Tips for the Beginning Players Thread

[Ultima]

Sup guys! I wanted to exten a helping hand to aid any beginning players, since i am a GM for FFXI. Also other experienced players are welcome to also aid our beginners . When choosing a nation, chose what's best suited for your character to begin in. For example when i first started playing i created a hume male and started him in the nation of bastok, since most most hume's populate that nation. And if you happen to chose the right nation suited for your character u will receive a rare item when i begin so equip it right away by accessing menu by using a keybroad entitleed " - " button on the upper right hand side of the keybroad. If you start with white mage as your starter main job look closely at it's job abilites. One such ability is called " Benediction ", it fully heals u and your party to full health, but it takes awhile to recharge so only use it when your in a tight spot.

Emotes are very fun and absoulte. It shows your character's emotions and it's tons of fun. For example: if you type in: /wave, your character will wave! Macros are also fun u can configure your emotes on your own.

Also here's some advice: when in a party if the party is'nt helping you, like not healing u when u need it or goofing off, feel free to leave or if your the leader don't be afraid to kick that person off. Always pick a party u can relie on and work as a team to succeed.

Lastly some very important advice: If u happen to die in this game u lose exp points that u gained from a pervious battle. Or if u just leveled up and u die after that, u will lose your level, so becareful. Oh and one more thing: u know the friendly and not so tough goblins from pervious final fantasies? Well guess what? there back and if u underestimate them they will kill u. One such move they have is called " Bomb Toss" which can work two ways: 1. the attack takes a big bite out of you and kills the goblin instantly, or 2. the attack takes a bigger bite out of u and gives the goblin room for one more final strike and kills u anyway. So pray the # 1 happens. there are diffrent types of goblins like: Thugs, Weavers, Diggers, Muggers, leechers, Gamblers, Pathfinder, Shaman, furier, and smithy. all have different traits so please watch your back.

If you should happen to die wait for someone to cast raise or raiseII on u or simply head back to your home point. BTW after u get raised u will have a status called "Weakness" meaning your HP and MP are dropped for a while like about 6 mins.

So i think i will stop here for now, don't want to ruin the rest for u ^^. Have a fun time. And please feel free to add more helpful advice to aid everyone else.

[Skai]

Nothing against you, but for a thread giving tips to beginning players as a GM, you're missing quite a lot of stuff. Although a quick low blow, I've seen my fair share of screenshots where other GMs type proper English and for you to type "u" instead of "you" does seem to arouse some suspicion on your credibility as a GM. It's only two extra letter and shouldnt even take half a second to type. I find it a bit funny that you typed "your" instead of "ur."

Yes typing "u" instead of "you" may seem like verrry minor thing and I am being an ass about it, but I find people claiming to be GMs (which I am assuming and yes, I already said I'm being an ass) to be a very stupid thing. Besides, you don't even need to announce yourself as a GM if you wanted to give a helpful hint. You know where I'm coming from ya'?

In any case, your tips are pretty good though lacking from a lot of other stuff that would help newbies more rather than naming some level 30'ish goblins. Besides, the important advice you gave in that goblins have an ability called Bomb Toss isn't as important as say, knowing other abilities that a job may have. Like WHM having Divine Seal which can improve the next curative spell cast. Maybe that a WAR's Provoke is a good ability to use if you are the "tank" in an experience party. How about a RDM's enfeebles? Which is the best thing a RDM can use in any party and will greatly help the party in defeating monsters more easily. So on and so on...

[Merlin]

I find it hard to believe that an employee of Squaresoft types like a moron. Not only is the grammar piss-poor, but the advise is completely random and unorganized. You point out a 2hr ability for WHM but don't bother to explain that it is a 2hr recast nor do you list the other 2hr abilities in the game. If you're going to randomly point one out, you should point them all out. Secondly, the rare/ex item you get from starting in the town your race is from is garbage. First of all, it is only useful for a completely new player who is picking a job that the item will actually benefit. For example, the Windurst item is only useful to a mage job. If you pick Warrior, that ring is useless. Hell, its pretty much useless to a mage too. You can get better rings for only 1k-2k on most servers... something that is rather easily obtained, even for someone starting out. +1 to a stat at such a low level will make no discernable difference, especially since most things like accuracy require 2 points in a stat to increase by one.

You pointed out macros but went into no detail on how to use them. At least point to a website that could help out. They are quite complex to someone new who is starting out. You also mention the status effect Weakness but completely overlook the rest of its debilitating effects. Not only does it nerf your HP and MP into the redzone(where pretty much anything in the area can one-shot kill you), all of your stats are nerfed as well, along with your recast rate on spells. You wont be able to do much damage and the time between casting the same spell again will be extremely long. In other words, you're pretty much defenseless and incapable of helping out for the length of the effect. Once it wears off your HP and MP will still be at the lowered level, but your max will be back to normal. The best suggestion is to heal yourself while waiting it out. For the PC that would be /heal or * on the numerical keyboard. For the other versions, I am not sure. ^^

I think this topic should be canned and re-made by someone who knows whate he/she is talking about and can give detailed information on things. Actually, I thought there was a topic for this, but perhaps it is no longer here.

EDIT: In fact, there is: The Vana'diel FAQ

The topic could be updated with more information though. It is rather skimpy. XD

[Ultima]

I understand where u guys are coming from and i apologize if my information is off, but to call me a moron? I think that's going alittle overboard. I work hard in that game to help the people who need help and give them insight. So what if i mistakes everyone does that's the way of world. As for my typing i worked i all day yesterday and i was extremely out of it, but i throught i would do something right for the people of my favorite forum. I am not going to agrue and curse at other who probarly can't care less about the other players anyway. I have an oath that my character in the game lives by each time i play : " Those in my sight can and will be protected". I and live by that oath in real life also. This thread was supposed to help others and give them insight so they could have fun, but u guys clearly ruined the purpass of this thread, i also said that others can also add anything that i missed and add lot more aid others. If u want to close it, close it but i will say this if u label people as morons cause they make mistakes u won't get far ahead in life.

[Skai]

Merlin only said that he found it hard to believe that an employee of Square Enix would type like a moron.

Other than that, I believe both of our posts so far have included things that would help newbies, no?

Oh yeah, it is a good idea to solo until level 12 or so so you can get the hang of surviving by yourself. That and by solo'ing in the early levels, you'd be gaining more efficient experience points. Later when you reach the early 10's, it would be a great idea to start joining EXP parties for an access to even more efficient EXP points.

If you're interested in creating a party yourself, the jobs that you should look for includes a tank, a main healer, some supporting mages and some damagers. A good tanking job would be PLD or WAR. NIN can do it but not until level 12 for Utsusemi: Ichi and with a backup tank for support. Also, as this only applies from early to mid 10's, DRK, DRG, SAM, MNK can make okay tanks only if they subbed WAR for Provoke. A good main healer would obviously be WHM. RDM can do it too but not without support from another mage. The rest can easily be figured out. Try what you think is good.

Also, it is also a good idea to be open to suggestions from other members in your party if you're not too sure on what you're doing. If you make mistakes, it's all good, just learn from it and perform better next time.

[Usagy]

Another hint, know where the Auction house is!
You can buy and sell items on it, it is very useful and will give you proper money.
Unlike　me who did not find it until I was level 15 I npc`d every single item, haha.

Monk and samurai can still be decent tanks for quite a bit actually. I have tanked perfectly as a 45 mnk in Quicksand caves, it`s definately not the best option, but they are still proper tanks if they know what they are doing.

Peace out

[Skai]

If you are playing the role of a tank, it is a very good idea to eat foods that are cooked specifically for the role of taking damage. Fish Mithkabob or Boiled Crab are very good choices. At later levels, Tavnazian Taco becomes the superior choice for food. In fact, Tavnazian Taco is, at the moment, the best tanking food. Of course, you won't benefit from the tacos as much if you were lower level, so stick with the boiled crab until around 50.