#but like really. even with msq you do just so much chores

[galpalaven]

I think I fall under the very small minority who actually loved the expack so let me put my writing degree to use and break down what exactly it was that I enjoyed so much about it --- and acknowledge some places where it fell a little short.

Obviously it goes without saying, but lemme put a big ol' warning just in case.

Spoilers for FFXIV: Dawntrail

I'll be the first to admit that I was apprehensive as hell in the lead up to this expansion. G'raha's last minute backing out of the trip really took the wind out of my sails in that last patch before the drop, so the first... third of the expack was soured in my head.

I'll also be the first to admit that, as someone who is RPing in my mind, the angst of my WoL being upset because her boyfriend decided without mentioning it to her that he wasn't coming after she'd already pledged herself to the cause of helping this stranger on her quest was juicy.

It's possible that this low expectations for the pack actually colored my overall opinion, when it turned out to not be absolutely terrible writing. Still, let's get into some of the drawbacks I felt while going through the MSQ

Cons

SLOW

Now, this is both a curse and a blessing.

After Endwalker, it would have been REALLY hard to keep going at that level of danger and drama. It is just not possible to keep something interesting story-wise when you keep it at that level constantly. You have to let your characters and your audience breathe -- it's just a fact of good writing.

In Japanese, there is a concept known as ma, which is described as the silence between claps. It's also used as a fundamental part of the story beats of Japanese literature. Think of any Studio Ghibli film, or even any anime with random beach episodes -- these are things that include that breather in the story, to allow the story to grow and breathe, and allow the audience to rest. If you don't, you run the risk of your readers developing compassion fatigue and getting bored.

THAT being said -- it is quite slow at the start. A lot of running little errands that feel kind of meaningless that made a lot of the beginning of the adventure feel like a chore. While this fed into my RP angst quite a bit, that was me making it more palatable for myself. It dragged for a while, even though I felt like it picked up as we got farther in.

No Scions :(

I understand from a writing and technical standpoint why they decided to distance the Scions a bit from the central storyline, but that doesn't mean that I liked it.

One major complaint I have of A Realm Reborn was that it is just so inherently lonely -- the Warrior of Light has no friends and no constant companions at that point. While Dawntrail at least gives us a new set of companions whom I have come to love, it did bring up those feelings of loneliness again. I'd have liked the Scions to be more active in the story, though they do end up showing up near the end of the expack. I'm not sure how they would have done that, however, though it would have been nice for maybe at least Estinien to have come along with us and the twins and Krile.

Still, I am glad we got to have a reunion at the end of the expack. It was nice to have my boy back, at the very least.

New Characters are New

TBH, this isn't entirely a bad thing, but the new characters are new and change is often something we rail against naturally.

While I personally really like the new characters, they are not going to be everyone's cup of tea. Wuk Lamat is overbearing and naive, Erenville is "dour and ill-tempered", Koana is stubborn and stoic.

That being said, I didn't like most of the Scions until Shadowbringers, so while it makes it hard to stick with it, it's important to note that these characters are at the beginning of their story. We should give them the same time that the Scions had to grow on us before we make any forever judgements.

We're Not The Main Character

I also felt the disconnect in this story that I didn't feel through the last several expansions -- not since ARR have I felt like my character isn't quite connected to what's going on.

This time, though, it's intentional.

While I think it was a necessary step to take to bring the story down from Endwalker, it can make it hard for the audience to relate and care if they're not the central character. Playing the side character to Wuk Lamat's MC is tough for some people, and it's a valid reason to feel disconnected, even if it's really hard for our character to realistically be the Chosen One forever.

Pros

Solid Plot

I know people who didn't and don't care for the story of this expack won't agree, but from a technical standpoint, the story hit all the beats it needed to. The first half of the story following the contest for the throne has a much lower-stakes but technically sound rising action into the smaller climax of the early story.

Then, crossing the threshold into the other part of the continent, we cross into the rising action leading up to the real future plot of the series. And it really left me feeling interested in where we're going to go from here! I knew based on the patch content past 6.0 that the future of FFXIV was likely going to involve the other reflections, and we got confirmation here.

Maybe it's the Azem in me, but I'm super excited to see where they go with it. After the amazing payoff of SHB and Endwalker, I have faith that they will be able to build up a good story again given time.

I'm looking forward to seeing Ryne again and Zero and seeing what roles they'll have in the future, because I'm sure there's no way we've seen the last of them. I've been so curious about the remaining shards and what kind of worlds they are, what kind of lives and civilizations are built there, so I'm happy that it seems like we're leading up to learning cross-dimensional travel. I'm also super intrigued by the Lalafell revelation? Are they aliens? What the fuck??

As central as every other race has gotten to be, I'm glad lala fans are going to be getting their moment moving forward.

We're Not the Main Character

I dunno about you, but it was kind of nice to have an adventure where my WoL got to just indulge in being an adventurer, and not have the weight of the entire universe on her shoulders. I like that she was an unknown in Tural, and that she was more or less just there for moral support. It did more to make her feel like a person than the story of ARR ever did -- for once she was no more or less important than anyone else, and that felt nice.

Upset as I was about G'raha not coming along, getting to kind of roleplay being an adventurer at a normal time in history, when the major problems are just wildlife or local feuds, felt good. Felt fresh. And yeah, I got a bit bored doing the fetch quests, but there was a part of me that kind of appreciated it (while wondering when it would start to pick up -- and pick up it did!).

THE CHARACTERS

OOOOOHHHH the character writing HIT as good as it always does.

Granted, it didn't really start to hit until about midway through, but it did hit. And let's be honest, the beginning of every story might leave you feeling a little disconnected or unsure -- that's just because it hasn't had a chance to hook you yet.

Wuk Lamat, Koana, and even Bakool Ja Ja all get lovely character arcs in just the first third of the expack.

We see Wuk Lamat grow from a naive, silly young woman to a humble, graceful leader -- who still has a lot to learn, but her favorite thing is learning, so that's great! Truly, she takes the power of friendship to its extreme. Plus, there's something nice about being this almost all-powerful adventurer and taking a back seat to help someone grow and learn and show them what you have learned works best for helping people and helping whole entire civilizations grow and find prosperity.

Koana starts off as Mr. Gentrification, and throughout the course of the contest learns that even though some technologies are good and helpful, tradition and culture is what makes his people them. And he learns to love them and he sees for the first time that his baby sister has the right idea, upholding this peace and working to better every community within their borders while upholding cultural traditions. Plus, it's adorable how he seems to get a lil tiny crush on the WoL (even if my girl is in a happy relationship with G'raha).

Even Bakool Ja Ja, who I wasn't really expecting much of anything from, got his own character arc. I really do love "villain becomes your best friend after you knock him out good once" as a plot device, and this is no exception. Plus, the entire story arc of the Blessed Siblings was so deeply fucked up that it really shook me because I was not expecting it at all, but I'll talk more about that in a bit.

Erenville, my love, he is my WoL's new best friend who I wasn't expecting to like that much but deeply and truly won me over by the end. I cannot begin to tell you how hard I cried in the Golden City when his story arc got fulfilled my god -- I am so easily swayed by good character writing, and the only other expansion that has made me weep like that was Shadowbringers, so I know that it did something right, because I'm not actually often moved by fiction like that. I hope he sticks around for a while, because I think his dour demeanor is such a fun addition to the team makeup. He's a quiet, calm presence that I think my WoL really appreciated, especially during the early parts when she was still upset about G'raha's decision to stay behind.

Fathers: The Expack

Maybe I'm biased, but familial trauma, ancestral trauma, and family ties that go above and beyond blood -- those are some of my favorite narratives to explore. And that really wasn't the direction I was expecting it to go, but it felt really good to get away from the heavy war overtones we had the past several expansions to get to something a little closer to home for a lot of us.

It was so interesting to really see these different family dynamics -- from Wuk Lamat and Koana, who grew up loved and happy and feeling worth existing despite how we find out that Koana was abandoned, and Wuk Lamat... wasn't abandoned, but believed she was -- to Zoraal Ja, who clearly internalized his father's love for his siblings in the worst possible way, and felt so entitled to his love and acceptance that he believed his siblings lesser and he believed that he was the only one who deserved his father's love and his father's throne. And it's so bizarre to see how his own insecurity bled into his own child, into the idea that he didn't deserve to be a father because he hadn't a kingdom and a legacy to hand down.

(We won't get into what other things I think about Gulool Ja's conception, as it's.... quite dark.)

Bakool Ja Ja and Mamook was also an insane twist that took me off guard. The fanatic worship of the Blessed Siblings turning into forced conception and likely forced weddings among the people who lived there was so deeply disturbing -- not to mention the catacombs of cremated babies like.... my god. Suddenly the desperation he had to win, and the way he had no idea what he wanted with the throne should he get it made complete sense. His father clearly hadn't raised a leader -- he'd just raised him as a warrior. How could he complete the tests Gulool Ja Ja set when they were all about community and learning to appreciate others, when his entire life he'd been raised to be perfect and superior, with no room for error lest he lose the love of his family that he so desperately craved?

The last few expacks were much more plot focused, which was fun and wonderful, but this one was far more focused on relationships and family and culture, and it was a really interesting shift that left me feeling so refreshed and, as we lead into the next series of patches and the next part of the story, I'm ready and eager to see where we go! As a writer myself, I am all about character, so it was a lot of fun to get to see these characters and see the story Square wove with them.

OVERALL THOUGHTS

I think overall this was a good start to a new story.

I think it's a hard shift to swallow at first, especially since we've all been used to very plot-heavy story-telling so far, but I really do think that this expack didn't completely fail. I think it is a beginning, and so we can't appreciate all the pieces we've put on the table yet. Think of it like an unfinished puzzle -- how can we appreciate the full picture, when we've only got the edge pieces put together up to now?

Yes, maybe keeping in mind that this is a start and not a finish colored my impressions the whole time -- but I think that's kind of the point? Don't compare this to the full, finished product that Shadowbringers and Endwalker were, compare it to the start of our story -- to A Realm Reborn, which is the equivalent here.

The story had all the strong character writing that Square Enix has given us in the past. The plot was slower, because they are trying to start another slow build, and so the pacing is different. The world was still beautiful, we had a lot of really fun gameplay, and I think we have an interesting hook to move forward on.

I think FFXIV Dawntrail was a success in all the places it mattered.

does anyone want my opinions on dawntrail

[rainofaugustsith]

On group content and FFXIV

So since I started FFXIV I've joined a guild, I've done a few raids (with a lot of ex-SWTOR players!), run a lot of dungeons with a friend (so much fun) and jumped into shared tagged Fates in the open world. All of which would have been completely unthinkable to me in SWTOR. What's the difference?

The major issues with why I am not a huge fan of group content remain, namely that when there's a group of players all converging on screen I can't see what is going on, I can't target anything, and I find it very stressful. It's really not fun for me to try to pick an enemy out of a huge moving group of NPCs.

That's true for the solo duties where there are a lot of NPCs on screen with you, too - I've ended up failing them and having to try again sometimes simply because I can't even see where to fight. I picked up the astrologian as a second job, which is a healer, and I'm actually finding that a hell of a lot easier - simply because I don't have to really look at the fight, I can just look at the health meters of the party members that are helpfully shown right on screen for me, and click on those to target and heal. 

ARR has more dungeons in one patch than SWTOR has had in ten years of life, and a number of them are required for the MSQ. I'm going to be straight up, if FFXIV's required dungeons were handled like SWTOR's I would not have touched this game, and I certainly would not have continued playing. I still am grateful that after ARR they made a decision not to have raids be part of the MSQ. Having said that there's a hell of a lot of good reasons this works in FFXIV as opposed to that other game.  And there's also a reason I see the dungeons and trials in FFXIV as fun and not chores. 

First, foremost and most importantly: Yoshi from FFXIV has said straight out that he knows that the multiplayer content turns off some prospective players. But instead of trying to beat them into submission and force them into content they hate, he's taken steps to make it more welcoming, including retooling 10 year old content to make it soloable.

1. In later expacs they introduced the Trust/Duty Support system, which allows one to complete trials and dungeons for the MSQ with a slate of NPCs, instead of other players. They recently expanded it to ARR, and it's been announced that they intend to bring this to the other expacs, too. So you actually don't need any other players to run this content at level. 

2. "At level" being the keyword - that isn't necessary. They allow you to run the dungeons and trials without level sync. So you can do these dungeons when you are really overleveled and stomp through solo. Or bring a single friend that can speed run you through even 8-person trials and stomp everything, the way I did, and you're done in ten minutes and it's super fun. You don't get XP in that case, but you still get the treasure chests and the credit for having done the dungeon so you can move on with the MSQ. 

3. Squadrons. You can run some dungeons synched to level with your own squadron of NPCS from your Grand Company, which is like Duty Support but more hands-on in terms of actually training and leveling up the NPCs who accompany you. So look at that, they've provided three different ways to make these dungeons soloable and/or able to be managed with two players instead of a huge group. Additionally:

4. They seem to have greatly cut the number of dungeons required for MSQ overall. There were several solo fights in Heavensward that I was sure would have been dungeons in ARR. 

5. Oh, and one more thing: they actually take the time to explain what the player is supposed to do in group content. There are very well done tutorials where they walk you through the role your job has - DPS, healer or tank - and specifically point out how you're supposed to play that role, what you need to pay attention to, and where you are supposed to be. There's a series of these tutorials so you can practice. So they don't expect players to come into the game, or group content, knowing how it works.

And the duty support helps here too - frankly that's how I've practiced my astrologian, in the duty support dungeons. So when she actually recently went out and tried healing people in Fates, she overall managed to keep them alive (or *cough* revive them quickly, and FFXIV devs, PLEASE let healers heal the fighting chocobos some time?)

6. The dungeons and trials are short. Even if you are doing these synched to level, you're likely going to be in there like 20 or 30 minutes at most. Likely less time. So you're not spending hours slogging through stuff like Spirit of Vengeance. The one duty that was really long was recently divided in three recognizing it was too long. 

7. it isn't mob after mob after mob! Imagine that. So the issue about not seeing where to target generally doesn't apply; you don't have huge mobs of enemies descending on you. 

8. If you are defeated in a duty, they give you the option to make it easier and buff your character when you go back in. If you get defeated again, the buff increases. They apparently want you to be able to finish this stuff instead of rage quitting from frustration, and they recognize that some players need the easy mode - no shame in it. 

9. They keep old content more relevant. Like there will be a hard, higher level version dungeon that is physically set in a beginning dungeon, but the story and NPCs in it have totally changed. 

10. The game is way, way story based, and if you honestly don't want to do any of this there are ways to find fun things to do in the game aside from the dungeons. 

11. Oh, and last but not least: from what I have seen, FFXIV players are by and large really nice and don't act like assholes. The culture they've established for the game is specifically not to be an asshole, especially to new players. They take specific steps to cut down on asshole behavior out in the open world, such as requiring players to be level synched to Fates and making it more or less impossible to steal someone else's gathering node or boss. You can keep general chat open because it isn't an endless stream of hate. The game rewards you for being nice and helpful, down to having a mentorship program for veteran players to help new ones. You can turn off effects from other people's weapons/etc. so they don't bother you, as well. 

So- yeah, it's not rocket science - but perhaps in FFXIV people enjoy group content more because it's more enjoyable, can be handled multiple ways, and is presented in a culture that is friendly and not toxic. Imagine that!

[shadowbringcr]

Talk about your favorite ships for Lycelle!

send me a topic to write a meta about my muse on

Putting this under a cut because it gets long and. I may or may not be shy. Also spoilers!

THANCRED. Everyone who has been to my Twitter at least once isn’t surprised by this.

As someone who started on Ul’dah Thancred was the first Scion she has ever met - and she has knowledge of his reputation, although it was something she didn’t pay mind to at the time. But it was during the Ifrit expedition where she started feeling something for him that was decidedly not platonic: even today she would still count her first experience with the primal as one of her weakest moments. It was Thancred that comforted her through those times despite his overwhelming guilt in failing her. Lahabrea possessing him was devastating for Lycelle, and saving Thancred have been her firstmost priority upon delving in the Praetorium.

They’ve been through a lot, going from casual friendship to something deeper. The world has made both of them bitter and cynical, but they have been able to support each other through it all. There is mutual admiration between them - while Thancred admires her strength and accomplishment, Lycelle admires his resilience and clever thinking. Sometimes they would playfully snark at each other, offer snide commentary to the comings and goings around them, or - Lycelle’s favorite - set off traps on purpose, much to Thancred’s annoyance.

The reason why their dynamic works is the fact that these two normally closed-off individuals are very much willing to be open with each other. They are each other’s confidant and comfort, especially in times where they feel weak - because they’re not afraid to be vulnerable when they are around. They trust each other to have each other’s back, no matter what the world throws at them. Lycelle also doesn’t mind voicing out her more negative thoughts with him around, such as her disgust for politics or weariness towards chores, because he’s someone who understands and someone who wouldn’t judge her for it.

Y’MHITRA. This one is unfortunately a bit lacking in material compared to the other people in this list by virtue of Not Being An MSQ Character, but Lycelle bonds really well with the Summoner instructor! In a way they are peas in a pod, researchers in the same field and posessing an intellect that rivals her sister. She was a great source of comfort at the times where the Scions were missing or whisked away.

Their first meeting was also the first steps of her current career - by Y’shtola’s recommendation was how they first met, as someone capable of learning the art of the Summoner as well as someone qualified of joining the Sons of Saint Coinach. Y’mhitra may be the closest friend Lycelle has outside of her duties as a Warrior of Light.

HAURCHEFANT. A love unrequited. I believe it’s a very common headcanon-verging-on-actual-canon that Haurchefant is someone who sounds very infatuated with the Warrior of Light. He admires them to no end. And while Lycelle sees him as a dear friend and in fact one of the few reasons why she decided to lend a hand to Ishgard in the end, she never held romantic feelings for him in the end.

The thing was she believed that the person he was in love with was one of the many who only see her as the persona she puts up in public - the heroic figure, strong and steady, an exemplary inspiration to all. But Heavensward happened to be one of her lowest points in her life, and she didn’t think she was worthy of that praise. It was innocent hero-worship, but hero-worship nonetheless, and she knew his opinion would drastically change once he realized that she was a mess barely keeping herself together.

Lycelle was very aware of his feelings, as unvoiced as they were, but she pretended not to see it because she didn’t want to break his heart. Unfortunately it is now too late to say anything, and she would never knew which side of herself Haurchefant truly loved.

EMET-SELCH. But it’s complicated, even when you don’t take her current Existential Crisis into consideration, and I’m not sure if I can accurately put these into words but I Will Try.

The thing is that Emet-Selch possesses a personality that she’s attracted to despite how much he is a pain to deal with. He’s someone she could match wits with, someone who was all too happy to reveal the truth to burning questions.  The initial plan was to take out of Urianger’s leaf and gather as much information as she could under the pretense of mutual benefit, but deep down she did want to be friends with Emet-Selch.

Of course, there are quuuuuuite a few problems that make such camaraderie hard to do. Such as, oh you know, the fact that he’s an Ascian bent to destroy the world she knew and sacrifice all of the inhabitants within it. And as much as she likes someone that’s just not something that she could abide to, and thus was their story condemned to be one between hero and villain.

And yet, if she could, she didn’t want to kill him. Remember that we once lived, he said - but how, exactly? Despite everything she felt like she didn’t learn enough still. How was she supposed to pen their legacy down in history with such bare records, when she had no memory of the past? It was not entirely out of kindness either, she didn’t feel like oblivion was an apt punishment for immortals who have caused so much conflict. Yet at the same time, it was because she wanted him to see what may come next - what she wanted for Emet-Selch was not an ending, but a new beginning.

She knows of his beliefs, of how he saw them as malformed and incomplete creatures incapable of being the new stewards of this world, and she wanted to challenge that belief - prove that he was wrong so hard that he feels it within every fibre of his being, accept the beauty of mankind…and then perhaps he might find peace.

I imagine their dynamic is something messy - sweet and gentle simply does not suit them, not even in defense of each other. They keep each other on edge. He has his expectations, and Lycelle being the stubborn ambitious person that she is she wants to fulfill those expectations and then some. And as strange as it is, the fact that they can be awful with each other (since they’re enemies) is an uplifting experience in Lycelle’s end.

Above all, his proposal for cooperation was something that intrigued her - for it was a collaboration unheard of, yet it was a path that promised so much potential. She truly believed it to be possible. She does want to keep him in her life.

[blissfulxivarchive]

Time to Reflect

This is not my first rodeo with Final Fantasy Fourteen. This my third go around with the mmo. I was still stuck on World of Warcraft because I thought for the longest time it was my only hope. I played from 2007-2019. I came in when BC was content. I had no idea what I was doing or what I wanted to do. So I played was such a bad player at first as I played and found the help I got better and better. I watched my character through all the expansions from post-Vanilla to BFA. I am considered a Veteran of WoW. Since my main a hunter still needed ammo for her weapon and all weapons where considered hunter weapons. 

I really enjoyed WoW. I felt I was doing something until Cata hit. Things started to feel cookie cutter. You didn’t have to level your weapon anymore. So before it hit. I leveled none combat skill got the achievement DID SOMEONE ORDER A KNUCKLE SANDWICH still best one and its a legacy one too. After a while I started to get into more role-play and made a story with her. She was fierce and exciting. Then I thought to myself. I wanted a rogue so during Cata I rolled my rogue. She’s been next to me ever since. WoW really started to take a dive bomb after Cata, saw pandas, went back to the future, then Legion came along. It was like playing in BC all over again. It was nice and the story wasn’t doodoo. 

I was going to continue to play when BFA hit. Which I did then it hit me. Why I am playing this game with the story is over the page with no direction. I started to feel like it was a second job. I wasn’t having fun like I did back in Wrath and pre-Cata. It was just not sitting right with me. 

So I logged in March and sat there idle for thirty minutes asking myself. “Do I grind when flying comes out or do I end my character here?”  So in March I stopped logging and made excuses not to long in and stop doing so much in the game. I was completely burned. 

I took a break from MMOs all together until the last week of May when a friend of mine sent me the Comeback champaign to FFXiv. So I rolled a character on Mateus and went from there. From level 1 until now I feel like my character has climbed a huge mountain. She has laughed, cried, been angry, wanted to murder the bad, lost comrades, she has been molded into who she is now. 

She has changed been through a lot but still wants to fight for the good and save the world. She still wants to be that comrade to others. Make them laugh, cry with them and love them. 

She is the one who wants to just genuinely be there for those who need it. 

I personally never felt so broken after all the MSQ and I also never so felt so alive too. The story in this game made me feel like I am a better person. I want to be a better person.  

I feel better about myself too. My depression is getting better and I feel like I am not having to do a chore while playing. It feels like its suppose to be what it is. 

A fantasy. 

I am not going to return to WoW. I haven’t even logged into my battle.net app in six months. I am not even going to play any of the Blizzard games. After the last Blizzcon. I was very disappointed with them. I was disappointed in how they treated their fanbase. 

I looked up FantasyFest. I would invest in going to that. For the longest time, I wanted to go to Blizzcon but not anymore. 

With all that said. I am happy I gave this MMO a chance. It’s really made a difference in my life. 

thanks for listening and reading this word vomit.

[hasty-touch]

Tips for leveling DoH & DoL

I am fondly known by my friends as "that guy who's obsessed with crafting and also Ishgard", so I'm ecstatic about getting to enjoy both those things in Shadowbringers. And I've been hearing a lot of my friends excited about the latter wanting to catch up with the former so they're ready to participate! I love crafting so much I've capped classes on 4 alts... so having leveled multiple times, I thought I'd share some of my thoughts and tips -- not a detailed how-to guide (though maybe I'll try to write one of those someday), but broader opinions about what strategies to take. This is geared more to DoH than DoL (which is more self-explanatory IMO) but I'll include thoughts on DoL too.

I learned how to craft back in the 2.5 era from GameFAQs and from ffxivguild -- though I can't easily recommend the latter anymore because their ads and autoplay videos have gotten really aggressive. If I find a good, current guide I'll add a link here.

Other resources well-loved by me or friends are Crafting as a Service for shopping lists and leveling planning, Ariyala for gearing, FFXIV Teamcraft for their endgame-invaluable simulator, and Garlandtools Bell for unspoiled nodes.

So let's see. What would my general tips be for people who are picking up DoH and DoL now in anticipation of Shadowbringers?

Your leveling options

There are lots of different ways for you to level your DoH and L, so if you hate one there's sure to be another option. Some of them, and my thoughts on the pros and cons of the different methods:

Class Quests. I strongly recommend doing your class quests as you unlock them! They give nice lumps of experience, shards/crystals for DoH, and gear (albeit NQ gear, so inferior to what you could make yourself). You should especially do 60-70, Stormblood era quests as you unlock them, as they give you powerful new traits and abilities. Of course, you have to fill the gaps between class quests with something:

Grinding. Just makin' stuff from your Crafting Log or gathering from your Gathering Log, or hanging out at a level-appropriate fishing hole and fishing. Potentially boring, but can actually add up to nice chunks of EXP, especially under Rested and with the aid of Engineering Manuals/Survival Manuals. (More on them later.)

Leveling DoH through grinding is probably your most expensive option, not only in terms of gil spent on the MB but retainer space used to store those materials.

Synthesize (manually crafting) gives more experience than Quick Synthesis -- if I understand correctly, the more steps you use in a craft the more experience you get, up to a point renofmanyalts says you get more exp the more you fill your Quality bar, which makes a lot more sense!

You can recover some of your gil by selling the items you make, so a little time researching what you can make at your level that sells well may be profitable in several ways.

Leveling DoL through grinding, on the other hand, is potentially a way to make money, if there's a high-demand item in the right level range.

You'll get more experience for HQ items and by maintaining a chain (i.e., not missing an item).

Since you can start and stop grinding whenever you want, you can use it both if you have lots or limited time to play. But I wouldn't recommend it as your primary method!

Grand Company Supply and Provisioning. One item requested each day for each class. You get a very nice chunk of experience, doubled if HQ, with a further bonus to starred items.

I like the GC as a leveling method. They usually take the length of one food buff (<= 30 minutes for all eight DoH classes, plus an additional <= 30 minutes for all three DoL classes), which is a manageable amount of chores per day. You get GC seals, which can be spent on manuals, Cordials, squadron missions, etc., to further help you.

You are limited to one item per class per day, so once you've handed in your day's items, you have to find something else to do. It's great if you play every day, but if you have a lot of playtime on just a few days of the week you may not be able to take the same advantage.

You do have to buy and store the materials, and since the assignment each day is random, it may take up a lot of retainer space.

Levequests/guildleves. While technically limited by your leve allowances (which can be checked at the bottom of your journal), you get 3 allowances every 12 hours and you can store up to 100, and you've gotta really grind leves to spend 100 leve allowances. They give nice chunks of experience, doubled for HQ.

"Levekits" are bundles of items sold by higher-level crafters and fishers which, when handed in to levemetes, get you enough experience to bump you up to the target level (50, 60, etc.) They're an option -- and if you really must be level 70 today, they're your only option -- but I don't really recommend them. If you learn to craft yourself while you level, you'll understand how the abilities work together and won't be overwhelmed by buttons at cap. Even if you intend only to craft at cap using other people's macros, a little bit of knowledge will help you troubleshoot and improve them.

If you take advantage of DoH leves, I would recommend you make the items yourself instead, gaining experience both for the crafting and for the turn-in. You will have to buy/gather the materials, but since you can decide what leves you're going to target in advance and just get materials for those, storage is not as problematic.

MIN and BTN leves send you to a location to gather key items that are handed in at the end of the leve, sometimes with special targets (changing what actions you'd spend your GP on). For the time invested you get more exp than just grinding, but you don't have items to sell at the end of it.

Large-Scale Temple Knight leves (marked with "(L)" in the levequest name) are generally considered not worth your time because they take 10x the allowances and only give 3x the exp.

You can do as many leves as you want per day as long as you have the allowances, so you can take advantage if you've got a lot or a little time.

Beast Tribes. You can get DoH exp from the Ixal (intended for level 1-50) and the Moogles (50-60), and either DoH or DoL from the Namazu (60-70). You're limited by Beast Tribe Daily Quest Allowances (12 per day for any beast tribes of your choice) and the number of quests that tribe offers (Ixal start with Deliverance, which is sort of like a bonus daily GC supply mission + 3 dailies, and progressively more are offered as you level up; Moogles and Namazu normally gives you 3 a day, but you get a bonus 3 on days your Reputation ranks up.) They give nice, moderate lumps of exp.

One of the great advantages of beast tribes is that you are given the materials for the item(s) required by the quest, so you only have to pay for crystals -- and you're often rewarded crystals for completion, making them free aside from teleport and repair costs!

Ranking up unlocks more items at the tribe's vendor. The Ixal have a wonderful selection of lumber, and you can buy the Adept and Trailblazer (level 58) sets from the Moogles with Carved Kupo Nuts, etc.

Unlocking Ixal only requires the level 41 MSQ "In Pursuit of the Past". But you gotta unlock the Moogles and the Namazu not only through MSQ (respectively, level 56 "He Who Would Not Be Denied" and level 66 "In Crimson They Walked") but through sidequest chains. The Moogle unlock chain is long and starts with "A Pebble for Your Thoughts" in Moghome (and then after "Trouble at Zenith" you gotta pick up "Into the Mists" from the Pillars). The Namazu require two short chains from Yanxia, starting with "Courage the Cowardly Lupin" and "Perchance to Hanami".

The Ixal daily "Deliverance" will take items you bought off the MB, but otherwise you must do all beast tribes tasks yourself.

The tasks given to you in the Moogle and Namazu DoH quests are really easy -- as long as you grasp the barest basics of crafting, you can succeed at them (and you can retry as many times as you like, only losing crystals). The Ixal dailies take away your hand slot gear to begin with and slowly add challenge with increasing restrictions such as cross-class ability lockouts. They're not hard, per se, but you have to puzzle over it a bit more than usual.

You can cheat and do Moogle dailies on a higher level class than you hand it in on. You can’t with Namazu -- you have to complete the quest with the same class you picked it up with.

Though quick, they do take a little bit of time, most of which traveling between quest points. Denisot's round today of 3 Moogle dailies took 5 minutes, but if you get one that involves repreated trips it can take longer. Still, they're good if you can play every day even if only briefly.

You might get asked to type "free kupo nuts" in /say.

Collectables (Rowena's House of Splendors). After (IIRC) level 50, after MSQ "The Better Half", you can unlock collectables via the quest "Inscrutable Tastes" in Revenant's Toll. You can then hand in collectables to the House of Splendors (via kiosks at the main cities, Revenant's Toll, Idyllshire, and Rhalgr's Reach) to receive experience and scrips. Like GC supply and provisioning, each day the requested items change. Also like the GC, there's a chance the requested items will have a star next to them, giving bonus scrip and exp. It's always the highest-level turn-in available to you that has a chance of a star.

Collectable crafting works exactly the same as regular crafting. You just toggle on Collector's Glove (an action you can get from your actions window and/or put on your hotbar) and craft as if you were trying for HQ; your HQ chance is converted into collectable rating.

Collectable fishing is AFAIK essentially the same as fishing for HQ. Again, you just toggle on Collector's Glove and try to land a big/HQ fish.

Collectable MIN and BTN, on the other hand, is its whole own little mini-game added on to the normal gathering minigame. You'll want to look up a guide on how to do collectable gathering -- I don't have one handy at the moment. It's not hard, necessarily, but it's a new system to learn!

Rowena's House of Splendors is truly unlimited, and you can hand in as many collectables as you want each day. The experience isn't great, though, even for starred items, so I would recommend against going crazy and doing these all day long. LOVE YOURSELF!

The amounts of scrip rewarded isn't great to begin with, so grinding for rewards will be pretty miserable until you get up into the mid-high 50s. However, if you must have the full Adept's set today, it's an option!

Red Crafters' Scrip (the current common scrip) can be traded for a variety of items, such as manuals, level 60 gear (via Rowena's Token (Blue Crafters' Scrip)), Soul of the Crafter (for changing specializations after your free choice of three from Alderan), IV-V materia, old mats, etc. Red Gatherers' Scrip can also be traded for gear and materia, more valuable old mats (like Pterodactyl), and good fishing bait like Brute Leech and Silkworm.

Collectables are not tradeable, so you must do them yourself. You can't buy the items or get a friend to make them for you.

For DoH, you do have to buy and store the materials, as with Grand Company Supply, unless you exclusively do:

Custom Deliveries. The first client is Zhloe Aliapoh, unlocked at level 60 with quest "Arms Wide Open" in Idyllshire. These tasks take collectables, like Rowena's House of Splendors, but are limited to 6 hand-ins per week per client and 12 hand-ins per week across all clients. If you do them at level cap, you get valuable yellow scrips, but you can also use your allowances for leveling classes below cap.

The materials for DoH Custom Deliveries are sold by vendors in town (Scrap Salvager in Idyllshire, Material Supplier in Rhalgr's Reach, and Blue Merchant in Tamamizu) They're cheap, and you're awarded gil at hand-in, so DoH Custom Deliveries are almost-free-to-profitable to do. DoL, as usual, cost only teleport and repair costs.

The time required is generally very little -- FSH probably takes the longest because of RNG. And you can do them whenever you have time during the week.

If you're using them for leveling, the experience is only modest. But it is a very easy, low-effort way to get red scrips and experience (if you do them below cap) and yellow scrips (if you do them at cap).

AFAIK, Zhloe only requires you unlock Idyllshire level and be 60 in one DoH or DoL class. M'naago requires the MSQ cleared through "Return of the Bull" (SB 4.1). Kurenai requires you to have unlocked M'naago and finished the quest chain that starts with "The Palace of Lost Souls" (including quests not currently marked with a blue unlocky !).

For DoH, like with Moogle dailies, you can craft the collectable item on any class, then change classes before handing it in.

Challenge Log. Don't forget that you get lumps of experience each week for crafting NQ and HQ items, melding materia, gathering NQ and HQ from nodes, and fishing NQ and HQ fish. The quantities are modest, but they're a nice bonus if you choose to level through a method that involves crafting/gathering items yourself (GC Supply/Provisioning, levequests, grinding, etc.)

Overall, my recommendation would be to try a little bit of every leveling method and find out what's enjoyable for you and fits nicely into your budget and schedule. We have a half-year until Shadowbringers, so if you start now you can take a relaxed pace -- no need to rush, grind doing stuff you hate, and burn yourself out.

Engineering and Survival Manuals and similar buffs

There are a variety of buffs that will help you level, giving you more experience per craft or gather. For DoH, you want Engineering Manuals (the yellow ones); for DoL, it's Survival Manuals (the green ones). You can get these from all sorts of sources -- all the ones I remember are:

Rewards from doing your class quests. Another reason to stay on top of em! These Commercial * Manuals give a 150% boost and last 60 minutes or up to 300,000 exp. You can buy more from Rowena's House of Splendors with red scrips.

Bought from your GC quartermaster (Grand Company Seal Exchange). The strongest ones available are Company-Issue * Manual II (+50% for 180 minutes or for 100,000 exp) for sergeants. Company-Issue * Manuals do not stack with Commerical * Manuals.

Free Company actions. "Helping Hand II" and "Earth and Water II" can be bought from the OIC Quartermaster and give 10% more experience to DoH and DoL respectively. The more powerful III versions are charged on an Aetherial Wheel and provide a 20% bonus.

Rewarded from Squadron Priority Missions. You unlock your GC squadron, IIRC, at Second Lieutenant rank, and unlock Priority Missions by completing the level 40 Flagged Mission. The Squadron * Manuals (+20% for 120 minutes, no limit) you can obtain once-a-week from Priority Mission manuals do not stack with Free Company actions.

Company-Issue/Commercial manuals DO stack with Squadron manuals/FC actions.

The recruit-a-friend reward, Friendship Circlet, can be worn while crafting and gathering for 20% more exp when level 25 or below. Same for the Stormblood preorder(?) reward, Ala Mhigan Earrings, which gives 30% more exp when level 50 or below. Brand-New Ring is wearable only by Disciples of War or Magic, so you can't use that.

While it's not an exp bonus, the crafting facility furnishings (Woodworking Bench, etc.) grant a nice 60 minutes of bonus CP to DoH of level 60 or lower, AND THEY CAN NOW BE PUT INTO STORAGE!!! \o/

And of course, don't forget to eat some sort of food while you're crafting or gathering for the 3% exp bonus.

Which DoH should I level up first?

The correct answer to this question has been, and continues to be, everything at once; omnicrafting is the best way.

In the eras of 2.0 and 3.0, the cross-class abilities you gained from the classes were essential to being able to craft HQ items. Not just at endgame -- having those cross-class abilities while leveling makes your life much, much easier. And because the recipes of each class take components from other classes (e.g., WVR recipes always want a bit of leather and metal), leveling everything up together made you self-sufficient and less vulnerable to wild mark-ups on processed materials at the Market Board. Therefore, I join the majority of crafters in continuing to recommend leveling up all your DoH together.

However...

In 4.0, Stormblood, the designers' vision for DoH changed. From levels 61-70, all classes learn the same abilities, which are stronger (but more expensive) versions of the old cross-class mainstays like Careful Synthesis, Manipulation, and Hasty Touch. Nowadays, if somebody slogged through levels 1-60 on one DoH with no cross-class abilities, they would actually be able to craft at level 70 almost as successfully as an omnicrafter. Since the developers have stated that they're very happy with the crafting system right now, it's reasonable to guess Shadowbringers will be similar.

Additionally, not all cross-class abilities are equally valuable. Whenever a new tier of crafting difficulty is added, the endgame meta shifts slightly, but right now, cross-class abilities like Waste Not and Flawless Synthesis aren't really used.

Therefore, while I do recommend you level up everything together, if you really don't want to, you can get away with abandoning some classes along the way. If Ishgard Reconstruction turns out to be similar to beast tribes, you might get away with having just one capped DoH. On the other hand, the developers have teased exclusive challenges for endgame crafters somehow connected to the Ishgard Reconstruction content, so if you want to be ready for whatever that turns out to be, you should at least get all your cross-class abilities.

My tentative recommendation for DoH leveling priority is something like this:

Get anything to 10 to unlock Quick Synthesis.

Get everything to 15. For example:

WVR 15 (Careful Synthesis)

ALC 15 (Tricks of the Trade)

GSM 15 (Manipulation)

CUL 15 (Hasty Touch)

CRP 15 (Rumination)

ARM (Rapid Synthesis), BSM (Ingenuity), LTW (Waste Not).

CUL 37 (Steady Hand II)

WVR 50 (Careful Synthesis II)

ALC 50 (Comfort Zone)

CRP 50 (Byregot's Blessing)

ARM 50 (Piece by Piece)

CUL 50 (Reclaim)

BSM 50 (Ingenuity II)

GSM 50 (Innovation)

CUL 54 (Muscle Memory)

If you MUST skip one DoH entirely, I'd pick LTW, since the Waste Nots are generally inferior to the Manipulations.

You COULD drop CUL after 54's very useful Muscle Memory. And since CUL doesn't correspond to gear, it doesn't help you repair or meld materia, and other classes generally don't need materials processed by CUL.

Various classes' level 54 Name of [Element] cross-class abilities aren't that useful at present -- they're sometimes used in endgame rotations. GSM's level 54 Maker's Mark is also not currently that useful, though it was OP a couple patches back.

Still -- I think it's safest, and for me less annoying, to level everything together.

Should I craft using macros?

Yes -- I think macros are great for relieving the tedium of the repetitive crafting tasks, which you’ll often have while leveling. (Wish I could tell you where to look for good macros, but as I mentioned, I learned years ago, and I just write my own macros these days!)

However, I think you should spend some time manually crafting as well. It will help you understand when and why you use certain abilities, how not to overcap Durability and CP, why you might or might not take Tricks of the Trade, etc. That skill and knowledge will help you even if you plan to primarily use macros at cap, since it will enable you to tweak those macros to be even better for your stats, teach you when you should cancel a macro and take over, etc. Nevermind that macros are very vulnerable to server congestion and lag...

And once you know how to craft, you will almost always have a higher potential quality manually crafting than using a macro -- your ability to respond to changes in Condition can get you precious more stacks of Inner Quiet or CP for upgrading Touches. I often use macros for putting together components but manually craft the final product to be sure I get the highest possible quality.

Other tips for leveling DoH?

I think you'll find one of the most invaluable resources for leveling baby DoH is access to a house or apartment with a Material Supplier. Your friendly FC (or apartment) Material Supplier will take care of practically all your materials needs through level 20 or more.

There are other useful Materials Suppliers scattered around -- in addition to the those in main cities and each of the guilds, check out the ones in the marketplaces out in residential districts.

I also strongly recommend unlocking every 2.0 A Realm Reborn beast tribe because even at mere Neutral standing the tribe vendors offer materials like Undyed Velveteen and Mythril Ingots that you’ll be using in quantity.

Don’t forget to upgrade your gear as you go, even if you’re just putting on new NQ gear from your class quests. DoL is particularly sensitive to gear -- you can really feel the difference when you upgrade a piece.

And really -- like in all aspects of the game, please be sure to pace yourself and make sure you’re enjoying yourself as you go. We’ve got plenty of time.

If you’ve leveled your DoH and DoL recently, what lessons have you learned you wish you’d had at the beginning? Or if you’re leveling right now, what questions do you have? I’m happy to opine or give basic pointers!

You may find my guide/checklist for DoH and DoL class quest items useful, if you haven’t already seen it. And as I mentioned, I may work on a more detailed, how-to-actually-craft-the-things guide in the future, if there’s interest.

Please, don’t be shy and get in touch! I am so excited to work together to rebuild Ishgard with you!!

[spinneryesteryear]

Spinner plays FFXIV Heavensward

SPOILERS AHOY

- I made sure to unlock and lvl DRG before starting HW because reasons

- I… don’t really understand why people love Foulques so much? I can only presume it’s because they find him attractive

- at first I wondered why the lancers’ guild quests emphasized courage so much, but once you realize lancer upgrades to dragoon it all makes sense: they’re training the absolute maniacs who jump headfirst at DRAGONS; of course they’re going to emphasize courage

- the literal first thing I did as a dragoon after getting my soul crystal and the jump action was to launch myself into an AOE so clearly I’m playing my job right

- the drama between Alberic and Estinien was the only reason I made it through the 2.1 - 2.3 slog, tbh

- I picked up GLD/PLD somewhere in there, too, but the GLD quests weren’t exactly riveting and the PLD quests weren’t any better. I was just biding my time for DRK

- meanwhile I had hit like lvl 62 on WHM thanks to running lots of roulettes with Adventurer in Need: Healer so I’d switch to that while wandering through a lot of the HW regions so the mobs wouldn’t attack me. I did the HW story on DRG but ran dungeons as WHM the first time bc it’s my comfort role. 

- I’m… still not sure exactly how to do the mechanics on the Steps of Faith. Whoops. Fortunately, all but once I was WHM when I got it in roulette and I could just heal/spam Holy. The exception was on DRG and I just kinda… derped around killing what adds I could.

- those cutscenes at the end of 2.5, though. Dude. Duuuuuuude.

- it did give us Pipin Tarupin, however, and he is Best Lala.

- So, like… what exactly did Ysayle expect would happen when she broke Ishguard’s magic wards and opened it to assault by hordes of dragons??She seems genuinely regretful of the innocent lives lost when spoken to in the MSQ later in HW proper, but when she actually did the deed she was channeling ‘deranged witch’ for all it was worth and talking about how the sons should pay for the sins of their fathers. Did this incident give her a rude awakening about the Dravanian desire for vengeance?? Idk, maybe further quests will explain this.

—– me: *just arrives in Ishgard*

—– me: *taking the grand tour of the city*

—– me: *notices mob near cathedral, inquires about it, learns about recent violent death of heretic*

—– me: *finds heretic corpse*

—– me: *derails grand tour of Ishgard by slaughtering my way through the streets and through various chapels, laughing maniacally as I enjoy the greater reach of my brand-new greatsword and spam Unleash*

—– me, standing amid the broken corpses of a few dozen temple knights: Count Fortemps is probably gonna regret letting me into this city.

- that one dude in Camp Cloudtop who’s entirely too obsessed with the menu deserves to be booted off his lookout platform. I’ll even rescue him via flying mount before he splatters on the ground (however far down the ground happens to be, idk), but I really want to kick him off at least once. He gave me far too many fetch quests and my inner Fray is disgruntled, to say the least.

- me, just trying to make my way across the map: WILL EVERYTHING IN COERTHAS STOP CHASING ME???

- other people think the gaelicats are too cute to kill them. I, however, just want to kill them all the more. I’d be perfectly content to leave the mobs alone and continue on my merry way, but, nooooooo, they have to attack me. So I respond in savage kind.

- me, doing sidequest chains and getting mildly attached to extremely minor characters: So, I kinda ship Ayleth and Saintrelmaux now…

- ever since I unlocked it, I get Dusk Vigil all the time in lvling roulette so I’m now an expert on ice age megafauna, undead knights, and murderous griffins of the non-Sloppeh type

- Ravana is my fave HW primal, hands down, and his theme is definitely among my fave primal music. I would say it’s my absolute fave (I have listened to it on repeat for hours at a time, but I’ve done that with other music, so it’s not conclusive evidence) but it has stiff competition in the form of the Ultima theme, Leviathan’s theme, and the Knights of the Round theme.

- going on a life-changing field trip with Alphinaud, Estinien, and Ysayle was amazing. All we needed was Zuko.

- far too many side quests in Tailfeather. Far too many. And that one quest chain ended up with the poor dude’s pet baby chocobo as chicken tenders? If I didn’t hate chickens so much IRL that would have been super painful.

- the moogle quests required to progress the MSQ weren’t that bad. The sheer amount of moogle sidequests needed to unlock flying for that zone and their beast tribe quests, however…. well, I’m completely on board now with any plans Sidurgu might have for utter moogle genocide.

- lol, the moogles were about to give us more chores to do but Estinien’s sheer murderous rage panicked their chieftain into sending us on our way. I love him. (Estinien, that is. Not the moogles. I love to hate them.)

- Estinien is just… I love him so much. It’s more than his armor. It’s more than his jumps. It’s more than his sass and swearing. No stereotypical elf qualities to be found here, folks. Honestly, he could give some elves from The Silmarillion a run for their money, with even his own equivalent of Angband PTSD post-Nidhogg. I also immensely love that he’s a character on a power level similar to the WoL. (I don’t actually enjoy the main character being the most powerful person in the world, without equal. I like someone else being better in at least some ways and that being okay.) Heck, when possessed by Nidhogg he’s the final boss of the expansion + patches. And he lives. (Which is in itself a pretty powerful moment and Alphinaud and the WoL’s desire to save him lifts the whole plot point/theme into something more sublime. It would have been easy to kill him regretfully, both from a Watsonian and a Doylist perspective. The devs had no problems throwing painful deaths at us in this expansion. But we took the harder route. And it was worth it.)

- low-key painful Heavensward moments (bc heavens know there’s enough high-key painful moments): Alberic is extremely worried about his adopted son, whom he last saw nearly possessed by a dragon’s millennium’s worth of hate and rage, and who then vanished in an explosion, but he can’t do anything about it so instead he helps another retired dragoon worry about his own missing daughter

- ngl there was some red herring foreshadowing that the primal Archbishop Thordan planned to summon was actually Halone, the Fury, Goddess of Justice and Patroness of Ishgard. Which would have been badass. But I’m pretty sure Square Enix is going the Dragon Age route of never confirming/denying the presence of the Maker with their Twelve, Halone included, so I deemed it unlikely even as I secretly hoped. A lot of players probably missed these fake hints and would wonder what I’m even talking about. 

- I couldn’t even get mad about all the bad things that happened during the Vault because the characters were juggling Idiot Balls. (1) Aymeric thought his father, who has been consorting with Ascians and plans to summon a primal, could be reasoned with. (2) Aymeric went alone to go reason with him and was correspondingly captured and tortured. (3) We fought three of the twelve Heaven’s Ward in the Vault itself and NO ONE APPARENTLY QUESTIONED WHERE THE OTHER NINE WERE. Plus, said three have clearly already been tempered and are feeding off primal energy for their second forms, even if the mechanics are unknown. Those without the Echo should have promptly skedaddled after rescuing Aymeric. (4) After a dungeon full of ambush mobs, no one thought to secure the little airship landing behind the Vault before arguing with Archbishop Thordan. In Ishgard, city of verticality with its gravity-defying dragoons, personal airplanes, and millennium-long war against flying dragons. Everyone involved should have thought to check the nearby roofs for hostiles. Am I seriously the only person who has ever thought tactically about this situation??? (5) The WoL and Haurchefant rush forward to delay the Archbishop, again without considering the whereabouts of the rest of his presumably also tempered bodyguards or whether any hostiles remain in the building behind us. And so events happened as they did.

- Regula van Hydrus has a cool name and a cool silhouette with that helmet. Better than Varis, anyway. 

- the Vundu are probably my fave HW beast tribe. The moogles are the crafting tribe so Imma do them anyway (and have fun tricking them into doing work) but I’m actually looking forward to the Vundu. I’m just benevolently apathetic towards the Gnath.

- I just, like… did not care about Azys Lla in the slightest. It was more Allagan BS and I hated the map. (I still don’t have it fully explored??? What am I doing??) The ‘terms and conditions’ bit with the node was amusing, but… the entire place got old almost immediately. Finding Tiamat and talking to her with Midgardsormr was the only high point.

- why isn’t there an option to have Hrasevelgr come and talk to Tiamat to persuade her to abandon her self-chosen imprisonment??? Or to have Estinien later come and talk to her to possibly give her Nidhogg’s perspective? Bc I think Nidhogg would have some insight into her situation, definitely. She summoned elder primal Bahamut out of grief at his loss, while Nidhogg launched a millennium-long war out of grief at Ratatoskr’s loss, and now they’ve both abandoned their vengeance. 

- ARF TILL YOU BARF

- idk, man, the Aetherochemical Research Facility is such a weird conglomerate of things for a dugneon. Firstly, you got Allagan tech and machines. Then you got mutant creatures the Allagans made (bc, if it was mad science, then the Allagans were all over it). Then you got Ascians, evil ghosty dudes who laugh evilly and throw standard Evil Ascian Attacks at you before doing the fusion dance from Dragonball Z and becoming a Giant Evil Ascian. Igeyhorm has a feminine voice but is she(?) actually female or is she just presumably possessing a female body? Do Ascians have gender or do they even care about such things? (I am very much Not Thinking about Solus/Emet-Selch reproducing here.) 

- Archbishop Thordan reveals the millennium-old, perfectly preserved corpse of Haldrath, the original Thordan’s dragoon son, with NIDHOGG’S OTHER EYE FUSED INTO THE CORPSE’S CHEST, and, like, no one really comments on it in- or out-of-universe???? What happened??? Haldrath gave up the throne, apparently because he wasn’t 100% on board with his dad’s treachery against Ratatoskr and consequent decision to kill all dragons to maintain power. Dragoons were apparently already a thing at this point (HC: to combat the voidsent infesting Abalathia’s Spine and the mountains between Coerthas and Gridania, e.g. Witches’ Drop), so what happened to Haldrath? Is this explained somewhere and I missed it??? Did Nidhogg hijack his mind? Estinien had Nidhogg’s eyes (both of them, incidentally, which Haldrath didn’t have to deal with) fused to his arm & shoulder but Haldrath had an eye fused to his chest. To his HEART. What happened.

- And then Archbishop Thordan somehow turns Haldrath’s corpse + armor + Nidhogg’s eye into a sword, the primal version of presumably Ascalon, King Thordan’s sword, somehow designing it to eat primal/Ascian aether. And then he kills Lahabrea, which, no great loss there. But it leaves my questions unanswered.

- Thordan + Knights of the Round is such a cool trial, I love it to death and not because it’s easy. It could be as hard as Nidhogg Normal and I’d still love it. I wish I had a static with whom I could do Thordan Ex and other more complicated content.

- finishing that fight and the cutscenes after, however… man, I didn’t know how to feel. I was screaming internally and torn in at least three different directions. Couldn’t get through the patch content fast enough to fight Nidhogg.

- had to fight Raubahn as DRG to represent my decimated Knights Dragoon brethren and my missing possessed dragoon brother and restore their honor. I’m also 100% convinced Raubahn learned of Ifrit’s nail trick and decided, “I can totally do that with Tizona.”

- has Aymeric ever done a dragoon jump? No? Then he’s not a real Azure Dragoon even if he has a nice color scheme and has ridden a dragon. I mean, I wouldn’t be surprised if he can do a dragoon jump (he’s survived years as Estinien’s friend somehow, and I can’t help but imagine he’s dragged Estinien off more than one rooftop), but until he does it I’m not budging on this. 

- Aymeric getting stabbed by a rando with a pocketknife and nearly dying was (1) surprisingly realistic and (2) made him look wimpy next to all the punishment so many of the other characters take without dying. Sorry, man. It had to be said. I love you, Aymeric, but still.

- standing there on the Final Steps of Faith, on the broken bridge to the Gate of Judgment, staring down Nidhogg while that beautiful music plays (TELL ME WHY BREAK TRUST, WHY TURN THE PAST TO DUST) and waiting for the queue to pop… that was a powerful emotion unlike any other. Stormblood couldn’t match it.

- Nidhogg is such a fun fight because it’s still hard and I hate that I don’t get it in trial roulette more often. (Trial roulette is my favorite, actually. I love almost all trials - with the notable exception of the Chrysalis bc everyone runs around like chickens with their heads cut off on it and rages in chat, and with the possible exception of non-Final Steps of Faith.) Akh Morn is still a killer, I sometimes just want to watch bodies hit the floor, and Final Chorus is such a badass moment even as we’re all dodging for our puny lives. We’re fighting Bahamut’s brother. 

- Estinien takes advantage of Nidhogg’s temporary aether depletion to regain enough control over his body to try to kill himself before being used to wreak any more havoc. Estinien survived weeks, possibly months of possession via ancient angry dragon, and having two giant dragon eyeballs embedded in his body and feeding him enormous amounts of foreign aether. Estinien survived his body being aetherically remade into the shape of an enormous dragon and then into a giant dragon-man hybrid. Estinien survived the Warrior of Light. IMHO he doesn’t get enough credit for this. 

- do u ever wonder about Hraesvelgr and Estinien later meeting and Hraesvelgr identifying the spirit of his brother lingering within Estinien? Bc I think a lot of us have headcanon’d that Estinien is not as free of Nidhogg as one might think, what with his red fiery aura in SB and all. On the other hand… some of us further theorize that Estinien can’t be tempered now, so he could help us fight primals. It’d be awesome.