As long as @if-industries keeps giving us challenges, I will keep doing them.
Today’s challenge: Your favorite ARR/HW dungeon using only items available during that time period, no raid stuff.
Dungeon: The Great Gubal Library (Hard)
Weapon: Embrace of the Vortex
Head: Eikon Cloth Hat of Healing (Mud Green)
Torso: Scholar’s Gown
Hands: Replica Allagan Gloves of Healing
Pants: Survival Halfslops (General Purpose White)
Shoes: Adept Thighboots
Earrings: Qiqirn Earring
I’ll be honest I kind of rummaged through my closet for “scholarly duds” as it were for this one until I settled on the idea of a Nymian, recently turned back from being a tonberry, seeking to learn what has been learned since Nym fell. They encounter first hand knowledge in the library, much to their chagrin.
A mini glamour challenge proposed by @if-industries
In honor of the Crystal Tower, make a glamour using a bluespirit weapon and an item from either Labyrinth of the Ancients or Syrcus Tower.
I was unable to achieve my original concept for a glamour because the item in question refused to drop. So I had to back down and use a less than ideal piece that doesn’t carry the glamour. Ah well, one day they may go in and make it easier to get gear from old raids but until then, see you only in alliance roulette LOTA.
Head: Wind Silk Wedge Cap (Dragoon Blue)
Body: Skallic Coat of Fending (Storm Blue)
Gloves: Punching Gloves
Pants: Breeches of Light
Feet: Replica Dreadwyrm Sabatons of Fending (Qiqirn Brown)
Weapon: Bluespirit Gunblade
While not the standard uniform of the Crystarium, Julian has fashioned their own, drawing inspiration from both the Crystal Braves and the theme of the Crystarium.
Some thoughts on the Purbl Glam challenge below the cut
It was a good experience I feel! I had a lot of fun planning creatively and coming up with methods of representing the targets of the suggestions. I really only imposed one additional rule on myself, that being that I should avoid reusing classes unless specifically asked to by a prompt. This ended up failing as I used Ninja twice and Warrior thrice. But I think that grinding Dark Knight from Nothing (ha ha) to 58 in a two day span makes up for it.
My Favorite Glams
1. Bahamut/Phoenix: I think that I did the most creative job on this one and made some really good design decisions.
2. Kugane: My original intent was to do this on Samurai, but I couldn’t find a good “civilian” top other than the AF3 for Samurai and I didn’t want to use that so I went over to Ninja. It took some looking around but I eventually settled on the AF2 top for Ninja. I originally had the idea of continuing the sleeves with the Thavnairian armlets, but I didn’t like how poofy they were. So I searched, and found the eikon sleeves, which work VERY well imo. I’m holding on to them for future glams.
3. Alexander: There’s nothing particularly spectacular about this one but I’m fond of how I spread Alexander’s colors across the glam. The default reds in the High Allagan gloves were a nice highlight for it.
My Least Favorite Glams
1. Valentione’s: I know I got praise from some people (thank you) on this one but I think it’s the weakest of the lot. I had trouble coming up with something in the first place and didn’t want to do something cliche of over utilizing armoire items. I tried to make up for it with the little commercial spiel.
2. Sephirot: Don’t get me wrong, the glam itself is still pretty good and it’s the one that I think I spent the longest figuring out. I chose Dark Knight based off of feeling like no other class properly represented Sephirot or had gear that fit him. But I didn’t have any levels in Dark Knight. It would have had to go with a different class if the engage spam wasn’t a thing. Again. From level 30 to level 58 over the course of probably 10 hours split between two days.
Glam that made me be creative the most
1. Coeurlregina: I searched for her to refresh my memory and only remembered the reindeer antlers at the last minute. My original plan was to make a Cashmere Hood dyed a green, but wool tops are priceyyyyy so I made do with something possibly closer. SB expected me to use them apparently, which I’m not surprised about but makes me sad that I couldn’t go with my initial plan. I think I also had the most pose fun on this one.
Other Thoughts
It is very difficult to freeze frame Upheaval. It took a solid 15 minutes of camera positioning and using my controller to stutter shutter that punch.
I had not realized that the Kugane citizen outfit wasn’t in the game for players yet.
A nice trick I used to get some shots was testing aggro distance/positions for bosses on my actual gear for a class and then dying and swapping to the glam because as long as you’re the same class, you are free to swap gear in a duty when you’re not in battle.
I can solo shiva (hard) but not (ex)
The trick to getting horses/birds/dogs is apparently to farm for not them. I saw the Zurvan bird drop once in my first 7 runs of it and got a 95 on my roll.
Purbl Glam Challenge Final Day: Sathaerz Leitalihtwyn!
My good Warrior friend Sleen’s big fish, Sath who is fond of brawls, bosses, and bars. I went with an alternative color scheme for her as I couldn’t solo grind her favorite weapon. Also because heck to the Aery.
Come one come all, the former contender of the Ul’Dah arena has come to the Manderville Golden Saucer to amuse and entertain all! Prepare to be blown away by his spectacular sneezes!
Feeling afloat in the ocean because you can’t find yourself a paramour? We here at Costa Del Sol’s Valentione’s Vacations and Viscounts are guaranteed to turn that frown upside down. Swing on by the right most platform and we’ll give you a free quote in half an hour after going through our questionnaire. But we don’t stop there, Master Gegeruju has generously rented us tent platforms where your privacy is assured by guards posted outside of each tent who have been personally trained by the Warrior of Light themself. All of this and more you can get here at Costa Del Sol in Eastern La Noscea! And remember, there will always be more fish in the sea. A̛͎l̺w̵̠̰̹a̯̱̟y͟s̙̯̟̺̤̮͕
͍̘̬̩̬.
Since we don’t have any actual Kha tribes folk to my knowledge, I made up a cute outfit based around crafting. The scarf is less of a Kha thing but I figure with Juri working in Reunion, she’d have a good relationship with the Qestir who don’t speak and would follow their customs when dealing with them.
Gear Used
Mythril Head Knife (i38)
Cotton Scarf (Raisin Brown, i15)
Tantalus Vest (Gobbiebag Brown, i1)
Fingerless Peisteskin Gloves of Gathering (Ash Gray, i40)