Any advice?

[Waytoolate]

So I'm relatively new to mmos...played some WoW....but never got super hardcore into it. I'm loving this game so far. However, I feel like I've hit a wall. I'm a level 52 Pali on Bahamut server and trying to get to Ishgard, but I guess I have to complete the story missions first. I've been trying to use the duty finder to do the first of the two 8 man raids to go kill the black wolf Gaius and his minions and yet it's been 3 nights in a row I've been waiting for an hour and a half and no groups have formed. Am I totally screwed, like I'm too late buying the game and now no one really does that content anymore? I have work and a family so I can't wait around for 3 or 4 hours everyday.

[Urthdigger]

Unfortunately not many people queue up for those dungeons. Worse yet, the only roulette they're a part of is the Main Scenario roulette, which gives poetics tomestones that most people don't really need anymore.

Your best bet would be to put up a party finder asking if anyone wants the first-timer bonus, and asking your FC if you have one. You'll find that, while people may not queue up for those dungeons to farm anymore, there are folks out there who are willing to lend a hand, especially with something easy like those.

[Waytoolate]

Unfortunately not many people queue up for those dungeons. Worse yet, the only roulette they're a part of is the Main Scenario roulette, which gives poetics tomestones that most people don't really need anymore.

Your best bet would be to put up a party finder asking if anyone wants the first-timer bonus, and asking your FC if you have one. You'll find that, while people may not queue up for those dungeons to farm anymore, there are folks out there who are willing to lend a hand, especially with something easy like those.

Thanks for the response. I was curious, how difficult are those 2 raids? I have item level 93 and I don't know if that's good or bad. The vid I watched didn't look TOO rough but it was obvious everyone in the vid had run it a million times. Just wasn't sure from a noob off tank perspective if I could cause wipe if I screwed up.

[Alex_W]

There is pretty much nothing you could do there to screw it up. Most groups don't even wait for people to get out of cutscenes in those dungeons. I would help you run it, but i am on a different server ;/ Also, if you have a few max level friends, they could probably run you through those unsynced in under an hour. Good luck!!

[Waytoolate]

There is pretty much nothing you could do there to screw it up. Most groups don't even wait for people to get out of cutscenes in those dungeons. I would help you run it, but i am on a different server ;/ Also, if you have a few max level friends, they could probably run you through those unsynced in under an hour. Good luck!!

Lol...I have zero friends playing the game actually. I think I'm the only person on the planet who just enjoys playing mmos solo. I'm a pretty introverted quiet person generally. Just this raid thing caught me off guard. At least in WoW I didn't have to down Arthas to to play Cataclysm. Anyhow, seriously, thanks for the advice guys. Also, I've been considering switching servers. I was so eager to play that I just popped into the first server that sounded cool and didn't even think about the problem of it being a Japanese server. Any suggestions for any helpful English speaking servers?

[Killerkub]

Potentially looking for a different server?
I'm from Coeurl and if you're looking for folks to run dungeons and raids with, myself and my friends would definitely enjoy helping out. Quiet or talkative we just enjoy having people around to run things with. ^_^

[Frizze]

I can think of one other thing to try to make it work on Bahamut if you decide you dont like the idea of re-leveling a character(or paying for a server transfer). In the duty finder(if you havent done this already) make sure youve got Japanese selected as a matching language along with English and anything else youre comfortable with. On any Japan data center server that could potentially improve all your group-match times significantly.

[Waytoolate]

I think I have Japanese selected also. Thanks for thinking about possible options though. After another hour and a half of using the party finder I finally got enough people to do the first raid, but no one could stick around for the second. Hopefully I can find more helpful people so I can move on to Ishgard. Is Praetorum as easy as the first, because that first raid has been the easiest dungeon I've gone through since starting FF14. I almost felt like a tank wasn't needed. Awesome there were no hiccups but kinda weird that one tank seemed like more than enough.

[Reinha]

Is Praetorum as easy as the first, because that first raid has been the easiest dungeon I've gone through since starting FF14. I almost felt like a tank wasn't needed. Awesome there were no hiccups but kinda weird that one tank seemed like more than enough.

The second one is also easy. They are not really raids even though they require 8 people. More like story dungeons. Such a mode has not been repeated since because of the issue that newcomers are left behind to watch cutscenes while others clear. Here is a list of raids for both level 50 and 60 if you are interested. Raids are for 8 or 24 people. There is also a mode called trial (= one medium difficulty raid boss, no trash mobs) and they are for 8 people.

I recommend trying the Duty Finder again with the primary language for that data center selected. You could also try asking a few mentors (people with a crown next to their name) on your server to come with you. Most mentors, for what I've seen, take pride in being able to assist newcomers in any way.

[EveK]

Also know there is a duty finder option to allow you to enter with less than eight people. When using this "undersized party" option:

1. Level sync is not applied, so people above Level 50 can get the full benefit of their level and equipment, even if they're 60.
2. No XP is gained from monsters.

I'd recommend asking in the novice network etc. to see if you can get even just a couple more people to help you. They're definitely doable with just three people (I helped two friends around 50 do them like this when I was the only 60 in the party).

Also, these two duties have a lot of cutscenes within the duty. So I'd further recommend you get people that are happy with waiting for you to watch the cutscenes. Although you can replay some of the story from the book in the inn room, not experiencing it in context and sequence can be annoying.

Beyond all that, duty finder SHOULD work. There are a couple of different roulettes that incentivize people to repeat these two duties. I still recommend the personally-selected undersized party, though.