New to FFXIV! How to get started?

[Templar]

Hello all! Completely new to FFXIV and its lore, less so to RPing, but need some questions answered to get started. If there is a better place to ask than here, I can edit my post and disappear to the relevant place.

 

One, assuming Balmung is the main RP server, should I be looking to try and make a character on here, transfer a character onto this server later, or make a character on a different server and RP there?

 

Second, what's the best way to learn the lore? Through lore discussion here, reading quest text in game or another source?

 

Third, well, there's not a third, just a thank you for having me!

[Unnamed Mercenary]

Hey there.

 

Welcome to the RPC.

 

While we are site/resource primarily geared towards RPing in FFXIV, there's a lot of lore and content discussion that goes on too.

 

That said, Balmung is the largest server and the one most people RP on. There are smaller communities on Gilgamesh, Jenova, Siren and others. You can find the Linkshells (chat groups) and Free Companies (basically guilds) that we know are active on the site. (The forum listings are pruned every 60 days / 2 months).

 

If you intend to RP, you'll probably want to make a character on another server and transfer over. Depending on your subscription type, you can transfer up to 8 characters from one server to another for a single $18 fee. Square Enix will say you can't transfer to closed servers, but it's been being done for months now.

 

As far as lore goes, most of the posts here are things that have been collected since FFXIV 1.0 launched. Most of it is information that can be found in-game, touched up with Dev and Lore panels and recently, the FFXIV Lore book, Encyclopedia Eorzea.

 

With any luck, Sounsyy will pop in with some of the good starter links for basic info on races, classes, etc. If you've got any specific questions feel free to ask here or open a thread. I do heavily recommend searching first though, as there's quite a bit of content that's been hashed out before!

[Templar]

Thanks for the quick reply! Will be doing the transfer method then, will be a while before I transfer anything since on free trial atm but fully intending to subscribe in 12 days or so.

 

Much appreciated on the info, and will make sure to have a look myself!

[Thunderbolt300]

Hey there, and welcome aboard!:thumbsup:

 

About as much as I can suggest for lore sources that are easily accessible is probably the wiki, which has at least some basic information:

 

http://ffxiv.consolegameswiki.com/wiki/FF14_Wiki

 

Beyond that, I think the best way to get familiar with it all is just to play through the game. This is one of those games where quest text is often story-driven, especially in the case of your class quests as well as the main storyline quest. The storylines are actually anywhere from fairly decent to completely awesome, so they're certainly worth the time in doing!

[Gegenji]

Thanks for the quick reply! Will be doing the transfer method then, will be a while before I transfer anything since on free trial atm but fully intending to subscribe in 12 days or so.

 

Much appreciated on the info, and will make sure to have a look myself!

 

Ah, if you're going to switch over to the full version, I'd recommend hunting down a Friend Code. I believe there's a thread on the Official Forums for them, and I'm sure anyone else will be willing to throw one at you should you ask.

 

Recruit-a-Friend will give you a few nice items to help you on your way; including a little feather item for your head that increases XP gain, a fun fistbump emote, and a stack of feather items that can be turned in for gear to help you along. Those who do the recruiting get a few special feathers of their own that can go to mounts and such, so there's always going to be folks clamoring to give out codes.

 

Not required, of course, but it's nice to have - especially if you want to level several of the classes. :thumbsup:

[Sounsyy]

With any luck, Sounsyy will pop in with some of the good starter links for basic info on races, classes, etc. If you've got any specific questions feel free to ask here or open a thread. I do heavily recommend searching first though, as there's quite a bit of content that's been hashed out before!

 

Woosh~!

 

Eorzean Lore Starter Kit

-Racial Lore Compilation

-Class/Job Lore Compilation

-Hydaelyn Geography Lore

-Settlements in Eorzea Pre-Calamity

-Eorzean City-states' Political Structures Lore

-Eorzean Units of Time and Measurement Lore

 

 

Hope this helps start you off in Eorzea! Feel free to ask more questions if you want to know something about a given topic! ^^

[Haven's Fox]

Hey and welcome! Aside from the helpful post above in this game pretty much anything you can read text wise in this game is helpful. They have shoved bits in all of the nooks from MSQ, side quest text, speech bubbles, FATE info blurbs and even some of the quest items.