Final Fantasy XIV: 5 serious rookie mistakes to avoid

As a newbie in MMORPGs like Final Fantasy XIV, you often make mistakes that can be avoided. Here are 5 mistakes to avoid when learning the new game.

Starting a new MMORPG can be very overwhelming, especially when the game has been out for many years. It can and will therefore happen that as a beginner you make some serious mistakes and have problems playing.

FFXIV is no exception, although the game tries to make fresh entry as easy as possible. In general, mistakes are not a big deal, you should learn from them, as you know.

But there are mistakes that you and the other players you are with can do without. 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. Starting at level 30, this class will be upgraded to a job after completing a series of quests. This gives you access to new skills and resources.

This is done by going to your character menu and putting on the appropriate job crystal. For advanced jobs like Dark Knight, Dancer, or Red Mage, this happens automatically when you equip their weapon. But not for starter classes. It has to be done manually.

It can’t be stressed enough: do your class and job quests, and be sure to equip your job crystal from level 30 onwards. Tape that thing to you, staple it to your gear, inject it under your skin as long as it stays equipped. The job crystals are your friends.

Without them, you lose access to more than half of your skills at higher levels and make your own life and the life of your group unnecessarily difficult. You don’t have to put on the crystals every time you change classes or jobs. They count as gear and can also be saved with armor sets.

Do not read skill description

Sounds strange, but that’s how it is. When deciding on a class or job, you should also know what you can and cannot do with it. The FFXIV combat system uses the so-called Global Cooldown, i.e. a short cooldown that shares some of the abilities with each other. When a skill is used, others cannot be used for a short time.

As a result, most of the jobs in FFXIV use the skills in a certain order one after the other in combat, for example to do damage. You can find out what this order looks like from the skill descriptions.

• Some abilities form longer combo chains and you have to use them consecutively without interruption.
• Other skills give you a damage boost and should be used in conjunction with your strongest attacks.
• Others trigger chain reactions through “Procs” and enable the use of abilities that were previously grayed out.

Apart from the fact that as a healer it is very useful to know which buttons to press so that the group does not collectively bite the dust.

Areas like Sommerfurt-Hofs or Tiefer Wald have special training dummies you can try out your skills and combos on, so get in there!

Do not put on new equipment

The pursuit of ever-better gear is a part of MMORPGs, and FFXIV is no exception. As usual, you start with shabby beginner equipment, which, however, is very quickly replaced by dungeon drops, crafted armor or equipment from NPCs and quests as the level progresses.

You just have to remember to actually put them on. During the leveling you will be partly filled with gear, so it can be difficult for new players to keep track of it. But don’t despair, there is a solution for this in FFXIV.

In your character window there is a small but nice button at the top directly above the weapon slot [Recommended Gear]. This button opens a new window that shows your current gear and gives you the option to swap it out for the best possible gear from your inventory.

The system checks whether you can wear the items at all and looks at what item level and values ​​they have. Then the best gear is thrown together and given to you as a suggestion.

Required content like dungeons and trials in FFXIV have a minimum item level that you must meet in order to access the content. Otherwise you have to stay outside. So do yourself a favor and keep your armor as up-to-date as possible.

Don’t use area attacks

The dungeons of FFXIV are teeming with demons, undead, robbers, monsters and other enemies who want to get your throat. During a dungeon run, the tanks will often pull them into large piles so that the group can take them to the afterlife together.

In such a case, as DDs, healers and tanks, you always have to use your available area attacks to beat the opponent down as efficiently as possible. Yes, in the skill description there is a higher number for single attacks. Skills that target single opponents usually have higher attack stats.

It’s still more efficient to deal area damage to 3 or more enemies because it’s spread across them all and multiplied by it. For tanks, area attacks play an even more important role. They help tremendously in keeping the hatred of the opponents on you.

Once you’ve activated Tank Stance, all attacks against enemies cause increased Hate. With larger groups of opponents, you should always use area attacks as a tank in order to keep building up the hate on all opponents evenly.

You don’t have to worry about an opponent suddenly turning around and slapping the healer left and right or smashing a DD’s teeth in. So remember, area attacks are love. With 3 or more opponents.

No communication

Since FFXIV is an MMMORPG in which other people are also on the move, there will be times when you have to play with them. This mostly happens in instances like dungeons or trials, where you can be with up to 8 people at the same time.

It can be very useful if you communicate beforehand that you are a new player and that the old hands should show some consideration. Talk to the people. While new players in FFXIV are given a little sapling to show they’re not very experienced, that’s no substitute for proper communication.

As a healer, if you’re not keeping up with the healing, ask the tank to slow down the pull tempo. Or if you are facing a boss and would like to know the combat mechanics, ask the group what are the best things to look out for.

Experience has shown that most people will react normally to you and answer the questions. But they can’t know if two enemy groups might be too many if you don’t tell them so.

Then, if people continue to behave rudely despite asking and asking, you can always leave the content and block or report people. Black sheep are everywhere, just don’t let them discourage you, because communication is important and can save you a lot of frustration.

What other mistakes do you know that newcomers to FFXIV should avoid? Write us in the comments.

More information for newcomers can be found in our detailed guide:

Final Fantasy XIV: Beginner’s Guide for a smooth start in the MMORPG