A new players meeting with Final Fantasy XIV

Seeing as Final Fantasy XIV is working towards it's 2.0 release with many more improvements and so fourth, I figured I'd add some feedback from a new player entering into the world of FFXIV in patch 1.19a.

After using 10 minutes to setup my payment info for my user account (The provider had to use a heavier password schema than I was used to, and it really didn't show very clearly that it was the password that was the issue) I was ready to take my first steps into FFXIV. Or so I thought...
After starting the game, (which was windowed... What the?) I got a message that all my account options hadn't been completed.
So I went back. Poked around for a good 30 minutes before I found out that I had to add additional character slots to my account. My initial investment of the game box, and the monthly fee did not cover 1 character slot.
This should really be looked into! In this day and age, it's the first time I've seen that I have to pay pr. character I want to play (Don't mention Guild Wars. They do NOT operate with a monthly fee). Also, the price pr character is incredibly high.
I suggest you make a flat rate that is competitive with other MMO's and let people make up to 8 characters. If this is not implemented, 1 character slot should be automatically added to your account upon creation. It makes really no sense to have 0 characters and pay a monthly fee.

So, finally ready to play. I start up the game, logon with my username and password. And hit play. The game is still in windowed mode. I figure "Ah well. I'll adjust it in the options menu in the game".
I enter the title screen, and... No options menu?
Allright, maybe it's ingame I thought. I went trough the character creation half heartedly just to get to the menu. After 10-15 minutes I finally unlock the "Configure" option in the menu.
Can I set it to fullscreen? Nope. Can I adjust anything that really matters here? Nope...
Please implement an ingame menu to adjust 90% of the graphic settings. This is incredibly useful to tweak your performance vs prettiness. I had to logout, login 20 times to get to a point of graphics where I was happy with the responsiveness and looks of the game (and include a warning that some features are extremely heavy on the GPU like Ambient Occlusion). The same goes for binding keys. There should be no need to be forced to do this outside the game.

So, finally I get into the game. I pick my starting town and get down to it.
The game world is gorgeous, the battle system and execution of spells are unfamiliar, but I figure it's just a force of habit once you get it down.
After the initial scenes and battle tutorial, I was on my way into town. Then, all the NPC's got quiet. That was really bizarre... I guess that mayor plot points and quests will have some speech, but I'd really love to see everything in the main quests being voice acted.

After trotting around, kicking some rabbit looking creatures fluffy behinds, I headed for the town. I guess I have to figure out how to make money. Usually that is done by gathering. I'd gotten a nice lump of Gil, so I figured I'd grab some harvesting tools to go grab some wood, fish a bit and so fourth. Maybe craft myself some armor, a new staff for my conjurer.

Now, there is No explanation regarding how crafting works ingame. And once you figure out how to harvest the stuff you think you need, then you want to make something from the crafted stuff. But you don't have a recipe. I know all this is on the net, but there should really be a lighter step for newbies to get into crafting.

After trying, and failing at crafting anything that might be useful to my character I trotted back out into the forrest to find some more fluffies to kill in my quest for more experience points. A wrong turn, some mean looking fellows gang up on me. I fall to the ground, 0 HP.
So I wait....

And wait...

And wait...

But nothing happens? I click every button on my gamepad, go trough the menu, log out and back in, but I'm still dead?
After a lot of poking around, I figure out that the Return option is my new best friend. Woilah, back at the camp.

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That's it for now. This should really be looked into, because it is really screwing up the first impression of the game on new players. It's like you intensionally want people to hate the experience of playing FFXIV. I find that quite strange to be honest.

You talk a lot.

The game is being rehauled over the next year, I imagine most of these concerns will be alleviated by that point.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vawn

You talk a lot.

That's why it's called Feedback, no? Granted I could have condensed the post but I decided not to.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Djeserit

The game is being rehauled over the next year, I imagine most of these concerns will be alleviated by that point.

True. But most of these things where there in the Open Beta, over a year ago, and has not been alleviated yet.
The most striking thing to a new player are especially three things I mentioned here; The account setup, setting up the game (Graphics / Keyboard / Gamepad) and that you get no indication on how to revive after getting KO'ed.
If SE want to bring people into the game and start with a subscription I think these concerns should be remedied before they flip the switch, so to speak.

I have to say didn't take me long to figure things out but I agree with regards to crafting and also a box to pop up when ya K.O saying "Do you want to return to home point?" would be good to help new players having played 11 I was already in the right mind set for this game on release. So my learning curve wasn't so bad.

I would say to most new players that talking to people or asking for help is okay it might seem daunting at 1st but if ya ask someone like me :D I be more than happy to answer questions.

there alot more I could mention but I'm in a rush ta ta!