Tips & Explanations for New Players, Newbies, and n00bs

## Welcome to FFXI!

Lots of us old timers play it to relive the glory days of the early- to mid-2000s, so it's great to see people who are completely new to FFXI come and play it. There's a pretty steep learning curve, so having a relevant guide can save you an enormous amount of frustration and days of wasted time.

For reference, also make sure to check out the fantastic Beginner's Macro Guide and the Intermediate Macro Guide

## Jobs Basics

There are 6 starter jobs that you can play right away: white mage (WHM), red mage (RDM), black mage (BLM), warrior (WAR), monk (MNK), and thief (THF).

**You can switch between any job at your Mog House (or nomad moogle), anytime you like**. Each nation has 3 separate entrances to the Mog House, and you can do a quest where you trade a girl a flower to unlock a shortcut, allowing you to exit from any of them. It's very handy and highly recommended to do this right away.

When you hit 18 you're able to accept the quest to acquire a subjob. Your subjob will be 1/2 of your main job's level. So a level 10 WAR with a MNK subjob would end up at WAR10/MNK5 as long as they have leveled MNK that far. Underleveled subs will hamper performance eventually, so try to keep them up to date.

At 30 you can unlock the advanced jobs: paladin (PLD), dark knight (DRK), beastmaster (BST), bard (BRD), ranger (RNG), samurai (SAM), ninja (NIN), dragoon (DRG), and summoner (SMN). They each require their own quests of varying difficulty, with SMN probably being the most obnoxious.

## Keyboard Commands

A couple quick tips for keyboard commands that can help immensely when creating macros (vital for playing the game) and communicating with people:

**/s** = say. This will speak publicly to people within a certain radius around you

**/t** = tell. This will send a message to someone privately. Try ***/t madsheep hi there.*** If I'm on, I'll get a message that says 'hi there.'

**CTRL + R** = Respond to a /tell from someone

**/cm** = chatmode. If you get a linkshell (guild or chat group) in slot 1, ***type /cm l*** (that's a lowercase 'L') to set your chat to default to linkshell1. It needs to be done each time you log in. If you want it set to ls2, do ***/cm l2***. Then ***/cm p*** will set your chatmode to party, ***/cm s*** will set your chatmode to *say*, and so on.

**/c** = check. You **MUST check every mob you engage**. If you don't, you will die because of it, guaranteed. You can check players and see their gear too, but it's considered rude by some people to be randomly examined. They're just being prissy, but it's a thing.

## Searching for Players

If you want to see if someone's online, type **/sea all <insert name here without the <> symbols>**. Look for me by typing /sea all madsheep

**/sea** = search current area

**/sea all** = search all areas

**/sea inv** = search current area for people seeking a party

**/sea all inv** = search all areas for people seeking a party

**/sea inv 12-22** = search current area for people seeking a party in level range 12-22

**/sea all inv 12-22** = search all areas for people seeking a party in level range 12-22

If you need to leave a party, it can be very helpful to find a replacement for yourself before you go. Using these commands will help.

## Enemy Difficulty

**too weak to be worthwhile** = you won't get xp or crystals, but will still get drops and they might still be a challenge for certain jobs.

**easy prey** = you'll get a small amount of xp. If you can kill them quickly it can actually be a good strategy when low lvl.

**decent challenge** = below your lvl, but getting tougher. Be careful.

**even match** = this mob is the same lvl as you. You will likely either struggle to beat it or it will kill you. When you're new, stick to EP and DC as much as possible.

**tough** = you may luck out and scrape by a confrontation if it's a worm or something, but it'll be tight.

**very tough** = you will die.

**incredibly tough** = you will die before you can even unlock and start trying to run away.

## Mechanics & Commands

**/ja** = Job Ability. A macro using this is something like /ja Berserk <me>. That will use the **WAR** ability **Berserk**. Different JAs and other commands require different targets.

**/ra** = Ranged Attack. Type */ra <t>* to use a ranged attack against the currently selected target. Type */ra <stnpc>*. The **<stnpc>** part is for <select target npc> and gives you a cursor that lets you select a non-pc target.

**/ma** = Magic. Use */ma "Cure II" <stpc>* to cast cure 2 on a nearby player character. If the /ja, /ws, /ma or whatever is more than one word, put it in double quotes and capitalize appropriately. You can also use <stpt> to choose only people within your party. The Intermediate Macro Guide has great info on this.

**/ws** = Weapon Skill. When you build 1000+ **TP** you can do a Weapon Skill. Since gear swaps are essential for maximizing damage, this is what an early WS macro might look like:

**/equipset** 1

/ws "Fast Blade" <stnpc> <wait 1>

**/equipset** 2

Equipset is an option that lets you preprogram gear sets for certain things. When auto-attacking and building TP, max out your Accuracy to hit as often as possible. When WSing, use /equipset to switch to gear with stats that benefit your weapon skill (typically STR for most DDs, though THFs benefit from DEX more for most of their weapon skills).

## Early Grinding

Play around with macros and commands and test it all out thoroughly. Have fun with it while leveling a bunch of jobs to ~15 or so around starting areas. Windurst is a lovely starting area to level up in because there are some great drops and it's pretty. San d'Oria has mobs which drop fire and dark crystals, which are very lucrative, too. Around Bastok you'll find yourself running around that dry, dusty butthole of a landscape, smacking all sorts of things.

Personally, I strongly recommend leveling AT LEAST jobs like WAR, MNK, WHM, BLM, RDM, and THF to the 12-15 range on your own. Start with WAR so that you can build up a variety of skills in things like sword, dagger, club, shield, evasion, parrying. That will help you a little bit as you lvl other jobs that are less adept at melee. Because you're going to be doing a lot of meleeing with mage classes in the early solo lvls and every little bit helps. Having some skill in evasion before leveling a mage is very useful.

Save ALL of your beastmen's seals. They're invaluable and will give you the opportunity to win fantastic items down the road. Look into BCNMs to learn more.

Some **beastman** mobs will drop spells that you can learn, but they're generally dirt cheap anyway. Find the town vendors for spells and see if you can flip them on the Auction House for a profit. Buy weapons, spells, and cheap leather and cloth armour from vendors in town instead of the auction house. You'll save money that you desperately need when starting out. There's a typical progression for early melee classes that goes like this:

* Level 1 - bronze gear
* Level 7 - leather gear
* Level 11 - brass gear

As always, compare NPC prices to AH prices to get the most bang for your buck and to determine if you can make some money selling things at a markup.

You probably won't get a standard party invite until you're 12+, and once you do you may need to make the perilous trek up to the Valkurm Dunes. If you do, see if you can get escorted by someone who can Raise you if you get KOed.

GET **SIGNET** FROM GATE GUARDS BEFORE LEAVING TOWN. This will ensure you get crystals from mobs and build up your Conquest Points, which you'll need to get single-use warp scrolls and reraise scrolls. You'll want to constantly have those on hand pretty much forever.

**ALWAYS CHECK MOBS**. If you don't, you'll engage a Tough mob when you're a half health and it'll push your s#!7 in.

If you're feeling stuck, try to **/shout** in town for a newbie **linkpearl**. That'll connect you with people who can answer more specific questions. Lots of linkshells are happy to take on new players and show them the ropes, so if you don't get any bites after a couple shouts, try again in an hour or two after killing some bees.

## Notorious Monsters

There are some really good **Notorious Monsters** around the starter towns that benefit low lvl jobs. Look up Swamfisk, Maighdean Uaine, Sharp-Eared Ropipi, Nunyenunc, and Spiny Spipi for viable low level NMs with good drops - some of which are 100% drop rates.

## Basic Leveling Progression Overview

**Level 18** - When you hit lvl 18 you can get your **subjob**, which is huge.

**Level 30** - At 30 you can unlock **advanced jobs**, which is another big step forward. You can hit **rank** 3 in your nation pretty easily by the time you're 30. Keep an eye open for people shouting for missions you're on, and ask **linkshell** mates if they'll help you with yours. **Chains of Promathia** (the first major expansion that non-JP players got) missions start around lvl 30 with the promyvion areas. If you can find a group doing that when you're able to access them, jump on it because they're a pain. But read up ahead of time so you know what you're getting into.

**Level 50** - Once you hit 50, you need to complete a quest to progress to 51. At 55 that happens again, and so on every 5 levels until you max at 75. That stuff and leveling sometimes keep you plenty busy before you really even need to think about storyline.

## Making Money

This is a perpetual challenge, but can be immensely rewarding. When trying to make money, there are a few things that are especially lucrative at lower levels. Look for things like various crystals (primarily fire, dark, lightning, wind), beehive chips (which drop relatively infrequently from bees all over the world), silk thread and yagudo necklaces (around the Windurst starter region), sheepskin (start crafting those into sheep leather right away for more profit), and various goblin drops which sell well on the Auction House. Farm those while getting xp and it'll be a big boon.

A lot of other things like land crab meat, dhalmel hides, and any other drops which don't sell quickly on the Auction House are fine to sell to NPCs for quick cash. And if you're ambitious, look up some crafting guides on the FFXI Wiki or this wiki to use the crystals and drops you find to level up crafting. You will be really glad you did that later on.

When selling on the AH, it's sometimes more efficient to sell **stacks** of things. A stack is either 12 or 99 of something. There are cases where singles are more lucrative, so check the AH to compare and make the most informed decision. When selling, don't undercut dramatically to make a quick sale. The economy is manipulable and you're only hurting yourself and others if you lowball excessively.

## Level Sync

Level sync is typically 10 levels and is a feature that will let your party sync down to the same level - not up. So you can have someone who's 22 sync down to 12 to party with you in the dunes. You can sync a larger range of 10+ levels, but then you start running into xp penalties for the higher level person and it's typically not worth it.

You will have better luck getting invited to a party if you're already in the zone, too. Try to run to **Valkurm** while seeking, and then rest and explore **Selbina** while you wait. It's a good place to skill up fishing and make a small amount of money, too.

## Misc. Notes

* Get all **teleport crags** you can. Touch the crystals whenever you're near the giant white structures to get the key items, which you will keep forever.
	+ The **Holla crag** is closest to San d'Oria
	+ **Dem** is closest to Bastok
	+ **Mea** is closest to Windurst
* The **gate guards** that give signet will also offer **supply quests**.
	+ You can only carry supplies for one region at a time, so prioritize well
	+ If your nation controls the **Zulkheim** region (where Valkurm Dunes is), offer to take supplies there. Once you've done that, you can teleport there from lvl 10, which is a HUUUUGE benefit
	+ Always watch out for where you can deliver supplies until you have all outpost warp locations available to you
	+ It can take a long time to get some since the nation control resets every Saturday night at JP midnight (which means Sunday morning time in North America and afternoon in Europe).
* Sometimes you can set your **homepoint** closer to where you're going. If you die, you won't have to redo the whole run. The downside is that it can bite you in the butt when trying to return home until you have more efficient means of transportation.

I hope this helped!