New Player...uh.....whoa

Ok. I'm new. Like, TOTALLY new. I've been playing WoW for as long as I can remember and before that I was a City of Heroes/Guild Wars kinda gal. I feel totally overwhelmed and I don't know where to go or what to look for. I haven't even been able to locate new armor for myself and I'm already lvl 7. Any help would be a Godsend.....

Also, what' sup the the not allowing of characters on the data centers? I mean, I went to Primal and every world is shut down. If every world is closed, how are new people like me supposed to find a place to play?

If you're still on Sargatanas like it lists under your name, I'd be happy to help you out. I did a world search and didn't see you online to message. :P

Hey! Well the servers arent exactly closed.they are full. You would have more luck trying to get in them inmorning hours or reset day wich is tuesday. If u decide to come to leviathan server gime a call and il help :)

As for wepon and other stores you can find them in the map of the main cities. They look like amoney bag. A vendor will usualy not just sell wepons. But armor and items aswell.

Just like in WoW, quests reward gear.

You should definitely do the main scenario quests, as they are required to progress in the game. Things like retainers (essentially bank and market board selling access), mounts, access to dungeons and other group content, and access to PvP are awarded via the main scenario questline. There are also side quests that you will encounter as you do the quests in the main storyline.

Main scenario quests have a special icon to differentiate them from other quests. You can see examples of these icons and others here:

http://ffxiv.gamerescape.com/wiki/Di...f_Icons#Quests

Also, following the main scenario questline will lead you to everything you need to know, at just about the time you need to know it, and then you won't feel lost. :)

Good luck!

Don't buy merchant equipments, just keep playing the Main quests and your Class quest. They will reward you equipments through out the story.

My best advice to you right now is to just keep playing, and like many others have said, do the main story line quests. You'll be introduced to everything you need to know over time. Don't worry too much about low level gear. If you're used to hotbar MMOs like WoW and GW2 then you'll do fine. Spend time trying to improve your rotation and have fun! Enjoy being a new player and having that wanderlust for everything and not knowing what's around the next corner.

And since noone else has explained it thus far very well: Character creation becomes unavailable when a server is full or near full. If you have a specific server you wish to play on then you can try to make a character there during off peak times (like 2 am or maybe 8 am on a weekday) or pay for a server transfer to whatever server you like. Also, right after maintenance almost all realms open up to character creation. Its annoying, but I understand why they do it. Its to prevent one server from being overpopulated and another server from being completely empty. Basically population balance. My husband and I play on Exodus.

Main Scenario quests are mandatory for progressing through the game. You will not even be able to do a dungeon unless you unlock them through the main story quests. Unlike WoW [yes i played it for 8 yrs] this game is completely story driven. All your important info will come in the cut scenes so skip at your own risk :)

This link outlines every main story 1-15 quest. Scroll down the page until you each the Ul''dah section
http://ffxiv.gamerescape.com/wiki/Ma...est/Level_1-15

By the way, you and I are on the same world, Sargatanas!

WOW, a new person asks for advice on servers and gearing up and all you can do is spam your frickin' new player code?

Anyways, to the OP:

1. Servers can often be full, so if there's a specific one you want on, be sure to keep checking throughout the day. Early morning is usually a great time.

2. Gear - you can wait for quests to give you gear, there is vendors in each of the three main starting cities, or you can also buy from the Market Board, though I don't recommend it at first. You can easily get acceptable gear for much cheaper from the vendors in Limsa, Gridania or Ul'dah.

Lol? No one in here placed a code

Ways to get equipment:

• Many quests will reward you with suitable pieces equipment.
  
  
• There are NPC vendors in the main cities as well as other outposts around Eorzea. The main market area of Ul'dah is known as Saphire Avenue Exchange found in the eastern side of the Steps of Thal (near the Gate of Thal). There are multiple vendors there, some specializing in weapons, others in armour, others in crafting supplies, etc. Check out what each of them has. For gear, only the lower-level stuff (which of course is what you want now anyway) is found in the markets of the three main city-states. Once you get to wanting higher-level gear, you'd need to find merchants in level-appropriate areas. Oh, and if a merchant offering gear asks if you're looking for "Battle Gear" or "Field Gear", the difference is that Battle Gear is the sort with stats for combat classes like Gladiator or Thaumaturge, whereas Field Gear is for crafting or gathering classes like Weaver or Miner.
  
  
• Another thing you'll find in the main market area is a Market Board. This is where items are posted for sale from other players. You can at times find better gear here than what the NPC vendors will offer, since players who've taken up crafting can produce either "Normal Quality" or "High Quality" results. (What the NPC vendors sell is equivalent to a crafter's Normal Quality products.) High Quality (HQ) items are identified with a sparkly background to the item icon, or by a special icon next to their name that looks like two crescents conjoined at the bottom http://ffxiv.gamerescape.com/w/image...px-HQ_Icon.png
  
  When you find the same item on both the Market Board and from NPC vendors, the Market Board has widely varying costs, according to what the selling player chose. Sometimes you can get great deals there, buying gear for a lot less than the NPC vendors would sell it, and sometimes it's the other way around, with the MB listing it for far more than NPCs. (NPCs, however, have constant prices, so if you find it at a vendor, the only price checking needed is between them and the Market Board. There won't be any other vendors offering it at different prices.) You can buy stuff off the Market Board at any time, but won't be able to post your own items for sale there until you unlock Retainers from a level 17 Main Scenario quest.
  
  
• Once you get a few more levels in, you'll start unlocking dungeons, and their treasure chests can drop items better than you'll find elsewhere. There is Aetherial gear (identified by a pink background on the icon) which has stats somewhat better than regular vendor gear, equivalent to the High Quality results from crafting, and there is special (dungeon exclusive in the early and mid levels) gear with a green background, which is better yet. (Once you get near endgame, there are more tiers, with blue or purple backgrounds, but don't worry about that yet.)
  
  
• You can also take up crafting yourself if you're interested, and make your own gear. First you'd need to reach level 10 on your starting class and take the level 10 quest from your class trainer. That unlocks the ability to add other classes as well, both other battle classes as well as crafting and gathering classes. Then you go to the class guild of the class(es) you want to add and take a simple quest from the Receptionist at that guild, which will unlock that particular class for you. So for instance, if you wanted to become a Jeweler, then after your level 10 Gladiator quest, you'd take a quest from the Jeweler Guild and become a level 1 Jeweler.
  
  You alternate between your unlocked classes by equipping that class's main hand weapon or tool. This game is very flexible in multi-classing opportunities, as you can unlock and level as many of the classes and jobs as you want. (Many people do all of them.) Each of those classes needs to be leveled up separately, however, so your level in one class won't be your level in another.
  
  Anyway, getting back to the topic of crafting, once you unlock crafting classes, you'll get access to a Crafting Log, which has a list of recipes you can make. Your class quests in the crafting guilds will teach you how to make stuff. It's pretty simple to start off with, getting a bit more complex as you go up in levels and gain access to more skills that give you a variety of ways to improve your chances at High Quality results.

For other things to know about, some other people have already mentioned that you want to follow the Main Scenario quests (the ones with the flaming circle around the quest icon). The other important set of quests come from your class guild. There's one quest there each 5 levels (and that goes for each of the classes you unlock once you start advancing more of them). Past level 30, the class quests will be replaced by job quests which work much the same, coming each 5 levels, with the main difference being who you get the quest from. (The level 30 quest unlocking a job will lead you from your class guild to wherever it is you need to go from then on, introducing you to your job trainer.)

I've actually found myself liking Exodus so far, but that's not to say that I'll change it. I've made characters on multiple worlds in both NA data centers. I'm still trying to find a place that is as active as I want. I'm a very social person and I like seeing people chatting and what not when I'm in the city. I was invited to a free co, but I think it was just to get me to use the leader's friend code. He started asking me about it the moment I joined. But they have a rank of 8 and more than 400 people in the company so there must be some good to them. Thank you all for the helpful advice, it's nice to see a community that actually helps and doesn't troll. If I'd posted a thread like this in the WoW threads, I would have been eaten up alive.

Should you be on Mateus, look me up, I changed my charcter name so its Ceropio Malvae, I will be happy to help if I am on. Our FC likes people who are just playing to have fun.