1. #51341
    Bloodsail Admiral VMSmith's Avatar
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    I've decided to give FFXIV a 4th or 5th attempt, but this time with a fresh viewpoint towards the game. The times I've played previously I was still infected with the WoW syndrome of endgame being all that mattered so you should rush to it to get to the good stuff, causing me to stumble as I came across the brick wall known as MSQ. I even bought a skip of ARR the last time I played but just lost interest before really getting into Heavensward.

    This time, however, I'm coming at the game with the thought that the story is maybe the main point of the game and the MMO bits are just there to provide some activities to keep me occupied when not doing the story. I'm still interested in those MMO bits, though, and they've always seemed more to my taste in FFXIV than WoW because I have no interest in organized activities, vastly preferring to queue for what I wish to do. And FFXIV doesn't seem inclined to punish players for having that preference, as WoW does.

    So, what should I be looking at doing other than the MSQ? My main character that I'll likely be playing is a level 60 Ninja just finding his way around Ishgard. Should I just do the MSQ only? Or is there any other activities that might pique my interest? Particularly MMO bits, like dungeons and such. I'm not interested in grinding (which is why I don't ask about reputations), just having some fun in small bites when the mood strikes me.

  2. #51342
    Quote Originally Posted by VMSmith View Post
    So, what should I be looking at doing other than the MSQ? My main character that I'll likely be playing is a level 60 Ninja just finding his way around Ishgard. Should I just do the MSQ only? Or is there any other activities that might pique my interest? Particularly MMO bits, like dungeons and such. I'm not interested in grinding (which is why I don't ask about reputations), just having some fun in small bites when the mood strikes me.
    Besides the MSQ, there are about 3 side questlines per expansion: the 12 boss raid storyline, the trial storyline, and the 24 man alliance raid storyline.

    You can do the trial and raid questlines if you want. They can be completed in a few hours. If you've beaten the 3.0 MSQ, you can do the Alexander raid storyline which is about investigating a giant steampunk robot in which 12 boss fights take place, the Warring Triad questline which is about fighting those three primals in Azys Lla, or the Void Ark questline which is about three alliance raids (LFR raids) where you investigate ancient ruins and fight demons. You can queue through the duty finder/LFR tool for all of them. None of these storylines are plot important.

    The Stormblood 12 boss raid storyline follows up on a minor MSQ plot thread. The trial and alliance raids have nothing to do with the main story. The alliance raid story is written by Yasumi Matsuno (written by Yasumi Matsuno, aka the creator of Tactics Ogre, Vagrant Story, Final Fantasy Tactics, and FF12), so if you like his stories you will probably like the alliance raid story. There is also a questline set in a grind zone called Eureka, which is about exploring an island with monsters on it. There is a herculean amount of grinding involved and it is inadvisable to do that content if you're looking for story.

    The Shadowbringers 12 boss raid features a couple Scion characters if you really like them and want more of them. The trial questline is pretty fun, IMO. The alliance raid is Nier Automata fanservice with a very confusing, poorly told story. Only play that if you want glamours from it or are a Nier fan. The ShB grind zone story involves liberating the country of Bozja from the Empire, and is also written by Yasumi Matsuno. There is less grind involved and more meat to the story. But if you don't want to grind then skip it.

    There is a comedy questline called Hildibrand, and there is one per expansion. There is hardly any gameplay involved; it's just watching a comedy anime but in the FFXIV engine. You're not even the protagonist of the story. The ARR one is actually pretty funny and is worth checking out, at least.

    The Gold Saucer (casino) has some minigames that are fun to indulge in for a bit. Chocobo racing, triple triad (card game), mahjong, and jumping puzzles.

    The Blue Mage job involves hunting down monsters, fighting them, and acquiring their abilities. You can become very powerful. However, you can use the duty finder/LFR tool to queue with other random players as a blue mage, and blue mages are currently capped at level 70, so there isn't much content you can do as a blue mage.

    Besides that... there isn't much left in the way of meaningful content. There are MoP-style daily reputation storylines called "Beast Tribes", but that requires months of timegating for... not very interesting story content.

    - - - Updated - - -

    There are also job questlines, but I would hardly recommend that you waste so much time grinding up jobs just so you can see their storylines, when you could just play another game. But if you're looking to level up other jobs and their storylines are factoring into your choice, then I'd say that the best job storylines were Samurai 50-60 and Gunbreaker 60-70. The rest were not very memorable.

  3. #51343
    So after more time pvp'ing in an mmo than i've done since heavensward or maybe cataclysm this seems to be the power tier for pvp in my experience

    Most overpowered and will probably get a range nerf:
    -Samurai
    Extremely Strong
    -Warrior
    -Dragon
    -Ninja
    Strong
    -Red Mage
    -Machinist
    -White Mage
    -Bard
    -Astrologian
    -Sage
    -Summoner
    Average
    -Dark Knight
    -Dancer
    -Monk
    -Reaper
    Weak
    -Black Mage
    -Gunbreaker
    -Scholar
    Do not bother
    -Paladin

    With the no shock meta in ranked being Warrior, White Mage, Samurai, Machinist, and Ninja or Dragoon.

    Player skill can definitely make a difference, especially for jobs like ninja or summoner but in terms of raw baseline "this tilts the match in your favour" thats what i'm seeing from crystalline conflict especially.

  4. #51344
    Scarab Lord TriHard's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Val the Moofia Boss View Post

    There are also job questlines, but I would hardly recommend that you waste so much time grinding up jobs just so you can see their storylines, when you could just play another game. But if you're looking to level up other jobs and their storylines are factoring into your choice, then I'd say that the best job storylines were Samurai 50-60 and Gunbreaker 60-70. The rest were not very memorable.
    This man really just slept on the DRK storyline, smh

  5. #51345
    Haven't played since more or less endwalker release, played the new MSQ until I got slapped with 560 ilvl requirement for new dungeon, quickest/cheapest way to meet it?

  6. #51346
    Crafted gear on the market board is 580 and will be the quickest, but depending on server, may not be cheap.

    If you want to spend minimal gil the two 90 dungeons (Smileton/Stigma) drop 560 and the Aphorism tomestone gear is 570. Also, you probably already have, but make sure you've purchased your Job Gear from the vendor in Old Sharlayan.

  7. #51347
    Man, I can't believe you can't skip Castrum/Praetorium cutscenes in Duty Support. They're still worth doing for poetic farming, but being forced to sit through cutscenes when you are the only player there seems like a weird decision.

  8. #51348
    Bloodsail Admiral VMSmith's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by RampageBW1 View Post
    Man, I can't believe you can't skip Castrum/Praetorium cutscenes in Duty Support. They're still worth doing for poetic farming, but being forced to sit through cutscenes when you are the only player there seems like a weird decision.
    Is "Duty Support" a method of playing group content with AI rather than real people? If so, at what point does this option become available?

  9. #51349
    Quote Originally Posted by VMSmith View Post
    Is "Duty Support" a method of playing group content with AI rather than real people?
    Yes.

    Quote Originally Posted by 6.1 patch notes
    First, select Duty Support under Duty in the main menu. A list of available duties will be displayed in the window that appears. Select the duty you wish to enter, confirm which NPCs will be accompanying you, then select the "Register for Duty."

    The Duty Finder and Trust menus can also be accessed by pressing the appropriate button at the bottom of the Duty Support menu.
    Only ARR 2.0 dungeons and trials, and ShB through Endwalker dungeons are supported right now. ARR 2.1-2.5, Heavensward, and Stormblood duties to come in future patches.

  10. #51350
    So, with 19 hours til the first housing lottery closes, I can still find small plots with only 2-5 bidders fairly easily. A good shot to actually pick up a house. Even most medium/large plots are under 20 bids. And this is on Gilgamesh, a very populated NA server

    As the houses diminish and bids are consolidated towards singular properties, I imagine your odds are gonna become astronomical, so I suggest looking for a property with low numbers of bids this evening. Drawing is at 11 AM EST tomorrow.

    I can't imagine it'll ever be any easier to buy a house via the lottery system.

  11. #51351
    Bloodsail Admiral VMSmith's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Val the Moofia Boss View Post
    Yes.



    Only ARR 2.0 dungeons and trials, and ShB through Endwalker dungeons are supported right now. ARR 2.1-2.5, Heavensward, and Stormblood duties to come in future patches.
    Thank you very much, this is helpful info. Is this a viable method of running those dungeons? Basically, did they pull a Blizzard and nerf the rewards so much that it's not worth doing them this way to try and force people into the methods of play the developers personally prefer?

  12. #51352
    Quote Originally Posted by VMSmith View Post
    Thank you very much, this is helpful info. Is this a viable method of running those dungeons? Basically, did they pull a Blizzard and nerf the rewards so much that it's not worth doing them this way to try and force people into the methods of play the developers personally prefer?
    The rewards are the same as you'd find when running with other players, and you get to keep every piece you find yourself rather than rolling for them. The only downside is that they generally take slightly longer to complete than it would with other players.

  13. #51353
    Quote Originally Posted by VMSmith View Post
    Thank you very much, this is helpful info. Is this a viable method of running those dungeons?
    Yes. I find that running with AI is the most time efficient way of leveling up DPS jobs. I can pull trash packs and alt+tab out of the game to browse the web, watch youtube, read a book, walk away from my computer to make food, etc, while the AI party members deal with the mobs. I only need to actually play the boss battles. If you queue with other players, then you have to actually be at your computer and play through the entire dungeon, because other players are depending on you.

    Squadrons are still far, far faster at completing dungeons than trusts, but you need to become high enough rank with your Grand Company to unlock them. If you're just going to go through the content on one job and then unsub, then you can ignore squadrons.

    For levelling up tank and healer jobs, it is better to just queue.

  14. #51354
    It wouldn't be so slow for tanks and healers if the Trust bots WOULD F'ING USE THEIR AOE ABILITIES! They lock on to a single target and just DPS that down til it is dead than move on to the next mob in the aggro list.

  15. #51355
    Quote Originally Posted by eschatological View Post
    So, with 19 hours til the first housing lottery closes, I can still find small plots with only 2-5 bidders fairly easily. A good shot to actually pick up a house. Even most medium/large plots are under 20 bids. And this is on Gilgamesh, a very populated NA server

    As the houses diminish and bids are consolidated towards singular properties, I imagine your odds are gonna become astronomical, so I suggest looking for a property with low numbers of bids this evening. Drawing is at 11 AM EST tomorrow.

    I can't imagine it'll ever be any easier to buy a house via the lottery system.
    Is the lottery system just for ishgard right now? with everywhere else locked down theres surely going to be people waiting for people moving to ishgard to free up spots in limsa and weeb town.

  16. #51356
    Quote Originally Posted by dope_danny View Post
    Is the lottery system just for ishgard right now? with everywhere else locked down theres surely going to be people waiting for people moving to ishgard to free up spots in limsa and weeb town.
    Everywhere. Just wish it was the other way around 1-18 being player housing and 19-24 FC houses

  17. #51357
    Quote Originally Posted by Shakzor View Post
    Everywhere. Just wish it was the other way around 1-18 being player housing and 19-24 FC houses
    It should be and its just going to make the bidding for the houses in existing wards about to be freed up way worse. I know people that have been after a house in Limsas district since 2014.

  18. #51358
    The large im bidding on has 10 bids at the moment, fully expect that to jump up prior to reset tomorrow.

  19. #51359
    For someone who completely dislike PVP games this new addition to the game looks great to be honest. Best part about it is that you will never match against any premade groups, nor it will take you long time to finish the conflict. Rewards are good too. I might give a go some point in future once I have time and motivation.

  20. #51360
    Quote Originally Posted by RampageBW1 View Post
    It wouldn't be so slow for tanks and healers if the Trust bots WOULD F'ING USE THEIR AOE ABILITIES! They lock on to a single target and just DPS that down til it is dead than move on to the next mob in the aggro list.
    thats why they are only usable when you realy dont wanna deal with any other human. the lack of aoe makes every dungeon 30min long

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