[Megathread] Final Fantasy XIV

[Granyala]

Though even when the Hydaelyn and Zodiark story is concluded in 6.0 the development team have been clear that it isn't going to be the end of the game.

I'm sure they can come up with many a new story.
Whether it will be epic or not is another question.

[Dugna]

pretty sure most of the FF games are connected anyway, its why all the references are totally fine. Each Entry is kinda its own world, but is still connected through like multiverse or whatever.

[Hyral]

It's interesting that 11 is still being supported. It makes it much more likely that 14 isn't going to be abandoned anytime soon. Though even when the Hydaelyn and Zodiark story is concluded in 6.0 the development team have been clear that it isn't going to be the end of the game.

I'm confident we have much more to see since we still haven't addressed how (Omega, Ivalice raids, and ShB ending spoilers) Midgar and Omega came from an entirely different star and the possibilities that opens. Including Ultima and the thing that triggered the End of Days may also have come from others stars (or even be the same).

We have so much more story ahead of us.

[Nasuuna]

Its still pretty annoying compared to anima or eureka, tbh. Books in particular are still tedious since they still require longish fates that can be annoying to catch. World visit helps a bit since you can server hop to see if its up. Also if you don't have a crafter, goodbye gil because those desynth items are expensive usually.

eh i have 11mil, not to worried about that

[dope_danny]

Welp i got everything capped, relic'ed or better and BiS for at least one role per role/damage type. For the first time since Stormblood my Armoury is only gearset items and mostly empty. What a nice feeling. Now i just have two more things to buy with moogle tomes and 2 more levels for each of my trusts and i'm out of things to do. Good timing with one week to the patch.

[Granyala]

eh i have 11mil, not to worried about that

Cute.
Should be sufficient for the items though, esp since the restrictions of desynth have been lifted, so more people are likely to be able to do it.

[Kuja]

How long does it approximately take to reach level 80 if you only focus on questing?

[Val the Moofia Boss]

How long does it approximately take to reach level 80 if you only focus on questing?

There isn't a simple answer to this question.

Long answer

Spoiler: 

If you are a new player, you have to progress through the MSQ (main story questline) to reach 80. The MSQ alone doesn't give you enough EXP to reach 80, so you will need to do a few extra dungeon runs (sidequests in FFXIV give you a pitiful amount of EXP and generally aren't worth doing for leveling, only do them because you want more lore or if you're a completionist). You will reach level 80 a few minutes before completing the 5.0 MSQ (the end of the base Shadowbringers story).

Also, in order to complete the MSQ, you will need to complete a lot of dungeons (4 man instances) and trials (8 man instance with just one boss fight), so you will spend a lot of time queued for dungeons and trials. If you are a tank or a healer, your queue is generally 5 minutes or less, usually instant. If you are DPS, expect to wait upwards of 5-10 minutes each time you queue. And since then there are A LOT of dungeons and trials you need to complete to complete the MSQ, you're going to spend a lot of time waiting in queue if you queue as DPS. Fortunately, you can change jobs at will in FFXIV, and you can progress through the MSQ as any job (including tanks and healers; this isn't like WoW where if you do quests as a tank or healer you do pitiful amounts of damage. Tanks and healers in FFXIV do quite a lot of damage so questing doesn't really take longer as a non-DPS job).

Most of your time progressing through the MSQ will be:

• Traveling to the next destination

• Sitting in a cutscene

• Queued for a dungeon or trial

• In a dungeon or trial

Earlier this year, I created a brand new character and tried to speedrun the MSQ. I skipped most of the cutscenes, and aside from job quests and the Crystal Tower storyline (which will be required in the revamped MSQ starting next week), I didn't do any other content in the game. I played as an Arcanist, which is a DPS job, but at level 30 Arcanist unlocks Summoner (DPS) and Scholar (Healer). Leveling up one levels up the other. So when it came time to queue for dungeons, I would switch to Scholar and my queue would pop instantly.

My timeplayed stats were:

• 2.0 completion: 19 hours, 23 minutes

• 2.55 completion: 1 day 5 hours 5 minutes (so 9 hours 42 minutes to complete 2.1 through 2.55)

• 3.0 completion: 1 day 12 hours 41 minutes (so 7 hours 36 minutes to complete 3.0)

• *I forgot to post my screenshots for 3.55 and 4.0 /timeplayed*

• 4.55 completion: 2 day 13 hours 3 minutes

(This is my /timeplayed skipping cutscenes)

Once hit 5.0, I began watching the cutscenes again, and I started doing the sidequests for the lore, and then I got sidetracked with other stuff, so the furthest I reached was the second half of Rak'tika Great Wood. It's hard for me to judge how much time 5.0 would take if you ONLY did the MSQ, because on my first playthrough I did every sidequest except the Dwarves and the Sahagin, so my first playthrough was like 50-60+ hours. So we will low ball it (5.0 MSQ gameplay time) to 20 hours.

So gameplay wise, if you skip cutscenes, 2.0 to 5.0 completion is about 100 hours.

Next, we need to account for cutscene times. The Youtube channels, Gamer's Little Playground and Eji, have compilation of all of the cutscenes and NPC dialogue scenes in the MSQ.

• 2.0 19 hours 17 minutes

• 2.1 2 hours 16 minutes

• 2.2 2 hours 33 minutes

• 2.3 3 hours 14 minutes

• 2.4 3 hours 22 minutes

• 2.5 & 2.56 4 hours 56 minutes

• 3.0 12 hours 55 minutes

• 3.1 1 hour 51 minutes

• 3.2 1 hour 35 minutes

• 3.3 1 hour 15 minutes

53.5 hours thus far.

After 3.3, I can't find videos of all of the cutscenes including the NPC dialogue. I compared pre 3.3 videos and found that the videos that included the NPC dialogue were at least an hour as long as the videos that included pure cutscenes - about double the length. So from now on I am taking the numbers of the videos that are pure cutscenes and doubling the length).

• 3.4 2 hours

• 3.5 1 hour

• 3.56 2 hours

• 4.0 12 hours

• 4.1 2 hours

• 4.2 2 hours

• 4.3 2 hours 20 minutes

• 4.4 2 hours 20 minutes

• 4.5 2 hours 20 minutes

• 4.56 1 hour

• 5.0 20 hours

So after 3.3, you're looking at about 49 more hours of cutscenes.

53.5 + 49 = 102.5 hours.

So in total you're looking at about 100 hours of cutscenes from the time you start the game to when you beat 5.0.

So 80 hours of gameplay time + 100 hours of cutscenes = 180 hours total from 2.0 through 5.0 completion.

Bear in mind, that this was my second playthrough. I knew where to go and how to optimize my travel times, etc. And I queued as a healer to skip queue times. If you're going in blind, and if you queue as a DPS, then I expect it'll take you another 10-20 hours.

Short answer: If you ONLY do the MSQ, it'll probably take you at least 200 hours to reach level 80 and beat 5.0. If you skip cutscenes, then it'll be 80-100 hours.

- - - Updated - - -

Now, there are level boosts (up to level 70) and story skips you can buy (up to the start of the latest expansion), for $25 each (currently on sale for $17.50 each). So for the price of $50 (or $35 right now), you can just do the latest expansion's story, and then 30 hours later, volia, you're at level cap and ready to do "endgame". I'm not sure why you'd want to do that, since FFXIV's core appeal is in its story, and there isn't really that much you're doing at level 80 you weren't already doing at level 50. This isn't an endgame focused game like WoW. You're not missing out not being at "endgame".

[Kuja]

There isn't a simple answer to this question.

Long answer

...

Awesome! Thanks for the super detailed reply!

[MrTharne]

I don't know why but I laughed when I saw this in the preliminary patch note for 5.3 :

"Attacks by the Coincounter in Aurum Vale will now have action indicators." (2nd Boss, the Cyclops)

Swing (2 Hand) vs Swipe (1 Hand) is hard to notice guys.

[Rogalicus]

Swing (2 Hand) vs Swipe (1 Hand) is hard to notice guys.

No, of course it's easy to notice how many hands boss is using when you stare at its' back.

[Itori]

I don't know why but I laughed when I saw this in the preliminary patch note for 5.3 :

"Attacks by the Coincounter in Aurum Vale will now have action indicators." (2nd Boss, the Cyclops)

Swing (2 Hand) vs Swipe (1 Hand) is hard to notice guys.

Same xD im surprised it took this long to add this.

[Granyala]

"Attacks by the Coincounter in Aurum Vale will now have action indicators." (2nd Boss, the Cyclops)

Swing (2 Hand) vs Swipe (1 Hand) is hard to notice guys.

While it isn't hard to notice, I believe this is the first dungeon boss that uses the attack. So I can "kind of" understand why they allow the telegraph, so people can familiarize with it.

Still, it's a lame move, further dumbing down stuff that was already easy to begin with.

- - - Updated - - -

No, of course it's easy to notice how many hands boss is using when you stare at its' back.

Then look at the cast bar and read the name of the cast.

[Rogalicus]

Then look at the cast bar and read the name of the cast.

I'm doing exactly that, thanks.

[Dugna]

I think the problem with the attack wasn't the indicator of what its doing its more so the range, the swing could look like it missed you and then you're dead. Not saying it was needed but thats most likely the reason for the change.

[Gibblewink]

The combination of large area and the attack typically 1-shotting people means it might not be the best place to introduce people to non-telegraphed aoe.
That said I do sort of wish there were a few more of those used, just to keep peoples' attention.

[StrawberryZebra]

The combination of large area and the attack typically 1-shotting people means it might not be the best place to introduce people to non-telegraphed aoe.
That said I do sort of wish there were a few more of those used, just to keep peoples' attention.

The problem is, based on my observations, most players are tunnel visioning their UI. I see people getting hit by the avoidable AOE all of the time, melee who don't realise the boss has moved and just stand there and people who're otherwise completely oblivious to what's happening around them while they hammer out their buttons.

Part of this, as I've mentioned before, is due to the UI design. The other part is that jobs are getting very bloated in terms of their abilities and mechanics to keep track of. To put it simply, people are being given too much to divide their attention between and given the choice the buttons always win.

I normally like to offer up some solutions to problems like this, but truth be told, there's a lot of interconnected problems to unpack. The easiest, and laziest, solution is just to throw telegraphs on things and hope players notice them - They're far more noticable than what a boss is doing from behind while its covered in particle effects. Especially if you're a healer and not actively targeting the boss to see what it's casting.

[Granyala]

The problem is, based on my observations, most players are tunnel visioning their UI.

I'm used to playing according to the UI from WoW, to be honest.

Mechanics where I need to watch whether the boss scratches his left cheek or pats his right shoulder have always been the hardest for me.
On top of that, I hate it that FF-XIV does so little in the audio domain. You always have to SEE everything, instead of having mechanics you can do by ear, like in WoW.

That is added to the bloated class design and poor customizability of the UI (DoT timers >.<) of course, I agree with you on that front.

[doodle90]

I'm used to playing according to the UI from WoW, to be honest.

Mechanics where I need to watch whether the boss scratches his left cheek or pats his right shoulder have always been the hardest for me.
On top of that, I hate it that FF-XIV does so little in the audio domain. You always have to SEE everything, instead of having mechanics you can do by ear, like in WoW.

That is added to the bloated class design and poor customizability of the UI (DoT timers >.<) of course, I agree with you on that front.

DoT timers always show... And you can move the debuff bar UI anywhere.... The only time it doesn't show is maybe in raids where it goes beyond cap but even that is being fixed in 5.3 I don't see how being able to move and resize EVERY element of the UI in the STOCK game without addons is poor customization.

[Kuja]

Are the maintenances really day long always? Is there any compensation added for such long times of not being able to play?