FFXIV: It’s Official – I Love My Squad!
Yesterday, I wrote about trying a first dungeon with my squad. This was the lowest level dungeon, run with my level 64 Bard. I noted that I wasn’t sure who this feature was aimed at, and said that I’d try another dungeon with a more on-level job.
So, last night, I dusted off my poor, unused Ninja, whom I’d left at level 32 for quite a while. This was exactly on-level to try Brayflox with my squad, so I loaded it up, and headed in. I was a little worried about a few boss fights and how they’d be handled — especially the final boss.
In the end, the run went great! It took me 18 minutes to complete, and my Ninja even gained a level. I really, really like squad dungeons now.
There was one quirk where when we ignored one of the goblin NPCs who was fighting up on the hill, my squad healer wanted so badly to rush up there and help him… rather than enter the boss fight arena with the rest of us. She got locked out of the boss fight, but only a few seconds later, the game teleported her into the arena with us.
Interesting.
I also found it interesting that all major mechanics seem to be aimed at the player. Such as the boss that encases random party members in a bubble — you always get the bubble, never any of your squad members.
And the final dragon boss who randomly chooses a party member to spit poison at? Yeah, that was my biggest concern. Players can actually run away from the boss to position the poison puddles so that the boss doesn’t start regenerating from standing in them. But the little squad members don’t know to move out of AOE, much less position AOE.
Well, the boss always spits the poison at the player in a squad team. This made me a happy camper… I know how to position the puddles, and my squad healer kept me in top shape.
I Love Squads
Me being me… this is far better than running with randoms. I know I’ll catch flack for not being social in an MMO. But I still strongly dislike running dungeons with a random party of unknowns – I’ll do it if I have to, but I wouldn’t choose it over running it solo like this.
I like setting my own pace, being in control of my team, and getting things done. No muss no fuss. No wall to wall pulling. No party member shouting: AFK – My cat is burning down my house!
And if MY cat is burning down my house (which is likely to happen one day), then I can walk away from the computer, and the squad won’t vote kick me.
I certainly see myself using this to continue leveling what few jobs I have that are under level 50. What I really hope to see are dungeons beyond level 50 in the future. I’d love to use this to supplement beast tribes and hunts to get my jobs up to 60. Give me that and I’ll level all the jobs I’ve never touched. 😉
Tai Update
So, I had all intentions to start the new beast tribe quests on Tai yesterday. Only, when I went to try it, I discovered that Tai didn’t have the diving skill unlocked for the Ruby Sea. He’d never even been down in the ocean at all yet… much less be anywhere near having the ability to fly in that zone. Doing beast tribe quests without being able to fly in that area… is just not a fun prospect.
Plus, I didn’t even see the starter quest available for him, anyhow.
So, it was time for me to get into gear and progress him through the MSQ again. Last night, I unlocked diving for him, got level 63 Dragoon, and now have a mess of small quests littered around the zone. I think I’m actually going to do these quests this time since I want to spend as little time in dungeons as I can on him. Once I unlock the new beast tribe quests, I’m sure that’ll help, too.
If nothing else, I like the new chest piece he got.
Aside from that, I’m putting about a hour of FATE running in here and there to try and finish up the Yo-Kai minion gathering for Tai. He’s the last one I want to earn the minions and get the Whisper mount. I’ve just been lazy about it after finishing it for two other characters before him.
I’ve got enough time, I just need to be dedicated to getting a little bit done every day.