Possibly A Returning Player - A Few Questions

1. Leveling methods beyond FATES zerging? I got pretty bored initially leveling alternate classes/jobs when out of quests by zerging FATES for hours. Dungeons were fun but do not want to spend every waking hour leveling in dungeons. Have they added other methods to advance your alternate classes/jobs?

2. It looks like housing has been implemented into the game but it looks pretty pricey. Can individuals own their own houses and how does the housing system work? Is it a detailed fun addition to the game?

3. Money gain? It was pretty tough to make Gil initially and was wondering how the economy and money making has advanced in the past year. Especially if housing is that pricey.

4. Different kinds of content? How is the content these days? Is there a good deal of things to do of all sorts of gameplay styles?

Just trying to run down a down and dirty rundown on what's been added/changed, etc. with the game over this past year.

I pretty much have the same questions, I'm thinking about returning as well, haven't played since December or so.

1. Once you get to level 17 you can undertake Low Level Duty Roulette. This grants a huge bonus to experience. You actually get an even greater reward if you are playing a class that's dubbed "Adventurer in Need", i.e there is a high demand for a Tank or Healer in the queues. Sadly, DPS classes do not get this additional bonus, because the queues are generally saturated by them. There is also the Challenge Log which you can unlock from I'tolwann in Limsa Lominsa Upper Decks (x11,y10). You need to have completed the quest "Call of the Sea" first, through. The Challenge Log grants a weekly list of tasks that give bonus exp, PvP exp, Companion experience and Gil for completing the set tasks. This resets every week.

2. Housing has been implemented. You have to be in a Free Company to have a House though. And they are expensive, so it's probably best to join an FC that already has a House. The demand for plots on some servers are quite high, with some being completely gone so chances of starting another Free Company, and being able to save the prerequisite funds to own a House is quite slim. However, as of patch 2.3 the introduction of Personal Rooms were made. You still need to be part of a Free Company with a House, however if you are at the current maximum rank with your Grand Company (Second Lieutenant), and have 300,000 gil to sink into a Personal Room, you can purchase your own space within your Free Company House. It is an independent, separate instance that you can completely furnish yourself.

The other benefits to having access to a house is Gardening, and Chocobo Raising.

3. Money can be pretty easy to come by in a variety of ways such as the Challenge Log, or even just FATEs, Levequests, or running dungeons. However, I have found the most I have made was from selling Materia. When you wear non-rare equipment you spiritbond with it. Once you have your spiritbond to 100%, you can convert the equipment into a piece of Materia. Sometimes, you may be lucky and get a grade IV Materia. These can sell for 6 figures on the market.

4. There is a variety of content. Main story, side quests, relic weapon quest, Crystal Tower, Binding Coil of Bahamut, Wolve's Den (PvP), Frontline (PvP), Moogle Delivery Service, crafting, Beast Tribe daily quests, Retainer Ventures... there is a plethora of content to keep one entertained.

I hope this helps you.

How's the server populations, I am currently on Lamia (the one I started on at launch). Can you transfer?

Yes you can transfer, but it costs around $18. I can only vouch for Ultros population, its in my opinion well balanced.

I am on Ragnarok, which is a Legacy server, and the population on that is quite high.

There have been some occasions, usually around patch updates, where there has been a small wait queue to get onto the server. Generally though, there is always people running around. Also, as the Duty Finder matches with other servers across a global server (in my instance, the Chaos server), you have a greater pool of players when it comes to Duty Finder.

The only time I've ever experienced queue issues for Dungeons, Trials or Raids, is when I have queued as a DPS. If you queue as a Healer or a Tank, or party with one of these, usually you'll get straight in.

Thanks for the replies. I've been reading through the novels patch notes from 2.1 - 2.3 and, WOW!

Oh, I know something else . . . back before I quit people were selling HM runs of stuff since it was tough to get it done and progress--is that still going on, or are things like that now easier to complete those via DF? People were pretty bad about being nasty to newbies and vote kicking them from groups.

Another hot topic was the end game dungeons were wanting to be farmed by folks for gear (CM I think?) and were often times getting pissed at first timers who wanted to see the story and watch the cutscenes. Is that something that still goes on?

Those things still exist, but it's not as extensive as it was before. I haven't seen anyone "selling" a trial or dungeon for a while now, mostly because there are other ways to make money (e.g. materia farming in Urth's Gift).

Experienced players still don't like having to explain dungeons to new players, but the situation isn't as bad as it is with CM and Prae. Cinematics aren't nearly as extensive and they aren't nearly as tied to the story as the philosophy farm (meaning new players won't hold the group up for 30 minutes if they watch all the cinematics). You will still see some speedrun groups who will push you to do it fast, but it seems less viable for the new dungeons where the token rewards are largest. These new dungeons have some interesting gimmicks to limit the amount players can pull, although I'm certain there are some workarounds.

Prices of items on the market board fluctuate all the time. Sometimes crafting items sky rocket, now because of personal rooms housing items have tripled in price now

Thanks to all who have replied. I really appreciate it.

How is the game's population in terms of lower level characters/classes? Are there still enough lower level folks out there playing to be able to find the groups necessary to run the require dungeons and trials?

Is the group finder tool cross server?

Lvl 50 players will still run low level dungeons as the Roulettes give you tomes instead of exp once you reach the level cap, which are a currency used for all sort of things in endgame, so you'll frequently see lvl 50 in low level dungeons. No need to worry about that.

Party Finder is not cross server, Duty Finder is.

the duty finder will mach you up with people from every server
and i have found there are a lot of lower lvl people out there and if your having a hard time finding any one you can find a good FC that will help you!!

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Originally Posted by SwashBuccaneer

How is the game's population in terms of lower level characters/classes? Are there still enough lower level folks out there playing to be able to find the groups necessary to run the require dungeons and trials?

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There still seem to be quite a few new players at least on Coeurl, where I play, plus there are people who may have reached endgame on their primary class, but are going back to level up additional classes and need lower level content for that.

The main boost in availability for low-level dungeons/trials, however, is due to the Duty Roulette. Players can get extra rewards (tomes if they're on a level 50 class, GC seals and extra XP if they're still leveling up) if they let the Duty Roulette choose which dungeon or trial they'll run next, and its first priority is to finish off groups for every dungeon someone has queued specifically for. These extra rewards are available at least once a day for anyone, more often if they can fill the currently most-needed role (which is usually tanks, occasionally healers). This encourages even players who have passed that content to keep going back to it, so newer players can get complete groups.

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Originally Posted by SwashBuccaneer

Is the group finder tool cross server?

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There are actually two different group finder tools, so the answer is both yes and no.

Duty Finder, which you use to enter dungeons and trials, will match you with people across all the worlds in your data center if you queue there with less than a full group. Ultros, for instance, is in the Primal data center, so you could be paired with people from any of the Primal data center worlds (Behemoth, Brynhildr, Diabolos, Excalibur, Exodus, Famfrit, Hyperion, Lamia, Leviathan, Malboro, Ultros).

Party Finder, which lets you get a bit more specific as to what sort of group or run you're looking for (and isn't limited just to joining dungeons) is server specific.

Great info! Thanks, guys!

Lots of things to try to sort through since I've been gone since the first month. I thought it was a solid game but felt kinda grindy and was getting bored with the constant FATES zerging to level additional classes. Plus the endgame wasn't really fleshed out, but I see so many things have been added via the massive update notes.

I know you guys had said that there's only FC (guild) housing available atm and that 2.3 added the ability to buy personal chambers in the FC Estate--Is there plans to add actual individual character housing and what happens if you join a FC and buy your chamber but you wind up parting ways with the FC?

Sorry for all the questions. I just keep thinking about new stuff I'm wanting to know more about as I read more.

Personal Housing will come but who knows when.

You can't leave the FC if you have a personal room, you need to clear it from all furniture and dispose of that first. As far as kicking someone with a personal room, I don't think you can but I'm not sure. In any case, you won't get your money back.

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Originally Posted by SwashBuccaneer

Personal Housing and Rooms question

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Yes, personal housing is planned to be implemented but it won't be until "around Patch 2.38" according to Yoshi-P. (Basically about 3-4 months from now, right before Patch 2.4 comes out.) They chose to do personal rooms first to make sure that the servers could handle the additional strain of having more instanced zones and the like. That said, it's possible they may delay it. Although I'm certain they want to be able to have personal housing implemented when they do the in-game marriage system that's planned in 2.4.

Private Chambers are currently set up where you can only leave an FC if you "vacate" those chambers. Basically, you have to remove all your furnishings from it and then delete the room before you can quit the FC. You currently cannot be kicked or otherwise removed from an FC if you have private chambers (although this will be changing in the near future.)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by SwashBuccaneer

I know you guys had said that there's only FC (guild) housing available atm and that 2.3 added the ability to buy personal chambers in the FC Estate--Is there plans to add actual individual character housing and what happens if you join a FC and buy your chamber but you wind up parting ways with the FC?

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Yoshi-P has been promising individual housing for a while now, but it keeps being postponed. For now, it's in the works, but no clear time has been stated.

Currently, if you own a private chamber in the FC, they can't kick you out. If you leave voluntarily, you have to empty it of your furniture and you lose the money you put in it. Once the next patch or 2 hits, guildmasters will have the option to kick players out despite private chambers (furniture appears in your inventory/retainer/where ever).

Is the Leve limit still in place? I don't remember the exact amounts but before when I played you gained X amount of leves over a certain period of time and then they capped. You wanted to save them up for things later (like leveling your gathering skills).

The Leve limit is 99.

But due to the sheer amount of content available, mine is always been at 99. I rarely do leves.

As for Gathering and Crafting, you can fulfil Grand Company request for a large amount of experience. I believe these refresh once a day.

Fired up my sub last night and made a new character on Ultros this morning before work while it was unlocked. :)

Didn't want to hop into the game immediately with my current character's leveled classes. No idea what he was doing at level 44 and his inventory is a mess! LOL

Do you need to be part of the same Grand Company as the Free Company you join?

Have noticed that FCs look to be aligned with the different GCs and wasn't sure how that impacted my personal choice on GC preference. :)

Nope, you do not have to be a part of the Grand Company that is associated with a Free Company - such an association simply reflects the current Grand Company association of whomever founded that Free Company and determines which GC HQ you have to use to access FC functions like creating the FC's crest. Members of a FC can be associated with any of the Grand Companies, there's no restriction. :D

In fact, you don't even have to be a member of a GC to join a FC in the first place, meaning even level 1 players who have just started the game are free to join a Free Company if they wish (and if offered). :)

Thanks, Enkidoh. :)