Looking to play - have questions

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• mentoplus Member UncommonPosts: 73

  March 2015

  Originally posted by Stormola

  Hi All 

  I'm looking to get started on another mmorpg but had a couple of questions about the game 

  1.) how gear dependant ( don't mind if it is - process of these games I enjoy is building character strength through gear )

  2.) does the best gear drop or is it crafted , also is how much gear is BOE or BOP or No Bind ( I do like being able to get any piece as a reward and if I can't use sell it or use for another toon etc )

  3.) is there a good auction house - how many items can you list 

  4.) what server is most populated ( east coast )

  5.) how is PVP - open world / instanced ? 

  6.) pros and cons of archer ( have been playing ranged weapon class for 20 years and just can't change )

   

  Thanks in advance to anyone who takes the time to help out !

  1.) super gear dependant, you have item lvl like wow and dungeons and raids have a item lvl requirement

  2.) drop and crafted, crafted is boe and drop is allways bop

  3.) yeah and you can post a lot of things 

  4.) there is a lot of full servers when you cant even create characters anymore xD but there is no east cost server, the datacenters are: america, europe and japan

  5.) instanced but this is almost a 100% pve game, pvp is just a distraction

  6.) bard (archer high lvl job) is a support dps
• Yaevindusk Member RarePosts: 2,094

  March 2015

  Originally posted by Stormola

  Hi All 

  I'm looking to get started on another mmorpg but had a couple of questions about the game 

  1.) how gear dependant ( don't mind if it is - process of these games I enjoy is building character strength through gear )

  While combat isn't the 100% central focus in FFXIV (There are many other side activities such as Housing, Chocobo Training, Chocobo racing, Marriage systems, Gold Saucer, Crafting with crafts having actual gear and storylines you go through... progression crafters with better stats on gear and such).  Combat classes do get better gear the more they do raids and or dungeons (to get tomes).  The highest item levels right now are 130+ with you starting with a base set of Ilvl 50 stuff once you hit level 45-50 (provided you do your Job Questline -- the set of armor is a reward from your trainer or mentor at the time).  In addition, a single character can master every class in game, so you will always be progressing your character in some way.

  2.) does the best gear drop or is it crafted , also is how much gear is BOE or BOP or No Bind ( I do like being able to get any piece as a reward and if I can't use sell it or use for another toon etc )

  Best gear drops from the most difficult fights.  Crafted gear is no where near the power of dropped gear as it's a 110 to 130 difference, in addition to costing upwards of 500-900k gil each piece on the market board.  Pretty much everything is BoE until you use it in a fight, and then it becomes bound.  Armor from the toughest fights are usually bound immediately, but sometimes weapons are not (or require a craft to be further imbued and sold).  The hardest "casual" content only really requires an item level of 90 to participate in, so crafted gear is more than enough to do that stuff with (or the Tomes that give ilvl 100 gear or 120 gear with the rarest tomes).

  3.) is there a good auction house - how many items can you list 

  The auction house is okay.  You have retainers that post on the Market board, and they can list up to 40 items at a time.  The will also hold items for you, or go on quests for you (you can also equip them with items and decide their classes).

  4.) what server is most populated ( east coast )

  I have no idea.  Servers are all on the east coast (unless they say EU), so any.

  5.) how is PVP - open world / instanced ? 

  PvP is just a fun side activity that grants 110 gear if done well in.  Though all gear is scaled to 80 in it.  It is instanced PvP.  Team vs. Team arena or 8x8x8, 16x16x16, 32x32x32 Battlegrounds.

  6.) pros and cons of archer ( have been playing ranged weapon class for 20 years and just can't change )

   Bards are the easiest to play and don't really have to worry about mechanics (by comparison of Melee).  Rotation is exceedingly simple and they used to have no competition for loot (though Ninjas are now on the same loot table since they were released in 2.3).  They are able to buff allies in addition to deal damage; downside to them is that their limit break is a healing one, so they won't be using it.

  Thanks in advance to anyone who takes the time to help out !

   

  Due to frequent travel in my youth, English isn't something I consider my primary language (and thus I obtained quirky ways of writing).  German and French were always easier for me despite my family being U.S. citizens for over a century.  Spanish I learned as a requirement in school, Japanese and Korean I acquired for my youthful desire of anime and gaming (and also work now).  I only debate in English to help me work with it (and limit things).  In addition, I'm not smart enough to remain fluent in everything and typically need exposure to get in the groove of things again if I haven't heard it in a while.  If you understand Mandarin, I know a little, but it has actually been a challenge and could use some help.
  

  
  

  Also, I thoroughly enjoy debates and have accounts on over a dozen sites for this.  If you wish to engage in such, please put effort in a post and provide sources -- I will then do the same with what I already wrote (if I didn't) as well as with my responses to your own.  Expanding my information on a subject makes my stance either change or strengthen the next time I speak of it or write a thesis.  Allow me to thank you sincerely for your time.
  
• Tholdarian Member UncommonPosts: 67

  March 2015

  Ok, myself, I haven't dipped too much into endgame yet, but I'll try to answer your questions to the best of my knowledge.

  1.) starting with Lv 50, gear becomes pretty important. It's measured in item lvl (ilvl) and by the time you reach lv 50, you're mostly about ilvl 45-50. The highest you can get at the moment is ilvl 130, I believe, so yea, there is a certain progression at max lvl.

  2.) this one is a little bit opinion-based: first of all, most of the higher gear is obtained by two different token currencies, which gives you acces to ilvl 100 and ilvl 120 gear, respectively, which can be upgraded to 110 and 130 with specific items from dungeons/raids. On top of that gear does drop from dungeons, primal battles and raids, but from what I gathered those gear parts are mostly for appereance and are rarely better than the gear you get with tokens. 

  Crafted gear is an entire different world: while the token gear is pretty ... basic, I'd call it; crafted gear allows you to specialize with certain stats (for example, when you already reached a certain accuracy cap, you can instead use that stat budget on other, more beneficial stats). This is pretty expensive, though.

  3.) there is an auction house and it works pretty well. The way it works here: you get acces to two 'retainers', which are basically henchmen you can design the way you like and which can hold your items. Through them you list items for the auction house and they'll keep the money you earn on themselves, so you can grab your profit off of them any time you'd like. I haven't dipped too far into the gathering missions you can send them on, so I'll not say anything bout that.

  4.) I'm from Europe, so no idea, honestly.

  5.) PvP is instanced, but I've never tried it. First and foremost, FF14 is a PvE game, which is the reason PvP wasn't even available at release.

  6.) Bard would be the equivalent job, handling a bow, which is in its own little niche: it's a DPS class, but it doesn't parse near as high as the other ones, instead it's more of a support DPS, providing songs to recharge MP and TP (main resource of melee classes and Bard itself) and also lowering magic resistance of enemy groups. One Bard is pretty much necessary for later content because of that massive support.

  Other than that their fighting style is mostly dot-based, weaving in other skills in between, while being the only class who, generally, doesn't need to worry about cast times and such (casting songs is the sole exception), making it generally the easiest class to play casually.

   

  Hope this gives you a small idea of what to expect. Keep in mind, I'm fairly new to FF14 myself, hopefully someone more experienced can chime in and provide some more information.