Now that the servers are offline, our data is saved and we are being ported to the future by our dear friend and hero Louisoux, it’s time to look back at all the experiences I lived along with friends and foes in FFXIV, 1.0. Let’s go!
Ever since my last update, way back in june this year, I’ve been very busy with both RL and the game. That’s mostly the reason why I haven’t been updating, and since the game had an expiration date, I’ve focused completely on doing as much progress as I could, just so that I could focus on exploring and experiencing 2.0 from a different perspective.
As far as leveling goes, I spent some time as only-BLM. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to get into leveling, even if it was easy enough. During that small period of time, I managed to do my first Ifrit (Hard) with Kiraboshi peeps. I first joined Kiraboshi through Atma Kun, since he was in RedDot (GAF Linkshell). I have to admit Kiras are probably the best social group I’ve ever had. Helpful, funny, open-minded and talented. Needless to say, it has since then become my main social linkshell, and it’ll continue to be so in 2.0.
After I got BLM to 50, a friend of mine joined my server. His character name is Teddy Maximoff, and we had originally met in the KillingIfrit FFXI forums (are those even alive still?). Since he was going to level Conjurer/WHM, I decided to join him, since I wanted to get all the possible mage jobs to 50. Leveling together was a blast, and we got our WHMs to 50 in no time. Also, with Kiraboshi members, they helped us tackle down all those pesky AF and job quests in no time! Don’t we look cute? (and eerily similar, too!)
After WHM, I decided it was time to level-up MNK. This is a job I was really curious about, ever since FFXI. Also, I wanted to broaden my experience in FFXIV, and since leveling was so easy (even without PLing) it was an oportunity too good to pass up. Teddy also wanted to level-up his WAR, and thus we decided to static together, in hopes of having little to no trouble to find groups. Wether it was him or myself making a group, it was easy enough, and we found ourselves reaching 50 in a breeze. I must admit that during leveling MNK, I was really gimp, but I’ve come to gear it up very well, and now it is one of my most favorite jobs.
After BLM, WHM and MNK, it was time to settle down a bit and work on the Grand Companies storyline. Being a Twin Adder myself, I really enjoyed it, and I felt it was really interesting. I love our leader (even if she’s a bit of a nutjob) but I still regret not having started in Gridania. If there’s a chance to change it, I’ll do so once 2.0 lands. Teddy and I decided to team up, once again, to work on these missions. Most of them were easy and we only needed help in the ones that required a group of 4. The only trouble we had was during the last “important” mission, To Kill a Raven. Since most of our friends had already completed it, we had to look from pick-ups, and that’s where the problems arose. This is one of the missions where you can’t really go easy on the setup, and it clearly separated the boys from the men. But we ended up finding a group of nice pick-ups.
… and finally we managed to bring Nael van Darnus down! After that, we could progress with our Grand Companies, even reaching the highest rank and doing the quest, Living on a Prayer, which involved sending you on a pilgrimage to pray to the Twelve’s markings around Eorzea. It was a very nice quest and allowed for some exploration. Also, it is highly linked to the “End of an Era” trailer, which made it even more emotional than it is.
After this, I decided to focus on leveling at least one DoL and one DoH to 50 before 2.0. I wanted to be able to say that I experienced everything there was to offer before “A Realm Reborn”. Sadly, I don’t have many (if at all??) pictures from that. I guess it’s not really that interesting, but I was happy to reach Goldsmith and Miner to 50. Getting Goldsmith to 50 was easy, since I had most of the materials from Miner. Miner wasn’t as bad as I thought, and I still enjoy it to this day.
Once these were to 50, I was sort of itching for getting back to leveling, and this time I wanted to do DRG. DRG is one of the jobs I had been curious for the longest time, and my boyfriend has always encouraged me to it, since it’s his most favourite FFXI job. Well, I don’t know what else to say but DRG is one of the most entertaining jobs I’ve ever played. Even in the low levels, 30-somethings, it was an amazing job to play. Fun, dynamic and enjoyable. Also, it was wonderful to be able to use a lot of the gear on my MNK on my DRG. Sadly I didn’t get much use out of it on endgame, as my MNK or BLM would always end up being favored by the content. I decided that I might as well level everything but the tank-jobs, and the last one I needed was BRD. Now, BRD is really different from the BRD I knew in FFXI, so it was a bit of a challenge for me to appreciate it for what it is.
But the job grew on me and it is tons of fun to play it. Soloing on it is a bit of a pain in the ass,and that’s what makes it so annoying to level it at the lower levels. But beyond that point, it is really fun, particularly in parties.
Well, that’s it for now, I’ll be writing a post about other aspects of 1.0 beyond leveling (endgame, primals, hamlet and relic progression) so be sure to check soon!
Enki's Enkredible Edventures 