basic WHM questions

[achornx]

im getting ffxi for christmas and hope to get a new comp soon, so i want as much info on WHM as i possibly can.. so if you could answer these questions id really appreciate it:

(i know these are probably the basics but i think all in one place would help me greatly, plus some of this might be considered basic knowledge and not said assuming everyone knows it but I might not.. lol)

what is the best race? ive heard tarutaru is the best, is that pretty much the top choice for all?

for subjob BLM seems the best with warp and such, but ive heard other say SMN is better for mp purposes, is the BLM spells enough of an advantage to choose it? how often do you use the attack spells or the other BLM spells i guess im asking...

how much xp is needed each level i cant find an xp chart.. and how much does each mob give you?

are all WHM spells buyable or do some need to be found, or quested for, or something else?

about notorious monsters, i dont quite understand what they are, are they bosses, part of a quest, is it like other FF games where they drop good eq?

speaking of equipment is it expensive, is it made, bought found? and how hard is it to get gil?

i guess thats all for now any other information such as the basic life of a WHM in a party, the best spells to use, etc would be a tremendous help.. Thank you in advance.

[achornx]

forgot a couple..

can someone explain weapon skill levels and magic skill levels, ive seen screenshots where it says club skill up by .2 points, whats that mean?

whats fame, how do i get it and what does it do?

i know i sound like a total noob, but i just want to make sure i dont mess up when i start playing

[Sukashi]

1. Tarutaru is the "best" choice for WHM, if you're talking MP-wise. However, in PTs they absolutely must stay in the back and the provokers must be good, because Taru WHMs have very few HP and die pretty fast if they get hit numerous times. I would suggest Hume as a first-timer, as they're pretty much average in everything, whereas a Taru is excellent in MP and casting but is horrible at taking hits. Just... I don't recommend going Galka WHM. It's not very pleasant as a first immersion into FFXI, I promise you The MND rating (determines how potent your heals are, also determines your resistance against status effects) is relatively okay for a Galka, but the base MP is TERRIBLE. At level 28 White Mage / level 13 Red Mage, my Galka has like... 184MP AFTER MP boosts through equipment. Not very pleasant, though it does get the job done.

2. Not sure about this, sorry. I'll look around for some more information, but I would say BLM, as you can start levelling that right away, and use it immediately as a subjob when you hit WHM18. You won't be able to take advantages of Warping as a WHM until you're at a very, very high level with WHM :X

3. http://www.shadow-dragons.com/jobs.htm Look near the bottom. The enemy's experience points varies with how it "Check"s to a person; usually an Easy Prey monster will be 12~36 EXP, Decent Challenge 36~72 EXP, Even Match 100 EXP, Tough ~120 EXP, etc. The most you can get from a monster without EXP Chains (killing Even Matched monsters or above with very low downtime) is 200 EXP, I think.

4. All WHM spells are buyable in any of the three kingdoms' or Jeuno's Auction House by other players. Basically, it means that if a player hasn't put it up for auction, you're not going to find the spell. Spells drop from monsters and can also be bought from a town's NPC seller (though some sell different WHM spells, and some may not be obtainable unless your nation is in 1st place during conquest). The only quests I know that give WHM spells are teleport spells like Teleport-Holla, -Mea, -Dem, -Vahzl, -Yhoat.

5. NMs are basically "unique" monsters that give rare drops, some ranging from 3k~???k at Auction Houses. The items they drop range from quest items (Mary's Milk), to items that may be used to craft JSE (Job Specific Equipment) armor (Fafnir drops some sort of scales that creates a JSE for a job... I don't remember ><).

6. Well, technically as a White Mage you really shouldn't have to melee if you don't want to; equipment *in general* is rather cheap, but you should spend most of your gil on WHM spells instead. Gil... gil is pretty hard to get in FFXI. You need to find your own venue of getting gil, and sometimes it's easy, sometimes it's not. Some early quests let you repeat them, which means that you can keep on giving the NPC items, and s/he will repay you in return.

Let's say that the "Fear of the Dark" quest in San d'Oria requires you to obtain 2 Bat Wings, which are dropped by Ding Bats. When you originally finish the quest, the NPC gives you 200gil. However, if you pick up more Bat Wings, you can trade them to him again, and he will give you more 200gils, when you keep on giving him 2 Bat Wings.

7. Weapon skills can be thought of as a limit break for FFXI. When your TP meter raises to 100% (TP raises when you land a hit on an enemy, or an enemy hits you), you can either store the TP until it maxes at 300%, or use it from 100%~300%.

Weapon skills - In general, you have to attack an enemy that is close to your job level. IIRC, you will still get weapon skill points by attacking Easy Preys or Decent Challenges, but it will go up at a much lower rate than attacking Even Match + monsters.

Magic skills - Are split up into six categories: Healing, Enfeebling, Dark, Elemental, Enhancing, and Divine.

For the "offensive" magics (Elemental and Divine, maybe Dark too?), I think it follows the same guidelines of Weapon skills.

For "defensive" magics such as Healing and Enhancing, you just have to repeatedly cast it. One good way to raise these two skills is go near a Mog House zone, Heal/Enhance until you're out of MP, zone to Mog House (restores your HP/MP), and come back out again. Repeat until all numbers in Healing / Enhancing are blue (it means that they're capped for your current job level).

Enfeebling magic, I'm pretty sure that it has to have an effect on a monster in order to have a chance at raising the skill level (casting Blind on a monster will raise Enfeebling magic, as long as the monster does not resist the magic).


I'm sorry if this information is inaccurate... it's kinda late >_<