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Atma Weapon Get

September 8, 2014 by Belghast

Naps Are Evil

This morning I am completely dragging and seem to be wallowing in a near zombie like state. The answer to my predicament is rather simple. I indulged in taking a nap with my wife yesterday, and as a result I paid a heavy price. As glorious as naps feel, I for whatever reason cannot take them. I mean I can fall asleep for a nap just fine, but the act of napping dooms me to being unable to sleep later. I am envious of my wife, who can wake up from one nap and immediately fall asleep for another one. My body however seems to hate sleep, and if I partake of the forbidden fruit it means I will be wired at midnight trying desperately to get my body to calm the hell down and sleep.

Last night was of course one of these nights. So this morning I am in a stupor that I fear no coffee will raise me from. I would love to say that the nap was worth it, because it really did feel amazing at the time. However the ultimate results or nap taking seem to always leave me in this condition, and it seems to be a less I have to relearn on a regular basis. So I present to you… Naps are Evil, or at the very least they are unadvisable for someone with screwed up sleep patterns like myself. I realize that I could drug myself into a sleep like state but that generally causes more issues than it is worth. So once again I will just deal with it this morning and hopefully get a good nights sleep tonight.

Atma Weapon Get

This weekend for me was ruled by an overriding goal, to acquire all twelve Atmas and be able to upgrade my axe to its next evolution. There are some caveats there but I will get into them later. Over the course of the past week I have done enough FATEs to gather up around 80,000 grand company seals. If you figure that on average you get around 100 seals per FATE, that means I completed somewhere in the vicinity of 800 FATEs between collecting all twelve Atmas. I am guessing that would Math out about right considering I am roughly 2000 FATEs into the 3000 FATE achievement. So yeah… my guild thought I was crazy for embarking upon this, but I pushed through it regardless. I am by far not the first to get it as Warenwolf and Cylladora managed to get theirs significantly before I did. I feel like they simply had better luck than I did in a few of the zones as I know for certain I ground Southern Thanalan for 3 evenings.

In any case it feels good to put this step of the process behind me for the time being. The funny thing is… I am not absolutely opposed to doing the grind again for another job. I figure at some point I will do it for my Dragoon, however I am going to need to put a lot of pacing between the two grinds. More than likely I am going to shift focus to working on my White Mage for awhile to do something “different” feeling. I tend to go on these missions every now and then, where I am all consumed with getting this one thing done. The games that get me to stick around are the ones that can create large numbers of these traps to ensnare me with in order to keep feeding me new goals that I actually want to accomplish. So far it seems like upon returning to Final Fantasy XIV there are more than enough shiny baubles in the distance to keep me focused.

Beginning the Animus Grind

While I finished the most random portion of the level 100 weapon, I still have to power it up. The Atma Bravura while ilevel 100, it really is no different than your existing Zenith weapon other than having a changed appearance. In the case of the Warrior the blade is coated with blood. From this point out I have a slower and more deliberate grind. The first step is to get 1500 tomestones of mythology which I will then exchange for one of 9 books needed to power up my weapon. Each book is in itself a quest, that involves me to complete specific dungeons, fates or leves in order to complete that step. If I am understanding correctly, each time I complete a book it will imbue my weapon with some stat improvements until finally after completely all nine it will be a proper level 100 weapon.

Some of my guild members are taking a completely different route to get to their ilevel 100 weapon, and in truth it is probably the easier route. I like this one however because it reminds me of how it felt to do an epic weapon quest in the original Everquest, and to some extent in Everquest II. They are long epic quests and at the end when you finally get your hands on the next step in the sequence, it feels well fought and earned in a way that simply saving up tokens could never feel. I am sure I am romanticizing the process, but completely relic weapon quests in Final Fantasy XIV has this same feel for me, so I can see myself doing even the most insane ones just to be able to say I did it.

There is a club of sorts among the folks that have completed the Atma step that I have noticed. They sit around and tell tales of how long it took to get this piece or that piece. Sure it was an arduous grind, but I feel happy to be admitted into that club and be able to tell the tales of the process to get my own bloody axe. Similarly I am sure I will enjoy retelling the tales of the various books that I had to complete to get my animus step as well. The truth of it all is, that these little goals on the horizon are what will keep me hooked on a game for more than just the moment. This long range missions are what keep me grounded and focused. So I might be insane for grinding them out when there are potentially easier alternatives… but I am enjoying the journey.

#FFXIV #Atma #Animus

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