[Megathread] Final Fantasy XIV

[Katchii]

Final Fantasy 1, 4, 6, 7, 8 and 12 have all been very lax when it comes to putting story at the forefront. Once you reach a certain point, usually quite early on, the game opens up and you're free to go exploring optional dungeons, sequence breaking and essentially picking and choosing which content it is that you want to do. 12 especially embraced the idea of plentiful side quests at every stage of the game. I've not played 15 yet, but I'm under the impression it's a more open world type affair too?

On the other hand, 9, 10 and 13 were much stricter more on-rails experiences. Trying to pin a whole series down as being "story centric" when the series has handled the story differently in each itteration is disengenuous I feel. They've let you do your own thing as often as they've rigidly bound you to the story arcs.

I think you and I obviously see this differently. From my perspective, Final Fantasy (the numbered titles) have all been story centric regardless of when within the game you're given free reign to explore. Being able to go and do a bunch of the optional content when exploring doesn't change that many parts of the game are still not fully explorable, or explorable at all, until you've progressed to the correct portion of the story. I specifically remember 4, 6, 7 and 8 being incredibly story driven. With huge portions of the game being completely inaccessible until you progress the story. The underground area with all the summon monsters in 4, the esper homeland in 6, 7 opened up pretty early after Midgard, 8 was on rails until you unlock the Gardens ability to move around which is like ~30-40% into it (it's been a long time)? I never played 1 and never finished 12 (my PS2 crapped out in the middle of it and I was more focused on PC at that point and didn't have ~$200 to spend on a new one). That aside, the fact that you get an end credits screen once you've finished the story and are then sent back to the title screen kind of speaks to the story being the primary purpose of the game with gameplay and other optional content being secondary. That said, yes FFXV is very open world nearly from the start but you're still somewhat corralled like in most MMOs (not saying it's an MMO, just using MMOs an an example) with higher level monsters being in areas you're not supposed to be in yet. And at some point it puts you on rails...the game occurs in "chapters" which again speaks to the story being the primary mechanism which drives the game. Being able to explore doesn't automatically disqualify the game from being story centric.

[Kaelwryn]

For those curious, they showed off the Zenos statue that will be in the physical CE:

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/147393263?t=24m53s

They stop showing it off at around 28 mins~.

[Graeham]

For those curious, they showed off the Zenos statue that will be in the physical CE:

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/147393263?t=24m53s

They stop showing it off at around 28 mins~.

Nice.

It'll look good side by side with the FFXII Remaster CE's statues!

[Deleted]

Hey guys!

I'm looking for a new MMO - so I went and paid for FFXIV - I tested it a year ago but at that time I was hardcore into ESO.

How is it leveling wise? (I'm the kind of player that wants to get to do end game)

I love healing and melee DPS, are those sought after at a high end raiding scheme?

Which kind of server do you reccomend a newbie to hop into (especially considering my thrive for end game)? EU Servers atm

Last but not least, any advice for a FFXIV starting strong newbie?

Thanks in advance!

EDIT: Any FF discord to ask these... "newbie" questions? Loving the game so far and wanna get more involved with it that's it

[Graeham]

-snip-

I'm sure other people will weigh in with advice of their own, so I'll try and keep to the basics. As far as leveling goes, things are a lot smoother now than they were at launch. You should be able to focus on the Main Scenario Quests and ignore most side quests unless you really want to do them/soak up the game's lore. If you intend to heal at end game then I'd suggest leveling as a healer outright. You'll enjoy faster dungeon queues! Some dungeons are optional but most are mandatory to proceed with the MSQ's.

Sitting back and enjoying the MSQ's is the best approach. They can be tedious initially, but they improve immensely the further along you get - in terms of depth and quality. I'm not familiar with EU servers since I play on a US server myself...even though I'm European.

Feel free to ask questions here about anything you're curious/confused about in-game. We're a friendly bunch!

[Aruhen]

Dragoon and Ninja are the most sought-after melee damage dealers for the moment and part of the "meta". This could change in Stormblood but I'd imagine Ninja will probably still be in high demand unless they gut their tool kits. As far as healers most will take any as they're a rare commodity but Scholars and Astrologians tend to be preferred over White Mage.

Servers... I can't speak for that as I'm on NA but there's several EU people here who can help with that.

[Deleted]

Hey guys!

I'm looking for a new MMO - so I went and paid for FFXIV - I tested it a year ago but at that time I was hardcore into ESO.

How is it leveling wise? (I'm the kind of player that wants to get to do end game)

I love healing and melee DPS, are those sought after at a high end raiding scheme?

Which kind of server do you reccomend a newbie to hop into (especially considering my thrive for end game)? EU Servers atm

Last but not least, any advice for a FFXIV starting strong newbie?

Thanks in advance!

EDIT: Any FF discord to ask these... "newbie" questions? Loving the game so far and wanna get more involved with it that's it

All DPS roles function just fine, however and this is a big one, FF14 while does have end game PVE content, it doesn't have a lot of it.

It may release what they call trials, its an 8 man boss and only 1 per patch, they used to release more but they toned the amount down and seems like it will continue like this going forward.

They have the raids which are also 8 man, but each 'tier' is only 4 bosses and they release a new 'tier' every 6 months, again only 4 bosses, theres super easy mode and a harder mode only, all the 4 man dungeons are super easy.

[Deleted]

I'm sure other people will weigh in with advice of their own, so I'll try and keep to the basics. As far as leveling goes, things are a lot smoother now than they were at launch. You should be able to focus on the Main Scenario Quests and ignore most side quests unless you really want to do them/soak up the game's lore. If you intend to heal at end game then I'd suggest leveling as a healer outright. You'll enjoy faster dungeon queues! Some dungeons are optional but most are mandatory to proceed with the MSQ's.

Sitting back and enjoying the MSQ's is the best approach. They can be tedious initially, but they improve immensely the further along you get - in terms of depth and quality. I'm not familiar with EU servers since I play on a US server myself...even though I'm European.

Feel free to ask questions here about anything you're curious/confused about in-game. We're a friendly bunch!

Thanks a lot for the insight!

I will do as you say, I remember it to be tedious to level but I guess it has changed a little bit?

Europe and in American servers, is there too much lag in-between, and is it because of the EU population or your personal preference?

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Dragoon and Ninja are the most sought-after melee damage dealers for the moment and part of the "meta". This could change in Stormblood but I'd imagine Ninja will probably still be in high demand unless they gut their tool kits. As far as healers most will take any as they're a rare commodity but Scholars and Astrologians tend to be preferred over White Mage.

Servers... I can't speak for that as I'm on NA but there's several EU people here who can help with that.

Thanks! I'll check the healers combo, at launch there were 2 choices iirc... I'm glad to hear you can divide them further (unless you are talking about end game and not my newbie "I just started" approach)

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All DPS roles function just fine, however and this is a big one, FF14 while does have end game PVE content, it doesn't have a lot of it.

It may release what they call trials, its an 8 man boss and only 1 per patch, they used to release more but they toned the amount down and seems like it will continue like this going forward.

They have the raids which are also 8 man, but each 'tier' is only 4 bosses and they release a new 'tier' every 6 months, again only 4 bosses, theres super easy mode and a harder mode only, all the 4 man dungeons are super easy.

Thanks for answering. I didn't expect them to be hard, especially coming from ESO where late game is regarded as elitist in some way. What's the most sought healer combo and dps combo right now? I don't like playing what I like, I'm more of -as I said earlier- looking for something that will be used in end content rather than ignored (I guess the best example would be disc priests in wow in comparison to idk resto druids atm?)

Thanks a lot guys!

[Veluren]

Thanks a lot for the insight!

I will do as you say, I remember it to be tedious to level but I guess it has changed a little bit?

Europe and in American servers, is there too much lag in-between, and is it because of the EU population or your personal preference?

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Thanks! I'll check the healers combo, at launch there were 2 choices iirc... I'm glad to hear you can divide them further (unless you are talking about end game and not my newbie "I just started" approach)

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Thanks for answering. I didn't expect them to be hard, especially coming from ESO where late game is regarded as elitist in some way. What's the most sought healer combo and dps combo right now? I don't like playing what I like, I'm more of -as I said earlier- looking for something that will be used in end content rather than ignored (I guess the best example would be disc priests in wow in comparison to idk resto druids atm?)

Thanks a lot guys!

Starting out you can only choose Conjurer (the class that becomes white mage) Arcanist splits into two classes, one of which is Scholar, but until level 30 they can only be DPS, and Astrologian is locked behind getting into Ishgard, which is doing all of the main story up to the start of the expansion.

Honestly, pick what you want, this game does have classes that edge out better than other yes, but the parsings are close enough to each other that you should just feel out everyone and see what plays the best to you, if you end up in a static or group of raiders that are outright forcing you to reroll because "It's the best DPS", that's a group you should remove yourself from, because they're full of crap.

[Scufflegrit]

Right now at least the meta seems to be:
Tanks - Warrior (starts out as Marauder), Dark Knight

Healers - Scholar (actually starts as Arcanist, a pet based DPS class but at level 30 it splits into 2 jobs: Summoner (Pet based DPS) and Scholar (shield based healer with a healing pet, with the pet allowing the Scholar to actively DPS more freely), Astrologian (starts at level 30 but is accessed in the city of Ishgard which cannot be accessed until you complete all of the 2.0-2.55 story quests, can choose between a healing based or shield based stance [cannot be changed mid combat] and has some very powerful group buffs, the biggest one of which is a flat damage boost to everyone in the group)

Melee - Dragoon (starts as Lancer), Ninja (starts as Rogue; however you can't start off as a Rogue at level 1 - you have to start as something else and then switch after completing your level 10 class quest.)

Ranged - Bard (starts as Archer), Machinist (Same as Astrologian: starts at level 30 but is accessed in the city of Ishgard which cannot be accessed until you complete all of the 2.0-2.55 story quests)

But with the expansion coming out in less than a month, the meta is almost definitely going to change some if not completely. So like Veluren said, pick something you think you'll enjoy just to start out and roll with it.

The other classes/jobs are:
Tank - Paladin (starts as Gladiator, and is the stereotypical sword and board heavy defense tank)

Healer - White Mage (starts as Conjurer and is just a straight up healing based healer)

Melee - Monk (starts as Pugilist, and while providing very solid damage, currently doesn't have any raid utility like NIN and DRG)

Casters - Summoner (mentioned above, a pet based DPS class that also makes heavy uses of DoTs; also has good raid utility currently as the only DPS with the ability to rez dead players, allowing the healer(s) to save their MP and continue healing), Black Mage (powerful pure DPS job which can basically be summed up right here.)

[Cattleya]

Europe and in American servers, is there too much lag in-between, and is it because of the EU population or your personal preference?

Another person who plays on NA servers despite being European here, personally it's only because all my friends play on NA servers. I don't think there's anything wrong with the EU population.

As for the lag, it's manageable but admittedly annoying. You have to be especially fast with moving out of telegraphed moves and maximizing efficient usage of off-GCD skills is practically impossible.

[Deleted]

Starting out you can only choose Conjurer (the class that becomes white mage) Arcanist splits into two classes, one of which is Scholar, but until level 30 they can only be DPS, and Astrologian is locked behind getting into Ishgard, which is doing all of the main story up to the start of the expansion.

Honestly, pick what you want, this game does have classes that edge out better than other yes, but the parsings are close enough to each other that you should just feel out everyone and see what plays the best to you, if you end up in a static or group of raiders that are outright forcing you to reroll because "It's the best DPS", that's a group you should remove yourself from, because they're full of crap.

I will take note of that, thanks.

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Right now at least the meta seems to be:
Tanks - Warrior (starts out as Marauder), Dark Knight

Healers - Scholar (actually starts as Arcanist, a pet based DPS class but at level 30 it splits into 2 jobs: Summoner (Pet based DPS) and Scholar (shield based healer with a healing pet, with the pet allowing the Scholar to actively DPS more freely), Astrologian (starts at level 30 but is accessed in the city of Ishgard which cannot be accessed until you complete all of the 2.0-2.55 story quests, can choose between a healing based or shield based stance [cannot be changed mid combat] and has some very powerful group buffs, the biggest one of which is a flat damage boost to everyone in the group)

Melee - Dragoon (starts as Lancer), Ninja (starts as Rogue; however you can't start off as a Rogue at level 1 - you have to start as something else and then switch after completing your level 10 class quest.)

Ranged - Bard (starts as Archer), Machinist (Same as Astrologian: starts at level 30 but is accessed in the city of Ishgard which cannot be accessed until you complete all of the 2.0-2.55 story quests)

But with the expansion coming out in less than a month, the meta is almost definitely going to change some if not completely. So like Veluren said, pick something you think you'll enjoy just to start out and roll with it.

The other classes/jobs are:
Tank - Paladin (starts as Gladiator, and is the stereotypical sword and board heavy defense tank)

Healer - White Mage (starts as Conjurer and is just a straight up healing based healer)

Melee - Monk (starts as Pugilist, and while providing very solid damage, currently doesn't have any raid utility like NIN and DRG)

Casters - Summoner (mentioned above, a pet based DPS class that also makes heavy uses of DoTs; also has good raid utility currently as the only DPS with the ability to rez dead players, allowing the healer(s) to save their MP and continue healing), Black Mage (powerful pure DPS job which can basically be summed up right here.)

wow, this was just what I was looking for, appreciate the effort. /salute

EDIT: HAHAHA I didn't see the link, love the konosuba reference... is it THAT strong tho? I'd love to try it out haha

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Another person who plays on NA servers despite being European here, personally it's only because all my friends play on NA servers. I don't think there's anything wrong with the EU population.

As for the lag, it's manageable but admittedly annoying. You have to be especially fast with moving out of telegraphed moves and maximizing efficient usage of off-GCD skills is practically impossible.

I see. Thanks for the answer. I won't gimp myself then despite being American I think I'm staying around for a while in EU

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I would like to add that there's a lot of information, and wanted to know if it is really that much of an overwhelming game as every guide/video suggests without saying it.

It seems I'm picking Astrologian because of the lore I bet it has and also because it just sounds so cool. Do you guys know any reputable guide/video/youtuber for getting the step by step information on becoming one?

In addition, is healing and tanking that "hard" compared to DPS? If so, that's an awesome added bonus.

[Veluren]

I would like to add that there's a lot of information, and wanted to know if it is really that much of an overwhelming game as every guide/video suggests without saying it.

It seems I'm picking Astrologian because of the lore I bet it has and also because it just sounds so cool. Do you guys know any reputable guide/video/youtuber for getting the step by step information on becoming one?

In addition, is healing and tanking that "hard" compared to DPS? If so, that's an awesome added bonus.

That's a flat no, the game's pretty good about teaching you systems bit by bit in a sort of slow drip, as long as you take your time and enjoy it, any major feature will be explained to you, and always do a quest with a + next to the ! on the map, because it will unlock something, usually important

And Astrologian is one of my main classes, it's a very fun healer, pretty strong too, learning curve with the cards but not too bad. And becoming one is as simple as getting into Ishgard and going to the trainer and talking to the clerk, short quest later and bam you have it.

And lastly, not really? People like to complain about it, but that's just because there's a burden of responsibility on tanks and healers that DPS don't have, so a lot of people vent over dumb groups and such, it's honestly really easy as long as your other half is doing their job.

[Deleted]

That's a flat no, the game's pretty good about teaching you systems bit by bit in a sort of slow drip, as long as you take your time and enjoy it, any major feature will be explained to you, and always do a quest with a + next to the ! on the map, because it will unlock something, usually important

And Astrologian is one of my main classes, it's a very fun healer, pretty strong too, learning curve with the cards but not too bad. And becoming one is as simple as getting into Ishgard and going to the trainer and talking to the clerk, short quest later and bam you have it.

And lastly, not really? People like to complain about it, but that's just because there's a burden of responsibility on tanks and healers that DPS don't have, so a lot of people vent over dumb groups and such, it's honestly really easy as long as your other half is doing their job.

Thanks for the quick reply. I guess I'm good to go as conjurer and then picking Astrologian at 30.

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That is, of course, if other classes merge better with AST (not sure about that)

[Scufflegrit]

HAHAHA I didn't see the link, love the konosuba reference... is it THAT strong tho? I'd love to try it out haha

It was kind of a joke, but at the same time it does kind of fit. Black Mages have big powerful. But if you mess up your rotation too badly your self buffs fall off and/or you end up with very low MP, so for a while you're kind of like Megumin right after an EKUSUPUROSHON!!!: just sitting there not really able to do much until you get a little MP back.

The NA data center was recently moved from Montreal to Sacramento. So if you are currently somewhere in the EU/GB you're ping will almost definitely be better connection to the EU data center.

It's only really overwhelming if you try to take it in all at once. Think of it like a math class: you don't start the beginning on the class trying to do the stuff you'll have learned at the end. The game is actually very beginner friendly - it was specifically designed for people who have never even played an MMO before. Keep your tooltips and active help windows turned on, and read them. As you've played MMOs before a good bit of it will be things you already know or can figure out easily enough, but later on they'll start teaching you about things more specific to FFXIV.

To become and Astrologian,you'll have 2 options:
1) pick whatever you want to start, play through all of the story quests until you get into the city of Ishgard. Going by this site its 284 quests total. You'll also need to do your class and job quests every 5 levels to unlock new abilities. Then as soon as you get into Ishgard you can run to the AST trainer and pick up the new job, but the job itself actually starts out at level 30, so then you have to level it back up to 50 to continue the story. It's a bit awkward if you're trying to jump in straight as an AST.

2)Alternatively, when early access for the new expansion launches next month, they are releasing 2 types of items you buy with RL money. One is the Job Level Boost Potion which boost straight to 60 on a single job it and completes all your lass/job quests. The other type are the Scenario Skip Potions which let you skip Main Story quests up to patch 2.55 (stuff before the Heavensward expansion) or up to patch 3.56 (same as the 2.55 potion but includes all the MSQs in Heavensward). They will be a bit on the pricey side, but they are there if you choose to go that route.

Healing, like in any other game, is only as hard as your teammates make it. If everyone is avoiding things they can and the tank is using defensive cooldowns when necessary, it's pretty easy. When everyone stand in fire/lightning/poison/yellow piss of death... that's another story.
As for tanking, I don't do it too much, and never played ESO so I can't compare to that. But when compared to WoW it's more about making sure you have aggro on everything instead of just doing a ton of damage and always having aggro fairly easily.

[Deleted]

To become and Astrologian,you'll have 2 options:
1) pick whatever you want to start, play through all of the story quests until you get into the city of Ishgard. Going by this site its 284 quests total. You'll also need to do your class and job quests every 5 levels to unlock new abilities. Then as soon as you get into Ishgard you can run to the AST trainer and pick up the new job, but the job itself actually starts out at level 30, so then you have to level it back up to 50 to continue the story. It's a bit awkward if you're trying to jump in straight as an AST.

So I learn it at 30 but can't effectively use it 'til 50?

Thanks for listing the number of quests needed.

[Luko]

So I learn it at 30 but can't effectively use it 'til 50?

Thanks for listing the number of quests needed.

You cannot unlock Astrologian until you have another class leveled to 50. Then after you've unlocked it, Astrologian starts at 30, yeah. It's a pain, but the class is super fun.

[Deleted]

You cannot unlock Astrologian until you have another class leveled to 50. Then after you've unlocked it, Astrologian starts at 30, yeah. It's a pain, but the class is super fun.

Understood, thanks!

[Cattleya]

Basically, you unlock the job in Ishgard, which doesn't open up to you until you've done about 100 level 50 story quests.

[Katchii]

So I learn it at 30 but can't effectively use it 'til 50?

Thanks for listing the number of quests needed.

You can't get into Ishgard, or any of the other Heavensward areas (where the Dark Knight, Astrologian, and Machinist jobs are unlocked) until you've completed the entire A Realm Reborn series of quests and are able to start the first quest in Heavensward that takes you to Ishgard, with a large portion of them being level 50 quests. Once you get into Ishgard, you can unlock any of those jobs, but that job starts out at level 30 so if you want to use it to continue the Heavensward story with it, you'll need to level it up to level 50 minimum (or whatever level the HW story quest you're doing requires).

Hope this helps clear things up a bit.