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Destiny is Gorgeous

September 9, 2014 by Belghast

Squandering the Morning

This morning I have absolutely squandered my morning away, because today the servers for Destiny came up. In truth the servers came up over the night, and there are already a large number of folks milling around in Tower that are level 10 or so. This morning my overriding goal was to get a character created and get it to tower so I could eventually meet up with friends and play. This formidable mug you are seeing represents the new version of me in Destiny. At character creation you are given the choice between Human, some sort of translucent skinned humanoid, and robots. Generally speaking I tend to heavily favor humans but there is a fatal flaw in the character creator… no beards. Since I can’t have a beard then I pretty much have to go robot.

All in all I am fine with this because I feel like a badass with the green glowing eyes. I played robotic characters in City of Heroes and Champions Online, so I guess that fits my motif anyway. I ended up rolling a Titan again, because I have to admit I like having the insane attack that slams the ground and knocks all of the enemies away. Additionally I found I liked having a jet pack better than some form of a modified jump. In theory the titan becomes more tanky over time, which also definitely fits my overriding goals in pretty much any game. Similarly I know that there will already be a lot of Warlocks and Hunters among my friends, so I figure it is best to stick with what I know and enjoyed playing in alpha and beta.

Destiny Is Gorgeous

The thing I keep forgetting after large blocks of time being out of the game is just how damned gorgeous this game is. I guess as a habitual member of the PC master race, I have a hard time realizing that the consoles have finally caught up. Always in the past there was something wrong with the console images, either they were grainy or washed out or blurry. They lacked the saturation and definition that I was so used to from playing on a PC. The PS4 however playing destiny looks amazing, and I doubt it would perform any better on a PC, or at least not with the mid range video cards I generally purchase. The big difference of course is that I am running around this landscape with the joystick rather than a keyboard and mouse. This is the biggest adjustment for me, because I still don’t quite feel comfortable without the precision control to make headshots that a mouse gives me.

Thankfully Destiny has more than a fair amount of aim assist, and while I can’t really draw a bead and get head shots reliably, I can chew down encounters with body shots. I managed to make it through the first tutorial level in pretty good time, and as I now idle in Tower to write this… random people keep landing and dancing with me. I am not exactly sure when I will really get a chance to start this game properly. I know we have plans for this evening, but I might pop in after that to at least run the first couple of missions. This is one of those games that I don’t mind being behind the curve. I am not really competing with anyone to get to max level first. I feel like Destiny is going to fill the same role that Diablo 3 does. Fun game that I can get into quickly, kill some stuff and pop back out without many hard feelings. I like the big open world areas in Destiny for this, in that I can land and make my own objectives or simply run around looking for interesting stuff.

Beginning Coil

The picture is completely unrelated here, but I look adorable like always in my White Mage outfit. I mentioned earlier that we already had plans for tonight, and primarily that is because we have decided to start raiding Binding Coil, and this evening is the time that seemed to work the best for most people. I honestly figure by the time evening rolls around Destiny will be completely unplayable, so I thought this might be a good idea to give us all something to focus on other than the inability to play with our new toy. For some time we have been gearing up and wanting to start Binding Coil fresh as a guild. I believe that mostly we will be going into this one completely fresh, in that none of us are really doing research ahead of tonight. One of my biggest joys is figuring out content with my friends, and I think we will do just fine.

One of the most awesome footnotes about the community however is the reaction folks have had to us beginning Binding Coil. Now this raid in one form or another has been out for a year, and they simply keep adding new turns to it. So as I have talked to some fairly serious raiders about our guild starting the Coil fresh, I’ve received a completely unexpected reaction. Were it World of Warcraft, I would have gotten reactions like folks chiding us for being “Months Behind”. Here I have gotten nothing but positive responses, talking about how they wished they could go back and see the Coil with fresh eyes again, and that we would enjoy ourselves. This overwhelming sense of others wishing us well and being happy for us is extremely refreshing. I am glad that this same strong community attitude extends to raiding as well as the dungeon content we have experienced. Hopefully we will go in, clear the first turn and walk away with some awesome memories.

#FFXIV #Destiny

Dark Portal Closes

September 7, 2014 by Belghast

Larva and Whales

Last night we recorded our 21st episode of AggroChat, and it was a pretty enjoyable time. I was joined by the original cast of Ashgar, Rae and Kodra. This issue was more defined by what we didn’t want to talk about than what we actually wanted to talk about. A few of us wanted to avoid the gamersgate debacle at all costs, and overall I think we did a fine job of doing just that. The result was a very organic discussion that started with talking about what we had been playing, and ended with us delving into various items. Who needs show notes right?

I named the episode larva and whales because Kodra has been playing this super complicated puzzle game called English Country Tune. So far I have yet to figure out why exactly it is called English Country Tune, because it seems to be mostly about moving blocks around… some of which are called Larva for no apparent reason, and others are called Whales for similar lack of reasons. When I was listening to the recording, the whole discussion just seemed ridiculous.. and I figured that had to be our title. Later on we got into a discussion of the Wildstar server mergers and how our opinions might have changed a bit on the mega server concept after getting into Cactuar in Final Fantasy XIV.

Dark Portal Closes

It is a rather dramatic subheading for what in truth is not a terribly dramatic act. Yesterday morning while writing my blog post, I ended up talking myself into cancelling my World of Warcraft account. In a way I guess it was writing about the Nightmare Tide expansion in Rift, that made me realize just how not interested I am in anything to do with Warlords of Draenor. There have been a few times over the years when I have cancelled World of Warcraft, and in almost all of them it was the result of some negative reaction to the game. It wasn’t providing me this or that, or I was frustrated with these changes… or more often than not the lack of changes. This time around I feel completely apathetic about the future of this game. I have friends that work on it, and lots of blogger and gamer friends who are still devoted to it, so I hope it does extremely well and provides them a fun environment to run around in. I think it still provides lots of good things for the faithful, but at this point I have just lost the desire to be in Azeroth.

I think the biggest evidence of my need to just close things down is the fact that I have not played the game since April or maybe even earlier than that. I have kept my account active for one reason and one reason alone… I was wearing the Guild master title in the guild I started back in 2004. The only times I would actually log in, were to throw out an invite to someone who was wanting to check out the game. It felt frustrating to have a game I was not playing at all slowly bleeding money out of my accounts each month. Similarly I have come to the realization of just how much the game has changed, not in the content or the client… but in the community. Playing on the Cactuar server in Final Fantasy XIV has made me realize what I missed about Argent Dawn. The experience in Final Fantasy is much like it was in the early days of that server. Coming back each time seemed to remind me just how many people that I once cared about were no longer playing the game.

Similarly I came to the realization that I no longer need World of Warcraft as a $15 a month chat client. The folks that really matter to me I have contact with through social media, instant message, email or even the battle.net client. So I no longer have to rely on World of Warcraft to help glue together bits and pieces of my world. I realize the surest way to return to WoW is to claim you are never returning to WoW. I can’t make such a claim, but it does feel like it is over now. I am leaving not because I am mad at the game, or that I am disappointed by the game… I am leaving because I feel no desire to play the game. After months of having access to the Warlords of Draenor alpha, I find that I have maybe played the game a grand total of six hours. I hope it will be a rousing success, and they already have my money… but I won’t be crossing through the dark portal. At the end of November, my Dark Portal is closing and likely for good.

Fun with Malboros

If you ask a Final Fantasy fan what their most dreaded encounter is, I would imagine that Malboros rank pretty high up the list, more than likely directly below Tonberries. The constant fear of not being able to move out of the “bad breath” attack makes fighting them super frustrating. The Final Fantasy XIV version is every bit as terrifying as the worst versions in any of the console games, and in their infinite wisdom the developers of 14 decided to create a dungeon almost entirely devoted to them. Last night I got to tank Aurum Vale for my good friend Thalen who is slowly creeping up on 50. This dungeon is needed as part of the promotion system for your grand company, and it unlocks access to the highest rank stuff, so as a result we end up periodically running it for the up and comers.

I actually thought the dungeon was nowhere near as bad as I remembered it. It might be that we all greatly outgear the dungeon, but in truth that shouldn’t factor too heavily since Aurum Vale is the last of the dungeons that mentors you down. For the level 50 players this means a frustrating experience of losing all of the stuff you got when you dinged 50, as the dungeon mentors you down to level 49 exactly. The biggest frustration with this is the fact that I lose Infuriate the ability that gives me a 5 stack of rage on demand. It is basically my steel cyclone on demand button, as that is one of the best ways to get threat on all of the things quickly. In spite of these frustrations I had a really good time. I have to say I actually enjoy tanking the lower level instances for guildies as they need them.

#FFXIV #WoW #AggroChat

Finally Turquoise

September 6, 2014 by Belghast

A Stronger Message

Yesterday various things happened, and it left me feeling like I needed to present a slightly stronger message about my feelings regarding issues. I still stand by my statement earlier in the week that everyone simply needs to be excellent to one another, and that would go a long ways in fixing issues. Since then some things have happened and I feel like I need to make a blanket statement about a few things. First off I support equality and diversity in gaming and in pretty much everything else in life. I tend to think of myself as a Humanist, and I would like to think that I give everyone out there an equal shake. I believe human beings are infinitely wonderful things, and that we should treat each other with respect.

Similarly I like that gaming is slowly becoming a more inclusive place. I am almost 40 years old at this point, and I’ve watched gaming come in and out of acceptance several times and I figure with the influx of mobile devices, it isn’t much more different than every family owning an Atari 2600 or a Nintendo Entertainment System. Gaming has no less meaning today than it did when those events happened. So I feel like there is room in gaming for anyone who cares to pick up a game and play it. As such I totally support all sorts of games, even the games that folks have been calling “non-games” like Gone Home an Depression Quest. I come from an era when games didn’t have graphics, so I don’t see something like Depression Quest being all that different from a text based adventure game like Zork, and without it… and MUDs you all would not have the games that you likely love today.

Finally I feel like this most recent controversy is a deeply confused situation. I feel like there are most definitely people who in earnest believe that this is a fight about journalistic integrity. The problem is there is so much *ism being thrown into the discussion by folks supposedly supporting the cause that any sane and cogent discussion gets pushed out. So far the best run down of the entire issue is in this topic, where someone interviewed a bunch of members of the movement trying to find a thread of commonality. I highly suggest you give it a read, because I found it informative and coming out of it I have a better understanding of the intent. The problem is based on a huge informational dump that came out today… the noble members of this movement apparently were in fact being played by the very same folks they claimed not to support. It seems as though the woman for whom their outrage started this entire thing, really was a Social Justice Rogue… and I use that term with ultimate respect in what she managed to pull off.

#IStandWithGanondorf

Finally Turquoise

Now that I got my statement out of the way, and feel that I have underlined and bolded my views on the situation. On to really important things like the fact that I finally… after spending like 60k buying fruit and then growing my own batch and using almost all of it… managed to get to Turquoise. I have to say it is absolutely glorious to behold, and now I just need to either farm Leviathan for a barb and collect all the mats to get the Tidal Barding crafted… or hope the market prices go down to a place where I can afford to buy it. It does make me exceedingly happy to scamper about on the mount while grinding FATEs for my atma bits. At this point I have three more zones left: Middle La Noscea, East Shroud, and North Shroud.

The method that finally managed to get me there was in fact the spreadsheet. The problem is the method is not infallible. I think this is in part due to the fact that you get slightly randomized bits of color per fruit fed. So instead of hitting Turquoise green on the first try I hit Apple Green. I used the sheet to figure out the colors I needed to add to that to get to Turquoise and then BAM! I finally worked. Generally speaking there will be a 2-4 fruit spread where the sheet will “guess” that you will arrive at the color you want. Initially I was feeding the bare minimum to hit the color, but it seems safer to overfeed a fruit to hit more in the middle of that range. If you don’t play FFXIV and the chocobo dyeing game… this all sounds like madness… and more often than not it is. I hit my goal color and am supremely happy for the time being.

Nightmare Tides

I have not really played much rift for the better part of a year now, but once again it is expansion time and I find myself eyeing the game. Storm Legion more or less was a bust for me. It featured a couple of extremely interesting early zones, and a whole slew of extremely grindy later zones. I realize this is odd to hear me complaining about grinding when I am so happily grinding away for an Atma weapon. The problem with Storm Legion however is it felt much like the Veteran ranks in Elder Scrolls Online feel… grinding without purpose and progress. It took an immense amount of time to push through the levels from around 56 to 60, and while I have made it through on two characters… I have lacked the drive to do it again on either my Cleric or my Mage. This expansion however drops the 10 level grind to a 5 level one, and I am hoping that it becomes more manageable. I know I will likely be playing this, as I am far more interested in it than I am say Warlords of Draenor.

I don’t really plan on having a big rallying cry to get folks into the game. Quite honestly I would prefer if everyone stuck in Final Fantasy XIV and playing it happily. I want to stay playing FFXIV regardless of away missions out into Destiny or even Rift. I am of the opinion that had I not worn myself out doing NaNoWriMo I likely would not have left Final Fantasy XIV in the first place, and never ventured back into World of Warcraft. That might just be my brain revising the facts of the time, but it seems reasonable. I remember very much being unable to get into the game after a night of writing hard and fast to hit the goals. Anyways in any case… I would prefer Final Fantasy XIV to be my base of operations, and not Rift. That is not to say however that I am not intrigued by the content. I still have a whole bundle of good feelings about the game and the company behind it. I guess time will tell if I plunk down the money to play it, but I feel like October 8th the announced release date will be here before we know it. Also I feel like it is pretty damned brave to be releasing against the Warlords juggernaut.

#Rift #FFXIV

Night of the Atmas

September 5, 2014 by Belghast

One Last Try at Turquoise

Yesterday the fruit that I planted in our guild hall garden ripened and I suddenly had 36 Mamook Pear (+green) and 36 O’ghomoro Berries (+blue) to play with. So last night I thought I would try and jump around the less than accurate flowchart by feeding my Chocobo 10 each still in an effort to get to turquoise. This morning once again I was excited to wake up and see the progress, only to find that once again I had simply jumped from Celeste Green to its next door neighbor Sky Blue. I am afraid I will be stuck in a rut where I jump back and forth between those two colors indefinitely. The problem is… Celeste Green is just too light for what I really want. My ultimate goal is to eventually get the tidal barding, and Turquoise will match with that so much better.

My friend Ash had mentioned a simulator of sorts that allowed you to pick a start color and a target color and add fruit until you get your end results in the “Current Guess” column. So this morning I dug the spreadsheet up and decided to make one last attempt at Turquoise. If I can’t hit it after this I will just live with Celeste Green or honestly whatever color of green I end up with. If you are curious what all of the Chocobos look like dyed in a certain color… I also have this nifty link that gives previews of each. As you can see to the left side, that is the target color I am going for… as it is significantly richer and more vibrant than the washed out Celeste green. According to the simulator by feeding 20 pears at a time I should hit my desired color. Here is hoping!

Night of the Atmas

This ladies and gentlemen represents my haul for the night. I went into the evening with five Atmas and excited with a grand total of eight, and a good number of beast tribe currency as well. At this point I am definitely too close to give up before I hold Bravura Atma in my hands. Honestly who is kidding, after I got my second Atma there was honestly no return for me. After Warenwolf finished his in a weekend, it ultimately sealed my fate and meant I would be grinding out the rest of mine over the coming nights. Currently I have Central Thanalan, Eastern Thanalan, Southern Thanalan, and Western Thanalan so all of Thanalan is officially done now. Additionally I have the fluke drop in Central Shroud and have then started working on La Noscea having Outer, Western, and Lower so far. Currently I am working on Upper and Middle La Noscea to complete my sweep of that area before starting in on the Shroud region.

I started my evening like I had several nights by porting out to Southern Thanalan. I had originally chosen Thanalan as it had some of the more annoying zones to traverse. About the time I got out there a guildie of mine Cav showed up both on teamspeak and next to me at a fate so we joined forces and ground FATEs for a significant amount of time. Luckily we managed to get the Atma of the scorpion off the same Fate, so we opted to take a brief break and continue on in Lower La Noscea. While on break we were joined by Ashgar and we continued our FATE grinding machine, and moments later I got the Atma from that zone. Originally I was just going to break the party and leave the two to their grinding… but they opted to follow me instead. We made our way out to Outer La Noscea and spent the next hour or so running all around that zone. As you can tell by the haul of Kobold quest items, we got at least five different boss fates down in the mines region.

When I got my Atma the two of them decided it was time for them to call it a night as well. I feel horrible that I was the only one who managed to get any Atmas other than Cav also getting the Scorpion. That said however I am only four away from the weapon turn in. Granted I am sure I will probably grind out an Atma weapon for my dragoon as well, but I have a feeling I will be putting some space between the two Atmas by finally working on my White Mage. I already have the precursor for the relic weapon crafted and the materia melded to it and everything. Honestly after all of this FATE grinding I could definitely use the slower pace of leveling a healer. The one massive positive about all of the FATEs is that I am getting tons of Grand Company seals… which I can then turn into Vetures for my retainers. That is a fun little minigame that tends to either reward really interesting stuff, or fish glue… with no real middle ground. Last night I got a level 50 conjurer staff, fish glue, and some cooked accuracy fish.

Dodo Earrings

As of yesterday the Tokoyo game show is under way and I am hoping we see some more information about the 2.38, 2.4 and beyond patches to the game. Unfortunately it seems as though most of the Square events are not happening until Saturday and Sunday, the two public days of the convention. One of the cool things happening this year is that much like the previous year they are having a raid challenge. Anyone who goes to the show can join together with a random group of strangers to complete the Lord of Levin encounter… aka Ramuh. Each time someone defeats the encounter they pick a random server and then ALL players on that server get a bonus item. Last year they gave away Cactuar Earrings for each server, and then when ALL servers earned the reward we got a bonus set of Bomb Earrings.

While they don’t seem nearly as cool as say a Cactuar… it is still pretty damned cool that they are doing them again. Being a loyal Cactuarite I thought it was pretty cool that the reward last year worked with our server. I makes me wonder what exactly the bonus reward might be this year, as generally speaking given the popularity of this game… every server should reasonably see this reward. Especially given that at this point most players have done the Lord of Levin encounter more than a few times. The information I think we are all waiting for is more news about the Rogue class and Ninja job. All signs point to the Ninja being another dps, but in truth I would love to see the Ninja be another tank. This game like so many is constantly in a desperate need of tanks, and you can turn a tidy profit by tanking random dungeons and getting nonstop bonus rewards for doing it. In Final Fantasy XI the Ninja ended up being an evasion tank, but they never actually intended for it to be one. As such I think more than likely they will make it a proper dps this time around.

Similarly I want to hear about other jobs that might be coming down the pipe. I really want to see Dark Knight and Samurai go in, as those are two of my favorite jobs from other Final Fantasy games. Ashgar theorizes that more than likely the Dark Knight will be the DPS class for the Marauder job, and quite honestly I am completely fine with this. Similarly the Samurai could be the tank job on the rogue class. More than anything I would love to see more Jobs get fleshed out since currently only the Scholor/Summoner combination have the 2 jobs per class theme that they had originally intended. In any case I am hoping for good news to trickle out of Tokoyo this weekend. Unfortunately with the time shift it means that more than likely I will find out about the Saturday news on Sunday, and the Sunday news on Monday. I feel like at some point Saturday evening though we will start to see earrings showing up in the mailbox.

#FinalFantasyXIV #FFXIV