In the next posts, I will be posting the Gospel of Nyx, a compendium of information gathered and authored by myself, commissioned by FallenElf. Members of DotaNoobs will be playing in FFXIV: ARR when it is released in August, and the Free Company "Disciples of Nyx" will be our guild. Elf thought that after our conversations on IRC that my knowledge should be written down to help those that plan on joining us, so without further ado, I present the "Gospel of Nyx"

The Gospel of Nyx
Book Uno(Polak)- Call me Ishmael

Before we jump into the game, we need to start with some self-reflection. “What do I want to do” is a question that you should start with. Essentially, do you want to kill things or do you want to make things? If your answer is that you want to kill things, you will want to play a Disciple of War or a Disciple of Magic. If you want to make things, you will want to play a Disciple of the Hand or a Disciple of the Land. Here’s a general overview of what each class does:

Disciples of War
Archer: Ranged physical damage Main Stats: DEX and PIE
Gladiator: Tank Main Stats: STR and MND
Lancer: Melee physical damage Main Stats: STR and PIE
Marauder: Tanky damage dealer Main Stats: VIT and STR
Pugilist: Combo-based melee physical damage Main Stats: STR and INT

Disciples of Magic
Conjurer: Healer Main Stats: MND and PIE
Thaumaturge: Ranged magical damage Main Stats: INT and PIE
Arcanist: Damage over time magical damage, debuffer, healing over time

Disciples of the Hand
Alchemist: Creates dyes, potions (Good overall use)
Armorer: Create armor (Good for Gladiators, Marauders)
Blacksmith: Make blade weapons
Carpenter: Create fishing rods, canes, wands (Good for casters, fishers)
Culinarian: Cooks food (Good for all DoW and DoM)
Goldsmith: Create earrings, bracers, rings, circlet, scepters (Good overall use)
Leatherworker: Create leather armor (Good for PGL, LNC, DoL jobs)
Weaver: Create cloth armor (Good for casters, DoH jobs)

Disciples of the Land
Fisher: Catch fish and other items (Good for Culinarians and Goldsmith)
Botanist: Harvests grasses, berries, log timber (Good for Carpenters, Weavers, Alchemists, Culinarians)
Miner: Excavate minerals, ore (Good for Blacksmiths, goldsmiths)

Book 10- Who does number 2 work for?
Character Creation

Ideally, you’re creating a character that you’re going to look at for hours/days/weeks/years, so you’re going to want to make your character as pleasing to you as possible. But there are some advantages/disadvantages of that race you’re about to choose. (What I’m going to talk about has bearing on the DoW/DoM (Disciple of War/Disciple of Magic). Disciples of the Hand and Disciples of the Land abilities do not hinge on race). Each race has its own beginning stats, so certain races are inherently better at certain jobs than others. Here is a link to a site that I’m referencing: http://www.ffxivguild.com/racial-stats-and-god-stats-guide/

Race Selection: Each race has a total stat amount equal to 120. Races that are more geared toward melee combat would be higher in STR, VIT, and DEX. Classes/Jobs include: Pugilists, Gladiators, Lancers, Marauders (Monk, Paladin, Dragoon, & Warrior). Best races for melee classes would be; Sea Wolves, Highlanders, Wildwoods, Seekers, and Plainsfolk.
Races that are more geared toward magical combat would be higher in INT, MND, and PIE. Classes/Jobs include: Conjurer, Thaumaturge, Arcanist (White mage, Black mage, Scholar, Summoner). Best races for caster classes would be; Hellsguard, Midlander, Duskwight, Keepers, Dunefolk. An oddball is the ranged damage dealers, which rely on high DEX. Jobs are Archer (Bard). Best races for these ranged damager dealers would be; Wildwoods, Seekers, Keepers, and Plainsfolk.

These are just general guidelines, but you can take that further. If you have a certain Class/Job in mind that you know you want to be, and you want to excel at, you may want to choose the best race for that job. Here is a list of the class/job and the best race for that class/job. Reference: http://www.ffxivguild.com/ffxiv-a-realm-reborn-starters-guide/

Archer/Bard: Elezen Wildwood- highest starting DEX. Other races: Lalafell Plainsfolk, Mi’Quote Seekers, Mi’Qote Keepers

Gladiator/Paladin: Roegadyn Sea Wolves. Other races: Hyur Highlander, Mi’Quote Seekers, Lalafell Plainfolk

Lancer/Dragoon: Hyur Highlander. Other races: Roegadyn Sea Wolves, Elezen Wildwood, Mi’Quote Seekers, Lalafell Plainsfolk

Marauder/Warrior: Hyur Highlander. Other races: Roegadyn Sea Wolves, Elezen Wildwood, Mi’Quote Seekers, Lalafell Plainsfolk

Pugilist/Monk: Hyur Highlander. Other Races: Roegadyn Sea Wolves, Elezen Wildwood, Mi’Quote Seekers, Lalafell Plainsfolk

Conjurer/White Mage: Mi’Quote Keepers (best in class), Lalafell Dunefolk (best overall magic user). Other Races: Roegadyn Hellsguard, Hyur Midlander, Elezen Duskwight

Thaumaturge/Black Mage: Elezen Duskwight (best in class), Lalafell Dunfolk (best overall magic user). Other races: Roegadyn Hellsguard, Hyur Midlander, Elezen Duskwight

Note, as you level up, you gain attribute points that allow you to cover gaps you may be missing due to your race on the class/job you’re leveling. And with gear, these starting stats will seem moot.

God Choice- Typically, the God choices are irrelevant, and only give small bonuses to elemental resistances. For all melee classes, you can choose any god. For the Caster classes, you may want to choose a specific god.

Conjurer: Nopica/Althyk (More earth, some wind) Lymlaen/Oschon (More wind, some earth)

Thaumaturge: Azeyma/Nald’thal (Good Fire and Ice)

Starting Location- Each Class has a pre-defined starting position. After your level 15 main story quest, you’ll be able to use the airship to travel to the other 2 starting cities, so where you start doesn’t matter after the first 15 levels. Here are the 3 starting cities and the jobs that house their guilds there:

Gridania: Archer, Conjurer, Lancer, Leatherworking, Botany, Carpentry

Ul’Dah: Pugilist, Gladiator, Thaumaturge, Miner, Alchemist, Goldsmith, Weaver

Limsa Lominsa: Marauder, Arcanist, Fisher, Armorer, Blacksmith, Culinary

*to be continued in later posts*

Book of Buster- "Hey Brother"
The Beginning- Leveling For DoW/DoM, level 1-15

Deciding where to start can be daunting. What it really comes down to is what class/job do you want to play? After you’ve decided on your class, and your race, the game will throw you into your starting city. There are many quests that initially start with running around and learning your way around the city. I would suggest completing all these quests. Be sure to visit the guild of your beginning class to pick up your class quest. You will get a new class quest every 5 levels. These typically will reward you with gear or abilities useful to your class.

Aetherytes- As you’re running around, be sure to touch every aetheryte you see. In cities, these act like telepoints, allowing you to make your way to the major guilds and areas of the city instantly and can save a lot of time. Once you’ve attuned yourself to every aetheryte in the city, it’ll unlock additional locations for the external gates to the city.

The BIG Aetherytes allow you to use your teleport skill to pay a small gil fee to instantly teleport to a previously learned Aetheryte. Make sure that you attune yourself to every one you come across. You can set a specific Aetheryte as a home point, or where you return to after you die, and you can also set 3 Aetherytes as favored destinations, which yield lower fees to teleport to.
Hunting Log- The quests you pick up in your starting city should eventually take you outside the city walls to kill creatures to fulfill quests. You’ll notice that some will get an icon over their name, which indicates they are still needed to fulfill your hunting log. To view your hunting log, click on the book icon, then choose hunting log. You’ll see that completing a section in the hunting log will yield a good chunk of experience. You will want to complete all the creatures in a section for the area you’re in before moving on. On the left, you’ll see that this is separated into level ranges. You cannot move to the next level range in the hunting log before you complete the one you’re on. The last thing you want to do is hit level 10, and realize that there’s some level1 creatures you need to kill and waste your time on. Some creatures are only found in instances, but we’ll discuss that later. There is a different hunting log for each class, so this is a nice bonus to accompany your questing. Here is a reddit link for the Hunter Logs: http://www.reddit.com/r/ffxiv/comments/1i5pol/all_class_visual_hunter_log_guides

Levequests- Levequests are Quests obtained by talking to a Regional Guildleve Master or Local Guildleve Master. Each of the 3 starting cities have their own Regional Guildleve Masters and Local Guildleve Masters.

City-state Regional Guildleve Master Local Guildleve Master Coordinates
Limsa Lominsa Piralnaut T'mokkri 7,5
Ul'dah Totonawa Eustace 6,4
Gridania Gontrant Tierney 6,6

These levequests are area specific, timed quests that give experience and gil based on performance. You will get a bonus for completing the levequest if you are quick, if the difficulty is harder than the level you are (which you can set at the beginning of the quest and can change at any time), if you turn in HQ items instead of the NQ items (for DoH/DoL classes), and if you kill any bounty mobs. You are given an allowance to complete 3 Levequests every 24hrs. You can accumulate levequests and stockpile them for when you have time to complete them at a later time. The max number of levequests you can accumulate is 99. Similar to the Hunting Log and Class Quests, new (read: different) Levequests are available every 5 levels.

Guildhests- Guildhests are instanced quests that require a light party of 4 team members, typically 1 tank, 1 healer, 2 DD. They are generally more involved than just tanking and spanking something, so be sure to read the description of the guildhest at the beginning of the instance. These quests, upon completion for the first time, yield a huge amount of xp and gil, so in my opinion, you should do every guildhest at least once on each class you level.

Gear- Gear seems to play a pivotal role in how well you can kill things or heal things in this game. You can purchase weapons and armor for vendors in the cities or outposts while you’re leveling. If you’re a completionist with your quests, you’ll typically get upgrades to all your gear as rewards for finishing a quest. But be sure to fill gaps with gear from vendors. Also, you gear does incur durability damage for fall damage or fighting creatures. Be sure to repair gear as it gets low. It costs the same to repair a piece of equipment at 90% durability as it does one of 10% durability, so don’t bother repairing high durability items.

You can create something called gear sets for each class to make switching classes seamless. After you are wearing the gear for a class, go to your character screen, and click show gearlists above your character. On this screen, you can click the + sign to create a new gear list, or if one exists, you can right click on it and click reassign gear list. This will update this list to what you’re currently wearing. From this screen, you can also drag a gearset to a hotbar so you can switch classes even easier.

When upgrading gear, you can typically tell that the new item is a clear upgrade by the defense and magical defense. If both give a green + bonus, it’s typically a better piece of equipment. You’ll want to check the attribute bonuses if you’re unsure to confirm are indeed upgrading. All classes want to prioritize certain attribute bonuses that most benefit their class, information which can be found in Book 1. I will go over what each attribute does at a later time.

You’ll notice as you level, you’ll complete soulbinds with your gear. What that means is that you’ve worn and fought in that piece of equipment long enough for your soulbind to reach 100%. Save all gear that has 100% soulbind and when you have a DoH at level 19, you can right click on the equipment and convert it to materia, which can be added to gear for bonus stats. More on that later.


Book of Job- "I've made a huge mistake"
The Beginning part 2- Levels 15-30

As you reach level 15, you’re going to get into some deeper story quests, which include instanced solo quests. These quests do require a little bit of thought, so make sure you carry potions and antidotes to help. After you complete these quests, you’ll eventually be given your airship pass. Continue with the quest until you’ve visited the remaining two cities, and remember to grab the Aetheryte while you’re here! At this point, you’ve now visited each city and have access to all classes and their guilds. You can choose to continue leveling your first class or you may want to grab a second class and start leveling it. What’s nice is that you can grab secondary class abilities from your main class through the actions menu. If you’re level 15, you can grab up to 3 secondary abilities from any leveled class. The abilities available are up to ½ of your current level. So at 15, only abilities level 7 and less are available. After you select which abilities you want, you can drag them down to your hotbar for use. Some abilities are more useful than others, like CNJ cure or protect, or PGL second wind. Alternatively, you may want to start leveling the class that is required for your desired Job, which I’ll explain later. Utilize the new city as a level 1 class to get quick experience using quests you haven’t done yet. Be sure to complete your hunting log as well.

Another suggestion would be to grab the DoH class that would benefit you the most. Some are great for giving you gear, weapons, consumables, or just good for making money. It’s important to have at least one DoH > level 19 to be able to convert 100% soulbound gear to material. It’s extremely useful to have a DoH to attach this material to equipment that has vacant material slots. You must be the same level or higher than the gear to attach materia, and the piece of gear must fall under your DoH category. Ex. You can’t attach materia to a sword if your DoH is in LTW. If everyone has at least 1 DoH leveled up, we can utilize our members to attach materia to every piece of gear possible.

Duty Finder- The Duty Finder is a great tool to find a party of 4 or more for Main Story Quest Dutys or for GuildHests. You can change to the job you want to enter the duty or guildhest, select which instances you would like to join, and press enter. After it begins to look for a party, you can change to any other class, and continue what you were doing. The Duty Finder searches across all its servers to find players for you to join with. When participating in Duties, be sure to ask the other members of NYX if they’d like to join. It’s much more fun to communicate with friends and people you’re going to see again.

In the Duty, FFXIV introduces a few nifty features, one of which includes the Loot Table. When a piece of equipment is found in a Treasure Chest, it is added to the Loot Table. Clicking on the icon, this will show you the piece of gear that was found. You can hover over it to check out its stats. You are now given the option whether to roll NEED, GREED, or PASS. You may only NEED an item if you are on the class that can immediately wear the item. If you cannot NEED, you may then GREED, which is open to everyone in the party, barring that you don’t already own the item. Or you can elect to Pass. If you can NEED on the item, and the item will benefit the class that you are on, go ahead and roll NEED. If more than one character rolls need, the highest roll will win the item. If the item isn’t class specific; like an earring, wrist or ring, all classes can roll NEED. It is common courtesy to not roll NEED on these items if another character in your party can better benefit from the item on their current class. In these cases where you would like the item, but not on your current class, feel free to GREED roll. Nothing is more disheartening that having a THM roll need on a ring that adds +STR and +Skill Speed.

Here's a nice guide that goes into depth what I'm trying to convey. http://eorzeareborn.com/final-fantasy-xiv-game-systems/

Book 5- Soup Nazi "No soup for you"
Crafting professions to compliment your DoH/DoM

Alchemist:

WEAPONS
Wands (CNJ 1H)
Books (ACN)

INGREDIENTS
Oils (ALC, BSM, CRP, CUL)
Glues (BSM, CRP, LTW)
Lanolin (WVR)
Inks (ALC - always used to make ACN weapons)
Growth Formulae (ALC, CRP - always used to make CNJ weapons)
Lenses (GSM - for spectacles)
Natron (ALC, CUL, WVR [felt])
Beeswax (CUL)
Rubber (LTW, WVR - always used in shoes)
Distilled Water (ALC, CUL)
Quicksilver (ALC, GSM)

Consumables
Potions (HP)
Ethers (MP)
Elixirs (HP+MP)
Status cures (Blind, Paralyze, Petrify, Poison, Silence, Sleep)
Status inducers (Blind, Paralyze, Poison, Silence, Sleep)
Stat enhancement potions (Dex, Vit, Int, Str, Mnd)

Armorer:
Tiers: Bronze, Iron, Steel, Mythril, Cobalt

WEAPONS
Frying pans (CUL)
Alembics (ALC)

OFFHANDS
Heavy shields (tanks)
Bucklers (includes caster stats)

ARMOR
Plate armor (tank)
Scale mail/Chain mail (tank/LNC)
Occasional all-DoW pieces
Gathering helms
-Note: Does not make leg armor in anything but plate. Use LTW/WVR options.

INGREDIENTS
Metal Rings (ARM)
Metal Rivets (ARM, BSM, CRP, LTW, WVR)
Plate Metal (ARM, BSM)
Metal Ingots (ARM, BSM, CRP GSM, LTW, WVR)

Blacksmith:
Tiers: Bronze, Iron, Steel, Mythril, Cobalt

WEAPONS
Claws/Knuckles (PGL)
Swords/Daggers (GLD)
2H axes (MRD)
Head Knives (LTW)
Hammers (BSM, GSM, ARM)
Saws (CRP)
Hatchets (BTN)
Pickaxes (MIN)

OFFHANDS
Pliers (ARM)
Culinary Knives (CUL)
Sledgehammers (MIN)
Mortars (ALC)
Scythes (BTN)
Awls (LTW)
Files (BSM)
Claw Hammers (CRP)

INGREDIENTS
Metal Rivets
Metal Rings

Carpenter:
Tiers: Maple, Ash, Elm, Yew, Walnut, Oak, Mahogany, Rosewood

WEAPONS
Bows
Polearms
Fishing poles
Staves (CNJ 2H)
Macuahuitls (GLD)

OFFHANDS
Light shields (mostly caster shields--tanky shields are metal)
Grinding wheels (GSM)
Spinning wheels (WVR)
ARMOR
Clogs/Pattens (feet with crafting stats)
Wooden masks (caster stats)

INGREDIENTS
Lumber (BSM, CRP)
Goldsmith:
Tiers: Copper, Brass, Silver, Mythril, Electrum

WEAPONS
Sewing needles (WVR)
Hora (PGL)
Staves (THM 2H)
Scepters (THM 1H)

ARMOR
Rings, earrings, chokers, bracelets (crafting and combat stats)
Circlets (caster stats, resistances)
Spectacles, goggles (crafter helms)

INGREDIENTS
Whetstones (GSM, BSM)
Gemstones - (ARM, BSM, CRP, GSM, LTW)
Metal Ingots (ARM, BSM, GSM, LTW, WVR)
Metal Rings (ARM, GSM)

Leatherworker:
Tier: Leather, Hard Leather, Aldgoat, Toad, Boar, Peiste, Raptor

WEAPONS
Cesti/Himantes (PGL)

OFFHANDS
Targe shields (includes caster stats)

ARMOR
"Work" armor (gathering stats)
"Harness" sets (STR/DEX focused light armor)
Ringbands (Gemmed stat/resist gloves in any stat)
Chokers and rings (gathering stats)

INGREDIENTS
Leather (ARM, GSM, LTW, WVR)

Weaver:
Tiers: Hemp, Cotton, Velveteen, Linen, Wool, Felt

ARMOR
Crafting armor
Gathering armor
Caster armor
STR/DEX focused light armor
-I know this section seems like a cop-out, but they literally make everything but tank gear.

INGREDIENTS
Yarn (ALC, CRP, GSM, LTW, WVR)
Cloth (ARM, CRP, LTW, WVR)

All credit goes to http://www.reddit.com/r/ffxiv/comments/1iuss0/a_summary_of_crafting_professions_or_what_good_is/

Rules:
There will be 3 rounds of mid-only play. Round 1 will be melee heroes, Round 2 will be ranged heroes, and Round 3 will be Shadow Fiend v Shadow Fiend.
The winner of each round will be determined by the following criteria:
1. The first to 3 kills or,
2. The first to destroy the tier 1 tower

If the criteria is not met for a winner by the 10 minute mark, the person with most CS + Denies will be declared the winner.
The hero pool will be chosen by UnoPolak and myself, and each competitor will tell us 2 picks in secret. Binary and Fallen will each get priority in one of the first 2 matches. Which round you have preference in will be determined by coin flip. If both people choose the same hero as #1 in a round, the person who has priority will be given their #1 choice. The #2 choice will then be used for the other person.

The winner of this best of 3 will receive 5 keys (chosen by the winner and not to exceed $12.50 total) from the losing player.

http://accomp.me/ffxiv/ffxiv-arr-getting-started-guide/

SK can CERTAINLY split push! Don't listen to him!

We're all on Malboro, or trying to be

So we've dispatched these kobolds, but there are more inside. Do we want to take the entrance where we found "Meek" chanting? Or another entrance, a la the waterfall or the entrance across the stream?

My thoughts:
The Meek entrance may be like the front door, expected
The back door may be easier, but not much of a surprise.
The waterfall would be a surprise, but the chance for stealth/athletic fail is possible.
Leave here and continue to the east, but that won't win us our 100g-10g prize

https://www.dropbox.com/s/tj95pa6ufjmy8gf/Image1.jpg

My Vote: Back door or waterfall
Pale Noon- Halfling Warlord

(after a consensus is reached, we could roll for movement or whatnot)

When is next meeting?

IC- After hearing the possibility of dispatching a wyrm in their future, Pale Noon's eyes seem to glimmer with hope. "I've often heard of these wyrms in my battle strategy class, but one has not been seen for many many years. The training we received was all circumstantial. I'd love to get some first hand experience. We should regroup, gather supplies, information, and some rest before we decide to embark on this adventure!"

OOC
I think Pale Noon would like to use the newly found piece of scalemail. The equipment he's wearing is quite large and doesn't quite fit in the right places. If the runepriest would like a friendly chest bump battle to see who gets it, he's willing to play the game.

I think we should still divide the gold as evenly as possible, and whatever is left over can go into a party fund. And if you get a piece of gear, you should still get your share- just be courteous and not hog gear if you recently got a drop.

If we gather all the gear that was dropped, pool it together, and sell it back to the vendors in Winterhaven, we could split proceeds, or put that in the party fund.

We should head back, rest for the night, regain powers and action points, do some recon/blackmailing/etc.

What do we find in the secret room? Can we roll Perception to search the entire secret temple? Is the chest locked?
Pale Noon rolls a 9 for Perception

Also, is the cult leader tied up? We should do that.
Also, are any of the books in common have any information about the gnome statuette we found and how to reverse the curse on Fizzwig?

Since the ring has no magical properties, can we see if it affects the gnome statue? We can get it appraised. Are there any markings of note?

Pale Noon shows off his newly fitted Dwarven armor. "It's already proved worthy by saving me in the last battle. Continue keeping the books Galstaff, I don't know anyone more INTelligent. "

Did you determine what the ring does?

I know the rest of the party is impartial because they have yet to receive gear that grants them a bonus in battle, but I think for the good of the group, gear should be distributed without a gold penalty. But if that armor were to be of no more use, gold profit would go to everyone else in the party. As a choatic neutral, I can't tell you exactly what Pale Noon may do if he is indebted for wearing the armor.

Explain clearly- Am I expected to pay back that 500 gold by not taking a claim in future encounters until that 500g has been reached?

I should lose gold for the encounter that I took the chain mail on, but that's it.

PaleNoon- From where I stood, a screaming goblin in the sad shape they were in posed no use to us, and only acted as a loud alarm that may draw others to our area. Attempts to cure and extract information from the tortured prisoner would take up precious time and it is unknown if it would yield results. The paladin quickly relieved the goblin of his head and in turn, bought us more time to speak to the perfectly healthy goblin in the cell. He has shown us relative layout of the keep, which means we have work ahead of us.

I believe that the prisoner is of no further use to us. I think we can leave him in his cell, since he doesn't seem too keen of warning his kind if we "promise" to release him when we leave. We could conjure a plan to use him to throw the chief and any remaining guards off their balance, but cannot ensure 'Splug's' safety, from our swords or theirs.

Was anyone able to decipher the note on the door that the monk and paladin kicked down, which apparently leads to 'Bad Place'?
Who is able to wear the hide armor and who would like to wear it?

Level 2!
Swapped Inspired Recovery for Lost in the Crowd Feat (PHB1)
Took Heavy Weapon Expertise (HotFL) feat
Grabbed the Inspired Belligerence Utility Skill (MP)
Gained 5HP

I can't go later than 7:00PM EST on Sundays