As a newcomer in MMORPGs like Final Fantasy XIV, one often makes mistakes that can be avoided. Here are 5 mistakes that can be easily avoided when learning a new game.
Starting a new MMORPG can be very overwhelming, especially when the game has been on the market for many years. It can and will happen that as a beginner, you make some severe mistakes and have trouble playing.
FFXIV is no exception, although the game tries to make the fresh start as easy as possible. Generally, mistakes are not a big deal; after all, you are supposed to learn from them.
However, there are mistakes that you and the teammates you are playing with would gladly avoid. Here are 5 of them.
No Job Crystal
Job crystals are small colorful stones that are extremely important. You start FFXIV by choosing a class. At level 30, this class is upgraded to a job after completing a series of quests. This gives you access to new abilities and resources.
This happens by going into your character menu and equipping the corresponding job crystal. For advanced jobs like Dark Knight, Dancer, or Red Mage, this happens automatically when you equip their weapon. But for starter classes, it does not. It has to be done manually.
You can’t stress it enough: Do your class and job quests, and make sure to equip your job crystal starting at level 30. Stick that thing to you, staple it to your gear, inject it under your skin, as long as it always remains equipped. Job crystals are your friends.
Without them, you lose access to more than half of your abilities at higher levels, making your life and the life of your group unnecessarily difficult. You also don’t have to equip the crystals every time you change classes or jobs. They count as equipment and can also be saved with armor sets.
Not Reading Skill Descriptions
Sounds strange, but it’s true. When you choose a class or job, you should also know what you can and cannot do with it. The combat system of FFXIV uses the so-called global cooldown, a short cooldown that shares among some abilities. When one skill is used, others cannot be used temporarily.
This leads to most jobs in FFXIV using their skills in a certain order during combat to deal damage, for example. You learn how this order looks from the skill descriptions.
- Some abilities form longer combo chains and must be used in sequence without interruption.
- Other skills give you a damage boost and should be used alongside your strongest attacks.
- Others set off chain reactions through “procs” and allow the use of abilities that were previously grayed out.
Aside from the fact that it’s quite useful for a healer to know which buttons to press so that the group doesn’t collectively bite the dust.
In areas like Summerford Farms or Deep Woods, there are special training dummies where you can try out your skills and combos, so go for it!
Not Equipping New Gear
The hunt for ever better gear is part of MMORPGs, and FFXIV is no exception. You start, as usual, with shabby beginner gear, which is quickly replaced during leveling by dungeon drops, crafted gear, or equipment from NPCs and quests.
You just have to remember to equip it. During leveling, you will sometimes be flooded with gear, which can make it difficult for new players to keep track. But don’t despair; FFXIV has a solution for that.
In your character window, right above the weapon slot is the small but fine button [Recommended Gear]. This button opens a new window, showing your current equipment and gives you the option to swap it for the best possible equipment from your inventory.
The system checks whether you can even equip the items and looks at their item level and stats. Then the best gear is compiled and presented to you as a suggestion.
Mandatory contents such as dungeons and trials have a minimum item level that you must meet if you wish to enter the content. Otherwise, you will have to stay outside. So do yourself a favor and keep your gear as up to date as possible.
Not Using Area Attacks
In the dungeons of FFXIV, there are plenty of demons, undead, bandits, monsters, and other enemies wanting to claw at you. During a dungeon run, tanks often pull them together in large groups so the party can send them off to the afterlife together.
In such a case, as DDs, healers, and tanks, you must always use your available area attacks to knock down the enemies as efficiently as possible. Yes, the skill description indicates a higher number for single-target attacks. Abilities targeting single enemies typically have a higher attack value.
However, it is more efficient to deal area damage when there are 3 or more enemies, as it spreads out among all and thus multiplies. For tanks, area attacks play an even more important role. They are tremendously helpful in keeping the hate of the enemies on them.
Once the tank stance is activated, all attacks against enemies generate increased hate. Therefore, when facing larger groups of enemies, a tank should always use area attacks to build hate evenly across all enemies.
You won’t have to worry then about an enemy suddenly turning around and slapping the healer or punching a DD in the face. So remember: Area attacks are love. When there are 3 or more enemies.
No Communication
Since FFXIV is an MMORPG where other people are also around, it will happen that you must play with them. This usually occurs in instances such as dungeons or trials, where you are together with up to 8 people at the same time.
It can be quite useful to communicate ahead of time that you are a new player and that the veterans should take that into consideration. Talk to people. New players in FFXIV are marked with a little sprout to signal that they are not very experienced yet, but this cannot replace real communication.
If you, as a healer, cannot keep up with healing, ask the tank to slow down the pull pace. Or if you are standing in front of a boss and would like to know the fight mechanics, ask the group what to pay attention to.
Experience shows that most people will react normally to you and answer your questions. However, they cannot know if two enemy groups might be too much if you do not say so.
If people continue to behave rudely despite asking and pleading, you can always leave the content and block or report the people. There are black sheep everywhere; just don’t let yourself be discouraged by them, as communication is important and can save you a lot of frustration.
What mistakes do you know that newcomers in FFXIV should rather avoid? Let us know in the comments.
More info for newcomers can be found in our extensive guide:
Final Fantasy XIV: Newcomer Guide for a Smooth Start into the MMORPG
