Tuesday, June 20, 2017

Some things I've noticed while playing through Stormblood

First of all, I'm level 70 now! Yay me! Got all the MSQ complete too!

Anyway, I just wanted to share some things I've been thinking this whole time. I'm going to try to keep this spoiler free. For Stormblood. Not necessarily for ARR or Heavensward.

- White Mage plays really well. I never feel like I'm running out of MP unless there's been a lot of raising. The Lilies are rather mindless but useful to have because I know they are having an effect on Assize's CD. Divine Benison is rather useful for keeping people alive long enough to pop a Regen on them and heal them up. Thin Air is amazing both for MP management for big heals and also for Holy spam. But mostly for Holy spam.

- I still don't know what the point of Plenary Indulgence is. I mean, I'll hit the button if the tank has stacks and is taking damage, but I have yet to ever be in a situation where the AoE bit has come into play because, well, Medica doesn't give Confession stacks and if I'm AoE healing to the point where Plenary Indulgence's high heal is useful then I'm not exactly Cure spamming am I? Whenever it would be useful to have, the tank has no stacks. Whenever the tank is taking no damage, they've got 3 stacks. And it's not particularly useful on one target because it's less potency than a Cure II except less reliable (the tank almost never has 3 stacks). I guess it's free though, but that's about the only benefit. It just feels clumsy.

- Why do White Mages still have Cure III? When do I ever use Cure III? Never! And now that we don't have the Overcure trait anymore it's not like we can even get it for half MP...I've used it precisely once, and that was because I hit the button by accident.

- Shisui of Violet Tides is probably my favorite dungeon in the game. Too bad no one is running it because it's optional >_> I want my healer bathing suit.

- The dungeons feel easier than the HW ones did. I remember having a lot of trouble healing the HW dungeons. In fact, even going back now (because all I get in roulette is Sohm Al?) they're still more healing intensive than the new ones. The Vault stressed me out to the point where I stopped healing / playing for a while. There has been no equivalent this expansion (thank goodness) with the exception of.......

- The last trial in the MSQ. I'll talk about this vaguely, but OW. This fight WILL cause your group to wipe multiple times. It will kick your butt. No exaggeration, it's just really hard. Maybe it's better with a premade group that has good communication, but with a group of random people? Nope, not happening in one try. Not until we all overgear it anyway. I did it once for my own MSQ and it just popped up for my trial roulette. It makes me feel sick to my stomach.

-  Ok, honestly I've figured out most of the mechanics of it thus far. I get it. I even understand the one I keep dying to continuously. The boss throws out a long column AoE across the entire platform, with only two safe spots at the corners (and sometimes there's only one safe corner for reasons I will not disclose). Every. Single. Time. This happens after the first time, I die to it. On my screen it shows me being safely across and in the safe area but then boom, knocked off the platform. I seem to be the only person having this issue in my groups too.

- Swimming underwater is really cool. It's just...I don't see much of a point in going down there if you don't have quests down there? There's nothing to do, unless you're a Fisher or Miner...

- That said, I saw people shouting in chat that swimming while underwater is too slow. It's not. The issue is that you're swimming. Some mounts work underwater, and go much faster than just plain swimming. I've been using the promotional Cloud mount, but everyone has access to at least one that works under water: Midgardsormr.

-  I counted 4 Hamilton references throughout the MSQ. 2 as quest names, and 2 in quest dialogue. One of them in one of the last cutscenes of the MSQ.  All of which were perfectly fine in context, I might add. The last one might not have been a reference and might have been a coincidence, but given the precedence of the others (plus the one from the quest for Alexander Savage in HW) it wouldn't surprise me if it was.


- The level 68-69-ish healer gear makes you look like Ezio.

- Every time I've had a Samurai in my party they die to stupid things. I'm sorry. I know there's good samurais out there, I just haven't met one :(

- People should do the darn mechanics. I know this is new content and people don't know the fights yet, but most of the time the markers are the exact same as they've always been. I've had a group ignore a stack-up marker before. A stack-up marker should not be a surprise that you don't know how to counter? And standing in AoEs has always been bad.

- The dungeon in Azim Steppe is really cool. Trust me.

- The only class I've messed with besides WHM is Bard. It seemed fun but very hectic. More than it was. Even with my Bard which is level 58, I feel like I'm constantly mashing buttons. What with Army's Paeon boosting your attack speed and Mage's Ballad giving you near-constant Bloodletter procs. I'm not sure about the Wanderer's Minuet one because it doesn't seem like I'm always getting 3 stacks of Pitch Perfect so I'm wondering if I'm doing something wrong? I'll probably level Bard up next.

- Red Mage is fun to mess with, but I don't think I'd actually want to play it. I like Black Mage more overall. And I did not like Samurai. Its combos seem clumsy and it feels like they have so many buttons compared to the other classes now. RDM too to some extent, but less clumsy feeling.

I'll write more as I think of anything.

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