Getting Started!In this section, we will talk about:
- Creating your first character
- Selecting a job and race
- Selecting a nationality
Welcome to Final Fantasy XI! If you are new to the Final Fantasy saga, I hope that you will have a positive experience in this game that encourages you to try some of the other games in the series. Final Fantasy XI is very different from other installments in that is is what is called an "MMO" or "Massively Multiplayer Online" game. This means that unlike other previous adventures, you will be banding together with players across the world to adventure and accomplish your goals!
If you are already a veteran of the Final Fantasy saga, then you will immediatly note the major differences between this game and the others that you've played in the past. The number of changes may make this feel completely alien at first, but you'll quickly grow to appreciate it as its own seperate addition to the franchise. Regardless of what type of player you are, I would like to welcome you to the game.
Allow me to briefly introduce myself. My name is Sosa, a Red Mage from the country of Bastok. I reside on the Titan server, where I have been playing since the very first week of the United States release for PC. In my time, I have been fortunate enough to meet several friends who remain close to me, and we have accomplished many goals together. It is my hope that with this guide, you too will be able to set forth and begin your own story. So, without further hesitation, let us jump straight into the content of the guide.
Tip: At times, you will see indented blocks of text, like this one. These boxes will offer additional insight or tips that you may find useful on your journey.
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There are a couple of other different kinds of indented boxes that you may see. These include:
Lingo: These boxes will contain examples of words or abbreviations that are commonly used in FFXI, but may not be readily apparent.
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Code: These boxes contain useful code which can be used in macros (which are discussed in further detail later on in chapter 4.)And:
Warning: These boxes will warn you about common problems or dangers that you need to be aware of, such as doing something that will cause a permanant change to your character or that may be hazardous in other ways.
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Creating your first characterIn order to get started in playing the game, you will first need to install the game on your system's hard-drive, and then follow the on-screen instructions that walk you through completing the installation and creating your PlayOnline account. This guide does not deal with installing the game or activating your account; for more information on these processes, please consult your Final Fantasy XI instruction manual.
Tip: A detailed explaination of the process, along with instructions, is provided in every version of the manual, although the page numbers are different depending on which version you have. You should be able to find the instructions under the very first chapter of each book, titled "Welcome to PlayOnline.
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NPC: "Non-player Character" - NPCs are characters that are controlled by the server. Technically, any characte that is not another player is an NPC, but the term usually excludes monsters, and is limited to characters which can be interacted with.
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When you have finished with the installation process and activated your first content ID, you are finally ready to play! The next step is actually logging into the game and creating your first character. Before you do so, it is important to note that your first character is assigned to a
random server. In order to join your friends on a specific server, they will need to purchase a special item in-game called a "World Pass." World Passes come in two different varieties: a normal pass, which can be used up to five times and lasts 7 days before expiring, and a "Gold Pass," which may only be used by a single person and has a shorter time restriction. Either item can be purchased for a small fee from an NPC in each starting city. They can be bought at:
- Kacheda in Port Bastok
- Ambleon in Port San D'Oria
- Gamimi in Windurst Tower
Gold Passes offer additional benefits over a normal pass. To begin with, both characters (the person who purchases the pass, and the person who uses it) will be eligable to recieve two spell items which can be worn by your characters, the
Guide Berret and the
Sprout Berret. These two special items allow your friend to voluntarily place a temporary restriction on his level, so that you can both adventure together no matter what level they are! There are several other rewards that you can take advantage of, after a certain number of days you have been actively playing the game. To recieve these benefits or get more information on them, visit any of the NPCs listed above.
Don't worry if this information doesn't make a lot of sense right now, if you have a friend that is assisting you in joining their server, they will be able to purchase a world pass for you and provide you with its information.
Once you have obtained a world pass, you can type the access code given in during the character creation process, and your character will be created on the specified world. If you do not have a world pass, or do not wish to use one, your character will be created on a random server, as normal. It should be noted that once you create a character on a specific world, any additional characters that you create in the future will be placed on the same world by default, unless you use a world pass to change this.
Warning: Once you have created a character on a server, you are no longer eligable to recieve the benefits from a Gold Worldpass if you choose to use one at a later time. You may still use a Gold Worldpass to join a specific server, but the comrade bonuses offered via the program will not be available for use.
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With world passes finally out of the way, we will now get into actually creating your character. From inside of the PlayOnline browser that you use to launch the game, navigate to the Final Fantasy XI game page and click the large button in the upper-left corner that says "Play". After a brief disclosure, the window will close and the game will begin to load. The game will then check your current version, to see if there have been any updates to the game since you last played. If this is your first time playing the game, or you have not played in a very long time, you will need to allow the client to update your game to the most recent version first. Unfortunately, if you own an older copy of the game and have not installed any of the prior patches, this process can take a very long time, as it contains very large volumes of compressed data. The patching process is automated, and does not require input from the user after the initial confirmation, and can be safely left alone while it completes the process.
Once the update or patching process is complete, the game should start and you will see the Final Fantasy XI splash screen, or logo:
If you have read the terms and conditions of play, cick "Agree" to continue.
You will now be greeted with the main Final Fantasy XI title screen. In the center of the screen, you will see the actual game logo, with a scrolloing panoramic background. With a recent change to the game, this background will change every time you log into the game and depicts various scenes and locations that you will see in the game.
Below the central logo will be between 1 to 3 additional logos: these logos indicate that a specific expansion pack for the game has been installed and is available for use on this system. Please note that even if you have registered your account for use with a specific expansion pack, you will be unable to access the content on another system that does not have the expansion pack installed.
On the right, you will see the buttons "Select a Character," "Create a Character," "Delete a Character," and "Back." When you run the game for the first time, "Select a Character" will be greyed out - because you haven't yet made a character to play on. We'll fix that! Click on the second button, "Create a Character."
You will now notice a list of different race and gender combinations you can choose from, with a character representative of the combination standing in the middle of a large open field.
Selecting a raceNow it's time to pick a race for your character and get started! Before I go into a brief description of each character type and race, I would like to note the following, which has been a subject of constant and unnecessary debate:
it doesn't matter which race you pick for your character, no matter what job you plan on becoming![/u] Each race has its own inherant strengths and weaknesses, but an individual job's statistics, in conjunction with your character's equipment, play a much,
much larger role in determining your character's maximum statistics. You can be successful as any job in the game with any race - the difference will ammount to little more than a different selection of gear late into the game, so don't worry about it.
I recommend you take a few minutes to play around in the menu and look at at each type of character.
As you'll note, Humes are the generic equivelent of Humans in this world. Humes are very well-rounded, and can very easily adopt to job changes. Their statistics are the average middleground of all other races. The Hume hometown is the Republic of Bastok, nestled in the rocky Gustaberg region, and their capital is the Metalworks, located in the Bastok Markets. Humes are a highly industrious and aspiring people, but tend to be apathetic towards the plights of other races.
Elvaan make up the traditional Elves of roleplaying games, but differ from the 'classic' sense in many different ways. Elvaan tend to have slightly more HP and less MP than a Hume character, and their primary stats lean slightly towards melee-type characters. The elvaan are a proud race, steeped heavily in the values of honor and tradition. Out of arrogance, however, the Elvaan are set in their ways and are more likely to stubbornly adhere to tradition than to embrace new ideas. The Elvaan homeland is the Kingdom of San d'Oria, where the royal Chateau d'Oraguille, found in North San d'Oria, resides.
Tarutaru are small sprites that reside in the Federation of Windurst, alongside the lofty Mithra. They are gifted with strong affinity towards magic, and as such, have the highest base MP and Intelligence of all the races. They are, however, weaker than other races physically, posessing less HP and lower combative stats. The 'capital' of Windurst lies directly in the center of the Windurst Walls district, and lays nested inside the enormous Star Sybal Tree.
The Mithra are a race of cat-women that originally come from the port of Kazham, located far off in the Elshimo Islands. They have since come to reside with the Tarutaru in windurst. Like humes, they are a versatile race and possess average HP and MP; however they lean slightly towards jobs that require great agility, such as Thief, Ninja, and Ranger. Players may only create female characters when selecting the Mithran race.
Lastly, the Galka are a large hulking race who built their capital in the Altepa Deserts of Kuzotz. Their homeland was invaded and destroyed by the Antica, a race of beastmen, and in time, most of the Galka that fled came to reside in Bastok alongside the Humes. While the two races generally get along, the apathy of the humes has led to poor living conditions for some of the Galka, and many are treated as second-class citizens. As a race, the galka lean strongly towards jobs that are physical in nature, have the highest base HP, and excel as melee or ranged jobs alike. They have significantly lower magic stats than other races. Players may only create male characters when selecting the Galkan race.
After you have chosen a race, you will be prompted to select a hair style and color. There are a total of eight different hairstyles available for each race, and two colors for each style. Make sure you take some time with this decision: as of the time of this writing, you cannot change your hairstyle or color after character creation, so make sure it's something you'll be happy looking at for a very long time. After you decide on a hair style, you will be prompted to select the size of your character. Characters come in three sizes; which are relative to the size of their race in comparison to others. In other words, if you choose to play a "large" tarutaru, you will still be much smaller than a "small" galka, but will be taller than other characters of your race.
After you're satisfied with the aesthetics of your character, it's time to think about what role you'd like to play in the game.
Selecting a jobYour character's job represents their in-game occupation. When you first begin to play, there will be a total of six different jobs to choose from, all of which offer a different mix of strengths and weaknesses, playing style, and benfits for group play. If you have never played an online RPG before, you should be aware that most of your time in this game will be spent working with others, so it's important to learn what your job is capable of so you can offer more to other players.
Tip : What happens if you want to change jobs later? FFXI is very unique in that you can change your character's occupation at any time by simply visiting the moogle in your Mog House (more on that in chapter 2) or a Nomad Moogle. The easy way to put this is; don't stress over the details for right now, if you're unhappy with your job choice, you can change it later at any time.
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Most jobs in Final Fantasy XI can be broken down into one or a combination of several different types:
Tanking jobs are tougher than other characters. The general job of a tank in the party is to draw the enemy's attention away from the other players and take damage for them. Tanks are effective because they excel at reducing the damage taken to themselves, and protecting others from harm... this makes group play much more efficient.
Healing jobs are those capable of keeping others alive, or bringing them back to life. Healing overlaps with another type of job, the supportive job, but stands on its own since some jobs are capable of one function but not the other.
Support jobs are those which offer special benefits or stat boosts to their party members, raising their overall strength. Support jobs often overlap with Healing jobs to a degree, due to the nature of their role in the party.
Damage-Dealing jobs primarily focus on putting out as much damage as safely possible. By reducing the ammount of time it takes for the group to defeat their enemies, they increase the safety and efficiency of the group.
Nuking jobs are a type of damage-dealer. Unlike most jobs that cause damage through phsyical attacks and a combination of special abilities, Nukers rely on the controlled use of powerful magic to inflict damage.
Enfeebling jobs are similar to support jobs, but operate on different principals. Whereas a support job generall makes their allies stronger, enfeebling jobs focus on making their enemies weaker - thus allowing the party to take down the foe more efficiently.
Puller jobs are different from most other classifications in that most jobs can fill this role, if needed; however, there are several jobs that have special abilities that make them more effective than others. The puller refers to the person who is responsible for luring an enemy back to a group of waiting players.
Hybrid Job: By strict definition, a hybrid job is one which serves many different roles in a group at the same time. Most jobs are hybrid jobs, but the term is usually applied to jobs that explicitly bridge the gap, or "sit between," roles: such as Red Mage, Ninja, and Corsair.
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Hate: Also called enmity or threat. Hate refers to the process by which a monster determines who to attack: each monster has a "hate list," which determines the overall priority. Attacking the monster, casting spells on it, healing others the monster is attacking, and other actions cause the player to 'build' hate, raising the chances that the monster will switch targets and attack this player.
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The first six jobs, open to you at character creation, are:
Warrior (WAR): Tank, Damage-DealerWarriors are the traditional "fighters" of the melee class. They have a very large selection of gear available, but are most effective when wielding an Axe or Greataxe, and wearing heavy armor. In a group setting, low level warriors will usually be the primary tank for a party, but they grow more offensive in later levels and eventually abandon this role to become full-out damage-dealers.
Some examples of Warrior abilities include:
- Provoke: Goads an enemy into attacking you.
- Attack/Defense bonuses: Passive increases to attack and defense which are always active.
- Berserk: Greatly increases attack at the expense of lowering your defense.
- Double Attack: Ocassionally allows the warrior to attack again within the same combat round for free.
Monk (MNK): Damage-DealerMonk is a job about one thing, and one thing only: punching things as fast, hard and often as they can. Monks are very formidable damage-dealers that specialize in hand-to-hand attacks. Their versatility is somewhat narrow, however, they may be called upon to tank in very low level parties. In parties, monks are responsible for efficiently putting out damage.
Some examples of Monk abilities include:
- Boost: A special ability that can be used quickly and repeatedly. Each use increases the damage of your next attack, and then disappears.
- Focus: Temporarily increases the monk's accuracy by a large ammount.
- Counter: Allows the monk to ocassionaly cancel an enemy's attack, and deal damage back to them.
- Chi Blast: A powerful, very fast ranged attack that ignores defense.
Thief (THF): Damage-Dealer, Puller, SupportThief is a highly technical job with a difficult to define role. Thieves use primarily swords at lower levels, and daggers almost exclusively past the mid-lower levels, but are capable of using them to great effect. By capitalizing on an enemy's weak point, Thieves are capable of causing a great deal of damage with a single stroke. The hate that this generates can be transferred to other players, such as a tank, allowing them to keep the monster's focus more easily. Thieves also have a number of tools at their disposal which make them primary candidates for pulling in most parties.
Some examples of Thief abilities include:
- Treasure Hunter: Slightly increases the chance of items dropping.
- Sneak Attack: Automatically causes a critical hit on the Thief's next attack. The effect is increased when using a dagger. This attack can only be used when facing the monster's side or back, and the effect can stack with Trick Attack.
- Trick Attack: The next attack by the Thief will cause all hate caused by the attack to transfer to the member standing in front of them, and not the thief.
- Flee: Allows the Thief to greatly increase their speed for a short duration.
Red Mage (RDM): Enfeebler, Healer, Nuker, SupportRed Mages are the 'jack of all trades.' At low levels, they can effectively replace almost any other member of the group. They have average melee skills, are able to wield swords and daggers effectively and wear light and medium armor, and can cast healing and offensive magic. The downside of low level RDM is that it is typically less effective at each role than jobs that specialize in them. Later in their careers, Red Mages become much more specialized and focus on the Enfeebling and Supportive nature of their job, increasing party efficiency by boosting their abilities and crippling their foes.
Some examples of Red Mage abilities include:
- Fast Cast: A special trait that is always active. Slightly decreases the casting time of spells and the time between which the spell may be used again.
- Dispel: Removes a single enhancement from the target enemy.
- Refresh: A spell exclusive to Red Mages that slowly refills the MP of the target.
- Convert: Instantly switches the Red Mage's current HP and MP values, reversing them. Convert can be used to instantly heal oneself, or regenerate lage ammounts of MP at the expense of health.
White Mage (WHM): Healer, SupportWhite Mages are the very definition of the benedictary healer. They rely upon powerful white magic to heal and strengthen their allies. Although they have access to some enfeebling spells, they are not as effective at using them as Red Mages or Black Mages. The role of a WHM in a group is to keep the other members alive, and operating at full capacity. As such, they are often the backbone of the entire group, and are always in high demand.
Some examples of White Mage abilities include:
- Auto Regen: A passive trait that is always active, slowly regenerating HP for the White Mage.
- Divine Seal: A special ability that doubles the effect of the next Curative spell cast.
- Teleport: A set of WHM exclusive spells that allow an entire party to travel instantly to specific locations.
- Reraise: A White Mage exclusive spell that allows the WHM to return to life after suffering a KO.
Black Mage (BLM): Nuker, EnfeeblerIn many ways, Black Mages are the complete opposite of their White Mage counterparts. Whereas WHM are responsible for healing their party members, Black Mages focus heavily on dealing damage to their enemies through powerful spells. In groups, Black Mages are relied upon to cause damage to enemies with high physical defense and enfeeble the enemy, allowing parties to bring them down more efficiently.
Some examples of Black Mage abilities include:
- Conserve MP: Ocassionally allows the Black Mage to cast a spell at a reduced MP cost.
- Elemental Seal: A special ability that increases the accuracy of the next offensive or enfeebling spell that is cast.
- Warp: A pair of BLM exclusive spells that allows the BLM or a single party member to instantly return to their home crystal.
- Escape: A Black Mage exclusive spell that instantly removes the party from a dungeon or underground area.
