New player having problems with the game

[Lahen]

Earlier this week i finally made up my mind to get into this game, im a long time mmo fan and even a longer time final fantasy fan so why not play this i thought...

Well to begin with, i refuse to call this a final fantasy game.

Im currently a level 28 lancer, the combat is very simple and boring, but ive been told it gets alot better late game.

And now the problems, i have yet to encounter a good quest , even the main story quests are simple fetch quests, sometimes even forcing me to travel between 3 zones just to kill some monsters and get back. And who had the brilliant idea to make queued dungeons part of the main story? I have easily spent more than 2 hours waiting for these.

Does the story get better? Do the quests have more to them? This is easily the worst leveling experienced ive had playing mmo's.

TLDR

Quests are boring and meaningless
Forced main story dungeon queues are horrible
Does it get better?

[MicahZerrshia]

The quests get better after 50 due to them being more meatier and more story heavy. There are still the dungeons and primal fight queues to look forward to, but you can always pf them and get into them generally faster than just standard queue. A good FC will help you go far too. Leveling will get super fast after you unlock Palace of the Dead, but the game is designed to get your first job to level cap by following the msq and side quests that run alongside it. You can skip most the side quests and do the previously mentioned Palace or FATES to supplement your exp too, so that's a perk.

There have been complaints about dungeons being part of the msq but it doesn't seem to be going away anytime soon. Nice thing, is they are not difficult by any means.

The battle is more complicated, but still simplistic compared to other mmos. It takes very little to learn your role and perform it well if you try. But it is much more fast paced than it is currently for you.

[DarkBreed]

IMO, there are three categories of players in FFXIV:
1. Those who absolutely love the game
2. Those who learn to tolerate the games mechanics and stick around for personal reasons
3. Those who hate the game and leave

In answer to your question; No, the game play doesn't really get any 'better' or 'different' at later levels. The MSQ for HW is better than ARR (personal opinion ).
I just started the SB MSQ, so I have no opinion on how well written it is. You will always be required to participate in random que dungeons to advance the MSQ. If you play a tank or healer your wait times are significantly less ( the game is glutted with DPS jobs).
Not trying to discourage you, just stating things as I have experienced them.

[LittleSparrow]

Main quest definitely gets better. ARR story is awful but the rest is pretty good. Especially Heavensward.

The combat gets way better as you level too. Right now you're a class and it gets even better when you get your job at 30. The game picks up combat even more at 50 and 60, so yes. It does get better.

As for ques, DPS que is the worst. Healer is pretty great and the fastest is tank. Maybe try and join an FC to see if people could join you?

[Anova]

Most of the classes are built to be stable starting at level 60. Until then, a lot of the classes are incomplete as you are lacking many mechanics. Level 30 has a job change and will introduce new mechanics to you, but this has always been a concern when leveling up in FFXIV. The class mechanics just doesn't make sense until you hit max level.

If gameplay is an issue though, I would suggest you take a look at palace of the dead. Yes, it's very grindy and it lacks any depth, but you can get a good feel for what a job will play like at 60 with it and it is the fastest way to level a class to 60 (short of spending $25 for a job boost). You can use it to judge whether or not you want to stay with the class or move on to better things. Here is the link if you're interested in how to unlock the dungeon: http://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodest...e/deepdungeon/

Heavensward and Stormblood storylines all dive much more into the politics and world building, and are generally more enjoyable if you're being introduced to FFXIV for the first time. The ARR storyline is the worst, mostly because it wraps up a lot of unanswered storylines in the 1.0 game, and while it does it well, it can be disjointed and confusing unless you're at least aware of the contents in the 1.0 storyline.

[Squintina]

Story picks up later. Battle picks up after 30.

Locking is indeed a pain when you have to wait a long time. What I did is I leveled multiple classes at once and I only use my conjurer/whitemage for dungeons. The other two I level via quests, fates, and levequests (and some people like to use Palace of the Dead - which I personally find utterly boring).

But honestly, I'm not sure why you wouldn't expect this. I've played a lot of MMOs too and all of them are boring at the beginning for the exact same reasons you've stated.

[xJimmehx]

I think its very subjective. Most people will praise the story for instance. They DO willingly pay a sub. The people who dislike the game dont really play anymore so they wont be responding.


Personally, I dislike the story. It never amounts to the quality of FF in my opinion. I enjoyed some of the class/job quests and hate all of the animations of cut scenes. They use the same emotes as us players, and its always so robotic and strange..
Especially that moment when something "good" and "heart warming" happens and your character looks at the npcs and smiles like they just saw a touching reunion on an episode Jerry Springer and the automated "awws" start echoing from the general direction of the crowd. I started skipping a lot of the less important stuff.

Dungeon queues are always awful unless you have friends or play a tank class.

For combat, well, it does get better for some people.. It depends on your preference. To me, end game combat feels like level 30 combat with more buttons to manage. The fights do get harder on a mechanical level. They remain scripted and you still do a lot of repetitive button pressing combat, but it gets more intricate with skills like the dragoon's "jumps" and the "Geirskogul" mechanics. (lancer lv 30 can become dragoon).
I would suggest you try playing "Palace of the Dead" and watch some end game "how-to-guides" to see if higher level gameplay of the roles speak to you. Most jobs play very different. Summoner is a poison mage and warriors build up a limit break to spend on special skills every so often, and dragoon and monk have timers to upkeep that boosts their damage. You may like one style more than the others.

To be honest, I only play because of my wife. XIV is like a 4/10 in a room full of 2s. Its one of the current best.. but...If something "hotter" comes along, I'll probably migrate. If you're like me then chances are, you'll probably feel the same way you do now when you get to end game. It does add some good things, but again subjective. So maybe look up some high level play and see if you like it.

IMO, there are three categories of players in FFXIV:
1. Those who absolutely love the game
2. Those who learn to tolerate the games mechanics and stick around for personal reasons
3. Those who hate the game and leave

In answer to your question; No, the game play doesn't really get any 'better' or 'different' at later levels. The MSQ for HW is better than ARR (personal opinion ).
I just started the SB MSQ, so I have no opinion on how well written it is. You will always be required to participate in random que dungeons to advance the MSQ. If you play a tank or healer your wait times are significantly less ( the game is glutted with DPS jobs).
Not trying to discourage you, just stating things as I have experienced them.

Im stuck between 2 and 3 lol.

[Frizze]

Does the story get better? Yes. Pretty much everyone agrees that the story gets better later on. When it gets better, and how much better is open to debate(im of the opinion it was mostly "meh" until patch 2.something but has since picked way up).

Does the combat get better? A level 1 lancer has the same GCD as a level 70 dragoon if theyre wearing the same gear. The level 70 version has 2 combos to weave around something like a dozen oGCD skills and various buffs and resources to manage(the level 1 version has true thrust and autoattacks). The level 1 version is fighting enemies with only basic attacks and maybe 1 telegraphed aoe, the level 70 version is fighting some enemies with fairly intense and extensive mechanics(along with their henchmen with mostly basic attacks and maybe 1 or 2 telegraphed bigger moves). So while it definitely gets more involved, better is more subjective.

Yes, the story will continue to force you to do dungeons and/or trials every few levels all the way up. DPS ques can be rediculously long. This can be a hassle. There are work-arounds, but some instances are unavoidable.

And quests. Im not sure what exactly you were expecting. Every MMO ive played had a ton of fairly simple fetch and kill quests. Some of them also had a few more ambitious quests mixed in, but they were always the exception and not the rule. Same is true here.

[LittleSparrow]

Little hint to make your ques faster, set the languages to all of them (Japanese, English, German and French) and check that you'll fill in progress dungeons in the duty finder options in the top left.

[Nocht_Hazardt]

I only just finished 2.4 ARR and I have to say no so far. There will be forced dungeons and trials queues on hard difficulty along the way. Although I already got used to it. The quests does not get any better. It will be the same and typical quest line you have already experience but the story does get a bit more interesting IMO.

As you progress, the game will require a lot more involvements on the social aspect, tight mechanics, boring quests and long cutscenes. You know when you get to high level stuffs, you made mistakes, you die, people gonna hate you and you will cry in the corner thinking why am I suck at this game.
I am over exaggerating. You'll be fine.

If there is one thing I could ask for, I really hope that SE could implement an option to activate the PVP combo system unto PVE. While for the rest, I can still manage and currently enjoying my 30mins queues.