XIV is full of rich, vibrant cities with lots to offer. New jobs, new friends, players in extremely questionable glamours. You’ll start out in one, depending on which job you choose. But eventually the time will come to spread your wings and travel the world, leaving your starting zone behind for new, more profitable adventures. If you’ve been playing XIV a little while then you might question the need for airships, seeing as everyone seems perfectly happy to teleport around using Aetheryte crystals. I’d go so far as to say that 95% of players use the airship system exactly once. After that, they’ve attuned to all the major Aetheryte chunks in the cities and can simply use that to go back and forth.
How Do I Get An Airship Pass?
Regardless of which city you begin your journey in, you’ll get a quest at level 15 that provides access to the other. “The Lominsan Envoy”, “The Gridanian Envoy”, and the “Ul’dahn Envoy” are all the same quest, basically. It’s important to note that unlocking the Airship Pass is tied to your story progression and not your job level alone. So you’ll need a level 15 character to access the quest. But unless you’re up to date on the MSQ, you won’t be able to access it. It’s really easy to get sidetracked with everything XIV throws in your face. Sidequests, leves, crafting and gathering. I’d say that at least getting to the point of unlocking the Airship Pass and gaining access to the other two cities should be a pretty high priority for anyone, though. Once you’ve completed the quest chain that leads to the other two hub cities, your options become so much wider. You can meet more people, unlock a huge range of both combat and crafting/gathering jobs, and unlock more dungeons to battle through. I know quite a few players who’ve gotten to level 20 without ever stepping foot beyond their starting city. It’s completely possible to outlevel the Envoy quest in no time at all. So you can do it – but that doesn’t mean you should. Broaden those horizons! XIV has much more to offer than your first city leads you to believe. Unless it’s Limsa Lominsa. In which case you wanna get out before you get roped into unsavory roleplay. It happens to everyone eventually.
What’s The Deal With Free Company Airships?
Free Companies (player-run organizations, akin to guilds) can eventually build their own airships. However, these cannot be used for travel. They’re for a separate gameplay feature that allows Free Companies to dispatch airships and submarines on voyages, similar to Retainer Ventures. It’d be pretty cool to travel from place to place on an airship of your own design. But as previously mentioned, that travel system falls by the wayside once all the central Aetherytes are unlocked.
What’s The Golden Airship Ticket For?
Upon completing your Envoy quest and unlocking airship travel, you’ll have the opportunity to talk to a “Well-heeled Youth” in Ul’dah. He’ll present you with a Golden Airship Ticket. This can be used to gain access to the Manderville Gold Saucer, which is XIV’s arcade mode, essentially – you can play the lottery, race Chocobos, and take part in mini-games for prizes. Luckily you just need the one Golden Airship Ticket. Once you’ve traveled to the Gold Saucer you can attune to the Aetheryte there, or take a regular airship to it if you prefer.
