In the last year, Final Fantasy XIV has exponentially expanded its playerbase, becoming one of the most important MMORPGs ever for the number of active players: with the arrival of Endwalker, with this guide we will try to give tricks and advice a hand to new ones players
The release date of the expansion is approaching inexorably Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker, conclusion of a narrative arc started from afar 2013 with the release of A Realm Reborn. Thanks to the combination of various factors (including, for example, the introduction of the free-trial), many players in the last year have decided to approach Square Enix’s MMORPG, exponentially increasing the playerbase and making Final Fantasy XIV one of the titles currently most important of its kind.
In light of this phenomenon, and waiting for it to finally come out Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker, the goal of this guide will be to offer tips and tricks to all new players who have decided to venture into the world of Eorzea but that still have to orient themselves within it. We will explore all the fundamental aspects you need to know to better understand the game mechanics, and to distinguish the most important aspects from the secondary ones.
Primary and secondary activities
Because it is essential to know how to distinguish the most important activities from the secondary ones? Because, although Final Fantasy XIV allows you to concentrate on most of the possible activities quite freely, for a new player the primary goal will be get to the endgame, and to access the endgame you will have to complete the whole main quest.
The point is, the main story stretches through the base game and all three expansions released so far, and, despite being very beautiful and interesting, the narrative proceeds to a extremely slow pace. This means that, to get to the bottom, it is necessary to see each other hundreds of hours of cutscene (or find a way to skip it all, if you’re not going to spend too much time on it). But without continuing further with the alarmism, let’s start with the actual tips and tricks before we get to Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker.
Main Scenario Quest – Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker, tips and tricks before starting
As already mentioned therefore, your goal will be to address the main quest, also called Main Scenario Quest. One of the first things the game will explain to you will be to distinguish all the various ones icons representing the quest: while the secondary quests are marked with a cartoon cloud icon yellow or blue, the main one has the stylized shape of a dark gray meteor.
It may very well happen that, as you progress through the story, you get lost in some of the secondary activities, and that you no longer remember where to go to proceed with the main quest: in this case the icon of the Current Main Scenario Quest. This is a small banner present in the HUD (by default it is located at the top left, even if the interface is completely customizable from the menu), on which you can click to bring up a map with the location of your next main quest.
Secondary Quests – Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker, tips and tricks before starting
The other two types of quests, those with the yellow icon and those with the blue icon, feature two substantial differences: if the first are quests completely secondary, which add nothing fundamental but which serve to level a class (or a “job”, using the game’s terms) and to enjoy small but interesting stories, the second category represents a type of quest much more important.
They are called “Feature Quest”, and it is that set of quests that, once completed, unlock some very important elements of the game. Let’s talk about game mechanics, minigames, maps, classes, stories, rewards and many other things. While you can safely ignore the yellow side quests, neglecting the blue ones involves the risk of losing a potentially fundamental game mechanic along the way.
Feature Quests can unlock dungeon optional, trial (aka bossfight), raid di endgame, instances like Eureka and God, but also quest of the Grand Company, The Hunt, le Beast Tribe Quest, il Gold Saucer, i Glamour, i Sightseeing Log, i Retainer, and so on. For new players to whom these names don’t say much, for example, be aware that Feature Quests are used to unlock yours very first mount, or to progress with the job quest thanks to which you will learn unique skills (even here, if you get lost, under the Current Main Scenario Quest you will find a sign that tells you where to go for the job quest).
Of course, you will learn that while some of the Feature Quests are very important right away, others can be momentarily neglected to be resumed later: if you ever have any doubts about the usefulness of a feature quest, we advise you to search for the name of the quest on the web and consult the wikis to understand what it is for. In the next paragraph of this guide with all the tricks and tips before starting to play Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker, we see all the other activities that you can do.
Other Activities – Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker, tips and tricks before starting
In short, as you may have understood, the activities you can do in the game are of the most varied. If you want to take a break from the long cutscene sequence of the main story, you can enjoy many other activities. You can, for example, contact the Gold Saucer, that is an area full of minigames and with many important rewards to unlock. Or you can decide to level another job, so as to experience a different gameplay (remember that in Final Fantasy XIV a single character can level all classes and freely switch between one and the other).
Speaking of jobs, there are also the gathering and crafting classes, which, although usually relegated to the endgame, can be interesting to level even earlier. Another type of activity that promises interesting rewards are the Beast Tribe Quest: Once the story of the base game is over, you will unlock these daily side missions that will allow you, once you have accumulated enough points “Reputation”, to buy various rewards including minions (or “pets” to take with you), furniture items and mounts.
Dungeon, Trial, and Roulette – Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker, tips and tricks before starting
Another core element of the Final Fantasy XIV experience are the multiplayer instances, ovvero i Dungeon, i Trial e i Raid per l’endgame. You will unlock the first ones by following the Main Scenario Quest starting at level 16, and continuing in the base game and in the expansions you will find many others (both mandatory following the main story, and secondary ones). In the dungeons, you will play together with 4 players (or 8 if it is a “hard” difficulty dungeon), and each will have their own role, divided into tank, dps e healer. Your goal will be to proceed through the whole dungeon until you reach the final box and defeat it.
Trials behave in a similar way, with the difference that you will only have a single bossfight to be completed. To enter a Dungeon or a Trial you can search in the section Duty Finder in the game menu, or in the Party Finder if you want to look for a party with common goals. In the Duty Finder you will also find the section of Roulette: it is a feature that allows you to search a random instance (Dungeon, Trial, Raid and more), and it will give you once a day a remarkable experience point bonus. To level your jobs therefore, a very simple and functional way will be to do roulette daily. We then proceed below to the conclusion of this article containing tricks and tips to start playing Final Fantasy XIV, waiting for Endwalker to come out.
Have a nice trip to Eorzea!
As a last tip, we just have to wish you a lot of fun in Eorzea. Although this guide does not touch all the topics that could be talked about and does not deepen some mechanics that have only been mentioned, know that in any case the game accompanies every single mechanic of a written tutorial, concise but always very clear. Another way to seek help is contact the chat (in particular to the Novice Chat), where other players will offer their help whenever you ask for an explanation. This is therefore intended as a general guide to keep in mind once your adventure has begun enhance the gaming experience: in any case, don’t be afraid to discover for yourself all that the game has to offer.
At the end of this series of tips and tricks to follow while waiting for Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker, we invite you to stay tuned to the TechGameWorld.com pages for daily updates on the titles of the moment (with also guides and reviews). If you prefer to buy game keys at discounted prices, you can do so through our link to Instant Gaming.