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Heya welcome to ffxi!

All servers are pretty much the same. They're all been around for an equally long time, the only real difference is the economy but you shouldn't have any problem whatever server you choose. I chose my current server just because I liked that particular summon, and it worked out alright for me xD

There aren't many new people signing up these days but on the whole the majority of older players are always happy to give advice smile The best thing to do is to find an active social linkshell. The best way to do that is ask people who you party with whether they have a social you can join. There are plenty of these types of linkshell and they should definitely be able to help you out with quests and advice and such.

Of course if you have any questions you're always welcome to ask in this forum^^ I guess the questions pressing you right now are probably what race and job you'd like to start off with - so if you need any advice on this just ask^^

best of luck smile

Unfortunately mithra are female-only smile Mostly guys play them though - to the extent that I'm usually assumed to be a guy too because I play one D': Mithra have high DEX (accuracy) and AGI (evasion etc) and fairly well rounded stats overall.
Elvaans have high STR (melee damage) and VIT (defence) but low DEX (acc).
Tarutaru have insanely huge MP and high INT (black magic spell damage) and make fantastic mages.
But but but but. In game there's lots of gear to boost different stats and there's no reason why any race can't play any job. The best way to decide which race to play is by picking one you won't mind staring at for hours at a time^^

I'm afraid I haven't leveled Puppetmaster so I don't know much about it sad Hopefully someone else on the board would be more qualified to say xD I believe its something of a solo-job.



Yup there are 6 "basic jobs" - Warrior, Monk, Thief, Black Mage, Red Mage, White Mage. You have to pick one of these when you start out. Once you reach level 30 you can do quests to unlock "advanced jobs", including Puppetmaster and many many more.

Unlike most MMOs in FFXI you don't choose a job at the beginning and have to stick with it. You can change jobs at any time, level up however many you want, all on the same character. For example you might start out as a Red Mage and level it to lvl10. You don't like it so you talk to your moogle and set your job to Warrior which you level up separately. The job levels you attain are saved so you can switch back to your level10 Red Mage whenever you want.

On the back of this the game utilizes subjobs. You'll unlock your subjob quest at level18. Equipping a subjob allows you to have a second job equipped at the same time which is capped at half the level of your main job. You get access to all that job's spells and abilities (except their 2-hour ability which you get for your main job only - the 2 hour ability is your emergency "get out of jail free card" for when things go wrong, and each class has a unique one.)
For example if you are a black mage - adding a /white mage subjob will give you access to some helpful cure spells and give you extra mp to use etc.



Yup Crafting is a big part of the game - although its currently not very profitable sad - there is Cooking, Clothcraft, Bonecraft, Blacksmithing, Goldsmithing, Woodworking, Alchemy and Fishing. You can level all of these up to lvl60 if you want. However you are only allowed to have 40 levels in crafts beyond 60 (i.e. you can have 2 crafts at 80, or one craft at 100 (max) or one craft at 70 and one at 90.)
Levelling crafts is a real feat of dedication. It takes a lot of time and effort and gil to do it.
Gathering skills (Mining and Harvesting) work differently and don't have levels of skill, so anyone can do it if they can survive the monsters in the zone.

Uhm - guess that's your questions for now - here are some websites with info which you might find useful:

http://wiki.ffxiclopedia.org/wiki/Main_Page - FFXIclopedia, wiki database.

http://ffxi.allakhazam.com/ - Allakhazam, community forums and database.

http://www.ffxi-atlas.com/ - Vanadiel Atlas, fantastic map resource

Unfortunately this is true to some extent so if you're looking to get into endgame quickly then you might want to consider particular job-types which are more "useful" than others. Don't let this effect your starting job decision since you need to get something to 30 to unlock advanced jobs and decide what kind of role you like to play (healing, damage, tanking, etc). Once you're there you might like to start thinking ... if you want advice on what jobs do what at endgame - just ask biggrin

Endgame is a looooong way away though. For your first character it will probably take you over a year to get to lvl75 because there are a lot of quests, area access missions and stuff to do before you can make really quick progress. People who already have a 75 job might take about 2-4 months to get another one to 75 (depending on what it is - some are quicker than others smile ).



FFXI has some of the best endgame of any mmo out there. It really is one of the high points of the game, because once you reach 75 the game really begins. Of course there are elitists and jerks and people who will steal your kills and screw you over, but being in an endgame linkshell is a great experience, and as long as you can find one which suits your playtime and won't kick you if you don't show up for "this-one-event-at-4am" then it is really a lot of fun^^

FFXI is all about working with people, meeting people, making friends and working together. You will ALWAYS need help to get what you need. Other people always need help too. The only way to progress is to work together - and sometimes its a pain in the arse - but the rest of the time its extremely rewarding smile

lol ok! Im going to check out those links posted above! Im still not sure what I want to be >.< but I understand that I can always change things if I want to! thats good news.

Im going to install the game tonight and have a bit of a poke about biggrin Its really exciting to think that this is going to be a whole new world for me to explore!!! woohoo biggrin I wish I could share it with someone else as well...
Maybe I will get lucky wink who knows what the universe has in store for lil old me.

Thank you for the advice though, its really appreciated! It has made a few issues more understandable.