New, haha

[Mortalis]

Sup all. I just got the game yesterday, anddd I have a couple question. Bare with me if they get a little too newbish...

1: Is a new player going to have a tough time with this? As of right now, I'm a lvl 6 War from Bastok. When I go to the search for a party screen, it's usually only high levels searching for a party. I'm on the Ifrit server by the way.

2: On to the 'newbish' stuff. What are the icons next to your name? Before I had a question mark(for a new player I assume), now I have a green gem. What do they mean?

3: I was reading a post earlier(In the NA bashing thread), and they were talking about people not using potions. So, I go into the shop to buy some, and they are something like 900ish gil? Is there an easier way to go about getting potions, because right now, I'm about broke.

I was looking for the newbie zone or something like it to post these in, but I couldn't manage to find one, so I gave it a shot here. After a couple long years, I decided to finally give FFXI a try. I was around during that whole, 'FFXI vs EQOA' debate that was going around, if anyone remembers that. I stuck with EQOA, but decided to giv eit a break. So yeah, any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

[DakAttack]

Re: New, haha

1) As tough a time as anybody else. Save up those crystals and beastman seals. In the beginning levels crystals will be your ticket to the moneytrain, and beastman seals will pay off later, around level forty.

2) The gem, as you put it, is the color of your linkpearl. The question mark means you're new, the sack means you have items in your bazaar, and the exclamation point means you're seeking a party.

3) Nobody uses potions unless they're at a boss fight or NM. They're too expensive to use in EXP situations.

[Callisto]

Re: New, haha

Sup all. I just got the game yesterday, anddd I have a couple question. Bare with me if they get a little too newbish...

1: Is a new player going to have a tough time with this? As of right now, I'm a lvl 6 War from Bastok. When I go to the search for a party screen, it's usually only high levels searching for a party. I'm on the Ifrit server by the way.

2: On to the 'newbish' stuff. What are the icons next to your name? Before I had a question mark(for a new player I assume), now I have a green gem. What do they mean?

3: I was reading a post earlier(In the NA bashing thread), and they were talking about people not using potions. So, I go into the shop to buy some, and they are something like 900ish gil? Is there an easier way to go about getting potions, because right now, I'm about broke.

I was looking for the newbie zone or something like it to post these in, but I couldn't manage to find one, so I gave it a shot here. After a couple long years, I decided to finally give FFXI a try. I was around during that whole, 'FFXI vs EQOA' debate that was going around, if anyone remembers that. I stuck with EQOA, but decided to giv eit a break. So yeah, any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

1) You'll get the ropes soon enough, my advice: When you see a higher-level player that has jobs/gear you like, ask for advice. Try to be specific with questions, and use decent spelling/grammar (not "how u git that swrd"). Lots of higher level players enjoy giving lower players advice, it makes us feel nostalgic and grown up. However, try to limit these questions to things like gameplay mechanics and party manners. If you want to know how to do a quest, look it up on a resource site like the FFXI wiki instead of blindly asking people.

Also, to narrow the search down, you can set a level range, look for a specific job, or sort for people who are looking to party up by using the right text commands. '/sea' is to seach, 'all' will search all areas, the shorthand for the job will search for that job, 'inv' will narrow down to people who are looking to party, and adding a number range will look for those levels. Ex: '/sea all war 5-10 inv' will search all areas for warriors from level 5-10 that want to party. You won't really start partying until 10+ though, just FYI.

2) The gem next to your name is your linkshell.

3) Most medicines are used only for tough fights, as they're a little expensive. They are mostly made through the Alchemy craft. Don't waste money on them for casual play. Antidotes, however, are good to carry around, especially as a lower level non-mage, to cure poison so you don't die from it(stupid lizards!).

[Necropolis]

Re: New, haha

Hello and welcome to Ifrit! I think most of your questions have been answered in the above post, but feel free to /tell me any question your might come across in the future.

To send a tell just type:
/tell "Name of Person" message

ie
/tell necropolis hi!

I'm on quiet a bit, and usually bored out my mind, so feel free to ask away.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: New, haha

Well, since I came to FFXI from EQOA myself (wow, its still online?) I'll give you some differences:

First off, that whole "need before greed" thing we went by in EQOA? Doesn't exist here. In fact, don't lot loot at all in EXP, just let it drop randomly to whoever or suffer the wrath your fellow players. Lotting loot is for rare occasions such as BCNM (where permitted), NM fights (where agreed upon) and endgame stuff (where you bid points SO you can lot stuff).

Here are the reasons for what that is:

(1) Japanese players have a funny idea of what "need" and "fair" is and FFXI started out in Japan, so player trends bleed over from there whether they make sense or not. Don't question it, just conform.

(2) In FFXI, armor and weapons don't get the wear and tear you see in MMORPGs like EQOA, so tanks and melee who tend to repair armor the most elsewhere don't deal with that here meaning they don't get to call rights to loot for repairs like they did in EQOA.

Yes, this unfortunately means Rangers have to foot thier own bills for ammo. Ninjas require magic tools to tank as well, so basically, if you play and expense-based job, the players of FFXI expect you to do so as a charity to them, don't expect any easy returns. Yes, its stupid. Don't question it, remember where this philosophy of play came from. Right, Japan.

(3) Final Fantasy - like World or Warcraft - comes from a franchise and attracts and mainstream player base, whereas Everquest really was just one game before EQOA in the franchise. As such, expect to deal with more children than you would in EQ or EQOA. Expect less maturity and a fair share of greedy players. That's not to say EQ is without is immaturity and drama, its just more common in FFXI because people were weened on FFVII's emo.

Aside: Remember those jerks in EQ that would charge you for a rez? People who asked to be paid for rezzing in FFXI tend to get lynched. Don't do it, ever.

Now that's all very cynical, but I'm just not going to lie about the differences. FFXI is very different culturally from EQOA. In a lot of ways, I wish a little more of EQ's community philosophy was present in FFXI.

Find a good social linkshell that welcomes new players and is willing to help them out. Its not easy being a new player in FFXI these days, but its still managable to get to high level and enjoy the game. You'll find that patience is a virtue here and that if you want to be the best at your job, learning skills from other jobs is a must.

[Mhurron]

Re: New, haha

First off, that whole "need before greed" thing we went by in EQOA? Doesn't exist here. In fact, don't lot loot at all in EXP, just let it drop randomly to whoever or suffer the wrath your fellow players.

In all that you could have told the whole truth just once.

In EXP, how often does anything of any value or importance drop? 99% of people will be happy to let you lot for it and pass on it themselves so you can have it as long as you don't seem to be trying to ninja it. Just ask ahead of time so your party knows what you're doing.

I partied with a guy who would lot on every crystal because it's how he made gil. Except he didn't just lot for all of them, he did it while the party was in the middle of a battle hoping that no one would notice. That's just plain rude and there's no problem with telling him to get lost.

[Omgwtfbbqkitten]

Re: New, haha

In all that you could have told the whole truth just once.

In EXP, how often does anything of any value or importance drop?

Its no longer of much value to you, but we're talking about a player just starting out, I'm explaining why its done the way its done. There are instances in both games where you might come upon an notorious monster you can fight in PT and in FFXI, it would be handled quite differently than it would be in EQ.

Since you only have one job per one character in EQ, need was usually respected and jobs that could make use of the gear could lot it. But in FFXI, since everyone could be any job the wanted, some look for the profit opportunity instead of need. Or, worse, lot on something they can't use yet.

Thankfully, you do have conquest points you can also cash in on as you rank up your character in nation missions. You can get equipment there and so on. But otherwise, its hours of farming weaker critters, NPCing the loot or bazaaring/AHing it.

Money in FFXI is made slowly and sometimes NPCing items is more worthwhile and other times its not. BCNMs are an important means of making gil. Crafting is really only profitable if you farm the materials yourself and, since player are greedy, sometimes the materials end up being worth more than the final product.

[Mortalis]

Re: New, haha

Thanks given to all who responded. I actually do have another question. I heard in some report(admittedly, it was a report that bashed FFXI), that said only certain weapons were acceptable by players in the game. If you didn't use specific types of weapons, people would boot you from groups, ect. Is there any truth behind this? If so, which weapons are considered welcomed? If not, all good then.

Also, Thanks for the offer Necropolis. I think I may take you up on that offer. Alot of things are kinda confusing me at the moment, so I may give you a pm sometime ingame.

As well, Omgwtfbbqkitten, yep! EQOA is still up and running. While not nearly as active, it's still going. Apparently theres some big plans for it in the future, as said so by the devs, but I wouldn't put my hopes on that. I'll have to learn to adapt to the changes in culture from EQOA to FFXI, whatever they may be. I'm sure I'll get it in time.

Ps: I assume Summoner is the closest job to a Necromancer, so, along the lines of the weapons questions, are all jobs looked apon as useful in FFXI? Or is there some I'll want to steer clear of? If not, I think Summoner sounds right for me!

Thanks again.

[Mhurron]

Re: New, haha

Thanks given to all who responded. I actually do have another question. I heard in some report(admittedly, it was a report that bashed FFXI), that said only certain weapons were acceptable by players in the game. If you didn't use specific types of weapons, people would boot you from groups, ect. Is there any truth behind this? If so, which weapons are considered welcomed? If not, all good then.

Yes this is true, but it's not quite "EVERYONE USES SWORDS OR I'LL CUT YOU." Each job is expected to use the most efficient weapon for their role. WAR's should use G.Axes and later move to Axe's. A WAR using a single handed sword and a shield is not doing the best job they could be doing.

You're just expected to gear yourself in the best and most efficient manner you can muster.

[Necropolis]

Re: New, haha

Ps: I assume Summoner is the closest job to a Necromancer, so, along the lines of the weapons questions, are all jobs looked apon as useful in FFXI? Or is there some I'll want to steer clear of? If not, I think Summoner sounds right for me!

Thanks again.

Well summoner will be a pet job with some limited magic ability, but you may also want to try Beastmaster out a bit. They're like a summoner with out the mystic, magical feel. They are a bit more combat steady, and, in my opinion, a fun class to play.

Personally I like giving a lot of jobs a try and play which ever one I feel like playing at the time. Don't feel limited into one job class, unlike many other MMOs you can change jobs at any time from your mog house and suffer no penalties for it.

As for *having* to use a particular weapon. Certain jobs will benefit more from a particular weapon. And since the game has been in existance for a while, it's been proven which weapons are best in any particular circumstances. While leveling us, you'll have some options as to what weapon to use, but the main thing to keep in mind is having a level appropriate weapon. Having a HQ (high quality or +1, +2 et cetera) is nice, but not always neccessary or noticable.

[qujam]

Re: New, haha

Hi there, i just started out on Ifrit too and also feeling a bit lost, playin RHM at the moment.

Lemme know if you wanna group up some time for something, im also in bastok, and also came from EQ(not eqoa) though, and funnily enough one of the big old guilds was called mortalis :p

/qujam

[Alshandra]

Re: New, haha

Yay! More Ifritians! *claps*

We're slowly taking over mwhahahaha...

Yes, there are weapons more suited to certain jobs, but you won't always get booted for having the wrong weapon. When I pull my gimpy warrior out I use a sword and shield. Why? Because it was my newbie job when I started the game, and didn't know any better. And I'm LV33 with no Axe skill. And I'm a bit lazy and don't feel like skilling up >.> (That's no real excuse though, if you're serious about your job you would skill it up)

But If you want to be the most effective, you should use weapons most suited for your job.

If you are wanting to LV Summoner, you need to reach LV30 in any one job to activate the quest to unlock it. Until then, my advice is to level White Mage to 30, using Black Mage as a sub job after you unlock the ability to equip a sub job at LV20. White Mage is pretty much the 'best' sub job for Summoner, so it will come in handy.

I'd say play around with all your starter jobs though, you might find that you enjoy melee'ing more than you do healing (and to be honest, Summoners end up main healing a lot of the time anyway).

If you need a hand, feel free to send me a tell also, my Linkshell is a nice bunch of people and always willing to help out.


Goodluck and dont die too much! XD

[ItazuraNhomango]

Re: New, haha

In general, for
weapons used to damage:
Sword (one-handed): Paladin, Blue Mage, Red Mage
Great Sword (two-handed): Dark Knight*.
Axe (one-handed): Warrior, Beastmaster*.
Great Axe (two-handed): Warrior*
Scythe (two-handed): Dark Knight.
Katana (one-handed): Ninja*
Great Katana (two-handed): Samurai
Bow/Arrow: Ranger*, Samurai
Crossbow/Bolts: Ranger, Thief
Dagger: Thief*
Hand-to-Hand: Monk
Spear: Dragoon
* = Preferred.

While those are the general pattern, at the very, very low level, Sword can be use to good effects by Thief and Ninja. (Ninja (NIN), in addition, can make very good use of throwing weapon "shuriken", but that is rather expensive, thus not widely used.)

If a job isn't listed, it's probably not expected to do damage physically with weapons, if doing much damage at all.

Weapons used for stats:
(Mostly by White Mage, Black Mage, Red Mage, and Summoner.)
Before Lv.51: Clubs (one-handed): Mage jobs should use the wands with INT+ and MND+ stats, and the one for recharging MP faster.
Lv.51 and later: Staff (two-handed): There are 6 "elemental" staves, and 6 "High Quality" counter parts. Pretty much every mage should have a few, if not all, with the possible exception of Blue Mage (BLU).

For the most part, you don't hit things with these weapons; most of the jobs which use them spent the majority of the time in the "back line", away from the melee action anyway. Red Mage is a strange creature in that it should have both Wand and Sword at low level; the first for casting, the second for when there's opportunity to whack at the monsters.

Shield:
Paladin should always have a shield. Beastmaster probably should as well. It's a good idea for Red Mage and Warrior to do so as well, though not as critical. White Mage can make use of one, too, when solo'ing.

See FFXI Skill Capture for skill proficiency for each job.

[LilithAngel]

Re: New, haha

EDIT: Itazura caught the mistake, so nevermind what you saw here.

[Shadowneko]

Re: New, haha

Sup all. I just got the game yesterday, anddd I have a couple question. Bare with me if they get a little too newbish...

1: Is a new player going to have a tough time with this? As of right now, I'm a lvl 6 War from Bastok. When I go to the search for a party screen, it's usually only high levels searching for a party. I'm on the Ifrit server by the way.

2: On to the 'newbish' stuff. What are the icons next to your name? Before I had a question mark(for a new player I assume), now I have a green gem. What do they mean?

3: I was reading a post earlier(In the NA bashing thread), and they were talking about people not using potions. So, I go into the shop to buy some, and they are something like 900ish gil? Is there an easier way to go about getting potions, because right now, I'm about broke.

I was looking for the newbie zone or something like it to post these in, but I couldn't manage to find one, so I gave it a shot here. After a couple long years, I decided to finally give FFXI a try. I was around during that whole, 'FFXI vs EQOA' debate that was going around, if anyone remembers that. I stuck with EQOA, but decided to giv eit a break. So yeah, any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

1. most people don't party untill at least lvl 10...sometimes they even solo to 20 nowadays so don't worry about it ^^

2. the exclamation mark means you're on seek...the little bag is bazarr...and some people have linkpearls for various Linkshells...

3. Forget potions those are for instanced monsters. Most of the threads like that are pretty old and are a product of what I term as "stupid newbie syndrome"(when a whole flood of newbies join an existing MMO all at once). Mostly we rely on White mages for cures in parties. Personally I've had some really good JP parties ^^

EQOA is a horrible game...trust me I played the beta of it. FFXI is 10 times the size of it, armor an weapons don't wear out, and FFXI has some really good storylines if you care to do the missions. You should at least have the goal of doing the nation missions up to rank 5 since it nets you a free airship pass to the three main cities...