The Final Fantasy XIV Thread [Dawntrail - 7.00]

[Joker]

For those who DON'T have a zeta (ps fuck you lex), the first step is going and grinding FATES in six areas for three drops per area (a total of 18 betwixt Coerthas West, Churning Mists, Forelands, Hinterlands, Azys La, and Sea of Clouds). I got my first one after about 6-7 in Coerthas West, but then didn't get any for the next 7-ish so the drop rate is somewhere around 10-15%. Expect to be at it a while.

For further inquiry, click here.

 

[Joe]

Aye, I got my first before I headed out this evening and it took about an hour.

 

[Joker]

Incidentally, anyone attempting to level a class from 50-51 would do well to head to Coerthas West - I gained a level and a half in the time I was doing FATES there

 

[Lex]

10-15% is incredibly high, count yourselves lucky you weren't there for Atma 1.0. If it really is that high I almost regret trading in my Zeta, though I did get the replica first for glamours anyway.

 

[Joker]

I *was* there for atma 1.0.

Also, I've gotten 3 now in a cumulative ~2 hours of fating. Not bad.

 

[Joe]

So after reading up on all the steps for the anima weapon I've got to say I'm not impressed at all. I'm all for the FATE grind because that populates the new areas that previously had nobody in them doing FATEs. It's also pretty cool that you can run these FATEs as other characters and earn experience while you grind. The dungeon step is a bit lackluster but it gets people playing that content again so there are benefits to it elsewhere.

After that though it's an uninspired currency grind that serves only to lengthen the amount of time it takes people to get the weapon. There's nothing new behind what you're doing and it doesn't serve to bring anything into the game that it was missing before. It's a wall to keep people playing the same content over and over until the next major patch comes out. There's nothing interesting about it at all and it's kind of sad considering how much thought and creativity has gone into previous FFXIV content.

I'm not going to be progressing the anima weapon quest and I honestly don't think I'll be playing FFXIV for a while. I was content doing FATEs yesterday with the thought in the back of my mind that the quest line would get better and better as it progresses. After reading up on all the steps I've now never been less interested in playing on a daily/regular basis.

 

[Lex]

I've got to say I agree.

It's not the long grind that's the problem, it's the complete lack of imagination. This content was delayed for this release because they were apparently making tweaks to it, and the best they can do is make people do Alexander 800 times? (Yes I know you accrue Law and can buy more parts so it's not really 800) but come the fuck on.

I did my reading after posting yesterday and I tried to kind of settle out in my mind when I'm going to be doing what, but this is so uninspired that I just cba with it. I did all of the steps to Zeta when they were grindy and they were a grind - some of them moreso than this just in terms of prolonging the time it'll take you to get it, like the Alexandrite step - but this time it's just stupid. Alexandrite for example you could add materia as you went so you felt like you were making progress, and it actually had a purpose. This is literally pulling you away from other content to mindlessly grind stuff for at least a month. No thank you.

 

[Miscreant]

To be honest the string of poor content since 3.0 has kind of got to me now, the Relic was the nail in the coffin. Unless 3.2 looks amazing I'm going to unsub once my static finish A4S. Everything has just been a watered down rehash of 2.0, VA and Diadem were awful additions, standing still and hitting a target for extended periods of time isn't fun. Ravana, Thordan and A3S were fun, but there it is...three fights from 7 months and an expansion that I have enjoyed. I think i will come back for the story in 3.3 or 3.4 but I can't justify investing my time in this game now. I enjoy raiding but the amount of time it takes to get raid ready is like a part time job over the first month or so and if I'm not enjoying that content it's not time well spent. It's sad watching a game I loved so much fall from grace like this.

 

[Lex]

^Similar to my thoughts.

As I said to Joe last night, I came back a month or so ago from a 6 month hiatus and I've been totally underwhelmed with the content. I don't think it's terrible, but it doesn't match either the quality or the quantity of content from 2.x patches - I like the new dungeons and Alex is fun, but I don't think any of it is on par with previous content. And it says a whole lot that I was gone for 6 months and managed to do all of the content I missed in that time in a single day.

I don't think I'm quite ready to un-sub yet, but I know there's widespread disappointment with the lacklustre content and I'm certainly not going to be logged in for stupid hours mindlessly grinding every day. If I play I'll focus on levelling alts until that's done, then I might hang it up until I have a reason to play again. But I'm not very good at playing it in short measured bursts, I'm more of a play-until-my-eyes-are-bleeding or don't play at all kind of person with this game. When I log out I find it hard to log back in, and vice versa.

 

[Knuxson]

I have to agree with you guys for the most part, though I am going to stay subbed and am going to pursue the relic weapon. The grind is no fun at all, but then again I remember doing Garuda over and over and over for light for my zeta too, so I am not sure if the current grind really is worse. It would have been nice to at least get a relic quest like in 2.0 where you had the unique Chimera and Hydra fights.

But I am just of the mind of "I will get it when I get it" and am not going to go insane doing Alex over and over. My current plan is just to do expert and level 50 roulette every day that I play, as well as beast tribe quests. That should take me about 48 days to get it if I played everyday, which I don't. So it looks like it will take around 2 months for me most likely if I can keep up the desire to basically only do those two dungeons and beast tribe stuff when I play...

 

[AvecAloes]

This is what I said to my FC:

"I mean, I like XIV. I really do. It's a really fun game. I like running things with you guys. Especially stuff that is new to me, even while it is old hat to you guys. But I've never been the type of MMO player who plays the content until it's dead. I guess I'm not a true MMO gamer. I CBA with the ridiculous grind to get the best weapon. I never got my zeta weapon. I know that might make me a weaker link as far as the FC and raiding goes, but I play the game to enjoy the game. Having to spend a zillion hours grinding to get the BEST weapon when the normal weapon drops will get me through is silly to me. I understand why that might be an issue to serious raiders, and I understand why that might get me kicked out of a "serious raiding" FC, but I just honestly CBA to spend that much time grinding when I have other things that more fervently hold my attention. I love being a healer. I love going through end game content with you guys, once I'm able to. But I don't feel like I should feel inadequate if I don't devote months of my evenings to grinding for one weapon in order to be THE BEST. And honestly, I don't feel that way! You guys have always been accommodating and understanding when I'm far behind in ilvl and content. But anyway. When the only thing left to do in the game that I haven't yet done is grind for a zillion hours to get a weapon that I don't really need, I consider dropping my sub. Obviously I'm not at that point yet, as I haven't even been able to run Void, but that time seems to be soon approaching. I can't justify spending $15 a month to do something that I don't honestly find rewarding when I can be making a dent in my ridiculous backlog of games.

tl/dr, I love XIV, I love it with you guys, but I don't love grinding for shit that frankly seems unnecessary for a more casual gamer like me when I could be playing other games. Love the story, love the dungeons/raids, but not enough to do them over and over and over and over and over and pay to do it."

 

[Lex]

Even the hardcore types are rightfully complaining about this though, and I don't think anyone is wrong to. It's not the usual entitled whining either, people are just legitimately going "well... meh SE, meh".

Knux, I disagree about the light farming. Yes Garuda was the fastest way to do it but you could literally do any content you wanted and still be progressing toward the next stage. I wasn't a fan of the Nexus step and I'm not saying it was inspired gameplay (because it wasn't), but it at least allowed you the freedom of choice.

 

[Jason Tandro]

I'm back on after a long period of absence. Why do all the seasonal events seem to favor Limsa Lominsa as their starting points. While I admit it has the best music, my starter (and the city that feels the most like "home" to me) is Gridania.

 

[Lex]

I'm exactly the same, but I've since adopted Limsa (because Maelstrom). I actually feel like it's a treat to go back to Gridania. I still can't stand Ul'Dah though.

 

[Joe]

That's weird. I feel like quests start in Limsa the least. Halloween was in Gridania and The Rising (plus whatever that FFXI one was) was in Ul'dah. I guess these things rotate without me realising

 

[Jason Tandro]

The Moonfire Faire, the Easter one and the Christmas one all started at the Limsa upper decks. Maybe I'm just never around for the Gridania ones. I'm steamed that I missed ANOTHER Halloween event...

And Lex: Everybody hates Ul'dah. The layout is confusing and the town is just Rabanastare 2.0. My wife originally began playing the game as a Pugilist until she decided she hated Ul'dah and then she switched to Conjurer so she could, you know, have an easy town to navigate.

EDIT:

Spoiler: Seasonal Event Spoiler

MOTHER OF FUCKING GOD IS THAT A MANDERVILLE I SEE

 

[Cthulhu]

Sounds like they just slashed the developer team by a big chunk since Heavensward, or something. Any information on the player base (= size / subscriptions)?

Also the zeta weapons and shit were a shit grind, it is known . WoW is actually introducing a similar system in the next expansion, except that instead of leveling the weapon, the weapon has a whole skill tree of sorts.

 

[Cait Sith]

I am -not- looking forward to dealing with Atma again. I've got it mostly completed on my main/original chara on Sargatanas, but I've got a whole new account in order to play with my feyonce, so I've had to start entirely over.

... Which means I'll most likely start all over in the TLS server as well with an entirely new chara. I know. I've neglected my old one hardcore. I'm sorry. ;;


ALSO... MY FIANCE AND I ARE GETTING MARRIED IN GAME AND I WISH YOU ALL COULD BE THERE.

Tuesday, the 22nd, 6 p.m. EST/5 p.m. CST (we're in Texas, so yeah) on Sargatanas server. <3

I"M SO EXCITED.

I may actually ask him to make a new chara on the TLS server and we'll just flip flop between the two. But... That's asking a lot considering he's got a few classes leveled up to 60.

ALSO... I rather like Ul'Dah, now that I've gotten the hang of the layout. It's Limsa I often have the most trouble with. tbh. I've quite gotten the hang of the Aetheryte system in Ul'Dah (for example... If you need to go to the Airlift, That Meeting Room, or Royal Promenade, just warp to The Chamber of Rule and go from there).

 

[AvecAloes]

You could just switch servers with your current characters - I ended up doing that after I had created a new character and had two characters on Cerberus. I took one over to Malboro so that I could play with some of my NA friends as well. If you don't mind leaving your current server, and want to use the same characters you have now, that would probably be the best option.

 

[Joker]

I do not find it to be so awful.

But that be an opinion, arrrrrrr.

 

[Jason Tandro]

Thanks to Joe, I now have it on my PC. I'll still main game on my PS4 version, for reasons of it having Heavensward and all my saved gearsets (and running a lot smoother), but it'll be nice to have this for when I'm at work so I can level my disciple of land stuff.

I'm thinking about service transferring my character to the Lifestream world except for a few things:

1) My bestie Raini plays on Aether- Balmung and has been begging me to join her and her free company.

2) My wife's friend players on Diablos I think and has been begging us both to join their free company.

So I don't know where to go. All I know is I'm probably not going to stay in Aether-Goblin as like nobody I know is here. As I whined to Lex though, I've dropped like 430k-ish on my room in my FC housing so I'm trying to save up gil before I transfer so I can buy a new room. Ideally even more so I can get my own residence and say fuckitol to Free Company housing restrictions but that's like 10mil to 15mil I'd need and earning gil in FF14 in those amounts is something that takes like several years of combined effort.

Anyways, I think I'll be hitting a break soon. I've been leveling my gathering classes and the stuff I'm gaining access to in the beast tribes sells for quite a bit.

Yes, I am an appearances whore...

But hey, here's some screenshots of my carpenter enjoying the PC version. (Get it. Santa Christ. Carpenter...)

 

[Jason Tandro]

Double-post but I didn't want this to get buried. For sake of curiosity / testing - I created a Lalafell character on Cerberus called Aliceis Butz (All I See Is Butts). Lalafellian Archer, mainly because I wanted to start in Gridania but didn't want to redo Lancer or Conjurer.

 

[Joe]

Woop! Hopefully one of us will be on when you are to get you invited to the FC.

Welcome to Cerberus, the server where the players are French and les règles ne comptent pas.

 

[Jason Tandro]

Woop! Hopefully one of us will be on when you are to get you invited to the FC.

Welcome to Cerberus, the server where the players are French and les règles ne comptent pas.

That's right les règles sont comme des amis Facebook.

 

[Joker]

50 AST today!