Final Fantasy XIV: serious catbutt discussions ITT

[Valicious 572]

New to FFXIV?  Use the Recruit-a-Friend code and get fantastic prizes and a free 30 days play time!
Current Code: 9WFCT2WY  (Just post here if you use it so we can replace it)

Wanna play with other MHers?  We play on Sargatanas 

 

 
FINAL FANTASY XIV: HEAVENSWARD
Available for PC, Mac, PS3 and PS4
Official site: http://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodestone/
Account management: http://sqex.to/Msp
 

 
The Armoury System is FFXIV's character progression system.  In this game, your class is determined by your equipped weapon, and you can change your weapon anywhere in the overworld; this includes crafting and gathering, which are their own classes, have their own abilities and gear, and even have special class-defining equipment at maximum level. You can level up every class to maximum level, and a selection of the skills you earn as you level up a class can be used on other classes ("cross-class skills").  See the ARMOURY SYSTEM section on the official website for more information on how this works.
 
When a combat class reaches level 30, it has access to soul crystals, which turn your class into a job; they remove access to most cross-class skills, but in return grant five job-exclusive skills that are well-suited to group content.  Your job level is tied to the associated class's level; for example, Paladin is the job associated with Gladiator, so if your Gladiator level is 37, your Paladin level is also 37.
 
The newly-added additional classes become available at a certain point in the main story and start at level 30 once unlocked.
 
The Armoury Bonus grants a bonus to many sources of EXP for classes lower in level than your highest-level class.  This makes up for the relative lack of quests for classes after your first.
 

 
For more information on the specifics of each class and job, see the Skill Tree on XIVDB.
 

 
Gladiators (GLA) use powerful sword and shield techniques to keep the attention of their enemies and suurvive blows that would devastate lesser beings. Gladiators act as tanks and disruptors, blinding, stunning, and disabling enemies while holding their attention with sword combos.  Gladiators start in Ul'dah.
 
Marauders (MRD) use axes to cleave a path through the enemy's front line and protect the more fragile members of the party. Marauders tank primarily by smashing their foes' faces in and bathing in their blood. By doing so, they restore their own HP. Instead of preventing a large amount of damage like gladiators, marauders react to incoming damage by refilling their large HP pools via weapon skills and abilities.  Marauders start in Limsa Lominsa.
 
Lancers (LNC) use all manner of two-handed pole arms to deal critical blows to their enemies. Lancers is a straightforward damage class, sacrificing defense for attack power to deal heavy damage, and fighting while moving around the target in order to gain access to combo bonuses.  Lancers start in Gridania.
 
 Rather than traditional combos, Pugilists (PGL) utilize stance changes that give them flexibility in their combo chains. Pugilists abilities grant them increasing amounts of Greased Lightning, a buff that is the result of some of their weapon skills. Greased Lightning increases attack speed and damage while lowering the global cooldown, allowing Pugilists to unleash attacks faster than most classes.  Pugilists start in Ul'dah.
 
Archers (ARC) fire off arrows from afar, hindering their enemies and dealing damage from a safe distance. Archers have access to debuffing Weapon Skills and utility skills, like a group movement speed increase and a backstepping attack. Archers do not use melee-class combos, and instead rely on procs that enhance their shots.  Archers start in Gridania.
 
Rogues (ROG) use acrobatics, misdirection and potent poisons on their dual blades to efficiently take down enemies, as well as force them to cough up extra loot.  Rogue can be unlocked in Limsa Lominsa. (Players must first complete the level 10 class quest for one of the initial battle classes to unlock Rogue.)
 

 
Conjurers (CNJ) invoke elemental spirits of wind, stone and water to damage their enemies and protect their allies. Wind and earth are used mainly for offense, while the water element is used for defensive maneuvers and healing. As a primary healer they are obviously a welcome addition to any party, but a great Conjurer knows how to find the perfect balance of damage and healing.   Conjurers begin in Gridania.
 
Arcanists (ACN) summon their pet Carbuncle to aid them in combat. They boast a versatile toolkit, with DoTs, debuffs, and supporting spells. Arcanist is an extremely versatile class, and depending on your party makeup they can fulfill a number of roles. Arcanist is currently also the only class with two jobs.  Arcanists start in Limsa Lominsa.
 
Thaumaturges (THM) deal in the deadly elements of fire, ice and lightning to destroy their enemies from afar.  To maximize their output, they need to balance their Astral Fire (increased damage and MP cost of spells) with Umbral Ice (increased MP regen, decreased damage).  Thaumaturges also have great crowd control with the ability to inflict AoE sleep.  Thaumaturges begin in Ul'dah.
 

 
Jobs give classes new abilities that enhance their specialization at the cost of losing some cross-class abilities.
 
Paladin (PLD) requires Gladiator 30 and Conjurer 15.  Paladin gets abilities that enhance its damage mitigation and party support abilities.
Warrior (WAR) requires Marauder 30 and Gladiator 15.  Warriors get new ways to mitigate incoming damage, heal themselves and counter incoming attacks.
 
Dragoon (DRG) requires Lancer 30 and Marauder 15.  Dragoon receives additional jumps with various effects.
Monk (MNK) requires Pugilist 30 and Lancer 15.  Monk receives new combo opportunities and ways to manage their Greased Lightning.
Bard (BRD) requires Archer 30 and Pugilist 15.  Bard receives songs that can be played to support the party's effectiveness.
Ninja (NIN) requires Rogue 30 and Pugilist 15.  Ninja can now use mudra, combinations of which produce a variety of magical effects.
 
Black Mage (BLM) requires Thaumaturge 30 and Archer 15.  Black Mage recieves potent spells and abilities that increase its damage output.
Summoner (SMN) requires Arcanist 30 and Thaumaturge 15.  Summoner can now summon aspects of the primals, as well as channel the power of the dragon Bahamut.
 
White Mage (WHM) requires Conjurer 30 and Arcanist 15.  White Mages get more powerful heals, including heals over time.
Scholar (SCH) requires Arcanist 30 and Conjurer 15.  Scholar gets heals that apply an additional barrier effect.
 

 
All of the additional jobs are only accessible once reaching Ishgard in the main story.
 
Dark Knight (DRK) wields a greatsword and harnesses black magic to strike down foes and protect their allies.  They must balance their MP consumption in order to maximize their effectiveness.
 
Machinist (MCH) uses rifles and turrets to deal damage.  They can load special ammunition and affix enhancing attachments to change the effects of their attacks, and their turrets can either be set to attack enemies or support allies within their range.
 
Astrologian (AST) uses a "star globe" and a deck of tarot cards to heal allies.  Cards drawn from the deck are used to enhance the party.  Depending on their stance, they can either add healing over time or barriers to their basic heals.
 

 
The Disciplines of the Land are the gathering classes:

•  
• Botanists (BTN) gather wood, fiber and plants.

• Miners (MIN) gather rock, ore and raw gems.

• Fishers (FSH) gather sea creatures.
•  

 
The Disciplines of the Hand are the crafters of Eorzea:

•  
• Alchemists (ALC), makers of various potions, ethers and other consumables, as well as Arcanist and Conjuror weapons

• Armorers (ARM), makers of heavy metal armor

• Blacksmiths (BSM), makers of metal weapons and tools

• Carpenters (CRP), makers of all things wooden

• Culinarians (CUL), makers of food and drink that provide long-lasting buffs

• Goldsmiths (GSM), makers of fine jewelery from precious gems and rare metals, including Thaumaturge weapons

•  Leatherworkers (LTW), who turn beast hides and sinews into medium armor

• Weavers (WVR), makers of fabric, thread and light armor
•  

 
In no particular order:

•  
• FATEs are a Public Quest system: earn EXP, gil and seals for your Grand Company by participating in open events that appear all over the world.

• Guildleves are repeatable quests available in the main cities and at adventuring camps, useful for supplementing the EXP you earn from other sources.  You earn guildleve allowances over time and can bank up to 100.

• The Duty Finder is an automatic party matching system that brings together players from multiple servers to complete dungeons and duties.

• Daily Roulettes give you big bonuses for participating in a randomly-chosen duty.

• Treasure Maps are gathered by Disciples of the Land, and point the way towards caches of rare crafting materials guarded by powerful monsters.

• The Hunt sends you out to scout for notorious monsters, the most powerful of which require multiple cooperating alliances to take down.

• Chocobo companions help you out with overworld combat, and can be customized both visually and with a talent tree.

• Frontlines is city vs. city vs. city territory control PVP.  The Wolves' Den is 4v4 arena PVP.

• Housing is available for Free Companies (guilds) and individuals (both rooms inside your Free Company's house, and individual player houses).

• Glamour prisms and dyeing let you customize your gear to appear however you wish.

• Alexander is a series of 8-man endgame raids available in two difficulty levels: Normal and Savage.

• Challenge and Hunting Logs grant bonuses for completing selected forms of content

• Sightseeing Logs Enjoy the beauty of Eorzea by seeing the world at specific places, times and weather conditions

• The Manderville Golden Saucer, featuring Triple Triad and chocobo racing, as well as other minigames and attractions
•  

•  
• Final Fantasy XIV: A Beginner's Guide, a tutorial on how to purchase the game and set up your account

• Eorzea Database, Square-Enix's official game database

• XIVDB, the most popular third-party database of items, quests, job abilities and other info

• Garland Tools, another database

• Ariyala's Gear Calculator

•  
• XIVPads, a third-party character tracker

• FFXIV GamerEscape Wiki, general information about the game's systems and quests, including a comprehensive guide on how to unlock gated content

•  
• Crafting as a Service, a collection of crafting calculators and shopping list generators

• FFXIVClock, useful for keeping track of time-limited gathering nodes

• Cat Became Hungry (FF14Angler), a fishing database

• FFXIV Chocobo Colour Calculator

•  
• Reddit's FFXIV subreddit

• BlueGartr's FFXIV forum
•  

[Valicious 572]

• Is this game a sequel of FFXI? No. Besides elements of the setting and the Armoury system, the two games are very dissimilar; combat is much faster, travel is less onerous, there is a much higher emphasis on solo content in FFXIV, and EXP camps are no longer a viable way to level, much less the sole way. If you played FFXI and liked the setting and story but ended up frustrated with how much time you spent killing crabs, try FFXIV.
• What restrictions does the trial version have?
  • The trial is only open to new players who have not previously played the trial, participated in any beta test or already purchased the game.
  • The trial client is only available on Windows, not PS3 or PS4.
  • You may create one character per server on up to 8 servers.
  • The trial lasts 14 days. Trial characters are deleted after 90 days of inactivity
  • The level cap is Lv.20 on all classes.
  • You can carry up to 20,000 gil, and can't use the Market Boards, mail, or trade with other players.
  • You can't use zone-wide chat or send private messages to other players.
  • You can join existing linkshells (chat channels), but not Free Companies (guilds).
  • You cannot invite other players to parties, but can use the Duty Finder (automatic party matching).
  • You can't log into the community sites like The Lodestone or the official forums.
  • All these restrictions are removed if you subscribe.
• I haven't played for a long period of time. What is new? Probably a whole lot, now that there's been a new expansion. More detailed information about each patch can be found at the Lodestone's Patch Log.

PURCHASING AND SUBSCRIBING

• Where can I buy the game? FFXIV is available in physical form from your friendly local retailers, in digital form from Steam, Amazon, GreenManGaming, GameStop, Square-Enix Store and others, and on the PS3/PS4 PlayStation Store. Prices vary by retailer and region.
• How much does it cost to play? FFXIV is a subscription game. Purchasing the game gives you one free month. The service fees for additional time are:
  • Entry Service (1 character per server, 8 servers max)
    • 30 days: $12.99 / £7.69 / 10.99 € / ¥1,344 per month
  • Standard Service (8 characters per server, 8 servers max)
    • 30 days: $14.99 / £8.99 / 12.99 € / ¥1,554 per month
    • 90 days: $13.99 / £8.39 / 11.99 € / ¥1,449 per month
    • 180 days: $12.99 / £7.69 / 10.99 € per month (180 days not available in Japan)
  • Legacy Campaign Service (8 characters per server, 8 servers max, for players who subscribed for 3 months in FFXIV 1.0)
    • 30 days: $9.99 / £6.89 / 9.99 € per month
    • 90 days: $8.99 per month
    • 180 days: $7.99 per month

BEFORE YOU BEGIN

• Do Windows, Mac, PS3 and PS4 players play on the same servers? Yes.
• Which data center do I pick? Find the server you want to play on in this list.
  • Elemental: Aegis / Atomos / Carbuncle / Garuda / Gungnir / Kujata / Ramuh / Tonberry / Typhon / Unicorn
  • Gaia: Alexander / Bahamut / Durandal / Fenrir / Ifrit / Ridill / Tiamat / Ultima / Valefor / Yojimbo / Zeromus
  • Mana: Anima / Asura / Belias / Chocobo / Hades / Ixion / Mandragora / Masamune / Pandaemonium / Titan
  • Aether: Adamantoise / Balmung / Cactuar / Coeurl / Faerie / Gilgamesh / Goblin / Mateus / Midgardsormr / Sargatanas / Siren / Zalera
  • Primal: Behemoth / Brynhildr / Diabolos / Excalibur / Exodus / Famfrit / Hyperion / Lamia / Leviathan / Malboro / Ultros
  • Chaos: Cerberus / Lich / Moogle / Odin / Phoenix / Ragnarok / Shiva
• Do North American, European, Asian and Oceanic players play on the same servers? Yes. There are two hosting centers: Group JP, located in Japan, and Group NA/EU, located in Montreal, Canada. However, anybody can make a character on whichever server group they want. If you're a European player, you won't see any difference in latency between the (EU) servers and the others.
• If I buy a copy for one platform, can I play my character on a different one? You need to buy a key for the platform you're playing on. If you want to play both on PC and PS4, you need to buy keys for both platforms. However, once you do, your character can be played on both. You will also receive a free month for every additional platform you activate.
• If I already bought a PS3 copy, can I play on PS4? As of April 1, 2015, you can no longer upgrade your PS3 key for free. You'll have to buy a PS4 key.
• I bought the standard edition for my platform. Can I buy the collector's edition later to get the upgrade? No, but you have two options: either buy the collector's edition for a different platform, or buy the digital collector's upgrade directly from S-E for $20/£15/15 €/¥2,366 depending on region.
• Should I buy a copy on Steam if I'm already a PC player? No. You won't be able to register the key to your existing account. Steam accounts count as PC activations, and you can't activate two of the same platform on the same account.
• I bought my FFXIV key from Steam. Can I buy the upgrade to Heavensward from another store? No. Steam FFXIV accounts can only be upgraded by Steam Heavensward keys.
• I want to add a key to my account. Do I add a platform, or add a service account? Add a platform. Adding a service account makes a separate second account.
• I didn't read this post, and I added a service account instead of a platform. How do I fix it? Fill out this Square-Enix support form.
• Where can I get the PC client? http://www.finalfantasyxiv.com/playersdownload/na/. However, you must have an active account to update it.
• Should I use an authenticator? Yes. You can buy a keyfob authenticator from S-E for $11, or you can install a software authenticator on your phone or tablet (available for iOS and Android). By adding an authenticator to your account, you will get to teleport to one location of your choice for free.

STARTING OUT

• I want to play on Sargatanas, but character creation is disabled. You have a couple options: you can wait for an off-peak time (mid-week and morning EST are the best times) to make a character, or you can make a character on a different server and transfer it to Sargatanas for an $18 fee. Generally, waiting is the better option. The server availability is updated at the following times:
• Does it matter what race I pick? Mechanically, the difference in stats at Lv.50 for any given pair of races is less than 1%. The difference between races is almost completely cosmetic.
• Does it matter what nameday/guardian I pick? Not currently. These are cosmetic at the moment, and might be used in later updates to provide you with small bonuses like nameday presents.
• Does the question the merchant asks me in the first cutscene matter? Your answer determines the stats of a Lv.1 ring you receive:
  • "To gain power." Ring of Fortitude (Critical Hit Rating +1)
  • "To win glory." Ring of Fidelity (Vitality +1)
  • "To amass a fortune." Ring of Fortune (CP +5)
  • "..." Ring of Freedom (Determination +1)
  The best one to choose is probably the Ring of Fortune, since CP+ gear for crafters is the hardest to find at early levels.
• How do I choose what city I start in? Your choice of starting class determines what city you start in. Refer to the class list above.
• How many classes can I level? You can level every class. There is no cap on how many classes you can level.
• How do I unlock a new class? Go to the receptionist at the guild whose class you want to unlock. The guildmaster will hand you a weapon; equipping it will unlock the class.
• I went to a guild and the receptionist wouldn't give me a quest. Complete your first class's Lv.10 quest first.
• The class I want to unlock doesn't have a guild in my city. Complete the Lv.15 story quest for your airship pass, then travel to that city.
• Which quests should I be doing? The most important quests to do are the Main Scenario quests (the ones marked with a meteor icon), since feature unlocks are tied to your main scenario progress.

FURTHER GAMEPLAY

• What do the stats do? Hover over the stat names in your Character window for information about what they modify.
• Where should I allocate my points? Points are allocated per class. Every class will have 30 points to allocate at level 50.
  • GLA, MRD: Vitality
  • LNC, PGL: Strength
  • ARC: Dexterity
  • CNJ: Mind
  • THM: Intelligence
  • ACN: Mind (SCH focus) or Intelligence (SMN focus)
  • ROG: Dexterity
• Where is the "flank"? The sides. Anything that isn't "front" or "back" is the "flank". You can see on the ground target circle where back ends and flank begins where the line changes thickness:
  
• How do I tell how much aggro/hate/enmity I have? There are two indicators that display your current enmity level.
  
  The party frames indicate everyone's relative enmity on the currently targeted enemy:
  
  • The "A" on the gladiator's icon indicates that the currently targeted enemy is attacking him. The numbers indicate the second, third, and fourth highest enmity.
  • The length of the small bar indicates your hate level relative to the maximum.
  The enemies list indicates your relative enmity for every enemy you've engaged:
  
  
  • Green circle: less than 50% of maximum enmity
  • Yellow up triangle: between 50% and 75% of maximum enmity
  • Orange down triangle: between 75% and 99% of maximum enmity
  • Red square: maximum enmity
  The length of the bars indicates each enemy's remaining HP.

[Valicious 572]

 

PLAY WITH US

 

DATA CENTER Aether

Sargatanas  Monochrome Heaven

If you wish to be invited to MH, please contact either Valicious Crisu or Kyat Mittens in-game.

[Biopanda 2675]

Come join the MH Free Company on FFXIV ya poofs! 

[Peace Heavy mk II 7200]

 

Me playing Astrologian

[Valicious 572]

what server you on Peace?  Come play with us!

[Peace Heavy mk II 7200]

Brynhildr o:

 

 

http://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodestone/character/6717067/

[beni 2149]

Wish I could join. Hopefully one day. The having to subscribe has always troubled me for some reason. ;-; Thank you so much for this either way.

[Biopanda 2675]

You can get in for a month for free, at least Either Val or I can get you a 30 day trial code if you wanna give it a swing.

[Valicious 572]

Added a Recruitment key to the top of the OP, so come get your free 30 days!

 

 

Brynhildr o:

 

 

http://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodestone/character/6717067/

 

 

Transfer to Sargatanas, you know you want to ;3

 

[Peace Heavy mk II 7200]

I already have a guild + one of my best friends plays on that server with me

 

 

Do you not just get 30 days for downloading it? Or is that key an additional 30 days?

[Valicious 572]

I already have a guild + one of my best friends plays on that server with me

 

 

Do you not just get 30 days for downloading it? Or is that key an additional 30 days?

The regular trial is 14 days.

Plus the code gives me prizes, and YOU AS WELL!  (they introduced a fistbump emote among other things)

[kyoselflove 2680]

Recently started playing this again...too bad I'm on Goblin. Don't think I'd be too much fun anyways, I've been avoiding Duty Finder because I am afraid I'm too rusty lol.