Transportation Guide by Sabishii

Introduction
Vana'diel is a huge world, and trying to get from point A to point B can be daunting, especially for a new player. A new player may become lost, or lost much time trying to figure out how to get to EXP places quickly. I personally have seen people on my server who lack quick access to key EXP points, and that holds up the whole party, and angers people. That is what this guide is here to avoid. This guide is to explain how to quickly and efficiently around the world, whether it be for a quest, mission, or an EXP party.

Modes of Transit
There are multiple ways of getting to different places. When you first start the game, your only mode of transit is to walk. Walking takes a lot of time and it is dangerous, especially at low levels, when things can aggro you and kill you. However, as you gain in levels, more avenues of transit open up to you, and let you get about the world quickly. Here is a list of ways of ways to transport yourself across Vana'diel.

Original Transit Methods

 * Chocobo - The flightless, feathered bird that's a Final Fantasy staple. These birds are an easy and safe way to travel across the land, and it's one of the first methods of fast transit.  They're not available in certain areas like dungeons, and certain outdoor areas that are way out there accessible through dungeons, or very isolated (like Qufim Island and Lufaise Meadows).  You can do a quest to get your chocobo license at level 20 in Upper Jeuno.  See the Chocobo's Wounds quest.  The base value of a chocobo ride from a rented chocobo is 30 minutes, after 30 minutes, the chocobo will kick you off, and you'll be stuck riding on foot.  There is gear though, that can extend your chocobo riding time.


 * In a more recent update, it is possible to raise your own chocobo that can eventually carry you similar to a chocobo from the stables, though they have different stats that can affect their speed, riding duration, and Chocobo Digging. You'll be able to buy a Chocobo Whistle that can summon your chocobo to you, if you're in an area where you can normally ride chocobos.  They have 25 charges each, and cost 1k gil per used charge to completely recharge it, and 50k gil if you drop the whistle and want to buy a new one (that's twice the price of refilling an empty chocobo whistle, so I suggest never to drop it).  It can be expensive to raise the stats of a chocobo, since raising a chocobo chick requires you to feed it and train it to bring its different stats up.  It may require more than one generation of chocobo to raise one that is really good in most stats, since your first chocobo starts off much slower and weaker than a rented one.  But once you have a good chocobo raised, you can even race it against other chocobos for prizes that can help you train it better.  See Chocobo Raising and Chocobo Racing for more info.


 * Upon obtaining a chocobo license, players level 15-19 can rent a chocobo from the Windurst, Bastok, or San d'Oria, but only for 15 minutes, and this isn't affected by chocobo riding gear. There are chocobo stables and Chocogals (NPCs who rent out chocobos who aren't at cities) in Upper, Lower, and Port Jeuno, Bastok Mines, South San d'Oria, Windurst Woods, Al Zhabi, Kazham, Rabao, Norg, at the the telepoints for Altep (East Altepa Desert) and Yhoat (Yhoator Jungle), the three other teleport Crags: Mea (Tahrongi Canyon), Holla (La Theine Plateau), and Dem (Konschtat Highlands), and at the leypoint in Wajaom Woodlands.


 * Airship - Another staple of Final Fantasy, there are airships allowing for fast transit between cities. There are airships in Port Jeuno, Port Bastok, Port San d'Oria, Port Windurst. Port Windurst, Sealion's Den, and Kazham.  All the airships in Bastok, San d'Oria, Windurst, and Kazham connect only to Port Jeuno, so you cannot take an airship from Bastok to Windurst, for example.  The Airship in Sealion's Den is special, as it takes you to Lumoria (aka "Sea").  You have to talk to the NPC next to the gate to get to use it (but only if you're up to Chapter 8 in the Chains of Promathia expansion).  In order to use the airships to and from the three main countries, you must acquire an Airship pass (500k gil, or get to rank 4 in your nation's missions).  To take the airship to and from Kazham, you need to either buy a special pass, the Airship Pass for Kazham for either 148,000 gil to Guddal in Port Jeuno, or trade a Giddeus Chest Key, a Palborough Chest Key, and a Ghelsba Chest Key to the same NPC.  The reason for this is because Kazham and the whole island it was on never existed until the Rise of the Zilart expansion was released in Japan (it was a regular expansion in the original Japanese release, and it was included in the later NA release for free).  In all of the expansions, SE had you go on a quest to get to the new areas (or missions for greater access).  This was also the same way in Treasures of Aht Urhgan, and in Chains of Promathia, to get most of the new areas, you had to be at certain missions within the storyline.


 * Outpost - Within the Conquest map (original lands), there are outposts for each of the main areas (except for Tu'Lia, which is Sky). The conquest system is a competition between the three main countries for control of these areas.  Once your country gains control of an area, you'll be able to talk to a gate guard in your home country, and request a Supply Run Mission to that area.  You must be Rank 3 though to start completing these.  But once you completed the Supply Run to an area, you'll be able to pay a little gil to an NPC, and teleport straight there.  You must be at least a certain level to use each of the Outposts, though, and the amount of gil it costs depends on the general level of the area and which country owns it, it'll be more expensive if you're from Bastok, and another country or the Beastmen own the area you want to teleport to.


 * But it is imperative you acquire as many as these as you can. They're just as important as the Craig crystals, because you don't have to depend on finding a White Mage or someone who can sub /WHM to get you to places.  It is extremely difficult to get access to an outpost right next to a rival country (Gustaberg, Ronfaure, Saurtabaruta), due to the closest nation almost always controlling it.  The only times that the closest nation does not control those areas is when a concentrated force of players from a rival country go leveling in these areas, and trade equipment en masse to the NPCs controlling the outpost.  It will take a concentrated effort from many people, so posting on an online community website (or more than one of them) will help gather the people you need to do this.  It helps a lot so you don't have to waste time with teleports or airships to get from one nation to another without relying on another person, or going to and from Jeuno.


 * Spells (Teleports) - Currently there are six different teleport spells cast by White Mages:
 * Level 36 - Teleport-Holla requires the Holla Gate Crystal
 * Level 36 - Teleport-Dem requires the Dem Gate Crystal
 * Level 36 - Teleport-Mea requires the Mea Gate Crystal
 * Level 38 - Teleport-Altep requires the Altepa Gate Crystal
 * Level 38 - Teleport-Yhoat requires the Yhoator Gate Crystal
 * Level 42 - Teleport-Vahzl requires the Vahzl Gate Crystal
 * The scrolls can be acquired by by quests, but in order to actually teleport to these areas, whether you're a WHM, or in the party with the WHM (the spell teleports everyone in the party in range), you must acquire the gate crystal for the respective gate crystals. This is simple, for all you need to do is travel to the Telepoints and examine them to acquire the key items.  You'll probably acquire your first one around the crags while leveling at low levels, and as you move to explore the map and see the other cities, you can get the other ones at the other two crags.  But you need to go out of your way to get them, and travel through potentially dangerous areas.  It is extremely important you get these as soon as you can, because you will be passed up for parties if you can't get to the area where the group is going to level in quickly.  There are also enchanted items that can cast teleport spells on yourself.  This will be covered later.


 * Spells (Warps) - Also, you have two Black Magic spells that can be cast by Black Mages: Warp and Warp II (also known as D2 for De-Zone 2, the Japanese name for the spell). Warp can be cast by BLMs and people subbing /BLM at lvl 17 and lvl 34 respectively.  Warp II can be cast by BLMs at level 38.  Warp is only a self-cast spell, it'll only affect yourself, and when it is cast, it'll bring you to your Home Point, the place you arrive when you die and choose to return to your home point.  Warp II can be cast by a BLM on any member of the party, and function as a Warp spell, returning you to your home point.  While you may not be a BLM, you can still take advantage of the Warp spell by obtaining certain items that cast warp on yourself.  This will be covered later.
 * Home Points (for making use of Warp) - Choosing a good Home Point location is very important, for you need to be able to choose a spot that'll make it easy for you to reach other places. Your home city can be a good place if you have all the outposts available and at port there's the airship (also, with access to Treasures of Aht Urhgan, you can pay 300 gil to an NPC and be instantly warped to Whitegate), Lower Jeuno was the most popular place for a good time due to nearby access to the airships to the other nations, easy access to the Auction House, and it became a good area for people to wait while trying to get parties.  However, the most popular place for people, particularly high level players to set their home point is Aht Urhgan Whitegate.  This is because Aht Urhgan is the most popular place for high level parties, there is an NPC tarutaru who can warp you to either your home nation or Jeuno for the fee of one silver coin (there's also a free "warp taru" in Aht Urhgan who can teleport you to Jeuno, but messes up often, and you end up at an area surrounding Jeuno), and there's access to the same Auction House that Jeuno uses.  This makes it an excellent "hub" type area that persists even with the rise of the Wings of the Goddess expansion and the past areas.  The first three  Cavernous Maws are located around Jeuno, and since you can easily accessible Jeuno from Whitegate, it is easy to get to the past whenever you want.  Cavernous Maws will be explained later.


 * Enchanted items - There are a number of items that allow you move quickly between places in the world. For example, there are a series of enchanted lvl 65 rings, the Mea Ring, the Holla Ring, the Dem Ring, the Yhoat Ring, the Vahzl Ring, and the Altep Ring.  These bring you to their respective areas just like the WHM spells.  But they only work on yourself, and not anyone else in the party.  They obtainable through BCNM60s, and sold on the AH.  They have 10 charges each, and usable once every 24 hours.  They have a 30 second charge up time before they can be used.


 * Another item that can be used to bring you quickly to places is the Warp Cudgel. This handy lvl 36 club can be equipped by any job, and has 30 charges of Warp on it.  Equip it, wait 30 seconds, and use it to warp right back to your home point.  It's usable once every 24 hours, so it's useful to carry more than one at a time.  They're crafted and rather cheap.  It is very important you carry some on you at all times.  Other items that emulate this are the Trick Staff II usable 10 times before it becomes useless, the Treat Staff which is only usable during a Halloween event, and the Treat Staff II which has unlimited charges, but only usable once every 120 hours.


 * Other items that bring you to other places are the Olduum Ring which brings you to the leypoint in Wajaom Woodlands which has chocogal for easy chocobo access, it's obtainable via a quest and has unlimited charges, usable once every 20 hours. There's also the Tavnazian Ring obtainable through CoP missions, usable once every 24 hours, but it has unlimited uses, and it brings you to the Tavnazian Safehold.  The Ducal Guard's Ring is obtainable through CoP missions, and it brings you to Jeuno, but it only has 5 charges, and can't be replaced or recharged once used up.  Maat's Cap has great stats, and can be used to teleport straight to Maat in Ru'Lude Gardens, but it is very hard to obtain (beat Maat with each of the original and Zilart jobs, then talk to him again to obtain the hat and a title: Ultimate Champion of the World).


 * Another series of items are single use, special, rare/exclusive glyphs that are obtained through Chocobo riding games, Expeditionary Force, and some seasonal events. Expeditionary Force is never done by anyone (no one really cares enough to do it, the apparent rewards aren't enough to motivate anyone to try), and the Chocobo Riding Games are hard to accomplish.  The chocobo riding games are started by talking to a randomly chosen NPC in one of the chocobo stables.  It'll be one of the NPCs that rent out chocobos, you can talk to all of them until you get a different dialog than usual.  The NPC will tell you that a chocobo has gotten lost on its way to a certain city, and ask if you would return it to that city.  You get a reward based on how fast you can get the chocobo from the city you're at, and the city you were asked to bring it to, getting within a variable time limit (depends on the distance between the two cities) would score you a glyph or an exp scroll.


 * An example would be to get your chocobo from Bastok to Windurst (or visa versa). The time limit to get the best prize would be 32:29 minutes.  Given that you're limited to 30 minutes on a chocobo without chocobo riding gear, this would pretty much require you to wear chocobo riding gear to get across the world on time.  It requires you to know the terrain like the back of your hand, and know how to take short cuts.  You travel to the city and go through the zone, and you'll get a cut scene where some NPC is waiting for you to arrive, take the chocobo from you, and gives you a prize.  It's extremely hard to get within the time limit they want.  A schedule of the chocobo riding games can be found at places like the MithraPride clock, which you can find via google.  There's also an extension called Vana'diel clock for Firefox that gives you this information, and a whole lot more.  Needless to say, you're not going to see many of these glyphs.


 * Also there are some charged accessories that can be gained through seasonal events that can bring you to chocobo stables in the three main nations.


 * Ferries - There are ferries that bring you between Selbina and Mhaura, Mhaura and Whitegate, and Whitegate to Nashmau. They're cheap to use, but they take 15 minutes to reach their destination, and can be attacked by random sea mobs and even undead pirates.  You don't want to be using these much, though it's useful for fishing.  You don't need to do anything special for most ferries, though you need to have the prerequisite quest in Lower Jeuno at the Tenshodo HQ to actually arrive at your destination when traveling from Mhaura to Whitegate.  If you get on the ferry to Whitegate from Mhaura, and you don't have this quest done, you'll end up back at the dock when the ship leaves.

Zilart and Chains of Promathia

 * Sky - There are two different ways to get to sky (access to which is granted by completing the Shadow Lord mission for your home nation, starting the Zilart missions, and getting up to the Ark Angels mission, Zilart Mission 14), the long way which is through the sanctuary of Zi'Tah, Ro'Meave, then the Hall of the Gods, or the short way which is through a mini-quest that requires you to complete CoP Mission 8-2. The quest never appears in your quest log, but it provides a fast and easy way to get to Tu'Lia (aka Sky).  Details are covered in the Teleportation to Tu'Lia Guide.  The long and short is that you'll be able to access Sky through one or more of the three teleport crags, through the entrance to that area's Promyvion.  That being said, it is important, if you intend to do anything in Sky such as Gods, to get this done for at least one crag, and remember which one you unlocked it for.


 * Swirling Vortex - There's four of these, one in Valkurm Dunes that brings you to the one in Lufaise Meadows, and one at Qufim Island that brings you to one in Misareaux Coast. To use these, you need to be on Chapter 2 of CoP, which means completing the main three Promyvions.


 * Sea-Limbus - Access to Lumoria is obtained upon reaching chapter 8 of the CoP storyline. You can get there through the Sealion's Den airship.  But what if you want to go to Limbus?  Access through the two limbus areas is only obtainable by reaching the three crags, going around them until you reach a Dimension Portal, and using that.  Again, to use this you need to be on chapter 8 of CoP.  Each crag portal brings you to a different side of Al'Taieu and from there you can access Temenos and Apollyon, the two sectors of Limbus.

Aht Urhgan

 * Assault Staging Points - These staging points are located in Aht Urhgan areas. The purpose of these areas are to hold Assault missions.  You can pay with imperial standing to teleport to these areas without a Assault permit, however you must have unlocked the area to get there using the portal in Whitegate.  You must travel by foot to the Staging points, and use the runic portals there.  This brings you straight to Whitegate, and there you can pay 200 imperial standing to teleport to the staging point of your choice for parties or whatever.  It is EXTREMELY important to start getting these staging points as soon as you get whitegate access.  You WILL be passed up for exp and merit in the Aht Urhgan areas if you don't have these staging points.

Wings of the Goddess

 * Cavernous Maw - There are nine cavernous maws in the future and past, which act as gateways to and from the past areas of the Wings of the Goddess areas. If you're new to the expansion, you need to initially enter through one of the maws surrounding Jeuno:
 * Batallia Downs (H-5)
 * Rolanberry Fields (H-6) (Located on the border of H-6 & G-6)
 * Sauromugue Champaign (J-10) (Note: you must travel past the third banishing gate in Garlaige Citadel to get to this one).
 * This will bring you to the "Shadowreign Realm," which is the past. You will pop up in one of these maps, but in the past (you may end up in a different area from which you used the maw initially, if this was your first trip).  Note: After using one of these three cavernous maws, you may not use any other maw in the future except the one you ended up at until you've used the other ones in the past.  For example, if you used the one in Batallia Downs, and you ended up in Sauromugue Champaign, then you die and home point, or warp/teleport, you MUST go back to Sauromugue Champaign and use that Cavernous Maw there, to get back to the past (which involves going through the banishing gates in Garlaige).  Therefore, your first task in the past is to "unlock" the other maws.  Not only do you have the other two maws around Jeuno to unlock, but there are other maws that you can travel to other areas in the past that are in the future.


 * Batallia Downs (H-5)
 * Rolanberry Fields (H-6) (Located on the border of H-6 & G-6)
 * Sauromugue Champaign (J-10)
 * Jugner Forest (S) (H-11)
 * Pashhow Marshlands (S) (K-8)
 * Meriphataud Mountains (S) (K-6)
 * East Ronfaure (S) (H-5)
 * North Gustaberg (S) (K-7)
 * West Sarutabaruta (S) (H-9)
 * Once that's accomplished, you can get around the past much more easily.


 * Campaign Arbiters - These NPCs can be found in every area in the past. Once you join up with an army (either Bastok, Windurst, or Sandy's military) by collecting a key item from one of them and visiting the corresponding nation and completing their first quest, you'll be able to not only participate in Campaign battles, but make use of their teleport system.  Using the Campaign Arbiter (they have prefix C.A. in their names) in one of the three countries, you can teleport straight to any past area you've been to.  Using a Campaign Arbiter NPC in any area in the past, you can teleport back to your country.  All this costs some allied notes, which are obtained by participating in Campaign battles.  The amount it costs depends on who owns the area you're trying to teleport to.