In the first Final Fantasy XIV MMO Log, I wondered what my motivation for playing the game was. This week I decided to make my own quest.
https://lastchance.cc/final-fantasy-xiv-mmo-log-one-whats-my-motivation-5648807%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
Without further ado, hereās part two.
Monday, September 27, 10:00PM Eastern ā Worst Shopping Mall Ever
The night after I posted the first Final Fantasy XIV MMO Log I was still lost. I logged in to do some Levequests. Goblins, bugs, marmots, and moles died, and experience was received, but I still didnāt feel fulfilled.
I thought to myself, āWhat do I do when feeling unfulfilled in real life?ā The first answer, baking cookies, really didnāt apply here. I mean, I could bake in the game, but the payoff is lacking. I decided to go with answer two: Shopping.
Final Fantasy does not want you shopping from non-player character vendors. Picking up your initial crafting equipment is inexpensive enough, but anything beyond those simple supplies is priced to make the player-made alternatives much more attractive. Even if I did have the money the NPC vendors were asking, finding one in the sprawling city of Ulādah is a real pain in the ass.
Not that shopping from players is much easier.
Itās not that there arenāt plenty of players selling their wares. Youāll see them bunched together in front of the adventurerās guild, little bag icons over their heads to indicate that theyāve got something to sell. Thereās just no telling what they are selling without clicking on them to browse.
Final Fantasy XIV is a game in desperate need of an auction system. As it stands, I could find no way to search for items being sold. I had to click on a character, click browse, wait until their list populated, see if there was anything worth buying, and then move on to the next.
After about an hour of shopping for a new weapon and finding nothing but crafting components, I decided to give up. Surely there was a better way than this!
Of course there was! I might be an axe-wielding Marauder in battle, but I was also a crafter. I was already a level six blacksmith. How long could it possibly take to make my own axe?
It was already one in the morning. Iād check into that first thing tomorrow.
Tuesday, September 28, 9:00PM ā This Is Going To Take A Long Time
First thing first, I needed a recipe for a bronze war axe, the next level up from my crappy starter axe. After a bit of internet searching, I found one over at Zamā Final Fantasy XIV site, which is an extremely useful place.
Bam! There was the axe I wanted to make. All I needed to do was find the materials and put it together, right?
Not quite.
The crafting system in Final Fantasy XIV is an intricate beast. In order to make the axe I wanted, I required materials produced by several different professions. With my blacksmithing skill I where it was I could easily convert the copper and tin I mined into bronze nuggets, and then bronze ingots, but I lacked the skills necessary to turn the ingots into the axe head.
I would also need a buffalo leather strap, the product of a leatherworker; an elm axe haft from a carpenter; and a bronze axe butt, which can be crafted by a blacksmith but requires metal sheets produced by an armorer.
If I was going to do this myself, it would take ages.
Oh screw it, itās not like I had anything better to do.
I decided to focus on getting my blacksmithing level up to at least be able to make the axe head. I grabbed some blacksmithing Levequests and began leveling up.
I spent several hours running around to different camps, grabbing the materials I needed, and attempting to fill the orders I was given. Luckily for me crafting is very exciting.
Exciting, isnāt it?
After several hours of running around hammering things I got my blacksmithing level up to eight. I would need at least a 10 to create the axe head, and even then the chances were slim I wouldnāt botch it. Still, I had motivation and drive. I had a quest, and I wouldnāt sleep until I completed it!
Filled with a tremendous sense of purpose, I turned off the game and went to sleep.
Wednesday, September 29, 7:00PM ā Definitely Not Hammer Time
I logged in Wednesday night, hammered away at a few blacksmithing Levequests, and felt the desperate urge to kill something.
Equipping my axe immediately shifts me into level eight Marauder mode, ready to kill anything at a momentās notice. Well, anything that didnāt kill me first.
Until now Iād been sticking around the first of many camps you visit when starting off in Ulādah, Camp Black Brush. Itās more or less a starter area, and by now the monsters were falling far too fast for my liking. I was only a level eight Marauder, but it was time to move on to Camp Dryboneās level 10 battlecraft Levequests.
Moving around in Final Fantasy XIV is pretty easy, as long as you have the Anima points to teleport. Once you visit a location, you can teleport there instantly, a fact I didnāt realize until I was a week into playing.
Having stumbled upon Drybone earlier in my wanderings, I already had the location, so I just popped right in.
Then my PC crashed, and I took it as a sign. Bedtime.
Thursday, September 30, 8:00PM ā Welcome to Final Fantasy XIV
Welcome to launch day! The early start for Collectorās Edition purchasers ended today, and the game was flooded with players who opted to wait for the normal release. Apparently a lot of CE customers were taking refuge at Camp Drybone, which was extremely crowded when I logged in.
Not so crowded that I couldnāt get my kill on, of course.
After spending far too long fighting at Camp Black Bush, the more difficult monsters of the Drybone area are a welcome change. They donāt go down quite as fast. During certain quests theyāll run away, leading you to the area where the next group of creatures you need to kill will spawn. After getting used to picking and choosing my targets, not having the downtime between fights Iād normally have to heal up gets me killed several times.
Still, the rewards matched the challenge, and soon Iād amassed enough money to start picking up the odd piece of armor to help toughen me up while I worked on my axe. I picked up some bronze gloves, a bronze helm with cute little ear pieces, and a rather fetching harness. All I needed were pants and boots to complete the look.
But clothing could wait.
After reaching Marauder level nine (yes, I know they are called ranks, but old habits die hard) I head back to town to level up my blacksmithing a bit more. Ulādah is pretty crowded, but thanks to the gameās habit of fading out people who arenāt in your immediate vicinity, I barely notice.
Before the night ends I reach blacksmithing rank (happy?) 10. I try crafting my axe head. It explodes. Rechecking the recipe I see that it suggests rank 11. Almost there.
Friday, October 1, 6:00PM ā Just Another Crafting Call
I spend an hour hammering things before I needed to run out to the store. Tomorrow is my fiancĆ©eās birthday, so Iāll be spending the morning making cake and the evening celebrating. Be back on Sunday!
Sunday, October 3, 8:00PM ā A Wardrobe Malfunction
Iām staying over my parentsā house this week to watch their animals, so I spend several hours upgrading my laptop to Windows Vista service pack 2 and installing the game. I was a little worried that the laptop wouldnāt run it, but it gets the job done with just a little bit of slowdown.
Iām falling into a rut. I log in, I kill some monsters, I craft, and I go to bed. Itās shopping time.
Iād already purchased replacement gloves, a replacement hat, and chest piece. All I needed now was pants. After wandering around randomly checking playersā vendor inventory for an hour, I came across a little sheepskin number that provided much more protection than what I had been wearing.
With a level of excitement completely out of proportion with what I was doing, I tried them on.
Oh. Well now.
This is what I looked like before buying the new pants:
And this is me wearing the new, more defensive garment:
I couldnāt stop laughing. Instead, I went to bed.
The Story So Far
Iām still not playing Final Fantasy XIV to its fullest.
Last week I told myself I was going to be trying to explore the more social aspects of the game. This week Iāve spent my time doing things alone again. Iām having a lot more fun than I did before, and my newfound purpose drives me forward, but Iām half-afraid Iām going to stumble upon my axe in some vendorās inventory, buy it, and then lose all sense of purpose again.
What I need to do is get social. To do that, I might need some of our readersā help.
If you happen to know someone with a linkshell on the Rabanastre server, tell them to give Fritti Tailchaser a poke. I could use the company.
Itās either that, or I while away the final two weeks hammering away like an olā hammer dog.
See you next week for part three!
