FFXIV Beta (The BEST FFXIV Thread)

[Dregor Thule]

That's pretty tacky, Winnow, even if the game is shit.

[miir]

What do you expect from an immature douchebag?

[Winnow]

Please...so desperate for any little piece of anti Winnow material! Keep fucking that chicken!

FFXIV blows ass. Square using the Quake to shut the servers down permanently and start a new project that's not a constant money sink would be excellent for the company. I'd get behind a new project from Square with new hope if they were able to cut their losses and admit they screwed the pooch royally with the last few FF games.

I Canada

yay William Shatner

[Leonaerd]

Totally agree with Winnow. If now isn't the time for Square to rebuild, then when? The 15,000 people remaining weren't going to last the summer anyway.

[miir]

Suggesting they use a natural disaster where over 10k people were killed as an excuse to shut down the servers is disgustingly insensitive.


And if any of you have actually played the game or are following the new dev team, you'd know that FF14 has come a long way since release.

[Leonaerd]

I'm sure your delicate sensibilities have survived worse realities. Go picket Darfur, ye of pointless complaints.

[Funkmasterr]

No, you're right. They should totally abandon something they probably spent a ton of money developing and just released, instead of showing their fans they can turn it around.

Winnow is enough, if the only shit you have to add to this thread is retarded bullshit, keep it to your fucking self.

[masteen]

Suggesting they use a natural disaster where over 10k people were killed as an excuse to shut down the servers is disgustingly insensitive.

I'm not saying you're wrong, but have you ever worked for a large corporation? Shit like that wouldn't even make the 2011 list of Top Corporate Dickmoves.

[Winnow]

The Fatigue system is finally going to be removed from FFXIV with the next patch.

Genius! How long did it take them to figure out that was a retarded idea when everyone else could have told them that during a game design brainstorming session a year before it was released?

[Winnow]

Square Enix has had a rough year since the launch of Final Fantasy XIV, and CEO Yoichi Wada acknowledged it frankly in a press conference today. "The Final Fantasy brand has been greatly damaged," says Wada. "We'll continue with our reform work, which basically amounts to fully redoing the game, and hope to revive the FFXIV that should have been released."

The game is still without a subscription fee, and the team is churning out continual fixes and updates as they strive to repair things and undo the damage. Patch 1.19 is the next round of fixes and additions planned by Square Enix.

What level are you FFXIV players up to?

[Funkmasterr]

I've played the beta for A Realm Reborn for the past few weeks, and I'm sold. I thought they had a really good base product that just hadn't been built up enough, and they definitely solved that. The questing system is now more in line with other MMO's, instead of the limited crap it was in the original game.

Highlights of improvements from my perspective:
*New questing system that is much simpler, and an abundance of typical MMO quests.
*Quest lines for the guilds you belong to. These contain some cool cutscenes, instances, etc - and some of your talents come from completing these. Also, you always get a good piece of armor for completing them, or can take money if the armor isn't an upgrade for you.
*Streamlined the market system - no more having to hunt around through different markets for stuff, there is one place in each city to go to access stuff.
*Main story questline. This serves as a guide to push you to the right new areas as you progress through levels, but they are actually pretty fun too, and contain cutscenes.
*Targeting/combat has been vastly simplified - if you played the original and try this you'll know what I mean right away.
*In general the UI has been greatly simplified - no more drilling 35 menus down to find stuff.
*You have a hunting journal, which basically gives you goals to complete in each zone/area (kill 5 squirrels, etc) - but these actually give you good exp and are worthwhile.

I think one of the coolest things is just the "Final Fantasy feel" the game has. The monsters are not typical mmo (bats, wolves, etc) - as this game was intended to really be a tribute to all the FF games of the past, all of the enemies are from past FF games. I really enjoyed my time playing this game, and will definitely be playing along with a couple of buddies on release.

The last run of the closed beta goes from today til' Monday, then the open beta should start shortly after that. If anyone decides to give this a shot - let me know.

Winnow - type up the bullshit I'm sure you have to say regarding this, but instead of posting it; print it out, crumple it up into a ball, and shove it up your ass. Thanks.

[Winnow]

What's the pay structure? Monthly sub fee or micro transactions?

[Funkmasterr]

Monthly, but I haven't dug for details about what the cost will be. You get some cool stuff with the collectors editions, and if you get the digital download version it's actually pretty cheap.

Oh yeah, it's cross-platform between the PS3 and PC, too.

[Morgrym]

Finally got my beta key yesterday and had a few hours to play around with the character creation and basics in the first town. So far, this is better than Neverwinter and seems to have a good deal of potential.

[Aslanna]

So far, this is better than Neverwinter

Blasphemy!

[Funkmasterr]

Finally got my beta key yesterday and had a few hours to play around with the character creation and basics in the first town. So far, this is better than Neverwinter and seems to have a good deal of potential.

Awesome to see someone else giving it a shot. I really liked what I've seen so far more than any MMO I've played in quite some time. Let me know if you end up playing on release. One thing I need to figure out is server stuff, they keep talking about realm transfers, and I'm unsure if my character (in beta) is on the server I was on when I played initially, and if so if it will be that way on release. If it does keep the same server I was on, I want to make sure it isn't an overcrowded server.

[Winnow]

Any idea when the beta ends? I'm pretty sure we have beta keys already but would like at least a week or two to try it out. Low levels in most MMO games are pretty generic so it would be nice to get a little deeper into the game to see how it is.

[Funkmasterr]

Any idea when the beta ends? I'm pretty sure we have beta keys already but would like at least a week or two to try it out. Low levels in most MMO games are pretty generic so it would be nice to get a little deeper into the game to see how it is.

For the closed beta, once you progress through a couple of main story quests you can bump your level up and get gear and crap if you want to try out the higher end stuff. The closed beta is going on now through Monday, there will be an open beta and I'm assuming it will take place shortly after that though (being as the game comes out the end of August). I'm guessing you won't be able to jump your characters up in levels for the open beta though because your progress in it carries over to release.

[Winnow]

I spent about 20 hours in FFXIV this weekend. Too tired to point out the pros and cons tonight but in short, it's much improved over what it originally was. I'll be playing the open beta to take a longer look at the game. We only made it to level 16 and didn't quite get to the first dungeon as there was a story quest or two more that had to be done.

I'll post more in depth thoughts on the game tomorrow. One comment though. The visuals and environment (BGM/sound effects) are extremely good. It makes a game like Neverwinter look like someone's high school project. They've managed to make the actual game itself fun now as well to go along with those excellent production qualities.

[Winnow]

Pros and cons (more pros than cons)

Cons first:

-for being an MMO, FFXIV isn't very well designed for people that already have friends that want to start a new MMO together. Your starting city is based on Class not race:



If you don't both pick one of the classes from the same city, you won't see each other for about 15 levels which is a lot in FFXIV as you level a little slower than your average MMO.

With no Arcanists in the game yet, the Limsa Lominsa is full of only Marauders for example. The entire city has a single class.

-Cut scenes in the game are nice (excellent avatar animations and camera movement) but there are no voices, just text boxes you click through. I don't mind no voices for all of the quests, but the major cut scenes should be voiced.

-UI windows are a little plain. The weapon/armor comparison pop-up windows are limited to just the major stats and don't show all stats for your current weapon/armor vs new weapon/armor. Inventory window is pretty generic as are the character and other windows...functional for the most part but a little below average for a new game.

-Maps are also average. The world map is in a foreign tongue and useless. The region maps are ok and the local maps do a decent job of showing quests, world events, and points of interest.



PROS:

-Everything about the world looks great. Final Fantasy has it's own style. When you compare it to a game like Neverwinter, the details and style of FFXIV are amazing. I want to be immersed in a world and feel like I'm seeing something new.

-While you may or may not like the various armors/weapons in FFXIV, the graphics and style of them are outstanding. Again, a ton of effort was put into making the world unique. There's everything from skimpy to armor that actually looks like it could be functional heavy duty armor

-Male avatars are decent. Not to girlish (surprising for an FF game) and not too over the top muscle brick walls.

-Sound effects are top notch in FFXIV. Attention to detail like leather sounding like leather when you walk and chain making chain type sounds when you walk are appreciated. Tons and tons of ambient sounds add to the immersion.

-battle animations and effects are well done. Animations for shooting bows etc are outstanding.

-FATE (world events) are pretty good. They give a decent amount of XP making them worth your while and the events pop up and are marked well on your map.

-Classes are handled well. You can be any class you want after level 10. You can change your class simply by changing your equipped weapon. You may also save armor layouts so when you switch classes, you equip all of the appropriate armor for that class. You still need to go through all of the Class quests to level up your new class and your level switches...so you are level 1 with your new class to start with but go right back to your normal level when switching back.

-PS3/360 PC controllers work well with the game. I was doing alright with the controller but did switch back the keyboard/mouse for most of the weekend. I may still go back to controller after I get used to it. Not quite as well setup as TERA's controller keymapped layout.

-Progression is pretty steady. There are enough quests to level you up for the most part although we did get stuck here and there where we had to grind mobs until more quests popped up after leveling.

I played a Lancer and was joined by an Archer. From my experience, ranged classes are preferable over melee. There's too much running around as a melee in FFXIV to stay on a mob. The autoattack does not cause you to run to your targeted mob so there's plenty of chasing around while ranged classes have a better time of it.

-sound track is classic FF which is a good thing. BGM is excellent.

FFXIV sucked hard when it was first released. They've done a fine job of reworking the game to the point where I would recommend any MMO fan try it out during the upcoming Open Beta. You can see from this thread and whatever other old FFXIV threads are out there that I disliked the game quite a bit so the time spent improving this game has been significant.

Biggest knock on the game would be the unfriendly first 1-15 levels for friends wanting to start together. Discovering things together in a new MMO is one of the biggest draws for me as you both learn the game together. There's a mega thread about this on the Beta forums, probably the biggest issue players have with the start of the game. Being aware of this and starting your first characters in the same city by picking the classes in the chart above will take care of that. It's not just a couple hours, it's more like 2 days to get through the newb levels, especially your first time through as your learning the ins and outs.

Biggest plus is that I had fun. The mobs are unique looking, the world looks fantastic, audio and visual effects are great. the classes and 30+ evolved classes look diverse and worth adding to your character and leveling them up through unique class storyline quests.

Yet to be seen is the high level content and dungeons which I wasn't able to get to in time.

[Boogahz]

Hadn't even given this game a second (first?) thought until someone posted the assessment tool on a guild board. I am assuming that any open beta is long-gone with release coming up on the 27th, right?

[Funkmasterr]

Nope, I believe the open beta starts tomorrow sometime.

[Boogahz]

cool to know. like I said, I never gave the game much thought beyond reading this thread....but that's never a "good" thing to base a decision on when certain people get involved

[Boogahz]

I didn't think I would be able to find a site that would have the info from work, but mmocast.com had this tidbit of info:

Players who don’t have a beta code will have to register before Monday, July 22nd 2013. After this date the beta registration website will be closed and won’t be available until the beginning of the open beta. There are no details yet about people who already registered but didn’t receive a beta key.

Not much more there about what happens when open beta is a go.

[Funkmasterr]

I haven't checked the forums in a while, I'll log into them sometime tonight and see what I can dig up. Their site isn't the easiest to navigate, and they kinda like to spring stuff at the last second, so who knows.

[Winnow]

The game is well worth trying. Just be aware of the class/city start locations I mentioned above if you want to try it with a friend and play together.

[Winnow]

Patch notes for open beta this weekend are humongous.

[Show]

Playable Content

The level cap has been set to 20.
*All restrictions will be removed starting from early access.

The following areas have been added:

Mist
Wolves' Den Pier
Coerthas
Mor Dhona

Additional sidequests up to level 20 have been added.
*The sidequest "A Relic Reborn" will be available after the start of official service.

Additional class quests have been added.
*Job quests will be available after the start of official service.

Voices have been added to certain cut scenes in main scenario quests.

The following changes have been made to guildleves:

Adjustments have been made to the frequency of treasure chests appearing in battlecraft leves.
Guildleves for fisher have been added to fieldcraft leves.
Adjustments have been made to the content of certain guildleves.
Adjustments have been made to gil, experience, and items received from guildleves.
The times at which leve allowances are received have been changed to 5 a.m. (PDT) and 5 p.m. (PDT).
The initial amount of leve allowances received upon unlocking guildleves has been changed.

The following changes have been made to guildhests:

Adjustments have been made to the behavior of certain monsters.
Adjustments have been made to rewards received.
Players will now receive a bonus for completing guildhests without being incapacitated.

The following changes have been made to FATE

New FATE have been added.
Players who exceed the recommended level for a FATE by six or more levels cannot interact with enemies in said FATE without using level sync.
In the event FATE occur consecutively at the same location, characters will remain level synced until all FATE have ended, or they leave the area.
The provoke action will no longer affect FATE enemies.

In order to facilitate testing of PvP environments, the Wolves' Den has been made available during phase 4.
*During phase 4, players can access the Wolves' Den through the Duty Finder after completing the main scenario quest "Lord of the Inferno."

You can travel to Wolves' Den Pier by speaking with the ferry skipper at the Moraby Docks (X:26, Y:35).

Players can now change the name of their personal chocobo by speaking with the chocobokeep in Gridania, Ul'dah, or Limsa Lominsa.

Following features and functions will be added to free company.
During phase 4, only characters carried over from Version 1.0 above level 25 can form a free company.

By forming a free company, players will gain access to a company chest, which can be used to share items between free company members. In addition, members can accrue free company experience points and free company credits.

Accruing free company experience points will unlock the following features:
By speaking with the OIC officer of arms in any of the three cities, players can create a company crest.
The maximum capacity of the company chest will increase.
By speaking with the OIC officer of arms in any of the three cities, players can affix their company crest to gear.

Free company actions will become available
The following actions can be purchased from OIC quartermasters using company credits:
The Heat of Battle - Increases EXP earned through battle
Earth and Water - Increases EXP earned through gathering.
Helping Hand - Increases EXP earned through crafting.
A Man's Best Friend - Increases EXP earned by companions.
Brave New World - Increases the attributes of all members under level 10.
Live off the Land - Increases Gathering.
Eat from the Hand - Increases Craftsmanship.
What You See - Increases Perception.
In Control - Increases Control.
That Which Binds Us - Increases spiritbonding speed.
Meat and Mead - Increases duration of food effects.
Proper Care - Slows gear wear.
Back on Your Feet - Reduces the duration of Weakness.
Reduced Rates - Reduces teleportation fees.
*Because chocobo companions are not available during phase 4, A Man's Best Friend will have no effect.
Purchased actions can be accessed under Actions in the Free Company menu.

Accessible Instanced Dungeons have been restricted.
During phase 4, only the following instanced dungeons can be accessed:

Sastasha Seagrot
Tam-Tara Deepcroft
Copperbell Mines
Halatali

The following changes have been made to instanced dungeon level restrictions:

*Certain quests must be completed prior to entering instanced dungeons.

In the event one or more members of the party have yet to clear the instance, all party members will receive a bonus upon completion.
*This bonus only applies to instances below level 50.

In the event a player fails to complete a quest battle several times, they will receive an enhancement effect upon trying again.

The following additions have been made to the hunting log.

A category for arcanist has been added.
Rank 5 has been added for all classes.

The boarding fee for the ferry has been adjusted.

Players will receive experience points when entering a new area for the first time.
*Experience received is dependent upon your current class.

To facilitate ongoing testing, the Limsa Lominsa housing area, Mist, will be available in phase 4.
The entrance to Mist is located at Red Rooster Stead (X:33, Y:19).

Players can now replay cutscenes in the inn by accessing The Unending Journey.

Battle System

Arcanist is now available.
Players can now choose to play as arcanist when creating a character.

The effects and attributes of several actions have been adjusted.

After unlocking a second battle class, players will receive an experience point bonus known as the Armoury bonus when slaying enemies and participating in FATE.
This bonus is only applicable to classes other than your highest level battle class.

The following features have been added for personal chocobos.
After acquiring a personal chocobo, a new Companion menu will be accessible from the Character menu.

Players will also be able to change the head, body, and leg pieces of their personal chocobo's barding.

Upon using chocobo barding in your personal inventory, it will be added to your Companion menu's Gear list.

New monsters have been added.

Adjustments have been made to enemy positioning.

Items, Crafting, and Gathering

Fisher is now available.

Coinciding with the release of the fisher class, the following features have been added.

Fishing locations up to level 50 have been added.
The Fishing Log, Fish Guide, and Records have been added.

New Items have been added.

New crafting recipes have been added.
Level 50 crafting items that are difficult to create will be denoted as "Lv 50★".

The attributes of NQ items have been adjusted.
Item attributes when level synced have also been adjusted.

Gear damage when incapacitated in combat has been reduced.

Armor mending NPCs can now restore gear durability to 100%.
The repair fee will depend on the durability restored.

The requirement to choose NEED when lotting on items has been changed.
Players may only select NEED for gear that is appropriate for their current class or job.

By speaking with the Calamity salvager NPC, players can trade season event materials from Version 1.0 for complete items.

The following changes have been made to dyes:

New dye colors have been added.
Newly added colors can be used by all crafters.
When selecting a previously dyed item in the Item Dying menu, the previously selected dye will now be indicated.

By using the chocobo whistle, a chocobo will be added under the Mounts section of the Actions and Traits interface.

The following changes have been made to minions:

New minions have been added.
Adjustments have been made to which areas allow minions to be summoned.

The following changes have been made to materia crafting:

Players can now affix materia to the gear of another player.

≪How to Request Materia Melding≫

The player accepting the materia meld request will be presented with a confirmation window. Should they select the Meld button, the materia will be affixed to the specified item.

The player accepting the materia meld request will presented with a confirmation window. Should they select the Meld button, the materia will be affixed to the specified item.
Cracked materia that has already been affixed to gear can be converted as is. Players will also have the option to exchange gear affixed with cracked materia for a special currency.

Please review further details on materia system revisions.


The following changes have been made to crafting classes:

Adjustments have been made to the effect and CP cost of several actions.
Adjustments have been made to experience points earned by crafting.
The Quick Synthesis option has been added.

Leveling any crafting class to level 10 will unlock the Quick Synthesis option. Once unlocked, a quick synthesis button will appear in the Crafting Log.
　

The following changes have been made to gathering classes:

New actions have been added allowing gathers to find "unspoiled" gathering locations.
New items obtainable through gathering have been added.
The level of items obtained while gathering and their locations are now displayed in the Gathering Log.
The number of gathering attempts for a single point have been reduced from six to four.
Players can no longer use food or medicine while gathering.
Adjustments have been made to bonuses granted by gathering points.
Adjustments have been made to the attributes, GP cost, and level requirement of certain actions.
Adjustments have been made to gathering rates and the rate of obtaining HQ items.
Dark matter can no longer be obtained through gathering.

The following changes have been made to the market:

Items displayed in the Item Search interface can now be sorted by parameter.
A transaction history of all market sales can now be confirmed by speaking with your retainer.

The following features have been added to retainers:

When hiring a retainer, players can now customize their appearance

* Players from Version 1.0 will also have the opportunity to customize their retainer's appearance. Any changes will be carried over to official service.

Players can now choose their retainer's personality.

The following item names have been changed:

System

Players can now choose to use either the Micro Menu with mouse and keyboard, or the Main Menu using a gamepad.

The following features have been added to the Character interface:

A 3-D model of your character will now be displayed.
Players can now toggle the display of their main hand and off hand weapons, as well as head gear.
Players can now update the contents of their gear sets.
The companion interface has been added.
Help text is now displayed for all elements of the Character interface.

The following features have been added to the hotbar:

Players can now toggle the display of unassigned hotbar slots.
The MP cost displayed on hotbar icons will now change color when targets are out of range.
Players can now choose to share hotbars between multiple classes and jobs.
(Example: If hotbar 10 is set to be shared, changing classes will not affect the contents of hotbar 10.)

The following Features have been added to the target bar:

Enemy signs will now appear on enemy target bars.

Right clicking an enemy target bar will now open the subcommand menu.

Players can now view and edit their search information by right clicking their names in the party list.

The online status "Looking to Meld Materia" has been added.

The following features have been added to the map:

Quest names will now appear on the map when their objectives are in a different area.
Selecting region names on the world map will now open maps for the selected region.

The Recommended list has been added, which displays quests or duty available in your area.
The Recommended list can be unlocked by progressing through the main scenario. Settings for the Recommended list can be changed under UI settings in the Character Configuration menu.

Gear that cannot be equipped by your current class or job will now be indicated by an X mark.

The icon for items that cannot be sold will now appear grayed out when speaking with a merchant NPC.

Achievements have been added.
Achievements earned in Version 1.0 will be carried over to FFXIV: ARR.

Players can now select titles earned from achievements.
Titles can be set on the Profile tab of the Character interface.
* Titles carried over from Version 1.0 can be set in the same manner.

The following changes have been made to emotes:

New emotes have been added.
/visor - Open or close helm visors.

Certain emotes can now be used while sitting.
Certain emotes can now be used while riding a mount.

First person camera options have been added.
First person camera auto-adjustment settings can be changed under General in the Character Configuration menu.

The following features have been added to the log window:

A time stamp option has been added.
Players can now copy and paste text from the log window.
Additional colors have been added for text in the log window.


The log window can now be expanded using a gamepad.
With the log window selected, press Y (△) to expand its size.

Characters will now lip sync when players chat in the log window.

New weathers have been added.

Fog
Gales
Showers
Thunder
Thunderstorms
Dust Storms
Sandstorms
Heat Wave
Snow
Blizzard
Gloom

The following text commands have been added:

Commands labeled as "Toggle" are generally used for windows which can be opened and closed by repeating the same text command.
Commands labeled as "On/Off" are generally used as shown below.

Example: /busy on (Change online status to Busy.)
Example: /busy off (Change online status back to Online.)


Command Description Toggle On/Off
/meldrequest
/meldrequest [PC name] Sends a materia meld request to the specified PC. Sends request to current target when not specified.
/reply, /r Sends a message to the last player from whom you received a /tell.
/character, /gear Opens and closes the Character interface. ○
/journal Opens and closes the quest journal. ○
/dutyfinder, /finder Opens and closes the Duty Finder. ○
/armourychest, /armoury Opens and closes your Armoury Chest. ○
/fishinglog, /flog Opens and closes the fishing log. ○
/achievements Opens the list of in-game FINAL FANTASY XIV achievements. ○
/search, /sea [condition] Executes a player search based on the conditions given.
Multiple conditions should be separated with a space.
Conducts default search if all no conditions are specified.

Conditions:

【PC Name】
forename "PC name" Search for a specific first name.
surname "PC name" Search for a specific last name.

【Online Status】
leader, away, busy, battle
event, lookingforparty, lookingtomeld

【Class & Job】
GLA, PGL, MRD, LNC, ARC, CNJ
THM, ACN, CRP, BSM, ARM, GSM
LTW, WVR, ALC, CUL, MIN, BTN
FSH, PLD, MNK, WAR, DRG, BRD
WHM, BLM, SMN, SCH
Searches all jobs and classes if none specified.

【Level】
[number] Search for that level only.
[number 1]-[number 2] Search for players with levels between number 1 and 2.
Searches all levels if none is specified.

【Grand Company】
Maelstrom, "Immortal Flames," "Order of the Twin Adder"

【Location】
"Limsa Lominsa," Gridania, Ul'dah<
"La Noscea," "The Black Shroud"
"Thanalan," "Coerthas," "Mor Dhona"
Searches all locations if none is specified.

【Language】
JA, EN, FR, DE
Searches all languages if none is specified.

Example:
/search GLA 20-30 "La Noscea"
(Searches for all gladiators in La Noscea between levels 20 and 30.)

/teleport Opens the Teleport interface. ○
/actionlist, /alist Opens and closes the Actions & Traits interface. ○
/timers Opens and closes the Timers interface. ○
/recommended Opens and closes the list of recommended duty. ○
/inventory, /bag Opens and closes your inventory. ○
/emotelist, /elist Opens and closes the list of available emotes. ○
/activehelp Opens and closes the Active Help interface. ○
/supportdesk, /support Opens and closes the Support Desk interface. ○
/characterconfig, /cconfig Opens and closes the character configuration menu. ○
/systemconfig, /sconfig Opens and closes the system configuration menu. ○
/keybind, /keyconfig Opens and closes the Keybind interface. ○
/macros Opens and closes the user macro editor. ○
/hudlayout Opens and closes the HUD layout editor. ○
/macroicon [action name] Displays icon, recast time, help text, and other information regarding the specified action. Can only be used once in the first line of a user macro
/busy [subcommand] Set your online status to Busy or Online.

Subcommands:
on - Set your status to Busy.
off - Set your status to Online.
Toggle between Busy and Online when no subcommand is specified.
○ on／off
/away, /afk [subcommand] Set your online status to Away or Online.

Subcommands:
on - Set your status to Away.
off - Set your status to Online.
Toggle between Away and Online when no subcommand is specified.
○ on／off
/lookingforparty, /lfp [class] [subcommand] Set your online status to Looking for Party or Online.

Classes:
GLA, PGL, MRD, LNC, ARC, CNJ
THM, ACN, CRP, BSM, ARM, GSM
LTW, WVR, ALC, CUL, MIN, BTN
FSH, PLD, MNK, WAR, DRG, BRD
WHM, BLM, SMN, SCH

A class or job does not need to be specified.

Subcommands:
on - Set your status to Looking for Party.
off - Set your status to Online.
Toggle between Looking for Party and Online when no subcommand is specified.

Example:
/lookingforparty GLA on
(Sets your status to Looking for Party as a gladiator.)
○ on／off
/lookingtomeld, /ltm [subcommand] Set your online status to Looking to Meld Materia or Online.

Subcommands:
on - Set your status to Looking to Meld Materia.
off - Set your status to Online.
Toggle between Looking to Meld Materia and Online when no subcommand is specified.
○ on／off
/search comment, /scomment [comment] Change your search comment.
/nexttarget, /nt Toggle clockwise through on-screen PCs.
/previoustarget, /pt Toggle counter-clockwise through on-screen PCs.
/targetlastenemy, /tle Re-target the last enemy you targeted.
/lockon, /lo [subcommand] Lock on/off current target.

Subcommands:
on - Enable lock on.
off - Disable lock on.
Toggle between on/off when no subcommand is specified.
○ on／off
/focustarget "PC name" Makes the specified PC your focus target.
Makes current target your focus target when none specified.
/autolockon Automatically lock on target when initiating auto-attack. ○ on／off
/autofacetarget Automatically face target when using action. ○ on／off
/targetring Toggle the display target rings. ○ on／off
/targetline Toggle the display of target lines. ○ on／off
/aggroline Toggle the display of aggro lines. ○ on／off
/autotarget Enable auto-target when no target specified. ○ on／off
/displayhead Toggle the display of head gear. ○ on／off
/displayarms Toggle the display of main and off hand weapons when sheathed. ○ on／off
/autosheathe Auto-sheathe weapon when not in battle. ○ on／off
Auto-sheathe weapon when not in battle. Enable or disable clicking on self. ○ on／off
/groundclick Enable clicking on field to remove target. ○ on／off
/chatlog [subcommand] Configure log window settings.

Subcommands:
name [number 0～3] - Change the way names are displayed in your log window.
0 Full Name
1 Last Name Initialed
2 First Name Initialed
3 Initials Only

fontsize [number] - Adjust log window font size.

time on - Add time stamps to all messages.
time off - Remove time stamps from all messages.
time - Toggle time stamps on or off.
time 12 - Set time display to 12-hour format.
time 24 - Set time display to 24-hour format.
time local - Set time stamp clock to local time.
time server - Set time stamp clock to server time.

call on - Play sound upon receiving /tell.
call off - Play no sound upon receiving /tell.
call - Toggle /tell sound on or off.

/battleeffect [subcommand] [setting] Configure battle effects settings.

Subcommands:
self - Configure own battle effects settings.
party - Configure party members' battle effects settings.
other - Configure other NPCs' battle effects settings.

Settings:
all - Show all effects.
simple - Show limited effects.
off - Hide all effects.

/hud [UI element] [subcommand] Toggle on/off various UI elements.

Subcommands:
TargetBar,tbar
FocusTarget,ftarget
PartyList,plist
EnemyList,elist
ParamBar,param
Minimap,mmap
MainMenu,mmenu
ServerInfo,server
Gil
InventoryGrid,igrid
DutyList,dlist
ItemHelp,ihelp
ActionHelp,ahelp
LimitGauge,lgauge
ExpBar,ebar
StatusEffects,sfx

Subcommands:
on Show element.
off Hide element.
Toggle between on or off when no subcommand is specified.
○
/hotbar [subcommand] [number] Edit and configure hotbar settings.

Subcommands:
set "action name" [number 1] [number 2] - Set the specified action to slot [number 2] in hotbar [number 1].
If [number 2] is omitted, the action will be set to the slot with the lowest available number.
If both [number 1] and [number 2] are omitted, the action will be set to the slot with the lowest number available on the hotbar with the lowest number available.

change [number] - Replace current hotbar with hotbar [number].

copy [class 1] [number 1] [class 2] [number 2] - Copy the contents of [class 1] hotbar [number 1] to the [class 2] hotbar [number 2].

display [number] on - Display hotbar [number].
display [number] off - Hide hotbar [number].
display [number] - Toggle on or off hotbar [number].

share [number] on - Make hotbar [number] shared.
share [number] off - Unshare hotbar [number] and assign it to your current class or job.
share [number] - Toggle between on or off.

remove [number 1] [number 2] - Remove the action assigned to slot [number 2] on hotbar [number 1]. Replace [number 2] with "all" to remove all actions from hotbar [number 1].

/crosshotbar, /chotbar [subcommand] [number] Edit and configure cross hotbar settings.

Subcommands:
set "action name" [number] [slot name] - Set the specified action to [slot name] in cross hotbar [number].
If [slot name] is omitted, the action will be set to the slot with the lowest available number.
If both [number] and [slot name] are omitted, the action will be set to the slot with the lowest number available on the cross hotbar with the lowest number available.

change [number] - Replace current cross hotbar with cross hotbar [number].

copy [class 1] [number 1] [class 2] [number 2] - Copy the contents of [class 1] cross hotbar [number 1] to the [class 2] cross hotbar [number 2].

display [number] on - Display cross hotbar [number].
display [number] off - Hide cross hotbar [number].
display [number] - Toggle on/off cross hotbar [number].

share [number] on - Make cross hotbar [number] shared.
share [number] off - Unshare cross hotbar [number] and assign it to your current class/job.
share [number] - Toggle between on/off.

remove [number 1] [slot name] - Remove the action assigned to [slot name] on cross hotbar [number 1]. Replace [slot name] with "all" to remove all actions from cross hotbar [number 1].

Slot Names:

LT(L2) + ← = LDL(LD1)
LT(L2) + ↑ = LDU(LD2)
LT(L2) + → = LDR(LD3)
LT(L2) + ↓ = LDD(LD4)

LT(L2) + X(□) = LAL(LA1)
LT(L2) + Y(△) = LAU(LA2)
LT(L2) + B(〇) = LAR(LA3)
LT(L2) + A(Ｘ) = LAD(LA4)

RT(R2) + ← = RDL(RD1)
RT(R2) + ↑ = RDU(RD2)
RT(R2) + → = RDR(RD3)
RT(R2) + ↓ = RDD(RD4)

RT(R2) + X(□) = RAL(RA1)
RT(R2) + Y(△) = RAU(RA2)
RT(R2) + B(〇) = RAR(RA3)
RT(R2) + A(Ｘ) = RAD(RA4)

The following placeholders have been added for macros:

Command Description
<r>,<reply> Displays the name of the last player from whom you received a /tell.
<f>,<focus> Displays the name of your focus target.
<lt>,<lasttarget> Displays the name of your last target when no target is currently selected.
Displays the name of your previous target when a target is selected.
<le>,<lastenemy> Displays the name of your last enemy target.
<la>,<lastattacker> Displays the name of the last enemy on which you inflicted damage or used an action.
<p>,<pet> Displays the name of your current pet.
<se.1>～<se.16> Plays a sound effect when used in party chat.
The following additions have been made to the Actions and Traits menu:

General
Target Forward
Target Back
Pet
Displays all actions acquired by pets.
　
Mounts
Displays all acquired mounts.

Main Commands
Companions
Recommendations
Fishing Log
Fish Guide
Support Desk

Support Desk has been added to the System menu.

The following options have been added to the Character Configuration menu.

Control Settings

General Tab
1st Person Camera Auto-adjustment
Enable camera effects when initiating actions
Standard Type Camera Auto-adjustment
Character Turn Speed
Target Tab
Target Settings
Enable auto-target when no target specified.
Character Tab
Character Settings
Effects while in motion
* Moved from the System Configuration menu.
Inventory Settings
Store all newly obtained items in the Armoury Chest.
Store all newly crafted items in your inventory.
Battle Effect Settings
* Moved from the System Configuration menu.
Shop Settings
Display confirmation prompt when selling items.
Meldable Items
Spiritbound Items
Unique/Untradable Items

UI Settings

General Tab
Map Settings
Restore map when not moving.
Main Menu
Help
Display pop-up help.
Character Information
Duty Recommendations
Party List Tab
Settings

Display Name Settings

Display Name Color Settings
Display Type

Hotbar Settings

Display Tab
Hotbar Display Settings
Hide unassigned slots. (Windows only)
Sharing Tab
Shared Hotbar
Cross Tab
General Settings
Cross Hotbar Display Type
Display the settings on "LT+Directional Key: LT+YBAX(△○X□) Buttons | RT+Directional Key: RT+YBAX(△○X□) Buttons"
Display the settings on "LT+Directional Key: RT+Directional Key | LT+YBAX(△○X□) Buttons: RT+YBAX(△○X□) Buttons"
Set Selection
Customizing the set selection
* You can designate the buttons that will switch by hitting the R1 button.
Customizing set selection while weapon is unsheathed
* You can designate the buttons on set selection, which will only switch while the weapon is unsheathed.

Log Window Settings

Log Window Settings
Name Display Type
Players can now set name displays to full names or initials.
Add time stamp to messages.
Enable lip sync during chat.

The following changes have been made to the System Configuration menu.

Graphics Settings (Windows only)

The following five preset graphics settings are available.
Maximum
High (Desktop)
High (Laptop)
Standard (Desktop)
Standard (Laptop)
Real-time Reflections setting added.
Shadows setting has been subdivided.
Movement Physics setting has been subdivided.
The descriptions of certain graphics settings have been adjusted.

Gamepad Settings

Button configuration for gamepads has been added.
* Action settings may be changed within each group of buttons.

Other Settings

Players can now choose either PNG or JPEG formatting for screenshots.
Players can now choose the language to be used for cutscene audio.
* Please be reminded that depending on the language selected, audio may not match subtitles.

The following options have been added to the Keybind menu.

Movement
Steer
The functionality is the same as pressing the left and right mouse buttons simultaneously.
Targeting
Target Pet or Familiar - F9
Target Filter - LB(L1) + X(□)
Target Filter - LB(L1) + Y(△)
Target Filter - LB(L1) + B(〇)
Target Filter - LB(L1) + A(X)
System
Change Window Size - Ctrl + Home
Hotbar
Pet Hotbar - Slot 1-12
Gamepad
Gamepad button settings can now be bound to keyboard keys.

The following changes have been made to the HUD layout interface:

Window size can now be set to 80%, 100%, or 120%.
Press the following keys to change the size of your currently selected window:
Mouse and Keyboard - Ctrl + Home
Gamepad - R3
To toggle the display of a selected HUD element, right click with your mouse or press Y on the gamepad.


The following changes have been made to character creation:

Character height will now be displayed.
Character appearance can now be randomly generated.
Players can now freely access character appearance options in any order.
Names can now be randomly generated based on the naming conventions of your selected race and gender.
The following commands can be used to adjust the position of the camera.
Mouse and Keyboard - While holding down the mouse wheel, drag the mouse up or down.
Gamepad - While holding down LB(L1), press up or down on the left analog stick.
Camera rotation and environment selection with the left and right analog sticks has been reversed from phase 3.

The following changes have been made to gamepad controls:

Players can now take screenshots using a gamepad. (LB(L1) + START)
Players can now toggle the display of the HUD using a gamepad. (LB(L1) + BACK(SELECT))
Players can now take screenshots while playing on PlayStation 3.
* Saved screenshots can be found under Photo in the Xross Media Bar.

[Funkmasterr]

I'm excited, I'll be playing this weekend for sure. I've got a feeling this will be where the majority of my gaming time goes for the next 6+ months.

[Winnow]

The beta download is live. Compressed it's 7.33 GB.

[Funkmasterr]

Marathoning this over the weekend. I'm on the Aegis server if any of you punks sign up.

I really like this game. First MMO that's really got it's hooks into me in years.

[Funkmasterr]

Hit level 20 as lancer, and got pugilist to 15. Just need 10 more levels as lancer and I can start the quest to be dragoon. It's pretty cool how you can switch to any class and take some skills back to your main class, I'm holding off on leveling anything else now until I hit 50 as dragoon and have a better idea of what skills would be good.

Anybody play during the open beta?

[Winnow]

Some good and bad from the open beta weekend.

I didn't like playing melee in the beta a few weeks ago and ranged looked much more enjoyable. This past weekend we started out as Arcanists and played them up to level 10. Didn't enjoy it too much so created two Thaumaturges and had a lot more fun. The goal was to get into a dungeon instance before the end of the weekend. Having to restart new classes caused us to barely get a chance to try out an instance. Due to some serious server issues and downtime, we ended up creating the second set of characters on a japanese server (Anima) so I don't know if we can even take advantage of the levels gained unless we stay on the Japanese server. The NA/EU servers were down a long time and also had the 3102 "character already logged on" error for way too long.

Your first impressions of FFXIV are heavily weighted by what class you choose and city you start in. I think it was a poor decision to base start locations on class instead of race. For 15 levels you see pretty much two and at the most three classes. In Limsa Lomina for example it was like 80% Aranists with pets everywhere and a handful of Marauders. It kind of takes away from the immersion of the game when all you see is the same class, in the same armor, with assloads of little glowing pets for 15 levels. Another knock against the game is the tedium of the initial quests where you run around doing trivial city quests finding locations in the city and basically not killing a thing for quite awhile.

IMO, the endless clicks of text on quests you have to get through are a drain. There is very little voice work in the game. When you see the rare voice acted cut scene it makes the game and story much more interesting but they are few and far between. I like story in MMOs but I don't have a clue what's going on in FFXIV.

On the positive side, the visuals, animations and sound effects are outstanding. If you settle in with a class that you like, there can be some good strategy involved. Thaumaturge is a sorc type class. Solid sleep spell and rounded variety of damage/dots with some nice mana management strategies you can use to conserve it.

While armor looks great (except for the Arcanists which looks awful for some reason), I'm hoping for a wider variety at higher levels. Kind of like GW2, everyone looks the same minus GW2's excellent dye system.

Tons and tons of running all over the place in FFXIV. Some quests run you back and forth across the zone a few times which is more of a time waster than fun.

FATE events are entertaining and worth joining when you see them pop. Decent XP and fun impromptu group events.

Barely got a chance to get into a dungeon instance. The dungeon required 1 Healer, 1 Tank and 2 DPS. Being as we were two DPS, that was the hardest to fill the other two spots. Took 15 mins to auto fill. There's no way to advertise your party for the dungeon actively and there's no way to enter the dungeon short handed. The first time we got in, the healer and tank dropped immediately. We stayed in and kited some bats near the zone entrance and had some success but no way to go deep with two sorcs. The second group went better. Healer eventually LD'd so only got a little ways into the instance but it was fun. Tank didn't break sleeps and healer...healed!

Anyone interested in MMOs should have tried out FFXIV this past weekend. It's worthy of a look and way better than what it was 2 years ago. I think it would do better as a FTP micro transaction game. It's borderline for me as a full price game with 13-14 monthly sub.

IMO they should have ditched the FFXIV title altogether and brought it back as FFXV as I don't think the title got enough attention from those that saw how bad the original was. Even after a huge effort to improve the game, it feels a bit unfinished, especially the quest/story lack of voice acting compared to Star Wars, Guild Wars 2 and even Secret World which are leagues beyond FFXIV in this area.

Good:

-graphics
-sound (effects and music)
-ranged classes
-building up a single character with multiple classes

Not so Good:

-story
-lack of voice acting (way too much text to click through)
-tedious early level quests and confusing city layouts
-game doesn't do itself any favors for those that want to start playing the game with friends with the odd city/class start points.

So so

-Map and quest indicators (below par compared to the rest of recent MMO offerings)

If people here weren't motivated enough to try it on a free weekend, I doubt they'll be willing to buy a full priced game and pay the high monthly subscription fee. Probably revisit when it eventually goes F2P. There is still fun to be had and the higher levels may be worth getting to. This will be an under appreciated MMO much like Secret World is. It's polished in some areas while some spots were missed.

***this is all based off of low level play (but ~30-40 hours of it with three different classes) which is to say, only half assed as I can see the game's potential at higher levels. The game was already starting to look a little better with the first instance but time ran out.***

[Funkmasterr]

I was not confused about where to go or what was going on at all, but I'm not averse to reading like you are. I don't care if there is voice acting in a MMO, and honestly I kinda prefer that there isn't. I didn't think there was anymore running around for quests than any other MMO I've played, and with the system to rent chocobo's as well as the ability to teleport to any aetheryte that you've attuned yourself to for maybe a couple hundred gil, traveling wasn't an issue for me, and I don't even have a mount yet.

I'm glad it's sub based, as the only FTP MMO I've thought was worth installing was Guild Wars 2, I loathe micro-transactions. I'm pretty sure FFXI never went FTP, and I don't think this will be any different, it's not SE's style.

It was annoying to see the stupid arcanists and their carbuncle pets everywhere, but considering they just added that class for the open beta (it hadn't been available previously) I'm not all that surprised.

The game is a lot more "user-friendly" than FFXI was. That game was very "expert mode" if you will, your hand was not held at all, and this was intentional, not due to poor design. There are still parts that of this game that are like that, though; getting your own chocobo is not straight forward and I don't think there's any hint in the game as to how to go about it. I didn't even know the advanced classes existed until the open beta (dragoon, etc). Combat, and being really efficient in your class by leveling up other classes and taking skills that complement your main class requires a lot more thought than most other mmo's.

Basically, I think it's a great game. I think if you're looking for a good MMO to try, it's worth a shot. But if you are the WoW type that wants the game to almost play itself, you aren't going to like this game.

[Funkmasterr]

Played a ton over the weekend, haven't put that much time into a game in forever. Got to 31 dragoon, gonna work on tradeskills now to let a few friends catch up. This game is awesome. I guess the North American servers are having some issues, I'm on a Japanese legacy server and I've had zero issues so far.

[Keverian FireCry]

Is there any kind of free trial for this or do I need to buy a copy to try it now that it's launched?

[Funkmasterr]

I'm not sure, I've got two more weeks before I have to set up an account and start paying, but that may be because I pre-ordered.

[Winnow]

There were several posts here about the beta 2 weekends ago. You'll have to probably wait a month or two until they offer a free trial. With the server issues they're currently having, I'm sure adding more people isn't a priority for the moment.

Square Enix is temporarily halting digital sales of Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn, as high player numbers are destabilising servers.

[Funkmasterr]

Yeah, a lot of servers aren't allowing new characters to be created at this point. It's a new MMO, issues like this are basically to be expected, so I'm not bothered by it at all (even though my server still hasn't had any issues). They really did put an effort into making this game what it should have been, and showing appreciation to the fans that stuck with them, so it's good to see that they're getting higher numbers of people playing than they expected.

[Boogahz]

There were several posts here about the beta 2 weekends ago.

Getting into the "open" beta required you to have registered for the closed beta before a date in July. About a month before it came up here.

[Winnow]

There were several posts here about the beta 2 weekends ago.

Getting into the "open" beta required you to have registered for the closed beta before a date in July. About a month before it came up here.

Ah that's pretty lame. For most games open beta means open without having to pre-register a month ago.

[Boogahz]

yeah, I had zero interest in the game until someone from EQ2 started bringing it up, so I never registered for beta.

[Funkmasterr]

Yeah the way they've handled the process of beta and how their website and communications are laid out is confusing. Strangely enough that doesn't carry over into the game, everything there is intuitive and easy to use. Even the account management site is very easy to use, which is definitely a change from when the original game was out.

[Winnow]

Really stupid decision on their part to do that. You're trying to drum up interest, not make it difficult for someone interested to try out the game. Forcing someone to register a month before an open beta defeats the purpose of any positive buzz going into the beta/release.

[Funkmasterr]

Well they got part of it right, in that they were only running the betas on the weekend, and actually making changes in between - so I think a lot of things got cleared up during the process which seems to have led to a relatively smooth release compared to some mmo's in all but one respect - which is stress test. Had they actually done an open beta and made it last longer than two days - they might have had a little more time to prepare for the traffic they're getting and been able to lessen the issues that are occurring now.

Overall though I still think it's a pretty successful MMO launch, and a really good game.

[Boogahz]

Anyone happen to hear anything about when they'll lift the "ban" on digital downloads? I was thinking about picking this up with some Amazon Credit, but I don't want to go with the disc option.

[Funkmasterr]

I wouldn't be surprised if they did sometime in the next week. The servers were down for like 14 hours between yesterday and today to take care of the login issues, and the congestion of the duty finder servers (cross server dungeon finder like WoW has). I'd imagine that if the maintenance does in fact clear up the issues, they'll open things back up shortly.

I played a little bit much over the past two weekends. Got dragoon to level 44 (max is 50), gonna start working on crafting next, then I'll probably start leveling archer->bard to get some good cross-class abilities. I'm still really liking this game, and one new highlight for me since I've started playing is the community. Sure, there are some dickheads out there, but people on the whole have been far more competent than the people you run into in WoW. I got to the Garuda fight in the main story quest last weekend, which is a pretty technical fight that requires a lot of everyone in the group. No one in my group had done the fight before, but after only 5 deaths or so we were able to take her down. This type of fight in WoW was the kind of thing you banged your head off of for weeks because there would always be a couple of morons that couldn't seem to understand what "when she does her special, get behind a pillar" means.

Do you have a server in mind you're going to start on to play with buddies?

[Boogahz]

Sounds like everyone ended up on Gilgamesh, and they just reopened character creation there from what I've heard.

[Funkmasterr]

Nice! I never paid any mind to it when I started originally in 1.0 - I just started on the server Miir was playing on. However, as it turns out it's a Japanese server, and I think that is actually better in pretty much every way for this game. Better community, and I've not seen nearly the issues that I've heard have been plaguing the NA/EU servers.

[Boogahz]

yeah, it is with miir and several other people from our EQ2 guild

[Funkmasterr]

Call miir a foul name for me. I sent him a message on PSN about it but he didn't reply.