Final Fantasy XIV (Guide in first post)

I think the negative reaction to the Summoner rework sort of scared them as well - the rework to that class made it a pretty braindead class compared to what it used to be and a large part of that is an extreme oversimplification and reduction in abilities

And to be fair, I'm hyper casual...I just noticed playing reaper I felt like between AE rotation and the single target, I'm getting pretzel hand. I'm also 45 now. Way different from raiding at 30 in WoW.

So far, this game just doesn't feel like an MMO I'd spend days and days in so I definitely fall in the RPG-MMO approach camp. I find the story has great high points but god does the filler dialogue get bad and sometimes it feels like its just there to slow you down on the story. There is a style of the job design that feels more sterile than WoW's class design. I can't quite put my finger on it though. I just "feel" it.

Also, maybe its me but this game has a fuckton of dungeons! Almost everytime I queue I feel I'm seeing a dungeon for the first time. And by and large, its all gorgeous.

Caeden said:

Also, maybe its me but this game has a fuckton of dungeons! Almost everytime I queue I feel I'm seeing a dungeon for the first time. And by and large, its all gorgeous.

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Because ARR had a 50 level range they definitely made a lot of them, then for later 50 content they did even more with Hard modes on top of the story ones. Devs scaled back with the expansions and started having dungeons on odd levels + X0 with three trials spread between them.

Live letter was today. Showed some new mounts (ex trial has a mount that gives your character wings). Facewear glam slot so you can have glasses + regular headwear at sametime. Feature that lets you hide players near quest NPCs. Showed first trial series (trial name looks like it is like ufc/boxing themed, so probably progress to heavyweight as final trial series). Also the story trailer

Trailer showed some possible plotpoints

Ugh, I guess I didn't realize that dumb liger character in the later patch MSQs was a breadcrumb for the new zones. Are we only going to the Wakandan Democratic Republic?

Cybsled said:

Live letter was today. Showed some new mounts (ex trial has a mount that gives your character wings). Facewear glam slot so you can have glasses + regular headwear at sametime. Feature that lets you hide players near quest NPCs. Showed first trial series (trial name looks like it is like ufc/boxing themed, so probably progress to heavyweight as final trial series). Also the story trailer

Trailer showed some possible plotpoints

Spoiler

I am guessing the lalas going through the vault gate thing were Krile’s parents. Solution Nine civilization also seems to be highly lightning based, so the techno look makes sense. They look like Garlemond with another couple centuries under their belt. These trailers have little context, so it’s possible they aren’t bad guys. Or it’s complicated. I still think there is some Ascian background to this

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I'm curious about the ex trial wings thing. Are you actually mounted on something, and it gives you wings? or the mount itself is just wings for the character? I suppose that could be neat. Will have to see.

Still need Golbez and Rubicante mounts to finish the EW collection. Dunno that I'll get there before expansion release. Really want to get that bahamut carrying you in a chair mount.

I’m going to presume the wings are a mount, so you can’t fight with them active

Palum said:

Ugh, I guess I didn't realize that dumb liger character in the later patch MSQs was a breadcrumb for the new zones. Are we only going to the Wakandan Democratic Republic?

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We are going to the FF versions of North and South America

The xpac starts in “South America”, so lots of Aztec/mesoamerican/Incan themed stuff. The tiger lady is from there. Some of the zones look jungle like and some look like the Andies/Machu Pichu

At some point we head to “North America”, which is where the hyper advanced civilization is. They showed some southwestern looking zones (Arizona/Texas) that have sort of an old west vibe (trains, saloons, “oil” wells) and Solution Nine which is the technologically advanced city further north

I can guarantee you there will be some secret zone as well, like how Elpis and Ultima Thule weren’t really shown with any context

You also get some Phoenix tail feathers when you start to fly around

Guess sense they've done most of all the other animals they are running out of Animal mounts to create for the EX mounts lol, still though wings look good.

Cybsled said:

I’m going to presume the wings are a mount, so you can’t fight with them active




We are going to the FF versions of North and South America

The xpac starts in “South America”, so lots of Aztec/mesoamerican/Incan themed stuff. The tiger lady is from there. Some of the zones look jungle like and some look like the Andies/Machu Pichu

At some point we head to “North America”, which is where the hyper advanced civilization is. They showed some southwestern looking zones (Arizona/Texas) that have sort of an old west vibe (trains, saloons, “oil” wells) and Solution Nine which is the technologically advanced city further north

I can guarantee you there will be some secret zone as well, like how Elpis and Ultima Thule weren’t really shown with any context

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Alright that's better it looked sorta African with the tiger lady and I was a bit concerned. I didn't really like the dumb Indian city in EW.

Got 3 blue quests I need to finish, I think it's the Variant Dungeon stuff. Are they meant to be played solo or group? I did queue up for 15 mins for a group but nothing popped.

The hard mode versions are meant to be grouped, but the regular one you're usually better off soloing (which is probably why the queue is taking forever). Just take the variant dungeon skills that compliment your job before entering. Like for example, if you are DPS, take the damage reduction skill (mostly so you can survive tank busters from bosses) and the heal skill.

Cybsled said:

I’m going to presume the wings are a mount, so you can’t fight with them active




We are going to the FF versions of North and South America

The xpac starts in “South America”, so lots of Aztec/mesoamerican/Incan themed stuff. The tiger lady is from there. Some of the zones look jungle like and some look like the Andies/Machu Pichu

At some point we head to “North America”, which is where the hyper advanced civilization is. They showed some southwestern looking zones (Arizona/Texas) that have sort of an old west vibe (trains, saloons, “oil” wells) and Solution Nine which is the technologically advanced city further north

I can guarantee you there will be some secret zone as well, like how Elpis and Ultima Thule weren’t really shown with any context

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Actually funny this is almost the same major story beat as the wow expac. It's like poetry, it rhymes.

Cybsled said:

The hard mode versions are meant to be grouped, but the regular one you're usually better off soloing (which is probably why the queue is taking forever). Just take the variant dungeon skills that compliment your job before entering. Like for example, if you are DPS, take the damage reduction skill (mostly so you can survive tank busters from bosses) and the heal skill.

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correct, it can be slow depending on gear but mostly just solo the normal ones. If you make a PF group you can sometimes find people that will join, but it is tough. I never did the hard modes for that very reason.

there is a lot of content in the game like this, where people don’t know about it or because it’s slightly different to join they don’t go. The deep dungeons, special zones like euerka, these variant dungeons, etc. I always thought they should add more daily duty roulettes for some of this stuff and its usage would explode.

Chinaman889 said:

I think it was mentioned here(?) that one of the producers told us to remember details of the myths of the realm raids and the names of the 14 members of the convocation as really important MSQ points in Dawntrail.

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Solution 9.

Ninth sign of the Zodiac is Sagittarius which in FF12 corresponds to Igeryorhm. Note that Emet Selch corresponds to the third Zodiac sign and in game his class is listed as "Third Seat" so this seems to be somewhat active lore.

Igeryorhm has been data mined to have the same haircut/hair colour as Lightning from FF13 behind the mask. We have a lightning based civilisation.

Igeryorhm is the Ascian responsible for rejoining the 13th Shard which failed as it was their first attempt and they didn't understand the process yet. Is Solution 9 her attempt to rejoin or otherwise rescue the souls from the 13th?

And where have we just been? The 13th, making the last bit of the MSQ relevent and not just a side story.

Igeryorhm herself got White Auracite'd in Heavensward though, so you'd think they would use one of the unaccounted for Ascians. A lot of this seems to fit neatly together though.

The lighting aspect match from FF12 is Deudalaphon though, who isn't accounted for...

Got the "At Magic's Horizon" title finally. I feel like BLM and RDM took way more time than SCH, SGE and AST combined.

Going for BLU next so I can throw away all the magic dps levelling gear.

Chris said:

The lighting aspect match from FF12 is Deudalaphon though, who isn't accounted for...

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Some people claim that Gaius had Deudalaphon's mask on his belt during that one cutscene in Stormblood. Whether that is true or not, I am pretty convinced he/she has or had a hand in Solution Nine. Deudalaphon's role on the Convocation of 14 was Architecture and Innovation, both of which seem to fit Solution Nine. The Lightning element being their element also makes the fit pretty strong.

The current theory is the "mystery maiden" from the promo art and story trailers is one of the unaccounted for Ascians. Although the fact they aren't wearing typical Ascian/Ancient garb seems to go against what we know about them.