New person with several questions

[Drazin]

Hello everyone, just started the trial and so far I am finding the game interesting so now I have a few questions that I couldn't answer via a general google search.

1. Is there a method to find which US server/data center will be more active at night. Since I work the long night shift I am more likely to be playing at the late hours.

2. What is the leveling curve like for inexperienced players? Would I expect to be level capped on one class (which I believe to be 50) within say 2-3 months?

3. Does it work better to lvl cap one adventure class then work on another or simple work on the ones that are interesting at about the same rate. For example get my lancer up to 20 then pick up archer and work him up to 20 before moving back to lancer.

4. Is the crafting system good for self gear upgrades or is most things from main line quest going to be better?

[Drazin]

Hit character limit with previous post, one more questions.

5. How group dependent is the game for leveling up in the later end , say 30-50. In my experience even active servers have pug issues when it gets around the 2 to 3 am mark.

[Enkidoh]

Welcome to Eorzea!

Incidentally you can get around that annoying 1000 character per post limit by simply typing a few sentences, posting it, and then going back and adding the rest into it by editing the post. Like I just did.

1. Servers actually run on Japan time (as this is a Japanese game) regardless of whether it's a JP or NA data centre, but usually if you join a Free Company (FC) they'll inform you of what times they're more active. Incidentally I live in Australia (which is more or less around the same time zone as Japan) yet I play on a US server (Balmung) and I find it's usually more active around my late morning, early afternoon (which would be early evening to late at night in the US).

2. It all depends on how hard or fast you want to get through levelling. Sidequests and the main story actually reward a fair chunk of exp so that will usually be the main way of levelling your first class/Job (especially as a great deal of content like the Inn, levequests, chocobos/mounts, airship travel, retainers, the Duty Finder etc are unlocked by story progression). Around level 40 you can also unlock the quests you can repeat each day given by the friendly factions of each beastman tribe which also give a lot of exp as well.

Also there is a bonus to exp when switching to a class that is lower level than your first, meaning you'll find once you get your first class/Job to 50 (the current level cap), other classes and Jobs will level much faster just levelling by running dungeons and undertaking levequests/hunting log/challenge log etc.

3. It's completely up to you how you want to work through the classes and Jobs - although bare in mind that each Discipline of War and Magic has a 'Job' that upgrades from it which requires a second class to be at least at level 15 and it's primary class at level 30 in order to unlock (and can only use abilities from a third class in addition to the first two classes) so it's wise to switch to another class and level it for at least a while.

But it's up to you how you actually do this - find what works well for you or what you enjoy - don't feel you have to take something to 50 even if you don't enjoy playing that particular class.

4. Crafted gear is pretty decent, but gear gained from dungeons/raids and quests or exchanged for 'tome' vouchers will usually be better stat wise. Although melding materia can greatly improve crafted gear I think it comes down to more personal preference (I have a mixture of high lvl crafted armour and tome armour myself).

5. There are many different ways to level in this game. Certainly going in a party for FATEs and dungeons is the fastest way to level, but, if you cannot find a party or the Duty Finder can't find members to run a dungeon simply go around and do some FATEs or hunt enemies for your Hunting Log, as it's all extra experience. Levequests are another alternative. Really, the best thing to do in this game is not lock yourself into the habit of relying on only one form of levelling - mix and match!

When I was levelling (all my Disciplines of War and Magic are at 50 ) I would usually run a dungeon, then some FATES, a couple of levequests, in between looking around for enemies on my Hunting Log and, later on, the daily beastmen quests. This not only broke up monotony but also ensured even solo exp was reasonably steady - I found I could usually go up at least two to three levels in maybe two to three hours of play. But again, find what works best for you and what you enjoy, as everyone has a different play style, as this is just my personal way of playing the game.

[Risvertasashi]

Typically getting max level happens in a week or weeks, depending on how much play time you have. For it to take a month or longer, you would have to have very little time to play and/or not be working much towards leveling at all (which is fine if you're having fun).

Get 1 class to 50 first (Barring job unlock prereqs and unless there's a crossclass skill you really want). You get an experience bonus if you're leveling a class that's a lower level than your highest. So if you get 1 class to 50, all your other classes get a 50% exp bonus up to level 48 or so. This is particularly helpful after you've used up the main story quest as a source of exp.

Welcome and good luck out there!

[Drazin]

Thanks for the prompt responses, two more questions

1. I noticed I was getting a crap load of gold/gill site spam for the hour or so I played, is this a constant problem and can you do more then just blacklist people who do this?

2. How is the player economy as I am still on the initial trial I am locked from the market board (what i presume to be the player market). Once I do get in to it will I find that I will need thousands and thousands of gill for basic purchases or millions for semi good items?

[Niwashi]

2. What is the leveling curve like for inexperienced players? Would I expect to be level capped on one class (which I believe to be 50) within say 2-3 months?

Most people level up in a month or so if they're playing only a single character and playing pretty regularly. It varies pretty widely though, depending on your playstyle as well as how much time you have to spend.

3. Does it work better to lvl cap one adventure class then work on another or simple work on the ones that are interesting at about the same rate. For example get my lancer up to 20 then pick up archer and work him up to 20 before moving back to lancer.

It's purely a matter of personal preference. Although quite a few things get unlocked at level cap, they're mostly things that can only be done by the level-capped job anyway, and irrelevant when you're working on additional classes/jobs. So if you want to level multiple jobs, whether you do it before or after getting your first 50 really doesn't make any difference. (About the only exception to this is glamour. You have to hit 50 to unlock the ability to make one piece of gear look like another.)

(Oh, and that XP bonus for having a higher level class is for any higher level combat class. It doesn't make any difference whether it's at 50 or not.)

4. Is the crafting system good for self gear upgrades or is most things from main line quest going to be better?

With the exception of your level 45 and 50 job quests, which reward your artifact armour, the gear rewards from other quests are the same sort of stuff you can get as Normal Quality (NQ) results from crafting, which is passable gear but not as good as High Quality (HQ) results from crafting. Dungeon drops are in some cases equivalent to HQ crafted gear and in some cases better, but they rely on luck for getting the drop you need when you need it, so are less reliably available than being able to craft your gear.

Hit character limit with previous post, one more questions.

The character limit on forum posts is only checked when you first submit a post and not when editing it, so you can use the Edit function to add in additional text you didn't have room for.

5. How group dependent is the game for leveling up in the later end , say 30-50. In my experience even active servers have pug issues when it gets around the 2 to 3 am mark.

On your first class:
Your first class/job will likely be focused on completing the Main Scenario. (Not only is it the main story, but it unlocks many of the other features of the game, so you'll want to keep up with it.) The main scenario is made up mostly of solo quests, but with group dungeons interspersed among them. When it comes to a dungeon or trial, you have to complete that dungeon/trial before you can move on with the next part of the story, so even though there aren't too many of them, players can feel stuck if it takes a long time to get a group for something they have to complete before moving on.

On additional classes:
While leveling additional classes/jobs that aren't focused on the main scenario quests, you don't get the same sort of "stuck" feeling when it takes a while to form a group. However, you will want to spend a significant amount of time running dungeons. They're by far the best source for XP in the game, as well as dropping the best gear if you're on-level for it. You'll mostly level additional DPS classes by queuing for a set of dungeons, doing FATEs, your hunting log, and sidequests while waiting for a group to form, and then running the dungeon once you have a group for it.

As to queue times in general:
Tank classes (GLD/PLD and MRD/WAR) have the fastest time getting into groups, quite often immediately as soon as they queue for it. Healers (CNJ/WHM and SCH) are almost as fast. The real issue with queue times pertains to damage dealers. They're the ones that may have to wait quite a while to get into a group. One thing you may want to consider, particularly if you're planning on advancing multiple classes anyway, is to use one of your damage dealer classes to do all the solo parts of the main scenario (for all the quest XP that comes with it), but keep a tank or healer class up to around the same level, so if you get stuck at a dungeon queue you can switch to that long enough to run it.

[Keydah]

Thanks for the prompt responses, two more questions

1. I noticed I was getting a crap load of gold/gill site spam for the hour or so I played, is this a constant problem and can you do more then just blacklist people who do this?

2. How is the player economy as I am still on the initial trial I am locked from the market board (what i presume to be the player market). Once I do get in to it will I find that I will need thousands and thousands of gill for basic purchases or millions for semi good items?

1. There is nothing you can do except /busy (blocks ALL incoming tells, invites, and friend requests), or filter tells out of your main chat tab. It's pointless to blacklist the tell senders as they send out a message then immediately log off the character and make a new one.

2. The economy is so-so. The only expensive-expensive stuff is the max item level crafted 50 gear, and there's no reason to buy it unless it's best in slot and you have the money (millions). Glamour gear is also expensive, ranging from 100-800k each. Leveling gear is random when it comes to price...on my server, normal quality will be 200-4,000 gil. High quality 1,000-8,000. Dungeon drops that are tradable (only level 15 and 44 ones are) can be 20,000-90,000. You don't even need HQ items to get through leveling content, though, so you don't need to really worry. You can buy gear from vendors in level appropriate areas before queueing for dungeons.
However, if you really want something, you can gather the materials to for it and ask someone to make it for you. Some people will ask for money, some will do it for free...I always give people money just to be nice.
For example, I want the i110 BRD coat, which is 2mil on the MB, but if I bought the mats (which you could just farm them, too) and had someone else make it it'd only cost 500k.

And on the topic of FATEs: You don't need to be in a party for them unless people are zerging them so fast you can't hit anything. It's not hard to get gold rating at all.

[nuyu11]

Hey man, I'm following this Guide:Progression and Level Locked Content, I'm considered new here and been playing almost 3 month already.

http://ffxiv.gamerescape.com/wiki/Gu...Locked_Content

[Broken_Arrow]

1. Is there a method to find which US server/data center will be more active at night. Since I work the long night shift I am more likely to be playing at the late hours.

Currently not that I know of.

2. What is the leveling curve like for inexperienced players? Would I expect to be level capped on one class (which I believe to be 50) within say 2-3 months?

Depends on how often you play, how devoted you are to a single class (or just getting your sub class to 15 to get a job class). I played for about 2 weeks and I'm level 36. I also have a pugilist at level 15 and a carpenter at level 15. You should be able to do it in a month.

3. Does it work better to lvl cap one adventure class then work on another or simple work on the ones that are interesting at about the same rate. For example get my lancer up to 20 then pick up archer and work him up to 20 before moving back to lancer.

I would suggest work on the ones your interested and their sub-class for a job. Once you max your main class/job, go for a crafting/mining job for gil and better equipment. This will give you an easier time later on, especially when more expansions are released.

[Broken_Arrow]

4. Is the crafting system good for self gear upgrades or is most things from main line quest going to be better?

Crafting is for equipping materia or you can ask someone to do it for you (they may charge you). You can also craft your own gear, sometimes you can get HQ (high quality) gear. Crafting how ever requires you to also mine and hunt for items. Pretty much theres a lot to do in this game.

5. How group dependent is the game for leveling up in the later end , say 30-50. In my experience even active servers have pug issues when it gets around the 2 to 3 am mark.

Dungeons and Fates are probably the most common for groups. Other than that you don't need to be in groups. Commonly there are Fate Groups that run around doing fates.