Bunny Fail Tank Returns

Bunny Fail Tank Returns

I’ve talked about this a bit in the past, but I have struggled with Final Fantasy XIV since finishing the Stormblood main story.  I am not exactly sure why, but after leveling my Warrior through the questing process…  and then grinding up a Samurai I bounced.  When I say I bounced… I bounced hard.  I just stopped logging in entirely and even didn’t care enough to log in for most of the major holiday events that have gone on.  At one point I made an attempt to get back into the game and pushed through the new MSQ content right up until I reached the Drowned City of Skalla.  I could not bring myself to tank that with a random group and I told myself… I would wait until I had friends around to run it with me.  That event never happened and I got distracted by a bunch of games in the meantime.

The problem with this is that it sort of set up an artificial barrier between me and the content.  It was as though I had some sort of a mental block preventing me at just throwing myself at content the way I used to be willing to.  I knew I needed something severe to get me off high center and back into caring about what was going on in Final Fantasy XIV.  There used to be a time when I willing to log in each night and run experts with completely random groups of players from the roulette system.  However I developed some sort of barrier against doing that… one that I think was slowly chipped away given how freely I am willing to do my “SOS Roulette” nonsense in Monster Hunter World.

Watch Sleep Deprived Bel tries to remember how to Fail Tank in FFXIV from Belghast on www.twitch.tv
As a result last night I used the presence of an audience as a bit of a kick in the butt to get me back into Final Fantasy XIV and doing dungeon content again.  I streamed for a little over two hours and in that time I believe I ran four dungeons and made some progress in the MSQ afterwards.  In truth were it not for the MSQ slowing the pace down significantly…  I might have streamed longer throwing myself at more dungeons for gear currency.  I managed to pick up a chestpiece with tokens and now feel like maybe I can do this thing and catch my gear levels up to something reasonable.  At the start of the night I was 313 item level and by the end I edged it up a bit to 315.  Skalla and the next set of patch dungeons all drop gear that is an incremental upgrade, as well as some tasty tasty currency.  Basically at this point I need to reach a state where I can start doing expert roulette again to play catch up.

Bunny Fail Tank Returns

After taking a break from streaming and FFXIV I hopped over to Monster Hunter World for awhile and spent some time running nonsense with Grace.  I have been mostly running hammer when we are doing stuff, because it is a weapon that I like quite a bit… and one that I want to get better at using.  There are definitely times when I am fighting something that it feels like having something more than a longsword in my arsenal would help greatly.  We took down a Squirrel Blimp and I managed to unlock the third of my elder dragons while she ran around trying to find the Great Girros.  I was not in terribly long as I was already in a fairly sleep deprived state from the previous nights fragmented sleep schedule due to the launch.  All in all though it was a pretty great night and I want to thank everyone that stopped by to tune in and chat with me.  Also huge thanks to Solaria who actually joined my discord and hung out with me while I eased my way back into Final Fantasy XIV.  It’s fun lobbing comments at text messages scrolling across twitch chat, but it is even more fun when you have someone hanging out in chat to talk to over voice as well.

Dream Home

Dream HomeOh No

When FFXIV Stormblood details were announced one thing my FC got excited about was the addition of a new housing zone. They took up a collection and when plots opened up they snagged a (much bigger) fancy new house. Meanwhile I was mortified. I’m a Roe, an officer in the Maelstrom, and a certified Merlwyb fangirl. I love Limsa Lominsa and I loved our little home in the Mists. I was happy that my FC family were happy in our new home, but I was already plotting and scheming to figure out how to get back to Mist.

It was frustrating for a while, because new housing purchases were locked to free companies only. That was a good idea to allow more FCs to enter the housing market, but it was maddening to see all the lovely plots I dreamed about getting locked up before I could touch them. Luckily they finally allowed individuals to purchase housing plots again, and I got to leap in and get the house of my dreams. Eventually.

First I had to figure out how purchasing housing works. One annoying thing was that when a plot is vacated, it gets locked out from new buyers but people can still transfer there. I found several free plots that were just what I wanted, but I couldn’t buy them outright because they still had this timer. In the end I bought a crappy plot way at the back of the zone that happened to be open, and then I could transfer to the one I actually wanted. Sure, it was a giant “waste” of money, but in the end I got my dream home. What is extra funny is that it is a spot that is basically “across the street” from where our old FC house was in the zone layout. It feels very familiar and cozy but also I have a better view of the ocean now Dream Home

Dream HomeSadly I used so much gil by having to essentially double purchase my house that I don’t have much leftover for buying furniture. At least now I have plenty of time to settle in and earn more cash for pretty house stuff. I might even fall down the crafting hole to make some things for myself!

Valentione’s Fun

Valentione’s Fun

I don’t always do the seasonal events in FFXIV. They are usually fun and silly, so I enjoy them. Somehow I don’t quite have the same completionist streak in that game that I do in other MMOs though. Anyway I was totally prepared to skip the current “Valentione’s” event, until my friend asked if I wanted to queue for it together.

Valentione’s FunI’m super glad I said yes! A lot of times in FFXIV the seasonal events have you either do solo quests, or run fates out in the world. This one had you queue for a two-person instance to see how “attuned” your characters are to each other. We had to solve a maze while tethered together, and then do a card patching game. We ended up being a favorable match! I never doubted it, we’re two awesome femmeRoes.

Valentione’s FunIt was quick and fun and at the end of it we each got one half of this ridiculous chair mount. We took them out for a spin together. They are so ridiculous and I love them. They each have one silly wing on the back, and they can fly. I am so happy I took the time to do this event with a friend!

AggroChat #189 – Very Meowscular

Featuring:  Ashgar, Belghast, Grace, Kodra, Tamrielo and Thalen

aggrochat189_720

Tonight we are back after roughly three weeks off…  one week missed because I had the flu and another week devoted to a game of the month show.  As a result there are a bunch of things we have to say about a wide variety of topics.  Bel discovers Wolcen a game attempting to split the line between Diablo 2/Path of Exile and Diablo 3.  Kodra talks a bit about how well the Switch works as a mobile gaming platform and his experiences with Mario and Rabbids.  Tam talks a bit about Nier Automata and how close he came to just giving up on that game.  Kodra talks about his recent trip back to Atlanta and all of the board gaming that happened.  Bel talks a bit about Final Fantasy XII Zodiac Age and how it weirdly follows the Japanese control standards.  Grace talks a bit about her experiences with the recent Final Fantasy XIV and World of Warcraft patches.  Then we go through a big discussion about our feelings in regards to the Monster Hunter World release and how we seem to have fallen into a big hole.

Topics Discussed

  • Wolcen: Lords of Mayhem
  • Switch as Mobile Platform
  • Mario and Rabbids
  • Nier Automata
  • Board Games
  • Final Fantasy XII Zodiac Age
  • Final Fantasy XIV Patch
  • World of Warcraft Patch
  • Monster Hunter World Shaped Hole