[FFXIV] Magic, All the City-States, and the First Event

When a girl's too busy playing to actually post, that has to be a good sign, right?

My travels in-game led me out on airships to all three city-states, but before that, a last shot of one of my favorite spots in the Shroud (see above), as well as a brief discussion of FFXIV's first event. It's a summer event, so bikinis abound. The player takes part by entering FATEs that spawn specifically for purposes of getting ash from the Bombards and using that to buy event clothing. The FATEs don't spawn anywhere near enough, though, and don't spawn in enough places for me to get to one before its over. There's nothing more frustrating than FINALLY finding one of the FATEs and watching it fade before your eyes just as you arrive. The decorations in the towns are pretty, though. Hopefully I will manage to actually take part in the event, but I might have to park myself in one of the FATE spawning spots and wait, which will suck.

Ul'dah

That said, let's discuss the other two city states. After Gridania, WHOA. A little much. The other two cities are gigantic, very cosmopolitan, and make me feel like a country bumpkin, come out of the forest into a world much more alive than they ever knew. Ul'dah especially is extremely difficult to navigate. The map is very twisty, wit loads of alleys and close buildings. There are a lot of maps, and they're very dense. It seems to be packed with people as well, but that might be because everything isn't as spread out as it is in Gridania. Thanalan, though is so familiar and happy-making that it hurts. It reminds me of Fallout, which is why. Ul'dah is gigantic, with so any merchants and vendors, but it's surrounded by desert and tent cities and is just beautiful and desolate.

Limsa Lominsa

Limsa Lominsa is equally amazing. The landscape is all high spires, water, and sandy beaches. Both cities provide low-level quests for purposes of class-changing, as well as numerous new landscapes to explore. It makes me miss Gridania, where even though I haven't seen everything, I still now how to get from one place to the other. In Limsa Lominsa and Ul'dah, not so much.

New class = beginning outfit. Really, couldn't she wear shorts?

 Before continuing with the main questline, I joined the magic guilds in both cities and brought my character to at least level 5 (more like six or seven) in that class. Having played Conjurer, Thaumaturge, and Arcanist, I can safely say that Conjurer and Thaumaturge come out ahead of Arcanist for me, though Arcanist has its own rewards. Conjurer is probably my favorite because of the mix of elemental and healing spells. Thaumaturge battle just seems faster paced, which is amazing. The spells you use for fire and ice have effects that allow you to stack damage. Arcanist has Bio (one of my favorite effects, poison! but Conjurer also has a lingering damage attack, Aero). Arcanist's first attack, Ruin, is fairly weak compared to Conjurer's and Thaumaturge's, but to offset that is the summon creature Carbuncle, which provides help in battle. In short, Thaumaturge is a tank, Conjurer is more balanced, and I just don't get Arcanist. Crossing the Thaumaturge and Conjurer skill sets would probably create a pretty awesome mix. I want to level up Conjurer for a while to get Raise, but after that, we'll see. I think I want to level up Thaumaturge, since Archer and Thaumaturge cross a bit to create Black Mage later on, which is scads better than the Bard option. Blech.

Ivi'lea'hi Rhiki, Goblin, Miquo'te Archer, Level 18.