Expectations for a new player

[Indomitable Will]

Nothing can be kited unless it's within the radius of the mob, but even then there's diminishing returns on kiting it, so it renders it moot anyways unless you want to get away.

I rather enjoy doing Boss Fates solo on non-tank jobs, which means you have to kite...otherwise, yeah, no real use for it in 99% of the game.

[Kalmado]

This was of course one of the first things I thought. But it seems deeper than that. I think its boiling down to everything feeling huge and open. I mean, Its big open fields, big open forests, big open everything. In XI, you had some big zones, but a lot of the zones consisted of the feeling of largeness (Zi'Tah) but confined to paths and corridors more or less. When you enter a huge open expanse of an area, its easy to tell less effort is put into them, a large open area, some trees sprinkled on, no real thought put into it, a typical fantasy MMO setting that you've seen in every other MMO ever.

I mean, If i was shown a picture of a FFXIV zone and a GW2 zone, graphic aside, I wouldn't be able to tell them apart because they have the same feel. In my eyes its a case of "Bigger isn't always better". Look at Castle Zvahl for instance, the zone itself is a decent size, but the corridors and such, you see only a small area, yet it feels perilous, it feels more alive and interesting than any zones I've gone through in XIV. I think the closest I got to feeling like I was in one of those places was actually inside dungeons. Dungeons seem to have the care and detail that most zones in XI have, which Is i think why the outer world suffers a bit.

That and having settlements and encampments every 20 feet make you feel like you're never too far away from human eyes or safe zones. It doesn't feel like you're exploring unknown areas, dangerous expanses, like FFXI has you feeling. When you walk through areas like say, Xarcabard, you're not going from Outpost, to Fort, to Outpost, to fort like you do in the XIV northlands. The game just feels like "Oh, we've already explored everything, over there is Fort Boring, take a rest there before you head to Fort Bland".

Its still possible Nostalgia is dragging on me, But I don't feel thats entirely it. I'm not saying XI is the epitome of gaming brilliance, but I think theres just a feeling of loss when a game opts for "LOOK AT DIS BIG ASS SH*T DAWG" and make areas more ... expansive... rather than detailed, if not smaller. Plus as I mentioned above theres the blur effect of being able to instantly teleport and warp and chocobo everywhere, mindlessly following Map markers because theres no real danger in being aggroed, therefor you care not for your suroundings.

Now not everyone plays this way, but theres a possibility you may... You may hit level 50 and realize you couldn't pick Outer La'Noscea (or whatever) out of a line up. Everything is so safe and sound it just feels dead. Oh, and my one driving complaint I suppose is the world, aside from being a perpetual safe zone where aggro mechanics are actually rather pointless since everything is on a nice, tight leash... is that beyond that, the open world is pointless to explore. Theres no NMs, theres no Chests, theres no nothing. The open world is dead space, a hub for Quest markers and FATEs.

But over-all, the feeling of "been there done that" I get in he open expanses of XIV could just be because I know theres absolutely no reason to explore, None whatsoever. Every quest is nicely marked on your map, every FATE glows on your radar, everthing you could gain from exploration is already spelled out on your map. There is nothing in the zones worth viewing that isn't already highlighted for you. That I think is the main reason the world feels boring, because from the second you begin, you know theres nothing out there worth finding. I mean the closest I come to experience a feeling of importance in the world are the pieces of Dalamund spread about, which are a nice touch I admit but its simply not enough.

Perhaps the thread of dying, the thrill of finding NMs, hell, even dungeon zones like Boyahda which are absent from XIV(Except for actual instances) all lend feeling to a world, and these feel absent in XIV. But yah, your experience may vary, I know everyone will look at the game differently, and perhaps I am just old and cranky and MMOs just wont excite me anymore. But i like to think its more than that.

I just read this and I'd like to say thank you for taking the time to write this. I definitely see your points and believe they are valid points. One of, if not my favorite jobs in XI was Beastmaster and the thrill of going places where others wouldn't dream was fantastic. I remember when WoTG hit many people said there weren't exp spots. A friend and I duo'd as Rdm/Bst and Thf/Bst using Mandys vs. Crabs in Batallia Downs and had a blast doing it.

Regarding things like quests and fates being marked on your map, I'm ok with that. It helps me save time from alt-tabbing to look stuff up constantly. Same with NM's. Sure I'd like there to be some unique enemies, but I can't and will not do the time sink of NM spawn times again. There will always be a difference in opinion on that subject, but for myself doing it once in XI (and I don't regret it) was enough.

How does a person gradually make gil in this game? I'm not asking for anyone's secrets to their millions or anything, but I haven't had over 2k yet!

[Yugl]

Quests, tome items, and services (Primal sales).

[Raldo]

Treasure maps and materia sales are enough to keep me afloat.

[Seravi Edalborez]

Picking the gil rewards on the main story quests can go a long ways towards starter funds. Many of the equipment items you can pick are dirt-cheap on market board because a lot of newbies picks them.

[Indomitable Will]

How does a person gradually make gil in this game? I'm not asking for anyone's secrets to their millions or anything, but I haven't had over 2k yet!

choose gil rewards after level 15, because ALL dungeon gear is better, and easy to get, and since dungeons are the best exp right now, you're going to be in there anyway. Dungeons are decent gil too...on the whole, I would say gathering (mining/botany mainly...fishing kind of sucks until high levels) is the best/easiest way to make money at the start, helps fund crafts (and supply them), an certain gathered goods are ALWAYS in fairly high demand.

[Skai]

What? That was you? lol

Is that supposed to mean you're a professional/highly skilled person if I said it literally in Cantonese.

If you never said it was you I would've presumed it was some dumb name from FFXI.

Why a second char

Yes and yes, hahaha.

Leveling a second character because I skipped every single cutscenes on my main character. Sure you can review cutscenes in the inn, but there were a lot of dialogue in between that you can't review. So for first time players, if the story is important to you, I recommend not skipping at all.

[Silenka]

Is there seriously no way to turn off auto logout? o_O;

[Shenrien]

Is there seriously no way to turn off auto logout? o_O;

Talk to a NPC, talk to your retainer, talk to an aetherite and leave the menu open, bam you just circumvented the auto log out, most amazing system ever.

[Lyall]

Specifically, a dialogue box needs to be open, not just the option box (Purchase DoW / Purchase DoM / Purchase Tools menu). I believe you can also begin a synthesis and just not do anything to circumvent it as well.

[Xerlic]

How does a person gradually make gil in this game? I'm not asking for anyone's secrets to their millions or anything, but I haven't had over 2k yet!

As others said, pick allagan pieces as rewards from questing and sell them to an NPC for gil. It's been a while, but I remember stockpiling allagan currency for the longest time and it was several hundred K when I finally sold all of it.

I believe you can also begin a synthesis and just not do anything to circumvent it as well.

This is correct and I do this all the time.

[Kirbyprime]

Leveling crafting "can" make you gil. My opinion is kind of skewed since I had everything but arm/bsm at 50 at the time so HQ'ing stuff was easy, pretty sure I made 100k~ or so leveling both up at the same time via random HQ equipment sales.

[Indomitable Will]

RE: Auto-log off: if you finish synthesis and it keeps you on as well, as long as that synthises menu is still up, I start 99 stacks of auto-synth before bed or other activities and come back an hour or 2 later and am still logged in having completed all synthesis.

[Headspace]

Why do you want to stay logged in like that?

[Indomitable Will]

Why do you want to stay logged in like that?

because I'm impatient?/don't want to wait for the log in screen to load/log in/next screen to load/hit start/next screen to load/select character/load into game (considerably slower process btw if you play on PS3)

edit: almost forgot the possibility of a log in error occuring 1 or more times in there...

[Lyall]

I use it to stay logged in if I'm going to be away from my machine for more than 30 minutes but not long enough to warrant closing everything. That, or because I want to see the LS/FC chatlogs when I get back.

[Kalmado]

Who in the BG FC on Gilgamesh can hook a brother up?! I've been searching for Sono & Ragns but no luck. I'm usually on around 6pm Est.

[The Stig]

Septimus should have rights to invite. When I get home in 8 hours I'll get them to look out for you. /tell him @ http://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodest...acter/2384909/

[TheGlow]

Ill take a hit too, Kurai Entreri
Ill try to remember to look up Septimus.

[Silenka]

I use it to stay logged in if I'm going to be away from my machine for more than 30 minutes but not long enough to warrant closing everything. That, or because I want to see the LS/FC chatlogs when I get back.

Yup, this exactly, and thanks for the explanation of how to circumvent. Wish they'd just add it as a checkbox instead of a permafeature. Well, there's always future updates.

More noob questions, how do players who use controller generally set up their hotbars? Is there a preferred scheme, something that's easiest or fastest? I'm sure it's a bit different than keyboard. I'm PC/PS3 controller and I haven't played any newer MMOs so I'm still getting used to hotbars. I could work XI's macro system like a pro but I'm basically retarded when it comes to the hotbar right now.