new ffxi players

sharpswifty

any new ffxi players want to start at the same time as me, two heads are bettaru than one..!

Töpher

Not me. But for those interested, its for sale for like €15 in HMV at the moment...

Reku

If you're on Odin let me know and I'll try help you out early on, my main character is Aliria (better off trying to contact me through Play-online than here), based out of Windhurst. I have helped one or two new characters, afterall others have helped me at some difficult parts for me (I'm only a Lv 22RDM/Lv 11 BLM). I tend to be on in the 8pm-midnight timeslot weekdays (not necessarily all that time just that's the timeframe I can log-in during), weekends it varies.

*And PS, as a heads up, if you pick a female in-game avatar you will have the odd pathetic guy trying to chat you up. It's incredibly sad yes, but unfortunately true. So memorise:
/slap
in order to deal with them*

sharpswifty

thanks, by the way, i like the way people have gir as their pic

Reku

I've also got him as a beanie baby and a T-shirt.
Sadly there is no Gir Avatar for the main Play-online accounts, so I chose Reapa (think that's how they spelled it, even though it's just a reaper).

And oh yeah, with the new rings they added last month to the game, which give you extra exp for your kills, there's never been a better time to be new to the game. :cool:

Laguna

Thinking of getting this game myself but am torn between this and WOW. I had a bad experience with Guild Wars as I felt it was let down by a low level of interactivity and the locations were to constrictive as to where you could go as you were stuck on the paths, FFXI isn't like this is it?

Reku

There aren't really any paths except in the towns and dungeons, out in the wilds you just run where-ever. Or is that not what you meant?

Laguna

farohar wrote:

There aren't really any paths except in the towns and dungeons, out in the wilds you just run where-ever. Or is that not what you meant?

That's perfect then, Guild Wars restricts where can you go, be it towns/dungeons/plains, you can't just see a mountain in the distance and run to the top of it, the game doesn't let you. Have the graphics of FFXI improved recently with updates or anything?, the last time I saw FFXI's visuals was about a year ago and it was nothing special to look at..

sharpswifty

the game looks great, i think, you can never tell from screenshots.
but the outfits on the players look especially good, depends on yer machine i guess. i don't think it takes that much to run...

anyway laguna if you get game let me know,

Reku

On the official site (http://www.playonline.com/ff11eu/index.shtml) if you check near the top on the right there's a screenshot gallery. If you are going to be playing the game you should regularly check this site anyway to keep yourself aware of any upcoming updates.

Bartonprince

Is it better then WOW? I'm playing WOW at the moment and finding it hard to lvl up.

sharpswifty

haven't played WoW, but I hear it's easier to get into that ffxi.
FFxi is good once you start teaming up with people, which can happen right away, or it might take a while, so if you are thinking about getting the game let me know.

CodeMonkey

Bartonprince wrote:

Is it better then WOW? I'm playing WOW at the moment and finding it hard to lvl up.

They're very different games with different design philosophies. Both have good and bad points.

In terms of leveling, WoW is a much easier game to level up. All you need to do is load up on all the quests in the zone you are in assuming you are in the right level zone, go and complete them all which usually involves killing lots of mobs or killing mobs for drops and then turn them in.

Leveling in FF11 is much harder as most mobs that'll give you decent exp you can't kill easily on your own after level 10. You'll always need to get into a group to get exp. Exp mobs are basically like elite mobs in WoW. This makes leveling a much more involved process which can be annoying when you get into bad groups with people who just doesn't know what to do.

If you are having problems leveling in WoW you probably don't want to get into FF11. Then again you might find the group aspect of leveling in FF11 a lot more enjoyable.

Reku

Not necessarily true, e.g. my main character Aliria is a Lv 22 RDM/Lv11 BLM and I usually kill monsters classed as tough relative to me, with the Empress Band (+50% EXP) I usually get ~108-180 Exp per kill (~108 would be if the monster is about the same level as me, 180 if it is registering as tough, and so a higher level). This is without any help/a party.

CodeMonkey

farohar wrote:

Not necessarily true, e.g. my main character Aliria is a Lv 22 RDM/Lv11 BLM and I usually kill monsters classed as tough relative to me, with the Empress Band (+50% EXP) I usually get ~108-180 Exp per kill (~108 would be if the monster is about the same level as me, 180 if it is registering as tough, and so a higher level). This is without any help/a party.

Hey, Empress Band, that's neat. Never seen that before when I was still playing. So how many tough mobs can you kill before you need to take a rest? It'll still take you forever to level up if try to solo it. In a good group you should be able to chain kill mobs that gives 150-200exp and rest in between pulls. You also get exp bonus from kill chains.

Reku

Empress band gives +50% exp up to an extra 750EXP points (I think) or until it times out, think it has a duration of ~ 2 hrs Real time, not game hours. 7 charges, you get it from the gate guards for conquest points and can trade it back to them to get it recharged for 100 CP per charge.
Usually kill 1 tough monster, rest for a minute, kill another. Can kill two if I get ambushed but don't want to risk getting hit by a third.
And as to the group, the key words are "good group", few of which exist at the lower levels and those which do tend to know each other long term and don't care about recruiting new people.
Many of the players are Japanese so you can't really party effectively with them, then many are in the US so the timezone issue prevents more than a one off party. You have to be lucky and find someone who tends to be on at the same times as you and who speaks English, or at least enough that you can communicate, as the translate function doesn't seem to work very often, and who is about the same level as you (to within 1 lv as they'll get more experience than you and so continue to level up faster, getting further ahead) & with similar playing pace.
Certain jobs will complement each other quite well (e.g. Warrior & White Mage), others will function rather poorly together though (e.g. Black Mage and White Mage) so get another to join your party to fill in the gaps.
Then you'll get party snobbery, where they just plain don't want one of your character type as they only want what they feel are the more powerful types. In some cases it's just that your character type doesn't fit with the flow of the party and the tactics used but there are cases where they just have a low oppinion of a specific job class.
White Mages are usually readily accepted to parties, after that it depends on what they have and what they feel they need.

And having done the party thing once or twice the exp chains aren't that easy to pull off unless you've a large party, in which case you recieve handicaps against your experience gains anyway (less EXP the more party members). Even when we did manage it it wasn't worth it compared to soloing, the only difference was that you tend to have shorter rest periods and that there's a smaller chance of dying (lose 1/10 the exp required for the next level).

So partying is really a matter of personal taste, play style and job class (some classes are easier to solo as).

CodeMonkey

Yeah it would be more difficult for a new player to get into good groups but groups are a much more effective way of leveling. A full party who knows where to go and what to kill can kill VT to IT mobs that gives 150-200exp per kill and getting exp chains is easy. It's not hard for experienced players even at low levels.

And there're usually a good few japanese players who'll party with english speaking players. The translator is good enough to communicate to them what you want/need. Some of the best parties I've been were with japanese players. I also wouldn't hesitate asking a jp player with the flags up [Experience Points] [Do you need it?]. Sometimes it takes a while to convince them they won't be wasting their time if they join but it's not impossible.

There is a lot of class snobbery yeah but that's usually just down to players who doesn't know the game very well. There's a lot of n00bs at all levels. Then again I have no idea why you think

others will function rather poorly together though (e.g. Black Mage and White Mage)

BLM and WHM don't function well together? That's a silly thing to say.

Since you are at such a low level you probably just haven't been in a proper exp group yet that're not run by newbies. Being in a group is the only way to level in FF11. Soloing will take forever and you don't really have a choice the higher level you get.

Reku

If you'd read on from that quote:

others will function rather poorly together though (e.g. Black Mage and White Mage) so get another to join your party to fill in the gaps.

A combination of these two mages on their own really do need another party member if they're going to go after tough monsters as they just don't have the heavy armor or LP to take the punishment of tough monsters (bind is not reliable enough) and if another monster jumps in too, they'd be best off just zoning. Once the BLM gets sleep it becomes more feasible since the BLM can nuke the monster while it's asleep then put it asleep again when it wakes up, with the WHM healing any damage taken and distracting the monster if needs be.


http://ffxi.somepage.com/links/exp_table.html
I'm lv 23 so I get 120-200 for a tough monster (usually 120-160, don't tend to get 200 ones), so + 50% = 180-300 exp (currently tends to be 180-210 for tough monsters as I need to move to a new hunting ground).
If I joined someone chances are it'd only allow an extra lv difference so 200 baseline exp (max at lv 1-50), 300 net. 2 other people: probably another lv and slightly lower heal time (depending on class types in the party), 200 baseline, etc...
So as you see there's not that much benefit to joining a party for me since I can already take down tough enough monsters to gain experience quickly anyway, then heal for a little over a minute, kill something else, repeat. I usually gain ~800-1200 exp for ~30mins playtime in a good hunting area (which suits me fine since I don't tend to have a whole lot of time to play in the evenings), but much of the time the limiting factor for me is finding plenty of tough monsters.
At higher levels you get a longer delay for the EXP chain so EXP chains become more realistic to achieve on a regular basis but for me at the moment it's not realistic to me unless I join a 6 player party (5 others) and we're all Lv 23 and very close to the same EXP to level-up. Lv 30 most should be able to achieve at least a 1 link EXP chain regularly and 2 link often enough.

To be honest the only reason I'd be bothered to party at the moment is to help newer players (switch to a low lv job so they still get a decent amount of EXP, have done this a few times), complete a difficult quest (e.g. standard practice to party for the sub-job quest, then there are a few others that require you to party too) or to skill-up.

CodeMonkey

Err yeah, you don't seem to understand how exp parties work. Exp parties are always a full group which usually consist of a tank, a healer, hate control, damage dealers. There're good reason why some jobs are prefered.

You never go out there with just a single BLM and a single WHM. A tank can take more hits but they won't have the damage output to kill a even level mob before they die.

2-3 Exp chains are easy to get even at your level and with the bonus of skillchains and magic burst damage you can kill things faster. When I was level sub jobs at your level, we were always aiming for chain 5. At higher levels the skillchains and magic burst do a lot more damage and exp chain 4-5 are very common.

A decent group around your level can get 4000-5000exp an hour and this is without the use of the empress band. A really good group at higher levels can get 6-7k an hour. When you are in a proper exp party, you always go for VT or IT mobs and never go for T (tough) mobs.

When you get to around level 70 and need 100k exp to level, it will take you forever to level. You will still get the same amount of exp per kill except the max goes up slightly but monster difficulty will remain the same for your level. If you are getting 800-1200exp every 30min now, you will still get about the same at high levels. Just get into a proper exp party and give it a chance. It's the only way to level in FF11.

Reku

Well therein lies a big problem, every party I've seen anywhere around my level is 2-4 members, all the 6 member parties I've come across were ~Lv55+ (many of these are only 3-4 members too, maybe it's just the server I'm on is underpopulated?), it's mostly soloers.
2-3 link EXP chains at my Lv are only about 950EXP when against all IT monsters, and then they need ~2-4 minutes rest so I'm curious as to your 4-5K figure since, with time spent pulling, killing and resting between kills, I'd guess, at best (considering the average party size at my lv), maybe 3 such chains per 30mins so < 3K. Still impressive but
That of course also relies on:
1. Being able to find 4 IT monsters in that time.
2. Being able to defeat 4 IT monsters in that time.
So I imagine most will be lower value chains due to killing VT monsters just to keep the time between kills from getting too large.

So I hope you get what I mean about them not being that great for me, around my level, hopefully over the holidays I have coming I'll be able to put in more than 90-120mins a day and so can get to the point where it'll be worth partying, for the moment I'll just keep going at my pace, working on my various skills & crafting abilities (soooo need to improve these, only recruit rank in one thing, amateur in the rest, and have yet to travel to Bastok to sign up for Goldsmithing and Alchemy guilds), and helping the odd new character I come across (and oh yeah gardening for gil through the AH).

I imagine that around Lv 30 upwards EXP parties become far more efficient and worthwhile (for one thing you can have a healer with Raise so dying isn't as big a blow so facing IT monsters is not as risky), Lv 51 lifts the 200EXP cap per kill so you can really start gaining like mad. Though as I've already said you do need to make sure that you're nearly the same level so the higher lv player doesn't just keep pulling further ahead in EXP, and so level.

jimmy2180

Hi All,

I am a lvl 41 WAR 20 MNK (Jimmyh) on Caitsith. Be glad to help anyone who ends up on Caitsith.

In relation to partying: I have been partying in groups of 6 since level 18ish.

I did think 2-3 partys were good until I been in 6 player parties. In a 6 player party if you have a good white mage you don't have much down time at all. I have been parties that have got 2000 EXP without resting, and I have got upto 6000EXP in an hour within 6 people parties.

It is a great game and recommend to all. Caitsith is friendly easy to get a party especially lower levels from 15-20 in the Dunes.

Best way to go is solo until about 15 and then goto the Dunes to look for a party. You should then be in a 6 person party most of your way through the game.

CodeMonkey

farohar wrote:

Well therein lies a big problem, every party I've seen anywhere around my level is 2-4 members, all the 6 member parties I've come across were ~Lv55+ (many of these are only 3-4 members too, maybe it's just the server I'm on is underpopulated?), it's mostly soloers.

Hmm, maybe the FF11 population has died. I certainly don't play anymore. I doubt those 3-4 level55+ party members are exp parties though. That is unless you see them in the exp zone. A lot of the times they don't set out together but meet up at the exp zone.

Just curious, have you tried going to the hot exp zones for your level range to look for groups or see what they are doing? Around level 23 should be kazham. If you have airpass access, go take a look.

2-3 link EXP chains at my Lv are only about 950EXP when against all IT monsters, and then they need ~2-4 minutes rest so I'm curious as to your 4-5K figure since, with time spent pulling, killing and resting between kills, I'd guess, at best (considering the average party size at my lv), maybe 3 such chains per 30mins so < 3K. Still impressive but

I said 4-5k exp per hour, not per 30mins. It's not hard to chain pull and kill IT mobs if people knows what they are doing i.e. thief or ranger go pull as soon as mob dies while mages rest. Tanks will engage and get some hate for a few secs and then mages join in who should rested enough to keep chain going until around kill 3-4 where they can't go on. Of course new players wouldn't be able to do it efficiently and it's a very messy affair with IT mobs at low levels if you don't have a ninja/paladin who knows how to tank.

At high levels with good players, the only thing to stop chain 6 is because you have to kill the mobs too fast. The time limit for killing a mob for a kill chain decreases the further you are into a chain. I've only seen chain 6 in BLM (6 black mages) or RNG heavy exp group with good ninja tank. note: a summoner can get chain 20+ using the 2hr ability unless square fixed this

It'll get easier when thief can SATA but that's like lvl40+, can't remember what level thiefs get trick attack. Of course then you'll need the tank, thief and SATA partner to know how to use it to keep hate.

Well continue playing anyway and you will see what I mean when you get into a proper exp party. Don't mean to criticise too much as I realise you're still relatively new to the game.

Reku

CodeMonkey wrote:

Hmm, maybe the FF11 population has died. I certainly don't play anymore. I doubt those 3-4 level55+ party members are exp parties though. That is unless you see them in the exp zone. A lot of the times they don't set out together but meet up at the exp zone.

Think it's just that few people are bothered starting new characters at the moment, when I started I had a long discussion with someone on this, they were surprised to find someone who was a new character and even more so to find I was new to the game, sure enough most of the characters I come across are in the 55+ region on their current class and when they aren't they're just experimenting with other jobs.

CodeMonkey wrote:

Just curious, have you tried going to the hot exp zones for your level range to look for groups or see what they are doing? Around level 23 should be kazham. If you have airpass access, go take a look.

Currently hunt around Buburimu Peninsula at the Mhaura end of it, plan to have a try at Maze of Shakhrami over the weekend/next week & maybe start on the Windhurst Lv2 missions (already have full rank bar from donating crystals, just need to do the missions).

CodeMonkey wrote:

I said 4-5k exp per hour, not per 30mins. It's not hard to chain pull and kill IT mobs if people knows what they are doing i.e. thief or ranger go pull as soon as mob dies while mages rest. Tanks will engage and get some hate for a few secs and then mages join in who should rested enough to keep chain going until around kill 3-4 where they can't go on. Of course new players wouldn't be able to do it efficiently and it's a very messy affair with IT mobs at low levels if you don't have a ninja/paladin who knows how to tank.

Ranger, Ninja & Paladin = advanced jobs so although the player may only have Lv 20-30 in them they're a far more experienced player than me and they should be tougher due to the advanced jobs tending to be better than the basic 6 (WAR/MNK/THF/RDM/WHM/BLM). I wouldn't quite consider them to be at my level as such since they've obvioulsy got a Lv30 class of some form.

CodeMonkey wrote:

At high levels with good players, the only thing to stop chain 6 is because you have to kill the mobs too fast. The time limit for killing a mob for a kill chain decreases the further you are into a chain. I've only seen chain 6 in BLM (6 black mages) or RNG heavy exp group with good ninja tank. note: a summoner can get chain 20+ using the 2hr ability unless square fixed this

Chain 6 and Chain 5 have the same time allowance so I would've thought it gets easier near the top levels?

CodeMonkey wrote:

Well continue playing anyway and you will see what I mean when you get into a proper exp party. Don't mean to criticise too much as I realise you're still relatively new to the game.

No worries, have seen this as more of an educational debate.