Hi! I'm new to the game and needing some advice.

[FairyPrinceAlex]

Hi all!

Just joined into the game after purchasing it with the previous 3 expansions and just added the ShadowBringers expansion to. Always have loved Final Fantasy and decided to finally try XIV for the PS4.

Honestly feeling overwhelmed. I made my first two characters after deciding that I'd love to have A Bard and a Summoner possibly change to Astrologian. Wasn't which World to join until doing further research and decided Faerie was the right one for me to start with.

Character began in Limsa Lomnisa and boom literally hundreds of people in the plaza area having fun. Just slightly got panicky lol so much to do and to catch up with.

Loving the game so much. Kind of just needing advice on where to start and how to proceed. When am I supposed to join a Guild? And is it ok to participate in Fates? I'd love to interact with others but not sure how. I mean if I see someone fighting monsters is it ok to go try to help? I think I'm just wanting to know the etiquette to playing online. Does anyone know groups that good to join to get more enjoyment out of online play? Like groups for certain worlds?

I'm really sorry for all the questions, hope they are ok to ask. Really happy to join on here and be able to talk with others about the game. It really is fun and helping me going through these hard times. Thank you all for reading and any help is appreciated.

[Iscah]

Absolutely jump in and help people with FATEs and stuff in the overworld. It would be a rare and grumpy person who doesn't appreciate the help.

Guilds are just home bases for each of the classes. You'll already be considered a member of the arcanists' guild and there is a line of quests to do there. Once you finish your level 10 quest, you'll be allowed to join other guilds, and that will unlock additional classes for you. You can switch between all classes freely once you unlock them. (It's useful to have at least two classes since you're likely to outlevel the story quests if you only have one.)

The most important thing is to follow the MSQ quests (with the meteor icon) as this is the main story of the game, and sidequests that have a blue "plus" icon, which will unlock features or additional dungeons.

The sidequests with the simpler yellow icon can be done as you go or left to help with levelling other classes later. If you do them as you go, don't go chasing them all across the map, but stick to ones that are a similar level to the MSQ quest you're currently on. The story will take you to the other places eventually.

Once you reach level 15, make sure to speak to the "Smith" NPC at the inn, and you'll do a series of battle challenges that gives you good equipment and an EXP-boosting ring.

[Frizze]

So for starters, welcome to the game! I can understand a mild panic at suddenly being thrown into the chaos of the Limsa plaza, but dont worry about it. Most of those other players barely noticed you, and none have a reason to be mean or anything. For several reasons, that particular area is just a hotspot for player activity. Had you started with a class in either of the other two cities, you would have seen a bit less chaos. No matter.

So to answer a few of your questions. You asked about guilds. If you meant your characters guild(the arcanists), one of the early quests should have sent you to their location to introduce yourself. Its highly advised to keep up with your class quests(one every 5 levels until you get to 50). They provide some gear, some exp, a story, and you need to complete some of them to unlock more advanced combat moves(some you get just for leveling up, others from quest completion). If by guild you meant a group of players organized around a concept, in this game those are called Free Companies. The only restriction the game places on joining one is playing for about 5 minutes(and i think not being on the free trial). An individual FC is free to set whatever limits they want for membership, though most are fairly open(as in, just ask - or they might randomly ask YOU if you want to join). A good FC can offer a few advantages to a player. Potential friends to make and play with, possibly a house with amenities you can use, and maybe guidance for ingame questions. As far as tangible benefits, they can also run buffs that give their members little perks(extra exp, cheaper teleports, foods lasting longer, etc). A bad FC? They still might have buffs running, but itll likely be clear by the personalities of the people involved that theyre not the types you want to hang around with. Nothing in game requires you to join an FC, so only do so if you want to. And you for sure dont have to stick with a bad one if you get an invite.

As for Fates, if you see one going and youre close to the right level(as a level 6 i wouldnt advise joining a level 30 fate, just as an example) feel free to jump in. And typically if you try to help someone with a monster they wouldnt react poorly to it. It can be tough to gauge if they NEED the help or not, but helping wont hinder them in any way typically. As for interacting with others, advice that i give to most PS4 players who plan to play long term is to invest in a cheap USB keyboard(wireless if need be). The game is designed to play well on a controller or a mouse and keyboard, but chatting with the virtual keyboard is rough and actually typing is much quicker/easier.

And finally, as for groups to join. Their are hundreds(thousands?) of discords surrounding this game. Some super focused ones(finding/organizing people to do less common content types like eureka/BA), some are more general(general chatting/helping new players/etc). And some even end up being server specific. I cant name any particular ones for your server or interests, but they generally arent super hard to find. One in game option is the Novice Network. The NN is an in-game chat channel which is supposed to be where experienced players can answer questions and help out newer players. Every server's NN is unique though(since its only people from that server), so while some of them are super useful others are best avoided. I do not know the quality of the Faerie NN. I do know that to join you need an invite from a player on the inside. Easiest way to get that is to /shout for an invite next time you are in that crowded Limsa plaza area. Someone who can invite you is almost always there, and you will likely get that invite pretty quick.

Also, feel free to continue posting questions here. Theres usually someone around who knows an answer.

[Casti_EL]

Hi Alex and welcome to the game.

It's easy to feel overwhelmed but take the game at your own pace and you'll learn to love it. As noted previously the main thing to focus on is your Main Story Questline (MSQ) as this is vital to unlock everything FFXIV has to offer (plus the story is awesome and just gets better as you progress).

To add what's already been said here:

1. Twitch is another great place to meet other players and see the game in action (though just take note of what the streamer is doing before watching - there may be spoilers!). I personally love watching MoodyMoomba or ZeplaHQ - both great streamers who do quite different things but you can chat to other viewers who are in-game whilst watching too.
2. Attacking another player's enemy shouldn't cause you grief (especially if they seem to be struggling) - the only exception I would say is if the other player is a Blue Mage (BLU) as they learn their spells from the enemy mobs - if you kill it before they learn the spell they may be upset. If in doubt ask if they want some help.
3. Don't pay attention to players who look like they've headbutted the keyboard to choose their name - these are usually bots/gil sellers who may be trying to trick you into buying stuff with real money, or trying to gain access to steal your account. You can report these via the in-game help tool.
4. Don't be afraid to talk to other players - this is a really friendly community. When you start doing dungeons tell the party you are new/first time and 95% of the time you'll find the other players willing to help you with your rotation, offer tips about your job/gear and explain the boss mechanics to you.
5. Above all - have fun!

[Lumivyory]

Well, people above already stated most of the things you need to know, but I noticed that you said that you made two characters and I just wanted to say that you can actually have all the classes on the same character and switch between them at any time outside of combat. But, of course, if you'd like to have separate characters for different classes that's entirely up to you :')

Hope you're having fun so far!

[FairyPrinceAlex]

Hey thanks of much for all the advice everyone! It really helped a lot.

As someone said about using a wireless keyboard I do have one and probably will use it for chatting. I've been playing a little more and almost got my Conjurer up to Lv.15 I had decided to retry as a Conjurer in Gridania instead for now.

I think what I'm worried about is missing something or overlooking something that I should be doing. Like I'm afraid once I get to Lv. 30 or 40 someone may say "Hey you should have done that one quest first" or "Oh you should have kept that one item from the quest before as that is the only to get it for now." One thing that confused me a little is when I did the "Home is Where the Heart is" Quest where I had to go to the housing area. I finally looked up how to complete it as I wasn't sure where I was to go or do when it brought up a screen with plots.

Are you able to do that yet at my current level or is that something I should do later?

I will also have to look up Discords, I haven't tried in a while cause it was hit an miss with a few I had joined. One was a little helpful l but the other two weren't friendly at all. But more importantly I just want to thank you all again for your advice and for being kind, I really appreciate it. I get nervous about talking with other gamers when it comes to online games because of the ones that seem to get mad for being new.

So thank you all very much.

[Stepjam]

Honestly, there is almost zero serious side content before you hit level 50. There are things you can unlock such as using your chocobo in combat and glamour and stuff like that along the way to 50, but there isn't any important story content on the side to worry about until you hit level 50. After you reach lvl 50 and complete the second 8 person dungeon, some side things unlock.

One of them is mandatory to finish before you can move onto Heavensward, the Crystal Tower alliance raids. Don't let the word "raid" make you nervous, it's almost 100% faceroll difficulty at this point due to general overgearing, but it's still pretty fun. Another (totally optional) thing that unlocks that is a bit more complicated to complete is the Binding Coil of Bahamut raids. These unfortunately were the game's hardcore raids, and as such you won't find any parties for it in duty finder. You can get a group together to breeze through it if you put up a group in Party Finder and ask for help to get through so you can see the storyline, with a couple of lvl 80s and you can blow through it easily. But it's also completely optional if you don't want to bother with it, and it isn't going anywhere in case you may wanna come back to it later. Thirdly, there's a comedy questline about a detective named Hildebrand that unlocks in Ul'Dah. Fair warning, the questline is a total slapstick farce. A lot of people really like it, but at the same time some don't because how tonally different it is. But it also has a continuation in both Heavensward and Stormblood.

[Stepjam]

Also don't worry about housing. Those quests unlock general access to the housing wards but you won't have enough money for a house for a long time. If you don't play the market at all, you won't even be able to afford an apartment til likely around Stormblood just through quest rewards, and an apartment is much cheaper than houses at "only" 500k gil (but unlike houses, apartments are permanent with no possibility to lose them). The cheapest house you can buy will be about 3-4 million gil.

[Frizze]

So about that housing quest. Theres a separate version of that quest in each of the 4 cities that have housing districts. What that quest does is show you the housing district(since you have to go inside to finish it), and it lets you use the big aetheryte in the city to teleport straight to any specific ward in that cities district without having to travel there by foot(if the city has a "shortcut" to the district other then the aetheryte, this also is unlocked by the quest). If your friend is hosting an event at their house in Lavender Beds ward 16, plot 9(random plot), you could use the aetheryte to pick ward 16 right from the center of town, rather then traveling to the docks and getting on a ferry to the proper place. Is doing this quest necessary? Not at all, but it doesnt hurt anything. If you eventually decide to try to buy a house it will greatly aid you, but this is likely a long way off.

As for "misable content", there isnt too much to worry about. The most important things are the unlock quests, but not unlocking something the second it becomes available doesnt mean you cant unlock it later. It just means it might not have the same impact. To pick an example, theres an optional dungeon around level 20(Halitali near Ul Dah). If you unlock it right away at level, it gives you an extra dungeon to level up in. If you dont unlock it until level 50 you can still go run it, it just wasnt available to help you at 20 is all. The most important unlocks... well that depends a bit on the player. Someone who doesnt like dungeons wont care about the optional ones for instance. In general id say the Challenge Log, the companion, the casino, and glamour are the most important. Glamour is the ability to change the appearance of your gear without affecting its stats. Make a strong ugly armor look pretty. This is unlocked in Vespar Bay(the story will send you there around level 20). The casino(based on the gold saucer from FF7) is just a place to play a bunch of mini games(casino money cant be changed into normal money, so all you are playing for is casino prizes and not actual cash - casino prizes are mounts, glamours, emotes, minions, music rolls, and other cosmetic-like things). The unlock for this is near the aether plaza in Ul Dah, and it becomes available once airship travel is unlocked. The Challenge Log is a list of in game challenges that you can do once per week for related rewards. Did you complete a combat challenge? Heres more exp. A casino challenge? Heres some casino currency. A crafting challenge? Heres crafting exp. You are going to naturally complete several challenges every week without making a special effort just through normal playing, might as well get extra rewards(including gil) for it. This unlocks in Limsa near the bar, also when airship travel becomes available. And finally the companion. This is special training that allows your basic chocobo mount(youll get this via story around level 20) to learn to fight alongside you on the overworld. This is unlocked around level 30 in the South Shroud(the story will take you there naturally). The companion matches your combat level(if your character is level 40 so is your bird), but it gains skill levels(you determine how to spend these skill points with 3 paths for tanking healing and damage) based on how often you use it(the challenge log has 2 companion entries which help to level its skills up faster) so the earlier and more often you take advantage of it the better it will be in the long run.

A side note, dont worry too much about keeping old items. If its a quest reward you can only get once, theres an NPC in town(the calamity salvager in each starting town) who sells old quest rewards you might have lost(most replacements from him are either 100 or 1000 gil). The only thing from an early level id actually worry about keeping is the ring you get for completing the Smith adventurer training(the exp-bonus ring Iscah mention in the first reply). I guess your starting clothes are worth keeping too(that way if you start a new class you arent stuck naked until you get some actual gear for it), but those are easily replaced from a merchant in each starting city if you do happen to lose them.

And finally, remember that you are allowed to learn multiple classes(up to all of them in fact) on the same character. If you have a look and name you like, just play until youve completed your level 10 class quest and you can switch to any other class you like if you arent happy with the one you have now. You dont lose much for starting over at first, but once youve got a few hours in and earned some rewards its often better to swap rather then start over.

[Fellgon]

Welcome to 14!! Play the game at your own pace.