Tosheden

8-)

[align=center]*Casts Raise* Hey folks, Sorry about the huge cliff hanger on this. There's a reason for it, basically I've been playing the game when RL allows me to do so feel free to post and scream at me. But rest assured I haven't scrapped doing these nor have I stopped taking screenshots of literally everything I see haha MOVING ON....anyway enjoy [/align] E9:1 Man oh man how I remember these tireless hours of running content over and over again for better gear. I mean c'mon...whats an mmo without a grind right? Exactly. The funny thing is at some point I had what I'd like to refer to as "Tank Anxiety" it's something about the class that you have to fully to commit too in order to perform. And we all know what happens when a tank doesn't perfom...don't we? Which means you've gotta be on your ps and qs. I guess the statement I'm looking for is I've gotten used to tanking a bit. Relic hunting sort of prepares you for it. Well at least it did for me. So I have to thank Mr Yoshi for making endgame actually tough and time consuming. E9:2 Hi my name is Tosheden Muramasa and I'm a glamouring addict. I always was a firm believer in the fact that you should be able to dress your character the way you wanted too in order to give it more "personality". You probably notice Tosh looks a bit different too, I decided to make him age a bit since I did take a couple months away from game I wanted to make him look different when I came back and this is what I came up with. Thank lawd for the preview option now. E9:3 The Atma feasts on your inner completionist soul. These things for completely random from what I understand. Some have really good luck others not so much. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate the occasional time gate I've only gotten one so far since I haven't really tried to get them until recently. As you know, sooner or later The Atma will continue to feast on your inner completionist soul so it is only inevitable that you go for it. The cool thing about Atma is that you can group with others and do them. This can lead you to making new friends, raiding buddies, you know the social stuff. Oh and you continue to upgrade it too... E9:4 Did I forget to mention I created an alt for DPS? Well rewind that.. I created this character as an antagonist for my main character. (You'll have to read the bio to piece the hooks together). However this character sort of grew into it's own. I know I could have easily leveled a DPS class on Tosheden but I wanted to switch things up and wanted something that played ninja-ish MNK is it is (for now). Meet C'hito K'yzen--part time bandit full time puncher. E9:5 I often compare The Binding Coil of Bahamut to content from an old game. In that game they had something called heroics which were basically glorified boss fights with a ton of mechanics to handle Coils definitely bring back some old memories. I use MNK in coils and have yet to tank them I know eventually that is going to change. (Wewt T4 Clear)

So glad I got a chance to go to this even though I went on 'business' only that didn't seem to end at the ball lol.... Before everything that did happen I had a fun time walking around and seeing everyone.

Wish I knew the exact name because it made me want to purchase the whole sound track when it's released. But I remember hearing it at the end of the level 40 monk quest >_>

[align=center]Holiday seasons are here, for most of us, it's times like these that call for nothing other than.....EXTREME LEVELING TIME!! Well let's say, in MY case that's what it basically is. To some of us, this will be our first MMO to have played during the winter months, to others, such as myself..this will be their bazillionth time. But if it's one thing you can agree on is plenty food to eat at the computer and all the eggnog you can drink and be merry with your volks in voice chat. If your into that kind of thing your into.. Entry #8 [align=left]E8:1 It wasn't until about the level 35ish ranged did I realize how necessary doing FATES were. Leves just weren't cutting it and it was the only thing really available when you are 1 level under continuing your story plot and halfway to that level. Something I ran into quite often actually.. Plus to add to that, at the time, I was still on the fence on whether or not I still wanted to be WAR. Initially, I had troubles adjusting to tanking and actually leading a team through a dungeon. Versus just focusing on keeping myself alive. It was an old habit that FFXIV eventually broke me from. Tanking in other games compared to this one felt different... it was different. Positioning...managing hate or enmity....crowd control. All of these are old news to a new age seasoned Tank. But to me, it was sort of new. The good part is it doesn't take very long for me to catch on to things. E8:2 UI Customizations.. At some point everyone has to deal with it. Unfortunately, I never changed mine until way later down the road. This was mostly because of the fact that I was running out of hotbar space and the urge to wanting to keep it somewhat organized became too strong to ignore. This was a nod towards me sort of mentally preparing myself for end game and the harder dungeons. Climatically this comes close to 10 levels away from me being at max level on my first class. E8:3 Lightning Strikes Twice, was an event created by our head and chief Yoshi-P. If you played Final Fantasy 13 then you know who Lightning is. In participation of another game expanding that series, we get event that allows us to fight along side her in a few FATES to unlock some vanity weapons. This was pretty cool but maybe I'm one of few that kinda favors 9 and 7 a bit more. However, I couldn't pass up the chance to have screenshot of her and all her glory. Whether you like her or not you have to admit she's kind of a bad ass. E8:4 Garuda one of my favorite Primals next to Odin. And it has nothing to do with the fact that she's a half naked, sadistic, harpy with a pair of jugs that are pretty nice to look at once you get pass the hair and claws. (I lied) This ushered me into mechanics that were more dominate in this encounter than previous dungeons that I've done so far. Taking cover, avoiding attacks with no casting circles, you name it. Grauda was by far my favorite Primal encounter next to Ifirt. You really had to be on your toes and after this made me realize how important knowing what your doing as a Tank is pivotal. E8:5 Random acts of kindness, even in mmos, apparently hasn't officially died. I remember loading into Revenant's Toll in order to catch some FATES for extra xp and I get tell from a random player named Endermerrin Rosethorne. I'd be the first to admit that when I get random tells I'm sort of caught off guard, not exactly sure what to say. And the funny thing is he didn't know much what to say either but told me trade him anyway. He ended up giving me a HQ chest piece with all 4 Material slots that hard Parry in them. I was really grateful because it was something I could wear until I got the rest of my gear from Curious Gorge. But this solidified that Random acts of Kindness of in MMO's isn't completely dead after all. E8:6 This picture I stood here for a good hour partially AFK looking up walkthroughs and guides for dungeons. I realized that it was a good a idea to have a grasp on newer dungeons that I have yet to do. It also began to occur to me that it's not always an uncommon thing to hop in Duty Finder and be with people who've never ran that specific dungeon before, and probably don't have a clue what to do just like you. I had to eventually hop that hurdle, I'd be the first to admit that I've done a run before and didn't know what to really do which is understandable in some cases, but I got chewed out for it, Even though it was my first time actually doing that run, I mean you gotta start somewhere, right? This gave me quite the bitter taste in my mouth for not only Duty Finder but being a tank started to seem like a lot of pressure I wasn't used to yet. However, this picture signifies that I've got a new outlook on the subject and began to better preparing myself to deal with the waves as they come. First run or not I no longer feel under pressure being a tank. In conjunction this causes performance to turn out way better than it normally does. E8:7 After finding my new resolve I decided to give The Aurum Vale a shot. And it was a good turn out. The players involved were also good company. For two people it was their first run. The other two have ran it before and was actually in voice explaining it to the other person... and it wasn't me. Now we did wipe twice on the Second Boss and twice on the last. But I was okay with it not being on me those few times. And that's not a jab at them at all. But I feel bad if I miss up being tank because usually that means if I mess up and die the whole group wipes. And that's where that pressure came in. I was coping with it and I decided to not let it ruin me enjoying actually playing a Warrior. E8:8 I didn't really learn the importance of FATE groups until later levels. I had already knew doing fates where slightly beneficial but I didn't exactly know how FATE Groups operated, until I joined one. Bodies dropping, exp spamming your chat box, and you were guaranteed to get a gold rating long as you got there. Needless to say, after seeing how these worked it made my last two levels pretty easy to obtain. And I was happy to see the end of the road and finally be able to start doing end game stuff. Just in time for 2.1 to come out. [/align] [/align]

[align=center]Burn out.. it creeps up on you ever so quietly and before you know it, your logging in and find yourself with either not much to do and all the time in the world, or not enough to do because you've done everything. Mine was different--Beta testing perhaps played a huge role in me suffering from a slight burn out. But it was more RL getting hectic which ultimately kept me outside the game for a good month and some change. I'm glad to be back and actually have time to enjoy playing the game again and cheerful that the Company was waiting on me to get back. I made some changes to my progression, no more crafting GET TO 50! Then relax and craft. We'll see how long I can keep this up. [/align] [align=left]Entry #7 E7:1 10/13/13 I touched down back into the world of Hydelan. Not many Nightblades were online since it was about 10am EST and most are west coast residents. But here I was ready to pick up exactly where I left off. This time things were different. I had a bit of a newer mindset towards my characters growth. I wanted to get things started with him and keep it rolling. My first mistake was spreading myself too thin early on by focusing on crafting. Don't get me wrong, I occasionally like to lock myself in a lab and create things for hours just like the next maniac. But I also felt like I was missing out on other parts of the game I have yet to experience, leveling, and more frequent RP encounters. Shortly after snapping this shot as the sun bounced off my heavy armor I returned back to Limsa and dropped all my crafting items on my retainer where I told myself it will set... for now. # E7:2 My so-called return was botched when I got sick and literally slept for like a week. The day I recovered and managed to log back in I was greeted with "WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN!!!?!?!" and a bunch of other welcome backs. Good ol' Denntha was ready and willing to aid me in catching back up. We did a couple leves together until it was time for a scheduled RP event with another Free Company named Grim Echo. I want to say this day was more of an official return because I felt like I got a ton of things done in one day. E7:3 After finishing up the last few leves me and Denntha joined the rest of the company and Grim in some sort of ruins/temple area outside of Gridania. A meeting took place that was bit of a summary of recent events. This was really beneficial to me to attend this because I've been out of the loop for sometime. Aside from NB these guys were strangers, which I'm not against befriending (or having a rivalry with..IC of course ). Every so often a few players would drop in and just watch things unfold but didn't bother interrupting. I know if I was a gathering this huge in the middle of no where I'd be curious too. E7:4 The Meeting Tosheden's IC Entry #2 After returning home to Limsa, I decided to go to Costa Del Sol for a bit to relax. Soon as I set my feet in the sand I hear a familiar voice go, "WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN!?" from the other side of the coast. I feel like I bump into Denntha more often than anyone else I'm currently affiliated with. Funny, I was expecting that kind of reaction from Ellion but it was sobering to hear someone I knew I could trust. Shortly after being bombarded with questions, I was told that we were to report to a secret meeting with our "allies". And I had to drag her ass through the forest to get there...lucky me right? I can't say I enjoyed standing in the rain listening to some guy I don't even know talk about things I wasn't present to see at the time. But I guess it was nice to see the crew together. I hate admit to it but I sort of missed being around them. It gives me a secondary purpose, I guess. I caught myself drifting in thought during the meeting once it started. I did catch the important parts though. It seems Ellion has gotten even more ambitious in his mission since I've been away.. Things may just get interesting after all. But this made me realize how trivial my personal mission was in comparison to his...still I can't sleep until I find this woman, Primals or beast tribes won't keep me from completing that objective either. Surprisingly enough, Ellion didn't chew me out for turning my linkshell off for a month and a half. Either he was too busy to notice or he simply didn't give a rats ass as long as I came back. Regardless, I'm glad I didn't get assigned bathroom cleaning duties at the HQ for it. Apparently, the ball is now rolling because jobs are being handed out. I'm part of the strike force now, eagerly awaiting my first assignment and pay... because that asshole on that trip I'm sort of broke now and barely had enough for a ticket back home and missed out on a lot training. Speaking of... I should probably go and make up for loss time besides.. my damn hand hurts from writing. [/align]

Thank you! lol I couldn't help but smile reading your reply. It's really a nice feeling to be able to show someone this game from a new players perspective. Welcome to the forums btw, and FFXIV! It'll be more. As of now I'm sort of on a unintended break juggling school, family, etc. But the good news is that I just scratched a class off my list today with the final I just took. So my time will slowly free up more as the weeks go by, ILL BE BACK!! :tonberry:

[align=center]Roleplay........to some, it's a unique way to immerse yourself into the game to further your entertainment. To others, it's weird, creepy, stupid etc. I often wonder why it's hate against those who do and those who don't. I look at this subject as a whole in the sense that the minute you pick up a controller or load up your toolbar, your roleplaying. From this moment, the reality around you fades and you slip into this fantasy realm, sometimes with a customly made avatar or others with original protaganists. You're thinking about getting stronger, beating this team, do this mission, kill some people, you have a direction, right? You are taking control or pretending to be someone who you aren't. This is roleplaying to me in a nut shell. However to some this goes a bit further, this group BECOMES their character and do actions that are in the guidelines of that particular game. It's basically playing the game the same way but in different levels of awareness. It's the difference between just playing the character or becoming the character.....so aren't we all two sides of the same coin? Entry #6 [align=left]E6:1 9/7/13 was the date of the 7th Annual Full Cold Moon Gala event. I logged in and burned some time away by doing a couple Leves. I hadn't realized that I didn't buy or make any clothes to wear to the event (I was making Tosheden go formal to give him something to be a bit annoyed about since he is 70% of the time.) So in a split decision I got a suit off the market that ran me a good 4000 gil and this what I came up with. Here I was standing with Siben, Marcus, and Loki. I'm pretty sure Dennntha was off somewhere trying to sneak in or score a date along with more members I hadn't officially saw in game until today. After we moved around in line a bit we chatted for awhile and listened in on all the conversations that was going on around us. To my surprise I've never actually attended a RP event this big that wasn't a warzone. The games I've played usually had light population for people who would go to these things but here on Balmung I got a nice idea how huge the RP community is here. Probably the biggest I've ever witnessed in any game and a really great turn out, Odin even spawned and some of the RPers reacted to the change in scenery which I thought was pretty cool. Unfortunately, I didn't take many pictures because I was IC at the event can't snap shots and RP at the same time just yet anyway. But Tosheden did write something in HIS diary ...... E6:2 (Tosheden's IC Entry #1)[/align] Gah....This Ellion guy. Tells us to go to this social gatherin'. I hate goin' to these things. Bunch'a goody two shoes tryin' to impress each other. Depressed Adventurer tryin' to find a gal to cry on. The list goes on. Anyway, I went with Denntha, Loki, and Sibs. The line was HUGE! I didn't like how many people it was I had this feelin' that someone I did business with would be there. But I was nervous bout whether or not I'd see HER. Or she'd see me. Which reminds me, Ellion is an asshole for two reasons, One for bein so damned hard to read and two for keepin' that info from me he says "Muramasa, we made a deal correct? Until we complete our goal, you must loan me your time and your skill. When the realm is safe I'll give you the information you need"....Kiss my ass. Save the realm? This guys' is outta of his mind. And to top that ya never really know what he's thinkin' unless ya eye em long enough. I can't exactly kill him cause then I would be out of a lead. That's not very smart. Regardless, I have to stick around for now, I can't complain too much though..he keeps pretty fine gals around. Atleast it's plenty Eye Candy. And the money. In any case underneath all that fur he's a man of his word, despite being a prick and insane. Sibs on the other hand... The guy creeps me out sometimes he's mysterious, like that guy out of some cheesy romance play. But he's also a pretty good wingman so I guess it works out. We did sneak in after all. Loki was inside already by the time we got in...talkin' about "they let us in due to an increase of monsters in the area. Next time you two should behave" okay Boss lady. [align=left] Denn disappeared too now that I think of it, I did see her on my way out but still I can only imagine what she got into that girl knows how to have a good time and drink you under the table, Heh. I ended up bein seated with Loki, Sibs and two other guys. I wasn't really following their gossipin' I was too busy enjoyin' the food. And then next thing I know, Sibs tosses his date on me and I have to take Loki home. Oh and Mr Fashionably Late, Ellion, comes afterwards. He even tossed me into a dance competition with Loki. I can still hear his laugh and him sayin' "Goodluck Muramasa"...BAH! He's a bigger asshole than me most of the time. Luckily, Loki can move her hips pretty well so I'm not complainin'. But I still I didn't feel like dancin' I could have been trainin' or somethin'. We also came in second place. Oh well...[/align] [align=left] Thankfully "work"summoned me away and I had to leave shortly after. I was ready to go after the food honestly, but then Ellion decides to be.....Ellion and tell me I can't leave unless I clean bathrooms in the HQ. Really....this guy....ugh! Turns out he was jokin' and I hate it cause I can never tell right away.. Loki was kinda pissed off too I think. She did get tossed around twice that night. Poor girl. But duty calls. Speakin' of duty...the Airship's here. Later.. E6:3[/align] [align=left] After logging in the following day, I teleported back to Gridania. To my surprise the gil farmers were in full force. I was blown away by this because I've never seen them spam so much. Usually they would get silenced right away or they just didn't spam back to like that. I am used to getting tells from them but man having to add 'Asafs gthaws' to blacklist every time you enter a city is quite annoying. (Thank god for the recent patch) E6:5[/align] [align=left] Now I have to really give it to SE for having time to do an event along with having so many server issues and trying to fix them. Takes a pretty headstrong company to provide this kind of service despite the circumstances. It just goes to show you can't always count someone out even though they slip and fall on their ass. I find my self slowly becoming more and more trusting of the company as a whole. I feel thats something important between buyer and seller, mutual trust. I trust SE to handle issues soon as they are able to fully fix them. I mean, the servers are doing exceptionally well more and more people are able to finally create their character on their servers they've been locked out from doing. Kudos guys. E6:6 Costa Del Sol turns into a warzone during this event killing bombards for some kind of tokens that you use to purchase the clothes from the NPCs in all 3 City-States. I collected a lot of these but I didn't really want much from vendor I got a pair trunks for the future "Lets go to the beach" type of gathering. E6:7 Curious George...I see what you did thar SE. *Achievement Unlocked* (Become A Warrior) Well I officially broke into my first Job. I'm still getting used to it I had no idea that the soul crystal was for your job items though. It occured to me at level 30 I still didn't get a piece of equipment from the story missions to occupy this slot. Until of course I finished the quest and realized, 'Hey! I'm Warrior now!' One down and a hell of a lot more to go...[/align] [/align]

[align=center]**Attempts to login**.......(Load screen appears)... O_O FINALLY!!!! Well as I said in my last entry, the login pressure would eventually wear off as things kept rolling, and it did. Now I know some people are still getting Error 1017 however it's now a lot easier to login. Still no AFK kicker yet but I, and probably many others, feel a bit more comfortable logging out at the end of the day knowing I'll be able to play again tomorrow. Now we can make this an inside joke among the community that were here for the Battle of the Errors and put this behind us. Maybe the devs will give us an easter egg to laugh at about this whole idea, who knows.... [align=left]Entry #5 E5:1 The screen lit up and there I was standing in the same place I got DC'd and slapped with a nice Error 9000 followed by the complimentary Error 1017. So far so good post maintenance, notice the time is 5:50am (EST), I was already up early finishing homework for my next class in a few hours (yay college,right?). Believe it not I actually parked my character in my room at the Inn and logged out so I'd have some rested exp when I got back. It was an act of trust that all these errors are surly being squashed and the need to not log out seemed to all disappear... E5:2 I was doing leves and a couple side quests for exp after my RL duties concluded. An hour or so into this I realized the weather became really gloomy and eery. I eventually found out that this was the result of Odin spawning in one of the areas close by. I had no idea that we'd be able to fight some of the Primals in open world FATES. I really like this idea a lot because it adds a bit of immerison to the game. From what I know thus far, we are pretty much on the same side and band together to fight the Primals. Additionally, you get reward items from participating so I need to put my camera down next time and try to get in on that. E5:3 One thing that's new to me are the guild wide buffs you that you can purchase once you reach a certain rank. These buffs can range from anything to extra crafting/battle exp, equipment decays slower, and even reduced teleportation costs, which we went with this time. Honestly, I favor the reduced teleportation buff a lot more. FFXIV is the first game in a long time that I've had to do so much traveling and it can get rather expensive if you hate riding the airship. Hell that can get expensive too, if you're like me and kill a lot of your money buying crafting supplies. In any case I think I caught onto what Yoshi was aiming for. Rewarding people for coming together--these aren't available to solo players. So I get the feeling that by adding this they made the game more social in a way. E5:4 2000 Grand Company Seals later and I was given a Chocobo I named, Jin. It took me awhile to focus on grinding FATES for seals because I was so busy leveling my gathering most of the time. Little did I know I could have been getting them the entire I was grinding crafting and running out of inventory space. Either way it worked it self out and I think we can add that to list of yet another noob move by yours truly. E5:5 [/align] [align=left]Rain, rain, go away, come again another day..... (You sang that didn't you?). Seriously, I think I notice it raining more than the other weather elements in game. Especially the crazy tropical storms in Limsa. However, you can't help but admire the level of detail that they constantly put into account when constructing this game. Even the sounds have this organic feel to them. Almost as if it was really raining with the additional lightning. I can attest that these guys did an amazing job because thunderstorms make me sleepy and it's been quite a few times where I had to turn the sound off and listen to music until the weather passed because it was actually making me sleepy. How's that for realism? E5:6 Remember what I said in E4:6? Well I think it happened. Leveling Archer is so fun for some reason. The DPS is good in the early levels and with the right equipment you can pretty much mow down mobs with little to no effort. And shooting at target markers as a quest is pretty awesome if you ask me. I've noticed a trend in a lot of MMO quests as you level it's always delivery or go kill x x times. However, it's a nice breath of fresh air to see it being done in a different fashion. Questing doesn't really have as much room to expand on in this realm unless your TSW (Talk about puzzles sheesh). These are the little things that matter or dips in the road to keep things interesting I believe. E5:7 Fellgourd Float, North Shroud. I took this approximately two days before the 7th Annual Full Cold Moon Gala event. I planned on attending if RL permitted me to do so. I also wanted to check the place out before hand since it'll give me an excuse to take some screenshots. I really like the way the weather affects were present in this particular photo. Next to the few landscape shots I got when Odin appeared this is one of my favorites. It almost mirrors what fall looks like in some parts of the globe the way the lighting was. A very soft, and tranquil feel to it. E5:8 It's funny that I never actually done any of the guild leves until like I was in the early 20s, despite getting introduced to them around level 10. This was pretty easy as to be expected. Go in...tank the boss.../win. I'd imagine these get way harder later on in the game. Right now it's a beacon of my own curiosity since I didn't do any of them at first. E5:9 MATERIA MELDING!!! I like how modding is in this game. It's relatively easy but I know it gets more tricky when you start bumping to those percentages on the higher level equipment. I had a noob move early on when I was grinding BSM (along with everything else besides cooking and goldsmith) and I had actually forgot to pick this quest up after learning how to convert Materia. Google eventually led me to here since I realized I was missing the meld option. I can say that I do appreciate the fact that it doesn't cost me money to mod gear that I earned or made my self. (Yes I took a shot at TOR 8-))... E5:10 It's......so.....hot....and everything is....wavy...I didn't see this right away, I don't think Limsa has any desert areas, nor did I see it during the beta since I never got that high in levels so I would have more of the game to discover post launch. But seriously...mirage effects? That's something I've never seen in an MMO I can honestly. SE keeps getting a lot of "firsts" apparently. E5:11 Tosheden The Warrior. I can get used to that. But first I must level Gladiator. So far I don't mind it but that's only because it's the only class that uses swords right now. (Give us moar plz). Shortly after I took this picture I began to wonder when I'd make that first step for Monk or Bard or all of them. I really am thankful for the fact that we can have multiple classes/jobs on the same character just long as you level them. I plan to eventually get everything to 50 starting with disciples of the hand. Simply because I want to be able to meld and make my own gear. Life of a "self sufficient-ist" is a long road man....this is just one mini step. [align=center](Stay tuned. The next one will feature the RP event and my overall experience being IC for the first time since launch.)[/align] [/align] [/align]

Well, there's seems to quite the number of suggestions in this thread! I had this same issue when I tried RPing during my short time playing TSW. However, this time around I'm going to attempt to put my neck out there a bit more because I've noticed the RPing community is more welcoming here. So that always makes it a lot easier for us timid ones. Funny how your characters personality could be the exact opposite of being shy until it comes to actually initiating RP.

[align=center]August 27th 2013 was officially launch day. Everyone will remember this day years from now after you may or may have not moved on from this MMO. See the thing about mmos is they aren't just games. They become part of you after experience what they have to offer. You've made friends or in some cases lovers, and even enemies. By definition games are meant to just merely provide entertainment. But MMOs like Star Wars Galaxies, World Of Warcraft, The Old Republic, Aion, Final Fantasy XI or even Final Fantasy XIV A Realm Reborn, are by no means just "games". You've spent countless hours on these types of games and you've experienced all sorts of emotions or met all kinds of people. MMOs are something else. Something special. For some of us FFXIV will have that "first mmo" experience feel if you've never touched the series before like myself. This is my first FF MMO, and depending on how the future pans out it may not be my last. And now it's this day to officially add another knot to my MMO belt. [/align] Entry #4 E4:1 Error 1017 versus Early Access Players. The battle was a horrible loss to the players. Millions lost their lives in the battle of "Login to FFXIV". I was one of these victims. I remember seeing the load screen in my sleep only to be booted out again and seeing Error 1017 in big red letters!!.....No not really but this launch was pretty rocky a lot of MMO launches are but I think a lot of us may have forgot that small detail unfortunately. I didn't always log in when I wanted but when I did I at least tried to make the most of my time before unexpectedly getting DC'd or crashing only to be taunted by the 1017 Error again for the next half day. This won't last long though and again like I said...not all MMO launches are smooth. E4:2 I came outside the Inn in Ul'dah and just stood at the stairs after finally getting in. I thought, "this is where the fun begins". I myself am still unsure what route I'm going so I decided to level everything. (My classes will be WAR and BSM though) It'll keep me busy for awhile especially since I have yet to play most of the classes to really get a feel for which I like versus what fits my character's RP persona. (Which is a pretty common issue...for now I'm dealing with it, HURRY UP SAMURAI/NINJA!!!) E4:3 About 20 levels later I had my first encounter with that firey bad ass we all know as Ifrit. I took this before myself Ellion, Loki, and Siben fight began. We beat him on a second attempt because Siben got Dc'd during the fight and we wiped so we had to wait on him to get back so he'd get credit also. I know the Primal battles later get harder but this was a pretty cool way of introducing new people to that aspect of the game. And besides...did I mention Ifrit=Badass? E4:4 Crafting...no matter what I always end up getting lost in it. The first crafting class I picked up was Blacksmith and I fell in love with crafting in FFXIV. It's really a breath of fresh air for me and a hell of a lot more engaging than in most games. I've always liked creating weapons when crafting is a thing. Fellow guildie Dennthota Ahtahrmwyn, also suffers from the Crafting bug. I believe we are chasing the same end game result and that's being self sufficient far as crafting goes. E4:5 Blacksmithing eventually led me to gathering such as mining and botanist. I had to pick these up to make sure I had supplies to grind with/make my own equipment. Gathering reminds me a lot of how resource hunting worked in SWG. The only catch is you can't just drop a harvester and go about your way. You have to actually go out and get this stuff. This was an amazing concept and I truly think they did it correctly. Gathering is more of a hands on approach and you do get a some sort of fulfillment for traversing the many terrains of Eorzea. E4:6 The fun thing about grinding all these classes as I go is I can actually see how they all play. I think that's an effective way of fully understanding a game is by trying out all the aspects of it. So on my way to better gathering nodes I tend to grind my other classes on fates as I come across them. Ironically, I find myself being drawn to archer. I like the play style and the damage. But I also shy away from ranged classes. What makes this one a bit different is the fact that it's a bit more mobile than I'd originally imagined. Being able to shoot arrows and being able to move around at the same time gave Archer a more different feel for me. So we'll see where this goes.... E4:7 And just when I thought SE couldn't surprise me any more they do. I don't know these two players personally but I'd like to personally thank them for being at the right place at the right time. Otherwise I would have probably not noticed this until way later in the game. I've never seen this in a MMO where players can actually sit on the same thing in a rather realistic manner. I mean we've all seen sitting in the same chairs before but the same tree stump? Maybe I'm exaggerating...maybe I'm not regardless I thought this was pretty cool to see. So thanks you two (Ariadne Bajhiri and Euphemia Starchild). Not only this but you can start to see individuality begin to spark throughout the player base. Not everyone all looks the same or wearing wacky armor because it's the only thing available. Nope...this was real. It made the world feel even more..."alive". E4:8 While running around like a chicken with its head cut off, I came across two players from a guild called named Ahza'to Palme and U'mi Khou RPing in Gridania. W00t RPers! It's weird that even though I play on Balmung I don't see random RP as much I thought I would. But it may have a lot to do with my play style or the fact that half the RPC can't log in......or people are just focused on leveling right now and casually RPing as they go. I love RP because it was really the first element I was exposed to while playing MMOs. But over the years I got converted into more of a PvPer. That love and appreciate for RP is still there however. I hope to get back to my roots and meet some interesting characters through RP. Because I honestly miss it. For now I don't mind being a bystander to these kinds of events. I didn't stick around to really catch the meat and potatoes of all this but it was really refreshing to see these two RPing.

Thank you FFVIX actually was responsible for me building my own. Think it turned out pretty well. I got most of my parts from a store called Microcenter. That sucks. Hopefully it's a one of the fixes they patched in the update >_>.

Well in my experience RP usually lead to PVP. We would always use the game mechanics and who ever dies in that fight well we RP the aftermath of that. If other elements present themselves it was a healthy dose of both. In FFXIV I wonder how different it'll be since we are all on the same team. Unless they added the empire as a faction. But I don't see that happening.

Some of these screenshots are amazing! How are you guys getting such rich colors? (AMD user)

I'm pretty sure that happened to me before. Tried to run from one city to the next and ended up some where waaay out of my league lol. I think I was in Gridania trying to get to Ul'dah. I'm starting to learn the maps a bit more though thankfully. haha Thank you! I had no idea that this even had a 1.0 version which I'm kind of glad because I'm pretty sure I'd be slightly annoyed to the game being closed down months later. But at least they did a relaunch and this time I get to be a noob in a more polished product lmao. It's always fun literally..tripping over that learning curve. I'm having a blast though finding new stuff out and doing the dungeons. More fun than I've had in any MMO in a long while actually.

Thank ya thank ya. And yea I was victim of yet another NOOB MOVE lol. AND I DIDN't notice that was her DC'ing! I think had just learned what that symbol was when Ellion said she DC'd I was like..."oh thats what that is" haha hope she doesn't mind :blush:

[align=center]Saturday, August 17, 2:00 a.m. to Monday, August 19, 2:00 a.m. (PDT), it was on this day that the servers were flooded for this final Beta test before we reach Early Access. Now lets be honest here; some of took the weekend off, purposely made no plans in hopes of not being bothered until the weekend was over, or tried to get in as much play/test as possible. All those minor distractions to pass the time by as we patiently waited for Open Beta. And it was on that day we were able to get a taste of what we've been so patiently waiting for. [/align] [align=left]Entry #3 E3:1 EORZEA!! Oh how have I missed thee!!!...No seriously, longest wait ever. This screenshot marks the first official step of my journey in FFXIV. Particularly, in Limsa whereas last phase I started in Ul'dah. It was a reason for this, free company picked Limsa as it's HQ and I finally got around to crafting a RP Bio that mentions living here so it was an obvious choice for my new starting city. It's Mind blowing to think about what sort of things I'll get into from this moment on. But it's also cool too. I didn't log in soon as the servers came up like a lot of people did I'm sure. It was 1pm when I logged in (after deleting Tosheden and remaking him because instead of using the load appearance data option I tried to make him from scratch and realizing his skin tone was off) and it was literally people everywhere. I'm pretty sure Night Blades had at least 15 members on. Since Open Beta progress is being saved and will carry over into launch, this made logging in feel like....well....launch. [align=center] E3:2 Fifth-teen levels and one airship pass later, I ended up in Gridania. Loki suggested we should all meet up for a guild photo and Aurek Tau, being the explorer of realms he is, said he'd take us to a place for just the right shot. Strangely enough, since the beginning of my MMO gaming career in 2006, I've only been apart of one guild. Night Blades reminds me a lot of my first guild some of the members I'm great RL friends with despite we live miles away from each other. They have time in. I appreciate that because I know how precious it is. I'm fresh meat but it's nothing but welcoming vibes from these guys. E3:3 [align=left] [/align] I don't remember exactly where we were on the map I was too busy looking around as we followed Aurek further and further away from the Gridania. However, I think it was somewhere close by the snowy mountains of Dun Mouro. I can't help but think of when I'll remember the area names and locations though. It's also reaffirming how big this game is compared to others. We got to some dungeon looking building and got into poses/emotes for the picture. And here was my version.[/size] E3:4 Well...this is awkward. Here I thought I was going to be able to grind all night and get to cap. Unfortunately, I didn't realize Bahamut had an ultimate move called Error 3102 that DC's you and keeps your toon stuck in limbo. I was affected by this error when leaving Ul'dah. I got DC'd and thrown into limbo. I didn't initially try and log back in. Unknowing thousands of others (literally) were dealing with Bahamut's rage. I figured I'd update Windows in order to fix my graphical issue during cut-scenes. Fixed it...check. Okay now more FFXI right?.................................NO. I was locked out of the server all day and most of the night, some were even locked out for 40hrs or more. And the number of people effected were increasing as the day went on. SE didn't address the community right away and that caused complaints as well. People canceling preorders, more nay sayers, etc. I had the exact opposite reaction to Error 3102. Simply put "I'd rather deal with this during Open Beta than Live". This happened right on schedule if you ask me. Now they will have a more polished and stable product upon release. SE did extend beta for 6hrs which gave me more to play time since I was suffering from a major episode of insomnia. E3:5 The first thing I could think of doing when the flood gates finally opened again was to go do the Dye quest in Vasper Bay. However, I haven't traveled that far yet since I started in Limsa so it was going to be a lonnnnnng walk. There were plenty of FATES on the way which was good exp for my other unlocked classes. But I had to keep on keeping on. I want to point out that I'm big on individuality and style in MMOs so you can imagine I was getting rather tired of wearing purple gloves, lime green chest armor and other oddly colored gear that you accumulate as you level up. And the only thing that stood in my way was....Orange Juice. I dyed some clothes and armor to wear whenever I'm in town. My style... and I'm not running around like someones twin or like rainbow threw up on me. Perfect. Dyeing in FFXIV is really simple and effective not ridiculously expensive *cough* TOR *cough*. E3:6 [align=left] [/align] After figuring out how to Dye my gear I realized I haven't fished in a MMO in a long time. So why not try it out since I had already unlocked my Armory Chest and the guild was close by. I Pestered the guild for a rod and some bait and I was off... But I wanted to see what Costa Del Sol looked like also. That was one thing I meant to explore in Phase 3 and never got a chance to do so. Not realizing that on the way there would be such an adventure. I was getting chased by mobs stronger than me but I was determined to not get caught and die and have to teleport back from Limsa. I spent most of my money buying dye, potions, and stuff. So dying was not an option, at least not before I got there. E3:7 "Houston, we have a problem." I made a wrong turn and assumed well it's one big circle I can go around and still get there. This was an awesome plan, except for the fact that I was in a really hostile level 49 area in some type of compound. I remember almost dying in there because the mobs were so thick and I was trying to find an exit while being chased hoping to not get one shotted. I eventually made it back to exit and took the right path with little to no issues at all. Thank god because I wanna catch some fish! E3:8 [align=left] [/align] [align=left]*Achievement Unlocked* "Made it to Costa Del Sol alive +20" Finally, getting here was rewarding. The music, sound of the waves, the sun beaming. This place was awesome! And perfect for RP events or just hang out in general. I noticed you get rested exp from being here for awhile this was a really cool idea--give us a hangout spot that comes with rested exp, good job Yoshi-P. The only downside to this solo trip was I didn't have the right kind of bait to actually fish. Regardless, the trip getting here was fun and at least being able to look around was enough for me. [/align] [/align] [/align]

Totally off subject but you didn't happen to play on Valcyn Tempest or Flurry did you?

Wanted to give an update on this since I've been getting a few PMs. YES this is still going. And due to the nature of beta tests are and what not. I figured it would be a nice cliff hanger to leave there until most of it comes to fruition so think of this break as a filler to a timeline lol. I REALLY hope that makes sense. Anyway stay tuned more to come.

Hmm...yeah, it'll keep going from here and beyond launch. But the updates for it may be spread out a bit more due to juggling RP, Raids, and learning and enjoying the game. Right now since it's Beta and I'm not RPing and basically wandering around learning the mechanics it's relatively easy to churn these out. AND I just found out that Phase 3 got extended lol or maybe I missed the memo. In any case the next entry will be....fruitful due to it lasting longer than a few days. :thumbsup:

[align=center]Well, here we are, again. Browsing the forums, making posts, or lurking. We all got something in common though, we're anxious. All of us. There's a world that we wish to enter, yet we are so far away yet so close at the same time. August 27th, a realm will be reborn. Stories will be told and battles will be fought. Friendships will be made as well many memories. I've got a feeling that waiting for Phase 4 and the eventual early access is going to be like watching paint dry. But in the meantime, we're all just trying to find something to pass the time by until then. Whether it's picking up an old game that you never completed, or staying out the house as much as possible on the weekends. Because we all know the minute you have a realization that time is moving slow.... is when it actually does. And this wait is such a tease[/align] Entry #2 E2:1 You ever played a game and seen something in it that reminded you of an anime? Or another game you've played before? I have a really guilty pleasure of loving a series called .hack//. For the life of me I couldn't think of what the Aetheryte portals reminded me of.. .then I thought Chaos Gates! I sat there for awhile and just kind of looked at people porting in. Each person being moved by an objective or a "To-Do-List" of things they wanted taken care of. Using the portals to close the gap. And here I was using it to observe the traffic. E2:2 One thing I've never really taken note in any MMO I've played so far, was the background NPCs and how they interacted with each other. What I'm used to is the whole...chat bubble...looping emotes that weren't even synced very well to begin with. Thus it always faded to the background for me. In FFXIV, it was different. It actually felt different. Funny thing is that during Phase 2 when I first got my invite, I actually couldn't tell the difference between the NPCs and the players at times, a noob mistake I haven't made since first playing Star Wars Galaxies. It might have had a lot to do with the names of the NPCs and players not showing up unless you clicked them. But still it was something pretty cool to see from a far. I don't know what they were talking about but it really gave the game a.."ITS ALIVE!!!!!" type of feeling. E2:3 I was on my usual wanderings, and happened across a Chocobo at a camp. I remember walking up to it and as I did, it looked at me. It...looked...at...me. It felt so real. I didn't notice before when you get within a certain range near NPCs they actually look at you. I don't know why I missed this earlier but it was one of those small aesthetics you don't always appreciate in games. I feel far as immersion goes, it does great justice. E2:4 Now up to this point I never actually seen a Chocobo fighting with it's owner before, I thought that was pretty cool and decided to spy on someone named Karanji Sama. Greeted with a /laugh and a /wave, he told me that you can later get one and even put armor on it. As you can see I was in high level area so maybe he gave me that laugh because he figured I was lost. Or it could have been my wacky colored armor I was strutting in just in case I got attacked by a pissed off monster roaming around. In any case he was polite to a complete stranger. It makes me wonder how polite the community will be post launch. I've always joined games where it was remnants of another community from a different game so it always seemed like playing with the same assholes just different faces in a different world. Here, it feels like a fresh start that. E2:5 I came to a valley here and just stopped and stared for a few. It was absolutely breath taking. In a metaphorical way the bottom of the valley was Phase 3. This was my last screenshot before jumping off the cliff and killing myself, only to reincarnate again in Phase 4. Or at least that's what we'll go with for now. Really though it seemed like an ideal location to log out in. I feel slightly compelled to visit this same valley throughout my time in FFXIV. It's one of my personal places of interest and relaxing spot for when I'd want to go to clear my head and brainstorm about what my next move will be in game. Surely you've all had that insignificant area or place in a MMO that wasn't exactly special to others but it was your special place that you went and just /sit and hung out. And I found mine.....

Thanks again guys. And I have a character in mind I made his bio on here. Again thank you lol :blush:

Toshe stop voting lol. You are going to Balmung where Dennthota can embrace you in her ripply muscley arms. Something all characters should aspire too @ArmachiA: ALL characters? not sure how I feel about this. @LandStander: :lol::blush: Be gentle please!

Voted Gilgamesh. >_> familiarity voting ftw?

Thank you guys! I suppose I'll keep this going got more reception than I thought it would. Entry #2 will be out at the end of next weeks test. 8-)