impressions by a new player (tl;dr)

Thought the feedback of a new player might be interesting.

small background info: been playing WoW for upwards of 5 years, stopped a few months ago. Passed by all other MMOs during those years. The last Final Fantasy title apart from Tactics for PSP has been FF VII on Playstation for me.
I read about Final Fantasy XIV and saw some videos prior to it's release, but pretty much didn't notice the launch. Some months later I came across the rather horrible reviews. In early August I saw it mentioned again and that things had gotten better. They were supposedly still not great but the game was essentially playable now. That the game was selling for 30$ and is essentially free to play until Square Enix considers it "fixed" helped persuade me to give it a try. Judges are still out on if I'll pay a monthly fee for the game at this point should SE now end the F2P phase.



8/09 - bought FF14 on a whim in the evening at my local Gamestop. Registration seemed needlessly convoluted. The part where I had to set up billing through Clickandbuy was annoying. My account with them is currently still blocked until I get around to call them during their limited business hours - other MMO operators don't give me such a headache, why does SE? The free Crysta as alternative currency finally let me enable character creation on their website. Actually, after reading some posts on here about CnB I think I'll just leave it blocked to prevent further headache down the road.
I'm currently not sure if I can add more character slots without paying or what the deal is there, for now I have one character slot which feels rather limited.
Character creation is reasonably straight forward. Supposedly the crafter classes one can choose in the process are essentially unplayable from what I read, didn't try that myself but wondering why they are an option at all during char creation if that is true.

I tried a few melee and caster characters in the three different cities that first night. It was a little weird how cut scenes are initially fully voiced and then abruptly transition to being text-only. What really bummed me out was that I could not adjust graphics settings in the game, that was a separate little application in the FF14 folder which would only run after quitting the game, quite annoying. Just as annoying as the game crashing when run in full screen mode and alt-tabbing out to take care of other things, like IMs from the wife etc.



8/10 - Running the game windowed was shockingly sluggish. I found forum posts mentioning a little app called "Final Fantasy XIV Priority Booster" which takes care of that problem, I'm a little dumbfounded that SE hasn't fixed that issue themselves after a year now. Given how crappy things were without that little app I'm not sure if I would have just junked the game by now.
The interface feels as if it was primarily designed for console use, rather unflexible, overly menu driven. Haven't found yet if/how I can lock the UI elements in place and if the battle and general chat windows can be combined into a single tabbed window.

I settled onto playing a Pugilist on the Mysidia server starting in Limsa Lominsa. I followed the introductory quest which took me to a small camp outside the city where after clicking the crystal I was tasked with killing three small critters. Pretty straight forward, easy and I must say the map and combat system work nicely for me. I was a little confused when I got no further quests in that camp. Ran around killing more critters for a while to level 5 just to get a few more abilities and get a better feel for things before returning to the city.
Still manage to target myself an awful lot when mouse-targeting. Not sure why there is a need to toggle into an active mode before initiating combat. Seems counterintuitive and somewhat annoying with no good reason for it.
Anyway, after my rat genocide I returned to the city and talked to the guy who had sent me off initially. He then sent to deliver a fish to a restaurenteur. Supposedly I now have to run and find some other dudes wherever, I kinda didn't bother and decided to leave that for tomorrow. I did find some guildleve quest giver in the tavern, not started any of that yet.
Oh, and I can't jump? meh. I can't fall to my untimely death? kinda neat actually.

No idea where the market/auctionhouse stuff is yet or how it works. No idea what the elemental points I've been spending do. No idea what that guardian deity I chose is for.

Found an NPC vendor with weapons, from what I understand if I buy one of those I effectively change my character into another class based on which weapon I equip, might give that a try tomorrow.
I wouldn't want to imagine how the game was right after launch, pretty much unplayble I fear. I to my own surprise kinda like it so far.

Even as the cities feel a little sterile and I usually am not the biggest fan of the asian art and game style. I actually enjoy not having a damn clue and discovering things.

I do think the general public which is used to WoW style games might not have the patience for this though.
Oh and I don't have the foggiest idea how crafting works or what the stuff I looted from all those moles and rats is for.

If only there were more players on my "high population" server. I was surprised to see japanese characters on my chat window. I suppose the servers are effectively global? can be interesting.



8/11 - what bugs me a little is what I can only call "the uncanny valley of inanimate objects". The cities are beutiful, but seem somewhat sterile and dead. I'm not sure if

all those random loitering NPCs have some purpose in quests later on, meaning they have to be static and stand in one place, but either way some NPCs walking around going about their business would liven the place up. There appears to be no wear on any structures, nothing indicating that the cities are actually lived in by people, no hint at any kind of housing.
Don't see any kind of general chat channels for a region/city, a bit of a bummer given the somewhat steep learning curve of this game which has me feel like being thrown in at the deep end with no apparent way to just throw out a question and being pointed in the right direction by fellow players.
I assume there is no pvp in this game, don't miss it though.

There are methods on how to use alt+tab without going windowed mode but they cannot be discussed here, you have to google that.

For the city, as of now, until they implement the guildleve changes and content, Ul'dah is your best bet in finding people its the most populated city in pretty much all of the servers. Get yourself a linkshell (known as a "guild" by your kind) as soon as you can just shout on a city (if you are on Ul'dah its much better) and type something like this.

/sh New player looking for linkshell, please help

the /sh is equal to trade chat from your kind, it makes your character "shout", its zone-wide so if you are in a city anyone in the city can hear you.

Your map is super useful, so use it when you're in a city, press m to toggle it.

Don't worry about your guardian deity, its merely for roleplaying purposes, it does nothing for now...

You are correct, there is no pvp here.

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Originally Posted by MrLion

You are correct, there is no pvp here.

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And we like it like that.

Thought I'd help you out a bit, so many quotes so I just made what I said a different color in you quote. :)

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Originally Posted by thies

Thought the feedback of a new player might be interesting.

Oh, and I can't jump?

They are putting jump into the game later, it will be used (from what I heard) for helping evade attacks and cancel spells.

No idea where the market/auctionhouse stuff is yet or how it works.

You'll see a place called Southern Islands on the 2nd floor of LL (what we call Limsa) past the Bizmarck (Which is the cooking guild) You go there and you will find market wards. It is broken into different wards specializing in a specific item. There is an item search as well.

No idea what the elemental points I've been spending do. No idea what that guardian deity I chose is for.

From what I understand (mostly play DoW or Craft) the element points boost the power of your magic if you're a caster, for that element, and also raise your defense against that element on all jobs. Supposedly it will help you get more crystals of your highest pointed element too... idk if that's true. XD

Found an NPC vendor with weapons, from what I understand if I buy one of those I effectively change my character into another class based on which weapon I equip, might give that a try tomorrow.

Yes, changing your main hand will change your class. So as you said you're a PUG, if you buy a bow and some arrows and you equip your bow to the spot your Hand to Hand weapons are in, you will automatically be changed to an Archer. :)

I wouldn't want to imagine how the game was right after launch, pretty much unplayble I fear. I to my own surprise kinda like it so far.

It wasn't awful, I know some didn't, but I enjoyed it... it is much better now.


Oh and I don't have the foggiest idea how crafting works or what the stuff I looted from all those moles and rats is for.

I would say start with crafting leves, you can get them from the NPC next to the one who gave you battle leves. You automatically get the items for the synth (or if it's delivered in town you just have to go to the NPC and they will give it to you) and you will also get rewards for finishing them like gil... it will let ya get a feel for crafting. I'm on the same server and I love crafting, I'll be on this afternoon about 2pm EST if ya want help understanding crafting. :)

If only there were more players on my "high population" server. I was surprised to see japanese characters on my chat window. I suppose the servers are effectively global? can be interesting.

Actually I see tons of people on Mysidia, even though SE is trying to spread people out... most still tend to hang out about Ul'dah... seeing your in LL, yeah you might not see as many people. Once Travel and Chocobo's come out in 1.19 I'm sure that will change. Especially now that you have to go to the city your guild is in to get guild marks. Yes the servers are global and Mysidia does have a good sized JP population. :)



8/11 - what bugs me a little is what I can only call "the uncanny valley of inanimate objects". The cities are beutiful, but seem somewhat sterile and dead. I'm not sure if all those random loitering NPCs have some purpose in quests later on, meaning they have to be static and stand in one place, but either way some NPCs walking around going about their business would liven the place up. There appears to be no wear on any structures, nothing indicating that the cities are actually lived in by people, no hint at any kind of housing.

The Umbral age is coming, with it they are going to be changing the whole landscape of the game. Soon it will look different... I don't know if they are doing it to the cities, but the zones, yes. :)

Don't see any kind of general chat channels for a region/city, a bit of a bummer given the somewhat steep learning curve of this game which has me feel like being thrown in at the deep end with no apparent way to just throw out a question and being pointed in the right direction by fellow players.
I assume there is no pvp in this game, don't miss it though.

/say: General chat where all can hear within a distance

/sh: general chat where you shout to be heard farther

So you would type out in full::

/say Can someone help me with this quest?

/sh Can someone help me with this quest?


one will be heard farther ^^


Supposedly PVP is coming later, but it will be by choice, not random ppl just jumping you.

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Good luck! I'm on your server so drop me a line if you have any questions. ^^

The NPCs in city standing still, yes. But quite a number of them have unique animation like dancing, blowing horn, playing harp, juggling etc. and bow after their performance.

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Originally Posted by KaiKatzchen

Thought I'd help you out a bit, so many quotes so I just made what I said a different color in you quote. :)



Good luck! I'm on your server so drop me a line if you have any questions. ^^

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Kai, the market wards in LL are the Southern Islands, not Northern, silly kitty. =3

Thats proly one of my favorite feature about ffxiv , no global chat !!!! about dame time , props to SE.

Welcome to FFXIV ^^

I hope you enjoy the game and stick around until all the major changes are done. For the "stillness" of town, you get less of that feeling when there are lots of people like in Ul'Dah but, I am pretty sure they will get to add more life to cities once they fix the major stuff.

Along with that, you might get the feel that the zones are bland, while very beautiful, after doing a lot of leves, but they already have redesigns of the zones planned and they are already in the level design stage of it so don't get desperate if it bothers you.

Yes playing on international server is fun I find, if you want to talk to japanese people (or foreign players) you can use the auto-translate function by pressing TAB when you start wrting your word. You'll see a list of word or sentences and when you select it it will appear in between red and green parentheses ^^ it's fun to use and you'll get to know what you can say and what isn't in there.

All in all, they are adding tutorials and changing crafting in the next patch which should be by the end of august or early september I'd say (1.19, a major patch) so you can either wait to start crafting or if you want to try it for now, you can look online for recipes.

~cheers and have fun in Eorzea!

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Originally Posted by Cairdeas

And we like it like that.

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You are not the voice of the community.

If you run back to Limsa and keep running through town, and keep going, you will eventually find the port, that will take you to where everyone else is. Well you gotta run through Thanalan after docking but that will be an adventure at r5. ^^
Also, touch all crystals on the way.

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Originally Posted by Picoman

Also, touch all crystals on the way.

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yeah even more now that it doesn't set your homepoint automatically when touching a crystal! If you want to, you can set your home point at the LL crystal and then use the "return" command from the menu to teleport back there with no anima cost. (Animas are use for teleporting yourself to the crystals you visited, you have a max of 100 and they regenerate at the rate of 1 per 4 hours).

Welcome to the game, it's a good time to try out a few things.

I recommend running those leves you picked up, they are really good for leveling. And once you hit Rank 5 (not level 5) a new camp (Camp Skull Valley) will open up, and you can pick up more leves from there.

Some of the starter leves will reward you with the starting weapons of different classes, so you might want to look at those and thus not have to buy from the shop.

Quests will reward you with money, gear, and SP, so when you aren't running leves (think of them as dailies) they offer a good progression.

The reason you will want to level other classes is that abilities (some not all) are cross class, so say you pick up a wand to become a CON, you'll learn fire, ice, etc... and now when you switch back to PUG you can equip those spells (if you have enough action points) and be able to cast that spell. This comes in handy when building the role you want to play.

Soon more adjustments will be coming, I suggestions posting your feedback to the dev team as they are listening. :)

/welcome on board mate ^^

going to FFXIV from WoW is 1) A huge improvement and 2) Is a completely bad idea, imo. I would have started with FFXI first...then FFXIV...and yeah, there is no PvP in this game (probably will be) and I hope that there is NEVER any PvP in this game >.>

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Originally Posted by MrLion

You are correct, there is no pvp here.

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Yoshi is planning on implementing it, but we won't be killing other players. Probably a sport of some kind.

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Originally Posted by Dubont

going to FFXIV from WoW is 1) A huge improvement and 2) Is a completely bad idea, imo. I would have started with FFXI first...then FFXIV...and yeah, there is no PvP in this game (probably will be) and I hope that there is NEVER any PvP in this game >.>

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Had to bite on this comment, and share my opinion with the OP as I have played wow for about 4 years, XI for about 7, this game since launch and a number of other mmos inbetween randomly.

I've said this many times, but XI was the best mmo experience I've had. But I wouldn't call it the best well made game by far.

FFXI, and I think this game is trying to as well, gave a since of immersion and fullfilment when completing things like quests and mission, that other games have not been able to touch. But setting that aside, if I were to look at the mechanics of games, things like; the UI, chat system, combat, in game options, loading done for the 3d enviroment, then wow wins by a long shot. Wow IMO is the best well made game available as of now. I'm not saying it is the best game in general, but a lot of technical elements blizzard just did right (combat for instance, targeting in wow has many options that I wish xiv did as well, like mouseover options for targeting, playing exlusively with mouse/keyboard and changing keybindings to anything I want).

Having said that, the experience SE offers in their games is more of a roleplay type, story immersion, and (hopefully in xiv) more party oriented. My time spent on wow was more near anti-social due to the vast differences in the community. For example, my time playing XI was met with many friends, even the majority of people I ran into whom I wasn't friends with were friendly, and generally helpful. My experience on wow was the opposite. The majority were down right rude, although I did make some good friends from wow as well.

Welcome to the forums and to Eorzea OP. I hope you enjoy your time here :).

You have a really good and honest post. The game is undergoing a major overhaul, and that is why the game is so rough. When the game launched there were barely any quests in the game, btw, and each NPC does not have a quest. You're just in for one step on a long road, and I expect that at a point you will burn out, because even the hardcore fans of the game seem to burn out.

I really appreciate you pointing out your "uncanny valley of sterility", as I really want to make a thread in the very near future regarding this.

Here is a link for a very good database: http://ffxiv.yg.com
You can look there for recipes, equip stats, npc locations, monster locations and a lot more

I think it's nice you brought up those set-up difficulties. I think SE doesn't get too enough feedback about those since the login hassles happened so long ago and it's not a problem we have to deal with on regular basis.

To get more players into the game it will eventually be SE's best interest to make the registering process as easy as possible.

I have given up on ever being able to play Nexon's MMOs because their login process simply doesn't work on my PC.

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Originally Posted by Seif

I think it's nice you brought up those set-up difficulties. I think SE doesn't get too enough feedback about those since the login hassles happened so long ago and it's not a problem we have to deal with on regular basis.

To get more players into the game it will eventually be SE's best interest to make the registering process as easy as possible.

I have given up on ever being able to play Nexon's MMOs because their login process simply doesn't work on my PC.

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I know someone who deleted their rank 47 marauder because they closed their account when they thought they were unsubscribing. It's a really confusing system. I also know someone who is attending Stanford and was accepted into Harvard who was confused with the set up process for the account.

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Originally Posted by Platinumstorm

I know someone who deleted their rank 47 marauder because they closed their account when they thought they were unsubscribing. It's a really confusing system. I also know someone who is attending Stanford and was accepted into Harvard who was confused with the set up process for the account.

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XD lol omg. I don't know if that says something about the difficulty of the account management or the quality of Harvard!

When I logged in the game I knew I should have received a degree in computer science.