Since the release of patch 2.0, Final Fantasy XIV has become a smash hit that has won the world over. Today, FFXIV has become so popular that it rivals other MMORPG heavyweights like WoW and Guild Wars. Now, several years later, FFXIV has become more accessible to new players than ever before.
In this guide, I will go over everything you need to know as a beginner. This will include the different classes, roles, races, and jobs available; how leveling works in the game; housing, glamours, side-quests; and many of the social aspects of the game and how you can truly enjoy your FF experience.
So, without further ado, let’s get started.
Character Creation
Firstly, you’re going to need to start the game off by creating a character. This process breaks down by determining your character’s race, role, and class. Later, as you grow, you will also specify your character’s specific job.
Races
In FFXIV, there are a total of eight playable races to choose from. They each are broken into two separate clans. These clans affect the player’s main attributes.
The Hyur: The 1st playable race in FFXIV is the Hyur. This group of people was originally not part of Eorzea (FFXIV’s central region). They are the most human-looking race available in the game and are broken into two distinct tribes: the Highlanders and the Midlanders.
The Lalafell: They are a miniature-sized race of people south of Eorzea. They are made up of the Plainsfolk and the Dunesfolk tribes.
The Miqo’te: The 3rd playable race in the game, the Miqo’te are a cat-like race that is said to be derived from Eorzea. They are made up of the Seekers of the Sun and the Keepers of the Moon tribes.
The Roegadyn: The Roegadyn are the 4th race in the game and are an undersea people. They are made up of either the Sea Wolves or the Hellsguard tribe.
The Elezen: The Elezen is the 5th race in the game. As an Elezen, you can play either a member of the Wildwood or the Duskwight tribe. They strongly resemble the elven race from other fantasy games, sharing their long lives, beautiful features, and love of nature.
The Au Ra: The 6th race playable in the game. The Au Ra first showed up in the Heavensword game. They are a human/dragon hybrid race and are divided between the Raen and the Xaela clans.
The Viera: The 7th playable race, the Viera were made available in the Shadowbringers expansion. They are the beautiful half-human, half-rabbit people and are broken up into the Rava and the Veena clans. Currently, only the female gender is available.
The Hrothgar: The 8th race in the game. The Hrothgar first appeared in the Shadowbringers expansion. They are an animal race made up of two clans; the Helions and the Lost. Currently, only the male gender is available.
Each race does have its slight attribute variations between one another and their tribes. However, these stat differences are so minuscule that you shouldn’t expect any of them to have any real impact on your game, especially as you go up the levels with stats in the thousands (compared to the initial +1 or +2 variations).
When deciding, rather than look to any race for stat advantages (like in other RPGs), pick whatever you want entirely on how they look and which one you like. A Paladin Hrothgar isn’t going to be any more capable than a Paladin Lalafell (though it may undoubtedly look cooler).
Roles
After deciding on what race your character will be, you can determine what that character’s role will be throughout the game. Essentially, you can play three different types of roles: the Tank, the Healer, and the Damage Dealer.
Tanks are charged with distracting the enemies and keeping their attention away from the Healer and Damage Dealer. They have higher levels of defense as well as different taunting abilities.
Despite not being particularly dangerous or durable, healers are excellent for providing healing and stat buffs to their allies, particularly the Tank, to keep them fighting at top efficiency.
Damage Dealers operate by doing as much damage to the enemy as possible. This role doesn’t have the durability of a Tank but can do considerably more damage to an enemy by comparison.
Classes
Now, when it comes to a character’s class, there are several available options based on the role you’ve decided on. Tanks have Gladiators and Marauders; Healers have Conjurers; Damage Dealers (DPS) have several classes based on their type. A Melee DPS has the Rouge, Pugilist, and the Lancer classes; the Ranged DPS has the Archer class; the Magic DPS has the Arcanist and the Thaumaturge classes.
The Arcanist is the Magical DPS class in the game. They use several powerful spells like Summon, Ruin, or Painflare to face off against their enemies.
The Archer is one of the weaker DPS classes available. It is also the only Ranged DPS in the game. However, despite its lower damage output, Archers can strike a person further away than Melee DPS and strike instantly compared to Magical DPS.
The Conjurer is the only healing class in the game. They are given numerous spells primarily focused on improving their ally’s stats or increasing their health.
The Gladiator is one of the two available tanks between it and the Maurader. Gladiators focus on all one-handed bladed weapons. Their skills and abilities are focused on improving their defense or absorbing damage intended for another party member.
The Lancer is one of the three Melee DPS classes. They focus on consistent strikes towards the opponent with the desire to defeat them as fast as possible.
The Marauder is the second tank-based class available in the game after the Gladiator. Where Gladiators are focused on using the sword to fight, the Maurader focuses on the ax. They also have the highest amount of HP compared to every other class.
The Pugilist focuses on close-quarter combat and is one of the three Melee-based DPS classes. This class focuses on fast, overwhelming strikes against the opponent with the intent of overwhelming them.
The Rouge is the third Melee DPS character in the game. While not as durable as other DPS characters in the game, the Rouge uses their knives and daggers to perform high amounts of damage as fast as possible.
The Thaumaturge, the second Magic DPS outside of the Arcanist, Thaumaturge characters can create very powerful dark magic to cause a ton of damage to their opponent. Spells like Fire, Thunder, and Xenoglossy all do a ton of damage once fully charged and unleashed.
Jobs
Jobs put simply, are an upgraded version of whatever class the person was. These jobs can often require a character to reach a certain level threshold(such as 30) to enjoy many of the stat and ability benefits offered.
There are 18 different jobs available, with each role having no more than four jobs.
Tanks
- Paladin: The advanced level of a Gladiator. In exchange for their offensive abilities, they have a near impenetrable defense.
- Warrior: The more capable version of the Maurader. Warriors have an increased self-healing as well as resistance to damage.
- Dark Knight: Works similar to the Paladin or Warrior, the Dark Knight uses greatswords and life-stealing magic attacks.
- Gunbreaker: Using a gunblade, Gunbreakers have an improved cutting power and can create a powerful barrier.
Healer
- White Mage: The more powerful version of Sorcerers. White Mages are said to only be accessible by the Warrior of Light canonically. They can cast more powerful healing magic with wider areas of effect.
- Scholar: Scholars are accompanied by a fairy that aids them in battle. They work together to perform their healing techniques.
- Astrologian: A very capable upgrade for the standard Healer. They use their knowledge of the stars to perform their abilities.
Melee DPS
- Monk: The more capable version of Pugilist. They are a hand-to-hand expert that focuses on “chakra” and meditation to improve their abilities.
- Dragoon: The next step from a Lancer. Dragoons focus on utilizing their jumps to increase their attack damage.
- Ninja: Ninjas are a more capable Rogue. They add ninjutsu to their fast attacks and can give themselves substantial buffs.
- Samurai: Samurai does not come with a base class and only is available at level 50. They are given numerous sword strikes that perform massive damage instantly.
Ranged DPS
- Bard: Bards, like Dancers and Machinists, are Ranged DPS. Bards, in particular, offer helpful songs to improve their ally’s stats.
- Machinist: The Machinist doesn’t have a base class and must initially reach level 30 before becoming available. They operate by using guns and ranged firearms to do large amounts of damage to an enemy.
- Dancer: The Dancer’s job is available only after hitting level 60 and completing the “Shall We Dance” quest. Not only are they great for ranged damage from their chakrams, but they can also offer different buffs to their party members through their dances.
Magical DPS
- Black Mage: The enhanced Thaumaturge in terms of offensive magic. Black Mages can produce powerful spells that increase their destructive nature while reducing the casting time.
- Summoner: Summoners call forth different primals to perform powerful abilities and different summons. They are the more advanced version of Arcanists.
- Red Mage: Red Mages are available only after reaching level 50. These characters are a mix of ranged and melee combat, using magical attacks in addition to rapier strikes.
- Blue Mage: A very niche job that isn’t directly tied to any other class. It requires learning abilities from enemies. Currently, to access, you must at least have a level 50 in either a warrior or magic class.
This is just a brief understanding of each role, class, and job. One thing that is interesting about FFXIV is that you are not locked into any class or job. By using a job-specific weapon, your character will immediately become that job title. This makes shifting from one type to the next very easy and very appealing.
Character Leveling
The process for leveling your character is pretty similar to every other MMO title. To quickly level up, you must focus a lot of your time and attention on completing the Main Scenario Quests (MSQ) and your class Quests every five levels. This will ensure you never are confused about what to do or where to progress.
The game also has dungeons to explore to increase your level. Completing the first dungeon will open up the Duty Roulette. By completing this roulette daily, you open yourself up to a ton of exp and rewards.
Another excellent method of increasing your levels faster is by starting a game while using an Experience Boost. Also, visiting the Hall of the Novice is a great method of improving your experience as completing it will give you the Brand New Ring, a ring that increases the amount of experience you get by 30%.
Main Quests (MSQ)
One of the most significant parts of the game, interestingly enough, is its main story questline. Despite the multiplayer game, FFXIV has a compelling and exciting main story that must be experienced to be believed.
On top of the fact that the characters are compelling and the story itself is engaging, playing through the MSQ also ensures you know what is happening in the world around you. Knowing why things are playing out the way they are is incredibly important to your overall experience with the game and shouldn’t be ignored.
Playing the MSQ is also crucial in terms of quickly raising your level. While I mentioned this earlier, completing the story can help you gain many levels very fast. But that’s not the only thing. You also have many other side quests surrounding your character’s class, job, and race. These are all equal parts engaging and fun as they are necessary for improving your character’s levels.
Appearance Customization Glamour
When it comes to the number of ways you can make your character look different and good, it is kind of amazing. You could technically argue that there are more options here than in WoW, which is saying something.
The game has different types of Epic Armor: traditional Japanese clothing, casual clothes, pajamas, and even access to clothing and armor worn by NPCs.
However, what takes it to that full final step is that you can color and dye your clothing/armor. Not all gear can be colored, but the vast majority of it can be. This means your character can look virtually any way you want with varying pieces of clothing put as a set or by themselves.
And that’s just the armor. Many of the game’s weapons are downright stunning to look at and are incredible. As with armor, virtually every piece of weapon gear can be colored to match whatever style you have in mind.
Essentially, you can create a character as unique and specialized as you want and why some pretty crazy-looking players are running around.
The Social Experience
Finally, what truly makes FFXIV so much fun to play is because it is an MMORPG.
What do I mean by that?
To put it simply, MMOs are, by their very nature, “investment games.” The more we as people invest in something, the more we fundamentally seem to enjoy it. This is most clearly observed in the social aspects of an MMO. Unlike other games that are primarily single-player or “silent multiplayers” (multiplayer games that don’t require long-term cooperation between players), FFXIV is heavy on community. They have several systems in place to help foster goodwill between players.
Not only does FFXIV cultivate a great community because of these systems, but they arguably have one of the best gaming communities around. Seasoned veterans go out of their way to help newer members get their bearings, while most guilds will be much more understanding to new members messing up than other MMOs.
FFXIV also has some excellent in-game resources that are available to players. The Novice Network is a chat system that hosts novices and veterans to the game. Here, new players can get direct answers on how certain parts of the game operate.
Cross-Play
In addition, the game is available on the PC as well as the PS4 and PS5. This is great because the game employs cross-play. As a result, you can play with any of your friends regardless of their personal use system, whether it is on either the Playstation consoles or the PC.
The one downside to the online social aspect of the game is that the PvP section isn’t nearly as toothy compared to games like WoW or ESO. That isn’t to say that it is by any means useless. A lot is going for their PvP gaming experience. However, if you expect it to be as fleshed out and impressive as their PvE and storied content, it will be a slight letdown for some.
