

This is for the brand new raiders, aspiring raiders-to-be, players who are on the fence about raiding, and former/returning raiders. I feel like FFXIV as a game doesn’t do enough to prepare its players for end-game content and this is something that the community is missing. As an avid raider myself, I feel that if there were more people doing end-game content, the higher demand there will be for developing even more end-game content, which would be a win-win for everyone. ~Bok

Why should I raid?

For the challenge! – Since the dawn of video games, overcoming a challenge is one of the most satisfying experiences. Acquiring knowledge, developing your skills, exercising your brain, and improving communication – Getting better at these things always feels good to do and is a reward in itself. There is a lot of depth to this game that you don’t get to experience outside of end-game raiding.

For the rewards! – Item and stat progression is a central part of RPGs. FFXIV is no different. End-game raids offer the best gear in the game, not to mention glamours that can’t be obtained elsewhere, a cool unique mount, and an achievement: all as a prize for what you’ve accomplished.

For friendship! – Raiding takes teamwork and teamwork breeds friendship. MMORPGs are meant to be social. The vast majority of the people I’ve met in FFXIV, I’ve met through the raid scene. Whether you intend on joining a static or raiding through party finder, you’d be surprised at how much killing internet dragons (or even just talking about killing internet dragons) brings people together.

Mental Barriers to Raiding

It’s often hard to motivate yourself to do something, even when you know deep down that doing that thing will yield positive results and great experiences. It is easier to talk yourself into not doing something than it is to talk yourself into doing something.

I know I can’t successfully convince everybody to get into Savage raiding, and I definitely don’t think anyone should be pressured into doing something that they’re not quite ready for. However, I do think that this is such a vast and beautiful aspect of FFXIV that many players are missing out on. As someone who loves raiding, I think everyone should give it an honest chance to see if you’d love it as much as I do.

I’ve compiled a list of common deterrents to end-game raiding, and my personal response to each of them:

“Savage content is too intimidating.”

We each have our own set of limitations. Sometimes, confidence is scarce. But, I can tell you from personal experience that in-game triumphs can absolutely give you a real-life confidence boost and one that lasts. Taking on challenging content is certainly a daunting task. I find that, for almost any challenge, one of the best sources of confidence is preparation. The better prepared you are for an endeavor, the more ready you will feel and the more confident you will become. The rest of this post will guide you on how to be better prepared.

“I just don’t have enough time to raid.”

Raiding really doesn’t have a minimum time requirement. Even spending a couple hours here and there, you can still get a lot done. Obviously, the more time you can put into it, the more rapid your progression will be, but you don’t need to invest several hours a day, several days a week in order to have fun and be productive. PF groups will always be there and there are plenty of weekend-only statics out there too. Don’t think that progress has to be rapid to be rewarding.

“I can’t commit to a static and Party Finder is a scary place.”

We’ve all heard the horror stories about raiding with random people. Bad players and bad attitudes can definitely put a damper on things when you’re just trying to learn and clear raid content. Negative experiences stand out in people’s heads more than positive experiences, so that’s why you hear more of them. There are horror stories but there are just as many stories of triumph. Every unsavory player you come across makes you appreciate the terrific players even more. As someone who spends a lot of time in PF, I can honestly tell you that PF is not nearly as bad as advertised. There are tons of quality players who will stick it out through anything to get their clear. There are tons of veterans who are constantly searching for 0-1 chest clear parties or even learning parties to join and lend a helping hand. Give PF a real chance and you will notice these bright spots. I love playing with my static, but raiding with strangers in PF is also one of my favorite things in this game.

“It’s too late into the raid tier to start raiding.”

It is never too late in the raid tier. I know many players who started raiding months after the raid patch even after the weekly lockout was lifted. These people had an absolute blast and it left them yearning for more. Now, many of them are full-fledged raiders diving into the newest raid tier on launch. You absolutely do not have to start on Day 1 to enjoy raiding. Even if it takes you a month or two from now to get started, you’re still perfectly fine.

“End-game raids are a stomping grounds for toxic elitists.”

To some extent this is true. Such is the nature of online gaming. Any time there exists such a wide range of skill levels and a competitive environment where players depend on each other to succeed, some players are gonna act like they’re entitled to success and that’s where bad attitudes fester. However, these players are honestly a small minority and from my experiences, fellow party members will back each other up against toxic behavior. Don’t take shit from these people. Blacklist the toxic folk, report when necessary, kindly leave the party, or better yet kick them if you are the party leader. Surround yourself with people you enjoy playing with. Add them to linkshells, your friend list, and Discord. Most importantly, if you let toxic players prevent you from doing something you would enjoy, they win and you lose. Don’t let yourself miss out on an enjoyable experience just because of a few bad apples.

“I’m afraid I’ll fail and let people down.”

Failure is part of the game. Realize that you are meant to fail. Repeatedly. 95% of end-game progression is made up of death and failure. 5% of it is triumph and accomplishment. You have to go through the 95% to get to that 5%. In fact, that 95% is what makes the 5% that much more rewarding. People say savage content is unforgiving. I disagree. You have an infinite number of lives and an infinite number of do-overs. That’s pretty damn forgiving if you asked me. Don’t fear failure. Embrace failure. Failure makes you better. Believe me, it’s all part of the journey.

What you need to get started

1.) Choose a main job. Or even more than one.

Most people already have a favorite/preferred job, so if this is you, you’re already good to go.

There are many factors that go into choosing the right job. Narrowing it down to a preferred role makes choosing a job even easier. Choose a role you think you’d be good at:

Tanking is a good role for assertive personalities, ones who can manage having control, and players who are good at acquiring fight knowledge and being able to anticipate what happens next.

Healing is a good role for those who are good at multi-tasking, on-the-fly decision making, and repairing adverse conditions. Healers are also most involved with teamwork, having to adapt to a co-healer and two tanks to keep everyone safe.

DPS is a good role for people who excel at micromanagement, manual dexterity, can maintain focus and consistency, and ones who are creative with optimizations that help you do more damage.

Find out the pros and cons to each job within your preferred role. Read up on their job abilities. Experiment with them to figure out what you like or don’t like about each job. Watch someone play that role in a raid setting to give yourself an idea of how they function.

Remember that you could play more than one job in this game, if you value variety and flexibility. But also keep in mind that it could also mean diluting your gear progression if you try to simultaneously gear up multiple roles

2.) Learn your job(s) inside-out..

Do not skip this step!

I repeat. Do not skip this step!

Take ownership of your own performance. Too many players take shortcuts and attempt to sneak into Savage PF’s without adequately knowing their jobs, their responsibilities, and how to carry their own weight. They try to get by on bare minimum effort. This is where PF horror stories come from. Do not be a PF horror story.

Learn your opener. Learn your rotation. Master them. Never ever stop improving. Optional: Before you begin starting on a new Savage fight, unlock the Stone Sea Sky Dummy in Kholusia by following this quest chain. Then speak to the Soft-faced Bloke in Kholusia to enter The Lawns. Try to kill the Stone Sky Sea dummy for the encounter that you’re about to work on. If you can’t, try to figure out why, fix your rotation and practice your execution until you can kill it consistently.

Your work ethic in this area is of utmost importance to your personal success. While you’re one player on a team of eight, you are the only constant in each and every party you will ever join. Take care of yourself, and everything else will surely fall in place.

If you’re hoping for seventeen guides for the seventeen jobs in this game, I’m sorry to disappoint you. I can barely keep up on my main job well enough, let alone all of them. That and ain’t nobody got time to write seventeen comprehensive job guides!

Truth be told, no single player, no matter how good or knowledgeable they are at this game, knows everything there is to know. However, the best players have something more valuable: They always know how to find what they don’t know.

A simple search on Google, Reddit, or YouTube give you access to limitless information on this game (and literally anything on this planet). Using the internet to find information is one of the most useful survival skills in this day and age.

Ask questions! The people around you are the best resources. Check out The Balance Discord, a place where thousands of players go to share/absorb knowledge and information in this game. Ask a Twitch streamer (like me!) in their chat. If they don’t know the answer, someone in their chat might. Make a thread on the FFXIV Subreddit, where people are eager to help you (after they ruthlessly downvote you). Despite the usual Reddit stigmas, it can be a great source of info too.

Know as much as you can, but more importantly, know how to find what you don’t know.

3.) Gear up!

To prepare for Eden Savage, your target item level is i450. Ideally, most of your equipped items should be at least i450, but a few i440 pieces will do just fine. i440 should be the minimum cut off because these pieces are purchasable via Tomestones of Goetia, which are an infinite resource.

Here’s are the best ways to gear up for Savage raiding:

Eden Normal: i450 Gear – Eden Normal gives you tokens that can be traded to Yhal Yal in Eulmore for i450 gear. It’s easy to do and readily accessible, but you can only get one token per boss per week. It’s a reliable but slow way to earn i450 gear.

Craftable: i450 Gear – If you have the Gil or a means to gather the materials, this is the quickest way to gear up. Being able to craft them yourself or having a friend who can certainly helps too. Unlike i450 gear from Eden Normal, you can overmeld Crafted gear for additional secondary stats. It’s also good to know that some of the most expensive materials for crafted i450 gear can be purchased with Tomestones of Goetia. from Aymark in Eulmore. The rest can be gathered.

Extreme Trials – Titania and Innocence: i450 Weapons and Accessories – Defeating Titania Extreme drops one random i450 weapon, while defeating Innocence Extreme drops four random i450 accessories. Also, each party member gets one Totem (of the respective Trial). Ten King Totems (from Titania) can be exchanged for any weapon of your choice, while five Immaculate Totems (from Innocence) can be exchanged for an accessory of your choice. These can be exchanged through an an NPC (Fathard in Eulmore). Extreme Trials are also a great introductory difficulty level to prepare for Savage Raiding

Tomestone of Phantasmagoria: i460 Gear – Doing current content gives you Phantasmagoria tomes, to a weekly maximum of 450. These tomes can be traded in to Aymark in Eulmore for i460 Gear. Try to cap your tomes each week and spend them wisely as they are a limited and valuable resource.

Beyond that, be sure to meld Materia into all slots on your gear. Tier VIII materia is the highest tier available. They can most easily be purchased from the market board, but can also be obtained through A and S rank hunts which drop Cracked Stellaclusters, which can be exchanged for a Tier VIII materia of your choice. Try to join a hunting linkshell or Discord for your server/data center to be notified of hunt trains as a means of obtaining materia. If you’re struggling to afford Tier VIII materia, at the very least Tier VI materia is very inexpensive and will suffice as a budget option until you can obtain Tier VIII materia.

Finally, be sure to check out Ariyala’s FFXIV Gear Calculator to plan out your gear purchases, stats, and melds.

4.) Have a steady source of gil income.

Raiding costs Gil. You need to be able to purchase consumables: Food and Potions to give yourself the best advantage. You need to be able to afford Materia for loot drops you receive along the way. You don’t need a ton of Gil, but having a means to get Gil when you need it is important. A wise man once said, “If you ain’t got no money, take yo’ broke ass home.”

Crafting and Gathering are a good way to earn Gil. Doing FATEs in Shadowbringers zones (to level another job) earns you Bicolor Gemstones, which can be exchanged through Gemstone Vendors for valuable items which can be sold. Send your retainers out on ventures on a regular basis. Join a Hunt LS and do some A/S Rank Hunts to earn materia to sell (once you no longer need them for yourself).

These are the most basic and accessible ways to earn Gil. Unfortunately, I can’t share all of my secrets in this area. 🙂

5.) Have the right attitude.

This is the absolute most important thing. When it comes to the overall quality of each individual raider, at the core of it all is attitude.

Attitude determines a player’s work ethic and how hard they try to make sure they carry their own weight. Attitude determines how they treat their teammates and how they respond to their teammates’ treatment of them. Attitude is your level of patience, perseverance, and determination.

Don’t take shortcuts! Don’t cut corners! Too many players want to take the easiest path to success. Practice is boring. Reading/watching a guide is boring. It’s easier to sneak your way into a party when you’re not ready and hope the party is good enough to carry you. Again, this is where PF horror stories come from. Don’t let yourself become one of them. Don’t coast through anything! Not even a dungeon roulette. Build the habit of being a ‘tryhard’ and seeing what you can do to make every run fast and smooth.

You are not entitled to victory. The problem with many players mentality is that they focus solely on how their team has failed them. It doesn’t matter how well you know the fight or how good you are at the game, you win and lose as a team. Entitlement is a barrier to self-improvement and is an ingredient to toxic behavior. Focus on doing whatever you can to help the team succeed. Even if that means babysitting a struggling party member. If a party isn’t working out and is too far from being able to win, it’s totally okay to dip and join a new one. But never think you deserve better than your teammates.

Have patience. Be patient with your team. Be patient with your progress. Be patient with yourself. Expecting things to be quick and easy every time will only lead to disappointment and salt. Losing patience and tilting yourself leads to a domino effect that could undermine everything you and your team has worked hard on.

Respect your static. If you raid in a static environment, you have a much higher standard of duty and commitment to your party than you would in a PUG. A team of eight simply cannot function without some degree of compromise and accommodation from each and every member. Somebody on your team is studying up on guides or putting in extra practice to be more prepared for raid. Somebody on your team is compromising RL plans or rushing home just so they can make raid time. Respect their efforts by taking ownership of your own performance and respect their time by making sure you’re never late for the scheduled start without a good reason.

“Patience. Discipline. Respect.” – The Three Sens of the Crimson Samurai

“Patience. Discipline. Respect.” – The Three Sens of the Crimson Samurai

PUG Raiding vs Static Raiding

PUG = [P]ick-[U]p [G]roups.

There are basically two avenues to tackle raid content and it’s up to you which style suits you better.

The difference between PUG Raiding and Static Raiding is essentially determined by whom you raid with. PUG Raiding entails joining Party Finder groups by yourself (or perhaps with a few friends), teaming up with strangers who are looking to take on the same boss as you are. Static Raiding entails having a pre-made team of eight players who do all or most of their raiding together, share the same level of progression, and have similar goals.

When starting out, you are basically a PUG raider until you find a Static (that is, if you choose to do so). There are advantages and disadvantages to each. PUGs enjoy more freedom and flexibility. Statics benefit from consistency and control.

Advantages to PUG raiding:

PUG raiding allows for more flexibility with raid times . You can raid as much or as little as you want, and at whatever times you can or feel like. This is ideal for players on a limited play schedule, erratic availability, or just don’t like to commit to anything. Static Raiding confines you to a fixed schedule that you have to be able to commit to. If you fail to meet those set times, you risk upsetting your teammates and/or getting kicked out.

PUG raiding is much less of a commitment . If you’re looking to dabble in raiding or if your interest in raiding is fickle, you’re not leaving anyone high-and-dry if you decide to stop or take a break. Static Raiding is more of a commitment. You join a group with the intention of being in it for the long haul.

PUG raiding allows you to play whatever job you want . If you get bored of one job, you can switch to another and play that, provided that you have the necessary gear and the ability to play that job. Static Raiding usually locks you into playing the one main job/role that you committed to.

Advantages to Static raiding:

Static Raiding allows for a more regular and uniform raid environment . You’re playing with the same players and using the same strategies. Statics generally consists of players with similar play styles, goals, interests, and expectations. PUG Raiding subjects you to randomness. You don’t know the skill level of the players you may come across, you may have to adapt to different strategies and new teammates. The quality of your team is based on simply luck of the draw.

Static Raiding gives more control over loot distribution . Most Statics aim to distribute their loot evenly and fairly. Meanwhile, PUG Raiding distributes loot solely based Need rolls.

Static Raiding helps players form a camaraderie with each other , since players in a team spend a lot of time together. A sense of belonging is something that a lot of players enjoy in an MMO, and statics can certainly provide that. PUG Raiding is a different social environment. You meet a lot of people and you’re bound to run into the same people time and again, so there are opportunities to make friends, but not quite the same as a static that regularly plays together.

Tips to PUG Raiding

Don’t underestimate Pick-up groups. Party Finder has a stigma of being a place where horror stories happen, but people have cleared Savage Fights in PUGs. They’re doing it every day. It’s certainly not easy. Don’t expect overnight success. You will definitely fail repeatedly. You will probably get frustrated at times, but with a genuine effort and the right direction, you will prevail.

Here’s how to do it:

Know the difference between different types of parties. This is very, very important. The type of party is determined by the objective, and is usually specified in the PF description. They’re pretty self explanatory. Learning Parties are for learning. Clear Parties are for people who have learned the whole fight and looking for their first clear. Weekly Clears are for people who have already beaten the fight, and are re-clearing for the week for loot. “2 Chest” signifies that nobody in the party has cleared for the week and wants two loot coffers. “1 Chest” means at least four people in the party have not cleared for the week (but fewer than eight) and is aiming for one coffer. “0 Chest” or “Page Run” means three or fewer people need the clear, and there will be no loot reward. Only a weekly Datalog.

Study up on the fight beforehand. This is no substitute for experience, but reading a guide and/or watching a video at least prepares you by familiarizing yourself with the mechanics, what to expect, and how to handle it. This way, when you see something new in a fight, you should at least recognize it from the guide/video. This is a common requirement even for Learning parties, unless you’re specifically interested in Blind learning.

Join/make learning parties first. These parties have low expectations so there’s no pressure to know everything. Pull, die, learn, repeat. As you get further in the fight, join/make learning parties for the phase you’re working on. This is what PF descriptions are for. They will indicate what phase they are working on and the expectation is that all players joining the party are familiar up until that point in the fight.

Seen the whole fight? Practiced it enough to clear? Join/make a clear party. This is the hard part. Some people join clear parties without properly learning the fight, trying to weasel their way into getting carried through the fight. Don’t be one of these people. Properly learn the fight too. Also, don’t be afraid to remove them from your party if they are obviously not ready, don’t be afraid to leave a party if it has too many of these people. Get on Discord. Win rates skyrocket when the whole party is on Discord. PROTIP: Join/make a 0-1 chest clear party. This allows people who have already cleared for the week to lend a helping hand. We want to help you! This is a good way to get experienced players to help you get your clear, provided that you can also pull your own weight.

Congrats, you got your clear! You can now join weekly [Loot][Duty Complete] farm parties. These are generally more reliable since only people who have a previous clear can join. You can also go for 2 chests for better chances at gear upgrades. The later it is during the week, the more willing you should be to settle for one-chest or page run parties.

Go back to learning parties for the next fight. Repeat the process from the beginning. Learn the fight until you’re ready to clear it. Seek to clear the fight in a clear party. Get the fight on farm status. Rinse. Repeat.

Remember those who have helped you and pay it forward. Did you get any help from veterans along the way? Now that you’re a veteran for a given fight, be a nice person and help other people get their clears too, if you can spare the time. The community depends on each other.

Tips to Finding the Right Static

The FFXIV Recruitment Subreddit is a great place to find a static or recruit members for your own static. The Balance Discord is another great alternative. Party Finder is another. Use all three resources!

The key to finding the right static is to find players whose schedules, playstyles, values, and goals align with each other. It’s not as simple as just finding seven other good players who want to play at the same time. It’s not as clear-cut as categorizing Casual/Midcore/Hardcore. There are TON of different factors, and even minor differences in interests can be a source of conflict.

Whether you’re recruiting for a static or looking to get recruited, ask a ton of questions. Get as much information as you can and try to evaluate them on multiple facets that are important to you.

Here are some factors you may want to consider:

What is the schedule? How much time is spent raiding? This is the most important. A static must have common hours that everyone can agree and adhere to. If the times don’t work out, neither will the static.

What is their level of skill/in tensity? Some groups are looking for the most skilled/experienced players. Others are looking to play at more relaxed pace. It’s not fair for a hardcore player to be held back by a less intense player. It’s not fair for a casual raider to be pressured into being more hardcore than they want to be. Compatibility in this area is also very important.

How do they handle trying to get each other to improve? Are they super patient and just leave everyone to learn at their own rate? Or do they hold each other to a high standard with blunt, straightforward feedback?

How much do they care about a meta team comp? Are they a group that will settle for nothing less than the perfect team comp? Or will they let you play whatever job as long as you’re good at it?

What does the group want to do once the progression is done? Do they want to do speed/optimization runs, raid an extra fun day or two to play alt jobs, challenge Ultimate or old content? Or would they rather only get together once a week for reclears?

What is the social atmosphere like? Do they like to constantly hang out in game or on discord between raids? Do they play another game together? Or do they basically only interact when it’s raid time and otherwise mind their own business?

These are only a few out of a seemingly infinite number of possible factors that may be important to you.

Finally, realize no group will perfectly fit you. Any time you get a team together for literally anything, there are compromises to be made. Find the one that fits you the most, but don’t expect a 100% perfect fit. You want a team that fits you, but every member should expect to slightly bend their preferences so that they fit their team too.

Thanks for Reading!

End-game raiding is such a vast and wondrous aspect of Final Fantasy XIV. It will be the source of some of your most memorable experiences, some great and some not-so-great, and it may invoke a passion you never thought you had. Some of you will even become world beaters, content creators, and teachers to future generations of raiders. Every veteran raider started somewhere. The sky is the limit.

Thanks again for reading!

Discord: bokchoy#4059

Twitter: @bokchoykn

Twitch: www.twitch.tv/bokchoykn

~Bok