#everyone just go play whm please

[asleepinawell]

not progging savage raids, not crafting the new gear, but a secret third option: forgetting to cast shields during p12n athena's ultimate because I'm busy being gay about how evil she is

"the raid is dying" this ain't about them

#this is a joke I have never forgotten shields there okay #two days ago I got a x10 achievement on two raids...p12 and e12 lolol #this is why I suck at eden though #like I opened eden back in july or something #ffxiv #ffxivmp #mp #6.4 spoilers #ffxiv spoilers #patch 6.4 #ffxiv 6.4 #6.4 #ffxiv 6.4 spoilers #my only complaint with p12 is I keep ending up paired with another sge PLEASE LET ME LIVE #everyone just go play whm please

[kraefishh]

figured i'd post mine and my friends wols on main for the time being while im still stockpiling stuff for when i eventually make that side blog for em

basic stuff is - 1) there's more than one wol 2) by more than one i mean there are seven of them 3) each one/two of them are designated for a specific expansion 4) i have so much stuff planned for them all and have not even finished stormblood (please help me)

also im putting them under a cut so the post isnt naturally extremely fucking long

SO WE'LL START IN ORDER!!!!

Alidae Mendica -- ARR WoL. only one without a "traditional" name convention. SMN/MCH/GNB. bloody banquet happened and she got to ishgard and went "NOPE. I'M DONE." and goes and spends most of her time at the skysteel manufactory with garlond ironworks.

i love her very much she was the first i made. i nearly played an elezen but then really wanted to be small. so after finishing the opening cutscene i restarted and well!! shes here!! shes ready to kick some ass!!!

T'lyr Kho -- 1/2 Heavensward WoLs. is half miqo half garlean, possesses the third eye as well (hence the shaggy hair+forehead coverings). PLD/DRG/DRK/SGE. is never doing well at any given moment. he is (not) coping.

he's the one who made me spiral and make 3 more characters. i love him so so dearly.

Touya Kawa (@twisted-solace's wol) -- the other Heavensward WoL. WAR/DRG/RPR. the most shy and well spoken but will not hesitate to cleave you. works himself to death (quite nearly literally!).

i wish i had more to say about him other than he is very silly. him and t'lyr picked up lancer as a bonding experience and then got roped into dragoon lore (whoopsie!!)

Koren Cadoret -- 1/2 Stormblood WoLs. has 1v1'd Zenos too many times to count. very very protective of his sister and friends. MNK/SAM (plus blue mage and soon to be viper!!).

I LOVE HIM I LOVE HIM I LOVE HIM!!!! punch first ask questions later. wants to be everyone's friend. separation anxiety got his ass in shadowbringers cause he was the last wol to be summoned to the first.

Raana Cadoret -- the other Stormblood WoL. took her brother and left her village the moment she was declared to be the next matriarch. DNC/AST/RDM. likes to give koren shit about his poor decisions.

she makes me go :) !!!!! we really cant decide if she picks up astrologian on the first or if she does it beforehand.

Sthallona Dhemskyltwyn -- 1.0 WoL and also Shadowbringers at the same time?? shes going through it. WHM/BLM. grew up the daughter of a famous pirate. Thancred's childhood best friend.

feigned death after the calamity until she gets pulled to the first and is like "AH SHIT. HERE WE GO AGAIN." she gives me perhaps the most brainworms.

AND FINALLY

Sarangerel Malqir (@trying_to_cosplay on insta's wol) -- Endwalker WoL while also being a whole can of worms by herself. was her universe's only WoL before shit collided in shadowbringers and she met everyone else

the love of my life-- ahem. currently only Warrior canonically because my friend is not even halfway through ARR. very much younger sibling energy to the rest of the scions/wols.

last notes - 1) t'lyr and touya are gay (lovingly referred to as 'the boyfs' by me and @twisted-solace) touya nearly fucking dies for t'lyr and t'lyr proceeds to go oh wait fuck i dont want to lose you. normal shit for their line of work. 2) koren canonically says "you wanna fuck me so bad it makes you look stupid" to zenos. and zenos proceeds to get very confused. zenos isnt even who he ends up with koren just likes fucking with him. 3) raana went through 4 different wol/npc ship ideas before we finally landed on hien. that was hell. 4) alidae and cid are best friends!! stamp of approval right here!!! alidae also hates nero's guts. 5) if biggs and wedge (who i lovingly refer to as the 'lab boys') are around, alidae is not far behind. 6) alidae was named before i realized there was a character named alisaie. this is canonically a struggle for everyone. 7) sthallona swam her ass to sharlayan upon realizing that thancred had been taken under louisoix's wing. insert LET ME IN. LET ME IIIIIIN gif here. she wrote a thesis on how to combine conjuring and thaumaturge magic before ever knowing what a red mage was. (she is very stupid but also unnaturally smart). 8) t'lyr can't use magic. point blank. his third eye fucks that up for him. only reason he can be a Sage is because the magitek does it for him. on the bright side he's really good at parkour!!!

anyway if you got down this far thank you for looking at my blorbos. i am working (not very) hard to get that sideblog set up for these weirdos. i appreciate them very much they consume my every waking thought.

#krae plays game #krae rambles #long post #wol posting #ffxiv #krae oc #ffxiv oc #possible game spoilers?? #just in case #arr spoilers #shadowbringers spoilers #those are the only two expansions that i mention spoiler-ish content for

[mmorpg-escapism]

I have just enough energy in me tonight for my favorite solo duty. This one's a doozy, and the final thing that stands between us and Endwalker! ...which I'll start tomorrow. There are also some Thoughts on the expansion as a whole at the end under the cut.

For those of you who have been keeping an eye on this journey, thank you ❤ It's not over yet and is most definitely going to loop back to stuff I did before starting here: there will eventually be another run through ARR to current sometime after the graphics update hits every expansion, so likely late next year. I've got a hrothgal waiting in the wings for that one... and do plan to do this to Dawntrail on my main with appropriate spoilers tagged as well as the usual one. We shall see how that goes.

Now, into the duty!

Alphinaud's character growth is so very visible to us after Arenvald's pep talk. The kid is a natural-born leader, and despite his mistakes he has enough confidence to really use his gifts... after a little push from his friends and family.

And now, we fight! The Scions take the field in full force - first as a group, and then splitting up across the field to take charge of several enemies. Our first stop is us clearing the field of a LOT of tempered Imperials... then splitting up to find and deal with Lunar Primals wherever we can while G'raha holds the fort.

And now, the real fun: We get to cosplay as a few of the Scions! Starting with Alisaie! RDM is my favorite caster, and this simplified take on it is very much faithful to my experience with it itself. Lots of little enemies, one big one, and a very fun slice-n-dice playground.

Development: "Random" magical glyphs that are pointed at the heart of a massive "aetheric confluence" - which is just a fancy way of describing a spot where several aetheric currents meet - and Y'shtola's guess is that they're there to enable some seriously nasty disasters should one of the Grape-flavored Primals reach and destroy one. Cool, the stakes have risen.

Split #2 has us afield as Urianger's Astro, facing Lunar Odin - which I did NOT do in my original playthrough nor this one, so I had no idea what to expect. I'm not an Astro player, but after some experience with one of my static members being... particularly annoyed with it, this wasn't quite so bad. Odin down!

Split #3 is back to G'raha and Alisaie, but now we're playing as G'raha who is some combo of BLM and WHM, facing off with Lunar Ravana. Big stabby sword bug. Woo. He's just as cool as the original fight, if a little toned down for story and "2-man" reasons. Big stabby stuff, and even an excuse to use G'raha's Break spell! Bugman down!

Now, back to the WoL with Estinien and Alphinaud facing down the monster that crippled Arenvald: Grape Ifrit. This one's personal. And boy howdy wthat one was the most intense of the three. Fire everywhere, a big LB3-like thing out of Estinien, the works. But it's the last of the primals, and we're all still alive.

I love this duty so very much. Not only because we get to spend some time as our Scion friends. Not only because we get to fight primals in a more one-on-one style that helps me imagine how to write it when I get there. It's also because there are stakes going in - stop the crazy person with lots of power who's trying to end the world - that become more specific during the fight, and then when the evil plan is thwarted, they don't just gloss over the aftermath.

We get to see our friends being VERY human. Alisaie is exhausted and berating herself for not doing enough. Alphinaud cannot stand losing anyone, and we have to watch him fight that when his healing isn't enough to save the man in front of him. We see the Grand Company of Eorzea at work - city-state leaders and beastmen tribes alike working together to cure the tempered. We cannot save everyone, an Amalj'aa warrior reminds the Scions, but those we have saved would not have been if not for you.

"So please, hold your heads high." The entire bustling field stopped and listened. Every single country we have visited, from the Alliance to Doma, is represented here. Standing behind the Scions, who gave everything they had to win the day, despite the cost. The moon breaks through the clouds above, and one last time we hear the Shadowbringers main theme break through as everyone gathered stares up at it, and the credits roll.

================================================

As I sit and process this entire expansion one more time, it's clear... Shadowbringers fundamentally alters your brain chemistry. That's from one of the posts going around the week I wrapped this up, and it is extremely accurate. We started all the way back in ARR as an adventurer with a gift, but little else, and got used. We slowly turned into something else on our way into Heavensward ("What are you?" - Thordan VII after we beat him) and used the power we had to liberate two entire countries from the Garlean empire alongside our friends, then watched them get snatched away from us for some unknown reason.

And then we went to where they were and found ourselves embroiled in a world that flipped the script on everything we knew. Light was bad, Dark was good, and everything we thought we knew was wrong. Discoveries with ripple effects that will be felt through Endwalker and beyond were made, and two entire worlds were changed as a result.

I'm not that good at analyzing story, or at least I didn't think I was when I started. All I knew is that this expansion was The Best that FFXIV had to offer, and I wanted to find ways to articulate why I thought that. I think I've succeeded, at least a little. I'm very excited for Endwalker and Dawntrail and beyond. Maybe I'll even get some creative spark going and write more of ARW for your enjoyment and my own - I want to do more than think about my blorbo :)

One more Arenvald Appreciation post tomorrow, most likely, and then into Endwalker!

#ffxiv escapism: endwalker #ffxiv escapism: shadowbringers #so long Shadowbringers!

[scrollsfromarebornrealm]

The FFXIV Hippocratic Oath (UPDATE: the Shadowbringers/Endwalker Edition)

Disclaimer:  Meant to be funny, not to offend.  If easily offended, do not read.  If you are easily offended and still read, please understand I will not pay attention to any rage that will ensue.  Based upon my own personal experiences as an AST and WHM healer.  

Also I understand most people do not play as what’s said before-and I bless and respect you all for that.

=================

THE FFXIV HEALER’S OATH

I swear to fulfill, to the best of my ability and judgement, this covenant.

I will respect my fellow healers and honor the path of salt and spite laid down by those who came before me, and gladly share my knowledge to those who actually DO listen.

I will apply for the benefit of all, the protective and curative measures that are required but it’s not my fucking fault you got the fucking itch to travel and ran out of my casting range I hope you like death

I will remember that there is an art to my skill (fucking Astrologians) and that warmth, sympathy, and understanding outweigh my curative spells (LISTEN MOTHERFUCKER FOR THE LAST FUCKING TIME DO NOT FUCKING STAND IN THE BAD SHIT)

I will not be ashamed to say I don’t know a fight, nor will I fail to call upon my colleagues when the skills of another are needed to help save the party.  (hi Red Mages? Nobody cares about your DPS, start hitting the rez spell.  And if you blind me one more time with that fucking LB3--when you die from backflip I’m leaving your ass DEAD.)

(Summoners.  Thank you for your birb.  However same as Red Mages, nobody gives a damn about your DPS when we’re about to wipe and you’re still alive, HIT THE REZ SPELL)

And on that note to my fellow healers...Scholars please stop.  I don’t care about your damn DoTs.  You aren’t going to get the highest DPS. HELP WITH THE HEALING.

White Mages: If we could just turn off the Blood for the Blood Lilly mentality--AND STOP WITH THE GLARE SPAMMING >_O

Astrolgians: ...Okay I can’t say anything you guys got all the reasons to be salty as fuck but can you at least stop looking at your pretty animations and stop crying over the ruined mess that used to be the Draw Deck and just help?  Please?

I will respect my fellow players, but if you are rude or disrespectful because you just feel the urge to be a nasty little shit, I will play God.

I will remember that the way to deal with those who refuse to follow the natural pattern of a party run (tank aggro, the enemies are dealt with in smart pulls) is just not to heal them until they either see the point or the group just falls apart from spite.

I will use Rescue as I see fit, and if you piss me off or bitch about it, I will just use it to kill you. 😃

I will strive to remember that in the long run, I am just a player visiting Eorzea like everyone else, but I am under no special obligation to heal your dumb ass.

If I do not violate this oath, may my MP bar be always full, my cooldowns perfectly timed, my tanks wise, my DPS smart, and my loot plentiful.  May my enemies wail and gnash their teeth, and always lose their loot by one point.

Endwalker Sages:  I reserve the right to shoot your ass deader than dead should you piss me the fuck off.  FUCKING LASERS BITCH!!!!

#ffxiv #ffxiv white mage #ffxiv astrologian #ffxiv scholar #ffxiv sage #ffxiv whm #ffxiv ast #ffxiv sch #ffxiv sge #ffxiv healer #angry healer #you all knew this was gonna be updated

[maguneedsalife]

had my first lousy experience as a healer (and documenting it here so i can find it again in case i ever need to tell this story)

I’m level 50 on Whm but whenever I’m in leveling with a tank who looks pretty experienced I tend to put “New healer here, please be patient <3″ in the chat at the start of a dungeon just so they know what to expect. Today me and Ian (playing dps) queued into Dzemael Darkhold and I noticed the catgirl tank had a fancy-looking weapon so I figured they would be a more experienced player (cant remember if they had a sprout or not) and put my usual message in the chat.

This tank immediately pulled wall to wall. The first double pull went fine; they pulled the mobs into the crystal light and we were able to get them down fairly quickly. Next, though, the tank did WAY more than a double pull and would not lead the mobs into the crystal light, meaning everyone was taking huge damage from the flying eyeball as well as mobs that the tank couldn’t hold aggro on with WAR’s cone aoe. I spammed cure II and medica and we somehow made it out, but the tank kept going and pulled the entire next room. They would not bring the mobs into the light and (predictably) died, alongside one of the dps. I managed to swiftcast raise them but they somehow turned their tank stance off by accident, so the enemies killed the remaining dps, then the tank (still recovering hp), then me (who had been trying to get the other dps off the ground).

When I released I found the entrance empty, as the people who had released ahead of me had gone ahead already. As I was running to catch up to them the battle music kicked in, and I noticed the tank’s health go down. “Did this guy just pull?” I asked in disbelief. “Yep. Yep they did,” Ian answered. The tank was already dead by the time I got there and asked why the healer wasn’t there to heal them.

Ian was like “because she died last and had to run back?”

We died and tried again. Ian had to remind the homie to turn their tank stance back on. “It fell off when I died,” the tank responded (no it didn’t, tank stance doesn’t fall off when you die). The tank did another huge pull, died when I couldn’t cast cure II fast enough to cover the damage they were taking, and then wondered why the healer wasn’t healing them while my 2nd raise was very slowly casting. Specifically said “I don’t know why he’s not healing me.” My avatar is not male.

Once we all had predictably died again we ran back to where we’d left off, thinking the tank had run back ahead of us--but they never moved from the start. We were like “You coming dude?” and they responded “I’m not moving if this healer refuses to heal me.”

That was when Ian had had enough and started a vote kick, which was unanimous lmao. 

Luckily the tank we got after them was much nicer (also a viera!) and pulled at a much more reasonable pace. They were even cool about it when I fell off the edge once and got mauled by toads on the way back up fkjghfkh

#ffxiv log #shb #get off the computer ren

[tuwasduwillst]

Shadowbringers (pt 4/end)

This just has spoilers for everything, basically. :U I finished it and don’t feel like splitting stuff up because I have over 1k screenshots to go through...

Katana-bearing Centurion: Besides, there is but one hand that can make me whole again. My enemy... my friend...

He probably just says “friend” there in Japanese, but I don’t have my whole game switched, so I don’t get to know for sure. Good to know you’re still being weird, Zenos.

Don’t you smirk at me like that, mister.

Here’s Urianger being handsome, as usual

I hated fighting this old dude as Thancred.

1) I still can’t believe he can easily take out the WoL like he did

2) Stop making me be sword dudes!!

3) I get why they wanted people to see the dialogue here, but it was so slooooow and I died once near the end and had to do it all over again and ughhh, just go away

Ryne looks cute with her new hair and eyes, at least. :) Thancred is still a bad dad, but at least he’s doing better now... I guess.

Also, Urianger’s reaction to finding out that Thancred was paying attention to some of his talks about pixies was really good, haha.

...I wanna listen to Urianger give a pixie lecture...

Wow

This was something the game threw together when I asked it to pick recommended gear. It’s... some kind of look.

The Exarch/G’raha Tia is a qt. Y’know, I figured it was probably G’raha Tia, but I didn’t remember him being so short... and the lack of cat ears also made me doubt myself, haha.

I’m really glad I did the Crystal Tower stuff, though, because otherwise I’d... well, I’d still think that G’raha Tia/the Exarch is cute and like him a lot, but it wouldn’t have had the same impact.

I took a bunch of screenshots of Mikh’a. :U

& Emet-Selch, ofc

that one old dude: If you would pass me, you must endure all that I have learned on the battlefield... For I am a weapon forged in the fires of war!

~*oooh, I’m so scared of you and your tiny amount of health left*~

My MP doesn’t even have a dent in it, really. This is why I had such a hard time believing this dude could take out the WoL!! Even the first time we fought, I had tons of MP available to me and could’ve made a full recovery from being brought down to 1 HP. (...well, I have Benediction which is kind of cheating, but still.)

At least this was the last time I had to deal with him. He’s probably the worst thing about the expansion, which I guess I can deal with since the rest of it was so good.

Lots of really pretty screenshot opportunities in this expansion. c:

Mt. Gulg is something I thought was common to a bunch of FF games for some reason, but apparently it was in the original Final Fantasy, FFIX, and some random spin-off games. Weird.

How did Mikh’a hear him talking from that far away??

Emet-Selch has such a good design and you can tell that a lot of work was put into him. The expressions he makes, the way he stands and walks--it’s all unique to him and it makes him stand out a lot.

Even after everything that happened in the expansion, I’m really fond of him. They made the right move in having him kind of forge a more personal relationship with you/the WoL, because if he hadn’t been obnoxious in the background throughout most of the expansion it wouldn’t have been anywhere near as interesting/good as it ended up being.

I obviously chose to say that they were all Alphinaud’s assistants. :P

This little scene was so cute... lali-hos for everyone...

Crystal Exarch: Ugh! I would thank you not to shoot me!

I’m sorryyyyyy ; ~; You were there and I wanted to see what would happen!!!

Crystal Exarch: Ah heh... It may interest you to know that Mikh’a is a great hero in the land whence he hails. Some would say the greatest.

This little venture made me feel like I’d suddenly gotten married and adopted a child

(Which I’d be totally fine with, tbh.)

I loved this thing, actually!! I got to heal G’raha Tia, he healed me, we both healed our new tiny dwarf child, it was great.

c:

I’m still using the Mogrod. I’m never going to stop using it. Give me another thing that has a flower and swirly rainbows all over and maybe I’ll switch weapons, but until then? No.

...unless there’s, like... a really, really pretty plant weapon, especially if it matches Mikh’a’s outfit... but I don’t think there is.

I got to put my bubble on them. :D

He’s so cuuuuuute. And Mikh’a clearly agrees with my thoughts on him, considering the expression on his face when he looks at him.

One of the reasons I keep Mikh’a wearing the WHM gear is because I really like the contrast I get--a lot of the major characters wear black, so it looks nice when they stand next to each other. :D

Katana-bearing Centurion: The whereabouts of my one true friend, however--they interest me greatly. I but hope the beasts of this “First” are providing him proper sport.

Zenos is so funny to me. He just pops up like “did someone mention my friend” while his dad and Elidibus are having a serious conversation.

Innocence has beautiful hair and if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes I’d never believe that he was Vauthry.

You can kind of see @tarifu in this screenshot! :D

You can definitely see her here--wait... why is half the party wearing dwarf beard outfits...

This is probably weird to say, but I genuinely like when characters I play in games like this suffer/are in pain. Not, like... constantly. I just like it when NPCs get to express concern and you aren’t some kind of unbreakable hero 24/7. >_>

Obviously I was going to say his name, who wouldn’t.

This made me cry!! I thought he was dead. :C

But thankfully Emet-Selch didn’t want him dead, so he did not die.

...why’d he even need a gun? Has he always had a gun?

I wish I could just float off into the sky after ruining everything and being a big jerk

sad kitty

I died when I came here with Jack and Mari because I didn’t realize I was being targeted by the boss until it was too late. :,)

I got to practice using my shield, though!! I’m not used to having one so I’m not super great at remembering it exists and using it; the tether thing is a good visual for “this specific person is going to be damaged soon and a shield would be Good”. ...unless everyone’s bunched up and I can’t tell who has it until it’s too late, I guess.

I know I’m level 80 now, but there’s still a lot I haven’t done and I’m still trying to figure out what the best way to do things is sometimes... I still need to mess with my hotbars and stuff, actually. I think I might switch some things around more than I already have, because some useful things aren’t as easy to use as they could/should be and I’ve been wanting to mess around with stuff for a while. The Trust dungeons should be a really good opportunity to test new configurations! Or the squad dungeons, I guess. :/a

I’m still not Ardbert’s biggest fan, but I don’t dislike him.

Poor Urianger, getting stuck with the role of the only other person to know the Exarch’s plans. :(

& then everyone died going to the bottom of the sea and the game ended

I got to help put dwarf helmets on sineaters :U

I also remembered that I have fancy wings now, wheee

I got a nice new outfit after doing my last Healer role quest! :D I like it a lot~ The whites are brighter than the last outfit, and the bit in back accommodates his tail much better than the corset did.

I might play around with mixing and matching some pieces once I get newer stuff, but for now this is what I’ve got! c:

...and I refuse to wear the hat. 100%. I’m not making Mikh’a look like a weird nun. :|

Amaurot was really good, even if being there mostly just made me sad. >_> The not-people were so cute and nice, though...

Big

The WoL hanging out on this giant bench is so cute.

I liked getting to talk to Emet-Selch’s friend. c: Well... kind of, anyway. Since it’s not really his friend...

tiny

Emet-Selch: I have broken bread with you, fought with you, grown ill, grown old! Sired children and yes, welcomed death’s sweet embrace.

I still don’t 100% understand how Ascians work, but I guess it’s canon that Emet-Selch fucks :/a

I regret typing that, I think, but it is apparently true

i think your fireplace has something wrong with it

Really though, this dungeon was excellent.

Alisaie decided that she wanted to LB right as one of the bosses was doing one of those “hide behind a rock Or You Will Die” things so she died & I accidentally walked right off the edge near the end of the last boss fight (oops), but other than that things went okay!

D:

ardbert could you please clean your axe somehow before you point it at me like that. tia

This was a really neat moment :U

I’m not calling Emet-Selch Hades ever. Sorry, Emet-Selch.

I was kind of afraid to do this trial and almost waited until someone would be able to do it with me, but it really wasn’t that bad in the end!

...except for when I died five times to the same attack... orz It was that arm-sweeping one, too, so it’s not like it’s not obvious that it’s coming. My problem was that I kept getting Raised in bad places right before it happened, so he basically just kept smacking me down over and over again.

(Which was partially my fault, because I should’ve waited to accept the Raise until I knew it was safe to be alive, but... I don’t like leaving the other healer alone and I don’t want to just be lying there uselessly if I can avoid it.)

Fortunately(?) the party wiped due to something completely unrelated (a failed mechanic I had nothing to do with) and I didn’t die at all the second time around! So at least there was that.

I liked this bit in the dark. c:

I also liked when I got trapped in the bubble and didn’t have to do anything. Thanks, Emet-Selch!

Genuinely though, it was a nice little chance for me to calm the hell down because my anxiety was getting real bad before/during this fight. >_>

Poor dude. :c Obviously he’s responsible for some absolutely terrible things and I’m not going to try to deny that or anything, but he’s lived for so long and he’s had to deal with the loss of basically everyone he ever cared about for that whole time. He recreated that entire city and all of its people, that’s how much he cared.

Still no excuse for basically trying to kill all of the people he didn’t consider “real”! But also still sad, IMO.

This made me go “awww” out loud and start to tear up, haha...

I didn’t want to leave him ; ~;

Estinien said a full sentence here about how these guards were dead, too (in a way that implied he assumed that’s what they’d find), and the localization translated it as “hmph”. Kind of a weird choice there, but okay.

Zenos basically went Full Yandere since he killed his father just because he could potentially get in the way of his thing with the WoL, so... that’s something that’s going to have to be dealt with at some point.

I’m interested in seeing how things go, but I’m also a wee bit concerned that other people might get caught up in whatever this obsession is. I don’t want anyone to get hurt or killed because of Zenos’s yandere tendencies. :(

Elidibus is being Boring on the moon.

But who cares about that! I got to lead a Girl Scout meeting for my level 80 WHM quest.

Oh! Almost forgot about the story I got to tell the girls: “The tale of a man who crossed time and space to save the world... and me.”

I think the second one is about (original) Minfilia, maybe? :/a I wanted to tell them about G’raha Tia, though.

Aaaand that’s all I’ve done! \o/ I unlocked a new dungeon and I know there’s more than one post-80 dungeon, so I’ll probably check those out when I get a chance... but I finished the main stuff.

Which is kinda weird, because now I’m done again, haha... but I’ve got plenty of stuff to do before the next new stuff comes out. Especially since I discovered that Vamo alla Flamenco is the “dancer’s theme”, apparently. Need to dance ASAP >:O

#game: ffxiv

[koganphrancis]

WE ARE FINALLY, TRULY CAMLESS!

Season 9 Episode 6 Recap

First and foremost, I want to single out Noel Fisher for being a truly class act and returning to this demon show to give fans what happiness he could-the ONLY happiness a lot of fans have found here, myself included, in a very long time.

Next a serious piece of appreciation to Cameron Monaghan.  I know he worked hard on what little they gave him to do in the past few years, and I’m thankful he had Gotham to work on to actually use his talent while mired down in the stinky swamp this show has become.  In another actor’s hands, I don’t know that Gallavich would’ve been as captivating as it was-without Noel I know it wouldn’t have been, but Cam does deserve credit for bringing the other half of the couple to life-when they were on screen together, they had an undeniable magic happening.

Finally to any of the “fans” that are thinking or posting that we got this actually pretty shitty prison endgame because people pestered the show producers, writers, and actors too much to “bring Mickey back” may I please direct you to watch the early episode (I believe it was in Season 1, but certainly no later than S2) where Lip tells Ian prison must be a gay man’s dream with all the tattoos and unlimited sex partners.  THAT is John Wells’ perception of gay men and it has been since long before he even thought of breaking Ian and Mickey up, let alone bringing Mickey back.  

Personally I’m supremely disappointed this gay couple, like so many others, did not get a free and truly happy ending in canon, even though my friends know I predicted this could very well be all we got in the end.  FFS it’s the year twenty gayteen-couldn’t ONE iconic gay couple be given a nice, normal happy ending?  John Wells is a fucking dinosaur.  He needs to go to a sensitivity training camp run by Dan Levy, Emily Andras, and Ryan Murphy.  

Anyway-my last recap (baring a miracle) of this shit show is under the cut

(screen cap credit: justmikhailothings)

This episode was brought to us by White Castle.  I’d like to think they gave every dime they got from them to pay Noel, but I’m sure it went to the other “big name” guest stars.

Also the show was (disappointingly) written by Nancy “Ratfucker” Pimental, so you know it’s gonna be bad.

The show begins with Ian putting his stuff away up in the attic and claiming he wants to eat a shitload of White Castle.  Sure, whatever.  Everyone is trying to offer ideas of what they should all do on his last day of freedom, but suddenly THIS Ian is talking and making decisions for himself.  WHERE HAS HE BEEN THE PAST 4 SEASONS?  He only appears when Mickey’s about...

Debbie offers to bring him to a gay bar to “get laid” (flashing back to Monica in S3, ugh-it was a bad idea then, it’s a bad idea now), Ian says, “Pretty sure I’ll get laid a lot in prison.”  He says it with a grim expression, but considering how they end the show/who his cellmate is, he should be so lucky.  

Frank pretty much ignores Ian in the scene, and they certainly don’t interact.  Frank recommends Ian should read James Joyce’s Ulysses in prison, but other than the fact that it’s by an Irish writer and it’s extremely long and dense to get through (aka it’ll take Ian some time to do it), I don’t know if there’s any significance to his suggesting it.  

This scene with just a throwaway send off from Macy seems to be in line with John Wells’ vision to have the series fade away with the characters going about their daily lives rather than end, but I really think both Cam and WHM were screwed out of not having a final scene together with just the two of them.  Their comedy timing was always the best out of Macy and all the Gallagher kids.  The lack of respect is just astounding-especially since the show wasted so much time on rando actors/characters we’re never going to see again.

The rest of Frank’s story this week takes place with Liam in tow again and it’s just dumb and boring.

The next scene shows Fiona and Bored looking at an apartment-they’re going to move in together (why?  And when was this decided?  Not that I care, but they could’ve cut a scene of them bickering to show a scene where they arrived at a decision together for once).  It makes absolutely no sense-they have Fiona’s whole place to themselves, why waste $3000 a month living in some other apartment all to themselves?  Just because it has two bathrooms?  Do they shit that much?

And then, ooh, bad news for Fiona-her business partners require her to kick in another 25 grand or their investment will be dead in the water.  I still don’t know how she went from having $50K to invest to $100K, so this new twist is just more bullshit that I can’t care about.  

Then there’s a scene where we have to see Carl’s new girlfriend’s head in Ian’s lap.  WTF.  We need to see Mickey’s head there-or better yet, Ian using Mickey’s perfect thighs as a pillow.  

There’s a couple of boring, unfunny bits of the nun and then the priest (is it supposed to be hilarious that the dad from Full House is spewing out sex scenario names Nancy must’ve googled?) from Kev and Vee’s kids’ preschool with a dildo.  Seriously, Nance, not even close to funny, probably time to put yourself out to pasture, old girl.  This show has used dildos as a sight gag so many times at this point there’s just nothing more to do with them except maybe shove them up the writers’ asses.

Lip’s storyline this week is something out of very, very bad fan fiction: A movie star comes to their house!  Cuz, that happens, okay?  I’m sure studios and billion dollar make up companies don’t run any kind of background check on people they hire to babysit their clients-why would they?  It’s not like a crazed fan would rape/maim/kill the object of their obsession or anything.  ANYONE can be a star minder for one day, surely.  

BORING ALERT: Lip has a couple more running scenes this week, because no one got enough of that last episode.  This week the least they could’ve done was play the Friends theme song over the endless footage where he’s chasing Courtney Cox around on location in Chicago.  

While watching, I was wondering if Courtney’s role was written for her or they just settled for her when Roseanne Barr was suddenly unavailable-the stuff they had her say and do (except for the sprinting) seemed like it was written for a more jaded motherly type-but I’m jumping ahead.  Since we DID get CC, here’s a couple of stray observations.  1. She looks like a rich man’s Emmy Rossum, and 2. was part of the purpose of her storyline to throw shade at Jennifer Aniston?  Her character is named Jen Wagner, and there’s this whole dumb thing where Nancy’s trying to make, “Face it, you’re gorgeous” happen as her make up commercials’ tag line-which was reminiscent of Aniston’s ads for L’Oreal that stated “I’m/you’re worth it”.  

Meanwhile, after Fi gets the devastating news that she needs to come up with more money she tries to get out of taking the new apartment with Bored by lying to him and telling him she smelled mold there-HE RESTORES OLD HOUSES/BUILDINGS FOR A LIVING why does Nancy think that was a clever lie for Fiona to come up with?  How stupid is Fi supposed to be?

Back at the Gallaghers, Ian is practicing self defense moves with Carl and Kelly to prevent someone from raping him at knife point.  Everyone’s flipping each other in these scenes and it just felt like they wanted to give their stunt coordinator (and Cam’s double) a lot of (boring) shit to do this week...Ian’s final scenes being played out with this meaningless newbie (who Carl will probably wind up killing or dumping or both) made me very sad.  I guess maybe it was to build dramatic tension for when Ian’s in his cell later and the door slides open before he turns around.  But it’s lame because the scenes play like he’s JUST realizing prison’s rapey.  

Someone knocks at the door-my heart started racing but it wasn’t Mickey.  A guy who wasn’t in the jail scenes tells Ian Joselito sent him.  Ian starts asking him about the guys he was in county lock up with-WHO CARES.  The guy tells him the couple he’s asking about broke up when one of them got out and Nancy throws in a line about long distance relationships not working.  Joselito sent this Antonio guy to give Ian an “in-depth safety orientation about Beckman Correctional” before they send him up.   

Antonio draws Ian a map of the facility and tells him the areas to avoid, then draws a big circle with Mickey Mouse ears on it and tells him that’s “Disneyland” and he can get all good things there-smooth blowies, weed, Snickers...I’m sure ol’ Nancy thought she was being clever, but it just took me out of the scene hearing Antonio say “Disney” at least three times-reminded me of Cam’s publicity stunt “coming out date” there last year.  

Fi comes in and asks if anyone has any money (shades of S4 when Ian gave her his Fairy Tail tips) and that she needs 25 grand.  She’s so stupid.  And she’s honestly that out of touch with the family that she thinks maybe one of them has thousands of dollars they could give her?  (although, if she had only gotten to Lip before he tried to buy Xan...)

Fiona tells Ian, “Don’t forget, I’m driving you to prison tomorrow.”  And that’s the last time they see each other.  So much for family, eh, Nance?

A huge time waster of a scene where Kev and Vee pack up all their sex toys and then another drawn out scene of them throwing the stuff off a bridge happen.  Seriously, these are Cameron’s final moments on this shit show-they couldn’t think of anything for him to do?  This was all screen time Cam and Noel could have had, SHOULD have had!

I have to recap this next bit because it was beyond belief unrealistic-Frank steals a bicycle and goes following Katey Sagal and her ex-husband when they leave the hospital in an Audi-and Frank manages to keep up with them all the way to their nice neighborhood that must be some distance away since it was daylight when they left and dark when they get to their door.  Frank.  On a bicycle.  Kept up.  YOU’RE SUCH A DUMB FUCK, NANCY.

Then there’s more White Castle with the money shot of the food and packaging all over the Gallagher kitchen table.  Courtney gets to make a bulimia joke Nancy wrote into the scene.  Hope you weren’t looking for a Guest Starring Emmy, CC.  

Ian tells a “Carl story” about him puncturing his scrotum (on purpose) with a screwdriver when he was a kid.  Carl must have the most mangled dick and scrotum on the planet between his several botched circumcisions and now this.  Kelly asks him if that’s why he has “that scar”.  You know what, Nance?  While some people do in fact find scars sexy, self inflicted ones on scrotums don’t make that list.  

Debbie comes in, recognizes “the chick from the make up ads” having dinner with them.  I’m sorry-having WHITE CASTLE with them.  Now everyone else sees it too, and Kelly insists that CC says “the” line that Nancy made up to make happen-why do they keep trying to make meaningless things A Thing?  

After dinner, Jen is giving Ian advice about prison: “Find a hobby, it makes time go so much faster.”  Ian asks, “Did you learn that from one of your movies?” and she says she did 48 hours for DUI (hey, just like Ethan, Nancy!).  Jen really needed to get into making TP paper mache to get through 2 days?  

Debbie, desperate to make shit about her says, “Maybe I should go to prison too.  It seems like the only way I’ll find a real relationship.”  WHY are they acting like Ian’s going away on a single’s cruise?

Jen says to Debs that’s not true and Debbie says it is, that she’s unlucky in love (when the fuck has she ever been “in love”?)...”men, women...”  

Jen tells her she’s a special woman (how the fuck does she know?) and that she doesn’t want just anyone, she wants somebody “who gets you” and then for the second time in two weeks an older woman, without determining if Debbie is of age, pulls her into a kiss and the others (Ian, Lip, Carl, Kelly) stare like, “WTF?”  The kiss ends and Debbie looks all amazed like she did after the Mel kiss, but then Jen looks at everyone and says, “I played a lesbian once in a movie.”  And that’s what your research into that role led you to believe lesbians do?  Kiss random teens when they’re whining?  Lip starts the “Face it” line and everyone else chips in with “you’re gorgeous” and everyone laughs and I don’t get why it’s funny or even why it’s supposed to be funny.  Seemed like they were trying to drive home the point that ACTORS only PLAY gay characters, but no matter how convincing they seem, they are in reality the much more “preferable” heterosexuals we can feel safe with and really want them to be.  Fuck you, Shameless.

Also, Courtney/Jen is three times older than Debbie-CC is 54 irl and Debs is forever 17 now, so more Kash vibes for anyone who was missing those.  Also perpetuates the writer room’s fantasy that hot young actors would find middle and past middle age folks suitable sex partners.

Fi goes to Patsy’s Pies and there’s another hysterically lame scene where she opens the office safe and is counting out money-I don’t know how much a place like Patsy’s rakes in (or keeps in their safe) but I would think it would take a long time to accumulate 25K in CASH in this day and age of debit and credit cards.  She abandons that bad idea and winds up going down to the docks and drinking with a Patsy’s employee and reciting all her “mo money” problems while he counters with the facts that his car’s been repossessed and that he and his moms are being evicted from the projects.  Then the guy kisses drunk Fi but she tells him she has a boyfriend and that she has to apologize for lying to him (although, really, the underlying implication is she has to apologizing for never seeing that he’s always right about her being a dumb woman who has no head for business decisions).  

Lip and Ian have their last one on one scene.  After the movie star mom for a day leaves, Ian’s fake smoking on the front steps and Lip joins him.  Lip gives him money for his commissary account and Ian says, “I’ll pay you back,” (but not thank you) and Lip says, “No you won’t,” and I’m at home saying, “Lip, why are you being such a dick?”  Ian goes to hand him the lit cigarette, but pulls it away when Lip reaches for it, but then gives it to him and rubs his shoulder.  I guess this is supposed to signal to us that they’ve said everything that’s needed to be said?  Except we’ve been watching and we know Lip is supposed to be a mouthy motherfucker and in the old days they would’ve had actual conversations that they DID NOT have at all-all their conversations this season have been short and awkward.  Ian’s been made into a fucking mute now, even in these final moments.

Their last scene should’ve been in their room, in their beds-Ian can’t sleep and they talk things out in the dark like the brothers they used to be, but no.  Can’t have that.  

The Fiona drama finding out Bored has a wife, kid, and house and then drunkenly smashing up her leased vehicle is so “bad soap opera” I can’t believe this show is still on the air.  If we were supposed to cry for Fiona as her make up  and fake blood ran down her face after her millionth time of being let down by a guy everyone else could see was an ass from the start-well, we just didn’t.  

Next day the Gallaghers are waiting in the living room for Fiona to take Ian to prison.  Kev steps up to drive them all in his truck.

They get there, get out, and Ian looks around, then says to his family, “All right.  I thought Geneva and some of the others would be here but...”  Thank christ they weren’t!!!  The show/Ian wasted too much time on those randos as it was.  However, credit where credit is due-the show got us all the way through this swan song arc without bringing up Terror once!  But I digress, back to our scene.  Carl says, “You can only count on family, dude.”  I scream BULLSHIT at my TV screen.  

Debbie says, “I’m gonna miss you.” 

Group hug.  Kev says, “Don’t get too raped in there, aight?”  Everybody breaks apart, the moment ruined.  Kev says he doesn’t know what to say in these situations (and clearly no one can improvise but Noel).  Vee says, “How about goodbye and I love you?”  

Kev says, “Goodbye, man. I love you.”  

Ian says, “I love you guys too.”  Wasting it on the wrong fucking people!  All of them-except Kev and Vee who never voiced an opinion-didn’t care if went to prison!  

Ian looks at Lip, walks over to him.  “Hey, uh, thanks for being my brother.”

Lip, still a dick, says, “Never had a choice.”  That’s right, bitch-you didn’t get to choose to play the interesting gay brother, you got cast as the dick know-it-all who never cared about anyone but himself.  

During this entire farewell scene I was sitting at home, strangely unmoved.  I felt nothing watching it, probably because everyone was such an asshole about Ian going to prison all season, plus never caring about what he was doing all last season, plus the fact that none of these characters are the characters we first got to know.  It hasn’t been a case of character growth and development, it’s been character assassination and retconning.  

Ian breaks the hug.  “All right.  See you guys.”  He goes to the gate, shows his papers, gets let in through the gate, waves to his family as he walks past the fence, walks into the prison, slaps his phone (wouldn’t he just give that to Lip to hold on to?  Battery’s gonna be dead by the time he gets out) and watch (probably ditto on the watch battery) onto a counter, strips down so we see one last quick shot of his naked ass (what, no cavity search?  And just how long has it been since we’ve seen his unclothed ass anyway?), and a glimpse of the boob tattoo.  

Next we see him in his yellow “I Love You, Philip Morris” jumpsuit, carrying his bedding through the GP.  He’s attracting “fresh meat” attention and Cam actually does a really good job of looking a bit scared while trying to look tough and “don’t fuck with me”-there’s a vulnerability there, but he’s not overplaying it, and he’s certainly not overplaying the fronting.  His acting was really powerful in that scene.  

They put him in his cell and slam the door and he winces a little at the sound, then he sadly looks at his 6X8 foot (or whatever the dimensions are) room, puts his bedding pile on the top bunk and leaves his hands up there and lets his head hang down.  He hears the door slide open behind him again and gets this, “Ugh, here we go,” expression on his face and turns around to see it’s Mickey standing there.

Me at home: Not what I wanted for end game but I’m still thrilled to see the man, the myth, the legend again anyway.  He’s all beefy still from when he was shooting Fonzo and looking good.  

Ian’s looking at him like he’s not sure he’s really there.

Mickey mildly says, “I rolled on the cartel I was working for and in exchange guess who gets to pick where he gets locked up?”  

Ian’s got tears in his eyes now and says, “Holy fuck.”

“Oh hey-I got bottom,” Mickey says as he points to the lower bunk.  Then he walks past Ian and says, “So...you’re on top,” in a bit of a sing-songy voice. 

He flops down onto the bunk, puts his hand behind his head-and check out the gifs closely, especially on Twitter-in the jumpsuit you can see the outline of his dick and it “twitches in interest” as the fan fics say (don’t know if Noel did it by adjusting his thigh, don’t know if it was intentional or what-but it was a sight to see whatever the case).  He does a lip lick/bite combination, Ian’s face lights up a bit and he gives a smile, he crawls onto the bunk on top of Mickey, pinning his hand down while Mickey smiles softly, they gaze at each other a beat, Ian gently strokes Mickey’s cheek, Mickey wraps his free hand behind Ian’s neck, their noses boop, and Ian sort of gently thrusts into a kiss (it was good-definitely had a bit of a sexual vibe to it), which Mickey expertly returns.  It was a very good kiss, tender and loving, but that scene needed words, needed Ian to say SOMETHING to Mickey-needed an “I’m sorry” and a “thank you for always being here for me” and exchanged I love yous.  Neither of these boys are ever told they’re loved!  JFC, nine seasons and the show couldn’t manage to work mutual ILYs in ONCE?  Fuck you, Shameless.  They didn’t even say each other’s NAMES!  

Mickey (and Noel) looked so fucking good lying there-relaxed and happy, finally back with his love where he’s always belonged.  Even when his eyes are closed, they’re perfect.  The angle the scene was shot at, we see more of Mickey’s microexpressions than Ian’s.  

An after the credits began scene of them lying in an afterglow embrace would’ve been nice.  Mickey could’ve mocked Ian’s hair (give us one last “Fire Crotch” you cowards!) and boob tattoo (or offered to fix that for him while they’re in the joint).  

Mickey’s got new ink on his forearm we never see clearly.  Until and unless we’re told otherwise, I’m saying it’s a big ginger root ;)  Bam.  

On a personal note, and not to rain on anybody’s parade, while I believe 100% in Drunk Crew Guy and what he said, I really don’t see us getting another scene in the finale.  This show’s attention span is down to nothing now, and I can’t see them dragging these guys back out now that they’ve given us (shitty) endgame. I don’t think enough time will have passed to let them out of prison by then, I think those final episodes are going to be about Fiona leaving and not Ian and Mickey getting to Mexico-and I can’t really see Mickey being able to go back there now that he’s crossed a cartel.  My feeling is the show filmed 2 possible endings using Noel to choose from-one ending with them in Mexico and the other being the one we got.  They probably ripped off The Shawshank Redemption too much with a Mexico ending and decided to go with this “original” idea instead.  I’d love nothing more than to be wrong, and to get one more scene of these two free and happy.  Cam’s question mark at the end of his farewell post and the fact that I do trust everything DCG said leaves a spark of hope burning in my heart, but hopefully I can back away from endless online speculation and theories about it over the next 5 months.  If it happens, beautiful.  If it doesn’t, at least we got one last look at Mickey and he’s getting dicked down and the love he’s always deserved, even if I hate the fact they’re locked up and will be in danger whenever they’re not in their cell-not to mention this is the shitty way gay love stories get handled in general, but I must not go down that path again in this recap.  

I want to add that Mickey didn’t sound all that “Mickey” in his scene, but maybe he didn’t need his swagger and was being more “real” to let Ian know he had a choice (as always, Mickey didn’t force himself on Ian-he let him come to him).  And kudos to Cam for not doing his hideous Chicago accent for most of the episode.  

There WAS love and chemistry in that final scene.  Just sucks that we don’t get it anywhere else in the show and they wasted so much time last night that could’ve been given to Cameron and Noel.  

But hey, I’m finally free of recapping ;)  While I’m sorry the Gallavich parts are now over, I’m not sorry I can finally quit missing what we used to get while watching what the show now does.  Mickey and Ian are back together now, so, fuck you, Shameless.  

#Recap #Ian's final episode #Season Nein #Nobody wants it #Queue #Hopefully I'll be sound asleep when the episode ends

[twelveswood]

I like to be called: Kristi.... but... I have a lot of nicknames... (it warms my heart when people call me deer, a nickname originally gifted to me by @seraphicrose and has grown as I tend to include “deer” somewhere in most my online handles these days)

My favorite colors are: Purple and Green!

Gender: Female, but gender is made up so!!! (she/her pronouns but like... I don’t really care)

Things you should know about me:

I can be both REALLY SHY or SUPER EXCITABLE!! I genuinely truly love getting to know people and who they are and what their lives are like out outside of IC interactions. Like I really really care about people, and sometimes I struggle to display it because I’m terrified of being annoying. So sometimes I try to “play it cool” as it were, but please know I genuinely am invested in my writing partners and friends as people. Tell me about your day!! Did work suck? Just... yeah, all that stuff.

I have been RPing since the dawn of neopets. I’m a ripe old 30 years, writing is absolutely one of my biggest passions, but I prefer to do it in RP format rather than on my own. I DO do it on my own too, but I’m much more likely to lose steam when I’m doing it alone.

I prefer long paragraph RP, though obviously sometimes replies are just... shorter. Dialogue makes replies run short and that’s ok! I don’t usually do like... in game RP stuff, except with my best friend and that is usually not planned. I like one on one slow going (though I can be a very quick replier..) RP that takes time and can be paused from because I’m super busy and get pulled away a lot.

I have approximately 465465635468565 characters in XIV alone, so many I can’t make more on some data centers.... BUT I’m ALWAYS making more one way or another, so I’m down to talk new OCs!! I love it.

OOC communication is key. If we can’t get to know each other a little as people... I don’t really wanna RP with you LMAO. RP is very special and meaningful to me, and I’d rather do it with friends than vague acquaintances. RP is like... dating. I’d hate to start something only to find out we SUPER do not click later down the line.

Things you should know about my muse:

As said I have A LOT of characters, but there are mostly just three that I’ve RPed as with anyone outside of my main partner; Dreyll, K’jhir, and Tuyasa.

Dreyll can be both THE WoL or just an echo user, either will work for her to fit into whatever works for you. She is, of my characters, my canon WoL though. She’s very happy-go-lucky despite the state things are in up and into 4.5. She’s determined and she will do whatever it takes to save her friends and she never lacks the confidence that she can and will. She is a Viera, raised in Ul’dah by a couple of lalafell. She had a well loved upbringing and as an adult follows the standard story for the WoL more or less, but the gist is that she’s curious about the rest of the world, and where she came from. Happy as she is with her upbringing, you can’t help but be curious when you’re the only one who looks like you in an entire city. She leaves Ul’dah with a sword and shield in had but finds that she has an innate sense for conjury as well as archery, and when traveling to limsa she takes to the arcane as well. Her MAIN classes are PLD/SCH/BRD/WHM. 

K’jhir (Kajh) is NOT a WoL but does have echo. I think most of my characters (including ones not listed) DO have echo capabilities. He had an uncomfortable childhood followed by a straight up abusive adolescents. The only thing that saved him from likely dying like this was possession by an Ascian which, as one might expect, traumatized him further when the Ascian vacated his body. He’s sort of a mess, but he’s learning that life can be okay, he just has to accept that goodness and fight his fears. He’s for the most part quiet and thoughtful, a bit of a foil to Dreyll. While possessed he gains incredible skill with black magic, which terrifies him after the fact. He prefers physical combat and does everything he can to avoid using destructive magic. His main classes are WAR/DRK/SAM/BLM (but this is for special cases)/RDM/AST.... he’s sort of my jack of all trades play-wise.

Tuyasa (Tuya) is NOT a WoL, but is an echo user. I actually created her because I fell in love with Magnai, so her canon world romance is... well, him. But I’m open to RPing her with others separate from that obviously. Not that all RP has to be romance, but just that it’s not a done deal and things can develop how they develop. She is adventurous and inquisitive. A good and genuinely kind person but more likely to make the tough calls than Dreyll would be able to do (Dreyll of course trying to save everyone and not willing to compromise). She’s the daughter of a merchant and a weaver that left the steppe to take on that life. She’s never been and is determined to see her homeland before she winds up taking over the family business. She’s a self taught astrologian and dabbles in daggers. Main classes are just that, AST/NIN.

First language: English

Second language: I know like a collective 15 words in any other language.

HIGHLIGHT: Active RP Blogs

I DON’T HAVE ANY!!! I have some RP blogs but they’re certainly not active. If you wanted to RP I’d say to message me here and get my discord. ♥

Age range: under 13  |  14–17 | 18–22 | 23–25 | 26–29 | 30+ |  70+

Am I okay with NSFW?: yes | no | some nsfw

My favorite/most common thing to rp is: angst | fluff | smut (Within a plot or reason) | crack | action | plots | darker themes

OC friendly?: yes | no | depends

RP blog: does contain ooc posts | doesn’t contain ooc posts | occasionally contains ooc | aesthetic

tagged by: @starcunning

tagging: anybody just cuz idk who has done this one, I’ve had it in my drafts for like. IDK STAR, WHAT LIKE A MONTH? It’s been in here a while. It took me a long time to do this one skdhkgsjhdg

#starcunning #memeeeees #about me #i guess

[alechoney]

Healer bashing...

Today was my first solo in DF party after like … forever? … Lately I haven’t done battle content except when I’m tagging along with friends. I wanted some Tomes of Creation, so I queued for the 3 level 70 dungeons that give 50 Creation each. And it puts me in Temple of the Fist.

First pull was weird. Usually the tank pulls to the dead end and fight there, wait for adds to pop, kill them all, and then proceed. This tank pulled to the dead end, killed the blockade, and proceeded to next group, with original mobs and the newly popped adds tagging along, eating the BLM and the MNK. I followed in panic and somehow miraculously managed to keep everyone alive. Used a few Holy as well.

It was scary as hell.

But that wasn’t the end of it.

After the first boss, the tank pulled a shit ton of mobs… But I couldn’t keep up with the healing and we wiped. I got harsh comments from the PLD and the BLM. They told me to use Holy. But honestly, I didn’t have a chance to. I couldn’t even keep up with the heal. They told me my fault was using Medica II instead of Cure II.  Okay….

Next try, everyone got hit with the wind AoE from the giant Zu, so I used Medica II again. And we wiped, again. Note that after the wipes, the party still kept trying to pull everything. I tried. I swear I tried my damnedest. I still couldn’t keep up. I spent my Benediction during the first wipe and it was still not ready. This time, they got angry with me for using Medica II again. They asked if I even knew the basic…

Well, the basic I know is that if I use Medica II and Regen on the tank, it could help retain the tank’s HP while I am busy casting Holy. But I didn’t have time for a Holy in this party. The mobs were just too much for me. (By the way I am i316, in case anyone wonders.)

Third try…. we wiped in the pink foggy room where there was also a Coeurl. The whole conversation since start goes:

[1:38] Me> Hello! Good evening! [1:41] Me> orz [1:44] BLM> HolyPlease use it. [1:44] Me> Sorry. Too busy healing. [1:44] MNK> +1 [1:45] MNK> -1 [1:45] BLM> Imagine if it stunned enemies meaning less healing [1:45] PLD> too busy healing to stun the mobs  for more healing leeway [1:45] PLD> :thinking: [1:45] Me> But I didn’;t even have the time to start casting holy. [1:45] Me> Even spent my Benediction [1:45] BLM> :deepthonking: [1:45] MNK> You used med 2 [1:45] MNK> Its a you prob [1:46] PLD> another medica 2, nice [1:47] PLD> very effective single target throughput that one [1:47] BLM> All I want for christmas… is a whm that can heal in a dungeon [1:47] Me: Perhaps your play style is beyond my capacity. [1:47] BLM> Its a dungeon [1:47] MNK> +6? [1:47] PLD> perhaps you should use cure II instead of medica II [1:48] BLM> How do you not know the basics of your class at level 70, in a dungeon [1:48] BLM> Its like me saying “how can i use fire spells” [1:48] PLD> +234 [1:48] MNK> # 9days [1:49] Me: In my defense, I haven’t met a tank that pulls as many mobs as you. [1:49] PLD> i have never done a run where the tank didn’t do that pull [1:50] Me: In my experience average party pulls 2 mobs [1:50] PLD> please tell me you are joking [1:50] Me: I am dead serious. [1:50] MNK> Tank main gate to gate since 310 [1:50] PLD> pretty sure that stops being acceptable after level 22 [1:50] BLM> agreed [1:54] MNK> Sorry bad monk lol [1:56] PLD> why are you not casting on GCD? [1:56] PLD> like that’s not a playstyle that’s just wrong [1:56] BLM> Seriously, what are you doing Aleczan? Are you constantly going afk or something? [1:57] Me: Sorry.  Benediction landed like 1/10 second too late. [1:57] BLM> You are literally going afk between pulls [1:57] Me: Nope. [1:57] Me: ANd what’s casting between GDC? [1:57] PLD> why are you waiting like 2 seconds before casting another spell? [1:57] Me: I was dodging AoE [1:58] Me: Did you not see? [1:59] PLD> all i see is my HP getting deleted on normal pulls and never going back up mate [2:00] Me: Yeah I stood too close in the mobs  and had to run away from AoEs

It hurts. It hurts so much. Even when, even if, it’s my fault for wiping the party, it would be nicer if they give advice, or reprimand me in a less negative/sarcastic tone. I do appreciate feed backs, I really do. I want to improve. But it’s hard to keep my chins up when people are bashing harshly. 

My errors, from the experience in this party today, were that I used Medica II instead of Cure II (or Cure III, when everyone needed cure). And I didn’t keep Tetra for when I have to dodge AoE and cannot cast. I spent my Tetra too early in the pull. I also didn’t land Benediction when I should. (1/10 second too late, as usual). What else? IDK. Maybe everything?  

Frankly, I kind of know that I am not that good of a healer. I was pampered and spoiled by having a super tank as static tank. Corn and Dew seemed much more sturdy than most tanks I met in DF, so I never learned to try harder. What I said in the party was true, at least to me. Most tanks pulled 2 groups. Corn sometimes pulled 3 groups, which was already too much. I sometimes accidentally let him die when my Benediction landed 1/10 second too late. This tank seemed to have pulled 4 groups. Meaning he pulled 1 group more than Corn when he did super pull. It was just too much for me because I’m not accustomed to speed run…

Also, I rarely had to dodge AoE when it was time to spam Holy, because Corn would use Hallowed Ground and then Cover me, so I could stand in the AoE. Today I had to dodge the AoE in pink foggy room and couldn’t keep up with healing, resulting in the wipe that pissed them off so much.

IDK. I feel like whatever I do is wrong for this party. Maybe my rotation/spell selection is wrong? I’ve been with friends who always tanked for me too much and got accustomed to their pace/tactic/play style that I’m not adapting to other “normal” tank??? 

It’s just depressing.

In all my WHM career, I have never been bashed this bad before. 

Perhaps other WHMs who are accustomed to speed runs can help me by giving me some tips? 

I’m crying here, feeling worthless and desperate. 

Any advice/input is welcome. 

Edited - adding screenshots links https://imgur.com/tiQA0NN < 1st pull (no wipe) https://imgur.com/a3us4C9 < 2nd pull (1st wipe) https://imgur.com/NNdGO75 < 2nd pull’s 2nd try (2nd wipe)

#Healers #FFXIV #White Mage #What am I doing wrong #Angry Party #Speed Run #Duty Finder Nightmares

[whymaige]

Happy new year everyone!!

I caught a kind of sickness post Christmas and so I greeted 2018 with the loudest coughs and an olympic runny nose! But I'm slowly recovering =w=)b I'll properly reply to comments when I get bettar-

Also can't decorate much with fireworks so I used a few holies instead! An executive order was passed in our country- limiting the use of firecrackers. As someone who is always greeted by the New Year's news with injuries and deaths from accidents, I think this was a good policy!! This year, there were no reported deaths caused by fireworks!! :Dd Yay! It IS a little more quiet though, but that's alrighty.

Why Maige purrsonal message/ramblings ahead!!!

2017 was the year this page was born and until now it still puts a smile on my face whenever I'd reread discussions and messages and mail from you guys. As I mentioned before, this page was supposed to be a YOLO "DPS WHM" page because I kept all my controversial DPS healer frustrations inside and wanted a way to share it with everyone. With SB implementing new systems for the healer jobs... WELL NOW THEY KNOOOOW!!! LET IT GOOO!!! And I can make comics of other topics aside from healer dps that catch my attention! To my surprise, I get comments like "As a healer main I can relate!" and "OMG THAT FEEL!" I do not feel so alone anymore! :D (Boi I haven't been around huh HAHAHA!) The comments on my comics would also often contain serious gameplay discussion... which helps a lot of people too!

As an artist- I'd get critiques on my work's concept and presentation. Comments about how the cleric stance SB change is good (though I personally miss the dancing, it is indeed better now for everyone) and comments on my comic paneling and illustration crowding- they are all helping me as an artist and I am very thankful for that :> These are simply doodles I didn't take too seriously back then, but some people took em seriously so I'll do my best!!

I also appreciate the people who ask questions about my comics... I am referring to those who don't play/main healer or who are new to the game or simply don't understand what I scribbled. I think my comics can be very vague to people who don't particularly main healer sometimes so seeing that these people are interested/curious makes me smile xD I uhh... blame some of my comics for being vague inside jokes really @_@

I would like to bring up the topic of Patreon for this page... I mentioned in my early December post that I was planning to have the avatar commissions in the WM style as limited tier rewards in Patreon per month, as well as having exclusive Patreon content to be launched in 2018. I had a good month to think about this and suddenly I felt shaky about this plan.

One of the biggest things I enjoy about working with this page is sharing my ideas and hearing from the public. Connecting freely with Eorzeans is one of the things that makes this page fun for me so limiting content or having "Patreon exclusive content" is kinda weird. I dislike the feeling to have to lock out some audiences just to see extra doodles I wanted to share... not sure if you guys get it, but that's how I see it and how it kinda makes me feel.

Patreon works as either a place where people can help fund an artist's project (the only "project" that can be funded here will be my subscription so I can keep playing and therefore- make more comics guh-hyuk would totes help tho) or a tip jar. While the latter sounds more appropriate for WM, Patreon kinda locks you in a "you have to do this" sched and so being under that tight demand might affect my content in one way or another for now. Well.. I am making FFXIV costumes/cosplay irl and will be documenting the WIPs anyway and someone suggested that that can be a "funded project" as "exclusive Patreon content".... but it's cosplay and not comics and the only connection is it being "FFXIV" cosplay @_@ (that SCH SB af gear is so aesthetic though hngggk! >A<)9)

I'm going to continue evaluating if the Patreon model is appropriate for this page given that. It may be good for the avatar commissions and advanced comic releases though, but the locking out on some content makes me uncomfortable. I am not a streamer (I'm big on privacy!) nor am I a game videographer (no patience for that! I do other kindso art xD) and I feel that Patreon fits those kinds of gamers better.

Please let me know what you guys think though! After all, I haven't legit touched Patreon and only really observed and talked with people about it. *shruggle buggle*

OH!! Special shoutout to my followers in Tumblr. I am ETERRRRNNAAAALLYYY frustrated about not being able to reply to comments under each post because my main account is the one that appears to be replying and not WM grr! I do respond quick to private messages there though to make up for it >_< But really, the replies in Tumblr be fun fun too~

Happy 2018 and I hope everyone will have an even better year ahead! A toast to future patches as well and the incoming fanfestsss aaaa!!! I sooo wanna gooo ;A;

#Final Fantasy XIV #FFXIV #Final Fantasy #2018 #White Mage #WhyMaige

[thessalian]

Thess vs Hullbreaker Isle

Please. Dear sweet precious gods. Why can I not have one tank who isn’t @true0neutral who is actually DECENT?

We ended up on Hullbreaker Isle last night. This isn’t bad. I like Hullbreaker Isle. Thing is, I like Hullbreaker Isle a lot less when, after the initial ‘hello’, the tank tries to pull literally the ENTIRE FUCKING ZONE.

For a level 70 WAR, he was squishy as fuck, too. I mean, his gear was good but he was taking damage like whoa. Of course, the fact that he had literally everything but those two monkey-things on the bridge pulled and no one was focusing the tankbuster bees probably didn’t help very much. Neither did the WAR having no the fuck idea how to hold hate. Or stay in line of sight so I could actually heal the stupid SOB. So here’s me on WHM doing my level best to keep him alive ... and I failed. I’d feel worse about that if he’d given me one iota of warning. I throw a rez at him and get, from the RDM, “use Holy. Stun them all. I main AST and WHM are only really useful for Holy, not heals”.

We check RDM’s search info. They have Astrologian unlocked. ...At level 34.

For the record, I hit 65 on my own AST earlier this week, and WHM hit 66 just today. Why do people lie like that? Also, I have no idea what this has to do with being an effective WHM, or how best to use Holy. Thing about Holy is that people don’t seem to understand that it doesn’t last long and has diminishing returns. After the first couple of times, it doesn’t stun at all. When you’ve got a trash pull that big, all spamming Holy does is a bit of damage to the mobs, pisses off any melee characters if it’s not actively blinding them, and lets the tank die because the mobs aren’t getting stunned. I have been playing WHM for quite some time. I know how Holy works, thank you.

Anyway, I point out that I was not expecting the tank to pull the entire zone, and I get, “PULL IT ALL! LOL!” from the RDM. Which the tank was apparently totally into. Because that was how it went for the rest of the fucking dungeon. Which put me in a really difficult position because he wasn’t scooping up hate very efficiently, and if I threw Regen at him to at least try to mitigate some of the bullshit going on, the ticking HoT would drop hate on me. As would my first attempt to heal him because he hadn’t secured aggro on half the things he was trying to kill. And then didn’t notice that I was getting my face eaten. Despite me trying to run the trash back to him. Nope. Didn’t notice. Nope.

However, after that first wipe, I do manage to keep everyone alive but me (minor error during the fight with the bubbles; I got boxed into a corner with one and got too close, ended up in it too soon and died to the room-wide). And did I get player comms for managing to stay alive through this level of bullshit? No, I did not. All because after the crap I got from the RDM, I refused to use Holy out of pure spite. (Okay, I used it once but I felt bad and dirty and refused to do it again.) Seriously, what is wrong with people? I was dealing with pulls larger than I was comfortable with (not that anyone asked) and my efforts were ignored because I ‘slowed us down’. And I know these jackasses are going, “Oh, man, we had the WORST WHM yesterday; didn’t use Holy at all, slowed us down SO MUCH - I mean, we could only pull half the zone at a time!” and it pisses me off.

Blegh.

#Thess Plays FFXIV #I R HEALBABE

[angry-healers]

It's worth noting I main DRG, but once I got to HW I got myself AST and it's become my second main since, moreover I'm fairly new to the game in general (still a sprout and all).

This was back when I'd recently started AST, so I was still fairly new to both healing and AST itself, and thus I wasn't playing ideally at all. Me and my friend queue up for leveling roulette together. He goes DRK (which he's still somewhat new to as well) and we get insta queue. 

We end up in Brayflox Longstop, which we both consider our cursed dungeon because we always end up with weird parties in there. This time we ended up with a Bard and a Ninja. Friend pulls one pack at a time, knowing I'm still quite new and not wanting to overwhelm me. Ninja starts pulling other packs, no communication, no nothing. I end up having to jump between healing the tank and healing the ninja since he keeps taking damage due to the pulls. Alright, not ideal, but I'm managing, even if I'm growing more irked by the minute.

We progress further, me below half mp most of the time due to the double healing I'm forced to do (as well as not managing mp ideally because, again, I was new to AST and didn't even have Lucid because I had no idea that refresh gave you mp.), but we manage. We get to the toads in the water area, and tank pulls the first pack. 

Starts out fine, we manage well until the Ninja pulls the next pack right onto the one we haven't finished killing yet. We make it through, but I'm at 500ish mp and while tank goes one way to pull next pack, ninja pulls a different pack and suddenly there's AOEs everywhere, and I try to keep both a tank and DPS alive. Tank manages to grab all the aggro, but I'm out of mp at this point and tank goes down, and the rest of us follow. 

We run back to the point where we wiped, with tank asking the ninja to please stop pulling. Ninja complains tank is slow, and tank explains that it's to not overwhelm the healer. Ninja says healer is fine (which... isn't quite correct but I try to be polite to everyone so even though I was frustrated I only mentioned wanting mp breaks so we don't wipe because of me being low on mp.) and we keep going. It's worth noting I never mentioned being new to AST, which might have changed things if I had, but the past is the past and there's no changing it now. 

We get to the final boss. Make it through fine to a point. Tank goes down to an AOE due to unfortunate timing (as a DRG main with shaky ping at times I'm used to that happening to myself so I'm fairly forgiving towards others when it happens, moreover I knew my friend wasn't super used to tank either.) and Ninja gets the aggro. I res the tank, heal him up and he does his best to get aggro back. Ninja is yelling at him in chat to hate combo it, tank tells him he needs to stop moving, ninja tells him he'll die if he stops. 

Tank finally gets aggro back, I'm low on mp and eventually go down, but the three others manage to take down the boss. I'm just tired at this point, and relieved we can finally get out of the dungeon. Ninja points out he feels sorry for the healer, and tells tank to just stick to healing (I guess he checked my friend's jobs as he mains WHM) before exiting. My friend and I sigh and vent a little, because although we both made mistakes, I didn't feel the Ninja's behavior was justified.

All in all, more communication might have made it a more enjoyable run, but in the end it all left a sour taste in my mouth. I'm now a level 54 AST, know what I'm doing better and I haven't had that bad an experience since, but I do get occasional parties that make me want to tear my hair out.

#final fantasy xiv #healing horror stories #submission

[yekulan-dothkah]

FFXIV - OOC

FFXIV has always pushed me to be better and try harder in a way that's enjoyable, and I thank the devs for making such a fantastic game; it proves the concept you can become better at anything you apply yourself to.

I remember my first FC's mocking SCH, that WHM was the perfect child back in ARR when I first started playing; I debunked the rumor and proved how useful SCH was by being under geared and still healing content efficiently where WHM’s failed. I remember when AST got released and the buffs came out; I proved SCH still had a place as the strategic healer by performing maneuvers only a SCH can. I remember being told, "if you don't cross class protect/stoneskin/swiftcast/ect you're a bad healer" then proving them wrong by healing a dungeon flawlessly, without any of the skills they said I needed. I remember people saying SCH was sub par to AST and Whm, and then carrying countless trials on my by back solo healing and rezing because the other healer wasn't nearly as good or experienced as I was. I remember people complaining that the Selene Faerie was not effective for a solo healer come HW, that Eos was the best; then turned around and used Selene solo to surpass expectations and clear content not only as if Eos was out the whole time, but more effectively. 

I remember people saying DRK was sub par to WAR when it came out. I then went on to rip aggro from WAR's, manage my MP aggressively but effectively for high dps without sacrificing defense. I stance danced without loss of damage mitigation, and solo'd bosses final moments due to the fact I was the only one left standing after a buster mechanic that killed everyone else thanks to my applied knowledge and timing.

I remember always going "there has to be a better way" and then finding, experimenting, and applying the concepts.

Thankfully the rumors slowly disappeared for SCH's and DRK's as the content progressed in HW and other people like myself came out of the woodwork going "no, I can do this just as good as you can, if not better." Sometimes, one way is the best way, it's reached it's maximum potential already thanks to someone else before you, but don't give up; there may be a method that hasn't been thought of yet, a situation the "rotation" isn't prepared for, a minor tweak that could improve resource management, or damage output, even healing potential.

It may seem weird but, I've used this lack of complacency and problem solving skills gained from FFXIV in my last job and education. I was regarded highly by my peers for this and even consulted on topics I didn't know for the sheer fact I approached issues differently from others who said "there's only one/two ways." I always came up with an alternative. I was so good at my job by finding better ways to optimize things, then learning how to apply them; I put myself out of a job because I made a computer program previously under utilized capable of doing 1/4 of the companies workload at the tier 1 level, I became obsolete and a viable person to be laid off.

Now I may not be a hardcore raid player, but my devotion to proving "there is another way" is why I enjoy the game so much; why me, the person who can barely play a single game continuously for more than a month, has been playing for over two years.

The very poorly explained moral of the story?: Don't let anyone tell you that you can't do something, that there's only one way, or you're not good at it; and if they do, prove them wrong every step of the way in a productive and helpful manner.

I say this now because Stormblood has brought a lot of changes, and people are being resistant in places; please, approach it all with open minds, the Dev’s have only improved the game since it’s re-release and they aim to continue doing so as much as possible. In the words of Yoshi-P “We hope you look forward to it.” 

#tales of mod #positive rant

[northwest-cryptid]

Greetings friends, if you happen to play FFXIV and are up for doing some unsynced runs of ARR Primals please feel free to let me know, we don’t have to be in the same world as we can use the party finder. Long story short I still need to collect a few mounts but basically have no one to play with these days so even one or two people would be totally welcome and a rather huge help. If you’re missing any of the ARR primal mounts let me know and we can make sure we go until everyone’s got what they need (or however long you can stay for.) It would be fun to hang with you guys for a bit, not to mention I’m a WHM so you get a dedicated healer to play with (just kidding I’m gonna throw rocks like crazy, but I’ll still make sure to heal you enough to keep you alive). Literally anyone is welcome and there’s literally no time limit on this so if you’ve got the EX primals unlocked and nothing better to do, let me know :D The only case of needing 3 or more people would be doing Titan EX, all the others can be done with 2+ (I’ve ran almost all of them with just Fluffy and I, so SCH + WHM). 

[spinneryesteryear]

Spinner plays FFXIV Stormblood

Finished FFXIV 4.0 MSQ over the weekend (DRK to 70, WHM to 77), hoo boy. I know I've got the 4.x patches to go but I did wind up liking Stormblood more than I thought. Spoilers ahoy!

Highlights:

- started the SB questline right about the same time as everyone else started ShB *sobs* It did mean I landed in the midst of some good FATE-grinding parties, however, at little as that matters

- I liked the Baelsar’s Wall but those last twin bosses can go die in a fire

- couldn’t get really sad over Papalymo because he barely contributed anything to the story except to snark at Yda. I like him better in DFFOO, where he is an excellent black mage. So, like, the exact opposite of my feelings regarding Thancred.

- Shinryu, Omega, and Cid all disappeared for the majority of the Stormblood questline and tbh it suffered for their absences. At least Estinien, of all people, was tracking the first two down.

- thankfully the WHM quests were all in the first zone I got access to and I already had it at 70 so I just zipped through them

----- me: *fails repeatedly at WHM lvl 70 quest*

----- me: *returns w/gear 10 lvls higher* Time for my vengeance.

----- (Yes, I know I should always keep my gear up to date and to be fair I always keep it at the appropriate level or better when other people are involved. This, however, was single-player duty and my lack of better gear didn’t matter since I didn’t even have the lvl 61 dungeon unlocked yet.)

- never cared at all for Zenos. Nope. Not at all. He and his golf club bag of swords can go fall off Shinryu's platforms. (I also had 0% trouble w/his solo fights on DRK? Maybe it was the new flat damage reduction baked into all tanks, idk, or maybe it was having Aug Shire/at lvl gear for each instance. I kept my health up just fine and had to be wiped out via his insta-kill move for the duty to end. But honestly it felt like good DRK job fantasy, taking on this insurmountable foe and clawing my way past death to defend my fallen comrades.) Also my character literally viewed him as a troubled teen taking out his issues on everyone around him via murder and wasn't impressed w/him in the least. But anyway.

- I came to tolerate Lyse but that's it. Hot-blooded people who rush off and act w/o thinking irritate me greatly IRL and it's no different in virtual life. Plus, she's almost literally an anime version of me who traded book smarts for punching ability. Even her name is a mere one letter from mine. It's kinda weird. She’s my mirror universe self. Ugh.

- it’s really disappointing Square Enix gives me so few options in killing myself. Let me jump off cliffs to my messy death already, dang it. Skyrim let me do it within the first 2 minutes of ever playing, haha.

- the sharks fly. the bears fly. the goobues fly. why not.

- ah, yes, gyuki. Skyrim prepared me for unreasonably bloodthirsty walruses. And for the unreasonably powerful and murderous mammoths.

- I liked M'naago, wished she had been the lead instead

- genuinely loved Gosetsu (Conrad who?) and was upset at his 'death'. I'm at once glad he survived and annoyed at another death fake-out. *Drak voice* Kill more! Kill 'em all!

- Hien is an adorable badass and I wish to adopt him and take him home with me. Doma 4 lyfe

---- me: *interiorly grumbles every time I hear the words ‘Ala Mhigo’

---- also me: *cheers for Doma & the Steppes*

- I just... really don’t understand why Highlanders live in a desert nation and have geographic and cultural neighbors based off of India and yet they have Old English/OHG names. Why???

- also why is Lyse blindingly white (and Minfilia, for that matter) in stark contrast to other Highlanders???

---- me: So, Lyse, if you’re from Gyr Abania then why are you white?

---- Alphinaud: Oh my god, Spinner, you can’t just ask someone why they’re white.

- once again, I'm probably the only person who loved the WHM quests (all SB job quests seem to return to their 1 - 30 [or 30 - 50?] roots and I don't mind). Did lots of screaming over DRK 60 - 70. I saved them all up and did them right away when I hit 70; they flow much better w/no interruptions

- explored/quested/ground FATE's on DRK but ran new dungeons on WHM as that's my comfort job. Failed twice on the mechanics of Bardam's Mettle 2nd boss but no wipes so we're good. So many overconfident gunbreaker tanks, though. T__T *I* did a better job tanking/killing a pack of like 12 mobs as WHM in Sirensong Sea than one bunbreaker, smh.

- I found Magnai to be entirely too amusing. I also want his moves on WAR. 

- somehow missed Shisui entirely? Still haven't got all aether currents in the Ruby Sea RIP me

------ (2 month later addendum: finally unlocked it and got my aether currents. Now, to never return to that area ever again.)

- no underwater mobs is so disappointing. Let me throw fireballs and Holys and swing a greatsword underwater already. Let me tell you, nothing is as exciting as going diving in Morrowind with only a 22% chance to successfully cast Waterbreathing and this Kojin blessing is such an OP cheat.

- enjoying my Grani mount tbh. I have no idea if it's lore-relevant for ShB; I just saw the name lifted straight from Norse myth and was like, "Want." It's more of a horse-shaped reptile, however, with 'paws' that become increasingly creepy the more you stare at them. I wonder if it eats meat like the thestrals in HP.

- shooting minigames? Okay. Platforming minigames? AW HECK NO I THOUGHT I WAS DONE W/THIS WHEN I LEFT LEGO GAMES TAKE THIS AWAY FROM ME PLATFORMING IS MY GREATEST ENEMY

- I was derping around in Kugane and accidentally started doing the tower jumping puzzle. As soon as I figured out what I was doing I had to run away immediately to save my sanity.

- throwing on tank stance and rushing in to save someone from a mob or a FATE is still as heady a feeling as ever (except when they then run off and leave you to die, like, no why please). Or raising people out in the wild. I particularly love that cyclops boss FATE near Whitebrim bc I can go stand on the edges as a powerful WHM and raise people 10x as the bodies keep hitting the floor. I know I’ve mentioned it before, but it’s still so great.

- I do enjoy the Morrowind feel of walking through a new zone and taking in the scenery but I'd like it more if all the wildlife wasn't super powerful and aggro'ing on me every 10 ft. It feels less like an ecosystem and more like generic monster land when there are no longer any non-aggressive mobs like there were in ARR. The Gyr Abanian landscapes are slowly growing on me, however.

- me, flying through Porta Praetoria/Lochs: Those wooden bonfires must be awfully expensive, if wood is as scarce in Gyr Abania as I think....

- loved the Azim Steppe - atmosphere, music, lore, everything. Waiting for someone to call me out on this bc I just really love Xaela (and may make a male Xaela alt one day).

- had minor moral qualms over fighting in the Naadam for the Mol bc I wanted to claim victory for the Orl

- I do really like those moments in Heavensward and Stormblood when the game recreates the epic moments from the trailers (the WoL walking through the soldiers to fight the dragon; the WoL and Lyse sparring, etc.). 

- I was singing, “I don’t care, I don’t care,” to the tune of Let It Go during the Ala Mhigo cutscenes but the resistance singing their anthem really got to me nevertheless. Many voices united and uplifted and song always hits me hard emotionally.

- my character still looking at Zenos with 0% thirst (negative amounts of thirst, tbh) like, “Who is this sassy lost child?”

- then again my character is like 31 yrs old here with a backstory summed up as ‘angry single mom goes to check on friend, ends up killing a god and getting recruited to save the world’

- Pipin is best Lalafell; I will defend him with my life but he has Tizona now and doesn't need me. The absolute shortest guy around is calling the shots in this military campaign and I love it. At least his dad gave him a box to stand on so he could see over the table during the important strategic military discussions.

- the siege of Ala Mhigo taught us that thaumaturges/black mages are the living equivalent of heavy artillery, nice nice nice

- got lucky and had a competent crew in DF to fight Shinryu

- tbh my character would probably kick Asahi’s dad while he was down and cave in his ribs, just finishing him off. It’s no wonder Asahi turned out as bad as he did, with parents as horrifically self-centered as THAT.

- I humbly submit ‘Higwit’ as a fan-name for that elezen following Asahi around - an acronym for ‘Hien Is Great - Who Is That?!’ based on an old LOTR fan meme. Who else here remembers Figwit before he became Lindir?

- I liked the Tsukuyomi fight but I can’t remember anything specific about it now, not even the mechs. 

- I did spend a lot of time screenshotting Hien because he is an awesome bro and I would endure Ala Mhigo all over again for him

#spinner plays ffxiv

[land-o-lore]

The thing about every one still being upset about WHM is that in the VERY WORST CASE SCENARIO, if we all start playing SB and WHM is still absolutely the most worthless healing class ever, they will find a way to balance it. Everyone who's been healing since HW (and before) remembers how garbage AST was when it was first released. It's healing potency and the regents made Diu subpar to WHM and its shields in Noct were incomparable to SCH. And look at AST now. Their aspected shields are actually better than SCH's Succor (and often bad ASTs will overwrite a SCH for it). Their Regens are on par with WHM now. I understand WHMs lack of utility has really been hurting them, I get that their "pure healing" seems undesirable to people, I'm not denying anyone their right to have concerns or to raise those concerns but 1.) you have to actually play the class in the content to be able to state "WHM is worthless in SB", and 2.) if it turns out WHM really is still suffering in SB I have no doubts they will find ways to make WHM more viable. They can still tweak skills and change things post release, they can nerf other classes or buff skills to make WHM a viable option. All hope is not lost just because WHM looks less than promising upon release. If AST could rise from the ashes they way it did (it's now the most promising healing class jfc please nerf) then so can WHM. But it's really never going to stand a change if you never try.

#basically like yoshi-p said #chill and wait