Getting Started

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To begin the game one must create a character. The process involves choosing a race and appearance, a starting job and associated location, and a server on which to play. The in-game creation process is straightforward, although there are a lot of background facts and lore than might not be immediately apparent to the beginner player.
Type Description
Character Creation. Final Fantasy XIV features a comprehensive character creation system which allows players to customize their avatars. Once a race and clan have been selected, players can proceed to choose from a wide variety of face types and hair styles. From there, detailed adjustments can be made to elements such as hair, skin, and eye color, as well as mouth, nose and eye shape.
Races. The races are the playable sentient humanoid species that inhabit Eorzea. There are eight playable races. Each race has two separate clans, which have separate histories in the lore.
Allegiance. Allegiance is the city-state to which you are loyal. There are three city-states that players may obtain an allegiance with: Limsa Lominsa, Ul'dah, and Gridania. The city in which a character begins does not determine their allegiance, the allegiance of a player is decided when they enlist in a Grand Company at level 20 as part of the Main Scenario Storyline. Moreover, a player is allowed to change their Grand Company/allegiance after their initial selection, although doing so will result in the loss of any previously obtained Company Rank.
Disciplines. In general, there is a fourfold classification of adventurers based on the disciplinary paths to which they devote themselves. Battle classes are either a Disciple of War, masters of arms who live for the call of combat, or a Disciple of Magic, erudite researchers of all things esoteric. Non-combat classes can be either a Disciple of the Land, gatherers of material resources and students of the natural order, or a Disciple of the Hand, crafters who invest their creative ingenuity in synthesis and industry.
Deity. The world of Hydaelyn is home to a plethora of races and civilizations. Each culture seems to have a very different idea of what is "divine."
Servers. Servers, also known as Worlds, are individual, concurrently running instances of Final Fantasy XIV's setting, Eorzea, on which players reside. Multiple servers exist because the population of the game as a whole is too large to fit into a single world.
Attributes. Attributes are a grouping of various core attributes and statistics that drive how and to what degree a character performs certain tasks. Different attributes will effect different tasks. Some attribute values are visible and some are hidden, and the precise effect of each attribute is sometimes known and sometimes simply estimated.