If you love Cute Clothes as much as me, these are very much for you. But if you don't really care what your character wears (or the color it is), these are completely optional.
Unlocking
You may as well do them both at once as they unlock at the same time and are both given by the same person and neither takes you out of Vesper Bay
[Image ID: screencap of Swyrgeim in Vesper Bay, to the left of her is a selection box that lists the options of two quests; Color Your World and If I Had a Glamour, Small Talk, or Nothing /end ID]
These unlock in Vesper Bay out in Western Thanalan aaallllll the way to the west, past Horizon but before the sharp turn north. you'll be out here a lot for MSQ later so remember it's location. If you get here at or around level 15 she should be the only quest marker, if I recall correctly.
[Image ID: two more screenshots of Swyrgiem, these two with quest synopses next to her. On the left is Color Your World; "Swyrgiem wants to show you a whole new world of colors." and on the right is If I Only Had a Glamour; "Swyrgiem wishes to impart to you her knowledge of glamours." /end ID]
Like the queen she is she sends you to get her drinks. If I Only Had A Glamour marks on the map who to talk to, but for Color your world you need to go to the Merchant & Mender that you can see in my caps just above the quests and the orange juice will be under Purchase Items. don't worry! it's only 7 gil.
[the rest under cut because this is Long]
Use
my first note is that many dyes can be bought in the markets of every city. Some can be bought in the cash shop, some can only be crafted, and some are beast tribe locked (and some are locked in other ways). However, all dye can be found on the market board, just be willing to pay a small fortune for some colors if gotten that way. I would always either check the market or look the color up on gamerescape to see how to obtain it before going to the market board.
In the inn room look for these mfers:
[Image ID: The Glamour Dresser and Armoire in the Limsa Lominsa inn. /end ID]
Anything that can go in the armoire, I'd put in there because if you get really into glams the dresser can uuhh fill up quick, and you can access the armoire while making glams without any extra hassle. Plus in order to put things in the dresser you need glam prisms whereas you don't for the armoire. Prisms can be bought on the market board, from your Grand Company upon reaching Sergeant Third Class, or crafted. The unlock quest, should have given you 12 and that's plenty enough at this low a level.
At this point, unless veteran friends have given you clothes or gil and/or you've spent money in the cash shop, you shouldn't really have any of the gear meant for glam, except the little hat the quest gave you. You can put armor and starter clothes in but I would hold off on either (unless you really wanna glam to starter gear) because you might need them if you pick up an off class and it's a hassle to pick up a class and then remember you have to yank gear out of the glam dresser or buy a new set.
But, let's say you had gear and everything you wanna put in your dresser is there and you're ready to make your first glam.
[Image ID: The ffxiv glamour interface showing Aki, a Xalea girl, in her starter outfit and the dresser open to her shoes. /end ID]
The 20 tabs you see above the character display are the 20 glamour plates you get. You can have 20 unique and custom outfits pre-designed and waiting in here. Much like when equipping armor, as you select the spot for a piece of gear on the left the right will open to all the gear you have stored for that place. Select feet you get shoes, head you get hats, etc. **Note: wrists/gloves/shirt sleeves can and will cover bracelets. Accessories are the lowest level; any cloth that covers the same spot will be on top.**
but say maybe for parts of your glam you want something from the armoire. Then hit that long horizontal button under the display of gear in your dresser that says Open Armoire. You don't need to save the glam before hand or anything, it only refreshes that side of things.
If you do seasonal events you'll slowly start collecting up things to fill your armoire with (they do not always give gear but when they do it goes in the armoire.) Otherwise, it's a good place to dump artifact armor (from reaching level caps) if you don't want to get rid of it or want to use it for a glam.
Now! you've selected your outfit. Looks kinda cute, but the colors don't match your character? Well, that's what the dyes are for! Right click/press square on whichever piece of gear you wanna start with and you'll get this
[Image ID: the ffxiv dye selector. In the character box Aki stands wearing the gear she is outside of the dresser with the Ishgardian thighboots selected to dye. /end ID]
This is, as you can see, pretty cut and dry. It's separated by colors so if you click the red circle you see all the red dyes, blue you see the blues, etc. The notes I will give you are that 1) there are pinks under both red and purple, 2) Terebinth turns something back into it's default color, and 3) you can select colors you don't have at this step but you cannot save the plate with dyes you do not have on it.
What I generally do is go through and pick all the colors I want and then pick secondary colors in case the first is too expensive/not for sale/I'm to lazy to make/get, I note how many of which colors I need and then I remove all the dye and save the plate. Then I exit the dresser and go get what dyes I don't already have before returning. this way I'm not guessing that colors will look good together and potentially wasting gil. I also buy dyes in small bulks when I can afford it so I have some for next glam.
However you personally do it, once you apply your dyes and save the plate (again) you're done! All you need to do is hit Apply.
[Image ID: same as the first only now Aki is wearing a peach flower corsage, the hempen camise, summer sunset wrist torque, faire kohakama, and Ishgardian thighboots all dyed either regal or gloom purple. /end ID]
Congratulations! You have now made your first glam plate!
[Image ID: Aki, now out of the dresser, wearing her new glam and cheering. The camera is angled to fit her whole glam but also get a close up of her face. /end ID]
Note: you can apply/change what you're wearing in any sanctuary (denoted by a little crescent moon by the exp bar) but you can only change the plates themselves in the glam dresser in inn rooms. you can also mix and match so if one glam is missing pants and you want pants from another, apply the pants one first, and then the one you want the rest of, and the pantlessness won't overwrite while everything else will.
Also: because of that last point, if there is something that you want to never show up with this glam, you want to get the Emperor's New [gear type] for it and you only need one ring for both slots. (I have bought a second unnecessarily so many times.) I generally get all of the accessories on most of my alts because I just don't really like how most in game jewelry looks. There are plenty of people who use this to run around shirtless. Get creative. They're craftable and available on the market board. sometimes they're relatively cheap, sometimes they're not.
while autoplaying cutscenes you can change the text advance speed! On the keyboard this is managed with either Tab to speed up or Shift + Tab to slow down and on the game pad you would use the D pad with the right (>) being for faster and left (<) being for slower
You can also change the size of just about any element in the game. for the sake of this flash tip I'm just gonna cover the very basics: quest and dialogue boxes
[Image ID: two pictures of a quest box in FFXIV. the user has right clicked at the very top and gotten a drop down. On the left the options read "Return to Default Position", "Scale Window >", and "Close". on the right the user has clicked scale window and gotten a descending list of percentages starting at 200% and ranging down to 60%. /end ID]
You have you right click at the very top, like, top half an inch. Where the cursor turns into a little hand so you can drag the box around? right in there. I don't have pictures of it on hand but it's exactly the same with dialogue boxes however you have to turn off the autoplay (keyboard: spacebar gamepad: triangle) and read the boxes first because I don't remember if the text advances when you do it.
This is also mouse only so console players, if your usb keyboard didn't come with a mouse, I'm sorry to report you need your controller's touchpad. if you right click on the speaker's name you'll almost certainly be in the right range. And you can also drag the text bubble to wherever on the screen in best for you by clicking and dragging the same area of the box.
Congrats! There are a number of things that unlock here at level 15 that can be fun, exciting, or otherwise helpful. I'll start with the things that unlock with level and then the things that unlock only once story takes you out of your starter city. (I will be making a separate post in a bit about glams and dyes which also fall under this category.)
Hall of the Novice
if for no reason other than gear, please do HotN. the gear it gives you is solid through at least level 20, and still plenty usable up to 25-30 if you get nothing better from MSQ or job quests (tho you should be getting bits from both) and completion gives you a ring that gives you passive exp boost until level 30 plus it gives you exp in and of itself.
Okay I've pleaded, but what is it? HotN is a series of mini tutorials that teach you how to play your class type. there's Tank, Physical DPS, Magic DPS, and Healer classes and the gear for casters (magic dps) is the same as for healers so if you pick up a secondary class of the same basic type (being tank, magic, or physical dps) you can share gear but of another type you'll wanna go in to do the classes again if you want the gear. Which isn't so bad if you want/need to learn it.
You can pick it up the moment you hit level 15 in the adventurer's guild in your city state from the smith. They'll be wearing a light green robe with a special symbol above their head. Like this:
[Image ID: a hyuran man wearing a light green robe and skirt with white pants and boots. above his head is a large sprout symbol on top of a darker green background with a gold border /end ID]
All smiths are dressed similarly because that's the outfit you get from completion (although yours will be grey and undyable. there is a dyable version at level 50, however) and MSQ points you towards an actual physical place in game for the Hall later but you don't need to go there nor is anything there remotely necessary for doing the Hall via these guys.
The Dances
Each nation has a free dance that unlocks at level 15 with no other prerequisite. The emote loops and they're all kinda silly and cute, which is my theory as to why when parties idle in dungeons they often become dance parties.
There aren't a lot of dances or otherwise looping emotes in the game that you can get for little to nothing (most are cash shop now, and others have significant time investments) so if you want a fun dance these are the best option. You're not locked into only one either; you can get each as you go to each nation.
[Image ID: three screenshots of a quest synopsis and the quest's giver. From left to right there's Eral with the quest Saw That One Coming; "Eral has noticed a rare bit of excitement within the serene city-state and would share with you what he knows." Then Dodozan with Good For What Ales You; "There is a hectic flush of panic on Dodozan's face as he looks wildly about Hawker's Round." And then P'molminn with Help me, Lord of the Dance; "When P'molminn approaches, beware, for the impetuous Miqo'te always leads a merry dance." /end ID]
Gridania has the Harvest Dance (chat commands: /harvestdance or /hdance) with the quest given to you from Eral in the adventurer's guild near the door. This is a fun little side to side shuffle.
Limsa Lominsa has the Step Dance (chat commands: /stepdance or /sdance) with the quest given to you by Dodozan in the middle of Hawker's Alley (the markets). In my opinion, this is the silliest of the three quests and all the more reason to do it. It's a fun little, like, simple barrel dance (without the barrel of course).
and Uldah has the Ball Dance (chat commands: /balldance or /bdance) with P'molminn's quest in the Ruby Road Exchange. P'molminn has a soft spot in my heart for this quest and the quest says frankly bonkers shit about Ishgardian noble dances. The dance is a silly stationary little jumping thing.
Post Envoy
here starts the things you can only get once the Envoy quest has been completed but they show up immediately after: The Challenge Log, The Aesthtician, and The Gold Saucer.
The Aesthitician
[Image ID: A picture of S'dhodjbi next to the quest synopsis for Beauty Is Only Scalp Deep; "Rumors of a dangerous madman about town have S'dhodjbi ill at ease." /end ID]
This is unlocked in the Drowning Wench in Limsa Lominsa and gives you access to limited character tweaking for 2K gil (or a Jandelaine token of which there are only two of, counting the one from this quest). You can change hair color and style, face paint and a handful of other options but you can't change race, gender, skin or eye color, height, and the like; those are fantasia only changes.
Also? This man is batshit nuts and I love him so so very much. i'd suggest picking up this quest while you're in Limsa for It's Probably Pirates because it will make you hit all three nations- but MSQ will also do that via the next few quests so just keep it active and take small detours for it.
Challenge Log
While we're in Limsa, and in the Drowning Wench no less, we should also grab the Challenge Log from I'tolwann
[Image ID: screenshot of I'tolwann and the quest synopsis for Rising to the Challenge; "I'tolwann is ill pleased with the carelessness of the Wench's customers." /end ID]
The challenge log has a list of weekly challenges to meet organized by type. They're all pretty reasonable things that even the most casual player can still generally hit a few. The rewards are things like exp and gil which makes it a decent way to start building a bit of gil early on. Challenges get added to it as you get further in the game and/or unlock different things so feel free to check it periodically.
Again this is weekly. Weekly reset is Tuesdays at 12AM PST. That's 3AM EST/ 8AM GMT / 9AM CEST for easier calculation. For most people that means once you wake up on Tuesday the new week has started and the exact time doesn't matter (however I'm not included in that most and I'm sure plenty of others aren't as well.)
The Gold Saucer
This is basically your in game casino. Or your free airship to Ul'dah at the cost of an extra load screen if that's all you use it for. It unlocks from the Well-heeled Youth across from Ul'dah's aetheryte plaza
[image ID: Screenshot of the Well-heeled Youth next to the synopsis for It Could Happen to You; "A well-heeled youth on Emerald Avenue appears to have been the beneficiary of some good fortune, and may not be adverse to sharing it..." /end ID]
There is a lot here and I'mma make a series of posts for it in it's own right but if you are likely to collect glams or emotes you need to unlock it bc there is a lot sold for MGP (Gold Saucer currency) that you cannot get elsewhere but it's important to note that while the GS is modeled as a casino it is near impossible to lose more than you pay.
How the gold Saucer works is basically as a collection of minigames, a few of which have a cost for entry and the payout will at least get you your money back, if not money back plus some, even on a failure. And there is, frankly, a lot of different ways to earn MGP, so I feel like there is something everyone could enjoy, if they wish to engage with the GS.
However, even if nothing in the GS appeals to you, it is a free airship ride from anywhere in Eorzea, and from the GS you can airship to Ul'dah for free. So if you're a penny-pincher like me you can set your home point to Limsa or Gridania and be able to get both there and Ul'dah for free if you don't mind a couple extra load screens.
When you're playing you've probably noticed people with these little symbols on:
[ID: two small icons of a simple crown. the one on the left has a hammer on the lower right and the one on the right has a sword /end ID]
What these mean is that that player (on that character) has reached the requirements for mentor. As a mentor there are certain expected standards of behavior. Straight from XIV's mouth:
[ID: an ornate text box in FFXIV titled Mentor Certification. It reads "You will receive the following mentor certification:
-Trade Mentor
Mentors are expected to:
-provide Gameplay advice for new adventurers
-Be an exemplar for player etiquette
-Invite new adventurers to the Novice Network, and answer their queries in the chat channel.
(in red text) Inappropriate mentor behavior may be reported. /end ID]
&&
The Adventurers' Guild has certified you as an official mentor! You now have access to the Novice Network and are eligible to receive the experience point bonus from grouping with new adventurers.
Battle mentors may also use Duty Roulette: Mentor.
When interacting with beginning players on the Novice Network chat channel or in Duty Roulette: Mentor, we ask that you do your best to offer advice and encouragement, and answer their questions with patience and clarity.
These are both told to you and agreed to in order to wear the crown. If you see a mentor being in any way intentionally shitty you are 100% encouraged to report them. It's not nearly as bad an issue as it was before with the increased reqs, but it still happens at times. As a mentor, mod, and fellow player I not only encourage but beg you to report any mentors giving the crown a bad name.
Today (October 19th) is officially the start of All Saint's Wake 2022!
Along with listed event awards we're given access to a large garden all decked out for the season as well as our yearly Haunted Manor- neither as a duty nor with a time limit and both with imps to transform you into different NPCs!
If Spooky Season is your thing, pop on over to the amphitheater in Gridania! I promise the quests are cute and short and as accessible as anything else in the game.
**NOTE: Haunted Manor entrance is inside the garden right next to where you spawn in/leave
If you have a really fun chat with someone in a dungeon and wanna send them a friend request (or if you had a particularly bad experience and you want to block someone- much rarer these days) great news! you don't have to remember their name and server or anything like that. You just gotta go into your contacts!
[Image ID: Two scropped shots from FFXIV. On the left it shows the Social drop down from the main menu. The drop down both has the list of menus and their set keybind in brackets. The menus include: Player Search, Fellowship Finder, Emotes [Shift+E], Free Company [;], Housing [Alt+H], PVP Team (this option is greyed out), Linkshells [L], Cross-world Linkshells [Ctrl+L], Fellowships, Friend List [F], Contacts, and Blacklist. On the right is the Contact list; a list of eleven players with their class symbol, server, and in which duty they were interacted with. /end ID]
On controller this would be Start > Social > Contacts and on the keyboard it's Main Menu > Social (the faces) > Contacts like the picture above. This pulls up that list. This will be the last 50 players you have run into in instanced content and where you met them. The duties listed there probably don't mean much to you as Eden's Gate is level 80 and Asphodelos is level 90, however that's where the duty, of any type, is listed.
From there, all you gotta do is remember their class/role and maybe one name- both of which you're likely to remember if they left enough of an impression you're looking them up later. If you don't remember their name, just scroll up on the chat log until you find it to be sure. Then you just right click and select either "Add to Friends List" or "Blacklist" whichever is applicable.
**NOTE: if someone is being actually offensive and/or rude and/or bullying, etc. you should not only black list them yourself but you can report them either with Start/Main Menu > System > Support Desk > Contact Us tab. You'll want to leave a detailed summary of what happened, where it happened, and what exactly your complaint is and a GM will contact you later with follow up if you're still online. Please do this if someone is being bigoted or otherwise offensive. It's what the GMs are there for and they're very understanding and willing to investigate claims.
So sometimes you'll hear a little alert when you log in or get out of a duty, or look up at your system info and see a little mail icon and go "huh. I wonder." Or you bought something on the online store and aren't sure how it'll get to you. good news, I got you.
Mail Time
So when you have mail- which can be from other players, the online store, pre-order bonuses, etc - you get a little letter icon with a number next to it showing how many letters.
[Image ID: the top left corner of my XIV HUD. Over the top of the system info where it lists server and time I have two red arrows on either side of a small picture of a letter with a 20 beside it. /end ID]
I promise this is a new alt not 100+ USD spent at the store
if you buy a mount in the online store that's listed as "account wide" you get those deliveries upon creation of a new character. Ditto any pre-order or special edition bonuses for expansions you've purchased, if eligible and all that. The inbox holds 20 letters max, new or not, empty or not. So it's best to delete them once you retrieve their contents just so things don't accidentally build up over time.
You access your mail via these little guys
[Image ID: A moogle wearing a blue postman's cap and carrying a red messenger bag as large as they are, causing them to be flying in the air at an angle. /end ID]
In the starter cities they're located:
Uldah: Ruby Road Exchange (nearest aethernet: Adventurer's guild)
Limsa Lominsa: The Aftcastle (nearest aethernet: The Aftcastle)
Gridania: Mih Ketto's Amphitheater (nearest aethernet: the Amphitheater)
You can also find them in many if not most sanctuaries out in the field shown by a little letter on your map.
now if you did Hall of the Novice, there shouldn't be too much new to you when entering dungeons. You've been fighting things in the field and HotN taught you very basic party dynamics. I'm just gonna hit a few things that it doesn't that can be helpful.
Basics
[Image ID: 4 shapes with rounded corners on a black background. from left to right: a red square, an orange upside down triangle, a yellow right side up triangle and a green circle. /end ID]
These are the indicators of enemy focus. You may have noticed, by now, that the enemy list has little dots next to each enemy listed. And, as you may have guessed, those dots have meanings.
Red square: this enemy is attacking and focused on you. You are their main target of hate/aggro/threat/enmity. as a tank, you want all enemies showing this. As a DPS or Healer you want to drag this enemy towards your tank so they can take it off you easier.
Orange triangle: this enemy isn't attacking you yet but they are Thinking About It. If you're not the tank you may want to switch targets. If you are the tank, you wanna switch to this one to make sure it stays on you
Yellow triangle: They're not attacking you, but you're on their list. not a priority on that list yet, but on it. As a DPS/Healer this is an alright place to be but keep an eye that it doesn't shift to orange or red. As a tank you want to pick this enemy up and get them off whichever party member they're attacking.
Green circle: This enemy isn't attacking you. They're not worried about you. Out of all the damage they're taking yours barely worries them at all. This is where you want to be as a DPS or Healer and you do not want to be as a Tank.
You can get the enmity rankings for whichever your target is by glancing at the party list and looking on the left:
[Image ID: The party list of an 8 man party synced to level 70 in FFXIV. All of the job symbols have an enmity bar across the bottom. From top to bottom we have
1. Evelynn Himaa. there's a red square with a stylized gun to the left of her name. The enmity bar is empty with a 4 to the left
2. Jon Hroch. There's a blue square with a shield to the left of his name. His enmity bar is empty with an 8 next to it.
3. Nem Broyhill. His square is blue with an axe head on it. The enmity bar is full, red, and has an A next to it.
4. Hkari Yuki. Their box is green with a magic staff. their enmity bar is empty and has a 6.
5. Their name is covered by their Broil II cast. The square is green with stylized measuring scales and the enmity bar is also empty with a 6.
6. Togameshi Sas... (the name is cut off.) Their box is red with a throwing star on it and their enmity bar is empty with a 7.
7. Krn Yamato. Their box is red with a stylized tsuba on it and their enmity bar is empty with a 3.
8. Ethelios Eldren. Their box is red with a stylized horn. their enmity bar is empty and has a 2. /end ID]
Here you can see I, Evelynn, am about the middle of the road whereas the summoner, Ethelios, is second only to the main tank, Nem, with his A and red bar while both healers are tied for 6th and the off tank is last. This is about average at level 70 on a single target duty. But "average" doesn't mean some people don't play classes better or worse than others, don't stress yourself out with a contest that's not there.
Unless you're a tank (and thus need to stay on top) or you see your bar turn yellow and is mostly full (which means you're coming close to taking the enemy) don't worry about your position on this list. This mostly only matters if you're running high end content while it's current, like, at the time of writing, savage level 90 raids, and even then i don't think your position matters so much as your DPS (Damage Per Second.)
**NOTE: A mostly empty bar on that side is not necessarily a bad thing, as you can see. Being at the bottom of the list is not necessarily a bad thing. Some jobs simply naturally do more DPS and / or develop aggro faster than others. And those jobs change depending on player, play style, party make up, and the level of the content being run. Never beat yourself up over being the lowest on the bar. On the same class at the same level I can be the top of the chart one day and bottom the next. Unless you're a tank it is fine to be last (and if you're struggling as a tank, ask for pointers. Most people are willing to help.)
Vocab: If you hear the term "parser" they're talking about something at least basically similar. There are third party parsers (they are, however, against the ToS) that, I believe, give you more of a break down up to how much DPS is actually being done, potentially by each party member, however I've never looked into them. They're mostly seen in groups doing high level optional content as mentioned above and not nearly so common to hear mentioned in duty finder groups as they once were.
