Mercer

Even so, if there is any group that would be able to get their hands on it it would be the Syndicate. If the rarity was true, that would only give them more reason to use it as there would be little suspicion that the Sultana would actually be missing.

It's best that Fantasia is not canon due to the ramifications it would have on the grander story. If this magical substance is so easy to get your hands on, what's stopping the military, The Empire, The Syndicate, Tempered or any of the other enemy groups from using it to blend in. What stops them from kidnapping a person from society and replicating their appearance and integrate them back into that person's life? Hell, what stops the Syndicate from from kidnapping the Sultana and placing an exact replicate in her place? Makes a lot more sense to do that and give themselves full reign over the politics instead of the current plot.

It's Duty night! Join up and receive your reward.

Rank 8! WOOP WOOP!

So, I've done some more testing with the graphics settings with the Heavensward Benchmark. On my Windows 7 setup I stayed with Laptop (High) DX9 since it gives me reasonably stable FPS. I scored a 6600 (Very High) On my Windows 10 setup I upgraded to DX11 with the same Laptop (High) settings and scored a 7464 (Extremely High). Surprised by the result, I upped to Desktop Maximum and ended up with 6400 (Very High) So with my current modest setup (Intel i5 and 660 Nividia) I got a 15% increase in score with the same settings while upgrading to DX11. I lost less than 2% score when going from Windows 7 Laptop (High) DX9 to Windows 10 Desktop Maximum DX11. The end result is a net improvement in score while improving to the DX11 engine or a net increase in overall graphics quality with a minor performance hit.

Today Microsoft announced that Windows 10 will officially be released July 29th. If you have an official copy of Windows 7/8/8.1 you should have a new prompt in your task bar asking if you want to register your device for a free upgrade to 10. If you agree to this registration on July 29th your computer will automatically download the upgrade to Windows 10 through the Windows Update system. This update will upgrade your system to 10 without any kind of formatting required and will import all programs and system settings. Now that the announcement is out, I've been testing Windows 10 and have found a general performance improvement over Windows 7 and 8. Generally I see about a 5-10 FPS increase in most games. With XIV not only did I see an FPS increase, I found that higher settings taxed my system less, allowing me to go to high desktop with a very small difference in performance from high laptop or even low desktop.

Monday night is Duty night! SIGN UP NOW!

I'll keep this post up to date as we approach the Heavensward launch. If you have other deals to report in, let me and others know! GREEN MAN GAMING 25% off both Standard and Collector's Edition. Code: 25OFFF-FHEAVE-NSWARD CURRENTLY ACTIVE

You've got amazing pencil work Bryn!

And it's over

Cool people and fun RP. Come be immature with us!

Quick update, I'll have no art up in the coming days as I ease into summer break.

Removed my transcript and updated the main post with that link. Looks like there were translations errors during the live cast.

Anyone else catch the Chrono Trigger music? RqZaFDA7PXY

OP UPDATED WITH ALL INFORMATION FROM THE LIVE LETTER INCLUDING TRAILERS! ENJOY!

Alright, it's officially over. Thanks for sticking around while I live blogged this... 3 hour event.

E3 Live Letter will focus on Free Company crafting and Airships.

Job Overview just finished, here is the complete new job action and new job descriptions! Every Job is getting revamped and made more complicated, prepare to relearn your rotation, priority and abilities.

I actually might retire my main because her Leviathan-egi was everything and I get sick of having to tell people to pretend the Garuda is supposed to be a Leviathan New egis were literally what I was most excited about in the entire expansion because it's the part of the job I enjoy most The other abilities are cool and welcome and stuff but the butthurt is too strong for me to care at the moment They are talking that instead of making new Egi that you'd be able to glamor your Egis, allows customization. I actually got frustrated and closed the tab, and missed this part, haha. I would absolutely love if they followed through on this. Just looking the part would be enough for me. They confirmed it, it's happening along with Bahamut transformations.

I actually might retire my main because her Leviathan-egi was everything and I get sick of having to tell people to pretend the Garuda is supposed to be a Leviathan New egis were literally what I was most excited about in the entire expansion because it's the part of the job I enjoy most The other abilities are cool and welcome and stuff but the butthurt is too strong for me to care at the moment They are talking that instead of making new Egi that you'd be able to glamor your Egis, allows customization.

I CAN TURN INTO FUCKING BAHAMUT! I DO NOT CARE!

Here's what I was talking about: I wants it, precious. That delicious DRG weapon.

5 Minute translator break. Here is the summary so far on new job abilities and their mechanics.

#monk lyfe #weeping for joy #praise yoshida It's not a way to preserve it but a way to consume it for burst damage.

(Updating this post as the letter goes on to not spam the topic) TANKS PALADIN PLD is having it's new weapon skill branching depending on Enmity. They are also getting a new set of combos for Offtanks for a more DPS focus. Divine Veil is a new barrier spell. New block and shield based actions, including blocking for actions. Looks like PLD is getting greatly expanded from it's current niche. WARRIOR New Stance! Deliverance, a DPS/Offtank focused stance. Abandon is the new stacking buff built in this stance. Stance dancing allows you to carry stacks between Wrath and Deliverance. Raw Intuition, when struck from front will auto hit. If hit from side, Auto Crit. New healing actions as well as new actions to consume and build Deliverance. Design goal is to make Defense more powerful and Offense seperate. DARK KNIGHT Dark Aura stance: Raises DPS but drains MP. Can not regain MP from party actions (No ballad). Dark Knight has weapon skills to recover MP. Gripped Stance: Tank mode. Weapon skills build emnity and leech HP from enemies. Complex combo system. DARK EVERYTHING. Also: Soul Eater. Living Dead. Emo and Angsty the design goal (straight from Yoshi-P). DRK do not have a ranged pull, they have a leaping charge. ALL ACTIONS LEADING TO 50 HAVE BEEN ADJUSTED FOR TANKS! TANK STANCES HAVE ACCURACY BONUS DPS MONK New actions are used to help extend and preserve Greased Lightning. Meditation stacks up to 5. At 5 stacks, allows for new combos and actions. Meditation can be consumed to recover TP. New action allows easier switching between fighting forms. New actions will consume Greased Lightning, such as bursting before a high movement phase or invincible phase. Monk will be more focused on using time and abilities wisely. to maintain DPS as well as high burst and high TP recovery. DRAGOON Blood Oath of Dragon, new stance. Thrust combo will have added proc. New branches off each attack, 4 Tiered combo actions. New actions that deplete time in stance. Revamped to not only deal damage but to manipulate enemies for maximum damage. JUMP BEING ADJUSTED ON TIMING AND LANDING, FASTER NINJA Less stance switching than MNK and DRG. New combo to extend Huton through the fight, allowing for more Ninjitsu diversity. New positional actions? Can lower Enmity for self and allies. HUTON NERF RANGED DPS BARD New Ballad! Wanderer's Minute, enables bards to charge their attacks during cast. Not able to move during charge but dramatically increases DPS of abilities, no auto attack. Requires more ballad management at all times between hard DPS or support. Sidewinder new action, increases DOT damage. MACHINIST Machinist similar mechanically to Bard, different play style. When using utilizing specialized ammo will create different effects on enemies. Each weapon skill interacts with each ammo differently. Reloading is 5 shots. Each consecutive shot raises your next Proc chance. Reloading will waste the previous remaining stacks of ammo. Higher DPS if you consume all 5 stacks without stopping, but able shot weaving. Quick Reload will off cooldown reload a single ammo. Shot 1 will have a 50% proc rate. Shot 2 will have a higher proc and so on until Shot 5 is a 100% proc. Bombs are burst damage that requires channeling. Turrents can attack and give unique boosts depending on the turrent. SUMMONER Aether Flow abilities renew DOTS Tri-Disaster is renamed to Tri-Bind. New Tri-Disaster in Ishgard. Casts Bio, Bio II and Miasma at the same time. Egi's buffed and expanded. Aether Flow transforms into DREADWYRM TRANCE at 30 seconds. POWER OF BAHAMUT. GAIN POWER OF BAHAMUT DURING DREADWYRM TRANCE! NO NEW EGI. INSTEAD CUSTOMIZE EGI APPEARANCE. HEALERS WHITE MAGE Originally a pure Healer, shifting to a hybrid DPS/Healer role officially. Aylum field, Regen field. Attack/Heal hybrid attack. Added lesser Benediction like instants. Stone 3 and Aero 3 both AOE, Aero 3 applies an AoE DOT. Protect spell being adjusted so that it's buff amount is equalized between classes that can use it. Keep balance between the new healer trinity. SCHOLAR Instead of making SCH more powerful, they wanted to make it more strategic. The change is not evident in small parties but is more powerful in large parties. New actions are about AoE heals centered on the Scholar. Deployment Tactics! Effects Eye for an Eye and Adloquim and manipulates their effects. Emergency Tactics! Changes Aqloquim from a barrier to an aggressive heal. Dissipation! Sacrifices pet into a large healing power buff. ASTROLOGIAN Two Stances: Moon Reading and Star Reading. Moon Reading is much like WHM, powerful big heals. Star Reading is like SCH, barrier focused. Each stance changes actions greatly and will have very different rotations and priorities depending on the stance. Big barriers, like Y'shtola. Draw cards from 6 types. For example: Attack Boost, Haste, Decrease Damage, etc. Once you draw a card you keep it on hold. Royal Road lets you draw again and create a stacking buff between the two cards. May boost cards or turn them into AoE. Spread lets you apply the buff to yourself. Shuffle lets you discard and redraw.