Final Fantasy XIV: Stormblood - An Age of Darkness | REFFOID

[@Wardiri]

Your voice was alright in this episode, don't worry about it. Glad that you enjoyed the side content of Heavensward! But maybe you should review it all together when it comes to patches. Not HW patches + SB base, but SB + SB patches. The story comes more naturally that way. I hope to see if you enjoy Shadowbringers. And I'm looking forward to XV!

[@tropichawk850]

I can't tell if it's a gag or if it was unintentional, but the irrelevant temp footage being in the video was an unexpected piece of comedy gold. Regardless, this was a somewhat sad update. A disrupted team and a comparatively weak expansion. I'm sorry for that. I'm glad you and your friends were all able to spend so much time together on this game up until recently, though. That said, it's very interesting how it sounds like the Heavensword patches were the peak of this game so far. As on outsider to XIV, that's not something I expected to hear at all. In any case, I'm not sure quite how much time has passed, but I hope you've at least started to feel better since recording this. As always, this was a highly enjoyable video, and I'm very excited for the next one!

[@CybeleVG]

Heavensward patches are so cool because it feels like the game finally establishing its long-term plot. A lot of expansions tend to "end" their plot about halfway through the patch series as well, like HW having you fight Nidhogg. It's a really interesting way of doing it, and they tend to be super good.

[@tropichawk850]

@@CybeleVG I agree with it being a super interesting way of handling things. I also think it's really smart. It lets the devs release half the story, and as a result, receive player feedback on it that they can use as they put out the rest of it. Are there any other sets of XIV Expansion patches that you feel stand out?

[@CybeleVG]

@@tropichawk850 I think that the Shadowbringers patches are very strong! Sorta! Heavensward's are the most consistent with how much it hits you with compared to Shadowbringer's first two patches (out of five) being pretty boring. The third patch, though, is one of the absolute best stretches of the game a reframes basically the whole plot, which is amazing. The latter two patches also raise the stakes and set up Endwalker very well. I thought Stormbloods patches were okay, but they focus a lot on Gosetsu, who I just really don't care about. They do interesting things with big villain Yotsuyu though that I thought had interesting moral complexities. I haven't done Endwalker's yet since I've mostly taken the year off of playing outside of group stuff, but I've heard it has some good stuff as well.

[@tropichawk850]

@@CybeleVG That's really cool! I've heard everything surrounding Endwalker is the peak of the series, so to hear that streak begins as early as when the pre-expansion patches set Endwalker up is very interesting. I look forward to hearing more about all of this as REFFOID continues. I don't personally enjoy MMOs, but I've wanted to know why XIV is so beloved for some time now. It's nice to hear that the Stormblood patches aren't bad, at least. Also, Endwalker is the last big expansion XIV is receiving, right? So would all of the patches following it be akin to post-game content, then?

[@CybeleVG]

@@tropichawk850 Buckle up because Shadowbringers is actually where the quality jump is. It and Endwalker are very much a pair and are absolutely incredible. Its pretty up in the air in the fanbase which is better, with me personally leaning a bit towards Shadowbringers because the main themes and villain are stellar. I'm definitely very excited to see them on REFFOID! Endwalker isn't actually the last Expansion, but rather the last expansion of the current ongoing story arc. Everything from the original 1.0 -> Endwalker is one continuous story that constantly builds and refers back to itself, with Endwalker being fully dedicated to paying off those threads. Dawntrail will be releasing next summer and will be starting up a new arc albeit with a returning main cast. I'm not sure what all that entails exactly, but am excited to see the team build their own scenario from the ground up without 1.0 baggage to fix.

[@Alurith]

Hey, I got a little cameo in here. 😊

[@sur7969]

starting monk ALT is always funny when seeing other people who plays healer / caster "what do you mean u always press a single button *and* stay in place???", said my alt, as he breakdance all the rotation.

[@Sonicboom1ish]

A big part of the stormblood love comes from the huge amount of content the expansion brought. pretty much every dungeon, 8-man raids, 24-man alliance raids, and trials were super well liked. we also got a second deep dungeon (think roguelike), rathalos as a trial in a monster hunter collab, eureka, and the introduction of ultimate raids. it's also where many would consider the gameplay of jobs to be at their peak. eureka is super divisive due to it being there pretty much just to give people something to grind out and is heavily inspired by FFXI. unlike FFXI however, it's actually still quite active at most times of the day and tends to pick up a good amount when theirs lulls in new content. ultimates are essentially taking old bosses from previous raids or trials, cranking up their difficulty to 11, and putting them into a 15-20 minute long boss gauntlet of sorts it was basically packed to the brim with content of a wide range of difficulty for people to do. the patch story was also good due to it being a lot more focused and not trying to tackle multiple plots at the same time

[@janaxelblomberg7768]

RIP Mr. Scar-veteran😥

[@GrandGobboBarb]

"Hitting one key.... one key... one key...." pour out a glass for summoner. From the most interesting and fun DPS class to push one button forever and bored. T_T

[@Alurith]

I took it upon myself to make it as close to actually just smashing 1 button as possible. How is two, for you? Single Target Macro: /micon "Gemshine" /merror off /ac "Searing Light" /ac "Enkindle Bahamut" /ac "Ruin IV" /ac "Gemshine" /ac "Summon Emerald" /ac "Summon Topaz" /ac "Summon Ruby" /ac "AetherCharge" /ac "Ruin" /ac "Astral Flow" /ac "Fester" /ac "Energy Drain" Multi-Target Macro: /micon "Precious Brilliance" /merror off /ac "Searing Light" /ac "Enkindle Bahamut" /ac "Ruin IV" /ac "Precious Brilliance" /ac "Summon Emerald" /ac "Summon Ruby" /ac "Summon Topaz" /ac "Summon Ruby" /ac "Aethercharge" /ac "Outburst" /ac "Astral Flow" /ac "Painflare" /ac "Energy Siphon" You'll need a decent ping for this to work well. You also have to hit quick cast on a long cast timer, every time you can, to optimize it.

[@Alurith]

In the 2nd Zenos fight, you are kicking his butt, he DOES red glow, to show he gets OP, and get a full heal, and you do pecking damage. I do agree that Zeno never feels threatening, and I feel that force lose fights that work like these do, are just bad design, cause you knew he would never beat you, until an invisible timer runs out.

[@CybeleVG]

Stormblood for me is definitely the weakest expansion, at least for the main story. I dont particularly buy into the main villains and the Ala Mhigo half basically felt like wrapping up loose ends from 1.0/ARR. That said, I think this is one of the high points for gameplay! The trials are all super fun, ESPECIALLY the patch trials, and I love both raid series. Its rare that normal raids/alliance raids have the teeth that the Omega fight or Orbonne Monastery do. I also personally really like the story in Omegascape for how much world building it has. As someone who did the MSQ with a buddy, I can basically sum up my thoughts with the fact that it took us about 3 months to do SB and about 2 Weeks to do ShB and EW.

[@TomLazan]

Funny you should mention those since we’re streaming those raids tonight!

[@CybeleVG]

@@TomLazan Have fun! Some of my favorite content :)

[@AverageBananas12]

So what i can gleam from this Stormblood review is that the expansion is basically anime filler lol

[@TomLazan]

yeaaaaa

[@Alurith]

It's really not, though. 😂