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!

End of a (2.0) beta

The end of the FFXIV 2.0 beta phase 3 came yesterday morning at 2am Pacific time. This weekend brought a few surprises, including the return of my favorite Galka Wutang Warrior! Yaaaay!

Now for the agonizing 2-3, maybe even 4 week wait for beta phase 4 to start up. In many ways, since the next phase actually leads directly to release, this beta 3 ending really was the end of beta and it certainly had the same feel.... jumping around poking FATE NMs for fun, helping people wrap up dungeons, and exploring places we have no business being!

So here's a final picture dump from beta 3!

Scary Magitek stuffs!

I thought these dragons belonged in snowy regions?

I also experimented with using FFXIV-APP, a 3rd party parser tool. It tracks things like damage done, block rates, parry rates, etc. and even has a supposedly dynamic translation function. Unfortunately, the last will probably never get used due to the split of servers. I really doubt we'll see anyone speaking Japanese again outside of maaaaaaaaaybe Duty Finder.

Anyway, here's some example output:

*Pretty* sure this isn't against the ToS?

You can get some interesting stats here... Lots of things that can be used to see how effective your play is, or how different gear affects how you're doing. In this case, I only had a 11% crit rate, so I wasn't using the PUG ability "Internal Release" as much as I could. Gladiators might be especially interested in the shield block rate vs. block effectiveness from the different types of shields.

Of course, this kind of tool can be open to abuse, though I hope people don't use it that way. Using this knowledge to improve yourself should be how something like this is used!

Anyway, now for some crafting pics!

Need to look good when crafting!

Yes! Even crafting has overwhelming special effects!

Yes! It's a shield... No, I won't make one in your size. It's a buckler for you.

So I went a little overboard on crafting for the beta... I got to level 20 Armorer and thanks to Vanh, managed to infuse a piece of materia to a skillet for a quest. The materia infusing process really requires dedication, requiring a level 19+ craft plus a high level gathering skill for the catalyst to actually infuse the materia.

Anyway, I'm not sure crafting will be for me in retail... basically, to do almost any sort of crafting properly, you kinda need to do all the crafting and gathering classes... carpentry for handles for armoring, some leather pieces, mining and botany for shards and materials... then again, I guess the same could be said for the combat classes.

Back to random pics!

On LNC, I can finally use limit breaks!

Slash slash slash with a big sword... Hey! Where'd my spear go?!

I'm *pretty* sure that's the wrong way to hold a sword... That's what happens when you give a Lancer a sword!

Limit breaks are a little weird... There are 4 types of limit breaks, one for tanks, one for healers, one that does small AoE damage, and one that does a larger amount of single target damage. So far, I've almost never seen a reason to use the tank one, and rarely do you need to use the healer one. Most of the time you use one of the damage ones, usually single target if you can, in order to finish a boss fight faster. Kinda disappointing compared to the 2-hour abilities of FFXI.

First time I've not-tanked this dungeon. What's this weird bubble thing? :o

Dramatic swing to... mmm... looks like I'm preparing to swing into empty space. Have you noticed how far you stand from large mobs? :(

During this last few days of beta, I mostly played around on Lancer since my Marauder was at the level 35 cap. I managed to get from ~22 all the way to 30 (including that 26-29 level jump). This did teach me a few things, including how important Invigorate was for any Discipline of War (the level 22 LNC ability). Due to the way cross-class abilities work, I think you basically have to level virtually all jobs to the 22-26 level in order to be fully effective in whatever high level class or job you want to use!

I liked the special "protect" effect that pops up when a mob attacks xD

I kinda completed the level 32 dungeon armor set. I didn't get the helm, and I preferred using the Maelstorm skirt since it had better stats and looked better!

Filthy immigrants trying to enter Limsa! They'll let anyone in these days!

Carbuncle will come and get you if they sniff out any drugs!

My attempt at creating a Lalafell character xD

Until I realized how tiny they are :o

Glowy armor effect... the environmental effects and graphics are quite impressive for such a smooth game!

I'm not sure *how* this special effect was done, but... it's dramatic?

Example of the massive scale of some FATE NMs. If my camera angle is zoomed in as normal, I can't see what I'm supposed to be fighting -.-

Big angry crab

In the final hours of the beta, Fuji, Zurar, Cao, me and guest Hector went exploring all around the world, getting in trouble with level 48+ mobs, causing trains and trouble all over the place! Here are some pics from that adventure.

If you look up at the night sky, you can see the stars twinkling and moving! Oh, and this is a very sharp chocobo, unlike Zu's very horny chocobo or Cao's very... erm... featherheaded chocobo?

NPCs will react to you as you approach them... like this creepy Roegadyn wouldn't stop staring at me. Maybe he wanted to cook me :o

We found a sealed off door near the desert with lots of 48+ mobs around. However, we found a way past the door by jumping up on the sides. Behind it, the area was completely empty and deep inside a cave, we found what looked like... a beastman Aetheryte crystal?

Forgotten Springs -- Just a generic outpost, but very detailed. Almost like a place you'd go for vacation if not for the the constant sandworms

Can YOU feel it?

A beastman outpost... fun to run through on chocobo, just watch out for running off cliffs when you're trying to avoid getting killed by all the mobs after you!

Found a pervert leering at some innocent Miqo'te!

Good thing they can defend themselves!

We found a long tunnel far past some Sahagin beastmen. There was an outpost here which reminded me of Norg with pirates and stuff. Unfortunately, the pirates weren't friendly

Near the Sylphlands, we found the Hall of the Gods... I mean, Sanctum of the Twelve! This entrance was closed during beta 2 so I didn't try coming here till now!

I thought the water effects were very impressive... though I think Lalafell should have a /drown emote xD

What do we call this? A flock of chocobos? Gaggle? Brood?

Ok heroes, pose dramatically for the camera... hold it... hold it... ok, now jump!

The abandoned onsen resort! Or did they  just forget to add the NPCs?

The group relaxing... or... maybe too relaxed in case of Zurar >.>

Starting to doze off...

That pink hair is gets so much attention!

Then we went to crash the party of a certain Lalafell hanging out with all the girls in swimsuits!

And a certain male Miqo'te decides to join in the dancing...

You can *almost* sit properly in these chairs

A Lalafell trying to hold back the end of the world!

See you next time!

Overall, I think I explored about 90% of the map. There were some places that were blocked off from access, like the Sylphlands and the giant wall preventing us from getting to the enemy cities... There were still many places which looked like they could be populated with NPCs for new outposts or quest areas, and tons of mobs above the level 35 beta cap, all the way up to level 50. I'm still wondering if the world map as we know it is complete, or if there are more areas that they haven't shown us yet.

That's the end of beta 3! Next time, we're playing for keeps! Oh, and for a preview... long hair won the vote, so... here's a look at phase 4's Ascy! (assuming the appearance import works!)

Ascy 2.0!

Like? Dislike? Let me know! Oh ya, thanks to Zu for a shot of him dancing along with his favorite BOUNCIES!

See you on Hyperion in a few weeks!