FFXIV's Cosmic Exploration: First Three Days On Oizys

Three days ago Square Enix released patch 7.41 for Final Fantasy XIV. I finally got the chance to play on the new planet in cosmic exploration, Oizys. In addition to new levels for our cosmic tools a new system using drones to find artifacts on the planet was introduced. And of course a bunch of new mounts and minions was added to the zone.

After leveling one tool

For this patch the tools can only be increased three times, from iLevel 750 to iLevel 765. Because I spent time collecting class points I already had enough research to get the first level of tool. I spent a few minutes upgrading the 11 crafting and gathering tools. I then started leveling the botanist tool. An added bonus is that I already had enough Cosmic Botanist V points for the second tool, making the upgrade go that much faster. To my surprise I had the Hyperhatchet in my hands when I logged off on Wednesday night.

My first hyper tool

I like the looks of the tool with the decoration resembling the floating rocks located on Oizys. The purple color on the head of the tool I think is a nice touch.

The drone found an artifact

The new system involves buying drone modules. Crafters and gatherers now gain drone bits by successfully completing Type A and higher cosmic missions at gold level. Once a player has a drone module, the drone is used to find one of three grades of artifacts: gold, silver, and bronze. I've used 14 drones so far. Below is what I've received after turning in the artifacts.

Gold ancient records

Ufiti Horn - 2

Silver ancient records

Private Moai

Wind up Dullahan

Bronze ancient records

Adventure Basket

Coblyn Larva

Gigantpole

Wind-up Aldgoat

Wind-up Qiqirn

Pastoral Dot Parasol

Craftsman's Cunning XI

Gatherer's Guile XII - 2

I have a limited sample size but I think gold artifacts provide mounts, silver artifacts provide the higher level minions, and bronze artifacts provide lower value minions and other items.

The Volatile Gravity Vacuum Suit

While I already had a Ufiti, I have acquired two new mounts so far. The first, Rapid-fab Vacuum Suit, cost 20,000 cosmocredits. The other, Volatile Gravity Vacuum Suit, I managed to win playing Cosmic Fortune. Patch 7.41 introduced three other new mounts:

Alert Red Warp Loader - a red version of the yellow mount acquired on Phaenna, the mount costs 20,000 cosmocredits.

Cosmic Armored Weapon - a mechanical spider mount used in mech ops missions. Acquired by turning in 60 Oizys Token Booklets.

Cosmic Countenance - A larger version of the Private Moai, the mount is acquired by turning in a Gold ancient records. Assuming the RNG gods cooperate.

So far I've managed to upgrade a tool once per night. Hopefully once I get my pickaxe upgraded the bonuses will help the grinding portion go faster as the research bonus increases from 50% to 100% with 2 tools upgraded to iLevel 765. But I still need to do all the little mini-games until I can buy or win all the items I want. I'll probably type a few more posts as I progress through the content.