Live Letter Thoughts

[Striker44]

Speaking of Arenvald, I wonder how many people TRULY care about his welfare and the once possibility of him being a Trust member and fully fledged Scion. I always did take issue with the fact that Square gave him one adventure/quest chain then proceeded to forget about him throughout all of Shadowbringers, only for his arc to culminate in his legs being fucked over and then relegated to fleeting side materiel.

To me, Arenvald is a prime example of how the dev team will even maim the so called "GOOD GUYS" just to prop up the main Scion team as exceptional Ubermensches. I cannot understate how disappointed I am in how they've mishandled his arc.

Personally, I don't think they "mishandled" his arc at all - I've felt it's resonated well with me. Things happen that fundamentally change people. They've happened to the scions, too. Y'shtola lost her regular eyesight and now needs to use aether to "see." Thancred lost his ability to use magic in his trip through the lifestream. Yda/Lyse came to terms with who she is and now fights for Ala Mhigo instead of the scions. The dev team "maims" the scions, too, and turns some of them into side material. An expansion doesn't have to kill a major character to be good; then you devolve into killing someone off purely for the sake of killing someone off, and all that will do at this point in a long-running series like FFXIV is alienate fans.

If you haven't done so yet, I'd also encourage doing the Healer role quests in EW. Arenvald plays a major role there and is given significant development.

[Hurlstone]

If you haven't done so yet, I'd also encourage doing the Healer role quests in EW. Arenvald plays a major role there and is given significant development.

I have not played those quests yet but this is going to give me an extra shove. Is Fordola in them too? I was hoping to see more from both of them in EW.

[Zanarkand-Ronso]

I have not played those quests yet but this is going to give me an extra shove. Is Fordola in them too? I was hoping to see more from both of them in EW.

Fordola is a Major part of the EW Healer Role Quest.
IMO, its pretty great. But I might be bias as a Healer main and a Fordola Fan.

[Hurlstone]

Fordola is a Major part of the EW Healer Role Quest.
IMO, its pretty great. But I might be bias as a Healer main and a Fordola Fan.

Awesome! Cheers for the info. Fordola is one of my fav NPCs so looking foward to that. Healer is a role I have only recently returned to, so I am cheating a little in useing my Summoner-leved SCH to do those quests haha.

[TaleraRistain]

I have not played those quests yet but this is going to give me an extra shove. Is Fordola in them too? I was hoping to see more from both of them in EW.

Yes, Fordola features prominently in the healer role quests and Arenvald is the backbone of them. He has always been strong of character and I think he's even moreso now in a wheelchair, which you'll see in that questline. He is certainly not idle or letting anything hold him back.

[SentioftheHoukai]

Personally, I don't think they "mishandled" his arc at all - I've felt it's resonated well with me. Things happen that fundamentally change people. They've happened to the scions, too. Y'shtola lost her regular eyesight and now needs to use aether to "see." Thancred lost his ability to use magic in his trip through the lifestream. Yda/Lyse came to terms with who she is and now fights for Ala Mhigo instead of the scions. The dev team "maims" the scions, too, and turns some of them into side material. An expansion doesn't have to kill a major character to be good; then you devolve into killing someone off purely for the sake of killing someone off, and all that will do at this point in a long-running series like FFXIV is alienate fans.

If you haven't done so yet, I'd also encourage doing the Healer role quests in EW. Arenvald plays a major role there and is given significant development.

I think it's kinda odd that you'd bring up Y'shtola of all people, since she's a prime example of how nothing bad ever truly happens to the Scion main cast. Lost her eyesight, you kidding?! That may as well be flavor text for all it's mattered, she can aim her Black Mage spells with the utmost alacrity and they've utterly forgotten the implications she was using her life-force to see with aether. For all the game likes to play up how supremely reckless Y'shtola is, quite literally nothing ever comes of her candor.

It's part and parcel of the point I'm attempting to make, that the difference is the Scions can still adventure and fight whereas Arenvald is relegated to being a glorified secretary. Unless the Ironworks gets off their asses and makes him some Magitek legs a la Professor Xavier, I can't see any reason for this development when Arenvald could easily have been one of our new Trust members in the upcoming Season 2 storyline. But nay, what are the odds when we already have someone who lost a limb and it didn't get replaced (looking at YOU, Raubahn!)?