FFXIV: Coils Clear and Blessed Tools
Aside from working on earning Singing Clusters for my relic this weekend, I also finally broke down and finished the Binding Coils raid. I know… I know… it’s older content. What took me so long?
Back before one of the story patches last year, my FC was actively working on running people through unsynced Coil. This was absolutely exhausting to me.
We had random teams at different spots of progression, which meant we were running the same phases over and over again. I personally got to Coil 11 and after our team tried to clear it many times, I gave up on the prospect of ever getting through.
I walked away with a bad taste in my mouth and a negative feeling about raiding in general. Alexander 12 didn’t help that feeling.
So when people in our FC started rallying to run Coils again for the story and the clear, I ran and hid. In fact, I told Syn that I had “absolutely no interest” in setting foot in Coils again.
Rock and a Hard Place
It’s kind a tough place to be in, and it’s hard to express to other people. I somehow inherited a wonderful FC full of great people who rely on me to keep things running smoothly. But I am not a raider and I have no interest in EX content or even normal primal fights in Heavensward.
Syn is much more resilient than I am in running lots of group content. I need time to relax and chill in game, or I start to view the game as a stressor rather than a stress reliever.
But at the same time, I acknowledge there are people in the FC who want to see content that I don’t want to play. I don’t want to be a reason they can’t see it, but I also can’t run everything and organize everything.
Thankfully, we have the assistance of an officer who has stepped up to not only lead the Coil raid, but also primal clears and EX attempts. I don’t like to call out FC folks too often in my blog here, but Talomere is doing the FC and myself a huge service, and he doesn’t even realize it. I don’t know if he’ll read this post, but if he does, this is a personal thank you.
The Coils that Almost Weren’t
The static team that formed to clear the Coils had worked each weekend and were on the final turn on Saturday. I wasn’t planning on running Coils at all, as I noted above, but Syn asked some of that team if they wouldn’t mind helping her through the final turn. Of course, no one says no to Zeb, and then Amoon piped up saying he could use the Final Turn as well.
Here I sat twiddling my thumbs on Discord thinking, “Gosh, it would be real dumb to pass up a full-FC unsynced run when they’re about to do the exact content you left off on, wouldn’t it? Our ilvls were much lower back when we attempted this before, and these are different people… so it might not be so bad this time.”
So, I swallowed my pride and asked to come along. I think Syn probably choked on her mic at that point.
And thus, I ran the Final Turns. My verdict?
I’m glad I finished it, all grouchiness aside. I’d watched some of the cut scenes a long time ago on YouTube thinking I’d never finish Coils myself. But even despite knowing some of how the story went, these are some intense and emotional moments.
I found a new respect for the Twins as characters, a new understanding for the entire 1.0 to 2.0 transition, and more puzzlement over the lore surrounding the way primals work in the FFXIV universe. Every time we uncover a new primal in such a way, it challenges the idea of what primals are a bit more in my mind. I really like that.
I’m a little sad that this is all locked behind old raid content. But also, the ease with which our team cleared it (much, much easier than last year’s attempt) tells me that once Stormblood drops and ilvls rise even more, Coil will become much more accessable to people, especially if you’re in a FC that’s willing to help you with the clear and sit through all those cutscenes for you.
Thank you KoM!
Blessed Gathering Tools
Now for something less exciting than Coils.
My quest to earn blessed gathering tools also began yesterday. It’s something that’s been on my mind to do here or there. Basically, if you gather all the things, and complete the I Found That achievement, you can get a nice ilvl 200 gathering tool that glows when you gather/fish.
I mentioned that offhand to Amoon yesterday, and though neither of us had planned on that, it sent us on a flurry of filling in the missing slots on our mining gathering log. This was actually a lot of fun, and something I’ve wanted to do. Lining up those timed nodes and travelling around to find them all…
But I ran into a snag. I finished 140/150, and realized I only have about 3 or 4 left on my log.
Doing some quick research, I found what I was dreading. You do, indeed, have to have the Fokelore nodes unlocked to earn this achievement. Seeing that I have zero Fokelore earned, this is a bummer.
However, I’ve wanted to unlock the Fokelore because, well, good stuff’s there. So, I guess this is motivation to get out there and work on my blue scrips. I’m about halfway to my first book.
I’m just a bit torn between earning crafting scrips or gathering scrips on my weekly deliveries now. #FirstEorzeanWorldProblems
