New player confused

[Rads]

Hi all a really really noob question, dont say I didn't warn you... but in every other mmo I have been in people chat, trade, general etc, in this one even though I see people there is no chat, I have them all checked so not sure why, I am assuming I need to add a channel, but cant find a list anywhere.
Its so quiet and weird lol

Any help be great!
Thanks

[dvang82]

you should see people chatting in the chatbox on the lower left corner, you might just be in a really dead area/server??? i never been to Tonberry so IDK if that is an active server.. if you do see alot of people and still nothing in the chatbox, most likely they are in FC or private chats

[DrWho2010]

unless you're in the end game cities (Rev Toll/Idyllshire) you're probably not going to see a whole lot of general chat activity. Most people chat via their FC channels or Linkshells. You'll join one eventually most likely and you can start branching out from there. Or become helpful and people may start inviting you to their linkshells. Have fun!

[Lucke]

You could also get an invite to the Novice Network if you are a Leaf (new player). Lots of talking going on there, least on Hyperion anyway.

[Rads]

You could also get an invite to the Novice Network if you are a Leaf (new player). Lots of talking going on there, least on Hyperion anyway.

thanks guys, How do you do this?

[Atoli]

thanks guys, How do you do this?

Speak to a player with a golden crown next to their name (a Mentor) and ask them to invite you to the Novice Network

Since this game has no world chat, people mostly talk within their FCs (guilds) and Linkshells (private chat channels).
There is an upper limit to how long you can stay in the Novice Network (until you have finished the storyline of the expansion OR played for quite a few hours) so finding a guild and/or some Linkshells that you feel comfortable in before you get thrown out into the cold, chatless world, is a good idea

(Except for a few bad apples, FFXIV's community is actually really friendly though, so if you just try to talk to random people in the streets in my experience, they will reply and it can lead to a fun convesation and even new friendships^^)

[Teiren]

In my experience, this is how MMOs are in general nowadays, not just FFXIV. Still, I think FFXIV not having chat bubbles has an especially negative subconscious effect on public communication, but maybe I'm wrong. Besides, at this point it'd be too hard to get used to chat bubbles in the game, I think.

[Rads]

Thanks guys, I dislike chat bubbles, but its extremely weird not seeing chat.. I agree it has negative concoctions

[JackHatchet]

This game is absurdly quiet for an MMO to new players.

Sometimes when I complain about it people just say "join a FC," or sign-up for a bunch of linkshells. As if those were easy solutions to a new player.

The problem is I don't want niche/closed group social. I want the open, expansive extrovert experience. I want to meet new people, hear new ideas, listen to others debate about random stuff. Novice Network does a great job of sort of getting there. But sadly, beyond Novice Network this game is bone dry dead in terms of an active social community that isn't hidden behind doors.

[Pintsized]

This game is absurdly quiet for an MMO to new players.

Actually, it's pretty typical of any MMO that has been out for several years with an expansion pack or two, especially one which doesn't encourage 'vet' players to level alts because there is no alt-leveling mechanism beyond a mindless grind of FATEs and now PoTD.

Leveling 'alt jobs' doesn't take you anywhere near the new players, which of course if the QUESTING content which a level-capped character likely already did .. and things are even worse now the FATE grinding has given way to PoTD grinding hidden inside personal instances .. a new player will grow old and die before ever finding parties to joinfor that!

The only point of contact I see between 'vets' and 'newbs' is the daily leveling roulette!