Final Fantasy XIV Game Guide

Final Fantasy XIV Game Guide

This is a game guide that will let you understand the game even if you have
never played it. It will cover everything the game has to offer. Some parts of this
guide are written in orange - those are World of Warcraft references. If you have
never played World of Warcraft, those orange parts will not be useful for you, so
you can ignore them.

Please note that this guide goes through the ‘basics’ of the game that are not
very useful for the job. For example, no one will ever question you about the
specific stats on a weapon/armor. However, we want you to at least know which
stats exist in the game. Some conversations can indeed go towards the details of
the game when chatting with customers, so it is relevant that you have an idea of
what the customer is talking about (at least).
Basic Necessary Knowledge:

- What is a character in an MMORPG

- The distinction between PvP and PvE in an MMORPG
- What is a dungeon/raid/arena/3v3-2v2 in an MMORPG
- The concept of ‘equipment’ and ‘gear’, alongside ‘gear’ types (some
games may have the concept of Epic...Rare..Legendary…. Gear quality
type)
- The concept of ‘stats’ on gear.
- The concept of ‘power’ or ‘level’ of a character in an MMORPG
- The concept of ‘Farming’ or ‘Grinding’ in an MMORPG
- The concept of a ‘quest’ in an MMORPG
- What is ‘Item Level’ of gear
- What is a dungeon, raid etc.
If you do not understand any of these terms, we strongly recommend
researching it online.
The concept of ‘boosting’:
Boosting means helping someone complete an activity in a game in
exchange for a payment. This is necessary because the customer could be
busy and has no time to find reliable partners or team mates, or he is not
experienced enough, or he is just a bad performer in the game.

Another term or synonym is ‘Carry’. Buying a boost or a carry mean the

same thing.
In Final Fantasy XIV, boosts are usually completed by “one” entity that we are in
touch with: a pro ‘single’ player.
Pro stands for ‘professional’, of course.

Most Final Fantasy XIV boosters complete PvE services, as PvE side of Final
Fantasy XIV is much more dominant and has much more engaged players
compared to PvP. We obviously work with all types of boosters and try to name
their Booster accounts on Blazingboost according to what they can / want to
complete.
Boosters may have more than one player in their “team”. Especially for high end
content(Savage raids, ultimate trials etc.) boosting boosters would more than
likely need a guild or at least a bunch of other players to do so.
Just like World Of Warcraft, a farmer can pilot the customer’s account through a
savage raid if the item level and unlocked skills etc. are sufficient; but it would
take a team of players to take the same customer on a selfplay raid.
On Final Fantasy XIV, no matter the ‘size’ of the team, each boosting ‘entity’ is
represented by a ‘Booster ID’, which ultimately corresponds to ONE person we
are in touch with.

For World of Warcraft, instead, we usually work with large organizations of

boosters, maybe led by 1-3 coordinators - the coordinators could all work under
the same booster ID (or ‘entity’) and represent 50+ boosters who will actually
complete the task with the customer.
For Final Fantasy XIV, we will most likely have a plethora of farmers with some
teams in between, so it should be close to the World Of Warcraft model.

While this is mostly useful for you if you start doing Discord support, we want you
to know how it works in the ‘background’ as this can help you keep things in
perspective when doing Livechat.
One of the main starting points, for you, will be to be able to SELL.
Therefore, it’s crucial that you know how we assign / how we complete orders
internally.
This guide focuses on telling you how the game works today but it will also
mention a few tips on how the services are assigned or organized.
Types of services: Piloted (Account Sharing) & Selfplay
All boosting services are generally completed in two ways:
- Play with a pro player(s) and get boosted to complete X activity (no account
sharing)
- Get someone to log on your account (account sharing).

There are no specific terms for Final Fantasy XIV boost models, they’re 100%
the same with World Of Warcraft; if there’s an account sharing it’s called Pilot,
Piloted; if there is no account sharing it’s called Selfplay.

“Coaching” is a form of Selfplay that entails a learning experience rather than a

‘carry’ to complete an activity. This is explained later.

Piloted services:

Let me preface this section by stating that account sharing by definition is

prohibited by Square Enix. But they do not enforce it. It’s absolutely ultra rare to
see any account sharing suspension if there is no exploitation whatsoever.
A good example to draw a parallel from World Of Warcraft would be if the
customers had bought Tazavesh dungeon completion. We never saw a ban for
that service.
As previously mentioned, they involve account-sharing: the booster logs into the
customers’ account, and works on the service.
Keep in mind that Piloted services can entail the booster actually finding random
people to finish off the service, or just playing it solo, (assuming that it’s a solo
task), or he might have a team, or friends that will help him out.

Examples:
- Power Leveling service completed by a solo booster. He just logs in and plays.
- Dungeon or Raid service completed in pilot. In these cases, it’s very likely that
the booster has a team of friends that will complete the service with him. If the
booster logs in and finds a team in the Duty Finder(Like LFR and Dungeon
queue) or Party Finder(LFG tool where you can list your groups) this is usually
not a problem.

Generally speaking, Piloted services have this stigma of ‘account being hacked’
or ‘account being stolen’, or similar. In 2020, these paranoias are a bit non-
existent because any game company can help you get your account back in
99,99% of cases.

In case of any account damage, Square Enix is able to and willing to help their
customers to restore their accounts and undo any sort of damage.

Still, it’s never good to scare customers with this topic. It is a ‘default’ assumption
that buying a service on our website will not cause the customer’s account to be
stolen or deleted.

In any case, you will be taught and you must learn how to use the right words to
stay transparent on ANY topic.

Selfplay services:

They are the exact opposite: they involve NO ACCOUNT SHARING. The quality
of Selfplay services has made Blazingboost stand out in the past years in our
WoW section and should be considered as a part of our brand identity. For Final
Fantasy XIV, the demand is not there for selfplay services because piloted
services are the standard in the industry due to major convenience and Square
Enix being extremely lenient on allowing account sharing activities. Out of 100
sales, 85 will be piloted services.
This is because there are no ban risks (at least for now) and customers are not
that afraid to give out their account information, especially after looking at our
Trustpilot reviews. Also for PvP services, selfplays are just not an option at all.
We’ll touch this later on when explaining how PvP works in Final Fantasy XIV.

However, Selfplays are usually the solution for people that are scared to give out
their account info.
Let’s say that out of 1000 Final Fantasy XIV players, 900 will think that these
services will cause problems to their accounts. The remaining 100 that ‘trust’ the
service will be OK with a piloted service; people that trust the service BUT don’t
trust account sharing (so the ones that buy sherpas) are relatively less.
The only drawback is that Selfplay services are a bit more expensive.
Coaching services:

Coaching is slightly different from Selfplay as it is usually hourly based (and not
‘reward’ based) and it costs more. The higher cost allows us to work with real
professionals from rich countries too (Scandinavians, Americans, or alike) that
are consistently in top 100 every season.
The goal of Coaching services is to play with pros who will also TEACH the
customer how to play and let him improve. The service experience is just
different.
If you are coming from World Of Warcraft, you’ll read that we can not implement
coaching to the FFXIV section as we have in WoW due to there only being solo
queue, but still we can have it as a personal teacher service or for PvE services.
Problem: Hacks / Bots / Cheats

In Final Fantasy XIV, hacking/using cheats at maximum level of play is almost

entirely nonexistent. There are some bots/hacks that one can encounter on lower
level of play such as invisibility, teleportation etc. that are mainly used for farming
gils(gold in WoW) but there are no prevalent cheats in PvP or PvE high end
content.
Just like World Of Warcraft or Destiny 2, any sort of botting/hacking is not
allowed and it’s one of the few things that Square Enix goes ham in preventing.
It’s possible to see banwaves hitting botters routinely.
In any case, remember: all of our boosters are handpicked, chosen carefully and
tested before they can touch a customer’s account or get a service assigned (at
least in 99% of cases). Our standard is VERY high. Our reputation is actually
unmatched in this regard.
If you join Blazingboost you will be working with the oldest and leading website
for WoW services.

Our Trustpilot (we only use it actively since January 2018):

https://www.trustpilot.com/review/blazingboost.com 

You will represent our company. This is very important.

Every word you will say will matter and you will be accepted if you respect our
high standards.
Writing insults on the Livechat to a customer, being racist, sexist or alike,
will cause big problems and we will NOT tolerate such behavior from ANY
Blazingboost operator. Ever.
Types of providers: websites, forums, private
boosters
Websites:
There are quite some websites that offer boosting services professionally. We do
not have the ‘best’ boosters just because we are named Blazingboost. Many
good boosters work for different websites. We are not special for the sake of
being special. Our strongest point is the customer support, the English
requirement, the customer care, and the attention to detail. Using concepts such
as “we are the best company with the best boosters and quality” could be true
but those very good boosters are probably offering their services elsewhere too,
and customers do not care about these self-exalting words. You will learn how to
discuss this topic through the Livechat guide.
Forums:

There are forums where ‘independent’ booster organizations offer their services.
These shops do not have a website, their site is a Google spreadsheet, a Skype
account, or a forum thread with the services they offer and the prices (probably
with a decent looking thread design).
They are not to be taken too seriously but they do exist, as they do try (or
pretend) to offer the service seriously. It’s just that they do it on a very small
scale and are inevitably supposed to die sooner or later - no real advertisement,
no structure, no plans for the future.

Private Boosters:

Many good boosters work privately with their own ‘reputation’ and Paypal
accounts. This is usually the case for high-end players who are at the top of the
PvP ladder and get contacted in-game. The full size of the private-boosting
environment probably equals 60% of the size of the websites+forums market (at
least in some sectors), but they are not a threat either. Even worse than forums,
they have no real future and it’s easy to be scammed by ‘private’ boosters with
zero guarantees or reviews.
Most Private Boosters actually advertise their services on Ebay.
Types of ‘sales’ and services on Blazingboost

Service-structure on the website

We sell a lot of services with the  ‘Simple Service’ system. It’s usually a box
inside a page with information, prices, delivery time, FAQs, and more. Exactly the
same as on any e-commerce website.

‘Bar’ services are usually related to a specific and ‘large’ category of the game,
where customers can choose a value or more values on the bar.
Example: a bar from 0 to 2000 points with a selector. The customer can choose
from 500 to 900 or from 1500 to 1550, etc. We have prices and delivery time for
each combination.

‘Calendar’ services have a specific ‘time’ at which they will be completed. We do

not have any Calendar service on Destiny 2 for now.

The result for all 3 types of services is obvious, as the customer will be sent to a
page where he will insert his information (Email / Discord / Armory Link or
Password if the service entails account sharing).

The usual ‘Extra options’

For most services, customers can usually choose to pay for ‘Express’ or ‘Priority’,
which gives extra speed to their order. Faster boosters will be contacted and the
delivery time (also known as ETA i.e. Estimated Time of Arrival) is shortened.
Example: 14 days ETA for a  Leveling can be shortened to 10 Days with
‘Express’.

Other types of options allow customers to customize their service with a higher
quantity in order to get a discount, or similar.

Information required for Destiny 2 orders:

- Email (for PS4 and XBOX customers) / Account username  (for PC Steam
customers)
- Password
- Character to complete the service on (also called Guardian)
- Note

This will become clearer for you later.

Support System
Pre-purchase support -> live chat on the website
Post-purchase support -> Discord. We have a lot of accounts for different
‘departments’.

Game Guide
(with WoW comparisons)
Final Fantasy XIV is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game
(MMORPG) developed and published by Square Enix. The game is available on
PC, Playstation 4, 5 and macOS. The game is available strictly through
Crossplay, meaning there are no separate servers for console or PC. The game
is available on PC through either the Steam version or through the standalone
client. There are no differences in the accessible content between both versions,
but if you created and started playing in one version; you can not access the
other version at all with the same account. The game follows the same model as
World Of Warcraft, with the paid expansion and subscription model. You also
own the previous expansions when you purchase the latest expansion.
IMPORTANT: this guide does not really go into too much detail BUT it
explains a lot of things that are not really relevant for the daily support job.
We want you to read and know that these things exist so that you can come
back to the guide (or ask a senior) if something specific happens during
your shifts. However, at the end of this guide there is a final paragraph that
sums up the MOST RELEVANT information/concepts that you should
memorize FOR SURE.
Short Game History
Final Fantasy XIV originally released in 2010 and it was a major failure. A
revamped version called Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm reborn with revamped
graphics, engine and gameplay released in 2013 and even though it met with
initial failure, it has picked up it’s pace and become one of the top MMOs in the
market with 3 successful expansions; with the 4th one being set to release this
November. The previous expansions are Heavensward (2015), Stormblood
(2017), Shadowbringers (2019).
Each expansion adds a job, new main story quest line and side quests,
dungeons, trials and raids.
There’s also a demo version of the game that is available for a limited level(up to
level 60, the current level limit is 90) of gameplay.
Current Game Status
The latest released expansion is Endwalker and it was released in December
2021. Once you purchase the Endwalker expansion, you automatically own all
the previous expansions. In order to play the game, you need to buy the base
version and the latest expansion. There’s also a subscription fee, which has two
tiers. Entry tier is cheaper but you can only have 1 character in each world; up to
8 characters. Standard tier is more expensive, but you can have up to 8
characters per world up to 40 in total. Currently, you’ll need to buy Final Fantasy
XIV: A Realm Reborn Starter Edition and the Endwalker expansion in order to
access all released content. Currently the game is experiencing a huge influx of
new players, especially disgruntled World Of Warcraft players are switching to
FFXIV en masse. It’s unclear whether Square Enix can retain them or not, but
currently FFXIV is at their highs in terms of subscribed players.
A direct parallel with World Of Warcraft would be the expansion model that
brings level caps, new storylines, dungeons and raids. However, unlike
World Of Warcraft in which you own the base game after you purchase the
latest expansion; in Final Fantasy XIV you need to purchase the base game
as a standalone entity as well.
Game Philosophy and Key Concepts:
The game follows a very similar model of World Of Warcraft in terms of content.
There are multiple sources of gear(dungeons, quests, trials, raids, alliance raids
and tokens from the activities I’ve just mentioned)
Unlike WoW, there’s no mythic+ system that increases the rewards of dungeons,
or anything sort of titanforge/warforge so the loot that you’ll receive is static.
There’s no artificial faction divide that mandates the gameplay by dividing the
playerbase, there are 3 “Grand Company”s that you can select; but it has
minimal effect on the storyline and absolutely 0 effect on players' matchmaking.
As mentioned before, every player within the same Data Center can play with
each other.
0) Races
Races in Final Fantasy XIV have absolutely minimal effects because they do not
have any impact on the classes/jobs that a character can play. They have slightly
different stat distribution but it’s within the range of ±5 which is absolutely minimal
so when picking a race the looks are the only important part. Also, Viera can only
be female and Hrothgar can only be male. Each race has 2 clans that a player
can choose from, they differ 1-2 stat points within each other and as said above it
doesn’t impact the gameplay at all. To put it into comparison, a BiS geared
Dragoon will have 5604 STR and the difference between the highest and lowest
STR race is 5. The STR difference between the most optimal and least optimal
race would be %0.089, as you can see it’s completely negligible. There are 8
races and 16 clans in Final Fantasy XIV. I’ll give a brief explanation of the races
below:
1. Hyur: It’s the most basic human race. It has 2 clans, Midlander and
Highlander that change the build of the human.
2. Elezen: Elves of Final Fantasy XIV. Pointy ears and is tall. It has 2
clans, Wildwood and Duskwight
3. Miqo’te: Catlike human beings with pointy ears and long tail. It has 2
clans: Seekers of the Sun and Keepers of the Moon.
4. Roegadyn: Stocky and hefty humans. It has 2 clans, Sea Wolf and
Hellsguard.
5. Lalafell: Short, pixie like creatures. It has 2 clans, Plainsfolk and
Dunesfolk.
 6. Au Ra: Dragonoid humans. They have horns. It has 2 clans: Raen
and Xaela
7. Hrothgar: Lion-human hybrids. They can only be male. It has 2
clans: Helions and The Lost Clan
8. Viera: Bunny eared humans. They can only be female but in the
upcoming Endwalker expansion there’ll be male Viera’s as well. Due
to their bunny ears, Viera’s can’t use helm transmogs.
1) CLASS SYSTEM:
Final Fantasy XIV has a very complex class system compared to World Of
Warcraft. I’ll try to explain within my ability, but you shouldn’t shy away from
checking outside sources if you want to get more information.
I’ll preface this section by saying that you can play all classes/jobs with a
single character. Unlike World Of Warcraft, you don’t need to level up a different
character if you want to play another class/job. Every race can play every
class/job. In the future of this guide, class and job will be used interchangeably.
For the sake of clarification, class is the first 30 levels of certain jobs in Final
Fantasy XIV. After reaching level 30 in a class, you’ll be prompted to get the job
of the said class and therefore you’ll only have a job and not a class anymore.
There are 2 main schools of combat in Final Fantasy XIV when it comes to the
classes. They’re Disciples of War and Disciples of Magic. Tanks, Melee DPS and
Physical Ranged DPS are disciples of War; Healers and Magical Range DPS are
Disciples of Magic. There are a total of 9 combat classes in Final Fantasy XIV:
1. Tanks: Gladiator and Marauder
2. Healers: Conjurer and Arcanist
3. Melee DPS: Pugilist, Lancer and Rogue
4. Physical Range DPS: Archer
5. Magical Range DPS: Thaumaturge and Arcanist.
Arcanist is the only class that can get more than one job upon reaching level 30.
In Final Fantasy XIV, there are also profession classes. The crafter classes are
called Disciples Of The Hand and they’re Carpenters, Blacksmiths, Armorer,
Goldsmith, Leatherworker, Weaver, Alchemist and Culinarian. There are also 3
gathering classes that are called Disciples of the Land and they’re: Botanist,
Miner and Fisher. Profession classes are not necessary, just like World Of
Warcraft they do not provide any direct input to the combat(actually even less
than WoW, there’s no engineering equivalent.) but without profession classes,
the player would need a lot of outside help on melding(enchanting) their gear,
crafting consumables etc.
Before moving to the Jobs, I’ll briefly explain the classes as well.
Disciples Of War:
1. Gladiator: Sword and board tank class. They use one handed
swords and shields and wear plate armor. At level 30 they can
specialize into Paladin job.
 2. Pugilist: Melee DPS class. Monk equivalent of Final Fantasy XIV.
They use leather armor and fist weapons. At level 30 they can
specialize into Monk job.
3. Marauder: Melee tank class that uses greataxes. They wear plate
armor. At level 30 they can specialize into Warrior job.
4. Lancer: Melee DPS class that uses polearms. They wear plate
armor. At level 30 they can specialize into Dragoon job.
5. Archer: Range DPS class that uses bows. They wear leather armor.
At level 30 they can specialize into Bard job.
6. Rogue: Melee DPS class that uses dual wield daggers or blades. It
can not be created as the first class on a new account. The player
must have another class at at least 10 level in order to create a
rogue. They wear leather armor. At level 30 they can specialize into
Ninja job.
Disciples Of Magic:
1. Conjurer: Healing class. They use earth, wind and healing magic.
They use wands and canes. At level 30 they can specialize into
White Mage job.
2. Thaumaturge: Magical Range DPS. They use Fire, Blizzard and
Thunder magic. They wield staves and greatstaves. They use cloth
armor. At level 30 they can specialize into Black Mage.
3. Arcanist: Magical Range DPS. They use DOTs and they summon a
companion to deal damage. They wield books as their weapon of
choice. They wear cloth armor. At level 30 they can specialize into
Summoner as a magical range DPS job or Scholar as a healer job.
Disciples Of Hand(Crafting):
1. Carpenter: They process the wood gathered by botanists. They use
the wood to craft bows, staves, tools etc.
2. Blacksmith: They use ores gathered by miners. They can create
tools for other profession classes as well as combat weapons for
marauders, pugilists and gladiators.
3. Armorer: They use ores gathered by miners. They can create chain
mail and plate armor.
4. Goldsmith: They use ores and gemstones gathered by miners.
They can create accessories for all classes and staves for
Thaumaturges and Horas for pugilists.
5. Leatherworker: They use leather and fur from slain
animals. There’s no skinning class in Final Fantasy XIV unlike World
Of Warcraft, so instead of being gathered by skinners, leathers and
furs drop as loot upon killing the corresponding type of animal. They
can create leather armor and fist weapons for pugilists.
6. Weaver: They use fabric and fiber. They can create leather armor.
 7. Alchemist: They can create consumables such as potions, ethers,
elixirs, stat buffs, status cures and status inducers. They can also
create wands for conjurers and books for arcanists.
8. Culinarian: They use meat looted by killing animals, vegetables
gathered by botanists and fishes collected by fishers. They can
make food buffs just like World Of Warcraft to grant temporary stat
buffs to the players.
Disciples Of The Land(Gathering):
1. Miner: They can gather raw ores and gemstones
.
2. Botanist: They can collect raw material from plants such as
vegetables, fruits as well as seeds, leafs etc.
3. Fisher: They can fish.
1.1) JOBS
Jobs are what one would call a class and spec in World Of Warcraft in Final
Fantasy XIV. For example, a priest damage dealer in World Of Warcraft would be
playing a shadow priest; and that would be a job in Final Fantasy XIV.
There are 4 tank jobs, 4 healer jobs, 5 melee DPS jobs, 3 physical range DPS
jobs and 4 magical range DPS jobs for a total of 17 jobs. Most of these jobs are
extensions of the classes I’ve explained in the prior section. There are several
jobs that were added with expansions that do not have a class, but rather they
require reaching a certain level with any other job. Unlike World Of Warcraft,
these jobs are not mutually exclusive and given enough time all jobs can
be unlocked and maxed on the same character!
1.1.1) Tank Jobs:
1. Paladin: Abbreviated as PLD. Unlocked after reaching level 30 as a
gladiator. They wield plate armor, sword and shield. They are the
most defensive and supportive tank between the possible tank
classes and they can use their mana to either deal damage or heal
allies. They are a lot like the classic protection paladin in World Of
Warcraft.
2. Warrior: Abbreviated as WAR. Unlocked after reaching level 30 as a
marauder. They wield plate armor and greataxe and they have a
higher HP pool compared to other tanks but less mitigation abilities.
They also deal considerably higher damage in exchange of
providing minimal support unlike paladin which can off heal. They
are a lot like Blood Death Knights in World Of Warcraft with a greater
emphasis on dealing damage.
3. Dark Knight: Abbreviated as DRK. Unlocked after completing level
50 Main Story Quest(MSQ). They start at 30 level and they do not
have a prior class. They wear Greatswords and plate armor. They
 have both mitigation tools and damage dealing abilities and they are
a mix of Paladin and Warrior in that regard.
4. Gunbreaker: Abbreviated as GNB. Unlocked after reaching level 60
with any job. They wear gunblades and plate armor. Their main
mechanic is combos which then can be spent on buffing or healing
party members as well as dealing damage.
1.1.2) Healer Jobs:
1. White Mage: Abbreviated as WHM. Unlocked after reaching level 30
as a conjurer. They use wands and canes with cloth armor. They
strictly heal as health, meaning they do not provide
shields(barriers). They are a lot like Holy Priests in World Of
Warcraft.
2. Scholar: Abbreviated as SCH. Unlocked after reaching level 30 as
an arcanist. They use books and cloth armor. They are barrier
healers and they deal high damage as a healer through their DoTs.
3. Astrologian: Abbreviated as AST. Unlocked after reaching level 50
MSQ. They start at level 30 and they do not have a prior class. They
use star globes and cloth armor. They provide HP regen and shields
as well as damage buffs to their party members.
4. Sage: Added in Endwalker, abbreviated as SGE. Unlocked after
reaching level 70 with any combat Job. They use healing armor and
weapons called Nouliths. They use a mix of direct health healing and
shields and they can also empower their abilities.
1.1.3) Melee DPS Jobs:
1. Monk: Abbreviated as MNK. Unlocked after reaching level 30 as a
pugilist. They use fist weapons and leather armor. They generate
and spend Chakra as their main source.
2. Dragoon: Abbreviated as DRG. Unlocked after reaching level 30 as
a lancer. They use polearms and wear plate armor. They fill their
Dragon Gauge as their main combat mechanic.
3. Ninja: Abbreviated as NIN. Unlocked after reaching level 30 as a
rogue. They use daggers and wear leather armor. They fill their
Ninki Gauge as their main combat mechanic.
4. Samurai: Abbreviated as SAM. Unlocked after reaching level 50 as
any job. They use katanas and leather armor. They fill their Sen and
Kenki Gauges as their main combat mechanic.
5. Reaper: Added in Endwalker, abbreviated as RPR. Unlocked after
reaching level 70 with any combat Job.They use Scythes and the
same armor as Dragoons. Their combat mechanics revolve around 3
Gauges: Soul, Shroud and Death Gauge.
1.1.4) Physical Range DPS Jobs
1. Bard: Abbreviated as BRD. Unlocked after reaching level 30 as an
archer. Bards are unique in the sense that even though they’re a
DPS class, they provide unique buffs and healing to their allies.
They use bows and wear leather armor. They have two gauges
called Song and Soul gauges, and their gameplay revolves around
filling and emptying them with corresponding procs.
2. Machinist: Abbreviated as MCH. Unlocked after reaching level 50
and completing corresponding story quests of Heavensward
expansion. They use firearms as their weapon and wear leather
armor. Their unique game mechanic is deploying turrets to help
them to deal damage.
3. Dancer: Abbreviated as DNC. Unlocked after reaching level 60 as
any job. They are like bards in the sense of providing buffs and
healing to their allies, but to a lesser degree than bards. They use
throwing weapons and wear leather armor.
1.1.5) Magical Range DPS Jobs
1. Black Mage: Abbreviated as BLM. Unlocked after reaching level 30
as a thaumaturge. They are the closest class to traditional mages in
MMOs. They utilize fire, ice and lightning spells to deal damage.
They use staves and wear cloth armor. They have an elemental
gauge as their main mechanic, which dictates whether their spells hit
harder but cost significantly more mana or if they have lesser hitting
spells but increased MP recovery.
2. Summoner: Abbreviated as SMN. Unlocked after reaching level 30
as an arcanist. They use books and wear cloth armor. As their name
indicates, they summon various beings including the mighty
Bahamut himself in a weakened condition to assist them in combat.
3. Red Mage: Abbreviated as RDM. Unlocked after reaching level 50
as any job. They are a hybrid melee/range DPS class with unique
melee hitting abilities for magical range DPS jobs. Their main
mechanic is black and white mana which enhances their abilities on
certain thresholds.
4. Blue Mage: Abbreviated as BLU. First limited class ever released. A
limited class means that they can not be played in certain game
modes such as daily roulette, PvP and more. They receive less
experience through MSQs and side quests but they receive greatly
increased XP through killing enemies in the open world and
completing FATEs(daily quests). Another unique aspect of blue
mages are, they do not learn their spells by leveling up or
completing their job quests; instead they copy the spells of the
 enemies they kill in the open world. They use canes and wear cloth
armor.
One thing to note is, except for Black Mage and Summoner, every job has party-
wide buffs in some capacity, of course Bard and the Dancer has the most. You
can check the full list below if you are curious:
 Link
: https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/844775817753395201/844776217575948308/Uj5ndur.png

2) GEAR SYSTEM
Final Fantasy XIV follows the traditional MMO gearing system. The loot can be
obtained from anywhere ranging from FATEs to Savage raids. The harder the
content is, the better the gear they reward. Additionally, almost every item that
can drop from the specific activity(trials, dungeons, raids etc.) can be acquired
from the corresponding activity’s vendor through the tokens that drop upon
completion of the said activity. Currently, a combination of Augmented Radiant
and Asphodelos sets are BiS for every job. Radiant gear can be farmed
through various trials, dungeons and raids through a currency called
Allagan Tomestone of Astronomy. And then they can be upgraded to
Augmented Radiant via using the currency earned from Savage raids.
I want to address Allagan Tomestones briefly. Allagan Tomestones are endgame
tokens, with each expansion and main patch their suffix changes. Current ones
are “of Aphorism” used for Moonward (570 ilevel) gear and "of Astronomy" used
for Radiant (590 ilevel) gear. Allagan Tomestones of Astronomy have a weekly
cap of 450. This system is a lot like the current Valor system on World Of
Warcraft that allows the players to upgrade their M+ items. But unlike Valor
points, these currencies drop from a variety of activities instead of only one type
of content and they do not accumulate over weeks.
Just like World Of Warcraft, the game uses an item level system which is
identical with World of Warcraft. Aside from the required level for equipping
items, “item level” is likely the only number you’ll be keeping an eye on as you
progress through the main scenario of the game. Also known as “iLvl,” item level
is a number that acts as an indicator of relative item power, namely compared to
other items theoretically at the same required level.
Asphodelos gear drops from the latest(current) raid. The raid is
called Pandaemonium and it drops 580 item level gear tokens in the normal
version and 600 item level gear in Pandaemonium Savage mode. I’ll explain
more in the raids section regarding Normal, Savage and Ultimate mods.
One exception to 600 ilevel item drops are the weapons. Pandaemonium Savage
mode drops 605 ilevel weapons.
2.1) Stats
I won’t go in too much detail but I’ll briefly explain the stats. Most of the time, item
level trumps stats so stat priorities mostly matter on end game melding and relic
weapons.
Primary attributes:
STR: Strength. Increases attack power for all jobs except for those who use
Dexterity as their main stat. Main attribute for Dragoon, Monk and Samurai jobs.
DEX: Dexterity. Increases attack power for the jobs that use DEX as their main
stat. Main attribute for Bard, Ninja, Machinist and Dancer.
VIT: Vitality. Increases Health Points for all classes, but grants a much higher
boost to tanks health pool. Main stat for Paladin, Warrior, Dark Knight and
Gunbreaker.
INT: Intelligence. Increases the magic damage dealt by all jobs except healers.
Main attribute for black mage, red mage, blue mage and Summoner.
Mind: Increases healing done and also magic damage done by healers. Main
attribute for white mage, astrologian and scholar.
Secondary attributes:
Critical Hit: Works identically as Critical Strike in World Of Warcraft. Best
secondary stat for almost all jobs.
Determination: Works identically as Versatility in World Of Warcraft.
Direct Hit Rate: Doesn’t work for healers’ healing spells, but since healer DPS
matters a lot in Final Fantasy XIV; it’s possible to see some Direct Hit in BiS lists
for healers.. It’s essentially a lesser version of crit that occurs more often.
Skill Speed: Lowers cooldown and global cooldown for weaponskills, AKA
physical DPS classes.
Spell Speed: Lowers cooldown and global cooldown for spells, AKA healers and
Magic DPS classes.
Piety: Works only on healers. Increases MP and MP regeneration. Healers would
get Piety to a certain degree and then dump the rest between spell speed and
critical hit.
Tenacity: Works only on tanks. Identical to versatility in World Of Warcraft.
2.1.1) Stat Tiering
This is a major difference from World Of Warcraft and it’s the reason why relic
weapons are often an upgrade over their 535 ilvl raid weapon counterparts.
In Final Fantasy XIV, stats are not dynamic. Meaning that if you equip an item
with let’s say 20 more critical hit rate, it does not mean that you’ll gain a
DPS/HPS increase. Stats work in increments that are called tiers, and your in
game stats won’t increase until you hit the next tier of the said stat. A lot of 3rd
party spreadsheets and websites are used to optimize stat tiering to get the most
of the equipment you receive in FFXIV. I will show the effect of stat tiering and
relic weapons in 2 images:
Dragoons have 2 535 ilvl options, the weapon that drops from E12S, Edenmorn
Halberd and the relic weapon Blade’s Glory. If a Dragoon in BiS gear uses
Edenmorn Halberd, these will be their stats:
So as you can see their Direct Hit, Critical Hit and Determination stats are 2, 7
and 4 stats behind the next tier. So they’ll have around 35 stats wasted. It’s
nothing tragic of course.
If they use their Relic Weapon, Blade’s Glory instead; they can allocate their
stats to maximize their stats in respect to tiering and have the following
allocation:

So the difference in terms of secondary stats would be 9290 with Edenmorn’s

Halberd vs 9391 with Blade’s Glory. Hopefully you can see the effects of Stat
Tiering and why the Relic Weapons are “upgrades” even though they are not in
terms of total stat and weapon damage amount. I’ll touch more on relic weapons
in section 2.3 later on.
2.2) Crafting System
As explained in the class system, players that opt into Disciples of Hand classes
can craft and augment items. The highest item level of craftable equipment is
580 and they require level 90 to equip. Players are also able to craft
consumables such as potions, foods etc. and repair their own gear if they choose
to opt into Disciples of Hand classes. They can also meld their own equipment
without needing the help of other players.
2.2.1) Melding System
Players also can augment their equipment through the Materia Melding system,
which involves increasing their soulbind with an item and extracting Materia from
the said item. In order to extract Materia from an item, the player must increase
the soulbind with the said item by equipping it and using it in various activities
such as combat, crafting etc. Once the soulbind reaches 100%, the player can
extract Materia from the item. After the Materia is extracted, players can meld the
extracted Materia to their equipment through special NPCs or with the help of
other players. There are some limits in the melding process:
 The item needs to have materia slots to have it melded.
 The item level of the materia can not exceed the item level of the
item that it’s being melded.
 The amount of melded secondary stats can not exceed the limit set
by the item’s item level. For example if an equipment has a CRIT
cap of 301, it’s inherent stats(the stats that the equipment has upon
its acquisition) and the melded stats can not exceed 301 when
combined.
 It is possible to overmeld some items and meld up to 5 materia to a
single item, but the chance of melding significantly reduces when
overmelding is tried.
 Relic weapons can not be melded.
Materias are ranked through tiers, and currently the best Materia is tier 8. Tier 8
Materias grant 60 secondary stat bonus upon being melded into equipment.
As explained in the stats system, melding is a very important aspect of the game
because it allows the players to hit further tiers of stats.
2.3) Relic Weapons
Relic weapons are a lot like artifact weapons from World Of Warcraft: Legion in
the sense that they are weapons that have a history in the game’s lore. They
were introduced in the original version of the game as fabled relic weapons. Last
relic weapons added to the game are called “Resistance Weapons”, but they are
simply referred to as relic weapons. They’re acquired and upgraded through a
lengthy series of quests, they’re one of the biggest grinds in the game at the
moment. There are 6 tiers of current relic weapons
Tiers are in the following order:
 Resistance
 Augmented Resistance(Also known as Augment v1)
 Recollection
 Law’s Order
 Augment Law’s Order(Also known as Augment v2)
  Blade’s

Another important thing with relic weapons are, they’re among the most
prestigious glamorous(transmog equivalent of Final Fantasy XIV); so they’re
some of the best selling services. Again, they’re intended to be ultra grinds; so
they take quite a lot of time to complete.
Another important aspect of relic weapons are, as I’ve touched a bit on the stats
section; the player can allocate the secondary stats on them however they like,
so they are highly valued if the player would like to min-max their stats due to
how stats work in Final Fantasy XIV(for more info go back to 2.1.1).

3) Game Content
3.1) Quests
As with all MMOs, Final Fantasy XIV has a quest system. There are 7 different
categories for quests:
3.1.1) Main Story Quests:
Abbreviated as MSQs. They're the bread and butter of Final Fantasy XIV leveling
experience. A vast majority of the content is locked behind MSQs. It’s possible to
purchase story skips from the in-game store for real money for old expansions,
like the level boost in World Of Warcraft.

I want to get into a little bit of detail here. So, you can buy store skips for A Realm
Reborn(base game), Heavensward(First expansion) and Stormblood(Second
Expansion). Respective prices are 11$, 18$ and 25$. But these story skips do
not include level boosts. Players can purchase job level boosts up to level 70 for
25$ as well. Considering that these MSQs take quite a long time, it’s almost
pointless to try to compete with the Final Fantasy XIV in-game store. If the
customer chooses, they can have a level 70 character with all MSQs completed
until the Shadowbringers for 79$ from the in-game store. For context, completing
all MSQs until the beginning of Shadowbringers would take around 150-200
hours.
 
3.1.2) Side Quests:
Useful for obtaining some exp and in-game currency as well as unlocking some
features.
3.1.3) Job Quests:
Mostly unlock job features like spells, weaponskills, role abilities and passives so
they’re essential.
3.1.4) Repeatable Quests:
Most of these are daily or weekly quests that are parts of some grinds.
3.1.5) Feature Quests:
These are the quests that unlock game features. Some MSQs are in this
category.
3.1.6) Repeatable Feature Quests:
Relic weapons quest chains. Relic weapons are a lot like artifact weapons from
World Of Warcraft: Legion in the sense that they are weapons that have a history
in the game’s lore. They were introduced in the original version of the game as
fabled relic weapons. Last relic weapons added to the game are called
“Resistance Weapons”, but they are simply referred to as relic weapons. They’re
acquired and upgraded through a lengthy series of quests, they’re one of the
biggest grinds in the game at the moment. There are 6 tiers of current relic
weapons.
3.1.7) Levequests:
These are repeatable quests that give significant amounts of EXP and items.
They have a little bit of a mechanic behind it. Players have a currency
called “leve allowances” that refills every 12 hours. Players can use those
to accept levequests from NPCs called “Levemetes”.

In order to see the amount of locked content please

check: https://ffxiv.gamerescape.com/wiki/Guide:Shadowbringers_Progression_a
nd_Level_Locked_Content 
3.2) Trials
Trials are single boss encounters that require 8 players to participate. They are
unlocked after completing certain feature quests. There are 4 difficulties for trials:
Normal, Hard, Extreme and Unreal. Hard, Extreme and Unreal trials are called
High-End Trials. They award equipment and Allagan Tomestones, Endwalker
trials also award Allagan Tomestone of Aphorism that can be exchanged for
Moonward equipment. There are currently 3 Normal Trials and 2 High-End Trials
in Endwalker.
Shadowbringers Normal Trials:
  The Dancing Plague  
 The Crown of the Immaculate    
 The Dying Gasp    
 Cinder Drift    
 The Seat of Sacrifice    
 Castrum Marinum    
 The Cloud Deck

Endwalker Normal Trials:

 The Dark Inside  
 The Final Day
 The Mothercrystal
Shadowbringers High-End Trials:
 The Dancing Plague (Extreme) drops 430 ilvl loot as well as
Allagan Tomestones Of Revelation that can be used for Cryptlurker
gear.
 The Crown of the Immaculate (Extreme) drops 430 ilvl loot as well
as Allagan Tomestones Of Revelation that can be used for
Cryptlurker gear.
 The Akh Afah Amphitheatre (Unreal) drops 430 ilvl loot as well as
Allagan Tomestones Of Revelation that can be used for Cryptlurker
gear.
 The Navel (Unreal) drops 430 ilvl loot as well as Allagan
Tomestones Of Revelation that can be used for Cryptlurker gear.
 The Whorleater (Unreal) drops 445 ilvl weapons as well as Allagan
Tomestones Of Revelation that can be used for Cryptlurker gear.
 Minstrel's Ballad: Hades's Elegy drops 465 ilvl weapons as well as
Allagan Tomestones Of Revelation that can be used for Cryptlurker
gear.
 Cinder Drift (Extreme) drops 485 ilvl weapons as well as Allagan
Tomestones Of Revelation that can be used for Cryptlurker gear.
 Memoria Misera (Extreme) drops 480 ilvl armor as well as Allagan
Tomestones Of Revelation that can be used for Cryptlurker gear.
 The Seat of Sacrifice (Extreme) drops 495 ilvl weapons as well as
Allagan Tomestones Of Revelation that can be used for Cryptlurker
gear.
 Castrum Marinum (Extreme) drops 515 ilvl weapons as well as
Allagan Tomestones Of Revelation that can be used for Cryptlurker
gear.
 The Cloud Deck (Extreme) drops 525 ilvl weapons as well as
Allagan Tomestones Of Revelation that can be used for Cryptlurker
gear.
Endwalker High-End Trials:
 The Minstrel's Ballad: Zodiark's Fall (Extreme) drops 580 ilvl loot
as well as Allagan Tomestones of Astronomy that can be used for
Radiant gear.
 The Minstrel's Ballad: Hydaelyn's Call (Extreme) drops 580 ilvl
loot as well as Allagan Tomestones of Astronomy that can be used
for Radiant gear.
3.3) Dungeons
Dungeons are almost identical to their World of Warcraft counterparts. They’re
mostly unlocked by quests. There are leveling dungeons and cap dungeons; cap
dungeons are max level dungeons that award the highest item level possible
from dungeons, leveling dungeons grant bonus experience upon completion.
Endwalker dungeons reward Allagan Tomestones which can be used for
Moonward gear. There are currently 8 dungeons in the Endwalker expansion. 5
of them are leveling and 3 of them are max level dungeons.
Leveling Dungeons in Shadowbringers are:
 The Tower of Zot requires 81 level
 The Tower of Babil requires 83 level
 Vanaspati requires 85 level
 Ktisis Hyperboreia requires 87 level
 The Aitiascope requires 89 level
Max level dungeons all require level 90 to enter. Max level dungeons in
Endwalker are:
 The Dead Ends drops 560 ilvl loot as well as Allagan Tomestones
of Aphorism that can be used for Moonward gear.
 Smileton drops 560 ilvl loot as well as Allagan Tomestones Of
Aphorism that can be used for Moonward gear.
 The Stigma Dreamscape drops 560 ilvl loot as well as Allagan
Tomestones Of Aphorism that can be used for Moonward gear.
3.4) Deep Dungeons
These are dungeons that have multiple floors(100/200). Players start at reduced
levels and gain powers while they progress through the deep dungeon. There are
currently 2 deep dungeons; Palace of the Dead and Heaven-on-High. These
reward Allagan Tomestones and Gil.
3.4.1) The Necromancer
I want to specifically mention this achievement and therefore title, because it’s
very prestigious and one of the most elite services that we can sell. Basically it’s
obtained upon the completion of Palace of the Dead’s 200 floors without ever
dying once.
3.5) Raids
Raids are the main focus of the Final Fantasy XIV end game. Each expansion
has one raid that is unlocked as the patches go by. For example, the last
expansion’s raid is Eden, and it has 3 tiers that were unlocked through various
patches. The first one to unlock was Eden’s Gate, second one was Eden’s
Verse and the third and the final one is Eden’s Promise. Each of these raids
have 4 bosses(these encounters are called “turns”) so they’re abbreviated as
such. For example E4 means the final boss of Eden’s Gate, E8 means the final
boss of Eden’s Verse and E12 means the final boss of Eden’s Promise. E8-12
means Eden’s Promise.

Current expansion’s raid is called Pandaemonium and it has one raid tier
unlocked called Asphodelos. Like tiers before it, it consists of 4 bosses.
Normal mode was released on 21st of December of 2021 and Savage mode was
released on 4th of January of 2022.
There are 2 main difficulties in Final Fantasy XIV, normal and Savage. This is a
lot like the initial Normal, Heroic system that World Of Warcraft used. Savage
raids have the same number of encounters, but with strictly harder tuning.
Savage raids are abbreviated with adding an “S” at the end of the raid. For
example Eden’s Promise Savage is abbreviated as E8-12S.
In some tiers, there’s also an extra tier of difficulty called Ultimate. Ultimate raids
are unlocked after completing the savage difficulty of a tier, if they exist in that
tier. They have only 1 boss, but it’s significantly harder compared to Savage
raids. They are much more like Mythic raids in terms of Difficulty. There are 3
Ultimate raids in total, and this expansion had only 1 Ultimate raid which was
called The Epic Of Alexander and it was unlocked after completing E4S. To put
it into perspective, The Epic Of Alexander(Ultimate) awards 30 Allagan
Tomestones Of Revelation for 1 boss compared to 30 Allagan Tomestones Of
Revelation from E8-12S even though it’s technically 2 tiers ago. They’re the most
prestigious PVE content in the game. The other ultimate raids are The Unending
Coil Of Bahamut and The Weapon’s Refrain.
Raids drop Coffers, which are basically tokens that are distributed through
whatever method the party uses. The main distribution method is party loot,
identical to group loot in World Of Warcraft where players roll for the loot; Need
before Greed system. Master Loot/Lootmaster also exists so it’s possible to run
loot funnel/VIP runs.
3.5.1) Alliance Raids
Alliance raids are 24 man raids. Current alliance raid is The Tower at Paradigm's
Breach which drops 520 item level gear. So as you can see, they’re somewhere
in the middle between E8-12 and E8-12S.
IMPORTANT: Almost all instanced content (Trials, dungeons,
raids, alliance raids etc.) has an item level requirement! The item
level requirement is obviously lower than the item level they
award, you can check item level requirement for every content
with a quick google search but here I’ll list item level
requirements for some popular high end content.
E8-12(Raid) item level requirement: 485
E8-12S(Raid) item level requirement: 510
Matoya's Relict(Dungeon) item level requirement: 470
Paglth’an(Dungeon) item level requirement: 490
Castrum Marinum (Extreme)(Trial) item level requirement: 500
The Cloud Deck (Extreme)(Trial) item level requirement: 510
The Tower at Paradigm's Breach(Alliance Raid) item level
requirement: 495
3.6) FATEs
FATE is the abbreviation for Full Active Time Events. They’re in-game activities
that appear on the map and include boss battles, escort missions etc. that are
akin to World Of Warcraft world quests. They do not have a set time for spawning
so they differ in that regard. Completing FATEs reward EXP, Gil and they help
you to progress through your Grand Company’s ranks.
3.7) Hunts
Essentially something like the world boss system on World Of Warcraft. Players
can pick up hunts from various NPCs and kill the targeted enemies. There are 4
tiers of hunts: B, A, S and SS from easiest to hardest. The reward is better for the
harder ones. Players can obtain Allagan Tomestones and sack of nuts’ that are
used to upgrade Cryptlurker gear. Hunts are unlocked through obtaining Second
Lieutenant rank in the players’ respective Grand Companies.
3.8) Duty Roulette
Duty roulettes are daily queues that the players can do for greatly increased
experience, Gil and endgame tomestones. The player can queue for duty roulette
through Duty Finder. This system can be compared to Random Heroic Dungeons
from World Of Warcraft. There’s also “In need” rewards that increase the rewards
for certain specializations.
3.9) Bozjan Southern Front
The Bozjan southern front is a new instanced encounter wherein players assist
the Bozjan Resistance in reclaiming their homeland from the IV-th Imperial
Legion. Up to 72 players can join a single instance, taking part in various large-
scale encounters, as well as more challenging player-limited ones. Players can
get up to rank 15 with Bozjan Southern Front, in return they can unlock rewards
such as Relic Weapon Questline and Glamour.
3.10) PVP
Final Fantasy XIV is rather on the weak side when it comes to PVP and in
general, content available for PVP scenarios. There are 3 PVP modes in Final
Fantasy XIV, The Feast, Frontlines and Rival Wings. The Feast is the instanced
arena mode akin to World Of Warcraft’s arenas and Frontlines are akin to
battlegrounds. Before moving on to details of both game modes, there are a few
things to note that are common in both game modes.
 In both game modes, the player’s attributes and stats are fixed to
whatever template is applied to their job. This means that effectively
there’s no difference between a level 30 player and a max level
player with a full end game build. Both players will have access to an
equal amount of skills/spells and they will have the same stats if they
are playing the same job.
 Every job has a different set of skills/spells in PVE and PVP. That
means you will have a different skill bar with most likely fewer
skills/spells in PVP modes that allows a simpler gameplay in terms
of rotation and such.
 There are a lot of game mechanics that are not available in PVP,
such as critical hits, direct hits, parrying etc. This does not have a
direct effect on the players’ gameplay due to the template system
I’ve mentioned above, but it’s good to keep it in mind nevertheless.
3.10.1) The Feast
The Feast is the arena gamemode of Final Fantasy XIV. The teams in this mode
consist of 4 players for each team. The goal is to either hit the medal goal or
have the highest amount of medals when the timer ends. The medals are
currencies that are special to this mode, each player starts with a fixed amount of
medals and they drop half the amount of the medals they have upon death. Rival
team’s players can move on to dead players’ bodies and pick up their medals.
Each job can carry a limited amount of medals, predetermined by their
roles(tank, melee dps, healer, physical/magic range dps). Players can only
queue as one player, meaning that the game has a strict solo queue policy which
effectively renders our Selfplay carry and most of our coaching system
unavailable.
Just like the brackets on World Of Warcraft(0-1399 Unrated, 1400-1599
Combatant, Challenger 1600-1799, Rival 1800-2099, Duelist 2100-2399 and
Elite 2400+), there are tiers in Final Fantasy XIV. In total, there are 5 tiers, from
lowest to highest:
 Bronze
 Silver
 Gold
 Platinum
 Diamond
These tiers are determined by the player’s individual PvP rating, and the players
have to play qualifier games upon reaching the required rating for the next tier.
The system is a lot like League Of Legends’ ranked mode if you ever played that
game.
The Feast game mode has seasons tied to patches, just like World Of Warcraft;
but unlike WoW the patches are not strict like x.0 is one season, x.1 is another
etc. For example, the current The Feast season started on 5.58 and will be done
on 6.0(New expansion release).
There are also team ranked seasons that appear sporadically and completely
separate from the normal seasons, during those seasons players can queue as a
full team of 4 players.
At the end of each season, players receive rewards corresponding to the tier they
have at the end of the season. On top of that, top 100 ranked players of each
Data Center receive additional rewards depending on their rank. The first one on
each data center usually receives a trophy to put in their houses and the rest
receives special transmogs, mounts, companions etc. depending on what was
announced at the beginning of the season. This is a lot like the Rank 1 system in
World Of Warcraft, except instead of a title and a mount fixed for every season;
in Final Fantasy XIV the rewards change.
Team ranked seasons reward up to 20 teams and they usually have a different
reward system that does not include mounts more often than not.
3.10.2) Frontlines
Frontlines are battleground equivalents of Final Fantasy XIV. Three Grand
Companies fight against each other in this game mode, and each Grand
Company can have up to 24 players, allowing a whopping 72 man battlegrounds.
There are 4 available “campaigns” in this game mode and they rotate daily.
Campaigns are what one would call a map in World of Warcraft. Each campaign
has a different win condition. There are no seasons for Frontlines, but the
rankings on Lodestone can be viewed weekly or monthly.
3.10.3) Rival Wings
It’s a Moba-like ranked arena. There are 2 different maps, one of them is the
classic “destroy enemies’ base” and the other one is sort of like Silvershard
Mines battleground in World Of Warcraft. Up to 48 players can play at once and
players are divided into two teams. Players can obtain PvP EXP, gils, allagan
tomestones and wolf marks from this mode.
3.11) Flying
Much like World Of Warcraft, flying is unlocked separately in every
expansion. For the base game zones(A Realm Reborn or abbreviated as ARR,
the world is colloquially known as Eorzea), flying is unlocked through simply
completing some Main Story Quests. For Heavensward and onwards, the players
need to collect Aether Currents in the zone that they want to unlock flying; so
unlike World Of Warcraft there is no master achievement(Pathfinder) that unlocks
flying for the content, but rather every zone has its own requirement(collecting
Aether Currents). Since this can be a tedious process that requires a lot of
travelling and completing some MSQ and feature quests, it can be sold as a
service.

4) Social Systems
I won’t go into too much detail here because they’re mostly irrelevant for our job,
but I want to briefly explain some stuff. Bear in mind, FFXIV has a much different
player base compared to WoW, majority of the players who play FFXIV are very
much active in social systems and stuff like rushing to the end game to just raid
etc. are generally frowned upon.
4.1) Grand Companies
Equivalent of Horde and Alliance, but there is no major faction conflict. As
explained before in this guide, the Grand Company choice does not affect the
players’ gameplay in any shape or form, every player can play with each other as
long as they’re in the same Data Center. Players have standings with their Grand
Companies like reputations and they can improve it through a plethora of
activities.
4.2) Free Companies
Basically the guilds of Final Fantasy XIV. They have guild houses and can grant
buffs to their members. There are no dps buffs for max level players, but there
are some for underleveled players and there are a plethora of open world and
crafting buffs. There are free company standings available on Lodestone that
rank the companies by the amount of Grand Company credit they have earned.
4.3) Retainers
Not necessarily a social system but wanted to touch on it. On most of the maps
there are NPCs called retainers, which you can deposit or sell your stuff to. They
act like mobile banks that you can access outside of major cities. You can send
those retainers to missions to retrieve currencies or goods for you much like the
war table system in World Of Warcraft. Each player can have 2 retainers for free,
and they can pay real money to have more retainers.
4.4) Eternal Bond
Marriage system in Final Fantasy XIV. 99.99% cosmetic. Only beneficial thing is,
married players receive rings that teleport them to each other. Married players
are also able to use 2 person mounts.
4.5) Housing system
If you have played WoW for a while, you have most likely heard some requests
for a housing system. Well, Final Fantasy XIV has it. And it’s one of the rarest
social systems that can actually generate revenue for us.
In Final Fantasy XIV, players and guilds can own their own houses. There's also
an interior designing service that is quite popular to sell as a service. There are a
finite number of houses in every server, but there are apartments that are
virtually unlimited.
4.6) Gold Saucer
Gold Saucer is a casino-esque zone in Final Fantasy XIV that includes a bunch
of minigames varying from card games to mahjong. The currency acquired from
different activities there is called Manderville Gold Saucer points (MGP). It is
used to purchase many different cosmetic items and mounts.