Beginning 2026 In EVE Online With Metrics And A Winter Nexus Patch

In an effort to organize my posts on the blog I want to try something new for me. I want to write something about EVE Online every Tuesday. I want to keep track of two statistics I think players will find interesting: weekly average concurrent users and activity on the PLEX market. I then want to write about at least one additional subject depending on how much free time I have. For this post I'll add a section about the Winter Nexus patch CCP launched yesterday.

From EVE-Offline.net

First off I made a bold prediction. I predicted that, based on a chart Jester runs every month, that Tranquility will average over 24,000 logged in accounts over the course of 2026. So then I thought to myself, "Can I keep track using the numbers on Chribba's Eve-Offline.net?" Having used the site for years looking at the one month chart for average concurrent users is pushing the site to its limit. Just looking at the one week chart is much better.

Now for another tip for reading the graph. The number over the dotted line is accurate to withing +/- 500 users. So for the first week of the year the 28,000 users really represents a weekly ACU of between 27,500 and 28,500 accounts. Good enough for a weekly view until Jester runs the numbers at the end of every month.

I also predicted a PCU for the year over 42,000. For the week ending on 4 January the peak concurrent user mark was 38,168.

Average price and volume sold

The next metric involves the PLEX market. At the end of the year the price of PLEX was declining after the big New Eden Store sale reducing the amount of PLEX needed to subscribe for 12 months from 3600 down to 2700 and for 24 months from 6600 down to 5280. The price of PLEX dropped 3.6% when the sale ended on 2 January.

I haven't decided how to look at the numbers yet. Just listing the value of the PLEX sold last week is hard to comprehend. A total of 9.2 million PLEX exchanged hands on the PLEX market for 43.9 trillion ISK. I'm not sure how to visualize the ISK amount but I'm really tempted to report the amount of PLEX in terms of game time. Using a price of 500 PLEX, players purchased 18,408 months of game time last week. I haven't tried to change the price to account for the sale.

The Winter Nexus track was extended by 300 points

On Monday CCP not only added content to keep interest in the Winter Nexus until the final day but did a balance pass on the Succubus.

Features & Changes:

Miscellaneous:

Extension of the GalNet StreamCast Unit SKIN line, adding SKINs for the Gila, Malediction, Pioneer, Praxis and Vexor.

Balancing:

• Succubus
• New role bonus, 50% reduction in Small Energy Turret activation cost.
• Powergrid increased from 44 MW to 50 MW.
• Capacitor Capacity increased from 450 GJ to 525 GJ.
• Max Targeting Range increased from 32 km to 40 km.

Events:

• Winter Nexus:
• New rewards have been added to the Seasonal Reward Track.
• Yoiul LADs have a significantly higher chance of dropping Cryotech when destroyed.

The extension of the track is as follows:

• 1,090 points - Perseverance Expert System
• 1,150 points - 100,000 Skill Points
• 1,200 points - Perseverance Aurora Universalis SKIN
• 1,250 points - Frozen Obelisk - Unlimited
• 1,300 points - 75 PLEX

When combined with the 25 PLEX awarded for reaching 420 point, getting to the end of the track can bring in over 400 million ISK by selling the PLEX. I personally am trying to train and equip an alt to do more than service planetary interaction colonies. If I split the proceeds between the alt and my personal corporation not only will I have a well-equipped alt but I'll probably have enough money to pay the office fees for my corp for a year.

The three hundred points was rather daunting as I wasn't sure when I could find the time to play that much EVE. But today is the day patch 7.4 launches in Final Fantasy XIV, making last night the perfect time to do some Winter Nexus grinding. I ground out 135 of the 300 points needed to get the 75 PLEX prize. Something just wouldn't let me quit until I received the 100,000 skill point award.  So even if I just settle for ice mining the remaining 165 points I should only have to grind about 3 more hours.

Total stats for 2026 so far

Finally a table with the stats I'm interested in. I'm sure I'll find a use for the statistics somewhere down the line.

Last Grinding Sessions On Phaenna And DDoS Attacks

Over the weekend I had two main goals in Final Fantasy XIV. The first was grinding my class points in Cosmic Exploration to reach 20% of the way to obtaining the High Mobility Vacuum Suit. I need 500,000 points in each of the 11 crafting and gathering classes. The other was to try to avoid getting kicked off the servers while I did so.

What 20% looks like

I had to work on my weakest class, Fisher. I think the amount of RNG involved in Cosmic Exploration fishing missions really slows me down. But over the last week I started getting a lot better and found a handful of missions where the RNG didn't really affect me. The good news was that a couple of those missions have big payoffs. The bad news was that those missions relied on weather conditions. I never enjoyed rain so much, though cloudy skies were even better.

But one of the most frustrating things I encountered was getting knocked out of the game while reeling in a 3 exclamation point fish to complete a mission that would have given me 1100 class points. At that point I broke down and tried out ExitLag. I learned that routing through ExitLag's New York servers to go to servers located in California was up to 50ms faster than connecting through the company's Sacramento location? Did I mention the FFXIV North American data center is located in Sacramento?

I actually had a way to check if lag improved in the game. I was using a fishing macro that counted from 10 to 20 seconds I used to help determine which fish were biting. Before I could see the lag when the numbers didn't appear smoothly in my chat window. With the software turned on the macro functioned much better.

I know DDoS attacks occurred over the weekend because the Square Enix posted a status update on the Lodestone stating an attack took place lasting from Friday at 10:25am PST to Saturday at 10:10pm PST. I didn't get kicked out of the game on Saturday, The only time I was kicked occurred on Friday because I forgot to turn ExitLag on.

I have to admit I'm not entirely convinced ExitLag is causing that much of an improvement. I need to run a couple of dungeons and see if the lag is gone. I really hate when lag makes me appear worse than I am. If I feel comfortable I might even try to run through Hell on Rails next weekend.

Chris Roberts' Continuity Error In His Letter From The Chairman 2025

Chris Roberts, the co-founder and CEO of Cloud Imperium Games, really liked making movies. Before starting work on the Star Citizen project, Roberts produced movies such as The Lord of War, Lucky Number Slevin, and The Punisher. Since he's familiar with the concept, I think he should appoint a continuity supervisor for his Letters from the Chairman, because I think I found an error in this year's entry in the series.

Roberts really talked up some statistics from 2025.

We had record-setting engagement this year, with more than 64 million hours played in Star Citizen (up from 48 million in 2024). You set new records in peak concurrency and unique daily users, and we saw huge increases in every metric, including 40-60% increases in average daily users and average peak concurrency. We also saw huge improvements in server stability with 57% fewer player disconnections per 1 million player hours compared to 2024.

Impressive numbers unless one is suspicious. Or nosy. Seeing the statistics I wondered if Roberts always included statistics like these, I started reading some of the older letters. Needless to say, I found a continuity error in the 2024 Letter from the Chairman.

Over one million of you have played 32 million hours in the game this year, and our ranks have swelled by almost half a million Citizens. 

Now I was totally distracted from the narrative Roberts was trying to sell; that of a rapidly growing game. But if the number of hours played actually doubled, no wonder so many content creators were proclaiming that so many new players had taken up Star Citizen. 

I found I had accidently stepped into a rabbit hole and started trying to track down the way out. The 2023 letter didn't have hours played but did state the year had the highest ever. The 2022 letter, however, had a solid number, 46 million hours played.

The above is why I say Roberts needs a continuity supervisor. A drop from 46 million hours in 2022 down to 32 million hours makes sense since the number of new accounts created per year dropped by 44.3% from 2022 to 2024. Then the huge increase from 2024 to 2025 also makes sense considering the rapid rise in new accounts created (46.2%). In fact, using 32 million hours fits perfectly with the message of lots of renewed interest plus better server performance leading to a doubling of hours played.

So where did the 48 million hours played come from in the 2025 letter? Did Roberts just make a number out of thin air? In my eyes that seems the case. A careless and sloppy mistake. Another reason why those who support the development of Star Citizen tend to want Roberts to be heard rarely, if at all.

Cloud Imperium Games Records $155.1 Million In Cash Shop Sales For 2025

According to the player-run CCU Game funding dashboard, Cloud Imperium Games has earned $929.1 million in sales through its cash shop at Roberts Space Industries from October 2012 through the end of last year. For 2025, the company recorded $155.1 million, a 33% increase from 2024's total of $116.7 million.

The $929.1 million displayed on the Roberts Space Industries funding page at the end of December was not a comprehensive accounting for all of CIG's revenue since the project's Kickstarter in October 2012. Overall, the company has recorded $1.053 billion in confirmed revenue (the funding page & the 2023 financial report).

• Sales/Pledges: $929.1 million (through 31 December 2025)
• Other cash shop revenue: $2.3 million (through 31 December 2023)
• Subscriptions: $39.5 million (through 31 December 2023)
• All other sources: $82.6 million (through 31 December 2023)

In addition, the company has received a total of $68.25 million in outside investment. According to the 2023 financial report, $4.8 million of the amount was returned to investors in 2020 and another $1.9 million in 2023. Including the outside investment money, the total amount raised by CIG to create Squadron 42 and Star Citizen is $1.122 billion, or $1.115 billion when excluding the returned funds. An additional $12.6 million in loans issued in March 2025 and due for repayment on 31 December 2027 are not included in the total.

The streak is over - December marked the first time in 12 months cash shop sales did not experience increased year-over year (YoY) sales. CIG "only" brought in $14.7 million in sales in December, the second-highest total in the company's history. The highest was the $18.7 million in sales in December 2024, resulting in a YoY decline of 21.2%. The longest streak of YoY sales increases occurred for 13 months, from September 2021 through September 2022.

A major reason for the decrease was the calendar shifting one day of the Intergalactic Aerospace Expo (IAE), Star Citizen's biggest cash shop event, from December to November. The other reason is that a ship sale that occurred in the middle of December 2024 was not repeated in 2025. Instead, less popular (and less expensive) items were sold instead.

Record 4th quarter sales - Despite the lower YoY December sales, the 4th quarter of 2025 set a record with the largest turnover in the company's history. The $58.6 million in cash shop sales was $7.1 million greater than the previous record of $51.5 million set in Q4 2023.

Record sales events - A major driver of revenue in the fourth quarter was the IAE. In 2025 the event brought in $34.8 million over 14 days, an increase of $10.6 million over sales in 2024 and $10.3 million over 2023. May's Invictus event, traditionally CIG's second largest sales event, brought in $24.2 million in 2025, a $4.9 million increase over 2024. The year-over-year increase in sales during those two events accounted for slightly over 40% of the increased cash shop sales in 2025.

New account creation bounces back - After two years of declines, new user account creation increased by 46.6% in 2025, up to almost 710,000. 

December was typical of new user creation since the institution of a new recruitment program 6 months ago. The 84,288 new accounts created in December represented a 83.5% increase over the number created in December 2024.

A lot of players (and content creators) are looking at the increase in new account creation as a major surge in interest in Star Citizen. The total number in the fourth quarter fuels the argument. The 265,264

accounts created in the last three months of 2025 was a 91.9% increase over the same period in 2024.

What to watch for - CIG's 2025 growth in cash shop sales promises to put the company back into profitability after 2023's loss of $20 million and assumed losses in 2024. Hopefully the 2024 financial report appears on the Cloud Imperium website in the next week or two so we can see other important information such as subscription revenue, other types of revenue as well as overall spending. Cloud Imperium has a history of spending more that the company brings. We won't know all the information about 2025 until CIG releases its annual financial report in December 2026 or January 2027. The 2024 report is the first bit of information the public will receive on how the company truly performed financially in 2025.

Games I Plan To Play In 2026

Every year I try to line up which games I want to play for the upcoming year. I figure for 2026 I'll post ahead of time in order to attempt to stick to a schedule and play them all. I don't think anything will come as a surprise.

Final Fantasy XIV - My main game for the last few years, this one is easy to keep. In addition to keeping up with the MSQ I want to finish up Cosmic Exploration, get a couple of crafting & gathering specific mounts, and perhaps redo my cottage once the housing changes finally hit the servers. Oh, and take advantage of the new glamour rules, both in making glams and selling glamour-related items. In other words, standard stuff in FFXIV.

EVE Online - I originally thought I'd wind down playing EVE this year. But the new Odysseus battlecruiser brought back some interest in the game. I built a Nestor a few years back and making the Odysseus would once again make my Sisters of EVE ship collection complete. I should also build two CONCORD ships, the Enforcer and Pacifier. I've already built a Marshal but I'd probably actually fly the smaller CONCORD ships around. At the very least I need to finish out the Winter Nexus event. I reached the end of the track and have the Persistence blueprint. I want to see what else opens up in the final week.

Final Fantasy X/X-2. I am guessing that the next FFXIV expansion will contain references to these two games so why not? In 2025 the single player game I finished was Ball x Pit. Time to find out what Spira is all about. Plus, what is blitzball?

EVE Frontier - EVE Frontier is a game under development and I highly doubt will release this year. Despised by many due to the presence of a blockchain, I get a kick out of the game's development away from EVE Online. At the very least I need to play the beginning of each cycle to run through the tutorial and a few hours more to experience changes in industry. I also might write up a post or three on the differences between Online and its younger cousin. To paraphrase an old movie, "Toto, we're not in New Eden anymore."

Star's Reach - A Raph Koster designed game, I really want to play his new sci-fi game. Of course, I thought that months ago when I picked up a game package but never downloaded the software. Now that the testing schedule is running more than half the week I might step into the pre-alpha. Or perhaps I'll wait until the alpha. Either way, Star's Reach is a game I really need to play in 2026.

In total a bit of a spread. Two very different MMOPRGs, two single-player JRPGs from the mainline Final Fantasy series, and two sci-fi games under development. Hopefully I'm not trying to bite off more than I can chew.

My Predictions For 2026

Another year, another time to make a fool of myself by making predictions for the upcoming year. Personally I had a fairly good year but I don't place a lot of value on my fortune-telling skill. But I really do need to go back and review the predictions I made for 2025 and try to do a better job foretelling 2026.

Crowd Control Productions - Last year I predicted two things. First, that the company would meet Pearl Abyss' expectations of having at least ₩20 billion in revenue for each quarter of 2025. CCP has achieved that level of revenue for the last six quarters and with the launch of the Revenant expansion I don't see that changing.

The second prediction is more problematic. I predicted CCP would see a 10% growth in revenue, meaning either ₩90 billion or $64 million for the year. Through the first three quarters the totals were ₩65.5 billion/$46.4 million. Given the strength of the Catalyst expansion I still have an outside shot of getting this prediction correct but won't know until the next investors' call in February.

For 2026 I may go full fanboi on my predictions. CCP will continue to meet the ₩20 billion per quarter revenue guidance given to investors. I am also going to place a lot of faith in Vanguard and set my revenue prediction for the year at ₩99.0 billion/$70.0 million.

EVE Online - Don't worry, some of my predictions that involve both EVE and a sequel game in the IP will be listed with the other game. I'm going to give myself a half-a-point for calling the summer expansions a hodge-podge of ideas although I think Legion was heavily aimed at null sec. I was dead wrong about the winter expansion concentrating on The Deathless Circle. Instead players got a mining/industrial themed expansion. Players got armed industrial ships, not tech 2 Deathless Circle pirate ships.

In 2026 I am expecting the summer expansion to consist of a hodge-podge of ideas that won't fit nicely into the theme of the winter expansion. The summer expansion will launch in June with the introduction of a new pirate epic arc coming in July. I'm guessing something involving The Deathless Circle but Upwell counts as a pirate faction, right?

For the winter expansion, I think wormholers will receive a major update. CCP hasn't expanded the lore of the Sleepers in a long time. Considering the Drifters killed Empress Jamyl I back in 2015, wormholes and the lore is probably overdue for an update.

Now for a couple of predictions based on Jester's charts. First, the ending average concurrent users in 2026. Jester's graph is showing a 7-day moving average at the beginning of December of over 28,000 accounts logged in at one time. The 30-day moving average is moving upward and almost at 26,000 accounts. I am going to predict that at some point in 2026 the 7-day moving average of concurrent users will exceed 30,000 accounts and the 30-day moving average will end the year over 28,000 concurrent users.

Jester also has another chart displaying the average number of concurrent users logged in per year. Through November the number for 2025 was 22,635, or about 100 accounts less than 2024's average. I'm going to make the wild prediction that Jester's chart shows over 24,000 in 2026. I call the prediction wild as the amount would be the highest average amount of accounts logged in during a year since 2014's 27,490.

One last prediction. In 2025 the peak concurrent user mark for the year reached 41,322. In 2026 I predict the number will reach 42,500. I know, not much of an increase. But the increase would give 2026 the highest yearly PCU since the move to Alpha clones in January 2017.

EVE Vanguard - CCP Games does not have the greatest record with first person shooters. Last year I predicted a successful test of Vanguard in November or December. I'll take the cross-over Operation Nemesis event in September and October as being close enough to count. But I'll also take my prediction of the developers as shying away from null sec as a miss.

I am going to go out on a limb and say that Vanguard will indeed launch on Steam sometime in the third quarter of 2026. The delays for CCP's FPS games dating back to EVE Vegas 2018 are over.

EVE Frontier - I didn't really make a lot of predictions for Frontier in 2025. I did predict another round of venture capital funding but as far as I know that didn't happen. I'll have to count the next prediction as partially correct. CCP did announce how the developers have upgraded the Carbon engine to use Python 3.12 but EVE Online has not switched to the new version of the engine yet.

I will predict for Fanfest 2026 that CCP will present a video showing all the client differences between Online and Frontier. However, the video may not make it to the main stage of Harpa. I will also predict the crypto currency for Frontier will not appear for sale in 2026. If I'm wrong that means Pearl Abyss is in financial trouble and Crimson Desert flopped.

The mobile games - I am going to predict neither EVE Echoes or EVE Galaxy Conquest will shut down in 2026. That's about as far as I feel comfortable predicting.

Pearl Abyss - I managed to only make a prediction about the company returning to profitability in 2025. Once again, we'll need to wait until the February investors' call as the company only had made a net profit of ₩6.8 billion through the first 9 months of 2025. Given recent history the numbers could dip back into the red.

I will make one additional prediction about the South Korean game maker. Expect total revenue in 2026 to fall between ₩550 billion and ₩600 billion.

Black Desert Online - Looks like I was wrong about the revenue Black Desert would bring into Pearl Abyss' coffers in 2025. I predicted a 10% decline down to ₩215.0 billion. The IP, however, bounced back with ₩197.4 billion in revenue through the first three quarters of the year. The Black Desert IP may even see an increase in revenue if Pearl Abyss announces Q4 revenue exceeding ₩52.4 billion. Once again, we'll need to wait on the investors' call in February.

Crimson Desert - I finally got a prediction involving Pearl Abyss' upcoming single-player RPG mostly correct. I posted that I expected Pearl Abyss to announce in November the game would release in the first half of 2026. Pearl Abyss made the announcement in September.

My only prediction for the game is that between 2.5 million and 3 million copies of the game will sell in 2026.

Cloud Imperium Games - What a difference the leadership shakeup at Cloud Imperium had in 2025. Last year I made 4 predictions about CIG and got two totally wrong. First, I predicted a slight decline in year-over-year cash shop revenue down to $113 million. CIG is on pace for $155 million in revenue, an increase of over 30%. I was also wrong about sales during Invictus and IAE only totalling $46.8 million, with actual sales for the two biggest events on the calendar bringing in $59 million. The 15% reduction in new account creation I predicted for 2025 turned into a 45% increase instead. 

One I got partially correct was the prediction involving additional outside funding. I predicted Tencent would receive a 5-10% share of CIG in exchange for becoming the company's publisher in China. Instead, Keith Calder paid $5 million to increase his holding in CIG up to 22.4%.

Finally, I did get the closing of the Los Angeles area studio correct. Not much of a prediction, honestly, but CIG did try to hide the complete shutdown of the office so it counts.

Looking into the future I will make a prediction that will affect the rest of my predictions about CIG: Squadron 42 will launch in the fourth quarter of 2026. Given that, cash shop sales will increase 10% in 2026 up to $170 million. The figure will reach much higher if Squadron 42 sales are included in the cash shop counter.

As for new account creation, I am going to fudge the prediction and just say CIG will set a new company record, exceeding 2022's amount of over 871,000 accounts. One million new accounts would not surprise me.

I am going to predict a minor story will emerge in 2026: publication costs. Between the new server meshing technology introduced in 2025 and a surge in interest in Star Citizen, I think the publication line item will hit $90-$100 million in 2026. I also think we will see the number fall within $50-$60 million in the 2024 financial report which CIG has not published as I compose this post.

Star Citizen - I only made one correct prediction for 2025 out of three attempts. I was correct when stating dynamic server meshing would not appear last year. But I was incorrect in my prediction that the alpha 3.24 branch of the game would stay on the production servers until Q2. Also, my prediction that Nyx would not appear in the game in 2025 was incorrect. Admittedly CIG rushed the system into the game without all its planets, but officially the system was launched in 2025.

For 2026 I predict more of the same. Dynamic server meshing will not appear. Nyx, the system I thought CIG would introduce in 2026, will cause some consternation among players. The system will not be considered finished by the end of the year. Perhaps most importantly the capacity of single shards will not exceed 1000 players. That prediction is not necessarily a negative prediction as currently shards are set to handle up to 600 players.

Squadron 42 - I only made one prediction about SQ42 for 2025: Chris Roberts would announce Tencent as the publisher for the game at CitizenCon. Of course I was wrong. For 2026 I will make two predictions. First, the game will launch globally in Q4 2026. Secondly, globally does not mean in the Peoples Republic of China. SQ42 will not launch on the mainland in 2026. Look for Tencent to act as the publisher sometime in 2027.

I should predict the number of units sold in 2026. I believe CIG will announce between 2.5 and 3 million units sold. An impressive figure until one realized that half the figure will have been presales from before 2023 when Squadron 42 sales were disabled on the RSI website.

And finally, Final Fantasy XIV.

As much as I play Final Fantasy XIV I don't really dig into the game as much as I ever did EVE Online. Last year I predicted we would find out at Fanfest in November that Yoshi-P would announce players would return to the Eastern lands to visit the frigid waters of The Blindfrost. Well, none of that happened, with the next Fanfest set for Anaheim in April.

Now for my predictions. The next expansion will take place in the South Sea islands, the original home of the Lalafell. Which means Krile will either serve as the expansion's star or be the ongoing thread holding the multi-expansion story arc together, much as Alphinaud did in the Hydaelyn–Zodiark Saga.

I asked last week which mainline Final Fantasy game I should play. If my prediction is correct, the 8.0 expansion will heavily reference Final Fantasy X, specifically Spira. I guess I know which Final Fantasy game I'm playing next.

I am also going to go out on a limb and say Final Fantasy XIV will not launch its next expansion in 2026. Looking at the historical timings I just can't see a launch happening in December. Expansion launches have always occurred at least 3 months after the Japanese Fanfest, and the next one is on Halloween and All Saints Day. That would lead to a launch of the next expansion no sooner than January or February 2027.

And so concludes another round of predictions. One of these days I'll get more than half the predictions right.

Final Fantasy XIV DDoS Problem And Not Playing Christmas Eve

The DDoS problem in Final Fantasy XIV continues, though slightly differently. The reports are now that the North American data center is the sole one affected. Players trying to do important stuff like craft items with high value materials should use one of the Oceanic servers. Having lost materials due to a DDoS incident makes me wish I'd heard the advice before.

The word that players could do something on their own to mitigate the DDoS attacks is fairly new. I first heard of the advice on Christmas Eve. I had a little time because Square Enix performed an emergency maintenance Wednesday night. The maintenance finished an hour early but that just meant I could log in at 3am instead of 4am. I didn't wake up that early on Christmas Day.

Following the information from a Mr Happy video I wound up on X following an account.

Another update. ExitLag Los Angeles still going strong. Cloudflare WARP also doing well. I culled any nodes with less than 2 reports because thats essentially no data. Keep reporting after each DDoS please! https://t.co/OieTLSo9Lr pic.twitter.com/wwlSn4e0QQ

— iTrolledU (@RSiTrolledU) December 23, 2025

Square Enix did post on the Lodestone the attacks ended Christmas afternoon. But if I do experience a server-wide event kicking me out of the game again I may try logging in again via a VPN. Los Angeles seems like a workaround although I might try an option out of New Mexico. At least I might have an option now going into the future.

Which Mainline Final Fantasy Game Should I Play Next?

The Steam Winter Sale is here. I've resisted sales for the last few years, but I have to admit the writing in the last few patches of Dawntrail (patches 7.2, 7.3, 7.4) have peaked my desire to play one of the single player Final Fantasy games. I've only completed the first game in the series, although I tried playing FF2 last year. I think I want to finish another game in the series in 2026 but I'm not sure which one to play.

Do I play Final Fantasy IX, now on sale for only $8.39, and get some background on one of my favorite characters of Dawntrail? My understanding is that Sphene is based on Princess Garnet. And for those thinking or hoping Dawntrail is the downfall of FFXIV and Yoshi-P, Otis apparently is a reference to FFIX's Steiner. I wouldn't gain any insight into Wut Lamak, though. A little research told me the expansion's most hated character (at least according to social media) was influenced by the anime series One Piece.

Or do I look forward? I turned to Copilot for some help choosing. The first recommendation was Final Fantasy VIII, on sale for $4.79. I watched the trailer on Steam and thought, "Yeah, I could see this winding up in the next expansion."

The AI gave me reasons to play FF8 next.

• Yoshida (Yoshi-P) has previously expressed admiration for FFVIII’s themes of identity, fate, and its unique junction system.
• Fans speculate that FFVIII’s focus on mercenary groups (SeeD) and time-compression narrative could inspire new job systems or story arcs in FFXIV.
• The game’s mix of grounded military academy life with cosmic-scale conflict fits well with FFXIV’s pattern of blending personal and epic storytelling.

Now, I'm not sure that the first point isn't an AI hallucination. But the last two points sound interesting. But I also received these other games as suggestions:

• Final Fantasy IV: Its themes of duality (light vs. dark, Cecil’s transformation) have already influenced Shadowbringers, but could resurface in new forms.
  
  
• Final Fantasy XII: Political intrigue and sprawling world-building in Ivalice remain fertile ground, especially since FFXIV has already borrowed Ivalice elements for raids.
  
  
• Final Fantasy Tactics: Given its strong ties to Ivalice, tactical warfare and moral ambiguity could inspire future narrative beats.

I already own FF4, but maybe I should pick up Final Fantasy XII. It's only $19.99 during the Steam sale.

Or maybe I should do a little more research before picking out a game. After all, the sale runs through January 5th, so I have time.

Gaining The Will To Live (And Run Solo Dungeons) In FFXIV Dawntrail's Patch 7.4

Over the weekend I marched on playing the new content in Final Fantasy XIV's patch 7.4. After crafting the Courtly Lover's healing set and cooking some food I was ready to enjoy the new MSQ that will introduce the story for the next expansion. I stopped Saturday night at the new trial, Hell on Rails. But not for the usual reason. I spent some time on Sunday exploring the new mechanics introduced in the patch for those running through dungeons using the Duty Support and Trust systems.

I usually run the 4-character dungeons solo because I'm so bad. Usually I take an hour or so to complete a dungeon my first time through because I die so much and have to start boss fights over. Apparently I'm not a small minority because the developers added in a feature called "Will to Live".  The patch notes described the feature this way...

When undertaking duties via Duty Support or the Trust system, players will now receive the Willful status effect after being incapacitated by a boss and rechallenging the encounter. The Willful status effect is expended when a player would take lethal damage, allowing them to survive with 1 HP.

When the effect is triggered, the player will be temporarily immobilized and the Will to Live status effect will be granted, restoring HP to full.

Stacks of Willful are granted in accordance with the number of times a player is KO'd, up to a maximum of five. Each stack allows the player to survive lethal damage once. The Willful status effect and any remaining stacks are removed upon defeating the boss.

I surprised myself and did not trigger the Will to Live in my initial run-through the MSQ. I only died once to the second boss and the only new thing I noticed is that upon returning to the boss area I received all three lillies and a Blood Lily on my healing gauge. A nice benefit since I no longer needed to build up resources every time I died to a boss.

Sunday night I returned to run Mistwalker in order to farm gear and Allagan Tomestone of Mnemonics and Mathematics. While my Courtly Lover's gear gave me item level 770 gear, if I want to run any other job through the patch 7.5 content I'll need to upgrade their gear. The requirement to run Hell on Rails is item level 745 gear, which means my previously crafted gear no longer suffices. And honestly, I do like running around as a warrior.

On Sunday I reverted to form and died on the final boss. Then I triggered the Will to Live mechanic. Instead of dying on the spot, I was immobilized for a couple of seconds, then was able to continue fighting the boss. While not having control of my character was annoying, I felt a lot better than having to start the fight from the beginning. Turns out, I didn't die anymore.

I should also mention the Will to Live also works on the raids players can do solo as well.

When using Duty Support, the Will to Live status effect granted in the following duties will now also grant healing over time:

• The Mothercrystal
• Worqor Lar Dor
• Everkeep
• The Ageless Necropolis

Instead of spending an hour trying to complete the dungeon, I took less than 40 minutes. A big time savings, and food savings as well. I'm sure some will complain about making the game too easy. Others will complain about turning the game into a single player RPG. But I'm all for making combat content required to craft a bit less painful and, more important, less time consuming.

Choosing White Mage Food In FFXIV Patch 7.4

Final Fantasy XIV's Patch 7.4 was only released three days ago, but already I've crafted the Courtly Lover's healing set and melded all the open slots except those on the weapon. Next up is how to use the over 10,000 orange crafting scrips I collected before the latest patch dropped. Yes, I'm including the 45 collectable tacos I can't turn in yet to that title. As much as I would like to turn the tacos into Nachos, I need to make a food I find useful for a white mage. I think the developers tried to give me a clue based on which food would taste best in real life.

The first two foods are Prune Ponzecake and Prune-packed Fruitcake. Besides being high in fiber, prunes apparently are high in piety. Piety increases a healer’s magic point regeneration while in combat, so for white mages the stat reduces the chance of running out of MP but provides no direct healing or damage power. Beyond the amount needed for comfortable MP sustain, extra Piety is effectively wasted and is usually traded away for damage stats. Which means if someone needs more MP regeneration, a player is likely to look at food for the stat.

All high quality food introduced in patch 7.4 provided up to 297 Vitality, so when choosing a food the other two stats offered are really evaluated. Prune Ponzecake provides up to 151 Piety and 91 Determination while Prune-packed Fruitcake provides 151 Spell Speed and 91 Piety. So the choice is based on playstyle. 

Spell Speed shortens cast times and the global cool down (GCD) and raises HoT/DoT tick potency (so you cast more heals per minute but burn more MP), while Determination raises the baseline potency of every heal and damage instance (a steady, multiplicative increase). The Fruitcake is designed pretty well, with the increase in MP usage from the increased spell speed offset by the increased MP regeneration. But with the food made up of prunes, I get the feeling the developers aren't really sold on needing Piety.

Next up on the taste scale is Popoto Potage. A thick, creamy soup made with fresh rroneek milk and plenty of potatoes, I get the feeling I'd like the potato soup more than prunes. Because instead of piety, Popoto Potage contains a healthy amount of Critical Hit (up to 151 points).

Critical Hit makes White Mages heals hit harder and more often in big bursts, increasing average healing output and clutch save potential; it’s the go‑to stat for min‑maxing White Mage, balanced against MP needs and personal comfort. And the increased spell speed helps hit a little harder as well.

But the food I think most people will want is Caramel Popcorn and not just because most people have a sweet tooth and like to munch on popcorn when drama pops up.  In addition to adding up to 91 points to Critical Hit, the popcorn adds up to 151 points to Determination. 

Determinaton raises a White Mage’s healing potency and damage consistently, increases the amount healed by spells and the damage of attacks. But unlike Critical Hit that provides big spikes in healing and damage, Determination is a steady, multiplicative stat that is generally less impactful than Crit for peak throughput. But when the two are combined, the floor is raised so the spikes get spikier.

I think by now, the reader has guessed I've started making the Caramel Popcorn. I didn't get to make much last night but I should only have to make two or three more in order to have enough to go straight through the patch 7.4 MSQ. Armed with bowls of popcorn I'm ready to face the start of the next expansion's story.