What is hunting?
Click here to skip to how to unlock hunts. Hunting in Final Fantasy XIV is the locating of and the subsequent killing of Notorious Monsters throughout the world of Eorzea. These mobs can be common “trash” mobs and B ranks found in every zone, to giant “S” and "SS" class monsters. Some of which are among the largest mob models in the game. The lowest rank Notorious Monsters known as B ranks are typically only used for hunting when you have what is known as Mark Bills. There are two kinds of bills, Regular Mark bills which can be obtained on a 24 hour basis (that resets daily at 8:00 AM PDT) are used in hunting normal zone mobs. The Elite Mark bills are used in hunting “B” class monsters which are obtainable once a week. “A” rank and “S” rank mobs do not require mark bills in order to receive rewards. A ranks spawn every three to 4 hours after their last kill and thus are able to be farmed on a daily basis. See hunt train section for more information. S ranks only pop after several days have passed since their previous kill or server maintenance and then only after a player has performed an action or forfilled a condition such as killing certian mobs, discarding items, crafting, or travling over the spanw location with a minion out. 
The Hunt Train
In the evolution of the game, the awesome community on Midgardsormr and other worlds have put together what is commonly referred to as the Hunt Train. A group of people called scouts locate every 7.0/6.0/5.0 and 4.0 A rank hunt mob. The train is then announced via LS communication and discorod with an initial "Vibe" location in the zone where the hunt will begin. In the meantime people form groups to ensure that they receive the full reward for the kill. When the hunt train begins, the first mark position is given and everybody rushes to kill it. Once defeated, the next mob location is given, everybody travels to the new spot, and so on and so forth. Sometimes when going in between zones or instances, a "Vibe" is needed due to large ammount of people hunting at once. When traveling to new zones, servers can become congested and players are not able to travel to that zone until the congeston clears up. Vibes provide time for people to get into the zone or zone instance before the next mark is called. It is common courtesy to all hunters to not pull the hunt mark earlier than when the main body of the hunt train arrives, and most certainly never pull before the mark is announced by the conductor. It is also a courtesy when trains are VERY large to dismiss your chocobo and minions, this is done to help people who have issues with large number of concurrent screen renders. |
