Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn is a MMO. Naturally, there’s more to it than its tutorials could ever explain.
To help you on your quest to the game’s level cap of 50 and beyond, we’ve put together a list of 14 tips. These tips should help you not only become a better player, but a more efficient one as well. See the full list of tips below:
14 Tips for FFXIV: A Realm Reborn
-
1. Register favorite Aetheryte locations
Teleporting is extremely convenient, but also expensive. Do yourself a favor and register the Aetheryte crystals at each of the capital cities as a favorite. You can do this by selecting the Aetheryte and then registering its location. You can only save three locations at a time, so having one for each capital city and then settings your return point at the location you've been leveling at is a good idea for quick and cost-efficient travel.
Taking advantage of this feature will give you a major discount every time you teleport to one of the cities saving you a lot of money in the long run. Gil is hard to come by at 50. You'll be glad you saved up.
-
2. Keybind everything (keyboard & mouse users)
It's easy to become used to clicking skills, but if you want to be as potent as possible then you'll need the speed of keybinds on your side. Using keybinds also allows you to keep your eye on the action so you can see what's going on 100% of the time and avoid AoE attacks.
Make keybinds for each of your skills, even cooldowns, by entering the Keybind menu on the main menu. Don't hesitate to use keys such as Q, E, G, V, and even combinations of Shift + keys. You'll feel like an MMO pro in no time at all.
-
3. Move out of Area of Effect (AoE) attacks
Although you're taught this at an early level, it's crucial for survival in the game. At the higher levels there are AoE attacks that will kill you in one blow. You can tell where one is going to land by the red circle placed on the ground. Prioritize staying out of these areas over everything else, and practice from low level forward.
-
4. Make friends
FFXIV: A Realm Reborn is an MMO, and that means being social is a big part of the experience. Endgame content consists of grueling group challenges that will require you and several others to communicate. Who doesn't want to enjoy the beautiful world of Eorzea with someone, anyway?
-
5. Finish your hunting log
The Hunting Log becomes available at early levels. It is essentially a list of enemies to hunt and kill for experience. All that's provided to you is the name of the monster and its general location, but you can find the coordinates on a variety of sites on the internet. Not only are completing the hunts rewarding, but in order to progress you need to finish tiers of the Hunting Log. Be sure to revisit it often to make sure you're staying up-to-date.
-
6. Spend your Grand Company Seals
Around level 22 you will be given the choice to join one of three Grand Companies. Once you join, you'll be rewarded Grand Company Seals for participating in FATEs as well as a variety of other content. The important thing to note is that there is a limit to how many Grand Company Seals you can hold at any given time, and the number goes up as you increase in rank. It is in your best interest to use the Seals often to rank up, buy gear upgrades, and more so that you don't become capped and earn 0 Seals for your efforts.
-
7. Log out in a sanctuary or inn
As with games like World of Warcraft, FFXIV: A Realm Reborn has a rested XP system which grands you bonus XP while logged out. The catch is that you'll only earn rested XP if you're logged out in a sanctuary or inn. Sanctuaries are usually the main quest hubs in each zone, while the inn can be found in each capital city. Log out in these locations so that when you log back in you can earn 50% bonus XP for your kills.
-
8. Do your story missions
Progression in the game is partially dependent on your completion of story missions. They're ultimately what unlocks some of the dungeons, Grand Companies, your Chocobo, and more. Try to keep the level of the story mission you're on around the same level as your character so you can participate in content relevant to your level.
-
9. Avoid aggro
Nothing's more annoying than having to deal with aggro from mobs that you don't want to fight. Learn how to identify which mobs will aggro (they have a unique icon to the right of their name) and avoid them when possible to live a happy life in Eorzea.
-
10. Place your attribute points carefully
As you level up you'll gain attribute points which can be placed in one of six stats (STR, DEX, VIT, INT, MND, PIE). Although your choice isn't permanent, it costs 10,000 Grand Company Seals to redo your choices. Find out early on what the most critical one or two stats are for your class and continue to place points in each.
-
11. Level multiple classes
FFXIV: A Realm Reborn might not have the subjob system of Final Fantasy XI, but it does allow for usage of cross-class skills. When playing as one of the game's classes you can equip several abilities from other classes. However, in order to have access to skills you need to level the corresponding class up to the skill's level.
While a job (which is unlocked at level 30) can't use skills from any class, it does have access to two of the classes. At the very least you should level up both classes to the 20s~ so that your main job can take advantage of this system.
-
12. Don't sell spiritbound gear
In FFXIV: A Realm Reborn the gear you wear becomes spiritbound to you as you wear it during combat. You can check if it's fully progressed or not by looking at the item's tooltip. Once an item is 100% spiritbound, you can convert the item into materia. Materia improve the stats on an equipped item, making the spiritbound system very useful.
-
13. You get credit for tapped mobs
If you're doing a quest and someone nearby keeps stealing the mobs from you, don't worry. In FFXIV: A Realm Reborn you get credit for a kill (including XP and quest credit) by participating in the kill. It's worth noting that you'll need to do a noticeable portion of the work (around 30%), but that should be no problem as long as you help kill the monster before it's already about to die.
-
14. Get your chocobo ASAP
Time is money, and the best way to be more efficient with time in FFXIV: A Realm Reborn is with quicker travel. The chocobo allows you to stride around at a quick pace making leveling and travel much faster.
You can unlock the chocobo by completing a level 22~ story mission, choosing a Grand Company, and then earning 2,000 Grand Company Seals to purchase the required quest item. You can earn the Seals by participating in FATEs, doing Leves, and more.
