Final Fantasy XIFinal Fantasy News

This is in no way my original work. I just transfered mediums to provide those who are less fortunate than my self have access to a synthesis guide. This was written with content assistance from the BradyGames Final Fantasy XI Strategy Guide.

—–Amateur LeatherCraft Recipies—–

Sheep Leather = Dark + Sheepskin + Windurst Tea Leaves + Distilled Water

Cesti = Earth + Ash Lumber + Sheep Leather(Req. Woodworking)

Sheep Wool = Wind + Sheepskin(2)

Leather Bandana = Wind Sheep Leather

Leather Highboots = Earth + Bronze Scales + Sheep Leather(3)

Rabbit Matle = Earth + Rabbit Hide(5) + grass Thread

Leather Gloves = Earth + Grass Cloth + Sheep Leather (2)

Leather Trousers = Earth + Grass Cloth + Grass Cloth + Sheep Leather(2)

Leather Vest = Earth + Sheep Leather(3) + Lizard Skin

 

—–Recruit LeatherCraft Recipies—–

Solea = Wind + Sheep Leather(2)

Lizard Belt = Wind + Iron Chain _ lizard Skin

Leather Belt = Wind + Iron Chain + Sheep Leather

Lizard Mantle = Earth + Grass Thread + Lizard Skin + Lizard Molt

Lizard Helmet = Earth + Sheep Leather + Lizard Skin(2)

Lizard Gloves = Earth + Lizard SKin + Leather Gloves

Lizard Cesti = Earth + Lizard Skin + Leather Gloves

Lizard trousers = Earth + LIzard Skin(2) + Leather Trousers

Lizard Ledelsens = Earth + Brass SHeet + Lizard Skin = Leather Highboots(Req. Goldsmithing)

Lizards Jerkin = Earth + Sheep Leather + Lizard Skin(3)

 

—–Initiate LeatherCraft Recipies—–

Dhalmel Leather = Dark + Windurst Tea Leaves + Dhalmel Hide + Distilled Water

Leather Ring = Wind + Dhalmel Leather

Studded Bandana = Earth + Iron Chain + Leather Bandana

Warriors Belt = Wind + Iron Chain + Dhalmel Leather

Studded Gloves = Earth + Iron Chain + Dhalmel Leather + Leather Gloves

Dhalmel Mantle = Ice + Wool Thread + Dhalmel Hide

Studded Boots = Earth + Iron Chatin + Dhalmel Leather + Leather Highboots

Sandals = Wind + Dhalmel Leather + Sheep Leather

Studded Trousers = Earth + Iron Chain + Dhalmel Leather + Leather Trousers

 

—–Novice LeatherCraft Recipies—–

Parchment = Dark + Sheep Leather + Rolanberry

Studded Vest = earth + Iron Chain + Dhalmel Leather + Ram Leather + Leather Vest

Wolf Mantle = Ice + Wold Hide + Wool thread

Shoes = Earth + Cotton Cloth + Dhalmel leather + Dhalmel Leather(Req. Clothcraft)

ram Leather = Dark + Windurst Tea leaves + Ram Skin + Distilled Water

Magic Belt = Wind + Mercury + Toad Oil + Ram Leather

Leather Gorget = Earth + Ram Leather + Grass Thread

Cuir Bandana = Water + Ram leather + Beeswax + Leather Bandana

Wold Gorget = Earth + Cotton Thread + Wolf Hide

Cuir Gloves = Water + Ram Leather(2) + Beeswax + Leather Gloves

The Samurai is an over the top blade master. He trusts his blade more then anything else, and only needs it to survive. The Samurai is able to tote heavy armor and use single-handed swords. He is especially effective against demons due to the increasing active and passive skills to combat them. Another noticeable trait of the Samurai is the incredible increase of Tactical Points. This lets the character dish out a constant amount of attacks without worry.

For the preferred race, I recommend the Mithra. They are agile and dexterous, making them not only deadly but quick. As a sub class, try to keep away from caster classes. Focus on another melee class such as dragoon or thief, increasing the attack speed tremendously with sneak attack when a mob least expects it. In the active abilities table, the Samurai gains some noticeable features.

Ability – Level – Description
Wise Reflection – 1 – TP cost of weapon skills go to 100
Demon Circle – 5 – Increases protection against demons for the group
Heart Eye – 15 – Dodges next attack
Silent Concentration – 30 – Charges up the TP Gauge

The best part is, heart eye and silent concentration is in a low one minute timer. This means you can have a nearly endless TP bar and dodge an attack every 60 seconds.

For passives:
Ability – Level – Description
Resist Blind – 5 – Increase resistance to blind
Store TP – 10 – Increase TP gain speed
Demon Killer – 40 – Increase damage against demons

For groups remember the Samurai isn’t the best damage receiver. If you plan to be the main tank, try and group up with a warrior sub job. This will give a nice boost to HP and give you the ability to pull agro from healers and casters. The Samurai can only be 100% effective if he can just lay down some hate without taking damage from the enemy.

An important point to NEVER forget about the Samurai is the Heart Eye and Silent Concentration skills listed above. The low timer must NOT be forgotten, since they are both very useful skills.

Rank Missions

Your guide to going up the ranks within your kingdom.

Tuesday, October 28, 2003
All trademarks and copyrights contained in this document are owned by their respective trademark and copyright holders.

Unlike most games, these are not your run-of-the-mill quests. These are heavy-duty, get your brain workin’, get off your butt, goin’ to Mars kind of missions. So be prepared to actually work for a change. There are a ton of missions to do. Twenty-four are listed below with information about the missions, the secrets to getting through them, and the prized reward you gain at the end.

NOTE: These missions will be update with a more detailed walkthrough and possibly maps after the game is released.

Windhurst’s Missions:
You can go to any gate guard to start these missions.

Mission 1

Group Size: 1
Rank: 1
Level: 5+
Reward: Rank Points

Guide: Once you’ve accepted the mission you need to talk to the Tarutaru clerk on stage. They will direct you to the East Sarutabartua magical tower. Once there, you’ll need to proceed to the magical gizmos behind a door on the other side of a cracked wall. Inside you can watch the cut scene, after which you’ll need to touch all the gizmos again. Finally, return to the Tarutaru clerk to complete your mission.

Mission 2

Group Size: 2-3
Rank: 1.4
Level: 8+
Reward: Rank Points

Guide: Return to the Tarutaru clerk who will direct you, this time, to the southeast tower. Place the dark mana orbs on the magical gizmos throughout the ruins. Then, go behind the cracked wall to the north to watch another cut scene. After the cut scene, take the magical orbs back to the Tarutaru clerk to complete your mission.

Mission 3

Group Size: 3-4
Rank: 1.75
Level: 10+
Reward: Rank Points, 1000 Gil

Guide: Talk to the Tarutaru on the roof in Rhinostery. He will give you two items of food that need to be delivered to Giddeus, which is to the northeast. Once there, you’ll need to follow both paths until you reach each NPC at the entrance to the cave. Give them the bribe, and then head back to the Tarutaru to end the mission. Talking to the gate guard will get you your reward.

Mission 4

Group Size: 4-5
Rank: 2.25
Level: 10+
Reward: Rank Points

Guide: First, talk to Tosuka Porika in the Opistery, then Nanaa Mingho in the woods. Then go to the Shakhrami maze (northeast part of Taronghi Canyon). Inside the maze you need to go past the Scorpion until you reach a fork in the tunnel. Go right. When you reach the lower level of the maze, go forward to the area containing the fossils. After examining the fossils go back to Nanaa Mingho for yet another cut scene.

In order to fulfill Nanaa Mingo’s request you’ll need to go back to the tower you juts came from. Go through a cracked wall and down a cave until you reach the mahogany door. On the other side you’ll see the Minister. Once he’s ignored you, go back to Nanaa Mingho and Tosuka Porika to end the mission.

Mission 5

Group Size: 5-6
Rank; 2.75
Level 18+ (25 is the cap)
Reward: Rank 3, 3000 Gil

Guide: Talk to Gamini in Heaven’s Tower to get a description of your mission. Go to the embassy located in Metal Works. Talk to the ambassador to receive the first part of the mission. Go talk to Pium in the President’s office. Finally, talk to Grohm. Then head to the Palborough Mines. Inside, take the elevator to the second floor and go to K-9 to dig. Once you get the required item go to I-6 and find the machine with a lid/lever. Put the item in the machine and pull the lever. Follow down the left side and under the machine. Pull another level and get a new item. Take the item to the Ambassador.

For the second part of the mission, go to the Consulate in San d’Oria and talk to the Ambassador there. Then, follow his instructions. Go to the top of Fort Ghelsba and inside one of the huts (in order to get to another grotto). Behind the hunts take the tunnel into the mountains. Next, take the burning circle exit. Kill the eye and kill the dragon. Go back to the Consulate to get your Adventurers Letter. You can get your rewards at Heaven’s Tower.

Mission 6

Group Size: 2-3
Rank: 3
Level: 25+
Reward: Rank Points

Guide: Talk to Moreno Teono in the Orastery. Follow his directions to Taronghi Canyon. In this mission you have to get to the Canyon (and back) and kill at least 30 monsters in 1 hour. Then, get your reward.

Mission 7

Group Size: 2-3
Rank: 3.25
Level: 25+
Reward: Rank Points

Guide: Go back to Heaven’s Tower to Star Sybil and follow the Minister of the Orastery. The Minister has headed to Castle Oztroja to meet the Yago King. Then, go to L-8 and into Castle Oztroja. Then, go to the door with 2 levers, pull the wrong one, watch a cut scene. Grab the ring and go back to Heaven’s Tower to end your mission.

Mission 8

Group Size: 5-6
Rank: 3.5
Level: 30+
Reward: Rank Points

Guide: Go, once again, to Star Sybil at Heaven’s Tower. Go to northeast Horutoto Tower and head right to a cracked wall. Inside, go through the east door to a gate. Have each mage stand on his/her corresponding color to open the door. Go through the fake walls, examine the magical gizmos and go back to Heaven’s Tower to end the mission.

Bastok’s Missions
You can start your quest at either Cleades Gate Guard or Malduc Gate Guard.

Mission 1

Group Size: 1-2
Rank: 1
Level: 5+
Reward: Rank Points

Guide: Head down into the Zeruhn Mines and talk to Makarim. Take the item he gives you to Naji at the President’s office to end your mission.

Mission 2

Group Size: 2-3
Rank: 1.5
Level: 7+
Reward: Rank Points

Guide: Find Cid in the Metalworks and head to Dangruf Wadi. Use the item he gives you to detect for proof and then take the results to Cid to end your mission.

Mission 3

Group Size: 2-3
Rank: 1.7
Level: 12+
Reward: Rank 2, 1000 Gil

Guide: Go to the Palborough Mines northeast of North Gustaberg. Kill a bunch of Quadavs until you get the four pieces of armor, then return to the gate guard in town to trade in your items for your rewards.

Mission 4

Group Size: 1-2
Rank: 2
Level: 12+
Reward: Rank Points

Guide: Go to the Crag of Dem north of North Gustaberg. Use a crystal on a telepoint. Take the crystal you get to Cid to end your mission.

Mission 5

Group Size: 1-2
Rank: 2.5
Level: 12+
Reward: Rank Points

Guide: Go find a lizard egg at South Gustaberg and take it to Aloise at the President’s Office.

Mission 6

Group Size: 5-6
Rank: 2.75
Level: 18+ (cap at 25)
Reward: Rank 3, 3000 Gil

Guide: Go to the Consulate and talk to Malduc and Naji then go to San d’Oria to kill the Orc Warchief. Then go to Ghelsba and watch a cut scene by the war chief, then kill him. Next, go to Windurst to talk to the Consulate. Go to Heaven’s Tower and get the dark key. Then go north west to Giddeus and unlock the Burning Circle. Kill the Dragon and go back to the Consulate to get a letter. To end your mission, go the Metalworks and receive your rewards.

Mission 7

Group Size: 4-5
Rank: 3.5
Level: 25+
Reward: Rank Points

Guide: Go to Beadaux, watch a cut scene, kill at least 30 Quadavs and talk to the gate guard to end your mission.

Mission 8

Group Size: 5-6
Rank: 3.5
Level: 25-30
Reward: Rank Points

Guide: Talk to Davyad in the Bastok Mines. Get some bunny meat and head to Gusgen Mines. Follow these directions: right, left, right, right to a place with water. Use the hair meet on the ??? and kill the monster. Take the rare rock and give it to the guard to end your mission.

San d’Oria’s Missions
You can start your quest at any gate guard.

Mission 1

Group Size: 1-2
Rank: 1
Level: 5+
Reward: Rank Points

Guide: Go to West Ronfaure and get an Orcish axe by killing an Orcish Fodder.

Mission 2

Group Size: 1-2
Rank: 1.4
Level: 7+
Reward: Rank Points

Guide: Go to east Ronfure and get the necessary item from a bat. Return to the gate guard to end the mission.

Mission 3

Group Size: 5-6
Rank: 1.75
Level: 10+
Reward: Rank 2, 1000 Gil

Guide: Go to a hut at Ghelsba Outpost. Watch a cut scene, go through the door, kill the orcs, and watch another cut scene. Head back to town and talk to the gate guard to end the mission.

Mission 4

Group Size: 2-3
Rank: 2.25
Level: 15+
Reward: Rank Points

Guide: Go to Ordelle’s Caves outside La Theine. Talk to the NPC on your left. Then go back to La Theine to get the sword and return it to the NPC. Return to the gate guard to end the mission.

Mission 5

Group Size: 2-3
Rank: 2.5
Level: 20+
Reward: Rank Points

Guide: Go to the Davoi entrance and find the soldier behind the tree. Find the missing page he speaks of and give it back to the soldier. Take the report he gives you back to town.

Mission 6

Group Size: 5-6
Rank: 2.75
Level: 18+ (cap at 25)
Reward: Rank 3, 3000 Gil

Go to Chateau d’Oraguille and talk to Halver. Then, head to the embassy and talk to the ambassador to receive the first part of this mission. Go talk to Pium in the President’s office, then go to Grohm and hear what he has to say. Go to the Palborough Mines and take the elevator up to level 2. Do some digging at K-9 and take the item you get to the machine. Put the item in the machine and pull the lever. Go to the other machine and pull that lever and get another item.

Now, go to the Consulate in San d’Oria and talk to the Ambassador. Head to Heaven’s Tower and talk to Kupipi. Speak with Rakano Marukano and go directly to Giddeus. Unlock the Burning Circle and kill the Dragon. Go back to the Consulate to receive your letter and talk to Halver to end the mission.

Mission 7

Group Size: 5-6
Rank: 3.25
Level: 25+
Reward: Rank Points

Guide: Go to Davoi again and talk to the same solider. You can find the three reports he needs at L-8, K-7, and J-7. Take the papers to the soldier and return to the gate guard to end the mission.

Mission 8

Group Size: 1-2
Rank: 3.5
Level: 0+
Reward: Rank Points

Guide: Go to Jugner Forest and follow the water way to the stone. Retrieve a Crystal Bass and return to the gate guard to end the mission.

In FFXI everyone will find themselves in a group at one time or another, whether it's to do a quest, gain xp, or hunt for Gil and loot. This guide will walk you through the steps needed in order to be a helpfull group member and one that is asked to come back instead of asked to leave.

Low Level Grouping

Before I get into specifics, I would like to clear up some confusion about low level grouping. As it stands, many people have said that it is not worth it to group at low levels. This is most easily cleared up with some numbers and an example. If you are level 5 and fighting solo and you kill a monster that gives 50xp, and you can kill it once every minute then we'll say you are getting 50xp/minute. Now, let's say you group with someone the same level as you (you are both level 5) and you fight the same monster. It will only give 30xp to each of you. At first, it appears that you are making less xp by grouping. But when you think about it, you can kill these creatures twice as fast with 2 people, so you are really making 60xp/minute, more than if you were by yourself.

Now let's say that you level up but your partner does not (level 6 and level 5). The xp the monster gives to the party is based on how difficult it is to the highest level party member. So the monster that just a second ago was giving 50xp/kill to a single level 5 is now only giving 35xp/kill to a single level 6. The problem here is that your partner is still level 5, so if they were to fight the monster solo they would be getting 50xp/minute instead of 35xp/minute off the same creature. There is another factor though, if you are grouped and you kill this monster the level 6 character would get 21xp/kill. This is 42xp/minute assuming you are still killing them at the same speed, better than 35xp/minute, but your level 5 parter is only getting 15xp/kill. This is because of the penalty placed on him for grouping with someone above his level. So the level 6 character is getting 42xp/minute while the level 5 character is getting 30xp/minute.

As you can see, grouping outside your level range at low levels can really hurt your xp/minute. This is why people think it's bad to group at low levels. However, as long as you stay grouped with people your level though, you will make better xp than if you were solo. I am hoping that the system allows for wider level variations at the higher levels, but it's too early to tell. Also, the larger the group the better the xp, partly due to experience chains.

Experience Chains

Experience chains can be a beautifull thing. First I will explain the benefits of getting an experience chain and then I will explain how to get them.

If you successfully do an xp chain, on the first monster you kill in the chain you will get a message saying "EXP CHAIN #1"!. When you get this message you will get a bonus 20xp for whatever it was you just killed. If you get a message saying "EXP CHAIN #2!", then you will get a bonus of 40xp for the kill. At "EXP CHAIN #3!" you will get bonus xp for the kill. As long as you can keep chaining the monsters, you can keep getting more and more xp for each one.

The first requirement for getting an xp chain is that you have to be killing creatures that are "even match" or harder. In order to have the best chance at an xp chain you will probably want to try for even matches with the occasional "tough". The next step is to kill these creatures in quick succession. To qualify as quick succession I think (I will do further testing soo to find out the exact time) you must start attacking the next one within a minute of the death of the first. If you want to get to the second level of an xp chain you will need to attack a third within a minute of the death of the second.

The key to successfully xp chaining is to have a white mage or two in your party and a lot of damage dealers that don't rely on mana. What needs to happen is you have to kill the monster before it can do a lot of damage to you, and the healers should keep everyone healed. With 2 healers they can take turns healing the fighters and resting, so during a fight, one healer heals and the other rests, then for the next fight they switch. This can be done with a single healer as long as the party isn't taking too much damage so the healer can rest every other battle. Obviously xp chaining works much better with a full group (6) because a monster that is "even match" will drop very easy due to your numbers.

Being A Productive Group Member

A group of well trained members can level very fast and efficiently while a group with members all fighting as if they were solo will have a difficult time.

White Mage

First we'll start off with the white mages. As a white mage your purpose is not to do damage, if you are doing damage and healing you will find that the monsters really dislike you and will frequently attack you. Also, at the higher levels you will do no where near the damage of other members, so there is no point in bothering with attacking.

What you want to do is hotkey 6 of your keys to Cure <p0> through Cure <p5> (see the guide on macroing). By doing this you will be able to throw around heals at a moments notice without wasting time navigating through all the menus.

Before you go into a fight you want to cast any beneficial spells on your party that could help with the fight, this always includes protect but some spells aren't very usefull, such as sleep protection when fighting a monster who doesn't cast sleep.

Once you are in combat you want to hit the enemy with your debuff spells, Paralyze and Dia are two effective spells at low levels. Many people will say that paralyze isn't worth casting. I think those are people that have never seen paralyze in action because it is a _very_ helpfull spell. What it does is gives the enemy a chance to be unable to move each time it attacks for the duration of the spell. So if you cast paralyze on an enemy and it lasts for 30 seconds, every time the creature attacks for the next 30 seconds there will be a chance that it will fail the attack and instead be held immoble. You can see when this is happening because it will say "<creaturename> is Paralyzed" in the chat window each time it tries and fails to attack.

Since mana regenerates faster than health, after the battle is over the white mage will want to use any remaining mana it has to heal the party and then /heal to regain all it's mana. White mages are the most sought after job for groups in this game. If you don't want to have to spend a lot of time looking for groups and being rejected, a white mage is a good choice.

Warrior

The warrior has a fairly simple job, and one that can easily decide the course of the battle. The job of the warrior is to use the Provoke ability. The most effective way to do this is to write a macro
/ja "Provoke" <t>
and put it in an easy to use macro slot. What provoke does is makes the target more interested in attacking the warrior instead of it's current target. Normally creatures will go for healers and high damage dealers first, but unfortunately those two can usually take very little damage compared to a warrior.

Provoke has a 30 second reuse time so if there are two warriors in the party it is best to organize with each other when to provoke. There is no point in both warriors provoking at the same time, so it's best if you take turns. One way is to just take turns provoking every 15 seconds. The other meathod is to only provoke when the creature starts attacking something other than the warrior, and just take turns doing pulling it off.

Monk / Black Mage / Thief

The purpose of these jobs is to do damage. In terms of grouping strategy there isn't much to them other than dish out as much as you can. If you find yourself getting attacked a lot it's best to slow down on your damage output a little to allow the warriors to keep the hate from the monsters on them.

Red Mage

The job of the red mage is to fill in for anyone that is missing other than the warrior. If your white mage is having trouble keeping up on the heals (or you don't have a white mage) the red mage can help with that. If everything seems to be going all right then you can just deal as much damage as you can.

Skill Chains

Do as many of these as you can. I will not go into detail on how they work right now as that is a topic for another tutorial, once you get to the levels where you can skill chain, do so.

Summary

Here are a few points to remember when grouping:
- Don't group outside your level
- EXP CHAIN as often as possible
- Warriors provoke all the time
- White mages healing first, damage last
- Skill chain whenever possible
- Talk with your party, decide on who will pull and when to stop for /healing

<Grfiter sets his eyes on his target>
Grifter: Death from above!
<Grifter springs forth, the ground craters beneath him!>
<Grifter uses High Jump, hits the Fluffy White Baby Bunny for 0 points of damage>
<Grifter looks at Nanaja and sighs dejectedly>
<Fluffy White Bunny hits Grifter for 9999 damage!>
<Nanaja has been defeated by Fluffy White Baby Bunny>
<Grifter has been defeated by Fluffy White Baby Bunny>
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<LEVEL DOWN>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

<<<<<Tactics for the Battle Oriented Dragoon in YOU!>>>>>

Dragoons at high levels have the potential to be in the top 5 damage dealing classes in the game, and with the right talent can rank right up there with Dark Knight. I'd like to first point out one outstanding fact… Dragoons do NOT do heavy damage with every strike! They are NOT meant to! Dragoons hit fast, and along with your wyvern and the right subjob, you can dish out PLENTY of damage.

I want to also emphesize the fact that ALL classes have their weaknesses, and their strengths, and in the end if you play your toon right, you will be just as valuable to a group as the next guy in line. Play whats fun to you and you will have fun and do well. Striving to play the game searching endlessly for the BEST class, you will drive yourself crazy and end up with a lot of low level characters and not one high level, and thus miss out on most of the greater things in FFXI. Find a job and subjob that suit you well and stick with it, through its strengths, and its weaknesses. With that said, lets get started.

RACE and SUBJOB.

"What race and sub should I pick, oh mighty dragoon?" You ask? Thats simple oh noobish one. Races symbolize to me what kind of a challenge you want in the game. The main attributes are HP, DEX, STR, AGI, and VIT. Earlier on in the game your are going to want to concentrate your equipment to make up for DEX, HP AND STR, but later on AGI and VIT will play a big role in your survival.

With that said, I leave the race choice to you. All races are self explanitory and like I said, in the end you are going to be just as valuable as the next guy. Wether you want to die more often (taru), hit faster (mithra), hit harder (elvaan), live longer (Galka), or be a jack of all stats (Hume), the choice is yours.

Personally I picked hume, but that decision was based on the fact that I will eventually want to accomplish, and do exceptional at all jobs, with the same character. The cold hard truth however, is that I will only be the "Jack of all trades master of none". I can guarantee however that being hume isnt going to keep you from getting in great groups at ANY level. As for subjob, Warrior till your dragoon is 60, sub samurai after that.

Make sure your sam is 30 for "Meditate". Warrior is vital at lower levels for provoke, defense, and HP. 60DRG/30SAM is a power house later on for weapon skills and fast damage!!! Super jump, high jump, jump, meditate, store tp, Your TP will hardly ever fall below 100% and with penta thrust you will be a huge damage dealer. You will constantly be doing damage and being able to dodge an attack every 60 seconds with third eye doesnt hurt either, not to mention your wyvern following your every weapon skill with an elemental breath!

JOB ABILITIES:

Active Job Abilities

Name Level Charge Time Duration Effect
Call Wyvern 2hr Till Wyvern dies Wyvern is called to fight by your side
Ancient Circle 5 5:00 2:30 Dragon resistance up
Jump 10 1:30 Jump attack
Heavy Jump 35 3:00 Better Jump attack
Super Jump 50 5:00 Better Jump attack, plus land away from enemy

Passive Job Abilities

Name Level Effect
Attack Up 10 Physical attack up
Dragon Slayer 25 Do more damage to dragons
Accuracy up 30 Hit ratio up

***SIDE NOTE***
- A common misconception is that many people think there are only 3 dragons in this game. There are MANY dragons in this game, two that come to mind are "Fafnir", a huge really cool looking named dragon that takes a lot of high level people to kill, and "Ash Dragon" This mob drops the infamous great katana "Murasame" The same Murasame from the old FF games. There are also plenty of non-NM dragons in some of the later, high-level zones.

- Your Wyvern should not be underestimated!!! Wyvern is one of the most valuable comodities of the dragoon not to mention the main advantage the class has! Ok so the damn thing is weak to Goblins Bomb Toss, AoE's are like the only problem ive ever had with them. All the other times it has saved me and helped me do great damage. Also, people say, "Oh, the wyverns are weak, they dont do any damage." they arent MEANT to hit for a lot! They hit fast and count as a part of you, add your damage and the wyverns damage and youll see it works out better than most people think! PLUS, dont forget their specials!![

this is more of a quick over view of what a dragoon is capable of and some of things it can do, if you have any specific questions, just post them and I can help you out.

The ninja depends on his speed and agility instead of flying into head on combat. Despite not being able to use heavy armor, the ninja uses evasion skills to escape a blow instead of trying to absorb it. In his arsenal are abilities that allow a character to move undetected past mobs of all kinds.

I highly recommend a ninja choose an Elvaan or Hume as a starting race. This will give your character a nice boost in agility and dexterity. For the ninja, he only has 1 active ability. It is called Self Sacrifice. It is attained at level 1 with a 2h our reuse timer. This skill will inflict an amazing amount of damage to the target, but at the cost of your own life. Only use it if it means saving a healer’s life in the heat of combat.

As a Ninja, the player is able to dual wield combat weapons. He can strike quickly and accurately. Apart from this skill, a Ninja learns Ninjutsu. These skills are often magical, but can not be attained through levels. They must be learned through scrolls instead.

Several of these scrolls include the ability to become invisible to a target and slow down your enemy. There are also elemental attacks and the skill to evade an enemy’s physical blows.

The ninja is extremely useful in groups due to his ability to become fully invisible. Never forget to use it when you need it. Stealth and Duel-Wielding can only be useful if the Ninja isn’t getting beaten down on by the opposing force. While grouped, one can avoid damage and concentrate on dealing it himself.

Macros
Been over this several times but this wouldn’t be complete without stressing the importance of macros once again. Your brain and the time restrictions on casting, lag, recasting and healing back MP and avoiding agro are the ONLY things that should come into play. If you are loosing ANY time at all maneuvering thru the interface to execute an action odds are you need better macros. I’m not going into specifics because by now that should be a dead horse if you have read any of the other guides myself and others have written on the subject.

Managing rest time
At low levels resting during combat is not much of a concern but as you go up in levels it becomes the difference between a good party and a bad party, if not a dead party. In a sticky situation the time it takes to stand from a resting position and begin casting can seem like an eternity. By the time you stand it may be too late to save the person you were going to heal. Standing around waiting for someone to get damaged enough to warrant a heal when you could have been resting means potentially not having enough MP to finish the fight or needing too much time to rest between fights preventing exp chains. Balancing these two extremes takes a lot of practice. Regardless of the reality of group synergy if you don’t do this job, up to the standards of your group, you will be blamed for any and all failures. Learn to shrug this off or learn to be perfect.

If a single person is tanking and there aren’t any or few AE effects you are better off doing your highest efficient cure spell in most cases. Sometimes you are better off doing the higher spell even if it’s not as efficient. I know this sounds strange but if you can sit and rest a tick or two of healing time and recover more than you lost by using a “less efficient” cure…you just came out ahead of the game. Proper use of resting up whenever possible can give you a lot of extra room for error in other methods of being an optimal healer.

Healing (resting) to recover MP is more effective the longer you can do it. From the point you hit the button to sit down until you get your first “tick” of MP is approximately 15 seconds and gives 15 MP. Subsequent ticks come every 10 seconds and give 1 + the previous tick in MP. At 15 seconds you have 15, at 25 seconds you have 31 (15+16), at 35 seconds you have 48 (15+16=17) and so on.

Here are five examples of resting and healing combinations to use Cure 7 times. None are either right or wrong methods. The situation may demand any combination of resting and curing. This just demonstrates the speed at which you can do each method and the MP you go thru in the process.

1.) You are at 0 MP, rest for one tick (15 MP), stand, cast Cure (7 MP), rest for one tick (22 MP), cast Cure twice (6 MP), rest for one tick (21 MP) cast Cure two times (5 MP), rest for one tick (20 MP), stand and cast Cure two times (4 MP).
It took around 100 seconds.
2.) If you are at 0 MP and rest for 2 ticks (31 MP), stand cast Cure three times (7 MP), rest for one tick (22 MP), stand, Cure two times (6 MP), rest for one tick (21 MP), stand, Cure two times (5 MP).
It took around 96 seconds.
3.) If you are at 0 MP and rest for two ticks (31 MP), stand cast Cure three times (7 MP), rest for two tick (38 MP), stand, Cure four times (6 MP)
It took around 93 seconds.
4.) If you are at 0 MP and rest for three ticks (48 MP), stand cast Cure six times (0 MP), rest for one tick (15 MP), stand, Cure one time (7 MP)
It took around 93 seconds.
5.) If you are at 0 MP and rest for four ticks (66 MP), stand cast Cure seven times (10 MP)
It took around 86 seconds.

With the exception of #3 and #4 you can see there is defiantly a time savings the longer you can rest between casting cures. Even in this demonstration #4 is better than #3 it’s just harder to see results in such a small time frame. Determining when you must stand and when you can wait 10 more seconds for an additional tick of MP is a very important skill for any primary healer in a party.

Now this example used only Cure 1 and had to wait for the recast timer before casting the spell again. If you mix and match different level Cure spells you can negate or minimize the impact of the recast timer and heal someone even faster. More on this later.

MP conservation and threat assessment
There will be times when you can’t sit and rest at all or need to switch targets often. It’s times like these that being efficient you’re your heals should be your primary consideration. You also need to learn threat assessment tactics. Do you really NEED to heal that party member who just got hit by a fluke attack or can you save that MP for the main tank? Are they in danger of getting killed right away or can they afford another hit or two before you have to take action? Are the odds good that the tank will keep it off them for the remainder of the fight? This is where the true art of being a primary healer comes into play. Mashing cure buttons and calculating up time, down time, MP : HP healed ratios is nice and all but tactics is what it’s all about. Knowing the capabilities of your team and your enemy can matter a lot more than your max MP.

If you are getting low on MP this skill becomes even more critical. You may not want to use the remainder of your MP healing the main tank to full just incase someone else gets hurt. Perhaps a lower heal may be enough to keep them safe and still hold some MP in reserve. These situations have way too many variables to give any cookie cutter answers or guides but hopefully some of this information will help you make an educated decision.

Managing casting time
Casting time and recast time of a spell are both very important, and very separate, things to learn. When you understand how these two things work you can save players lives with more reliability in bad situations, allow yourself to rest enough to win fights where a full MP bar is not enough and even allow your group to get chain exp on the next target because you didn’t need any (or as much) time to rest. At first glance this seems like an exaggeration but in a hard fight(s) every second counts.

My testing showed the following results and I based a lot of my tactics off of them. WARNING annoying math ahead.

*Any Cure spell takes approximately 4 seconds to heal your target from the time you press the button to start casting.
*It takes approximately 6.5 seconds from the time you hit the button to start casting a Cure spell until the refresh time is up and you can hit it again to begin casting the same spell.
*It takes approximately 5.75 seconds from the time you hit the button to start casting a Cure spell until you can hit the button to cast a different Cure spell.

*C1 (Cure I) costs 8 MP and caps at 30HP +/- modifiers. (1 MP : 3.75 HP ratio)
*C2 (Cure II) costs 24 MP and caps at 90HP +/- modifiers. (1 MP : 3.75 HP ratio)
*C3 (Cure III) costs 46 MP and caps at 176 HP +/- modifiers. (1 MP : 3.826 HP ratio)
Can someone verify max healing?
*First tick of MP recovered by /heal takes 15 seconds and gives 15 MP.
*Subsequent ticks come every 10 seconds and give 1 + the previous tick in MP.

For our example we will use a short period of time outside of combat. A fight has just ended and using the information above our goal is to cure at least 300 HP of damage to one target using any combination of C1, C2 and C3 then rest having as much MP as possible at the end of 90 seconds. We will not use divine seal or regen for this example. Here are some of our options.

a.) C1 + C1 + C1 + C1 + C1 + C1 + C1 + C1 + C1 + C1 = 65 seconds 80 MP and healed 300 HP.
Allowing for 25 seconds of resting to gain 31 MP. This leaves us at -49 MP from the start of healing.
b.) C2 + C2 + C1 + C1 + C1 + C1 = 39 seconds 80 MP and healed 300 HP.
Allowing for 51 seconds of resting to gain 66 MP. This leaves us at -14 MPfrom the start of healing.
c.) C2 + C1 + C2 + C1 + C2 = 27 seconds 88 MP and healed 330 HP.
Allowing for 63 seconds of resting to gain 85 MP. This leaves us at -3 MP from the start of healing.
d.) C1 + C2 + C1 + C2 + C1 + C1 = 35 seconds 80 MP and healed 300 HP.
Allowing for 55 seconds of resting to gain 85 MP. This leaves us at +5 MP from the start of healing.
e.) C3 + C2 + C2 = 17 seconds 94 MP and healed 356 HP.
Allowing for 73 seconds of resting to gain 105 MP. This leaves us at +9 MP from the start of healing.
f.) C2 + C3 + C2 = 16 seconds 94 MP and healed 356 HP.
Allowing for 74 seconds of resting to gain 105 MP. This leaves us at +9 MP from the start of healing.
g.) C3 + C2 + C1 + C1 = 22 seconds 86 MP and healed 326 HP.
Allowing for 68 seconds of resting to gain 105 MP. This leaves us at +19 MP from the start of healing.
h.) C1 + C3 + C2 + C1 = 21 seconds 86 MP and healed 326 HP.
Allowing for 69 seconds of resting to gain 105 MP. This leaves us at +19 MP from the start of healing.
i.) C2 + C2 + C2 + C1 = 24 seconds 80 MP and healed 300 HP.
Allowing for 66 seconds of resting to gain 105 MP. This leaves us at +25 MP from the start of healing.
j.) C2 + C1 + C2 + C2 = 22 seconds 80 MP and healed 300 HP.
Allowing for 68 seconds of resting to gain 105 MP. This leaves us at +25 MP from the start of healing.
k.) C3 + C3 = 11 seconds 92 MP and healed 352 HP.
Allowing for 79 seconds of resting to gain 126 MP. This leaves us at +34 MP from the start of healing.

If you can sift thru all the information here a few key points become apparent. With few exceptions it is best to cure using the least amount of spells possible. The sooner you are done casting the sooner you can start resting. Over-healing can sometimes be more efficient than casting more lesser heals to come closer to the target number. Rotating between different levels of Cure spells is faster than casting the same level repeatedly giving you more time to rest.

In a perfect situation we would always use the most efficient combination but much like our casting and resting exercise there is no single correct answer. Often times the most efficient method is also the least flexible. An AE effect, a crit or a random party member (or even yourself) gaining agro can all throw a wrench into your well oiled machine. At first glance a.) looks like a horrible choice compared to the others but if the entire party is getting hit for smaller amounts of damage instead of one person getting hit a lot it can be the correct choice.

Secondary healers
Now we need to step away from the math a bit. Working with another healer defiantly makes things more, shall we say, interesting for the primary healer. Sometimes it is necessary to communicate carefully with the other healer and develop strategies and define roles. Other times nothing needs to be said and things go off without a hitch. More often than not I rarely need to nothing but what debuffs if any they are casting and what if any that I need to cast. After that I normally just adapt to them.

One of the first thing to determine is what is the role of the secondary healer. Are they roughly equal to you and you will be sharing healing duty? Are they just there for backup if you need a break or for emergencies? After a little experimenting you also need to find out how much you can trust them to cover for you. What you could do with that 200 MP the other healer has doesn’t mean squat while you sit and rest. It’s what THEY can do with that 200 MP until you need to stand up.

Avoiding doubling up on heals shouldn’t be an issue but it can happen. It should not happen often though and some better planning may be necessary to avoid it. The only time this is really acceptable is when the enemy has someone in enough danger that they will die in a matter of 1 or 2 hits. Both healers casting a Cure II on the mage who just got agro doing 90 HP then 20 HP is wasteful. If they had however both cast Cure 1 and done 30 and 30 HP only to see the poor mage die to a 80 HP attack then the healers have failed. The phrase better safe than sorry is an important mantra to the healer. Now having one healer use Cure II and the other doing Cure I would be best in this situation but planning like that is difficult to say the least. Don’t let an obsession with perfection conflict with doing your job properly.

Aside from situations like the one outlined above a simple method to prevent overlapping heals is to wait until 2 heals would not put the target over their max. If a tank has enough HP to safely wait until they are down 180 or more HP then don’t cast your Cure II when he is just under 90. If you do you risk the other healer casting at the same time and partially or totally wasting one of the spells. If you can hold off until 180 or so neither of the spells will be wasted even if you both cast at the same time. The only risk is if the other healer is not paying attention and doesn’t heal when you do. Then the target is still down 90 and you must cast again. Maybe you can wait till they are down 180 again or maybe you needed the time to rest. Use your best judgment when employing this strategy.

Most healers past 20 or so require little prodding when working with other healers. If you notice them sitting with full or near full MP and you are starting to get low sit and rest. Sometimes you need to notify them you are doing so but most will take the hint they need to cover the heals while you rest up as soon as they see you sit down. I strongly suggest against running one healer dry of MP then switching to the backup while the first rests. Whenever possible try to hold some MP in reserves for emergencies and rest up before empty.

You never know when you will spend all your MP only to notice the secondary healer is AFK, their connection just dropped, the enemy may hit with a surprisingly large AE or critical hit or maybe they just aren’t up to the task. For these reasons and many more it’s nice to have a reserve of MP. Other times you may in fact need both healers casting Cures at the same time to out pace the damage the enemy is doing. If you are fighting at the very edge of the parties limits (and that’s where everyone wants to be) the random element is ever present and it can often surprise you with dangerous results. It’s best to have at least one ace up your sleeve.

Conclusion
Now hopefully we understand a little better when we can rest, who we need to cure, when we need to cure them and what combination of spells to cast. Tiny little net gains in MP is what keeps exp chains going longer or lets you avoid those nasty “We would have won if only I could have healed one more time…” These are all tough decisions to make, in the heat of battle, and you need to remember you are gambling with everyone’s exp and time, not just your own.

Regen spell, the Curaga line of spells, proper use of Divine Seal and how much you can heal without gaining agro can all complicate matters even more but a lot of this is difficult to present in a guide format. Coordinating these with a second healer is even more difficult. As they say practice makes perfect. And your group is counting on just that.

I will list NM's and there level and Location in zone ( IE : F8 ) As I see alot of people seem to have trouble finding the creatures, and well As most of you are not on Shiva I worry not about having my NM's stolen from me =) hehe

I will organize it a little better when I get the time as FFXI comes back up soon =)

Ghelsba Outpost
————–
Cyranuce M Cutauleon ( Top right of F10 ) ( atleast lvl 30 Presumed HP: 2500 )
Extra Job: Dragoon
Orcish Barricader ( Top left of I5 ) ( Level : 17-18 )
Lantern Shield
Orcish Wallbreacher (Top left of I5 )( Level : 15-18 )
Strike Baghnakhs
Thousandarm Deshuglesh ( Middle of J6-J7 line )( Level : 11-13 )
Obelisk
Plate Belt
————-
East Ronfaure
————-
Bigmouth Billy ( Along River of I8-I9 ) ( Level 9-10 )
Red Stone, Black Stone, White Stone, Clear Stone, Steel Ore, Mysril Ore
Gold Ore (You can get it if you use ability: Steal)
————-
West Ronfaure
————-
Jaggedy-Eared Jack (In G9 - H9) (Level 9-10 )
Rabbit Charm
————-
North Gustaberg
————-
Stinging Sophie ( Located Middle & Top Right of I-7 ) (Level 9-10)
————-
South Gustaberg
————-
Leaping Lizzy ( F8 and a lil into F9 E8 and E9 ) Most notably in F8 only though ) (Level 10-11)
Leaping Boots ( duh=P )
Bubbling Bernie ( M-10 ) ( Spawn by trading quus to the person inside? ) (Level 9-10)
Steamclock, ClabMeat, Water Crystal
————-
East Sarutabaruta
————-
Spiny Spipi ( ALL of H and I 7 ) (Level 9-10)
Mist Silk Cape
————-
West Sarutabaruta
————-
Tom Tit Tat ( all of I6 ) (Level 9-10)
Fruit Punch
————-
Tahrongi Canyon
————-
Serpopard Ishtar ( H6 and H/I8 ) (Level 19-20)
————-
Inner Horutoto Ruins
————-
Balloon (H-8) ( Yes the Balloon here is named, check it =P ) ( Second Floor ) (Level 14-17)
Asbestos Mitts
————-
Buburimu Peninsura
————-
Helldiver (Near K-9 - L-9) (Level 29-30)
Wingedge
Buburimboo ( Beach )(K-7) (Level 30-31)
Buburimu Gorget
————-
Valkurm Dunes
————-
Golden Bat (Near B-8) or (Near C-6) (Level 26-27)
Night Cape
Valkurm Emperor ( Bottom Left F8 )(Level 29-30)
Emporers Hairpin
————-
Konschtat Highlands
————-
Rampaging Ram/Battering Ram ( H-7 Area ) ( Unknown level 30+ )
Frenzy Horn
Ram Horn
Ram Fur
————-
Steamship Route
————-
Sea Horror ( Fishing or Pop ) ( LVL 60+ Hits for 500+ on lvl 30 person )
falling rain necklace
Cross Bones ( Random Event )
Protection sign of sand
————-

I will Add more as time goes by Until then hopefully this will suffice, If theres a specific zone or NM you have seen throw a followup reply and ill find out what I can on the mob. I didnt want to post to many past lvl 30 cause well, once you hit lvl 30 theres a ton more and im REALLLLLY lazy right now cause im tired, IF you have any questions feel free to reply with them.

Rangers in FFXI

Rangers, inside and out

Monday, October 27, 2003
All trademarks and copyrights contained in this document are owned by their respective trademark and copyright holders.

Rangers in this game are not what you’re typically used to. Unlike other games, a ranger does not mean a master of wilderness and what not. The name actually means quite literally…a ranger. One who attacks with range. They are highly skilled in combat with bows and firearms with perfect accuracy. Rangers have an extreme amount of damage to dish out. Unfortunately, as most people know, every ARROW or every BULLET costs a whole Gil. Get ready to have to make money.

Dexterity is important as a ranger. Because of this I recommend a Mithra as the preferred race to pick. The high dexterity will serve you well, and agility will also help. Rangers are not hand to hand combatants, so don’t plan to solo. In a group, you must stand back and fire from a distance instead of going tooth and nail. On to abilities:

Eagle Eye – Level 1 – Increase accuracy and damage
Sharp Shooting – 1 – Increase accuracy of ranged damage
Scan – 5 –Reveals all mobs on map in range
Scavenger – 10 – Scan ground for items
Camouflage – 20 – Unable to be detected by mobs
Continuous Shot – 30 – Attack multiple targets
Shadow Sewing – 40 – Forces enemy to stop moving

A ranger’s passive abilities include several increased resistances and accuracy. An unique passive ability is that a ranger becomes harder to be seen by aggressive mobs. This may not seem like much, but when you’re surrounded by 10 giant demons, you’ll be happy like a clown that you have it. Never forget your active abilities in case of an emergency. Shadow Sewing may not seem like much, but when your healer is getting chased, it’ll save his life (Or even yours).

Since it may be hard to get groups as a ranger, being that you’re not much of a tank, I recommend picking up white mage as a sub-job. This will allow you to heal group members in case they need it.

Here is my money making mining tutorial, dont know if there are any around like this one but this method works good for me in making money besides doing the boring making and remaking characters in windurst.

First off you need some gil, preferably 2-5k Gil would be the nicest.

Create a Character In Bastok, you can create it on our server without a world pass for those of you that do not know, all you have to do is type in the server name under world. You can make any race, or whatever it does not matter at all. Go through the blah blah blah intro and /logout from that character.

Next Step log on to your character that has the money and Send it to your new character. /logout of that character.

Next log back onto your new character go get your money.

Goto the Bastok Mine Area on the Map, and Goto the Store that has the little bag on it. Your going to have to cross a bridge to get there, its not too hard to find, go into the back of the store and find the owner, the name starts with B dont remember what it is right now. Buy as many mining picks as possible, and go ahead and drop all of your equipment that you have, you will not need weapons or armor or any of the sort as only one thing aggro's you, and it doesnt really matter if you die.

Next step go into the Zeph Mines and goto the rough area. Run around the mines pressing TAB looking for mining spots, when you reach one go into your inventory and select the pickaxe to use. Some spots you can use inbetween 1-7 times from my experience thus far. Keep only ZINC, STEEL, and ESPECIALLY DARKSTEEL ORE. Zinc goes for around 300 gil a pop, the steel for 600 gil, and darksteel a whopping 8000 Gil! You also can keep Silver Ore, which goes for around 300-400 Gil. For each mining pick you can at sometimes get around 1k gil for it, which is not shoddy at all, especially when they only cost 208 gil at the store. Just keep on going around til your out of inventory or picks. NOTE: There is only 1 monster that aggro's that I have found as of yet and it was the Giant Amoeba, so try to keep back a little from it. So now your inventory is full, you will want to goto the auction house, the quickest way ive found is to just get yourself killed in the mines by attacking monsters heh, that way you dont have to waste a run after your fingers might be sore already. Goto the Auction House and set up First Darksteel, then Steel, then Zinc or Silver. You can either wait around like 15 mins or so, or deposit your ore in your completely new open mog house and go back out. But the ore sells FAST so you might want to just stick around. I have found up to around 15 or more Steel, and around 10 or more Zinc. thats 10k right there. If your lucky you might even get inbetween 1-2 Darksteel per 1 or 2 hours, which is an enormous money boost. This may take some time from your leveling but this way you can fund your Advancement

Hope this guide is helpful to those who use it, if it is used, please tell me how it goes for you and if you like it.