General Tips for FFXI

[Phraust]

When usign a job ability, to avoid the "lag" caused by the annimation, change a piece of gear in head/body/hands/legs/feet the line before the Job ability, it will phase you out instead of seeing the annimation. An example is:

/equip feet "Rogue's Poulains"
/ja Flee <me>

that should give you a goot 2 more seconds on Flee because you arent' stanign there like a fucking idiot kicking up dirt when you should be running.

The above Suggestion does not work for Dances. =[

Don't put metal in the microwave.

[Alistaire]

Don't put metal in the microwave.

Or eggs (still in shell). When I was a kid someone had told my sister that putting eggs in the microwave was fine if you put the egg in water. So she believed them and I got a good laugh at watching her jump when it exploded.

But as far as metal goes, if you have an old CD you don't use they put on a good show in there.

[Gwynplaine]

Starting as a new player, leveling and using regen food is almost godlike and saves a lot of resting time. One cheap source is selbina milk right from Selbina.

[Ayr]

A good one for Bsts and soloists in general:

Since you dont get Reraise until lvl 66 if your /whm (or not at all if you /nin /rdm /blu /pld /dnc), carry RR. Always carry RR items. BUT....

Rather than going broke going thru RR Gorgets to keep RR up on you all the time, simply carry an RR scroll (yay free!), and/or a Hi-Reraiser (found in Medicines area of the AH). Reraisers and Hi-Reraisers are usually about 2-5k a pop and activate almost instantly (compared to scrolls that take a few seconds). On Bst solo exp you can usually "tell" when your absolutely gunna die, in those moments pop your RR and your good.

Also, for new players:

Lots of ppl want to be "DD onry" or "mage onry" or w/e, thats fine, but at least consider lvling some jobs to 40 that may be useful. Take Whm to 42 for Teleports, Blm to 25 for Warp and Escape, Rdm to 40 to solo ENM40 and for Peacock Charm runs, Mnk (or some other heavy DD) to 50 to solo ENM50, Thf to 25 for Flee and so on.

You can get over 5k exp/week from Exp scroll quests not counting the 3k exp per ENM win, so fully take advantage of that. 5k or 3k might not seem like much compared to just doing lolCampaign, but its not bad considering at the same time you have a shot at some gil, thru farming during Escort quests or from ENM. Dump the scrolls wherever you want: into the job your lvling (looks awesome when you gain a lvl, then use the scroll and you have a 1k buffer, pt goes "lolwtf?"), or into jobs you're too lazy to lvl. Mate of mine got Smn from 50-60 entirely from ENM and Scrolls.

Lastly, new players. Please please please please please PLEASE research your job before you play it. I'm seeing too many melee lv60+ Rdms that say "I hate staffs, I don't get why ppl wear them, they're useless", or lv60War/Mnk15 in lv30 Agi+ Armour. Talk to ppl, don't be afraid to /tell a lvl 75 and ask for gear advice, talk to "lots" of ppl (everyone has diff opinions on gear), find a few forums about your job and don't be afraid to ask questions.

[Kohan]

Talk to ppl, don't be afraid to /tell a lvl 75 and ask for gear advice, talk to "lots" of ppl (everyone has diff opinions on gear), find a few forums about your job and don't be afraid to ask questions.

I would honestly say that if they're already reading this thread on this website that they're in a better place to ask advice. Many of the random level 75 players you encounter may know absolutely nothing about what to wear. While this isn't always true and you might find a helpful person, you won't know without being able to do some research to back up their claims. On the internet, you can do that. You can also meet people who actually play on your server and from then on would be happy to talk to you in-game.

And while we're on the subject of who to ask and who not to, avoid people with the Mentor symbol up, because that's called the Moron flag for a reason. It's unfortunate since it wasn't actually a bad idea, but because of its poor execution it's normally used by people whose ability to brag is bigger than their brain.

[ferigor]

But as far as metal goes, if you have an old CD you don't use they put on a good show in there.

only if you microwave them for around 15~45 seconds. One time I had a friend put it in for like 10 minutes and we pulled it out around 3 because it had burst into flames. My microwave "mysteriously" broke soon after.

[Silenka]

if you stack two /equip macro lines on top of each other for the same slot without a wait in between, they will function as a toggle.

I do this with SCH (parsimony / penury, etc) and used to do it with blood pacts back when I macroed them (just write in 70 bps for all 6 lines). I do the chocobo zoning one too all the time ^^

Great brd advice from Skirkle and Spekkio... I haven't actually bothered to merit Troub/Night yet but I will follow that line of thought when I do :3


Here are some random odd tips from me:

if you're doing something time sensitive but can't see the clock because the battle menu is obscuring it, or if you want to check moonphase/rl time etc, it's much easier to type "/clock on" than to do it from the menu. /clock on will keep your clock on too, instead of having to click the menu button twice (one for toggle off, one for toggle on). I use this one a lot.

Sometimes NPCing stuff is a lot better than selling it on AH. If it's cheap on AH, it might NPC for much bigger profit (some scrolls come to mind, as well as oxblood).

I must reinforce that if you are a mage, bring echo drops everywhere. Srsly.

If no one finds the 'not in a party' key for searching, I'll figure it out if there is one ^^

[Tomiko]

New to Aht Urgan? Get your damn runic portals. You may want to get up to AU mission 10+ as certain Portals are MUCH easier to get going through Nyzul Isle.

You don't need to be on Mission 10+ to get to Nyzul. I have a mule on the Assault part (mission 3?) that has the portal. Just take the boat to Nashmau then grab a silvercoin and head West to the Nyzul entrance. There's no aggro on the way, so you don't need to bring oils or powders.

That being said, I'll second how easy it is to get portals with Nyzul access.

More tips:

-Always keep a Remnants Permit on you. This way you won't need a Silver Piece to go in to Nyzul when not using the SP.

-Always carry a Runic Portal Use Permit. You'll be glad to have this when the Candescence is lost and you need to use the RP.

-Always carry an Assault Tag when available. This way you can have a fully stocked supply of tags waiting for you when you go.

None of the above expire either, so they'll never be wasted.

[willriker]

when you /search for someone they will often have a message that apears in your text log. read it before you say anything to them as it often lets you know what they would like to do or what they dont want to do.

your items/exp/gil come and go, but merits are forever!

your items/exp/gil come and go, but your reputation is forever! Infact, i would go as far as to say that your reputation is the only thing you have in this game. If you mess it up when you are level 10... people will remember it once your finaly 75. Its strange but true.

never borrow/ask for gil. It always pisses people off. but, asking people if they are interested in doing something to make gil with you is something people like.

Many linkshells give points. These are used to decide who gets what items over another person. These are ment to be used, not horded. Dont stockpile your points. You see an item you want, be ready to spend as many points as you possibly can to get it. Because, all too often, you may need to wait 2 months to have another shot at it. or worse yet, the LS breaks with you having a huge, and now useless, point total.

If someone says no, dont hound them. They have a right to say no... even if you need them..

small amounts of gill add up over time. sell everythign you get. somehow sell on the AH, or NPC. Find something that lets you break even, and do events for the big gil items. this in combination with not throwing away gill on things you dont need/want will get you money, and keep it.

the cheepest drinks, refresh or regen, are in the store with restricted access (upper jueno) these are about the same price as crafted ones.

Dont waste time getting to 75. Get there as fast as possible, with a workable set of equipment. dont waste time having the pimpest set of gear for every level. workable sets will get you exp just as fast until 75.

[Amele]

I do this with SCH (parsimony / penury, etc) and used to do it with blood pacts back when I macroed them (just write in 70 bps for all 6 lines). I do the chocobo zoning one too all the time ^^

speaking of scholar; if you run a macro with a stratagem (or the light and dark arts abilities for that matter) that is already active on you, the stratagem will simply not fire, so you won't consume a charge.

this is convenient for macroing certain addendum spells (like dispel). if dark arts is already up, it will not re-use dark arts. if addendum: Black is already up, it won't consume a charge, Dispel will still fire.


this is different than how most abilities work (like hasso for instance)

[BardonGaruda]

When you start out 1st in the game it can seem that's it's full of assholes. There are a number of them on every server and they are quite vocal especially when in low level XP parties. Chances are, unless the person is having a really shitty day, they are an asshole to everyone and not just you. If they persist you have a blacklist for a reason, use it.

Stick with it, there are far more nice ppl on the game who may be less vocal but are a damn sight more helpful. You'll meet them all over Vana and they'll be the people by your side through things like AF, Limit Breaks etc.

[Pergo]

-Demons link with Taurus mobs. (If you sleep a taurus in Uleguerand range and try to run ahead, be prepared for a bunch of demons to hunt you down).

-Imps actuallyhave a small range of true-sound aggro, in addition to being true-sight.

-Even though they hang around with a bunch of skeles, Lamia aren't undead.

-BLM and RNG mobs typically will stay out of melee range until they're below 50% HP. Qiqirn RNG will always stay out of melee range.

-Only 1 beastmen or kindred seal can drop per 1-6 people per 5min.

-If you zone, all spell recast times are reset. This is useful for nuke/zoning and recasting utsusemi.

[Tradition]

-If you zone, all spell recast times are reset. This is useful for nuke/zoning and recasting utsusemi.

Or Mazurka. :D

[ertyu]

Another /sea think I found useful is if you're trying to search for an area, if you use auto translate, you don't need to put the " at the end.

Example:

/sea "{Dragon's Aery}

Will work.

Just kinda a small time saver so you don't need to arrow over and type in the closing quotation mark

[ronin sparthos]

Heres some good advice for a new player:

-Food: It looks quite useless but it makes a WORLD of difference.

You arent always going to have it for whatever reason but try to always have appropriate food for your level. For example, you arent going to use Hedgehog Pies at level 20 but Meat Jerky would be great for that level span.

Rule of Thumb:
- Meat = Attack Food
- Seafood = Defense Food
- Sweets = Mage Food
- Sushi = Accuracy/Ranged Accuracy Food
- Juice = MP Regen
- Au Lait = HP Regen

Food is as important as gear sometimes in a party, dont leave home without it.

Preparedness:

In FFXI when you need help, its best to know what exactly you are getting yourself into. Sometimes you are going to need to shout to get things done, friends wont always be there to do things for you but if theres one thing you can do for yourself..... its being prepared.

If you shout for a Battlefield, KNOW the entire "accepted" strategy and sound knowledgeable on the topic, dont expect people to know ANYTHING for you.

Heres a few tips:

-Sneak and Invis, dont ever skimp on them.
-Know what agros and what doesnt agro, dont field test and expect a raise when you kill yourself in some godforsaken spot.
-If your doing an event and people say it roughly takes 2hours, if you know you dont have 2.5hours to spare - DONT start the event.
-Do reading on community sites beforehand and have an idea of how the event works prior to doing it.
-Runic Portals and Cavernous Maws: As soon as you can start unlocking them, DO IT. Nothing makes you look like a newb more than saying "i dont have access"

[BRP]

- Au Lait = HP Regen

Would be Milk. All those frenchy fruit ones are milks. Or rather stuff with milk in it.

[Valena]

If you want to cancel a spell quick, 2 ways to go :

Move your character a bit, you don't have to go very far. This is not 100% success, especially for fast casting spells, of if your character has some access to Fast Cast.

Enter healing mode, the shortcut is with h button of the keyboard. 100% sure of interruption, but the animation of siting and standing again will freeze you a bit.

Latter method is best for the long casting spells since cast mode will be disabled immediatly.

[Tan]

-Only 1 beastmen or kindred seal can drop per 1-6 people per 5min.

I thought it was, only 1 beastmen or kindred seal can be at the treasure pool at any given time? So if you pass or lot them, the drop rate should be higher than 1 per 5 min.

[Grey Jorildyn]

For the Corsairs..

Corsair's Roll should always be used in merit/exp parties. Since the purpose of these parties is to make Experience Points or accrue Limit Points, this should be a no-brainer. Your second roll should be Chaos Roll or something that would assist the party in moving through mobs quickly, but not so quickly that you are left with no mobs and thus lose the chain.

I'm sure career Corsairs can elaborate better than I can on what second roll is best in certain situations. In my experiences, Chaos Roll has always been tops, and with the new Tricorne, I'd imagine it's only gotten better.

[Airenn]

The names of people in your party and ally will appear in your autotranslate list at the very bottom.

I type a lot when I use spells that aren't macroed so I go:

"/ma Viruna Gayname[TAB][UPARROW][ENTER]"

Which translates to:
"/ma Viruna Gaynamethatissillyandlong"

Also, using '*' in a search will give you only people that are in a party:

"/sea all RDM 75 *" = All lvl 75 rdms that are in a party.

Not very useful, but it's undocumented and I found it by accident. Haven't found the oh-so-more-useful "not in party" flag yet.

These are amazing. I haven't been playing much lately, but are they knew or am I just 5 years retarded?

For REAL newbs: Control+R will automatically bring up the last person that sent you a tell.

Repeatedly using Control+R will cycle through a short list of people that have sent you a tell recently so you may tell them back easily.

Also, chatmode can be changed from /say by doing:

/cm tell SoandSo (When you start typing it will auto bring up this person into a tell, and will continue doing so until chatmode is changed)

/cm shout
/cm party
/cm linkshell

Etc.