The Noobie Advice and General Discussion Thread

[ippollite]

I figure that we need a space for new players to talk about the issues they are experiencing with the game. These can be positive and negative. But the aim is to have a slightly more focused and constructive discussion on the games issues for these players looking to just make sense of the world. So if you have an issue and want to ask about it, this is obviously the thread for you. My personal feeling is that the mega thread is a bit too focused on the general issues for more experienced players, whilst my happy thread is a bit too 'positive'. So negativity is completely fine (i just didnt want to put the words 'problems' or 'issues' in the title for reasons that should be obvious).

However, and drawing a bit of a line in the sand, can we keep the comparisons with wow to a minimum? And only when really warranted. This isnt a 'which game is better?' thread. Its for new players actually playing the game and feeling a bit confused or overwhelmed to find some constructive advice to help them out in their Eorzean adventures. Also, we get the aesthetics are hit or miss and a matter of personal taste. Lets try not to go down that rabbit hole again. My hope is we can encourage new players to understand the universe a little better, and help them to resolve any potential issues they might have whilst currently playing the game.

[Pannonian]

2 things i want to tell everyone starting the game:

1. Sprinting out of combat lasts 20 second, in combat only 10. If you want to tank fast, pop it BEFORE you pull.
2. If you play MCH/BRD/DNC - press "Peloton" after a fight.

Thanks

[Deneios]

Most aoe skills do 120 potency per target so aoe becomes better option when there is 3 or more targets compared to base rotations.

[Pretorian]

I played the game for about a week so far; I'm lvl 56 PLD and just finished ARR.

Overall, I had a very positive experience with FF14, much better than expected.

I like the graphic, music and the combat system is not too bad; much slower than I'm used to it from other MMOs but after tanking a few dungeons, I can get used to it.
The action bars and general UI seems a bit "old" but not a big deal, I'm an old school player.
People I played with so far, very friendly, cannot fault the player base yet. I even asked a question in general channel regarding the Augmented Ironworks gear and got a couple of nice replies.
I also like the fact that gear is always provided to you appropriate to your level and you don't feel the need to buy it from a trader, at least so far into the story.

Unfortunately I don't have any friends that play this game and in order to make new ones in game, I might have to join a guild... noticed I can't even whisper to anyone since I'm on the free trial account.

I haven't gone into crafting or a second job yet.
I've just done the main quest and a few blue ones after someone pointed out I should do them as it unlocks new things like dyes etc. The Company missions to increase your rank, I don't really see the purpose of it but I'm sure I'm missing something. There seems to be so much stuff I haven't gone into yet...

I'd like to continue playing it and even sub as normal but I have a few major issues which are pure personal:

- the naming convention on NPCs and some places in the world, I find them bad/ridiculous
- the character animations, faces, body language and especially in MSQ cutscenes, seem very weird and inappropriate to my character's status/role/job
- I find the MSQ boring, very stretched / unnecessarily long and I just want to skip it at this point - this was supposed to be the main attraction in the game and what the game is the most famous for...
(I'm also having a hard time believing a bad guy lalafell )

Anyone have any advice on the minus points? Has anyone else felt like that? Shall I try to ignore the cons and just continue playing? Does it get better?
Does the game experience change if you join a guild?

[Saltysquidoon]

- I find the MSQ boring, very stretched / unnecessarily long and I just want to skip it at this point - this was supposed to be the main attraction in the game and what the game is the most famous for...
(I'm also having a hard time believing a bad guy lalafell )

Have you ever played a JRPG or even a FF game before (I'm not being sarcastic btw legit question)? It may simply be a case you don't enjoy the genre. I think that it's kind of important to think of FFXIV as a jrpg with mmo trappings as opposed to an mmo with a jrpg story.

I will say however that the story in HW is about ten thousand times better than ARR. It's unironically one of the best JRPG (hell videogame) stories I have ever played and probably one of the three that actually moved my jaded cynical heart.

[Necromantic]

Have you ever played a JRPG or even a FF game before (I'm not being sarcastic btw legit question)? It may simply be a case you don't enjoy the genre. I think that it's kind of important to think of FFXIV as a jrpg with mmo trappings as opposed to an mmo with a jrpg story.

I will say however that the story in HW is about ten thousand times better than ARR. It's unironically one of the best JRPG (hell videogame) stories I have ever played and probably one of the three that actually moved my jaded cynical heart.

It might not be the story itself but how the game executes it. That's one thing I feel WoW has over FFXIV is the execution. It gives you things in very small chunks with animated cutscenes vs so much you need to read. About half way through, I just skipped all the cutscenes.

[bloodwulf]

Some tips I have as I have slowly been making my way out of the noobie phase.

-Do your Job Quests. Be it Disciple of War\Magic\Land\Hand. You often get okay catchup gear, and some abilities are locked behind them.
-Tanks, turn on your tank stance. I do it myself and see others fail to enable it and run into the first pull or two and just see mobs immediately destroy the healer.
-For leveling, you don't need marketboard gear. There are vendors that sell gear that can keep you moving through the story.
-Press buttons. It sounds dumb, but while leveling, your rotation is broken and missing key abilities, just keep pressing buttons, any input is better than afk autoattack.
-All jobs do DPS, some just more than others.


Useful websites I have found:
garlandtools.org - Think wowhead. Has a cool tool for finding gear sets at every level, especially useful for DOH.
https://saltedxiv.com/ - Has rotations and breakdowns of the combat jobs. I have not played long enough to tell if they are good for Ultimate content, but for newbs it is awesome.
https://www.ffxivpocketguide.com/ - Simple Dungeon breakdowns, helps a lot for a new tank.



Now the most controversial statement i can make. The story, especially ARR and First expansion are not for everyone. They get so much better, but ARR is a literal chore. I had more fun leveling in POTD and buying a story skip over forcing myself through all the ARR content.

[Pretorian]

Have you ever played a JRPG or even a FF game before (I'm not being sarcastic btw legit question)? It may simply be a case you don't enjoy the genre. I think that it's kind of important to think of FFXIV as a jrpg with mmo trappings as opposed to an mmo with a jrpg story.

This is my first FF game...
As for the JRPG, can Zelda or Monster Hunter World be considered jrpgs?

It's true, I don't particularly enjoy this genre but not hating it either... any others in similar spot and you just learn to like it?

[bloodwulf]

This is my first FF game...
As for the JRPG, can Zelda or Monster Hunter World be considered jrpgs?

It's true, I don't particularly enjoy this genre but not hating it either... any others in similar spot and you just learn to like it?

Cant say i am in a similiar spot. I grew up playing JRPGs all the time. I have played every numbered final fantasy and some multiple times. That said. The early story is pretty meh in my opinion. I really didnt get into the story until the end of Stormblood, and then Shadowbringers grabbed me. I still don't care for most of the Scions and think Emet (you will learn about him later if you play) is the only badguy i care about.

[Dakhath]

Without making a new thread asking about it, I once found a page that would tell me every single item I would need to craft stuff in the crafting logs and for the life of me I can't find it again, does anyone know what I'm referring to?

[bloodwulf]

Without making a new thread asking about it, I once found a page that would tell me every single item I would need to craft stuff in the crafting logs and for the life of me I can't find it again, does anyone know what I'm referring to?

https://ffxivcrafting.com/ is this the one you are looking for? I believe garlandtools can do it as well.

[Dakhath]

https://ffxivcrafting.com/ is this the one you are looking for? I believe garlandtools can do it as well.

Thats the one, thank you!

[Maljinwo]

This is my first FF game...
It's true, I don't particularly enjoy this genre but not hating it either... any others in similar spot and you just learn to like it?

I barely played Final Fantasy before XIV
Only played IV, VII and XII, with XII being my favorite. Which apparently was a blessing in disguise as XIV takes a lot from that game.

The ARR story is a slog, yes. However it does introduce several characters and moments that pay off in later expansions, so it's in a weird limbo. Luckily the next expansions have a waaaaay better story. Possibly due to not having to string the player along for 50 levels and being able to focus a lot more on the narrative


Also, lalafell are evil. Every single one of them.
No way they are still alive in a world where most races could kill them by striking them with their knees if they weren't cunningly evil planners

[Rexosaurus]

-As long as you aren't in combat, fall damage won't kill you.
-If you're just learning how to tank, be proactive with your damage reduction cooldowns. Don't just hold on to them until you're in trouble. The goal is to smooth out the damage that you're taking so that your healer isn't scrambling to keep you up with all of their emergency buttons.

- the character animations, faces, body language and especially in MSQ cutscenes, seem very weird and inappropriate to my character's status/role/job

Our character has kind of a vaguely set personality through out the cutscenes. If you don't like that then it's unfortunately not going to change, although our overall expressions and body language have evolved as they've added emotes/expressions and what not. But I wouldn't say that the way that your character is portrayed changes all that much.

As far as it not being appropriate to your job...that's probably my only real complaint about the in-game cutscenes. The fact that there are so many jobs means that our character never really acts/fights as the job that you picked since they'd have to create a new cutscene for every job. It's not a huge deal but it's a little frustrating at times when we're just standing on the sidelines as other characters fight.

- I find the MSQ boring, very stretched / unnecessarily long and I just want to skip it at this point - this was supposed to be the main attraction in the game and what the game is the most famous for...
(I'm also having a hard time believing a bad guy lalafell )

That's a pretty common complaint during ARR. I think that section of the story is important for building up the characters and creating a personal attachment to them, but it certainly does drag on (especially in the post-ARR, pre-Heavensward phase). I kind of just broke it up into smaller sections so that I didn't want to kill myself by the end of it. There's really no right way to go about it though. I'll echo the frequently given advice that Heavensward is where you should really decide whether or not you enjoy the story as it's much more indicative of the quality/pace of the story through the rest of the expansions. But if you don't like the HW story then you're probably not gonna enjoy the story as a whole.

Ultimately though, if you're unable to stomach ARR, then I'm not sure what can be done. If you don't like it then you don't like it. It does sound like you're close to the end, but it's been a minute since I did those quests so I'm not positive. You could also always buy a story skip, but you will miss stuff if you do that. Idk how important or not that is to you.

[Ealyssa]

-If you're just learning how to tank, be proactive with your damage reduction cooldowns. Don't just hold on to them until you're in trouble. The goal is to smooth out the damage that you're taking so that your healer isn't scrambling to keep you up with all of their emergency buttons.

Excellent advice that hold true in pretty much ANY tanking situation in any type of game with some kind of trinity BTW.

[Lane]

- I find the MSQ boring, very stretched / unnecessarily long and I just want to skip it at this point - this was supposed to be the main attraction in the game and what the game is the most famous for...

Lack of voice acting during cutscenes doesn't help. You have to go old school JRPGs to get to the days of no voice acting. I started playing FF games with FFX in 2001 and I can't think of one that hasn't had voice acted cutscenes since then at least. I think part of the problem is when there's an actual script a lot of unnecessary stuff gets cut. When it's mostly text there's a lot of useless information that doesn't add to the story that doesn't get edited like it should.

Having said that, from what I've heard, ARR is the weakest part of FFXIV's story. I haven't been gripped by it either. Supposedly Heavensward+ it gets a lot better. I am nowhere near that point yet though.

[ippollite]

SEMI SPOILERS!!!

...


Please run the japanese audio option in your settings. The first clip is a very late heavensward potential spoiler, so please skip it if you dont want to be spoiled.

oooh, on this, id genuinely push for everyone to play this with Japanese audio. I dont mean to be a purist or anything, but the voice acting is really immersion breaking (especially in Arr, but i recently watched an english version of shinryu vs omega, and it was legitimately painful).

[video=youtube;Mov5OcmtuOM]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mov5OcmtuOM[/video]

Heres another reason:




Even with the atmospherics (ambience and music), minfillia sounds a 10000000000000000 times better in japanese. You still have subs. Even if they dont quite convey the, er, full intent...



Its lost to us mono-linguists forever. But its nice to know theres something extra happening in the original language version.

Either way, english voice acting allegedly gets better in heavensward... but id argue it doesnt based on that shinryu clip. Just play with japanese audio and english subs. You'll be fine.

[ippollite]

haha, its of course personal taste. Maybe it gets much better. But ive presented my evidence to the court.

[rogoth]

SEMI SPOILERS!!!

...


Please run the japanese audio option in your settings. The first clip is a very late heavensward potential spoiler, so please skip it if you dont want to be spoiled.

oooh, on this, id genuinely push for everyone to play this with Japanese audio. I dont mean to be a purist or anything, but the voice acting is really immersion breaking (especially in Arr, but i recently watched an english version of shinryu vs omega, and it was legitimately painful).

[video=youtube;Mov5OcmtuOM]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mov5OcmtuOM[/video]

Heres another reason:




Even with the atmospherics (ambience and music), minfillia sounds a 10000000000000000 times better in japanese. You still have subs. Even if they dont quite convey the, er, full intent...



Its lost to us mono-linguists forever. But its nice to know theres something extra happening in the original language version.

Either way, english voice acting allegedly gets better in heavensward... but id argue it doesnt based on that shinryu clip. Just play with japanese audio and english subs. You'll be fine.

here's my issue as a brand new player, it feels like these first 20ish lvls that i have played out have had next to no voice acting at all, and the times there is, it feels like they were being paid by the syllable because as soon as their 'cinematic' spiel is done and you go back to the standard standing around 'conversing' there's no voice over for that stuff, and it's quite jarring going from listening to the character speak and then dead silence for the rest of the quest.

[ippollite]

Totally fair, but i think its a balance between immersion and expediency. One of my absolute most favorite narrative games in the mmo genre is the secret world. Its genuinely jaw dropping narratively (though suffers in gameplay). One of its biggest hurdles to delivering new content is strangely the issue with a completely narrated world. Its pretty niche. So they really struggled with new content when every quest required voiced narration. And they couldnt suddenly turn the game into a silent quest log without killing one of its most interesting and engaging features. So what happened? Paralysis.

I figure ff14 learned from this (and swtor), and decided only to narrate key plot events. If it helps, you WILL get more than enough voice narrative (in whatever language - but choose japanese), to completely recognise and identify the characters throughout the game. Alphinaud is pretty fleshed out even when he's not speaking in the supplementary quests. I can happily recollect yda (and everyone else) right now, despite only reaching stormblood. Ive heard their voices so (toooooooo!) many times so far, its impossible for me to make up a voice for them.