv. This Bogy is required from the Mhaura quest.
After get the Support Job then I change BLM to be Main job with other Support Job... that was WHM. Raise my BLM until lv 10.
Change my Main Job to RDM 18/BLM 9 only. That was i mean.

[Kurgan]

/check =examine target, this is something greatly used on MOBs, but seen as rude by many when used on players. Many people even wear nothing when selling items in their bazaar to discourage being examined.

Actually a lot of bazaaring people wear no equipment so that they can hold more items to sell in their bazaar! Put all of their equipment into their mog safe and load up on items to sell and go sit in town without equipment. Not like you need it in the middle of town!

For you beginners, I'd recommend buying some food if you can spare a couple hundred gil. Eaten foods generally last 30 minutes (some are more) and can enhance your characters' strengths. I'd recommend mages take a look at pies and juices, and melees take a look at mithkabobs. My 2nd character playing white mage clearly solos better at low levels while having eaten apple pie. It only costs me 300 gil per pie, or 1500 gil for an entire stack of 12! (that's SIX hours of gameplay with enhanced effect.. it goes a long way!)

[sweetooth]

Keep in mind, this is for people that have never played the game. They probably wont be getting much extra gil to spend for at least the first week, and they may make a few purchases they regret as they run around for hours finding shops and checking the AH and such.

So, 1,500~ Gil will be a whole lot to spend on something that will go away.

But, for food, at the lowest levels, boiled egg is pretty nice, especially for mages.

+8 to max HP and MP, so they can take one more hit, and have enough for one more heal, or almost one more nuke.

At lower levels 8 is a decent amount, and unlike a stack o apple pies that can cost 1500~ gil, a stack of boiled eggs is only like 800~. ( Your mileage may vary on price.)

Everytime I start a new job and am at level one, I have boiled eggs with me. They don't help melee as much. but I think a regular egg gives just +6 or +8 hp, and no MP, not sure, I always boil em


Another post that might be Great, would be a listing of all foods and what they do. As I recall cinna-cookie was pretty good, and Im sure there are lots out there.

Also keep in mind, that some foods help one area, but lower another.