coerthas Archives - Tales of the Aggronaut

Coerthas Distractions

All I really wanted yesterday was to sit in one spot and play Final Fantasy XIV all day long. While that did not happen as I had originally envisioned I did still manage to get a fair amount of play time. The biggest interruption came early on when I was trying to work on my blog post, and the air conditioning company called to tell me they were on their way over. Firstly I had completely forgotten that I had scheduled our twice a year maintenance for Friday thinking I would be off from work anyways. Secondly… the guy who came over seemed relatively new and manage to take an hour and a half doing what normally takes the guy fifteen minutes to finish. So that was ultimately why I ended up posting so late. By the time that finished we needed to run a few errands, and I spent until roughly two doing that. Finally when I got home however I had a solid block of play time and also a mission set out in front of me.

Tam had apparently been playing since quite literally the servers went life at 2 am pst. As a result he was anxiously waiting on us to catch up so that he could run the very first dungeon. While Dusk Vigil is not entirely gated by the main story, it does require you to have gotten far enough into the story to unlock a specific camp of NPCs. Previously I was getting easily distracted by every single FATE I came across… which was pretty much an endless feedback loop since at any given moment there are a dozen different FATEs up in Western Coerthas. Instead I had to shift to being laser focused on completing the quests. This batch of storyline however deserves some time to slow down and savor it a bit as you quest through it. They have done something that no other MMO has done… picked up the storyline moments after the last quest of the previous expansion. Over the course of “A Realm Reborn” they learned how to extremely effectively tell compelling story, and this expansion just continues that trend. I feel like I am only a little ways in and they have already dropped several big bombshells on me.

Dusk Vigil

Normally I would have told them to go with another tank to Dusk Vigil… even though I love the act of clearing a dungeon that very first time. Problem being at the moment I am the highest progressed tank in the guild and likely the only one who has unlocked it. Around 8:30 last night my wife and I decided to go for a walk down to the local shaved ice place, and I told them that I would run the dungeon when I got back. Upon coming back the new renters across the street were out in the yard and it felt awkward not to go over and say hello. People think it is strange that we don’t really know anyone in our neighborhood… but I have to say this is 0 for 2 when it comes to introducing ourselves to new people. This new one is just as insane seeming and clingy as the last one… now the positive is that there was an Xbox 360 set up on the living room floor with Lord of the Rings movies and Dragon Age Inquisition scattered around it. So maybe just maybe they are going to be cool people? After making them wait half the night we eventually go away from the neighbor and I went upstairs to fight the login boss and get back in game.

Surprisingly I managed to log in immediately and get straight into the server, and got my group invite and we were up and running. The big take away from the dungeon is that much like the overworld… the mobs hit extremely hard. I am an ilevel 128 Warrior, and that first trash pack I pulled was a bit of a wakeup call. The coolest thing about the dungeon however were the bosses which were in essence a remix of mechanics we have seen in some of the raids, but assembled in a manner that felt fresh. I imagine at some point we will have a gear level where we can ignore the mechanics but for the time being… folks have to pay attention. The layout of the dungeon was extremely cool as well and had both a Coerthas flavor and a stone vigil flavor the deeper you got into it. The background music and boss music were both amazing as well… with the zone music sounding like a remix of the Heavensward theme with Snowcloak. The dungeon also dropped some really nice level 110 items that had unique graphics, so I hope to pop back in and try and collect more of it.

Learning to Fly

I have no clue how far a Yalm is, but over the course of yesterday I think I travelled thousands of them hunting down Aether Currents. For the uninitiated Final Fantasy XIV gives you a brand new Black Chocobo just a few quests into the Heavensward Storyline. Also for the uninitiated Black Chocobos old a special place in the Final Fantasy pantheon of being the only breed of Chocobo that can actually fly, and while they often look more purple than black… the one you get in Heavensward is officially a jet black chocobo with pretty cool barding. When you get yours you also get this device called an Aether Compass. In order to fly in a zone you need to track down a certain number of the Aether Currents, and in Western Coerthas this is 10 scattered throughout the zone and 5 that you get from doing quests. If you have ever played a game that has a tracking system the compass works pretty much like this. You click the item and it tells you the direction and distance away the next Aether Current is located. This appears in your quest items tab, but I highly suggest moving it to a hotbar because you will be clicking this thing constantly.

As a result you have to not only try and figure out how to traverse a zone that is extremely difficult to traverse do to some extreme elevation changes, you have to do this while interpreting messages like “381 Yalms to the South East”. Most of the Aether Currents are found as a result of some jumping puzzles, that can either be extremely difficult to get to… or relatively simply if you figure out the path they intended you to take. The worst feeling is jumping down off something and seeing an Aether Current on the way down… that you could have gotten if only you know it was there ahead of time. Once you have gathered up all of the currents you can fly around the zone on your Black Chocobo… and I have to say it feels amazing to finally be able to do this. Sure the whole Aether Current thing is frustrating, but it did an amazing job of teaching me the layout of the zone and it is really the sort of thing that I did not finish until I was already MOSTLY finished with a zone. This is a great compromise for allowing players to fly, but not feeling like you are somehow cheapening the content in the process. Other games should really take note of this system going forward, because it feels like you are really earning your ability to fly each time.

Birthdays are Weird

Having a birthday and being an active member of social media… is a strange thing. Yesterday I was completely overwhelmed by the number of birthday wishes that came flooding through. I tried to respond to all of them and thank each person individually… but I am almost certain I missed a few people in the furious scroll. I have to say how special all of you guys made me feel yesterday, and more importantly how loved. It made an otherwise stressful day seem more manageable. I had taken the day off from work, but also my wife was to be flying in mid day. I talked about this a bit yesterday but she was off grading AP exams again, and we were both concerned that she would get delayed by the weather. Technically this did happen but she was lucky enough to make the connecting flight in Dallas and got home on time. However about the time I picked her up is when the worst of the weather starting hitting. I am not used to this whole gale force winds and pouring rain thing, so I have a whole new appreciation for the folks that are used to riding out tropical storms.

We made it home safely however and eventually changed into dry clothing. We grabbed a whataburger on the way home, and almost immediately after eating my wife was conked out on the sofa snuggling with all three cats. I put Venture Brothers on Hulu and broadcast it to the television via chromecast and continued my leveling in ArcheAge. The more I delve into this game the more it reminds me of older games. I absolutely found a Kithicor Forest last night, and for those who are not familiar with that name… it was a forest in Everquest where during the day relatively harmless and non-aggressive mobs spawned, but at night large amounts of max level undead spawned and roamed. In this case in ArcheAge I happened to find a rice paddy that by day had some crocodiles but nothing major, however when the sun sets, a whole slew of skeletons spawned in. While they were not max level they were however damned near instant spawn making it extremely easy to get overwhelmed. I am still very much enjoying this game and even though Heavensward is happening I still plan on poking my head back in every now and then.

Sleep Won

I had all the intention in the world to get up this morning at 4 am and begin playing Final Fantasy XIV Heavensward as soon as the servers came online. However when it came around to last night, and heading to sleep around 9 pm, I opted that I should just sleep in. Systems are always glitchy when they first come online, and instead I got up around 6:30 and after getting out and getting breakfast started streaming around 7 am. I have to say so far everything has been going pretty smoothly all things considering. I had to fight the login boss about five times, but eventually I got to the character load screen and managed to do the introduction quests that got me into Ishgard and house Fortempts. I have to say the new city is gorgeous, but confusing as hell to navigate. This one has tons of ups and downs and it seems like the quest you need to get to is always on the wrong level of the zone.

With this said it is going to take a significant amount of time before I can navigate it near as well as I can any of the existing cities. However I would put it along the lines of Limsa Lominsa as far as frustration taken to learn the layout. I had similar issues rolling a Marauder and starting there originally. As far as the expansion it seems to have completely cured the DPS queues, with everyone rolling Dark Knights. Apparently folks are reveling in the fact that they can now instantly queue as any dps class, and I have to admit it is giving me pause and making me want to level my ninja a bit. Instead I am forged ahead with my plan to level the warrior first. I have to say I am impressed with the difficulty of the mobs. The early quests in Ishgard reward level 115 gear and I am rolling into the expansion with 127 combined ilevel. Things hit hard, and take a long time to take down… so I cannot imagine coming straight to Ishgard after leveling through the original storyline. I guess in a way this might be why they are forcing people to defeat 2.55, because in order to do that… you have to have gotten your ilevel up significantly.

It’s Finally Here!

Right now in Coerthas Western Highlands, the fates are rolling nonstop, and I have to admit a big part of me wants to take advantage of this while I can. As a warrior I can pretty much cheese my contribution and get gold rating almost 100% of the time. Earlier on the stream I rolled up on a FATE that was 90% complete and managed to generate enough threat to get to gold before it despawned. Right now it feels amazing to see that experience bar moving again and so far I am really happy with my choice. As far as what the future will bring… I just want to play the game 🙂 I am not in a massive rush to get to 60, but I also want to be able to experience the dungeons with my friends. Here is hoping that I can unlock the first dungeon before too much long and check it out before the end of the day. In the mean time I am going to cut this blog post short and wish you all a great day… I know I will be having one as I explore Heavensward.