#they could be crafter quests like the moogle quests

[sezja]

Do you think if I cross my fingers and pray really hard to the gods of gaming, Burmecians will be tribe quests in 7.0

[hasty-touch]

Tips for leveling DoH & DoL

I am fondly known by my friends as "that guy who's obsessed with crafting and also Ishgard", so I'm ecstatic about getting to enjoy both those things in Shadowbringers. And I've been hearing a lot of my friends excited about the latter wanting to catch up with the former so they're ready to participate! I love crafting so much I've capped classes on 4 alts... so having leveled multiple times, I thought I'd share some of my thoughts and tips -- not a detailed how-to guide (though maybe I'll try to write one of those someday), but broader opinions about what strategies to take. This is geared more to DoH than DoL (which is more self-explanatory IMO) but I'll include thoughts on DoL too.

I learned how to craft back in the 2.5 era from GameFAQs and from ffxivguild -- though I can't easily recommend the latter anymore because their ads and autoplay videos have gotten really aggressive. If I find a good, current guide I'll add a link here.

Other resources well-loved by me or friends are Crafting as a Service for shopping lists and leveling planning, Ariyala for gearing, FFXIV Teamcraft for their endgame-invaluable simulator, and Garlandtools Bell for unspoiled nodes.

So let's see. What would my general tips be for people who are picking up DoH and DoL now in anticipation of Shadowbringers?

Your leveling options

There are lots of different ways for you to level your DoH and L, so if you hate one there's sure to be another option. Some of them, and my thoughts on the pros and cons of the different methods:

Class Quests. I strongly recommend doing your class quests as you unlock them! They give nice lumps of experience, shards/crystals for DoH, and gear (albeit NQ gear, so inferior to what you could make yourself). You should especially do 60-70, Stormblood era quests as you unlock them, as they give you powerful new traits and abilities. Of course, you have to fill the gaps between class quests with something:

Grinding. Just makin' stuff from your Crafting Log or gathering from your Gathering Log, or hanging out at a level-appropriate fishing hole and fishing. Potentially boring, but can actually add up to nice chunks of EXP, especially under Rested and with the aid of Engineering Manuals/Survival Manuals. (More on them later.)

Leveling DoH through grinding is probably your most expensive option, not only in terms of gil spent on the MB but retainer space used to store those materials.

Synthesize (manually crafting) gives more experience than Quick Synthesis -- if I understand correctly, the more steps you use in a craft the more experience you get, up to a point renofmanyalts says you get more exp the more you fill your Quality bar, which makes a lot more sense!

You can recover some of your gil by selling the items you make, so a little time researching what you can make at your level that sells well may be profitable in several ways.

Leveling DoL through grinding, on the other hand, is potentially a way to make money, if there's a high-demand item in the right level range.

You'll get more experience for HQ items and by maintaining a chain (i.e., not missing an item).

Since you can start and stop grinding whenever you want, you can use it both if you have lots or limited time to play. But I wouldn't recommend it as your primary method!

Grand Company Supply and Provisioning. One item requested each day for each class. You get a very nice chunk of experience, doubled if HQ, with a further bonus to starred items.

I like the GC as a leveling method. They usually take the length of one food buff (<= 30 minutes for all eight DoH classes, plus an additional <= 30 minutes for all three DoL classes), which is a manageable amount of chores per day. You get GC seals, which can be spent on manuals, Cordials, squadron missions, etc., to further help you.

You are limited to one item per class per day, so once you've handed in your day's items, you have to find something else to do. It's great if you play every day, but if you have a lot of playtime on just a few days of the week you may not be able to take the same advantage.

You do have to buy and store the materials, and since the assignment each day is random, it may take up a lot of retainer space.

Levequests/guildleves. While technically limited by your leve allowances (which can be checked at the bottom of your journal), you get 3 allowances every 12 hours and you can store up to 100, and you've gotta really grind leves to spend 100 leve allowances. They give nice chunks of experience, doubled for HQ.

"Levekits" are bundles of items sold by higher-level crafters and fishers which, when handed in to levemetes, get you enough experience to bump you up to the target level (50, 60, etc.) They're an option -- and if you really must be level 70 today, they're your only option -- but I don't really recommend them. If you learn to craft yourself while you level, you'll understand how the abilities work together and won't be overwhelmed by buttons at cap. Even if you intend only to craft at cap using other people's macros, a little bit of knowledge will help you troubleshoot and improve them.

If you take advantage of DoH leves, I would recommend you make the items yourself instead, gaining experience both for the crafting and for the turn-in. You will have to buy/gather the materials, but since you can decide what leves you're going to target in advance and just get materials for those, storage is not as problematic.

MIN and BTN leves send you to a location to gather key items that are handed in at the end of the leve, sometimes with special targets (changing what actions you'd spend your GP on). For the time invested you get more exp than just grinding, but you don't have items to sell at the end of it.

Large-Scale Temple Knight leves (marked with "(L)" in the levequest name) are generally considered not worth your time because they take 10x the allowances and only give 3x the exp.

You can do as many leves as you want per day as long as you have the allowances, so you can take advantage if you've got a lot or a little time.

Beast Tribes. You can get DoH exp from the Ixal (intended for level 1-50) and the Moogles (50-60), and either DoH or DoL from the Namazu (60-70). You're limited by Beast Tribe Daily Quest Allowances (12 per day for any beast tribes of your choice) and the number of quests that tribe offers (Ixal start with Deliverance, which is sort of like a bonus daily GC supply mission + 3 dailies, and progressively more are offered as you level up; Moogles and Namazu normally gives you 3 a day, but you get a bonus 3 on days your Reputation ranks up.) They give nice, moderate lumps of exp.

One of the great advantages of beast tribes is that you are given the materials for the item(s) required by the quest, so you only have to pay for crystals -- and you're often rewarded crystals for completion, making them free aside from teleport and repair costs!

Ranking up unlocks more items at the tribe's vendor. The Ixal have a wonderful selection of lumber, and you can buy the Adept and Trailblazer (level 58) sets from the Moogles with Carved Kupo Nuts, etc.

Unlocking Ixal only requires the level 41 MSQ "In Pursuit of the Past". But you gotta unlock the Moogles and the Namazu not only through MSQ (respectively, level 56 "He Who Would Not Be Denied" and level 66 "In Crimson They Walked") but through sidequest chains. The Moogle unlock chain is long and starts with "A Pebble for Your Thoughts" in Moghome (and then after "Trouble at Zenith" you gotta pick up "Into the Mists" from the Pillars). The Namazu require two short chains from Yanxia, starting with "Courage the Cowardly Lupin" and "Perchance to Hanami".

The Ixal daily "Deliverance" will take items you bought off the MB, but otherwise you must do all beast tribes tasks yourself.

The tasks given to you in the Moogle and Namazu DoH quests are really easy -- as long as you grasp the barest basics of crafting, you can succeed at them (and you can retry as many times as you like, only losing crystals). The Ixal dailies take away your hand slot gear to begin with and slowly add challenge with increasing restrictions such as cross-class ability lockouts. They're not hard, per se, but you have to puzzle over it a bit more than usual.

You can cheat and do Moogle dailies on a higher level class than you hand it in on. You can’t with Namazu -- you have to complete the quest with the same class you picked it up with.

Though quick, they do take a little bit of time, most of which traveling between quest points. Denisot's round today of 3 Moogle dailies took 5 minutes, but if you get one that involves repreated trips it can take longer. Still, they're good if you can play every day even if only briefly.

You might get asked to type "free kupo nuts" in /say.

Collectables (Rowena's House of Splendors). After (IIRC) level 50, after MSQ "The Better Half", you can unlock collectables via the quest "Inscrutable Tastes" in Revenant's Toll. You can then hand in collectables to the House of Splendors (via kiosks at the main cities, Revenant's Toll, Idyllshire, and Rhalgr's Reach) to receive experience and scrips. Like GC supply and provisioning, each day the requested items change. Also like the GC, there's a chance the requested items will have a star next to them, giving bonus scrip and exp. It's always the highest-level turn-in available to you that has a chance of a star.

Collectable crafting works exactly the same as regular crafting. You just toggle on Collector's Glove (an action you can get from your actions window and/or put on your hotbar) and craft as if you were trying for HQ; your HQ chance is converted into collectable rating.

Collectable fishing is AFAIK essentially the same as fishing for HQ. Again, you just toggle on Collector's Glove and try to land a big/HQ fish.

Collectable MIN and BTN, on the other hand, is its whole own little mini-game added on to the normal gathering minigame. You'll want to look up a guide on how to do collectable gathering -- I don't have one handy at the moment. It's not hard, necessarily, but it's a new system to learn!

Rowena's House of Splendors is truly unlimited, and you can hand in as many collectables as you want each day. The experience isn't great, though, even for starred items, so I would recommend against going crazy and doing these all day long. LOVE YOURSELF!

The amounts of scrip rewarded isn't great to begin with, so grinding for rewards will be pretty miserable until you get up into the mid-high 50s. However, if you must have the full Adept's set today, it's an option!

Red Crafters' Scrip (the current common scrip) can be traded for a variety of items, such as manuals, level 60 gear (via Rowena's Token (Blue Crafters' Scrip)), Soul of the Crafter (for changing specializations after your free choice of three from Alderan), IV-V materia, old mats, etc. Red Gatherers' Scrip can also be traded for gear and materia, more valuable old mats (like Pterodactyl), and good fishing bait like Brute Leech and Silkworm.

Collectables are not tradeable, so you must do them yourself. You can't buy the items or get a friend to make them for you.

For DoH, you do have to buy and store the materials, as with Grand Company Supply, unless you exclusively do:

Custom Deliveries. The first client is Zhloe Aliapoh, unlocked at level 60 with quest "Arms Wide Open" in Idyllshire. These tasks take collectables, like Rowena's House of Splendors, but are limited to 6 hand-ins per week per client and 12 hand-ins per week across all clients. If you do them at level cap, you get valuable yellow scrips, but you can also use your allowances for leveling classes below cap.

The materials for DoH Custom Deliveries are sold by vendors in town (Scrap Salvager in Idyllshire, Material Supplier in Rhalgr's Reach, and Blue Merchant in Tamamizu) They're cheap, and you're awarded gil at hand-in, so DoH Custom Deliveries are almost-free-to-profitable to do. DoL, as usual, cost only teleport and repair costs.

The time required is generally very little -- FSH probably takes the longest because of RNG. And you can do them whenever you have time during the week.

If you're using them for leveling, the experience is only modest. But it is a very easy, low-effort way to get red scrips and experience (if you do them below cap) and yellow scrips (if you do them at cap).

AFAIK, Zhloe only requires you unlock Idyllshire level and be 60 in one DoH or DoL class. M'naago requires the MSQ cleared through "Return of the Bull" (SB 4.1). Kurenai requires you to have unlocked M'naago and finished the quest chain that starts with "The Palace of Lost Souls" (including quests not currently marked with a blue unlocky !).

For DoH, like with Moogle dailies, you can craft the collectable item on any class, then change classes before handing it in.

Challenge Log. Don't forget that you get lumps of experience each week for crafting NQ and HQ items, melding materia, gathering NQ and HQ from nodes, and fishing NQ and HQ fish. The quantities are modest, but they're a nice bonus if you choose to level through a method that involves crafting/gathering items yourself (GC Supply/Provisioning, levequests, grinding, etc.)

Overall, my recommendation would be to try a little bit of every leveling method and find out what's enjoyable for you and fits nicely into your budget and schedule. We have a half-year until Shadowbringers, so if you start now you can take a relaxed pace -- no need to rush, grind doing stuff you hate, and burn yourself out.

Engineering and Survival Manuals and similar buffs

There are a variety of buffs that will help you level, giving you more experience per craft or gather. For DoH, you want Engineering Manuals (the yellow ones); for DoL, it's Survival Manuals (the green ones). You can get these from all sorts of sources -- all the ones I remember are:

Rewards from doing your class quests. Another reason to stay on top of em! These Commercial * Manuals give a 150% boost and last 60 minutes or up to 300,000 exp. You can buy more from Rowena's House of Splendors with red scrips.

Bought from your GC quartermaster (Grand Company Seal Exchange). The strongest ones available are Company-Issue * Manual II (+50% for 180 minutes or for 100,000 exp) for sergeants. Company-Issue * Manuals do not stack with Commerical * Manuals.

Free Company actions. "Helping Hand II" and "Earth and Water II" can be bought from the OIC Quartermaster and give 10% more experience to DoH and DoL respectively. The more powerful III versions are charged on an Aetherial Wheel and provide a 20% bonus.

Rewarded from Squadron Priority Missions. You unlock your GC squadron, IIRC, at Second Lieutenant rank, and unlock Priority Missions by completing the level 40 Flagged Mission. The Squadron * Manuals (+20% for 120 minutes, no limit) you can obtain once-a-week from Priority Mission manuals do not stack with Free Company actions.

Company-Issue/Commercial manuals DO stack with Squadron manuals/FC actions.

The recruit-a-friend reward, Friendship Circlet, can be worn while crafting and gathering for 20% more exp when level 25 or below. Same for the Stormblood preorder(?) reward, Ala Mhigan Earrings, which gives 30% more exp when level 50 or below. Brand-New Ring is wearable only by Disciples of War or Magic, so you can't use that.

While it's not an exp bonus, the crafting facility furnishings (Woodworking Bench, etc.) grant a nice 60 minutes of bonus CP to DoH of level 60 or lower, AND THEY CAN NOW BE PUT INTO STORAGE!!! \o/

And of course, don't forget to eat some sort of food while you're crafting or gathering for the 3% exp bonus.

Which DoH should I level up first?

The correct answer to this question has been, and continues to be, everything at once; omnicrafting is the best way.

In the eras of 2.0 and 3.0, the cross-class abilities you gained from the classes were essential to being able to craft HQ items. Not just at endgame -- having those cross-class abilities while leveling makes your life much, much easier. And because the recipes of each class take components from other classes (e.g., WVR recipes always want a bit of leather and metal), leveling everything up together made you self-sufficient and less vulnerable to wild mark-ups on processed materials at the Market Board. Therefore, I join the majority of crafters in continuing to recommend leveling up all your DoH together.

However...

In 4.0, Stormblood, the designers' vision for DoH changed. From levels 61-70, all classes learn the same abilities, which are stronger (but more expensive) versions of the old cross-class mainstays like Careful Synthesis, Manipulation, and Hasty Touch. Nowadays, if somebody slogged through levels 1-60 on one DoH with no cross-class abilities, they would actually be able to craft at level 70 almost as successfully as an omnicrafter. Since the developers have stated that they're very happy with the crafting system right now, it's reasonable to guess Shadowbringers will be similar.

Additionally, not all cross-class abilities are equally valuable. Whenever a new tier of crafting difficulty is added, the endgame meta shifts slightly, but right now, cross-class abilities like Waste Not and Flawless Synthesis aren't really used.

Therefore, while I do recommend you level up everything together, if you really don't want to, you can get away with abandoning some classes along the way. If Ishgard Reconstruction turns out to be similar to beast tribes, you might get away with having just one capped DoH. On the other hand, the developers have teased exclusive challenges for endgame crafters somehow connected to the Ishgard Reconstruction content, so if you want to be ready for whatever that turns out to be, you should at least get all your cross-class abilities.

My tentative recommendation for DoH leveling priority is something like this:

Get anything to 10 to unlock Quick Synthesis.

Get everything to 15. For example:

WVR 15 (Careful Synthesis)

ALC 15 (Tricks of the Trade)

GSM 15 (Manipulation)

CUL 15 (Hasty Touch)

CRP 15 (Rumination)

ARM (Rapid Synthesis), BSM (Ingenuity), LTW (Waste Not).

CUL 37 (Steady Hand II)

WVR 50 (Careful Synthesis II)

ALC 50 (Comfort Zone)

CRP 50 (Byregot's Blessing)

ARM 50 (Piece by Piece)

CUL 50 (Reclaim)

BSM 50 (Ingenuity II)

GSM 50 (Innovation)

CUL 54 (Muscle Memory)

If you MUST skip one DoH entirely, I'd pick LTW, since the Waste Nots are generally inferior to the Manipulations.

You COULD drop CUL after 54's very useful Muscle Memory. And since CUL doesn't correspond to gear, it doesn't help you repair or meld materia, and other classes generally don't need materials processed by CUL.

Various classes' level 54 Name of [Element] cross-class abilities aren't that useful at present -- they're sometimes used in endgame rotations. GSM's level 54 Maker's Mark is also not currently that useful, though it was OP a couple patches back.

Still -- I think it's safest, and for me less annoying, to level everything together.

Should I craft using macros?

Yes -- I think macros are great for relieving the tedium of the repetitive crafting tasks, which you’ll often have while leveling. (Wish I could tell you where to look for good macros, but as I mentioned, I learned years ago, and I just write my own macros these days!)

However, I think you should spend some time manually crafting as well. It will help you understand when and why you use certain abilities, how not to overcap Durability and CP, why you might or might not take Tricks of the Trade, etc. That skill and knowledge will help you even if you plan to primarily use macros at cap, since it will enable you to tweak those macros to be even better for your stats, teach you when you should cancel a macro and take over, etc. Nevermind that macros are very vulnerable to server congestion and lag...

And once you know how to craft, you will almost always have a higher potential quality manually crafting than using a macro -- your ability to respond to changes in Condition can get you precious more stacks of Inner Quiet or CP for upgrading Touches. I often use macros for putting together components but manually craft the final product to be sure I get the highest possible quality.

Other tips for leveling DoH?

I think you'll find one of the most invaluable resources for leveling baby DoH is access to a house or apartment with a Material Supplier. Your friendly FC (or apartment) Material Supplier will take care of practically all your materials needs through level 20 or more.

There are other useful Materials Suppliers scattered around -- in addition to the those in main cities and each of the guilds, check out the ones in the marketplaces out in residential districts.

I also strongly recommend unlocking every 2.0 A Realm Reborn beast tribe because even at mere Neutral standing the tribe vendors offer materials like Undyed Velveteen and Mythril Ingots that you’ll be using in quantity.

Don’t forget to upgrade your gear as you go, even if you’re just putting on new NQ gear from your class quests. DoL is particularly sensitive to gear -- you can really feel the difference when you upgrade a piece.

And really -- like in all aspects of the game, please be sure to pace yourself and make sure you’re enjoying yourself as you go. We’ve got plenty of time.

If you’ve leveled your DoH and DoL recently, what lessons have you learned you wish you’d had at the beginning? Or if you’re leveling right now, what questions do you have? I’m happy to opine or give basic pointers!

You may find my guide/checklist for DoH and DoL class quest items useful, if you haven’t already seen it. And as I mentioned, I may work on a more detailed, how-to-actually-craft-the-things guide in the future, if there’s interest.

Please, don’t be shy and get in touch! I am so excited to work together to rebuild Ishgard with you!!

[spinneryesteryear]

Spinner plays FFXIV ARR

SPOILERS AHOY (not that anyone cares about ARR in this day and age)

- For my first dungeon, I was a Roegadyn conjurer surrounded by three Lalafell. I’d figured out by that point that players just clip through each other (even if mobs don’t, lol), but I was still kinda worried about stepping on them. They’re like knee-high to me at best.

- - (Conversely, I once ran a guildhest w/3 Roegadames, so there’s that. We commented on how unlikely of an occurrence it was.)

- I admit it, I enjoy walking around as a Roegadame feeling morally superior to all the Miqo’te. And most of the Viera now, tbh.

- one of my favorite things to do quickly became dispensing free heals/raises after a FATE or when running across stray people having difficulty fighting mobs in the wild. People would clap and cheer for me. It’s a great feeling. Made a few friends this way.

-- (I definitely always look to see if that cyclops FATE is up when I pass through the Coerthas Central Highlands so I can go repeatedly raise all the poor noobs dying left and right thanks to that dang 100-Tonze Swing. I usually don’t even bother level-syncing for it. I just stand on the outskirts and raise. And raise. And raise again, haha.)

- I frequently forgot (and still forget) to do the MSQ bc I get sidetracked gathering and crafting. or just doing side quests, no doubt to Fray’s great chagrin

- ground CNJ to 30 to get my unicorn, then figured out I had to unlock actually using mounts via MSQ, so I went off to go fight Ifrit in shame

- I fully admit I picked my GC (Twin Adders) based solely on which company salute I liked best. Also, Gridania was my starter city. Still not sold on the yellow, though

- as a healer, I usually commend my tanks unless they have evinced such stupidity that I do not wish to reward their behavior. If my co-healer has done a fantastic job (not often, sadly), I’ll commend them. If the red mage or summoner raises me or other party members, they get the commend. (This is vanishingly rare, especially for SMN.) If the dragoon outlives the tank by not eating AOE’s, he gets the commend. If the tank is a jerk and the dragoon is perfectly lovely (and probably does a better job tanking the mobs than the blue moron), the latter DEFINITELY gets the commend.

- shout-out to that one red mage on story mode Titan who died almost as much as the rest of us combined (the dragoon defied his stereotype and was just as durable as the tank, ironically enough). It wasn’t even the backflip killing the red mage; it was the avoidable AOE’s. It must be the black mage in them that makes them allergic to dodging.

- the tank for that story mode Titan just said, “LOL,” in chat when we all died, so that has been my inspiration ever since to take wipes with good grace

- Cid was an instant fave from the moment I first met his character. I admit I wanted to kick Alphinaud off the airplane as soon as we recovered it. He was not endearing himself to me, at all.

- didn’t really care for Haurchefant until he came racing into the middle of our fight with that heretical fake inquistitor with the bad facial hair. If a NPC helps me in combat, I automatically like them more.

- the story made me super worried about story mode Garuda, but she went down so fast I almost missed the second phase

- entered Camp Bluefog for the first time into a scene of absolute chaos with like 15 players grinding the lvl-40 FATE’s so I jumped right in alongside them and started throwing stones at ahrimans and coblyns. it was such an exhilarating feeling

- in retrospect, my first Castrum Meridianum run (that left me dead on the floor several times and questioning my skills as a healer) was not really due to me being undergeared but mostly to the tanks not doing THEIR jobs and picking up all the mobs. It was such a chaotic mess that me sitting there and doing nothing, not even healing, so as not to grab aggro was the only way I could survive

- shout-out to that warrior with the plain white shirt and plain white pants glamour on my first Praetorium run who looked like he just woke up, grabbed his axe, and ran off to tank Ultima Weapon in his pajamas. He was also an elezen, I believe, for extra points.

- also shout-out to that guy killing the 2.0 endboss with a magic moogle stick

- look, if you’re not spending your MSQ roulette judging everyone else’s glams and mocking Gaius’s speeches, what are you even doing??? I admit, though, that I mostly grab a book and a cup of coffee for those 5-min cutscenes. I found their story riveting the first time around, but not on the 30th time.

- I actually really liked Urianger even in his ARR outfit? It suited him

---- me playing DFFOO: I don’t care for Thancred

---- me playing FFXIV: *cheers when Thancred comes onscreen*

- Thancred is my son who shall receive less alcohol and more sleep and encouragement and a gunblade and a very nice coat and possibly a pet squirrel. I know he’s my tank now but I feel the urge to take care of him. (And laugh at him when his various angry girlfriends show up again, of course.)

- I would like to thank that tank in my first run of Lost City of Amdapor who gave me a trial by fire in pulling everything wall-to-wall and indirectly teaching me how to manage big pulls (hint: spam Holy)

- not even making, “Pull the lever, Kronk!” jokes in Sastasha Hard can atone for that tank who pulled 12 things w/o warning and kept leaving me to die via aggro’d adds and THEN telling me to bring adds to him. Like, it was advice I needed to hear, but it does no good when zombie fish pirates eat me before I can reach him.

- I might actually rather heal through Aurum Vale again rather than Sastasha Hard

- oddly enough, I’ve had 0% problems tanking Sastasha Hard

- according to the laws of equivalent exchange, however, this means that I have all the problems while tanking in Aurum Vale, between hideously undergeared healers, DPS stealing my morbol fruit on the 2nd boss, lag murdering me via Bad Breath, and general lack of coordination among DPS

- I actually got pretty good at tanking Dzemael Darkhold, though? I finally figured how and where to pull the mobs to get out of the various AOE’s

- I also got pretty good at tanking Cutter’s Cry, between grabbing the adds, avoiding death via cactuar, not stopping on sand traps or geysers, and memorizing the chimera’s attacks. Somehow, I always get morons for DPS and sometimes healer as well in Cutter’s Cry, so it doesn’t count for much. The last time I was there (on WAR), I had to kill the chimera without a healer because they died to the first eyes-glow-purple and I wasn’t about to wipe and start over when they were barely achieving anything anyway. Thank goodness for a rare competent black mage on that run.

- I ran the Odin trial pretty much as soon as it was available (and via DF, too, whoops; I know better now) and we wiped at least 8 times before clearing. 75% of the time I was one of the last 3 or the actual last person standing so clearly I had improved from all the dying left and right I did in my first Castrum Meridianum and Praetorium runs.

---- on that Odin run, my Lalafell co-healer uttered this immortal line in chat: “I am trying my best, though I am but a popoto... now a baked popoto.”

- speaking of which, I trust AST and SCH as my co-healers far more than I do fellow WHM as it seems I’m always raising them. They don’t do party heals when raidwides are going out, waste their mana pre-pulling Medica II, or spam Holy on single-target, unstunnable bosses, smh. As a DPS or tank, though, I trust only AST and WHM. I’m fairly sure 50% of my SCH healers have been asleep at the wheel and Eos was driving.

- shout-out to that one paladin main-tanking Garuda Hard who started emote-slapping Garuda right before she went down. Thanks, man. You gave me a good laugh.

- before seriously settling down to level my crafters and gatherers, I never checked the market board prices before putting stuff up for sale bc I just wanted to clean out my inventory, so there were probably some very disgruntled omnicrafters out there who wanted to lynch me for underselling them

- #1 cause of death: fall damage with mobs aggro’d

--- (special mention to that time I jumped off the higher floating island at Camp Cloudtop, landed below with 1 HP, and was promptly pecked to death by a gastornis. I now kill those stupid birds whenever I see them to avenge my humiliation)

- I feel like there should be job-specific levequests where you go out and do things appropriate to your job, like killing a dragon as a dragoon (before Heavensward, anyway) or cleansing corrupted sprites as WHM or investigating contraband cargo as ACN, etc.

- on that note, I’m probably the only person alive who enjoys the CNJ/WHm quests. I genuinely felt like I was learning magic, and, later on in the 50 - 60 quests, like I was doing what a white mage should.

- players frequently dance while waiting on someone to finish cutscenes, return from AFK, etc. Usually, it’s the Hildibrand or some variant thereof. I... never dance. Except by accident. I just stand there with my arms folded, towering above the rest of the party and looking mildly disapproving.