main quest questions

I know at some point in the main quest you will be forced to go to a dungeon. I've not done a dungeon..is it something you can do at a higher level solo? Or is it like WOW in that in order to get into the instance you have to have a group? I'm not much of a group person so, this info would help a lot;)

You can't get in without a group. Even if it were possible to enter the dungeons solo, the quests specifically require you to use the duty finder (though you can form a full or partial party before hand and queue through the duty finder that way).

you could lvl everything to 50, do crafting etc all on ur own.

however, to advance through the story (which comes with a myriad of benefits like airship, mount, rewards etc) there are dungeons you have to complete which require groups.

however, you are not required to form your own groups. there is tbis function called the Duty Finder where you simply indicate your interest to participate in a dungeon, following which it will automatically group people from across servers together and form a party FOR you, and u could proceed with the dungeons with practically zero effort on your part.

meanwhile, as you are waiting, you could continue to solo

Even if you were able to enter solo at a high level I believe it automatically syncs you which would make it impossible. I am not positive on this aspect, but I'm relatively sure since I was synced to 20 as a lvl 23 entering the Copper Mines. Beyond this, (and again, this is if it were even possible to do so) you would not want to wait until you are so high above a dungeon that you could solo it. The story quests require these dungeons, and the story quests are important to get done as soon as you are able considering they give good exp, occasionally grant skills, occasionally have nice equipment as a reward, and unlock things like airship and choco travel. It's certainly not something you want to put off.

I enjoy playing solo as well, but using the Duty Finder and getting instance-matched is only a matter of clicking a button and waiting. The dungeons are not difficult, and at some point you will need to learn party dynamics or you will hit a brick wall in regards to progression.

I haven't gotten to the group part of the main story yet but have tried doing a guildhest twice. By the time I finally hear something about it, I get a "you're doing something else" error after clicking 'join'. When I tried to just cancel what I was doing at the time, I ended up canceling both it and the guildhest invite. :-/ Am I just supposed to stand still for 20 or so minutes until I get the actual invite? And will the same thing happen when I try a group story quest?

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Originally Posted by Sadana

I haven't gotten to the group part of the main story yet but have tried doing a guildhest twice. By the time I finally hear something about it, I get a "you're doing something else" error after clicking 'join'. When I tried to just cancel what I was doing at the time, I ended up canceling both it and the guildhest invite. :-/ Am I just supposed to stand still for 20 or so minutes until I get the actual invite? And will the same thing happen when I try a group story quest?

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What you do is set up your "gear sets" on your hot bard so that you can sign up for the Dungeon/Instance of your choice and then you simply change back to the "right" gear set before you select "COMMENCE" and then you will be good to go and can craft or level something else in the mean time while you are waiting for the DF to queue up. There is a video on the website from the producer on the DF mechanics where Yoshi does this himself.

When the queue pop's you need to make sure you are not in a conversation at the time or in combat. If you are doing either of these things, simply finish what you are doing then click join again. Also, of note, if you switched classes from whatever class it was you queued as, you must switch back to join or it will not let you. The guildhest are totally optional, but I highly recommend them, since it will walk you through the basics of running group content in this game... plus they give decent XP :)

To clarify on the class switching: If you queue as for example an arcanist, and then switch to a pugilist, when the queue pops you will need to switch back to arcanist before it will let you accept the queue.

No you don't have to stand still and do nothing, however, entering an instance or starting a leve will take you out of queue. I'd suggest doing FATEs, sidequests, hunting logs, or even just grinding while you are waiting. Also:

- Leveling crafting skills
- Do some of the quests that allow you to learn a new skill (ie, get the quest that allows you to dye clothing out of the way while waiting)
- Exploring new areas and attuning Aetherytes and Choco porters to make travel easier
- Find the gear merchants around your level and see when it's best to upgrade next, and then compare those NPC merchant prices to the prices on the AH for the same gear to spend the least amount of money you can
- Research the dungeon/instance so that you know any special conditions you may face so that you can be prepared and can help your group if they've never been there

This isn't a comprehensive list, I'm a noob as well, this is just what I've learned thus far using some MMO common sense and some research.

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Originally Posted by Mikedizzy

hot bard

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(*≧▽≦)ﾉｼ))

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Originally Posted by ChickensEvil

To clarify on the class switching: If you queue as for example an arcanist, and then switch to a pugilist, when the queue pops you will need to switch back to arcanist before it will let you accept the queue.

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Thanks, guys. Good to know about the gear switching. That may have been the problem. I thought you had to accept the invite right away, that's why I rushed to 'accept'.

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Originally Posted by Sadana

(*≧▽≦)ﾉｼ))



Thanks, guys. Good to know about the gear switching. That may have been the problem. I thought you had to accept the invite right away, that's why I rushed to 'accept'.

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Well...you do have that timer staring you in the face but I believe you have 45 seconds or something like that...just don't panic and button smash and you will be fine. Gather your thoughts and make sure you are in the right Class/Job that you want.

It should also be mentioned that despite what the game says, you do not need to use the Duty Finder to access the dungeon, at least, not directly - you can manually form your party and click on the entrance to the dungeon to enter, however the game still uses the DF as a kind of 'gatekeeper' when entering, checking your party's status to ensure you have a tank and healer which are requirements for all dungeons. In fact, I've only used the Duty Finder the 'normal' way only once, as all the other times I've done dungeon runs have been in a manually formed static with friends.