No Lalafell were harmed in the making of this video.
Our dive into Final Fantasy 14 starts here! How do you think the #1 MMORPG treats new players? It’ll take a long time to see everything FFXIV has to offer, but I hope you’ll come with me on this journey. Welcome to Eorzea!
It’s a long video… Take Some Timestamps!
Welcome to Eorzea: 0:00 – 1:30
Intro: 1:31 – 2:10
An Inspiring History: 2:11 – 5:45
Character Creation: 5:50 – 7:03
Questing: 7:05 – 8:45
Combat: 8:46 – 11:34
Gear and Inventory: 11:35 – 12:40
Classes: 12:41 – 13:35
Player Housing: 13:36 – 14:37
The Adventure!: 14:38 – 16:31
The Beauty of the World: 16:32 – 18:28
Dungeons: 18:29 – 19:27
Professions: 19:28 – 21:02
My Critiques: 21:03 – 22:53
How Does FFXIV Treat New Players?: 22:54 – 25:23
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You likely have done more yellow quests in this period compared to my many hours of this game. (quests in the yellow outline are 99% filler, while blue quests often unlock useful stuff and the MSQ is well the main story unlocking dungeons as well as copious ammounts of exp)
Also yeah low level experience can feel slow especially depending on how much you are used to MMO's some classes can feel better earlier compared to others. (And yeah Dragoon my main job that I love to death is very slow to level specially around 1-59)
the song is poker face
Very good video
Very fair and accurate review. I appreciate you mentioning your first character and how the game didn't grab you at first. I think it's easy to assume that any positive review is just a golden first take but having experienced the game during ShB and getting bored, coming back and trying again definitely gives a different impression.
It's also cool to have a review including all the brand new features they just introduced for the new player experience in 6.1, like the npc duty support system for msq dungeons.
You had me at the lalafell joke dude. Also, crazy good intro!
It's really interesting seeing a (more or less) newer player perspective as someone who's played for a few years now.
What's really been surprising is that over the past several expansions, the devteam have acknowledged ARR 2.0-2.5 as kind of a weak spot in the game and that a lot of people bounce off, so they have been constantly updating and iterating on aspects of the 1-50 experience.
Patch 5.3 expanded the free trial to 1-60 (including the critically exclaimed Heavensward expansion) and cut a lot of fat from the 1-50 MSQ, making it take a lot less longer overall. It also introduced flying into these original zones, which didn't exist until then (and the flying was very easy to get, reminded me a bit of when Cataclysm did this).
Patch 6.1, the newest patch at this time, actually included ANOTHER overhaul by adding Duty Support/Trusts to 1-50 dungeons for the main story, allowing you to group up with teams of NPC allies to complete the content, either if your queues get too long or you're too nervous starting out to do stuff with people. They also changed a number of the early dungeons, while pretty much completely redesigning the dungeons for the level 50 finale that used to be a sticking point for a lot of people.
And yes, you touched on some of the skill redistribution for lower levels, to make certain classes' leveling more consistent and give certain classes more AoE abilities early on too.
Sorry for the rant but I'm excited to see what you'd think of more of these things if you keep with it, and just what you think of the story in general. I know a lot of people think the 1-50 leveling is boring, but I enjoyed it quite a lot and loved the world building! It reminded me of that progression through zones and building up of an adventurer like Classic WoW did, but for a more modern audience.
To expand on the leveling of alternate jobs, too: There's an "Armoury Bonus" that kicks in whenever your main job is a higher level than your alternate ones. I forget the exact breakpoints, but the general consensus is you get anywhere between a 50-100%? 150?% EXP increase based on how further behind your early level classes are. Add onto this the +30% exp increase levels 1-30 from the [Brand New Ring] you get from those Tanking/Healing/DPS tutorials you did, and it can make earlier jobs a breeze to level through. You USUALLY want to wait until you get a single job to max level, though, since that's where you get the biggest bonuses from that system and also have the ability to teleport around anywhere.
Cheers though, man, good video. Enjoying your stuff a lot lately.
tbh i think when calling something "First Impression" you absolutely have to speak about the two clients and Squares awfull websites and Account management. Its basically always the point whenever i think about going back to FFXIV where i just see this shit and straightup quit again.
Next thing that bothered me A LOT is the fact that a lot of outfits change your body-proportions, so depending on what i was wearing i felt the need to buy a fantasia potion for 7 bucks to correct that, until i found another piece that changed the porportions differently again. Of course only aproblem for people that are heavy into fashion-stuff.
Next points i always need to willingly ignore are the unnecessary renamings of standard videogame terms and the fact that EVERY effect includes a flash at some point. Swinging your axe – FLASH! Get a buff – FLASH! Summon an animal – FLASH! Cook a fkin soup… FLASH! Like wtf? I know its part of the Final Fntasy estethic but it feels so stupid after a while.
I look forward to seeing more of your ffxiv adventures!
It has arrived!
I've been playing since Endwalker release and I've made it to Endwalker finally last week. And if I said this hasn't been one of the most exciting and emotionally draining but uplifting stories I've ever experienced. I'd be lying.
I wish you well on your adventure in this game. And wish you good luck.
I have never played this. I was big into EQ and WOW and did some new world. Should I take the plunge? I don't play with a lot of friends but would do guild mates.