So you want to play FFXI? Well kudos to ya. I've played WoW, L2, Rose, RO, Raikon, Gunbound, Dark and Light, Gunz, Guild Wars, just about every "MMO" out there and FFXI is still my fav. It takes actual skill to play, it's hard, and most of all it's fun.

1. Getting started.
So far FFXI has the original game, Rise of Zilart expansion, and Chains of Promanthia expansion. Right now S-E is offering all 3 for about $19-$29. Around April we will be getting the Treasures of Art'Urhgan expansion which inclues new missions, jobs, areas, monsters ect. FFXI costs $12/mo and about +50 cents for every extra character.

2. Installing and Connecting to the World.
Your installation will take a while and might be somewhat complicated. After that it will probably take a while to patch. When you make a character, it will automatically place you on a server unless you have a worldpass. In order to get a worldpass you must ask someone playing the server to get one for you. You enter it in on the character creation screen.

3. Race
Mithra - Kitty girls! Female onry. However, 80% of Mithras are guys anyway. They have highest DEX + AGI which makes them suited for many melee jobs. Namly RNG, NIN, THF but their STR is lower than most classes.
Hume - The 'Good at everything, bad at notiong, best at nothing' class. However, they have highest CHR which is good for BRD and BST. Also if you go THF hume over THF mithra you will have stronger weapon skills such as Dancing Edge.
Elvaan - High STR and high DEF baad MP MND and INT. Makes good melee jobs.
Galka - Highest DEF and high STR. Mostly played for tanking jobs, horrible MP. Male orny
TaruTaru - Best mage race, high MND INT and MP. Low DEF VIT and STR.
Now, that being said don't think you have to chose race on what job you want to be. That's why they made equipment! You can be a better Elvaan mage than a Tarutaru if you're smart about your job and know how to play. (That is, if it's a stupid Taru.)

4. Jobs (Some jobs are not avaible at start. *=Basic job)
View Artifact Armor for each Job. (They seem to be missing Taru F though, teeaar.)
Mages
1. *WHM - Healer, Buffer, Raiser (Uses Clubs)
2. *RDM - Enfeebler, Debuffer, Refresher (Uses Swords)
3. BRD - Buffer, Backup Healer (Uses Swords)
4. *BLM - Nuker, Debuffer (Uses Staff)
5. SMN - Avatar summoner, Damage Dealer, Backup Healer (Uses Staff)
Melee
1. SAM - Damage Dealer, Skill Chainer (Uses Great Katana)
2. *WAR - Damage Dealer, Voker, Backup tank (Uses Axes/Great Axe)
3. DRG - Damage Dealer, Wryvn pet (Uses Pole Arms)
4. *MNK - Hand to Hand Damage Dealer (Uses Fists)
5. DRK - Damage Dealer, Learns some spells (Uses Scythe/Great Sword)
6. RNG - Ranged attack Damage, Puller. (Uses Bow/Daggers)
7. *THF - Ranged attack Damage, Puller. (Uses Bow/Daggers)
Tanks
1. NIN - Learns NIN spells, Tanks with Utsesmei (Uses Katana)
2. PLD - Self Healing, Learns spells (Uses Sword)
Other
1. BST - Charms other monsters, Soloer, Pets. (Uses Axe/Great Axe)
2. Corsair - Gunmage (Uses Hexagun) *Not yet Implimented*
3. Blue Mage - Rouge type class *Not yet Implimented*


5. How to play.
- Keyboard commands
Starting Nations: San'diora Bastok Windurst
First things you're gonna want to do is configure your keyboard. You can go to Config > Misc 2 and set it to full or compact. Your keys are going to change depending on what one you use.
How to talk:
-/s (Say, talk to people around you)
-/l (Talk in Linkshell)
-/p (Talk in Party)
-/sh (Shout accross current area)
-Alt + R (Reply to a PM)
-/tell name (PM someone)
-Disabling New Adventurer Status (Removing the ?) Go to Help > Help Desk > Config > Disable New Adventurer Status.
Use /map to bring up the map. Head for a leveling area outside town. (W.Raunfare, E.Raunfare, W.Saruburta, E.Sarubura, N.Gustaburg, E.Gustaburg)
-Get Signet from one of the NPCs standing by the zone to an outside area of town. This will allow you to get Conquest Points and Crystals which for now, will be the best way for you to make money.
-The Auction House: If you want to sell or buy things this is the place to do it. For selling, look for the item you want to sell on the AH and check the price history, this will tell you how much people have been buying the item for. Prices will change a lot. This is the basis for FFXI's economy. Beware though, make sure to check NPC shops first as the item you want may be cheaper from an NPC than on the AH.
-Your Mog House: On your map you will see a place marked "Residential area" This is where the Mog houses are. In order to get one you talk to an NPC located near the entrance to the Mogs. You will be given a moogle and a storage safe. Any gil you make off items sold on the AH will come here. If you want to access your mog house in another nation you must 'rent' one. Mog houses are always free. You may also furnish them. Furnishings will give you extra enhancments.

6. Fighting
View Renkei/Skillchain Chart
-Target a mob. Hit enter and go down to the "Check" option. Toughness goes in this order: Too Weak > Easy Prey > Decent Challenge > Even Match > Tough > Very Tough > Impossible to Gauge. While Soloing 1-10 you'll be best off fighting DC and below.
-Weapon Skills and TP: The 3rd bar under MP is your TP. While fighting you will notice your weapon skills raise. Eventually you will learn a weapon skill which is an extra attack you can do if your TP is 100%+ In parties you will probably Skill Chain with another person using your Weapon Skill. An example of this is: You use Burning Blade > Your partner uses Combo. Skillchain: Liquefaction. If you have a Black Mage they can cast a fire attack right after the SC for more damage.

7. Leveling (1-10 Your guide to soloing)
View Mission Guides.
ALL jobs solo their levels 1-10. There really isn't anything complicated about it but there might be some things you should do before you head out to form parties. First off, don't worry about armor much for now. Level 7 will probably be the first time you upgrade. Then again 10+ almost every few levels till 20+
While you're not leveling:
I reccomend you do at least ONE rank mission before you hit 10. First ones are usually easiest. Then they get gradually harder. Each starting nation has their own diffrent missions and storylines.

8. Level 10-20: (Oh noes parties!)
Lv.10: You will seek your first parties at this level. Make sure you have all your spells, upgraded armor, weapons. In order to seek go to Party > Seek party.
You may also set a comment for when people look you up. Genrally... people put stuff like, if they are using food, how much exp to next level, if they have special equipment. Mine right now as a 71 WHM looks like this:
@30,000 JP/EN OK
{Lufaise Meadows} {Ru'Aun Gardens} CoP = O
{Party} {Long Time} {Yes, Please}
Using just the first line will be ok for you at this level.
Most of the time you will get an invite for Valkrum Dunes. You can get there though Konschat Highlands or La'Thine Plateau. Once you get in you'll want to look for your party's position. You can ask them their pos and look it up on the map. Also if you go to markers and use the arrow keys you can find little blue dots that show their name and where they are. This is only if you are in a party with them. Use /join to join a party when invited.

Food:
View Food Effects
Don't worry about food if you're broke and low level. You party probably wont mention it if you don't use any. It's kinda a luxury.


Macros: (They make your life easier!!)
View Macros Guide

Your job in a party: (Basic onry, No Sub Job.)
View Job and Subjob Guide
View Leveling Guide
Parties 10-20 are usually set up as: Tank, Puller, Healer, Nuker/Backup Healer, 2nd Voke, Damage Dealer. There will always be 6 memerbers to any exp pt. If you are brave enough you can try to form your own party. Find people by doing /sea all 10-12. Exp starts gimping if you're more than 4 levels above the lowest member.

WHM - First thing you want to do is use Protectra + Shellra on your party members. Make sure you have all your spells, and even spells for upcoming levels. Having Cure II for Lv.11 is really important. You will be in charge of healing PT members when they HP starts going down. Rest MP by hitting * when you are not Curing. PT members may ask you to cast other spells such as Poisana, Paralyna ect. It helps if you cast Paralyze, Slow, Dia on the mob. You only need to do this once per fight! If you have an RDM in the PT though you can skip this. Do NOT attack the mob with your club. You stand back from the melees.

RDM - You will be enfeebler. Cast Dia/Bio/Paralyze/Slow/Blind ect. Heal when the WHM is having trouble, or do all the healing if there is no WHM at all. Again have all spells and next levels spells.

WAR - You might be used as a tank. If you are tanking: someone is going to pull a monster to your camp, it is your job to use Provoke to take the hate off the puller, if you don't then puller will die and party will be very unhappy. If you are not tanking: If you have a NIN tank then use Provoke when the NIN is having trouble casting Utsesmei or if the main tank's Provoke is down and the mob is heading for mages.

THF - Your job will probably be pulling. Make sure you have a bow and a few stacks of arrows. At Valkrum you'll pull hill lizards till about 12 or 13. Avoid aggroing goblins. Mostly you pull IT or VT mobs. Then you bring it back to camp and the tank will voke off you. Melee it.

MNK - You'll be attacking and skill chaining. That's about it.

BLM - Your job is to bascially nuke the crap out of the mob. Don't do it so much that you pull hate and the mob starts attacking you though, that's bad. Also you'll want to Magic Burst off the Skillchain. How to do it: Whatever skill chain they are doing will have an elemental property, for example Distortion is water/ice. So if your PT is doing a Distortion skill chain it might be something like... Blade: Rin > Fast Blade. Skillchain: Distortion. When you see your party member start using the 2nd weapon skill start casting a water or ice spell. This will cause it to magic burst and do about 2-3x more damage.

Lv.18 You can do the quest for your SubJob now. Items are: Crab apron, Damselfly worm, and Magicked skull.

Lv.20+ (Aww, they grow up fast)
After level 20 you leave Valkrum Dunes for Qufim Island. You'll want to get ahold of someone who can escort you to the city of Jeuno. Only way for you to get there is walking and it's a dangerous walk. Before you head out make sure you have a gate crystal to at least ONE tele-crag (Mostly Dem or Holla which are in Konschat and La'Thine) This way you have an easier time of getting back to your home town.
Once in Jeuno: Congrats! This is like the 'main city' of FFXI. Make sure you set your home point to Jeuno asap. Then you will want to start the Chocobo quest which is in Upper Jeuno. Qufim Island > Port Jeuno > Lower Jeuno > Upper Jeuno > Ru'Lude Gardens.
Important: Make sure you start looking for help to get your keys to Kazham. Which is where you level 25+ and it's really good EXP.

Lv.25
I hope you have your access to Kazham now. First leveling area is Yuthunga Jungle. Start looking for someone to escort you to Altep to get your gate crystal.

Lv.27 Move to Yhothar Jungle to level.

Lv.30 Move to Altep for leveling. At this point if you are a PvP fiend this is the lowest cap they do. So if you like you can quest a Ballista License which will allow you to take part in sort of a public Team Pvp match. If you have CoP then you can join Diorama fights which is a private PvP match. It works the same as Ballista but mostly Linkshells just go in and 1v1 or Free for All. Also you don't need a license to play Diorama. You can also participate in Promys at this point.

Lv.34-40 You'll move to Garliage Citadel or Crawler's Nest for leveling. They are right outside Jeuno.

Lv.41 Grats~! This is the level you get to do the quest and obtain your Artifact Weapon. You HAVE to do this in order to get your Artifact Armor. Pretty much all AF weapons suck, you wont be using them. Hopefully by now you are at least Rank 5. Low ranks make people think you are either a newb, or a gilseller. Plus you get an Airship Pass at rank 5 It's smecksy.

Lv.50+
This is when you'll be doing Artifact Armor and Genkai quests.

Zilart Missions
View Zilart Missions Guide
Bascially these are 65+ but if you can get in on them earlier then awesome. You'll want to get these done before 70 for sure because it will give you access to Ru'Aun Gardens (Sky) which is a main exping area. It took me about 2 days to do ZM4-12.

Promyvion
View Promyvion Guide
There are 3, 30 cap Promyvions. Promyvion - Mea, Promyvion - Dem, Promyvion - Holla. In order to start them you will have to watch a number of cutscenes. Depending on what one you do, you will go to mea, holla, or dem and enter though the shattered telepoint.
What will happen in a promy is, no matter what your level is you will be temporarly capped at 30. Make sure you have anima before you go. You can farm them off mobs on the 1st floors which will drop things like Recolection of Pain. Then take those to Ru'Lude Gardens,The Archdukes House and have them turned into anima. (The nonstackable ones only) You and your party of 6 will go and find a Memory Recpticle mob. Defeat the strays and then have everyone attack it. Once it is deafeated step onto the platform. Enter the memory stream, this will transport you to the next floor. AVOID AGGRO AT ALL COSTS. Usually this means you will die. If you get aggro, run off to somewhere rather mobless and die. You will do your party a favor :3
Once you have reached the final floor, you enter the Spire. This is where you will debreif your party on what to do. When you are done everyone will enter the BCNM (Burning Circle Notorios Monster) Which is like an instance on WoW. The best strat I have found is to have the WAR/NIN run up and provoke the NM. The Summoners will use Ifrit or Shiva and 2HR then BP Inferno or Diamond dust on the NM. Then one of the SMNs uses a Psycoanima which causes the mob to wander around without attacking, this gives the SMNs BP time to come back. After that have the SMNs stay out of AoE range and rest while their BP is ready to go again. If you're really lucky they can pull off 3 BPs before their 2HR wears. You always use an anima after 2HR. Lots of anima = lots of win.

After you have finished holla, mea, and dem you gain access to Lufaise Meadows, Tavanzian Safehold areas.

Dynamis
View Basic Dynamis Info
Dynamis is a timed mission where you get a huge freekin group of people together and go fight really tough monsters. However, there is a chance that AF2 will drop which is a type of High Artifact. When doing a Dynamis you will join a Dynamis Linkshell that does it probably 2 times a week. Most LSs will be on a point system which means the people with the most points will be the first ones to get the drops. You must be Rank 6+ and 65+ It's really quite complicated... so i'll stop there.

Ballista/PvP
View Ballista Guide
Ballista is pretty much a Team PvP. It is nation vs nation and has level caps of 30, 40, 50, 60 and uncapped. Whichever team scores the most points wins. During Ballista you will be given 3 new commands. Quarry (Search for temp items and petras) Sprint (Run away really fast if you have no petras) Scout (Search for Rook) Bascially you Quarry for petras, these are your points and you throw them into a Rook to score. In order to turn them into a Rook you must have Gate Breach status, which means you have to take out a person of the oppisate team, or help in doing it. If you have GB status a star will appear next to the number of petras you have.


For now this is all i'll post because, i've only brushed the surface of things you can do on FFXI and my hands hurt. Just thought i'd give everyone a more in-depth look at what this game is about ;3

Didn't you post the same stuff a while ago?

This is much more in depth <_<

OH
WE HAVE SEEN HIM
OH WAIT WHERE'D HE GO.
OMG.
WE LOST ZAK AGAIN.

@ Ally: You can't link directly to GameFaq's forums. That link = Broke'd

This post has been edited by Kasuke: Feb 10 2006, 03:18 PM

I'm too lazy to fix it. Oh yeah, and I wrote this partly because I can refer my newbness friends back to it for help

Weren't you the guy that said that NO MMORPG was worth paying monthly fee for?

Ally was in a FFXI comment, just thought i'd say ^^ I read the comics a lot too hehe so I think it's pretty cool

http://gd-tangent.tsunami-art.com/view.aspx?Rec=90

There's a lot to read too, check it out ^^

So you're paying just for the name tag? I'm a big FF fan myself, but I could care less about FFXI. I played FF games for their great stories and the characters, which is what EVERY MMORPG pretty much lacks, no matter how you put it.

The only MMORPG's I would pay for are WoW and SWG (If they didn't fuck it up that hard). WoW is great, and fun to play, while SWG is like a beatiful world on it's own, when you play it you really feel like you're IN the Star Wars galaxy, which isn't something every MMORPG could pull off (with their own licenses of course)