Interested in FFXI?Follow

Thinking of starting FFXI fresh?
THEN LOOK NO FURTHER!

Feel free to skip this section if you've played an MMO before.
FFXI is a MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing game); As such, you must be willing to spend time with Real people. Those aren't computer controlled characters you'll be getting help from. With that in mind, it's in your best interest to treat others as you would like to be treated. Going out of your way to cause other players grief and/or irritation is not a attitude conducive to Online Play.

Also be prepared to spend large amounts of time in an MMO. They specifically have "Time Sinks" in them, in order to keep people playing. You'll be better off playing offline games if you can't commit to atleast 2 hours at a time to an MMO; That said, you can accomplish alot in-game if you put your mind to it and have a goal you can reach for.

Depending on where you heard of FFXI, you might have gotten mixed views on it. This section will seperate fact from fiction.

FFXI Servers:

FFXI is split into 32 different servers, each named after a celestial avatar (Most of which you'll recognize). Also keep in mind that each server is "mixed", that is, multilingual; You'll encounter players from around the globe, so don't be alarmed by someone communicating in Japanese, German, etc.

Before you ask, each server has roughly the same demographics, with the exceptions of Odin, Bahamut and Asura. As of February of 2009, Odin is currently not selectable as a server, since it is overcrowded.

You'll likely see a good portion of English players on each server, though some are known to have more Japanese, French, <insert language here> players.

The Job System:

There are currently 20 jobs available for use in Vanadiel. When you start fresh, you only have access to the most basic 6: Warrior (WAR), Monk (MNK), Thief (THF), White Mage (WHM), Black Mage (BLM) and Red Mage (RDM). By completing a quest at Level 18, a player is granted the ability to use a Subjob. A subjob is used to enhance the strengths or make up for the weaknesses of your Main job.

Although you must gain experience on a job before it is useful as a subjob, the way they affect your everyday in FFXI will be immense. Subjobs, if set, will be half the level of your Main job. For example, a Level 20 White Mage (WHM) can select his/her Level 37 Black Mage (BLM) as a Subjob. Doing so will allow for a Level 20 WHM with a Level 10 BLM subjob (20WHM/10BLM).

Advanced Jobs:

At level 30, you can complete Advanced Job quests to unlock more "complicated" jobs such as Summoner, Paladin, Dark Knight, Samurai, etc, etc. Once you unlock a job, you can change to that job in your Moghouse and start leveling it at Level 1.

Exploration:

Vanadiel is a vast world to explore; Split up into small "zones", the environment ranges from jungles to deserts, forests and plains, mountains and even places such as Sky and Sea.
There's always something new to see in your favorite areas if you look hard enough. If you decide to play FFXI, you may find yourself interested in exploring.

PvP (Player vs. Player):

While events such as Ballista and Brenner do exist in game, their popularity varies by server. Both of the mentioned events can be thought of as sports, where one team must score points in order to defeat the other team.

While the oppurtunity exists for Players to fight other Players in these events, the main goal is to get past their defense to score points via Petra "thrown" into a Rook.

Storyline:

With each expansion added onto the original game, FFXI has received a set of missions and quests for players to complete.

Missions are the main plot within an expansion; completing these will be focus of any player interested in NPC (Non-Player Character) progression and the background behind many of the everyday world in FFXI. While some missions can be done alone, others require up to 6 players; A couple of boss fights even allow for an Alliance of 18 players.

Quests can be considered as side stories, evolving smaller NPC storylines and providing small rewards. Rewards come in the form of gil, items and "titles", as well as a few which grant you experience points.

Overall, the storyline in FFXI has been known to be one of the best for a MMO. It's up to you to find out for yourself.

Leveling Up:

Leveling up requires gaining experience via defeating monsters (mobs) that are atleast Easy Prey to a player. Using the "Check" command, players can determine basic stats of a mob.

"The Goblin Smithy is Too Weak."
"It seems to have low evasion and defense."

The above is what a higher level player would see when they Check a mob of significantly lower difficulty compared to the player. In FFXI, although Soloing for experience is possible, grouping with other players of similar levels will provide a safer, as well as faster rate of experience gain.

The basic setup for a lower-mid level party (which consists of 6 players) will include a Tank (Someone to take most of the damage), a Healer (self-explanitory), a Support Job (Someone to assist the party via "buffs" or extra healing power, and 3 Damage Dealing (DD) jobs.

Many other setups can be used, such as the infamous "TP-Burn", where no Tank is present, and players target lower level mobs than a "standard" party. When soloing, it's best not to fight anything higher than Even Match difficulty; In parties, targets range from Tough to Incredibly Tough.

Level Caps:

When you start fresh, any jobs you level cannot exceed level 50. By completing Level Cap (Genkai, Limit Break) quests, you can increase the "cap" on your jobs to 55. There is another Limit Break at 55, 60, 65 and lastly at 70. Completing every limit break will allow you to have jobs at Level 75; The highest current level cap.

Endgame:

Exploring, Missions and Leveling up are only a portion of what this game provides players. Upon reaching 75, some players seek to test their skill limits by joining Endgame Linkshells, which seek to defeat tougher mobs called HNMs (Hyper or Honorary Notorius Monsters). These HNMs drop some of the best gear and weapons in the game, some of which are so rare, that only a few players have them.

Upon completing Mission lines for each expansion, areas such as Sky and Sea become available for exploring/events. In Sky, players aim to defeat NMs to aquire Triggers (Items required to "pop" a higher level NM), which can then be used to pop the 5 Gods. Genbu, Seiryu, Suzaku, Byakko and Kirin; these NMs drop pieces called Abjurations, which must be uncursed in order to use.

Limbus, Dynamis, Salvage, Einherjar and ZNMs (Zeni Notorious Monsters) also exist for players to test their limits-- and patience. Many of these events can only be attempted every 3 Real Life days, and some require a sum of gil to enter. Like the Gods though, these events all offer great pieces of gear and weapons.

Links for further reference:
Server Forums
Job Forums
FFXI General

Edited, Feb 12th 2009 4:55pm by Kirby

Edited, Feb 27th 2009 3:29pm by Kirby

I wish you would gdiab

I nuked my own posts lol, I was going to make this alot longer, but I got bored of it.

A thief.




lawl, he made this awesome guide for players coming back to FFXI. He posted it in =10 like 3 days after I started making mine

Odd. Are you a Canadian in disguise?

Hey. We invented the Canadarm. We rule.

It can do stuff. In space.

Your **** would freeze, soar through the emptiness and collide with a fried burrito at terminal velocity off the coast of baked potato. Fragments of **** and burrito would land in mexico, ensuring that the next time someone mowed their lawn, they'd have a pleasant surprise

What would happen if you took a poo while traveling at .999 the speed of light?

If you stopped short, your **** would go flying into you and kill you, I'd imagine.

I wonder what would happen if Failzor was a poopsock, drooling over poopsocks.

I kinda figured a different response.