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FFXI Begginer friendly?

MastermartzMastermartz Member Posts: 255

I'm starting FFXI on my Xbox 360 (and i must say, im pumped) ive played WoW since launch and i think its about time to take my MMO's to the next level. I am very willing to take the time and commitment to this game to learn the ropes, but i would just like to know one thing. How is the population?

 

I also have a question for the FFXI Xbox 360 users. Do i need Xbox live gold to play or can i do it with silver?

Comments

  • desnowdesnow Member Posts: 390

    FFXI is a far more copmlicated game than WoW, or many other MMOs, but it is not that hard to learn if you want to. Read the beginners guids at the FFXI wiki and allakhazam (although alla is not my preferred option due to much whining). A word of advice is to not focus on leveling just your jobs. Rotate things like fishing and doing quest/missions when you can. Otherwise people burn out in the solo levels. Around level 10 you should start looking for someone to duo or trio with and by 13 or so a full party.

    What a lot of people don't get about FFXI is that once you learn the basics there are many more layers of complexity below. Moon phases, elemental day, time of day, and sometimes even the direction you are facing can affect the outcome of something. This eans drop rates, chances of high quality crafting, +/- % to your spell damage or weaponskills, or anything else in the game. Learn the basics of everything but don't get overwhelmed with the fine parts until after you understand the basics. Otherwise you will most liekly end up confused, which is a complaint by some players. FFXI has a learning curve, but it isn't that tough, just looks hard at first.

    Oh and I suggest actualy skiming over pages 17-29 of the 360 version manual as you start your first character. It will makes things much easier.

    http://wiki.ffxiclopedia.org/Main_Page

    http://ffxi.allakhazam.com/

     Oh, and you only need silver. All games with pay-to-access service like MMOs only require silver.

  • MastermartzMastermartz Member Posts: 255

    Thanks for all the help, do you have any suggestions as to what job is good for learning the game? I always like a class that can melee and cast spells. I was thinking a red mage but will that be good to learn as? Will these sites teach me of the actually jobs you can do (I have no clue what they are but in WoW terms, blacksmithing, alchemy etc..).

    On a side note, how is it on the 360 is it cool and easy to use? I have a 60'' HDTV to play on so thats another reason im antsy to get everything going.

  • desnowdesnow Member Posts: 390
    Originally posted by Mastermartz


    1. Thanks for all the help, do you have any suggestions as to what job is good for learning the game? I always like a class that can melee and cast spells. I was thinking a red mage but will that be good to learn as?
    2. On a side note, how is it on the 360 is it cool and easy to use? I have a 60'' HDTV to play on so thats another reason im antsy to get everything going.



    1. I suggest playing all the classes at first. You only need 1 character to play all the classes. All you need to do is goto a mog house and change jobs (mog houses are in major cities, but not all towns). Your job levels stay at what you left them at, which is important because FFXI has a system called subjobs. You choose your main job and after a quest (level 18 quest) you can choose a sub job. YOur subjob is capped at half of your main jobs level while acting as a the sub job. Example: you have leveled your warrior job to 20 and your monk job to 15. You choose your primary job as warrior and monk as your sub and become a warrior20/monk10. you gain access to the traints of a monk up to level 10 (even though you leveled it higher it is capped until your warrior is leveld more).

    Subjobs are a complex issue as an idea might sound good on paper but not work well in practice...and some ideas that sound bad actually work well. the FFXI wiki has a job section which will tell you what subjobs are commonly used and why, when you choosea  favorite job read those guides.

    Now as far as a first job, well since you can change between any of the basic jobs right away I say play all of them a few levels initially. If you don't like them you will know and you will make some extra cash for the job you do like. I suggest starting as a monk though. It is the basic melee class and will let you learn basic combat quickly and is the most forgiving initially. After that choose a mage of some sort and play that. The manual has a general over view, just choose what is interesting. Decide if you want to focus on casting or melee and go from there from teh descriptions. One note of redmage: my old main was a red mage and I loved it, but in FFXI it is primarily a caster and magic regeneration character, not the uber strong hybrid it was in older FFs, that would be unbalanced. It is however the most solo friendly caster in many was and can fill a few different roles in non ideal groups or situations.

     

    2. I stopped playing on my computer once it out powered the game and started causing issues so I play on the 360 now. I prefer the 360 version personally as it frees up y computer. The PC version has to run in full screen mode unless you lose an unapproved add on. Being unapproved it is really unstable on some systems, including mine. I also have a 48" HDTV with a couch far more comfy than my desk chair. Just make sure your keyboard will work on the 360. Most USB do, but some don't. Best to know right away. If it works opn the dashboard it will work in all games including FFXI.

    Oh and the HD mode and access speeds make the PS2 version look slower than a glacier.

  • MastermartzMastermartz Member Posts: 255
    Haha very nice, yeah when i go to pick up the USB keyboard ill ask the employee there whats what, i dont know squat (whether you have to do some special configuration to use them or not.) Can you use a mouse too? or is using the controller better. I have another question, what about race? I love the idea of being able to switch between every job on one character but race is pretty important too am i right? I was thinking of just going Hume because im a noob and i dont know what im doing yet but i could be wrong, their stats may just make them suck.
  • Daedalus732Daedalus732 Member Posts: 589
    A word of warning: FFXI is a very time consuming game, especially as you get deeper into the levels. For example:



    1. You can wait hours looking for a party, particularly if you play a class that is not in demand. For this reason, I recommend starting off as some type of mage, particularly a white mage, as parties desperately need healers to do anything, thus they are in constant demand.



    2. Crafting takes a lot of time because you go up in increments of a level, such as .1, .2, and so on. You are not guaranteed to move up every time you craft something either, so you don't gain experience in the traditional way. Crafting is also expensive unless you can find a product that is in regular demand.



    3. Making money is hard. Really hard, particularly if you are a new player. You're best bet is to sell crystals and things looted from creatures on auction, though this takes time to accumulate and if you are selling your crystals, crafting is impossible because you need them to craft.



    4. You won't be able to get a mount until level 20, and this quest takes between 5 AND 6 HOURS to complete. You have to feed an animal about every hour, six times. It's worth it though, given the benefits of a mount.



    5. You need a group after about level 10, and no later than level 18 at best to make any real progress. I suppose you COULD solo, but that would be long, tedious, and very dangerous.



    6. Many of the quests and story events take a long time to complete, and you'll need a group for many of them. Unless you're in a good linkshell (FFXI's guild system) you'll find that difficult.







    FFXI is one of the most deep and complicated games I've ever come across. Not to say that this is a bad thing, but coming from WOW as you say you are, this might not be the game for you unless you can sink about 5-6 hours a day in a row into this game. It takes a lot of time to do ANYTHING in this game, but that being said, I thoroughly enjoyed the time I spent in the game. I just couldn't afford the time sink, nor could I find a good social network.
  • desnowdesnow Member Posts: 390

    I used a controlelr and keyboard even on the PC, most people do. Alost any USB keyboard will work with the 360 so get a decent cheap one. The ones that cause issues are actually the pricey ones with extra modes and buttons. Just get a standard one of some type. If you want to play it safe get the most basic MS keyboard you can get, should be $15 at most and all MS are supposed to work with the 360 without issues.

    Mice don't work on the consumer 360s right now, just the development ones. It is a possibility in the future, but you don't need one for FFXI at all.

    Race...well any job can work on any race, but you will occasionally hit the min/max type person who won't want the non ideal race/job combination. If you want to play any job choose a Hume, but Mithra are the more dextrous race (for theif and ranger), Galka the stouter (think warrior and monk), and Tarutaru are the magic users. Again any race can play any calss well, but galka will always have the most HP and least MP, Taru the most MP least HP, Hume are average everything and Mithra are a touch weaker for more accuracy/evasion/crit rate. Once you hit level 50 or so the difference in race stats is over shadowed by gear. A well geared taru will be putting out more DPS than a so-so geared Galka melee even though race wise you woudn't think it. If you can't decide, go Hume. Seems kinda bland but you can do any job without complaints. Every MMO has those people who will complain if you aren't the optimum in their mind, but FFXI is a game were if you know you job you can be any race/job combo and do well.

    edit: typos

  • MastermartzMastermartz Member Posts: 255
    Everyone starts somewhere right? WoW is a begginer MMO and i want to go from begginer to advanced. I have heard this game takes aallloottt of time but i am willing to start andlear this game. In WoW's defense, it may be easy but raids last 8+ hours so endgame is quite time consuming . It probably will be frusterating but i think once i learn this game and get myself settled ina good guild im going to have fun. 
  • desnowdesnow Member Posts: 390
    Originally posted by Mastermartz 

    It probably will be frusterating but i think once i learn this game and get myself settled ina good guild im going to have fun. 
    Finding a scial network is key to any MMO really. FFXI is a bit harder to get into, but it has a very loyal user base for a reason. If everything was easy it wouldn't be fun. However it is time consuming like the other poster mentioned, but so is every MMO really.
  • IceblIcebl Member Posts: 2
    Is the registration still down?
  • desnowdesnow Member Posts: 390
    Originally posted by Icebl

    Is the registration still down?



    They are still recovering it. Some service are available, but:

    "Users are unable to:

    -Purchase, cancel, or reactive Content IDs

    -review or update member information."

     

  • IceblIcebl Member Posts: 2

     

    Originally posted by desnow

    Originally posted by Icebl

    Is the registration still down?



    They are still recovering it. Some service are available, but:

    "Users are unable to:

    -Purchase, cancel, or reactive Content IDs

    -review or update member information."

     

    Yeah, I haven't been able to register for over 24 hours.
  • MastermartzMastermartz Member Posts: 255
    Do you guys know if there is a special configuration i need to go through with a USB keyboard on my 360 or do i just plug it in and its good to go?
  • desnowdesnow Member Posts: 390
    Just plug it in and it will function immediately.
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