FFXIV: Sea Ponies and Ponytails
So something interesting happened over the weekend while I was leveling my Fisher in FFXIV, and I wanted to share. Spearfishing has really been the way to go in leveling from 60-70. I’m currently level 68, and it’s been a peaceful ride using spearfishing leves to get there.
Advice on the net said that once you reach level 66, start spearfishing Sea Lamps for the leve, and just use that all the way to 70. So, I located the Sea Lamps and got to it.
Now, when you spear fish, your node often has a few different kinds of fish for each Gig head size. In this case, I usually fished up a Sea Lamp, but sometimes I’d fish up the alternate fish, the Bashful Batfish. I didn’t pay much attention to this… until I started getting strange messages from time to time when I fished up the Batfish.
Finally I got a message that said straight up:
What the heck?
So, that was the point I decided to Google the messages I’d been seeing. I’m glad I did.
Apparently, fishing up certain fish a certain number of times (in this case, the Batfish 10 times), makes the equivalent of an unspoiled spearfishing node appear! At level 66, you get a skill called Truth of Oceans. When you use this, you can locate the Swimming Shadows nodes, just like you do with Mining and Botany.
Curious, I located the node and started fishing. I was really, really lucky, because on my first node, I fished up this:
I had no idea this was out there, so I was thrilled at the prospect I’d accidentally stumbled on the Tiny Tatsunoko minion! They are somewhat rare, as in four nodes, I’ve only fished up two. Since I’m going to be out there for leveling anyhow, I started fishing them up for the Posse and FC folks.
Ponytail
I also spent a bit of time organizing my alts and getting geared up for this FFXIV Story Journal project that I really want to take on. I showed off my success in recreating Ben’s glamour in game a few days back, but his hair style still needed work.
I had an idea that the Gold Saucer ponytail style might be what I was looking for. So, I pushed Ben all the way up to the point in the story where I unlocked both the Gold Saucer and the Aesthetician.
Actually pushing through MSQ is very easy when you’re a level 50 Red Mage. The nice thing about this is that since I didn’t have to concentrate on leveling or running class quests, I was able to focus on MSQ only… and that made it a much more connected experience. I actually saw some things in the story that I missed before!!
Anyhow, I got Ben to the Gold Saucer and wondered how long it would take to make the 8,000 MGP to earn that hairstyle. It turned out to be really, really easy given the amount of MGP the weekly challenge log gives you for things like just playing and winning 10 games of Triple Triad. I forgot the challenge log was even a thing.
So, the ponytail get was a success!
Alternate Experience
The next thing I did is just a testimony to my alt-aholism. Yes, I can’t get away from it, even in a game like FFXIV. What can I say… I pay for 8 character slots per server, so I’m gonna use them!
One thing that has troubled me was where to put my alts. I mean, I don’t want to clutter up my FC roster with them… But at the same time, if you’re not in a FC, you have to leave yourself on /busy all the time or fend off a slew of random FC invites and whispers. I just want a peaceful, story-concentrating experience. So I really don’t want to join someone else’s random FC. And it wouldn’t feel right to do that since I’m totally invested in my own FC.
I’d been joking with the Posse about rolling up a personal FC just for my alts. Well, I made that a reality yesterday and created Alternate Experience <Alts>.
The name was something that I created impromptu (which is odd for me… it usually takes me forever to name something), but the more I think about it, the more I really like it. I think I’m going to use that as the name of my Story Journal project when I get that off the ground.
I moved all my alts (except for Tai) off the KoM roster and into Alts, and I’m actually very content now. My alts have a quiet home, and are still connected to friends via Linkshells. They no longer clutter up the KoM roster… so people don’t know how weird I am in having so many crazy characters. And Zuri is a FC leader once again.
Life is good.
