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A community for Final Fantasy XI
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As another new player, I have learned that unlocking the Trusts in your starting city are basically essential. And the game gives you about five of them to start. You just have to keep trading (using the Trade menu) the trust ciphers to the Trust NPC after you finish the Trust quest.
I’m still super new, so you’ll have to look up your city’s trust quest.
The Records of Eminence system can more or less guide you through the content. There are a ton of good guides on the two wikipedias (see sidebar for links). The developers have updated the game to get you caught up on all the old content relatively quickly if you desire. So if end-game content is your jam, you can get a character built out with 119 gear in two weeks, less if you've got help.
It's an MMO so finding yourself an active linkshell/communitiy is recommended to get the most out of the game. Your going to have a lot of questions and while the wiki can answer those, getting real world/real time advice from experienced players is key to doing it efficiently. Most linkshells these days also have a discord or something similar to coordinate events and voice chat. There is lots of end-game content that really is best suited for team work and communication.
Lastly, I also highly recommend following the Make FFXI Beautiful video guide (see sidebar) to get the game running in optimal condition and add a bunch of quality of life enhancements.
I play the game on an XP machine so I'm all in on keeping it raw but thanks for the other bits of advice. I don't think I want to rush to the endgame though, I want to absorb the story and lore as that's the mean reason I'm playing
There is plenty of story and lore then that you can solo with Trusts. And each story line you complete gets you a bunch of perks such as permanent experience bonuses, discounted medicine, etc. You may need a helping hand on a few missions towards the end of the most recent expansions, but otherwise completely solo-able.
RE Windows XP: I believe both the Windower/Ashita development teams have dropped support for XP. So that will likely prevent you utilizing any of the quality of life enhancements those platforms bring with it. I would recommend at least moving up to Windows 7 if you have the option so you can enjoy the game at 60FPS instead of the stock 30FPS.
I didn't know about the permanent bonuses. Oh one thing I was struggling with when I last played was dealing with getting along the world, far travel etc. Is there any way to make that easier or is it always class specific like the WHM BLM. I saw there were some items or something on a wiki, but I think most of them were promo stuff.
I have a specific pc just for old school games on XP. I have Windows 10 and 11 pcs elsewhere but this one fits how I want to play XI. Big clunky mechanical keyboard (I'm more ortho split normally), shitty PS/2 mouse, 5:4 monitor and little speakers. It's more got the feel of playing old games as they used to, both ones i played as a kid and others i missed, like XI, rather than playing them actually at their best. Kinda like plugging in a an old console rather than just emulating (I emulate a lot of stuff though. I'm not one of them purists overall, but I like tinkering and feeling nostalgia with the real things from time to time)
I went out of my way to get a physical copy of XI because the current installer doesn't work on XP even though the program it installs does, very infuriating. Then once installed and having all of the registry keys and permissions the game needs I could then transfer all of the to to date files onto the PC to play. Nowhere online has archived an actual working installer for pre-win7. At some point I need to rip want upload my physical copy for preservation and if there's others like me haha.
Fascinating on the XP install. I'm sure a bunch of use have our physical media still collecting dust, but I'm not aware of any documentation on getting an XP install running in 2023.
For quick travel you need a warp ring to get back home. Can be used every 10 minutes and does not run out of charges. It can be purchased from your nations guards near the city exit gates. Use the unity NPC to warp to new areas and collect the home point crystals/survival guides. That will take care of the bulk of travel items.
Permanent XP/CP bonuses are like 10% for each storyline, but there's a bunch more than just that. There's also some. Armor than can give up to 50%. There's reusable XP and CP rings that you can acquire as well that recharge every 2 hours. The only thing that does not have bo uses yet is master levels but those are fairly new content.