Am I doing everything right?

[Averax]

Edit: What i wrote below is no longer relevant. I'm giving updates throughout the thread marking my progress and asking new questions. So i no longer need replies directly to the OP.

I'm new-ish to FFXIV. This is my first time actually leveling through to the end, and I've got a few questions about my progression.

Everything was pretty linear at around 1-30, i kept up with the main storyline and everything was progressing smoothly. Recently, i've noticed that i'm struggling to keep up with the main storyline. I've been doing all the side quests i can find, a levequest or two where i can, fate now and then, but that doesn't seem to be enough.

I'm finding that every now and then i hit a snag and I end up being a level below what i should be to progress onward, and it's been happening over and over leveling to 36.

The only thing i've been doing to catch up are levequests and grinding the duty finder.

Is there something else I should be doing?

I've noticed it's also getting harder to kill groups, and many quests spawn groups of things on top of me

If this is of any relevance, i've been leveling a black mage.

Did i make a poor first choice of class?

[Picori]

Blm is a good first choice to level up. Just keep at it. Make sure your in area that has the side quests, you can do low level duty once a day. That gives you like one level a day.
Just make sure your gear is up to date. Like try get gear from dungeons, and buy some from market board.
Like good to upgrade every 5 levels at less.

[Aeika]

I prefer to grind fates while waiting on dungeon queues until I can continue the main story again.
While quests are an option, its WAY slower.
This game isnt meant to be rushed to 50, and takes forever on purpose.

[Averax]

Blm is a good first choice to level up. Just keep at it. Make sure your in area that has the side quests, you can do low level duty once a day. That gives you like one level a day.
Just make sure your gear is up to date. Like try get gear from dungeons, and buy some from market board.
Like good to upgrade every 5 levels at less.

Honestly, i've just been looking for an excuse to level up my arcanist/summoner. I thought BLM was going to have more going on with it, and it gets tiresome. The short amount i've played Arcanist (until i got Physick) was way more fun than my experiences with BLM. But i told myself to just wait until i'm max level, and then i can switch. I've contemplated just starting over, but i've already invested too much time into this character to turn back now.

On the next point, daily random is good, and that's usually the first thing i tackle when i log in.

Also, what's the market board? Is that this game's version of the AH?

[Estellios]

Luckily you already have Swiftcast which is the absolute best cross class ability for mages, so if you feel like changing jobs you won't need to come back to BLM for abilities.

For what it is worth, BLM gets a bit faster paced as it levels up. Fire 3 and Ice 3 both let you swap between max fire and ice stacks immediately, and Firestarter and Thundercloud get you some luck-based triggers to pump out some extra damage.

You should under no circumstances make a new character just to change jobs, IMO. Not only will you have to unlock a bunch of stuff all over again, changing to a new class will give you a permanent 50% XP bonus until it becomes your highest level battle class and it really speeds things up.

[Keydah]

I thought BLM was going to have more going on with it, and it gets tiresome. The short amount i've played Arcanist (until i got Physick) was way more fun than my experiences with BLM. But i told myself to just wait until i'm max level, and then i can switch. I've contemplated just starting over, but i've already invested too much time into this character to turn back now.

Don't view it like that! If you aren't enjoying what you're playing, then go ahead and try something else. It's better to get to 50 and enjoy it than to groan your way there. This is a game, not a chore.

My first class was BLM, and I really enjoyed it. I now main SCH and almost never touch either of my other 50 classes (BLM & NIN) but BLM was pretty fun to me. BLM got a lot more fun for me in the later 30s or early 40s, when you get Fire III & Blizzard III and you no longer need to Transpose and build your Fire/Ice stacks back up (Fire III = instant 3 stacks of Astral Fire, even if you have max Umbral Ice, and the opposite for Blizzard III). Honestly, the fun for me is watching the gigantic numbers pop out of my fireballs and generally feeling badass. I miss playing my BLM now.

You should under no circumstances make a new character just to change jobs, IMO. Not only will you have to unlock a bunch of stuff all over again, changing to a new class will give you a permanent 50% XP bonus until it becomes your highest level battle class and it really speeds things up.

I believe they meant class. Their character's lodestone page shows them having leveled arcanist already on their char, or I would've said the same thing.

[Anapingofness]

From what I can tell, you are doing everything right!

But just in case it needs to be said - Keep doing those quests!
Until you get the armory bonus, they are some of the best source of exp since leves don't give as much.

Make sure to unlock your challenge log.
The challenge log resets weekly and scales with your level.
In addition to that, make sure to keep up on your Hunt Log. While it doesn't reset, each class has one and they give nice boosts to exp.


Also, make sure you do your Guild Hests. Doing them the first time as your class will give you a bonus. Doing your Guild Hest Roulette gives a nice bonus to exp too. The bonus will scale up with your lvl as well.

As you level and you devour all of the side quests and main scenario quests, don't be afraid to nab a passing FATE or two. I never FATE farmed for exp- too boring for me, but if I was in the zone running quests, I would always do the FATEs I ran across.

Another small thing you can do is always log out in sanctuaries and have some type of food. You can get cheap food from NPCs but that 3% exp buff certainly adds up.


As far as making a new character, I wouldn't bother with that at this point in time. FFXIV is designed so that you can do pretty much everything on one character.
Not to mention, you will need certain cross class abilities from your black mage for your summoner, so you'd be leveling blm up anyway.
So if you want to give Summoner a go, by all means- go for it! All you need is to equip the correct weapon and you're set!
While you're at it, feel free to experiment with other classes! You may find one you like even more. ^^

[Belhi]

BLM starts off slow but gets better as you level. I didn't really enjoy BLM till I got into the 40s. BLM's are squishy though if you have a healing chocobo companion they can help. If you have multiple enemies spawn don't be afraid to use sleep. For BLMs it is a very powerful CC and allows you to take groups one at a time.

As for the leveling, I found a fair amount to do. Sidequests spawn in new areas the Main Scenario takes you to and you can miss them. Also its worth getting some food cause that 3% might not look like much but it adds up over time. If you have a Botanist there are a fair few harvestable things that provide the food buff even if they don't give you a stat buff.

[sangz]

I know this is totally a random question. I am still a newbie too. I have no idea which GC to choose. Either Maelstorm/Immortal Flames. I am not joining the tree hugging gridenians :P Maelstorm - well badass pirates, Immortal Flames - My fav npc is there- Thancred (OMG I love him so much). I am inclining to rouge class btw. Need your advice guys. GC Storyline matters too. Must be interesting. Any advice, guys?


Just random thing: Why is it still showing my main class: thaumaturge instead of rouge in the forum?

[Azalie_eriza]

Also, dont make the mistake i made, took me a extremely long time until i realised i missed to unlock My mount chocobo, and with little gil at hand(and wanting to save by not teleport that often) the quests took quite some time because i ran Around everywhere