I don't really have much time to play MMOs at this point in time, sadly. I'm still very much adjusting to being in school.
Class is going very, very well. Finally something feels right subject-wise. Next week is my last week of this class before I move onto the next one (I'm taking accelerated courses), and my advisor recommends another history class instead of a gen ed right now, so that's all the better for me! Crossing my fingers for a class on early America next!
I've been playing the new Pokemon game in my spare time though, of course!
Er, well, I was, until my DS decided to break a couple days ago. Just randomly shut off and wouldn't turn back on reliably. Appears to be an issue with opening it all the way, since it will run fine if I don't open the DS all the way. It still works technically, but it stresses me out. I just know that I'll find a shiny or something, get excited, my screen will pop all the way back and then poof! No shiny for Jenna!
Aaand of course every single store around me is sold out because of Black Friday! Well, unless I wanted a 3DS XL, but I'm not in the market for an expensive DS right now. I honestly just want a preowned 2DS or original 3DS since the only game I own is Pokemon Sun (my little bag of DS games went missing a few months ago, so Sun is the only game I own for it now).
But anyway, school is going great! The sheer amount of work I have is kind of crazy, but at least I feel productive for once! I finally feel comfortable with my choice, which is a rather new feeling for me, but it's good. I feel like I'm out of the fog I've been in since leaving animation school :)
Monday, November 28, 2016
Thursday, November 10, 2016
Wednesday, October 26, 2016
Woohoooooo
So, I know I posted about this fairly recently, but I'll repeat it again:
I recently transferred to a different online school and switched my major to American History.
Second day of history class, and I have already crammed more information into my brain than I think I learned throughout the entirety of middle school and high school. So, yay me?
The courses I'm taking are accelerated, which means I'm essentially taking an entire class in the span of 2 months, so needless to say there is a lot of information being thrown at me at once.
I'm rather exhausted and my brain hurts, but I'm not having a bad time. Currently learning about post-Civil War, and more specifically working on reading through a gigantic chapter on Westward Expansion.
Had to pick a final project topic from a list of about 6, and ended up selecting the Women's Liberation Movement, which will be quite interesting to learn about because I don't actually know all that much about it.
Honestly, I'm still really excited, which is good because I'm not usually very excited about much. I can't wait until I get to take a class on early America / American Revolution, since that's my favorite. I'm from New England and I grew up taking trips to Boston to walk the Freedom Trail.
Sadly, since my major is American History I probably won't get to learn as much about the French Revolution and early Icelandic history as I might like (my other favorites), but oh well. I'm enjoying what I am learning about, which is more than what I can say for when my major was programming or hospitality...And yay, no art requirement.
I recently transferred to a different online school and switched my major to American History.
Second day of history class, and I have already crammed more information into my brain than I think I learned throughout the entirety of middle school and high school. So, yay me?
The courses I'm taking are accelerated, which means I'm essentially taking an entire class in the span of 2 months, so needless to say there is a lot of information being thrown at me at once.
I'm rather exhausted and my brain hurts, but I'm not having a bad time. Currently learning about post-Civil War, and more specifically working on reading through a gigantic chapter on Westward Expansion.
Had to pick a final project topic from a list of about 6, and ended up selecting the Women's Liberation Movement, which will be quite interesting to learn about because I don't actually know all that much about it.
Honestly, I'm still really excited, which is good because I'm not usually very excited about much. I can't wait until I get to take a class on early America / American Revolution, since that's my favorite. I'm from New England and I grew up taking trips to Boston to walk the Freedom Trail.
Sadly, since my major is American History I probably won't get to learn as much about the French Revolution and early Icelandic history as I might like (my other favorites), but oh well. I'm enjoying what I am learning about, which is more than what I can say for when my major was programming or hospitality...And yay, no art requirement.
Tuesday, October 11, 2016
FFXIV again!
Playing FFXIV again!
I soloed Dzemael Darkhold and Autumn Vale on my Scholar today so I could get access to apartments, and I am now the proud owner of one.
I don't have it open to the public (yet), but I am so happy to be the owner of Apartment 12 in Lavender Beds, Ward 3, Adamantoise!
Woohoo, now I need furniture...I feel like I'm playing Animal Crossing. I have like three pieces of furniture.
Not really feeling up to healing just yet, but I have been leveling my Machinist a bit. Level 40.
I quit raiding in WoW. I found it was causing me too much anxiety during the week, and I don't feel like I was keeping up on my artifact weapon very well. Ultimately, my mental health is more important than a game, and I was unable to focus well due to the anxiety it was causing me.
So, I've swapped to FFXIV for a bit in order to distance myself from it for a bit.
I soloed Dzemael Darkhold and Autumn Vale on my Scholar today so I could get access to apartments, and I am now the proud owner of one.
I don't have it open to the public (yet), but I am so happy to be the owner of Apartment 12 in Lavender Beds, Ward 3, Adamantoise!
Woohoo, now I need furniture...I feel like I'm playing Animal Crossing. I have like three pieces of furniture.
Not really feeling up to healing just yet, but I have been leveling my Machinist a bit. Level 40.
I quit raiding in WoW. I found it was causing me too much anxiety during the week, and I don't feel like I was keeping up on my artifact weapon very well. Ultimately, my mental health is more important than a game, and I was unable to focus well due to the anxiety it was causing me.
So, I've swapped to FFXIV for a bit in order to distance myself from it for a bit.
Thursday, September 29, 2016
Applied to College...again...
I signed up for college again! Yay, me? What is this, attempt number 5? Maybe it'll go well this time? I'm starting to think that the universe doesn't want me to attend college for some reason. Sadly, I can't find anything that I'm interested in that doesn't require a college degree so I have to push through somehow...
Let's see:
- First time: Panic attack. Dropped out on the first day of school. First panic attack I ever had, and I have had bad anxiety ever since. Was a really bad year after that. Near-constant anxiety.
- Second time: Was doing really well...then failed art class twice to the point that I really don't think I would have been able to pass it. I tried really hard. Dropped out. Severe anxiety for another half a year.
- Third time: Panic attack on the first day of school. Switched majors.
- Fourth time: Horrible experience with an online class. Teacher didn't grade our midterm until the week before our final, gave zero feedback, and I swear didn't even check our work. Came out of the class having passed, but not really understanding any of the content. Complication comes from the fact that the teacher was the head of department...
So now, attempt number 5! Online classes which will either end horribly or decently. Either I'll get okay classes and it'll be okay, or it will end like my last attempt at school. Won't end with a panic attack though. That's only in physical classrooms, apparently.
I want to at least get my gen-eds done this time. Even if the classes are horrible and the teacher isn't teaching anything, I can at least get my gen-eds done in that sort of situation. I always do well in English class so I'm not concerned there. I never do well in math, so, again, not concerned because that outcome is not going to be good regardless. So long as I pass then that's alright with me. I'm surprised I've never outright failed a math class, to be entirely honest. I was messing around on Khan Academy a few weeks ago, and it has me as pretty well stuck at 2nd grade level math.
Let's see:
- First time: Panic attack. Dropped out on the first day of school. First panic attack I ever had, and I have had bad anxiety ever since. Was a really bad year after that. Near-constant anxiety.
- Second time: Was doing really well...then failed art class twice to the point that I really don't think I would have been able to pass it. I tried really hard. Dropped out. Severe anxiety for another half a year.
- Third time: Panic attack on the first day of school. Switched majors.
- Fourth time: Horrible experience with an online class. Teacher didn't grade our midterm until the week before our final, gave zero feedback, and I swear didn't even check our work. Came out of the class having passed, but not really understanding any of the content. Complication comes from the fact that the teacher was the head of department...
So now, attempt number 5! Online classes which will either end horribly or decently. Either I'll get okay classes and it'll be okay, or it will end like my last attempt at school. Won't end with a panic attack though. That's only in physical classrooms, apparently.
I want to at least get my gen-eds done this time. Even if the classes are horrible and the teacher isn't teaching anything, I can at least get my gen-eds done in that sort of situation. I always do well in English class so I'm not concerned there. I never do well in math, so, again, not concerned because that outcome is not going to be good regardless. So long as I pass then that's alright with me. I'm surprised I've never outright failed a math class, to be entirely honest. I was messing around on Khan Academy a few weeks ago, and it has me as pretty well stuck at 2nd grade level math.
First Raid!
I did a raid for the first time in WoW this evening.
I think it went pretty well. We got the first two bosses of Emerald Nightmare down, after a bit of struggling but not too bad. Took us two tries to get the first boss down, and then a few tries for the second boss (we did the spider boss second).
I had been leveling both my Holy and Shadow artifacts, on recommendation from the raid leader to keep both options open. Today, at basically the last second I got both artifacts to the point where I've unlocked one elite skill each. I was ultimately told to heal for the raid, so I did.
Beginning started out a bit rocky for me. I haven't healed in over a week, and have been playing Shadow pretty much non-stop, trying to level it to a decent point. Holy was already waaay ahead, so I've been focusing on Shadow to get it up to par.
Of course, because of this, my gear is also relatively low, I think. Our requirement was 830+ and I went in with 838 or so. I haven't been doing dungeons and the idea of Mythics gives me anxiety. Raiding is different, since there's other healers to support me, but healing by myself for a group is very anxiety-inducing for me.
Basically the entirety of both attempts of the first boss I was dead. I think I was placing the puddles fine, but when it came to the enlarged bugs I kept getting messed up. I wish they had an indicator around them. I had no idea if I was too close! I have the GTFO addon, but when I'm in full-on healing-panic-mode I can hardly hear / notice it or DBM. I don't think I survived the first bug phase in either attempt. Sooo, I have not too much to say on this fight, okay?
Trash between the first boss and the second was pitiful. We melted through it. Minimal damage.
Spider boss took a few more attempts. First attempt we didn't place puddles correctly, so they were just all over the place. That was fixed by the next attempt though, so no big deal really. The rest of the attempts we'd just basically lose too many DPS during the part where you need to swap platforms, and we wouldn't have enough DPS to take down the boss. We figured out that it would be a good idea to send some healers to run across the webs too, rather than having all the healers take the feathers across. Due to the fact that Holy Priests have very, very little in terms of on-the-go heals, I was assigned to get a feather instead, so I don't know the specifics of how the web runs went.
I did die during the first transition phase from the wind attack, but someone in the raid got me back up and I was able to stay alive the rest of the fight until the absolute very end when I died again (again, during a transition), but at that point the boss had so little HP that it didn't really matter how many people were down (which I think was me, one or two other healers and a handful of DPS), because we were going to clear it at that point. I just want to point out that I didn't die in the transition phase once during all the other attempts until the last one, where I proceed to die to every transition :|
All in all, it was a good experience. I really like my guild and the raid group. They are very laid-back and nice.
I will say though, that this foray into WoW raiding has made me realize that I don't really like the style of WoW raiding. I already knew I didn't like the style of WoW's dungeons, but I thought maybe raids would be a bit better for me. I'm coming to realize that I really am just a FFXIV sort of person and should perhaps stop denying that so often. I really, really love the way FFXIV's dungeons and raids work. They feel faster paced, more complicated mechanically and yet more simple (colored circles and cones showing where the enemy is targeting is an amazing thing that I miss immensely). Trash in WoW is too numerous and is either extremely difficult or like wet bread. And you know, as much as everyone complains about the constant circular or square boss platforms in FFXIV, they're a bit of a blessing as well.
I also just don't really like healing in WoW as much as in FFXIV. Don't get me wrong, I like healing far more than DPS, but it just isn't as comfortable. Damage in WoW is really spiky and stress-inducing. I don't feel like my heals have as much of an effect, and I don't feel like I have a big enough toolkit. I feel like I have a whole lot of skills that just straight up heal a single target, and not much else. I have an AoE heal that seems to hardly do any healing, an AoE targetable heal that is affective but difficult to use in most situations, and Prayer of Healing which seems a bit unreliable. And none of these feel nearly as effective as, say, Medica. The damage in FFXIV feels more sustained and less spiky. It's more like a bunch of smaller hits rather than a couple of huge hits. Considerably less stressful.
WoW is also missing the sheer satisfaction that is avoiding a ton of damage to the group by playing a Scholar and using Succor + Sacred Soil. Best feeling as a healer, I swear. Maybe Disc Priest is similar, but I'm not about to go switch to that. Sounds too stressful (although our raid's Disc Priest was amazing).
Healing just feels more powerful in FFXIV. I feel like in FFXIV, I can help carry a group. I feel like in WoW that I am weighing down the group. I've been told I'm a good healer, but I still feel like I am weighing down the group. I feel like a bad healer because I see these huge bursts of damage going out, and I see damage happening so fast that I don't even have time to cast Flash Heal and I don't have Holy Word: Serenity available because I just used it to heal through the last big burst, you know?
All in all, I will still raid with my guild. I like them, and I said I would. I'll keep with my commitment. They want me to raid with them; it's not like I'm going to turn them down! But I may look into getting into FFXIV again, perhaps more seriously than before.
I think it went pretty well. We got the first two bosses of Emerald Nightmare down, after a bit of struggling but not too bad. Took us two tries to get the first boss down, and then a few tries for the second boss (we did the spider boss second).
I had been leveling both my Holy and Shadow artifacts, on recommendation from the raid leader to keep both options open. Today, at basically the last second I got both artifacts to the point where I've unlocked one elite skill each. I was ultimately told to heal for the raid, so I did.
Beginning started out a bit rocky for me. I haven't healed in over a week, and have been playing Shadow pretty much non-stop, trying to level it to a decent point. Holy was already waaay ahead, so I've been focusing on Shadow to get it up to par.
Of course, because of this, my gear is also relatively low, I think. Our requirement was 830+ and I went in with 838 or so. I haven't been doing dungeons and the idea of Mythics gives me anxiety. Raiding is different, since there's other healers to support me, but healing by myself for a group is very anxiety-inducing for me.
Basically the entirety of both attempts of the first boss I was dead. I think I was placing the puddles fine, but when it came to the enlarged bugs I kept getting messed up. I wish they had an indicator around them. I had no idea if I was too close! I have the GTFO addon, but when I'm in full-on healing-panic-mode I can hardly hear / notice it or DBM. I don't think I survived the first bug phase in either attempt. Sooo, I have not too much to say on this fight, okay?
Trash between the first boss and the second was pitiful. We melted through it. Minimal damage.
Spider boss took a few more attempts. First attempt we didn't place puddles correctly, so they were just all over the place. That was fixed by the next attempt though, so no big deal really. The rest of the attempts we'd just basically lose too many DPS during the part where you need to swap platforms, and we wouldn't have enough DPS to take down the boss. We figured out that it would be a good idea to send some healers to run across the webs too, rather than having all the healers take the feathers across. Due to the fact that Holy Priests have very, very little in terms of on-the-go heals, I was assigned to get a feather instead, so I don't know the specifics of how the web runs went.
I did die during the first transition phase from the wind attack, but someone in the raid got me back up and I was able to stay alive the rest of the fight until the absolute very end when I died again (again, during a transition), but at that point the boss had so little HP that it didn't really matter how many people were down (which I think was me, one or two other healers and a handful of DPS), because we were going to clear it at that point. I just want to point out that I didn't die in the transition phase once during all the other attempts until the last one, where I proceed to die to every transition :|
All in all, it was a good experience. I really like my guild and the raid group. They are very laid-back and nice.
I will say though, that this foray into WoW raiding has made me realize that I don't really like the style of WoW raiding. I already knew I didn't like the style of WoW's dungeons, but I thought maybe raids would be a bit better for me. I'm coming to realize that I really am just a FFXIV sort of person and should perhaps stop denying that so often. I really, really love the way FFXIV's dungeons and raids work. They feel faster paced, more complicated mechanically and yet more simple (colored circles and cones showing where the enemy is targeting is an amazing thing that I miss immensely). Trash in WoW is too numerous and is either extremely difficult or like wet bread. And you know, as much as everyone complains about the constant circular or square boss platforms in FFXIV, they're a bit of a blessing as well.
I also just don't really like healing in WoW as much as in FFXIV. Don't get me wrong, I like healing far more than DPS, but it just isn't as comfortable. Damage in WoW is really spiky and stress-inducing. I don't feel like my heals have as much of an effect, and I don't feel like I have a big enough toolkit. I feel like I have a whole lot of skills that just straight up heal a single target, and not much else. I have an AoE heal that seems to hardly do any healing, an AoE targetable heal that is affective but difficult to use in most situations, and Prayer of Healing which seems a bit unreliable. And none of these feel nearly as effective as, say, Medica. The damage in FFXIV feels more sustained and less spiky. It's more like a bunch of smaller hits rather than a couple of huge hits. Considerably less stressful.
WoW is also missing the sheer satisfaction that is avoiding a ton of damage to the group by playing a Scholar and using Succor + Sacred Soil. Best feeling as a healer, I swear. Maybe Disc Priest is similar, but I'm not about to go switch to that. Sounds too stressful (although our raid's Disc Priest was amazing).
Healing just feels more powerful in FFXIV. I feel like in FFXIV, I can help carry a group. I feel like in WoW that I am weighing down the group. I've been told I'm a good healer, but I still feel like I am weighing down the group. I feel like a bad healer because I see these huge bursts of damage going out, and I see damage happening so fast that I don't even have time to cast Flash Heal and I don't have Holy Word: Serenity available because I just used it to heal through the last big burst, you know?
All in all, I will still raid with my guild. I like them, and I said I would. I'll keep with my commitment. They want me to raid with them; it's not like I'm going to turn them down! But I may look into getting into FFXIV again, perhaps more seriously than before.
Friday, September 16, 2016
Updates!
I forgot to update! Oh no!
I've been level 110 since...er...one or two days after Legion launched. A couple days ago I hit ilvl 830 too.
I've been leveling as a healer. I leveled the entire way 100 - 110 as Holy, which was mildly torturous, especially looking back on it. On the plus side, I only died about twice. The first time I died was in the Exodar scenario because I kind of got swarmed by demons right at the beginning. The second time was leveling in Highmountain and someone ran by being chased by a bunch of enemies. I was innocently fighting one enemy nearby, healing myself as I went...and apparently I got aggro, because they all went after me instead and I died.
Anyway, sometime while working through Suramar I thought "Heeey, I bet it would be easier to do this as Discipline," so I swapped to Disc for questing, and it's been MUCH better. I tried it as Shadow too, but kept dying. With Disc, I have 2 traits invested I think. The one they give you by default, and one for increased damage to Penance. Haven't died once since swapping to Disc!
My Holy weapon, on the other hand, is progressing very nicely! I think I'm at level 17 with it, or something like that? 16 or 17, I think.
I haven't been doing LFG groups so much. I've done a couple, and they weren't necessarily bad experiences, just not really good experiences either. Lots and lots of damage going out, and if I let even one person die by accident my anxiety starts acting up and I don't perform as well.
I'm fine doing guild runs for the most part, although they do make me a bit anxious too. Much better than LFG though.
I'm hoping that I'll be able to raid with my guild this time. I've been getting my gear level up and practicing a lot. People in the guild say that I'm a great healer, so maybe I'll get in? I'm just worried that there might not be space for me.
Legion is okay for me thus far, although I don't like how much time the artifacts take. I want to make alts, but I feel like I can't because it's wasting time that would be better spent improving my Holy artifact. And the idea of doing Legion quests and artifact grinding with more characters makes me overwhelmed.
My only other complaint is that it doesn't seem very "non-raider" friendly. If I don't make the raid team, what am I going to do with my time? Professions are locked behind dungeons that I don't always feel up to doing. I like the world quests well enough, but they're kind of boring at this point. I mean, that's how I got my ilvl 830 gear, so I've done a whole bunch.
Just my thoughts.
UPDATE: Guess who made it into their guild's raid team? Meeeeeeee
I've been level 110 since...er...one or two days after Legion launched. A couple days ago I hit ilvl 830 too.
I've been leveling as a healer. I leveled the entire way 100 - 110 as Holy, which was mildly torturous, especially looking back on it. On the plus side, I only died about twice. The first time I died was in the Exodar scenario because I kind of got swarmed by demons right at the beginning. The second time was leveling in Highmountain and someone ran by being chased by a bunch of enemies. I was innocently fighting one enemy nearby, healing myself as I went...and apparently I got aggro, because they all went after me instead and I died.
Anyway, sometime while working through Suramar I thought "Heeey, I bet it would be easier to do this as Discipline," so I swapped to Disc for questing, and it's been MUCH better. I tried it as Shadow too, but kept dying. With Disc, I have 2 traits invested I think. The one they give you by default, and one for increased damage to Penance. Haven't died once since swapping to Disc!
My Holy weapon, on the other hand, is progressing very nicely! I think I'm at level 17 with it, or something like that? 16 or 17, I think.
I haven't been doing LFG groups so much. I've done a couple, and they weren't necessarily bad experiences, just not really good experiences either. Lots and lots of damage going out, and if I let even one person die by accident my anxiety starts acting up and I don't perform as well.
I'm fine doing guild runs for the most part, although they do make me a bit anxious too. Much better than LFG though.
I'm hoping that I'll be able to raid with my guild this time. I've been getting my gear level up and practicing a lot. People in the guild say that I'm a great healer, so maybe I'll get in? I'm just worried that there might not be space for me.
Legion is okay for me thus far, although I don't like how much time the artifacts take. I want to make alts, but I feel like I can't because it's wasting time that would be better spent improving my Holy artifact. And the idea of doing Legion quests and artifact grinding with more characters makes me overwhelmed.
My only other complaint is that it doesn't seem very "non-raider" friendly. If I don't make the raid team, what am I going to do with my time? Professions are locked behind dungeons that I don't always feel up to doing. I like the world quests well enough, but they're kind of boring at this point. I mean, that's how I got my ilvl 830 gear, so I've done a whole bunch.
Just my thoughts.
UPDATE: Guess who made it into their guild's raid team? Meeeeeeee
Thursday, September 1, 2016
WoW Legion stuff part 2
I am currently level 108, still successfully leveling as Holy Priest. I am always very thankful when other people come along and kill the same enemies as me, because doing quests is so slow with my lack of damage. I never die though!
I've died precisely twice. Once was during the Exodar scenario. The other time was a few minutes ago because someone died near me, and all the enemies that were after them decided to go after the defenseless healer who was minding their own business nearby.
Just doing the Stormheim quests now. Did run into a bug with the opening quest, but abandoning it and reattempting it fixed the bug.
Stormheim is giving me serious FFXIV: Heavensward vibes. I don't know. It might be the fact that I just had to rescue Dragoons, but there's more to it than that. Part of the music sounds like the music in...whatever the zone it is that Hraesvelgr lives in. And the dragons. And the fact that there's apparently a world boss in Stormheim named Nidhogg. And the atmosphere feels similar to that zone too.
And yes, I am very well aware that it's because they both draw rather heavily from Norse mythology (including the Nidhogg part). I know my Norse mythology, thank you. It's mostly just the music in Stormheim that feels like Heavensward to me. I'll see if I can find the song I'm thinking of and report back.
Perhaps after I reach 110 I'll go check for the songs? :D
I do want to hit 110 today. I had my sights set on being the third in my guild to 110, but someone got ahead of me overnight. So now I have my sights set on fourth. Little competition right now, so I think fourth is a reasonable goal. Everyone else is at least a good level or so behind me, so if I hurry it up a bit I think I can reach fourth.
I've died precisely twice. Once was during the Exodar scenario. The other time was a few minutes ago because someone died near me, and all the enemies that were after them decided to go after the defenseless healer who was minding their own business nearby.
Just doing the Stormheim quests now. Did run into a bug with the opening quest, but abandoning it and reattempting it fixed the bug.
Stormheim is giving me serious FFXIV: Heavensward vibes. I don't know. It might be the fact that I just had to rescue Dragoons, but there's more to it than that. Part of the music sounds like the music in...whatever the zone it is that Hraesvelgr lives in. And the dragons. And the fact that there's apparently a world boss in Stormheim named Nidhogg. And the atmosphere feels similar to that zone too.
And yes, I am very well aware that it's because they both draw rather heavily from Norse mythology (including the Nidhogg part). I know my Norse mythology, thank you. It's mostly just the music in Stormheim that feels like Heavensward to me. I'll see if I can find the song I'm thinking of and report back.
Perhaps after I reach 110 I'll go check for the songs? :D
I do want to hit 110 today. I had my sights set on being the third in my guild to 110, but someone got ahead of me overnight. So now I have my sights set on fourth. Little competition right now, so I think fourth is a reasonable goal. Everyone else is at least a good level or so behind me, so if I hurry it up a bit I think I can reach fourth.
Wednesday, August 31, 2016
WoW Legion Day 1
I'm level 104, yay!
I've been leveling as a Holy Priest, and having fun doing it. Mostly I've been questing and doing dungeons with guildies, but I've done a couple random ones too.
Launch has been very stable, with the exception of the past half hour or so, when the DDoS attacks started hitting.
I have been unable to log in again for about 5 minutes now.
I really, really want to apologize to the people I was in a party with. If you were in a party with Toyosatomimi-Tanaris and I DC'd and never came back, it's because I am unable to log back in. The Battle.net launcher has had me in a "less than 1 minute queue" for a few minutes now, and I don't think it's going to let me back on.
If any of you are still on and wondering why your healer got up and left, that's why. It's because I'm trapped!
I know none of you will probably see this, but I just wanted to get that off my chest. So sorry :(
Now though, I'm going to go to bed. It's midnight. That last dungeon run took about twice the time it needed to because of the disconnects, and I'm exhausted.
Leveling in Legion feels sooo slow! I've been at this since 9:30 this morning. It's midnight now. I only barely got to 104! A guy in my guild is at 107 or so, and I don't understand how he managed that so fast, let alone how people are already 110! Crazy!
I've been leveling as a Holy Priest, and having fun doing it. Mostly I've been questing and doing dungeons with guildies, but I've done a couple random ones too.
Launch has been very stable, with the exception of the past half hour or so, when the DDoS attacks started hitting.
I have been unable to log in again for about 5 minutes now.
I really, really want to apologize to the people I was in a party with. If you were in a party with Toyosatomimi-Tanaris and I DC'd and never came back, it's because I am unable to log back in. The Battle.net launcher has had me in a "less than 1 minute queue" for a few minutes now, and I don't think it's going to let me back on.
If any of you are still on and wondering why your healer got up and left, that's why. It's because I'm trapped!
I know none of you will probably see this, but I just wanted to get that off my chest. So sorry :(
Now though, I'm going to go to bed. It's midnight. That last dungeon run took about twice the time it needed to because of the disconnects, and I'm exhausted.
Leveling in Legion feels sooo slow! I've been at this since 9:30 this morning. It's midnight now. I only barely got to 104! A guy in my guild is at 107 or so, and I don't understand how he managed that so fast, let alone how people are already 110! Crazy!
Tuesday, August 9, 2016
WoW Legion Pre-Patch PSA
Play Broken Shore through on your already existing level 100 BEFORE playing Demon Hunter!
If you haven't already been spoiled as to something that happens in Broken Shore, it will be spoiled for you through end of the Demon Hunter questline, and in a very anti-climactic fashion.
Even if you do know what happens, it is still very anti-climactic to experience it through the Demon Hunter questline.
Do Broken Shore first on a separate 100 to get the full experience and see the cutscenes before finishing Demon Hunter. Like, once you hit level 100 on Demon Hunter, switch for a few minutes to your main and do Broken Shore. It's relatively short, and you'll get the whole experience rather than just popping in at the end without context!
Sorry I repeated that so much, but I really think it's important for people to know. I already knew what was going to happen, and I was still disappointed when I finished Demon Hunter and it acted like I needed no context at all. I don't know why I assumed Demon Hunters would also get to do Broken Shore, but you don't get to with them.
Seriously though. Trust me.
If you haven't already been spoiled as to something that happens in Broken Shore, it will be spoiled for you through end of the Demon Hunter questline, and in a very anti-climactic fashion.
Even if you do know what happens, it is still very anti-climactic to experience it through the Demon Hunter questline.
Do Broken Shore first on a separate 100 to get the full experience and see the cutscenes before finishing Demon Hunter. Like, once you hit level 100 on Demon Hunter, switch for a few minutes to your main and do Broken Shore. It's relatively short, and you'll get the whole experience rather than just popping in at the end without context!
Sorry I repeated that so much, but I really think it's important for people to know. I already knew what was going to happen, and I was still disappointed when I finished Demon Hunter and it acted like I needed no context at all. I don't know why I assumed Demon Hunters would also get to do Broken Shore, but you don't get to with them.
Seriously though. Trust me.
Wednesday, August 3, 2016
GW2 Characters number whatever
The typical "here's my characters again" post, because I just did a couple recustomizations that I am quite fond of! And also just because I love my tiny Sylvari army.
Maybe someday I'll play something besides Sylvari, but I doubt it. The color options are wonderful, and the hair options are so quirky and nice. Someday I want a nice-looking Sylvari with the mushroom hat-hair.
Maybe someday I'll play something besides Sylvari, but I doubt it. The color options are wonderful, and the hair options are so quirky and nice. Someday I want a nice-looking Sylvari with the mushroom hat-hair.
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| Keiana Xiphium, my Chronomancer, and my only character to have a piece of Ascended equipment (I just bought a Laurel necklace!). I just recustomized her since I was getting sick of the White + Celestial combo, so I put her back to her original green-blue and gave her a pretty blue haircolor with the long vine hair. |
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| Dahlia Strelitzia, my Reaper. Nothing's changed here, except that she's still my only character that's beaten Hearts and Minds, so she's the one doing LS3 right now. |
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| Iris Fay Flora, my Ranger. I really didn't like how she looked before, so I recustomized her again. I accidentally made her look kind of elven, so I decided to just run with it and dyed her clothes to match. I really like that new hairstyle that they just added, but it looked awful with most of the skin tones and hair colors, in my opinion. I really like its glow effect too! Maybe someday she'll be a Druid... |
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| Cordelia Thyme, my Guardian, who has the honor of being pretty much being leveled purely with whatever Tomes of Knowledge I get. I can't remember the last time I actually played her. I just want a Dragonhunter, but I don't like the base Guardian playstyle... |
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| Lucinda Strelitzia, my Revenant. I was messing with her a bit the other day, but just wasn't feeling like playing her. I didn't have enough money for another recustomization, but if I did have one I would redo her for sure. I like her hair well enough, but her body just seems out of proportion. It doesn't look too bad in this picture, but her head is just too small for the rest of her body. I think it has to do with the hairstyle. |
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| My new Elementalist, Lucia Snapdragon. I could have recustomized her, but I decided that I really liked the way she looked even with default hair and face options. I also opted for no glow on her since it just didn't look right with the tree hair. |
Sunday, July 31, 2016
Urgh
So, I tried playing GW2 today (I am apparently playing allll the MMOs this month?).
I am mildly frustrated.
I decided that I really wanted to focus on my Mesmer. Reason being that I don't like the playstyle that is currently advised for Necro, but the Mesmer one sounded okay. I like being utility better than pure DPS anyway. Plus, I love Mesmer in WvW, but did not like Necro in WvW.
I haven't seriously messed with my Mesmer since HoT's release. I remember that I'm stuck on Hearts and Minds (I'll probably finish that up this week regardless), and was grinding Hero Points to max out Chronomancer, as well as finishing up map completion.
So, anyway, because I haven't played her since HoT's release, all my gear is left over from the old all-Berserker meta, when I'm seeing that I need to be in Assassin's gear with Berserker weapons/trinkets. Great.
I look up where to get Assassin's exotics. No karma vendors. No dungeon gear. My only option appears to be crafting it myself or buying it. Buying it is out of the question, since each piece appears to be about 11G each. I had about 20G to my name. I was able to level up my Tailoring considerably today; I'm about 350 tailoring now, which I don't think is high enough to craft my own Exotics yet, and my gold supply is dwindling too quickly. I have about 11G now.
My gear right now looks like the following:
All armor is full Berserker exotics
Weapons are all Berserker. I have two exotic swords, and exotic staff, and exotic shield, as well as rare focus, pistol, and greatsword.
Accessories/trinkets vary widely. Rare Berserker backpiece with Exquisite Ruby Jewel. Exotic Berserker accessory with Exquisite Charged Ambrite Jewel. Exotic Soldier's accessory (I kept dying in HoT...), Ascended Berserker amulet, and then bad not-even-rare rings (one Soldier's, one Berserker).
So, basically, my gear is kind of bad. I need to make money to get better gear. But I feel like I need better gear in order to make money. I think I could probably get by with my Berserker gear for some dungeons / low level fractals, but I'm not sure about those rings...Or that one Soldier's accessory...
How do I make gold? D:
Also, I'm too nervous to enter fractals or dungeons, so that is problematic and makes me question what I'm even working on this for in the first place...I don't know, the thought of entering some sort of content, maybe...
Edit:
Well, poo. All that work for nothing. I got my Tailoring up to level 400 and unlocked all the recipes I need to craft myself some exotics, but with the price of materials...I'd only be saving 1G by crafting it then by buying it outright. Grand total of about 61G.
I guess...I could make a couple pieces, and then try to run a dungeon or a fractal or something. Maybe. Or I could use some of my remaining gold to upgrade my rings at least.
I'm going to go wallow for a few minutes and then find something to cheer myself back up again!
I am mildly frustrated.
I decided that I really wanted to focus on my Mesmer. Reason being that I don't like the playstyle that is currently advised for Necro, but the Mesmer one sounded okay. I like being utility better than pure DPS anyway. Plus, I love Mesmer in WvW, but did not like Necro in WvW.
I haven't seriously messed with my Mesmer since HoT's release. I remember that I'm stuck on Hearts and Minds (I'll probably finish that up this week regardless), and was grinding Hero Points to max out Chronomancer, as well as finishing up map completion.
So, anyway, because I haven't played her since HoT's release, all my gear is left over from the old all-Berserker meta, when I'm seeing that I need to be in Assassin's gear with Berserker weapons/trinkets. Great.
I look up where to get Assassin's exotics. No karma vendors. No dungeon gear. My only option appears to be crafting it myself or buying it. Buying it is out of the question, since each piece appears to be about 11G each. I had about 20G to my name. I was able to level up my Tailoring considerably today; I'm about 350 tailoring now, which I don't think is high enough to craft my own Exotics yet, and my gold supply is dwindling too quickly. I have about 11G now.
My gear right now looks like the following:
All armor is full Berserker exotics
Weapons are all Berserker. I have two exotic swords, and exotic staff, and exotic shield, as well as rare focus, pistol, and greatsword.
Accessories/trinkets vary widely. Rare Berserker backpiece with Exquisite Ruby Jewel. Exotic Berserker accessory with Exquisite Charged Ambrite Jewel. Exotic Soldier's accessory (I kept dying in HoT...), Ascended Berserker amulet, and then bad not-even-rare rings (one Soldier's, one Berserker).
So, basically, my gear is kind of bad. I need to make money to get better gear. But I feel like I need better gear in order to make money. I think I could probably get by with my Berserker gear for some dungeons / low level fractals, but I'm not sure about those rings...Or that one Soldier's accessory...
How do I make gold? D:
Also, I'm too nervous to enter fractals or dungeons, so that is problematic and makes me question what I'm even working on this for in the first place...I don't know, the thought of entering some sort of content, maybe...
Edit:
Well, poo. All that work for nothing. I got my Tailoring up to level 400 and unlocked all the recipes I need to craft myself some exotics, but with the price of materials...I'd only be saving 1G by crafting it then by buying it outright. Grand total of about 61G.
I guess...I could make a couple pieces, and then try to run a dungeon or a fractal or something. Maybe. Or I could use some of my remaining gold to upgrade my rings at least.
I'm going to go wallow for a few minutes and then find something to cheer myself back up again!
Monday, July 25, 2016
Just an interesting thing that happened today
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| OH, I'M SO SORRY THRALL. DON'T MIND ME, I'LL JUST FIGHT OFF THREE DEATHWINGS. |
I have honestly never done this quest line before, and the first part was aggravating because I didn't know I was supposed to die at that part, so I had all my armor on and I was fighting off the bloods for about 10 minutes before I looked it up and found out I had to die, so then I just read on my phone for a few minutes while the bloods killed my character.
Ignore my bad graphics (bad computer) and FPS counter (I was having horrible framerate issues for good, obvious reasons when I had killed hundreds of bloods in the first part, and forgot to turn off the FPS counter).
I just thought this was funny. I mean, three Deathwings appeared, and, actually, if you look closely, you will see that there are two Thralls. That, or Thrall grew another arm. One of the two.
Why am I doing this, you ask? Certainly not for loremaster! I can't be bothered with that.
No, no, for the wonders of transmog!
Seriously, I am trying to get the "Marker's Hauberk," which apparently requires me to do pretty much the entirety of the Twilight Highlands quests. Fun :|
Saturday, July 23, 2016
I really like this
I've been messing with WoW the past couple of days since the pre-patch is out and all, and just messing with my characters to see which ones I like now and which ones I don't.
I think it's time to retire my Shadow Priest. The playstyle is interesting, but realistically, the whole keeping up Voidform thing seems just a tiny bit too stressful for me. Also, honestly, I don't like the new Shadowform's look either. It's too light :|
I'll probably still mess with her occasionally. I'm not mad about the changes or anything. I get it. I get why people like it. I really, really do. I personally just do not like it. I do not want it to be changed back, because that isn't fair to the people who love the new playstyle. I'm just not going to play it.
I also do not understand my Balance Druid anymore. I don't know. I feel like I'm following the Icy Veins rotation guide and I still feel like I'm doing something wrong. Might just be an adjustment period thing.
Now, what I really like is my Marksmanship Hunter. I had boosted a Hunter to 90 with the free boost from WoD a while back, but never bothered to level her, so she is level 92 right now, and I'm leveling. I love her new playstyle. I never leveled her before because I felt like the playstyle was a bit too clunky, and I can never really get into pet classes (besides Scholar in FFXIV!).
I feel like I'm in the minority here, but I LOVE my MM Hunter now. The rotation is calming and repetitive, but not really in a boring way. Procs are exciting! There is nothing super stressful like Shadow Priest's Void Form. I don't have to have a pet because Lone Wolf is a level 15 talent now. AND, I messed with MogIt to find a good transmog idea, and my character is going to look amazing. I already have 2 pieces I needed (had someone make the pants and belt I needed with leatherworking). The rest of the pieces I'll collect once I hit level 100, since they're all from old content, minus the helm, which is in Tanaan Jungle / a drop, according to MogIt.
I think it's time to retire my Shadow Priest. The playstyle is interesting, but realistically, the whole keeping up Voidform thing seems just a tiny bit too stressful for me. Also, honestly, I don't like the new Shadowform's look either. It's too light :|
I'll probably still mess with her occasionally. I'm not mad about the changes or anything. I get it. I get why people like it. I really, really do. I personally just do not like it. I do not want it to be changed back, because that isn't fair to the people who love the new playstyle. I'm just not going to play it.
I also do not understand my Balance Druid anymore. I don't know. I feel like I'm following the Icy Veins rotation guide and I still feel like I'm doing something wrong. Might just be an adjustment period thing.
Now, what I really like is my Marksmanship Hunter. I had boosted a Hunter to 90 with the free boost from WoD a while back, but never bothered to level her, so she is level 92 right now, and I'm leveling. I love her new playstyle. I never leveled her before because I felt like the playstyle was a bit too clunky, and I can never really get into pet classes (besides Scholar in FFXIV!).
I feel like I'm in the minority here, but I LOVE my MM Hunter now. The rotation is calming and repetitive, but not really in a boring way. Procs are exciting! There is nothing super stressful like Shadow Priest's Void Form. I don't have to have a pet because Lone Wolf is a level 15 talent now. AND, I messed with MogIt to find a good transmog idea, and my character is going to look amazing. I already have 2 pieces I needed (had someone make the pants and belt I needed with leatherworking). The rest of the pieces I'll collect once I hit level 100, since they're all from old content, minus the helm, which is in Tanaan Jungle / a drop, according to MogIt.
Wednesday, July 20, 2016
That was amazing
I just got put into Titan normal from roulette, and had an amazing run.
First time we wiped because both DPS got hit by Landslide and then the tank didn't get me out of Gaol.
Second time, a DPS got hit by Landslide very quickly, and then the tank got hit soon after Earthen Fury. Like, literally the first or second Landslide after.
The remaining DPS (Ninja) and I finished Titan off after that. It was amazingly hilarious. I was able to keep him alive as he tanked and killed it, and he was able to get me out of Gaols.
But hey, we did it! And it was great!
First time we wiped because both DPS got hit by Landslide and then the tank didn't get me out of Gaol.
Second time, a DPS got hit by Landslide very quickly, and then the tank got hit soon after Earthen Fury. Like, literally the first or second Landslide after.
The remaining DPS (Ninja) and I finished Titan off after that. It was amazingly hilarious. I was able to keep him alive as he tanked and killed it, and he was able to get me out of Gaols.
But hey, we did it! And it was great!
Tuesday, July 19, 2016
FFXIV: Palace of the Dead Semi-Guide Thing
So, I was able to solo Floors 1-10 with Scholar without too much trouble. Until you get to level 4 it is torturous because you don't have Eos yet, but it's smooth sailing after that. I mean, it gets even easier when you hit level 10 and can use cross-class skills and have access to Cleric's Stance, but that was barely even on my radar at that point.
Time wise, I feel like you should get more time if you're in there solo. I got to the end with 10 minutes remaining, and ended the boss fight with only 2 remaining, so I was cutting it very close.
I was not able to solo floors 10-20 though, because of the stupid Palace Slimes that explode if you can't kill them fast enough, with no warning or prior notice, so you just automatically die and wonder what happened.
Anyway, I then restarted with a matched group. Floors 1-10 were painless. We ended up having three Scholars and a Bard. Let's just say that there was no way any of us could even have gotten below half health, what with three Scholars, all with Eos out.
The first boss has a few AoEs. If I remember correctly, a frontal cone, a circle centered around the boss, a one targeted circle. He also does a roomwide, unavoidable AoE that puts a wind DoT on you.
Floors 10-20...less painless. Still relatively easy, but I don't know...I feel like it looked like I was bad at positioning because I kept accidentally pulling things with my butt, but I honestly think things just kept spawning behind me since that's what happens in Palace of the Dead. We also had awful luck with traps and treasure chests. I think we got our equipment upgraded once; the rest of the time the chests just exploded.
Anyway, our group composition was a Warrior, a Ninja, an Astrologian, and me as Scholar. So, two healers.
At one point, I had once again gotten attacked by a freshly spawned enemy, and was trying to kill it since I think my tank was done with me at that point and ignored it. So, I was off killing that. Apparently, in the meantime, the rest of the group went off and started fighting one of the Palace Slimes, and they clearly didn't kill it fast enough because the next thing I know they're all dead.
I'm not very good at sarcasm, so I felt really bad and I felt like they were making fun of me. They probably weren't. Because I wasn't right with them, I didn't get killed by it, so I was able to resurrect all of them.
The rest of the floors went fine.
The Floor 20 boss is a bit trickier than the first, but only slightly. He has a long column AoE and targeted circle ones. He marks a player (it was always the tank for us) with Prey, and whoever that is will be targeted by two Bee adds that can be killed. He also does an occasional room-wide AoE that does a surprising amount of damage, but too bad if you have healer. I think that was it for this fight. I feel like the boss probably also poisons you, but maybe not. I might be confused with the couple earlier floors where there was poison flying like crazy.
Floors 21-30 are a considerable difficulty raise, primarily due to two new enemies, the Palace Cyclops and the Palace Scatane. The Palace Cyclops does huge amounts of damage, and the Scatane does an AoE Sleep which we couldn't figure out how to avoid.
This time around, my party composition was a Black Mage, an Arcanist, a Machinist, and me as an Astrologian. So, no tank. Luckily, we didn't run into a Cyclops + Scatane combo, which I've heard can happen. The Cyclops does do a huge amount of damage, so I would advise any healers to make sure everyone has as close to full HP as you can manage. I know that I got hit by one of its attacks and I survived with a tiny bit of HP and was able to Essential Dignity myself to life. The Scatanes will Sleep you regardless (maybe it can be Silenced?). I tried to send out an Aspected Helios before the cast went off. It appears taking damage will negate the Sleep. In this case, I theorize that if you were in the situation where pulling both a Scatane and a Cyclops was unavoidable, perhaps you should have a healer pull the Scatane so it wakes them up immediately so they can keep everyone else alive / cleanse? Just a thought. Of course, this would only work if you have a healer.
I haven't really gotten a good look at the boss yet, since we had three DPS so it went down insanely quickly. As far as I can tell, it will target a random player and put a fire or ice puddle under them. The fire ones do damage, the ice ones slow your movement speed drastically. He also does an AoE blast that doesn't do too much damage. Also, and I'm not sure what caused this (perhaps it was the AoE?) he Fears you, which can be quite catastrophic if luck is not with you and you end up running straight into the fire puddles.
Floors 31-40 are...I think they're easier than 21-30 trash-wise, but things can get hairy pretty fast too. Our composition was a Dragoon, a Ninja, and two Astrologians. Most of the trash is straightforward. There's some that have huge cone AoEs from their tails. On the later floors there's Palace Troubadours who do pretty high AoE damage. Also, if you're think you're smart like we did and try to have a Ninja sneak through to pick up chests, be aware that the Palace Zombies and some other mobs can see them and will pull the entire room to them. So, you know, I would only do that if you know for a fact there's a silver chest in there and no zombies.
The boss is fairly difficult, particularly since these floors take a bit longer to clear anyway, leaving you a bit time crunched. He throws out a lot of circle AoEs, but they are easily avoidable. I'm not sure if all of them stick to the ground as puddles, or if I just wasn't paying attention as things got hectic. He also uses "Accursed Pox" which is a much larger AoE circle. I assume standing in this will give you the Pox debuff, which can only be cleared with one of the dungeon-specific items (Pomander of...Purity, I think? Maybe it's not Purity, I don't know), so, you know, don't do that.
He also does a big roomwide AoE which does a little damage, freezes you in place, and then does a TON of damage. We lost our poor Dragoon at this part, but it was easy to get him back up and into the fight. He was our "tank" for the fight. I assume he died because he already had a bit of damage going into the AoE. I would advise having your "tank" healed to full before it begins, as well as anyone who may have damage.
Floors 41-50 have hard-hitting trash. Our group composition was a Warrior, a Dragoon, a White Mage, and me as an Astrologian. These floors were the first time I encountered three of the floor effects: Gloom, which makes all enemies on the floor more powerful, the one that makes you unable to use abilities, and the one that makes you unable to use items (including Pomanders). These effects are all rather obnoxious at best. If you get the one that makes you unable to use abilities, you had better hope you have a Pomander that can clear floor effects, because I'm not sure how the floors are possible without abilities. We got unlucky and got the one that stops items/Pomanders from being used PLUS Gloom, so we couldn't clear Gloom. The trash is hard hitting, but nothing too bad mechanically.
The boss is interesting. I wouldn't say it was entirely difficult, but interesting. The skill names were rather memorable, so I actually have those this time. Please be warned that the skill names may be spoilers for some people, so do not read the detailed version if you don't want to know.
The relatively spoiler free version first:
Not much damage going out. The major things to be aware of are a roomwide AoE with a safe zone beneath the boss's feet, a circular AoE under the boss's feet that you need to run out of, a skill called "Cold Feet" which when you see it casting you need to turn away from the boss, targeted circle AoEs, and an unavoidable roomwide blast. Avoid all the AoEs and turn away for Cold Feet, and the boss shouldn't be too much of an issue.
------SPOILERS PAST THIS POINT-----
Her first ability is Dark Harvest, which just is an attack on her primary target. It doesn't do too much. I'm not sure if it has a secondary effect or something.
Next up, we have In Health. This skill takes two forms. The first is a roomwide AoE with a safe spot underneath the boss. The second is a large circle AoE under her that you need to run out of. The first one she does will be the roomwide one, and the second will be the circle. At this point, she'll usually use them one after the other, so there's a lot of going in-and-out.
Black Honeymoon is a roomwide AoE that can't be avoided, but luckily doesn't do too much damage.
Cold Feet is an important move to be aware of. When you see her start casting, you need to turn away from the boss or you'll be petrified.
At some point she will also spawn some adds which cannot be attacked, but they target the group with circle AoEs which need to be avoided. For us, this was immediately followed by the roomwide In Health.
Not too difficult of a fight as not much damage is going out so long as everyone dodges AoEs.
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Overall opinions, after completing all 50 floors plus the "true ending" questline that you can only accept once you've completed all floors + Tam-Tara Hard?
Pretty positive! I liked the difficulty of the content, it was just difficult enough while still being mildly relaxing and not setting off my anxiety. I also quite liked that I was able to slowly ease myself back into healing on my Astrologian. Since running the Vault a few times last time I played, I've been too nervous to pick AST back up and try it again, especially after taking a month-long break, but Palace of the Dead has helped me regain my muscle memory and healing confidence.
In that sense, I feel like Palace of the Dead is could end up becoming a truly useful tool for returning players who want to slowly get a re-handle on their high level characters. Another big benefit that I foresee is trying out new classes that you're not sure if you're going to like yet. I may do this with Ninja or Machinist. I have to go through more in order to get my weapon anyway, so I might as well try some new things besides healing.
I really like the freeform party system, as well, even though I am typically a huge supporter of the trinity setup (I like healing!). I felt like I still had my "role" as healer, but I also had a bit more freedom to DPS more too, and it was rather fun. It was neat to see everyone else being more creative and lenient with their typical roles too. I feel like it actually probably has made me a better healer in trinity content because, well, if I was unconfident stance swapping before I certainly am comfortable now. It also helped me get more comfortable with the concept of my party members dying and it being beyond my control, thanks to the Palace Slimes and Palace Cyclops, explosive traps, etc. I can probably be a bit more stoic and cool-headed healer now rather than the anxious mess I always am. Okay, slightly less anxious.
I think tomorrow I'm going to try the Vault again and face my fear! And if all goes well, I will hopefully continue the MSQ, since I stalled on that out of nervousness.
If all doesn't go well, well, I can always try out more classes in the Palace of the Dead! :D
Also, that last boss fight was seriously so fun for me. I hope they will eventually implement a way to skip ahead to floors you've completed once you've cleared the Palace so I can go and do that one again without having to do the entire thing again, because 21-30 is kind of a pain :|
Time wise, I feel like you should get more time if you're in there solo. I got to the end with 10 minutes remaining, and ended the boss fight with only 2 remaining, so I was cutting it very close.
I was not able to solo floors 10-20 though, because of the stupid Palace Slimes that explode if you can't kill them fast enough, with no warning or prior notice, so you just automatically die and wonder what happened.
Anyway, I then restarted with a matched group. Floors 1-10 were painless. We ended up having three Scholars and a Bard. Let's just say that there was no way any of us could even have gotten below half health, what with three Scholars, all with Eos out.
The first boss has a few AoEs. If I remember correctly, a frontal cone, a circle centered around the boss, a one targeted circle. He also does a roomwide, unavoidable AoE that puts a wind DoT on you.
Floors 10-20...less painless. Still relatively easy, but I don't know...I feel like it looked like I was bad at positioning because I kept accidentally pulling things with my butt, but I honestly think things just kept spawning behind me since that's what happens in Palace of the Dead. We also had awful luck with traps and treasure chests. I think we got our equipment upgraded once; the rest of the time the chests just exploded.
Anyway, our group composition was a Warrior, a Ninja, an Astrologian, and me as Scholar. So, two healers.
At one point, I had once again gotten attacked by a freshly spawned enemy, and was trying to kill it since I think my tank was done with me at that point and ignored it. So, I was off killing that. Apparently, in the meantime, the rest of the group went off and started fighting one of the Palace Slimes, and they clearly didn't kill it fast enough because the next thing I know they're all dead.
I'm not very good at sarcasm, so I felt really bad and I felt like they were making fun of me. They probably weren't. Because I wasn't right with them, I didn't get killed by it, so I was able to resurrect all of them.
The rest of the floors went fine.
The Floor 20 boss is a bit trickier than the first, but only slightly. He has a long column AoE and targeted circle ones. He marks a player (it was always the tank for us) with Prey, and whoever that is will be targeted by two Bee adds that can be killed. He also does an occasional room-wide AoE that does a surprising amount of damage, but too bad if you have healer. I think that was it for this fight. I feel like the boss probably also poisons you, but maybe not. I might be confused with the couple earlier floors where there was poison flying like crazy.
Floors 21-30 are a considerable difficulty raise, primarily due to two new enemies, the Palace Cyclops and the Palace Scatane. The Palace Cyclops does huge amounts of damage, and the Scatane does an AoE Sleep which we couldn't figure out how to avoid.
This time around, my party composition was a Black Mage, an Arcanist, a Machinist, and me as an Astrologian. So, no tank. Luckily, we didn't run into a Cyclops + Scatane combo, which I've heard can happen. The Cyclops does do a huge amount of damage, so I would advise any healers to make sure everyone has as close to full HP as you can manage. I know that I got hit by one of its attacks and I survived with a tiny bit of HP and was able to Essential Dignity myself to life. The Scatanes will Sleep you regardless (maybe it can be Silenced?). I tried to send out an Aspected Helios before the cast went off. It appears taking damage will negate the Sleep. In this case, I theorize that if you were in the situation where pulling both a Scatane and a Cyclops was unavoidable, perhaps you should have a healer pull the Scatane so it wakes them up immediately so they can keep everyone else alive / cleanse? Just a thought. Of course, this would only work if you have a healer.
I haven't really gotten a good look at the boss yet, since we had three DPS so it went down insanely quickly. As far as I can tell, it will target a random player and put a fire or ice puddle under them. The fire ones do damage, the ice ones slow your movement speed drastically. He also does an AoE blast that doesn't do too much damage. Also, and I'm not sure what caused this (perhaps it was the AoE?) he Fears you, which can be quite catastrophic if luck is not with you and you end up running straight into the fire puddles.
Floors 31-40 are...I think they're easier than 21-30 trash-wise, but things can get hairy pretty fast too. Our composition was a Dragoon, a Ninja, and two Astrologians. Most of the trash is straightforward. There's some that have huge cone AoEs from their tails. On the later floors there's Palace Troubadours who do pretty high AoE damage. Also, if you're think you're smart like we did and try to have a Ninja sneak through to pick up chests, be aware that the Palace Zombies and some other mobs can see them and will pull the entire room to them. So, you know, I would only do that if you know for a fact there's a silver chest in there and no zombies.
The boss is fairly difficult, particularly since these floors take a bit longer to clear anyway, leaving you a bit time crunched. He throws out a lot of circle AoEs, but they are easily avoidable. I'm not sure if all of them stick to the ground as puddles, or if I just wasn't paying attention as things got hectic. He also uses "Accursed Pox" which is a much larger AoE circle. I assume standing in this will give you the Pox debuff, which can only be cleared with one of the dungeon-specific items (Pomander of...Purity, I think? Maybe it's not Purity, I don't know), so, you know, don't do that.
He also does a big roomwide AoE which does a little damage, freezes you in place, and then does a TON of damage. We lost our poor Dragoon at this part, but it was easy to get him back up and into the fight. He was our "tank" for the fight. I assume he died because he already had a bit of damage going into the AoE. I would advise having your "tank" healed to full before it begins, as well as anyone who may have damage.
Floors 41-50 have hard-hitting trash. Our group composition was a Warrior, a Dragoon, a White Mage, and me as an Astrologian. These floors were the first time I encountered three of the floor effects: Gloom, which makes all enemies on the floor more powerful, the one that makes you unable to use abilities, and the one that makes you unable to use items (including Pomanders). These effects are all rather obnoxious at best. If you get the one that makes you unable to use abilities, you had better hope you have a Pomander that can clear floor effects, because I'm not sure how the floors are possible without abilities. We got unlucky and got the one that stops items/Pomanders from being used PLUS Gloom, so we couldn't clear Gloom. The trash is hard hitting, but nothing too bad mechanically.
The boss is interesting. I wouldn't say it was entirely difficult, but interesting. The skill names were rather memorable, so I actually have those this time. Please be warned that the skill names may be spoilers for some people, so do not read the detailed version if you don't want to know.
The relatively spoiler free version first:
Not much damage going out. The major things to be aware of are a roomwide AoE with a safe zone beneath the boss's feet, a circular AoE under the boss's feet that you need to run out of, a skill called "Cold Feet" which when you see it casting you need to turn away from the boss, targeted circle AoEs, and an unavoidable roomwide blast. Avoid all the AoEs and turn away for Cold Feet, and the boss shouldn't be too much of an issue.
------SPOILERS PAST THIS POINT-----
Her first ability is Dark Harvest, which just is an attack on her primary target. It doesn't do too much. I'm not sure if it has a secondary effect or something.
Next up, we have In Health. This skill takes two forms. The first is a roomwide AoE with a safe spot underneath the boss. The second is a large circle AoE under her that you need to run out of. The first one she does will be the roomwide one, and the second will be the circle. At this point, she'll usually use them one after the other, so there's a lot of going in-and-out.
Black Honeymoon is a roomwide AoE that can't be avoided, but luckily doesn't do too much damage.
Cold Feet is an important move to be aware of. When you see her start casting, you need to turn away from the boss or you'll be petrified.
At some point she will also spawn some adds which cannot be attacked, but they target the group with circle AoEs which need to be avoided. For us, this was immediately followed by the roomwide In Health.
Not too difficult of a fight as not much damage is going out so long as everyone dodges AoEs.
------------
Overall opinions, after completing all 50 floors plus the "true ending" questline that you can only accept once you've completed all floors + Tam-Tara Hard?
Pretty positive! I liked the difficulty of the content, it was just difficult enough while still being mildly relaxing and not setting off my anxiety. I also quite liked that I was able to slowly ease myself back into healing on my Astrologian. Since running the Vault a few times last time I played, I've been too nervous to pick AST back up and try it again, especially after taking a month-long break, but Palace of the Dead has helped me regain my muscle memory and healing confidence.
In that sense, I feel like Palace of the Dead is could end up becoming a truly useful tool for returning players who want to slowly get a re-handle on their high level characters. Another big benefit that I foresee is trying out new classes that you're not sure if you're going to like yet. I may do this with Ninja or Machinist. I have to go through more in order to get my weapon anyway, so I might as well try some new things besides healing.
I really like the freeform party system, as well, even though I am typically a huge supporter of the trinity setup (I like healing!). I felt like I still had my "role" as healer, but I also had a bit more freedom to DPS more too, and it was rather fun. It was neat to see everyone else being more creative and lenient with their typical roles too. I feel like it actually probably has made me a better healer in trinity content because, well, if I was unconfident stance swapping before I certainly am comfortable now. It also helped me get more comfortable with the concept of my party members dying and it being beyond my control, thanks to the Palace Slimes and Palace Cyclops, explosive traps, etc. I can probably be a bit more stoic and cool-headed healer now rather than the anxious mess I always am. Okay, slightly less anxious.
I think tomorrow I'm going to try the Vault again and face my fear! And if all goes well, I will hopefully continue the MSQ, since I stalled on that out of nervousness.
If all doesn't go well, well, I can always try out more classes in the Palace of the Dead! :D
Also, that last boss fight was seriously so fun for me. I hope they will eventually implement a way to skip ahead to floors you've completed once you've cleared the Palace so I can go and do that one again without having to do the entire thing again, because 21-30 is kind of a pain :|
Wednesday, July 13, 2016
Am I doing something wrong? I can't tell.
I was playing my Bard (level 40) in leveling roulette. I got Haukke Manor. Fine, I know that dungeon. I've directed groups through that dungeon before. No problem.
My problem is, and this applies to many other pre-Quelling Strikes dungeons is that I keep getting aggro off the tanks, and it's frustrating.
It's frustrating because I can't tell if I'm doing something wrong or not. I'm doing my rotation, and in these situations I don't use my nice attack boosting CDs (as in, Blood for Blood / Raging Strikes etc.) because I know that if I do any more DPS then I'll take enmity. I slow down my rotation a bit, and I wait a good few seconds for the tank to get aggro.
And still, I usually end up pulling things off of them. I always feel horrible about it.
Today, this happened in every single boss fight too. I sometimes ended up stopping attacking entirely because I was on the absolute verge of getting aggro. Like, the enmity bar was filled, I just didn't have it yet. But then I feel bad stopping my DPS because then I feel like I'm a bad DPS. And I also feel bad not using all my CDs because again, I feel like a bad DPS. I could be doing soooo much more damage!
It's better post-30 or so once I have Quelling Strikes and tanks have better skills and stuff, but it is awful in the early level dungeons.
I hate the concept of cross class skills so much. I hate that on my SMN I can have Quelling Strikes for Sastasha (or, more importantly / relevantly, Haukke Manor when I have access to Bane :3 ), but I don't have it until 34 on my Bard. No way to control your own aggro is a pain.
DPS is certainly not my favorite job, but I hope I'm not as awful as I feel at it. I'm too stressed out to heal, and no one should ever have to be put through me tanking, so DPS it is...
My problem is, and this applies to many other pre-Quelling Strikes dungeons is that I keep getting aggro off the tanks, and it's frustrating.
It's frustrating because I can't tell if I'm doing something wrong or not. I'm doing my rotation, and in these situations I don't use my nice attack boosting CDs (as in, Blood for Blood / Raging Strikes etc.) because I know that if I do any more DPS then I'll take enmity. I slow down my rotation a bit, and I wait a good few seconds for the tank to get aggro.
And still, I usually end up pulling things off of them. I always feel horrible about it.
Today, this happened in every single boss fight too. I sometimes ended up stopping attacking entirely because I was on the absolute verge of getting aggro. Like, the enmity bar was filled, I just didn't have it yet. But then I feel bad stopping my DPS because then I feel like I'm a bad DPS. And I also feel bad not using all my CDs because again, I feel like a bad DPS. I could be doing soooo much more damage!
It's better post-30 or so once I have Quelling Strikes and tanks have better skills and stuff, but it is awful in the early level dungeons.
I hate the concept of cross class skills so much. I hate that on my SMN I can have Quelling Strikes for Sastasha (or, more importantly / relevantly, Haukke Manor when I have access to Bane :3 ), but I don't have it until 34 on my Bard. No way to control your own aggro is a pain.
DPS is certainly not my favorite job, but I hope I'm not as awful as I feel at it. I'm too stressed out to heal, and no one should ever have to be put through me tanking, so DPS it is...
Wednesday, June 15, 2016
WoW PTR Class Changes Opinions
Finally was able to get onto the PTR for a short time. Just enough time to mess around with a couple classes, but I haven't gotten to do them all yet because I keep disconnecting and not being able to get on. So, I got about five done before I decided to give up for the day.
Please take the opinions with a gigantic grain of salt because I am mildly irritable today, and I dislike the changes to my main class immensely.
- First up, Shadow Priest. I do not like the new Shadow Priest. I did not think I was going to like the new Shadow Priest. I really, really, really love the old Shadow Priest. I liked the slow build up and the satisfaction of using Devouring Plague. I liked the shadow orbs circling around me. I also liked it more thematically; light and darkness being two sides of the same coin was neater to me than Old God corruption and void magic. The Old Gods creep me out, okay?
The gameplay, to me, felt really too fast paced. The lag might have had something to do with that. I felt like I was button-mashing a bit. Getting to Void Form is easy, and then it's button-mashy time while you spam Void Bolt and Mind Blast so you don't fall out of Void Form. I feel like it is altogether just too much pressure to me. I do not like time limits. I will not be maining Shadow Priest in Legion and it makes me sad.
I can, however, definitely see why some people really seem to love this new version. And that's great!
I did test out Marksmanship and Survival Hunters as well, for a couple minutes (You will not get me to touch Beast Mastery because I do not like the pets to begin with).
- Marksmanship seemed a little...boring. It seemed like there wasn't much to do. Press a couple skills and that is it. It didn't feel mechanically interesting. Also, as much as I love Lone Wolf being a level 15 talent now, it feels like it is very easily overshadowed by the other two talent options. I can easily see either of those two options being chosen as the "meta" choice with Lone Wolf being seen as the "not optimal, just for fun" talent choice.
- Survival Hunter was a lot more fun, although I will admit that I didn't take the time to read every single skill information, so I had a lot of skills lightning up and I have no idea why. It was a fun class overall, I just wish it didn't have a pet :P
Also, I did not like the animations one bit, but that's livable.
- Outlaw Rogue. I really, really liked Outlaw Rogue. Which is odd because I've never once liked a Rogue class in any game I've ever played. The animations are very nice, I like the theming (yay, pirates!), and it felt fun to me. I also like RNG-based stuff (Hi, I main an Astrologian in FFXIV), so Roll the Bones was right up my alley. Sadly, I have no idea what the Roll the Bones "enhancements" are because I had a bunch of buffs up and no idea where any of them came from because I really only messed with each class for a couple minutes, and there is very bad lag because everyone and their cat is messing around with classes at the training dummies. I...can see myself maining Outlaw Rogue. I want to start leveling a Rogue now and get her up to 100, but that feels like it defeats the purpose a bit since I don't like Rogues right now, I like them in Legion. I don't know what to do with myself, in other words.
Last one that I got to try, but only for a few seconds, was Elemental Shaman. The skills are very flashy, if not a little too flashy. Let's just say that if I was an Ele Shaman, I'd get real sick of Lightning Bolt's sound and animation. Also, the Fire Elemental is cool looking.
Updates: Mages!
- Fire Mage feels fast-paced and clicky, in a good way. It was a fun kind of clicky to me, unlike how I felt about Shadow Priest. I think this may mostly have been a combination between the level 15 talent "Firestarter" (against the training dummies specifically, since their health never drops, so Firestarter is constantly in effect) and the level 60 talent "Controlled Burn."
It feels like Controlled Burn is almost an essential talent because the 10% chance to have Heating Up automatically turn into Hot Streak without a second crit seems too good to pass up.
I really liked Frost. I love the icicles about my head especially. It feels like a lot of other classes lost things floating around them (shadow orbs, lightning shield, etc.). I've never touched Ice Mage before so I have no idea what I'm doing with it, and will not even attempt to talk about talents and such because I have no idea how to play it.
Arcane Mage felt lack-luster compared to the other two specs. The streamlining of Arcane Blast, at least to me, was appreciated, but it just felt too slow compared to the other two specs. The level 15 talent "Arcane Familiar" sounds interesting, but it seems lackluster compared to "Words of Power" and also it kept in me in combat longer than I would have liked (I wanted to swap specs!). The lack of a pet-control bar to turn it onto passive would be nice, considering that it doesn't appear to have any animations to show you that it's attacking something.
I would test Warlocks, but they overwhelm me :(
Update 2!
I love Discipline Priest in the PTR! I know everyone's saying that they're awful and ruined, but I really, really like them! It feels kind of like FFXIV Scholar healing except hitting things also heals. I love it. I always liked Discipline's shields anyway, but the fact that I can shield and Atonement heal is wonderful. It helps that I like my Priest anyway and that I really liked the Discipline Priest artifact.
I will be happy to keep using Toyosatomimi, even though I did not like Shadow or Holy on the PTR. But oh my goodness is Discipline for me! This is the first class that I've messed with on PTR that really, really "clicked" with me!
Holy Paladin also felt quite nice for me as well.
Basically, I like the healing classes that are more utility and mechanical stuff than straight healing.
I did not like Mistweaver very much. Or Windwalker for that matter. Windwalker's changes felt kind of underwhelming because it didn't feel like they've changed all that much compared the other classes. And also, losing Jab has messed up my bars! I'm so used to 1 = Jab, 2 = Tiger Palm, 3 = Blackout Kick, 4 = Rising Sun Kick, 5 = Touch of Death. It confuses my fingers to have moved everything over a slot. Moving Fists of Fury to 1 also did no help, because I am so used to pressing F1 for that!
This post will be updated when I'm able to log in again and try more things.
Please take the opinions with a gigantic grain of salt because I am mildly irritable today, and I dislike the changes to my main class immensely.
- First up, Shadow Priest. I do not like the new Shadow Priest. I did not think I was going to like the new Shadow Priest. I really, really, really love the old Shadow Priest. I liked the slow build up and the satisfaction of using Devouring Plague. I liked the shadow orbs circling around me. I also liked it more thematically; light and darkness being two sides of the same coin was neater to me than Old God corruption and void magic. The Old Gods creep me out, okay?
The gameplay, to me, felt really too fast paced. The lag might have had something to do with that. I felt like I was button-mashing a bit. Getting to Void Form is easy, and then it's button-mashy time while you spam Void Bolt and Mind Blast so you don't fall out of Void Form. I feel like it is altogether just too much pressure to me. I do not like time limits. I will not be maining Shadow Priest in Legion and it makes me sad.
I can, however, definitely see why some people really seem to love this new version. And that's great!
I did test out Marksmanship and Survival Hunters as well, for a couple minutes (You will not get me to touch Beast Mastery because I do not like the pets to begin with).
- Marksmanship seemed a little...boring. It seemed like there wasn't much to do. Press a couple skills and that is it. It didn't feel mechanically interesting. Also, as much as I love Lone Wolf being a level 15 talent now, it feels like it is very easily overshadowed by the other two talent options. I can easily see either of those two options being chosen as the "meta" choice with Lone Wolf being seen as the "not optimal, just for fun" talent choice.
- Survival Hunter was a lot more fun, although I will admit that I didn't take the time to read every single skill information, so I had a lot of skills lightning up and I have no idea why. It was a fun class overall, I just wish it didn't have a pet :P
Also, I did not like the animations one bit, but that's livable.
- Outlaw Rogue. I really, really liked Outlaw Rogue. Which is odd because I've never once liked a Rogue class in any game I've ever played. The animations are very nice, I like the theming (yay, pirates!), and it felt fun to me. I also like RNG-based stuff (Hi, I main an Astrologian in FFXIV), so Roll the Bones was right up my alley. Sadly, I have no idea what the Roll the Bones "enhancements" are because I had a bunch of buffs up and no idea where any of them came from because I really only messed with each class for a couple minutes, and there is very bad lag because everyone and their cat is messing around with classes at the training dummies. I...can see myself maining Outlaw Rogue. I want to start leveling a Rogue now and get her up to 100, but that feels like it defeats the purpose a bit since I don't like Rogues right now, I like them in Legion. I don't know what to do with myself, in other words.
Last one that I got to try, but only for a few seconds, was Elemental Shaman. The skills are very flashy, if not a little too flashy. Let's just say that if I was an Ele Shaman, I'd get real sick of Lightning Bolt's sound and animation. Also, the Fire Elemental is cool looking.
Updates: Mages!
- Fire Mage feels fast-paced and clicky, in a good way. It was a fun kind of clicky to me, unlike how I felt about Shadow Priest. I think this may mostly have been a combination between the level 15 talent "Firestarter" (against the training dummies specifically, since their health never drops, so Firestarter is constantly in effect) and the level 60 talent "Controlled Burn."
It feels like Controlled Burn is almost an essential talent because the 10% chance to have Heating Up automatically turn into Hot Streak without a second crit seems too good to pass up.
I really liked Frost. I love the icicles about my head especially. It feels like a lot of other classes lost things floating around them (shadow orbs, lightning shield, etc.). I've never touched Ice Mage before so I have no idea what I'm doing with it, and will not even attempt to talk about talents and such because I have no idea how to play it.
Arcane Mage felt lack-luster compared to the other two specs. The streamlining of Arcane Blast, at least to me, was appreciated, but it just felt too slow compared to the other two specs. The level 15 talent "Arcane Familiar" sounds interesting, but it seems lackluster compared to "Words of Power" and also it kept in me in combat longer than I would have liked (I wanted to swap specs!). The lack of a pet-control bar to turn it onto passive would be nice, considering that it doesn't appear to have any animations to show you that it's attacking something.
I would test Warlocks, but they overwhelm me :(
Update 2!
I love Discipline Priest in the PTR! I know everyone's saying that they're awful and ruined, but I really, really like them! It feels kind of like FFXIV Scholar healing except hitting things also heals. I love it. I always liked Discipline's shields anyway, but the fact that I can shield and Atonement heal is wonderful. It helps that I like my Priest anyway and that I really liked the Discipline Priest artifact.
I will be happy to keep using Toyosatomimi, even though I did not like Shadow or Holy on the PTR. But oh my goodness is Discipline for me! This is the first class that I've messed with on PTR that really, really "clicked" with me!
Holy Paladin also felt quite nice for me as well.
Basically, I like the healing classes that are more utility and mechanical stuff than straight healing.
I did not like Mistweaver very much. Or Windwalker for that matter. Windwalker's changes felt kind of underwhelming because it didn't feel like they've changed all that much compared the other classes. And also, losing Jab has messed up my bars! I'm so used to 1 = Jab, 2 = Tiger Palm, 3 = Blackout Kick, 4 = Rising Sun Kick, 5 = Touch of Death. It confuses my fingers to have moved everything over a slot. Moving Fists of Fury to 1 also did no help, because I am so used to pressing F1 for that!
This post will be updated when I'm able to log in again and try more things.
Soooo...
FFXIV's latest patch was called "Revenge of the Horde."
Meanwhile, in WoW Legion Beta, there's apparently a world boss named "Nidhogg" and a bonus objective thing called "The Brood of Nidhogg" or something like that (so I've heard; I'm not on the beta).
Just saying.
Saturday, June 11, 2016
Ah, Thousand Maws of Toto-Rak, how I have not at all missed you.
Trying to level my Bard, and got in here. Fun fun.
Tanks that don't pick up all the mobs are fun.
Today I was that jerk DPS that takes enmity. The tank was ignoring all but one enemy per pull, so I stole enmity off the healer so he wouldn't die. Every pull. Bard tank best tank?
No, seriously, I hate Thousand Maws of Toto-Rak. It never goes well. Never. I have been in Thousand Maws of Toto-Rak many many many times. It never goes well.
While Brayflox is kind of the big jump in difficulty for healers, I think Toto-Rak is the same thing for tanks :|
Trying to level my Bard, and got in here. Fun fun.
Tanks that don't pick up all the mobs are fun.
Today I was that jerk DPS that takes enmity. The tank was ignoring all but one enemy per pull, so I stole enmity off the healer so he wouldn't die. Every pull. Bard tank best tank?
No, seriously, I hate Thousand Maws of Toto-Rak. It never goes well. Never. I have been in Thousand Maws of Toto-Rak many many many times. It never goes well.
While Brayflox is kind of the big jump in difficulty for healers, I think Toto-Rak is the same thing for tanks :|
Is The Vault always this bad for healers?
The Vault is torturous to me. I got it this morning as my leveling roulette (I really wish there was a separate roulette for Heavensward dungeons, because I like to queue into leveling roulette to help newbies...).
Oh my goodness is it awful. I can't tell if I'm just not a good healer, or if I'm not getting good groups, or if it's bad luck, or maybe Astrologians are bad in the dungeon? I don't know: all I know is that something always goes horribly wrong every single time I do this one.
Take this morning's run, for example.
Ser Adelphel:
1st Wipe: I get boxed in by the exploding bubbles + I have the ground AoE under me. I die, everyone dies.
2nd Wipe: We were doing absolutely wonderfully, and then the tank gets disconnected.
3rd time, we cleared it.
Ser Grinnaux:
No wipes, but a couple deaths and overall trouble. I remember when I went in here the first time I thought this fight was very easy and rather inconsequential. Not this time. I think it was a combination of not-high-enough DPS and unfortunate tank positioning. We ended up having barely any safe areas left from portals, and the boss was kind of positioned at a weird angle, so personally, I always got knocked back in a direction I wasn't expecting, typically straight into a portal. I think I ended up with like 5 stacks of the debuff by the end? While the first time I did this fight I had none by the end. Lost a DPS twice I think to a similar issue.
Ser Charibert:
1 wipe. Absolutely my fault. My computer decided it wanted to open the chat box instead of move, so I ended up getting hit by a triple combination of the ground AoE, horses, and the chain thing.
Beat it the second time, barely.
First time I did the dungeon we wiped on Ser Charibert about 3 times I think.
As a more positive, I witnessed a miracle yesterday in The Aery. Last night I was doing roulette trying to get to level 57, and I was put in as a fill-in healer for a friendly group in The Aery. They were on Nidhogg, with 18 minutes or so remaining. We wiped a couple times. Mostly due to Sable Price.
Last try, very few minutes remaining. The two DPS die to something or other. I get caught in Sable Price. Only the tank remaining. Tank is on a tiny sliver of HP. I warp back to the start because I knew the tank was about to die. And, nope! Somehow, SOMEHOW the tank managed to kill Nidhogg with only a sliver of HP left. It was a miracle.
As a side note, the more I go into dungeons with Bards, the more I want to play a Bard. Their animations are so nice :x
Oh my goodness is it awful. I can't tell if I'm just not a good healer, or if I'm not getting good groups, or if it's bad luck, or maybe Astrologians are bad in the dungeon? I don't know: all I know is that something always goes horribly wrong every single time I do this one.
Take this morning's run, for example.
Ser Adelphel:
1st Wipe: I get boxed in by the exploding bubbles + I have the ground AoE under me. I die, everyone dies.
2nd Wipe: We were doing absolutely wonderfully, and then the tank gets disconnected.
3rd time, we cleared it.
Ser Grinnaux:
No wipes, but a couple deaths and overall trouble. I remember when I went in here the first time I thought this fight was very easy and rather inconsequential. Not this time. I think it was a combination of not-high-enough DPS and unfortunate tank positioning. We ended up having barely any safe areas left from portals, and the boss was kind of positioned at a weird angle, so personally, I always got knocked back in a direction I wasn't expecting, typically straight into a portal. I think I ended up with like 5 stacks of the debuff by the end? While the first time I did this fight I had none by the end. Lost a DPS twice I think to a similar issue.
Ser Charibert:
1 wipe. Absolutely my fault. My computer decided it wanted to open the chat box instead of move, so I ended up getting hit by a triple combination of the ground AoE, horses, and the chain thing.
Beat it the second time, barely.
First time I did the dungeon we wiped on Ser Charibert about 3 times I think.
As a more positive, I witnessed a miracle yesterday in The Aery. Last night I was doing roulette trying to get to level 57, and I was put in as a fill-in healer for a friendly group in The Aery. They were on Nidhogg, with 18 minutes or so remaining. We wiped a couple times. Mostly due to Sable Price.
Last try, very few minutes remaining. The two DPS die to something or other. I get caught in Sable Price. Only the tank remaining. Tank is on a tiny sliver of HP. I warp back to the start because I knew the tank was about to die. And, nope! Somehow, SOMEHOW the tank managed to kill Nidhogg with only a sliver of HP left. It was a miracle.
As a side note, the more I go into dungeons with Bards, the more I want to play a Bard. Their animations are so nice :x
Friday, June 10, 2016
Thursday, June 9, 2016
I am extremely proud of myself right now
Last time I played FFXIV, I got nervous about fighting Ravana and quit playing for a month or two.
I came back yesterday and brushed up on my healing a bit, and today I just beat Ravana!
The fight went decently, I think. We wiped once. I think that one was partly my fault. I didn't realize I was the one with the purple circle around me so I was trying to run away from it, and...well, I was the one with the circle and it got me and someone else killed! So, that was one healer down, and then the tank fell off the cliff, and, yeah.
Second time around went fine. We had a couple deaths, but nothing that couldn't be revived, except for two people, who fell off the cliff early on.
Not only did I beat Ravana, but I also just did Sohm Al as well! Got to say, I really, really liked Sohm Al. It wasn't too healing intensive, which was rather nice. The last fight was fun running around. The second fight got a little rough at one point because I was targeted with every single one of the attacks where he slows the slimes, but I managed to heal myself up between each one, so it was okay. The first fight was absolutely trivial. The trash before it was harder. Fun fights.
I'm feeling really good right now, since I have never done real content while it's still rather current before. I mean, in WoW I'm level 100 but I've never done any dungeons or anything. It's nice to be doing dungeons in a game I'm comfortable with (as in, FFXIV). I can't see myself getting a static and doing Alexander or anything just yet, but dungeons are nice.
I came back yesterday and brushed up on my healing a bit, and today I just beat Ravana!
The fight went decently, I think. We wiped once. I think that one was partly my fault. I didn't realize I was the one with the purple circle around me so I was trying to run away from it, and...well, I was the one with the circle and it got me and someone else killed! So, that was one healer down, and then the tank fell off the cliff, and, yeah.
Second time around went fine. We had a couple deaths, but nothing that couldn't be revived, except for two people, who fell off the cliff early on.
Not only did I beat Ravana, but I also just did Sohm Al as well! Got to say, I really, really liked Sohm Al. It wasn't too healing intensive, which was rather nice. The last fight was fun running around. The second fight got a little rough at one point because I was targeted with every single one of the attacks where he slows the slimes, but I managed to heal myself up between each one, so it was okay. The first fight was absolutely trivial. The trash before it was harder. Fun fights.
I'm feeling really good right now, since I have never done real content while it's still rather current before. I mean, in WoW I'm level 100 but I've never done any dungeons or anything. It's nice to be doing dungeons in a game I'm comfortable with (as in, FFXIV). I can't see myself getting a static and doing Alexander or anything just yet, but dungeons are nice.
Wednesday, June 8, 2016
I love my FFXIV character so much
I can't help it but take screenshots of her all the time! I think she came out so well! I just wish she looked okay in other hairstyles besides this one, because currently she looks pretty awful in any other ones.
~Yomi Tosho from Adamantoise Server~
Thursday, June 2, 2016
So, I got Overwatch
I'm too scared to really play, so I'm just doing the practice vs. AI thing.
Just out of curiosity, is there any difference between Practice vs. AI and Play vs. AI? I thought I had read that Practice vs. AI had you on a team with AI too, but these are definitely real people I'm playing with unless they have really, really good, unheard of AI that can mimic human conversation perfectly in voice chat.
Anyway, I'm really attached to Lucio's play style. It's fun. I like Hanzo a bit too. I really, really wanted to like Mercy and Widowmaker, but I just don't think they're for me. I'll probably give Mercy another shot though; I like support. I also want to learn a tank so someone else can play support if they want. I'm leaning towards D.Va, but I don't know. I don't really like the tanks. None of the offense characters appeal to me at all. Symmetra is interesting, but I don't feel competent with her.
Sooo, I guess for now I'll just stick with Lucio and Hanzo.
If you play with someone named Cardboard then that's probably me!
Wait, it's 12:30?! I thought my clock said 11:30! Whoops! Off to sleep with me!
Just out of curiosity, is there any difference between Practice vs. AI and Play vs. AI? I thought I had read that Practice vs. AI had you on a team with AI too, but these are definitely real people I'm playing with unless they have really, really good, unheard of AI that can mimic human conversation perfectly in voice chat.
Anyway, I'm really attached to Lucio's play style. It's fun. I like Hanzo a bit too. I really, really wanted to like Mercy and Widowmaker, but I just don't think they're for me. I'll probably give Mercy another shot though; I like support. I also want to learn a tank so someone else can play support if they want. I'm leaning towards D.Va, but I don't know. I don't really like the tanks. None of the offense characters appeal to me at all. Symmetra is interesting, but I don't feel competent with her.
Sooo, I guess for now I'll just stick with Lucio and Hanzo.
If you play with someone named Cardboard then that's probably me!
Wait, it's 12:30?! I thought my clock said 11:30! Whoops! Off to sleep with me!
Wednesday, May 18, 2016
Any interest with this?
Would anyone be interested in me doing a video guide to Shard of Dreams?
I don't have great recording stuff; I only have Hypercam 2 for the game recording itself, and a headset for voice. But I feel like even with not-wonderful quality showing may be better than telling in this game's case (*cough* Forgotten Hell *cough*).
I don't mind recording my next playthrough if there's interest for it, but I'm not going to do it if it won't be useful.
I just thought of this because I was revisiting a rather clumsily-made .gif I made and posted to imgur to give a more visual guide on how to reach a location, and then it popped into my head that video would probably be easier and better. Also, I'm looking at the daunting task of writing out instructions to the Ice Cave and I set a precedent with my ice puzzle screenshot-maps for the Makai stuff and oh my goodness I do not want to do that again, but I'd feel bad if I didn't give the Ice Cave the same treatment. I just think a video in that case sounds way more manageable for me.
I don't have great recording stuff; I only have Hypercam 2 for the game recording itself, and a headset for voice. But I feel like even with not-wonderful quality showing may be better than telling in this game's case (*cough* Forgotten Hell *cough*).
I don't mind recording my next playthrough if there's interest for it, but I'm not going to do it if it won't be useful.
I just thought of this because I was revisiting a rather clumsily-made .gif I made and posted to imgur to give a more visual guide on how to reach a location, and then it popped into my head that video would probably be easier and better. Also, I'm looking at the daunting task of writing out instructions to the Ice Cave and I set a precedent with my ice puzzle screenshot-maps for the Makai stuff and oh my goodness I do not want to do that again, but I'd feel bad if I didn't give the Ice Cave the same treatment. I just think a video in that case sounds way more manageable for me.
PDP Shard of Dreams Postgame Guide: How to New Game Plus
This is simple and yet kind of tricky at the same time.
First thing's first; in order to do a New Game Plus file you need to have defeated Mugetsu and Gengetsu in the postgame. Once that's complete, you meet the requirements to do a New Game Plus file.
First thing you'll want to do is back up your original save. Make a new folder on your desktop of something and name it something like "PDP Saves," and then make another folder in that called something like "Original save backup" etc. and place your save there.
Your save can be found in the game's folder, in the "save" folder. You need to copy "enbu_ap.sav" to your backup folder. You do not need to copy "enbu_ap.cnf".
So, as a better example, a legal copy of the game should be saved somewhere like C:\game\FocasLens\幻想人形演舞-ユメノカケラ-\save
And then, again, the file is "enbu_ap.sav".
Once your file is all backed up, turn on the game again. Do NOT click the new game button yet! Enter your original file!
This next part is very, very important.
In your New Game + file, you can transfer in a maximum of 7 Puppets to begin the game with. These Puppets will all begin at level 5 and will have the exact same IVs and Mark as your original. They also retain outfit changes (including wedding dresses). The Puppets that will transfer in like this are any Puppets in your party at the time you begin the new game, and your starter. In order to maximize your available Puppets in the beginning of your new game, you should remove your starter from your party and place it anywhere in your box. It does not matter which box your starter goes in, because it will transfer up regardless. Anything else you want immediate access to needs to be in your party.
As for the rest of your Puppet collection: any Puppets you want to re-obtain in your next playthrough should be placed in Boxes 21 to 51. Make sure that any Puppets you want to retain are not in any boxes of a lower number than 21. These Puppets will be re-obtained after you defeat Mugetsu/Gengetsu on your new file. Personally, I put my entire Puppet collection in the transfer boxes so I don't have to catch any Puppets this time around.
I need to stress this again: Any Puppets in Boxes 1 through 20 will not be re-obtained in the next playthrough, so anything you want to keep needs to go in Boxes 21 through 51.
And again, the Puppets you want at the beginning of the game should be in your party, and your starter should be out of your party and in any random box (does not need to be 21 through 51).
No Puppets, in your boxes or your party (or your original starter) will retain their items.
Save when you're ready, and exit the game. Open the game again, and press the New Game button. Unlike when you are beginning the game for the very first time, this time the game will not give the option to import a save, as it will do so automatically.
When you're talking to the guy with glasses to choose your starter, choose a different starter than your original. If you choose your original starter again, your old starter will simply overwrite the new one, and you will be left with only 6 imported slots. It is best to instead select a new starter, as starters in Shard of Dreams automatically get all S stats. In my opinion it is far better to begin the game with 8 perfect Puppets rather than 7!
And, that's all there really is to it.
Please note that if you look up New Game + for Shard of Dreams / Yume no Kakera you will find information about the imported starter retaining its level through the import (as in, level 100 at the beginning of the game, for example). This is no longer true as of Patch 1.017. The imported starter will now begin at level 5 just like all other imported Puppets.
First thing's first; in order to do a New Game Plus file you need to have defeated Mugetsu and Gengetsu in the postgame. Once that's complete, you meet the requirements to do a New Game Plus file.
First thing you'll want to do is back up your original save. Make a new folder on your desktop of something and name it something like "PDP Saves," and then make another folder in that called something like "Original save backup" etc. and place your save there.
Your save can be found in the game's folder, in the "save" folder. You need to copy "enbu_ap.sav" to your backup folder. You do not need to copy "enbu_ap.cnf".
So, as a better example, a legal copy of the game should be saved somewhere like C:\game\FocasLens\幻想人形演舞-ユメノカケラ-\save
And then, again, the file is "enbu_ap.sav".
Once your file is all backed up, turn on the game again. Do NOT click the new game button yet! Enter your original file!
This next part is very, very important.
In your New Game + file, you can transfer in a maximum of 7 Puppets to begin the game with. These Puppets will all begin at level 5 and will have the exact same IVs and Mark as your original. They also retain outfit changes (including wedding dresses). The Puppets that will transfer in like this are any Puppets in your party at the time you begin the new game, and your starter. In order to maximize your available Puppets in the beginning of your new game, you should remove your starter from your party and place it anywhere in your box. It does not matter which box your starter goes in, because it will transfer up regardless. Anything else you want immediate access to needs to be in your party.
As for the rest of your Puppet collection: any Puppets you want to re-obtain in your next playthrough should be placed in Boxes 21 to 51. Make sure that any Puppets you want to retain are not in any boxes of a lower number than 21. These Puppets will be re-obtained after you defeat Mugetsu/Gengetsu on your new file. Personally, I put my entire Puppet collection in the transfer boxes so I don't have to catch any Puppets this time around.
I need to stress this again: Any Puppets in Boxes 1 through 20 will not be re-obtained in the next playthrough, so anything you want to keep needs to go in Boxes 21 through 51.
And again, the Puppets you want at the beginning of the game should be in your party, and your starter should be out of your party and in any random box (does not need to be 21 through 51).
No Puppets, in your boxes or your party (or your original starter) will retain their items.
Save when you're ready, and exit the game. Open the game again, and press the New Game button. Unlike when you are beginning the game for the very first time, this time the game will not give the option to import a save, as it will do so automatically.
When you're talking to the guy with glasses to choose your starter, choose a different starter than your original. If you choose your original starter again, your old starter will simply overwrite the new one, and you will be left with only 6 imported slots. It is best to instead select a new starter, as starters in Shard of Dreams automatically get all S stats. In my opinion it is far better to begin the game with 8 perfect Puppets rather than 7!
And, that's all there really is to it.
Please note that if you look up New Game + for Shard of Dreams / Yume no Kakera you will find information about the imported starter retaining its level through the import (as in, level 100 at the beginning of the game, for example). This is no longer true as of Patch 1.017. The imported starter will now begin at level 5 just like all other imported Puppets.
Tuesday, May 17, 2016
Skill Card List is complete!
All 120 Skill Cards are now correctly listed! Albeit, rather messily, but hey, that can be fixed with time.
If you think any of them need better location descriptions just let me know so I can write those up when I do my next playthrough (which starts tomorrow).
Actually, if you think any part needs some work, just let me know so I can pay special attention to it.
I am already aware that the Forgotten Hell guide needs work, because I get lost following my own guide with that one. That one will require a huge rework and probably a lot of tears on my part.
Are there are any other big parts like that that absolutely, for sure, need a full rework that anyone can think of off the tops of their heads?
I'm going to be playing through using my own guide, so obviously if I get confused, I'll alter the guide to be more understandable because if I'm confused with my own instructions then we're all in trouble.
Ah, and forgot to mention that this is Shard of Dreams only for reasons.
Edit: Hemo sneakily added in 5 more Skill Cards (thank you Truepower for noticing this!), but they have now been located and the Skill Card List has been subsequently updated!
If you think any of them need better location descriptions just let me know so I can write those up when I do my next playthrough (which starts tomorrow).
Actually, if you think any part needs some work, just let me know so I can pay special attention to it.
I am already aware that the Forgotten Hell guide needs work, because I get lost following my own guide with that one. That one will require a huge rework and probably a lot of tears on my part.
Are there are any other big parts like that that absolutely, for sure, need a full rework that anyone can think of off the tops of their heads?
I'm going to be playing through using my own guide, so obviously if I get confused, I'll alter the guide to be more understandable because if I'm confused with my own instructions then we're all in trouble.
Ah, and forgot to mention that this is Shard of Dreams only for reasons.
Edit: Hemo sneakily added in 5 more Skill Cards (thank you Truepower for noticing this!), but they have now been located and the Skill Card List has been subsequently updated!
PDP Shard of Dreams Postgame Guide: The End
If you haven't already, Gap to the Human Village. Talk to Kosuzu and make sure you get her to read all the books you have. Any ones that have something in parenthesis means that you haven't read that one yet, so make sure every book has nothing in parenthesis.
You should have 9 Books. If you don't, then I would highly advise running to Scarlet Devil Mansion's library really quick and talking to Koakuma, since that's the only one you can really miss.
Upon reading the final book, a Yukari Puppet will run in and then leave. Exit the building to see the real Yukari waiting outside. She will give you the 10th and final book. Go back inside and read the final book with Kosuzu. She'll give you something, but I have no idea what it is.
Now then, save, heal, and Gap to Hakurei Shrine.
Do you remember where you first met your Starter Puppet near the Shrine? Head back over there. The Yukari Puppet will guide you a bit once you're going the right way. Go down the steps to the sandy area and talk to the real Yukari. She'll ask you a question. I don't know what the possible answers say, but it doesn't appear to matter. She'll leave and seem satisfied regardless.
Hop into the water to the right and surf to the right until you see a cave in the water. Enter it. Reimu will fight you here with a level 75 AyaP, level 78 YukariD, level 80 Reimu EX, level 75 SuikaD, and a level 75 Kasen EX. Continue past her and you'll see Kurumi guarding a teleporter. She will fight you with a level 72 ElisS, level 72 FlandreS, and a level 72 Kurumi EX. Enter the teleporter behind her when you're done.
This brings you to a rather pretty flower field. Go up to an area with bricks and weird glass-ish platforms. Continue along. There will be grass containing Kurumi, Elly, and Yuuka, all around level 71. Continue along, moving upwards.
Elly will be waiting near the door to a large manor. She will fight you with a level 72 SakuyaP, level 72 IchirinD, and a level 72 EllyP. Enter the manor behind her when you're done.
Before going up the central stairs, there's a couple things to find. Go to the right and through the little door. In here, go to the right into the little alcove with two doors. Through the upper door is a room with a bed to heal and a Yin Yang Orb containing a Sun Fruit Jam.
Head back out to the main room and go up the central staircase. Yuuka is up here and will fight you with a level 80 Kurumi EX, level 83 YuukaP, and a level 80 EllyP.
After defeating Yuuka, go to the left and through the little door. Go up and through the door in here. There's a Yin Yang Orb on the table here containing an item that I don't know the name of. Exit the room and go right slightly before going down and through a door. There's a Yin Yang Orb on the table here containing another new item that I don't know the name of (yay?). Exit the room with the door on the right. Go up and through one last door. There's another Yin Yang Orb here containing an Ecstasy Set.
Exit the room and go down the hallway and through the door at the end. Back in the main room, go back down the central staircase and then go left and through the little door down here. Go up and right until you see the double doors in the center of this area. Go through them.
Save. Save. Save. Save. Save. Save. Please save.
Continue up the path. The very long path. Seriously, if you didn't save, then save.
Mugetsu and Gengetsu are waiting at the end. Their fight is, as far as I can tell, the absolute most difficult fight in this game. So bring your absolute best Puppets and strategies, and good luck!
They use a level 83 KoishiA, level 90 Mugetsu EX, level 90 GengetsuS, level 83 Flandre EX, level 85 Satori EX, and a level 85 RemiliaP.
The Mugetsu will heavily burn you and constantly heal its HP. Everything else hits hard. You need to have speed higher than that of the Gengetsu in order to beat it, because it will one-shot most anything else. This means you need to check the wiki for Puppets with at least a Speed stat of 130 and then fully max the EVs for it and preferably give it a Green Mark.
Due to the fact that my strategy with the Gengetsu was just to one-shot before it could hit me, I don't know what moves she has. I'm sure that it's possible to survive a hit by her depending on what attack she uses.
To give an idea of the sort of Puppets you'll need for this, my team was as follows (please not that they are all reincarnated to have all S ranks, and you'll need a lot of type coverage).
Level 100 Koishi EX with red mark.
Level 100 ShouP with black mark.
Level 100 Miko EX with a black mark.
Level 100 Futo EX with a green mark.
Level 100 MomijiS with a red mark.
Level 100 JunkoS with a black mark.
Upon defeating them, first of all, congratulations, and second of all you now have access to the New Game + feature and if you chose to import your original PDP file then you also will now have access to all your previous Puppets.
Just because you've completed the ultimate fight in the game doesn't mean you're done though! There's still plenty of things to do, such as explore the ice cave in the center of Misty Lake, visit Hecatia in her realm, fight Komachi and Eiki, or challenge the Makai 5 again. I'll go over these another time, but for now, I'm going to go start a New Game + and go over how that works in the next section.
Thank you for sticking around for this guide! :)
You should have 9 Books. If you don't, then I would highly advise running to Scarlet Devil Mansion's library really quick and talking to Koakuma, since that's the only one you can really miss.
Upon reading the final book, a Yukari Puppet will run in and then leave. Exit the building to see the real Yukari waiting outside. She will give you the 10th and final book. Go back inside and read the final book with Kosuzu. She'll give you something, but I have no idea what it is.
Now then, save, heal, and Gap to Hakurei Shrine.
Do you remember where you first met your Starter Puppet near the Shrine? Head back over there. The Yukari Puppet will guide you a bit once you're going the right way. Go down the steps to the sandy area and talk to the real Yukari. She'll ask you a question. I don't know what the possible answers say, but it doesn't appear to matter. She'll leave and seem satisfied regardless.
Hop into the water to the right and surf to the right until you see a cave in the water. Enter it. Reimu will fight you here with a level 75 AyaP, level 78 YukariD, level 80 Reimu EX, level 75 SuikaD, and a level 75 Kasen EX. Continue past her and you'll see Kurumi guarding a teleporter. She will fight you with a level 72 ElisS, level 72 FlandreS, and a level 72 Kurumi EX. Enter the teleporter behind her when you're done.
This brings you to a rather pretty flower field. Go up to an area with bricks and weird glass-ish platforms. Continue along. There will be grass containing Kurumi, Elly, and Yuuka, all around level 71. Continue along, moving upwards.
Elly will be waiting near the door to a large manor. She will fight you with a level 72 SakuyaP, level 72 IchirinD, and a level 72 EllyP. Enter the manor behind her when you're done.
Before going up the central stairs, there's a couple things to find. Go to the right and through the little door. In here, go to the right into the little alcove with two doors. Through the upper door is a room with a bed to heal and a Yin Yang Orb containing a Sun Fruit Jam.
Head back out to the main room and go up the central staircase. Yuuka is up here and will fight you with a level 80 Kurumi EX, level 83 YuukaP, and a level 80 EllyP.
After defeating Yuuka, go to the left and through the little door. Go up and through the door in here. There's a Yin Yang Orb on the table here containing an item that I don't know the name of. Exit the room and go right slightly before going down and through a door. There's a Yin Yang Orb on the table here containing another new item that I don't know the name of (yay?). Exit the room with the door on the right. Go up and through one last door. There's another Yin Yang Orb here containing an Ecstasy Set.
Exit the room and go down the hallway and through the door at the end. Back in the main room, go back down the central staircase and then go left and through the little door down here. Go up and right until you see the double doors in the center of this area. Go through them.
Save. Save. Save. Save. Save. Save. Please save.
Continue up the path. The very long path. Seriously, if you didn't save, then save.
Mugetsu and Gengetsu are waiting at the end. Their fight is, as far as I can tell, the absolute most difficult fight in this game. So bring your absolute best Puppets and strategies, and good luck!
They use a level 83 KoishiA, level 90 Mugetsu EX, level 90 GengetsuS, level 83 Flandre EX, level 85 Satori EX, and a level 85 RemiliaP.
The Mugetsu will heavily burn you and constantly heal its HP. Everything else hits hard. You need to have speed higher than that of the Gengetsu in order to beat it, because it will one-shot most anything else. This means you need to check the wiki for Puppets with at least a Speed stat of 130 and then fully max the EVs for it and preferably give it a Green Mark.
Due to the fact that my strategy with the Gengetsu was just to one-shot before it could hit me, I don't know what moves she has. I'm sure that it's possible to survive a hit by her depending on what attack she uses.
To give an idea of the sort of Puppets you'll need for this, my team was as follows (please not that they are all reincarnated to have all S ranks, and you'll need a lot of type coverage).
Level 100 Koishi EX with red mark.
Level 100 ShouP with black mark.
Level 100 Miko EX with a black mark.
Level 100 Futo EX with a green mark.
Level 100 MomijiS with a red mark.
Level 100 JunkoS with a black mark.
Upon defeating them, first of all, congratulations, and second of all you now have access to the New Game + feature and if you chose to import your original PDP file then you also will now have access to all your previous Puppets.
Just because you've completed the ultimate fight in the game doesn't mean you're done though! There's still plenty of things to do, such as explore the ice cave in the center of Misty Lake, visit Hecatia in her realm, fight Komachi and Eiki, or challenge the Makai 5 again. I'll go over these another time, but for now, I'm going to go start a New Game + and go over how that works in the next section.
Thank you for sticking around for this guide! :)
PDP Shard of Dreams Postgame Guide: Shining Needle Castle
Enter the Shining Needle Castle!
This place is incredibly confusing, so bear with me. Basically, some rooms / areas are not accessible from the beginning because the castle is not flipped the correct way. We need to activate switches along the way to flip the castle strategically.
First, enter the room to your right after entering. Medicine Melancholy is waiting in here and will yell at you, before allowing you to continue. The room behind her is currently empty, so exit the room, and go left. Go past the next hallway and inaccessible door. And go up. Go down the stairs when you get to them. Go down until you see Wriggle. She won't fight you, but right above her is a switch. Step on it to flip the castle.
Directly above you now is another switch. Using it will bring you to the spot right above Wriggle with a Yin Yang Orb containing a Floating Stone. Step on the switch again.
Go down and ignore the door for now. Instead, go up the nearby stairs. There's a switch right near you that you should step on. This brings you to a Yin Yang Orb containing a Magic Crystal. Step back on the switch and go back down the stairs. Go through the door just to your left and then through the next one, and step on the switch in the corner.
This brings you to a room with Raiko Horikawa. Fight her and her level 72 YatsuhashiD, level 74 Raiko EX, and a level 72 BenbenP. After defeating her, go through the door below her and then through another one to pick up a Yin Yang Orb containing a Hakurei Shinshu.
Go back to Raiko and use the switch again and then exit the rooms.
Go right past the steps and then up the hallway. A fairy will fight you here with a level 65 OrangeP and a level 65 LyricaP. The fairy also conveniently blocks your way to the switch next to her. Ignore the stairs to the right for now, and instead go just above them and down past Rumia. There's a door down here. Go through it and then through the next one. Use the switch. Go through the next door. Fight the fairy here with a level 65 KagerouS and a level 65 WakasagiP. Go through the door past her.
Go right and up to pick up a Yin Yang Orb containing a Fate Thread. Go back down and then go right. Fight the fairy with a level 65 SeiranS and a level 65 HatateP. Go up past her, right, and then down. Step on the switch. This brings you back to where Rumia was.
Head up, past Rumia again, and go down the steps this time. Go up and to the left. Fight the fairy with a level 65 YuugenP and a level 65 LilyP. Now go back to the right (the only thing to the left is a switch that takes you back to the entrance) and go right past the stairs. Step on the switch here to get a Yin Yang Orb containing a Fluorite.
Go up and past Aya. Step on the nearby switch (left and up past Aya). This brings you back to that last fairy again, so go right and up the steps.
Now, go left and step on the switch next to the fairy that was blocking it earlier. Go down the next set of steps. Continue, and step on the switch. Go up and left past Mystia. Go down and fight a fairy with a level 65 MurasaP and a level 65 YoshikaP. Go through the door and then the next one. Step on the switch.
Exit this room with the door on the right (not the one on the side you just came from). Go through the next door. Fight the fairy with a level 65 LunasaA and a level 65 HinaD. Take the stairs right near her. Then, take the door in the center. You'll be challenged to a fight by Seija Kijin.
Seija uses a level 75 TewiA, level 75 Nue EX, level 78 SeijaD, level 74 WakasagiS, level 75 SekibankiA, and a level 74 KagerouS. After defeating her, she'll run out of the room and you'll talk to Medicine. She'll give you a book for Kosuzu, and then it appears you part with Medicine on good terms.
Now that you're done here, gap out to the Human Village.
This place is incredibly confusing, so bear with me. Basically, some rooms / areas are not accessible from the beginning because the castle is not flipped the correct way. We need to activate switches along the way to flip the castle strategically.
First, enter the room to your right after entering. Medicine Melancholy is waiting in here and will yell at you, before allowing you to continue. The room behind her is currently empty, so exit the room, and go left. Go past the next hallway and inaccessible door. And go up. Go down the stairs when you get to them. Go down until you see Wriggle. She won't fight you, but right above her is a switch. Step on it to flip the castle.
Directly above you now is another switch. Using it will bring you to the spot right above Wriggle with a Yin Yang Orb containing a Floating Stone. Step on the switch again.
Go down and ignore the door for now. Instead, go up the nearby stairs. There's a switch right near you that you should step on. This brings you to a Yin Yang Orb containing a Magic Crystal. Step back on the switch and go back down the stairs. Go through the door just to your left and then through the next one, and step on the switch in the corner.
This brings you to a room with Raiko Horikawa. Fight her and her level 72 YatsuhashiD, level 74 Raiko EX, and a level 72 BenbenP. After defeating her, go through the door below her and then through another one to pick up a Yin Yang Orb containing a Hakurei Shinshu.
Go back to Raiko and use the switch again and then exit the rooms.
Go right past the steps and then up the hallway. A fairy will fight you here with a level 65 OrangeP and a level 65 LyricaP. The fairy also conveniently blocks your way to the switch next to her. Ignore the stairs to the right for now, and instead go just above them and down past Rumia. There's a door down here. Go through it and then through the next one. Use the switch. Go through the next door. Fight the fairy here with a level 65 KagerouS and a level 65 WakasagiP. Go through the door past her.
Go right and up to pick up a Yin Yang Orb containing a Fate Thread. Go back down and then go right. Fight the fairy with a level 65 SeiranS and a level 65 HatateP. Go up past her, right, and then down. Step on the switch. This brings you back to where Rumia was.
Head up, past Rumia again, and go down the steps this time. Go up and to the left. Fight the fairy with a level 65 YuugenP and a level 65 LilyP. Now go back to the right (the only thing to the left is a switch that takes you back to the entrance) and go right past the stairs. Step on the switch here to get a Yin Yang Orb containing a Fluorite.
Go up and past Aya. Step on the nearby switch (left and up past Aya). This brings you back to that last fairy again, so go right and up the steps.
Now, go left and step on the switch next to the fairy that was blocking it earlier. Go down the next set of steps. Continue, and step on the switch. Go up and left past Mystia. Go down and fight a fairy with a level 65 MurasaP and a level 65 YoshikaP. Go through the door and then the next one. Step on the switch.
Exit this room with the door on the right (not the one on the side you just came from). Go through the next door. Fight the fairy with a level 65 LunasaA and a level 65 HinaD. Take the stairs right near her. Then, take the door in the center. You'll be challenged to a fight by Seija Kijin.
Seija uses a level 75 TewiA, level 75 Nue EX, level 78 SeijaD, level 74 WakasagiS, level 75 SekibankiA, and a level 74 KagerouS. After defeating her, she'll run out of the room and you'll talk to Medicine. She'll give you a book for Kosuzu, and then it appears you part with Medicine on good terms.
Now that you're done here, gap out to the Human Village.
PDP Shard of Dreams Postgame Guide: Puppet Liberation Front Aftermath
Gap to Yuuka's House in the Garden of the Sun to begin. Take the path up to enter another area.
Here, you will fight a fairy with a level 65 TewiP and a level 65 RinP. Go up past her and go right when you can. Fight another fairy, this one with a level 65 LettyP and a level 65 IchirinP.
Continue along, go up past some grass and up some steps. Fight a fairy wearing green with a level 65 KoakumaD and a level 65 TokikoP.
Keep following the path along. You'll eventually run across Benben and Yatsuhashi, but you've probably already fought them, so they won't fight you again.
Keep going for a while until you see another fairy in a white hat near some water. She'll fight you with a level 65 LouiseD and a level 65 AyaS. Continue right past her to a screen change.
Continue along. When you get to a ledge to the right do not hop off it yet. Instead, enter the nearby water and go up. There's a Yin Yang Orb containing Skill Card 53.
Go back through the water and hop the ledge to the right. Then, go down and fight a fairy with a level 65 ElisS and a level 65 KurumiP. Continue along past her and up and down a bunch of stairs. When you see a boy and some steps, ignore them, and continue right and down.
When you get to some little half-ledges, take the little path to the right through some grass. Go up and cross the river to the left. There's a Yin Yang Orb in the grass here containing a Floating Stone. Hop in the water again and go up. Ignore the first tiny patch of land to your right and instead get to the second, larger patch of land (also to the right). Go up until you get a screen change. Then up through the grass to pick up a Yin Yang Orb containing Skill Card 96.
Now, gap to the Inn near Kasen's House (so not the Kasen's House gap point, but the one to the right of it). Aya will be right near the steps and will talk to you before flying you directly to the Shining Needle Castle. From this point on, you can Gap here with a gap point just to the southeast of the one you just came from.
See you in the next section, where we will actually explore the castle!
Here, you will fight a fairy with a level 65 TewiP and a level 65 RinP. Go up past her and go right when you can. Fight another fairy, this one with a level 65 LettyP and a level 65 IchirinP.
Continue along, go up past some grass and up some steps. Fight a fairy wearing green with a level 65 KoakumaD and a level 65 TokikoP.
Keep following the path along. You'll eventually run across Benben and Yatsuhashi, but you've probably already fought them, so they won't fight you again.
Keep going for a while until you see another fairy in a white hat near some water. She'll fight you with a level 65 LouiseD and a level 65 AyaS. Continue right past her to a screen change.
Continue along. When you get to a ledge to the right do not hop off it yet. Instead, enter the nearby water and go up. There's a Yin Yang Orb containing Skill Card 53.
Go back through the water and hop the ledge to the right. Then, go down and fight a fairy with a level 65 ElisS and a level 65 KurumiP. Continue along past her and up and down a bunch of stairs. When you see a boy and some steps, ignore them, and continue right and down.
When you get to some little half-ledges, take the little path to the right through some grass. Go up and cross the river to the left. There's a Yin Yang Orb in the grass here containing a Floating Stone. Hop in the water again and go up. Ignore the first tiny patch of land to your right and instead get to the second, larger patch of land (also to the right). Go up until you get a screen change. Then up through the grass to pick up a Yin Yang Orb containing Skill Card 96.
Now, gap to the Inn near Kasen's House (so not the Kasen's House gap point, but the one to the right of it). Aya will be right near the steps and will talk to you before flying you directly to the Shining Needle Castle. From this point on, you can Gap here with a gap point just to the southeast of the one you just came from.
See you in the next section, where we will actually explore the castle!
PDP Shard of Dreams Postgame Guide: Puppet Liberation Front...again.
Gap to the Human Village and go visit Akyuu in her house. A girl in blue will stop you at the gate to tell you to do so (I think).
This sets up a repeat of the Team 9 fights (albeit at higher levels) that you did at the very beginning of the game. Basically, visit the exact same locations as before and reface them. In the exact same order.
Link to the original fights.
The locations start at the third paragraph from the bottom (not including the mini one at the very bottom).
For the rematches:
Cirno will use a level 70 RumiaP and a level 70 CirnoP.
Daiyousei will use a level 70 Cirno EX and a level 70 DaiyouseiS.
Wriggle will use a level 70 DaiyouseiD and a level 70 WriggleP.
Mystia will use a level 70 Wriggle EX and a level 70 MystiaP.
As a warning, Mystia gave me significantly more trouble than the rest of them due to her using a move that swapped her Wriggle out for her Mystia and messed me up.
Finally, Rumia will use a level 68 CirnoP, level 68 MystiaP, level 72 RumiaD, level 68 DaiyouseiS, and a level 68 Wriggle EX.
Upon defeating Rumia, the Puppet Liberation Front will kidnap you and bring you to their hideout where you talk to the Three Fairies. Once you're done, Gap to the nearest Gap Point (the Inn just before the Garden of the Sun / Suzuran Field) and heal. Then exit the Inn and continue down into the Suzuran Field. All the Puppet Liberation Front admins are here, but won't fight you. Hop down the ledges, hugging the right. Continue down the path thing into a field of suzuran. This will trigger an event with Medicine Melancholy.
Medicine will fight you with a level 70 Hina EX, level 70 KogasaS. level 70 RaikoP, level 74 Medicine EX, and a level 70 Kokoro EX.
I'm going to warn you now that the Hina EX is...weird. I don't really know what it's doing, honestly. Most things I try to hit it with do very little damage, but sometimes I do manage to do damage to it, but then that attack won't do that much damage again. All the while, the Hina will be restoring its HP and draining yours. When it gets weak, she'll switch it out for something else if applicable.
After defeating her, you're all set, so gap somewhere to heal and prepare for the next part. It's on to Shining Needle Castle!
This sets up a repeat of the Team 9 fights (albeit at higher levels) that you did at the very beginning of the game. Basically, visit the exact same locations as before and reface them. In the exact same order.
Link to the original fights.
The locations start at the third paragraph from the bottom (not including the mini one at the very bottom).
For the rematches:
Cirno will use a level 70 RumiaP and a level 70 CirnoP.
Daiyousei will use a level 70 Cirno EX and a level 70 DaiyouseiS.
Wriggle will use a level 70 DaiyouseiD and a level 70 WriggleP.
Mystia will use a level 70 Wriggle EX and a level 70 MystiaP.
As a warning, Mystia gave me significantly more trouble than the rest of them due to her using a move that swapped her Wriggle out for her Mystia and messed me up.
Finally, Rumia will use a level 68 CirnoP, level 68 MystiaP, level 72 RumiaD, level 68 DaiyouseiS, and a level 68 Wriggle EX.
Upon defeating Rumia, the Puppet Liberation Front will kidnap you and bring you to their hideout where you talk to the Three Fairies. Once you're done, Gap to the nearest Gap Point (the Inn just before the Garden of the Sun / Suzuran Field) and heal. Then exit the Inn and continue down into the Suzuran Field. All the Puppet Liberation Front admins are here, but won't fight you. Hop down the ledges, hugging the right. Continue down the path thing into a field of suzuran. This will trigger an event with Medicine Melancholy.
Medicine will fight you with a level 70 Hina EX, level 70 KogasaS. level 70 RaikoP, level 74 Medicine EX, and a level 70 Kokoro EX.
I'm going to warn you now that the Hina EX is...weird. I don't really know what it's doing, honestly. Most things I try to hit it with do very little damage, but sometimes I do manage to do damage to it, but then that attack won't do that much damage again. All the while, the Hina will be restoring its HP and draining yours. When it gets weak, she'll switch it out for something else if applicable.
After defeating her, you're all set, so gap somewhere to heal and prepare for the next part. It's on to Shining Needle Castle!
PDP Shard of Dreams Postgame Guide: Hakugyokurou
When you're ready to begin, use your Gap Map. Go to the page with the four gap points and gap to the one on the top right (the one with the white background).
This brings you to a weird bridge in a sea of clouds. Continue up and enter the giant door.
Going up, you'll see a Ghost who won't fight you so, so continue up the stairs. You'll see Marisa, who will fight you with a level 63 PatchouliP, level 63 AliceD, level 63 Mima EX, level 63 NitoriS, and a level 65 MarisaS (I believe holding a Black Ring; so it can't be one-shot).
At this point, I gapped out to heal because she KO'd my Miko ;_;
But, if you're feeling okay, then continue forward!
At the top of the stairs, you'll run into Youmu. She will fight you with a level 65 UdongeP, level 65 SakuyaS, and a level 66 YoumuS. Continue past her and through a little gate and then through another one. Then enter the building.
There's lots of rooms in here!
Begin by going to the left and then up the hallway (ignore the first door in the little alcove to the left because there's nothing there besides Marisa walking around). At the end of that first hallway is a door. Enter it, and then the next door to pick up a Yin Yang Orb containing an item that I can't find the name for. Leave the rooms after.
Ignore the hallway going up, and instead take the downward hall to the right. Go right when you can and enter another room. There's a Yin Yang Orb on a desk here containing a Rice Dumpling. Exit the room and go left, and then down a hall. Go right when you can. There's a room here with two Yin Yang Orbs, both containing Rice Dumplings. Exit the room and go back up. Keep going up another hallway, and then the next one (slightly to the left). This brings you to an area with stone and what looks like little steps leading down into it. Walk into that. This brings out behind the house and Yuyuko will appear behind you.
Yuyuko will fight you with a level 68 YoumuP, level 70 Yukari EX, and a level 72 YuyukoP. Upon defeating her, I believe she heals your Puppets. Re-enter the building below and keep going down until you get to the entrance again. Go through the little gate below, and then go right.
Continue up along the path and keep going up until you have to turn left. Go through another little gate. Go up and through a larger gate this time. Here's you'll reach the area with the Saigyouji Ayakashi and a whole bunch of little Lily Whites running around, but they won't talk to you. Head straight up and cross the tiny bridge.
Talk to the Lily White that is directly in front of the Saigyouji Ayakashi. This one (I think it's the real one?) will fight you with a LEVEL 99 LILY WHITE NORMAL. Personally, I was able to one-shot it with a fire move, and she probably shouldn't be too troublesome. It is not considered a wild Puppet and so cannot be captured, so do not attempt. After defeating her, the Lily Whites will disappear, leaving something directly in front of your character where the one you fought was just standing. Interact with it to obtain a Book for Kosuzu!
That's all there is to do here, so Gap out and deliver that book, and we're getting closer to completing the Postgame!
This brings you to a weird bridge in a sea of clouds. Continue up and enter the giant door.
Going up, you'll see a Ghost who won't fight you so, so continue up the stairs. You'll see Marisa, who will fight you with a level 63 PatchouliP, level 63 AliceD, level 63 Mima EX, level 63 NitoriS, and a level 65 MarisaS (I believe holding a Black Ring; so it can't be one-shot).
At this point, I gapped out to heal because she KO'd my Miko ;_;
But, if you're feeling okay, then continue forward!
At the top of the stairs, you'll run into Youmu. She will fight you with a level 65 UdongeP, level 65 SakuyaS, and a level 66 YoumuS. Continue past her and through a little gate and then through another one. Then enter the building.
There's lots of rooms in here!
Begin by going to the left and then up the hallway (ignore the first door in the little alcove to the left because there's nothing there besides Marisa walking around). At the end of that first hallway is a door. Enter it, and then the next door to pick up a Yin Yang Orb containing an item that I can't find the name for. Leave the rooms after.
Ignore the hallway going up, and instead take the downward hall to the right. Go right when you can and enter another room. There's a Yin Yang Orb on a desk here containing a Rice Dumpling. Exit the room and go left, and then down a hall. Go right when you can. There's a room here with two Yin Yang Orbs, both containing Rice Dumplings. Exit the room and go back up. Keep going up another hallway, and then the next one (slightly to the left). This brings you to an area with stone and what looks like little steps leading down into it. Walk into that. This brings out behind the house and Yuyuko will appear behind you.
Yuyuko will fight you with a level 68 YoumuP, level 70 Yukari EX, and a level 72 YuyukoP. Upon defeating her, I believe she heals your Puppets. Re-enter the building below and keep going down until you get to the entrance again. Go through the little gate below, and then go right.
Continue up along the path and keep going up until you have to turn left. Go through another little gate. Go up and through a larger gate this time. Here's you'll reach the area with the Saigyouji Ayakashi and a whole bunch of little Lily Whites running around, but they won't talk to you. Head straight up and cross the tiny bridge.
Talk to the Lily White that is directly in front of the Saigyouji Ayakashi. This one (I think it's the real one?) will fight you with a LEVEL 99 LILY WHITE NORMAL. Personally, I was able to one-shot it with a fire move, and she probably shouldn't be too troublesome. It is not considered a wild Puppet and so cannot be captured, so do not attempt. After defeating her, the Lily Whites will disappear, leaving something directly in front of your character where the one you fought was just standing. Interact with it to obtain a Book for Kosuzu!
That's all there is to do here, so Gap out and deliver that book, and we're getting closer to completing the Postgame!
PDP Shard of Dreams Postgame Guide: Heaven
Use your Gap Map and go to the page with the four gap points. Select the one on the bottom right to go to Heaven.
There's an Old Man right where you gap in, but he won't fight you.
If you go down there's just some grass containing Ichirin, Suika, Raiko, Iku, and Tenshi, all levels 64 to 66-ish.
Anyway, go left and cross the bridge. There's some grass to the left and some water. Nothing to see here. Continue up.
Eventually, you will run into Iku Nagae. She will fight you with a level 66 SeigaS, level 66 GyokutoS, level 68 IkuP, and a level 66 SagumeP.
Continue along past her. Don't go up the stairs near her yet though. Go down the stairs a bit to the left of her and then up through some flowers to a Yin Yang Orb containing an Art of Combat, and then go back to Iku and up the stairs directly to her left.
Before crossing the bridge, pick up the Yin Yang Orb containing an Ecstasy Set. Cross the bridge, and go up (not right).
Keep going up some steps until you see a Ghost (who won't fight you). Cross the bridge to the left. You'll see some water and a Yin Yang Orb to your left, but just ignore them for the moment because we'll get them in a minute. Go up the steps instead. Keep going and go down some steps, and then down more steps when you see a guy. Cross the bridge below and pick up the Yin Yang Orb on the other side containing a Straw Doll. Go back up the bridge and back up the steps near the guy. Then go left and hop the nearby ledge to pick up a Yin Yang Orb (the one you saw earlier) containing something that I can't find on the wiki's item list I think. Go down the stairs and cross the water, going left. Continue left and go all the way back down until you see the bridge that goes down.
Go right. Go up when you can and into some grass to pick up a Yin Yang Orb containing another Ecstasy Set. Go back down and keep going right and up some steps. Ignore the water and keep going up steps. You'll eventually see Tenshi.
Tenshi will fight you with a level 70 IkuP, level 70 SuikaP, and a level 70 TenshiP (with Indomitable, of course).
Once she's defeated, enter the water to her right and go down the waterfall. Continue down the water and down another waterfall. Exit the water onto the left side. Go down and cross the bridge, then hop the nearby ledge to pick up one last Yin Yang Orb, this one containing another Ecstasy Set.
And that's all there is to see here! Gap out and the next stop is the Netherworld!
There's an Old Man right where you gap in, but he won't fight you.
If you go down there's just some grass containing Ichirin, Suika, Raiko, Iku, and Tenshi, all levels 64 to 66-ish.
Anyway, go left and cross the bridge. There's some grass to the left and some water. Nothing to see here. Continue up.
Eventually, you will run into Iku Nagae. She will fight you with a level 66 SeigaS, level 66 GyokutoS, level 68 IkuP, and a level 66 SagumeP.
Continue along past her. Don't go up the stairs near her yet though. Go down the stairs a bit to the left of her and then up through some flowers to a Yin Yang Orb containing an Art of Combat, and then go back to Iku and up the stairs directly to her left.
Before crossing the bridge, pick up the Yin Yang Orb containing an Ecstasy Set. Cross the bridge, and go up (not right).
Keep going up some steps until you see a Ghost (who won't fight you). Cross the bridge to the left. You'll see some water and a Yin Yang Orb to your left, but just ignore them for the moment because we'll get them in a minute. Go up the steps instead. Keep going and go down some steps, and then down more steps when you see a guy. Cross the bridge below and pick up the Yin Yang Orb on the other side containing a Straw Doll. Go back up the bridge and back up the steps near the guy. Then go left and hop the nearby ledge to pick up a Yin Yang Orb (the one you saw earlier) containing something that I can't find on the wiki's item list I think. Go down the stairs and cross the water, going left. Continue left and go all the way back down until you see the bridge that goes down.
Go right. Go up when you can and into some grass to pick up a Yin Yang Orb containing another Ecstasy Set. Go back down and keep going right and up some steps. Ignore the water and keep going up steps. You'll eventually see Tenshi.
Tenshi will fight you with a level 70 IkuP, level 70 SuikaP, and a level 70 TenshiP (with Indomitable, of course).
Once she's defeated, enter the water to her right and go down the waterfall. Continue down the water and down another waterfall. Exit the water onto the left side. Go down and cross the bridge, then hop the nearby ledge to pick up one last Yin Yang Orb, this one containing another Ecstasy Set.
And that's all there is to see here! Gap out and the next stop is the Netherworld!
PDP Shard of Dreams Post Game: Unlocking Netplay
To unlock Netplay, you should first gap to Yukari's house (on the Gap Map page with the four box maps; it's the one on the top left). Once here (this is a good leveling spot, by the way), go to the left to find Yukari's house.
Before entering the house, take the path down from the house and keep going down and over a bridge to pick up a Yin Yang orb containing a Skirmisher Charm.
When you're ready, go up and enter Yukari's House. Once inside, there is only one door to enter. In this room, you can find Ran at the very back. Talk to her to fight her.
Ran uses a level 63 Momiji EX, a level 63 MamizouP (disguised as a Ran), a level 65 Ran EX, and a level 63 ChenA (which can use the PDP-equivalent of Encore).
After she's defeated, leave to heal if you like, and when you're ready, continue through the door next to Ran. Yukari's waiting in here, and will fight you.
Yukari uses a level 65 Chen EX, level 66 RanP, level 68 Yukari EX, level 65 Suika EX, and a level 65 TenshiP. I don't know if she will always do this, but I know that she stunned my Puppet in the first turn with Chen, and then swapped out, and didn't send Chen back out until it was her only remaining Puppet. Also, the Tenshi has Indomitable, so don't think you'll be one-shotting it.
Upon defeat, Yukari will talk to you and bring you outside to show her the gates near where you Gap in. If my intuition is correct, going through the gates will bring you to the Netplay lobby. I'm not really going to explain Netplay, since I'm not so interested in it. I'm sure the wiki or the TPDP forum has something on it though (or at least can better explain than I can).
And that is how you unlock Netplay! Enjoy!
Before entering the house, take the path down from the house and keep going down and over a bridge to pick up a Yin Yang orb containing a Skirmisher Charm.
When you're ready, go up and enter Yukari's House. Once inside, there is only one door to enter. In this room, you can find Ran at the very back. Talk to her to fight her.
Ran uses a level 63 Momiji EX, a level 63 MamizouP (disguised as a Ran), a level 65 Ran EX, and a level 63 ChenA (which can use the PDP-equivalent of Encore).
After she's defeated, leave to heal if you like, and when you're ready, continue through the door next to Ran. Yukari's waiting in here, and will fight you.
Yukari uses a level 65 Chen EX, level 66 RanP, level 68 Yukari EX, level 65 Suika EX, and a level 65 TenshiP. I don't know if she will always do this, but I know that she stunned my Puppet in the first turn with Chen, and then swapped out, and didn't send Chen back out until it was her only remaining Puppet. Also, the Tenshi has Indomitable, so don't think you'll be one-shotting it.
Upon defeat, Yukari will talk to you and bring you outside to show her the gates near where you Gap in. If my intuition is correct, going through the gates will bring you to the Netplay lobby. I'm not really going to explain Netplay, since I'm not so interested in it. I'm sure the wiki or the TPDP forum has something on it though (or at least can better explain than I can).
And that is how you unlock Netplay! Enjoy!
Sunday, May 8, 2016
Another character
I just deleted my Elementalist, Lucia Snapdragon, because she seemed a little bland compared to my other characters and I could never find dyes that looked nice with her coloring. Also, it seemed weird to have 3 light armor characters, 2 heavy, and only 1 medium.
Sooo, I made a Thief instead!
And I think she looks really, really, really nice, despite the fact that I don't have a customization kit for her yet. I did splurge and buy $10 worth of gems to buy a new outfit though. It left me with 100 gems leftover, so if I just sell some more stuff in-game I'll have enough to get a customization kit again. Soon, soon!
Although...I'm not sure I if I want one for her. I think she looks nice the way she is. If I get one, it'll probably be to adjust my Revenant since she's kind of wonky looking at the moment (her head seems too small compared to her body?).
Also, can we talk about how pretty the Crystal Savant outfit is? Because it's gorgeous. It dyes beautifully with some dyes, although with others it seems a little too light. The back of it is so pretty, and the necklace thing kind of glows along with the shoulder crystals. The back also glows a bit. It's so pretty. Red is gorgeous on it. I also have Keiana using it right now, in white and yellow; it still looks nice, but not nearly as nice as it looks on Lucia here. I don't like using basically the same color scheme as I do on my Reaper, but I was kind of going for an autumn theme. It's awfully green outside, so I wanted to make an autumn-themed Sylvari.
And I know, I know, I never like Thieves. But I don't know, it's actually pretty fun this time. I think it's because I have stuffed myself into Dagger/Dagger, and I'm instead using Sword/Pistol, which is way more fun. I still find Shortbow really clunky though.
Also, I am making good progress on my Mesmer again. I've been grinding Hero Challenges today, and I think I need 95 more points total (which is a big improvement over earlier today) before I have Chronomancer maxed out.
I'm hoping that once I have my Chronomancer stuff all sorted out that maybe I'll feel better and more confident and could try to do a dungeon for once? I've never done one in GW2 because I've heard bad stories about the community in them, and the party finder is difficult for me to use. I like when games have a proper LFG system where it automatically puts you in random parties. It's easier on my anxiety. I am absolutely dreading using GW2's party finder, where it is far more personal in my opinion. It would be extremely difficult to get myself to use. I am in a guild, so I would ask for help, but I can't get myself to speak up and ask, and whenever I feel like I can, something sabotages me (either they'll log off and I won't get a chance to ask, or I do ask and they either don't see / ignore it or something). I think I'm a decent Mesmer, and I would really like to do content, but I'm just too terrified to with a random group! At least for the first runs. I feel like once I've done even one dungeon I'll feel better, like with FFXIV.
I can't quite figure out what it is about FFXIV that makes me somewhat comfortable with being in a group. I don't know. Usually if someone comes up and talks to me in-game, I'll immediately just log off in panic, but when I'm in a dungeon I can talk to people. I can lead the group, I can answer questions, I can make small talk. I'm wondering if it's because healing has more of a leadership position to it with people heavily relying on you that makes me comfortable? I know that's part of what makes me uncomfortable trying GW2's dungeons. I can't hide behind being the healer. I'm not a very good DPS, and honestly, I should be working on grinding Hero points with my Ranger instead so I can Druid heal. But I don't know, I like Mesmer thematically way more. If sometime in the future they make a healing specialization for Mesmer, I'll play it in a heartbeat.
Sorry, went off on a tangent there. I've just been getting very mopey about playing MMOs by myself all the time. I want to be sociable and actually play the game with people, but I can't get myself to no matter how much I try. I'll be okay though.
Sooo, I made a Thief instead!
And I think she looks really, really, really nice, despite the fact that I don't have a customization kit for her yet. I did splurge and buy $10 worth of gems to buy a new outfit though. It left me with 100 gems leftover, so if I just sell some more stuff in-game I'll have enough to get a customization kit again. Soon, soon!
Although...I'm not sure I if I want one for her. I think she looks nice the way she is. If I get one, it'll probably be to adjust my Revenant since she's kind of wonky looking at the moment (her head seems too small compared to her body?).
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| Lucia Snapdragon Version 2.0 |
Also, can we talk about how pretty the Crystal Savant outfit is? Because it's gorgeous. It dyes beautifully with some dyes, although with others it seems a little too light. The back of it is so pretty, and the necklace thing kind of glows along with the shoulder crystals. The back also glows a bit. It's so pretty. Red is gorgeous on it. I also have Keiana using it right now, in white and yellow; it still looks nice, but not nearly as nice as it looks on Lucia here. I don't like using basically the same color scheme as I do on my Reaper, but I was kind of going for an autumn theme. It's awfully green outside, so I wanted to make an autumn-themed Sylvari.
And I know, I know, I never like Thieves. But I don't know, it's actually pretty fun this time. I think it's because I have stuffed myself into Dagger/Dagger, and I'm instead using Sword/Pistol, which is way more fun. I still find Shortbow really clunky though.
Also, I am making good progress on my Mesmer again. I've been grinding Hero Challenges today, and I think I need 95 more points total (which is a big improvement over earlier today) before I have Chronomancer maxed out.
I'm hoping that once I have my Chronomancer stuff all sorted out that maybe I'll feel better and more confident and could try to do a dungeon for once? I've never done one in GW2 because I've heard bad stories about the community in them, and the party finder is difficult for me to use. I like when games have a proper LFG system where it automatically puts you in random parties. It's easier on my anxiety. I am absolutely dreading using GW2's party finder, where it is far more personal in my opinion. It would be extremely difficult to get myself to use. I am in a guild, so I would ask for help, but I can't get myself to speak up and ask, and whenever I feel like I can, something sabotages me (either they'll log off and I won't get a chance to ask, or I do ask and they either don't see / ignore it or something). I think I'm a decent Mesmer, and I would really like to do content, but I'm just too terrified to with a random group! At least for the first runs. I feel like once I've done even one dungeon I'll feel better, like with FFXIV.
I can't quite figure out what it is about FFXIV that makes me somewhat comfortable with being in a group. I don't know. Usually if someone comes up and talks to me in-game, I'll immediately just log off in panic, but when I'm in a dungeon I can talk to people. I can lead the group, I can answer questions, I can make small talk. I'm wondering if it's because healing has more of a leadership position to it with people heavily relying on you that makes me comfortable? I know that's part of what makes me uncomfortable trying GW2's dungeons. I can't hide behind being the healer. I'm not a very good DPS, and honestly, I should be working on grinding Hero points with my Ranger instead so I can Druid heal. But I don't know, I like Mesmer thematically way more. If sometime in the future they make a healing specialization for Mesmer, I'll play it in a heartbeat.
Sorry, went off on a tangent there. I've just been getting very mopey about playing MMOs by myself all the time. I want to be sociable and actually play the game with people, but I can't get myself to no matter how much I try. I'll be okay though.
Wednesday, May 4, 2016
GW2 characters!
Time for another update on my GW2 character appearances! I feel like they're overdue. I just think the GW2 character models are gorgeous, and so I like to share mine far more often than I like to share my characters from other games. My GW2 characters are my best looking ones aside from maybe my FFXIV character.
I'm really happy with my decision to use my level 80 boost on my new Ranger. I've had that Timekeeper (is that what it's called?) bow skin for a while now but no characters that use bows, and I like the idea of making her a Druid. I wish the picture of her wasn't a nighttime one, because I love what she looks like during the day more. She's pretty with the hood of her outfit off too, it just doesn't go well with her outfit as much, and doesn't look as good at night. When I catch her in the daytime I'll take a new screenshot.
Not really back at GW2 and not really not either. I'm kind of feeling between games at the moment, and testing the waters of GW2 again. Honestly, I came back to GW2 just to use my 80 boost, and now I'm deciding if I want to stick around for a while or not. I'm also playing WoW very occasionally. I made a gnome with my dad's guild and I've been playing with them a bit every so often, but it's not like that takes up much of my time, and I'm on vacation now (just turned in my final a couple days ago). I will undoubtedly be back to WoW in July or so, or whenever the fire festival is because I always end up being into WoW during that particular festival and it annoys me because I've never done any other in-game festival in WoW besides that one, because my interest in it just doesn't line up at those times. It's when I first started playing in 2008, and I always manage to return during it. Why I never feel like playing during any other festival time, I don't know. Kind of like how I always feel like playing FFXIV around Christmas, and never during the summer or something.
Guild Wars 2 just kind of squeezes in whenever I'm in-between games because it's free, but I tend to gravitate towards it at Halloween.
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| Keiana Xiphium, my Chronomancer. |
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| Dahlia Strelitzia, my Reaper. |
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| Iris Fay Flora, my new boosted Ranger. |
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| Cordelia Thyme, my level 55 Guardian. |
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| Lucia Snapdragon, my level 32 Elementalist. |
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| Lucinda Strelitzia, my level 23 Revenant. |
I'm really happy with my decision to use my level 80 boost on my new Ranger. I've had that Timekeeper (is that what it's called?) bow skin for a while now but no characters that use bows, and I like the idea of making her a Druid. I wish the picture of her wasn't a nighttime one, because I love what she looks like during the day more. She's pretty with the hood of her outfit off too, it just doesn't go well with her outfit as much, and doesn't look as good at night. When I catch her in the daytime I'll take a new screenshot.
Not really back at GW2 and not really not either. I'm kind of feeling between games at the moment, and testing the waters of GW2 again. Honestly, I came back to GW2 just to use my 80 boost, and now I'm deciding if I want to stick around for a while or not. I'm also playing WoW very occasionally. I made a gnome with my dad's guild and I've been playing with them a bit every so often, but it's not like that takes up much of my time, and I'm on vacation now (just turned in my final a couple days ago). I will undoubtedly be back to WoW in July or so, or whenever the fire festival is because I always end up being into WoW during that particular festival and it annoys me because I've never done any other in-game festival in WoW besides that one, because my interest in it just doesn't line up at those times. It's when I first started playing in 2008, and I always manage to return during it. Why I never feel like playing during any other festival time, I don't know. Kind of like how I always feel like playing FFXIV around Christmas, and never during the summer or something.
Guild Wars 2 just kind of squeezes in whenever I'm in-between games because it's free, but I tend to gravitate towards it at Halloween.
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