New to FFXI and some questions

[torak101]

Hi everyone,

Im new to FFXI, I'm a vet of many MMO's.

This game is very nice so far but a bit daunghting. I have a Hume warrior and just hit level 5. (Im soaking in the "atmosphere" ) Im thinking of trying out a Giant guys (sorry, forgot the name)

Any tips from any vets?
I see this is a very intense grouping game that people take very seriously (dont know if that good or bad yet)
I don't think I get this "linkshell" thing, its not really a guild is it? Its a chat channel sort of?

What job combo will be best later on? My playstyle is mainly tank and I also like damage dealing classes, I have very little interest in casting at all. Melee - pet combos are good also, what FF class does that?

Anyone on my server (asura) who wouldn't mind helping me get into a good mature linkshell?

I can only play maybe a few hours a day at most, will it be possible to play this game?

Im not looking for pure solo but what can I do to balance out SOME solo with some grouping?

Oh, and does anyone have any pictures of the interior of their mog house? I would really like to see how some of the vets houses look like.

[Murphie]

Re: New to FFXI and some questions

I see this is a very intense grouping game that people take very seriously (dont know if that good or bad yet)
I don't think I get this "linkshell" thing, its not really a guild is it? Its a chat channel sort of?

Linkshells are the FFXI equivalent to a guild, although due to the lack of features, they are sort of just like a chat channel. SquareEnix leaves the structure of the guild up to the players. So some shells will have a really casual atmosphere, and others (mostly endgame) will be far more organized. As a long-time player of this game, I've always wished for more structure, but this system isn't really too bad.

One interesting point is that you can have multiple shells. You just equip whichever one you want to be in at that time, so you can have multiple guilds for multiple uses. It really depends on what you want, and what's out there.

What job combo will be best later on? My playstyle is mainly tank and I also like damage dealing classes, I have very little interest in casting at all. Melee - pet combos are good also, what FF class does that?

If you like to tank, there are two main tanking classes in the game. Paladin, and Ninja. They tank in very different way though. A Paladin tanks by healing himself and others and keeping the mobs attention that way, and Ninjas try to avoid damage altogether and use their shurikens and other ninjitsu magic to keep the mob focused on them. Both use a form of casting though, so that might not be for you.

In the early levels of the game (pre-40ish) Warrior is also a very competent tanking class, but the trend of late has been towards a damage dealing role, so it's increasingly difficult to find a Warrior who is interested in taking a tanking role. That said, pre-40 a WAR will be called upon to tank every now and then.

Re: Pet Classes

There is only one true Pet Class, and that is the Beastmaster. This is mostly a solo class, but they can work very well in parties with the right setup. That said, most prefer to solo throughout most of their career, or duo or trio with other Beastmasters. They function by charming nearby mobs and then using them to fight monsters in the area. They also have access to Jug Pets, which are summonable mobs that can help them when there isn't anything around to charm.

One of the new jobs recently added is the Puppetmaster. It's also a pet class of a sort, because they have a puppet called an Automaton that fights along side them. You can control it's movements, and upgrade it with various attachments and items. It's role is still a little ambiguous at the moment (just check out a lot of the threads in the PUP forum), but some folks seem to really like it.

There is also Summoner, who summons celestial avatars to fight at their side. This job is mostly a caster class, and very often will be called upon to act as a party healer, which means that their avatars get kind of shunted to the side. However, they have a certain amount of solo power, and at endgame, are one of the most powerful classes.

Finally, there is Dragoon. While technically a pet class, Dragoon is really pretty flexible. They are a melee class with a summonable (although not controllable) wyvern that fights along side them. This wyvern has different breath effects depending on what job you sub. If you sub a melee job it will use damaging breath attacks. If you sub certain other jobs, it will use a healing breath, which will cure you (in the case of a hybrid sub) or your party (in the case of a pure mage sub).

It sounds more confusing than it really is, but those are the pet classes in short form. I suggest checking out the job forums for each individual job and finding what sounds best to you. You have a while before you'll have access to any of the "advanced" jobs, so you'll have time to see them in action hopefully, and get a better feel for what role you'd like to play in FFXI.

Welcome to the game! Feel free to ask any other questions you may have.

[Feba]

Re: New to FFXI and some questions

If you enjoy tanking, damage dealing, and pets, Beastmaster seems good for you.


You won't really tank things over your level, but BST/NIN can take a fairly good beating 74+; BST/WAR is one of the most painful classes outthere, and BST/WHM can take care of themselves very well.

Leveling BST solo would allow you the chance to see a lot of FFXI that most people never get to see, while still being a great damage dealer when you're called upon.


On the otherhand, if you want to go more as a tank/damage dealer, your might like Ninja, although it's DD potential doesn't start to shine until over lv60, it is the only job that truly fullfills both jobs.

If you want to lean more on the damage dealing with pets side, you'd enjoy Dragoon. Not the most useful class in the game, but a strong damage dealer, with a pet that acts more like a companion than a slave. Very strong at soloing when they have to, especially over lv60.