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 experiences and questions about the community, story and content. Below is a short list of tips to give you some direction and get the most enjoyment from the game as you progress. FFXIV is a huge and daunting game to parse and it can easily overwhelm you with all the content thrown your way. Hopefully this thread can help you manage it.
XIV-ERA CROSS WORLDS LINKSHELLS RECRUITMENT
**I've created a cross world linkshell for XIV era in case anyone who is on the Primal data center wants to join. These will be especially useful for trial players who aren't able to join an FC. PM me with your character's name and server, and I'll invite you. If you are on the Aether data center, PM Dark Knight . If you are on Crystal, PM Samaritan . If you are on Light, PM Rikalaus . If you are on Chaos, PM meadowdrone . Check the thread link above if you're unsure which data center your server is in. If you aren't on one of those five data centers and would like to start an Era CWLS of your own, let me know and I'll add your information to the recruitment. We also have a Discord server linking the CWLS together.
FREE TRIAL LINKS
PC
Steam
PS4
If you had a prior existing FFXIV account and are experiencing issues trying to register it, please consult the troubleshooting thread for help.
Generally, you will want to make sure that:
- You do not have any version of FFXIV already installed before downloading the trial version
- You do not try to register the free trial to a prior existing FFXIV account
- You do not try to register the free trial to a Square Enix service account that has already been linked to a paid FFXIV account
- You do not try to register the free trial to a Steam account that has linked to a paid FFXIV account
- You do not try to register the free trial to a PSN account that has linked to a paid FFXIV account
- Your region is correct
- You have the correct free trial version for your platform
RECOMMENDED BUYING OPTIONS
Current best value for newcomers and free trial players:
Complete Edition - contains the base game (ARR) and all expansion packs, as well as 30 days of subscription time, starting from when you register the game's product key.
For people who own the game already:
FFXIV Shadowbringers - Stormblood will be automatically included if you don't already own it. Since Heavensward is now included with the base game, this means all you need to buy is the Shadowbringers expansion to get Stormblood as well and have all current content. Note that this does not include a free 30 days.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS (provided by rpm ):
Q: When does 5.3/the ARR rework/the new free trial release?
A: The maintenance that adds 5.3/the ARR rework/the new free trial is scheduled to end on August 11th at 3 AM PDT.
Q: What does the new Free Trial include?
A: The new Free Trial includes all of the content from A Realm Reborn (the base game) and Heavensward (the first expansion). The new free trial level cap is 60.
Q: What are the free trial restrictions?
A: https://support.na.square-enix.com/rule.php?id=5382&la=1&tag=freetrial
- Free Trial Players are not required to purchase licensed software to use the Free Trial.
- One (1) Free Trial account may be registered using a Square Enix account so long as that Square Enix account has not been previously registered with any version of the game.
- Free Trial Players cannot make in-game micro transactions during the Free Trial.
- Free Trial Players can create only eight (8) playable characters, restricted to one (1) playable character per world.
- Free Trial account characters have their level capped at level thirty five (35).
- Free Trial account characters can obtain only a capped amount of in game currency (GIL).
- Free Trial Players cannot use the "shout", "yell" or "tell" in-game chat options during the Free Trial.
- Free Trial Players cannot access the in-game market board during the Free Trial.
- Free Trial Players cannot trade items with other players during the Free Trial.
- Free Trial Players cannot use the Mogletter service during the Free Trial.
- Free Trial Players cannot hire a retainer character during the Free Trial.
- Free Trial Players can join a Linkshell if invited, but cannot create a new Linkshell during the Free Trial.
- Free Trial Players cannot create or join a Free Company during the Free Trial.
- Free Trial Players can join a party if invited or by using the Duty Finder, but cannot assemble a party during the Free Trial.
- Free Trial Players cannot login to the Lodestone and or any other game forum during the Free Trial.
- Free Trial Players cannot progress past Floor 10 in the Deep Dungeon during the Free Trial.
Q: Can I play the Free Trial if I've already bought the base game (A Realm Reborn/Starter Edition)/received the base game for free through a promotion (Alienware Arena, Twitch Prime, free PSN giveaway)?
A: No, the Free Trial is not accessible to those who have already bought the base game.
Q: Is a subscription required if I own the base game but am still in A Realm Reborn/Heavensward content?
A: Yes, you need to pay the subscription fee if you own the base game/are not on the Free Trial.
Q: I'm currently playing the Free Trial. Will my current Free Trial be upgraded to the new Free Trial?
A: Yes, you should be automatically upgraded when 5.3 releases.
Q: What do I need to buy if I want to continue playing after the free trial?
A: You need to buy both the base game and the latest expansion, Shadowbringers. These can be bought separately, or together in the Complete Edition.
Q: Does the base game/the Complete Edition include 30 days for free? Do expansions include 30 days for free?
A: The base game/Complete Edition provides a free 30 days. Every time the base game/Complete Edition is registered on a new platform, you will receive a free 30 days (i.e. if you're playing on PC, buying and registering the PS4 version to your account would provide you with a free 30 days.
Q: Does the game have cross-play/cross-progression? Can I play the free trial on two platforms at once?
A: The game has unified servers across all platforms. You can play your account/characters across multiple platforms if you buy the game on multiple platforms. You cannot play a free trial account across multiple platforms; if you want to play on two or more platforms, you must buy the game on each platform you wish to play it on.
Q: Can you pay the subscription via PSN?
A: No, subscriptions are paid via SE's own XIV account management website, MogStation. You can pay with a credit/debit card, PayPal, or via prepaid game time cards found in stores or on Amazon.
Q: How does cross-server play work?
A: Servers are grouped into clusters called "data centers". You can play with others within your own data center. The main things that are still determined by your server is what FCs (read: guilds) you can join (you can only join FCs on your own server) and housing (you can only own housing on your own server)
Q: What is the "Recruit a Friend" system? How does it work?
A: The "Recruit a Friend" or "RAF" system is a system that allows both existing and new players to be rewarded for bringing in new players to XIV/joining XIV. For recruits, the rewards are:
- Friendship Circlet, a headgear that increases XP by +20% when level 25 and below
- 99 Aetheryte Tickets. An Aetheryte Ticket allows you to use a ticket to teleport instead of incurring the normal gil cost.
- A fist bump emote.
- 10 Silver Chocobo Feathers, which you can trade in for gear
TIPS:
0. (Precursors)
Enjoy yourself, and play as much or as little as you feel like. The story is the primary content of the game and is the uniting factor everyone praises it for.
0-a.
A fresh look improves your enjoyment of pretty much everything. It's also really cool to see your character in cutscenes. The glamour guide linked is great for getting started.Another link you could add to the OP is this glamour guide. I met quite a lot of people who play for weeks without knowing you can change the appearance of your gear. One of the most important features. :)
A Guide to Glamour in FFXIV
Most of the time, when I get a request from Patrons, I’m asked to put together a new glamour, but returning player and Patron Helena wanted to see a breakdown of how glamour works in the game…fashionninjutsu.com
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0-c. You can play FFXIV with either a mouse and keyboard setup or with a controller. The controller scheme works just as well as m-kb setups thanks to its fantastic support by the FFXIV dev team. Hotkeys can be customized in character settings via the main menu.
With a controller, you can select party members by pressing the up or down arrows on the dpad. Pressing the dpad's left or right arrows will select the nearest targetable object, whether npc, enemy, player character, or item. Pressing L1 or R1 will select only enemies, from left to right or right to left. You can also go into your button configuration for controller and customize which buttons do what. You can also set up L3 or R3 to target the enemy a selected player is targeting via assist target.
I would make use of W Cross Hotbar (WXHB). I found it really helpful. Your cross Hotbar can fill up quickly and WXHB allows you to access your other hotbars quickly by double tapping R2 or L2.
Option > System > Character Configuration > Hotbar Settings > Custom tab > Enable WXHB
This guy goes over it.
FFXIV WXHB Tutorial Reborn
This tutorial goes over all of the fundamentals of the W- Cross Hotbar (WXHB) and Expanded Hotbar features for controller users in Final Fantasy XIV. This ca...youtu.be
This is how I have my UI using a controller. This let's me see all my skills I need and I also have my "class-specific bar" set between them.
But a big since is that sprint button. It's actually on a hotbar so it can only be clicked while using a mouse. So then why is it there?
So- going into User Macro, either spot 98 or 99, I have the following text: /ac "Sprint" <me>
Then I go to System Configuration -> Gamepad Settings -> Button Configuration -> Change pressing right analog stick to Macro 98 or 99.
This ultimately allows you to use sprint like you would in an FPS or other games and when it goes off, it will actually cause the Sprint icon to go on a CD so you know when it is up again. This is useful because it can be easy to forget it's there and there is plenty of fights where being able to sprint a lot is useful.
If this was already covered, sorry! But I wanted to put it in here to help anyone.
0-d. If you are on PS4, use a USB plug in keyboard for easy communication with other players. You can also play via mouse and keyboard on the PS4.
To clarify more, the enemy list on the left shows every monster that is currently engaged in combat with the party. The color is their current threat with you, red is you are on top threat with them, followed by orange , yellow, then green. The bar under the name is the monsters health bar, and if they are casting abilties that will show up on a cast bar there too for easy targeting and interupting or just knowing when to react to things.
The bars under the class icons on the right in the image dictate the threat level of the monster you have targeted, who ever is on top threat will always show a full bar and the other bars will fill up in relation to the distance to the max threat of the person with the most.
These are both very important
0-e.
The three starting cities are Ul'Dah, Gridania, and Limsa Lominsa. Each city has classes that correspond to it. Your choice of starting class determines the city your character arrives in at the start of the game.
Ul'Dah, the desert kingdom
Classes: Gladiator (GLD), Thaumaturge (THM), Pugilist (PGL)
Gladiator
Thaumaturge
Pugilist
Gridania, the forest society ruled by elementals
Classes: Archer (ARC), Lancer (LNC), Conjurer (CNJ)
Archer
Lancer
Conjurer
Limsa Lominsa, the maritime state
Classes: Marauder (MRD), Arcanist (ACN), Rogue (ROG)*
*unlocks at level 10
Marauder
Arcanist
Rogue
You will visit all three cities within the first several hours of the game's story, so don't worry if you decide you aren't fond of your starting class and want to try a different one. In FFXIV, you can switch classes simply by changing your weapon. Expanded jobs will unlock as you progress the game. Note that you must own the related expansion to each job to unlock them. Heavensward is now included with the free trial and starter editions, so Dark Knight (DRK) and Machinist (MCH), as well as Astrologian (AST) will unlock upon reaching Heavensward for all players.
Left to right: Dark Knight, Astrologian, and Machinist
In addition to what's been posted, if you'd prefer a text overview of the jobs, there's an official set of overviews for each one here.
FINAL FANTASY XIV Job Guide
In FINAL FANTASY XIV, sufficient mastery of a class will open up the path to one or more related jobs and their respective actions. To learn more about job actions, traits, and job gauges, check out the section below.na.finalfantasyxiv.com
It lists the skills for each job, and at the bottom of each it explains their individual gauges, combos and mechanics.
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0-g.
1. Feel free to ignore all of the quests other than main story and unlock quests, denoted by their blue color in the chart below.
Normal sidequests don't offer anything other than more experience and possibly some lore about the world of Eorzea. Main story quests will progress the main scenario. Unlock quests will unlock gameplay content and typically come with stories of their own (which may be referenced or alluded to by the main story if you complete them!). It's always a good idea to do the unlockable content quests as you come across them. Normal sidequests are great for leveling up an alternate job later on.
2. Don't worry about side content outside of the unlockable raids, dungeons, and trials. A/S rank hunt trains, relic weapons, Palace of the Dead, Eureka, treasure maps, and even crafting, can all be done later, or when you need a break from the narrative. Crafting is a huge deal in FFXIV and can even be the primary way you play the game - but the game is still predicated on your completion of the main story, and the story is the meat of the game. Crafting is also time and resource intensive. The unlockable raids, dungeons, and trials all either come with their own story arcs or are tied to the main scenario. Some of these may be referenced by the main story later, and some further still are actually required for Shadowbringers (the Crystal Tower quest line).
3. Make sure you unlock both your mount and companion at levels 20 and 30, respectively. You can unlock mounts by doing the quest My Little Chocobo at level 20, related to your specific Grand Company, which you'll join as part of the main scenario. You can then do the quest My Feisty Little Chocobo at level 30 to unlock your chocobo as a fighting companion on the field. Note that companions can't be used or summoned while in an instanced duty. You can view the status of your chocobo, it's support skills, and its equipment under the Companion window from the main menu.
The quickest way to obtain Grand Company (GC) seals is by doing your Grand Company Hunting Log. This will net you a lot of seals within the hour.
4. Using the leveling roulette once a day when it unlocks will help you level extremely fast. Duty roulettes are a set of options available via the Duty Finder from your main menu that give daily bonuses to experience, tomes, and gil on top of the normal rewards. They refresh every morning and are the best tool you have for gaining resources quickly.
5. Use your Tomestones of Poetics to purchase gear at the levels 50, 60, and 70. These gear sets are the most accessible top item level gear for their respective levels and will make accessing raid content for that level a breeze. You get a ton of them by doing roulettes and dungeons as you progress through the story, they're basically an unlimited resource. Tomestones cap out at 2000, so make sure you spend them to make room for more.
6. Tomestones are the primary form of endgame currency used for max item level gear. Players at endgame usually aim for a mix of this gear and gear won from raids to maximize their character builds. There are usually three forms of tomestones active at any time, with poetics being a permanent constant and the highest level tomestone (currently Allagan Tomestones of Allegory) having a weekly acquisition cap of 450 tomes, which resets every Tuesday at 1AM Pacific standard time (PST).
7. Log out in towns or settlements near aetherytes to gain a daily experience bonus. This usually extends to a +50% exp bonus for a full level each day.
8. Make it a habit to immediately attune to every aetheryte and aetheryte shard you see. They typically look like so
These are the primary method of getting around and everyone uses them.
9. Once you reach Heavensward you'll be able to unlock flight via Aether Currents, pictured below.
They can be obtained by either finding them around the various zones or completing blue unlock quests in each area. You can either use your aether compass to find the nearest one or google a map for your particular zone to find their locations.
10. Don't worry about Parsing just yet. Parsing is the act of using a third party program to measure data packets from XIV and give a reading of your combat data in numeric form. It's useful for difficult endgame content and analyzing your performance, but is officially banned from being used or talked about in game to avoid harassment by unsavory players. I'll post resources for this tool if you want to use it to help you improve below. As a general rule, just learning how your job works and being friendly are all the tools you'll need to complete the game and have a good time.
11. You can ignore other players by right clicking or pressing square/Y and selecting ignore from the drop down menu. This is useful against RMT bots spamming the chat and unfriendly players. You can also select their name from the chat log to ignore them.
12. You can toggle player names appearing via character settings from the main menu. I hated seeing a sea of player names every time I logged in to Limsa Lominsa and this fixes that.
13. You can customize your HUD and UI however you like from the main menu.
Everyone has a different preference, and you can actually improve your combat performance by tailoring your HUD to your playstyle. You can read a detailed introduction to the UI via the FFXIV Official UI Guide.
Sure!
So to start you go to: Start -> System -> "Character Configuration" -> "HUD" (looks like the 8 squares) -> "Enable Hotbar 7" -> Click the 1x12 option.
Note: Make sure in this same menu that: "Hide Unassigned Slots" is on.
Then go to Start - > System -> Hud Layout -> Now it's called something different for each class but for PLD it's called the "Oath Guage" you simply click it (best to use mouse here) and drag it into the middle of the WXHB (you can use the d-pad to fine tune it's movement and press down on the right analog stick to increase size)
Then look around for Hotbar 7, drag it until it matches this:
Now save your HUD.
Start -> Character -> Actions & Traits -> General.
Your going to want to use your mouse for this but you want to click and hold Sprint and then drag it down to the very bottom spot of Hotbar 7. Once done you can exit out of your skill and none of the other assigned spots will show.
Now whenever you use the macro by clicking the right analog stick, you can see Sprint go on CD without it taking up a traditional spot.
Let me know if this helps... or not.
Edit: Also all of the dots in the bottom right corner is just showing you your inventory space at a glance.
14.
Hunting and Challenge logs can be accessed from the main menu. They're a useful resource while progressing and will speed your early leveling process.
Hunting logs pertain to various monsters listed for your current class, and will reward an experience bonus upon completing them.
Challenge logs reward experience and gil dependent on various objectives listed in the logbook. These reset every week on Tuesdays at 1AM Pacific Standard Time (PST), and can be repeated.
15.
Job quests will unlock key skills that are part of your job's rotation and provide extra lore, story, and experience as well. New job quests unlock every 5 levels or every other level after level 50. The location of the quests vary depending on the events in each job quest line and the associated NPCs. If you are unsure of where to find your next job quest, the FFXIV Community Wiki contains all quest and associated NPC (non-player character) locations and coordinates.
It should be noted that the nine base classes aren't equipped to handle the later dungeons past A Realm Reborn. It's recommended to upgrade to your class's job as soon as it becomes available.
16. Don't waste gil on new equipment. Gear is rewarded to you via main story quests at frequent intervals and will get you through all the way until levels 50 and 60 of both ARR and Heavensward and beyond. Gil is actually somewhat hard to come by and should be saved for that hot new glamour item on the market board you really want. Or for buying a house, which is a whole can of worms in itself.
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All equipment has a condition ranging from 100% (top condition) to 0% (broken). As you battle enemies your gear will wear and take damage. It's important to mend them to avoid gear breakage.
Above you can see the status of each pieve of equipment denoted by the bar next to them. Green indicates the remaining condition of the piece. When a piece of equipment breaks, you lose all associated stat and defense benefits associated with that gear piece. When your gear is in top condition, the bar will be a blue color.
21.
Communication and teamwork is one of the most important aspects of combat in FFXIV at higher levels. As you progress the story, content will become more demanding and dependent on your understanding of battle mechanics, specific fight mechanics, job skills, and combat roles. By communicating with your team in instanced duties, you'll be able to better assess and understand what each person is doing in the fight, how to approach it, and what you need to look for. Not everyone will be accommodating or helpful, but there are usually friendly people who will talk to you. If nothing else, letting your team know you are new to the fight will grant you leeway in being able to make mistakes without fear of judgment from less friendly players, and breaks the ice.
22.
Retainers can be obtained from the retainer vocate npc in your starting city. The main story will take you there as part of the introductory tour. Make sure to take advantage of this. Retainers are the most important asset for selling wares on the market board and provide a lot of storage (175 slots per retainer). As a side note, your chocobo can store items as well, up to 70 slots.
The Chocobo Saddlebag is accessed from the main menu, while retainer storage is accessed by summoning the retainer at a summoning bell in various towns and inns, pictured below.
23.
Every job's skill palette is tailored to serve the job's playstyle and combat role. An individual skill that might at first appear to be unhelpful might be useful in a specific scenario where other jobs in that combat role can't act. One example is the Monk skill, Mantra, which increases the effectiveness of healing spells cast upon party members in a small radius around the user. This isn't helpful for the job's normal combat role, but can help a lot in situations where the team is taking heavy damage and healers need the extra support. Study your job skills carefully and don't be afraid to use them a lot to get a sense of how they work and what applications they might have. Some jobs, such as the Scholar, have complex skillsets that need to be fully understood to be played efficiently.
Skills can be viewed under Actions and Traits from the main menu. Traits are permanent passive status and effect bonuses granted to your job as you level, which can alter the way skills work in addition to strengthening your character. Every job also has a unique skillset for PVP in addition to its normal skills, which can be accesed under your PVP profile from the main menu.
24. If you become bored or dissatisfied with your character's appearance, you can change your hair and face makeup in the inn in your starting city, via the Aesthetician for a small sum of gil. You will first have to unlock him, by completing the level 15 quest Beauty is Only Scalp Deep. Note that you cannot change your character's race, skin tone, or physical features using this feature. The aesthetician can be summoned from the pictured bell below in inns.
25. Should you wish to switch your character's gender, race, or physical features, you will need to use a Potion of Fantasia, an item that, upon use, will allow you to edit your character in the character creation screen when relogging. You get one bundled with the collector's edition if you buy it, and one after completing the A Realm Reborn main scenario. They are also available for purchase from the FFXIV Online Store at USD $10 per item.
26. If you wish to avoid the usual 10 to 20 minute queue times for instanced duties and want to stick with one core job, consider playing the Arcanist class, which later on can upgrade to both Summoner
and Scholar
This line is unique in that leveling one job will simultaneously level the other, since their levels are linked.
27.
The Hall of the Novice is a series of quests aimed at familiarizing players with gameplay mechanics. It can be accessed by speaking to one of the smith NPCs located in the three starting cities of Limsa Lominsa, Gridania, and Ul'dah, in the respective Adventurer's Guild.
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Free Company -> Guild
Grand Company -> NPC Faction
Leve -> Task, usually offered by a Grand Company or local governing body in the game
Duty -> Instanced gameplay, either a dungeon, raid, boss fight, or a solo instance that is not shared with the overworld
Instance -> A zone or area
Trial -> Boss fight
Gil -> Money
Ilm -> Inch
Fulm -> Foot
Yalm -> Yard
Malm -> Mile
Popoto -> Potato
Lalafell -> Popoto
Aether -> Ether
Primal -> Summon
Tome -> Book
Linkshell -> Chat room, or communication network within the game's lore
Linkpearl -> Communication device for linkshells
31.
For quick chat, people usually use a combination of auto-translate and chat macros. Auto-translate is a feature that translates text into another user's language. Typing on a keyboard, if you type a letter, say letter h, and then press the tab key, a list of auto-fill words will show up for you to select. These words will usually show up in chat with arrows on each side, like shown below
To the person seeing these, the text between the arrows will appear in the language their client is set to. The below image shows the list that appears when selecting an auto-translated word.
Macros are scripts used for a number of effects in FFXIV. They can be used to communicate, set timers, or execute skills. You can even set them up to perform a full rotation of skills on any given class or job. These tend to be used for crafting classes that require specific rotations for high quality (HQ) items. They tend to be less useful for combat because they lack the queueing effect to the server that happens when you press a skill key directly, but can still be useful for individual skills, either by cutting out the extra step of targeting, or letting the party know you have used that skill upon pressing the macro's assigned key.
They are also often used for communication. You can access macros from the main menu.
Within the macro box, if you type /say or /p, followed by a message, such as "Hello!", and then press its assigned key, it's effect will be to post "Hello!" immediately to the chat box in either local chat or party chat. You can also input auto-translate words to macros. You can find a guide to macros at the end of the post.
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Below are a list of resources for quality of life and gameplay. I'll update all of this as I get new information or am corrected/told new tips. Thanks to everyone for your help on improving this thread.
RESOURCES:
FFXIV Community Wiki - a community-based site for content guides and definitions of terms. Use this for looking up quest locations, loot tables, and other miscellaneous needs
Ariyala's FFXIV Toolkit - Useful for planning out your gear builds
Advanced Combat Tracker - Parsing tool to measure combat data
XIV Rotations - Tool for putting together skill rotations
The Balance - Useful resource for job guides and current metagame. The discord is more active than the website by nature and thus more up to date
FFLogs - Useful for looking at data averages. Beware using this to compare yourself against others. Many of the top end parses are unrealistic.
XIV Analysis - Alternate tool for data analysis.
Fashion Ninjutsu's Guide to FFXIV Glamour - A great guide for learning the glamour system.
The Eorzea Collection - a glamour enthusiast site dedicated to the game's most popular, and competitive, endgame.
FFXIV User Interface Guide - the official website's guide to understanding the user interface.
FFXIV Online Store - The official cash shop for FFXIV. A number of cosmetic items, mounts, minions, dyes, and other goods are sold here for real world money.
FFXIV Mogstation - The site for account management on FFXIV. This is where you pay your subscription or use account services such as server transfer.
The Lodestone - The official front page for FFXIV news about server status and maintenance, events, and more.
FFXIV Companion App - A $5/month downloadable app that lets you buy and sell through the market board without being logged in. You can also chat with other players who are on the app.
Akhmorning Raiding Fundamentals Guide - a great guide for raiding basics.
Late to the Party Finder's Macro Guide - a guide to macro creation and usage.
I may add more images to aid with clarity. Please let me know of any errors.
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