What is hunting?

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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.

S ranks only pop after several days have passed since their previous kill or server maintenance and then only after certain conditions have been met. These are by someone spawning them by meeting those conditions,

The Hunt Train

In the evolution of the game, the awesome community in on the Midgardsormr server have put together what is commonly referred to as the Hunt Train. A group of people seek out and locate every 4.0/5.0 A rank hunt mob. The train is then announced via LS communication and the position of the first hunt mob is given. Groups are formed VIA party finder and a Pull Time or PT is given. This is usually a time based on the ET or Eorzea time clock. When the time is reached, everybody attacks and kills the A rank. Once defeated, the next mob location is given, everybody travels to the new spot, and a new pull time is given. It is common courtesy to all hunters to not pull the hunt mark earlier than the stated PT. It is also a courtesy to dismiss your chocobo and minions, this is done to help people who have issues with large number of concurrent screen renders. Each chocobo or minion is an object that takes up resources on another person’s computer, if too many resources are used, the hunt mark could disappear from the individuals screen. Tips to help with this are to spread around the hunt mark in an evenly distributed circle, reducing the number of nearby renders for all hunters. It also helps people figure out where the hunt mark is located at if it does not appear on their screen. Another common courtesy is to ensure that the hunt locations are properly relayed to all hunt Linkshells.

Rewards

6.0 Areas

5.0 Areas

4.0 Areas

3.0 Areas

2.0 Areas

Before you Hunt

You are rewarded upon killing the hunt mobs in your Mark bills, "A Ranks", and "S ranks" in the field with Gil, Experience, Tomestones various types, Log Books, Music sheets, Cracked Clusters, Cracked Stellacluster, Cracked Plaincluster, Sacks of Nuts, and Centurio Seals. Tomestones will change depending on the patch that is currently in play. Check out the reward section on the zone pages for more details.

To unlock the ability to hunt you need to be level 50. The starting quest is determined by which grand company you belong to.
Maelstrom
Twin Adder
Immortal Flames

When you reach level 60, you will need to perform the following quests to unlock the Clan Mark bills.

Once you have completed the quest, you will now have access to the Hunt Board, where you can pick up Mark Bills for your Daily and Weekly hunts. You will also gain the ability to spend your Allied seals. Allied seals can be spent on a variety of things, from my favorite thing Venture tokens used by your Retainers, unique weapons and armors, minions, house decorations, and seeds for your chocobo. Note that some of the 2.0 zone hunt bills include fate bosses as well.

B ranks, and Daily Hunt bills are 100% solo-able by any class, although you may want to use your companion chocobo to help your fight to make it go smoothly. A ranks in 2.0 are usually solo able. A ranks in 3.0 can be downed by a single party of 4 to 8 players depending on the particular mob type, player skill, and party item level(ilevel). 4.0 A ranks are much tougher, I recommend two parties at this time. Because of the potential reward however, a single party killing an A rank is frowned upon. Please read more in my Proper Hunting Etiquette section. S ranks require a server wide effort. S rank mobs employ a lot of skills that are very dangerous to large groups of people and in a lot of cases have one shot kill abilities. Tanks must be constantly healed by multiple healers at times, and DPS must be ready to escape the very large scale AOE attacks.

3.0 Hunts

Along with 3.0 came also a new kind of Mark Bill known as the Clan Mark Bill. In order to unlock Clan Mark bills, you will need to complete a series of quests that unlock different tiers of Mark bills. Tier 1 is unlockable at level 53, Tier 2 is unlockable at 56, Tier 3 is unlockable at 59, and the Elite Mark Bills for weekly hunting of B ranks, is unlockable at 60.

4.0 Hunts

4.0 Hunts are a lot more difficult than 3.0 and especially now 2.0 hunts. They have far more HP, and one-shot mechanics than their predecessors. Referred to as Veteran Clan Hunt. The quest to unlock this tier starts in Kugane with a NPC named Estrild. One-Star Veteran Clan hunts are unlockable at 61. Two-Star Veteran Clan hunts are unlockable at 63. Three-Star Veteran Clan hunts are unlockable at 66. Finally, Elite Veteran Clan hunts are unlockable at 70.

5.0 Hunts

5.0 Hunts are a lot more difficult than 4.0 and especially now 3.0 and 2.0 Hunts. They have far more HP, and one-shot mechanics. Referred to as Nutsy Clan Hunts. The first quest that unlocks One-Nut Clan Mark Bills starts in The Crystarium (x9, y9). The quest is named Nuts to You. Accessible at level 70 from Hume Lout. At level 73 Two-Nut Clan Mark Bills are unlocked. The quest name is Two Nuts too Nutty, from Halldor in the Crystarium. At level 76 Three-Nut clan Mark Bills are unlocked. The quest name is How do you like Three Nuts, from Halldor in the Crystarium. At level 80 the Elite Marks are unlocked. The quest name is Too Many Nutters, from Halldor in the Crystarium.

6.0 Hunts

6.0 Hunts are a more difficult even still than 5.0 hunts. They have far more HP, and one-shot mechanics. Referred to as Nutsy Clan Hunts. The first quest that unlocks 6.0 Nut Mark Bills starts in Old Sharlayan (X:11.2 Y:12.0), from a NPC named Diminutive Gleaner. The quest is named The Hunt for Specimens. Players must first complete the quest "Elite and Dangerous" and have progressed to a certain point in the main scenario. More Quests to be listed.