Final Fantasy XIV worth it for an FF fan that's never played an MMO?

There is a way to get NPCs to help you with dungeons, but that's not until much later into the game.

Honestly as someone who's a FF fan who never played an MMO before it, I really enjoy FFXIV! Some people are pretty awful, but for the most part people are understanding and it's really not too tough to not mess things up, especially nearer to the start of the game. Just be ready and open to learn and you'll do just fine.

As far as talking to random people goes, I pretty much just say 'Hey!' at the start of a dungeon and 'GG!' at the end and leave it at that usually, so don't worry too much about it.

I barely see people talk in dungeons, it's usually just to say Hi in the beginning. The optional raids usually has some people talking if you continuously wipe though. Overall the community is great.

There's also the Novice Network you can join if you need some pointers, lots of helpful people in there.

You can play most of the content solo and dungeons are very easy and require little social interaction.

While you might meet some people like that, FFXIV has way more friendly and helpful people than most large online games I've played.
The game plays really well with a controller, so you'll be fine on PS4. Can't vouch for the performance in raids, but lots of people do it just fine on ps4 so it an't be too bad.

theofficefan99 said:

However, I'm not a fan of chatting with random people and whatnot. I've heard you have to use the Duty Finder to pair up with people for dungeons; is this not much of a problem? I won't have people yelling stuff like "YOU FUCKING NOOB I TOLD YOU TO CAST FIRAGA" if I mess up will I?

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I've been playing again for a month so far because my friends were wanting to try a MMO out and play one and I really wanted to play again, one of my friends is big into Final Fantasy like me while his friend is not (he also got his girlfriend to play too but im not sure if she is or not either) and so far from my experiences, people have been nothing but helpful to all of us being new and all. It's a really striking experience from going from WoW to XIV, it's really a friendly community.

I've met so many more friendly people in the month I've played XIV again than the 10 or so years I've played WoW lol

Also, theres a feature called the Novice Network, where it's basically a chat channel for beginners and non beginners to chat between eachother and ask questions and such, its nice.

theofficefan99 said:

Also does it run/play well on the PS4?

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My friend plays on PC and PS4 and I haven't heard him have any complaints about the PS4 version compared to the PC version.

If you can deal with the fact that it's still an MMO with a lot of grindy stuff, absolutely. I only ever got around halfway through the vanilla MQ when I played it more or less solo, but dungeons were indeed pretty easy.

I've been thinking of maybe buying a job level booster and jumping back in. Really want to see the Heavensward content, not too keen on grinding my way there though.

theofficefan99 said:

However, I'm not a fan of chatting with random people and whatnot. I've heard you have to use the Duty Finder to pair up with people for dungeons; is this not much of a problem? I won't have people yelling stuff like "YOU FUCKING NOOB I TOLD YOU TO CAST FIRAGA" if I mess up will I?

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No they will probably never talk to you and even if you're a huge noob they'll just go ahead without you or leave the dungeon. That's what happens on average

theofficefan99 said:

However, I'm not a fan of chatting with random people and whatnot. I've heard you have to use the Duty Finder to pair up with people for dungeons; is this not much of a problem? I won't have people yelling stuff like "YOU FUCKING NOOB I TOLD YOU TO CAST FIRAGA" if I mess up will I?

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No you won't. If you're a tank however I do recommend watching a video about the mechanics of the dungeon or trial because people can be downright unpleasant at times if you're holding up their daily routine. The community is generally friendly but a little on the quiet side.

Parties through the Duty Finder are typically pretty quiet. Most people say "hi" and "thanks for party" and that's about it. You won't see a lot of talk unless the party is wiping constantly. And people offering polite advice is more common than people rudely blasting you for not playing your class in the most optimal way. The community overall is pretty chill and friendly. There's also a Novice Network chat for asking questions or getting help.

And yes, I think FFXIV is a fantastic game for general FF fans. There's a ton of fanservice and callbacks to previous games. And as most people will tell you, the story is pretty dull for a while, but later on and especially in the expansions, it's excellent and one of the best-written FF games.

Edit: Yeah, and if you play tank, watch videos first. The one thing that will get on the nerves of your party fast is if you're bombing as a tank. Tanking isn't hard in FFXIV, but it's easy to botch if you don't know the fundamentals or aren't familiar with the dungeon mechanics, and it tends to make the party salty.

People will usually only complain about you in Duty Finder if you're a bad tank or healer, so if you play a damage class you'll be fine even if you noob it up. Also, people will usually forgive you for making mistakes because of the second chance points you give them for first time completion of dungeons.

Yes, very.

you can play the game without chatting with others. you can play it like a single player game and enjoy it a lot

Dungeons and bosses may require other people joining but you can care less, just play and do what you're supposed to in the dungeon (tank, heal or deal damage)

It runs very well on PS4.

It's extremely user friendly for people who have never played MMOs.

It can basically be played as a single player game. You only need to form parties for dungeons and raids. Once you unlock a dungeon, simply open the duty finder and select it, and you'll be but into an match made party. Might have to wait a while though.

Even for dungeons, you really don't need to communicate if you don't want to unless you're doing Extreme+ difficulty content that requires detailed team coordination.

I'm a pretty anti-social person and had no plans on really communicating with other players when I started, and I didn't for about a year. Even I became comfortable with it eventually though, which is a testament to how user friendly it is.

Of course, you will run into jackasses occasionally. Usually they rage quit and everybody else laughs at them. I have had a couple morons as party leaders boot me for making a single mistake in a clear party though lol. I've been playing since 2013 though, and this is rare.

theofficefan99 said:

I'm not dying to jump in right now, but I would like to experience it sometime in the future. The game looks beautiful and it seems like it'll be quite fun.

However, I'm not a fan of chatting with random people and whatnot. I've heard you have to use the Duty Finder to pair up with people for dungeons; is this not much of a problem? I won't have people yelling stuff like "YOU FUCKING NOOB I TOLD YOU TO CAST FIRAGA" if I mess up will I?


....and any chance they'll pull a Dragon Quest X and allow players to hire NPC's to help you for dungeons? :p

Also does it run/play well on the PS4?

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I would HIGHLY recommend it. However if you want to do it this way I recommend you do two joins.

#1: join a preferred server. They give you an exp bonus that'll get you through everything without having to rerun dungeons for exp.
#2: If you want to avoid a queue play as a warrior. The rotation is a little bit funner and when you unlock the full set of abilities Inner Release is 10 seconds of madness. Also tanking allows you to set the pace of the dungeon so to speak.
#3: Don't freak out too much about people in the duty finder. 99 times out of 100 shit will be calm and people will be understanding. Even asshats like myself who will usually try to push people to run through a dungeon as fast as possible will slow their roll when they see a character in newish gear with a green leaf.

It's an amazing game until you hit whatever grind they have going. I stored 2m in currency and just straight up quit my guild and everything. I could not handle it. The game was becoming life, and it was my first and only MMO experience. It was very cool. But before the first expansion it went into fucking are you high grind territory and there was no way I could handle it.

I'm gonna go back someday and feel like a noob where before I was one of the better players. But I don't care. No way I wasting my life doing fates and shit lol.

theofficefan99 said:

Also does it run/play well on the PS4?

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Yes,
If you get super into it and go deep into the endgame stuff i'd suggest a $20 chat pad to keybind extra stuff to though.


Its one of the best FF games imo.

Unless you're trying to pug savage content don't worry about salty people

YES. Also, you can play for free until level 35, with limitation of course.
You don't have to worry about dungeon run. Further into the game, there plenty of quests that are designed to reward players for running old dungeons. So you will never not finding teammates.
But my advice, play tank or healer. DPS queue time is 20 minutes minimum.
Tank and Healer? Couple of seconds to 3 minutes.

Do mind though, the ARR questlines for the most part are quite a chore to go through especially if you've played alot of games with fetch quests.
The game starts to improve by ten fold in terms of storytelling and quest design when you get close to Heavensward.
And then you get to Heavensward...oh my god. I got literal chills just remembering my experience playing through it.

FF14 is the best FF released in the last decade and the current best casual mmo for everything but pvp.

Anyone who hasn't played FF11 or 14 have never played an FF. Facts.

blonded said:

Unless you're trying to pug savage content don't worry about salty people

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People who PUG Savage are masochists of the highest order anyway.

Just be aware that it's still an MMO. Don't expect it to be remotely close to a SP game, even though some people will try to say otherwise. The story, although deeper than usual, is still segmented like a regular MMO, and yes , you're gonna have to interact with people, especially when bosses overall are all about following a fixed tactic.

I only ever play it as a single player game. you have to use the duty finder for story missions, but you can breeze through without knowing what you're doing. Just don't be a tank. There are expectations of knowing what you're doing with that role.

theofficefan99 said:

However, I'm not a fan of chatting with random people and whatnot. I've heard you have to use the Duty Finder to pair up with people for dungeons; is this not much of a problem? I won't have people yelling stuff like "YOU FUCKING NOOB I TOLD YOU TO CAST FIRAGA" if I mess up will I?

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Most of the time, if you aren't starting a conversation, people will just say "hi" at the start and "gg cya" at the end of the dungeon. If you start talking to people you will find the nicest community. I have two jobs at 70 and a few at 60+, and in all this time I had afair 3 unpleasant encounters with other players, out of literally hundreds of dungeons. When playing a dungeon for the first time everyone gets a message saying that at least one player is new to the instance; most people will be happy to help explaining the mechanics in a given dungeon.

I tried it because I bought into the hype that some people were selling. Its still a MMO. If you don't like MMOs I don't think this game will change that. It didn't for me.

If you're new to the game you will have a little seedling icon above your head which tells everyone that you're new, so hopefully they'll have more patience with you (cause we all had that seedling once)

It lasts for about 40 hours or so I think

You should play a DPS class first. You can change your class whenever you want after a certain point so there's no hard lock-in. DPS means damage-dealing, so something like 'Thamaturge' or 'Arcanist' for magic DPS. I can't remember the names of the melee DPS roles off the top of my head.

FFXIV is a great game and the only MMO I personally stuck with, but there are a few gameplay quirks to consider if you're not familiar with MMOs.

Are you use to playing RPGs in the immersive "behind the back" third person view of most action RPGs like FFXV and Star Ocean? Or do you enjoy them viewed scaled back and overhead like Battle Chasers Nightwar or Diablo? While you can play it behind the back like an action RPG, it makes the game more challenging and harder to read the battle field. More effective players use scaled back view, which shows teammate positioning, upcoming enemy attack patterns, and markers your party may place on the battlefield (as well as avoid traps).

Also, while you can play with a controller easily at first, the more spells/actions, summons, mounts and items you get, the more of a challenge it becomes. If you're not use to keyboard, there could be a sharp learning curve. I was able to beat vanilla and perform adequately as a healer in dungeons using a controller... but not after lengthy trial and error and a few comments like "Heal me you $@&!" and rightfully so, since team wipes are a real time waster for everyone. Of course, at the time I played, there wasn't much of a Novice Network.

Finally, as Chainshada said, waiting to go into dungeons and the like with Duty Finder can be be tedious (when finding a session). You need to be willing to play other classes in order to find a session lacking a tank or DPS and so on.

So yeah, in summary... if you're a traditional console action RPG gamer, you can play it like games you're familiar with, but to become more effective, be open to playing it like a pc gamer (zoomed out, mouse and keyboard). Not to say you absolutely have to, but it's less of a headache.

I think you could, yeah BUT!

Don't be afraid to buy a boost and start with the Heavensward content (maybe a boos is even included? Not sure). It will take you dozens and dozens of hours to actually get to the well told, voiced story content because, while Vanilla Realm Reborn was a great game, it's main story was slow, plodding, full of filler and endless fetch quests that lead absolutely nowhere. If you are simply interested in the story part it's very possible that you burn out here and then never get to the good parts. I fought my way through and I'm happy for it, but it's absolutely valid to just check out a summary on Youtube of the few events in the first 30, 40 hours of gameplay that actually matter.

Yes, yes, yes, a hundred times yes. First off, it's filled to the brim with Final Fantasy-ness and is very much a game for "the fans". Additionally, it is very playable solo and while the dungeons and party content are the best part and required, it isn't a daunting experience at all and is very straight forward, with little player interaction really required if that isn't your cup of tea (but, if it does end up being your cup of tea, I've found that while toxic players are still a thing, FFXIV has a much more tolerable userbase than your average game and doesn't feel nearly as vitriolic). Storyline is actually really captivating and it's one of the better FInal Fantasy worlds, straight up.

SilentRob said:

I think you could, yeah BUT!

Don't be afraid to buy a boost and start with the Heavensward content (maybe a boos is even included? Not sure). It will take you dozens and dozens of hours to actually get to the well told, voiced story content because, while Vanilla Realm Reborn was a great game, it's main story was slow, plodding, full of filler and endless fetch quests that lead absolutely nowhere. If you are simply interested in the story part it's very possible that you burn out here and then never get to the good parts. I fought my way through and I'm happy for it, but it's absolutely valid to just check out a summary on Youtube of the few events in the first 30, 40 hours of gameplay that actually matter.

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While Heavensward and Stormblood are the best content in the game, I wouldn't recc. boosting myself. A Realm Reborn has a lot of great content, never saw the point in paying money to skip gameplay that is actually fun and entertaining.

it's worth a try. goes for pretty cheap and i don't think the subs kick in until a month later or so? played it for a month and figured it wasn't for me but no biggie, got my money's worth considering i was just taking it for a spin

Robin said:

While Heavensward and Stormblood are the best content in the game, I wouldn't recc. boosting myself. A Realm Reborn has a lot of great content, never saw the point in paying money to skip gameplay that is actually fun and entertaining.

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The point is simply that the game gets way, way better with its Add-Ons. And if you don't really love ARR, you could still really like Heavensward and Stormblood. If you are mainly interested in the storyline and characters, ARR has quite little to offer until the last hours of the last patch.

I had a beautiful time for a while up until around level 40, when I hit a wall in the dungeons because I chose a tank class. As someone who just wanted to play the game as a solo thing, it became too much work to figure out how to deal with shit in the dungeons without constantly fucking up, and it kinda broke my heart. If I could play a version that removed that aspect I would've made it to Heavensward solo.

I really liked it. And its so much more fun solo than say 11. But its not a fair comparison. Problem i have is i just dont have time to play it as i have a job, a wife and a 10 month old wean.

Also there are so many games that i enjoy playing, i find it hard to maintain the subscription cost for ff14. I never played it on ps4 but it ran fine on ps3.

I think so.
You can play most of it solo, community feels relatively friendly, and it felt more like a FF game than other recent ones to me.
It's a good theme park mmo. I'd recommend to wait for a sale or free trial if you're not sure.

It feels like a single-player game and a sequel to FFXII, I played through it solo entirely, the Duty Finder helps find a party when you need it. There is not much social interaction in dungeons but even if you're not doing good it's not toxic, FFXIV has one of the nicer online communities.

For the OST alone. Fucking YES! Probably one of the best of all time imho. And yeah you can pretty much play it solo till the endgame and don't worry about the dungeons they are super easy at the start.

Absolutely. You can ignore being social and treat it like the longest solo FF game ever for a couple months of sub time. Literally think of it as Final Fantasy 14 and not an MMO if you want a massive world and story to enjoy. It offers that.

The dungeons are straightforward in the early goings, to the point that communication isn't often required and you can easily pick up on patterns with ease. By the time you do your first, you'll probably fall in love with doing them and realize your social anxiety disappears entirely. The difficulty ramp up lategame where it is -recommended- to watch a YouTube tutorials on bosses before diving in so you can avoid any potential learning hurdles, but just asking for advice in the chat will usually be met with friendly responses in my experience. (But you don't need to worry too much about this until very lategame, by the time you're naturally an expert from playing so long with your own experience)

Basically, no reason not to jump in. The vanilla story has lots of filler, but the payoff in learning about the world, its lore, species, lands, etc... before you enter the strong expansion "sequels" is worth the commitment.

If you're a FF fan it's definitely worth it. There are sooo many references to all the FFs, especially in expansion content.

I think FF has a relatively nice community, you'll inevitably run into idiots but just ignore them when it happens. You're more likely to be annoyed by people spamming moogle ASCII art macros in chat. :P

The trial isn't time-limited so try a few jobs in that (you can learn all classes and jobs on the same character).

There's also a Novice Channel now that you can join. You'll find plenty of ppl willing to help there.

I think it's totally worth it. When I started the game the community was super nice and helpful and explained stuff to me, when I told them that I'm new to the game, even in dungeons. In over 200 hours I barely met anyone rude and when it happened someone said that they should chill.

I enjoyed it up until I had to play with other people.

Yes, absolutely. I'm a strictly single player guy but I had a great time with 14, it's easily one of the best entries in the series. I occasionaly teamed up with (very friendly) people for the occasional story dungeon but other than that, you can play it however you want. And the writing is fantastic.

I'm kind of confused about this so maybe someone can shed some light.

I wanted FFXIV but didnt have time or a desire to pay monthly. I recall trying the beta but for some reason I have FFXIV Stormblood on my PS4. Is it the full game all the content? I'm pretty sure I didn't accidently buy it. Was it ever free?

I'd say definitely, only MMO I played was vanilla WoW during its release and got bored after a while, but FF14 I went from beginning all the way to Stormblood. Follow the advice here and you'll be fine. Also download the trial for free until lvl35. Plenty of fan service and arguably the best OST of the entire series.

I also played it on PS4 on a wireless connection and it was flawless. You can change the controller settings so it's easily as playable as keyboard&mouse (to an extent I suppose but I'm pretty sure there's plenty of people clearing savage content on PS4?)

Doopliss said:

I'm kind of confused about this so maybe someone can shed some light.

I wanted FFXIV but didnt have time or a desire to pay monthly. I recall trying the beta but for some reason I have FFXIV Stormblood on my PS4. Is it the full game all the content? I'm pretty sure I didn't accidently buy it. Was it ever free?

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I think it's a case of the game client downloading the expansion but preventing you from accessing it until you purchase the licence. Or simply the launcher downloading a new image to match its content.

I was in the same position as you and jumped in back in 2.4. One of the best decisions in my gaming life. I initially only wanted to go through the main story in the free 30 days and then leave it again, but I ended up staying for almost 2 years. I have been on a break since half a year now, but I can't recommend the game enough as a FF fan.

XIV can be toxic like any MMO, but it's not that bad unless you're in end game or you're the type of person that can't understand basic mechanics/abilities. It's very hard to be in the later.

FF XIV is barely an MMO to be honest, it is mostly some kind of very grindy solo player game with some group instances here and there. There are very few advantages to play with friends or in group, which is sad since the end up being some kind of weird hybrid game with the worst of both sides.

Yeah, you'll be good. To do some of the really high end stuff it's best to do with a group you know. But other than that you can do pretty much 99% just using the duty finder. Most people are pretty nice, if you say it's your first time someone will often explain some of the boss mechanics. Of course you will occasionally run into a prick or two. It's good fun, and the only mmo I've been able to get into for a length of time.

It plays fine on the PS4.

It's not, especially not as solo. The soloable content is braindead easy & repetitive and the story, while somewhat interesting in concept, is hidden behind so much overly verbose dialogue that at least I personally grew bored trying to follow it. There are some cool cutscenes but the story is just hidden beneath such mountains of mundane gameplay content that it's not worth it.

The best part about the game are some of the boss fights but you need a good team on those and even they are often, imho, made worse by so many unforgiving mechanics that they can become exercises in frustration. Like, a single mistake of standing in the wrong spot/lag can cause the fight to fail/become impossible to beat because it knocks some player(s) off the battle stage (and there's no way to return)

Nah it's kind of boring