All Good Things...

So ends phase 3 of FFXIV beta. This was my first real exposure to XIV in any capacity, and I was pretty impressed with the game so far. It's what pushed me over the fence into pre-ordering it. After quitting XI last year, I wasn't sure I'd get back into MMO'ing, despite Fuji's many attempts to get me to play with him, Arkaru, and Ascy in various other MMO's.  It just felt like I had so much more free time while not playing an MMO. Well, I can forget about that now! If the beta is any indication of my playing habits to come, then I'm in BIG trouble. /Goodbye free time! D:

This week saw the return on Wutang Warrior! Haven't seen him in years since he was banned 
from FFXI! Good to see old faces again. I also logged onto Coeurl server where some of the other AP members were and did a couple of FATES with them. Aque is still a Taru, Foosh is still a female (although a cat now :3) and Debris is a female Galka! Fun times.

Being the last week of phase 3, not having a wiki to rely on (/stare FFXI wiki), and just wanting to do stuffs in the name of science, these are my week 5 findings. So it goes without saying, that these are my own opinions and thoughts... so they should be regarded as truth.

Technical-ish Observations


So You Want to Be A Melder?

At level 25 of a crafting job, you can go to The Bonfire area where you first learned how to materia meld, and learn how to do Advanced Materia Meld from the Goblin there. He'll want you to meld materia 8 times in his presence, so make sure to have 8x grade 1 carbonized matter, 8x pieces of materia, and some gear that needs melding (or you can opt to use trash materia and trash gear like me) on hand and start melding.

 Our old friend Mutamix Bubblypots at The Bonfire camp teaching me his secrets

 Materia Melding is now replaced with Advanced Materia Melding.

This upgrades your melding ability to allow you to attach additional materia to a piece of gear, exceeding the slots available. For example, if a body armor has 2 slots for materia and you've filled those slots with materia, advanced meld will allow you to put in a 3rd, and possibly 4th or 5th, but all at reduced chances of success.

Going for the gold. 14% chance of success on a 5th materia!

After burning through a few materia, success! +3 Advanced Melds

I was able to successfully advance meld my body piece I used for crafting 3 times. The first two melds were regular melds, with guaranteed success rate of 100%. The 3rd materia (1st advanced meld) had a success rate of 45%, 4th materia (2nd advanced meld) at 24%, and 5th materia (3rd advanced meld) at 14%. At this point, the meld option was grayed out and no further melding was possible...sad face.


Advanced Melding is what really makes materia shine. I'm still not a fan of melding gear for your main storyline job due to stat caps, how quickly you outgrow gear, and dungeon drops being better. However, melding for Crafting and Gathering jobs grant some nice benefits. I haven't seen any pink craft/gather gear and the only green craft/gather gear I've seen are Grand Company stuff at level 25. That stuff was okay if you don't have access to melding, but Advanced Melding is pretty much the way to go for crafting and gathering gear, especially using HQ gear.


No Need to be Racist

With the help of Ascy, I was able to get her Hyur level 35 MRD stats and compare them with my Lalafell level 35 MRD stats. I had read a post somewhere that race plays a smaller role in your stats than it did in FFXI, but wanted to confirm it first hand. And I did!

Midlander Hyur top. Plainsfolk Lalafell bottom.

Although we had different weapons equipped, they had similar main stats (+7 STR, +7 VIT). Coincidentally, we also happened to have the same allocation of bonus stat points at MRD 35 (+8 STR, +7 VIT). Great minds think alike... or something?

The results confirm that race plays a small role in your stats, compared to FFXI at least. At 35 MRD, the total amount of primary stat points (STR, DEX, VIT, INT, MND, and PIE) are equal for both races, 532 (or 503 if you subtract the bonus points noted in the previous paragraph). Basically, whatever the differences you see in starting stats, that's exactly how much your stats will differ at endgame. That is, if Lalafell's VIT stat is 2 VIT less than a Hyur at level 1, then at level 50, you can expect the difference to still only be 2.

This makes me rethink my choice of race for retail, which I originally was going to pick Miqo'te, because I did not want a repeat of FFXI, where my Taru had a small HP pool. That's not the case anymore. Since HP is determined from VIT, there won't be a huge discrepancy in HP.  Here's some fun facts:

-Lalafell Plainsfolk have the same starting VIT as Wildwood Elezen (18 VIT)
-Lalafell Plainsfolk have the same starting STR as Keepers of the Moon Miqo'te (18 STR) /flex
-Lalafell Dunesfolk have the same starting VIT as Keepers of the Moon Miqo'te (17 VIT) (despite their size, these Mi'Quote aren't built to be strong or durable are they?)

So if you really want to optimize a particular stat, you can still do so by picking the appropriate race, but you may be sacrificing aesthetics to do so. Since, at most, a particular stats will only differ by a maximum of 5 points, I personally put more weight on aesthetics.  Lalafells are just awesome anyways!!! There's also something to be said about their 'unique' perspective too... something I like to call Lalafell Vison! XD


Item Stat Bonuses

I was browsing my armory to see what I could convert to materia when I noticed I had two pink items with the same name... only they had different bonuses.

Space Magic?

I'm guessing since these items aren't labeled as Unique, their stats can vary, and you can carry multiple versions. Something I didn't know about /derp.  Not that it matters, but one was found in a dungeon, and the other was found in a coffer during a leve (not sure which was found where).


Enough talk, screenshot dump of week 4 and 5 incoming!

 

 Playing around in the desert

 Chillin' with a Miquo'te

Sightseeing in the middle of a Brayflox run. Go ahead guys, I'll be right behind you, I swear!

Ballroom 2.0? Some appear shattered... ouch!

 My favorite area in the beta, visually. Costa Del Sol. Home of the Courtesan FATE too! =D

Some nighttime views are just as cool as daytime ones

 Checking out floating islands with Wicked and Ascy. Avatar anyone?

Valharin, Ascy, and me staring at a floating castle

Chillin' after Wicked, Ascy, Zurar, and me had an emote party for like an hour. Wicked completely broke the cuteness scale with her emotes. So cute! She introduced me to my favorite Lalafell emote /sit > /doze

Why the suspicious looks? Oh right, I'm using my Lalafell Vision...

An interesting site near Ceruleum Processing Plant...

With interesting enemies! Reminds of FFVI

 I hope that box doesn't say "Danger! Flammable!" in Eorzean speak

 Shiny

 Staring contest with a Goobue

Do you even lift?

 

 How YOU Doin'?

 Ladies. Ladies. There enough Vanh to go around ;o

Cameraman, you're fired! How dare you capture me with my eyes closed! Goodbye beta phase 3!