#savvy plays ffxiv

[cosmic-gemstone]

Because I’m still super excited…

So in FFXIV my Free Company (the game’s version of guilds for the uninitiated) had a Halloween costume contest.

And guess who won first place with the most votes.

Guess what I dressed up as. Come on guess.

[shinyotachi]

Maybe this is just me being an angstlord but i love seeing how people interpret the failure states of their wols in shb

Love seeing people's designs for their lightwarden/sineater wols

What kind of lightwarden are they? What are their name as this new monstrous form? The lore potential is endless

[gunbun]

Gunbun's Pro Wrestling Explainer For FFXIV Players Who Don't Understand Graps Very Well

Hi! Are you an FFXIV player whose only exposure to pro wrestling is the tales of how Vince McMahon is a piece of shit? Do you have thinkthonks about the raid storyline so far but aren't clear on how it relates to pro wrestling? Do you think "correct me if I'm wrong, but…" about any part of pro wrestling, but you're not a watcher? Are you interested in obtaining a little bit of knowledge and context about what it is we're seeing in the Ascension Arcadia Championship?

I gotchu. This whole raid storyline is a large homage to the highs and lows of professional wrestling, and from my knowledge as a fan of WWE in particular, its storyline so far is unfolding just like the fictional storylines that unfold in our real-world on a regular basis.

I posit that the present Ascension Arcadia Championship is a pro wrestling promotion that exists in Solution 9. And that it's not only helpful but entertaining once you become a little genre-savvy about it.

Sidebar For The Smarks: Yes, other professional wrestling promotions exist. We got TNA, ROH, AEW, all the indie promotions, AJPW, NJPW, STARDOM…. there are many. I'm just using WWE here as an example as it's the promotion I'm the most familiar with. There's more to pro wrestling than WWE. But I'm using one promotion as an example to explain the tropes of these kinds of storylines to folks who might not understand.

Preface: A List of Wrestling Terminology

Pro Wrestling has its own lingo. This is not an exhaustive list, just trying to cover the terms I'm gonna use in the essay part.

Promotion/Federation - a company that presents a stable of wrestlers fighting to compete to win a title to the greater public for sports entertainment. Talent can move from promotion to promotion. Federation is an older-school term for the same.

Title - the cool belt that the champion gets to wear. disclaimer: may not always be cool.

Talent - a professional wrestler.

Heel - the Bad Guy character.

Face - the Good Guy character.

Gimmick - basically the core of the talent's character. Are they an undead wizard? A genre-savvy angry Canadian man? A sexy male stripper? Pro Wrestling Barbie? A maybe-stoner Samoan who turned YEET into his catchphrase? These are all gimmicks that have existed or do exist in pro-wrestling today.

Booking - where the management of the promotion decides who fights whom and what the stakes will be (title defense, match style, etc).

Bump - when wrestlers collide with either one another, or the mat, or the turnbuckle, or the announcer table, or the ring steps, or the barricades…..

Work - this is stuff within the entertainment itself that furthers the fictional story of kayfabe.

Shoot - this is stuff that is Real Life that may affect the fictional story of kayfabe.

Promo/Promo Segment - speeches/skits done between matches to further storylines.

Pin/Pinfall - when one guy pins the other guy for a count of three. it usually means they win!

Submission - when one guy taps out after the other guy usually twists them into some kind of painful position. it definitely means they lose.

Kayfabe - the illusion that the characters, rivalries, and championships within a promotion are anything more than stuff that the talent does to get a paycheque. Both the talent and the audience suspend their disbelief and buy-in to the idea that the match has real stakes. It's the fiction that plays out as part of the matches. ------

Part One: PRO WRESTLING IS FAKE AND GAY

First thing I want you to do, while the smarks are still distracted above because I neglected to mention their favourite promotion, is hop over to YouTube and watch….. oooh! How about Drew McIntyre vs CM Punk in Hell in a Cell at Bad Blood 2024? Content warning for blood, blood, so much blood, but you can view this match here.

Did you see how CM Punk just annihilated Drew McIntyre with that toolbox? Did you see the absolutely balls-to-the-wall violence on display? The athleticism?! I went to that match in person and Drew had to have his head stapled back together! It was intense.

BUT WHAT THE FUCK, GUNBUN, you say, I THOUGHT PRO WRESTLING WAS FAKE.

Nope. It's predetermined. It's booked. It is a live performance involving people beating the shit out of one another for the entertainment of a crowd. It is done deliberately, with full consent of all parties, and today is done as safely as is possible.

In my other posts, I said that wrestling is predetermined and semi-choreographed. However, saying this does not mean that the bumps are not real and that they do not hurt. It doesn't mean that the talent aren't giving it their all.

The wrestlers are still beating the absolute shit out of one another. They use their skills and know-how to do their best to keep it from causing severe injury. In fact, wrestlers are always contending with one injury or the other. The vast, vast majority can be stapled up and given some PT and are back to work (wrestlers are in insanely good shape; they have to be!), but sometimes it's career-ending. Look up Diamond Dallas Page or Big E or Charlotte Flair and what they've been contending with lately/in their past. It is rough on the talent, even when practiced as safely as is possible.

The 'fake' part comes from the wrestling principle of kayfabe. Kayfabe is the fictional world wherein the promotion exists, it is the personae of all the talent in the promotion and the way they interact with one another.

I asked ya to watch the HIAC highlight reel for a reason. In real life, CM Punk is a guy named Phil and Drew McIntyre is a guy named Andrew and this match is the culmination of months of matches and feuding between their characters. Phil and Andrew, the people, are working together to create a spectacle for us, the audience. Punk and Drew, the characters, want to kill each other. It was expected that there would be blood during this kind of a match, and it was expected that Punk was gonna clobber McIntyre with that toolbox, but the cut was not expected to be that severe. And yet, this is live. They can't stop. And they deliver what is shaping up to be an all-time classic match. You'll notice everyone cheering and chanting. This is the other part of kayfabe: the promotion presents us the fiction, and we play along. We cheer for the faces, boo for the heels, or are die-hards for our favourite talent. One of my favourite wrestlers right now is undergoing a heel turn, where his character is moving from being a face to being a heel, and the reasons why are very dramatic storytelling.

If you think about it too hard, it's stupid as hell. But the talent love to do it and pride themselves on doing it well, it is undergoing kind of a renaissance right now from its shady past, and it's the modern-day gladatorial combat.

(The 'gay' part? Just…. just google Rhea Ripley. Then Damian Priest. Then Drew McIntyre. Then Roman Reigns. Then Tiffany Stratton. Then Becky Lynch. Then Jey Uso. Trust me.)

--------

Part Two: OKAY BUT WTF DOES THIS HAVE TO DO WITH THE ARCADION

I am already 1200+ words deep into this, so I looked at the introductory cutscene for the raid. And…. um, friends, Romans, countrymen, puks that I know: kayfabe is demonstrably and textually alive and well in AAC. The Arcadion is a show. What is my proof? First conversation, Metem, the promoter of the federation tells the WOL it's a spectacle. That's the word he uses.

He then says the purpose of the Arcadion is "By providing them with gripping entertainment it is our hope to have them forget their cares." However, to shock the citizens out of their stupor, they need someone new! New entertainment is the best way to get them to think about something that isn't their dead queen and the horrifying realization of what regulator usage means, after all.

Well, how about the hero of the day, the one who killed the king?

That's what the mysterious behind-the-scenes president of the federation (Metem's boss) thinks WOL can be the next champion. And then immediately tells us the storyline he wishes to cultivate and discusses WOL's remuneration for participation.

WOL agrees.

Opinion time: At first I called him Lalafell JBL because of the hat, but having reviewed the cutscene Metem is totally giving me NXT-Shawn Michaels vibes. I love it. Anyway.

WOL enters THE LOCKER ROOM. We are introduced to the three combatants AS THEIR CHARACTERS. We don't learn their names yet, but all right.

Honey B talks about sharing the stage with the WOL.

Brute Bomber talks about meeting WOL the ring and how he's gonna take them down!

This is literally and explicitly kayfabe we are walking into. It is not a matter of opinion. It's in the text. It's in the tropes. The three other combatants are doing the kayfabe thing of establishing themselves. Metem explains that they're characters (literally) and that this is their way of welcoming WOL to the locker room. Metem then explains how AAC works and he and WOL work out the deal for the souls from the repository. This isn't anything deeper than making the battles align to an 8-man raid. This is all Alexandrian flavor.

The shoot is the WOL saving souls. The work is Fresh Flavour for the Arcadion. Metem tells us he'll tell us more after our first match.

Thus begins M1: Black Cat is our foe who uses a feral soul to become .... that thing. This is Black Cat's gimmick. In the Arcadion the gimmicks are literal transformations via feral souls, but they serve the exact same purpose. WOL's gimmick is LOOK MA, NO REGULATOR, in case it wasn't clear.

WOL is told that all of this hullaballoo is in place in order to provide the audience with a spectacle. it's first and foremost entertainment.

Metem explicitly tells you this is entertainment, this is a show. Right there in the cutscenes.

Like IDK what else I can say. It's kayfabe. QED.

I am not going to get into the storyline for M2-4, but it is almost a shooty nature: something from real life is affecting the fighters and it's being covered up. THIS is the wrong that WOL will right. The spectacle continues because it is the way of life for people.

[violetlypurple]

With the Windows recall shit rolling around, I'm going to be That Girl and put it out there that Linux is, indeed, still a thing, and a thing that has come a long way with regards to user experience and gaming. And a thing that runs 75% of the internet but anyways Saying, "Linux isn't just for nerds and enthusiasts anymore!" wouldn't be an entirely truthful statement, but if all you do is play games, go on socials, and hang in discord... It'll work? I'm speaking to a target audience here, posting from an FFXIV-focused blog, so let me dive into it a little for that target audience, with the assumption that none of you are out there being sweaty over Apex, Overwatch, Fortnite, or whatever zoomers play these days. Basically anything you play through Steam will run flawlessly* on Linux. Valve have baked the Proton compatibility layer into Steam for a while, and since Valve's Steam Deck runs on Linux, they are on point with updates for it. This means that Steam will do the work of making Windows games run on Linux for you without any additional software or tinkering. This includes the Steam version of FFXIV**.

Now, I can't speak to or ensure that reshade or any 3rd party plugin will work. In my case (details below the cut) reshade was more or less intact but all the presets broke so I just kinda said fuck it and removed the remnants. But thats ok, right? You want to try out the 7.0 graphical updates without instagram filters, right? Don't you..?

Mods and other plugins? Don't know, don't care, frankly don't like that they exist outside the narrow window of seeing people's fun screenshots. Sorry not sorry. That said, I have seen some things on the googles.

There are obviously various things that work differently/don't work on Linux like they do on Windows. I can't account for every case, so google is your friend here. The one particularly notable case I ran into was screenshare with Discord being unable to deliver audio, which makes group watching things like netflix a bit of a problem. There are technically workarounds but again, Target Audience.

Sooo... Yeah? If you're mildly tech savvy, go get Ubuntu, install it on a second drive, external drive, or even just try it out from the usb you put the install media on for an hour. If you wanna get spicy with it, do some looking around to see what distribution of Linux might suit you better. Pop_OS is also pretty beginner friendly. Yes, there are some adjustments and some things to learn, but if you have the energy to be mad at what Microsoft is doing, you have the energy to learn a few new things to get away from it. As with anything related to messing with your operating system; back up your important things, just in case!

The Notable Caveats:

*I can't speak to all multiplayer games, since some use anti-cheat or DRM that may not work on Linux. But frankly, a quick google of "will [game] run on Linux" can get you a quick yes or no on if this will be a problem for you. In my case, I mostly care about Helldivers 2 with its nProtect, and it works fine. BG3 has no problems either.

**You might be thinking, "But Basement Witch Noone Knows, I don't use the Steam version of FFXIV!" And yes, that does complicate matters. My brief tutorial is below the cut, should you find yourself committed to this notion, or just have a morbid curiosity.

Ok, so I don't have the Steam version of FFXIV either. There are two ways around this that I am aware of.

The first, which I would not recommend, is to get a 3rd party Linux launcher. If you care about this Windows recall thing, you probably fully understand why I would advise against using a 3rd party app to put your username and password into. If you are willing to do some research into the providers of these tools to determine their trustworthiness, I can't stop you, but I wasn't interested.

The second is Steam! Again! A fun fact about FFXIV is that it runs pretty self-contained in its folder. I have shit internet, so I have been just copying the whole ass SquareEnix folder off my drive and onto other drives to save myself two days of downloading for years now.

If you have Linux installed and familiarize yourself with the Home folder where your usual Documents/Pictures/Videos folders are, I just copy pasted my whole SquareEnix folder in there, to the cries and lamentations of Linux nerds everywhere that would insist I put it somewhere proper. Anyway. Once it's there, all you need to do is add it to Steam. In the Steam Library there is a button to Add a Game in the bottom right corner. When you click that there is an option to Add Non-Steam Game. When you click that, you will get a prompt to locate and select the game. Here you want to hit Browse, navigate to your Home folder, SquareEnix, FINAL FANTASY XIV - A Realm Reborn, boot. in the boot folder you will need to select ffxivboot.exe. Once you have selected it and clocked Open, it will return you to the Add Non-Steam Game list and you should see ffxivboot.exe selected. Hit Add Selected Programs, and that's it! You can now launch your bodged-in copy of FFXIV through steam, and it will apply the necessary Proton layer to make the launcher and the game work as normal. Yay Linux!

i use arch, btw

[evilpenguinrika]

okay...

i had to uninstall ffxiv on my steam and reinstall it

so now i'm waiting for it to download.

again.

please. i beg. i just want to play. i am not tech savvy enough to fix the video card or the graphics or whatever the heck it is 😭

[modismod]

What the fuck do you mean by I play souls game for the fashion souls and and ffxiv end game being for fashion only? Go play style savvy Trendsetters like a real man

[proosh]

That's mad that you're on ffxiv!!.. I'm in the Lich server unfortunately, and I'm on the free trial (I'm a BIT miserly with my money but bcs I love square enix so much, I'll pay the full version once the trial ends yay). Im clueless about all the savvy stuff like visiting different servers and all but hopefully there's a way we could meet up in-game because I am dying to not play solo anymore; I had yet to speak to anyone who plays ffxiv up until now lmao

UNFORTUNATELY BEEN HERE FOR....... LIKE 3 YEARS NOW...........

I'm based in Mateus/Crystal but DC travel means I could take a jaunt over to Lich >:3c........ I'd happily help out with MSQ when I'm not busy/our timetables line up!!

[valdiis]

Tagged: Altitis Edition

So as it turns out, @catscratching, I had not yet been tagged in this one, but was sort of hoping I would be!

Favorite | This is like asking me to choose which child is best. Rude. I have two answers for this. The first is Hadeon, the character that brought me to tumblr when my WoW guild at the time gave up forums for this format. Hadeon is a tragic, sad, beautiful character and I love him dearly, even if I don’t write for him anymore. The second answer is Daephrin - be it Starsworn - WoW - or Astramente - FFXIV. He’s just such a clever dumbass, and I love him, officer.

-

Oldest | Oh gods... Did you know I’ve been RPing since 1995? And I still remember my first character: Tiena Nightrose. She’s a cat shapeshifter and elemental mage. These days, she’s got a wonderful grandmotherly air in my head. Imagine a plump-faced cat mom with crow’s feet and greying hair with a black streak near the front. That said, if we’re talking about age, the oldest is Hadeon by several thousand years. He’s an Argus-old Draenei.

-

Newest | Kazuya Ryouichi, a big Au Ra Raen courtesan from Thavnair. He was raised by Hingashi parents in Radz-at-Han and is consistently torn between two worlds - that of serenity and that of adventure. He doesn’t get nearly enough of my time, sadly.

-

Meanest | Oof. I don’t play mean characters as a generality, because I don’t enjoy them. Probably Calleis An’aidei, then. He’s kind of a bastard. Grumpy, doesn’t like people, has a hidden drug habit...

-

Softest | I’d say Vy’thanis (Felbane - WoW - or Lusignon - FFXIV) is the softest character of mine and he’d probably be offended to hear that. But he is gentle and kind and happy, and deserves all good things in the world.

-

Most Aloof/Standoffish | That would probably be Calleis again. See the aforementioned “doesn’t like people.” He gets by as an alchemist selling potions - including healing ones - but he doesn’t do it because he wants to do good in the world. Alternately, I might say Mathaes Silverton, because he’s very much a loner who avoids everyone but his boyfriend when he can.

-

Dumbest (Affectionate) | Daephrin by a mile. He’s supposed to be so silver-tongued and smooth, but he’s got the emotional perceptiveness of gouda cheese and is always screwing up what should be a good thing for himself.

-

Dumbest (Derogatory) | Oh no. Though I wanted to say another character first, further thought on this answer gave me the truth: Ilva Swift. Ilva is a worgen thief and oh, she is so gullible. Her partner in crime is a snake oil salesman (among other things) and the two of them get up to the dumbest adventures. They stole a priest’s underwear drawer one time.

-

Smartest | I’d say Hadeon is the smartest. Aside from having twenty-five-thousand years to perfect his 3D Chess game (I actually made up a sort of 3D checkers that I imagined Draenei played), he’s just really savvy. He’s constantly coming up with new developments in metallurgy and he’s got memorized a staggering amount of ancient hymns. He is a master strategist (far beyond what I can write) and he is regularly a step ahead of everyone around him.

-

Horniest | Again, by a mile, Daephrin. But probably also Zayneth Shadowspite, my failed demon hunter blood elf. The two of them both would bang anything that moves. Of the two, Daephrin’s gotten up to the kinkier shit.

-

Character You’d Bang | Part of me wants to say Daephrin, but I know what happens when you put two bottoms in a room together. Probably either Vy’thanis or Zayneth. Which is a bit ironic, as their WoW incarnations were in a friends-with-benefits situation and Vy’thanis learned much of what he knows about sex from Zayneth. His FFXIV incarnation, however, learned mostly from trial and error with various flings. Either way, they’re both sweet, sexy, a little dominant, and lots of fun to be around. Big after-sex cuddlers too.

-

Character You’d Be RL Besties With | Either Vy’thanis or Lysonde Riverblade. Vyth, of course, is soft and kind and happy, and he loves rocks and shiny things, just like me. He’d be the kind of friend who perks up your whole day when you see them. Lysonde would be the glamorous bestie, the one always showing up with a story about where she last traveled to and who she met there, but she’s never a mean girl about it; she genuinely loves to share the world with her friends and she would be incredibly supportive as a bestie.

-

Now, who to tag... I don’t expect they’ll see this, but I think I’ll tag @canalstreetbaker and @chocoblep. I’m very curious to see their answers to this and I might be curious enough to actually poke them outside of tumblr just so they see the tag.

[artilaz]

The Tav Ask Game

Tagged by: Nobody in particular, just saw it on some people's blogs and wanted to do it

Placeholder FFXIV screenshot until I can actually play the game

Name: Tristan Trevelyan

Nickname: No one has given him one so far

Height: Roughly 6'0 / 1.80 m

Gender: Transgender male

Orientation: Homosexual

Nationality/identity: He originates from a barely known kingdom named Cir'omdo which I pulled from an independent fantasy story I'm working on because I'm not savvy on D&D lore

Favourite fruit: Blueberries

Favourite season: Summer

Favourite flower: Forget-me-not

Coffee, tea or hot chocolate: Hot chocolate, but he usually prefers cold drinks over any of these

Avg hours of sleep: 7-8 if he can get it in, but if necessary, he can function on 4. A realistic average is probably 6

Dogs or cats: So far he's always liked dogs a little more, but recently, he's grown fonder of cats. Particularly winged ones

Dream trip: He can't shake the fantasy of visiting one of the underwater kingdoms you hear about in legends and fairytales, even though he knows it's unrealistic that he'll ever get to see them

Number of blankets: Normally just one. Two when it's very cold, but as many pillows as he can reasonably bring

Random fact: He can hold his breath for 10 minutes. He once used that skill to escape an assassination attempt, by jumping into a well and hiding under the surface

Tagging: Anyone! If you see this and you wanna do it, this is your sign!

[thevalravnscall]

It is super pretty! This is my main character, Eona.

[cosmic-gemstone]

So the Dawntrail benchmark came out today, and I decided on an appearance for my character Digi, as a female Hrothgar.

Look familiar? :3c

[shinyotachi]

Spent the better part of the afternoon yesterday with my friend merc just yelling about each other's wols and how they react to things in game and man i forgot how much fun it is to do that with friends tbh, i missed it a lot

[cerastes]

Something I’ve been thinking about lately.

Thing I cannot get used to when dealing with people in FFXIV that are outside of my usual circle is that a lot of these people are, like, regular ass people that in some cases don’t have a lot of internet or video game or arcade culture exposure, and thus behave and react in ways completely alien to my expectations in the context of a video game interaction, adjacent or otherwise.

As someone who grew up 1) on the internet, 2) in the arcades and 3) playing video games, and interacting with people that 1) frequented the internet, 2) frequented the arcades, and 3) played or were playing the same games, multiplayer or otherwise, that I was playing at the time, it sends me for loopholes when I participate or witness conversations, for example, in my FC.

And I’m not saying this is a bad thing and that normies reeeee stay out my lizard girl simulator, not a fat chance, I welcome this pot of diversity and celebrate it, what I mean is, sometimes I’ll see a sort of discussion between two parties over, say, “I think the class you play is lame, it’s too easy”. The shocking part comes where these people will actually converse or argue about this, because my response to something like that would be “die mad about it” and go back to my Zadnor train. I Wouldn’t Engage. Why would I? But these people do engage, and again, it’s not a bad thing, it’s just not at all what I’m used to because if someone in the arcade gave me shit for using King to space their Clark with Venom Shot and Double Shot, or gave me shit for using King to do chain submissions against their Kazuya instead of fighting them in their zone of comfort, saying I’m cheesy or whatever, first of all, die mad about it, second of all, put another quarter in or clear up for the next player. 

And it makes me realize just how important the context is, more so than the “kind of player” or “what game it is”. If you’re playing with others in the arcade, it’s extremely likely a competitive game in which one of you has to lose. If you’re playing with others in an MMO, unless it’s something like Dark Age of Camelot, it’s usually in either a cooperative or completely alienated context, where playing together means coordinating to tackle something, or simply existing in the same chatroom. The context here, thus, makes me feel it would be uncalled to tell someone to die mad about it and to cope, because one, we’re not competing, two, I didn’t beat them at anything, three, I could actually offend someone saying that, because unlike the other arcade-goer, who has a tacit understanding that smack talk is met with vitriol and is ready for it, the MMO player may have legitimately been just giving you an opinion, unsolicited as it may be, but an opinion nonetheless, that needn’t be met with vitriol they are not expecting or even aware are asking for.

And this is weird for me to internalize, entirely because of the context in which I grew up, sharing with other video game enthusiasts of a similar cloth: This may just be an otherwise adorable dad or a nice mom of three who just had an opinion on something and doesn’t really have the game or net savvy to know that those kind of comments are best kept behind pressed lips because you are likely going to get told to perhaps perish upset regarding the topic at hand.

On one hand, I think you could misconstrue this to be me saying “these people are much more civilized than my fellow barbarians”, no, not really, and I do believe in the virtue of ‘talking shop’ about games, I guess, but what I mean is that these discussions are, to me, meaningless without the skill or knowledge to back it up, and instead of trading all these words like spit, we could, actually, play the game. Let’s actually go into a duty and I can show you this about my class and you can show me that about that class, with actual actions, just like some Clark mains are fucking nutty enough to just dance through projectiles or how some Kazuya mains will put you into the 50/50 Hellblender for three straight rounds so you can’t get off a single poke or grab. I think there’s merit to both, I’m saying there’s merit to both approaches, but one is natural to me, and the other is completely alien and unthinkable.

And I think that’s just really damn interesting and dope because end of the day, video games are a horizon and all sorts of different people and cultures that enjoy them exist, even in the same umbrella. It’s fascinating.

[theseandi]

michelle — i hyperfixate a lot and to those who stick around despite that ilysm 🩶

a few things i love: music, fashion, makeup, perfume, desserts, coffee, poetry and video games. i play ffxiv, genshin impact, honkai star rail, acnh, style savvy series, mh:rise, and bg3. feel free to send me a message if you ever wanna play any of these games together ^^

i post certain things that i am aware may be triggering to others so here are some tags to watch: bloodstained, spilled blood, horror, sx (sex), nd (partial/full nudity), gore, all tied up

i also use the tw tag sometimes and i do tag everything i post so feel free to block tags as you see fit for your well-being or preference ^^

my moodboard and outfit requests are open! just send me an ask or message with your request. personal tags and creations are:

★ writing – mswr ★ web weaving – myc

★ uploads – msup ★ outfits – msft

★ moodboards – my mbs

★ text posts – mishrambles

thank you so much for reading this 🩶

[sarenhale]

Tell me your ffxiv house snagging secrets? 🥺 life has been really shitty lately so I’ve been trying to get a house but have been having zero luck. I tried following advice I found online but I guess I’m doing it wrong. Love your blog, and love Aydee, precious little meow meow

Gonna put this under read more since it's a bit long.

Ok so I have no idea how experienced you are in ffxiv housing hunting, but first of all, you should totally be in these discords that give great and lenghty advice on how to camp plots without losing your mind/wasting your time: Sadu's (if you play on NA) Alisaie's (if you play on EU like me)

My tips are:

Only and always camp in prime time (prime time is the time window between 10 hours / 14 hours AFTER a plot goes up as available to grab. You can check when a plot came up in these two discords (depending on the world/DC you're on) as people regularly go check available plots and tell everyone when they became available. Then you make your own math and count to time the plot became available -> around 10h past to 14h, it's prime time, so time to camp that plot and smash that 'buy plot' button on the placard babey. ( Basically people have done statistics on the time plots unlock and people manage to snag 'em, and the statistics point to the 10 / 14 hours as the prime time of plots unlocking. (People way more intelligent and math savvy than me have done the maths on this, and I can personally say It Works. The numbers don't lie!!!) )

When you're camping, decide how long you're gonna stay and use your time to do this thing- set limits, and don't overdo it. If you're tired, just rest. A house isn't worth losing your mind and hands over. But if you're up for it, smash that button- in the end, the plot has more probability to go to the one that is costantly clicking. It's true it's random and luck- but costantly pressing the button is what makes the difference. When I got my personal plot, I was competing against other 5 people, but only one other person was clicking at that time (since I was observing everyone and watching if they were actively clicking), so that made my win much more probable

Use the numpad or a controller. Don't use your mouse, you're gonna get tired real quick, and your fingers are gonna start hurting after a couple of minutes. Use a controller instead, or the numpad on your keyboard. Much easier on your fingers and quicker too (both disc servers I linked have more detailed information on how to use your numpad and set up your controller)

Put on the 'busy' status, as some people are out for blood and will try to trade you costantly to prevent you clicking (and generally this way you avoid any harrassing tells you could get... unfortunately some people get real nasty over this shit)

Unfortunately there are a lot of people using third party clickers spammers programms. This is unavoidable. But if you see someone using one (a way of telling is if they're never moving, emoting, saying anything, and most of all, stay spam clicking for minutes/hours even after someone has got the plot or they themselves got it!), report it via the squenix support tab, on the squenix site or in game. (support-> contact us in game, report for cheating, third party softwares)

Put on a movie, podcast or call a friend on discord or something. Chances are you're gonna do this a lot and spend some time clicking and spamming, and god knows you will need the distraction. I personally put Safiya Nygaard's video on youtube because she makes me happy LOL

Your health comes first!! if you see you're getting in a bad mental place, your back/hands hurt too much, STOP. A virtual plot of land isn't worth screwing your health over

Related to the previous tip... take breaks!! While I was house hunting, I wasn't doing it every single day, that would've sucked so much and reduced me to the husk of a human being. I took some well deserved breaks, week long breaks, and then came back with more energy and determination when I was feeling less frustrated by the clicking and losing.

And finally... my experience isn't universal, I'm on a EU data center which is waaay less competitive than NA housing (and my world is also one of the less populated on my DC!) , so if you're on NA or a more populated world/DC, chances are your experience is going to be way different than mine. It sucks to hear, but it is easier to get a plot in less populated DCS and worlds, which is my case. I don't even wanna think about how getting an house on NA DCS is like. BUT! It isn't impossible! A lot of people get their plots daily on NA servers too, so if you really wanna do this, keep your chin up and keep trying, with regards to your health, of course. And then... GOOD LUCK!! I cast good luck on ya!!

[kellachfromthewoods]

LFRP: Kellach Woods

(turns out I never did one of these)

Character Name: Kellach Woods

The Basics ––– –

Age: Perpetually in a state of being mid 20s

Birthday: 12th Sun of the 3rd Astral Moon (May 12th)

Race: Midlander Hyur. Often confused for a Highlander hyur.

Gender: Male

Sexuality: Pansexual, even if it doesn't look it.

Marital Status: Married to one Eamont Desormeaux

Alignment: Oscillates between Chaotic Good and True Neutral, depending on the needs of his found family.

Elemental Affinity: Umbral Earth

What I’m Looking For ––– –

Adventure, IC dungeons or just exploring ruins in the open world! There's plenty out there!

Fellow Blue Mages who aren't all about the theatrics of the Celestrium

Chocobo handlers

People who just have weird stuff happen to them (to commisserate)

Dressing up for no reason at all

What I’m Not Looking For ––– –

Shit heads

IC villains. It's more a realistic outcome issue where both parties would finish the other off early in the story since Kellach does not fuck around and likely neither does your villain.

Isekai'd characters from realms unrelated to FFXIV - I'm only putting this here because it's happened a few times and well, nobody was having fun. Even assuming I liked the premise (I don't), I probably do not know whatever realm your character came from even OOC, and probably won't be able to give you the interactions you want.

Other OOC Notes ––– –

So, hey there. I play Kell in the critically acclaimed massively multiplayer online role-playing game Final Fantasy XIV. While Kellach can sometimes be a lil sourpuss, he's very excitable when it comes to Actually Doing Things. Of course, if you just want to discuss blue magic, his, uh, unique sense of fashion, or just good ol' fightin' with weapons or not, he's also available.

Now I'm on Discord all the time practically, but personally I like to not mix things. I'll post IC stuff here but RP involving me and my characters' an inside the game thing. Planning or throwing ideas around? We can do that anywhere though!

You can keep readin' by clickin' on the thing.

Physical Appearance ––– –

Hair: Black with differently colored highlights, though lately they have been settling on blue. Typically wears his hair in the Gyr Abanian Plait style, or the side ponytail.

Eyes: Golden.

Height: 5 fulms 7.1 ilms

Build: Demonstrably muscular. Often claimed to be too thicc for a Midlander.

Distinguishing Marks: While often hidden behind a mask, a facial scar that goes from the right forehead diagonally down to the left cheek, passing by the nose.

Common Accessories: Masks, and typically partial ones that still show his face. From an ancient Allagan design to a Blue Mage's domino mask, Kellach has several of these for many occasions and outfits. Outside of those, he often carries what he has taken to call the adventurer's emergency kit, a belt pouch containing potions and several ailment erasing items just in case problems arise. He's also prone to wearing single-earrings and makeup to deepen the looks of the masks' insides and, well, make his lips look more luscious, even if he's married.

Usual Attire: It really depends - Typically, his attire will lack pants, preferring subligars and shorts to things that cover the legs. If he wears pants, they'll be particularly low-cut, as the example above. His attire typically reflects whichever weapon he's carrying - Blue when acting as a blue mage, ancient Allagan inspired gear for when he's carrying an Allagan blade, a combination shirt and subligar for when he's cruisin' for a bruisin', etc. He does have actual armor for operations, as well as other kits that can be used for other purposes, but they are often specialized and do not come out often.

Personal ––– –

Profession: ~ Ruins Explorer/Adventurer/Grave Robber: All different definitions of the same thing. Kellach stakes his savvy and combat prowess against the world's history in a search for knowledge, magical relics and just plum ol' adventure. ~ Coliseum Fighter: Under the moniker of Sabotender Ciclope, in part due to complications about him being Ul'dah and in part due to personal complications. Effectively a gatekeeper for the bloodsands with a very unorthodox style of weaponless fighting. It is, in part, a cover to listen in on possible leads for whatever his friends are investigating. ~ Bodyguard/Trade Caravan Escort: Using his martial prowess to help out Eorzea's lucrative trade routes, one bandit at a time. Has happened less and less lately due to being busy with other adventures. ~ Deputy Postmoogle: He used to be one, and perhaps one day, he will be again. All they have to do is ask, and he'll do it. If only because Kellach does owe them a lot. Despite one of their own accidentally revealing to his Free Company that he intended on sacrificing himself in a convoluted self-sacrificial plan that would have resulted in him somehow surviving. It's best to not ask.

Hobbies: Training in use of various weaponry, personal fashion, reading about ancient cultures, highly conceptual thinking (read: saying whatever stupid thought comes to mind)

Languages: Eorzean Common and a passing familiarity with Ancient Allagan

Residence: An apartment in the Ivory Tower, whereever it may be found.

Birthplace: A farm on an island south-south-west of Vylbrand formerly known as Toegisil (lit. Secret Island in Roegadyn), which had a small port for resupplying ships.

Religion: Not much of a believer, but Element worship - Fire/Air/Ice/Water/Air/Lightning

Patron Deity: If you ask him, he has none, but actually it's Althyk, as it was a chance encounter with Marauders that set him on the path he's on. Marauders are well known axemen, and Althyk's main symbol is a mythril axe.

Fears: Losing Eamont, losing his friends and found family, disappointing the above, mind control, Voidsent (a fear that manifests typically in overwhelming violence)

Nicknames: Kell. Woods, though that has fallen out of favor.

Relationships ––– -

Spouse: Eamont Desormaux. They wuv each other vewy vewy much.

Children: No adoptions yet.

Parents: Deceased

Siblings: His brother, Einrich, sole survivor of the mass suicide/self-genocide of Toegisil.

Other Relatives: All deceased

Pets: Pinchyshell - Smallshell Crab, deceased (eaten by a sea creature) Phantom - White Chocobo, released to frolick among the wild chocobos of Dravania Ser Régent de Grisville - White (fat) Chocobo, Kell is tasked to slimming him down. Three years later and a strict gyshal greens diet have done nothing to thin down the rotund bird Ringo - Red Panda, adopted by Eamont and welcomed in their little abode. It likes Eamont more than Kell. Several other animals that somehow glom up to Kell in bizarre circumstances.

Traits ––– -

* Bold your character’s answer.

Extroverted / In Between / Introverted

Disorganized / In Between / Organized

Close Minded / In Between / Open Minded

Calm / In Between / Anxious

Disagreeable / In Between / Agreeable

Cautious / In Between / Reckless

Patient / In Between /  Impatient

Outspoken / In Between / Reserved

Leader / In Between / Follower

Empathetic / In Between / Apathetic

Optimistic / In Between / Pessimistic

Traditional / In Between / Modern

Hard-working / In Between / Lazy

Cultured / In Between / Uncultured

Loyal / In Between / Disloyal

Faithful / In Between / Unfaithful

Additional information ––– –

Personality: Kellach is essentially what people would consider as weird. Whether it's his alleged aversion to pants, the ideas he comes up with (the healing gun, the cannon-on-a-stick, the emergency beaver, etc.) typically require a keen understanding of the way his mind works as they often jump out of nowhere. He's gotten used to getting that reaction, but so long as it's just an observation and not an evaluation of him as a person, he's fine with it. Other than that, he's excitable and in a funk, easily distracted with physical things to do. While he's difficult to approach due to a combination of attire and reputation, he's a fiercely loyal friend for those who manage to do so.

Recreational Substances: Kellach is particularly boring on that point, in that he will drink and even then very much in moderation. He got rip roaringly drunk at one point and suffice it to say problems occurred.

Favorite Foods: Fish on rice, meat (any) roasted over a campfire, natural berries, grilled fish, savory salads

Likes: Discoveries, problem-solving, recreational fighting, good company, blue magic

Dislikes: Nobility of blood or coin, inaction,

Virtues: Loyal, honest, sense of justice

Vices: No regards to the sanctity of life, martyr complex, dishonorable

RP Hooks ––– –

Ruins Explorer: You've got an ancient ruin that needs breaking into for archaeological or more mundane pecuniary purposes? There's a Kellach interested, salivating at the idea!

No Celestrium, No Problem: Kellach is a bonafide Blue Mage, albeit one who came to the art in an odd way. With such bizarre magics being unfamiliar in Eorzea and the world, perhaps you want to consult someone who isn't too busy preening for the Celestrium (instead preening for the sake of preening!)

The Deputy Postmoogle's Last Delivery: Kellach owes the moogles several favors, and we all know how lazy they are. He might need to put on the uniform while you make use of your FemRoe Prime membership.

Who Is This Masked Fellow?: During a particularly unpleasant time in his life, Kellach went in search of himself, and uh, accidentally created several identities that might be wanted for various activities. Maybe your character wants to figure out who they are and what happened?

Other stuff!: Kellach has a tendency to fit in anywhere due to his strange sense of morality, his ability to introduce a little bit of levity and comedy in scenes that you believe might need it while being completely serious if needed. I'm pretty adaptable.