[Megathread] Final Fantasy XIV

[Katchii]

Just hit level 77. First three dungeons have been pretty cool. Gear design is great too - and the equipment can be dyed. Actually spamming the third dungeon over and over for the fending set since it looks neat.

First trial was a lot of fun. I bet it'll be hell on extreme though. Very chaotic.

I didn't hate Stormblood but Shadowbringers blows both it and Heavensward out of the water so far. In terms of story, zone design and so on.

Agreed. Shadowbringers is blowing the rest of this game out of the water. The music, the atmosphere, the story, the characters....it's the most Final Fantasy this game has ever felt, and it's ABSOLUTELY amazing.

But shadowbringers is not really just about the war vs evil.
It tells another story that is more centered around certain individuals and the decisions people make.

I too liked Heavensward and I think it was better than Stormblood, but I'm not even through all the MSQ yet and I can tell @ around lvl 77 that I'll like Shadowbringers more.
The one thing that Heavensward has going for it over Shadowbringers however are the enemies and how they act. The mystery behind the Dragons was so much better than what we get to see from the Sin Eaters while leveling.
They were also much easier to understand than these morphed light-beeings that seem to have very little explanation whatsoever.
They are just a thing that "exists". I might've forgotten or skipped it, but I can't even remember why they came to be the way they are.

I know that some of it was explained in Crystarium by the dude in the libary... but I think they are just "odd"

Which is fair. Heavenswards antagonists were "people" too with a reason for doing what they were doing and you got a chance to connect with them. It was a great story. Shadowbringers is more this nebulous force that just IS and will destroy you. I don't know why, but I like that more in this context.

As I said, this expansions feels the most Final Fantasy this game has ever felt and it's awesome.

I've been doing this a lot too. The MSQ, so far anyway, has been very light on combat content so leveling as a healer doesn't seem like too bad a plan on the whole. Going to have a huge stash of Materia waiting for me when I hit max level.

Plus it leaves the side quests for if/when I get around to leveling other Jobs, so I'm not just repeatedly doing PotD for the thousandth time to push myself through the process.

This is one of the failings of the MSQ in a vacuum, it is VERY light on combat. The combat I've had is mostly from side quests and my roulette.

After giving it a try, I prefer playing with other players. But for those who are unwilling or unable to do, Trust NPC's are a good addition.

The only complaint I really have with them is, sometimes, they're a little bit too good at their jobs. I kept trying to throw Alphinaud under the bus and get him killed, but it just wasn't happening

Oh for sure, it's much faster and much more fun with players. However, currently queues for everything as a DPS are longer than I feel like waiting and being able to go in with the Trust system right away with characters that were part of the story leading up to that point makes the whole process feel organic and natural.

I actually died in the first dungeon in the boss fight where the boss marks each character and then hits them pretty hard in succession. I must have been in the way of something and got hit twice by it...I have no idea, but pretty boy was not able to keep me up. No other issues since then.

I really like that it exists.

Jesus multi Dancer raid group dps is so high i just saw Phlegethon killed in about 45-50 seconds and he got pushed so fast he didn't cast either ancient flare. They job is getting nerfed real soon.

It's just that level range, honestly, they're balanced from 70-80 but anything lower than that and they're pretty damn OP.

Their finishing move for the dances hit like a truck, it's actually really brilliant how they did that. I was somewhat worried that it would be easy to forget to do the dances to maintain the buff but tying the application of the buff to a move you want to be doing for damage ensures that doesn't happen. Had quite a few Dancers on day 1 either forget or not know, but the finishing moves do damage so you don't want to pre-dance, you want that to be your opening move. That and it's a relatively short range AoE centered around you, not a ranged move.

Regardless, the job is extremely fun to play for me, especially in group content. It's quite likely it's going to be my new main.

They even out at the top, they're just the only job with such a high pot hit at that level.

That said, I thought they were doing better with MSQ per level, but 71-72 has one.... I'm 1 mil into 71 and have no MSQ to do... this is going to suck, I hate grinding.

Just queue up for your roulette's as you're questing, I'm 1.5-2 levels above the MSQ and I haven't touched any side quests besides all the ones that were in the Crystarium at the beginning.

If the queue pops while you're in a cutscene, accept the queue without exiting the CS and you'll be able to go back and see the cutscene again because the quest won't have flagged as complete/ that stage of the quest won't have been completed. Just fast forward through the conversation until you get to where you left off.

Oh wow, I really do need to hit the roullettes it seems. I've been grinding FATEs when I run out of MSQ so far, but that gets boring.

So how are daily roulettes ranked by how much xp you get? Alliance > MSQ > Leveling?

Those three are the big hitters yeah, with MSQ giving you the largest chunk, Alliance giving the next biggest I think, with Leveling coming up pretty even with it. Doing those three will give you a level or more on your way to 80 and you'll stay ahead of the MSQ for the most part. I also do a few FATE's as I come across them since I'm going around the zone collecting aether currents, and quest objectives anyway. A 1-2 minute excursion for some extra xp, gemstones and working towards the challenge log and some achievements is totally worth it.

[QUOTE=Wrecktangle;51357180]I actually had an old issue (that still happens if I ever uninstall) where a patch in the HW series literally breaks my launcher. I have to download it on another PC and and force it in via thumb drive to get it to work. No idea why it crashes only on my PC. I didn't have any issues with ShB.[QUOTE]

I know it does nothing to alleviate the frustration when it happens (probably makes it worse) but this isn't really an SE issue, it's an issue your particular set-up has with the launcher.

That's one problem with PC gaming is that there's SO MANY different configurations at play there's just no feasible way the developer can account for and address every possible issue that could rear it's ugly head with every conceivable configuration.

I'm sure you're well aware of this, just putting it out there.

I'm glad you were able to find a work around, but yeah...that's super frustrating.

While this launch was very smooth and I had very minimal issues (servers went down very briefly, one instance where the DF just didn't work for anybody it was a successful launch IMO. I don't know how you can say Blizzard doesn't have smooth launches. I know for a fact Legion was near perfect, BfA had issues, and I know a few more in the past were good. Hate Blizzard all you want, but they do get some things right occasionally, launches included.

Aside from the frustration with not being able to get in due to server capacity and the DDoS attack that killed everything for like an hour on , this launch was one of the smoothest launches I've ever seen.

Any issues people were having with the launcher updates and things like that aren't directly related to SE, that's specific issues with your system/ PC. As stated above. Doesn't make it any less frustrating, but it's not really reasonable IMO to blame SE for something like that.

FATEs give a ton of XP. Nearly equivalent to a quest for 1/3 the time invested. You're crazy if you want to double it.

Agreed.

Fun fact, I solod that boss when my whole party randomly DC'd. When they came back like ten minutes later and I just finished killing it they were surprised I solo'd it.

Once you get to a certain point on that boss, it has a lot of time where you're just dodging mechanics, which would make soloing it pretty straight forward. Paladin also has good tools for surviving and healing. Still impressive, but much less so than saying you were able to solo Titania or something =P.

Agreed. I found it harder than Shinryu, but I think we were doing something wrong. The adds were murdering me (tank). There might have been a mechanic I wasn't picking up on, I was just trying to stack cooldowns as best I could and not die, but some healers are struggling.

One of the adds has a wind up move that doesn't have a ground AoE marker that hits like a truck (Peaceblossom I think?). But yeah, the fight was amazing both in design and in visuals. Went in with 8 people who had never done it. Wiped three times trying to get passed the add phase/ ultimate then we figured it out and cleared it on the fourth try. Loved every second of it.

[Aruhen]

If you hit a level wall with the MSQ and roulettes are long, just queue for several SHB dungeons if you're a dps. They give almost the same exp minus alliance roulette and ques are sub one minute.

Also Innocence was a fun fight too, not as fun as Titania personally but still fun. I wish we could get weapons from bought since I'd love some fae inspired weapons but at the same time some sin eater/light themed weapons would look dope too.

[dope_danny]

Fyi i think Malikahs Well with trusts is bugged. I randomely had the screen go black and respawn at the start which should only happen when you die but i had it just walking down a corridor. Tried every other dungeon with trusts and never seen it before so i'd skip it on that one till the hotfix tonight.

[Aruhen]

Fyi i think Malikahs Well with trusts is bugged. I randomely had the screen go black and respawn at the start which should only happen when you die but i had it just walking down a corridor. Tried every other dungeon with trusts and never seen it before so i'd skip it on that one till the hotfix tonight.

That's the only dungeon I had my trusts die in too.

[StrawberryZebra]

This is one of the failings of the MSQ in a vacuum, it is VERY light on combat. The combat I've had is mostly from side quests and my roulette.

For once, I actually approve of this kind of design. It lets people level up with whatever Job they choose and not be heavilly penalised for not being a DPS. It almost draws a neat line between Story Content and MMO Content and ultimately I thiink both parts can benefit from that.

It let's players that want to just play for the story do so without having to complete Fetch Quests to hinder their progress, and it let's the people like myself switch off and complete practically irrelevent content to our hearts content. It's not quite a Win-Win situation, you are still required to complete the MSQ one way or the other, but it does feel like a solid step in the right direction to me.

[Granyala]

Nah...

If you do daily roulettes

Yeah obviously.
I was referring to doing MSQ alone.

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-of course it doesn't help that its the only queue that holds you on a black screen with a loading wheel so you can't bugger off to do fates or do some more DNC levelling or something.

Yeah this is such idiotic asinine design that it can only be SE.

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This is one of the failings of the MSQ in a vacuum, it is VERY light on combat. The combat I've had is mostly from side quests and my roulette.

The less shit I have to kill in the overworld as a healer the better. I hate mashing one button!

[Katchii]

For once, I actually approve of this kind of design. It lets people level up with whatever Job they choose and not be heavilly penalised for not being a DPS. It almost draws a neat line between Story Content and MMO Content and ultimately I thiink both parts can benefit from that.

It let's players that want to just play for the story do so without having to complete Fetch Quests to hinder their progress, and it let's the people like myself switch off and complete practically irrelevent content to our hearts content. It's not quite a Win-Win situation, you are still required to complete the MSQ one way or the other, but it does feel like a solid step in the right direction to me.

The less shit I have to kill in the overworld as a healer the better. I hate mashing one button!

Didn't mean to make it sound entirely negative, was more commenting that the MSQ is very passive, for the most part and that people looking for action aren't going to get it through the MSQ. When you're riveted by the story and actively enjoying it, it's not that bad because you're distracted by the story and invested in progressing it. When you're not so interested in the story and somewhat itching for some combat, the MSQ is pretty disappointing in that regard.

As far as being able to progress through the MSQ as any class, I agree that it's current design really checks all the right boxes, as you've both communicated.

[Lex Icon]

resubbed on a whim after several years and i'm confused as hell..
i'm in some place called Ishgard did some quests in there and now the msq is just ???. so where do i go from there?

[Katchii]

resubbed on a whim after several years and i'm confused as hell..
i'm in some place called Ishgard did some quests in there and now the msq is just ???. so where do i go from there?

Typically, when it says that you're right where you need to be to accept it. Otherwise, if you click on that MSQ banner it should open up a map and show you where you need to go to pick up the next one.

[Lex Icon]

Typically, when it says that you're right where you need to be to accept it. Otherwise, if you click on that MSQ banner it should open up a map and show you where you need to go to pick up the next one.

nvm. apparently the markers where a bit off and i had to walk into some house

[Katchii]

nvm. apparently the markers where a bit off and i had to walk into some house

Ah right. In Ishgard it was normal for the patches to kick off from within Fortemps manor, which you have to go inside of by talking to the guard outside. Somewhat annoying, but no biggie.

Glad you got it handled and are on your way again.

[Aruhen]

Well that final arc from 79-80 + post credit story was incredible. I cannot waaait for the extreme version of that trial holy crap.

[dope_danny]

Oh my god, the dwarven greeting is 'Lalli-ho!'.

[GreenJesus]

The only problem with the NPC dungeon is if you die it is a wipe. The NPCs don't Rez you. On the frog boss that does the water sprouts I got him to 1% and thought if I don't kill him before the water sprout hits me and I can always just get rezzed after the NPC's finish him off. Worst decision.

[Granyala]

The only problem with the NPC dungeon is if you die it is a wipe. The NPCs don't Rez you. On the frog boss that does the water sprouts I got him to 1% and thought if I don't kill him before the water sprout hits me and I can always just get rezzed after the NPC's finish him off. Worst decision.

Good. What did they teach you?
Don't tunnel vision and play mechanics cleanly right to the end.

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When you're not so interested in the story and somewhat itching for some combat, the MSQ is pretty disappointing in that regard.

How can anybody itch for overworld combat? It's the most lame and tedious aspect of any MMO.... on any class b/c mobs are punching bags with a ton pf HP and 0 abilities of consequence. IMHO combat is only fun in dungeons/raids, which is why I find WoWs modern design of forcing you into combat at every step so obnoxious.

[threads]

just finished the MSQ and my god shadowbringers was amazing. hands down best story yet.

[GreenJesus]

Good. What did they teach you?
Don't tunnel vision and play mechanics cleanly right to the end.

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How can anybody itch for overworld combat? It's the most lame and tedious aspect of any MMO.... on any class b/c mobs are punching bags with a ton pf HP and 0 abilities of consequence. IMHO combat is only fun in dungeons/raids, which is why I find WoWs modern design of forcing you into combat at every step so obnoxious.

Nah dude. It's balls or no balls when the boss is at 1% and you are a melee DPS when mechanics start.

God damn it... server maintenance.. That's the one thing with FF14... they have server maintenance so often... and they do it at night when I play..

[Graeham II]

I finished it last night, too. The best bit is just how consistent it is. Each zone has an established arc that plays into the overall narrative - and it never wavers in terms of quality. The last zone wasn't what I expected at all, but I welcome it. Plus we finally got a lot of answers to questions floating around and it shows that the future MSQ is going to be very interesting from here on out.

Vague to avoid spoilers, of course...

I'm pretty excited about what they have in store for the first raid. The dungeons have all been great - as have the trials.

[Aruhen]

The only dungeon I don't enjoy is the one in the city post MSQ. That jazz music is weird asf.

[Yoshingo]

Nah dude. It's balls or no balls when the boss is at 1% and you are a melee DPS when mechanics start.

God damn it... server maintenance.. That's the one thing with FF14... they have server maintenance so often... and they do it at night when I play..

I mean the official launch is tomorrow so that's probably why lol