Should I or Should I not get it?

[Kei]

(I have no idea where to post this thread, I always thought we had a Help forum somewhere, couldn't find it though)

Hello guys,

Some of you may remember me, others may not. I was disappointed with FFXIII trilogy and I could only complete the first out of those; so, I was planning on giving Final Fantasy another chance with FFXIV, because I heard good things about it. I have a few questions to ask though, if you guys can help me:

1) Is the game worth buying? If yes, should I buy Heavensword or stick to Realm Reborn?
2) I'm planning to have fun with people I know here, so what would be the best server?

 

[Linnaete]

If you can find a copy of A Realm Reborn for a low price where you are, there's certainly no harm in giving it a go. When you purchase it, you receive a free first month, which is enough time to at least work your way to the end of the main 2.0 storyline. There is also a two-week trial that you can capitalise on, but given how restrictive it is, capping you at level 20 and removing a lot of social features that would be available in the full version, I generally just tell interested people to just browse around for a cheap copy of the base game.

There's no need to purchase Heavensward at this point, because to access the 3.0 content, you would need to complete the entire 2.x series storyline, which can take an arduous amount of time. So I would advise you just stick to A Realm Reborn for the time being, slowly work your way through the levelling content and later determine for yourself whether it's worth picking up the expansion.

FFF does have a little community mostly on Lamia server. A good majority of us are in the FFF Free Company (guild) if you're interested. A few of us are dotted around in other Free Companies, but the game has chat channels to allow you to interact with non-guild members as well. Take note: it is a North American server, so you will have to take into account when the server's prime time is and potential issues of latency, as the servers are located in Montreal. While my issues strictly to do with latency have been few and far between, it can be potentially notable, as it's a contributory factor when it comes to lag.

Is the game worth playing? Absolutely, if you approach it for what it is: a multiplayer game that still offers plenty of solo content. The game will allow you to queue for dungeons as a solo player with a party matching system, but if you choose a damage dealer class/job, these queues can be brutally lengthy, compared to the much faster queue times of healer and tank roles. Having friends willing to party up with you and reduce those unwanted wait times will be a significant boon. In fact, that's the general rule of MMOs, really. Solo play is very viable, but it's unmatched an experience when you have people around to help, or just idly frolic around with. Being thrown in with randomers has typically been either pleasant or unremarkable for me, though you're still very likely to encounter a few bad apples here and there, as expected of any multiplayer game.

As it's an MMO, expect the usual trappings of a post-WoW MMO. The story is unlikely to engage you until many hours in (I personally think the story only improves massively by the time you reach the expansion content. Heavensward's story is an assuring sign that the series can bounce back with good, engaging writing when it wants to.) and expect a lot of killing an arbitrary number of bears/go fetch X amounts of Chocobo dung "quests" as part of the levelling experience. I personally didn't mind them, but it easily irks others, especially the types who have a compulsion to speed their way through the main story as humanly possible in order to reach the more coveted endgame content. Me? I took it nice and slowly. The levelling process was a journey for me and I was just happy to see my character and my own understanding of the game's system and mechanics incrementally build up over time.

Once you do hit endgame content (which is technically now at level 60, but if you have willing friends by the time you reach level 50 - A Realm Reborn's cap level - you can bring them along for a good number of challenging boss encounters, with Titan Extreme being one good example of where a relatively fresh level 50 player's mettle is really tested. As the game does have much of the trappings of the genre, it will involve a more than copious amount of grinding to accrue better weapons and gear. This is critically important, especially if you play a tank role. What separates FFXIV from other MMOs is the ability to easily switch between classes and jobs on the fly, providing you have a relevant corresponding weapon in your inventory, so there is never usually a need to re-roll an entirely new character and have to genuinely start from scratch again.

One more thing I should say before this post devolves into an overly lengthy bit of rambling: if you're used to being able to customise your character's stats, or if you're someone who prefers more unorthodox builds or ways of playing for your character in RPGs, you won't find that here. Progression is very linear in FFXIV; your goal will chiefly be able to accrue better gear with higher numbers as you go along. There's very little in the way of individuality with regards to play styles, so despite the various jobs to choose from, it's largely about uniformity. Other people will generally expect you to conform to a standard way of playing (e.g. you are expected to have certain spells unlocked such as Swiftcast if you are a magic user) and particularly if you have a damage dealer role, at endgame level people will expect you to rigidly stick to 1-2-3 button rotations for optimal damage. It's what we call the "metagame".

tl;dr: Give it a go! No need to worry about Heavensward at the moment. If you want to say hi, there's a bunch of us on Lamia. Some of us are more hardcore-minded and some of us just like to spend our days getting rich from crafting, e.g. @Mitsuki.

 

[Kei]

Alright, thanks. I like things simple, don't really want to tinker around the character stats, so this has been really helpful, followed your advice and just bought Realm Reborn for now. I just got through character selection but I will continue later on after I free up a bit.

 

[Six]

It'll be fun to see you in the game, Kei. What class have you gone with?

 

[Kei]

Hey, Kira. I went with Gladiator class. By the way, do you guys have a teamspeak or something?

 

[Aelixer]

Hey, Kira. I went with Gladiator class. By the way, do you guys have a teamspeak or something?

Kind of a bummer, because Dark Knight Class is real nice but you can't obtain DK until your lvl 60 and have transitioned to Heavensward. Along with Astrologian and Machinist Class. Gladiator is prime though, great pick.

 

[Soulcorruptor]

Kind of a bummer, because Dark Knight Class is real nice but you can't obtain DK until your lvl 60 and have transitioned to Heavensward. Along with Astrologian and Machinist Class. Gladiator is prime though, great pick.

You don't need level 60 to get those classes, you just need level 50 and the expansion of Heavensward since HW introduced the raise of the cap to 60. And Kei there is a Discord chat you can usually see it to the right of the forums below the streaming channels, not sure if that's similar to the teamspeak question you were asking or not.

 

[Aelixer]

You don't need level 60 to get those classes, you just need level 50 and the expansion of Heavensward since HW introduced the raise of the cap to 60. And @Kei there is a Discord chat you can usually see it to the right of the forums below the streaming channels, not sure if that's similar to the teamspeak question you were asking or not.

*correction* Above is correct. Thanks for the catch.

 

[Kei]

Alright, thanks a lot guys. I will worry about the other classes when I finish this one, still level 14, so yeah, I've a long way to go. Do you guys have specific time you play at or is it random?

 

[shivas]

It's random! but I think I'll be seeing you a lot since we're almost at the same time zones! hope you're enjoying the game :')

 

[Six]

Hey, Kira. I went with Gladiator class. By the way, do you guys have a teamspeak or something?

We have a Discord set up, but I don't think people really use it. We don't even casually "raid" like some static groups do, and it's just a bunch of us coming together sometimes and then doing content. We should really get some sort of routine in things, but, you know. Life happens.

 

[Rey]

Oh wow, I had no idea you were still around. That is cool that you joined Final Fantasy XIV. I hope that you are enjoying it, sir. It is a very fun game but it demands a lot of time if you want to take it to serious levels.

 

[Kei]

Oh wow, I had no idea you were still around. That is cool that you joined Final Fantasy XIV. I hope that you are enjoying it, sir. It is a very fun game but it demands a lot of time if you want to take it to serious levels.

Is that you, Adri? I'm always around, I was lurking though, it has become a habit to check the forums. I'm enjoying it so far but the goddamn mount quest won't turn up. I'm just a casual player now, 2-3 hours a day is enough.

 

[Six]

I'm enjoying it so far but the goddamn mount quest won't turn up. I'm just a casual player now, 2-3 hours a day is enough.

Pretty sure it's around level 20/25 and you have to join one of the three Free Companies iirc.

 

[Linnaete]

You'll eventually run into a quest where you'll be invited to join one of the three Grand Companies. I think it's after the string of the first three dungeons you do in a row.

Once you join one, you'll find that you won't automatically get your bird until you have farmed 2,000 Grand Company seals. There are a few ways to go about it to help you get that number:

- Grand Company hunting log
- FATEs
- Daily turn-ins (handing in crafted items they request) and provisions (handing in gathered items they request)
- Guildhests

 

[Rey]

Is that you, Adri? I'm always around, I was lurking though, it has become a habit to check the forums. I'm enjoying it so far but the goddamn mount quest won't turn up. I'm just a casual player now, 2-3 hours a day is enough.

Yeah, it is I. Well, you will fit right in then because we do have quite the casual crowd on FFXIV, xD.