Hello, fellow Celestians! Welcome to another edition of the Celestia Citizen newsletter! As you may have noticed, there has been another disturbance in the Force Void. Our latest newsletter was uploaded mid-month to put it on par with how recent scheduling fared. However, an evaluation of things made it to where we would rather get back to the start of the month for things. So here we are, dropping early in the new month of February with a new edition!
And with that out of the way, let us go ahead and get going!
Beyond that, things are currently quiet in the FFXIV news front.
Free Company Updates and Social Events
We’re gonna party like we’re single again!
We have quite a few tidbits to share today!
First off, a brief acknowledgement to the Free Company as a whole. This year will mark the 10th year of the Free Company’s existence, and the 10 year anniversary will be this coming August! This date has been saved for acknowledgement later this year. Expect a special edition newsletter to acknowledge the Free Company’s 10 years of existence and celebrate the best of it!
Next, officer recruitment is continuing at this time. There is currently an available spot for a Raid Officer (for the 24-Man Raid Event scheduled every Tuesday) and an Administration Officer(documentation, etc.).
The next item to discuss is the Sightseeing Log event that occurred on Saturday, January 28th. This event covered the Heavensward expansion’s sightseeing logs. Turnout was very good, and led to the exploration of some beautiful vistas and vantage points from which a beautiful world could be appreciated. Below are some images of those vistas, including a screenshot of all of our participants, and of the two prizes offered to all participants (either a Zu mount, or a Fat Cat minion):
Picture of the participants before the eventThe Zu mountThe Fat Cat minion
Our next event is scheduled for Saturday, February 18th, the Housing Contest. Specifics about the contest, including participation details, sign-up, and reminders, is available on the Free Company’s Discord server. All are allowed to attend and steal admirethe glorious housemaking contributions our resident designers have sought to produce for themselves!
Beyond the Light
Would you say you have more than one relationship with a person?
Well, here we are. We have a brand new interview to get out of the way for our Beyond the Light block for this newsletter. From our current pool of entries, we have a new winner: Junno Highwind!
What race are you currently in-game?: Miqo’te
What drew you into your current choice of race?: 8-9 years ago my brother got this game, i never played a MMO before but I’m kind of interested in Final Fantasy games, so one day, after months he stop playing it, he told me to try it, and so i picked up the race i though was the most fitting, and also one that i could do a character that resemble (somewhat) my IRL look. so i chose Miqo’te and created somewhat on my liking at the time.
When did you first start playing FFXIV?: 2013
What drew you to pick up and play FFXIV?: Well as a kid i use to play some games with my brother on NES and SNES, and one day our parents got him Final Fantasy 3 (6) for Christmas, we played the hell out of that game, we would leave the TV on with the music on the background while doing some other things. from that day on i became a final fantasy fan, and started playing all FF games. and i said previously i started playing FF14 because of my brother and i loved it, was a Final Fantasy game that never ends…. so…. well here i am xD
How far have you gotten into the MSQ (Main Story Questline) of FFXIV?: Completed! (Victory Fanfare!)
What was your first (job? class? role?) when you started?: White Mage!!
What motivated you to pick that first (job? class? role?)?: well, i had some talks with my brother about the game, he told me the classes i could be and what i could do, i was deciding between PLD and WHM but i got to WHM because it was “easier” and didn’t have the Tank responsibility that i though was a little more intimidating when talking to my brother.
To date, what favorite jobs/roles/classes do you have?: Well i love most of them, but lately i been doing Ninja and Samurai Stuff. my favorite job its Red Mage, but to be honest haven’t been playing with it much. i usually jump from class to class in each patch lol.
What kind of content do you enjoy?: MSQ, Savage Raids, Crafting and/or Gathering, Duty Content (dungeons, trials, raids, expert content), Glamour collecting, Collectible getting (mounts, minions, housing items), and Other: Anything with Friends and people to enjoy!! 😀
What would you say is your favorite content type from above to do? And why?: GLAMOUR!!! because you cant play a Final Fantasy game without looking good! 😀
What is one thing you like about FFXIV that distinguishes them from other MMOs?: i have not played much other MMOs but i tried to play wow and i though it sucked that you needed to change characters to do other things and get all the mounts and collectibles again. i like that FF has one character and you don’t need more.
If you could make at least 1 change to FFXIV based on personal preference, what would you pick and why?: More glamour space? do i need to say more? XD well i think the game sometimes feels a little dated, i mean its not bad but the years are starting to notice. i think it would be soo cool to have a more updated HUD and technology for the game.
What is your most memorable/favorite moment in FFXIV?: i don’t really recall, i had many good days and experiences, but i think my most memorable moment was looking Savage content as something impossible to do and out of reach, to be able to do it and be as good as the other players i used to look up all the time.
oh another good thing is that i have won many Glam competitions and at some point i did some Glams for other players, had a little business running, one time i was in gridania and someone send me a Private message saying “oh you are the girl that make glams! you are fantastic” that was a highlight for me 😀
Do you have any favorite visuals of your character you want to share with the FC for the newsletter?:
When did you join Celestia?: October 2022
What drew you to join Celestia? Was it a person, an advertisement, etc?: our Fc was disbanded and well for one reason or another my friends got scattered on other FCs and i had a friend inside Celestia, i asked around looking for what FC to join and people told me Celestia was relaxed, active and with a lot interesting people to meet. choice made!
What do you like about Celestia as a Free Company?: i like people! i like how everyone is close and fun, and talkative, and as far as i can see not much drama is around, that’s something i found in all others FCs i was part of. so I’m glad here is not present.
What is your favorite weekly event to participate in with Celestia?: Season events! halloween event was so fun! also maps but i havent been able to participate as much.
And with that, our interview is done! Thank you to Junno Highwind! 🙂
Conclusion
May the odds be ever in your favor for love!
We reach the start of another February, with the coming of love, romance, friendship, and deep seated feelings for those most special of people we keep in our lives. Remember that this year will allow everyone more of a chance to restart things in their life and get things going toward a better outlook. Yet do not despair in doing it alone. Whether you have a passionate romance, a subtle one, or a mutual one, remember that there is also someone out there for everyone. But do not expect perfection. Instead, focus on what is ideal and what you both can come to an understanding on, for a relationship is built on the foundation of compromise, walled with decisions, decorated with memories, roofed with understanding, and beats within with love.
Until next time. See you, Space Warriors of Light!
https://celestiaxiv.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/CEL_Banner_Contest.png00Scarlette Valanorrhttps://celestiaxiv.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/CEL_Banner_Contest.pngScarlette Valanorr2023-02-02 00:22:402023-02-05 23:28:23The Celestia Citizen ("Early Bird, But Right On Schedule" Edition)
Hello, fellow Celestians! Welcome to another edition of the Celestia Citizen newsletter! As you may have noticed, it felt like ages since the last one. With a long year came a short holiday, and many of us here at the Free Company took the chance to embrace it. December saw the absence of a regularly scheduled newsletter. However, with the holidays done and the start of a new year upon us, we are back on schedule! And here we are, opening up the new year with a major Final Fantasy XIV patch having dropped!
And with that out of the way, let us get things going!
With the holidays now done, we are now starting with a clean slate of announcements.
First off, please welcome our newest General Officer, Squirrel Guile!
In addition, please welcome Xerxes Oshika as a new officer for PVP Co-Lead!
We also have a departure from the Officer position. Zee Zephos has stepped down as an Officer and King’s Hand. Please wish Zee well in the next step of their journey!
In terms of social events, we have a Sightseeing Log event coming for Saturday, January 28th at 5PM PST! Please note that this content will cover the Heavensward Sightseeing Log. There will also be a raffle for 3 prizes for all participants. To sign up, please proceed to the Discord server and sign up via #social-event channel!
There will also be an event held in February for our annual Housing Contest, scheduled Saturday February 18th. This is being posted well in advance to ensure that awareness of the event is given, as well as time to prepare. Get those houses trussed up and dressed up, and come sign up via #social-event channel when the invite goes live!
Beyond the Light
What would you say…you do in XIV?
With a new year also comes a slew of new folks to interview! We had a slough in November, and a break in December, but we are going to aim for getting interviews harder than ever! As the one who crafted the Beyond the Light interview, we are going with a new approach to getting more of our members to open up!
At times in-game, I will be promoting the Beyond the Light interview option to our members for awareness. To participate, please go to the Discord Server and reference #announcements for the available Google Form (a free Google account will be required).
With many new participants, our winner for the monthly interview is Rekilic Renatus!
What race are you currently in-game?: Miqo’te
What drew you into your current choice of race?: Male Cats get Ear wiggles! The emotes are the best, the voices are the best, This is truly the master race of Eorzea. I mean….. We have the power houses Graha, Yshtola and my personal favorite Vekkebe. (Rogue Quest line, you learn to love her!) I can go on, the gear sets look the best having a tail run around as you go. You could come up with the best Puns with the kitty race such as Catrick Swayze! I mean come on! you get a Tail, the hairstyles all fit, the facial expressions. There’s everything to love there! Plus If you want on Our leaders good side. heh go Kitty! Blessed and Scura will thank you! Did I mention the Ear wiggles and tail? oh good. Ya thanks!
When did you first start playing FFXIV?: June 23, 2015
What drew you to pick up and play FFXIV?: I played it back when It first dropped on PS3; before ARR and it was terrible, My buddy said it got better so I picked it up with the Heavensward Expansion and gave it another shot…. It took me away from World of Warcraft (since 2004), KOToR,Guild Wars, and GW2. I play other games in between but FF14 from here on out is my Game to Play. The player base is just fantastic. People are really friendly. I have real life friends who play so its great to get in groups with them to escape the tragedies of this world.
How far have you gotten into the MSQ (Main Story Questline) of FFXIV?: MSQ is all caught up. In fact played through it twice!
What was your first (job? class? role?) when you started?: WARRIOR!
What motivated you to pick that first (job? class? role?)?: I mained tank and Heals through all other mmo Experiences. So I picked the better tank I knew Id like at the time…. which is with a meaty beefy Axe and not a toothpick with a dinner plate…. I mean, What is a Paladin really? There just a tower selfish healer…. or so I thought. then WARRIORS GOT ALL THE HEALINGS AND DMG….. Silly Paladins. 😀
To date, what favorite jobs/roles/classes do you have?: I prefer Melee, So My top 5 are SAM, NIN, DRK, WAR,and BLM. I like DRK and WARs about the same, they both play good, haven’t really gotten into GNB for tanks yet and PLDs are just silly… SAM to me is really fun. Biggest reason Its my favorite job is do to the animations and smoothness of moving in and out. NINs are just my favorite in General and BLMs I sometimes feel lazy and just wanna drop bombs….ESSSPLOOOSION!
What kind of content do you enjoy?: MSQ, PvP, Savage Raids, Duty Content (dungeons, trials, raids, expert content), Side quests (Hildebrand, Beast Tribes, Eureka, Bozjan, etc), Glamour collecting, and Other: The best content in game is makeing new friends and progressing towards something awesome!
What would you say is your favorite content type from above to do? And why?: My other answer. I think making friends and connecting with people all over the world who enjoy the gameplay as much as you do is just A+. The diversity too Ive made friends in other countries. Send gifts back and fourth. Learned a lot of new things of how they live and whats different from the USA. Some of the friends Ive made here have become best friends and I would give my organs to them if they ever need.
What is one thing you like about FFXIV that distinguishes them from other MMOs?: The Players camaraderie. A lot of what I talked about with the last question as well. There’s something in FF14 for EVERYONE, Unlike other MMOS and they keep the content updated. The BEST thing is the DEVS LISTEN TO THERE PLAYERS AND DONT LAUGH OR DISSREGARD THEM LIKE WOW…. (cough cough) They care more about what the player base thinks then most mothers to there child…. Thank you Yoshi P.
If you could make at least 1 change to FFXIV based on personal preference, what would you pick and why?: I would Change how PvP works a little bit. I would add a tournament in game style session with prizes at the end of them to claim (or a currency for in game tournament style 1v1 only option.) Do like for each section 6 players queue, three matches happen at the same time in a 5min time frame. then wheedle it down. if you lose its knock out tournament and you can queue for it whenever you have 20 mins to spare… its the length of a dungeon if you think about it… I feel it would be really cool and unique to other games… you always see 2v2s, or 3v3s or 5v5s, or the big battles…what about a 1v1 little tournament style game? why not right!
What is your most memorable/favorite moment in FFXIV?: When I first played the game I was scared of the PvP… (yes let me tell you something wild). I didn’t know what to do… In all my other MMOs it was PvP heavy first, Raiding when I felt like it. In FF14, It was haha Story first, Raids, Deep Dungeons, uhh wanna pvp? No, not really…. then the BUG kicked. I ended up at the den the first time Garo gear came around…. I was on ninja when Shadow bringers was about to hit. Made a Hrothgar cus I wanted to try to be the big kitty. I was training with a broski and a friend at the time. (no idea what I was doing.) Then this metal Hammer monk walks up in the ring wearing the most bad ass gear set Ive seen in game and just starts squashing people in duels…. LIKE BAM SMASH GONE!!!! My buddy at the time tells me…. “look at that title… hes in the top 100.” So im like woo-ow, I wanna fight him. My buddy said. “you will lose, don’t talk to those guys.” So I challenged JERILITH to a duel and he showed me the ropes…. he disappeared on me one day before season 14 popped. Then showed back up, we Monked around for a bit, and I chose DRK to be my Season Job. I showed him DRK as a trade off to him showing me how to PvP Monk. Well the memory of why it was my favorite is long! there was alot that happened in my first season. BUT In the end of my first season I got in the top 100 and truly its thanks to Jerilith. So thank you brother! My PvP adventure wouldn’t be the same without ya!
Do you have any favorite visuals of your character you want to share with the FC for the newsletter?:
When did you join Celestia?: Feb 13, 2022
What drew you to join Celestia? Was it a person, an advertisement, etc?: Was looking for a home with Jerilith and Falena online, they wanted a big FC I wanted Small originally. So I found this one… We went and talked to Blessed and I believe a few Officers in the FC and told them our thoughts and what were looking for. We clicked and joined. haven’t ever looked back!
What do you like about Celestia as a Free Company?: Mostly the members… Being a FC as big as this one I don’t like do to the (family feeling). most big fcs just blow off there little guys. This one takes you in as one of there own and ROLLS with it. There’s something here for everyone to enjoy and the people is what makes me stay.
What is your favorite weekly event to participate in with Celestia?: I like most all content. I don’t have a favorite at the moment.
Conclusion
This is the end of 2022, and the start of 2023. As we got ourselves through a long year, recovering from all manner of hardships, we are graced with the hope that things will get better. Things will be harder before they are easier. We will suffer before we ease. And coming into this new year, take stock in the idea that just as Endwalker has shown us, it is darkest just before the dawn. And the dawn is coming for us all, to usher in those better things.
For your New Year’s Resolutions, endeavor to do something new, to better yourself, to make new friends and loved ones, to expand your lifestyle, and to do whatever is needed to make your life better. We have another long year ahead, so let us work to make it a good one 🙂 .
That is all for this month’s newsletter. See you, Space Warriors of Light!
Hello, fellow Celestians! Welcome to another edition of the Celestia Citizen newsletter! The weather has been getting more dreary with each passing day and week. And while it is hurricane season for some, soon it will be snowstorm and blizzard season for others. Nevertheless, remember to hope and pray for your friends, family, and loved ones who live in these places and that we will make it to 2023 with a strong finish. This month has us honoring four things: veterans, thankfulness, and dirt cheap sales. And Final Fantasy XIV. Let us not forget that!
Veteran’s Day has come and gone with Friday, November 11th. Thanksgiving will arrive on Thursday, November 24th. And Black Friday (the start of the deep discounting of a year’s worth of products) will arrive on Friday, November 25th. What of Final Fantasy XIV, you may ask? Yes, you may. With the Live Letter having just premiered Part 1 this past Friday as well, we have some information on the next major patch coming: Patch 6.3. And a taste of what is to come will be present in here.
With that introduction out of the way, let us get to it!
Final Fantasy XIV News
First, let us get the details out of the way for recent changes to Final Fantasy XIV. On Tuesday, November 1st, the addition of the new data center was completed and enabled. With the new worlds, housing was also scheduled to become available for purchase on Friday, November 4th. Details on the expansion are here: https://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodestone/topics/detail/85ed6ec307c5fa7732b2b8d33b9b64e0b536f24c
Lastly, the Live Letter’s summary is to be discussed. With the timing of the Live Letter, and no officially published details on Patch 6.3 available as of yet, please refer to the Free Company’s Discord Server to read on this information as was captured live on Friday, November 11th. The content is available in the Discord’s #ffxiv-updates channel.
Free Company Updates and Social Events
Don’t let an overdone turkey keep a good party down.
On the Free Company side, we had our Halloween Costume Party on Saturday, October 29th. With the conclusion of the Halloween Costume Party, submissions were accepted for the FC Costume Contest. After several days of voting, here are the winners:
For the green/orange color theme, Junno Highwind took the First Place spot with Grey Rat in Second Place!
For the ‘witchiest’ costume, Sadie Black won First Place with Elhana Greenwood taking Second Place!
And for the Cosplay theme, Grey Rat took First Place with Kazuo Akagi taking Second Place!
Please be sure to give congratulations to our resident winners!
From 11/2 to 11/7, intrepid Celestia fisherfolk participated in Eorzea Shark Week, chasing down various sharks by rod and spear in pursuit of glory. We had 18 participants and distributed over 60 raffle tickets for the main prize! At the end of the week, the drawing for the $25 of mogstation merchandise was won by Eternal Slumber. Individual events during the week were also won by Urbosa Vah’naboris and Illiana Rostova. Credit goes to Simera Yeep for this.
The next Free Company event is going to be the Hide & Seek event, scheduled for Saturday, November 19th.
Beyond the Light
Hello, everyone! Here is where our monthly Beyond the Light interview would go…
However, we did not receive enough entries this month for raffling off for one to be featured. My apologies.
This is a personal section of the newsletter I created to allow our FC members to tell us more about themselves, and give themselves a spotlight for a time as everyone gets to know our resident Warrior of Lights beyond what is on the surface…beyond the light.
This section will thrive and function at the contributions of our resident FC members. Please do not be shy and be encouraged to share your love for the game, and your character, with everyone else who can appreciate and enjoy your efforts.
If you have any questions or concerns, please reach out to me via Discord 🙂 .
Black Friday Preparations
As mentioned before, the day after Thanksgiving is Black Friday. It is considered the start of the holiday shopping season, and sits in the middle of one of the busiest shopping weekends of the entire year (between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday). Many businesses will do deep discounts on many items from the last couple of years, resulting in cheap items that one or many can take advantage of for themselves, or for others.
But how does that work out for you? In the case of multimedia, whether it is movies, TV shows, or video games, you can find many sites that offer substantial discounts in a trackable fashion.
And of course, if you’re looking for good ol’ scans of ads, you can utilize various Black Friday ad sites that will have these up when they are available. The most popular one is BlackFriday.com via: Black Friday 2022 Ads | BlackFriday.com .
Conclusion
We are now under 2 weeks away from Thanksgiving and Black Friday. And once we cross that threshold, it is one month straight to Christmas. As we venture deeper into November, we will be appreciative and thankful for many things because of Thanksgiving: health, life, love, comfort, friendship, family, perhaps a new XIV patch, and more.
Please remember that this time of the year is also going to impose upon us other things as well. But that is going to wait for the next newsletter come mid-December. 🙂 For now, please be thankful and worry about being joyous next month. Apologies for the short newsletter this month. Be sure to use your free time advantageously this season and enjoy yourselves! See you, Space Warriors of Light!
https://celestiaxiv.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/CEL_Banner_Contest.png00Scarlette Valanorrhttps://celestiaxiv.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/CEL_Banner_Contest.pngScarlette Valanorr2022-11-13 01:24:562022-11-13 21:47:53The Celestia Citizen ("Turkey Day and a Patch On The Way" Edition)
Coming soon…the Nightmare Before Christmas marathon!
Hello, fellow Celestians! Welcome to another edition of the Celestia Citizen newsletter! We are nearly a month into the fall season, and we can already feel the draw of cool air pushing its way across the country. In a couple of weeks, we will be on the cusp of the spookiest time of the year, a Spookymas of sorts. Where all good little Lalafells (or I should say, not-so-good Lalafells), naughty Miqo’tes, and slender ‘Zens will gather with many of other denizens of the world of Final Fantasy XIV to celebrate with costumes, candy, contests, and creepy stories.
Meanwhile in the real world, our Spookymas is little more than All Hallow’s Eve, or Halloween. Expect to see trick-or-treaters out and about on Monday, October 31st, as they come for goodies to fill their bags with, show their cute costumes, and to spend a night out having spooky fun. For adults, look toward costume parties, dancing, drinking, and enjoying a festivity that allows you to show your creative side in spooky fashion.
Before we get into the newsletter here, a quick blurb on Final Fantasy XIV news. A Halloween themed event is coming, along with confirmation on Patch 6.25! And of course, a concern that will be explained for account safeguarding. With that out of the way, let’s get to it!
One Year Anniversary!!!
So some good news. This marks our 1 year anniversary of the Celestia Citizen newsletter’s revival. Our re-launch was a gentle one. Brief newsletter, giving hints and tidbits about what was to come for the current iteration. Moreso an investment of hope to the Free Company that there would be a return to form for our publication. And now here we are. And to commemorate this one year anniversary, this newsletter pulled out just a little more effort to get in some information we could have had for the first newsletter (such as the coverage of Halloween, horror content, and other spooky things). Thankfully, that is to be found here for this year’s newsletter!!!
Thank you to all Free Company members who have read this newsletter, and kept up with it over the months, and have given us focus to bringing you this content to read and to enjoy. And thank you to our esteemed Officers, and the King and Queen of all creation (least up to the fence lines of the house), Scura and Blessed Darkangel, for continuing to be awesome. And of course, to all Celestians who are working devoutly to making Celestia one of the biggest FCs, if not the biggest, throughout the Hyperion side of Final Fantasy XIV!
Please look forward to another year of newslettery goodness!
Final Fantasy XIV News
Remember when I said I would eat you last? I lied.
The news last month was rather light due to us being between patches. 6.2 was live as of August 23rd, and 6.21 was over two weeks later (into early September). In waiting these many weeks, the announcement of 6.25 was made on Friday, October 7th. Details from the Live Letter that aired this date are available on the Free Company Discord server and under the #ffxiv-updates channel.
Before we touch on specifics regarding the Live Letter and some upcoming changes, an important notice was shared on behalf of the developer. On October 6th, an attack on Square Enix’s Account Management System was flagged with attempts to use a combination of email addresses & passwords that were retrieved from 3rd party online services. Per the linked article here: Precautions for Guarding Against Unauthorized Account Access | FINAL FANTASY XIV, The Lodestone
The article states explicitly to observe precautions being taken to safeguard your online access. One of these recommendations is to ensure that you do not utilize the same password on other services. If this is the case, it is strongly recommended to change your password for SQEX and FFXIV (as per the article above). In addition, a recommendation for enabling One-Time Passwords is also being made. This will conjunct with a recurring article that has been a part of the Celestia Citizen newsletter for months now. Refer to the section for 2 Factor Authentication/Multi Factor Authentication further down in the newsletter for the how-to in setting up ‘OTP’.
On the game side, Patch 6.25 was confirmed with the recent Live Letter to release on Tuesday, October 18th. An All Worlds maintenance will occur Monday, October 17th. Details here: All Worlds Maintenance (October 17th)
Another bit of news confirmed was the Addition of a new North American “Logical Data Center and Worlds” still occurring. The first phase was delayed from August 2022, but has now been confirmed for Tuesday, November 1st alongside the maintenance for Patch 6.28. The new data center name, the world names, and listings of special bonuses for creating/transferring characters to these worlds is listed here: Addition of New North American Logical Data Center and Worlds | FINAL FANTASY XIV, The Lodestone
Lastly, news on Fan Fest aka Final Fantasy Fan Festival. As confirmed in the linked article, physical, in-person events are due to be held for Fan Fest through North America (July 28/29, 2023), Europe (October 21/22, 2023), and Japan (slated for Early 2024). Details here: Announcing the FINAL FANTASY XIV Fan Festival 2023-2024 | FINAL FANTASY XIV, The Lodestone
Free Company Updates and Social Events
The least they can do is bob for those apples…
On the Free Company side, we have a new officer announcement. Please welcome Matten Renegath to the Officer roster for covering our Primal Farming side of end-game content & events!
For events, the first to discuss was the Bingo event occurred on Saturday, September 24th. Our resident winners were, from left to right: Scarlette Valanorr (oh wait, that’s me xD), Elhana Greenwood, and Eviane Rosariae. Please extend congratulations to our other winners, and to all participants of the event!
Saturday, October 15th saw the scheduled Triple Triad tournament, as held by Blackhawk Slater and other supporting officers, engaging in a ‘duelist kingdom’ of sorts, or a ‘battle city’ of some kind. The winners that triumphed in this event were: Urbosa Vah’naboris and Aaliyah Amari. Please extend congratulations to our winners and to all participating entrants of this wonderful tourney!
For upcoming events, Saturday, October 29th will be the Halloween Costume Party, featuring 3 distinct themes: Orange and Green Costume, “Witchiest” Costume, and General Cosplay (Completely open creativity to all participants). Entrants may participate in 1 or multiple categories. Please sign up via the #social-event channel on the FC Discord!
Next, Eorzea Shark Week will commence on 11/2/22 and consist of a series of fun pop-up events where participants can earn raffle entries towards a $25 mogstation gift card at the end. Some events will be 90 only, but others are open to all level ranges. If you have a rod and some bait, there will be events you can participate in. Due to the shifting nature of weather requirements for some activities, the notice may be short…so keep an eye on general-dol-doh and make sure you’ve signed up for the dol/doh role to get pinged when an event is popping up! Credit to Simera Yeep for her wonderful write-up of this!
Lastly, Saturday, November 19th will be the Hide-and-Seek event for the Free Company.
For any details or signup information, please refer to the Free Company Discord Server, and refer to the #social-event channel!
Beyond the Light
Here is our next Beyond the Light interview for our Free Company newsletter. As discussed before, this is to give our FC members an opportunity to tell us more about themselves, and their love for Final Fantasy XIV by answering some interview style questions.
This month’s interview is brought to you by our FC member Squirrel Guile.
What is your in-game character’s name? Squirrel Guile.
What race are you currently in-game? Miqo’te.
What drew you into your current choice of race? After playing Tauren and other massive races, I decided I wanted something a little more pleasing on the eyes. And who doesn’t love cats.
When did you first start playing FFXIV? February 28, 2016.
What drew you to pick up and play FFXIV? I’ve played WoW since Vanilla, and when Legion came out I was pretty much done with that game. A few friends tried out FF and got me to come over.
How far have you gotten into the MSQ (Main Story Questline) of FFXIV? Finished
What was your first (job? class? role?) when you started? Monk for life.
What motivated you to pick that first (job? class? role?)? Every game I play, I play as an agile character. I love running around enemies, dodging attacks, being such a loud nuisance right in their face. usually duel wielding. The closest job to that was monk. I don’t need to hide behind a massive sword; my fists are the weapons!!!
To date, what favorite jobs/roles/classes do you have? Paladin and Monk.
What kind of content do you enjoy? MSQ, PvP, Savage Raids, Duty Content, Side Quests, Collectible Getting.
What would you say is your favorite content type from above to do? And why? I love raiding. Nothing is as satisfying as learning the boss fight and crushing the baddie……… after countless wipes and repair bills.
What is one thing you like about FFXIV that distinguishes them from other MMOs? There is the msq. The MSQ revolves around you, the character. The npcs know and interact with you, and they respect the power you have. You are not just “The Champion” who kills things, then the named nps gets the credit. The game respects your time. I don’t feel guilty if work gets busy and I missed a week playing. I’m not going to fall behind in some weekly capped power gain.
If you could make at least 1 change to FFXIV based on personal preference, what would you pick and why? Playable squirrel race!!!! Gotta have that fluffy tail…. or a buff on people that says the name of the mount so you dont have to do a stupid google search of “ff14 floating pirate ship mount” and hope you find a picture of it with a name.
What is your most memorable/favorite moment in FFXIV? (Redacted) almost murdered me when i was using ilv 40 gear on my lv 85 weaver. Idk i mostly play this game solo.
Do you have any favorite visuals of your character you want to share with the FC for the newsletter? None shared.
When did you join Celestia? September 20, 2021.
What drew you to join Celestia? Was it a person, an advertisement, etc? Looking for a larger FC after friends quit playing. Saw post on lodestone community finder.
What do you like about Celestia as a Free Company? There are always people on and something is always happening.
What is your favorite weekly event to participate in with Celestia? Maps are fun when I have time for them.
Thank you very much to Squirrel Guile for participating in this month’s Beyond the Light interview! 😀
However, we have many months ahead and we need many more entries from our FC mates before the next newsletter!
Don’t fall for the plying of a Limsa Lominsan Rogue. Safeguard your valuables, be they physical or digital!
Please ensure that you safeguard your Final Fantasy XIV account, and your Discord account. Below is a copy-and-paste of my prior announcement made on our Discord server:
I am making a general awareness announcement to the FC in regards to security and safety for both your FFXIV accounts and your Discord accounts. With all of the rampant account hijackings occurring in the Discord world, you may have seen other servers stressing to avoid clicking on ‘sus’ (suspicious) links and downloads, especially from fellow server-mates. We are encouraging the same behavior in Discord so nobody has their Discord accounts hijacked and endangers others. If a member from the FC here does provide suspicious links or downloads directly to you, please reach out to one of our Magistrates ASAP. But what of the FFXIV front?
It turns out that ‘Yes’, you CAN have your FFXIV account get hacked. If a hacker gets your SQEX login that has a XIV account and sub attached to it, they could log in and give you a bad day. Do your diligence and safeguard yourself through the glory of 2-Factor Authentication in both Discord AND in FFXIV.
In FFXIV: Go to your Mog Station page (where you can manage your licenses, go to the shop for buying stuff, etc) > Square Enix Account Settings > “One-Time Password” > Select your choice of “token” or authenticator (per the image attached):
Security Token (key ring type, physical token): Retails for $14.99, no software on phone to juggle
Software Token (smartphone app): No cost, and uses Square Enix’s official Software Token app
Software Authenticator (smartphone app): No cost, offers flexibility on choice of authenticator app (Google, Microsoft, IBM, Authy, etc)
As always, be safe and keep yourselves secure for full enjoyment of these wonderful services, everyone!
Halloween: A History
No, not this Halloween…
So here we are. A little miscellaneous section I was planning to work in for the time of the year. In a couple of weeks, we will have Halloween upon us. But what is Halloween, aside from being a day where people wear costumes, enjoy candy, and do spooky things?
Halloween’s history reaches far back to Christianity for its origin. The origin of Halloween specifically seemed to commemorate with Allhallowtide, a series of days when the ‘dead’, particularly souls that had departed the Earth and had yet to reach Heaven, and saints, were honored. October 31st was regarded as All Hallows Eve, while November 1st was All Saints Day (or All Hallows Day), and November 2nd was All Souls Day. Some believed that the souls who had yet to reach Heaven would linger on Earth until All Saints Day (November 1st) and then would pass to the next world.
All Hallows Eve was believed to have been the last day where these souls would attempt to get vengeance on their enemies before passing on. To avoid recognition by vengeful souls, the living would wear costumes to hide their identities from the dead. Speaking of costumes, it is believed that the earliest instances of Halloween costume parties was tied to the danse macabre, a festival of the dead when they would rise from the grace. The living would dress in costumes and masks, sometimes taking the image of ‘corpses’, and would hold these danses as a reminder to “not to forget the end of all earthly things”, thereby paying respect and honoring the dead.
There is also a perspective that many of Halloween’s customs instead originated from the Celtic, or Gaelic, countries, and amongst Paganism. Samhain was regarded as starting the evening of October 31st, lasting until the morning of November 1st. There is also the belief that the boundary separating Earth from the other plane thins on this day, allowing for spirits or ‘fairies’ to emerge among the living. The dead were believed to venture to their homes and families, seeking hospitality for a night. These families would leave their departed loved ones food and drink, even setting places at supper tables for them.
Many Gaelic/Celtic countries practiced mumming and guising during Samhain, where people dressed in costume, guising or mumming themselves in costume, and would venture from home to home delivering song verses for food. Some even believed this tradition was also to allow the living to act on behalf of the dead, and accept offerings on their behalf. Those homes who gave offerings would receive good fortune, or mischief, based on whether they capitulated or not. This is most likely where the inspiration for modern day trick-or-treating arose. Children in costumes saying ‘trick or treat’ seems to stem from guised people venturing from home to home, offering either mischief or ‘tricks’ or the payment of ‘treat’ to placate them for the night.
What about the jack-o-lantern? This was based on the use of hallowed out turnips, or mangolds (which are a type of beet) with grotesque faces carved into them to serve as lanterns to either ward off spirits or represent them. In North America, this would lead to the pumpkin’s use instead as the medium due to its much softer and larger mass allowing for ease of use. The story of the jack-o-lantern also has Irish Christian roots in the form of a folktale.
In this folktale, Jack is a character who encounters the Devil and tricks him into climbing a tree. The Devil is trapped in the tree when Jack quickly scribes the holy Cross into the bark. He uses this to bargain to the Devil that he can never have his soul claimed. Despite this bargain, Jack lead a sinful life and eventually dies, unable to enter Heaven. The Devil also upholds his bargain in not taking Jack, and gives him a hot coal from Hell itself. Jack places this hot coal into a hollowed out turnip to keep it live, and uses it to light his way through the dark night to find a place to rest.
And there is the culinary side of Halloween. Because it was used to encourage no meat being consumed by some Western Christian groups, this led to a rise in vegetarian style foods becoming popular. Apples were candied and became popular to give. Pumpkin was expanded to its use of its seeds served when roasted, along with the popular ‘pumpkin pie’, which used a special type of pumpkin ‘sugar pumpkins’ for mixing the pie together; picture a much smaller pumpkin with less pulp and less of a stringy texture, then imagine it is cooked until soft and then mixed to make the pie filling. Candy also became popular around Halloween due to the number of children that came to participate, and the giving of chocolate, candy corn, candied apples, or any other form of sweets served as an easy means to fulfill tradition.
Halloween is also given a bit of wide berth when it comes to allowing its celebration among other cultures. Judaism forbids gentile customs from being participated in, which Halloween falls under, and Islam forbids participation due to Halloween’s Christian or Pagan roots. Hinduism does sometimes acknowledge Halloween, but they practice a festival preceding it beginning in mid September known as Pitru Paksha (for keeping their ancestors’ souls at rest). Neopaganism, or Wiccanism, practices Samhain for its Celtic/Gaelic heritage but also acknowledges Halloween.
Horror Movies
Another thing to discuss with this time of the year: Horror movies.
October has also become synonymous with being the time of the year when we can kick back with popcorn, relax through the opening credits, and be left a frightened, stressed, tensed mess by the ending credits. And the last several decades have given us numerous horror movies to enjoy in the process. If you favor something suspensful, or something slashy, or something scream-worthy, there’s all sorts of horror movies out there to enjoy.
Here is a list of some of the popular ones:
The Universal Studios “Monsterverse”: Yup, the granddaddy of it all. Frankenstein. Dracula. The Wolfman. The Invisible Man. The Mummy. The Creature from the Black Lagoon. The Phantom of the Opera. And many others. Some of these characters from stories of old found their stories immortalized in black-and-white film and led by horror icons such as Bela Lugosi, Boris Karloff, Lon Chaney Sr and Lon Chaney Jr, and Claude Rains. To this day, their very essence still permeates into many adaptations that sought to bring the likes or Dracula, Frankenstein’s Monster, the Wolfman, and other horror icons to modern re-tellings.
Halloween – A series of movies focused around Michael Myers (not the actor), a psychotic serial killer who is regarded as strong and as dangerous as his reputation has left. His trademark is a giant knife and a white faced mask with hair (the story behind this is the mask is the inner part of a William Shatner mask turned outwards). This series put Jamie Lee Curtis on the road to the aforementioned ‘scream queens’ category, and helped in her rise to become a known actress. As of recently, the series saw a soft reboot with Halloween in 2018 continuing off of the original 1978 movie (which was also done by John Carpenter, a legendary film director behind such movies as Big Trouble in Little China, The Thing, They Live, Vampires, Escape from New York, and more). Halloween Kills released in 2021, and Halloween Ends releases this month!
A Nightmare on Elm Street – A child killer known as Fred Krueger was punished in life and burned to death. This failed to lay him to rest, re-emerging as a vengeful entity who preys upon teenagers in their dreams and kills them. This led to several sequels, as well as a crossover to another major horror franchise that is the very next callout in our list. Also, the series owes its origin to Wes Craven, who also was behind another major film series in this list. One very meta movie in the list is called Wes Craven’s New Nightmare, which utilizes both real world and in-movie elements to make for a real interesting take on the character. This also serves to bring him to a more menacing and serious position as a villain, dialing back the comical changes that befell him with prior sequels.
Friday the 13th – Jason Voorhees, who drowned as a young boy at Camp Crystal Lake, returned as a mass killer who stalked the camp with each movie until more creative direction took him to other venues. One fun tidbit is that Jason does not show on screen until the second Friday the 13th movie (which is clarified in the original movie as to why). There is also that mention about a crossover movie. In 2003, Freddy vs Jason released which saw a story crossing over Freddy Krueger and Jason Voorhees. Despite the movie being touted as a fanservice, appealing to horror fans who hoped for such crossovers with many other horror movie villains, it has served to become a cult classic horror flick.
The Conjuring – One of the most recent franchises to have emerged, this series serves to present the protagonists, Ed and Lorraine Warren, as they cover some of their most notable haunting cases. From this franchise came the mainline series of 3 films, and spinoff films around some of the entities the Warrens have encountered (such as Annabelle, La Llorona, and a particular ‘nun’).
Scream – Have you ever wondered of a movie portraying a serial killer who knows the horror franchises of old? The first entry in this longstanding series was in 1996, bringing Wes Craven (of Nightmare on Elm Street fame) back to the forefront. Two sequels would arise within the next 4 years, with the 4th movie in 2011. This would be the last that Wes Craven would direct, before his death in 2015. In 2022, a sequel/reboot called Scream premiered and encouraged a sequel which would be the 6th movie in the franchise.
Texas Chainsaw Massacre – Leatherface calls this movie home. Regarded as a killer and a cannibal, he touts himself as wearing a leather mask (a patchwork of human skin) and wielding a chainsaw. His family uses the ploy of a gas station to lure victims in, for them to do their business. The movie was touted as a “true story”, but is considered a fantasy. The movie series saw many sequels over the years, though their releases were far more staggered. One notable fact about the series is that some of the more well established film actors in the modern day had roles in these movies. Dennis Hopper starred in the second movie, Viggo Mortensen was in the third movie, and the Next Generation movie in 1995 saw a young Renee Zellweger and Matthew McConaughey in the leading roles (and it was due to their quickly rising stars of fame that the movie saw a full release in 1997, though was panned badly. A remake in 2003 saw Jessica Biel in the starring role, and a couple of other attempts over the next 20 years led to mixed successes.
Saw – Another recently spawned series of immense popularity. A mysterious individual known as Jigsaw popularized the usage of elaborate traps and challenges to teach sinful individuals the value of survival. Every movie seems to tie to the previous ones in some form, carefully expanding the storyline of John Kramer and those who were touched or influenced by his presence in life. The latest movie, Spiral, came out recently starring Chris Rock.
Child’s Play – The Lakeshore Strangler, Charles Lee Ray, gets fatally wounded one night and uses a voodoo ritual to implant his life and soul into a Good Guy doll. In the pursuit of a young boy named Andy Barclay, he seeks to leave the doll’s body and become human again. While the first couple of movies are considered incredible, with the third movie also good, this has led to a further sequels, a ‘reboot’, and a TV series paying tremendous respect and love to the OG series that is due to see its second season air very soon on SyFy! It is called “Chucky”.
Stephen King movies – It. The Stand. The Shining. Cujo. Misery. So many good horror flicks that came from the mind of the great Stephen King. While some adaptations were less faithful than others (The Shining), and some took things in interesting directions (such as the Fog remake with Thomas Jane), Stephen King’s influence is felt in horror to this day.
Tales from the Crypt – Okay, so this isn’t so much scary as it is funny and niche. This series from the 90s brought us the famous Crypt Keeper to TV screens and brought in a slew of horror stories that featured many actors of various fame from across the 90s to appear in roles for this episodic series. There were two movies, Dark Knight and Bordello of Blood, that released to mixed reviews but maintain a particular niche. And this series is known for featuring rather dark but ironic or funny endings to some of their tales, leading it to stand out in this regard.
Now here we are. about a third of the way into fall, and about to come upon both a new XIV patch and a fun, albeit, spooky holiday. But despite things getting darker and scarier out, know that eventually, one must come back into the light again. And speaking of the light, please remember that we still have plenty of FC members to find out more through the Beyond the Light newsletter. We want to learn more about our fellow mates, and to encourage opening up so that friends can be made, duties can be done, and homes can be had for those looking.
Expect the next newsletter mid November, where we will go into Year 2 of newsletter publication for the Celestia Citizen. And as always, see you, space Warrior of Light.
https://celestiaxiv.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/CEL_Banner_Contest.png00Scarlette Valanorrhttps://celestiaxiv.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/CEL_Banner_Contest.pngScarlette Valanorr2022-10-16 00:57:502022-10-17 22:44:07The Celestia Citizen ("Spookymas Comes with the 1 Year Anniversary" Edition)
Hello, fellow Celestians! Welcome to another edition of the Celestia Citizen newsletter! Fall is about to hit in just a few days,and bring some much needed relief to the northern half of the globe. But this time of the year is not just for the coming of cooler temperatures. It also brings the next phase in what so many gamers dread: New games.
One rite of passage for a gamer in this world is to have a backlog, a collection of titles they will just get around to sooner or later. For JRPG fans, it is especially notorious in reputation. I have historically treated JRPGs as both a sound investment in game time and game writing, which is what drew me in when I was a young boy. In the late 1990s, my introduction to JRPGs came in a new friend’s basement. Sitting on top of his giant TV was a game case, with a picture of a man with a giant sword staring up at a building.
Could one ask for a better introduction to JRPGs and Final Fantasy both?
I spent an entire weekend on the first disk my friend had lent me, and it got to where I did not want to wait for him to finish the second disk. The next weekend, I had convinced my mom to take me to my local FuncoLand and get a copy of Final Fantasy 7. Ever since, I’ve always used my birthdays and Christmas as an excuse to ask my family for help building up my JRPG collection. This would carry on for many years until I had graduated high school, and then began to work for my own money. And that money sometimes went to keeping the gaming going, through numerous JRPGs.
The theme of this newsletter is going to focus on JRPGs. This comes in response to a multitude of JRPG announcements and releases that had come out of the gaming world this year. With the world recovering from COVID, and gaming companies returning to form, there is going to be a demand for new games to play. And boy, are there many.
But do not worry! We will still cover Final Fantasy XIV and Free Company stuff as expected! 🙂 Speaking of which, let us get into it.
Take your hearts, and your wallets.
Final Fantasy XIV News
Let’s face it, you’re here for either Island Sanctuary or Paladin buffs…
As discussed in the previous newsletter, Patch 6.2 released on August 23rd. Coming along with it was a multitude of content updates. The biggest of which, was the addition of the Island Sanctuary. Within the Island Sanctuary, you can live out your Harvest Moon days (or Stardew Valley days) in the world of Eorzea by farming, raising animals, crafting and gathering items, and creating a truly unique sanctuary…on an island. For those who are interested in participating in it, the FC Discord has a dedicated channel for #island-sanctuary available with info, spoilers, and additional questions!
There were also various quests, PvP adjustments, items, system fixes, and more performed to expand the game out. For any PvP related questions or events, please refer to the #pvp-events channel on the FC Discord, or ask our PvP officers Rekilic Renatus or Jerilith Alrin. Patch notes in full detail are available for reference here: Patch 6.2 Notes | FINAL FANTASY XIV, The Lodestone
Another change was the release of Patch 6.21, releasing over two weeks later. This was meant to perform adjustments to certain issues, but the big change fell upon Paladin and Marauder/Warrior. Per the attached notes, potency adjustments had rolled out to mitigate the diminished damage these jobs/classes had experienced: Patch 6.21 Notes | FINAL FANTASY XIV, The Lodestone
This is all on the FFXIV news front.
Free Company Updates and Social Events
A company without a boss to fight is a rather dull affair…
On the Free Company side, things were nice and quiet. On Saturday, September 24th, the FC will be hosting its Bingo event to all interested members! There will be prizes given out to winners who nab their trusty Bingo on their card FIRST! To sign up for this event, please proceed to the FC Discord server and sign up via the #social-event channel that is there. Be sure to sign up ASAP to ensure that enough cards are produced for the event!
On another note, there are a pair of upcoming events for October that warrant advertisement (if to give our FC members adequate time to prepare accordingly). On Saturday, October 15th, we will be hosting a Triple Triad event. And on Saturday, October 29th, we will have a Halloween Costume party with 3 distinct themes. For questions or details on these, please refer to the #social-event channel on the FC Discord server!
And as always with the FC, if you have any questions, issues, concerns, or curiosities that the FC can address, you are encouraged to go to the FC Discord server, and utilize the #?help channel to create a ticket.
Beyond the Light
Tell me what you are. Eveything, beginning at the beginning…
Here is our next Beyond the Light interview for our Free Company newsletter. As discussed before, this is to give our FC members an opportunity to tell us more about themselves, and their love for Final Fantasy XIV by answering some interview style questions.
This month’s interview is brought to you by our FC member Elhana Greenwood.
What is your in-game character’s name? Elhana Greenwood.
What race are you currently in-game? Elezen.
What drew you into your current choice of race? I always liked Elf or Elf like races in games/movies/books. I’m actually an Elezen since the launch of 1.0. Never felt the need to change..
When did you first start playing FFXIV? September 2010.
What drew you to pick up and play FFXIV? I’m a huge fan of the series. Played every FF games beside FFXI. Never played FFXI because I didn’t have time for MMOs while studying.
How far have you gotten into the MSQ (Main Story Questline) of FFXIV? I have done all MSQs currently available.
What was your first (job? class? role?) when you started? Conjurer.
What motivated you to pick that first (job? class? role?)? Always liked healing and spell casting roles in games. Since I wanted to start the game in Gridania, I choose conjurer.
To date, what favorite jobs/roles/classes do you have? My favorite job in game is summoner followed by red mage.
What kind of content do you enjoy? MSQ, Crafting and/or Gathering, Duty Content (dungeons, trials, raids, expert content), Side Quests (Hildebrand, Beast Tribes, Eureka, Bozjan, etc), Collectible getting (mounts, minions, housing items)
What would you say is your favorite content type from above to do? And why? Mmm hard to choose one thing but if I really have to narrow it down I would say Duty Content. I got this game to play with people. If I just wanted to do solo content, I would limit my game time to console games.
What is one thing you like about FFXIV that distinguishes them from other MMOs? The community. I play MMOs do to content with people. I’ve played games that had great content but it’s not fun when you have problems finding people to play with.
If you could make at least 1 change to FFXIV based on personal preference, what would you pick and why? I would revamp the housing system. Not original I know. A lot of people are asking for that. When I pay a monthly suscription for a game, I want access to all it’s content. There is things in game I’ll most likely never have like, for example, the tank mounts. Not because they are not accessible to me but because I don’t want to spend the time and effort to get them. But I could change my mind someday and go for it. When it comes to housing, it’s really just a game of chance. You’ll get a house if you are lucky. No amount of time and effort will give you access to that content. Only luck when I feel like me paying a suscription fee should give me access to it.
What is your most memorable/favorite moment in FFXIV? I can’t think of any funny tale really but one of my favorite moment in game was when we ran one last 8 man MSQ roulette. I think there is still a picture on Discord about that run. For those of you who don’t know, Kiti used to organize a MSQ party almost every night. On the last night before the patch that would revamp and break down MSQ roulette into 4 man party runs, she organized one last run. We had a lot of fun saying our goodbye to the former prae dungeon. And now we are stuck with an Ultima fight MSQ >.>
Do you have any favorite visuals of your character you want to share with the FC for the newsletter? None shared.
When did you join Celestia? July 2015.
What drew you to join Celestia? If my memory serves me right, I left my former FC when or not long after heavensward dropped. I think it was Blessed that spotted me, FCless wandering in LL and asked me if I was interested in joining. I didn’t know much about Celestia but it’s not like I had anywhere else to go so I joined. Right away I like that fact that it was a big FC. I will not go into details of why I left my previous FC here but, at the time, I liked the fact that I could be just another player in the crowd while enjoying the perks of being in an FC.
What do you like about Celestia as a Free Company? For a long time (years), I barely participated in the FC life but I was going on the 24 man runs every chance I got. Beside the fact it’s fun to run 24 man raid with all FC people, I always appreciated that I never felt pressure to perform, that it was ok to make mistakes and that players were never single out for doing poorly. I also always felt accepted even though I was not an active FC member. Celestia is a very accepting and non judgmental FC and that’s one of the thing about it I cherish.
What is your favorite weekly event to participate in with Celestia? I love to do maps! I cannot always join but it’s always a lot of fun. But I have to say my favorite weekly, well actually almost daily, FC activity is Midnight Ocean Fishing! It’s not an official FC event but something Kiti and Sim put together to replace the again non official evening FC MSQ roulette run we used to do. For anyone interested keep an eye out for FC chat. Sim, Kiti or I normally start the group around 11:45 EST and the boat leaves at midnight!
Valkyrie Profile: Lenneth [PS5/PS4] – September 29th
Note: This is going to be at least a port coming to modern consoles. However, it is likely to be a remaster as well. There’s currently no trailers for it, only a general announcement.
As for 2023, there’s a tremendous amount of speculated and confirmed titles regarding their rough release dates:
Forspoken – Jannuary 2023
Like a Dragon: Ishin! – February 2023
Octopath Traveler II – February 2023
Tales of Symphonia: Remastered – Early 2023
The Legend of Heroes: Trails to Azure – Early 2023
Final Fantasy XVI – Summer 2023
GrimGrimoire OnceMore – Summer 2023
Final Fantasy VII Rebirth – Winter 2023
Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot (PS5) – 2023
Persona 3 Portable – 2023
Persona 4 Golden – 2023
Suikoden I & II HD Remaster: Gate Rune and Dunan Unification Wars – 2023
Now you may be thinking, “So many JRPGs, so much to spend on”. Yes, there are quite a lot in the mix here. But there are times where you can take advantage of getting games for cheaper prices and in significant sales.
Holiday sales at major outlets (Gamestop, Best Buy, Target, Walmart, even Amazon) will see numerous games reduced to various prices beginning on Thanksgiving day and Black Friday. Ideally, if a title releases more than 2 months out from this time of the year, it has a good chance of getting reduced. Anything sooner than that is not likely (but there is hope).
Target will also have a Buy 2 Games, Get 1 Free sale that returns a couple of times a year.
Sometimes, Walmart or Best Buy may have a reduction that broadcasts to major savings sites, such as CheapAssGamer aka CAG.
For digital sales, DekuDeals and PSNDeals are a couple of sites that track this.
If you also want to save some money and get pre-owned, Gamestop is one option; but I have also found Gamefly to also be winning on the pre-owned front (they usually take very good care of their rentals, and ensure you get case, artwork, and sometimes even vouchers/codes included; the drawback is their stock tends to focus on recent releases mostly, versus Gamestop having whatever is in the wild).
Meet Zidane. Zidane is a thief. Don’t let a thief steal your stuff.
Please ensure that you safeguard your Final Fantasy XIV account, and your Discord account. Below is a copy-and-paste of my prior announcement made on our Discord server:
I am making a general awareness announcement to the FC in regards to security and safety for both your FFXIV accounts and your Discord accounts. With all of the rampant account hijackings occurring in the Discord world, you may have seen other servers stressing to avoid clicking on ‘sus’ (suspicious) links and downloads, especially from fellow server-mates. We are encouraging the same behavior in Discord so nobody has their Discord accounts hijacked and endangers others. If a member from the FC here does provide suspicious links or downloads directly to you, please reach out to one of our Magistrates ASAP. But what of the FFXIV front?
It turns out that ‘Yes’, you CAN have your FFXIV account get hacked. If a hacker gets your SQEX login that has a XIV account and sub attached to it, they could log in and give you a bad day. Do your diligence and safeguard yourself through the glory of 2-Factor Authentication in both Discord AND in FFXIV.
In FFXIV: Go to your Mog Station page (where you can manage your licenses, go to the shop for buying stuff, etc) > Square Enix Account Settings > “One-Time Password” > Select your choice of “token” or authenticator (per the image attached):
Security Token (key ring type, physical token): Retails for $14.99, no software on phone to juggle
Software Token (smartphone app): No cost, and uses Square Enix’s official Software Token app
Software Authenticator (smartphone app): No cost, offers flexibility on choice of authenticator app (Google, Microsoft, IBM, Authy, etc)
As always, be safe and keep yourselves secure for full enjoyment of these wonderful services, everyone!
Conclusion
The victory theme that launched a JRPG blockbuster…
After a blisteringly hot summer, we now have a chilly cold winter to look forward to. Thankfully, this will not be for some months. As you can see, we will have not just a large schedule of JRPGs on the way by year’s end, but we will also reach the 1 year anniversary of FFXIV: Endwalker. However, there is a certainty that the next expansion will not begin with info releasing until sometime next year. But no matter, as we will have plenty of games to enjoy, and new XIV patches to dabble in as the year progresses.
The next newsletter is slated to appear around this time in October. Until then, see you Space Cowboys Warriors of Light!!!
https://celestiaxiv.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/CEL_Banner_Contest.png00Scarlette Valanorrhttps://celestiaxiv.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/CEL_Banner_Contest.pngScarlette Valanorr2022-09-18 01:15:362022-09-18 13:10:39The Celestia Citizen (Why So Many JRPGs This Holiday Season?! Edition)
Hello, fellow Celestians! Welcome to another edition of the Celestia Citizen newsletter! We are nearly two thirds of the way through the summer season, with fall slated for late September. But before we get to that point, we still have places to go, people to see, and patches to download!
Speaking of patches to download, we are entering the home stretch for the release of the long-waited Patch 6.2. Yes, that great big patch that people thirsted for with the prior Live Letters from the Producer. A patch that would bring the next main story content, as well as a wealth of new things to try. Before we get into that, we need to cover the theme for this month’s newsletter.
The previous newsletter had focused on the famous Pimp My Ride show, which focused on taking junkers, beater, or old cars and giving them a hot, fresh, and stylish take. However, how many car repair shows are out there for us to discuss? Instead, I focused on another type of car show. One that has been well established for decades, focuses more on the presentation and practical meaning of having stylish, powerful cars, and has a much bigger following. I am speaking, of course, of Top Gear.
When it doesn’t want to work, a hammer helps.
Top Gear is a show that began in 1977, presented by Jeremy Clarkson and Andy Wilman on BBC. Based on a motor vehicle magazine, the original show ran to 2001, but was cancelled due to a dated format and a diminishing of presenters that guested on the show. The show was revived in 2002, and saw Clarkson return to present while Wilman was a executive producer. New members Richard Hammond, Jason Dawe, and James May all transitioned in to cover the series for 14 years until 2015. At that point, Clarkson was outed for a non-renewal of his contract, and Clarkson, May, and Wilman left the program to create a new show, The Grand Tour. After that, the series underwent a rough patch for 4 years with a mixture of presenters and hosts, including guest presenter Matt LeBlanc (aka Joey from Friends). In 2019, the show cast Chris Harris, Andrew Flintoff, and Paddy McGuinness for the hosts of the show, and recovered to continue on since then.
With that, out of the way, let us do as the Dwarves do.
Sounds right.
Final Fantasy XIV News
Reading is important, no matter what you are doing.
For Final Fantasy XIV news, the biggest announcement is the obvious one. So we are going to lead with that.
Patch 6.2. Yes, that heavily anticipated patch, teased for months and given hints on what is to come mere weeks ago, is finally due for August 23rd.
For more extensive details following the Live Letter’s premiere on Friday, August 12th, please refer to the #ffxiv-updates channel on the Celestia Discord! This detailed callback to the particulars of Patch 6.2 was brought to you by Harliqyn Mave, and by the Free Company leaders, Blessed and Scura Darkangel! Celestia Discord Server invite link here: https://discord.gg/eZf4XhsQsM
Next, with the meteoric rise of Crystalline Conflict, a 5v5 PvP mode that premiered with Patch 6.1, an official exhibition event has been created and will premiere on September 1st and September 2nd: The Crystalline Conflict Community Cup (North America). Details on the event, including links to the Twitch channel to stream said Cup is available here: https://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodestone/topics/detail/88da49c37af7d49ca2ac858fc6e664fb5b646fcb
NOTE: Our resident PvP officers, Jerilith Alrin and Rekilic Renatus, are putting together teams for Celestia to participate in the Community Cup. All interested parties please reach out to these members via in-game tell OR Discord (preferably Discord).
July was a rather quiet month for events. However, we have a couple of things to still discuss.
Firstly, the Community update.
As of July 8th, the Free Company’s Discord Server switched to a Community format. A couple of benefits therein:
Channels are moderated automatically – If a channel is created, certain settings (including name of channel) will be restricted normally
To make adjustments via moderation, this now requires 2FA/MFA enabling on your Discord account.
Because of this moderation change, the emphasis is being made for our FC members to please avoid any channel names that are suggestive, sexual, crude, lewd, offensive, or outright unsociable. Usernames are exempt from this due to the controls in place to utilize a player’s in-game name as their username on the Celestia Discord server.
The focus of the Free Company is to conduct itself in both a professional and formal manner first. Conversations, messages, content should ideally be moderated with respect & understanding from those who are engaging in it before an Officer gets involved. If you have any questions or concerns, please create a ticket on the Discord server via the #?help channel.
The next item is the promotion of our FC member, Sol Aldrin, to the Artisan position! 🙂 Please make Sol welcome!…before crafting requests are submitted, of course.
One event that unfolded during July was the Lalaball event on July 23rd. Disclaimer: All Lalafells participating have participated of their own volition and consent, and were not harmed beyond professional and sportsmanly level violence. 🙂 Below are some screenshots from the tournament:
Through all of the cries and the screams of competitive Lala-punting, many competitors brought their A-game. Yet the team that would make it to the very end was no other than Ivy Leaf and Gwyn Cinder’sol. The runner up team was Orianne Starshroud and Rynarra Ashton. Third place was Jin Theaceae and Spicy Lady. Please give congratulations to our astute movers of Lalafells! 🙂
Another event that unfolded was the Top Gun PvP Tournament on July 30th. Here, we got to witness our most combative members beat and bash themselves silly for some serious challenge and prizes. Screenshots are below:
Giving us the most glorious of gashings, the sorts of fights that would measure a cinder on the face of Eorzea, many participants have fought their way to the very top of the charts. The winner of the tournament was Kami Kam, with our runner up being Rosalina Hyral. Third place is Zee Zephos. Please congratulate them for their violent tendencies and their hard fought wins! (Wait, which way is it again?)
No upcoming social events for August.
Beyond the Light
So here we are, folks. As promised, we finally have the launch of the Beyond the Light interview section of our Free Company newsletter. The objective in this will be to post one random FC member’s interview for reading in each newsletter that is released. This is purely a means of allowing our FC members to tell the FC about themselves, and moreso their love for Final Fantasy XIV by answering some interview questions.
Below is our first ever interview, brought to you all by our FC member Bugsy Soso.
What is your in-game character’s name? Bugsy Soso.
What race are you currently in-game? Viera.
What drew you into your current choice of race? It was a new race at the time.
When did you first start playing FFXIV? June 2017.
What drew you to pick up and play FFXIV? I just got away from my mmo at the time Lineage 2 and found this appealing with the whole Final fantasy universe.
How far have you gotten into the MSQ (Main Story Questline) of FFXIV? Up to current content.
What was your first (job? class? role?) when you started? Gladiator. (And we don’t mean the movie 🙂 )
What motivated you to pick that first (job? class? role?)? I never pick tank as my first mmo class and wanted a change.
To date, what favorite jobs/roles/classes do you have? Summoner/Dark Knight.
What kind of content do you enjoy? MSQ, Savage Raids, Duties such as dungeons, trials, raids, and expert content; Glamour Collecting, and Collectible getting such as mounts, minions, and housing items.
What would you say is your favorite content type from above to do? And why? Glamour collecting, I just find it calming and fulfilling to make my character look amazing while doing content.
What is one thing you like about FFXIV that distinguishes them from other MMOs? Having one character and belong solely invested in one character.
If you could make at least 1 change to FFXIV based on personal preference, what would you pick and why? Have a better way for casual players to find savage raid player finders.
Tell us about a story of yours from your FFXIV experiences that would make for a fun tale.There was a dungeon back in stormblood when it first came out, I remember playing with two of my friends and we just kept wiping and we did not see it until about 40 minutes of wiping in which I did not repair my gear and they were all broken.
Do you have any favorite visuals of your character you want to share with the FC for the newsletter? None shared.
When did you join Celestia? July 2022.
What drew you to join Celestia? The camaraderie of the FC to help newer players with content but also help older player join savage content.
What do you like about Celestia as a Free Company? Pretty much what drew me in.
What is your favorite weekly event to participate in with Celestia? I have not participated in any weekly events so far but am willing to join soon.
Losing your hard work hits hard like losing your catalytic converter…
Please ensure that you safeguard your Final Fantasy XIV account, and your Discord account. Below is a copy-and-paste of my prior announcement made on our Discord server:
I am making a general awareness announcement to the FC in regards to security and safety for both your FFXIV accounts and your Discord accounts. With all of the rampant account hijackings occurring in the Discord world, you may have seen other servers stressing to avoid clicking on ‘sus’ (suspicious) links and downloads, especially from fellow server-mates. We are encouraging the same behavior in Discord so nobody has their Discord accounts hijacked and endangers others. If a member from the FC here does provide suspicious links or downloads directly to you, please reach out to one of our Magistrates ASAP. But what of the FFXIV front?
It turns out that ‘Yes’, you CAN have your FFXIV account get hacked. If a hacker gets your SQEX login that has a XIV account and sub attached to it, they could log in and give you a bad day. Do your diligence and safeguard yourself through the glory of 2-Factor Authentication in both Discord AND in FFXIV.
In FFXIV: Go to your Mog Station page (where you can manage your licenses, go to the shop for buying stuff, etc) > Square Enix Account Settings > “One-Time Password” > Select your choice of “token” or authenticator (per the image attached):
Security Token (key ring type, physical token): Retails for $14.99, no software on phone to juggle
Software Token (smartphone app): No cost, and uses Square Enix’s official Software Token app
Software Authenticator (smartphone app): No cost, offers flexibility on choice of authenticator app (Google, Microsoft, IBM, Authy, etc)
As always, be safe and keep yourselves secure for full enjoyment of these wonderful services, everyone!
Conclusion
Yes, we did do a thing. We made it nearly to the end of summer, and we are nearly 3/4ths of the way to the end of Year 1 for Endwalker content. Patch 6.2 is due in a few days, with all of the succeeding 6.2x content due in the coming weeks afterward. There’s going to a tremendous amount of stuff to do, giving us our remaining summer and all of fall outlined for stuff to do. Personally, I am looking forward to the Island Sanctuary content to see what we’re in for. If there is one farming simulator I am going to try to get into, it is certainly going to be FFXIV’s farming simulator.
The next newsletter is slated to appear around this time in September. Until then, see you Space Cowboys Warriors of Light!!!
https://celestiaxiv.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/CEL_Banner_Contest.png00Scarlette Valanorrhttps://celestiaxiv.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/CEL_Banner_Contest.pngScarlette Valanorr2022-08-15 00:38:172022-08-16 17:27:57The Celestia Citizen ("Patch My Game" Edition - Part 2: Top Gear...or is it Top Gun?)
Yo, WoL. We heard you wanted more patches in your patches. So we patched the patches in the patches so your patches will get patches.
Hello, fellow Celestians! Welcome to another edition of the Celestia Citizen newsletter! Fresh off of the beginning of summer is the anticipation of the next major patch for the game. However, before such an endeavor could be met, it required one remaining patch to be implemented to complete the 6.1x series. Information on this is available in the next major section of the newsletter.
Now, what is the theme we’re going for this month? With the realization that we were due to not only receive the last of the 6.1x patches this month, with 6.2 slated for late August, and the sheer amount of content we have received, it seemed as if the game was being gradually and continuously ‘pimped’. This is when I had the bright idea to use a classic meme for this month’s theme.
Pimp My Ride is an MTV (Music Television) channel television series that ran for 6 seasons from 2004 to 2007. Starring the rapper Xzibit, the theme was that every episode would deliver a car in poor condition to be restored & customized. The success of the show led to many international series being developed (within the UK, the Baltic States, Brazil, Indonesia, Malaysia, France and others), as well as spinoffs such as Trick my Truck on the CMT (Country Music Television) channel.
Despite the show falling out before the end of the 2000s, it lives on through meme material with the infamous Xzibit meme being commonplace on the internet.
“Yo, dawg”
In addition to discussing the current patch in-game, and the upcoming one, we also have some Free Company specific content to discuss. Let us get to it!
The patch featued mainly PvP action adjustments, addition of a new Japanese data center (Meteor), new worlds within the European Data Center, implementation of the Data Center Travel System, and adjustments to the latest game raid.
The next patch, Patch 6.2, has no official details listed on Lodestone for what is to come. Instead, we will go off of the notes from the prior Live Letter that aired on July 1st. Credit for the capture of notes goes to Harliqyn Mave, as well as Scura and Blessed Darkangel.
Here are some bullet points captured from the July 1st Live Letter:
Buried Memory is the name of the 6.2 Patch
New Main Scenario Quests are coming
Continuation of side quests “Tataru’s Grand Endeavor”
“Somehow Further Hildibrand Adventures” is scheduled for patch 6.25
New Weapon Enhancement Quests are scheduled for patch 6.25 (these will be relevant to the latest Hildibrand content!!!)
New Tribal Questline is scheduled for patch 6.25 (this will focus on Disciples of the Land aka Gathering)
New dungeon – The Fell Court of Troia
New trials (Normal, Extreme, and Unreal) – The Unreal trial will focus on Containment Bay S1T7
New raids (Normal and Savage) – the next wing of Pandaemonium, consisting of four raids. Note that the Savage raid will be delayed by 1 week following 6.2 release, and is subject to change based on developer & community feedback
Job adjustments (PvE, PvP, postponing of targeted adjustments to Dragoon and Astrologian)
Stat adjustments to Critical and Direct Hit stats
PvP content updates (Series Two begins, Season 3 of Crystalline Conflict begins, return of Rival Wings)
MSQ duty adjustmentsfor NPC parties (Snowcloak, The Keeper of the Lake, Sohm Al, The Aery, The Vault)
MSQ quest readjustment to solo duty (The Steps of Faith)
MSQ duty difficulty readjustment (Thornmarch)
Variant Dungeons introduction
Variant Dungeon 1 introduced “The Sil’dihn Subterrane”
Can request repairs from other players IN and OUTSIDE OF duty
Combo Action Map display – This will show action progression to resolve a full combo (i.e. which button to push in order)
Rare materials added to aetherial reductions for Disciples of the Land
Glamour Dresser Capacity increased from 400 to 800
Adjustments to “Return to Ivalice” quests (specifically, “Makin’ Bacon (Bread)” and “Wok on By”)
To read up on the specifics of each major bullet point, please refer to the FC’s Discord server and to the #ffxiv-updates channel for the July 1st notes.
Free Company Updates and Social Events
Gotta get in shape for big changes this summer!
The first topic of discussion is the introduction of new Officers to Celestia. Jerilith Alrin and Rekilic Renatus will now cover PvP Content in a central fashion for the Free Company. Please be sure to welcome them, and defer to them for any PvP related questions.
The second topic of discussion is the introduction of new Artisans to Celestia: Brownie Bites, Elhana Greenwood, and Floki Seidhr. Celestia Artisans provide assistance to all members of the FC for anything crafting or gathering related. Please be sure to welcome them, and use their services for any of your DOL/DOH needs. In addition, we are always interested in recruiting additional Artisans if that aspect of the game appeals to you. For more details, inquire with Simera Yeep, or review the “Becoming an Artisan” post under our #crafting-requests channel.
The next topic of discussion for the Free Company is Officer recruitment advertisements. Currently, the Free Company is seeking interested members willing & wanting to apply for overseeing the following content:
Primal Farming (mount or misc items)
Hunts
Blue Mage Content
All interested parties may apply on the FC Discord server via the Officer Application in #officer-directory channel.
The next topic of discussion is adjustment to the Primal Learning channel on the FC Discord server. It has been revised to Endgame Learning, and will now include learning for all endgame-related content (including Primals). There is also a demand for new recruits wanting & willing to participate in this content when scheduled.
On the Social Event front, there are two upcoming Social Events occurring during the month of July.
On Saturday, July 23rd, there will be a Lalaball tournament. It will involve a bracket based roster, with teams participating in a Best of 3 format. Requirements for this social event are to have a Blue Mage leveled to 70, and to have the Blue Mage spell “Malediction of Water” unlocked (it is spell #98, and acquired from the Swallow’s Compass duty). The FC will provide assistance to interested members in powerleveling Blue Mages, and in procuring the required spell. Please refer to the #social-events channel for details & sign up.
On Saturday, July 30th, there will be a PvP tournament. It will be a one-on-one format, and further details will be made available as the deadline approaches. Please refer to the #pvp-events channel for details & sign up.
On the Miscellaneous Business front, please keep the following in mind for FC business.
If there is a general issue that arises, requiring an Officer or Officers to intervene and assist, please be sure to capture evidence (including screenshots) and document it on a ticket that can be opened in the FC Discord server. Proceed to the #?help channel to create a ticket when needed.
Celestia also has a streaming platform available for all interested FC members. If you wish to advertise your streaming platform & channel for the Free Company, reach out to Kaladin Stormblessed to have specifics added to the FC site for your platform.
Beyond the Light
Who will be the next one on the interview block?
Good news, everyone! This month, Beyond the Light will be finalized for capturing interviews from our various FC members. Expect the form to be available with a formal announcement made on the FC Discord server as early as mid July. The objective will be for all interested FC members to participate in the form, answer some fundamental questions about themselves and their FFXIV experience, provide pictures if desired, and to be entered in for a raffle. This raffle will result in one random member having their interview picked and given a dedicated section for the monthly newsletter. More details to come.
The “Coming Soon” Section
This is a bit of an informal section. I have tapped into my profound love for video games, but moreso into the upcoming games that others may be interested in that are not of a FFXIV nature.
Here are upcoming major games that may interest you (for these are also ones I myself am interested in):
The DioField Chronicle (Nintendo Switch, Playstation, Xbox, PC) – September 22, 2022
Valkyrie Elysium (Playstation 4 & 5) – September 29, 2022; (PC) – November 11, 2022
Persona 5 Royal (Nintendo Switch, Xbox, PC) – October 21, 2022
Star Ocean: The Divine Force (Playstation, Xbox, PC) – October 27, 2022
Harvestella (Nintendo Switch, PC) – November 4, 2022
God of War: Ragnarok (Playstation 4 & 5) – November 9, 2022
Pokemon Scarlet and Pokemon Violet (Nintendo Switch) – November 18, 2022
The Callisto Protocol (Playstation, Xbox, PC) – December 2, 2022
Dragon Quest Treasures (Nintendo Switch) – December 9, 2022
Crisis Core – Final Fantasy VII – Reunion (Playstation, Nintendo Switch, Xbox, PC) – “Winter 2022/2023”
Forspoken (Playstation 5, PC) – “2023”
Discord Server “Community” Update & 2 Factor Authentication/Multi Factor Authentication
Don’t let hackers into your account, or they will find something magnificent or cool to take…
As of July 8th, the Free Company’s Discord Server switched to a Community format. A couple of benefits therein:
Channels are moderated automatically – If a channel is created, certain settings (including name of channel) will be restricted normally
To make adjustments via moderation, this now requires 2FA/MFA enabling on your Discord account.
Please ensure that you safeguard your Final Fantasy XIV account, and your Discord account. Below is a copy-and-paste of my prior announcement made on our Discord server:
I am making a general awareness announcement to the FC in regards to security and safety for both your FFXIV accounts and your Discord accounts. With all of the rampant account hijackings occurring in the Discord world, you may have seen other servers stressing to avoid clicking on ‘sus’ (suspicious) links and downloads, especially from fellow server-mates. We are encouraging the same behavior in Discord so nobody has their Discord accounts hijacked and endangers others. If a member from the FC here does provide suspicious links or downloads directly to you, please reach out to one of our Magistrates ASAP. But what of the FFXIV front?
It turns out that ‘Yes’, you CAN have your FFXIV account get hacked. If a hacker gets your SQEX login that has a XIV account and sub attached to it, they could log in and give you a bad day. Do your diligence and safeguard yourself through the glory of 2-Factor Authentication in both Discord AND in FFXIV.
In FFXIV: Go to your Mog Station page (where you can manage your licenses, go to the shop for buying stuff, etc) > Square Enix Account Settings > “One-Time Password” > Select your choice of “token” or authenticator (per the image attached):
Security Token (key ring type, physical token): Retails for $14.99, no software on phone to juggle
Software Token (smartphone app): No cost, and uses Square Enix’s official Software Token app
Software Authenticator (smartphone app): No cost, offers flexibility on choice of authenticator app (Google, Microsoft, IBM, Authy, etc)
As always, be safe and keep yourselves secure for full enjoyment of these wonderful services, everyone!
Conclusion
So, here we are. At the beginning of yet another month, where we have peaked into summer for the year, we look onward to the next half of the year with great anticipation. Anticipation on what, you may ask? The anticipation that things will get better in the world. That as we continue to improve our living, our happiness, and our love, that we realize that we have overcome trials to get here. Those who have been anticipating major content from Square Enix for Final Fantasy XIV have it to look forward to in the coming weeks. There is a saying: All good things to those who wait. The knowledge that a feature is coming, or a new piece of content is coming, always plants that little seed in one’s mind and thoughts. As it germinates, and grows, we look to it to fully blossom when it has reached its peak. We want it to come quick, and we want it to come when our anticipation is at its greatest. Anticipation can diminish, but the time to reach the end of waiting can too.
As we get closer to the next major patch, it is all a question of what else could come to our favorite MMORPG to encourage us to continue sticking with it for the foreseeable future. Personally, I just want to live out my Harvest Moon fantasies and see what Island Sanctuary has to offer.
Until the patch comes in late August, please keep your patience and your wits about you. And stay safe, healthy, and happy in the meantime. Until next time, see you space cowboys Warriors of Light!
As we ride again, to another end, where it all begins, forge ahead!
https://celestiaxiv.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/CEL_Banner_Contest.png00Scarlette Valanorrhttps://celestiaxiv.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/CEL_Banner_Contest.pngScarlette Valanorr2022-07-10 01:06:302022-07-13 23:28:54The Celestia Citizen ("Patch My Game" Edition - Part 1)
Hello, fellow Celestians! Welcome to yet another edition of the Celestia Citizen newsletter! We are coming into the home stretch for a few things this month: Isolationism from our fellow friends and family, winter, time lost due to illness or seasonal effect, and of course the end of Endwalker’s 6.0 patch. This whole last month has yielded some substantial information coming for the game, giving us more detail in what we can expect for the future. Within the last month, we have had not one but two Live Letters air. The second one occurred just recently, which is why the wait in publishing this newsletter was necessary.
And now here we are, March 2022. The start of the second year into a new decade is well behind us now. But not the start of the second year’s warmer weather. As we see with each new year, it takes some time to get going. But eventually, spring comes, followed by summer, then diminishes with fall and ends with winter. It is an annual cycle that carries symbolism and meaning. As human beings, we take to the idea of beginning and end. Spring represents the start of a new cycle, new life. It grows and matures into the summer, peaks, and then begins to gradually wither down during the fall until we come to the ‘winters’ of our lives. And Endwalker represents the ‘winter’ of a long cycle that began nearly a decade ago. And as the 6.0 patch closed out the end of this epic story’s cycle, so too must it acknowledge the coming of the spring, the coming of the new dawn, the ‘sun’. And with the next patch comes a new dawn, the sun…the spring that heralds a new cycle and a new tale.
In opening, please enjoy the theme of this month’s newsletter: The Beatles’ classic “Here Comes The Sun”, and the fact that Y’shtola can be ruthless towards little suns.
Final Fantasy XIV News
Soon, the warmer activities will come: Picnics, casual walks, dancing mad in the hot sun…
The first order of business is to discuss what to expect for the game in the coming months.
As you have no doubt heard or seen, there were a total of two Live Letters that had occurred within the past month. The first was dated for February 18th, and the second had occurred on March 4th.
Detailed bits of information can be located via the Discord server, under the #ffxiv-updates channel. Please be certain to check there for the capture of information streamed live from both Live Letters, as made possible by our Officer Harliqyn Mave, and our FC leaders Scura Darkangel and Blessed Darkangel.
The ETA on the patch is due for mid-April of 2022. Expect a more exact date to be announced within the next couple of weeks. But here are some significant bullet points to look over:
New MSQ, new side quests, new Beast Tribe quests…and new Hildibrand quests!
Adjustments to ARR duties/dungeons/trials/fights (Note that with how well received the Trust system was for Shadowbringers, and Endwalker, and a recognized desire for some players to enjoy the story without being completely restricted to playing with others, this option is going to be expanded upon with 6.1. This will result in virtually all of the ARR duties, dungeons, trials, and fights getting reworked so a single player can enjoy them without concern. Whether this will extend to Heavensward or Stormblood remains to be seen, but it is likely such changes will be entertained in future patches based on how well this is received).
New Housing area will be live (Ishgard is the central location of the new housing area)
New custom deliveries
New high level duties
New feature that will allow players to ‘try on’ FFXIV store items before buying (Yes, you will be able to see how outfits look on your character now without having to Google images or gamble your money on something mediocre)
And more!!!
Again, please refer to the Discord server > #ffxiv-updates channel for details. For those who are interested in jumping onto Discord for the FC, please use the invite link here ->: https://discord.gg/A5qFuR667J
Next, we have a double whammy of in-game events hitting us. These were announced just as the newsletter was due to go live, and have been captured for direct reference here.
The second in-game event is the return of Moogle Tomestones for a new event. This involves running various duties, dungeons, raids, and fights to accumulate Moogle Tomestones. These Tomestones can be exchanged for uncommon and rare goods that are normally locked behind performing other, standardized content. It is an annual event, which gives players opportunities to collect items that are hard-to-get, even unique (one event yielded a rare mount that was available for a limited time to specific players, the Falcon). Details listed here:https://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodestone/special/mogmog-collection/202203/dceh8sj926
One other important bit of news is the resumation of automatic demolition. Please understand that due to the congestion and accessibility issues that plagued the game for the last couple of months, the automatic demolition was shut off. However, with vast improvements to the game’s systems and servers, and with continual improvement to resolve the game’s accessibility for all interested players, this has led the development team to re-evaluate the current state of automatic demolition. It was originally scheduled for March 9th, but has been delayed back again due to real life circumstances in the world today. Link to article: https://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodestone/news/detail/edc73335fc4cf73645af505e0c8b104d6a595126
Now, for some merchandising news. In the coming months, there will be a series of FFXIV themed merchandise releasing. These include: soundtracks, detailed information about the Eorzean world, short stories available for personal ownership, and posters!
NOTE: The collection of short stories above combines a mix of stories that were available on the FFXIV site to read, as well as some new ones from the development team.
NOTE: In addition to all of the upcoming items above, you may also try your hand at ordering available FFXIV artbooks and even cookbooks that are available to buy now. Note that many of these items, upcoming and available now, will also feature in-game bonuses in the form of different minions to collect!!!
And lastly, we are now in the last few days of the current FFXIV Online Store’s sale! It is due to end on March 10th, at 1100am PST. There are numerous mounts on sale, including the Lunar Whale and the Cruise Chaser mounts, as well as prior releases such as the Chocobo Carriage, the SDS Fenrir, and more!!! Note that numerous mounts on sale are ACCOUNT-WIDE; but there are some that are single character, so be mindful of what you buy! There are also some costumes on sale as well, including many of the recent ones released in the last few months (one of which is the Ryne outfit, which alas is NOT dyeable). The link to the Online Store and the current sale’s details are here: https://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodestone/topics/detail/5a0226acfab3191d83bc39c696120734f0f658d2
That is all that we have right now for major FFXIV news. Stay tuned over the next month to find out what else might be in store!!!
Free Company Updates and Social Events
Dance, dance, dance revolution!!! And for Officer Auction…
Things were nice and quiet on the Free Company side this past month.
The most recent event held pitted our glorious Officers at the mercy of being paid to do whatever their fellow FC mates wished…within reason, of course.
The Officer Auction saw a slew of our Officers bid upon by willing patrons to do whatever one sought for a short amount of time.
Don’t expect the Full Monty here, but it can get pretty close…
Regarding the summary of the Officer Auction event, here are the Officers and the winning bidders:
The next social event scheduled will pit RNG against TFC (the FC) in the form of Celestia Bingo! Signups are on the Discord server via the #social-event channel. Be sure to sign up there, as the event is scheduled March 19th at 800 EST.
Also, as a general notice to our fellow Free Company members, please understand this special message. With circumstances in real life regarding certain political or military movements, please be sure to keep respectful and considerate of any of our fellow members that may, or may not, have any ties to those elements. As a Free Company, we need to be bigger and better than what the world allows for. We aim to be a respectful, considerate, and open community that welcomes all FFXIV players to join the fold on Hyperion server. Understand a very simple saying: Treat people the way you want to be treated. Always aim for the best out of people. And when all else fails, be nice.
Always be nice…until it’s time not to be nice.
The Spring Equinox, and Daylight Savings Time
One fine moment of spring beauty is the petals of a cherry blossom tree.
Beginning in March, there are two significant events to keep in mind.
The first is Daylight Savings Time. It is due to occur on Sunday, March 13th at 200am EST. This will result in clocks going forward by 1 hour, and will remain that way until Sunday, November 13th at 200am EST. At that point, clocks will go back by an hour. Per the saying “spring forward, fall back”. The concept of Daylight Savings Time is listed on the official Wikipedia page here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daylight_saving_time
The whole concept of Daylight Savings Time is a very interesting read, and there are movements right now to eliminate Daylight Savings Time with regard to the continued shifting of clocks. Currently, all but two states in the United States observe the annual changes (Arizona and Hawaii do not formally recognize and use DST; the former does observe it within Native American nations), and most of Europe observes the annual changes. To date, many places in the world that used to observe Daylight Savings Time have retired the concept. Some places, such as numerous parts of Africa, many countries in the Asia and Oceania regions, have never observed Daylight Savings Time.
The other major event is the Spring Equinox (aka Vernal Equinox), due to begin on March 21st. This is when the sun moves across the equinox (the separating line that cuts from east to west on the global map AND separates the Northern hemisphere from the Southern hemisphere), and brings warmer weather to the Northern half with cooler weather in the Southern half. This usually leads to longer days and shorter nights. The next transition of the seasons will be on June 22nd, when the Summer Solstice occurs.
The reason why this is being brought up is as warmer weather opens up and allows people to interact together and go out into the world again, this will affect one’s availability to play the game. Understand that while many events are weekly and many are monthly or annually, know that you are under NO obligation to attend every event. Pick and choose the ones you want to participate in, and focus on your real life first. Our FC is very understanding. 🙂 And also know that if you ever need to abstain from the game for a period of time, be sure to let one of our Officers/Magistrates know so that you are given a fair shake on returning to the game.
Don’t let hackers into your account, or they will find something magnificent or cool to take…
This is being revisited in another newsletter. And it will be vital for us to keep beating our FC members over the head with this critical news, for it is for their security that this is being done.
Please ensure that you safeguard your Final Fantasy XIV account, and your Discord account. Below is a copy-and-paste of my prior announcement made on our Discord server:
I am making a general awareness announcement to the FC in regards to security and safety for both your FFXIV accounts and your Discord accounts. With all of the rampant account hijackings occurring in the Discord world, you may have seen other servers stressing to avoid clicking on ‘sus’ (suspicious) links and downloads, especially from fellow server-mates. We are encouraging the same behavior in Discord so nobody has their Discord accounts hijacked and endangers others. If a member from the FC here does provide suspicious links or downloads directly to you, please reach out to one of our Magistrates ASAP. But what of the FFXIV front?
It turns out that ‘Yes’, you CAN have your FFXIV account get hacked. If a hacker gets your SQEX login that has a XIV account and sub attached to it, they could log in and give you a bad day. Do your diligence and safeguard yourself through the glory of 2-Factor Authentication in both Discord AND in FFXIV.
In FFXIV: Go to your Mog Station page (where you can manage your licenses, go to the shop for buying stuff, etc) > Square Enix Account Settings > “One-Time Password” > Select your choice of “token” or authenticator (per the image attached):
Security Token (key ring type, physical token): Retails for $14.99, no software on phone to juggle
Software Token (smartphone app): No cost, and uses Square Enix’s official Software Token app
Software Authenticator (smartphone app): No cost, offers flexibility on choice of authenticator app (Google, Microsoft, IBM, Authy, etc)
As always, be safe and keep yourselves secure for full enjoyment of these wonderful services, everyone!
Upcoming Newsletter Changes
“What would you say…you do here?”
This section warranted its own, in light of a couple of upcoming newsletter changes I am going to look into.
To expand the social reach of our Free Company, and give our members some interactivity with the others, one big change I am looking into will be a new section: Behind the Light
The goal of this section will be to provide our FC some social outreach at the embarassment willing participation of our officers and members.
This month, and for future months, a raffle of sorts will be held between our officers, and our FC members. At random, one officer and one member will be picked.
Note: This will currently be restricted to those on Discord, to allow for ease of communication and documentation of exact answers to avoid any hearsay (or embellishment of genuine answers)
This Officer and this Member will have carefully vetted questions posited to ask them about their experiences both as a FFXIV player, and as a Free Company member. Do NOT expect such spicy questions as favorite underwear color or choice, or their thoughts on politics. Instead, expect more reasonable questions such as: Their general history with the game, and the FC; Their favorite jobs with simple ‘Why’ questions, as well as many others. The goal of this will be show that irregardless of one’s role within the FC, we are all fellow players and we have our own lives in-game too.
More details will follow in the next newsletter.
Even Yoshi P is curious of what secrets will be dredged up.
Conclusion
And so comes the End…as we Walk towards it…and a New Adventure
Here’s the conclusion of our newsletter. As you can tell, we’ve had quite a bit to cover with this month. New FFXIV content finally arriving with a juicy patch or two, a new Spring, the absence of sleep for an hour, new social events and newsletter tidbits, and more. I want to thank everyone for their continued support of this wonderful game and wonderful Free Company. As we venture into warmer times of the year, and we start returning to some normalcy with real life, understand that there will always be something to look forward to on the horizon.
Whether it is a new job, a new car, a new place to live, a new plan for the year, a new family, a new friend (or friends), or more, there is always room for discovery within one’s self and without. Be sure to use this year to meet new friends, reunit with loved ones, improve your life for the better, and keep things always going towards the greater good for yourself.
Have a song about bright sunshiny days. And see you, Space Warriors of Light!!!
https://celestiaxiv.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/CEL_Banner_Contest.png00Scarlette Valanorrhttps://celestiaxiv.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/CEL_Banner_Contest.pngScarlette Valanorr2022-03-06 21:45:512022-03-07 22:09:08The Celestia Citizen (Here Comes The (Little) Sun Edition)
Hello, fellow Celestians! Welcome to yet another edition of the Celestia Citizen newsletter! This one comes red hot, as hot as love and as red as a beautiful heart! But what is better than one heart than TWO? Considering we’re entering into February, the month where we get to enjoy the most romantic day of the year (Valentine’s Day), it seems fitting that the theme for this month is love. Love for what, you may ask? Well, Phil Collins music is lovable. Which is why I have his upbeat classic “Two Hearts” posted here for your enjoyment. Credit goes to the Phil Collins channel on Youtube, Youtube itself, and of course the man himself, Phil Collins!
Before we get into the meat of this month’s newsletter, here’s some fun trivia: Phil Collins is a music legend in his own right, but he also has a famous daughter. Lily Collins has starred most recently in Emily in Paris on Netflix, but also has starred in some recent movies such as Mank, Extremely Wicked – Shockingly Evil and Vile, Okja, Rules Don’t Apply, and the film adaptation of the Mortal Instruments book series’ first volume (which turned instead into Shadowhunters, the TV series, starring instead Katherine McNamara).
Final Fantasy XIV News
Here’s to you, Mr Yoshi-P…
First out the gate: Live Letter TIME!!!
On February 18th, the next Live Letter, “Letter from the Producer”, will air at 600pm PST. A couple of tidbits to expect will be the typical Endwalker Q&A, as well as the rough outline for the next 10 years of FFXIV. Links to the Youtube and Twitch channels are below:
A new approach to covering Free Company content for Celestia is merging any and all FC specific updates and social event notices into its own block here.
Let’s start off with the first of our two social events that have transpired: The Lalaball Tournament (writeup below brought to you by our resident Officer, Simera Yeep).
On Sunday January 15, four intrepid players came to the Zee Zephos Sporting Arena to compete for glory at the Celestia Lalaball Tournament : Aminore Vespertine, Fred’a Iblis, Chitee Pa’town, and Faey Baali. Donning her black and white, the ball was played by Simera Yeep. Games were played to five points, and the series were played as a best of three.
The first series pitted Faey and Aminore against Fred’a and Chitee, and was won by the former 2 games to 1. All games were very close, but some strong defensive play by Aminore shut down the other team and was key in their game 3 victory giving them a series win.
Faey & Aminore after their game 3 win in the first series
Series 2 saw a reshuffling of teams, as Faey’s solid shooting skills made him a valuable free agent who was promptly scooped up in the off-season by Fred’a. That proved a wise investment, as the duo overcame a rough game 1 start and dominated game 2, 5-0, and winning the series 2-0.
With most participants winded by the hard-fought struggles of punting a lala up and down a lawn, Fred’a and Faey opted to play one more exhibition match, 1 on 1. Fred’a showed what he had learned from his Series 2 teammate and won this match.
Congratulations to all our players, and we look forward to sharing the fun with more CEL teams in the future!
The other social event that we had unfold occurred this prior weekend (January 29th), where our FC mates took to the glorious seas to appease Leviathan for generous bounties through Ocean Fishing.
As this was a casual event, there was no competitive awards to disclose or give out. Instead, this event allowed FC members to both level up their Fisherman job and to socialize with those they have not seen since the holidays.
Next, one upcoming social event is an annual tradition among many: The Officer Auction! Here’s the announcement per Blackhawk Slater, another of our resident Officers:
Hello, please join us on Saturday February 26th at 8PM EST, 5PM PST for our next FC event, Officer Auction! Every member who attends will be given a number of points to bet on winning an officer of their choice. The officers will provide the audience with the tasks they are willing to perform if you win them. The winner will then get to use that officer for some tasks for a designated amount of time. The officers are the prizes so no additional prizes will be handed out. Please let me know if you have any questions. Please sign up on the #social-event channel (on the Discord server) if you are going to attend.
In terms of any FC specific news, nothing on the grapevine as of yet. Be sure to sign up on the Discord server and look toward our #announcements channel for further major news.
It isn’t often that I get to cover a holiday or extend definition and meaning behind it, but I figure with this new year, one thing we could try different is to share context behind many widely recognized holidays. And what could be among the earliest of these than the most romantic day of the year?
Saint Valentine was a Roman who was also involved with the clergy under the Christian faith. He lived during the 3rd century, having lived from 226 AD to 269 AD (42/43 years old). He was martyred on February 14th, which became associated with being known as the Feast of Saint Valentine (a Christian Feast Day). Although it is not easy to trace the exact moment that this day became known as a day of romance and love, the earliest correlation of it as a day of romance originated from one of Geoffrey Chaucer’s stories, the Parliament of Fowls (published 1382). Other correlations have been attributed to the Roman Lupercalia (a February 15th holiday where a festival is held to promote fertility and health), and to the Charter of the Court of Love (issued by Charles VI of France in 1400 to declare it as an annual celebration of love).
The modern interpretation of Valentine’s Day involves many recent traditions having become commonplace: Chocolate exchanges were the product of Cadbury in 1868, when they designed the first ‘Fancy Boxes’ – Heart shaped boxes of chocolates. Flowers, specifically red roses, were associated during the 17th century to Valentine’s Day as a remembrance to Venus/Aphrodite (Roman/Greek). One of the goddess of love’s stories involves her lover, Adonis, becoming mortally wounded. Where his tears and blood mixed and fell, that is from where the first red roses bloomed. Her son, Eros, also had summoned roses across the land when he married his love. As for greeting cards, the earliest of these was in 1797 when paper valentines had originated with red lace, ribbons, and thoughtful sketches and poems set within.
That’s all I had to say on this particularly red holiday.
But what of Saint Valentione’s Day? Unfortunately, there is no news yet on when this year’s event is due to happen. However, if the timing is to be proper, expect that news will come within the next couple of weeks. Be sure to check the news on Lodestone, and within the Discord server for details!
Don’t let the wrong person get the key to your heart…or your account.
This is being revisited in another newsletter. And it will be vital for us to keep beating our FC members over the head with this critical news, for it is for their security that this is being done.
Please ensure that you safeguard your Final Fantasy XIV account, and your Discord account. Below is a copy-and-paste of my prior announcement made on our Discord server:
I am making a general awareness announcement to the FC in regards to security and safety for both your FFXIV accounts and your Discord accounts. With all of the rampant account hijackings occurring in the Discord world, you may have seen other servers stressing to avoid clicking on ‘sus’ (suspicious) links and downloads, especially from fellow server-mates. We are encouraging the same behavior in Discord so nobody has their Discord accounts hijacked and endangers others. If a member from the FC here does provide suspicious links or downloads directly to you, please reach out to one of our Magistrates ASAP. But what of the FFXIV front?
It turns out that ‘Yes’, you CAN have your FFXIV account get hacked. If a hacker gets your SQEX login that has a XIV account and sub attached to it, they could log in and give you a bad day. Do your diligence and safeguard yourself through the glory of 2-Factor Authentication in both Discord AND in FFXIV.
In FFXIV: Go to your Mog Station page (where you can manage your licenses, go to the shop for buying stuff, etc) > Square Enix Account Settings > “One-Time Password” > Select your choice of “token” or authenticator (per the image attached):
Security Token (key ring type, physical token): Retails for $14.99, no software on phone to juggle
Software Token (smartphone app): No cost, and uses Square Enix’s official Software Token app
Software Authenticator (smartphone app): No cost, offers flexibility on choice of authenticator app (Google, Microsoft, IBM, Authy, etc)
As always, be safe and keep yourselves secure for full enjoyment of these wonderful services, everyone!
Conclusion
Love is wherever you find it…
I think that’s enough for us to discuss from this long start of the year. As we are a month into a new year, wondering what the next few months will bring us, please remember this. Know that not every single one of us has someone there. Whether it’s a loved one, or a dear friend who is supportive and equally lonely, or a pet that we keep for company, or just shunning this holiday out of pure choice, know that everyone will go into this month and this holiday with their own plans.
But do not let yourself be confined to the mundane and the safe. If you are on the lookout for love, start by going out and looking for it. Go to your favorite hangout spots, join a forum or a website or a server (on Discord), get out and meet people. And if you cannot find someone in time for this wonderful holiday, know that it’s just a day. The world will not end for you if love cannot be found on or before this day. Love is eternal, random, powerful, and universal in its application among every one of us. While we have Thanksgiving to be thankful, Christmas to be caring, New Year’s to be hopeful, we have Valentine’s Day to be loving. Because that…is the power of love. In closing here, enjoy Huey Lewis and the News’s classic (brought to you by their channel, Youtube, and the band itself…and Back to the Future, of course).
Here we go again with another year of illness, being stuck at home, getting better, and stuck with some of the things that bring us joy in life, such as FFXIV.
Hello, fellow Celestians! Welcome to yet another edition of the Celestia Citizen newsletter! This one was running a tad later than usual due to the Christmas & New Year’s holidays, and my battling last minute illness the prior weekend. Normally, I aim to get this newsletter done within the first week of the month. Apologies for the lateness. On another note, here we are in another new year. We are already 1/5th thru the new decade and have many years to go before we hit the end of it. This year brings another year where we must hope for the better, pray for the best, and support each other in our most needful of times. Be sure to continue wishing your fellow man, woman, FC member, and whomever a merry happy new year!!! And with that out of the way, let’s press on with news!
Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker News
What sorts of juicy details await in the cheeseburger of XIV news?
First off, all of the major congestion issues occurring through December with the holidays, the game launch, and the influx of players back to the world of Eorzea have been MASSIVELY improved. While there are still queues to contend with, many technical issues on the backend have been addressed. Continue to expect queue times and potential waits when jumping into the game, especially during peak hours. Idle timers are still in effect until further notice, so ensure you do not leave your game unattended for too long lest you be returned to the login screen.
Secondly, the game is enjoying a wonderful winter sale on its Optional Items page. This features numerous discounts on holiday-themed items (such as outfits from prior Heavensturn events, the festive equivalent to Christmas in Eorzea, mounts, decorations, etc). There is also the addition of the Snowman mount from a prior Heavensturn event. Details on the sale: https://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodestone/topics/detail/10d609668ba906567bd68cf539ea6e483dbfec04
Fourth, the latest patch for the game, Patch 6.05, has been implemented. Major changes include: New treasure maps with a new area (Timeworn Kumbhiraskin Maps, and the Excitatron 6000 area), new Savage raids (Pandaemonium was added in with 6.01; Savage variant added in with this patch), new mounts, minions, items, and many other skill and bug fixes. Details on the patch here: https://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodestone/topics/detail/674bcc0a4da4caba1ded710a7af99389094d52a8
Lastly, expect the next major patch, 6.1, to release in another couple of months. What could be in it? One expectation is the new housing system, which will change how new houses are acquired. This couples with Ishgard’s new housing zones, which will be available in this patch then (if you want to see what to expect, go to the Firmament in Ishgard).
Also, be sure to expect the following in the near future: additional duties, raids, more story mode content, and one major feature coming to FFXIV: Island Sanctuary. We received tidbits on this feature during Endwalker press events last year. It is to be a mode where the Warrior of Light will participate in a Stardew Valley/Harvest Moon type of mode. As to what specifics will be coming with it, it remains to be seen. But considering the success these ‘slice-of-life’ titles have for some gamers (offering simple stories, many things to do/craft/gather/harvest, and the opportunity to build up from nothing, and offer ease-of-access for someone who just wants to enjoy a casual game), having a fanbase of millions of players get to enjoy that approach in their favorite MMO is a welcome feature.
The true endgame: Retiring from world saving to farming Thavnairian Onions
Now, here’s some fun trivia: In FFXIV, there have been uses of some guest actors that have hailed from one of the largest fantasy properties to have come about in recent years: Game of Thrones, based on A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin. Please note that there will be spoilers based on where one is in the overall FFXIV story.
Joe Dempsie (Gendry from Game of Thrones) plays Ardbert.
Michael McElhatton (Roose Bolton from Game of Thrones) plays Gaius van Baelsar.
And lastly, Gemma Whelan (Yara Greyjoy from Game of Thrones) voiced both Igeyorhm the Ascian, and returned for Endwalker to voice Ameliance (not pictured).
And here’s one more guest voice actor who isn’t Game of Thrones:
Toby Regbo (who appeared in the fictional shows Reign, The Last Kingdom, Medici: Masters of Florence, and most recently A Discovery of Witches) voiced Hythlodaeus (not pictured).
Social Events
We gonna party like it’s 1999 2020!!!
First off, we must acknowledge our prior major event: The Holiday Party and Darts Event!
This event involved jumping from the high tower in Coerthas Central Highlands in a blind direction to land as close to the resident target for the event as possible.
The following members won the Darts event by being closest to our resident target:
Secondly, there was one other event held recently: The FC Room Decorating Contest, which focused on Christmas theme this year.
The following members took home the winning spots:
Elyn Softflame – 1st Place
Kitiara Kittiana – 2nd Place
Carletta Deremora and Urbosa Vah’naboris – Tied for 3rd and 4th Places
Also, here is an image from the Holiday Party, showing all of our fellow FC members (or as many as we could fit on screen at the time…)
Our next social event coming is on Saturday, January 29th, which is the Ocean Fishing Event! Be sure to jump to Discord and check the #social-event channel for specifics, or reach out to Blackhawk Slater for details!
Sometimes, it be like that.
Buff Schedule for FC
Sometimes, you just need to get a buff or few…
Beginning with Endwalker, the FC prioritized the usage of specific buffs in order to benefit its members for gaining experience through battle, crafting, and gathering. This change was implemented at the cost of teleportation fees (which saw a tremendous buff in cost with the new expansion due to developer changes). Where teleportation fees ranged as high as 999 gil prior to Endwalker, the fees are now as high as 1500 gil per teleport (this is all based on distance from place-to-place, as well as if you are visiting another world). To mitigate this, one of a couple of options could have been implemented: Aetheryte tickets, FC mitigation, setting preferred/home locations. With Endwalker, new players would have had great difficulty managing teleportation costs with low stockpiles of Gil. However, as of January 4th, the FC has returned to its regular Buff rotation.
On 1/4, Teleport 3 buffs (40% reduction in teleport cost) will be in effect for 2 weeks (until 1/18), then will return to Teleport 2 buffs (30% reduction in teleport cost).
On 1/4 and onward, until further notice, the following buff schedule is in effect as well:
Mon – Randomized (there is a weekly poll in the #announcements channel on the FC discord)
Tues – Food
Wed – Gathering
Thurs – Crafting
Fri – Battle (3 for a couple of weeks, then 2)
Sat – MGP (this benefits the weekly Cactpot draw)
Sun – Battle (3 for a couple of weeks, then 2)
It is recommended, but not required, to take advantage of these buffs for marginal gains on whichever task you may set yourself to. That extra boost, combined with food, manuals, Well-Rested bonus, job bonuses (if you have a combat, crafting, or gathering job at a higher level than others of the same type, they will also benefit from XP boosts until they are same level as your highest), and more will all help with the climb to 90.
There is one more note regarding proprietary buffs with the Aetherial Wheels. I will explain this in the best detail that I can (these notes were provided with explanation by our resident Aurora Lightsnow 🙂 ):
The big reason why there are far more frequent Tier 1 and 2 grade buffs than Tier 3 buffs is due to the amount of resources/time needed to create the higher tiers. While Tiers 1/2 are obtainable via crafting or using FC credits from the Grand Company vendor, Tier 3 is a different monster. It requires crafted components, gathering materials to make them, and the materials are not obtainable solely through gatherers. FC airships are implemented to collect some of these resources. The airships take time to travel and gather. Once the materials are gathered, they are crafted into raw “Wheels” when finished. These wheels are naturally expensive on the market board and are always in limited supply (therefore it’s more efficient for cost to gather and craft them).
The Tier 3 wheels, being in a raw state at this point, require about 72 Real Life Hours (3 days) to charge. This leads to a maximum of two Tier 3 buffs that can be implemented in a week.
To summarize it: Tier 3 takes about 3 days at least to charge a single buff for the FC to use. Behind the scenes, it is a lot of work. Please appreciate the amount of work, time, and money that our fellow officers go through to bring this to everyone.
Want More Final Fantasy to Play on PC?
When Chaos?
Here’s a Final Fantasy related post. Aside from XIV, which Final Fantasy would you like to enjoy on PC? Well, here’s the good news: You will get to enjoy ALL of them!
Alright, not all of them in an official capacity. However, PC has the advantage of having ALL of the mainline entries available to enjoy.
This begins with the Final Fantasy “Pixel Remaster” project, whose goal is to bring some updates to the retro series of Final Fantasy games (encompassing the original thru to VI).
All 6 can be gotten through Steam (Final Fantasy VI is due for release February 2022).
Next, we have the 3D generation of Final Fantasy titles (encompassing VII thru XIII: Lightning Returns).
All of these can also be acquired through Steam.
Lastly, we have the modern generation of Final Fantasy titles: Final Fantasy XV, Final Fantasy VII Remake (Part 1), and Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin.
Final Fantasy XV is available on Steam currently. Final Fantasy VII Remake (Part 1), while on PC, is currently available through Epic Games Store (this is expected to last anywhere from 6 months to a full year due to exclusivity deals between Square Enix and Epic Games). Once the exclusivity deal wears off, it will then be available on Steam. Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origins (which is a modern remake of the original Final Fantasy) is expected March 18, 2022. Details here: https://square-enix-games.com/sopffo/en-us/
Final Fantasy XVI is the next mainline entry into the series expected, alongside Final Fantasy VII Remake (Part 2). However, further news on these is due to come later this year.
Better late than never.
Conclusion
Like Shadowbringers to Endwalker, it is always darkest just before the dawn…
Here we are. At the end of another year, another Final Fantasy XIV expansion…and the Final Fantasy XIV story itself, as told from 2010 with A Realm Reborn. Across a main game, and 4 expansions, we have experienced the telling of the story of Hydaelyn and Zodiark. We’ve traveled almost the entire world of Hydaelyn, and experienced a story spanning a long decade. We’ve witnessed the coming and going of many folks: players, NPCs, story characters. And despite the feels we’ve experienced along the way, none of them will hit as hard as what Endwalker has managed to do.
The reception to Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker has been met with universal acclaim. To date, Shadowbringers has a 90/100 on Metacritic with a 9.2 user rating. Endwalker currently sits at 91/100 with a 9.5 user rating. Despite the story reaching its end, it has managed to tie up things in a beautiful bow and has led to a finish line with 10+ years of payoff being rewarded. Now, we have the next 2 years to look forward to seeing what is to come for the next major story of Final Fantasy XIV.
As for the FC itself, I do wish to bring up a couple of talking points. For one, understand that despite this being the start of a new year, it is also winter time. This is where people will feel both at their best and their worst. We’ve had a long year, and there is another long year ahead. Things may not seem at their best right now, but they are not at their worst as of yet. Keep on hoping in the face of uncertainty.
We will get through this. I promise you.
Even if it’s just a fool’s hope.
Know that one of the greatest things we can have in the world right now is hope. It’s stronger than fear.
It’s deep inside of us all, where none can get to nor touch.
Despite all the terrible things that are happening, we always have to believe something good will come of it.
This is, after all, the season of perpetual hope. Just as winter comes, so will spring.
Anyways, this is turning into a wall of gifs and quotes, so I am going to cut it here. Just be sure to keep hope, and always strive to be excellent to each other. Look forward to the next newsletter, which will be expected during the first week of February. See you, space cowboys Warriors of Light.
https://celestiaxiv.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/CEL_Banner_Contest.png00Scarlette Valanorrhttps://celestiaxiv.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/CEL_Banner_Contest.pngScarlette Valanorr2022-01-09 23:13:282022-01-10 03:28:22The Celestia Citizen (The End is Walked Edition)
![Spoiler 4.? 5.x?] One of the best changes in voice actors. : r/ffxiv](https://preview.redd.it/9l7u467fpug51.png?width=640&crop=smart&auto=webp&s=e83744eeba427bc7132f805e49fb46961586c602)
