Returning Player With Several Questions...

[Zerd85]

I played in a few of the betas, played for about 2 weeks at release and stopped because my computer didn't seem to care for FFXIV. But now my computer and I are on the same page (new graphics card), so I have a few questions:


1) Is it still the same in that you should leave all your side quests for alternate job classes and use use Fate/Main storyline to level your first class?

2) Would you all recommend finishing your first class to 50 before starting on another and then getting your specialization?

3) I enjoyed the crafting previously, and do again. Are endgame crafters in much demand?

4) What other "new" systems have been put in since release that could provide me with some things to do? I've read a little about treasure maps (I'll find somewhere else to read up on it so you don't have to explain it in detail), but something along those lines?

If you have any other tips for a returning player, let me know!

Thanks in advance for any info you all can give me.

[Legacy_Wolfwood]

1. most will say yes. it just simply helps leveling your following jobs easier till you run out of quest and have to resort to the grind route of options.

2. most would recommend that you should get your subclass to 15 so you can get your job at 30 then take it to 50. will make life easier. but play how you want.

3. somewhat. melding, hq gear for leveling and/or the endgame isnt too bad. also housing items. not a high demand but better than before imo.

4. daily roulette and challenge log have been implemented to make leveling, gil farming, chocobo leveling, and tome gaining a bit less stressful. beastmen dailys. helps with exp and tomes as they are repeatable. they also lets you buy mounts/minions at max rank. treasure maps, gained from lvl 40+ gathering classes. can grant rare valuables. housing, if you have the gil is a fun time waster.

thats all i can think of off the top of my head. just remember to have fun and it helps to find a group of friends to play with. welcome back to Eorzea

[Merryl]

1. I personally burn thru all the side quests to get them out of the way. But the choice is yours really.
2. People will expect you to have your job class and skills by at least level 34. You might be gimping your job by waiting until lvl 50 to level the sub class.
3. Level 50 crafter's are needed for melding weapons for relic quest and just plain melding anything of importance. A lot of times the weapon you need to turn in to the relic blacksmith needs to be crafted as well. You'll make some serious cash on the market with those.
4. As of yet the only other hobby on game is leveling your fighting campanion chocobo. There's no requirement for it yet.

[Niwashi]

1) Is it still the same in that you should leave all your side quests for alternate job classes and use use Fate/Main storyline to level your first class?

This isn't as much of an issue as it used to be, largely because leveling has gotten easier (or at least more varied). Dungeons have been given better rewards as well as shorter queue times through the Duty Roulette feature. Some more repeatable content has been added for the later levels (upper 40's) with the Beast Tribes. Guildhests give first-time XP bonuses for each class rather than just the first time you run them at all. And the new Challenge Log can provide a few weekly bonuses as well. FATE's are still a good XP source, but by no longer being the only similarly good XP source, there's less pressure to just grind one after another.

That much variety in repeatable content means there's less pressure to get your leveling XP from one-time sidequests. The sidequests can this way be done when you want a bit of story flavor added to the mix, or want the quest rewards from them.

2) Would you all recommend finishing your first class to 50 before starting on another and then getting your specialization?

As others have mentioned, by 30, you should pick up the first 15 levels of your job's secondary class, so you can unlock the job. Whether you do any more alt-class leveling than that before reaching 50 is more a matter of personal preference.

[Garlyle]

Addendums to the words of others...

1. I'd say no. As has been mentioned, EXP gains have been massively enhanced across the board for non-FATE activities, so there's no real shortage of EXP anymore like there was in 2.0. Especially now that daily roulettes exist, which can give you significant EXP boosts once a day.

2. Go to 30, and then level whichever class is required to 15 for your Job, and then finish taking it to 50. That's my suggestion, but realistically, the only 'mandatory' process is to be sure you get your Job - you really, really don't want to skip it. That said there's absolutely 0 necessity to do so, I just find that maxing one job lets you focus the EXP Bonuses on other classes you want to work and still having progression stuff to do on that class simultaneously.

3. Yes and no. CUL always sell food, and now the other classes at 50 have the ability to make Glamour Prisms that all characters can use to alter their gear's appearance, so there will always be a demand for crafters now. There's also some fairly high level craftable gear if you get really good that people still occasionally buy from, although usually people just farm tomes to gear up. If you're not a level 50 crafter however, you'll find that your creations aren't nearly as valuable.

[Zerd85]

Thanks so much for the info guys, I do appreciate it.

A few other questions...


1) Is it feasible to do more than one job? Does it work the same way as the classes to switch between them? I'm still undecided as to which Job I actually want to "main". It may take me longer, but I'm thinking of just getting most classes to 30 so I can try everything out before I go on up to 50. I see a lot of repeat dungeons in my future, lol.

2) Are add-ons allowed? I haven't been able to find anything about it which leads me to believe the answer is no, but I wouldn't mind a few informational tools to have handy if they are.


I think that's all for now. Again, thanks for all the answers.

[Garlyle]

1. You can absolutely have every single Job. Think of Jobs as the "full versions" of the base classes - its not "do I want to Lancer or Dragoon", it's "My Lancer upgrades into Dragoon at 30". So, if you level every class to 30, you can have absolutely every job. Just be aware that'll take quite a while!
* The only exception is Arcanist, who has two jobs - Summoner and Scholar. You can still get both of them, and in fact level them up simultaneously, because they still use the class' level in progression - they just have some separate equipment and separate questlines for their job-specific-skill unlocking.

2. They are not presently allowed, but largely on a don't-ask-don't-tell so long as it doesn't affect gameplay. If you absolutely must use any harmless ones (such as a DPS parser), don't talk about it.

[Zerd85]

I'd rather not risk anything then.

Thanks again for the info. Looking forward to figuring out which class I want to main.

[Slatervonjager]

I'd rather not risk anything then.

That's a good outlook on things, as Square has handed out bans for use of parsers.

[Enepttastic]

Granted, many of these things are answered but I'm bored waiting for the servers to come back up and can no longer post elsewhere since I spent my meager allotment of posts up already...

1. I'd say it depends on your class. However, as I've started leveling up other classes since getting MRD/WAR to 50, I haven't felt the need to bother with em really. Fates/Dungeons should work well.

2. No, get your subjob at 15. Your Job is meant for group play, get it. Learning to work with the cross-class skill limitations as well as the Job-specific abilities as you level is a good idea instead of having that thrown on you all at once. Not to mention that at 45, you get a few pieces of your AF from doing your job class quest then. Those'll be good till you get something to upgrade em with at 50.

3. Can't really say but with the new Novus weapons using materia, I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that spiritbonding equips may go up in price once the materia stocks disappear.

4. Once you hit 50, you can easily waste a considerable amount of time dealing with the Atma insanity, followed by the myth tome grinding for you Zodiac Weapons...