
The Divine Empress has never been seen by anybody but the Immortals-Aht Urhgan's army of Blue Mages who carry out the Divine Empress's will-and are often running into trouble with the Corsairs (Corsairs are people who use luck to favor their odds in winning money and thwarting the Immortals' plans.) The generals are the strongest of the Divine Empress's army, but do not meddle in the affairs of the Immortals, instead choosing to spend their time protecting the empire during besieged attacks from the three dominant beastmen forces of Aht Urhgan: the trolls, undead swarms, and vicious Mamool Ja. The Empire of Aht Urhgan, located on the Aradjiah Continent, governed by the Divine Empress who controls the land, is under constant attack by beastmen in the Al Zahbi district. Quirky characters and exciting places to explore set the background for the Far Eastern style this time around. Final Fantasy XI always has maintained the enjoyable storylines one expects from Square Enix and Treasures of Aht Urhgan is no different. While Treasures may be impossible for low-level players to conquer, anybody levels 50 to 75 can enjoy not only the new experience points areas outside of the main city Al Zahbi, but also the new modes like Besieged, Assault, exclusive missions, and the upcoming chocobo raising components. Since a difference of more than two levels between two players in a party can affect the amount of experience gained, you won't ever see anybody significantly lower than 55 fighting in a party. Seasoned players of FFXI spend a lot of their time in the new ToAU areas and most of them are at the maximum level 75. So, for new players, there's a lot of work to do before seeing Treasures of Aht Urhgan, but that is good, because. The only job that is really meant for soloing is the Beastmaster job that can be unlocked after you reach level 30. This means you'll be spending a good month or two exploring the original game and parts of Rise of the Zilart building your character and learning the intricacies of party-based gameplay, because after level 15, you'll probably never solo since the monsters that check as "Easy Prey" become too powerful for one person to take on at a time, forcing the party-based combat. Also, don't expect to see any of the new expansion content any time soon since it's restricted almost entirely to high-level players of 50 and up. So, if you are a new player looking to get into your first MMORPG or looking for something different, you might have a hard time getting over the game's starting difficulty. This pool doesn't gradually increase its depth, but instead starts deep and levels up at the other end where all of the experienced players lie.

If you haven't dipped your feet into the FFXI pool yet, just make sure you watch out for the steep drop after the first step.
