Beginner's Guide to Final Fantasy XIV

New to FFXIV? This guide covers the free trial, combat basics, and getting started.

Free Trial & Getting Started

  • 1The free trial includes ARR + Heavensward (level 1-70) with no time limit.
  • 2Free trial restrictions: no market board, no trading, 300k gil cap, no retainers.
  • 3Choose your starting city based on class -- each city has different starting classes.
  • 4Your starting class evolves into a job at level 30 (e.g., Gladiator becomes Paladin).
  • 5You can play ALL classes/jobs on a single character -- no need for alts.

GCD & oGCD System

  • 1GCD (Global Cooldown) abilities share a 2.5s cooldown timer (reduced by Skill Speed).
  • 2oGCD (off-Global Cooldown) abilities have independent cooldowns -- weave between GCDs.
  • 3Single weave: 1 oGCD between GCDs. Double weave: 2 oGCDs between GCDs.
  • 4Clipping: using an oGCD too late delays your next GCD -- avoid this.
  • 5ABC rule: Always Be Casting. Minimize downtime between GCDs for maximum DPS.

Duty Finder & Party Content

  • 1Duty Finder queues you for instanced content (dungeons, trials, raids).
  • 2Tanks and Healers have near-instant queues. DPS queues can take 10-20 minutes.
  • 3Roulettes give bonus rewards for random duty assignments -- do daily roulettes.
  • 4Party Finder is for forming manual groups for harder content (savage, extreme).
  • 5Trust system lets you run dungeons with NPC companions (slower but no queue).

Party Roles & Etiquette

  • 1Tanks: pull enemies, face bosses away from party, use mitigation cooldowns.
  • 2Healers: keep the party alive AND deal damage -- standing still is a DPS loss.
  • 3DPS: hit positionals (melee), maintain uptime, use AoE on 3+ targets.
  • 4Use the Ready Check before pulls in 8-player content.
  • 5Say "o/" when entering a duty -- the FFXIV community is very welcoming.

Main Scenario Priority

  • 1MSQ (Main Scenario Quest) should be your primary focus -- it unlocks everything.
  • 2Blue quests with a "+" icon unlock content (dungeons, features, jobs).
  • 3Yellow side quests give minimal EXP -- skip unless you want the story.
  • 4Class/Job quests give abilities and gear -- do these immediately at each milestone.
  • 5Do not skip cutscenes on your first playthrough -- the story is the main draw of FFXIV.