Played it for past 4 days
>level 24 marauder
>4 crafting professions at lvl 16
>can only play for about half an hour, need to go do something else to wake up because I'm literally falling asleep
Also I finished in the pirate town and arrived in some forest one.
Low level quests everywhere - they are shown on the map just as any other quest, so no way to tell whether or not I should be bother doing it other than mouseovering to check it. Same with the desert city.
Are you supposed to save those for when you level another class or is it okay to do them with your high level one and get those 50xp no worries?
Are the maps this shit in higher lvl areas too? By shit I mean bunch of corridors full of invisible walls connected by lines that don't make any sense.
What do people even do other than standing around emoting at each other?
When does this get fun?
It doesn't. The game doesn't fundamentally change even at the current expansion. You'll still be needlessly ferrying between quest NPC's and gathering worthless materials like a chode. You just sink enough time and money to activate sunk cost fallacy and become a shill
I'll assume you're doing the free trial
>Are you supposed to save those for when you level another class or is it okay to do them with your high level one and get those 50xp no worries?
You don't really need to do most of sidequests since you can level at least 2 jobs per expansion but they do flesh out the setting a lot more. They're best done within the context of the content.
With that said check if they have a picture /banner on them, most of the time they give stuff or unlock content like blue quests.
>Are the maps this shit in higher lvl areas too? By shit I mean bunch of corridors full of invisible walls connected by lines that don't make any sense.
They get more open around Heavensward, even moreso by Stormblood onwards since they've dropped PS3 support by then.
>What do people even do other than standing around emoting at each other?
Whatever the hell they want. You don't have to raid 24/7 since catching up is easy as fuck.
Literally just do msq. Ignore sidequests completely, unless it has a special icon which means it unlocks something for you
Ignore sidequests.
Do the MSQ quests (they look like the quest icon, but "on fire").
If you want to level an alt, do the leveling dungeon roulette.
It doesn't.
>When does this get fun?
When you finish ARR and start getting to HW, lvl 50 or so.
>ferrying between quest NPC's
Yeah sometimes it feels like I'm playing a visual novel. Why does every little thing needs six paragraphs...
>I'll assume you're doing the free trial
Yeah, can't imagine I would buy and sub to something I have only ever seen shilled by deranged retards at /wowg/ and got my questions completely ignored in its designated general.
Also what about materia? I got weapons and armor that can slot them, but never has it been mentioned, not even in those ever appearing tutorials.
And wtf is Linkshell? Apparently, being on trial account, I'm banned from using them, whatever the fuck they are.
it doesn't get "fun" and it doesn't EVER open up in terms of gameplay direction. you're fucked and stuck doing MSQ for 200+ hours of "gameplay" "content"
if you like a singleplayer visual novel you might enjoy the story which I hear is good but I don't have the patience for an mmorpg that is neither an mmo nor an rpg, and if you value your time perhaps you'll come to feel the same
>Are the maps this shit in higher lvl areas too?
They're giant and open and take forever to traverse
>What do people even do other than standing around emoting at each other?
go into their housing estates and emote to eachother
As someone who likes visual novels, I don't enjoy the story either. Too much useless running around, fetch quests, dungeons and other typical MMO content. The pacing is shit and it doesn't get better in Heavensward as XIV fans would lead you to believe
around level 30-50. Honestly the story isn't THAT bad in ARR, just pay attention and try to understand what's going on.
The story will tell you about materia later. You don't need to worry about them until endgame though, they just upgrade gear, but you are OP right now anyways.
A linkshell is basically just a persistent, private chatroom you can invite people too. Free people can't because bots I guess.
that's actually pretty funny, sorry if my comment seemed derogatory toward people who enjoy VNs, they're not my thing but nothing against you. It sucks that the game is so terrible it's not an mmo or an rpg OR a visual novel, then.
>materia
They're unlocked via a blue quest, minimum level 19. Go to Central Thanalan (the desert area) and check your map.
>Linkshells
In-game group chat. The free trial doesn't let you do social stuff so linkshells aren't open for you.
Main story is built is such a way where by just doing it you will have all the gear and xp needed to level one class the entire time all other optional content is best played as a different class to maximize XP gains.
As for it getting good...
ARR(1-50) picks up around Lv40 but is still pretty meh the patch content can be really neat or an absolute slog depending on how much you like fantasy politics.
HW(50-60) The quality of the presentation and story spikes immensely here and it is beloved the whole way through including the patch content.
SB(60-70) This is where the game improves mechanically and sticks around this point with some minor upgrades in later expacs and has fantastic patch content but the leveling experience is terrible outside of like one zone.
SHB(70-80) Pure Kino the whole way through good enough to stand as its own game but still building off of everything that came before.
EW(80-90) Still ongoing right now but its mostly agreed that it serves as an awkward but ultimately satisfying conclusion to the story arc being worked on since AAR.
Also every expansion is around the same length as the 1-50 content and you should not skip the 1-50 content as it gives the foundation and context for the rest of the game.
End game is mostly emoting, running dungeons, doing raids, crafting, housing, grinding alt jobs and or dress up. The story is half the draw, the spectacle fights are the other. You can basically just do what you want though, there is a lot of side content you can do at any given time. If you don't like the story, you can still find fun things to do, but I would recommend giving the story a chance. It's a slow burn but it is fun to enjoy with others.
I feel like people are a bit harsh on ARR. It's actually pretty comfy and the zones are comfy. ARR music is great too. the Post ARR patch content is a massive slog though, easily the worst part of the game by far.
>End game is mostly emoting, running dungeons, doing raids, crafting, housing, grinding alt jobs and or dress up
this is every mmo's endgame but for some reason people say that XIV's is worse. Believe me, I played WoW from OG Vanilla to Cata, XIV's endgame is no different. I'm not sure why people seem to think it is. Raids are definitely worse, but that's about it. The community is way more social than most other mmos these days.
People are harsh on it because it's slow and was built around mechanics that are no longer relevant, like TP.
The 6.1 update with the early game reworked is a step in the right direction since Toto-Rak isn't a shitshow anymore, Cape Westwind and the post-UW fight are actually challenging now, and Praetorium isn't the biggest waste of time.
Pro tip: people emoting at each other are also talking to each other in private
Or "talking"
Don't listen to the haters OP. Just do the MSQ, you won't regret it.
In about two weeks when you and the bros are laughing your ass off through the back end of the base game plot
>"time to unleash the ultimate weapon, ultima weapon"
>villains you've never seen before turning up and monologuing for 20 minutes before you batter them
>wait why are we fighting this guy he's literally trying to save the world
Based cutscene skipper
That would have actually improved it, but I watched it all (and did all the side quests because quest icons tickle my autism)
The ARR plot is an absolute shitshow