It's a great game and they have done alot to improve it recently, There are just so many ways to level now and it's not all so hidden, but somehow the community has been getting worse and worse. Every party I'm in people just seem like they're pissed off to be playing FFXI rather than doing something else with their lives.

If you know anybody who would want to try a trial account with you I'm sure you would draw alot of fun out of the game, Otherwise I would just pass it up at this point and play some other form of grindan.

Long-time FFXI player here. I'll get right down to it and be honest with you: shit's rough. I first started playing when the game was initially released(about... 5 years ago now?) and have been playing on-and-off since then. While the game is MUCH more accessable than it was when I first started playing, the game is still very, VERY unforgiving. Most jobs are able to solo up to at least level 10 or 15 now(thanks to Fields of Valor), and unless you can find a good party after that, you're gonna have a rough time. Exp tends to flow easier now, thanks to Exp-boosting rings and items, though. Also, the game tends to go through trends. Back in the day, monks and dragoons had to sit in town for hours waiting for party invites(loldrg and lolmnk), but now they have to fight off invites with a stick. Conversely, white mages had no problems getting invites, but now, thanks to Scholar, they end up sitting on the backburner for hours. Same with Black Mage, since most mobs in the popular exp zones resist magic like whoa.

Crafting is both rewarding and incredibly painful. I took Bonecraft to level 100, but it took, seriously, about half a year to do so(mainly because I didn't powersynth or breaksynth. I'm not that rich). Crafting isn't the best way to make money anymore, so if you're interested in it, pick up a craft that compliments your job.

cont.

>>31340128

Because the game is so painful, it is probably the most rewarding MMO out there. You honestly feel a sense of accomplishment when you manage to get something done(I still remember the feeling me and my CoP static had after we got our rings at the end of the quest line. shit was epic). The game honestly has a fantastic storyline to it, and the NPCs have tons of personality that make you WANT to complete their quest lines. This is what keeps drawing me back to the game, personally.

So, my advice to you would be to grab a trial account and try it out. Keep in mind that the first 10-15 levels will likely be very, very painful. This is usually not a representation of how the entire game is. Also, the faster you can find a group of friends to level with, the better; the game lives or dies depending on those you party with, so yeah. Find a group of people who are still interested in DOING THINGS in the game. Nation missions, quests, leveling up lowbie jobs. Above all, don't be a douche. Names travel extremely fast in the game. If you're a good player, you'll get more invites.. if you're an ass, then expect to be placed on tons of blacklists.

>>31340128
>>31340202
>>31340079
OP here, this is exactly the stuff I was looking for, thanks guys.

Any experience with the 360 client in particular? And are there any popular servers for new players by any chance? I just remember feeling completely alienated last time, wandering around Windurst with no real direction or idea of what to do.

>>31340424
Join the /v/ LS at the Shiva server.

Be aware that you should get a keyboard for the x360.

And be also aware that you can augment the PC version with the unofficial windower (it's thought to be undetectable, but it goes against the game's ToS). And that you can use an xbox 360 controller on a PC, and play FFXI with it.

>>31340500
I would pick up the PC version, but my gaming machine recently died--I've been meaning to use my 360 for somethings besides the occassional Castle Crashers game anyway, and this would give me something to play while I save up the cash for a new motherboard.

If I kept with it, are the accounts cross platform? Would I be able to download the client on my pc and pick up from there if I so chose to?

>>31340424

Sadly, I've no experience with the 360 client, being a PCfag. I -think- that the game allows you to use a keyboard, but you may want to pick up a Messenger Kit if not. What client you use honestly doesn't seem to matter to most people, though. If you're a good player and know what you're doing, people will just assume you use the PC version unless you say otherwise.

As for servers, I know that there's a /v/ group on Bahamut and... Asura, I think? I'm not sure anymore, since I haven't seen a thread about it in a while. Personally, I've played on Gilgamesh since the beginning, and have yet to be disappointed in it. The server's economy isn't fucked to all hell and it's full of decent-to-awesome players. It'd be a good server to try out, I think. If you DO join Gilgamesh, feel free to send me a /tell if you need help or advice. I can't promise that I'd drop what I was doing to dash out to Windy to help out, but I could talk you through stuff if nothing else.

i played for 2 years. Got to 75, then rage quit after i got my ass whooped by two little bats

>>31340671

Accounts are cross-platform, yeah. I've got friends that've played on PS2, moved to 360, then finally upgraded to PC.

I played it for PS2 and the controller is a lot more relaxing, playing a mmo on a couch is a lot better

that being said you HAVE to get a usb keyboard for chatting

You should get it for PC, honestly.

>>31340500
Whatever you do, don't join the /v/ linkshell on Shiva, it's full of fucks

>>31340671
yeah, you can buy the 360 version, then download the PC version and use your registration codes.
Accounts are cross platforms. They're region-locked, though.

>>31340831

Sup Rag. Enjoying your 4 member linkshell on Bahamut?

The game has really gotten a lot better,

Level synch got me from 15 to 20 in the dunes in like 2 hours with a PL

Mobs drop chests now that have like potions and shit so I found it really fun to solo while I was LFP

Economy is stable

>>31340901
this isn't Rag, but how are you enjoying Pantz's faggotry? That is if you aren't Pantz yourself

>>31340699
Damn decent of you; I will definitely keep this in mind. I appreciate the offer!

>>31340877
Awesome, what I wanted to hear.

You guys have been great. I think I will give it a shot. Thanks for all the responses.

>>31340202
>Because the game is so painful, it is probably the most rewarding MMO out there. You honestly feel a sense of accomplishment when you manage to get something done

Oh God this. I finally got through Promyvion with several other LS bros yesterday and it just felt so good.

If someone wanted to get into FFXI, would you have to get core and all the expansions at once?

>>31340977
not really but its only like 20$ for all of it

rise of the zilart is mandatory

>>31340977

You can just get a trial account for 14 days first, which doesn't include the expansions (but you likely wouldn't get to that content in just two weeks anyway).

The entire game with all expansions is only like 20 bucks though.

There's a free trial for the PC, by the way (it's not like the full game is expensive, but still). It doesn't really require a high-end gaming PC.

>>31340977

Nah. You can get by with a trial account for a while, which just has the base FFXI game. You won't need the Zilart stuff till level 20 or so, and the CoP/ToAU/WotG stuff isn't accessible until at least level 40.

But yeah, if you get into the game through the trial account, just grab em all. The full game + all expansion packs is like 20 bucks or something.

>>31340960

Oh god, Promy. Fuck that place. I finally finished the last quest involving that shithole, so unless I feel ballsy and want to get the maps to the place, I'm never goin back there again if I can help it.

>>31341033
>>31341019
OH, cool combo package! I'm a off and on MMO player, I finally got to endgame WoW and it just wasn't fun.
How's the FFXI solo experience? I've heard it's best enjoyed with a friend, but I did most of my quests and leveling solo.

Terrible game, worse than WoW. I can't believe i wasted two years of my life playing it.

I wish the game had subscription cards, I'd rather straight up pay the 140 something it costs each year

I quit a few years ago, a while after Aht Urghan came out. How is AV and new HNM? And how the magical eff does drg get invites?

>>31341123
>played it for two years
>hated it

>>31341121
Besides getting to level 35 or so, you won't accomplish much in FFXI by playing solo.

>>31341121

Soloing has gotten better in the past few months, but FFXI is probably the worst solo-MMO out there. This is completely intentional though, I think, since the FF games have always relied on the party system.

If you're set on soloing though, level whitemage first and bear through parties till level 30. Unlock Beastmaster, sub whitemage, and never join another party again. Beastmaster is really the only job that is 100% capable of getting to max level solo, I think.

>>31341121

You need a party for 80% of the missions, pretty much. 70% if you are a red or white mage (sneak and invisible spells).

However most of the sidequests can be done solo, and getting exp solo isn't nearly as bad as it used to be anymore.

>>31341201

I've heard dancer is a great job to solo or atleast /dnc

>>31341182

Piercing weapons are god tier now, since most endgame parties exp on birds. Dragoon is the king of piercing damage, so yeah.

>>31341182
>And how the magical eff does drg get invites?

They buffed the fuck out of two-handed weapons and TP moves in general, also Call Wyvern isn't a 2hr ability anymore.

>>31341201
>Beastmaster is really the only job that is 100% capable of getting to max level solo
Black mage can do it twice as fast.

>>31341201
I was planning on either red mage (favorite class from FF) or white mage (favorite class from MMOs). Do you have any recommended sites to learn what the hell to do and the whole job system thing?

>>31341281

I wouldn't know, as my Blackmage is only level 27.

>>31340831
This, do not go to shiva
>>31341201
BLU, BLM

>>31341315
http://wiki.ffxiclopedia.org

>>31341118

Heh, our party went 1/1 on all of them including ENMs (except Mea's).
SAM, SAM, BLU, PLD, WHM, BLM. It was really awesome how well-coordinated and effective we were. We actually only had to restock like two animas for the last one.

>>31341350
Animas are for sissies, especially post-nerf.

>>31341315
Mage is the best choice to begin FFXI with

>>31341315

http://wiki.ffxiclopedia.org/ - for all your FFXI needs. Shit has helped me out so much.

http://www.ffxiah.com/ - Economy tracking and web-based Auction House checking. Nice so you don't waste your time checking for something that isn't there.

Those are really the only two that I use. Never had a need for any others.

Oh, http://www.ffxi-atlas.com/ but I heard they had a keylogger outbreak recently, so I haven't visited them in a long time. Use at your own risk.

CRAB KILLING SIMULATOR

Sorry, had to get that off my chest.

>>31341440
I maintain that Promathia should have manifested himself as a giant crab.

the monthly subscription is a total buzz kill for me because I dont think I can play it a lot to justify the price with college starting up

>>31341440

No, it is an oddly-dinosaur-ish-looking-bird-killing-simulator now.

Are there any limitations on this trial like WoW does? Cuz Ayamiko seems to have their shit together and I'd like a /v/ bro to hang with.

>>31341477
no limitations

>>31341350

Promy proves how fickle FFXI can be. When I did my run throughs for CoP, shit was easy. Barely had to farm anima, and this was pre-nerf.

But goddamn, I tried to help a friend through these missions, and we got our collective asses handed to us. We nearly wiped on the last boss, but we were saved at the last second with our Taru Summoner used Astral Flow at the last second and killed the thing.

Fuck that place. >:|

>>31341463

12 bucks is like two visits at McDonalds, bro.

>>31341477

You can't do the expansion stuff with the trial, but that doesn't matter since no one will unlock advanced jobs, do promyvion or go to Aht Urgan or the past in their first two weeks. Other than that, a trial account can do anything.

I played this game a few years ago and got Warrior to 30 did my unlock quest to get dragoon and started leveling that. I think I got to like 15 and quit for WoW. I really wanna get back into the game, but I cant get my old account back cause I gave it to a friend. I am gonna start a trial right now, where should I start?

>>31341477
There's a limitation on fishing, but that's about it (and obviously you can't wander into expansion areas).

>>31341475

This, haha. They are delicious little balls of exp.

>>31341463
you don't need to "play a lot" to justify 12$ (or you haven't bought any video games in the past 5 years).
But you need to play a lot to get anywhere in this game, anyway, so yeah...

>>31341477

This is fine. Like I said, I won't be able to hold your hand through stuff, but I can at least give you some direction and possible help out with a PL every now and again.

I've gotta run for now, so if you get hooked up with POL, just do a character search on Gilgamesh for me and add me as a friend. Send me a POL message(a message, not a mail) or somethin.

>>31341805
12 doesnt seem a lot when your moms paying for it but when you go to college you might want to save 12 a month

>>31341966

A friend search through POL, not FFXI. Forgot to clarify, since obviously I won't show up on FFXI if I'm not online.

>>31340960

I like how even when you are finally done with promy, you still need to do even more missions to be able to do anything worthwhile in Tavnazia.

I wonder if i can get my character back from 3 years ago if i dont remember any of my info lol

PLEASE NO COMPLAINING ABOUT CoP. IT TOOK ME OVER A YEAR TO FINISH IT WITH MY STATIC AND LOST A FUCK TON OF GIL AND XP. YOU MOTHERFUCKERS HAVE REDUCED DIFFICULTY AND EVEN GET XP FOR COMPLETING FIGHTS> FUCK YOU

I'm the most antisocial fuck ever and despite going into this game thinking "meh, I'll just play the trial to check out the game world a bit, then probably quit", I am now level 60 on my main job and over 30 on several others, rank 6 and have access to Tavnazia, the past and Aht Urgan.
You only need to join a good LS and the game becomes 300% better.

You mind if I come too Ayamiko?

>>31342079
damn your static sucked the big chode

>>31342079

You know, I'm not going to argue that its a lot easier, but it's still a pain in the ass. Cry more.

>>31342079

You probably did it when CoP was new and exciting and everyone wanted to do it.

Try standing in Jeuno and shouting {Promyvion-Holla}{Do you need it?} 1/6 {Please assist} without going insane.

>>31341422
Atlas has had trojan shit that snuck every once and a while via their ads/affiliate banners for well over a year now, though it's happened at the same time other big sites got hit. The exploits involved exploits with Adobe products(flash plugin, PDF plugin, etc) for the most part. If you're using IE and didn't update at least the flash player, sucks to be you. The general wisdom of "Use FF, use Adblock, use NoScript, keep your shit updated, etc" works here. Additionally, I've just kept Atlas on my script blacklist. I've noticed that in recent months though, the site has had info added to various pages that used to require java to display; I'm thinking the site's owner realized that the site is a target for malicious shit and decided to try and give the functionality without the scripting.

dont.

>>31342124

It doesn't matter to me, really. If you come to Gilgamesh, awesome. I'll help you out every now and again. If not, that's cool too. You can send POL messages cross-server, so it isn't like I couldn't give advice if you joined another server.

Anyway, yeah. REALLY leaving now.

The best part about the game? The gear looks fabulous.

And not just the high level gear. The standard gear looks great too. Obviously there is a fair bit of reskinning going on at times but I doubt you'll find an MMO where that doesn't happen

It's basically a korean-style grindfest shitbomb, but you have to pay for it for some reason. Garbage.

God Tier: FFXI Goblins

Not god Tier: Goblins from other RPGs

>>31342495
I want to see one without a mask.

Also, I wish other people gave a shit about getting all the maps. I want to finally finish Go! Go! Gobmuffin, but nobody wants to head up into Riverne to do it.

The game is insanely grindy. This is reflected heavily in the RMT price of currency and characters. a completely stripped character without any gear or gil will easily sell for a fair bit more than 100$ some jobs of course would get you even more money.

I think the last brogame add had the price of currency at 29$ per million.

>>31342495

>>31342597

I don't think there's any official stance on how they look without their masks

>>31342646

I'll tell you what I tell everyone else: FFXI will be fun for a few months but then the grind and drama level will start to increase. In time you will loathe your time spent in the game. You'll quit. Then, because you are a moron, you will go back and expect things to be different. This cycle will repeat indefinitely.

I'm in the same boat as OP. I tried playing this on the PC but never got in to any parties. This game also seems impossible to make money, especially when I first started. Getting whooped by mobs and not being able to buy better things? Awesome!

I watched a clip of some level 75 with a scythe taking out loads of awesome looking mobs. I wanted to get there so badly :(

>>31343010
Yeah, it won't be any fucking different now you fucking idiot.

>>31342597
I give a shit, i want to do all those quests no one cares about but can't be soloed.

Pssttt there is Also Asura, the other /v/ Linkshell.

We're getting people every week. Its pretty awesome.

Also, yeah, FFXI is great. I'm going to help a lot of the new people with CoP soon and doing their promyies, so there is time to join still!

>>31343036

A lot of animosity there, what's the matter friend? XD

>>31343128
>>31342597

Untrue. I'll help do them :3

Like this quest. LIKE THIS QUEST

>>31343128
Only about 5-10% of the quests in the game are actually cool/funny/interesting. still higher than WoW's 0%
But yeah, I know a guy that recently started playing and admitted he just flies through cutscenes without giving a shit. I was like "wat?"
I'm that fag that got rank10 in all three nations before quitting just for the story.

>>31342597
lol, once I edited the character models to level out the mask into a rough face-shape, and replaced them all with David Bowie (goblin king.)
It was the creepiest day ever before I replaced them again.