#ffxiv patch downtime

[elizabethrobertajones]

ALSO wint and frog r similar age range, wint is 20 in arr, and i hc that with timey wimey stuff (no way arr-ew is all in 1y @ devs) shes like, 26 in ew (a decision i made bc i was 26 then, 27 now lol)

hahaha, I should do a poll for how many years people headcanon pass between ARR to EW... I love that it's so malleable. "Because I say so" is such a wild thing to be completely normal for a whole fandom's perception of time. I've been in protracted battles over a few months passing or not in other fandoms XD

I like that you can imagine your WoL starts young and sort of grows up in all that though... And the characters around ALSO change and develop so it doesn't feel weird to look back on ARR as such a naïve youthful time because everyone has changed so much since then.

[leonaquitaine]

Sights of Eorzea Alpha is live!

Fellow sightseers, we are thrilled to announce the alpha version of the Sights of Eorzea website, a tool to help us explore and share the breathtaking landscapes of our beloved Etheirys!

Sync with the Sights of Eorzea Discord Server

The site seamlessly integrates with our Discord server, where you can share discoveries and chat with fellow adventurers! Posts to our gpose-locations forum will be synced and available on the public website; no Discord sign-in is required!

Tag Search

Searching for that special place just got a whole lot easier! Whether finding gorgeous nooks and crannies within instances or uncovering those mesmerizing Open World shots, the tagging system got your back.

By creating a forum post with the in-game <pos> information, the tag engine accurately determines the associated zone, patch, and expansion - making it much easier to look for that perfect location!

You can also add search tags to your post to help fellow adventurers locate specific features, like grass, wood-floor or stone-building:

Or search for Photo Studios by Data Center, Server, and Location - and even publish your own!

Known Issues

Keep in mind that this is a very early alpha release!

Our gallery tiling has a few missing spots, where we plan to feature captivating callouts that showcase tag combinations like Studios, Instances, and Hidden Places, to name a few.

Occasionally, some scenes may have their locations mistagged. We'll get that fixed Soon™!

Most of the UX work up to this point was focused on a functional desktop experience. We'll be tackling mobile next!

Caching large images is hard, and we're still fine-tuning it. You may experience some lag because of that, but rest assured we'll be working on optimization.

Future Plans

This is only the beginning of our journey; our plans include synchronizing other sections of the server, like Guides, Community resources (including Preset Collections and Tools), and eventually the Gallery itself - so public, non-Discord users can enjoy everything our community put together.

Improving navigation and stability is next on our list. We understand that this alpha release will inevitably encounter bugs and downtime; we'll be working on stabilization next.

I hope you enjoy what we made so far; suggestions and comments are more than welcome!

Oh, I almost forgot! Here's the link to the Test version: https://test.sightsofeorzea.com/

And with that - happy exploring!

(P.S. - If you made it to the end of this post, you might as well join our discord server!)

[dragoon-mid-jump]

FFXIV Swap: Relaxation Edition!

A swap gift playlist for @ubejamjar feat. their WoL, Ajisai Kawanami, playing to the suggested theme of Relaxation! I suppose you could call this "Lo-Fi Beats to Rotate Your WoL To"? Because that's what I sure did making this! It's got a little bit of everything I felt would resonate with your WoL, from vibes and aesthetics to shipping.

And below the cut are some brief blurbs on how and why each entry made it into the playlist itself! Thank you much for your patience, apologies for the lateness, and I hope you enjoy giving this a listen as much as I did crafting it!

The Last Stand (Masayoshi Soken): Personally, one of my favorite Endwalker tracks to vibe to. I heard it in my head as I read your ask prompt entry titled "The Perfect Date" with Ajisai and Aymeric. There's something about the acoustic that really resonates with the notion of relaxation, which is fitting considering it plays during downtime moments in Endwalker. I think it also really fits the Aesthetics section of the "5 Character Associations" tag game you did!

I Still Miss You (Bernth): A piece I found from a primarily instrumental guitarist I listen to that I checked out after noticing that you shipped Ajisai with Haurchefant, given his ultimate fate, as well as the "5 Character Associations" at play once more ("Loneliness after your lover goes home" under Emotions/Feelings) while still tying instrumentals to relaxation.

Easier (Crane Wives): Found in an ask while trawling through Ajisai's character tag, so I figured I'd add it in! You also already did the lyric analysis yourself, too, and I can see how it lines up!

Vanilla Twilight (Owl City): There's something about the lyrics of missing someone dear to you that resonates with what I can feel from Aymeric being unable to accompany Ajisai on her travels past Heavensward, save for a few instances later down the MSQ, coupled with the colors blue and purple and starry skies and winter mornings in the Associations post, while also tapping into the more lowkey vibes I'm aiming for.

Rule #1 - Magic (Fish in a Birdcage): A song I found while music-surfing, and after I gave it a listen, it reminded me of your "A Perfect Date" vignette, moreso the latter half after Ajisai and Aymeric leave the cafe they were at and retire to her abode. It's the combination of the more private quarters and the repeated lyrics:

"There is magic in this room I don't know if you can see it There is magic in this room I don't know if you can feel it It's called love Some call it love Love"

as they just spend the rest of the night in each others' presence.

6. Between Twilight (Lindsey Stirling): This was mainly on vibes from the low-key violin that comprises most of this track and resonance with...well, not just her aesthetics, but with some gposes of her general travels and less strenuous MSQ moments.

7. Foreverglow (Lindsey Stirling): It was right under the above song in the album listing, but this time it has lyrics. Still has the same vibes as the above, but the lyrics have the song hone in more on the night sky aesthetic.

8. Starlight Waltz (Ponyphonic): Another find from music-surfing. Pulling from your Wondrous Tales prompt "Lost Together" as well as that starry sky aesthetic. Well, it's a waltz, and it calls to mind the dance in the prompt. It fits both of these separately, but not necessarily together, if that makes sense? Mainly because that particular Gpose isn't shot at night.

9. Twinleaf Town (Pokemon Diamond/Peal/Platinum OST, cover by insaneintherainmusic): Ah, Twinleaf Town my beloved. Your hometown in the Gen 4 games. Comfy and cozy and safe. In Platinum particularly, the climate has turned a bit colder in Sinnoh compared to its predecessors, noted by patches of snow around the neighborhood and the characters dressed warmer. I think all that fits some of Ajisai's softer vibes, aesthetics, and Gposes.

10. Nobility Sleeps (Masayoshi Soken): And for the finishing touch, I just had to add a track from Heavensward to allude to Ajisai having love interests in both Haurchefant and Aymeric! So, I picked Nobility Sleeps, which plays at night in the Pillars in Ishgard! It's a soothing track, imo, which is a given with the time of day you can hear it in-game.

[tankclub]

how would you rate the expansions so far?

it really depends on the criteria. overall i think that ffxiv has gotten better with every expansion, even if i dont always like all of the changes.

more details and rambling under the cut

ok so i broke it out into a few different categories, and i'll rate the expansions on each one:

X.0 MSQ

stormblood

endwalker

shadowbringers

a realm reborn

heavensward

here I'm just talking about the basic MSQ as it launched for the expansion. I put stormblood much higher than most people because I loved the lesbian road trip arc and I loved the azim steppe. the expansion certainly has flaws, but the strong points were really strong.

endwalker tops shadowbringers for me because the elpis section was the only thing that really got me to care about the ancients/ascians, and i think it was necessary context for the whole story arc of the game thus far. endwalker has some issues with pacing and with weakness in the downtime sections (and they clearly didnt know what to do with garlemald, a casualty of the game's shift in focus around shadowbringers).

the others i think are relatively straightforward. i've posted in the past about how i dont like the heavensward story, i think that it kind of botches its themes and the writers got too horny for killing women (in this case ysayle) to tell a good story. it also absolutely squanders the 2.5/55 setup with the ul'dah stuff.

Patch MSQ (X.1, X.2, etc.)

endwalker

a realm reborn

heavensward

shadowbringers

stormblood

endwalker is miles ahead in this category. although its patch story has weaknesses, being able to tell a whole coherent story from 6.1-6.5, without having to have the weird "second climax" for the X.0 story in X.3, puts it ahead of the competition.

ARR scores highly mainly because of just how well the banquet/ul'dah/crystal brave stuff hits. they wasted all of these story threads in heavensward, but especially at the time they absolutely worked.

heavensward makes third because i think it's the only expansion that really made the "x.3 climax" actually work, which is partly down to how the themes of the story worked with "oh and theres more even after you win the climactic battle".

shadowbringers is pretty low for me because i think that its a casualty of the change in narrative leadership. elidibus had been being set up as "the ascian you will talk to", so introducing emet to take that role left him kind of at loose ends. ive played the patch storyline several times to try and understand why people love it so much, and it just never landed for me.

stormblood patch story is the worst this game has ever been. i would put it lower than last if i could

Raids and Jobs

I kinda combined the experience of endgame play into one category, so I'm rating both job design and raid quality here. as the devs said recently, these things are linked, so i didnt think it made sense to separate them. more than the other categories i think this one is influenced by my personal circumstances

shadowbringers

endwalker

heavensward

a realm reborn

stormblood

shadowbringers takes the top spot for my favorite job design (in my beloved shb summoner), a top-class raid series in eden, and the best ultimate raid in TEA.

endwalker i think is really good and a step forward in many ways, but i think the issues with the centralization around 2m burst and inflation of boss hitbox size hold it back from the top spot for me. however, i do like a lot of the additions like criterion, and i hope they continue a lot of what theyve done in this expansion.

i had to put heavensward above arr because it's a straightforward continuation of arr, and also had my second favorite job design in the history of this game (in heavensward warrior, which was broken, goofy, and always fun). also alexander is a fantastic raid, even though coil is more nostalgic for me personally.

stormblood takes the last spot because i didnt enjoy the way the jobs played during that expansion, and mostly skipped it. i was unsubbed for a substantial portion of it, and really only started playing again in the leadup to shadowbringers. possibly i should leave it off this list altogether, simply because i couldnt have evaluated it properly.

Overall

so, i if i combine all of those ratings (weighted equally), i end up with:

endwalker

shadowbringers

a realm reborn

tie between stormblood and heavensward

which i think summarizes my opinions fairly nicely, although as you can see each of the expansions has their strengths.

overall im very excited for dawntrail, and i think it has the potential to be (and likely will be) the best expansion the game has had to date.

[enolareven]

[FFXIV RP/OC Short Story]

Nergui Qestir - A Mystery Unveiled

(part 4)

************************************

Nergui stood above the newly laid rug in the corner of Id'Shidh, beside the bookcase and void magic tome. The rug was small and round, and had been enchanted with a spell that grew charming pink flowers from it. He had acquired it from a vendor in Idyllshire earlier while gathering ingredients and studying botany, an indispensable knowledge for a witch who desired to make magical potions.

It made for such a peaceful and comforting place to meditate. The flowers were sure to help protect one from harmful negative energy or spirits while in the sensitive trance state.

Nergui smiled in satisfaction and then sighed, pacing over to the window to gaze out through it while his shoulders slumped. He placed a hand longingly on the window as his thoughts carried on a monologue,

"What does it mean? It makes no sense. I don't get it...my echo has never told me a lie before."

The other day, when he'd gone to see his grandmother for advice on the Azim Steppe, she'd given him an old stole that belonged to her daughter- his mother. She held a hand on his head, signaling to him that he should use his gift and the stole to try to see into the past of its owner and learn something.

At first, he had his doubts, as it was very hard to force the echo's powers despite all the practice. But he wore it for the rest of the day, and even to sleep at night, in hopes of a vision. In his sleep, it came. He could tell right away that it was no ordinary dream; it was very lucid, and the colors were all faded unlike his usual vividly colored dreams. He was watching the past again.

He saw a Xaela woman who matched the description and photos of his mother: a light tan-skinned woman with long reddish brown hair pulled up, wearing the Qestir lilac-purple coat and a furres hat. She was out in a field pulling wild cabbages out from a patch of grass, and turned around as she felt something looming over her. Her face froze in terror, and she was knocked down almost as soon as she'd begun to run. She was dragged slaughtered by something large, a wild beast or monster of some kind with a exact shape that couldn't be discerned in the shadows of the dream.

Blood splattered, and a scream was silenced. The woman lay by the river, grotesquely mutilated with her head separated from her body, which had its parts rearranged quite a bit and many pieces visible that were not meant to be outside the flesh.

He had woken up with chills and confusion, holding his arms around himself tightly and furrowing as he stared into the floor and thought about the gruesome scene.

He had not told anyone yet; and still did not trust the dream entirely. The story he knew of his mother's death was nothing like this - she had died of an illness while he was a baby. She had it for some time and eventually became so weak and fatigued that she passed away. He was told that his mother was broken-hearted after his father's death, which worsened her condition. She was not attacked by a wild beast or murdered as in that gory dream-vision.

But why, and how, did the echo show him a false past this time? What was this? Was it true, and he was ignorant of some crucial detail? Was it not really his mother? Or did she somehow survive this brutal attack? The latter was highly unlikely from the looks of it.

Nergui shook his head and made a small, "tch!" sound from the corner of his mouth.

"I have no way of knowing when this supposedly happened, either. Was I born yet, or not?"

He drew in a deep breath and heaved it back out, letting the tension fall from his shoulders. Perhaps working the shoppe for another night would relax his mind while he pondered everything in the downtime. He went to setting up the spell for the day on the round table in the center of the room. An amethyst, purple roses, and lavender incense. For intuition, relaxation, mental strength, and powerful intuition.

He sent out a retainer to post a notice in the market board and sat down on the new rug in a lotus position to relax, and began reading from the tome where he left off, muttering about voidsent summonings as he read.

The day was slow, with one Roegadyn woman entering the shoppe and sharing some interesting stories about her unique family, and her adopted Xaela sister who wished to know more about her own origins. He thought it yet another sign to investigate his past; there may be something to learning about one's unknown roots. When the lovely guest had left, he quickly closed up the shoppe after parting words and packed up a bag with his mother(?)'s stole and some basics, including a small bag of zefir, one of his favorite comfort foods that happened to be good for one's mental and magical ability and focus.

It was time to go have these new questions answered, and hopefully not with more questions again.

[lifeofmamaval]

Patch Downtime Checklist and Ideas

Don’t know what to do while FFXIV is down for the patch? Here’s some ideas!

- Hygiene! Shower/bath, shave, trim nails, etc. Use the extra time you might have to relax and enjoy your shower/bath. Use that bath bomb that’s been sitting unused for the past few months. Pamper yourself.  ^.^

- Catch up on laundry and chores. Even if you just do a little bit each day, it goes a long way. Get laundry in right away, then while that’s going, do some dusting/vacuuming. Or make sure your dishes are clean.  

-  Stock up on food/Refill Prescriptions if needed. Make your list ahead of time, and if available, use online ordering/curbside pickup for low-contact and time-saving. Running low on food and funds? Check out your local food bank distributions and schools! Many are simply “show up, get food”, no questions asked, especially during this time. Look on school websites or their Facebook pages, or google “food distribution near me” for details.  

- Meal prep or at least plan out your meals for the day/week, so you’re not scrambling for what to eat last-minute. Don’t feel like cooking on patch day and have a crockpot/Instant pot? Prep your ingredients today, then tomorrow morning, toss them into a crockpot and let it do the cooking! Then when you’re hungry, all you have to do is dish up and eat! Want easy cleanup as well? Get some crockpot liners! 

- Need recipe ideas? Check out Yummly, AllRecipes, Tasty, Delish, or just a simple google search. The FREE Yummly app lets you filter recipes based on what you have in your pantry.

- Do something different! Go for a walk (maybe finally open Pokemon Go or Wizards Unite that you’ve left unchecked for months), exercise or stretch, play some music, read a book, watch a movie/show, or play some other games from your backlog. Try your hand at a craft or something new. 

- Make your list of what you want/need to get done once the patch hits. Think Unlock locations, where new gear will be, or if you're a crafter/gatherer, where new nodes/items are, custom deliveries, Ishgard Restoration, new recipes, etc. Once the Database is updated, this will help with your prep too. The folks on FFXIV Reddit made a great list of where to unlock all of the new things: https://www.reddit.com/r/ffxiv/comments/i5ik45/patch_53_checklist/ https://www.reddit.com/r/ffxiv/comments/i72ain/where_to_unlock_patch_53/

- Rest up! Set an alarm (or ten across the room so you have to get up) to wake up if you “don’t want to miss a thing.” Get some much needed sleep tonight. Too excited and having trouble sleeping? Try some of these things:

- Listen to some form of white noise (don’t have a white noise machine? Check out the FREE “White Noise Deep Sleep Sounds” or “White Noise Lite” apps which have so many sounds and features to choose from).

- Try aromatherapy (room sprays, incense (only while awake if using ones that require a flame), potpourri or essential oil diffusers (if you have pets, make sure the potpourri or oil you choose isn’t harmful to them)).

- Read a book in bed

- Limit being on a device for the hour before you get into bed

- Listen to relaxing music or ASMR

-  Try some meditation, mindfulness, or breathing techniques like the “4-7-8 method”

- Drink a soothing and relaxing beverage like Chamomile or “Sleepytime” Tea or warmed milk or hot cocoa.

- Mind racing? Try writing down your thoughts for the day in a journal (even if you plan on burning it later).

- Do showers/baths relax you more than energize you? Try taking your shower/bath before bed.

- Supplements/Medication (if cleared by your doctor)

https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/ways-to-fall-asleep

https://www.sleepfoundation.org/articles/healthy-sleep-tips

https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/teas-that-help-you-sleep#1

- Wake up! Get your download started! While you’re waiting for the download, brush teeth, get dressed (even if it’s just clean comfy lounging clothes for the day), eat some breakfast (or a little snack), coffee or beverage of choice, get your dinner in the crockpot (if applicable).

- Breaks! Remember to take food/drink/potty/stretching/posture breaks. Help your eyes too! “To prevent eyestrain, try to rest your eyes when using the computer for long periods. Rest your eyes for 15 minutes after two hours of continuous computer use. Also, for every 20 minutes of computer viewing, look into the distance for 20 seconds to allow your eyes a chance to refocus.”

https://www.aoa.org/patients-and-public/caring-for-your-vision/protecting-your-vision/computer-vision-syndrome

- Medication! Remember to take any medication or vitamins you’re on. Set an alarm if needed if you think you might get distracted from all the shiny new things in game.

Enjoy the patch and stay hydrated! 

~Mama Val (and likely moms/parents everywhere)

[darkalt]

“I am glad we could be there together,” I told her as she watched the sun fall and I waited for it to rise again. “Where?” she asked, distracted. I smiled, for I knew what dawn would bring. “At the end.”  — Dec 2, 2021

[himuromansion]

Actually I wanna dump some screenshots from the FFXIV replay I started on my Meteor alt a few months ago, I'm still pretty new to shaders so a lot of these are bare naked gameplay (which now looks wild to me lol) but it's been almost nine years since I first played the game so it's been really fun re-experiencing A Realm Reborn and I wanna document that here because I stopped using twitter, where I was previously documenting this playthrough.

Here's my lil adventurer, so sweet and innocent.. completely oblivious to the absolute trauma he's about to go through

First day on the job in his brand new ugly-ass levelling gear

Just smile and nod.

Wrote some headcanons to go along with these ones:

Meteor begins his adventure in Gridania as an archer-- though he soon after picked up an axe. He loves the outdoors and in his downtime, his favourite place to go is the Twelveswood. Though he comes to love all of Eorzea throughout his journeys, the forest is where he feels most at home. It's peaceful and keeps his mind at ease, and he's probably stolen away to doze off under a tree at some point. He also doesn't mind getting messy; he's returned home from his walks covered in dirt and grass stains more than a few times.

Top 10 ways to stay warm in Coerthas (Number 3 will surprise you!)

I don't have anything to say for this one I just wanted to bother Lahabrea.

I finished vanilla ARR a couple months ago, Meteor's already grown so much :') Honestly, as much of a slog the base game is I do adore it. The magic of Shadowbringers and Endwalker is hyped for good reason, but I don't think they would have been anywhere near as incredible as they are if not for A Realm Reborn, flaws and all. I spent a lot more time getting through this time around and it was a lot more enjoyable without the feeling of needing to rush to endgame. You get to fall in love with the people and lands of Eorzea, and I like to imagine Meteor falls in love with the lands he explores just as much as I have.

As of right now I'm nearly finished the post ARR quests, I have a few more screenshots from patch content that I'll add here once I fully finish ARR and move onto Heavensward.

[chiclet-go-boom]

So right now I am (technically) playing:

FFXIV*

Path of Exile - started a Witch in the new league, we’ll see how far I make it

No Man’s Sky - it was on sale! i heard good things about it! i died in the first five minutes because i was busy checking out my menu options and didn’t realize i was dying of radiation poisoning. oops. second me, here i come.

Warframe **

Banished - i almost forgot this one but i was listing off the games i was messing around with and buddy said ‘aren’t you playing banished?’ and i said ‘oh god yes, banished. my people are dying. i should do something about like that like wipe them out and start over’ and the volume of the horrified gasp i got in return was outstanding.

Runescape - i watched a ‘top ten mmo’s of 2022!” and it was on there and i was like, i’ve never played that. weird. so i played it for a couple of hours and felt like i was back ye olden days. 10/10 would make bronze arrow tips again.

* this isn’t actually a ‘technically’ situation, this is my game of wonders and i’m attached at the cranium. i skip some days when i’m vegetating or need downtime but this is the go-to for the foreseeable future, don’t @ me, we’re off to save the thirteenth Real Soon Now™

** okay, not really but the meatball is playing so i patched it just in case i needed to be there to fumble my buttons in company. what does this frame do again? level 0 rank everything, oh dear.

[dragons-bones]

I have a ffxiv world-building question for you - how much time do you headcanon has passed since the beginning of ARR until now? Cause I can’t find anything in game to gauge how long we’ve been the WoL / joined the Scions.

Yeah, unfortunately you won't find anything in canon because there's a very deliberately enforced Time Bubble in effect, and Yoshi-P is on record as being reluctant to mess with it because he doesn't want to affect people's headcanons. And I love and appreciate how much respect he has for the players and each player wanting to interpret things their own way, but an official timeline honestly isn't bad.

I think we've got one specific mention of time passing--during the Doma arc in Stormblood, it's mentioned that the most recent rebellion (the one that resulted in Yugiri escorting the refugees to Eorzea in the 2.X patch series) was a year ago. Pretty much everyone I know quietly ignores this, because it's ridiculous to assume that 2.X, the wait to get into Ishgard, all of Heavensward, the beginning of Stormblood, and then the overseas travel to Othard took A SINGLE YEAR. Like, that's dumb. I do wonder if it's a slip that wasn't caught sometimes.

So, basically, I headcanon roughly minimum a year per expansion but generally more than that. ARR is closer to the two year mark; Heavensward about a year and a half; Stormblood probably also a year and a half. Shadowbringers is a little wonky because there's strong implications that even though time on the First and Source is passing roughly the same, the Source is a bit slower. But with downtime in between things, like the Scions getting home and recovering because they have been in COMAS and MUSCLE ATROPHY IS A THING, call Shadowbringers a year. So that's six years since ARR began as the events of Endwalker kick off for the Squad: Synnove's now 31, Rereha 33, Heron 34, and Alakhai 36.

[kamedani]

FFXIV Yoshi P. Dengeki Interview

On February 6th, Dengeki and a number of Japanese media outlets had an interview event with Yoshi P following the Showcase. Here is the interview Yoshi P had with Dengeki Online as translated by me. The original interview can be found at https://dengekionline.com/articles/66986/

Section 1: Two Concepts for Healers and a New Melee DPS!

Dengeki: Sage was just announced as the new healer job in Final Fantasy XIV. Additionally, you announced that healers will be split into two concepts – pure healers (White Mages and Astrologians) and shield healers (Scholars and Sages). This is where we have our first questions for you. How are you planning on distinguishing pure healers and shield healers moving forward?

Yoshi P: From a balance standpoint, no matter if you play a pure healer or shield healer, we are making it so there won’t be a massive difference in power. Instead, the idea is we want players to have vastly difference experiences in gameplay.

 For example, in the case of Scholar and Sage, the way in which they apply shields will be different. The scholar play style is being able to attack, put up shields, and heal with the help of their fairy. In the case of the sage, their weapon, the noulith, isn’t a pet so the sage’s play style is going to be different. Our concept is that we want the Warriors of Light to experience that difference.

 Dengeki: So since there are going to be shield healers and pure healers, you are going to be splitting healers into two roles?

 Yoshi P: No, there is still going to be just one role for healers. So, of course, no matter what healer you play you can clear content. On the other hand, for difficult content, we feel it is good to have healers be separatable. If it gets confusing to not have a more clear distinction between pure and shield healers, we can revisit it.

 Dengeki: On the same topic, will there be any kind of change to fight balance by making pure healers and shield healers?

 Yoshi P: Up until Patch 5.3 we heard from a lot of players that healers had a fair amount of downtime on their hands. So, from Patch 5.4, we’ve planned for the more difficult content to put out a lot more damage more often. For speed clears we are planning for it to be harder to do with just pure healers or just shield healers.

We plan on continuing to make content with this idea in mind so content will be easier to clear if you bring one pure healer and one shield healer. Also, as I said at the Announcement Showcase, we are going to be changing the algorithm behind the matching systems like Raid Finder as best we can so it will put both healer types in a group.

Dengeki: So, for example, will the limit gauge build up differently if you have double pure healers?

Yoshi P: If we change specifics of how the limit gauge builds, it will have effects on other encounters where limit gauge building is a part of the fight so we have no plans for this kind of change.

Dengeki: With the idea of healers having more specialized roles, are there plans or do something similar to tanks having main tanks and off tanks?

 Yoshi P: Right now we don’t have any plans to make healer sub categories. While, for example, there is a sentiment that paladins are more suited for off tanking, the truth is they can fulfill both roles so we want to do something like this with healers.

 Dengeki: The four tanks are distinct from one another.

 Yoshi P: That’s right. While fulfilling the same role, each job has a different play experience. In the case of DPS jobs, they feel different based on their difficulty to control and different attack abilities.

 Dengeki: Speaking of the new jobs, you said the other new job in addition to sage will be a melee DPS. There are already four melee DPS in the game now. Compared to other jobs types, melee DPS is the most. Please tell us how you came to adding another melee DPS to the game and how will it be balanced with the existing melee DPS.

 Yoshida: When it comes to the amount of jobs types, say for example, in Patch 7.0 we add another tank, that would bring us up to five tanks. Increases in job types is something unavoidable as the game continues.

Furthermore, compared to other roles, a lot of people want to play DPS. Our thinking is adding a new DPS job is a must for an expansion disc so we went with melee DPS this time. At the current moment, dragoon is the only job that uses maiming gear so the new melee job will use it as well.

 Dengeki: On the topic of melee DPS, recent difficult content seems to be going in a direction that makes things more difficult for melee DPS. What are your thoughts about this?

 Yoshi P: We are aware of this on the development side. This is a dilemma shared by many long running MMOs. If you add a lot of mechanics to an encounter, that encounter becomes more difficult for classes that require movement and positionals.

 We are currently looking at each job’s skills and making adjustments accordingly. And we are, of course, making sure to balance it so ranged DPS won’t always have the easier time.

 Dengeki: Continuing our discussion of battle content, you said that you will be removing belts from the game. Will you be adding the stats lost from belts to other gear to compensate?

 Yoshi P: Belts and accessories tend to have lower stats on them so removing belts won’t have a very large effect. Still, we are working on moving stats so you won’t feel any change to your game experience. You don’t need to worry about it. You may, however, feel like something is a bit different after the numbers crunch we are going to do.

Speaking of belts, after what I said at the showcase about materia affixed to belts, I got a message from the development team saying that they are going to take care of the materia too. So, from Patch 6.0, you can go to a calamity salvager and collect any recoverable materia that was in your belts. Players won’t have to do any preparation in advance.

 Dengeki: After belts become no longer equippable, will we still be able to turn them in for seals or desynthesize them?

 Yoshi P: That will be unchanged. The only change there will be is we will add a description like “Once thought to protect adventurers’ waists” to the item description. (laughs)

 Section 2: Endwalker’s Main Color is Platinum!

 Dengeki: Next we’d like to talk to you about the logo for the new expansion. All previous expansions’ logos have been pretty clear in what they were trying to convey. This time, however, the logo feels more mysterious with elements like that thing that looks like a monolith on the left side of the logo. Please tell us about the concept for this logo and the ideas that went into it.

 Yoshi P: I can’t go into too many specifics on the logo so instead let me speak about the concept Mr. Amano made for us based on conversations I had with him. I spoke with him about everything we had done throughout the course of this Hydaelyn and Zodiark story and the theme of finding hope in despair.

 I first spoke with him in the real world meta sense of launching A Realm Reborn out of the despair of 1.0’s release. I also spoke with him in the in game main scenario story sense of finding hope in the despair of the end times and what is to come. I think the nuiance came through in this logo.

 Dengeki: So you are saying, the meaning of the logo will become more clear after having played the game.

 Yoshi P: I think you will have moments of thinking “OH! So THAT is what that means.” after having played. The only other thing I can say at this point is about the planet in the background. Is it the moon? Is it the planet Hydaelyn? You will find some of these answers as you play the story for 5.5.

 Dengeki: The title screens of each expansion until now has had one main color as its theme. What is the color for this expansion?

 Yoshi P: The color as I explained to the development team is platinum. The difference is a very small nuiance but the color is not white. I told them the concept of the red moon and explained that the theme color was neither the darkness of night nor the white of the morning. I told them the color is the golden color that illuminates someone’s face in that brief moment when the light first hits them.

 I could see on the faces of the development team that I was asking them to do the impossible again. Nevertheless, the logo is neither gold nor yellow. It sits on that fine line between both. It represents the final glimmer of light between the new dawn of A Realm Reborn and the darkness of night of Shadowbringers.

 Shadowbringers opened in a world without night. For this expansion we want to make something similar to surprise players. We are using the platinum theme as the base for some color adjustments for this expansion. So, if you remember all of this, you may be surprised when you see it in the story. (laughs)

 Dengeki: In the teaser trailer the Warrior of Light is now a paladin as his main job. Why is that?

 Yoshi P: To tell the truth, I agonized over what to make his main job. As everyone already knows I am a contrarian and I like to turn the story upside down and look at things from that different perspective to surprise the players.

 In Shadowbringers, for example, we started development with me coming up with the initial concept that players were probably getting sick of being called “Warriors of Light,” and “heroes” and instead would do away with the light and regain the darkness as Warriors of Darkness.

 This time, when we decided to write the final chapter of the Hydaelyn and Zodiark story, as is the case in all classic Final Fantasy games, I thought about the idea of hope. I thought about the desire I and many people have to carry hope as well as the desire to abandon hope. When I thought about who would be standing on the front line and shouldering all of that, I thought of a paladin.

 With that image rolling around in my head, I made the decision. Endwalker is going to be a title similar in scale to and on par with the ending story of any title in the Final Fantasy series.

 Dengeki: We may be getting a bit ahead of ourselves here but are we safe in assuming paladin will get some cool new skill to go along with all this? (laughs)

 Yoshi P: Since paladin already has Passage of Arms it is going to be hard to come up with a skill that surpasses it. Even still, every job is getting new skills players have been wanting. They’re going to be flashy and cool so as to make you like your job even more. We will do our best to meet your expectations.

 Dengeki: Let’s talk about new game experiences next. So far there have been new things added to the game like flying and swimming. Will there be something else like that?

 Yoshi P: Endwalker is made to give players the feeling of experiencing the thrilling last chapter in the Hydaelyn and Zodiark storyline on the scale to rival any other RPG. We are focused on giving players the ability to have this experience as their characters in the game world. To that end we don’t feel some new movement mechanic is necessary. We are creating an adventure that will take you through the air and under the sea.

 That’s one reason. The second reason is well… forgive me! I am out of ideas! (laughs) In this game we’re going to the moon and the development team first asked me if we should add in zero gravity. But that would be no different than swimming. You would jump once and just not land on the ground! (laughs)

 This game already has all the different modes of movement you would find in an MMO so if we forced something else in, it would be tedious. Still, if you have an interesting idea, please let me know and I’ll consider it. (laughs)

 Dengeki: Continuing with that idea, what kind of experiences can we look forward to on the moon?

 Yoshi P: For starters there are questions like what is the moon, what is going on on the other side and beneath the surface? (laughs) To be honest, I’ve been into astronomy for the past year or so and I saw two theories on the formation of Earth’s moon.

 So in response to some of these open-ended questions, this expansion will be about writing a story about the moon specific to our world. The moon in our story is a combination of concepts from the development team, the moon in the real world, and some things we made up. I hope you pay attention to it.

 Oh yeah, to any concerned Warriors of Light that may be out there worrying if there is an atmosphere on the moon, please relax. (laughs) That is explained in the story as well so please look forward to it.

 Dengeki: The music is a part of the experience that can’t be forgotten and it seems like Soken pulled out all the stops for the theme this time. What did you ask of him when making the soundtrack to this game?

 Yoshi P: I asked him to consider that even though this is the climax of the story, every single song cannot be a moving epic masterpiece. I asked him to make songs to match what was going on in the story at the time.

 To both Soken and myself, the main theme of Shadowbringers was quite invocative. The theme of the Crystal Tower is woven into it to give it that Final Fantasy feeling. But even if you take it out, it can stand as an unconventional Final Fantasy title by itself.

 Many of our players really liked that song so it gave us a lot of confidence. Taking a step forward from this point, I told him to make something that expresses the grand finale to the first adventure of our 14th Final Fantasy. Soken kept telling me what a busy schedule he has but he’s been working really hard and I hope everyone looks forward to the music in this game.

 Section 3: New Content and More Challenging Existing Content

 Dengeki: Now we’d like to ask you about the current game. Patch 5.0 introduced the Trust System and players have been enjoying using it. At the latest Live Letter you told us that in addition to Estinien joining the Trust System, new features are going to be added. Please tell us some specific things waiting for us.

 Yoshi P: After we launched the Trust System, many players started asking us to expand it to 8-man duties and past content. We, of course, want to make the Trust System work with all of our content for our players to enjoy.

 However, the Trust System requires specific programming for each dungeon so each character acts in a way you would expect them to. This costs a lot to do. So, we are currently exploring ways to make it work across more content.

 Right now I cannot give many more specifics about the Trust System such as when more will be coming. Please be assured we are working to find a way to expand it. All of the 6,0 dungeons, for example, will be playable with the Trust System. So, at the very least, there won’t be any issues with those dungeons so you can go into them with the Scions. Players who like to solo content can be assured of that.

 Dengeki: We are also interested in being able to do things at a relaxed place on the deserted islands. Will players actually be able to mount up and sell things to each other? Isn’t there a chance this content will ultimately benefit players who play the most?

 Yoshi P: We are making the deserted island content to be relaxed living content players can enjoy at their own pace without competing with others. I can’t say competition amongst players will never happen but there will be plenty of opportunity to enjoy playing by yourself with reduced interaction with others.

 We want to make it an area where you create and grow your own things and use them to collect rewards. Players can do things at their own pace without having to worry about other players affecting their progress. We are making something for players who even want to do farming without worrying about difficulty.

 You can think of it as a somewhere to spend time in a place you love with your favorite minions or even enjoy raising animals you brought to the island with you.

 Dengeki: Please tell us as much as you can about the new smaller scale PvP mode.

 Yoshi P: We are making content with new rules and maps as all new content. In our current PvP system, healers shoulder a lot of the burden. Wins and losses heavily rely on the healers so because of this huge responsibility, healers are in short supply and matching is quite difficult.

 The new PvP content is going to be less strict where any job can participate. We are making a role free system where each job will have some means of healing itself.

 Dengeki: So it is something more like The Feast than Frontlines?

 Yoshi P: If I had to choose, it is more like The Feast but in this mode you don’t just get points by defeating opposing players. We are adding more ways to get points like capture the flag to make more casual maps and a more casual playstyle. We are also making ranked and free modes that players can use to collect PvP rewards.

 Also, like I said at the Showcase, we are working on a system where the rewards will include things players are going to want other than just gear. I will have more information about this at the next PLL.

 Dengeki: There have been many posts on the official forums from PvPers who want PvP to be balanced separately for both large group PvP and smaller group PvP. Can they expect to see that in this upcoming content?

 Yoshi P: We are planning on implementing job balance adjustments along side small scale PvP. We are also currently discussing if we are going to keep The Feast as well but we haven’t reached a decision. But there is a high chance The Feast will get shut down.

 This is because we want to focus on fixing any issues with this new content based on player feedback. If we have The Feast running at the same time, it will split our resources so we would like to avoid that.

 Dengeki: In the middle of the latest Live Letter the topic of Hildibrand came up. When can we expect to see him next?

 Yoshi P: We actually saw him briefly in The Heroes’ Gauntlet in Shadowbringers so he must have somehow wound up there after we saw him last him in Stormblood. (laughs) The Hildibrand story had become kinda tedious so we took a break with it in Shadowbringers.

 We don’t plan on ending it, however. Hildibrand is a beloved character in our world and many people want to see his tale continue. Our development team has also recharged their batteries so we are going to provide players with something. Please look forward to his return.

 Dengeki: With the new expansion there is going to be a graphical upgrade to the game. Is there also going to be a change in the minimum PC requirements?

 Yoshi P: No, we are working hard on the PS5 version to make it look as good as possible but since this is going to be the final chapter in the Hydaelyn and Zodiark storyline, we decided not to make any major changes.

 I want to update the graphics engine at some point since the amount of data used has gotten quite great over these ten years. Also, we want to rebuild the data access system to support 4K graphical textures.

 Players have also told us they want their mounts to feel more alive but for that to work we will need to do a graphical overhaul. We are, of course, doing this little by little.

 Please remember that we work on schedules planned years at a time. We were able to fix some of our data center issues on this schedule over a long period of time fitting in work where we could. So, when it comes to updated graphics, it is something we want to do but don’t have much free time. It is quite a challenge to do as well so please be patient.

[elizabethrobertajones]

FFXIV Write: Day 9, Yawn

errrrr so, 6.2 spoilers for the ship and place in the timeline (post-patch downtime), I just have brainrot.........

...........Y'shtola x Zero >:D

---

It had been one of the most intellectually stimulating tea times of Y’shtola’s life, and all she had done was make careful small talk, and explain said small talk, while, gently, slowly, unspoken, encouraged Zero to settle from her ramrod straight posture to a more relaxed pose.

A few days on the Source had been good for her, the Warrior of Light and Vrtra had done their parts in making her feel settled and understand the nature of where she had been brought. But Y’shtola had felt herself irresistibly drawn to barter more time with their guest, to see how her impressions of the city, the people, the world and its weather, had begun to form. Each comment of surprise and her hesitant approval or sharp disapproval told Y’shtola much and more about Zero, the Thirteenth, and in strange highlight, their own world.

But it had been wearing to get past the careful walls the Memoriate had rightfully built, and the deep gulfs that had to be crossed simply to communicate the concepts that Y’shtola took for granted, such as politely asking how Zero would like her tea. Or why it was pleasurable at all to simply sit in someone else’s company and interrogate them, although, perhaps, Zero asking these questions was the beginning of what could become a small talk repertoire with some careful honing… Perhaps.

Y’shtola set down her cup and saucer, balanced on her lap for a long while empty but forgotten as she listened to Zero talk of her impressions of the sky. She stretched long and hard, a yawn rolling right the way through her until she was arching her back and flicking her tail in relief.

When she settled down into her seat again, Zero quietly asked, “What was that?”

“You don’t yawn?” Y’shtola asked, surprised. She was still building a fuller picture of this voidsent-hyur but it had seemed reasonable to assume her physiology itself wasn’t too different, merely her fascinating relationship with aether.

“Oh, is that what that was? If I begin to tire, I simply use more aether. A quiet breath in, none of that…” She stopped, stumped, and gestured vaguely at Y’shtola. “Whatever you did there.”

Y’shtola thought Zero sounded confused still, or – or flustered. The sorceress held back a smile. “It really is a wonderful little pleasure. You ought to allow yourself this much, at least.”

“Why?” Zero asked, at once. Her curiosity was so endearing, truly. Perhaps she was merely gathering knowledge as a defence in case she had to fight later, but that hunger was there nonetheless.

“There are some things we do for ourselves whose intrinsic value are simply worth what joy they bring us. Or, of course. Others.” She smirked at Zero, and caught the sound of a quick inhale when she did.

“You exchange… what… for pleasures?” she asked.

“Oh, anything can be exchanged for them,” Y’shtola laughed, after a moment of consideration of how best to reply. “But sometimes it is simply sharing those selfsame pleasures with another.”

Zero frowned, clearly troubled by this and took a few seconds of thought, picking her words perhaps more carefully than even Y’shtola habitually did. “We are not still discussing yawning, are we?”

“Perhaps not,” Y’shtola purred.

[autumnslance]

Fic Writer Meme

Tagged by: @elveny​ and @illegiblewords​.

Tagging: Whoever wants to, including YOU.

Name

Fandoms

Most popular oneshot

Most popular multichapter

Actual worst part of writing

How you choose your titles

Do you outline

Ideas I probably won’t get around to, but wouldn’t it be nice?

Callouts @ Me

Best writing traits

Spicy Tangential Opinion

Name: Online I go mostly by LynMars, sometimes with a 79 appended depending on availability. Some guildies still refer to me by my old WoW char names. On Discord I often add this blog to my handle and keep the characters in my note.

Fandoms: Right now just FFXIV. I debate rewriting and reposting some of my old WoW stories. I haven't written for other fandoms I peek at. I mostly hold fandom at arm's length.

Most popular oneshot: Depending on metrics used, on Ao3 it'd be "A Constant Distant Thunder", my fic on Thancred's recovery in the ARR patch series, up to the Slyphlands events (and referencing quests that sadly no longer exist in game).

On Tumblr it's "Rules for a Warrior of Light" followed by "Never Gets Easier." Both are on Ao3 as well, the former in “Ruminations” the latter by itself.

Most popular multichapter: I only have a couple true multichapter fics featuring an actual coherently plotted story; I have several compilation fics of scenes over time held together by a theme.

For my few actual multichapters, "Rogue's Prelude" is going to be the clear winner. I do want to write more, and it’ll likely be another Damned Rogue piece.

Depending on metrics, "Downtime" and "Unexpected" are neck and neck, but they are compilations, not true multichapter stories.

Actual worst part of writing: Starting something, not getting too impatient and skipping or cutting necessary elements, then actually editing and deciding it's finished and being brave enough to post it, or not hampering myself with "well but I want to write other things in order and..."

The whole process has its highs and lows.

How you choose your titles: Really depends. Sometimes I have the title before anything else. Sometimes it's obvious. Many times I'm struggling to find something pithy that works. Sometimes what I think is the draft's working title so I know how to find it in my docs ends up becoming the real title after all; usually it changes, though.

Do you outline: Depends. For longer works, yeah; there'll be something resembling an outline. This can be for multichapters or simply longer/heavier one shots, like "A Constant Distant Thunder" or "Return to Dreams of Ice" where there are certain scenes and/or elements I want to ensure I've figured out.

For most prompts or one-shots, though, I don't really worry about outlining. I may jot notes down, especially when taking a break, so I recall what I want to say/do next, but it's generally not a huge thing.

Even when I do outline, it's more some rambling notes to myself.

Ideas I probably won’t get around to, but wouldn’t it be nice?: So many. I can't even think of them all. And some of them will likely get reworked into other stories anyway.

Sometimes I think of AUs, but I'm not a big AU fan, but it's one of those 'wish I had the bent toward that' sometimes.

Callouts @ Me: Hey, a lot of those WIPs and drafts ARE as ready as they're gonna get and should be posted to “Living Memory”, “Unexpected”, or just go ahead and make threads for Aeryn's adventures as the WoL each expac. Procrastinating just because it's not in a linear order is silly.

Best writing traits: I dunno? I'm bad at gauging myself, really. I guess I'm good at dialogue and getting into characters' heads to make them sound believably close to canon and existing as people in their world.

Spicy Tangential Opinion: I dunno; my opinions tend to change as I gather more information and perspectives, and that's a good thing. I can be wrong about topics and people and shift my mindset and expectations accordingly. When I don't, it often leads to hurt on one end or another. I mostly try to be chill these days because most of the time fandom is just not worth getting worked up about, even if I hate an opinion or dislike a person. I can easily just Unfollow/Block/Mute/Scroll Past/Ignore, it costs nothing--especially my own time, energy, and emotional stress. It's taken me too long to learn that and I still can slip up sometimes.

I guess that's my spicy opinion, given modern Fandom and social media.

[galvus]

hi hi! i’ve been meaning to make a post like this for a bit, but i’ve been hardcore slacking. since the servers are down for patch 5.2, i’m getting my arm pretty handily twisted by the game devs. but! anyway! i’m abby! i’ve been playing ffxiv for almost a year now, and a purely ffxiv-focused blog was a long time coming.  i post a lot of screenshots, edits, gifs, and whatnot. i fully intend on posting more (or, rather, any...) writing here in the future, but right now, i’m mainly just doing a lot of reblogs and quick screenshot edits. nothing too fancy! i’m basically looking for people to follow who do the same thing? so, if that sounds like what you do on here, then give this post a like or a reblog, and i’ll check you out!

lots of wol-focused content!(!!!!) also, if you’re wol x npc friendly, i’ll likely love you forever and a day because that’s pretty much what i’m here for. i’m so weak for wol ships and love seeing a wide variety of them.

don’t really post character hate or a lot of negativity in general. life’s hard enough; there’s nothing to be gained from excessive negativity.

have a robust tagging system. 

are 18+.

this a really dumb and rambly intro. any signal boosting would be super appreciated. enjoy the downtime before patch!

[songofthemeadow]

Seven Items: Cadence Hayley

I. STAFF

Ordinary and plain at first glance, Cadence’s staff appears to be made of an old oak root, fashioned with a decorative bell made of silver for a focus. To the discerning eye, however, the conjurer’s weapon is beyond ordinary. Left behind by Cadence’s mother before her disappearance, her staff is much older than it lets on, if the Amdapori inscription around the lip of the bell is any indication.

II. MEDICAL BAG

Cadence never leaves home without her satchel, an old, worn, patched in places and threadbare standard issue medical bag. Held within is everything a healer might need out on the field, be it bandages, a surgical kit, potions, salves, various bundles of herbs, etc... 

III. RITUAL KIT

As a practitioner of magics both permitted and ancient, there are varying methods in which she performs her spells. Some are straightforward with the tongue and focus, while others require reagents or arcane geometries. As such, the kit includes varying spell components and earthy toned paints, a collection of wooden runes, some potent smelling herbs, and a flask of paint set apart from the others, gold in color.

IV. JOURNAL

Cadence is never seen without her leather-bound journal, and can often be found sitting around and sketching in it in her downtime. Nothing incredibly remarkable about it’s appearance, but it’s contents are a closely guarded secret.

V. MASK

It’s only a specific circumstance that one might find Cadence wearing it, and only those of the Macabre Feast and those on the front lines ever see it. Magicked to hide all but the glow in her eyes when she’s casting, the mask is decorated in uniform with the rest of her attire, depicting a divine purifier. Paired with her skillset and her companions in their own personifications of death, the mask does it’s job instilling unease and fear very well.

VI. RINGS

Four in total and cast from the same mold and metal, Cade’s rings are simply crafted, but wholly unique in that each of them are bound to one another in a sort of resonance. If one were to pay attention, they almost hum when she brings her hands together.

VII. DAGGER

A simple dagger, nothing out of the ordinary, but she’s never without it. 

Tagged by: @bygone-eras​, @forlorn-flowers​

Tagging: @cedric-hunt​, @wondereverlasting​, @mirribunnybard​, @draenei-tales​, @meteor-survivor​, @alcoholicbadkitty​, @monster-of-master​, @rozzen-thorne-ffxiv​

[ffxivmingxiajiang]

FFXIV What if you saved some people?

Spoilers under the cut.  What if you could save at least someone?

Foulques:

You didn’t listen to Ywain when he told you to stay away from your problematic senior.  You kept going to him, you kept learning with him, you became his friend.  You didn’t leave him alone after the trial with the Lord of the Bramble Patch.  Maybe you aren’t sure how you did it, but you were able to show him that relying on others wasn’t bad- or at least, that you weren’t going to do him dirty.  He’d had enough of that for one lifetime.  (Maybe you were also tired of him making such destructive life decisions.  Maybe you wanted a worthy opponent and saw one in him just as he saw potential in you.)  

You went to Coerthas together.  The locals were cold- Ishgardians were said to be cold, for the most part- but at least they were civil.  You could both hunt freely in the Coerthan wilds.  Foulques is thoroughly enjoying his time here- there are so many powerful, huge monsters for him to test his spear against.  

You began your journey towards being Dragoons together- or at least, learning Ishgardian spearcraft.   At some point, you meet Ser Alberic, who was the one that gave you your mission.  You and Foulques search for Estinien together- Foulques’ skill at tracking proves valuable.  

They bicker and fight.  Maybe not at first, but when you all meet up again in Camp Dragonhead, they’re butting heads before long.  Estinien would have won Foulques’ respect, but with their differing ideologies and upbringing, conflict was all but guaranteed.  Foulques is all loud bluster, answered by Estinien’s cool, cutting remarks.  You worry a little at first- or maybe you don’t, it’s not the first time something like this has happened.  It settles into a routine, eventually, and you find it at times humorous, at times tiring.

But you’re alright with this.  At this point in your life- especially after the fiasco in Ul’dah, you know it could be so much worse.

Haurchefant:

Your breaths came a little heavier than usual.  Three of the Heavens Ward- three!  You had your friends come to help, sure, but it hadn’t been easy, storming the cathedral.  You were the distraction while the others went to rescue the incarcerated Lord Commander Aymeric.  Well, this was the expected outcome.  Even you thought him to be overly hopeful to confront the Archbishop like this, given what you knew about the parties involved.

You rendezvous with Estinien, Haurchefant, Aymeric and Lucia on the roof.  The Archbishop is preparing to depart.  You pause to gather your bearings and appraise the situation.  You see one, two- was that three?  Of the Heaven’s Ward.  You do not see that...what was his name again- Zephirin.  You don’t see him.  You find this odd- everyone else seems to be here.  Maybe he’s in the city?  Or perhaps out of sight?  You don’t know and you don’t have time to entertain speculations.  

You share a glance with Haurchefant and you shake your head.  No, going in to apprehend the Archbishop is a terrible idea, you decide.  Let him go- if he wasn’t lying to you before, you’d most certainly see him again and probably too soon for your liking.  You didn’t think you wanted to chance those Heaven’s Ward going as abnormally monstrous as the previous three you’d just defeated and trying to kill you in a concerted effort.  Maybe if you and your adventurer friends were at peak condition, you might decide to risk it- but while you were fatigued after your battles?  It defied common sense.  It would be difficult at best, suicidal at worst- and probably it would fall to the worst case.  You had no idea what the Archbishop could do.  Never mind that Hydaelyn probably wouldn’t let you die (really, after fighting Primals and the freakin’ ULTIMA?  You should have been dead several times by now.), now it just seemed like far too much of a pain and a bother.  Besides, Ser Aymeric was injured.  He needed medical help.

You signal the others to head back.  The Archbishop would turn up again in time.  You’d gotten what you came for.  Now was the time to regroup and consider your next steps.  Given what had just happened, and your current investment in Ishgard, you had a feeling things were about to get very messy very quickly.

That, and maybe after such a long day, you were looking forward to a rest, maybe a warm bath, and some food.  You could use a little downtime to spend with your beloved friends.  With the kind of life you lead, you knew that even you couldn’t reasonably be guaranteed tomorrow, and your friends, even less so.