Game questions?

Lord.Bachus

Never got past level 30 in this game..
might be willing to plunge into it
but i want some questions answered first.

- till level 30 the zones feel small and narrow, will this open up later in game and in the expansion? I love huge open zones..
- how much time does playing trough all the main storie(s) take?
- how much do you enjoy the combat?
- what endgame progression systems are there?

Albatroes

Lord.Bachus said:

Never got past level 30 in this game..
might be willing to plunge into it
but i want some questions answered first.

- till level 30 the zones feel small and narrow, will this open up later in game and in the expansion? I love huge open zones..
- how much time does playing trough all the main storie(s) take?
- how much do you enjoy the combat?
- what endgame progression systems are there?

1) Depends on the zone and what level you are since some zones you're kind of 'kept away from' until you're higher level (kept away from as in there being higher level mobs in those parts). Heavensward and onward tend to open up more though (which is 50+) since you get flying, but the real question should be is there much to do in those since, which unfortunately is not really the case. Kind of pointless to have huge open areas if there's nothing really to do in them (of course some people will say hunts/gather....but come on....)

2) Through ARR's alone, it can take 2 weekish depending on how long you play (5.3 is supposedly going to revamp the ARR experience), others can take about 1/4 of the time, but access to new areas is gated behind the story, so you can't access heavensward areas until you finish all of ARR, etc.

3) Combat is a mixed bag. 5.0 recently changed how a few classes played, so I can't say that each class has always played "well" all the way through. For example, summoner has been greatly over-hauled, so some people like the new playstyle while others hate it (I'm in the hate-it camp). Also you have to keep in mind that this game greatly relies on "weaving" (using your ogcds between your gcds) for a lot of jobs (classes) to 'smooth' out the experience. Personally, I've liked the machnist playstyle which is ranged physical (you also need to get access to heavensward first before you can unlock it) and red mage is pretty reliable (unlocked at 50) but bard (archer) is pretty reliable too, just gets a little 'complex' at later levels.

4) Personally, endgame is pretty boring. Stats are raw and uninteresting, so it just becomes about chances bigger numbers since there's no set-bonuses or additional effects on gear in the game. The fights are good enough, but the loot is very weak.

Outside of that, you can play the trial unlimited up to level 35 (you might need to make a new trial account to do so), which gives you a decent look at some stuff. You can also save some story progression time by just completing as much as you can before you buy the game to increase the cap.

Ridelynn

A lot of people hate the long GCD, and early on when you don’t have a full toolkit, it is frustratingly slow.

Once you hit 50 and flesh out the skills though it gets better and starts to make sense as to why it is a bit longer - it leads to weaving off-cooldowns. 

Personally I think it is a bit too dense with skills - you end up with a lot of them by the time you max and probably 40% of them are highly situational. But I think the combat ends up paced about correctly once you have the skill set fleshed out.

The world (and zones) get much bigger as you progress through expansions.

End game is one of three things:
Gear Grinding through raiding
Crafting (very much endgame here)
Collections (pets, mounts, glamour, what have you)

Tiller

 I was in the same boat as OP until just this month I decided to resub and look for a class I like playing, went Archer, then Bard for now. Sure dungeon queues are a bit longer, but I like DPS. Not sure where I will go after I get to the first expansion content, currently at 43 now. There is tons to do in this game and systems are introduced over the leveling experience slowly. You really just gotta find a class that you like, try as many out as you need.

I decided to actually get into the lore and have been reading all dialog, and watching cut scenes (outside of dungeons). Pretty much love this game now and can kinda see where the story is driving.

As for zones, some of the base game zones are smallish, but there is a reason. Lots of fetch quests early game, but all story driven. As you level you go back to earlier zones and new quests appear. Make sure you do the main scenario quests since those unlock mount speed new areas and side quests along the way. Try to work your class quests to line up with the main scenario quests and side quests, it makes it easier and you 'll be running around less.

Based on what I hear the first expansion is pretty good, and the zones do get bigger. As for time playing through the MSQ, that depends on skipping dialog like others have said. This game is definitely abut the journey and is heavily story driven.

Keep this opened up while you play, it gives you an idea where you go next and what to prepare for.

https://ffxiv.consolegameswiki.com/wiki/Main_Scenario_Quests

Theocritus

I didn't get very far either but I did not like the smallness and restrictiveness of the game.

Lord.Bachus

Ridelynn said:

A lot of people hate the long GCD, and early on when you don’t have a full toolkit, it is frustratingly slow.

Once you hit 50 and flesh out the skills though it gets better and starts to make sense as to why it is a bit longer - it leads to weaving off-cooldowns. 

Personally I think it is a bit too dense with skills - you end up with a lot of them by the time you max and probably 40% of them are highly situational. But I think the combat ends up paced about correctly once you have the skill set fleshed out.

The world (and zones) get much bigger as you progress through expansions.

End game is one of three things:
Gear Grinding through raiding
Crafting (very much endgame here)
Collections (pets, mounts, glamour, what have you)

Thanks good answers..
i read about the combat improvements at higher level..
omly restriction i see there, is that everyone (class) has the same skills
but i guess having a huge amount of skills allows you to play in your own way a bit?

Another thing that got me wondering is how the pvp seems to make no sense to me. 

Good tough to hear the zones get bigger..

another question, can you level 2 classes paralel on the story and side quests, and all those other great ways to make XP?

Panther2103

Lord.Bachus said:

Ridelynn said:

A lot of people hate the long GCD, and early on when you don’t have a full toolkit, it is frustratingly slow.

Once you hit 50 and flesh out the skills though it gets better and starts to make sense as to why it is a bit longer - it leads to weaving off-cooldowns. 

Personally I think it is a bit too dense with skills - you end up with a lot of them by the time you max and probably 40% of them are highly situational. But I think the combat ends up paced about correctly once you have the skill set fleshed out.

The world (and zones) get much bigger as you progress through expansions.

End game is one of three things:
Gear Grinding through raiding
Crafting (very much endgame here)
Collections (pets, mounts, glamour, what have you)

Thanks good answers..
i read about the combat improvements at higher level..
omly restriction i see there, is that everyone (class) has the same skills
but i guess having a huge amount of skills allows you to play in your own way a bit?

Another thing that got me wondering is how the pvp seems to make no sense to me. 

Good tough to hear the zones get bigger..

another question, can you level 2 classes paralel on the story and side quests, and all those other great ways to make XP?

You get to play around with skills a little bit but for me you essentially had multiple rotations that you went through in raids in a certain order to get a higher damage rotation for a certain amount of time all the while weaving around 5 or 6 off GCD skills into the rotations to add a bit more DPS, but I only played Dragoon so I'm not sure how other classes work comparatively. 

You can use different classes during the story and side quests, but honestly later on story / side quests give very little exp and I found doing dungeons was the quickest way to level while doing roulettes each day to get tons of exp. I mean obviously still do the story quests as you need them to get into the later expansions.

The PvP in the game isn't very good and never really has been. I did it quite a bit just because it was something else to do but it never felt balanced and the devs very obviously did not care about PvP content. 

Tiller

In some dungeons you might find you gain 2 levels in one run. Just something to keep in mind. Make sure you watch a youtube run through explanation for each new dungeon you unlock as it helps to kinda have an idea what you are doing when you enter. It takes 5-7min tops for most videos, and saves you a lot of pain in the end.

Lord.Bachus

Tiller said:

In some dungeons you might find you gain 2 levels in one run. Just something to keep in mind. Make sure you watch a youtube run through explanation for each new dungeon you unlock as it helps to kinda have an idea what you are doing when you enter. It takes 5-7min tops for most videos, and saves you a lot of pain in the end.

Thats somthing i refuse to do... it takes away most fun of doing something new...

thats why i in general do rus as a caster dps..
or healer...  in most games you can just follow the others and learn along the way..

Tiller

Lord.Bachus said:

Tiller said:

In some dungeons you might find you gain 2 levels in one run. Just something to keep in mind. Make sure you watch a youtube run through explanation for each new dungeon you unlock as it helps to kinda have an idea what you are doing when you enter. It takes 5-7min tops for most videos, and saves you a lot of pain in the end.

Thats somthing i refuse to do... it takes away most fun of doing something new...

thats why i in general do rus as a caster dps..
or healer...  in most games you can just follow the others and learn along the way..

To each is own; but in some cases it helps to know where or where not to stand. That an in a few cases where you need to TP back to the start of a dungeon, people have been left behind not knowing they needed to tp out.

Lord.Bachus

Played a free account for half the day... 
got 2 classes and the main story to level 15...

since in tend to read quests, the experience was quite enjoyable
altough skills come very slow to the classes..

Just got my first airship ride..
i guess its time to level a 3rd class to 15..
so far the guild quests/stories where quite enjoyable
and gave a lot of background to the story..

seems i can go to 35 on the free account..
more then enough time to make up my mind... when