Getting Around Eorzea  

By Osarion Durai

For those new to a Final Fantasy MMO, getting around can sometimes be a challenge. Terrains can be rough, maps can be confusing, and teleporting to different areas is not an unlimited resource. This guide should help you make your way through the enormous land that is Eorzea.

Contents [hide]

Navigating the Terrain Cliffs Ramps and Caves Winding Ascents and Descents Decoding the Map Zoning and Regions in FFXIV Current Region Listing Zoning From Town to Town Between Gridania and Ul'dah Between Ul'dah and Limsa Lominsa Teleporting Anima Conserve anima! Hitching a Ride Campsites Favored Locations Aetherial Gates

Navigating the Terrain

There are quite a few pitfalls in the world of Eorzea. Oftentimes you can look at a point on your map, head in it's direction and be completely blocked by something the map seemingly didn't even show. It's become a running joke that Final Fantasy gamers can't jump and although it can be amusing to those that don't play the game, it can be a very frustrating experience for those that do.

This section of the guide will help you get used to reading the maps to help minimize any frustration.

Cliffs

In FFXIV, cliffs come in all shapes and sizes. For the sake of the guide here, cliffs are defined as any drop in the map which you are not able to hop down from. A lot of times you will come to a point with only the slightest drop, but you wont be able to drop down from it.

Click the thumbnail picture for an example of a point that characters are unable to jump down. Moving a few inches to the left will let you drop down. You will find this sort of thing fairly often depending on which zone you're in. La Noscea and Thanalan are pretty notorious for them, but they are everywhere.

At first, it can seem a little irksome, but you do get used to which spots you should be able to jump down from in time.

Ramps and Caves

Part of what's going to help you on your adventures through Eorzea is learning where the ramps and caves are on your map. For all you FFXI vets out there, think back to your Yuhtunga Jungle navigation skills and this will be much easier.

Ramps and/or tunnels give you access to parts of the map that may be otherwise blocked off. Locating them can mean the difference between being on path and being lost. Or, finding your Levequest targets or running out of time.

A bit further along the guide here, We'll go over spotting these on your World Map.

Caves such as this are mostly found in the La Noscea region. Usually they're just a dead end, but have monsters in them that can be leveled up on, based on your level. Spotting caves is also fairly easy by looking at your map.

Winding Ascents and Descents

As if the terrain weren't confusing enough, The Black Shroud is pegged with these! They're extremely handy in navigating, but also pretty easy to miss. Most often these function as a means to have bi-directional paths on different heights. Imagine walking down a path going North to South, and you come across a land bridge running East to West overhead. How the heck do you get up there you wonder? Here's a quick example how. See the tunnel on the right? You'll want to travel through that.

Traveling through the tunnel, turn immediately around and voila! We have our Winding Ramp to take us up to that land bridge on the right, while the cave we just exited is on the left. If you're having a hard time seeing it, just click on the thumbnail for a bigger picture.

Decoding the Map

The technical, have-to-know details. If you've played XI for any serious amount of time, this will seem a little familiar. For those of you new to a Square MMO, it can be a downright headache. The following images are map areas for the ramps, caves, and winding ascents/descents we've just gone over. Here's what you want to look for.

• The ramp in the left image is the space between the two lines going up and down. My map marker arrow is pointing to the spot where you're going to need to go sometimes get to different areas. Also worth pointing out is the different terrain colors in the left image. See the light brown spots on the map? They actually indicate areas which are on a whole other level beneath where I'm standing in that image. You can't just pull up your map and hope to cursor-navigate to any area you need.

• The center image shows how to spot a cave. Almost always, short curving lines like this one indicate some type of cave.

• The image in the right shows what you'll need to look for on your map when you wish to get up or down a level mostly in The Black Shroud. Using the pictures previously listed for the winding ramps, along with the map picture here, you should now be able to get yourself through these with ease.

Zoning and Regions in FFXIV

Regions are much larger in FFXIV than they were in XI. Square has implemented Seamless Zoning for XIV. This means that even though you'll pass through parts of the maps which are handled by different physical servers, there are no more "Now Loading" screens to deal with. Well, almost no more.

Current Region Listing

• La Noscea -- Limsa Lominsa is located here
• Coerthas
• The Black Shroud -- Gridania is located here
• Mor Dhona
• Thanalan -- Ul'dah is located here

Zoning

As I mentioned before, there is almost no zoning in FFXIV. When you exit Ul'dah into Thanalan, you're actually zoning into a new server. I like to call this a soft zone, as there is no load screen.

When you zone from Thanalan into The Black Shroud however, you will get a "Now Loading" screen. This is the type of zoning we're used to in other MMOs. I call it a hard zone. It's an entirely different region, with different terrain and atmosphere.

From Town to Town

Getting from town to town in Eorzea is actually a bit easier than it was in XI. You can walk between Gridania and Ul'dah, but as Limsa Lominsa is on an island, you'll need to take a ferry.

Between Gridania and Ul'dah

This is actually fairly straightforward From Gridania, exit into The Black Shroud. Follow the path past Camp Bentbranch southeast towards Camp Tranquil. From there, continue southeast towards the marker on the map for Thanalan.

Once you zone into Thanalan, head Southwest towards camp Drybone. Continue southwest towards Ul'dah, and you're there.

Between Ul'dah and Limsa Lominsa

The only way to first arrive in Limsa Lominsa if you didn't create your character there is to take a ferry. Getting to the ferry from Ul'dah means running through some relatively high level areas but don't worry, almost nothing will aggro you. The Ferry Docks can be located at 26-4 in Western Thanalan.

There are two ships that run back and forth between Limsa Lominsa and Ul'dah. Each takes 10 minutes to arrive, and the ferry ride itself is 10 minutes.

Currently, there are no monsters that pop during the ride. However, you can fish from the upper deck.

Teleporting

In FFXIV, each player is given the ability to teleport to certain points in the world. The only requirement to teleport to a location is that you must visit it and use the aetherial crystal to "arrive". Teleporting is not without cost, however.

Anima

Teleporting requires you to spend a sort of energy force known as Anima. Each character is given 100 anima to start out with. Teleporting to different areas will cost varying amounts.

• Teleporting within your current region will cost 4 anima.
• Teleporting anywhere outside your current region costs 6.
• Teleporting from an Aetherial Node to a Camp and vice verse costs 1. Even though it doesn't say so from camp > node.
• Using the Return function while not dead to return to your last bound Aetheryte costs 2 points.
• Releasing from KO status to your last bind point is a freebie.

Conserve anima!

The only currently known way to regenerate your points is to let time pass by. For each 4 RL hours, you regenerate one anima point. Use them cautiously. You don't want to let yourself run completely out, only to find yourself needing to quickly travel from La Noscea to The Black Shroud.

Hitching a Ride

There is a way to teleport without always having to spend your precious anima points. If you are in a party, you can hitch a ride with one of the members who initiates a teleport. To do this, you must be very close to the member using the teleport. Once he or she ports out, you'll notice a ! (menu) icon on top of your screen. Use your menu and you'll have the option to "Accept Teleport". Voila! Free ride.

Campsites

The most common areas for doing Guildleves, campsites also fucntion as bind points in FFXIV. When you come upon a new camp, interact with it's crystal and you will "arrive" at the location. You're now bound there. When you die, this is where you'll release to and the camp will now show in your teleport list.

Favored Locations

At each camp throughout the world, there is an NPC behind a desk. This NPC will let you set this camp as your "Favorite". You can set up to three camps as favorites. Doing so will halve the anima cost of teleporting to this location. Note that this will only work at camps, not gates.

Aetherial Gates

Much like the Outposts of FFXI, Aetherial Gates are pegged throughout the world in FFXIV. They can serve as EXP camps, and you can even do Guildleves from them in certain situations. Once you "arrive" at the gate, you can then use it as a teleport point, but only between it's closest adjacent camp and vice-versa. Nodes will not show up in your Teleport List. I suggest going out of your way to visit as many of these as you can throughout your travels. Not only will you get to explore more of the world, but you'll be creating very handy shortcuts for yourself.

Thank you for taking the time to read my guide. I hope it helps you on your travels throughout the world. Special thanks to Pikko and Bludwyng for helping out a wikinewb ;) See you all in Eorzea!

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