I was told this was the best place to go at 19-20, so after the easily an hr long trek there from Bastok, over the past two days I can't find ANYONE to pt with. Nada. Squat. ZERO people are willing to pt, or even have their pt flags up! How the h-e-double-hockey-sticks is a guy supposed to lvl when there is absolutely zero people to even START a pt with? The one guy in my ls who is the same lvl as me has a very opposite playing schedule, so I can't even get one started with him.

Why did people recommend this zone? It's atrocious, and I should have stayed in Valkurm... but oh wait, now I have to make an hr walk to get back there. No thanks. UGH! Stupid.

/endrant

Does anyone have any suggestions for me? Will I be stuck at 19 forever?

One of the bigger problems for low lvl PTs is that most people tend to prefer to solo a lot more. I myself am guilty of this too. A lot of the times you make the same or better exp/hr solo than with parties, especially at Valkurm levels, and the only stupidity you have to deal with is your own (yes I have done some very stupid thing while soloing lol).

My advice for partying would be to give it some time. Perhaps you are seeking in hours when there aren't enough people on in the first place.
Now if you want to try some soloing, I assume you are on MNK by your sig, I would suggest finding a Giant Trapper and fighting it's pet, Gigas's Leech. They have a lot less HP then other mobs of the same level bust they can hit hard if you are not well geared at your level. Be careful the Giant Trapper does not see you pull it's leech or it will link to it and kill you. Kepp your flag up too, just incase you do get that invite.

First, you explain how people don't need to party to get good EXP 20-25, then you say that FFXI is dying at lower levels because it's hard to find a party at lower levels. Do you notice what you missed there?

FFXI is not dying at lower levels. How many people do you know who have never in recent memory leveled a new job or a subjob? The problem is not that no-one is EXPing at low levels; the "problem" is that after years of whining how the game was not solo-friendly, SE finally made the low levels really solo-friendly, and now far fewer people party below level 30.

I took my last four new subjobs to 37 solo. I get better EXP than most parties do just by running around and murdering Decent Challenge mobs. DEF and EVA bonuses from Signet, /DNC, and a fellowship companion allow any job to go entire levels without resting once, and EXP bands let you get 50% more experience points while you do it. Why would I go to the effort of finding and joining a party when I can get 4-5k/hour playing for any amount of time, whenever I feel like it? I don't even need gear because signet buffs me to the point where I'm stronger naked than I would have been in full gear before the signet update.

That said, the Op is stoned if he thinks there is really no-one to party with. They are definitely out there. I wonder if he knows how to search every area for party-seekers, or if he's only searching Qufim, where people rarely go until they already have a party.

Ummm ... be prepared to LFP for hours. Thats FFXI... You've played this a week, do you have your subjob activated and leveled? that might be why you're not getting invites. Also I'm assuming since your new, you might be jsut searching for people willing to party by searching through menus/area. If you just type /sea all inv 19-22 then it would list everyone searching to party your level regardless of level. They might be farming while lfp or crafting near their guild to make their time more productive.

My advice... Check your region info conquest and see if Qufim is under bastok rule, then do supply quest. That way you can OP warp quickly to qufim whenever you need to. Also, there's lots of quest to do in Jueno while your LFP to party in qufim.