Yo! New to MMOs, have a few questions!

[PizzaPastaMan]

Hi there person reading this post!

I'm really new to the whole MMO thing. This is my first attempt at making a character, trying to get into MMOs. So far I'm overwhelmed with the systems and stuff that FF14 has to offer but managing alright. Still on a trial basis and at Lvl 17 currently.

Few questions I have:

-Would there be some place I can find a Mentor, preferably a great Lancer / Dragoon Mentor?
-I'm hanging out in Ultros because my favorite Let's Players have a FC there. Can someone explain how Free Company's operate?
-How much FF fan service is in game vs having to pay real money to get stuff?
-Someone told me the game and the expansion frequently goes on sale on PSN. Currently there's a SE sale of FF14 Complete for 24.99 ending tomorrow. Is that a great price? Should I only buy ARR and wait for another sale of HW?
-In Game economy, what crafts offer great benefit to new players?

Hope to meet more players and fans out there. Thanks!

[TSLsmokey]

Alright let's see what I can answer...

1. Check for people with a crown icon, those are Mentors and can invite you to the Novice Network to give you a helping hand.
2. Free companies are essentially guilds. The players work together to help eachother and accomplish goals or just hang out.
3. There are MANY call-backs to previous FF games. While there are costumes in mogstation for purchase. You can still see a lot of callbacks in game
4. That is a FANTASTIC price. Go for it, trust me.
5. For new players, Leatherworker will assist with basic equipment. Blacksmith and Armorer can provide more equipment for most combat classes. Goldsmith will provide weaponry for Thaumaturges and stat-enhancing jewelry. Weaver is very useful for gloves and mage class gear. Alchemist helps with potions, Arcanist weaponry, and Conjurer weaponry.

Hope this helps! While I'm not on Ultros, should you make a character on Mateus I would be more than happy to help more.

[Frizze]

Hello and welcome!

MMOs are in an odd place in the gaming world, in that they want/need to be as new-player friendly as possible but they also have WAY more systems and considerations to juggle then other types of games. In FF14 you have 13 different combat classes/jobs that need to be somehow balanced against each other over 3 roles while still each feeling unique and using somewhat seperate mechanics. Then you have 8 crafting classes that mostly play the same, but you want them to all have worthwhile items they can make over as wide a range of levels as possible. Plus there are 3 gathering classes, with fisher playing nothing like the others but you hope that they all have something to offer too. The world needs to be able to link thousands of players together, while still feeling approachable and intimate enough for small character moments. The story wants to be an epic, but that has to be balanced against the people who dont care about story and only want big scary fights. So i guess im saying, its natural to feel a little overwhelmed. Take it step by step, and in no time all of this is second nature. But thats enough rambling...

You had a few questions.

1. The crown icon people TSL mentions are a good start for in game mentoring. There are good threads for most of the classes here on the boards if youre the type who can read abstract text and turn that into in-game ability, but someone who can actually answer your direct questions as youre playing and come up with them is always a big help. This actually leads into my next answer a little.
2. Free Companies are this games version of player guilds. A group of friends getting together to pursue their own goals and ideas. Some FCs are super focused on one aspect(crafting, raiding, helping new players, etc), some are multi-purpose, and some just exist as an ingame chat channel for a group of friends. Joining an FC might be another good way to get some ingame tutelage in whatever you may have questions about. But as every FC is independent it would be hard to tell you how any specific one works.
3. This game is full of fan service moments. From the jobs themselves, to various NPCs you can meet and do quests for, to bits of re-purposed or reimagined music, to the variety of summons and boss battles from past entries that make appearances through the story... theres a lot there. The game also has a history of doing limited time cross-over promotional events(though there is no guarantee that anymore will happen in the future). The real money stuff on the mogstore is mostly(all?) just cosmetic stuff, and totally skipable regardless of how nice it may be.
4. Sounds like a good price to me. Sales do happen with some frequency, but its tough to guess when the next will be. As for buying the expansion, to take advantage of most of the expansion features you need to play through the games story to the point where you get sent to the new lands. For some people thats less then a month of playing, for others it can be much longer. You could choose to put off that purchase until youre closer to needing it to see if another sale happens if you want. Your call. If youre liking the game, eventually you'll probly want to continue with it... so that just makes it a matter of when its right for you.
5. As a lancer/dragoon, your gear would be made mostly by 3 classes. Armorers for the armor, goldsmiths for the jewelry, and most of your lances should be carpenter recipes if im not mistaken. Taking up alchemy or culinarian can also give you limited bonuses in the form of potions and stat-enhancing food. But you did say "In Game economy", so this might not be the answer youre looking for. If you wanted to know about making money, then crafting isnt the answer. Most crafts arent all that profitable until you get into the upper-echelon(especially if you need to buy mats). So if the question was making money, you actually want to look at the gathering classes instead. You can turn mining/botany into a profitable venture MUCH easier then you can for any crafting class. Just look at the items you can gather, look at what sells on the market board, and you can start focusing your energies in that direction. A good low level example is Alumen, gather-able by miners from level 14 or 15 onward. Leatherworkers need alumen from roughly level 15 all the way into the mid-40s to turn skins into workable leather. However, many people are too lazy to get it themselves. So the market for this material is broad, dependable, and long lasting. Of course, if you werent asking about making money then just disregard this whole added part. That can always be the type of thing you consider later on as you shouldnt have a huge need for money while leveling. The story, the quests, and the dungeons youll do along the way should for the most part keep you in acceptable gear.

So theres a wall of text to answer some easy questions. And this board tends to be a super-helpful place, so if theres more you want/need to know you can always come back. For now, keep enjoying the game!

[LunaFaye]

If you wanted to know about making money, then crafting isnt the answer. Most crafts arent all that profitable until you get into the upper-echelon(especially if you need to buy mats). So if the question was making money, you actually want to look at the gathering classes instead. You can turn mining/botany into a profitable venture MUCH easier then you can for any crafting class. Just look at the items you can gather, look at what sells on the market board, and you can start focusing your energies in that direction. A good low level example is Alumen, gather-able by miners from level 14 or 15 onward. Leatherworkers need alumen from roughly level 15 all the way into the mid-40s to turn skins into workable leather. However, many people are too lazy to get it themselves. So the market for this material is broad, dependable, and long lasting. Of course, if you werent asking about making money then just disregard this whole added part. That can always be the type of thing you consider later on as you shouldnt have a huge need for money while leveling. The story, the quests, and the dungeons youll do along the way should for the most part keep you in acceptable gear.

So theres a wall of text to answer some easy questions. And this board tends to be a super-helpful place, so if theres more you want/need to know you can always come back. For now, keep enjoying the game!

Not true at all.Everybody thinks just the high end crafts make money, and even so they do if you want quick profit, the lower level and mid range items sell quite well especially since nobody bothers to craft these anymore. Just check the market board on your server and within a couple of hours you'll see what sells and what doesn't.

This is just for people that like to craft and make profit. If you're just playing the game and are not very interested in crafting, forget about it since you get enough gear via quests and cheap from the market board later on. You'll have enough money from just doing that and maybe even sell the mats you get during dungeon runs/hunts/questing.

Same for the gathering professions, even so I do agree alumen sells and is great again for quick profit, there are other mats that sell even better and most people do not even realize that. Again check the economy on your server since it differs.

[PizzaPastaMan]

Thanks for the replies!

To clarify, I was asking specifically about making money using a craft, so yes the answer provided was helpful. I'll check my market boards tonight.

I'm having fun so far, but its intimidating to be in a MMO without understanding fully what you're doing. I haven't figured out most of the lingo and on top of that it seems like the whole optimization for most classes is confusing.

[Enkidoh]

Welcome to Eorzea!

The lingo and jargon can be as clear as mud to a new player, but this page has a list of the most commonly used abbreviations and terms used in the game by players and the development team, which should help you I hope.

[Niwashi]

To clarify, I was asking specifically about making money using a craft, so yes the answer provided was helpful.

What I've found most reliably profitable is selling intermediate ingredients. Crafting classes don't just take raw materials and make armour, weapons, etc. They make other materials first.

For instance, a leatherworker takes hides and makes leather from them. Then he takes that leather and makes armour. Similarly, a weaver takes things like wool or plant fibers and makes thread, then turns that into cloth, then makes clothes from that cloth. Armourer, blacksmith, or jeweler will take ore and turn it into ingots before making armour, tools, or jewelry out of those ingots, and so on.

Sometimes you can make a good profit selling finished items, especially if you can make them High Quality or when you find an item that nobody else is selling. But those intermediate materials (things like leather, cloth, ingots, lumber, etc.) tend to sell faster and more reliably. At least that's what I've usually had the most luck with. (But, as others have mentioned, check what it's currently selling for on your server. Prices can fluctuate a lot, so what makes money well right now might be overstocked and selling for next to nothing next month, or vice versa.)


As for which crafting classes are the best moneymakers, you're going to want all of them at some point. Two reasons for this:

1) You can get skills from each to use on the others. At level 15, each crafting class will give you a valuable cross-class skill. Then at level 37, culinarian will give you another very important one. (The other classes also have cross-class skills at level 37, but CUL is the only one whose level 37 skill you'll really want. The others are only rarely useful.) Then at level 50, you'll get another good cross-class skill from each of them.

2) You'll need some of those intermediate materials from other classes. For instance, while weaver uses cloth as their primary ingredient for clothes, they'll also use some leather that had to be made by a leatherworker. Leatherworker in turn may use some cloth from weaver and some ingots or rivets from armourer/blacksmith. It's similar for most of the other classes. (Culinarian seems somewhat exempt from this, though, making nearly all their food from either raw materials or their own intermediate ingredients. And alchemist has only a few crossover materials with other classes. The other six are far more interdependent on each other.)

[LunaFaye]

to make it a bit easier and if you have the time, check out Mithrie's channel. Plenty of crafting/gathering guides especially on the old content (aka 1-50). He also explains lots of skills and technique in depth and shows newer players how to make money. Again its always based on the server itself, and even so I don't like people doing the same thing than the video shows, it defiantly gives newer players the understanding/information/idea they need without getting overwhelmed. Hope it helps.

[PizzaPastaMan]

I had another question about FCs, but since I can't create a thread yet I'll ask it here.

What should a player look for when invited into a FC?

I received 2 invites out of the blue and I declined both because I don't know anyone in them and their details are vague at best.

[Yasuhiro]

I think it's upto you on what you find in a FC. depends on the player and some FC's even show what they're looking for like serious play and such. Don't feel ashamed to join a FC and leave it if it's not for you. Took me a while to find the perfect FC.

Here's my rules I've given myself
1. Avoid random invites, they should introduce themselves first or ask if you're looking for a FC
2. 500 member + FC's aren't very good, they mostly treat just hunt for members to add to their FC to be the biggest Free Company on the server "Bigger isn't always better!"
2a. Tight Knit, Easy going, "we love to do old and new content" are some red flags in those large FC's they're there to get new players into joining but the reality is those big FC's are very cliquey

imo, join the smaller ones so you can get to know people better. I'd make a PF with your terms and what you're looking for in a FC. Again, no shame in trying a few out, you'll find the one for you. FC's can also give you some nice buffs too if the FC leader turns them on like 5% more leveling bonus for DoL/DoH, reduced teleport rates.

Hope you're having fun with the game, point 3 is why I enjoy Final Fantasy XIV, it's heavy on fan service and I look forward to each patch wondering what classic FF thing from the past they'll re-imagine in this game.