[octoberasian]

Today's Q&A serves to shed some light onto several issues that newcomers to FINAL FANTASY XIV may face when stepping into the realm of Eorzea for the first time. Continue reading to learn more about the Interactions menu, as well as guildleve progression and rewards!

View the FAQ.

[octoberasian]

The Interactions Menu

Q. I am trying to access an aetheryte, but am unable to target it. What should I do?

A. Upon drawing near an aetheryte, the icon pictured to the left will appear in the upper portion of your game screen. When it does, access the main menu. You will find that an Aetehryte option will now be available under the Interactions menu. This command will allow you to access an aetheryte. The above icon will be displayed when commands such as Aetheryte and Check become available in the Interactions menu. A full list of icons used by the Interactions menu can be found below.




Guildleves

Q. What should I do after completing the levequest that I received in the tutorial?

A. New guildleves can be obtained from certain NPCs located in the Adventurers' Guilds in each of the three nations. Players are also encouraged to read more details about guildleves.

We strongly suggest that new players undertake the main scenario questline in order to familiarize themselves with the game. The next steps required to advance a main scenario quest, such as places or people that must be visited, can be viewed by accessing either the Journal or NPC Linkpearls options from the main menu.

Once comfortable with the game, players are encouraged to attempt a new class. Changing classes is as simple as equipping a different weapon or tool in the main hand slot. The initial, low-rank weapons and tools for each class can be purchased from NPCs in each of the three nations. For those seeking such wares, we have prepared a list of NPC names and general whereabouts.

Q. I arrived at the area named in my regional levequest, but I cannot find any levequest targets. What am I doing wrong?

A. Levequest targets, much like all enemies, may sometimes be found high atop cliffs or below ground in caves. Also, it is possible that a target has been "moved" from its original location. This may occur when a player engages a target in combat and then moves some distance from the original location. When this happens, the player's "claim" over the target will end, and the target will continue to wander about the area.

Q.How do I go about gathering activities, such as mining and fishing?

A. To engage in gathering, a player must first make sure to have the proper primary tool equipped for the desired Discipline of the Land class. The next step is to locate gathering points. Gathering points, such as mineral deposits or mature trees, appear as bright flashes of light. Drawing close to these points will cause the appropriate command, such as Mine or Log, to appear in the Interactions menu. Fishing is accomplished in much the same way, with the Fish command appearing in the Interactions menu when a player is near enough to fishable waters.*

* Some locations near water may not cause the Interactions menu icon to appear on-screen, and therefore cannot be fished.

[octoberasian]

Q. I initiated a local levequest, but was not given the materials I needed. Gathering all of the materials myself seems like it would be extremely difficult. Is there some other way to go about this?

A. Players are not required to gather the materials required for local levequests on their own. Rather, they may be obtained from the levequest client NPC. Open the Journal from the main menu to view any active local levequests, and then simply select any levequest to display information such as the client's name and location. Furthermore, players may engage in synthesis for local levequests without having to use their own crystals and shards.



If the levequest destination is a camp, the client NPC will be located in that camp. The locations of client NPCs within the three main cities are listed below.

・Limsa Lominsa Lower Decks



・Limsa Lominsa Upper Decks



・Gridania



・Ul'dah Merchant Strip



Q. How can I see what materials I need to do synthesis for a local levequest?

A. First, select the Requested Items option from the synthesis screen. This will display a list of active levequests. Selecting a levequest from this list will show the item that is being requested, together with the materials required to synthesize it.



Q. Why should I even do levequests? What do I get out of it?

A. Levequests award players with skill and experience point bonuses.* In addition, as a character's class rank increases, higher level guildleves will become accessible, offering greater rewards. The material rewards for completing a levequest include gil, equippable items, and synthesis materials.

* Skill and experience point bonuses will not be awarded for combat, gathering, and synthesis not associated with an active guildleve.

[Shanvhere]

They need to ask, why does this game suck, and why can't you idiots get a AH.

[octoberasian]

Shanvhere, on 01 November 2010 - 08:21 PM, said:

They need to ask, why does this game suck, and why can't you idiots get a AH.

Supposedly they'll add a search function for the Market Wards next update.

In all honesty, it doesn't replace the Auction House. The Market Wards are laggy and take a while to load (on my computer) and finding anything is a test of patience.

Also, the Market Wards may have dedicated areas but it doesn't mean those items will be sold there 100% of the time. I would go to Battlecraft Ward in Uldah to hopefully find weapons or armors but also find crafting materials then to Tradescraft Ward to find crafting materials but also find weapons and armors. It's a complete and utter mess.

I literally have to open up Notepad or an Excel sheet and jot down the name of character or Retainer, name of the Ward, item, and price of the item for sale just to keep track of everything. FFXIV YG and FFXIV Pro will work to an extent if the player actually lists their bazaar contents on the website and keep them up-to-date. It's still a clumsy way about doing things.

As much as I'm enjoying the game as it is and the change of venue/pace from FFXI, it still has a lot of problems that won't make me recommend playing it in its current state.

[What?]

Market wards could have been 100% menu based. Is seeing hundreds of lifeless mannequins really worth the time spent moving all over the place for more "immersion" (as if the devs know what immerses people). Like most things in XIV, it'll only be fixed when it's scrapped completely.

Why do people have to check a bunch of NPCs when a simple menu could have placed all the names in front of you in an instant? A single click and you'd be inside their bazaar, no running and loading of NPCs needed. The one area a menu system made sense they don't put it in.

It's just some food for thought, I couldn't care less. Think about why those NPCs need to exist at all. What do they add, aside from frustation, time wasting and lag? Nothing. Exactly. But it's always interesting to know just how badly they messed up and how easy it could have been otherwise had people with brains been in charge.

Also, just how much of an overhaul is the UI update going to be if they're talking about it here? Accessing the main menu to do those things is one of the worst offenders. Everything there can be vastly improved but it all sounds like they're happy with it if they're willing to make a guide about it (a testament to how bad it actually is). Prepare for dissapointment it seems.

[Avarghaladion]

Indeed. Market Wards is the worst thing I've seen in a game ever, made only worse by the change they made so that each ward sells specific stuff. Here's why:

i) Its laggy and it only loads a small handful of retainers at a time. This means that if you want to window shop and finally determine that the best deal was on the retainer you saw a while back, finding that retainer again can be an arduous undertaking.

ii) A -major- issue that damages one of the most important parts of the community... the market wards are removed from the rest of the world. Why is this a big deal? Because you can't shout or respond to shouts, crippling your exposure to the game's culture and forcing you to miss on on shouts for things you may be interested in (not that there's that much atm). This is made even worse by the fact that the wards themselves are divided into different zones, so you can't even communicate with the other people who are shopping very well.

iii) As a corollary to ii), the new division of the market wards based on item type is a seriously retarded issue. Why? Because the wards only hold a finite number of retainers. For example, say the first ward on the list is weapons and you want to sell weapons... I almost guarantee you there won't be room for your retainer.

Shopping is supposed to be fun... finding basic shit to buy shouldn't be as hit/miss or time consuming as doing a dynamis run.

My other major beef is the gear durability situation. Its far too tedious given that -every single fucking time I play- I have to repair my gear. If I only had to repair my gear once a week or more, it wouldn't be so bad but as it is its a major inconvenience. I should not be forced to stop playing the actual game for ~1 every time I play in order to repair shit. There should be 1 button I hit to repair everything and it should happen automatically without me having to navigate a million menus and unequip/reequip every little thing.

[rambus]

same thing with map and things,This Ask the devs was needed at or near release.

i learned where all those npcs are in beta after much frustration.
( why can't they just be marked in game? I dought most people go online for a manual anyway)

It did not list all the ! crap, it pops up when you get near chairs and such to sit, and it pops up when you are sitting to stand.

The invite, brose, check, trade having the same icon is a problem. I got a lot of mis invites and im sure that is why. FFXI's mini menu was a lot better at this, /check > see cute bazaar comment > enter bazaar. That needs to come back. I like having and reading those too.

About the AH talk, Do we really want anther camp AH game? i sure don't and let them play with the wards more. it is a beta/alpha game regardless so it is still in experimentation stages.

there is much needed work elsewhere before making new bugs and problems. I do not want to see mobs fixed for good ( like the mob healing crap or the engage "mob already engage " bugs) fixed 4 years for now because they made an AH, made new bugs, and fixed those bugs first. That was an FFXI problem

This post has been edited by rambus: 04 November 2010 - 11:51 PM