Possibly A Returning Player - A Few Questions

[SwashBuccaneer]

1. Leveling methods beyond FATES zerging? I got pretty bored initially leveling alternate classes/jobs when out of quests by zerging FATES for hours. Dungeons were fun but do not want to spend every waking hour leveling in dungeons. Have they added other methods to advance your alternate classes/jobs?

2. It looks like housing has been implemented into the game but it looks pretty pricey. Can individuals own their own houses and how does the housing system work? Is it a detailed fun addition to the game?

3. Money gain? It was pretty tough to make Gil initially and was wondering how the economy and money making has advanced in the past year. Especially if housing is that pricey.

4. Different kinds of content? How is the content these days? Is there a good deal of things to do of all sorts of gameplay styles?

Just trying to run down a down and dirty rundown on what's been added/changed, etc. with the game over this past year.

[BlaydeSabaoth]

I pretty much have the same questions, I'm thinking about returning as well, haven't played since December or so.

[Eltaire]

1. Once you get to level 17 you can undertake Low Level Duty Roulette. This grants a huge bonus to experience. You actually get an even greater reward if you are playing a class that's dubbed "Adventurer in Need", i.e there is a high demand for a Tank or Healer in the queues. Sadly, DPS classes do not get this additional bonus, because the queues are generally saturated by them. There is also the Challenge Log which you can unlock from I'tolwann in Limsa Lominsa Upper Decks (x11,y10). You need to have completed the quest "Call of the Sea" first, through. The Challenge Log grants a weekly list of tasks that give bonus exp, PvP exp, Companion experience and Gil for completing the set tasks. This resets every week.

2. Housing has been implemented. You have to be in a Free Company to have a House though. And they are expensive, so it's probably best to join an FC that already has a House. The demand for plots on some servers are quite high, with some being completely gone so chances of starting another Free Company, and being able to save the prerequisite funds to own a House is quite slim. However, as of patch 2.3 the introduction of Personal Rooms were made. You still need to be part of a Free Company with a House, however if you are at the current maximum rank with your Grand Company (Second Lieutenant), and have 300,000 gil to sink into a Personal Room, you can purchase your own space within your Free Company House. It is an independent, separate instance that you can completely furnish yourself.

The other benefits to having access to a house is Gardening, and Chocobo Raising.

3. Money can be pretty easy to come by in a variety of ways such as the Challenge Log, or even just FATEs, Levequests, or running dungeons. However, I have found the most I have made was from selling Materia. When you wear non-rare equipment you spiritbond with it. Once you have your spiritbond to 100%, you can convert the equipment into a piece of Materia. Sometimes, you may be lucky and get a grade IV Materia. These can sell for 6 figures on the market.

4. There is a variety of content. Main story, side quests, relic weapon quest, Crystal Tower, Binding Coil of Bahamut, Wolve's Den (PvP), Frontline (PvP), Moogle Delivery Service, crafting, Beast Tribe daily quests, Retainer Ventures... there is a plethora of content to keep one entertained.

I hope this helps you.

[BlaydeSabaoth]

How's the server populations, I am currently on Lamia (the one I started on at launch). Can you transfer?

[Tanoxis]

Yes you can transfer, but it costs around $18. I can only vouch for Ultros population, its in my opinion well balanced.

[Eltaire]

I am on Ragnarok, which is a Legacy server, and the population on that is quite high.

There have been some occasions, usually around patch updates, where there has been a small wait queue to get onto the server. Generally though, there is always people running around. Also, as the Duty Finder matches with other servers across a global server (in my instance, the Chaos server), you have a greater pool of players when it comes to Duty Finder.

The only time I've ever experienced queue issues for Dungeons, Trials or Raids, is when I have queued as a DPS. If you queue as a Healer or a Tank, or party with one of these, usually you'll get straight in.

[SwashBuccaneer]

Thanks for the replies. I've been reading through the novels patch notes from 2.1 - 2.3 and, WOW!

Oh, I know something else . . . back before I quit people were selling HM runs of stuff since it was tough to get it done and progress--is that still going on, or are things like that now easier to complete those via DF? People were pretty bad about being nasty to newbies and vote kicking them from groups.

Another hot topic was the end game dungeons were wanting to be farmed by folks for gear (CM I think?) and were often times getting pissed at first timers who wanted to see the story and watch the cutscenes. Is that something that still goes on?

[Anova]

Those things still exist, but it's not as extensive as it was before. I haven't seen anyone "selling" a trial or dungeon for a while now, mostly because there are other ways to make money (e.g. materia farming in Urth's Gift).

Experienced players still don't like having to explain dungeons to new players, but the situation isn't as bad as it is with CM and Prae. Cinematics aren't nearly as extensive and they aren't nearly as tied to the story as the philosophy farm (meaning new players won't hold the group up for 30 minutes if they watch all the cinematics). You will still see some speedrun groups who will push you to do it fast, but it seems less viable for the new dungeons where the token rewards are largest. These new dungeons have some interesting gimmicks to limit the amount players can pull, although I'm certain there are some workarounds.

[Maero]

Prices of items on the market board fluctuate all the time. Sometimes crafting items sky rocket, now because of personal rooms housing items have tripled in price now

[SwashBuccaneer]

Thanks to all who have replied. I really appreciate it.

How is the game's population in terms of lower level characters/classes? Are there still enough lower level folks out there playing to be able to find the groups necessary to run the require dungeons and trials?

Is the group finder tool cross server?