1880: Better

Well, today was a somewhat more positive day. I took a trip for the interview I mentioned yesterday, and it was a very positive meeting. Remains to be seen whether anything will come of that, but in the meantime I also have some other business I can pursue. So we’ll have to wait and see on that for now.

Happy to reach another weekend, even though the concept is relatively meaningless for me at present. I’m still on something of a PAX comedown, I think; I had such a great time over in Boston that coming back to the stark realities of my current situation was somewhat… jarring, hence yesterday’s frustration. Onwards and upwards, though, I guess. Hopefully.

On an unrelated note, our Final Fantasy XIV Free Company is being fun at the moment. It seems that everyone has had the same idea as me — that they want to level all of the classes to 50 before the release of the expansion Heavensward in June of this year — and thus there are lots of people playing jobs they don’t normally play in lower-level dungeons. It’s fun to see people play stuff they’re less familiar with, and it’s also fun to get to know some of the other classes that I haven’t tried out quite so much.

Today I’ve been playing a bit of Warrior, which is a tank class, and Bard, which is a DPS class with some support elements. I’d held off on levelling Warrior in particular because I couldn’t think how it would feel that different from Paladin, which is my “main” class at present. It does have a distinctly different feel, though; just the animations and sound effects make this axe-wielding job feel a lot more cumbersome and hard-hitting than the relatively nimble, graceful-feeling swordplay of Paladins. The cooldown between skills is still the same, but it’s surprising quite what a difference just those elements make. It’s a more complex job overall, too, with a lot more possible actions to take at any given moment. Paladin is mostly about trying to mitigate damage as much as you can; as Warrior, you have a bit more flexibility and can put out some eminently respectable damage just by yourself. That flexibility means that there are a lot more abilities you use a lot more often, however; I’m not sure I love it, yet, but it’s interesting to see the contrast, and it gives me hope that Dark Knight will provide a unique experience again despite being another tank class.

Bard, meanwhile, is a joy to play, and a big contrast from Black Mage, my main DPS class to date. Bard’s ability to move while attacking is a complete change from the fixed-in-place heavy artillery nature of Black Mage, and it’s a lot of fun. Playing Bard feels very “technical”, for want of a better word; there’s lots of keeping an eye on your abilities and triggering the appropriate ones at the right time. There’s also a lot more “weaving” than other classes — i.e. slipping in extra skills that don’t use the “global cooldown” timer between your regular attacks — which makes for some satisfying improvised combos rather than the more fixed sequences that many other classes use.

There’s still plenty more to do to get to 50 — Warrior and Bard are both in the mid-30s so far, Pugilist (which later becomes Monk) is just level 15, as is Arcanist (which becomes Scholar and Summoner, arguably two of the most complex classes thanks to their use of pets) and I’m yet to try Lancer (later Dragoon) at all. Then there’s all the crafting and gathering stuff to do, as well… I’m going to be busy for a while, but I have confidence I’ll be well-placed by the time Heavensward comes out. And then it will be time for all-new adventures!

And what adventures they’ll be, if this preview video is anything to go by. Can’t wait.