It's a good thing camps are teleport locations. With the influx of newbies in my LS I've been tasked as a guide as well as primary crafter. I managed to get Janica a tour of the grade 1-3 camps in the black shroud before Janica ran out of steam. Then Moki got created and we were 5. A quick tour on how to find Bentbranch followed right before I logged out for the evening.
Later in the night I teleported to limsa to get some Blacksmithing/Armorer local leves. I'll do them tonight.
Thursday, August 25, 2011
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Bit of crafting
Managed to get some local guild leves done while we all took a bit of a break from ffxiv over the last 2 days. Plenty of that still to do. I read up on Naoki Yoshida's plans for the crafting side of the game. Originally I was astounded at the simplificaitons proposed, thinking "damn that will kill crafting by making it too simple". Then I had to deal with equipping newbies...
Simplified crafting system? Please get it here now!...
From what I gather they are eliminating many steps in the crafting process itself (for example all nuggets will be going the way of the dinosaurs) in 1.19. And in 1.20 we'll see changes to the HQ system where there will no longer be normal, +1s, +2s and +3s, there will be normal and high quality (NQ and HQ). How the existing inventory gets split between the two new values is still up in the air, but looks like +1s will become normal and +2s and +3s will become HQ. It looks like HQ crafting will be based on having the HQ materials to start with. I.E. guaranteed success but all materials MUST be HQ to get an HQ final product. Also materia is going to be added to the existing crafting pallet. This system looks like it will be "Stat effecting addons" sort of system (a la ffix?). Time will tell.
Now also another translated post indicated that down the road we'll be able to have "job sets" of gear where we switch to an entire set when changing jobs. And the inventory slots for the jobs will be separate from general storage (OH THANK GOD). But this is "far down the road" (DAMN IT). Between the simplification and the extra "set storage" This should go a long way towards alleviating current storage issues.
Of course the addition of materia to the mix will make things a little bit worse but we'll see. My real hope is that the material and synth grade stratification happens. So that a grade 1 final product uses nothing but grade 1 materials all throughout it's production process. A grade 2 nothing but grade 2 materials and so on. That way I could shuffle off grade 2 synths (and their attendant materials) off to the other (upcoming) crafters i the LS and be able to pitch all sub grade 3 materials out of my inventory and concentrate on grade 3 crafting (which I'm currently grinding thru as can be seen by my current levels). That would really simplify my life.
I'm cautiously optimistic.
Simplified crafting system? Please get it here now!...
From what I gather they are eliminating many steps in the crafting process itself (for example all nuggets will be going the way of the dinosaurs) in 1.19. And in 1.20 we'll see changes to the HQ system where there will no longer be normal, +1s, +2s and +3s, there will be normal and high quality (NQ and HQ). How the existing inventory gets split between the two new values is still up in the air, but looks like +1s will become normal and +2s and +3s will become HQ. It looks like HQ crafting will be based on having the HQ materials to start with. I.E. guaranteed success but all materials MUST be HQ to get an HQ final product. Also materia is going to be added to the existing crafting pallet. This system looks like it will be "Stat effecting addons" sort of system (a la ffix?). Time will tell.
Now also another translated post indicated that down the road we'll be able to have "job sets" of gear where we switch to an entire set when changing jobs. And the inventory slots for the jobs will be separate from general storage (OH THANK GOD). But this is "far down the road" (DAMN IT). Between the simplification and the extra "set storage" This should go a long way towards alleviating current storage issues.
Of course the addition of materia to the mix will make things a little bit worse but we'll see. My real hope is that the material and synth grade stratification happens. So that a grade 1 final product uses nothing but grade 1 materials all throughout it's production process. A grade 2 nothing but grade 2 materials and so on. That way I could shuffle off grade 2 synths (and their attendant materials) off to the other (upcoming) crafters i the LS and be able to pitch all sub grade 3 materials out of my inventory and concentrate on grade 3 crafting (which I'm currently grinding thru as can be seen by my current levels). That would really simplify my life.
I'm cautiously optimistic.
Monday, August 22, 2011
And a slaughter was had
So, Sunday, I start by working on the things I was finding I was short of. By the end of it, not only do I have another level of Pugilist (yay, 22) I also get another level of Botany and get all the things I was short on Saturday. Loooooong day.
By the end of the day we even managed to get a grind party going in Bloodshore. Many levels were had for the low level guys. For me, just good progress towards PUG 23. Many Aldgoat Billies were slaughtered without mercy.
I'm going to go crawl somewhere to get some rest now...
By the end of the day we even managed to get a grind party going in Bloodshore. Many levels were had for the low level guys. For me, just good progress towards PUG 23. Many Aldgoat Billies were slaughtered without mercy.
I'm going to go crawl somewhere to get some rest now...
Sunday, August 21, 2011
Did I mention the crafting?
Once again into the breach. This time for rank 15ish gear. With more acquaintances headed for the game, I got crafting up a storm this weekend. I totally blew through my buffalo hide reserve. Looks like I'll be hunting wolves tomorrow (and chasing elusive dyer's moss). All I have to say at this point is although aesthetically, I would prefer that the crafting system remain as complex as it is but that the storage issues be resolved, realistically I must admit that after this weekend I'm all "bring on the simplified system... now... please...".
Alarea (aka Strongpaw) is headed to 17 CON. Janica (Jon) is headed to the low 10's GLA but is going to slow down to get Defender from MAR. Sylva (Max) hit 15 MAR. This means that once Janica hits 15 -ish, we could get a pretty good party going and my lower level jobs (LAN, MAR, CON, THM) can get a bit of a work out in a working party. With all the crafting, my main did not see much progress. Some of the synths were very nice to my progression but a lot were much lower level and did no progress my character much. The linkshell, however is getting geared up so I can't complain.
Shortlist for acquisition:
Copper Ore
Buffalo Hide
Various Dyer's Moss
Alarea (aka Strongpaw) is headed to 17 CON. Janica (Jon) is headed to the low 10's GLA but is going to slow down to get Defender from MAR. Sylva (Max) hit 15 MAR. This means that once Janica hits 15 -ish, we could get a pretty good party going and my lower level jobs (LAN, MAR, CON, THM) can get a bit of a work out in a working party. With all the crafting, my main did not see much progress. Some of the synths were very nice to my progression but a lot were much lower level and did no progress my character much. The linkshell, however is getting geared up so I can't complain.
Shortlist for acquisition:
Copper Ore
Buffalo Hide
Various Dyer's Moss
Friday, August 19, 2011
More Crafting - and Sheep
It was another evening of "get the newbies equipped". Lots of newbie gladiator gear was crafted. As usual some stuff was kind of "short". Lucky Alarea has been a busy beaver and done some mass gathering. The only thing we needed to get were Ram Horns... Yep back to killing sheep. Again... And so I introduced Janica to the fluff balls of wPublish Postind and lightning goodness.
Tomorrow the plans are more partying and dragging the newbies up quickly so that they can get with my rank 16 jobs and we can progress together on those jobs at that point.
I must say that the crafting changes should simplify things enormously. I still say they are going overboard (I did so on the main ffxiv forums) but hey at least the inventory crunch should be made better.
Tomorrow the plans are more partying and dragging the newbies up quickly so that they can get with my rank 16 jobs and we can progress together on those jobs at that point.
I must say that the crafting changes should simplify things enormously. I still say they are going overboard (I did so on the main ffxiv forums) but hey at least the inventory crunch should be made better.
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Light Party
Well my recent push to get some friends in FFXIV is bearing fruit. And I must say, when you're getting newbies by the bucket full and you're the only mid level crafter - damn does it keep you hopping. Since these guys are experienced MMO players, getting used to the mechanics just involves a lot of bitching that FFXIV does not follow current conventions (yea, we know, we know).
From the point of view of a crafter, the upcoming simplification of crafting as per the dev blog over in lodestone is a little disappointing. My inventory and my ability to supply my fellow linkshell friends will thank them but as for the game mechanics - I think they are going a little too far. But that's me, I like a complicated system. We'll see if the materia system adds enough to compensate for the loss of complexity.
In the meanwhile, we were enough last night to have an entire light party together for the first time. And even with a level discrepancy of level 1 to level 21 we got things rolling. After a bit of "bash the star marmots" to test things out and get the rank newbie familiar with the controls, I took charge and lead the group to that oblong zone right before camp Tranquil. As a level 21 PUG I have no problem soloing things like the Megalocrabs so I figured so long as:
a) I grab aggro first
b) Nobody is stupid enough to use area attacks
Keeping the party alive would be a cinch. So we started off with a rank 21 PUG, rank 3 Archer, Rank 9 Marauder and a Rank 13 Conjurer. Needless to say the Rank 13 Conjurer was the keystone in this arrangement. He permitted me to concentrate on unloading special moves to guarantee I kept aggro. Sure enough this worked very well. And except for two Marauder deaths (thanks to some badly timed area attack moves - "but it spawned right after I fired the attack"). By the end of the evening I had some progress towards rank 22, the Archer was rank 11, the Marauder was like 13 or so and the Conjurer almost broke into 16.
We're going to need to equip these boys now (damn going to have to go Cactuar hunting and that's dangerous).
From the point of view of a crafter, the upcoming simplification of crafting as per the dev blog over in lodestone is a little disappointing. My inventory and my ability to supply my fellow linkshell friends will thank them but as for the game mechanics - I think they are going a little too far. But that's me, I like a complicated system. We'll see if the materia system adds enough to compensate for the loss of complexity.
In the meanwhile, we were enough last night to have an entire light party together for the first time. And even with a level discrepancy of level 1 to level 21 we got things rolling. After a bit of "bash the star marmots" to test things out and get the rank newbie familiar with the controls, I took charge and lead the group to that oblong zone right before camp Tranquil. As a level 21 PUG I have no problem soloing things like the Megalocrabs so I figured so long as:
a) I grab aggro first
b) Nobody is stupid enough to use area attacks
Keeping the party alive would be a cinch. So we started off with a rank 21 PUG, rank 3 Archer, Rank 9 Marauder and a Rank 13 Conjurer. Needless to say the Rank 13 Conjurer was the keystone in this arrangement. He permitted me to concentrate on unloading special moves to guarantee I kept aggro. Sure enough this worked very well. And except for two Marauder deaths (thanks to some badly timed area attack moves - "but it spawned right after I fired the attack"). By the end of the evening I had some progress towards rank 22, the Archer was rank 11, the Marauder was like 13 or so and the Conjurer almost broke into 16.
We're going to need to equip these boys now (damn going to have to go Cactuar hunting and that's dangerous).
Monday, August 15, 2011
Lots of bouncing around and specs!
I'm finding that one of the effects of playing in groups with people is that I end up bouncing around more. I still am doing my current pattern of local, regional, field guildleves as much as I can. Then however there is the additional gathering and crafting associated with my friends.
On the flip side I was finally able to make some clear glass lenses and get myself some copper specs, the brass cudgel and some goggles. The goggles were right at the edge of my abilities as I blew up the synth 50% of the time (made two pair).
I also reached Leatherworker 23 and Carpenter 23 over the weekend as well as being within 1k of getting Archer 21 (wasn't aiming for that - it just happened since I was in the Gridania area and concentrating on doing guild mark leves).
Hopefully I will be able to stay in the Ul'dah area for a bit and work on guild mark producing leves for a bit in this area. Give my Pugilist and Gladiator jobs some love, as well as get Thaumaturge up to 20. Although that'll probably involve a whole bunch of crafting as I seem to want to get my gear up to snuff for each job as I do that.
That it for that weekend.
On the flip side I was finally able to make some clear glass lenses and get myself some copper specs, the brass cudgel and some goggles. The goggles were right at the edge of my abilities as I blew up the synth 50% of the time (made two pair).
I also reached Leatherworker 23 and Carpenter 23 over the weekend as well as being within 1k of getting Archer 21 (wasn't aiming for that - it just happened since I was in the Gridania area and concentrating on doing guild mark leves).
Hopefully I will be able to stay in the Ul'dah area for a bit and work on guild mark producing leves for a bit in this area. Give my Pugilist and Gladiator jobs some love, as well as get Thaumaturge up to 20. Although that'll probably involve a whole bunch of crafting as I seem to want to get my gear up to snuff for each job as I do that.
That it for that weekend.
Friday, August 12, 2011
Bikinis
So while doing some leves last night I checked out the new seasonal event. Damn there were a lot of bikinis. I was so distracted I forgot to get screenshots....
Sure they are only pixels, but they are damn fine pixels.
Sure they are only pixels, but they are damn fine pixels.
Thursday, August 11, 2011
Forward Progress
Since I started the evening in La Noscea, I was able to get some progress with my local leves. Both armorcrafting and blacksmithing saw some progress including the acquisition of two new books. Wow blacksmithing does not have a lot of books. I need to make sure I don't accidentally nail one of the two remaining ones in with other jobs.
After the usual was done, I hooked up with Paw on voice comms and we coordinated the upgrading of some of his gear. Lucky these days I actually have a stock of materials to craft with, but as is becomeing standard I end up with some holes in the mix here and there once a plan is agreed upon. In this case there was the request for the carpentry 2nd hand tool and after asking about his current gathering levels, I determined that the level 7 mining and botany main hand tools as well as the fishing rank 12 tool would be good bets to upgrade to.
A quick perusal of the recipes revealed that I was missing slate-grey scale bugs (for a Sheep Leather Strap (grey) and a Soiled Femur (for a Bone Fish Hook). I had sufficient material reserves for all the other components of all 4 items. So the idea was to have Paw hunt down the two remaining items while I got busy processing materials into parts and crafting the tools.
Got it all done except the fishing rod as Paw was either getting unlucky or the changes to the Bearded Rock zone were such that it no longer had Soiled Femurs. Not wanting to waste time getting the last tool done, I proposed we teleport over to the Bentbranch zone near Gridania since I knew there were Soiled Femurs there. And just as we are going for the 2nd node in the place who do we run into but Silver grinding up his gathering. So at that point it was "do you have any Soiled Femurs?". He said yes and of course we simply went to his retainer and I was able to complete the Willow Fishing Rod.
Of course Ironies of Ironies, just as I get to Paw to deliver the rod, what do I get? Cursing on the comms, "what, what?". "Two of them just dropped...". "Doh!".
Just before logging off I brought them to Mor Dohna to check out the crashed airship and dead dragon. Always a cool sight (along with the level 50+ aggro beasties)
After the usual was done, I hooked up with Paw on voice comms and we coordinated the upgrading of some of his gear. Lucky these days I actually have a stock of materials to craft with, but as is becomeing standard I end up with some holes in the mix here and there once a plan is agreed upon. In this case there was the request for the carpentry 2nd hand tool and after asking about his current gathering levels, I determined that the level 7 mining and botany main hand tools as well as the fishing rank 12 tool would be good bets to upgrade to.
A quick perusal of the recipes revealed that I was missing slate-grey scale bugs (for a Sheep Leather Strap (grey) and a Soiled Femur (for a Bone Fish Hook). I had sufficient material reserves for all the other components of all 4 items. So the idea was to have Paw hunt down the two remaining items while I got busy processing materials into parts and crafting the tools.
Got it all done except the fishing rod as Paw was either getting unlucky or the changes to the Bearded Rock zone were such that it no longer had Soiled Femurs. Not wanting to waste time getting the last tool done, I proposed we teleport over to the Bentbranch zone near Gridania since I knew there were Soiled Femurs there. And just as we are going for the 2nd node in the place who do we run into but Silver grinding up his gathering. So at that point it was "do you have any Soiled Femurs?". He said yes and of course we simply went to his retainer and I was able to complete the Willow Fishing Rod.
Of course Ironies of Ironies, just as I get to Paw to deliver the rod, what do I get? Cursing on the comms, "what, what?". "Two of them just dropped...". "Doh!".
Just before logging off I brought them to Mor Dohna to check out the crashed airship and dead dragon. Always a cool sight (along with the level 50+ aggro beasties)
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Supporting newbies
The last few days have been rather active supporting some friends playing FFXIV for the first time. Damn I had forgotten how much work getting a pair of newbies geared up in this game is. And of course my materials reserves were rather low since my great divestment of crafting materials.
Some rather focused gathering runs were done to acquire missing gear. It allowed me to introduce them to the gathering jobs. Of course outside the newbie equipment one must keep them geared up as they progress (oy). I foresee lots of crafting in my future for a bit until they outpace my skills.
Some rather focused gathering runs were done to acquire missing gear. It allowed me to introduce them to the gathering jobs. Of course outside the newbie equipment one must keep them geared up as they progress (oy). I foresee lots of crafting in my future for a bit until they outpace my skills.
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Helping friends
Here I am with Silver and Paw. Just got them into rank 11'ish gear. Damn that was lot of crafting...
Paw, Let, Silver
Monday, August 8, 2011
And I get Pugilist to 20
Much progress over the Sunday. The guildleves regenerated and I was able to load up on some Alchemist and Weaver ones. Having determined their destinations (both Drybone and Horizon) I then proceeded to load up on appropriate regional and fieldcraft leves at the destination camps.
Drybone was a nice change, just after I turned in the local leve and I was preparing to tear thru the 3 regional leves I had queued up, someone pipes up "anyone doing leves". So I indicate that I was going to tear thru 3 of em and the person joins up. A rank 13 Archer with a rank 19 Pugilist. So long as she didn't get aggro, things went well. We were running 4 star leves as I can conveniently solo 3 star ones. So we did mine, then we did hers (female character, no idea what was on the other side of the keyboard), and at the end I teleported us both to Horizon so she could tag along on my guildleve there and pick up the Horizon Aetherite.
That done we parted ways and I was within 3000 exp of hitting 20. So I just ran around killing things for a bit (was getting lucky with the Mitelings) and dinged 20. I then teleported back to Ul'dah to get my rank 20 Pugilist quest done. Not to mention get the 2nd Alchemist training manual (poisoning treatise). Since I'm still 24 Alchemist, my plan on leveling crafting by doing just about exclusively local guildleves that have a chance on granting guildmarks is playing off. I also decided to wait on 8000 mining guild marks before getting the next tome in that class. My only worry is that it's much slower than grinding, which could be problematic once all my combat classes are past 20. I've gotten 3 of the seven up to 20 now. I intend to get Pugilist to 22 before switching back to one of the other jobs. I also need to keep an eye out for Gladiator regional leves as I need to get 1500 more guild marks to get the trait that allows you to keep your shield up for 50% longer.
We will see how it goes, but it looks like I'll be in Ul'dah a while longer.
Drybone was a nice change, just after I turned in the local leve and I was preparing to tear thru the 3 regional leves I had queued up, someone pipes up "anyone doing leves". So I indicate that I was going to tear thru 3 of em and the person joins up. A rank 13 Archer with a rank 19 Pugilist. So long as she didn't get aggro, things went well. We were running 4 star leves as I can conveniently solo 3 star ones. So we did mine, then we did hers (female character, no idea what was on the other side of the keyboard), and at the end I teleported us both to Horizon so she could tag along on my guildleve there and pick up the Horizon Aetherite.
That done we parted ways and I was within 3000 exp of hitting 20. So I just ran around killing things for a bit (was getting lucky with the Mitelings) and dinged 20. I then teleported back to Ul'dah to get my rank 20 Pugilist quest done. Not to mention get the 2nd Alchemist training manual (poisoning treatise). Since I'm still 24 Alchemist, my plan on leveling crafting by doing just about exclusively local guildleves that have a chance on granting guildmarks is playing off. I also decided to wait on 8000 mining guild marks before getting the next tome in that class. My only worry is that it's much slower than grinding, which could be problematic once all my combat classes are past 20. I've gotten 3 of the seven up to 20 now. I intend to get Pugilist to 22 before switching back to one of the other jobs. I also need to keep an eye out for Gladiator regional leves as I need to get 1500 more guild marks to get the trait that allows you to keep your shield up for 50% longer.
We will see how it goes, but it looks like I'll be in Ul'dah a while longer.
Saturday, August 6, 2011
Pugilist time
After finishing up some leves in the Gridania area it was off to Thanalan and regions for some Pugilist and Gladiator work. I intend to mainly concentrate on getting Pugilist to 22 and getting guild marks for the Gladiator job.
Things started out on an "interesting foot when the regional guildleve available was "The Whight Stuff"... The decision was made that after turning in the local guildleves I would simply grind two levels and then I thought (remembering the problems I had with Thaumaturge), I should be good to go for this guildleve. So I ground up through the zone (the sweet spot proved to be around level 25 mobs) and quickly dinged two ranks. The leve was then "doable" Took me 24 minutes but did it. I observed, however, that my existing equipment is not optimal for a pugilist since it has much more defense than evasion. Some of the offense of the class depends on me evading the opponent. So after finishing the guildleve it was back to Ul'dah to make some Pugilist specific gear.
And I ding 23 Weaver making a cotton shirt. Switching to the Cotton Shirt and the Cotton Kecks (which I have from the Archery job) definitely upped the evasion stats. We'll have to see if the increase balances the reduced defense stats (although I like the increased magical defense). And as predicted, a level early is the right time to switch to the Dodoskin Cesti.
Things started out on an "interesting foot when the regional guildleve available was "The Whight Stuff"... The decision was made that after turning in the local guildleves I would simply grind two levels and then I thought (remembering the problems I had with Thaumaturge), I should be good to go for this guildleve. So I ground up through the zone (the sweet spot proved to be around level 25 mobs) and quickly dinged two ranks. The leve was then "doable" Took me 24 minutes but did it. I observed, however, that my existing equipment is not optimal for a pugilist since it has much more defense than evasion. Some of the offense of the class depends on me evading the opponent. So after finishing the guildleve it was back to Ul'dah to make some Pugilist specific gear.
And I ding 23 Weaver making a cotton shirt. Switching to the Cotton Shirt and the Cotton Kecks (which I have from the Archery job) definitely upped the evasion stats. We'll have to see if the increase balances the reduced defense stats (although I like the increased magical defense). And as predicted, a level early is the right time to switch to the Dodoskin Cesti.
Thursday, August 4, 2011
First Archer book
I had about 2k archer guild marks to go to get my first archer book. So I decided to stick around Gridania for a day or two and grind that up. As well as some crafting at the carpenter's and leatherworker's guilds. Dinged 22 Leatherworking, Also managed get some botany in. I'll do some more tomorrow and then move on from camp tranquility to the Ul'dah area so I can work on Pugillist.
Monday, August 1, 2011
Carpentry
And I dinged carpentry 22 as I finished off some swallowtail arrows. This should keep me in shootables for a bit. I also managed to finish off the rank 20 quest for the Archer job. Which is good. I think next I will concentrate on pugilist and some crafting.
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