Kinda new player!

Hello! I'm not exactly new player. I've played game about a year ago, I just never really got into it. Now I gave it another shot, and ofc I have some question, if you guys don't mind answering.
I'm lvl 30 Arcanist, and I wanna go Summoner.
- do I get a quest for becoming a Summoner? Do I need to be lvl 30 main story?
- what do those small colors in top right on gear mean?
- when I get a gear that can be inserted with "materia", what does that mean, how do I make that happen?
- I'm in a small FC. are you restricted with only one fc or can you join more?
- there's zero people in chat, is there no "global" chat?
- I finally got my fist chocobo, how do I make it fight alongside me?

These are just some I could think of now, I'm sure there'll be more :o

Thank you in advance! :D

To get a job (except for the HW jobs) you need to be level 30 in the main class for that job, and level 15 in a secondary class. You also need to have finished the level 20 Main Scenario Quest "Sylph Management"
For Summoner the requirements are level 30 Arcanist and level 15 Thaumaturge.

The small colors indicate what color the gear is. :) Many pieces can be dyed to change their color. (There is a quest in Vesper Bay that will unlock dyeing.)

Materia are items which can be added to gear to give extra points on certain stats. Materia can be obtained by converting gear with 100% Spiritbond. There is a goblin in the northern part of Central Thanalan that can teach you how to do this. If you want to do the actual melding yourself you need to have enough levels in some crafting class. (The level 20 crafter quests direct you to that goblin.) As a recent change there are also NPCs in the trade areas of the main cities that can help with melding.

You can only be in one Free Company at a time. There are also Linkshells (LS) that are essentially private chat channels. You can be in up to 8 linkshells.

No global chat

To get your chocobo companion to fight beside you, you will have to do the level 30 quest "My Feisty Little Chocobo". It can be picked up at Camp Tranquil in the South Shroud. (There is a level 30 MSQ which will send you there.)

wow, thank you very much for that explanation!
How do I get into Linkshells? Can I apply here on forums?
And I about low lvl gear. What to do with it? Should I just sell everything?

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Originally Posted by MistakeNot

For Summoner the requirements are level 30 Arcanist and level 15 Thaumaturge.

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Once you've met both of the level requirements and completed all the Arcanist class quests, there will be another quest at the Arcanist guild to unlock Summoner (as well as one for Scholar if you're also 15 or above CNJ). Job unlock quests (for ARR jobs) all begin at the guild hall of the job's main class, but then send you to an NPC somewhere else. In the case of SMN, it's in Old Gridania, near that guy who gives out achievement rewards. It's that second location that you'll then need to go back to for subsequent job quests.

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Originally Posted by yoco007

And I about low lvl gear. What to do with it? Should I just sell everything?

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You mean stuff you've worn in lower levels, but have since out-leveled it and replaced it with better stuff? If you've worn it in combat (or crafting/gathering), then it will be bound to you and the only place you can sell it is to NPCs who pay very little, so if there are other options, they're better.

If you used the item long enough for it's spiritbond level to reach 100% and the item is convertible (not all are), then the best thing to do is convert it into materia. As MistakeNot mentioned, there is a goblin, Mutamix, in Central Thanalan who can teach you to do this. Pick up the quest "Forging the Spirit" from Swynbroes. There's some RNG involved in which type of materia you'll wind up with, and some are better than others, but any materia is more valuable than used gear you've outgrown. In fact, if a convertible piece of gear isn't quite at 100% yet, but getting close when you get a better replacement, it may be worth continuing to use the old piece a little while just to finish off that spiritbond, so you can convert it.

If the item is a green or pink (aetherial) quality dungeon drop, you can also trade it in to your Grand Company for GC seals. You can do this regardless of whether it's bound. (I seem to recall there being an unlock for this, but can't remember quite what it was. One of the GC promotions maybe?)

If you're getting into the crafting part of the game, there's a corresponding skill, desynthesis, which also provides a use for old gear, letting you break down gear into other items (mostly crafting components). But you can only fully level up desynth skills for three of the eight crafting classes, so only those classes' gear types are useful for this purpose (and then only if its level corresponds with your current dysynth skill level).

If a quest rewards gear you don't need (which is common enough if you do quests below your level), so you end up with gear you don't have a use for, but have never used in combat, so it isn't bound to you, you can sell it on the market board to other players. That can nearly always fetch a much better price than the few gil that you'd get selling to NPCs.

If none of the above apply, and you're not going to want the gear again (for another class, or for glamour), then you're out of good options, so go ahead and sell it to an NPC. The few gil you get there is better than nothing.

Seems that most of your questions were answered. Ill pick up the one that i saw was missed.

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Originally Posted by yoco007

How do I get into Linkshells? Can I apply here on forums?

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Theres an NPC in each starting town that allows you to start your own Linkshells(which ill abbreviate to LS for the rest of this answer). The person who starts a LS "owns" it. They then have the ability to add people to the shell, and they can promote other LS members to leaders who can also add and promote(the owner can also rename and give away ownership of their LS, but these are less important features for the purpose of your answer). So essentially, you get in by finding a member who can add you and asking to get in. Individual LSs can have their own criteria for who they let in if they choose(theres one on my server just for miqo's for instance), but a lot of them are just devoted to a specific topic(say crafting or clan hunts) and take all interested parties they find. If youre online and have a little while to spare you could throw up a PF group and advertise that you want to join LSs devoted to whatever topics interest you. You could also ask in Novice Network chat if youre in there. Applying on the forums would be tougher, as LSs are server specific and you can only be added while youre online. But if you want to try that, check your server forum and good luck.

Also, welcome back to the game and happy hunting.

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Originally Posted by yoco007

And I about low lvl gear. What to do with it? Should I just sell everything?

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In addition to what has already been said, low level gear can be useful to save for when/if you are levelling your second/third/etc. class. Not necessary though - by that time you should have enough gil that you can easily buy basic low-level gear from NPC vendors if you need it.

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Originally Posted by Niwashi

If the item is a green or pink (aetherial) quality dungeon drop, you can also trade it in to your Grand Company for GC seals. You can do this regardless of whether it's bound. (I seem to recall there being an unlock for this, but can't remember quite what it was. One of the GC promotions maybe?)

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You need to have reached the rank of Sergeant Second Class in your Grand Company before you can do these Expert Deliveries.

Thank you all for some many helpful posts! :)

Besides equipped gear non is 100% spiritbound. So I can't convert it, right? About GC seals, someone told duty finder is best for that, I should just queue for "duty roulette". But I only have two options available, lv 10 and lvl 16. Do I need to unlock higher lvls? And under bonus it's always "adventurer in need (tank)". Does this mean only if I play as tank I get bonus reward? About pets, I currently have 3. Two dps and a tank one. Do dps ones do the same damage?

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Originally Posted by yoco007

Thank you all for some many helpful posts! :)

Besides equipped gear non is 100% spiritbound. So I can't convert it, right? About GC seals, someone told duty finder is best for that, I should just queue for "duty roulette". But I only have two options available, lv 10 and lvl 16. Do I need to unlock higher lvls? And under bonus it's always "adventurer in need (tank)". Does this mean only if I play as tank I get bonus reward? About pets, I currently have 3. Two dps and a tank one. Do dps ones do the same damage?

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Gear does need to be 100% spiritbound before it can be converted into materia, yes. Some gear cannot be converted even then - the tooltip should include "Convertible: Yes/No" indicating if it can be converted or not.

There are many different duty roulettes, each of which will take you into a random duty of some type.
Right now you likely only have two roulettes unlocked - levelling roulette which will take you into a random 4-man dungeon or trial and guildhest roulette which will take you into a random guildhest.
Each roulette will give a sizable XP bonus the first time you run it each day. (Exact size of the bonus depends on the duty and your level.)
If you are queuing as the role specified as "adventurer in need" you will get an additional bonus, which is not limited to once per day.

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Originally Posted by yoco007

just queue for "duty roulette". But I only have two options available, lv 10 and lvl 16. Do I need to unlock higher lvls?

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That shows the minimum level to unlock the Roulette, because in both cases you need to have unlocked at least two of the duties included in the roulette to unlock the roulette itself. The Leveling Roulette is unlockable at level 16 because the two lowest level dungeons included in it are Sastasha (level 15) and Tam-Tara (level 16). But it then also includes many other dungeons and trials (once you unlock them individually), eventually ranging all the way from 15 to 59. Similarly, the Guildhest Roulette is unlockable at level 10, because that's the level of its two lowest level hests. It then includes all the others as well, ranging from 10 to 40.

There will eventually be other Duty Roulettes to unlock. The next one you'll unlock is Main Scenario Roulette, which includes just two dungeons (both level 50) that form the climax of the original ARR storyline. Then there is a Trials Roulette, including trials ranging from levels 49-60 (the roulette unlockable at 50, once you've done two of them). There is a Level 50 Roulette and Level 60 Roulette including a bunch of dungeons that are all at their stated level. (Unlike the others, these are only unlocked once you've run all the dungeons they include rather than once you've done two of them.) Then at endgame, there's also an Expert Roulette for the dungeons included in the most recent patch. (This one changes each patch cycle, with new ones added, and the previous moved into Level 60 Roulette.) And if you ever become a Mentor, there's a Mentor Roulette.

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Originally Posted by yoco007

About pets, I currently have 3. Two dps and a tank one. Do dps ones do the same damage?

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Summon III brings Ifrit-Egi as soon as you've unlocked Summoner. Initially, Summon and Summon II still bring the carbuncle pets from Arcanist until you unlock Titan-Egi and Garuda-Egi from the level 35 and 45 SMN quests respectively. Ifrit-Egi is stronger than Emerald Carbuncle. Once you have Garuda-Egi it becomes a harder choice. Each pet has its advantages. I'm no expert at the job, but I believe Garuda-Egi is considered better most of the time, but Ifrit-Egi is slightly better for quick fights without a lot of movement. (At least that seemed to be the consensus the last time I was reading up on that particular debate.) Plus some players like Ifrit-Egi better as easier to position.

When you break down gear for materia, the gear on your saved classes, does it show as well? I don't want to accidentally destroy it.
Is it possible doing main story and current class missions only get to max lvl?

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Originally Posted by yoco007

When you break down gear for materia, the gear on your saved classes, does it show as well? I don't want to accidentally destroy it.
Is it possible doing main story and current class missions only get to max lvl?

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When converting to materia, you first select a piece of gear and then convert it. When looking at the pieces in the armory, all pieces currently part of a gear set will have a small icon on it.

Just doing MSQ and class quests is nowhere near enough to reach max level. You will have to earn XP from other sources as well.

The gear list preview on your saved class list window only records the gear from the last time you selected that entry. It'll update with a warning that something's not right the next time you select that entry.
Btw, materia really isn't a big deal, so don't expend too much time or money on it. And spiritbond level rises from fighting in that gear, so think of it like EXP for your gear.

Nowadays you likely can reach Level 50 through just Main Scenario Quest and all sidequests because doing all sidequests also means completing each dungeon once. If you feel like you're falling behind, that's what FATEs are for.

About which Summon to use: I recommend you just continue to use Ifrit-Egi from now on until you get more comfortable with the game. The decision between Ifrit-Egi and Garuda-Egi really is personal preference. You can leave Ifrit-Egi on Sic behavior and do totally fine. Garuda-Egi MUST be used with Obey behavior because one of her skills is completely useless if you leave her on Sic, and Obey means she only uses skills when you tell her to by putting her skills on your hotbar.

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Originally Posted by Niwashi

Garuda-Egi is considered better most of the time, but Ifrit-Egi is slightly better for quick fights without a lot of movement. (At least that seemed to be the consensus the last time I was reading up on that particular debate.) Plus some players like Ifrit-Egi better as easier to position.

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Actually, Ifrit-egi is the superior pet 80% of the time (he's a Job specific pet for a reason, ;3 ). He has significantly higher DPS compared to Garuda-egi, who must basically be put on Obey-auto-attack mode, because of all the useless abilities you don't want her to use without your permission. SMNs who just default to Garuda-egi are usually just lazy (they want the Contagion ability so they don't have to apply DoTs as often lol), or they didn't do their pet research. Garuda-egi for sure has her advantages, but it's usually in very specific fights (Keeper of the Lake end boss comes to mind, lmao. So much time spent dodging, you really do need the extra DoT time thrown up there - tho I usually swiftcast Ifrit into the fight during add phase. I also use her in Titan trials, because she hovers above the quake stuff).

Of course, you'll always hear someone argue otherwise, but I have yet to see a similarly geared SMN out DPS me with Garuda-egi.

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Originally Posted by SeriousxSarcasm

Actually, Ifrit-egi is the superior pet 80% of the time (he's a Job specific pet for a reason, ;3 ).

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What level are we talking about here? Since at least from checking FF logs, the best SMNs all seem to use Garuda.

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Originally Posted by Taika

What level are we talking about here? Since at least from checking FF logs, the best SMNs all seem to use Garuda.

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lol, not end game (for some reason everyone on the forums seem to jump immediately to that. :P ). I'm referring to in dungeons and trials throughout the game. If it were possible, Ifrit-egi would still be an increase in pure numbers, but it's just not possible in raids to keep track of your DoTs (which have to be refreshed too often), where your pet is (with him being in Melee range, he will likely die more often, depending on the fight), plus keep your own rotation/opener in peak condition. I'm still testing, but so far it just gets too damn chaotic to be worth it lol.

But in basic content, Ifrit-egi is usually the better choice.

Edit: And I'm sure if someone out there was able to grow a 3rd eye, plus extra fingers, they could probably make him more viable... but such is life. XD

Quick question. This game does't support "action" camera, right? It's always TAB targeting? Need advice as tank, my second class, how to best wanted target. I really dislike tab targeting, it rarely chooses target I want!

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Originally Posted by yoco007

It's always TAB targeting? Need advice as tank, my second class, how to best wanted target.

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Still new myself, but what I do is mainly use the enmity/monster list for targeting after a fight begins. It's very handy with the enmity icons and health bars, allowing me to find targets that are about to lose enmity or that DPS is targeting out of order (ie, taking damage fast). That list only shows monsters when you're on their enmity list though! Fresh adds to a fight often won't show, so be careful using it. Manual targeting seems to be best done by clicking on a monster name, not the monster itself. TAB targeting works nearest to farthest, but takes camera into consideration in some weird ways. You have to get a feel for it to use it well, and it doesn't always work out. I use all three methods depending on the situation. I play on PC, and I doubt much of that applies to gamepad.

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Originally Posted by Rinari

Still new myself, but what I do is mainly use the enmity/monster list for targeting after a fight begins. It's very handy with the enmity icons and health bars, allowing me to find targets that are about to lose enmity or that DPS is targeting out of order (ie, taking damage fast).

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I also recommend clicking the enmity list to target as a tank. But as Rinari already also said, if you have many monsters on you, they may not show on the list, so you'll also have to pay attention to your surroundings.

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Originally Posted by Rinari

I use all three methods depending on the situation. I play on PC, and I doubt much of that applies to gamepad.

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The enmity list (or party list for healers) is just as useful on gamepad. (It uses Up/Down buttons to cycle through the party list, or L1+Up/Down to cycle through the enmity list.) If what you want to target is listed there, it's often the best way to target it. It does, however have the same limitations as it has for keyboard/mouse players: enemies who haven't noticed you yet aren't listed in the enemy list and NPCs or players not in your party aren't listed in the party list.

The right/left buttons on a gamepad work pretty much like tab targeting, but can at least be filtered so that, for instance, you can set it to enemy only mode and it will only cycle through mobs without including players, NPCs, minions, etc in its list, or set it to friends only mode to cycle just through players and friendly NPCs skipping over mobs. There are a bunch of different filter options for what to include or not. (I'm not sure why keyboard tab doesn't seem to have the same filtering options. It would make just as much sense there. But I've never heard of it except in relation to gamepads, so I think it's a gamepad only feature.)

Gamepad lacks the ability to click on a mob (or its name), but does have an option to select one with the X button. If you start with nothing targeted (so generally prefix this with pressing circle a time or two to un-target whatever you were attacking last) and then press X, it will target the nearest mob/item/NPC/player in front of you. This works much more predictably than tabbing to the next one since the targeting system so often has a weirdly non-intuitive notion of what's "next". So particularly for melee fighters, this "nearest one" selection is often useful when you feel like yelling at the game "No, not those ones clear over in the far corner. I want to hit this one right here that I'm standing toe to toe with."

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Originally Posted by Niwashi

The enmity list (or party list for healers) is just as useful on gamepad.

There are a bunch of different filter options for what to include or not. (I'm not sure why keyboard tab doesn't seem to have the same filtering options. It would make just as much sense there. But I've never heard of it except in relation to gamepads, so I think it's a gamepad only feature.)

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I'm constantly surprised how much functionality SE has crammed into the gamepad. The enmity list as a targeting tool has become indispensable for me as a tank, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised that they'd make some way for gamepad to use it to. I'm pretty sure I remember seeing those TAB target filtering options before, so they probably exist on PC, but likely aren't talked about much because we don't rely on it as much. I'll have to give those options a closer look as I start honing my skills. There might be some trick that let's me find engaged mobs that aren't on my enmity list faster.

I should note, attempting to click a mob name for targeting is really more of a last resort for me. If I see a new add, and there are lots of others things around, and the new mob isn't on my enmity list... THAT is when I manually target. Tabbing would take longer than I'd like and those seconds are valuable.