10 Tips For Starting Out In Final Fantasy XIV

During Character Creation, you will have to pick a Class from one of three main Roles, Tank, Healer, and DPS. While this is a more impactful choice than your deity, don’t worry too much if you find yourself second guessing your selection. Around the time you level your starting Class to level 30 and get far enough in the main quest line, you will obtain a Soul Crystal (or Job Stone) which will essentially make Classes irrelevant. And you can make progress toward a new Class by getting a weapon associated with a Class different from what you have.

Unlike other MMOs, FFXIV allows leveling multiple Jobs (class specializations) and encourages it. While your initial selection should be prioritized, you will most likely find yourself overleveled for the main quests and at that point, there is no harm in switching over to a new Job. Not only will it help mix up the gameplay, but if a Job is a lower level than your highest level job, it will accrue XP at a faster rate. It’s a win-win!

One thing to keep in mind with Class selection, however, is that your choice will determine which city you spawn in at first. That can make things tricky if you’re trying to start from scratch with a friend. Still, you should go with the Class that calls to you the most (we’ll discuss what to do if you’re in a different starting city as your friend a little later).

Towards the end of Character Creation, FFXIV will ask you to choose a deity to worship. There are 12 to choose from and each one will have their own symbol and description which includes what the god or goddess is known for as well as their elemental affinity. While this may seem like a character defining moment that will have huge ramifications for the next couple hundred hours of playtime, it actually doesn’t impact much of anything.

In earlier versions of the game, you would gain a resistance to your deities’ affinity, but that has since been removed. Currently, the only time this will come up, is if you get married in the game, you will see your symbol next to your spouse’s at the wedding. So pick a deity you think will attract a mate or one that works with your character concept for role-playing.

Once you’re past character creation and you take your first steps out into the world, you’ll find sidequests everywhere in Final Fantasy XIV. Some of the early side-quests can be useful in teaching the basics of the game, such as how to emote or interact with objects, but others can be a little dry and are nothing more than fetch quests. 

If you are a completionist, and find yourself running all over the map to check off items from your quest list, you will probably burn out pretty quickly and drop off the game. Instead, pick up these quests and see what you have to do. If the objective is in the immediate area, complete it and move on. If not, proceed with the main quest until you get close enough to complete a miscellaneous side objective.

You can’t get locked out of anything in FFXIV, so don’t worry about missing any content. By saving these for later, you also get the side benefit of turning in these quests when you start to level up an additional job which can be a great way to gather XP.

Depending on the class you pick, you will find yourself in one of three cities with their own unique main quests when starting the game. This may be disappointing if you intended to play with a friend and realized they are in a different city. However, once you complete Level 15 of the Main Quest, you will find yourself traveling to a new city to continue the story.

If you don’t want to be split up with a pal from the start, make sure you both pick Classes that start in the same city. Before you get to this point, take the time to learn your starting city, so if the two of you travel back there for any reason, you can act as a guide; these starting areas are massive and can be pretty complicated to travel around in at first.

Here are the starting cities for each class:

Gridania:

• Archer
• Lancer
• Conjurer

Ul’dah:

• Thaumaturge
• Pugilist
• Gladiator

Limsa Lominsa:

• Arcanist
• Marauder

No matter what city you started in, it will have an Adventurer’s Guild. Once your character reaches Level 15, you will be able to register for training at a place called the Hall of the Novice by interacting with the sprout-looking icon at the Guild. You can then travel there by navigating to the Duty Tab of the Action Bar and selecting the Hall of the Novice.

The Hall of the Novice is a series of challenges that will explain how to effectively play the class you have chosen. This is invaluable for those new to MMOs in general as it will help you learn the basics of the role you have chosen. You also get the added benefit of some decent rewards tailored to your class by completing the training.

Building off the previous section, you should prioritize your Class/Job’s Guild quests. These quests can be identified by a blue quest marker after an early main quest will have you travel there as an objective.

These quest-lines have their own unique story that can be just as engrossing as the main quest and they will also be required to transform your class into a job. They also provide rewards specifically for your Job, making them invaluable in gaining useful equipment that also looks better than generic armor.

FFXIV has multiple non-combat jobs that can be broken into two categories. Disciples of the Land (DoL) and Disciples of the Hand (DoH). DoL are the gatherer jobs such as fishing and botany. These can be used to gain material which can then be used in crafting or DoH jobs like blacksmithing or cooking. While these are not required for the main quest, they can lead to some incredibly useful armor pieces or items. Leveling up DoL jobs first lets you obtain more valuable and rare material, which leads you crafting to better gear.

Much like every other Final Fantasy game, crystals play a huge role in XIV. Crystals allow you to fast travel to specific sections of a town and will let you go to also entirely different cities.

However, before they can be used, they need to be interacted with. There is nothing worse than having to hoof it to a neighboring town after you have already been there because you missed or forgot to interact with the crystal. While it costs gil to travel to crystals in other cities, it is free to register them. So always do so when you spot a new one.

Like any grand quest, there will be a fair amount of traveling in FFXIV. While it can be exciting at first, at some point you may find yourself groaning when you see how far the next main quest is. While the game doesn’t explicitly mention this, there is a “Sprint” action on your hotbar. While it is only good for about 20 seconds, it does help take some of the sting out of traveling and the cooldown is only a minute. But there’s an even faster way to travel long distances (remember the crystals?)

The “Return” action lets you fast travel for free to your home crystal. You can set any crystal as your home location. . Note that “Return” can only be used once every 15 minutes, but it can be a huge relief if you have to turn in a quest you just completed at the other end of the map. Each city also has Chocobos that you can pay a small fee to have ferry you to a specific location or pay a slightly higher price to rent. While this takes longer than fast traveling it is significantly cheaper. But be warned, if you dismount the Chocobo while riding, it will continue on without you!

FFXIV has so many different systems that can practically be their own game, so it is easy to get sidetracked. Don’t be afraid to get distracted. If the world goes to ruin because you would rather garden, let it. It will (probably) still be there if you get bored of growing plants.

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There is no wrong way to play the game so do whatever you want to do at that moment. The wonder of Final Fantasy XIV is that it is your adventure, so own it. You can always save the world later. Have fun first!