FFXIV: A Realm Reborn

[Razgriez]

I was lucky to buy the last copy of the game from EB games and I live in a regional town. Apparently for a MMO this game has been unusually popular. It is extremely pretty, the combat is ok and the story is ok, however I am level 16 and following the main story line and still haven't unlocked dungeons which is annoying me. >_<

Dungeons and Raids begin with some level 15 Main story quests (You'll be requested to go visit Limsa Lominsa's Adventerur Guild to pick up a quest which unlocks Satasha near Aleport). Also. Guildhest (basically one shot fights with a simple objective) are unlocked as part of Duty finder at level 10, right after you complete the first Level quest introduction.. You'll be sent to a Battlemaster near by the Levequest intro

For those wondering. Guildhest are good for some quick burst of XP and some gil and are useful for teaching players the Ins and outs of raiding in FFXIV (The first time you complete, Completing with no KOs in the party, speed of completion, all grant bonus reward). Levequests, are basically regional quests that occur in the area of the camp/outpost/etc you picked them up from


Also about Duty Finder:
Hotkeyed to the "U" key for those using keyboards, the Duty finder is FFXIV's take on other MMO's "PUG" system. It recruits players from a group of worlds (Determined by what server/world they are on), and will form parties based on their roles (For most 4 member dungeons, that means 1 Tank, 2 DPS, and 1 Healer. CNJ is in quite the demand as such in the low levels, since Arcanist is classified as a DPS, and Scholar, a healer job, isn't until 30. I.E. Haukke Manor) You can also select Party selection criteria by which of the 4 major languages used in game, and whether you mind joining mid raid to replace lost members

[Rising Phoenix]

I've recently fought Ifrit and gods that was intense, certainly a very satisfying experience. Unfortunately lag meant I got hit AoE most of the time, but it wasn't horrible.

I've been informed on titan that AoE and lag can be a problem...

[Talderas]

How quickly does leveling go in this game?

I'm actually wanting to play this, but I have 3 friends, who are siblings, that are waiting to pick this up.

[Sajiri]

Well, I just reached lvl 50 last night through mostly casual play since I've been sick, as well as work and haven't got on much. Some people went 1-50 in just a few days playing really hard.

Levelling doesn't take all that long and it isn't that hard to do.

I've recently fought Ifrit and gods that was intense, certainly a very satisfying experience. Unfortunately lag meant I got hit AoE most of the time, but it wasn't horrible.

I've been informed on titan that AoE and lag can be a problem...

Titan has a line attack that is much wider than the red line on the ground would lead you to believe. The fight itself isn't that hard, it's just dodging that attack as if you get hit, you will get thrown off the arena and fall to your death, but it IS possible to run back up. I got hit a number of times because of latency and managed a few times to just scramble back up before falling.

From when I did it, it seemed like he was usually targetting ranged when he did that, or more specifically, (as with all bosses it feels) the healer. We lost a few times because I was healer and got knocked off, in the end I found it easiest to just constantly stay on the move when not casting, having a scholar healer in that fight makes it a lot easier since the fairy can still cast while you're dodging.

Edit: In other news, last night I had the most epic game experience of my life, and all it was was a fate. Amazingly it was pretty quiet out there last night, only 2 fate parties in northern thanalan when the chimera fate spawned. There was me as healer, and one of the other DD's switched to whm, that was all we had for it, as well as 2 tanks, we definitely did not have enough people to take it on but we tried anyway. Went surprisingly well until he started using fulmination/aoe and I wiped, followed by everyone else wiping. People started leaving, so we were down to maybe 10 people and I noticed the white mage was the ONLY person still up, running around kiting chimera as well as about a dozen adds, funniest sight I've seen in a while. Someone ran back in and started raising, those of us that hadn't left managed to get everyone else up. The white mage continued kiting around the adds, which by then had more spawn and chasing him, while I healed the remnants of two parties, people /shouting directions and encouragement at each other until we won.

In terms of exp, which is what the whole fate parties are about, it was a collossal waste of time, but it sure was fun for random groups to start working together and take it down. Got the baby imp minion again for it, but I already had it. It made a lvl 16 guy very happy though when I started shouting in Gridania to give away the imp and my stockpile of pudgy puks.

[Rising Phoenix]

Well, I just reached lvl 50 last night through mostly casual play since I've been sick, as well as work and haven't got on much. Some people went 1-50 in just a few days playing really hard.

Levelling doesn't take all that long and it isn't that hard to do.



Titan has a line attack that is much wider than the red line on the ground would lead you to believe. The fight itself isn't that hard, it's just dodging that attack as if you get hit, you will get thrown off the arena and fall to your death, but it IS possible to run back up. I got hit a number of times because of latency and managed a few times to just scramble back up before falling.

From when I did it, it seemed like he was usually targetting ranged when he did that, or more specifically, (as with all bosses it feels) the healer. We lost a few times because I was healer and got knocked off, in the end I found it easiest to just constantly stay on the move when not casting, having a scholar healer in that fight makes it a lot easier since the fairy can still cast while you're dodging.

Edit: In other news, last night I had the most epic game experience of my life, and all it was was a fate. Amazingly it was pretty quiet out there last night, only 2 fate parties in northern thanalan when the chimera fate spawned. There was me as healer, and one of the other DD's switched to whm, that was all we had for it, as well as 2 tanks, we definitely did not have enough people to take it on but we tried anyway. Went surprisingly well until he started using fulmination/aoe and I wiped, followed by everyone else wiping. People started leaving, so we were down to maybe 10 people and I noticed the white mage was the ONLY person still up, running around kiting chimera as well as about a dozen adds, funniest sight I've seen in a while. Someone ran back in and started raising, those of us that hadn't left managed to get everyone else up. The white mage continued kiting around the adds, which by then had more spawn and chasing him, while I healed the remnants of two parties, people /shouting directions and encouragement at each other until we won.

In terms of exp, which is what the whole fate parties are about, it was a collossal waste of time, but it sure was fun for random groups to start working together and take it down. Got the baby imp minion again for it, but I already had it. It made a lvl 16 guy very happy though when I started shouting in Gridania to give away the imp and my stockpile of pudgy puks.

I had a similar experience with the giant orchu in the eastern Dark Shroud. I am guessing that was partly because most fate members have rubbish gear for their level. Yes I died once, but me and one other healer were the only ones keeping the incompetent mob going XD.

[Sajiri]

I had a similar experience with the giant orchu in the eastern Dark Shroud. I am guessing that was partly because most fate members have rubbish gear for their level. Yes I died once, but me and one other healer were the only ones keeping the incompetent mob going XD.

There's the problem when you get fate parties going. Even though they can be great for exp, there are a lot of people who then think all they have to do is tag something once then they can leech off everyone else's effort to get capped exp. Unfortunately it doesnt go so well when you get a party where everyone's doing that, or everyone in a fate is doing that. Just involves people running around to look like they're doing something, when all they do is run into aoes and die.

[Rising Phoenix]

There's the problem when you get fate parties going. Even though they can be great for exp, there are a lot of people who then think all they have to do is tag something once then they can leech off everyone else's effort to get capped exp. Unfortunately it doesnt go so well when you get a party where everyone's doing that, or everyone in a fate is doing that. Just involves people running around to look like they're doing something, when all they do is run into aoes and die.

It was more that people would not move out of the AoE range which was annoying... Also the fact that the event overlapped with another 16 Lv Fate didn't help. Sure was fun though.

[Talderas]

So I have a couple questions about the bonus attribute points.

1. Are they a permanent allocation?
2. Are they unique to the class that earns them? For example, going from 25->26 as Gladiator accrues a bonus attribute point. Do I also accrue a bonus attribute point when I go from 25->26 as a conjurer? Would those allocations be remembered for the job so that when I switch from Gladiator to Conjurer, the allocation of bonus attribute points switches?

[Gryffon]

They are mostly permanent. There is an item that can change them, but I believe it is fairly costly(if it's in the game yet).

The allotments are per class(not job, as in the case of scholar/summoner).

[Talderas]

They are mostly permanent. There is an item that can change them, but I believe it is fairly costly(if it's in the game yet).

The allotments are per class(not job, as in the case of scholar/summoner).

Okay good. So I don't have to worry about allocation points for a tank gladiator and end up as a subpar healer conjurer due to points being allocated as a tank.

[Sajiri]

The item to allow you to reset stats comes from your grand company for 10k company seals, so it's not THAT bad, but not something you'll be doing a lot. Just takes a few hours in a good fate area or something.

[Talderas]

The item to allow you to reset stats comes from your grand company for 10k company seals, so it's not THAT bad, but not something you'll be doing a lot. Just takes a few hours in a good fate area or something.

Well, I don't even have a copy right now so I'm just gathering info so I know about various things when I do start playing. I'm going to hit up two or three more stores looking for a physical copy (found a PS3 copy last night but I'm not putting it on the PS3). Otherwise I'll just wait until digital downloads are restored.

It's just that much less time that I have to get ahead of my friends that may not be playing for a couple weeks. Hence a lot of my concerns is on how quickly it takes to level, how deleveling works in dungeons, stuff like that.

[Sajiri]

I beat the main story yesterday, gotta say that has to have been one of the most epic stories/games I've played, I guess more so since you're playing your own character, you have more of a personal connection to it.

Its really cool that in the last 2 dungeons..or the last one, I forget, during the cutscenes it also shows your party members in them. I also thought it was pretty neat that I had 2 warrior/marauder friends with me as scholar, felt like it really fit the lore :D I was very surprised that in all the 8 person groups we had (we even repeated one cause our party leader forgot to uncheck the previous fight in duty finder before requeing us, so it sent us back into the one we just did) the other healer was always a white mage, I was under the impression there were way more scholars around, especially since a lot of summoners switch to scholar for faster queues. Unfortunately we had a string of, erm..less than capable white mages, who mostly just spent their time recasting stoneskin on everyone one by one.

Don't get me wrong, stoneskin is a great spell and Im raising conjurer just so I can cross class it on scholar, but in aoe heavy fights trying to heal everyone up myself, particularly when white mage has the much stronger aoe heal, was less than enjoyable

I get the impression there are also a lot of people who just farm the last two dungeons over and over for tomestones, its fine to get better geared people in there, unfortunately a lot of them skip the cutscenes and run ahead of everyone. The final fight we had a dragoon do just that, got impatient and started the fight while the rest of us were still in the cutscene.

[Rising Phoenix]

I beat the main story yesterday, gotta say that has to have been one of the most epic stories/games I've played, I guess more so since you're playing your own character, you have more of a personal connection to it.

Its really cool that in the last 2 dungeons..or the last one, I forget, during the cutscenes it also shows your party members in them. I also thought it was pretty neat that I had 2 warrior/marauder friends with me as scholar, felt like it really fit the lore :D I was very surprised that in all the 8 person groups we had (we even repeated one cause our party leader forgot to uncheck the previous fight in duty finder before requeing us, so it sent us back into the one we just did) the other healer was always a white mage, I was under the impression there were way more scholars around, especially since a lot of summoners switch to scholar for faster queues. Unfortunately we had a string of, erm..less than capable white mages, who mostly just spent their time recasting stoneskin on everyone one by one.

Don't get me wrong, stoneskin is a great spell and Im raising conjurer just so I can cross class it on scholar, but in aoe heavy fights trying to heal everyone up myself, particularly when white mage has the much stronger aoe heal, was less than enjoyable

I get the impression there are also a lot of people who just farm the last two dungeons over and over for tomestones, its fine to get better geared people in there, unfortunately a lot of them skip the cutscenes and run ahead of everyone. The final fight we had a dragoon do just that, got impatient and started the fight while the rest of us were still in the cutscene.

The only reason I am dragging myself through conjurer is to get stoneskin.

Would it be worth it to get swift cast from Thaumaturge as well?

[Sajiri]

The only reason I am dragging myself through conjurer is to get stoneskin.

Would it be worth it to get swift cast from Thaumaturge as well?

Swift cast is a life saver. Instant raises mid battle when the tank dies (not sure if cnj/whm can raise in battle, I know arcanist can), and on scholar if your fairy dies you're screwed, you can instantly resummon it again. I find swift cast more useful than stoneskin so far.

Edit: Behemoth is up on Hyperion right now and all the people have lagged and crashed us I think. I've fought him a few times but its always been off-peak hours and gone okay, not this time! My FC is out here all insta dying and we can't help it, Im stuck in an infinite loading screen. Someone ran halfway across the map to wait for the next part, and somehow got hit thanks to all the lag. How fun!

[Rising Phoenix]

Swift cast is a life saver. Instant raises mid battle when the tank dies (not sure if cnj/whm can raise in battle, I know arcanist can), and on scholar if your fairy dies you're screwed, you can instantly resummon it again. I find swift cast more useful than stoneskin so far.

Edit: Behemoth is up on Hyperion right now and all the people have lagged and crashed us I think. I've fought him a few times but its always been off-peak hours and gone okay, not this time! My FC is out here all insta dying and we can't help it, Im stuck in an infinite loading screen. Someone ran halfway across the map to wait for the next part, and somehow got hit thanks to all the lag. How fun!

Even more grinding for me then...joy...

But the combat in this game is a lot of fun.

[Sajiri]

At least swiftcast is only lvl 26 as opposed to 34 for stoneskin, and thaumaturge is much easier to raise than conjurer. I already had it at 16 from 1.0 I guess, so I just took it out to thanalan (forget which zone it is, whichever one drybone is in), ran around to all the fates going up to 20, stood where mobs would spawn and spam blizzard II over and over. Even after you get above 20 and you have to start syncing down to them, it was still worthwhile to do, most of them with the exception of the fate that has a bunch of longhorns + the elder longhorn didn't hit very hard, and most people in the zone were doing the highbridge fates so it was very easy to cap out on exp in them.

I was getting around 5k exp for each on I think

[Talderas]

Whelp. I visited a Gamestop hoping to find a physical copy, since the digitals are still restricted. They didn't have one copy but the checked and found one store that did. So I called that store ask if they had a PC copy that was available. They did and said they would set it aside for me. So I drive about 10-15 minutes out of my way to go to that store (after driving about 5-10 minutes out of my way to go to the first store) only to find out that the copy was actually a reserve pre-order.

[Razgriez]

Swift cast is a life saver. Instant raises mid battle when the tank dies (not sure if cnj/whm can raise in battle, I know arcanist can), and on scholar if your fairy dies you're screwed, you can instantly resummon it again. I find swift cast more useful than stoneskin so far.
*Snip*

CNJ/WHM get's a trait at level 26 or 28 that makes Raise able to be used in battle. Which means, cross classing Raise doesn't enable raises mid battle (but is useful if after a major fight several members are down, such as from a Primal battle)

[Sajiri]

CNJ/WHM get's a trait at level 26 or 28 that makes Raise able to be used in battle. Which means, cross classing Raise doesn't enable raises mid battle (but is useful if after a major fight several members are down, such as from a Primal battle)

That explains it, I thought it could raise but couldn't do it on my cnj at 25 lol Either way, having swift cast on either conjurer or arcanist at the appropriate lvls is a big help and lets you cast insta raise.

[Rising Phoenix]

That explains it, I thought it could raise but couldn't do it on my cnj at 25 lol Either way, having swift cast on either conjurer or arcanist at the appropriate lvls is a big help and lets you cast insta raise.

So basically a Scholar's job is to prevent people from dying via buffs, weather a white mage is more heal oriented.

In any case my conjurer is level 32... only 4 more levels to go till I class out of him into Thaumaturge for 28 levels than into arcanist for 30 and then finally Scholar...

[Sajiri]

Kind of, it depends on the fight. White mage has stronger heals, particularly AOE heals, but the scholar gets lots of shields. It also has the fairy which is great in high movement fights where you can't stand still long enough to cast, the fairy can take it for you.

Personally I think the way the game is set up is that in larger groups, the different classes are meant to compliment each other, a white mage and a scholar together will be much better than 2 scholars or 2 whitemages. Same with Warrior and Paladin.

With a rare few exceptions it won't matter whether you take one over the other, but their playstyles mix well together. White mage is all about healing the damage when it happens (and is much better at patching up big aoe damage) while scholar is more about preventing (most of) the damage from happening in the first place. With that said though, I have to say white mage is easier of the two at least if you're new.

[Talderas]

Well, I've been everywhere. Not a single hardcopy of the game for PC. I even went to Walmart and Target. Nothing, yet I still see the damn commercials playing. No indication, that I can tell, from SquareEnix when digital downloads might resume. This is annoying.

[Razgriez]

Talderas, have you checked online? I know a few shopping websites seem to have physical copies available for both PC and PS3.

[Talderas]

Talderas, have you checked online? I know a few shopping websites seem to have physical copies available for both PC and PS3.

1. I don't mind waiting to play. I was just looking for a local hardcopy for convenience. I was just intending to get the copy to install without actually registering my code.
2. Square Enix is selling hard copies from their store but I refuse to have things delivered to my home and I try not to have things delivered to work when there's a way around it.

[Sajiri]

After yesterday's maintenance every server has had it's character creation restrictions lifted, so I imagine digital sales will resume very soon and they'll send more hard copies out to stores.

[Talderas]

After yesterday's maintenance every server has had it's character creation restrictions lifted, so I imagine digital sales will resume very soon and they'll send more hard copies out to stores.

Well, the rumor I had heard was the distributors would get more copies Tuesday with retailers getting them wednesday (both of this week) with digitals resuming next week.

[Sajiri]

Well, the rumor I had heard was the distributors would get more copies Tuesday with retailers getting them wednesday (both of this week) with digitals resuming next week.

You call it a rumor so I don't know. I've certainly seen no official announcement about that, I'm not saying it won't happen but until there is an official announcement we don't know for sure. Either way it's better than nothing and I understand why they did what the did, better to have people wait and log in to a game that works, rather than keep selling and trying to fix what they have while even more new players are trying to join and spending hours trying to get online with no luck ):

[Talderas]

You call it a rumor so I don't know. I've certainly seen no official announcement about that, I'm not saying it won't happen but until there is an official announcement we don't know for sure. Either way it's better than nothing and I understand why they did what the did, better to have people wait and log in to a game that works, rather than keep selling and trying to fix what they have while even more new players are trying to join and spending hours trying to get online with no luck ):

Japanese companies are actually rather bad at publicity. What they should have done, in light of the fact that TV ads for the game are still playing, is at least announce when they expect to restore digital downloads. It doesn't need to be accurate, they can always amend the date later. Providing no information at all is not a good idea.

[Sajiri]

Japanese companies are actually rather bad at publicity. What they should have done, in light of the fact that TV ads for the game are still playing, is at least announce when they expect to restore digital downloads. It doesn't need to be accurate, they can always amend the date later. Providing no information at all is not a good idea.

I actually haven't seen any tv commercials for it, I suppose it wasn't advertised heavily here, but then I don't think I ever see commercials for any games.