Final Fantasy XIV - Tips for Getting Started

[Hotbug]

In response to the ongoing surge of players I wanted to write some tips for starting Final Fantasy XIV. I had the benefit of experienced friends helping me when I started playing, so I'm sharing some of what they told me and some things that I've learned on my own.

This thread makes numerous references to MSQ, which stands for Main Scenario Quest. This is the major questline you will follow through the base game Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn, and its expansions Heavensward, Stormblood, Shadowbringers, and Endwalker. All significant unlocks including mounts, overworld flight, and optional bosses are tied to your MSQ progress, not your job level.

Choose a Datacenter and World
Your first task when you click START is to choose a Datacenter and World.

• Your Datacenter determines who you queue with for duties that limit the number of participating players, also called "instanced" duties. This includes dungeons, trials, and raids. Datacenters are organized by region, so choose a datacenter close to where you live.
• Your World (or Server) determines who you see when you are running around the cities and overworld of the game. You can temporarily visit other Worlds in the same Datacenter (as of Endwalker, you can also temporarily visit other Datacenters in your region). If you are starting the game with friends, make sure you all join the same World.

Worlds have statuses: Standard, Preferred, New, or Congested. Check the latest status updates on the FFXIV World Status page.

• Standard Worlds are neither overpopulated nor underpopulated.
• Preferred Worlds are underpopulated and new characters receive bonuses, most notably double EXP until Lv70.
• New Worlds are newly added and new characters receive bonuses, most notably double EXP until Lv70 and one million gil (in-game currency) upon reaching Lv30.
• Congested Worlds are overpopulated. New characters cannot be created on these worlds.
  • If you are unable to create a character on a world that is not officially Congested, try again at a different time of day.

It is OK to create a character on a Standard World. Remember that MSQ progress leads to unlocks, not your job level.

• Info on different World communities [Gamepur]
• World IP addresses (for checking ping)

Create Your Character
Your race, gender, birthday, and patron deity are cosmetic with no impact on gameplay.

• Any race can play any job. You can play all jobs and access all game content on one character.
• Your job choice, not your race, determines your starting location.
• Free Trial players do not have access to the Hrothgar (lion people) or Viera (bunny people) races.

Customize Your Appearance

• Change character lighting by clicking Environment globes in the lower right
  • Rotate the camera (on PC) by holding LEFT-click and moving the mouse
  • Rotate the character (on PC) by holding RIGHT-click and moving the mouse
  • Adjust the camera zoom (on PC) with CTRL + mousewheel
• If you don't like the skin colors available to you, back up a step and check the other subrace—each race has 2 subraces with differing features such as available skin colors and eye shapes
• Each Face has different Facial Features—select a Face then go to the Facial Features menu to see them
• Remove beards before going through Face, Jaw, Nose, and Mouth adjustments
• Add a secondary hair color by checking the Highlights box under Hair Color
• For Lip/Tattoo/Facepaint Color:
  • DARK palette refers to full opacity colors
  • LIGHT palette refers to semitransparent colors
• Preview additional Voice emotions by clicking an emoji at the top of the Voice menu
• Emotes and other animations vary by race and gender
• Hrothgar and Viera races have limited cosmetic options and almost no ability to wear headgear

After character creation is complete, further changes to race, gender, and physical features like skin or eye color require a real-money purchase. Changes to hairstyle, hair color, lip color, tattoos, and facepaint can be done in-game.

Choose Your First Job

Due to the game's legacy job system, you initially choose a "class," not a job.
You graduate from class -> job once you complete

MSQ "Sylph-Management" (Lv20) + your

Lv30 class quest.

List of Base Classes -> Jobs

1. 🛡️ Gladiator -> 🛡️Paladin [TANK]
2. 🛡️ Marauder -> 🛡️Warrior [TANK]
3. 👊 Pugilist -> 👊Monk [DPS]
4. 👊 Lancer -> 👊Dragoon [DPS]
5. 🏹 Archer -> 🏹Bard [DPS]
6. ✨ Thaumaturge -> ✨Black Mage [DPS]
7. ✨ Arcanist -> ✨Summoner [DPS] + 🔋Scholar [Healer]
8. 🔋 Conjurer -> 🔋White Mage [Healer]

For expansion jobs this process is streamlined and there are no classes, only jobs. You cannot start the game on an expansion job and some expansion jobs are locked behind MSQ progress.

Spoiler: List of Expansion Jobs

List of Expansion Jobs

1. 🛡️Dark Knight [TANK] Lv30
   • Prereq=
     
     MSQ "Coming to Ishgard" (Lv50)
   • Unlock=
     
     "A Dark Spectacle" (Lv50) --Ishgard/The Pillars-- @ [Ishgardian Citizen]
2. 🛡️Gunbreaker [TANK] Lv60
   • Prereq= Shadowbringers + any job Lv60
   • Unlock=
     
     "The Makings of a Gunbreaker" (Lv60) --Gridania/New Gridania-- @ [Gods' Quiver Bow]
3. 👊Rogue -> 👊Ninja [DPS] Lv1
   • Prereq= Lv10 class quest for any base class
   • Unlock=
     
     "My First Daggers" (Lv1) --Limsa Lominsa/Lower Decks-- @ [Lonwoerd]
4. 👊Samurai [DPS] Lv50
   • Prereq= Stormblood + any job Lv50
   • Unlock=
     
     "The Way of the Samurai" (Lv50) --Ul'dah/Steps of Nald-- @ [Ul'dahn Citizen]
5. 👊Reaper [DPS] Lv70
   • Prereq= Endwalker + any job Lv70
   • Unlock=
     
     "The Killer Instinct" (Lv70) --Ul'dah/Steps of Nald-- @ [Flustered Attendant]
6. 🏹Dancer [DPS] Lv60
   • Prereq= Shadowbringers + any job Lv60
   • Unlock=
     
     "Shall We Dance" (Lv60) --Limsa Lominsa/Lower Decks-- @ [Eager Lominsan]
7. 🏹Machinist [DPS] Lv30
   • Prereq=
     
     MSQ "Coming to Ishgard" (Lv50)
   • Unlock=
     
     "Savior of Skysteel" (Lv50) --Ishgard/Foundation-- @ [Stephanivien]
8. ✨Blue Mage [DPS] Lv1 (Blue Mage is a Limited Job with a max level of 80. Click here to read more.)
   • Prereq=
     
     MSQ "The Ultimate Weapon" (Lv50)
   • Unlock=
     
     "Out of the Blue" (Lv50) --Limsa Lominsa/Lower Decks-- @ [Eager Yellowjacket]
9. ✨Red Mage [DPS] Lv50
   • Prereq= Stormblood + any job Lv50
   • Unlock=
     
     "Taking the Red" (Lv50) --Ul'dah/Steps of Thal-- @ [Distraught Lass]
10. 🔋Astrologian [Healer] Lv30
    • Prereq=
      
      MSQ "Coming to Ishgard" (Lv50)
    • Unlock=
      
      "Stairway to the Heavens" (Lv50) @ --Ul'dah/Steps of Thal-- @ [Jainnequinard]
11. 🔋Sage [Healer] Lv70
    • Prereq= Endwalker + any job Lv70
    • Unlock=
      
      "Sage's Path" (Lv70) @ --Limsa Lominsa/Lower Decks-- @ [Sharlayan Maiden]

Good intro to jobs that you should watch [Larryzaur]



After the video, look at the descriptions of the starting classes and choose what sounds cool to you. You can always switch to another job later. 🛡️TANKs and 🔋Healers have fast queues for instanced duties like dungeons and raids, while 👊🏹✨ DPS typically have 8-20 minute queues.

Make sure to find the trainer for your job. Class/Job quests are required for learning all your job actions.

Switching jobs: Before switching jobs for the first time, you must complete your

Lv10 class quest for your starting class. After that, simply equip the main weapon of the job you wish to switch to (expansion jobs also require you to unlock the job via a quest).

Playing your job: I recommend searching "WeskAlber [yourjobname]" on YouTube. WeskAlber's guides cover job actions in the order you learn them, rather than only discussing jobs at max level.

Example job guide [WeskAlber]



Since you start with a class instead of a job, I suggest watching the relevant guide up to Lv30. You will learn all the actions you use in early levels and can even preplace them on your hotbar. When you graduate from class to job, your hotbar will reset, so it's a great time to pause and review the rest of the video. You can also view in chunks, 40-50, 50-60, etc. Learn in a way that makes sense to you. Personally I ignore any suggested openers (a pattern of actions your job opens fights with) on my first viewing, then go back and touch on them once I'm the required level.

Do you need to watch a job guide? No, you can just jump in and play the game. What job guides help with, at the foundational level, is avoiding common pitfalls and assumptions about how jobs work (ex. "all a Healer needs to do is heal").

Watch A Realm Reborn's Cinematic Trailer
There are lots of cutscenes coming your way as you start the game, so naturally I would like to recommend one more. It's called A New Beginning and it covers the events of the Calamity five years past, which will be referenced many times during your MSQ. It also teases several of the characters you'll meet in the story.




Do not view the trailers for all expansions at once. Trailers contain spoilers from previous story content.

• When to watch the Heavensward trailer -> after
  
  MSQ "Before the Dawn" (Lv50) *OR* you reach Ishgard
• When to watch the Stormblood trailer -> after
  
  MSQ "The Far Edge of Fate" (Lv60) *OR* you reach The Fringes
• When to watch the Shadowbringers trailer -> after
  
  MSQ "A Requiem for Heroes" (Lv70) *OR* you reach The Crystarium
• When to watch the Endwalker trailer -> after
  
  MSQ "Reflections in Crystal" (Lv80)
• When to watch the Dawntrail trailer -> after
  
  MSQ "The Coming Dawn" (Lv90)

 

[Hotbug]

Complete the MSQ (and a couple other things)
New players should focus on completing the MSQ. There are TONS of sidequests in the game, but you can safely ignore those until you are leveling another job, or just want to clean up your map.

The game also has

blue quests AKA "feature quests", which unlock new duties, jobs, emotes, and other game features. But you still need to be picky about which blue quests you accept, otherwise you'll end up bogged down in lots of irrelevant content. A full list of blue quests is available here.

Recommended blue quests:

1. Gold Saucer -minigames-
   • Prereq=
     
     MSQ "The Gridanian/Lominsan/Ul'dahn Envoy" (Lv15)
   • Unlock=
     
     "It Could Happen To You" (Lv15) --Ul'dah/Steps of Nald-- @ [Well-heeled Youth]
2. Challenge Log -extra EXP and gil for playing the game-
   • Prereq=
     
     MSQ "Call of the Sea" (Lv15)
   • Unlock=
     
     "Rising to the Challenge" (Lv15) --Limsa Lominsa/Upper Decks-- @ [I'tolwann]
3. Change hairstyle and makeup at your inn room
   • Prereq=
     
     MSQ "Call of the Sea" (Lv15)
   • Unlock=
     
     "Beauty Is Only Scalp Deep" (Lv15) --Limsa Lominsa/Upper Decks-- @ [S'dhodjbi]
4. Hall of the Novice -EXP +30% Ring for jobs under Lv30, job training-
   • Prereq= any job Lv15, recommend you complete this when you are led to Hall of the Novice during MSQ "It's Probably Pirates" (Lv15)
   • Unlock=
     
     "Hall of the Novice" (Lv15) --Western La Noscea-- @ [Smith]
5. Dye gear
   • Prereq= any job Lv15
   • Unlock=
     
     "Color Your World" (Lv15) -Western Thanalan/Vesper Bay- @ [Swyrgeim]
6. Glamour gear-transmog, make a piece of gear look like a different piece of gear-
   • Prereq= any job Lv15
   • Unlock=
     
     "If I Had a Glamour" (Lv15) --Western Thanalan/Vesper Bay-- @ [Swyrgeim]
7. Mounts
   • Prereq= ONE of the following
     
     Lv20 MSQ quests (quest name varies based on what Grand Company you choose): "Wood's Will Be Done" / "Till Sea Swallows All" / "For Coin and Country"
   • Unlock=
     
     "My Little Chocobo" (Lv20) --YOUR Grand Company's HQ-- @ [HQ Commander]
8. Companion -your chocobo fights with you in the overworld-
   • Prereq=
     
     "My Little Chocobo" (Lv20), any job Lv30
   • Unlock=
     
     "My Feisty Little Chocobo" (Lv30) --South Shroud-- @ [Docette]
9. White Wolf Gate -extra city exit in Gridania-
   • Prereq= any job Lv29
   • Unlock=
     
     "Broadening Horizons" (Lv29) --Gridania/New Gridania-- @ [Tyoh Moui]
10. Adventurer Squadrons -leveling resource for alt jobs-
    • Prereq= Grand Company rank: Second Lieutenant,
      
      "Rising to the Challenge" (Lv15), any job Lv47
    • Unlock=
      
      "Squadron and Commander" (Lv47) --YOUR Grand Company's HQ-- @ [Personnel Officer]

Level Up!
On your first job, complete the MSQ and your job quests to level.

If you don't have Duty Finder access (i.e. you haven't completed your first dungeon) and you need to catch up:

1. Do your
   
   Lv1 class quest, then hunt monsters from your Hunting Log.
2. Look for FATEs/purple circles on the map. Make sure the FATE is at or slightly below your level.

If you have Duty Finder access, use Duty Roulettes to gather extra EXP.

• 🛡️TANKs and 🔋Healers can also queue their highest available dungeon in the Duty Finder with good results.
• 👊🏹✨DPS may want to use the Duty Support system to instantly queue unlocked MSQ duties with a team of NPCs. Locate the Duty Support system by clicking the Duty icon in your Menu Bar.

If you switch jobs, you will need to invest more time in catching up to MSQ. Here's a guide [MrHappy1227].



Check Out the Optional Duties
Duties are instanced battles that only allow a limited number of players to participate. Some duties are part of the MSQ, but others are optional with their own storylines and bosses.

Types of Duties
Dungeon

4 players (1 TANK, 1 Healer, 2 DPS)
Typically 3 "levels" with a boss for each
Environmental hazards
Available Difficulties: Normal, Hard

• (Hard) dungeons are new versions of the dungeon map with different enemies/bosses. They are not necessarily more difficult.
• Currently there are 75+ dungeons in the game. Nearly half of them are optional. Click here for a complete list of dungeon unlocks.

Spoiler: Some Suggested Dungeons

1. Lv50 Lost City of Amdapor [fun final boss]
   • Prereq=
     
     MSQ "The Ultimate Weapon" (Lv50)
   • Unlock=
     
     "One Night in Amdapor" (Lv50) --Gridania/Old Gridania-- @ [E-Sumi-Yan]
2. Lv50 Tam-Tara Deepcroft (Hard) [story]
   • Prereq=
     
     MSQ "The Ultimate Weapon" (Lv50)
   • Unlock=
     
     "Corpse Groom" (Lv50) --Ul'dah/Steps of Nald-- @ [Paiyo Reiyo]
3. Lv60 Lost City of Amdapor (Hard) [fun bosses]
   • Prereq=
     
     MSQ "Heavensward" (Lv60) +
     
     "One Night in Amdapor" (Lv50)
   • Unlock=
     
     "One More Night in Amdapor" (Lv60) --Gridania/Old Gridania-- @ [E-Sumi-Yan]
4. Lv60 Great Gubal Library (Hard) [fun bosses]
   • Prereq=
     
     MSQ "Heavensward" (Lv60)
   • Unlock=
     
     "Let Me Gubal That For You" (Lv60) --Idyllshire-- @ [Midnight Dew]
5. Lv63 Shisui of the Violet Tides [setting]
   • Prereq=
     
     MSQ "Forever and Ever Apart" (Lv63)
   • Unlock=
     
     "The Palace of Lost Souls" (Lv63) --The Ruby Sea-- @ [Kurenai]
6. Lv70 Kugane Castle [fun bosses]
   • Prereq=
     
     MSQ "Stormblood" (Lv70)
   • Unlock=
     
     "King of the Castle" (Lv70) --Kugane-- @ [East Aldenard Trading Company Associate]
7. Lv80 The Twinning [turn music up]
   • Prereq=
     
     MSQ "Shadowbringers" (Lv80)
   • Unlock=
     
     "By the Time You Hear This" (Lv80) --The Crystarium-- @ [Bethana]

Trial

8 players (2 TANKs, 2 Healers, 4 DPS)
Boss fight
Available Difficulties: Normal, Hard, Extreme / Minstrel's Ballad, Unreal

• The very earliest Trials only have 4 players.
• (Hard) is a legacy difficulty level used to denote A Realm Reborn and Heavensward Trials with 8 players. 8 players has since become the standard player number for Trials, and later expansions drop the (Hard) label.
• Some high-end Trials are labeled in the Duty Finder as "X (Extreme)" and others are labeled as "Minstrel's Ballad: X"—these are the same difficulty.

Spoiler: Optional Trials

1. Lv50 Urth's Fount
   • Prereq=
     
     MSQ "The Black Wolf's Ultimatum" (Lv46) to start questline,
     
     MSQ "The Ultimate Weapon" (Lv50) for trial
   • Questline start=
     
     "Primal Fear" (Lv46) --Western Thanalan/The Waking Sands-- @ [Urianger]
2. Lv50+ Adventures of Hildibrand -multiple trials-
   • Prereq=
     
     MSQ "The Ultimate Weapon" (Lv50)
   • Questline start=
     
     "The Rise and Fall of Gentlemen" (Lv50) --Ul'dah/Steps of Nald-- @ [Wymond]
3. Lv60 Warring Triad -multiple trials-
   • Prereq=
     
     MSQ "Heavensward" (Lv60) to start questline,
     
     MSQ "As Goes Light, So Goes Darkness" (Lv60) for trial
   • Questline start=
     
     "Gods of Eld" (Lv60) --Ishgard/The Pillars-- @ [Torsefers]
4. Lv70 The Great Hunt
   • Prereq=
     
     MSQ "Stormblood" (Lv70)
   • Unlock=
     
     "The New King on the Block" (Lv70) --Kugane-- @ [Hearty Hunter]
5. Lv70 Four Lords -multiple trials-
   • Prereq=
     
     MSQ "Hope on the Waves" (Lv70)
   • Questline start=
     
     "An Auspicious Encounter" (Lv70) --The Ruby Sea-- @ [Soroban]
6. Lv80 Sorrow of Werlyt -multiple trials-
   • Prereq=
     
     MSQ "Old Enemies, New Threats" (Lv80)
   • Questline start=
     
     "Ruby Doomsday" (Lv80) --The Lochs-- @ [Resistance Officer]

Technically the relic weapon quest for A Realm Reborn also features a couple trials. Read more here.

Normal Raid

8 players (2 TANKs, 2 Healers, 4 DPS)
Mixture of boss fights, minibosses, and dungeon-like areas with lesser enemies
Available Difficulties: Normal, Savage

• Normal Raids are optional
• There are currently 4 Normal Raid questlines in the game, with 12 raids each
• The ARR Normal Raid questline has an unlabeled high difficulty level. Expect long queue times/required Party Finder use if you wish to complete this raid at its intended level.
  • The ARR Normal Raid is an adventure with Alisaie, who you otherwise don't get to hear from much during ARR, so don't write it off completely. You can outlevel the raid and complete it unsynced if you would like to see the story.
  • The game director recently recommended players complete all Normal Raids (including ARR's) to prepare for the Endwalker story. "If you want to play through Endwalker with a deeper insight into the characters and their thoughts, I'm sure that these raids will enable a richer game experience!""

Spoiler: Optional Normal Raids

1. Lv50 Binding Coils -this raid has an unlabeled high difficulty level-
   • Prereq=
     
     MSQ "The Ultimate Weapon" (Lv50) +
     
     "Ifrit Bleeds, We Can Kill It" (Lv50) +
     
     "In for Garuda Awakening" (Lv50) +
     
     "In a Titan Spot" (Lv50)
   • Questline start=
     
     "Primal Awakening" (Lv50) --Western Thanalan/The Waking Sands-- @ [Urianger]
2. Lv60 Gordias
   • Prereq=
     
     MSQ "Heavensward" (Lv60)
   • Questline start=
     
     "Disarmed" (Lv60) --Idyllshire-- @ [Slowfix]
3. Lv70 Deltascape
   • Prereq=
     
     MSQ "Stormblood" (Lv70)
   • Questline start=
     
     "The Hunt for Omega" (Lv70) --Rhalgr's Reach-- @ [Wedge]
4. Lv80 Eden's Gate
   • Prereq=
     
     MSQ "Shadowbringers" (Lv80)
   • Questline start=
     
     "In the Middle of Nowhere" (Lv80) --The Crystarium-- @ [Anxious Crystarium Guard]
5. Lv90 Asphodelos
   • Prereq=
     
     MSQ "Endwalker" (Lv90)
   • Questline start=
     
     "The Crystal from Beyond" (Lv90) --Old Sharlayan-- @ [Nemjiji]

Alliance Raid

24 players (3 alliances with 1 TANK, 2 Healers, 5 DPS per alliance)
Mixture of boss fights and minibosses
Available Difficulties: Normal

• ARR Alliance Raids are part of
  
  MSQ
• All expansion Alliance Raids are optional
• Each Alliance Raid questline contains 3 raids

Spoiler: Optional Alliance Raids

1. Lv60 Shadow of Mhach
   • Prereq=
     
     MSQ "Heavensward" (Lv60)
   • Questline start=
     
     "Sky Pirates" (Lv60) --Ishgard/The Pillars-- @ [Unquiet Trader]
2. Lv70 Return to Ivalice
   • Prereq=
     
     MSQ "Stormblood" (Lv70)
   • Questline start=
     
     "Dramatis Personae" (Lv70) --Kugane-- @ [Keiten]
3. Lv80 Dark Apocalypse
   • Prereq=
     
     MSQ "Shadowbringers" (Lv80)
   • Questline start=
     
     "A Scandal in Komra" (Lv80) --Kholusia-- @ [Gossipy Dwarf]
4. Lv90 Myths of the Realm
   • Prereq=
     
     MSQ "A Brother's Grief" (Lv90)
   • Questline start=
     
     "A Mission in Mor Dhona" (Lv90) --Old Sharlayan-- @ [Fresh-Faced Student]

Exploratory Mission

72 to 144-player zones, 24 to 48-player raids
Exploratory Missions are a series of instanced zones where players may freely join and leave parties, ride mounts (no flight), and defeat zone minibosses for rewards
Available Difficulties: Normal, (Savage for Delubrum Reginae raid only)

• Raids spawn within the instance under certain conditions, with the exception of Delubrum Reginae which is accessed out-of-instance
• Enemy HP scales according to the number of players
• Players receive special actions that can only be used in the exploratory mission instance

Spoiler: Optional Exploratory Missions

1. Lv70 Eureka
   • Prereq=
     
     MSQ "Stormblood" (Lv70)
   • Questline start=
     
     "And We Shall Call It Eureka" (Lv70) --Rhalgr's Reach-- @ [Galiena]
2. Lv80 Bozja
   • Prereq=
     
     MSQ "Vows of Virtue, Deeds of Cruelty" (Lv80) + Return to Ivalice alliance raid questline
   • Questline start=
     
     "Hail to the Queen" (Lv80) --Kugane-- @ [Keiten]

Other Duties and Battles:

• 8-player Treasure Hunts in the overworld spawn miniboss roulettes (easily completed by 4 players as well).
• 8-player Ultimate Raids exist, if Savage difficulty isn't enough for you. These raids include multiple bosses in a single battle. If you hear players refer to UCoB, UWU, or TEA, they are talking about these raids.
• 4-player Deep Dungeons are randomly generated dungeons with no class restrictions, making them useful for leveling DPS jobs.
• Command Missions let you take a team of 3 stupid but impossibly strong NPCs into a limited collection of dungeons and level with them instead of other players. You cannot run MSQ duties with these NPCs, they are strictly for leveling alt jobs (another good option for leveling DPS).
• PVP: 3-alliance Frontline PVP, 2-alliance MOBA-style Rival Wings PVP, and 5v5 Crystalline Conflict PVP.
• In the overworld, certain FATEs and S-Rank Hunts offer unique rewards.

 

[Hotbug]

Adjust Your HUD and Settings
You can adjust how the game looks by locating the System icon in your menu bar.

The System submenus you will use are: (1) Character Configuration Settings, (2) System Configuration Settings, and (3) HUD Layout.

Tutorial: Remove other players' names from your screen

START HERE: Menu bar > System icon > Character Configuration

> Display Name Settings panel (in the column on the left)
> Others tab (along the top)
> Scroll to Other PCs and adjust settings as follows:

• Display Name Settings> "When Targeted"
• Display Type> "Full Name"
• Title Display Settings> "Show"
• HP Bar Settings> either "Never" or "When HP is Below 100%"
• Companion Display Name Settings> "Never"
• Pet Display Name Settings> "Never"

The Others tab also contains settings for Party Members, Alliance Members, and Friends. Personally I set the name display of Party Members to "Surname Abbreviated." You can change the display color of a particular PC/NPC type by clicking the color globe next to their category.

Spoiler: Other Helpful Settings

1. Enable cutscene skipping
Character Configuration > Control Settings > General > Cutscene Skipping

• Enable "Skip playback of previously viewed scenario cutscenes."
• Enable "Skip playback of previously viewed transportation cutscenes."
• Enable "Skip playback of previously viewed housing cutscnes."

2. Limit visual effects from other players' abilities (helpful if you can't see what's going on due to too many sparklies)
Character Configuration > Control Settings > Character > Battle Effects Settings

• Own> "Show All"
• Party> "Show Limited"
• Others (excl. PvP)> "Show Limited"

The audio of other players' abilities can be adjusted here: System Configuration > Sound Settings > Player Effects Volume

3. Expand inventory window
Character Configuration> Item Settings > General > Inventory Settings

• Inventory Interface> "Open All"
• Retainer Inventory Interface> "Expanded"

4. Prevent equipment from automatically entering your Armoury Chest
Character Configuration > Item Settings > General > Inventory Settings

• Disable "Store all newly obtained items in the Armoury Chest."

If you don't know what an Armoury Chest is, read the Manage Gear section of this thread. If you want to use the Recommended Gear button, do not change this setting.

5. Hide unrelated quests during dungeons and raids
Character Configuration > UI Settings > HUD > Character Information

• Enable "Hide duty list during instanced duty."

6. View target's remaining HP %
Character Configuration > UI Settings > HUD > Targets

• Enable "Display target's remaining HP percentage."

7. Add another hotbar
[On PC] Your default 2 hotbars will start feeling cramped around Lv40. Luckily it is quite simple to add another.
Menu bar > System icon > HUD Layout

1. Select "Hotbar 3" by clicking it on your screen *OR* scrolling to it in the Current UI Element dropdown.
2. Then, click the gear icon next to "Hotbar 3" in the HUD Layout menu.
   
   
3. Enable "Hotbar 3" by ticking the box in the UI Element Settings menu. Then, click Save.
   
   

Note that you can change the hotbar's shape in the UI Element Settings menu, and change the hotbar's position in the HUD Layout menu. Make sure to click Save in the HUD Layout menu to confirm your changes.

Fast Travel
First thing's first: whenever you see any big blue crystals or Aetherytes, go and attune to them.

In cities and settlements, you will also see tiny blue crystals called Aethernet shards. Attune to those too.

An Aetheryte is a teleport point. Provided you have attuned to one, you can teleport to it by clicking it on your Map, or via the Teleport menu (accessed from the Travel icon on your menu bar).

Aethernet shards are teleports within a particular city or settlement. You can't teleport to them from your Map or the Teleport menu. However, provided you have attuned to them, you can click on the city Aetheryte or any of the local shards and choose the "Aethernet" option to teleport to different areas of the city. Attuning to all the Aethernet shards in a city will provide you with additional Aethernet exits.

Spoiler: What about chocobo porters?

Chocobo porters are friendly NPCs that appear in almost every settlement. Unfortunately they are useless. You can talk to them to get rid of the fake quest marker on their heads though.

Spoiler: What about airships?

You unlock airship travel during

MSQ "The Gridanian/Lominsan/Ul'dahn Envoy" (Lv15). Airships are useful for a time due to their lower fees compared to Aetheryte teleports. Feel free to use them until you have built up some gil.

Special Note for New Players
During early MSQ, you will routinely be asked to return to a location called The Waking Sands in Vesper Bay. After

MSQ "The Scions of the Seventh Dawn" (Lv17), you will receive a stack of Vesper Bay Aetheryte Tickets. These tickets are a free teleport to the Waking Sands. Pray make use of them and save yourself time and gil!

Use the Map
When you open your Map, it displays the Zone you are currently standing in. If you want to get a broader look at your current Region, click the second of the two dropdown arrows at the top of the Map screen and change your Zone to --. This will bring up the Region Map.

Remember: on the Map screen, the upper dropdown changes your Region. The lower dropdown changes your Zone.

Spoiler: Maps

Zone Map
Click the blue text for any exit to see what Zone it leads to

Access the Region Map by setting your Zone to --

Region Map
On the Region Map, entrances and exits appear as lines connecting the various Zones. Click on any Zone to access its Zone Map.

Navigate to Quest Objectives
Finding your quest objective is pretty straightforward. Start by clicking the blue quest objective text. *OR* you can open your Journal, select the quest you are interested in, and click the Map button at the bottom of the quest page.

Once you are in the same Zone as your quest objective, it will display on your Minimap as a gold marker. Note that if the objective is above or below your current position, it will also have a depth arrow pointing up or down.

Get Your Mount
Mounts are friendly creatures that help you move faster through the overworld.

Get your first mount by completing the following quests in order (MSQ quest name varies based on what Grand Company you choose):

1. 
   MSQ / "Wood's Will Be Done" / "Till Sea Swallows All" / "For Coin and Country" (Lv20)
2. 
   "My Little Chocobo" (Lv20) --YOUR Grand Company's HQ-- @ [HQ Commander]

You will receive a Chocobo Whistle. Use the whistle, then select the Character icon on your menu bar and open the Mount Guide.

Start Flying
Your mount can fly in the game's starting zones after you complete

MSQ "The Ultimate Weapon" (Lv50).

For expansion zones, you have both a MSQ requirement *AND* an Aether Current requirement to fly in each zone. Aether Currents are collectibles found by exploring and completing certain sidequests. Because some Aether Current sidequests only unlock with sufficient MSQ progress, I recommend waiting until you have done the final MSQ for your current zone to focus on Aether Current collection.

Spoiler: Expansion MSQ Requirements to Fly (contains location spoilers)

A complete list of Aether Current locations and sidequests can be found here.

Heavensward

1. Coerthas Western Highlands ---
   
   MSQ "Purple Flame, Purple Flame" (Lv51)
2. Dravanian Forelands ---
   
   MSQ "Mourn in Passing" (Lv53)
3. Churning Mists ---
   
   MSQ "Into the Aery" (Lv55)
4. Sea of Clouds ---
   
   MSQ "Black and the White" (Lv57)
5. Dravanian Hinterlands ---
   
   MSQ "Forbidden Knowledge" (Lv59)
6. Azys La ---
   
   MSQ "Fetters of Lament" (Lv59)

Stormblood

1. Ruby Sea ---
   
   MSQ "Tide Goes In, Imperials Go Out" (Lv63)
2. Yanxia---
   
   MSQ "All the Little Angels" (Lv64)
3. Azim Steppe ---
   
   MSQ "Glory to the Khagan" (Lv66)
4. The Fringes ---
   
   MSQ "The Silence of the Gods" (Lv67)
5. The Peaks ---
   
   MSQ "Liberty or Death" (Lv69)
6. The Lochs ---
   
   MSQ "Stormblood" (Lv70)

Shadowbringers

1. Lakeland ---
   
   MSQ "Logistics of War" (Lv72)
2. Il Mheg---
   
   MSQ "Acht-la Ormh Inn" (Lv73)
3. Rak'tika Greatwood ---
   
   MSQ "The Burden of Knowledge" (Lv75)
4. Amh Araeng ---
   
   MSQ "A Fresh Start" (Lv77)
5. Kholusia ---
   
   MSQ "Extinguishing the Light" (Lv79)
6. The Tempest ---
   
   MSQ "A Greater Purpose" (Lv80)

Endwalker

1. Garlemald ---
   
   MSQ "Gateway of the Gods" (Lv83)
2. Mare Lamentorum---
   
   MSQ "Heart of the Matter" (Lv84)
3. Thavnair ---
   
   MSQ "Simple Pleasures" (Lv85)
4. Elpis ---
   
   MSQ "Caging the Messenger" (Lv87)
5. Labyrinthos ---
   
   MSQ "Bonds of Adamant(ite)" (Lv88)
6. Ultima Thule ---
   
   MSQ "Endwalker" (Lv90)

Acquire Gear
MSQ and job quest rewards should cover you gearwise to Lv50. You don't have to buy player-made gear to progress the story, so save your gil. Even the strongest gear in the game is obtained from NPC exchanges, not the player marketboard.

The strength of your gear is tied to its iLVL, or Item Level. Higher iLVL = better gear.

Tomestone Gear (Lv50, 60, 70, 80)
As you complete

MSQ "Rock the Castrum" (Lv50) and

MSQ "The Ultimate Weapon" (Lv50), you will begin earning a new form of currency called Tomestones of Poetics. Additional Tomestones are earned by progressing the MSQ, running roulettes in the Duty Finder, and through various other in-game activities. Provided you have achieved sufficient MSQ progress, at levels 50, 60, 70, and 80 you can trade your Tomestones for a powerful set of armor and a weapon.

• Lv50 Augmented Ironworks Gear (iLVL 130)
  • Prereq=
    
    MSQ "The Ultimate Weapon" (Lv50)
  • Buy armor at --Mor Dhona/Revenant's Toll-- @ [Auriana] /// menu: Allagan Tomestones of Poetics (DoW or DoM)
  • Buy weapon at --Mor Dhona/Revenant's Toll-- @ [Aelina] /// menu: Ironworks Gear
• Lv60 Augmented Shire Gear (iLVL 270)
  • Prereq=
    
    MSQ "A Great New Nation" (Lv58)
  • Buy armor at --Idyllshire-- @ [Hismena] /// menu: Allagan Tomestones of Poetics II (DoW or DoM)
  • Buy weapon at --Idyllshire-- @ [Bertana] /// menu: Shire Gear Exchange
• Lv70 Augmented Scaevan Gear (iLVL 400)
  • Prereq=
    
    MSQ "Stormblood" (Lv70)
  • Buy armor at --Rhalgr's Reach-- @ [Enna] /// menu: Allagan Tomestones of Poetics II (DoW or DoM)
  • Buy weapon at --Rhalgr's Reach-- @ [Eschina] /// menu: Scaevan Gear Exchange
• Lv80 Augmented Cryptlurker Gear (iLVL 530)
  • Prereq=
    
    MSQ "Shadowbringers" (Lv80)
  • Buy armor at --Eulmore-- @ [Aymark] /// menu: Allagan Tomestones of Poetics II (DoW or DoM)
  • Buy weapon at --Eulmore-- @ [Fathard] /// menu: Cryptlurker Gear Exchange

Lv90 Gear
Research your Lv90 gear options after completing all current MSQ content *OR* whenever you hit a minimum iLVL block. Due to the new expansion, new gear options will be added with every major patch (every few months).

The highest iLVL required for Normal-difficulty content is iLVL 625, needed for the latest Adventures of Hildebrand trial.


What About Materia?
You may notice that many pieces of gear come with materia slots. Materia are items that add stats to gear. Materia is irrelevant while leveling. Research materia if you start taking on Extreme/Savage-difficulty duties.

Manage Gear
I humbly present the only button you need for a well-equipped character, the Recommended Gear button.

To locate this button, click the Character icon on your menu bar, then open the Character Menu.
The Character Menu displays your character's attributes, their current gear, and a Preview Window.

Beneath the Preview Window lie several options for customizing your character's gear display.

The Recommended Gear button is found up and left from your character's main weapon icon. Clicking it opens the Recommended Gear panel. Once you open this panel, check if you already own any gear that is better than what you have equipped, then equip the better gear instantly by clicking the "Equip" button.

• CAVEAT: Some early armors, especially for TANKs, may occupy 2 slots. These armors get old pretty fast, but Recommended Gear really likes them. If you want to dump 2-slot armors, you'll have to remove them from your inventory.
• CAVEAT: Recommended Gear can be weird when it comes to rings that are equippable for all classes but only have a stat spread favorable to one class (this happens with Tomestones of Poetics rings).

Other than that, Recommended Gear does a decent job of picking out gear with the highest iLVL.

Spoiler: But if you really want to learn about manual gear management...

Armoury Chest
The Armoury Chest is a special inventory separate from your main inventory which stores any gear you have previously equipped. By default, any new gear you collect also goes into the Armoury Chest. The Recommended Gear button described above only looks at gear in your Armoury Chest to make comparisons. However, as you progress through the game your Armoury may fill up, and you will want to think about preventing any random gear you get from going in there.

Prevent new gear from entering the Armoury Chest (do not adjust if using the Recommended Gear button):
Character Configuration > Item Settings > General > Inventory Settings > Disable "Store all newly obtained items in the Armoury Chest."

Access the Armoury Chest directly from the Character icon on your menu bar, *OR* click any piece of your gear in the Character Menu. Access different gear slots using the tabs on the sides of the Armoury Chest panel.

To equip gear from the Armoury Chest (or your Inventory), drag it to its slot in the Character Menu, or use the context menu (on PC, right-click the gear's icon). Note that the context menu also allows you to temporarily try on gear and compare its stats to your currently equipped gear.

Gearsets
As you level up other jobs, you will want to maintain a Gearset for each so that you can easily equip the gear for that job. Access your Gearset List with the page button at the top of the Character Menu. Add a new gearset with the + button in the Gearset List. Equip a set using the Equip Set button.

NOTE: The Gearset List has context menus that allow you to name, preview, and reorganize gearsets, as well as place them on a hotbar for easy access. You can also attach a Glamour Plate to your Gearset (see next section).

Dye and Glamour Gear
Dyeing gear (changing the color) and glamouring gear (transmog, making one piece of gear look like a different piece of gear) must be unlocked via quests.

Dye gear

• Prereq= any job Lv15
• Unlock=
  
  "Color Your World" (Lv15) --Western Thanalan/Vesper Bay-- @ [Swyrgeim]
  • How to Dye= Use the context menu for a piece of gear to open the Dye Preview window. You can preview any color of dye on gear, but you need have the dye pot item for any desired colors. Not all gear can be dyed (such as most dungeon drops).

Glamour gear

• Prereq= any job Lv15
• Unlock=
  
  "If I Had a Glamour" (Lv15) --Western Thanalan/Vesper Bay-- @ [Swyrgeim]
  • How to Glamour= There are a few different methods of glamouring: 1) manually applying glamours using gear in your inventory, 2) adding gear to the Glamour Dresser in your inn room and manually applying glamours from there, 3) building Glamour Plates. Good info on different Glamouring methods. [Polygon]

Visit Eorzea Collection to view all the armor in the game, prebuild glamours, and see other people's glamoured sets.

 

[Hotbug]

Know Your Enemy

Every boss in the game uses a scripted combination of attacks and environmental changes called mechanics that must be resolved in order to complete the fight. These mechanics may have variations. For example, a boss could use an area-of-effect (AOE) attack that targets the left *OR* right side of the arena. It will always do the AOE in the same phase of the fight, but that AOE is not on the same side every time.

Ways to know how a boss will attack:

1. AOE stains

The classic AOE stain is an orange-yellow shadow on the ground that shows you where an enemy AOE attack is going to land. If you are standing in the AOE stain when it disappears, you will be hit by the resulting attack even if you run away from the attack animation. If you are outside the AOE stain when it disappears, you can run into the attack animation and be completely unharmed. Learning how to exploit AOE stains so that you can dodge the attack while remaining close to the enemy is key to increasing your DPS.

Not all AOE stains are honey-colored, and a few bosses may do lingering AOEs like fire puddles or continuous streams of poison barf.

Spoiler: AOE Stains That Are OK to Stand In (Your Party Members Made Them)

Healer bubbles provide damage mitigation and other bonuses, so it's a good idea to stand in them. Ninja and Dark Knight stains damage any enemy within their radius, so if you're in a dungeon pulling a legion of lesser enemies (also called adds or trash), drag them into friendly stains to maximize damage.

2. Animations


Some enemies display AOE stains only briefly to verify where an attack lands. Some enemies don't display AOE stains at all (especially in Extreme/Savage duties). Regardless of what other clues you are given, it's a good idea to watch bosses for animation and posture changes before they launch an attack. Their animation may tell you where to safely position yourself long before their cast bar fills up.

The ability to look up from your hotbar and see what your enemy is doing is very powerful, but it takes time to get comfortable with your job actions. This is another reason why it is helpful to watch a job guide and preplace actions on your hotbar.

3. Attack Names and Cast Bars

Let's say we have two cast bars. One says Precision Laser, and the other says Diffusion Laser.

One of these attacks will damage everyone in the party regardless of their position, it's considered a raidwide attack. The other attack is a line-AOE tankbuster, which means it deals heavy damage in a line that points through the party's tank. If any non-tank gets cleaved by the line they will be instantly killed. If the cast bar was the only information you had, would you know which attack is which? Brush up on your vocabulary and you might be able to mitigate the incoming damage, or at least avoid having your head cut off by a giant laser.

Cast bar etymology isn't 100% foolproof of course. Did you know that the sides of a ship are called port (left) and starboard (right) if you're looking towards the bow? Did you know that the archaic term for port is "larboard?" What if a FFXIV dev thought "Let's change 'port' to 'larboard' for this attack name because English speakers will have an easier time understanding that 'larboard' means left. We can't just call the attack 'left' and 'right,' that's not aesthetic." Also the boss flips around before the attack goes off so the player needs to know what nautical directions mean in context of the boss flip. Anyway, this is just some hypothetical trivia to break up the post. I'm sure it won't be important in the future.

You can view an attack's name and cast time in the 1) Target Info (Progress Bar) HUD [aka the Cast Bar], 2) Enemy List, and 3) Focus Target HUD.

Spoiler: Stopping Enemy Cast Bars

Regular cast bar

Regular cast bars can be stopped with a Stun action, but Stuns only work on lesser enemies and a handful of early bosses.
🛡️TANKs can use the role action

Low Blow
👊Melee DPS can use the role action

Leg Sweep
🔋*White Mages ONLY* can use the spell

Holy

Stuns are tremendously helpful when pulling packs of lesser enemies in dungeons. Not only can you keep an enemy from hitting the tank for a few moments, but you can prevent enemy AOE casts from finishing. Holy in particular is a tremendously OP spell in dungeons.

Flashing cast bar

Flashing cast bars can be stopped with an Interrupt action. Interrupts work on lesser enemies *AND* bosses.
🛡️TANKs can use the role action

Interject
🏹Ranged DPS can use the role action

Head Graze

Make sure the enemy cast is long enough for your Interrupt to land before it finishes. Some enemies are casters by nature, and all their auto-attacks are flashing cast bars, but the cast generally finishes too quickly for Interrupt to actually land.

4. The Arena

It's quite easy to ignore boss arenas upon entry. After all, they're usually just a flat circle or square. But the arena is the boss's domain. They will use everything available in their domain to defeat you. Take note of unusual patterns or devices on the floor and walls, especially if you see broad markings that divide the arena into evenly spaced segments.

Be especially careful around wall bosses, which are huge, spectacular bosses that fill up an entire side of the arena. These bosses have large arenas useful for spawning all kinds of things out of sight.

And if the arena has a visible way for you to fall off, the boss probably has an attack that causes knockback AKA a repositioning of your character.

Spoiler: Preventing Knockback

If you don't like the idea of bosses smacking you across the arena whenever they feel like it, you will be delighted to know that every single job in the game has an anti-knockback action. Not every knockback in the game can be prevented, but these actions should be your go-to whenever you encounter a new form of knockback.
🛡️TANKs*, 👊Melee DPS, and 🏹Ranged DPS can use the role action

Arm's Length
🔋Healers and ✨Magic DPS can use the role action

Surecast

*Special Note for 🛡️TANKs: Arm's Length is both knockback prevention and a POWERFUL damage mitigation tool that gives a Slow debuff to any lesser enemy that hits you. Make sure to use Arm's Length whenever you pull lots of enemies in dungeons.

5. Audio
This kind of goes without saying, but most attacks have audio cues. It's rare for an attack to have audio as its major tell, but if you hear a loud or unusual sound, review the battlefield. Strange audio is a request for you to notice an enemy phase change, or the set-up of a new attack.

6. Markers

Enemies sometimes target you with an attack, even if you aren't the Tank! But they're nice enough to tell you about it by putting a marker on your head.

The sheer number of markers and some inconsistencies in what kind of attack they signify can leave you guessing what you are supposed to do. The good news is that marker attacks generally aren't strong enough to kill you, which gives you room to learn. Also the answer to a marker that isn't the Stack marker is very frequently move away from other party members.

Marker placement is typically accompanied by a loud noise, so if you're still in the staring-at-hotbar stage of MMO gameplay, make sure to keep your ears open, and/or check your hairline every once in a while.

Spoiler: Doritos and AOE markers

The Dorito (a particularly confusing marker, explained)

New players quickly learn the universality of the Stack marker, yellow arrows pointing inward at a player that signify you need to move onto that player to share the damage of an oncoming attack. Well the Dorito is the same concept, but you can only stack with other Doritos. Unlike ordinary stack markers, you usually only need one other Dorito to alleviate the full effect of the incoming attack, so don't worry too much about not having enough Doritos in the bag.

When markers are used to place an AOE:
Markers sometimes show an AOE stain around you so that you can space out safely.

The key to spacing out AOE markers is realizing it's fine if the stains overlap. You just don't want your AOE stain to overlap another player's model. There's no reason to scatter to the four winds when your party gets AOE markers, and some bosses punish you for doing so by setting traps on the floor or following marker attacks with a donut attack where the only safe spot is under the boss.

7. HUD Elements

I've already touched on cast bars specifically, but try to use every HUD Element to your advantage.

In the image above, the player is facing the Cuchulainn boss. The Status Info (Enfeeblements) HUD is on the left, and the Enemy List is on the right. The player has 5 stacks of the Bleed debuff, which causes damage-over-time (DOT). They received 1 stack of Bleed when Cuchulainn first became active. The other 4 Bleed stacks appeared at the same time as the 4 Gyrtower adds in the Enemy List. With this information alone, the player can figure out how to remove their 4 extra Bleed stacks.

Target Info (Status) is also important. Unique icons in the Target Status list may describe the boss's current phase or immunities. [On PC], hover your mouse on status icons for more detailed descriptions.

Be on the lookout for pop-up dialogues from NPCs/enemies. Dialogues may offer hints on how to resolve upcoming mechanics. If you miss the pop-up, check your chat window. Any NPC chatter displays as green text, and environmental messages display as gray text.

Spoiler: For Tanks--- Monitoring Enmity with the HUD

🛡️TANKs are responsible for maintaining enemy enmity or aggro, which ensures the enemy will attack the tank by default. But how do you know how much enmity you have? Your HUD holds the answer.

Here are two places you can find enmity information:
1) Enemy List

For each enemy in your Enemy List, a symbol next to the enemy's name indicates your personal enmity level with that enemy. If the symbol is anything besides a RED SQUARE, you have lost #1 enmity on that enemy and it is attacking someone else. Keep an eye on the Enemy List when pulling lots of enemies in dungeons.
[On PC] Click an enemy's name in the Enemy List to target it.

2) Party List

______

Your Party List displays a more precise enmity ranking. The player the enemy is currently attacking is labeled A. All other players have a number rank. Enmity ranks are located at the far left of each player's job icon.

Extending from each player's enmity rank is an enmity bar that shows how close that player is to taking over the next enmity rank.

Knowing precisely how much enmity you have is helpful when your party has 2+ tanks. You want to avoid situations where a boss is constantly spinning from tank to tank, so you need to be aware if you are about to take aggro off the player currently tanking, or vice versa.

Spoiler: For Healers--- Removing Debuffs with the HUD

🔋Healers can use the role action

Esuna to remove debuffs (detrimental effects) from party members, but not all debuffs can be removed. To know if a debuff can be removed, look at the debuffed player in your Party List. If the debuff has a white line above its icon, you can use Esuna to remove it.

8. Other Players
You can resolve some mechanics using "Follow the Leader" tactics: when the majority of your allies are running to a certain spot, you should run there too! And if a player Waymarks themselves and is jumping frantically in a corner, try running to them.

Other players may communicate tactics to you via chat, so keep an eye on that window. You should see a sharp rise in chat communications during your first Alliance Raid series, though if you're unlucky veteran players will wait until the alliance wipes to say anything. Try mentioning in chat if it's your first time running a particular duty- that gives vets an extra nudge to provide information.

Players use Waymarks to preplan positions for certain boss mechanics. You can find Waymarks under the Party icon in your menu bar. A common use of Waymarks occurs in Alliance Raids, where the position for each Alliance is marked with a letter (A, B, C) on the ground.

Example Waymarks:

What do the difficulty labels mean?
Normal and Hard are both the game's base difficulty. All MSQ content is Normal or Hard. Normal difficulty does not have a specific label in the Duty Finder.

• For Dungeons, (Hard) dungeons are new versions of the dungeon map with different enemies/bosses. There is no significant increase in difficulty over the Normal version.
• For Trials, (Hard) is a legacy label used to denote A Realm Reborn and Heavensward trials with 8 players. 8 players has since become the standard player number for trials, and later expansions drop the (Hard) label.

Keep in mind that optional content is harder than MSQ, high-level content is harder than low-level content, and patch day content is harder than the same content a year later. For duties that appear in a series like Normal Raids, the final segment of the series can be more difficult than the beginning segment.

Alliance Raids have more complex mechanics than other Normal-difficulty content because there is a larger player number cushion.

Extreme and Savage are similar difficulty levels for Trials and Normal Raids respectively. "Minstrel's Ballad" Trials are equivalent to Extreme Trials.

In Extreme/Savage difficulty, you fight the same boss as the Normal version, but they have new and reworked mechanics that appear in overlapping combinations. What characterizes this difficulty is the need for forethought and planning, a reduction in mechanics that can be solved by "Follow the Leader" tactics, an increase in personal responsibility, and an absence of AOE stains. Messing up a mechanic in Extreme/Savage typically kills not just you, but your allies as well. Mechanics may have different solutions by role (tanks, healers, DPS all need to do something different) or by individual.

Example Mechanic Resolution for a Savage Raid [joonbob]

View: https://youtu.be/PRQSMXcjpRk

Extreme/Savage duties have DPS checks called enrage, where the boss will auto-wipe the party if isn't killed in a certain amount of time.

For Extreme/Savage, you can make use of the Party Finder to learn fights. Party Finder is located under the Party icon in your menu bar.

Party Finder groups that are friendly to beginners may use the [Practice] label along with notes like "fresh prog" or "beginners welcome." You are expected to have watched a raid guide unless it's patch day content. Hector Hectorson and MTQCapture are the go-tos for raid guides. I also like Rainesama, Yukizuri, and Lycona DaCheeChee. Keep in mind that raid guides are created within 1-2 weeks of content release and the preferred strategies in your Datacenter may differ from what is presented in the video.

Unreal is a difficulty level for Trials. Unreal is identical mechanics-wise to the Extreme version of the Trial, but upscaled to Lv90. It's also worth noting that although Unreal Trials are Lv90, they have very low item level caps, so you can't simply outgear the Trial. Unreal Trials are only available during the patch they are introduced.

Ultimate is both a difficulty level and a unique type of 8-player raid that sees players facing off against multiple bosses in a single fight. Like Unreal Trials, Ultimate Raids have a low item level cap and varying player level caps. Ultimate Raids are considered the highest difficulty content in the game.

---------


Good Luck Sprouts🌱!​

 

[Anoregon]

Most important tip: Never trust a lalafell.

 

[Hasemo]

Really cool thread, I shared it with a bunch of people who are fairly new to the game.
One thing that might be useful to include - Limit Break. The game never >really< teaches you how it works, so many people don't even know about it.

 

[Zomba13]

Very comprehensive and a great guide for beginners.

 

[Credo]

This might be the most comprehensive post I've ever seen about a subject on Era. Great job!

 

[Pandora012]

Nice write up. The markers part made me laugh, cause eventually you'll see a sprout run away with a stack up.

 

[rpm]

Nice job on the write-up. Very comprehensive, and great formatting.

If anyone's looking for further reading, we have a compilation of user submitted tips and tricks here:

For new or legacy FFXIV players: some tips for maximizing your enjoyment

Hi all, I wanted to make a tips thread for FFXIV players new to the game, and those who may be giving it a shot with the expansion of the free trial and starter edition to include Heavensward on August 11th. For starters, absolutely please join us in the FFXIV OT thread and share your...

www.resetera.com

We also have an XIV-Era Discord and Cross World Linkshells for every data center, info here:

FFXIV-Era Discord and Linkshells recruitment thread

XIV-ERA DISCORD AND LINKSHELL RECRUITMENT THREAD Hello! A lot of you will have downloaded FFXIV's free trial or otherwise and will no doubt be looking for other newbies and people to chat and play with. I thought it might be nice to have a recruitment thread available for people who'd be...

www.resetera.com

It's also worth noting that the Era FC is on Ultros.

 

[demosthenes]

Great job OP. Haven't been on XIV in like 9 months but this is a great guide for starting. Shadowbrings is A+ FF content.

 

[Dark Knight]

In awe at the detail in this, OP. Thanks for looking out for our sprouts!

 

[taepoppuri]

Amazing informative OP! Great help for new players. I'll use this thread for introducing new players.

 

[Deleted member 81269]

Great guide OP!

 

[lambdaupsilon]

go to Character Configuration and change movement from standard to legacy. it is simply better
also adding to what OP said about cast bars, you can decouple cast bars from your target bar under UI settings. it's good to just make castbars really big and put them somewhere obvious, so you'll be sure to see that something's coming up

If you don't like the idea of bosses smacking you across the arena whenever they feel like it, you will be delighted to know that every single job in the game has an anti-knockback action. Not every knockback in the game can be prevented, but these actions should be your go-to whenever you encounter a new form of knockback.
🛡️TANKs*, 👊Melee DPS, and 🏹Ranged DPS can use the role action

Arm's Length
🔋Healers and ✨Magic DPS can use the role action

Surecast

*Special Note for 🛡️TANKs: Arm's Length is both knockback prevention and a POWERFUL damage mitigation tool that gives a Slow debuff to any lesser enemy that hits you. Make sure to use Arm's Length whenever you pull lots of enemies in dungeons.

Click to shrink...

you can also cancel knockbacks by using abilities that change your position, like gap closers (e.g. MNK's shoulder tackle, DRK's plunge, RDM's corps-a-corps), backsteps (e.g. RDM's displacement and BRD's repelling shot), and... other stuff (BLM's aetherial manipulation and between the lines, NIN's shukuchi, DNC's en avant)
this is because the game only registers one velocity vector at once so you can just... override it. the timing can be a bit tight though

 

[super-famicom]

Excellent guide! I started playing a couple of months ago and finished ARR about 2 weeks ago. I even did Coils of Bahamut; that was awesome!

Also, I am a female Roegadyn, apparently the rarest thing in the entire game. 😎

 

[Yossarian]

I'm a new player. This is amazing. Thank you.

 

[Hotbug]

Really cool thread, I shared it with a bunch of people who are fairly new to the game.
One thing that might be useful to include - Limit Break. The game never >really< teaches you how it works, so many people don't even know about it.

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I had to think pretty hard about how much information should go into this thread, particularly about jobs and job actions. I agree Limit Breaks are important, including their nuances, but they weren't quite in the scope of this thread. The WeskAlber job guides I recommended mention how to add Limit Break to your hotbar right in the video intro, which is probably the main issue for most new players.

 

[ZangBa]

So there is absolutely no way for me to play with my friends who are on Aether with the new character restriction, right? I resubbed at the worst time ._.

 

[SoundLad]

That's a really good guide, well done! Must have taken ages to put together!

 

[RedAhmed]

Great post OP, as a new player this is very much appreciated!

Most important tip: Never trust a lalafell.

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[Anoregon]

Great post OP, as a new player this is very much appreciated!

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DEMON

 

[AvianAviator]

This isn't just a great guide for FFXIV, it's a great guide for MMO beginners in general. Thanks for the write-up!

 

[Loreth_94]

Even though I have like 100 hours into 14 I haven't played in damn near a year and will definitely need a guide like this to ease back in.

 

[KyuubiRogue]

What an extensive guide! Great job on this!

 

[plake]

This is excellent work!!

 

[Hotbug]

Excellent guide! I started playing a couple of months ago and finished ARR about 2 weeks ago. I even did Coils of Bahamut; that was awesome!

Also, I am a female Roegadyn, apparently the rarest thing in the entire game. 😎

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Nice! Awesome that you got to do Coils as a new player. I actually tried femroe recently and really enjoyed it. Some of the animations bothered me so I slunk back to my default au ra, but if I wasn't that I would definitely be roe!

So there is absolutely no way for me to play with my friends who are on Aether with the new character restriction, right? I resubbed at the worst time ._.

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Unless you already have a character there I believe that is the case, unfortunately. You could try convincing your friends to switch Datacenters, but that involves a real-money fee and the relinquishing of houses, FCs, etc... https://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodestone/playguide/option_service/world_transfer_service/

 

[Seahawk64]

Thanks for the excellent guide.

 

[Yourfawthaaa]

Thank you for this.

on my way to lvl 80 as a tank (Paladin). I've gotten the hang of what im supposed to do but going into new raids/dugeons/trails, i am a dear in headlights with mechanics. Only one time i was with a group that was toxic but i paid no attention to those assholes (They kicked me from raid). The next group was wayyyy more polite and understanding.

 

[Dark Knight]

Thank you for this.

on my way to lvl 80 as a tank (Paladin). I've gotten the hang of what im supposed to do but going into new raids/dugeons/trails, i am a dear in headlights with mechanics. Only one time i was with a group that was toxic but i paid no attention to those assholes (They kicked me from raid). The next group was wayyyy more polite and understanding.

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As someone who has been playing since ARR launch, and tank since Dark Knight released, I still tell/ask my party "I'm new to this duty, anything really important to know?"

There's absolutely no shame in such brief communication and it lets your party know ahead of time to maybe expect a wipe or two as you or others get situated. Most of the mechanics you will already know and most likely be able to react to, but if there's anything new or particularly tricky then most parties will be more than happy to educate you before you get started. Personally I much prefer this sort of communication and style of learning over looking up dungeon/trial guides as they tend to spoil the overall experience.

 

[Ultimadrago]

I'm not very new to the game but thank you for the System Config recommendations. I will be putting this to good use to reduce clutter on my screen from other character's titles, additional effects, etc.

 

[Chasex]

Great guide, the game is quite dense at the beginning so it's good to see everything in one place.

I've just started and am lvl 30. My advice would be don't get worried about the early dungeons. I was really scared of the first dungeon Sastasha as a tank, but I found it to be super easy and stress free. Ended up doing the first 3 dungeons in a row during one session. People seem really friendly in the duty finder as well.

 

[Jafin]

One thing I would recommend to people before doing their first Alliance Raid is to go into the HUD settings and change the default location and size of the Alliance bars. The first time I went into an Alliance Raid the system just plonked two huge Alliance bars right in the middle of my screen, and I didn't want to hold people back by asking them to wait for me to figure out how to change it. I knew the option existed, but I wasn't familiar enough with the settings at the time to get in and change them quickly.

 

[RochHoch]

As a newbie currently grinding my way through ARR (and having a lot of fun) here's a tip: if you haven't already, give playing healer a try. It's very fun tbh, a bit more demanding than the other roles, but that's what makes it engaging. The best part is that you never have to wait to find a dungeon party.

I've been alternating between using Ninja for MSQ and White Mage for my daily roulette and dungeons and it's been great

 

[Xwing]

Most important tip: choose a starter class that lets you start in Limsa. It has the best intro story.

 

[super-famicom]

As a newbie currently grinding my way through ARR (and having a lot of fun) here's a tip: if you haven't already, give playing healer a try. It's very fun tbh, a bit more demanding than the other roles, but that's what makes it engaging. The best part is that you never have to wait to find a dungeon party.

I've been alternating between using Ninja for MSQ and White Mage for my daily roulette and dungeons and it's been great

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I started as a Pugilist but quickly switched to Conjurer and then White Mage. I love being a healer. Insta queue is a godsend.

 

[Ivory Samoan]

Stunningly good guide that needs to be pinned on the community page or something..it's too good to go to waste in the pages of yor.

 

[Dark Knight]

Stunningly good guide that needs to be pinned on the community page or something..it's too good to go to waste in the pages of yor.

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Do you mean moved to the "Gaming Hangouts" forum, or a link added to the Shadowbringers OT over there? Because if its the latter I agree. Perhaps Red XIII could assist with that as he controls the link/reference post in the OT.

I'm actually not sure how to do a mention/alert so he sees this post.

 

[Moogle]

Do you mean moved to the "Gaming Hangouts" forum, or a link added to the Shadowbringers OT over there? Because if its the latter I agree. Perhaps Red XIII could assist with that as he controls the link/reference post in the OT.

I'm actually not sure how to do a mention/alert so he sees this post.

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Just drop an @ in front of the username: @Red XIII becomes Red XIII
I don't just want to go in and mess with someone's (meticulously!) formatted post, so I'll leave it up to OT regulars whether to add it, but I agree it'd make a good addition. If Red wants it edited and is too busy ping me and I can do it later.

 

[B.K.]

Most important tip: choose a starter class that lets you start in Limsa. It has the best intro story.

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I started in Ul'dah when I started the game. I'm glad I did, since it's the only city-state that actually has a role in the story after ARR.

 

[Dark Knight]

Just drop an @ in front of the username: @Red XIII becomes Red XIII
I don't just want to go in and mess with someone's (meticulously!) formatted post, so I'll leave it up to OT regulars whether to add it, but I agree it'd make a good addition. If Red wants it edited and is too busy ping me and I can do it later.

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And now I know! Thank you on both counts!

 

[Lumination]

Love the detail and tone of the OP, great job. Just one question, what do ya'll have against Tide Pods?

 

[Ivory Samoan]

Do you mean moved to the "Gaming Hangouts" forum, or a link added to the Shadowbringers OT over there? Because if its the latter I agree. Perhaps Red XIII could assist with that as he controls the link/reference post in the OT.

I'm actually not sure how to do a mention/alert so he sees this post.

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Yep definitely a link would be a boon to new Warriors of Light (and ones with 200 hours who still don't know that much like me lol).

Awesome stuff Dark Knight :)

 

[Teiresias]

Doesn't the Recommended Gear button ONLY pull from the armoury chest? At least it does for me, so if you turn off putting gear automatically into the armory chest and it goes into regular inventory the Recommended Gear button won't work too well.

If there's a setting to change this behavior though I'd love to find out about it.

 

[Hotbug]

Doesn't the Recommended Gear button ONLY pull from the armoury chest? At least it does for me, so if you turn off putting great automatically into the armory chest and it guess into regular inventory the Recommended Gear button won't work to well.

If there's a setting to change this behavior though I'd love to find out about it.

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You're right. I'll edit the post.

 

[Red XIII]

Thanks for the mention.
I'll add it to our post now.

nice work on the guide!

 

[Zomba13]

I started in Ul'dah when I started the game. I'm glad I did, since it's the only city-state that actually has a role in the story after ARR.

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Yeah, I feel Ul'Dah is like, the canon city. Big plot relevance in both characters, location and background. Limsa would be second and Gridania is just the place you have outdoor picnics at sometimes.

Limsa is the best city though due to the proximity of the main aetherite to the Marketboards and general market area.

 

[Yossarian]

I started in Ul'dah when I started the game. I'm glad I did, since it's the only city-state that actually has a role in the story after ARR.

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Ah, good to know. That's where I started too.

 

[Everywhere]

Every time I return I'm reminded why I abandoned it in the first place.

My experience: XIV is like a boring FF single player game, only now you have real people walking around you.

 

[Samaritan]

Incredible work OP, I wish I had this when I started playing years ago LOL