Heavensward was sublime... I miss it already! Give me hope for Stormblood please!

[Clover_Blake]

(Unpopular opinion here). I personally loved Stormblood. Albeit I tend to prefer the gothic medieval themes, I admit that I liked the Stormblood story more than I did HW. It was more about the human struggle, more raw and real, and that's something I always find very interesting.

PS: Also, the Xaela story is one of my absolute favourite parts in the whole FFXIV. The Xaela deserve their own game.

[Avidria]

Really? I was it as turning a complete braindead and insufferable comic relief into an actual person, a very strong one and with an actual significant background.

Yeah, Yda always came off as a stereotypical dumb blonde comic relief character, and the comic relief part fell flat for me most of the time. Papalymo was the far more interesting of the two, and Yda wasn't at all until they started sprinkling in hints that she wasn't as dumb as she seemed.

I liked her much better as Lyse, even if Lyse didn't properly start to grow on me until partway through the Doma side of the expansion.

[Bright-Flower]

I found 'Lyse' to be an improvement over 'Yda' who was annoying. But that for me was just a leap from 'annoying character I can't stand' to 'bland and doesn't really deserve the position she gets, but main characters gotta be leaders I guess that's the rule'.

For Thordan, he did have a hint of depth I think in some of his lines, wanting to end his peoples suffering, but yeah they could have done much better with him.

[Omedon]

As requested and as promised, here are my thoughts having now watched the credits roll on Stormblood.

My first encapsulating thought is that SB was absolutely what WoW’s Battle for Azeroth could and should have been: A grounded, earthy fantasy war story that shows (sometimes quite uncomfortably) why war is terrible and that unity prevails over all. It didn’t burn down Gridania for cheap shock feels, and yet I still cheered and cried. No victory came at the expense of another player’s investment in the story and world, and yet the stakes were engaging and as “realistic” as a game with fantasy in the name can be expected to be.

It wasn’t Heavensward, but it was much better than my initial impressions made it seem, and FFXIV’s ability to tell a heroic story in an MMORPG remains unchallenged and superior in my experience.

My only complaint was more on a mechanical level. There was both a dungeon and a trial that potentially took those respective roulettes out of my rotation in the future of the later game for fear of having to “ever do that again!” (QuickTime events? Really?) But honestly that’s a minor quibble in a game with so many leveling options and with trusts to look forward to to more safely “be new” without “being a noob” on other people’s’ time.

Speaking of which, as a parting observation I will once again reiterate that FFXIV has an objectively and subjectively superior community in relation to my vast WoW experience. Maybe this is the idea that FFXIV is a world that invites you to live there where WoW is a racetrack that invites you to win it at the expense of your neighbor, but I honestly owe my dungeon groups an apology for acting like a preemptively snarky abuse victim expecting the worst out of people because of how WoW has set my expectations of “the MMO playerbase.” Treasure what you have here, Eorzeans, for beyond your world the night is dark and full of trolls. Never stop living up to your well earned reputation for being welcoming and vastly more chill than the status quo in other games!

Now I look forward to shadowbringers! I was going to milk the road to 70 for 3 months on alt jobs before launching into the 70’s and their stories, but who am I kidding? I’m hooked, and apparently the best is yet to come!

[Sated]

As requested and as promised, here are my thoughts having now watched the credits roll on Stormblood.

My first encapsulating thought is that SB was absolutely what WoW’s Battle for Azeroth could and should have been: A grounded, earthy fantasy war story that shows (sometimes quite uncomfortably) why war is terrible and that unity prevails over all. It didn’t burn down Gridania for cheap shock feels, and yet I still cheered and cried. No victory came at the expense of another player’s investment in the story and world, and yet the stakes were engaging and as “realistic” as a game with fantasy in the name can be expected to be.

It wasn’t Heavensward, but it was much better than my initial impressions made it seem, and FFXIV’s ability to tell a heroic story in an MMORPG remains unchallenged and superior in my experience.

My only complaint was more on a mechanical level. There was both a dungeon and a trial that potentially took those respective roulettes out of my rotation in the future of the later game for fear of having to “ever do that again!” (QuickTime events? Really?) But honestly that’s a minor quibble in a game with so many leveling options and with trusts to look forward to to more safely “be new” without “being a noob” on other people’s’ time.

Speaking of which, as a parting observation I will once again reiterate that FFXIV has an objectively and subjectively superior community in relation to my vast WoW experience. Maybe this is the idea that FFXIV is a world that invites you to live there where WoW is a racetrack that invites you to win it at the expense of your neighbor, but I honestly owe my dungeon groups an apology for acting like a preemptively snarky abuse victim expecting the worst out of people because of how WoW has set my expectations of “the MMO playerbase.” Treasure what you have here, Eorzeans, for beyond your world the night is dark and full of trolls. Never stop living up to your well earned reputation for being welcoming and vastly more chill than the status quo in other games!

Now I look forward to shadowbringers! I was going to milk the road to 70 for 3 months on alt jobs before launching into the 70’s and their stories, but who am I kidding? I’m hooked, and apparently the best is yet to come!

Grats! I highly recommend going to Mor Dhona and speaking with the Outlandish Man to start the Crystal Tower quests before heading into Shadowbringers if you have not already though. I know it's for a level 50 raid but trust.

And yea, WoW felt very "Me" compared to FFXIV's "Us". FFXIV is all working together, successfully or not, to overcome. WoW felt very alone by comparison, and even when we did find ourselves working alongside important NPCs to develop the main story it didn't feel like my character belonged there. The tone of the narrative seems to cross over into the general communities as well.

[Omedon]

Grats! I highly recommend going to Mor Dhonna and doing the Crystal Tower quests before starting on Shadowbringers if you have not already though. I know it's for a level 50 raid but trust.

I just opened up the second wing on the weekend! I’m actually kinda blown away by the existence of an evergreen 24-man raid roulette as a leveling option! The way FFXIV gets maximum mileage out of their instanced content through relevant rewarding roulettes is pretty amazing... even if it does mean certain hated encounters can darken one’s day again from time to time!

[Sated]

I just opened up the second wing on the weekend! I’m actually kinda blown away by the existence of an evergreen 24-man raid roulette as a leveling option! The way FFXIV gets maximum mileage out of their instanced content through relevant rewarding roulettes is pretty amazing... even if it does mean certain hated encounters can darken one’s day again from time to time!

Yea, the rewards aren't really enough to get me into MSQ roulette, and you won't find many people who are happy to get Aurum Vale in Leveling, but I like that SE was able to include dungeon content in MSQ and also ensure there's a steady flow of people able to help complete it. I also like how much story is involved with everything - even unlocking a new bit of content comes with context instead of just a patch note.

[Omedon]

Yea, the rewards aren't really enough to get me into MSQ roulette,.

I’ve spent the last few days eating breakfast and doing housework during “XP Gain: The movie” as I caught up DRK to RDM to change mains for shadowbringers

[Tlamila]

As requested and as promised, here are my thoughts having now watched the credits roll on Stormblood.

My first encapsulating thought is that SB was absolutely what WoW’s Battle for Azeroth could and should have been: A grounded, earthy fantasy war story that shows (sometimes quite uncomfortably) why war is terrible and that unity prevails over all. It didn’t burn down Gridania for cheap shock feels, and yet I still cheered and cried. No victory came at the expense of another player’s investment in the story and world, and yet the stakes were engaging and as “realistic” as a game with fantasy in the name can be expected to be.

It wasn’t Heavensward, but it was much better than my initial impressions made it seem, and FFXIV’s ability to tell a heroic story in an MMORPG remains unchallenged and superior in my experience.

I'm happy you liked it, welcome to the club of the few of us who appreciate SB!

Though I hope you don't have to come in the way more restricted club of hating ShB, instead.

[Tlamila]

My only complaint was more on a mechanical level. There was both a dungeon and a trial that potentially took those respective roulettes out of my rotation in the future of the later game for fear of having to “ever do that again!” (QuickTime events? Really?) But honestly that’s a minor quibble in a game with so many leveling options and with trusts to look forward to to more safely “be new” without “being a noob” on other people’s’ time.

You mean the active time manouvers where you have to spam the button? If it's that, sadly it's used in ShB as well, in a trial. I never undertood the point of it to be honest.