It's good to know the people playing FFXI are nice.

But from what you're saying, it sounds quite hard if you're playing the game without anyone helping you out. That must make it really hard if you choose a magic casting class (barring Red Mage).

Since Runescape is the only MMORPG I've played, how different is FFXI compared to Runescape? Going through the game solo in FFXI doesn't sound anywhere near as feasible in Runescape. Plus, with the jobs restricting your abilities in FFXI, it sounds like you'll always be at a disadvantage in one area or another, compared to Runescape where you can be as good as you want to be in all areas (eg: physical attacking, magic casting). I'm not saying that FFXI sounds bad, but I'm wondering how it balances things out since I haven't played it myself.