New Player FAQ

CAUTION!

This article is only a guide. Information expressed in a guide is usually more opinion than fact and should be taken as such. Guides are written by players, based upon their experiences, successes and mistakes, and are meant to aid other players. However, there may be differing opinions than those expressed in a guide. Strategies and information in guides may not work for everyone.

Written by Sushomi. This is a work in progress, so I would ask that other players do not directly edit this guide. If you feel there is an inaccuracy, or a question you think should be added, please reach out to me either in the main Horizon, or the Horizon Wiki Discords.

This page aims to answer questions that new players may have when starting this game. Please note that I'll be keeping this to gameplay questions, as technical issues are already handled elsewhere (see Tech Support).

Character Creation

Does Race/Job Combo Matter?

To an extent, yes. The different races do have different strengths and weaknesses. For example, taru have high INT, AGI, and MP, but low HP, STR, and VIT. This makes them excel at mage jobs and are somewhat weaker at melee and tanking jobs.

HOWEVER, that difference is not significant enough to stop you playing whatever race/job combo you prefer. You're going to be staring at your character for many, many hours, so it is definitely wise to pick whichever race you like the most. For some players, min/maxing stats will be part of the enjoyment. But for most casual players, just know that you can be proficient at any job no matter your race.

Does Starting Nation Matter?

Not really, no. The main impact your nation has on your gameplay is which story missions you will play through. Each nation has their own storyline.

The nation vendors will have some different items for sale, and it can affect which supply quests you have available to you at the start. However, these are fairly minor considerations in the long run and will only affect very early gameplay.

Do I have to pick a certain race/nation combo to get the lvl 1 city ring?

No, you don't. In retail you needed to pick certain combos to get a starting ring. For example, if you chose to play an Elvaan in San d'Oria, you would start with a San d'Orian ring.

This has been changed on Horizon. You now get the city rings on any race upon completing Mission 1-3.

What is hardcore, and how do I start it?

Hardcore is a gamemode where you try to get as many levels as possible without ever dying. It rewards a few cosmetic rewards upon reaching certain milestones.

Hardcore mode can only be initiated on a fresh character, by talking to a designated npc in your starting city.

Upon dying, the character loses hardcore status and continues as a regular character.

For more information on the rewards and the location of the hardcore npcs, please see Hardcore.

Basic Gameplay and Navigation

I've just logged in for the first time. What do I do?

Firstly, you'll have an item in your inventory called the Adventurer Coupon. Check that item's page for a list of npc's you can trade it to. When you trade it to them, it gives you 50gil (not a lot, but it's a start).

Make sure to open your equipment screen (Ctrl+E) and equip your starting weapon. And if you're a mage, go into your items (Ctrl+I) and learn your level 1 spell.

Then I'd recommend checking out the Tutorial NPC in your starting city. They'll give a couple of quests to help get you started, including a voucher for a free exp band (increases exp earned for a short time). So the quests are well worth doing. Note: these npcs will try to give you a quest where you have to obtain level 4. This quest is not actually enabled, so once you have the free exp ring voucher, the tutorial quests have finished.

Can I change jobs?

Yes, you can. You start the game with the six basic jobs (Warrior, Monk, Thief, Red Mage, White Mage, and Black Mage unlocked.

To change jobs, open up your map and look for the Residential Area (it will be denoted by a large square icon that looks like a keychain and keys). If you head there, you'll be able to speak to a Moogle in your mog house who will let you change jobs.

Note that you will need to acquire a weapon and possibly spells for this job, so you may need a little bit of gil before you can realistically change jobs.

What is Signet?

Signet is a buff that can be obtain by speaking to various guards in the main cities or outposts. It has various effects, such as speeding up HP recovery while resting, preventing TP loss while resting, and raising your defense and evasion against monsters that are lower level than you.

It also allows you to earn Conquest Points from killing enemies, and allows enemies that grant experience to drop crystals. At level 50+, Signet also increases experience gains slightly. See the Signet page for the full details.

How do I get one of the EXP rings?

You can obtain a free exp ring voucher by following the Tutorial NPC quests. After that, they can be purchased from a Conquest Overseer in exchange for Conquest Points. You can only purchase or recharge an exp ring once per week (this resets at JP midnight on Sundays).

Note that the client menus are extremely hard to edit, and therefore the cost of these rings shows incorrectly in the menus. Please see this page for the correct costs.

My inventory is constantly full. What can I do about this?

By default, the game does not place stackable items into stacks. You need to turn on a setting to enable this. Go to Menu > Config > Misc 2 and set the auto sort option to on.

This will mean every time you get a new item the game will try to combine it with other partial stacks of the same item, which will save you a lot of inventory space since most items stack to either 12 or 99.

What do I do with these Beastmen's Seals I'm getting?

Beastmen seals are used to gain entry to battlefields where you will fight one or more monsters for the chance at specific loot. They are quite valuable and worth holding onto. They do stack to 99, so providing you turn auto sort on they won't take up too much space.

Once you reach the city of Jeuno (most players will head here around lvl 20-ish), you can head to Shami in Port Jeuno. This is the npc who will exchange your seals for various orbs, which are used to initiate the fights. If you trade Shami your beastmen seals (and later your Kindred Seals which drop from level 50+ monsters) he will store them for you until you're ready to purchase an orb.

How do I get the Mog Satchel?

Head over to the main Horizon Discord and look for the #discord-setup channel. Follow the instructions there to Register (you will need to be logged in game to complete the process). Once done, you will need to zone or relog for the change to take effect.

Once done, to access your satchel you can either type /satchel in-game, or go to your Menu > View House > Mog Satchel.

How do I increase the space in my Mog Satchel?

The Satchel starts with 30 slots once you unlock it. It does not increase in space as you increase your main inventory slots (it used to do this on retail).

Instead, you can earn extra mog satchel space by completing certain quests in game. Note that the anniversary quests will require you to be fairly far into the game and have progressed in some of the missions. Currently, there are 15 extra slots available:

• 5 from Anniversary_Scavenger_Hunt_2023
• 5 from Anniversary Scavenger Hunt 2024
• 5 from linking your Horizon account to the Retro Achievements site.

Can I get the Satchel on my alts?

Yes, you can. If you already had your alt created when registered your account, then your alts should already have it unlocked.

If you created your alt after you registered, then you need to head back to the #discord-setup channel in the main Horizon discord, and click the button to 'Refresh My Account Link'. Once done, zone or relog and all characters on your account will have the mog satchel.

Please note that the extra slots obtained from the anniversary quests only apply to the character the quest was completed on. You can complete these quests on multiple characters though.

Economy

How does the Auction House work?

Players list an item (or a stack of items) for sale on the Auction House, and specify the minimum price they want to sell for.

Another player then goes to the auction house to buy said item. They are unable to see what prices the items are listed for, but can see the price of the last 10 of that item that sold. They enter their bid, and as long as they have bid over or equal to the minimum being asked for, they acquire the item. If they bid under, they will be told their bid was unsuccessful and can try again with a higher amount.

When there are multiple of an item for sale, the item that sells first will be the one with the lowest minimum bid. If there are multiple with the same minimum bid, then the one that was listed first will be sold first.

For example: Player A lists a stack of wind crystals for 2,000 gil. Shortly after that, Player B lists a stack of wind crystals for 1,900 gil. Player C then goes to buy a stack of wind crystals. They see the last 10 sales were all for 2,000 gil, so they bid this amount. Since Player B listed their item for a lower amount, theirs will sell. Player B will now get 2,000 gil from Player C.

Note: Even though Player B listed the item for less than what Player C bid, they obtain the full amount that Player C bid, not their original asking price.

Where do I pick up the gil from my Auction sales?

You need to speak to either the moogle in your mog house, or a nomad moogle. Select 'Delivery Box' and then 'Receive' to view any gil received from auction sales.

I sold an item on Auction House, but didn't receive the gil

Chances are you haven't actually sold it yet. The game client is limited in that it can only display 6 items being sold at a time. However, you have the ability to list 21 items for sale at any one time per character.

If you have more than 6 items for sale, when you click sales status it will show you the oldest 6 items first. To view the rest, exit out of the 'sales status' menu, then click back into it. This will now show you the next 6 items.

Note that when viewing sales status at an auction house, it will output a message into your chat log telling you what page you are viewing. You can have a maximum of four pages (3 pages of 6, and 1 page of 3, to make up your 21 item max).

How can I make money as a new player?

First off, always make sure you have Signet when fighting enemies. Just talk to the guards at your city gates (they will have R.K, W.W, or I.M after their name) to obtain the Signet buff. This allows crystals to drop, and lets you accrue Conquest Points from killing enemies. Save up your crystals, and sell any full stacks of 12 on the Auction House. Doing this can get you a little bit of gil to at least afford some of your first armor/weapon upgrades.

A common strategy is to level the 6 starter jobs to around level 10-12, and selling all the crystals you get from doing this. While you're doing this, take a look at the price of crystals and work out which sell for more. You can then selectively target enemies based on which will give the best returns.

The three starter cities will also have some basic repeatable quests that can often be completed using drops from monsters in the starter zones. Use these to earn a little bit of extra gil.

Also, don't just buy gear upgrades because you can. Take a moment to ask if you actually need them. For example, if you're going to level a mage in a party, you're usually not going to be taking many hits, so buying gear with a couple of extra points in defense will provide little benefit but could still set you back a few thousand gil. Whereas a weapon or ring with a few points of extra INT or MND (depending on your job) will serve you much better.

Besides that, check out the Crafting and HELM section of this FAQ for some other potential gil-makers.

Partying

When should I stop soloing and start grouping up with other players?

Most players will start partying up around level 12-ish.

How do I look for an exp party?

Firstly, you should put your party flag up. This is the little green exclamation mark you may see next to some players name. The party flag allows other players to see that you're interested in teaming up. To do this, either type /inv, or go to your Menu > Party > Seek Party.

If you need to turn the flag off, just do the same again.

You can also add a comment that other players will be able to see when searching for party members. You can edit your search comment by going to Menu > Search > Edit Comment (the game will ask you to select a category / sub-category, but these don't really matter so just pick any).

Generally, the kind of information you would put in is:

• How much exp you need to level - this helps players who might be looking for an appropriate level sync. If they're forming a lvl 14 party, and you're only 100 exp from levelling, it can mean having to relocate or rearrange the party, so your exp to next level (TNL, for short) is very useful info to provide.
• Any restrictions you have - for example, you might not be able to level sync any lower than level 12 due to not having an appropriate weapon of that level, or maybe you will only party up if your friend also gets invited, in which case you may want to put that in your comment.

How do I search for other players to party with?

You can do this using search commands to bring up a list of players that meet certain criteria.

As an example, if you type '/sea all inv' it will show a list of players with their party flag up. You can further narrow down this search to specific level ranges or jobs by adding additional criteria, such as '/sea all 10-20 whm inv', which will find all whms between levels 10 and 20 with their party flag up. (Note: the 'all' part of the command specifies searching in all areas of the world. If you left it out, it would only search in your current zone).

Where should I go to party?

The wiki has a player maintained list of EXP Camps which you may find useful. Most low level players will go to Valkurm Dunes around level 12 (while it is possible to start there at 10, it is much more difficult at that level, and soloing to 12 is generally considered better).

There are other camps at that level, but players tend to stick with what they know best, and the dunes seem to hold a lot of nostalgia with those who played back in the 2000's. That said, some of the other camps are great and worth a try if you get the chance.

Where can I find more information about exp parties?

Check out the other player guides about parties here: Player Guides

Travel

Why aren't the homepoint crystal teleports working?

The ability to warp between homepoint crystals is disabled here. The reasoning for this is it makes the game feel much emptier because you no longer see players running around in various zones.

Are the Field Manual teleports enabled?

No. Field Manuals were added later in the game's lifecycle and are not enabled on Horizon. They will likely be added with later expansions, though we do not currently know if there will be any changes to how they work.

What's the quickest way for me to get around the world?

There are a few travel methods that players use:

• Outpost Teleportation - This will probably be one of your main travel methods as your progress through the game. Please see the outpost page for more information on how to unlock the teleports, and their level requirements.
• Chocobo License - After level 20 you can obtain a license to rent chocobos from major cities and a few other locations.
• Teleport Spells - Learned by White Mage at levels 36, 38, and 42. Can be used to teleport an entire party. Requires you to have touched the Telepoint crystals and picked up their respective Key Item before you can be teleports to that location. Check the Telepoint page for a list of their locations.
• Warp and Warp II - Learned by Black Mage at levels 17 and 40 respectively. Warp can be used on yourself to send you back to your homepoint, whereas Warp II can be used to warp another player in your party. (See also Warp Cudgel and Instant Warp)
• Airship Pass - You can purchase a pass in Jeuno for 500,000 gil. However, you will obtain one for free when reaching rank 5 with your Nation Missions.

Why can't I buy the Warp Ring?

The Warp Ring was not originally added to the game until after 2008, so it is not possible to purchase it on Horizon. However, it is very difficult to edit the client's menus to remove the ring from the Conquest vendors. There is only one method to obtaining the Warp Ring currently, and that is to reach level 75 on a Hardcore Character (note: the ring will be lost if the player ever loses their hardcore status).

Crafting and HELM

What is the best crafting profession for "insert job here"?

Long story short, there isn't a best crafting profession for any specific job. Players from other games might think that you would want leatherworking for jobs wearing light armor, or blacksmithing for heavy armor jobs, etc. However, FFXI's crafting system is quite different to a lot of other MMO's.

Crafting in FFXI is designed to encourage trade, because you can only max one craft, and levelling them up is a HUGE gil sink. If you're looking to make your own armor, then know that it is going to cost you MANY, MANY times more gil to level your crafts and make the item, than it would to simply buy it off the auction house.

Why is crafting not recommended for new players?

Due to the way crafting works, most items tend to cost less than the materials needed to craft them. This is because higher level crafters have a higher chance of creating a HQ (high quality) result, and will often craft a single item many times in the hopes of obtaining the HQ version. This often leads to an over-supply of the NQ (normal quality) version, which in turns ends up with people undercutting each other to try and recoup their gil, to the point that they take a loss on those items.

As such, it is extremely difficult for a lower level crafter to compete with the over-abundance of higher level crafters. Since a low level is FAR less likely to create HQ results, they're forced to take a much bigger loss on most crafts.

If, however, you are determined to level a crafting profession, you will need to find a good, steady source of income elsewhere to fund it.

Are any of the professions starter-friendly?

If you're dead set of levelling a craft as a new player, then Cooking is generally considered the way to go. It is possible to level cooking up to 60 while making a small profit, but this still requires you to research the available recipes and check how much items are selling for on the auction house and at vendors, then carefully choosing what to craft.

Woodworking and Alchemy aren't too expensive at low levels, but you may find it hard to make any profits until much higher levels.

All of the other professions can be very expensive to level, especially Goldsmithing and Smithing.

What is HELM?

HELM stands for Harvesting, Excavation, Logging, and Mining. It is a collective term for some of FFXI's gathering professions. Note that in addition to these, there is also Fishing, Chocobo Digging, Clamming, and Gardening.

Should I do gathering as a new player?

Each gathering method has its own pros and cons. But most require some form of initial investment.

• Harvesting: Requires the Field gear set to be worthwhile. While wearing the three field gear pieces, your tools (Sickle) won't break. However, harvesting points are generally quite spaced out, and there aren't many good low level spots available.

• Excavation: Has no gear to boost its results, and has a high rate of breaking tools (Pickaxe). No good low level spots, and often doesn't have a great yield.

• Logging: Requires the Field gear set to be worthwhile. Tools (Hatchet can still break even with the field gear. Best done at Ghelsba Outpost as a new player once you're level 12+, but expect a lot of competition.

• Mining: Requires the Field gear set to be worthwhile. Tools (Pickaxe can still break even with the field gear. Best low level spot is in Zeruhn Mines where you can get Iron Ore and Darksteel Ore occasionally (can be done at level 1).

• Fishing: Requires a level 15 job to start, plus a bit of gil for a fishing rod and bait or lure. Takes a long time to level up, but after reaching level 1 fishing (or acquiring a piece of the fishing/angler's set) you can fish moat carps, which generally sell for around 2-3,000 per stack of 12.

• Chocobo Digging: Not really worthwhile for new players. Takes an insanely long time to level up, and is often very overcamped in profitable areas. Zones only have a set number of items per game day, so there is a lot of competition. Also requires level 20 for the Chocobo License, plus a lot of gil to spend of Gysahl Greens.

• Clamming: I might be biased, since I wrote the clamming guides, but clamming can be a great money-maker for new players. It's non-competitive, and doesn't require a massive amount of gil to start. Does require a trek to Purgonorgo Isle in Bibiki Bay though, and a good understanding of the mini game to make it worthwhile. Yields slightly worse results if you don't have the clamming gear from the seasonal summer event (usually starts around August), but still worth a look-in if you're not into fighting over resources with other players.

• Gardening is a good way to make some passive income as it requires very little effort to maintain. You do need to check your plants each day to stop them from wilting. And you'll need some gil to start off so you can buy flowerpots and seeds. The downside to gardening is it can take anywhere from 3 to 28 days depending on what seeds you're planting. You can only have 10 pots per character (30 per account if you're using all 3 allowed characters). So you’re limited in how much gil you can obtain from gardening. That said, due to the fact that it requires very little time per day, it can still be worthwhile to supplement your income.