June 2015 – FFXIV100

Tricks to FFXIV Heavensward Sohm Al Dungeon Guide

Sohm Al is the second dungeon of theHeavensward expansion. You’ll unlock this dungeon at around level 53 to 54. There are some familiar mechanics in this dungeon, as well as some new. Of the first four dungeons, I’d say this is the easiest.

Raskovnik:

Raskovnik bears not only a visual resemblance to Rafflessia, but also shares similar mechanics. The dev team mixed it up a little by changing a few things though, so don’t fear falling into repetition.

Attacks:

Bloody Caress: A frontal cleave dealing moderate damage.
Acid Rain: A multiple, small circle AoE.
Phytobeam: A wide, straight line AoE attack.
Sweet Scent: Marks a player. Bees will start spawning after Sweet Scent. Unlike in Coil Turn 6, these bees will go straight to Raskovnik. Upon reaching the boss, the boss will eat them. To remove the mark, remain in front of the boss and it will pull you in, dropping the mark from you.
Devour: Eats everything in the AoE circle, including bees. If Raskovnik eats something it will get a stacking damage amplification buff. Bees need to be burned down to prevent this from happening. Even the tank should be helping kill bees as the boss doesn’t really do anything else during this.
Spit: Follows Devour if the boss eats something, and is a room wide AoE.
Leafstorm: A moderate damage room wide AoE.

Myath:

Myath is a larger version of one of the new monster types in FFXIV. There are actually two ways to beat this boss. The first is to just burn the boss, provided your DPS can handle it. The second is to prioritize killing the red slimes and green slime.

Attacks:

Third Leg Forward: Myath attacks with its tail for considerable damage.
Overbite: Another heavy-hitting attack.
Razor Scales: A large conal AoE attack.
Primordial Roar: The first time Myath summons just blue and red slimes. During the second Roar Myath will also summon a larger green slime. The green slime has to die if you’re not using the burn strategy, as it does a wide AoE dealing heavy damage. The others don’t seem to do anything on their own.
Mad Dash: After summoning the slimes, Myath will jump around to them randomly and throw them with his tail. The blue slime does only moderate damage the red does heavy damage. You can tell what slime he is throwing and at who by the target marker. Generally if he throws a red slime all players need to stack and soak the damage. However, a tank can solo soak this damage as well, if they are the target.

Tioman:

Tioman is the final boss of Sohm Al. While this fight isn’t actually difficult, there is a lot going on. Players need to pay close attention to the telegraphs and targeting icons.

Attacks:

Abyssic Buster: A fire cleave attack dealing moderate damage.
Chaos Blast: This attack does line and circle AoE attacks, be sure to watch your step on this attack.
Comet: Tioman will target two of the non-tank players and drop comets on them. These should be dropped on the opposite side of the room from the tank, away from each other. Upon impact these comets will do a very large AoE that do considerable damage and can overlap doing double damage. During this attack, random ground circle AoE attacks are happening all over the room as well. After wing phase all three non-tank players will be targeted with Comet.
Wing Phase: At 50% Tioman will go to the center of the room and become invulnerable. During this time you need to attack her wings.
Heavensfall: During the wing phase, Tioman will randomly target players with Heavensfall, which consists of multiple AoE circles, be sure to move away from other players.
Dark Star: Tioman also starts using this attack during the wing phase. It’s a room wide attack that deals moderate damage.

That wraps up Sohm Al, hopefully this gives you a good understanding of the dungeon.

Guide to Heavensward: Early Access

Heavensward has come out and we’re all excited to watch everyone play it besides us. All of these changes that we won’t get to see for a while have made us more elitist than ever. This guide will show you how to embrace the early access and get ready for The Binding Coil of Alexander: Rebirth – Genesys (This time it’s for The Watch).

ffxiv_heavensward

Preparation:
You. Are not. Preparrrred.
Seriously, there’s nothing you can do. Go to Start, search for cmd.exe and type in “sugarpill /flushmysanity”. Do this every time your client exits. If you do it right, you should be too blind to read this from the depth perception changes of looking at your one-time password and the computer screen incessantly because this will not work on your first time, and if it did, it was probably going to work anyway. Let’s face it, though. You’re superstitious and even though you know this isn’t helping you, you’re going to do this step every single time anyway. Because it could, right? RIGHT?! I’ve found that this step does work better though when I wear a Power Balance band around each wrist and (stay with me here, because it WORKS!!! CONFIRMED) one around my dick. The trifecta of balance is so perfectly weighted that it inspires servers thousands of miles away to work properly. If it doesn’t work, consult Dr. Phil.

Turn 1:
The first bosses of Early Access are called error 2002 and error 5006. They come as a pair but you’ll only see one at any one time. Basically, anytime that you want to get on, they make sure that you can’t. They’re pretty much the digital version of bureaucrats in that you feel like you’ve done everything right but you still spend hours caught up in red tape and congestive nightmares. The best strategy I’ve seen with dealing with these is to just git gud. If you just connect better, you would be playing by now, wouldn’t you? Get your shit together.
You’ll want to budget maybe 5 hours a day for FFXIV. This way, you can play for maybe about a half hour. If you manage to get past these bosses, quit your job and fake your death (dental records should be pretty easy unless you live in an area where the dentist has bars over their window in which case your Internet probably isn’t good enough for this game anyway) because you can’t afford to log off the game until this turn gets nerfed (IMPORTANT NOTE: When faking death, do not real death or it will be a wipe).

Turn 2:
As soon as you log in, repeatedly ask where the Dark Knight quest giver is. You don’t want to play the class because they can’t use Blood Weapon while their tank stance is up, so what’s the point, but still ask where it is. You also don’t want to play Machinist because apparently they’re using 0.22’s. You also don’t want to play Astrologian because that’s a healer, and healers are for girls and casuals. It only has a few low damage skills and no fairy to heal for you. You can’t kill shit by healing allies. It actually doesn’t work. Stick with bard or idk. Dark Knight or whatever. Bard doesn’t have to bother with that ‘moving’ mechanic anymore, and Dark Knight was in the benchmark, and you can fantasia into an Au Ra so you’ll be a dragon knight of darkness named xXInuYaShADARKNEssXx and you can make macros that say “CUT MY LIFE INTO PIECES, THIS IS MY [Darkside]”

Turn 3:
Set your homepoint at every new aetheryte, because there is going to be a lot of running back and forth for quests. It’s very common for you to have overlooked a piece of sparkling blue debris, and teleports cost like in the triple digits now. Death gives a free teleport (YOU’RE WELCOME), and teleporting is faster than running (which is your only other option, because you’re going to spam leves and Dusk Vigil until you’re 60 because it’s a race and flying is stupid). Death is probably the most economical way to transport yourself. Standing still and waiting for the cold embrace of death also gives you time to bitch about Turn 1 or the fact that flying is only given to you at the end of an area, and that your time is too precious to be delivering tea and sandwiches to Goblins that ran away from home.

This is pretty much everything to note about Early Access. There are some pretty big changes to the existing classes that I didn’t go over, most notably Dragoon, but I would be wasting my time writing anything about it, because everyone knows that Dragoons can’t read anyway.

Notes for Approaching FFXIV Heavensward

For the love of Hydaelyn be mindful of spoilers, especially in FC/LS chat. Don’t be the jerk who ends up spoiling some awesome twist or emotional moment or amazing boss fight. To which end…
People are going to want to run things blind. If someone asks to, and you’re already at the point of revisiting content, please respect that. Let people enjoy fresh content, let them fail or succeed on their own surprises. There are not many chances in XIV people have to do exactly that. Let them. (EDIT: This doesn’t mean don’t be willing to help them and explain mechanics if you know them. But seriously, let people have a shot at things before you do so, at least for a while. I know you want things cleared efficiently; you have the rest of the game’s lifespan to do so. Seeing things fresh is something you can only do once.)
The servers are going to suck. It’s common with every major MMORPG, both at launch and at expansions; and if an MMORPG doesn’t have launch day issues, it’s frankly not a good sign for the game’s future. Generally, more people are going to be playing immediately following a release/expansion than at any other time in an MMORPG’s lifespan. Prepare yourself for that reality. You will probably get more lag than usual due to massive network activity. You will probably get login queues. You will probably get 90k’d (or people you’re doing dungeons with will). Brace yourself now.
There will be bugs. All the beta testing a dedicated QA team can do is nothing compared to the amount of playtime the game will get when it goes live. Be ready for the possibility of some really strange things happening, both good and bad.
Going to make a new alt/join another server? Create the character now, so you don’t have to fight server restrictions. Once EA starts, the traffic on servers is going to pick up massively. With that comes increased character creation restrictions on servers – which, let’s face it, will inevitably be on whatever server you’re trying to get into. Create the character now to beat the rush. You can Fantasia over into an actual Au Ra once EA starts (you do get one Fantasia free from Veteran rewards) and not have to fight the system that way.
There will probably be an Emergency Maintenance at least once in the first couple weeks. This is simply inevitable, for hotfixes, server maintenance, etc. If this happens during the time you’re able to play, sorry. Remember that when they have to do it, it’s going to suck for someone – a different time just means a different group that gets angry.
You don’t have to do it all immediately. The developpers have already confirmed that, while Soldiery will be phased out, the new Tomestones for endgame content will be staggered out over the first few weeks after launch. This also includes the new endgame raid, Alexander (and even later than that, Alexander (Savage)). You don’t need to be running the final dungeon today. You can take your time. Remember this when servers are unstable or maintenance is going on.
People are going to suck at the game again. Sure, many players out there are fantastic. But let’s be real – after months of being able to massively outgear the content we’re tackling, a lot of people have gotten used to letting their iLvl carry them. That discrepency is going to fall off, and there are people who are going to have a hard time breaking bad habits they’ve gotten away with. Others will also be trying to get used to new techniques/classes and make mistakes because of it. Have patience.
The things you worked so hard to get aren’t going to be worth as much anymore. That max melded Forager’s gear? That crafting Lucis? That Zeta weapon? Those Dreadwyrm pieces? Be ready for the fact it’s not going to be the best anymore. Expect the costs and efforts involved in even making those from now on to sink as well. You should be somewhat used to this from patches as is, but the gap’s going to be even more notable. Get over this now, and remember you still have these cool things, and that you did it.
Rested Experience is a thing. It’s that bonus EXP you accumulate when you log out in Sanctuaries. While the exact return/amount of time is something I’ve had trouble finding, if you want to ease up the initial levelling in Heavensward, you may wish to stop levelling low-levelled classes for a couple days prior to release. Regardless of if you’re heading straight from 50 to 60, or going to start right away on one of the new classes, it’s a leg up.

Just some thoughts. If you’ve other reminders you’d like to offer people, feel free to chime in. Let’s not let our excitement be ruined by stupid mistakes or unrealistic expectations.

The Last Minute Heavensward Preperation

The last 11 days before Heavensward. If you aren’t sure what to do in these remaining days, here are some ideas.

Finish Main Story Quests This is required to do Heavensward content and should be your highest priority. Finish these quests before early access starts. You can’t even level the new classes without having this finished.

Max Rested XP – 10 days – Start by 2am PST Tuesday June 9th. This will give a free 1.5 levels towards your first levelled class once Heavensward hits. To accumulate, be sure not to play any class that is not level 50 after the above date and time.

Max Leves – 16.5 days – Start already (if you’re completely out) Max leve is 99, and accumulation rate is 3 per 12 hours. These will be important for levelling as well, although I do not encourage you to leve your way to 60 on your primary combat class – do the quests! Leves are better suited for secondary combat class or DoH/DoL levelling.

Gear Up Main Class(es) Make sure you have a reasonable set of gear on your main classes. The ilvl is expected to increase quite quickly after release, so the current absolute top end gear isn’t necessary. Aim for at least ilvl 100.

Cleared Out Inventory Clear out your inventory. Clear out your retainers’ inventories. Remove things that you will likely never use even if you have some attachment to them. You want to deal with inventory as little as possible going into new content, and you certainly don’t want to get confused on what is new and what isn’t. I’m going to fully empty one of my retainers and use that one solely for heavensward stuff.

Cleared Quest Log Yeah, those old level 46 quests you’ve had in your log for the past 3 months? Now’s the time to drop them. You’re never going to do them. You may even want to drop unfinished content quests (Ramuh Ex quest, etc) just to have a fully clear log. Up to you.

Food Items Make sure you have a reasonable supply of food for the first 2-3 classes you expect to level. Don’t go too crazy – there will of course be new food to buy after the first few weeks.

Gil While never an absolute necessity in FFXIV, gil tends to help speed things up significantly. You can buy pieces of gear that you need to round out your set, and you can avoid farming for things that might be sellable on the MB. The more the merrier, but if you want enough to handle everything from housing to endgame.

Max GC Seals Should be easy to do running 50 dungeons and greeding gear. There will be new GC ranks.It’s not confirmed, but most people seem to expect them to keep the same GC currency for the new ranks.

Ventures Retainers will be able to level towards 60 with you, so be sure to stock up on some ventures so you don’t have to farm them.

Cross Classes Levelled If you’re going to roll one of the new classes, make sure you have the appropriate cross classes levelled up (usually to 34).DRK = Gladiator/Maurader AST = Conjurer/Thaumaturge MCH = Archer/Lancer

Glamour Your Winter Gear You can’t be wearing your summer hats to Coerthas, can you? Find some nice thick wool or furred gear and get yourself glamoured. Keep it sexy.

Gear for New Class Levelling up one of the new classes? Have a full set of gear (or two) ready for them. They will start at level 30, so some folks are going as hardcore as having a full set of level 30, 35, 40, 45, and 50 gear ready for them. Probably don’t need to be that prepared.

Max Allied Seals No one knows if these are going to continue. There may be a new hunt currency entirely. Even so, couldn’t hurt to have some reasonable amount of these farmed and ready.

UI Issues If you’ve been putting off minor fixes to your UI, now’s the time to do it. DPS and don’t quickly notice when you proc something? Move that closer to center screen. Need to setup a hotbar common to all classes but haven’t gotten around to it? Do it now.if you need to re-organize your hotbars to have free slots for the new abilities, do it now! You will have to learn a new rotation, so it’s a good time to optimize your button presses.

Max Finished Leves Some people are finishing the max leves before the expansion hits and keeping those leves in their journal rather than turning them in. This will allow them to immediately turn in all 16 leves when the level cap is raised to gain some quick xp. I don’t think this will boost you much, and there will be a lot of new quests which will be more efficient. Probably not that important. EDIT: Remember you can only turn leves in for the class you did them on, so this won’t work for the new classes. You can also prep any remaining non-leve quests for turn-in rather than abandoning them to free up log space!

Finish Hunting Log Make sure all your primary classes have a hunting log completed to level 50. This will likely be required to unlock the 50-60 log entries.

Poetics Weapon For New Class Tip— If you have time, get your poetics tokens and other mats for an ilvl 130 ironworks weapon for whatever new class you intend to play. There is evidence the new classes will be getting ironworks weapons.

Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensward flying fat chocobos Preview

A long running gag in the Final Fantasy franchise is that fat chocobos have never been spotted flying. In fact, I don’t even think they’ve ever been seen running either. They just sit there, randomly falling from the sky on enemies or hoarding your candy until you come back for it at a later date! Get off your butt, and help save the Earth!

Well, Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensward is finally going to kick these lazy jerks into gear, get the rust off their wings, and put them on a treadmill in the sky. Director Naoki Yoshida skipped his birthday and instead worked on making sure everything would run smoothly when his first major expansion launches on June 23. In response to all the happy wishes, he created a little birthday magic and gave back to the people with this screenshot.

Yes, that fat chocobo is flying! Decades of jokes have just gone down the drain, proving once and for all that these slobs can be of bigger assistance to the Heroes of Light.

Yoshida, along with Final Fantasy XV Director Hajime Tabata, is just one of the many new faces at Square Enix hired to “keep it real” with the fanbase. The new Square Enix listens to feedback and keeps an air of transparency with fans, and it just so happens that this new style helped Yoshida turn a failure of an MMORPG in the absolute best Final Fantasy game in over a decade.

It’s only going to get bigger, too. Bigger than the backside of a fat chocobo.Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensward will launch on June 23 for the PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4 and PC.