Goodbye Shadowbringers

[RobynDaBank]

Farewell, Feo Ul.

"Stand very very still. Think not of where you need to go, but where you are right now, at this moment, in this place"

"See yourself as he saw you, and that shall be the clearest clue. You stand in his garden, dear sapling. Ask his flowers what they know, and you will surely find an answer"

Flighty fae kind may be, but yours was the wisest counsel.

I swear. I played Shadowbringers in JP voiceover, and Feo Ul sounds much less bossy in that version - more so sprightly and feisty. In that scene I legitimately burst into tears because I just wanted to hug her and cry into her shoulder, given how comforting she was. She's my favourite character.

[Gemina]

AST main, I like neutral sect. Nocturnal stance sucks comparatively to diurnal and I too miss the old cards, it seems our new self buff will be filled with frustrating rng that we cannot mitigate with sleeve draw as well since it is gone.

As it should be. The card mech is supposed to be a game of chance, and if you can just mitigate the RNG from the divine deck and get the desired result nearly 100% of the time, it defeats the purpose of having a divine deck. They might as well just give you a button you can push every 120s. The devs finally figured this out somewhat. I say, "somewhat" because they did do that with Divination, but the AST can still redraw for Astrodyne. I cannot stress enough that mitigating the RNG screws up this entire mechanic. It needs to go away completely.

I think (hope) the devs will eventually figure out that obtaining one of each seal is actually the second easiest result to get. The hardest is actually getting three of the same seal. This is so key in truly and finally circumventing the card mech issues in its current form. It's like slots, and the way this should work is:

Easy: 2 of the same seal + 1 other seal = Good (Haste)
Harder: 1 of each seal = Better (Damage up)
Hardest: 3 of the same seal = Best (Haste + Damage up)

You should not be able to get the best result every time. The second draw will determine wither or not you will even be able to get the best result at all. If your second draw is a different seal, that is not as favorable as the same seal, but you can still get a DMG boost. If it is the same seal, then you get a chance at haste and the DMG boost; and the third and final draw will determine the fortune of the AST.

Just Haste is the consolation given to the AST when the final draw is undesirable. The majority of the time under this system, the AST is just going to end up with a Haste buff, and that's fine. Haste is nothing to scoff at. Draw stacks also need to go up to three. Stop penalizing the AST when they get into situations when they really need to focus on healing FFS.

[Hazama999]

Shadowbringers was definitely something!

I was almost halfway through third year of med school. The expansion launched on the same day I took the first of three major board exams. I remember getting home and, after staring at a computer screen for about 8 hours, being too tired to actually play. I just unlocked DNC and went to bed. The next few days would be dedicated to leveling DNC and getting through the MSQ, and mannnn... I loved the MSQ. Enjoyed DNC, too! It was pretty simple, but the zip zapping of en avant made it so much fun.

This was also the expansion in which I first got into RP. It was not really something I'd even dabbled in before, but I got into it and ended up liking it quite a bit! My writing still kinda sucks, but I enjoy the creative aspect and just thinking of where my character's story could go...

This expansion was also somewhat bittersweet, as I lost a few friends, but also made new ones. Kinda fits the feeling of the expansion, I suppose.

Beyond Shadowbringers, I am struck by the finality of this arc. I have been playing this game since the 2.0 beta back in 2013... I was working on a psych major in undergrad at the time, not really knowing exactly where I was going. Now, I am interviewing for a potential residency position somewhere. It has been a "long and arduous journey", as Alphy would say.

Good bye, Shadowbringers.
Hello, Endwalker... and everything beyond.
I look forward to it.

[FusiaRain]

Lmao, that Ifrit person reminds me of the character I met back before Crystal DC was a thing.

I was on my Balmung person, before I got into RP in XIV, and I saw this Miqote. They were named, "Ifritswife." And they had a Tumblr link in their examine comment, which was a Tumblr page of them getting Rule 34'd with Ifrit. lmao

That was back in like 2015, maybe early 2016.

you mean Original me back before heavenward even existed ' good thing I still have my old steam from back then somehow I thought I lost the ss forever



the hole ifirtswife was after they forced name change on me (Which to this day I am angry over)

which is why I'm both happy for endwalker summoner but also pissed off at the devs about it, we told them to do that very thing back then yet noone listen until now

[FusiaRain]

anyways think its safe to prepare a fantasia before it?

[Mansion]

I'll be the annoying one that's happy to leave Shadowbringers. Great MSQ for 5.0, okayish for the patches. The art part was very good as usual (gorgeous zones and dungeons, good music). Job design wasn't always great for my mains, I thoroughly disliked Eden and the Weapons (storylines and fights), I was bored for most of the expansion as the content kept narrowing down. (Not everything falls under COVID here, I totally understand the delays and skipped events for instance). I'm hopefull that Endwalker will bring a bit more, but let's not forget that it will have features that were expected in Shadowbringers. It might feel we are given a lot, but we didn't have much for 2,5 years.

So the expansion was quite a let down (because I had high expectations after Stormblood which had a better cycle of content). I'm approaching Endwalker without expectations and I'll be happy to see how it unfolds!

[Aelin_Ashryver]

As it should be. The card mech is supposed to be a game of chance, and if you can just mitigate the RNG from the divine deck and get the desired result nearly 100% of the time, it defeats the purpose of having a divine deck. They might as well just give you a button you can push every 120s. The devs finally figured this out somewhat. I say, "somewhat" because they did do that with Divination, but the AST can still redraw for Astrodyne. I cannot stress enough that mitigating the RNG screws up this entire mechanic. It needs to go away completely.

I think (hope) the devs will eventually figure out that obtaining three of each seal is actually the second easiest result to get. The hardest is actually getting three of the same seal. This is so key in truly and finally circumventing the card mech issues in its current form. It's like slots, and the way this should work is:

Easy: 2 of the same seal + 1 other seal = Good (Haste)
Harder: 3 of each seal = Better (Damage up)
Hardest: 3 of the same seal = Best (Haste + Damage up)

You should not be able to get the best result every time. The second draw will determine wither or not you will even be able to get the best result at all. If your second draw is a different seal, that is not as favorable as the same seal, but you can still get a DMG boost. If it is the same seal, then you get a chance at haste and the DMG boost; and the third and final draw will determine the fortune of the AST.

Just Haste is the consolation given to the AST when the final draw is undesirable. The majority of the time under this system, the AST is just going to end up with a Haste buff, and that's fine. Haste is nothing to scoff at. Draw stacks also need to go up to three. Stop penalizing the AST when they get into situations when they really need to focus on healing FFS.

They changed divination to just be a button due to its inconsistency and maybe some people struggling with a speedy opener? But they then added that inconsistency to your personal dps buff instead. The luck of the draw means a lot less now the cards all do the exact same thing, and it's only going to frustrate people that are trying to do as high dps as possible. Put that damage buff from the third diff seal to the second one and move another non dmg giving buff there. So you can keep your luck but not have the bad luck be as punishing to deal with. Either let me mitigate the bad luck a bit or make my horrible luck less punishing. I can get 9 of the wrong seal in a row when I will just redraw endlessly out of sheer wonderment in how bad my luck could possibly be xD

Also 2 stacks is plenty

[Illmaeran]

Bye bye Norvrandt! You were a nice place to visit, your story was beautiful, and you revitalized the game for me, but it'll be good to be back home in Eorzea.

[RocciaSolida]

I'll be the annoying one that's happy to leave Shadowbringers. Great MSQ for 5.0, okayish for the patches. The art part was very good as usual (gorgeous zones and dungeons, good music). Job design wasn't always great for my mains, I thoroughly disliked Eden and the Weapons (storylines and fights), I was bored for most of the expansion as the content kept narrowing down. (Not everything falls under COVID here, I totally understand the delays and skipped events for instance). I'm hopefull that Endwalker will bring a bit more, but let's not forget that it will have features that were expected in Shadowbringers. It might feel we are given a lot, but we didn't have much for 2,5 years.

So the expansion was quite a let down (because I had high expectations after Stormblood which had a better cycle of content). I'm approaching Endwalker without expectations and I'll be happy to see how it unfolds!

I'm 100% on the same page. We're not alone, many people I know also agree with you

[FusiaRain]

Why is noone crying for belts?

Oh heavenly father Emet-selch, have mercy on the souls of this belts. please guide them on their journey to the enteral city of the ancients. They will be missed, and we will be pant less without them.

-sad face-