MMORPG

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. ...

My Magitek Armor!!! The aftermath of the Garuda fight and the emergence of the ancient, god-eating, Ultima weapon left us more than a little discouraged. All this, and the Garlean Empire was just going to cause another Calamity to match the first one, just out of spite. Some problems are just too large to solve, and all you can do is solve the little ones and hope the big ones take care of themselves. ...

I don’t have time this morning before to work to write up last night’s FFXIV Story Time, so I’ll just leave you with this until later :) Kasul and I doing a jig in front of Castrum Meridianum, as we prepare for the penultimate (their words!) encounter in the story of the fight against the Ultima Weapon. ffxivjig.mp4 The Jig is Up! I don’t have time this morning before to work to write up last night’s FFXIV Story T ...

[gallery ids=“11638,11636,11637,11639,11640,11641”] It’s tough to be so close to 50 but not actually BE 50. I figured I’d better work on that. Sunday morning I used a combination of roulettes, hunting logs and fates to bridge that gap. The level 50 quest was suitably wonderful, and goddammit if I didn’t feel like a member of the Sultansword afterward. I can’t imagine how I’ll feel the next time I get a job to 50 – oh wow, looks like I (yawn) saved the world again, and just in time for brunch… The first time means something. I imagine the job quests didn’t always grant both an iLevel 50 and iLevel 90 armor set. I’m grateful that they give newbies like me a little head start, especially since I’m not planning on buying Heavensward just yet. Level 50 is the hard cap for me now. ...

Confronting the MothBirdQueen It took a surprisingly low number of stupid fetch-this quests to get to the point where we could meet our new challenge: defeat Garuda, the primal of the Ixali bird people. Though Garuda herself looks like a bird-moth hybrid, so maybe a bug crystal got mixed in with all the wind crystals used to summon her.** As with the lead-up to the Titan fight, the various NPCs are fully aware that they are just wasting our time. Where with Titan, we were gathering obscure foods for a feast, here, we were continually sent to gather the wrong type of crystal to allow Cid’s airship the ability to reach Garuda’s hurricane-shrouded perch. ...