New to FFXI

[Demius]

Hey everyone. Im new to FFXI (been playing roughly 3 days now) but im pretty experienced in MMORPGs in general.

What level should i start to group at so I can learn the best group techniques? From previous MMORPG experience, if you get in bad groups early on you learn bad habbits and people die Im lv 9 right now and just hunting in North Gustaberg and interested in getting my feet wet in grouping

Thanks for hte tips!

Craig

[Macht]

Well around lv. 10 is usually the prime time to start. I did all the jobs and started in parties right at 10 every time and worked out fairly well. As far as the bad habits I'm afraid those are a little harder to avoid in this game, since a much larger base of the new players have little to no experience in MMORPGs so their ability to compose parties properly and such is quite awful.

[Deyreeph]

Don't underestimate how much one can learn on these forums...now if I could only apply these learning principles to my classes.

[Lightseeker]

10 is about the right level to go looking for a party. You can learn a lot through the forums, but some things you'll only learn through experience. Your first parties will probably be in valkurm dunes (that's north of the highlands, which are north of gustaberg). There are some general tips you can use in the early days when making or joining parties that will make the dunes less painful. These are just tips, though, and not always workable.

If you can, try to join up with people who already have their subjob, or who have a higher rank. Usually (not always!) these players will be a bit more experienced and can teach you more. They are also less likely to have bad gear. They should know the basics of skillchains and have ideas of where/what to camp. One of the biggest problems in the dunes is tanks with bad gear.

Another thing is to learn what makes a balanced party. Reading through forums should give you an idea, but basically you need support types (rdm, whm, brd), tank types (war, pld, sometimes nin), and some damage dealers (drg, drk, rng, etc.). If you find yourself invited to a party with 5 wars, run. Run far, far away. :p

These are some things that I learned the hard way. A lot of what you'll probably learn when you first start to party is what NOT to do. Sometimes death is the best teacher. Good luck and don't get discouraged. ^^

[Zaleshea]

Emphesis...>>> Bad gear..yes.

[Demius]

I did join a party and it was an interesting experience to say the least. First party sucked.. galka WMG tipped me off lets just say a bad whitemage with a tank that didn't know what to pull ment i was out of that group 2 min after i joined.

One member of the group did know what he was doing though (he was leveling up one of his subjobs), and offered me a partnership and me and him just hunted through the highlands. He taught me what he could and basically got me used to basic partying.

The thing that sucked for me, all my previous party experience (was a cleric on another MMORPG) came back.. i started hitting my cleric hotkeys instead of my RDM hotkeys Oh well, i'll learn lol.

Thanks for the tips guys!

Craig

[Rubicon Scarlet]

My suggestion is stick with RDM. I did my subjob first (I actually used some foresight!) and lvled WHM to 30 before tackling RDM. Even so, I really didn't know what to expect until 35ish when I got Dispel. Convert and Refresh came next and that's when RDM really begins (thou you know that if you've thouroughly searched these forums). I get a real thrill outta debuffing and supporting my party.

The foresight I got for subjobs came right from this forum, BTW. I read all of Jei's posts (the sticky about RDM for dummies or whatever) and learned as much as I could before embarking on the path of the Red Mage. I HIGHLY suggest reading all of Jei's and Applepie's posts along with many of the other well traveled RDMs out there.