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Cythereal
Nov 8, 2009

I love the potoo,
and the potoo loves you.
A Beginner's Thread for Final Fantasy XIV

:siren:THIS THREAD HAS A STRICT NO SPOILER WARNING:siren:



FINAL FANTASY XIV: Endwalker
Available for PC, Mac, PS4, and PS5
Official site: http://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodestone/
Account management: http://sqex.to/Msp
Primary Goon Discord: Catgirl Bargains
EU Goon Discord: Please Calm Down
Main Thread: Main Discussion Thread

ATTENTION: I AM NO LONGER READING OR MAINTAINING THIS THREAD DUE TO QUITTING THE GAME. PLEASE SEND ME A PM IF THERE IS A POST WITH INFORMATION THAT SHOULD BE ADDED TO THE OP

Free trial meme goes here. Jokes aside, FF14 is the fastest growing MMO in the world, with a generous and expansive free trial mode. If you’re Eorzea-curious or are simply looking for spoiler-free advice, you’ve come to the right place.

Veterans with advice, I'll be happy to add links and new material as necessary, but I think it's best to keep this OP focused on ARR material for newbies.

This thread is for advice and Q&A for newbies, chat is fine as long as it doesn't stray into spoiler territory.



What's available in the free trial and what do I need to buy the game for?

The free trial mode includes the base game of A Realm Reborn (ARR for short) and the first expansion of Heavensward (HW for short). You can play up to a level cap of 60 and have every class introduced in these expansions. You do not have access to the second expansion Stormblood (StB), the third expansion Shadowbringers (ShB), or the fourth expansion Endwalker (EW). Additionally, you are barred from the viera (bunnies) and hrothgar (big muscle cats, currently male-only) races. If you choose to buy the game, you cannot play the free trial ever again on that account.

At least temporarily, PvP has been disabled for free trial players!

Buy the full game if you want to:

1. Progress past level 60.
2. Play as a viera or hrothgar.
3. Play as a gunbreaker, sage, samurai, reaper, dancer, or red mage.
4. Play the Stormblood, Shadowbringers, or Endwalker expansion stories.
5. PvP (this is hopefully temporary!)

Note that if you want to just get to 60 first and see how you feel, that's fine! There's a lot of game to get through!

Should I get this game on Steam or direct from the Square website?

Up to you, you still play with the same people. The main thing is that if you get the game through Steam, you are forever locked into needing to buy the expansions and future content through Steam.

Does it matter what server or data center I'm on?

Server matters for what Free Company (guild, if you're a veteran of other MMOs) you can join, but cross-server play within the same data center is possible. Cross-data center play is currently not possible. The main goon FCs are on the server Excalibur on the Primal data center. If you're in a time zone other than EST, ask around in this or the main thread.

A strange quirk of FFXIV is that when server populations are high, creation of new characters on congested servers is forbidden. Excalibur, goon central, is very frequently congested. Try creating a character during the wee hours of the morning, just understand that right now the game is in an unprecedented surge of growth and the game is struggling to cope.

The website/store/account management is bullshit and obtuse and weird.

Yup.

What matters during character creation?

Your race (for looks) and your starting class. That's it. Your nameday and patron god have zero gameplay effect, and stat differences between races are so minute that they don't matter in the slightest. What other games call 'racials,' FFXIV calls 'pretty princess.'




Translation: Classes. Yes, XIV has weird names for everything. You get used to it. Below are brief overviews of how the classes play later - they're all slow to start and gently ease you into the game.

You can start the game as one of these classes:

Gladiator (GLD): Tank class. Weapon: Sword and shield. Has the most straightforward and traditional tank toolkit with a strong emphasis on protecting and supporting the party. Nothing fancy or novel, but it works. Graduates into Paladin (PLD). Starts in Ul'dah.

Marauder (MRD): Tank class. Weapon: Axe. Stronger focus on positioning than gladiator/paladin and has a weirder toolkit that's very strong in some situations and very weak in others, with self-healing a staple. Graduates into Warrior (WAR). Starts in Limsa Lominsa.

Conjurer (CNJ): Healer class. Weapon: Staff. The most traditional healer in 14, with a straightforward and effective set of tools. Not very complicated, but works very well. At higher levels, has a surprisingly capable offensive side. Graduates into White Mage (WHM). Starts in Gridania.

Pugilist (PGL): Melee DPS class. Weapon: Fist Weapons. Very combo and positionals based (every melee class in FFXIV has them, but Pugilist lives by them), has a higher learning curve than many classes. Graduates into Monk (MNK). Starts in Ul'dah.

Lancer (LNC): Melee DPS class. Weapon: Polearm. Focuses on a long, rigid dps rotation with few positionals or fancy tricks. Infamous for getting newbies killed due to animation lock issues vs mechanics and backflipping off the edges of the arena, and kind of a meme loser class with the fanbase, but a good dragoon is perfectly fine. Graduates into Dragoon (DRG). Starts in Gridania.

Archer (ARC): Ranged DPS class. Weapon: Bow. Starts off simple enough, but gets much more complex as it levels. One of the most active, high-APM classes in the game with a priority-and-proc style and a lot of plates to keep spinning. Graduates into Bard (BRD). Starts in Gridania.

Thaumaturge (THM): Magic DPS class. Weapon: Staff (but held at a jaunty angle to distinguish it from Conjurer). The most traditional mage, with a heavy emphasis on resource and cooldown management (less so resources, more so player positioning, at higher levels). Changes more than any other class as it levels. Probably the most difficult, but rewarding, class to play in the current endgame. Graduates into Black Mage (BLM). Starts in Ul'dah.

Arcanist (ACN): Magic DPS class. Weapon: Book. Has a pet but can mostly be ignored in favor of being a general offensive caster. Uniquely - in a feature never repeated in FFXIV - splits into two jobs that share an experience bar: Summoner (SMN) and Scholar (SCH). Summoner is a Magic DPS class based on cooldown management moving through different summoning phases. Scholar is a Healer class with an emphasis on proactive shields rather than reactive heals, and a lot of specialized, somewhat situational effects as contrasting the more straightforward white mage. Starts in Limsa Lominsa.

Also, a quick note on healers in FFXIV: they are expected to deal plenty of damage when your group doesn't need healing. Your job is to keep the party from dying, not keep everyone at full health. In the image below, the viera in the bottom right demonstrates the correct mentality for playing a healer in FFXIV. Be like her.




Wait, graduating into other classes? Starting classes?

Yup! Once you complete the level 30 quest for one of these classes (and one other I'll detail below), you unlock an advanced class called a job. This is always worth doing immediately, there is never any reason to play as a base class rather than a job. You switch to your job via equipping the soul crystal (it's in its own gear slot) that the unlock quest awards you. Jobs are the base class, but better and unlock many more abilities. Just note that equipping your job stone for the first time will mess up your hotbars.

As for other classes – in FFXIV, you can play as every class and every job on one character! You just need to hit level 10 to unlock this feature! Changing classes is as simple as changing your currently equipped weapon. Remember to equip your job stone if changing jobs.

What other jobs are there?

Glad you asked! Above I detailed the classes you can start in, but there are others!

Rogue (ROG): Melee DPS class. Weapon: Daggers. Unlocks once you are level 10 and have access to Limsa Lominsa. A high APM class with an unusual core mechanic and what evolves into a priority system, strong emphasis on buff and debuff management. Graduates into Ninja (NIN). Unlocks in Limsa Lominsa.

Dark Knight (DRK): Tank class. Weapon: Greatsword. Compared to the other tanks, Dark Knights rely more on buff and debuff management and have some, uh, interesting buttons (you will learn real fast how much your healers like you if you play a Dark Knight in high end content). Unlocked by story progress, once you make it to Ishgard. Unlocks in Ishgard.

Astrologian (AST): Healer class. Weapon: Astrolabe. Mixes up the standard healing formula with divination cards they can use to boost the damage of the party (you will never get the cards you need when it counts) and has a heavier emphasis on situational spells that can punch above their weight in the right situation. Unlocks in Ishgard.

Machinist (MCH): Ranged DPS class. Weapon: Gun. Primarily built around maximizing a burst phase. Fairly sedate outside that phase, but very hectic when the cooldowns line up.. Unlocked by story progress, once you make it to Ishgard. Unlocks in Ishgard.

Samurai (SAM): Melee DPS class. Weapon: Katana. REQUIRES THE FULL GAME TO PLAY. Combo-based melee class with an emphasis on resource management. If you've bought the full game, unlocks simply by reaching level 50. Unlocks in Ul'dah.

Red Mage (RDM): Magic DPS class. Weapon: Rapier. REQUIRES THE FULL GAME TO PLAY. Uses a combo-and-proc system based on the unique dualcast mechanic that makes every other spell instant, and has a melee burst phase. Great utility toolkit that no one will thank you for using. If you've bought the full game, unlocks simply by reaching level 50. Unlocks in Ul'dah.

Gunbreaker (GNB): Tank class. Weapon: Gunblade. REQUIRES THE FULL GAME TO PLAY. Has a very active playstyle compared to the other tanks, and feels more like a melee DPS class than a tank but is no less effective (although like the Dark Knights, their toolkit in high end content may test your relationship with your healers). If you've bought the full game, unlocks simply by reaching level 60. Unlocks in Gridania.

Dancer (DNC): Ranged DPS class. Weapon: Throwing Weapons. REQUIRES THE FULL GAME TO PLAY. A simple proc-based class that's very easy to play, mixed up with dance mechanics that let you buff the damage of a party member. Note that the dances do a lot of damage, but require you to be near melee. If you've bought the full game, unlocks simply by reaching level 60. Unlocks in Limsa Lominsa.

Reaper (RPR): Melee DPS class. Weapon: Scythe. REQUIRES THE FULL GAME TO PLAY. Uses a builder/spender system designed to progressively boost into higher and higher dps modes until it climaxes and starts the cycle all over again, with more self-healing than is typical for dps. If you've bought the full game, unlocks simply by reaching level 70. Unlocks in Ul’dah.

Sage (SAG): Healer class. Weapon: Magitek drones. REQUIRES THE FULL GAME TO PLAY. Shield-based healer where many abilities have different effects based on whether you have a particular buff active or not, and can mark allies to passively heal them as you deal damage to enemies. If you've bought the full game, unlocks simply by reaching level 70. Unlocks in Limsa Lominsa.

Blue Mage (BLU): Special class. Weapon: Cane. Blue Mage is a very, very strange class that's more of a side game than a proper class. Blue Mages have a completely unique method of learning spells (they learn enemy attacks by seeing enemies use them), a restricted level cap, and can't participate in the main story or traditional dungeons, instead getting a variety of special bonuses and mechanics all to themselves. Becomes available if you've finished the level 50 main quest "The Ultimate Weapon." Unlocks in Limsa Lominsa. Here's a good introduction in the thread.

What about crafting?

Crafting and gathering in FFXIV are classes unto themselves, with mechanics, quests, rotations, and even entire events and instanced content. I’m serious about the classes, by the way.

Botanist (BTN): Gathering class. Harvests wood, plants, and fiber. Unlocked in Gridania.

Miner (MIN): Gathering class. Harvests rock, ore, and gems. Unlocked in Ul’dah.

Fisher (FSH): Gathering class. Harvests fish and other odds and ends (seriously, FFXIV fishers go fishing in lava). Unlocked in Limsa Lominsa.

Alchemist (ALC): Crafting class. Makes potions and other consumables. Unlocked in Ul’dah.

Armorer (ARM): Crafting class. Makes heavy armor. Unlocked in Limsa Lominsa.

Blacksmith (BSM): Crafting class. Makes metal weapons and other odds and ends. Unlocked in Limsa Lominsa.

Carpenter (CRP): Crafting class Makes wooden stuff – bows, staves, furniture, etc. Unlocked in Gridania.

Culinarian (CUL): Crafting class. Makes food for buffs. Unlocked in Limsa Lominsa.

Goldsmith (GSM): Crafting class. Makes jewelry and other oddball items. Unlocked in Ul’dah.

Leatherworker (LTW): Crafting class. Makes medium armor and other stuff. Unlocked in Gridania.

Weaver (WVR): Crafting class. Makes light armor and other clothes. Unlocked in Ul’dah.

All this sounds good, how does the game actually play?

This is an extremely story-focused game. I cannot stress this enough. There are dungeons. There are raids. The bulk of the game, however, is focused on the single-player story. To this end, a few important tips:

Main story quests (also known as Main Scenario Quests, or MSQ) are the main story progress. These quests are marked with a gold meteor icon and your quest progress is visible at the upper left corner of your screen.

Class and job quests unlock every 5 levels. Do these ASAP because they usually award gear, new abilities, or both. The quests for your current class/job are tracked in the upper left corner of your screen, right underneath the main story bar.

Some quests are marked with a blue + symbol. These quests are optional, but unlock new features for you like optional dungeons. Always worth doing.

Or in short:



Again: the focus of the game is in the story, not racing to endgame.

Key Quests/Story Progress Notes for New Players:

Level 10 MSQ: Unlocks the ability to switch classes.

Level 15 MSQ: Finishes your starting city storyline and unlocks the ability to travel to other cities.

Level 16 MSQ: Before your first dungeon, you’ll be directed to a nearby place called Hall of the Novice. Do all of these quests. Hall of the Novice is a tutorial on MMOs, and worth doing even if you’re a genre veteran. These quests award excellent gear you won’t replace for a while, and in particular the final reward is a ring that boosts all experience gains for all classes under level 30.

Level 20 MSQ: After you join a Grand Company (you’ll know this when you hit it in the story), a sidequest will pop up called My Little Chocobo. This is your starting mount! You can get the grand company seals by just running a couple of daily roulettes.

Level 20 MSQ: Speaking of joining Grand Companies! Your choice here is simply a choice of aesthetics and where you want to go. It makes no meaningful difference beyond aesthetics - your starting chocobo mentioned above will come with armor for your chosen group.

Level 30 MSQ: Unlocks a quest called My Feisty Chocobo (assuming you completed My Little Chocobo) that lets you summon your chocobo as a combat pet.

Level 50 MSQ: After completing the quest "The Ultimate Weapon" you'll instantly unlock flying in all pre-expansion areas! Yup, no fee. Yup, all mounts fly. Including that one. And that one. I know it looks weird. Roll with it.

Level 50 MSQ: After completing the quest "The Ultimate Weapon" a blue + quest will become available in Ul'dah called 'The Rise and Fall of Gentlemen.' Don't stop until you have the /hildy emote.

What’s this about roulettes and dungeons?

All dungeons in FFXIV are relevant forever. In the duty finder window, you’ll see things called “roulettes.” These are randomly selected instances from those you’ve unlocked, with a substantial daily bonus. These are VERY worth doing for experience, gil, and grand company seals – at higher levels you’ll unlock other roulettes accessing different instances.

Also note that at higher levels, you unlock so-called 'Hard modes' for old dungeons. These are entirely new dungeons, not just harder versions of the old! They're new dungeons just set in the same general location.

I don’t care about story, I just want to raid!

Story skips are a thing you can buy, but I really don’t recommend it. Yes, this game has raids. Yes, a lot of people enjoy them very much. But they are not the bulk of this game. If all you want to do is progression raiding, this may not be the game for you.

What about PvP?

It's generally not well liked by the fanbase, but Onean gives you the lowdown on everything you need to know about PvP in this game.

An important note on gearing: When you get to level 50 and have completed the quest "The Ultimate Weapon" you'll start to earn currency called Tomestones of Poetics. Spend these at the Servant of Splendors in every capital near the aetheryte to get 'Ironworks' gear that will last you well into Heavensward.

Miscellaneous Section

JoCat guide to tanks
JoCat guide to healers
JoCat guide to DPS
A comprehensive guide to all unlocks and level-locked content.
FFXIV's primary online fan database of game data.
Do you hate yourself? Here's a guide to making ARR relics
Curious about FF14's lore and setting? Jesse Cox is a good place to start
MGP and how to earn it in the Gold Saucer

https://twitter.com/nullshocked/status/1418660623257374728?s=20

:siren:THIS THREAD HAS A STRICT NO SPOILER WARNING:siren:

Cythereal fucked around with this message at 00:16 on Mar 2, 2022

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Cythereal
Nov 8, 2009

I love the potoo,
and the potoo loves you.
Technical Help for Newbies

This post for advice for newbies regarding technical matters. I know little about this, so advice is welcome!

https://twitter.com/ipsusu/status/1406399090829758471?s=20

THF13 posted:

My settings advice to new players is the following:

Character Configuration/Control
  • Switch to Legacy Type (Character will face and run the direction you press rather than slowly backpedal. Faster and helps with later game mechanics where your facing is important.)
  • Check Skip Playback of Previously Viewed Cutscenes (Avoid rewatching or having to manually skip dungeon cutscenes to places you have been before)

Character Configuration/UI Settings/HUD
  • Check "Display only detrimental settings you inflict" (If your class has dots this makes it much easier to tell when you need to refresh them)

Character Configuration/Item Settings
  • Inventory Interface: Open All (all your inventory in a single tab)
  • Retainer Inventory Interface: Open All (Less tabs for your retainers)
  • Uncheck Store all newly obtained items in the Armory chest (Trying to clean your Armory chest when it's full of random garbage you never equipped is a pain, this makes new items go into your inventory instead)

System Settings/Graphics Settings
  • UI Resolution: High (4k) (Uses higher res textures for maps, buttons, other UI elements. Looks better even on non-4k displays)

HUD Layout:
  • Go into the settings for your "target" element, check Display Target Info Separately, set the Target Info (Progress Bar) to 200%, click save, and drag that Target Info (Progress Bar) element somewhere where you definitely are going to notice it. (What spell/ability a boss is casting is extremely important to react to quickly. )

Keybinds
  • If you don't switch to Legacy controls, switch use strafe left/right instead of turn left/right for A/D. Using keys to turn your character is too slow, use your mouse to change character facing.

AngusPodgorny posted:

Help, I upgraded to a job at level 30 and my hotbars are messed up
It's because classes and jobs have independent hotbars, but you can use text commands to copy the obsolete class ones over. For example,
/hotbar copy gla 1 pld 1
will copy the first gladiator hotbar to the first paladin hotbar. This is also handy for crafting jobs to keep everything consistent.

Since there's no reason to play a class after unlocking a job, there are fancy things you can do with having 100+ unused hotbars, like faking custom pull-down menus, but that's beyond the scope of this thread (and also my knowledge).

onesixtwo posted:

Slight addition to the /hotbar copy section: /chotbar copy is the command for Crossbar / controller players.

Kerrzhe posted:

What just hit me??

So you're in a dungeon or boss fight and something flashy just happened. Maybe you died, maybe not, but you didn't really see any tell on the ground, so what gives? How do I know when something is happening if there's not a big orange circle on the ground??

The answer: the enemy cast bar! Most bosses in dungeons, raids, and trials, have abilities with a cast time and a distinctive name to give you a hint at what they're doing. Knowing how to react to and use this information is a key part of combat design in FFXIV, especially at higher levels!

"But OP, where is the boss's cast bar? It's so small and my eyes are poor and feeble!"

That's what I'm here to help with. There's a very nice trick to make the enemy cast bar nice and visible.


First thing to do is to hit Escape, then HUD Layout.

Your Target Bar is likely near the top of the screen in its default position, but just left click on it, and click this little cog wheel button:



That will bring up the options for modifying the Target Bar, and you'll want to Check "Display Target Info Independently"



This option separates out the target's HP, Progress Bar (aka, cast bar), and Status (aka, their buffs and debuffs) into their own boxes that you can move and resize independently!

Crank the Element Size on Target Info (Progress Bar) to something girthier (I find that 160% is plenty).

Before:



And after:



If you're interested in playing on a controller, here's a guide on how to do it! The game supports controllers very well, and a lot of people enjoy playing this way. If that interests you, give it a try!

Cythereal fucked around with this message at 20:43 on Jul 15, 2021

Cythereal
Nov 8, 2009

I love the potoo,
and the potoo loves you.
For WoW Veterans




All jokes aside, a significant part of the influx of new players to FFXIV are WoW veterans, and it’s worth addressing you (us, really, I mostly jumped ship during BFA).

Some key things to know:

Yes, the global cooldown is longer in this game. Every class will eventually pick up a variety of oGCD abilities to mix things up, but FFXIV is going to feel very sluggish for you at first, and won’t ever be as snappy and responsive.

There is no faction divide. World PvP does not exist in this game, and PvP in general is given little attention. Be you hyur, elezen, roegadyn, lalafell, miqo’te, au ra, viera, or Hrothgar, and loyal to Limsa Lominsa, Gridania, or Ul’dah, everyone in this game is on the same side.

The gearing system is different. There are no gear sims here. It’s main stat, with room for enchants. If you’re old enough to remember Justice and Valor points, congratulations, that’s the main way gearing works at the endgame here.

There are no Mythic+ dungeons. If challenging M+ keystone dungeons are your game, FFXIV has nothing comparable. There is something called Palace of the Dead and Heaven on High that are vaguely like this, but it’s not the same.

Borrowed power? What borrowed power? FFXIV doesn’t do that. There are no artifact weapons, garrisons, or covenants here outside optional side content.

GMs in this game respond. See a Nazi in general chat? Someone being a misogynistic creep in the raid? Report them. FF14's GMs are on the case and do respond, quite seriously. Which also means if you are one of those creepy Nazis, this may not be the game for you.

Onean posted:

Something that threw me off coming from WoW, though it was more an issue going the other way honestly:

I keep getting hit by AoE!
Enemy AoE attacks work a little differently in FFXIV. You want to be out of or inside the indicator when it disappears, not when the attack happens. New indicators are also added all the time. If you see something new you don't understand, feel free to ask! There's a good chance one of your party mates will know what it means.

Cythereal fucked around with this message at 21:11 on Oct 16, 2021

The Dark Souls of Posters
Nov 4, 2011

Just Post, Kupo
Can I get a crown if I hope to help answer newbie questions itt?

KirbyKhan
Mar 20, 2009



Soiled Meat
The unifying theme in any system or mechanic you encounter in this game is that they reward participation, not optimization.

Just press buttons, it's ok if it's slow or not the correct order or whatever.

Ruzihm
Aug 11, 2010

Group up and push mid, proletariat!


It might be worth including that the quest "My Feisty Little Chocobo" becomes available at Level 30 MSQ and completing that quest will allow you to summon your chocobo to fight alongside you, and you get to have it learn various healer, tank, and damage abilities.

Thisuck
Apr 29, 2012

Spoilers
Pillbug
Also this regarding quest icons. If it's possible, could you add it to the op?

bagrada
Aug 4, 2007

The Demogorgon is tired of your silly human bickering!

Ruzihm posted:

It might be worth including that the quest "My Feisty Little Chocobo" becomes available at Level 30 MSQ and completing that quest will allow you to summon your chocobo to fight alongside you, and you get to have it learn various healer, tank, and damage abilities.

Is there a good way to level your chocobo? Mine is at 8/10 1/10 1/10 and I'm 2 expansions in using it quite a bit.

Nibble
Dec 28, 2003

if we don't, remember me

KirbyKhan posted:

The unifying theme in any system or mechanic you encounter in this game is that they reward participation, not optimization.

Just press buttons, it's ok if it's slow or not the correct order or whatever.

Just the idea of Always Be Casting, aka using a skill/spell on every GCD, is probably new to someone coming from WoW. At least I remember on some classes like Rogue and Warrior, you'd spend long periods just auto-attacking waiting for resources. Even for healers, MP isn't so big a concern that you shouldn't be casting your main damage spell whenever you can.

Cythereal
Nov 8, 2009

I love the potoo,
and the potoo loves you.

Thisuck posted:

Also this regarding quest icons. If it's possible, could you add it to the op?


Ruzihm posted:

It might be worth including that the quest "My Feisty Little Chocobo" becomes available at Level 30 MSQ and completing that quest will allow you to summon your chocobo to fight alongside you, and you get to have it learn various healer, tank, and damage abilities.

Added both of these, and a note that the game eases you into all of the classes at first.

hobbesmaster
Jan 28, 2008

bagrada posted:

Is there a good way to level your chocobo? Mine is at 8/10 1/10 1/10 and I'm 2 expansions in using it quite a bit.

The answer is no there isn’t a particularly fast way. Do however make sure to get your challenge log entry for kills with your chocobo out each week, between the two that challenge is worth like 20% of a level.

Begemot
Oct 14, 2012

The One True Oden

bagrada posted:

Is there a good way to level your chocobo? Mine is at 8/10 1/10 1/10 and I'm 2 expansions in using it quite a bit.

It just takes a while, honestly, since the chocobo doesn't get the big XP that the player character does (quest rewards and roulettes). There is a weekly challenge for killing a certain number of comparable-level enemies with your chocobo (50 I think?) that gives a nice chunk of XP FOR your chocobo, so make sure you do that.

Also it may be at the level cap. You can only raise it to level 10 by default, you have to feed it a thavnairian onion (available through gardening or the market board) to raise the cap by one. It goes up to a hard cap of 20, which is enough to max out all three ability trees.

bagrada
Aug 4, 2007

The Demogorgon is tired of your silly human bickering!

I'll check on both of those, thanks!

New players feel free to watch the cutscenes in group content. If your group starts the fight you'll get the warning that the boss area is going to be closed off soon, but once you are moving again it will give you the option to teleport in to join the fight if the barrier is up. Also your return spell takes you to the start if you are in a dungeon, its mainly used as a shortcut in the low level Manor dungeon.

AngusPodgorny
Jun 3, 2004

Please to be restful, it is only a puffin that has from the puffin place outbroken.
Edit: moved to op

AngusPodgorny fucked around with this message at 21:31 on Jul 14, 2021

KodiakRS
Jul 11, 2012

:stonk:

Nibble posted:

Just the idea of Always Be Casting, aka using a skill/spell on every GCD, is probably new to someone coming from WoW. At least I remember on some classes like Rogue and Warrior, you'd spend long periods just auto-attacking waiting for resources. Even for healers, MP isn't so big a concern that you shouldn't be casting your main damage spell whenever you can.

Along these same lines: Every class in FFXIV is a DPS class

in FFXIV non-dedicated DPS jobs (i.e. healers/tanks) are expected to contribute much more DPS to your party than in other MMOs. If you're a healer and no one in your party needs heals/shields at the moment you should probably be doing damage. The same goes for tanks, if you're not busy doing something related to your role keep doing damage.

Mister Olympus
Oct 31, 2011

Buzzard, Who Steals From Dead Bodies
Also make sure you always have your chocobo out when 6.0 drops. It's bound to jump a couple levels just from doing all the normal expansion-launch stuff and clearing out sidequests.

THF13
Sep 26, 2007

Keep an adversary in the dark about what you're capable of, and he has to assume the worst.
This post was already added to the excellent OP, nevermind!

Cythereal
Nov 8, 2009

I love the potoo,
and the potoo loves you.

THF13 posted:

My settings advice to new players is the following:

Character Configuration/Control
  • Switch to Legacy Type (Character will face and run the direction you press rather than slowly backpedal. Faster and helps with later game mechanics where your facing is important.)
  • Check Skip Playback of Previously Viewed Cutscenes (Avoid rewatching or having to manually skip dungeon cutscenes to places you have been before)

Character Configuration/UI Settings/HUD
  • Check "Display only detrimental settings you inflict" (If your class has dots this makes it much easier to tell when you need to refresh them)

Character Configuration/Item Settings
  • Inventory Interface: Open All (all your inventory in a single tab)
  • Retainer Inventory Interface: Open All (Less tabs for your retainers)
  • Uncheck Store all newly obtained items in the Armory chest (Trying to clean your Armory chest when it's full of random garbage you never equipped is a pain, this makes new items go into your inventory instead)

System Settings/Graphics Settings
  • UI Resolution: High (4k) (Uses higher res textures for maps, buttons, other UI elements. Looks better even on non-4k displays)

HUD Layout:
  • Go into the settings for your "target" element, check Display Target Info Separately, set the Target Info (Progress Bar) to 200%, click save, and drag that Target Info (Progress Bar) element somewhere where you definitely are going to notice it. (What spell/ability a boss is casting is extremely important to react to quickly. )

Keybinds
  • If you don't switch to Legacy controls, switch use strafe left/right instead of turn left/right for A/D. Using keys to turn your character is too slow, use your mouse to change character facing.

AngusPodgorny posted:

Help, I upgraded to a job at level 30 and my hotbars are messed up
It's because classes and jobs have independent hotbars, but you can use text commands to copy the obsolete class ones over. For example,
/hotbar copy gla 1 pld 1
will copy the first gladiator hotbar to the first paladin hotbar. This is also handy for crafting jobs to keep everything consistent.

Since there's no reason to play a class after unlocking a job, there are fancy things you can do with having 100+ unused hotbars, like faking custom pull-down menus, but that's beyond the scope of this thread (and also my knowledge).

KodiakRS posted:

Along these same lines: Every class in FFXIV is a DPS class

in FFXIV non-dedicated DPS jobs (i.e. healers/tanks) are expected to contribute much more DPS to your party than in other MMOs. If you're a healer and no one in your party needs heals/shields at the moment you should probably be doing damage. The same goes for tanks, if you're not busy doing something related to your role keep doing damage.

Added all of these!

M.c.P
Mar 27, 2010

Stop it.
Stop all this nonsense.

Nap Ghost

bagrada posted:

Is there a good way to level your chocobo? Mine is at 8/10 1/10 1/10 and I'm 2 expansions in using it quite a bit.

Here’s something you may not know.

If you are part of an FC or have an apartment, the chocobo stable yard item has a few functionalities. One is the mechanic by which you change chocobo colors, and the other is training.

Training uses 1 Krakka root to give the chocobo some XP relative to its level, with a 1 hour cooldown. It’s not a lot, but it’s just a couple clicks. The interesting thing here is that your chocobo can get this training from two sources; yourself and anyone else.

So if people are online, it can be a nice community thing where you poke in to train each other’s chocobo for passive xp between roulettes or whatever. Between that and the challenge log, I got my chocobo to rank 20 at an okay pace.

Onean
Feb 11, 2010

Maiden in white...
You are not one of us.
Something that threw me off coming from WoW, though it was more an issue going the other way honestly:

I keep getting hit by AoE!
Enemy AoE attacks work a little differently in FFXIV. You want to be out of or inside the indicator when it disappears, not when the attack happens. New indicators are also added all the time. If you see something new you don't understand, feel free to ask! There's a good chance one of your party mates will know what it means.

onesixtwo
Apr 27, 2014

Don't you realize that being nice just makes you get hurt?

Cythereal posted:

Added all of these!

Slight addition to the /hotbar copy section: /chotbar copy is the command for Crossbar / controller players.

THF13
Sep 26, 2007

Keep an adversary in the dark about what you're capable of, and he has to assume the worst.

Cythereal posted:

Added all of these!

If you want to organize/consolidate tips at any point in the future feel free to use mine anywhere in the OP without having to credit/quote me.

Fister Roboto
Feb 21, 2008

bagrada posted:

Is there a good way to level your chocobo? Mine is at 8/10 1/10 1/10 and I'm 2 expansions in using it quite a bit.

Get to Shadowbringers. You get more XP at higher levels, and the total amount you need to get chocobo level 20 hasn't changed since ARR. It will speed up significantly there, and even more in EW.

But also don't worry about it too much, most of the upgrades are pretty marginal at best. The healing ones are decent for leveling at least. The tank ones are nearl;y useless.

punk rebel ecks
Dec 11, 2010

A shitty post? This calls for a dance of deduction.
Obligatory video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gIWlgmLnfHc

Tortolia
Dec 29, 2005

Hindustan Electronics Employee of the Month, July 2008
Grimey Drawer
A few general notes:

1) Controller play is 100% viable at all levels of game, up to and including the highest end raid content. If you're intrigued by it, give it a shot - folks can help guide you on this. Controller has extremely easy movement, access to 48 hotbar slots without having to do anything more than tap/hold the triggers on the controller, very good targeting options, and the ability to control the game while the window isn't focused (while, say, fishing). Part of the reason FFXIV is so popular is because console players can and do play the game using controllers and don't have to spend money on some sort of custom setup.

2) Unlike many MMOs, this is not a game that lives or dies based on some sort of class meta. All jobs can and have cleared all levels of content. World first groups have used "unpopular" classes because the players in the group preferred playing them. Much like picking what race/gender you want, feel free to choose your main jobs based on what you find fun/aesthetically pleasing and not because it's going to prevent you from doing what you want to do otherwise.

3) The FFXIV community loves newbies. Absolutely adores them! Let folks know if this is your first run of some content. Ask questions if something's unclear, ask for advice, just feel free to chat because people probably will respond! If you join a goon FC (highly recommended), feel free to look for folks to run content with or join their roulettes. FFXIV not only provides significant community and social tools, players get some fairly significant mechanical incentives to help folks clear content their first time, so it's not even remotely an imposition to ask for party members when you're about to wander into X dungeon.

4) Take your time with the game and go at your own pace. Lots of folks like to say that the Heavensward and Shadowbringers expansions are amazing. They are! This doesn't mean that ARR is bad and should be rushed through. This doesn't mean you should only do the MSQ, or only level one job, or ignore crafters/gatherers. Work on the MSQ, but unlock content with those blue colored + quests. Do side dungeons, go ocean fishing, hit up the Gold Saucer, try Palace of the Dead, try crafting stuff. The rest of the game isn't going anywhere.

Have fun!

Kerrzhe
Nov 5, 2008

What just hit me??

So you're in a dungeon or boss fight and something flashy just happened. Maybe you died, maybe not, but you didn't really see any tell on the ground, so what gives? How do I know when something is happening if there's not a big orange circle on the ground??

The answer: the enemy cast bar! Most bosses in dungeons, raids, and trials, have abilities with a cast time and a distinctive name to give you a hint at what they're doing. Knowing how to react to and use this information is a key part of combat design in FFXIV, especially at higher levels!

"But OP, where is the boss's cast bar? It's so small and my eyes are poor and feeble!"

That's what I'm here to help with. There's a very nice trick to make the enemy cast bar nice and visible.


First thing to do is to hit Escape, then HUD Layout.

Your Target Bar is likely near the top of the screen in its default position, but just left click on it, and click this little cog wheel button:



That will bring up the options for modifying the Target Bar, and you'll want to Check "Display Target Info Independently"



This option separates out the target's HP, Progress Bar (aka, cast bar), and Status (aka, their buffs and debuffs) into their own boxes that you can move and resize independently!

Crank the Element Size on Target Info (Progress Bar) to something girthier (I find that 160% is plenty).

Before:



And after:



Incredible. The power of the Echo is so strong with you now, you can see the future clear as day!

Fister Roboto
Feb 21, 2008

Cythereal posted:

What about crafting?

Crafting and gathering in FFXIV are classes unto themselves, with mechanics, quests, rotations, and even entire events and instanced content. I’m serious about the classes, by the way.

Botanist (BTN): Gathering class. Harvests wood, plants, and fiber. Unlocked in Gridania.

Miner (MIN): Gathering class. Harvests rock, ore, and gems. Unlocked in Ul’dah.

Fisher (FSH): Gathering class. Harvests fish and other odds and ends (seriously, FFXIV fishers go fishing in lava). Unlocked in Limsa Lominsa.

Alchemist (ALC): Crafting class. Makes potions and other consumables. Unlocked in Ul’dah.

Armorer (ARM): Crafting class. Makes heavy armor. Unlocked in Limsa Lominsa.

Blacksmith (BSM): Crafting class. Makes metal weapons and other odds and ends. Unlocked in Limsa Lominsa.

Carpenter (CRP): Crafting class Makes wooden stuff – bows, staves, furniture, etc. Unlocked in Gridania.

Culinarian (CUL): Crafting class. Makes food for buffs. Unlocked in Limsa Lominsa.

Goldsmith (GSM): Crafting class. Makes jewelry and other oddball items. Unlocked in Ul’dah.

Leatherworker (LTW): Crafting class. Makes medium armor and other stuff. Unlocked in Gridania.

Weaver (WVR): Crafting class. Makes light armor and other clothes. Unlocked in Ul’dah.

You should probably add a line to this section mentioning that each crafting class doesn't just make gear for a single combat role, like in WOW. Like armorsmith mostly makes tank gear, but they also make plenty of gear for the other roles. One of the most common questions I see in the main thread is "i'm class X, what crafting profession should I level?" and the answer is always "all of them", because crafting and gathering is its whole own system.

Pryce
May 21, 2011
Awesome OP.

This site has been my go-to since the game's launch for answering "How/When/Where do I unlock X system?"

https://ffxiv.gamerescape.com/wiki/Guide:Progression_and_Level_Locked_Content

There are a number of (optional unlock) things that are easy to miss, like non MSQ dungeons, Desynthesis, Dyeing/Glamour, etc. I've always made sure new friends have this page handy so they don't miss any cool unlockables.

Mazed
Oct 23, 2010

:blizz:


• If you get aggro, run TO the tank. They have AoE moves to grab it with.

• If you get rezzed, you take a debuff. Best practice is to rez/accept rezzes if you're in a fight, but release if you're not.

• After being rezzed, there's a five second buff that renders you invincible as long as you take no actions whatsoever. Note, however, that it doesn't affect things that knock your character around, potentially resulting in another death by ring-out.

EVERY JOB IS GOOD. THE WORST JOB IS THE ONE YOU HAVE THE LEAST FUN WITH.

A Moose
Oct 22, 2009



Pryce posted:

Awesome OP.

This site has been my go-to since the game's launch for answering "How/When/Where do I unlock X system?"

https://ffxiv.gamerescape.com/wiki/Guide:Progression_and_Level_Locked_Content

There are a number of (optional unlock) things that are easy to miss, like non MSQ dungeons, Desynthesis, Dyeing/Glamour, etc. I've always made sure new friends have this page handy so they don't miss any cool unlockables.

Another useful item is Garlandtools.org. Basically anytime you see an item and wonder where to get it, or what its for, or how to make it, that's your go-to site. It has a bunch of other useful functions like showing you what the best gear you can get for any level is, and lets you make shopping lists for crafting. It also has timers for timed gathering nodes. You can also look up NPCs and see what they're wearing! It also links to the ffxiv.gamerescape site so you can find more information there.

Cythereal
Nov 8, 2009

I love the potoo,
and the potoo loves you.

A Moose posted:

Another useful item is Garlandtools.org. Basically anytime you see an item and wonder where to get it, or what its for, or how to make it, that's your go-to site. It has a bunch of other useful functions like showing you what the best gear you can get for any level is, and lets you make shopping lists for crafting. It also has timers for timed gathering nodes. You can also look up NPCs and see what they're wearing! It also links to the ffxiv.gamerescape site so you can find more information there.

Pryce posted:

Awesome OP.

This site has been my go-to since the game's launch for answering "How/When/Where do I unlock X system?"

https://ffxiv.gamerescape.com/wiki/Guide:Progression_and_Level_Locked_Content

There are a number of (optional unlock) things that are easy to miss, like non MSQ dungeons, Desynthesis, Dyeing/Glamour, etc. I've always made sure new friends have this page handy so they don't miss any cool unlockables.

Added both of these to the OP.

Runa
Feb 13, 2011

Kerrzhe posted:



Incredible. The power of the Echo is so strong with you now, you can see the future clear as day!

W H A T

uh, I mean, thanks!

Ibblebibble
Nov 12, 2013

Personally I quite like standard movement compared to legacy so maybe make a note of it as being an option you can switch to if you're not feeling standard movement as opposed to a recommendation.

Frida Call Me
Sep 28, 2001

Boy, you gotta carry that weight
Carry that weight a long time
i ended up switching to legacy movement and stayed with it, when i discovered that backpedaling moves you as fast as RPwalking does.

Begemot
Oct 14, 2012

The One True Oden

I tried legacy movement but I am just too used to standard at this point. I kept messing things up trying to just move the camera with left click.

Also it messes up the way I like to fly level using autorun, parallel to the ground. It's annoying have to readjust all the time when I'm just trying to move the camera around with legacy movement.

petcarcharodon
Jun 25, 2013

bagrada posted:

Is there a good way to level your chocobo? Mine is at 8/10 1/10 1/10 and I'm 2 expansions in using it quite a bit.

Bring them along while leveling BLU, because chocobo XP is based on your XP, and BLU gets massive amounts of XP from overworld mobs

petcarcharodon
Jun 25, 2013
BTW you should maybe add to the descriptions for SAM, RDM, GNB, DNC, reaper, and sage that you unlock them in Ul'dah, Ul'dah, Gridania, Limsa, Ul'dah, and Limsa respectively. Also, instead of FULL GAME I'd probably specify you need Shadowbringers or complete.

petcarcharodon fucked around with this message at 03:47 on Jul 15, 2021

THF13
Sep 26, 2007

Keep an adversary in the dark about what you're capable of, and he has to assume the worst.

Ibblebibble posted:

Personally I quite like standard movement compared to legacy so maybe make a note of it as being an option you can switch to if you're not feeling standard movement as opposed to a recommendation.

Begemot posted:

I tried legacy movement but I am just too used to standard at this point. I kept messing things up trying to just move the camera with left click.

Also it messes up the way I like to fly level using autorun, parallel to the ground. It's annoying have to readjust all the time when I'm just trying to move the camera around with legacy movement.

This is why we have to get to them early.

W.T. Fits
Apr 21, 2010

Ready to Poyozo Dance all over your face.

petcarcharodon posted:

Bring them along while leveling BLU, because chocobo XP is based on your XP, and BLU gets massive amounts of XP from overworld mobs

I thought they changed that awhile back to make it so that Chocobos get normal XP for your level even if you're leveling as BLU?

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petcarcharodon
Jun 25, 2013

W.T. Fits posted:

I thought they changed that awhile back to make it so that Chocobos get normal XP for your level even if you're leveling as BLU?

Oh my mistake I thought they just reduced it on BLU but actually they increased it on every other job

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