Still signing up, the game is downloading. Completely new to FF11 but I can't wait!
Thinking of making a Warrior

I made a Galka warrior and got to level 4 by asking a kind stranger who was fishing for help. Seems pretty fun, still trying to figure out the camera controls.
Any newb friendly guilds out there?

Make sure to check out the new player guides. They're really helpful.

There are a lot of quirks and walls that you can hit in this game without help/tips, so don't feel too proud to ask. The learning curve can be steep, but the rewarding nature of finally succeeding at something you've worked at is unequaled.

If you chose Bastok as your nation, good move. That will give you the Bastokan ring to start, which will help in the early levels. Leveling solo up to 12 or so is standard, so do that while exploring nearby areas. The Dangruf Wadi will be a bit beyond your reach for a while, so don't worry about venturing in there much. Stick to North and South Gustaberg. North Gustaberg is especially useful for farming beehive chips up on the plateau. But be aware that goblins aggro by sight and things like skeletons aggro by sound or low HP.

When starting out, it's always wisest to try to use your crystals for synthing the materials you get. Some decent examples of low level synths include:
-beeswax (3 beehive chips, distilled water [sold in shops in town])
-sheep leather (sheepskin, tea leaves, distilled water)
-grass cloth (3 or 4 grass thread - can't remember)
-copper ingots (4 copper ore)

But if you're mostly aiming for money, sell all the beehive chips. They sell super fast (don't undercut much - no more than 100g per stack or 10g per single item) since higher level alchemists always need them - like me.

Once you hit lvl 12 you can keep killing easy stuff in those areas if it's fun. But if it's not, switch to another job in your Mog House and level that. I always recommend White Mage to start at least. Once you get a subjob (if you're unaware of what that is, go to http://ffxiclopedia.wikia.com/wiki/ and read up, as you should for anything you're unclear on), using WHM as your sub makes soloing the early levels muuuuch easier and safer.

So spend some time trying different jobs, make some money, and get a feel for how things work. Ideally, you don't want to level beyond the point where your gear is effective. That decreases the xp/hour for everyone you party with, and is widely considered a faux pas. Take the extra time to farm some more money and have things that will improve your accuracy and damage output.

For melee classes, accuracy items are tough to find, but utterly invaluable. ACC is king. After that, damage (STR, DEX, Attack).

Quick primer on stats:
MND: curing potency
INT: black magic strength
DEX: crit hit rate & minor bonus to accuracy
STR: damage (floor, I believe) increase
VIT: helps you take hits better
CHR: for beastmasters and bards
AGI: ranged accuracy & parrying/etc.

Keyboard commands are also vital, so look up a list of those and save/print them out. If you want to search for someone, type this: /sea all (insert name here without brackets)

That will search all areas for the person with that name. So you can go /sea all lolbst and you'll see where I am, if I'm online. Feel free to type /t lolbst hi, I'm new and you said you'd help me out!

and that will send me a message. To reply, hold CTRL and hit R.

Hope that helps!

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LSs: DysKai | FunWithJugs | Ragnarok
formerly Krinkle of Kujata
some handy tips for total newbies: Click Here