Complete Beginners Guide to Final Fantasy XIV 

For any prospective Free Trial players, here's everything you aren't allowed to do on the Free Trial: - Can't use retainers or the market board (so no selling OR buying from other players) - Can't send friend requests or start a party (but you can ACCEPT friend requests and be added to parties) - Can't join a Free Company - Can't play any PvP game modes - Can't PM other players, or use the Shout or Yell channels - Can't trade with other players - Can't hold more than 300,000 gil at once - Can't level past 60 (or 70 once Stormblood is added in like a month or two) This might sound like a lot of restrictions, but if you have at least one friend who owns the game (or if you're planning on playing mostly solo anyway) then none of these really matter *that* much. You can still make friends and join parties as long as someone else adds you, you can still chat with people in Party Chat or the Say channel, and the gil cap is more of a mild annoyance than anything (you can't access the market board or trade, so what would you spend more gil on anyway?) The only place you're likely to really feel the restrictions is if you try to level a Crafter, but even then it's far from impossible - you just need to do things the hard way (gather and craft everything yourself, leveling a lot of crafters/gatherers at once since they're co-dependent) instead of skipping through everything by buying materials or finished crafted gear off the market board. Most people will want to avoid that, but for a certain kind of person doing things that way might even be more enjoyable than just buying everything and skipping through the leveling process (I am that kind of person). Despite the restrictions, you can still do practically everything in the accessible expansions with a Free Trial account - doubly so if you have a consistent group that includes at least one paying player to make a party. Take it from me, someone who spent over 1000 hours on the Free Trial, getting every single job to 60 and getting two relic weapons (one from ARR and one from Heavensward) among many other things. There's virtually nothing in the included expansions that is completely inaccessible to you as long as you're willing to put in a little extra effort to get the things you need yourself. I highly recommend it!

Sprouts unite 🌱 🎉

Me as someone who already spent 2k hour in the game : "Ah yes I should watch this for sure"

Sprout who just reached lvl 41 here! Took a hell of a lot of convincing to invest in this as I am not in support of subscription-based games, but so many of my veteran friends play this and I wanted something new. I'm no stranger to the FF series per say and this does take getting used to, but heck I'd be lying if I said it wasn't fun. I strongly believe when people say the pace and suspense grows the further you dive in, so I'm here for the ride. We gotta keep going! This guide just made me feel more motivated to try, so as a sprout looking up to a veteran, thank you so much for the encouragement!

I think it's useful to highlight that the Hrothgar/Viera hat thing is purely visual (the hats not appearing on the character), gameplay- and stats-wise they work as normal.

Recommended gear button is the best idea I've heard for an MMO. That alone has me downloading the game.

Hey, I just started two days ago and I'm lv 38 now, so this is actually a huge help! Thank you

Downloaded the game on Saturday and starting my journey. What good timing for this video!! Thank you :)

Hey man i just wanna say thanks for the help i'm starting to get used to the game even though it can be really difficult at times. I've been playing for 2 years, have nearly all level 90s and am caught up to current content but yeah i think i might be getting used to it now, thank you again

I’ve played up into heavensward, have a lvl 60 paladin but I haven’t played in a long time, and it’s taking a good while to get myself back up to speed and more, thanks for the help!

Great video! This helped me a lot, and now I'm looking forward to playing with the fresh perspective I have.

Used to play years ago and now im looking for some tips to catch up. Even knowing a majority of this, I sat through all of it. Thanks for the video, my brother!

Been playing for 3 years so far but always like watching these beginner guides to see if there is anything I forgetting about.

Both an expertly navigated beginner's guide as well splendid nostalgia trip, many thanks :>

Just starting right now. Really excited for this, thank you an I'll be returning to learn more. 😊

Only thing I wish you would have talked about is how the Glamor Dresser works... Glamor prisms. LEVEL of gear needing to be the same or higher than what your trying to wear, permantly dying from the dresser UI, armory chest in the dresser. We need a new glamorer video that "simplifies it" Zepla's is a horrible one with too much "who cares" rambling. We need a simplified one so badly :/

Hey great video! I'm thinking about trying the game out, and I found this. It's really helpful

The main advantage to leveling a gatherer as you make your way through the MSQ is the ability to move through new quest zones without aggroing mobs due to their Stealth abilities.

I started FF14 on friday last week, bought it yesterday and your chanel has really been pure gold for me to understand the systems in this game. Thanks :)

A beginner's guide that was posted on my birthday nonetheless? Best belated birthday present ever. Lol

hello Jolsn! i just started FFXIV just a week ago and im binging your content to so i can progress easily while having fun. Thank you so much, if there will be a chance, I'd like to draw your character one day :)

thank you so much for this guide i truly appreciate it

Damn I didn’t know that about hats! But it’s a good point 😊 Just started and really enjoying the game. And now enjoying your video. The class/job explanation was worth watching for alone.

another superb video Jolsn!

great video, watched it to the end even tho i know all of this already :D

Jolsn, you dropped your scales! Also, goddamn you're pumping out videos!

Thanks for the tipps, just got it on steam two days ago still lvl 3 but it looks really good and can't wait to play it ( waiting for my new pc to arrive since this one is 8 years old ) yea it was a bit laggy and had to play it on really low specs but damn it looked good anyways that will help alot on my way cheers

Thanks! Love the videos.

Great video!

Conjurer being a battle pet class is a very common misconception apparenrly. I can see why now lol. Idk why devs still dont show the role of each class can select in character creator. Heard many selecting marauder or gladiator not knowing they're tank roles, same for conjurer too.

just started playing, lvl 12 rn and so far its pretty fun

hey thats the glam i wear on my main this is really helpful for beginners

I will buy it soon on the series S. Thanks for the video.

Insanely helpful 🎉

As a sprout myself, I appreciate this guide

also a tip to buy gear if level < 50, you can find cheap low level gear in the market. I've bought a full level 14 set for about 200-250 gil which is the same value as ONE chest of the same level in the vendor

One word of advice for new players. Don't make healer as your first job. Healers; especially later on; have to have a lot more situational awareness and understanding of boss mechanics. Because if you die; then it most likely will be a party wipe. Tanks are not as bad due to the fact that they can survive a lot more mess ups than any other job class. Due to how FFXIV is set up; you'll be able to go back and try other jobs anyways. So once you start understanding the dungeons, trials, and raid mechanics; it'll be easier to progress as a healer.

Just started yesterday!

Thank you kindly, Jolsn 🙏

I feel like "bard is also a damage dealer" is true but also an understatement. 2 years ago I wouldn't even touch it, I hated how little damage the bard could take in open world. It required a lot of kiting I didn't care for back then. But BRD is a true high speed glass cannon imo. It's great for soloing ARR dungeons super fast because you just breeze through the whole thing at the speed of light with peleton and slaughter everything in your path. And esp once you get higher levels and you can constantly just roll out those buffs in a rotation, bards can make or break a party. I could be biased. I ran a World of Darkness the other day and we had only bards for DPS in the party, it was chaos and I loved it lol. People were telling our party what to do and stuff like "B is belly" and they were like "um actually B is for band, we're a band not a party" idk bards are so great lol not just the class and job but the people who play it are usually delightful.

Can you share what addons people use to make gameplay smoother etc? Like you said in 1 video people use something to bypass the lag feeling when pressing skills

An actual helpful guide

I really recommend beginners to start with damage class instead of tank/tealer, especially the main quest line can provide large amount of exp that can help leveling up 2-3 job to almost max level in those exp boost server. Tanks/ healers also require some other understanding such as tanking/healing which is a little bit more complicated compared to Damage Dealers, tanks/healers also need to spend some more time in doing the main quest. After you finished the main quest, 1 of the leveling up way is doing duties, and exp boost are granted to tanks/healers most of the time since they are less popular. So starting with damage class will basically save your time and easier start of the game. But if you are really into tanks/healers, just go ahead and ignore the above. Enjoy the Game! Light of Warriors

I’m like #420!!!! I’m hella new so I’m stoked to play ff14!!!!

@Jolsn, friend I love how the games looks, are you using reshade? or could you share settings please?

When do you actually get to start communicating with other users do I have to start my subscription first or is it after i reach level 25

I started the game about a month ago - still not on Heavensward content yet there's so much to do 😅

Just started a couple days ago and excited to dive in but theres just SO MUCH going on on screen at once. not to mention ive already made one huge mistake... downloading the free trial on console. now im stuck until i finish that so i can switch over.

dragoon looks really tempting to main ngl

Are you sure that Stormblood is currently included in the Free Trial? According to the info from web it will be included with the Patch 6.5, which is still not in the game.

Here again debating restarting…..I can’t type and the enormous amount of keys had me looking at kb constantly until I just got frustrated. Controller is like learning calculus but Im trying again with a mmo mouse.

is there any plans to redo the battle system? or are they making a new mmo?

just hit level 90 and so lost on how to gear and progress to get into end game raiding, I was a story from so I didn’t know any of the Duty stuff outside the MSQ

I spent a solid 383 hours on this back during the pandemic and decided to reroll just this week (2024). So I'd argue this video remains entirely relevant lol.

I've been playing for 600 hours now and I'm wondering if I've actually learned anything lol. It's taking a lot of effort for me to get through these Stormfront bosses. I'm way too slow to notice the AOEs when I'm fighting a boss on my first attempt.

I've been playing forever, why do I keep watching these?

At 25:30 what class is he playing that’s using a scythe?

The map in this game is confusing the life out of me I cant get to where i need to go 😂 i just started playing today, feels like there are a million things on my screen and I dont know what half of it is. Then theres a big thing to the bottom left of my minimap which makes it impossible for me to read my objectives under the minimap. Any advice?

when do they usually have sale?

Im new in this game and im currently on stormblood in terms of msq. It's most likely that im not be able to hardcore raid on this game, so im curious to know what other endgame activities that i can do once im done with all of the msq?

Don't you have to buy the starter edition in addition to the latest expansion?

If I can only play games 1-2 nights a week is ff14 a game worth getting? I played ffxi religiously with 400+ days played over a 5-6 year period. As an adult I only have 1-2 nights a week I can play now. I really really want to play an mmo again but don’t know if I even have the time to do so anymore.

Soooo thankful it came to Xbox, im addicted

What class do u needt to choose if i want to Play the Red Mage?

Ok unrelated question: How much of a fortune have you spent on Fantasia's? You have a different character race every video!

Starting again after so many years ago in ps3 now on PC

Only 1 out of 10 people can actually install and play the game. We need more guides on how to do the installation. I bought the game, spend 2 hours installing it and creating accounts and still could not play it in the end. Gave me en error, and to fix it I had to get VPN and spend a few more hours. Fuck it

I played throught the whole game in a lil over 3 weeks recently💀Lets just say....i enjoy the game lmao.

Me who grinded all crafters and gatherers to 60 on free trial: yes, it is a pain in the a** :'D

Zero mention of any controller support or W Cross Hot bars?

I tried adding hotbar 3 but all it did was deleting hotbar 2 lol

It's different when you play on ps5 with controller

I have 1000+ hours and i have NEVER used any of the class actions except second wind abd the blood one. I also have not done any true end game content either lol

What is msq?

I love the game I just be having no one to play with and join up too

i don't recommend a preferred world nor equipping the 'brand new ring' you get from the hall of the novice, they get you far to overleveled far too quickly and because most features are story gated not level gated it feels way better when you are nearer the story level.

I thought the game was simple until it made me take an airship to 3 different areas in the span of one minute without any explanation why I’m going to any of these places my brain hurts

Well I’m gonna be playing this when it comes to Xbox so sht

seeing this video with almost 500hrs *click*

Catgirl dragoon rider thats what ill be doin

🌱

How toxic is the community of this game? That is something I am very interested in knowing before I get this for PS5.

hey! I started playing today. If you'd like to team up, let me know :)

Can I play the free trial on steam?

You never played a MMORPG with a story like FF14? What's up with SWTOR? Not only fully voiced but 8 different ones

fwiw, there's one item in the online store that does actually have an in-game benefit, the SDS Fenrir mount (ff7 motorcycle), whose slowest speed is faster than other mounts. Once you upgrade your mount speed in a zone it's the same as every other mount, but if you're really impatient, during new expansions it can get you around new zones faster at the start than normal mounts would. But that's also not something super-new players need to even think about for a while.

Finał Fantasy 11online was the best and shouldn't have ended.

Now i know why i could not get to thi sgame..the gfx are so dead and dull to look at...zzzzzzzz

Its just like dia4 or wow lol

Square enix is crap Squaresoft was much better