Introducing Someone to FFXI

[machiko]

As someone else said, the best way is to play with her at the same level and not try to PL her through it all or tell her every single thing. The joy of the game is the exploring and finding stuff out.

Two of my good friends did what your doing, one was a girlfriend and they constantly argued on or over FFXI because he wanted to go off and do his own thing, which lead or at least helped to them breaking up. The other was married for years with kids, his wife actually left him for a guy she met on FF that lived on the other side of the world lol Chances are she would of found someone else eventually but he still blames himself for talking her into playing the game that introduced her to the guy she spent so much time with while he was in work lol

FFXI isnt as bad as it used to be but its still a hunting ground for lonely guys on the look out for some T and A. Getting your gf to play an MMO is like taking your kitten to play in the dog kennel.

good luck though!

[Tagus]

FFXI isnt as bad as it used to be but its still a hunting ground for lonely guys on the look out for some T and A. Getting your gf to play an MMO is like taking your kitten to play in the dog kennel.

good luck though!

hahaha... is this actually a true statement? If so, I'd venture to say that the loser bar has a height that I was previously unaware of.

[nitsuj]

My girlfriend has been playing casually with me for about a year. It's totally doable. She's gotten BRD to 70 and THF WAR NIN and WHM to 37, plus done a bunch of quests/mission/crafting.

Good luck introducing yours, just make sure you support her and answer questions, buy her some nice gear here and there and make sure to do stuff together. Don't just wait for her to hit endgame.

[Weeks]

You should show her how fun it is to ninjalot stuff.

[Gryffes]

Instead of PLing party together, do the nation missions at a reasonably early point in time together, etc etc.

Whoever said Aion is not a grindy game lol.
I could make a fresh FFXI character and w/o PLing get a class to 75 w/ a 37 sub before they could get an aion account to 50.

[drwaffles]

Don't focus on levelling at all. Encourage her to explore the city and its surroundings, and to immerse herself in the quirky little starter quests and nation missions. Starting out at this stage in the game there's absolutely no point in pushing someone to level up and progress quickly towards being a well-established, well-geared and affluent player. It's just not going to work. Make levelling up into something that affords her more opportunity for exploration, not just something to do for the sake of being higher level.

When I lost my security token and couldn't play my account for a few days I thought it'd be fun to try playing the game with newbie goggles, so I got a trial account, loaded up POL without Windower and tried exploring Windurst on my own. It was really very enjoyable, and took me back to the days when everything was exciting and unknown, and Tahrongi was a terrifying far-off place filled with powerful IT++ monsters that I couldn't yet venture. That's the kind of feeling you want her to get from the game, for the love of God don't make it into a grind fest from the get-go.

[Darkmagi]

Don't focus on levelling at all. Encourage her to explore the city and its surroundings, and to immerse herself in the quirky little starter quests and nation missions. Starting out at this stage in the game there's absolutely no point in pushing someone to level up and progress quickly towards being a well-established, well-geared and affluent player. It's just not going to work. Make levelling up into something that affords her more opportunity for exploration, not just something to do for the sake of being higher level.

When I lost my security token and couldn't play my account for a few days I thought it'd be fun to try playing the game with newbie goggles, so I got a trial account, loaded up POL without Windower and tried exploring Windurst on my own. It was really very enjoyable, and took me back to the days when everything was exciting and unknown, and Tahrongi was a terrifying far-off place filled with powerful IT++ monsters that I couldn't yet venture. That's the kind of feeling you want her to get from the game, for the love of God don't make it into a grind fest from the get-go.

QFT^ FFXI was so much more exciting and fun before it turned into a massive grind fest. Really just have them take it slow and enjoy the little things.

[rahskala]

I wanted to just make a snarky "WTF, introduce someone to FFXI now? Don't do it!" post, but drwaffles' post makes me glad I didn't. Focus on the newbie magic and not all the superawesomefuntimes you think they'll have once you've powerleveled them.

It just might work.

[Telamond]

I recently started playing with my bf. Instead of PLing I insisted that he soloed to level 10. But I'd buy him all the equipment that he needed. Then we'd play together each night in the same PT. I think that makes gaming more fun. PLing is really boring from someone who's playing ffxi for the first time.

I'm not sure about gender etc, but my bf was really interested in doing sc and mb.

[miokomioko]

Level-sync was created for girlfriends.

[SaviorSelf]

People saying FFXI was grindy make me lol

[Shalafi]

Level-sync was created for girlfriends.

LOL

[Spagnutty]

I'm not sure about gender etc, but my bf was really interested in doing sc and mb.

Better skillchainers make better lovers.

[Jhoira]

I've been trying to get my other half to play FF with me for ages and unfortunately it's not been very successful (he can't hack all the long distance traveling!) Reading over these posts I have to agree that making the game too easy by helping them do everything can ruin the wonder and crazyness that must have appealed to me at some point. Just need to find the right balance of support without removing all risk of danger...

Its odd you know I can't remember why I liked this game so much at the start... might have been cause someone in the dunes told me I was a very good rdm ^^.

What did everyone else like about this game at the start?

[Midnightjade]

I've been getting a bit bored in FFXI recently (been playing continuously since 2004), so I tried LOTRO since I had a copy just laying around. To my surprise, I'm really getting into it. Seems a lot better than WoW, which tbh seems like playing Counterstrike in an orc costume lol.

The leveling in LOTRO is mainly story- and quest-driven, and much less of a grind. It might be easier for an MMO newbie to pick up from scratch. Lots of depth to the story too.

[tymora]

If "End Game" doesn't appeal, try:
1. Crafting. Some people get excited by the process of making money.
2. Quests. Some people love stories. FFXI has a big plus here in that almost every quest is special in its own right, as in have their own CS and stuff.
3. Exploring. New sights = fun.

[Secksi]

Don't forget to teach her how to ninja lot.

[Octavious]

You actually made me laugh because I didn't even remember what that was referencing immediately. Funny how it's been so long and you still have your panties in a twist. :-)

Anyway, towards those who both matter and were actually helpful, I appreciate the ideas. We've both been swamped at work lately so I've not had time to even play but I'll definitely put the help to good use. I'm going to try some early quests in Bastok and see how everything goes, go go Bubbly Bernie! :D

[Airenn]

You actually made me laugh because I didn't even remember what that was referencing immediately. Funny how it's been so long and you still have your panties in a twist.

Well now my interested is piqued. What did you ninja lot?

[Colenzo]

Ninja lotted my heart.