Final Fantasy XIV Official Release Thread

Phase 4 IS open beta, and the current plan from SE is to have no wiping at all from that point on. There will be a period of time between the end of phase 4 and the early access launch, probably to the tune of 2-3 weeks.

Early access is likely to be only a couple of days before the official launch. With the official launch being 8/27, my guess is that early access will start on 8/22 or 8/23.

Hi Mabu,

Are you positive that we retain out open beta character? Because I was shooting for an arcanist/summoner class myself. But from what I read arcanist/summoners won't be in the game till release. Unless they are releasing arcanist at phase 4.

I understand they want to lower the starting zones player base so it won't be a lag fest :) But I wonder if it would "fair" for the arcanist. You can always switch jobs at release I assume.
 
Windows 8, GTX 680 with the latest beta drivers keep crashing... dafaq...
 
I haven't updated to the beta ones yet. Maybe I will hold off cause things seem to be working fine for me.
 
Got into the beta to learned crafting today, no problems with the latest betas on my front.

Coffaholic, don't get additcted to the beta 3, save it for phase 4 D: and partner with me for some easy leveling xD
 
spent some time making characters to make sure what race and class i want to play pretty awesome. the game looks and runs amazing man i cant believe it. i think thats the first requirement for an mmo.. engine failures really can severely hinder a game. thats part of why wow was so successful i think, the engine was so ahead of its time.

anyways.

how do you get a chocobo? what level?


is crafting any different in reborn?




Windows 8, GTX 680 with the latest beta drivers keep crashing... dafaq...

beta client + beta drivers, risky. heh. I stopped downloading beta video drivers awhile ago.. had problems with other games
 
Got into the beta to learned crafting today, no problems with the latest betas on my front.

Coffaholic, don't get additcted to the beta 3, save it for phase 4 D: and partner with me for some easy leveling xD

Lol, I'm just about ready to sit out until phase4. I've figured out all of the basic systems except I can't figure out how to equip materia and I haven't gotten to level 30 so I haven't checked out jobs either.

By the end of tonight I don't see myself having a reason to play until open beta.
 
I still cant believe how much this game has changed for the better. Makes me glad I spent the $100 when it first launched now... lol
 
Finally got in the beta and played tonight for like 3 hours then I preordered the digital collectors edition lol

It runs well, it looks great, it plays well, it has a lot of cool stuff. I'm digging it. Couldn't say no for the digital CE when you can get it at greenmangaming currently for $37.50 using the coupon they have.
 
Anyone running SLI with the game? The new drivers I downloaded seems to work with SLI but SLI performance just isn't there.
 
Anyone running SLI with the game? The new drivers I downloaded seems to work with SLI but SLI performance just isn't there.

the game doesn't have SLI support enabled yet, or crossfire for that matter.

[NA] Regarding SLI Support
We confirmed that if you have installed the “GeForce 320.49 Driver Beta” graphic driver from NVIDIA®, FINAL FANTASY XIV: A Realm Reborn will show up as a customizable game (NVIDIA Control Panel > 3D Settings > Manage 3D Settings). However, please note that we have not yet made the necessary adjustments on the program side to make the game compatible with SLI. Please be patient as we plan to have this ready by the official launch.

We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and thank you for your understanding.
 
Finally got in the beta and played tonight for like 3 hours then I preordered the digital collectors edition lol

It runs well, it looks great, it plays well, it has a lot of cool stuff. I'm digging it. Couldn't say no for the digital CE when you can get it at greenmangaming currently for $37.50 using the coupon they have.

Thanks for the tip, preordered the CE too at that price.
 
Just to be sure. If I purchased this game in any way shape or form back in v1.0, I don't need to buy it again correct?
 
Does anyone know if there's currently a quick or consistent way to get a beta key? I see that several sites have been giving away keys over the past few days but couldn't find one with keys available at the moment.
 
Wish the beta weekend didn't end already. I have withdrawal symptoms already dammit.
 
Just to be sure. If I purchased this game in any way shape or form back in v1.0, I don't need to buy it again correct?

Correct. Go back a few pages, all the info was detailed already.
 
I really enjoyed Phase 3. When I started playing other classes and started to notice a lack of quests seems very troubling to me. I don't know if I will have enough quests if I want to play three or four classes to max. I had to travel to uldahn to do my lowbie quests.
 
I really enjoyed Phase 3. When I started playing other classes and started to notice a lack of quests seems very troubling to me. I don't know if I will have enough quests if I want to play three or four classes to max. I had to travel to uldahn to do my lowbie quests.

lots of people have mentioned these concerns. something to think about.
 
Those travelling minstrels that auto level you from 26-29 (outside the grand company headquarters) ,and the ones that level you from 1-15 (not sure where these ones are), are they just around for the beta? Or was nothing like that available in 1.0?

Makes it so you can get another class into the dungeons, but with no town quests to supplement them, it's gonna be a bit of a grind getting the alternate classes levelled.
 
I really enjoyed Phase 3. When I started playing other classes and started to notice a lack of quests seems very troubling to me. I don't know if I will have enough quests if I want to play three or four classes to max. I had to travel to uldahn to do my lowbie quests.

We don't know for sure but it is probably due to it being the beta. Most of the time, a beta for an MMO just means demo for most MMO's. But in this one they are truly treating it as a beta. Tons of stuff is not in the beta that they said they aren't testing yet or doesn't need testing and will be in during the release. They are also actively reading their forums and taking and implement suggestions for stuff from the obvious bug fixes to new features and such.

They still have another class that is going to be added in (Arcanist) to the beta as well.

Those travelling minstrels that auto level you from 26-29 (outside the grand company headquarters) ,and the ones that level you from 1-15 (not sure where these ones are), are they just around for the beta? Or was nothing like that available in 1.0?

Makes it so you can get another class into the dungeons, but with no town quests to supplement them, it's gonna be a bit of a grind getting the alternate classes levelled.

It's for the beta, just to get people working the job system and test stuff out and find bugs/imbalances and doing this free leveling is the easiest way to get people to do it once they are able too.
 
The game started out super slow for me (the first 13 or so levels dragged) but am really starting to enjoy the content once I hit level 15. I think combat for the first 10 or so levels is way to simplistic. I think something as little as providing each class with more skills earlier on would allow for a little more variation in combat.
 
The game started out super slow for me (the first 13 or so levels dragged) but am really starting to enjoy the content once I hit level 15. I think combat for the first 10 or so levels is way to simplistic. I think something as little as providing each class with more skills earlier on would allow for a little more variation in combat.

my level ten thaumaturge had a bunch of spells
 
my level ten thaumaturge had a bunch of spells

Only 3 of which matter for regular fights.

Fire, fire, fire, fire until mana runs out. Swap buff, ice, ice, ice until mana is full, repeat

I gotta say though, blizzard aoe is a lot of fun on FATEs, until you aggro everything :)
 
Am I the only one who thinks this game is just ho hum?

SE have done a good job with it feeling like a FF game with the story and music, but it just feels so meh to me. I don't get any sense of progression with my character, the battle system is something to be desired. The fates are just RIFTs, RIft system. It very streamlined MMO, but I guess it has to be to have mass appeal.
 
my level ten thaumaturge had a bunch of spells
I was playing as a Conjurer and I used two skills (one which was a DOT, so effectively one spell) until I got another spell around lvl 10. Then again a conjurer seems to be primarily a healing class so maybe I should try out a DPS class and re-evaluate things. I am just comparing this to Rift where my healer had almost too many skills by the time I had hit the mid-teens. It definitely did make things fun though since I could throw different spells in (even though not all of them were super useful).

Sky15 said:
How high of a level did you get? I found the game kinda mundane until I hit lvl 15
 
I have an old 1.0 character who has a lot of skills in the 20's and 30's and it still felt the same boring combat system.

I'm not saying it's a bad, but I just don't like the combat system.
 
i don't think combat system is that bad
maybe people are spoiled with more active combat mmo's but i personally don't want to have complex combat system that forces you to try hard
that's okay for short term but this is mmo
p.s this is just my opinion and maybe i'm getting old
 
Honestly, I don't bother judging a combat system till it's near endgame. Most MMOs spend 95% of the time at max level. Who cares if you only have 1 skill till level 10. That's not where you are playing the majority of your time.

Furthermore, while I don't mind skill weaving, the vast majority of MMOs for DPS end up being able to achieve 95% (if not higher) of max DPS for a character/class can be played with 2-3 buttons. By the time you figure in macros that stack 5 skills in a row that are on cool down, to 1 button, who cares if it's 5 skills on 5 cool downs mapped to 1 button, or 1 skill mapped to 1 button? I don't understand why people think they need 10,000 useless skills that they'll never use, or rather SHOULDN'T use.

Rift was the perfect example of that. There were lots and lots and lots of potential combinations, there was only ONE solution that produced maximum damage and everyone ran it. Except for the people who didn't know better, and they used sub-par builds and got sub-par damage. The result? Extra skills did nothing but to make bad players worse. I don't see that as a good thing.
 
Originally Posted by m33pm33p
Just to be sure. If I purchased this game in any way shape or form back in v1.0, I don't need to buy it again correct?

Correct but you cannot play in the early access unless you pre order.
 
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Honestly, I don't bother judging a combat system till it's near endgame. Most MMOs spend 95% of the time at max level. Who cares if you only have 1 skill till level 10. That's not where you are playing the majority of your time.
True, but I figure if you bring a game onto a market already crowded with other games you should probably bring something new to the table. From my limited time playing FFXIV really doesn't do much here and combat being one of the biggest parts of an MMO I would think it would be pretty low hanging fruit to approach. If Square wants FFXIV to be a success the non-max level content is going to have to be fun, the hardcore crowd will always be willing to slog through boring content to get to the end-goal but the hardcore don't make up the majority of player base in a very successful MMO.

Furthermore, while I don't mind skill weaving, the vast majority of MMOs for DPS end up being able to achieve 95% (if not higher) of max DPS for a character/class can be played with 2-3 buttons. By the time you figure in macros that stack 5 skills in a row that are on cool down, to 1 button, who cares if it's 5 skills on 5 cool downs mapped to 1 button, or 1 skill mapped to 1 button? I don't understand why people think they need 10,000 useless skills that they'll never use, or rather SHOULDN'T use.
I don't want 10,000 useless skills and 2-3 good ones, I want a good amount of useful skills that require the player to understand when to use them best. I don't want Square to throw in 50 skills but only have two of them useful.

Rift was the perfect example of that. There were lots and lots and lots of potential combinations, there was only ONE solution that produced maximum damage and everyone ran it. Except for the people who didn't know better, and they used sub-par builds and got sub-par damage. The result? Extra skills did nothing but to make bad players worse. I don't see that as a good thing.
The great thing about this is when you are leveling you really don't care about min-maxing DPS or HPS. It made the leveling process fun to me since I wasn't stuck for hours upon hours hitting the same buttons over and over.
 
Notes from the next beta period. They don't have a closing date for this one. Wonder if it will still just be the weekend.

Regarding the Next Beta Test Schedule (07/03/2013)

Thank you for your participation in the beta test for FINAL FANTASY XIV: A Realm Reborn.The next Beta test is scheduled to begin at 2:00 a.m. (PDT)/9:00 a.m. (GMT) on July 5th, 2013.

Starting from the next Beta test, the stress testing of the duty finder is planned to be conducted. However, the final QA check of the system is still in progress.As a result, there is a possibility where the duty finder will not become available at the start, but instead will be implemented through the update that will be conducted during the Beta test.With the testing details including when the duty finder will become available and also the closing schedule of the next Beta test, we will be making another announcement before the test begins.We look forward to your active participation in the beta test for FINAL FANTASY XIV: A Realm Reborn.
 
^ Nice, if it's ongoing for at least a week, I can just test the rest of the stuff on my time.

Thinking my main will be a warrior/marauder at the start, feels like a dps/aoe tank.
 
True, but I figure if you bring a game onto a market already crowded with other games you should probably bring something new to the table. From my limited time playing FFXIV really doesn't do much here and combat being one of the biggest parts of an MMO I would think it would be pretty low hanging fruit to approach. If Square wants FFXIV to be a success the non-max level content is going to have to be fun, the hardcore crowd will always be willing to slog through boring content to get to the end-goal but the hardcore don't make up the majority of player base in a very successful MMO.
I agree combat should be enjoyable and a solid part of an MMO, I didn't say it shouldn't be.


I don't want 10,000 useless skills and 2-3 good ones, I want a good amount of useful skills that require the player to understand when to use them best. I don't want Square to throw in 50 skills but only have two of them useful.
No one does, however it's impossible to balance 50 skills to the variety of different gear available to players at different stages in the game. Because of that inherent unbalanced nature of skills, some are better than others. Thus cookie cutters are formed because near the gear limit (the best possible gear for a class) and 47 skills are not used because they don't preform as well. It's simply the way the math works out (especially the math on critical hits), not something SE has screwed up. Don't get me wrong, you can have 47 skills that are 99% as good as the top 3, and that's much better than having 47 skills that are 50% as good as the top three, but you'll never achieve a perfect balance.

Then there's also class balance. Players demand more than 4 classes, but there are really only a few rolls to fill. The result is 2 or 8 or 12 DPS classes in a game. To me, it's much more important that if I pick up one of many DPS classes, that it's balanced with other classes than the bottom 47 skills are balanced within the class. While it's good to have differences between classes, say one DPS has high burst damage (How much damage can you do in 3 seconds or 10 seconds or so) while another has sustained damage (DPS sustained for minutes), it's unacceptable for ranged classes to outperform melee classes. It's unacceptable for classes that are designed to be burst damage, to have sustained DPS classes to have higher bursts.

Remember these projects have finite budgets, so there's finite time they can spend balancing these things. To me I'd much rather have better class balance than skill balance. The majority of time spent in MMOs are on end game, not leveling.

Most good MMOs supplement DPS skills with situational skills, which is different. Having skills that interrupt, silence, knockback, sleep, etc that are not tied to damage, and are very situationally dependent are really the only way to add depth to a combat system.


The great thing about this is when you are leveling you really don't care about min-maxing DPS or HPS. It made the leveling process fun to me since I wasn't stuck for hours upon hours hitting the same buttons over and over.
I very much care about min-maxing while leveling. If I can double my damage while leveling, I'll double my XP per hour. It's a lot more fun to thrash through harder enemies for more XP than to spend 20 minutes killing a bunny because you're doing no damage.

I'll agree that it's not taken to the same extent as end game min-maxing, but there's a reason people give leveling builds. It's because they are reasonably optimized builds that maximize XP output.
 
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So the duty finder will be available at the beginning of this next phase 3 test and the schedule has been left open ended until they see how it runs. I doubt they will leave it running for more than the weekend but you never know.
 
Took the Duty Finder out for a quick test ride this morning before work, and it's working allright. I queued for the level 15 Guildhest, and had a party within just a few minutes. Definitely going to be playing around more with it later tonight and this weekend, but my initial test was postive.
 
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