[Megathread] Final Fantasy XIV

[Val the Moofia Boss]

Not noticing much issue, i am however not repeating the same mistake i made last time and that being to do as many quests in the zone as possible. I am sticking to dungeon and MSQ's right now and levelling at an alright speed. Sitting at 22 now with 22.5K gill and i doubt i will run out of it soon.

Do have a 30% experience ring so that helps a bit.

A little late, but in general, I'd recommend that avoid doing most of the sidequests in the game. Even if you're short on EXP and need to get to the next level to accept the next MSQ quest, you're probably better off just queuing for a random dungeon through party finder.

For the sidequests that I'd recommend, always do the quests with blue icons (particularly the ones that appear in every single zone settlement, starting with Heavensward). Not only do they unlock flying in an area, but they are the first quest in a short but very interesting questchain. I remember reaching Western Coerthas and doing the blue icon quest at the Convictory, thinking it'd just be some boring filler quest, but if you actually read the quest text, it was very interesting and I did the whole questline. All of the blue icon questlines are really interesting. Starting with Stormblood, multiple blue icon questlines can actually come together, and the payoff is really satisfying.

As for ARR, the only sidequests I'd recommend you do while leveling are the side quests in Central Coerthas Highlands. There is so much lore there, and it fills out the feeling and tone of the whole place. In HW, Western Coerthas and the Dravanian Forelands had really interesting sidequests. In Stormblood, the Confederacy quests were interesting. In Shadowbringers, Amh Araeng (first visit), Kholusia (first visit), and Il Mheg had really interesting sidequests.

Otherwise, the rest of the sidequests were, IMO, a waste of time.

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@Graeham happy birthday!

they timegate the content for weeks and months so they do the same stuff except that even when its released they timegate that further. FF14 have added new parts to current zones and developed the story in those zones further without needing to make more useless barren zones where you do nothing but timegated dailies you can't even do at your own pace.

SE also released the Firmament and Nier raid in that time. WoW fights are not at all original in the slightest like you think they're they follow the same reused patterns over and over and over and over like SE does with their fights so the room size doesn't mean shit.

Each patch of FF14 rivals or beats the ones from BFA easily and with alot less drought.

I'm kinda torn on this, because I did like how WoW kept adding new zones in the post-expansion patches. There is a palpable feeling of discovery when it comes to going to new locations.

The problem with WoW isn't really just that the old zones are "barren, useless zones". That sounds applicable to FFXIV's old zones. The problem is that current WoW rarely gives you a reason to revisit old zones. There are hardly any quests that actually utilize the old zones and take you back there. FFXIV only really ever so slightly makes use of old zones more than WoW.

Finally found out that there's PvP in this game, is that even popular? Tried to join on my 31 BLM had a queue time for over 30 minutes.

Or is it something done only at higher levels? Is it worth doing notice there is some gear?

Nah, it's all level scaled. Every class has the same ability toolkit regardless of their level.

PvP in FFXIV just isn't as fun as WoW's BGs. Due to the input delay and the movement restrictions, it's just as engaging as WoW's BGs. Furthermore, it can get kinda confusing due to the three factions and the color mixup can get very confusing (wait a minute, characters with red names may actually be our allies? And characters with blue names might be our enemies?).

seems unlikely, msq always gives more then enough xp to level up all the way to the level cap of a expansion or base game. Infact most of the time you should be finished with the leveling and still have story quest left to go. Sounds more like someone trying to level multiple jobs at once while starting.

Nope. I've played through FFXIV twice. The MSQ and the MSQ required dungeons alone do not give you enough EXP to meet the level 50 requirements for the final ARR quests, nor make it through HW, or make it through Shadowbringers. I've talked about this in my notes.

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Thoughts on the 5.25 Blades of Gunnhildr questline thus far:

Spoiler: 

The duty felt like Trails in the Sky the 3rd, where we went into this dude's delusional reality to be his therapist... by fighting his delusions!

Wait, so Noah van Gabranth intends to summon primals? How does Ultima tie into that? Ultima isn't a primal. How does Gabranth intend to summon a Primal without the Primal turning around and tempering them all? Has he found a way to safely summon benevolent or non malicious primals, like Ramuh? Or does he intend to summon a Primal as a puppet he controls, like how Ysalye became Shiva, or how Zenos controlled Shinryu?

[Poppincaps]

At level 37 i have now remembered why i lost interest last time around, i am starting to run into the issue of levelling. Where i now i feel i have to spam dungeons and do daily levequests, while before this all i needed to do to continue the MSQ was the hunting log and the quests themselves.

I would strongly recommend you restart a character on a preferred server, skip all the cutscenes, and get to where you are now. Otherwise as you said you'll need to do roulettes to keep up. Being on a preferred server gets you 100% xp under level 70 on all classes (crafters and gatherers too) and I think if you get a job to level 35 you get a free 15 days of game time. You'll end up being pretty overleveled and might even be able to try out multiple classes while you level.

I recently restarted a character with my gf and we were able to catch back up to where we were at the end of the 2.0 MSQ in like 2 days.

[minteK917]

Nope. I've played through FFXIV twice. The MSQ and the MSQ required dungeons alone do not give you enough EXP to meet the level 50 requirements for the final ARR quests, nor make it through HW, or make it through Shadowbringers. I've talked about this in my notes.

Been a while for ARR here, but shadowbringer no way, i was lvl 80 before i even had the quest for Mt. Gulg and all i did was follow the MSQ and the story dungeons.

[Granyala]

Been a while for ARR here, but shadowbringer no way, i was lvl 80 before i even had the quest for Mt. Gulg and all i did was follow the MSQ and the story dungeons.

Definitely was not like that for me. At around 76 I had to start running daily dungeons again in order to keep up.

[Usagi Senshi]

That's a shame, kind of like some PvP in my MMO's. Oh well there are alternatives

The pvp is actually pretty fun but really only doable once a new carrot is dangled in front of players. Its usually good for about a month during such events.

WoW's pvp is still ultimately better but I like FFXIV's solo queue ranked arena system much much more than Blizzard's always mandatory grouped ranked bullshit they refuse to never budge on for whatever dumb reason.

[listo95]

Definitely was not like that for me. At around 76 I had to start running daily dungeons again in order to keep up.

I had the same thing happen to me when the expansion first launched. But just adding the leveling roulette and MSQ roulette pretty much kept me good to go for the rest.

[Pannonian]

Been a while for ARR here, but shadowbringer no way, i was lvl 80 before i even had the quest for Mt. Gulg and all i did was follow the MSQ and the story dungeons.

I have about 5 friends leveling right now; we're on a server with double xp.

EACH ONE had to grind a bit in shadowbringers, as the main story didn't give enough XP.


@All: How many relic weapons did you get? I spent the first three days of my holidays to farm it for 12 jobs

[listo95]

@All: How many relic weapons did you get? I spent the first three days of my holidays to farm it for 12 jobs

I have 4 (DNC, SCH, SMN, MCH) currently, but I also only have 5 jobs total at level 80 so I consider that pretty decent.

[Pannonian]

I have 4 (DNC, SCH, SMN, MCH) currently, but I also only have 5 jobs total at level 80 so I consider that pretty decent.

Found it quite nice that its only 1k poetics. Especially if you get a job to 80 you can instantly equip a 485 weapon.

[Granyala]

@All: How many relic weapons did you get? I spent the first three days of my holidays to farm it for 12 jobs

2 combat relics WHM and Dork Knight.
2 gathering relics MIN/BOT (ugh)
1 crafting relic GSM

The rest will come with time, since I still have classes to level, poetics will pile up anyway and I will "finance" the crafting ones via weekly deliveries, can't be arsed to grind for them.

[Katchii]

I have about 5 friends leveling right now; we're on a server with double xp.

EACH ONE had to grind a bit in shadowbringers, as the main story didn't give enough XP.


@All: How many relic weapons did you get? I spent the first three days of my holidays to farm it for 12 jobs

MSQ for the current expansion is never enough by itself, and I promise the double xp doesn't extend into the current expansions content.

I haven't touched the game since the patch, so I have zero relic weapons.

[Val the Moofia Boss]

I haven't touched the game since the patch, so I have zero relic weapons.

The first stage Shadowbringers relics are really easy to get. You get the first one just for doing some casual story quests for an hour, and then after that you buy the other classes first stage relics for poetics. They are ilevel 485 weapons with 5 materia slots (compared to the base Eden weapons, which are ilevel 490, have 2 materia slots, and are timegated behind doing E4 once a week for seven weeks).

[Katchii]

The first stage Shadowbringers relics are really easy to get. You get the first one just for doing some casual story quests for an hour, and then after that you buy the other classes first stage relics for poetics. They are ilevel 485 weapons with 5 materia slots (compared to the base Eden weapons, which are ilevel 490, have 2 materia slots, and are timegated behind doing E4 once a week for seven weeks).

That sounds pretty great for me. Getting higher ilevel weapons for classes was always an issue for me since I'm a seriously casual player that is only really in it to experience the story. I don't mind a tomestone grind, that's easy and really painless, since it happens organically as you play anyway.

[Acidbaron]

Grand Company Seals are proving to be more difficult to gather than i first would have guessed, going to have to pick up a craft for those probably.

One thing i do find a bit annoying in this game is the scaling in dungeons, i am finally at a level a BLM is fun and being scaled back from 40+ to 20 is well annoying, since also i need to readjust my hotbars. Is this something i am going to have to experience all the time, even when going into new expansion content?

[Katchii]

Grand Company Seals are proving to be more difficult to gather than i first would have guessed, going to have to pick up a craft for those probably.

You can get GC Seals from Levequests at certain outposts that are specifically GC Leves.

https://ffxiv.consolegameswiki.com/w..._Company_Leves

You can also get them for turning in unused/unwanted/extra gear at your GC quartermaster.

https://ffxiv.consolegameswiki.com/w...mpany#Missions

It shouldn't take more than 15-30 minutes to get enough seals to get your chocobo.

You also get them for completing the GC Hunting Log. Using Twin Adder as an example.

https://ffxiv.consolegameswiki.com/w...er_Hunting_Log

Hope this helps.

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One thing i do find a bit annoying in this game is the scaling in dungeons, i am finally at a level a BLM is fun and being scaled back from 40+ to 20 is well annoying, since also i need to readjust my hotbars. Is this something i am going to have to experience all the time, even when going into new expansion content?

You get scaled down to the level of the dungeons, so it will happen pretty frequently if you choose to do the roulettes.

It shouldn't impact your hotbars overly much as many new abilities override old ones.

Honestly though, if you plan on doing the roulettes (which I promise you will, as they're somewhat needed in order to get tomestones) I'd just find a way to organize your hot bars in a way that makes sense in all scenarios.

[Acidbaron]

You can get GC Seals from Levequests at certain outposts that are specifically GC Leves.

https://ffxiv.consolegameswiki.com/w..._Company_Leves

You can also get them for turning in unused/unwanted/extra gear at your GC quartermaster.

https://ffxiv.consolegameswiki.com/w...mpany#Missions

It shouldn't take more than 15-30 minutes to get enough seals to get your chocobo.

You also get them for completing the GC Hunting Log. Using Twin Adder as an example.

https://ffxiv.consolegameswiki.com/w...er_Hunting_Log

Hope this helps.

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You get scaled down to the level of the dungeons, so it will happen pretty frequently if you choose to do the roulettes.

It shouldn't impact your hotbars overly much as many new abilities override old ones.

Honestly though, if you plan on doing the roulettes (which I promise you will, as they're somewhat needed in order to get tomestones) I'd just find a way to organize your hot bars in a way that makes sense in all scenarios.

Oh i am not worried about the chocobo, i have that was just levelling my rank to get access to the next hunting log part. Didn't know about the gear so that's something i can consider.


Perhaps the higher i get the more skills get replaced, right now i am setting up my hotbars in such a matter. Beyond that my main pet peeve is that it makes a class that has gotten fun back very basic and unfun, as in i am spamming one spell.

Edit: I also made the mistake of looking up how far i am from heavensward quests, I am now in queue for Garuda.... I should not have looked :x

[listo95]

Perhaps the higher i get the more skills get replaced, right now i am setting up my hotbars in such a matter. Beyond that my main pet peeve is that it makes a class that has gotten fun back very basic and unfun, as in i am spamming one spell.

I definitely know the feeling, like AST below level 30 is boring as fuck since no card system, NIN isn't bad but gets a lot better at 54+, and prolly others I can't think of right now.

Also this is how I have my BLM bars set up (for KBM) so maybe it could give you an idea on how to set up yours.
https://imgur.com/H0XDUlR

[Katchii]

Oh i am not worried about the chocobo, i have that was just levelling my rank to get access to the next hunting log part. Didn't know about the gear so that's something i can consider.


Perhaps the higher i get the more skills get replaced, right now i am setting up my hotbars in such a matter. Beyond that my main pet peeve is that it makes a class that has gotten fun back very basic and unfun, as in i am spamming one spell.

Edit: I also made the mistake of looking up how far i am from heavensward quests, I am now in queue for Garuda.... I should not have looked :x

Yeah, Unfortunately BLM is one of the worst ones because of just how profoundly the rotation is impacted by the reversions. Other classes aren't nearly impacted as much, they mainly just have less to do, rather than outright changing what you do.

And lol....yeah you're in for a ride. Rest assured, if you enjoy the story aspect, it's absolutely worth it. Heavensward story is head and shoulders above the ARR story in terms of quality and epic-ness. And it's honestly not THAT bad..it's just a bit tedious. Stay in dungeon queue while you're doing them to break up the monotony, and it should go pretty quickly.

[Acidbaron]

I definitely know the feeling, like AST below level 30 is boring as fuck since no card system, NIN isn't bad but gets a lot better at 54+, and prolly others I can't think of right now.

Also this is how I have my BLM bars set up (for KBM) so maybe it could give you an idea on how to set up yours.
https://imgur.com/H0XDUlR

This how i manage mine for now, muscle memory be damned though.

https://imgur.com/lyHflKP

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Yeah, Unfortunately BLM is one of the worst ones because of just how profoundly the rotation is impacted by the reversions. Other classes aren't nearly impacted as much, they mainly just have less to do, rather than outright changing what you do.

And lol....yeah you're in for a ride. Rest assured, if you enjoy the story aspect, it's absolutely worth it. Heavensward story is head and shoulders above the ARR story in terms of quality and epic-ness. And it's honestly not THAT bad..it's just a bit tedious. Stay in dungeon queue while you're doing them to break up the monotony, and it should go pretty quickly.

Well i have been playing Final Fantasy for as long i can remember and even other Jrpg's since as early as the PS1 era ones.

So i don't mind the story and it is slowly getting more interesting, i simply did not expect it to be that many quests between level 50 and the first expansion. Especially since everyone is speaking of such an increase in quality once you move past this.

Oh well my work is on hold till the 1st of May, so i have some free time.

And as for the BLM, yeah is such a shame cause how it plays now even got me interested in playing a caster back again in other mmo's, something i haven't done in a long time.

[Hyral]

Perhaps the higher i get the more skills get replaced, right now i am setting up my hotbars in such a matter. Beyond that my main pet peeve is that it makes a class that has gotten fun back very basic and unfun, as in i am spamming one spell.

Yup, that'll always be a problem. They made it a bit better in ShB where most of the abilities transform into another with traits or get new effects with traits so you don't have to move keybinds too much but this is something you will always run into since roulettes pick from all content you've unlocked not just from specific level brackets or expansions like WoW. Personally by now I've got every job set up in ways that syncing down doesn't interrupt the flow of gameplay anymore but it took me a while of playing all jobs and getting used to them to do that.

And yeah I don't think Garuda is even halfway through ARR if you add the patch quests. Most people despise ARR but I didn't mind it all. Everything you go through in those patches makes the ending of ARR a lot better imo and sets up story points that remain consistent and relevant even up to ShB.