The faults of just starting

I imagined when I first started this game about a week ago, I would make tons of friends and be invited to tons of parties. Alas, it seems to me that since the game as of a few days ago is not for sale anymore, I'm on the track to a one in a lifetime experience on my own.

On top of that, there are still tons of things I don't know about in the game. I was making a huge deal about seeing these giant airships in the sky, when someone in my vicinity called me a Noob.

/sulk

Anyone else having/has had this experience?

All the time. Unfortunately this game is very casual oriented meaning almost everything in it is going to be solo (thats just the way MMO's are these days, who wants to play with other ppl?) Although in the end there are getting to be allot more end game things that require you to party up with other ppl although unless you are in a LS its hard to find a group because there is a very strong mentality that is set in the minds of almost every FFXIV player that "If your not in my LS than f**k off." But if your in a LS than people are very helpful and kind to you. My advice would be since you just started to spam leves to lv. your first job than after that you can start dungeons and end game stuff like hamlet, primals etc...

Imho in order to enjoy this game to its fullest you should learn Japanese because the Japanese community is very kind and friendly and informative, unlike everyone else. Thats just me though.

People suck and it's that way in every game you play, don't let the idiots ruin your fun :)

You're going to have a very hard time finding people to group with. I've been stuck on a few GC and job quests because I cannot find 8 people, or even 2 or 3 people, to help me with these quests.

It sucks, but at least you'll be able to do all the main scenario stuff by yourself.

Just keep your head up and look forward to A Realm Reborn !

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Originally Posted by Norack

All the time. Unfortunately this game is very casual oriented meaning almost everything in it is going to be solo (thats just the way MMO's are these days, who wants to play with other ppl?) Although in the end there are getting to be allot more end game things that require you to party up with other ppl although unless you are in a LS its hard to find a group because there is a very strong mentality that is set in the minds of almost every FFXIV player that "If your not in my LS than f**k off." But if your in a LS than people are very helpful and kind to you. My advice would be since you just started to spam leves to lv. your first job than after that you can start dungeons and end game stuff like hamlet, primals etc...

Imho in order to enjoy this game to its fullest you should learn Japanese because the Japanese community is very kind and friendly and informative, unlike everyone else. Thats just me though.

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Yeah the LS I joined recently is nice, but their busy doing endgame stuff, so I can't blame them if they refuse to help me with anything.

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Originally Posted by bahley

People suck and it's that way in every game you play, don't let the idiots ruin your fun :)

You're going to have a very hard time finding people to group with. I've been stuck on a few GC and job quests because I cannot find 8 people, or even 2 or 3 people, to help me with these quests.

It sucks, but at least you'll be able to do all the main scenario stuff by yourself.

Just keep your head up and look forward to A Realm Reborn !

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REALLY looking foward to it. Gonna be a PS3 player from there. \o/

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Originally Posted by Norack

All the time. Unfortunately this game is very casual oriented meaning almost everything in it is going to be solo (thats just the way MMO's are these days, who wants to play with other ppl?) Although in the end there are getting to be allot more end game things that require you to party up with other ppl although unless you are in a LS its hard to find a group because there is a very strong mentality that is set in the minds of almost every FFXIV player that "If your not in my LS than f**k off." But if your in a LS than people are very helpful and kind to you. My advice would be since you just started to spam leves to lv. your first job than after that you can start dungeons and end game stuff like hamlet, primals etc...

Imho in order to enjoy this game to its fullest you should learn Japanese because the Japanese community is very kind and friendly and informative, unlike everyone else. Thats just me though.

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That couldn't be further from the truth. People do stuff in groups all the time, but they mostly do it with linkshell members because people get sick of PUGs sucking.

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Originally Posted by Alhanelem

That couldn't be further from the truth. People do stuff in groups all the time, but they mostly do it with linkshell members because people get sick of PUGs sucking.

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um what? XD did u even read what i wrote? cause you basically just paraphrased me XD.

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Originally Posted by Alhanelem

That couldn't be further from the truth. People do stuff in groups all the time, but they mostly do it with linkshell members because people get sick of PUGs sucking.

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PUGs? Pugilists?

PUG = Pick Up Group. E.g. random party of random people vs set party of people you know. Context is everything.

PUG = Pick Up Group
PGL = official way to abbreviate Pugilist, unofficial way is PUG

Can always try shouting in town for a new player/social linkshell.

The one I'm in is pretty nice, I could probably toss you a pearl later if we can track each other down. My wife and I just restarted fresh about 2 weeks ago ourselves, so we have tons of stuff to lvl and things to do.

I'd say it's just a lot of poor timing.
I mean ... there's only one month left and very few low level players at all...
Or at least, the next 4 weeks are level 50 oriented.
plus, there seems to be a misconception that stats don't matter, at least to some.
I partied a couple weeks back with a fellow Pug, and i was hitting melee for 50dmg with my double melds,
he with his basic cheap end whatever gear was hitting for 7.
So if you're trying to do stuff in the 20's and 30's, it's an uphill battle this month by default.

Also, there's no way in the current version to boot inactive players from your linkshell,
so people have adapted to be cautious about inviting ... at least enough of them to limit Ul'dah shouts for open invites. but if you google it with your server name, you can find plenty and apply on the main website and usually they are very welcoming. In general, i have found this community to be much more welcoming than any other MMO i have ever played.

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Originally Posted by Alhanelem

PUG = Pick Up Group. E.g. random party of random people vs set party of people you know. Context is everything.

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Ah alright. I'm still getting used to the terms.

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Originally Posted by Reiterpallasch

Can always try shouting in town for a new player/social linkshell.

The one I'm in is pretty nice, I could probably toss you a pearl later if we can track each other down. My wife and I just restarted fresh about 2 weeks ago ourselves, so we have tons of stuff to lvl and things to do.

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I'd like that very much.

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Originally Posted by Leep

I imagined when I first started this game about a week ago, I would make tons of friends and be invited to tons of parties. Alas, it seems to me that since the game as of a few days ago is not for sale anymore, I'm on the track to a one in a lifetime experience on my own.

On top of that, there are still tons of things I don't know about in the game. I was making a huge deal about seeing these giant airships in the sky, when someone in my vicinity called me a Noob.

/sulk

Anyone else having/has had this experience?

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Honestly you couldn't have started playing at a worse time. Most everyone that currently plays has been since launch. There should be a flood of new players when 2.0 launches though. So hopefully you'll find newer players around that time to share your experience with.

It's a bad time to start, but it IS your last chance to see the one-time content.

My advice to you would be to

- find a new-player friendly linkshell, there should be at least one recruiting in your world. Check the forums and shout in Uldah for it.
- create parties for levequests! This is accomplished pretty easily by using the new player search function. Just make sure you ask nice in your /tells.
- Get to 50 in one job as quickly as possible. My recommendation would be WHM/CNJ, since it's always needed and you don't need crazy gear for it to be useful. I always see shouts for WHM's in Uldah.
- Getting to 50 is easy, you don't even need to be PL'd. Just do light/full parties in levequests until you hit 40. At 40, you want to join a Natalan EXP party. Natalan gives crazy awesome EXP to a good full party, and you can get to 50 from there in one night. It took me about a week to get THM/BLM to 50, but I had help with my LS. Outside that, I was organizing my own parties.
- By the time you hit 30 you'll want to start doing quests for a Grand Company so you can obtain your Chocobo (sorry, you missed out on the free Goobbue if you don't have it already). Having a friend help you teleport around and run Toto-Rak with you.


The one-time content you really should take part in is the Grand Company quests and the Primal Fights. When you have a job at 50, most of it just requires a good Full Party. The rest of the game's content is passable, and/or will be returning in 2.0. You have a month and a half or so to complete this! Good luck!

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Originally Posted by Leep

I imagined when I first started this game about a week ago, I would make tons of friends and be invited to tons of parties. Alas, it seems to me that since the game as of a few days ago is not for sale anymore, I'm on the track to a one in a lifetime experience on my own.

On top of that, there are still tons of things I don't know about in the game. I was making a huge deal about seeing these giant airships in the sky, when someone in my vicinity called me a Noob.

/sulk

Anyone else having/has had this experience?

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Not sure if anyone hit on this yet but you're in a kind of a bad spot in regards to timing. A lot of experienced players left and went into "afk until 2.0" mode while some people just started about 2-5 months ago. This leaves you in the new-and-too-new-to-be-helpful spot.

Aside from this, a large percentage of the remaining experienced players are focused on relics and really can't dedicate time to helping newer players get comfortable. Sadly, those 2-5 month players aren't really solid enough to do the same, either.

On top of all of this the game's UI just doesn't make social interaction easy.

If you want to play just focus on building up your character and learning the nuances of combat and classes (there aren't many.) Try to find a new shell and keep your expectations low. Make friends in the EXP parties that you get into. Things will at least be a bit more bearable.

Sorry you're having a rough run of it, bud.

Here is my experience with FFXIV. Bought it at launch pretty much stopped playing it after the first month because it was just not good. Played on and off since it was free to play. When it went pay to play played on and off but eventually leveled all 7 battle classes to 50.

I finished all the job quests got full AF for all 7 jobs mostly through pugs occasionally would have a friend or two help. I found this rather annoying often sitting in town 2-3 hours while the group fills. DRG was my last job I made that group myself took over 5 hours of shouting eventually ended up doing it with 5 since couldn't fill the group but it was a win.

Pugged a bunch of Ifrit and Moogle fights over the course of a month or so. Did a couple of them with a few friends but the majority of them were pugs. Ended up getting 5/7 Ifrit and 7/7 Mog weapons. Pugged all the GC missions that required a party and finished the story line.

The only thing I have left to do in FFXIV is get relics or darklight armor from AV or CC. However anything beyond Ifrit and mog is really not pugable. Occasionally you will see a Garuda, CC, AV, Hamlet shout in fact I have joined a few all ending in failure. AV and CC require a degree of familiarity with the dungeon which a lot of pug members don't have or they have never bothered to watch one of the many videos on youtube so they can better expect to know whats coming. For an uncoordinated pug the difficulty level seems too hard.

Generally speaking finding a set group to do relics (hamlets, CC, AV) is pretty hard. Most people have their own click. Set group of people are not recruiting and don't really talk to people outside their LS too much.

Although it sounded like I did a lot I only played hardcore for about 2 months got all 7 jobs to level cap full set of mog weapons and 5 ifrit ones and can't really do anything else due to the content being not pugable. You run out of stuff to do in FFXIV rather fast and the stuff you can do is often a lot of sitting around waiting for the group to fill in Uldah.

SE needs to give me a reason to log in to play their game but they aren't due to how everything is so based on having set groups to go through content.

I'm sure the first parties to do those kind of things didn't know what their getting into. Communities should help the ignorant, not shoo them away.

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Originally Posted by Leep

I'm sure the first parties to do those kind of things didn't know what their getting into. Communities should help the ignorant, not shoo them away.

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Not to bust your balls here, but to be logical about the situation, the community has no duty to do so. The player has the responsibility to learn for themselves. Anything you could want to know from the community can be found via google. Nobody has a duty to help you.

Now should they? Absolutely! But saying or acting like they have a duty or responsibility to do so isn't going to help you.

More or less FFXIV community as a whole is pretty unaccepting to new players, will that change in 2.0 who knows. I never played a MMO where endgame was so hard to get into before.

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Originally Posted by Yves

Not to bust your balls here, but to be logical about the situation, the community has no duty to do so. The player has the responsibility to learn for themselves. Anything you could want to know from the community can be found via google. Nobody has a duty to help you.

Now should they? Absolutely! But saying or acting like they have a duty or responsibility to do so isn't going to help you.

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Twas why I implied the word "should", friend.

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Originally Posted by Zumi

More or less FFXIV community as a whole is pretty unaccepting to new players, will that change in 2.0 who knows. I never played a MMO where endgame was so hard to get into before.

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Good thing I got two IRL friends coming over once 2.0 hits. Maybe the experience will change. We'll see. <:T

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Originally Posted by Zumi

Pugged a bunch of Ifrit and Moogle fights over the course of a month or so. Did a couple of them with a few friends but the majority of them were pugs. Ended up getting 5/7 Ifrit and 7/7 Mog weapons.

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!
/em Cursed the RNG

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Originally Posted by Norack

Imho in order to enjoy this game to its fullest you should learn Japanese because the Japanese community is very kind and friendly and informative, unlike everyone else. Thats just me though.

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Sorry, but it's a bit difficult to just learn Japanese :)

Besides, any idea on how you can type Japanese in game?

The game is really annoying with most of the content either being slow solo grind (leves, ugh) or party content (a lot of important quests and party levelling).

i have few japanese friend that could talk english, but other than that, you can always use google translate (or other translate services). it should give you basic understanding

It's not impossible to find newcomer friends. But as others have pointed out already, a lot of the people and Linkshells that have been around for a long time are really focused on getting relic weapons and soon-to-be-unobtainable achievements done before v1.0 shuts down (this goes for Japanese players as well).

Best advice I can give is to be friendly, stay positive, keep your chin up, keep trying... and eventually you should be able to build your circle of friends.

It also helps to show some dedication to building your character, and be present in places where people congregate (i.e. Ul'dah). I think a lot of established Linkshells are wary of inviting too many new players who may just quit after a short while and clog up their roster.

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Originally Posted by Mikita

It's not impossible to find newcomer friends. But as others have pointed out already, a lot of the people and Linkshells that have been around for a long time are really focused on getting relic weapons and soon-to-be-unobtainable achievements done before v1.0 shuts down (this goes for Japanese players as well).

Best advice I can give is to be friendly, stay positive, keep your chin up, keep trying... and eventually you should be able to build your circle of friends.

It also helps to show some dedication to building your character, and be present in places where people congregate (i.e. Ul'dah). I think a lot of established Linkshells are wary of inviting too many new players who may just quit after a short while and clog up their roster.

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I see where your coming from. I understood the difficulty of the game, was severely unprepared for the difficulty of the social aspects of the game. I like it.

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Originally Posted by Leep

I imagined when I first started this game about a week ago, I would make tons of friends and be invited to tons of parties. Alas, it seems to me that since the game as of a few days ago is not for sale anymore, I'm on the track to a one in a lifetime experience on my own.

On top of that, there are still tons of things I don't know about in the game. I was making a huge deal about seeing these giant airships in the sky, when someone in my vicinity called me a Noob.

/sulk

Anyone else having/has had this experience?

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It's been a week. Play solo for a while and get to know your job and get some gear for it. Join an Ul'dah shout party and be a nice player. No one makes tons of friends in a week. :(

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Originally Posted by Leep

I see where your coming from. I understood the difficulty of the game, was severely unprepared for the difficulty of the social aspects of the game. I like it.

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That's the spirit! ^^

The social aspects of playing online were also a bit of a surprise for me at first (never played an online game before)... but people are still people. We like to be around those who make us feel good, and tend to avoid ones who always complain and exude negativity.

"What goes around comes around."
"Give and take."
"I scratch your back, you scratch mine."
"Reputation -- a lifetime to build, seconds to destroy."

... It all works in Eorzea as well.

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Originally Posted by Leep

PUGs? Pugilists?

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Noobie nubkins

My personal experience is that 95% of players are friendly, but only 40% are actually willing to lend a hand anytime.
Also, if you want to make friends, don't wait for them to find you. You are one of many, it's easier if you say hello first and try to engage the conversation. Ask parties if you an join them, ask other solo players to join you, etc.

Numerous times, I've had new players ask me to join them or something. Almost every time, I gladly accept and help them. Even when I'm about to log out for the night and end staying longer!

The community is friendly, but shy. If you remember that, you won't have any trouble. (Also, there is the occasional jerk that calls other people noobs, but don't mind them. You don't want to hang out with someone like that anyway)

Yeah I have the same problem too, I'm gonna have to start all over since my computer died before the server switch and my linkshell I was with went over to a different server. I'm pretty much gonna have to find a new one. But as an MMO I do sometimes find it boring when you don't get to play with other people. But when you do find the right linkshell it's gonna be sweet, plus I hear you can play on both the PC and the PS3 on the same server so if your tired of sitting on your computer chair and you want to sit on the sofa and play FFXIV then you can.

There are peopel that will help. I have helped many shouting to get af done, or catch up on GC's and so have others. It will take time for the community to rebuild to FF standards. More of the loud casual gamers will learn, be rude and get blocked, the community as a whole has a limited tolerence. Willing to help as logn as you do not over spam shouts (trying to out do everyone else" be patient, and thank them.

Yeah, I kinda like how you build reputation with people and they will know if your a good person or a bad person when it comes to groups down the line.

"SE needs to give me a reason to log in to play their game but they aren't due to how everything is so based on having set groups to go through content."
THIS

Welcome to FFXIV.

I feel for you, OP, hang in there! And welcome to the game. :)

The difficulty in grouping can be daunting, for sure. I believe it will be much better in 2.0, as there will be lots of new players and also returning players of a variety of experience levels (plus, I am hoping that there will be more content for solo players and small groups).

Though not a newbie myself, I find myself in a similar situation as you. I started playing at launch and then quit after about a year. I recently returned to the game though, and most everyone I knew was gone. I found myself flying solo, and decided to just roll with it as I'll be switching servers in 2.0 anyway. There is actually a lot to do!

So, if you find getting groups now takes too much time or is too frustrating, you might want to consider this pre-2.0 play time as preparation for 2.0 -- getting a leg up, so to speak. Do your leves, and don't forget to work on a gathering and/or crafting class. You can save up some gil and make things that are useful to both you and future newbies you may meet! In the early days of FFXIV, I sure met a lot of nice people by making things for them with my smithing. I'd also suggest you do some side quests. These are solo, and though you may need a battle class to do them, you will get XP for whatever class you are when you turn them in.

Of course, there are a lot of things, mostly level 50 and job related, that can't be done solo. But if you're getting discouraged trying to find groups, sometimes you may want to just fly solo and remind yourself that things will improve in 2.0. I wish you luck! ^_^

Pick Up Groups are not always bad.

I've had my share of bad PUG experiences, but those were not really because someone in the party was unskilled -- it was because someone thought someone was unskilled or playing wrong, and started showing their frustration in the party chat log. That ruins it for everyone, and I would not ever want to play with those angry people again.

On the flip side, PUGs and random parties (like behests) can be a great way to meet new people, some of whom may eventually become good friends.

I still join the occasional PUG because I have faith that there are many great people on my server who I have yet to meet.



Oh, and to me at least, reputation extends here to the forums. Yesterday I was crafting in Ul'dah and someone I recognized from their forum posts was shouting for help to complete a quest. I've never spoken with her before, but her posts here are always helpful... so a couple friends and I filled out the party just to help out with the quest.

Nice things can still happen. ^^

Join a Linkshell. Just do it. Your life will change.

But you have to get off your bum and look for one. Shout for one in uldah even. Check forums for linkshell recruiting threads. Just join one. That is a guaranteed pool of ppl that will help you, answer your questions, and keep you squared away. You see all those ppl walkin around at lvl 50, in full af, sporting relics maybe? Yeah. They got there because of their linkshells. See the kats showing darklight? Yeah..they got there cuz of their linkshells. Without a linkshell you're not getting anywhere. And you can't expect random passerby to treat you to whatever you'd like. Linkshell man, linkshell.

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Originally Posted by Norack

All the time. Unfortunately this game is very casual oriented meaning almost everything in it is going to be solo (thats just the way MMO's are these days, who wants to play with other ppl?) Although in the end there are getting to be allot more end game things that require you to party up with other ppl although unless you are in a LS its hard to find a group because there is a very strong mentality that is set in the minds of almost every FFXIV player that "If your not in my LS than f**k off." But if your in a LS than people are very helpful and kind to you. My advice would be since you just started to spam leves to lv. your first job than after that you can start dungeons and end game stuff like hamlet, primals etc...

Imho in order to enjoy this game to its fullest you should learn Japanese because the Japanese community is very kind and friendly and informative, unlike everyone else. Thats just me though.

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:/ That's not totally true. Sure, some people are jerks, but not all of them. I try to help out people who are new and not in my LS. I've done several Darnus runs after I already beat it just to help some strangers. And I've helped like that other times as well. But a lot of people are busy doing their own thing, that doesn't make them jerks, it just makes them busy.

Thank you all for your responses. I will note and reflect upon them as I set foot more into the realm of Eorzea.