Red Mage: A Walkthrough For Beginners

Introduction
My aim here, is to create a level-by-level guide, explaining equipment, spells, macros, and your ever-changing role in a party as you progress through the levels.

If you're reading this guide, I'm assuming you'll be a newer player, not familiar with FFXI game mechanics, and so will be going over some of the simpler game matters, as well as some more difficult things.

When it is completed, I'm hoping this guide can take you from your beginnings in Vana'diel, all the way to end-game at 75.

If I leave any important information out, or if you have ideas on how this guide could be improved, please leave a comment on the talk page.

Thank you.

General Hurdles for Newer Players
First of all, welcome to Vana'diel-- a world full of amazing characters, stories, adventures and friends. As you'll no doubt soon find out, Vana'diel is massive, and as such, may be a tad daunting for the new player!

There are two things that will help you immensely in Vana'diel:
 * Friends
 * Gil

Making friends with other lower-level players you see running about, or even with higher-level players will serve to benefit you (and them!) greatly. Vana'diel is much less scary, and much more fun when you explore with a friend! You can look out for each other, help each other complete missions and quests, and of course, make money-- which leads me to my next point.

Making a bit of money (gil), and using it wisely early on in the game can only benefit you. There are various methods of making gil, and the easiest of these for a new player to do, is farm.

A general rule I went by: If it can be sold, don't throw it out.

The Guide
Okay, so this is what you actually came here for. I'm going to try and break this down a bit, so as not to overload newer players with excess information.

Under each level-range sub-heading you will see:
 * Equipment
 * This will give you an idea of weapons and armour you should be aiming to obtain, as well as where to get them, and how much they cost (if applicable), as well as their purpose.


 * Spells
 * Will outline the spells you'll want to learn at these levels, where to obtain them, how much they cost, and [i]why[/i] the spell is useful to you.


 * Macros
 * Because macros are infinitely useful in being as efficient and effective as you possibly can be, I'll give examples on what is useful to macro, which gear to macro in with, and when to use your newly made macro.


 * Party role
 * What people will expect you, as a RDM, to actually do will change over the course of your RDM career.

Level 1~10
These levels are generally gained by soloing, as the amount of EXP. required to gain your first few levels is quite low, as is the level of the mobs you'll be targeting, so creating a party at these levels will most likely slow you down.