Last Fantasy XIV is a gargantuan expertise, and that’s saying one thing for the sequence’ normal. The MMORPG is quickly to welcome its newest growth, Dawntrail, on June 28 for many who pre-ordered it. In the event you’re beginning to get FOMO and also you wish to uncover what all of the fuss is about, there’s fairly a little bit of floor to cowl earlier than committing to a month-to-month subscription.
In the event you’re an upcoming participant who bounced off after a couple of hours or a model new Warrior of Gentle in search of their subsequent journey, this information covers various actions you are able to do in a month, and afterward, should you stick with the sport.
Alternatively, should you’re already caught up on the principle story quests and also you’re simply ready for the brand new growth or in search of endgame actions, listed here are the 10 issues to do earlier than Last Fantasy 14’s Dawntrail growth.
First, let’s speak in regards to the Free Trial
You’ve seen the memes time and time once more, and for good motive. The FFX14 Free Trial means that you can play as much as stage 70 with no restriction on playtime. Briefly, you’re capable of entry the bottom sport—A Realm Reborn, or ARR for brief—in addition to the primary two expansions, Heavensward and Stormblood, with out having to fret about paying for subscription time.
On paper, that is the strategy to go for should you’re planning on ranging from scratch. In apply, there are a couple of caveats that may be substantial in the long term: lack of social choices to play with others and group up with fellow Free Trialers, and intricacies in terms of your platform of selection are the principle obstacles.
In the event you purchased FFX14 prior to now and forgot about it, you gained’t be capable to entry the Free Trial with that account in your platform of selection. It sounds pretty apparent, however it’s price mentioning, particularly for some particular instances like Steam.
You may create completely different FF14 accounts and be a part of the Free Trial, which is what I did final 12 months to assist a buddy. However when you inevitably wish to transfer to the total paid expertise, your Steam account gained’t permit you to take action until you come, and resubscribe, to your unique account. Alternatively, you should buy the bottom sport and expansions once more inside Sq. Enix’s app, however why would you? As a rule of thumb, no less than on Steam, the primary account you make on a platform will possible be the one you’ll have to stay to for the foreseeable future.
Right here’s the principle factor that bought in the best way of having fun with the Free Trial as a celebration of two who aren’t subscribed: Your social actions are very restricted—you’ll be able to’t ship non-public or world messages, and most crucially, you’ll be able to’t create a celebration. A workaround is to go to a metropolis capital and ask within the common chat for individuals to create the get together for you each. They usually’ll typically do pretty shortly. The principle missions, nevertheless, will continuously ask you to disband the get together for particular encounters.
It’s a tiring course of. In the event you can have any person tagging alongside the group that has entry to the total sport, it’ll be a way more amicable expertise throughout.
![Final Fantasy 14 characters stand in the snow while looking at a massive gate.](https://i.kinja-img.com/image/upload/c_fit,q_60,w_645/fc8fe28505d607c2f33f6dcf28e26e3f.jpg)
You possibly can doubtlessly deal with most, if not all of ARR
One other preconception about FF14 you is likely to be conversant in is that ARR, which is mainly the bottom sport and first batch of patches, is a slog. As any person with the identical worries as soon as who bought by means of it, properly, it sort of is. Most quests are unmemorable, and also you’ll be spending some time speaking to characters you gained’t care about.
Towards the top, nevertheless, the story considerably ramps up, and also you’ll have an incredible overview of what veterans of the sport all the time reward in terms of the writing and narrative components of the MMO. You’ll additionally get entry to fairly a couple of extra quests, actions, and rewards as you trek alongside.
In the event you’re constant and you’ve got a very good podcast backlog, it’s possible to deal with all 160-ish quests of the bottom ARR. You’re then taking a look at one other 80 quests or so, which had been initially launched as patches. Some are shorter than others, so don’t let the numbers intimidate you. The primary dozen hours may current the largest hurdle, as you’re strolling round on a regular basis, however when you’ve already gotten a mount and some quick journey factors, all of it turns into extra manageable.
Now, it’s vital to notice that you simply don’t have to burn your self out. Tackling all of ARR in a month is feasible, however it’ll rely in your availability and willingness to take a seat by means of very basic MMO tropes in terms of questing. You may take your time—simply understand that the extra you progress into the principle story quests, the extra FF14 will open up, providing new actions to deal with that get more and more extra fascinating.
Get a really feel for dungeons and raids
Amongst these actions are dungeons, trials, and raids. Whereas going by means of ARR, a giant motivator for me was understanding that I had a brand new dungeon or trial upcoming after tackling X variety of quests. (The Important State of affairs Quests record of the Wiki helped me to maintain monitor of what was forward.)
For ARR, raids gained’t turn into a factor till a lot later within the story. However there are numerous dungeons and trials to deal with. The primary is what you’d count on: taking teams of gamers with assigned roles (normally one tank, two DPS, and a healer) into all types of labyrinthic areas. They begin pretty merely, however shortly start to showcase mechanics, puzzles, and boss encounters that require sharp reflexes and clear coordination to take down. Trials, then again, take you straight to a boss combat, which is normally fairly the spectacle.
These actions present a very good testing floor to your Jobs, and may also help you resolve what kind of position you’re enthusiastic to grasp transferring ahead. As soon as unlocked, switching Jobs is tremendous simple, so you’ll be able to all the time get the texture for one thing new, particularly once you inevitably replay earlier dungeons and trials for the Every day Roulette.
Enhance your crafting and gathering courses
Not solely does FF14 have an extended record of Jobs to find and stage up, however there’s a unique class that doesn’t all the time get the highlight. Disciplines, or what the time period “job” normally means in some other MMO, can help you turn into something from a carpenter to an alchemist.
There are 11 Disciplines to select from, every with its personal options and functions. Disciplines of the Hand are all based mostly on crafting issues like armor and jewellery or prepping meals. Disciplines of the Land are all about fishing or discovering metals and different uncommon gadgets out within the wild.
Some Disciplines can turn into fairly profitable in-game should you’re prepared to spend the time on them. They’re all additionally very enjoyable, and a pleasant change of tempo out of your smackdown duties.
![A Final Fantasy 14 character stands wearing armor.](https://i.kinja-img.com/image/upload/c_fit,q_60,w_645/744582c2aed40f6080101ad3651ab510.jpg)
Play mini video games on the Gold Saucer
When you’ve reached stage 15 and gained entry to the expanded journey choices, head to Ul’Dah and communicate to Effectively-heeled Youth, who has the search “It Might Occur to You” up for grabs. It’s a reasonably simple job, and also you’ll be on the Gold Saucer very quickly.
The Gold Saucer is a frankly overwhelming casino-type institution that’s elective, however shouldn’t be fully ignored. It has a ton of mini video games to find, together with a couple of large ones like Triple Triad from Last Fantasy 8. Whereas they’re nice methods to move the time, you’ll even be rewarded with Manderville Gold Saucer Factors, or MGP, a foreign money used to purchase particular minions, mounts, outfits, and so forth.
In the event you get invested, ensure that to participate within the lottery system, Cactpot, which runs each day by day and weekly. You’ll be getting dozens of rewards very quickly.
Scratch the roguelike itch with Deep Dungeons
In the event you didn’t get an invitation to Hades II’s Technical Check, there’s one other roguelike possibility for you within FFX14. Deep Dungeons are procedurally generated dungeons that sprawl throughout a number of flooring. You may deal with them by your self or with a celebration of as much as 4 gamers, they usually can get fairly exhausting the upper you climb.
The primary you’ll encounter is the Palace of the Lifeless, which has 200 flooring to plunge by means of. The trick is that everyone begins at stage 1 and good points expertise as they make progress. Completely different Deep Dungeons have completely different stage necessities and restrictions. For the Palace of the Lifeless, you solely want a stage 17 character. Then, Heaven-on-Excessive requires stage 61, whereas Eureka Orthos requires stage 81 as an alternative. You’ll get there finally – Zagreus believes in you.
Or simply be taught an instrument
If the rest fails, you’ll be able to turn into a Bard at stage 30 and encourage others along with your music. Surprisingly, there are greater than 20 devices accessible in FFX14, from harps to electrical guitars, every with its personal particular management structure so you’ll be able to mimic the actual factor as a lot as attainable. I as soon as listened to any person play “Careless Whisper” on a saxophone to excessive precision and my life hasn’t been the identical since. You possibly can encourage others like this, too, by choosing up an instrument in FFX14.