#i'm now the one helping sprouts and new players! getting my friends into the game! i'm still really shy but

[lilacs-and-lavenders]

Some Wounds Never Heal

So I've been playing Subnautica and it got me critically thinking tonight about why I have reached such an impasse with FFXIV and why I have such a deep-seated bitterness towards it. The community. The community has killed it for me. Well... some of the community as I dont know everyone in it. I feel immensly let down and as if no one cared whether or not I had been psychologically abused within the confounds of the game or not. And yes. I have been. I'm not trying to guilt trip here. Far from it. I am just opening up about very real experiences I had and how I truly feel about a lot of the people I have met in the game. All the people who claimed to "care" about me and claimed I was their "friend" when in reality they didn't give a flying fuck about how much all the shit I went through psychologically scarred me.

For so long I have tried to open up about the guy who manipulated me, who used me, and then trrated me like I was nothing and tried to blame me for ERP being uncomfortable to him when he started it in the first place! He manipulated ME into ERPing with HIM. I was the sprout and he was the trade mentor. Supposedly a trusted person in the FFXIV society. Not. I am forever disgusted by him and also by the people who knew what happened and instead of trying to encourage me or atleast hear me out, just treated me like I was an annoyance to them. It was pretty fucked up. I felt so betrayed ana abandoned. I want to interject here and say that my WoL is also a Trade Mentor now and has been for quite some time and I have met a lot of Sprouts and have helped a lot of them through newer content. Never have I ever wanted to do anything as fucked as what my ex friend do with me with any of the sprouts I met.

Now, please don't misunderstand me. I am not trying to bash anyone who ERPs, okay? If that is what you are into then okay but never do that shit with someone who is clearly new and has never played an MMO before in their life and especially if they have NOT consented to it. Someone I had recently chatted with compared it to grooming. It is disgusting what my ex friend did towards me and he does not deserve to even bear the Trade Mentor status. Makes me wonder who else he has done this shit towards. He also shared a lot of personal sexual stuff with me that I wont go into detail about but he had better be glad that I did not report his ass about it.

Back to ex abusive friend, he had the gall to blame me, a new player who has never ERPd before in my life for making him uncomfortable. WTF??? He gaslit me into thinking he liked me only to tell me that he only said that because he was lonely in the end. He came up with this whole intricate bullshit story about his character liking mine and even went so far as to marry my character when in reality all he wanted was to get himself off to my character. Ceremony of Eternal Bond[age] will never be the same to me again. It hurt. And this wasny the first time this has fucking happened. Several times I tried to reach out to people for comfort and support and while they kind of claimed to "supported" me, they never actually cared in the end. It wasn't genuine. They never checked up on me, never reached out to me even when I desperately needed support and would get tired of me venting about being literally abused in the end. My fault for thinking I could rely on anyone in-game.

Okay fine, it is not anyones job to keep me fixed, no. But it would have atleast been nice to know that people actually cared. It wasnt that I was trying to be depressing. I literally have no one else to vent to and could not afford therapy at the time and my parents didnt really want to hear about it and would more or less tell me to let it go and get over it. I felt so fucking alone and like I was so let down by everyone.

Even by another guy I thought cared about me. He knew my weaknesses and knew the things that triggered me. He knew about the situation with my ex friend and even came to our second ceremony (yes I was stupid enough to bond to him again before realizing he manipulated and abused me) and after I finally thought I met someone who understood me, he started the same shit with me too. Started flirting with me and got overly attached to me and claiming he had feelings for me only to treat me like garbage in the end. Now we no longer talk and I have more or less isolated myself from everyone in-game. I am wondering why I even bother to stay. No one cares about me in FFXIV. I should just quit and vacate my houses and be done with this community and game. It has done nothing but leave me with deep emotional scars that have worsened my mental health.

I will never trust anyone in FFXIV again and am at a loss of what to even do with my character andshit at this point. Why am I even staying in it? People have done nothing but treat me like shit in it anytime I tried to be friendly towards them. I feel so alone in it and anytime I log in, all the bad memories come back. I am trying to give it a chance. I really am. But the damage has been done. But I shouldnt open up to much about this because someone rlse from the community might tell me that they "dont enjoy being around me when I am sad" (yes someone said that to me even though he info dumped his fucking problems on me). Because, you know, fuck how I feel right? Fuck my trauma, right? And as a matter a lot of people did this shit. Anytime I tried to vent, they didnt care to fucking listen but absolutely took all the time in the world to dump their shit on me. But when it came to me needing help, even if it wasnt just about venting, I was invisible to them.

I am ashamed to say that I ever joined let alone liked this game in the beginning. I thought it would be better and more friendly and given that this was my first MMO ever, it is sure as hell my last ever. What started off as a wonderful experience, turned into the deepest and darkest traumatic experience I ever had to face alone within a large community. I will never forget the pain ever.

So much for friendly, loving, and supportive. Maybe there are genuine and honest players out there in the community but I sure haven't seen it. I wish I had never joined this game and am looking for to its inevitable permanent end. That is if I don't quit it first. Like anyone would care.

Anyway, sorry for the long post. So much goes on in my head and writing it all out does help atleast a little.

What did I learn from all this? No one in this game is your true friend. They will never care about your pain or if you were literally manipulated or abused by someone. And some people will take advantage of you if you are too nice or too friendly. It's pretty low. So now I have become both bitter and cynical in hopes that I will never attract shitty people again. I will never trust anyone in-game ever again. You are on your own in Eorzea. Case closed. Such is the life of the WoL, I guess.

[astrxealis]

i think it’s really cool when. tables kinda turn like. doing e5 normal raid DESTROYED me. i died like. idk. 10 times. but yeah i died a LOT <//3 but then i helped out w doing unsynced eden raids some time ago, i remember, and went rdm and. literally saving the party

[herssian]

hey would you recommend World of Warcraft or FFXIV for a newcomer? I know you play both but I've barely ever touched online games and I'm conflicted

i love WoW and have upwards of a million characters in the world, i’ve actively roleplayed and gotten fully immersed in the universe... but FFXIV is fifty times friendlier to newcomers and you actually get to enjoy a linear story with properly introduced lore etc. i had to do my own research to understand warcraft's lore when i very first started playing the expansions. you don't get to enjoy the story fully unless you either a) have been playing for years or b) go out of your way to learn the overarching story. that’s not to say it’s TOO HARD to do that or even all that importany but it’s still an extra step outside playing the game

if you don’t have as much time or patience to be fully emerged into a universe, WoW allows you to pick up a class and play without having you go through quests giving a reason behind literally everything. it’s a double-edged sword and depends on what you like. it's my first mmorpg love, it just lacks in the rpg aspect as much as it pains me

if, however, you want to focus on the story, i highly suggest you go for ffxiv first. it plays like a high quality offline game except the portions that require dungeons/raids etc, and even then people are super accommodating and helpful to new players. not everyone is like that but compared to the warcraft playerbase, it’s NOTICEABLY less present. you also get a sprout icon by your name when you’re new until you’ve played sufficiently enough so people know to give you more leeway when you want to watch a thirty-hour cutscene before a dungeon so they have to camp it out in front of the boss (and it’ll happen. multiple times)

WoW:

friendlier if you want to smash and dash without much thought

faster leveling (since 2020)

a lot more races, ability to choose faction sides if you want to have a mortal enemy

so many elf variations. big elves, small elves, purple elves. pick an elf to annoy your local elf hater today

tanks and healers aren’t locked in their roles, they can change between three specs to allow them to dps in any grouped content which doesn’t happen in ffxiv. damage classes can tank if they forego god

the content is overarchingly easier to do. both games are easy but WoW forgives mistakes readily and has become a lot less death prone

the transmogrification system (to make your armor look like you want despite what you actually have equipped) is in my opinion better implemented here and a lot easier. might not be notable to you but if i don’t look like the hottest bitch in a game then it’s simply not worth it !

you can name your companion pets whatever you want

FFXIV:

amazing story

let me repeat that

the story WILL kick your ass. it’s personal to your character and has stakes. incredibly well thought-out, ever developing npcs

the music slaps so hard they should be charging you more for the subscription

one character can level any and all classes

housing! you, too, can now put a giant ass flying rat with a glowing tail in your garden and scare the shit out of everyone ❤

catgirls. catboys. cåtte

ACHIEVING FLYING WITH YOUR MOUNTS IS A LOT EASIER AND DOESN’T REQUIRE YOU TO SPEND ALL YOUR YOUTH ON UNLOCKING IT, BLIZZARD

soft spoilers but at some point your mortal enemy becomes a calvin klein model who’s horny for fighting and thinks you’re best friends? try to surpass that

if you play a lalafell you get a direct connection to satan that allows you to freely kill other players, devour their essence and ascend into godhood

notable con: the base game and starting portion can be very tiring to some people due to the sheer amount of quests. i personally enjoyed it but it might not be your thing

you can give warcraft a try until lvl 20 for free, and ffxiv now lets you try out the entirety of A Realm Reborn (base game) PLUS the first entire expansion all for free (insane amount of content to do without paying anything). give both a try and make up your mind, just make sure you allow some time to get used to the world/controls/classes :-)

[survivorreelsmagicwithin]

Episode 5- “Good thing I bought a box of wine the other day.. I'm gonna need it.”-Jess

After Gryffindors tribal Raffy was voted out. This is either just bad news for Raffy specifically or for the Gryffindor tribe. I don't know how much what he's said and done as his tribe speaks to him, but I'm going to be stepping up my social game now to try and avoid a similar fate. https://am24.mediaite.com/tms/cnt/uploads/2015/07/Harry-Potter-Disgusted-Gif.gif 

 We are playing Mastermind this round and... I dunno what a good score is on this game ever. I always think I did well at it and then people blow me out of the water. I hope I did well enough that we avoid another tribal, but I have my own personal doubts. I explored the castle today. I went behind some barrels. I guess since I'm technically sorted into Gryffindor that I didn't know what the barrels are - I went behind them and found the Hufflepuff common room where I talked to Professor Sprout's flowers... They told me that Hagrid has a new dog. Either Hagrid is in the Forbidden Forest or these flowers are liars. I've been to Hagrid's Hut and interacted with each thing he owns. I saw no dog. https://dontyoushushme.files.wordpress.com/2015/11/tumblr_lp98471uss1qa8ir9o1_r1_500.gif

Mastermind is one of my very favorite comps so if someone causes us to go to tribal during this challenge I'm going to be VERY upset!! 

37 minutes later

If these people really think I'm going to rocks they have lost their minds. 

So I flopped the challenge and will probably have my name thrown out as an option so... PARTY! However, I decided to play the "omg I fucked up feel bad for me" card so maybe that'll either make people feel bad for me...or they'll make me a target. I kind of want people to feel bad for me? but also like I think people know I'm going through a rough time right now so if they vote me out they are going to hell xoxoxox But I'm gonna try and put in the werk to make sure I DON'T GET VOTES.. How may you ask? I think the key is Owen? I know Owen is a VERY social player and on a tribe like this I think having great social skills really can propel you into the top ranks. So I've decided to give Owen some "spell guesses" to help build some sort of trust moving forward.... will this help? probably not.... BUT right now.........the only kind of currency I have in this game is information (which I have none of because.. well new tribe...) and my guesses. Hopefully he feeds into my bullshit and sees that I do actually want to work with him (for now). So the goal is simple, I want people to think I'm NOT DISPOSABLE. People in games are selfish, they want to know what you CAN DO FOR THEM and I plan on doing just that. I also fucked around and shared guesses with Juls. She gave me a clue and I for the LOVE OF ME CAN NOT FIND THIS CRITTER. I thought it was that stupid Harry Potter spider but he told me to fuck off.. idk I'M SO STRESSED. Good thing I bought a box of wine the other day.. I'm gonna need it.

3 minutes later

PS: Landen is either playing too hard too fast or... he has my back? IDK. He's basically naming me as 1 of 4 people he doesn't want to go.. and we... we've spoken like twice. No game talk, nothing. We talked about MILK. How the fuck does he want me safe and not to go? IDK it seems fishy but I'll take it. Maybe he's just promising everyone safety right now and that's his game? I literally don't care. I will take whatever I get at this point. I want Max out. I've decided he really annoys me and I can't work with someone who thinks "penis" is a funny joke. I have nothing in common with him and... from the sounds of it something was "off" with him on his old tribe so... maybe just maybe..  that's something I can WORK WITH. Fucking weebz.

Oh my god, thank god we won! I do not want to have to deal with another tribal. For a unanimous vote, our tribal sure was messy. I think my position so far in this game is super solid, I'm in a great position with Nick and Kevin because we talk a lot and I have formed really strong relationships with both of them. My postion with Dan is honestly fantastic, I know he trusts me because he told me about his advantage in the game (a vote steal). Jules and I are good, we honestly just like each other and she was the first person to tell me that Miguel was throwing my name around. She also knows about Dan's advantage. I'm a little worried about her though because each tribal we have gone to she has gotten a vote, plus she started drama with Raffy before she left. I still think she is super sweet, but I'm worried that her confrontational personality is going to get her voted out and I'm not sure that there is much I can do about it. 

I'm going to mess around and get voted out, I have such a big mouth, y'all.  SO FAR TODAY, I have told Chips I didn't hear his name... then fifteen minutes later I DID hear his name.  Next I told Jess I heard Chips's name thinking she came up with it and she said it was news to her LSJFLDSJF.  Then I told Juls that I didn't hear anything... to which her and Jess are probably comparing notes.  I showed Lily all the places I've looked for the idol and last but not least I TOLD OWEN ABOUT THE OG HUFFLEPUFF ALLIANCE.  I AM GOING TO GET VOTED OUT, WHY DO I HAVE SUCH A BIG MOUTH????? SOMEONE HELP ME. 

hufflepuffle LOST immunity! that is so not the marshmallow move i was trying to make :/ over the course of the game, i've really bonded with lily, so i think that is going to be my close alliance here, obviously aside from juls, who i knew pre-game and we are just good friends. i do think juls would backstab me if she had to, so i'll keep my eye out for her, even tho id most likely die for her. *bleeds out* well when we got to this lil ol tribe, max made the bold move to instantly create a hufflepuffle group chat and declare how we are #HUFFSTRONG. i made the stupid decision to not trust my gut instinct on ruthie's distant responses, and now i am paying the price for that, because as far as i've heard ruthie is telling people hufflepuff is tight and is trying to blindside max, leaving me in the dark. i'm honestly less upset at the target on max, and more upset that she is trying to leave me (and pooossibly lily? cant be sure.) in the dark. I'm a little bit annoyed with it. like, we openly discussed voting about max on the original hufflepuff. i get that circumstances change, but there's no reason to leave me blind. i understand it from owen, jess, chips, but... why from ruthie lol? we've talked about it before and it's just like. bleh. that's my bad, for not talking to ruthie more on a personal level before and after the swap. i can be slow to make official alliances and cement my bonds in survivor, it's a strategy that's risky in the short term but pays off dividends in the long term when people really like AND trust you. that emotion is somethin necessary! it works its own kind of ~Magic~ so to speak. but right now it's definitely showing its weaknesses with ruthie trying to play me and my quietness with chips/owen/jess biting me in the butt a bit because they don't trust me. T_T i will have to work to prove i am a trustworthy ally for them, but in the meantime, as long as i can survive this vote (lol that means i am going home) then i'm fine and it's whatever. i want to try to think of a better wham line to close out this confessional, but i can't, so it's just going to kind of wither off and die here, as this sentence stumbles along on its meager way to find SOME version of sufficient punctuation to the topic, punctuated by actual punctuation.

this vote is gonna be.. como se dice.. interesting. working with max and landen while now being added to an alliance with owen, jess and chips um. smiles. it’s gonna be smth! but it seems like max is the target for this round which sucks but, i’d rather go with majority and help push that than make myself a target for wanting go against the odds.. idk if that made sense LMAO. but i’m just stressed! i love max so much but.. i wanna keep the people who weren’t on the og hufflepuff tribe close as opposed to letting them go so easily. 

THE WAY I HAD ONE OF THE LOWEST SCORES IN MASTERMIND https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_Maspo1z34

Well here we are forced to actually play the game. And well.......this vote is crazy. I should have honestly anticipated this craziness but the craziness has been thrust upon us. Sincerely really enjoy everyone on this tribe. This meant that whatever decision I made on who to vote out would be strictly strategic. I know I can't vote out anyone from original hufflepuff because that inherently puts all of the original hufflepuff in danger of being easy targets in any future votes. I can't even in my brain consider voting out one of them at this vote because of this. I feel great about my social game rn. Several people are interested in working with me to my face and apparently in passing to others. This means that I'm unlikely to be a target for a vote but this could honestly all change after this. I feel the most trust and loyalty to Ruthie and Landen and I also feel like Max really has my back even though we haven't explicitly said this to each other. I also feel good about Jess. She told me today that she doesn't care too much as long as it isn't me or her and that semed honest to me? This leaves Juls, Owen, and Chips. Juls seems wishy-washy but I can tell she wants to vote Max but is nervous to say that to me. She is a newer player so this makes sense. I can tell that Landen doesn't want to vote Juls but no one really does so she doesn't make sense as the target. Chips has always been a good ally to me in the past but the past few games we have played together we have trouble being honest on what we want to happen.I want to work with Chips and don't want to see him go on this vote. I don't think he is as big of a threat at this stage of the game as Owen. Owen is one of the smartest people I've played with he has one of the best social games I've seen. He has a way of getting people on his side. I know he is thinking about a lot and knows that Max going right now is what is best for him. I want to trust owen and work with owen but my gut says that isn't what is going to work this time. Ruthie told us (Landen and I) about how they made a final 2 before the game even started (before we were told not to talk in the Great Hall chat in PMs) and now she is clearly backing out of that. Right now OG huffs are planning to vote Owen out. I think this is the best strategic play for us but will anyone else see it? Or will people be hyper focused on voting an OG huff that they would prefer to go to a rock draw than vote Owen. I'm not sure and I don't think I'm mentally prepared for what is about to go down. I'm hoping Jess, Chips, or Juls would be willing. But I'm also nervous not telling any of them about the vote could be the actual mistake we are making. Should I put my trust in Jess or Chips and see if they would vote Owen? I DON'T KNOW. Do I sound like I know what I'm doing??? NO. Am I attemping to make money moves??? YES. Is it the right decision????? PROBABLY NOT. But....we shall see. We shall see. 

Kind of happy we lost because this will be an interesting one for sure... As I said before, we have 4 hufflepuff and 4 non-hufflepuff on our tribe, and I wanted to jump on that IMMEDIATELY, so the second I heard Hufflepuff had a group chat (thanks ruthie hehe) I made one with Chips, Juls, and Jess. Jess and Juls are my gorls in this game, and I'm glad I finally get to make stuff happen with them. I want Ruthie to trust me (she messaged me for a final 2 literally night one before we found out we couldnt pm each other in the great hall), and I do really love her - but since we're on different "sides" of the tribe, I wanted to play smart. I originally threw out both Chips AND Max names, to make it seem like old tribal lines mean nothing to me, but then today I've been telling Ruthie and Landen I'm leaning way more towards Max beacuse he hasnt talked to me and Chips has, which is true. Ruthie seems to agree that Max should go - she told me he did some qweird stuff like pranks and things on their old tribe, and Landen said that Max would've been first boot. So it seems easy enough?? But then.... here comes Lily, with her own brain and stuff. Why can't people stop having opinions and just do what  I say??? I can tell Lily wants to keep Max, which makes sense. She probably wants to keep the Hufflepuff security in numbers. But I'm not writing Chips down, period, and they all know it. No matter what happens, as long as it is Max or Chips I'm fine. I'm just using this vote to have as many conversations with Lily, Ruthie, Landen, Jess, and Juls about game as possible to further myself, and I don't much care who leaves as long as it isn't me Jess or Juls. But I do think for the hell of it I'd go to rocks if I had to - bc if they're going to ROCKS for Max?? I sure as hell don't want to be outnumbered. Hopefully ruthie is being honest in wanting max gone and can change lily's mind.

https://youtu.be/TBrNjh2DnU4

SO my big mouth strikes again.   Landen came to me earlier and OWEN SPILLED ABOUT ME SPILLING ABOUT THE HUFFLEPUFF ALLIANCE.  I WAS SO MAD.  Mad enough to agree to voting him out and now I just feel guilty.  Jess, Juls, Owen and Chips don't know that there is going to be a tie tonight after all.  We feel like if we vote Owen that we can get Chips to vote with us in the revote and I hope that is the case because I REALLY don't want to go to rocks. Part of me thinks I should call Owen out on him spilling the alliance secret to him and try to fix things but I'm still very salty about it. I'm so sad and I feel so guilty but...  HE COMPLETELY MESSED MY GAME UP AND I TRUSTED HIM! 

So it has been a day. That's for sure. Got in my first alliance of people who didnt start Hufflepuff. Found out from two out of three Hufflepuffs my name was thrown out. May be leaving or at the very least the subject of a tie vote. If the target Max has an idol I leave guaranteed. I hope not. 

I am a horrible person. My heart is pounding so hard, this move is either going to make or break my game. :(

I would like to publicly thank Hufflepuff for extending my life in the game by another round- much obliged. Not sure how much of a difference it’ll make in the end lmao but nonetheless I’m still technically alive. Either this is the quietest game I’ve ever been apart of or everyone is definitely working together and I’m on the bottom. I know Kevin isn’t in on it but that Raffy vote was suspicious and you can’t tell me otherwise. Because how am I talking to everyone all day long but I don’t find out the vote is Raffy until 2 hours before the vote and that’s “what everyone is doing”? Not to mention it came from Jules, not Dan or Nicholas aka the people I thought I had a halfway decent relationship with. So the only way you can explain how I’m the last to know even though they were several opportunities for like 5 different people to tell me is that those 5 are working together. So basically I’m praying Hufflepuff can take one more L after tonight because if not, there’s a high chance I’m gonna have to beg for my life. And I’m not above it! But I also can do the math and I don’t know if Slytherin is smart enough to realize they’re handing the game over to Ravenclaw. Who knows though- maybe Jess or Juls will go home on the other side and that will strengthen my plea of attack Ravenclaw while we still can. Cause there’s 9 Huffleclaw left and 6 of Slytherdor so I’m like... we can’t all be the cute swing vote at merge that gets picked up to be a number but hey what do I know 

[livvyplaysfinalfantasy]

Hey, Livvy! Wanted to know your opinion on getting into FFXIV this late in the game? The continuous sub cost has kept me away all this time, but now there are so many other concerns. How daunting is it to catch up at this point? Are people generally accepting of newcomers? If I'm not used to multiplayer dynamics, will people get mad? Is there anything I should know? I'm worried about mmo things, other players, and whether I can justify the cost (tho obv that's a question for me). Thanks!

Hello there!

Based on my recent experiences of helping friends reach current content, I would say that Final Fantasy XIV is, all things considered, very much accessible to new players. The game’s developers have made accessibility a priority with each successive patch - not only to create a bigger player base, but to make sure that as many Final Fantasy fans as possible are able to experience what this game has to offer. I’ll answer each of your questions one by one to the best of my ability!

Catching up is going to feel daunting, I won’t lie. The main scenarios of A Realm Reborn (2.X) and Heavensward (3.X) clock in at about thirty hours each at a minimum, and you’ll need to get through both in order to reach Stormblood. That said, leveling your jobs and getting good gear for those jobs has never been easier: among recent quality of life changes include a huge boost to experience from quest rewards and tweaks to the algorithm of dungeon drops, which means very little grinding of basic leveling content. My cousin returned to the game last week with a new service account, and he has been leveling by focusing solely on story quests. There is also the option to pay for a level jump potion - but for non-experienced players of MMOs, I’d recommend taking the time to level up organically.

In general, people in this game tend to be very welcoming; my own good experiences far outweigh the bad eggs. Finding people to play with - be it an active and supportive free company or a group of friends - will almost certainly define your experiences in Eorzea in the best way possible. If you find a place and it doesn’t quite feel like you’ve found a home, it’s okay to keep looking - and of course, it’s also perfectly okay to play solo for a while! The vast majority of XIV’s Tumblr playerbase is on the Balmung server; however, Balmung is overpopulated and closed until further notice. As such, I tend to recommend new players to go to Adamantoise or Jenova, two servers where I know there are very welcoming communities for new players. It’s also possible to run content with people from other data centers, so you wouldn’t be closed off from Balmung entirely!

For the most part, seasoned players will be understanding of the fact that everyone starts somewhere and that no one is perfect. New players have “sprout” markers over their heads to indicate their newbie status, and people do tend to be much more patient with sprouts. My number-one piece of advice: if you have questions, ask! Start each new dungeon by explaining that you’re new and that you’re looking for pointers on mechanics; I guarantee you that people will be thrilled to explain a fight if it means not dying out of confusion. If someone offers pointers on the way you’re playing your class, though, be prepared to accept those comments with an open mind - regardless of whether or not their criticism is constructive.

I'll tell you this: four years ago, I was new to MMOs, and I was not a very good tank. I was way more focused on attacking every enemy in sight than I was at keeping every enemy in sight from attacking my teammates. That changed because I made a point of running as many dungeons as I could with friends and strangers alike, so I could try all sorts of new things to see what stuck. Nowadays, I like to think I’m a pretty great paladin! It takes time and effort, but those things are what make the journey that much more meaningful in the end.

The most important thing, though, is going to be to have fun. Ask to join that free company you’ve had your eye on! Make a self-indulgent roleplay character! Pick up a new job for the heck of it! There’s so much to do even while you’re going through the massive amounts of story. The key is to branch out, to remember that everyone else in Eorzea was also once an intimidated sprout, and to enjoy the adventure for what it is.