SE has gotten Tired Of People’s Bullshit and amended their entire approach to harassment in FFXIV to a much more proactive stance, and I am far more hype than I ever would have expected.
From the Lodestone announcement:
... However, times have changed and although FINAL FANTASY is an MMORPG, it is now our belief that it is better for the community as a whole for us to “intervene in situations where a player is subjected to the abusive behavior of another player,” rather than “worrying about inhibiting communication between players.”
Yes.
Ultimately, we came to the conclusion that it is better for the community as a whole for us to clamp down on abusive behavior and have decided to move forward with this major change.
Hell yes.
To keep our players safe, we will continue to keep track of trends both in online games and in the real world, as well as remaining vigilant of the social norms of our time.
Hell. Fucking. Yes.
For reference, I Wayback Machine’d the prohibited activities back in Heavensward and got...this.
• The use of language that is generally considered unacceptable in a public venue
• Any language that is purposely meant to harm or harass a third party
• Any language that promotes the discrimination of any race, nationality, religion, sexual orientation or gender
That’s it. The entire list of things you can’t do (other than botting, hacking, and RMT). Trying to get a stalker off your back? Tired of people crashing your RP event with their emote-spamming crappy friends? Got kicked from a roulette because you were undergeared and new at tanking and said you didn’t want to pull everything to the gate because you knew for a goddamn fact you’d just die and they’d yell at you either way?
Tough!
...except, now those are all things that are reportable and punishable, so, tough no longer. Granted, it all hinges on how the GM team carries it out, but I’m super hopeful.
I have to admit: I love all the FF14 characters. Some I did not like at first, but nearly every character grew on me over time. So I cannot say which character I do not like. Well, maybe perhaps there is one: Asahi. He makes me cringe every time, but then again this shows he is well written.
But as I like to dwell on positivity and am pretty excited about the upcoming expansion I would like to know: Which are your favorite (new) characters?
I would like to keep it between the new characters of Stormblood or at least the ones being in the center. So it would be also okay if a character was changed significantly like for example Lyse. Also I would count Yugiri and Gosetsu as Stormblood character. So there are no strict “rules” per se, but I just want to keep it more to Stormblood than the previous content.
My favorite characters were:
Sadu
Hands down Sadu! But this might probably not surprise anyone. I love how rough and tribal she is, how confident and active, but also playful. Her English voice actor does such a tremendous job capturing that character, I rejoice every time she speaks. Also the tension between her and Magnai make me squeel everytime they both appear on the screen. That scene with both of them for the MSQ was just so well written, this might be one of my favorite scenes in the complete Stormblood MSQ. I truly hope Sadu will have many appearances in future patches. Also the Dotharl tribe just strikes close to my heart. So if one of my Au ra alts ever is going to enter into roleplaying she probably will be a Dotharl.
Lyse
I know this might be controversial, as many people do not like the changes from Yda to Lyse. But I love the new Lyse - she is strong, she is empathic, she is idealistic and she does stupid things. I do not like perfect characters, but those characters doing mistakes and grow with them (which is also why I love Alphinaud so much!). Yes, it is difficult for her being a leading figure, because Yda never really were. And that is which makes this character so interesting: She struggles with her new task and mission. She grows with it, but falls down - only to get up again. She is a fighter - she also was as Yda and now in Stormblood even more, because her fight only grew harder bordering on the impossible. This is what makes a great and well-written character to me. Lyse, please stay with us for some while!
Hien
Oh, boy. I do not know where to start, because with my final thoughts on Hien I probably will not make many friends - because I did not like him. He seemed shallow and boring to me. But this is a character I totally misjudged, which was probably my own fault and my own prejudices against “cool Samurai characters”. I thought it was “just another cool dude” which is usually rather boring to me. But the secret with Hien is: He is really cool! He is capable, he is witty, he is sensitive and caring - and also wise. He did have so many awesome dialogues (especially with Gosetsu!) I marvelled and what he had to say. This truly is a well-written leader. Whereas Lyse has to grow into her position, Hien already is there - and I also love the tension between those two. Or am I the only one seeing there some affection? I truly would love both of them getting closer, because that would be an interesting pairing.
Honorable mention: Yugiri
This is one of the few things I did not like about stormblood: I wished there was more Yugiri spotlight. Yes, I know, she is is a shinobi and spotlight is not really her thing. Also she did have some screen time with her home being discovered and all that. But I like the character and wish she had taken a more central role. For some time I even thought she might sacrifice herself in battle against Zenos to rescue Hien. This would have broken my heart, but would have been awesome for her character. I do hope Yugiri will have more screen time in future patches - especially as I love her relationship to Hien... and Gosetsu as well, of course. Sad she did not play as much a part in Stormblood as I hoped her to play.
Suddenly again there was a patch. Yes, I could have been aware of that, but it somehow went under my radar. Thus I avoided tumblr at Tuesday a little bit, got through the MSQ on Wednesday and was too busy until today.
So keep in mind: Not everyone might play the new content on the same day - for very different reasons, but each one of them being valid.
I am going to tag with these spoilers:
Patch 4.55
Patch 4.55 spoiler
Spoiler
4.55
4.55 spoiler
A Requiem for Heroes
Stormblood
Stormblood spoiler
Be Nanamo’s champion and try no to spoil the fun by revealing something without tags.
Honestly so far everything seems very positive about Hydatos, no hills and mountains, nice clear map, lots of cool loot, and no sleepy boi dragons (that I have seen thus far).
All of this means but one thing... the dungeon really is going to be hell and they made everything else really nice to make up for that...
