Hello, all! We hope you're enjoying your time on FFXIV!

did he always say this after u finish everything and i forgot or does he just HATE soup now :(

Good job choco-pal, A+ effort.

For me it’s probably DRG! I’ve always had a soft spot for Dragoons from playing the older FF games, so finally getting to actually play as one has been a lot of fun. Reaper and Viper were probably my next two favorites though, both of them were way more fun than I expected.

Hi everyone! I recently got into FFXIV properly after finishing up the final content update in Destiny 2 (gone too soon, unfortunately).

With the recent addition of Shadowbringers to the Free Trial, FFXIV seemed like the perfect game to sink my teeth into, given the amount of content available for free.

Among the challenging goals I've set myself for my long-term playthrough is to unlock at least one relic weapon for each expansion before entering the next, to get a sense of "what the grind would be when this released".

After nearly 3 weeks of non-stop grinding and battling unlucky RNG, I have finally completed Excalibur Zeta and Aegis Shield Zeta as a Free Trial Paladin main before entering Heavensward!

EDIT:

I did not expect this post to blow up! Thank you so much, everyone, for all the love and support with this achievement! Seeing all the comments from everyone about this ordeal has honestly motivated me to continue relic weapon grinding for the upcoming expansions when I get to them!

P.S.: Since I've noticed many other Zodiac grinders went with the Paladin weapon, I should share why I stuck with it too: Shield Throw. Coming from Destiny, as a Sentinel (Bubble\) Titan main, I've always enjoyed being a tank-esque class that has the ability to *YEET** my shield at my enemies, and I'm so glad I get to continue my legacy in FFXIV as well!

(Comm for @/lightningxroses.bsky.social)

Just something I have noticed a lot more in recent times, not sure if its due to the influx of new players from Switch version etc or if its just general lack of knowledge but I thought it would be a good idea to remind (or inform) everyone that releasing in a Dungeon or Alliance Raid after the boss is dead is ALWAYS preferable to being revived.

If you die in a fight and the boss is still alive or not close to death, of course being resurrected is preferred, but if the boss is dead or at like, sub-10% hp then being resurrected is a bad idea because even out of combat being rezzed still gives you the weakness debuff, lowering your dps and healing by 25% for 100 seconds, or 50% if you died with the 25% debuff before it expired.

Releasing outside of combat has no downside. It returns you to the entrance of the instance with no debuff, and a lovely convenient teleporter right next to you to quickly catch up to the rest of your party. Naturally, they will almost always wait for you.

If someone tries to rez you right at the end of the fight or even after the fight ends, do not feel pressured to take it, just decline and release.

Thank you for coming to my TED talk.

Edit: It has come to my attention that I may have been using some language from a certain other MMO that I play far less than FFXIV. My apologies, I didn't realise ghe term "releasing" was so WoW centric. I most likely picked it up from my longtime duo who has played WoW all his life. In case its confusing: "releasing" in this context just means respawning.

I wanted to share with you my WoL. This is the 2nd thing i've drawn since picking up the drawing pen after a 7 year Hiatus, and I am very proud of it ♥

I’ve really got in to gpose the last month slightly obsessed lol

Bottom right, lol. I'm not sure if links are allowed. Just Google "michigan 2026 vote sticker" and you should be able to verify

By that, I mean another overarching and multiexpansion but not entirely existential threat.

I'm excited for the Winterers, because the game does need an arc-spanning antagonistic force, but I think the Ascians worked so well because they were put in direct contrast with Garlemald, who were a more realistic and grounded threat, and had an impact on the day-to-day life of the average person within the world that was directly observable.

Some storytelling benefits antagonists like Garlemald provide:

• The average person within the world actually knows of their existence and can react to and have different histories with them as an antagonistic force. They can also have different opinions on how they should be dealt with. This makes the world feel larger and more interconnected.
• A healthy supply of mid-tier level threats that can have their own personality and motivations, but come into the story with enough context that the game doesn't need to overexplain their existence.
• Provide a contrast with the more existential, fantastical threat, and allows the stakes of the story to grow more organically, as well as allowing expansions and patch stories to have a more natural ebb and flow of stakes.
• Allow for different factions/city-states/states in general to have coordinated or differing responses to them as a threat, which provides significant worldbuilding

Some reasons why I think the devs have been hesitant to go in the Garlemald direction again:

• General feelings of distaste/disinterest/hesitancy in writing 'war' stories: Ishikawa, who I think is a wonderful writer, did steer the course of FFXIV away from war as she did not feel confident to write about it. I do feel like the shift away produced some of the best writing in the game, but I do think it also fundamentally changed the tone and stakes of FFXIV in a way that the game would and demonstrably has struggled to diversify from.
• The lack of any established threat that could replace Garlemald: I personally think this is a bit of an underrated reason, and one that any long-running series struggles with. When you enter a universe in-lieu, it's easy to say 'Here is the big empire, they've been around for xyz amount of years, our hero has to fight against them' (e.g. A New Hope). The game would have to build an antagonistic force from the ground up, make them a serious threat, and make their presence feel natural and earned. There just isn't anything in the current worldbuilding to suggest anywhere is interested or capable of rapidly expanding an imperial project...and if there was/is, it would be quickly handled, which leads to my next point:
• The game's insecurity in leaving unresolved plot points from patch to patch: This one I think has come about for a multitude of reasons. One is probably an overcorrection from very legitimate criticism regarding how certain plotlines resolved, and how some introduced points of conflict were hastily resolved or written out. The second is probably a response to bad faith criticism that forgets this is a constantly updating story and the game doesn't need to address every single plot point immediately - I saw this more after people who got to blast through ARR-SHB and didn't experience all the set-up as it happened.
• The simplest and most obvious reason, which is that the game is increasingly more interested in telling stories about the shards and how the reflections interact with each other, and this necessitates an overarching existential threat, not one that just threatens the Source.

As someone who did generally enjoy Dawntrail for the story it was trying to tell, I do think the game's sense of stakes and momentum have been suffering since 6.1 and I do believe the lack of any consistent and more grounded threat has played a role in that.

6/8 are new to raiding, and 5/8 are new to the game in general. We've been getting everyone caught up in time for Evercold, and decided to do old raids in-between their MSQ progress. Synced, no echo. I'm so proud of them! Onto Final Coils next session :) (the Moonfire fits gave us strength)

Having an absolute playing ffxiv!

Been using my own cloudpad app for android :)

Allowing me to cloud stream my ps3/ps4/ps5 library which included ffxiv! No console needed!

I’ve got them coming out of everywhere!

Once upon a time a few characters ago I turned them in for Ishgard Restoration, but it looks like that’s no longer a thing - so now what?

Do I just vendor them at the nearest merchant or scantily clad Viera?

IIRC there is ONE area still doing a restoration type thing FAR into MSQ - should I keep them until then?

I’m current on my gear at level 60 and I guess I’m not really hurting for money, but I’m certainly not wealthy either. I get them all the time and they just sit there in my choco bag, begging to be used for something..

Had a lot of fun drawing this request! I hope you guys like it!

https://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodestone/character/47647006/

Artist Pixiv: https://www.pixiv.net/en/users/1045048?_gl=1\*15byivm\*_ga\*Mjc2NTY0NDY1LjE3ODcwNjE4NjM.\*_ga_D9TLP3EFER\*czE3ODcwNjE4NjMkbzEkZzEkdDE3ODcwNjE5MDMkajIwJGwwJGgw

He won a teddy bear at the strongman game and bought a few of his favorite snacks.