Summary: G-Warrior vs. Sapphire Weapon. The Rising 2020. Requesting your help in picking my next goal!
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Sleep Now in Sapphire
-Last time in this quest line we dealt with Ruby Weapon. Pretty sure Sapphire’s next.
-Ruby
Weapon’s oversoul system supplanted the pilot’s consciousness with data
based on the memories and experience of another. That explains the Nael
phase.
-It also uses some artificial auracite system that mimics the power of Ultima Weapon.
-Cid made his own version of an Allagan weapon! Calls it the G-Warrior.
LOLOL I’M PLAYING AS “G-WARRIOR!” The music is pretty sweet. I especially like the piano.
-It’s fine mechanically, but it has the downside of being a vehicle fight basically.
-We take it to attack a cliff. Makes sense, as that’s where Sapphire Weapon attacked in VII, right?
-I thought this would be a trial, but no. This squid thing is Sapphire Weapon. I’m going solo.
-The Sapphire Weapon’s pilot (unnamed) activates Oversoul: “I can’t afford to lose… It’s all or nothing!”
-Hydrus’s memory overwhelms them. Where do I know that name from?
-Ah! Regula van Hydrus. His images appear periodically to attack during the fight.
-It’s a surprisingly fun fight. Most vehicle fights suck (I’m looking at you, World of Warcraft’s Flame Leviathan!) but this was kept fairly simple.
-As the team surveys the remains, an Echo flashback hits.
-It’s Rex, one of the Au’ra orphans. He knows Sapphire Weapon kind of sucks right now, and so he’s just trying to buy time.
“Not quite how I’d imagined it, but this seems as good a way to die as any.” A noble death in his eyes.
-Another of his comrades, an Au’ra named Ricon, steps up to take his place. Rex will move the remaining Weapons to safety while Ricon does the piloting.
-I like these two. This whole group. Give me antagonists with a tight and loving bond. Season 3 of Korra is my JAM.
-The flashback ends. Hearing about Ricon’s bravery clearly affects Gaius.
-Not that this humanization of him or his foster kids absolves him. The Empire is still awful, and lord knows how many atrocities he committed as the Black Wolf.
-We hear first-hand from someone named Valdeaulin here. A former victim of Gaius who agreed to hold off killing him to rid the world of Ascians.
-One of the foster siblings, Alfonse, seems to be the one pulling the strings here.
-There’s a closing cutscene. Alfonse comes to deliver a report to some dude doing one-arm push-ups, Lord Valens. Never mind on Alfonse being a string-puller. Valens is CLEARLY the boss.
-Valens is a massive jackwagon. Doesn’t even know Alfonse’s name.
LOLOL, he’s drinking from a carton of milk. Idk why that tickles me. Just seems so modern to have milk in these cardboard boxes in Garlemald.
-Valens is legatus of the VIIth Legion. And one heck of a sneering, scene-chewing antagonist.
-oh shit, I didn’t notice that at first. Three kids are standing at
attention in Valens’ room off to the side. Perhaps more hostages.
-Alfonse
leaves, and Valens van Varro dons some pretty badass armor before he
has to meet with the head of weapon development (who I’m still
predicting will be named Hojo).
-One of the other orphans arrives, Allie. Valens has some kind of evil plan for her. I doubt it’ll be as simple as just making her the next pilot.
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Glass from the Past (The Rising 2020)
-The seasonal event celebrating XIV’s anniversary is back. I love how “Answers” plays quietly in the parts of the city with seasonal NPCs.
-A stain glass artist is commemorating a particular moment in Ul’dah history. When the Calamity hit, the city rioted in panic. The Sultana took to the streets with a small guard of seven to quell things.
I see… hm, four thaumaturges and Pippin. Who are the two on the right? The white-haired lalafel in the crown and the black robed lalafel.
-There’s an especially timely message in the piece. The city is currently overrun with sniping, greed, loan sharks and welchers, tons of mistrust.
-Some kids accidentally broke the art. I love the (short) mini-game where I piece it back together.
-Another key player here is a guy named Astin. The artist’s best friend who has become an especially crafty and aggressive money lender. The artist hopes the piece will move him to change his ways.
-Awww! I like how even Astin has a soft spot. He does what he does to SUPPORT the artist, so the artist doesn’t have to beg and pander to the wealthy.
-The exhibition starts, and the Wandering Minstrel arrives, the game dev stand-in.
-After the exhibition, the minstrel plays music that transports me to this dreamy meta zone once more.
-Dalamud is here, and images of the Sultana and her Seven. Flanked by Naoki Yoshida himself.
-He gives a beautiful little speech about the things the artist was talking about. How the spirit of community and generosity runs through XIV.
It really does. I loved playing World of Warcraft, but the community here does feel notably less hostile and nasty. (And I love WoW! I’m not crapping on that game, but the community does feel different.)
-Back outside the dream world, fireworks go off.
May this game live on for years to come.
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Random Stuff Around Eorzea
-I like the event reward, a wind-up Ardbert:
-On the advice of Danny B, I’m checking two places. First up, my inn room in the Crystarium.
I was expecting to see someone like Ardbert’s spirit there or something, but no luck.
Is… is that the bird that Ryne was having the staring contest with? Just sitting on my table? Was that always there? How fast will it murder me?
-Next, I stopped by the Rising Stones to talk to Unukalhai, but he didn’t have anything to say. I still wonder if he knows anything about Gaia.
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Next time: Hm. I don’t know! I’ve finished the MSQ for 5.3. I know there’s more stuff coming in 5.3 around the relic weapons, but it’s not here yet. I’m deciding between a few possible things to work on:
a) Blue mage leveling, spell collecting, challenges
b) Eureka! I’m currently in the second zone of Eureka, around level 23. This would almost definitely be the longest path.
c) The remaining Shadowbringers beast tribes, Qitari and Dwarf.
I’m open to suggestions.
Logging you in...
bluemagedanny 57p · 241 weeks ago
I had a feeling there was going to be a fake out with the pilot of Sapphire Weapon. The last time we met, Rex outright said he was going to pilot Sapphire and get us, but this the pilot introduced without showing their face or name. Sure enough, the one I originally believed would pilot Emerald Weapon due to his hair color is the pilot instead.
The Lalafell with Nanamo in that picture are the five brothers of the Thaumaturge Guild (the one in black, Cocobuki, being the eldest and the leader of the Guild), Pippin, and Papashan (a retired Paladin who typically is Nanamo's caretaker when she's going around as Lilira).
He didn't have anything new to say? I had a whole conversation with him about Elidibus' passing! D:
G'raha Tia apparently also reacts to the Wind-Up Mystel. There's also an incredibly thirsty Scion, Aenor, who is plotting on inviting G'raha to a foursome with Hoary Boulder and his brother. This is a recurring background gag that comes at the expense of her sister, Clemence, who is aghast at how promiscuous her sister is.
Which should you do next? Blue Mage! Blue Mage! Blue Mage!
That said, if you want to get into Eureka, I recommend checking out this Discord: https://discord.gg/KdqrDYt
Coldrun 137p · 241 weeks ago
I've just been trying to dive back into blue mage again today. When I leveled up to 50 I remember I basically was a one trick pony, blazing through it with 1,000 Needles. It's basically useless at this point, so I feel like I'm back to buffing up with Toad Oil and then spamming Water Cannon.
Checked around for 50-60 leveling guides, but most of them are about using a high-level partner to power-level you. That's fine for them, but I'm planning just to solo and I know duty roulettes are locked out for me. Is it just a matter of leveling up through side quests and Heavensward beast tribes?
I've also seen people talking about soloing MUCH higher level stuff on blue mage. Idk how to do this solo. I tried taking on a level 56 enemy at 50 and got eaten alive. I could weave in a few stuns, but the diminishing returns meant the 56 enemy was soon swinging freely on me.
Totally fine to just level up like any other DPS job solo minus the roulettes; just want to make sure I'm not missing anything. :D
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EDIT: Been messing around with the blue mage a bit more tonight. I've settled on just grinding enemies, but going for chains with killing above me. I can usually now kill 3-5 levels above me.
I keep Toad Oil up, spam Water Cannon, use Bad Breath early and then another Bad Breath midway through the fight, and Faze as needed to buy time for White Wind to heal up.
bluemagedanny 57p · 241 weeks ago
As far as Blue Mage goes, the important thing there is to make sure you are geared. Get Augmented Ironworks or something similar so you have workable stats. You'll want Augmented Shire at 60 as well. From there, it's worth grabbing some good spells.
From there, it's a matter of determining what good spells you can grab and from where. Heavensward areas introduce a lot of good default spells like Sonic Boom and Abyssal Transfixion, but before that point it might not be a bad idea to try putting up a Party Finder for The Bowl of Embers (the 4 Man one), A Relic Reborn: The Chimera's Cry, and Battle in the Big Keep to get the valuable spells from those. 1000 Needles falls off hard by the time you reach Haukke Manor levels. A lot of your most helpful spells will come from group content, so don't be afraid to ask for help. The "solo" part that is always touted about this job is primarily the Masked Carnivale.
The easiest way to level is, indeed, to party up with a bunch of BLU (which was more viable on launch) or to have a friend power level you outside the party by killing targets in Azys Lla that you aggro first with Flying Sardine. If you don't have either of those as options, the best thing to do is to try fighting mobs one or two levels above yours and gradually moving up if you find the EXP to be too low. Start in western Coerthas and move along as needed.
Here's some info about Blue Mage I put together, by the way. I hope this comes in handy: https://pastebin.com/CwAr2dms
Coldrun 137p · 241 weeks ago
Storywise, it also helped me to review my older blue mage sessions from back when it released. Especially since that was over a year ago and I have traaaaash memory.
http://coldrungaming.blogspot.com/2019/04/ffxiv-p... http://coldrungaming.blogspot.com/2019/04/ffxiv-p...
Will push up to 60, then try more Masked Carnival and story. :D
bluemagedanny 57p · 241 weeks ago
Beyond that, I'll put together a quick list of spells worth grabbing from dungeons.
bluemagedanny 57p · 241 weeks ago
- Sharpened Knife (Tonberry King, The Wanderer’s Palace) [A good spell to substitute if you don't feel like burning leves to get Abyssal Transfixion.]
- Diamondback (Cuca Fera, The Stone Vigil - Hard) [Basically a Tank LB in spell form. I recommend grabbing Missile first, though, because it works on the boss that drops it and saves you from doing an otherwise long and tedious fight.]
- The Ram's Voice/The Dragon's Voice (Chimera, Cutter's Cry/A Relic Rebon: The Chimera) [Good crowd control spells, particularly The Ram's Voice.]
- Missile (Enkidu, Battle in the Big Keep) [Halves the HP of anything affected by it. Most things that can be hit by it are also vulnerable to The Ram's Voice, which makes a good test.]
- Abyssal Transfixion (Ash, Haukke Manor - Hard) [Alternate method of getting this spell if Levequests aren't kind to you.]
- Pom Cure (Furryfoot Kupli Kipp, Thornmarch - Hard) [A decent healing spell if you have Aetherial Mimicry set to copy a Healer. Exuviation is probably better in Carnivale for the Esuna effect, but this will heal more overall.]
- Level 5 Death (Page 64, The Great Gubal Library) [Instantly kills anything at a multiple of 5 if it connects. Pretty handy for getting rid of trash mobs. Also works in the Bahamut Raids! The enemy that uses it is a little finnicky about casting it, though.]
- Magic Hammer (Apanda, The Great Gubal Library - Hard) [Restores MP, deals damage, and applies a debuff on enemies. What's not to like? Grab Condensed Libra from the Scribe enemies while you're at it.]
- Aetherial Mimicry (Ghrah Luminary Adds, Pharos Sirius - Hard) [GET THIS ASAP! It is your single most important spell!]
As far as Primal skills go, while you can equip all of them at once, you can only have five active at any given time given that they share recast bars like so:
- Ifrit/Garuda
- Titan/Ramuh
- Shiva/Leviathan
- Ravana
- Sophia/Brute Justice
As for which I'd focus on getting immediately, I'd say
- Mountain Buster (Titan, The Navel - Hard) [Good for when you need a physical spell rather than a magical one.]
- Shock Strike (Ramuh, The Striking Tree - Hard) [Good for when you don't need a physical spell.]
- Glass Dance (Shiva, Akh Afah Amphitheatre - Extreme) [Extreme only for this one. Might require unsynced runs if you aren't confident, but it's worth it.]
- Surpanakha (Ravana, Thok Ast Thok - Hard) [By far the BEST Primal skill you can learn. Get it ASAP. You won't regret it.)
- J-Kick (Brute Justice, Burden of the Son) [It's a gap closer and also deals pretty solid damage. Not too shabby.]