Instead of writing about how CCP is bad at the maths surrounding how mining barges align to warp, I will continue writing about my experience in Final Fantasy XIV's newest expansion, Endwalker. Over the course of the last two days, I completed approximately level 83 to the middle of level 85 in the main story questline (MSQ). Now for the mandatory spoiler warning. This post contains spoilers. I want to record my thoughts as I travel through the expansion, and that requires some spoilers. I have divided the post into sections for those who only want to read about certain topics. The story section, which definitely contains major spoilers, is at the end. I do use the names of regions, cities, dungeons and trials also.
Login Savage: I think the login experience is much better. The queues are still long during peak periods, but getting kicked from the login queue is much less common. Last night, I entered the queue with 3400 people ahead of me. While I had to wait 80 minutes, I never was removed from the queue.
Square Enix performed another emergency maintenance on the login servers last night to address 3001 errors. The communication to the player base has been pretty good about the issues. Players, including myself, still get irritated though. I don't mind the long queues. What I don't like is babysitting my login attempts.
Level pacing: I am still okay with the level pacing. When I unlocked the aetheryte in Radz-at-Han, a level 85 quest, I was level 87. I figure I am about half-way through the expansion.
Gear: Closely associated with the level pacing is gear progression. The developers have thoughtfully made gear obtained from quests relevant to the level of the zone one is questing through. To get all the gear, make sure to complete all the blue icon quests that unlock flying. Most importantly, at least one of those quests will have follow-on quests. Complete those also.
For those who want better gear, rerun the dungeons and trial. Or do what I am on the verge of doing and over level the zones and craft/buy higher level gear. Yesterday I replaced the last of my Shadowbringers gear. The level 530 gear went a long way.
Flying: As far as I can tell, the final quests required to unlock flying in a zone pop up when the last MSQ quest in the zone is accepted. I don't mind. Let me run around on my favorite mount my first time through a zone and then allow me to fly around when levelling up additional jobs. I unlocked flying in Garlemald on Wednesday and Thavnair last night.
Group content: I ran into the first trial, The Dark Inside, on the moon. Since no comprehensive guides exist, I just queued up. I had no wait. I guess that's one of the benefits of doing content during the initial launch rush.
The trial had a unique mechanic. When the arrows around the edge of the platform appear, move into the ground circles. The boss will then pick up the raid and move them around the platform. Damage is only applied if a player winds up in one of the damage dealing areas.
I personally had a lot of difficulty learning the mechanics of the trial. In my first attempt, I disconnected 45 minutes into the 60 minute period. When I got back into the game, I entered the trial again and we succeeded after only a few wipes.
The next dungeon I came across, Vanaspati, is found in Thavnair after returning from the moon. I ran the dungeon using the Trust system. For those wondering, I used Thancred as the tank and Alisaie and Y'shtola as the DPS. I played as a white mage. I find following Y'shtola makes learning the dance steps in dungeon fights easier.
I had no problems with the first two bosses. The final boss had a mechanic I didn't realize for quite a few runs. When the meteors are raining down, don't enter the orange circles at all. Once I realized I couldn't cut across them, I completed the dungeon fairly easily.
The story: Okay, here be spoilers!
At the end of the second dungeon, the Scions return to Garlemald while the Warrior of Light proceeds up to the moon in hot pursuit of Fandaniel and Zenos. Players interested in the story should go with the flow and not return to Garlemald until unlocking an aetheryte on the moon. Trust me, life is easier that way.
I have to make a mea culpa where Fandaniel is concerned. After all is said and done, he reminds me of Ilberd, the fanatical villian from both A Realm Reborn and Heavensward. Complete with the dramatic backwards fall. Just as Ilberd's actions set the course for Stormblood, Fandaniel's promises to direct the plot for the rest of Endwalker.
Fandaniel is brilliant, but has a major character flaw. As great as his plans are, he can't help but do subtle things to make them not fully succeed. That occurs with Zodiark.
Fandaniel's original plan was to lure the Warrior of Light to the moon, free Zodiark, have Zenos take control of Zodiark, then watch as the Warrior of Light kill Zodiark. Oh, did I forget to mention that killing Zodiark would trigger the Final Days?
But at the end, Fandaniel couldn't help himself. Instead of getting rid of Zodiark and being around to thwart any plans that might stop the end of not only the Source, but all the reflected worlds as well, he gets over-confident and takes Zenos' place instead. With Fandaniel now gone, I think the Warrior of Light and the gang has a chance to save all the worlds.
I consider the death of Zodiark the end of act one of the expansion. The second act will cover the conflict between those who want to save the inhabitants of the Source vs those who want to save all the worlds. The two groups in conflict are the Sharlayan Forum vs the Scions of the Seventh Dawn, thus pitting the twins against their father once more.
The return from the moon introduces the player to the beginning of the Final Days. The third dungeon, Vanaspati, shows just how bad things can, and probably will, get before the end. But finishing the rest of the MSQ in Thavnair also showed that the current version of the Final Days is different than the original one in Amaurot is subtle but important ways.
Oh, and one bit of conjecture. With Zenos no longer with someone to give him guidance, I would not be surprised to find Fourchenault Leveilleur teaming up with the deranged Garlean. I expect the Fourchenault to clash with the Scions and what better way to deal with the Warrior of Light than to unleash Zenos?
Conclusion after 7 days: I think I am halfway through the expansion's MSQ. So far, I have had a great time playing through the content. The writing is very good. The music is fantastic. The zone design, especially Garlemald, is great. The developers have introduced new mechanics and quest types. Maybe more importantly, I found some of the new content challenging and I feel good after overcoming the obstacles.
The only real downside have been the login queue issues. Not that queues exist, but that the queue system had a lot of problems. Hopefully those are fixed, or at least reduced significantly.
At this point, I have to say Endwalker is worth the purchase price. Is the expansion better than Shadowbringers? If the quality of Endwalker going forward equals what I have played so far, I can see that debate raging into the future.
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