I’d love to be able to report this week that I’ve reached the new level cap and experienced some of the high-end content Final Fantasy XIV‘s first expansion has to offer, but first I need to figure out which version of my character I want to be.
If Heavensward had introduced its three new adventuring jobs the way other MMORPG games introduce new classes, I wouldn’t be having this identity crisis. The idea of leaving my level 52 character to rot while I rolled up a fresh first level character makes me queasy, especially when there’s so much more to explore in the new expansion lands.
But that’s not how the Machinist, Dark Knight and Astrologian work. Upon making it to the Holy See of Ishgard at level 50 there are three quests available that grant access to these new jobs at level 30 — only 20 short levels away from where you were in the first place.
So you cannot create a new character and instantly assign them one of the new jobs — your character has to be level 50 and have completed most of the game’s main story first. That means instead of a jarring transition to an unfamiliar character my beloved Ninja, Back Front, is simply learning new skills. He’s the same guy — well, two weeks ago he was a dragon person, now he’s back to being a kitty — but he’s still the pink-haired pursuer of justice he always was. Now he’s just doing it with a gun.
Yes, once a DPS (damage-per-second) class, always a DPS class. I’ve taken my first steps as a healing Astrologian and tanking Dark Knight, but my place is always in negative number generation in my enemies’ general direction. Having spent 30 levels as Rogue and another 22 or so as a Ninja, the ability to stand away from the main battle and take potshots is quite refreshing.
Armed with my drone and my trusty Chocobo, Middle, I am a force to be reckoned with.
Is the constantly running in circles necessary? Not really. Is it effective? A little. Does it make me feel cool? Totally. Should I close my inventory before I record a video? Yes.
As of this writing, Back Front is a level 46 Machinist, on the verge of 47. I should be back to where I was as a Ninja in a couple of days, planned maintenance willing.
That’s another reason I’m so behind with my logs right there. On top of being incredibly busy, it seems that every time I prepare for a late night of play, the servers are shutting down at 2am Eastern time for maintenance. It’s not every day of course — just the days I choose to buckle down and get some experience accumulated.
Difficulty setting aside play time and being a flighty bastard aside, I’m really enjoying Heavensward so far. I love the new jobs, the music is gorgeous, and my Free Company (guild) is constantly chattering on about the awesome new experiences that await me once my gunslinging side is powerful enough to play there.
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Comments
24 responses to “Final Fantasy XIV Heavensward Log Two: Identity Crisis”
I highly recommend getting Guildworks just to filter out the RMT /tells. Will make life in FFXIV that much more bearable.
And yeah, although there have been frequent maintenances, it’s for the best. A few people in my FC have been getting DC’d every so often and it’s usually always at the worst time during Alexander F4.
Wow I never knew Guildworks did that! I knew it offered shouts from all zones…but maybe because I’m playing on a Japanese data centre server (Tonberry) theres less RMT going on.
garbage game which makes getting invested in one class/job impossible.
Why on earth allow players to play ALL classes is beyond me.
Some players like being able to level all classes on one account. All the battle (Disciple of War or Disciple of Magic) classes have some skills that can be used in another class, helping tanks to take more damage, damage dealers to push DPS numbers or healers to be better at supporting the group. Crafters (Disciple of Hand) have cross-class skills which make getting HQ items easier, and gatherers (Disciple of the Land) are able to farm shards for crafting more efficiently with cross-class skills. It’s also required to unlock some classes – for example, becoming a Bard requires you to be a Level 30 Archer AND a Level 15 Monk.
For me personally, having put in about 125 days (3000 hours) since the game was in Beta 1.0, I can say there’s no greater joy than changing from a healer after a raid fight to a miner to get some ores, and then changing to a goldsmith to refine those ores into accessories for my new low level classes. If people were locked to one job per character, the game would probably not be as vibrant – if I want to help a couple of mates, I can quickly change my class to suit needs.
The cross-job skill stuff is really handy. Like how I can use Physick to heal myself while questing on my BLM.
It’s simple, not everyone finds rolling a new character just to experience a small feature all that appealing.
I don’t see why it’s a problem personally, I like having choice. Having an avatar who is placed in to a box for no reason can get boring.
I am curious as to what makes you think that it’s impossible to be invested in just one class or job? I think the freedom is liberating and allows one to investigate and discover all the different aspects of the different jobs required in party for clearing content and lets you become a better player all round.
I hold the exact opposite opinion. Letting the one toon do any particular job if they invest the effort in it is not only more realistic, but prevents the boredom and frustration of trying to maintain a stable of alts just to experience different classes or fulfil different roles for your guild.
Plus the ability to borrow abilities from other classes has some intriguing possibilities. Teach your damage dealer a few healing spells so if the main healer dies you can cover for them. (Unfortunately the “raise during combat” ability can’t be carried across to an alternate class, if I understand the job system correctly.)
I’ve only started playing FF14 recently (L32 Conjuror, no other jobs or classes) and I’m very tempted to level an alternate class to get a bit more flexibility.
this is the strangest thing i’ve ever read. why would you want to restrict yourself? of course you can invest in one class… but why?
You’ve clearly never played the game.
Having the ability to swap between classes at will out side of combat/duties does not mean you become incapable of investing into one or two of them exclusively. A number of people I play with main certain classes nigh exclusively – the skill ceiling for effective use of class skills is pretty high in FFXIV for an MMO.
Should probably try things before you knock them – it makes you look a lot less foolish to the people that do know what they’re talking about!
The FFXIV job system is amazing. I don’t need to have 53 toons just play all classes/jobs. Why is it a problem if I can just use one? Besides, even if you didn’t like it, nothing to stop you making a new toon for a new job, so why does it matter?
Well, at least that way you get to play the three different starting stories and discover that Limsa Lominsa and Gridania are shit and that your gut instinct to roll a character in Ul’dah was the right call because its story and characters are way better.
Maelstrom4lyf
I’d prefer to be with the Maelstrong pirates than deal with the Immortal Fail sand people!
Damn the story for constantly making me go the the sand peoples lair!*shakes fist* Stupid sailors and your multi-level labyrinth!
There it is
The most retarded thing I’ll read all day
Glad you are loving the game! I’m level 58 and i found the level gap between 56-57 extremely slow. Let me know your thoughts!
I have one word to summon forth a stream of bile so putrid it would wake a corpse
MooglesEasy solution. Employ a siren.
In the level 60 Bard quest, a siren was once sealed away because she killed most/every Moogle in the Sea of Clouds.well she didn’t do a good enough job 😛
Also, you know those times when you feel you want to say something, but you know you shouldn’t? I am having one of them right now :'(
Well…
Ligeia killed the tribe in Sea of Clouds, so I say that was a job well done. She just couldn’t make it to Churning Mists because reasons.I’m really hoping we see more of the siren race in the future. We know that the people of Limsa Lominsa believe they’ve killed them all on the sea… but now we know they can be in the sky as well.
Is it Main Scenario Quest related or Job Quest related?
neither, it’s not game related at all (assuming you are talking about what I can’t say) it is rather racist 😛
And here I am moving onto level 60 #4 because I cant pick what I want to main.
I’ve gone through Alexander 1-4 as a PLD and still not sure.
Let us see if BLM tickles my fancy with their new playstyle.