Are we gaining more aether as we level up?

[penguin_zombies]

When we level up, our HP and damage increase. From a lore perspective, is this due to us obtaining more aether and using it to increase our life force and attack/magic potency, or are we instead better mastering the aether we already have? With MP now being capped at 10,000, my guess is that we gain more aether as we level and use it to increase our life force (HP) and increase the potency of our mana (MP), but not the actual amount of mana reserves we have. What are your thoughts?

[Anonymoose]

The best hint about a good "baseline" for how we should think about it comes from a side-story arc: the summoner job quests.

Anomalous potential confirmed.
Commencing scan.
Latent aetherial capacity: immeasurable.
Standard parameters exceeded.
Reinitializing system.

One's internal wellspring of aether seems to be associated primarily with their health, vitality, youth, and such - much like other kinds of "strength." We never really know someone's upper or lower limits, just where they are on "that day," which is suspiciously similar to what the plot demands a lot of the time (lol).

However, in the Warrior of Light's case, I think there's a feedback loop in play. The Warrior of Light had a lot of potential for strength and was chosen by Hydaelyn and given three blessings: the Echo, a crystal of Light (potential to make use of the blessing of Light), and whatever the "champion factor" is. This augmented the Warrior of Light's potential, and by continually meeting, expanding, and exceeding that potential, the other crystals of Light were drawn to us via some mysterious interference with the aetherial realm, and we continue to meet, expand, and exceed potential.

"Beyond mortal limits."

tl;dr Yeah, that seems like an okay read until we have something better. The first few pages of Encyclopaedia Eorzea 1 might also give you a few clues about how to think about the physical body and how aether affects its strength.

[shinkin]

Things like HP and damage increasing as you level is more game mechanics than anything. otherwise a level 70 something garlean soldier in Doma could have killed everyone in Eorzea by himself

[Zohar_Lahar]

Things like HP and damage increasing as you level is more game mechanics than anything. otherwise a level 70 something garlean soldier in Doma could have killed everyone in Eorzea by himself

One can only imagine what that level 80 treant from the last SCH quest could do to all the actual ARR content.

[FaerieAura]

One can only imagine what that level 80 treant from the last SCH quest could do to all the actual ARR content.

Or, as the players in my D&D campaign set right after the Flood of Light said, "Why aren't we starting at level 70?"

'Because your level 1 in Norvrandt is equivalent to level 70 for the Warrior of Light, because the numbers are made up and the monsters scale to you, just roll with it.'

[Yuriane]

From a lore perspective I think it's more realistic to believe that our leveling up is us getting more experience in fighting, and not becoming actually stronger. We're learning new skills and powers and the like, and maybe yeah getting bulkier and more toned or intelligent or what not, but in the overall scheme of things we're not like increasing out DBZ power level. Or we might be, but it's bearing on us is simply increasing the weight and power of our souls and not our ability to punch jungle big cats in the face.

We're not getting physically stronger, just more skilled at fighting. Hence why a level 10 enemy will be the same amount of difficulty to a level 10 WoL as a level 80 enemy of the same time to the same WoL at level 80. The fact we can't kill level 80 enemies when we're level 10 is just because they need a way to block off areas you're not supposed to be yet.

[Absimiliard]

All indications are that the lifestream of this game works identically to that of FFVII. If that's the case, a little bit of the lifestream is gifted to each creature at birth. The gifted lifestream - whether soul or aether, we're not yet sure - increases in potency and quantity as the individual grows. Any kind of growth serves its purposes, really. Whether becoming more skilled or more powerful, the increase in the bequeathed lifestream continues to raise that individual's potential higher and higher. The only thing that really holds them back is how much their physical body can handle. This would mean that us gaining levels is indeed growing in power in the conventional sense, while the new abilities we gain is representative of an increase in skill. The only real question is whether this growth is tied to aether, the soul, or both.

Incidentally, I do seem to recall there being an NPC that refers to the WoL's aether potential as being limitless.