FFXIV: PotD & HoH
The newest patch has been released to the wild today, but I won’t be able to touch it until later tonight. So, until then, let me talk about older content, some of which I’d never tried until this weekend.
When Palace of the Dead (PotD) released during Heavensward, I ran it quite a bit with friends and FC members. It’s the type of content I enjoy in short bursts. So when its successor, Heaven on High (HoH), came out, I was looking forward to trying it… I… just never did for some reason. (?)
A Question of ilvl
Fast forward to Christmas vacation. I’d never planned on running any sort of raid content with Amon. At the time, he had the ilvl needed to clear the story, and I was content with him as he was.
But then, Syn lamented that I didn’t play Lighthouse with her (mostly because I’m not a fan of the direction 24 man raids are going at this point), so I finally broke down and unlocked Raba and Lighthouse on Amon. I even unlocked Expert (as it was in patch 4.4).
I started gearing Amon a bit better… and in the end, that was a good thing — you have to have ilvl 360 to enter the new Patch 4.5 dungeon, which is probably required to finish the storyline. I really don’t like that FFXIV gates story behind ilvl, but I can forgive this since the game gives a lot of ways to catch up if you’re behind.
Anyhow, all this is to say that I recognized quickly that his i340 weapon was going to hold him back. I really don’t have the energy to push through the Omega raids on yet another character (haven’t finished Alphascape on my main yet!)… so seeing another option for an ilvl 365 weapon was HoH, I decided I wanted to casually go that route.
Into PotD
The only thing is, in order to unlock HoH, you have to beat floor 50 of the original PotD. Amon didn’t even have that unlocked, much less any progress in it. So, I wrangled up Syn and Amoon, and we three-manned our way as a tank-healer-DPS trio.
Since there were only three of us, and we were all starting from scratch, we took it a bit slow, really working up our aether pool gear in the early levels. I was a tad worried that the lack of DPS would put us at a disadvantage, but even though none of us were over leveled or had red weapons, we were able to make the clear just fine and without a single wipe.
On to HoH!
I may return to PotD and work on it some more just for the fun of it — Amon does have a Red Mage and I’ve always wanted to try soloing some of it. However, once this was cleared and the way was open to HoH, we jumped right into that.
I really enjoy the aesthetics of the area! They kept all of the things that I liked about PotD and gave them a slight twist. Not enough to make it unfamiliar, but enough to be surprised from time to time.
Also, exchanging the frog transformation for the odder actually makes you happy to be transformed! I knew this was a thing, but until I our party started to experience it… well…
Again, we are running this is a trio — and most of my focus is on finishing Floor 30 for the story and upgrading my aether gear enough to eventually get the weapon.
Are there faster ways to do this, yes. But I genuinely have a good time romping around HoH. Not to mention, the items you can get from the hoard sacks are really nice. I’ve gotten all sorts of barding that I didn’t own before. And Amoon got the hair — which he gifted to my main!
Plus it’s another way to quietly earn tomes on the side. And I can’t complain about that.
