An Unexpected Visitor To My Island Sanctuary

On Monday I managed to finally complete the main story questline (MSQ) for Endwalker patches 6.5 and 6.55. With the completion of the MSQ I thought all I had to do is some housekeeping tasks and wait for the early release date of 28 June to begin a new adventure. But I had a surprise awaiting me on my island sanctuary the next day.

I had a message waiting for me from Tataru about another group of visitors she was bringing to visit me on my island, so I walked down to the beach to meet them

Having Jullus and his friends show up was a bit of a surprise because I had not checked the Wiki lately. But the visit made sense. The last time I'd seen Jullus was in the Tertium rail station in Garlemald urging  Alphinaud and Alisaie to take a vacation, preferably somewhere warm. So who shows up to take a break someplace warm? Have to love the writers.

Of course, much like the twins, Jullus and friends don't really take a break and wind up helping around the island. Doing all the farm tasks around the island makes the group remember the days before the war when they lived on farms.

Of course, being Final Fantasy XIV, we needed a campfire scene at the end of the day. The writers always manage to pull out the campfire at an opportune time. For me, the timing was especially good as I waited so long to finish the MSQ. A visit from a character who started Endwalker as an enemy but ended the expansion as a friend seems the true fitting end to the expansion.

At the end, Tataru informed me that this was her last visit to the island as she had no more visitors to escort. And in a way that was fitting. Next week begins a new chapter in Final Fantasy XIV's story and I'll put my island into maintenance mode. 

I'll probably only have one or two more posts about my island sanctuary, but I'll really have a problem letting go of the place. I've grown attached to my island over the past year and really don't want to see it fade away. Hopefully I can turn the island into enough passive income to justify the effort in my gamer brain. I don't have to worry about my heart. My island sanctuary had me at hello.

Thoughts On Reaching Level 20 In Island Sanctuary

I checked my workshops this morning and received the final 1125 experience points needed to raise my island sanctuary to rank 20. I'll write a couple of posts about the details, but I wanted to record some thoughts upon completing the achievement.

My island sanctuary at night

The first is level 5 of all the structures turned the architecture from steampunk to Allegan. As such, my built-up areas look pretty good at night. I should also point out that granaries are upgradable at level 18 and workshops at level 19. I checked workshops but forgot to check the level for granaries.  That mistake made leveling to level 19 harder than necessary, but made chewing through the final 100,000 xp to get to level 20 a breeze.

With the upgrades of workshops to level 5, I think gaining the title "The Wolf of Easy Street" will be easier to earn. I already had the title before patch 6.5 dropped. Now I have to choose between that title and "The Countess of Monte Cowrie". the title acquired at level 20.

The Garlond GL-IIT 

Getting to level 20 only made two mounts available for purchase. The Garlond GL-IIT is a two-seat 3-wheeler set up for doing farm work. For now I like the new version better than the Garlond GL-II I purchased during patch 6.1.

The second mount I can't really comment on. Unlike the trike I purchased for 100,000 sea cowries, the Island Adenium Whistle is earned through the new Felicitous Favor system. I'll write a post specifically about the feature later, so I'll just say the soonest I can earn the Island Adenium is 30 April 2024. The mount is sellable on the market board, so I'll try to look to see if anyone loves gil more than a rare mount.

The devs really want to extend player engagement with island sanctuaries. At level 20 I saw furniture that is only available for island cowries. Then again, I had a lot of island cowries and can probably sell a bunch of items for some good gil if I choose. I can pick up so many island cowries if I want.

Looking out toward the pasture and farm land

I mentioned earlier how I like the way my island lights up at night. The island looks pretty nice during the day as well. I really prefer the level 5 red brick to the blue brick that comes with the level 4 cozy cabin. The pictures in this post were taken from the top of my lighthouse and I'm unable to get all of the land in one shot. I'll need to write another post on the layout of a level 20 island.

I still have a lot to do on my island. I haven't even begun decorating yet. I also need to continue a rather passive weekly grind to earn the Island Adenium Whistle. I also need to settle on my plans on how to profit in gil from my island. I have some ideas and may even result in a future post on passive income generation in FFXIV. 

The Sanctuary Sanctuary

But, the end for island sanctuaries is near. Yoshi-P has stated Dawntrail will have a social type gameplay feature like the island sanctuary. Players will flock to the new shiny content, and I will probably join them. I might write another post when that eventually happens because I really do like my little island sanctuary.