Ok, so I just got FFXIV yesterday gifted to me via Steam) & I'll be starting it by Wednesday 8/12. I do have a few questions before starting, though.

1) AFAIK all the races from FFXI are in FFXIV, but with new names. What are the Tarutaru called in FFXIV? Additionally, supposedly Black Mages aren't called Black Mages here. What are they called then? Ideally I wanna create the FFXIV equivalent to what was my FFXI character.

2) Regarding the sub fees, how much are they? $15/mo.? And how do they do their billing cycle? Does a billing cycle start @ the 1st of the month for everyone no matter what, or straight up every 30 days from when you signed up? In short, when do you get billed for a new month - on the 1st, or, say, the 12th (if you signed up on 8/12, you get billed every following 12th)?

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Protip: Dying in a game is a bad thing. The more you know....

1. Tarutaru -> Lalafell ... There ARE Black Mages in FFXIV, but they are considered "Advanced" Jobs that you have to level 2 other jobs before you can take on the quest to become a black mage. I would start with Thaumaturge, level that to 30, then switch to Archer and level that to 15. This whole job switching thing will make sense as you play the game.

2. The cheapest FFXIV plan is $12.99 a month. This allows you one character on each server up to a max of 8. There is really no reason to have more than one character on a server because like FFXI, one character can do all the jobs. There's more bank space readily available than there was in FFXI, no "gobbie bag" stuff. I believe it renews on the day you signed up for it, not the 1st-- but read the fine print carefully.

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I really wasn't planning on creating more than 1 character. Everyone I know is (oddly enough) on the same server/world. So, to be clear, if I were to start up FFXIV on 8/12 & once the free 30 days are up, they'll bill me $12.99 to go from 9/12 to 10/12, as opposed to, say, billing me @ a prorated amount for the remainder of September, then start billing me on the 1st there on after?

Finally, y'know how in FFXI any given character could be in multiple Linkshells (their equivalent to Free Companies)? Well, if I were to have only 1 character on Midgarsomr in FFXIV, would I have the ability to be in multiple Free Companies? Ideally I'll be in 3 total - VOG's (obviously, duh!), Limit Break Radio's, plus Allgames wants me in theirs.

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Protip: Dying in a game is a bad thing. The more you know....

Linkshells are not the equivalent of Free Companies. Linkshells are just shared chat channels, and still exist in FFXIV. You can only be in a single Free Company, so choose wisely.

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Bobby Blackwolf
Co-Founder, Editor in Chief: Technical
Host - The Bobby Blackwolf Show
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Oooh...! ok. Thanks, Bobby.

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Protip: Dying in a game is a bad thing. The more you know....

Quick update: I started the game roughly 7-8 hours ago (I'm a Lalafel named Darewahyonchiwa Rage on Midgardsomr). It's slow going so far seeing as I'm so new to the game, but nonetheless I'm loving FFXIV.

Side note: I chose that name because my Tarutaru character in FFXI was named Darewahyonchiwa (auto generated), & since I couldn't fit Rageinator as a last name, I shortened it to Rage.

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Protip: Dying in a game is a bad thing. The more you know....