Someone PLEASE help I'm losing hope

I have a lvl 37 summoner and just started working on my goldsmithing. Which has depleted my funds so I go to sell stuff on market boards to find out I need a retainer. I've been doing research on this subject for HOURS and can't figure out why I can't get one. As far as I'm aware you need to have completed the Scion quest and you have access. Now I remember doing that quest and Minfilia talking about retainers but I just kept leveling and decided to come back later. Well now that I need one when I go to the retainer person at the market he tells me I have 0 retainers available and basically cannot have one. I've tried everything from going back to the waking sands to see if i missed a quest to talking to every NPC in the adventurers guild. I have no clue what to do someone please help.
Btw I don't know if it matters but I'm on the chain of quests at the moment where Minfilia is kidnapped so where I'm at in the story is consistent with my level.

To make your retainer all you have to do is go to any of 1 of the 3 main Cities and go to the Retainer Voucher in that city, which is located in the Market areas and hire a retainer via the NPC :3

That's the thing I've done that tried the bell and everything. When I try the bell it says I don't have a retainer. When I talk to the retainer guy it says I have 0 retainers and can't have one. I've tried everything that I've read on forums.....

that is a rather odd problem. It's been so long that i can't remember what you're supposed to do for a retainer exactly besides beat story mode ifrit. I will say this, Goldsmithing is a BAD first craft, or second for that matter. Weaver and I think carpenter are the first two you should do unless you have a large amount of funds.

All I can suggest you do to get your retainer is to try googling the issue to see if others have had the problem. That's the best solution i can think of at the moment.

Yes I understand that bow that I have only 2000 gill left. I desperately need gill and have a metric ton of silver ingots I was trying to sell to get my gill back to e reasonable level. And I've tried all the Google solutions and nothing is working that's why I'm so frustrated.

That's really odd. That NPC SHOULD have an option to hire a retainer, and you can hire up to 2 for free.

The game shouldn't lock you out of getting one unless you've missed something somewhere. I even looked it up myself, and couldn't find anything on the game locking people out of hiring a retainer. This is an odd problem indeed. I hate to say it, but if it is a large issue, you may just need to redo you're character. Outside of that, i would suggest contacting support maybe. If you have done everything like you said, it may be a game issue locking out.

You don't hire the retainer at the bells, you need to talk to the "Retainer Vocate" First. Here are their locations:

Limsa Lominsa Lower Decks - East Hawkers' Alley (X:8 Y:11)

Ul'dah - Steps of Thal - Sapphire Avenue Exchange (X:13 Y:9)

Old Gridania - Shaded Bower - Rosewood Stalls (X:14 Y:9)

After you hire from them only then can you talk to your retainer

Idk if I have to restart my character I'm probably just going to quit. What's the best way to contact support to where I actually get a response?

At one stage I had the same issue as you with hiring my second retainer on an alt character. Got the 'you can't hire any more retainers' message. When I tried again the next day at a different city I was able to get one. So first try going to another city and talking to the retainer vocate. If that doesn't work, log out and log back in and try again.

Nope not working.....

Hmmm. You aren't by any chance queuing for something in duty finder when talking to the vocate?

Does it have to be done in your home city perhaps? I know I set mine up there, bit of a reach but worth a trynif you haven't already. Also, if you have other friends playing or people you get on with in a free company, is there a way you could message them the items to sell for you until you hear back from support. They are going on my server for about 370 each at the moment.

I would suggest completing the current leg of main scenario missions. It's entirely possible that something involved with the current missions is stopping you.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Lithera

I would suggest completing the current leg of main scenario missions. It's entirely possible that something involved with the current missions is stopping you.

---

^This totally.

It's tied in with the main scenario isn't it? If I remember right then it can't be missed.

But if the OP is up to date on the story quests, that's a game breaking problem to have. I'd rather quit then restart by that point too.

The point in the story the OP is at just makes me think it'll correct itself once the missions progress. This is a point in the story where the Waking Sands undergoes a change so it's possible a flag necessary for the retainers is at this point turned off until the current subplot resolves.

Are you grouped, queued,etc....

I was leveling a new character today and I'm pretty sure I got the message that I could hire retainers at level 15-20.
I thought the quest you need to do to have your retainers go on missions is level 17.

** I just looked it up and the main scenario trigger is before Ifrit. If you've done that its a bug, if you haven't carry on doing the quest line. The OP sure sounds like the questions is way past that point.

On a side note, I've done a fair amount of Tradesliis and it hasn't really affected my gil.
Did you level it up without mining?

1. Progress on main scenario quests and complete 'The Scions of the Seventh Dawn'. You get this main scenario quest from Momodi once you've completed Copperbell Mines dungeon for the prerequisite quest 'Into a Copper Hell'.

2. Speak with one of the following NPCs located on the markets area of each city-state:
- Parnell
- Chachabi
- Frydwyb

3. Select Hire a retainer in order to access to the Character Creation feature. Note you have to select Hire a retainer once more in order to get your 2nd retainer.
PS. Withdraw from Duty Finder in case you're queueing up before select the option to hire a retainer.

As far as I know, currently there's no issue related to this process, so just check out every single step to find out where you got lost/wrong.