This is just a list of things I see popping up repeatedly in /shout so I figure why not list them out for someone checking here for answers!
Character Creation: Races, Deities, and your Nameday
Each race gets different starting stats, these are largely irrelevant, so pick whatever race you want regardless of class. Those extra 2 points in DEX aren't going to make or break your career.
The same goes for picking a patron deity, basically just pick whichever you like, the bonuses are the tiniest of tiny.
Rumor is that you get a small xp bonus on your nameday (in in game time) but I've yet to see this confirmed yet and it doesn't sound liek that matters either.
Pretty much, it's all flavor, pick what you want to.
For Starters: A 1-15 Shopping List
As soon as you get like 300ish Gil, which shouldn't take very long at all, explore around the market district of your starting city and buy the following:
- One (1) pair of Level 5 Pants for your class (Disciple of War or All Classes)
- Two (2) Hi Potions (you can buy more if you can afford them but you just need two)
- One (1) Orange Juice
You're now ready for levels 1-15. The pants are for a quest where a guy checks your gear to make sure you're ready for an assignment, pants are the only thing that doesn't come as a quest reward up to that point. The hi potion is for a guy who just wants you to bring him a hi potion. The orange juice I will get to later.
Travel: When and How? (Level 10, 15, 20)
Did you start in Gridania as an Archer but want to play with your friend who is a Marauder in Limsa Lominsa?
Too Bad. Sorry. Try to start in the same area as your friend if it is really that important to you, you can always change class later when you get your freedom. So when is that?
- Level 10 - Chocobo Porters & Rental Chocobos
- Level 15 - Airship Pass
- Level 20 - Your own Chocobo
Basically the 1-15 quests are designed to be a mostly solo experience. You can party up for things but there are still solo only story instances. After the level 15 story quest you're given an airship pass, then you can use airships to freely travel the world.
Around level 10 you'll be able to use Chocobo Porters, they're basically griffons or whatever, preset travel paths that are quick and safe. You can also rent a Chocobo in main cities from the Chocobokeep at this point for 80 gil and you get 10 minutes of use. Aggressive enemies can and will still attack you on these so be careful.
If you REALLY want to go from Ul'dah to Gridania or the other way around, that is possible but risky, it takes about 10 minutes by Chocobo, but goes through level 30-35 areas. Basically just look at your map and try to find the other area.
If you start in Ul'dah you'll want to go Steps of Nald -> Central Thanalan -> Eastern Thanalan -> South Shroud and stop at the first Aetheryte Camp you see in South Shroud, then just use the Chocobo Porter to ride safely back to New Gridania.
Starting in Gridania you'll just go the other way around, starting in New Gridania -> Central Shroud -> South Shroud -> Eastern Thanalan, and then Chocobo Porter Back to Steps of Nald.
You get your Chocobo after you do your level 20 story quest and join a Grand Company, they cost 1000 company seals.
Attributes: What do they do and where do I put mine? (Level 10)
Once you hit level 10, you start earning bonus attribute points. You can assign these points by pressing C to bring up your character sheet, or whatever does that on PS3, and then allotting the points where you want them.
So where do you want them?
- STR - Strength, this is a boost to melee attack power and also how much damage is mitigated by block or parry. A Lancer or Pugilist would be a class you want to pump STR on.
- DEX - Dexterity, this boosts ranged attack power and also raises the chance to block or parry attacks. Archers are the class to pump DEX on.
- VIT - Vitality, this is straight up just how much HP you have, if you are a Marauder or Gladiator, you will probably want VIT, as they are the tank classes.
- INT - Intelligence, this will boost offensive magic power, so if you're a Thaumaturge, INT will be your main stat.
- MND - Mind, this increases the potency of healing and defensive spells. You'll want to dump points into MND as Conjurer (and probably Arcanist?)
- PIE - Piety, this is basically VIT but for MP instead of HP. I dunno who wants this as a main stat, currently.
This is just a rough guideline from how I understand things, feel free to do whatever the hell you want with your character.
Classes: How to change your class, and use skills from multiple classes. (Level 10)
Once you finish your level 10 Class Quest, you unlock the ability to change your class.
To change your class, simply find the guild of the class you want to change to, and talk to the Guild Registrar, they will then give you a quest to talk to the Guildmaster, who will give you a quest to kill some level 1 critters. This should be familiar because you did it as your starting class already.
After you finish that, you'll have the hunting log for that class unlocked. Each class has it's own separate hunting log. You only get to do the story quests ONCE, same with any sidequests you've done along the way, so if you leveled Archer to 10 and switched to Conjurer, you will basically only have the hunting log, FATEs, and guildleves to do until you get up to guildhest/dungeon level.
To change between classes you've already unlocked, open up your Armory Chest (Ctrl-I by default on PC, or the little red icon in the lower right menu, again not sure about PS3) and go to the weapons tab. Now equip the weapon of the class you want to be. It's really that simple.
You can also save your current gear set and switch that way. This is done in the Character Sheet menu (C by default on PC), just go to "Gear Set List" and save your current gear. You can then rename that gear set to like "Lancer" or "Botanist" or whatever you want for ease of use. If you update gear, just right click the gear set you want and click reassign gear, it will update that slot with the current gear. You can also drag gear sets to hotbars for quicker changing without needing to go into menus.
To use skills/abilities from a class you've already leveled on your new class, go to the Actions & Traits menu, it's one of those red circles in the lower right on PC, not sure on PS3. Now go to where it says ADDITIONAL, and you'll see little class icons, click the icon for your other class and it will bring up a list of skills available to your current class. Tick the box next to the skills you want to use and they will fill up the slots at the bottom of this menu. Drag these skills from those slots to your hotbars and you're set. Now you can use Cure on your Archer or whatever.
Quests, FATEs, Guildleves, and Guildhests: Do the Main Story, please.
This is really simple, but do the main story quests (these will be some if the first quests you run into, their icon looks like a flaming gold outline with a blue center). Almost everything you could want to ask would have been covered by just doing the main story. The main story will guide you basically on rails into areas you're supposed to be in, and introduce concepts to you as they become available, popping up help windows for you to read as needed. It will even lead you into your first Dungeon experiences at level 15.
Aside from that, you will have Class Quests every 5 levels (1, 5, 10, 15, 20, etc.). You should do these as soon as you can, you can only get some abilities by doing the appropriate class quest to unlock them. These are as important as story quests, make sure you don't ignore them for too long.
FATEs are basically public quests, you will see them on your map at all times, it will show you the suggested level, and the timer remaining on it. Each type of FATE icon shows what it is, if it's a mean looking face, it's a big boss type enemy, for example. If you're above the suggested level, you can level sync down to contribute and still get credit.
Other than that do whatever you want. You will have a hunting log opened after your first class quest is complete, this will give you bonus xp for killing x amount of each monster on the list. There are also sidequests littered around the areas you will be taken for the main story, these are a good idea to do as you go along.
Once you do the level 10 story quest, you will unlock Guildleves and Guildhests.
Guildleves are basically repeatable quests, usually to go to an area and kill something, they're generally pretty easy xp, but you only have certain allotment per day. If you don't use them it will build up over time (up to 99) and you can use them whenever, but I think you earn like 8 per day.
Guildhests are party based Guildleves kind of. Just short repeatable missions designed to teach dungeon mechanics and build party experience. You will get HUGE xp bonuses for completing a Guildhest for the first time, like at level 10 the completion xp will be around 700, and the bonus will be around 4000, to give you an idea. The first Guildhest will be teaching you how to pull groups one by one, to fight them away from dangerous enemies. The second teaches you about tanking a boss and dealing with additional enemies that spawn. These are a great way to familiarize yourself with party mechanics if you're new to MMOs.
How Do I Dye My Armor: Seriously I Look Like an Idiot... (Level 15)
Once you hit level 15, there is a sidequest in Vesper Bay, which is an area in Western Thanalan. The quest is basically the only thing there, it's really hard to miss.
This is also why you've been carrying around a single Orange Juice for 15 levels, that's all the quest is, bring her orange juice and she teaches you how to dye your gear.
After completing the quest, you can find dyes in any city's market district, just check around in the shops, they're generally pretty cheap, from 40-260 gil each pot.
The Masked Mage: This is impossible and you are a liar (Level 15)
The level 15 story quest is not very hard, but it can be if you go about it wrong.
By now you should have figured out the trick to every single quest, but if not here it is: Focus on the minions, Stay near any NPC helpers for heals.
The masked mage quest is a bit different, because it's misleading, also hard to read.
To beat this quest,
That's the trick. It works for every class I've tried, and the ones I haven't I've asked around and get the exact same answers.
Limit Breaks: HOW DO I DO OMNI SLASH PLZ
Limit Breaks in FFXIV:ARR are party based special moves that you can use after building up a meter that is generally in the top left of your screen by default.
You build it basically just by playing, and they're used by putting the Limit Break skill in your hotbar from the Actions & Traits menu and then mashing that button when you want to use it.
Here's what Limit Breaks do depending on what role uses them:
- Tank Limit Break - Raises the defense of the party.
- Melee Damage Limit Break - Huge damage attack to ONE target.
- Ranged Damage Limit Break - Huge damage AoE attack.
- Healer Limit Break - Heals all party members.
Duty Finder: Make friends from around the world (Level 10, 15, 20)
You can use the Duty Finder (U key default) to find Guildhests (first at 10), Dungeons (first at 15), and Trials (first at 20).
This is a CROSS SERVER search tool that will match you up with people to form parties for this content.
All you need to do is equip the class and gear that you want to take on Duty, for this example I'm a Marauder. I equip my axe and my gear and I can queue up for up to 5 different activities in the duty finder, you can even choose to join parties in progress who may have lost a member along the way.
You pick which languages you prefer, you can queue to play with any combination of Japanese, English, French, and German (i think) speaking players. Since Marauder is a tank class, it queues me for the tank role, it will now need to find a healer, and 2 dps (assuming a light party duty) and then it will pop up a window telling me it's ready.
You cannot queue as dps as a tank or healing class, this is to make balanced parties. You can still pre-form a party of 4 healers and run that way if you like, but if you need the duty finder to get members for you, it will pick roles you need.
The duty finder is required to run the level 15-17 dungeons for story quests, as well as the level 20 trial.
YOU WILL NEED TO FIND THE ENTRANCE TO A DUNGEON TO RUN IT IN THE DUTY FINDER. USE YOUR MAP TO DO THIS, IT'S A BLUE GATE LOOKING THING WITH THE NAME OF THE DUNGEON NEXT TO IT.
Grand Companies: Which do I pick? (Level 20)
Aside from minor stat differences on the GC gear set, it doesn't matter. Pick whichever Grand Company you feel is right for your character, or whichever has the colors you like the best, or pick Immortal Flames because it's the right choice how can you argue with a Lalafell riding a Highlander??
Closing: You should know what to do by now
If anyone has anything else to add let me know, but by the time you pick a GC everything should be gravy as far as really common dumb questions go. When in doubt, look to the main story.
Aside from things to add, if there's any corrections to be made or outdated info, feel free to let me know.
Hopefully this was helpful to someone!
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