FINAL FANTASY XIV Online: Final Fantasy XIV for Beginners [DT]

Steam Community guide by Lotus.

What does this guide cover?

First of all: thank you reading this guide!
But what is it even about and who is it written for?
This guide was mainly written for players who already created their Final Fantasy XIV characters and now want to take their first steps into the world of Eorzea. This guides covers topics like the different quest types & which types you should prioritize, why your item level is important, why you shouldn't by a story or level skip, what's to know about travelling & mounts, the differences between instanced content as well as giving general tips & tricks for beginners.
I originally only published a German version of this guide back in 2019. You're currently reading the translated version, done by myself, which is - of course - including all the revisions made to the original guide. The latest revision of this guide took place during patch 7.0 (July 2024), which means that changes made by the latest expansion (Dawntrail) are also included. However, despite my best efforts, I might've overlooked broken links or outdated information while updating this guide for three (!) expansions now - so if you spot any errors, I'd be happy if you could leave a comment so that I can take care of them!
I want to stress again that the intended audience for this guide are for players who just started playing the game. If you're wondering about what to purchase to play this game, how to create your own character, what class to choose or what server to pick instead, I'd suggest reading my previous guide, Final Fantasy XIV for Newcomers, first:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2548423968
However, even players who put a lot of time into the game already might discover something new here as well! Still, in order to allow everyone to skip topics they're already familiar with, I subdivided this guide into multiple chapters, each dealing with one particular matter. As such, feel free to use Steam's chapter function to skip topics you already know about!
But enough of the long preface, let's get started!

What's the best way to get into the game?

Usually, the beginning of an MMO is the hardest part in the entire game: As a newcomer, you're thrown into an unknown world: You'll have to learn about the story and characters as well as getting accustomed to the gameplay. The first cities are usually swarming with high-level players, wearing impressive gear with even more impressive stats. You'll encounter dozens of tutorials and instructions. All of this might feel overwhelming at first but don't worry, this is a pretty common experience. Of course, the important question is how to get past that initial shock and what's the best way to get into the game.
My first advice is a simple one: Continue playing Final Fantasy XIV for a while. The game will take it's time to slowly introduce its world, characters and gameplay to you. It doesn't expect you to know anything beforehand, even newcomers to the MMO-genre have nothing to be afraid of. So, before you go ahead and look up too much information online, keep playing first. Maybe the game will answer your questions itself?
If you prefer to read up on everything before, I'd suggest checking out the official Final Fantasy XIV website for further information. Especially the following parts:

• The game manual[na.finalfantasyxiv.com] of Final Fantasy XIV. As the, well, manual for the game it includes everything the creators think you need to know about Final Fantasy XIV. This includes topics like how to control your character or how to play together with others.
• The job-guide[na.finalfantasyxiv.com] lists all job actions for your jobs/classes - however, it unfortunately doesn't feature sufficient information on how to actually play your class/job. Still, a great way to get an overview about everything the different classes/jobs offer.
• Additionally, there's the UI-guide[na.finalfantasyxiv.com], teaching players how to use and customize their user interface. While the standard UI-layout might serve you well, customizing might make it even more useful!
• Lastly, there's an official Starter Guide [starter-guide.finalfantasyxiv.com]in videoform now, made by publisher Square Enix themselves.
  These official online resources already cover a lot of topics, which are not going to be repeated in this guide. Instead, I want to focus on additional topics and information that I'd like to have known about as a beginner in the world of Final Fantasy XIV. As such, if you feel like certain topics are missing (e.g., how to create a party), they might already be covered on the websites I listed. For this guide, after we go over the question if you should play Final Fantasy XIV with mouse & keyboard or a controller, we're starting with the different quest types!

Should I use keyboard & mouse or controller?

As many MMO-games only ever release on PC and don't make an appearance on consoles at all, there's usually no choice but to play with mouse & keyboard as they usually don't offer (proper) controller support. However, as Final Fantasy XIV was developed for the PlayStation from the beginning as well, the question is: Should I play the game with mouse & keyboard or with a controller?
The answer to this is a boring one: It's up to your preferences. Both, mouse & keyboard as well as a controller, work well for playing Final Fantasy XIV and they are both used by the community. Most people on PC are probably using mouse & keyboard and many console players are using their respective controllers (even though consoles support mouse & keyboard as well).
I mainly wanted to include this sections to showcase both methods a little. I used to play Final Fantasy XIV with mouse & keyboard for a long time and never thought a controller could replace them for me. That was until I actually gave it a decent try and since then I've made the switch to a DualSense controller. I feel like I should've informed myself about how playing Final Fantasy XIV with a controller is like much sooner, which is why I'll go over the pros and cons right now, so you may not repeat my mistake.
First of all, mouse & keyboard - the default PC input option. Thanks to the sheer amount of keys on the keyboard as well as the precision of a mouse, you got a lot of control over how you want to play Final Fantasy XIV. Having a keyboard is unsurprisingly very useful for chatting as well, using a virtual keyboard with a controller can take some time. There's also the option to click on your skills instead of pressing the associated keyboard buttons - though this input method is a controversial one, as it is deemed too slow by many players.

Example: Moving the mouse from skills on the right to skills on the left and clicking them can take more time than pressing the associated buttons on a keyboard/controller.
In the beginning, it might also be easier to start out with a mouse, since it's easier to select menus/enemies/etc. by mouse than through buttons alone. Simply clicking on an ally instead of switching through the group list to select them can be quite helpful if you're just starting out.
That said, there are a couple of disadvantes when playing with mouse & keyboard as well. Movement using the WASD-keys isn't as precise as using a joystick on a controller. And while there are a lot of buttons on a keyboard, not all of them are easily accessible, meaning you might have to perform quite some hand/finger movements on fully-levelled characters, which is certainly not for everyone. For that reason, "MMO-mice" are quite popular with MMO-players, as they feature a lot of easily accesible buttons on the side of the mouse.
Moving on to controllers, their biggest advantage would easily be the accessible buttons. On the flipside, they don't offer many buttons, which means accessing all your skills works a bit differently than using a mouse & keyboard. Let's take a look at the setup I'm using:

Example: Using the left trigger button (L2) on my controller, I can access the middle-left crosshotbar-menu (marked L1). If I want to perform one of these skills, while holding L2, I have to either use the D-Pad (left side) or action buttons (right side). Tapping L2 twice grants me access to the upper left crosshotbar-menu - if I use the D-Pad/action buttons now, I'll activate the skills there.
This is just one possible way for a hotbar layout but you see where I'm getting at: With a controller, you'll switch between your hotbars a lot in order to still use all actions with your limited set of buttons. This does admittedly take some set-up time and practice at first, but becomes quite intuitive after a while. Personally, I prefer it a lot to using a keyboard, since there's more of a flow to it.
Navigating menus with a controller is also quite easy, as Final Fantasy XIV was designed with that in mind. You'll find out that it can be quite as fast as clicking through them with a mouse - not in all instances but certainly most of the time. Again, it might take some practice at first compared to using a mouse, but after a while it comes off almost naturally.
In the end, you'll have to decide for yourself what fits you better. You can also try out both, of course! As for my personal setup, I'm using a DualSense controller for most of the game and a keyboard for the occasional chat. For my controller setup I used and - apart from the official resources [na.finalfantasyxiv.com]- highly recommend the controller guides by Squintina. There's a general (written) one over at Akhmorning[www.akhmorning.com] as well as her YouTube channel going over individual class layouts. She also created a GoogleDoc[docs.google.com] if you're just looking for her hotbar layouts.

The different types of quests

Similar to RPGs or other MMOs, you'll spend a lot of time in Final Fantasy XIV completing tasks (quests) for Non-Player Characters (NPCs). These quests are going to differ quite a lot in what they offer and how long it takes to completes them. You might get a quest just asking you to kill a few monsters, for example. But another one might actually offer a few follow-up quests (a "quest chain"), slowly building up a bigger threat to take care of.
Thankfully, Final Fantasy XIV split its quests into different types, marked by different icons. That way you know what to expect, when accepting news tasks to complete. Let's take a look at the types of quests Final Fantasy XIV offers:

1. Main Scenario Quests.
   Recognizable by their "flame" icon. The most important quests in Final Fantasy XIV. They're continuing the main story of the world and its inhabitants. Don't neglect completing them, as story progression is often a requirement for unlocking new content.
   
2. Feature-Quests.
   Sidequests, that aren't part of the Main Scenario but still unlock new content, usually dungeons, trials and raids. To prevent confusion: Yes, the same icon is used for your class and job quests, which offer new class or job actions.
   
3. "Normal" Side-Quests.
   Side-Quests, that aren't part of the Main Scenario and don't unlock new content. The usual rewards are Gil, experience points and maybe some gear pieces. In a few rare cases, it can also be a new minion or emote.
   
4. Repeatable Quests.
   Are exactly what the name makes them sound like. They are only really used for specific side content, like the Beast Tribes or Relic Weapons. Turning them in daily is raising your reputation with a specific Beast Tribe for example.
   Lastly, a unique quest type we'll take a more detailed look at later:
   
5. Leves.
   Require leve allowances to be started. Your character automatically receives three leve allowances every twelve real-time hours.
   Keep in mind that the quest icons change depending on your quest progress. For example, if all that's left to do to finish a quest is turning it in, the quest icon will be coloured green. If you're unable to accept a quest - maybe because your character level isn't high enough - the quest icon will be red. But you'll quickly get the hang of this by playing the game, it's not complicated.
   Now that you know how to differentiate the quest types - which ones should you consider doing?

What types of quests are worth doing?

In advance: The answer to this question is, of course, a subjective one. If you want to know everything about Eorzea and its inhabitants, you're probably going to spend way more time doing quests than someone who just wants to get to the hardest content in the game as soon as possible. But whichever your style of play might be, there are a few details to consider.
First, no matter if you want to engage with the main story of Final Fantasy XIV or not, you'll have to prioritize those** Main Scenario Quests** (MSQ for short). Why? Because new game content is only unlocked by progressing in the main story.
Example: The areas, jobs, quests, etc. of the first expansion, Heavensward, are only available once the main scenario of a the base game, A Realm Reborn, has been completed - including the story quests of the patches that arrived before Heavensward!
So, if you want to reach the endgame of Final Fantasy XIV, the newest content, you'll have to clear all Main Scenario Quests up to that point. Neglecting these quests and thus the main story means you're going to hit a point in time where you are unable to progress any further - sooner or later.
Tl;dr: If you want to progress in Final Fantasy XIV, you are required to clear the Main Scenario Quests.
This might not be a surprise to those who came from single-player RPGs. But in the MMO genre, there actually are games that allow you to skip the main story - or at least huge chunks of it. That's a feature Final Fantasy XIV also offers - if you pay real money for it. That's something I would not recommend but more on that later.
Almost as important as completing the Main Scenario Quests would be completing your Class or Job Quests. You'll unlock one every few class/job levels (1, 5, 10, etc.) & they will show up in your Main Scenario Guide (upper left corner of your screen). These quests offer new actions for your class or job and thus should be completed as soon as possible. More actions = performing even better in battle.
Not as necessary but still recommended would be doing the Feature Quests. Simply put, they'll expand your game with new features, dungeons, raids, trials and so on. Some of the quest chains also feature characters from the main story, so even lore enthusiasts should consider playing them.
"Normal" Side-Quests are something you can honestly ignore entirely. They are not very efficient for levelling and the rewards are usually not worth the trouble either. It might seem weird to ignore the dozens of !-icons at first but trust me, if you're going to try and finish all of them, you'll quickly burn out instead. The very few Side-Quests I actually recommend doing are listed in my next guide to keep this section short.
Lastly, before we take a look at leves, the Repeatable Side-Quests. As they're only part of special side activities (Beast Tribes, Relic Weapons, etc.) to begin with, you'll decide if you want to tackle them or not.
Tl;dr: Absolutely necessary are the Main Scenario Quests as well as you Class and Job Quests. Feature Quests are highly recommended. Ignore "normal" Side Quests and Repeatable Quests unless you really want to do them.

Levequests

Before we finish talking about the quest types, there's one special type I need to address: Leves.

Again, the leve symbol is shown on the left. They are usually in the same level range as the zone they can be found in. Consider unlocking all of them during your A Realm Reborn playthrough, it won't take long.
To unlock leves in general, you'll need to finish a level 10-Main Scenario Quest, which is located in Gridania[na.finalfantasyxiv.com], Limsa Lominsa[na.finalfantasyxiv.com] or Ul'dah[na.finalfantasyxiv.com] - depending on the city your character originally started in. To unlock leves in a specific zone, you'll need to finish a short "unlock leve" for the levemaster of each zone. Important: Leves of higher-level zones can only be unlocked once the leves of lower level zones have been unlocked. As for leves in the expansions, it's usually enough to talk to a NPC to unlock all of them.
But what are leves to begin with, you might ask. Generally speaking, they're short, repeatable tasks that are offered by levemetes all around Eorzea. Basically, you turn in some leve allowances to complete a "mini-quest" under specific conditions and get some rewards in return. As previously mentioned, your character automatically gains three leve allowances every twelve (real-time) hours, up to a maximum of 100.
Leves come in three categories: Battlecraft, Tradecraft, Fieldcraft.
Battlecraft leves are only useful for very early levelling and have been discontinued after Heavensward. They can be ignored, for the most part.
Tradecraft and Fieldcraft leves are more interesting. They can be used for levelling crafting and gathering jobs: Just turn in specific items (crafted or gathered or, well, bought from other players) and you'll get some experience points in return. If you turn in multiple items or items that are of high quality, you'll receive even more! To tell the full story however, these leves have long been surpassed by another levelling method, the Ishgardian Restoration[na.finalfantasyxiv.com] (Heavendward spoiler!). While this method can only be used once the Heavensward main scenario is finished, it's considered the most efficient levelling method and thus the most popular one.
So, in the end, leves are usually neglected by players. Some people use specific Grand Company Leves to receive Grand Company Seals - but I personally prefer using another method: Turning in old gear at certain Grand Company representatives for Grand Company Seals. Less work and I get rid of the junk in my inventory, a win-win situation.
Tl:dr: While leves are a bit special compared to the other quest types, they're unfortunately not exactly useful. You may unlock them but don't expect them to be an important part of your gameplay loop.

The item level & You

After all the information about quests, let's focus on your character instead. Specifically, the gear of your character. You most likely already know that you should constantly try to get better gear in order to perform better. But there's more to that.
The different quests in Final Fantasy XIV always have a level requirement, a certain level your character must have reached in a job in order to accept the quest. A level 15 quest can only be accepted by a character that's at least level 15 and so on. Another requirement is usually a specific progress in the Main Scenario Quests.
Instanced content (dungeons, raids, etc.), similar to quests, requires your character to have a specific level and Main Scenario progress. However, and so do some quests, it also asks for a specific item level (iLvl for short). What's that? Each gear piece your character wears has an item level. These are not to be confused with the character level t