Retainers  

A guide by Wint Aru

Retainers are Final Fantasy XIV's mules. You get one retainer for free, each additional retainer will cost you $1. You can use them to store and sell items. It's the selling of items this guide will focus on because there is no Auction House in Final Fantasy XIV as of yet and so being able to set up and configure a retainer will be your main source of income.

Where to get a retainer

Retainers can be obtained after speaking with the starting quest NPC for each city. After speaking to the NPC and selecting the "About the retainer counter" option, they will indicate that by speaking with an NPC nearby you can obtain a retainer. Part of the creation process includes deciding on a name for your retainer (note that spaces are not allowed in retainer names, unlike character names).

After you get your retainer, you can then visit the Market Wards for your city and speak with them to transfer items and set your bazaar up. You may also speak with your retainer in the tavern that you get the retainer in, but you can't have them set up shop there. There also exist in each city bells that, when approached, give you the menu option to summon your retainer.

One thing to note is that no matter where you get your retainer, you can move them from city to city with no fuss. As long as they aren't currently selling anywhere, you can put them wherever you want. If they are selling somewhere, you cannot summon them, you must go back to where they are selling to interact with them.

City Locations and Details

Ul'dah	Limsa Lominsa	Gridania
Quest NPC: Momodi	Quest NPC: Baderon	Quest NPC: Miounne
Retainer NPC: Thaisie	Retainer NPC: Ursulie	Retainer NPC: Gyles
Market Wards (The Dunes): First Syntgoht Ward Second Syntgoht Ward Third Syntgoht Ward Fourth Syntgoht Ward Fifth Syntgoht Ward First Gigiyon Ward Second Gigiyon Ward Third Gigiyon Ward Fourth Gigiyon Ward Fifth Gigiyon Ward First Galfridus Ward Second Galfridus Ward Third Galfridus Ward Fourth Galfridus Ward Fifth Galfridus Ward First Ririphon Ward Second Ririphon Ward Third Ririphon Ward Fourth Ririphon Ward Fifth Ririphon Ward	Market Wards (Southern Islands): Battlecraft Ward. Spellcraft Ward. Fieldcraft Ward. Tradescraft Ward. Kitcheners Ward. Grocers Ward. Hunters Ward. Chirurgeons Ward. Ironmongers Ward. Woodcutters Ward. Tanners Ward. Masons Ward. Tailors Ward. Tinkerers Ward. Clothiers Ward Jewellers Ward. Hatters Ward. Glovers Ward. Legfitters Ward. Cobblers Ward.	Market Wards (Lotus Gardens): Battlecraft Den. Spellcraft Den. Fieldcraft Den. Tradescraft Den. Kitcheners Den. Grocers Den. Hunters Den. Chirurgeons Den. Ironmongers Den. Woodcutters Den. Tanners Den. Masons Den. Tailors Den. Tinkerers Den. Clothiers Den. Jewellers Den. Hatters Den. Glovers Den. Legfitters Den. Cobblers Den.

Market Wards

The Market Wards are where you can set up your retainer to sell your hard-won items. Each city has it's own area for them, you merely have to run to the entrance on the map and select teleport. Select Market Wards from the menu and choose which section of the wards you wish to visit.

Each entry in the Market Ward caters to a specific set of equipment and items. e.g. Battlecraft sections contain weapons for the Disciplines of War and the Spellcraft ward contain staffs and wands for the Disciplines of Magic.

Once in the wards, you may open your menu and select Summon Retainer. This will bring up a list of your retainers you have. Select the retainer you wish to use, and they will appear along with a list of options:

• Exchange items with your retainer
• This is where you give your retainer items to sell, and can retrieve the gil they have earned selling your items.
• View and manage the contents of your bazaar
• This is where you can set up the retainer's bazaar by setting prices for items to sell.
• Release your retainer from service
• This will dismiss your retainer from service. Please note that anything you have not taken from them (including gil) will be lost once you complete this transaction.
• Dismiss your retainer for now
• This will make your retainer disappear from the ward that they are currently selling in. You can use this to move your retainer to another ward.
• Finish managing your retainer
• This will end your session with your retainer.

Stands

While in the market wards, you will notice that there are vendor stands there. If it is empty, when you move close you can open your menu and select "Lease Vendor Stand", and your NPC will be placed within.

Stands cost 500 gil per day to lease, and each lease lasts for 24 hours.

You may also change your stand's appearance. If you choose "Select a stand type", you are given the following options:

• Standard
• Herbs & Aromatics
• Bric-a-Brac
• Arms & Armor

Standard	Herbs & Aromatics	Bric-a-Brac	Arms & Armor

You can also change the stand's color to several options.

Searching the Wards

WHhen you go to enter the wards, you have the opportunity to select the item catagory of which you are looking, and from there view available items in that catagory that are currently availble for sale from a retainer. Very similar feel to the old Auction House of FF11.

Selling Items

Since the retainer system is still a work in progress, I will offer some of my strategies for selling items.

• Check NPC prices for your items before putting up for sale. This will give you an idea of what to ask for on an item. If you don't sell them at say 10% higher than the NPC price, just NPC the item.
• Try to get a feel for what is vendor trash and what isn't. Most of the time, the normal quality version of an item is probably vendor trash, but try to sell it once anyway. If you get 10% above NPC price for it, you made a profit. If it takes two weeks to sell, you probably just want to NPC it.
• You are limited to selling 10 different items at a time, so make those slots count!

Final Fantasy XIV Wikibase™