Final Fantasy XIV’s third expansion, Shadowbringers, launched to critical acclaim this month. With all the darling reviews and reception, I felt an article lavishing further praise was unnecessary. Having just wrapped it up myself recently, I can safely say my review would be in lock-step with most of what’s been said. Yes, it’s amazing, Big fan.

But here’s the thing; let’s say you’re someone who thinks Shadowbringers looks metal as hell and wants to partake. That’s great! Glad to have you aboard. Only problem is there’s about 50+ hours of content between you and Shadowbringers. Square-Enix does offer jump potions for classes and story content, but please don’t this.

Please oh please.

If you have the disposable income to justify it, and previous experience with MMOs, I suppose a class jump potion wouldn’t be the worst idea, but a story jump potion could jeopardize your appreciation for Shadowbringers.

If you absolutely must, for whatever reason, I wouldn’t recommend jumping any further ahead than A Realm Reborn. You’ll already be lost enough at the onset of Heavensward, but at least you’ll have two expansions to find the thread.

So, assuming you’re starting at level 1, this article is for you. Here’s a breakdown of what to know diving in. Some of this will be to help you determine if you want to take this plunge, some will be to help out those who’ve been roped in by the Shadowbringer fervor, and some will just be a cathartic dispensing of information I wish I had when starting.

1 Level 15 and 20 are your first landmark levels.

Much of the early tools available to new players are gatekept behind levels 15 and 20. If you find simply questing to hit this milestone doesn’t do the trick, keep an eye on your hunting log. Any enemy with this icon over their head;

Is one you ought to kill post-haste. Killing it will net you bonus experience, and every ten levels you’ll get a new batch of creatures to eliminate (until 50, when the hunting log ends.)

Once you hit 15, there are two things worth doing immediately.

Get Your Challenge Log

Once you’ve unlocked the ability to travel to other cities, head to Limsa Lominsa and talk to I’tolwann. This guy.

This will unlock the Challenge Log, a weekly series of tasks which net big rewards. Some entries in the list will be impossible to do at an early level -- there’s an entire section dedicated to the island Eureka, for example, which isn’t accessible until level 70 -- but the others will be a great early source of both gil and experience for doing what you’re probably doing anyway.

The challenge log resets every Tuesday.

The Sightseeing Log

A less essential log still worth picking up at level 20. This one you can get from Naoh in Gridania. While walking around, you may see little bubbles like this hovering around;

These are sightseeing points. By using the /lookout emote, you’ll mark the point off in your book and get a small amount of experience. Actually hunting down these points is not an efficient way to level, but if you happen to spot one while out adventuring, why not stop and collect it?

(It’s free experience)

A side note; sometimes you’ll have to use an emote other than /lookout. The Sightseeing log itself provides hints as to which emote is called for. In my experience, 95% of the time you can get by with /lookout or /pray, but if those don’t work, crack open the log and read the riddle for your current spot.

Hit up the Hall of the Novice

You can find places to enter the hall all over the world; there’s someone in every major town and the surrounding areas who can enlist you. If you’d like to see the physical location though, you can find it in Western La Noscea.

If you’re new to MMO’s, the Novice Hall is ideal for learning each class’s expected role in a dungeon or trial. If you’re not, the Novice Hall is liable to be an annoying, short diversion. But that’s okay, because what you’re really after here is the gear. It’s decent equipment at an early level on its own, but the most important piece is the Brand-new Ring. When worn, it increases experience gain by 30% on any class under level 30.

But wait, you might say. Only level 30? So this ring will be useless within 15 more levels? Why is it so important then?

On to the next topic.

2 You Only Need One Character to Play Every Class

Unlike other MMOs, your class choice at the start is quite malleable. Once you hit level 15, you’ll be able to pick up and try most classes. Seein’ the value of that brand new ring now?

In regards to the “most” qualifier, here are the outliers you’ll have to sideline until later:

Dark Knight, Machinist, And Astrologian all begin in Foundation, the first major town in Heavensward. They all start at level 30, and can’t be unlocked until you get there.

Red Mage and Samurai begin at 50 and start in Ul’dah. If you have Stormblood, you’ll be able to unlock these well before reaching any Stormblood content. In fact, there’s a good chance you’ll be able to try these before the Heavensward classes.

Gunblade and Dancer start in Gridania and Limsa, respectively. They begin at level 60 and require you to own Shadowbringers.

If leveling is your primary goal, it may also be worth noting...

It’s Worth Leveling Up One Class For a While.

If you aren’t enjoying your starting class, feel free to spend some time experimenting. Nothing will make you bounce off an MMO quite like trying to stick it out on a class you find boring. Once you’ve found a promising class though, it’s worthwhile to ignore the others until you’ve made considerable progress.

This is due to the Armory Bonus. The bigger the disparity between your highest level job and your lowest, the more experience you get. This means if your main class is 50 and then you pick up a new class at level 1, you’ll get way more experience than if you experimented when they were around the same level.

This makes leveling new jobs later much easier, a big plus since there will be fewer side-quests around to do.

3 Hit up Those Guildhests

Guildhests are small-scale instances, like mini-dungeons. They take only a few minutes to beat, and they’re only worth doing early on in each class.

There’s a completion bonus for a first-time finish on each Guildhest, and this bonus resets whenever you switch classes. So each time you pick up a new class, revisit those Guildhests for a quick boost.

Guildhests in general become useless by the time you hit 50, so you may as well get this XP while it still matters.

4 Eat

Every food item in the game grants a stat buff and a 3% experience bonus. Both will go a long way at early levels. If you aren’t in a Free Company, merchants in every town’s market district will sell basic food items.

If you are in a Free Company, ask in FC chat who’s leveling culinarian and say you’ll be happy to take whatever extra food items they have lying around. Your mailbox will soon be bursting with leftovers.

If you don’t have an FC...

5 Join a Free Company (and Don’t be Afraid to Ditch it if it Gets Weird)

Free Companies are Final Fantasy XIV’s version of guilds. It’s a handy way to meet new players, but even if you aren’t interested in the social aspect, there’s other benefits.

For one, your FC will usually have company actions active, which provide two beneficial effects for 24 hours. These include increased experience gains, more MGP at the Golden Saucer, or reduced teleportation costs. Many FC’s often have open submissions as well, so you can simply click “apply” on their page and request to join.

Do take care to read the description, however. “ERP” does not mean “Extremely Rad People.”

This next warning is something you probably won’t need, but in the wake of Shadowbringers it seems a few shady FCs have cropped up. Here’s a few warning signs on when you should drop out.

If your FC demands a certain amount of your gil or resources per week as tribute, leave.

If they want you to jump through hoops to join, don’t.

No stranger online should be asking for your IRL information.

The last one is just good advice in general. But seriously; no FC should be demanding anything from you to stay in it, especially as a new player. They should be a source of assistance, not additional work.

6 Get Your Chocobo!

At a certain point in the story, you’ll be asked to choose a Grand Company. The three main city-states each have their own militia, and you’ll be asked to associate with one specifically. Don’t fret over this choice too long; just pick whatever has your favorite color, or which city you prefer the most. If you really, really can’t decide and are so apathetic you’re paralyzed into a carefree indecision, pick the one where your class trainer resides.

Once you’ve made this choice, there will be a new quest nearby called “My Little Chocobo.” You’ll need 200 Company Seals. Once you’ve got ‘em, you can turn them in at the desk for a Chocobo Issuance.

If you have no Company Seals, that’ll soon change. You get some for completing FATES, completing your Grand Company's new hunting log, and turning in any non-common gear to your company. Within a few months, you’ll have more than you know what to do with.

As for your Chocobo, it will be both your first trusty steed and your battle companion. By using some Gysahl Greens (which can be bought at most vendor stalls for cheap), you’ll summon your Warking companion to join you for some jolly combat. As your chocobo levels up, you can teach it tank, heal, or damage.

Once you hit rank 20, you’ll need a special item -- A Thavnairian Onion -- to get your new feathery boi higher.

But you won’t have to worry about this for a while. And hopefully by the time you do, they get cheaper.

7 Retainer Time!

Once you’ve completed the quest “Scions of the Seventh Dawn,” you’ll have access to retainers. This is Final Fantasy XIV’s one-stop-shop for bank space and market board selling.

Head to any major city and find the Retainer Vocate. From here, you can hire two retainers. (You’ll actually be kicked into the character creation screen to design them yourself, so you may want to let your friends know you’ll be incommunicado for a few.)

Once created, your retainers can hold 175 items and sell 20 items on the market board, each.

But here’s the big secret -- your retainers can do even more.

Once you’re in one of the major cities, find and complete the quest “An Ill-Conceived Venture.” Once done, you can send your retainers out on their own quests! They’ll bring back all sorts of goodies for you, ranging from crafting materials to weapons and armor.

They also level up just like you, but there’s a catch -- they can only reach the same level you have in each class. Still, it’s worth unlocking this early to accrue easy resources.

(It’s free stuff)

8 Take A Break At The Golden Saucer

If the grind has got you down and the Realm Reborn story isn’t gripping you much, take a trip to the Golden Saucer.

Once you’re level 15 and you’ve finished being an envoy, you can pick up the quest “It Could Happen to You” in Ul’dah. This quest will take you to the Manderville Golden Saucer where you can get lost in mini-games all day to dull your pain.

I think it’s best to let you explore on your own at this point, rather than detail out everything available. Part of the fun in the Saucer is discovering the endless amount of mini-games available. Get your starting MGP and go wild!

The only other thing worth mentioning is GATES, special Golden Saucer events. These occur every twenty minutes, and will be announced throughout the whole Saucer. Some are fairly simple, like “Skinchange We Can Believe In” where you play a spot-the-difference game. Others, like Air Force One, are... well...

They’re more involved, lets say.

9 What to know as a new Level 50

So all these tips got you to 50, just now. Congrats! You stuck with it, even through Castrum Memeriandium and The Praetorium.

(image) Shudder

There’s still a lot of content between you and Heavensward from here, but the worst is behind you. Mostly.

“Oh, but what’s this before our eyes?” I ask, placing an arm on your shoulder as I point to the duty finder.

Why, there’s a whole new list of things to queue for! My oh my!

These are your daily roulettes, which will award you huge XP bonuses once each day (or tomes for top tier gear once you hit max level). As you raise in level and unlock raid content, you’ll have even more options for your roulettes.

Here’s a problem though -- there’s an outrageous amount of optional content available to you now, and no way to discern where it all is. Not to fret. Our last point is here to help.

10 Where to unlock every Dungeon, Raid, and Alliance Raid.

To get the most out of your daily roulettes, you’ll want to unlock these as you go. I highly recommend finishing the Crystal Tower raid in particular before reaching Shadowbringers. For Reasons.

I'll organize these according to the appropriate content.

A Realm Reborn

Optional Dungeons

11 Final Advice, an icon legend, and answers to questions people are often afraid to ask.

As a parting gift, here’s a list of icons to watch for during your adventures and what they mean.

This kind of quest marker denotes this quest is necessary to unlock something. For your class quests this will be new abilities, but it’s also used for unlocking your chocobo, dungeons, trials, materia melding -- any new feature.

Probably a wise idea to prioritize these.

This icon means the creature is on your hunting log.

This icon means said creature is part of a hunt bill you picked up. You may also receive notifications you “sense your mark to (compass direction).” This icon means this little guy is the culprit.

Kill him.

For the sake of brevity, I won’t show all conditions -- your healer should be Esuna-ing these off you, anyway. This one though? This bad boy is called Doom. If the timer hits zero, you’re dead. Healers can’t remove this from you by traditional means; there’s usually some mechanic in the fight to get rid of it. Sometimes a healer needs to get you to full, and sometimes you’ll need to run to a glowing pad.

LIMIT BREAK

The Limit Break bar fills during dungeons and raids as you deal and take damage. Once full, every class can unleash a powerful technique. This bar is shared across your party, and in 90% of content, the DPS will use it to unload on a boss..

However, if you’re playing a healer, it may be worth keeping the Limit Break handy. A level 3 Limit Break as a healer will restore the whole party to full health, and resurrect any fallen teammates. If things are dire and there’s only a few people still standing, go ahead and smash that LB.

Stack up

This marker indicates all party members need to gather around the targeted person. Damage taken will be spread out, thus saving the marked person from an untimely demise.

This marker, we run to.

(Other marker)

This one, we do not. If this is over your head, get away. Far away.

This one means the person targeted will soon be shackled. Attack the shackle to free them.

This one denotes High Quality. High Quality materials make life much easier for crafters, and any high quality equipment gets a significant stat boost compared to its normal quality counterpart.

If you aren’t going to use them yourself, sell it on the auction house or offer it to your FC -- ideally for cold, hard, gil.

The MSQ guide. This handy UI element will keep track of your current quest. If you have a new class quest available, it will appear underneath, like so.

Blue AOE means a friendly unit is using the attack -- it’s okay to stand here.

...But we do not stand here. No we do not.

This Icon means the game’s director, Yoshi P., is in front of you right now.

No, really -- this is his unique icon.

And with that, my quick guide comes to a close. I hope some of this helps you get your bearings, and if you’re ever in need of assistance, just give ol’ Crokdia Taile a shout.

Only you probably can’t, because at the time of publication, my data center is considered congested. Still, if you ever find yourself on the Siren server, stop by the CAKE mansion and say hello!