FFXIV: catch all

And now, the class I leveled second, but by iLvl is my 6th:
IMAGE(https://i.ibb.co/WVq9YS8/VTSAMCrop.jpg)

That Skallic gear is pretty sweet, no?

I got my Dancer to 80 last night. Pretty fun job, especially in dungeons where there are a lot of mobs to melt down.

I’ve been neglecting the Allegory gear for my Red Mage so I think I’ll put some focus on that, while going after Moogle tomes.

Still plinking away at my crafters. I have three at level sixty, and the rest in the forties.

PvP is hopping (shorter wait than raids) and the rewards are much better.

You get all three tome types (if level 80), wolfmarks, and the moogle items. Que directly for the one map that qualifies under PvP; don't use the Frontline roulette.

Dancer is great, I'm a big fan of its mobility. Zipping around the field is a blast, and people always seem happy to see it. I am boosting their damage, after all.

If you're looking for a seemingly quick activity for Allegory stones, it seems like Hunt trains are a very viable option. I fear the PvP, because I'm pretty terrible at it.

Speaking of Dancer, though:
IMAGE(https://i.ibb.co/n7RXSVb/VTDNC2-Crop.jpg)IMAGE(https://i.ibb.co/8rYc6NC/VTDNC4-Crop.jpg)IMAGE(https://i.ibb.co/NnfnLKY/VTDNC1-Crop.jpg)
IMAGE(https://i.ibb.co/yRQQVQt/VTDNC3-Crop.jpg)
IMAGE(https://i.ibb.co/cgXwX6y/VTDNC5-Crop.jpg)

The Bogatyr's boots are great, thigh high flats so they don't muck up the model (the Neir boots make my legs look like poorly packed sausages). Warg hat has, as the kids say, strong Princess Mononoke energy, and I do have the Fenrir mount for that. Balthier's shirt doesn't really feel Dancer (an issue with a lot of the Aiming gear), but I like the splash of his rings.

GoldenDog wrote:

PvP is hopping (shorter wait than raids) and the rewards are much better.

You get all three tome types (if level 80), wolfmarks, and the moogle items. Que directly for the one map that qualifies under PvP; don't use the Frontline roulette.

I've done a few Rival Wings matches so far. Seems pretty mindless when pugging, but at least they're no more than 20 minutes long, and I've only had one match go the full length. I'd kind of like to get the 100 win achievements for it as well, but that seems like quite a grind. At the same time, it's probably not impossible if I just do a few matches a day until the Moogle event ends.

I feel a little bad for the regular PvP players dealing with all the noobs coming into Rival Wings for Moogle tomes. Nobody know how the mode works and it seems completely random as to whether or not your team will be effective or not. There have been a lot of salty players in my matches.

omfg, I found my account info for the game. Thinking about getting the complete edition on PS4, and needing primers on new stuff; since apparently all I have is Realm Reborn on PC at the moment.

mikeohara wrote:

omfg, I found my account info for the game. Thinking about getting the complete edition on PS4, and needing primers on new stuff; since apparently all I have is Realm Reborn on PC at the moment.

I mean, I'd recommend it, and there are a lot of Youtube resources out there explaining classes, dungeons, everything you could need. Also, obvs, you can ask here.

How about some examples of not quite cosplay? It all started with an FC wedding where I needed an outfit. Initially I was thinking about the Ala Mhigan aiming top, but then I realized I could do something fun (and thank gawwwwwd, the bride wore that exact top, I'd have been mortified):

IMAGE(https://i.ibb.co/T2C9121/VTAeris-Crop.jpg)

It wasn't quite Aeris...but it got close to Aeris enough to be neat. And then I started wondering what other characters it would be neat to get close to, and I quickly gravitated to another Square Enix property, my #4 game of the decade, Life is Strange. It seemed too great a challenge, and as much as I planned, researched, and asked for vague gear suggestions from my FC, it always lacked a unifying element that would really sell the idea. And then I found out about the morpho minion, a blue butterfly, perhaps the most iconic bit of imagery in Life is Strange, and I knew then what I must do. Three-quarters of a relic later:

IMAGE(https://i.ibb.co/GHn1pTF/VTChloe-Crop.jpg)

The perfect Chloe Price? No. But it's hella evocative of Chloe Price (and another random non-creepy shoutout from someone who "loves my aesthetic"). Max Caulfield was more of a challenge, as there isn't a grey hoodie:

IMAGE(https://i.ibb.co/sK4jQWW/VTMax-Crop.jpg)

This is...okay. Again, there isn't a grey hoodie, but the Spring shoes have the feeling of the Converse All Star, Indigo Summer are close to Max's choice in jeans, and while there isn't a grey hoodie, Max does wear pink under that hoodie. But then it occurred to me...Max wears Rachel's ripped up jeans at one point, and I have some pants that are the FF version of ripped up jeans...:

IMAGE(https://i.ibb.co/nbf1YKR/VTMaxas-Rachel.jpg)

Ideally, the top would be plaid, but given the limitations, I dig it. I dig it a lot. At least until, in light of the Nier crossover, the next Alliance Raid series is LiS themed. Try bulling Kate now, motherf*ckers! I dare you! I'll Delirium your ass to oblivion, Jefferson! Let's see how many pics you can snap after 5 Bloodspillers to the face!

Time to round out the casters. These are, truth be told, the jobs that prompted me to learn the glam plate system. And the one I struggled with most was RDM. While each artifact set was close to what I felt an RDM should be, each was also off in some small way. So I resolved to make my own:

IMAGE(https://i.ibb.co/1ZmDQ3D/VTRDMCrop.jpg)

The recent Valentine's event was a real godsend, this game needs more shorts with tights. The farming bit is the Plague Bringer's coat, unfortunately named now, but well suited for RDM. The gloves and boots are, if I remember right, from the lvl 70 gear. Once again, this outfit got non-creepy praise.

My SMN might be less cohesive, but I may also like it more:

IMAGE(https://i.ibb.co/RDYcWZL/VTSMNCrop.jpg)

I just think this all works. The jacket is Yafaemi, the boots are Bogatyr's, the shorts are Astral Silk, the gloves are Ravel Keeper's, and the head piece is from the first Artifact set. This might be Vaylen's most distinctive look.

Wow, that Red Mage look is sharp. Sad that I missed out on those valentines tights!

Is that Moogle sword also an event item, or is it freely available?

It drops from Thornmarch, the Good King Moogle fight. Really easy to do unsynced. Every pre-ShB job has a moogle weapon, and they're all great.

Awesome! I actually just did that fight for the first time a few days ago. I’ll definitely have to queue for a few more times to roll the dice for it.

Thanks!

So I kind of feel terrible about the Moogle genocide I just perpetrated over the last 20 hours or so, but their king is now properly subjugated to my red mage cast-y gem case thingamajig.

IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/Uu6dGTY.jpg)

Congrats! And that Allagan casting coat is a great piece as well.

I'm using that same weapon glam for my Red Mage, along with the Weathered Evenstar set
IMAGE(https://i.imgur.com/A1tWIwH.png)

If anyone wants some high-res shots of Limsa Lominsa in all its glory, I got you covered.

https://norealspace.com/ffxiv-limsa-...

I'm wanting to go around and grab some high-res shots of quite a few places in FFXIV...any suggestions where I should go next?

So, I have a WAR at 50, and I just started on a DRG to try it out, at lvl 25. Going from a 2-5 minute queue to a 15-20 minute queue was...unsettling, to say the least, but the buffs from being on a server with Road to 70 enabled along with bonuses from the FC I'm in still have me out-leveling the sidequests I skipped on the WAR pretty easily.

The main reason I started another class was I felt I was burning up valuable MSQ on content I was 20 levels over. Is this rationale solid as I continue (play a new class I'm interested in up to/around where I am in the MSQ to leech off it a bit), or do you recommend I take a "screw it, get something to 80" approach?

It's not a bad idea to try out another class/job with the Road to 70 buff. As you saw already, you'll level pretty quickly with that, FC bonuses, and the armoury bonus from having a higher job. You might find a job you enjoy more than WAR, or at least gives you some variety. I'd still prioritize the MSQ so you keep unlocking content, but maybe do your daily roulettes on secondary jobs if you have the time. But do what's fun for you.

beanman101283 wrote:

It's not a bad idea to try out another class/job with the Road to 70 buff. As you saw already, you'll level pretty quickly with that, FC bonuses, and the armoury bonus from having a higher job. You might find a job you enjoy more than WAR, or at least gives you some variety. I'd still prioritize the MSQ so you keep unlocking content, but maybe do your daily roulettes on secondary jobs if you have the time. But do what's fun for you.

Ok, thanks. I've enjoyed the starter content so far, just not decided on a job at all yet. My limiting factor is the PS4 controller - even with the cross hotbars set up as well as I can get them, there's still a fair amount of mental gymnastics/muscle memory involved to get rotation + abilities right, and let's not even talk about my targeting (even with custom filters).

Shout if you have job recommendations for controllers. Warrior was decent but not overwhelmingly fun - just not much to do or pretty abilities/effects to look at, spam overpower to round everything up, manage defensive cool-downs, etc.

Lancer is pretty dull so far, but I'll reserve judgment for when it opens up more because I've heard good things! I'm actually looking forward to trying machinist at some point.

I play mouse & keyboard, so can't comment on which ones feel good on controller. Someone in the GWJ discord mentioned the other day that the melee DPS jobs are fun on controller, for what it's worth. You'll find that pretty much all of the jobs are pretty simple (or even dull) early on. They balance all of them for level 80, so some of them don't feel complete until much later.

I find healing easy on controller. As far as DPS goes, I think both melee and ranged are pretty good on controller. The targeting systems on controller are quite solid, imo, but a bit quicker for healer than other classes.

Personally, I also find classes that have a lot of AoE attacks to be a bit more fun on controller, since the slight decrease in targetting speed isn't as impactful.

Are you actually playing on PS4, or on PC with a PS4 controller?

I play all games with a controller whenever possible (for both personal preference and RSI reasons), but I do take advantage of having a mouse and keyboard available for various non combat interactions.

For combat, though, I couldn't be happier with the place I've ended up with the controller, but it took a LOT of time playing with settings (including using extended cross bars and the legacy camera style) and completely reorganizing my layout numerous times (especially when I started branching out from just having one class beyond the opening levels). Actually, playing around with setting up layouts for higher level play for multiple classes was actually a VERY useful exercise since it let me see the broader shape of where things were headed, and helped me identify common patterns that were useful to represent in my button layouts.

Oh! Also, I make heavy use of the extra back bumpers on my Xbox Elite controller (as I do with nearly every game) and I highly suggest that any devoted controller user give similar systems a try, regardless of game or platform, if they haven't already.

As for targeting, since I've only played DPS classes so far I've been fine with a combo of d-pad and trigger+shoulder tab targeting, plus a few macros for things like target nearest and pulling a target from my current focus target. I suspect I'll need to go through another round of learning and adjustment if I do pick up a tank or healing class though, since obviously there's a lot more refinement in targeting behavior needed there. (Might happen soon, in fact, since I plan of giving astrologian a try as soon as I finish up the last few quests in 2.x and get access to Ishgard.)

Anyway, if you're interested in more specifics about my setup, feel free to ping me on Discord and I can talk/show you how I have things set up. I've mostly been playing bard and red mage, although I also spent some time getting a layout put together for samurai that felt pretty good at first blush.

Thanks zero et al, I'm actually playing on the PS4 so it's controller or bust. I haven't even thought to heal in this game, thinking one controller-related issue could lead to a wipe for others, but if it's more straightforward than I thought then perhaps it's worth a look sometime. I did heavy healing in WoW as Druid and Holy and the thought of pulling off what I used to do with a Razer Naga + Healbot on PC with a PS4 controller via manual targeting just seems daunting.

My experience speaking to your initial question, Wizard, I stopped doing Roulettes with my main job at the start of Stormblood, as I began it at level 70, and it was only before the final missions of Shadowbringers that I needed to use the Leveling queue to cap, and then only one time to do it.

Healing on controller, you can target scroll through the party list with the up and down d-pad buttons, and switch target to enemies with right and left. I'm not a great healer, but I can do it that way.

poison, I say do the other two starter cities, and beanman, thanks for reminding me that hat exists. My scheme appears to be bearing fruit, keep sharing looks while answering questions, people.

the_poison_king wrote:

If anyone wants some high-res shots of Limsa Lominsa in all its glory, I got you covered.

https://norealspace.com/ffxiv-limsa-...

I'm wanting to go around and grab some high-res shots of quite a few places in FFXIV...any suggestions where I should go next?

Those pics are great!

I would vote for Ishgard. It has a lot of interesting nooks and crannies.

White Mage is my favorite job and Machinist is second, as of the current state of the game. The Shadowbringers changes to tanks have made them less engaging IMO, decent part of why I stopped playing. I have only ever played on controller. Samurai was really well designed for controller play.

In my experience none of the DPS classes are what I would call engaging until around level 50.

Blind_Evil wrote:

White Mage is my favorite job and Machinist is second, as of the current state of the game. The Shadowbringers changes to tanks have made them less engaging IMO, decent part of why I stopped playing. I have only ever played on controller. Samurai was really well designed for controller play.

In my experience none of the DPS classes are what I would call engaging until around level 50.

Thanks for that - in just two nights as a Lancer I'm up to 34 and back to where my MSQ quests pick up. I'll ride these for a while then probably switch back over to the Warrior just to unlock the classes I want to try, unless I get a hankering to try WHM first.

Duty Finder queuing continues to be abysmal, especially when waiting on one to progress in the MSQ, but the level gains in there are nice. Had my first run-in with a Warrior/Black Mage/White Mage trio all playing together and boy was that dungeon a different experience! Hoo boy - pull EVERYTHING then let the Black Mage just blow a hole in the universe while the White Mage keeps the Warrior up.

I spent the dungeon trying to find things to target and poke with my lance in time before it died, and completely ignored my disembowel buff. Definitely one of those "whoa I need to try BLM stat" moments, but I know that tank/healer had a lot to do with that whole vibe too.

Aristophan wrote:

Those pics are great!

I would vote for Ishgard. It has a lot of interesting nooks and crannies.

Thanks! Yea, I think Ishgard is going to be at the top of my list. I'll probably hit up another game first (was thinking LOTRO's Bree might be fun, it's such an overlooked but great city) but then I'll come back to FFXIV.

I'll put another vote in for White Mage being a favorite. I really like White Mage. It's simple, but effective! I sometimes am jealous of the fancy Astrologians, but then I crank out some reasonable nukes and I feel better.

I still vote for the other starter cities, poison.

For a good long time, I felt lacking in a really great tank look, which as a DRK main was a problem, doubly so since my casters all came together so nicely. A lot of tank gear felt too rumbling, too boxy, too top heavy, to bespiked. So I set myself the task of finding stuff I liked, and before long, I had a whole bunch of tank options. A whole whole bunch of them. For now, I'll just share my most used three:

Here, as I shared a page or two ago, is the DRK look I gravitate back to, Rebel Coat with some lvl 70 DRK relic pieces, presented in the manner of a high school yearbook photo:
IMAGE(https://i.ibb.co/RHJLS00/VTDRKStandard-Crop.jpg)

But before that, I had sought out the Skallic fending coat, which became my usual GNB outfit (the arms are Lakeland, which I am too reliant on, but they just go with so much stuff). The GNB 80 relic looks really sloppy on me, this suits much better:
IMAGE(https://i.ibb.co/xS1SCFH/VTGNBStandard.jpg)

Another early seek was the Omicron fending coat, but I really struggled with it. It is an awesome piece, but in my opinion very finicky. While I could just slap on the Lakeland gauntlets, it looked weird with the leathery style of most tank pants, so I went back and got the Omicron pants, which are also great, but clashed with all of my boots, which also covered the neat details. So I went back and got the Omicron shoes, but they look like little booties and I didn't like them. At last, I tried the High House half boots, which had an outline I liked, but still had that leather clash. And then finally at last, breakthrough, what if I died them gunmetal? I think it works, works well enough that someone took the time to /dote before we fought The High Seraph.
IMAGE(https://i.ibb.co/kB8WbW8/VTTank-Omega.jpg)

Finished ARR last night...boy, talk about a slog through Castrum and Pratorium. WOAH. Between that and the insanity of folks re-running with those insane pulls, I'll need quite the incentive to ever do that again. Excited about finally moving on though.