2.3 First Impressions

Square Enix has been doing such a great job with the content they've been putting out in Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn. With so much to do in this patch, it's easy to get overwhelmed and not know where to start. First two things I did: Expand My Character and Retainer's Inventory & add the % remaining HP to my HUD.

How to Expand Character / Retainer Inventory:

1. Character Configuration
2. Control Settings
3. Character Tab
4. Inventory Interface
5. Expanded

How to Display Target's (and Focus Target's) Remaining HP %:

1. Character Configuration
2. UI Settings
3. HUD
4. [ ] Display target's remaining HP percentage

 The next thing I did, because it's what I do with each content patch, is go pay a visit to the Aesthetician and check out the new haircut. I have to say, I wasn't entirely sure about it at first... but it's growing on me! From there, it was time to unlock ALL THE THINGS! A link to a list of unlockables and where to unlock them can be found here or for a visual table click here.

My unlocks so far and a little bit about them...

Frontlines PvP
Overview: A new player vs player battle-mode where players team up with 23 others affiliated with their associated Grand Company to cap points, kill enemy players, and kill mobs that spawn to score points. There are 24 players per Grand Company participating, making for a 24x24x24 battle of defense and offense to be the victors. The matches last no longer than 30 minutes, but can end as soon as a team reaches 1600 points.

Impressions: I didn't get to participate on Tuesday's patch day because of the dreaded Duty Finder withdrawals. Currently, players have to wait for all 72 people to accept their queues. I was in queue for over an hour before having to leave queue to participate in my Static's scheduled raid. My husband, however, was in within 20 minutes. I did, however, participate on Wednesday. After about 20-30 minutes, everyone finally accepted their queues, and we were in! Currently, I am allied with Maelstrom, and we kicked ass in this match. My appliance grabbed the market to the North West, after which 4 of us remained to defend it from any passing enemies. The music and battle music were EPIC, and I enjoyed the PvP. There could be any variation of enemies coming to fight you, not the standard Tank, Healer, 2 DPS that people have been fighting in Wolves' Den. We were successful in keeping our point for the entire match (defense isn't always the most glamorous or fun thing... but necessary all the same). Our team eventually won, earning us 50 Tomes of Mythology, 25 Tomes of Soldiery, 400 PvP Experience, and 600 Wolf Marks. Overall I enjoyed the one match I played, and look forward to playing it even more. I'm interested to see how it progresses over time. Note: The duty finder problem has been fixed as of today.

Syrcus Tower
Overview: The second installment of Crystal Tower and continuation of Labyrinth of the Ancients. Filled with four new challenging bosses, players can earn new i100 masquerade-themed gear, Unidentified Allagan Tomestones, Oil of Time, Throne Gem, Wind-Up Onion Knight. Players are limited to one reward per week (like Labyrinth of the Ancients limited before); only known exception from the one per week rule is the Wind-Up Onion Knight. Reward eligibility resets every Tuesday at 1:00 a.m. PDT.

Impressions: Fun and challenging. Even with people in other alliances who had completed the raid and explaining fights, we were challenged and confused much of the time. The first two bosses gave us the most trouble, but I think we all warmed up to the challenges by the end. I received the beautiful Scylla's Robe of Healing, which I really only wanted for vanity's sake (teehee!). I look forward to gearing up my Dragoon in here. The music was amazing, the fights were fun, and the scenery was beautiful. Great job Square Enix /thumbsup!

Chocobo Raising
Overview: Players are now able to stable their chocobos at a Free Company stable and train them once per hour, granted they have something to reward their buddy for its hard work. By doing this, one's chocobo can surpass the level 10 cap and strive towards a new cap of level 20. Points can also be re-allocated by going to a certain NPC (I'm not sure which at the moment).

Impressions: While there really isn't anything you do to interract with your chocobo during its training, the cute little cutscenes that play are fun to watch and fairly quick. Your chocobo receives experience each time you train it. If you keep your chocobo stabled, you cannot ride him or have him fight by your side (of course). I look forward to playing around with the different rewards I can give my little Maleficent and see what foods I like best for her.

Hunts 
Overview: Elite (and regular) marks are given to players via a Hunt board near the Grand Company HQ's to help defend Eorzea from the dangerous beasts and enemies. There are daily bills and weekly bills. Elite Mark Bills are the same for all players (this is the weekly), and Regular Mark Bills differ from player to player (these are the daily). Rewards include Allied Seals (which can be traded for things such as weapons, armor, minions, sands of time, oil of time, and alexandrite at your Grand Company), Allagan Tomestones of Mythology, and Allagan Tomestones of Soldiery.

Impressions: I've completed one Regular Marked Bill to completion (which wasn't hard aside from waiting around for a couple fate mobs to spawn). As far as the Elite Mark Bill, Naul is proving to be a pain in the butt to track down. There are three ranks of mobs: B, A, and S. B is the easiest to kill, S of course is the hardest and likely requires many to show up. Many linkshells have popped up on Behemoth server to better communicate when any of the bigger mobs show up. Please note that many of these marks are not attached to a FATE, and can spawn anywhere on their designated maps. I've noticed that by the time someone has already stated they've seen Naul (B-rank target), he's already dead. Many have just taken to searching other zones for any of the other mobs, which you can still get rewards from for killing, regardless of whether or not you have a bill for them. The Bill just gives you a bonus to your rewards. We'll see how hunts progress as time goes on. Will they be farmed and constantly have people searching for dangerous monsters to kill? or will the fizzle out and eventually need people to shout just to get help for a kill? We shall see...

Half Way There! (also FFXIV accomplishments this week)

So it's been a few weeks since my last post. Let's just say... it's been a rough couple weeks with a lot of different real life things going on (both ups and downs). Between pregnancy symptoms, a death in the family (R.I.P. Abuelo), a family emergency, and a funeral just to name some of the harder things; it's been rough. We did, however, get to see our little girl a few weeks back.We're now half way there! She's started kicking this week. I don't know what I expected to feel, but if you ask me, a baby's kicks (at least in the beginning) feels like a bunch of little muscle spasms. Hubby also felt her kick for the first time and he was SUPER excited! So weird to think that in just a few short months, we'll be meeting our little girl!

This past week our FFXIV raid group (minus a couple members) downed Turn 6. It was my first clear and I was super excited! Drops were High Allagan Earrings of Aiming and High Allagan Boots of Casting. Hopefully tomorrow we'll get a healing drop :) We got a couple attempts on Turn 7 this past week, but it's still early and most of us are just learning the mechanics. It's a lot of little things to remember to do/dodge/kill at once. Hopefully we'll get further this week on it. Wish us luck!

Other notable achievements this week: I finished collecting my last three Atma, got my Omnilex Atma, finished my first book (on my way to Animus... then NOVUS), race-changed back to a Miquo'te from a Lalafel (I went Lalafel for about a week or so... When I switched back to cat I went Keeper of the Moon instead of Sun -- still deciding on if I miss my original Rahhzay-sun-kitty), got my Weathered Daystar Breeches (still hovering at i93 -- but yummy yummy crit!), and got my Dragoon to 46 (thus also getting my Artifact gear). So I'd say... it was a pretty productive week.

Baby's Sex Revealed!

Despite my internet giving me such a hard time on Saturday, we revealed the sex of the baby! Viewers were able to bet shards (a currency used on my twitch channel) on what they thought we were having; with a 50/50 shot, they had a chance of increasing their shard count. Watch the video below to find out the results!

Gender Reveal Stream

Over this past weekend, we had a gender reveal party with my family. We got a cake made, the filling is the color of the gender.

What do you think it is? CAST YOUR VOTE!

Gender Reveal stream on twitch will be on Friday or Saturday. More details to come!

Weathered Daystar Robe get!

This weekend was filled with lots... and lots... of Brayflox HM. Upside, I finally got my Soldiery chest piece: Weathered Daystar Robe! It's the first time in what feels like months where I was able to sit down and binge on video games the entire weekend. We've (my husband and I) had plans every weekend for at least two months... his break hasn't come yet. He's spending the week in Tennessee visiting family and next weekend is our Gender Reveal in Las Vegas.

I don't think I've ever been so productive in Final Fantasy XIV... I completed Ifrit Extreme, completed this chapter of the Main Scenario, put some attempts on Leviathan Extreme, got my Garuda healing ring (finally got rid of the LAST piece of Darklight). I feel like there's more that I accomplished, but I honestly can't even remember.

My husband isn't enjoying the game as much anymore. We haven't really been able to play together in a long while (which seems to happen in most MMO's we start together). His end-game goals are usually much different than mine and he enjoys being able to be strong alone as opposed to having to rely on so many other people. This may be why he typically likes PvP a lot more then PvE. He can show his skills in a different way and doesn't have to rely on a team (depending on the game). I remind him that PvP is getting revamped right now, but his expectations are too high for FFXIV to likely meet at the present time; he'll still have to rely on his team.

I tried queueing for a little bit of level 30 PvP myself last night. It was... okay. I had a little fun, but at level 30, I don't have many tools that I need to help my team succeed (like Leeches). If I'm focused with a bunch of people who can stun.... I'm toast. It's beyond frustrating. Even with "Purify" -- I'm dead. I only queued for 30 since I have no PvP gear currently. I guess I'm going to need more practice... probably in the level 40 range...

I tell everyone who asks me on stream, "if your goals are PvP-oriented, this is not the game for you.... yet. Things may change for the better, but bear in mind that Square Enix hasn't done PvP before; they're learning what works for them and taking player feedback to improve it (as with everything else). If it's PvE you want, this game is AMAZZZZZZINNNNNG!!!" I hope Square Enix's changes make PvP a more balanced and viable outlet for those who enjoy it.

13 Weeks, FFXIV Remote Play, & Baby's Gender

I'm officially 13 weeks into pregnancy as of yesterday. This baby is really testing me... oh my goodness. The weekend was very busy with Easter festivities -- and when I wasn't busy, I was busy feeling sick. I feel like I haven't played games (with the exception of my two streams on Tuesday and Wednesday this week). I just haven't been feeling all that well. Now that I'm in the second trimester, I'm hoping the sickness will subside soon...

Aside from that, I finally set up my PS3 version of Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn (then promptly upgraded to PS4 version for free). We also have a PSVita. I messed around a little bit with the PS4 and Vita on Sunday; playing a new character to get a feel for the controls. I can definitely see this as an alternative (though I need practice to be able to do things other than gather and send my retainers on ventures on my Main character, Rahhzay Hana) while I lounge around or am on the road. It was fun and not too difficult to get into with a controller, although PC will likely remain my main mode of play. I have a couple trips planned in the near future, and it's a cool thought to think I can remote play while using my phone as a wi-fi hotspot (or more likely, my husband's phone -- since mine hates me lately).

One trip we have coming up, is our trip to Las Vegas to visit family and have our gender reveal party! Side note: Hubby and I gave in and opened up that sealed envelope to reveal the sex of the baby. We're the only two who know and have sworn to not tell a soul until after the reveal.. so you guys are still going to have to wait. :) The main reason we did this was because the paper that was sealed away, also had other lab results for me and our baby (everything is normal!). We didn't want to give the envelope with these results to someone to bake our cake, so we decided we'd make the cake ourselves for the reveal. The current plan is to go out the weekend of Mother's Day for the reveal -- no later! I can't wait until we get to tell everyone! Just a couple more week guys. ;)

What do you think we're having? Leave a comment below!

Have baby name suggestions? Click here. Feel free to suggest as many names as you'd like. If we pick your name, I'll promote you (on twitch) to VIP Gold status on my page. View my twitch page for details on VIP status. Don't have a Twitch ID? Sign up or suggest anonymously.

YouTube video from when we announced we were pregnant to my Twitch.tv viewers. Click here.

Somersaults and a Sealed Envelope

I am 12 weeks pregnant today! Yesterday we had our third ultrasound and it was hilarious to see my baby doing (almost literal) somersaults in the womb. Practicing flip turns? Martial arts? LARPing? (insert other active yet geeky action here). We got several pictures; though, you can barely see the arms and legs in any of the six we received since baby would move them out of sight whenever the doctor hit the button.

We also received our results from some genetic testing we had done. For this test, a lab took my blood 2 weeks ago. This test isolates the fetal DNA in my blood in which they test for chromosomal problems such as Down syndrome, Edwards syndrome and a few syndromes and disorders; it can also tell you the sex of your baby by seeing if there is a "Y" present. My doctor called me Monday telling me the results are in -- which I promptly told him that I wanted him to not reveal the sex of the baby yet as we want to do a "gender reveal" party with my family. Upon arriving at the doctor's office yesterday, I picked up a sealed security envelope with this top secret information inside. My husband began telling me right away to open it and that he couldn't wait. I, of course, refused. :) The doctor told us that all the results were normal and thus far no chromosomal or genetic deficiencies were detected; these are of course only for the ones that the test looks for -- but so far everything is looking good!

The envelope still resides in my purse... for now. I'm itching to know. I even had several dreams last night about the results of the gender being boy or girl (switching with each dream). Within the next week or so, we'll reveal the sex to everyone!