2012 FFXI Recruitment Drive

[Del Murder]

I was on Pandemonium but it got merged into Asura.

What do you have to 'buy' for Black Belt? Isn't it a rare/ex quest?

[chionos]

It is, just long and potentially annoying.

Gotta do 3 different KS99, get three items that pop three NMs, kill those and hopefully get another item each that pops the HQ version of those NMs, kill those and hopefully get the 3 items needed for the belt. It can be really frustrating for people in small groups who have to work hard to beat the ks99, and have to farm it many times because the NQ NM won't drop the needed pop item, or worse yet get to the HQ NM and still not get the drop.

But that's basically the only complicated thing MNK ever has to do, and it's pretty much definitely worth it.

[Vincent, Thunder God]

i played only once, via free trial. does anyone recommend this, over, say Bioware's the Old Republic or WoW? It seems to have virtually nothing to do with the franchise, certainly not pre 12 and arguably not even pre 9-10. but if it's half decent, at least I can cut my teeth on it, i've never actually played an MMO, ever.

(could never get the Wow private servers to work)

[chionos]

i played only once, via free trial. does anyone recommend this, over, say Bioware's the Old Republic or WoW? It seems to have virtually nothing to do with the franchise, certainly not pre 12 and arguably not even pre 9-10. but if it's half decent, at least I can cut my teeth on it, i've never actually played an MMO, ever.

(could never get the Wow private servers to work)

Not sure what you mean by "virtually nothing to do with the franchise."

Fight classic enemies like Behemoths, Ahrimans, Malboros, Cactuars, Tonberries, etc.

Play standard FF-based classes: White Mage, Black Mage, Monk, Thief, Paladin, Dark Knight, Dragoon, Ninja, Samurai, Blue Mage, Red Mage, Ranger, etc., etc., etc.

Ride in Airships.

Raise Chocobos.

Talk to Moogles.

Cast spells.

Summon Avatars.

Collect class-specific gear, much of which is directly inspired by the original equips.

Use crystals to craft, use crystals to transport, use crystals to "save."

Explore: ruins, jungles, deserts, ancient battlegrounds, lost cities, caverns, mountains, volcanoes, etc.

I've played many many MMOs: WoW, FFXI, DAoC, Warhammer, Rift, PoE, Maple Story (lol), Allods, PSO, Tera, Wakfu, RoM, LotRO, Mabinogi, EVE, DDO, Age of Conan, et al.
FFXI stands out in many ways. For PvE content, I've not enjoyed any other game more. The primary downsides are lack of worthwhile PvP, and age--it's an old old game relatively speaking. FFXI's storytelling, at its best, was second to none, and at its worst is still better than a lot of what's out there.

[Mirage]

I was on Pandemonium but it got merged into Asura.

What do you have to 'buy' for Black Belt? Isn't it a rare/ex quest?

If you want it for "free", you either need a lot of luck, or a lot of people with Kseals that they don't want to use on their own stuff. If you don't have literally thousands of kseals available to you in one way or another, or don't have a very good luck, you will probably have to resort to buying them from others, by having them initiate the battlefield, and then let you lot for the item if it drops in exchange for money. Or something like that. I'm not entirely sure how the practical things work because I haven't done it, I just know you'll need a few thousand kseals per bbelt you want to make, with average luck.

I mathed it out sometime last year or the year before, but I forgot exactly how many it was.

[Del Murder]

A few thousand? Damn.

[chionos]

That's really not so much for some people. In the early years, before the ToAU and well before Abby, a lot of end game, and all leveling, resulted in seals as biproducts. So anybody still around from back then will have a ton of 'em if they haven't used them up already. I, for instance, have around 1800, and that's after spending hundreds on helping a friend get their BB.

There's also a small chance of getting the beard/tongue/egg in the ks99 battlefields themselves, so theoretically you could get a BB for 297 KS. That's the absolute minimum. Average would probably be in the 1500-2000 range, but it could also take that much just to get one of the items.

If I ever manage to find the time to get back into the game, my 1800 would be willing to help someone with their BB, just because I enjoy those fights. Especially low-man.

[Khaotic]

Been leveling BLU and getting more spells, but I seem to have hit a wall, AF quests.

I realize most people wouldn't be leveling BLU as their first job, so it's understandable why their AF quests are more annoying than others, but it's still pretty frustrating that I won't be able to get my AF until higher levels.

Just my Af 1 requires me to go to all the staging points as a level 52, no idea how I'd even do it at 40 if I was actually trying to.

[Del Murder]

What other jobs do you have? I wouldn't do it as BLU, but if that's all you have then bring plenty of rr earrings and sneak/invis the parts you can.

I personally did it as a nin37/thf18. Shadows + Flee keeps you out of most trouble.

[Khaotic]

I'm doing it as 52BLU/26DNC, so far I got 2 of them done.

Next 2 quests look pretty annoying as well, probably gonna need help with them. Can you seriously just craft the last 3 pieces though?

Currently working on my last one.

Annnddd.. Done. 20mins before maintenance.

[Del Murder]

Yes, the last three AF are pretty much a joke. It makes up for the other quests! Be happy you don't have to go coffer hunting like most of the other jobs.

[Khaotic]

I remember doing those. Anyway you should come back now that the new expansion came out today. :P

Andd sadly crafting those pieces is pretty expensive for a new player. I struggle just to buy an armor at 30k, by the looks of things these pieces will be like 80k+. Guess it's time to start farming gil.

[Del Murder]

It's out? Is it fun? What server are you all on? It's likely there's few people left on Asura that I know.

[Khaotic]

It's out? Is it fun? What server are you all on? It's likely there's few people left on Asura that I know.

We're on Shiva, not really sure if it's fun since I'm currently updating and have yet to login. Not to mention I'm probably too low level, but I'll get there eventually.

But yes, the expansion I believe was released today.

[Citizen Bleys]

There's heavy congestion -- I'm subscribed to the expansion, but it's too soon to actually get the update downloaded.

Anyone thinking of coming back will probably be better off giving it a miss until Saturday.