Live Letter Thoughts

[aveyond-dreams]

Despite the controversies of 6.1, there were several steps taken that have since restored some of my confidence in the recent Live Letter. For the time being I lean slightly more towards excited, though there are still a few things which give me pause. However, to begin with the positives:

I thoroughly enjoyed seeing this new reaper character and look forward to her involvement in the main story. With Alisae left behind, she could easily fill the role of DPS in our party and with Vrtra’s new adult body, he can take on the vacancy left by G’raha Tia. It appears that Y’shtola will be able to act as a healer in the upcoming dungeon, but overall our new smaller party feels a lot more balanced now. Our dragoon, sorceress, Au Ra lancer/swordsman, and new dark heroine is a good change from the previous party of Sharlayan Scholars, which are now down to just 1. For the time being this will serve to balance out Y’shtola and has struck a happy medium between old and new characters. Thank you for fulfilling this promise. Troia and the other locations previewed in the Void look excellent and deliver on the sort of dark fantasy environments I was hoping to see together with Pandaemonium.

Overall, new gear from battle content/crafting/tomes looks excellent and very high quality. I look forward to pursuing them once the patch drops though I was disappointed to see even more modern glamours added, despite us having so many of them already. I think it would have been a better opportunity to add something more in the way of tropical fantasy for island sanctuary as opposed to the two sets that were previewed today. Rewards for Variant/Criterion dungeons also seem to be rather unclear aside from the mount, which is not really what I was expecting from a dungeon that was associated in the lore with necromancy, etc. Hopefully we can get some more clarification on them later on. I was hoping for a different travelling companion for that content...but Nanamo is not the worst option and at least is different from the scions.

As for my concerns, I still believe that exploring the option to add exterior furnishings to Island Sanctuary would be a worthwhile endeavour due to the ongoing housing scarcity. While this island is located is a warmer region of the world, I do hope that someday in the future islands in other biomes are added such as a more artic island, spring-themed island, and so on. In terms of the story, I found it quite out of place to be including mentions of Meteion’s crystal, whose relevance to the patch MSQ is difficult to see from my perspective. Lahabrea’s apparent shattering of his sigil also raised some red flags, as it would have serious implications and potential lore contradictions of the Shadowbringers short stories if Eric turned out to be our Lahabrea. Given Endwalker’s previous handling of the theme of grief and loss, there are many who would like to see a different perspective approached when it comes to Lahabrea’s emotional state as opposed to a repetition of the “forge ahead” message, which isn’t how a lot of people approach these situations. Not subscribing to that message does not necessarily make one an antagonistic figure, so it remains to be seen how the story approaches Lahabrea and whether it portrays him in a nuanced and mature way.

On a closing note, it did not escape my attention that Hrothgar ears have been restored for the Snow hair at least, and although there was no extended update regarding their situation I hope that more is touched on and previewed in the upcoming patch notes. I will also lend my voice to calls for making Proto-Carbuncle available as a summon for players, and look forward to the mechanics in the fight against it. It is difficult to comment on job changes until we see what they entail, but I am largely in favor of leaving more major changes on a per-expansion basis except in the case of more prominent issues.

[Lustre]

There was quite a lot in there that I liked, but my chief complaint is Hydaelyn's "remnant" still being around somehow despite Yoshi P saying that she was literally destroyed. I thought this was a new thing, forge ahead blah blah. But I guess not... or at least not yet. :^)

I love the look of most of the armour introduced but I am slightly puzzled by the decision to make the raid sets so glowy and over the top when traditionally that's always been a relic/ultimate weapon thing. Maybe they foresaw lower savage participation this time around and needed to add extra incentive, who knows?

I also think that the rat mount for the Variant dungeon is a bit of an odd choice considering the backstory of Sildih and how dark it is. But, I'm also well aware there's a significant % of the community that probably had no intention to touch this content (enter dark souls strawman take), unless a new fat ca- uh, I mean, elongated rat was added. So eh. I can see why they did even if I don't like it.

Soundtrack was a1 as usual, soken knocked it out of the park with that classical/harpsichord song, and I am very much looking forward to Panda pt2. The carbuncle fight looks like it'll have some cool mechanics. Hopefully the plot there will have some semblance of nuance, because that's been sorely lacking in 6.0-.1.

[Renalt]

There was quite a lot in there that I liked, but my chief complaint is Hydaelyn's "remnant" still being around somehow despite Yoshi P saying that she was literally destroyed. I thought this was a new thing, forge ahead blah blah. But I guess not... or at least not yet. :^)

At this point the game is DBZ. Death does not matter at all.

[Kaurhz]

There was quite a lot in there that I liked, but my chief complaint is Hydaelyn's "remnant" still being around somehow despite Yoshi P saying that she was literally destroyed. I thought this was a new thing, forge ahead blah blah. But I guess not... or at least not yet. :^)

I love the look of most of the armour introduced but I am slightly puzzled by the decision to make the raid sets so glowy and over the top when traditionally that's always been a relic/ultimate weapon thing. Maybe they foresaw lower savage participation this time around and needed to add extra incentive, who knows?

I also think that the rat mount for the Variant dungeon is a bit of an odd choice considering the backstory of Sildih and how dark it is. But, I'm also well aware there's a significant % of the community that probably had no intention to touch this content (enter dark souls strawman take), unless a new fat ca- uh, I mean, elongated rat was added. So eh. I can see why they did even if I don't like it.

Soundtrack was a1 as usual, soken knocked it out of the park with that classical/harpsichord song, and I am very much looking forward to Panda pt2. The carbuncle fight looks like it'll have some cool mechanics. Hopefully the plot there will have some semblance of nuance, because that's been sorely lacking in 6.0-.1.

Isn't this just the crystal that Hydaelyn used to map Meteions journey across the universe though, as opposed to part of her herself? - Something that given the circumstance is likely to play significance into shard hopping.

This whole "forge ahead blah blah." as you so wrote still needs to be done gradually and not just an on-off switch (Had enough of that with them suddenly pulling a personality change for Elidibus out of the hat). So there are still more than likely going to be references to Hydaelyn in the story, most especially with that of the 24-man raids, just as there might be references to Zodiark. That doesn't mean the story is going to be all about them again, so it's not really alarming.

[Lustre]

Isn't this just the crystal that Hydaelyn used to map Meteions journey across the universe though, as opposed to part of her herself? - Something that given the circumstance is likely to play significance into shard hopping.

This whole "forge ahead blah blah." as you so wrote still needs to be done gradually and not just an on-off switch (Had enough of that with them suddenly pulling a personality change for Elidibus out of the hat). So there are still more than likely going to be references to Hydaelyn in the story, most especially with that of the 24-man raids, just as there might be references to Zodiark. That doesn't mean the story is going to be all about them again, so it's not really alarming.

I just figured that since Hydaelyn herself was destroyed "completely" (yoshi's words, not mine), everything else "attached" to that would also be destroyed. But considering the amount of convenient plot macguffins introduced into Endwalker for things to make sense (see kairos and dynamis), I can believe that probably won't be the case. It's just a sore spot for me because I disliked EW so much and I would love to be onto the next thing without constantly reminding me of all the things I disliked about it. Convenient Universe Spanning Tracking Device is one of those things unfortunately. I hope you're correct and we don't carry on with this "hydaelyn's chosen" stuff. I just want to go on a plain honest adventure with new characters and a new plot haha. Some real stakes would be nice too.

[Kaurhz]

I just figured that since Hydaelyn herself was destroyed "completely" (yoshi's words, not mine), everything else "attached" to that would also be destroyed. But considering the amount of convenient plot macguffins introduced into Endwalker for things to make sense (see kairos and dynamis), I can believe that probably won't be the case. It's just a sore spot for me because I disliked EW so much and I would love to be onto the next thing without constantly reminding me of all the things I disliked about it. Convenient Universe Spanning Tracking Device is one of those things unfortunately. I hope you're correct and we don't carry on with this "hydaelyn's chosen" stuff. I just want to go on a plain honest adventure with new characters and a new plot haha. Some real stakes would be nice too.

I mean if we are being frank then the entirety of Amaurots recreation in the Tempest should have fallen to dust. I know it has been stated before about aether, but I'm not sure of the capacity or context that it was stated. - I think it will happen, but it really needs to be done in a subtle and smooth way as opposed to just sudden and forced, with the latter arguably being worse than subtle references. Maybe outside of this people will only reference the star as being Hydaelyn, with some referencing it as Etheirys, and some something else entirely. Different cultures and all.

Personally, I can't wait to be on different adventures with other companions than the Scions, but if this comes at the expense of the many plot points that may get dropped as a result, then no thanks!

[Deveryn]

I just figured that since Hydaelyn herself was destroyed "completely" (yoshi's words, not mine), everything else "attached" to that would also be destroyed. But considering the amount of convenient plot macguffins introduced into Endwalker for things to make sense (see kairos and dynamis), I can believe that probably won't be the case. It's just a sore spot for me because I disliked EW so much and I would love to be onto the next thing without constantly reminding me of all the things I disliked about it. Convenient Universe Spanning Tracking Device is one of those things unfortunately. I hope you're correct and we don't carry on with this "hydaelyn's chosen" stuff. I just want to go on a plain honest adventure with new characters and a new plot haha. Some real stakes would be nice too.

Why does every action / creation have to be attached? Following this logic, we don't even get to use the blessing on the crystal of Azem and the story ends there.

[Tetsujin]

Well, I think I'm quitting indefinitely once this sub is up. I can't play an MMO with ass gameplay, sorry. Honestly can't believe there was even a mention of anything about SAM changes in the live letter. It's been a cool ride, at least Endwalker gave me a sense of finality.

[Ransu]

Well, I think I'm quitting indefinitely once this sub is up. I can't play an MMO with ass gameplay, sorry. Honestly can't believe there was even a mention of anything about SAM changes in the live letter. It's been a cool ride, at least Endwalker gave me a sense of finality.

I mean...I'm not quitting, but I am more than likely not going to play SAM in 6.2

[Neoyoshi]

Well, I think I'm quitting indefinitely once this sub is up. I can't play an MMO with ass gameplay, sorry. Honestly can't believe there was even a mention of anything about SAM changes in the live letter. It's been a cool ride, at least Endwalker gave me a sense of finality.

If a player relies THAT heavily on a single skill not being present for them to wonder if playing is anymore of an option (considering the wide-range of other jobs to choose from); I'm not convinced the game is the problem here.

I mean you can play how you want, but i really suggest you to try branching out- and maybe just leave Samurai behind if it's that unfun for you.