cashew | Friday, July 15th, 2022

I finally finished the base game (A Realm Reborn) story, got through the very long end credits, and started futzing around on other jobs and unlocked BLUE MAGE! (I wuv Blue Mage. Ahem.)

I'm also puttering around doing side stuff because I'm waiting for 6.2 patch to come through to add NPC parties to story dungeons. It's one of the things I've been doing, because I don't like doing dungeons with other people. Other than the enforced daily PUGs through daily roulette, I'm sticking to using NPC helpers. I wish they'd implement NPC helpers for all of the game's dungeons, that way I can avoid having to go into any of them blind. But...them's the breaks, I guess.

My current job levels are as such: Paladin 60, White Mage 60, Scholar/Summoner 35, Marauder (later Warrior) 25, Blue Mage 24.

I tried to level my crafting jobs equally, but Weaver shot ahead of everyone else and now I'm doing dailies to try to bring the jobs back on even footing. It's...taking a while.

So since I'm testing out all the jobs now to try and figure out which DPS class I want to take through the MSQ, here are some of my more advanced N00b tips, tricks, and general thoughts:

( Class, Jobs, Roles )

That's it in terms of combat stuff, so let's get to the crafting and gathering!

( Non-combat jobs also have story? )

So, that's about it on the crafting and gathering. Finally, some general miscellany thoughts on journey to level 50.

( ETCETERA )

And that's...about it for now. In short, FF14 has a lot of fun stuff even on a free trial account. But, as entertained as I am, I'm not convinced subscription is worthwhile. Since not only do you have to pay for the expansions (although they do bundle up the expansions into packs so that you can get them at a discount), you'll need to shell out a monthly fee, and the game has a cash shop. I just feel like the monetization is a little too heavy. Either make the game subscription or buy to play. Not both. And it's especially galling to see a subscription game with cash shops.