#dawntrail dungeon 3

[mmorpg-escapism]

I'm seriously wondering if Estinien is planning to show up again at any point.

Anyway! I sense a dungeon ahead... Time for the usual cut for that!

Once again, I'm doing these dungeons with the NPCs for the sake of dodging the queue times since I'm on VPR for this. I'm excited to see where this leads.

Wow this place is haunting. And not just because of the ghosts lurking about, but the music and the cavernous atmosphere? And the hundreds of tiny urns literally covering the floor under the water in here... Chills.

Our first boss is a very muscular-looking stingray... neat. And the mechanics are even cooler! The design of encounters is clearly getting more complex as we go on - this one has you be the source of the boss's attacks, first via a thin cone you have to position to avoid hitting party members, then by way of spewing bubbles out. Pretty neat!

And now we're in the quarry... it's massive and there's spiders. Ugh. I don't have arachnophobia per se but I sure don't like being around the things... The stone worker thingies are neat though. And that leads us to our next boss...

Firearms! I expected the name to be somewhat literal and was not disappointed. The crazy stone golem thing had cannons for arms and used them to both fire artillery and to do this neat mirror mechanic that bounced a beam into an orb that then detonated with a massive explosion. I hope that last one comes back in the future, that was neat!

...the hell is up with the purple stuff on the walls? This looks like it belongs in Solution Nine based on the preview images we got... oh my god we found the door. Why is this entire expansion so pretty!?!? I love it!

Unfortunately boss #3 is guarding said door. My first thought when the boss cutscene played was "his name is hammerhead" and I was uh. close? Maulskull is close, right? Whatever I was expecting the mechanics to be, they were not. Notably the bonk/pushback we saw in one of the Triad raids... Sephirot, I think? That's in this one. Halfroom alternating aoes like with Gulool Ja Ja's sparring, big bonks and falling rocks galore. This one took me two rounds to get through... and honestly I could do it again. I had a LOT of fun with that fight.

Seriously, though, not one single headsmash with a name like Maulskull. I expected big bonks with it! :(

[joyejoyu]

Hey all! I'll be at Yeticon @ Blue Mountain Resort this weekend at table A3 with @weiyi-swy!

I have new Mithrun pins as well as some $1 gatcha sticker packs! ^-^

My online store will also be closed until Mon, July 17th~ To those who are attending, plz come by and say hello!👋

[powerup-the-revolution]

LET'S GO LESBIANS!!!!!

[snapscube]

are there any ways to make ffxiv level grinding easier? i'm trying conjurer at the moment and i find the level grinding to be very tedious at times

im going to assume you’re asking cause conjurer/whm isn’t ur main and u don’t have access to the MSQ experience, which would be my first suggestion for anyone looking to level up of course. just play the MSQ. but since, again, im assuming this is an alt job, here are some tips (you should be doing these anyway tbh)

1. buy a shit ton of boiled eggs cheap from any city’s food vendor and always have ur food buff on, that 3% exp bonus adds up

2. get ur hands on accessories that give u an exp buff on top of that. this includes things like the “brand new ring” or if you’ve preordered dawntrail you can use the azeyma’s earrings for an exp buff lasting all the way to 90

3. if you’re in a free company, use company actions to have “the heat of battle” running in the background as you level, which is a company-wide exp bonus. if you’re not in a free company, then by leveling up your grand company squadron (the little AI bot characters u can take into ARR dungeons) u can unlock “squadron missions”. one of these missions will reward you with a set of scrolls that give you the same exp bonus as the heat of battle, no free company needed, but it only lasts a couple hours as opposed to the heat of battle’s 12+. u can stock up as many as u want though, it just takes a bit for the bots to run the mission.

4. DO YOUR ROULETTES. the roulettes that are going to give you the absolute best bang for your buck in terms of leveling are: leveling (duh), main scenario roulette, frontline (this one is very easy to ignore but you really shouldn’t, it’s a TON of exp), and alliance raid. these should get you at least a full level or two every day at higher levels, and sometimes way more if you’re early enough. but half of them don’t unlock until 50.

5. do wondrous tails! if you’ve finished heavensward and you have idyllshire unlocked, you can also unlock wondrous tails! wondrous tails is a book with a weekly checklist of duties to take part in, and each one grants you a sticker. if you get all 9 stickers from doing any duties in the set, you can then turn the book into rewards. this is the important part: a finished wondrous tales book will give you EXACTLY HALF of the exp required for your next level up, no matter what number it is. and this exp bonus will apply to whatever job you TURN THE BOOK IN on. doesn’t matter how or as what job you did the duties themselves as, just equip the job right before you turn your book in and viola. free half a level. you do this every week, it’s very easy!

6. leveling white mage (or any healer) specifically, your main focus if you’ve run out of roulettes and are just wanting to get the absolute best exp bang for your buck in the shortest amount of time possible: do dungeons. just run your most recently available dungeons as much as possible. dungeons give a TON of exp, and healers have easily the shortest queue times of any role in the game. repeat ur most recent dungeon unless the level number ends in a 0. level 50, 60, 70, 80, and 90 dungeons give crap exp because they were designed with level caps in mind. they give other good rewards sometimes, but while you’re focused on leveling, avoid those.

i hope this was at all helpful haha. other readers feel free to post more leveling tips in the replies if i missed anything.

[styrmwb]

References to Previous Final Fantasies in Dawntrail

Or, how 9 + 11 + 6 = 14, somehow. (SPOILERS, OBVIOUSLY)

I've played every mainline FF, plus a few others, so one of my favorite things about playing XIV is seeing what they do with previous FFs, and how they incorporate it into the world/story. Dawntrail very very much did this, to the point that I could literally predict plot points before they happened. (THIS IS NOT A COMPLAINT I LOVED THIS)

So I figured I would put down my fanboying in text form, for people to read the insanity of a madman who has played too many JRPGs from a single series.

Note: I have not completed every single side quest, but I have done the entire MSQ, every dungeon, and 3/5 of the role quests. This isn't a complete collection, just what I noticed :)

V

Krile's "real name" is Maya. The original Krile in FFV was Krile Meyer Baldesion. (XIV might also have the middle name but I don't remember! I'm gonna put it here regardless!)

VI

Valigarmanda is the first Esper you encounter in VI, right at the start of the game. Its summon attack is Tri-Disaster. I really liked how they kept it frozen in ice, just like the original, and because Tri-Disaster is a SMN ability, they changed it to Tulidisaster to fit the Tural location.

Pictomancer was first in VI as well, being Relm's job. She even got to be in XIV as well, being credited as the Archon who created the art (HA). Shoutouts to the Relm reborn joke it needed to happen

IX

One of the two most important games in this expansion. There is A Lot here.

The preorder bonus/deluxe edition had a Wind-Up Zidane and Garnet, the two main protagonists of FFIX.

Alexandria is lifted directly from IX. The name, the style of the buildings, and even the castle with the crystal popping out of the top, shown in the dungeon and in Yesterland in Living Memory.

(This is the Dissidia NT version, but I wanted a picture that showed the castle and the roof architecture)

Solution Nine is named after one of Zidane's Dyne abilities. While not direct, Living Memory, the final zone, is very reminiscent of Memoria, the final dungeon of IX. I wonder if you can get a special sword by completing the entire MSQ in under 2 hours?

Living Memory also features quite a few locations from IX. The Canal Town looks very similar to Treno, and features a location called the Daguerreo Medical Collection, named after the city as well. Underneath Proto Alexandria in Yesterland, where the data terminal lies, looks very similar to the part of Alexandria Castle where Steiner can grind to level 99 (I don't know how else to describe it if you know you know). In the Windspath Gardens lies the Cleyra Museum of Nature, also named after the IX city.

Some quest text in Living Memory tells you about other locations in the Unlost World. Lindblum, the city that holds hunts and is very technologically advanced; Conde Petie, where the Dwarves are from (mentioned by a Milalla who said he was from there), and the Iifa Tree. There might even be more here, that I either missed or haven't done yet.

Another quest has you go on a treasure hunt for a password. This password? "I Want to Be Your Canary", the play from FFIX.

Solution Nine has a couple buildings with monsters from IX as signs. One building features a Mu (Which is also mentioned in Living Memory), and another building features Yans, both friendly and not friendly.

Another monster that I noticed a reference to was the Gimme Cat, which is featured on the popcorn in Living Memory. It's also mentioned as an energy drink, but called a "Gimme Bat" instead? I guess it does have bat wings.

While XIV doesn't have any direct plot important characters from IX, the ones we do have are very reminiscent of its cast, and clearly are done like that on purpose.

Otis is Steiner (with maybe a little tiny bit of Beatrix depending on how you look at it). Captain of the Knights of Alexandria, he speaks in an older fashion, similar to Steiner, and is very loyal to his princess.

Sphene is an interesting mix. The most obvious one is Garnet, both being Queens of Alexandria, being named after stones, and loving their people. The other one, which might be argued isn't intended, is Garland.

(No, not those guys. The other one.)

Garland in IX is an artificial being whose purpose is to continue his world's life. To do this, he would try to fuse Terra (his planet), with Gaia (the main planet), and control Gaian souls for Terra instead. What did Sphene do? Try to fuse her reflection with the Source, to use their souls for her own people. I personally think this is a very clear similarity.

In general, because of this similarity, the latter half of Dawntrail shares very similar themes with IX's plots, dealing with death and souls. I also think it's pretty funny that both start out pretty happy and cartoony, and end fairly depressing and existential.

Another plot point used in the MSQ is the play sequence. While IX's is based off love, and XIV's is the history of Alexandria, both feature a sword fight scene. (99 out of 100 nobles approve).

Finally, several songs from IX are used in Dawntrail. In the above mentioned play, Swords of Fury plays, just like the original. And a few scenes later, Vamo'alla Flamenco (previously used for the DNC quests) plays, though it should have been during the sword fight!! Prima Vista Orchestra and Fleeting Life are used in several scenes, usually involving Sphene. Something to Protect also appears, but in a scene I can't recall. Finally, the Court Jesters' theme gets a remix as the main song in the Strayborough Deadwalk.

X

There is a singular joke in Heritage Found made about dodging lightning bolts right before the flash so they don't hit you. The person who wrote this line wanted to induce PTSD in as many people as they could with only a single line of dialogue.

XI

The other most important game in the expansion. In a way, Dawntrail FEELS like it could have been an XI expansion in another lifetime. I might be looking too much into it, but I feel as though this was foreshadowed back in the first patch of Endwalker, as Dawntrail takes A LOT from the Treasures of Aht Urhgan expansion.

In Endwalker, the Alzadaal's Legacy dungeon was based off of the Alzadaal Underwater Ruins in Aht Urhgan. The dungeon used many models from XI, such as the Rampart, the Xzomit (hell yes!), and the Acrolith. The dungeon had a visual similarity, as well as the areas in the dungeon being named after zones in Aht Urhgan (Bhaflau Thickets, Arrapago Reef, and Mount Zhayolm). I know this is Endwalker and not Dawntrail but trust me it's important for the foreshadowing.

Gulool Ja Ja was a boss in the Besieged mode of ToAU, leading the Mamool Ja Savages to assault Al Zahbi. Both incarnations of this character are VERY different from each other.

Similarly, Gurfurlur was also a boss in Besieged, leading the Troll Mercenaries. It's very funny to me that both of these warmongers became such nice people in Tural.

The Yok Huy as a whole are actually Trolls from XI. The different name I assume coming from the fact that Trolls are already an enemy in XIV, in Labyrinthos.

While this isn't direct, and is probably unintentional, the fact that the final boss in Vanguard was a naga/lamia like entity only makes me wonder if it was somehow a callback to Medusa and the Undead Swarm, the last remaining Besieged invaders.

Zoraal Ja is a Notorious Monster in the areas around Aht Urhgan.

To continue on with Mamool Ja facts, Mamook is an area in ToAU. They don't look very similar, but they do both share the title of Autarch as their ruler. Mamool Ja in general come from XI, so it's no surprise that in the expansion that well, expands on them, it uses XI for inspiration.

This next one might be a little insane. The general plot of Treasures of Aht Urhgan, is that after killing Promathia, a god that wishes to end all life, the Adventurer goes to a completely different area to have a relatively calmer adventure. Here, they meet a female member of royalty named Aphmau. Her brother, Razfahd, unable to rule over the country, has a conquering nature, and uses an Automaton body to control Alexander for his goals. This... can't be a coincidence, right?? We kill the Endsinger, who wanted to end all life, go to a completely different area to have a relatively calmer adventure with our female member of royalty, Wuk Lamat, and we fight against Zoraal Ja, her war hungry brother that is unable to rule, so he uses the power of Alexandria (a mech suit) for his goals. You... you see what I'm cooking here right??? RIGHT!?!?!

To piggyback off of this, Wuk Lamat very much fits the role of the XI heroine. A girl who is very clearly the main character of the story, and hangs around you more than anyone else.

Edit: one last thing that I forgot to put down before posting, one of the hunts uses the Magic Pot model from XI. We love Magic Pot.

I THINK that should be everything I found? I know for a fact we're going to get more since the Alliance Raids are based of off XI (I'm so excited)

XIII

A couple enemy models were used from XIII.

The Silver Lobos in Urqopacha use the XIII model. I'm fairly sure they've never been used in XIV yet, but I could be wrong.

Similarly, the Strayborough Deadwalk uses the Gremlin/Ahriman enemies. I do not think they've been used before this, feel free to yell at me if I'm wrong :)

Type-0

While not like, direct, the concept of erasing the memories of anyone who has died (especially seen as a blessing) was a major plot point of Type-0's world.

I think that's everything? My memory isn't the greatest, so I'm sure there's something I noticed that I missed, and again; I haven't done everything, so there might be even more out there that I've yet to find!

Please, feel free to comment anything else that you may have noticed, and hopefully you enjoyed reading :)

[tainbocuailnge]

So how do we feel about Mysterious Heroine SS and Mysterious Heroine S Alter

I really hope they're going to stretch this out to .4 or .5 and not try to wrap it up in .3 already as is historically the case for patchquests. how good this actually ends up being is going to depend heavily on how much time they give themselves to properly use the tools they gave themselves here. like if this is going to end in .3 already when they've only just introduced who's supposed to be the antagonist of this sub-arc then the whole sequence with koana petting bisons and shit in .1 is going to retroactively become super annoying because you're wasting time on feelgood stuff that doesn't serve the story you're actually trying to tell in the very limited space you allotted to DT postgame (as opposed to the next expansion's pregame). having a trial in .2 as part of msq instead of a separate trial series is promising on that front though because that's what endwalker did to stretch out that story arc across the whole patch cycle.

with that more levelheaded and objective assessment out of the way I think it's fucking awesome and dawntrail is the best expansion ever and sphene deniers can suck my nuts. I like how sphene's new outfit does actually feel like a mysterious heroine fit, she really is mysterious heroine S now. putting her in ripped booty shorts is crazy but it makes a very effective contrast with her plastic theme park princess dress from before. her hair being droopier is cute and really reminds you just how artificial everything about queen sphene's image is.

it's a small thing but I also love that she picks her own drink. endless sphene not knowing how to respond when wuk lamat asks her favourite food because she's doesn't have the leeway to be a person with personal preferences & didn't expect to even be asked is a top 3 sphene moments to me if not the number one, so it's meaningful that the human sphene can walk up to a counter and pick a drink based on her own preferences. it's a preference that doesn't match her sweet princess image either, she likes coffee so bitter the barista warns you when you order it.

it stood out to me that in the alexandria dungeon we're shown that memory of sphene's airship getting exploded by lightning, with otis responding like she died, and we were absolutely supposed to read that as her final moments, sacrificing herself for her people on the frontlines. but human sphene tells us she was kept safely inside the castle at all times after her parents died, whether she wanted to or not, and she obviously never actually died to begin with. with the other things that were said about eternal sphene, including her being built with an intentionally impossible to fulfil purpose so that she'd figure out how to break reality for her creators, clearly her memory of her own death was fabricated, which I actually already suspected because of how glitchy the last section of the dungeon is. this patch laid on pretty thick how memories shape a person into who they are, so it makes me wonder what kind of memories they fed sphene alter to make her fandaniel (I think I even saw her use one of his gay little walk cycles).

in the same vein, conspicuously leaving behind eternal sphene's crown and conspicuously noting that sphene alter is gone (or is she??) means obviously human sphene is gonna put on that crown at some point and go through like a hermes-amon-fandaniel or g'raha-exarch or gaia-loghrif thing. isn't it crazy that she doesn't exchange a single word with g'raha this patch, she literally woke up from centuries of cryostasis to find everything she loved and stood for gone only to run into the sole people alive on the planet who can be like "oh yeah that happened to my buddy once". sphene already expressed some worries about how she's quite literally left behind by the times and who the people miss is "queen sphene" and not her, but I hope it's going to strain her relationship with wuk lamat too. they'll obviously make up eventually because it's wuk lamat and it's final fantasy fourteen but wuk lamat having this profound connection with and these memories of a sphene who is not this sphene is a tension begging to be explored.

I think it's interesting how much dawntrail postgame is mirroring specifically stormblood postgame, except here sphene is both yotsuyu (former antagonist with no memory of the conflict, now a sweet girl on your side whose true identity is a liability) and asahi (ostensibly friendly political representative with clear ulterior motives, abusing diplomatic immunity and their connection to the previous antagonist for their own ends). I've mentioned before that part of sphene's character feels to me like an apology for how they did yotsuyu before, and the structural similarities between DT postgame and STB postgame support that read.

a lot of dawntrail in general feels like wanting to redo stormblood, with wuk lamat in particular being "lyse except we don't write like we hate her this time". I think one of the missed opportunities of stormblood is that it sets up lyse early on as the most vocal zenos hater but she never actually gets to confront him after his introduction at the rhalgr's reach raid, so with all that in mind + the sheer amount of previous antagonists sphene has managed to call back to it's not impossible that she's gonna be zenos at some point too which would be awesomeeeeee mysterious heroine S can truly do it all.

actually, if I have one actual gripe with this patch story it's that if it was me in that writers room I would have suggested not actually showing the "original" sphene at all and having this "human" sphene be like, a manifestation of the memories that were repressed to form the image of the perfect queen eternal. another piece of the puzzle but still not someone with the freedom of being a real complete person. in my ideal world "the real sphene" remains as a fundamentally unknowable entity that can only be extrapolated from the various conflicting records of her. but ffxiv is a game where they do eventually show you "the original" because it cares about showing you where the characters are coming from so ultimately this is like, fine, not the wrong decision just a missed opportunity in my eyes.

[graveweaver]

ANIME EXPO CATALOG!!!!!!

Stock: Webtoon I'm the Grim Reaper ITGR, FFXIV Dawntrail, Shadowbringers, Endwalker, Baldurs Gate 3, Frieren, Dungeon Meshi, Holostars, Hololive, Trigun, Genshin Impact, Zelda, Honkai Star Rail, Chainsaw Man, Amazing Digital Circus, ENA, Stardew Valley

[elizabethrobertajones]

ironically right after I commed Frog art the casting hat dropped from the new dungeon and since picto is the last place her dawntrail MSQ glam lives on I changed all the colours AND the silly hat :3

[terramythos]

Anyway here's my breakdown of the ffxiv jobs, my opinions on playing each, and the tier rank of how good their story was

TANKS

WARRIOR - warrior is so fucking funny why did they make it able to solo heal itself and the entire party in 90% of the content in the game. Raw Intuition/Bloodwhetting is so broken in dungeons its hilarious. And then they have like 3 additional healing skills on top of that. And they kept buffing it throughout Endwalker. So it is currently the easiest to play, does the most damage (i think...?), and has the best healing of any of the Tank jobs. 2nd fave probably.

Story Tier: C, it's ok, Curious Gorge is a good name. i have like nothing to say about it it's a generic AF story

PALADIN - I used to hate PLD but I think the partial rework they got halfway through Endwalker helped it a lot. It's much less clunky now. Probably still my least favorite Tank though Hallowed Ground is fun and it's pretty close to Gunbreaker for me.

Story Tier: F, this is the worst class storyline in the entire game. It's so stupid. The writing is so bad the writers acknowledge it makes no sense at all and I'm like. Yeah, thanks, I am experiencing this shit. Perhaps write a story that makes sense next time instead of pointing that out.

DARK KNIGHT - Unfortunately this is my favorite Tank 🫡 which is rough since it has the worst survivability out of any of them. But I love how you use MP and the silly number of OGCDs. The Blackest Night is such a fun ability and it's a crime that it's not a baseline skill you get from the start. Why do they have so many DRs that only cover magic damage. I must ask.

Story Tier: S, there's a reason it's the most popular and well regarded class storyline. It's really good, also the only questline I know of that uses the quest log text as part of the narrative. Outside maybe a few of the very late Endwalker quests. And, well... same writer lmao

GUNBREAKER: I think GNB looks cool as fuck and I like that it has 2 DPS rotations. The Gnashing Fang combo is so fun. Superbolide memes are always fun. My main issue with it is a skill issue because I am just constantly misaligning its burst windows.

Story Tier: C. It has some interesting lore but I found it pretty forgettable as a story.

HEALERS

WHITE MAGE: I hated White Mage for a while but something clicked and now I totally get it. I find it fun in dungeons cause you get to Holy spam and stun lock everything. As uh. The healer. That's fun. Once you get Afflatus heals (and then Afflatus Misery) it clicks. It's fun maximizing damage and playing chicken with the tank's HP.

Story Tier: B, you get a lot of lore around the Padjal, and I think the Stormblood story where you find a padjal living in hiding with her mother is pretty good! Also it's not technically the job storyline but there's a WHM side quest to get a unicorn mount? i guess it's technically a CNJ quest but same diff. no one else gets that shit. so that's cool

SCHOLAR: probably my least favorite of the healers... it just feels super clunky. You can tell a bunch of different design philosophies went into it over the years and none of them mesh very well. They've made it so the Fairy Gauge controls literally one spell. Why have the gauge at all? It's also a huge missed opportunity that there's no tie in or interaction with the fae in Shadowbringers. I love the idea of a battle tactician healer but I think it needs a rework.

Story Tier: B+, I liked the characters and its the main way to get backstory and lore on what happened with Nym.

ASTROLOGIAN: While I think AST has a similar issue to SCH (lots of different design philosophies over the years) I find it way more fun to play. I like the card mechanic and how it interacts with the rest of the party. AST is basically the only job that has its own like. Minigame? As part of its rotation. And I know a lot of people don't like the RNG for it but personally I find it fun. I know AST is getting a redesign in Dawntrail so hope it's good.

Story Tier: C? I think? I'll be honest I don't remember it super well but I didn't find anything objectionable about it. And I like the tarot aesthetic and lore and how it's healing based on manipulating luck.

SAGE: I think SGE is tons of fun, I'm not sure if I like it or WHM more. I love all the skills SGE has for preventing damage and the gimmick where your DPS heals someone in the party. Visually the hi-tech laser shooting healer is a lot of fun. IT HAS A GAP CLOSER. The only thing i wish was it wasn't so MP negative and that it did more damage. It's a little sad its DPS output is so low compared to the other healers (even AST when you factor in how it buffs the party). Since SGE is supposed to be a healer that heals through damage it's silly its damage kinda sucks.

Story Tier: A, I loved this storyline. Both the Endwalker job stories are very self contained and interesting. While the twist is pretty obvious it's still an interesting exploration of uh. Scientific ethics. Yeah

PHYSICAL MELEE DPS

MONK: I've probably played MNK the least of the phys melee but I like the whole adaptable combo thing. Not much else to say since I have played it so little. Might bring it back out and try again. It DID have the funniest guide in the Balance discord for a while.

Story Tier: D. I think? I remember thinking it was dumb, lmao. Sorry.

DRAGOON: MAN I wished I liked DRG more. It looks so fucking cool and I like how it interacts with the dragon lore. But I find it very punishing to play. To do good damage you have to align so many different cooldowns... and snapshot your DOT correctly... and screwing one thing up just fucks your DPS output forever. Like AST I believe this is being reworked in Dawntrail so I hope it feels better to play.

Story Tier: C+. I think it starts strong since you get to meet Estinien pre-Heavensward and it melds nicely with that story. But I found it pretty directionless post-HW which is a shame.

NINJA: I remember finding this one fun. I like that there are different combos you do that have varied finishers depending on the situation. I am just... bad at remembering which combo to use to get which finisher, lol. So I haven't played it as much. NIN gets a lot of flavor other jobs don't get with their unique run and jump animations. And you get a Bunny of Shame on your head if you fuck up a combo, which is incredible.

Story Tier: A. The Rogue story is probably the most memorable of the basic class quests. Ninja just has great characters and a fun story. What is with that one guy. Karasu? If you know you know. I also like how the Rogue characters show up later in the Ninja story. That's fun.

SAMURAI: I had a similar experience to WHM here because I initially hated it then really came around once it clicked. SAM seems very complex, it has a ton of buttons and different combos. But it is actually quite intuitive once you figure out the general pattern. And it does INSANE damage. I think it's the highest DPS output in the game? I love building the combos and then doing a huge finisher for a bajillion damage. The guaranteed crits and constant OGCD weaves make me feel unstoppable. I think this is tied with RPR for me.

Story Tier: B+. I found the exiled samurai character and his journey toward redemption very compelling. I won't spoil beyond that. However it does fall apart a little in the second half. Still fun but not as good.

REAPER: I love RPR, the teleportation is a lot of fun, and I love finally unleashing the demon form and going ham on the enemy. The weapons are the coolest looking in the game. Every scythe design hits. I probably played this the most in Endwalker. My main critique is the Death's Design mechanic. I hate having to keep a stupid debuff on the target to do damage. It's like a dot but without the optimized snapshotting. If they want to keep this idea i think it would feel better to change it into something like SGE's Kardia where you apply it to one enemy to do increased damage to it without having to worry about reapplying it. not sure how they would balance this for aoe but that's not my job. But even with that caveat I still really enjoy the job.

Story Tier: A+. While it doesn't reach the highs of DRK's story it comes close. I love the badass old lady main character. Her hunting a voidsent that possessed her grandfather would be cool enough but making her a Garlean exile in hiding who grudgingly agrees to train you just adds an extra cool factor. I really enjoyed this story. As a bonus theres a lot of incidental dialogue in the post-6.0 Endwalker story if you completed the RPR story because it ties in a lot.

PHYSICAL RANGED DPS

BARD: It's a bit clunky, its got some outdated design elements, it has one of the lowest damage outputs in the game... and i LOVE IT. this was technically the first job I ever played? totally different character like 8 years ago. and i was so so bad. I think i am actually pretty good at current BRD. the animations look cool. i like that it's a class you really need to work for and optimize to eke out that last bit of damage. and boosting everyone else's damage by existing is kinda neat.

Story Tier: B. I'll be real I barely remember this but I do remember it was gay as fuck so immediately gets an extra tier for that.

MACHINIST: MCH is really funny right now because like. It's phys ranged, right. The design behind phys ranged is you have 100% uptime cause you can freely move around and not have to worry about cast timers or melee range or anything. So the trade off is that they do less damage than other classes. Endwalker MCH did not get the memo and does insane damage anyway. My controversial opinion is that it has similar burst DPS to RPR. No i will not elaborate. I'm also bad at doing good damage on MCH which is impressive since it is easy.

Story Tier: B+. Some Ishgard noble's gay son wants to build machines instead of killing dragons the good old fashioned way and has to prove himself to get taken seriously. A tale as old as time. See I haven't done this quest in like years but I still remember it. He is a memorable character. It's just not like. knockout wowza compared to the A tier stories.

DANCER: Dancer is the second easiest DPS job in the game behind SMN. So if i am sleepy it's the one I like playing. You play simon says. you do a lot of damage when you play simon says then do almost no fucking damage otherwise. I think it's the lowest direct damage in the game? for a dps i mean. You have high stakes sexual tension with a DPS of your choice via Dance Partner. I wish other DNC players knew how Dance Partner works. YOU CAN DANCE PARTNER ANOTHER DANCER. THE BUFF STACKS. BUT YOU CANNOT DANCE PARTNER THE SAME PLAYER AS ANOTHER DANCER. THOSE BUFFS DO NOT STACK. ok i'm good. anyway

Story Tier: C. there's some shit about negative emotions and purging them? in theory i think this has some interesting implications with Endwalker lore considering Dynamis and its role in the story. Very similar mechanically to what's going on with the DNC story. but i really don't think the writers made the connection so it's like pure speculation and not the actual story. It's meh. fine i guess. i did like all the flashy dancing sequences.

MAGICAL RANGED DPS

BLACK MAGE: I am so so so so so so so bad at BLM. i pull up the guide. i read the guide. it all makes perfect sense. i go into a dungeon or trial or something. somehow i always get like Zeromus or some shit. and i drop Enochian or something and everything goes to shit and i'm yelling and i'm not even like slide casting or teleporting or anything i just run around crying. then i remember i have like 10 more buttons i haven't been pressing and oh god the dot fell off. people play this? for fun? i admire it. apparently they do a ton of damage if you can play it. could not be me.

Story Tier: B? There's some voidsent and Thirteenth lore. all the black mage characters are Lalafell because it's funny i guess. OH YEAH it has like the one named male Keeper of the Moon Miqo'te NPC in the entire game and he's fun. look at this twink:

sorry i don't have anything to say about BLM i am bad at it

SUMMONER: easiest DPS job in the entire game. they redesigned it for Endwalker so it is practically a new job. i have no idea how it played before. but it is super streamlined. maybe too streamlined? it's another one to play if you want to turn your brain off. i like that at 90 you summon The Actual Primals instead of little representations of them. and i like the way your burst phase switches between Bahamut and Phoenix. it all looks very cool. they should add Leviathan as a summon in Dawntrail.

Story Tier: C.. i don't remember a single thing about this questline except you interact with Y'shtola's half sister. i think you go to Cartenau at some point. idk

RED MAGE: RDM is one of those jobs that looks really complicated when you start then you actually play it and it is just super super easy. that being said i think it's really fun. I like balancing the white and black magic gauges. Dualcast is a great gimmick and it feels cool to lob two big spells in a row at something. Dualcast Verraising a chain of dead players is so fucking funny. it's a shame that the existence of Verraise means RDM does shit damage to compensate for its utility. It and DNC just sit at the bottom with BRD barely scratching ahead of them. i think? i don't remember LOL

Story Tier: A, I really like the story and characters. I like that you have a middle-age world weary catboy (catman) as your mentor. and i like that he canonically trained Alisaie too and you chat a little about that. it's a fun story!

BLUE MAGE: what the fuck is a blue mage

Story Tier: ???

[invisiblebounds-ffxiv]

Our vacations in Dawntrail - MSQ Complete!

It's been more than a week since we started our vacation in this new expansion and, I can say... we have enjoyed it like children! It has been very refreshing: the graphics update, the new dungeons and trials mechanics, the new areas and, of course, the MSQ.

And not only that! we enjoyed to level up our gatherers and crafters to make our new house. This new template is awesome!

Finally and although we know that this expansion is receiving very varied reviews, I want to say that, without spoilers, we consider Dawntrail in the FFXIV Top 3.

We believe that this MSQ is just the beginning, just an introduction to a new most surprising adventure so... If you haven't started MSQ yet or are playing it, enjoy it and create your own experiences.

And now... Let's continue enjoying the summer in FFXVI! ^w^)/

[fromtheladiesoflight]

Junelezen Weeks 2 & 3: In Recap

Day 8: Water

When unfrozen, cool aqua flows 'round, a welcome friend.

Day 9: Island The solitude of sunset's embrace over the still water calms the soul.

Day 12 + 13: Cloud, Airship

Another sea calls; endless, its freedom beckons.

(Spoilers for first zones in Dawntrail below, as well as the first DT dungeon).

Day 18: Rush Hark! Hear ye adventure's call? The fire of youth is a lovely beacon to lead forward those who have yet to find their way. (Alphinaud and Alisaie favor their grandfather a bit more in the Ladies' worldline, and Alisaie is in her mid-20s by the time Dawntrail begins.)

Day 20 + 21: Earth + Mountain

Steady and solid, it stands; the soil, unyielding.

[keicordelle]

Overall, I liked Dawntrail as an expansion. The story is fun, especially the first half, the dungeons and raids have some interesting and novel mechanics, and I think they managed to do well with Wuk Lamat what they struggled to pull off with Lyse in Stormblood.

But the number of lore-breaking moments in it are driving me nuts. Setting aside even the timeline shenanigans, which I GUESS can be handwaved as "time doesnt always line up between the Source and its reflections" (heavy sigh)

The thing that really sticks in my craw is that we're apparently able to just. Choose to leave our bodies? And put our souls into the Meso Terminal?? And Cahciua just happens to have a plan ready to let us do this?

Like, there's a lot of lore already established about how bloody hard it is to safely separate your soul from your body. It's Aulus mal Asina's whole ~thing~. It's literally the entire premise of Shadowbringers, pre-, during, and post- patch quests. It took G'raha world shattering spells and the power of the Crystal Tower to drag souls out of their bodies and across the rift, and even if you want to explain that away as "that's not what he was actually trying to do, so maybe soul separation is easier than that" (and ignoring Aulus's whole storyline again), we see just how difficult and risky it is to try to transfer souls during the ShB post patch quests, where we have 3 whole patches dedicated to safely trying to transfer the Scions' souls back to their bodies.

Like I don't know about you, but my Warrior of Light heard the plan was "take your souls out of your bodies, shove them into the giant computer tower, and leave Erenville (untrained in combat) out here to watch over your empty shells" and went, "Nope. Nuh-uh. No thanks." (Before being forced into it anyway)

[mrslittletall]

As someone who headcanons her WoL to get seasick, I made sure to note down how many canonical boat rides are there in Dawntrail so far. (Also Wuk Lamat, you are the real MVP for getting seasick too! Rispale loves you for it.) 1) Boat ride from Sharlayan to Tural. Rispale first said that he might get over his sea sickness finally only to fail spectacularly. Krile later asks him to talk to Wuk Lamat for playing her sea sickness down but that also fails spectactularly. And that scene where he is a badass in the storm? Yeah, that did NOT happen. It was bumbling around and later throwing up on deck. 2) The boat ride that is in the first dungeon where you have to fight. Haha, I love that scene. Alphinaud is like "Don't worry, we leave the deck to Krile and Rispale." with Rispale going "Alphinaud, are you nuts?!" "You are still packing a punch even if you are nauseous." So yeah, both Rispale and Wuk Lamat had to keep it together on there. I like to think they took a bit of medicine to make it more bearable but because Rispale takes it more often he got nauseous quicker. He needed a moment before the first boss. 3) And then after the dungeon ended Erenville gets you with the boat again. Rispale did not manage to hold the contents of his stomach. It was all too much. 4) They then have a boat ride back to the capital of Tulliyolal (argh, I am sure I am mispronouncing that city all the time). That was the one where Wuk Lamat finally admits to her obvious sea sickness, so Rispale just told her "We got this." only for both of them to again fail spectacularly. Boats are just not their forte. 5) The next boat ride is not seen but I am pretty sure it happened because we have the Elezen goldsmith with us (forgot his name, but it started with F, I think?). I guess our two sea sickies weren't too happy about so many boat rides in such short succession. 6) And that one is also offscreen I guess, but during the kidnapping arc we fix the boat so we probably used it to go to the island where Wuk Lamat was held. I guess Rispale did his best to keep it together because of the seriousness of the situation. Doesn't mean he was not nauseous. Loooong break after that. No boat rides at all. Just a balloon ride. The next boat ride we have... 7) To reach the Level 99 dungeon you use something that is not a boat but still is on the water and looks rough as hell in the cutscene. I guess Rispale and Wuk Lamat had to comfort each other after it was over. 8) And that one is my favourite! The gondola ride that G'raha Tia invites you to! It is set at this romantic ride just the two of us, but all I can see is Rispale making a face of horror upon invited and his thoughts going wild "Your crush just invited you to a gondola ride. You cannot say not to that! But you are so going to throw up. Don't you dare say no! Don't throw up!" Inner turmoil galore. It even goes so far in my head that G'raha Tia notices (obviously he has to know about Rispale's sea sickness) and goes like "Oh, but because you get seasick so easily, we don't have to..." where Rispale then goes "No no no no, I can handle a little nausea." And then it makes it feel VERY canon that the WoL is not uttering a single word while G'raha Tia talks because Rispale is just too busy trying his hardest to keep his nausea in check and not throw up. I hope there are more boat rides in the continuation. They are fun to imagine with my poor seasick Warrior of Light.

[poieten-oikos]

I FINISHED DAWNTRAIL 7.0

Buckle up folks, this is going to be a long one

Before I bought DT I saw how poorly received the expack was on release and that scared me a bit ngl. From agreeing to help Wuk Lamat to the end of the competition when she and Koana become Dawnservants it did feel like a very long side quest.

Was it as bad as people made it out to be? No, it wasn't, it was enjoyable but it did feel like a very long sidequest to me.

The writing could have been better, yes I agree. At times I wish the VA added more emotion on the line delivery for the more emotional scenes, the writing wasn't all that, so I understand she had to work with what was given to her. Felt very Hildibrand-ish at times, which his story is a side quest for a reason (it would never stick as a MSQ thing).

On the entire Wuk Lamat thing: she is the youngest of 3, so in my conception, she is still very very young. I'd say around her late teens? So I understand her manerism and innocence to everything around her and her being a bit clingy at times.

Is it my cup of tea? No, not really. I wish I was able to explore this new place like Estinien did (even with him), but the WoL takes on the mantle of mentor instead. Again, to me it felt like a sidequest, but I've seen quite a few people enjoy it and I'm happy for them!

Let me just make one thing VERY clear: the entire hate train the VA is getting is extremely unnecessary and appalling, there is a HUGE difference between constructive criticism and straight up hate comments and most people apparently decided to forget there is a difference.

I wish we had more exposure to Krile's story, it felt very short. I know there wasn't much to explore in Alexandria because of the calamity and what we have is basically a small portion of a memory from Sphene, but I still wish there was more.

ERENVILLE AND HIS MOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!🥹🤧💔💔💔 That's it, thank you.

Bakool Ja Ja to me is also just a teenager, maybe younger than Wuk Lamat, when he started CRYING BECAUSE OF HIS DAD that broke something in me and when we find out about how blessed siblings are made I couldn't stop crying. Such cruelty and yet to them it felt like it was the only way to keep going. Fcked me up.

Sphene made me feel extremely uneasy lmao all the interactions we had with her in Heritage Found just didn't sit right with me and made me squirm every single time. When we find out that "hey she is not that innocent in all this!" I was disappointed in her, but later I understood she did what she did because to her it felt like it was the only way to keep her people "alive".

Also realising the real Sphene would never want any of this and the Sphene we get is a corrupted file of the original one makes it all even more depressing (I LOVE IT, GIVE ME MORE PAIN)

The Interphos cutscene before the fight showing us the Azem symbol on the key got me hyped, I hope we get to explore more about Azem in the future, yes yes! (Amazing fight as well)

The dungeons are a lot of fun, the trials too! Love the new mechanics and the glamours are very cool as well. The music never misses (luv you Masayoshi Soken)

Over all, I'd say buy the expack when it's on sale. It's a fun story but could be better, I do see this end up getting the same treatment Stormblood got, on launch everyone hated it and years later everyone says it's not that bad (I personally really enjoyed SB).

I wish we could have the job mechanics back to being more unique, but this is a sentiment I've had way before DT, I just wish they had improved on that. Synodic Scribe voiced what I feel about job mechanics pretty well on his video.

Well, that's that! Now off I go to 7.1, but remember everyone: THERE IS A HUGE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM AND HATE!

[tobyfoxmademeascaly]

Dawntrail Postscript: What Do I Think Of It All, Anyways?

So, in the order of “whatever comes to my head first:

1. The new zones: the Yok Tural zones? No notes, they’re beautiful. The only complaint I can come up with is that upper Yak T’el might look a bit too similar to Kozama’uka. Xak Tural is, similarly, very distinct and nice to look at! (Even when its ugly on purpose i.e. Heritage Found)

Living Memory on the other hand… the thematic weight of it being shut down and all the lights going out are undeniable, but I really wish that the shut down state was less uniform. Why is everything made of electrope, with the exact same texture on most of the floors? The volcano island and the nature island still look decent while still holding that thematic weight, so they’d be decent middle grounds to look to. The water island in particular though suffers IMMENSELY from the depowered state just being like. The same few monochromatic electrope textures repeated across a large area.

2. The dungeons: despite only having one death across all the dungeons, hoo BOY was I feeling that increased difficulty. I had a great deal of fun with it, but I do wonder if this is quite the right move, since I’ve seen other people suffer a lot.

On the presentation level though, they’re pretty good! Some great setpieces, especially in Alexandria. Oh god, Alexandria. The gimmick of us running through basically the same place between each boss, as the beautiful Disney-Fantasyland town is reduced to ruins in apocalyptic lightning, is fantastic. And the creepy, mechanical voice getting more and more incoherent as Sphene erases her memories is such a great touch.

3. The scions: honestly. Hot take. I think the twins should have sat this one out. They’re very cute. I know. And its unbelievable for me, the number one leveilleur twins stan, to come to this conclusion. I know.

… But, well. How much do they do, really? Krile is obviously finally promoted to main character, G’raha is there to be Sphene’s character foil, Thancred and Urianger are there to be our rivals and aid Koana in his character development, and Y’shtola MUST enter the plot whenever a hint of the topic of the reflections come up. Estinien’s current role is perfect in its absurdity and I wouldn’t change it for the world.

Yeah, they say they’re here to gain experiences and knowledge that could help in the Garlemald restoration, but, well. Do they really? We don’t hear much of their opinions on how plot events inspire them. Maybe this will change in the patches. I hope so. As it currently stands, the twins feel like they’re in the sour spot between background character and main character.

Zoraal Ja: his post-heel-turn design is SUCH a glow-down. His first design is decked in shining gold and bold green and orange accents and it makes SUCH a good palette against his blue scales. To say nothing of that voluminous feathered crown. So it feels disappointing that he was changed to just various shades of purple with usb sticks stuck to his head.

He made a good enough villain for the second act, but there’s just a bit missing from his character to really make it a Great instead of the Pretty Good it is. Namely, why did he have Gulool Ja? (And also how. He’s the only mamool ja we see in all of Alexandria. My bets are still on either “mamool ja can do parthenogenesis” or “some mad science cloning”). Its a big question that I’m surprised we don’t already have an answer to.

Queen Sphene: This woman has caused me physical harm and I’m only joking a little bit. When I first got into Heritage Found, I was so suspicious of her that I managed to give myself nausea. And to see everybody in the Outskirts seem so happy, despite their entire world being replaced by a dystopian-looking lightning-blasted landscape well within living memory…

Well, I felt like I was going nuts.

(Maybe that’s Alisaie’s ultimate role in the expansion. To make me feel less like I was being gaslit.)

I’m… still not sure what to make of her, actually. She’s obviously quite similar to Emet-Selch and Meteion in terms of story role. Maybe a bit too similar. (We even have the opportunity to make a BACK IN THE DAYS OF PARADISE joke again.) It feels like she tries and fails to meet those lofty standards rather than getting to stand on her own as an antagonist.

Wuk Lamat: oh that’s The Big One, isn’t it. Opinions seem very mixed. Sometimes for understandable reasons, often for absolutely bullshit ones. As for where I stand?

I like her! I was admittedly charmed at first because she reminded me of my own cat, Spooky (she’s got big ol’ eyes, a bigger stomach, and, initially, a fraidy-cat disposition). Her Power Of Friendship antics are great, her exuberance and earnestness charm me, and her and Namikka’s scene in Living Memory legit got me tearing up. She’s silly, she’s pretty, I love her.

Closing thoughts: I won’t lie. This expansion doesn’t live up to the shadowbringers/endwalker duology for me. But, like, of course it doesn’t. I didn’t expect it to. The last two expansions were lightning-in-a-bottle levels of blow-me-away! Nobody bats a hundred, and I think this is a decent enough start to the next major arc. Though there’s one thing bugging me majorly. The first half of the expansion, we have so much focus on the cultures of Tural. How they work together, how important it is to preserve them and their histories. Then, in the second half, we have a whole town subsumed by Alexandria’s displacement via dimensional fusion, needing to change rapidly to not perish in the lightning-blasted landscape. They’ve changed massively, but nobody seems to care. Everyone just says that all the changes made to the town were willing, and that’s the end of it.

Meanwhile, Solution Nine shows no signs of adopting any aspects of the Turalis’ culture except maybe that bit of environmental graffiti depicting a two-headed mamool ja. There’s not even cyber-future taco shops.

i’m praying that this gets expanded on in sidequests and the patches, because otherwise that feels like a BIG thematic hole.

… wait hold on we went the whole expansion without krile teasing alphinaud about her getting to be a pictomancer instead of him. 0/10 (joke)

[voidsentprinces]

*shoves the last two prompts in there* Oh, hello! How did you get into my house?

Welcome to the Countdown to Dawntrail, at time of posting, we have 7 weeks to go!

Missed the last couple weeks. Lies and slander. You are never late nor are you early. Your input and creativity shall arrive PRECISELY when it needs to! Though...hopefully before the Dawntrail launch or the...Elden...Ring DLC...AGAIN! In the spirit of this Countdown, we all have lives, hobbies, shows, games, and an animal to pet! So you can just send in your entry whenever you wish. No muss, no fuss, no rush. Just whenever you are inclined to do so. Stretch those creative muscles with screenshot, writing or art. Or all three, I'm not the boss of you. Remember, stress free. Like a cat making biscuits on ya chest.

This isn't job at a firm, so no previous experience necessary. Just do as you can and @ me your results and I'll get around to reposting it. When my brain also remembers to check on that stuff.

For those of you whose phone won't load the picture, cause tumblr mobile is as reliable as a Musk Vehicle.

COUNT DOWN TO DAWNTRAIL

WEEK 3: STORMBLOOD

PROMPTS:

Lyse

Fordola

Rhalgr's Reach

Kugane

Under the Sea

Susanoo

The Four Lords

Yotsuyu

The Steppe Tribes

Revolution

Crowned Prince

Peace Talks

The Ghimlyt Dark

Favorite Stormblood Dungeon

Favorite Stormblood Raid

Favorite Stormblood Region

SLOPPEH--I-mean, Ilberd