Hooking a WoW veteran

[Arkazon]

Well then! This sounds like it may be my best chance to show him the best of the game and help gently get his outside job up high enough that the gameplay becomes interesting. Thank you all! If anyone has other ideas as well for how to get this fish in the boat, do let me know.

[Cinno]

Well then! This sounds like it may be my best chance to show him the best of the game and help gently get his outside job up high enough that the gameplay becomes interesting. Thank you all! If anyone has other ideas as well for how to get this fish in the boat, do let me know.

One important thing you need to know about POTD though: If you go in without a Job Soul Crystal equipped, you wont be able to learn/use ANY of your 30+ skills.

Example: If he goes in on his Arcanist, once he levels to level 30 inside POTD, he will stop learning new skills.. He'll be stuck with just his Arcanist skillset for the rest of the time inside POTD.. So As awful as the grind may feel, getting to level 30 and getting his soul stone before you guys enter POTD and create the save file would be the best bet..

[Dumbledoremd]

Use abilitys inbetween gcd i dont get people crying about it being slow

[loreleidiangelo]

Use abilitys inbetween gcd i dont get people crying about it being slow

When you're at level 20, you're lucky to have even one oGCD move. For what it's worth, OP's friend is also playing a SCH, whose only oGCD even at endgame is Energy Drain and some healing abilities that you really shouldn't just blow willy-nilly so you "feel like you're doing something".

[Taika]

I'm not sure if Palace of the Dead is the way to go. I only have limited experience from it, but since you gain levels so fast inside the zone, things can get pretty overwhelming and it's not an ideal way to try to learn to play any class properly at level 60. The experience isn't likely to be very pleasant.

I would instead recommend checking out some interesting endgame fights and level 60 rotations from a video. If your friend prefers fast combat, let him check for example Monk level 60 rotation or fight PoV videos, if he likes WoW style proc based combat, let him check MCH. If he wants to stay as a healer, show him some great solo heal videos!

[Radacci]

isn't every MMO a snooze-fest at early levels?
i'd suggest doing palace of the dead, because you can quickly level a character to 60, get ALL skills, and try out how combat feels at max level. you should be lv 60 by floor 55-60 - it takes about 30ish min for every 10 floors; the sucky part is ofc that you don't keep your PotD levels when you exit, but you can get an ilv230 wep if you convert PotD arm/armor enhance levels.
well i agree, going through all the MSQ is like a never-ending nightmare, but it's quite fast leveling.

[Qaaliaa]

I am a WoW veteran and it took me three tries to get into FFXIV, and the horrible Warlords of Draenor and Garrisons to cement me here.

WoW is slow as hell at the start too - all games are. The GCD was a really hard sell for me, but after a while I got used to it. It's a challenge in a different way and makes you think differently about using an ability at the right time, to my mind, compare to WoW's. Also, have them consider choosing a 'busy' class like MNK or SMN/SCH with a lot to think about. Positioning, good pet management + two classes for the price of one helped me enjoy the game more.

That, and this game is beautiful.

I wish your friend well, regardless of what the decides to play!

[aesteval]

When you're at level 20, you're lucky to have even one oGCD move. For what it's worth, OP's friend is also playing a SCH, whose only oGCD even at endgame is Energy Drain and some healing abilities that you really shouldn't just blow willy-nilly so you "feel like you're doing something".

Bane is an ACN ability and so SCH has Bane as well. And aetheflow stacks should be used on a regular basis because MP management is reliant upon the regular use of stacks and replenishment with aetherflow. Unused stacks when replenishing aetherflow are wasted so may as well use them. Of course it all also comes down to knowing what you need and when depending on the fight. So yeah - don't use willy nilly, but also don't be shy about using because you can refresh your stacks every 60 seconds.

[Arkazon]

I appreciate all the extra thoughts. I know that leveling up fast in Palace of the Dead results in people not learning their classes organically, but that's not my worry here. Better to have him level quickly and then have to learn his tool kit than to level so slow that he gives up and goes elsewhere. That's my fear: as noted by another poster, so many games are so bland in the beginning with promises of being compelling and fun late in the game. Since there's no way that I know of to make FFXIV compelling at the level 20 stage, my hope was to use PotD to show him the future and perhaps level him swiftly to *get* to that future.

But then last night in a dungeon, a Paladin noted that SCH is boring as sin to play and that excitement abounds only when things go horribly wrong and you have to flail. So that ... set us back a bit. =/ I might suggest MNK to him as a more dynamic class, but he much prefers utility/healing classes over DPS.

[Mitysolde]

Another small piece of advice would be to join an fc. It can make the game a bit more social and xp buffs are available to help get your friend closer to the upper levels a little quicker.