General Tips for FFXI

[el_tio]

First impressions count. It might seem unreasonable to you, but a lot of players will take an immediate dislike to you if, for example, you talk constantly, spam emotes, over-use smileys

Aww I've always found overuse of smileys endearing. =)

Anyways, tips:

*someone mentioned how great regen drinks are for low level jobs, I'd say even better than this is using /whm and making your own refresh drinks. It's pretty easy to get cooking to 50 if you do this routinely for soloing, as there's a drink recipe every 10 cooking levels and the ingredients are all available from NPCs.

*if you /dismount right as you zone on a chocobo you'll zone without having to watch the /dismount.

*90% of mobs are easily pulled with a ranged attack without taking any damage since they run as fast as you. Just pull from max distance, unlock and turn as soon as you start to shoot so you can run ASAP, and keep running, take efficient turns. Don't let having to pull be an excuse for a suboptimal sub-job.

*If you're a mage, do not, I repeat DO NOT be seduced by equipment that gives you MP. MP efficiency beats quantity. At most have MP gear that you swap out of for stats that will actually improve your spells once that MP's used.

*If you're healing, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Learn the element of elemental AOEs and use them barspells, most of the time it's more efficient than curing. Crippling an enemy from doing damage with slow/paralyze etc is usually more efficient than curing. Regen is vastly superior to cure provided you don't let someone's HP max out before regen wears off.

[Wintermute]

*If you're a mage, do not, I repeat DO NOT be seduced by equipment that gives you MP. MP efficiency beats quantity. At most have MP gear that you swap out of for stats that will actually improve your spells once that MP's used.

Max MP setups are very useful, for buffs. After which you switch to more MP efficient gear.

Having MP to burn on Haste/Refresh/Protect/Shell etc prior to doing your job proper (Cure/Newk/Cripple/etc) can give you "free" buffs.

Max MP set is nice, but like all things it is situational, know when to use it.

*Regen is vastly superior to cure provided you don't let someone's HP max out before regen wears off.

Regen is a god-send, especially early on, 150hp for 15mp in the Jungles is hax. Learn to love it.
Also useful for countering DoTs is you have no -na or Erase.

[Silenka]

Max MP setups are very useful, for buffs. After which you switch to more MP efficient gear.

Unless you're casting stoneskin, in which case you want to stack at least some MND gear. SS having a MND modifier on it means that more MND = more absorbent stoneskin (I feel like a feminine hygiene ad).

I personally use Kirin's Pole for the +10 mnd, penitent's rope, and whatever else mnd gear such and such job has. There are plenty of good mnd pieces so it's really sort of worth it to have maxed stoneskin - it's saved my life quite a few times, enough to be worth it for sure.

[Thorny]

Jobs with native enhancing skill don't need very much mnd to cap it, no point going overboard(and the pole usually is, you could use fourth mace or seveneyes to preserve part of your mp pool and possibly lower mp cost of it).

[Silenka]

Jobs with native enhancing skill don't need very much mnd to cap it, no point going overboard(and the pole usually is, you could use fourth mace or seveneyes to preserve part of your mp pool and possibly lower mp cost of it).

I got the staff free from sky, so I see no point in messing with that. Besides, it makes a nice addition to the other 8 staves that never leave my inventory XD There is an equation somewhere that shows the MND neccessary to cap stoneskin, I know it's not a lot with a high enhancing job, but I'm not talking whm or rdm, I play blm and smn mostly >.>;

Poor SMN and its poor gimptastic stoneskin.

[Amele]

I got the staff free from sky, so I see no point in messing with that. Besides, it makes a nice addition to the other 8 staves that never leave my inventory XD There is an equation somewhere that shows the MND neccessary to cap stoneskin, I know it's not a lot with a high enhancing job, but I'm not talking whm or rdm, I play blm and smn mostly >.>;

Poor SMN and its poor gimptastic stoneskin.

yeah, on whitemage (especially with merited enhancing) you basically cap out accidentally.

of course, I have something 272 enhancing butt naked with light arts so...

[Wintermute]

Indeed, I always save SS as my last buff then swap to my MND build. It's overkill but I can't be bothered to write a macro set for SS specifically.

That said:

Know your Jobs and how modifiers affect their efficiency.

MND for Stoneskin is one example.
Enhancing for Phalanx I/II (and SS).
MND for Slow/Para potency.

MND also works for Cure potency if you squeeze enough of it in. If your MP pool is drained and you're not using the MP equips swap to MND for a little extra kick, it won't give you much more of an "oomph", but every little helps when keeping others alive. Useful at low level where gear is pretty "meh".

A little research into your most commonly used spells and their modifiers can go a long way, and the majority of research is already done and readily available.


EDIT for clarity:
Research your jobs, everyone will thank you.

[Amele]

quick hit tips: HP is never a dump stat.

[_chuchu]

MND also works for Cure potency if you squeeze enough of it in. If your MP pool is drained and you're not using the MP equips swap to MND for a little extra kick, it won't give you much more of an "oomph", but every little helps when keeping others alive. Useful at low level where gear is pretty "meh".

A little research into your most commonly used spells and their modifiers can go a long way, and the majority of research is already done and readily available.

^Can't stress this enough as a WHM, MP gear after buffs and first cast is no good unless you're just idle in refresh gear.

If it wasn't mentioned before, be mindful of your surroundings as a RDM when converting and try to shoot for a 1:1 HP/MP ratio. If you're a taru, obviously invest in some RSE2 hands, etc.

[Amok]

That post about magic casting mobs reminds me that mobs always seem to wait 20 to 30 seconds between casts. If you're aware of that it lets you focus on other things in between and then switch to paying attention to the next spell so you can either run out of range, cast the correct barspell, stun it. You can also do things like
1) calculate how many stunners and/or haste you need to stun every magic spell of a certain mob. Useful for AU mission 44 (eyes on me).
2) wait and silence a mob 20 seconds after its previous spell. Since silence duration is random this will likely lock away more spells than casting it any earlier.
3) require less room to kite a casting mob. Letting them start to cast a spell locks them into position for a while.

And about mobs deaggroing, didn't see that mentioned. Knowing what mobs don't chase/track by scent is very useful. You can then deaggro them by not letting them complete an action on you for about 25 seconds (they must be free to move, sleep and bind will interfere). You can use this to: save your skin, save time by not have to run all the way to the zone, get in a free spellcast (some solo strategies depend on this). Some (if not all) weather effects will cause chasing/tracking mobs to become non-chasing/tracking mobs. Also, chasing/tracking mobs will be triggered to deaggro when they run through water, however they must be unable to detect you at the time (sight and/or sound).

[Amele]

That post about magic casting mobs reminds me that mobs always seem to wait 20 to 30 seconds between casts. If you're aware of that it lets you focus on other things in between and then switch to paying attention to the next spell so you can either run out of range, cast the correct barspell, stun it. You can also do things like
1) calculate how many stunners and/or haste you need to stun every magic spell of a certain mob. Useful for AU mission 44 (eyes on me).
2) wait and silence a mob 20 seconds after its previous spell. Since silence duration is random this will likely lock away more spells than casting it any earlier.
3) require less room to kite a casting mob. Letting them start to cast a spell locks them into position for a while.

And about mobs deaggroing, didn't see that mentioned. Knowing what mobs don't chase by scent is very useful. You can then deaggro them by not letting them complete an action on you for about 25 seconds (they must be free to move, sleep and bind will interfere). You can use this to: save your skin, save time by not have to run all the way to the zone, get in a free spellcast (some solo strategies depend on this). Some (if not all) weather effects will cause chasing mobs to become non-chasing mobs. Also, chasing mobs will be triggered to deaggro when they run through water, however they must be unable to detect you at the time (sight and/or sound).

water deaggro is scent tracking mobs only. rain will also prevent scent tracking mobs from tracking.

[Amok]

water deaggro is scent tracking mobs only. rain will also prevent scent tracking mobs from tracking.

That's what I meant by "chasing mobs", though I understand the confusion (I'll edit that post). Earth weather also causes Beetles to deaggro, which are also chasing (tracking) mobs.

[Greenjade]

Typing /lsmes will bring up the linkshell message. You don't have to unequip your pearl and reequip it to see it.

When you're finally ready for HNMLS but you're on a limited schedule, look around and find one that fits your time frame instead of joining the top one that has events 24 hours a day and end up missing 75% of the events due to time constrains.

CTRL+E bring up your equips to change instead of going through the menu.

CTRL+V goes into first person view and out of first person view.

CTRL+M bring up your magic menu.

If you really want to raise your own chocobo, invest in growing your own food for the bird. And either make your own paste or ask a friend that has high enough cooking to make it for you and you can just buy the materials.


And it has been said many many times. Being nice to people can go a long way. It can mean getting into a LS you really want to join, or getting help fast for things you need help on. And always thank people for helping you out. 75% of the people that ask me for help and say thank you will be remembered and if asked to help again, I'll help.

If your in a starter city and need a teleport badly, DO NOT spam random people with tells demanding they teleport you. If your over level 15 you can take a chocobo if it is close. If you are under 15 just walk and learn your aggro range.

Just because it is a female character with cat ears and a tail, don't automatically assume it is a female; and hit on it, you'll just make yourself look like a horny twat.

Few more but can't remember em now. I'll add more when I remember. xP

[Tradition]

BRDing without the distance plugin:

Look at your radar. You see the little ring inside? This is equal to about 10 game feet. Max Lullaby/Requiem range is 15' (I believe?), which is only about 6 Tarutaru steps outside that circle. See the absolute border? That is equal to 30'. Just inside the absolute border is a fainter circle, this is 25', which depending on your combined skill, is the max range for Ballad I. And again, about 6 Tarutaru steps inside the 25' will bring you to Elegy's max range (20', although I can manage 21' sometimes O_o).

I dunno if I explained this right, I'm at work and don't have the radar in front of me. If I made any mistakes, please correct me!

Related to radar: On THF, I have a box enclosing the radar. What the fuck is this?

[Lexa]

I just read through the thread and I'm fairly baffled nobody seems to have mentioned this already (if they did, I apologize and blame my lack of sleep):

If you play on PC, you lock on/lock off your current target with * on the numpad.

Goddamn, it took FOREVER to back away far enough to lose the target when I was a newbie and didn't know about this. x.x

[Valyana]

And about mobs deaggroing, didn't see that mentioned. Knowing what mobs don't chase/track by scent is very useful. You can then deaggro them by not letting them complete an action on you for about 25 seconds

From my experience on 4F SSR, you need to be at least 20' away for this to happen. I've learned to keep my Rampart (or Citadel Chelonian...0/49) about 15' behind me so that it will keep chasing me all the way back to the portal room. I don't think it's re-aggroing me, as both of these mobs detect by sound, and I don't think I'm getting into sound aggro range even with lag.

Leveling BST before Leave, I found that if I was 30' away when my (non-tracking) pet came uncharmed it wouldn't come after me.

[Aable]

The 3 most important things in the game are in no order

Movement speed+
Auto-refresh
Reraise

[Xrave]

Instead of asking in LS chat about what time the server maitenance begins, just type /smes to see the server message without relogging.

[Bakthi]

CTRL+E bring up your equips to change instead of going through the menu.

CTRL+V goes into first person view and out of first person view.

CTRL+M bring up your magic menu.

Ctrl-J = Job Ability menu
Ctrl-W = Weapon Skill menu

I find myself using these fairly often as well, depending on the job.

The 3 most important things in the game are in no order
Movement speed+
Auto-refresh
Reraise

These all help a lot; you're gonna be doing a lot of walking (goes along with having all your outposts, maws, runic portals, teleports, etc.) and plenty of dying. I'd also place heavy importance on finding a consistent way of making gil that you can manage to do regularly. Doesn't have to be huge, just something to cover expenses and save up for decent equipment. You'll have windfalls to help with some of the big costs, but you can't count on them for everything.

[Valyana]

BRDing without the distance plugin:

Look at your radar. You see the little ring inside? This is equal to about 10 game feet. Max Lullaby/Requiem range is 15' (I believe?), which is only about 6 Tarutaru steps outside that circle. See the absolute border? That is equal to 30'. Just inside the absolute border is a fainter circle, this is 25', which depending on your combined skill, is the max range for Ballad I. And again, about 6 Tarutaru steps inside the 25' will bring you to Elegy's max range (20', although I can manage 21' sometimes O_o).

The outer ring is 25' for NIN and /NIN, 20' for other jobs. Most spells (including Foe Lullaby and Elegy) have a max range of 21.7'; Requiem has a max range of 17.something'. I'd always thought Horde Lullaby had the longer range too, but lately I've been noticing that it has a significantly shorter range in Salvage, haven't figured out what the deal is exactly.