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ephemera from the worlds of Final Fantasy. Cactuar, Greysky Armada. Usually a SCH.

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Favourite City-State

Limsa Lominsa, despite it's stupid-sounding name, is my favourite city-state. It's home to Fisherman's Bottom, the FSH guild, and the CLN guild; all the things a hungry Lala needs. I like the maritime look, it's usually bright and sunny, and I'm best buds with Chuchuroon.

I'm not particularly a fan of Admiral Merlwyb Bloefhiswyn, not least because her name is impossible; my favourite city-state leader is naturally Sultana Nanamo Ul Namo, despite her largely-figurehead status (and predilection for drinking not-poison sleeping-elixir). In fact, why isn't Ul'dah my favourite? It's mainly run by Lalafell, it's wealthy, and I really love the aesthetic, which reminds me a lot of Rabanastre from FFXII -- I've yet to see FFXIV's implementation of the Royal City, but I'm looking forward to it. Sure, Ul'Dah is politically corrupt and the Monetarists are scheming, but at least it's not Gridania!

Maybe I don't have a favourite after all. Just not-Gridania.

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Friend and fellow Greysky Armada FC member Pellusia Sarens sent me the Erudite’s Picatrix of Healing I need to progress my zodiac weapon. Thanks, Pellusia! 

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Favourite dungeon

In general, I prefer doing trials to dungeons, but I've run plenty of both. I like that a trial is basically a cut-down raiding experience: here's a boss, figure it out. But dungeons, with a good group, can be a lot of fun. Typically I'm playing as the healer, and I like it when I get paired with a tank who judges just right the amount of trash pulls we can cope with; I appreciate a quick run through with little downtime, pulling a couple of packs at once, or chain-pulling to keep us in combat consistently.

I'm only at level 50, and haven't started in on the Heavensward content yet, so I'm limited here to the ARR content unlocks, so  allow me a somewhat unpopular opinion for a moment -- my favourite dungeon is Aurum Vale, and purely because of the bestiary. Morbol/Malboros are my favourite Final Fantasy monsters, and Ochu aren't far behind. So even though it can sometimes be tricky with a new party -- I think it's one of the first levelling dungeons where you have to sit up and pay attention to mechanics, especially while healing the Locksmith encounter -- it's my favourite. Plus, you get to eat Morbol Fruit, which probably taste disgusting, but they must be a delicacy. Where exactly does a Morbol keep its fruits, I wonder?

I know a lot of people don't like Aurum Vale. You get downscaled just enough that you can't use your level 50 abilities. There's wandering monsters in the first area that can result in over-pulling; people don't let the seedlings hatch for the extra XP; Coincounter doesn't telegraph his AOEs (watch for how he's holding his club!), but I still love it. It's all gloopy and poisonous and filled with giant toads and plant-monsters. There's not many dungeons where you get to do some extreme gardening.

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Great set of FFVII glamours, with some of them listed if you dig through the comments.

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A Red Mage guide for FFXIV Stormblood including guides on stat priority, role abilities, rotation, and advanced tactics.

A Red Mage guide for FFXIV Stormblood including guides on stat priority, role abilities, rotation, and advanced tactics.

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Main job

I found an old list of FFXIV-themed prompts kicking around the web, one of those 30 day challenge things. I don't know that I'll stick to doing them one-per-day, or even if I'll bother with all of them, but I thought they might make a good way to kick start this blog a little. The first prompt is to write about your main job.

My main job is, technically I suppose, Scholar. It's my equally-highest levelled and best geared, and my go-to when I want to run Duties or progress with the MSQ. But in my heart of hearts, my character's real main job is Fisher. I love fishing in FFXIV, and it's levelled just as high as SCH. When I arrive in a new settlement, I unlock the local guildleves just so I can do the FSH fieldcraft leves. My inventory is permanently stuffed with fish and bait; I'm pretty sure I must stink all of the time. Right now, I'm eyeing the Fishing section of the Achievements log and trying to convince myself not to import a bunch of them as checklist tasks to my Final Fantasy Trello board; I've got enough to do as it is.

I'm going to be levelling Pugilist/Monk and Astrologian eventually, and have my eye on Red Mage for when I get to Stormblood at some distant point in the future. Given the freedom that FFXIV gives you to switch classes and jobs, I don't really need a "main". But there's always FSH.

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List of permanently missable content

...an item, character, sidequest, ability, or spell, that can be obtained at one point of the game, but can be missed permanently if the player does not acquire it before reaching a certain part of the game, or before its location becomes unrevisitable.

...an item, character, sidequest, ability, or spell, that can be obtained at one point of the game, but can be missed permanently if the player does not acquire it before reaching a certain part of the game, or before its location becomes unrevisitable.

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Maria is more or less immune to physical damage right now -- her high evasion means almost all attacks against her miss -- but she still takes magical damage. These Yellow Souls in the Wyvern Cavern were a real pain; 15 damage doesn't seem like much, but they'd appear in groups of 2-4 and it would take me several turns to finish them all off, losing hundreds of HP in the process.

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Way to kill the mood, Minwu.

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And that's the Dreadnaught destroyed with Sunfire! The Dreadnaught was actually a bit of a grim dungeon, mainly due to being blinded a lot of the time, and Magicians could hit fairly hard. Most melee attacks tend to miss solo!Maria now, though.

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Maria solos the Adamantoise with no difficulty and collects the Goddess's Bell.

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Nice beaver.