Is FFXIV worth it?

[Polarthief]

Little background: Been playing FFXI a bit after release for a few years and loved it. Granted, MMOs were a new thing to me, and me being a dumb kid in Middle School failed to realize quite a few of the flaws (like how long and excruciating it was to level up). Enter WoW, where I played near the start of it, quit for awhile, then came back before BC came out. Been playing almost non-stop since December 10th (~2 months ago) when I finally quit, in hopes that WoD will bring some playability back.

So, now I'm looking for a new MMO, and my eyes are set on FFXIV, but I worry that with the initial price tag + a sub fee, that I'll just be back to where I was with WoW, so can someone sell me on this a bit?


Also, a list of stuff I'd like to know if it exists or not:

- Is there Player Housing?
- PvE progression at endgame? (Especially outside of the typical "large party" raids?)
- How difficult is it to get into?
- Are there constant things being updated/added or things just being changed in the world (e.g., what GW2 claimed but didn't really deliver)
- Is the leveling like the horrible leveling of FFXI (around 2004-2005)? (Which may or may not have changed in the last ~10 years)
- How's the profession system?

And one last thing: Could someone explain the class/job system to me? I've had a few people try to explain it just to end up with me being utterly confused (this was when the reborn was just happening though).

Feel free to gush about the other cool things that exists, but please keep any talk referring to PvP at a minimum as I've never really been one to care for PvP, but you can tell me what exists there.

Edit: Please don't comment anything about consoles because not only do I not have a PS3/PS4, but have no plans to play on one anyways XD

[Skulltaker]

Little background: Been playing FFXI a bit after release for a few years and loved it. Granted, MMOs were a new thing to me, and me being a dumb kid in Middle School failed to realize quite a few of the flaws (like how long and excruciating it was to level up). Enter WoW, where I played near the start of it, quit for awhile, then came back before BC came out. Been playing almost non-stop since December 10th (~2 months ago) when I finally quit, in hopes that WoD will bring some playability back.

So, now I'm looking for a new MMO, and my eyes are set on FFXIV, but I worry that with the initial price tag + a sub fee, that I'll just be back to where I was with WoW, so can someone sell me on this a bit?


Also, a list of stuff I'd like to know if it exists or not:

- Is there Player Housing?
- PvE progression at endgame? (Especially outside of the typical "large party" raids?)
- How difficult is it to get into?
- Are there constant things being updated/added or things just being changed in the world (e.g., what GW2 claimed but didn't really deliver)
- Is the leveling like the horrible leveling of FFXI (around 2004-2005)? (Which may or may not have changed in the last ~10 years)
- How's the profession system?

And one last thing: Could someone explain the class/job system to me? I've had a few people try to explain it just to end up with me being utterly confused (this was when the reborn was just happening though).

Feel free to gush about the other cool things that exists, but please keep any talk referring to PvP at a minimum as I've never really been one to care for PvP, but you can tell me what exists there.

I played it for about 4 weeks after launch, and for myself I can wholeheartedly say "Definatly not."

The game offers a beautiful atmosphere, great character art and customization, beautiful ambience, interesting story. That sums up the good part of it.

The bad part is that it is cross platform, so if you are playing on a PC you are at a major advantage, as the controls are a lot sharper and respond much quicker then console. This comes to a disadvantage as the game appears to be balanced around the PC version, and some console gamers apparantly cannot get out of AoE effects in time, because their controls are to slow. As you are forced to form groups, this can lead to a lot of frustration during the leveling process. I had to get in line for Titan a rocking 39 times until I was able to defeat him, always because other players were unable to get out of the way.

When I quit, there was no end game content.

Questing is fine until lvl 40 (of 50), where you have to start to grind XP. Tiresome.

Job/class: You have a class, same as in WoW. You progress in it, and every few levels you get to do a class quest that plays on the classes strengths. At level 30 these class quests end, and you have to pick up a job. A Job is granted to you by a soulstone - it gives you additional abilities, depending on your job. Gladiators for example become paladins and gain 5 unique paladin abilities.

Professions are classes aswell. You gain XP by crafting items, which is a minigame, because you can have actual failiures while crafting. It's was a real nightmare, because you are quickly dependand on every other profession in the game to craft materials. theoretically you can get all of them by yourself, but that would take ages.

You can mutliclass, just by equipping another classes weapon (eg: if you play a Gladiator, and equip a wand, you become a conjurer, lvl 1. You lose all your stats, etc, and may be forced to unequip items and armor. You can use crossclass spells and abilities, for example, if you leveled your gladiator to 20, and a conjurer to 10, you can use all conjurer- and gladiator abilities.

Since you can do every quest in game only once, leveling a second class is a nightmarish grindfest.

The AI is boring and only dangerous in numbers, boss mechanics were, as far as I experienced, way to easy. "Don't stand in the fire", usually.

If this game was singleplayer, it would have been great. As an mmo it was a great failure to me. Feel free to try it yourself, the game isn't that expensive. I also don't know what changes to this have been made since launch.

It really bugged me that my character never opened his mouth.

There are a lot of sexual references and fanservice, like bathing elves, or the question how to undress someone properly.

[Polarthief]

If this game was singleplayer, it would have been great. As an mmo it was a great failure to me. Feel free to try it yourself, the game isn't that expensive. I also don't know what changes to this have been made since launch.

To be fair, I'm okay with playing Solo a lot.

Now you say "since launch". Are you referring to "A Realm Reborn" or the classic FFXIV that the Devs felt so ashamed of that they had to scrap it completely?

Also, while a silly (yet important in time-wasting) question, I'd like to know, is there player housing and can I decorate it/do stuff with it akin to FFXI?

[icausewipes]

It is a good distraction, but not worth committing to. You will love the combat system and hate the GCD system. You will love the crafting system, but realize its kinda worthless endgame. They use the trinity system like wow. They have made leveling waaaay easier a patch or two ago.

You will run into game raging lag like this.

http://www.youtube.com/results?searc...xiv%20lag&sm=3
http://www.youtube.com/results?searc...tan%20lag&sm=1


This is what sealed it for me at endgame.


Play til Wod or you punch a hole in your monitor. Also DO NOT BUY IT FOR PS3/PS4.

[Captain N]

There has been many changes since launch. Skulltaker is correct that at one time Quests did run out at around level 40ish and you were forced to do FATEs but that has changed with patch 2.1. They increased Dungeon XP and Leve XP which means a lot of leveling can be done without the need to endlessly FATE Grind. I do not agree that there is a huge advantage in the PC vs PS3 argument. Ive done up to Turn 5 of Coil as well as Crystal Tower with people who are on PS3 who have attached a wireless USB Mouse and Keyboard to their system to make them just as good as any PC player.

Pick the game up on Amazon for $15 and play for the Free Month that comes included and make your own call. It's very difficult to get a straight answer on this forum since it's plagued with people who can't see past their own MMO of choice.

[Skulltaker]

To be fair, I'm okay with playing Solo a lot.

Now you say "since launch". Are you referring to "A Realm Reborn" or the classic FFXIV that the Devs felt so ashamed of that they had to scrap it completely?

Also, while a silly (yet important in time-wasting) question, I'd like to know, is there player housing and can I decorate it/do stuff with it akin to FFXI?

I was referencing to ARR. I was very excited about it, and extremly disapointed.

There is housing, but it was implemented after I quit. It was also ridiculously expensive, if my info is right.

[-aiko-]

There has been many changes since launch. Skulltaker is correct that at one time Quests did run out at around level 40ish and you were forced to do FATEs but that has changed with patch 2.1. They increased Dungeon XP and Leve XP which means a lot of leveling can be done without the need to endlessly FATE Grind. I do not agree that there is a huge advantage in the PC vs PS3 argument. Ive done up to Turn 5 of Coil as well as Crystal Tower with people who are on PS3 who have attached a wireless USB Mouse and Keyboard to their system to make them just as good as any PC player.

Pick the game up on Amazon for $15 and play for the Free Month that comes included and make your own call. It's very difficult to get a straight answer on this forum since it's plagued with people who can't see past their own MMO of choice.

I'm going to have to agree with pretty much everything here.

The price of admission is really low so it's absolutely worth a shot.

[Polarthief]

It is a good distraction, but not worth committing to. You will love the combat system and hate the GCD system. You will love the crafting system, but realize its kinda worthless endgame. They use the trinity system like wow. They have made leveling waaaay easier a patch or two ago.

You will run into game raging lag like this.

http://www.youtube.com/results?searc...xiv%20lag&sm=3
http://www.youtube.com/results?searc...tan%20lag&sm=1


This is what sealed it for me at endgame.


Play til Wod or you punch a hole in your monitor. Also DO NOT BUY IT FOR PS3/PS4.

I'm not really looking for "a distraction" if I'm going to be throwing money (that I barely have) into a game. For a F2P, that'd be acceptable to just give a try (and have a fun distraction), but not one I have to commit $60 (?) to on top of a monthly fee.

Also, I don't play consoles, so no problem on that

There has been many changes since launch. Skulltaker is correct that at one time Quests did run out at around level 40ish and you were forced to do FATEs but that has changed with patch 2.1. They increased Dungeon XP and Leve XP which means a lot of leveling can be done without the need to endlessly FATE Grind.

Pick the game up on Amazon for $15 and play for the Free Month that comes included and make your own call. It's very difficult to get a straight answer on this forum since it's plagued with people who can't see past their own MMO of choice.

Oh it's only $15 AND comes with a free month? Not that bad to at least try I guess

(also, again, I don't plan to play on a console)

[TirielWoW]

Little background: Been playing FFXI a bit after release for a few years and loved it. Granted, MMOs were a new thing to me, and me being a dumb kid in Middle School failed to realize quite a few of the flaws (like how long and excruciating it was to level up). Enter WoW, where I played near the start of it, quit for awhile, then came back before BC came out. Been playing almost non-stop since December 10th (~2 months ago) when I finally quit, in hopes that WoD will bring some playability back.

So, now I'm looking for a new MMO, and my eyes are set on FFXIV, but I worry that with the initial price tag + a sub fee, that I'll just be back to where I was with WoW, so can someone sell me on this a bit?


Also, a list of stuff I'd like to know if it exists or not:

- Is there Player Housing?

Yes. Right now it's just for Free Companies (i.e. guilds), but there will be individual housing introduced in 2.2 or 2.3.

- PvE progression at endgame? (Especially outside of the typical "large party" raids?)

There are dungeons (Wanderer's Palace, Amdapor Keep, Haukke Manor Hard Mode, Copperbell Mines Hard Mode, and Pharos Sirius), raids (Crystal Tower - 24 man raid made up of 3 Alliances of 8 man raids, you can queue into it solo or with a group, soft progression; and Binding Coil of Bahamut - 8 man raid, you must form your raid and go to the entrance, hard progression), and Primal fights (Ifrit Hard Mode, Garuda Hard Mode, Titan Hard Mode, Ultima Hard Mode, Good King Moggle Mog, Garuda Extreme, Titan Extreme, Ifrit Extreme).

All of these are group activities.

- How difficult is it to get into?

Not hard at all.

- Are there constant things being updated/added or things just being changed in the world (e.g., what GW2 claimed but didn't really deliver)

I'm not sure what you mean by this, as I did not play GW2. There are some "phased" things that will change as the story progresses, and they have changed certain areas (like Mor Dhona) with the new patch to fit with the storyline.

- Is the leveling like the horrible leveling of FFXI (around 2004-2005)? (Which may or may not have changed in the last ~10 years)

No, it's pretty easy to level, especially compared to how it was in 2.0.

- How's the profession system?

Complex and interesting, imo. It doesn't have the "Walls of Nope" that exist in FFXI. If you know what you're doing, have the right skills, and the right equipment, you should at least succeed with each craft. If you have things set up correctly, you should also High Quality the item (assuming it can be HQ'd).

And one last thing: Could someone explain the class/job system to me? I've had a few people try to explain it just to end up with me being utterly confused (this was when the reborn was just happening though).

Sure. Have you ever played D&D? In D&D, you had a base class or classes. Then, at some point, when you fit the requirements, you would be able to pick up a Prestige class. Prestige Classes have different powers, and generally take your character down a specific role. FFXIV is somewhat like that, but not.

To understand how this works, remember that every character can be every Class and Job if they want to take the time to level them. Classes are determined by what weapon you have equipped. For instance, I rolled as a Conjurer, so when I equip wands or staves, it puts me into that class. Jobs, on the other hand, are like "add this on to make you better." You equip a small piece of gear called a Soul Stone (each job has its own soulstone) that makes you be in that particular Job, but you are still also whatever base class you are. As an example, I play a White Mage. White Mage's base class is Conjurer, so I equip staves or wands with my White Mage Soul Stone. I am a White Mage, but I am still a Conjurer at heart.

Every person starts with a base class. For instance, I started with Conjurer. Conjurers are healers, with a bit of DPS on the side for questing. When I got to level 30, I went and leveled Arcanist on the same character to level 15. Once I had Conjurer to 30 and Arcanist to 15, I was given a quest by my Conjury Guild Master to become a White Mage. Jobs level with your Class (they're tied to that class, so when leveling as a White Mage, any XP I receive is Conjurer XP, as that is the base class).

Just like in D&D, to qualify for a Job, you have to meet certain requirements. In FFXIV, this means you need the base class for that Job leveled to 30, and the secondary class leveled to 15. Also like D&D, a Job is more of a "specialized version of this base class." So in the same manner that Archmage is a specialized version of Mage in D&D, Black Mage is a specialized version of Thaumaturge. The most obvious situation with this is the one class that has two Jobs attached to it - Arcanist. If an Arcanist (which is a pet class) chooses to level Conjurer to 15, they can take the Scholar Job, which is a specialized healing role with a pet. If they choose to level Thaumaturge to 15, they can take on the Summoner Job, which is a specialized DPS role with a pet.

This may not have been the clearest explanation, but I hope it helps.

Feel free to gush about the other cool things that exists, but please keep any talk referring to PvP at a minimum as I've never really been one to care for PvP, but you can tell me what exists there.

It's a beautiful game. Like, really truly beautiful. It runs amazingly well - I get better FPS in this game than I do in WoW. lol. PvP is 100% optional, I don't even touch it. There is no world PvP (so you never have to worry about ganking). There are two reputation factions you can do some very short quests for in order to get mounts. You'll get a full set of initial dungeon gear for your Job when you do the quests at 45 and 50 to help you prepare for dungeons at endgame. This is a true Final Fantasy game, with two full story dungeons at the end (Castrum Meridianum and Praetorium) complete with cutscenes.

Is it worth the $30 for the game and a full month of play? Yes. It may turn out to not be the game for you, I don't really know, but it's absolutely worth the $30 just to play through the story.

[Renwin]

I was referencing to ARR. I was very excited about it, and extremly disapointed.

There is housing, but it was implemented after I quit. It was also ridiculously expensive, if my info is right.

For now, it's just Free Company (like a guild in WoW) housing. Player Housing will be coming soon and hopefully it'll be cheaper.

So far, I'm loving it since I quit WoW for this game. Yeah, the grind starting at level 40 will be a pain, but you can now dungeon run it until 50. But I can definitely say it'll be a lot better than FFXI in pace of leveling. End-game is ok-ish. Just a very steep cliff if you want to get your job's relic weapon unless you're joining with friends or good players. Gear is not too..."requiring" to get unless it's really needed for progression or BiS. Most boss fights (except for Titan (Hard mode) and Coils) are easy in this game with a good group. It's not hard to get into, but just be weary of what abilities are most optimal for your role.

Overall, I say it's a decent improvement over FFXI (I played it too and was getting too bored with it's pace), but the parts that made FFXI good are slowly coming into this game with better stuff.

[Polarthief]

I'm not sure what you mean by this, as I did not play GW2. There are some "phased" things that will change as the story progresses, and they have changed certain areas (like Mor Dhona) with the new patch to fit with the storyline.

"Is there a reason to go out into the world and explore or do things besides just the endgame content at endgame?" was more or less the words that I failed to type

Complex and interesting, imo. It doesn't have the "Walls of Nope" that exist in FFXI. If you know what you're doing, have the right skills, and the right equipment, you should at least succeed with each craft. If you have things set up correctly, you should also High Quality the item (assuming it can be HQ'd).

Could you go a bit more in-depth in a comparison to, say, WoW's profession system? While I did play FFXI for a bit, I never got too far in the professions. The one thing I remember enjoying though was finding trees to chop down to use in Woodworking to make new furniture for my Mog House

Sure. Have you ever played D&D? In D&D, you had a base class or classes. Then, at some point, when you fit the requirements, you would be able to pick up a Prestige class. Prestige Classes have different powers, and generally take your character down a specific role. FFXIV is somewhat like that, but not.

Sadly, I've only played DDO. However, this sounds more akin to Final Fantasy (1) where (SPOILER FOR A SUPER OLD GAME) halfway through the game, all your characters "Class Up", like the Fighter turns into a Paladin, Thief to Ninja, the "Mages" to Wizards, and the Black Belt to Master. Except, in the 13th sequel, there's just a branching pathway instead of X becomes Y. Is that about right?

To understand how this works, remember that every character can be every Class and Job if they want to take the time to level them. Classes are determined by what weapon you have equipped. For instance, I rolled as a Conjurer, so when I equip wands or staves, it puts me into that class. Jobs, on the other hand, are like "add this on to make you better." You equip a small piece of gear called a Soul Stone (each job has its own soulstone) that makes you be in that particular Job, but you are still also whatever base class you are. As an example, I play a White Mage. White Mage's base class is Conjurer, so I equip staves or wands with my White Mage Soul Stone. I am a White Mage, but I am still a Conjurer at heart.

Every person starts with a base class. For instance, I started with Conjurer. Conjurers are healers, with a bit of DPS on the side for questing. When I got to level 30, I went and leveled Arcanist on the same character to level 15. Once I had Conjurer to 30 and Arcanist to 15, I was given a quest by my Conjury Guild Master to become a White Mage. Jobs level with your Class (they're tied to that class, so when leveling as a White Mage, any XP I receive is Conjurer XP, as that is the base class).

Just like in D&D, to qualify for a Job, you have to meet certain requirements. In FFXIV, this means you need the base class for that Job leveled to 30, and the secondary class leveled to 15. Also like D&D, a Job is more of a "specialized version of this base class." So in the same manner that Archmage is a specialized version of Mage in D&D, Black Mage is a specialized version of Thaumaturge. The most obvious situation with this is the one class that has two Jobs attached to it - Arcanist. If an Arcanist (which is a pet class) chooses to level Conjurer to 15, they can take the Scholar Job, which is a specialized healing role with a pet. If they choose to level Thaumaturge to 15, they can take on the Summoner Job, which is a specialized DPS role with a pet.

This may not have been the clearest explanation, but I hope it helps.

THIS is where you lost me... Kinda. So basically, there's 4(?) base classes, and these evolve into the "Jobs" that Final Fantasy is known for, such as Red Mage, Thief, Dragoon, etc? If that's what it is, any chance I could get a chart or breakdown of the base classes and then the jobs you can be from that?

Also, how exactly does multiclassing work with multiple classes/jobs? Can you be a base class that DOESN'T turn into a specific Job (e.g., being a Conjuror Class and being a Gladiator Job)?

At the very least, is all of this explained in-game?

Is it worth the $30 for the game and a full month of play? Yes. It may turn out to not be the game for you, I don't really know, but it's absolutely worth the $30 just to play through the story.

Oh now it's $30 to start up? Why is everyone giving me different prices? >_>;
Also, I doubt $30 would get me far enough since that only pays for a single month.

- - - Updated - - -

Overall, I say it's a decent improvement over FFXI (I played it too and was getting too bored with it's pace), but the parts that made FFXI good are slowly coming into this game with better stuff. But clearly, it's not better than WoW unless you really like FF.

Could you maybe tell me what aspects of WoW are supposedly better than FFXIV? I've enjoyed FF since I discovered 10 (Yes yes, Tidus's laugh is horrible. Dead horse beaten ahead of time) and went back to play almost every game in the series, so I definitely do like FF.


Also one last thing I want to ask: Is there a Red Mage type job/class/w/e?

[Faroth]

I bought Final Fantasy XIV Collector's Edition and can safely say it's the weakest, most lacking collector's edition I've ever seen, which was fitting since FF XIV was an exercise in drudgery. It was menus, menus, menus, and more menus. You had to open menus to get to menus to choose a menu to do something. You're aware of the pitfalls and negatives about FF XIV, I'm sure...

Now with FF XIV: A Realm Reborn..... man, I am kicking myself for not listening to my friend and subscribing for 3 months to XIV to get veteran Legacy status. Is XIV: ARR reborn worth playing? I say that is a definite yes. But in a bit more detail, let's see what you're asking:

Little background: Been playing FFXI a bit after release for a few years and loved it. Granted, MMOs were a new thing to me, and me being a dumb kid in Middle School failed to realize quite a few of the flaws (like how long and excruciating it was to level up). Enter WoW, where I played near the start of it, quit for awhile, then came back before BC came out. Been playing almost non-stop since December 10th (~2 months ago) when I finally quit, in hopes that WoD will bring some playability back.

Alright, well, I'm with you somewhat here. I played EverQuest for about 3-4 years, then FF XI for maybe a year before WoW. I've dabbled in other MMOs as well, but WoW is the longest stretch (9 years straight, let my sub lapse for the first time in January. /sniffle)

So, now I'm looking for a new MMO, and my eyes are set on FFXIV, but I worry that with the initial price tag + a sub fee, that I'll just be back to where I was with WoW, so can someone sell me on this a bit?

Let's see if what I offer sells you, but as someone else pointed out, the price is reasonable.


Is there Player Housing?
There is currently free company housing, so guild housing at the moment. It's very expensive and my realm doesn't have all the plots filled by any means (when it was introduced, only 2 guilds had bought a house, and only one of those was a larger plot). Player housing is on the horizon and on their agenda, but they chose to do the guild housing first.

PvE progression at endgame? (Especially outside of the typical "large party" raids?)
PvE progression is going to require large party raids....sort of. Here's your max level progression:

Duty Finder (daily LFG) grants bonus tomestones of philosophy and mythology (think Justice and Valor badges) which you use to buy a set gear. Each day you can do duty finder for: Low level 4 man dungeon, high level 4 man dungeon, main scenario (8 man dungeon). The hard mode dungeons will give you gear from drops, but accumulating tomestones is a steady way to acquire gear. There is no limit to how many philosophy tomestones you can get per week, but there's a cap on mythology (philosophy is one level of gear, myth is a higher pre-raid level).

You can also run raids by doing hard mode boss fights against Ifrit, Garuda, and Titan which will yield weapons (and are required for the main story progression and your relic weapon). You can also do a 24 man raid through duty finder, which puts you in an 8 man party and two additional 8 man parties will be running as well, but it feels almost nothing like WoW's LFR 25 mans.

Then the pinnacle of raiding right now is Bahamut's Coil, which is only accessible with a pre-made group and it's an 8 man raid.

How difficult is it to get into?
Very easy to get into the game and into end game.

Are there constant things being updated/added or things just being changed in the world (e.g., what GW2 claimed but didn't really deliver)
It's a more traditional MMO, but there are FATE events that will randomly spawn in the world, which can be fun to take part in or do with friends. They're not quite as heavily farmed since the dungeon roulette feature went in.

Is the leveling like the horrible leveling of FFXI (around 2004-2005)? (Which may or may not have changed in the last ~10 years)
Leveling is closer to WoW during the Classic and BC days in terms of pace and can be approached solo.

How's the profession system?
.....do you like addiction?
The profession system is frustrating and rewarding. It's an entire game unto itself and you level each different profession as a class. You unlock new abilities in that profession which fill your hot bar and allow you to craft more reliable, faster, or higher quality. You also get cross-class abilities as you level other professions. It's pretty complex, but pretty fun as well. Some of them are more grindy and frustrating than others, though.

And one last thing: Could someone explain the class/job system to me? I've had a few people try to explain it just to end up with me being utterly confused (this was when the reborn was just happening though).
When you first start, you choose your class.
Gladiator (sword/board), Pugilist (fist fighter), Thurmaturge (DPS magic), Conjurer (Heal magic), Marauder (2H tank), Lancer (spear), Archer (Range dps)

Say you start as a gladiator. At level 10 or 15ish (I forget), you are given leave by your guildmaster to pursue other guilds. So you decide to travel off to another place and talk to the guildmaster for Lancer. You now have a sword/shield and a spear. Whichever you equip determines your class (different ones, different armor, etc). You can switch on the fly and armor/weapons are in your armory, not your inventory (technically just armor/weapon inventory bags if you want to simplify it). So you can unlock every class in game on one character.

At level 30, you can get a specific 2nd class up to 15 and unlock a job, which is basically just a specialized extension of your class.
30 gladiator/15 conjurer = Paladin
30 pugilist/15 lancer = Monk

And so on. Some classes have cross-class skills. So monk is primarily pugilist, but can take skills from Lancer and Marauder if they level those classes up, but it's not a huge priority to do so.

Feel free to send me a PM if you have additional questions on this.

Since you played XI, you might know her, but Shantotto just appeared for an event in XIV.

- - - Updated - - -

Also one last thing I want to ask: Is there a Red Mage type job/class/w/e?

Red Mage is not yet in the game.

Neither is ninja.

I has a sad.

[Sandwrong]

Class breakdown:

a Gladiator -> Paladin
Marauder -> Warrior
Pugilist -> Monk
Lancer -> Dragoon
Archer -> Bard
Conjurer -> White Mage
Thaumaturge -> Black mage
Arcanist -> Summoner OR Scholar

Cross classing is actually a lot simpler than you think it is.

Say you're a level 25 pugilist as your main class, but you've leveled up a Conjurer to 15, an Archer to 10 and a Lancer to 20.
You can select non-rotational abilities that you've learned in those classes, and can use them while in your Pugilist class. When you hit level 30 and get your job, there are limitations as to what classes you can obtain your cross class skills from, but the concept remains the same. The act of cross classing has no actual effect on what class you are. If you're a pugilist and cross class skills from a marauder, you're still a pugilist.

[Faroth]

"Is there a reason to go out into the world and explore or do things besides just the endgame content at endgame?" was more or less the words that I failed to type

There's always the possibility you'll want to go out to work on additional classes, gathering, FATEs for grand company seals if you want to buy things. They introduced some dailies (limited to 6 per day total) that give a reason to head out some. Plus just exploring is fun. Hunting logs send you out to track down enemies, but won't last forever.

Could you go a bit more in-depth in a comparison to, say, WoW's profession system? While I did play FFXI for a bit, I never got too far in the professions. The one thing I remember enjoying though was finding trees to chop down to use in Woodworking to make new furniture for my Mog House

I'll respond to this even if you haven't seen my first post yet. It's like an entire class unto itself with its own abilities you unlock and you basically play a mini game to make things, your performance affecting the quality of the item. Once you've gotten high enough, you CAN say "make 99, click" and walk away a bit (though you risk losing some mats if you botch on auto-pilot).

At the very least, is all of this explained in-game?

Yes, everything is very well explained and tutorials are offered in the game. I never felt totally lost.

[Polarthief]

Alright, I guess I'm off to go try it at least. The only question I really have left is if I'm ever locked to a class or job. I can switch BOTH classes and jobs, right? (e.g., FFXI style of having every class available)

[Sandwrong]

Alright, I guess I'm off to go try it at least. The only question I really have left is all of the job stuff explained in game, and how complicated is it?

Also, I'm never locked to a class or job, right? I can switch BOTH of them (e.g., FFXI style of having every class available)?

Once you've unlocked a class, you can use it forever

[Renwin]

Could you maybe tell me what aspects of WoW are supposedly better than FFXIV? I've enjoyed FF since I discovered 10 (Yes yes, Tidus's laugh is horrible. Dead horse beaten ahead of time) and went back to play almost every game in the series, so I definitely do like FF.


Also one last thing I want to ask: Is there a Red Mage type job/class/w/e?

In truth, I don't know. It's better because "it is." I don't know what because I'm too lazy to say. I'm just saying that because I thought most people would know, but it's subjective. Also, no Red Mage at this moment.

Also, You have classes. When you unlock them, you unlock them permanently. Same thing with jobs, but you need certain class requirements to get jobs. So it's certain classes to a job.

Class breakdown:

Main Class to Main Job(s)
Gladiator -> Paladin
Marauder -> Warrior
Pugilist -> Monk
Lancer -> Dragoon
Archer -> Bard
Conjurer -> White Mage
Thaumaturge -> Black mage
Arcanist -> Summoner OR Scholar

[Faroth]

Alright, I guess I'm off to go try it at least. The only question I really have left is if I'm ever locked to a class or job. I can switch BOTH classes and jobs, right? (e.g., FFXI style of having every class available)

Yep!

I'm a pugilist, got lancer up, so I unlocked monk.

I can play monk, switch to lancer, remove the soul gem and play just as a pugilist if I want, or go work on any other class as well.

[Polarthief]

Yep!

I'm a pugilist, got lancer up, so I unlocked monk.

I can play monk, switch to lancer, remove the soul gem and play just as a pugilist if I want, or go work on any other class as well.

Alright awesome


The TWO things I'm disappointed in is no immediate player-housing (RIP Mog Houses ;~; ) and no Red Mage (OR Ninja?! Man, there goes my Red Mage/Ninja idea), but at the very least, as long as the RDm HOPEFULLY comes out someday, I think I'll be able to manage. Thanks everyone for your responses, and I guess I'm off to give it a try... After bugging all my friends to tell me which server to play on/who gets to 'recruit' me if there's the whole Recruiter Benefits.

[Faroth]

Alright awesome


The TWO things I'm disappointed in is no immediate player-housing (RIP Mog Houses ;~; ) and no Red Mage (OR Ninja?! Man, there goes my Red Mage/Ninja idea), but at the very least, as long as the RDm HOPEFULLY comes out someday, I think I'll be able to manage. Thanks everyone for your responses, and I guess I'm off to give it a try... After bugging all my friends to tell me which server to play on/who gets to 'recruit' me if there's the whole Recruiter Benefits.

Red Mage, I believe, has already been mentioned along with ninja and samurai as being classes we can expect in the future.

At least my monk has a gear set designed to look like a ninja. And there's a red mage-ish armor set as well. It's a start, anyway

As for housing, fear not...it really looks like housing in XIV, both FC and player, will be leaps and bounds beyond what Mog Housing offered. Furniture is still going to definitely be around too.

No recruitment benefits, though. I'm on Gilgamesh, if any of your friends are there and you play, feel free to poke me with an IM on here and let me know your name!