FFXIV ARR Survival Guide

FFXIV ARR Survival Guide by Yaevindusk

This is the Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn Survival Guide

“There is no game in existence that is suited for everyone, but what FFXIV ARR aims to do, it does extremely well.  That said, the most important thing to remember is that it is Final Fantasy at it’s core.”

Epilogue:  How long do you suggest I play to see if I really “connect” with the game?

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A Guide Reborn

Prologue:  As a word of caution, for experienced MMO veterans the first 10 levels or so may seem trying.  Both in Japan and on the console side of things many are entering this genre for the first time.  Therefore, you will see much of the basics while still doing quests for your city (before you meet the villains of the game and join a Grand Company, which is where — some would say — the game truly starts to pick up).  There will be a lot of reading and simple quests as you’re an untested adventurer and they have no reason to give you more important tasks if they don’t even know you can beat a low level animal.  Just drive through them and use this guide as a reference!  As a FF game everything has context and a lot of story attached to it via those who need help in game.  The story will slowly unravel as well through subtle hints, so make sure to be on the lookout during cutscenes (cutscenes are reviewable in your Inn room once unlocked).  It will likely all tie together soon enough.

Tip:  Your story quests will unlock new systems such as leves, Inns, heists, dungeons, chocobos, chocobo companions, PvP (when available), etc.  The quests with fire above them are main quests and part of the tutorial for city quests (1-15 roughly, with you meeting your first villain in the middle of the tutorial, and many more once you graduate it (get your Airship pass and use it).

1A) Character Creation

The Character Creation is something I’d say is above average starting from Phase 3 onward; it has a host of options including scales and dozens and dozens of color palletes in addition to secondary features for pretty much each set of feature.  Confusing?  It may be, as players have the ability to change (or add) such things as highlights in hair as well as having “odd eyes” whereby you can have two eyes of completely different color (Much like Yuna from X).  In fact, there was a screenshot of someone making an almost perfect likeness to her, save for the inability to (as of yet, though it is planned by release) the Arcanist / Summoner job.

1B)  Since showing is better than explaining, here is a Character Creation video by someone who has permission from Square to film Video and post it on their youtube channel (part of the yogscast team).

One thing to notice is the Save Feature, whereby you are able to save your favorite look or what you spent hours on and reload it again at any point in the future.  If you ever wanted to reroll, but didn’t want to go through the same character creation process, all you have to do is load that data and you’re all set.

1C) Minor Stats and Elemental Resists:

You may notice that there are two choices to pick once you pick a race (besides male and female), and that’s with regards to what “clan” their lineage has belonged to.  This is typically broke down by such things as height, muscles, and perhaps even opening up new facial options or skin colors (such as the Mi’qote of the Sun vs. Mi’qote of the Moon skin or face types).

Though also you may notice such things as one having something as 21 str, 22 dex, 20 vitality and 17-19 intelligence, piety, etc. while their opposite has the reverse 21 Intelligence and 17-19 physical attributes.  These are only minor and by the time you level up a few times will be overshadowed to with the stats whatever class you preferred will give you.  The same is true with your choice of diety and the elemental attributes it gives.

Stats:

In addition, you will also be able to designate attribute stats as you level up once you get past level 10 and onward.  It may be prudent to save these stats until people find out what is best for each class during the beta.  Though as this is only phase three, it’s okay to test as character data will be wiped before phase four of the beta.

You will get stats to distribute for each class (since each class will have to be leveled individually).  The stats are pretty much just physical and magical in terms of what they do so I wouldn’t worry much about investing in them incorrectly.  They said that there may be a way to redistribute them, but it will not be easy to get a hold of such method.  In addition, when new jobs are added, the main stats of jobs may differ from their class or previous job so it may be something to keep in mind. An example of this is the Summoner Vs. Scholar as the summoner’s main stat is INT versus the Scholar’s MND.  Though as a whole, stats change themselves when switching jobs, and with the addition of stats on items, the 30 stats you get to invest by level 50 will have minimal impact on playing the job of your choice (unless you’re an extreme min/maxer).

1D) What class should I be?

Your class determines what city you will start in, and therefore both the city and class should be considered when picking your first class within the game.  Each city has it’s own theme, and along with it, it’s own Storyline.  New classes and jobs will likely be added through patches and expansions.

First you have Limsa Lominsa:  This is a sea port city, and kind’ve resembles a magical kingdom of sorts in looks, but is actually a place of Pirate and Mauraders as well as sea merchants and traders.  If you enjoy looking at the Sea a lot, or green pastures and rocky cliffs and beaches, then Limsa Lominsa will likely suit you in terms of Aesthetics.  You will also be dealing with Pirates and other problems, even enduring pirate talk from time to time and what some may call “potty mouth”.

Classes:  Maurader (Warrior), Arcanist (Summoner/Scholar)

Ul’dah is next:  They are a Desert City that has immense heat waves.  Run by multiple groups, the only thing that truly rules in Ul’dah is the sound of hard gil.  It is said that -anything- can be bought in Ul’dah, and people do mean -anything- when they say it.  The ruling social groups are the Sultanate, The Syndicate, The Monetarists, The Sultansworn and anyone who has money basically.  The city is filled with gil seekers and mercenaries of all types wanting to make quick gil as well as being focused on commerce and trade.

Classes: Gladiator (Paladin), Pugilist (Monk), Thaumaturge (Black mage)

Gridania:  The subtle city state of Gridania is nestled in the Forest and is the home of many forestborn such as The Moogles as well as those allowed by the Twelveswood to coexist in harmony with nature.  These people are relatively distrustful on outsiders, and believe in a society were waste is almost a sin.  Most things can be reused or repaired to them, what is broken can be mended and wasting resources is almost taboo.  Many forest settlements exist in the Twelves wood, and it can be, at times, a sort’ve mystical place to travel through.

Classes: Lancer (Dragoon), Archer (Bard), Conjurer (White Mage)

Disciples of War:

http://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/game/armoury/war

Disciple of Magic:

http://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/game/armoury/magic

Disciple of the Hand*:

http://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/game/armoury/hand

Disciple of the Land*:

http://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/game/armoury/land

*Disciples of the Hand and the Land are only unlockable after the level 10 Guild Quest of your first combative class.

2) Story and Final Fantasy

2A) Story is the Hallmark of any Final Fantasy Game.  There will be a lot of reading if you want to experience it fully, but the main story will also have some voice acting.  You will start off as a green adventurer and be given minor tasks such as finding a missing person, or going to protect a settlement that is having hard times (the story is different with each city and typically pertains to the theme of that city; see character creation for more information on cities).  Basic mercenary work to prove you can be trusted with bigger tasks.  Though these bigger tasks will soon reveal themselves to you through cutscenes, visions and other occurances.  You will be drawn into them slowly until you are somewhat committed to see them through lest you be hunted by powerful enemies.

2B) You will meet your first villain at roughly level 10, and fight your first villain at around level 15 (This proved to be the first great challenge as many wiped multiple times trying to beat him, as you need to prepare to do work to be able to do it.  Some leveled other classes for their abilities, in addition to buying Hi Potions and Antidotes for the fight).  After that, you are introduced to the grander picture.  Of five or so more villains you will soon be facing, with more to be introduced in later quests.

Villains in Final Fantasy XIV aren’t like your typical games where they rarely appear.  They are rightful villains and presented as such through the main story and your interaction with them or their minions.  It isn’t such a thing where you travel around and then only see them as a raid boss.

Here is a tribute made of one of 1.0’s villains, taken from just a few scenes to give you an idea of how villains will react in your story.

2C) Here are a few of the starting quests for the story by someone who has permission from Square to film (part of the yogscast team).  This is meant just to show how much text there is, as there is no real story shown in the video.  Just tutorial quests and to show how to identify Main Story Quests (as well as how slow it can be for a new adventurer to prove herself until level 10 when more and more systems begin to unlock).

2D) The Threats of the World you will soon be protecting:

http://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/world/threats

http://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/world/threats/key-enemies

2E)  Storyline Trailer

2F)  Six hours of cutscenes from 1.0 to catch up on the story.

http://www.twitch.tv/thaze_tv/b/338928300

3) The Adventurer’s Guild:

The Adventurer’s Guild will issue you some of your first Storyline quests, including signing up at the guild of your class and learn from them.  It will then continue to provide you with hints, quests, levequests, behests and the like throughout your adventure.  It will play a role in the Main Storyline (depending on the city state), and essentially be like a mercenary guild for you as it offers jobs to make side-quest gil (in addition to side quests present in the world).  It is the first place you are sent to when entering the game, and will be an important place to remember if you ever get lost on what to do next.

4) Your Combat Guild

Your Combat Guild is what will train you in the deadly arts of combat or magic.  Though you are just some poor adventurer who came to ask for a bone in terms of membership to them, and they can’t be bothered with everyone who wants a job.  Therefore, they will give you a menial task to see if you can even tell which end of the sword you need to hold in battle.  This is what is known as a “kill x” quest that many tend to chastise.  Though after completing this, the quests begin to open up.  The purpose of a guild is to do guild like things; they train their members, and earn gil by taking care of monsters that terrorize the countryside.  Your class will have it’s own storyline in the guild, as well as advancing to an Advanced Job.  While it’s a guild’s job to kill monsters, the dreaded kill “x” quests will essentially be gone by the time you’re level five (some will be happy to hear this).  Luckily, the game presents each quest (no matter what it is) with a lot of context and excellent writing.  So if you’re a fan of Final Fantasy, things rarely feel like a chore (minus the first few levels as the armory system isn’t unlocked and a lot of the systems of the games still aren’t revealed).

Tip for first tutorial quest:  Note the area the quest is asking you to go.  It can be confusing as certain objectives may also be in other areas, but missing that last target since you may in fact be in the wrong area.

5) The Armory System

The Armory System is a system whereby you are able to level any class in the game on one character.  But that’s not the only thing, as every five levels on whatever class you’re leveling you are given a “free” ability slot.  With this, you are able to use almost any skill from any class you leveled regardless of what class you’re playing.  Fancy Maurader, but miss the ability to have Protect on at all times?  No problem.  Leveled monk, but don’t want to miss some of your favorite buffs or “emergency” buttons?  Partake in them on your new class anyway!

The Armory system unlocks at level 10 when you finish a level 10 Combat / Magic guild quest.

6) Item Storage and the Armory Chest system:

You might be saying aloud, “But hey now… in past MMOs I rarely have enough room for two sets of armor for my character… how will it be here, with me having eight classes, nine jobs, and a half dozen crafting professions?”

Each character has 100 item slots, the ability to hire retainers with 175 slots (multiple retainers allowed), store items in the chest in their Inn, as well as potentially store items in their house whenever they purchase one.

In addition to this, there is something known as the Armory Chest system.  Here you are able to store 25 of each type of equipment available in the game.  25 helmets, 25 chest armors, 25 gloves… etc.  These do not take up your inventory space, and you are able to set gears to switch between on the fly and whenever you want to.  This essentially means that you can have around three entire sets for each battleclass without having to worry about having so many classes levels and so many different sets you enjoy wearing.

They will also be implementing a way to wear your favorite gear while also having the stats of your strongest in a future patch.

7) Combat:

7A) Combat in an MMO is something that will never please everyone.  I’m seeing countless people say they want FFXIV A Realm Reborn combat be much slower than it is, or that it’s simply too fast.  On the other side, those who play all kinds of MMOs and are more used to really fast paced games say it’s too slow and they want it faster.  As a man of relative patience, I’m in agreement with the former, especially whenever I try to use the controller.  Though this is where classes and jobs really shine, as each one is different in their own way.

7B) Some Job Abilities:

7C) The game is traditional in it’s combat system, but at the same time you really don’t notice it (once you’re used to it and especially when you mix/max your favorite cross abilities).  You really don’t feel it when you’re in the heat of battle, in a party or past the point when you’ve unlocked the airship pass.  It’s quite possibly the one of the best traditional combat systems in recent years (though I myself got a little bored at the early levels until I got to the above and unlocked the Armory; just a matter of perseverance and hard work leveling secondary classes but it’s well worth it in the end).  With further enhancement from abilities from any class to either speed up the battle via haste or haste equipment.  As a whole it’s just something that’s done really well, perhaps one of the best in recent years once you unlock all the systems for it.

7D) The management of resources and group resources later in the game is also essential (dependant on classes in some circumstances).  Take Paladin for example, one has to manage both TP and MP, and perform combos at the right time to either stun or restore MP, while also letting the TP take a rest from spamming aggro abilities.  Truly, even when you start with higher level fates you notice your TP faltering at early levels, and as higher level abilities unlock the gap is even more noticeable (most say doing a few of the dungeons is impossible without running out of TP with every pull).

7E) Add to that the Limit Break system and having a right and proper group pulling it off at just the right time could add some really unique elements to the game.  Not to mention most classes have utility abilities, such as the Bard’s song that reduces her own damage by 20%, but gives her party a MP regeneration spell.  All for the good of the group, and not one’s own proverbial “epeen”.

8)  Team Work

As expected in a Final Fantasy game, Team Work is of the utmost importance.  This is true with the Job System, the Storylines, and multiple systems such as Behests, Hamlets (defense of a village), raids, dungeons and FATES (for experience gain efficiency).  But also in team work regarding utilities (for instance, a bard can play a song that limits her attack power by 20% but increases the mana regeneration of all her team mates), limit breaks and battlefield control.

In the storyline, starting at around level 15, the need of a group starts to show.  While it is entirely possible to get to level 50 on your first class, the need to group for experience parties will be shown for the other classes for maximum efficiency with your experience (in the same way FFXI was).

There will be solo activities for people to work on if their friends aren’t online, such as Levequests, crafting, Fates, PvP, housing, Chocobo companions (to help you out with tough battles solo) and a variety of other things.  Though the Main Storyline will likely need a group after a certain point; there will be a Duty Finder system present for those who don’t have any friends in game.

There is a video explaining what the Duty Finder is Here:

http://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/news/article/130704_dutyf

9) Class and Job Progression:

Classes have their own storyline, as explained earlier.  This is progressed with the Guild at first, though as they unlock their advanced jobs, it spreads further out.  They learn more abilities and what it means to be that class.

The differences between Classes and Jobs is that classes are more solo oriented, while Jobs are more group centric.  Gladiators will have access to higher damage due to the armory system, and paladins will have limited access to the Armory and instead be given additional defensive stats, abilities and utilities in keeping his group alive.

Advanced Jobs unlock at level 30 for a class, if the conditions completing that classes’ storyline is met.

Example of Job change conditions for one who wants to become a Monk:

Monk:  You start at level 1 as a Pugilist and Ul’dah will be your main city.  When you reach level 30 as a Pugilist (and complete the story questline for the Pugilist Guild), you will unlock the ability to do the Monk quest and thus acquire a “Soul Crystal” Monk job.

At that point you will be able to equip the Soul Crystal and your class will turn into a Monk (note that an advanced class requires secondary experience from another class to supplement their style; with the monk, you also need a level 15 Lancer to learn the extra balance necessary to be a Monk) .  From then on you will complete quests with your Monk Mentor every five levels to unlock specific monk Abilities (Monk will also have slightly different stats).  You will be able to equip and unequip Soul Crystals whenever you want.  You are not stuck as your Job once you finally obtain it and they have no stats.

Monk and Pugilist share levels as they are both masters of fisticuffs.  Though the equipment for the classes and jobs might be different later on.  This is because Jobs are more party based and classes are better acclimated to solo game play.  You will want stats that help your group on one, and the ability just to plow things down on the other.  Abilities will also be different, as classes have more freedom in using the Armory System.  Jobs are given unique abilities pertaining to their group role, but have less options in using skills from other classes.

Artifact armor will address this on it’s own when you acquire it for the advanced jobs.

Here is an example of some of the Job story in 1.0 (it isn’t a spoiler as this occurred 5 years ago in game and is different now).

10) FATES:

FATES (or Full Active Timed Events) are like public quests, but with a Final Fantasy flare about them.  Most are simple at the start with a NPC picking a fight with another NPC, or goblins ransacking a campsite (there is even one event where monkeys invade a village to steal it’s supplies).  Though later on they gain more depth and have victory and failure conditions (though I’ve met with more failure than naught).  Matched with the Tank / Healer / Support / DPS types in the game, it allows for large scale battles whereby nearly a hundred mobs could show up for an epic battle.  The term “zerg” doesn’t apply as much here, as you could just wade through enemies and players and heal your allies while the battle unfolds around you and not even be a part of the clash (healing gives credit so long as they’re engage in the fate).

Matched with the combat systems in place and the group focus, these are actually quite fun once you are settled in.  Though one probably won’t get the most out of them until level 15+ and with a well endowed armory system.  Still, they’re a nice distraction when adventuring or just hanging out in an area while working on something else.

Square Enix Video of Fates:

11) Level Sync:

There are three versions of Level Sync.

Party based so that you can play content with your friend

FATE based so that you get credit for participating in a FATE

…And Dungeon / Instance based that brings you down to appropriate level so that it’s a challenge.

The first two are entirely optional and don’t force you down, but rewards will be non-existant for you or your friend if you are in situations where you are well above the required level.

Update: In phase four, you are unable to attack FATE mobs if you don’t sync down to the appropriate level.  There is a button for easy access in doing this once you are in an active FATE.  You are however able to heal people even if you aren’t level sync’d down, just like you would back in FFXI if you wanted to help parties without joining them.

12) Dungeons:  You are able to attempt your first dungeon at around level 15, once certain story elements are met.  Dungeons are group based  (the Duty Finder will help find groups if you play alone and not with friends or linkshells / Free Companies) and will likely have stories attached to them and increase in complexity past the first couple dungeons available.  They will also tend to drop some fairly good gear for players, though items will also be available via crafting.  Though as a whole dungeons are a lot of things to many people, so it’s best to best experienced by the individual.

One of the first dungeons is simple enough, and starts off a little slow.  It begins to pick up as you are met with a certain type of individuals that you may or may not have been associated with in the past (depending on your starting location).  There is something special that you need to perform on the last boss fight; I’ll leave that for you to figure out just in case not knowing and figuring it out is part of the fun.

Lock out:  Make sure each of your party members are passed the “aura” when entering a boss area.  It will lock out 15 seconds after the boss fight has started and not allow anyone into the area the fight is within.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FECaIxJKDmk&feature=c4-overview&list=UUpx2BZg8ABgaDV50sGJtWAg

13) Crafting:

You unlock crafting with a level 10 Combat / Magic Guild Quest.

This information is what I wrote with regards to the 1.0 system, which is is somewhat similar to.

13A) You actively worked on making your item as opposed to watching a bar fill up; you used skills while crafting, watched your character work with the tools you had equiped (and on their specific workboards), and actively worked on making it high quality.  It was an issue of meeting quality against durability; if the durability hit zero before you could finish it, the item will break.  If you managed to get the quality high enough before finishing it, it could turn into a HQ status and make the item +1 or some such.

In a lot of ways it was a gamble, as you had to make sure it reached 100% complete before durability broke, and options to improve quality costed durability while giving you limited progression to that 100% goal.  Somes skills would even allow you to go almost instantly to 100% but at the cost of having no quality (and thus no chance to get high quality).

You also had to pay attention to the item.  If it became too “hot” or too “brittle” you had to perform the correct action to bring it in line again, or risk getting a huge hit to it’s durability.  The higher the quality item, the more experience you also go towards the profession.  In addition, the more experience reward will be given by a NPC if they are giving you a crafting quest.  They will also give you more items if you bring them higher quality items.  You could improve your chances at HQ synthesis by using +1 material and then work on the quality.  You could also repair anyone’s armor that matched your synthesis (Such as plate being repaired by armorer).  This would usually mean a much cheaper cost for the person wanting the repair, as well as you making a little gil on the side.

Aside from that there was materia in game whereby the crafters could slot materia into items.  Only crafters could do this, and it had to be the same item as their profession (in addition to their profession being the same level as the item).  Materia was obtained by basically transmuting it from a soul infused item that you have worked with for some time and could be turned into a random piece of materia and then sold or used.

Levequests often gave free materials to craft items for NPCs and then gave more materials to use as a reward.

In addition, crafting and gathering classes will have their own storylines and Artifact Armor.

13b) Materia:  Materia is made by transforming a full soul bound item into materia.  You soul bind an item by using it for an extended period of time until it’s experience bar is full.

How to equip materia:  To equip materia you needed a crafter in 1.0.  This is likely still true and therefore you may need to level up crafting (or find a crafter) to install the materia for you.  There were things such as requests available in the first version, and it is likely to make a return if the above is in fact the case.

14) Artifact Armor:

Artifact armor, for those who didn’t play FFXI, is like the “ancient” or “Signature” armor of a Job.  It’s the armor that is awarded through their Job Storyline and through quite a bit of work.  It is also said to be the starting armor required for raiding content (though I’m not sure how accurate this is).  Your artifact armor will be shown on you when you first make a character; you can switch it on when at the end of character creation to see what it looks like.

Update:  It seems that there will be a difficult chain of solo quests to unlock the first Artifact armor set.  The plus one (+1) versions Might be acquired in a different way when released.

15) Housing:  Player housing will likely be expensive, as plots of land need to be bought and then building built upon.  Chocobo stables and gardens are also able to be built next to the house.  There will be three main areas to build houses, each pertaining to the cities.  It is said that you will be able to have gardening, chocobo stables, the ability to change roof types and walls, exterior and interior and place all kinds of items within your house (as you would expect).  There was also mention of allowing your minis run around in your house if you wanted.

This site has some great information on Housing:

http://www.ffxivinfo.com/content/player-housing.php

16) Grand Companies:

Grand Companies are tied into the Main Story, as well as having several systems themselves.  Working for them will get you Grand Company Seals which can be used to purchase Grand Company exclusive items and chocobos / chocobo items.  You will learn about Grand Companies as the main storyline progresses and it will set you up to learn about them and then pick which one suits your morals and wants.  At level 15 you start to learn about them once you unlock the airship pass and go on diplomatic missions to each City State.  This is where the game really starts to open up.

17) Free Companies:

Free Companies are player made companies that are essentially the game’s Player Guilds.  They will have housing specific to Free Companies as well as a variety of things.

18)  For Role Players:

The Role Player Coalition Website:  http://ffxiv-roleplayers.com/

Square said there should be official RP servers at some point prior to launch.  This is assumed to have been a lie since no such server exists in Open beta (updated information from 8/17).  It may still be put in on launch day, but by then it will be too little too late for a lot of people who were interested in having this feature.  The server with the most RPers on it is Balmung, though Gilgamesh seems to be the secondary for those who are interested in it.

You are able to sit on any chair / bench / seat in the game.  You are also able to sit on beds and in your inn able to lay down and go to sleep just before logging off.  In addition, they just added a feature whereby your character moves their mouth when you type in say.

Emotes are abundant, and the text isn’t limited in the same way it was in FFXI.

There are a lot of action emotes.

Misc. information of potential interest:

Item dyeing:

You unlock item dyeing with a level 15+ quest.

Chocobos:

You unlock chocobos at level 20

Chocobo Companions:

I believe you unlock the ability to summon your chocobo as a battle partner at the same level you get the whistle for them (presuming you have enough Grand Company Points)

You will be able to equip barding with your chocobo to alter it’s looks.  In addition, it will level as you do and be allowed to learn talents such as healing you in combat and the like.  They will have stances that will allow them to perform these actions when fighting.

Linkshell:

Linkshells are basically a private chat channel for you and whoever has a linkpearl to be able to equip and listen in on conversations.  They were used by NPCs in the first version to talk over long distances with you.

Map:

Learning how to read the map will be key in finding your way around.

Pictures of “stairs” on the map will signify a point where you can go up to or down a level to reach a destination.  Green arrows will signify a different area, you can scroll a mouse over it to see what area it is.  Green Check marks will symbolize where to turn in a quest if it is completed.

Controls:

Standard:  More typical of your MMO controls.  Might be a little slow turning around to get out of the way of a AoE.

Legacy:  Instant turnarounds, but control of the camera is more manual.  This is optimal on bosses that require situational awareness and quick reaction.

UI:

The UI is fully customizable, simply grab and drag.  In addition, most systems have options in the options if you find something that’s annoying to you personally.  I tend to turn off all player and NPC names in the world to just see the environment.  There is the possibility of having addons in a future patch.

Levequests:  Levequests make a return from FFXIV 1.0 with much needed improvements.  You are able to save up to 99 of these once you unlock them at level 10 and use them as a sort of mercenary or crafting contract work to be done for NPCs.  They may be used to supplement leveling either combat classes or crafting and will net additional gil income or materials to help with your crafting when you level a profession.

Behests:  Once you complete your introductory Levequest, you will learn of Behests.  These may have been renamed into guildhests or some such, and intended to teach players how to participate properly in parties.

Inns:  You will unlock the Inn after finishing the level 10 Main Storyline Quest.  You will be able to do such things as view past cutscenes in your Inn, in addition to store soul bound items.  Also, you are able to lay down in your bed before you log out for immersion.  In 1.0 you also had “dreams” when you woke up.  Some were actual cutscenes, though most were just flavor text of what your character dreamt when sleeping.

Duty Finder:  Not yet implemented in the Beta, it will help you get parties when your friends aren’t online.

Market:  There will be an Auction House like Market that looks like a board in the commerce areas of the cities.  Not sure if these are final or just placeholders, but you are able to find items by class and type before directly purchasing them and having them appear in you inventory.  There is a screen shot of such on post #22 of this thread.

Epilogue:   How long do you suggest I play to see if I really “connect” with the game?

I would suggest until after you acquire the Airship Pass and see the scene with the four villains (you’ll know when you see it) to really see the “Soul” of the game (level 15 main story quest).  This is after one of the first villain fights and many oft wipe to him the first couple of tries.  Though in reality, I’d say until you’ve tried all the systems, which could mean even getting a max level character.   But realistically the level 15 Storyline quest — and knowing that such systems as the Chocobo and Chocobo companion will also be available at level 20 to really get that Final Fantasy feel (if that’s what you’re looking for)  — is a good estimate (though this is only true if you actually are given the pass and not just near to getting it).  This point is just what I’d say is the minimum amount of content to see if the game is something you’d be interested in seeing future content with (prior to that I really wouldn’t say one is experienced enough to comment on it feasibly unless they can’t stand a game with a lot of text; the difficulty in quests spike at these points, as well as several systems changing drastically that most would not see).

Though the game just keeps on unlocking system after system throughout your leveling experience and clear up to max level.  As a whole I wouldn’t force oneself along just to see the next big thing; just enjoy the time and things you get to and don’t worry about it.  Only keep in mind my comment of acquiring an Airship pass to see the “soul” of the game.

Will probably expand upon this guide in the near future.