When I started this blog 9.5 years ago I didn’t know yet if I would stick to it. Time and again I debated whether a domain made sense or not. Now I decided it’s time to do the jump and not wait until the 10 years are full, so here it is. Battle Stance, formerly known as Armagon Live. The content won’t change, the history is fully imported, just the URL is different. I guess I’ll have to tweak some of the CSS because I’m not yet 100% happy with the theme. Happy reading.
Battle Stance
I know it’s a silly coincidence, but I just learned the /battlestance emote in FFXIV, which I didn’t even know existed. That is all.
Heavensward
Hit 60 on Bard today and already managed to do the first of the end-of-expansion dungeons, but not the second. First I was a little letdown as I hadn’t expected to be blocked by the gear wall (needs iLvl 142, I had ~127) but then I remembered to update my gear, 5mins after dinging 60 – I had already bought 5 pieces of Idyllshire 230 gear, which easily catapulted me to 181, so I was even downleveled 1 iLvl for the dungeon. Oops.
Warrior is 58 and, like Bard, caught up on Job quests for now. I’m trying to do one 50-60 dungeon roulette per day and not catch up to Bard again. Not sure if the XP bonus now works or not.
I’m still a little mixed on how I liked the Heavensward MSQ. Parts of it were great, parts of it were kinda weird and seemed out of place. I think I liked the ARR MSQ story better, overall.
From a gameplay perspective, I didn’t like Ishgard at first, but this improved a little. It’s still ugly as hell and boring and grey. The zones are all too big and with too few Aetheryte Crystals, until you are able to fly, that is. But once I was able to fly in a zone, I was basically done there. We’ll see how often I need to go back in the post-expansion quest line. The ones I kinda dreaded in ARR. According to this page there’s only 25+19 = 44 though, and not over 70? like in ARR. Also I want to learn more of the Scions’ fate, dammit!
I also pre-ordered Shadowbringers last night and am enjoying my +30% XP earring already. And I did a few Ixal quests again, so Weaver is 30 now, Blacksmith is 29.5 and there’s only Armorer at 25 and Goldsmith+Leatherworker at 26 to grind out until 30.
Rested XP and many alts
Right now I’m not dead set on playing a certain character, or even a certain game. FFXIV is a lot of fun, sure – but I’m right at the end of leveling in Heavensward (Bard is 59 now) and I have the feeling that you need to grind out long stretches every time you need a level to continue the MSQ. It was a little painful to reach 59 already, and now I need a dungeon run in some library and then… a quest gives ~40-50k XP and I need like 4m to 60. That’s about 80-100 quests. Dungeon runs are a little better XP per time, but for that I need rested XP.
Switch to WoW, I’m not participating in any endgame stuff or even trying to gear up my toons any further (iLvl 394 on Alliance and 390 on Horde is plenty, without really trying), but somehow leveling is really fun right now. I also have quite a few toons with rested XP, so here’s what I managed to do in the last week or so:
- Kul Tiran Mage to 30
- Mag’har Orc Rogue to 37
- Dwarf Hunter to 85
- Human Rogue to 115
- Draenei DK tp 64
- Blood Elf Priest to 110
Author NogamaraPosted on Categories Final Fantasy XIV, WoWLeave a comment on Rested XP and many alts Heritage armor revisited
When I wrote about Heritage armor a month ago I assumed something which I now think is wrong (see last paragraph). So let’s assume the requirements are “Level 120 and Exalted with your faction”.
- Horde
- Orc (not ingame) – Exalted: 120 Rogue, 120 Shaman, 111 Hunter
- Troll (not ingame) – Exalted : 120 Warrior
- Tauren – Exalted: 102 Druid
- Undead (not ingame) – Revered: 102 Mage (-18600), Honored: 102 DK (-30100)
- Blood Elf – Exalted: 111 Warlock, Revered: 110 Priest (-9300), 102 Paladin (-17000)
- Goblin (not ingame) – Revered: 86 Warrior (-73, really)
- Both
- Pandaren (not ingame) – ???
- Alliance
- Human (not ingame) – Exalted: 114 Rogue
- Night Elf (not ingame) – Exalted: 120 Warrior, Friendly: 120 DH (-38000)
- Dwarf* – Revered: 120 Paladin (-10300), 82 Hunter (-20000)
- Gnome (8.1.5, soon) – Honored: 90 Rogue (-26000)
- Draenei (not ingame) – Friendly: 61 DK (-36500)
*: The 120 Dwarf Paladin started at Honored today, but I invested like 3h and brought her to 10700 Revered, doing all of Dun Morogh, Loch Modan, and 90% of Wetlands for a total of nearly 25k. Also one run of Gnomeregan for the quest rep, and all this with the +10% Darkmoon Faire reputation buff. The first 18k went smoothly at ~8-9k per hour, Wetlands wasn’t so fast, that was only 6-7k in one hour. Still not complaining. Not sure if Arathi makes any sense now or if I should spam dungeons with my Ironforge Tabard, but I really want to get this armor as I’m really annoyed that I don’t get any for my 3 most played Horde characters, which by chance happen to be Orc, Orc, and Troll.
I will probably level one of the 110 Blood Elves soonish, probably the Warlock anyway, so this should be no problem. The Human Rogue will again be 120 without armor available. For the Tauren Druid I’m sadly in no hurry, and the Gnome is lacking 30 levels and a ton of rep and is also not on my main server, won’t happen soon 🙁
Quick FFXIV update
Friday: Going afk for a few days so might as well post a progress update before that.
Sunday: Of course scheduling didn’t work, but unexpected downtime, checking other people’s gaming blogs and noticing it…
WAR and BRD are both at 56 (poor planning on my part). Did some 50/60 duty roulettes as a DPS. Planning to do more of them as a tank when I saw them once. Also caught up with the MSQ, didn’t finish the Level 56 ones, but those were the reason I soldiered on to 56.
I also unlocked flying in the first 3 zones after a dungeon and some running around to find the remaining Aether Currents and some easy quests. Kinda painless compare to WoW.
In lowbie news, the WHM is nearing 40 and the GLD is now a Paladin, at Level 30. Culinarian is 38 (37 would’ve been enough) and I’m already kinda sick of the Ixal dailies. Ah well, fine if you’re waiting in a DPS duty queue…
Hello Ishgard
Big news in the last week. I did finally manage to finish all the ARR content and I’m now finally in Ishgard. Because of this slog I was also busy doing quite a lot of other things. Ishgard is… grey. But the quests aren’t bad so far, but also not really awesome. Let’s see.
In reverse chronological order I finished the FFXV crossover event last night, and Hatching-Tide a few days ago.
Then I finally did some crafting again, although I had stopped doing the Ixal dailies every day. But 2 jobs are over 30 now, next is Culinarion to 38 for a new skill. Also the gatherers got some love
And finally I did gain some levels on the normal jobs
- 54 Warrior – trying to stay ahead now because of Armory XP
- 53 Bard
- 36 White Mage – and the trinity is complete
- 25 Gladiator – more tanking!
- 15 Arcanist
- (50 Red Mage) – just a quick glance, this seems weird 😛
Level ALL the alts
Been a while since I posted an update on leveling progress (main server).
- 120:
- Orc Rogue, iLvl 389
- Orc Shaman, iLvl 311
- Troll Warrior, iLvl 311
- Dwarf Paladin, iLvl 393
- Worgen Druid, iLvl 352
- Night Elf Warrior, iLvl 361
- Night Elf Demon Hunter, iLvl 332
- 110+
- Orc Hunter, 111
- Blood Elf Warlock, 111
- Human Rogue, 112
- 100+
- Blood Elf Priest, 104
- Tauren Druid, 102
- Undead Mage, 102
- Blood Elf Paladin, 101
- Undead Death Knight, 101
- 99-
- Pandaren Monk, 92
- Dwarf Shaman, 91
- Dwarf Hunter, 80
- Worgen Priest, 73
- Draenei Death Knight, 61
- Mag’har Orc Rogue, 29
Just finished: NE Warrior and DH to 120
Focusing currently on the 29 Orc Rogue in small 30-60min doses, started the BE Priest (Shadow is not very fun right now) and the Human Rogue.
Recent progression: Dwarf Hunter 60-80, Dwarf Shaman 80-91, created the Draenei DK.
Plans in the near future: BE Warlock
ARRgh
It’s not that I’m not having fun in FFXIV, but I was really enjoying the game before I hit 50. I tried everything the game had to offer me as a beginner (as far as I know): a DPS class, a tanking class, a healing class, crafting, more crafting, gathering, beast tribe dailies, random duty roulette – everything was fine in moderation. And new. And fun.
Then I hit 50 (with the MSQ) and had to do all the story end-game content in the original game (ARR). This page shows my struggle, but it’s misleading. Each of those quests can have 3-7 steps with trips to several towns.
- Patch 2.1 (A Realm Awoken) – DONE
- 19 quests, 1 dungeon
- Patch 2.2 (Through the Maelstrom) – DONE
- 19 quests, 1 trial (hard)
- Patch 2.3 (Defenders of Eorzea) – DONE
- 19 quests, 1 trial (hard)
- Patch 2.4 (Dreams of Ice) – DONE
- 19 quests, 1 dungeon, 1 trial (hard)
- Patch 2.5 (Before the Fall – Part 1)
- 8 quests…
- no wait, go back to 2.4 – the page is missing something:
- 1 trial (hard)
- 1 trial (hard)
- 1 trial (hard)
- Patch 2.55 (Before the Fall – Part 2)
And worst of all, they are sequential – it would be a lot better if you could just queue (30 mins as dps for the first one today) for all of them at the same time. But no, that’s probably 2 hours where you have to be available for up to an hour, so a planned session. Meh.
As I wanted to get this stuff done (the above was written last night) I queued for Garuda (Hard) and waited in vain for an hour. Two awesome people in the novice network offered to help and while I was confused at first I learned something new: you can queue up unsynced and the 2 70s made quick work of Garuda and Titan (at Level 50, Hard) and not 15mins later I have this step done. Thank you, random strangers helping new players out!
Heritage Armor
Thought about how I stand in regard to attaining the Heritage Armor for all races, once it comes out. So I made a list, I seem to love lists for MMOs.
- Horde:
- Orcs: done, 2 at 120
- Trolls: done, 1 at 120
- Tauren: nearly done, 1 at 103
- Undead: ohoh. 1 DK at 102 and a 102 Mage that was boosted to 60 by Refer a Friend, iirc. It’s been a while.
- Blood Elves: done, 1 at 111, 2 at 102, don’t remember boosting
- Goblin: ok-ish, 1 at 86
- Both
- Pandaren: ok-ish, 1 at 92
- Alliance
- Humans: done, 1 at 112
- Night Elves: done, 1 at 120, don’t remember boosting
- Dwarves: ok-ish, 1 at 91, 1 at 80, don’t remember boosting
- Gnomes: ok-ish, 1 at 90, don’t remember boosting
- Draenei: nope, 1 at 20, 1 DK
- Worgen: unclear, 1 at 73, don’t remember boosting and one 120 (boosted to 110)
- Allied Races
- Mag’har Orcs: 1 at 28
- Highmountain: 1 at 20
- Nightborne: unlocked, no char
- Zandalari: unlocked, no char
- Dark Iron Dwarves: unlocked, no char
- Kul Tiran Humans: 1 at 22
- Lightforged Draenei: not unlocked
- Void Elves: not unlocked
So if we tally this up:
- 5 races done
- 1 race done in a few hours
- 5 races in the 7x-9x bracket (few more hours)
- 7 races (potentially) at 20-28
- 2 races not started
- 2 races not unlocked
I’d say this kind of sucks for someone who was already kind of spreading races around, has 15 chars at 110+ (and 3 more at 90+) and played the game for 10 years. All just because they introduced rewards for something arbitrary 13-14 years after launch. I know it’s silly but I feel reminded of when they introduced achievements and we got credited for all sorts of stuff, unless you were doing a lot of PvP and all the Battleground data wasn’t there. Sure, rank 11 with 0 WSGs won…
Just checked all my blog posts and some chars. Apparently I did have a Level 90 boost at some point in Legion and I don’t remember using it. But I only have a Level 100 boost on my account. Either that one got upgraded or I must have used it, but on who? I can mostly rule out my Horde toons on my main server. Right now the info points to “Level 90 boost got upgraded” as I blogged about boosting my Dwarf Pally to 100, not 90, and the reputations also point to that.
Addendum: If going off this MMO-Champion post which reads “Players with maximum-level (120) blood elves or dwarves who are Exalted with their faction” then I might not be so much out of luck, because then Undead und Worgen would just be the reputation (in addition to Legion+BfA leveling), for Draenei the DK would be eligible (if it ever reaches 120). But some of the “done” and “nearly done” above need to be changed. Guess I’ll have to wait for some confirmation and then change the above.
You’re doing it wrong
With all this recent talk about the announcement of Borderlands 3 and all the Anthem news (and back and forth) it took a while, but then it hit me. I reevaluated which of the games in this supposed “looter shooter” genre I had played and what I liked and disliked about them. I should probably preface that the last time I actively played anything resembling a shooter was Quake 3 Arena and Action Quake 2. At the break of the century until maybe 2002 or 2003.
Borderlands – got it on a sale, it wasn’t bad per se, but it didn’t really stick. I loved the art style but not the gameplay.
Borderlands II – also got this on sale. While I didn’t play many hours I absolutely enjoyed it. For the most part. I was sneaking and sniping instead of going in guns blazin’ though.
Destiny II – played the demo and absolutely loved it. Had it been available at that time I would’ve instantly bought it. So the hype died down, I wasn’t interested anymore when it launched and then I grabbed it when it was free. I played some and liked it. Mostly sniping and zoomed in scout rifle, though.
Now compare this with the “normal” shooters I’ve played:
Quake Champions – it’s pretty awesome but I guess that is because it feels exactly like Q3A to me. I played a bit but then other games took my attention again. Fun, but not worth my gaming time it seems.
Warsow – played an evening with friends once. Was fun, but again, not fun enough to invest time.
Now to the interesting part. I never liked the solo campaigns in shooters, I mostly played deathmatch or team deathmatch. And of course I played BL2 and Destiny mostly solo, although there were some events in Destiny, but there was hardly any interactions, might as well have been bots. So what struck me is that I actually hate getting upgrades and making decisions. “Is this weapon better than the other?” I DON’T KNOW AND I DON’T CARE. If it has more than 3 stats and I don’t know which one to use.. I even played through most of Quake with a single weapon and hated switching because I didn’t have ammo anymore. I’ve raided long enough to have had my share of minmaxing builds for a lifetime. This is more tedious than work. I have nothing against linear progression. Get new gun, replace old gun. Fine. Don’t make me compare 7 stats. I do not care a bit.
OK, so why did I like Borderlands 2 and Destiny 2 again? I don’t know, surely not for the loot. Maybe I’ve just been away from shooters long enough that some pretty graphics and shooting enemies is good enough. I can’t tell you if the story is good. It’s better than what I know (Quake).