Finishing Heavensward

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Finishing Heavensward

Level 60 AST get

Since I finished the story of Horizon: Zero Dawn, I’ve been getting most of my gaming fix from Final Fantasy XIV recently. This involves lots of tying up loose ends in advance of the new expansion launch. I hit a couple different milestones in the last couple weeks, and I think I’ll be in a really great place heading into Stormblood. Not a whole lot has changed for my Scholar main since I finished her zeta weapon about a month ago. I’ve been faithfully capping my scripture and very gradually upgrading her gear to 270, but it’s been slow. The increase in the weekly scripture cap should help me finish off her last few pieces in the next week or two. I have started working on her anima weapon, the Heavensward version of the relic weapon chain, and so far it seems just as much of a silly slow slog as the relic. I’ll be working on this for a while, and as with the relic I’m in no hurry to grind myself to death and will be perfectly happy finishing this months from now.

I have also been working on various alt class side projects. First I got my ninja to 60, mainly via palace of the dead with a small amount of Fate and leve grinding mixed in. I had most of a set of gear ready for it that I had accumulated from expert roulettes, so I could pop straight into experts and Dun Scaith. Since I don’t need anything from there on my SCH I’ve been using my gear lockout and UFO quest to grab a few ninja pieces. I don’t love being a melee DPS but having the NIN around has been really handy for doing quick beast tribe dailies and it is a nice change of pace from healing.

The next job I worked on was my white mage. I find that I really do not enjoy the white mage playstyle. I can’t quite put my finger on what makes me dislike it so much, but it feels incredibly slow and boring to me even though I know it is a very strong healer. Unfortunately, I made one of my retainers a conjurer when I hired her, and for her to level I either needed to start her over from scratch or get my white mage to 50 so I could give her a Heavensward job. So I leveled WHM to 50, mainly in POTD with a few beast tribe quest turn-ins for good measure. The process did nothing to improve my opinion of the class, but at least now my retainer’s level is no longer tied to it. Instead, I swapped it to astrologian.

As you might have guessed from the screenshot above, I managed to level my AST to 60 in a hurry. I think I like it even better than SCH in a lot of ways. It certainly has a lot of really fun tricks and tools to play with. Having all of my SCH healer gear waiting for me when I hit 60 was also a nice bonus, since it meant I could hop directly into whatever content I wanted, and not feel like I was underpowered compared to my main class. I am giving a lot of thought to swapping mains to AST for the expansion, but I’m playing around with it a bunch for now to see if I still like it when the novelty wears off. I was incredibly saddened that I can’t use my amazing SCH tophat as a glamour for it though. To make myself feel better about the loss of the world’s best hat I did some retail therapy and bought the AST ravana weapon pictured above. It is on fire and also has butterflies and I love it.

Between all of that and finishing up the main story quests that came out this week I am in a really great place for the expansion. Now I just need to stay interested and not burn myself out grinding the anima weapon until Stormblood arrives.


Finishing Heavensward

Hair Elemental Gone

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Hair Elemental Gone

Yesterday was a bit of a mixed day for me, given that I was sick and staying home.  I spent the majority of it watching Iron Fist on the sofa while attempting to do other things…. and sorta fading in and out of sleep.  Throughout the course of the day I played a little Tyranny, working my way closer and closer to the end.  I also worked my way through the new Final Fantasy XIV patch content, that represents the last bit of story we will see before the launch of Stormblood this summer.  That said I feel like it is just too soon to really talk about the patch or any of the ramifications of it.  In the evening I poked my head around in Destiny attempting to get a husk to drop for the new necrochasm exotic quest.  I had zero luck and instead just completed a few bounties, when I wandered away from the game to do something else.  I found out that apparently Skyforge is available not on the PS4, in its pre-launch patron pack sort of scheme like they did on the PC.  Now there have been a number of times in the past where I have talked about liking this game, but feeling it would play considerably better on a console.  As a result I absolutely jumped on the bandwagon last night and gave it a shot.  You functionally have three options that you can go with if you feel like buying your way into what is essentially console based early access.  Each of the prices listed is with the PS+ discount… because really I consider plus a cost of owning a PS4.

  • Early Adopter Pack – $11.99 – Access to 3 Base Classes
  • Rage of the Beserker – $39.99 – 3 Base + Berserker Class
  • Wrath of the Gods – $55.99 – 3 Base + Berserker + Gunner + Mount

Hair Elemental Gone

I jumped in with both feet and went ahead and went for the pack that includes the Gunner class and mount, because in truth I already know I like this game.  One of the things about this game that I wish others would notice… is all the damned beard options.  It wasn’t just a choice of full mountain man vs stubble beard…  but instead I had this complex set of styling options for facial hair that seriously put every other game to shame.  The end result allowed me to create a “Belghast” I am extremely happy with…  the lack of the whole eye scar thing made me go with an eyepatch instead even though it is on the wrong eye.  Traditionally when given the option I give my “Bel” characters some sort of a scar around their left eye… and if given the choice I do the damaged white eye thing as well.  All of that said I was able to create a character that I really like…  instead of a character that wound up being the lesser of evils like is always the case with South Korean MMOs.  The UI took a little getting used to because it varies slightly depending on the screen, but is generally navigated by a combination of bumpers, triggers and the d-pad.  The square to show and hide hints piece is something super important that I took a bit to grasp, because the game inexplicably pops windows up over other windows… and the only way to remove them is to click the button.

Hair Elemental Gone

Something important to note is that it has been a really long time since I have played Skyforge.  I played quite a bit during July of 2015, and have poked my head in occasionally since but never for terribly long.  The mouse and keyboard control scheme worked, but it always felt artificial.  So as a result I have not seen the intro to this game in a very long time… and back then it felt somewhat random.  They seem to have fixed some things narratively, to give you a better explanation of the world you inhabit and why your character happens to be immortal.  The end result still feels extremely thin, but it at least flows better than I remember it doing in the past.  Similarly I noticed that they fixed some of the problems I had with a few of the character models.  Herida for example the NPC that you talk to as part of the tutorial had a weird design in the past of teal hair wearing a turquoise hood that flows down into a dress.  The problem is the hair was not distinct enough of a color and it make it look like she was a lady with turquoise hair that somehow connected to her boobs.  In the console version however she has blonde hair, and the hood itself has been moved back a bit so that you can clearly see the haircut below.  As a result you have some contrast and it no longer looks like she is some sort of hair elemental.

Hair Elemental Gone

As far as the gameplay itself… the game feels excellent but it has a complex enough control scheme that I am still getting used to it.  It is following in the footsteps of console MMOs like FFXIV and using the face buttons for most of the attacks with bumpers and triggers acting as either modifiers or quick time event buttons for finishers and power attacks.  It was a little awkward at first but after completing the first few missions it started to feel extremely solid.  All in all I feel like this game is so much more suited for the console, with its pseudo lobby system and little bite sized missions.  Another tweak that I noticed is that we now apparently have a pet that follows us around, and over time can be trained to do functions like automagically picking up loot Diablo 3 style.  At some point I want to go through all of the tutorials for sub classes, because if I remember correctly each one of them unlocked a new outfit.  I never really made much progress in the PC version of the game, so abandoning it completely for the console is not really that big of a decision for me.  That said if you are happy with the PC, then in truth there probably isn’t enough new in the console release to really tempt you.  I think the game just feels better in this form factor, but that is a deeply personal preference.  Its not like I needed another game to be playing, but whatever the case it seems like I am going to be poking my head more into the PS4 Skyforge.

[Edit]

Hair Elemental Gone

These are not exact comparison shots, since I failed to take a screenshot during the tutorial.  However this at least shows the slight difference between the two models.  Column A…  weird hair elemental, Column B – someone just wearing a shawl.

Content Creator

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This is probably not the best subject to talk about on a day when I am feeling lousy. However there is something that bugs the shit out of me, and I feel like I want to get it off my chest…  or at the very least use my frustration for a blog post.  I hate the term “Content Creator”.  Over the last few years it has gone from something you would hear every now and then to something that is constantly used.  At face value it seems like a term that places all sorts of incoming content on an even playing field.  Do you write a blog?  Awesome you are a “Content Creator”.  Do you post amazing artwork on Deviant Art?  Awesome you too are a “Content Creator”.  Do you create a Podcast, upload songs to SoundCloud, stream “let’s plays”, post creative photos on Instagram, carefully curate a Reddit, or create amazing videos…  then awesome by all reason you should all be “Content Creators”.  The only problem is that this new unifying term…  isn’t really that unifying at all.  Functionally it should by definition mean anyone who produces content for others to consume.  In my experience however that really is not the case.

When you see someone talking about “Content Creators” the majority of the time they exclusively mean Youtubers and Streamers.  Please don’t think this is a rant against Youtube or Streaming, because while I fail miserably at doing either I greatly respect both platforms.  This is a rant against the creating this theoretically inclusive term but instead applying it to a very narrow margin of items that are “content”.  Functionally the frustration comes when someone says they are looking for content creators to work with a product, but in truth really meaning they want eyeballs on YouTube.  For years I have struggled with the definition of “Media” as concerned with conventions and such.  While I can qualify as such, it always feels wrong.  I am not the news and I don’t produce content designed necessarily to inform purchase decisions or report breaking stories.  I am the editorial page in the newspaper and spend my time talking about the things I want to talk about.  More importantly however is the distinction that I do not do it for monetary gain.  That last part often knocks me out of the traditional Media category completely.  However having that special “media” pass sort of grants you an instant layer of legitimacy that cuts through some of the awkwardness that comes from introducing yourself and trying to get detailed information out of them about their product.  Side note… having a business card also does this but it still ends up being wierd as you shove a crisp card with your logo on it into someone else’s hand.

Now I have gone to PAX three times and I have found ways to do this without the vaunted badge each time.  However it would have made things easier, and acted as a sort of social lubricant to make the conversations flow a little more smoothly.  I’ve been able to set up press appointments on my own without the benefit of the designation, so the truth is it isn’t a hard barrier.  This year around however I saw that they had “Content Creator” badges for the first time, and then was instantly saddened when I saw that they were almost exclusively targeting Youtubers and Streamers with them.  Maybe everyone just assumes this and I am the last one to the show.  When you say “Content” to me that is a super universal term for literally anything that a user can consume.  Hell if you are creating xeroxed “Zines” and handing them out to random people passing by…  that is still Content to me because someone devoted time and effort and more importantly mental cycles in to creating something that they thought another human being would enjoy consuming.  So all thing are largely equal to me…  but it feels like some animals are more equal than others.  Were it just PAX it would be no big deal… they maybe used the wrong term for the wrong thing.  The problem is I have seen the same sort of stacked deck against non-video creatives in a lot of different “creator” programs in the gaming industry.

Maybe this is a lot of sound and fury signifying nothing, and maybe this is just a sign that I am old.  Hell this past week I got my very first prescription for multi-focal lenses, which is sort of the gold standard of “signs that you are old”.  However this is not me yelling at those damned kids to get off my lawn.  In truth I just want all of the people standing on the lawn to be treated equally.  While I might have preferences towards this or that sort of medium for consuming information…  I am still actively consuming pretty much all of them.  While I largely still think of myself as a blogger and a podcaster, that doesn’t mean I only get information from blogs or podcasts.  I have a pretty steady diet of YouTube channel that I follow, and a handful of streamers that I watch “as time allows”.  To branch out there are even a bunch of artists that I follow on a regular basis, and a few people that I keep tabs on just because they make really amazing craftables.  In my mind each and every one of these people that I have identified… is a Content Creator.  It should be this unifying term, not something that narrows the focus.  I mean labels are bizarre in the first place, and there are a lot of them that I struggle with.  Content Creator is just another in a long line of titles that I used to think seemed like a great idea…  until I saw the way it was being used.

Book Challenge #94: The Caves of Steel by Isaac Asimov

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It’s reading challenge time again! This book is #94, The Caves of Steel by Isaac Asimov, first published in 1953. I actually really enjoyed the introduction to this one, since it gave a whole history of Asimov’s robot novels and shone some light on the state of publishing at that time. Now on to my review!

I had read this book a very long time ago, which was enough to ruin the “whodunnit” of the mystery but left my memory of the details vague, and I enjoyed revisiting them. The story centers around Elijah, a detective who has the unenviable task of investigating a murder fraught with diplomatic hazards between Earth and the “spacers” who colonized other planets but still have an embassy of sorts back on Earth. To complicate matters, the detective is forced to partner with a robot, R. Daneel. This is problematic in a world where robots are widely disliked or distrusted due to them replacing humans in many jobs, with only a minimum social safety net for those squeezed out of work. It is also challenging because all robots on Earth are instantly recognizable as such, while R. Daneel is effectively indistinguishable from a human without close examination.

As the story progresses the relationship between the human and robot detectives slowly thaws, with many missteps along the way. I won’t completely spoil the story here since it is technically a detective novel and for me knowing the who and the why of the murder in advance did detract from the fun of the experience a little. The murder case isn’t always compelling, but the social context makes this novel interesting. There’s a lot of interesting ideas in here about how you can pack the highest density of people into a city, which by the time of this story are sprawling monstrosities the size of some states or small countries, where people never see the open sky. The density and efficiency of these massive population centers are also what make them extremely vulnerable, and yet the people who live there almost never seem to realize that. The conflicts between the people of Earth and the Spacers are partially due to things like religion but are mostly related to how they view distribution of resources.  The goal of the Spacers is to find some way to convince Earth to start colonizing new planets again, for the good of humanity as a whole. This is an interesting concept and in stark contrast to many sci-fi works that pit Earth against its colonies as they fight for resources. It was fun to see things like interplanetary relations and the Malthusian growth problem tackled from a very different perspective than the Mars books I just finished reading.

TL;DR:  There’s a reason this one is a classic. It is a fairly simple story but told well, and with some thought provoking commentary on automation, planetary carrying capacity, and effecting cultural change.

The Caves of Steel by Isaac Asimov

Rating: 4/5 stars

Verdict: Go read it. It’s short, sweet, and worth your time.

Next up: A Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge


Book Challenge #94: The Caves of Steel by Isaac Asimov