Hi, about to start playing, tips from pros? Mnk/pld/whm is my aim.

Hello.

I just bought My Game last night. Finished updating this morning befor i left for Work, which is where I am currently. So i figured I'd get some input befor i get home and start.

First off, i played 11. I wasn't the best or anything. But i feel I was quite good at my jobs. Had almost all jobs at 99 and the such. But my 3 main were mnk/pld/whm which is what I'm gonna start on in 14. Mnk first.

So how different is it vs 11?

i just wanted input from some people that play the classes. Any tips you guys have, things I should focus on

I watched a friend play the old 14 beta and 1.0 a little. But i didnt have a good pc back then to get into it.

Thanks in advance for the help guys.

I've never played 11 so I can't add anything specific about that.

As a PLD, you have to know how to grab and hold hate. For your first dungeon, you will probably want to do the following rotation.

1 or 2 enemies:
1. Shield Lob 1st target
2. Flash x2
3. Fast Blade 1st target
4. Savage Blade
5. Rotate to
6. Fast Blade 2nd target
7. Savage Blade
8. Return to step 3

3 or more enemies
1. Flash 2x
2. Fast Blade
3. Riot Blade
4. Flash
5. Repeat at step 2

Other than that, it's all about dodging AoE, marking enemies, pulling patrols, communicating with your teammates and other stuff that you'll pick up along the way. I'm assuming tanking is similar in other MMOs.
Additional information:
http://www.xivnation.com/guides/part...nks-tanks-dds/

Welcome!

Coming in from FFXI, you'll quickly discover that much of what you know about certain Jobs and how they play in FFXI is completely different in ARR - the battle system is the complete opposite of XI, and Jobs function rather differently too. For instance, PLD in XIV does not generate much hate through healing, in fact, cross classing Cure on them is rather lackluster, so don't bother trying to heal yourself to boost hate. Instead, you have to use Flash in combination with the weapon skill combo Beats described in the post above as your main strategy for tanking (Flash actually works much like Provoke does in FFXI - ironically the ARR Provoke is more an emergency ability for getting hate back onto you if you lose it to someone else in your party - it's utterly useless for generating that hate in the first place).

Also, the traditional FF Jobs like PLD aren't actually available at the start - instead, you have what are called 'Disciplines' which are more often called simply 'classes' which can upgrade to a Job later in the game (for instance, PLD upgrades from GLA).

It's a completely different system from FFXI, but it does make sense in context.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by NinjaTaru72

But my 3 main were mnk/pld/whm which is what I'm gonna start on in 14. Mnk first.

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Welcome to ARR, then. :)

I'm working on a MNK right now, and it's pretty fun! My only real suggestion to you for dungeons is to keep up your DoTs (Touch of Death, Demolish) and learn what skills hit harder from the flank or the rear. Once you have that down, you'll be golden. The Duty Roulette is an excellent place to embed the rotation into muscle memory while getting a nice experience bonus, might I add.

Ive only been playing for a bit with my monk. Its a pretty fun class. It takes a lot of presence of mind to keep up with positioning, especially in a rapidly developing battlefield. But its fun, for sure. Very quick paced. Theres also stringing your combo's together, and choosing which moves benefit the most in which situation. That kinda stuff.

If you decide to start to gladiator (Who later become PLD) I'll get you a little tip about tanking in the low dungeons with it. Well, pretty much it is repeat the same information that beatsstayflowin gave you.

Something I noticed in the low dungeons with new tankers is that they don't use flash because it is rarelly used when soloing. But you'll need that skill a lot, and because is weaker than MRD's overpower, you'll need to spam it twice, or even a third time or more, for ensuring the mobs won't touch your party members. Riot Blade will help you regain the MP used in flash for keep doing it.

The fail I want t tell you is that most new tankers only attack one monster, mark it so the DPS know who attack and everything fine there, but they don't attack-use flash to the other mobs that stay orange. So when the healer gives the tank a heal, the remaining monsters will attack the healer and the tank will get stressed running behind the mobs and trying to gain aggro again. That happens a lot, and they don't seem to know why the monsters go attacking the heal if it is in a long distance... Thing is that, regardless of the distance of the healer, once you receive a heal, the monsters attacking you will automatically detect the healer, and since you didn't use flash, the healer has the aggro for those.

What I tried to explain with all that text full of English fails is that.... You should use flash a lot, yes, ^^ '.... Enmity in the game is really important, whether you are a gladiator or a pugilist, in the case of the second you'll have to check not winning much, changing of target even if it is needed.

For PLD, as others already explained, the enmity gain works a bit different. Flash is AoE, Provoke is emergency grab, and main source of hate generation is the Fast Blade -> Savage Blade (and eventually -> Rage of Halone) combo. Many times in dungeons you will be tanking 2-5 mobs at a time (usually 3). You need to maintain hate on all of them so the healers and DDs don't rip hate from you. Usually it'll be fine as long as you pop 3 flashes after a pull (Tanks generally pull in this game, everyone else is too squishy) will secure hate for you on the targets you aren't focused on taking down. I usually pop a flash every after combo or two or rotate which enemy Savage Blade or Rage of Halone hits to maintain hate on everything. You'll also need to manage your MP with flash, Riot Blade recovers some MP when combo'd off of Fast Blade. You just kind of get a feel for the role once you play it.

Healing is pretty much the same as healing in FFXI, but more fun (this coming from a FFXI RDM and Dancer :P), select the target to heal and pop a cure to keep people alive. Battles are faster paced, however. Keeps you on your toes a bit more if the tank isn't overgeared and knows what he or she is doing. A bit BUT though is Cure 1 is your primary cure. Cure 2 is more potent of course, but also is very costly. Cure 1 has a chance to activate a 12 second buff that makes the next Cure 2 free as well, so there's that. Cure 3 is less potent than cure 2, but it's a targeted AoE (6y around target). Medica is like an AoE Cure focused on yourself (15y around you), and Medica 2 is like a half Medica that applies a 30 second Regen (20y though). WHM also has decent DPS output with Cleric Stance up (switches MND and INT stats), can help out with damage in dungeons if you're comfortable doing so.

Monk is very position oriented. Many of the skills get a boost in potency when used from the side or back (depending on the skill). Don't know much more than that though. They are also very combo oriented. I don't remember the names of the skills aside from Bootshine (which starts the combo iirc). When you do Bootshine, another attack will get a dotted line around it indicating the next attack in the combo.

Also you can "cross class" skills, it's sort of like the subjob system in XI, but you don't get any stat boosts from other classes. If you don't have a Job Soulstone equipped, you can grab a variety of skills from all the classes. With a soulstone equipped however, you're limited to two classes depending on the job. Gladiator/Paladin can get some moves from Conjurer and Marauder (base classes for WHM and WAR). Also to get the jobs for each class you have to level the class to 30 and another job to 15 depending on what you're after (Gladiator needs CNJ to 15 to get Paladin, CNJ needs Arcanist to 15 for WHM, etc.). They aren't necessary to have, but can be very helpful (Swiftcast from Thaumaturge for White Mage in particular can be a lifesaver).

I also want to point out that while WHM in this game has "Benediction" like they did in FFXI, it works completely differently. In ARR, Benediction is a single target cure for full HP that generates zero enmity/aggro (instead of being an AoE heal.)

Tips for playing WHM in XIV:

- You'll start as a Conjurer and level into White Mage through a side quest (You have to have Conjurer at Level 30 and Arcanist at Level 15.) You'll want to do the White Mage quest as it will grant you your artifact gear at Levels 45 and 50, as well as five additional skills to your job (Presence of Mind, Regen, Divine Seal, Holy, and Benediction.)

- You'll want to mostly use Cure during party play, even at later levels (unless the tank or someone in the party is in trouble.) Cure II is much more potent, but also much more expensive and troublesome in terms of MP usage and aggro generation. Cure III is less potent than Cure II, but more expensive since it's an AoE heal.

- If you run as a Healer in dungeons, always *always* cast Protect on the party before doing anything else.

- Eventually you'll gain a proc for Cure that allows you to cast Cure II for free (called "Freecure"). Use this to your advantage when necessary. Freecure lasts for about 15 seconds and will go away as soon as you cast Cure II. Cure II gets its own proc that allows the casting of Cure III for half MP.

- You'll get three AoE heals: Medica, Cure III, and Medica II. Only use these when necessary. Don't lead off a fight with them as you'll pull aggro pretty much immediately due to overhealing. Medica II will grant the members inside the AoE a buff of Regen, useful at times, but again - be careful against overhealing and wasting MP.

- Stoneskin (which you get at 34 and absorbs 10% damage, and then 18% at Level 36) is good to cast on the tank (and even the DDs/DPSes) at the start of an instance and right before boss fights, but don't cast it mid-fight, it'll just waste MP.

- You'll get Shroud of Saints at Level 38 and make sure you hotbar that immediately, it will help you immensely. It cuts your aggro by half and grants MP Refresh for 15 seconds. It's your only real way to regenerate MP quickly during battles (as MP restoring items like Ethers have a 2-3 minute cooldown and only give you back like 200 MP max.) Shroud can regen about 750-1,000 MP over that amount of time. Most players use it for the MP regen effect, because with a decent tank (and you not overhealing too much), you shouldn't really ever pull hate except maybe briefly during add spawns.

- You will want to cross-class train with Thaumaturge at some point in order to get Surecast (cast next spell without being interrupted) and Swiftcast (instantly cast next spell.) Swiftcast is invaluable to getting off heals in a tight spot, as well as instantly Raising anyone.

People have covered most everything you need I think. I'll just hit some basic differences from FFXI to FFXIV:ARR

Firstly, battle is faster paced and movement oriented (less so for tanks). Moves like tail swipe and various breath attacks are present, but now telegraphed in an obvious manner on the floor. You usually (especially at low levels) have plenty of time to move out of the way of damage, and definitely should as those sort of attacks are usually very damaging. Weapon skills are completely different as they're now your primary means of damage and you execute one every 2.5 seconds or less (as often as 2 seconds for MNK). They still cost TP, but you'll find that you rest at 1000 TP and it's hard to run through it in short battles as it regenerates as well. For MNK and DRG position matters (flank or rear -- never attack from the front unless tanking/solo). Without exception skills and spells have staying power. A level 1 skill will still be used at level 50, frequently in fact.

Unlike XI, it is necessary to progress completely through the available main story (up to version 2.0 cutoff) to do anything at all endgame. Also unlike XI, it is fun, rewarding, and easy to progress through the story. Quest progression is made perhaps too obvious compared to XI where the wiki was more or less required to do anything. I'd say it's exactly the opposite in XIV, but I'd be lying if I told you not to expect to watch a few youtube videos of boss fights.

I'm sure lots of other things are radically different, but it's mostly just in the direction of more accessibility.