New to FFXIV – Feeling a little overwhelmed and disheartened

Hey guys,

I’ve recently started playing FFXIV with my brother… well, when I say recently I mean since yesterday evening, we would have got in sooner but the Phoenix server was locked out for new characters until 01:00 :O (we have friends who have played for a few years on Phoenix so wanted to join up with them and it was a toss-up between FFXIV and ES:O but we went FFXIV since we already know people that are playing).

I have to say, I was impressed with the character creation part of the game, it has reasonable depth to help everyone feel like an “individual” rather than feeling like you are just another of the same. The choice of hair styles and a range of other customisable options made the character creation part feel immersive and fun (or at least as much fun as one can have creating a character).

Unfortunately, this seem to be where the fun stopped and the confusion and feeling of being overwhelmed kicked in… The game itself looks beautiful and the initial cutscene with opening storey section leading you into the starter town were nice, although disappointing that it wasn’t voice acted…

Once into the starter town and after doing the initial back-and-forth for the opening quest line I thought I was finally on my way, but no, I can’t leave the starting room unless I also take the side quest which is offered here… strange, as I’ve never had this in an MMO before. Either way, I picked up the quest and continued out into the starting area. Only to be greeted by what I can only describe as the most confusing and obscurely laid out town I have ever come across :S after around 20-30 mins of running around I finally thought I had got my bearings but nope, I’m still lost and confused lol!

But the confusion doesn’t end there, the separate bags for EVERYTHING also seems a little strange and confusing, I completed a quest, opened my inventory but no quest reward… I had to Google to find out where it had gone and to discover that aside from the standard inventory for item I pick up on my travels, each piece of kit also has its own bag section just for that specific type of item.

Continuing on, I do the typical gather up the quests in a specific town/zone/area and then systematically work my way through them (god there seems to be a lot of quests!), for the most part the quests are the typical fetch/gather/talk which I’m used to from previous MMO’s. After completing a few more quests I finally get one that points me outside of the starting town.

I head out of town with a few quests requiring me to kill this-or-that, start combat… and wait…. And attack….. and wait….. and attack…. And wait…. Is it just me or does FFXIV have possibly the slowest combat in a MMO? For a moment I wasn’t sure if it was turn based like the old FF games… but no, it’s not, it’s just really slow…

There are loads of other little things which also feel cumbersome, almost like they have been designed in such a way to be “different” from other MMO’s but making them either overly complex or just plain difficult for the sake of being “different” to norm. Take the chat system, I had someone talking to me for 5 mins but I didn’t even notice because the chat box is down out of the way in the left-hand corner and its sooooo small that I need to totally take focus off everything else going on, on screen just to read what someone has typed to me. Or the sheer amount of quests, there everywhere, continuously, like non stop on every street corner, at every tree/bush or bridge… is there any reason why there are so many quests?

I did a little reading while the download took place and the Class / Job system seems even more confusing and the game progression seems heavily about the main story and questing solo though the game.... sounds fun.... ..... ...... I also haven’t been able to find out anything in regards to PvP or how/what its like here on FFXIV, does it even have PvP??

After a few hours of playing I’m feeling fairly disheartened, everyone else I know (all Lv.60) including my brother who’s just started out seem to love everything about FFXIV but I just can’t seem to get into it, it feels clunky, slow and overly complex for no reason other than… well just being overly complex. Christ, even to post on these forums was a chore with the funny character selection mechanic to post on the forums with no instructions to say “no it’s not just clicking on the character bar and turning it brown, you’ve got to click that little grey star next to their picture, yeah that’s the one, that’s not obvious at all but how we’ve made the forums work”…

I really really really want to like FFXIV, and not just because I’ve paid “x” amount for the game and then “x” amount for a subscription but because its where my brother and friends all play and the best part about an MMO is getting to play with friends, but if the first few hours are anything to go by I can’t see me continuing on with it, please tell me things get better and that the game starts to feel less overly complex and just plain difficult for no reason….

Insult to injury.... 1000 character limit.... 30 second lock out between posts.... I lolled!! XD

Oh my goodness it bring back old memeory lol. Unlucky ff14 gets way better. You will feel excitement when you first face off ur first primal. Ff15 does have slow combat and now u probabaly only have 2-3 skills to used so combat can be extreme boring. Once you high up there in level u will have lot more skills to manage . Story is always but part of ff series so progress in main story is a must.

Pvp In ff14 is okay, while pve content such as dungon trail raid is a main focus for ff14.

Hang in there, after about lvl 25 story pick up, u will have several dungeons and trail to tackle which will be better game

You can edit your post to bypass the character limit :) also the game gets a lot better as you progress.

The combat picks up quite a bit also, the beginning is boring imho..slow combat, few skills and tons of quests. I'd say give the game a chance, once you start to do dungeons and primal fights I think you'll have more fun. Oh and with the ability to do dungeons unsynced those level 60 players you know can help you finish things faster :)

Well as I can see from your profile, you chose Marauder as your class leaving you in Limsa Lominsa as your starting city. Marauder imho feels like one of the slowest class in the early stages, but picks up as you learn more skills and abilities as with most classes. So have no fear!

Limsa is actually one of the most confusing main cities in the games, and I still get confused every now again! But with repetition you'll get the hang of the place.

As the game starts most of the quests tries to get you to move around the main city, just so you get used to it and then from there they send out outside to kill stuff. There are a lot of quests but its there to assist you with leveling which can get slow at times. So they're there for a reason. It is your choice whether to do them or not. Yes you have that option.

I hope you get to enjoy the game as much as I do and if you've got any questions we're here to answer.

You can edit your posts to bypass the 1000 char limit. I type everything i want to say out, and if i go long i cut some, then paste it back in via edit. Annoying, but less so then having to split a single idea into multiple posts.

So for combat, the global cooldown will always make the combat feel a little slower then it otherwise could be. With that said, as you level up you will eventually gain many abilities that work off of the GCD and have seperate cooldown timers. When you start mixing and managing multiple extra moves around your combos everything will feel more hectic/active.

If i remember right, the quest to unlock pvp is available at level 60. Some people like it, many skip it.

Dont feel too bad about getting lost in Limsa. Its layout is easily the most confusing of the starter towns.

The class/job system isnt that hard to figure out. You have your class(marauder) and you level it up via quests and killings. Later on you can unlock your job(warrior in this case) which is an extension/power up of the class you already have. While youre equipped as a warrior you never stop being a marauder, and indeed keep gaining exp for it(war/mrd are one and the same for leveling purposes). Your character isnt class-locked, so if you want to try new things you can switch back and forth fairly easily - even leveling all the classes/jobs up to the max if you want.

As for game progression, you hit the nail on the head. Keep up with the main storyline quests(those are the ones with the meteor icon) and the game will eventually send you all over the world and unlock all sorts of features, dungeons, trials, raids, and more. Most of the quests are done solo(kill, fetch, messenger), but there are many of them that will send you into group instances(those previously mentioned dungeons and whatnot) where you can team up with friends and family(or complete strangers) to accomplish your goal.

And finally, its ok to feel overwhelmed. Ive never played an MMO that wasnt at least a little overwhelming for a new player. By design these are basically the most complicated games you can possibly make, as you have so many systems you have to include and balance. Just take it step by step and ask questions when you need to, and it becomes second nature pretty quickly.

Edit: Almost forgot to add a signoff. Best of luck and i hope things pick up for you!

There is quite a lot to learn in this game, UnluckyXIII. At this time, when you start a brand new character, normally, the game will give you an idea of how some of the basic in city content and stories/quests works, for new players to the game. This was standard when ARR first released, and not a lot has changed since then. Coming from 1.0 to 2.0 beta phase, and into 3.0 and now 4.0, the game gets better after level 15. Pre level 30 can be kind of slow and clunky. The reason for so many quests in this game starter city is to help the player level up and learn skills a bit quicker than the average mmo would have for limited quests and grinding monsters all day.



When you hit level 15 and venture farther out into the wilds of Eorzea, you start your dungeons and duty finder unlock ability. Every 5 levels you earn on your job/class, make sure to do the class quest, as those will give you access to better gear sometimes, and help unlocking skills that need requirements met in some content. The game was designed to ease new players into the grind, rather than giving them all at once with no direction (which is what FFXI did back in the day). As you progress in level, with the newly implemented adventurers guild quests til level 15 on the type of class (tank, dps, healer), players can learn a bit more with the aid of the npc in the arena. After this has been fully unlocked at level 15, you will gain access to some new armor that's great for its level (I wish we got this when we first started lol). You can generally locate this adventurers guild information on any adventure hall in the three cities of Limsa Lominsa, Uldah or Gridania.

Once you have unlocked this, you will gain access to what's called the Adventurers guild, which will allow you to communicate with veteran players among your server, who can further assist with questions and answers in its own guild hall/linkshell. However, they are players, just like you, so while there are also going to be new players in the linkshell, there will be veterans too. They have the ability to kick players if there is disrespect among the community members. So be nice to people, and treat others the same as you'd want to be treated! :)

The guild allows you to leave once you hit heavensward content down the road. So it won't be there forever, don't worry! But again, most of the content recently added, was to help the transition in content from new to veteran in no time! If you have any questions, don't be afraid to ask on the forums! A lot of players are more than willing to answer questions.

If you want to change a lot of the settings, make sure to check out and browse the settings on the ingame configuration menus, so you can adjust the client or how icons appear, and chat looks. Chat box in the bottom left can also be moved around on the screen to wherever you see fit. Some players leave it there, while others move it around or have multiple boxes in that area. Just depends on play style. There's a lot to customize in the game, so go crazy! xD Happy hunting, and welcome to Eorzea! :D

Early levels require a lot of willpower, see my join date to the forums? I leave the game at around lvl 35 after Titan quest. Got back like half a year ago or so and I nearly quit again. Glad I stay, at 50 you have a lot of content and HW MSQ is not a constant chore like it was ARR.

That happens when people are constantly complaining and then SE goes and changes the exp rewards from quests etc.

Back in the day the side quests mattered, but now you don't have to do them anymore, however I always recommend doing them till at least level 15 because due to the fact that they give so much more exp and the sheer amount of them, you can get there in no time without any effort.

But sadly that also leads to confusion and new players being overwhelmed as you have stated, I would just suggest that you stick with either the MSQ & Class (Job quest later on), or add only side quests in the major cities to that. Don't go out of your way to pick them up, and don't continue to pick up new ones in the little "out of town" villages it sends you too.

Find a class/job you like, don't stick with something just because someone told you, or because that's the class/job you picked first and don't wanna redo things. That's in most cases the problem and people just quitting because they are hating the job they are playing and can't focus.

After you found a class/job go ahead and do a couple of side quests to get back to the same level your other class/job have been.

Another tip, and I do understand a lot of your friends and family is level 60 but don't rush it. There's nothing worse then trying to play the catch up game, besides that you get burned out easier or loose all fun and quit eventually.

As others have mentioned the combat gets better at higher level, however if you're normally playing fast paste mmo's or action combat games, let me tell you, it will never be comparable. This game wasn't designed to be like that, no matter how high level you are and I don't think the expansion will make any changes to the layout itself, sure we might get some more skills that are a bit "faster" but in general ffxiv isn't meant to be a fast action combat mmo.

Just give it a try, you either like it or you won't but I wouldn't feel bad about it, at least you tried at the end
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Well, I'm going to try to respond to this, but it's really hard because, like everything else in FFXIV, the forums are kind of complicated. Except in the case of the forums, it's just plain bad instead of usually being complicated for the sake of being conveniently designed and having a ton of options.

So first, these forums are weird because in order to bypass the ridiculously low character limit, you have to edit your message. In other words, every time you post something, write it all out, then Ctrl+X 99% of it, post the thread/reply, then immediately edit it and Ctrl+V the rest in. Annoying, I know.

I can't remember exactly how the start of the game plays out, since it was awhile ago for me, but basically just follow the main story. As far as I can recall, even if some side quests are required, it should tell you which ones those are in your Journal.

Inventory-wise, there are 4 sets of 25 slots by default, plus crystals and quest/key items. This, like almost everything else in FFXIV, can be changed in the vast options menu. I'd have to open my game to find it, and I've got to head out in a few minutes so I don't have time (maybe later I will find this stuff for you). It should be under Character options though, not System. Under Inventory, I think.

As far as the waiting to attack goes, it sounds almost like you're not using the Action bar. This game does have Auto-Attacks, but these are done automatically and, for the most part, you can ignore them and just let them run automatically. Autos will continue even during animations, so if you use your Hotbar skills, you won't be cancelling autos. If you aren't using your hotbar, you need to do so. If you're still finding it slow, keep in mind that once you actually start fighting real bosses, you'll be juggling these skills while avoiding attacks. There are also some skills that can be used off Off Global Cooldown (OGC). You can use these between your regular skills to attack twice as fast briefly. This is crucial to DPS efficiency later on.

The game really starts to feel epic and fun once you get to higher-end Lv50 content (like Extreme Primals), and Lv60 content. The bosses in this game are fascinating because they are brutally difficult compared to most games. Veteran players may scoff at my saying that, but from a new player's perspective, it's true. The raids in this game are very choreographed, it's true. But the complexity of that choreography is so much higher than most games, and so unforgiving. It's very much about moving together in unison, like marching bands in the US, I guess? If one player moves to the wrong spot at the wrong time, the whole raid can fall apart very quickly. This is largely why the high-level content is starkly divided into "learning" parties and "farm" parties, for people who are learning the dance and those who have already learned it.

You can skip virtually all of the meaningless side quests if you want. The side quests are your standard MMO fare that usually have no real story significance. Any worthwhile quests will either be the Main Story, or content quests, which are marked with a blue icon that has a + by it.

The chat box can be resized, as can most of the UI. On controller I think the default hotkey was R3, but I have since messed with my options so I can't remember. UI position can also be changed in the HUD Layout editor.

The FFXIV official site makes the job system sound more confusing than it is. Basically, for any of the original jobs, you'll need Lv30 in the main class, and 15 in a subclass to unlock your job. For example, if you started as Thaumaturge wanting to be a Black Mage, you'll need to get Archer to 15 to unlock your Black Mage job quests.

FFXIV is well-designed in that it does encourage veteran players to play old, low-level content. However, if you're a DPS class, you will have significantly longer queue times regardless. Much of the Main Story is just solo questing, with a few party dungeons/raids included which you need to queue for.

I'm not sure on the PvP front, but like most MMOs, I don't think it's as prevalent as PvE.

You are on Phoenix. If you are online tonight, give me a shout and I can answer all the questions you want to ask ^^ and maybe help you find a love for it :)

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Originally Posted by UnluckyXIII

Insult to injury.... 1000 character limit.... 30 second lock out between posts.... I lolled!! XD

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If you submit your first post under the 1000 character limit, then edit it, you can bypass the limit.

I can see what you mean. The game really does pick up as you level; especially the jobs. Story and jobs all pick up at around 30. At 50, the game just keeps getting faster and harder. 60 the feeling of being overwhelmed will come at you again with the sudden introduction of end game content and trying to catch up for Stormblood.

The game rewards patience. Take the time to level up, it will give you the skills to enjoy the game even more. At least this is my opinion.

I'd suggest sticking with the main scenario quests to start with. Save the sub quests (with the ! sign above them) for when you want to catch up a bit of exp or need the reward.

Thanks for all of the positive response, I've played a few more hours since making my initial post and things seem to be slowly getting better (I'm no longer is pink/yellow/blue armour for starters!!), I've joined a Free Company which seems to be full of really helpful people who don't tire from my continuous questions haha! I've completed the Novice Hall which gave me a nice run down of how the tank roll operates here on FFXIV (although I still cant get the move out of AoE and reposition myself thing right :S) I did know most of it but I think its a nice introduction to the class and something other MMO's seem to forget... I've had more time to explore and enjoy things like the FATE, Leve and Duties (I think I got the names right) and even ride a Chocobo ^__^.

I'm by no means "comfortable" but at least I've managed to get my head around some of the systems and make some progress with things. I still think I've got a large learning curve, which after years of gaming and specifically MMO's it still feels a little strange to me, maybe this is because almost every other MMO that has been release over the last 10 years or so has tried to mimic WoW to some degree, so whenever I've played something new it wasn't really new at all and just a reskinned iteration of WoW. Its nice that FFXIV isn't doing this, and isn't trying to be WoW which is a breath of fresh air in the mainstream MMO market. Hopefully my adventures in Eorzea continue to keep me intrigued and I would just like to say thanks again to everyone who replied to my initial post :)

P.S. Thanks for the tip with the 1000 character limit :)

Btw you can bypass the character limit by editing you post

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Originally Posted by UnluckyXIII

But the confusion doesn’t end there, the separate bags for EVERYTHING also seems a little strange and confusing, I completed a quest, opened my inventory but no quest reward… I had to Google to find out where it had gone and to discover that aside from the standard inventory for item I pick up on my travels, each piece of kit also has its own bag section just for that specific type of item.

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This has to do with how open FFXIV's multi-classing options are. In a game where you can advance 13 combat jobs, 8 crafting classes, and 3 gathering classes on the same character, and swap between them at will, you may need 24 different sets of equipment just to gear each of them (particularly if they're at different levels so not able to share equipment). That warranted a dedicated space just for holding all of our current gear, one that wouldn't be needed in a game where each character was dedicated to a particular class (like in most MMOs).

(The game could probably have done a better job of introducing you to where to find stuff, though.)

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Originally Posted by UnluckyXIII

I head out of town with a few quests requiring me to kill this-or-that, start combat… and wait…. And attack….. and wait….. and attack…. And wait…. Is it just me or does FFXIV have possibly the slowest combat in a MMO?

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Part of this is a stylistic choice. The game is designed to be strategic rather than fast paced action, so even at max level, it's not going to be about rapid button mashing. And part is simply that you're low level. There isn't a whole lot of strategy available at level 1 when you have only 1 skill to choose from. At level 60, when you have 37 of them, many on separate timers or needing special conditions, it's a lot more involved.

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Originally Posted by UnluckyXIII

Take the chat system, I had someone talking to me for 5 mins but I didn’t even notice because the chat box is down out of the way in the left-hand corner and its sooooo small that I need to totally take focus off everything else going on, on screen just to read what someone has typed to me.

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Drag the upper right corner of the chat box to re-size it. Or drag the first ("General") tab on the bottom left to move it. Most other HUD elements can be rearranged and resized through the HUD Layout menu.

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Originally Posted by UnluckyXIII

Or the sheer amount of quests, there everywhere, continuously, like non stop on every street corner, at every tree/bush or bridge… is there any reason why there are so many quests?

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Weird. Coming from LOTRO, which has probably around a hundred times as many quests, my biggest adjustment when starting FFXIV was getting used to how few quests this game has, especially once you get out of the starting towns and the first few levels. But if it's more than you want, you can skip a lot of the sidequests.

The Main Scenario is marked with a special quest icon that has a flaming circle around it. Those ones are important. And any sidequests with a blue icon that has a plus sign in the corner are ones that unlock features or content. So those are important, too.

The others, where the icon is just a brown oval with a tail (I never quite figured out whether it's supposed to represent a speech balloon or the letter Q) are just regular sidequests. They might sometimes provide a minor bit of background lore. And they can reward items and XP that can be useful. But that's about it. You can skip them if you feel like it, or wait to do them later. Some players deliberately skip them on their first class in order to have them available when leveling other classes.

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Originally Posted by UnluckyXIII

I did a little reading while the download took place and the Class / Job system seems even more confusing

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It's not all that confusing in practice. Each combat class can be upgraded to a job (or to a couple jobs in the case of Arcanist) at level 30, provided you also advance another complimentary class as well. After that, your class quests are replaced by job quests (which are essentially the same thing, just from a different NPC and with a new storyline attached) and a higher proportion of your skills are learned from those quests. With the job upgrade, you get a boost to your stats and a different name for doing what you had been doing all along.

(Later, SE decided the change of name was unnecessary, so the new jobs introduced with Heavensward and Stormblood use a single name that covers both the class and job together, eliminating the advancement from one to the other. They also start later, for players who don't want to start every job from the beginning.)

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Originally Posted by UnluckyXIII

the game progression seems heavily about the main story and questing solo though the game.... sounds fun....

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Progression is certainly heavily tied to the main story. (It is a Final Fantasy game after all, and storytelling has always been one of the franchise's big selling points.) While that involves a lot of solo content, it also includes quite a few party dungeons and trials. I seem to hear people complain about requiring so much solo content at about the same rate as other people complain about requiring group content, so I don't think they're too badly balanced.

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Originally Posted by UnluckyXIII

I also haven’t been able to find out anything in regards to PvP or how/what its like here on FFXIV, does it even have PvP??

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There's PvP at levels 50 and 60. (It used to start at level 30, but that part didn't get enough participation to remain viable, so they removed it.) The level 60 PvP is a lot more popular than the level 50 is, both because they added additional options there that 50 didn't get, but probably even more so just by the fact that it's the current level cap and PvP is seen by many as a way to pass the time when you're stuck at endgame and have run out of other content.

I haven't done enough PvP myself to comment on how good it is. The people who like it seem to like it, but many (probably the majority of) players either never try it or (like me) have tried it out once or twice and that's it. It's definitely sideline content compared to PvE where the game's main focus lies.