Author Archives: Aleczan Knighthill

Goodbye Heavensward – En Taro Adun

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Waiting for Stormblood now, I dug up some of my recent screenshots.

It’s hard to steal a group shot of our FC. :( Especially when /gpose kept making Dew turn away from the camera. This is weird. It sometimes happened with specific emotes, but I don’t know what caused it.

Kuji siting on the fire with his shield on fire. LOL

Before Kuji arrived, Dew, Corn and I went to Dun Scaith and had quite an ordeal with the party/alliance. People died a lot. They died way too much, including my healer buddy. ><;; Sad panda. It was extremely exhausting!

After whining about Kuji’s being late, I showed him my new hair from Gold Saucer event.

I actually changed to new hair since a few days ago, after I finished the event. And Corn happened to change to the new hair too. He saw mine when we got into Baelsar’s Wall for Bray’s Main Q and he laughed.

Good pic in front of the boss room, but Corn’s Garuda photobombed my face. T_T

Hotbars and Actions

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*This guide is OBSOLETE as of Stormblood release, in June 2017, because there is no more “Cross Class Action” and they implemented a new system called Roles. So you select the skills/spells from role list in a similar way with this.*

Sorry, had to split this entry into a new one because it’s long and has so many screenshots.

Now let’s talk about Hotbars and Actions (Abilities/Skills/Spells).

You can put many things in your Hotbar for fast access or execution. Now, let’s see what you can do about your hotbar and skills and spells.

(See my messy Hotbars HAHAHAHA)

First, open your Actions & Traits menu by using shortcut button, P. Or open it manually from main menu => Character => Actions & Traits.

In the left pane, select “Actions” for active skills. It will list your currect class/job skills, arranged chronologically by level.

Usually, when you newly level up and learn/acquire a new spell or skill, the spell/skill will automatically appear on the next available slot on Hotbar 1. But if your Hotbar 1 is full, it may or may not show up on Hotbar 2. If it does not appear, you have to manually put it on the hot bar in order to able to use the spell/skill.

Also, if you don’t like where the skill was automatically assigned, you can “Unlock” your hotbar arrangement and rearrange the spells/skills as you like by dragging and dropping it. To unlock your Hotbar buttons, click on the lock (padlock) icon on the right of your Hotbar 1.

Next, let’s explore your additional abilities. These are sometimes called “Cross-class skills” and it can only be acquired by leveling up other class/job. Once you learn the skill or spell from other class, when you come back to play your main class, you can “steal” or “borrow” some spells/skills from other class.

Select “Additional” category on the left pane of your Actions & Traits menu. You will have to drag and drop the ability from this window onto your Hotbar.

For example, I have Swiftcast ability and have it selected in my Additional ability menu, but didn’t have it on my Hotbar. So I click on it and hold the mouse button…..and then drag it to the desired spot on my Hotbar.

To remove the spell/skill from your hotbar, to make an empty slot again, you can either drag the skill and throw it away outside of the hotbar area (make sure the Hotbar is unlocked) or you can right click on the spell/skill and choose “remove” on the menu that appears.

Oh, but if your “Additional” ability menu is empty, you have to select the class you want to borrow it from. Here, in the pic below, you can see that at level 20, we’re allowed to choose 4 cross-class abilities. To choose a skill/spell, you have to select the check box to make it appear below.

When you select other class in the menu on the left, it will show available abilities from the other class. Here, in the example, I select ACN (Arcanist) abilities and enabled Eye for an Eye skill.

I can now drag “Eye for am Eye” from Additional abilities window onto my Hotbar.

Oh, and after this, if I want to change to enable other spells/skills instead, I can uncheck the box of “Eye for an Eye” to make the slot empty again. The skill on my Hotbar will become dim (grey out) and can no longer be used, until I reselect it again.

One interesting thing about Cross-class skills is that when you’re under the effect of Level Sync (like, going into a dungeon that’s lower level than you, or participate in a FATE at lower level than you) the Additional Abilities available slots will be limited (capped down).

See that I had unlocked 4 slots for Additional Abilities, up to level 40. But now I am level 20, so the system only allowed me to use 2 cross-class skills, showing 4/2 beside the Level Sync status symbol. The ones in the slots of higher level are disabled (greyed out, or dimmed).

When inside the dungeon, if you have no enmity (no aggro, meaning not fighting or did not do anything to help the party member who’s fighting) you can rearrange (change order) of Additional Abilities to make you able to access the skills/spells that you need more than the others.

Please note, though, that swapping Cross-class skills inside a dungeon has the same effect as changing class/job outside of Sanctuary area, most of your abilities will become “used” and need to wait for the recast cooldown timer.

Here, for example, if you enter the dungeon with abilities arranged in this order, you cannot cast Protect for your party. You can rearrange the order by drag and drop, to exchange spots of the abilities.

EXTRA: if you’re a healer and you want to help the party DPS (shooting offensive spells at enemies) and you want to stay on Cleric Stance, you can use the Cross-Class skill swapping trick to enable Cleric Stance, use it, and stay in Cleric Stance, then swap other spells or skill to be enabled instead. Or if you know the party will finish the dungeon within 30 minutes (before Protect wears off), you can also use Protect on the party, and then swap Additional skills, putting Protect spell away and selecting other spells instead, too.

Hotbar : Customizing your Hotbars

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As you can see, on your game screen, there are rows of skill bars with 10 buttons each, this is called Hotbar.

By default, when you newly start the game, it will show only 2 bars, but you can config your settings to make it show more. You can rearrange the buttons order, you can move your bars to specific part or corner of your screen. You can also set or assign (keybind) shortcut button for each of the hotbar button as well. (Like, ALT+1 or CTRL+5, or even SHIFT+CTRL+0 – but we will explain Keybind settings in depth later.)

To access your Horbar configuration, first hit K button to open your System menu and select Character Configuration.

Then among the red and gold buttons on the left pane, select “Hotbar Settings” category. You can see in the pic below that there are checkboxes. When you check it, the interface of you gameplay screen will show the hotbar you select.  The unchecked ones will be hidden, invisible.

On the right, you can also select the form of the specific hotbar. They can be vertical or horizontal, and can appear as 1 row, 2 rows, or 4 rows.

Look at my Hotbar 10, for example. Now it’s invisible because the box is not checked.

When you check or light up the checkbox of Hotbar 10, it will appear somewhere on your screen. You can drag it to reposition to anywhere you like.

See how when you change choice of form, it became 3×4 row instead of 1 long row.

Next, let’s explore one function of the Horbar Settings: Enable hotbar cycling button. This setting applies to your default Hotbar 1. When it is enabled (it’s enabled by default), you will see the arrow button above and below number 1 of Hotbar 1, on your screen. When you click the arrow, it will show other bar instead of Horbar 1.

This is good for when you want to quickly access other Hotbar that you didn’t set to show. For faster selection, you can also use Shift+1 or Shift+5, for example, to immediately jump to the hotbar number that you desire.

When you uncheck the box for “Enable hotbar cycling button” it will no longer let you use the arrow to change hotbar display. But you can still use the Shift+NUMBER command to jump between horbars.

NEXT: Hotbars and Actions (Abilities/Skills/Spells)
NEXT: Hotbars and putting things on your Hotbars.

HUD Layout

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Alright, now let’s talk about HUD Layout. HUD means Head-Up Display, and it refers to all the menu and user interface you see on your screen.

Extra note: When you want to take a screenshot without seeing the interface, you can hit the button: Scroll Lock (ScrLk) on your keyboard once, and all HUD will be hidden. If you hit the same button again, they will come back. If you use Notebook computer and don’t have Scroll Lock button, you have to manually set a Keybind (assign shortcut keys to commands) in the Keybind menu.

To access HUD Layout menu, you must look at your main menu (the row of small buttons that are red and gold) and use the “System” button.

The “System” button will bring up a small list. There, you can see some menu have its own Shortcut Key already assigned. They will show the name of button as a reminder for you when you want to use shortcut key.  Now, select HUD Layout.

This will bring up a transparent overlay, telling you where things are. Usually, the default HUD setting is cumbersome…. Now you can rearrange everything to your liking. You can either use the mouse to grab and drag any window in HUD Layout setting, and move it to anywhere you want. But if some HUD frames are too close to each other or overlap, and you cannot grab the one you want, you can use this pulldown menu to make the wanted HUD frame become selected, then you can drag it to the spot you like.

There are 4 slots to save HUD Layouts, this is useful if you have different HUD Layouts specially designed for different situations or different dungeons. If you want to copy a HUD Layout from a slot you saved, to a new slot, you have to use the gear (cog) button here.

And select the original slot, and select the destination to copy. Now, from example screenshot below, your slot 4 will have same setting as slot 1.

If you select other unsaved slot, it will show default HUD Layout, like this.

Now, don’t forget to hit “Save” button before you exit the menu.

Some elements of the HUD can be dragged and dropped on play screen without having to go into HUD Layout menu. Hotbars, for example, can be grabbed with your mouse cursor (if you didn’t disable drag and drop for Hotbars.) You have to aim for the Hotbar’s number in front of the row, right click with your mouse, hold and move, then release the mouse button where you want it to stay.

Same for the Chat box. If you grab and hold the first tab, you can move the whole chat window and reposition it.

If you grab on other tab of chat, however, when you drag it, it will pop out and separate from the main chatlog window. You can float it anywhere, so now you can read 2 chat tabs at the same time. If you want to put it back together, you have to click on the X button to close the float window.

I think that’s it for HUD Layout guide.

Chat Log Settings

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OK Today we’ll talk about Chat Log Settings.

When you’re in a battle, or on a busy place with a lot of crowds, most of the time your chatlog (message display window) will run so fast and you can easily miss a message from your FC or friends because it get pushed off the top of your tony chat screen before you could read it or notice it.

Here’s one method to reduce or avoid that.

First, look at your chat message box, there should be a + button which allos you to add a new “tab” in your chatlog window. Everyone starts with 3 tabs already created for you, and you can add the 4th one. You can also rename any of the old tabs and reconfig them any way you like.

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For me, I named my 4th tab “CHAT” but since it might get confusing while I’m explaining things here, I changed the name to “Conversation.”

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How to config a chat tab? You have to look at the bottom of the chatlog window again, and find the button with gear (cog) symbol. When you click it, it will bring up the Chat Log Settings window.

 

 

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This window can be found, in other method, by opening your “Character Configuration” menu (keyboard shortcut : K button) and select “Log Window Setting” on the bottom of the left pane. Then you will see “General” menu by default.

For configuring the Log Filters for each tab, you have to look and click the tab you want to set. This time, let’s set the newest tab first, my Conversation tab.

Chatlog_03

I suggest to set Conversation tab to show all chat message, and hide all battle/system messages. You can look at “Chat” category in the Log Filter menu and check/uncheck things on the list. I highly recommend showing (check) Say, Tell, Party, Free Company, and Linkshell.  If you think you need to hear the Yell and the Shout, for hunting or for eavesdropping the public, you can also check the Yell and Shout filter to have them shown.

For 24-man content, like raid dungeons, it is recommended to set Alliance messages to show as well, because sometimes people discus battle strategies in Alliance channel.

For me, my 3rd tab is “Event” and I set it like the pic below. This will allow me to click on that tab to read what I might have missed while talking to an NPC spamming OK OK OK without reading carefully.  XD
Chatlog_04

Then, for those who have multiple linkshells, or dislike the default chat font colours, you can access “Log Text Colors” menu and reassign other colour to each of your chat message category.

For me, I set each linkshell a different colour, to decrease the chance of getting confused about who said what from which linkshell, and less likely to reply in the wrong one.
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In Log Details menu, you can also optionally add Time Stamp to each of your chat tabs. You can also change font size.

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Last but not least, you can set Sound Notification for each channel of the chat.

You can select the sound individually, and then test it to see whether you like it or not, before hitting OK or Apply button to save your settings

Chatlog_07

I set notification sounds to all these because I want to hear the beep when anyone talks in my FC, LS, PT, and in private message. If your LS talks all the time, however, I would recommend turning the sound off, because it can get annoying.

And then, when you’re on your main screen, if you want to read the Conversation tab, you have to click on the tab button under your chat window, it will show only the messages that you set in the Log Filters. This way, it is easier to catch up with your FC conversations or to reread it after the time has passed.

Chatlog_08

Lord Hubby – Lavender Beds

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Went out to the Lavender Beds with Raykit’s Lord Haurchefant for a session of photo shoot.

Yesterday, late night, Raykit told me she was going to play FE (something like that) and thus she would log into her Lord Haurchefant alt to let me take screenshots while she’s half AFK. So, here goes my spam. XD
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Lavender Beds has some wonderful spot for photo shooting.

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Even at night, with proper lighting from grouppose control, we can still take pictures with good exposure and colours. The photos below, however, were mostly adjusted outside of the game using PC program called PhotoScape and one of its presets of Film Effect.

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Night turned into morning, and I was still there spamming my screenshot button gleefully, LOL.

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I took about 200 screenshots in this session, and I’m posting 42 of them. Most of the pics were repeated shots of same thing, trying to achieve best lighting/position/direction/details.

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What’s a bummer was that while I was adjusting the camera angle and distance of the pic below, it became 8 o’clock and the weather changed, giving us Fog.

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//screams with frustration!

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At least the fog wasn’t too ugly and did not obstruct the photo that much (like, for example, Dust Storm is a hair-pulling kind of weather for any screenshot freak.)
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The new /gpose features are really, really great. SE did a wonderful job.

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The tree in the mist does look pretty, after all.

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Another extreme adjustment from Film Effect.

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The one below was natural lighting from in-game.

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Nice pose, nice angle, but that Botanist NPC…..

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I could even tilt the camera 90° and take portrait pics.

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Love it! Great job, SE.

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Teeheehee!

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Happy time.

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Then, we moved to other part of the Lavender Beds.

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This lotus pond is nice.

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Background…. foggy green sky. Cry.

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I adjusted color temperature in PhotoScape and turned it more blue.

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Self note: I have to go back there again and take this pic with bright blue sky.

It will be a nice wallpaper for my phone. XD
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After that, we moved to Dappled Stalls. It’s a nice small field of flowers, with chocobos in the background LOL!

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Sunset…

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And then night time came. I had to rely heavily on gpose lighting, otherwise the characters look too dark.

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The 2 pics below took 24 attempts, as it cannot be done smoothly in gpose. The hand position was achieved by having Lord-sama stand in a specific pose where he kind of runs his hand through front hair, or smooths it back, and I entered /gpose and quickly capture the photo in 1 second. Cannot adjust camera angle or lighting before taking pic, and if the timing failed, I had to exit /gpose and re-enter again. XD

What a fuss! But it’s totally worth it.

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Night sky.

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Embrace and salute.

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Really gotta love the stop/pause function in /gpose.

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Can pick the best frame of the emote to create desires positioning.

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:3 Same pause, different angle.

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Many different angles, actually.

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Cannot achieve this without stop/pause function. Bravo SE!

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Could even take a vertical pic.

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Huggle!

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Our old trick, using /bow to make Lord-sama lean closer into the hug.

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Last pic, it’s purely in-game lighting, without additional lighting from /gpose. Day time in the game really gives nice and vibrant colours. Really love it.

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Testing poses of /doze on bed

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I wish SE would add a bed for married couples. Their current king-sized beds are all huge and have wide space between the two persons. When Raykit was free, she logged on to her Lord-sama character and I tried using another bed to sneakily let me lie on the bed closer to each other. The results were great and we got a bunch of adorable pics. :)

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And when I need better angle of my position, I tilted the bed underneath and kept adjusting until the angle and distance were both suitable.

This setting is only good for close-up photos, because the headboard of the 2nd bed shows profusely and makes the picture really bad when you zoom out.

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It will take a lot of trials and errors to eventually find more poses and combinations that makes good photos. :D

Eternal Bonding Ceremony

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So, today my character on Tonberry was in an Eternal Bonding Ceremony, wedding to a handsome Lord Haurchefant (Raykit’s character) and I’m posting a few pics here.


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The paths we walk, the oaths we swear,
The triumphs we share and the burdens we bear,
All will be cherished and kept in our hearts,
Stay faithful and loyal ‘till death do us part.

To love and to care, in sickness and in health,
Through thick and thin, through poverty and wealth.
To have and to hold, from this day forward,
For better, for worse, we shall go onward.

To serve, to protect, to aid in times of need,
I shall be by your side, through your every deed.
My love will not falter, my heart will not break,
Having you by my side, is the choice that I make.

With trust and honour, with love and with life,
We share all together, as husband and wife.

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I’ve also build a temporary room depicting a church for photo sessions in the FC house.

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The full album of photos from today contains over 100 screenshots, and I don’t want to spam them all here. So I uploaded the folder separately to DropBox. > HERE <

FFXIV : Chat input modes

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Today I’m going to talk about in-game chat system.

First of all, there are many “channels” of chat.

Chat_Channel1

 

♥ Types of chat ♥

Tell : Private message, you talk to other person one-on-one. Default color is pink.

Say : Public message, only people near you will see it. Default color is white.

Party : Party chat, only party members will see it. Default color is cyan blue.

Alliance : Alliance chat, to communicate with members of the 3 parties that were formed into an alliance. Default color is deep orange.

Yell : Public message, will be seen by people in slightly larger area than “say.” Default color is yellow.

Shout : Public message, everyone currently in the same area map as you will see it. Default color is pale orange.

Free Company : FC chat, only members of the same Free Company will see it. Default color is pale blue.

Linkshell : LS chat, only people in the same linkshell will see. One person can be in 8 linkshells at the same time. Each linkshell will have its own separated chat and you have to send message separately if you’re talking in 2 or more LS at the same time. Default color is bright green.

Novice Network : Special chat for Novices (newbies/beginners). Sometimes you might get invited into the Novice Network. In that chat, people can ask questions and the Mentors (more experienced players) can answer or explain things. Default color is pale green.

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♥ Changing chat input mode ♥

When you log in, the chat mode will always set default input on SAY. If you want to change the default input, there are 2 ways to do it.

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  • Click on the bubble button on the left of your chat input box, and then select the mode you want.
  • Type the chat mode command, and then hit enter. This will save your selected input mode.
    • Tell : /t Name Surname – For /tell mode, you need to specify recipient name.
    • Say : /s
    • Party : /p
    • Alliance : /a
    • Yell : /y
    • Shout : Shout cannot be set as default mode, you have to manually change it to shout every time you want to shout.
    • Free Company : /fc
    • Linkshell : /l
    • Linkshells : /l1 (for LS #1) /l2  (for LS #2)  /l3 (for LS #3, and so on)
    • Novice Network : /n

 

If you only want to temporarily change the chat input mode for just 1 message, you can easily do it any time before sending the message: before typing, in the middle of typing, after finishing typing the sentence. Just use ALT (Alternate) and a shortcut key that you set for each channel (mode). If you didn’t set it, the default key will be:

  • Tell : ALT + T
  • Say : ALT + S
  • Party : ALT + P
  • Alliance : ALT + A
  • Yell : ALT + Y
  • Shout : ALT + H
  • Free Company : ALT + F
  • Linkshell : ALT + L
  • Linkshells : Hitting ALT + L again and again will cycle through all of your LS.
  • Novice Network : ALT + N
  • *Special* ALT + R : Reply to the most recent person who sent you a /tell. If you hit the buttons ALT + R again and again, it will rotate between more persons who had sent you a /tell previously.

 

To type in the chat input box, you can either use your mouse to click inside the box, or hit Enter key once to make your input cursor appear in the chat input box. When you use the ALT shortcut key from the list above, it will also automatically target and activate the chat input box, so you can start typing your message without having to manually click on the box.

Newbies “should do” list

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Ah… there are many new players in my Tonberry FC now so I’m making a list of what to learn about as a newbie. Please note that these are just my suggestion, it is not mandatory. But many things in this list will make your life easier or at least more convenient.

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Update notes:
25 Jan 2017 – adding:
Hunting Log (lv 5),
Guildhest (lv 10),
Dye Quest (lv 15) and Ferry from Limsa,
Guildhest Roulette (lv 17),
Challenge Log (lv 17),
Gold Saucer, and <pos>
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*Note* Before you buy anything from the Markey Board, remember that people selling stuff on the marketboard usually aim for profits, so things are usually more expensive. If you want to buy extra equipment (besides the free equipment you will get from doing quests) you should browse shops and stalls in the market area where real NPCs are selling many kinds of stuff.

Level 1 – Do all the level 1-3 quests in your starting town. You can quickly open your Journal which is where you can view all your quests by pressing keyboard’s default shortcut key: J.

You should also go visit your “Mog Mail” at a Delivery Moogle (there’s a mailman moogle in towns and at most of the camps outsidde.)

*Remember* When you go away from keyboard (idle) or want to log out from the game, try to log out in the town or at Aetheryte if you’re outdoor, because these areas have Sanctuary effect which will grant EXP bonus after you stand in it for a very long time.

*Important* Try to touch (attune) to every Aethernet (mini aetheryte in the town) that you see. It will help you get to places in the town faster by using it to warp around.

Level 3 – By the time you finish all of these small quests from townsfolk, you will have have been introduced to all of the key locations in the town, and have visited all aethernets in your town. After attuning to all Aethernets in one town, you will see a pop up text saying you have unlocked other 2 or 3 Aethernet destinations as well. Earning these new destinations will let you exit the town to any of the desired gate, making you travel much faster using Aethernets.

Level 5 – By this time you should have already been familiar with your class (job) guild and you should take guild test quest every 5 levels, so that you can get free gear. These free level 5 gear from guild quests and sidequests will be important to you soon, because at level 5, there is a Main Scenario Quest (I usually call these MQ – Main Quest) or Story Quest that requires you to wear level 5 gear as a part of equipment inspection.  (Character and Equipment menu – Default Shortcut key: C)

Also, by finishing guild test quest of your class at level 5, the system will introduce you to a Hunting Log. (Default Shortcut key: H) This is a very good source of EXP. Open your Hunting Log and check to see what type of enemies you have to kill. When you complete the kill order, you will be rewarded with EXP. If you finish all the orders from level 1 to 10, and you level up to level 11, the Hunting Log will unlock next tier of list for you.

Level 6 – If you explore the map outside of the town far enough, you will reach an outdoor Aetheryte, we usually call it a Camp. These field Aetherytes serve as Teleport Destinations, just like the one in town.

When you’re exploring, if you need to meet up with a friend but they can’t find you, you can type <pos> in the chat to make it show coordinate of your current location. You can read other entry for more details here http://www.aleczan.com/FFXIVARR/2013/handy-coordinates-marker/

To open in-game map, you can either click inside the compass (mini map) on your screen, or use the default shortcut button: M)

Level 7 – Continue to explore for more sidequests and MQs suitable for your level. For leveling up, you might also want to try participating in F.A.T.E. outside of the town. FATEs happen on the map where there is a blue circle. The active help system in the game will pop up a window to explain about it when you join a FATE for the first time.

Level 10 – If you have been following the MQ and keep it up to your level, you will now be introduced to Levequest (I call it LQ) counter in the town, and will be allowed to access an Inn Room. But level 10 has many new things to learn, so I’ll list what you should get acquainted with:

  • Levequest – Very good for EXP.
  • Guildhest – Will explain below.
  • Inn Room
  • Chocobo Keepers – inside the town and at Aetheryte outdoor
  • Rental Chocobo
  • Chocobo Porter – very good for commuting, it is usually much cheaper than Teleporting
  • Ability to switch class – You need to finish your guild test quest for level 10 in order to acquire this ability. The Guildmaster will tell you about it when you finish the quest. Then, you can visit other guilds and try other classes, including Crafting and Gathering classes.
  • Gearset List – This will be unlocked after you unlock the first 2nd class.
  • Cross-Class skills – in your Action & Traits menu (short cut button is P) you can see “Additional” tab which allows you to choose skills/spells from other classes you have leveled up. Make sure to check it every 5 or 10 levels to see if you get new available slot for cross-class skills.

Eventually, the Levemete at level 10 camp will ask you to visit a Battle Warden who will introduce you to Guildhest. It is very short duty where you can practice battle as a party. Some of the Guildhest duties also have specific objective, so please read the objective window that pops up at start, or pay very close attention to what the NPC says on your screen during battle. When you complete both the level 10 Guildhests, it will unlock level 15 ones, and when you finish those, you can go to level 20 ones and so on (when your current class meets the level requirement). You also get a “first time” EXP bonus when you win against that Guildhest on a specific class/job you’ve never used in that Guildhest duty before. So make sure to come back to doing low level Guildhests on your new class later, if you level up more than 1 class.

*Gear Check* Undergearing is bad. You have gimp stats and gimp damage. It will hurt the performance and hinder your party badly. Make sure to upgrade your gear, at least the main hand (weapon) and the big pieces on the left side of the equipment window (Head, Body, Legs, etc.) every 5 levels. For example, when you’re level 16, if you’re wearing gear from level 10, you will find it a little difficult to kill enemies. If you’re using level 10 gear, you should upgrade to a level 15 set when you’re level 15.

On the other hand, if you get green equipment or pink equipment from dungeons, those are a little superior to normal gear of the same level. So they give you stats that are about as good as normal gear that is 3 level higher. (I approximate things by my feeling, not by actual math or statistics). So these pink gear will stay decent for about 8 levels. If the gear is level 15, you should replace it with better gear when or before you hit level 23.

If your normal gear is a High-Quality version, however, it will last about 5 levels longer than NQ (normal-quality) version of itself. So you can probably wear these HQ gear for about 10 levels. For example, your level 15 HQ gear might be fine when you’re level 24, but when you’re level 25 you should replace it and get a gear from level 25 set instead.

At low levels, right side (rings, earring, etc.) stuff and belt are difficult to find due to level restriction and level gap, so it is alright if you can’t fill your right side equipment. “The Hall of Novice” trainings will give you a VERY GOOD free ring, though. So, I highly recommend finishing the trainings.

Level 15 – Make sure to visit an NPC named “The Smith” who is located next to inn room NPC. You can get FREE EQUIPMENT for level 15 for your type of class (Physical DPS or Mage or Tank) from finishing all the Training sessions with him in “The Hall of Novice.”  These level 15 equipment will be good until about level 22.

Also, when you start the “Envoy” quest, you will be able to ride the Airship to any of the 2 other starting towns. Remember to touch the Aetheryte of the new town you visit. Now is a good time to explore and test the “Save as favored destination” function in your Aetheryte menu.

From here, you will be introduced to your first Dungeon (after “Call of the Sea” main story quest) and you will have to enter and finish 3 dungeons before you unlock new facility.

*Tips* Duty Finder default shortcut key is U button on the keyboard.

*Before going into the dungeon* make sure you finish your class’ guild test quest for a level 15 reward, which teaches you an important class ability/skill/spell.

At level 15, you can also take a quest at Vesper Bay to enable using Color Dye on your gear. If you want to experiment with different colors on your equipment and be fashionable, you should do this quest! Quest is from NPC Swyrgeim at Western Thanalan ( 12, 14), quest name is “Color Your World” and the NPC will request a bottle of Orange Juice from you. If you do not have any Orange Juice in your inventory, turn around and visit a Vendor NPC near the spot (name is Merchant & Mender, he’s inside a small tent near there) and check his shop (select Purchase Items) and buy a bottle of Orange Juice from him for 7 gil. When you finish the dye quest, you can select any dye-able gear and use a bucket of dye to change it to a color you like. You can buy dyes from NPC shop in a market area in any of the towns. 

Also, if you have already finished the Envoy quest, the pier in Limsa Lominsa Lower Decks, near Arcanist Guild, will allow you to pay for a Ferry ride from Limsa to Vesper Bay. This is much shorter and faster route than using Horizon teleport and walk/run/chocobo to Vesper Bay.

Level 17 – After finishing all 3 required dungeons through story quests, there’s a level 17 MQ that will reward you with an access to Retainer Service. A Retainer is your storage. You can “hire” 2 retainers for free.

What does a retainer do?

  • Keep your stuff, so your person’s inventory won’t explode.
  • You can deposit money with them (you get no saving’s interest, though, duh!)
  • You can put items up for sale on the Marketboard.
  • If you do a specific quest, you can send your retainer out to hunt for items, they will level up and have access to more items if you keep sending them out to hunt.
  • You can select a class (job) for your retainer. You can also dress them up for fun and for stats.

By finishing your first 3 dungeons (or maybe you only need 2 from 3, I’m not sure), you now can do Duty Roulette: Leveling. This is a very very powerful tool to gain EXP (and money). It will give you a huge chunk of EXP when you finish a dungeon using this Roulette. The reward can be claimed only once a day. 

You can also use Duty Roulette: Guildhest to earn your daily rewards (bonus EXP, gil, and Grand Company’s Seals if you have joined a Grand Company).

Finishing the first 3 dungeons will also grant access to Challenge Log. This is yet another wonderful way to earn EXP and gil. You have to finish a short quest named Rising to the Challenge from Limsa Lominsa Upper Decks, in the same room you spoke with Baderon. The Challenge Log have a ton of objectives with a mountain load of rewards attached. It resets weekly on Tuesday, so if you finish all objectives that you can, you can have them again next week . You can even get rich in Manderville Gold Saucer Points (gambler’s currency, hahaha!!) by doing the Gold Saucer objectives. (You can access Gold Saucer by doing a quest on the street in Ul’dah, at around Ul’dah – Steps of Nald ( 9  , 9).)

Level 20 – A Main Quest of level 20 will eventually reward you with an ability to choose a “Grand Company” (GC, for short). You can switch to join other GC later of you wish.

At this point you should do FATE battle or do GC Levequests for GC Seals. For a CHOCOBO license!!!! Buy  Chocobo Issuance (cost 200 GC Seals) from a Quartermaster at your GC office and finish the “My Little Chocobo” quest at the commander in the same room. Chocobo is a mount which will let you travel faster in the field.

Level 25 – Not much new information to learn here, or I just can’t recall anything important (sorry, the memory is hard to retrieve because it’s been a VERY long time since I started). You should, however, try to visit different camps (field Aetherytes) in order to take quest at Levemates to unlock the camp’s LQ. Remember, LQ is a great way to level up.

Level 30 – Time for joy! Now you can get the quest to unlock a Battle Chocobo, the quest is called “My Feisty Little Chocobo” and can be found at Camp Tranquill in The Black Shroud region. This quest requires level 30 and a long travel, and a few fights. But it will really worth it. Your Chocobo Companion can be summoned (with Gysahl Greens) to help you fight in the field and in FATE. It will help A LOT for sidequests and Main Quests.

At level 30 of a specific class, you can also unlock “job” system, which will require you to level up a specific 2nd class as “sub class” before taking the guild test quest. Your class, when upgraded to a job, will be more powerful in battle. Your cross-class skill choices, however, will become more specific and limited.

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That’s all I could write for today. If I recall something else, I will come back to write more.