The Final Fantasy XIV Thread [Dawntrail - 7.00]
- Thread starter Kuraudo
- Start date
Joker
We have come to terms
- AKA
- Godot
I play as a female, because then it's a competition with other players to see who can make the best looking one (whether we're talking attractiveness, looking like a badass, or whatever). Compare this to male characters in-game, 98% of which look stupid as hell (imo) due to things like hair and color choices, hideous glams, etc.
also in this case I'm basically playing as fucking she-hulk fight me
also in this case I'm basically playing as fucking she-hulk fight me
Flare
Pro Adventurer
- AKA
- Flare
Yeah I think I do something similar to Jason, often using these games as a form of self-insert in a way, so I almost always make my first character a female (if the option is possible).
I'm even pondering maybe someday to change my character into a female Au Ra in the future
Again...female... though I think the male Au Ra look cool as fuck. Sooo temtped to make one. I made my first retainer a male Au Ra FOR REASONS
I got a mix of what Joe's talking about too though, because my character is an axe-wielding tough warrior which I totally am not very strong and shit in real life, not at all, I don't think I could ever be uber physically strong like my character. I'd probably have to be an archer or magic user irl, so fuck being that in my games.
I'm even pondering maybe someday to change my character into a female Au Ra in the future
Again...female... though I think the male Au Ra look cool as fuck. Sooo temtped to make one. I got a mix of what Joe's talking about too though, because my character is an axe-wielding tough warrior which I totally am not very strong and shit in real life, not at all, I don't think I could ever be uber physically strong like my character. I'd probably have to be an archer or magic user irl, so fuck being that in my games.
Obsidian Fire
Ahk Morn!
- AKA
- The Engineer
^^Same with me. I can't help but RP/Self-Insert with my character. It's even part of the reason why Summoner and Astrologin are my mains. There's just not that many games where I can be a nerd with combat prowess.
Obsidian Fire
Ahk Morn!
- AKA
- The Engineer
So by far the worst thing about Astrologian is the job gauges. Or rather, the fact that if a buff is part of a job gauge, it doesn't show up in your buffs list as well as the buff list in the party members list or when someone targets you.
Basically, this means that nobody knows what cards you have in your spread or even what buffs you've just given them (well, kinda, there's a distinct animation that goes with every card effect, but they're hard to tell apart when zoomed out). It also means you don't know what cards other Astrologians have, what stance the tanks are in, whether Blood of the Dragon, Chakra stacks, Atherflow, Bard songs, etc. are up. All of which is very useful information to know when to play your cards optimally.
Other effects of this are that the cards no longer have hover text of their effects and there's no way to get rid of Royal Road effects once you've Royal Roaded a card. Which means you're probably not going to want to Royal Road a card unless you've already saved a card in your Spread... SE has really raised the floor on playing this job well while the ceiling has stayed where it is, if not been lowered.
The implications of not being able to see other job's buffs that are now part of their gauges is huge for the raiding scene (especially the casual scene). How are other people in your party supposed to know what self-buffs are up unless they're really good at memorizing animations? For all SE has wanted to simplify jobs this expansion, they've made playing intelligently with other people much more difficult.
I would not be surprised to see an increase in macros letting party members know what buffs are up, what stances people are in, etc. I know I'm thinking of making them for specific card combos like Balance+AOE or for when I swap tanking stances, etc.
What I don't know is if this can be easily changed. Gauges like the one for Atherflow make me think it can't as the way Atherflow interacts with Atunment stacks wouldn't work well as buffs on the buff bar (it could potentially let you circumvent the tradeoff for Atunment not having a time limit). At the same time, taking away information players are used to having about other players is a huge step backwards and undoes a lot of the job simplification SE said they were trying to do. Sure, most classes are now more streamlined, but you also have to keep track of what everyone else in your party is doing a lot more then you used to. It ultimately makes raiding at all levels a lot harder to get into as now your party is another obstacle to work around.
I really hope SE figures out a way to let you know what everyone's buffs are, but at the same time, I'm not going to be surprised if they tell us it's working as intended.
Basically, this means that nobody knows what cards you have in your spread or even what buffs you've just given them (well, kinda, there's a distinct animation that goes with every card effect, but they're hard to tell apart when zoomed out). It also means you don't know what cards other Astrologians have, what stance the tanks are in, whether Blood of the Dragon, Chakra stacks, Atherflow, Bard songs, etc. are up. All of which is very useful information to know when to play your cards optimally.
Other effects of this are that the cards no longer have hover text of their effects and there's no way to get rid of Royal Road effects once you've Royal Roaded a card. Which means you're probably not going to want to Royal Road a card unless you've already saved a card in your Spread... SE has really raised the floor on playing this job well while the ceiling has stayed where it is, if not been lowered.
The implications of not being able to see other job's buffs that are now part of their gauges is huge for the raiding scene (especially the casual scene). How are other people in your party supposed to know what self-buffs are up unless they're really good at memorizing animations? For all SE has wanted to simplify jobs this expansion, they've made playing intelligently with other people much more difficult.
I would not be surprised to see an increase in macros letting party members know what buffs are up, what stances people are in, etc. I know I'm thinking of making them for specific card combos like Balance+AOE or for when I swap tanking stances, etc.
What I don't know is if this can be easily changed. Gauges like the one for Atherflow make me think it can't as the way Atherflow interacts with Atunment stacks wouldn't work well as buffs on the buff bar (it could potentially let you circumvent the tradeoff for Atunment not having a time limit). At the same time, taking away information players are used to having about other players is a huge step backwards and undoes a lot of the job simplification SE said they were trying to do. Sure, most classes are now more streamlined, but you also have to keep track of what everyone else in your party is doing a lot more then you used to. It ultimately makes raiding at all levels a lot harder to get into as now your party is another obstacle to work around.
I really hope SE figures out a way to let you know what everyone's buffs are, but at the same time, I'm not going to be surprised if they tell us it's working as intended.
JechtShotMK9
The Sublimely Magnificent One
- AKA
- Kamiccolo9
Well, if you are healing a dungeon, and drawing aggro, then either they are not using flash...or they are in Sword Oath. You shouldn't be pulling aggro off a Pally using Shield Oath unless they are just ignoring Flash.
Unless you are regening them between pulls. Don't do that
Obsidian Fire
Ahk Morn!
- AKA
- The Engineer
Yup, you won't be able to tell which stance a tank is in just by looking at their buff bar... unless they're a Dark Knight. Their job gauge has nothing to do with their stances so you can still see them on the buff bar.
ForceStealer
Double Growth
My character on Cerberus (who was my first character) was a dude 
But I do like Ysabel...
But I do like Ysabel...
Remnant-of-VII
Black Mage Mechanic
- AKA
- Remy
Yar.
Dark Knight is pretty interesting. Mostly because of the MP management that's thrown into the mix of usual tanking duties. Abilities like Darkside and Grit let you switch between main tanking and more damage focused abilities like with a Marauder.
Grit, Darkside, and Blood Weapon will be your go to abilities here in the beginning.
Darkside uses small amounts MP all of time to increase damage and is required for using certain abilities later on. Usually good to leave on if not main tanking. You wont generate as much aggro as you would normally or with grit activated​ so use it sparingly if maining as a tank. (Side note: Darkside and Grit can both be used at the same time give access to abilities and still give the defensive boost.)
Grit is used to increase defense at the expense of decreased damage output, all the while, increasing aggro generation much higher than normal, making it damn useful in dungeons where you're main tank.
Blood Weapon is your best tool when you need to recover MP. All of your attacks will recover MP for a certain amount of time along with a side benefit of reducing cool down on certain abilities, letting you attack more often, gaining lots of MP back in a short amount of time. (Side note: Blood Weapon can't be used while in Grit.)
I'm sure I'm forgetting things, but that's the gist of it.
Lex
Administrator
Finished the story and got to level 70. Wowwwwww
Honestly my favourite content they've ever done, all the dungeons were a nice length (i.e. short for levelling dungeons, especially compared to Heavensward), and I thought the story was excellent.
The second primal - Lakshmi - was my absolute favourite, but the final boss (Shinryu) was AMAZING. That was one of the best fights they've ever done in this game, extreme is going to be horrific! Can't wait to get stuck in.
The second primal - Lakshmi - was my absolute favourite, but the final boss (Shinryu) was AMAZING. That was one of the best fights they've ever done in this game, extreme is going to be horrific! Can't wait to get stuck in.
GUARD SCORPION LOOKED AMAZING
SO DID YOJIMBO
SUCH A SURPRISE TO SEE GUARD SCORPION
SO DID YOJIMBO
SUCH A SURPRISE TO SEE GUARD SCORPION
Obsidian Fire
Ahk Morn!
- AKA
- The Engineer
This has changed. Darkside no longer consumes MP and only prevents outside MP regeneration. So just leave it on for the free damage boost. Instead, Blood Weapon can't be used if Grit is on and Blood Price can only be used if Grit is on. So being able to turn Grit on and off is pretty important.
Cthulhu
Administrator
- AKA
- Yop
Oh hey a thread.
I'm a SCH, they really made this job simpler as a DPS class; used to be I could lay down five DoT's, some of which AoE (Shadow Flare which is dropped on the floor, two others that are done through Bane), but they reduced it to three, and Miasma's a lot simpler now, being just a plain old DoT compared to a rather complicated set of debuffs and whatnot. I don't mind it. They also changed Cleric Stance, so instead of having to switch from 'DPS mode' to 'healer mode', you can just stay in the one. I don't mind it, makes the job a lot simpler / less stressful to play... and more boring
I'm thinking of just doing the story with that, then level a red mage. I could start with the red mage too asap, since I probably won't be able to finish the story until I move in a few weeks, but myeh, I bet the queues for leveling etc are terrible and I don't like to do the 50-60 grind again (even if it should be faster now).
Myeh, should still just get the class whenever I can, in case I need a break / change.
That's assuming I get to play though, the queues are pretty bad. I expect them to drop off within a week or two, but still.
I'm a SCH, they really made this job simpler as a DPS class; used to be I could lay down five DoT's, some of which AoE (Shadow Flare which is dropped on the floor, two others that are done through Bane), but they reduced it to three, and Miasma's a lot simpler now, being just a plain old DoT compared to a rather complicated set of debuffs and whatnot. I don't mind it. They also changed Cleric Stance, so instead of having to switch from 'DPS mode' to 'healer mode', you can just stay in the one. I don't mind it, makes the job a lot simpler / less stressful to play... and more boring
I'm thinking of just doing the story with that, then level a red mage. I could start with the red mage too asap, since I probably won't be able to finish the story until I move in a few weeks, but myeh, I bet the queues for leveling etc are terrible and I don't like to do the 50-60 grind again (even if it should be faster now).
Myeh, should still just get the class whenever I can, in case I need a break / change.
That's assuming I get to play though, the queues are pretty bad
. I expect them to drop off within a week or two, but still.
ForceStealer
Double Growth
Jason Tandro
Banned
- AKA
- Jason Tandro, Doc Brown, Santa Christ, FearAddict, Thibault Stormrunner, RN: Micah Rodney
I'm about to head to
Yanxia. I took the effort to get flying on the Ruby Sea and while I love this area and I love the idea of diving some areas are way too obnoxious to get to (that damned trench is ages deep and it's kind of cool but mostly annoying)
So far the dungeons have been the best in the series. I found Heavensward quest dungeons to be honestly rather dull. I think the best of the batch in HW was probably Great Gubal Library. But Sirensong Sea and Somethingorother of the Violet Tides were both fantastic dungeons with great mechanics. Susano is also a really fun primal as he takes some of the mechanics you're used to and turns them on their head (that marker split leading into a stack up and then an AoE dodge is vicious and makes you feel like a god even though it's pretty easy to follow).
I will say the Ala Mhigo Areas don't really impress me that much. Part of it is that after floating islands in the sky, desolate fathoms wide tundra and giant floating space station the bar is set incredibly high, but that all changed once I got to Kugane. Kugane is gorgeous and The Ruby Sea as I mentioned is amazing.
As a caveat to the above there are areas within the areas that I love. The Ziggurat in the peaks, as well as Mason Falls are awesome and the first forest area of The Fringe is awesome (i highly recommend if you haven't done it yet to do the quest revolving around Bittermill that starts from the Serpent Marshall in Castrum Oriens).
Oh and the music is absolutely amazing, especially the boss music, Kugane music and the Ruby Sea at night.
So far the dungeons have been the best in the series. I found Heavensward quest dungeons to be honestly rather dull. I think the best of the batch in HW was probably Great Gubal Library. But Sirensong Sea and Somethingorother of the Violet Tides were both fantastic dungeons with great mechanics. Susano is also a really fun primal as he takes some of the mechanics you're used to and turns them on their head (that marker split leading into a stack up and then an AoE dodge is vicious and makes you feel like a god even though it's pretty easy to follow).
I will say the Ala Mhigo Areas don't really impress me that much. Part of it is that after floating islands in the sky, desolate fathoms wide tundra and giant floating space station the bar is set incredibly high, but that all changed once I got to Kugane. Kugane is gorgeous and The Ruby Sea as I mentioned is amazing.
As a caveat to the above there are areas within the areas that I love. The Ziggurat in the peaks, as well as Mason Falls are awesome and the first forest area of The Fringe is awesome (i highly recommend if you haven't done it yet to do the quest revolving around Bittermill that starts from the Serpent Marshall in Castrum Oriens).
Oh and the music is absolutely amazing, especially the boss music, Kugane music and the Ruby Sea at night.
I spent some time fooling around with Samurai. I really love the rotation . I realize I'm probably missing a few (or perhaps many) key points, but my rotation goes like this and even at level 51 it dishes out some punishment.
Hakaze - Jinpu - Gekko (First Weapon Ability)
Hakaze - Shifu - Kasha (Second Weapon Ability)
Hakaze - Yukikaze (Third Weapon Ability)
Unleash Midgare Setsugekka - Repeat.
I toss in the Fuga- Oka or Fuga - Mangetsu for groups and Agetha when it procs between the weapon ability combos. I also pop Third Eye once in a while if I pull aggro. It's fast, it's efficient, it's an elegant death machine of a class.
Hakaze - Jinpu - Gekko (First Weapon Ability)
Hakaze - Shifu - Kasha (Second Weapon Ability)
Hakaze - Yukikaze (Third Weapon Ability)
Unleash Midgare Setsugekka - Repeat.
I toss in the Fuga- Oka or Fuga - Mangetsu for groups and Agetha when it procs between the weapon ability combos. I also pop Third Eye once in a while if I pull aggro. It's fast, it's efficient, it's an elegant death machine of a class.
Lex
Administrator
I've been playing pretty much non stop since the servers went up. Aside from sleep of course.
I just cleared [insert name of primal] extreme, going for another [insert name of primal] extreme tomorrow. Dat sweet 320 weapon and those sweet 320 accessories are mine yo.
Flintlock
Pro Adventurer
What job or jobs is everyone here planning to main in 4.0? I'm particularly interested in those of you who play on Cerberus.
I'm having trouble making my mind up. In the course of playing today I changed my plans from WHM to AST and back again, but in truth I can't get myself excited by the thought of taking either of them to 70. The changes to WHM are, on balance, a slight buff compared to 3.X, but its new abilities and its Lily system are seriously underwhelming. Its one redeeming feature is its high personal DPS, which is weird for a class which Yoshida always talks about as a "pure healer". AST is far better on paper right now but I don't enjoy playing around with cards, which is its defining feature. I ultimately want to level a healer, a tank and two damage dealers so I might as well do the main story with WHM but I don't think it'll be my main class for much longer than that.
I'm having trouble making my mind up. In the course of playing today I changed my plans from WHM to AST and back again, but in truth I can't get myself excited by the thought of taking either of them to 70. The changes to WHM are, on balance, a slight buff compared to 3.X, but its new abilities and its Lily system are seriously underwhelming. Its one redeeming feature is its high personal DPS, which is weird for a class which Yoshida always talks about as a "pure healer". AST is far better on paper right now but I don't enjoy playing around with cards, which is its defining feature. I ultimately want to level a healer, a tank and two damage dealers so I might as well do the main story with WHM but I don't think it'll be my main class for much longer than that.
Lex
Administrator
You can pretty much pick any tank because we have a few of each in terms of FC members. IIRC Yop switched main to Machinist from PLD some time during Heavensward so we're one down there, and there's chat that PLD is basically the best tank now (again) overall since the changes. We are kind of starving for healers given Joe's choice to level RDM through Stormblood, so I'm glad you're sticking to healer for the main story.
We don't have a Bard, now that I think about it. Like, people have levelled Bard, but nobody plays it/ mains it AFAIK.
In terms of classes I now want to level, I'm thinking AST, SAM and RDM at the minute - I'll likely take my WAR up to 70 in the future too. Still maining DRG for the time being, not sure if that'll ever change now. I spoke a lot about wanting to switch mains during Heavensward but here I am, still a Dragoon. Still loving it, strangely.
We don't have a Bard, now that I think about it. Like, people have levelled Bard, but nobody plays it/ mains it AFAIK.
In terms of classes I now want to level, I'm thinking AST, SAM and RDM at the minute - I'll likely take my WAR up to 70 in the future too. Still maining DRG for the time being, not sure if that'll ever change now. I spoke a lot about wanting to switch mains during Heavensward but here I am, still a Dragoon. Still loving it, strangely.
Flare
Pro Adventurer
- AKA
- Flare
Here's some more art from the XIV art team, for that countdown til Stormblood release:
just posting some of my other faves It's fun seeing the various art styles!
just posting some of my other faves
It's fun seeing the various art styles!
Jason Tandro
Banned
- AKA
- Jason Tandro, Doc Brown, Santa Christ, FearAddict, Thibault Stormrunner, RN: Micah Rodney
@Lex: HA! I GET IT CAUSE HIS ORIGINAL NAME WAS BUTZ!
Edit: My Main was going to be Monk but I didn't get it to 60 in time and it got pretty badly nerfed with the patch so I've been sticking with my DRG and levelling Samurai.
I'm also going to start levelling a White Mage so I can act as a healer for some of the newer crew trying to get into these obscene wait times. I might also level a Tank but I truly hate tanking, lol.
Edit 2: Details about the Stormblood "Level Boost" Potions.
First off the main site is: http://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/tales_of_adventure
1. There are two types of items. Quest completion items and level items. Here's a rundown on the Quest Completion Items.
Tales of Adventure: A Realm Reborn ($18)
- Completes all Main Scenario Quests up to "Coming To Ishgard"
Tales of Adventure: Heavensward ($25)
- Completes all Main Scenario Quests up to "Beyond The Great Wall"
Both of these also give you 10 Silver Chocobo Feathers to accomodate gear purchases from the Calamity Salvager and 30 Allagan Platinum Pieces (300,000 gil).
Frankly, as the best thing about FF14 is its engrossing story, I find these items to be kind of obnoxious but I can see why they made them. There was a lot of pushback about people buying Heavensward and finding out they had to go through 120 hours of story before they could get there. Still I find it irksome but it's there for those who may need it.
Also it says it completes all appropriate quests for your starting class so I assume that means it will level boost, but I'm not certain - it doesn't expressly say that. The only reason I think it might not is because of...
2. Here's the Job Leveling Items
Tales of Adventure (Job Name I) ($25)
- Instantly Level a Job to 60, get a full set of ilvl 260 Armor (Shire Gear), 10 Silver Chocobo Feathers and 30 Allagan Platinum Pieces
This I can see some people wanting but again I see it being fraught with peril. Instantly jumping to a high level - and being expected to operate at that high level - seems like a huge pile of nope. The only place where I can see it being not disastrous is a place where it wouldn't be worth the $25 price point - where you got a job to 50 before Heavensward but didn't get it to 60 and want so skip the levelling involved. Taking a character from 1 (or even 30) to 60 seems pretty disastous.
The pacing of the job growth is pretty damned good and you learn how your job operates by the slow and steady acclimation to it. I mean yes if you do this for a DPS class you can just learn the meta rotation or priorty system and function but it will still be sloppy.
That said if I was going to do this (I'm not), it'd be with a tank or healer. If I'm dropping $25 it's going to be for reduced queue times. That said, imagine the swath of inexperienced Tanks and Healers handling high level raids. Problematic.
Edit: My Main was going to be Monk but I didn't get it to 60 in time and it got pretty badly nerfed with the patch so I've been sticking with my DRG and levelling Samurai.
I'm also going to start levelling a White Mage so I can act as a healer for some of the newer crew trying to get into these obscene wait times. I might also level a Tank but I truly hate tanking, lol.
Edit 2: Details about the Stormblood "Level Boost" Potions.
First off the main site is: http://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/tales_of_adventure
1. There are two types of items. Quest completion items and level items. Here's a rundown on the Quest Completion Items.
Tales of Adventure: A Realm Reborn ($18)
- Completes all Main Scenario Quests up to "Coming To Ishgard"
Tales of Adventure: Heavensward ($25)
- Completes all Main Scenario Quests up to "Beyond The Great Wall"
Both of these also give you 10 Silver Chocobo Feathers to accomodate gear purchases from the Calamity Salvager and 30 Allagan Platinum Pieces (300,000 gil).
Frankly, as the best thing about FF14 is its engrossing story, I find these items to be kind of obnoxious but I can see why they made them. There was a lot of pushback about people buying Heavensward and finding out they had to go through 120 hours of story before they could get there. Still I find it irksome but it's there for those who may need it.
Also it says it completes all appropriate quests for your starting class so I assume that means it will level boost, but I'm not certain - it doesn't expressly say that. The only reason I think it might not is because of...
2. Here's the Job Leveling Items
Tales of Adventure (Job Name I) ($25)
- Instantly Level a Job to 60, get a full set of ilvl 260 Armor (Shire Gear), 10 Silver Chocobo Feathers and 30 Allagan Platinum Pieces
This I can see some people wanting but again I see it being fraught with peril. Instantly jumping to a high level - and being expected to operate at that high level - seems like a huge pile of nope. The only place where I can see it being not disastrous is a place where it wouldn't be worth the $25 price point - where you got a job to 50 before Heavensward but didn't get it to 60 and want so skip the levelling involved. Taking a character from 1 (or even 30) to 60 seems pretty disastous.
The pacing of the job growth is pretty damned good and you learn how your job operates by the slow and steady acclimation to it. I mean yes if you do this for a DPS class you can just learn the meta rotation or priorty system and function but it will still be sloppy.
That said if I was going to do this (I'm not), it'd be with a tank or healer. If I'm dropping $25 it's going to be for reduced queue times. That said, imagine the swath of inexperienced Tanks and Healers handling high level raids. Problematic.
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