As I’m at my final – A Realm Reborn – reputation grind part (I move from Endwalker and downstairs), and already completed Sylphs and Ixal there, I think it’s safe to talk about how reputations work in FFXIV and are they worth all the bother.
So, FFXIV has these factions called “tribes” or “beast tribes”. You encounter them first during MSQ, and should you wish so, you may later get busy with their reputations as a side activity. Basically, the routine is very much like WoW: you get a number of dailies, you get your reputation ranks (expanding with the amount of rep to be earned with every next rank), and you get your faction vendor goods with the juiciest prizes in the end. The prizes are quite useful: mounts and pets, different stuff for housing, crafting mats (although kinda outdated a bit), dyes etc.
The first biggest difference from WoW is: they are completely optional. In WoW, reputations serve as catalysts for character power, and it’s basically your grind when the new patch is launched. So, whether you want it or not, you’d spend your days grinding them. In FFXIV, you can skip them if you want to – there’s no gear attached.
The second big difference is: stories. Every tribe has its own lore, and their stories unravel with every next rep rank. When you get Bloodsworn (“Exalted”) with all three factions per expansion, you’re getting another story quest which is uniting them all, pushing you immediately to the final level upon completion and offering new awards from every faction’s vendor. As most of FFXIV stories, they’re woven very well, so you just want to follow till the end.
And also, nearly every faction’s quest hub is palpably visually upgraded upon each rank – a settlement grows, so that’s a constant reminder of your efforts that will stay with you when you come to visit them again.
I mean, just look at that loporrit compound in the Moon:
or that, in the middle of otherwise dump and ruin of Dravania:
I think the closest thing Blizzard ever did was Suramar, but it was heavily time-gated too, and obligatory for the major story.
So yes, you can totally skip all the further acquaintance with the tribes where you left them in MSQ (they played their role), or you could choose to follow through and see all the wonders they have in stock! I say: worth it on so many levels.
The third big difference is: ever since ARR (vanilla), you need “peaceful” jobs for certain reputations as well as combat ones. So you’d require at least one crafting class (for Ixal, Moogles, Namazu, Dwarves and Loporrit) and at least one gathering class (for Ixal, Qitari and Omicrons) leveled to max if you want to follow their reputations and see the finale of all the arcs. Since Shadowbringers, it’s one tribe for combat jobs, one tribe for crafting jobs and one tribe for gathering jobs – and I think the pattern stays the same in Dawntrail.
Finally, reputations are a thing that can be effectively used for leveling your job/class of choice. I think I’m driving a 4th circle by now with Pixies and Arkasodara, because they’re insanely effective for combat jobs (surpassing half of roulettes by daily XP – and that’s just for 5 minute effort); and I also used gathering/crafting tribes for extra XP while I leveled. Too bad that tribes arrive way later than expansion launches, so I’d probably have everything leveled when Dawntrail’s first tribe comes to light.
And the final thing I’d like to talk about was: how much of a grind is the rep grind in FFXIV?
Since Stormblood, the pattern has settled: it’s 8 reputation levels (Neutral > Bloodsworn) to grind through with exactly 3 daily quests available. Every quest provides 60 rep, which is quite a nice pace, and allows to avoid the predictability of more round numbers like 50 or 100. Every reputation level advances you through the story, so you get access to new areas or your settlement requires new stuff, and so it enhances the variety of dailies. I’d say it feels quite reasonable to me, although the final leg of Sworn > Bloodsworn most definitely outstays its welcome.
Most importantly, since Stormblood and on, the quests are one-task efforts: for example, if they need you to pick up something, that’s gonna be it. You don’t have to cross the map three times over to complete one quest, as in: pick up one thing, use it at the other end of the map, report to a guy back across the map, then return to questgiver – nope.
Heavensward is the worst expansion considering tribal dailies. First, this is exactly what happens in most of the quests: multitasking. Go talk to a guy (other than questgiver), then pick some stuff for him, then use it elsewhere, report back to a guy, then report to questgiver. Hell, Vanu Vanu can’t even give their quests properly: you talk to a questgiver, then report to a guy sitting NEXT to him to get your actual task.
Heavensward is also very bad with its pacing: 50 rep per quest instead of 60, and believe me, that matters in the long run. I can barely stand every tribe by Bloodsworn, but I absoutely hated birdies and moogles when I finished their tasks, and I won’t remember them fondly.
The strangest thing is that ARR tribes – the earliest designed – are somehow super fun. Not Ixal, mind you (although they had a perfect story), but I completed sylphs, tried sahagin and kobolds a bit and almost completed amal’jaa – and you know, they’re all awesome. Of course, it’s easier with flights and outleveled jobs (probably was a lot more pain in the ass back when it was current), but I find the process itself super entertaining. I don’t know, the quest design here in ARR is just… fun? It’s true for every faction.
The next important thing is: except for Ixal, it’s not 1.Neutral > 8. Bloodsworn, but 1.Neutral > 4. Trusted, and that’s it. Surely takes away a lot of pain.
And finally, in ARR they add new quests with every next rank – and with more rep income. That is, at rank one you get 3 quests with rep 10, so you may earn 30. At rank 2, they add 3 more quests with rep 14, so now you might complete 6 quests and earn 30+42=72. Get it? The rep rank inflation is undercut by extra quest options, so you can be there in no time. It’s such a clever and inspiring scheme that I wish they kept on. Even if you get a total of 12 tribal quests (that is, you have to choose which tribes you work for every day).
In conclusion, tribal quests in FFXIV are non-obligatory, but super fun, provide visible progress in the open world, great rewards and awesome stories. They’re totally worth doing, and I’m glad I walked this path myself :) I intend to proceed in Dawntrail by all means!
Gnomecore 