The Eorzean Evening Post: The Power of the Lodestone .

When you think of all the features that Final Fantasy XIV provides to players, you usually think of content and updates. “Features” include things like battle chocobos, housing, raids, new dungeons, cosmetics or storyline quests. You don’t usually consider the amazing features FFXIV provides outside of its game: namely in the form of the Lodestone website.

I remember when EverQuest 2 launched, it provided a website that allowed you to view your character, stats, gear and such outside of the game. I also remember that in order to use it, you had to pay extra on top of the cost of buying the box and the sub. Now days, something like that would never fly, but it’s also a reason I’ve never taken the FFXIV Lodestone for granted.

The Lodestone gives a plethora of useful information, even beyond just news and updates. As a free company leader, I use it consistently. As a player, it’s an invaluable resource. While I feel most FFXIV players are aware that it exists, I don’t know if they know everything it can do.

News and Events

The most obvious aspect of the FFXIV Lodestone is that it provides a one-stop shop for news and information, whether you’re logged into the site or not. News can come in the form of maintenance announcements and follow-ups on downtime. Any time the game released updates, you can see the full patch notes at the Lodestone. You can also find a server status page for when you’re running into connection issues.

The Lodestone acts as a repository for the developer blogs and previews for upcoming patches. You’ll find information on contests being held and content for your own websites and mobile devices in the form of the official FFXIV Fan Kit.

 

New Character Registration Restrictions

The Lodestone is the place to go when you want to create a new character, especially if you have a specific server in mind. Because some servers are much more heavily populated than others, FFXIV restricts how many new characters can be created on a server each day. New character restrictions change throughout the day at specific times. So if you’re rolling a new character and want to know if the server is open to registration, the Lodestone provides up to date information on that.

 

Player Guides

Believe it or not, the Lodestone also provides a whole section dedicate to guides for the very, very new player. We’re talking very basic. Like creating a character, learning the controls, playing in a party, configuration settings, navigating the UI and a full glossary of text commands. Well, okay, so that last one still has information there that I don’t know yet.

Play guides also cover information on larger features such as the Gold Saucer and Frontline PVP. Most of this is a quick guide on accessing these features, but it’s nice to have.

 

FFXIV Database

The Eorzea Database is absolutely overwhelming. The Lodestone provides detailed information about every item, quest, duty, NPC, achievement, crafting recipe and gathered item in the game.  It’s a fully searchable database, which provides an individual page for each entry. Item pages display stats, such as what you’d see in a hover-over text box in games. Quests provide information on where to find NPCs, what level you need to be, what quests came before, and what quests come after.

If that wasn’t enough, each page also allows logged-in users to add comments and pictures. This provides members of the community with a way to add their own information to the database pages if they desire.

 

Character Profiles

The feature most players are probably aware of is the character profile section of the Lodestone. You can search for and view any character in the game, even if you’re not logged into the site.

I find this super useful as a free company leader, as it allows me to check out applicants who sign up to our free company via our website. Who is this player? What jobs do they play? Do they seem like a new player, or are they a vet? Most importantly, are they even on our server! This information allows me to make more meaningful conversation with that applicant when I first meet them because I have an idea of what they’ve done with their character already.

When you log into the Lodestone and choose one of your own characters, you have all the information you could possibly need about that character at your fingertips. Obviously, you can view that character’s class levels and all of your gear. But you also find information like how many tomes and seals you currently have stashed away. What reputation your character has with beast tribes. A list of the mounts and minions you’ve collected. How many MGP you have for the Gold Saucer, and if you’re taking part in a Triple Triad Tournament.

 

Retainer Features

Another neat, newer feature of the Lodestone is the retainer section of your character sheet. This is incredibly useful because it provides searchable information on what your retainers are keeping in the bank for you. Ever wonder if you have a specific item or weapon in the bank, but couldn’t log into the game to check? The Lodestone gives you all this information right on the website.

You can also view what you’re currently selling on the auction house, and a history of all the sales you’ve made in the past! This is a great tool for folks who enjoy item flipping and playing the auction house because you can keep up with all your sales when you’re away from the game.

 

Free Company Profiles

Each free company has a profile on the Lodestone. This profile provides a page with all the important information about a free company such as server, number of members, when the FC was formed, their current server ranking, and their gaming focus. An activity log gives a summary of FC folks who log in and their achievements. A very useful roster page stays up-to-date and provides information on members and FC leadership. The Lodestone also displays information on what is currently stored in the FC chest, and offers a free forum for FC members to use right there on the site.

I can’t stress how very important all this is, especially to folks who are looking to potentially join a new FC. If you’re very serious about finding a good fit, very first thing, aside from checking for a FC website, is to search the FC on the Lodestone and check them out completely.

Social Networking

One element that I don’t see used as often for English speaking players, but seems to be utilized much more among Japanese players, is the built-in social network the Lodestone provides. You can friend and follow other players on the Lodestone, which gives you access to the parts of their profile they allow friends to see.

Each Lodestone character also has their own blog, which you can access directly in the Home Menu. You can use this blog for anything from posting thoughts or opinions, writing up role play posts, asking the community questions, or posting guides and walk throughs. If you connect your character account to other social networks, like Twitter and Facebook, you can share your Lodestone blog posts on these networks.

I’ve used the blog once, just out of curiosity, to ask a question. I actually received pretty quick responses, and all of them were relevant and helpful. So, there is a community at work on the Lodestone, but it’s just not tapped into as much as it could be.

All that being said, I hope this post has introduced you to some useful aspect of the Lodestone that you weren’t aware of, and that you do take advantage of the tool that FFXIV provides all players. It’s free to use, and can keep you connected to information about characters, free companies, and even your friends in times when you can’t be logged into the game.

So get out there and tap into the power of the Lodestone!