RPC has moved! These pages have been kept for historical purposes

Steel Wolf · **01-26-2015, 11:01 AM**

This post is dedicated to and inspired by Zarek "Z-kitty" Windsoul and his friends.

I just wanted to share with you all this story of me. I'm not really sure the point, if I can be honest...just a sort of random thing I wanted to put out there. I suppose it's my hope that my experience and my journey thus far will maybe make others who are reading this and felt like I did change their mind.

I left this game shortly after patch 2.1 arrived. I was around for the mind-dulling launch endgame and the horrible grind for Tomestones in maybe two or three dungeons. The fact that the game's further updates weren't providing players with alternate progression outside of dungeon PUG'ing was anathema to me. I'm too shy to tank things for strangers and I don't know anyone. How dare this game force their design on me. F*** it, I'm out and I'm takin' my wallet with me.

After a while, as is often the case with me and MMOs, I started to miss things about XIV. Most of it was the graphics, and the world, and the lore. And at least one or two people who kept regular contact with me. So, shortly after 2.4, I came crawling back.

Not only were the problems that I left originally still there, they were piled on at least three times over. Huge lists of dungeons. Even more Primals. Regular story progression locked down by dungeons. Triple-digit item levels!!

I was beyond frustrated. I was seconds away from another table-flipping exodus...right until I just....talked it out. And listened. Well, read, but you get the idea. And the support from the folks here at the RPC stayed my hand. At times I know I was repeating myself and my frustrations, but time and again lots of folks patiently encouraged me.

I took folks up on the offers. I reached out to strangers. I took up with some people in the RPC. I begrudgingly ceded to the game design's demands, facing dungeons with a mixture of cynical disbelief, grumpiness and outright fear.

Run by run, bit by bit, it all just burned away. Victories emboldened me. My tiny little static group expanded to include others who gladly helped get my second-ever Relic. And then I moved on to PUGs. I reached to regulars in an FC. I found an old friend and we pulled together a dungeon run in-character.

Now I'm looking towards new dungeons. I'm entering Roulettes completely on my lonesome. I'm collecting HM dungeons not with a sense of dread and illness, but in excitement. I love tanking, even if I'm not the greatest at it. I love the dungeons in this game, even the annoying ones. I love earning Tomestones and gear. I LOVE RAIDING (The Crystal Tower at any rate).

And I want more. I'm eager to see what new patches are gonna bring. I want to do Alexander...or at least try. I still have Wanderer's Hard, Pharos Sirius and all the Hildy things, along with several other HM's. And I haven't even taken a peek at the EX Primals.

Again, what's the point of all of this? To say that you can change. You can adapt to this game's ridiculous grind--and let's be real, this is a grind. But you can make it fun. There are people here. Here and in-game. People that can help. That want to help. I swear to God they exist and in more proliferous a number than anyone could ever guess.

And I'm among their number. Because I'm addicted to this game's dungeons. Hopelessly, madly, gleefully addicted. Someone who was violently against the endgame design of this game.

If it can happen to me, it can happen to anyone. And that sounds so clichÃ© it hurts...but I swear it's truth. Hand on heart.

Warren Castille · **01-26-2015, 11:10 AM**

Forecast calls for warm replies with a high chance of reputation freefalling throughout the morning.

Cliodhna Eoghan · **01-26-2015, 11:24 AM**

that's so great to hear! :3 so glad you've been able to take the dread of running dungeons/raiding and turn it into something you enjoy. >u< (i had the same worry when i started; having to "force socialize" with people was a big reason why i stayed away from mmo's for a long time, but the community here has really shoved that feeling out the door.) maybe once i catch up enough, we can run some stuff together. i'd like to start spamming garuda hm so i can get some of the weapons from it and love running stuff like that with as many people as i know cause it's more fun. :3

Steel Wolf · **01-26-2015, 11:34 AM**

I would totally adore that, though I believe the weapons in question drop from the EX version and not the HM? I dunno, I could be wrong.

In either case, I'd love to run stuff with you. ^w^ I'm yet to touch any X-Primes so I'm down for learning them. <33

Kage · **01-26-2015, 11:38 AM**

Ifrit HM, Garuda HM, Titan HM and Moogle Mog HM drop weapons (something like i60,i65,i70,i75?).

Ultima HM drops accessories.

Doing Garuda Ex, Ifrit Ex, and Titan Ex after performing a weekly quest grants you an i90 weapon each go around ish. Levi Ex, Ramuh Ex, and Shiva Ex drop weapons while all Ex primals drop a certain type of accessory (earrings, rings, bracelets, chokers)

I'm glad to hear that you are starting to really enjoy the dungeon raiding!

Jana · **01-26-2015, 11:39 AM**

Garuda Hard drops i75 weapons; people spam it in 2 minutes for their Nexus lights. Garuda Extreme is a step up and drops i90 rings, and the horse (maybe). It's the easiest of the Ex primals though, both in terms of mechanics and the gear needed.

**Unnamed Mercenary** · **01-26-2015, 11:43 AM**

Steel~!

It's posts like this that really make a morning. I remember seeing the fright and frustration with trying to get through content, and many others in similar positions. I think it's great that you've found the will to keep going and keep trying.

Keep up the awesome work! ...and should you ever need people to fill out a party, you can ask on me any time! ...I should be capable of doing them all as any role.

Cliodhna Eoghan · **01-26-2015, 11:51 AM**

i've already gottan an axe from hm (and something else i think? can't remember for sure) but i just want them for glamour atm so i'm not too worried about stats (nor am i ready for ex mode >n<;;; ) but still; that and other stuff i think would be fun to run together Big Grin

Du'lance Fiourtune · **01-27-2015, 10:14 AM**

I'm not sure if I'll even last till endgame, getting to 50 seems to take forever!

allgivenover · **01-27-2015, 10:22 AM**

I'm floored that people think this game is grindy. We have one quest line that forces a grind, everything else is extremely accommodating to people who hate grind.

You want tomestones? Do your expert roulette once a day, you'll cap out before the week is through. That's hardly a grind.

Don't like the busywork that is the relic quest line? Don't do it. There's faster, less grindy ways to get higher iLvl weapons, and truthfully if you're not doing Coil anything higher than ilvl 120 is not really necessary anyway.

Warren Castille · **01-27-2015, 10:28 AM**

(01-27-2015, 10:22 AM)allgivenover Wrote: I'm floored that people think this game is grindy. We have one quest line that forces a grind, everything else is extremely accommodating to people who hate grind.

You want tomestones? Do your expert roulette once a day, you'll cap out before the week is through. That's hardly a grind.

Don't like the busywork that is the relic quest line? Don't do it. There's faster, less grindy ways to get higher iLvl weapons, and truthfully if you're not doing Coil anything higher than ilvl 120 is not really necessary anyway.

Compared to the MMOs of yesterday, sure, this game is hardly a grind. Compared to some Korean fare, sure, this is a cakewalk. Doesn't change the fact that folks not used to it are going to be bowled over by it. This is coming from someone who worked on legendaries in WoW and relic/mythic/empyrean weapons in FFXI.

Yes, that's plural. They weren't all mine, but that's because getting those weapons took entire alliances of people.

Imagine, my new-to-the-genre friends, if you needed to grind our Extreme Modes for drops and only one person in the group was allowed to collect them at a time. And those fights took 18-24 people.

Dungeon Addicted

RPC has moved! These pages have been kept for historical purposes