Hello FFXI, im new!

[NewbZealand]

Hello everyone I may be joining the party a bit late so i have a few questions for you.

I have played WoW for over two years and am now realizing how tired I am of it, the immaturity, the community that only really looks out for themselves... I am looking at FFXI because I read its a very team based experience.

First of all I live in New Zealand, a fun little island with bad internet and sheep

• The timezone is GMT+12 or so im told, will i be at a great disadvantage to team up with people because of the timezone?

• Where are the servers located, are they all on the USeast coast or are they spread around a bit, I would need some advice as to where I would get the best latency.

• I guess one of the most important questions is, does the game still have a thriving community or are people slowly disappearing? (Is FFXI Dieing or still alive and kicking?)

• A question about grouping/jobs, could I get some info about damage dealers and grouping, what you personally find is the most wanted damage dealer and how they stack up against other damage dealer jobs.

This may be a bit messy to read so I will leave it as it is and add to it after i get some answers.
Thankyou

[Ameroth]

Re: Hello FFXI, im new!

1. Sounds like you'll be catching the end of Japanese primetime. JST is GMT+9. North American primetime is about GMT-5 (EST) to GMT-8 (PDT).

2. AFAIK, all the servers are located in Japan. As for latency issues, I've heard JP are 3 seconds ahead of NA players, but this may just be a myth.

3. According to SE, the player population has stayed at a steady number of about 500k subscribers. Personally speaking, the community is still thriving.

4. Most damage dealers are pretty equal in how much they are sought after. Every DD job in the game has an advantage over the other DDs, but a disadvantage to round it out. FFXI is a pretty balanced game. For the most part, the jobs most sought after are mages (WHM, BLM, RDM, and SCH now), and tank jobs like PLD and NIN.

[NewbZealand]

Re: Hello FFXI, im new!

I have been reading up on some jobs and was wanting some opinions on them, they cost too much to start out as, not so newb friendly etc
The jobs are: Monk, Black Mage, Dragoon, Samurai, Dark Knight

Thanks again for any help.

[Feba]

Re: Hello FFXI, im new!

I've heard JP are 3 seconds ahead of NA players, but this may just be a myth.

Have you ever been anywhere near a Japanese player, by chance? 3 seconds would make everything from curing to skillchains pretty much impossible.

[Aksannyi]

Re: Hello FFXI, im new!

I've dabbled with every job so I feel like I can give some advice:

Monk,

Not too hard for a newbie to take up, in fact, probably one of the easiest. You won't have much to worry about except just hitting the mob and using your WS. They're always pretty desired in parties, as well. Monks are fairly common these days, and quite useful for a lot of things.

Black Mage,

Gonna be one of the hardest jobs for a new player to level. You will need to solo pretty much past 37 (which is the level people quit leveling their subjobs) all the way to 75, and as someone who is currently at 58 BLM, let me tell you, it ain't easy. And I have merits carried over from other jobs which have helped significantly. On the plus side of BLM, though, you'd be highly desired in endgame. I know, that's so far off. :/

Dragoon,

It's a lot of fun to play. Keep in mind it's an advanced job, which means you have to get 30 on another job in order to unlock it. Dragoons started out as kind of "lol" to most of the playerbase, but now they've become accepted as quite competent DDs.

Samurai,

One of the most desired DD jobs from 10-75. People love Samurais. And let me tell you, it's fun as hell to play. It's another advanced job.

Dark Knight

DRK is also a really good DD job. They are highly desired in end-game, though partying through mid-levels DRK is kind of slow, so expect a temporary lull. (That's actually true of a lot of jobs, mid-levels like, 40-50 kinda suck.) DRK is also and advanced job.

Welcome to FFXI! Please don't hesitate to ask more questions if you'd like more answers. Glad to help.

[NewbZealand]

Re: Hello FFXI, im new!

Thanks for the info Aksannyi,
If possible could you give me more info on your experiences with monk, dragoon and samurai, maybe a bit of a comparison or a break down of what role it and how it achieves that. (For example in WoW, you could be decent damage dealer by pressing the same button once every 3 seconds) Some information on how the job plays or anything you feel i should know would be appreciated.
Thanks

[Sir Cledwin]

Re: Hello FFXI, im new!

Thanks for the info Aksannyi,
If possible could you give me more info on your experiences with monk, dragoon and samurai, maybe a bit of a comparison or a break down of what role it and how it achieves that. (For example in WoW, you could be decent damage dealer by pressing the same button once every 3 seconds) Some information on how the job plays or anything you feel i should know would be appreciated.
Thanks

Well basically the way these jobs works is different from how you describe the jobs in WoW working... I am seriously beginning to think WoW is the RPG for beginners to the MMORPG world while FFXI is for the advanced players. Anyways here is a rough break down:

Monk has the following abilities:
Lv. 1 - Hundred Fists: usable every 2 hours, it decreases the delay (amount of time between attacks) significantly.

Lv. 5 - Boost: usable every 15 seconds, for 3 minutes it increases the damage rate of the players attacks.

Lv. 15 - Dodge: usable every 5 minutes, for 2 minutes it increases the players evasion by 20 points

Lv. 25 - Focus: same as Dodge except it increases Accuracy instead.

Lv. 35 - Chakra: usable every 5 minutes, restores some of the players HP = to twice the players Vitality, as well as removing most forms of Poison and Blind Status effects.

Lv. 41 - Chi Blast: is a form of ranged damage dealing attack that is usable every 3 minutes

Lv. 45 - Counterstance: usable every 5 minutes, with a duration of 5 minutes, increases the chance to counter, but lowers the players defenses.

Lv. 65 - Footwork: usable every 5 minutes, lasts for 5 minutes, makes kicks your primary mode of attack.

Then there are of course the merit abilities, but that is getting ahead of ourselves. You also have job traits but those are not abilities that you have to actually do anything to use.

Dragoon job abilities are as follows:
Lv. 1 - Spirit Surge: Usable every 2 hours, sends your wyvern away, but adds your wyverns strength to your own, including its current HP, Technical Points, and gives you stat bonuses equal to the Wyverns Stats.

Lv. 1 - Call Wyvern: usable every 20 minutes, duration = until wyvern is killed or spirit surged. This ability calls your pet wyvern to you.

Lv. 5 - Ancient Circle: usable every 10 minutes, duration 1 minute. This increases your parties resistance to the attacks of Dragons. Also gives the Trait of Dragon Killer to the Party, which occasionally will intimidate a Dragon which means it stops there attacks. Very useful during the Rank 3 mission!!!

Lv. 10 - Jump: usable every 1 minute and 30 seconds. This is an attack that has a damage calculation = to the following formula: (Base Damage) x (VIT / 256 + 1). It has an in-game range of 10 feet. And it most definitely is not 100% accurate.

Lv. 25 - Spirit Link: usable every 3 minutes, takes 33.3% of your HP and restores it to your Wyvern's HP. Also removes some Status Ailments from your Wyvern such as Poison, Sleep, and Paralyze.

Lv. 35 - High Jump: usable every 3 minutes. This is an attack that has a damage calculation very similar to a regular attack. However it has the added advantage of removing roughly 33% of the enmity that an enemy has for the Dragoon. When Spirit Surge is used, High Jumps recast time is set back to Zero!!!

Lv. 50 - Super Jump & Super Climb: usable every 3 minutes. This is not an attack, Rather it is a method by which the Dragoon removes all of his hate after using his most powerful of attacks, which are his weaponskills named Penta Thrust, Impulse Drive, and Geirskogul (and soon a new one for the new updated weapons).

Dark Knight's job abilities are as follows:
Lv. 1 - Blood Weapon: Usable every 2 hours. turns all attacks into a Drain effect... which means they drain the enemies HP in order to heal the Dark Knights HP.

Lv. 5 - Arcane Circle: the same as Ancient Circle except it works on Arcana (such as Bombs) instead of Dragons.

Lv. 15 - Last Resort: usable every 5 minutes, duration 30 seconds. This increases the users attack at the expense of their defense.

Lv. 20 - Weapon Bash: Usable every 5 minutes. Delivers an attack that can stun the enemy. Requires a 2 handed weapon.

Lv. 30 - Soul Eater: The Dark Knights most powerful ability, usable every 6 minutes, duration 1 minute. with each successful attack the user will lose 10% of his HP. And from what I understand turns all of the HP drained directly into additional damage!!! (unless you are using DRK as a support job in which case it only turns half the HP drained into damage).

Each of these Jobs also gets weaponskills depending on what weapon they are using. DRG usually uses a Polearm, which is why I listed the three most powerful DRG weaponskills earlier. However hear are some the most powerful weaponskills for each job and what they do:

Monk Weaponskills:
I am actually not sure what the best weaponskills for this job are, please someone correct me if I get it wrong:

Asuran Fists = obtained through a quest: delivers an eight-fold attack, accuracy varies with TP.

Final Heaven = can only be obtained by getting the second and final form of the Monk Relic Weapon: temporarily increases the effect of subtle blow.

Dragoon Weaponskills:
Penta Thrust = must reach 150 skill in the polearm weapon: five-fold attack, accuracy varies with TP.

Impulse Drive = must reach 240 skill in the polearm weapon: two-fold attack, damage varies with TP.

Geirskogul = must have the second to final or final form of the Dragoon Relic Weapon: one hit attack, grants shock spikes, duration varies with TP.

Dark Knight Weaponskills:
I am actually not sure what the best ones for this job happen to be, so I am going to give it a guess. Please someone correct me if I get it wrong.

Spiral Hell = must have 240 skill in the Scythe Weapon: single hit attack, damage varies with TP.

Catastrophe = must have the second to last or last Dark Knight Relic Weapon; Drains Targets HP, additional effect: haste.

[Armando]

Re: Hello FFXI, im new!

MNK is great at what it does, but it doesn't do much to achieve it. That is to say, they pretty much punch things hard and fast. Aside from using their WS and one or two self-buffing JAs (Focus, Boost, Dodge) every now and then, that's pretty much what they do.

Of course, there's always better gear, better WS, or that next Martial Arts upgrade (makes you punch faster), but some people will find that Monk is just too boring.

DRG, SAM, and DRK are all arguably more "active" than MNK, in different ways. Dragoon gets its signature Jumps to do more damage (Jump/High Jump) and reduce their own enmity (High Jump/Super Jump.) They get two Accuracy bonuses, giving them a natural advantage over most other jobs in that department. They also have to keep their Wyvern alive with Spirit Link. DRG is also a very strong solo job with certain sub jobs, which change their wyvern's behavior so that instead of using offensive breath attacks, it'll heal the DRG when the DRG is below a certain HP% and he casts a spell. It's also good for anyone who likes spears and dragons.

SAM gets TP very quickly and get pretty solid WS all-around. Which is good, because their WS also get very varied Skillchain properties, which lets them Skillchain with almost anyone else. Or themselves, under certain conditions. Good for samurai fans.

Of the three, DRK is the most focused on brute force. They specialize on two weapons rather than one, Scythes and Great Swords (two-handed swords.) They have very high Attack (they get four Attack bonus traits as they level up) and they're capable of using magic to drain the enemy's HP, MP, TP, and Accuracy. Oh yeah, they're also one of the few jobs with a Stun spell (the other two being BLM and Blue mage, with BLM's being identical, and BLU's having a shorter recast time but can only be used at close range, and can miss.) Their Souleater ability is very potent (and thus can be dangerous to use,) draining 10% of the DRK's current HP and adding that amount to the damage of their next attack, for a limited amount of time. Good choice if you like black armor, draining enemy attributes, big swords or scythes.

All three are very competent damage dealers, just in different ways.

[TheGrandMom]

Re: Hello FFXI, im new!

Sam is the "soupe du jour" at the moment. Everyone and their brothers have it leveled or are leveling it. It's VERY much wanted in endgame.

[Armando]

Re: Hello FFXI, im new!

/SAM also makes a good sub job for two-handed weapon users. /DRK is only a useful sub for Red Mages at 75, /MNK is only useful for certain low level jobs and /DRG is mostly for toying around with Jump. Taking SAM to 37 is an investment if you ever decide to take Warrior, Dark Knight, or Dragoon to high levels.

[Aksannyi]

Re: Hello FFXI, im new!

MNK is great at what it does, but it doesn't do much to achieve it. That is to say, they pretty much punch things hard and fast. Aside from using their WS and one or two self-buffing JAs (Focus, Boost, Dodge) every now and then, that's pretty much what they do.

Of course, there's always better gear, better WS, or that next Martial Arts upgrade (makes you punch faster), but some people will find that Monk is just too boring.

DRG, SAM, and DRK are all arguably more "active" than MNK, in different ways. Dragoon gets its signature Jumps to do more damage (Jump/High Jump) and reduce their own enmity (High Jump/Super Jump.) They get two Accuracy bonuses, giving them a natural advantage over most other jobs in that department. They also have to keep their Wyvern alive with Spirit Link. DRG is also a very strong solo job with certain sub jobs, which change their wyvern's behavior so that instead of using offensive breath attacks, it'll heal the DRG when the DRG is below a certain HP% and he casts a spell. It's also good for anyone who likes spears and dragons.

SAM gets TP very quickly and get pretty solid WS all-around. Which is good, because their WS also get very varied Skillchain properties, which lets them Skillchain with almost anyone else. Or themselves, under certain conditions. Good for samurai fans.

Of the three, DRK is the most focused on brute force. They specialize on two weapons rather than one, Scythes and Great Swords (two-handed swords.) They have very high Attack (they get four Attack bonus traits as they level up) and they're capable of using magic to drain the enemy's HP, MP, TP, and Accuracy. Oh yeah, they're also one of the few jobs with a Stun spell (the other two being BLM and Blue mage, with BLM's being identical, and BLU's having a shorter recast time but can only be used at close range, and can miss.) Their Souleater ability is very potent (and thus can be dangerous to use,) draining 10% of the DRK's current HP and adding that amount to the damage of their next attack, for a limited amount of time. Good choice if you like black armor, draining enemy attributes, big swords or scythes.

All three are very competent damage dealers, just in different ways.

I would have responded to the OP's question, but Armando pretty much said what I would have said. Except one thing I did think of, is that sometimes you'll have Great Axe DRKs as well if the need arises for it.

I'd say of those jobs, SAM has been the most fun to me. Though come to think of it, I did enjoy leveling DRK up, too. I haven't touched MNK and DRG in quite a while, hell, back when I played DRG the Call Wyvern abiliy was the two hour, so I'm due to pick it up again.

[Ameroth]

Re: Hello FFXI, im new!

Have you ever been anywhere near a Japanese player, by chance?

again:

but this may just be a myth.

[Alinys]

Re: Hello FFXI, im new!

Hello and welcome! I only joined the FFXI party January this year, and recently had to take a short hiatus. Back on my main character again.

I definitely don't think you'll have any problems being from New Zealand. I would suggest just making sure you're on a fairly busy server. I'm not sure about server load myself, but my experience on Phoenix was that it's much busier than Fenrir, where I switched to.

Not sure about server locations though.

Considering FFXI's age I think it's community is amazing. Much more fresh and busy than some games I've played.

As for jobs, I'm not as clued in as most to be honest. Though to answer your questions on DRK, my boyfriend has been leveling it up recently (currently 23) and he's a huge DD person, and he's been thoroughly satisfied so far. Some complain that it's a bit tough to control the damage to make sure the tank doesn't have to work uber hard to keep hate, but honestly I think it looks really fun.

Best of luck, and if you're on Fenrir hit me up. My name's just Alinys.

[NewbZealand]

Re: Hello FFXI, im new!

Thanks for all the info everyone, it looks like im going to have a hard decision on my hands
I don't fully understand the mog house job change system but it seems like I will be able to try them all and see what I like, although it may be a great time sink

How do you go about choosing servers? Are they randomly assigned or can you choose from a list? Are there any differences between the servers at all?

Gil Gil Gil, how hard is it to make gil and does the job changing cost any?

[Alinys]

Re: Hello FFXI, im new!

Thanks for all the info everyone, it looks like im going to have a hard decision on my hands
I don't fully understand the mog house job change system but it seems like I will be able to try them all and see what I like, although it may be a great time sink

How do you go about choosing servers? Are they randomly assigned or can you choose from a list? Are there any differences between the servers at all?

Gil Gil Gil, how hard is it to make gil and does the job changing cost any?

When you first create a character there's a list of servers available to choose from, which you will see once you type in your character's name and press 'enter'. The servers all have different populations but that's about it.

Gil is a bit difficult to make, but in the early stages just make sure you get Signet cast on you before you go out to kill mobs. Do this by talking to your gate guard (will be standing next to the gate to the area you will be training in) and asking to have Signet cast. This will allow mobs to drop crystals. A stack of crystals (12) will sell on the Auction House for quite a bit of gil, which will help you get started.