Board 8 > FFXIV Topic Part 7 -- Sage: It Goes in Every Field

(+) Yeah! (+)

Yeah Dun Scaith is definitely on the harder side as far as alliance raids go (possibly the hardest one, actually? It might just be that I go months between runs and forget mechanics, though).

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Joined the Immortal Flames don't know if it matters what Grand Company you join

Then finally got far enough into the story to unlock paladin and read up about what I'll be doing with it in the future when I unlock those abilities. Almost like a fighting game where I just have to memorize one really long combo

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It doesnt really matter (and you can switch later). The most important difference is how convenient the location is (the Flames are right next to the aetheryte which is nice); they also give you different cosmetic rewards.

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LordoftheMorons posted...

It doesnt really matter (and you can switch later). The most important difference is how convenient the location is (the Flames are right next to the aetheryte which is nice); they also give you different cosmetic rewards.

Flames are right next to the Aetheryne, while with Limsa the Aetheryte is right next to the market board. Both have their advantages. Gridmia just loses lol.

LordoftheMorons posted...

Yeah Dun Scaith is definitely on the harder side as far as alliance raids go (possibly the hardest one, actually? It might just be that I go months between runs and forget mechanics, though).

Weeping City I think is more annoying overall, but they're neck and neck if we're ignoring item level shenanigans.

Pretty common to wipe at the very beginning of Dun Scaith in my experience, in fact that's the one time where I experienced a simultaneous boss defeat and raid wipe. Boss death prioritizes raid wipe so we got to continue after respawning lol.

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The first fight of Dun Scaith scared the shit out of me the first time I did it - I think I died more times in that fight than I had playing the game up until that point. Still terrified of going back and actually learning how the hell I'm supposed to read his shenanigans.

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deathgaze is so good
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To be fair, Healers being able to cure doom is not exactly a common occurance in regular content.

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mccheyne posted...

Man, is Dun Scaith hard, or is it just me? Definitely died to each boss at least once (though none to Scathach somehow, but made up for it with two deaths to Diablos).

Not just you! Deathgaze Hollow ruins my day regularly, still; ditto Ferdiad redux.

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Finally unlocked Mentor roulette. My first one was Grand Cosmos. Easy. Just give me 1999 more of those.

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Dun Scaith is one of the harder 24 mans, because it relies on people doing mechanics rather than just brute forcing it through.

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i knew someone had actually tallied their 2000 mentor roulette hits, but when googling it i found lots of interesting data on that queue if you want to grind it for astrope

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1weKp6WgeHQdRHKpcmq6LmazylnpopevvyzA9yUj11qM/edit#slide=id.p
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That's cool. I wonder why Grand Cosmos is so common lol

I think the only ARR EX Trial I don't know well enough is King Moogle. And Ramuh is just really hard so no surprise it was the most failed.

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I think you could probably look at a quick text guide and get the gist of moogle ex, honestly. it does its job wonderfully of being incredibly distracting and confusing, but when you step back and look at it you realize theres not a whole lot you actually have to do. just don't kill the moogles early (for this reason I still think a lot of high sprout count parties can fail pretty easily)
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First Mentor Roulette was Akh Afah Amphitheatre. Second one was Whorleater EX.

Second was extremely fun.

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Good to know Dun Scaith is one of the harder ones!

Sirensong Seas was pretty easy, and Kugane is definitely a neat little place!

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Dun Scaith is not just difficult, it's also by far the nadir of 24-man raid design. The boss mechanics (particularly on Deathgaze) actively punish you for daring to treat them like literally every other mechanic that looks the same.

Only good fight among them is Ferdiad. Diabolos has cool moments (beam battles are always my jam) but it's a dogshit fight in most other respects.

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People here probably don't keep up with meta drama, but Blizzard is lashing out pretty badly against the big WoW streamers who started trying FF14 and criticizing WoW. It's not a good look. The exodus isn't going to stop anytime soon.

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Yeah I've been keeping an eye on it. Even the people in the studio who were at the forefront of pushing against workplace harrasment are now...performing online harrasment.

It would be one thing if the streamers were actively attacking individuals on the team or the like on their own, but it seems their major beef is that these streamers are talking shit about the game and the devs...are basically implying that if you are saying anything about the game itself sucking right now youre somehow supporting the awful work environment??

Like, what the fuck do you expect when the game has a ton of issues, and you're team has flat out said there is no work being done on it? I feel like they were expecting the Wow fanbase to suddenly rally to their cry, completely ignoring the game and forgiving all problems.

It's just a fucking nightmare on all sides over there. I'm just wondering if we're not to far off from Activision finally making the call and absorbing the Blizzard name. It only takes so much brand damage.

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And as far as actual FFXIV stuff, almost done with full Agrias cosplay! Just need the Ivalician Holy Knight Boots. I actually lucked out a lot on Greeds, I've only done the raid maybe 6 times, and this was the first time tanking it and being able to Need the set pieces.

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UshiromiyaEva posted...

I feel like they were expecting the Wow fanbase to suddenly rally to their cry, completely ignoring the game and forgiving all problems.

Some of them definitely are. It's not as many as they would've liked though. Stockholm syndrome only goes so far.

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UshiromiyaEva posted...

And as far as actual FFXIV stuff, almost done with full Agrias cosplay! Just need the Ivalician Holy Knight Boots. I actually lucked out a lot on Greeds, I've only done the raid maybe 6 times, and this was the first time tanking it and being able to Need the set pieces.

This is still my PLD glam, because FFT is the best Final Fantasy.

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I need to figure out what Paladin weapon glam will work best for the set. Shame the game doesn't have the Coral Sword. Emperor's New Shield of course. Honestly my Sword of the Round may just be the way to go anyways.

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Dat first Shadowbringers trial music

Jesus CHRIST no wonder the composer for this game is a fucking legend.

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Yeah it's the GoaT.

The entire leitmotif for Shadowbringers is unrivaled.

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Spoilers up until the first trial of Shadowbringers

I absolutely love the lore around our character. There is such a beautiful weight to our journey. Compared to WoW, a game I poured a lot of time into, I feel as if my character is always respected. Like "Oh shit, bringer of light is here, well this just got interesting."

Like with Zenos, he beat our ass a couple of times but he is was like "oh yeah I like you, let's do this more." and even the general dude recently being like "you are a very different breed" type vibe, I love it. The skulls leader, Fordola I think? The Butcher, seeing our past and basically going "oh what the FUCK how do you keep living?" made me tear up. There is such a beautiful weight to the deeds we've done in this game. For those that we have lost, for those we may yet save. The game doesn't forget the people who have died. The things we have had to do. There is a lot of sadness in WoW because we're the 'chosen one' sometimes and I think that speaks for the botch job of the story. Here we are the chosen one but it is given proper respect. When we have to do stupid tasks the characters are like "yeah... sorry about this, honestly this is stupid please forgive us for making you do it." There is acknowledgment and it feels good.

So yeah FFXIV's story may... be my favorite final fantasy story? I know shadowbringers is going to ruin me but even to this point it just feels so good. I love all of the scions and the way they talk about your character just feels nice. Like "Yeah, the world is going to shit but we've got ____, we like our chances." Oof, so good.

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That's the secret of FFXIV that a lot of Final Fantasy players who refuse to play it will never accept: its one of if not THE best story in the franchise.

Even just a few weeks ago there was a topic where FF stories came up, and when FFXIV was brought up multiple people who had not played it were like "lol whatever". The genre barrier is so strong for some people, and that used to be me honestly not that long ago.

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FF14 kind of cheats because it's less of a single Final Fantasy game and more of its own sub-series. Gives you a lot of extra time to get attached to the world and characters. With that said, yes, best story in the series.

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Also no wonder the FFXIV community is not toxic how can you experience this story and not just want to be good to people the world is a dark, scary place where bad things happen so you have to be good and gentle and kind FUCK THE BIRD TALKING ABOUT HIS MEDALLION GOT TO ME, OK?

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lol bruh you ain't seen nothing yet.

ShB don't stop punching.

Also I can easily explain how...if they bought a skip! The streamers who skipped almost always seem to be douchey at best.

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There is so much feels in this game and I absolutely love it. I can't wait. I knew shit was going to go down with the one thing early on ...and the sounds good grief. The sounds of that.

Nightmare fuel+++

In non story related stuff, I love mining and chocobo racing

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FF14 has two major advantages in the toxicity department:

1. Story is inherently wholesome even in its darkness
2. The mechanics of the game don't punish players for failure

I read some WoW mechanics and, yeah, I would probably be toxic too if I'd been tricked into playing that for years.

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God dammit the poster collection just went up on Amazon preorder and IMEDIATELY sold out.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1646091450/

I got the encyclopedia preorders in a few days later though, so hopefully this rearoxks as well.

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Man, watching Asmongold play through the HW MSQ, I had forgotten just how good the story was in that expansion. Real shame that SB and ShB weren't nearly as cool.

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Yeah, the story that I've seen so far (very early into SB right now) has been quite good. Heavensward was awesome all the way through (plus, Knights of the Round was fucking awesome).

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I was a little mad that my newbie self back in mid-Stormblood was going through Heavensward and I basically had it spoiled before I was even in Sea of Clouds that the Ishgardian Asshat Brigade was going to be that fight.

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Major HW spoils

The lack of almost any real meaningful interaction with any of the Heaven's Ward is a bit of a downer on HW for me overall. Haurchefant dying to a nobody I never have an likely never will care to learn the name of also dampened that death a bit. It's certainly why I think the patches are better than the main game. Don't get me wrong 3.0 is fantastic even if it's no 5.0, but I feel like it could have been better if they explored the enemy faction a bit more. Imagine if that reveal of who threw the lance of light, had, like, even the SLIGHTEST impact whatsoever?

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UshiromiyaEva posted...

Major HW spoils

The lack of almost any real meaningful interaction with any of the Heaven's Ward is a bit of a downer on HW for me overall. Haurchefant dying to a nobody I never have an likely never will care to learn the name of also dampened that death a bit. It's certainly why I think the patches are better than the main game. Don't get me wrong 3.0 is fantastic even if it's no 5.0, but I feel like it could have been better if they explored the enemy faction a bit more. Imagine if that reveal of who threw the lance of light, had, like, even the SLIGHTEST impact whatsoever?

This is a very good point, pretty heavily agree here. I do very much love the story (and it's much better than ARR), but you definitely raise a good point here.

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e-s

*SCREAMING*

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I mean for gods sake, they're literally one of the things the expansion's wordplay of a title is NAMED after. Yet I guarantee that if anyone here was told to pick more than 3 or 4 of them out of a lineup they would fail 9 times out of 10.

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The legitimate knock against HW is that its villains were incredibly weak.

Thordan and Nidhogg are just...boring. Knock Zenos all you want, but at least he has character.

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DoomTheGyarados posted...

e-s

*SCREAMING*

Best character in the game.

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UshiromiyaEva posted...

Best character in the game.

fantastic theme too

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Shadow Dino posted...

The legitimate knock against HW is that its villains were incredibly weak.

Thordan and Nidhogg are just...boring. Knock Zenos all you want, but at least he has character.

They worked well as forces of nature, Nidhogg especially. The whole conceit of the Dragonsong War was that the conflict had escalated beyond the point of reason. It was self-perpetuating and fed into itself. Sometimes the best stories are told by pitting your cast against forces that act as constants. Nidhogg worked better as wrathful vengeance incarnate than he would have as a more nuanced character.

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Yeah, Nidhogg being vengeance incarnate worked for the story. My minor quibble is with Thordan being pretty lame and Lahabrea being completely wasted. What happened with Lahabrea is even more of a bummer after Shadowbringers.

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Shadow Dino posted...

Yeah, Nidhogg being vengeance incarnate worked for the story. My minor quibble is with Thordan being pretty lame and Lahabrea being completely wasted. What happened with Lahabrea is even more of a bummer after Shadowbringers.

Well we'll just have to see what ever the fuck is up with Pandemonium in Endwalker.

The raid being about him is even more intruiging since they've already said that 6.0 will be the conclusion of the Hydelan and Zodiark story, meaning that everything for his raid series may potentially be part of the setup for the next story arc.

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Shadow Dino posted...

The legitimate knock against HW is that its villains were incredibly weak.

Thordan and Nidhogg are just...boring. Knock Zenos all you want, but at least he has character.

I strongly disagree. Zenos is Vegeta if you take away everything that makes Vegeta an interesting and nuanced character.

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HW has been so amazing on a rewatch. So much foreshadowing. So much I missed. I guess my first time through HW I was so distracted by the padding with the Vanu, the Moogles, and stuff that I wasn't really that hyped until the Vault. But it's really an incredible story throughout.

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Palace of the Dead unlocked

reading up on it I guess people mainly use it for leveling up alt classes

okay

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ninkendo posted...

Palace of the Dead unlocked

reading up on it I guess people mainly use it for leveling up alt classes

okay

It's also a fun, unique experience.

If you haven't done Tam-Tara (Hard) -- started by the quest "Corpse Groom" in Ul'dah -- you should do that beforehand!

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Zenos is quite possibly the lamest villain out of the entire game, and it bothers me that they're setting him up as the "big bad" of Endwalker.

Gaius > Elidibus > Lahabrea > Nidhogg > Thordan > The big fat guy from ShB > Thordan > Zenos

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