You may have heard of the critically-acclaimed MMORPG Final Fantasy 14’s free trial that includes a full award-winning expansion. Now try it with two expansions.
FFXIV’s extended free trial now has even more free stuff to do, if you aren’t fully committed to the infamous MMORPG’s schtick yet. Already, thanks to an update over three years ago, you could play through the first expansion and level up to 60; this new update adds another 10 levels and a full new story.
The newest major update loops in the (almost) full second expansion, Stormblood, which sees the player trekking east (and then further east) to oversee events in motion by local revolutionaries. While the main story is not as revered as other expansions, long-time players praise the side stories and extra content released during this expansion’s lifespan. In short, there’s a lot for an FFXIV trial player to venture into.
Further, the same patch rounded out the game’s inclusion of dungeon bots throughout the full primary story. In short, you can play almost all of Stormblood without looping in other players.
So what’s the deal with this two-punch update? Is it really free and soloable all the way. Well, not really.
What Parts Of FFXIV: Stormblood Will Be In The Free Trial?
Free trials almost always seem to have a catch, though in FFXIV, it’s thankfully not your credit card. In fact, FFXIV already has one of the most generous free trial programs, and Stormblood’s inclusion will expand this further—with very few catches.
In short, almost damned near every piece of content released as part of, and up to, Stormblood is part of the newly-expanded FFXIV free trial. This means all of the dungeons, almost all of the raids, and all of the side trials. Plus you can level up your character to level 70 on all of the classes—really, all of them.
There are some major exceptions, though, as to what’s included in the Stormblood trial, one of which is the PvP content for possibly obvious reasons. (Smurfs? In 2023? Come on, do better.) The other huge exception is the “Ultimate” raid released during Stormblood’s post-expansion patch cycle, in this case “The Weapon’s Refrain: Ultimate,” lovingly known as “UWU.” However, it’s some of the most difficult content in the game (trust me, I’ve done it), so perhaps a paid gate to take it on is a reasonable choice.
In regards to other aspects, essentially, most of the social features are locked from your side, meaning marketboards, sending friend and party requests, Free Companies, and the like. Plus, there’s a gil cap of 500,000 (which you’ll easily earn throughout the story), no housing, and you can’t access retainers. If you were a part of the FFXIV free trial program before, then these elements are the same as before.
How To Play Through FFXIV Solo With Bots
Already, there are ways to get through most of FFXIV alone. As it stands, you can play there’s only the final “patch” dungeons left in Stormblood left to be added, though this is expected to be done in early October.
In order to play FFXIV’s four-person content solo utilizing the bots, known in-game as Duty Support or the Trust System, go to the Duty menu via your main menus and select “Duty Support.” From here, you’ll select the Duty (that is, dungeon or four-player trial) that you wish to play with bots. You should be able to join the dungeon immediately.
Aside from being able to play alone, there are small perks to utilizing NPCs. You get little bits of exclusive dialogue, and some dungeons give you extra cutscenes.
You can also “level up” certain companions through the Trust system, starting with Endwalker duties. Doing so will unlock glamour options for the characters, allow them to accompany you into higher-end duties within that expansion, and let you earn titles to wear around the game. It’s just another small way to have fun in the game.
However, having always played dungeons with others, I’ve found the system to be a bit of a drag. The NPCs can’t revive you, for one, and many have extremely limited capabilities. For example, most NPCs don’t seem to have “damage over time” attacks, which make combat go faster, especially when drawing groups. These drawbacks can be seen as a plus, though, as you can’t exactly be “carried” through and get a better chance to learn your class and boss mechanics.
What Can’t Be Played Solo With Bots In FFXIV?
While the Duty Support and Trust System covers the dungeons, there’s still, unfortunately, a sizable amount of content in Final Fantasy 14 that can’t be done alone. In short, most of FFXIV’s trials and raids aren’t supported by the Duty Support and Trust System bots/AI and still require a full party of human players. Some of it is due to being optional content to encourage the MMORPG vibe, while other parts are due to the technical achievements required.
Almost no trials in FFXIV’s MSQ can be done with the AI systems, except for the four-player MSQ Trials in A Realm Reborn’s main patch and one MSQ one in Endwalker. (The Endwalker trials are some of the heaviest spoilers in the game, so don’t look them up for more information if you care about that.)
The latter EW one was said to be a test to see if it could be done for eight-player duties, but there are still flaws, so we have no further word on if this’ll be implemented. Four-player duties seem done easily enough regardless, so it seems this was achievable for now. Plus, trials tend to be completed best with other players anyway, especially when necessary “teamwork” mechanics are assigned.
No “optional” duties, including side-story trials, dungeons, and raids, can be done with the in-game AI/bots at the moment. These tend to be far more difficult than the primary patch content, so it’s understandable that the AI would need to be more complicated as well. This also includes the Alliance Raids, which means the 24 player slots will still need to be filled by, well, players. These are especially complex duties given the sheer numbers and techniques required for certain attacks, so it’s probably for the better (at least for the dev team, anyway).
Should I Try To Play FFXIV Solo?
If you want to give FFXIV a try, there’s little reason not to go for it. The inclusion of A Realm Reborn and now two expansions means that you’ll have upwards of 100 hours of good JRPG content in the main storyline alone, with a ton of other great game features thrown in here and there, entirely for free. And free things are good! Even if that means you learn it’s not your jam, at least you tried it. Hence, a trial.
Or you can be like some people I know and simply just level up your Botany and Mining to the new maximum trial levels. That’s fine; the grind is cute.
Now, just after the drop of patch 6.50, is a pretty good time to get started. We know Dawntrail will be out next summer, meaning that if you chip away at the trial, you’ll know by early next year if you want to dedicate yourself fully, financially or otherwise, for that new expansion.
