Yo guys, I know the channel isn't yet up to speed but I wanted to post this one off the cuff to share my thoughts after 100+ play sessions. Once agian, this video is as much for me to look back on as it is for you guys! I hope you enjoy my blabbering. See you in the comments and the streams ❤

wow to FF to variety streamer pipeline is real.

@nobodyspecial690

2 ай бұрын

FF being treated like the rehab center for wow streamers to get into whatever they want is a mood

@k.vn.k

2 ай бұрын

Rehab center 😂😂😂😂 for what? Copium?

@Kozmokast

2 ай бұрын

⁠@@k.vn.k considering how I’ve seen WoW players describe things, it’s 100% a rehab to fix the copium addiction for that game.

@bakacdaz

2 ай бұрын

If I remembered correctly Yoshi-P himself once a WoW player so he might already know what people like about it and what people hate about it. (Not sure about he played WoW but he admid that FFXIV 2.0 is inspired by WoW)

@Sekai420

2 ай бұрын

@@bakacdaz Yoshi P forced the entire development team to play WoW and used what they loved and hated and built a game. That's what 2.0 (A Realm Reborn) is.

Always nice to see the perspective of a really seasoned WoW player especially after really giving XIV such a thorough dive.

@JustRuss

2 ай бұрын

Yep! I'm definitely in no place to give a full review yet (or even close to it) - but I like to document my thoughts and feelings along the way to look back on when it comes time to make "that vid" that all creators do eventually haha

You are doing the exact right thing: having fun your own way. Immerse, experience, hear, feel, think.

@EbefrenRevo

29 күн бұрын

shut up.

@TeusBael

16 сағат бұрын

@@EbefrenRevo the f is ur problem bro XD

@EbefrenRevo

6 сағат бұрын

@@TeusBael people like you are my problem.

Heavansward is interesting, because to me it ages like a fine wine. Even ignoring the patches, the parts of the story that hit make up the back bone thematically in a way that just grows as you push through the game. If ARR is where you fall in love with the world, Hevansward ia where you fall in love with the storytelling. The patches help, but so does distance.

@JustRuss

2 ай бұрын

This is a really nice way to put it!

@Jonnnna19

Ай бұрын

With Heavensward you now get loads more talking cut scenes which really help with the story telling for me.

I’m also a 20 year wow vet that switched and I absolutely loved a realm reborn and I’m doing the game the same way you are doing it. msq then blues and raids and I’m also at the end of heavensward and I’ve been absolutely loving everything

@JustRuss

2 ай бұрын

That's awesome! Love to hear it!

@sammicoporsammicopor

2 ай бұрын

Its fun, isnt it? I can easily spend hours farming for stuff to sell on the market board. You might want to buy crystal clusters on the market board before dawntrail, they are going to be expensive after that game drops. By the way, you can farm crystal clusters but I recommend doing dungeons or farming something or even fishing to wait until the node or tree spawns while you are keeping busy. The nodes/trees to farm with miner & botanist are in mor dhona at 1 am, 5 am, 3 am eorzean time & the mining nodes spawn every 1 pm, 5 pm, 7 pm at summerford farms in la noscea & then 9 pm in mor dhona Happy hunting. Also try to sell a few things to see if they sale on the market board & go from there if it sells. I also forgot to mention, to see the special nodes you need to activate truth of the mountains/forests after the specified time. I would say wait five eorzean time ingame minutes, it will only take 6 seconds

@gyderian9435

Ай бұрын

Do the raids at the end of each expansion for best experience imho, maybe thats what you meant but wasn't clear 😊

Love the fresh opinions, the Haurchefant closure thing is totally valid, and everything in here is totally fine. Always be yourself and honest with the game and the community. Don't feel bad about not liking something you should, and vise versa.

@JustRuss

2 ай бұрын

Thanks for the advice :D I try to stay true to myself the best I can

Thanks for the video, glad to hear your thoughts! I live in California so its challenging to catch your twitch streams, though I try! But its really nice to catch up on vods/hear your thoughts on youtube. I'm glad you like blind raiding - if you form your own static, you can continue to do that throughout your FFXIV raiding career (and play it any way you want, tbh, there will always be 7 other people who like the idea!) My son plays on a blind raid team, they just completed the latest raid tier. It's an extra challenge on top of already challenging content (I like my guides, please and thank you!) but its absolutely there for those who want it!

Regarding tab targeting, it is pretty bad if you have left it on default with no changes These changes can be made under Character Configuration and then Control Settings: Target Tab: I recommend changing the tab targeting to Type 2: Cone if you haven't already instead of Type 1: Ignore Depth Filters Tab: Change your target filter settings to aggroing enemies only when weapon is both drawn and sheathed. Hopefully that helps a little bit, I noticed when I changed those settings it brought it closer in line with how WoWs tab targeting feels but it definitely is not perfect

@WarMonkeyPlays

2 ай бұрын

Beat me to the punch! I remember starting up FF14 and going - "wow this tab targeting is a mess" but changing those settings does significant improve it.

The gripe you had about how the 3.0 bossfight felt anticlimatic due to the boss dying so fast even at minimum iLevel is due to how the job kits and stat numbers change every expansion, but they don’t adjust older content to compensate. There's often a power creep which causes current job kits to become overpowered against older content. Even older Ultimate fights (the hardest endgame content) become easier to clear with new expansions because of the changes to the stats and job kits. And not too long ago there was also an issue of the 6.0 final boss dying too fast because it already got powercrept by the latest gear so story newbies going in with endgame-kitted veterans see the boss HP go down unnaturally fast.

@JustRuss

2 ай бұрын

That makes a lot of sense actually, thanks!

@warllockmasterasd9142

2 ай бұрын

I mean the original EX's from ARR are so precise that they get nerfed when brought to Unreal.

@cassiusbright1062

27 күн бұрын

It should also be mentioned that Thordan normal was always a bit of a joke, even when it was brand new. It was always undertuned and potency buffs over the years completely trivialized it even further even on min ilvl. Thankfully all the other capstone trials are bangers, so there's that at least.

15000+ hour wow player, played through a ban, private servers, new account, hardcore pvp and tons of raiding in wotlk...just gotten lost with wow over and over again. ff14 feels so inviting and the community of ff14 is so so considerate and thoughtful. You can tell how chill the player base is when a new player pops into the duty que and watches all the cutscenes and not a single complaint.

@JustRuss

Ай бұрын

Hahaha love that you are so on board with ff14 after so many hours in WoW. A lot of WoW players, especially long time ones, really struggle with the whole sunk-cost idea of switching over!

@Stoke3847

Ай бұрын

@@JustRuss I think it is a lot to do with what we've grown to be familiar with. I personally hate the movement of characters compared to WoW. Jumping/strafing and casting instant spells and sliding everywhere is just...bad looking. That and the 3 year long GCD....invisible walls EVERYWHERE compared. Just stuff to get used to. For me, that made it very hard to get into. That and no City Raids, Faction Wars/WPVP. Its just a different game altogether. Cant go in thinking WoW replacement, go in thinking youre in a complete new universe and reset what youre used to. Up to WoTLK, WoW is still my favorite. But...FF14 ran STRIDES past wow since.

@benoitnoel100

Ай бұрын

love the fact that almost every player will get "mad" if someone pull early while someone watch a cutscene xD. it rarely happens too which is really nice !

@ferndiesel

6 күн бұрын

Aye! In fact, more often than not, people have a habit of "protecting" cutscene watchers, saying stuff like "hey guys, we have a first timer in our alliance. Pls don't pull the boss" and everyone is happy to wait

ARR isn't "bad", it's just a side effect of the development where they had to rebuild the game from the ground up and then buy time for the team to make Heavensward. That resulted in the very long patch cycle and quest marathon between ARR and HW. It gets slow at times but the entire thing is packed with very important world building information, some you don't even realize was set up until much farther down the road. I have never played a game with music I enjoyed more than 14. In ARR the cities were the only places with night themes, outside it was just the sound of the wind, bugs, and birds at night. Then in Heavensward Soken went to a light piano version of the day theme. Then later... he learned to weaponize it.

@leesakowski790

2 ай бұрын

Once you finished ARR "base" there were 100 MSQ quests you had to complete to be ready for Heavensward. 100 quests, already at max level, that felt like a lot of wasted effort. That is what killed it for a lot of people with ARR. I rolled a new character after Heavensward came out and I was already at nearly max level from the pre-Heavensward quests before even starting Heavensward.

@ButASword

2 ай бұрын

The why or how of something is irrelevant to whether or not the result is good or bad. It may grant perspective or create a more sympathetic approach, but understanding the why of something doesn’t make it a more enjoyable experience.

@guifmurb

2 ай бұрын

thats also all subjective. I like ARR and I play the game for 10 years :)

@KyouTGD

2 ай бұрын

I played 3.0's ARR, and recently played through it again just to have another character. Even back then I liked it, but most of the parts I do remember feeling like a drag were removed. Vishap and Rhitatyn are two of my favorite changes. Those two fights are much more fun.

@brandoncomer6492

2 ай бұрын

ARR is pretty bad, some of yall are in deep denial.

Really love your vibe when talking about the game and I think your approach to playing is lovely and way closer to what I experienced on my first playthrough than when a streamer just hyperfocuses the msq and doesn't engage much beyond it. I think both you and viewers will get a lot more out of it that way. Also, love to see a fellow ARR appreciater :3 Only been watching some of the highlight vids but I might check out the stream sometime!

@JustRuss

2 ай бұрын

Love to hear that! Swing by the stream some time for sure! Lots of friendly faces over there

been loving the vods man, keep posting em! its fun to live vicariously through them. and yeah, i think HW gets its reputation of being amazing from the 3.1-3.3 story

@JustRuss

2 ай бұрын

I will do! Trying to keep that as up to date as I can!

@MrDavid01228

2 ай бұрын

Yea, I have a feeling when he actually truly finishes the HW storyline he will like it a lot more. 3.0 really is just a breath before the dive

I came from 7 years of ESO. I started trial with AuRa man/Dragoon and ADD, so I kind of tried a bunch of stuff, crafted, fishing, etc. ESO story isn't front and center and actually isn't really required to enjoy the game. So when I finally realized I left the MSQ story sit, I finished all the way to Shadowbringers and waited for Endwalker to drop. I saw the male Viera and instantly bought and subscribed. I made a bunny boy ninja and ran through the game (to date) in one big gulp. It made more sense since I wasn't trying to remember who and what as much. ARR became where I really looked at the Scions since I knew where they would go and do. I felt more a part of the team Heavensward on and felt more of the emotions. I can't imagine trying to do this all with people watching and interacting. Glad you are having fun. One thing I wish I thought of when I started was leveling similar jobs together so I didn't have to hold onto or repurchase a ton of gear. Running Dancer, Machinist and Bard, swapping between to level was a blast and made it less grindy.

I left WoW after 19 years to play FF14, best decision of my life in mmo-gaming.

@JustRuss

2 ай бұрын

Definitely not the first, nor the last person I'll hear say that! I'm glad!

@embryant1583

2 ай бұрын

Same here! I left in October and still loving it. I'm apprehensive about the next WoW expac, I feel I wont be as emotionally invested in it as FFxiv but willing to give it a shot at least.....but I can see me sticking with ffxiv for a long time

@brandoncomer6492

24 күн бұрын

interesting take. I play both and while I enjoy FFXIV it is a mechanically inferior game to a rather large degree

@ganjabear1892

5 күн бұрын

@@brandoncomer6492what makes you say that? I’ve been off wow about 2/3 years. Was disappointed by pvp balance for shadow loads and same old bgs with just new skins. Idk and even after running the same dungeons and heroics over and over. Raids were meh. Maybe I’m just tired of mmos but I do miss wow combat. But I’m also tired of so many spells and buttons and hotkeys. I like in Diablo or Destiny 2 etc obviously lacking the mmo side aspects, I like less buttons to relax. Not as big on rotation etc. miss wow world tho

@brandoncomer6492

5 күн бұрын

​@@ganjabear1892 wows combat and scripting engine is far more advanced and performative. FFXIV uses a rudimentary combat engine heavily tied to a server tick cycle and extremely linear design scripting. It's comparatively unresponsive and simplistic. Just as an example consider M+ dungeons in WoW and how involved the various mechanics work in concert that require players to use kicks, CCs, AoE interrupts, etc. Nothing like that exists in FFXIV, and nothing like that can exist in FFXIV because the combat engine simply cannot handle the performative requirements that come along with it. Even encounters in FFXIV follow a strictly time script, the scripting engine doesn't allow for any sort of dynamic mechanics in the way WoW can.

Haurchefant broke me. He, Aymeric and Estinien are my boys (I'm an Elezen fan to the highest degree). My friends logged on just after i had run the dungeon and watched the cutscene and they could hear the emotion in my voice when I said hi. I actually love the Heavensward expansion, it's right up there for me. But that is mostly because it's all elves and dragons, I'm a very easy lady to please

@benoitnoel100

Ай бұрын

there is no other game that brought me to tears. this game is the only one that, not once, not twice, but at the VERY least 3 times made me shed tears... i dont know where you are currently, but trust me the story gets even better as the expac goes on. you get more and more invested and every twist and dramatic event play right in your feeling... love that game to death

@haramichiyo

Ай бұрын

@@benoitnoel100 I finished the MSQ a few months ago. Bit I completely agree, I've never played a game that makes you feel the way this one does. I was simply relating to what Russ had written as to keep my comment spoiler free 😊

Welcome to the game 😊 10 year XIV vet here. Subbed so I can watch your journey through this amazing game. Really excited to see your perspective through this story and raids 😁 Endwalker ties everything in the story together phenomenally, the trials/raids are a blast to play in, the music is gut wrenchingly beautiful, and now is perfect time to start since the new story about to begin 😁 enjoy!!

@JustRuss

Ай бұрын

Thanks!

It's been a great journey watching you. I've even felt the urge to go back amd experience some content again and even try some I never did because of watching you go through it all. Keep it up and as long as your enjoying yourself... that's all that matters! 🙂

@JustRuss

2 ай бұрын

Awesome! Glad I could inspire going back to some of those things

Having only found your channel and stream recently im loving how much your actually involved wifh the story vs some other content creators who will enjoy the story but they dont do the kind of discussions you will about things. Thank you for putting yourself out there and taking the chats abuse lol.

@JustRuss

2 ай бұрын

Hahah a knight lives to serve o7

Once Thordan has done his ultimate attack on normal, he's expended all his power and because he's not a combatant at all, he spends the last 10% just flailing pathetically (he's visibly winded and has a damage down debuff on him). The Thordan EX fight is a different story, you get the challenge you crave there, and is one of my favourite fights in the game.

I haven’t had the opportunity to tune into the streams as much as I would want to Russ, but I am delighted to hear that you are still having a good time with the game, and have fostered a good way to experience more than purely the MSQ. I know raiding isn’t everyone’s jam, I am not usually one for doing blind savage myself, but that’s genuinely really nice to see that you’re having a nice time doing those things with your community. It makes me wish I took my time more myself, but two years ago I really didn’t know much about MMO’s in the first place so that’s just hindsight. I hope you continue your adventures of seeing all the raid tiers and their savage equivalents in the other expansions as well. Cheers

@JustRuss

2 ай бұрын

Thanks for the lovely comment and glad you have enjoyed the game in your own way too

@VashimuXIV

2 ай бұрын

@@JustRuss No worries Russ. And seriously, Godspeed to you guys with Alexander Savage, those are no joke for when they were released. I believe in you!

I think WoW players have an easier time getting through ARR (I personally enjoyed it too, but I have only been playing WoW since Cata - I was too young for the internet during Vanilla lol) because we're used to the typical MMO "go kill 10 bears" fetch quest. My friends who hated ARR have not played WoW or any other MMO - for them, ARR was the roadblock they had to skip in order to enjoy the game, and they did end up enjoying HW onward after I bought skips for them. I even paid for a month sub for one of them since they were questioning the monthly cost, and now they pay their sub every month just to stand around in Limsa and look pretty lol. Personally, the FFXIV story is still the best story I've ever read / watched in my life so far. That might be a stretch, but I think one of the reasons I love it so much is the journey. It's not only one expansion and move on (as you've probably already noticed ARR to HW), the story keeps going and evolving and the friends we've made - and lost - along the way are there with us

@gyderian9435

Ай бұрын

I can second this, played wow from vanilla to shadowlands and jumped to ffxiv and loved every bit from the start. Then I found out about all the arr hate online lol 😅

@gyderian9435

Ай бұрын

And yes, definitely the best journey I've ever been on, and I've travelled the (real) world quite a bit 😊

Oh my goodness, you have such an amazing adventure ahead of you =) I'm also currently replaying ARR on an alt, doing the entire thing over again =) There is stuff I wish I could do for the first time again, and I know all the people who have played it would be excited for you that you get to live it all for the first time =) Have fun! =)

Can't wait for him to reach the start of Stormblood and we get the 300 days video

@JustRuss

2 ай бұрын

LMAO

@vinh1360

Ай бұрын

Stormblood took me almost a month to beat playing casually. About to start shadowbringers now.

@rambogodofwar9158

Ай бұрын

​@vinh1360 shadowbringers is awsome

Russ I’ve loved watching your stuff since you reacted to my friend Scien’s video! I totally get the Haurchefant closure piece, and I’m sorry your overall expectations + thoughts of ARR were lowered based on community interaction. It is only getting better though, and I’m so excited to see your impressions and feedback of the game moving forward!!

Ahh a fellow ARR enjoyer! ^^ I don't like telling sprouts to "bear with" It because it's so much rich lore being passed out that will shape a good bit of the story to come. I also agree that fantasy Catholics wasn't as peak as folks likely remember, but I don't touch that point unless they try arguing down ARR at me lol. Best of luck moving forward!

@Alissandre_Iskander

2 ай бұрын

I agree. ARR gets such a bad rap for being a slog when this is where most of the world and character building/establishing takes place.

@Omegeddon

2 ай бұрын

@@Alissandre_Iskander It picks up once you get to the Primal fights

@sircaballero

2 ай бұрын

I don’t think ARR is bad, it’s just the least good. The least good FF14 expansion is still not bad. The only parts I’d consider bad would be the VERY start where you’re killing squirrels and ladybugs, and the pacing of some of the postgame stuff. In the context of rebuilding the game after the figurative and literal calamity of 1.0, it’s nothing short of exceptional

@autumneagle

2 ай бұрын

What really sold me on ARR was the small connections. A lot of the background characters, even ones you couldn't interact with but popped up with char bubbles when you got near them, ended up becoming recurring and eventually graduated into their own stories. We get a couple Scions out of it and a really creepy boss fight. Really won me over early especially since the Scion/Ascian/Hydaelin/WoL thing at first really didn't. It felt like I was just a clean up guy- the only person who could be around Primals without getting turned so it was just on me to do the thing but Lahabrea and subordinates were SO CAMPY at first. All that said, having finished the whole game now, I am completely enamored with my Scion family and really appreciate the Ascian for the characters they are

I've been popping in and out of your videos watching your journey. Take your time and enjoy it! I'm hoping in Dawntrail to find a new raid team that wants to go back and do everything from the beginning.

@JustRuss

2 ай бұрын

Thank you I am! Good luck with your new team - it's definitely worth it!

If you haven't done the Tribes at all, they are frequently a good window into their zones as world building. The Vath in Dravania are my favorite in HW.

@JustRuss

2 ай бұрын

Ooooh i love the Vath so far but i've not done any tribe stuff

@Xemvii

2 ай бұрын

@@JustRuss You should, its good exp, like a quarter of your exp bar for just doing daily tribe quests that are in range of your jobs level.

Nice, welcome to the community! I did the same back in 2021, came over to check it out and fell in love with the game, I had played WoW since 2006. This community is amazing. ♥

@JustRuss

2 ай бұрын

Yep the community is ab absolute gamechanger with this game

Great video and im happy you have been enjoying the game

Oh your videos on the Bloody Banquet and The Vault are gonna be something alright!

@JustRuss

2 ай бұрын

Haha yep! Is it weird that I'm looking forward to watching those back myself? :P

@Tolly7249

2 ай бұрын

@@JustRuss I don't think so! Those were absolutely the story beats that make this game what it is. They're impressive for any RPG, let alone an MMORPG!

@kaala7939

2 ай бұрын

@@JustRuss sounds like you are on your way to becoming an emotional vampire too. 😂

That tier list is going to be spicy I hope you do one after every expansion

@JustRuss

2 ай бұрын

That's the plan! :D

I've been playing since Endwalker released, having never played MMO's before. Two and a half years later, and there is still SO much content I haven't touched. I'm toying with starting the Alexander raids myself soon. Following your experience reminds me so much of my own, and there's so much joy there. I'm glad you're enjoying your experience.

@JustRuss

2 ай бұрын

Awesome to hear! I love how much there is to do :D

I love everything FFXIV! I loved ARR because I came from GW2, ESO, & WoW! I still love the other games too, but I only play FFXIV now! I think you will enjoy all of the rest of the content! I am stoked for Dawntrail & am leveling up my Ninja so I will have gear for Viper! Great vid, keep up the good work!

@JustRuss

2 ай бұрын

Thanks for the lovely comment! glad you are enjoying the game :D

I remember really loving ARR, it was great to just explore the world and do whatever I wanted. I personally think that ARR struggle with pacing becasue some sections just really slowed down the pace to the point that the MSQ wasn't that interesting.

Great vid. Currently going through MSQ for the first time and it's a great experience.

Praise be to you for going through Alexander! Worth the time. If you want more insights into the story, I would like to recommend a portion of the story called "The Coils." It's about Bahamut. However, I would recommend you to do it UNSYNCHED. "Story mode" as it were. It was the dev's first try in making raid content, and they accidentally made it Savage Mode as the "normal". So... yeah. Get someone high level to carry you, and enjoy the story.

@thesunthrone

2 ай бұрын

Russ did that, MINE unsync and blind, it was an awesome prog to watch!

Alooo! As always really enjoyed your thoughts and progress on FFXIV. Thanks for sharing and looking forward to more of your progress and journey in FFXIV!

@JustRuss

2 ай бұрын

Thanks, will do!

Checked into your stream at the beginning of shadowlands and I feel like I really missed out on your FF journey. While I really enjoyed you as a person, I was just not into watching MMOs for a long time :D I hope you'll keep on doing well, you always seemed like a great guy and I will probably lurk from time to time :)

I really like this format of video 👌 It’s interesting how you talk about the honeymoon period, I always thought the honeymoon period was until the end of the MSQ. I guess it’s because you take the time to branch out onto other things and you go more into a daily routine.

@JustRuss

2 ай бұрын

Glad you enjoyed it! Yep I suppose for a lot of players who run through the MSQ more quickly, they will probably feel that honeymoon period end afterwards. I suppose I think of it like a time period, which we will all hit eventually. Some may finish the MSQ within 6 months, but I've been playing about 20-30 hours a week so I'm starting to learn a lot about the game over time from my chat or videos I watch, to the point that everything isn't feeling as new and sparkly now. Not to say it's less fun or enjoyable though!

I've wasted a couple of subs trying to get into FFXIV, because it just seems so appealing, but i have such a strong aversion to MSQ's in general, that i just have come to terms that I'm not meant to play FFXIV. Still I'm happy to hear about your FFXIV journey :) these vids pop up in my recommendation a few times a year.

love to hear it, love to see wow player enjoy another mmorpg the same way most of them did back in the early days of wow, been playing ffxiv since the launch of 2.0 and hope to see some of yall in game !

glad to know you're still enjoying the game! knowing that you like ARR, cant wait to hear your thoughts on the rest of the journey

Loving your content and journey! So, I think the combat bits stem from how jobs and fight design were then versus now. Jobs were far more technical and harder to execute properly, while the fights weren’t designed to be too difficult or as flashy. Stormblood and onward, it’s the opposite. Although Yoshi-P did say Dawntrail plans to kick it up a notch since some fights in Endwalker got a little too boring for lots of folks.

The etiquette when a new tier of normal raids comes out is that everyone does them blind on the first day and everyone cooks - it's so much fun. With Savage raids, the world first teams will be fighting for a week or two to get through just like WoW, but most of the rank and file will only go into a party finder group blind for the first couple of tries - then we'll start looking at what little bits the guide channels have released if we do get stuck, (they're usually wrong for the first couple of hasty videos, so they've become their own meme.) You should absolutely be able to find others willing to current raid tier content blind in a static in the future. But no rush, take your time! Play the game the way you are having fun.

@JustRuss

Ай бұрын

Awesome! thanks for the comment

Definitely do another post expansion vid on your thoughts of Stormblood. A lot of contention is tossed at the next expansion on the list and would love to hear your thoughts on the topic. Many would argue that if Heavensward was the peak of storytelling, then Stormblood would be the valley. For context, think of HW compared to Wrath of the Lich King and Stormblood to Pandaria or BfA.

Great video. Glad you're enjoying the game. If you haven't tried it yet, I would highly recommend trying controller play to see what it's like. It takes a bit of setup to properly optimise it, but the controller support is unmatched in the MMO space. Ultimately not trying to convert you, but it's an aspect that a lot of players overlook that deserves a proper look.

Churning Mists night theme is so underappreciated! It's more low-key than a lot of highly-regarded tracks. It became a favorite of mine upon first hearing it, and I've included it in all of my orchestrion playlists for years now. Zone themes with the same kind of vibe in later expansions: - Stormblood: The Lochs night theme, "Old Wounds" - Shadowbringers: Lakeland night theme, "Unchanging, Everchanging" - Endwalker: the song title is "Neath Dark Waters (Scions & Sinners)" but saying anything else about it would be spoilers ;) These are honestly my favorite pieces of music in the entire game.

@JustRuss

2 ай бұрын

Another Churning mists enjoyer!

I've been running through a new character to prep for dawntrail. Just finished HW and getting into STB. I really appreciate your criticism of HW and honestly wouldn't have thought of it that way. I can definitely say after finishing HW, you're going to love the patch content. Even when I was synced for the final boss it was still a refreshing challenge. Cant wait till you get to run DSR after experiencing HW. 😎

Take your time and enjoy the journey

I look forward to your enjoyment of Stormblood since most people dunk on it haha. I liked it just fine, it just has a lot to set up to start with. The Aetherochemical boss fight was actually reworked to be even HARDER pretty recently. I joined in 6.0 when things were first redone and the Aetherochemical fight was updated after I'd cleared it in MSQ. So, rest assured it's got even more of a difficulty gap between that and Thordan than the original. Glad you're enjoying the journey so far!

the game gets way better later on so i'm hyped to see you play it :D especially stuff like sephirot with the music :D

@JustRuss

Ай бұрын

Love to hear it! can't wait!

What data center and world are you on? Curious because I am finished with endwalker but in terms of doing most of the raids on savage I would be just as blind as yall and would love to help.

@JustRuss

2 ай бұрын

Playing on Chaos EU Spriggan! Swing by the stream and get involved! :D many friendly faces there

@meguryzer9689

Ай бұрын

Oh, EU even. I'm surprised.

I also want to say I love how FF treats keeping older content valid. It sucks that with WoW the old stuff essentially goes away. I really like how FF keeps it going. Just wish we kept our full kit when leveled down 😂

@BREAKocean

2 ай бұрын

Yeah some classes are not fun to play synced

@JackgarPrime

Ай бұрын

@@BREAKocean Black Mage gets it bad.

As a FF player from launch who has played most MMOs, I’m so glad you found Ff Russ! Welcome, take it at your own pace, find what you enjoy, and I hope you stay for a long long time!

I'm one of those weirdos who loved ARR and Stormblood. And only LIKED Heavensward. That said, I've loved every single minute of my Eozean journey, and I hope you do to!

The improvement to ARR in the form of cleaning up the quests def improved it. I played through it back in 2013, and i think why i enjoyed my time then was because it was new, I had to wait for the patches, and i got it in chunks, instead of having to play it straight through. I started playing 2 months after ARR released. I have fond memories of clearing coils back in the day, including my first Bahamut kill. As for Alex, I did it pre nerf to A3S, and was part of the static killer days, so i didnt do any of the savage alex til much later sadly. Reason, my static booted me, then fell apart weeks later due to A3S. Will say this be glad you don't have to deal with TP, and Accuracy rating. That added an extra level of difficulty to the fights that was annoying.

Regarding blind raiding, it's absolutely a thing at endgame. There's no PTR for this game, so nobody can test or figure out strats before the content gets released, so everyone is doing it blind for the first weeks anyway. My FC had a few people who wanted to get into high end raiding, but were nervous about jumping in. So we formed a group of 8 and decided to try the newest extreme, which was the 6.4 one (no spoilers for Russ). Little did we know it turned out to be the hardest extreme in years... but we kept at it, only able to raid once a week, and after a couple of months we finally got it down. It was a great experience for us all and led to us dipping our toes into savage as well. I'd definitely recommend giving blind prog a try!

Good video, bro. Interesting insights.

@JustRuss

Ай бұрын

Thank you, glad you enjoyed!

Been playing WoW from Vanilla to BFA. Switched to FF14 with me and my best friends and it is amazing. So far loving FF14 and excited for the new expansion! Thanks for the content!

@JustRuss

Ай бұрын

Thanks for watching! Glad you enjoyed

The whole Thordan getting killed too easily is a really valid comment. Unfortunately I don't think the devs can ever really do much to fix that kind of thing simply due to the vast difference in skills that jobs have nowadays including new jobs being added etc. It is honestly an amazing fight and I assume you might have tried the ex version blind at some point? First video I've watched of yours (but have subscribed and would love to check your stream out if I catch it at some point). I think that version of the fight might be able to give you a better 'epic' feeling. I think a combination of the new skills and the stat squish that the game got semi recently has probably impacted the old content a lot in general and unfortunately that might even carry over to some of the stormblood trials / raids in the future when you get to that part of the MSQ. I am genuinely glad you are loving the game though and I wish you the best in your journey through the MSQ and raids ^^

@christinebryant5807

2 ай бұрын

I also don't think k he realizes that King Thordan is a reconstruction of the Final Fantasy summing Knights of the Round Table and that's why there isn't that feel of revenge.

I hate that ARR gets such a bad rap compared to the other expansions, I love the world building of ARR and it's so necessary because all the other stuff in the game hits harder because of ARR and the world building the game did. I love all the expacs but ARR will always hold a special place in my heart.

@bakacdaz

2 ай бұрын

I think it could be better than this but understandable since it was made in 2 years and make while still fixing original 1.X too. Made 2.0 playable in short time is important than anything at that time that while writting is mid and EN voice acting is so terrible even though some actor are not that new.

@cassiusbright1062

27 күн бұрын

The bad rap for ARR usually comes from the filler and the mediocre combat content, even among those that hate it they tend to recognize the world building aspect. The problem is, it's also been fixed up multiple times now, so there's a lot less filler and the combat content (particularly the 47-50 range) has been made significantly better, so people continue to parrot that it's the worst thing ever while what they remember is all the original filler they had to go through. Meanwhile, HW has had no touch-ups, so is much closer to what ARR originally was.

@kaala7939

26 күн бұрын

@@cassiusbright1062 I've recently been doing a ng+ I'm currently in stormblood which is by far my least favorite expac, and so far I've found Heavensward to be more grindy than ARR now. I was like I don't remember this...😂

I played arr half a year before they cut some of it’s quest and I loved it. Also have you read some of the lines they removed in the localize version of ffxiv for haurchefant?

@JustRuss

2 ай бұрын

Nope I've not heard any of Haurche's lines from that. I heard he seduces you in one of the other voiceovers thought :P

I enjoyed base ARR myself. The patch content did drag on for me, but only because I was really excited to get to Ishgard in order to unlock the 3 jobs there. (This was before SB came free for the free trial peeps giving you access to jobs that unlocked in the major cities.) I may make a new character who purely tanks to play the story again and practice tanking, which is easily my least favorite role. I'm betting I glossed over some important lore in my haste.

Been enjoying your journey bro!

@JustRuss

2 ай бұрын

Love to hear it!

I am glad you are enjoying the game!

If you have enjoyed all the lore about the Dragonsong War and everything that led up to it, then you should do the Scholasticate quest line if you haven't already. I also have to wonder when you mentioned how you like the zone music, how many people out there thought "Do you know Lahee?" ... wait until ShB, you'll know it and love it.

@JustRuss

2 ай бұрын

I have heard about that but I will wait to find out in ShB!

yeah. Thordan's fight has been effectively a cutscene since its inception. Hopefully they do something with it

what did you think of the voice acting change going from ARR > heavensward

@JustRuss

2 ай бұрын

I didn't hate the ARR voice acting except maybe Minfilia and Kan E, but it definitely got WAY better in HW

thanks for sharing your experience! As someone who went into the game with zero expectations as well, I enjoyed ARR! Really not as bad as people say it is, and I played it when they didn't cut quests out. 😆

@JustRuss

2 ай бұрын

Glad to hear this !

Blind progging any content is so fun. Really fortunate I've got friends/partymates who also love blind progging. We progged UWU too (lvl 70 Ultimate Raid), it felt good to finish. Always nice when other people can enjoy it.

@JustRuss

Ай бұрын

Did you blind prog the whole of UWU? that's impressive!

@kiega123456789ooo

Ай бұрын

@@JustRuss Yes, thanks! Ultimate statics take more tenacity to stick through it compared to Coil/Savage tiering, but UWU and UCOB are the two that aren't too frustrating to blind prog compared to the later ultimates (part of it is the mechanics are "older" and so not as frequently pixel-perfect punishing, and there are new gear substat pieces to choose from and skill potencies from job updates). If possible, a lot of us would highly recommend trying it, at least for a little while when you get up there.

You don't cry for arr, or heavensward. You cry for endwalker. >_>

@Slimjim2147

2 ай бұрын

Shadowbringers destroyed me multiple times

@FtanmoOfEtheirys

2 ай бұрын

tbf, each one makes you cry if you played it while it was current with time to wind down and collect your thoughts each time.

@fluffykitten077

2 ай бұрын

took you that long, huh?

@dazzlemasseur

2 ай бұрын

Endwalker was the finale. the best one was shadowbringer

@MrDavid01228

2 ай бұрын

Honestly, I found the EW storyline to be a bit of a letdown, the pacing was off for me. ShB was by far the best, with HW a close second for me.

On the disappointing Thordan fight, that is unfortunately a problem the game severely suffers from for max expansion level content. SE simply does not tighten the ilvl requirement for max level duties and it results it everything falling over MUCH faster than it did when the content was fresh. There are mechanics in many alliance raids that players haven't seen for years for this very reason.

As for tab tageting it's really bad, but there's an option in the game to make it proximity based... The way it works by default is it targets things from left to right on your screen. Look into the settings, see if you like the alternative one more. I just kind of learned to right click on things instead.

One thing you have to remember too. A while back they reworked a lot of the earlier fights/dungeons to accomodate the trust systm. For example, you mentioned acian prime. That fight was a lot different before the rework. A lot more stuff involved. Mechanics not so simple. That’s just one example. A lot of the story fights they did that way because the trust system is very calculated. Almost dumbed down. A lot.

@JustRuss

2 ай бұрын

Yep makes sense. I heard the Cape Westwind and Ultima duties were also worse before so hopefully they continue to rework them over time as they get outdated!

Ff14 my first mmo and kb/mouse experience as a console fighting/sport genre is ff14. 1.community is the best I’ve ever experienced. The vets in Novice Network are amazing. 2.closest thing I have to living out my SAO fantasy lol. 3.realm reborn WAS great lol. 4. Never been so invested into a game, love it

@JustRuss

Ай бұрын

love to hear all this! glad you are loving the game!

Aloo! Glad to hear you've been enjoying yourself! As others have said, try not to let viewers set your expectations for the MSQ. Some folks may get a little weird if you don't react/feel the same way they do about characters and story beats, but I'd hate for them to tarnish your experience. It's much better to just be honest and enjoy yourself. I also strongly agree about FFXIV's tab-targetting, it's pretty crap compared to WoW. My workaround was to change [tab] to target nearest enemy, then [ctrl-tab] to cycle through nearby targets. That's what got me through frontlines.

My friend who loved wow just got back in to ff and he's also become the walking meme to his friends. And I haven't said anything about it, but a few years ago he made fun out of me for the very same thing 🤣 I feel the same way about ARR as well. I really liked it the first time I played it. And I did play it before they cut quests, but it was all new to me, and I was new to mmos as well. And I love the sylphs too. So we're aligned there lol. I've only seen a few of your vids on youtube though as recommended ones. Your stream sounds fun, so I'll check it out. Some of the Alex savage raids are spicy.

Yeah thordan in the msq is incredibly undertuned, but I hope you do the minstrels ballad! It's a great extreme battle and much more satisfying defeat for thordan.

As part of the revamp and duty support additions, the final 3.0 dungeon had its content adjusted, particularly Lahabread/ Ascian Prime.

@JustRuss

Ай бұрын

Yeah the ascian prime was fun in my opinion, i just think thordan needs a little more health i suppose to make the ending feel more grand!

@walkseva

Ай бұрын

@@JustRuss Agreed, though I think the only trial they adjusted as part of this revamp was Good King Moogle Mog, of all things.

The 3.X patches address most of your concerns with HW.

10:40 The whole MINE system needs an overhaul for the more outdated content. It just doesn't make much of a difference anymore with each expansion power creep and job adjustments. Thordan was definitely more engaging, even on normal

Thordan's Knights, are the Knights of the Round from FF7. In case you did not know.

I'm with you on that A Realm Reborn isn't bad, but I did also experience it pre-pruning, so everything, every absolute aspect between learning about Titan and fighting Titan, was just atrocious, but before Titan, and after Titan are great, because as you said, the base content does what it needs to do, lore building and so on. A Realm Reborn also has the advantage over all expansions in that there are so many dungeons and so many trials and then harder level 50 versions of dungeons alongside the extreme trials combined with the very cool raid. So many blue quests to make sure to unlock =)

Alex Savage Blind? That sounds like pain. Props to you bro! I honestly recommend checking out raid videos for running Savages. For older Content, MTQCapture is really great. She does tend to over-explain things, and can kind of make my head explode, but honestly made my Alex Savage runs less painful.

@JustRuss

Ай бұрын

So far we are on Brute Justice so we have done a couple of the harder fights but this is the last herdal from what I've heard

Oh man I hope the character tier list becomes a recurring thing, I'd love to see how your opinions of the characters evolve after each expac and/or the patch content

@JustRuss

2 ай бұрын

That’s my plan yep!

as someone who played ARR on release and have played thru the story again on xbox, i have to say the story still holds up. its a slow start with a lot of world building and character development but like a good book it gets better the more you read and the gameplay is the same... they have extremely tuned up the early game with changes to quests ang dungeons that were previously problematic for new players and there are reviewable tutorial pop ups for everything. this game is an experience worth having

@JustRuss

2 ай бұрын

Absolutely agree with everything you said, And I'm only in chapter 2 of the book!

It is always good to get an update. Do this at the end of each expansion.

My opinion on ffxiv expansions that I already played (regarding MSQ): HW>>>SB>ARR>ShB I was about to start EW, but i think i might wait for the graphics update for a better experience Keep up the great content!

Pretty cool to hear a more reserved take on base Heavensward story, and they echo a lot of the feelings I had as a sprout. I think now that I have played full MSQ I am a bit more forgiving in hindsight, but even still I had far more moments in heavensward story that made me frustrated than ARR. Where ARR follows a simple but consistent plot, HSW cannot stop interupting the main plot with side plots at the most jarring moments. Overall I would rate my HSW experience higher than ARR, but I enjoyed base 2.0 more than base 3.0 when I was playing it.

People put down Stormblood too, but it sets up so much. Don’t let people darken your opinion on the content. Best to ignore all that and decide for yourself.

The "MSQ vampiring" will get real on Shadowbringers. You either get filtered by ARR or you become a walking advertisement. Congratulations on the journey. I think you will understand the "ARR underwhelming" feelings once you get to the end of Stormblood and finally into Shadowbringers and beyond, just because it gets *so much better*, that in comparison it makes ARR and HW for me to look bad, again, *in comparison*. And yeah, I also thought HW had a pretty slow start, but hey, it does build up eventually.

Starting in Heavenward and going forward, they really split the difficulty in the trials between normal and extreme to try to keep the MSQ casual friendly. They don't have a good balance of difficulty in all of the 3.0 trials of HW, but they do start to get better in the post patch content and future expansions. Still, if you're ever unsatisfied with the final trial, highly recommend trying the extreme trials. They will get you that climatic final fight feeling, trust.

While this is old, suggest checking out crafting/gathering for an end-game thing. It's basically a mini-game in itself. Figuring out what stats you need and working your way up through the gear sets. I did it end of heavensward, which was ideal since that stage of materia is easily obtainable and super-cheap. Recommend doing it once anyway, if only to understand how it works.

The normal-mode trials are intentionally eassier that you might expect because they're required for MSQ. Just makes it easier for more casual players to progress MSQ without major blockers. Have you run it extreme yet?

@JustRuss

2 ай бұрын

Yep. Old man's got hands D:

I did the same after 18 yrs and I love FF14 so much more! I’m four MSQ from finishing Endwalker I’m ready for Dawntrail

You can't expect a MSQ trial to be overly challenging; all players need to be able to clear it; not just the raiders. I believe you'll be much happier when you get to the extreme version of Thordan, especially if you do it blind and min I-level.

@JustRuss

2 ай бұрын

Yep Thordan extreme is the one!

man i played wow for 15 years, but was also a FF fanboy on consoles. never did i think FF could be a mmo (not because FF11 isnt, just graphically not my cup of tea even in FF standards) but after giving FF14s free trial a shot just before endwalker came out, binged all of ARR-Shadowbringers in 3 months. like you couldnt pay me to stop playing this game. can't believe i held myself back just because i thought i could never get that "Rogue playstyle" in another mmo. well ninja proved me so wrong. games really good, it has its rough parts but man. its really wild how it can pull you in if you want it to.

@JustRuss

2 ай бұрын

Hell yeah! glad you are enjoying it :D

Heavensward was literally my lock on moment. Came back because a buddy basically bullied me into getting my account back up and running. The end of ARR was a shock to me, but the end of HW was literally the moment where I said, outloud in my discord chat, "I gotta leave comms, I wasn't ready for this moment." A certain cutscene before unlocking an instance hit different and I learned who Soken is.