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Question from a prospective new player.
Hillsy
Member Posts: 21
Having looked at several games since leaving the mmo that shall not be named behind, I was interested in possibly starting a new life in FFXI
However, seeing that the game requires a significant time investment I was wondering how easy it would be to hop into an already well established game, How easy is it to get into the community, find a guild etc etc.
What happens at level cap, Is there an established endgame? Is it challenging enough to be entertaining? How accessable is the endgame for a new player? Will I be pilloried for having played "The other game" by the established guilds for example?
Comments
Basically, it's pretty easy to get into the community. You will probably have some trouble learning the controls and such at first. I suggest using a controller or something.
There are Linkshells (guilds) looking for people all the time. Heck, on my server Kujata, I got a linkshell that takes in newbies. People can be pretty helpful. Just don't build up a bad reputation and you should be just fine.
Endgame? This XI has one of the best endgames out there. Challenging? Some definitely are. There is actually one type of endgame that people are just now starting to beat since it was implemented some months ago. For a new player, getting into an endgame linkshell varies. It depends on what kind of job they are looking for. Some like it when you have multiple capped jobs. Just gotta look around a bit.
Don't worry that you played the "other" game. There are many that play XI and "that" game. Just don't expect it to be easy. This game does take some dedication. It definitely feels great when you do accomplish the things XI has to offer. Make sure to check the stickies at the top of these forums. They have very helpful info. Hope you have fun and happy adventuring. If you have any questions, just PM me or something.
To be the best, you must help each other become the best.
FFXI Character: Satimasu
FFXI Server: Valefor
FFXIV Character: Tamorae Fonteil
Well,
its ffxi's own leveling system that make the game easy to hop in as players tend to relevel another jobs all the time.
Time investment is a must in every MMORPG. People can spend 365 days ingame in WoW. However, unlike any MMORPG FFXI require MULTIPLY class leveling, hence its massive amount of time leveling to the cap does not implies only for its job but also investment in other classes as well.
a good decent player might cap around 30-40 ingame days thats with roughly 2 37 classes and 1 @ 75.
while a decent WoW player cap their class @ 70 within 15 days. At the end the total amount of days are actually the same!. (2x 37 = a 75 XD) but in Wow leveling a completely different class will NOT help you what so ever but FFXI does help! )(at least you don't have to relevel XD)
Community wises, guilds? what guilds? you can have multiply linkshell. Just switch whenever you like.
Endgame wises, yes it will be challenge ..... so challenge that endgame will never end. There are multiple things to do.
Assaults, Salvage, ethejar, dynamis, KSNM 99, SKY, Sea.... man there is alot. not to mention complete all Missions.. (which will take months+). Not enough endgame? level another job ...get new AF armor and craft. Just crafting alone it will take you months to CAP.
Just the constant 3 besieged (usually 300 player join in) a day will get your mind blow up.
But one thing you have to keep in mind..... ever consider yourself a veteran once you hit50s...because if its your 1st 50.... YOU ARE STILL A NOOB. The game start at 55+ really.
none
I'm new player and have had no problems as of yet getting acquainted with the controls. The people I've met have been really cool so far. Auronuru lvl9 RDM (Odin Server)
The game takes alot of time yes and effor but like ( i think sat said it) when you get what you desire in the game its a much better feeling than when you would lvl in that other game and think next lvl in this your like yay (unless u delevel) , death can be a pain as to if your far away u have to run back to your body but I've always had a love/hate relationship with that since its more of a challenge and fun plus that first time u run to jeuno will be one of your foundest memories.
Most difficult thing for a new player is making gil.
Be prepared to dedicate some time to farming drops.
Also, there's a lack of early quests with decent rewards, compared to some other MMOs..
Rule of FFXI: what has good value in gil, requires a lot of time/effort to obtain.
Of course there could be some exceptions.
If you think of crafting, be warned:
1) it requires a lot of time or gil (or both) to level up
2) a lot of competition on all levels = small profits, often only from HQ synths
3) non-consumables sell often slowly; there is no decay, or binding/attune to remove used stuff from the game
One thing that always happen to my friends....
They joined the game...and ran around as new player in major city.... often enough. People will give you stuff which can help start. You can simply ask people to help too(never ask for gil)
none
This game IMO is the best MMO out there, yes there is a great endgame with a massive storyline you wount be skipping text on quests like you normally do becuase you'll actully want to read them and keep up to date with new storylines.
And the release of the new expansion soon (wings of the goddess) that will bring alot more people into the game so dont worry about beeing on your own whilst leveling plus theres loads of high level players in the game to help you along the way.
To tell you the truth i started the game about 4 months ago and whithin a week of playing i found a great english linkshell (yes im english) with alot of people in wich was great so if i got one pretty fast im sure you will, the time investment is a downfall to the game having to wait for groups and run long distances well thats what the chocobos are for but you dont get them till level 20.
The waiting for a group can be a pain, it can go like this: you wait for an hour to find a party and then you finaly find a party, you run to there location or wait for them to come that can take up to 25 mins then you have to all get ready, buffs Ect.. then you can get about 1 hour of fighting maybe 2 then someone has to go and the party disband. then your back to sqaure one. and its a pain trying to find a healer, they have all the power in that game..
But if you take away the time investment its an outstanding game
FFXI
Hope that helped.
Thanks for the feedback.
The theme i seemed to get is: Finding a healer is a PITA and a necessary evil
Why is it that in MMOs people never like to heal? Sure healing is repetitive and most of the time thankless, (The only time you get feedback from a group is when the overzealous kamikaze DPS gets smeared across the room). I guess people tend to prefer not being a critical link in a group. Thats a topic for another thread though.
I guess if I rolled a healer i'd have a lot less trouble finding a group ^ ^. Haven't played a healer in a while but if the healer population is as bad as I hear then it might well be worth trying it out.
no one would turn away a healer that u can count on, only problem i have with the game so far is i was trying to camp the revival root and a higher lvl logged in each time and stole it from me =( so heartless.
Im lucky there's quite alot of healers in my LS who i can count on, Sucks that i cant play it again for another 3 months becuase my dads in thailand and he was the one paying the subscribtion and im not setting up another one lol =[ sigh...
The community in this game is very easy to get into and very helpful toward newer players, moreso than any other MMO I've played by far. If you don't really MIND being a casual player, then you'll have a load of fun here, and make some new friends.
In terms of progression, to give you an idea, I have 6 level 75 (level cap) jobs. I've completed most of the game's content, but there are STILL some things in the game that I have yet to accomplish, even now, and that's with 277 days total playtime since the game was released. This game has a lot to offer casual players, with many different sets of missions, many quests with their own mini-storylines, and MANY different ways to kill time, and even if you're super-hardcore, it will be years before the game runs out of content for you.
I agree with the poster above who said that the only problem for a new player is making money. This requires either a concerted effort toward camping rare spawns for drops to sell, and/or endless micromanagement of the auction house and economy, and/or ridiculously dumb luck (crafting wise). That being said, you won't see as much of a difference between well geared players and mediocre geared players in this game as you will in others, so ultimately you can progress at your own pace without feeling as if you're being hindered by not having the absolute best gear, since equipment wise, there are good options in all price ranges that will allow you to get by.
My blog:
http://www.mmorpg.com/blogs/Strayfe/
Yay! for micro-economics.
For a new player the best place to get some starting money is the Windurst starting areas. You can start in any nation you want but I'd recommend leveling in Windurst. This is because Windurst has some great repeatable quests that usually give about 200-600 gil as a reward. When I leveled my thief from level 1 to 11 I gained about 25k gil just by doing those quests and selling crystals in auction house.
This isn't bad advice as long as you follow it closely. Players are often willing to help newbies in this game, and sometimes will give stuff to beginners who show the willingness to make the effort. Don't ask, though. And never, NEVER just run up to a stranger and say "Gimme some gil." That rarely works and gives the stranger a very bad first impression of you, and FFXI is a game where having a reputation as somebody good to work with means a great deal.
Chris Mattern
Tried Hellgate:London, and while it's fun it lacks the content to keep me occupied for more than a couple of hours a day so decided to have a look at FFXI.
I heard reports that the economy got completely ruined a while back, how realistic is it for a new player to get up to speed with gear, (decided I'll prolly go WHM and obviously want enough gear to not be limited by a lack of gear)
Any suggestions of an active Euro time server would be appreciated, especially if theres a few other prospective players looking to start afresh in the next couple of days, it should make the experience a bit more fun all starting a new game together. Looking to be pretty active, playing mainly Euro times.
Thanks for all your responses, I'll prolly see some of you in game
.
I must say looking at the posts here and the forums the attitude seems to be entirely differant than WoWs which is one of the reasons I am giving this a try. More friendly, helpful and sensible posts, as opposed to the constant nightmare of a community that was WoW.