FFXI Christmas Spectacular!

[imode]

HAHA... I never thought becoming a Ninja has so much to worry about...

I think I need a lot of luck to find some high lvl players to help me... It is not easy to find lvl 50 players running around.

PS. I feel somewhat discourage...

Don't sweat it.

The quests are very difficult and everyone will need help at some point. Ninja, Samurai and Dragoon were all part of the Zilart expansion and that's why they are noticeably more difficult than achieving the other advanced jobs. While you wait, there's always the other advanced jobs to unlock. Bard and Dark Knight are very easy to unlock (Dark Knight especially if you have a full warrior 30 with level 15 subjob). To a certain extent, so are Beastmaster, Summoner and Ranger.

[KingNor]

it'd be cool if you could peice togeather costumes from previous FF games in FFonlilne.

ie sabin or gogo, course there would be like a million clouds running around, that might not be so cool.

nevermind.

[Abombz!!]

it'd be cool if you could peice togeather costumes from previous FF games in FFonlilne.

ie sabin or gogo, course there would be like a million clouds running around, that might not be so cool.

nevermind.

Well... I don't know how well that would work. Cloud isn't exactly wearing armor. And if I'm not mistaken... theres an armor set that will make you look like Kain and Dark Knight Cecil from FF4.

I wouldn't mind if Square added clothes that would make your character look like characters from the original Final Fantasy Tactics.

[SpacePirateNeko]

I dont know i tried to play FF 11 ...i really wanted to like it...its just the game seems so slow and the controls and HuD setup are just ancient in terms of maneuvarability and doesnt seem to be able to adhere to any personal setup ,control is sloppy and slow. Im sure this has to do with teh fact of it being a game designed for a PS2 controller , but it really ruined the game for me.

Its a shame the design of the world and the very fantasylike imagery was really nice and the world is deep in lore. The very very limited facial designs and 0 body design was bothersome though ..i mean its even less variation then eq.... everyone looks the same.

My biggest concern though was the ff 8 and 10 types that i knew would be all over the place ...if your lucky you get put onto a japanese heavy server.

1 character per account ...thats another complaint...having to pay more to try a diff path in an online rpg...very silly

anyway i decided to post some of my other online adventures...ill make a new post more fitting

[Effect]

I dont know i tried to play FF 11 ...i really wanted to like it...its just the game seems so slow and the controls and HuD setup are just ancient in terms of maneuvarability and doesnt seem to be able to adhere to any personal setup ,control is sloppy and slow. Im sure this has to do with teh fact of it being a game designed for a PS2 controller , but it really ruined the game for me.

Its a shame the design of the world and the very fantasylike imagery was really nice and the world is deep in lore. The very very limited facial designs and 0 body design was bothersome though ..i mean its even less variation then eq.... everyone looks the same.

My biggest concern though was the ff 8 and 10 types that i knew would be all over the place ...if your lucky you get put onto a japanese heavy server.

1 character per account ...thats another complaint...having to pay more to try a diff path in an online rpg...very silly

anyway i decided to post some of my other online adventures...ill make a new post more fitting

I do have to agree that the controls and interface are bad. The controls are slow when compare with all the other mmorpg. While I give Square a lot of credit for being original in its setup of things, several things do turn me off. I'm still giving it till the end of the month. In fact the whole thing has made me miss Everquest of all things, was thinking of going back to this before I picked up FFXI. I just wish the battle system in FFXI move quicker that and they had rethought some of the zones. In the Bastok area and even in the Valkrum Dunes I found myself using my shades at one point due to it being hard to see with the white sand during the day. I knew there was some catch for being able to see just fine during the night. You pay for it during the day depending on the zone.

[Abombz!!]

I don't understand why ppl complain about the controls.... using the keyboard is just fine. Arrow keys for camera and num pad everything else is a perfect set up.

As for 1 character per account... the race variations are almost 0 (except for mages), and you can sample every class with 1 character, so wheres the problem? <_<

And Effect... you might enjoy the game more if you stopped trying all classes and stuck with one untill you hit lv18 and started being able to sub class.

The controls are slow when compare with all the other mmorpg

IMO.... EQ and AC had much slower controls then FFXI. As a matter of fact.... EQ has the slowest controls I have ever seen! And I have played PS3... which is the slowest moving game to date.

I just wish the battle system in FFXI move quicker that and they had rethought some of the zones. In the Bastok area and even in the Valkrum Dunes I found myself using my shades at one point due to it being hard to see with the white sand during the day. I knew there was some catch for being able to see just fine during the night. You pay for it during the day depending on the zone.

At least they made the zones interesting. SWG had a whole lot of nothing anywhere you looked. EQ had really bland zone, same for AC.

Oh well.... we still have Worlds of Warcraft coming... so I guess theres still hope.

PS If anyone bought FFXI expecting a PC grade MMORPG.... they were either grossly misinformed or were smoking something really strong.

Edited January 10, 2004 by Abombz!!

[Effect]

I don't understand why ppl complain about the controls.... using the keyboard is just fine. Arrow keys for camera and num pad everything else is a perfect set up.

As for 1 character per account... the race variations are almost 0 (except for mages), and you can sample every class with 1 character, so wheres the problem? <_<

And Effect... you might enjoy the game more if you stopped trying all classes and stuck with one untill you hit lv18 and started being able to sub class.

The controls are slow when compare with all the other mmorpg

IMO.... EQ and AC had much slower controls then FFXI. As a matter of fact.... EQ has the slowest controls I have ever seen! And I have played PS3... which is the slowest moving game to date.

I just wish the battle system in FFXI move quicker that and they had rethought some of the zones. In the Bastok area and even in the Valkrum Dunes I found myself using my shades at one point due to it being hard to see with the white sand during the day. I knew there was some catch for being able to see just fine during the night. You pay for it during the day depending on the zone.

At least they made the zones interesting. SWG had a whole lot of nothing anywhere you looked. EQ had really bland zone, same for AC.

Oh well.... we still have Worlds of Warcraft coming... so I guess theres still hope.

I don't mean to say I'm not enjoying the game cause I am. I'm just trying to figure out which one suits me, which seems to be my monk since its the most advance. Going trough lvls 7 to 11 seems to be a real pain and slow, especially as a casters since melee's do better soloing then grouped.

As for the controls I don't mind using the keyboard, it really was a pain in the very beginning. While all other mmorpgs controls differ in ways they were right on the money when it came to the balance between mouse and keyboard control. True FFXI is a port of a PS2 game, it looks clear that they didn't try to put to much work in the PC version. I can understand why people complain about the controls and it seems that it is a problem since it isn't just a few people that have trouble with it, from what I've seen in game and from the people I've grouped and talked to. Even though I enjoy the game itself, the controls do take a good part of that enjoyment away since I do find it troublesome.

The feel of FFXI does appear slow, then again that just could be the way things appear due to the way things are setup.

I don't really think EQ zones were that bland. Pretty interesting in their own, especially once you headed to the other lands and even the moon. From what I've seen of screenshots and seen ingame the two games aren't that much different in terms of being interesting. Though FFXI zones are much larger. That's both a good and a bad thing. Good in that there is more to explore, bad in that it takes a long time to cross among other things. World of Warcraft does look good as well but Ultima X: Odyssey is what I'm really looking forward to. .

As for the PC thing. With a PC version of a game, one would think they would reconfigure controls to more PC like. That is pretty much a given with any game when its ported from PC to Console or console to PC. People would expect things to be better especially since there are other PC mmorpgs that they could have looked at for ideas or setups they could have copied from.

Edited January 10, 2004 by Effect

[Abombz!!]

You can always remap the controls. The thing is, the percentage of ppl who play the PC version in Japan is rather small. Square was aware that some japanese players are serious MMORPG players (or MP games) and they figured they could simply pull a port to make those happy. The thing they never considered is that every other player in the world wouldn't swallow a PS2 port as easily. The game is expanding, and I bet Square got enoug complaints to consider upgrading the HUD (specially at higher resolutions since it gets so small).

As far as controls go... I usually run around in 1st person and fight in 3rd person, and IMO... it works just fine using tab or num pad 0 to target something.

As for the game moving slowly.... it does. It moves extremely slowly and some classes require more time then others, specially when you are just starting. Classes like mages go extremely slow between lv7 and 10, but take off at lv10 and 11, specially whm between 11 and 20 and blm after 20. Thiefs... don't even bother choosing that class if you want thing to move fast. Between lv1 and 15, you are pratically useless and very few ppl will want you in their party.

Once you get a subjob and the advantages start kicking in, you will realize just how much faster the game moves. Things really pick up after lv20 because ppl start looking for a more elaborate party. No more "whm as an after thought" that goes on so much in Valkrum. My first party in Qufim... I was earning 150xp per battle, and none of them were near death experiences like fighting snippers in Valkrum.

Edited January 10, 2004 by Abombz!!

[imode]

Likewise, the control system seems compeltely natural for me. There's nothing "slow" about the controls unless you're trying to play with the mouse, and if you are, then give it up. The mouse has no place in this game. As FFXI is such a beautiful game, i appreciate the ability to spin the camera around my character and get those nice sweeping camera shots. On the flipside of that, I used to be a die-hard FPS player, so when I need to, I just hit 5 and go firstperson. Hell, I can even strafe in this mode. Brings back memories of Doom. I especially find the lock target option very helpful, as you can wheel around your opponent and get those opening shots in from behind.

I agree, the battle system is slow, but this is really personal preference. The battle system is not much different than the time based system of the original FF games, so if you don't like the original games, then there's no surprise that you won't like 11 either.

Though I'm not so sure what the gripe was about the sand in Valkurm. I like the touch. White sand reflecting the beating sun... will be blinding white. Nothing out of place there. Though, I don't care for the fire effect however as the simulated heatwave effect (while cool) makes me feel like my eyes are going bad. Meh, I can live with that.

[Skull Leader]

I'll be joining you guys on Unicorn server as soon as I finish downloading the update.. 10+ hours to go!?!? how much have they changed since the beginning??? I guess having a 56k is a SERIOUS issue, but sadly one I cannot fix.

Maybe I'll be on sometime tomorrow night. I've got PlayOnline up and running though... my handle is Lancer.

[Vostok 7]

I'll be joining you guys on Unicorn server as soon as I finish downloading the update.. 10+ hours to go!?!? how much have they changed since the beginning??? I guess having a 56k is a SERIOUS issue, but sadly one I cannot fix.

Maybe I'll be on sometime tomorrow night. I've got PlayOnline up and running though... my handle is Lancer.

I found 9 Lancers but no you

Vostok 7

[SpacePirateNeko]

Another thing that bothered me is locked battles.....its just a pain ...why cant i just make a run by smacking...or switch targets faster

[Effect]

That is a problem. The time it takes for you to enter battle mode to attack something or to get out of fighting in order to run away is far to long. You can easily get yourself killed that way, especially if you don't see the mob. Say it takes you by surprise. By the time you enter battle mode and trun to face the mob, its had a chance to get a good 5 hits in on you and if you don't have cure magic you toast, forget about running since they stay with you, not like you have a chance of pulling away from it while running, its at your back most of the time unless you can find a hill to run down to pick up a little bit of speed. They stay with you no matter how far you run in the zone. Would be nice if they gave up after a minute or a certain distance.

Took me around 10 hours to download the update and everything. I didn't sleep that night(couldn't if I wanted to), my connection cut out twice so it would have taken longer for me i I had just let it run and went to sleep.

Edited January 10, 2004 by Effect

[Yohsho]

Let's see I would complain about the how the fields have too many aggro enemies, I say this while trying to get to Jeuno. Currently as far as start of Rolanberry Fields.

When I first updated, I was about halfway thru and 3 hours down when my connection got cut. Had to restart and then did it again took 5 more hours. Got it, playing.

[Skull Leader]

I found 9 Lancers but no you

Vostok 7

Hmmm, I may need to adjust my security level... it's set on 2 right now... (still downloading the updates...slowly but surely.... 7.5 hours to go...) <_<

If it helps to speed things up, my avatar is Brave Fencer Musashiden and the email address SHOULD come up as jhousdan@hotmail.com. I sent a message to both you (Vostok) and Abombz, so if neither of you get a message from me, let me know.... thanks!

Edited January 10, 2004 by Skull Leader

[Abombz!!]

That is a problem. The time it takes for you to enter battle mode to attack something or to get out of fighting in order to run away is far to long. You can easily get yourself killed that way, especially if you don't see the mob. Say it takes you by surprise. By the time you enter battle mode and trun to face the mob, its had a chance to get a good 5 hits in on you and if you don't have cure magic you toast, forget about running since they stay with you, not like you have a chance of pulling away from it while running, its at your back most of the time unless you can find a hill to run down to pick up a little bit of speed. They stay with you no matter how far you run in the zone. Would be nice if they gave up after a minute or a certain distance.

Took me around 10 hours to download the update and everything. I didn't sleep that night(couldn't if I wanted to), my connection cut out twice so it would have taken longer for me i I had just let it run and went to sleep.

Well.... why should they make you be able to run from battles? Thats kind of silly, seriously. By the time you hit lv10 you should be well aware that 90% of the creatures will both link and agro you, so you should be aware of the creatures that are around you when you start a fight. After lv10.... unless you are sure you can make it to the entrance of another zone... to even consider disengaging a battle is extremely silly. And later monsters can't really follow you as fast as early monsters can. I know I pulled 5 Wights after me once, and I manage to run half way accross the map because they couldn't keep up with me (either that, or some n00b decided it would be cool to provoke them). And my low lv whm has no problems disengaging and running from a mob, and I have done that with both orcs, goblins and sheep.

And there are only 2 ways of running from a battle.... either cast gravity on the target (I think its a whm spell) or using a flee (a thief ability). And if I'm not mistaken.... just about everyother MMORPG doesn't allow you to run from a battle. I know I couldn't run from battle in EQ and AC. And in SWG you had that stupid burst run thing that needed recharging.

My only complaints about the game are:

-The players: I have met some dumb ppl, but some of the FFXI players really take the cup. Seriously... I would rank them as high as EQ players. They can go from n00bs who somehow made it to lv20 without knowing anything about the game mechanics, to n00bs who think they know more then everyone else. Worst yet, both love to spam the chat log. And ppl who put their silly little skill shouts as /shout should be shot. The whole area doesn't need to know what sort of stupid offensive yell you came up for skills. <_<

-the first message: it might just be me, but having a fixed message to get someone into your friends list is extremely silly. <_<

-the lack of nationalities: in this game... you are either Japanese, Candian or American... and that sucks. Specially since Japanese players stay away from American players when they are really staying away from all english speakers. <_<

-the lack of variation: seriously.... just increasing the size of monsters isn't enough. I'm tired of fighting clippers, who look exactly like snippers, land crabs and river crabs, they don't even have color variations! The same thing for just about every other creature. Goblins are all the same throughout the game, same for Quadavs and Orcs. Don't even get me started on armors. Untill lv 30 they all look like simple color variations of the 3 basic armor sets. Sure they look color later on.... but gee.

-The sukebe factor: whats the deal with female characters having to wear hot pants? I always figured, if you have a 9 feet tall blood thirsty man turtle after your head, hot pants aren't exactly what you would look for when going out in the wild. I gave trying to figure out the reason for the lack of pants when I first saw mithras in the character creation screen.... and I realized that 90% of the players got off watching those mithras acting "playful".

-lv cap: does everything really has to require you being in lv20?

-thieves: the most useful class for gil farming. Why couldn't they balance it better? Untill lv15... no one will want you in their parties, because you can't handle damage as well as a WAR and you can't deal damage as well either. IMO, they should've given sneak attack as a lv10 ability, not 15. <_<

A search function at the auction house would've been great too.

[Vostok 7]

-The sukebe factor: whats the deal with female characters having to wear hot pants? I always figured, if you have a 9 feet tall blood thirsty man turtle after your head, hot pants aren't exactly what you would look for when going out in the wild. I gave trying to figure out the reason for the lack of pants when I first saw mithras in the character creation screen.... and I realized that 90% of the players got off watching those mithras acting "playful".

:lol: :lol:

Soo true...

Vostok 7

[Yohsho]

Isn't there some rule in anime/video games that say the less armor a girl wears the more invincible she is?

Oh and another good stop enemy spell is Bind, I think that a BLM spell.

Yeah, I got stuck with hotpants again.

[Yohsho]

Made it to Jueno. Nothing to do, but wait 6 hours till I can get a chocobo. So I decided to take pics of ppl with cool armor on.

Tarutaru NPC with Iron Musketteer armor on. It look cute.

[Yohsho]

Hey Vos this is the Spikey Armor I told you about. He's a DRK, I think. I just took a pic didn't ask any questions. You know in Jueno ppl are selling Iron Musketteer armor at the AH. 15000 gil

[Yohsho]

Elvaan in I.M. armor. In Bastok I saw an elvaan female wearin this stuff, she had hotpants on underneath the leg armor. <_<

[Abombz!!]

I had a cool snap shot of Shiva casting Diamond Dust on a monster... I will try to post later.

[SpacePirateNeko]

You cant run from a mob in EQ? /boggle you have have never gotten past lvl 10 then ...getting away from mobs in eq is sooo easy ....... If that was true there would be no kiting ..... if you are in a raiding guild the only way to even get half the mobs ( whether in raid or group ) requires being able to outrun a mob to pull . The onlyt exception is high lvl mobs who summon you .

Even as a 65th lvl war i can hit a creature and run

Not to mention the buffs sow soe etc and alternate abilities run 3

If your in a good eq group or raid ...the inability to learn running and tagging skills is unavoidable

Of course if i really wanna get across an area w/o a scratch i just cast my bard speed horse and ride across it

[Yohsho]

I got my chocobo! I noticed that Jueno charges a 10% tax on the Bazaars.

A kinda cool action pose running. I got lost in Rolanberry and afraid that my time would run out in the Marshlands and I would been screwed. Walking seems so slow now.

[Effect]

True a horse or wolf form(my fave) or have someone case Spirit of the Wolf or get a Shaman to create some potion versions for you. Anyway you can get away from battle in Everquest. Some places easier then others. For some reason, jumping while you were running allow you to increase your distance a bit. This is because for melee class you needed to be right on top of a mob in order to do damage, and they you. Things were balance this way. Even at the beginning levels you could run away to zone or run to a guard.

I haven't gotten a chance to play much of Asheron's Call. I can't seem to find a copy of Asheron's Call: Dark Majesty or Asheron's Call 2. That should chance since Turbine bought the rights for it back from Mircosoft and they plan on running everything once everything is transfered over. In fact both games will be getting expansion packs. More information is going to be released soon, at least that is what the director/producer/ and owners are saying on the site. Though I was able to run away at the lower levels easily enough, either to a town or portal to someplace.

I don't know, maybe its just that after playing so many mmorpg one just comes to expect certain basic things that have made so many mmorpg games good. Even though its console based its still attempting to run along side the other games. Its not like there is a excuse for certain things being the way they are. You take the dos and don'ts from the other games into consideration.

That does suck that monster stay the same. I've noticed that a little between snippers, crabs, and even the quads I've run across. This is true of other games but there are little differences between the mobs. A change in weapons. A change in color would go a long way to making things seem different though. That really wouldn't be hard since you aren't designing a new creature, just changing the skin color and most things are one solid color anyway.

[Effect]

Congrats Yohsho

[Yohsho]

Thank you. All I need to do now is get 4+ lvls and I'm above abombz again.

[Abombz!!]

You cant run from a mob in EQ?   /boggle       you have have never gotten past lvl 10 then ...getting away from mobs in eq is sooo easy ....... If that was true there would be no kiting ..... if you are in a raiding guild the only way to even  get half the mobs  ( whether in raid or  group ) requires being able to outrun  a mob  to pull .   The onlyt exception is  high lvl mobs who summon you .

   Even as a  65th lvl  war i can hit a creature and run

Not to mention  the  buffs sow soe   etc  and  alternate abilities run 3

If your in a good eq group or raid ...the inability to learn running and tagging skills is  unavoidable

 

Of course if i really wanna  get across an area w/o a scratch i just  cast my  bard speed horse and ride across it

The furthest I got in EQ was a lv14 Death knight (or whatever they were called). Thats when I tried to fight something that would've otherwise been a piece of cake... and I got killed after I didn't hit it a single time, tried to run and the thing would still hit me. Thats when I realize that EQ wasn't entertainment.... it was a torture. <_<

And you can run from mobs in FFXI. There are plenty of other characters in the area you are in. Call for help... and start running. It works 90% of the time. Either run to a zone.... or run to a place you know theres plenty of ppl.

Though... it wasn't nearly as bad as SWG. Now that was a mess of a game. <_<

Edited January 11, 2004 by Abombz!!

[Abombz!!]

True a horse or wolf form(my fave) or have someone case Spirit of the Wolf or get a Shaman to create some potion versions for you. Anyway you can get away from battle in Everquest. Some places easier then others. For some reason, jumping while you were running allow you to increase your distance a bit. This is because for melee class you needed to be right on top of a mob in order to do damage, and they you. Things were balance this way. Even at the beginning levels you could run away to zone or run to a guard.

I haven't gotten a chance to play much of Asheron's Call. I can't seem to find a copy of Asheron's Call: Dark Majesty or Asheron's Call 2. That should chance since Turbine bought the rights for it back from Mircosoft and they plan on running everything once everything is transfered over. In fact both games will be getting expansion packs. More information is going to be released soon, at least that is what the director/producer/ and owners are saying on the site. Though I was able to run away at the lower levels easily enough, either to a town or portal to someplace.

Don't even bother with AC2... the game is dead in the water because the player economy completly killed it. <_<

Last I heard... Turbine got the rights to make a Dungeons and Dragons based MMORPG.

I don't know, maybe its just that after playing so many mmorpg one just comes to expect certain basic things that have made so many mmorpg games good. Even though its console based its still attempting to run along side the other games. Its not like there is a excuse for certain things being the way they are. You take the dos and don'ts from the other games into consideration.

Yeah... but you seem to be forgetting that this is the first MMORPG attempt of a japanese company. They set out to make a different kind of MMO.... one that wouldn't feel like the pain that is EQ... and IMO.... they have achieved it.

Just by the simple fact that this is a japanese console MMORPG, you should have known not to expect anything. And besides, running wasn't easy in FF games, and FFXI does just that. Its possible to run just as it was possible to run in EQ. All you need is:

-pay attention to your surroundings: don't pull a mob when theres more of its kind around, or other agro monsters.

-Know the mob: you have to know if they will agro you by smell, sight or noise. If you see one of its kind approaching you, try to pull the mob you are attacking away from it. Some agros might get close enough to tough you, but might not attack you.

-Always expect, the unexpected: yesterday, my party got killed because a Banshee respawned in our camp spot, when it shouldn't have. Easy to say... we got massacred, so did all the other parties around the entrance of Qufim. The same happened at the entrance of Dehkuft tower, but this time it also brought a Wight along.

-Call for help: trust me... theres always a whm near you. No xp is worth sacrifycing whatever death penalty your lv has.

Its actually pretty easy to avoid agro.

That does suck that monster stay the same. I've noticed that a little between snippers, crabs, and even the quads I've run across. This is true of other games but there are little differences between the mobs. A change in weapons. A change in color would go a long way to making things seem different though. That really wouldn't be hard since you aren't designing a new creature, just changing the skin color and most things are one solid color anyway.

Weapons do look alot different. As for the mobs.... someone told me its a work in progress. The last 2 updates added new skins to mobs. And they do get alot bigger. The worms went from knee high to twice my size in Qufim. And the way things are going, they introduce a new mobs every lving spot. The spot I'm in, introduced Giants. Selbina introduced Damselflies. Konstchat introduced Tremor Rams. And so on. I honestly can't wait to take on a Behemoth with 3 parties.

[Effect]

You cant run from a mob in EQ?  /boggle      you have have never gotten past lvl 10 then ...getting away from mobs in eq is sooo easy ....... If that was true there would be no kiting ..... if you are in a raiding guild the only way to even  get half the mobs  ( whether in raid or  group ) requires being able to outrun  a mob  to pull .  The onlyt exception is  high lvl mobs who summon you .

  Even as a  65th lvl  war i can hit a creature and run

Not to mention  the  buffs sow soe  etc  and  alternate abilities run 3

If your in a good eq group or raid ...the inability to learn running and tagging skills is  unavoidable

 

Of course if i really wanna  get across an area w/o a scratch i just  cast my  bard speed horse and ride across it

The furthest I got in EQ was a lv14 Death knight (or whatever they were called). Thats when I tried to fight something that would've otherwise been a piece of cake... and I got killed after I didn't hit it a single time, tried to run and the thing would still hit me. Thats when I realize that EQ wasn't entertainment.... it was a torture.

And you can run from mobs in FFXI. There are plenty of other characters in the area you are in. Call for help... and start running. It works 90% of the time. Either run to a zone.... or run to a place you know theres plenty of ppl.

Though... it wasn't nearly as bad as SWG. Now that was a mess of a game.

Just remembered. The less health you have the slower you become, so if you had tried to fight the creature and ran to late you wouldn't have been able to get away. Oh, its Shadow Knight which I think is one of the harder classes in the game but also one of the most powerful and coolest later on due to all the Shadow Knight only weapons and items armor once you reach the mid level to high levels(25/30 to 65 I think). I always found it hard to max weapon skills melee characters since you have to make sure both 1hs and 2hs were kept up starting from level one. If you found yourself using a 2hs for the first time near that level 14, you'll constantly miss even when fighting a very easy mob, that that are gray to you since that is around the level where you start to notice that things below your level require a partner or a group of people to kill safely. Grouping helped build up those skills greatly since you had others doing damage.

I guess it works the same way in FFXI since my skills went up pretty fast grouping since we were taking on the tougher mobs. Though I still feel like a waste of space as a monk even with my skills high/max for my level. I do 0 damage on IT or VT mobs or in the low single diget numbers and miss like nobodies business. I thought it was just me but others from reading FFXIonline.com seem to have the same problem. People have suggested taking a subjob like warrior when playing a monk since it suppose to help a lot. Not sure how true that is but seems to make sense.

[imode]

And you can run from mobs in FFXI. There are plenty of other characters in the area you are in. Call for help... and start running. It works 90% of the time. Either run to a zone.... or run to a place you know theres plenty of ppl.

As they say in Japanese, meiwaku kakenai you ni which means, Try not to make trouble for others. While zoning or running to an area with more players may help you, it could also cause problems for other groups. If banshees or wights pop on you and you run to the zone at Delkfut, that leaves the aggro cruising around right outside Delkfut with a number of other groups around. If they're in a fight, that could spell big trouble for them. In wide areas like Qufim it doesn't present much of a problem, but later on you fight only in dungeons, and there's always only one way to escape. When you drag a big train of monsters to the zone, especially from deep within an area, it effectively freezes any activity there until the monsters walk back to their original spawn points. (This also applies to fighting in close proximity to other parties against monsters that cast AOE spells like gob bombs.)

[Skull Leader]

LOL, man there is NO love for a beginning WAR in Bostok. Unfortunately I got stuck on the "Pandemonium" server... I won't be able to join you guys unless someone buys a ticket for it... and even then... I'll have to train like hell.

As it is, I have VERY little money (what the hell do you do with the adventurer's ticket??) and true to form, no one will party with me. However, with only one or two exceptions, everyone I've encountered so far is very polite. And of course there are always a couple of mages roaming the plains just outside of the city willing to cast spells on you (they get EXP, you get protection), so it's kinda cool.

[Effect]

You give the adventurer's ticket to guards near the apartment area. In Bastok give it to Reed, I think that is her name in the Market area. She is near the fountain on the side towards apartment area right at the steps on the right when you go down. Trade it with her and you will get around 50gil. Which is really small but hey every bit helps.

For the first few levels I found it easier to hunt in the Zerhun Mines in the mines district of the city. Its pretty empty so you don' t have to fight for mobs or be blinded by the landscape once it gets really bright out like you would fighting on the outside. Its small and nothing aggros on you or teams up. I usually go from 1/2 to 7/8 by fighting there. Things get slow around lvl 7 though. You can bind at the homepoint in the mines district so it isn't a long run and there is a auction house right there. Plus the person you have to talk to for your first mission is down there as well, she's in the back where the crabs are. The area seems to work will for all classes it seems. Though I've only done Redmage, Monk, and Black Mage down there.

In a similar case, been playing Asheron's Call 2 along with FFXI. Both are pretty good so far. Both do things differently but AC2 is easier to get into since things are so simple, which happens to be a good thing since the setup is more interesting once you start moving along the skill tree. At times it really makes you happy to have a class system since things are so much easier then or more defined. I'm so glad that Trubine though is buying the Asheron's Call franchise back from Microsoft, MS seemed to be doing nothing with it, it even stopped printing copies of both versions and didn't advertise them at all even though both have gotten good reviews. MS being the publisher and parent seemed to be the one that pushed the game out before it was ready or finished. AC2 has actually gotten 100 times better it seems from when it launched and both AC1 and AC2 will be getting more expansions once the transfer between the two companies is complete. Things already seemed to be getting better and tons of people are happy MS will be out of the picture.

Edited January 13, 2004 by Effect

[Vostok 7]

Don't worry about partying until you get to lvl 11 or 12.

As for hunting, early spend time in the mines or in South Gustaberg right around Bastok... As you move up in level, move out. The further you go from Bastok, the tougher the baddies to you.

And be sure to ALWAYS /check or /c EVERYTHING. Don't mess with Quadavs until they check Decent, because they aggro.

Vostok 7

[Skull Leader]

LOL, yeah I tried to tackle one of the Quadavs..... I learned real quick just how fast I could die.

I've been in and out of the mines a few times already and I agree, it seems like it's best for Lv. up for now. I suppose the gear I have now will do me in good stead until I level up more (sitting on level 4 right now) I'm liking it a lot though!