Help?Follow

Your best bet is to take a look around these forums. Scroll back a few pages and look for threads with similar titles. Also, go through the job-specific message boards.

The problem is there's a lot to learn about the game, and while you don't need to learn them all *right now*, asking such a general question causes all of us a great deal of consternation because it's essential to know most of it by about level 12 (and almost all of us are well past that and consider everything to be "must-know" material).

In order of priority, in my opinion:
1) Learn the interface. Look for threads about macros, targetting, etc..

2) Learn about signet, conquest, and crystals.

3) Learn how to use the AH.

4) Learn about your job - go to the job board specific to what you want to play, and read up.

5) Learn group dynamics.

6) Learn about Renkei's and Magic Bursts.

Not to be a prick or anything (well I guess just a little ( ^_^)-c ) but have you read the general information on the jobs/races that are on this site?

It's hard to answer a question like the one you did ask as I can only give generalized answers. I do realize that you need to actually KNOW more about the game before you can know which questions to ask, but please do yourself a favor if you haven't already and check those out.

Definitley would like to know if you've played MMORPG's before or not because there are a lot of things that I'm going to take for granted atm that you know. Also you may want to read reviews on the game, check out www.gamerankings.com for them. Do a search for Final Fantasy XI.

Basics of The Game:
Group with other people & kill stuff for experience (^o^). There are quests and missions for you to go on, and you slowly build up your reputation amongst the NPCs within the world which gains you the abillity to travel on an air ship eventually to wherever you need to go. These missions show you the story of the world, in quite cinematic fashion, and the quests are for cash, items and/or fame when you break it down (though they too get you deeper into the world, not to an extent that the missions do).

You're not restricted to any one particular job (class) in this game. But you are restricted to one character unless you pay $0.98 extra per month for an extra slot. So choose a race you want to stare at for the rest of the game (also take into consideration which jobs you may want to do, but personally I say go for looks first ^^ ). What this means is you can be a warrior one minute and change your job at a particular place, it costs nothing but the time it takes to run to the Residential Area within your starting city. Changing jobs doesn't lose your progress within the other job, so its quite nice for when you're lookin for a change of pace, but you do have to level them up individually.

Through one particular quest that you can do at 18, you can unlock the abililty to have a sub-job. A sub-job is essentially a job that is capped at half your main job's level (it caps at half, or however high you got the job individually; whichever is lower).

There are chocobo's within the game, but you'll have to wait until 20 before you can do the quest to get a license to ride them. You rent them from towns/cities within the game for a set amount of time that increases as you level. From what I understand if you jump off of them they run off.

The world is probably one of the largest worlds I've had the plasure of experiencing in a MMORPG so if you're an explorer like me you have a lot to look forward to (thrill of just seeing whats out there ^^ ). There's 4 starting cities, and 5 different races, you can click on them to your left because lord knows I'm not going to type that easily findable info over ^w^ ). There are six basic jobs that you can select at the outset, but the advanced jobs you have to unlock sometime at or after level 30 by questing (the higher you are the easier you'll find them to be with friends). For the jobs, again click on the left and read about them.

I think thats enough for that part. There are individual forums in each area, so you can read up on what people are talkign about at the least and get a sense for what kinda q's you want to ask.

Fighting:
More indepth, this game unlike other MMORPG's has something within the combat system to allow for combo-attacks that involve some timing between you and your party members. You have TP, or "Technique Points" that are accumulated gradually as you fight (or more literally as you hit the monster). After these TP reach 100% you can now perform a "Weapon Skill" or WS if you have gotten your weapons skills high enough (10 and beyond at certain intervals for specific weapons).

For instance you can use a 1H Axe, and a Spear with the abilities "Smash Axe" & "Lightning Thrust" to do a combo (known as Renkei). This particular renkei I can't recall if I used the correct weapon skills, but to get the idea of it that should help. When you pull a combo off successfully, you will do a lot more damage to the monster you're fighting and also inflict elemental properties to your combo attacks which can enhance damage as well.

Outside of that its your standard faire of pulling and attacking/healing like any other MMORPG (well the good ones at least).

Magic:

The magic system in this game also has combo's in a way, that can be added on top of the renkei attacks called Magic Bursts. I haven't personally done any as I've not played a black mage, so I'll leave this part up to someone else hopefully. What I do know of it it requires even more precise timing on the mages part, and helps even greater damage from the renkei.

You do not start out a mage with all the spells you can learn, you have a spell book so to speak and you must use scrolls for your particualr job at the correct level to learn them. Once they're learned you can use them to your hearts content (or until your mana runs out, then you must rest). Resting is a slow way to regain HP, and the only way to regain MP without purchasing/eating certain items until a set level with your mage, but even then its the fastest/cheapest way to regain MP.

Hope I helped a bit ^^

Oh , and thanks a lot Ahel it did help :) Do you have to pay the 0.98 fee if you erase your first character and then mke a new one over it ??? And whats the level Cap?

Thank you sir, your information is greatly appreciated :)
-Blind Rage