Within Final Fantasy XIV, riding maps can be utilized to boost your mount’s velocity. They can make life a little simpler, but they’re not as vital as they were in the past.
Your first mount feels like an enormous increase in your XIV.
You’ve become so used to pushing yourself around the massive maps by foot that the initial Chocobo could be a mysteriously light-weight limousine. This is just the beginning, however.
At some point, you’ll have the chance to take off into the sky by riding mechs, hugely heavy animals, flying motorcycles, and huge whales, to mention just a few.
For a long time, you’ll end up on the ground.
It’s unlikely that you’ll experience the thrill of liberty until after you’ve finished A Realm Reborn’s Major Scenario quests and achieved level 50. At that point, you’ll be flying through all of the game’s zones.
It wasn’t always this way. Flying was introduced in A Realm Reborn recently and was made possible by The Reflections in the Crystal Patch, which made levelling easier.
However, there are situations in which you’ll have to put your bike on the ground.
Unlocking flying in expansion zones isn’t as easy as in Realm Reborn. It’s necessary to complete quests, and also find hidden items that unlock flying in a zone-by-zone manner.
This isn’t the most painful procedure in the world-it’s nowhere near as painful as unlocking your weapon relics. However, the ground mounts you have will be very useful until you’re flying everywhere.
The speed of your ground mount could be multiplied by two.
It’s specific to the character you play, not the mounts themselves. Therefore, the upgrades you unlock will apply to all your mounts when you travel on the ground.
The speed increases are dependent on story progression.
Once you’ve reached certain milestones, you’ll be notified that the speed of your mount has increased in this region.
You can determine in which areas your speed has increased by looking at the speed menu on your mount. Within that menu, you’ll notice two stars in the areas.
The first star is unlocked by completing the main story quest, and the second star requires an item.
You can make use of Riding Maps to get this second star (and the final speed boost) free for life.
How do I get Riding Maps?
Riding Maps are available from your Grand Company’s Hunt Billmaster in exchange for Allied Seals.
Allies’ Seals are obtained by getting rid of marks during the “Hunting” activity; this is a fun side game which involves chasing treasures all over the world, often with other players.
Higher levels of marks give you higher quantities of Allied Seals.
You can earn lots of rewards with the seals you earn, riding maps among them.
You’ll pay 250 Allied Seals, which are available in the “Others” tab of the Billmaster’s auctions.
If you’re searching for Shadowbringers Riding Maps, the method is slightly different.
You’ll have to collect Bicolor Gemstones by completing FATEs in every zone. Then, you can exchange them for Riding Maps from a variety of retailers.
Is there any point in buying riding maps?
Yes, and no.
At the time, flying was not possible during A Realm Reborn. It was only possible to fly from Heavensward to the east, and the game requires regular access to the original zones to the fullest extent.
Thus riding Maps were much more crucial than they are now – you’ll want to squeeze the most speed from those ground-mounted bikes as you can.
However, the flight is superior to the ground every time. All you have to do to get it to work in A Realm Reborn is to beat the Main Scenario quests.
Therefore, buying all of the Riding Maps isn’t nearly as important as it was in the past.
They’re still worth having since some players prefer to enjoy the view from the ground in the end. However, I’d recommend flying without unlocking first.
