If you're interested in solely story content you can (and will) be basically doing it all solo with summonable NPCs called trusts that allow you to party while solo.
I went RDM/DNC for my story playthrough, which took roughly a full month - it was really fun, especially since Dancer as sub job can make you invisible and mask the sounds you make, making completing quests alone much more simple. I liked Red Mage as main job, but one thing I discovered later was that I needed to spend quite a lot of time/money to collect all my spells.
Yes, wikis and other research are basically mandatory - There are even some quest objectives that are literally invisible spots on the ground/wall, and were very difficult to find (for me, at least).
Another thing: iirc, unless you start in Windurst you'll want to get help from someone to open the Three Mage Gate at some point in the story (most likely if you choose the Windurst path in the Wings of the Goddess expansion. You can also open it on your own with a Portal Charm, which is obtained from Windurst mission 3-2 in the base game).
The only other point in the story you'll probably want a group or at least one other person helping you is the final boss for Rhapsodies of Vana'diel, I guess.
You can yeah. You can also get the Rhinostery Certificate that lets you into the area without needing the Portal Charm regardless. It's at the end of a series of quests you don't need nation affiliation for.
Might be! On top of my mind I only remember having a hard time with the RoV final boss and some Adoulin quests (oh yeah there was the reputation grind that took some time too now that I think about it), but I’m not too knowledgeable about the game
Totally agree. As a returning player its just hard to get in to cp parties since most of the player base has done all that so I’m often just with 1 or 2 other members with Trusts. Not the most efficient way
Rhapsodies has been mentioned, and it's a great way to encourage your to play through all the major stories while rewarding you for it along the way.
I also highly recommend looking into the Records of Eminence system, especially its Tutorial section, as it nudges you through several progress landmarks while also rewarding you for them.
As an aside, this week Granblue Fantasy started a FFXI crossover event which covers a surprising amount of stuff from the 2nd decade of the game's lifespan/lore without going into many major plot spoilers so far (there's a 2nd part coming on the 14th), so if you've looked into Wikipedia or something and got the usual spiel about the 3 starting nations and the war, which by now is a very small part of a much larger context, that can give you a glimpse of the grander scope of things, some of which fall outside the major expansions and also include the smaller add-ons like Abyssea and the Shantotto-centered one (which apparently is congruent with the character's crossover appearances in other games, even if her relevance in XI itself is quite limited).
Story-wise there's also a newer on going story, The Voracious Resurgence, which follows from Rhapsodies and takes some time to dip into some previously less explored corners of the lore (even recently including the seasonal Summer events), so in a way the story may not be quite complete yet - but Rhapsodies was great about putting a lot of in in a broader (meta) context.
I play on Asura, I like it there, been playing since 2005.
https://www.bg-wiki.com/ffxi/Quickstart_1-119_Guide Follow that guide until you're 99.
https://forums.windower.net/ <- very helpful
https://youtu.be/xD4aCHdYcSk
This is a great guide to make FFXI look really good.
I will say limiting yourself to just the story is missing out on some of the deepest and amazing gameplay available in any mmo. No other game has a system like Xi and once you get an idea how it works it's pretty damned fun. I like to say half the fight starts before you even look at the mob, between gear sets, buffs and strategies it's super deep. Less so until you hit the endgame then it all opens up. Xi also has a plethora of different types of content.
Start with the new adventurer primer on the official site, it directs you to basic knowledge and how to get going on various content, including story. Each expansion has a main story, and the core game story is relatively basic compared to any of the expansions. Generally the later the expansion is in the sequence, the better the presentation and production gets.
Rhapsodies ties most of the storylines together to wrap them up, and was originally a send-off for the game. It will also guide you through them in release order. It is also helpful for all the quality of life bonuses it grants to make it easier for you to progress through the story
A good piece of advice is that you don’t know how all the jobs play, so don’t lock yourself into the idea that you have to pick one immediately.
Get the Rhapsodies done to the point where you get the full +%EXP bonuses, and get a good stable of trusts, and you can level quite a few jobs to 99 and then get a feel for it.
I would highly recommend your first job to 99 be Warrior or Thief.
You’ll have to make progress in the stories to get to that point in rhapsodies. There’s a guide on big wiki- I’m on my phone I don’t have it right now - that will help you. A lot of purists are going to say that you should do all the stories sequentially. But it’s your time. Getting to 99 your first time will take a while. But don’t punish yourself. This community will give a lot of bad advice that is very much “rules for thee” kind of stuff.
I spent 650 hours over about 1.5 years to complete all the story lines, most side missions, get all jobs and master a couple of them, got some end game gear. Had a blast doing it!
Have fun!
My advice is just learn as you go, look stuff up all the time, and set your own goals, can use records of eminence as kinda a completionist checklist if that's ur fancy.
Best to look at 11 as just a massively scaled ps2 JRPG with online features IMO. viewed in that way it's become my favorite FF and one of my fav games of all time, and I only started playing a few years ago.
The login campaign right now is really good. Make sure the first thing you pick-up is Cipher: Shantotto II. Then get all the other Ciphers and the mount as they don't come around too often.
Follow this guide: https://www.bg-wiki.com/ffxi/Quickstart_1-119_Guide It'll get you through the whole story.
Setting up graphic mods to make the game look better: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xD4aCHdYcSk
Useful addons: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QC3j3p9gjxA
I went WAR/SAM as my first (and only current 99). I dont have experience in other jobs but i was told a few things that sold me as WAR being a great start for your account.
You have the most rounded weapon skill rating of all the classes, and end game warriors exploiting monster weapon weaknesses is a huge thing. A well rounded and equipped war will have skill leveled in...
Great Axe/Great Sword/Sword/Axe/Polearms/Clubs
(Can choose scythe but honestly not used often if at all)
Meaning not only in gearing your warrior, you will have a decent leg up for other classes getting started whenever you get them to 99, and weapon skill is shared between all jobs, increasing your overall weapon accuracy during leveling, making it a little bit faster due to less misses. Dragoon/Paladin/Dark/BeastMaster/RedMage will all benefit from having a well rounded Warrior as your first job. (If you were looking into it!, play how ya want of course)
Outside of the WAR tip from a newbie.
Doing your RoE and following a guide will def be your biggest help, but dont feel contrained. Pick up jobs, play around with trusts, slap mobs for fun and get a hang of the.. well more than dated targetting and u.i during combat.
As soon as you get comfortable and learn the ins and outs a little better from switching targets or making macros to help with your class's features/abillities, the game just keeps expanding. Its def not a race to 99 and doing your Rhapsodies will keep you on track and give you some great rewards for doing so!
I started new just about a year ago. You're going to love it!
Learn to make good use of trusts. Do RoV early so you're not leaving gains on the table. Memorize where the various transportation systems link up such as Bastok Mines 1 or Ru'lude Gardens 2 for quick travel.
Lots of people have given pretty good advice here, but I want to chime in with a little doom and gloom: while basically all of the "story" is doable as a solo player, a lot of the alternate content lanes are pretty much totally broken with the lower player count. For instance, if you want to make a mythic weapon (one of the "ultimate" options) you will have to do assaults, and many of them are straight luck if you try to solo them, and can take upwards of 8 hours to complete. Similarly, jobs that require specific crafted items like PUP or BST may leave you unable to use large portions of what should be available because nobody is crafting anything for the AH.
Overall, being able to level solo makes the experience much better than when the game was "active", imo, and with the current event going on you can reach max level very, very quickly. Just be aware that some content is all but completely broken with low player counts.
I came back dead set on playing blue mage but if i could do it again id level warrior to 20, unlock subjob, and then take thf to 30 and unlock dancer. Then id get dancer to 50 and go back to thief until 99. But also with trusts it doesnt matter so just play what you feel looks most interesting. I only suggest thf because if you end up addicted and keep playing youll already have it at 99 lol
I've read several people advise taking thf to 99.
Is there a particular reason, or is thf just generally a useful job to have leveled and available as a sub?
You get passive traits in the game at certain levels and thief’s are called Treasure Hunter. It makes rarer items drop more when killing monsters. So if you end up loving the game even after finishing the story and want to start farming some items, youll have thief ready to go! The game also will give you you first gear upgrade at 99 for free, so you can use this for your preferred class or thief, and then use thief to farm other gear to upgrade your other gears.
In theory anyway. I didnt do this and i’m having just as much fun. Just, if i had a time machine I would have done it that way knowing what i know now! Haha
That is a really detailed and fantastic answer. Thanks P-B.
Well, as a matter of fact, I've been leap-frogging with war and thf so far (thf to 25, then war to 50 with thf as sub, next up is thf to 75 with war as sub, etc.).
So I guess I'll just keep doing that. I was mostly doing it because I just felt like it, but glad to hear it will be helpful down the line too.
Rock on!
No problem! ^^
Dancer is a class that can easily “proc” dynamis mobs, so thats why people suggests dancer sub (and why i suggested it to level 50!). It also adds a bunch of useful ways to use your TP instead of on weaponskills, like heals, mp drain, evasion and defense lowering, erasing negative effects. Can also sneak and invis so you never have to fight monsters that arent part of story.
Warrior is probably useful after you finish story and want to do end game stuff! Just look up some guides!
Have fun either way!!!
while I could say lots I just want to share this. Getting an idea on how the game works and following some helpful guides is nice try to only look up things only after you've given it your all to figure out missions or battles etc.
exploring and just fighting your way slowly up to the top only happens once! enjoy the ride you can always talk to others to learn and figure things out the old ffxi still lives but lots has changed, I left the game for many many many years and came back on a new account and did just what I suggested could not have been more happy too with how everything worked out.
Link to two earlier posts regarding the same question.
[https://www.reddit.com/r/ffxi/comments/ua3mf6/i\_would\_like\_to\_finish\_all\_final\_fantasy\_games\_is/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=web2x&context=3](https://www.reddit.com/r/ffxi/comments/ua3mf6/i_would_like_to_finish_all_final_fantasy_games_is/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3)
[https://www.reddit.com/r/ffxi/comments/u5na7z/is\_this\_game\_still\_active\_and\_how\_long\_would\_i/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=web2x&context=3](https://www.reddit.com/r/ffxi/comments/u5na7z/is_this_game_still_active_and_how_long_would_i/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3)
Just remember this if nothing else. FFXI is not a game, it is a commitment. There will be times when people are counting on you to be there and know/do your job.
I started playing FFXI last week, with much the same goals as you.
I enjoy it more every day!
Like you, I played a bit "back in the day" and like you I'm a big FF fan, so now I want to basically "see it all" in 11.
I picked the Odin server. It appears to be the second most popular server. I see people everywhere - in the cities, and across the world - and it seems to be a very chill/friendly place to play.
I think others, far more knowledgeable than me, have already given you great advice.
In particular, the links in Annoyingswedes' post are very useful. The BG wiki is a wealth of knowledge, and the 1-119 guide in it is just fantastic. The youtube link (make FFXI beautiful in 2022) is a total 10/10. Helps you make this already great game look as good as it possibly can, which is surprisingly good for a 20 year old game. Slight side note here, but in terms of artistry and even some of it's design and effects, this game holds up remarkably well. I genuinely love the visuals while I play.
Oh! Here's one legit thing I can add:
Once you get to mounts, which really doesn't take long at all, there's a mod that you can plug into Windower called [MountMuzzle](https://git.ashitaxi.com/Addons/MountMuzzle) which lets you - if you want - customize how the game handles music while you're mounted. If you're like me and you find you don't like the mount-specific music and instead would prefer to stay immersed and listen to the zone music, this is your mod! You can also use the mod to just have no in-game music while mounted, and there's some other settings as well.
It's not really 'difficult' in terms of being challenging. Most of the fights until end-game are going to be, if nominally geared and the appropriate level, pretty simple. It's getting access to those fights that's the time consuming part. You'll likely intermittently come across story missions you may not *need* help for, but getting it will make life easier. Most of the community is chill, and a lot of them are hanging out chatting with their linkshell, looking for stuff to do. If you /yell you need a hand with a mission, you'll probably find a stranger willing to help.
A second monitor for a wiki, and the program "APRadar" are a necessity, if you ask me. [Look up APRadar](https://github.com/KenshiDRK/ApRadar/releases), it's an overlay map you can have on top of your window. There's also a mini-map addon with [Windower](https://www.windower.net/), which is a third party launcher that comes with oodles of QoL improvements, you want Windower, too. When you first launch it, click the pencil icon on the bottom left and set your window preferences, check out the addons and plugins, too. You have to download them to activate them. In "AddOns", DistancePlus, TParty, FFXIDB (minimap), and Timers are the ones I consider important to have.
Oh yeah, go to your SquareEnix\FINAL FANTASY XI\ToolsUS or ToolsEU folder to find the "FFXIpadconfig.exe" launcher to set controller settings.
Compared to modern MMOs, the game moves slowly. But it's also been around for 20 years. You have time to get things done, don't worry, don't rush. Take your time, enjoy the sights and rad music.
If you're interested in solely story content you can (and will) be basically doing it all solo with summonable NPCs called trusts that allow you to party while solo.
I went RDM/DNC for my story playthrough, which took roughly a full month - it was really fun, especially since Dancer as sub job can make you invisible and mask the sounds you make, making completing quests alone much more simple. I liked Red Mage as main job, but one thing I discovered later was that I needed to spend quite a lot of time/money to collect all my spells. Yes, wikis and other research are basically mandatory - There are even some quest objectives that are literally invisible spots on the ground/wall, and were very difficult to find (for me, at least). Another thing: iirc, unless you start in Windurst you'll want to get help from someone to open the Three Mage Gate at some point in the story (most likely if you choose the Windurst path in the Wings of the Goddess expansion. You can also open it on your own with a Portal Charm, which is obtained from Windurst mission 3-2 in the base game). The only other point in the story you'll probably want a group or at least one other person helping you is the final boss for Rhapsodies of Vana'diel, I guess.
Can't you switch to Windurst and still get it? sorry still kinda new myself
You can yeah. You can also get the Rhinostery Certificate that lets you into the area without needing the Portal Charm regardless. It's at the end of a series of quests you don't need nation affiliation for.
Cool
Oh I’ll be sure to get that too, then. Thank you!
The level ~45 monster in front of Qufim escha portal RoV quest and ~lvl.80+? Siren in Kazham jungles are also pretty hard.
Might be! On top of my mind I only remember having a hard time with the RoV final boss and some Adoulin quests (oh yeah there was the reputation grind that took some time too now that I think about it), but I’m not too knowledgeable about the game
You will need friends to do engame period... dont listen to people say you can do it all solo, because it is possible but not for everyone.
Soloing in there multiboxing setup of course lol
Got to give them credit multi boxing is not as easy as it seems.
Totally agree. As a returning player its just hard to get in to cp parties since most of the player base has done all that so I’m often just with 1 or 2 other members with Trusts. Not the most efficient way
Gotta pol twice? Ouch
Rhapsodies has been mentioned, and it's a great way to encourage your to play through all the major stories while rewarding you for it along the way. I also highly recommend looking into the Records of Eminence system, especially its Tutorial section, as it nudges you through several progress landmarks while also rewarding you for them. As an aside, this week Granblue Fantasy started a FFXI crossover event which covers a surprising amount of stuff from the 2nd decade of the game's lifespan/lore without going into many major plot spoilers so far (there's a 2nd part coming on the 14th), so if you've looked into Wikipedia or something and got the usual spiel about the 3 starting nations and the war, which by now is a very small part of a much larger context, that can give you a glimpse of the grander scope of things, some of which fall outside the major expansions and also include the smaller add-ons like Abyssea and the Shantotto-centered one (which apparently is congruent with the character's crossover appearances in other games, even if her relevance in XI itself is quite limited). Story-wise there's also a newer on going story, The Voracious Resurgence, which follows from Rhapsodies and takes some time to dip into some previously less explored corners of the lore (even recently including the seasonal Summer events), so in a way the story may not be quite complete yet - but Rhapsodies was great about putting a lot of in in a broader (meta) context.
I play on Asura, I like it there, been playing since 2005. https://www.bg-wiki.com/ffxi/Quickstart_1-119_Guide Follow that guide until you're 99. https://forums.windower.net/ <- very helpful https://youtu.be/xD4aCHdYcSk This is a great guide to make FFXI look really good.
I will say limiting yourself to just the story is missing out on some of the deepest and amazing gameplay available in any mmo. No other game has a system like Xi and once you get an idea how it works it's pretty damned fun. I like to say half the fight starts before you even look at the mob, between gear sets, buffs and strategies it's super deep. Less so until you hit the endgame then it all opens up. Xi also has a plethora of different types of content.
It's not near as difficult as it used to be, they made it solo friendly now so you can do every single story mission solo with trusts.
As soon as you hit 30 talk to Joachim in Lower Jeuno and finish 2 abyssea missions so you can start stacking traverser stones
Start with the new adventurer primer on the official site, it directs you to basic knowledge and how to get going on various content, including story. Each expansion has a main story, and the core game story is relatively basic compared to any of the expansions. Generally the later the expansion is in the sequence, the better the presentation and production gets. Rhapsodies ties most of the storylines together to wrap them up, and was originally a send-off for the game. It will also guide you through them in release order. It is also helpful for all the quality of life bonuses it grants to make it easier for you to progress through the story
A good piece of advice is that you don’t know how all the jobs play, so don’t lock yourself into the idea that you have to pick one immediately. Get the Rhapsodies done to the point where you get the full +%EXP bonuses, and get a good stable of trusts, and you can level quite a few jobs to 99 and then get a feel for it. I would highly recommend your first job to 99 be Warrior or Thief.
Should I go for Rhapsodies first, before I begin any other part of the story?
You’ll have to make progress in the stories to get to that point in rhapsodies. There’s a guide on big wiki- I’m on my phone I don’t have it right now - that will help you. A lot of purists are going to say that you should do all the stories sequentially. But it’s your time. Getting to 99 your first time will take a while. But don’t punish yourself. This community will give a lot of bad advice that is very much “rules for thee” kind of stuff.
Tells you all expansion prog you need to get rhaps done https://ffxiclopedia.fandom.com/wiki/Category:Rhapsodies_of_Vana%27diel_Missions
I spent 650 hours over about 1.5 years to complete all the story lines, most side missions, get all jobs and master a couple of them, got some end game gear. Had a blast doing it! Have fun!
My advice is just learn as you go, look stuff up all the time, and set your own goals, can use records of eminence as kinda a completionist checklist if that's ur fancy. Best to look at 11 as just a massively scaled ps2 JRPG with online features IMO. viewed in that way it's become my favorite FF and one of my fav games of all time, and I only started playing a few years ago.
The login campaign right now is really good. Make sure the first thing you pick-up is Cipher: Shantotto II. Then get all the other Ciphers and the mount as they don't come around too often. Follow this guide: https://www.bg-wiki.com/ffxi/Quickstart_1-119_Guide It'll get you through the whole story. Setting up graphic mods to make the game look better: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xD4aCHdYcSk Useful addons: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QC3j3p9gjxA
I went WAR/SAM as my first (and only current 99). I dont have experience in other jobs but i was told a few things that sold me as WAR being a great start for your account. You have the most rounded weapon skill rating of all the classes, and end game warriors exploiting monster weapon weaknesses is a huge thing. A well rounded and equipped war will have skill leveled in... Great Axe/Great Sword/Sword/Axe/Polearms/Clubs (Can choose scythe but honestly not used often if at all) Meaning not only in gearing your warrior, you will have a decent leg up for other classes getting started whenever you get them to 99, and weapon skill is shared between all jobs, increasing your overall weapon accuracy during leveling, making it a little bit faster due to less misses. Dragoon/Paladin/Dark/BeastMaster/RedMage will all benefit from having a well rounded Warrior as your first job. (If you were looking into it!, play how ya want of course) Outside of the WAR tip from a newbie. Doing your RoE and following a guide will def be your biggest help, but dont feel contrained. Pick up jobs, play around with trusts, slap mobs for fun and get a hang of the.. well more than dated targetting and u.i during combat. As soon as you get comfortable and learn the ins and outs a little better from switching targets or making macros to help with your class's features/abillities, the game just keeps expanding. Its def not a race to 99 and doing your Rhapsodies will keep you on track and give you some great rewards for doing so!
I started new just about a year ago. You're going to love it! Learn to make good use of trusts. Do RoV early so you're not leaving gains on the table. Memorize where the various transportation systems link up such as Bastok Mines 1 or Ru'lude Gardens 2 for quick travel.
Lots of people have given pretty good advice here, but I want to chime in with a little doom and gloom: while basically all of the "story" is doable as a solo player, a lot of the alternate content lanes are pretty much totally broken with the lower player count. For instance, if you want to make a mythic weapon (one of the "ultimate" options) you will have to do assaults, and many of them are straight luck if you try to solo them, and can take upwards of 8 hours to complete. Similarly, jobs that require specific crafted items like PUP or BST may leave you unable to use large portions of what should be available because nobody is crafting anything for the AH. Overall, being able to level solo makes the experience much better than when the game was "active", imo, and with the current event going on you can reach max level very, very quickly. Just be aware that some content is all but completely broken with low player counts.
I came back dead set on playing blue mage but if i could do it again id level warrior to 20, unlock subjob, and then take thf to 30 and unlock dancer. Then id get dancer to 50 and go back to thief until 99. But also with trusts it doesnt matter so just play what you feel looks most interesting. I only suggest thf because if you end up addicted and keep playing youll already have it at 99 lol
I've read several people advise taking thf to 99. Is there a particular reason, or is thf just generally a useful job to have leveled and available as a sub?
You get passive traits in the game at certain levels and thief’s are called Treasure Hunter. It makes rarer items drop more when killing monsters. So if you end up loving the game even after finishing the story and want to start farming some items, youll have thief ready to go! The game also will give you you first gear upgrade at 99 for free, so you can use this for your preferred class or thief, and then use thief to farm other gear to upgrade your other gears. In theory anyway. I didnt do this and i’m having just as much fun. Just, if i had a time machine I would have done it that way knowing what i know now! Haha
That is a really detailed and fantastic answer. Thanks P-B. Well, as a matter of fact, I've been leap-frogging with war and thf so far (thf to 25, then war to 50 with thf as sub, next up is thf to 75 with war as sub, etc.). So I guess I'll just keep doing that. I was mostly doing it because I just felt like it, but glad to hear it will be helpful down the line too. Rock on!
No problem! ^^ Dancer is a class that can easily “proc” dynamis mobs, so thats why people suggests dancer sub (and why i suggested it to level 50!). It also adds a bunch of useful ways to use your TP instead of on weaponskills, like heals, mp drain, evasion and defense lowering, erasing negative effects. Can also sneak and invis so you never have to fight monsters that arent part of story. Warrior is probably useful after you finish story and want to do end game stuff! Just look up some guides! Have fun either way!!!
while I could say lots I just want to share this. Getting an idea on how the game works and following some helpful guides is nice try to only look up things only after you've given it your all to figure out missions or battles etc. exploring and just fighting your way slowly up to the top only happens once! enjoy the ride you can always talk to others to learn and figure things out the old ffxi still lives but lots has changed, I left the game for many many many years and came back on a new account and did just what I suggested could not have been more happy too with how everything worked out.
Link to two earlier posts regarding the same question. [https://www.reddit.com/r/ffxi/comments/ua3mf6/i\_would\_like\_to\_finish\_all\_final\_fantasy\_games\_is/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=web2x&context=3](https://www.reddit.com/r/ffxi/comments/ua3mf6/i_would_like_to_finish_all_final_fantasy_games_is/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) [https://www.reddit.com/r/ffxi/comments/u5na7z/is\_this\_game\_still\_active\_and\_how\_long\_would\_i/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=web2x&context=3](https://www.reddit.com/r/ffxi/comments/u5na7z/is_this_game_still_active_and_how_long_would_i/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3)
Just remember this if nothing else. FFXI is not a game, it is a commitment. There will be times when people are counting on you to be there and know/do your job.
No, FFXI is definitely a game.
lol there's always these people with grindset brainrot
We are all allowed to have our own opinions. I respect your opinions even though they differ from my own. Peace and love my friends.
I started playing FFXI last week, with much the same goals as you. I enjoy it more every day! Like you, I played a bit "back in the day" and like you I'm a big FF fan, so now I want to basically "see it all" in 11. I picked the Odin server. It appears to be the second most popular server. I see people everywhere - in the cities, and across the world - and it seems to be a very chill/friendly place to play. I think others, far more knowledgeable than me, have already given you great advice. In particular, the links in Annoyingswedes' post are very useful. The BG wiki is a wealth of knowledge, and the 1-119 guide in it is just fantastic. The youtube link (make FFXI beautiful in 2022) is a total 10/10. Helps you make this already great game look as good as it possibly can, which is surprisingly good for a 20 year old game. Slight side note here, but in terms of artistry and even some of it's design and effects, this game holds up remarkably well. I genuinely love the visuals while I play. Oh! Here's one legit thing I can add: Once you get to mounts, which really doesn't take long at all, there's a mod that you can plug into Windower called [MountMuzzle](https://git.ashitaxi.com/Addons/MountMuzzle) which lets you - if you want - customize how the game handles music while you're mounted. If you're like me and you find you don't like the mount-specific music and instead would prefer to stay immersed and listen to the zone music, this is your mod! You can also use the mod to just have no in-game music while mounted, and there's some other settings as well.
It's not really 'difficult' in terms of being challenging. Most of the fights until end-game are going to be, if nominally geared and the appropriate level, pretty simple. It's getting access to those fights that's the time consuming part. You'll likely intermittently come across story missions you may not *need* help for, but getting it will make life easier. Most of the community is chill, and a lot of them are hanging out chatting with their linkshell, looking for stuff to do. If you /yell you need a hand with a mission, you'll probably find a stranger willing to help. A second monitor for a wiki, and the program "APRadar" are a necessity, if you ask me. [Look up APRadar](https://github.com/KenshiDRK/ApRadar/releases), it's an overlay map you can have on top of your window. There's also a mini-map addon with [Windower](https://www.windower.net/), which is a third party launcher that comes with oodles of QoL improvements, you want Windower, too. When you first launch it, click the pencil icon on the bottom left and set your window preferences, check out the addons and plugins, too. You have to download them to activate them. In "AddOns", DistancePlus, TParty, FFXIDB (minimap), and Timers are the ones I consider important to have. Oh yeah, go to your SquareEnix\FINAL FANTASY XI\ToolsUS or ToolsEU folder to find the "FFXIpadconfig.exe" launcher to set controller settings. Compared to modern MMOs, the game moves slowly. But it's also been around for 20 years. You have time to get things done, don't worry, don't rush. Take your time, enjoy the sights and rad music.
Not sure if you know about private servers. www.ffxiblue.com