Final Fantasy XIV Official Release Thread

It's nice that they added the potions, but that is probably the worst catch-up mechanic they could have gone with. It would have been nice to do something like Blizzard does with boosted characters where you do a short scenerio where you learn about your class and a bit of lore to get you on board with the current expansion. I wouldn't have minded playing a couple of hours worth of story quests where you get the tldr version of the story followed by access to the new content. I guess they just assume that the way they have it set up is so daunting, a lot of people will just shell out the $25 to skip it all. Does the potion also bump one of your classes up to 60 as well? I assume it has to, or it wouldn't make sense. That said, the price seems high, but if you break it down for someone like me, you're probably talking about less than $1/hr for time saved. That's completely worth it to me.
 
It's nice that they added the potions, but that is probably the worst catch-up mechanic they could have gone with. It would have been nice to do something like Blizzard does with boosted characters where you do a short scenerio where you learn about your class and a bit of lore to get you on board with the current expansion. I wouldn't have minded playing a couple of hours worth of story quests where you get the tldr version of the story followed by access to the new content. I guess they just assume that the way they have it set up is so daunting, a lot of people will just shell out the $25 to skip it all. Does the potion also bump one of your classes up to 60 as well? I assume it has to, or it wouldn't make sense. That said, the price seems high, but if you break it down for someone like me, you're probably talking about less than $1/hr for time saved. That's completely worth it to me.

There's a potion to skip ARR for $25, then one for HW for another $25. Then there are potions to level 1 class on an account to 60. Those are also $25, but atm you can only ever buy 1 of those leveling potions on any account. That may change later on, but for now, you can only pay to level 1 class.

So if you didn't complete ARR and wanted to start in SB now, I guess you're looking at $75. Plus the cost of the games.
 
There's a potion to skip ARR for $25, then one for HW for another $25. Then there are potions to level 1 class on an account to 60. Those are also $25, but atm you can only ever buy 1 of those leveling potions on any account. That may change later on, but for now, you can only pay to level 1 class.

So if you didn't complete ARR and wanted to start in SB now, I guess you're looking at $75. Plus the cost of the games.


Yeah, nevermind....that is crazy expensive then.
 
actually I used those potions - the cost was $50 to skip everything and start with a lvl 60 machinist and jump into stormblood which I had preordered months ago and I basically got a free 50 Samurai and 50 Redmage after a few quick quest conversations.

IMO - not bad, about as much as I would've paid for wow + a character boost minus the 2 level 50s.
 
I haven't played this game. Would starting from the beginning be a bad idea? Are there enough players at the start to progress easily?
 
My dps buddy and I as a whitemage had zero problems getting into groups for dungeons. Another fast alternative is to run palace of the dead, groups and pops are extremely quick.
 
I haven't played this game. Would starting from the beginning be a bad idea? Are there enough players at the start to progress easily?
I started from scratch about a week ago. WITHOUT any help from the guild (Free Company is what they're called), I'm currently level 51 by doing nothing but story quests and the occasional PotD. As a DPS class, the queues for mandatory dungeons can take about half an hour. Aside from that? Oh yeah. Plenty of people. The servers are actually at capacity right now, and there's lots of folks leveling up a second, third, or fourth job. I recommend doing the free trial thing they have. It'll give you a good feel for the game.
 
it looks like the class requirements also changed - paladin is now just a 30 gladiator instead of 30 gladiator/15 conjurer and warrior is just 30 marauder instead of 30 marauder/15 gladiator.

if you can equip the +xp feather hat, +xp earrings for preordering stormblood and craft +xp orange juice it would definitely cut time up to 50.
 
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I haven't played this game. Would starting from the beginning be a bad idea? Are there enough players at the start to progress easily?

I agree with TeeJayHoward above - I'm a long time but rather casual player so I consider myself more or less a "beginner" (FFXIV has long been my secondary major MMO, but I'm seriously thinking about making it my primary for awhile in terms of time dedicated!), but it is a very unique title in that unlike most games where lots of emphasis is exclusively (or mostly) on end-game unless a player starts a whole new alt character, FFXIV mechanics encourage people to level multiple jobs on the same character so this means there will always be people playing at just about every level of the game. Furthermore, other mechanics - like the "story, Main Quest line" - introduces players to new game systems (ie Access to riding mounts comes as part of the Main Quest line if I recall, where you adopt your own chocobo!) as well as just providing lots of lore enjoyment, while "guildleves and guildhests" which are a sort of repeatable assignment quests for not just combat, but also gathering and crafting, are available to help you progress even faster when you feel like it. Overall there's a lot to enjoy and this new expansion has added even more, while ensuring accessibility for new players.

If you (or anyone else) would like to be Recruited , it will grant you some neat items including a hat that boosts XP up to level 25 and is equipped by every class so you can use it over and over! Recruits and Callbacks (existing players with an account lapsed 90 days) can both get in on special items to get started.. or get back to the game. Just PM me and/or check out my thread in the Free Stuff subforum of HotDeals.
 
it looks like the class requirements also changed - paladin is now just a 30 gladiator instead of 30 gladiator/15 conjurer and warrior is just 30 marauder instead of 30 marauder/15 gladiator.

if you can equip the +xp feather hat, +xp earrings for preordering stormblood and craft +xp orange juice it would definitely cut time up to 50.

There's also a 30%+ EXP ring you get at level 15 from the novice hall that lasts until level 30. And all food gives the same XP boost (3%) even the cheapest food you can buy/make.

You'll get to ~level 40 or so just following the Main Story until you start to notice a need for sidequests or any other XP driven dungeon runs.

As for the gripes about having to do the old stuff to get to the new stuff. I can see how it'd be annoying from the perspective of someone just wanting to see the new stuff, but FF14 has always been more akin to a single player RPG than an MMO. But yeah they could've done something to not make it a strict requirement.

Oddly I believe the samurai and red mage jobs are only locked behind being level 50 (and having paid for SB) as opposed to Machinist/Astro/Dark Knight which actually require you to get to HW story. I could be wrong.
 
Oddly I believe the samurai and red mage jobs are only locked behind being level 50 (and having paid for SB) as opposed to Machinist/Astro/Dark Knight which actually require you to get to HW story. I could be wrong.
You're not. I haven't reached the Heavensward part of the storyline yet, and I'm playing through the MSQ as a RDM.
 
There's also a 30%+ EXP ring you get at level 15 from the novice hall that lasts until level 30. And all food gives the same XP boost (3%) even the cheapest food you can buy/make.

You'll get to ~level 40 or so just following the Main Story until you start to notice a need for sidequests or any other XP driven dungeon runs.

As for the gripes about having to do the old stuff to get to the new stuff. I can see how it'd be annoying from the perspective of someone just wanting to see the new stuff, but FF14 has always been more akin to a single player RPG than an MMO. But yeah they could've done something to not make it a strict requirement.

Oddly I believe the samurai and red mage jobs are only locked behind being level 50 (and having paid for SB) as opposed to Machinist/Astro/Dark Knight which actually require you to get to HW story. I could be wrong.

That seems curious; I would think that they would both unlock similarly to how Heavensward Jobs did. That's really too bad - I was looking forward to their unlocking being a major story element, even if it may not see it for quite a long time.
 
Started back up at lvl 30 the Sunday before last (fathers day) and got to level 43 last night. Not too bad with only getting an hour or two a night. Hoping to get to 50 by Friday.
 
Only you have completed the main scenerio for ARR. Otherwise no it does not. at Level 50 you are still going to do a SHIT TON of ARR quests before HS quests even start.

And I agree I am glad I resubbed as well!

The level 50 ARR quests wouldn't be anywhere near as bad but if memory serves something like 75% of them are just run back and forth stuff. When the content was new and being released in bits and pieces I'm sure it wasn't that bad (I didn't play then and haven't played for a year now) but when you are doing catchup it's really, really annoying. I leveled two different characters during my time playing and even knowing what I was going to have to do the second time around didn't help shave much time off.

This is definitely something they need to look into changing in some way.
 
I started playing Monday night and last night I hit 21. I'm looking into how to get a chocobo. I hope it doesn't take long.
 
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The level 50 ARR quests wouldn't be anywhere near as bad but if memory serves something like 75% of them are just run back and forth stuff. When the content was new and being released in bits and pieces I'm sure it wasn't that bad (I didn't play then and haven't played for a year now) but when you are doing catchup it's really, really annoying. I leveled two different characters during my time playing and even knowing what I was going to have to do the second time around didn't help shave much time off.

This is definitely something they need to look into changing in some way.

They did, its called $25 for a story skip potion. ;)
 
I started playing Monday night and last night I hit 21. I'm looking into how to get a chocobo. I hope it doesn't take long.
FFXIV is my favorite ebcause its so story driven and also you will never have a issue getting a party for anything instance and story related. This game is so well designed
 
I started playing Monday night and last night I hit 21. I'm looking into how to get a chocobo. I hope it doesn't take long.

Just keep doing the main storyline quests and when you get to the point where you pick a Grand Company, it'll be shortly after that where you can get a Chocobo mount.
 
Just keep doing the main storyline quests and when you get to the point where you pick a Grand Company, it'll be shortly after that where you can get a Chocobo mount.

I think the longest part is waiting for the instances to pop. I'm doing the 3rd one today. I am lvl 23 so they feel easy.
 
FFXIV is my favorite ebcause its so story driven and also you will never have a issue getting a party for anything instance and story related. This game is so well designed
I agree with this. I think the story is the only reason that's keeping me interested in the game. I usually get over MMO's pretty quickly but I also never follow the story. This time I am and I'm itching to play tonight. That never happens.... WHAT'S WRONG WITH ME
 
I think the longest part is waiting for the instances to pop. I'm doing the 3rd one today. I am lvl 23 so they feel easy.

Once you can unlock PotD (Palace of the Dead), leveling becomes so easy. People still run it up to 60 to level alts and such.

http://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodestone/playguide/contentsguide/deepdungeon/

The first time through can be daunting, esp with how many story quests there are and how many of the later ones are back and forth fetch quests, but getting to Heavensward is worth it. I still think its better than Stormblood from all I've seen of SB so far.
 
I played for maybe 20 hours when it was remade and re-released as A Realm Reborn. Got bored and quit after that.

Has a lot changed since then? I know there's expansions and a lot more content but has enough changed to warrant revisiting the base game and starting from scratch again? Or would everything in the first ~20 hours still be the same?
 
It's the same as it was when ARR came out. The FFXIV crew doesn't do major overhauls like the WoW guys do. There's been some minor tweaks, like a new layer of maps with aetherites shown so you can teleport easier. That's really it. Combat moves at the same slow speed. The GCD is still at that absurdly long 2 seconds. The main story takes 80+ hours to get through before you can even START the new content, and it's eighty hours of fetch quests. They DID get really good at storytelling near the end, though. I neglected sleep to do the next quest, and I haven't done that in a game for years.

It's still very much a game for the Japanese market. I like it, but it's not for everyone.
 
Literally, the only thing keeping me interested is the story.

The first set of main story was good. The 7th Astral Era main story so far sucks. Sticking through it though to get to Heavensward. I read that story is good.
 
Literally, the only thing keeping me interested is the story.

The first set of main story was good. The 7th Astral Era main story so far sucks. Sticking through it though to get to Heavensward. I read that story is good.
Heavensward story is some of my all time favorites in any game
 
The lack of open world end game content really kills mu interest in this game :(
 
Is this game still pretty popular? Thought about giving the trial a go.

Decently so. A new patched dropped a week ago so it brought people back for a bit. Especially if you're just concerned about progressing then absolutely. If you're more interested in the social aspect of an MMO it might take some effort to find a reliable group of folk.
 
I was talking with a friend about this specific MMO earlier today over brunch and he was sharing his demo experiences thus far with this game. He seems pretty intrigued by the game and tells me that the playerbase isn't as 'toxic' as other games (friendly, helpful people, etc.) which had us considering getting more involved in this game. I did a quick search on GMG, and saw that they were selling the "Complete Edition" for $99.99, though for members a 15% off code bringing it down to $84.99. However, directly on the official site, I see the price of the 'Complete Edition' for PC to be going for $29.99.

I guess I'm absolutely perplexed by the pricing of it on GMG and was looking to see if there was perhaps an additional add-on that I'm missing to justify the price difference?
 
I was talking with a friend about this specific MMO earlier today over brunch and he was sharing his demo experiences thus far with this game. He seems pretty intrigued by the game and tells me that the playerbase isn't as 'toxic' as other games (friendly, helpful people, etc.) which had us considering getting more involved in this game. I did a quick search on GMG, and saw that they were selling the "Complete Edition" for $99.99, though for members a 15% off code bringing it down to $84.99. However, directly on the official site, I see the price of the 'Complete Edition' for PC to be going for $29.99.

I guess I'm absolutely perplexed by the pricing of it on GMG and was looking to see if there was perhaps an additional add-on that I'm missing to justify the price difference?

It looks like that $99 package is the collectors editions, which sold for more than the base editions, but they contain in game bonuses and cosmetic items.

The normal 3 pack set is there for $60 (or $51 with the discount)... https://www.greenmangaming.com/games/final-fantasy-xiv-online-complete-edition/

Amazon has it for $45 atm but SE is running that 50% off special atm which is why its only $30 through them.

It can be a lot of fun, but be warned the single player story part of the game is LOADED with story, nearly to overflowing, and unless you want to buy a skip potion on the SE store, you'll have to go through all of it to unlock the other areas of the game like Heavensward and Stormblood.

Been a subscriber to it since launch, and still play 5 days a week off and on.
 
It looks like that $99 package is the collectors editions, which sold for more than the base editions, but they contain in game bonuses and cosmetic items.

The normal 3 pack set is there for $60 (or $51 with the discount)... https://www.greenmangaming.com/games/final-fantasy-xiv-online-complete-edition/

Amazon has it for $45 atm but SE is running that 50% off special atm which is why its only $30 through them.

It can be a lot of fun, but be warned the single player story part of the game is LOADED with story, nearly to overflowing, and unless you want to buy a skip potion on the SE store, you'll have to go through all of it to unlock the other areas of the game like Heavensward and Stormblood.

Been a subscriber to it since launch, and still play 5 days a week off and on.

Ahhh, that explains everything! Yes, we were looking on our mobile phones earlier today and looked a bit perplexed. I must have outright misinterpreted 'collectors' with 'complete'. I'm browsing the site but can't find specific details on the subscription setup (monthly, annually, every 3 months, etc) - I did see a 60 day pass or something like that, but it's listed at $29.99? I'm presuming that's basically $15 a month? Does the monthly go down if you elect to bundle multiple months, etc?
 
Ahhh, that explains everything! Yes, we were looking on our mobile phones earlier today and looked a bit perplexed. I must have outright misinterpreted 'collectors' with 'complete'. I'm browsing the site but can't find specific details on the subscription setup (monthly, annually, every 3 months, etc) - I did see a 60 day pass or something like that, but it's listed at $29.99? I'm presuming that's basically $15 a month? Does the monthly go down if you elect to bundle multiple months, etc?

Those $30/2-month "cards/passes" are basically subscription cards purchased in-store for those without an online-compatible method of payment. They're accessible, but don't really save you anything and aren't the only way to pay. There are plenty of other options if you do have a credit/debit card or similar.

Indeed the monthly subscription pricing for the "Standard" subscription is around $15 a month. If you pick multiple months, the price does drop. I believe that 3 months at a time is around $42 dollars and 6 months at a time is around $77, so you save a little buying in bulk. One notable feature of FFXIV is there is also a slightly cheaper account option called the "Entry" account with some limits - only one character per server for example instead of 8 etc. It is $13/month instead of $15 and unlike Standard accounts only goes month to month. Its worth noting that every month you're subscribed you also get Veteran Rewards - they recently reworked them so there arent' so many and instead focus around major character outfits and whatnot if i recall.

If you're looking to get started with the game, I suggest that you engage the services of a Recruit A Friend invite (or if anyone wishes to come back of the game after not subscribing for awhile, there is a Callback promotion too!). In short, you'll be granted some in-game items that will help you for no cost at all, including a hat that boosts your XP under level 25 (which unlike most MMOs you'll be able to use again and again with the multiple classes/jobs!) , plus some items you can turn in for notable gear as you level. However, you need to accept a Recruit A Friend invite before you subscribe and pay your first month's fee to get the credit (I think).

If you or your friends would like invites, I'd be happy to do so. But no matter what take advantage of it and ideally register your RaF code prior to applying the paid copy of the game on your account, just to be safe.
 
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