FFXIV: New Year, Character Remake!
I have a pretty big announcement to make today. After playing my moon kitty, Zuri Nimat, as a main for over 3 years in FFXIV, I decided to remake my main character. Not only did she get a full physical change, but I’ve renamed her (Aywren Sojourner) and everything. It’s like having a brand new character while keeping all the leveling, items, pets, mounts and everything I’ve worked on all this time. I really like having the option to do that.
Don’t worry, I re-rolled Zuri because I’m too attached to her. I’m having thoughts about progressing her again as a RP/story character.
Why the Change?
So if I really loved Zuri’s character (and I do), why the change? Well, this all started back over Christmas holiday, when Red Mage was confirmed to be a DPS class.
Red Mage was my first job back when I played FFXI. I’m very much looking forward to the job in Stormblood. I’m hoping it won’t be too convoluted to play because these hybrid jobs are always my favorite. I want it to be fun. I want it to be my next new main job.
However, the traditional Red Mage gear (pictured below on the art of Yoshi-P)…
…just doesn’t mesh so well in color with a blue kitty (IMHO). See here:
Red doesn’t look terrible… but the blue fur/hair is meant to go with cooler colors. Yeah, I know that the gear won’t always look like artifact armor and can be dyed. But, it still planted a seed in my mind:
Maybe it’s time to give Zuri a makeover…
I started thinking about this. The more I thought, the more torn I became.
First world MMO cosmetic problems!
I really love the way Zuri looks for the most part. Sometimes I regret giving her Smurf-Fur, but it’s part of who she is now. Changing that would be hard.
On the other hand, I really just felt like I needed to refresh things to help get me out of the slump I’ve been in. So, I decided over the holidays I’d pick up a fantasia and make some changes.
Over time, another thought began to creep in:
If I’m going to change Zuri’s looks, maybe I can consider changing her race. I mean, I may as well go all out if I’m going to use real money to change her cosmetically.
Afterall, there are a TON of catgirls in the game. Don’t get me wrong, I love my kitty. But at the same time, it would be nice to play a race that’s a bit more rare.
But after that thought began to settle, I argued:
Zuri wouldn’t be Zuri if she wasn’t a kitty! I couldn’t imagine her not-blue and not-kitty!
Ugh! So, now what do I do?
Why not a name change, too?
Wait, what?
I mean, it’s kinda odd that I use the name “Aywren Sojourner” everywhere else, and Zuri Nimat only here. Half the Free Company already calls me by my nickname, Wren.
I guess that’s true.
A Little History
Here’s a little history: Zuri was a character I rolled up coming straight out of playing GW2. There, I had a Charr named Nipp Mousetrap who really got into the community back in the day, especially with RP folks on Tumblr. Part of the reason it worked well was that Nipp’s design was pretty unique — I made her to resemble my IRL cat, who is a flame point Siamese.
So when I picked up and moved to FFXIV, the idea was to design an aesthetically original looking character, like I had with Nipp. I originally wanted to get involved with the community the same way I had in GW2… it just never really worked out since I didn’t roll on the FFXIV RP server. I also found the FFXIV Tumblr community a bit harder to mesh with since the game had already been established for a good amount of time before ARR released.
What I ended up with was this Zuri:
She was a bit too over the top back then. Over the years, I toned her down. But she was never made to be a character who represented me, or stood at the head of a Free Company, as my character does now.
Look and feel are important to me. Zuri represents a free spirit, and doesn’t reflect the qualities of a FC leader.
She’s a character I rolled to RP with, but never really figured out how to make that happen. You might notice that when I write about Zuri, I always address her by her name, rather than “I” or “my” or “me.” This is part of that – I don’t identify with her as a “me-MMO-character,” but rather as a character I rolled for other reasons.
So, making this change is part of setting things right in my (strange) mind.
In With The New!
This weekend, I renamed my main character to Aywren Sojourner.
I changed her race to Elezen. This is because Elezen are fairly rare (I thought about FemRoe, but FemRoe just don’t match my personality), and because when I played Red Mage in FFXI, my character there was Elvaan. It just felt right.
It was also interesting to play a taller character after having been a short-as-can-be kitty. I’m almost as tall as Zeb now!
I also spent some time working on a new glamour for my Dragoon. After researching the market board, I decided I wanted one of the new ponchos. I had to settle for the Ramie version, since mats for the dyeable Cashmere version were too stupidly expensive. But, it’s okay. The color works well enough.
It’s been a while since I sat down and crafted something, so it felt good to be able to save some gil and make some glamour for myself. I totally didn’t expect the colors on the feathers to match the color of my hair. But there you have it.
The only content I’ve had time to run on my new character was a quick FC-grouped Syrcus Tower. I’ll have to say, it feels quite different to do it on a larger character. I know it’s all in my head, but the change in perspective is refreshing.
I was also a little nervous to run a raid using my “real” net name. I don’t know why. It’s not like anyone is going to recognize me from this little blog! But that thought was still there.
With Zuri, my character was disconnected from everything else. With Aywren, it more closely represents my online persona. That made me more aware of what I was doing.
As For Zuri…
I re-rolled Zuri on Midgardsormr and kept her pretty much the same as she used to be. I did change her tail type — she now has a multi-colored tail with a gold tip, like her hair highlights. I also lightened her skin color just a bit.
Then I sent her back to Gridania as a level 1 Conjurer, just as I have every time I rolled her. It’s always useful to start with a class that gives you Cure and Protect for cross-classing other jobs.
I haven’t really decided which job I want to play with her this time around. It’s not really that important. I want Zuri’s journey to be a slow one of no stress and all creativity.
I’m still torn on which server to RP on. I’m keeping her on Midgardsormr for now as you can’t transfer a new character until after 3 days of making them. Balmung is the official RP server, and I feel a need to be in an RP environment, just for a change. But it’s such a large server, and none of my friends or FC are there… so it’s a toss up.
Also, Midgardsormr pride!
I’m working on creating a new WordPress and Tumblr blog just for Zuri’s adventures. I’ll be sure to announce them once they’re ready!