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R51, feel free to make all or part of this into a news post.

Announced earlier in May of this year, the expanded free trial for Final Fantasy XI is finally rolling out in September.

The current version of the free trial has a level cap of 50 and allows just a 14 days of playtime. The new, expanded trial bumps the level cap up to 75, with no restriction on playtime, allowing players to really immerse themselves in the base game and explore all it has to offer. At character creation, players can choose one of the following jobs:

Warrior, Monk, White Mage, Black Mage, Red Mage, Thief

Additional jobs will be available at level 30 by doing a side quest: Paladin, Beastmaster, Dark Knight, Bard, Ranger, Summoner*

* Summoners will not be able to get all the summons available in game during the free trial, and their Artifact Gear is not available in the free trial as well.

There are other restrictions as well, as detailed in that second link above. For those familiar with the FFXIV Free Trial, the restrictions are much the same: limits on communication, gil caps, etc.

So what DO you get?

- The three Starter Nation mission lines, up through Rank 5, with a self-contained story that concludes by setting up the Rise of the ZIlart expansion (RotZ is not part of the Free Trial)
- Access to the 12 jobs listed above
- Access to at least 12 regions, with each region having 4-8 zones
- Access to plenty of side-quests to keep you busy
- Access to HELM: Harvesting, Excavation, Logging and Mining
- Access to Crafting with 8 crafts to explore.
- Access to Fishing, though you'll be limited to how many fish you can catch per day.
- Access to base Artifact Gear (https://www.bg-wiki.com/ffxi/Category:Artifact_Armor) for your jobs (excluding Summoner)
- Probably access to the original zones for Dynamis (https://www.bg-wiki.com/ffxi/Category:Dynamis#Original_Areas), the games' first "end game" activity. This would allow access to SOME Relic Armor, and would likely allow creation of the first one or two steps of Relic Weapons
- Seasonal Events and cross-overs

I know for many of my friends, FFXI is the only Final Fantasy game in the main series that they haven't played. Therefore, I'm excited about this free trial possibly attracting more players and giving them a chance to experience its story.

One thing of note for those familiar with its sister MMO: unlike FFXIV which has a World Travel System, FFXI does not. You can transfer your character to another world for a fee, but you cannot visit other worlds. So choose your world wisely!

I'm on the Valefor, and would be happy to guide any new players around the game. I'm usually playing on one of four characters these days:

* Siofra (streaming story on her sometimes)
* Altheav (my former main; I dabble on her occassionally)
* Amalberga (going through story again for documentation purposes
* Valara (she's doing Windurst missions, again for documentation purposes)

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Currently on hiatus until October 22nd

Expanded Free Trial is now live, and there will be a News Post on the site later today with more info about it and some goodies from a login campaign, but I wanted to take some time to write a guide for those just stepping foot in Vana'diel for the first time!

BEFORE YOU START

You'll need to decide on a few things before you start!

1. Race - There are five different races to play! You'll need to choose one of them. Note that playable Mithra are only female, and technically Galka are genderless but use he/him pronouns.

The different races have different strengths and weaknesses, and once upon a time, that really mattered in game. For instance, Tarutaru have a bigger MP pool than the other races, while Galka have a small MP pool. Even so, a Galka White Mage can still hold their own these days because of later updates to the game that even old the race differentials. So choose a race not by their stats, but because you'll enjoy looking at them!

2. Starting Job - You'll need to choose which job you want to play as.

There are six starting jobs:

• Warrior - Unlike in FFXIV where WAR is a tank, here they are strictly melee DPS. They can use many different weapons and are fairly sturdy. They can buff the party with Warcry and Blood Rage, and get a native Double Attack trait. If you can't decide what weapon you want to play as, or want to try a variety, then Warrior is for you. - https://www.bg-wiki.com/ffxi/Warrior
• Monk - Selfish melee DPS. Monks use Hand-to-Hand weapons, and it can be really fun to watch a hasted Monk dish out damage. - https://www.bg-wiki.com/ffxi/Monk
• White Mage - The default healer of the game, and the best healer overall. Also buffs the party. As a WHM, you won't be doing much damage in end-game content, primarily focusing on recovery, but you do have access to offensive spells that you can magic burst with, or help debuff the mob. - https://www.bg-wiki.com/ffxi/White_Mage
• Black Mage - Your magic damage dealer. Also used for crowd control - in FFXI, monsters are usually fought one-by-one rather than in piles of trash pulls, so a BLM will Sleepga II the pulls and keep them slept while the party or alliance whittles them down one-by-one. - https://www.bg-wiki.com/ffxi/Black_Mage
• Red Mage - An all-around class, RDM can melee with swords and daggers, has access to offensive Black magic, and can heal and buff the party. They truly excel in debuffing, though, getting access to higher-level debuffs than any other job. This is a very good solo job, or used in pairs to low-man more difficult content. - https://www.bg-wiki.com/ffxi/Red_Mage
• Thief - A damage dealing class. It does less damage than WAR or MNK but is still respectable with good burst damage. It's a great class for those on Free Trial due to its Treasure Hunter abilities, allowing the player to get more drops from monsters for farming of items to sell or use in crafting. It's highly recommended to level THF to at least 50 for use as a subjob. - https://www.bg-wiki.com/ffxi/Thief

3. Starting Nation - There are three nations to choose from:

• The Federation of Windurst - a home of magic and mages. Primarily occupied by Tarutaru and Mithra, though other races do live there as well. More info: https://www.bg-wiki.com/ffxi/Category:Windurst - if starting in Windurst as a Tarutaru or Mithra, you'll receive a Windurstian Ring - other races starting in Windurst can purchase one upon obtaining Rank 3.
• The Kingdom of San d'Oria - a proud nation of Elvaans. Starting as an Elvaan there will net you a San d'Orian Ring. More info about San d'Oria cna be found here: https://www.bg-wiki.com/ffxi/Category:Kingd...of_San_d%27Oria
• The Republic of Bastok - an industrial city primarily inhabited by Humes and Galka. Starting there on one of those races with net you the Bastokan Ring. More info on Bastok: https://www.bg-wiki.com/ffxi/Category:Bastok

4. Server - You'll need to choose a server to play on! The list of servers can be found here: https://www.playonline.com/ff11us/service/

Please note that as of May 2026, THREE servers have been closed to new players: Asura, Bahamut and Odin: https://automaton-media.com/en/news/final-f...overpopulation/

I would go whereever your friends are, but if there's anybody reading this that wants help in-game, choose Valefor! My server! I will be glad to help out when I can.

Also, to Final Fantasy XIV players: THERE IS NO WORLD VISIT SYSTEM. You may transfer to another server for real-life money, but you cannot visit other worlds. So be careful when you choose a server, because that is what you'll be playing on.

Additionally, there is no Party Matching system across worlds - you only play with the people on your server, which is WORLDWIDE (so North American folks can also be playing with German folks and Japanese folks). As you progress, you'll get to know many people by name on your server.

INSTALLING THE GAME

Made your decisions? Ready to start? Well, first you'll need to fight the first boss battle: installing the game! I recommend following the guide here: https://www.bg-wiki.com/ffxi/Install_Guide

That guide is for Windows users, but you can also find guides for Mac and Linux on the wiki.

Installation is... not very straightforward, hence recommending the guide. Please note that you can download the game client FOR FREE direct from the official site, here: https://www.playonline.com/ff11us/download/...nstall_win.html

In my next post, I'll go over the first steps you should take when entering the game.


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FIRST STEPS

So you've created your character. What now?

1. Opening Cutscenes

First, you'll be treated to an opening cutscene in which the camera will zoom over your chosen starting nation, telling you a bit about it. This cutscene is the same for all players starting in your nation.

Next, you'll be tossed into one of the zones in your starting nation. Which zone you enter is random. From making several characters over the years, I've discovered that THIS cutscene differs depending on what zone you start in. The gist is the same, though: you are new in town and ask questions about what to do/where to go.

2. First Quest

As part of the second opening cutscene, you'll be given your first quest: trading an Adventurer Coupon to a nearby NPC. The game will tell you which NPC during the cutscene, but note that unlike FFXIV, there won't be any indicator over the NPC's name - it's up to you to explore and figure out who to trade it to.

3. Tutorial NPC and Home Points

Your next step is to find the Tutorial NPC in your nation. Note that they may be in another zone than the one you started in, but will be near one of your nation's gate guards.

As you make your way to them, you'll pass blue Crystals. These are Home Points, and are similar to the Aetherytes in FFXIV but not quite the same. Click on them to "register" it, which will allow you to travel to it from another home point.

You also have the option of setting one as your default home point. I recommend doing so with the crystal nearest the Tutorial NPC.

Once you find the Tutorial NPC, talk to them to begin a series of quests.

4. Signet and Conquest

The very first tutorial quest has you get Signet from a gate guard. Getting Signet allows you to Conquest, which will net you crystals upon defeating monsters. Signet also comes with some buffs, so it's recommended to DON'T LEAVE HOME WITHOUT SIGNET. For more information on the benefits of Signet, read this: https://www.bg-wiki.com/ffxi/Signet

5. Leveling, Fields of Valor, and Weaponskills

The third quest from the Tutorial NPC has you leaving town to gain some skill levels.

In FFXI, not only do you need to raise your job level, but also its various skills. For example, a White Mage (the job I play) needs to raise the following skills:

* Club (for melee damage)
* Staff (for melee damage)
* Healing (for cure potency and accuracy)
* Enhancing (for buffs)
* Enfeebling (for landing debuffs and making them last longer)
* Shield
* Evasion

The Tutorial NPC wants you to raise your weapon's skill level to 5, at which you'll receive your first [url="https://www.bg-wiki.com/ffxi/Category:Weapon_Skills">Weapon Skill[/url]. This is a name for a stronger attack you can do with your weapon, and needs to be triggered from the gameplay menu.

It is very recommended that you make a Macro for your weaponskill. For instance, the first weaponskill for Club is Shining Strike, so I would write:

Code

/ws "Shining Strike" <t>

The <t> indicates that you should use it on the engaged target. There are other target variables, but this one is good enough to start with.

Weaponskills are VERY important in FFXI, because they set off Skillchains and Magic Bursts.

For example, let's say our WHM uses the Shining Strike weaponskill. If the Monk uses Combo within a few seconds of the WHM's WS, this creates an Impaction skillchain. Impaction is Thunder element, so then the Black Mage or Red Mage can Magic Burst by casting Thunder within a few seconds of the Impaction going off, which you'll see by the graphical effect on the monster.

Okay, so you need to level your weapon class, right? Might as well get some job levels too. One better way to do so is with Fields of Valor.

Upon exiting your nation into a field area, you should see a floating book by the exterior gate. Click on it, and it should say it is a field guide. Choose to read page 1, and accept. This book will give you a training regimine to follow.

For example, the Tutorial NPC for Bastok is in Bastok Markets, near the zone line to South Gustaberg. Page 1 in the Fields of Valor guide for South Gustaberg has you kill 6 members of the bee family.

The benefit of doing so? An experience point bonus, and tabs - which is the name of the currency you get from Fields of Valor. Tabs can be used for buffs at the book (I like getting Reraise if I am unsure of the enemies in the area) or for Repatriation, which will teleport you back to your home nation.

They also have additional use, but that comes in my next post.

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Visit my new website!

Twitch Schedule:
Currently on hiatus until October 22nd