How do I find a Troubled Adventurer?

[qaija]

For me, learning how to play this game is 567 steps backwards and 568 forward.

I just discovered that in order to sell things on the market board I need to hire a retainer.

So I google the requirements to do that and am told I have to visit a "Troubled Adventurer" in New Gridania (11,12), Lower Decks Limsa Lominsa (9,11), or Steps of Nald in Ul'dah (9,8). And yes, I have already completed the msq required quest.

The coordinates for Ul'dah are off the map as are the coordinates for Limsa Lominsa.

I can get to (11,12) in New Gridania but there is no Troubled Adventurer there.

What am I missing? Is the information I am getting from google outdated?

Can anyone give me accurate information as to where I can found one of these elusive fellows?

As always, thank you!

[zonderbunny]

The npc you're looking for is the Retainer Vocate. There's one in the market areas of the big cities. The Troubled Adventurer starts a quest that allows you to give your retainers a class/job after you have one hired.

[Jeeqbit]

I think that quest only appears once you have already hired a retainer (it unlocks retainer ventures).

To hire a retainer you simply talk to the Retainer Vocate located in the market area of every city state.

[qaija]

Okay, thank you. I will seek out a Retainer Vocate!

[Erendis]

And that's another reason why people should read MSQ

[HuaTuo]

I ran into the same problem. Apparently you can only see this NPC on your home-world. Trust me i found out the hard way, even ended up with this old post before I tried it. So instead of joining the army of the ever-present condescending pedantic nobodies and their comments, I believe this necro might help future adventurers looking for this elusive NPC! Enjoy!

[Rongway]

And that's another reason why people should read MSQ

In the case of retainers, it's not that simple.

The event in the MSQ that unlocks retainers is unmissable; however, trial players cannot hire retainers. Some people may buy the game long after the point in the MSQ where retainers would have become available if they were paying a sub. Because of the restriction on trial players, at the very least there should be a prominent help window that appears and explains retainers for anyone who purchases the game after that point in the story. Really, this help window should appear for subbed players as soon as retainers become available, because some people skip cutscenes and it's within their rights to do so; but even if one were to take the position that people should just "read MSQ" it's not the fault of trial players if they don't remember they can hire retainers when they eventually buy the game.

[kaynide]

Especially since story skip/trials are a thing, they should remove all unlockables from the story itself and make independent quests with clear unlock markers (the blue with the plus sign).

So in this case, MSQ just says “oh yeah you can now hire retainers, talk to the retainer vocate one more time to learn more”.
(You can then continue doing your MSQ, or click the NPC with the icon)
Click NPC-> “Welcome, do you want to hire a retainer?” (Yes) -> Retainers unlocked/quest completed and immediately go into 1st hiring menu.

If the player has trial, it will simply say “you can not unlock this feature in free trial” and leave the icon there.

[Jojoya]

I ran into the same problem. Apparently you can only see this NPC on your home-world. Trust me i found out the hard way, even ended up with this old post before I tried it. So instead of joining the army of the ever-present condescending pedantic nobodies and their comments, I believe this necro might help future adventurers looking for this elusive NPC! Enjoy!

Anything retainer related is exclusive to the character's home world. Definitely helpful for the rare player who adventures at low levels on a different world but most should have no problem since they're more likely to be on their home world.

In the case of retainers, it's not that simple.

The event in the MSQ that unlocks retainers is unmissable; however, trial players cannot hire retainers. Some people may buy the game long after the point in the MSQ where retainers would have become available if they were paying a sub. Because of the restriction on trial players, at the very least there should be a prominent help window that appears and explains retainers for anyone who purchases the game after that point in the story. Really, this help window should appear for subbed players as soon as retainers become available, because some people skip cutscenes and it's within their rights to do so; but even if one were to take the position that people should just "read MSQ" it's not the fault of trial players if they don't remember they can hire retainers when they eventually buy the game.

Skipping the cutscene shouldn't make a difference. The game will display an Active Help window when the ability to hire retainers is unlocked. Even if the player has disabled Active Help display, a message is also placed into the player's chat log.

Ultimately, it is the new player's choice to skip reading information helpful and pertinent to a new player.

[Packetdancer]

Skipping the cutscene shouldn't make a difference. The game will display an Active Help window when the ability to hire retainers is unlocked. Even if the player has disabled Active Help display, a message is also placed into the player's chat log.

A lot of people get tired of the many, many system messages the game can generate and hide those on their primary chat window tab, so they have a focused view of people actually trying to talk to them.

Moreover, the Active Help system will inundate you with a bunch of pointless entries right away as a new player -- this is how you move, this is how you angle the camera in a different direction, icons over an NPC's head mean you can interact with them, etc. -- and almost anyone who's even remotely familiar with video games will try to find the 'disable this nonsense' button as quickly as they possibly can.

These two factors combine to mean that by the time the Active Help system actually has, y'know, helpful things to offer, many people have disabled it. And a blob of text buried in system messages in the chatlog can definitely be overlooked.

This isn't to say folks don't bear some responsibility for keeping track of what the game's trying to tell them. But while I love this game, I make no secret of the fact that I think it falls short on a number of points with regards to UX/UI; this is one of those points.