New Player Questions

ZeusDv

I have just bought FFXI as it seems to be the only MMO I haven't tried yet and so far I am really liking the game, but I have a few questions.

I am levelling a RDM at the moment, after playing around with a few classes, but I would like to be a bard later on (I love buffers) and realise I have to unlock that class at level 30. However if I choose a subjob at level 18 would this prevent me doing so? Can you swap main jobs at any time?

Also how do I regen health in between fights? It seems to regen if I drop a certain amount and regen up a bit, but won't go all the way, same with MP.

And where do I learn new spells apart from buying the scrolls from the AH? They are costly and as a newcomer to the game I can't afford them.

Is there any way to improve inventory space, as I fill it very quickly!

How long do temporary items last for?

Any other hints and tips would be great as well

I am on the Kujata server and am called Kaldrex if anyone would like to say Hello, as I don't know anyone in the game! I presume linkshells are guilds?

Many thanks in advance for those kind enough to help.

Kaldrex

Vendetta0311

Sorry for the wall of text.....

I played this game for a long time, (up until my account was stolen by RMT)

First, subjobs and main jobs can be changed at any time by going to your mog house and talking to your moogle. So you can take your RDM to 18, get a sub (WHM is usually best at low levels) to level 15 and then take RDM all the way to 30 and unlock BRD. You can then level both BRD and RDM to 75 or any other job. I suggest you choose 1 job and take it all the way to 75 (always keep a sub fully half of your main job) before experimenting too much with other jobs, as its much easier to get gear and level extra jobs after you have 1 at 75. It is a lot easier to learn about a job on forums and such than it is to level it to 75 and find out for yourself if you like it or not.

To regen your Health and Mana, all you need to do is rest. The button for rest should be H. you can also type /h or /heal to rest as well. You can also drink juices to regen your mana faster. Health potions and Mana potions are good for during big fights (due to price you won't see many people using them while in exp parties) to instantly give you HP/MP.

Spells are often cheaper in stores at very low levels (probably before level 15.. although there are sometimes exceptions) There are magic shops in every major city, and some of the outland towns as well, you can learn where to buy spells on all sorts of fan sites. Above level 15, most of your spells will be cheaper on the AH (feel free to look at both the AH and stores and compare lol), unless you can find someone to help you hunt mobs that drop the particular spell you're after, in which case they're free.

Inventory is expandable, but if you still don't have a subjob, its unlikely you can afford to do this anyway. You can find the quests to expand your inventory on many fansites.

Temporary Items all have different durations. From 30sec to over an hour, it depends on the item. Durations can be found on fansites (sorry I keep repeating this, you'll inevitably need to find a fansite for quest information and the like)

As for other hints and tips...

Quit now, while you're ahead... The only way to beat FFXI is to quit!

If you don't want to follow that advice...

Don't craft unless you enjoy it, its a time and money sink which is rarely profitable until you're very high. Even then it's hit and miss. You'll have plenty of time to craft once you're 75 and waiting on groups to do Rare-spawns, Dynamis, Sky, Sea, and whatever has come out since I was forced to quit. Also, you'll definately try to get rid of junk items on the AH, its usually (always exceptions) better to wait until you have a stack of something before trying to sell it, as it will sell quicker that way. If you don't want to wait to get a stack of something, sell it at a shop or vendor. Throw nothing away unless its /ex and you don't want it anymore. You'll need to be a miser if you want some of the best stuff in the game.

(for a good fansite, try killingifrit.com or ffxi.allakhazam.com, I suggest avoiding somepage just because i believe a vulnerability on that site allowed for my account to be stolen. Good luck in Vana'diel, I haven't found a game to match FFXI yet, and I'm trying hard to find one lol... (I may be back soon and if I do I'll come on Kujata and we can team up =D)

ZeusDv

Originally posted by Vendetta0311


Sorry for the wall of text.....
I played this game for a long time, (up until my account was stolen by RMT)
Sorry to hear that 
First, subjobs and main jobs can be changed at any time by going to your mog house and talking to your moogle. So you can take your RDM to 18, get a sub (WHM is usually best at low levels) to level 15 and then take RDM all the way to 30 and unlock BRD. You can then level both BRD and RDM to 75 or any other job. I suggest you choose 1 job and take it all the way to 75 (always keep a sub fully half of your main job) before experimenting too much with other jobs, as its much easier to get gear and level extra jobs after you have 1 at 75. It is a lot easier to learn about a job on forums and such than it is to level it to 75 and find out for yourself if you like it or not.
That clears that up nicely thanks I will do as you suggest RDM to 18, and then take WHM. I've heard that your subjob is capped to half the level of your main, so is it better to do 2 levels of your main then one level on your sub? I believe the expected subjob for BRD is WHM, but I like to be different and hear RDM is a good second choice. From reading various sites, it seems every group likes a BRD but no one wants to be one, which is great for me. I always like to play the underdog class, and BRD seems to have twisting, which is something I haven't seen since the old EQ bards. One of the things I'm loving about this game is how old skool it is!
To regen your Health and Mana, all you need to do is rest. The button for rest should be H. you can also type /h or /heal to rest as well. You can also drink juices to regen your mana faster. Health potions and Mana potions are good for during big fights (due to price you won't see many people using them while in exp parties) to instantly give you HP/MP.
After posting this last night I found out about this, I had tried searching the net but couldn't find anything. I'm playing on the 360 but have a keyboad plugged in as well, and clicking the left stick accidentally put me into heal lol. Glad I know that as it was driving me insane why it wouldn't regen all the way.
Spells are often cheaper in stores at very low levels (probably before level 15.. although there are sometimes exceptions) There are magic shops in every major city, and some of the outland towns as well, you can learn where to buy spells on all sorts of fan sites. Above level 15, most of your spells will be cheaper on the AH (feel free to look at both the AH and stores and compare lol), unless you can find someone to help you hunt mobs that drop the particular spell you're after, in which case they're free.
I'll visit the spell store when I get home from work today, got to level 7 last night but I doubt I can afford all the spells I need, however since an RDM is expected to Debuff I'll take those spells first before others.
Inventory is expandable, but if you still don't have a subjob, its unlikely you can afford to do this anyway. You can find the quests to expand your inventory on many fansites.
I seem to manage my inventory better now I have found things don't stack automatically, and now I sort them I go much longer without needing to visit a town.
Temporary Items all have different durations. From 30sec to over an hour, it depends on the item. Durations can be found on fansites (sorry I keep repeating this, you'll inevitably need to find a fansite for quest information and the like)
Yeah I noticed they seemed to disappear after random amounts of time if I didn't use them. Thanks for the tip!
As for other hints and tips...
Quit now, while you're ahead... The only way to beat FFXI is to quit!
I can't do that! I need an MMO, and all the new releases fail to impress me. I'm in a few betas at the moment too for various MMOs and none of those seem like games I'd like to invest heavily in.
If you don't want to follow that advice...
Don't craft unless you enjoy it, its a time and money sink which is rarely profitable until you're very high. Even then it's hit and miss. You'll have plenty of time to craft once you're 75 and waiting on groups to do Rare-spawns, Dynamis, Sky, Sea, and whatever has come out since I was forced to quit. Also, you'll definately try to get rid of junk items on the AH, its usually (always exceptions) better to wait until you have a stack of something before trying to sell it, as it will sell quicker that way. If you don't want to wait to get a stack of something, sell it at a shop or vendor. Throw nothing away unless its /ex and you don't want it anymore. You'll need to be a miser if you want some of the best stuff in the game.
I hate crafting so no worries there. I may try to level a profession at 75, but I'm not concerned there.
(for a good fansite, try killingifrit.com or ffxi.allakhazam.com, I suggest avoiding somepage just because i believe a vulnerability on that site allowed for my account to be stolen. Good luck in Vana'diel, I haven't found a game to match FFXI yet, and I'm trying hard to find one lol... (I may be back soon and if I do I'll come on Kujata and we can team up =D)
Would be awesome to meet in game, am a bit lonely at the moment but the game is keeping me entertained. Just hope I can find a good linkshell before I need to go out and group which I believe is 10+?
I have found the FFXI Wiki is a good place for info too, am doing the quests from San d'Oria that I can to get a bit better equipment for the harder mobs.
Thanks for all the info and help, it's been very useful. I hope to see you in Vanadiel soon!

 

ZeusDv

After reading the forums over at killingifrit (thanks for the tip!) it seems I am on the wrong server as I am EU Based. I should be looking at either Fairy or Ragnarok so I will be rerolling again Glad I caught this before going to further!

Satimasu

Plenty of EU people on Kujata. There is no right and wrong server for certain countries.

ZeusDv

Hmmmm it seems everybody I spoke to in ther starter areas were US based. Within a few minutes of being on Fairy I was chatting to someone else from the UK.

So if anyone is on Fairy and would like to say hello, please feel free to do so. I can see this game would be very lonely without any social aspect 

Satimasu

I have EU people in my LS and I know EU people. People also play all hours of the night, I don't know why it matters if they're US or EU or JP, as long as you can play together.

ZeusDv

Where they are from doesn't really matter you're correct, apart from I don't want to be playing at my peak times which are 12pm Midday - 5pm CST on my own! If there is a large EU population then the chances are I'm going to be playing people who share the same peak play time, and when I am running endgame activities I can do so at reasonable times for myself. I have in the past been in American guilds and had to get up at 3am to go on certain raids, and that's not something I fancy doing anymore.

 

 

Satimasu

There are plenty of Endgame EU LS's and US that run on EU time. Not everyone works during the day and sleeps at night. Plenty of people work their third shift and there are endgame LS's for that. I know what you're saying, but the game doesn't shut down when you're not on at US peak times. It's going on around the world, so every prime time across the world is being used. Just letting you know.