Brand New Player (returning really...)

[Crono]

Greetings, all in Eorzea! I'm a returning, fairly new player (and so new to the forums) and I've noticed that people have a nifty siggy with all their character data displayed. Would someone mind sharing how to add that to my sig, and how to add my character's profile picture added as my avatar? Also, can someone give me a pointer to where I can gather information about playing and leveling (and gearing)? My current class is Archer and I've no idea how distribute stats and such. Anyway, any help is much appreciated! Happy adventuring!

[REDace0]

Your character is showing up as your avatar as far as I can tell. You have to refresh the page after posting to see it.

As for the signature, ffxiv.zam.com has one, but I think XIVpads has the best.

[Crono]

Great! Thanks for the siggy info!

[VydarrTyr]

Also, can someone give me a pointer to where I can gather information about playing and leveling (and gearing)? My current class is Archer and I've no idea how distribute stats and such. Anyway, any help is much appreciated! Happy adventuring!

I'm no Archer expert, but there are probably some in the Archer forums. You might want to ask there.

As for how to distribute points, most people seem to sink them into whichever skills help increase damage for the particular weapon type. There's a list of them for every job here. For Arc, it looks like you'd want to put your points into Dexterity and Piety. (At level 50, you'll have 55 points to allocate. So you'll put 23 points into either Dex or Pty, and 22 points into the other. It's up to you which one you sink the extra point into.)

I wouldn't stress too much about maxing your gear at low levels. You're going to fly through most low levels pretty quickly, so you'd have to change your gear constantly to keep up. Your gear at low levels won't make that much of a difference anyway. The exception is that you should consider getting a new weapon when one is available. They make a lot of difference. Better arrows help with damage, but you don't need to have the best arrows for your class while leveling. You're going to get the most benefit from having a better bow.

Also, consider leveling several classes to at least level 10 before taking your first class to 50. Most classes have at least one low level skill that you can equip on other classes that will be helpful. Level Conjurer until you get Cure, Protect, Stone Skin, and Raise. Level Marauder until you get Bloodbath. Level Pugilist until you get Second Wind. Level Lancer until you get Invigorate. And then you can throw those abilities on your bar when you're leveling Archer. The ability to heal yourself is especially useful when you occasionally get into trouble.

Welcome to the game, and Good Luck!

[Crono]

VydarrTyr, thanks so much for the information, especially the bit about leveling several classes to lvl 10 for those useful skills. I'll get to work on that.

Also, I noticed some people traveling around on what seemed to be personal chocobos (they summoned them with a whistle or something much like in XI). Where can I go to read up on a walkthrough to get my own? Thanks in advance.

[REDace0]

As someone who solo'd ARC most of the way to 50, Stoneskin + Cure + Protect make your life much easier.

For the chocobo, you must first join a Grand Company and then pay 3000 company seals (currency awarded for doing work for the company). To join you have to progress along each company's quest line until after you see each leader give a speech, then continue one questline further until you are officially inducted.

More precisely: look at the chart here. You have to complete all 3 down to the 5th line, then any one of the 6th line quests. The 7th line is a tiny quest that you complete by being formally inducted. At this point you will have 2350 seals. There are many ways to earn seals, but the fastest way to get to 3000 would be to complete the Grand Company side quest Imperial Devices with a few friends or a single higher-level player.

For all the basic information on grand companies, check the Lodestone page.

[Crono]

REDace0, great! Wow, I'm really taken with the helpfulness of the community for xiv. Thanks for the skinny on the chocobos. Seems like I'm a bit of a ways off from achieving that. And yes, I've noticed a tremendous difference in playing archer, pugilist, and lancer now that I have some of those helpful skills (bloodlust, protect, cure, second wind)!! I've had pretty much no downtime for recovery. Awsome!

Is there a resource out there that exists for xiv that's much like ffxiclopedia.com, or is this the primary place? I had a very serious love-hate relationship with xi, and I found ffxiclopedia was incredibly valuable in planning my adventuring. So far, in xiv I feel a bit like I'm flapping in the wind, and I don't have much direction...can anyone point me in a direction that can help me with planning and to help get my adventures focused? (I need guidance!! :P )

[Tarlia]

There are a few different wikipedia type things for FFXIV. Personally, I prefer to use http://ffxiv.gamerescape.com/wiki/Main_Page for no real reason. They aren't 100% like XI's were, but they're helpful when planning for bosses or looking up quests.

Fair adventuring.