Wish me well as I start my journey!

Hi. I've recently started playing Final Fantasy XI. I'm enjoying the experience so far, and I've decided to start this journal to keep track of my adventures, talk about my experiences and discuss some of the things I like and don't like about the game. Also, as a new player I have a lot of questions, and if you're reading this I hope you'll consider answering them! First, let's get some of the questions you may have out of the way.

Who am I in game? My name is Keelut. I'm a Hume White Mage (currently lvl 13) on the Shiva server! Here I am:



Why am I starting FFXI? I've always been a big fan of the Final Fantasy series, so I've wanted to get into FFXI for quite awhile now. I'm currently working at home so I have a lot of free time! I looked at a lot of MMOs, but I choose FFXI for a few reasons. First, I have some familiarity with the game (which I'll talk about in a moment). Second, I'm totally in love with the games visual style and character designs. Third, it will run on my computer (where sevral more recent games won't!).
What is my MMO experience? Well... this isn't actually the first time I've played FFXI. I had an account very briefly after the game launched way back when. I only played for a month before school got the better of me, and I only made it to about lvl 10 as a Mithra Warrior. So this really is a fresh start for me!

I've played a few other games here and there, mostly for just a few weeks at a time. I had some nice experiences with FlyFF, World of Warcraft and Raganarok Online, and some poor experiences with Everquest, City of Heroes and World of Warcraft :)

My playstyle: In the past I've been a little bit of a solo player, mostly becasue I'm a little shy, but also because I usually play late at night and havetrouble finding anyone to play with! I want to be more forward and friendly as I explore Vana'diel, and I'm hoping I can make some friends!

Why I'm starting this journal: I have a few reasons. First, I hope that keeping a journal will help me engage with the game as more then just a somewhat passive player. Secondly, I'm discovering that this game is pretty complex and confusing! I'm not sure where to go next or what to do, and while there are plenty of nice guides online, most of them are pretty information sparse and seem to assume that you know te game already. So any help or advice that any one could give me would be appreciated! Third (thirdly?), I'd like to meet some people who play the game and make some friends!

Next post: I'll be talking about my first few days in the game!