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autumnslance · 4 months

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Do you have any preliminary headcanons for your character going into Dawntrail? If not, have you ever had ideas for your character(s) based on upcoming expansions and how did they morph/change as you played through the story?

I actually, really don't!

I don't plan out how/why my characters pick new jobs up; I want to see how the new job plays and what it's lore and story actually is before deciding how and why my gals might get to it, or if I want to tweak it at all. I'm not spending too much effort on baseless plot and NPC speculation and making intricate plans that will be jossed by level 93 and how MSQ actually does unfold.

The closest I ever came to pre-planning anything for an expac was "we're going to Thavnair; I'll finally get lore to flesh out some of Aeryn's family stuff and decide how to fit in my headcanons for them" (as I purposefully made them a minority ethnic group in Thavnair for the reasons we had only a little lore for so many years, and no nation is a monolith anyway, and then the writers' discussion at previous FanFest 2023 panels really drove home how they tried to make Thavnair a diverse melting pot culture due to its history and trade position, so that worked out). But even then I waited until I actually played through MSQ to really decide what to adjust or keep.

A reason I go through with Dark Autumn first is to just enjoy the story (or not) as it comes, to get my own knee jerk reactions and feelings out of the way. And then I go through again on Aeryn or C'oretta and see how the story's constructed to reach the finale, and consider my WoL's reactions, thoughts, and feelings, and where that takes her story. Sometimes my opinion on certain things may even change, or I get a different idea for how it looks and works when seeing it again and considering the IC angles on that new run.

I might still do so when going through my 3rd or 4th time on alts or in NG+, even years later, as I've changed since then and also seen later storyline and how they go together now.

And then I probably spend a few years playing within those lines and scenes and ideas in my fanfic. But I also tend to keep my WoL fairly close to the canon storyline for the most part and with as close as I can get to the canon depictions of the NPCs. Other, own story stuff tends to happen based on interactions with friends and their writing, or random ideas at random times and deciding if they work or not (like Corran's history and Avengret hitting me out of nowhere based on prompts).

Also it's kinda nice to just open the expac on Day 1 with no real expectations or preconceptions, just letting story and gameplay roll in and sweep me along with them. Frankly, I think more folks really ought to give that a try, instead of pitching fits over how the expansion wasn't all they hoped and dreamed and so was a giant disappointment based on...what? Fanon? Headcanon? Speculation? Hopes for complicated plans they made for their OCs based on out of context lines and screens from FanFest and the trailers?

Just try experiencing a story for what it is and what it's trying to do, not self-hyped preconceptions, in any direction.

I dunno. A lot of words to say that I just like seeing how the world is written and presented, as it hits my characters and determine their plots that way, not ahead of time. I want to be inspired by the gameworld, not try to twist it into something it isn't (and will never be) when I can just write in my own original settings for that. My creation in FF14 is fanfiction on the story and characters presented.

Also I really am just tied up in my original writing at the moment, new MSQ will be a break and brief bout of new fandom creativity.

#final fantasy xiv #Lyn Prompts #about me #blogging #speculation #planning

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humblemooncat · 4 months

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It's the calm before the storm Things aren't as they were before You best start bracing Did you think you could keep us out? Shut the gates, forget us now The tides are changing Can you hear the sound? Can't stop us now

Going back to his roots. It's Stormblood time. :3c

Lohi's mother, U'naira (Previously M'naira) , was Ala Mhigan. She was adopted into the U because the prior Nunh, Lohi's father, found her both strong and beautiful and took her as a wife. She still offered what support she could to those within Little Ala Mhigo, but she could not deny being with the tribe made her feel at home, even so far away from her own.

And so she bore a son whom she regaled with tales of her homeland, and of the mighty Rhalgr. Of her own tribe, and the wanderlust that made her venture beyond it to the heart of the city she left behind.

Would that she could be around to see her son lead the charge to free her home at long last.

This is part of the reason he'd gotten along well enough with the Ala Mhigan refugees after a time. His mother's name gave them pause, and his deeds had them welcome him with open arms.

It's also why he rallied behind Lyse without a second thought. Besides her being his best friend, of course.

Anyway, enjoy the lore, and an even more buff, bearded Lohi. I'm gonna go run through the SB Monk quests as much as I'm able. I miss Widargelt.

Also, for those interested, Lohi's MSQ Playlist is now updated to the start of SB.

#U'lohi #Moon replays MSQ #Finally hit Stormblood!#Look at this buff kitty #He looks ready to beat the shit out of the Empire #Also Gosetsu is his uncle now #he's adopted him as such

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soothingmind · 15 hours

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Melee DPS

Monk

That definitely was ... an interesting journey! I believe this is one of the most enjoyable jobs to play at lv50. And from lv60 on it already feels quite complete, which I really like. The rotation is crazy (positive), and while there definitely is a clear path for it, I jumble over my own buttons and fail after a time lol, but I must say I really like it.

I get why Monk is one of the poster jobs for Stormblood, it adds lore and context to it and it was so cool to see. Shoutout to the two Monk catgirls ... Rooting for you.

Dragoon

The second class I ever picked up, back when I was playing ARR, and used it on the side doing MSQ. Unfortunately I haven't really played it ever since I finished EW and only use it solely in PVP now. But I have definitely grown to it, straight forward rotation, I do like this kit, but I can see improvements made - which they will hopefully do, let's see!

It's been quite a while since I did that job quest for it, I do remember being annoyed to venture back and forth for the quest in Stormblood though. However I think a charm point is truly Estinien becoming a main character just like that. I think they should do this more often, having others just randomly appear and stay a while tbh.

Ninja

A job I enjoyed playing, but I have to say I don't really have ... strong emotions to it I think. I don't want to say it feels bland to me, I don't think it's the right word. Something like "if I had to choose a melee dps it's not what I would be going for". The Mudra are nice. Why do we get the second AOE at lv52 - but anyways! I don't think there is anything wrong with it in a whole. Maybe it's just not my playstyle I don't know hm.

I found the quests quite enjoyable I have to say! Truly unique characters honestly. Very ... Naruto Ninja. Including the gay people. Definitely a questline I enjoyed more than others!

Samurai

Became a secret favorite not going to lie. I had extremly fun discovering how all of this works, the sheer damage you can do with everything feels so good. Intuitive rotation I have to say, you press funny buttons and it's beautiful. Truly truly enjoyed this one!

The quest ... - not to repeat myself but - is very Samurai and I liked that. From Samurai Masters to people trying to find their purpose among other Samurai. Betrayal. It definitely had me looking forward to the next quest each time.

Reaper

Surprising no one when I say this became my fave Melee. It was something I picked up right after I finished EW back then, because I wanted to learn a new class and I was hooked. Funny scythe goes swish swoosh. Absolutely adore this kit, lv90 feels awesome (lv70 not so much), and I can't wait to see what they are cooking for it next.

Yeah the quest may not be everyone's cup of tea, but I do like how it ties basically into post-EW somewhat. Definitely like the background lore they created with it, which also leaves much playground to toy with. And because of that I do have to say I enjoyed that one.

#WoL be small #lv90 class ramblings

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drachenblood · 11 months

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still haven't done msq, but did panda and my loose thoughts:

i think so far this might be my fav tier out of the three for this expac. the boss design are varied and the music slaps. found myself singing to the last boss' theme several times.

also i've been hearing a lot of horror stories about how people have been wiping 10+ times to certain bosses and i feel considerably lucky that we got some good groups. of the four, elidibus' fight was the most boring. i liked the call backs to SOS ex and the remix and the arena was gorgeous, but for how they hyped the fight up in the story i was expecting more than thanjeet 2.0

storywise, i think with everything concluded, that i'd rank this as my third fav? so it'd be eden > bahamut > panda > omega > alexander. i just think it fell flat in developing the final boss of the tier. i was hoping to get more about athena, but then she went on this top 10 most cliche anime villain diatribe and it soured everything for me. although i did laugh when she called erich utterly useless until the end or something like that. idk, it was horrible of me, but i love it when women are callous bitches sometimes.

i did like the aesthetics and how it had a quantum physics sort of vibe to it with string theory and the butterfly effect (i'm assuming that was what they were going for?). but otoh i'm a little miffed that of course it's a female boss, so she gets to be pretty and gorgeous. cowards.

erich not being our present laha is whatever to me. i'm more disappointed we didn't get to find out what became of him after the raids were done other than instead of being dependent on athena, he's now chained himself to his father. he didn't really get to become his own person in the end, which if i were more invested in his character i might have cared more, but it's just one of those eyebrow raising decisions in their writing for me.

anyway i'm beyond done with raids having their stories tied to ascians and ancients so i am genuinely hoping we move past them.

tldr: i enjoyed the entire raid as a whole. kinda tired of women being ground under the heels of men for the sake of their development, but why am i expecting any better from SE?

#🐉┇ooc #6.4 spoilers

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woaddragoon-nadya · 19 days

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Calling it for the...night

It is 5am so really calling it for the morning. All a matter of perspective

I am in love with Stormblood thus far. Below will be personal ramblings about why so that I have something to reflect on when I finish it. Obviously spoilers below, for Heavensward and up to the Ruby Sea in Stormblood

I find Lyse to be a really compelling character, and she's been one of my favorite scions from the very beginning. Getting to follow her is really awesome.

I love the dynamic of the crew. It contrasts STARKLY with the Heavensward group.

In HW we had Estinien (emo), Ysayle (emo), and Alphinaud (at the time emo). It was such a shift from the dramatic, yet lighthearted, tone of ARR. I came to really love and care for those characters, but literally everyone in the group being cold or depressed meant it took a very long time to latch on to any of them.

In SB, we have a larger rotating group so there can be characters who aren't drowning emotionally. Lyse is deeply emotionally invested, but she's also a hot head blonde with a good sense of humor. Alphinaud is no longer pretending to be totally mature and is relearning his dynamic with his sister, leading to him being roasted constantly. Alisaie is the emo of the group, but she still pokes fun at her brother and remains the logical planner.

NPCs have been totally awesome. I won't spoil anything for SB but I just find even minor NPCs to be well written and fun. In HW, I cared about the main crew, but anybody else I just didn't get attached to. I'll say Artoirel was probably the exception to that. I didn't even really have particular feelings about Aymeric until almost the very end of HW.

In SB? Gosetsu had me laughing within the first 30 seconds of his introduction. Shell Fella (cannot remember his name) I immediately vibed with. Tansui's VA had me interested in his first couple lines. Every character in Rhalgar's reach tugged on my heartstrings, especially Meffrid and M'naggo.

Some of this I think is I was sort of going through a mental health dip when I started HW, so that definitely impacted how much I enjoyed it. I might go through New Game+ and see if maybe I'd like it more now.

The final comment is the scenery. After slogging through the dullness of Coerthas and Ishgard, the sudden brightness of Kugane was such a moodlift. Things are detailed and colorful, generally a joy to look at. i think Rhalgar's Reach also suffered a little bit from it's dullness, but I prefer Ul'dah yellow dull to Ishgard gray dull, y'know? Not to totally shit on HW, because there are certain areas that are totally beautiful. They just weren't the areas I spent hours in for MSQ. I think the best parts of MSQ took place in the worst scenery, and vice versa the best scenery had either really short or dull MSQ. (Why did we have to do the Floating Islands, one of the coolest areas of HW, with Emmalaine's stupid annoying ass? ;( )

Anyway, I did end up enjoying Heavensward in the end despite all that. Which only makes me enjoying Stormblood off the bat way more exciting.

The Girlboss crew + Alphinaud.

#ffxiv #nadya hollow #Stormblood spoilers #Heavensward spoilers

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therealdesastrffxiv · 6 months

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My Thoughts on 6.5! (Note: Spoilers.)

Hey everyone :)

A little background on me - I'm a new player as of late Shadowbringers from World of Warcraft. I know, I know! A scary WoW player. Rest assured, I'm a roleplayer, and not an elitist. I did like PvE content in WoW, but I prefer story building and roleplay. I'm an author, after all!

Anyhow, with that in mind, I admittedly wasn't a huge fan of 6.5 MSQ. What was intriguing about the 6.x series was how Zero's character was challenging the notion of voidsent being just evil in the MSQ. We've seen instances in side content where this is the case, and in fact emphasized - a lot of All Saint's Wake stuff comes to mind (speaking of which, where's the info on it for this year? I'm dying to know!). However, in this instance, Zero's story in my personal opinion really did not end well at all. It was the typical 'defeat dark with light' and 'cure the void'. We went from a half-voidsent hero with a cool, unique aesthetic to just another paladin. I don't mind stories where a darker character goes lighter... in a vacuum. When it's repeated over and over and never in the reverse, to show the 'dark' stuff can be used for good too, though, it gets SUPER old. Why can't we have a paladin/light user switch to 'dark magic' and be a hero? (I know it happens a lot in side content, but I'd want to see it as a highlight of a story for once.) The "Warrior of Darkness" thing they did in Shadowbringers was super neat! But it was, all in all, in TITLE only, not actual lore. The Warrior of Light/Darkness didn't switch unless it's your OC lore that it happened.

All in all, I was disappointed. Any nuance she had went out the window with that generic, predictable ending, and Golbez's arc was waaaay too rushed to be satisfying at all. One could argue he's the 'good void user' or something, but I honestly don't buy it. Meanwhile, Zero's character design changed greatly too. I rolled my eyes hardcore while her scythe broke. Sigh. Plus, what happened to Zero's camp where she was helping voidsent? Voidsent not (as) aggressive? I wanted to see more of them and help them... with Zero (before she became a paladin). They just... left that there. No closure at all. Ugh. One could say everyone there was killed by Barbariccia but i thought they were all freed once she was slain?

Anyway, I was told 6.5 was a callback to FFIV or something, but I've not played any other games and have no interest in doing so. FFXIV has my interest and the reliance on nostalgia in stories is kinda meh. I dunno. Maybe these portions of the game aren't for me, but it's just... disappointing. It doesn't make it a good story. To me, it just wasn't.

(For WoW fans - the story reminded me of Calia & Lothraxion. Somewhat of the blood elf story as well. I'd say Lightforged Draenei, but they're not the dark to light trope so much as just fanatical light users.)

I liked the Myths of the Realm better, but I've seen the community voicing their distaste for what happened, and while I actually enjoy a huge chunk of it, the ending left me feeling very hollow. I've figured out why that is now, too.

I think one of my 'dislikes' even if I like the overarching story of the Myths of the Realm is that we just met everyone, and they all left. I sort of wish it was more 'hey we need a break, can you help us so we can take it? We want to become normal mortals for a little while and learn more about the world in person'. While remaining the gods and gathering power again so they can help more effectively.

I dunno. That would have been a more satisfying ending for me as opposed to them all essentially dying and leaving us with… no gods. It just feels really sad that after all these near world-ending exterminations, now the gods leave. I understand why - they need a break. But yeah… I kinda wish it was done that way 😭 Because I hate meeting a character, loving that character, seeing personification of very powerful entities… and having to say goodbye right away. It just feels really sad. I guess that's the point, but yeah.

I don't mind they were originally people and morphed by beliefs, but I also wish there were hints that peoples' faith were forming new gods (that again - would retain personalities and humble-ness stuff.)

Because after thinking about it for some time, it just feels kinda sad that they're needed the most now, after the world was nearly exterminated, and now they're saying goodbye :s It feels like now more than ever is the perfect time for them to do what they'd understood they should be doing for the world and helping people.

Alternatively, choosing new gods/passing the baton onto someone to help. Choosing your own fate is great and all, but with many people being faith-based (something I don't see as a bad thing - but I'm polytheistic irl) it would have felt better. I would have really enjoyed this option, it could have started a new era and still upheld the faith of the people of Etheirys. To include the tribal deities as well, as opposed to just strictly putting down peoples' primals.

Anyhow. Endwalker had its ups and downs to me. I don't hate it, it was the first expansion I played through with everyone else, after all. Ultima Thule was interesting, I wish we saw more of it. Hated Garlemald at first, but then the sidequests and RP with my friend really opened my eyes and showed me far more nuance with them in general, which was neat. The ending boss was lackluster, and I thought Zodiark was being built to be a WAY bigger threat than he was.

I know it's trendy to hate on Endwalker, and that's not what I'm trying to do. I'm just sharing my thoughts on why the postpatch story felt really off and disappointing to me. I left WoW Shadowlands because of the horrible, abysmal lore. I really hope FFXIV doesn't take that path, and Dawntrail is treated better.

We're going into it with some rushed, 'tied up loose ends' and a favorite part of the game for me with much intrigue (the void) essentially 'to be fixed fine and dandy' or something. I dunno... it just... meh. It does remind me of my disappointment with Shadowlands, and just how horrible that was fucked up, but not as badly, at least.

FFXIV has the benefit of housing for RP though, and me and my RP partner taking our own paths in the story with super intricate plotlines, so there is that. A lot of the side quest content has been phenomenal even if MSQ has let me down bigtime lately. I still love this game and will be playing it. After all, I need to grind PotD and get my Necromancer title on one of my OCs. That...and grind a bunch of my alts up through EW. I know, I'm a crazy alta-holic.

Oh! I will mention one thing I did like about the postpatch EW story though. The dragon, and Vtra being reunited with his sister. That was pretty neat, I did like that. Super cute, and lovely. Good riddance to Zero who I originally adored and was intrigued by, and who now is just another paladin. Hello to a new dragon friend, I guess.

Edit: Also, I probably am coming across as someone who just 'hates the light'. I don't, and think it can be cool to depict either fire or warmth in the light, and the 'light at the end of the tunnel', but when it's repeated over and over as 'the light will defeat the evil darkness' in common media including beyond FFXIV, it just gets tiresome. Again, I'm coming from WoW, which is another game utterly notorious for doing that. We also see it in D&D. It's a common trope in FFXIV in general and I adore seeing signs that hey, maybe this portion of the story will break it, only to be disappointed.

At least we got to see Sin Eaters as bad in ShB. Hell, I'd even like to see some sin eaters take the lore-route of voidsent - some being good, some being bad. It sucks that there currently isn't any lore for that right now, so in that case, I would like to see some nuance and development there, because it'd be really cool to see variants in that aspect too. Trust me, I wish for the 'I hope the extreme end of this can be good as well' too.

#ffxiv #ff14 #final fantasy 14 #final fantasy xiv #ffxiv rp #wol #ffxiv spoilers #ffxiv endwalker #endwalker spoilers #myths of the realm spoilers #6.5 spoilers #msq spoilers #6.5 msq

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la-scree · 8 months

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Let's Talk About FFXIV's Dancer Story...

For the few who know I exist and voted for this in the poll I put up, it's time to talk about one of the Jobs within Final Fantasy XIV: Dancer. And how...I really find the story horrible. Much worse than Paladin's.

Now before people start coming at me with 'but um actually's, I'm going to state this: I actually love Dancer. I've always been a sucker for classes and jobs who put focus on performance aspects. While I'm not a dancer, I used to sing in choirs and be in my schools' drama clubs. Yes, I was a Drama Kid but not the crazy batshit ones like you see on Glee. I just had fun with it. I also tend to main the Dancer Job at least when I play on Yua and anytime I really don't feel like doing much/my brain decides to go brrrrrrrr after a shift at work. You would too if you had to deal with face to face interactions. It's also great that I tend to think of great glams that would look good without the usage of mods and a lot of my glamour plates tend to be either casting or aiming involved. And yet despite all of this, I have strong feelings about the story. Negative ones.

But it wasn't always like this. In fact, when Dancer was announced during Fanfest before Shadowbringers hit, I was happy to know it was a Ranged DPS. I was going to level it first then hit the MSQ afterwards. And when I played it the first time, I thought it was alright and enjoyed it. Proudly sported the AF gear and paraded around (that's kind of a big oof there but more qualified folks can talk about that than me) But then...others started bringing up some issues they had with Dancer's story; about how the tone didn't feel right or the story was giving off a bad message. And this made me think because people weren't pulling this out of their asses, they were talking about points in the story that I myself had glossed over. Unlike how I was with Hien, blindly going along with the majority in saying how bad he was, I decided to replay the story on another character and really go through all the dialogue and story and see if they had some weight to it.

And they were right. Replaying it, I had started to get angry and really rip into it on the second go. It wasn't until my forth run that I could finally really get a good sense of how I felt. I still deemed it as the worst but I could word why a bit better.

So what is the story anyway? A group of dancers from Thavnair travel to Eorzea and want to 'bring succor'. The group, Troupe Falsiam, performs in Limsa and their leader, Nashmeira (looks like a prim rich lady) sees you and asks you if you wanna join them as a dancer and kind of psuedo guide around the realm so they perform. You also meet her protege, Ranaa, who feels like the genki girl that I swear if I didn't know better that she'd try and act like Tomo from Azumanga Daioh, and she's all happy that you're coming along. It's not until later, around level 65 that Nashmeira reveals that she was hiding something from you and the others: their journey was to stop a dance called the Totentanz from causing chaos and despair.

(On a side note, why the fuck is this dance and the war dance we know are German names and our attacks are French origin names when we don't get anything like it in Thavnair proper? Or was this a 'pull out of our ass and need some pretty names for attacks?' We'll never know.)

And where do we go to stop this place? Poor areas.

You heard me.

Nashmeira's idea is to go to poorer areas, dance for them, bring out a despair monster from it, fight it, and...that's it. Everyone should be happy for about five minutes while not knowing that it wasn't for show. So we're lying about it too? Oh goodie. It's here where I'm starting to see the tone shift/deafness of the story. Here's this conflict happening but what are you trying to tell the audience? A dance will make your problems go away?

In an ideal world, that would be nice but I bet if Nashmeira met and talked to a poor person, did her dance, the poor person is probably going to look at her and ask "It's nice and all but how is that going to help me get food/shelter?" In fact, during the level 63 quest, one of the troupe members asks her why poor people in particular while agreeing that both the common and higher classes should be able to enjoy dancing, it doesn't explain why specifically the poor. You find out later that 'poor folks are more prone to despair' according to her.

Bet during Endwalker, that line of thinking bit her in the ass.

Nashmeira: "Just trust me bro, it'll be fine."

Another point to this is that during the story, this is the only time someone kind of questions the troupe's leader. There's no one who looks at this in the story and questions why they're doing this and what will it help with. Again, no one speaks up and asks "Hey, how will this help me?" or even challenges Nashmeira or Ranaa's beliefs or about what they're doing. Hell, Counselingway from the Loporrits even questioned the Dreaming Ways in their questline. When a dumb meme rabbit does better than you, something's up.

The issue I have here is that Nashmeira isn't doing what she says she's doing. In order to actually stop despair, one has to look at the situation, figure what's causing the conflict, and try to stop it there. Some may say that what she and the troupe are doing are putting a band aid on but what good is it going to do if there's no result of the solution provided? They're not stopping despair, they're just only pretending to do so. It's even worse when some of the people they're trying to help are duskwights (level 65 she and the troupe actually see them as villains instead of people who need help and had them arrested by the Twin Adder and constantly demean them, calling them from rabble-rousers to nasty duskwights), those of the Brume (who have been going through some nasty revelations since the Dragonsong War ended), and those affected by the Garlean Empire's rule for over 20 years. It's heavy matters but it's just thrown off to the side like it's nothing. None of these characters have nothing to say about the meaning of despair, what a dance could do, nothing about how the art is connected to Thavnair outside 'we're from Radz-at-Han'.

Which brings me to another point as to why I say this story is the worst: the motivations of its main characters. Or rather, the lack of motivation. I brought up that Paladin is second compared to this and it's because at least a character had a motivation for picking up the sword: remember that kid from the 50-60 questline? He wanted to get stronger because his mom died. Still a shitty motivation but at least he has one. We never learn why Nashmeira or Ranaa chose the path of the Dancer. Why do they dance? Outside of this mission bullshit, we don't really understand these characters we're supposed to be standing by. While they try to give Ranaa something in the 80 capstone quest, it just has her go to Kugane. Just that and you and her dance together to let her make her choice. Why does she dance? Why and how did she get to come across the troupe? How did she become Nashmeira's protege? If I didn't play this questline four times, I would probably needed to google their names or just call them Rich Lady and Genki Catgirl. They're boring to follow and all I wanted to do was just move onwards so I could get Technical Step. I dragged my feet during my last playthrough because it was that bad.

To add on about the shift in tone, another reason I want to point out is that it was introduced in Shadowbringers. Given the idea of using emotions and finding ways to drive away despair, it should have been introduced in Endwalker. Not only that but it could have given more about the dancers' culture since we see a lot of Radiant Host members are in fact dancers. The tone of each of these expansion stories are different and it just feels like Dancer was just thrown in there because they already had two Jobs for the next expansion and in all honesty, makes me kind of sad. But even in Endwalker, we don't have any kind of lore or stories about the dancers unless you dig through a throwaway line during a small side quest in order to unlock another side questline. They just feel rather forgotten.

However, I think because quite a lot of people had feedback on it, and this is only a silly theory, the devs tried to do more within some of the sections like Thavnair's second half as the Palaka's Stand folk speak about what they learned from the gods or even Endwalker's Role Quests (minus the capstone); actually, those questlines address things I even brought up here like a conflict that's deep rooted within the community and steps to take to make it better besides 'kill the blasphemy'. You can't just fight the thing, you have to understand who they were, why they turned, what's the root conflict, and try to solve it. Some did it better than others but they tried at least.

And if you made it this far, congrats. You somehow survived my ramblings. And if you disagree and think that the Dancer Story is S Tier, then cool. It's ok to think that way. These are just my thoughts and overall, Dancer deserved much better because the potential there is great. But potential can only go so far. You can't solve despair with just a dance: you got to attack it head on and do something to ensure it stays at bay.

#ffxiv #ffxiv dnc #dnc story sucked hard #dnc #lita has thoughts

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toestalucia · 8 months

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T___________________________T everything to me......

lil more talk + main story spoilers and me not wanting to resize pictures↓

first of all this imagery makes me scream. idk what they're doing with it, but as a main story fan and the last few times they did something like that, the dream is this

i lov being delusional. please cygames. its zegagrande lets fkng go. please. for me....

"The Astral realm is Lilith's home" and still no sight of loki<////3 i dont expect any old astrals to appear of. the ones thats uh. um. alive.<3 but i want relink to be spoilers sooooooo bAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAD. ITS ZEGAGRANDE.

(voice of someone whos delusional and in love with msq) do u think thats another timeline lyria

the eyes + the strand of hair before her face thats ????? the old lyria........... have NO idea what theyre doing (<3 thinks of my olde star coffer lyria clone 'haha what if' theory before the timelines came into play<3), so maybe it rly is our lyria (red flag speech, djeeta smiling, gran alone....but shining blue which reminds me of the anime tbh when they fight tiamat) but since we alrdy have timelines. why not go wild with it. im still eehhh about timelines but im enjoying myself so? lets go all out. sucks no shitori. bring shitori to relink

on that note considering the? uh? merge of star coffer lyria and our lyria??? or whatever that was???? does that have um. side effects cygames. does lyria have memories of that. cuz i think thatd be a concept alright.

i have Nothing concrete on these thoughts, cuz its been a hot minute since i last watched the other trailers but i want them to spoil stuff SO bad. even versus mentions holy erste empire in like the first minute...........why not mention maxwell and blf minute two in relink............for me.....

I DO have some thoughts on the? lyria summoning scene in general since. its the same primal isnt it? but different colors? but.............anyway very exciting

#stardust speaking !#gbf spoilers #i like main story a normal amount #im part of the annoying club who sees something and goes 'oh main story mention?'#i have two basic complaints about relink and its that no djeeta on the box art is. ): UNLESS. the reverse one is djeeta<3 #'what if theres no reverse box art' i dont wanna think of that world #also the lack of msq charas. CONGRATULATIONS TO FERRY OUR SINGLEnon main crew MSQ REPRESENTATION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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idololivine · 11 months

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new FFXIV update means I'm getting pulled back into an old hyperfixation, so I'm bringing you a crossover that appeals to literally just me and no one else babey! AU where the gang are FFXIV players

Eiden: the all-rounder of all time. happily plays all roles, crafts and gathers on the side. FC leader for the rest of the clan and also raid leads the FC static.

Aster: the crafter-gatherer main of all time, king of the marketboard, island sanctuary spreadsheeter. he made sure the FC has the biggest mansion in the best location, always has the best glam, and supplies the FC static with gear/food/pots.

Morvay: omni-tank main and absolute king of "how the fuck did you survive that?". very solid player, you're always happy to see him in your party. ERPs in between raid nights and actually earns a lot of gil doing so.

Yakumo: likes healing casual content, but he mains DPS in raids because he's so afraid of holding the party back. Eiden and Olivine are encouraging him to try healing harder content, so he's thinking about playing a healer the next time they tackle a new extreme.

Edmond: wishes Paladin were a DPS. mains Paladin anyway. his character has a lore compliant name and backstory, but he doesn't talk about it because he's embarrassed about it. deeply invested in MSQ.

Olivine: omni-healer main with a preference for White Mage. he can flex roles in a pinch, but generally prefers support roles. he leans casual in terms of attitude and time commitment towards raiding, but he's the kind of healer who can salvage a really fucked up pull without missing a beat. secretly interested in ERP but has no idea how to start.

Quincy: Fisher main, but he doesn't go hard for big fish because they're too troublesome. also a retired raider and double legend, but you'd never know because he doesn't use the titles and you rarely see him on a combat job. sometimes Eiden begs him to sub in for a night in the FC static, and then Quincy will roll up on whatever role is needed, play like a god, then go back to fishing.

Kuya: Black Mage ONLY. 1.0 oldhead who still bitches about the devs removing Scholar DOTs, and swears that he would play healer if they just brought back cleric stance. you're glad cleric stance is no longer a thing because he'd spend half the instance rescue trolling the party.

Garu: the cutest Dancer main you've ever seen, but Eiden could be playing an Astrologian and Garu would still try to dance partner him. doesn't know his rotation, doesn't need to because he doesn't raid.

Karu: tries to be a big dick Samurai main but he's not very good at it. he has the capacity to be a lot better, but he's too prideful to take advice. gets mad when Dancers don't dance partner him.

Blade: a solid omnirole player, but he's an absolute beast on any DPS. casually PFs ultimates, regularly RPs, and does all the yellow sidequests. no one knows how he has the time for all of that.

Dante: doesn't have a lot of time to play, but always gives it full effort. tank/melee enjoyer. strict about punctuality and effort in the static, even though he's not the raid lead. you'd think he'd be a cutscene skipper, but he actually enjoys MSQ quite a bit.

Rei: Scholar main, but of the "fairy can deal with it" / "but did you die?" variety. you're getting absolutely no healing from him in pot windows, his fairy has been consumed and he's dumping nine aetherflow stacks into raid buffs. crafts a lot of raid food and pots, but if his static members want any they have to pay market prices.

#my posts #nu carnival

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dragons-bones · 2 years

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FFXIV Write Entry #13: Sun from Shadow

Prompt: confluence || Master Post || On AO3

A/N: Timeline note: set at some point in early Heavensward, during a reasonable lull in MSQ. Contains references to “Chance Encounters” from FFXIV Write 2018.

Aymeric was a son of Ishgard, raised by loving parents who did their best to prepare him for the den of hungry scalekin that was the mix of Ishgardian nobility and the highest echelons of the Halonic clergy, and even he was bewildered by the series of events that had led the remainders of the Scions of the Seventh Dawn to seek refuge within Ishgard. The wheels within wheels were utterly astonishing, the depth of Ul’dahn greed, even more so…and all of it upended because the Monetarists had forgotten, or overlooked, the combat prowess of the Archons.

And now five people who had been instrumental in ensuring Eorzea’s salvation from the encroachment of the Garleans were missing, possibly even dead, and the six remaining of the organization’s core considered fugitives from Ul’dahn justice.

There could be no question about how awful a situation it was for the Scions, and yet Aymeric had to admit to himself that he was selfishly glad for the opportunity it had presented himself.

He had been genuinely fascinated by the stories surrounding the Warriors of Light, first from what Haurchefant had shared from his meetings with them, and then via the tales that filtered north from the rest of Eorzea. Four women from disparate backgrounds who had already had a long history of friendship and seemingly stumbled onto the path of heroes of the realm, rendering aid not for glory but because it was the right thing to do. Adventurers had been a staple in Eorzea for decades, but their tale was like something from a storybook.

The meeting in Camp Dragonhead had not been the ideal situation in which to meet people he had come to admire from afar—politics had been the name of the day, and winding circles around young Master Alphinaud was hardly the best of impressions. But he had been grateful for it, anyway, the small chance to interact with the Warriors of Light.

Each of them was striking to behold: Alakhai with her dark skin and darker scales, deep mulberry hair, and wicked knives hanging from her belt; Rereha’s riotous pink-and-white hair like a peppermint candy, blindingly white smile, and the jaunty stockman’s hat in sky blue perched atop her head; Dancing Heron and her great height, the cool blue of her assessing gaze almost aglow against her russet skin. But it had been Synnove and her brilliant emerald eyes, the straightness of her spine, the absent tapping of her elegant fingers against the grimoire on her hip, that had captured his attention. Aymeric couldn’t quite say what about her had so entranced him; she had featured equally in all the stories he had heard from Haurchefant, and many of her virtues were shared by her sisters.

(He would point to the immediate aftermath of the meeting, with the discovery of the massacre Galette had enacted on the refreshments table prepared by the camp kitchen, and how Synnove had gone from scolding summoner to fondly exasperated mother to the smug carbuncle, as the real turning point in his fascination with the woman.)

But Aymeric had expected their contact to be sporadic, extraordinarily circumstances such as the battle on the Steps of Faith notwithstanding. Now, however, he had the chance to properly get to know Synnove, even as he acknowledged the unfairness in what had led to the chance.

Not that he didn’t attempt to get to know the other Scions, too. Master Alphinaud had taken a terrible blow to his pride—and Aymeric couldn’t help but wonder if the other Scions would have let the situation get as far as it had with the Crystal Braves if Alphinaud weren’t the grandson of Louisoix Leveilleur, consciously or not—but at his core, he was as kind as the Warriors of Light. Aymeric enjoyed speaking with him, recognizing another idealist in the young man, even if at the moment it was hidden behind wary grief.

Mistress Tataru he had yet to make proper acquaintance of, unfortunately; the Scions’ coinkeeper apparently had taken to the Forgotten Knight, and if his agents’ reports were correct (and they had yet to be otherwise), she was both familiarizing herself with the denizens of Ishgard and gathering intelligence for the Scions’ use. Alakhai was her frequent shadow, both as guard and agent, and while the Xaela preferred not to speak unless absolutely necessary, she still had a wicked sense of humor. The one time Aymeric had been able to escape his office to the Knight for lunch a few sennights past, Alakhai had been present, and had picked his pockets clean of even lint and dropped everything into his empty stew bowl on her way to haunt the Brume.

Dancing Heron and Rereha had ended up gravitating more towards Lucia, of the knights they had met. Heron he was not surprised by; the Hellsguard and the Garlean had similar personalities and in this case in a way that meshed rather than repelled, and both had been delighted to acquire a new sparring partner (and in the case of Lucia, a new person to sic on the Temple Knight squires to clean up their forms). Rereha had been a surprise, if only because he so rarely saw Lucia let out her playful side in public, and his own sister-by-choice was fond of indulging the bard’s over the top flirting, especially when she could send the rumor mills careening off in directions that kept the gossipmongers occupied and ignoring the real information lurking in the corners of the Congregation.

Though that didn’t mean he wasn’t getting to know both ladies better himself. Heron was an excellent chess player, and they were both content to let a game pass in silence or in quiet conversation about history or combat. And while Rereha may have worn the title of shameless hedonist with pride, that didn’t mean she was a fool, as so many seemed to think: the lalafell bard was well-read and sharp as a stiletto, providing witty commentary on music and poetry and politics, assessing the nobles of Ishgard she had met with a blunt tack that made Alphinaud blush bright red and Aymeric himself laugh out loud.

It was Synnove who was the odd one out in the group. While a scholar like Alphinaud, she wasn’t politically minded—far from it, as he learned early on, her expression falling into a mask of blank politeness when the topic had slid that way during a dinner at Fortemps Manor and her participation falling by the wayside. And while Aymeric loved Ishgard, he well knew that the city cared little for any science or craft that did not advance the war against the Dravanians, and their arcanima tradition was non-existent. Tactics were a topic she could speak on, and at length, but it wasn’t her passion.

But it left her wandering the city, and after running into her in the Crozier admiring earrings with her carbuncle unceremoniously shoved down her winter coat, Aymeric had found himself wandering the city more often in the hopes of coming across her and her carbuncles more often. Oh, sometimes he paid visit to her at Fortemps Manor or formally requested her company on some walkabout or for coffee at a café…but he most enjoyed those times where their meetings were spontaneous.

In those moments, Synnove seemed the most open and at ease, speaking more freely of herself. It was how he first learned of her aunt, Angharad, and her mentor at the Arcanists’ Guild, Mhaslona. It was how he first heard her laugh, loud and unashamed and only a little rueful as Galette crawled out of Synnove’s coat and hung half out of it to stick her face into a cup of hot chocolate. It was how he learned of her own sweet tooth, mulling over a display of pastries on a day he had a craving for a bit of sugar himself. It was how he began to learn more about her research—and how he began to curse Ishgard’s lack of an arcanima tradition, if only because he couldn’t easily learn the right questions to ask to keep her going and have the chance to listen to her husky contralto pitch into wondrous enthusiasm.

Aymeric spoke of himself to her, too; more than he ever had to any man or woman he had tentatively thought about courting in the past. And even in those moments he still found all his attention on Synnove, and he could learn how she listened, quietly absorbing all he had to say, emerald eyes on his icy ones, the beauty mark at the corner of her mouth drawn upwards by the curve of her soft smile.

But so far, his favorite thing he had had the chance to learn about Synnove was that their strides were just about the same length, be it matched in a brisk walk to escape the crush of the Jeweled Crozier at noon or in a quiet, leisurely stroll in one of the parks in the afternoon.

Betrayal and tragedy had brought this ray of sunlight in a woman’s skin to the grey stone of Ishgard, but Aymeric couldn’t bring himself to be wholly sorrowful, not when it meant he had the opportunity to bask in her radiance. He could only hope now that when she was able to retake her rightful place in the world, amongst the shining white spires of Limsa Lominsa, that it would not mean the end of all he could learn of her.

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#ffxivwrite2022 #final fantasy xiv #ffxiv #aymeric de borel #aymeric x wol #aymeric x synnove #oc: synnove greywolfe #dt's writing

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risingoflights · 2 years

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i’ve really, really been enjoying ffxiv. the npc system for going through dungeons/trials is has been crucial to my enjoyment since for many reasons even the thought of playing with other people gives me severe anxiety

i’ve just reached the first msq that requires playing with other people (’you have selected regicide’ - which, great reference) and it makes me so sad

i completely understand making hard mode dungeons only playable with others... but for a msq that doesn’t have an easy mode AND it being a dungeon i haven’t been in before, the thought of recruiting others makes me queasy

and i know most people are friendly, but it’s just. i can’t real-time-friendly-online-talk anymore

dunno what to do. felt like a vent :/a anybody with first-time playing-with-others dungeon experience they’d like to share? maybe i’ll be less afraid if i know it’s not that big a deal? i mean, the npc system itself is recent enough so most people would’ve had to do this before now anyway... how did you cope?

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starrysnowdrop · 1 year

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Thoughts on Patch 6.3 MSQ, Myths of the Realm, and Tataru’s Grand Endeavor

Everything is under the cut! Avoid if you don’t want any spoilers!

So far, this was a solid patch overall, though I do think it feels a bit shorter than I would’ve expected. I guess I’m still not used to 6.3 not being the end of a particular expansion’s story arc, unlike 3.3, 4.3, and 5.3 was, and all of those were massive patches in terms of story. We are still in the middle of this arc about the Void and saving Azdaja so it feels shorter. This arc also feels much smaller in scale than some other previous arcs, but that’s not exactly a bad thing. After saving the whole star from literal oblivion and despair incarnate, it’s nice that the story right now feels different in that way.

I will admit, after 6.2, I wasn’t invested in the msq much at all, but 6.3 has made me a bit more invested, though not nearly as much as I feel that I should. Perhaps it’s because there hasn’t been that much build up and the plight of the people of the Thirteenth doesn’t hit me nearly as hard as the First did. I do think that most of the emotional beats that did really well are because of Zero’s character development and not the storyline itself.

Speaking of Zero, they’ve done a fantastic job on her character development and I’m looking forward to seeing more of her in the next patches. I’m very curious as to what they plan to do with her character. And I don’t know how most others feel about this, but boy did I get shippy feels from Zero and Jullus. I’m just here to say that I ship it.

Last point on the msq is that I’m wondering if any of this arc is going to carry over into 7.0 at all, or is this just a smaller story arc that is more self contained? I can’t help but feel like a lot of this seems like… dare I say, filler? I seriously hope I’m mistaken about that, but I worry that this won’t have much impact once we get to 7.0, whatever that might entail.

The highlight of the patch for me was Myths of the Realm. I’m enjoying the alliance raid series SO much right now, and learning more about the Twelve and battling them has been so much fun for me, and so has been my theories about their origins and their motive for fighting us. Euphrosyne is just as amazing as Aglaia was, and I’m obsessed with the fights, the gear sets, and the music. Literally obsessed with “Dedicated to Moonlight” right now, as I have the song on repeat on YouTube.

Oh, and Deryk is Oschon. It’s not even just a theory anymore to me. I’ll be way more surprised if he wasn’t. Same with what I think their origins are. The Twelve, plus the Watcher on the Moon, were the ones who summoned Hydaelyn, and they are making sure that humanity will be alright without them, now that Hydaelyn is gone and their duties are done. That’s my theory, and once again, I’ll be shocked if that’s not the case.

Lastly, this was my favorite part of Tataru’s Grand Endeavor so far, as I love the Four Lords and seeing Tataru with Hancock again was such a treat. Another npc x npc ship that I love. Oh, and Yume with the Flaming katana!!! Holy shit, can she keep it??? Like for real, seeing her with a flaming katana was so much of a serotonin shot for me, just perfection.

Anyways, that’s all I’ve got for now. Feel free to chat with me on your thoughts on patch 6.3! Do you agree with me, or am I just wrong about everything?

#ffxiv endwalker #endwalker spoilers #patch 6.3 spoilers #6.3 spoilers #myths of the realm spoilers #euphrosyne

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