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Hello. I was wondering if there were any updated or at least recent players' guides on FFXI. I know the game is old and there isn't a huge amount of new players subscribing, so this might be a longshot, but I'm considering trying out the game and I would like to do some research while I decide. It's part of the fun for me.

This is the best collection of helpful threads I found, but it's really, really old, and my understanding is that the game has changed a lot in the last few years. I don't have a specific curiosity, but I'm interested in stats, jobs and subjobs, races and crafting, at the moment. Can anyone point me in the right direction? Thanks in advance.

Alright, thanks. I've been reading up on some of them and I'm getting pumped. Also found this one (and other, usually older ones in the same wiki), but it seems to be only about the endgame, although it's not explicitly stated. Which makes me want to ask whether there are any such parties at low levels or I will have to solo level all the way.

Questions about crafting: would you say it's viable to a poor noob just getting started? Is focusing on one category better than dabbling in many? And if yes, how do I go about picking one? Based on the job I want to play? The money required? The starting city?

Are races really mostly cosmetic choices at this point in time, or do they affect the gameplay/job efficiency etc.?

This guide is probably the most updated and recent guide for returning players but new players can take a look at it.

No, there are no parties at low levels so you will be soloing (with Trust NPC) until lv75~80. Depending on how you play, you can reach this level in about a couple days if you are focused on it. This is when you can level in Abyssea-alliance. You can start playing in Abyssea as Whm as soon as lv60 but I don't recommend any offensive jobs to play with abyssea alliance until lv80+.

Learning the ropes in the lv99 for any job is a long and painful process since you're pretty much thrown into the wind without the shelter of exp parties to teach you. A lot of guides are obsolete on teaching you how to play your job and a fair number of non-obsolete ones assume you have some experience with playing in a party. Having a dedicated mentor or a helpful linkshell is paramount in mastering your 1st job.

I don't recommend a craft until you reach lv99. This is because most crafts are costly to level (for a poor noob) and time consuming.

The best crafting a poor noob can focus and should focus on is cooking. No, it's not going to make you rich but it will provide a steady and modest income if you have a Thf job or level fishing. It's cheap and easy to level and you can make your own food since you will need a lot of food for pretty much everything. You also do not need to reach lv100 to start making something profitable and useful for yourself.

You should dabble in other 'cheap' crafts to make things easier for you once you reach lv99. Again, none of them will make you rich or even close to profitable aside from cooking. Their primary use is to convert loot you get from everyday things into something more profitable and selling.

Race is more or less dependent on HP/MP rather than other stats. They are fairy even now but still there are certain flavor into it if you like Min/Max. In general, Galkas are favored for HP and most of the time they are fairly useful as almost any jobs. Other than that, cosmetics is probably the only reason for race.

Edited, Jul 30th 2014 2:29pm by Oddwaffle

Speaking of cooking, I did write a updated guide on it after abyssea came out. I need to go over it again; it's on here but prolly needs updating, I tend to update it faster on wiki:
http://wiki.ffxiclopedia.org/wiki/Cooking,_Post_Abyssea

Heavy on farming or saving stuff from mog garden..but that's the way it is now a days.

Only the 1st lv99 will be difficult as you have to do limit breaks for it. Then 2nd job to lv99 will be much faster if you know how to do it.

It's not really hard to get level ups with adoulin. In fact, I highly recommend getting to adoulin as soon as you can and try to make your way to all the waypoints. Get someone to help you to get all the waypoints and home points in adoulin area. Then start stockpiling your imprimatus. You can get a lot of exp doing courier assignment. You can use the waypoints to do them now without breaking the packages. In fact, if you stock enough imprimatus, you can gain enough exp to level from lv30 to lv80ish in a couple hours. This is especially useful once you start into lv95~99.

If you manage to get to lv99 by doing assignments then you will have enough bayld to buy lv117 equipments from Vesca (peacekeeper guild). This will put you nicely on pretty much any jobs so you can start skilling up and try to learn the ropes for the job you have leveled while still stockpilling.

The leveling options aren't any different I don't think. SoA is mainly an end-game expansion, not a leveling one. Trusts, Records of Eminence, Fields/Grounds of Valor and/or Abyssea for leveling.

Edited, Aug 6th 2014 3:51pm by valid

They came out well before SoA. They're in the Middle Lands zones.