FFXIV: Fearless Gaming, Mentorship Goals, and Understanding Raiders
So the title is somewhat misleading as I haven’t actually gotten over all of my grouping anxieties completely. But, lately, I’ve been doing a lot of things I haven’t done in the past in FFXIV. This weekend was one of many accomplishments, both for personal goals and overcoming content with FC members.
It’s also a time when folks are awaiting the 3.2 patch tomorrow. This weekend was quite populated. We even had Behemoth mount circles and paths appearing in Idyllshire in anticipation. These things are always silly fun.
Level 50 Dragoon
Leveling Roulette is one thing I’ve been doing lately that I didn’t before (outside of Tome grinding). In fact, a FC member even expressed his surprise at seeing me running a dungeon that wasn’t absolutely necessary. XD
While I don’t particularly like running Leveling Roulette (it’ll be better when we can do it with friends), I’ve begrudgingly learned that it’s the best for time economy when trying to level a new class. I would have needed to spend lots of hours running FATES to get the same result as I did a few hours of dungeons. And I just didn’t have that kind of time to spend.
Last night’s dungeon brought me up just short of level 50, so I finished it off with some FATEs and hunting log entries. The final fight in the Dragoon quest line used to be a LOT harder… back before you were given ilvl 90 armor. It also helped that I purchased an Poetics spear, too.
Overall, I’m happy I went back through this quest on Zuri. I’d forgotten a lot of the foreshadowing and background for Estinien’s character. I didn’t really know who he was, and wasn’t invested in him the first time I leveled dragoon years ago. Now that I do know him, I spent more time listening to his story, and it all makes so much more sense to me now.
I still don’t much like the AF Dragoon armor for female characters, though. I think the “tummy window” thing is pretty dumb looking… and it was one of the reasons that put me off from leveling dragoon on Zuri previously. Sure, let me be a fully armored melee fighter, but open up a big target on my stomach because I’m a female character. Meh.
Thankfully, she won’t be stuck in the armor for long as I’ll be replacing it pretty quickly in Ishgard.
Mentorship Ahoy!
Every moment I’ve had the chance, I’ve been fishing in attempt to complete the Gather 300 Collectables achievement. On Friday, I knocked out the Craft 100 Collectables achievement and earned my Weaver III book with the blue scrips. So the gathering part was all I had left to finish to complete all the requirements for crafting mentor when it’s released tomorrow.
I honestly didn’t expect to finish it this weekend, but I discovered that fair skies in Azys Lla produce quite a bit of collectables, even in a short 3 in-game hour window. I then discovered the Unfrozen Pond in Coerthas Western Highlands is also an excellent place for a quick flow of collectables once the Sorcerer Fish start biting.
So, last night, right before bed, I finally earned the last achievement I needed for mentorship. I’ve been fishing pretty much a week and a half straight, so I’m looking forward to taking a break from that with the new patch on the way. I’ll probably come back to it in time, now that I know a bit more about how it all works. I still need to get all my red scrip gathering tools. 😮
Unsynced T5 Coil Win!
The highlight of the weekend was Saturday, when we decided to organize our first FC unsynced Binding Coil raid learning run. Some of us had completed up to T5, or were stuck at T5 without a clear. Others, like myself, didn’t even have Coil unlocked yet. I didn’t know what to expect from the raid, other than knowing that T5 was a hard fight, but we gathered up 7 of us, and jumped in.
I had all intentions of clearing this on Tai’s dragoon, who is better geared and would have been pretty excellent DPS. But upon forming the party, we didn’t have a second healer, so I found myself on healing duty with Zuri instead. The last thing I expected to do was heal Coil, trust me. But I figured it was just a learning run, so my inexperience would be forgiven.
Things actually went pretty well for the first four turns. Some of it was just plain out faceroll easy. Some of the bosses were a little trickier, and we had close calls. Overall, we could ignore most of the mechanics because we were all over level 50 and geared accordingly. But when it came to T5, that was not the case.
We spent about an hour and a half working through the mechanics and learning the fight as a group. We honestly made really good progress…. we’d overcome mechanics of one phase and move into the unknown of the next, which would often wipe us. Then, we’d reaccess the situation, figure out how to deal with that, and get further each time we tried.
I’d never been in a progression raid, but now I have a much better feel for it, and the sense of accomplishment you get when you finally down the fight. No one got frustrated. No one gave up. No one got angry at anyone in the group. We all worked together to learn the fight, and we won it in the end.
That was pretty special. Thank you, FC folks for making it happen.
While I don’t think I could ever dedicate hours of my time to progression raiding, I have a better appreciation for the satisfaction raiders get for what they do. I’m looking forward to future learning groups as we have decided to make Unsynced Coil Saturday a thing in the FC.
Reviewing Goals
With the new patch incoming, I have a feeling I’ll be picking up Tai again to make some gear progression. But, the time I spent working on Zuri has been really good for expanding possibilities with her. She’s now a level 60 White Mage, and I’m working her Dragoon up as well. I’ve completed a number of goals I set for myself back when February first started, and I’m feeling pretty good about where she’s sitting right now.
End Game Stuff
- Level White Mage to 60 ✓
- Collect all crystals for second relic and make the first-stage relic for White Mage ✓
- Complete the second-stage relic for Bard
- Gear up White Mage enough to play Void Ark ✓
- Gear up White Mage accessories from Alex 1 ✓
Doing great here! Still working on dungeons with FC folks for relic. Doubt I’ll go through with relic on my White Mage or Dragoon, though, since Eso will be so much easier to get.
Crafting/Gathering
- Level Weaver to 60 ✓
- Meld end game cloth crafting gear with materia ✓
- Level Carpenter to 60
- Meld end game crafting accessories with materia
- Level Leatherworker to 60
- Level Miner to 60
- Level Botanist to 60
- Level Fisher to 60 ✓
- Get Blue Script Gathering Gear ✓
Fishing for mentorship took up most of my crafting time, so the other crafting/gathering classes suffered for it. I still have plenty of time to work on these, though. And there’s going to be changes with the new patch anyhow.
Leveling Stuff
- Level all jobs to 30 – This includes the two tanks, monk and rogue
- Level Dragoon to 50 ✓
- Level Machinist to 50
- Clean up old quests
I haven’t cleaned up all my old quests, but I am taking care of them when I see some within my level range. Dragoon is 50, and Machinist is still 47. They’re getting some changes this patch, so I was holding off finishing up that class. I haven’t had a chance to touch any of the others, but I’m considering trying out Monk in leveling roulettes, especially now that we can group for those with the new patch.
Overall, it’s been a productive month for me! I’m going to get all my adulting stuff done this afternoon in anticipation for tomorrow’s patch. Looking forward to more story and hopefully more fun in FFXIV.
