Conversations from the gaming frontlines.

[Mr Bean]

Have fun in Stormblood, it's when FFXIV starts going hard story wise. I know Heavensward is so much better than AAR but Stormblood.. so many call backs and so much more.
Stormblood was a trip from start to end and it's still the expansion I wish I could delete from my memory and re-do fresh.

"Starts Going Hard"?
Dude, we had a literal religious split in Ishgard complete with ReignChange, as well as the end of the DragonSong War. We're not even going to start mentioning the Sultana's little problem that SENT me to Ishgard!

I stand by my statement because most of what was Heavensward was not your fight. Something you joined in and helped put an end to but it's something forced on you. You got involved with the Dragonsong war for political and later on personal reasons. Come Stormblood it's all personal but just as big as important as what you did in Heavenward. Also Stormblood is the place when the writers finally buy that galleon jug from Costco called "character development" and start mixing that stuff in to everything.

Not to say there are no NPC's in Heavenward that don't undergo full arcs it's just that the exposure to have to said arks is about 40% of what Stormblood provides. I'd give very specific examples but everything is a dang spoiler.

Have you done the Baelsar's(sic) Wall yet Tev?

She knows who Omega is so I'd say there's an excellent chance she's done the Wall.

[Lord Revan]

Yeah Stormblood is way more of a personal story then Heavensward. The Dragonsong war wasn't our fight we helped Ishgard because they helped us in our hour of need and that eventually allowed us to break the cycle. With the Liberation of Ala Mhigo and Doma for us is less about Politics and more about that we don't want sacrifice of one our friends to be in vain and that's how it starts the game will pile in more personal reasons for us to fight later on.

[LadyTevar]

Have you done the Baelsar's(sic) Wall yet Tev?

I'm about to go to Doma.

[LadyTevar]

Yeah Stormblood is way more of a personal story then Heavensward. The Dragonsong war wasn't our fight we helped Ishgard because they helped us in our hour of need and that eventually allowed us to break the cycle. With the Liberation of Ala Mhigo and Doma for us is less about Politics and more about that we don't want sacrifice of one our friends to be in vain and that's how it starts the game will pile in more personal reasons for us to fight later on.

YEAH... I was terrified when I had to watch Viceroy Xenos attack Rhalgar's Reach. I thought I'd lost another Scion!
And then I was bitching because I was trying to fight, but I couldn't score good hits because I was too busy destroying Adds so I'd not get smashed. No one told me it was a "Look how powerful the BigBoss is!" fight, and not one I'm supposed to win.

[Lord Revan]

Yeah Stormblood is way more of a personal story then Heavensward. The Dragonsong war wasn't our fight we helped Ishgard because they helped us in our hour of need and that eventually allowed us to break the cycle. With the Liberation of Ala Mhigo and Doma for us is less about Politics and more about that we don't want sacrifice of one our friends to be in vain and that's how it starts the game will pile in more personal reasons for us to fight later on.

YEAH... I was terrified when I had to watch Viceroy Xenos attack Rhalgar's Reach. I thought I'd lost another Scion!
And then I was bitching because I was trying to fight, but I couldn't score good hits because I was too busy destroying Adds so I'd not get smashed. No one told me it was a "Look how powerful the BigBoss is!" fight, and not one I'm supposed to win.

Yeah that fight with Zenos is there to give a lore reason for the player to get stronger, obviously the gameplay reason is there. there whole idea of "oh crap I nearly lost another friend and couldn't even make scratch to the guy who did, so I need to get much stronger".

[LadyTevar]

I got my Earring!
Now I just need to do a few more quests to get my Anima Weapon.

[TheFeniX]

I thought the Zenos crap was garbo (to steal a guildy's slang) since I was demolishing him in every engage (PLD for life). But goddamn is he smalltime compared to another idiot who is talked up big but all the fights are more annoying than difficult because Squeenix somehow forgot how to make mechanically challenging fights somewhere along the way (Hello level 50 DRG quest and kicking around a certain curmudgeonly Elf with a chip on his shoulder, you were my shining light).

Shadowbringers spoiler ahoy: Spoiler

Ranjit is the absolute worst. I went full PLD again this expac and I'm just trashing him every fight, but then it's like "LOLNOPE, YOU ACTIVATED MY TRAP CARD!" The whole thing was super disappointing because, IMO, his Shadow Dragon was a callback to the dragon Golbez spawns to kill everyone in the fight in the Dwarven Crystal room in FFIV. Then Rydia shows up and you ROFLstomp him.

ANYWHOO, then you have to do ANOTHER "will this Scion DIE!?!?!?!!?" fight AS said Scion and FFXIV's "vehicle" interface is mega-super-ultra Trash tier compared to Blizzard's. Anyways, in the FINAL fight? He goes down like a chump. It's even easier than the other 980237420734 times you fight him, and then he's like "Now I am the dead: bluh." That's it. He just dies. You don't even get a chance to defile his corpse for being the worst villain in the game. You're left feeling you did nothing but beat up an old man in a brothel (because that's all Eulmore will ever be to me and it's a sad day IT became the endgame area rather than the Crystarium).

I honestly think his shit got massively cut halfway through development as the devs realized Emet Selch was a HUGE breakout character and makes every other villain they could put next to him a joke. So they pumped up the Emet, and pushed Ranjit to the back (honestly, a really good idea). Vautry was "neat" but his STORY is way more interesting than he himself. His best stuff comes out of Mt. Gulg and his Primal Fight.

Anyways, fuck Zenos. I'm already cringing thinking about fighting him and creepy brother guy again.

[LadyTevar]

GAAAAH. To get the next stage of Anima Weapon, I have to collect/buy/acquire Special Items to hand over to a lady so she'll give me the items I really need. And not just ONE of the items, some need 10 of them.

*snarls*

Oh, and the battle of the Naadam sucks. I can't get the rhythm right to beat the former Khan and trigger the Ovoo.

[Mr Bean]

GAAAAH. To get the next stage of Anima Weapon, I have to collect/buy/acquire Special Items to hand over to a lady so she'll give me the items I really need. And not just ONE of the items, some need 10 of them.

*snarls*

Oh, and the battle of the Naadam sucks. I can't get the rhythm right to beat the former Khan and trigger the Ovoo.

First yes memory farming for anima sucks, heck it used to be worse and it still sucks.


Second Doing the Naadam as a tank makes it way easier, even 1 hit stops them taking the Ovoo, then it's waiting till phase 2 dps down the totems as quick as possible then stunning the enemies attacking you then clicking it.

[LadyTevar]

Second Doing the Naadam as a tank makes it way easier, even 1 hit stops them taking the Ovoo, then it's waiting till phase 2 dps down the totems as quick as possible then stunning the enemies attacking you then clicking it.

I'm Lancer. I finally beat down SunBrother Guy, and Moonbitch totally wiped the party with the Totems. I had no idea she was there. Maybe I should let her and SunGuy fight it out and just focus on holding the Ovoo before taking out the Totems?

Fuck, I'm on Very Easy and still Party-wiping.

[Lord Revan]

Second Doing the Naadam as a tank makes it way easier, even 1 hit stops them taking the Ovoo, then it's waiting till phase 2 dps down the totems as quick as possible then stunning the enemies attacking you then clicking it.

I'm Lancer. I finally beat down SunBrother Guy, and Moonbitch totally wiped the party with the Totems. I had no idea she was there. Maybe I should let her and SunGuy fight it out and just focus on holding the Ovoo before taking out the Totems?

Fuck, I'm on Very Easy and still Party-wiping.

I'd say focus on the totems, that said there's some balancing issues in FF14 and some fights can be either super easy or near impossible (if not outright impossible) depending on your gear and job.

If it's the fight I think it is doing it as healer will in the "near impossible" category as you need a lot of DPS and quickly (I did it on my Red Mage)

[LadyTevar]

Second Doing the Naadam as a tank makes it way easier, even 1 hit stops them taking the Ovoo, then it's waiting till phase 2 dps down the totems as quick as possible then stunning the enemies attacking you then clicking it.

I'm Lancer. I finally beat down SunBrother Guy, and Moonbitch totally wiped the party with the Totems. I had no idea she was there. Maybe I should let her and SunGuy fight it out and just focus on holding the Ovoo before taking out the Totems?

Fuck, I'm on Very Easy and still Party-wiping.

I'd say focus on the totems, that said there's some balancing issues in FF14 and some fights can be either super easy or near impossible (if not outright impossible) depending on your gear and job.

If it's the fight I think it is doing it as healer will in the "near impossible" category as you need a lot of DPS and quickly (I did it on my Red Mage)

It's the battle to capture the circle and make Hien Khan of the Tribes.

[LadyTevar]

And FFXIV has me stuck again. I can beat up the Dathrai leader, but then having to switch to Y'shtola to fight the Sun and keep Hien alive? *grrr*
And when I lose, what happens? I have to start from the beginning and beat the Dathrai again.

So, I've been off doing other things -- like getting my Summoner/Scholar to lvl 50, and just got my Conjurer to WhiteMage (lvl 30). Maybe the experience with the Healers will help with Y'shtola?

[Mr Bean]

Best I can say is watch the fight to see which mechanics your missing, that or help Hein ignore your fight until his add is dead then it's 2 on one. Which is how I did it a few months ago. Dot the enemies heal yourself, your heal on Hein heals like 1/3 to 1/2 his heath if I remember so just burn his enemy down to 2 v 1 yours.

[LadyTevar]

Best I can say is watch the fight to see which mechanics your missing, that or help Hein ignore your fight until his add is dead then it's 2 on one. Which is how I did it a few months ago. Dot the enemies heal yourself, your heal on Hein heals like 1/3 to 1/2 his heath if I remember so just burn his enemy down to 2 v 1 yours.

All the hints I saw said "Don't hit Hien's opponent, concentrate on your own, but heal Hien often." I've just been lazy getting back to it.

So far I've been doing the Alexander quests with my Summoner, as well as finally finishing Hildebrand's first storyline (the masked thief). I can finish Alexander tonight, probably, and do the other Lvl 50 side-quests I'd been ignoring, get my Summoner/Scholar their next class quests. The dungeons would pop quicker on Scholar, but I'm finding I don't like running them blind as a Healer.

[LadyTevar]

Wow. It really took me a MONTH to win that one?

So, Y'shtola has a DOT spell, a single attack spell, a single-person Heal, and a MP Regen. It was frustrating me, especially when I lost because I'd have to go back and fight the Dathrai bitch again to reach the Y'shtola fight.

So, I started playing Scholar to learn more healing, and I went off and completed ALL the Hildibrant quests, and I did Class Quests, and then the Moogle Tomestone event hit and I started mining the Praetorium for Tomestones with my Scholar. Summoner/Scholar are now lvl 70 (up from 55) just from Praetorium. (And I got all the Tomestone prizes I wanted too).

I finally decide to go back to Y'shtola's fight... and won on the second try.
So, now I'm off to Ala Mhigo to face down Emperor Varis.

[Mr Bean]

Congratulations I still need to do Hildibrant myself but you got by the fight and it's on to Ala Mhigo and (REDACTED) (REDACTED) and oh (REDACTED).

Look forward to the music

[Lord Revan]

Wow. It really took me a MONTH to win that one?

So, Y'shtola has a DOT spell, a single attack spell, a single-person Heal, and a MP Regen. It was frustrating me, especially when I lost because I'd have to go back and fight the Dathrai bitch again to reach the Y'shtola fight.

So, I started playing Scholar to learn more healing, and I went off and completed ALL the Hildibrant quests, and I did Class Quests, and then the Moogle Tomestone event hit and I started mining the Praetorium for Tomestones with my Scholar. Summoner/Scholar are now lvl 70 (up from 55) just from Praetorium. (And I got all the Tomestone prizes I wanted too).

I finally decide to go back to Y'shtola's fight... and won on the second try.
So, now I'm off to Ala Mhigo to face down Emperor Varis.

As I said before FF14 has some balancing issues when it comes to quests especially pre-max level quests. Some quests have overly tight DPS demands that make them really hard for healers and tanks (especially if you're not well geared) while other quests are super easy randomly and it might even depend on the choice of the job you use.

[LadyTevar]

Congratulations I still need to do Hildibrant myself but you got by the fight and it's on to Ala Mhigo and (REDACTED) (REDACTED) and oh (REDACTED).

Look forward to the music

YEAH... What I found out had me absolutely gobsmacked.
And then there's Xenos giving me fuckin' hell again. *sigh* wonder if it'll be another month before I win this one?

[LadyTevar]

Well... not quite a month. Guess who's on First and now a Lvl 80 Dragoon, and Lvl 79 Summoner/Scholar? And I've branched out and picked up Dark Knight and have been learning how to Tank. Hoping to get DRK up to 70 asap, because I'm a completionist and want to see the Full Story.
Which is why I don't just buy the Insta Level-up for the DRK -- I want to see the STORY.

[Lord Revan]

The Dark Knight story is interesting. That said I've gotten my dragoon to level 80 and working on my pally atm so I'm nearly done with my pre-Endwalker goals.

[Mr Bean]

I'm down to just Astrologian, most of the level 80 quests and Hildibrand. Finished up Dark Knight yesterday (Thanks Khloe) so I'm pretty much enderwalker ready

Minus.... like 95% of the crafter quests. I have all 80s crafters except that was due to Ishgard restoration not due to leveling the classes so need to go back and do those at some point.

[LadyTevar]

I'll be honest, I really don't play my Crafter. It just doesn't interest me
I now have SMN/SCH at 80, and I've done my lvl 80 Healer quest. Plan on doing the DPS Ranged and DPS Melee today, and try to finish Mt Gulg before Endwalker drops.

[Mr Bean]

The FFXIV servers are down in preparation for Endwalker tomorrow. I am racing to clear my schedule today so my Friday-Sunday is clear for Endwaler related things.

Things I still didn't do
Astrologian at 61, rest of my classes are at 80 (Or 70 for blue mage)
Still needed to finish Hildibrand
There's a few level 80 role quests (Warrior/Bard other classes who gear I tossed)

For those of you who play FFXIV it's to late now but IL 480/510 food was going crazy cheap the last 12 hours. Things like smoked chicken and pizza which sold for 3900-5200 gp per item were being listed for 300-1500 gil. Took the time to stock up as HQ is going away next patch except for collectables and interm steps.

[LadyTevar]

I managed to get through the Shadowbringer Credits and I'm in the post-credit stuff. Not gonna be hitting the Endwalker New Content for at least a week or more.
I handed every single belt I had over to Doma's rebuilding effort.

I'm now bitching because my local internet is only DLing at 0.50-0.61 MB/s. I need to see what they did to SMN, and how I need to change my gameplay.