=Nation Rings=
Elvaan who start at Sand'Oria will get the nation ring along with their character when started.
The same goes to Mithra and Tarutaru who start in Windurst.
Hume and Galka who start in Bastok.
If you choose to start in other town, you can get the nation ring by trading conquest points at rank 3.
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=Party and Leveling=
You will have to solo your level until 10, then you have a choice to wither solo until 20 or start your first optional party life.
Low level party are pretty weak, if you want to start a party of 6 and kill incredibly tough mobs for 200exp each, here is a small guide line :
Type of jobs
Tanker : PLD, NIN (past lv 11), WAR (below lv 30)
Healer : WHM, RDM, SMN (past lv 46)
Supporter : BRD, COR (COR can also DD)
DD (Damage Dealer) : WAR (any lv), MNK, THF, SAM, DRG, DRK, RNG, SMN, BLM, BLU, PUP, BST, COR
A low lv party (below 37) better have 2 tankers, and at least 1 healer, others are optional.
A PLD at any lv can be a main tanker, you don't have to worry.
A NIN need to have Utsusemi: Ichi, first to be able to tank. And will always be a main tanker past lv 37 (Learned Utsusemi: Ni).
A WAR can wear decent defensive gear, but will have less HP and defense than PLD. So a WAR can't tank after 30 in normal parties.
WHM and BLM are self explainary, I won't give much detail.
RDM is a main healer until lv 41. At lv 41 RDM will have Refresh, (regenerate 3mp every 3 second for 2 minutes) and will play less role in healing. However, RDM must cast enfeeble spells on the mob since low lv.
SMN, like the name say, they summon avatars to fight for them. SMN are almost always have a WHM sub job, so they are likely be forced to be a main healer because of their big mp pool.
COR (short for Corsair, or a pirate + gambler job in previous FF) play the supportive role for their dice roll ability that will give effect to their party. (e.g. atk/def/acc/evasion boost, HP/mp regen, etc.) And also DD with their guns.
BRD always play the support role in parties. They can sing the song to increase atk/def/acc/eva, HP/mp regen, dispel the mob's buff, sleep the mob, etc.
All DD jobs are just go in and hit the monster or cast attack type magics on the mob, so I won't go on this one's detail.
You can check some of my party lvling spots from this link :
http://www.gaiaonline.com/guilds/viewtopic.php?t=10194771-------------------------------------------------------------------------
btw, I think I saw a new player thread sticky above, if not, I'll put a link here later.
You are free to ask the questions if you want to.
btw, i'm on titan server.