#HW relic weapons

[stormbabylore]

Well. There it is. First finished HW relic, third relic overall.

Casually melting into nothingness, now, bye.

Also, I unlocked Eureka because Stormblood relics, I guess.

Seriously, please send help.

Please.

[myreia]

✦ F F X I V L E V E L 9 0

—compendium

[johnnylandslide]

"Hello? You can hear me?"

"Wait, are you Callie? I didn't think you were real!"

Beruru was curious why her father talked to his sword/staff so much. Callie (Excalibur) the Anima was overjoyed to meet her!

[the-manderville-mambo]

Personally I think that, out of all the relic weapon questlines so far, the one that has the best ratio of effort to reward is the HW relics. There's some grinding, yes, but it's far easier to bear than having to do the same exact thing 9 or 12 times (Zodiac weapons), or having to level up an entire separate thing just to progress a story in an entire separate area in order to unlock more weapon stages (Eureka and Resistance weapons), or just doing a bunch of roulettes to buy some rocks (Manderville weapons). And it has far more reward for that level of effort than any ARR, StB, or ShB relic while not being as ridiculously easy as the EW ones

[saucynadles]

nothing has been worse abt leveling all my dps jobs than not being the tank

[impossible-rat-babies]

one day I’ll do a personal ranking of the relic grinds

[lesbianbishounen]

blogging abt ff14 like ive actually played since last patch bcus the game is so fucking boring rn

[quad-weave]

Monster Hunter

When I was grinding HW relics, I got this Dravanian Tunic of Scouting as a random drop. I tried it on when I was in one of my healer glams, which has the Songbird Skirt and some thighboots on, and I loved the look. The glam was born from there!

It's perfect for leveling Viper as well, as all the pieces are below level 80. :)

Body - Dravanian Tunic of Scouting Hands - Wayfarer's Fingerless Gloves Legs - Songbird Skirt in Mesa Red and Kobold Brown Feet - Valerian Rogue's Highboots in Dark Brown

Weapon - High Durium Twinfangs

Earrings - Copper Ear Cuffs Necklace - Alliance Necklace of Aiming

Facewear - Brass Rimless Glasses

These pictures were taken in Ihuykartumu with Candle's Autumn shader!

[dustedbooksandreadingnooks]

5 for your favorite Scion, and 27 for your favorite relic weapon :3

Favorite Scion

Thancred. I like men. (And his character growth, that it wasn't linear and it was messy and it took a long time but hes getting better. He's not very good at it yet but hes trying and thats the most important bit! Characters that stop waiting to die and then have to figure out how to live are my favorite.) THE WORST MISTAKE WAS ROLLING BACK THANCRED'S HW DESIGN THEY SHOULD'VE KEPT ITTTTTTTTT

But also I've been a really big Shtola enjoyer lately. I think it's due to Kizuna, if he played FFXIV instead of being a character in it she is for sure his favorite <3 (And it goes without saying Tataru is best girl. Hands down no question.)

Favorite Relic Weapon

As with most things i feel like I can answer this with so much nuance. Canopus Lux was the first final stage relic weapon I got. Lunaris Rod Awoken Might be my favorite design wise, but it gets extra fondness because I used it for sooooo long! I only very recently changed it out for Blade's Fury because it has a very similar vibe (moons, color scheme) but is actually a finished weapon instead of being like the second stage like the Lunaris Rod is lmao. I still think about changing it back sometimes tho. Nirvana is Keathan's canonical WHM staff and I also adore it's design, which bumps it above the BLM staffs because it's so perfect for them. Unfortunately I still haven't finished my Eureka weapon, I need to go back and get Brunello Physeos for another canon weapon for Keathan! (Which i like because it has a similar VFX to the Lunaris Rod) If I really had to pick just one though, it would be Blade's Honor and Blade's Fortitude. I had the most fun in Bozja, I love all the content in it, and its a part of my best and favorite glam I've ever made just for the weapon! It got me to dip my toes into PvP as well for one of the glam pieces, and made me really enjoy PLD as a class because I just wanna look at it more~ (Wanting to show it off also got me back into gposing last year!)

[aotopmha]

It's been a year since I made my FFXIV account.

This might just be the one subscription service I got the most value out of ever outside of basic utilities.

This game has offered me hours upon hours of fun.

And I still have so much left to do a year in.

For example, I've only leveled 6 of the 22 classes (also haven't touched Blue Mage).

I haven't touched Savages and Ultimates at all (this one's on shaky ground in general because of the necessary time commitment).

I haven't touched Deep Dungeons at all.

I haven't even completed all Extremes.

I'm still working on my first relic weapon, as well.

And every expansion still has countless side quests to do.

And the only things holding me back are other games that I love and exhaustion; in general, time, really.

While I was doing my dailies today, I had a realisation that I love the game on so many levels, it'd be difficult to make it so bad I would quit.

I've seen a bunch of people feel alienated from the game because of Dawntrail's story, but even if I have my issues with it, I still think it came together nicely by the end (and 7.1 is a nice continuation of it), but above all, I just really love other aspects of DT, as well.

I love going around the zones, I love the battle encounters, I love the graphics update.

I suppose making an expansion which has both bad story and bad gameplay would be closest to get me to stop playing; there is a possible scenario where they fumble both encounter design and story so bad I wouldn't be able to find anything good in them.

You never know.

But I think every time this team has had the foundation set, they've made gold.

The slower ARR is followed by HW.

The slower StB is followed by ShB/EW.

There is a set-up/pay-off pattern I see within the complete picture that I often see other people bring up as well.

The foundation set by ARR, HW and StB is part of what made ShB and EW so good.

Not all parts were great (in fact, as much as I am painting HW in a positive light, I think it in particular was much more flawed than people usually view it as), but the complete whole is one of my favourite fantasy stories ever because it did what mattered the most so well.

I mean, I suppose another way to "ruin" the story would be to irrevocably destroy what came before with new reveals, but once again, they just earned my trust so well with ShB and EW, I really do have faith they'll do another story (and game) rivaling them once all of the pieces are in place.

I really do think they have an interesting seed in place they can expand into something truly great.

But above all, I never thought an MMO would become one of my favourite games ever.

But it did.

I never thought I would like a battle system nor encounter design within an MMO as much as I do in this one.

Even after beating many of the Extremes on min ilvl, I still want to go back and do them again to teach and help people get through them.

Now, do I think it should not have any of those low points at all?

Yes, that definitely would be the ideal.

I could've done without the several detours before facing Titan or a lot of the Ruby Sea story or a good chunk of Labyrinthos and Bestways Burrow or the terrible retcon for the end of ARR in HW.

But I'm happy that for every bit of bad pacing or any irrelevant detour, we get long-term plot points like saving Gabu, the mystery of the Ascians, the liberation of Ala Mhigo, Omega, the dragons, the Reflections, the evolving story of Garlemald or even Niddhog's eyes and the journey those go through.

So, I think we're truly in trouble with the game's story when the long-term set up isn't paid off properly.

And we're truly in trouble with the game's gameplay when the team can no longer make content that is extremely replayable and fun to master.

Or probably if they at any point decide to go the path of least resistence and start making timesink mechanics like mandatory dailies.

It's the elements relating to player freedom that keep it going, I think.

[sjofn-lofnsdottr]

27 for the ask game?~

Hmmm, what IS my favorite relic?

This is sort of a biased thing coming from me, because I secretly don't like super sparkly weapons and often hate grinding relics (especially out of date relics!) (it's the FATEs, I hate doing goddamn FATEs), so while I'm sure ARR and HW and SB all have perfectly lovely relics that I wouldn't mind dropping into my lap, I didn't even try to finish one until Shadowbringers and it was current content.

I love the matte version of Blade's Ingenuity, though. Machinist weapons I like are few and far between, so when this was handed over to me as my finished relic reward I was delighted.

Thank you for the ask!

[stormbabylore]

Look at her precious little shocked Pikachu face. ♡(◕‿◕๑)

I finally finished my first HW relic grind, and the plot for this really tugged hard on a key thread of Aeryn's backstory. I need to muse about it... So it's oc lore dump time! \o/

Spoilers for the HW relic weapon story, but that's it!

A quick tl;dr of Aeryn's story, pertinent to black mage:

Aeryn's soul is fused with the remnant magic of the star from her past life. It functions a bit like a shell, "protecting" her, but also blocking her access to the magic of the Source. This prevents her from doing most types of magic without significant effort.

In canon, Aeryn just lives like this, unable to do magic except in extreme circumstances. But in black mage AU, she works with the thaumaturges to disentangle her soul and the "foreign" magic (they none of them realize what it is), enabling her to both access and better utilize magic on the Source.

The disentangled star magic does not disperse. It lingers, greatly enhancing her newfound magical abilities, but also overwhelming her natural senses - especially her sight. Despite this, she takes to magic use with inexplicable ease and turns almost exclusively to magical combat.

Aeryn later channels most of the lingering star magic away during the finale of the StB class quest. The yellow in her hair fades as a result, and she is able to see without magical obstruction once again.

I thought that would be the end of it - that Aeryn-as-Black-Mage would no longer have her connection to her past life or her star following Stormblood. But rolling through the HW relic quests and awakening a new being connected to the WoL through their aether/soul/weapon got me thinking:

What if, in Aeryn's case, the soul she helps give voice and form to is what little remains of her star? (✧_✧)

The connection the anima feels towards the WoL and its desperation to get stronger so it can help/impress/protect them is very reminiscent of the headcanon I have about Aeryn's past connection with her home star and how it "saved" her in its/their last moments. Other than the timeline itself (and the suggestion that other warriors with similar experiences might likewise be able to connect with anima), nothing in the relic quest lore really breaks that theory.

And I'm casually obsessed.

Probably going to shirk the timeline and work this into Aeryn's black mage story, some time following Stormblood. Perhaps she needs a new weapon at that time. (The Stormblood class quest could feasibly have destroyed her existing weapon. Yeah, going with that.) I just love the circular notion of this: Aeryn's star dying in such a way that she was able to be "reborn," but then in turn being "reborn" itself in the form of an anima so that the two can learn, grow, and travel on together.

;-; Yes, this makes my heart is happy. I shall accept this headcanon. It shall be mine.

[amons-hat-enthusiast]

So, last weekend I've finished all MSQ available on free trial 🥲

I've laughed, I've cried and by all means I've enjoyed the journey ARR and HW took both me and Matheli through. So much! I don't remember when was the last time a game made me feel so many emotions!

I sadly won't be subscribing anytime soon (*cries in broke uni student*, unless I somehow convince my dad to pay for it), but luckily, I still have a lot of stuff to do in the game before I move on

Get paladin, bard and monk to 50 (and later to 60 too), and summoner/scholar, white mage, ninja and black mage to 60

Finish all the side-quests I skipped while doing MSQ

Do Alexander raids

Do HW extreme trials to get the mounts (and Leviathan too)

Achievements!!!

Finish the Anima weapon grind for dark knight relic weapon (and maybe a few more if I'm up for it)

Max out all beast tribes reputation

Try pvp, especially Crystalline Conflict (pleeeeaaaseee bonk me before I actually do that!!!)

Maybe try leveling blue mage... Maaaaybe....

Now that I write everything down, it does look like I'll still be busy for a while lol

[aoife-asturmaux]

After some last minute poetics farming.... Areadbhar Lux!!!!

I started building this weapon on a whim bc my husband wanted company building a hw relic but..... I'm really happy to have it in the end 😭 the dragon effect is so COOL!!!!

[mzyraj]

So annoyed by my own fatigue and disability. Dawntrail's gonna come out in ~a few months, I have two expansions and post patches to do before then but also I'm still working on SB relics (finished HW relics a couple weeks ago) and I can't even be efficient at them because after 4 hours of Eureka (Pagos) grinding I'm at the verge of a seizure and that's at best half of one weapon's Pagos stages

I'm not even gonna try Bozja relics at the end of ShB, that's for content drought post Dawntrail

[randomnameless]

Sort of tied to the previous HC post -

Something that baffled me in FE Fodlan was the lack of prf weapons (save for Billy's).

I mean, what kind of FE game doesn't have prf weapons - but then, it might sort of be the point, the Lords don't have prf weapons because they are using Relics - that are supposed to be, plot wise, a major clue that those shiny weapons aren't the special shiny special and traditional weapons of the series.

For the Saint's weapons (Cichol's spear, Cethleann's staff and Seiros' sword), I could buy the "it's not a prf weapons since Seteth/Flayn/Rhea can use them!!" and some part being them, accepting to lend their sacred weapons to their allies.

Now, HC land -

Nabatean Sacred weapons - when used by their intended wielder - are prf weapons, meaning they have special abilities that anyone else using them, even a fellow Nabatean, can't use them - skills like RD/PR's Master Skills or something similar (Staff of Caduceus would give Corona to Flayn if she uses magic a,d +4 range instead of the +3 to randoms, Spear of Assal has 1-2 range and gives the Stun skill to Seteth, Sword of Seiros has 1-2 range and unlocks something like scendscale when used by Rhea, etc etc)

(this totally means Willy got a shield he couldn't use to 100% of its abilities like having innate pavise and aegis, but at that point, Cichol gave up)

As I previously said in a previous HC post, Labraunda is a disappointment - HW wise - because it doesn't have a ton of special effects, so I HC'd that it used to be Lycaon's weapon, and was some sort of switchaxe - aka a weapon that could transform in an axe or sword at will - but the switchaxe mode could only be triggered by Lycaon himself.

So to Supreme Leader and to anyone else, it's "just" a kickass axe, but nothing more.

Obviously, because FE5 is the bestest game ever, Emile and Mercie can use the skill that makes it change shape (keep it in axe mode or in sword mode) for some reason.