new player general thoughts/questions

[Yuri-G]

Coming over from FFXI, some thoughts and questions:

Thoughts first:
- Good god this game is beginner-friendly in comparison to FFXI. Between quests and the hunting log I've hit level 20 without blinking.
- Anyone else run into a camp full of goblins during their first few forays out into the wild and nearly shit themselves? Turns out they're not so aggressive in begginer areas as in FFXI... thank god for that small change. Also, pugs: no longer the death-dealing uber-tanks that once cast a pall of fear over all of Valkurm Dunes. It's the small things a returning player notices.
- I've already had multiple free companies recruit me solely on the basis that I'm new. Wtf. You can't be getting good members that way... thanks for the 10k gil though, that was nice.
- Fucking gil spammers. My blacklist already has ~20 entries on it maybe? Annoying.
- Titan, Garuda, and Ifrit look like shit. Why so tiny? Carbuncle's still awesome though.

Questions second:
- When should I start caring about gear, and more importantly: why? I'm still using stuff I got from quests - ranging from current to several levels behind in most cases - and it's working just fine. Am I lolgimp? I suppose I could update once some of my auction house sales go through, but I'm not keen on spending beaucoup bucks for incremental improvements.
- When does this easy leveling tail off, and what do I do then? It's already a lot slower now but until the story quests catch up with my level, I'm not too worried. Plus 20 = a whole new tier of Hunting Log, yay.
- Right now the easiest way I see of making gil is simply selling loot I pick up, whether from quests or dungeons. I might dig into crafting when I get bored with leveling ACN/SMN (not bloody soon); is crafting good for money? Looking at Alchemy.
- Speaking of loot, what's the deal with need/greed in dungeons?

Level 20 ACN, school and work are rearing their ugly heads again so I will likely stay that way until this weekend or (unfortunately) the one after. Eorzea... it's like coming back, only the game doesn't hate you quite as much as it used to. <3

[Intense]

When I first started in this game during 2.0 early beta/early release, I was largely geared by quested gear and gear obtained from spamming the available dungeons.

Leveling your first job is a bit quicker as you can take advantage of the Main Story Quests as you go along. One tip, is when you are queued for a dungeon, to be spamming FATEs that are of your level. So there will be a drop off in that your queue time will be longer for a SMN than would be for a SCH, but you also have FATs,hunting log, and MSQ.

Bc you are able to level so quickly in this game (in comparison to how we used to "legitimately" level in XI), I would just make my best effort to stay geared without putting off leveling to do it. You're an ACN, are you going to continue with that class, and if so, which job will you be using... SMN or SCH?

Crafting wise, ALC would prob not be a money maker as much as maybe WVR or LTW would be (at the very least SAVE you money as you can make your own gear)

[The Stig]

I shall give you pragmatic and realistic answers

- When should I start caring about gear, and more importantly: why? I'm still using stuff I got from quests - ranging from current to several levels behind in most cases - and it's working just fine. Am I lolgimp? I suppose I could update once some of my auction house sales go through, but I'm not keen on spending beaucoup bucks for incremental improvements.

If you're not doing the final endgame raid, probably never (at 50)

Don't need to buy gear, if you know how to play in general you'll get by, and quests reward plenty of gear.
If you're a tank, maybe pick up some VIT accessories just for that HP. Quests don't reward rings I think... forgotten now.
Before level 50, if your gear's item level is close to your level (example, you're level 40 and you have an item level 37 hat) then you're basically fine.

- When does this easy leveling tail off, and what do I do then? It's already a lot slower now but until the story quests catch up with my level, I'm not too worried. Plus 20 = a whole new tier of Hunting Log, yay.

It's easy all the way to 50. Do your hunting logs, challenge logs, leves, dungeon roulette, and fates. Also, the main story quests. Additional jobs you won't have the luxury of quest EXP, so everything I just mentioned would be your source of EXP.

- Right now the easiest way I see of making gil is simply selling loot I pick up, whether from quests or dungeons. I might dig into crafting when I get bored with leveling ACN/SMN (not bloody soon); is crafting good for money? Looking at Alchemy.

I don't truely craft so I cannot answer.

- Speaking of loot, what's the deal with need/greed in dungeons?

Need is when you *really* need it.

For example, you have 3 DPS, 2 healers and 1 tank in your party.
A piece of tank specific loot drop. No one but the tank can roll need, and if the tank rolls need, he will 100% get it regardless of what the others roll, because they can only roll greed.
If the tank doesn't roll need on the tank loot, and passes/greeds instead, then the next determinator will come in where everyone rolls for it.

Think of it as rolling for gear twice, but gear for specific roles get priority (need), but if they don't want it, then everyone else gets a chance (greed).

Yes, the game is like a holiday coming from FFXI

Yes, the environment is rarely dangerous. You'll be able to slaughter everything and make it out alive.

Hope this addresses your concerns. Other people should be along to chime in their opinion.

[Kaisha]

- Titan, Garuda, and Ifrit look like shit. Why so tiny? Carbuncle's still awesome though.

They're tiny because this game has a large emphasis on dodging/grouping for mechanics at end game, and you don't want Titan/Garuda/Ifrit's large ass sitting there obscuring parts of the arena.

Oh, and word of advice, get used to stats being boring on gear. This game doesn't entertain notions of unique stats that may make you keep one piece of gear equipped over another outside of what the secondary stats are.

Another thing to note is don't worry about materia. It's pretty much useless during leveling up. Just hoard any non-elemental materia you may get/convert on your retainers for future purposes.

[Hiryo]

One thing I will say and is noticeable at all levels of the game is that weapon damage is king. If you are using an underleveled book, scrap it immediately and visit the marketboard. Just search for weapon, get the book at the top of the list(high level) and buy whatever you can afford (preferrably hq, which is usually stronger than the NEXT nq book).

As far as paying for these items, don't npc anything unless the marketboard has it for <100 gil. Even some of the nq gear you get that is worse than pink gear from dungeons can help pay for an hq book(or any weapon). Furthermore, never npc gear you've been wearing that is "Spiritbonded at 100%". Eventually, you will get access to the ability to convert bonded gear into materia. On our server, the cheapest piece of materia is usually 1000gil. So as you level up and collect dungeon gear, if an item is 100%, that is money waiting for you.

[Intense]

Furthermore, never npc gear you've been wearing that is "Spiritbonded at 100%". Eventually, you will get access to the ability to convert bonded gear into materia. On our server, the cheapest piece of materia is usually 1000gil. So as you level up and collect dungeon gear, if an item is 100%, that is money waiting for you.

Converting gear into materia is unlockable by a quest. So be sure to look into that ASAP

[Yuri-G]

Thanks for the tips! Yeah FFXIV feels like a big holiday coming from FFXI... which is good, although I miss the days of "oops I aggro'd a goblin" == "oops I just killed half the PCs in this zone." that was always fun!

so,
- save spiritbonded gear for materia
- use auction house to sell gear (natch)
- keep upgrading, focus more on weapon, don't worry too much about other slots
- ride the gravy train to 50
- greed gear unless I really need it

basically... that's what I got. and that point about the primals; makes sense that you don't want them in the way.

also, I do plan on continuing ACN! I've never played a pet job before and I love it. I'm 95% sure I'll continue on with SMN. I'd like to experiment with SCH but until there's an easier way to reallocate stats, I won't be playing it seriously.

[Kaisha]

I'd like to experiment with SCH but until there's an easier way to reallocate stats, I won't be playing it seriously.

Unless you plan on doing current end-game, the lack of 30MND won't make any difference at all for playing SCH.

[Damane]

you can reallocate stats pretty easy in this game by spending 250 grand company points

[Yuri-G]

oh really? the website I was reading said 10,000; old info apparently. looks like Squenix made that more reasonable. good to know, thanks!

[The Stig]

- greed gear unless I really need it

Need it if you can, haha. It's worth seals/materia and some can be sold! I rarely if ever encounter loot drama.

[Intense]

also, I do plan on continuing ACN! I've never played a pet job before and I love it. I'm 95% sure I'll continue on with SMN. I'd like to experiment with SCH but until there's an easier way to reallocate stats, I won't be playing it seriously.

People have likened SMN to being the closest thing to BST we currently have in that there are different types of pets (tank/ranged/dps) and you are able to control their actions or allow them to go into auto mode. One thing to note for ACN is your Emerald Carby is for DPS and your Topaz carby is a tank type (i.e. for solo only or the odd tank death)... I get so irked when I get grouped with a low level new ACN on roulette who didn't bother to read the description,

SCH is a lot of fun too, so give that a spin when you get a chance. At low levels, the fairy can handle the bulk of the healing, which allows you to DPS with a phsyick thrown out here and there :D

[Corrderio]

oh really? the website I was reading said 10,000; old info apparently. looks like Squenix made that more reasonable. good to know, thanks!

Yeah, a lot of sites can have misleading info, even XIV DB has a few inconsistencies.

Anyway for a tip to save money, NEVER buy leveling gear from the Marketboard. During your leveling progress the merchants posted around levemate NPCs give levels relevant to the level of the leves. For example, if you're at a levemate NPC issuing level 20 leves, the merchant in that camp will sell gear ~20.

[Andradi]

Anyway for a tip to save money, NEVER buy leveling gear from the Marketboard. During your leveling progress the merchants posted around levemate NPCs give levels relevant to the level of the leves. For example, if you're at a levemate NPC issuing level 20 leves, the merchant in that camp will sell gear ~20.

I'd be careful here, especially when you get to higher levels the NPC prices balloon all out. Best to check marketboard prices first, and compare to the NPC prices on xivdb in town.

[Hellfury]

I shall give you pragmatic and realistic answers



Need is when you *really* need it.

For example, you have 3 DPS, 2 healers and 1 tank in your party.
A piece of tank specific loot drop. No one but the tank can roll need, and if the tank rolls need, he will 100% get it regardless of what the others roll, because they can only roll greed.
If the tank doesn't roll need on the tank loot, and passes/greeds instead, then the next determinator will come in where everyone rolls for it.

Think of it as rolling for gear twice, but gear for specific roles get priority (need), but if they don't want it, then everyone else gets a chance (greed).

Hope this addresses your concerns. Other people should be along to chime in their opinion.

This is the policy I and most people I know follow as well, if you _need_ it, need it, if it's for seals/desynth etc. greed it. Of course, not everyone follows that policy, so it becomes a value judgment if you want to take advantage of the situation, or want to play fair with everyone having equal chance to benefit.
(For reasons I can not comprehend, 2.4 saw SE create generic (antique or something) dungeon drop, that could be traded in for the wanted i90 gear to the corresponding slot, which let everyone loot on equal terms, but went back to the old crap in 2.5).

[RKI]

Because that i90 gear was job specific, not role specific. Disappointing, I know but that was expected.

[The Stig]

This is the policy I and most people I know follow as well, if you _need_ it, need it, if it's for seals/desynth etc. greed it. Of course, not everyone follows that policy, so it becomes a value judgment if you want to take advantage of the situation, or want to play fair with everyone having equal chance to benefit.
(For reasons I can not comprehend, 2.4 saw SE create generic (antique or something) dungeon drop, that could be traded in for the wanted i90 gear to the corresponding slot, which let everyone loot on equal terms, but went back to the old crap in 2.5).

Yes, I greed most of my gear now in my current dungeons unless I want it for vanity.

Also, a note about levequests (mini quests, usually kill all, or escort, or collect some stuff) is that they reward gear appropiate for the leve level too, but the items rewarded may not always be appropiate.


Also as it doesn't seem to have been mentioned yet, the game allows you to create 2 in game mules, who can hold your stuff, sell your stuff, you can gear them up and send them on explorations to level up and bring back junk (sometimes rare junk).

And minions/mounts are all vanity. Minions do nothing but look cute. Mounts all move the same speed.
And when you get issued your chocobo you can by Gyshal Greens from the NPC to summon your choco as an additional pet. But take note that you will not be able to queue for a dungeon with the chocobo out. The choco is handy for that little bit of damage or healing, or even tanking, depending on where you choose to allocate his points.

[Hiryo]

Dont forget to unlock the Challenge log in Limsa as well. It's similar to the hunting log but it resets every week.

[Edelweiss]

Dont forget to unlock the Challenge log in Limsa as well. It's similar to the hunting log but it resets every week.

It also throws Gil/GC Seals/Exp. at you too for doing shit you'd largely do anyway, which is kind of neat.jpg.

[octopus]

If you're not rushing, you can get to lv50 without dungeon grinding pretty easily by doing the story, daily roulettes and challenge/hunting logs. Unless you're tanking, I wouldn't worry about equipment too much.

Gil is pretty useless in this game too, until you need to buy materia for relic but that's very far away for you.