Starting out in Vana'diel: Mission, very possible
Hello there adventurers! It's Friday, I know, and Friday is not Thursday. That, however, won't stop me from bringing Final Fantasy XI aid to you! I promised you more information on the mission system, and that's exactly what I'm going to be delivering in this edition of "Starting out in Vana'diel."
Missions are one of the key aspect of the game. They tell the main story, a la a standard Final Fantasy title, they offer boss battles, chances to team up with friends, and, most importantly, tangible rewards. Missions offer gil and increases in nation rank, which in turn opens up more items for you to grab.
Now I would love to walk you through the missions for each city, but all of them play out differently until the storylines intersect in the city of Jeuno. That makes a nice walkthrough very hard for a column like this. What I can offer you is some great tips on how to increase your rank, and exactly why you want to spend the trouble doing it.
All about rank and rank points
Your rank and your rank points are two very different things. Rank is the number that resides inside of the flag by your name when you look at people in the party menu. This number can be from 1 to 10 and it indicates what part of the main storyline you're currently on. Normally, the higher the rank, the more well versed the player is in the world of FFXI.
Amongst the community, rank provides a reward past items -- it provides trust. High ranked players commonly know what they're doing, as they have been exposed to more boss battles and have proven themselves by completing more of the main storyline. Some party leaders have had to make a choice between two people who have identical classes, items, and levels, but not identical ranks. The higher rank is usually chosen, as that player is believed to be the more seasoned player, even if the unranked player has played longer.
Rank points provide you access to missions. Each rank has its own bar of rank points. Trading crystals to the city guards will increase your rank points, which is sometimes necessary to reach the next mission in the storyline.
A common misconception about the rank points bar is that it works like a experience bar -- you will reach the next rank when the bar fills up to the top. This is not true. Reaching the top of the bar only means that you'll be able to access all of the missions for that rank. So don't worry about trading crystals just to get your rank bar up. Only trade crystals if you find that the next mission for your rank has not appeared in the menu yet.
Missions must be completed in the order that they are given. Once you complete a mission, you get access to the next mission in the chain. Once you complete the last mission of a rank, you will be rewarded with a rank increase and a very nice amount of gil.
You want the airship pass, you really want the airship pass
Rank provides a few obvious rewards. Higher ranks give you access to more items in the conquest prize selection, as we discussed in the last article regarding conquest. Ranks also provide gil, as I have said before, and that's always nice to add to your wallet.
Rank also provides a few hidden rewards -- the airship pass, access to missions from the Rise of the Zilart expansion pack (at rank 6), and access to the endgame activity of Dynamis (also at rank 6).
Of these three things, the airship pass is something no adventurer should turn down. The airship pass is awarded to you at the end of the rank 4 missions, as part of the prize package for being awarded rank 5. This pass lets you ride the airship from the three main cities to and from Jeuno, making traveling across the world a easy proposition.
If you're looking through a helpful walkthrough for the missions for your city, look no further than FFXIclopedia. They have a full writeup for the missions of Bastok, Windurst, and San d'Oria, sans spoilers if you're really getting into the story.
Well adventurers, we're done the basics! Next time we're going to have a little chat about soloing levels 1-10, and where to go once you've hit the magical level of 10. Until next time, safe adventures in Vana'diel!
