FFXI - Impressions/General Talk

[mytocles]

by the way, sony stuck me on Unicorn. i'm not adverse to creating a new character, though. but i didn't see any way to determine the world you're on prior to finishing the whole character creation process. am i just blind as a bat?

Or PM me and I will give you a World Pass number to enter when you register, if you want to come to Asura.

I love the game! It certainly has it's faults, and can be hellacious to start, but IMO well worth sticking with.  This is probably heavily leavened by the fact that it's my first MMORPG, therefore I cannot compare it to WoW or anything else.  I'm a console gamer exclusively and I jumped on the chance to try the 360 beta... and now I'm playing the full game. Plus, I will be paying for it after the first free month, something I thought I'd never do!  :roll:

And I use the keyboard only to type, lol - everything else is controller, menus, and controller macros. I seem to be doing fine with that...

And DJ, look me up when you are next on the game - I will help you level if I'm anywhere near you, lol.  It's funny, because once you get your subjob ability and go out to level a character from scratch it seems incredibly easy!  Maybe a few more easy in-town quests, a little more money (for armor, not just weapon) and a few levels so you'll have some magic to cast - and practice - will change your mind totally.  I now know what power-leveling is, sort of, and it wasn't what I was doing for either you or Andares, although it works, it's way too slow compared to the real thing.  So hang in there and holler out your pain to the LS and we'll figure something out!  Please don't give up, I finally learned all three of your names (GT, Live, FFXI)!   Unless of course, you are Andares and not... oh never mind! :?

[metallicorphan]

Okay, this game has me pissed.  I want to be a magic user.  I made one.  However, I die every two seconds.  Everyone says not to group until level 10, but I actually get killed by decent challenge mobs, which everyone says are the ones to fight.  I played for an hour last night and netted 100 xp.  Not sure I will be playing it much longer.  I like challenges and all, but if I am going to play an hour, I need more than 100 xp.

just stay outside your home city for some time...when i was just starting my thief,i was getting 100xp a kill at the start....after level 7 ish that question mark goes away from top of your head(if you didnt turn it off in config)and you can start venturing a bit more

i still stay away from decent challenges....they may be a decent challenge but for me it just spells out 'you are going to die'

magic users i heard have it tough,not much health as others

a friend of mine is trying a galka white mage,so that he has the health and the magic

[-Lord Ebonstone-]

Okay, this game has me pissed.  I want to be a magic user.  I made one.  However, I die every two seconds.  Everyone says not to group until level 10, but I actually get killed by decent challenge mobs, which everyone says are the ones to fight.  I played for an hour last night and netted 100 xp.  Not sure I will be playing it much longer.  I like challenges and all, but if I am going to play an hour, I need more than 100 xp.

If you're soloing, avoid Decent Challenges.  A soloer's bread and butter are Easy Preys.

[Andraax]

I know it changes post-level 10, but as a (very) low level monk, I go after "decent challenge" or "even fight" and I've lost exactly once. I was fighting near a BLM last night and I kept seeing combat spam showing he was getting interrupted a lot.

Thank you to Myto for the items in the mail. The little Mithra NPC was sooo happy to get those flowers.

I'm still getting used to a menu-based UI, since I also play EQ2 and DDO, and the first thing I looked for was a hotbar.

-Andraax

[mytocles]

Thank you to Myto for the items in the mail. The little Mithra NPC was sooo happy to get those flowers.

Lol, you are perfectly welcome! I remember, since I'm lost all the time, how ecstatic I was to get that exit upgrade. I wouldnt have to find my way from the Port to the Mines again, yay!  It's thanks to Purge that I even found out about it and got the flower for mine!  What goes areound comes around...

[hepcat]

okay, i gave it a few more days.  played quite a bit last week.  it's just not my cup of tea, unfortunately.  GW:Factions came out Friday and seeing the difference between FFXI and GW really rekindled my love of the latter game, actually.

[Purge]

I was fighting near a BLM last night and I kept seeing combat spam showing he was getting interrupted a lot.

I'm still getting used to a menu-based UI, since I also play EQ2 and DDO, and the first thing I looked for was a hotbar.

-Andraax

Use the CTRL and ALT bars.... go to your main menu, second screen, and there you can program macros. You can also turn on chat filters which let you eliminate the "Others" chats. So you *WILL* see Party, self, and monsters you fight, but people beside you don't fill up your screen.

Some tips :
[list=1]

• www.gamefaqs.com is your friend.
• So is http://ffxi.allakazham.com .
• Alt - R replies to people who have sent tells to you (keep hitting R to cycle through recipients, IIRC the max is 10),
• ALT-P takes whatever text you've typed (and not sent yet) and sends it to the party
• ALT-L is the same for Linkshell
• ALT-T is the same for a tell (whisper)
• Click on yourself, choose chat, and then you get an option to choose your default chat mode.
• Useful macros :

/check <t>  
/ra <t> (ranged attack, iirc)
/p Warning: Pulling <t> at <pos> /call3

• Useful macros :

/p <p0> - HP @ <hpp> (<hp>)    MP @ <mpp> (<mp>)  TP @ <tp>

• useful macros :

/follow <t>
/t <t> FYI: Turning on /follow macro.

• Set up a macro for pretty much all abilities you have, such as /ja (job abilities) /ws (weapon skills) and /ma (magic) ... you definately want to announce ahead of time what you are doing.

e.g. -  Burning Blade  Macro :
           /p (Burning Blade) in 4 seconds!! /call02
           /wait 3
           /ws "Burning Blade" <bt>
           /p Unleashing (Burning Blade)!! Follow my Skillchain / Renkei!!
Note that you can either use the (Burning Blade) translator in the WS line, or the exact name including spaces within quotations.

• /p <p0> status :: HP @ <hpp> :: TP @ <tp> :: MP @ <mpp>

/echo <p0> detail :: HP <hp> :: TP @ <tp>  :: MP <mp>

so you will give the party info on your percent, and then right below it you will tell yourself the breakdown. This is most useful for wating for a skill to become available. See next one for example

• /p Provoking <t> !! /call2

    /ja "Provoke" <t>
    /wait 30
    /echo Provoke avail in 30 sec.
   /wait 25
   /echo Provoke avail in 5 sec
   /echo Provoke is Available! /call6

This means, as a warrior, you are notifying yourself as to when you can provoke again and get the mob to attack you. it makes you MUCH MORE effective as a tank. With 2 WARs running this script 30 sec apart, it keeps more of the hate off the non-meat-shields.
[/list:o]

<t> is target
<bt> is battle target (mob name name in red)
<p0-5> is party members; 0 is always self
<pos> gives the co-ordinates on your current map (H-5)
/p is party chat
<hp> is hitpoints  - 125/500
<hpp> is hitpoint percent  - 25%
<mp> is manapoints - 200/400
<mpp> is manapoint percent  - 50%
<tp> is Tech points (skillchain / Weaponskill) - 87%
All of these work from command line
There is also a comment switch, so you can have it appear as an FYI ... I think it's /echo, but it might be something else.
Also, you can make your char do things without saying anything ( /wave vs /wave motion)

[Purge]

always ALWAYS check mobs before attacking them.

The way the scale works is this :
(all from memory; no promises of technical accuracy)

Not worth fighting (or somesuch message) = 0xp
Too Easy = 10+
Easy = 50+
Decent Challenge = 70+
Even Match = 100+
Tough = 125+
Very tough = 150+
Impossible = 175+

When you get into parties, Tough should be the lowest you go for, as the total party XP is based on the mob's rating to the highest member. This means that if your lvl20 party has a lvl 40WHM you would need to fight monsters in the 40's to get ANY experience.

The closer the levels are, the better it is. Your members shouldn't vary in level beyond 3.

If you have:
18WHM
18PLD
19WAR
20MNK
20DRK  

and you have a choice between the following :
17THF
19THF
21THF

Go with the 19THF as the safe bet.

If you don't have that option, and both the 20MNK and 20DRK are about to lvl up (TNL or To Next Level is low) then take the 21THF if he's a long way from 22)

Barring that, go with the 17THF. Just know that they are going to be less effective, and will miss more than the other pt members (so you should have a strong party to support them).

I would go with the 17THF over the 21THF if the 17's TNL is low (as he's basically an 18 ).

[Andraax]

Thanks for the macro primer. I'll have to set some of those up before I start grouping. So far I've been solo.

I did figure out the chat filters at least.