The Celestia Citizen (“A Midsummer Anniversary’s Reborn” Edition

Hello, fellow Celestians! Welcome to another edition of the Celestia Citizen newsletter! This month’s newsletter will focus on the usual round of content that will encompass the last month, as well as what is to come in the upcoming month.

With us being in August now, we are officially midsummer. The inspiration behind the title was a classic story: A Midsummer Night’s Dream, a Shakesperean comedy that has seen much history behind it, especially with a notable 1999 adaptation featuring an all-star cast (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Midsummer_Night%27s_Dream). Also, this month marks the anniversary (specifically the 10th anniversary) of Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn.

Be sure to read on for quite a bit of news regarding the game, the Free Company, and our newest Beyond the Light interview!

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Final Fantasy XIV News

First, Final Fantasy XIV will be having its 10th anniversary for A Realm Reborn (August 24th). With this anniversary, there will be a pair of events to celebrate it: The Rising seasonal event, and a new Moogle Treasure Trove event (both scheduled for August 27th).

Next here is the news that so many are looking to read up on: The formal announcement of the next Final Fantasy XIV expansion, Dawntrail, which premiered at Final Fantasy FanFest in Las Vegas!

Some general tidbits for the game:

-The game is scheduled for Summer 2024 release

-The next main story questline (MSQ) will bring a level cap of 100

-Hildibrand will return for a new story continuing into this expansion

-The next round of system requirements (PC) have been announced (both Minimum and Recommended):

-Two new jobs will be coming: A melee DPS, and a caster DPS

-A graphical update of the game will take place, which will not affect PS4 functionality

-Dyeable items will be able to use two different dyes

-An additional item category, Eyeglasses, will be added and will NOT take up a head slot or require its own slot

-House furnishing limit increase (planned for 7.x, but subject to further announcement)

-Free Trial for Final Fantasy XIV will now expand to include the Stormblood storyline

-Xbox Version of Final Fantasy XIV is scheduled to launch in Spring 2024, with an open beta scheduled to begin around Patch 6.5’s launch. Progress from the open beta will carry over to the full game for all participants, so game/character progress will not be lost.

On July 18th, patch 6.45 released in-game. Read the linked article here for details: https://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodestone/topics/detail/2a6c65f39b5b16b58bd4f0d9b1edaa8c0b7ec4f3

Next, Patch 6.48 is slated for Tuesday, August 8th. PvP Season 7 (Crystalline Conflict) will end and Season 8 will begin. Series 4 will continue until Patch 6.5. There will also be some changes to bosses, as well as jobs.

Next, we have general details on the upcoming Patch 6.5 release (This is only some of the information that was premiered as Part 1 of the Patch).

-Ability to Store Optional Items in the Armoire

-Crystalline Conflict Update: Minimap and UI Adjustments and The Red Sands arena

-Duty Support for Stormblood: The Burn, The Drowned City of Skalla, The Ghimlyt Dark

–Endwalker Tribal Alliance Quests – Patch 6.55, requires you to finish “Dreams Come True,” “The Hippo Riders,” and “Life, the Universe, and Coffee Beans” from Arkasodara, Loporrit, and Omicron.

–Fall Guys Collaboration at Gold Saucer – Patch 6.5x

-Free Trial Expanded to Include Stormblood

-Further Manderville Weapons – Patch 6.55

-Green Dot Indicators on Newly Logged Fish in Fish Guide

-IL Restrictions for Duty Roulette: Alliance Raid Based on Level

-Island Sanctuary Updates: New Animals, Craftable Items, Crops, Felicitous Favors handicraft requests from Felicitous Furball unlocked via 6.5 progress, Isleworks Handicrafts, Materials, Ranks, Structures, Visions, and Wilds Gathering Area

-Job Adjustments (PvE/PvP)

-Main Scenario Quests – Part 1 in early-October 2023 and part 2 in mid-January 2024

-New Alliance Raid: Myths of the Realm Part 3 – Thaleia

-New Consecutive Aetherial Reduction Function for Collectables

-New Custom Deliveries: Margrat

-New Dungeon: The Lunar Subterrane

-New Reward for Obtaining all trial Mounts in 6.x Patch Series

-New Trials: Zeromus The Abyssal Fracture and The Abyssal Fracture (Extreme)

-New Unreal Trial: The Singularity Reactor (Unreal)

-Option to Sort Teleport Destinations by Expansion

-PvP Updates: PvP Series 5 Begins and Season 8 Runs from 6.48 on August 8, 2023 until 6.51.-

-Somehow Further Hildibrand Adventures – Patch 6.55

-Splendorous Tools – Patch 6.55

-Tataru’s Grand Endeavor Continues – Patch 6.55

-Variant & Criterion Dungeon #3: Aloalo Island at Normal, Criterion, and Criterion (Savage) Difficulty with Matsya – Patch 6.51, unlock doesn’t require finishing Sil’dihn Subterrane and Mount Rokkon

Next, the Moonfire Faire will be occurring on August 10th until August 26th. Read the linked article here for details: https://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodestone/special/2023/Moonfire_Faire/oct9miki0d

Next, for those interested in the Fall Guys tidbit mentioned above in the Dawntrail notes, there will be an in-game promotion occurring in the Fall Guys game for Final Fantasy XIV. A special pass, the “Warriors of Light Fame” pass, will be available from August 22nd to October 3rd. Read the linked article here for details: https://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodestone/topics/detail/9b52f6a8835347e7eb6f7c2cecc270e296cc4666

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Free Company Updates and Social Events

We are continuing to take Officer applications at our respective Discord server for:

Raid Officer (24-Man Raid events every Tuesday)

Administration (documentation, such as meeting agendas/notes, spreadsheets, and announcements)

Primal Farming (Farming current expansion content for items)

PvP (hosting PvP content, such as Rival Wings, The Feast, Crystalline Conflict, etc)

Applications may be accepted in the FC Discord server under the #officer-directory channel.

Next, we want to announce that this month is not only the 10th anniversary of the game, but the 10th anniversary of Celestia itself!!! The founding was on August 17th, 2013. Due to this date occurring much later in August, please look forward to any upcoming announcements later in the month for any developments on the celebratory front! You may reference further details on the Free Company Discord server as well!

On July 22nd, we held our returning LalaBall event! Amidst all of the lobbing of Lala’s, all the sweat and tears and shed (Lala) blood, our participants fought hard to come out on top of each other. Here are our winners:

1st Place = Orianne Starshroud & Faey Baali!

2nd Place = Ivy Leaf & Silvaire Rehw-marouc!

Be sure to give congratulations to our winners!

Look forward to the next upcoming social event on August 26th, the Sightseeing Log event which will cover all Sightseeing locations for Stormblood!

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Beyond the Light

For our next Beyond the Light interview, our winner of this month’s draw is Sticky Buns! Before we go any further, please participate in our Beyond the Light interview and tell us about yourselves so you have a chance at being featured here for the Free Company newsletter! Details are on the Discord server and in our #announcements channel (or you may message me directly at Scarlette Valanorr in the FC Discord for a copy)!



What is your in-game character’s name?: Sticky Buns

What race are you currently in-game?: Lalafell

What drew you into your current choice of race?: There was some mishandling of some 1.0 data and she was stuck in limbo for a bit, where her data didn’t exist anywhere. As Open Beta occurred, I saw how cute the lalafells were in XIV 2.0 and had to play one. The Taru-Taru in XI were not that cute, so I’ve always played taller characters since that more matched my appearance, Sticky was actually a Roegyden! Dropping money on Fantasias was unheard of at the time, so when they finally patched the game and gave me Sticky’s data back – I just knew what I had to do!

When did you first start playing FFXIV?: July 10, 2010

What drew you to pick up and play FFXIV?: A friend of mine showed me XIV at work. He knew I was a big XI player and he was the one who helped me get into the Alpha. XIV was a ‘T’ (exact; perfect).

How far have you gotten into the MSQ (Main Story Questline) of FFXIV?: I’ve played through each patch, and I’m currently up-to-date

What was your first (job? class? role?) when you started?: My first job when I loaded back into XIV was Conjurer/White Mage.

What motivated you to pick that first (job? class? role?)?: Being in control of life and death! Actually, I was drawn to how pretty the WHM graphics were, as well as the classic outfit (AF1 was so cute!)

To date, what favorite jobs/roles/classes do you have?: Warrior and Culinarian – How can you not love a Lalafell doing Primal Rend!?

What kind of content do you enjoy?: MSQ, PvP, Savage Raids, Crafting and/or Gathering, Duty Content (dungeons, trials, raids, expert content), Side Quests, Glamour Collecting, Collectible Gathering

What would you say is your favorite content type from above to do? And why?: Savage and Ultimate Raids! If you ask anyone what Sticky loves, its crafting. What no one knows is I started crafting because I didn’t want my raid team to have to worry about it! I never really viewed myself as a leader before XIV, but its helped me to discover a lot of confidence in and out of game. Shotcalling raids is such a thrill, I love it. Sometimes I have to reel myself in on event nights when there are other people leading. (Sorry!)

What is one thing you like about FFXIV that distinguishes them from other MMOs?: I’ve stuck around because of the community – You hear about decades old Guilds in Wow, but I’ve played WoW for a total of 10 minutes, it really just didn’t hit the mark. FFXI was fun, but XIV was the obvious next step at the time, and you only really grinded to grind because that’s what was left to do! In XIV, I log in sometimes just to idle and chat! I love talking with people and getting to know the person behind the character as well 🙂

If you could make at least 1 change to FFXIV based on personal preference, what would you pick and why?: Hmmm. I really want a boss rush mode – where you go after all the primals in an expansion one after another. Ultimate is a sort of good compromise, but the level of game knowledge can be daunting to a new raider – being able to do something like a normal boss rush without the extra mechanics thrown in by Ultimates would be a great way for many players to get used to longer battles and how to properly plan rotations.

What is your most memorable/favorite moment in FFXIV?: During one particularly frustrating raid night, one of our static members (Cinnaroll represent!) said brb and threw down his controller in frustration. While the rest of us were all grumbling about how to handle the mechanic (I think it was Light Rampart) – their character was slowly walking forward. We’re all shouting at them to come back and pick up the controller, BOTH healers used rescue, and they managed to come back right as the boss took agro unfortunately. It broke the tension on a high stress situation though and is just so memorable for how chaotic it was.

Do you have any favorite visuals of your character you want to share with the FC for the newsletter?:

When did you join Celestia?: January 2014

What drew you to join Celestia? Was it a person, an advertisement, etc?: Truth be told, it was Abrianna Moontide! I’m not sure how we got to talking, but I remember her being super genuine and nice when I was talking to them in game. Plus, how do you not join an FC after being invited by a person with that kind of awesome name!

What do you like about Celestia as a Free Company?: CEL feels like a family reunion at the coziest home, with a bunch of crazy friends, siblings and cousins who enjoy the same chaos you do. People come and go, sometimes they come back, but forever bonds are made here. I’ve seen friendships, relationships, airships – you ship it, I’ve seen it here. Something about this place brings out the better in people, and you keep coming back for more of that. That’s why I love CEL ♥

What is your favorite weekly event to participate in with Celestia?: 24-Person Raid Night is typically my favorite – If you’re not dying to mechanics together, are you really getting the full XIV experience? The crazy chaos and laughter is a nice way to start the week.

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Z’attania’s House Tours

Next, we have the newest presentation from our resident Z’attania Tsu for her Nook and Cranny coverage in House Tours!



NOOK AND CRANNY

A House Tour with Z

This month we’re exploring our first large house: Synovie Sky’s Ishgardian mansion

The style of this house is medieval, and the theme is… trophies!

A spacious, rustic castle with plenty of stone elements, this house boasts an enormous meeting room, a lush indoor/outdoor garden, a secret treasure room, a study, a master bedroom, and a gargantuan trophy room in the basement.

Portraits of our favorite Scions look down on us from every wall.

There’s a small reception area with helpful vendors as you walk in, a console that mimics a computer screen on the desk in the library, and even a tiny bathroom nestled in a corner of the master suite.

And everywhere you look, trophies and more trophies. There’s no question this Warrior of Light has been in many epic battles and lived to tell the tale.

The evidence is in every room, hallway, and on every shelf. This home is a tribute to achievement.

What Synovie is proudest of: His collection! Synoivie is a collector of all things Final Fantasy in real life, so he brought that aspect into his house. The balcony has spots to show off his “collection” like a big game hunter, and the basement has his smaller collectables.

What Z especially liked: It might seem like a small thing, but I like to celebrate unique ideas, and the self-watering vase in the foyer caught my eye! It’s little details like this that make a design fun for visitors to explore.

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Conclusion

Another July past. As we are now in another full month of summer, we will have several weeks ahead before autumn begins in late September. We will still be experiencing hot weather, praying for cool reprieve and enough rain to keep us from succumbing to the heat. Yet rest assured that we will make it through another year, and we have the next expansion to look forward to. Be sure to also look toward upcoming celebrations for the game and the Free Company, as this year may be one to remember!

See you, Space Warriors of Light 🙂 .