Final Fantasy XI is one of the most popular massive multi-player online role playing games (MMORPG) currently on the market. The most frustrating part of FFXI is starting out, especially if a new player does not already have friends playing the game. However, once a few hurdles are passed, Final Fantasy one of the most satisfying games to play.
The Jobs
Final Fantasy XI is based on a job and a subjob system. The starting jobs include warrior, monk, thief, white mage, black mage, and red mage. These jobs are essentially broken into two groups, front line and back line jobs. Warrior, monk and thief are front line jobs and white mage, black mage, and red mage are back line jobs. Here are some key job differences to help you decide what job you want to start with:
Warrior - Warriors in FFXI are your basic damage dealers (DD). If something needs bashed, they bash it! They excel at most weapons in the game, one drawback to this is that they may need to keep many different weapons skilled up simultaneously. They can also serve as a tank job in earlier levels.
Monk - Monks are also excellent DD. If there's something to smash, they smash it! Unlike warriors, monks specialize in one type of combat which is hand-to-hand. They specialize in undead, against which their damage is truly staggering, but they are excellent DD for any mob.
Thief - Thieves in Final Fantasy XI have a couple of different basic uses for their jobs. First off, if something needs stolen they steal it! This job trait is something that helps when trying to make money (gil) in FFXI, as I'll explain later gil is a very important consideration in this game. Thieves are also good DD, particularly at certain levels. Between levels 30ish-40ish, their damage is pretty much unmatched. Generally speaking, in later levels their damage may not match that of other melee DD such as a warrior, monk, dark knight, samurai, dragoon, beastmaster, or ninja. Thieves in FFXI have other purposes though, they are able through certain job abilities, to transfer hate from their attack to the party's tank, and their very presence in a party or alliance will increase the chance of good treasure dropping from mobs.
White Mage - White mages the quintessential healers of FFXI. Through the use of their magic, if something needs cured, they cure it! This may make white mage sound like an easy job, but it is anything but easy. Not only do they have to keep their party alive, they also have to keep their party free of dangerous status effects and make sure the party has the proper “buffs” such as protect and shell.
Black Mage - If white mages are the quintessential healers of FFXI, black mages are their opposite. Black mages are some of the most devastating damage dealers in the game. They damage mobs by casting spells such as thunder, blizzard, and fire. Black mages are only limited in their damage by their available magic points (MP).
Red Mage - Although red mages have elements of both black mages and white mages, they are a truly unique job. If your goal is to level as quickly as possible with one of the starter jobs, red mage will get you to the level cap fastest. This is due to some of the very desirable spells, one in particular that red mage learn. At level 41 red mages gain the spell refresh, which allows them to regenerate the mp of their fellow mages. Because of this spell, red mages past that level generally have no trouble finding parties. But red mages are not just refreshers! They are the debuffers of their parties. They weaken the mob with spells like paralyze, slow, and blind.
They also serve as back up or even main healers (if the party doesn't have a white mage). They also are able to deal decent damage with spells like blizzard and thunder. Any good red mage must be mindful of keeping their mp up for debuffs and cures though, so nuking with damage dealing spells should only be done when the red mage has a lot of spare MP.
Leveling
Leveling can be one of the most fun experiences in Final Fantasy XI, and one of the most frustrating. Looking for parties can be irritatingly slow, especially at non-peak hours of the day. You'll also find that mobs that /check at a level you were able to beat easily up until level 12 completely kick your bum in later levels.
I would recommend finding cheap food from an NPC such as meat jerky for these levels, regardless of job. Most jobs are pretty much the same in these levels. Meat jerky can be purchased from Griselda in Bastok Mines (H-5), Boncort in Northern San d'Oria (F-8), and Ness Rugetomal in Windhurt Waters (F-10). At these levels especially, keep all of the crystals and items that drop from the mobs you fight to sell at the auction house (AH), this will likely be your main source of income for a while. Make sure to go in and sort your inventory while you level as well; it will not autosort and you can lose valuable items this way. Keep all of your beastmen's seals; they will come in handy soon!
Levels 1-13
Leveling from 1-13 is most easily done by soloing. Simply walk out of your starter town and starting killing! Make sure to /check most mobs before attacking, because in FFXI even though it may look exactly like the mob you just killed, it is possible that this mob may be much harder to beat! When checking a mob the following messages are possible:
Too Weak - If a mob appears too weak to your character, it will not give you experience points after you kill it. This is fine if you're farming for the items it may drop, but if you're trying for experience points only you may wish to bypass these mobs entirely.
Easy Prey - Easy prey are mobs that will give you some experience points, although may not be worth killing too often up to level 9 or 10. In later levels on many jobs you will be lucky to solo an easy prey mob without dying!
Decent Challenge - Decent challenge mobs are ideal for gaining experience points off of in lower levels. They offer good experience and are not usually overly difficult in the first levels of the game.
Even Match - If you are looking for a challenge when you first start leveling, even match will provide it. They are soloable (especially up to level 8 or 10), but offer a bit of a challenge.
Tough - If you want a bit of a gamble, try a tough mob in these levels! They are soloable (especially with food), but a challenge for sure. I would recommend concentrating on lower difficulty mobs than tough however, because these mobs may not offer the best experience points per hour as they take longer to kill.
Incredibly Tough - If you are soloing and see a mob that checks incredibly tough, turn around and find something easier. It will likely send you crying back to your home point after a couple of hits.
Impossible to Gauge! - Mobs that check impossible to gauge are what is called NMs (notorious/named mobs/monsters). The actual level of these mobs is impossible to tell by just looking at them but for earlier levels it's likely they will send you back to your home point faster than incredibly tough mobs.
