Welcome, dear reader, to the first installment of my Eorzea Diary series! Here you will find my latest stories, ramblings and updates from within the wonderful world of Final Fantasy XIV. This series is mostly written with fellow FFXIV players in mind, and will contain some terminology that might be confusing to those who aren’t familiar with Final Fantasy or MMORPGs. I will try my best to balance giving thorough explanations and making an entertaining diary post. I will adjust this balance accordingly based on your feedback, so please don’t hesitate to write in and leave me your thoughts. With all that said, let’s learn about something new with today’s topic!
Let’s Learn: Alternate Perspectives
I considered calling this series “Astrelle’s Eorzea Diary”, told from the perspective of my main Final Fantasy XIV character, Astrelle, but went with the broader “Jo’s Eorzea Diary” for one huge reason:
I made an alt! Introducing… Yomi Shikibu! Creating an alt can be a great form of self expression, allowing you to freely explore alternative story pathways, locations, character designs and classes without affecting your main character’s progress.
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A martial artist Au Ra from the sands of Ul’Dah, Yomi specializes in close-quarters combat and has a nimble and aggressive fighting style. My goal with Yomi was to create a character with the opposite traits to Astrelle. Yomi fights with her fists, Astrelle fights at range with a bow. Yomi has a darker color palette, Astrelle has a lighter one, and so on. I haven’t actually logged in as Yomi yet, but once I do, I’ll be sure to fill you in on how things are going in her hometown of Ul’Dah. In the meantime, SO MUCH has happened since my last post a month ago, both online and off. Apologies for such a long delay… I hope this enormous first diary post will make up for it!
Daunting Dungeons
One of the most daunting aspects of MMOs for new players is Dungeons and Raids, and understandably so. These are basically online boss fights where you navigate through a gauntlet of puzzles and enemies, making your way to the boss at the end. Rather than taking on the boss alone, you are joined by other players and oftentimes required to have precise coordination between each teammate in order to take down the foe. This is an aspect that, as sacrilegious as it sounds, I mostly ignored over my years of playing MMOs. I tend to be the extremely causal, hang out in the lobby and goof off with friends type of player, but with FFXIV I decided to try something new. Well…. I was required to do a dungeon to progress the main story, hah. I’m so glad I did though as it ended up being a very engaging experience!
I nervously entered into the caves of Sastasha with a team of four: Two DPS, a Tank, and a Healer. In case you aren’t familiar or just need a brush-up, here’s a brief description of each of the roles I mentioned. My role is DPS, and what that entails is being the damage dealer of the group. DPS is a great role for those who like to fire off abilities in quick succession, constantly moving around the battlefield and racking up tons of damage. As a Tank, your goal is to be the “sponge” of the group, keeping the enemy’s attention locked on you, soaking up attacks and protecting your teammates from harm. Tank is a great role to play if you like playing a beefy character with lots of health, and prefer close-quarters combat. Tanks will be on the frontlines, leading the charge towards victory. As a Healer, your goal is to heal your teammates when they are running low, and the Tank relies heavily on your support. Healer is arguably the most pivotal role on the battlefield, and you will serve as the backbone that your team relies on to stay in the fight.
Thankfully, DPS is the most approachable role for beginners, giving me plenty of room to learn the ropes without being too much of a drag to my teammates. Something I quickly noticed is how forgiving and helpful the FFXIV community is, and how willing my team of complete strangers was to let me learn and make mistakes, with one teammate even giving me advice. It was a surprising experience, as I’ve heard so many horror stories about team-based online games and how ruthless their communities can be towards new players. So far, I have yet to encounter a rude player and everyone I’ve met has been incredibly kind! Since Sastasha, I have gone on to tackle two more dungeons, Tam-Tara Deepcroft and The Copperbell Mines. I even braved the Bowl of Embers and defeated the great Primal boss, Ifrit! I have warmed up quite a bit to this style of play, and my nervousness towards Dungeons has been replaced with excited wonderment.
Staying on the note of kind players, I recently bumped into a shining example of this unique brand of Eorzean hospitality: Amelias Rose! I was doing some busywork, slaying mobs for a quest when suddenly a player started circling me, following me as I carried on my quest.
The player chat lit up: “hey, do you want gear? I can make you some if you want!” I, an eternally jaded skeptic, thought this was some sort of scam I wasn’t privy to, so I gave a tepid “uhhh sure, thank you so much!” In response. Amelias took off and I carried on with my day… About 15 minutes later, she found me in the busy streets of Limsa Lominsa with armor in hand! We talked about armor and weapons for a bit (she carries this really cool staff on her back, which you can see in the picture below!), and then she took off again, onto her next great adventure. I was oddly moved by this, and glad nobody could see the absolute dorkiest smile I had on my face after this meeting. Something I was reminded of by Amelias is that it is so important to carry yourself with kindness, and when someone else is kind to you, pass it forward to the next adventurer. You never know what they could be going through and it just might make their day.
Forward Unto Dawn
Lastly, I want to give a brief update on my personal story progress, which of course will contain spoilers. Feel free to skip ahead to the Eorzea Update below if you’d rather avoid those! I have just reached the Waking Sands, a secret headquarters tucked away in the port-side town of Vesper Bay. Upon arrival I was met by the headquarter’s Lalafellin receptionist, Tataru, who pointed me downstairs to a series of doors and hallways, leading to the meeting place for the Scions of the Seventh Dawn, a secret society devoted to serving and protecting the realm of Eorzea. I already adore this group and am so thrilled to learn more about them. I have met members Yda and Papalymo in the past, who had given me advice about something called “The Echo”, an ability I had been afflicted with that gives me the ability to see into the past, but also gives terrible headaches. Turns out that Minfilia, the leader of the Scions of the Seventh Dawn, has The Echo as well and recognizes me as a Warrior of Light, a survivor of the Seventh Umbral Calamity, while everyone else has forgotten who I am. Despite this, I am kindly welcomed into this secret society and sent straight to work.
While the story so far has been a bit of a slow burner, it is starting to unfold in a way that has me curiously logging in every day and pushing forward. I have also been taking a breather in between quests, taking in the sights and sounds, and spending waaaay too much time at The Golden Saucer… That’s a topic I will be saving for another day! In the meantime, let’s move on to today’s Eorzea Update, the segment of this diary keeping you up-to-date on FFXIV’s latest events and news!
Eorzea Update
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Valentione’s Day & Upcoming Events
During the month of February, love was certainly in the air. For me, this meant falling deeply in love with Final Fantasy after many years of curiously watching it from the outside, seeing the immense influence it had on people. It’s been a delightful experience so far, and I have greatly enjoyed witnessing the abundant culture to be found in Final Fantasy XIV. One cultural touchstone of FFXIV is Valentione’s Day, an annual holiday celebrating love and the various forms it takes. Like many holidays, this means heaps of decorations and festivities. This year, you take on a new quest in which you re-unite the sweet couple shown below through the power of the Postmoogle Delivery System! Completing this quest will reward you with two lovely Valentione’s Day themed items: The Valentione Mobile, and the Postmoogle Barding for your chocobo! This was a super adorable introduction to the game’s festivities for me, and I look forward to exploring the wide variety of events on the calendar for this year.
Speaking of future events, let’s briefly touch on those. There are two events in the pipeline for the month of March: Little Ladies Day, and Moogle Treasure Trove. Both of these start on March 14th, at 1 a.m. PDT, with Little Ladies Day staying around until March 31st and Moogle Treasure Trove going until the game’s 6.1 patch set to release in mid-April. I have not experienced either of these events in the past so I don’t have much to bring to the table at the moment, but I’ll be sure to give you all the details in my next Eorzea Diary entry!
I mentioned the game’s 6.1 patch which is another topic I can’t give an extensive write-up on as I am not caught up with the story, but in brief, you can expect new main story and side story questlines, new raids, dungeons, and trials, a new 5 vs 5 player PvP mode, a lottery for the housing system, and many more minor game adjustments and miscellaneous changes. To wrap up the Eorzea Update, here’s the absolutely gorgeous concept art for the 6.1 patch! May the light of the crystal guide us all!
-- Stay tuned here at the Jo's Tomorrow blog for more Final Fantasy/MMORPG ramblings and all things FFXIV; Happy Reading!--
