MSQ:

I was shocked at how quickly they started moving things along, but I like it. We didn't mess around with slow epilogues, or aimless wandering, just straight into the next thing and so much stuff happened and got revealed for a single patch of story. Compared to normal X.1 patch stories which are usually really light this one was stacked and I'm excited to see where it goes.

I was so hyped to see Golbez and the Four Fiends and I'm super curious about how that's going to play out, and whether it will be MSQ or trial series related.

Also really happy to see Y'shtola getting more screentime. Even though she's been around forever, I always felt like she's been neglected in terms of characterization and personal moments compared to the other Scions. But this patch was basically The Y'shtola Show. Seeing the little personality quirks and insecurities of the characters and hearing their backstories makes it much easier to get invested and just more fun to be with them in the story.


Myths of the Realm:

Very curious to see where this goes, with the Twelve apparently not being summoned beings. The whole "we can't tell you anything until you fight us" felt a bit forced just so the raids can happen, but I wanted to fight them really badly so I'm cool with it lol. I'm glad that they did not turn out to be evil.

Admittedly the Twelve and the Heavens just being actual things that exist in normal reality feels like it has dispelled a lot of the mystique and more subtle religious intrigue surrounding them. In some ways they were more interesting simply as an analog for real-world religion, these abstract figures that exist only in the minds of people, and how their stories, folklore, and interpretations creates and influences cultures and doctrine. Having it be "yeah they just straight up exist" feels a bit weird, but we don't know their true nature yet so I guess we'll see how it plays out.

I kind of wish they had spent more time talking about each of the gods encountered in the raid, maybe as optional datalogs from Snoegeim or something. We didn't really get much insight into what each god really stands for in the respective cultures which worship them and instead only talked about how their appearance is similar. Byregot doesn't get mentioned at all.

There's definitely something "up" with Deryk but no real clues as to what it is yet. He could be one of the Twelve in disguise, or a minion of theirs created to lure us in, or some other unknown entity. But he definitely isn't just a regular weirdo who just happened to accidentally walk into Heaven one day.

The raid itself is also really cool and fun, the fights are sick and the bosses are awesome. It feels like the boss' HP is low though. If not many people die, the bosses go down crazy fast, even this early in the expansion, which isn't a good sign. It feels like they were tuned for 16 people instead of 24, maybe under the assumption that players would die a lot, but that really only happens in the first few days. Gear upgrades in later patches are going to make this raid a joke which is super disappointing.