FATEs are events that occur in Final Fantasy XIV’s overworld that multiple players can take part in. They can reward you with money, experience, and company seals as standard. But certain FATEs can reward you with achievements or even minions.
You’ve probably wandered past a ton of FATEs even in your early days of XIV.
The system is explained to you in a time where the game is throwing up tutorial windows every other second, so it’s understandable if you missed out.
FATE stands for “Full Active Time Event”, which is an unnecessarily wordy way of saying “group event”.
Completing these events can reward you with experience and gil at a basic level. But some will offer greater rewards, like pets and achievements. Some will even be necessary to progress certain sidequests, like the completely mad Hildibrand storyline.
How Do FATEs Work?
The game will notify you if a FATE is occurring nearby.
You can also see them on the map – they’ll be indicated by blue circles that mark the area the event is happening within.
Some simply require you to kill waves of enemies that appear in the area. Some have special conditions, like recovering items and delivering them to an NPC. Some FATEs will also spawn boss monsters that require several players to take down effectively.
When a FATE ends, each player’s contribution will be weighed, and they’ll receive a reward based on their performance.
I’ll list the tiers below.
Gold Medal: Highest possible rating. Will provide the player with the maximum gil/experience/Company Seal reward the FATE can offer. If you want to score the minion reward from FATEs that offer them, you’ll need to hit the Gold Medal.
Silver Medal: For players who were pulling their weight but not quite excelling. Offers a decent gil/experience/Company Seal reward, but no extras like minions if applicable.
Bronze Medal: Small experience/gil/Company Seal reward. If you’ve joined a FATE halfway through or not really been paying attention to it, you’ll probably score one of these. Bronze Medals aren’t eligible for minion rewards.
Alongside the typical Medals, you can also get an “Honorable Mention”. Those are typically handed to people who’ve joined at the last second, and that provides the tiniest reward possible.
How To Join a FATE
If you want to join a FATE, simply head to the location on the map.
If you’re at an appropriate level then you’ll automatically join.
But in the event you’re underleveled for it, your contribution won’t be weighed as heavily.
If you’re overleveled for it – as you most often will be at the start – the game will force you to level sync down to take part.
So for example, if you’re level 50 trying to do a level 5 FATE, you’ll have to drop your level back down to 5 to take part. This will set your health/mana match what it would have been back then, and also make any skills gained past that point inaccessible.
As soon as the FATE is over, you’ll get them all back – so this really just keeps the playing field as even as possible.
How To Go For Gold Medals In FATEs
It’s not especially difficult, thankfully.
Participation is measured by a number of factors.
Those factors are usually damaging/killing monsters, getting hit, and healing other players involved in the FATE.
This means that no matter which role you play – tank, DPS, or healer – you can score a Gold Medal if you’re pulling your weight.
For boss encounter FATEs, it’s super easy to earn Gold Medals as a tank.
Participation is judged by tanking boss attacks, so turn that tank stance on and do what you do best.
It doesn’t matter if you dodge or mitigate the attacks – just take them.
This really depends on what you’re looking to get out of them.
If you want to gain experience and money, you can generally head out into whatever zone you’re currently finding quests in the MSQ and knock a few out.
If you’re looking for minions or other rewards, you’re going to have to take a more considered approach.
For example, you can see a list of minions rewarded by FATEs right here.
So take a look, figure out which one you want, and head to the appropriate area.
You may have to wait a while, and you may get unlucky from time to time – but if you can consistently hit Gold Medals you’ll have your minion eventually.
Can I Level New Jobs By Farming Fates?
Personally, I’d say no, but that’s because I typically play tank roles.
It’s much easier to level tank or healer jobs through the Duty Finder, as queue times are usually nonexistent, and you can go from instance to instance with no downtime.
If you’re playing DPS, then yes FATEs can be a very valid way to level.
I wouldn’t rely on them entirely, and I certainly wouldn’t go in without following a guide like this for optimum efficiency. Don’t just wander around aimlessly hoping to find them!
Some FATEs offer more experience than others in the immediate area, so knowing which ones to go for can make all the difference.
And even with the various experience boosts the game offers, you’ll still need to complete a lot of FATEs to make progress.
So make sure you’re taking the path of least resistance.
If you’re leveling a new job, you may well be eligible for the Armoury Bonus, which provides you with a 100% EXP boost to any jobs below your highest level.
I’d still recommend queuing for dungeons too while you hop from FATE to FATE.
At the very least, you should be clearing all your daily roulettes for the experience bonuses they offer.
The advantage of FATEs is that they don’t require a prolonged time investment like dungeons or trials.
You can do as many or as little as you like.
You’re also not usually limited by the performance of other people, and you know the next opportunity is only moments away.
