Alright, this has to be a quick one tonight. I have an expansion to finish. I am all but two quests away from completion of the Heavensward -> Stormblood patch content. I’m in 3.56, or ‘The Far Edge of Fate – Part 2’.
From what I understand, this patch came out mere months before Stormblood itself, and the transition is no longer subtle with a giant katana-wielding fellow joining in on our shenanigans.
When last I posted on my FFXIV progress, I was blocked by a trial — but you see, I found a solution.
Party Finder.
Many games have tools like it. It’s essentially a mechanism for detailing what it is you want to do, and then it publishes those details for all to see, and depending on your group settings, join.
You can put the Trial you want (or in this case, need) to do, flag it as being Unsynced (so people don’t get level and power scaled down to something resembling appropriate), and then have a level 100 join you for an easy breezy completion.
Now- I won’t lie. Being carried through the trials is not my preferred way to go about things. But given the alternative options consist of:
- Sitting in the standard duty finder, specifically queued for the trial you want, until you die of old age.
- Running the trial daily roulette until you get the one you want, or, die of old age.
It seemed like the best way forward.
And it’s here that I’m also reminded of a realisation I came to years ago, when last I seriously played FFXIV for any amount of time. The FFXIV community really is something else.
I’ve had a few more trials since that blocker I mentioned a few days ago, and I’ve never had to wait more than mere moments to get one or more max levels jump in and help out, rearing to go and get someone new through the campaign.
The first time around, I had to get the person to explain to me how to actually activate the trial in unsynced mode as well. (The party finder is separate from starting the event itself.)
And they had no issue doing so. Didn’t just leave, or wonder how many days ago I might’ve been born.
So, colour me impressed all over again.
It’s the little things really.
Right, time to jump back in and finish before bedtime beckons!
This was posted during Blaugust 2025, the annual blogging event normally hosted by Belghast, with a twist this year of being hosted by Krikket. Blaugust is an event aiming to welcome new blogger blood into the fold and revitalise those who’ve been at it a little longer.
The Blaugust Discord is still available to join in, year-round!
I always flinch a little bit when somebody heaps praise upon that specific community, because my then-girlfriend and I had some really unpleasant encounters. Oh, nothing especially egregious, just your normal, toxic gogogo, and if the tank goes too slow for our taste we just vote-kick her, as happens in every other MMO.
Don‘t get me wrong, I‘m happy for you if all you ever had were good experiences. Still, it‘s not like FFIX is only played by saints and angels.
Aw, that sucks. But no- I haven’t seen the slightest sign of it yet. Neither in this experience nor my last ones — and I have tanked in FFXIV before as well.
Now, as a huge caveat to that, I have never been ‘current’ endgame, and I could absolutely see there being a shift in the attitudes of that group.
I also tend to tank on the slightly faster side of things anyway, although I suppose one example of how that came to be which might go someway to prove your point is that in some of the lower dungeons (think Copper mines sort of level ranges), I have, in the past, had some ‘help’ pulling.
Which is frustrating as all get out, but at the same time… It did help me learn what the expected speed was. xD