#austduskwing

Okay, so. Posting schedule will look like so:

Monday/ Wednesday/ Friday: Informational posts

Tuesday: Update audio/text depending on mood

Impression posts will be random and for fun, mostly with no script.

...Yes, I do script my stuff out. Save for some OBVIOUS parts that I make up on the spot.

This is how the rest of this week will look as of now.

4/3: Rebranding/ patch 2.2 impressions (yes! More coming soon!)

   Yo, guys. It's Aust and after taking some time to play the release of patch 2.2 for FFXIVARR, I'd like to point out the things that they added that are meant to be geared more towards new and low level players. Now, I'll talk about the pros and cons of some of these, but I'd like you all to know, fair readers, these changes are so far in your benefit that if you do not have the game, I IMPLORE you to try it out immediately.

   First off, let me say that the majority of what I'll be talking about is actually endgame, high level content that just happens to be directed to the low level side of things. It's very odd and backwards, but here we go. With the introduction of "Zodiac Weapons" people of max level will be in 12 zones ranging very widely in level. In these zones, they will be doing FATEs, much like the majority of the players who are doing quests, waiting between dungeon queues, or leveling a second class. What makes this so great is it brings in more interaction to zones that were otherwise empty, quiet, or with too many FATEs up and not enough players to keep them going. Leveling in this game, especially your first time, can be very lonely in some zones and Square has taken a big step towards filling in the cracks.

   Next, let's go on to talk about the dungeons. Yes, FFXIV began offering more exp from dungeons and less from FATEs last patch (with FATEs meant to take a back seat as filler between things), and even added a random dungeon queue ability on the Duty Finder. With this patch, they changed one thing about the random duty finder and did something else I really enjoy. The change they made is very simple: As with many random dungeon queue systems, they offer rewards for the roles who use it solo who are in high demand (generally tanks, sometimes healers) WELL, to make it even more appealing to these players, they increased the bonus rewards from doing so by SEVEN TIMES. To add onto this, after the max level players farm the FATEs for their first stage of the Zodiac Weapons, they'll begin the second part which will have them occasionally doing low level dungeons for that as well. This means highly experienced players will be there to help teach new players who may not fully understand what they're doing up to that point.

   The best part of all the changes comes from out of left field. These two changes are phenomenal and deserve your direct attention as a low level player. They both become available very early. The first is the Challenge Log, available at level 15. This is a very special function to the game to give you daily supplements to your EXP gain that you can volunteer for. These challenges update daily and offer massive amounts of EXP for what they're worth. The second thing are Retainer Ventures. Retainers are your character banks and how you sell things on the Market Board (this game's Auction House), but with 2.2, you're able to send them on quests and give them more purpose than just being the guy/ gal who just says "yes mater, I will hold all your junk for you." Retainer Ventures open at level 17, and you gain the ability to OWN a retainer around a similar time in the main story, so it all works out.

Woo! Just under the 10 megs limit! Happy Birthday to my blog. Thank you all for reading/ listening. Lemme know how the new audio is, I started using my master bedroom closet as a recording "studio" with a lot of makeshift items and shitty equipment.

I swear, I've not been so engrossed in Bravely Default that I haven't been working on this guild idea, I swear upon the Crystals.

Fuck.

Okay, I MIGHT be completely obsessed with Bravely Default, but I'm slowly coming to the point where I'm grinding Job Points to make the most lethal group that I want. Not what other people have game faqs up for, because I'm me, not jumbobboyson278 (if that's a real guy on the site...your name fucking sucks).

Anyways, I'm back on Sisters of Elune, my Paladin's at level 40 and I'm working on a baby Windwalker monk. I know what you're all thinking, and I have a reason for just stopping at level 40. Eastern Plaguelands. This is my FAVORITE zone in the entire game, especially after cata. It contains several of my favorite quests along with one of my favorite instances (even if I'm super sad it's been dumbed down).

So, you know why I like EPL, but why stop before it? I want to do something special with those of you interested in joining my efforts to make a fun PvE guild on SoE. I'd like to get the group of folks who are working along the path to be a part of this guild and do the zone as a group. Personally, I'll be semi in character, because I feel it's the best way to enjoy the quests, but anyone who wants to come doesn't need to do the same, just come and have fun. I'd like to do it with some form of voice com set up for us all to sit in and chat while we quest. If no one feels like offering one, I'm more than capable of paying for one myself.

But there you go. I'm sorry for disappearing, I swear, it felt like I was only gone a day. I do not have a problem *twitch* you have a problem!

As of this morning, I have decided on a home server: Sisters of Elune- US. This was the one server on my possible list that had my usual name, Aust, available, so after making my paladin and checking out the server, I came to notice a few things that made me both happy and tragically sad.

First, I will say that this IS a RP server, but it's small and my guild will be PvE focused. You can RP if you want to, you can leave your friends behind. Case if they don't RP, don't you grief. Griefers aren't no friends of mine. I repeat, YOU CAN COME HERE FOR THE GUILD, AND NOT HAVE TO RP. It's not like it gives you a terrible illness, some people could actually teach you some of the lore behind the game...and others, I um...yeah, avoid most people you walk by unless you know them.

My old server, Wyrmrest Accord, is CRZ'd with SoE. So, I'm getting a taste of something new while still being able to see some of the old things that I'm familiar with. It made me smile leveling and running around Loch Modan and seeing WrA players out and about doing open world RP, something I had thought died out a long time ago on the server.

The bad to this? We're CRZ'd with Moon Guard. "Oh, Aust, MG is a good server! Why are you calling this bad?!" The answer is simple, we get your Goldshire. While I will say that MG has an overall good appeal, your Goldshire in any and every way is a turn off. It's not something I'm trying to draw offense to, but I still have to list it as a negative, cause just traversing through /1 in Elwynn is like walking down a subway train compartment filled with drunk frat boys after the home team just won. (Note: you CAN turn off /1. I don't because in some areas it's useful and if I were to turn it off for one zone, I doubt I'd remember to turn it back on after I'm out of it. I'm not very smart, please understand *nintendo headbow*)

Teach me, Auster! Lesson one, The scholar.

My first audio post in a while! We start this FFXIV based series with my favorite job. Hope you enjoy the bit of history I threw in as well as a small explanation of the job. Also, be sure to follow me on twitter @Austduskwing.

     Well, I suppose the day would come when I had to finally do this post. I thank a new player I met in FFXIV ARR for giving me the suggestion. There are a lot of terms and phrases in MMORPGs that many may or may not be accustomed to that looking on an official site will probably put in the bluntest of terms without using many of the more common player terms. This list is NOT FINITE. There will always be new terms that sprout up, or old terms no one uses any more that just may resurface. So, for the time being, let's go with this:

Aggro/ Enmity / Threat: This is how monsters choose who they're going to attack. The player with the highest amount of this is who it targets. Every ability innately generates (for the sake of keeping this simple, I'm going to call it aggro) aggro. Tanks are the ones who should normally have and maintain the most aggro on a monster.

DPS: Damage Per Second. This is normally used to describe a player who is in a damage dealing role, but it also stands for what you do within that role. DPS is a measure of your damage over a set amount of time generally measured by addon parsers. Determining the amount happening and players studying it, it is also a big dick competition to do the most. Mostly it's douchebags who gloat about this and put others down for doing little.

DoT: Damage over Time. Spells or abilities that do damage over a given period of time. Such as a Warlock's Corruption in World of Warcraft, or a Black Mage's Thunder. These spells do X number of damage over Y number of seconds and generally must be recast/ reapplied when they expire. (note: this is simply a definition for new players. For experienced players...why are you reading this?)

CD: Cool down. This has two definitions. First, The time between usage of certain abilities. Say you have an ability that does a lot of damage up front, but cannot be used again for 2 minutes. that 2 minute period is called a cool down, and that ability is now considered "On CD." The second definition is the ability itself. Abilities with long cool downs with important effects are generally referred to as "CDs." So when a big hit is coming from a boss onto a tank, you will often be told while learning to "Use a CD now."

GCD: Global Cool Down. Similar to the CD definition, this is a term for the time between all your attacks. When you use a basic ability in most MMOs, all your abilities will get a small cool down. This is your GCD. You will also notice how some abilities are not on this. These are generally important situational spells and cooldown abilities and are considered "Off the GCD," which means they can generally be used quickly in succession with other abilities.

HoT: Healing over time. Much like DoTs, these are spells designed to heal for a set amount over time. Not much else I can add to its description.

Tank: A player up front holding aggro on a monster. These classes are generally listed when you are creating a character. Most mmos will have a selection of tanks you can choose from, their playstyle is up to you to decide which you want to go with.

Mobs: Monsters or a monster itself. Often used just so you don't hear someone say "monster" every third word.

Adds: Additional mobs in an encounter. Usually part of boss encounters, though there are times when they can appear otherwise.

Pats: Patrolling mobs. Simple enough, these are generally high priority or need to be avoided. Your group will decide on how to handle these.

Trash mobs: Non boss mobs in a dungeon or raid. Not very important, but a mmo constant.

Burst: This refers to times when a lot of damage needs to go out on a boss or mob. Usually this comes in phases called "Burst phases." This can also mean that you just did a lot of damage in a small amount of time. Some classes just have good burst, while others need to build up to it.

Healer: A player specifically there to heal wounds. I figured I'd throw this in as well since I basically had both the other roles in here.

Support: A fourth class role usually unused in most mmos. When this role IS in a game, though, its strength is generally visible when in a group setting. They can do damage, heal, sometimes pseudo tank, but their strength comes from spells they cast that can bring helpful status effects to their party or negative effects to their foes.

Buff: A helpful spell that grants some sort of boost to a player.

Debuff: a negative spell applied to a player that can mean bad things if not removed, or it could be on a mob and mean bad things for them. Debuffs include DoT spells, spells that weaken attributes, and anything that just sounds nasty in general.

Res/ Rez/ REZ PLZ: A resurrection. A spell that brings a player back to life. Generally asked in the manner of the third part.

Bres: Battle resurrection. Like a normal resurrection, only able to be cast in battle. Most mmos will not allow this with some res spells, and games like WoW limit their usage in fights to make them more of a decision.

Enrage: A mechanic generally used in raids where a boss switches things up and either kills everyone at once, or gets a buff that makes their attacks too strong to do anything about.