FFXI, Final Fantasy XI, Final Fantasy Online - Explained

Final Fantasy XI takes place in a world named Vana'diel.

There are currently 31 servers available for play. These worlds are named after summoned creatures from earlier Final Fantasy games (Diabolos, Ifrit, Ramuh etc.). PC and PS2 and Xbox 360 players from across all nationalities play together on all servers.

A player is allocated to a random world when they create their first character. Subsequent characters will be assigned to the same server unless the player has obtained a world pass to another server. A worldpass (a 10-digit passcode), when given to a player, will allow the player access to a particular world. Once on a world, a player may not move to another world, except during World Migration which only happens when there is an imbalance in server population.

The four main cities in Vana'diel are the cities of Bastok, San d'Oria, Windurst, and Jeuno. The rest of Vana'diel is made up of a number of outdoor, dungeon, and minor town areas that have a complex topology. While most areas are accessible by walking, various modes of transportation facilitate movement. Each area in FFXI is quite large and much of the game play consists of getting from point A to point B.

FFXI Forms of Transportation:

• Walking/Running
•  Chocobo Rental (Requires completion of the Chocobo's Wounds Quest to acquire a license)
• Ferry (Selbina<->Mhaura)
• Barge (Bibiki Bay<->Purgonorgo Isle, Carpenter's Landing)
• Airship -- Airship Pass obtainable via any of the following methods:
  -Purchase for 500,000 gil
  -Earned by achieving Rank 5
  -Completion of the Khazam Airship Pass Quest [2] or purchase pass for     150,000 gil (Airship to Khazam only)
• Teleport (White Mage spell) to various Crags around the world
• Warp (Black Mage spell)/Instant Warp (scroll) to a specified Home Point
• Outpost Teleport (Requires completion of Regional Supply quest
• Bloodporting (Also called: Deathwarp. When a player dies to return to one's homepoint, this is done on purpose)
• Certain items also have the affect to Teleport, Outpost Teleport and Warp (Mea-Ring, Scroll of Instant Warp, etc).

FFXI People and Politics:

Races

There are five races that a player may choose from in Final Fantasy XI:

Elvaan — the "Elves" of Final Fantasy XI. Steeped in the tradition of knighthood, the Elvaan consider themselves better than the other races. There are male and female Elvaan. They founded the Kingdom of San d'Oria and the Marquisiate of Tavnazia.

Hume — An adaptable race most resembling humans. There are male and female Humes. They formed the Republic of Bastok and the Grand Duchy of Jeuno using the mineral resources of the surrounding area.

Galka — large, beast-like humanoids who possess incredible strength and endurance. The Galka reproduce through reincarnation and therefore have no specific gender, though the race is generally considered male. They form the minority population of the Republic of Bastok but originated in the lands of Kuzotz in the far south, where their civilization was destroyed by the Antican beastmen.

Mithra — Cat-like humanoids with agility and grace. There are very few male Mithra and only females venture into Vana'diel. They live in the Federation of Windurst and the tropical island of Kazham. It has been hinted that Mithras from Kazham come from a southern island known as Tsahya.

Tarutaru — Tiny humanoids with incredible intellect and an innate talent for magic. They founded the Federation of Windurst.

The following two races are featured in the main Final Fantasy storyline and its expansions.

Zilart — An ancient race that existed 10,000 years before the present events. Their continued attempts to open the Gate of the Gods is the focus of the Rise of the Zilart storyline. In the game's second expansion "Chains of Promathia," the Zilart are revealed to be alive and well.

Kuluu - An ancient race that existed during the same time period as the Zilart and were considered inferior to them. Only two Kuluu have survived until the present day, however they were unaccounted for until the Chains of Promathia storyline began.

FFXI Beastmen

There are different races that oppose the original 5, called the Beastmen. These are made up of the following species, most of which together follow the Shadow Lord behind the original story's misfortunes:

• Aerns (Lumoria/Al'Taeiu/Sea's version of beastmen.)
• Ahriman (Flying demons with 1 large eye.)
• Antica (Ant-like humanoids.)
• Bugbears (Genetically enhanced Moblin slaves.)
• Corses (Undead beastmen.)
• Fomors (Undead versions of the 5 races.)
• Gigas (Giants.)
• Goblins (Diverse,intelligient beastmen.)
• Imps (Diminutive, cowardly species of demons.)
• Kindred (Beastmen known as Demons that were created by the Shadow Lord.
• Lamiae (Form of organic weapon called chimera created from parts of various organisms.)
• Moblins (A tribe of goblins that are mobile.)
• Orcs (Orcish brutes.)
• Quadav (Turtle-like humanoids.)
• Sahagin (Fish-like humanoids.)
• Taurus (Large species of demons.)
• Tonberries (Kuluu mutated by the Meltdown.)
• Yagudo (Bird-like humanoids.)

Final Fantasy National Allegiance:

At the start of the game, players may choose whether to side with Bastok, San d'Oria or Windurst. Players who select the "Home Nation" for their specific race get a nation specific ring. The objective of implementing national allegiances is to fight for your country and help it conquer as much of Vana'diel as possible. Engaging in successful battles (while having Signet on) with the enemy in each region will earn Regional Influence points for the Nation the player character belongs to. At the end of every week (at midnight Japan time on Sunday night), a Conquest Tally will be conducted. The Nation with the highest influence will control the region for the week. If the ratio of player deaths to beastmen deaths gets too high, the region falls under Beastmen control, preventing many of these activities until a nation regains control.

Advantages of controlling a region include:

• Regional Vendors will now supply Regional products to your home nation.
• Outpost Teleport will now be cheaper for that region.
• Ability to renew Signet at the Outpost or any outpost guard.
• Ability to set Homepoint in the region with no charge

FFXI Job Selections:

One of Final Fantasy XI's most dynamic features is the flexibility of its job system, adapted from previous Final Fantasy titles. Players are able to change their jobs in their residence freely and without penalty, allowing the player to experiment with a variety of play styles before settling on a single one.

There are currently (November 2005) a total of 15 jobs to choose from. Players may choose one of the following six basic Jobs to start with (most likely in homage to the six job classes available in the original Final Fantasy.)

Final Fantasy Online Standard Jobs:

Warrior (WAR): A melee class with high proficiency in many weapon types, especially the Great Axe or one-handed Axe. Offensively and defensively balanced. The WAR's main ability is Provoke, which draws the attention of the target. In party mode, this is often used to protect magic-wielding jobs when they draw the enemy's attention. Another Warrior ability is Double Attack, which randomly adds a second strike to a melee attack. The Warrior's 2-hour ability, Mighty Strikes, guarantees critical hits for 30 seconds.

Thief (THF): A melee class with crucial enmity control abilities. In party situations, responsible for managing enmity with high-damage back-stabbing abilities. Thieves often use daggers, swords or hand-to-hand weapons to deal massive spike damage. At level 15, Thieves gain a technique called Sneak Attack, which causes a high damage critical hit when positioned behind an enemy. At level 30, Thieves gain the Trick Attack ability which requires them to attack the mob behind another Player Character. This will then transfer the enmity to the player character in front of the thief. At this point, Thieves are able to perform SATA, an acronym for Sneak-Attack-Trick-Attack, which involves activating both of those abilities to create and transfer a large amount of enmity to another party member (when the party member is behind the enemy, between the Thief and target). Thief abilities besides SATA include Steal, which sometimes robs opponents of items, and Flee, which increases movement speed. The Thief's 2-hour ability, Perfect Dodge, allows the Thief to dodge all melee attacks for the next 30 seconds (although ranged attacks and magic will still hit normally).

Monk (MNK): A melee class with high HP and damage output. Almost always found with Hand-to-Hand weapons, the Monk also has some proficiency with staves. Monk abilities include Boost, a stackable ability which increases the power of the next melee attack, and Chi Blast, a long-range energy attack. The Monk's 2-hour ability, Hundred Fists, enables nonstop melee attacks for 60 seconds.

White Mage (WHM): A mage class that specializes in healing and restorative magic, as well as enhancing and some enfeebling magic. White mages use clubs and staves almost exclusively and may also equip shields. White Mage abilities include Divine Seal, which doubles the power of the next curative spell, and Auto-Regen, which gives constant HP regeneration. The White Mage's 2-hour ability, Benediction, instantly restores full HP to the whole party. The downside of using Benediction during battle is an extreme increase in enmity toward the White Mage due to sheer amount of HP healed.

Black Mage (BLM): A mage class that specializes in "nuking" by using damaging magic. Black Mages use staves and clubs almost exclusively and, unlike the White Mage, may equip very few shields. Black Mage abilities include Elemental Seal, which raises the accuracy of the next spell cast, and Conserve MP, which may randomly lower the MP cost of a spell. The Black Mage's 2-hour ability is Manafont, which allows the player to cast spells without consuming MP, which cannot be interrupted, for 30 seconds.

Red Mage (RDM): A mage/melee hybrid class with particular aptitude for enhancing and enfeebling magic. It is a point of some contention whether low-level RDMs are better off using their weapons in combat or staying back with the other mages, though it is generally preferred that they choose the latter at higher levels. Red Mages may equip a variety of weapons from swords and daggers for melee damage to wands and staves for stat bonuses. Particular interest of this job is the exclusive Red Mage spell of Refresh which regenerates a total of 150 MP at 3 MP every 3 seconds. Red Mage abilities include Fast Cast, which quickens spellcasting, and Convert, which swaps current HP and MP pools. The Red Mage's 2-hour ability, Chainspell, allows instantaneous and uninterruptible spellcasting for 30 seconds.


FFXI Extra Jobs

Once a player attains level 30 with any one of the above classes, the player may complete quests to obtain the extra jobs:

Dark Knight (DRK): A melee class possessing very high attack, low defense, and capable of casting some black magic spells. Commonly uses a Scythe and/or Great Sword. Dark Knight abilities include Souleater, which sacrifices HP for added attack damage, and Last Resort, which sacrifices defense for added attack damage. Dark Knights are very strong against arcana. The DRK's 2-hour ability, Blood Weapon, produces a large HP drain effect for every melee attack for 30 seconds.

Paladin (PLD): A melee class who possess very high defense, low attack and are capable of casting some white magic spells. Paladins are often found with swords, but may be seen using staves or greatswords as well. Paladin abilities include Shield Bash, a blunt attack, and Cover, which allows the Paladin to take damage in place of a party member. Paladins are strong against the undead. The Paladin's 2-hour ability, Invincible, reduces all physical damage taken by the Paladin to 0 for 30 seconds. In addition, Invincible generates the highest amount of enmity of any action in the game -- Paladins often use Invincible in tandem with the White Mage's Benediction ability, to counter the high enmity generated by the latter.

Beastmaster (BST): A pet/melee class that can tame monsters to do their bidding. Beastmasters are the only job capable of gaining significant experience points without a group above the lowest levels. Beastmasters are commonly found with an axe. Abilities include Charm, which tames monsters, Call Beast, which creates a pet that lasts 20+ minutes, and Sic, which commands pets to perform their special attack. Beastmasters are very strong against a multitude of enemy types. The Beastmaster's 2-hour ability, Familiar, extends the duration of a charm, and slightly increases pet potency. A recent patch has made it so that Beastmasters now get 100% of the experience when using a monster summoned with Call Beast.

Ranger (RNG): A melee class that specialises in ranged weapons. Because ammunition is expensive, Rangers essentially pay for their damage output and the upper limit on what can be spent (and thus how much damage can be dealt) is very high. Rangers use bows, crossbows, guns for ranged damage as well as daggers or axes for close-range melee damage. Ranger abilities include Barrage, which fires multiple arrows at once, and Shadowbind, which binds a target in place. However, due to an update regarding the mechanics of the class late-July 2005, Ranger's pay-what-you-deal ratio was severely curbed by an average of 30% less damage-per-hit if the Ranger continues to use the old play style. The mechanics of the new update include an accuracy/hitpower ratio depending on how far away the ranger is from the target, and depending on what weapon the ranger wields. The Ranger now requires to position himself at the appropriate distance for each type of ranged weapon for optimum damage to be dealt. The Ranger's 2-hour ability, Eagle Eye Shot, is an instantaneous ranged attack with tremendous power and accuracy.

Bard (BRD): A mage class that specialises in enhancing and enfeebling songs. Although Bards are considered a mage class, they do not require MP to do their job. Bards equip instruments as ranged weapons and also light melee weaponry including clubs and daggers. Bards are particularly favored for their area of effect (AOE) sleep song and their group MP regeneration song. Besides their songs, Bards have only four job abilities: three passive Resist Silence traits, and the 2-hour ability, Soul Voice, which doubles the effect of songs.

Final Fantasy XI Rise of the Zilart Jobs

The following extra jobs were introduced with the Rise of the Zilart expansion to Final Fantasy XI. If the expansion is installed, these jobs may be aquired once the player reaches level 30 the same as the initial extra jobs.

Dragoon (DRG): A melee/pet class with the ability to summon a Wyvern and perform jump attacks. The polearm (i.e. lance or spear) is the Dragoon's main weapon. Dragoon abilities include Super Jump, which allows the Dragoon to leap high into the air, escaping danger for 5 seconds, and Spirit Link, which heals the wyvern. At level 60, Dragoons are able to wear their Artifact Armor helmet, which drastically increases the effectiveness of the Wyvern. If the dragoon's subjob is of a mage class, when the dragoon, or someone in the dragoon's party is at critical health, and the dragoon casts any magic spell, the Wyvern will cast a 'healing breath' on the party member. When the Dragoon uses a weapon skill when they have a mage subjob, the wyvern can remove status ailments using a similar 'breath', including Poison, Paralyze, and Blind. Dragoons are very strong against dragons. The Dragoon's 2-hour ability, Spirit Surge, gives the Dragoon the power of its wyvern for a short time, giving him/her a strength increase, a maximum HP increase, the wyvern's current TP, cured for the amount of the wyvern's current HP, as well as special additions to the "Jump" commands.

Ninja (NIN): A melee class that specializes in variety combat, and uses "Ninjutsu" (Ninja skill) magic. Their magic is unique because it uses special items in the inventory everytime a Ninjutsu spell is used, essentially making them one time use tools and weapons as opposed to magic athlough it counts as one. Generally plays the role of a "blink tank," by repeatedly casting "Utsusemi" to create shadow images that absorb all damage. Ninja's naturally high evasion rate and agility aid this purpose very nicely as well. Ninja can also use other types of "Ninjutsu" to inflict damage and enfeeble their opponent to make them easier to keep at bay. Ninja almost always use a pair of 1-handed katanas for weapons. Ninja abilities include Stealth, which reduces the chance of being detected by enemies, and Dual Wield, which allows the Ninja to equip two weapons at once. This skill adds the delay of both weapons and decreases it by a certain percentge, making it a bit slow at first. At levels 25, 45, and 65 respectively however, the job will recieve innate upgrades to this trait making the delay shorter and thus, making the Ninja strike faster. Lots of gear also specifically upgrades this particular trait for very fast dual wielding. The Ninja's 2-hour ability, Mijin Gakure, is a suicide attack that deals damage with no experience penalty for the death. The ability is fire based, and its damage is calculated based on your immediate maximum HP. The Ninja is a very multi-faceted damage dealer/tank hybrid job, capable of diverting lots of damage as a tank, but also capable of dealing immense damage under the right circumstances and when equipped for a more offensive stance. More Dual Wield upgrades and deadlier Katana's are made available as the player progresses in level, making this possible. A patch in the past year altered Utsusemi slightly to make it so that a little bit of the Ninja's emnity is decreased with each shadow image taken. While this caused suspicions of Ninja being taken away from the role of a tank, SquareEnix has released lots of gear designed around tanking and the patch has proven to be a miniscule thing to worry about as the emnity loss versus emnity gained tends to be very little.

Samurai (SAM): A melee class that specialises in performing skillchains. Excels in gaining TP due to job specific abilities. Samurai wield 2-handed Great Katanas almost exclusively. Samurai abilities include Store TP, which increases TP gain, and Meditate, which quickly generates TP. Samurai are also strong against demons. The Samurai's 2-hour ability, Meikyo Shisui, generates 300 TP, and allows the user to execute weapons skills by expending only 100 TP (instead of draining the TP pool completely) -- a Samurai with 300 TP can thus execute three weapon skills, and effectively "Skill Chain," while under the effect of Meikyo Shisui.

Summoner (SMN): A mage class that is able to summon, at a certain MP/second cost, magical avatars (known as summons, espers, GFs, eidolons, or aeons in past FFs) to aid in battle. The currentlist of Prime Avatars are: Titan, Leviathan, Garuda, Ifrit, Shiva, Ramuh, Carbuncle, Fenrir, and Diabolos. The list of spirit pacts with the game's 8 cardinal elements are: Earth, Water, Air, Fire, Ice, Lightning, Light, and Dark. Summoners must battle and defeat each of the Prime Avatars before being able to summon them. Summoners use staves and clubs primarily. Summoner abilities include Blood Pact, which enables the avatar to use its own abilities, and Auto-Refresh (constant MP regeneration). Various avatars have their own special abilities. The Summoner's 2-hour ability, Astral Flow, inflicts a 3 minute status on the Summoner during which Avatars no longer cost MP to remained summoned and the Avatar is now able to use their Special Ability (which is their traditional attack in previous FFs). They are also capable of party enhancement spells, via the Blood Pact ability

FFXI Support Job (Sub Job)

Additionally, once the player has attained level 18 on any job, he may complete a Support Job quest in either Selbina or Mhaura. Upon completion, the player will now be able to add a support job to complement their abilities. This support job may be any other job that the player has. Support Jobs operate at a maximum of half the level of the player's main job, and gives the character abilities, spells and stat bonuses from that job at that level.

Final Fantasy XI Level Cap

The current maximum level in Final Fantasy XI is 75. Level limits are placed at 50, 55, 60, 65, and 70. They are typically referred to as Genkai (level limit) 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 respectively. For instance, a character who has not finished Genkai 1 will not be able to level to 51 until he or she completes the quest for Genkai 1.

Once achieving level 75, a character may continue to earn experience points for two reasons: to get a "buffer" for exp so that exp losses due to deaths do not cause the character to return to level 74, and to earn merit points to be traded in to raise specific stats and gain other enhancements in the merit system.

FFXI Merit Points

After a character reaches level 75 improvements can still be made aside from better gear. Points gained from defeating monsters in the game are called experience points unless you are in merit mode at level 75 in which case they are called limit points. There is no difference in the amount of points you gain depending on mode. So if you gain 46 experience points from fighting a monster, you would gain 46 limit points if you had been participating in the limit system. A player can gain one merit point per 10,000 limit points. Experience point scrolls can not be used to gain merit points. Many level 75 players do various quests for experience point scrolls to make up for lost experience points due to death. Limit points are never lost due to death. Once a player has limit points, they can spend them on various permanant modifications to the character. An example of using the merit system to improve a characters evasion skill would be as follows. Spending one merit point would get you level one, and your base evasion skill would raise two points. The second level would cost two merit points, and also raise the base skill two points, and the third level would cost 3 points and raise the base skill two points. Since you can raise evasion skill three times, the total cost to do so would be 60,000 limit points, and your total skill raised would be 6 points.

Since a player can merit all the character statistics and weapon skills, mana points, hit points, and many other "hidden" effects such as enemy critical hit rate, or emnity, the amount of time you could potentially spend meriting a level 75 character might outweigh the amount of time you spent leveling that character to level 75 in the first place. One could speculate that a fully merited level 75 character might be more like a level 80 character.

FFXI Details

Final Fantasy Theme — includes familiar elements from previous Final Fantasies, including music, jobs, spells, summons, items, monsters, Moogles, Chocobos, and the character Cid.

Job System — A game system adapted from previous entries in the Final Fantasy series, the job system offers untold flexibility in class selection. By visiting their player residence, players can change jobs freely and without penalty. Additionally, players can later add a "support job" to further enhance and customize their character. Currently, with the 15 jobs there are, a total of 210 different combinations of jobs are possible.

Map — The world is broken up into different regions, and then zones. Regions are a composite of zones (Sarutabaruta is comprised of Eastern and Western Sarutabaruta, as well as the Inner and Outer Horutoto Ruins). Zones, such as the Inner Horutoto ruins, are where the action actually takes place. Moving from one zone to the next requires loading of data, and monsters cannot pursue you from one zone to the next (this is called "zoning"). On the other hand, this lets the game present different sets of graphics/music/monsters in different zones without taxing your computer/PS2.

Party System — FFXI forces players to play as groups more so than other MMORPGs. Not only are there functions that facilitate the formation of parties, the experience gain system assures that one must play as a group in order to gain levels past the beginner stage. This allows jobs (classes) that are solely designed for support of parties, such as Bards, to play a much more significant role than solo play. After around the first 10 or so levels, players party as enemies jump in difficulty. Parties can accommodate up to 6 players each, and for more difficult missions and quests, up to three parties can form an alliance to work together to take down difficult foes. However, this system is not without faults. For instance, a party may have enough of 1 class as it is, leaving the player that's looking for a party out of luck. There is also sometimes tension between the English speaking players and the Japanese speaking players.

Storyline — Though there are thousands of players, any one player can still achieve a sense of individual heroism by completing quests and missions. Cutscenes and conversations with NPCs place you as an important character who participates with the plot as it progresses. From the player's first steps in their starting city to important tasks completed for certain characters, the player is treated as if he or she is the first to interact with such characters, giving the impression of such events taking place in the present moment.

Other players do not view NPC interaction, despite being in the same area, so NPCs are never "busy" talking to multiple players at once. However, some NPCs may turn to face a player's character and stay in that position until another player's character interact with that specific NPC. Some cutscenes do include other players, such as party members participating in a quest or mission.

Quests provide some story and interaction with NPCs, while missions give a more linear and developed plot. Later missions include a dramatic backstory, and even a final boss that can be defeated, though gameplay still continues. This is a significant difference from many other MMORPGs.

There are six major plots in the Final Fantasy:

• San d'Oria Storyline
• Bastok Storyline
• Windurst Storyline
• Zilart Storyline
• Dynamis Storyline
• Chains of Promathia Storyline

The newest plots are often not available in their entirety at first, and are unlocked gradually over time.

Item Synthesis — FFXI has a fairly complex item synthesis system, in which players use Crystals obtained by fighting the various beastmen to turn specific combinations of items into other items. Different recipes, using different classes of ingredients and different Craft skills will produce different types of items. For example, items produced by the Alchemy craft skill under the guidance of the Alchemist's Guild tend to be medicines and antidotes, whereas items produced by Smithing and Leathercrafting tend to be armors of various sorts, and Goldsmithing crafts rings and other accessories. A player may raise in rank within a Guild as their skill for that craft increases, giving them access to item recipes whose products grant higher benefits or net the player more profit. The main flow of profit for crafters in game is the creation of "HQ" or "High Quality" synthing. These "HQ" items are synthesis of an item whose cap is lower than that of the player's craft skill level. Generally as the gap between both recipe cap and player craft level increases the higher chance of a HQ synth occurring. These items usually provide better stats than their "NQ" or "Normal Quality" counterparts. These "HQ" items are sometimes regarded by the community as a must have; however, most of the time it is considered a status item, an item that reveals that a player has considerable in game wealth or devotion to a job. Much of the best equipment within the game may not be bought from NPCs, and must be crafted. Additionally, many of the items dropped by high level monsters in the game are used in the synthesis of this equipment.

FFXI Game Economy

Overview — FFXI has an almost entirely player-based economy with a heavy reliance on the Auction Houses in each of the major cities of Vana'diel. Usually monsters in FFXI do not drop gil. Various items used in crafting may drop off the monsters that are defeated. Players who do not require the item may sell it to other players via the Auction House. The Auction House is also the primary method of obtaining weapons, magic scrolls and other materials.

Financial Situation : Since Final Fantasy XI has been 'live' for over three years, the game economy has expanded as more and more players acquire more and more gil and items. As time passes, there will be more game currency in any given server economy. This has lead to a natural inflation of item prices, both of general consumables (food, potions, etc.) and transferable assets (armor, weapons, accessories, and the like). Hard figures are unknown, but it would not be far-fetched to assume that some (if not many) servers may have a GDP of well over a trillion Gil. However, because there are servers that have been online for far longer than others, the Purchasing power parity of players on World X may differ greatly from that of players on World Y. The massive difference in Purchasing Power Parity between servers has been a source consternation for many players, most obviously ones situated on servers with high inflation rates. The laissez faire nature of the economy means there are few price control measures that Square Enix can enact to curb, what many players see, as rampant inflation. As is detailed below, many players are content to blame inflation problems on "Gil Sellers" while not taking into account that inflation is inevitable whenever more and more currency is introduced into an economy, or supply cannot meet demand. Furthermore, as trans-server trade of Gil or game items is not possible, inflation, and what is effectively a Consumer Price Index, will continue to rise; regardless of the effect of Gil selling, or real-money transfers (RMT), for in-game currency and items. However, the above explantion does not satisfy many members of the Final Fantasy XI community. Especially those players who are of the opinion that the impact of RMT actions are far more severe than may be described here; a valid theory which holds significant sway in many ciricles, and perhaps with a predominant majority of FFXI players. Without an 'official' study of the economies of the various Vana'diel worlds, it would be foolish to proclaim one theory over another with absolute certainty. Until such a study is accomplished in a relatively objective manner, there will continue to be much discussion regarding the situation of the Final Fantasy XI economy and how its players are influenced by it.

Economic Controls : While SquareEnix has developed Final Fantasy XI's economy to be quite a "hands-off" player-driven economy, there are still a few methods of economic control that they can exercise (if that is their wish). One economic and inflation control measure that is in place are "gilsinks". By having player characters spend Gil on services, most commonly transportation, or items provided by Non-Player Characters, game currency is removed from the economy as no player profits off these expenditures. However, in the instance of item purchases, the vast majority of players will purchase items from NPCs for the purpose of crafting low-cost items into a high-cost product in a value-added process. Thus, the profit the crafters will reap negates the investment lost in the gilsinking action of purchasing from an NPC. Until the game developers make finished products like weapons, armor, and specific consumables more available and competetively priced with items that can be crafted in a value-added process by PCs the system of gilsinks will remain an ineffective measure to curb inflation.

FFXI Ballista (PvP System)

Final Fantasy XI's Player versus Player (PvP) system, is an unique system where players do not incur the loss of experience points. In order to participate in a "Ballista" match, a player must complete a quest to gain a "Ballista License". Thereafter, participants may apply to join various matches and pay an application fee.

Requirements

• Complete Quest to obtain a "Ballista License".
• Pay an application fee (according to the Match Level cap) in order to participate.
• Minimum of 3 players per team (6 players total) before match commences.
   

Final Fantasy Match Play

Objective: Score points by throwing a "Petra" into a "Rook".

Participants may find "Petras" by using the Ballista Only "Quarry" command. Once a "Petra" is found, the participant may score only after attaining "Gate Breach" Status. "Gate Breach" may be attained by killing an opposing team member, or be within the vicinity when an opposing team member is killed.

After attaining the 'Gate Breach" Status, participants have 3 minutes to throw the "Petra" into a "Rook" in order to score points. A maximum of 5 Petras may be scored for each period of "Gate Breach" status. Points may also be awarded for taking out opposing team members.