FFXIV New Player’s Guide

FFXIV New Player’s Guide by Recognizant

With the surge of newer players and returning players for 2.3 I’ve been getting a lot of questions regarding leveling advice, people who want to know the best way to get into the game, or run content. I generally answer it the same way, but I thought documenting it might be a little bit of help. So the following is how I would recommend anyone new to FF XIV to start the game, all the way to geared for the new 2.3 content.

• First, start with a class you think you’ll like! If you’re leveling with a friend, be aware that you won’t be able to join up with the other cities easily (without running through high-level areas) until level 15 or so.
• Once you’re level 15, and have access to all the classes, feel free to pick up and try every class you were interested in to around level 15. The only classes that drastically change from 15 to 50 is THM->BLM and ACN->SCH. While you’re out, and in Limsa Lominsa, don’t forget to pick up your challenge log, a wonderful source of weekly-resetting XP/gil bonuses along the way. There’s no reason not to try them all out, but you may want to wait a couple levels because…
• Around level 20, you get your chocobo license, which makes traveling easier, (And more fun!)
• Once you’re level 20, and have decided on your class, it’s time to level! Leveling your first class/job is primarily done through quests and story dungeons, which tend to be pretty fun, and rewarding XP-wise!
• You can level other classes at this point behind your first with a 50% bonus, but I would recommend most story quests and ‘sidequests’ focus on your ‘lead’ combat class. Leves, FATEs, and Dungeon leveling for off-classes is completely fine along the way, though. The reason being that the game’s quest system isn’t regenerative per class, and since your ‘lead’ class levels slower, it’s in more need of any bonus XP you can find it.
• At level 30, you’ll want to finish up your class quests (Which hopefully you haven’t been neglecting), and pick up your job! You’ll need level 15 in another (specific) class to unlock the job of your choice, but the starting job quest will be near your class’s guild, and will tell you the other class (Or you can look it up)
• Also at level 30, you may want to look at purchasing accessories, the first good ones are around level 28-29, and can be found for not too much gil on the marketboard, or as occasional quest rewards. The end result can push your stats up around 10-15% at this point, so it’s better to not neglect these.
• You’ll want to run your job quests every five levels (Like your class quests!) until 45-50, where you’ll get your first ‘end game’ armor. Job quests also give an ability every five levels, so it’s best not to skip these.
• Experience points can be a little sparse post-30, particularly from 45-50, so dungeons, FATEs, leftover quests, and leves can speed up the last bit to 50.
• Once you’ve hit 50, clear out the last of your storyline missions you may have left.
• After you have your first 50, you can also continue with your other classes, leveling them as well. Any lower level classes (Which are all of them, now) will level with a +50% Armory bonus to XP from most non-quest sources! There’s no reason not to do it all in FF XIV: ARR, if you want to!

There’s lots to do in the end-game, and I’ll cover the gear progression next. The important parts to remember are that the most reliable pieces you can get are tomes, and relic [Followed by CT gear]. Tomes come in two versions, mythology tomestones, and soldiery tomestones. Mythology is for level 90 gear, soldiery for upgradable level 100 gear. Soldiery is limited in your total amount per week, Mythology is unlimited, so you can gear to full-Mythology (AF2/Zenith) at the speed of how much time you want to invest in the game.

• The basic ‘tier’ of end-game gear is your Artifact (i50/i55) gear that you probably finished the story with, paired with high-level (i55 or i48/49) accessories and belt. You should also pick up your highest-tier Grand Company weapon at this point, which will give you an item level 55 weapon. (You’ll need to clear Amdapor Keep Aurum Vale some dungeon for the weapon, and perhaps collect some seals, but it’s a great investment).
• Max GC rank also lets you unlock Hunts, which can grant access to a lot of upgraded super-late game gear. The earlier you start hunting, the more it will pay off in the end!
• With all your i50/55 AF gear, the “master” ring for your class (From its hunting log), an ilvl46 or higher belt, i48/i49 accessories, and a relic precursor (i55 off the market board). You’ll be average item level 50, and ready for CT right off the bat this way.
• Jobs can pull from two other classes for cross-class abilities. You may want to level up these other classes in order to get a couple of the higher abilities available to your primary gearing class. Important examples are: WAR is going to want Provoke, GLA 22. And MNK and BRD will want Invigorate, LNC 22. Both are very helpful abilities that can otherwise be missed, but there are plenty of others available!
• The next ‘tier’ is Amdapor Keep and Wanderer’s Palace. You can also start your relic quest at this point! AK/WP will drop i55 gear left-side, which is good for getting out of your AF armor, and will take you, via drops, all the way to Crystal Tower unlock.
• I’d recommend unlocking Crystal Tower through the quest in Mor Dhona as soon as possible.
• Afterward, you have HM Haukke, HM Copperbell, and Pharos Sirius which will drop item level 60 chests, both left side and accessories. Also available is the i70 dungeons of HM Brayflox, HM Halatali, and Lost City of Amdapor You may want to hold off on these for a bit, because really fresh-50s can struggle with these dungeons if the others you’re running it with are similarly fresh. HM Haukke and Lost City of Amdapor particularly, have tough healing, and some DPS gates on the last bosses.
• You’ll also want to start running HM Ifrit and HM Garuda, looking for weapons. HM Titan is next, as you’ll want generally around 3000+ HP before you try to tackle him, just to make it through the unavoidable damage (Your group may vary on what they deem as ‘acceptable’ gear, though. If you can clear Titan, however, go for your relic!)
• In the meantime, you’ve been getting Mythology tomes and Soldiery Tomes for each of these dungeons. Make sure you’re spending them, as there’s a limit of 2000 you can hold at any time, and each piece will upgrade your gear by quite a bit!
• Crystal Tower drops item level 80 left-side items, which are very nice for early 50s. It also gives 200 myth and 10 soldiery, which is excellent for gearing up to item level 90.
• Once you’re around item level 70+ (And hopefully making sure you’re getting your weekly soldiery tomes), Make sure you’ve finished up your relic so that you’re ready for First Coil, and nearing current end-game. First Coil and EX primals drop i90 loot, but you need to bring some great skills that they other dungeons should have helped you practice along the way, as well as sturdy gear (You should have some CT pieces and myth, mostly, by now, and if you haven’t zenith your relic by spending Thavnarian mists on them). Syrcus Tower should help, giving you access to one i100 drop per week. Item level 90 is the starting point for most of 2.2’s content, but it should carry you through into decent 2.3 access as well.
• At item level 70, also unlock Syrcus Tower (CT2) as early as possible, to start picking up i100 pieces. These, combined with
• Ultima HM (i80)and the EX primals (i90) drop accessories, and Coil turns 1-5 will drop pretty much everything for your class, so when you’re Up to i80 or so, it’s time to start tackling these. Better gear doesn’t make a bad player great, but it makes a good player better, every extra stat point can be more damage, but your primary responsibility for this finely-tuned content is to know your class, and how to perform at your best.
• Continuing from there, around i90, you can start looking into Moggle Mog EX, Leviathan, and the continuation of your relic quest (Which starts with Atma, from Gerolt in North Shroud). After tackling these two, Ramuh’s on your radar next. Don’t forget to complete all the content at least once to unlock it for the various roulettes, as these yield large sums of tomes for the amount of effort you have to put in.
• Second Coil of Bahamut is ‘End Game’, where you can upgrade your soldiery i100 pieces to i110, and get High Allagan pieces that drop at i110. Finally, at Turn 9, i115 weapons drop, so if you can clear that, you have all the best items in the game at your disposal. (You’ll need a great group to do so, so make friends along the way!)

tl;dr

• Have Fun
• At 50, start with Amdapor Keep and Wanderer’s Palace, or re-runs of Praetorium and Castrum in roulettes!
• At item level 50, run Crystal Tower
• Get your relic through the HM Primals!
• Keep having fun by experimenting with all the other dungeons as you level to item level 70
• At Item Level 70, unlock Crystal Tower 2, and run some First Coil
• After you understand your class, try running some EX Primals/HM Ultima to get a feel for high-tier mechanics
• At i90, go for Leviathan and Moggle EX, as well as Twintania/Second Coil of Bahamut, and Atma weapons!
• Keep focusing on Second Coil drops, Soldiery capping (450/450 weekly), and CT drops to push yourself to item level 100+!

Please let me know if I have anything wrong, or left anything important out.