Getting Started in Harder Content

[Nilandia]

Hey everyone,

I've been playing FXIV for some months now. I've been having a blast going through the MSQ and exploring different parts of the game. I managed to convince some people in my FC to do the ARR extreme trials while synced, and it was way more fun than I thought it would be.

I'd love to try out the more difficult group content, but I have no idea how to do it. I realize I've probably chosen the worst time to ask, since Dawntrail just dropped and the new raids are coming soon. But I just finished the Stormblood MSQ and am working through the quests to get into Shadowbringers, so it's going to be a while before I get there.

How would I go about trying out more difficult content? I'm no stranger to raiding. I'm an endgame raider in Elder Scrolls Online, having cleared all of the raids there at the highest difficulty including the one that released last month. I'm more than happy to work, to practice my rotation, to study, and to learn. I just need to know how to get started and how to improve.

For reference, I'm currently in the Primal data center, though I'm willing to travel if I can still come back to my friends in my FC.

Thanks!

[Prishax]

Basically you go in practice groups in group finder for the hard content you aim for and learn all mechanics. Once your progress there is good enough, you can go in clear groups.

The hard content will be always EX trials, savage raids and ultimate raids. For everything else you can use duty finder.

If you have a static group for hard content, it will be very easy to learn and master hard content.

Doing hard content with random groups in groupfinder demands a lot of time though. Don´t join a group if you have less than 2-3 hours free time^^

[Edmund_Blackadder]

Hi,

Welcome to the forums, glad you are enjoying the game. So in terms of raiding content and ex trials, Coils is a beginner friendly raid and a good place to dip your feet into once your FC members are level 50 or above with a min iLevel of 70.

There are plenty of video tutorials for all fights in FFXIV, head over to youtube and check our MTQ Capture for her FFXIV video tutorials for each trial / raid encounter. There is also a spreadsheet which explains the mechanics for each trial/dungeon/raid with a TANK/Healer/DPS POV.


If you don't have a full 8 person team, you can always also set up a party finder and invite some randoms to fill in the missing spots, just be mindful that this will be a mix bag of players who may or may not know the mechanics, encounter etc.

[ClayyLmao]

Hey everyone,

I've been playing FXIV for some months now. I've been having a blast going through the MSQ and exploring different parts of the game. I managed to convince some people in my FC to do the ARR extreme trials while synced, and it was way more fun than I thought it would be.

I'd love to try out the more difficult group content, but I have no idea how to do it. I realize I've probably chosen the worst time to ask, since Dawntrail just dropped and the new raids are coming soon. But I just finished the Stormblood MSQ and am working through the quests to get into Shadowbringers, so it's going to be a while before I get there.

How would I go about trying out more difficult content? I'm no stranger to raiding. I'm an endgame raider in Elder Scrolls Online, having cleared all of the raids there at the highest difficulty including the one that released last month. I'm more than happy to work, to practice my rotation, to study, and to learn. I just need to know how to get started and how to improve.

For reference, I'm currently in the Primal data center, though I'm willing to travel if I can still come back to my friends in my FC.

Thanks!

I'd honestly recommend you push through the MSQ till the end before you dip your toes into extremes, but if you really wanna try it now, the other two have given good suggestions. I'd also recommend the Alexander Savage Series. It's a fan favorite, and might be a bit more approachable than the coils, which are a bit harder in my opinion.

[angienessyo]

Once you finish up MSQ you can hop into the new EX trials. If you enjoy those, you can try out savage raiding either through PF or with a static.

And I'm not sure how ESO raids are, but it's important to remember that every MMO does raids differently. I raid in both FF14 and WoW and while some of the basics are similar (don't stand in bad, do group stacks, always be casting), the way the two games do encounters are entirely different. FF14 is more of a dance you practice with your group until you all get it right, WoW is less mechanics but is more reactive, not sure how ESO's would compare. So some of your raid experience will probably transfer, but just expect there will still be an adjustment period.

[E4EO]

Getting into EX and savage is easy, simple as joining a PF

1. Watch a guide or three or your selected EX trail, memorise the mechanics as best you can

2. Go into a practice PF EX trial to get a better grasp on the mechanics from the guide you watched

3. Practice because it is a practice party, die and fail mechanics to get a better grasp on them

4. Get yelled at and insulted for said practice until the party inevitably disbands



Repeat until you either get used to it or never want to do EX again, can you guess what option I picked?

[Nilandia]

Thanks for the info! Looks like my best option is to hop into the party finder for a while to get some practice. I'd joined a few Discord servers for recruiting, but obviously everyone was talking about the new raids.

I'm actually one of the lowest levels in my FC. Most have been around for years, but I don't think most of them do savage or extreme content. I asked about finding a static group, and most had no idea what I was talking about.

And I'm not sure how ESO raids are, but it's important to remember that every MMO does raids differently. I raid in both FF14 and WoW and while some of the basics are similar (don't stand in bad, do group stacks, always be casting), the way the two games do encounters are entirely different. FF14 is more of a dance you practice with your group until you all get it right, WoW is less mechanics but is more reactive, not sure how ESO's would compare. So some of your raid experience will probably transfer, but just expect there will still be an adjustment period.

Based on what I've seen so far, ESO raiding is not too extremely different from FF14 combat. ESO combat is faster and dynamic, and there are fewer skills available to you, but there's still the dance of mechanics. Learning what the boss is throwing at you and finding patterns. There is some element of RNG in ESO raids, though, so you do need to be able to be flexible and react on the fly.

Fortunately I've always been heavily interested in learning the mechanics being thrown at me. I've even written some in depth guides on the past couple ESO raids. So trying to learn what's trying to kill me and how to avoid it has always been second nature.

I'm also used to raid sessions being 2 hours long, so that's not an issue.

[MoofiaBossVal]

Be warned that extreme/savage raiding feels tedious. In FF14, the mechanics are very unforgiving, and often times a single death can cause a wipe, either because you accidentally dropped an AoE on another player, or someone died so there is not enough DPS to get through a phase. You need near perfect execution of a 5+ minute long fight to beat it. So you spend dozens or hundreds of attempts doing the same song and dance over and over again until you finally get the one perfect run. I was a part of a static during ShB but wound up abandoning FF14's instanced hard content. Had more fun pugging heroic raids in WoW where a single player's death does not usually cause a wipe, and instead of doing the same fight over hoping for the stars to align you instead persevere to the end and can win with 75% of the raid dead.

[Evergrey]

As others have mentioned..
Watch a guide on youtube. Most practice groups in Party Finders wants the members to have watched one.
Then it's just practice, practice, practice.
All Extreme's and Raid fights use set mechanics so once you learn those patterns it'll get easier.

[Nilandia]

Be warned that extreme/savage raiding feels tedious. In FF14, the mechanics are very unforgiving, and often times a single death can cause a wipe, either because you accidentally dropped an AoE on another player, or someone died so there is not enough DPS to get through a phase. You need near perfect execution of a 5+ minute long fight to beat it. So you spend dozens or hundreds of attempts doing the same song and dance over and over again until you finally get the one perfect run. I was a part of a static during ShB but wound up abandoning FF14's instanced hard content. Had more fun pugging heroic raids in WoW where a single player's death does not usually cause a wipe, and instead of doing the same fight over hoping for the stars to align you instead persevere to the end and can win with 75% of the raid dead.

Thanks for the warning! I've been in raids like that in ESO where you have to play flawlessly or not at all. It's frustrating, especially if player skill isn't up to par. I'll be sure to temper my expectations.