Disco Disco - Follow Up

Oh those shiny lights,

Following up from MelodyKitn article about different lights, sparks and strange sounds when crafting, I have come to the following conclusion from my personal crafting experiences.


Firstly, sparks are a bad sign; especially when you get them just after starting your synthesis. I have found that using the "Rapid Synthesis" option often makes things a lot worse, and proceed to use the "Standard Synthesis" option in the hope to complete the synthesis.


More often than not, when using a "Rapid Synthesis" when the gem is glowing a solid red it has met with bad results, and even more so with sparks. So "Red is Bad" in my book.


Should you be very unlucky, or badly under leveled (in crafting terms) you may lose control of your synthesis. This is show as a bubble around your glowing gem, and resembles the colour of the element that is failing. Sometimes one or two "Wait" options will gain control again, but using a rapid or bold will normally result in losing between 30-80 durability.

Crafting Guild Leve's (Local Leve's)

Repeating the daily guild leve's are a great way to get experience and boost you crafting or farming skills. When attempting a crafting guild leve at your local camp, hunt down the NPC that will offer you the camps crafting facilities. For the cost of 200 gil or there abouts, you will find your crafting results improve dramatically; and we all know that more successful synthesis produce more skill points and lots of experience.

On another point, each city has there own guilds, no one city (that I have explored) has all the guilds in one place. So heading down to your closest camp can prove very beneficial, if you need that little extra boost when making that awesome new piece of armour or cooking up some tasty treats.

On another note, you can also get synthesis support from any NPC that offer repairs. You will find them in the market areas, and most likely surrounded by lots of other players.

Player Attributes

If you fancy a change from your Melee class and would like to switch to a Magic, or a Crafter. Here is a tip, equip and mining pick or wood cutters axe, then select Point Allotment from the menu. Select Reassign, then click exit making sure that you do not set any new attributes. Start farming with whatever class you choose and check your Point Allotment from time to time; after a few minutes the "Reassign" option will be available again. Repeat this process until your starting attributes are visible. If you are unsure farm a little longer until the reassign option pops up again, note that this time your attributes in the left column will be the same as the right (see picture).

This means you have reached your base attributes, from here you can reset for your new class; and hopefully farmed some nice items in the downtime.

Arg! there be treasure!

While scouting around and completing a few Guild Leve's you may come across a chest or coffer. Simply stand next to them and select "Examine"; the rewards can be very nice sometimes.

Behold, some treasure.

Final Fantasy XIV: Lodestone

If you have not already seen it check out Square Enix mini site called Final Fantasy: Lodestone. If you have logged in to SE account area with to able to view your characters details out of game. Not only that you can access the Synthesis recipe library there too.

How I Fish! Part II (Updated)

Once you have cast your line, a depth meter will pop up. Select the desired depth and wait. From my experience you catch different fish in each position. You will also catch "Junk Fish" as I call them, which are catch at any depth.

After a brief moment you will receive one of three messages. A bite, a nibble or nothing bites alert. If you receive a nibble message I recommend that you select the wait option.

When you have selected the "Jig" option, you will be shown a swing gauge. This gauge will have a dot that moves left and right across the arch. If you stop the dot on the left side, you will pull the rod left, and vice versa. However if you stop the marker in the middle area you will pull the rod up or in a backwards motion.

Each "Jig" motion will drain stamina bar to zero, much like crafting if it hits zero you lose. In this case the fish gets away.

Here are some responses you will get when fishing:

You've hooked something but cannot reel it in.
In my experience you are very close to something but the fish to too strong for you or has not been worn down enough.

The fish is taking line.
You are most likely pulling in the wrong direction, try the exact opposite if possible.

You take in some line.
This is a mixed blessing, you are pulling in the right direction or the fish is swimming in that direction. Try pulling up, you might get lucky.

You take in a great deal of line.
Your very close to catching the fish, try repeating this position or stopping on the middle to pull back.

The fish is tired, but you cannot yet reel it in.
Very similar to above, repeat the position and you will most likely land the fish.

Stocking Up on Bait

Stack of Bloodworms, these appear to work both in the ocean and in freshwater.
99 x 3 gil = 297 gil

Stack of Lugworm, these only appear to work in the ocean.
99 x 3 gil = 297 gil

Stack of Moth Pupa, these are great for freshwater fishing.
99 x 3 gil = 297 gil

Spearfishing

After completing a few leve quests or selling some fish you will have enough gil to purchase a "Bronze Gig". With this item equipped you can use the Spearfish option when a suitable location has been found. Locations are normal glowing parts in rivers, streams and undergrowth. Simply select the Spearfish option when close to a location and stab away. You will most likely receive bugs or worms which you can use as bait. You will also get a few points in your Fishing Skill.

Swing Gauge Marker

Using the swing gauge with markers highlighted in white, you will see five possible options. Making notes of each "Jig" and depth I have caught these fish.

Legend:-
Depth Bars (from top):
Position Combo (1-5):

Fresh Water Area(s):
Depth 2, Position 4: x2 Tree Frog+2 (Caught)
Depth 2, Position 1: Brass Loach (Lost)
Depth 2, Position 2: 1x Tree Frog (Caught)
Depth 2, Position 2 > Position 4: x2 Pipira (Caught)
Depth 2, Position 2: x2 Tree Frog (Caught)
Depth 2, Position 4 > Position 2: x2 Crayfish (Caught)

Collectors Edition of Final Fantasy XIV - Arrived

Now that is a big box...

So whats in the big box. You get one of those security key fobs to make your account a bit more secure; A nice dust cloth with a map printed on one side, just encase you get a little lost in Eorzea; The game on a DVD naturally, with what appears to be a DVD documentary; A small book (A5) with some fantastic art; and a cup (aka tumbler) for coffee/red bull I guess, to keep you up at night.

Choosing a home!

We have decided to make Mysidia our server of choice!

/dance

Disco Disco

Yep.. still not sure what those lights mean.

Crafting + 1 Too!

I did my first +1 craft

....Unfortunately, I forgot to screenshot the magnanimous event. Ah well, I have a nice, shiny hard-boiled egg +1 in my inventory as we speak.

It had about 189 quality to it, whereas the previous egg I had crafted was at 133-ish and wasn't a +1.

I saw my miqo'te raise her frying pan in the air, triumphant on the finish, a super shine appear, and I was left with this edible non-delicacy. Hmm.. wonder how hard +2s will be...

Crafting +1

We've all seen the +1 / +2 / +3 items floating around our inventories and loot list.  Crafting with them though seems to be a whole different story.

I've been levelling goldsmithing on a simple recipe of 1x Bone Chip and 2 Wind Shards, and am now at a point where its about 95% success.  If I throw a Bone Chip +1 in to the mix, it's completely different, from starting on a recipe I would seem to be a few levels under, I am not a few levels below.

We have also seen an increase in starter quality and durability when using the + items.  In fact I crafted with some Sea Sand +1/2/3 which needed 6 items, and used 3 normal with 3 + items.  I started off with a quality of over 200.

I can see how using +1/2/3 item could create some really nice +1/2 items.  I for one will be on the looked out for +2 or even 3 items come release!

Abilities and Macros

As I've been trying to keep the YK Macro Maker up to date and also play the game.  I had a little trouble applying abilities via a macro, when it dawned on me.... they get set in exactly the same way as a skill!


For example, I want to switch to mining my macro would look like so:

/equip main "Weathered Pickaxe"
/equip sub "Bronze Sledgehammer"
/eaction 2 "Lay of the Land II"
/eaction 3 "Prospect II"
/eaction 1 "Sharp Vision"


Notice how the last entry of the macro is setting to slot 1? normally reserved but the default attack.  This is because it automatically knows that it should be going in to the ability slot, not the skill slot.


I'm going out on a limb and going to say I'm 99% sure that is how traits will be set via macros also (99% as I don't have any traits to test this theory with).


Happy macroing!

Final Fantasy Crafting: Shim Brings Balance to the Force

So, i have finally got my clothcraft high enough to make me a Hempen Cowl, oh the Jedi Clothcraft Masters will be proud.

The Force is Strong with this one...

Final Fantasy Crafting: Bloopers

Making two +1 in a row, amazing

Not realizing you have no inventory space left, priceless.

Macro Commands For FFXIV

Macro commands from FFXI that are working in FFXIV:

<hp>             Current HP/Max HP
<hpp>           HP Percentage
<me>            Yourself
<mp>            Current MP/Max MP
<mpp>           MP Percentage
<p0> - <p15> Your Group Members (you are p0, then count down the list from there)
<t>                Target
<tp>              Technique Points

Sadly there is no <bt> yet so it is down to manual targeting while in a group.

Macro Maker

Having had enough of typing out macros we have made a Macro Maker (the link you can find on the links menu to the right).

Hopefully it will help in creating macros or even just changing up your skills bar.

While chatting over on the FFXIV Core forums about it, one fella or gal did mention about editing the actual file which contains the macros.  I will do some investigation and see if I can find where they are and if it is a simple thing to do.

Anyhoo enjoy the Macro Maker

Final Fantasy XIV Performance Update [D2010.09.07.2001]

So after 15 patches into the open beta there appears to be an increase in performance. Yes, that right from the same (tarutaru) that found that game almost unplayable comes a patch that has dramatically increased the game speed (somehow).

I am referring to patch [D2010.09.07.2001] as it was know to the auto-updater. Lets hope this continues so that more and more performance can be had from slower computers.

Repairing Items: What You Need

Goldsmithing (Weather Chaser Hammer)

1. Weather Hora (Bone Chip x1) [Success @ Level 1]

Weaver (Rusty Needle)

1. Straw Hat (Straw x1) [Success @ Level 1]
   

Adventuring into the Unknown

A prepared my trusty backpack and slung my fishing rod over my shoulder and headed south, through the desert avoiding some nasty look creatures. The dust started to settle, and I slowly began my descent to what looked like a small town on an ocean cliff.

But low and behold, I had stumbled on the Ferry terminal at Camp Horizon. After finding the ticket office I proceed down the cliff path to the dock where a large ship was docking.

Ferry terminal at Camp Horizon

Down at the docks

Leaving Harbor

We are all ship-shape captain!

Weeeee! All I can say is "I'm on a Boat!" (soundtrack ft. T. Pain)

Time to break out my fishing rod. Using the Bloodworm bait I was getting lots of bites.

Lots of Goby+1 here :) I think I might ride the the boat for a few more runs.

The Colours May Lie

Referring to my previous post on monster colours and how hard the may be to fight, do watch out for monkeys!

At present the Opo-opo may say blue, then once you engage them they turn in to godzilla and proceed to royally whoop your butt.

That being said this may only be for the beta or they may have been designed to be a wild card.

It also raises another issue... can we trust the colour coding of mobs? for the time being I would suggest leaving Opo-opo's alone and of course avoid trying red and yellow mobs.

Added: Eorzeapedia Resource

I have added Eorzeapedia to the "Link Resources" (sidebar), thanks to MelodyKitn for finding this one. Lots of information plus, crafting tips/recipes that are actually valid.

Final Fantasy Benchmark

Ok, I have persuaded the team to post their Final Fantasy benchmark scores, and computer details so you can all get a better picture of what the game requires, or should I say wants you to have. So here goes; I consider myself a casual gamer, but also have been know to play into the wee hours of the morning (Red Bull on stand-by) on occasions. I rarely upgrade, as I feel I have more important things to spend money on; mortgages and my photography hobbies.

My Score: 1897[low] (shimada)

My Score: 1149[HIGH!!] (shimada)

Computer Spec:-
Processor: Intel(r) Core 2 DUO [6400] @ 2.13GHz
Installed Memory (RAM): 8.00GB
Operating System: Windows 7 Ultimate 64Bit
Disk Drive: 1TB Raid 1 (Mirror)
Graphics: Nvidia GeForce 8800 GTS (3870MB)
Monitor(1): Dell 27" (2707WFP)
Monitor(2): Dell 20" (2007WFP)

Game Performance (Open Beta): Sadly the game runs very slow, close to unbearable. On average my in game FPS is about 15; maxing out at 25-30FPS when facing a wall with no other players around. Running through towns and leveling zones with more than 10 players I can see my FPS drop to as low as 3. General UI delay is close to shocking at present, especially when compared to similar games. When scrolling through my inventory, equipping new items, setting up a bazaar, crafting and even type messages via chat or my linkshell I can expect a 1 to 10 second delay per action. Yes, and before you ask all my settings have been set to low/lowest/no-buffer etc. Maybe I am missing something, maybe the beta version requires a few more tweaks; anyhow that's my experience of the game so far. With the official game release approaching the question should I upgrade is ringing in my ears.

Update:

For shear kicks I ran the "High" spec version of the benchmark, apart from opening a huge window the benchmark ran ok-ish, I did notice some lag and frame dropping (if that is the right term) but was shocked at the score I got, 1149? on high. Yes, its not quite 4000-5000 but I was expecting something like 500 at best.

After spending what seemed like 2 hour tweaking my game configuration and graphics setup I manage to get another 5-10FPS... However the game now resembles a very low res version of Final Fantasy XI, but with UI lag. As you will see from my latest screen shots they appear pixelated.

Final Fantasy Game Config

Note: Changing the buffer size to anything less than "Resolution" will result in playing the game as if it were a N64 game, Zelda comes to mind.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

My Score: 3165[low] (Yeti)

Computer Spec:-
Processor: Intel(r) Core 2 DUO [E8500] @ 3.2GHz
Installed Memory (RAM): 8.00GB (800Mhz)
Operating System: Windows 7 Pro 64Bit
Disk Drive: 80GB Intel SSD (OS & Game)
Graphics: Nvidia GeForce 260 GTX (896MB)
Monitor(1): Asus 21"

Being a little more than the casual gamer which Shim claims to be :P my spec doesn't really reflect my gaming style. However I seem to be able to run the game fairly well with an in-game average of around 30fps. This does depend on whats going on mind you, sometimes it can hike up to 45-50 or drop down to 10 (usually in a city with lots of people around).

MelodyKitn's score is just below mine at around 3010 with the same spec PC apart from not having a SSD with the OS and Game/Benchmark

I Made That!

So, I finally managed to make something wearable with clothcrafting. I would've tried for more, but lightning shards aren't easy to come by for me.

Hmm... the about-to-rob-a-bank just isn't me...

The recipe calls for: 1x - Hempen Yarn + 1x - Undyed Hempen Cloth

This is a rank 3 recipe that's possible from out of four other choices using the same materials, but I was able to make it at weaving rank 2.

Happy sewing!

Crafting 101 + 1

All right, so I've been dabbling in the ole crafteroo game, and I've sorta kinda made sense of it, though there's still a lot of guesswork I've had to do.

I've been cooking and weaving on and off here and there, so here's a few tips on how to figure it out.

When you see white, it can go either way no matter what choice you pick. You might succeed, you might fail, it's a toss up (the harder the recipe from your rank, the more likely you'll fail regardless).

But... if you start seeing yellow, you've got a pretty good chance of succeeding. I usually head towards the rapid stuff to quickly finish up what I'm making if it's not a wearable or edible piece.


Red means you're bound to fail, however, so try to wait and see if it changes color.

I still haven't figured out the deal with the orb pulsating and the sparks, but when I get those, it usually means my crafting is going downhill fast.

So...

• white = 50/50
• yellow = you've a good chance at succeeding no matter what you pick
  
• red = wait

Repairing Items 101

Repairing items requires materials, cloth armour naturally requires threads or strips of cloth to patch up your item. Weapons also can be repaired, but this normally requires wood or metal.

Harvesting: Straw / Cotton / Hemp

Select the item you wish to repair by browsing your Inventory. Selecting the item will show you a brief summary of the stats and durability left.

Hempen Tights: 0/12510 Durability (Not Good!)

The summary shows you that this particular item requires one piece of Hempen Fent to repair it. If you have that item within your invertory you can select the "Repair". Note: You must switch to your Disciple of the Hand class before attempting a repair. For this example I choose Clothcraft as my craft.

Repairing Gloves with a piece of Hempen Fent

Item successful repaired, plus crafting points :)

Clothcraft 101

Update:You can also repair certain items with your Clothcraft skills. For example I have tested this on a nice Straw Hat that I started with. I failed my first attempt by you do not loss the item you are repairing just the materials. The second attempt worked, to repair a straw hat it costs one piece of straw.

For some reason I have amounted lots of Moko Grass and a few crystals; so on with the testing. After purchasing a "Rusty Needle" a began to craft.

I selected the synthesis from the menu (when you have your crafting item equipped), after a brief pause I knelt down; selecting two clumps of grass and clicked main hand. If you combination is correct you will be shown one or more recipes.

2x Moko Grass = Hempen Yarn x ?

x3 Hempen Yarn = Undyed Hempen Cloth x ?

Depending on your overall synthesis quality at the end you will get one or more items. I remember getting x12 Yarns and x1 Cloth (from 3 yarns).

Update On Macros

Just a small update on the macro situation.

It seems that macros that switch gear and action bar items require you to be in passive stance and out of combat. At present it even counts if ANY of your party members are in combat and it doesn't matter where they are!

If your macro is failing you might want to check with your group, although it does say in the chat log about being in combat which is easily missed.

Monster Colours

We have been playing for a few days now and we thought we had down what the colours mean in terms of difficulty and it would seem we had 2 mixed up.

What we thought was easy (green) turns out to be on par with your current level and what we thought was on par (blue) is actually easy. So as it stands here is the low down on the colours:

• RED (You will die and it will hurt)
• ORANGE (same as Very Tough? still gonna whoop your butt)
• YELLOW (Tough? not seen many of these and not attempted a solo kill, could go either way)
• GREEN (Even Match. You should be able to solo this mob and chances are you will take a fair bit of damage)
• BLUE (Easy Prey. Solo you should have no problem killing this mob with minimal damage taken)

That's all for now. Just checking in with some info :)

Gathering: Mining 101

For some reason mining seems a lot easier than the other gathering classes. Prospect your depth, then hit it (Narrow, Medium or Hard). I normally start off with a very narrow hit. The go from there (depending on message tips). If you are spot on at the start you get your reward or are very close to it.

Narrow Mining Hit

Choosing the prospecting level

Exploring: Thanalan (Drybone)

Tahrongi Canyon ?

Our friend Mr Cactuar!

Trying to concentrate on fishing,
whilst a dragon wonders by...

I found a castle... Ul'dah

Now that a "Shopping Mall!"

Fishing: Its all about the location Part I

So I have found that you can pretty much fish anywhere where there is water, and with the correct bite also. Bloodworms for freshwater fish (not the ocean), and Lugworms for the open sea. I do find however fishing in after you have used your Gulleye ability and search that location out, you do get alot better results from your fishing.

Exploring: Clearwater

Heading into a zone that I probably should not be in at my level, but hey no risk no gain. This zone is full of Doe's, Wolf's and Boar's.

The Locals

A nice sea view

Macros & You

Ok so the UI is okay at best and nearly everything you do or want to do is buried in menu after menu.

Macros on the other hand can make switch weapons/classes much easier.

You can find the macros from the Main menu > Configuration > Macros.

Lots of space for making plenty of them and you have the choice of making one for either access from CTRL or ALT.

What can you do with a macro?

• Change Equipment
• Change Skills on the action bar
• /Dance your heart out

How do they work?

There is a short hand way of writing macros of the full/longer way. For example, you can equip your main hand weapon in one of the following ways:

/equip main "Weathered War Axe"

or

/equip "Main Hand" "Weathered War Axe"

Here are some examples that you can work from:

/equip main "Weapon Name"

/equip sub "Off Hand Weapon Name"

Action Bar (Syntax: /eaction [button number] [skill name])

/eaction 2 "Skill Name"

/eaction 3 "Trunksplitter"

Important Note

When making a macro make sure you spell Items and Skills as they are displayed including capitalisation.

Adventuring Footnote

Watch out for big meanie crabs...

Gathering / Fishing, and these linked to Server Latency

For some reason today my connection (and maybe others) has been a little slow, starting at 300~ and sometimes hitting 2000~. I put this down the weekend.

Anyhow, when trying to fish, the time between casting, jig'ng, jig'ng etc. Got more and more lengthy to the point that it took about 10 minutes to catch or fail. I came to the following conclusion that each stage of the gather the client (your game) must communicate with the server. I can only presume that this is due to possible hacking and using bots.

So to recap:-

1. Player: Casts Line
2. (Pause) Tell Server I am fishing (Server Communication)
3. Player: Chooses Depth
4. (Pause) Tell Server "My Depth" (Server Communication)
5. Server Returns: Nibble / Bite / Lost
6. If you get a Nibble / Bite (you can continue)
7. Player: Choose, "Wait / Jig / Cancel"
8. (repeat until caught / lost)

In summary, if you are just farming / leveling DO NOT fishing / gather in an area where you are experiencing server lag.

Activate "Battle Regimen Mode" GOOO!

More info coming as we are testing the Battle Regimens.

How I Fish!

This quite well maybe very very wrong, but hey I am beta testing. As with any class in Final Fantasy 14 you get EXP for both your class (job) and physical level (+skill points fishing / hand to hand etc). With every level you may gain a new ability and some points to spend on your stats.

At present I decided to place pretty much most of the stats points in DEX, this allows me to play some melee classes too, or so it would appear. I am not sure if the DEX stat helps with fishing as I have not yet tried others. But so far I am getting very nice results from it, alot better than I have previously read and watched from close beta testers.

Life in open beta is somewhat manic, after all its a free game I guess. So trying to level a melee can be hard, generally because you and another 200-300 people in that zone are trying to do the same thing. That aside as a fisherman (yes I am a male Lalafell) you can normally find a good river or lake to fish in with the familiar sound of running feet as people attempt to level around you.

I am not sure if there is a strong market for my fish via Bazaars or Retainers (not tried), but you get a reasonable amount of gil from NPC them. Some people may gasp at this and I am sure I will find that out, but it helps pay the bills (repairs / upgrades / crafting).

Anyhow off to test other stats (yes you can re-assign your stats from time to time) to see if there is anymore difference.

Fishing Continued...

Here is a little early money maker, but hard to catch :(

That's x2 Bass Loach

In the search for better fishing spot's I find an island full of
raptors. Yes raptor's with absolutely no tic-tacs.
(EPIC PWN by Foul Breath)

Finally... Its Fishing Time

OK so getting updates and beta keys and activating takes longer than you think, 3 days long. Anyhow after a few cut scenes I grabbed my pole to start some fishing.

Little Old Me!

Some nice skill ups!

It seems you only get EXP from a successful catch, but weather you catch or lose your fish you normally get about 30-50 skill points.

First steps in to beta land

Gotta learn to walk before you run? nu-uh! as you can see from the picture below I managed to kill myself! at least that is what the log says. In fact it was poison that got me :P

Must say for a pre release beta it does have its bugs but also seems to be pretty well put together (lets ignore those random crashes >_<)

First thing I noticed about my travels is that your health will regen passively when not in combat stance thingy.

Also there is a death penalty (didn't notice if there was XP loss) of being in a weakened state for a few minutes which had my health at half and also made mention of casting time increased.