A few questions before I buy the game<33

Duilyon · April 2008

So me and my friends are trying to decide if we should get this game because we are getting sick and tired of LOTRO and World of Warcraft. So before we buy we wanted to make sure we were not getting into another Wow and LOTRO.

So here are my questions

1) Is it very grindy? Will we have to grind for hours to just gain 1 level?

2) What are the classes / races

3) How do you move around? is it the regular WSAD configuration?

5) Is the combat fast or flow paced?

6) Is there crafting and is it worth doing?

7) Free trial? Where can it be obtained?

8) What do you do when you hit the cap? PVP? Raid? Instances? World bosses?

9) any worth while pvp??

10) Is the game populated?

Thanks for all your help!!!

Azukami · April 2008

I am only a level 20 but i've learned quite a bit about the game and I'll try to answer as many of the questions as I can.

1)This game is very grindy. The first 10 levels are solo which alone took me 2 days. After you get level 10 you NEED a party to level and it takes from as little as 30 minutes to 2 hours to find one (At higher levels it doesn't take as long). But since you have people with you that shouldn't be a problem.

2)There are alot of classes. Go to http://wiki.ffxiclopedia.org/wiki/Jobs thats a list of all the classes and describes each one. If you do get the game that site will help you SO much.

3)The controls take a while to get used to. To open up the menu you have to use the mouse wheel. When you start the game to move you use the number pad but you can change it to WASD by clicking the mouse wheel, clicking on the right arrow, going to config, clicking misc. 2, and changing the keyboard type to compact. I also recommend to change the game to window mode so you can go to websites without closing the game and you should change the graphics. Just go to the FFXI Config and you can change it there. Oh and to close the menu you have to right click. I just saved you a whole day of trouble .

4) Umm... geuss you skipped 4.

5)The fights take a long time and levels 1-10 seem to take forever. Once you get in a party its be alot more fun though.

6)Someone else should post about this since i haven't done much of it. All i know is there are things to do other than level up. Right now I am fishing so i can get some CA$H.

7)No Free Trial sorry

8)Sadly the PvP in this game is very dull and limited. Haven't gotten to end game so someone else should post about this.

9)Nope

10)I think this game is very populated, at least on my server. Not many low levels though.

FFXI is a hardcore game. If you don't have 3 hours to spend at a time it feels like you get nothing done. This game is one of the best games I have played. I LOVE the party system.. although you have to wait for hours it is worth it. There is a learning curve at the start but I think i covered most of the things that confused me.

Good luck and see you in the game (if you get it)

korvix · April 2008

Originally posted by Duilyon

So me and my friends are trying to decide if we should get this game because we are getting sick and tired of LOTRO and World of Warcraft. So before we buy we wanted to make sure we were not getting into another Wow and LOTRO.

This is a "real" MMO, you are not getting a WoW or Lotro.

Video Review: http://www.gametrailers.com/player/10940.html (its a old review, from 2 expansions back but will tell you what you need to know)
So here are my questions

1) Is it very grindy? Will we have to grind for hours to just gain 1 level?
Yes, but its fun grinding. You get these things called "conquest points" when you kill mobs in a area when you have "signet" cast on you ( a guard near the exit to the city will cast it on you). after you get enough conquest points you can buy a EXP+ ring, that makes the lower lvls fly by.

2) What are the classes / races
www.wiki.ffxiclopedia.org you will want to get to know this site very well if you plan on playing this game.

3) How do you move around? is it the regular WSAD configuration?
You can use WASD, Numpad, Gamepads (xbox360/PS2)
-You can play the game on PC,360,PS2/3

5) Is the combat fast or flow paced?
Slow, there is a ton of stuff going on, game takes a ton of cordination to be successful. Nubs and Pros stand out. Also, you only kill 1 or 2 mobs at a time. The graphics/Animations for all attacks are pretty awesome.

6) Is there crafting and is it worth doing?
Crafting is hard and expensive, and worth it. The game has tons of other hobbies/activitys, look at that wiki site above.

7) Free trial? Where can it be obtained?
No Free Trial, you can buy the Original Game and a POL ID from Gamestop/EBgames/Online Retailers for 2$, that serves as the Trial.
8) What do you do when you hit the cap? PVP? Raid? Instances? World bosses?
Yup tons of stuff to do, this game is content rich.

9) any worth while pvp??
Yep if you get into it. But its not open world, full loot PvP, this game is a PVE game and the PvP aspect will NEVER affect how the PvE works, they do not ballance this game for PvP.
10) Is the game populated?
Yes.

Thanks for all your help!!!
PS: The game + all of the Expansions cost 30$ (on the 15th that is, the '08collection comes out)
And you can increase the Graphics for the game to be on Par or Surpass most Newer MMOs with Unoffical Mods. ( on the PC )

lilfoo · April 2008

Originally posted by Duilyon

So me and my friends are trying to decide if we should get this game because we are getting sick and tired of LOTRO and World of Warcraft. So before we buy we wanted to make sure we were not getting into another Wow and LOTRO.
So here are my questions

1) Is it very grindy? Will we have to grind for hours to just gain 1 level?
Yes, more then enough explanation here from others though.

2) What are the classes / races
More then enough about this already. wiki is an awsome site get to know it.

3) How do you move around? is it the regular WSAD configuration?
You can make it WSAD.
5) Is the combat fast or flow paced?
Depends on what you mean, last night while PTing on my 68 NIN we were killing a mob every minute or less. then after that the endgame shell i am in went and fought hydra for a hour as something to do. Endgame you have easy fights and hectic ones.

6) Is there crafting and is it worth doing?
The crafting system is huge. Most items come from players as no NPC sells something worthwhile. Because of this crafting is expensive but when it gets high you will make it back 10 fold.
7) Free trial? Where can it be obtained?
Going to cost you $2
8) What do you do when you hit the cap? PVP? Raid? Instances? World bosses?
Get into a HNM and you can be busy 24/7 on working for different things every day. I think this is one of the best MMOs because of the pure amount of content that is solely targeted at lvl 75 players that it dose not get repetitive.

9) any worth while pvp??
If you get into it yes. this is a PvE game though the PvP part was added in way later. there is basicly no balancing and they will only nerf jobs in PvP if it is way overpowered.
10) Is the game populated?
2,584 online @ 2:05 EST
Thanks for all your help!!!

k11keeper · April 2008

Originally posted by Duilyon

1) Is it very grindy? Will we have to grind for hours to just gain 1 level?
Sadly I have to say yes it is very "grindy". You will need a full party of 6 players to get xp after lvl 10 unless you are one of the few jobs that can solo.
2) What are the classes / races
races: galka, mithra, hume, elvaan, tarutaru. Race is not a much of a factor as in WoW you can play every job with every race and each has its advantages and diss advantages but all can be good.
job are and there are many; whitemage, blackmage, redmage, monk, warrior, paladin, ninja, samurai, dragoon, darkknight, ranger, beastmaster, summoner, dancer, scholar, bluemage, corsair, puppetmaster, bard. I might have missed 1 or 2 but there are a ton
3) How do you move around? is it the regular WSAD configuration?
you can use WSAD if you want to. I'm one of the few that prefers the default settings you don't need the mouse at all if you get used to it.
5) Is the combat fast or flow paced?
Both id say. In a pt it is really fasts paced as well in endgame but soloing can be slow paced depending on what job you are.
6) Is there crafting and is it worth doing?
yes the crafting system is very intriquitte and very worth while.
7) Free trial? Where can it be obtained?
I'm no sure on that one but it sounds like $2 and thats not too bad at all.
8) What do you do when you hit the cap? PVP? Raid? Instances? World bosses?
I have posted some sort of in depth posts about this subject it is amazing best endgame ive ever played in any MMO.
9) any worth while pvp??
I would say no. There is ballista and brenner these are games and there is no real advantage of doing this besides your enjoyment i rarely do this if ever.
10) Is the game populated?
Yes the game has over 500k active accounts on 30 something servers. My server is about average and normally has about 2-3k people on at a time. I think my server is mainly japanese though because during their primetime its usually about 3.5k on.
Thanks for all your help!!!

Duilyon · April 2008

Would it be incredibly hard for me and my friends to do all of the content? There will be only 3 of us? Is there still a lot of people leveling up and such?

Azukami · April 2008

Originally posted by Duilyon

Would it be incredibly hard for me and my friends to do all of the content? There will be only 3 of us? Is there still a lot of people leveling up and such?

As i said before it takes as little as 30 minutes to as long as 2 hours to get a group in the early levels. But since you have 3 people it shouldn't take as long.. I will join you guys if you want me to. I've been wanting to make a monk .

Rajai · April 2008

I'm sure you can get a very decent party going rather quickly if you have 3 people that always play together, make one of them the white mage, make one a paladin(or ninja, you'll have to twink your paladin) and the third is up to you but i recommend redmage or bard then all you have to do is find 3 fillers which are a dime a dozen in most cases

as for content, yeah you can do most missions I'm sure... much easier if you get into a helpful linkshell

and grindy... yeah it's grindy... if you're not in a leet party, you can expect a few hours a level.. much more later on, it's not like lineage 2 grindy or korean MMO grindy, it's a lot more fun

later on there are world bosses, HNMs, dragons, gods, they're all pretty easy if you're in an established, well run linkshell that does stuff like that.. it's very competitive for the money drops though.. and dragons..

Katashi-kun · April 2008

Originally posted by Duilyon

Would it be incredibly hard for me and my friends to do all of the content? There will be only 3 of us? Is there still a lot of people leveling up and such?

With just 3 ppl yes! You will be able to progress through alot of content and lvl rather quickly with a solid 3 player at all times. However if you want the best XP from every kill, or if u want to do the large story events you will need a full group or raid depending on what ur doing!

...and if your really serious about doing all the content you better just mark off the better part of the next 2 yrs of your life dedicated to this game! There is seriously that much to do, if you want to see it all, unlock all the jobs, acquire sets of Artifact Armor, work on obtaining an Ancient Weapon....and there is so much end-game raid content you'll go nuts trying to focus on accomplishing it all.

I would highly suggest also that you group of 3 start out with a White or Red Mage, a Warrior, and a Thief or Monk. That way you have a healer, a tank and some dps and you'll easily get urselfs to lvl 20+ in about a week or so.

Duilyon · April 2008

Awesome can someone reccomend me a server to play on that is pretty populated and that is mostly English speaking pop? I don't want to create my character on a shitty server and never be able to reroll..

Satimasu · April 2008

I guess everyone about answered everything. It doesn't matter so much which server you pick, since they are all pretty much populated about the same. I'm on Kujata and just leveled a low level job yesterday and got an invite within 10 minutes. I wasn't on a healing job either. Like it was said earlier, if it's three of you, you have half of a party right there. You could even trio some levels if you wanted. Making parties should be easy for you.

You can always reroll whenever you want and put 'em on a different server. You could also do Wold Transfers for RL money. Any other way I can help, let me know. If you happen to start on Kujata, my name is Satimasu. Just look me up.

lifehue · April 2008

Thanks guys for all the information... I have been thinking about getting the game recently as well, but I just didn't know how populated it is and if there were English speaking players left in the game (not that it really matters, but I heard that some of the non-English speakers get a little rude when they party up with a player who is new to the game!)

I think I might actually get the the '08 collection that came out today and maybe hop on the game soon...!

oh, any suggestions regarding what's a good server to be on?

Since I'm going to be playing the game alone not with friends, it would be helpful if there were a little bit more lower level players on the server !

Thanks again for the great info everyone...

Satimasu · April 2008

Originally posted by lifehue

Thanks guys for all the information... I have been thinking about getting the game recently as well, but I just didn't know how populated it is and if there were English speaking players left in the game (not that it really matters, but I heard that some of the non-English speakers get a little rude when they party up with a player who is new to the game!)

I think I might actually get the the '08 collection that came out today and maybe hop on the game soon...!

oh, any suggestions regarding what's a good server to be on?
Since I'm going to be playing the game alone not with friends, it would be helpful if there were a little bit more lower level players on the server !

Thanks again for the great info everyone...

Like I said before, I was leveling a lower level job for a couple of days and their were newer people playing. Plenty of English speaking players on the game still. That's the great thing about this game though, you can level more than one job on the same character. Anyhow, if you end up on Kujata, this is my character name. You can look me up if you wish.

Katashi-kun · April 2008

Originally posted by lifehue

oh, any suggestions regarding what's a good server to be on?

Well if you're looking for a ton of players, Squeenix just reported a massive-load of players on the Odin Server and were offering free char transfers off. Prolly wouldn't have too much trouble getting a group on any server but I'd bet it'd be a bit faster on Odin being so overpopulated, if you can get on there!

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A few questions before I buy the game<33

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A few questions before I buy the game<33

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