FFXIV soft launch / beta 4 weekend

3012, 1017, 90000. These are the numbers that I think almost everyone ran into during this weekend. The unlucky among us (Ark, Val) were locked out with the 3012 (character still logged in) error and weren't able to play for most of Sunday. It also looks like they also severely underestimated the number of people who would want to play, closing Hyperion (and Excalibur) and I think all the original launch servers down to new players for most of Saturday and all of Sunday while opening new servers in both Japan and NA/EU datacenters. Unfortunately, this locked out a lot of people, including all our "Cro*" friends and a few others (where are you Wutangwarrior!?). Hopefully they will be able to join in next weekend. Worst case... well, if you really want to play, in theory server-to-server transfers are coming 2-3 weeks after launch, though whether they'll allow transfers to Hyperion is questionable :(

For a good portion of us however, this weekend was pretty fun and productive! We got the linkshells established (AlphaPrime, Impact and CrossingTheRubicon -- the official FC linkshell) and thanks to Zurar's 1.0 leveled character, we got the CTR Free Company started too. I think most of us played too much this weekend. I definitely did, hitting about 60 hours played out of the 72 hours (well, 76 after the downtime and extension) over the weekend, taking only about 12 hours for sleep x.x

Final score was:

- GLA 4-20

- PGL 11-20

- CNJ 1-20

- MRD 6-18

- LNC 4-15

- ACN, ARC, THM 1-15

I had originally only intended to take GLA to 20, CNJ to 15 to help people with dungeons, and to unlock all jobs... then my OCD kicked in and I wanted to do all the quests in the cities to get rid of those icons... then finish all the hunt logs together with Zu... then the class quests... and before I knew it... >.> This game is badly addictive.

So here's the new (final) Ascy... at least until the barber shop is released!

And some eye candy! Though ask Zu about the effect a harness has on a Hyur female >.>

This time I actually *played* all class from 1-15+ instead of using the fast-forward from previous betas, so I got a decent impression on each class. The scary part is that I didn't find a class I didn't like and could easily see myself playing all of them in any situation. Compare this to other MMOs where I'd find things I just didn't enjoy... like in FFXI I couldn't stand BLM or MNK, or in SWTOR where I didn't like the Jedi Consular/Sith Inquisitor. Here are my fast impressions:

- Gladiator(GLA) -- A little underpowered on the damage and hate side of things compared to MRD. That shield size makes a big difference in damage mitigation. Tower shields just don't have a high enough block rate.

- Pugilist (PGL) -- Solid DD which has an emphasis on speed and movement. When playing PGL, you have to really move between the flank and rear of a mob to get full effect of your combos. Unfortunately, this means you can't be fully effective when solo. There also seems to be a lack of stun and ranged attack moves until high levels.

- Marauder (MRD) -- A little overpowered with the AoE damage, ability to absorb HP and high HP pool. Currently I still like playing MRD over GLA for tanking, especially thanks to the instant stun (though stunning has become less relevant with the addition of indicators for nearly every big boss move) and the ability to absorb HP with damage done (Bloodbath). Does a decent amount of damage too, matching regular DDs at this low level.

- Lancer (LNC) -- While LNC has some positional abilities, you can still do a solid amount of damage straight up against the mob. Add in an instant stun, ranged attack and this becomes a solid DD for any situation.

- Archer (ARC) -- Very fun job with lots of instant attack reaction abilities. Since it's a ranged job, position doesn't matter, and Shadowbind on a fast recast makes it possible, even easy to kite any melee mob around. My only disappointment is that the ARC limit break is the healing one and not the damage one.

- Conjurer (CNJ) -- Pretty boring class for soloing. Cure gives a lot of survivability for you to just nuke and outlast the mob. Surprisingly straightforward in a dungeon if you're focusing on healing. Can almost do it purely by watching the HP bars. At least with Aero you can easily toss on some DOTs on mobs, and in the beginner dungeons, you can get some nuking in.

- Thaumaturge (THM) -- I was surprised to like this class. I think the MP mechanic between Fire & Ice and switching modes made this a lot more interesting compared to BLM in FFXI. The no-recast Sleep, and heavy effect of Blizzard really makes it easy to handle large groups of mobs too

- Arcanist (ACN) -- Weird DOT focused job. In some ways, it can fill nearly all roles - some basic healing, using Carby as a tank, or a decent amount of damage. Need to use it properly though, putting all DOTs as possible on a mob and keeping the rotation up. Ruin just isn't a good direct damage spell. Big annoyance is when Carby goes running off by itself or pushing mobs around, screwing tanks/DDs up.

Yay, weapons!

When I was playing through each class quest, I thought it was pretty impressive how the level 15 quest really focused on teaching the player the specific roles and things you could do. They changed the class quests slightly between beta 3 & 4 and you pretty much have to play your class properly in order to win (at least if you do it at level 15).

For example, for ARC & THM, when faced with multiple mobs, you have to Shadowbind/Sleep them in order to not get overwhelmed. CNJ is given a group of NPCs to heal, ACN has to not only send Carby to tank, but also heal the NPCs around you. It's almost like teaching potential party roles. Of course, Guildheists do this as well with other players, but everyone knows that sometimes parties don't play properly in these.

What else... some nice changes between beta 3 & 4, including:

- Auto-sort is in the system! Though it's not what you think. Auto-sort in XIV puts items into different tabs for you. For example, crafting items automatically go into the 4th slot

- Voice acting is in the game for some cutscenes. Even better, you can change the language you listen to. What they say and the subtitles do not always match though, accounting for cultural differences. And now you can learn how to pronounce some names!

- The PS3 fullscreen menu is available on Windows now. However, I've gotten used to the mini-menu now xD

- You can share hotbars/crossbars between jobs/classes. This is nice so that I can keep the hotbar with all my signs around no matter what class I'm on. There's also supposedly an option to allow you to automatically change crossbars when you go between combat and passive mode, though I didn't play around with this yet.

- The opening movie added some more scenes, and voiceover too, so watch it again if you ignored it when you first started the beta!

- When you speak, your mouth moves as well. This applies not only to /say, but anytime you say something party or linkshell. Amusingly, your mouth still moves if you talk when dead xD

Anyway, here's what you really came for... the picture dump!

Woah! Naked Roegadyn! *_*

I really like the graphic effects!

Hi there Handsome Stranger! ^^

It's a bright blue Fuji!

It's a bird! It's a plane! It's an... airship?

Carbuncles... Carbuncles *everywhere* in Limsa x.x

Nice scenery coming into Gridania

Probably because they can't pronounce your name?

My wilder twin sister!

Hmmm... /ponder. Expressions are nice, though I don't think people can really pay attention to them in regular play

/stare

Again with the impressive, pretty special effects

Flying Handsome Stranger! *_*

I see a bookworm cat hiding in grass... (also, legacy mark on my back xD)

So flashy during crowded FATEs! No slowdown in the game though. TERA would have ground to a halt already!

This Lalafell is about to get high on pot (THM class quest xD)

Final selfie! (plus did you know that the level 5 body rewards from class quests have somewhat unique models?)

Turning in for the week! (And the last of us escaping the server shutdown!)

That's it for beta 4! See you all at early access!