Final Fantasy 14: How To Get A Mount
Those trying out the revamped fourteenth installment of "Final Fantasy" might find that its area maps, while stunning, are very time-consuming to traverse on foot. The good news? Like every quality MMO, "A Realm Reborn" provides players with their first mount for free at a certain story point in the early game. The bad news? The entire mount system — including access to mounts purchased from the real money store or packaged in digital deluxe and preorder rewards — is locked behind the level 20 main story quest after players have trekked through all three city-states, completed the first three dungeons, and the first trial.
Even after all this work, players don't automatically get a mount upon completing the prerequisite main quest. They have a little more footwork to do to earn a reprieve from walking. Here is where to go, who to talk to, and what to do in order to unlock the mount system in "Final Fantasy 14."
Join a Grand Company
The quest "A Hero in the Making" requires you to join a Grand Company (GC) — the main military forces of one of the three city-states — before proceeding with the narrative. While your Grand Company affiliation might not influence the main story after this point, enlisting to one is mandatory for a good reason: Not only does a Grand Company provide resources and crafting materials, it's how you get a mount and unlock the mount system as a whole.
Though you'll have to complete the enlistment process in its entirety first, the steps thankfully don't include any of the near-impossible quests of the "Final Fantasy" series. Once you've picked up "The Company You Keep" from your GC of choice, travel to the appropriate city-state to finish the chain — the next quest will be either "For Coin and Country," "Till Sea Swallows All," or "Wood's Will Be Done" for the Immortal Flames, the Maelstrom, or The Order of the Twin Adder respectively.
While you'll receive Minfilia's signature "Pray return to the Waking Sands" message after completion, don't go running back to Vesper Bay just yet. Rather, hit up your GC's resident Commander: Swift, R'ashaht Rhiki, or Vorsaile Heuloix will have the quest "My Little Chocobo" available for you to accept. On paper, unlocking your first mount is as easy as simply following the instructions of this sidequest to completion. But, like most other things in "A Realm Reborn," nothing is quite that simple.
Earn Grand Company Seals for Chocobo Issuance
Your GC commander will tell you to purchase and hand over a Chocobo Issuance to the stablemaster, but what they don't reveal is that these slips of paper cost 200 Grand Company Seals. While this will sound like an extremely trifling amount later in the game, it can be somewhat difficult to scrape together if you haven't been running your daily roulettes or participating in Full Active Time Events (FATEs) in the overworld.
The easiest way forward is to simply queue into Duty Roulette: Leveling under the Duty Finder menu. One successful dungeon run should net you the bulk of the 200 seals, if not more than enough depending on the level of the class you queue in with. Players with healer and tank classes at level 16 and up will have the easiest time getting seals from this roulette, since queueing in as one of the roles in need — i.e. the role icon that shows to the right of the roulette name — will grant the Adventurer in Need a bonus, which gives company seals even after you've already claimed your daily one-time reward.
The DPS role can sometimes pop up as the role in need, but keep in mind that it's very rare, and you'll have to queue fast before it shifts. Also, don't worry if the role changes while you're in the queue — you'll still receive the bonus so long as you queued while the role in question was up.
Get the Chocobo
If you don't have a tank or healer, completing a few FATEs around your highest level should be sufficient to scrape together enough for the Issuance. Head up to your GC Quartermaster at the headquarters, and you'll find the item underneath the Materiel tab (miscellaneous items used in various important exchanges) and not the Materials tab (components actually used in crafting recipes). Purchase it and march down to the Chocobokeep, who will be either around the Gate of Nald in Ul'dah's Steps of Nald, the Zephyr Gate in Limsa Lominsa Lower Decks, or between the main aetheryte and the Carline Canopy in New Gridania.
All that's left is to name your Chocobo and talk to the Chocobokeep again for a quick tutorial on the mount system. You can now access any mounts you've gained through preorder or digital deluxe rewards as well as start building your collection of epic, cute, and sometimes downright wacky mount options.
Your GC Chocobo isn't just your first mount, but your new best friend— you can do all manner of delightful things like renaming and recoloring them at Chocobo Stables in player housing wards, dressing them up with barding through the Companion menu, and even bringing them into battle with you. Head over to the South Shroud to pick up the "My Feisty Little Chocobo" sidequest, and you'll have an indispensable combat companion in no time.