I have no idea what I'm doing

[Larson]

Hello,

 

I'm Attis and I bring you greetings from the Guild Wars 2 RP community.

 

After a few years of, "Gee I wish something better would come out.", I've finally decided to reduce my participation in GW2's roleplay community for a refreshing change of scenery.

 

I played ARR about a year ago and managed to have a low Miqote Bard before losing interest, but with the expansion, I've found excitement for the Astrologian and Machinist classes and plan to resub shortly.

 

I suppose my biggest apprehension about FF14 was and continues to be customization. Knowing my roots in GW2 where there is a very large number of wardrobe combinations, dyes, and facial feature sliders to make a unique character, I was disheartened by what appears to be a very limited range of costume in FF14. There's a huge case of identical twin syndrome.

 

But the beauty of the world along with the uniqueness of the classes interests me enough to give it another go. With any luck I'll find a new home.

 

I currently have a PC account, but will probably make a new account on PS4 and upgrade to Heavensward on PS4. I don't think my PC account can access Balmung or Gilgamesh. That means starting from scratch!

 

So yeah, I guess I'll be one of those lowby Hyur or dragonfaces running around the cities for a while. I have no idea where to begin but I'm looking forward to meeting everyone.

[Kage]

Hello and welcome!

 

If your primary interest is in Machinist or Astrologian, I feel like I should warn you that the new jobs -are- locked behind completing the main story questline before Heavensward. They -have- buffed the experience and made the gear acquisition much easier but you are looking at some time (depending on how fast and how much time you get into doing the content) before you are able to level a Machinist or Astrologian.

 

If you are looking into RP and not that interested in getting into Balmung, Gilgamesh but are interested in forum RP I encourage you to look into that as well.

[Larson]

Hmm, I didn't know about the completion lock on Machinist and Astrologian. I suppose that makes sense, so I guess I'll have to power through the campaign first. In the mean time I suppose I can be ICly aspiring to Astro and Mach while I level.

 

As far as RP goes, forum RP is okay. I do prefer to have the visuals on in-game RP. I guess the first thing to do is make a character...based on the limited understanding I have of the world.

[Kage]

Sorry, I figured you liked the visuals considering what turned you off but it sounded like you weren't -too- motivated to get on Balmung or Gilgamesh. Sorry if I misunderstood you on that, which is why I threw out the forum RP part.

 

There are difficulties on getting into Balmung. Character creation is mostly closed and it may take you weeks before you get into the less than 5 minute window it is available so most of us suggest transferring if you do care to.

 

Gilgamesh does have some restrictions but it is generally easier and the window of creating characters is in the span of hours not just a few minutes.

[Larson]

Hmm. I suppose I'll hold on to my first account and see if it is possible to transfer then.

 

Now,

 

As far as characters go, I would guess the kind of person who becomes an Astrologian is going to be a mage to begin with (if I am to understand that these new classes are kind of like tertiary tiers). Sadly I hate playing mage at low levels but I guess I'll have to deal. Can I play AST from a black mage or does it transfer from white only? If I have to be white, my character can hate being "just a stupid mage" as much as I do. If I can start with black, I would lean more toward the occult and fortune aspect that seems to come with AST.

 

Can all races be Astros? Are there armors that aren't "It's not a dress its a -robe-" for males? I think there is only so much meta disdain I can shove into one character~

[Aya]

I believe that Astrologian is simply its own class and job, so all you have to do is unlock it with any other class.  I'm not sure if there are any important cross-class abilities that are important to have though.

[Caspar]

There is plenty of non dress, er robe healer gear for reskinning or "glamouring" gear. You'd never hear the end of it from me otherwise. Welcome btw.

[Gegenji]

I believe that Astrologian is simply its own class and job, so all you have to do is unlock it with any other class.  I'm not sure if there are any important cross-class abilities that are important to have though.

 

Correct! The only requirement for accessing Dark Knight, Astrologian, and Machinist is gaining access to Ishgard proper through the MSQ! And, as always, they do pull cross-class abilities that could be useful - such as Swiftcast from BLM and Protect/Stoneskin from WHM for AST, or Blood for Blood/Invigorate from DRG for MCH.

 

As such, if you'd want to avoid any unnecessary leveling on your way to those classes, I'd pick something related to the one you like most and using that as your "base" before switching over. For example, if you want to main AST, go through the MSQ as White Mage - it will get you Protect, Aero, and Stoneskin for your cross-class skills... and White Mage requires Thaumaturge to unlock the Job Quests anyway, which will put you near Swiftcast if you need it. Plus the bonus of faster dungeon queues for quests that require it for being a healer! Flip side for MCH, level Lancer/DRG for its cross-class skills and then switch over.

 

All simply recommendations, of course. You really don't "need" the cross-class skills - they just either add some utility or help "maximize" DPS (in the case of Blood for Blood). Stoneskin is technically a recommended cross-class for Paladin... but I've never gotten it on Chachan and I still do well enough. :blush:

[SaintEaon]

Likewise the customization of Non Midlander Hyur are all comparable to GW2. Played GW2 for awhile, felt like the customization was lacking there. FFXIV doesn't have the greatest as far as basic character appearance goes, but between armor skins, dyes, the hair and skin colors, tattoo and face paint systems it is actually surprisingly difficult to find characters that look a lot alike. 

 

I think every class looks relatively similar to other people in its class if you leave the armors the same, but if you want to make them look different its not super challenging to do so.

[Mia Moui]

It must get better as one levels because on my tumblr dash there are all kinds of outfits from silly to sexy to serious to casual.  At the low level (where I am now) I think everything is supposed to be the wrong color or ill-fitting because the PC is new and broke.  That's how I spin it anyway.

[SaintEaon]

It must get better as one levels because on my tumblr dash there are all kinds of outfits from silly to sexy to serious to casual.  At the low level (where I am now) I think everything is supposed to be the wrong color or ill-fitting because the PC is new and broke.  That's how I spin it anyway.

 

About the time you start hitting dungeons you end up with like The armor you can get from doing quests, as well as alternative sets from dungeons. Then eventually once you unlock your new Job most of them have gear specific to their class and at this point you have optional dungeons with unique drops too. So you'll have like 5 or 6 unique armor sets from dungeons a lot of time, quest armor, class armor, and then when you hit 50 you add in Raid Armor. HW added a lot of new stuff too and in 3.1 they're changing the way some of the armor works so it'll be even more variety soon.

[Caspar]

The low level fear looks like butt. Don't worry about it; it improves pretty fast.

[Larson]

I'm actually taking an IC route to progression.

 

Thoreaux Vyce is a big, muscled Highlander who for reasons not yet fleshed out decided to become an Arcanist. He and the majestic Carbuncle will travel the land training until the day Vyce can take on the job of Scholar. And then FAIRIES!!!

The idea of a big gorgeous statue of a man wandering around with cute little fairies amuses me.

 

He's going to be a goldsmith but mine his own metals because "That's what real men do."

 

And then one day he will be a rich AST with a personality similar to Alexander the Great in Fate/Zero with a little Kanji Tatsumi. Just imagine:

 

Vyce: "An entity of great power may soon cross your path- but guard your heart. Should you give it freely, you may also lose far greater than you have thus far."

 

Random Lalafell: "What's that supposed to mean? Why don't you try speaking real sentences since I'm paying you. I can't wrap my brain around any of this garbage."

 

Vyce: "Here's an idea. Why don't you lay your head down, and I'll wrap your brain around this table with a hammer."

[Zhavi]

A very useful guide to catching up:

 

if it hasn't been mentioned, you can bypass server restrictions (if you're not willing to do the daily lottery of trying to find the sweet spot in the early morning when pop is low and they're lifted) by transferring a character in. It will cost you $10, though (or $20, I don't remember).

[Larson]

A very useful guide to catching up:

 

if it hasn't been mentioned, you can bypass server restrictions (if you're not willing to do the daily lottery of trying to find the sweet spot in the early morning when pop is low and they're lifted) by transferring a character in. It will cost you $10, though (or $20, I don't remember).

I fully intend to throw my money at Enix

[Cassandra]

A very useful guide to catching up:

 

Many thank yous for this link!

 

And welcome Attis! Unfortunately, beginning gear looks like road kill half the time, but since adding the glamour system, you have a lot more free rein once you reach lvl. 50. So I wouldn't worry too much about idential twins running amuck. If you bounce around people's wiki pages here, you'll see a ton of different looks.

 

As always, if you want to RP or just run some dungeons. Feel free to toss me a line~

[Zhavi]

A very useful guide to catching up:

 

Many thank yous for this link!

 

 

No problem! I'm so far behind, myself, I've been using it too!

[Larson]

I have a habit of running through an area and completing every side quest as far as the eye can see before moving on. Is there any reason why I should -not- do side quests?

[Kage]

Side quests are great but you should continue with the main story quests as much as possible until level gated.

 

Side story quests provide great lore opportunities as well but I think if you have plans to do leveling of other classes/jobs that saving the quests for later is better.

 

Especially since you want the new job right? Astrologian? Save the side quests for when you have it.

[Miss Gaz]

Welcome if you ever need help this is the place.

[Warren Castille]

I have a habit of running through an area and completing every side quest as far as the eye can see before moving on. Is there any reason why I should -not- do side quests?

 

Side quests are a strange breed in XIV. The main story (MSQ, as it's referred to universally) will stop you from advancing if you're under level, but doing every sidequest makes for an interesting dilemma in the post-MSQ world: Because you can change jobs and level something new, and quests don't respawn...

 

Doing every quest will make sure you meet the MSQ gates without issue, and then force you to grinding other methods to work on your follow-up jobs. It becomes especially painful in the 50+ content, because you're somewhat forced to do all the side stuff to advance, which makes for empty zones starved for something to do if you're working on job #3 or 4.

[Gegenji]

Doing every quest will make sure you meet the MSQ gates without issue, and then force you to grinding other methods to work on your follow-up jobs. It becomes especially painful in the 50+ content, because you're somewhat forced to do all the side stuff to advance, which makes for empty zones starved for something to do if you're working on job #3 or 4.

 

Which is why I heavily recommend if you want to "main" one of the new classes... rush your "placeholder" class (like the aforementioned WHM/DRG in my post earlier) to 50 - and try to leave as many of the level 30+ sidequests incomplete for when you unlock AST or MCH. Since they start at 30, that'll help make getting them up to 50 easier, and then you can have all that HW content for the new class.

 

Otherwise, you'll be running a lot of dungeons and FATEs to cover that gap in any sort of haste. And I'm saying this as someone who has - all on one character, mind - all the combat classes at 50 at least (minus MCH and DRK), and working on my third 60 in AST.

 

Best recommendation is to figure out which ONE class you want to "main" and get that one to 60, and then level whatever other ones at your leisure with that XP bonus. And you'll have all the glamouring and dyeing stuff unlocked so you can start putting together some delightful RP outfits.

[Caspar]

Saving your side quests for later also helps make leveling a second class easier, but also less repetitive. It helps break up dungeon runs and fate farming to make your playtime feel more varied.