Also just in case you're not aware of this (you probably are but I want to be sure) - every Roulette only has a bonus once per day. The daily reset is currently at 1500 server time (1600 UK time atm). You can run them as much as you like obviously but you don't get anything out of it other than repeating content unless you have your daily bonus to get. The system exists so that there are always people doing the content to get new players through. I don't want to come across as condescending I'm just worried you ran levelling roulette a bunch of times in a row rather than once per day and unnecessarily subjected yourself to aurum vale :/
The reason you're getting Aurum Vale a lot is probably because you haven't unlocked a bunch of the optional dungeons in ARR, but sadly sometimes you just get shit luck with levelling roulette. I had Aurum Vale 3 times in a row when I was last doing levelling roulette regularly and I have every dungeon in the game unlocked
I'm pretty sure I unlocked all the optional dungeons I can. Although I haven't done most of them yet
I didn't really plan on trying other classes (although I randomly dabbled in Blue Mage for an hour back in June but that's like a weird limited thing anyway) until I finished the entire story but at this rate it really might be a good idea just so I don't hit 80 with Ninja halfway through Heavensward
Wait, what's bad about Sastasha and the other one again?
And yes, I know about the daily bonus ;P
So when are we gonna do the Crystal Tower thing? I've got it unlocked and ready to go
I'm pretty sure I unlocked all the optional dungeons I can. Although I haven't done most of them yet
I didn't really plan on trying other classes (although I randomly dabbled in Blue Mage for an hour back in June but that's like a weird limited thing anyway) until I finished the entire story but at this rate it really might be a good idea just so I don't hit 80 with Ninja halfway through Heavensward
Wait, what's bad about Sastasha and the other one again?
And yes, I know about the daily bonus ;P
So when are we gonna do the Crystal Tower thing? I've got it unlocked and ready to go
Sure thing. Have you done the pre-requisite quests to unlock Crystal Tower btw? I think they shortened them but it still has a storyline. Just to save on wait time
Sure thing. Have you done the pre-requisite quests to unlock Crystal Tower btw? I think they shortened them but it still has a storyline. Just to save on wait time
Before you can actually can get into the raid itself, there is a long chain of quests to do before hand. The things needed for the quests used to take a lot longer to do than they do now for various reasons.
I don't know if they're still a thing, but you used to have to do (4?) Fates for the quests between the unlocks. The fates had a minimum half hour respawn time. It was a horrendously poor design decision. I know they increased the timers massively so it's not as long a wait, but I'm hoping they've now removed the requirement entirely.
EDIT: Obs confirmed in game that they're removed, woo
Lots of stuff is happening in this game and there is way too much stuff to summarize. I think I have long given up on wanting this to be a detailed log of my journey through this game
So a summary of highlights and screenshots it shall be.
Anyway, I have recently even realized there are hunt quests in this game. Which earn you these seals for grand companies but that are not that respective grand companies' seals because lord knows why but this game needs a different currency for frickin everything
So I accept this weekly hunt thing and it leads me to this guy, called Dark Helmet:
LOOK HOW FUCKING CUTE HE IS OMG :'3
WHY DO YOU WANT ME TO KILL THIS ADORABLE THING IT HAS NO QUARREL WITH ANYONE
Of course I kill Dark Helmet anyway. Look, don't judge me it's just how you play this game.
Also got promoted to Second Lieutenant in the Maelstrom which allowed me to finally buy a room in the TLS company house. The room is still a work in progress but I now have a bed and some furniture in there and it's starting to look somewhat cozy. Use your imagination since no pics
There's also this whole squadron mechanic at the grand company as well where I can recruit people and send them on missions and they gain EXP and levels and such. This game in a way can still feel overwhelming with how new stuff keeps popping up.
...I just realized I don't even know what benefits the squadron stuff has. I mean, I'm sure it'll play a role in getting promoted even further at some point but beyond that?
Anyway, the Moonfire Faire had come to an end a few days ago and I decided to hop by one last time at Costa Del Sol and join the festivities.
Look at me mom, I'm in dance group now
Bonus: Roger and myself dancing with NPCs before the Coil raids
Anyway, time to enjoy the fireworks one last time
Ahh, this is ni- OH MY GOD WHAT THE FUCK
Right, Sharkmanthing. I forgot about that part of the event. I actually just wanted a few pics of the fireworks and then this guy strolled into my shot...y'know what, it improves it. I'll take it.
So, no more fireworks in the cities...for about half a day when they launched the next limited event for FFXIV's anniversary that also has the same fireworks.
A month of fireworks every night. Thousands of pets across Eorzea dead of heart attacks. When will this madness end?!
Anyway, random assortment of more screencaps I took:
Y'shtola in a miner's outfit. Thought she looked cute
This is also weirdly only for one short MSQ that she dresses up like this. Interesting they went through the effort of modeling a new outfit for her that is visible for a grand total of five minutes.
This man dresses to impress. I'll never not find that big chocobo head funny.
The fat chocobo mount also makes me giggle everytime I see it. Alas, I have not snapped a picture of one yet!
I have a habit of taking pics of NPC main characters during MSQs, like with Y'shtola above. They can often be unique photo opportunities.
Here's Yugiri looking all mysterious and cool in the rain:
Speaking of which, I mentioned earlier how when her and the Domans first arrive and they are clearly Ninja that it's awkward how it's not addressed that I play a Ninja at all. Well, color me impressed, they actually do address it!
More character stuff, here's Kan...uh Kan-Ye something. West? Wait no. Kan-E-Senna. That's it.
And the whole gang gathered.
Tried to go for a cinematic angle/look, I guess:
Thancred casually flipping his knives and stuff
Tataru casually juggling...a knife and a freakin hatchet??? Damn, Tataru is harcore.
Meetings are boring, lemme check my phone real quick
When sparring goes horribly wrong D:
Minfilia. She is our leader. Also, her buttcrack is visible.
"...bitch why are you in my seat"
Posing in front of Wanderer's Palace. At least I think that's what it was called. I actually haven't done this dungeon yet.
Casually strolling towards Ishgard. The gate is totally closed and everything but now that you can fly you can actually just bypass it and land on the bridge to Ishgard anyway! Of course, you'll eventually hit an invisible wall and I can't go there until Heavensward anyway. Still thought it was interesting that most of the bridge has collision and can be walked on.
Also, I decided to take on another job and became a Lancer about two nights ago. Got it up to lvl 27 in that same night as well.
The day after I hit the Dragoon job quest too. Interesting since the Dragoon quest involves Estinien, who was introduced earlier in the MSQ as one of the good guys. Except in this job quest he seems accused of theft. I kinda feel like this job quest is probably best experienced before his appearance in the main story but ah well.
I could've chosen a different job of course that doesn't require me to start back at lvl 1 like Samurai or Red Mage or something but I thought maybe Lancer/Dragoon will be kind of relevant what with Heavensward coming up and it looks like I was right!
This is currently the job I do for when I get bored and feel like doing duty roulettes as I don't want to further overlevel my Ninja. I'm also feeling way more confident these days going into trials and dungeons and stuff. Still not a fan of how the online stuff can kill the pacing of the story though. When the story has a bad guy show up and kidnap one of your people through a dimensional rift and it's like "go after them before it closes, HURRY!" and then you spend the next 15 - 20 minutes at Gold Saucer to keep yourself occupied while you're waiting to queue into the boss battle, it does kind of kill the tension lol
So yeah, main story stuff. I was wondering who the emperor of Garlemald was. I swear his name was mentioned before but I don't even know if I ever saw him anywhere. And then the story is like, "oh don't worry he is dead now. Anyway, here's his grandson or whatever and he's the new emperor"
Ah yes, meet the new emperor. Galavant Nos Zendaya. Garland Von Solarplexus? Greg Ze Dudemeister. FUCK I can never remember these Garlean names.
Anyway, he probably paid Yoshitaka Amano to design his armor.
I should probably mention the Crystal Tower raids.
Uhm. Chaos. That 24 people stuff is a bit much to take in. :')
Lex explained the mechanics to me as we went but even then it was all just like "what is even happening here"
Idk, going in blind with these things does not seem to be an option, lol
I'm not sure I quite understand the appeal of these massive raids yet.
The story was...kind of eh? There was some more backstory on the empire of Allag, which was nice but apart from that it was like "here's a bunch of new characters aaaaand they're gone!" okay bye? I guess Nero got some character development and he'll probably stick around?
Will be interesting to see how this will play into Shadowbringers eventually seeing as how they deemed it important enough to make it mandatory because taken by itself and at this point of the story I thought it was nothing special. The story of the Bahamut coils was far more interesting by comparison and seemed more important. Guess I'll find out...in a few months or however long it takes me to get there.
The crystal tower looked really nice though =p
So since I could finally continue the rest of 2.5 I did just that and there was a lot of interesting stuff going. The Sultana has been murdered, I am accused of having done it, betrayals and intrigues galore, Raubahn lost an arm, the fate of the Scions is unclear and Alphinaud and I are forced to seek refuge in Coerthas. Good cliffhanger ending!
That little Lalafell shit...Telephone Adjective...something...goddamn these names! TELEDJI ADELEDJI, that's the one. Anyway he is a little shit and I was hoping someone would kill the shit out of him and then Raubahn just went and did it and that makes me like him a good deal more. Too bad fucking Ansem cut off his arm.
Will be interesting to see how all this plays out. Find out in The Legend of Tets: Heavensward Sword!
This game has a real obsession with fireworks. Living for the eerie rendition of Answers, though. Makes me want to stop whenever I pass through the event square of each town.
So 200+ hours later I finally get out of A Realm Reborn and begin Heavensward.
I already knew that all the main voices change from here on. I kinda miss the spoiled rich kid voice that Alphinaud had but he sounds proper British now. The voice immediately sounded familiar and I thought I might have heard it in either Xenoblade Chronicles or The Last Story before, and yep, turns out he was in the latter. Both games were localized and dubbed in the UK which I thought made them feel refreshingly different from the usual US voice acting. I assume they switched to the UK for FFXIV as well then?
Because if you want a game full of þe olde English dialogue, then yeah why the heck are you hiring a bunch of people from Los Angeles pretending to be Brits instead of actual Brits
A bigger culture shock was actually the different jingles for when you accept or complete quests, lol
Finally standing in Ishgard after it's been looming in the background of the Coerthas Central Highlands is pretty neat. 1.0 players had to wait five years for this, heh.
It's impressive but at the same time Ishgard has a very oppressive vibe with all the dark gothic architecture, the constant snow and all that. It feels like this is the type of place where if everything goes completely to shit, it would be the setting for the next Bloodborne game or something.
Also, decided to go for a new outfit instead of the full Ninja garb. New version number, new look!
Totally have an unnecessary headcanon explanation too.
You see, occasionally I would like to dress my character in something slightly more casual, something more "summer" looking (using the top you could get from the Moonfire Faire and some pants I got from the market board, lol. I kept the Ninja boots however).
My character wore that outfit during those final 2.5 quests when everything went to shit and the Scions had to flee so I like to imagine she had to leave behind her Ninja armor (except y'know, the boots xD).
Of course this is way too little fabric for the snowy wastelands of Coerhas so I like to think the dude who helped us escape with the Chocobo carriage threw in a tunic for free. He's from Thanalan where it's hot, so I don't get a winter coat.
Standing in this part of Coerthas it finally hit me that the world of FFXIV just got a lot bigger for me and there's finally new areas to explore again.
It's been actual months since the last time I had to attune to an aetheryte, lol
Speaking of which, do you ever come to a city or town you've never been to before and notice a detail that is different from your local area, like their signs have a different design or their street lights are different or something like that and somehow it just weirds you out like you just stepped into a bizarre parallel dimension?
This is how I feel about this aetheryte:
It's...it's different. Why is it different?!
I also get to go to Camp Skyloft Cloudtop. When I first arrived it was just before sunrise which honestly was kind of magical.
Honestly, even though you can very much tell this is an MMO from 2013 that also needed to run on PS3, it also still holds up quite well? Horizon Zero Dawn this is definitely not but I still find myself enamored by the sights of this game.
This area is gonna be a lot of fun to fly around in I'm sure. Speaking of which, not being able to do that in the new zones took some getting used to. "Fly, stupid Chocobo, I'm pressing the fucking button, why won't y- oh. Oh right. Need to unlock it. Whoops. I'm sorry for yelling at you, Chocobro =("
So this Cloudtop areas has these bat-like enemies called Gaelicat. I thought it was just a weird name but they did in fact meow when fighting them so I took a closer look and...
...LOOK HOW FUCKING CUTE THAT IS. THAT IS AN ADORABLE LITTLE KITTY WITH WINGS WHY THE FUCK DO YOU MAKE ME FIGHT THEM?!!?!? D:
My hands are soaked in the blood of a sky kitty. Forgive me lord for I have commited a most heinous sin. I mean it did attack me first tho
Also I finally got to do more Ninja job quests after the game has been cockteasing me every two levels how a new quest is now available but neglected to also mention I need to start Heavensward before I can actually do them.
Unlocked a few neat abilities that can add additional time to my Huton gauge aka that one ninjutsu that decreases the time for my weaponskill cooldowns aka one of the reasons why I'm glad I chose ninja because it feels faster to use than the few other jobs I have tried so far.
So if I remember to use these abilities in certain intervals, I can basically keep Huton going forever and won't ever have to waste ninjutsu charges in order to refresh it. (I often think about how to optimize my rotation but tbf I generally end up improvising and just flailing about in boss battles anyway and unless I'm trying my hand on high-end battles I'm probably overthinking this stuff anyway? idk )
It's nice that Jacke from the Rogues' guild made an appearance in the ninja questline again. I do my miss my Rogue bros. Captain Jacke, V'kebbe the Stray, potato pirate...good times were had.
Jeez, why do these updates always take so much time I always end up typing for over an hour and think I wrote a fucking novel and then I read through it and it only takes like 5 minutes and I'm like "that's fucking it?!"
Writing sucks, I should get a speech-to-text wotsit or something
edit: Forgot to mention, that Heavensward title screen and logo is great, I wish the game would just remember which title screen you selected instead of reverting to the ShB screen every time
You probably feel worse because you're already almost level 60. When we arrived at level 50 after 5 years of random monsters being completely irrelevant, the monsters in that area, including the gaelicats, suuucked. Lol, I'm still kind of afraid of them.
The zones of HW and onward are... honestly some of the most photogenic views I've seen in gaming. The zone designers really tend to go for the "wow factor" instead of "high fidelity realism" when it comes to designing landscapes and it pays off. I really look forward to seeing your reactions to some of the places we go in Heavensward.
Leveling Dragoon to Lvl 50 before you get much further in Heavensward is a good idea. Those quests introduce some characters and concepts that will be important to the HW MSQ later.
Allag's importance to the FFXIV world at large cannot be overstated. All the advanced technology we have today is based on Allagan Technology when you get down to it. And Allag has really effected the world, weather that be by their chimeras escaping and becoming monsters we see everywhere or Dalamud hanging in the sky for so long people forgot it wasn't natural in origin. Just about everything linked to Allag is important in some way. There is a reason why "it's Allag's fault" is a meme response for anything super old that causes problems that needs to be fixed. Half the time, that really is the answer!
Aetheryte designs vary a bit; usually depending on where they originated from. So the Far East and Novradant have their own Aetheryte designs for obvious reasons (they are nowhere near Eorzea culturally). Eorzea's Aetheryte network was decimated by the surge of aether that happened as a result of the Calamity, so they had to pay Sharlayan to replace all the destoryed aetherites in Eorzea. Dravania and parts of Corethas have a lot older aetherytes that were further from the Calamity center, so it looks like they didn't need to be replaced. So they have different, older aetheryte designs.
You probably feel worse because you're already almost level 60. When we arrived at level 50 after 5 years of random monsters being completely irrelevant, the monsters in that area, including the gaelicats, suuucked. Lol, I'm still kind of afraid of them.
I had two enemies of the area gang up on me and I actually still almost died...
Also, for anyone saying the Ironworks gear would last me a while...I could buy waayyyyy higher level gear the minute I stepped into Ishgard
(that being said I don't have enough gil for most of it at this point because I wasted it on furniture for my chamber. PRIORITIES, am I right)
