I tell everyone to play Final Fantasy XIV

MeinMMO editor Sophia Weiß is a big fan of Final Fantasy Now she has tried to create a new character herself. And would like to apologize.

I took my first steps in Final Fantasy XIV in 2011 in version 1.0. With the reboot A Realm Reborn or version 3.0. In fact, a dancing, half-naked catboy convinced me to keep playing.

Since then, the game has accompanied me throughout my life. Of course, there are times when I log in more often. When the expansions since Stormblood are released, I’m always there in early access and play through the weekend.

Of course, I still spend enough time with my dog, don’t neglect personal hygiene and eat and drink regularly. I’m not part of the really tough MMORPG group yet.

By the way, I’m really looking forward to the new Dawntrail expansion:

Precisely because I have so much fun with Final Fantasy XIV, I recommend the game to anyone who wants to hear it or doesn’t want to hear it. Try Final Fantasy My circle of friends can tell you a thing or two about it.

I always thought to myself that I was having so much fun with the game. All of my fantasy and story-loving friends must have fun with it too. Absolutely.

Yes, but unfortunately no. And I’m incredibly sorry.

A Realm Reborn is for people who like grinding

I was planning on writing a special about what it’s like to start playing Final Fantasy XIV again in 2024. I logged in with good cheer and, for a change, didn’t choose my familiar cat girl. Instead, I found a new data center and created a new character.

I mastered these first hurdles with flying colors: I quickly came up with a new character. This time I wanted to see a different beginning than in my first run, so I chose Marauder or Warrior starting in Limsa Lominsa.

So far so good. But things got tougher after the intro cutscene.

First of all, the game taught me the controls (again). Then I should talk to several NPCs. I was still in my own instance, without any other players. So there wasn’t even anything to see.

Elementary components of the game are explained in pop-up, but sometimes multi-page boxes. I stupidly clicked some of them away.

At some point I was finally enrolled in the Adventurers Guild. Now we can get started, right? Wealth, power and fame as a warrior of the light?

No. The next explanatory boxes with even more knowledge wanted to be read. Sigh.

Maybe it’s because, as a long-time player, I already know everything. Maybe I’m just damn impatient. But the start of the game still feels incredibly slow in 2024:

Honestly? I didn’t have fun. After a few hours I threw in the towel. Because of an important mechanic in the endgame. And that despite the fact that I wrote at the beginning of the year that the game would still be worthwhile for newbies in 2024.

At level 90, the armor level is important – but at level 10?

The most important thing for all players to do in Final Fantasy XIV is the main story. From level 1 to the endgame content: the main story accompanies you throughout. So if you start new in Final Fantasy XIV, you will first concentrate on the main story and the quest associated with the chosen class.

Most of the time the main quest comes with conditions:

When I abandoned my attempt, the condition of my main quest was that I had to reach a certain armor value aka a certain item level with my character’s equipment. The veteran in me knows exactly what this means: the better my armor and weapon, the more my character can hold and dish out.

In the endgame, you need certain armor values ​​to participate in content: If you don’t manage to get the right armor, you may not be ready for Anabaseios – Ninth Circle (Epic). This is the first of the current, difficult 8-man raids.

New armor is often obtained as quest rewards or you can purchase it.

Now, of course, I don’t know straight away which (side) quests will give me the armor pieces I need. And one look at my measly in-game wallet immediately told me that I could save money by buying it.

Long story short: I was stuck in the main story in the middle of the night and had to farm quests one after the other.

To be honest, I didn’t feel like doing that. I logged out and haven’t felt the need to continue playing since. If I were a newbie and this was my first visit to the game, I would be done with it by now – without having seen the rest of the content.

The hard part is still ahead

Call me weak, but I really don’t know if I could make it from level 1 to 90 again myself. I only really enjoyed Final Fantasy XIV from the content shortly after the end of the first expansion, Heavensward.

The development team has repeatedly adapted, simplified and streamlined the entry process over the years. However, the base game and the patch quests up to the start of the first expansion are still the hardest part that a beginner has to get through.

I just couldn’t imagine playing it all again right now. That’s easily around 200 hours of playing time. And then I’m only in Heavensward and haven’t started any of the side quests like raids yet.

My colleague Karsten also wrote a few weeks ago that he doesn’t like the fact that there won’t be a new entry point for new players with the upcoming Dawntrail expansion. World of Warcraft does this with every expansion.

So why not if Final Fantasy XIV Dawntrail, the next expansion, is supposed to start a completely new story? Now it would be easy to catapult people straight into the new expansion with a maybe 2 hour long intro.

My apologies

Maybe I’m too lazy to start over with Final Fantasy XIV. Maybe I’m too spoiled by the quality of the later content.

No matter why, I definitely don’t want to have to start the game all over again.

And that’s why I would like to apologize very officially, honestly and from the bottom of my heart to all the people who started and stopped the game because of me.

Yes, it’s a really great game. But the beginning is really hard and my attempts at advertising don’t do justice to what someone can really expect in A Realm Reborn. Additionally, it’s not fair for me to expect other people to put the amount of time and energy required into the game.

So in the future I will come around the corner with slightly adjusted recruiting sayings. Despite everything, the game is a great experience. I’ll probably just communicate more openly how stressful the start can be for someone who comes for the story rather than the MMORPG content.

So now that that’s done, I can finally prepare for Dawntrail.

In fact, I’m a little behind at the moment and still have a few patches of main story to catch up on. Maybe I’ll level up my last crafter to 90. And I also have to unlock a new, chic outfit for my character. If you don’t know what else you should do before you get started, we have a checklist for you here: 10 things you should do in Final Fantasy XIV before Dawntrail is released