Welcome to our Final Fantasy XIV New Player Guide, so, you've heard of critically-acclaimed MMORPG Final Fantasy XIV, and thought you'd give the game a try in this last month before the next expansion, Endwalker, comes out? You've come to the right place.

Setting up a Free Trial Account and Buying the Game

Firstly, if you're looking to figure out how to set up a Free Trial account and get started up until character creation, we've got a specific Final Fantasy XIV guide for that, which you can check out here. It'll also walk you through how to upgrade to the full version and buy the game – which is unfortunately a more convoluted process than you'd think.

Final Fantasy XIV Job Guides: Which job should you try out as a new player?

Secondly, if you're looking for a guide that'll help you to choose which of the game's seventeen different jobs to try out (all of which are playable on the same character, don't worry!), we've got Final Fantasy XIV Job Guides specifically to help a new player get a sample of how each job works too. They're separated by each of the 5 roles in the game – namely, Tank, Healer, Physical Ranged DPS, Magical Ranged DPS, and Melee DPS. You can click the links below to access them.

Final Fantasy XIV New Player Guide

Alrighty, with those out of the way and with you taking your first steps into Eorzea as whichever of the starting classes you chose, let's get on with the meat of this Final Fantasy XIV Guide. Here are some things you should keep in mind as a new player:

Focus on your Main Scenario Quests (MSQ)

Main Scenario Quests (MSQ) appear on the top-left of your screen, as seen in the image above, and will make up the bulk of the Final Fantasy XIV leveling experience. Here, you'll get to enjoy one of the best stories in Final Fantasy (and arguably, the best in the MMO genre), with a long, drawn-out set-up with an immense amount of payoff in the later expansions – especially in the current one, Shadowbringers. Though the initial A Realm Reborn story has a reputation for being a slog, I would never advise anyone to skip it, as it is integral for setting up the places and peoples of Eorzea, and of course introduce the player to the Scions of the Seventh Dawn, who will be their staunchest allies throughout the story.

NPCs will also be marked with the meteor icon (similar to the one on the top-left menu), but with an exclamation point instead of footsteps. These quests reward a generous amount of experience points, and you'll seldom need to do sidequests or grind for exp to hit the requirements for the next one.

Job Quests Should be Your Next Priority

Job Quests are sidequests that are required to unlock certain abilities for your job, and for new players, the level 30 Job Quest will be what upgrades your initial class into the full job itself, for example, an Archer is able to get their Job Stone and become a Bard after completing the level 30 Job quest.

These are indicated with a blue exclamation mark icon with a plus (+) sign over NPC heads. Your current job quest for the job you have equipped is also marked under the Main Scenario Quest menu with a small red exclamation point icon. Make sure to finish these as soon as they are available so you don't miss out on some crucial job abilities.

Accomplish the Hall of the Novice Quests

Hall of the Novice is basically the Final Fantasy XIV battle system gameplay tutorial. It'll teach you the game's basics – what are AoEs, how to handle enmity (aggro) as a Tank, how to heal your allies as a Healer, and the like. They've got an NPC in each of the major cities and other notable locations, which are marked with a big gold-and-green Sprout Icon over their heads.

Eat Food for Buffs!

Eating any type of food will automatically bestow a Well Fed buff to your character for 30 minutes, granting a 3% EXP bonus. It seems like a small amount at first, but it definitely adds up eventually. I'd recommend boiled eggs – which are cheap and sold by NPC vendors at each of the starting cities.

Unlocking other Features and Content

The same blue icon that marks out Job Quests is also the icon used to marked quests that unlock different kinds of content, such as non-MSQ dungeons, Trials, and Raids. These also mark out optional content and features such as Housing, Crafting and Gathering Jobs, and the like. These should be your third priority, as unlocking them will grant you access to everything the game has to offer.

Please, Read your Tooltips and Learn What Your Skills Do

To view all the skills you've unlocked for your current job, you can access the Actions & Traits menu from Main Menu > Character > Actions & Traits. Hovering over the icons will bring up the tooltips and give you an idea of what these skills do. This is crucial to learning how to play your job – especially for skills that combo into each other or have certain interactions with your other skills.

There are also training dummies scattered throughout the world if you feel like practicing on something other than an actual mob.

Queueing Up for Instanced Content

The Duty Finder, accessible from the Main Menu, is your ticket to the game's instanced content and automatically matches you up with other players. Final Fantasy XIV's different kinds of instanced content is divided into several categories, as detailed below:

  • Dungeons – Light Party (4-player) content that takes place in a specific area. Requires one tank, one healer, and two DPS. Most are unlocked through the game's MSQ, but some are in side-quest chains as well. You shouldn't fret too much about these as they're meant to be clearable by all players, so they're not too difficult. Tanks are usually expected to forge ahead of the party and grab the enemy enmity, but if you're a fresh tank, just let your party know and they'll most likely be able to lead the way for you. Most dungeons will have you walk through and clear several enemy mobs and face three to four mini-bosses.
  • Trials – these are Full Party (8-player) boss fights with specific mechanics. Requires two tanks, two healers, and four DPS. These are some of the most creative and exciting content available for players of any skill level and is where you'll be able to see inklings of how deep the Final Fantasy XIV battle system can go. The mechanics you'll learn in the earlier trials will serve as a good training ground for the more difficult ones later on.
  • Alliance Raids – 24-player large-scale content, requires three sets of Full Parties. These basically function as large dungeons with more people and more boss fights. Some also require some coordination not only within the Full Parties but also between Alliances. The first set of Alliance Raids, released for A Realm Reborn, is the Crystal Tower series. These will play a heavy role in the Shadowbringers expansion and are required to be cleared before proceeding to that expansions' MSQ.
  • Normal Raids – these are the normal difficulty version of endgame Full Party encounters, and have specific storylines tied to them. You don't need to worry about these early on in the game, but there is a set of different raids for each expansion.
  • Savage Raids – these are the Savage difficulty versions of the game's Normal Raids, and offer a distinct challenge for players who are looking to go a little more hardcore. Savage Raids drop some of the best gear for each expansion, so players who are all about optimization and getting their best-in-slot items should definitely look out for these once they're ready. As a new player though, these will start out as more faraway goals for later on.
  • Ultimate Raids – these are Full Party instances that offer Final Fantasy XIV's peak challenges. They're all about team coordination, perfect execution of mechanics, good Job optimization, and of course, enough time and dedication. For those looking to really sink their teeth into the game's battle system and earn some of the most prestigious titles and weapons in the game, you should definitely look out for these once you've hit the level cap.

As a new player, you need not worry about the last three categories for now. You'll get to those eventually!

Do your Daily Roulettes

Roulettes are what makes up most of your Final Fantasy XIV “dailies” – these are also accessible using the Duty Finder, and will queue you up to a random dungeon, trial, or normal raid you've already unlocked, with an accompanying experience point and gil bonus once a day.  You'll unlock different roulettes as you go through the MSQ and level up, but make sure you do these daily.

For players below level 30, there's also the Guildhest roulette, which features fast, tutorial-like instances with other players that will introduce you slowly into the game's more complex instanced content.

Attune to all the Aetherytes

When you arrive at a new area for the first time, you'll be getting around on-foot, so you'll definitely need to attune to the nearest aetheryte to unlock it as a fast-travel point. Simply look for the giant glowy blue crystal structure and interact with it. Once you've successfully attuned to an aetheryte, you can access it via the Teleport c0mmand and fast-travel there for a distance-based gil fee.

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Also note that when you're in a major city, like the starting cities of New Gridania, Limsa Lominsa, and Ul'dah, there will be smaller aetheryte crystals nearby places of interest, and attuning to all of them will unlock fast travel between these points within the city.

You Can Ignore Side Quests if You Want To

The game's plethora of different regular sidequests are marked with a regular gold exclamation point icon, and they offer different small rewards such as experience or gil, but these can largely be ignored (and the Main Scenario Quests and a few dailies should be enough to level you to cap anyway). If you're like me though, you'll eventually clear these out for your other jobs down the line – some offer lore tidbits and insight into the peoples and places of Eorzea, so they're still worth checking out if you're interested.

Changing Jobs

If you'd like a change of pace or feel like your current job isn't for you, you can unlock other jobs by simply accomplishing their respective Job Quest. After that, it's simply a matter of equipping the appropriate weapon (and job stone if you've already unlocked it!) to switch between jobs. If you find yourself constantly switching between different jobs, you can create gear sets from the character menu and save them – and even map them to your hotbar for easier access.

Customize Your UI and Hotkeys

Final Fantasy XIV has extensive built-in customization options for UI settings and hotkey mapping, which you can access from the main menu. This might not be an immediate concern for the earliest hours of the game, but let me tell you, having a different UI set for regular gameplay and a more trimmed down one specifically for more complex instanced content was a gamechanger for me.

So was setting custom hotkeys for skills and abilities, and mapping certain menus to certain keys. Experiment with these once you're comfortable with the game and find out what works for you!

Lastly, for Healers – Please Use Your DPS Skills During Downtime

This is an aspect of the game that's been talked about a lot, but in Final Fantasy XIV, healers also make up a significant portion of the party's expected DPS. If your party members are alive and topped up with HP, please do make use of your DPS skills when available. It's good to set up the habit of getting used to also dealing damage early, as it'll be a necessity for higher levels and harder content.

Well, there you go, Warrior of Light. Good luck, have fun, and may you ever walk in the light of the crystal.