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Final Fantasy XI
General Party Strategies Guide
c. 2003 Tristan Baletori
ver. 1.00


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*1A Introduction
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Hello and thank you for reading my guide to effective partying in the world of
Vana'diel. In this guide, I will show you some of the tips and tricks I have
learned during my time playing this great game! I have broken this guide down
into sections, first for general parties and then by job class. At this time
I have not added any of the advanced classes, since by the time you're able to
take an advanced class (level 30) you should already have mastered most of the
things in this guide.

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*1B Table of Contents
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The best way to use this guide is by reading it in its entirety. However, if
you wish to only view the section for your particular class, you can use the
'Find' function on your web browser and search for the index number for the
section you wish to view. For instance, if you wish to return to this table of
contents, use the 'Find' function and search for *1B and you should be
returned to this section.

*1A - Introduction
*1B - Table of Contents

*2A - How a Party Works
*2B - Things to Remember

*3A - Tips by Role: Tanks
*3B - Tips by Role: Healers
*3C - Tips by Role: Damage Dealers
*3D - Tips by Role: Support

*4A - Tips by Job Class: Warrior
*4B - Tips by Job Class: Monk
*4C - Tips by Job Class: Thief
*4D - Tips by Job Class: Red Mage
*4E - Tips by Job Class: White Mage
*4F - Tips by Job Class: Black Mage

*5A - Effective Use of Macros

*6A - Skill Chains and Magic Bursts

*7A - Closing

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*2A How a Party Works
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Depending on your job class, by the time you reach level 9-10, you should
begin looking for a party to join. Reason being, after about that point you
will be able to obtain far more experience points in a group than you would
soloing, due to a party's ability to get 'kill chains'. Many people are
confused about how the experience system actually works in a party, so I will
explain.

You are a level 11 White Mage (WHM) in a party. Your party members consist of
a level 13 Warrior (WAR), a level 11 Red Mage (RDM), a level 11 Thief (THF), a
level 12 Monk (MNK) and a level 10 Black Mage (BLM). A good variety of jobs.
Your party has just successfully defeated a Goblin Tinkerer, which was
an 'Even Match' for your party. Now, if within the span of one minute, you
begin to fight an 'Even Match' or tougher monster and you defeat that monster,
you will have created a kill chain and will receive a small bonus to the amount
of XP (experience points) you receive. You can continue to chain monsters of
'Even Match' or higher toughness to further increase your chain and the amount
of bonus XP you receive.

In the above example, not everyone would receive the same amount of XP per
kill. The level 13 WAR would receive the most XP because he is the
highest-leveled member of the party, while the BLM at level 10 would receive
the least. This is something to keep in mind when you are creating or joining
a party. With those 3 levels between the highest and lowest members, the XP
difference won't be huge. However, the more you increase the gap the less
the lowest members receive. Ideally you'll be in a party with no more than two
levels between the lowest and highest members, else you'll definitely see an XP
decrease. This only applies to early levels, the higher you go the wider the
'acceptable gap' becomes. But early on this is a good rule of thumb to follow.

The following is a link to a truly awesome in-depth guide on how the math of XP
works in a party. The link was sent to me by Kythlyn and the guide was written
by Original_Red_Monika of the IGN FFXI forum:
http://vnboards.ign.com/message.asp?topic=60167891&replies=20
You won't find a better explaination of the XP system than that one, so if you
are interested, head over and check it out!

Another important thing to keep in mind is that you CAN take chain-killing too
far. Don't pull a monster when your mages are almost out of magic points (MP)
just for the sake of getting one more chain. It's not worth it, and if you die
you'll lose more XP than you would gain. I will explain some strategies for
conserving MP later.

A good party is a beautiful thing to see. Everyone works in coordination with
everyone else, kills are smooth and quick, and nobody dies. However, it takes
a lot of planning ahead to reach that level of teamwork. The first thing a new
party should do is designate roles. That way, nobody in the party is stepping
on anyone else's toes during a battle. A good party should have the following,
at minimum:

Puller
Someone to aggro (cause a monster to become aggressive to the party)
and initiate the fight. Should be someone with high defence, to take
those initial few hits. A puller will run out into the field away from
where the party is camping, aggro a monster, and run back to the party
leading the monster to them. Therefore, it should be someone who can
take at least a few hits before being healed, or who can dodge hits
well. Warriors are the standard pullers because they can pull with
their 'Provoke' skill, but it has been suggested to me that thieves
can make decent pullers too, because of their high evade rate. I'd
still rather have my warrior pull, but I could certainly see the merit
of having a thief pull, provided the Tank (see below) can take the
aggro from the monster quickly.

Tank
Someone to take the bulk of the damage in the battle, making it easier
for the healer to focus his/her efforts and making sure that the
physically weak mages don't get hit. This person is usually the puller
as well, and to be an effective tank, he/she practically MUST be some
degree of WAR, for the WAR's ability 'Provoke'.

Healer
The person in charge of keeping everyone else alive. Usually this is
the job of a WHM, although RDM can be an effective healer in a pinch.
However, an ideal party will have at least one person in charge of main
healing, with a backup healer if needed.

Debuffer
Member in charge of inflicting every status ailment and disability
possible on the monster. RDM makes an excellent debuffer, and both BLM
and WHM have debuffs (enfeebling spells) as well. Generally falls under
the 'Support' category.

Damage Dealer
This probably shouldn't be your tank, as WARs typically don't do as
much damage as some other classes are capable of. BLMs are excellent
damage dealers with their nuke spells. MNKs are basically a physical
version of BLMs. THFs have excellent abilities such as Sneak Attack
and Trick Attack. Remember, it's never a bad thing to deal TOO much
damage, just be careful how quickly you deal it so that you don't
accidentally take aggro from the tank. Also, while WARs won't deal
the kind of damage a BLM can, for instance, they do contribute damage
to the monster at an appreciable rate. So, while a party lacking any
other damage dealer besides WARs won't be able to take on prey quite
as tough as if they had a BLM, a MNK, or a THF, they can still be
a very effective party nonetheless.

Support
Generally this job involves buffing the party, minimising damage, and
filling in with one of the main roles when needed. RDMs do a great
job, while WHMs have great group-wide defence spells. The most important
buffs are undoubtedly Protect and Shell, as they minimise damage taken by
the party.

When a new party comes together for the first time, before your first battle
everyone should discuss these roles and decide who is doing what. If you have
two WHMs, one should be designated primary healer while the other casts debuffs
and then rests to restore MP. Then in the next battle switch roles so the
other WHM can rest. If you have more than one tank, have one designated as
primary tank and the other as secondary. The primary tank will be using his
'Provoke' every 30 seconds, while the secondary tank will conserve his
'Provoke' and use it if the situation calls for it. Planning things out ahead
of time will prevent mishaps where both WHMs cast a cure II on the same party
member, or where two people pull and the party is forced to fight two monsters
at once. Planning is essential.

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*2B Things To Remember
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These are just a few points that it is important to remember if you want to be
a successful and helpful party member. Please keep in mind these are only
suggestions, but they are suggestions that WILL help you win more battles.

1. Stay current with the best spells and equipment you can wear at your level.
Many is the time I've seen WARs with level 20 weapons, but level 7 or lower
armour. If your armour is sufficient, it will make your healer's job
easier. Same for mages, your higher level spells will become more and more
crucial as you take on harder and harder monsters. So even though it may
cost a great deal now, it's worth it!

2. Don't be afraid to use your '2 Hour' special ability. Too many players save
these abilities, thinking they're only for emergencies. While I wouldn't
suggest you waste these abilities, they're not doing any good unused. In
an effective party, my WHM character can safely use his Benediction skill
without drawing the aggro from the tank, but only if my tank has been using
'Provoke' nonstop every 30 seconds.

3. Don't forget your role! Once you've discussed roles with your group, don't
deviate from that unless the situation is an emergency or you tell the group
in advance.

4. Don't bite off more than you can chew. Chains are fun and profitable, but
not at the expense of the party. When in doubt about that 'Incredibly
Tough' Ghoul, err on the side of caution.

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*3A Tips by Role: Tanks
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As a tank, you are CRUCIAL to the survival of your party. You're the one who's
going to be taking all the damage, and if you do your job right the weaker
mages will never be hit more than once in a battle.

The key to being a successful tank is your 'Provoke' ability. If you don't use
that ability AND USE IT RIGHT, you're not doing your job. Too many times have
I partied with tanks who thought that they were supposed to conserve their
'Provoke' and only use it when the monster turns its attention to someone else.
Not so. Aggro works on a counter system. The more you do and the more
effective you are in the party, the more 'hate' the moster gives you. A low
level debuff like 'Blind' is only going to add a miniscule amount of hate to
your hidden meter, whereas casting a Curaga spell is going to really crank it
up. You as a tank should use your 'Provoke' every 30 seconds unfailingly. If
you do this, you will always have more hate in your hidden meter than anyone
else, and the monster should never turn away from you. In other words, have
'Provoke' on a macro! If you don't, your mages are dead. Period. This is a
good macro to use:

/p Provoking !!
/ja Provoke
/wait 20
/echo Provoke ready in 10 seconds!
/echo Provoke ready!!

What this does is first alert your party that you are provoking the target.
Then you fire off your provoke and the game begins to count off 20 seconds.
When that time has passed you'll see a 10-second reminder, then it alerts
you and only you that 'Provoke' is ready to be used again. When you see this
message, hit your macro again. Your mages will love you!

Also, and I can't say this enough...make sure your weapons and armour are
current! Better defence means your healer won't have to heal you as often,
which means less MP consumption, which means more chain-kills before you need
to rest, which means more XP. And everyone loves more XP. ^^

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*3B Tips by Role: Healers
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Healers are the lifeblood of the party. Your MP is their HP. Every party MUST
have a healer of some nature, or be willing to fight only weak monsters and
have a LOT of downtime. WHMs are hands down the best healers, though RDMs have
good healing magic too.

Playing the role of healer can get pretty boring. After all, all you do is
fire off Cure after Cure, and you don't even get to watch the battle because
you can't take your eyes off the HP bars. Fortunately, you're always going
to be in demand and shouldn't have trouble getting into a party.

The biggest mistake I see new healers make is overusing Cure II. There are two