It’s the only MMO I’ve played where I don’t mind PUGing. I avoid it like the plague in every other WoW+ MMO I’ve played.
I created a new character recently since I had forgotten everything from when I played a few years ago (only in 30s then anyway). I’ve done the first three mandatory instances so far as DPS and its been easy and no real chat besides hello at the start. Each instance was run with obviously experienced people and I just followed along. None of the fights were difficult despite a few interesting mechanics. I don’t think any of them took longer than 20-30 minutes. I’ve also been hitting “greed” on everything without really looking at it since with the XP boosts I’m badly over-levelled. So, as someone who usually hates the PUG thing in MMOs this has been painless.
Thanks for the perspectives, everyone. It does sound manageable.
I’d also add that there are loads of other people doing MSQs that have to do the same dungeons/trials/raids and there’s still tons of reasons for people who’ve finished their MSQs to do dungeons/trials/raids across the whole span of them for the game, including duty roulettes being the fastest way to level combat classes and grinding the tomestones for equipment purchases (and there’s a tomestone bonus for running with people who have never done it before so you want newbies with you). So it’s never really hard to get one going.
Speaking of gear, how does that work in FFXIV? From what I’ve read, it seems as if gear really doesn’t matter much, unlike WoW. One of the things I didn’t like about GW2 was that all gear was the same. It had tiers but, within those tiers, the stats on the gear were the same. Is it like that?
Not really.
Through Level 50, gear is basically tied to your character level. There are minor variations (e.g dungeon drops are better than vendor gear) but it doesn’t really matter much and you replace it all quickly anyway.
At 50 (the end of ARR), you hit the first discontinuity. Instead of character level, you start to pay attention to item level (ilvl). Character level 50 gear ranges from ilvl 50 to 130, which makes you ~2.5x as powerful. Character level matters again from 51 through 60 (the end of Heavensward), where there’s another discontinuity from ~ ilvl 145 to 270. The same pattern applies to 61-70 and 71-80.
Within an expansion, the ilvl rises slowly over time with the patch cycle. I expect character level 90 to have ilvl 560ish gear when the next expansion drops in November. Over the next two years, it will increase with each 3-month patch to ~640. There will be a couple of sets of gear with similar ilvls and stats each patch, but endgame play is basically chasing the latest ilvl increase.
Thanks, that’s good to hear. Earning a great piece of gear is one of the really fun moments in a MMO.
Man I shouldn’t have looked at the list of quests between ARR and Heavensward because damn there’s a lot. Ah well, at least they’re fun, though the ones that force you to do a dungeon are kind of a speed bump for me as I prefer to stay in the world, as it were, but I do some other stuff when I have time to set aside to do one of those so it all works out.
I got my fishing up during those times @BrianRubin. Unfortunately the queues goes too fast to get a lot done though =)
That’s one thing I haven’t had a chance to talk about the crafting! It’s actually quite involved in this game. I like it. I like having abilities and stuff ala regular class jobs, without the chance of killing yourself through crafting ala EQ2.
For @Coldsteel Also don’t forget to spend your abundant Tomestones at each level cap. I purchased a bunch of level 130 gear when I was wearing 110 stuff at the end of ARR. It looks cool, and it was very helpful.
You are going to need it for some of the post-AAR patch quests, too. I hid a gear block that grading helped.
Actually, all of those quests gave me gear along the way that got me past the level limits. But it didn’t go over 110 I think? somewhere in there.
It was the weapon I needed. I never got a good bow, but upgrading to the poetic as well as a few bracers and rings helped.
You don’t happen to have a bunch of Weapon cache inventory items in regular inventory do you? Prolly not, but I thought I would point it out JIC…
Anecdotal example. My daughter picked up FFXIV, and she’s not really a “gamer”. She decided early that she didn’t want to waste her limited playtime waiting for groups, so she went tank. She runs many of the dungeons blind. She still only had a few bad PUGs all the way up to level 60+. Sure, she’d get the occasional group that demanded wall-to-wall pulls or the opposite, but most were willing to help explain/lead when necessary.
I’m not sure there are too many MMOs where you can be a newbie tank with that much success and minimal issues.
It helps that the tank typically gets to control the pace of the dungeon - if you want to run slow because it’s your first time in there, everyone else is stuck hanging back with you.
No. Best I was getting a Ievel 90.
That’s true to an extent, but also can be the cause of amazing amounts of salt in many games. If you aren’t tanking right (depending on whatever that particular group deems ‘right’) you are likely getting chewed out. Don’t know how to finish the dungeon in record time? Chewed out. New? Chewed out. Not speced ‘right’? Chewed out.
The fact she got as far as she did without encountering the normal levels of salt is a big testament to the community. I’ve always avoided being a tank in MMOs.
I’m a tank and while I’ve only done maybe a dozen pugs I’ve had polite members help lead me thru. I’ll generally wait a moment before pulling in a hard looking room. If no one says not to I start flinging my shield and shit goes down!
Yeah, I’m referring to FF14 specifically, since players tend to be less toxic.
I bought/installed this today and created a Thaumaturge on Midgardsormr. I just got though the basic tutorial stuff and had a question about the HUD.
Does anyone know what the dark symbol thing is in the lower left of the screenshot below? And how do I get rid of it or move it? Also, how hard is it to move stuff around on the HUD?
