[Megathread] Final Fantasy XIV

[thewallofsleep]

Once again, thanks so much for all the information! It is really helpful.

If leveling a separate job or class on a character which already has some jobs or classes leveled up, do you level new ones faster? If you've already done the quests in zones (assuming this game works like other games in this respect) how do you level new jobs? Dungeons, grinding, dynamic events? I mostly ask because if my lady is playing from level 1 and I'm already leveled up do a degree, I'm not sure going do to a level 1 job would allow us to do the same quests together. Starting an alt from scratch in WoW sounds less convoluted in this respect.

Class/job questions were just as much for me as for her, as I love earthy lore classes.

Is black mage as complex as everyone makes it out to be? Are other ranged caster jobs easier to learn? Summoner/conjurer sounds really cool.

Is leveling as a healing job difficult or do you have reasonable access to damage abilities? All of the healer jobs sound really cool to me (white mage, scholar and astrologian, specifically). Are any easier to grasp for a newbie, and are you strictly healing allies like in WoW, or do you also contribute to dungeon/raid damage?

[Eleccybubb]

So who wants to bet Tataru is making everyone an outfit and Yda's is a red dress?

Nah it'll be a piggy outfit.

[Kyriani]

Once again, thanks so much for all the information! It is really helpful.

If leveling a separate job or class on a character which already has some jobs or classes leveled up, do you level new ones faster? If you've already done the quests in zones (assuming this game works like other games in this respect) how do you level new jobs? Dungeons, grinding, dynamic events? I mostly ask because if my lady is playing from level 1 and I'm already leveled up do a degree, I'm not sure going do to a level 1 job would allow us to do the same quests together. Starting an alt from scratch in WoW sounds less convoluted in this respect.

Class/job questions were just as much for me as for her, as I love earthy lore classes.

Is black mage as complex as everyone makes it out to be? Are other ranged caster jobs easier to learn? Summoner/conjurer sounds really cool.

Is leveling as a healing job difficult or do you have reasonable access to damage abilities? All of the healer jobs sound really cool to me (white mage, scholar and astrologian, specifically). Are any easier to grasp for a newbie, and are you strictly healing allies like in WoW, or do you also contribute to dungeon/raid damage?

Any class/job you're leveling thats lower than your highest will get a significant xp bonus until it catches up to your highest. I also recommend doing all the hall of novice challenges at lvl 15. Not only do you get a nice set of armor for your role, you also get a ring with great stats, only requires level 1 to equip, and gives a signfiicant xp bonus till level 30 while worn.

The simplest healing class/job is conjurer/white mage, the simplest tanking class/job is gladiator/paladin, and the simplest dps class/job is archer/bard (IMO-opinions abound)

Healer primary focus is healing. But when healing is not needed, healers are expected to contribute some level of dps, moreso for Scholars and White Mages due to SCH having the fairy to supplement healing and the WHM having no real party support/buff abilities. Astrologian has its card buffs to manage and tend to prioritize that after healing and then dps when they can.

Black Mage DPS isn't so much complicated as it requires a lot of finger gymnastics (just too many buttons imo). It becomes more complex once you reach 60 however because of maintaining the Enochian buff, but this is supposed to be changing significantly in Stormblood (as well as condensing some of the multi-rank spells like Thunder down to one rank) which may result in a less complex BLM.

[Remilia]

I'm just curious what OURS is going to be!

Carbuncle outfit.

[Kazgrel]

Once again, thanks so much for all the information! It is really helpful.

If leveling a separate job or class on a character which already has some jobs or classes leveled up, do you level new ones faster? If you've already done the quests in zones (assuming this game works like other games in this respect) how do you level new jobs? Dungeons, grinding, dynamic events? I mostly ask because if my lady is playing from level 1 and I'm already leveled up do a degree, I'm not sure going do to a level 1 job would allow us to do the same quests together. Starting an alt from scratch in WoW sounds less convoluted in this respect.

Class/job questions were just as much for me as for her, as I love earthy lore classes.

Is black mage as complex as everyone makes it out to be? Are other ranged caster jobs easier to learn? Summoner/conjurer sounds really cool.

Is leveling as a healing job difficult or do you have reasonable access to damage abilities? All of the healer jobs sound really cool to me (white mage, scholar and astrologian, specifically). Are any easier to grasp for a newbie, and are you strictly healing allies like in WoW, or do you also contribute to dungeon/raid damage?

You get an xp bonus based on whatever your highest level class/job is. For example:

- You are level 50 on black mage; anything below that gets a 50% bonus to xp earned until said class is also level 50
- If your black mage level is 51-60, any other jobs gets 100% bonus xp up to level 50, then that bonus drops down to 50% from 51-59 until it either matches your BLM level (if 51-59) or reaches level 60.

It honestly sounds more convoluted than it really is.

Black mage is very simple from 1-59, honestly. Somewhat clunky at the start compared to later levels, where it smooths out nicely...almost to the point of boredom, really (but that boredom is a factor due to having played the job at 60 for so long). It's an absolute turret, though, but when you do get to set your feet and blast away, absurd amounts of damage can be dealt.

The job gets flipped on it's head upon reaching 60. From 51-59, the abilities gained seem fairly disjointed, but then at 60, upon receiving Fire 4, they all get tied together nicely yet things get a LOT more difficult to pull off proper dps compared to how simple the job is up to that point. Experience playing the job combined with gear upgrades (specifically increasing spell speed as much as possible) help immensely for making the job play a lot better. No other job will consistently see gigantic damage numbers as often as BLM does.

[Wrecktangle]

I'll have to disagree with Wrecktangle that there's nothing outside of instances. That's ignoring a ton of the world and the visuals out there to see that look pretty cool.

I did edit my post actually because you cited a good example I didn't know about.

With regard to the warrior suggestion, doesn't Dark Knight come from Marauder as well? How is that to play as a tank spec? My tanking experience comes from WoW paladin and Druid from various eras of the game.

The way the game works is that you pick a class: Each one turns into an advanced class (called job in this game) at level 30, but also requires level 15 of a specific second class. Arcanist is unique in that it has 2 different branches that level in tandem. So If you're a level 37 Scholar you're also a level 37 Summoner if you change your weapon.

Marauder -> Warrior (requires 15 Gladiator)
Gladiator -> Paladin (requires 15 Conjurer)
Conjurer - > White Mage (requires 15 Arcanist)
Arcanist - > Scholar (Healer) or Summoner (DPS) (requires 15 Conjurer for Scholar, 15 Thaumaturge for Summoner)
Thaumaturge -> Black Mage (requires 15 Archer)
Archer -> Bard (requires 15 Pugilist)
Lancer -> Dragoon (requires 15 Marauder)
Rogue -> Ninja (requires 15 Pugilist)
Pugilist -> Monk (requires 15 Lancer)

The 3 expansion characters:

Dark Knight
Astrologian
Machinist

They all start at level 30. They do not advance or have basic classes.

Tanking in this game is pretty standard. A little less movement based than WoW's, but generally the same, pop defensives cd's for tank busters, do DPS when you can, manage threat, pick up adds, etc. I recommended Warrior because its significantly more interesting to level and play as than Paladin. Paladin is extremely straightforward. Good for a newcomer, bad for an experienced MMO player IMO. I was very bored playing it.

Also, looking back at Wreck's post again, he notes how easy everything is. Don't let that fool you into thinking it's face roll. The group content is more challenging than WoW's LFR, particularly if your gf is still learning MMOs. However, my friend has been learning and adapting with it being his first as well. When the 24 man raids are brand new, there's often at least one boss that causes groups trouble as everyone is still figuring out what exactly to do.

The dungeon content gets easy very quickly with gear and even prior they aren't real punishing, but may be an enjoyable challenge while learning everything.

The content will be face roll for him most likely. For her it will be a good challenge. This is under the assumption he at the very least has eyes.

Once again, thanks so much for all the information! It is really helpful.

If leveling a separate job or class on a character which already has some jobs or classes leveled up, do you level new ones faster? If you've already done the quests in zones (assuming this game works like other games in this respect) how do you level new jobs? Dungeons, grinding, dynamic events? I mostly ask because if my lady is playing from level 1 and I'm already leveled up do a degree, I'm not sure going do to a level 1 job would allow us to do the same quests together. Starting an alt from scratch in WoW sounds less convoluted in this respect.

Yes you do level faster. You get bonus experience for any class that is lower level than your highest. So basically if you're highest is 30, leveling your second to 15 (to become a job) will be quicker. You will not be able to redo quests. You will use sidequests, dungeons, Hunt logs (think kill specific # of specific mobs in specific locations, collect reward when done), and some dynamic quests (called FATE's in this game).

If you're higher level and done a lot of the story and she's fresh it will not be fun for you to babysit her. You won't be able to see what quest she is on (markers, npcs, etc.) but you will be able to help her kill stuff. For that reason I do recommend you guys do it together from day 1.

In WoW it would be less convoluted that is a fact if you were already established and wanted to roll an alt with her. You can roll an alt in FF14 (you have to pay an extra sub fee for more than one character, it's not much, but you do have to pay for it). Progression across 2 characters wouldn't be fun IMO as capping currency each week on 2 would be a bit of a grind.

Is black mage as complex as everyone makes it out to be? Are other ranged caster jobs easier to learn? Summoner/conjurer sounds really cool.

BLM mechanically isn't hard, it's just really punishing if you mess up. It's can be difficult to optimize on a per-encounter basis though while learning new fights.

Is leveling as a healing job difficult or do you have reasonable access to damage abilities? All of the healer jobs sound really cool to me (white mage, scholar and astrologian, specifically). Are any easier to grasp for a newbie, and are you strictly healing allies like in WoW, or do you also contribute to dungeon/raid damage?

I wouldn't have recommended it if it was difficult. I would never level a healer solo (boring), but together with the two of you it will be better. They do have damaging abilities and are very easy to grasp for a new player. If she is new I strongly recommend her sticking to just healing until she's comfortable, then she can dabble in DPS when healing isn't needed.

In FF14 a good healer will do great healing, perfect mechanics, and deal substantial DPS. These are not common players. A great healer will solo heal a fight (most fights in 8m content has 2 tanks, 2 healers, 4 dps) and do healing and damage. These are even less common.

[StrawberryZebra]

Black mage is very simple from 1-59, honestly. Somewhat clunky at the start compared to later levels, where it smooths out nicely...almost to the point of boredom, really (but that boredom is a factor due to having played the job at 60 for so long). It's an absolute turret, though, but when you do get to set your feet and blast away, absurd amounts of damage can be dealt.

The job gets flipped on it's head upon reaching 60. From 51-59, the abilities gained seem fairly disjointed, but then at 60, upon receiving Fire 4, they all get tied together nicely yet things get a LOT more difficult to pull off proper dps compared to how simple the job is up to that point.

Limiting your movement as much as possible so you can continue to turret DPS is the main challenge to a Black Mage by design I feel. It does start to feel awkward when you've got to manage your movement well, Enochian your Astral/Umbral Buffs and Thunder though. It seems like you're fighting the UI Boss more than the Boss-boss.

When it comes to the Black Mages 50-60 skills, I think it would have been a lot cleaner if they changed up the order a little. It feels just terrible getting to max level and having your rotation massively changed and having to re-learn 60 levels worth of character right at the end. Having Enochian at 52, Fire VI and 54 and Blizzard IV at 56 would mean you've got 6 levels worth of getting the feel of your 60 rotation before you're asked to perform it for real.

[Kazgrel]

Limiting your movement as much as possible so you can continue to turret DPS is the main challenge to a Black Mage by design I feel. It does start to feel awkward when you've got to manage your movement well, Enochian your Astral/Umbral Buffs and Thunder though. It seems like you're fighting the UI Boss more than the Boss-boss.

When it comes to the Black Mages 50-60 skills, I think it would have been a lot cleaner if they changed up the order a little. It feels just terrible getting to max level and having your rotation massively changed and having to re-learn 60 levels worth of character right at the end. Having Enochian at 52, Fire VI and 54 and Blizzard IV at 56 would mean you've got 6 levels worth of getting the feel of your 60 rotation before you're asked to perform it for real.

The UI hasn't given me as many fits, but I've also played the job so long that I've basically got it down to counting specific casts and knowing it by that, more or less; the only one I ever really have to look at regularly is time left on Enochian.

I'd still have Blizzard 4 before Fire 4 for the sake of being able to keep Enochian rolling like you would at 60. But I agree with you 100% on the order of how they are obtained being bizzare. Getting something along the lines of Sharpcast, while a cool spell/ability, as a level 60 ability, would be underwhelming.

[Faroth]

Carbuncle outfit.

That will be in the Golden Saucer, I am 100% positive!

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Is leveling as a healing job difficult or do you have reasonable access to damage abilities? All of the healer jobs sound really cool to me (white mage, scholar and astrologian, specifically). Are any easier to grasp for a newbie, and are you strictly healing allies like in WoW, or do you also contribute to dungeon/raid damage?

For solo trials, which are part of the main story questing experience, you'll have enough damage spells to pull off whatever you need. If you/her want to dabble healing and DPS, I'd suggest Arcanist, which as earlier stated will access both Scholar (healing) and Summoner (dps). Arcanist is considered a DPS itself, though.

As for leveling a new job after the first - they've changed the questing so that MSQ will largely carry you through most everything you need to do (that's the main scenario/story quest). All the side quests can be skipped or saved for another job.

You can dungeon grind, do FATEs (active time events in the world), guildhests (mini-dungeons), levequests (repeatable quests), or content called Palace of the Dead which gives good xp for secondary jobs. Getting 1-15 in Palace of the Dead is pretty fast.

Palace of the Dead uses a separate leveling system while inside it and ignores your gear entirely. Instead you'll quickly level as you're in it and wind up at level 50 very quickly, allowing you to experiment with jobs and get an idea of what they're like as a preview. Upon completing 10 floors (it's divided into 10 floor sections), you leave Palace of the Dead and return to your actual level and get a chunk of xp.

Of course, you can also dabble around with a character and then make an alt when your gf starts as well.

On that note, there are different subscription options with the cheapest being 1 character on a server. For a couple bucks more you get 8 characters on a server (but alts aren't terribly necessary unless you have severe alt-itis). And if you pay 6 months at a time like I do, the discount drops the 8 character option down to the 1 character price (you're just paying for 6 months in one payment, though, so that may not be a fit for everyone).


Oh, one other thing to note... different classes start in different cities, so you and your gf may be a bit limited if you want to do different jobs. You'd get to 15 before you can meet up and continue the journey together.

Limsa Lominsa:
Marauder (Warrior)
Arcanist (Summoner/Scholar)
Rogue (Ninja) (I think you still need a class at level 10 to unlock rogue)

Ul'dah:
Thaumaturge (Black Mage)
Gladiator (Paladin)
Pugilist (Monk)

Gridania:
Archer (Bard)
Lancer (Dragoon)
Conjurer (White Mage)

[Granyala]

Regarding 4k and it's lack of market penetration (giggity), there's a bunch of factors in play as to why that's such an abysmally low number; to sum them up simply, we are just now getting to single card systems that can support 4k, and most all that stuff is still way too expensive for most folk's tastes. That number should bump up significantly in the next 3-4 years, maybe sooner.

Not so sure about that.
4K is of limited use to the average joe, esp at average screen sizes you find on Desks (read: everything below 35-40").
Also, software scaling sucks (esp with older programs), which is why I would not buy a 4K screen, even if I'd had the horsepower/money to do so.
Console 4K adoption may fare better, because they are typically hooked up to big honkin' TVs.

Personally: I'm way more intrigued about what HDR could do for games, so I am hoping that my trusty old TN screen will hold it together till that tech matured a bit more.

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Limiting your movement as much as possible so you can continue to turret DPS is the main challenge to a Black Mage by design I feel. It does start to feel awkward when you've got to manage your movement well, Enochian your Astral/Umbral Buffs and Thunder though. It seems like you're fighting the UI Boss more than the Boss-boss.

Movement is the smallest factor, because you should limit that on every caster (though I might be biased because I play caster for 10 years now).
No, the hard part is actually knowing when and for how long bosses disappear and leave you w/o sth to attack and trying to maintain Eno though that if possible.
Esp annoying if bosses start skipping phases and surprise you.

The rest is easy.

[dope_danny]

Carbuncle outfit.

That'll be her own.

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So final content update till Stormblood 12ish weeks from now and they said a long time back one of the new jobs would have their key story 'trainer' show up at the end of HW. Back before we knew what they were a lot of folks assumed Alisae was Rune Knight confirmed a few updates back and personally i still think her sword is just teasing a ravana version of a dreadwyrmn trance style 'use the primals power without summoning an egi' ability. Given that SAM is probably tied to the art style of the expansion i could see that being the job trainer held back to launch and given its FF1 origins i would bet -if they still do either- the RDM trainer will show up on tuesday.

Given Yoshi said its 'not quite like any other version of red mage' i could imagine the RDM trainer could be a Xaela Au Ra from one of the lesser tribes known for a love of travelling. The grounds of the Xaela are built on huge, ancient to the point of calcifying' Allagan ADS units. Maybe RDM is something cobbled together from what scant records of BLM and WHM magic they could find and pass down as a martial tradition with a sword?

or maybe they scrapped this and they will just be plobbed in limsa lominsa in june

[Eleccybubb]

That'll be her own.

- - - Updated - - -

So final content update till Stormblood 12ish weeks from now and they said a long time back one of the new jobs would have their key story 'trainer' show up at the end of HW. Back before we knew what they were a lot of folks assumed Alisae was Rune Knight confirmed a few updates back and personally i still think her sword is just teasing a ravana version of a dreadwyrmn trance style 'use the primals power without summoning an egi' ability. Given that SAM is probably tied to the art style of the expansion i could see that being the job trainer held back to launch and given its FF1 origins i would bet -if they still do either- the RDM trainer will show up on tuesday.

Given Yoshi said its 'not quite like any other version of red mage' i could imagine the RDM trainer could be a Xaela Au Ra from one of the lesser tribes known for a love of travelling. The grounds of the Xaela are built on huge, ancient to the point of calcifying' Allagan ADS units. Maybe RDM is something cobbled together from what scant records of BLM and WHM magic they could find and pass down as a martial tradition with a sword?

or maybe they scrapped this and they will just be plobbed in limsa lominsa in june

It'll be the SAM one. No doubt about it. Probably Gosetsu.

[Graeham]

I loathe healing in MMO's but AST is pretty fun. I like the animations quite a bit - though I'm only getting it up to 60 for the sake of achievements and potential glamour options whilst role-playing/idling. I know some of the tunics are pretty nice, especially when dyed.

The best part? With POTD I don't even need to spend anything on gear at all. I can literally just run it over and over, level that way and then at 60 use lore tomes to purchase some gear to tackle the job quests. Then do the same with SCH and make use of that gear to do the same thing at 60.

[Granyala]

Still can't fathom how people run PoTD repeatedly w/o their skull imploding from boredom. ESP as a healer. >.<

[Chaltione]

Still can't fathom how people run PoTD repeatedly w/o their skull imploding from boredom. ESP as a healer. >.<

My experience as a healer in PoTD:
3 dps who silently go "ooh, a healer, I can run and pull reckless amounts of mobs now!"
Followed by said 3 dps running in separate directions...

[Luko]

I loved healing PoTD. I honestly don't see how people find it so different from spamming dungeons or the old Fate groups. Sure its the same general thing over and over again but so is Stone Vigil for the 130th time.

Honestly those derpy 3-dps groups were how I got used to emergency healing while I leveled. Scored a "free" 255 weapon out of it too, which was a nice boost at 60.

[Berethos08]

Exploration isn't terribly present (mostly just large instanced zones with nothing meaningful outside EDIT: Faroth actually gave a good example below that I didn't think of),

On one hand you won't find the kind of exploration present in a larger and more open world like in Black Desert, nor the kind of hidden and explorable gameplay elements found in something like GW2's jumping puzzles.

On the other hand, pretty much every location has lore behind it, even if it's just in the name hinting at the history or use of the location, so the game is saturated with passive world-building lore.

[Faroth]

So final content update till Stormblood 12ish weeks from now and they said a long time back one of the new jobs would have their key story 'trainer' show up at the end of HW. Back before we knew what they were a lot of folks assumed Alisae was Rune Knight confirmed a few updates back and personally i still think her sword is just teasing a ravana version of a dreadwyrmn trance style 'use the primals power without summoning an egi' ability. Given that SAM is probably tied to the art style of the expansion i could see that being the job trainer held back to launch and given its FF1 origins i would bet -if they still do either- the RDM trainer will show up on tuesday.

Pretty sure at Fan Fest, Yoshida said the Roe Samurai standing with Lady Yugiri in the trailer would be in the final patch, that we'd "learn more about him" before Stormblood. Since he's in the trailer and on the expansion's poster image, he seems like he's going to be a big part of the main story in Othard, not just a trainer. I agree with @Eleccybubb that Samurai's trainer will be in the patch.

Red Mage's trainer will be more of its own story rather than tied to the MSQ in some way.

Though I'm still waiting for Yugiri herself to train us in advanced shinobi arts, dang it.

Also, they'll likely be in one of the current cities or zones since you only need 50 to learn the job and don't need to complete Heavensward, let alone access Stormblood, to start the job.

[Eleccybubb]

If it's not Gosetsu then it will be someone from Othard or Kugane at least.

[Granyala]

My experience as a healer in PoTD:
3 dps who silently go "ooh, a healer, I can run and pull reckless amounts of mobs now!"
Followed by said 3 dps running in separate directions...

Well, I only did it 2 times when it was fresh, so people were still timid about it and stuck together. In that scenario, there is almost nothing to heal at all.
Mashing one button for half an hour is neither fun nor entertaining.