This section will guide you through the various features you'll encounter in-game, from gameplay controls and combat to status effects and the element wheel.
Quickly access a section with the table of contents:
Controls | Gaining Experience | Elements | Armor Slots | Consumables | Status Effects
Movement
Up/Numpad 8: Move character up
Right/Numpad 6: Move character right
Down/Numpad 2: Move character down
Left/Numpad4: Move character left
Home/Numpad 7: Move character diagonally up-left
PgUp/Numpad 9: Move character diagonally up-right
PgDn/Numpad 3: Move character diagonally down-right
End/Numpad 1: Move character diagonally down-left
Numpad 5: Stop action/movement
Whether you use the mouse or the keyboard is up to you. Experienced players tend to use both, to avoid friendly fire.
Combat
Click target: Use primed ability/attack/item on target
Click-hold target: Use primed ability/attack/item on target constantly
F1-F11: Select quickslot (F1 is Attack, F2-F11 are skills, spells, and items chosen)
F12: Swap weapons (between primary/secondary slots and "swap" slots)
The following controls must be typed in the console near the bottom-left corner of the window:
Communication
dsay (or d) "[message]: Message appears to all domain members (must be in a domain to use)
emote (or e) [message or shortcut]: Message appears as an action rather than speech.
nsay (or n) "[message]: Message appears to all newbies (must be newbie to use)
psay (or p) "[message]: Message appears to all party members (must be in a party to use)
say (or s) "[message]: Message appears to all that can see you
whisper (or w) "[message]: Message appears to all within two spaces of you
(Note: typing the letter and pressing the space bar will automatically add the " symbol.)
Player Lists
bbwho: List of all Black Belts/Masters
bmwho: List of all Black Mages/Black Wizards
dwho: List of all domain members and current hierarchy
ewho: List of enemies and hostile players
fwho: List of all Fighters/Knights
pwho: List of all parties and party members
rmwho: List of all Red Mages/Red Wizards
twho: List of all Thieves/Ninjas
who: List of all players currently in the game
wmwho: List of all White Mages/White Wizards
Other
cap: Shows the current level cap and the amount of FFO time until the level cap inceases
music: Toggle the in-game music on or off (leaves in-game sounds on).
Domain-Options: Brings up a list of options for domain leaders, chancellors, citizens, and potential citizens (must be in a city to use)
motd: Displays the message of the day (the message you see first when you log in as a character)
quests: Shows current quests and currect objectives
Rank: Shows current ranking in experience based on the world and class, shows current ranking in most number of kills, deaths, PC kills, and murders
Remove-Enemy: Allows you to make peace with offline enemies
time: Shows current FFO time and, if available, moon phase
Battling Monsters
This is the fastest and most effective way to gain experience throughout the game. When playing FFO, you will find that most monsters aren't very easy, and instead take time to kill. This is due to the monster-player balance placed in the game: the higher a monster's level is, the more on-par the monster is with a player's typical stats at that level. At around level 20, monsters have the same type of stats that a player of a class would have (mage enemies would have the same stats as BMs or WMs, ogres and giants would have the same stats as Fighters, etc). However, due to this difficult way of fighting enemies, the amount of experience gained in this way is much greater than one would expect. As an example, it only takes between ten and twenty enemies to level up from one to two. While the number of monsters you'll need to kill goes up, the amount of experience rises steadily with the difficulty.
Parties
Joining a party in the world of FFO means that everyone in that party are considered allies. As allies, you will share the amount of experience gained among each other. However, not all experience is split evenly: the player who kills the monster gets a chunk of experience for their own, and those who damaged the creature get a significant amount of experience as well (the player who deals the most gets the most here). Lastly, all gold is split evenly in parties, rounded down.
Proficiencies
While killing monsters is much faster than this type of experience-gaining, it is done regardless. Whenever a spell is cast or a weapon is used, an amount of experience is gained, dependant on the amount of damage dealt/cured, as well as the proficiency with that spell or weapon. You also gain experience in that specific proficiency for using the weapon or casting the spell. Whenever you are attacked, a tiny amount of experience is gained as well. Experience in the armor proficiency is also gained in this way. Finally, effectively blocking an attack with your shield gives an amount of experience, as well as gaining experience in the shield proficiency.
Elements are the magical properties used in Final Fantasy Online to change the environment in order to cause damage or aid allies. The type of damage caused by elements cannot be absorbed by simple armor, although every character has inherent resistance to it. There are ten types of elements in the world of FFO.
The "standard elements" consist of the Air, Earth, Fire, Ice, Lightning (called Lit), and Water elements.
The "non-standard elements" consist of the Curative, Dark, Light, and Poison elements.
Both the standard and the non-standard elements are linked to one another in their own type. In the standard elements, there is a circular ring formed by the weakness of each element. This ring is as follows:
Fire < Water < Lit < Earth < Air < Ice < Fire
In the non-standard elements, the same ring applies to what each element is weak to:
Dark < Light < Poison < Curative < Dark
Example: Anything of the fire element is weak to the water element.
In order to defend one's self against the various elements in the world, there are such things as elemental equipment (see Equipment for details). Wearing an element of the same type that you are attacked with will lessen the amount of damage done by that element, as well as the element it is strong to (ie, Air equipment would lessen Earth damage). However, this comes at a price, for you will take additional damage to the element it is weak to (ie, Air equipment would increase Ice damage taken), so choose wisely what elemental equipment you wear. The same elements can be found on weapons as well, dealing an extra portion of the weapon's damage as that elemental type.
Monsters of a specific element are usually from one of the six standard elements. These kinds of monsters are weak against one element, strong against another, nearly immune to a third, and strengthened by a fourth. For instance, if a monster was of an Earth element, it would be weak against the air element, strong against the Fire element, nearly immune to the Lit element, and strengthened by the Earth element. Along with the standard elemental monsters, many monsters are imbued with the Dark element: these monsters are moderately resistant to all of the standard elements and are healed by the Dark element. Their primary weakness is Light magic, which they are moderately weakened by.
 | Arms: Most of the time, when an enemy aims for your hands, they end up hitting the arms. Bracelets and charms protect your wrists and arms against such attacks. |
 | Fingers: You'll never get hit on a specific finger, but you can still wear such things as rings and jewels on your digits. This kind of equipment is strictly for increases in stats and abilities. |
 | Feet: Protecting your feet is very important, both for walking and for combat. There are usually greaves, sandals, or shoes that go here. |
 | Hands: Some type of glove or gauntlet covers this part of the body, protecting you against attacks near your shield and/or weapon. |
 | Head: This covers your face and head, protecting you from the blows from above. Helmets or helms belong in this category. |
 | Legs: This protects a good deal of the lower portion of your body, and consists of legging or pants. |
 | Neck: Although you will never be hit here, you can wear an item around your neck for boosts. Some kind of charm or necklace can fit on this part of the body. |
 | Shield: A shield can be a very important piece of armor: if you can react in time, you'll protect any part of your body with it. Shields go in one hand, usually paired with a weapon. |
  | Torso: There are actually two types of armor that cover the torso. There is the outer protection, usually there to absorb the most damage, and there's the inner protection, which is is the last line of defense. You'll usually see some sort of cloak or mail on the outer protection, and tunics or shirts as part of the inner protections. |
 | Tonic - Cost: 20 gold. Heals a small amount of HP. Recommended use: Low-to-mid level characters, mages. |
 | Potion - Cost: 80 gold. Heals a large amount of HP. Recommended use: Mid-to-high level characters, melee classes. |
 | Hi-Potion - Cost: 320 gold. Heals an enormous amount of HP. Recommended use: High-level Knights, very-high-level characters. |
 | Tincture - Cost: 50 gold. Heals a small amount of MP. Recommended use: Low-level mages, melee classes. |
 | Ether - Cost: 225 gold. Heals a large amount of MP. Recommended use: High-level RMs, mid-level WMs and BMs. |
 | Hi-Ether - Cost: 675 gold. Heals an enormous amount of MP. Recommended use; High-level WMs and BMs. |
 | Light Stamina Potion - Cost: 50 gold. Regains 20% of stamina. |
 | Stamina Potion - Cost: 400 gold. Regains 100% of stamina. |
 | Antidote - Cost: 50 gold. Purifies the body of poison. |
 | Eye Drop - Cost: 100 gold. Removes temporary blindness from a target. |
 | Torch - Cost: 50 gold. Allows the user to see much farther in dungeons and at night, lasts about 2 hours of FFO time. |
Status effects are similar to those in any game; they're temporary disabilities placed upon your character. These range from dealing damage over time, to hindering your character's abilities, to losing control of your character completely. Learn each status effect and understand what it means to be the victim of one.
*Note: Unless otherwise specified, the status effect can be removed with the Esuna spell.*
Afraid: You lose control of your character and run from anything and everything. You will attack anything that approaches you as a desparate measure. It is difficult to avoid monsters while afraid, however, as you will usually only run away from the last-damaging enemy.
Blinded: You lose approximately half of your normal sight range, all else beyond that distance being completely black. This status effect can cause unusual lag, so try to remove as soon as possible, especially during combat. Blindness can be cured with the Lamp spell or Eye Drops.
Bleeding: You will take damage over time. This kind of duration-damage will not let you live, however; it's as though you're getting hit by small attacks constantly. There is no remedy to Bleeding, either: you must simply wait for the duration to expire. It is wise to wait it off and cure yourself as necessary until it is completely removed.
Confusion: You lose control of your character and attack anything with anything you may have. There is no friend or foe while confused, and you can even attack yourself while under it. Typically Confuse only lasts for a short amount of time.
Enraged: You lose control of your character and attack anything hostile; your icon will glow red for the duration. You will automatically run after any monsters you see, as well as any player enemies (does not include players hostile only to you). You can only attack with your physical attack; you will not heal yourself or use/cast skills/spells. There is a bonus to this effect, however; you gain a large boost in damage, attack speed, and movement speed. It can actually be used to benefit allies in training areas, to gain experience faster. Unfortunately, it may be difficult to keep that player alive, so use with caution on allies.
Frozen: You move very slowly and attack slowly for the duration of this effect; your icon will glow blue until it has ended. This is considered a greater status effect than Slowed, but typically lasts a lot less.
Held: You cannot move or take actions for the duration of this effect.
Locked: Your agility is greatly reduced, making it much easier to accurately strike you for the duration of this effect.
Muted: You cannot use the say or whisper verbs, nor can you cast spells for the duration of this effect. Note that you can use skills while muted.
Poisoned: You take damage over time. This duration-damage is not lethal, but will stop dealing damage after your character has reached 1 HP. It can be removed with Pure or an Antidote.
Sleeping: You cannot use the say or whisper verbs, and cannot move or take actions for the duration of this effect. When you are attacked, you have a very high chance of waking up, but it does not always happen.
Stunned: You are unable to move or take an action for the duration of this effect. This effect has no remedy; however, it only lasts for a very short amount of time in most cases.
Slowed: You move slowly and attack slowly for the duration of this effect.