Finally got it, any suggestions?

[ThePheonix]

I finally got the game, and am sharing an account with my brother. He already went ahead and tried a character, and I'm waiting for a World Pass to Pandemonium.

I'm planning on starting an elvaan and will eventually get Dragoon (even knowing about all the dragoon haters).

Any advice or suggestions about things like what Quests I should do, or something like that?

Thanks to everyone who helped me get "this far"!

[Crossblades]

Always check your enemies to see if they are easy or tough

Take advantage of the auction house and sell any unused equipment. You'll get a lot more money there than selling it in shops.

Get ahold of an item called an Empress Band. You will get 50% more exp. in battle.

[chionos]

it's traditional(and profitable) for elvaan to start out in the nation of sandoria. You even get a nice little str+1 mnd+1 ring out of it that you wouldn't get if you started in another city. Also rewards from nation quests often benefit native races/jobs more heavily than others. Like windy has quests oriented towards smn blm rng thf, bastok toward war drk, sandy toward drg pld whm and so forth. While really you can start out whereverthehell you want and get along just fine, i think it's best to start in your home city. there's a lot of advice I could give you, but most of it's been said before, and if it hasn't, ffxi is best learned by jumping in and getting your feet wet. One thing I will mention that nobody ever does it seems, is do your outpost supply quests. The earlier the better. Being able to Outpost Warp is absolutely the most efficient way to get around the main contenent. Other than that just enjoy yourself, and while I agree with others that you should be able to play how you want, listen to other peoples' advice and don't be stubborn and prideful. Learn and better yourself. If you want a game that you can play lazily with no inspiration and no disire to be good at what you do, then stick to a game that doesn't involve interaction with other people like FFVI. You don't have to be a stuck-up prick like some ppl I know, but try to do a good job. Enjoy

[Garland]

Never exp without signet. Crystals and conquest points rewards are free gil; pretty substancial gil when you're first starting out, if I might add.

As a melee job, you'll be held to a higher standard for acceptance in exp parties. This is a result of supply and demand. There are more melee damage dealing jobs than mage/support jobs, and a coinciding greater number of people levelling these jobs. It's in your best interest to stand out. There's little to no skill in XI, so stand out with your equipment. Someone might tell you "skill>gear" but when you're out soloing your first 10 levels, see for your self if pressing your autoattack button "skillfully" increases the damage you deal out. Equipment=Numbers and numbers are all that matter in the end. Invest in good equipment and your fellow players will love you for it. Stand out from the crowd and your fellow dragoons will love you for it.

[Kuzotz]

Once you start partying DO YOUR JOB. Do not try to melee if oyur not a melee job.

Thats the big thing for me lol.I owuld rather see noobs screw up in a low level party in tahrongi canyons than I would if we were in valkurm.

[Yeargdribble]

There's little to no skill in XI, so stand out with your equipment.

Hmmm... I'd have to disagree, especially for certain jobs (i.e. BRD, RDM, PLD, NIN, THF).

Probably from 1-10 requires the least skill but there is skill involved in the understanding of what it takes to level from 1-10 the most efficiently. I can now take a random melee job from 1-10 in a matter of hours where it had previously had taken me much longer. Part of this has to do with stats and part of it has to do with knowing how to play the game well.

After a while every job needs to be skilled. They need to understand the other jobs. They need to know where to stand. They need to know how to make skill chains. They need to know what they can open and close with and what properties the skillchain has. They need to understand what propeties the mobs have and what they might be especially weak to.

As for DRG... the lack of skill on the part of most DRGs is why I personalliy believe they don't get invites. I try to give DRGs a chance all of the time. I like DRG but they tend to attract a certain type of person (much like DRK does) that just doesn't get it. They never develop any skill in the game. This results in further alienation of the DRG population because people who do PT with DRGs PT with crappy ones 80% of the time.

[Kuzotz]

There's little to no skill in XI, so stand out with your equipment.

Hmmm... I'd have to disagree, especially for certain jobs (i.e. BRD, RDM, PLD, NIN, THF).

Probably from 1-10 requires the least skill but there is skill involved in the understanding of what it takes to level from 1-10 the most efficiently. I can now take a random melee job from 1-10 in a matter of hours where it had previously had taken me much longer. Part of this has to do with stats and part of it has to do with knowing how to play the game well.

After a while every job needs to be skilled. They need to understand the other jobs. They need to know where to stand. They need to know how to make skill chains. They need to know what they can open and close with and what properties the skillchain has. They need to understand what propeties the mobs have and what they might be especially weak to.

As for DRG... the lack of skill on the part of most DRGs is why I personalliy believe they don't get invites. I try to give DRGs a chance all of the time. I like DRG but they tend to attract a certain type of person (much like DRK does) that just doesn't get it. They never develop any skill in the game. This results in further alienation of the DRG population because people who do PT with DRGs PT with crappy ones 80% of the time.

I've taken my bard to lvl 50 actually the game is a no brainer dude. You jus thave to know what to do with your job, and have good timing. Thats pretty much the definition of a no skills game. You just need the knowledge of what to do and you're fine on this game.

[Yeargdribble]

Try pulling with BRD at 75 and then say it takes no skill.

Try tanking as a NIN and say it takes no skill.

Try any major endgame events with RDM and say it has no skill.



What you do in XP and what you actually do outside of XP are a lot different. You need skill for most missions and almost all things endgame. Why doesn't everyone have access to sea? Because it takes skill. The best gear and even the right jobs can lose if the players lack skill.

Same with HNMs and gods. You can throw 40 people with good gear at Kirin and wipe every time. Or you can take 18 with skill and win every time. Same with Dynamis. The worse groups I've been in had 50+ all the time and never won. Yet there are some groups that can win the cities with 12-18.

Also I'd beg to differ about BRD. Can you land Ballad on a PLD when all of the other melees are standing only inches away from him without hitting them? That requires skill. Most BRDs suck period because it's the flavor of the month job for meriting so everyone levels it up.

[Rostum]

I'd have to agree with Yeargdribble. Being a 75 Taru PLD myself, I find it does take a lot of skill to do any of the end-game shenanigans.

Edit: If it takes no skill, then why (when I was leveling up PLD) could only a few BRD's be able to land ballad on me? Because the others lacked a lot of skill. They could have had all the gear in the world for all I care, but it didn't bring me the ballad.

[Lionx]

That is true, there is skill in this game, BRD up to 40 for me was mindlessly running around for songs, but if you actually went to a merit pt where the BRD pulls and sticks songs and other etc..its not that easy...in fact if you suck you die right there. NIN definetly takes alot of skill depending on the mob. However it would be untrue to say that all jobs require the same skill. Someone can do very well on MNK but suck huge on RDM. However everything requires some degree of skill no matter the job, or someone will eat dirt. This is especially true in end-game situations...like Dynamis, HNM, or sky. If it was all about equips, then i must be totally gimp and no one would invite me to do things because i have Blessed and not Nobles.

[Markus. D]

another tip

Phoenix server has the best parties.

[Garland]

Well, when he hits 75 and reaches endgame, he can weigh in on the skill debate for himself, but getting to 75 and being 75 are hardly the same. EXP parties are all about mindless repetition. Ever see Fritz Lang's silent film Metropolis? EXP parties are the drone-like proletariat. There might be skill involved against HNMs and high level challenges, but that's out of the scope of this thread. One could say "EXP comes pretty slowly in this game" to a new player, and of course it could be countered with "level 75 warrior-burn parties get chain 200+", but that'd be out of the scope of the topic really. For over half his first job's level span his skills will require: A) engaging the right enemy B)declaring TP and C)using the desired weaponskill when needed. C can be tricky as it can involve counting to three if he's a closer. A shouldn't require skill but somehow a lot of idiots manage to attack the wrong enemy. Maybe I'm partly wrong, or at the very least, overexaggerated the skill vs gear debate, but for a good 90% of ones levelling career, there's no skill involved.

[Rostum]

Garland, the statement was made that "There's little to no skill in XI, so stand out with your equipment." You didn't specify anything about the differences between end-game and exp, you gave a generalised view on the whole game -- in which we do not agree with.

And yes, exp is mindless grinding (like with any MMO), but you can get into things along the way that don't require you to be level 75, and you still need a fair bit of skill with. Promys for instance, are at level 30, and a lot of people can't seem to get past them because they just lack the skill.

[Yeargdribble]

I've seen plenty of promies with the perfect setup (i.e. WAR/NIN, WAR/NIN, RNG, WHM, SMN, SMN etc.) go belly up. Maybe it was because they were too cocky about their perfect set up to farm anima but beyond that it was their lack of skill.

Beyond that there are things that do require some skill in XP though much less as you get completely used to doing it till you can do it in your sleep. Plenty of melees have trouble lining up for SATA. It's a skill for a RDM to be able to juggle in their minds a refresh cycle whilst keeping the mob dispeled and enfeebled, back up healing and potentially hasting people. Like Om said... hitting a PLD with Ballad in XP is a skill. It's a skill most BRDs don't bother developing.

If you think NIN tanking doesn't take a lot of skill you should really try NIN. Developing good timing for keeping shadows up while doing enough damage and other things to hold hate isn't as easy as some good NINs make it look.


All that aside what MMORPG does require the kind of skill you imply? What RPG period requires skill for that matter? Aren't they all just grinding XP the same way an occasionally using a basic strategy on bosses? It's all the same. I guess we just have different definitions of skill.

[Garland]

I think we do have different concepts of what "skill" is, because to comfirm the last statements of your post, I don't really think any RPG has much in the way of "skill", but rather, an investment in time. I view RPGs as number crunchers with a fancy GUI - just a different outlook on the genre in general I guess. To avoid derailing the thread, this will be my last skill themed post. I don't think Omecle, Yeargdribble and Lionx are wrong. You're all right on most-all counts, but I think the counts that you're right on don't pertain to a newbie dragoon. Still, he should keep all your info in mind as CoP and endgame will come soon enough.

Anyhow, I'll just reiterate that equipment is the only thing the majority of the game population can judge you by, and judge you they will. Don't take this as a negative thing, as it can work to your advantage. More people will examine your equipment as you walk around town than will see your gaming in action. Your equipment box is like a calling card - an advertisement saying "I take your exp time seriously and won't let you down". FFXI is one of the most equipment intensive RPGs I know of. Good luck, find opportunities to put skill to work when they arise, and aim for the best, and you'll do well and succeed in FFXI.