Quick Questions

[Babylonian]

Is the fact that I'm leveling my beginner sword like a maniac a bad thing? What weapon should I use next? How should I attain gil, and once I have it what should I spend it on? Since I'm planning on becoming a DRK at level 30 (current class: galka), what should my level 18 sub-job be? What level should I start looking for PT's? Oh and is it normal to only gain 6 and 1/2 levels in a solid gaming time-span of about 9 hours? If not can you suggest ways I can improve this somewhat lengthy leveling nightmare?

Just in case you're wondering, or perhaps just feeling insanely generous all of the sudden; you can find me on the Xbox 360 beta under the account name of, none other then, Babylonian.

[Omni]

Re: Quick Questions

ffxi is a lot different from other mmo's in the sense that xp grinding is a lot more stenuous than other games. the beginning lvls are the fast you will gain. once you reach ~lvl 12 gaining lvls begins to slow down. you will realize what im talking about later on.

as a warrior, you would get the best benefit using a 1h axe or 2h axe since those weapons have the highest rating for war. however, the great thing about war is that it has good rating for just about any weapon. so if you chose another weapon to lvl, id suggest 2h sword and scythe since those will be the weapons you use the most with drk.

if you want to become a drk. the 2 sub jobs you will get the most use out of are /war and /thf. /thf isnt till later in the game, most notibly after lv. 66. which is when you obtain the weaponskill spinslash for 2h sword.

your lvl 18 subjob should be, if you are using war till 30 first, mnk. mnk is easy to lvl up in the beginning. take it to 18, then get war to 30, or better yet, finish off your war subjob and get to 37. get drk quest done, and start with drk/war as long as you like. as i said before, you will later want to lvl thf for your drk. so around lv. 60, maybe take time out to get thf to 37. then you will be set for subjobs all the way to 75.

[Babylonian]

Re: Quick Questions

The beginning part of your post both intrigued me and scared me half to death.

On to the weapon subject, I cant afford anything from any of the stores yet, in fact I don't think I've even seen an axe in the shops. Nor has anything ever useful dropped from the monsters in the northern plains of Gustburg (Sp?). So how would I actually even come across an axe in the first place? Keep in mind though that I only have 830 gil, so anything above that price range is clearly out of the question. I recall stumbling upon a shop yesterday that sold level 18+ presumably 2h swords, but I'm not sure. Plus the prices scared me half to death. Then I ran and found myself surround by vultures and inevitably got my ass handed to me. Back on topic for a second, just like axes I have never seen scythes either. Though shouldn't I put some effort into getting some armor first? I loose way too much life way too fast, and even when I win battles I have to rest for at least 4 minutes at a time just to rejuvenate my health. Besides the fact that I've tried to keep away from PT's altogether thus far because I have no idea whether or not I should join one or not. Anyhow, lets talk about the Thief class. How could the Thief class possibly benefit a Dark Knight? I could picture a ninja gaining something from being a Thief, but a Dark Knight? You're going to have to explain that one to me.

[x1ang]

Re: Quick Questions

make sure you get the Signet buff from the city guards (the NPCs with the ", I.M" suffix) and sell the crystals on the Auction House.. you shouldn't have a problem paying for your gear then (buy them from NPCs rather than the AH early on). make sure you consider the mob before you fight it (ctrl+c), don't fight anything even matched+... oh and fight one mob at a time. you can live off with the armor+weapon you start out with till 7~10ish, but for sure equip yourself with the good gear post-10 since you'll be generally the maintank for the next couple of levels.

DRKs benefit from THF mainly for the weaponskills combined with sneak attack. check http://www.ffxionline.com/forums/sho...t=13840&page=1

it'll probably be easier if you find a mentor ingame and send them a /tell to explain the physics to you though... what server are you on? maybe someone on the same server from the forums can help you x]

[Armando]

Re: Quick Questions

For all your combat needs, always check the local weapon/armor/magic shops, inns, and grocery stores/tavers. NPCs will often sell basic (but efficient at the time) low-level weapons, armors, spell tomes, and food for what would now be dirt-cheap thanks to the inflation. We're talking about 100-200g pieces of armor, while in the AH they'd cost at least 1-2k apiece. As far as money goes, always get Signet - crystals are extremely valuable, especially Fire (drop off of goblins, birds, and lizards) and Wind (bats, bees.) A stack of fire crystal goes for 15k in Midgardsormr right now, while winds will go for around 10k. Most mob drops will be crafting materials (with some exception for the occasional item that's only used in a quest, and random equipment/spells from Beastmen, though these are rare and relatively worthless.) Sheep are also worth mentioning, because while Earth Crystals are cheap, skeep skins sell fairly well. It shouldn't take you too long to get a good ammount of gil. Just keep selling your crystals and materials on the AH, and kill large ammounts of easy mobs to both minimize the damage and downtime, while maximizing the number of crystal and item drops.

The onion sword is a sick joke S-E plays on all their new WARs ;P WAR's best weapons are indeed axes and great axes. Axes offer the ability to equip shields (which can lower damage taken significantly) while Great Axe offers some truly impressive WS. Shield Break (Great Axe skill level 10) does damage just a bit higher than a normal great axe swing, but gives the mob Evasion -40, which extremely valuable when partying, as you'll be fighting mobs at least 5-6 levels higher. So good, it makes Great Axe worth it even when tanking. Iron Tempest (GA skill 40) is just Shield Break without the debuff, don't bother much with it...Sturmwind (GA skill 70) does crazy damage. As far as Axe WS, Raging Axe (Axe skill 10) will be your standard damaging WS 'til 55 or so, and Smash Axe (Axe skill 40) is the earliest WS you can get that can stun; Sword gets it much later (at 70.)

As far as other weapons, they're ok, I wouldn't recommend it. You wouldn't do awful, really, but you'd just be mediocre. Don't worry too much about the weapons you'll use on future jobs - once your WAR hits 30 you'll be able to get both Great Sword and Scythe covered 'til about level 20 easily, just by fighting mobs from 1 to 20 gradually. Doesn't hurt to try them out, but for actual partying, try to stick to Great Axe and Axe, and try to keep at least one of them maxed out at all times.

EDIT: Oh yeah, speaking of cheap NPC stuff, get Meat Jerky from the grocery store in Bastok Mines. They're worth about 120g each, last half an hour, and give Attack+27% STR+3 INT-1. They'll make an large difference in your damage, both for soloing and for partying. You can use them 'til about level 30 or so, then it's time to upgrade to better meat dishes. Always carry a stack handy, two once you start partying at the Dunes, since you may be there for extended periods of time.

[Omni]

Re: Quick Questions

yes, what x1ang said.
as you start out, make sure you always have a signet. you can get a signet from any npc with the I.M. after their name. (im assuming youre bastok since you are lvling out in gustaberg). this will give you a small icon at the top of your screen, this allows you to extract crystals from monsters after you kill them. collect them and sell them on the ah for the whatever the going market rate is.

as far as weapons/armor go, you can find some lower lvl armor in stores. ie: scale mail set is sold in bastok i believe? this is the typical gear for most melee at lv. 10~15ish. i think theres some axes sold at the weapon shop in bastok markets right before the exit to gustaberg. talk to the 2-3 npc in that shop, i believe one of them sells axes. otherwise, you will get most of your gear from the auction house.

i'd also like to advise you that, this game is not a solo game by any means. you will be able to solo lvls. 1-15 usually. 15-20 if you really enjoy the punishment. this game after lv. 20 becomes a party based game unless you play the beastmaster job. otherwise, you will want to get party b/c soloing begins a little too difficult and tiresome. if you are looking for a game that you want to solo and be self sufficient, i think the only aspect of ffxi that will allow you to do that effectively is playing beastmaster and crafting your own goods. both which take lots of time and patience.

regarding the theif question, if you havent read the link x1ang posted then in a nutshell, the reason why melee like to sub thf is for 2 job abilties. sneak attack and trick attack. sneak attack boosts your next attack when attacking from behind the mob. trick attack boosts your next attack when attacking from behind another player AND it makes the mob think the player you are behind is the one responsible for that dmg. when combined together with a useable weapon skill (i saw useable b/c not all weapon skills are stackable with sneak/trick attack) you get 1 powerful weapon skill and hate placement.

with gil, begin by collecting items/crystals you get from killing monsters and selling them on ah. crafting is a time consuming and expensive but in the long run it will net you a nice steady income. doing missions also gives you gil. doing quests will give you items and gil. a lot of the times, you can sell these items on the ah. for a list of quests and pretty much all the info you can ever need/want for ffxi, goto ffxi.somepage.com and it will pretty much have everything you can ever ask. if not, it will point you to a website that will tell you.

ffxi is a wonderful game. its not for everyone i hate to say. it takes a lot of time and effort to get established. however, once you get going, you'll realize why this game is different from the others.

edit: if you are remora, i'll be more than happy to show you the ropes for a bit.

[Babylonian]

Re: Quick Questions

Hey guys thanks for all the info, really. I now actually have a plan, unlike yesterday when all I did the entire day was grind. lol

If any of you want to get a hold of me in the game, I'll be on the 360 beta version in the 'Hydra' server, or at least that's what I think the name is. Thanks again guys.

[bikkebakke]

Re: Quick Questions

Most of us have no access to that server. We either play on PC or PS2 and that is a server only for the 360 beta testers.

[Babylonian]

Re: Quick Questions

Most of us have no access to that server. We either play on PC or PS2 and that is a server only for the 360 beta testers.

Yeah, soon enough I guess.

------------------------------------

I got a few more questions before I head back to the game.

Do you (or anyone else for that matter) know how much I should sell those gems/crystals for? And is there any reason that I should probably keep some? Oh and finally, how many times can that guard cast that thing on me?

[Tomatoes]

Re: Quick Questions

Ironically, the best weapon WAR can acquire in this game is a sword. And also, some DRKs go axes/Rampage until they can get Guillotine, including one highly competent DRK that was in my LS (R.I.P. Tyrant). Later on you will also want to have Marksmanship and Greatsword skilled up as well. For now, I would recommend that you not stick yourself into a rigid plan just yet. Just have fun and explore. Who knows, you may find something else to like along the way.

Since you are on the new server, I can't really offer any gil-making tips. From what I've gathered, your servers economy is totally blank. While you don't suffer (benefit from?) the mass inflation being experienced by other servers, you also have to contend with few to no buyers for the goods you farm, since not many will have the crafting skills or gil to purchase early on. On the established servers, most players utilize goods bought from the Auction House rather than NPCs. So I don't think any of us can really help you out much in this regard. I imagine Fishing might still be a decent bet early on though.

[Babylonian]

Re: Quick Questions

Ironically, the best weapon WAR can acquire in this game is a sword. And also, some DRKs go axes/Rampage until they can get Guillotine, including one highly competent DRK that was in my LS (R.I.P. Tyrant). Later on you will also want to have Marksmanship and Greatsword skilled up as well. For now, I would recommend that you not stick yourself into a rigid plan just yet. Just have fun and explore. Who knows, you may find something else to like along the way.

Since you are on the new server, I can't really offer any gil-making tips. From what I've gathered, your servers economy is totally blank. While you don't suffer (benefit from?) the mass inflation being experienced by other servers, you also have to contend with few to no buyers for the goods you farm, since not many will have the crafting skills or gil to purchase early on. On the established servers, most players utilize goods bought from the Auction House rather than NPCs. So I don't think any of us can really help you out much in this regard. I imagine Fishing might still be a decent bet early on though.

Everything in the market right now is way over priced. I found a two handed axe called the butterfly axe or something, it does 19 dmg and requires me to be level 5, I'm level 6 1/2. Though I cant seem to figure out how everyone already has thousands of gil whilst all I have is 800. If I get that buff by the I.M guards by each gate in Bastok, will I be able to get it again if it wares off? Please, I need an answer to that question most of all.

[x1ang]

Re: Quick Questions

yes, you can constantly get signet over and over and over for no cost. it gives you conquest points per mob kill as well as cause elemental crystals to drop. sell the crystals - a single stack of, lets say, earth crystals should probably start selling for around 800-1400gil on a fresh economy (not to sure, check the AH's price history, some crystals sell for more/less _make sure you check the price history before putting it up on the market_). the butterfly axe can be bought from an NPC (~700gil) if you didn't know >.>.

check http://ffxi.somepage.com/ for where you can obtain items. as long as you buy from the NPCs you shouldn't be overpaying (in fact, you might be able to find it cheaper on the AH, so it wouldn't hurt to check!)

[Babylonian]

Re: Quick Questions

yes, you can constantly get signet over and over and over for no cost. it gives you conquest points per mob kill as well as cause elemental crystals to drop. sell the crystals - a single stack of, lets say, earth crystals should probably start selling for around 800-1400gil on a fresh economy (not to sure, check the AH's price history, some crystals sell for more/less _make sure you check the price history before putting it up on the market_). the butterfly axe can be bought from an NPC (~700gil) if you didn't know >.>.

check http://ffxi.somepage.com/ for where you can obtain items. as long as you buy from the NPCs you shouldn't be overpaying (in fact, you might be able to find it cheaper on the AH, so it wouldn't hurt to check!)

Thanks man, I owe you one!

[Babylonian]

Re: Quick Questions

Hey guys it's me again, and like before I'm here to ask you a few questions.

1. I'm level 12 and I only have a budget of 3600 gil, should I start buying the scale armor pieces or buy a different armor set?

2. I'm still using that Butterfly Axe, is that a good thing?

3. What profession should I choose? Keep in mind I'm talking about the blacksmithing, fishing, basic hobby stuff, not the actual warrior profession thing. Anyhow the reason I'm asking this is because I've found myself saving up on all the ores instinctively, and they're kind of flooding my storage space. lol... So What should I choose as a profession that will most benefit me.

4. And finally, what time is 13:00 in FFXI time?

[x1ang]

Re: Quick Questions

1. get scale mail

2. it can last you until the next G.Axe (lv16 i think >.>)

3. um.. it is really all just personal preference. my advice is not to start professions until way later into the game when you can farm a lot of the materials and/or make a decent amount of gil in some sort of fashion. crafts take up a huge investment (like a few million gils-ish) before they're actually profitable and they level slow. if anything, you can start fishing or another gathering skill but it takes a while and can be long, boring, and tedious. fishing doesn't require a big investment (only bait, eq, rods?) and the profit increases as you level it up (while mining, logging, etc. the profit won't go up the more you do so).

4. uh 1:00PM Vanadiel time? O_o