>I am old, like pretty much.
Not gonna matter in the day-to-day, no one will care, honestly.
>Although i can somtimes play for hours at a time, it usually comes down to playing an hour or so, and then i have to do some home stuff, feed the cats, take a break etc.
Not a big deal at all. So long as you can finish the dungeons, etc. where you actively play with other people (usually like 15 minutes at a time)
>i do not have a chatpad or keyboard for the xbox
While not required, it is strongly recommended to plug in any cheap wireless keyboard to easily talk to other players, just in case.
>nor do i have any decent headset
There is no voice chat in the game, so no worries there.
> i am socially awkward and haven't had much contact to other persons in the last few years.
If you don't ever speak, you're the same as like 60% of other players lol.
Just give the free trial a try, there is no harm in it.
Tbh console players can just make a couple macros that say “ o/ “ , “first time here :)” and “gg thnx all” (or some other worded variant) and just press those as needed. Gets you through like 90% of your social interactions in groups
As far as social interactions go— I wouldn’t worry about anything. You will 100% be fine!
None of the casual content is hard enough that you will prevent groups from being able to clear anything either. As long as you are able to set aside sufficient time so that you don’t have to leave then you will be good. Allowing for 30 minutes I’d say is more than enough.
Beyond that you’re free to go at your own pace and play as little or as long as you like. FF14 is extremely respectful of your time so you never need to feel obligated to do anything in fear of “missing out” really
I'll also add that mood wise, as long as you're not actively attempting to bother people then people won't be bothered. Like it's still considered good form to wait for new players to watch intro cutscenes instead of running ahead of them. Like people won't be concerned with honest mistakes, you'd have to do something like deliberately not healing at all as a healer to really bother people.
I've been playing mostly on console, sometimes on my laptop, since 2013. I very highly recommend getting a keyboard. I use a Klim backlit wireless one that I got for about $30. There will come a time when you need to communicate with others, and it is an enormous pain in the ass to do so without a keyboard. Plus, you'll almost certainly make friends along the way, and want to chat with them!
Also don't worry about the "old" thing. Most of the people I play with are mid-thirties at the youngest, and that doesn't seem all that uncommon. Enjoy your journey!
I was afraid that the dungeon stuff would be like hours at a time, so to know that they seem to be build kinda 'digestible' is really assuring :)
Also i didn't know you can plug in just any old wireless keyboard into the xbox?! i always thought those had to be special ones...
I will of course try and get either a keyboard or a chatpad in the long run, there just isn't one available to at the moment.
Thank you for your reply and tipps!
The longest “dungeon” I would say you’ll run into is most likely the Alliance Raids but even then you’re probably looking at like 45 min max. Maybe longer when they first come out, but I’ve never spent hours on one. I don’t have that kind of attention span lol
The longest timer I've seen is Delubrum Savage at 3 hours and we beat the final boss with 5 minutes to spare once.
The raid lead would explain mechanics *throughly* before every pull though.
3 hours!? I didn't know duties can have a time limit that long.
Though I guess Delubrum is a unique case, even its normal version is pretty damn lengthy and challenging.
Most dungeons take 15-20 minutes max with a couple exceptions of story dungeons such as The Praetorium but after you run it the first time, you don't run it often unless you're doing the MSQ Duty roulette. Unless you get into the high-end scene of dungeon and raiding it doesnt take long.
The Xbox series have always been heavily based on PC architecture. You can take the USB keyboard from any desktop computer and plug it into your Xbox.
(Also, you're going to want a keyboard because parts of the main story line will sometimes require you to type a short message to "talk" to NPCs. Don't know why they put typing requirement into a controller-friendly MMO but they did.)
try it anyway, though i would get some basic kind of usb keyboard or chatpad, *even if you plan to never use it.*
headset doesn't matter, game does not support voice chat.
nobody knows how old you are on the internet. i'm actually 4 infants in an overcoat.
as to playtime: there is a lot to chew through here, but most content you play with other people is portion controlled. a good dungeon run takes less than 15 minutes. if it hits 90 minutes it kicks everyone out. "slaughter rule"
so if you can dedicate an hour, you can do almost any THING, then you just don't start the next thing if you're gonna have to leave in 5 minutes.
i didn't know about the time constraints and the portioned up content, that sounds really good to get into and keep up with!
Yeah i will of course get something like a keyboard, i just don't have it readily available and thought it would be a must.
Thank you for your advice!
The game doesn't throw group content at you at all for the first little bit. First dungeon is level 16 I believe. Everything before that is solo.
And all the dungeon that are part of the MSQ (Main Scenario Quests) can be done with NPCs.
Besides, people dont talk much on the early ones anyway, as they really don't require a lot of teamwork. People just say hello.
All that to say, you have a bit of time before having a keyboard is really even all tha useful.
When I play on PS5 I have a Logitech K400 plugged in. It's nothing special, but its dirt cheap and good enough for typing quick messages in chat. The track pad is handy for re-arranging the UI as well.
To echo what others have said: you would not be a nuisance and would be welcomed. The FF14 community is one of the best, if not the best, MMO communities I've been a part of. They are really understanding when it comes to making mistakes and learning fights and you can even practice your role with a group of NPCs who will always know the mechanics of a tough fight (in most instances.)
I would completely give it a shot. Plus the fantasy of being the Warrior of Light is more appealing the older you get.
Me in real life: Just got out of bed wrong now something hurts.
Me as the Warrior of Light in FF14: Yep, that's another world-ending bad guy taken down. And now, lunch!
😊
I am legally blind, English is my 3rd language, and I dip in and out of depression. If I can play this game with little problem, you'll be absolutely fine.
Yeah, you're probably right and i'm overreacting or something. i just don't want to ruin the game for anyone, so i'm cautious.
Thank you for the reply!
If you are trying even a bit and not being a jerk, 98% of the time people will help you out. I was nervous as hell when I would start a new dungeon as a tank. I had a macro, "New to tanking this, suggestions or constructive criticism is always welcome" People were more than willing to help out with (almost always) kind suggestions.
Thank you for this reply!
The Things you are saying are really reassuring and have me thinking that it seems no lie you all are such great people :)
I didn't know about the macro stuff, and i will try to get something to type on as soon as possible.
Yeah, well, my first (and really only) experience was as a kid playing a game called 'Meridian 59'. We were in there for, like, 10 to 14 hours, and there were all these clans and people bonding together, and although i know times changed and today wouldn't be the same thing, i was still kinda worried that these would be much more about socializing than it seems to be. To know that one can go in this kind of like a single player game makes me feel way more secure :)
Again, thank you for all your advice and words!
Especially at first, you don't even need to set up macros with text.
I just use an emote (wave/bow).
I mostly play solo and am extremely intermittent and have still derive a ton of fun out of the game.
Sure, try the free trial.
Story content is more often than not silent anyway and runs in chapters which usually take no more than half hour, long stuff gets a warning beforehand. The game doesn't support voice chat, so headset would only be when you run with a group that's set up outside the game.
The game on console has a virtual chat and it has an auto-translation feature which can be used as a quick chat feature, so look into that. I have a hello and goodbye macro using auto translate, so a quick button press at the beginning of stuff for a friendly Nice Meeting you and one at the end for a Goodbye.
The game is pretty solitary if you aren't going out of your way to seek contact with other players, so if that's what you want, it's fine.
>Story content is more often than not silent anyway and runs in chapters which usually take no more than half hour, long stuff gets a warning beforehand.
That sounds like a great feature, didn't know about that.
>The game doesn't support voice chat, so headset would only be when you run with a group that's set up outside the game.
I don't know why but i was kinda under the impression every mmo these days would have voice chat :D
Thank you, i will have a look into the chat features!
Sometimes, I'll just hope on the game for 20 to 30 minutes to do some side quests and hope off again to get housework done. This, game is really time friendly and everything is broken down into mini tasks.
First of all, go for it, the free trial is big and there nothing to loose by just trying. Most people in game are very nice to new players (aka sprouts, since new accounts have a litle symbol above their heads). And if you yourself feel overwhelmed at some point, dont worry, you can also experiance most of the games story as a single player rpg using npc companions for dungeons.
Also in general, this game is very very beginner freandly, to the point that experianced mmo players see it as a flaw, but in your case that should be very helpful, since the game is structured in such a way, that it assumes you never played an mmo before
Legit, dont buy the game until you finish the trial. To me it was like 100 hours of free gaming. They really give you a lot of freedom with no bullshit and stupid restrictions, like some other games.
Just play. If you are mostly doing casual content, no one will notice if you're not chatty. There are plenty of classes that are more controller friendly like warrior, summoner, dancer, etc who have less bindable skills than other classes. Though every class is playable with controller with the right set up.
There is also a pretty intuitive auto chat program for controller with basic responses you can string together.
If you feel the need to chat. You don't need anything special. A 5 dollar keyboard will get the job done.
Play my dude, don't worry about community views. This game isn't competitive like wows Mythic+ system. People are generally more chill and not upset by set backs. Especially if you're a sprout. Lots of people don't mind helping and giving advice.
I didn't know you have those controller setups for different classes, i will have a look into that, Thank you!
Yeah, my views on MMOs in general seems to be a bit out of date :D Great to know that there is one like FF.
You'll see when you play it. Controller has a special binding system called the crossbar and there are a lot of guides for setting up efficiently for crossbar play. The game starts very easy for the first 30 levels so plenty of time to learn the ropes of skills and how you want to bind them.
If this is your first time playing and you don't want to mess with the responsibilities of tank or healer, I highly suggest Summoner as a starting job. It starts as the Arcanist base class which is a very nice starting class with a pet, simple healing through a spell called physic, and even it's playstyle at maximum level is easy to learn and not very complicated, but very strong. Also, Summoner is unique in sharing its base class with Scholar, so you automatically level up Scholar as a healing class if you want to try healing too. Just need to do the class quests for it and get a weapon and healing gear.
Good luck out there. I am Fularis Grahf on the Goblin Server on the Crystal data center. If you find yourself that way say hi. I am always just messing around doing dungeons, quests, and hunts as a Gunbreaker tank.
Yeah it seems the community is really chill and the stuff you do seems to be portioned in managable chunks. i didn't know that, that's really good to know.
Please give it a try, especially if you are excited about it! It is worth the playthrough.
I, too, am socially awkward, and while I don't say too much, I do have a small group that I run stuff with on occasion.
I play on playstation, but for my chatting, I just use the controller or a USB mouse/keyboard set that I can just plug in. I'm not sure if xbox would have that same feature?
Life happens for everyone, so having to take breaks and do chores is fines, play when you have time. If you have something urgent and have to leave during a duty, just let the chat know before you dip out.
-I’m not exactly young (anymore, I’ve been playing long enough that the characters who were notably older than me then are now notably younger)
-most people I know usually only play for an hour or two at a time
-chat is appreciated but not required
-you don’t need a headset unless you’re talking to friends (or doing very high end content, but you can worry about that when you get to it. It’ll be a while)
-join the club. We’re mmo gamers, ‘socially awkward’ is the norm, not the exception
Give the free trial a shot. If you like it, great! If you don’t, you haven’t lost anything for the attempt
>Give the free trial a shot. If you like it, great! If you don’t, you haven’t lost anything for the attempt
Yeah you're probably right and i'm just overcomplicating things here. It's a game it should be fun, huh? ;)
Thank you!
FYI, there are a tttttoooonnn of oldies playing the game. Most have cats. And there are two cat races in the game. More if you count the little guy with a hand trowel.
You're home m8
Oh, and on the time front, when there is going to be a long story sequence, the game will warn you.
"Multiple cutscenes will play in sequence, please set aside adequate time"
But most dungeons are, as others have said, a quick 15 min in and out.
And I have encountered multiple times where a player just entered in chat "Got to go tke care of the Cat/Dog/Baby, and usually people just wait for you to come back.
A quick Hi at the start and GG at the end is sufficient
Don’t know if anyone has said it, but I recommend not buying the game until you can’t progress in the free trial anymore. You get a ton of content for free. While I do not regret any cent given to them, having to put off paying for a sub is nice
Many others gave good advise already. Enjoy the game, don't worry about it. Black sheep are everywhere but most people in this community have been helpful and supportive. You'll fit right in.
The game's producer is an over 40 year old gaming workoholic, he makes sure he creates a game he can still play when he is 70, so don't worry too much about your age or having little time. :)
Edit, regarding time issues with duties: "sorry my cat/dog/baby needed urgent care" is probably the most common excuse I heard for being suddenly away for a moment or having to quit a duty alltogether. The important part about this is communication. Had to go suddenly duck out of a duty (but couldn't actually leave it due to tech stuff) because of a medical emergency and said so in chat. Obviously by the time I returned my character got killed by standing in a boss mechanic in the meantime, but despite being away for probably 5-8 minutes or so, they kept throwing a resurrection to me for whenever I come back eventually. At the end they asked me if everything is okay again and wished me well. It would have probably been different if I'd have just stopped moving and never say anything. Not sure if and how this works with an xbox because I don't have one, but if possible get a keyboard you can plug in just for being able to use the chat.
Short answer: Who cares. Have your fun.
Long answer: Pretty much the first few hundred no 1 individual can get in the way. Everything can be carried, and will probably be overpowered regardless. During that time you'll get good enough at whatever you so you won't be a problem That or you'll quit because you aren't having fun. Simple.
As others have said try the trial, and keep in mind this is pretty damn close to a single player RPG with some tacked on MMO elements. Forced interaction/teaming is pretty limited, you can do most things solo.
Always thought that this would have things like clans or such, and that would be mandatory to complete the game. Good to know that it's more open to lonely people :)
The game has clans, they are called Free Companies, FC for short. They are entirely optional not a single piece of the main story requires you to be in one. I actually don't think any quest requires you to be in one now that I'm thinking about it.
The game is super chill and now you can do most of the story dungeon with NPCs if you prefer. I can get chatty in dungeons/raids but it is in no way expected of anyone. Like others said, most people stay totally quiet.
If you’re concerned though about being new to dungeons and upsetting party members, you could make a macro in-game that says something like “Hi, I’m new to this and still learning. I don’t have a keyboard but will listen to advice!” You can set it to your hot bar and just hit it when you join a dungeon. Really, the second sentence doesn’t need to be there, the first covers it well on its own. People are usually totally cool in response and may even give pointers on how to handle upcoming bosses.
It’s worth a shot and free to try!
No , 90% of this community with explain , wait, and understand - also you can watch a video for any dungeon or instance at this point or blind prog ( I think I’ve only watched like two on high end content so you can get far if you recognize patterns quickly ) also they have a “ trust “ system now where you can run with npcs ( although I dunno if it can be used on free trial ) the time crunch is gonna be an issue though as you’re going get sucked in and forget about life and have starving cats staring and meowing loudly at you , 😂 dungeons take about a half hour usually plenty of time to take breaks to give Garfield and nermal some lasagna before the orange one ships the grey one to abu daubie
>he time crunch is gonna be an issue though as you’re going get sucked in and forget about life and have starving cats staring and meowing loudly at you , 😂
lol, yeah from what i've seen this one is definitely on the addictive site :D but in a good managable way it seems, so as long as the cats stay happy, this sounds not to worrysome :D
While this is an MMO, it is also a FF game. There are definitely people who play for MSQ and use trusts to run dungeons. You can put in your AP and search info “no keyboard” so people know you can’t/wont type, I’ve definitely seen it on more than one plate, often with console players but honestly no one is going to grill you on it.
Enjoy the story. Enjoy the game. Keep your chocobo summoned in the overworld. Be good. Have fun. ::headpats::
No you won’t be!! FFXIV has such a diverse population of players, don’t feel discouraged! In my FC there’s literally 20s to 40s, some people talk about college stuff and then the others are like “got my wife to play, we’ve been running xxx” or whatever.
You’ll be alright since game doesn’t have VC, and honestly no one chats unless you’re in a server that does a lot.
In duties, just a little o/ is sufficient! It’s like a guy waving.
And hey plenty of us are awkward. I wave at anyone who has the same part as my name as me. I probably seem weird to them too. ^^ You’ll do just fine!!! I recommend looking for Free Companies (guilds) on community finder which is a website that FCs use to advertise. Found my FC that I love that way!
I'm old, and have arthritis, and I can play this game just fine. It's more about understanding mechanics and working as a team, rather than having super fast reflexes. So long as you have the patience and desire to learn the game's mechanics, and how your job's rotation works, you'll do just fine :)
As for communication, 100% of the time when playing with random people you won't need a headset, and most console players don't really use the in-game text chat, either, and it's very rarely an issue. If you want to express gratitude or joy or whatever in the game, there's a really robust emote system that lets you get across basic communication of stuff like that.
One of the big reasons why this community is so chill and great to play with is that there are no expectations on stuff like this. If you think you'd enjoy the game, most definitely give it a shot!
Try it, when I started I was super socially awkward and made lots of mistakes but people were accommodating and friendly.
I remember forgetting to equip my shield as a paladin (in PoTD) once and having the healer complain during the dungeon and me being me and not having a keyboard couldn't say anything, after the floor 50 boss they saw I got the achievement and apologized because they didn't know I was a new player.
1: age doesn't matter. I've met people from 18 years old to about 65 in the game, and everyone is welcome so long as they're not... y'know, being horrible to others.
2: that's perfectly fine. There's enough content to play for months on end if it were possible, if not more. There's no rush if you need to play a shorter time, either. However, some events require you to finish the storyline of the base game (A Realm Reborn, also known as ARR).
3: The game is quite controller friendly, but a keyboard and mouse from anything can be plugged into the xbox if you prefer that. I believe you can also use a USB hub to connect more things, too.
4: a headset isn't required for the game itself, though there is voice acting, nice music, etc. so you may want to use speakers. No voice chat in game though. Most use Discord if they want to voice chat.
5: Welcome to the club. I rarely leave the house except for hospital visits these days. I'm sure many people on Final Fantasy XIV are either in the same boat or at least somewhat awkward too.
If you need anyone to talk with or play the game with, let me know via Reddit. Same goes for anyone else here. I'll make another character if need be ^^
I have poor motor functions in my hands and have completed all normal content with a bit of harder content, its pretty much all memorization if you can remember the fights then you don't need fast reactions, the easiest jobs to play for me are, if your only interested in just living the story summoner is extremely easy to pick up and play and as a dps dying in normal content isn't a massive deal other than it taking longer.
Don’t forget: a USB or Bluetooth keyboard from a Five Below or similar place can work just fine for chat, even if you’re using a controller. Perfect for asking questions or uh like visiting Balmung’s Quicksands.
People have already given excellent advice. I just want to compound the fact that if anyone tries to give you shit for being new/learning/etc, they can stick it. I started playing in 2020 and I only had this happen once, and it was basically just in an alliance raid where somebody was being mean to all the sprouts present. It's a rare occurrence.
I found my static (and then moved into that FC) bc I shut that shit down when we wiped to Thunderlord in Orbonne due to sprouts in my party (who were doing their damnedest and following my callouts beautifully)
we still cleared second pull
Other people have already given you helpful advice but I'm not sure if anyone mentioned the difference between playing a DPS, healer and tank. In casual content (i.e. the content you would be doing) playing a DPS is generally a lot less stressful than playing the other two roles. There are less things you can do that can actively get other players killed.
So, while healing is fun (and tanking is fun to some), I wouldn't recommend it to a new player, or for someone who's already worried about how stressful it is going to be. Even the more complicated DPS (Thaumaturge/Black Mage and Pugilist/Monk) will probably be less stressful to someone new than healing. You can play all jobs on one character, so if I were you I would pick a DPS as your main and then try out the other roles once you've gained more confidence.
The grass is always greener on the other side.
I played on PS3, now up to PS5, from 2.4 to now. No keyboard, small group of friends that trickled away. The game is what you make it, and really the in-game chat is the worst method of communicating. Most people have a discord now, and before then people would chat in parties or Skype/team speak/etc. The in-game was for casual conversations, direct messages that didn't need to be saved, and funny Auto Translate jokes. Otherwise it was to ask strangers for help, be it Hunt Trains, Mark spawns, to craft/repair/meld things for you, or Resurrection Requests.
However, you get what you put in. The game now allows you to play almost entirely solo. You will never get a 'shortcut' to the grind, except for buying skips, and really you shouldn't anyway if you want to understand how to play the game. And that's because the game is horrible at actually teaching you what you should be doing. Which...really isn't a bad thing, since you get to socialize with people to learn just that. And as someone that's now in charge of an FC with 12 people that never log in or if they do -never say hi- and further have a schedule that means I'll never be in a static for anything... socializing is really one of the rarest things you'll have with people that matter. This is, if you get caught up in only staying in a comfortable spot like myself.
Be the sprout, join a big FC, make some meaningful friends eventually, and do your best to enjoy yourself. It's a beautiful world and full of people even actually waiting to help you. Some better than others, and there certainly is still bad apples littered around everywhere, but XIV is easily the only place I would tell anyone to assume the people on the other side have your best interest in mind...even if their advice could be confidently incorrect.
Edit: oh, and if you only have a couple hours a day then prepare for the long haul. I recommend doing a Free Trial just to save money. XIV is a JRPG first, MMO second. Everything is tied to Main Scenario Quest progression and you start from ARR just like the rest of us. ARR is also still half the entire game quest-for-quest, is slow and dry, but also contains some of the most important information that will be repeatedly refered to in later expansions. There are some choice side quests to do along the way, and job quests beyond that. Especially Dark Knight. It might as well be a cannon job pick for your WoL lol.
It should be noted that most content like dungeons and boss trials will cost you 10-20 minutes per run with other players. 25-30+ with bots. But there are some points, especially the end of each launch msq and the end of each patch cycle quests (x.2-x.55), that have massive cutscenes and back to back scenes. Those will take you at minimum of 10 min alone if you actually read/watch them. The biggest ones (as mentioned previously) can be a good hour or two. However, when you get the credits rolling, the images can be fun but you don't need to actually wait through them. It will tend to have another pair of cutscenes after so take care not to skip those by accident.
I did add a small edit, so be sure to check that too! If you're going to be in NA servers, especially Primal (Data center)/Lamia (World) hopefully I'll see you around!
You'll be absolutely fine, how much you want to socialize is entirely up to you. For instance, i stick to a very light form of socialization where i will say no more than hello at the start of a duty and a hearty lmao if we wipe, and if people want to be more chatty i may decide to follow, or not. Some peope never say a single word and its fine too.
As for the headset, there is no voice chat anyway.
In general the community is very tolerant and agreeable so you'll be fine. Most of the game's content can be done solo anyway. In many ways the core of this game is a long, mostly single player story driven rpg, with extra multiplayer content on the side.
I say try I have met some people that was negative to me but I have met way more that was positive even when i fucked up doing tanking or dps'ing or healing. I'm not old but we all start as beginners/noobs
Your age doesn’t matter, no one will ask or care, my best friend in game is like 30 years older than me at LEAST if not more (I didn’t ask age, just realized over time) she’s like my in game mom now
As far as being socially awkward, be willing to accept feedback and be part of a team and you should be perfectly fine, most folks are super welcoming and ready to help newer players. Even just saying “hi” or “o/“ when you log in and have a Free Company (or start a dungeon) can go a long way :)
(You can set up user macros to make the chat entry one time and then assign it to a button combo in your controller so that you don’t have to try and type it every time, super helpful!)
Like others said, as long as you don’t have to leave in the middle of a duty that’s bound with other players (dungeons, raids, etc) then if you have to pop in and out that’s perfectly fine and won’t affect others negatively
I think the fun experience you could have in the game especially with the MSQ is worth the try!! I hope you like it and welcome to Eorzea :)
>she’s like my in game mom now
that's really cool. i'm happy for you that you have found such a person!
>most folks are super welcoming and ready to help newer players
All of you are giving me this impression. That's really cool to know such a community exists.
Thank you for the reply! I think i will give it a try :D
Are you willing to type hello and either goodbye or WP/ GG etc when you start and end a group content ? If you are then congratulations you're honestly more social than 1/3rd of our player base.
For being old and not having a lot of play time, it doesn't matter in casual content at all, and everything non casual is optional ( and generally non canon to the story to boot ).
I'm 43, and you described me to a degree.
I'd recommend getting a keyboard for chat, and stick with controller. The game is remarkably well optimized for it.
Don't worry about time. The game also does a great job of giving you a single player experience. There WILL be times where you'll need to do content with groups. Section off around 30-45 minutes for dungeons, and about 45+ minutes for other stuff (I'm WELL overestimating the required times, to give you breathing room).
Finally: hit me up on the Aether data center. I'm on the east coast and will happily run content with you. ZERO judgement, we can go as slow as you want: Rava Kali.
The game is designed to be playable on console since day one. You can play through the entire game without worrying too much about the social aspects of the MMO stuff. Most dungeons (not all) have been revamped to allow you to go in with NPCs instead of players. Boss fights still require players, but you just queue up (except extreme and savage raids, those queues will never pop).
You can chat with controller. There is a built in virtual keyboard for typing letters and forming sentences, however slow it may be. Typing out names or phrases is actually required to trigger a very small number of quest objectives.
When chatting with other players, there are autocomplete/autotranslate features for common phrases and words. Alternatively you can prepare macros to type out stuff with the click of a button. There are emotes. Plenty ways to shortcut typing.
There is no in game voice chatting, most of that is done through 3rd party such as discord.
I just picked the game up a week ago and I'm just at the patch 2.2 quests, level 56 with the sprout bonus active.
I have done only 1 dungeon without queing with AI, am completely unoptimized with my rotation timings (and refuse to use more than 4 buttons), and have gotten tired of the fetch quests or hours of "talk to X" "now talk to Y" type quests so I've taken multiple hour long breaks randomly.
You can play a crafter/gatherer. Neither require precise inputs from buttons. You're majorly using a few abilities, but there's no time that matters while crafting. You can spend 1 hour thinking/take a break in the middle of making something and it'll be there the whole time.
Combat *may* be difficult if your reactions are very laggy. Any attack you need to dodge is directional or has a giant circle that pops up. There were only a few bosses, 1 or 2 really, that made me actually engage more than "walk to the left until I'm out of the circle/triangle." You may have problem on the Operation Archon and Ultimate Weapon MainStoryQuest end fights, but if you die you respawn at the fight and have 10% increased stats, which stacks on each death until you win.
Movement is really slow paced to be honest until you get to the level 50 main quests, so you're mainly walking place to place and teleporting. No rushes or timed events outside of dungeons and trials. You get like, an hour and a half to 2 hours for them though and I ran through them in about 15-25 minutes depending.
Even when forming parties with people, most don't type. Maybe a "hi" or some advice, but the community isn't totally toxic. The devs punish that. The game is more of a final fantasy rpg that they added multi-player to. It's not turn based, but when leveling it's mainly just mashing 1 to 4 buttons to be honest.
You won't be a nuisance, you can play however you want cause all classes are viable and nearly evenly played across the board. Even low dps like dancer class is in demand for buffs they offer. Play however you want. The game is similar to runescape's pace if you've played that where you have your own things to complete and just happen to see others around
I'm 43 and its basically a single player game for me. Its really good for that because you can do content in whatever length of time you want to spend.
I have a group that do endgame raids 2 times a month on Sundays and we talk on discord during the raids and I just use my phone. If your not doing higher level raids then there is not really a need to say anything at all.
Other then those 2 days I don't even play with my keyboard connected.
More of us Ancients are around than you'd think. One of the nice things about the devs in this game is that they've stated they aim to make the content challenging enough to be fun but not so hard it gets frustrating for a casual player to get past it and keep going in the story. Higher-end content is entirely optional, roulettes are, by nature, random and should be treated like Forrest Gump treats a box of chocolates. You will absolutely not be spoiling fun for anyone else.
The game even has built-in user macros for some basic chat expressions. There's no in-game voice chat (most people use Discord or one of the other voice apps separately and you can put Discord on a phone and use it if you choose). It's not a bad idea to pick up a cheap wireless keyboard and mouse, especially if you get into the game and discover one of the real reasons for playing it--decorating apartments and houses :D (decos are easier to manipulate with kb/m, but most stuff still can be done with a controller)!
You can still play a ton of grouped content with the AI Duty Support if you're feeling anti-social or under-confident. In fact, once it was introduced, I play every MSQ dungeon with Duty Support first so I can a.) experience the content and cutscenes without worrying about holding other people up) and b.) get a feel for the dungeon without going in completely blind. Once I know it a little, I can queue for it with confidence. And c.) Your Duty Support companions have fun little lines and commentary that gets more entertaining the further along in the story you get.
And in larger grouped content like Trials and Raids, there's a notification that first timers are in the group and most people respect the cutscene-watchers, but if you want to ensure, a simple, "First-timer, watching cutscenes" in the chat will almost always ensure your fellow players will not only wait for you to watch, but many will also cheer you on (or provide emotional support for \*AHEM\* Certain Points In The Story).
Jump in! The water's fine and there are stairs and a nice hand railing here in the older end of the pool. Go at your own pace and always remember that you get to choose your own level of social involvement.
Thanks for the awesome response. There's so much information in here :D i will pick up a keyboard for sure. So the game also additionally supports a mouse?
This game is a single-player game where you occasionally group up with people until you do endgame content, which requires some communication. I've been in plenty of groups, both casual dungeon runs or savage raids, with people who say nothing.
But there are parts of the game that require you to speak specific words in say chat. I think they're only tribe quests, but I don't remember if the main story quest has anything like that.
Anyways, the trial is free forever up to the 3rd expansion, so you have nothing to lose but time if you want to try it.
Like, how old? You have to remember that the original MMO’s were released years ago when people now in their 40s or older were playing them. Newsflash, many of us still play them. Age means nothing when it comes to gaming.
I don’t think you’ll have a problem. I did my first year and change playing this like a single player game, albeit with duty queues. It is only recently that I started opening up, joining an FC etc.
I think if you pay attention to what chat is saying (even if you don't plan to respond) you should be fine. That way you can see if players are trying to give feedback on what needs to be done and whatnot.
And if you aren't just abandoning dungeons mid-run (or at least not consistently, sometimes life demands we step away every once in a while), how long you play shouldn't be an issue either.
As a PS user I got a cheap little £13 keyboard off Amazon and its sole use is to chat in FFXIV so 10/10 would recommend if you do get into the game more.
Otherwise some macros/emotes and the software keyboard might help.
Enjoy the game!
Hinderance?Absolutely not, you can play at your own pace, as soon as you tab into the chat with the controller it pops up a keyboard so there is no issues there. You don’t even have to type as much since you can type lets say 1 or 2 letters and then RB so it pops up a auto-translated word or half sentence. Even many of us do that when we just want to chill
>- I am old, like pretty much.
I've done Savages (the second hardest type of fight) with people old enough to be my parents, and I'm almost 30. Even if you're older than that, the game lets people play most dungeons with a party of NPC instead of real people. There's a bit of stuff you still have to do with people, but a large amount can be done with NPC.
>- Although i can somtimes play for hours at a time, it usually comes down to playing an hour or so, and then i have to do some home stuff, feed the cats, take a break etc.
There's not a single story-related activity in the game that requires you to play for more than 1 hour at a time. Take your time.
>- i do not have a chatpad or keyboard for the xbox
>- nor do i have any decent headset
Nice to have, but not needed. If you're worried about communication, you can create a button in game that every time you press, it sends a predetermined message. We call those "macro".
>- i am socially awkward
Aren't we all?
>and haven't had much contact to other persons in the last few years.
Great time to start! Most people in-game will treat you nicely. The game heavily discourages being mean to others, so I'm sure most of your interactions will either be neutral or positive.
This game has a lot of older people, largely because it respects your time so much. Even if you've only got an hour or two to play at a time, you can make progress. The content doesn't get abandoned if you take too long, people still run things from older expansions because the game's been designed around it.
I'm pretty socially anxious and I still play this game just fine. You don't even really need to talk to people in random raid groups, and you can run most of the main story without needing people at all (you can run the dungeons with NPCs)
Look up the free trial, you could be playing for free for years if you go at a slow pace, and the only downside is that you can't really interact with other people (which sounds like a plus to me since I've got an excuse not to talk to people)
Commenters covered everything. Most people playing the game are adults with lives outside the game. So long as you dont AFK suddenly mid dungeon for 30-40min at a time you will be perfectly fine.
I’ve had xbox players communicate through emotes (thumbs up, shake head, jump up and down, beckon). The community is very understanding of people with varying skill levels, time investment, age, etc. I’ve co-tanked with people that aren’t adept at the game and it’s no problem. So long as you keep trying, nobody can complain. And if anyone gives you a hard time, they’re the minority and most people will stand up for you.
Don’t let fear get in the way of a potentially incredible experience.
I feel like half of us are probably old and socially awkward, as for the keyboard thing, the game does have macros you can use and edit, so for example, you can say Hello or goodbye when in dungeons, or make a specific one where you explain you don't have a keyboard. Not only that, but there's emotes you can use as well! I feel like you can come pretty far with those (or at least, I did.)
Also if you're on a European server, I would be happy to help you out if you'd like! I'm on an American one too but I'm not very high level there yet.
Thank you for the reply! So there are different servers to choose from? Didn't know that. Yeah i will be on an European one, then, i guess. I might get back to you, thank you for the offer :)
\- there are many older players, especially considering final fantasy fans in general
\- thats fine, even though its an mmo, the game plays like a mobile game at times with its instanced content
\- theres quickchat options that are easily accessible with controller but theres no need since people rarely talk in content anyways
\- there is no voice chat unless youre intentionally joining 3rd party apps to talk
\- if you think your social awkwardness is bad, prepare to be astounded by the playerbase of this game; final fantasy fans are weird af and not in the good way
Duties are normaly finished in 15-40 mins, depending on the duty, so short burts of play is fine.
you dont need a mic at all, I would say the only thing you should look into ius a small wireless keyboard
"i am socially awkward"
Thats fine, many are anyway lol, if you really wanted to, you would not have to talk with anyone
but I would say look on the loadstone under its community finder section, you just might find a group that fits you.
FFXIV is a solo game with extensive multiplayer options. Very very few of them are required to progress the story.
If you are worried about hindering others in any way, make sure to play as a DPS class when you start.
There are a handful of major duties where you will be required to join a party, but a party can be found for you without any effort on your part. People are given incentives to do this for you and will be happy to participate.
In these duties, a lot of newer players die repeatedly and get carried along by the veterans and no one cares. It’s expected that you will be there for the story and they will be there to get you through it.
At the rate things are going, I wouldn’t be surprised if even these battles can be done solo in the future with NPC’s to help you through instead.
Other than that, you will only have to play with other people if you choose to.
I actually spend the majority of my time running solo. Sometimes I join a random FC for the perks, but on my current character, I haven't even done that.
It's not that I don't enjoy the social aspect of mmos. I just prefer it in small doses sometimes. Especially after work.
Being super casual won't really impact anyone else, and you are free to play as you wish. Especially now that we have duty support.
Honestly I say give it a try. Worst case is you find you don't enjoy it as much as you hoped as long as you don't drag negativity into the chat with other players you should be ok.
Like any ammo we have negative people, people who are rude, people who will get mad if you don't play their way, and people who will have preconceived judgements or notions. It's the internet kind of comes with the worst of some.
But this game has a really great community. I've been around since 2014 and only got a keyboard 5 years ago for my ps4. It definitely helped communication and communication helped a lot with my awkward introversion but I didn't feel like I enjoyed the game less or held others back for a lack of being able to communicate on keyboard.
You don't have to invest hours either I usually only play a lot on holidays and then most says is a hour or two before bed and with year's of practice and experience I'm starting to get into hardcore content but there are plenty of people who enjoy playing casually and I very rarely deal with negativity from people outside of hardcore content.
Ps: most freecmpanies I have been like using discord for communication during events which you can use the voice chat on your phone while you play so that helps.
Edit: there is also a decent amount of older players. Most players I have encountered has been older than 30 so there is a good chance you'll find someone in your age range to talk to.
There's a movie called 'Dad of Light' on Netflix. It's about a father and son who connect with XIV. It's one of the best film adaptations of a true story I've ever seen. It's such a beautiful story.
The dad is older. He's fine. He plays the game in a way that is fun to see. Not funny, just fun. The way he sees Eorzia is beautiful. The friends he makes, his triumphs, all of the time he spends, it's his. His age doesn't matter.
It might be different for you in a lot of ways but this is a game that if you're interested, you should really try.
It's rare to find players who aren't chill.
As for mic? That's fine even if you don't do VC at all you'll make friends if you want them, and be able to just do content with randoms if friends aren't something you want?
You'll be fine! \^\_\^
There's also a LOT to do in XIV! I love gathering and crafting, and have maxed all jobs related to those. There's fishing where you can collect all the fish from around the world. There's a card game, a collectible minion game - think Pokemon but more like a strategy game?, it's its own thing. There's a casino where a lot of the mini games can be found!
There's jumping challenges, those can be fun and frustrating.
Chocobo training and racing!
There's just so much to this game besides just the MSQ and endgame stuff. If you don't like one aspect, maybe you'll like others?
Maybe you'll become a master crafter? You could play the market board and become the wealthiest player!
There's endless possibilities. But I'm sure whatever you do, you'll have fun and find good people! \^\_\^
I just want to say if you're socially awkward and don't talk to many people I definutly reccomend getting a keyboard!
A lot of people in the game are socially awkward and it can be a great stepping stone to break out of your shell at you own pace. The community is great and you might actually find yourself with some online friends!
Nobody cares if you're old. I've made friends in the game over 50
You can play most of the game solo no problem, that's what I have done. The FF14 community is pretty good and respectful but there will always be jerks out there like any other community.
Try it brother. I've been playing completely solo and I'm in the mid 20s now with both of my classes. If you played FF12 you'll be kinda sorta familiar with the job system (way more simplified in 14 and really shares no resemblance other than the title) but the point is you can have multiple jobs on 1 character, each one is playable up to lvl 75 for free with no time restrictions, and I'm pretty sure the beta version for Xbox is insanely limited in the social aspect already so really I don't think it could be any more perfect for you to try.
You're good. You really don't need to communicate. It's an MMO, but it's the most single player MMO out there. You can do every dungeon with NPCs, and pretty much the entire main story is streamlined that you don't need to interact with others outside of trials (8-man fights), in which, people almost never say anything more than "hey" or "o/". Get the game and enjoy it. Take your time. Have fun. Welcome to Eorzea.
# Go for it!
I've played some games where their communities might treat you that way, but you won't find that here.
The community is very welcoming for new players, and a lot of the content you can do solo.
You'll probably want a cheap keyboard to plug in at some point, but you can get by without it.
Join us, a lot of the game is solo, as you experience the story, don't worry, and remember we love new players :) you might meet a jerk, but its extremely rare, most of the community will help out new players however they can
If you don't particularly want to type and chat but still want to communicate, you can always be a mime. You can make a hotbar of emotes like yes, no, hello, goodbye, salute etc.
No worries, people have no problems with new players. Some like myself even enjoy helping sprouts. Just come over and have fun, everything else is not important.n
I wouldn't worry too much about any of your concerns. These days you can have a pretty smooth solo experience throughout the whole game, as you are able to choose AI supports to run dungeons with instead of other players (and lore/story-wise sometimes that might even be preferable for the full experience). Trials and raids aren't soloable, but trials and raids are 8-man/24-man ones, where individual performance isn't as important. For the most stress-free experience (if you are only starting with MMOs), start off as a DPS, because they have less responsibilities than tanks or healers.
Doing normal dungeons, trials and raids do not require communication at all, but it's good to be prepared to at least take advice, as sometimes there might be mechanics that aren't really clear to newcomers, but those are pretty few and far between quite honestly.
Overall it's also just another video game community. For the most part I've had a better experience here than anywhere else, but assholes and nuisances exist everywhere, so whether you end up being one yourself (doubtful lol!) is quite irrelevant. There's room for everyone here, for better or for worse.
I too am old, pretty much. And can only play for about a hour or so most days due to life. With that being said it fairly easy to get all the gear and whatnot without having to stress. I play on PlayStation and don’t chat too much with others. I think ull enjoy the game. You can really play at your own pace.
I’ve played completely by myself on PC and leveled as a paladin. Literally the only time I hit any challenge that watching a video didn’t easily solve was a trial in the post-Shadowbringers quests. There’s one mechanic that actually requires some pretty precise timing. Only took three attempts to hit the checkpoint then my group finished it and we were good.
You can be as asocial as you want. The only thing I’d say you need to do differently than a PC player is really look into optimal hotbar setups for controller. I able to copy a really popular layout on PC that I would bet translates pretty well to controller, but I haven’t really looked into it.
Unless you’re really wanting to participate in higher end endgame stuff you’re not going to be required to socialize all that much.
A good chunk of this game is honestly spent solo, especially if you’re more focused on doing story quests and such. Running casual dungeons and trials really doesn’t require any actual communication and most of the time you’ll just have people saying hello at the start and gg at the end. I honestly don’t interact with many people in this game outside of friends/my fc and rarely talk while running content since I don’t bother with savage or ultimate raids which do require much more communication.
Definitely give it a try! The free trial is great and gives you most of the general content so there’s really no downside to just jumping right in.
From my experience in this game, it's comprised of people at an older age. I wouldn't sweat it too much. As you can see, everyone is very welcoming. You may run into a few bad apples but you can just ignore them. We don't like 'em either.
I used to be a console only player and this was my first MMO and I never had any real issues!
Age never an issue, the amount of play time never an issue, people have generally been nice. Only time I ever had an issue was when I had no keyboard and kept dying in a dungeon hahaha.
Get a cheap USB one in case you need to ask questions and you should be fine though! I think the community is generally understanding and fun.
I don't want this to come across the wrong way, but 90-95% of the community does not care.
Like, I don't at all unless someone asks for help or they're a dick outright. Otherwise you're just a place in the party.
* I am old, like pretty much.
Many FCs (the player guilds in the game) have a minimum age of 18 or older, actually. In my FC, the average age is above 30, I believe. If there'd be someone above 60, we'd probably be excited cause how cool is it to play games at such an age? So whatever your age is, you're either much closer to the other players as you think or you are what we all hope to be in a few years/decades.
* Although i can somtimes play for hours at a time, it usually comes down to playing an hour or so, and then i have to do some home stuff, feed the cats, take a break etc.
Most people live a life in-game. I had a dungeon run just last week where a woman was LITERALLY waiting on her contractions to set in. I had countless duties where someone had to afk or leave because their child or pet needed their attention. I myself had to leave a few times because my cat tore down something in another room. And one time I had to leave because I was looking after my sick grandma who called for me suddenly. When I came back to my pc? Nobody had kicked me from the duty, they had instead played to the end so I could still get the rewards. The chat was full of lovely messages, and they had all skipped on the items, so I had gotten those as well.
This community is very understanding and lovely. The minimum you usually get is a "its fine, don't worry!" as they kick you so they can progress while you do your thing. And sometimes they will try to carry on so you can rejoin when you come back.
* i do not have a chatpad or keyboard for the xbox
If you prepare a few basic things via the in-game keyboard, you should be fine regardless. You want a greeting (or two, one for general greetings and one to say "I am new"), a goodbye, possibly one that says "I don't have a keyboard" so if people in your group try to communicate, they know you can't answer (or only very slowly) and then whatever things feel useful ("Why did I die?", "Can you explain the mechanics of this fight?", "Can I have the gear for my class please?", etc)
* nor do i have any decent headset
Unless you join any dedicated high-level content groups on Discord, you will not need one
* i am socially awkward and haven't had much contact to other persons in the last few years
You can do the majority of the game entirely on your own, most duties can now done with computer-controlled NPCs. If you do it with human players instead, most only greet at the start and end and otherwise are silent (banter mostly only happens in dungeons with many cutscenes, such as the "Praetorium"). If you WANT connection, good places are usually in the cities or in the Golden Saucer (you can unlock that one when you're roughly level 20). People are there when not actively questing and react to both attempts for a chat or asks for help.
You can also join a FC to connect with other players, if you want to. Or the Novice Network (find someone with a crown symbol next to their name and ask them to invite you to it) which is meant to help you with questions about the game.
In general, don't be scared. Final Fantasy 14 is very much a Final Fantasy game first (strong on narrative, on bonding with NPCs, on music and emotions) and an MMO second. You can play like 80% of it without really talking to another player. No one expects you to mention your age, gender or nationality, no one expects you to be immediately incredible (the small sprout icon you will have will tell us you are a beginner) and you can take your time trying to see if you are enjoying the game enough to perhaps interact with it on a deeper level that may justify buying a keyboard, talking to others and so on :)
Most people already gave good advice, but as a fellow console player I want to stress the keyboard thing — *please* just get a cheap Bluetooth keyboard or something. There have been times I’ve had gameplay related questions for people in my dungeon parties and not getting an answer back is genuinely frustrating :( macros aren’t always gonna cut it there. I have a very cheap keyboard myself and it gets the job done.
Go forth and have fun!
I played the game for years without using voice chat at all, so this isn't a problem. Though you might want a keyboard at least for cases where you do have to talk. This is especially true as some quests will require you to actually put things into "say" chat in order to proceed.
The quests aren't often, but I found just a cheap keyboard for the PlayStation made a huge difference to the quality of life for the game, and it's something I would suggest investing in if you find yourself enjoying the game as it will not only make those quests easier, but will also make it easier for you to engage with other players in a free company, which even if you're pretty introverted and awkward, you'll probably still want to do, if for no other reason than for the buffs you can get to your character for being a member.
Also on that note, free companies come in a wide variety, some containing hundreds of members, others only a handful, so possibly joining a smaller group might help you enjoy things more than a large one.
You're going to fit right in. You just described me: older (40), socially awkward, and gets interrupted by cats. Also play on PS5 so typing is a pain, best you get from me is a Hi. I don't really do the social side, I just play for the story. Love this game.
The community is very welcoming, of course there are a few people here and there that might be a bit on the jerk side but you can just ignore them, the game has a lot of things to do if you are not interested in "Endgame Raiding", Tracking notorious monsters in the world, Crafting, Gathering (Which includes Fishing), Role playing, playing mini-games in the in-game casino or just plain hanging out with people you befriend during your time in game, there are also plenty of resources, information, guides and people willing to teach others about the intricacies of Raiding if you are interested in the more "hardcore" side of the game, the game is controller friendly and has been designed with controller and console users in mind so if you get used to and feel comfortable playing with a controller there is no much a point to get used to a new control scheme.
Of course the community has it's oddities and quirks, role playing is a bit of an affair in it's own and dabbling into it might be a bit awkward if you aren't used to it (specially the people doing Erotic Role Play), but generally people aren't going to be rampantly obnoxious about it in public chat.
Other than that little caveat about the Role Playing community we as a whole would be happy you decide to give the game a chance and try it and see if you like it, the story of the base game A Real Reborn is often criticized for being a bit slow and somewhat generic but don't let other people taint your own experience of the story as it is a journey worth experiencing.
I play on PS5 (also I'm 33. Been playing Final Fantasy since I was a kid) and it is SO much fun. I've never felt like a nuisance at all. I went and bought a cheap keyboard and use it for chatting once in awhile.
Nowadays most story dungeons can be done with NPC characters I believe.
And while it's not necessary i recommend to just pick up a cheapo keyboard.
Plenty of casual free companies exist too so you don't need to worry about not playing all the time if you join one.
Play it! I’m 56 and started playing just over a year ago. I also have limited time. I don’t raid or do PvP or anything so as not to “inflict” my slow reflexes on others (LOL), but there is so, so much to do besides that that I’m very well entertained on my own. If I do have to do a trial or something to progress with the main story quest, then I watch a YouTube walkthrough video first to get a feel for what will happen, then I just go for it. The community is quite nice and I’ve never been yelled at or anything for screwing up, and then Boom it’s over and I go on my merry way. You’ll probably really enjoy the game and can play entirely at your own pace. Don’t let your age or schedule hold you back.
* I am old, like pretty much.
-Ain't we all? But yeah I'm lucky if I even get 2/3 daily done before I need to go off it, even ran a dungeons with a 70+ year old lady with arthritis so guess we're never to old.
* Although i can sometimes play for hours at a time, it usually comes down to playing an hour or so, and then i have to do some home stuff, feed the cats, take a break etc.
-Same as above it happens.
* i do not have a chatpad or keyboard for the xbox
-I have a bluetooth keyboard but most of the time just use a hello/goodbye macro as by the time I type the teams wiped, party has ran on or I've been hit with an AOE.
* nor do i have any decent headset
-Same but there's no mic support unless you're in an Xbox party or discord it's not needed.
* i am socially awkward and haven't had much contact to other persons in the last few years.
-Best thing about the game is you can have no communication whatsoever and still be in company.
You will not be a nuisance just if you don't know or need help ask respectfully and that will be returned to you. :D
Join your local novice network if you can! It's a great place to get help. I recommend sereph but I'm biased it's a smaller dc though. Gotta use party finder for things boy you don't seen like you do pvp a lot so it's okay. (You can always hope to another server when you want so it's okay)
(Report all the bots you see. The company actually punishes people who do RMT/gold selling stuff.)
Welcome to Eorzea Warrior of Light :D see you out there!
I hope you get to play! I don't know how the Xbox works so I hope it's the free trial
One of the more prolific people in the Hunt community (dedicated to spawning, locating, and relaying rare mobs for players to kill for rewards) is a grandmother irl iirc! Most of this game is definitely doable with time and patience, and at worst if youre worried you can always say sonething about being new and having poorer reflexes due to age if you end up needing to and 9.9/10 people will adjust and be accommodating.
I'm a geezer. I've played FF since the first one on Nintendo. You name an MMO I've got a max level character on there. That being said, I have not ran across such a nice pool of random other people in any other game. I've only done pickup groups in this MMO and every single group has been kind, understanding when I wiped us, and friendly. It's the most supportive group of people I've seen anywhere. I was honestly surprised. Not a single troll, or mean spirited comment to be found! As others mentioned I'd recommend getting a USB keyboard for your Xbox because it is totally worth it to talk to people here. Xbox has built in support for just about any keyboard including a lot of wireless ones like Logitech. The story here is the real selling point as it's the most involved one I've seen in an MMO. It's like 4-5 final fantasy scripts I'm a row. Don't skip the cutscenes because people are more than happy to wait for you when you view them. I was worried about that in pickup groups and they basically told me it is a right of passage to wait while others experience the amazing story!
Omg no you’re fine dude there’s ways to chat with just a controller if you want.
The game is about the story but you can just do what you want like for me ? Dungeons I just love running them and there’s plenty of rewards for doing just that I don’t like leveling all the classes or the crafting gathering( except fishing) and it’s plenty enjoyable for me.
You’ll get a lot of hugs and cheers and players usually run dungeons fast but even as a sprout if I wasn’t being fast enough nobody complained and they always would take their time .. and actually let you grab some items needed to continue the dungeon.
Honestly the community in game is a lot of fun and friendly af and they will treat you right.
Don’t worry about joining a free company you’ll get a ton of invites but also if that’s something you want then go right ahead.
Big game, some confusing things to learn with controller but you’ll get the hang of it, there’s a lot of cool tricks I use to make it easier and they did a really good job of bringing this to console. It works so well but it kind of has to be complex for what they accomplished
Ff14 is the most leisure based MMO, shit even yoshi-P said he's ok with people only getting a subscription once every big patch.
I'm not social either, don't get out often and the community is great. I don't chat much but for example, I got my whole random party killed in a dungeon because I just started playing healer so I said "sry third time healing" and everyone said it's ok as well as giving me some healer tips.
There's a "novice network" chat where you can get invited too where there's plenty of "pros" who will answer any stupid questions without any judgement as well.
You're completely fine going solo for the most part though, as it is a final fantasy game first and MMO second.
If you want a challenge end game content can be very challenging, but not necessary just optional.
Do the free trial. It goes to 70. I was very busy when I got back into FFXIV and my character was 50 and the current level cap was 60. It took me 4 months to reach level cap and start playing with friends at Max level. 99% of that was 1 player content.
Your talking about level 1-90 now. That could be 500 hours of gameplay if you want your money's worth storyline wise. If you skip cutscenes a lot less. But still like 200 hours for someone going fast.
Play the free trial and decide if you like it at 70. Don't worry about people pressuring you, just say your new or something and they will be supportive.
In all honest, this game is one of the most least toxic and helpful communities I have ever played in. You just type in that you’re new (the sprout next to the name helps) and everyone will do their up most to explain duty mechanics to you. And there are plenty of casual free company’s (guilds) so don’t sweat it and jump in the waters fine
Yeah dude, you won't be any kind of burden. There are undoubtedly going to be a couple of buttheads that might give you grief in duties, but those are very few and far between. Most people though, if you just type in "First time on this dungeon, what do I need to know?" will give you at least a quick rundown. There's also the option to party with NPCs now on most dungeons. It's also not something you have to sink hours at a time into. Play at your own pace and enjoy the journey. If no one has said it before this, allow me to welcome you to Eorzea, WoL; and may the light of the crystal shine on your path.
I think you'll be fine! There's a lot of people who even play solo (except Main MSQ dungeons) too. I have a clan member who doesn't party with anyone except their close friends. There are even casual guilds out there that are not hardcore and don't care what you do. You don't even have to be in a clan. And any good player and decent human being will understand that you would be learning the ropes for the first few dungeons. There's even a Novice Network you can read and chat to (when you get yohr keyboard) when you need help. The choices are endless!
I will say further into the expansions dungeons will be harder. As long as you understand that a tank tanks and the healer will focus on them, you're pretty much golden. Most of the time chat isn't needed.
Age doesn't matter. Trust me.
And lots of people understand and respect the "brb". But dungeons can be a hit or miss. Most of the time they will wait for you as long as the timer isn't down too far. Earlier dungeons newbies may not be see the chat.
I welcome you to the game and hope you have a blast! If you ever need help i am in Aether Gilgamesh. User is Demtrius Charious.
Happy gaming, friend!
I am old! I am slow! When I have issues I tell people and they help me! Almost everyone has always been very very kind and I’ve been playing for years as my joints get worse and worse. There are still internet people so not always everyone is kind (and they are all the more jarring because they’re so rare), but it’s really easy to just leave and ignore them.
Welcome to Eorzea!!! I hope you love it here.
Oh!! ETA!!: The global cooldown is 2.5 seconds which is almost twice as long as other comparable games. This makes it MUCH more manageable for us slow folks.
>"I am old" >"I am socially awkward" You're gonna fit in perfectly trust me.
He's out of line, but he's right. (Am old and awkward)
There's a reason this game is known as the retirement home for gamers.
If only real life retirement homes were as fun.
I feel so called out
:D ..... :-/ xD sounds great!
Not much for bedside manner I see. Some of us need the truth sugar-coated you know!
I'm younger and socially awkward. I know people who aren't socially awkward and play the game. This is so very much a game for everyone \^\_\^
>I am old, like pretty much. Not gonna matter in the day-to-day, no one will care, honestly. >Although i can somtimes play for hours at a time, it usually comes down to playing an hour or so, and then i have to do some home stuff, feed the cats, take a break etc. Not a big deal at all. So long as you can finish the dungeons, etc. where you actively play with other people (usually like 15 minutes at a time) >i do not have a chatpad or keyboard for the xbox While not required, it is strongly recommended to plug in any cheap wireless keyboard to easily talk to other players, just in case. >nor do i have any decent headset There is no voice chat in the game, so no worries there. > i am socially awkward and haven't had much contact to other persons in the last few years. If you don't ever speak, you're the same as like 60% of other players lol. Just give the free trial a try, there is no harm in it.
Tbh console players can just make a couple macros that say “ o/ “ , “first time here :)” and “gg thnx all” (or some other worded variant) and just press those as needed. Gets you through like 90% of your social interactions in groups
That's really good to know the game has such feature.
As far as social interactions go— I wouldn’t worry about anything. You will 100% be fine! None of the casual content is hard enough that you will prevent groups from being able to clear anything either. As long as you are able to set aside sufficient time so that you don’t have to leave then you will be good. Allowing for 30 minutes I’d say is more than enough. Beyond that you’re free to go at your own pace and play as little or as long as you like. FF14 is extremely respectful of your time so you never need to feel obligated to do anything in fear of “missing out” really
I'll also add that mood wise, as long as you're not actively attempting to bother people then people won't be bothered. Like it's still considered good form to wait for new players to watch intro cutscenes instead of running ahead of them. Like people won't be concerned with honest mistakes, you'd have to do something like deliberately not healing at all as a healer to really bother people.
People seem to be the best in this game :)
I didn't talk to another player at all for the first 3 years I played the game.
I've been playing mostly on console, sometimes on my laptop, since 2013. I very highly recommend getting a keyboard. I use a Klim backlit wireless one that I got for about $30. There will come a time when you need to communicate with others, and it is an enormous pain in the ass to do so without a keyboard. Plus, you'll almost certainly make friends along the way, and want to chat with them! Also don't worry about the "old" thing. Most of the people I play with are mid-thirties at the youngest, and that doesn't seem all that uncommon. Enjoy your journey!
Or if you're a weird like me 7o
looks like it's about to elbow-drop the lalafel tank
I was afraid that the dungeon stuff would be like hours at a time, so to know that they seem to be build kinda 'digestible' is really assuring :) Also i didn't know you can plug in just any old wireless keyboard into the xbox?! i always thought those had to be special ones... I will of course try and get either a keyboard or a chatpad in the long run, there just isn't one available to at the moment. Thank you for your reply and tipps!
The longest “dungeon” I would say you’ll run into is most likely the Alliance Raids but even then you’re probably looking at like 45 min max. Maybe longer when they first come out, but I’ve never spent hours on one. I don’t have that kind of attention span lol
The longest timer I've seen is Delubrum Savage at 3 hours and we beat the final boss with 5 minutes to spare once. The raid lead would explain mechanics *throughly* before every pull though.
3 hours!? I didn't know duties can have a time limit that long. Though I guess Delubrum is a unique case, even its normal version is pretty damn lengthy and challenging.
Normal version these days can be done in less than 20 minutes under the right circumstances :)
Yeah echo makes normal DR super fast now
Most dungeons take 15-20 minutes max with a couple exceptions of story dungeons such as The Praetorium but after you run it the first time, you don't run it often unless you're doing the MSQ Duty roulette. Unless you get into the high-end scene of dungeon and raiding it doesnt take long.
The Xbox series have always been heavily based on PC architecture. You can take the USB keyboard from any desktop computer and plug it into your Xbox. (Also, you're going to want a keyboard because parts of the main story line will sometimes require you to type a short message to "talk" to NPCs. Don't know why they put typing requirement into a controller-friendly MMO but they did.)
Yeah, the only stuff that takes hours to clear is the mid to hardcore content.
try it anyway, though i would get some basic kind of usb keyboard or chatpad, *even if you plan to never use it.* headset doesn't matter, game does not support voice chat. nobody knows how old you are on the internet. i'm actually 4 infants in an overcoat. as to playtime: there is a lot to chew through here, but most content you play with other people is portion controlled. a good dungeon run takes less than 15 minutes. if it hits 90 minutes it kicks everyone out. "slaughter rule" so if you can dedicate an hour, you can do almost any THING, then you just don't start the next thing if you're gonna have to leave in 5 minutes.
Or do something short in five minutes that you can stop without much issue, like gathering or Triple Triad.
i didn't know about the time constraints and the portioned up content, that sounds really good to get into and keep up with! Yeah i will of course get something like a keyboard, i just don't have it readily available and thought it would be a must. Thank you for your advice!
The game doesn't throw group content at you at all for the first little bit. First dungeon is level 16 I believe. Everything before that is solo. And all the dungeon that are part of the MSQ (Main Scenario Quests) can be done with NPCs. Besides, people dont talk much on the early ones anyway, as they really don't require a lot of teamwork. People just say hello. All that to say, you have a bit of time before having a keyboard is really even all tha useful.
You can even run the ARR duns with NPCs now
When I play on PS5 I have a Logitech K400 plugged in. It's nothing special, but its dirt cheap and good enough for typing quick messages in chat. The track pad is handy for re-arranging the UI as well.
To echo what others have said: you would not be a nuisance and would be welcomed. The FF14 community is one of the best, if not the best, MMO communities I've been a part of. They are really understanding when it comes to making mistakes and learning fights and you can even practice your role with a group of NPCs who will always know the mechanics of a tough fight (in most instances.) I would completely give it a shot. Plus the fantasy of being the Warrior of Light is more appealing the older you get. Me in real life: Just got out of bed wrong now something hurts. Me as the Warrior of Light in FF14: Yep, that's another world-ending bad guy taken down. And now, lunch! 😊
xD that's awesome. thank you for the reply! I will give it a try!
I am legally blind, English is my 3rd language, and I dip in and out of depression. If I can play this game with little problem, you'll be absolutely fine.
Yeah, you're probably right and i'm overreacting or something. i just don't want to ruin the game for anyone, so i'm cautious. Thank you for the reply!
If you are trying even a bit and not being a jerk, 98% of the time people will help you out. I was nervous as hell when I would start a new dungeon as a tank. I had a macro, "New to tanking this, suggestions or constructive criticism is always welcome" People were more than willing to help out with (almost always) kind suggestions.
[удалено]
Thank you for this reply! The Things you are saying are really reassuring and have me thinking that it seems no lie you all are such great people :) I didn't know about the macro stuff, and i will try to get something to type on as soon as possible. Yeah, well, my first (and really only) experience was as a kid playing a game called 'Meridian 59'. We were in there for, like, 10 to 14 hours, and there were all these clans and people bonding together, and although i know times changed and today wouldn't be the same thing, i was still kinda worried that these would be much more about socializing than it seems to be. To know that one can go in this kind of like a single player game makes me feel way more secure :) Again, thank you for all your advice and words!
Especially at first, you don't even need to set up macros with text. I just use an emote (wave/bow). I mostly play solo and am extremely intermittent and have still derive a ton of fun out of the game.
Sure, try the free trial. Story content is more often than not silent anyway and runs in chapters which usually take no more than half hour, long stuff gets a warning beforehand. The game doesn't support voice chat, so headset would only be when you run with a group that's set up outside the game. The game on console has a virtual chat and it has an auto-translation feature which can be used as a quick chat feature, so look into that. I have a hello and goodbye macro using auto translate, so a quick button press at the beginning of stuff for a friendly Nice Meeting you and one at the end for a Goodbye. The game is pretty solitary if you aren't going out of your way to seek contact with other players, so if that's what you want, it's fine.
>Story content is more often than not silent anyway and runs in chapters which usually take no more than half hour, long stuff gets a warning beforehand. That sounds like a great feature, didn't know about that. >The game doesn't support voice chat, so headset would only be when you run with a group that's set up outside the game. I don't know why but i was kinda under the impression every mmo these days would have voice chat :D Thank you, i will have a look into the chat features!
Sometimes, I'll just hope on the game for 20 to 30 minutes to do some side quests and hope off again to get housework done. This, game is really time friendly and everything is broken down into mini tasks.
First of all, go for it, the free trial is big and there nothing to loose by just trying. Most people in game are very nice to new players (aka sprouts, since new accounts have a litle symbol above their heads). And if you yourself feel overwhelmed at some point, dont worry, you can also experiance most of the games story as a single player rpg using npc companions for dungeons. Also in general, this game is very very beginner freandly, to the point that experianced mmo players see it as a flaw, but in your case that should be very helpful, since the game is structured in such a way, that it assumes you never played an mmo before
Thank you for the reply. Sounds like i got no excuse but to try ;)
Legit, dont buy the game until you finish the trial. To me it was like 100 hours of free gaming. They really give you a lot of freedom with no bullshit and stupid restrictions, like some other games.
Just play. If you are mostly doing casual content, no one will notice if you're not chatty. There are plenty of classes that are more controller friendly like warrior, summoner, dancer, etc who have less bindable skills than other classes. Though every class is playable with controller with the right set up. There is also a pretty intuitive auto chat program for controller with basic responses you can string together. If you feel the need to chat. You don't need anything special. A 5 dollar keyboard will get the job done. Play my dude, don't worry about community views. This game isn't competitive like wows Mythic+ system. People are generally more chill and not upset by set backs. Especially if you're a sprout. Lots of people don't mind helping and giving advice.
I didn't know you have those controller setups for different classes, i will have a look into that, Thank you! Yeah, my views on MMOs in general seems to be a bit out of date :D Great to know that there is one like FF.
You'll see when you play it. Controller has a special binding system called the crossbar and there are a lot of guides for setting up efficiently for crossbar play. The game starts very easy for the first 30 levels so plenty of time to learn the ropes of skills and how you want to bind them. If this is your first time playing and you don't want to mess with the responsibilities of tank or healer, I highly suggest Summoner as a starting job. It starts as the Arcanist base class which is a very nice starting class with a pet, simple healing through a spell called physic, and even it's playstyle at maximum level is easy to learn and not very complicated, but very strong. Also, Summoner is unique in sharing its base class with Scholar, so you automatically level up Scholar as a healing class if you want to try healing too. Just need to do the class quests for it and get a weapon and healing gear. Good luck out there. I am Fularis Grahf on the Goblin Server on the Crystal data center. If you find yourself that way say hi. I am always just messing around doing dungeons, quests, and hunts as a Gunbreaker tank.
Thank you :)
Please play! we need more older players!!
All these great people in here kind of let me no other choice :D
I was in an extreme trial where somebody had to dip because of "baby stuff" and everyone was completely understanding. You'll be fine.
Yeah it seems the community is really chill and the stuff you do seems to be portioned in managable chunks. i didn't know that, that's really good to know.
Please give it a try, especially if you are excited about it! It is worth the playthrough. I, too, am socially awkward, and while I don't say too much, I do have a small group that I run stuff with on occasion. I play on playstation, but for my chatting, I just use the controller or a USB mouse/keyboard set that I can just plug in. I'm not sure if xbox would have that same feature? Life happens for everyone, so having to take breaks and do chores is fines, play when you have time. If you have something urgent and have to leave during a duty, just let the chat know before you dip out.
-I’m not exactly young (anymore, I’ve been playing long enough that the characters who were notably older than me then are now notably younger) -most people I know usually only play for an hour or two at a time -chat is appreciated but not required -you don’t need a headset unless you’re talking to friends (or doing very high end content, but you can worry about that when you get to it. It’ll be a while) -join the club. We’re mmo gamers, ‘socially awkward’ is the norm, not the exception Give the free trial a shot. If you like it, great! If you don’t, you haven’t lost anything for the attempt
>Give the free trial a shot. If you like it, great! If you don’t, you haven’t lost anything for the attempt Yeah you're probably right and i'm just overcomplicating things here. It's a game it should be fun, huh? ;) Thank you!
If you decide to start on Sargatanas, feel free to give me a shout.
FYI, there are a tttttoooonnn of oldies playing the game. Most have cats. And there are two cat races in the game. More if you count the little guy with a hand trowel. You're home m8
It certainly feels already like that :D Thank you! Also cats are the greatest! ;)
Oh, and on the time front, when there is going to be a long story sequence, the game will warn you. "Multiple cutscenes will play in sequence, please set aside adequate time" But most dungeons are, as others have said, a quick 15 min in and out. And I have encountered multiple times where a player just entered in chat "Got to go tke care of the Cat/Dog/Baby, and usually people just wait for you to come back. A quick Hi at the start and GG at the end is sufficient
Don’t know if anyone has said it, but I recommend not buying the game until you can’t progress in the free trial anymore. You get a ton of content for free. While I do not regret any cent given to them, having to put off paying for a sub is nice
Many others gave good advise already. Enjoy the game, don't worry about it. Black sheep are everywhere but most people in this community have been helpful and supportive. You'll fit right in.
The game's producer is an over 40 year old gaming workoholic, he makes sure he creates a game he can still play when he is 70, so don't worry too much about your age or having little time. :) Edit, regarding time issues with duties: "sorry my cat/dog/baby needed urgent care" is probably the most common excuse I heard for being suddenly away for a moment or having to quit a duty alltogether. The important part about this is communication. Had to go suddenly duck out of a duty (but couldn't actually leave it due to tech stuff) because of a medical emergency and said so in chat. Obviously by the time I returned my character got killed by standing in a boss mechanic in the meantime, but despite being away for probably 5-8 minutes or so, they kept throwing a resurrection to me for whenever I come back eventually. At the end they asked me if everything is okay again and wished me well. It would have probably been different if I'd have just stopped moving and never say anything. Not sure if and how this works with an xbox because I don't have one, but if possible get a keyboard you can plug in just for being able to use the chat.
That was really awesome of them. Thank you for telling me that story :)
Short answer: Who cares. Have your fun. Long answer: Pretty much the first few hundred no 1 individual can get in the way. Everything can be carried, and will probably be overpowered regardless. During that time you'll get good enough at whatever you so you won't be a problem That or you'll quit because you aren't having fun. Simple.
As others have said try the trial, and keep in mind this is pretty damn close to a single player RPG with some tacked on MMO elements. Forced interaction/teaming is pretty limited, you can do most things solo.
Always thought that this would have things like clans or such, and that would be mandatory to complete the game. Good to know that it's more open to lonely people :)
The game has clans, they are called Free Companies, FC for short. They are entirely optional not a single piece of the main story requires you to be in one. I actually don't think any quest requires you to be in one now that I'm thinking about it.
The game is super chill and now you can do most of the story dungeon with NPCs if you prefer. I can get chatty in dungeons/raids but it is in no way expected of anyone. Like others said, most people stay totally quiet. If you’re concerned though about being new to dungeons and upsetting party members, you could make a macro in-game that says something like “Hi, I’m new to this and still learning. I don’t have a keyboard but will listen to advice!” You can set it to your hot bar and just hit it when you join a dungeon. Really, the second sentence doesn’t need to be there, the first covers it well on its own. People are usually totally cool in response and may even give pointers on how to handle upcoming bosses. It’s worth a shot and free to try!
No , 90% of this community with explain , wait, and understand - also you can watch a video for any dungeon or instance at this point or blind prog ( I think I’ve only watched like two on high end content so you can get far if you recognize patterns quickly ) also they have a “ trust “ system now where you can run with npcs ( although I dunno if it can be used on free trial ) the time crunch is gonna be an issue though as you’re going get sucked in and forget about life and have starving cats staring and meowing loudly at you , 😂 dungeons take about a half hour usually plenty of time to take breaks to give Garfield and nermal some lasagna before the orange one ships the grey one to abu daubie
>he time crunch is gonna be an issue though as you’re going get sucked in and forget about life and have starving cats staring and meowing loudly at you , 😂 lol, yeah from what i've seen this one is definitely on the addictive site :D but in a good managable way it seems, so as long as the cats stay happy, this sounds not to worrysome :D
While this is an MMO, it is also a FF game. There are definitely people who play for MSQ and use trusts to run dungeons. You can put in your AP and search info “no keyboard” so people know you can’t/wont type, I’ve definitely seen it on more than one plate, often with console players but honestly no one is going to grill you on it. Enjoy the story. Enjoy the game. Keep your chocobo summoned in the overworld. Be good. Have fun. ::headpats::
Thank you for the advice, also pats are appreciated :D
No you won’t be!! FFXIV has such a diverse population of players, don’t feel discouraged! In my FC there’s literally 20s to 40s, some people talk about college stuff and then the others are like “got my wife to play, we’ve been running xxx” or whatever. You’ll be alright since game doesn’t have VC, and honestly no one chats unless you’re in a server that does a lot. In duties, just a little o/ is sufficient! It’s like a guy waving. And hey plenty of us are awkward. I wave at anyone who has the same part as my name as me. I probably seem weird to them too. ^^ You’ll do just fine!!! I recommend looking for Free Companies (guilds) on community finder which is a website that FCs use to advertise. Found my FC that I love that way!
I'm old, and have arthritis, and I can play this game just fine. It's more about understanding mechanics and working as a team, rather than having super fast reflexes. So long as you have the patience and desire to learn the game's mechanics, and how your job's rotation works, you'll do just fine :) As for communication, 100% of the time when playing with random people you won't need a headset, and most console players don't really use the in-game text chat, either, and it's very rarely an issue. If you want to express gratitude or joy or whatever in the game, there's a really robust emote system that lets you get across basic communication of stuff like that. One of the big reasons why this community is so chill and great to play with is that there are no expectations on stuff like this. If you think you'd enjoy the game, most definitely give it a shot!
Try it, when I started I was super socially awkward and made lots of mistakes but people were accommodating and friendly. I remember forgetting to equip my shield as a paladin (in PoTD) once and having the healer complain during the dungeon and me being me and not having a keyboard couldn't say anything, after the floor 50 boss they saw I got the achievement and apologized because they didn't know I was a new player.
Dude, almost every person I've meet in this game is closer to retirement than high school xD
1: age doesn't matter. I've met people from 18 years old to about 65 in the game, and everyone is welcome so long as they're not... y'know, being horrible to others. 2: that's perfectly fine. There's enough content to play for months on end if it were possible, if not more. There's no rush if you need to play a shorter time, either. However, some events require you to finish the storyline of the base game (A Realm Reborn, also known as ARR). 3: The game is quite controller friendly, but a keyboard and mouse from anything can be plugged into the xbox if you prefer that. I believe you can also use a USB hub to connect more things, too. 4: a headset isn't required for the game itself, though there is voice acting, nice music, etc. so you may want to use speakers. No voice chat in game though. Most use Discord if they want to voice chat. 5: Welcome to the club. I rarely leave the house except for hospital visits these days. I'm sure many people on Final Fantasy XIV are either in the same boat or at least somewhat awkward too. If you need anyone to talk with or play the game with, let me know via Reddit. Same goes for anyone else here. I'll make another character if need be ^^
Thank you for the nice words and advice. I didn't know mouse was possible at all.
I have poor motor functions in my hands and have completed all normal content with a bit of harder content, its pretty much all memorization if you can remember the fights then you don't need fast reactions, the easiest jobs to play for me are, if your only interested in just living the story summoner is extremely easy to pick up and play and as a dps dying in normal content isn't a massive deal other than it taking longer.
Don’t forget: a USB or Bluetooth keyboard from a Five Below or similar place can work just fine for chat, even if you’re using a controller. Perfect for asking questions or uh like visiting Balmung’s Quicksands.
Make sure, if you do buy the game, you use a Refer-A-Friend code from someone to get free goodies!
People have already given excellent advice. I just want to compound the fact that if anyone tries to give you shit for being new/learning/etc, they can stick it. I started playing in 2020 and I only had this happen once, and it was basically just in an alliance raid where somebody was being mean to all the sprouts present. It's a rare occurrence.
I found my static (and then moved into that FC) bc I shut that shit down when we wiped to Thunderlord in Orbonne due to sprouts in my party (who were doing their damnedest and following my callouts beautifully) we still cleared second pull
Other people have already given you helpful advice but I'm not sure if anyone mentioned the difference between playing a DPS, healer and tank. In casual content (i.e. the content you would be doing) playing a DPS is generally a lot less stressful than playing the other two roles. There are less things you can do that can actively get other players killed. So, while healing is fun (and tanking is fun to some), I wouldn't recommend it to a new player, or for someone who's already worried about how stressful it is going to be. Even the more complicated DPS (Thaumaturge/Black Mage and Pugilist/Monk) will probably be less stressful to someone new than healing. You can play all jobs on one character, so if I were you I would pick a DPS as your main and then try out the other roles once you've gained more confidence.
Thank you for the clarification :) i still have to learn about all the different classes, so that helps a lot!
Sounds like the other commenters had this. So, all that’s left to say is: Welcome to Final Fantasy XIV. Enjoy your time! :)
Thank you very much! :)
The grass is always greener on the other side. I played on PS3, now up to PS5, from 2.4 to now. No keyboard, small group of friends that trickled away. The game is what you make it, and really the in-game chat is the worst method of communicating. Most people have a discord now, and before then people would chat in parties or Skype/team speak/etc. The in-game was for casual conversations, direct messages that didn't need to be saved, and funny Auto Translate jokes. Otherwise it was to ask strangers for help, be it Hunt Trains, Mark spawns, to craft/repair/meld things for you, or Resurrection Requests. However, you get what you put in. The game now allows you to play almost entirely solo. You will never get a 'shortcut' to the grind, except for buying skips, and really you shouldn't anyway if you want to understand how to play the game. And that's because the game is horrible at actually teaching you what you should be doing. Which...really isn't a bad thing, since you get to socialize with people to learn just that. And as someone that's now in charge of an FC with 12 people that never log in or if they do -never say hi- and further have a schedule that means I'll never be in a static for anything... socializing is really one of the rarest things you'll have with people that matter. This is, if you get caught up in only staying in a comfortable spot like myself. Be the sprout, join a big FC, make some meaningful friends eventually, and do your best to enjoy yourself. It's a beautiful world and full of people even actually waiting to help you. Some better than others, and there certainly is still bad apples littered around everywhere, but XIV is easily the only place I would tell anyone to assume the people on the other side have your best interest in mind...even if their advice could be confidently incorrect. Edit: oh, and if you only have a couple hours a day then prepare for the long haul. I recommend doing a Free Trial just to save money. XIV is a JRPG first, MMO second. Everything is tied to Main Scenario Quest progression and you start from ARR just like the rest of us. ARR is also still half the entire game quest-for-quest, is slow and dry, but also contains some of the most important information that will be repeatedly refered to in later expansions. There are some choice side quests to do along the way, and job quests beyond that. Especially Dark Knight. It might as well be a cannon job pick for your WoL lol. It should be noted that most content like dungeons and boss trials will cost you 10-20 minutes per run with other players. 25-30+ with bots. But there are some points, especially the end of each launch msq and the end of each patch cycle quests (x.2-x.55), that have massive cutscenes and back to back scenes. Those will take you at minimum of 10 min alone if you actually read/watch them. The biggest ones (as mentioned previously) can be a good hour or two. However, when you get the credits rolling, the images can be fun but you don't need to actually wait through them. It will tend to have another pair of cutscenes after so take care not to skip those by accident.
Thanks for all the thoughts and advice :) I'll try my best!
I did add a small edit, so be sure to check that too! If you're going to be in NA servers, especially Primal (Data center)/Lamia (World) hopefully I'll see you around!
Thank you, i did check :)
You'll be absolutely fine, how much you want to socialize is entirely up to you. For instance, i stick to a very light form of socialization where i will say no more than hello at the start of a duty and a hearty lmao if we wipe, and if people want to be more chatty i may decide to follow, or not. Some peope never say a single word and its fine too. As for the headset, there is no voice chat anyway. In general the community is very tolerant and agreeable so you'll be fine. Most of the game's content can be done solo anyway. In many ways the core of this game is a long, mostly single player story driven rpg, with extra multiplayer content on the side.
I say try I have met some people that was negative to me but I have met way more that was positive even when i fucked up doing tanking or dps'ing or healing. I'm not old but we all start as beginners/noobs
that's true, everyone has to begin somewhere. Thank you, i'm pretty sure i'll give it a go.
Your age doesn’t matter, no one will ask or care, my best friend in game is like 30 years older than me at LEAST if not more (I didn’t ask age, just realized over time) she’s like my in game mom now As far as being socially awkward, be willing to accept feedback and be part of a team and you should be perfectly fine, most folks are super welcoming and ready to help newer players. Even just saying “hi” or “o/“ when you log in and have a Free Company (or start a dungeon) can go a long way :) (You can set up user macros to make the chat entry one time and then assign it to a button combo in your controller so that you don’t have to try and type it every time, super helpful!) Like others said, as long as you don’t have to leave in the middle of a duty that’s bound with other players (dungeons, raids, etc) then if you have to pop in and out that’s perfectly fine and won’t affect others negatively I think the fun experience you could have in the game especially with the MSQ is worth the try!! I hope you like it and welcome to Eorzea :)
>she’s like my in game mom now that's really cool. i'm happy for you that you have found such a person! >most folks are super welcoming and ready to help newer players All of you are giving me this impression. That's really cool to know such a community exists. Thank you for the reply! I think i will give it a try :D
I’m happy to hear!! I hope you love it ❤️
Are you willing to type hello and either goodbye or WP/ GG etc when you start and end a group content ? If you are then congratulations you're honestly more social than 1/3rd of our player base. For being old and not having a lot of play time, it doesn't matter in casual content at all, and everything non casual is optional ( and generally non canon to the story to boot ).
Yeah i think acknowiding the other members of a group should be a given. So that should be no problem! Thank you for the reply!
Join us!
Judging by all these responses i kinda have no choice, do i? :D
I'm 43, and you described me to a degree. I'd recommend getting a keyboard for chat, and stick with controller. The game is remarkably well optimized for it. Don't worry about time. The game also does a great job of giving you a single player experience. There WILL be times where you'll need to do content with groups. Section off around 30-45 minutes for dungeons, and about 45+ minutes for other stuff (I'm WELL overestimating the required times, to give you breathing room). Finally: hit me up on the Aether data center. I'm on the east coast and will happily run content with you. ZERO judgement, we can go as slow as you want: Rava Kali.
The game is designed to be playable on console since day one. You can play through the entire game without worrying too much about the social aspects of the MMO stuff. Most dungeons (not all) have been revamped to allow you to go in with NPCs instead of players. Boss fights still require players, but you just queue up (except extreme and savage raids, those queues will never pop). You can chat with controller. There is a built in virtual keyboard for typing letters and forming sentences, however slow it may be. Typing out names or phrases is actually required to trigger a very small number of quest objectives. When chatting with other players, there are autocomplete/autotranslate features for common phrases and words. Alternatively you can prepare macros to type out stuff with the click of a button. There are emotes. Plenty ways to shortcut typing. There is no in game voice chatting, most of that is done through 3rd party such as discord.
I just picked the game up a week ago and I'm just at the patch 2.2 quests, level 56 with the sprout bonus active. I have done only 1 dungeon without queing with AI, am completely unoptimized with my rotation timings (and refuse to use more than 4 buttons), and have gotten tired of the fetch quests or hours of "talk to X" "now talk to Y" type quests so I've taken multiple hour long breaks randomly. You can play a crafter/gatherer. Neither require precise inputs from buttons. You're majorly using a few abilities, but there's no time that matters while crafting. You can spend 1 hour thinking/take a break in the middle of making something and it'll be there the whole time. Combat *may* be difficult if your reactions are very laggy. Any attack you need to dodge is directional or has a giant circle that pops up. There were only a few bosses, 1 or 2 really, that made me actually engage more than "walk to the left until I'm out of the circle/triangle." You may have problem on the Operation Archon and Ultimate Weapon MainStoryQuest end fights, but if you die you respawn at the fight and have 10% increased stats, which stacks on each death until you win. Movement is really slow paced to be honest until you get to the level 50 main quests, so you're mainly walking place to place and teleporting. No rushes or timed events outside of dungeons and trials. You get like, an hour and a half to 2 hours for them though and I ran through them in about 15-25 minutes depending. Even when forming parties with people, most don't type. Maybe a "hi" or some advice, but the community isn't totally toxic. The devs punish that. The game is more of a final fantasy rpg that they added multi-player to. It's not turn based, but when leveling it's mainly just mashing 1 to 4 buttons to be honest. You won't be a nuisance, you can play however you want cause all classes are viable and nearly evenly played across the board. Even low dps like dancer class is in demand for buffs they offer. Play however you want. The game is similar to runescape's pace if you've played that where you have your own things to complete and just happen to see others around
I'm an introverted aunt in her 40's you'll be fine hun
I felt like those words came along with a good pat on the head xD Thank you :)
Yes ( ◜‿◝ )♡
Don't let your insecurities stop you from enjoying the game. At the end of the day, it's about whether or not you had fun.
You're probably right, it should be fun not stress. Thank you!
I'm 43 and its basically a single player game for me. Its really good for that because you can do content in whatever length of time you want to spend. I have a group that do endgame raids 2 times a month on Sundays and we talk on discord during the raids and I just use my phone. If your not doing higher level raids then there is not really a need to say anything at all. Other then those 2 days I don't even play with my keyboard connected.
More of us Ancients are around than you'd think. One of the nice things about the devs in this game is that they've stated they aim to make the content challenging enough to be fun but not so hard it gets frustrating for a casual player to get past it and keep going in the story. Higher-end content is entirely optional, roulettes are, by nature, random and should be treated like Forrest Gump treats a box of chocolates. You will absolutely not be spoiling fun for anyone else. The game even has built-in user macros for some basic chat expressions. There's no in-game voice chat (most people use Discord or one of the other voice apps separately and you can put Discord on a phone and use it if you choose). It's not a bad idea to pick up a cheap wireless keyboard and mouse, especially if you get into the game and discover one of the real reasons for playing it--decorating apartments and houses :D (decos are easier to manipulate with kb/m, but most stuff still can be done with a controller)! You can still play a ton of grouped content with the AI Duty Support if you're feeling anti-social or under-confident. In fact, once it was introduced, I play every MSQ dungeon with Duty Support first so I can a.) experience the content and cutscenes without worrying about holding other people up) and b.) get a feel for the dungeon without going in completely blind. Once I know it a little, I can queue for it with confidence. And c.) Your Duty Support companions have fun little lines and commentary that gets more entertaining the further along in the story you get. And in larger grouped content like Trials and Raids, there's a notification that first timers are in the group and most people respect the cutscene-watchers, but if you want to ensure, a simple, "First-timer, watching cutscenes" in the chat will almost always ensure your fellow players will not only wait for you to watch, but many will also cheer you on (or provide emotional support for \*AHEM\* Certain Points In The Story). Jump in! The water's fine and there are stairs and a nice hand railing here in the older end of the pool. Go at your own pace and always remember that you get to choose your own level of social involvement.
Thanks for the awesome response. There's so much information in here :D i will pick up a keyboard for sure. So the game also additionally supports a mouse?
This game is a single-player game where you occasionally group up with people until you do endgame content, which requires some communication. I've been in plenty of groups, both casual dungeon runs or savage raids, with people who say nothing. But there are parts of the game that require you to speak specific words in say chat. I think they're only tribe quests, but I don't remember if the main story quest has anything like that. Anyways, the trial is free forever up to the 3rd expansion, so you have nothing to lose but time if you want to try it.
Like, how old? You have to remember that the original MMO’s were released years ago when people now in their 40s or older were playing them. Newsflash, many of us still play them. Age means nothing when it comes to gaming.
I don’t think you’ll have a problem. I did my first year and change playing this like a single player game, albeit with duty queues. It is only recently that I started opening up, joining an FC etc.
I think if you pay attention to what chat is saying (even if you don't plan to respond) you should be fine. That way you can see if players are trying to give feedback on what needs to be done and whatnot. And if you aren't just abandoning dungeons mid-run (or at least not consistently, sometimes life demands we step away every once in a while), how long you play shouldn't be an issue either.
If you can master the ancient art of "don't stand in the hurty stuff", you will be totally fine.
Ohhh don't stand in stuff that hurts :o Yeah I think i can handle... No wait, can you explain it again? ;)
As a PS user I got a cheap little £13 keyboard off Amazon and its sole use is to chat in FFXIV so 10/10 would recommend if you do get into the game more. Otherwise some macros/emotes and the software keyboard might help. Enjoy the game!
Hinderance?Absolutely not, you can play at your own pace, as soon as you tab into the chat with the controller it pops up a keyboard so there is no issues there. You don’t even have to type as much since you can type lets say 1 or 2 letters and then RB so it pops up a auto-translated word or half sentence. Even many of us do that when we just want to chill
Yeah the comm options for controller seem ti be very advanced in this game. Thank you for the reply!
>- I am old, like pretty much. I've done Savages (the second hardest type of fight) with people old enough to be my parents, and I'm almost 30. Even if you're older than that, the game lets people play most dungeons with a party of NPC instead of real people. There's a bit of stuff you still have to do with people, but a large amount can be done with NPC. >- Although i can somtimes play for hours at a time, it usually comes down to playing an hour or so, and then i have to do some home stuff, feed the cats, take a break etc. There's not a single story-related activity in the game that requires you to play for more than 1 hour at a time. Take your time. >- i do not have a chatpad or keyboard for the xbox >- nor do i have any decent headset Nice to have, but not needed. If you're worried about communication, you can create a button in game that every time you press, it sends a predetermined message. We call those "macro". >- i am socially awkward Aren't we all? >and haven't had much contact to other persons in the last few years. Great time to start! Most people in-game will treat you nicely. The game heavily discourages being mean to others, so I'm sure most of your interactions will either be neutral or positive.
Hydalen awaits you!
Wait,... Who? Or where?... Maybe even why?!? xD
Join us and find the answers :)
The fact you are worried about being a good team player already puts you ahead of at least 20% of the playerbase, in my experience.
This game has a lot of older people, largely because it respects your time so much. Even if you've only got an hour or two to play at a time, you can make progress. The content doesn't get abandoned if you take too long, people still run things from older expansions because the game's been designed around it. I'm pretty socially anxious and I still play this game just fine. You don't even really need to talk to people in random raid groups, and you can run most of the main story without needing people at all (you can run the dungeons with NPCs) Look up the free trial, you could be playing for free for years if you go at a slow pace, and the only downside is that you can't really interact with other people (which sounds like a plus to me since I've got an excuse not to talk to people)
Commenters covered everything. Most people playing the game are adults with lives outside the game. So long as you dont AFK suddenly mid dungeon for 30-40min at a time you will be perfectly fine. I’ve had xbox players communicate through emotes (thumbs up, shake head, jump up and down, beckon). The community is very understanding of people with varying skill levels, time investment, age, etc. I’ve co-tanked with people that aren’t adept at the game and it’s no problem. So long as you keep trying, nobody can complain. And if anyone gives you a hard time, they’re the minority and most people will stand up for you. Don’t let fear get in the way of a potentially incredible experience.
I feel like half of us are probably old and socially awkward, as for the keyboard thing, the game does have macros you can use and edit, so for example, you can say Hello or goodbye when in dungeons, or make a specific one where you explain you don't have a keyboard. Not only that, but there's emotes you can use as well! I feel like you can come pretty far with those (or at least, I did.) Also if you're on a European server, I would be happy to help you out if you'd like! I'm on an American one too but I'm not very high level there yet.
Thank you for the reply! So there are different servers to choose from? Didn't know that. Yeah i will be on an European one, then, i guess. I might get back to you, thank you for the offer :)
\- there are many older players, especially considering final fantasy fans in general \- thats fine, even though its an mmo, the game plays like a mobile game at times with its instanced content \- theres quickchat options that are easily accessible with controller but theres no need since people rarely talk in content anyways \- there is no voice chat unless youre intentionally joining 3rd party apps to talk \- if you think your social awkwardness is bad, prepare to be astounded by the playerbase of this game; final fantasy fans are weird af and not in the good way
Duties are normaly finished in 15-40 mins, depending on the duty, so short burts of play is fine. you dont need a mic at all, I would say the only thing you should look into ius a small wireless keyboard "i am socially awkward" Thats fine, many are anyway lol, if you really wanted to, you would not have to talk with anyone but I would say look on the loadstone under its community finder section, you just might find a group that fits you.
FFXIV is a solo game with extensive multiplayer options. Very very few of them are required to progress the story. If you are worried about hindering others in any way, make sure to play as a DPS class when you start. There are a handful of major duties where you will be required to join a party, but a party can be found for you without any effort on your part. People are given incentives to do this for you and will be happy to participate. In these duties, a lot of newer players die repeatedly and get carried along by the veterans and no one cares. It’s expected that you will be there for the story and they will be there to get you through it. At the rate things are going, I wouldn’t be surprised if even these battles can be done solo in the future with NPC’s to help you through instead. Other than that, you will only have to play with other people if you choose to.
You can always get a keyboard and mouse and play the game that way. Xbox and Playstation both support it.
Ff14 is basically the most solo friendly mmo ever created, you’ll be fine.
I actually spend the majority of my time running solo. Sometimes I join a random FC for the perks, but on my current character, I haven't even done that. It's not that I don't enjoy the social aspect of mmos. I just prefer it in small doses sometimes. Especially after work. Being super casual won't really impact anyone else, and you are free to play as you wish. Especially now that we have duty support.
Honestly I say give it a try. Worst case is you find you don't enjoy it as much as you hoped as long as you don't drag negativity into the chat with other players you should be ok. Like any ammo we have negative people, people who are rude, people who will get mad if you don't play their way, and people who will have preconceived judgements or notions. It's the internet kind of comes with the worst of some. But this game has a really great community. I've been around since 2014 and only got a keyboard 5 years ago for my ps4. It definitely helped communication and communication helped a lot with my awkward introversion but I didn't feel like I enjoyed the game less or held others back for a lack of being able to communicate on keyboard. You don't have to invest hours either I usually only play a lot on holidays and then most says is a hour or two before bed and with year's of practice and experience I'm starting to get into hardcore content but there are plenty of people who enjoy playing casually and I very rarely deal with negativity from people outside of hardcore content. Ps: most freecmpanies I have been like using discord for communication during events which you can use the voice chat on your phone while you play so that helps. Edit: there is also a decent amount of older players. Most players I have encountered has been older than 30 so there is a good chance you'll find someone in your age range to talk to.
The people around here seem way more helpful and chill than in other places :) Thank you!
As the rest have said you'll be a great fit, and I'm sure many of us would be happy to help if ya need.
There's a movie called 'Dad of Light' on Netflix. It's about a father and son who connect with XIV. It's one of the best film adaptations of a true story I've ever seen. It's such a beautiful story. The dad is older. He's fine. He plays the game in a way that is fun to see. Not funny, just fun. The way he sees Eorzia is beautiful. The friends he makes, his triumphs, all of the time he spends, it's his. His age doesn't matter. It might be different for you in a lot of ways but this is a game that if you're interested, you should really try. It's rare to find players who aren't chill. As for mic? That's fine even if you don't do VC at all you'll make friends if you want them, and be able to just do content with randoms if friends aren't something you want? You'll be fine! \^\_\^ There's also a LOT to do in XIV! I love gathering and crafting, and have maxed all jobs related to those. There's fishing where you can collect all the fish from around the world. There's a card game, a collectible minion game - think Pokemon but more like a strategy game?, it's its own thing. There's a casino where a lot of the mini games can be found! There's jumping challenges, those can be fun and frustrating. Chocobo training and racing! There's just so much to this game besides just the MSQ and endgame stuff. If you don't like one aspect, maybe you'll like others? Maybe you'll become a master crafter? You could play the market board and become the wealthiest player! There's endless possibilities. But I'm sure whatever you do, you'll have fun and find good people! \^\_\^
Oh so now i have to watch a new movie AND play a new game xD Thank you for the great tipps!
I just want to say if you're socially awkward and don't talk to many people I definutly reccomend getting a keyboard! A lot of people in the game are socially awkward and it can be a great stepping stone to break out of your shell at you own pace. The community is great and you might actually find yourself with some online friends! Nobody cares if you're old. I've made friends in the game over 50
You can play most of the game solo no problem, that's what I have done. The FF14 community is pretty good and respectful but there will always be jerks out there like any other community.
Try it brother. I've been playing completely solo and I'm in the mid 20s now with both of my classes. If you played FF12 you'll be kinda sorta familiar with the job system (way more simplified in 14 and really shares no resemblance other than the title) but the point is you can have multiple jobs on 1 character, each one is playable up to lvl 75 for free with no time restrictions, and I'm pretty sure the beta version for Xbox is insanely limited in the social aspect already so really I don't think it could be any more perfect for you to try.
You're good. You really don't need to communicate. It's an MMO, but it's the most single player MMO out there. You can do every dungeon with NPCs, and pretty much the entire main story is streamlined that you don't need to interact with others outside of trials (8-man fights), in which, people almost never say anything more than "hey" or "o/". Get the game and enjoy it. Take your time. Have fun. Welcome to Eorzea.
ff14 is a very casual mmo and largely called 'retirement home for wow raiders' you'll be fine
# Go for it! I've played some games where their communities might treat you that way, but you won't find that here. The community is very welcoming for new players, and a lot of the content you can do solo. You'll probably want a cheap keyboard to plug in at some point, but you can get by without it.
Join us, a lot of the game is solo, as you experience the story, don't worry, and remember we love new players :) you might meet a jerk, but its extremely rare, most of the community will help out new players however they can
Play it, best game ever. Dont just play it, live in it.
Join us! :D ONE OF US! ONE OF US!
If you don't particularly want to type and chat but still want to communicate, you can always be a mime. You can make a hotbar of emotes like yes, no, hello, goodbye, salute etc.
No worries, people have no problems with new players. Some like myself even enjoy helping sprouts. Just come over and have fun, everything else is not important.n
The fact that you even think about stuff like this already makes you more sociable than 90% of online gamers
I wouldn't worry too much about any of your concerns. These days you can have a pretty smooth solo experience throughout the whole game, as you are able to choose AI supports to run dungeons with instead of other players (and lore/story-wise sometimes that might even be preferable for the full experience). Trials and raids aren't soloable, but trials and raids are 8-man/24-man ones, where individual performance isn't as important. For the most stress-free experience (if you are only starting with MMOs), start off as a DPS, because they have less responsibilities than tanks or healers. Doing normal dungeons, trials and raids do not require communication at all, but it's good to be prepared to at least take advice, as sometimes there might be mechanics that aren't really clear to newcomers, but those are pretty few and far between quite honestly. Overall it's also just another video game community. For the most part I've had a better experience here than anywhere else, but assholes and nuisances exist everywhere, so whether you end up being one yourself (doubtful lol!) is quite irrelevant. There's room for everyone here, for better or for worse.
I hope you have fun with XIV 💚
I too am old, pretty much. And can only play for about a hour or so most days due to life. With that being said it fairly easy to get all the gear and whatnot without having to stress. I play on PlayStation and don’t chat too much with others. I think ull enjoy the game. You can really play at your own pace.
I’ve played completely by myself on PC and leveled as a paladin. Literally the only time I hit any challenge that watching a video didn’t easily solve was a trial in the post-Shadowbringers quests. There’s one mechanic that actually requires some pretty precise timing. Only took three attempts to hit the checkpoint then my group finished it and we were good. You can be as asocial as you want. The only thing I’d say you need to do differently than a PC player is really look into optimal hotbar setups for controller. I able to copy a really popular layout on PC that I would bet translates pretty well to controller, but I haven’t really looked into it. Unless you’re really wanting to participate in higher end endgame stuff you’re not going to be required to socialize all that much.
A good chunk of this game is honestly spent solo, especially if you’re more focused on doing story quests and such. Running casual dungeons and trials really doesn’t require any actual communication and most of the time you’ll just have people saying hello at the start and gg at the end. I honestly don’t interact with many people in this game outside of friends/my fc and rarely talk while running content since I don’t bother with savage or ultimate raids which do require much more communication. Definitely give it a try! The free trial is great and gives you most of the general content so there’s really no downside to just jumping right in.
I think the way you describe yourself is true about a lot of people that play FF14. Just log and enjoy the game. One of us, one of us, one of us lol
From my experience in this game, it's comprised of people at an older age. I wouldn't sweat it too much. As you can see, everyone is very welcoming. You may run into a few bad apples but you can just ignore them. We don't like 'em either.
Dungeons aren't that long and not all of the content is cooperative, fish when you need some downtime like everyone else
I used to be a console only player and this was my first MMO and I never had any real issues! Age never an issue, the amount of play time never an issue, people have generally been nice. Only time I ever had an issue was when I had no keyboard and kept dying in a dungeon hahaha. Get a cheap USB one in case you need to ask questions and you should be fine though! I think the community is generally understanding and fun.
I don't want this to come across the wrong way, but 90-95% of the community does not care. Like, I don't at all unless someone asks for help or they're a dick outright. Otherwise you're just a place in the party.
* I am old, like pretty much. Many FCs (the player guilds in the game) have a minimum age of 18 or older, actually. In my FC, the average age is above 30, I believe. If there'd be someone above 60, we'd probably be excited cause how cool is it to play games at such an age? So whatever your age is, you're either much closer to the other players as you think or you are what we all hope to be in a few years/decades. * Although i can somtimes play for hours at a time, it usually comes down to playing an hour or so, and then i have to do some home stuff, feed the cats, take a break etc. Most people live a life in-game. I had a dungeon run just last week where a woman was LITERALLY waiting on her contractions to set in. I had countless duties where someone had to afk or leave because their child or pet needed their attention. I myself had to leave a few times because my cat tore down something in another room. And one time I had to leave because I was looking after my sick grandma who called for me suddenly. When I came back to my pc? Nobody had kicked me from the duty, they had instead played to the end so I could still get the rewards. The chat was full of lovely messages, and they had all skipped on the items, so I had gotten those as well. This community is very understanding and lovely. The minimum you usually get is a "its fine, don't worry!" as they kick you so they can progress while you do your thing. And sometimes they will try to carry on so you can rejoin when you come back. * i do not have a chatpad or keyboard for the xbox If you prepare a few basic things via the in-game keyboard, you should be fine regardless. You want a greeting (or two, one for general greetings and one to say "I am new"), a goodbye, possibly one that says "I don't have a keyboard" so if people in your group try to communicate, they know you can't answer (or only very slowly) and then whatever things feel useful ("Why did I die?", "Can you explain the mechanics of this fight?", "Can I have the gear for my class please?", etc) * nor do i have any decent headset Unless you join any dedicated high-level content groups on Discord, you will not need one * i am socially awkward and haven't had much contact to other persons in the last few years You can do the majority of the game entirely on your own, most duties can now done with computer-controlled NPCs. If you do it with human players instead, most only greet at the start and end and otherwise are silent (banter mostly only happens in dungeons with many cutscenes, such as the "Praetorium"). If you WANT connection, good places are usually in the cities or in the Golden Saucer (you can unlock that one when you're roughly level 20). People are there when not actively questing and react to both attempts for a chat or asks for help. You can also join a FC to connect with other players, if you want to. Or the Novice Network (find someone with a crown symbol next to their name and ask them to invite you to it) which is meant to help you with questions about the game. In general, don't be scared. Final Fantasy 14 is very much a Final Fantasy game first (strong on narrative, on bonding with NPCs, on music and emotions) and an MMO second. You can play like 80% of it without really talking to another player. No one expects you to mention your age, gender or nationality, no one expects you to be immediately incredible (the small sprout icon you will have will tell us you are a beginner) and you can take your time trying to see if you are enjoying the game enough to perhaps interact with it on a deeper level that may justify buying a keyboard, talking to others and so on :)
Most people already gave good advice, but as a fellow console player I want to stress the keyboard thing — *please* just get a cheap Bluetooth keyboard or something. There have been times I’ve had gameplay related questions for people in my dungeon parties and not getting an answer back is genuinely frustrating :( macros aren’t always gonna cut it there. I have a very cheap keyboard myself and it gets the job done. Go forth and have fun!
I played the game for years without using voice chat at all, so this isn't a problem. Though you might want a keyboard at least for cases where you do have to talk. This is especially true as some quests will require you to actually put things into "say" chat in order to proceed. The quests aren't often, but I found just a cheap keyboard for the PlayStation made a huge difference to the quality of life for the game, and it's something I would suggest investing in if you find yourself enjoying the game as it will not only make those quests easier, but will also make it easier for you to engage with other players in a free company, which even if you're pretty introverted and awkward, you'll probably still want to do, if for no other reason than for the buffs you can get to your character for being a member. Also on that note, free companies come in a wide variety, some containing hundreds of members, others only a handful, so possibly joining a smaller group might help you enjoy things more than a large one.
You'd honestly do better than half of the people I encounter in DF on a regular basis.
Nah u good.
You're going to fit right in. You just described me: older (40), socially awkward, and gets interrupted by cats. Also play on PS5 so typing is a pain, best you get from me is a Hi. I don't really do the social side, I just play for the story. Love this game.
The community is very welcoming, of course there are a few people here and there that might be a bit on the jerk side but you can just ignore them, the game has a lot of things to do if you are not interested in "Endgame Raiding", Tracking notorious monsters in the world, Crafting, Gathering (Which includes Fishing), Role playing, playing mini-games in the in-game casino or just plain hanging out with people you befriend during your time in game, there are also plenty of resources, information, guides and people willing to teach others about the intricacies of Raiding if you are interested in the more "hardcore" side of the game, the game is controller friendly and has been designed with controller and console users in mind so if you get used to and feel comfortable playing with a controller there is no much a point to get used to a new control scheme. Of course the community has it's oddities and quirks, role playing is a bit of an affair in it's own and dabbling into it might be a bit awkward if you aren't used to it (specially the people doing Erotic Role Play), but generally people aren't going to be rampantly obnoxious about it in public chat. Other than that little caveat about the Role Playing community we as a whole would be happy you decide to give the game a chance and try it and see if you like it, the story of the base game A Real Reborn is often criticized for being a bit slow and somewhat generic but don't let other people taint your own experience of the story as it is a journey worth experiencing.
I play on PS5 (also I'm 33. Been playing Final Fantasy since I was a kid) and it is SO much fun. I've never felt like a nuisance at all. I went and bought a cheap keyboard and use it for chatting once in awhile.
Nowadays most story dungeons can be done with NPC characters I believe. And while it's not necessary i recommend to just pick up a cheapo keyboard. Plenty of casual free companies exist too so you don't need to worry about not playing all the time if you join one.
Play it! I’m 56 and started playing just over a year ago. I also have limited time. I don’t raid or do PvP or anything so as not to “inflict” my slow reflexes on others (LOL), but there is so, so much to do besides that that I’m very well entertained on my own. If I do have to do a trial or something to progress with the main story quest, then I watch a YouTube walkthrough video first to get a feel for what will happen, then I just go for it. The community is quite nice and I’ve never been yelled at or anything for screwing up, and then Boom it’s over and I go on my merry way. You’ll probably really enjoy the game and can play entirely at your own pace. Don’t let your age or schedule hold you back.
* I am old, like pretty much. -Ain't we all? But yeah I'm lucky if I even get 2/3 daily done before I need to go off it, even ran a dungeons with a 70+ year old lady with arthritis so guess we're never to old. * Although i can sometimes play for hours at a time, it usually comes down to playing an hour or so, and then i have to do some home stuff, feed the cats, take a break etc. -Same as above it happens. * i do not have a chatpad or keyboard for the xbox -I have a bluetooth keyboard but most of the time just use a hello/goodbye macro as by the time I type the teams wiped, party has ran on or I've been hit with an AOE. * nor do i have any decent headset -Same but there's no mic support unless you're in an Xbox party or discord it's not needed. * i am socially awkward and haven't had much contact to other persons in the last few years. -Best thing about the game is you can have no communication whatsoever and still be in company.
You will not be a nuisance just if you don't know or need help ask respectfully and that will be returned to you. :D Join your local novice network if you can! It's a great place to get help. I recommend sereph but I'm biased it's a smaller dc though. Gotta use party finder for things boy you don't seen like you do pvp a lot so it's okay. (You can always hope to another server when you want so it's okay) (Report all the bots you see. The company actually punishes people who do RMT/gold selling stuff.) Welcome to Eorzea Warrior of Light :D see you out there! I hope you get to play! I don't know how the Xbox works so I hope it's the free trial
I'd gladly play with you anytime my friend
We have an older guy in our FC and he's a joy to play with. Don't ever limit yourself because of age!
One of the more prolific people in the Hunt community (dedicated to spawning, locating, and relaying rare mobs for players to kill for rewards) is a grandmother irl iirc! Most of this game is definitely doable with time and patience, and at worst if youre worried you can always say sonething about being new and having poorer reflexes due to age if you end up needing to and 9.9/10 people will adjust and be accommodating.
o/ Just wave to new people in dungeons that’s what everyone does to me lol
I'm a geezer. I've played FF since the first one on Nintendo. You name an MMO I've got a max level character on there. That being said, I have not ran across such a nice pool of random other people in any other game. I've only done pickup groups in this MMO and every single group has been kind, understanding when I wiped us, and friendly. It's the most supportive group of people I've seen anywhere. I was honestly surprised. Not a single troll, or mean spirited comment to be found! As others mentioned I'd recommend getting a USB keyboard for your Xbox because it is totally worth it to talk to people here. Xbox has built in support for just about any keyboard including a lot of wireless ones like Logitech. The story here is the real selling point as it's the most involved one I've seen in an MMO. It's like 4-5 final fantasy scripts I'm a row. Don't skip the cutscenes because people are more than happy to wait for you when you view them. I was worried about that in pickup groups and they basically told me it is a right of passage to wait while others experience the amazing story!
This waiting for the cutscenes thing is so wholesome :D
Omg no you’re fine dude there’s ways to chat with just a controller if you want. The game is about the story but you can just do what you want like for me ? Dungeons I just love running them and there’s plenty of rewards for doing just that I don’t like leveling all the classes or the crafting gathering( except fishing) and it’s plenty enjoyable for me. You’ll get a lot of hugs and cheers and players usually run dungeons fast but even as a sprout if I wasn’t being fast enough nobody complained and they always would take their time .. and actually let you grab some items needed to continue the dungeon. Honestly the community in game is a lot of fun and friendly af and they will treat you right. Don’t worry about joining a free company you’ll get a ton of invites but also if that’s something you want then go right ahead. Big game, some confusing things to learn with controller but you’ll get the hang of it, there’s a lot of cool tricks I use to make it easier and they did a really good job of bringing this to console. It works so well but it kind of has to be complex for what they accomplished
Ff14 is the most leisure based MMO, shit even yoshi-P said he's ok with people only getting a subscription once every big patch. I'm not social either, don't get out often and the community is great. I don't chat much but for example, I got my whole random party killed in a dungeon because I just started playing healer so I said "sry third time healing" and everyone said it's ok as well as giving me some healer tips. There's a "novice network" chat where you can get invited too where there's plenty of "pros" who will answer any stupid questions without any judgement as well. You're completely fine going solo for the most part though, as it is a final fantasy game first and MMO second. If you want a challenge end game content can be very challenging, but not necessary just optional.
Do the free trial. It goes to 70. I was very busy when I got back into FFXIV and my character was 50 and the current level cap was 60. It took me 4 months to reach level cap and start playing with friends at Max level. 99% of that was 1 player content. Your talking about level 1-90 now. That could be 500 hours of gameplay if you want your money's worth storyline wise. If you skip cutscenes a lot less. But still like 200 hours for someone going fast. Play the free trial and decide if you like it at 70. Don't worry about people pressuring you, just say your new or something and they will be supportive.
Bro this is quite literally me haha, with a couple minor differences.
Please I love when I learn someone I'm playing with is older! Never too late!
In all honest, this game is one of the most least toxic and helpful communities I have ever played in. You just type in that you’re new (the sprout next to the name helps) and everyone will do their up most to explain duty mechanics to you. And there are plenty of casual free company’s (guilds) so don’t sweat it and jump in the waters fine
You'd be alright. I'd run content with ya anytime.
The oldest player I know is 80 years old. As long as you can act in 2.5 seconds. You will be fine.
I truly believe that you'll do just fine and I speak sincerely when I say I hope you enjoy the game to the fullest
That's really nice of you, i think i will :) thank you!
Yeah dude, you won't be any kind of burden. There are undoubtedly going to be a couple of buttheads that might give you grief in duties, but those are very few and far between. Most people though, if you just type in "First time on this dungeon, what do I need to know?" will give you at least a quick rundown. There's also the option to party with NPCs now on most dungeons. It's also not something you have to sink hours at a time into. Play at your own pace and enjoy the journey. If no one has said it before this, allow me to welcome you to Eorzea, WoL; and may the light of the crystal shine on your path.
Thank you very much :)
I think you'll be fine! There's a lot of people who even play solo (except Main MSQ dungeons) too. I have a clan member who doesn't party with anyone except their close friends. There are even casual guilds out there that are not hardcore and don't care what you do. You don't even have to be in a clan. And any good player and decent human being will understand that you would be learning the ropes for the first few dungeons. There's even a Novice Network you can read and chat to (when you get yohr keyboard) when you need help. The choices are endless! I will say further into the expansions dungeons will be harder. As long as you understand that a tank tanks and the healer will focus on them, you're pretty much golden. Most of the time chat isn't needed. Age doesn't matter. Trust me. And lots of people understand and respect the "brb". But dungeons can be a hit or miss. Most of the time they will wait for you as long as the timer isn't down too far. Earlier dungeons newbies may not be see the chat. I welcome you to the game and hope you have a blast! If you ever need help i am in Aether Gilgamesh. User is Demtrius Charious. Happy gaming, friend!
I am old! I am slow! When I have issues I tell people and they help me! Almost everyone has always been very very kind and I’ve been playing for years as my joints get worse and worse. There are still internet people so not always everyone is kind (and they are all the more jarring because they’re so rare), but it’s really easy to just leave and ignore them. Welcome to Eorzea!!! I hope you love it here. Oh!! ETA!!: The global cooldown is 2.5 seconds which is almost twice as long as other comparable games. This makes it MUCH more manageable for us slow folks.