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Chapter XX: Chasing Madison After murdering the wildlife found in Sastasha with some other adventurers during her investigation, Aggro discovers an inconspicuous switch that opens a hidden pathway. It looks like there may be some truth to the rumours that pirates are actively using the cave once again.  Click to play: Dungeon Battle Theme A  Around the corner is a pirate and two dogs. From this point on, we'll see a variation of pirates and dogs throughout the dungeon. Most pirates will be either melee range fighters or dogs, but there's so,e ranged enemies too. I'll get to the ranged pirates later, since there's a specific method of dealing with those as a tank.  I actually spent a fair bit of time discussing tanking last time, but there isn't really very much to say about the DPS role. DPS classes tend to focus more on optimising damage through the use of their own actions. I've already mentioned that they should aim to fight whatever the tank is focusing on, and they may also have actions that require specific positions. As an additional note, some classes will have AoE actions at this level, but few do. I'll talk more about DPS AoE when it becomes a little more relevant, though the classes with it can use it here. Click to play: Boss Theme A  The next room is already a pseudo-boss room. Captain Madison's crew have taken up shelter in the Sastasha Seagrot, and for some reason Madison himself is playing guard to the inner rooms. I have no idea why, but there he is. It's hard to determine if they're under the influence of Leviathan, but Aggro makes the decision to just straight up murder them anyway.  I want to emphasise this a little, so let's take the pull one action at a time. There's three enemies, and Captain Madison has the largest pool of HP here. He's got almost 5'000 HP. Since he'll be around for a while, it's best for the DPS to kill his associates first and reduce how much damage Aggro will take. Aggro marks the enemies, leaving Madison last. She then throws her shield at Madison to engage in the battle.  At this point, she runs in between them all. This position would be great for using Flash, but it's still on a cooldown. This is where most new tanks will stop and begin fighting. This isn't when the pull should stop.  Instead of standing there, Aggro just passes through them to the other side. If it's a big enemy, feel free to just clip through the model. This is a thing that can be done. By doing this, Aggro will keep her party safe from the pirate's AoE attacks. She should now be the only one to take damage too. After this, it's business as usual. Like the DPS, it's safer for Aggro to focus her attacks on the first marked target and then sweep them. So, we know that the DPS should really just focus on their own class' mechanics and beat up their targets, while tanks should ensure they remain the one with the highest enmity and use cooldowns to improve their chances of survival. What about the healer?  You'd be forgiven for assuming that the healer should be, well, casting healing spells the entire time. In this particular fight, I actually didn't expect any less from the adventurer that was healing Aggro since their heals are fairly weak. Still, looking at the party list you'll see that Aggro still has 425 HP left after a hit or two. That's 425 full points that don't really matter, because the conjurer is firing off those Cures rapidly. That's okay if you're lacking confidence or are new, but let's look at a different situation.  In a second run, the healer spent most of their time in Cleric Stance. Cleric Stance is super important for healers. With Cleric Stance active, the healer's Mind and Intelligence attribute points are swapped and they receive a healing penalty and damage buff as well. In a game where Mind improves healing and Intelligence improves magical damage, Cleric Stance turns the Conjurer into a DPS role instead. The output from Cure will become pathetic, but in exchange their Stone isn't as pathetic.  This makes more effective use of Aggro's large HP pool. A good healer should be able to contribute damage, while also ensuring that the tank stays alive. The healer can also fire off more offensive spells if the tank uses their defensive cooldowns well too. And before anyone points it out, that Convalescence still boosted the Cure that Aggro received (if only just).  Honestly, it's up to the healer just how much time they gauge is reasonable in Cleric Stance. Using the stance beats spamming healing spells when the tank is near 100% HP though. That doesn't really contribute very much to the party. I should point out that there is a danger to Cleric Stance as well. Cleric Stance requires a cooldown before it can be removed. If a healer activates Cleric Stance, they need to be sure that they can commit to it for five seconds. If you're uncertain that you can last two global cooldowns without having to heal then don't use it. Additionally, be careful when toggling it off. There's no cooldown after it's been deactivated. This means that double pressing the key will immediately reactivate it, subjecting you to its five second cooldown before it can be deactivated.   Captain Madison will attempt to flee once his HP hits 50%. You won't be able to damage him in this state. Click to play: Dungeon Battle Theme A  He'll lead the party into a rather expansive room. There are multiple paths - each leading to dead ends - and two locked doors. This is when the pirate archers show up, so I'm going back to talking about tanking.  Honestly, dealing with ranged enemies can simply be resolved with some common sense. It's something that a lot of tanks mess up, so I'll comment on it anyway. When pulling a group, ranged enemies will be able to strike you from afar. That much is obvious. This means that they'll also remain out of range for the tank's AoE attacks, like Aggro's Flash. All you need to do is just drag the enemy group over to the ranged enemy. That's it. During this time, it's preferable if DPS lay off because they'll be likely to steal hate while the tank re-positions. So long as a tank aims to keep all attacking enemies grouped together, there should be no problem.    The pirate in the next enemy group will drop a Captain's Quarter Key, which will open up the southern-most door.  Like most anything else in this dungeon, Aggro will have to murder her way through to the goal. The objective kind of spoils that Madison isn't inside the Captain's Quarters, and I'm only just now realising that displaying that in the LP is just adding to the clusterfuck of information on the screen. Expect that to vanish next time.   Opening up the Captain's Quarters will reveal a larger-than-normal Shallowtail Reaver. Rather than interrogate him on the location of his Captain, Aggro responds to the appearance of this burly Roegadyn the only way a member of the Sea Wolf clan knows: murder.  There's nothing to really say about the dude. He's basically just the same as the Shallowtail Reavers outside, except that he does more damage and has more HP. He also has Overpower, but Aggro can just side-step it and continue murdering him. Click to play: Sastasha Theme   His death will reveal the Waverider Gate Key, which will now open up the last locked door. After two more deaths, the door is open. Before passing through it, let's quickly check the other rooms as well.  Three of the rooms will just be storage rooms like the above. They'll all contain treasure chests, and two bags of meat that spill out experience points when beaten. Nothing too exciting, but Aggro gets some nice loot as well. Among the loot is the Aetherial Bronze Plate Belt. Dungeons can drop Aetherial equipment, which is basically just equipment that can be bought from vendors or crafted but with a twist.  Firstly, the image for the item will have a pink background. Secondly, is the stats. While the primary attributes (that's the Strength and Vitality in this case) are exactly the same as the high quality regular version, the secondary stats are random. The stats here aren't too impressive, but it's possible to get more secondary stats than you would normally get. I'll probably go over the secondary stats another time, because they don't really matter too much right now. I'm sure you can figure them out anyway.   Over in the Deckhands' Quarters, a fight breaks out when Aggro enters the room. The pirates are all too busy fighting each other to notice her, making it easy to snatch that Treasure Coffer. They'll kill each other until only one group remains, making them more manageable to fight too.  The thing is, Aggro would rather be the one doing the murdering. That's way more fun! And so her party enters the fray as a third party.  What's kind of neat is that this really does become a fight between three parties. In a case where you'd expect them all to suddenly become friends and fight with the heroes' party, the pirates continue to fight each other and only the ones most pissed off with Aggro will attack her. Apparently, stabbing you isn't as offensive as drinking your booze.  Two pirates guard a prison cell over at The Hole. Hanging around on a couple of barrels is the key, but Aggro will slaughter them anyway. She's a lady on a mission and nobody   What's inside The Hole isn't pleasant at all. Aggro will make the pirates pay for this. Click to play: Boss Theme A   In the next room, Aggro and co. will fight with Captain Madison again. It's more or less the same fight. Madison can also drop Aggro's accuracy down a little bit, and this can cause a few missed attacks, but it can be cleansed off if the healer is the right class or level. The Conjurer in this party is synced down to level 18, so she has the series staple Esuna spell to get rid of it.  Rather than running away, Captain Madison will unleash the hounds when his HP drops below 50%. It's easier for the party to just burn away the rest of Captain Madison's life while Aggro grabs the dogs and keeps their attention on her.  It's time to call attention to another mechanic. You may have noticed the Limit Break hovering above the party list. Party actions will contribute to building up the Limit Break gauge. Each party role gets its own limit break effect, but once a single player in the party uses their limit break the gauge will be emptied. As a tank, Aggro can buff the party's defence with her limit break but honestly there's rarely a point in using it. A healer limit break will heal the entire party.    Physically ranged party members will be able to perform a narrow AoE that stretches along a good distance. It's basically a giant energy beam. Casters will also be able to cast an AoE, though it's a round AoE like the Chopper's in the last update. Both ranged and caster limit break will deal the same damage, but their AoE variation will make them useful in different situations. I'll show you the melee limit break on the final boss. Click to play: Sastasha Theme  Captain Madison will bail again, leading the party into a more open-aired room. This is the docking area for the pirates. It's a larger room than normal, and has four different enemy groups inside. Aggro's party isn't the best for AoE damage, so she has to be careful as to not grab the attention of any of the other men in the room.  A couple of the groups contain ranged enemies, like the Shalloweye Reaver above. As explained before, make sure to group up the enemy group around the ranged target.  One last group guards the final boss room, where Captain Madison has ran out of room to run. After slaughtering the last three pirates, Aggro steels herself for her last act of murder for the night. Click to play: Final Boss Theme  Unfortunately, it looks like Aggro isn't the only one looking to separate Captain Madison's head from his body. An upset Sahagin lands on shore and approaches him.   The Sahagin revels in the moment, but Aggro isn't happy. She still has one murder left.    Denn the Orcatoothed has almost 6,000 HP and hits more than anything Aggro has fought so far. He's certainly the final boss of the dungeon, but unfortunately he also doesn't come alone.  Water can spout out from the four corners of the room, revealing unnatural ripples. When this shows up, the party is expected to split up and interact with the ripples. Aggro doesn't need to bother because she'll be interrupted by Denn's attacks. Though, in saying that, nobody needs to bother with it.  When left alone, a Baleen Guard will spawn from the unnatural ripples. They're pretty weak and a single DPS can take them, but that's not why the ripples can be left along. The boss is pretty easy to kill before the Baleen Guards can do any damage. This fight is just a lot easier to burn the boss.   This is also when the melee limit break becomes really useful. It's the highest damaging limit break and ability in the game, but only hits a single target. The melee DPS will perform Cloud Strife's Braver limit break from Final Fantasy VII - complete with an aetherial Buster Blade. Click to play: Victory Fanfare   The dungeon is cleared once the final boss has been defeated, and the party celebrates in a cutscene. Similar to Final Fantasy XII, this is where players will hear FFXIV's version of the Final Fantasy victory fanfare theme.  Beating the boss will also drop the final treasure coffer for the dungeon. Like every other boss, it's guaranteed to drop a piece of equipment; however, the equipment dropped is randomly selected from the pool available in the dungeon. To leave the dungeon, you can exit from the duty finder or from the exit in the dungeon itself.  And that's it over. After completing the dungeon for the first time, Aggro will be dumped outside of it. She'll now need to return to Baderon and report the results of her investigation. CrashScreen fucked around with this message at 12:35 on Sep 9, 2016 |
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Aug 26, 2016 15:26
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This boss is pretty poorly designed. The intended way of doing it where everyone handles the bubbles to stop adds from spawning actually makes the fight harder. You lose so much dps time that it prolongs the fight and makes more bubbles spawn, causing a snowball effect.
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Aug 26, 2016 17:04
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To be more precise, the bubbles become active when the boss hits certain HP thresholds (I don't know the exact numbers, but probably something like 75%/50%/25%, with more bubbles the lower his HP). The trick is that if you hit another threshold in the time before the adds spawn, it'll produce new bubbles... which completely overwrite the old ones, cancelling their add spawns. If your DPS is high enough (which isn't hard), you'll get him down to about 10% without ever seeing adds, and an LB will finish him off before they become a problem.
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Aug 26, 2016 21:43
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Zandar posted:To be more precise, the bubbles become active when the boss hits certain HP thresholds (I don't know the exact numbers, but probably something like 75%/50%/25%, with more bubbles the lower his HP). The trick is that if you hit another threshold in the time before the adds spawn, it'll produce new bubbles... which completely overwrite the old ones, cancelling their add spawns. If your DPS is high enough (which isn't hard), you'll get him down to about 10% without ever seeing adds, and an LB will finish him off before they become a problem. Well Define "not hard". I'm assuming you mean "has a statistical possibility of occurring less than 5% of the time", because that's about my experience in Sastasha as a non-DD. Either i'm healing and get clobbered by 8 adds while the boss is stomping around on 20% health, or i'm tanking and frantically trying to pick up all the adds, then the healer uses a limit break when i'm near death and the DDs run around aimlessly until we wipe and  Usually the DDs just opt to kill the adds when they get near., which works out well enough in most cases though
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Aug 27, 2016 01:43
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When it comes to this boss, it's honestly a bit of a toss-up on how effective the gear equipped is and how much you've steamrolled through the place so far. If you're with newcomers and anyone who is not giving it their all (read: healer who didn't heal in the update prior), then playing the safer option and defusing the bubbles saves a lot more time in preventing wipes than ignoring them and rushing the boss does (and yes, people can actually wipe in this place: I've seen it happen before). If everyone is on their game and the group in general has just rinsed through the phases like it was their 100th time passing through, then the boss nuke is the quickest option for the reasons stated previously by others. Ultimately, this is the kind of point where the group has to calculate the risk/reward with either choice and stick with it as a group (which is where communication is often a good, but seldom used, option in parties). There is another dungeon that comes up soon that this is kind of approach is also relevant to, but I will come to that when it turns up in the LP. One thing to bear in mind (and this is a trap I often find more experienced players falling into over time, not just in FFXIV but MMO's in general) is that if you're running in a Duty Finder random group, you can get all sorts in there, and all sorts can include new players with lower-level gear who can't manage the DPS/Aggression/Stance Switch that veterans can, either through lack of experience or lack of good gear. For those people, they're not going to know when to use their LB (and some may not even have it on their action bar - for controller setups, it's not even there by default!), they're not going to be completely used to their class and the right timings to do an action required of their role, and some won't even know the tactics/strategy for overcoming the dungeons. There's going to be a few who really have no clue what they are doing and rushing into combat without understanding party roles (something new people would be doing simply because it's their only experience of combat so far - soloing, anyone doing this while experienced is just being a jackass, imo) and, while we can give some poo poo to the guy who didn't heal, he might not have figured out how to do healing on a party basis at that time (which is the only defense I would grudgingly give the guy were I in that group). The other trap is the expectation of things being easier over time. While it's not an unreasonable expectation, a lot of people over-estimate how much easier it gets. An important thing that I think is omitted from the main content so far is that upon entering any kind of instance (these dungeons included), not only is your level synced downward to reflect the recommended level for these areas, but so is the gear that is equipped. You could have the highest grade of the end-game armour, mastered your class weapon and strived to get all of the class achievements, but in that synced setting you're still only hitting creatures for the equivalent strongest attack that you can smack down at the highest recommended level for that instance to keep it comparative and challenging for all players in that instance. While not a perfect system (it is still possible to just charge through some parts with less than four people even with sync restrictions), it does mean that you can't exactly run through a dungeon cosplaying as Saitama and one-punching everything out of existence. So while it is easier to run through dungeons in synced equipment, it is not exactly feasible to expect to charge through it if not everyone is running through in synced equipment. One of the big issues that I have noticed in my years of MMO's (be it WoW, FFXIV...hell, even F2P crap that seems to still get churned out to this day) is that the 'veterans' often expect everyone to know what they are doing and refuse to settle for anything less, which then causes the problems of stagnating growth in the end-game because newbies are being driven out by others throwing insults at the "n00bz" who would probably want to learn how to play, but when the experience is 'some asshat on the internet' dictating to you how you're bad without trying to help improve on that, wanting to play further is really not in said newbie's interests. I would like to say that it's rare, but...given a recent run of this very dungeon yesterday on another character where this sort of thing happened, it's not rare enough, and the rarity gets even less the further in you manage to get to. ...anyway, that's my  on that topic. Honestly though, I like these first dungeons since you can actually see what the designers were going for when it came to teaching the players how to approach the dungeons. Giving the hint at the start of the map that clues you in to what the solution to the coral puzzle is encourages exploration and investigation (as well as communication if only one member chooses to check the book for the hint). Having notification pop-ups to highlight important events ensures a familiarity with direction is grasped, as well as giving context to what has changed in the area (such as the releasing of the dogs or the switch appearing before the fight with Chopper). It also highlights the penalties of failing to pay attention to these aspects of the design that would otherwise cause less of a problem if you had instead chosen to investigate them (the bubbles spawning adds in for the final boss, or the side-effect of picking the wrong coral formation of the three available). You can see that they really designed these to be a tutorial of sorts to bring new people into the idea of running them, and I think this is where I actually started to see the strengths behind this design for the MMO and just embraced it.
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Aug 27, 2016 04:50
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TiamosLoren posted:One of the big issues that I have noticed in my years of MMO's (be it WoW, FFXIV...hell, even F2P crap that seems to still get churned out to this day) is that the 'veterans' often expect everyone to know what they are doing and refuse to settle for anything less, which then causes the problems of stagnating growth in the end-game because newbies are being driven out by others throwing insults at the "n00bz" who would probably want to learn how to play, but when the experience is 'some asshat on the internet' dictating to you how you're bad without trying to help improve on that, wanting to play further is really not in said newbie's interests. I would like to say that it's rare, but...given a recent run of this very dungeon yesterday on another character where this sort of thing happened, it's not rare enough, and the rarity gets even less the further in you manage to get to. Very much this. FF14 does help with this a little bit, with Newbie Bonuses. When you're grinding end-game currencies, seeing that Newbie Bonus is like a ray of sunshine. On the other hand, for people who are trying to do end-game content with Pick Up Groups (PUGs), that message is an anathema. No one wants newbies in raids at end-game, and the fact that the game near-forces players to at least try with their Newbies helps; you can't kick people until 5 minutes after the Duty begins, and can't Vote Abandon for 15. The dark side of course, is one of your tanks seeing the Newbie Bonus, and either dropping group immediately, forcing the party to wait for a new one, or worse sitting down and demanding the party kicks him once the five minutes are up, so he doesn't eat the 30 minute Abandon Penalty. In premade groups of strangers for the end-game content, though, if you are in at least the North American data centers and not hopping on the Learning Party train the first couple days a major patch hits... you may have to wait a long time to see the content completed. After the first week or so, Learning Parties tend to poof into the aether, and no one is willing to take a newbie anymore. It is all Farm content now. Apparently over on the JP servers, the Learning Parties are still strong even weeks into the patch, but there are... other issues over there with server-wide blacklists for terrible and ignorant players. In the end it can be very disheartening. Though FFXIV has a saving grace in that this is only for the Extreme versions of the content, and most anyone can do the Normal versions to at least see the fights and listen to the amazing music. (Seriously, almost every Trial theme but one or two is freaking amazing)
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Aug 27, 2016 08:59
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SkyTalon2314 posted:. (Seriously, almost every Trial theme but one or two is freaking amazing) Concur. There's at least two EX primals I fight on a regular basis because they frakkin' refuse to drop their orchestrion rolls.
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Aug 27, 2016 11:52
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Aggro's victory animation looks pretty great. Catpeople wiggle their ears. Which is way more cute than it is badass.
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Aug 27, 2016 17:30
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I never liked my female Elezen's victory pose. It looks so dumb. And yeah, this game absolutely has a better community than WoW goddamn. HenryEx posted:Also, wow you died in Sastasha
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Aug 27, 2016 17:46
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Quoting from the megathread because it's relevant.Meldonox posted:No matter how easy you make content, someone is going to struggle on it. I'm absolutely positive there's a group out there that has wiped on that first guildhest. If you've seen a wipe personally when running normal/easy content and you have half a clue what you're doing, odds are it's probably hard enough for most people. I was pretty surprised that the healer was having a hard time when they were the kind to non-stop heal, but when I saw their gear I understood why. They healed 70 HP a Cure. Damage received was about 37 from a single enemy's auto-attack. Please do the Hall of the Novice and equip the shiny new gear from it. TiamosLoren posted:When it comes to this boss, it's honestly a bit of a toss-up on how effective the gear equipped is and how much you've steamrolled through the place so far. If you're with newcomers and anyone who is not giving it their all (read: healer who didn't heal in the update prior), then playing the safer option and defusing the bubbles saves a lot more time in preventing wipes than ignoring them and rushing the boss does (and yes, people can actually wipe in this place: I've seen it happen before). Even with this healer, or even when I was healing and doing more damage than half of the party, I can't say I've ever had trouble with just burning the boss. The only time I've ever experienced trouble is when people hesitate or someone goes for the adds, but a little bit of communication goes a long way with solving that. Putting aside gear (which you should have just enough when you're new since the game throws it at you), the rotations at this level are so simple that it's hard for it to go wrong either. I'd argue that burning the boss typically is the safer option. I'm not denying that can't go wrong either though (I mean, you've seen it), but people are usually on board for wailing on the boss. Especially if they're new and don't know what's going on.
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Aug 27, 2016 19:00
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You will notice, at least with the first three dungeons you get access to, that they're easily streamrolled. A lot of people say their poorly designed (these people are usually maxed level / geared) but the dungeons are made to teach you mechanics that you'll deal with throughout the MSQ, which people seem to forget three years after they were introduced. Specifically, in this one you deal with working as a party at the basic level, dealing with additional mobs spawning during a fight and using certain mechanics in a fight to prevent excess damage.
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Aug 27, 2016 23:02
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That's what it's supposed to teach you, yes. But what it really teaches you is to ignore the mechanics, ignore the adds, and just burn down the boss ASAP. That's why it's poorly designed.
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Aug 28, 2016 00:15
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Fister Roboto posted:That's what it's supposed to teach you, yes. But what it really teaches you is to ignore the mechanics, ignore the adds, and just burn down the boss ASAP. That's why it's poorly designed. The bubbles spawn when the boss hits certain points and only the initial set spawn, it's a mechanic that's built for people who are around that item level / do not have a job crystal yet. Obviously its going to be easy to blow through with even one person who's maxed item level.
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Aug 28, 2016 00:33
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Now you're making me want to test this out with minimum ilevel sync.
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Aug 28, 2016 00:40
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Might as well also throw Glasya Labolas into the badly designed fights as well, then, since the fastest and least dangerous way is to just ignore everything but hitting the boss.
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Aug 28, 2016 01:05
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I can definitely see where they were going with the early MSQ dungeons. Obviously you want to low-ball any dungeon that is required for progression to some degree. I think all of us veterans can think of a very particular, infuriating Trial in 2.55 that had to be nerfed because of how difficult it could be for 'casuals'. I still see people lamenting that decision, as well as the decision to nerf/adjust some of the ARR dungeons as well. I believe the next one Crash has coming up has a few quality of life adjustments done to its second fight. On the other side of the coin, there is legitimacy in wanting content that has some teeth to newbies so that they can learn. How well one dungeon does is versus another is something I'll leave to the philosophers. I am glad that YoshiP and the team have made a game that is more or less newbie friendly in that regard, though. This game doesn't assume you've played an MMO before on many levels. I recall introducing my friends to Guild Wars 2 after it went F2Pish and them getting annoyed and confused at how to work with the game. Because of this newbie/casual friendly atmosphere, I would also say a lot of the more hardcore, 'gamer', whathaveyou crowd should learn to understand that not everyone's playing to their level. Hell, I've been called out as trash-tier because I can't memorize the order of every attack of every single raid boss in the game, and need my raid leader to call out what attack is coming up.
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Aug 28, 2016 08:02
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Chapter XX-2: Time for Class Now that we've hit the party content, I think it's now a good idea to overview some of the other classes that are in the game. Even though I'm approaching A Realm Reborn like it's 2013, I'll be including Rogue as well. I still won't be including jobs yet. I'll try to get a mini-update with each class, or show each class off individually in the bonus section from now on - which works out well considering the remaining Gold Saucer features might actually be a bit too big for to be just a bonus. I'll talk more about each class' lore at that time as well. For the most part, the functionality of the classes are simple right now. Once we hit level 30 in the LP and class mechanics change a little, I'll return to the overview and go over what's new and how their identity takes form.  Gladiator Aggro's current class in the LP. Gladiators wield swords and shields. Prior to content patch 2.4, they could also equip daggers with their shield. As a tank, their primary attribute is Vitality. Gladiators' flavour is their shield. It provides passive damage mitigation for any physical attacks received. Gladiator is a very simple class, making it good for beginners to the tanking role. They are the weakest offensive attackers, and have a strong focus on defensive cooldowns. They also don't really have AoE damage. We've seen how they work in the LP.  Marauder This is probably my favourite class. Like Gladiator, Marauder is a tank class. As a tank, Marauder's primary attribute is Vitality, which increases its HP and attack damagee. The weapon of a Marauder is an axe. Their guild is located in Limsa Lominsa. Marauders are very offensive tanking classes. They can heal by dealing damage, and are also able to buff their damage output. It's also one of the best designed classes in the game, with improving its damage serving to enhance both its enmity generation and self-healing. It's a rather self-efficient class. Unlike Gladiator, their AoE ability also deals damage. They do have some defensive buffs, though they don't offer as much raw mitigation as the Gladiator, they can still be almost just as effective. There's some neat tricks to their abilities which I'll comment on in the relevant fights.  Pugilist Pugilists are a physical melee DPS class, making their primary attribute Strength (which explains itself). Their weapon is meant to just be gloves, since they're a punching class, but they can range to dagger gloves to kettles. They might have the most weapon variety in the game. The Pugilists' Guild is located in Ul'dah. When I mentioned that DPS classes can have positional requirements for some of their actions, it was mostly Pugilist I had in mind. Instead of using the standard combo system, Pugilists will have abilities that will put them into the Coeurl Form, Raptor Form or Opo-Opo Form with their main weaponskills requiring one of the forms. For example, instead of using actions 1 -> 2 -> 3 or 1 -> 2 -> 4 like some classes, their combo is more like Raptor Form -> Coeurl Form -> Opo-Opo Form. There are three attacks that can be used in each form. Additionally, finishing one combo string can buff their attack and speed.  Lancer This is usually my go-to physical melee DPS class. Like Pugilist, Strength is their primary attribute. They wield spears and lances, and their guild is found in Gridania. As a DPS class, they are all about the burst damage with offensive cooldowns. Additionally, one of their combos will increase the damage of lancers, archers, and machinists. Lancers are probably the most boring class - at least until they hit the post-level 30 class content. Hell, the most optimal damage you could do with a Lancer is from spamming a single attack all the way until level 26, with only the occasional Heavy Thrust to keep their damage buff up. They had some positional requirements until recently, where only a couple remain.  Archer Like the name suggests, Archers are a physical ranged class. As RPG tradition suggests, the primary attribute for Archers is Dexterity which increases ranged damage. They're also unlocked in Gridania. Archers might be the easiest class to play in the A Realm Reborn content. In a game with a lot of AoE-mechanics, Archers are able to freely fight at a distance while taking advantage of their mobility. They aren't magical casters, so there's no charge time for their attacks. A lot of their DPS is centered around critical hits and keeping DoTs up. They're also the weakest physical attackers.  Thaumaturge Thaumaturges are casters from Ul'dah, which means their primary attribute is Intelligence - which increases magical damage. They use staves equipped with gemstones, typically. There aren't any elemental weaknesses in Final Fantasy XIV, because that would make the Thaumaturge one of the most important classes to have in your party. Instead, the elemental spells are used differently. Thaumaturges expend all of their MP on their offensive Fire spells, while regenerating their MP with their weaker Blizzard spells.  Conjurer Conjurer is the only healing class in A Realm Reborn, using wooden staves. The Mind attribute increasing healing output, and so is the Conjurer's primary attribute. Their guild is in Gridania. The class itself is fairly simple, and very traditional in Final Fantasy. This is the class with the Cure spells and Esuna for the debuff cleanse. When the tank is in a safe place, Conjurers can activate Cleric Stance to turn into a more offensive caster and take advantage of their offensive spells. Like Gladiator, Conjurers are a nice introduction to the role for new players with their simplicity and raw strengths.  Arcanist New to Final Fantasy XIV and introduced in A Realm Reborn is the Arcanist class. They wield books, and are casters like Thaumaturge. The Arcanists' Guild is in Limsa Lominsa. Fister Roboto is LP'ing this class. Arcanists use a combination of DoTs and pets to inflict damage. Their damage is the weakest amongst the DPS when alone, but the Carbuncles they command balance it out. There are two Carbuncle types, and multiple DoTs to drain the life out of their foes. They have fairly good MP management as well; though, it's not like the infinite supply of a Thaumaturge.  Rogue Added towards the end of A Realm Reborn's life cycle, Rogues are a physical melee class that wield twin daggers. Their guild is found in Limsa Lominsa. Their primary attribute is Dexterity to increase their damage. They're actually the Thief job from other Final Fantasy games, but the name Rogue was chosen to better fit the lore. The class uses poisons to modify a couple of their attacks, and have a handful of off-cooldown offensive attacks to suggest a rather fast attacker. They offer a little bit of party support with enemy debuffs to increase party damage, and the useful Goad ability that recovers the TP of a party member. They were originally the only melee class to not have positional attacks until Heavensward adjusted their main combo finisher. CrashScreen fucked around with this message at 21:07 on Aug 28, 2016 |
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Aug 28, 2016 16:31
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It's worth mentioning that Marauders are the only tank class that need to position their enemies for their own benefit. A (very small) downside to their benefits.
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Aug 28, 2016 17:15
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As tanks go, I tend to refer to Gladiator as textbook Boring But Practical. They're easily the least complicated class in the game -- for the vast majority of the content, your job will be to stand in front of the enemy and spam a single three-attack rotation, with the occasional use of Flash or shield toss to pull in stray adds. A Gladiator will do just fine as main tank for pretty much all raid content I've been at, although from what I hear Marauders to slightly better as off-tank for various reasons. It's solid as hell; just not very interesting -- although that lack of complexity is an advantage in the bigger raids when you have to be aware of multiple mechanics at the same time while still keeping your own in mind. I generally prefer it over Marauder, although since Heavensward it's no longer my #1 tanking class anymore...
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Aug 28, 2016 18:45
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Chapter 2: Play the Game Now that the introduction is out of the way, it's time to actually start playing (kind of). Like Ul'dah, you'll start off with a whole bunch of menial sidequests designed to show you around the city. I'll be your tour guide as you experience the sights, sounds, and smells of Limsa Lominsa!     Ryssfloh: Allow one of Limsa Lominsa's finest to set you on the right path. Hop to it lad, I haven't got all day!  Freddie starts off his journey being harassed by a member of the local security, the Yellowjackets. Time for baby's first quest. Ryssfloh: Now then, I'm sure you're itching to explore, but adventurers are required to register their presence in the city... and without a bit of local knowledge, you're like to get your throat slit in some piss-stinking alley. So before you do anything else, get yourself over to the Drowning Wench and enroll in the Adventurers' Guild.  Ryssfloh: Once you're there, look for a fellow by the name of Baderon--he's the proprietor of the Wench. He might curse like an ale-sodden sailor, but the man's got a soft spot for wide-eyed newcomers like yourself. He'll set your straight. Got all that? Good. Now run along, and may the Navigator guide you on your journey.  Freddie takes the lift up to pub, and finds this charming fellow.  Baderon's speech is almost identical to Momodi's in Ul'dah, except with the pirate dial cranked up to 11 and less desire to talk about dicks. I'll spare you the repetitive details.  At the end of it, these assholes show up. Yellowjacket: The captain reported being attacked by a pirate vessel. And several witnesses have testified independently that a passenger matching your description went out on deck mere moments before the incident took place. Sending your friends signals, were you? Baderon: Now 'old on a just a moment there, officer. Ye've got the wrong bloke. This fine, upstandin' young gent is me dear departed grandma sister's niece's cousin's closest companion. The lad wouldn't be caught dead fraternizin' with such unsavory elements. Yellowjacket: ...Is that right? Ahem. You are surely aware of the recent kidnappings? Respectfully, then, we cannot be too trusting of outsiders at a time when the loyalty of even our closest friends is in doubt.[/i] Baderon: Aye, ye make a good point there, officer, a very good point. Very wise. Ye needn't worry, though--I keep one eye open at all times, me, an' two more often than not. Now, sir, what say ye to a tankard o' me finest ale afore ye return to yer duties, eh? Yellowjacket: Not a watered-down cup of piss like last time, I should hope? Baderon: Ain't got the faintest idea what yer on about, officer. The Wench might offer some o' the cheapest grog this side o' the Strait of Merlthor, but that don't mean it won't get ye good an' pickled! An' look, there's a chair over there just cryin' out to be sat on, so kick off the 'eavy boots, eh!? The Yellowjackets depart to go on their rounds and/or get blasted. Baderon: Ye'll 'ave to excuse these eager bloody Yellowjackets. There's been a spate o' kidnappin's, see, an' they ain't got a clue who's behind 'em. Naturally, they've taken to clappin' irons on anyone who looks vaguely suspicious, which means 'venturers, visitors... an' pretty much every bugger else in this town. Don't take it personal, though. Us Lominsans can be an 'eadstrong bunch o' bastards, 'tis true, but given time, we'll grow on ye. Now, where was I...?  Some of your patrons literally have green faces all the time. That is RACIST, Baderon.  Again, this quest is nearly identical to U'ldah's. Touch the aetheryte, go to the market, visit your class trainer.  There's the aetheryte. Remember how it was bright and sunny just a few minutes ago? When you start a new character, you actually load into a special solo instance where time is frozen. When you leave, you sync up with Eorzean time, so it can be a little jarring sometimes. Although, an entire day/night cycle is only 72 minutes in real time, so you get used to it.  Here's the market, known here as Hawker's Alley. Not pictured: a dozen bots sending me tells offering cheap gil, handwork guaranteed.  At the end of the Alley is this ferry service, which will take you to a town in West Thanalan for cheap. This town has no aetheryte, and you'll be visiting it a lot throughout the main scenario, so this ferry can be incredibly useful. Unfortunately, it's closed now, and it won't be open until I progress further in the Lominsa storyline.  And this is Mealvaan's Gate, the port authority of Limsa Lominsa, and home to the Arcanists' Guild. What do arcanists have to do with import tariffs? Murie: Arcanima is the science of employing "arcane geometries"--intricate patterns that map the unlocked mysteries of existence--to draw forth and manipulate the body's aetheric energies. Ah, but if I am not mistaken, you already possess some rudimentary understanding of the craft. Shall I deepen your knowledge of our history, as well? The roots of arcanima can be traced back to the esoteric calculations practiced by the people of the south sea isles. It was these island folk that first discovered a method to express natural phenomena in mathematical terms. Building on this process, the existing mathematical formulae were further developed into arcane geometries--precise patterns that allowed a practitioner to weave aether into specific magical effects. The mages who invoked this new form of magic became known as "arcanist," and the school of arcanima was born. Many such mages, wishing to expand their understanding of the world, took to the seas aboard trading vessels. Upon their arrival in Limsa Lominsa, arcanists found themselves welcomed into the academic elite, and soon secured positions in the realms of governance and counsel. The knowledge of an arcanist, however, is traditionally passed on from master to chosen disciple. As such, Admiral Merlwyb, counting several wielders of arcanima among her personal staff, became concerned that this exclusionary practice would lead to the eventual extinction of the art. So, at the Admiral's express orders, an official Arcanists' Guild was established, and funding was provided for research and training. The complex and demanding nature of arcanima, however, remains the greatest threat to its future. If you would continue your study of this challenging discipline, then I must insist that you indicate your commitment to joining our guild. Well? Have you decided to enroll in our guild? Or are you now intimidated by the thought of excessive thinking? tl;dr: Arcanima is basically combat math, and arcanists use their knowledge for keeping accurate trade and immigration records, as well as for dealing with smugglers and traffickers and other unsavory sorts.  Murie: Due to extraordinary circumstances, he is... unreachable at present. Instead, you may speak with Mistress Thubyrgeim. She has shouldered full responsibility for the guild's leadership in the interim. You will find her just over there, by the bookshelves. You needn't be shy--though her mind is sharp and critical, her manner is always most welcoming.  Thubyrgeim: Allow me, then, to expound upon its nature. Arcanima taps into the living energies of aether. The evidence of this is represented most aptly, perhaps, by our ability to manifest the arcane entity Carbuncle, and the manner of magic which this aetherial ally employs at our command. The core of the discipline, however, is found in the pursuit of definitive solutions to any potential quandary. Even on the field of battle--nay, especially on the field of battle--this principle takes precedence. If one wishes to make certain the question of victory, then one must apply the most effective strategy. An arcanist is measured by his ability to calmly analyze a situation from moment to moment, and respond with the most appropriate spells at hand. The study of arcanima will test your mental faculties to the point of perplexity. Are you prepared to reason your way through predicament after predicament?  Hell yeah let's do some learnin'. Thubyrgeim: An unambiguous response--the kind I most prefer. Let us now see if the clarity of your words is matched by the sharpness of your mind. In lower La Noscea, you will find, among others, three species of pest: wharf rats, little ladybugs, and aureliae. I ask that you employ your skill in arcanima to eradicate three of each type of creature. Leave the city through the Tempest Gate, and you will soon encounter the potential targets in abundance. As long as you remain focused, I do not foresee these opponents causing you or your budding abilities undue difficulty.  Just like in Ul'dah, Freddie gets a starter quest to take out some low-level trash. Gotta start somewhere, I guess. Before leaving, Freddie does a little more exploring.  This is the Bismarck, one of the most renowned restaurants in Eorzea, and home to the Culinarians' Guild. H'lahono here wants me to go fetch some fresh mutton for the kitchen. Obviously, this will involve slaughtering cute and mostly defenseless sheep.  This is the Seventh Sage, a spicery and apothecary. Uh, I guess they have other services as well.  Here's Coral Tower, the headquarters of the Yellowjackets and the Marauders' Guild, as indicated by the paired axes. The twin pistols led many people to believe that this would be the location of a Musketeers' Guild at some point in the future, but sadly, that never manifested.  In Bulwark hall is a pair of pink-haired miqo'te who serve as visitor guides. They give me a quest to refill some guttering street lamps. Guttering is a weird word.  Along the way there's some rowdy seamen starting a brawl...  ...and others propositioning some catladies of the night. It's a port town, what do you expect?  This is the not-so-secret entrance to the Rogues' Guild. Unlike other classes, you can't start as a Rogue. You need to do this breadcrumb quest to unlock it.  This is the Fishers' Guild. As it turns out, the quest to refill those lamps was the questgiver's job. But isn't that what adventuring is all about? Doing things that other people are too lazy to do themselves?  Up here is a bar, aptly named the Missing Member, the hangout for a pirate gang known as the Sanguine Sirens.  The Sirens are all women, in case that wasn't obvious.  Uh, moving right along...  Finally, here's Naldiq and Vymelli's, the forge of Limsa Lominsa and home to both the Blacksmiths' and Armorers' Guilds.  Perfect timing - the sun is rising through the morning mist just as Freddie steps out into the majestic landscape of La Noscea. What adventures await our hero? Spoilers: it's killing ladybugs. Fister Roboto fucked around with this message at 20:33 on Aug 28, 2016 |
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Aug 28, 2016 20:26
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Fister Roboto posted:
What didn't help was the cutscene found in 1.0. Unfortunately, I can't find it on YouTube right now, but the cutscene had the player try out the guns in the guild. Musketeer was also the name in the class in that old list of planned classes.
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Aug 28, 2016 22:02
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For what it's worth, of the 9 Classes, I think Limsa gets the best ones of them all, story-wise. The ACN, MRD, and ROG are all amazing in their own ways, and are probably some of the best side stories in the game. Rogue in particular had me rushing to get the next 5 levels to unlock the next leg because I was enjoying the story so much!
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Aug 29, 2016 03:25
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SkyTalon2314 posted:For what it's worth, of the 9 Classes, I think Limsa gets the best ones of them all, story-wise. The ACN, MRD, and ROG are all amazing in their own ways, and are probably some of the best side stories in the game. Rogue in particular had me rushing to get the next 5 levels to unlock the next leg because I was enjoying the story so much! Incorrect. Pugilist quest is objectively the best.
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Aug 29, 2016 03:35
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Funny way of spelling THM. I even had a macro where I made witty quips while using a flare chain Also I like being an Arcanist. Though I lol at those default skill bars. poo poo where we're going, we'll need about twice as many. The crafting classes have great characters and storylines too, Alchemist, Culinarian and Goldsmith come to mind. Fisher is great too, except leveling Disciples of the Land profs makes me wanna cut my nuts off. Seraphic Neoman fucked around with this message at 04:23 on Aug 29, 2016 |
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Aug 29, 2016 04:15
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SkyTalon2314 posted:Rogue in particular had me rushing to get the next 5 levels to unlock the next leg because I was enjoying the story so much! I feel like the Rogue questline might have been one of the best written side stories in A Realm Reborn. It was a really strong series of quests. SSNeoman posted:Also I like being an Arcanist. Though I lol at those default skill bars. poo poo where we're going, we'll need about twice as many.  Most of my jobs have already spilled into four hotbars. Not pictured is my Awareness and Flash, which are allocated to mouse buttons and hidden away somewhere else. I really dread how I'll manage the next expansion.
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Aug 29, 2016 08:20
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I play controller, so I usually have stuff macro'd together. I strive to keep everything on to just two crossbars, cause its super quick to switch between just two. When it spills over to a third, it gets messy for me cause then I have to keep track on how many bumper presses it takes to switch to a specific bar, or try to do the manual selection. Its just easier when I know a single button press gets me between my two bars. So far, I've been able to do all content with my setup like this (along with some playing around with targeting hotkey defaults).
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Aug 29, 2016 09:06
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Fister Roboto posted:
I'd like to see those creepy bots parodied at some point with a set of identical looking THMs that all spoke in unison. And maybe tried to sell you things.
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Aug 29, 2016 14:16
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Obligatum VII posted:I'd like to see those creepy bots parodied at some point with a set of identical looking THMs that all spoke in unison. And maybe tried to sell you things. They're all standing at the end of a hall way. "Come buy from us, Warrior of Light. Then we can play forever, and ever, and ever."
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Aug 29, 2016 20:23
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CrashScreen posted:I feel like the Rogue questline might have been one of the best written side stories in A Realm Reborn. It was a really strong series of quests. In an interview, Yoshi-P said he made the classes a bit TOO complicated in Heavensward, which led to balancing issues. (I will never get over what he did to my main). He said if they had just added a few things, and not touched the ARR Rotations, it would have been easier to balance.
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Aug 30, 2016 00:30
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Silegna posted:In an interview, Yoshi-P said he made the classes a bit TOO complicated in Heavensward, which led to balancing issues. Pretty much. Black Mage is a hot mess right now. Even a tiny bit of movement at the wrong time can completely screw over the class's rotation. Monk and Ninja I think were 'okay' coming into Heavensward as they mostly got utility/oGCDs, or just quality of life things. Dragoon... is a bit messy, yeah. It suffers from some of the same issues as Black Mage, just to a lesser degree. Summoner I think is in a much better place than before, with the balancing of Aetherflow/Trail. Bard... is a hot mess because of one skill. It's a weapon skill not on the global cooldown. It's a oGCD that has a cast time. This is so incredibly frustrating to weave in properly.
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Aug 30, 2016 17:42
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SkyTalon2314 posted:Pretty much. Black Mage is a hot mess right now. Even a tiny bit of movement at the wrong time can completely screw over the class's rotation. Bard Main. I will never forgive Yoshi-P for that. Summoner is an amazing class now due to the changes it got post 50.
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Aug 30, 2016 19:37
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I actually switched from SMN to BLM as my main just before Heavensward, because SMN was so boring at the time. And then Heavensward came along and completely wrecked BLM while making SMN really great. 
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Aug 31, 2016 16:37
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Chapter XXI: Aggro will become A Beauty Reborn After clearing out the Sastasha Seagrot of pirates, Aggro must return to the Limsa Lominsa Adventurers' Guild and report that the task is done. Click to play: Settlement Theme  But nobody said that she can't do some sightseeing first. Aleport is a small, but pleasant hamlet found on the western coast of La Noscea. Across from it is the Isle of Umbra, which once had a bridge connecting it to the mainland. The towering building is a lighthouse from the previous era, Pharos Sirius. It's currently out of action, what with a giant block of solid crystal protruding it. We may or may not see inside it later.  Despite being a small little port, Aleport has some strong defences. A wall guards its perimeter, and members of The Maelstrom have been placed here. Also, the statue over to the right may look familiar to some of you. It's reminiscent of the figure head on Final Fantasy IX's Prima Vista. The pose is a little different though, so I'm not sure if it's actually a reference. Come to think of it, Sastasha might very well be a reference to the first dungeon in Final Fantasy V as well.  Cannons face inland, rather than out to sea. The biggest threat for Limsa is a domestic one, as the Sahagin have taken the ruined lands of western La Noscea as their spawning ground. There's actually a neat little sidestory over yonder that I'll show off at some point. It covers what happened to wreck the soil.  Before taking off back to Limsa Lominsa, there's a small task that I want to do first. This one was added in the first content patch for the game. A lot of the content I'll be showing off today is from the same patch.   I've never seen anything quite like it, and the bloodshed only worsens by the day. If this continues, I daresay that one of these groups will wipe out the other before long.Skribyld also explains that the particular species of coeurl isn't from Vylbrand - the island La Noscea is a region of. They were smuggled in. That might explain where the Chopper in Sastasha came from. I know of a merchant who may have a hand in these dealings. Her name is R'kontai, and after some probing, I've come to believe she's somehow involved. I would question her myself, but she is like to flee at the first sight of yellow. That's where you come in. I need you to speak with her and learn all you can.This is an easy enough task, and it turns out R'kontai is actually just around the corner at the gate.  Despite Skribyld thinking she wouldn't flee from Aggro, R'kontai does this anyway. What follows isn't really much of a chase scene. Dynamic content like that doesn't really exist in the open world since this is an MMO. That's not to say that we won't eventually get single player content that can do that, but we won't for an old, small-time quest like this.  Instead, she's at the docks surrounded by a purple aura. Aggro is in for a fight.  It turns out that R'kontai has a hired bodyguard. He's not much of an issue, and Aggro just murders her way to the suspect.  R'kontai is a little confused.  Eh? The Yellowjackets sent ye, an' not no pirates? Why the hells didn't ye say so earlier!? <sigh> Well, ye've caught me. Those good-for-nothin' pirates had me breed jackals for 'em too. With the right trainin', they make for nasty watchdogs an' the like. But the pirates wanted more, an' that's why they asked me for the coeurls, that they did.The pirates apparently took the coeurls before they were trained, and then the coeurls escaped. The current bloodbath is the pirates letting jackals loose to dispose of the coeurls. I'm a victim as well, ye know. Aye, they paid good coin for the animals, but now they got folk chasin' after me. Wantin' to cover their tracks, I'm sure.With that interrogation over, it's time for Aggro to return to Skribyld and fill him in.  The pirates have been quite careful not to leave any clues, but we've managed to capture R'kontai's assailants. They're being questioned as we speak, and it won't be long before we track down the pirates. Don't worry, friend, the Yellowjackets will see them brought to justice.You may be wondering for what reason I'm doing this quest. Sure enough, we found out where the Chopper came from but I could clearly just have explained it or not bothered. The reason is coming up. Skribyld has a plan to stop the bloodbath, and wants Aggro to let him know when she's ready to carry it out. Being an easily distracted adventurer, Aggro forgets her current duty to report to the Adventurers' Guild and tells Skribyld that she's good to go. R'kontai has admitted to breeding jackals for pirates, but I fear she may be concealing more to be smuggled elsewhere. I bid you speak with her once more to prove my suspicions true. Tell her although we cannot grant her impunity, her cooperation will ensure a lighter sentencing. R'kontai is back over where she was originally, right by the gate. All the jackals are long gone, but there's a wolf pup I was lookin' after not too far from here. With the Yellowjackets breathin' down me neck of late, though, I haven't had time to care for him. The poor thing's probably too weak from hunger to move. I'll tell ye where I hid him.The wolf pup is hungry and alone, making him likely to be aggressive. R'kontai hands Aggro a succulent bone to try and win the pup over. He's been hidden in the east of western La Noscea.  There's an old settlement in that direction. The ruins are now the breeding ground for dodos, and a hideaway for some bandits. There was no such settlement in 1.0 as far as I can tell, but nearby was an old aetherial gate that would teleport players back to another camp in a little canyon. The canyon itself is now in middle La Noscea.  Hiding nearby the ruins is the starved pup, who Aggro feeds a succulent bone not made using a plump Lalafell.  That's not enough, and Aggro must also soothe the pup to win it over. In response, it sniffs Aggro and then fades out of existence because the objective is cleared. The quest structure in the game is very cruel.  Back in Aleport, Skribyld explains the situation with R'kontai to Aggro. She was here not long ago, as a matter of fact. It seems she is willing to cooperate with the authorities and help set things right. But that's not all, friend. While you were searching for this pup, a group of pirates related to the investigation was taken into custody. Skribyld would have a hard time caring for the wolf pup with his duties and living at Maelstrom headquarters, so he passes the pup over to the wayward adventurer with no home. Sounds responsible.  The pup takes the form of a living minion, as opposed to the mammets that you usually get this early in the game. It's also a nasty Garlean sympathiser, but Gaius is good so I can forgive him for that. I'll share the minion lore in the bonus later, but lets check our new pal out before we continue.  Petting him will make him roll over and enjoy a nice side / tummy rub. You can also feed him and he'll eat out of your hand. Wolf Pup is a good boy whose tail is always wagging when he's with you.  That leaves one more task before Aggro returns to Limsa Lominsa. Skribyld is concerned about the new population of coeurls nearby, and needs Aggro to do something about it before they throw the balance of predation into chaos. As much as it pains me to say this, they must be done away with. I like this no more than you, but we Yellowjackets must put the safety of the people above all else.Adventuring is a dirty business, and it's up to Aggro to go slaughter some wild cats.  Fortunately or unfortunately, depending on how you want to look at it, the task has already been carried out by the pirates' loose hounds. All that remains is a solitary baby coeurl. Aggro may love murder, but she's not heartless.  Both Scurvy Dogs have an AoE they can use, sometimes at the same time, but you know the drill by this point. They don't take very much to kill either.  She then aids the baby coeurl before it, too, disappears from existence into the void of inactive quest NPCs.  Most of the jackals died fighting against coeurls, but it would seem you slew the pirates' last litter while saving this one. Let us at least take solace in knowing the bloodshed has ended. There is a bit of good news to be had, however. I received word not long ago that a group of pirates related to our investigation were taken into custody. To instigate such carnage without scruple... The true animals in this case have been placed behind bars.That'll be any of the survivors who made it out from Aggro's rampage in Sastasha.  You know where this is going.  As far as I can tell, your interactions don't really make it do anything, though it will groom itself on occasion. I haven't got a picture to show it right now, but the coeurl kitten and wolf pup will also battle each other if they're nearby. You can only summon one minion at a time, so it'll need to interact with someone else's pup. Both of them will also fight whatever you're fighting alongside you, though they won't do any damage. They're neat and great.  But anyway, that's done, so it's time to take the ferry back to Limsa Lominsa. Aggro has a job to finish. I'm sure there won't be any more important distractions over there. Click to play: Adventurers' Guild Theme   When she finally arrives in back in the Drowning Wench, Aggro stumbles upon this scene. Hmph. It would seem that ship has not only sailed, but now returns to the harbor, none the worse for its voyage. A pity. We dragged our boots too long on this one. Our aim, lest you wonder, is to perform such feats of heroism as will earn us a place in every alehouse in Eorzea. We mean to write a legend which will inspire adventurers as yet unborn to follow our shining example.Honestly, I didn't care. Isn't that the goal of pretty much all adventurers? Why are you telling me this? Dolorous Bear is weird to say the least. He starts to question what Aggro's goal is, and then lectures her on the importance of a goal and how it'll help her through obstacles and hardship. You know? The thing she just beat him to the punch on. If you want to see his whole speech, you can check it out in the bonus video at the end of this update, but honestly I'm just going to skip this one. At least he means well. Once he's done, he exits stage left.  After Dolorous is gone, Aggro fills Baderon in on what happened in Sastasha.  Still, sounds like ye left 'em in pieces, so I don't s'pose they'll be carryin' out whatever mischief they was plannin' - unless they was plannin' on feedin' 'emselves to the fauna o' Sastasha, o' course. Anyroad, all's well that ends well! On behalf o' Limsa, I thank ye fer sheddin' some light on this mystery.The work isn't over yet, and as the Limsa branch's adventurers' guild leader, Baderon has a lead on another job for Aggro. Now, I'll bet yer dyin' fer a rest, but just in case yer not, I was wonderin' if ye might be interested in takin' on another job? It just so 'appens that I've 'ad a request from our sister guild in Gridania, see. Give us a shout when yer ready, an' I'll lay it out fer ye. Before Aggro accepts any more work, let's go over what completing the first dungeon has just unlocked.  The party finder is a tool for organising pre-made parties instead of just diving into the duty finder. You'll be able to easily create groups for FATEs, quests,  There's a lot of options to help organise the specific party you want. You can even designate very specific roles or classes, as well as the average item level requirement for the content.   It's pretty useful, but you'll usually only really see it being used for the most recent content. You'll sometimes see it getting used for seasonal events or for learning new content as well. Remembering to utilize this can be pretty important later on. For now, the duty finder is mostly fine.  Since I'm intending to include some goons in the next dungeon run, let's turn our attention to a couple of quests in the immediate area. The plus sign and blue colour means that both will unlock something, so we'll cap off the update with those. Both are waitresses, so I'll just choose the most fun quest first.  Ye've not heard!? There's a madman about! Why, it's said he brandishes blades so long and sharp that they could gut a whale! No one's seen any blood yet, but that hasn't stopped the rumors from sending shivers up spines in every alehouse in town.In a town often visited by adventurers and pirates, this type of rumour doesn't sound very unusual. There's plenty of crazy people with long sharp blades. Hell, that describes Aggro pretty well, too! That you're still standing before me tells me you don't scare as easily as the rest. Perhaps you could assist with the ivnestigation. To start with, you might want to look into that scream I just heard outside... <shudder>"A scream?! Let's go!  That flustered man doesn't seem too dangerous. The disgruntled madam doesn't seem to be under too much threat either, since she has the time to spew three full dialogue bubbles of exposition. There's some nice flavour, so I'll give you the short version.  Whatever did I do to deserve this cruel fate!? For six moons, I saved every last gil of my husband's hard-earned wage, forgoing new shoes, a new purse, sometimes even food for our children - all in anticipation of this day! This day marks the arrival of a world-renowned aesthetician in Limsa!Anyway. Let's doubt this poor, flustered man clearly caught up in some person's delusion, and see what he has to say for himself.    An artiste of my renown should be welcomed with open arms. Instead, I am branded a criminal, the tools of my trade - nay, the extensions of my very soul - ripped unceremoniously from my person like barnacles from the side of a frigate! I will not last long in my weakened state. No, even as we speak, the world around me grows dim...The flustered man needs Aggro to speak to three different people to get him geared out in some new equipment. It's a bit all over the place, with a visit to the Armorers' Guild here in Limsa, the Carpenter's Guild in Gridania, and Alchemists' Guild in Ul'dah. When my soul is restored and my name rightfully cleared, all of Limsa - nay, the entire realm! - will sing your praises. For I, Jandelaine, am none other than the aes...<cough>... the aes ... ! <wheeze> Urghhhhh...Right. Err... off we go then.    I've still to talk about these places, but I'll save them for when they're truly relevant. The theme park style world design is kind of convenient in that way.  When Aggro returns to Jandelaine, the disgruntled madam still remains there. I've trotted around civilised Eorzea and she's not made her escape.  Handing over the three packages will bring the motivation back into Jandelaine. This will also prompt the next cutscene.  Mandatory Viewing Click to play video. I'm not even going to transcribe this one. It has to be watched. Screenshots won't do it justice. Don't you even dare think about reading further until you've watched it!  Completing that wonderful quest unlocks the Aesthetician. This was added in 2.1 and allows players to customize their character's appearance. Let's go try this out right now.  First, you need to enter an Inn room. It's only relatively recently that other means of access were granted to him, but those aren't available to Aggro right now. She'll need to retire to her free room.  There's a bunch of junk in here, but we don't care about any of it right now. Instead, our focus lies on the Crystal Bell, which will summon Jandelaine.   There's a bunch of options available but you'll be familiar with them from the start of the LP. They're the same options as the ones you get in the character creation menu, albeit slightly watered down. I'll choose one temporarily just for the rest of this update. Since Aggro's quite the punk, I feel like the pompadour suits her well. It even has jiggle physics! Unfortunately, my .gif skills are awful.  And that's it done. That's one quest unlock down; one more quest unlock to go.  Take this impressive-looking journal right here. As oft used as it seems to be, I've no doubt its owner is tearing up the town searching for his prized possession. A stranger, he was - a swarthy Roegadyn who enjoyed his drink. Seemed to be getting on well with one of our regulars, Quentenain.That sure sounds like more than half of this fair city, I'tolwann. Perhaps you could still catch up with him and spare me a headache. I'd offer you a free drink, but last time I did that Baderon docked my wages. Quentenain is just on the other side of the room.  Wait a minute...that bloody book! The tight-arsed bastard drained twenty flagons and promptly passed out, leavin' yers truly to foot the bill. Said he was headin' for Aleport - aye, where else, the scurvy sop. Nymeia willin', he's still stranded at the ferry docks. Did you steal a glance at its pages, perchance? No? A shame that. For this book contains a record of my numerous adventures. Quite the inspiring read, if I do say so myself. You've the air of adventurer about you, if one still untested. Why not keep a record of your own, that one day we might regale each other with stories of our deeds? Completing the quest unlocks the challenge log, which is an incredibly useful tool for the rest of the game. I can't even imagine what it'd be without it.  The challenge log has a bunch of different tasks to accomplish each week. Completing one of the objectives grants you bonus exp and gil - the former of which will scale depending on your level. Some of the categories, like the Gold Saucer or Grand Company, will reward you in the currency instead.  Well, that's that. Next time we'll go visit Baderon and get the scoop on the next job.  Adventurers' Guild cutscene - I cut a fair bit of Dolorous' speech out, so it's here in all of its glory. All Cutscenes  
CrashScreen fucked around with this message at 12:36 on Sep 9, 2016 |
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Sep 2, 2016 16:47
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Oh my god the minions are adorable.  I know I'd want both of them, too, were I playing this game.
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Sep 2, 2016 18:55
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SkyTalon2314 posted:Pretty much. Black Mage is a hot mess right now. Even a tiny bit of movement at the wrong time can completely screw over the class's rotation. I main dragoon, and I actually really like the Blood of the Dragon system they implemented in Heavensward. Yes, it forces me to pay a bunch more attention, but it has an interesting feel to it and I feel it adds a great deal to the class. That, and the party wide +crit buff is fantastic. More when we get there, several ages from now.
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Sep 2, 2016 19:02
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PARTY FINDER UNLOCKED Party finder unlocked party finder unlocked Thanks for clearing that up, game.
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Sep 3, 2016 03:47
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apostateCourier posted:I main dragoon, and I actually really like the Blood of the Dragon system they implemented in Heavensward. Yes, it forces me to pay a bunch more attention, but it has an interesting feel to it and I feel it adds a great deal to the class. That, and the party wide +crit buff is fantastic. More when we get there, several ages from now. Oh yeah, I love it too. It's done much better than Enochian from Black Mage. The fact that you can constantly refresh it, and it becomes a thinking man's thing of 'Can I afford to spend 10s of its duration on Geirskogul?' It's just, it can be a bit messy at times depending on what the fight does. In general a lot of this expansion seems to hate on buffs like BotD, Enochian, and Greased Lightning.
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Sep 3, 2016 16:25
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Is there any particular reason you still need to unlock Rogue instead of having it from the jump?
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Sep 3, 2016 16:52
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SonicRulez posted:Is there any particular reason you still need to unlock Rogue instead of having it from the jump? I believe it's mostly *story reasons*, since much later story elements reference things that were introduced near the end of ARR content, which is when the class was brought into the game. Going into further detail than that is very heavy spoiler territory (to the point I'm not likely going to go any deeper than that, even in tags, because of how far ahead it is).
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Sep 3, 2016 17:20
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SonicRulez posted:Is there any particular reason you still need to unlock Rogue instead of having it from the jump? They also never created a cutscene that shows the PC as a Rogue in the beginning of the game and believed it was a waste of resources to go back and create one.
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Sep 3, 2016 23:49
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