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Light take all Ascians! Last week left us with two plotlines vying for our time; the aftermath of Iceheart’s transformation into the primal Saint Shiva, and the continued incursions of the mysterious Ascians into mortal affairs. Iceheart’s transformation was sparked by the war cry of an elder dragon. She hoped to deflect the coming war by renewing the original Saint Shiva’s pact with dragonkind – a pact that the Ishagardians, prompted by the Ascians, has been shredding. We defeated Iceheart/Shiva and ruined her plans… but at a high cost. The cries of the Dravanian Horde had awoken a powerful entity thought dead since the Calamity had rained down upon the land. And no Saint Shiva could lull it back to slumber. ...

Starfleet Dance Party Got myself a cameo in “Star Trek – The Webcomic”. Author and artist Mike Farinas offered a chance for an appearance in the comic as some random Trek walk-on part, I liked it and shared it and sent in a head-shot and eventually showed up as a doomed security officer in the current episode. I assume I’m doomed, since I’m a redshirt, but haven’t actually DIED yet, so… there may yet be hope :) ...

A gripping tale.... It was a grim setting I logged into a couple nights ago. My Godville heroine, Talesia, was dead… and lying next to her was her loyal mount, the double dragon Pinky. Double dragons get smaller the older they get, and Pinky has become quite small. So this wasn’t entirely unexpected. Still, dying now is not Pinky’s destiny. Pinky’s destiny is to find a permanent home in the ark that Talesia is building, slowly, out of gopher wood. A priest would need to be found, but priests are expensive, and there’s a chance my somewhat moronic heroine would forget that her double dragon needed a resurrection. ...

Shiva Awakens We knew we were going to meet Saint Shiva tonight, but we weren’t sure how. And it turned out to be a little different from what we expected. But naturally, we couldn’t get right there. First, we had to deal with that most enticing of all MMO situations – politics. The leaders of the three allied Eorzean nations met in Ul’dah to discuss the uncomfortable revelations about the traitors in their midst. The Garlean Empire had been content to just fortify their existing strongholds in Eorzea until recently. Even after the destruction of their Ultima weapon, they seem eager to take on the combined Eorzean forces, and even the new Crystal Braves grand company is not slowing them down. ...

Fenris Last time we met up, Kasul and I failed spectacularly on Odin. That wasn’t our fault – probably. I was second tank, and Kasul was the off healer. Our problem was the DPS in the group. Not a lot we could do about that. But I have to admit that the whole Odin encounter is a rush. Camera pulled back as far as possible so I could see the entire arena, just like for Leviathan Extreme. The patterns are clear from that angle. As a tank, I get priority heals, and as a paladin, I have Hallowed Ground and three other defensive cooldowns to keep me up. Sure, we failed, but I had fun. I think Kasul did as well. ...

Moo? What I don’t get is why the sylph primal, Ramuh, is some old human. All the others we’ve seen so far, save King Mog, are the embodiment of primal forces. This guy looks like the Winter Wizard. Anyway. The first chapter of this new patch jumps right in with the aftermath of the Scions giving refuge to the Domans in Mos Eisley. Seems the Ala Mhigan refugees camped outside Ul’dah feel they should get a homeland as well. The plan, it turns out, is to ship them all to the Carteneau Flats, home to the Frontline PvP arena. Carteneau Flats was ground zero for the Calamity, where the Red Moon touched down on Eorzea and exploded, freeing Bahamut. I enjoy the occasional PvP match in Carteneau, but Kasul vehemently detests PvP. We both wondered (and still do) if we’re going to have to do PvP to finish this module – it IS the one where the Frontline PvP was first introduced. ...

Looking for a snack... What with vacations and connection issues and what-not, Kasul and I haven’t been able to get together for a decent story night for quite awhile. But we moved Heaven and Earth and got Skype going and hey, there we were, ready to save the world… again… But only after having to do a bunch of trivial tasks… again. Us world-savers were asked to play hide-and-seek with some children, move a crate which had had its contents settling after packing, and gag some old dude with a perfume-soaked rag so he could be bundled off to Mos Eisley. Leastways, that’s how I remember it. ...

King for a Day We’re used to being challenged on our FFXIV story nights, but it sure didn’t look like any sort of challenge was in the cards last night. We did start out with Ifrit (Hard), but essentially the same encounter as the normal Ifrit with double the players just wasn’t memorable. Maybe before FFXIV started shoveling great gear at new players, and people had to gear up… but with ilevel 115 gear cheap in the auction house and ilevel 120 gear easily obtainable via poetic tomestones, most of the fights that included gear checks are pretty trivial – Ifrit included. ...

[embed] Well, the truth can be told: Yes, my character was vital to completion of Final Fantasy XIV’s main plot. I can only imagine that player after player was wondering who this “Nina Tanglewood” paladin-type that always seemed to be the star of every cutscene. Frankly, I’m surprised I’m the first “Nina Tanglewood” out there, considering how central she (and that is to say, “I”) is to the main plot. ...

Me, after saving the world. By myself. Everyone’s a hero in their own way; You, and you, and mostly me, and you! Kasul and I finished the last two “full party” encounters of the main FFXIV scenario last night. I honestly don’t know what it was like for Kasul as one of the two healers, probably chaotic, but as a tank it was BORING. I didn’t know anything about anything, the other tank would tell me where to stand occasionally, and nobody let me take time to watch the heroic cutscenes where I, the heroine of Eorzea, the Champion of Light, the one who whipped the Scions of the Seventh Dawn into shape when their incompetent leadership failed at the task, single-handedly saved the world. ...