FFXIV: catch all

I'm starting FF14 from the beginning for the first time (technically second but I only played an hour a few years ago, so... Its a new name to me).

I don't get a lot of game time so we will see whether I can make much progress with the game time I have (70ish days remaining).

I poured a ton of time into Elder Scrolls Online and I'm finding the FF style of story telling (a bit more upbeat, a little bit crazy) to be really refreshing.

We will see how I feel in 100 hours...lol

Enjoy everyone!

Enjoy! The story is a slow burn, and you'll outlevel the quests pretty quickly, but you can make steady progress even without playing too much each day. There's no rush to reach "current" endgame so don't feel like you need to blast through everything to catch up if you're enjoying it.

beanman101283 wrote:

Enjoy! The story is a slow burn, and you'll outlevel the quests pretty quickly, but you can make steady progress even without playing too much each day. There's no rush to reach "current" endgame so don't feel like you need to blast through everything to catch up if you're enjoying it.

Thank you

I have a story potion but don't intend to use it. I'm looking forward to experiencing the story.

Rave wrote:

That said no other free companies are banging on my door or offer a guaranteed mature group to play with....

There are like 4 Goodjers in this one:
https://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodes...

Usually weekends there's about 12-18 people on. During slow times maybe a couple. We did manage to make our own 8 person i430 Extreme Trial group last Saturday, although it's not typical. Mostly it's a leveling guild for buffs/assistance. Average age tends to be 20-70. I'm not trying to steal recruits and it's not my guild, just saying worth trying over a random one.

Rave wrote:

Is there any content I'm really missing out on not having a dedicated group to play with or is everything offered in duty finder for better or worse?

If you had interest in clearing Palace of the Dead/Heaven on High/Extreme Trials/Savages then groups and friends make it a lot easier and more entertaining. You can certainly Party Finder all of it though. You're just missing difficult fights and unique gear/mounts (time-sink stuff). Not a lot of extra story content. I personally find the extreme content the most enjoyable.

I finished off AAR 2.55 today, and managed to unlock DRK before maintenance. Even tanked with people for the first time through Halatali, and did so successfully.

Question: I intend DRK to be my main. Is leveling until it's my highest level job and then continuing MSQ once it is exactly what Palace of the Dead was intended for? I assume Yes.

Another question: I have attire coffers for SAM and RDM--any reason not to use them as soon as I decide to play those jobs?

Palace of the Dead is indeed for quick leveling. Other ways to level (FATES, leaves, hunts, dungeons) can give other rewards, but PotD appears to be the quickest for DPS. As a tank, it may be quicker to level using dungeons, since you will likely have an instant queue.

I believe those offers will give the same items whenever you open them, so go ahead and open them when you get the classes. In Shadowbringers there are coffers that will give an item based on your current class / job.

Yeah for tanks and healers, highest level dungeon available is probably the most efficient. DPS, once you unlock command missions with your grand squadron (running select dungeons with NPCs) is as good or maybe better than PotD. Even with tanks healers PotD can be a way of breaking things up if you need a change. After 60, you want to switch to Heaven on High, but you need to have cleared level 50 of PotD to unlock it. Another good option to mix in can be beast tribe dailies from Heavensward and Stormblood. For DPS or for variety.

Yeah, generally if you're trying to speed level, start with whatever roulettes you have unlocked (Just leveling?) once a day to get the bonus XP - there's a good chance that'll give you most of a level. Bonus, the "Adventurer in need" bonus is usually tank or healer, so you'll get bonus XP that way too.

Ended up making another character on Siren so I could play with a friend. Just hit lvl 30 Pugilist I am having a blast. I love the way game play mechanics are given out in quests it just makes discovery so much fun. Just got my mount and am using it to tank. I have been finding I am outleveling the MSQ by about 6 lvls that's even ignoring alot of quests that are a little to low level. Not complaining it feels good but those level ups slow down alot once you hit 20.

Took in all your advice, and, yeah, PotD can make a good change of pace, but it's not a great way to learn to tank, so I'm better leaning on the Duty Finder more. The Duty Finder is an incredible innovation I can't praise enough.

It's funny how one side thing can force me to do a bunch of other content. I picked up the Book of Tales sidequest thing from Idylleshire, and it wants me to do a bunch of dungeons and raids that I haven't unlocked, so I've been going around unlocking those... and one of the raids (The Void Ark), I couldn't unlock until I finally got flying in a couple of areas, so I buckled down and did that too.
So much content I've been ignoring up till now!

Yeah for a while I pretty much just played the main story and there’s a lot of other stuff I’ve been going back and doing. I didn’t realize how much story there is in some of the side content like the raids.

So I was feeling a bit tired of the MSQ so I tried out Botanist and Weaver. I'm having a blast! There's so much substance to the crafters and gatherers in this game. I'm honestly having more fun with this, trying to make gil and optimise my farming routes, than I am playing a battle class. It's great!

I've been trying to keep Botanist10 levels ahead of Weaver, and I'll probably level some of the other crafters when I hit level 50-54 so I can access those cool cross-class abilities.

The only thing I don't like about my new job is not being able to wear those fun straw hats since I changed race to Hrothgar. Booo!

They did say a fix is coming for the Hrothgar and Viera so hopefully you won't have to wait to long to rock a straw hat.

I've been pretty addicted to this as well, I'm at lvl 43 on my MSQ and about to hit lvl 44 on my monk. I've debated trying out a crafter or healer but I also really don't want to loose steam because I want to see heavensward and there is so much side stuff it's already getting super distracting doing MSQ.

I can pretty confidently say this is the new standard for MMO for me, and apparently ARR content is kind of a slog so it only gets better from here.

Glad to hear you’re both enjoying the game! There really is so much to do. If you like the ARR story, I think you’ll love what’s to come.

Not sure what made me jump back into this, was it discussed recently on the conf call? Anyway I was pleased to discover the current “log back in for 7 days free” thing going on. I never really went far with this when I first tried it years ago not sure why, probably just got distracted by something else. So my wife and I rolled new characters as we didn’t make it far past 30something previously. I’m hoping it grabs our attention enough to stick around through at least all the story bits. It sure runs great and still looks pretty good, and I’m enjoying playing it casually in the recliner with an Xbox controller.

Not sure how I missed this before, but there is a promotion running through the end of August where you get a free phial of fantasia when you buy a 60-day time code. If you were planning on playing anyway but wanted to change races, it’s a nice bonus.

I f-ing FINALLY got to the top of the tower in the Moonfire Faire!

Taharka wrote:

I f-ing FINALLY got to the top of the tower in the Moonfire Faire!

Congrats! Was there any reward for doing so I spent the better part of 2 hours trying to make those jumps but it just proved to be to difficult.

Managed to hit lvl 50 last night! Finished my last job quest for monk in ARR and have what I assume are the 48,49, and 50 MSQ left.

Is there anything that I should look into doing before moving on to all the content between ARR and Heavensward? Or even just HS? Im debating taking a run at the PoD I wasn't able to get to the 10th floor and don't know if there are any worth while rewards for doing so.

I finished my class hunting log and may start doing my GC log next, I wanted to do the sight seeing log but it's pretty tedious. Should I lvl a crafting class before moving on? It seems like there are so many options!

I don’t know if there’s anything before the 2.1-2.55 patches, but there’s a lot of optional stuff that came with those patches. Dungeons, side quests like Hildebrand and Delivery Moogle. I didn’t do any of it when I was first going through the MSQ. I’ve still only done some of it.

PotD is good for leveling additional jobs, I think. When leveling your first job, you could use it if you need the xp and don’t feel like doing something else or want what’s quick. XP is the main reason to do it. You can get some “pieces of the accursed horde” which you trade to a vendor for a random item but that’s more like a bonus, IMO. For future reference, PotD is good ‘til level 60 then you want to move on to Heaven on High, which is the Stormblood deep dungeon. However you have to have cleared level 50 of PotD to access it.

I’d say the GC log is worth doing at least level 1 and 2 because they are required to gain promotions with your GC. In general, it’s really worth it to get your GC promotions. You can unlock squadrons, trade in dungeon drops for seals and then use those seals for stuff like ventures for your retainers.

I haven’t bothered much with the sightseeing log. It’s easier I think in the expansion zones. If I see one of the markers while questing, I’ll do the emote for the xp but that’s it.

As far as crafting gathering... that’s I think totally up to you. Mine are all still really low but I’ve started to chip away at a few. I wanted to get on with the story though and not wait around while I leveled them. There’s some cool stuff you can do with them and seemingly more to come in the future, but it’s up to you what you want to focus on. There are a few things you can do that help your questing, etc. like repairing your own gear, fixing your own material, desynthing. Most of those don’t require a max level crafter so it could be worth looking into if you think it’s worth it.

Rave wrote:
Taharka wrote:

I f-ing FINALLY got to the top of the tower in the Moonfire Faire!

Congrats! Was there any reward for doing so?

You get a pretty view... until the fog rolls in.

That’s why I didn’t bother

I am a little surprised and disappointed there wasn't at least an achievement of some sort.

Do the Kugane jumping puzzle.

Rave wrote:

Is there anything that I should look into doing before moving on to all the content between ARR and Heavensward? Or even just HS? Im debating taking a run at the PoD I wasn't able to get to the 10th floor and don't know if there are any worth while rewards for doing so.

You have an absolutely stupid amount of quests before HW.

Once you finish the MSQ for ARR and definitely before you start Shadowbringers(or about 100 hours from now, give or take), do the 24-man Crystal Tower raid questline. The raids are all easy and quick, and the story ties into Shadowbringers.

I JUST finished the quests between ARR and Heavensward and honestly it was a slog. 100 quests with maybe 10 of them being actually interesting.

You're through the worst part! It's pretty much all better from here.

Haha yeah I'm still more then prepared for the 100 quest slog I'm heading into. I think I've got one more dungeon to do and I've wrapped up ARR atleast I think so. I heard the rewards for finishing the game are a fantasia and a mount and those are my next quest rewards.

The story has picked up a bit at the end and I enjoyed it a fair bit. I've been for warned about what's next but been told everything after that is amazing and well worth it.

Honestly it's been hard not to get sidetracked by things. I tried Samurai and really loved it but felt a strange loyalty to the monk class as if I didn't earn the right to switch to a 50 class I didn't build myself.
The beast quests and cosmetics that are available are calling to me now as well. Not to mention I still want to work on a crafter and try healing. There is just so much to do, I am in love with this game.

I also have to say I've played my fair share of WOW and GW2 cutting my teeth with Ultima Online years ago. So I'd say I'm pretty familiar with MMO community's. I have never played with such a positive and helpful group of players. I have never had a bad experience In a dungeon everyone has been so kind and helpful. The free company I am in was just a random invite but it's really active and everyone is so nice. Just have to give a big shout out to the community this game has fostered. I am sure it's got it's toxic side but I haven't run into it at all yet.

--sorry I keep coming in here and gushing about how much I love the game.

No sorrys, it’s a great game. Yeah, you can run into toxic players, but the good outweighs the bad generally. And usually if someone is being toxic, everyone else in the group is bothered by it as well. It’s also a reportable offense and from what I’ve heard, GMs will act on reports of players harassing others for their gameplay, etc.

You might like the post-ARR content or at least not mind it as much as most. There’s a lot of back and forth and busy work but I think people also get impatient to get to HW. It finishes really well, IMO, though.

So I rolled credits soon after my post last night, those unskippable cutscenes during dungeons were...something. atleast it gave the party I was with time to joke around and stuff. It was just awkward being kicked out of a cutscene walking four steps and then resuming it again.

I've kind of started the post game stuff. The dumping of blue pluses that become available was crazy, I assumed they would all be hard mode dungeons and primals but there is actually some pretty cool quest rewards it seems. I'm chasing a relic weapon now which looks pretty cool for my monk and is needed it feels like I've used the same weapon for ages at this point. Also my pockets were spilling over with poetic tomes so I started buying myself some of those armour pieces it was a decent upgrade but it just looked so much cooler then the monk class armour.

Also started the Hildebrand quest line which seems pretty interesting and had me fighting gentlemen zombies.

Rolling credits on an MMO was different, its the first FF game I've beaten since I was a teenager and it really did hit me with some nostalgia at the end. The cliffhanger was pretty good too and I am intrigued to see what these hooded dudes are up to. It's very kingdom hearts I guess.

I still haven't discovered any raids yet but I'm assuming it will come up in the story line like dungeons do. Not sure if there is any optional content that doesn't show up with a blue plus or unlocks by doing side quest. I've mostly been ignoring side stuff at this point leaving it for my other classes to pick up some xp. So I hope blue pluses are always marked and not hidden behind a regular side quest.

I want to run every dungeon atleast once to check it off, and I've played around in the PoD thing but haven't been able to make it to floor 10 yet. I'm assuming those accursed chests I'm picking up can be taken out at floor 10? Im pretty bad at it tend to get one shotted at floor 7 or 8 every run.