Final Fantasy XI - Beginner Guide Part Two: Questing and Such
MMORPG.com Final Fantasy XI Correspondent has put togther this little overview guide for playes who might be new to SquareEnix's Final Fantasy XI. The second part of the guide moves players through some early quests and into the realm of sub-jobs.
Check out Part One here
Once you’ve created your character and chosen a profession to excel in, the game is relatively straight-forward for the next ten levels. The first part of the guide was focused on getting started in the game, and in this part I’ll cover getting to the first partying area(s), some basic quests for the beginner, and provide an outline for how to unlock and utilize your Support Job. So what are you waiting for? Grab a weapon and get killing out there!
Black and White Mages will have the roughest time in the first real test of your ability, levels 1-10. This task is simple enough, and shouldn’t take more than a day to accomplish, especially with the boosts you should be getting from your Tutorial NPC. No starting area has many advantages over any other in terms of combat and monsters, so basing your character creation off where you will be spending the beginning of your game doesn’t have much of a point. As you level however, you’ll undoubtedly need funds to proceed in gathering spells, weapons, armor, and possibly food, and there are some lower level quests in each starting city to assist newcomers.
“Minesweeper” - Started by Gerbaum in Bastok Mines at (F-8)
This quest is fairly simple, you need to collect 3 Zeruhn Soot in an effort to clean out the mines and return them to Gerbaum. Every monster in the Zeruhn Mines has the potential to drop the soot, so there’s nothing specific you need to seek out. The reward for collecting the soot is 150 gil.
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“The Merchant’s Bidding” - Started by Parvipon in Southern San d’Oria at (E-8)
Similar to “Minesweeper,” this quest is very straightforward. All you need to do is collect three Rabbit Hides from the Rabbits in Ronfaure and return them to Parvipon. The reward for this is 120 gil each time.
“Mandragora-Mad” Started by Yoran-Oran in Windurst Walls at (E-5)
A little bit more time consuming perhaps than the other nations have it, this quest has a variety of items you can return for gil, but the easiest by far to collect at your level would be either Cornettes or Four-Leaf Mandragora Buds. Each of these drops of Mandragora in the Saruta-Baruta areas and will provide you with 200 and 120 gil, respectively, each time.
“Fear of the Dark” Started by Secodiand in Northern San d’Oria at (F-6)
Secodiand wants you to bring him some Bat Wings and in return for two of them he’ll give you 200 gil. This quest perhaps has the potential to be one of the most profitable of the newbie quests, but unless you’re training early on in King Ranperre’s Tomb on Bats, you likely won’t collect a substantial amount of Bat Wings. Bats only appear in all these areas during the night time, but when you see some bats, make sure to grab them if only for their wings.
Once you have reached level 10 and are adequately prepared, it’s time to head to the Valkurm Dunes, the first partying area for almost all players. The route there isn’t that difficult in itself, but it does present some monster-dodging training, especially for the Windurstian players out there. In fact, Windurstians will have it the roughest in this regard, for the fact that they have to travel the longest area to get to the dunes. From San d’Oria go through La Theine Plateau and follow the road South (don’t go down any ledges!) and you should be there in no time at all, just avoids the Orcs and the Rams, should you see any.
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From Bastok, go through South Gustaberg, through North Gustaberg, follow the road North/Northwest, avoiding monsters as you go along, and you’ll arrive in the dunes. Windurstians, however, will have to travel through to Tahrongi Canyon through Saruta-Baruta, stick to the East wall until you reach Buburimu Peninsula. From here on, the situation gets sticky, because there are a fair amount of monsters here way beyond your power to take on, mainly goblins. If you can avoid them and reach Mhaura, just take the boat to Selbina, the town in the middle of the Valkurm Dunes. It is easily the longest and most stressful route, unfortunately, and really the only major downside to starting in Windurst.
After reaching the Valkurm Dunes, just go to the Party under your Menu and select Seek Party, and wait until you’re invited. It’s really that simple and the party leader should direct you from there. You should probably avoid starting any parties of your own unless you’re completely sure of what you’re doing.
Upon reaching level 18, you need to complete your sub-job quest, enabling you to use a secondary job in addition to your primary job. There are two versions of this quest, one in Mhaura and one in Selbina, however the most popular is the one in Selbina, but for the sake of this guide, I’ll cover both.
“The Old lady” Started by Vera in Mhaura at (G-10)
To unlock your sub-job you’re required to bring Vera three items. A Wild Rabbit Tail, a cup of Dhalmel Saliva, and a Bloody Robe. The Wild Rabbit Tail and Dhalmel Saliva are simple enough to acquire, obviously from their respective monsters, Rabbits and Dhalmels. The Bloody Robe, however, is a bit more difficult to obtain, as it’s from Bogies that spawn only at night and are very powerful. You’ll likely need help if you want to do this quest anyway though, because it’s off the beaten path. Once you’ve obtained all three items, return to Vera to unlock your sub-job!
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“Elder Memories” Started by Isacio in Selbina at (G-10)
This is the more popular version of the sub-job quest and easier, because you’ve probably obtained at least one, if not two, of the necessary items to complete the quest already by virtue of having been partying in the Valkurm Dunes. To unlock your sub-job, Isacio requires a Damselfy Worm, a Crab Apron, and a Magicked Skull. The Damselfly Worms and Crab Aprons can be obtained from Damselflies and Crabs, of course, and you’ve undoubtedly parties on at least one of these monsters at one point or another by now. The Magicked Skull is the most difficult item to get, because it has a low drop rate and only drops from Ghouls, which are powerful, and spawn only at night.
It’s because of the sparse amount of Ghouls in the dunes and the very low drop rate that most people move to the Gusgen Mines, accessible from the Konschtat Highlands, to obtain the Magicked Skull, because of the amount of Ghouls there and their constant appearance due to being in a cave instead of outside. Unfortunately, like a lot of things in this game, you’ll likely need a friend or a helpful passer-by to do this.
Now that you’ve got your sub-job, let me give you a quick run-down on how it works. A Support Job is a secondary job that you equip to your main job, in order to use certain abilities from that job, and to bolster your main job with small attribute bonuses from that Support Job. Your Support Job will always cap at half the current level of your primary job, and will not gain experience points, nor affect the normal experience point gain for your main job. You’re not able to use the special two-hour abilities of that job you have designated as your Support Job, but you will usually (with some exceptions) be able to use whatever job abilities and/or spells that job has up to level 37, which is the Support Job cap.
So while you’re levelling up that secondary job of yours, stay tuned for the final part of this newcomer’s guide, which will include moving on to the next areas, gathering you “Kazham Keys,” and explaining the Advanced Jobs available after level 30.
Safe travels!
