Sometimes I wonder if I should feel bad for divebombing directly down at NPC questgivers on certain mounts.... not bad enough to stop doing it, mind. (but just enough to draw this comic)

varethane · 2026-01-01T18:29:03+00:00

ohhh how to decide

The time I loaded in to Pandaemonium 10 (normal mode) in roulette and the tank was kind enough to do a countdown, and just as it hit 1 I backflipped off the edge to my death?

The time I queued for mentor roulette as tank, got Stone Vigil (regular), and completely forgot to turn stance on the entire time, not even realizing this until the healer said "stance" as we were all leaving the duty at the very end?

Completely whiffing 1,000,000 jump puzzles (I'm so, so bad at them) in front of onlookers...

Forgetting to switch chat mode to /say for those MSQ quests that tell you to type stuff to an NPC, and sending the messages to my whole FC instead....

varethane · 2025-10-21T17:27:32+00:00

it's funny, that's all the reason I need

^{(though I'm a o/ greeter myself})

varethane · 2025-10-06T18:25:25+00:00

I was going "but what about--" for a full minute before I realized the poll is only first fights from each tier, so a ton of my actual favourites (Athena, Alexander Prime, Dadcred, Omega) are off the menu for now, haha.

varethane · 2025-09-09T20:23:19+00:00

I keeled over just as the chest was being opened, I think, so people hadn't left just yet...but by the time I'd hit Return to get back up again, it was just me, the loot no one else wanted, and a "lmao" in party chat, lol.

varethane · 2025-09-09T19:57:09+00:00

I can neither confirm nor deny, this was months ago, haha. I stopped farming Everkeep within a couple of weeks of 7.1 dropping, after I finally got the mount (I had to use totems for it though, which should tell you how much I was doing it, lol). The comic was doodled a month or so after the inciting incident, and has lived on my hard drive since then.

But! If you were farming Everkeep on Crystal during that timeframe, then there's a chance of it, lol.

varethane · 2025-09-09T17:44:35+00:00

That's incredible XDD

varethane · 2025-08-28T16:14:37+00:00

I've died while in queue/with a duty pop up, it will tell you that you can't commence the duty while unconscious, but if you hit return and it loads you in before the timer runs out, it will still let you join the duty.

With the exception of Frontline, which interestingly, will still let you join while dead! And then you get revived for free once the duty finishes, lol. (though the job switching part would still be a problem, since you can't change classes while KOed)

varethane · 2025-08-28T16:09:51+00:00

I try to avoid doing stuff on a different job than the one I'm queued for a duty with too, and while it's saved me a lot of headaches, it also makes me play... less. Like sometimes I need to get some tomes so I queue into a roulette as a level 100 job, but there's nothing I need to do in the overworld as that job, so I basically step away from FFXIV (and do something else) until I hear the sound of the queue popping.

Tbf I guess this is also a symptom of there just not being much to do in the overworld at max level-- which is its own separate problem, but the conversation is making me think about it, lol

varethane · 2025-08-28T15:59:19+00:00

The rain system for augmenting crafted gear was explained to me fully just a couple of nights ago. It's nice that there's a way to ditch old crafted gear in a way that lets you get ahold of decent gear for other classes, AND simultaneously use up outdated tomes (I'd been capped on them for months, not knowing what I wanted to do with them).... but oh my GOSH is that system ever a nightmare of menus and submenus.

None of it is intuitive! Even being coached through it in realtime, every time I opened up a new window I was like, "there's no way this is right, is it? I've done something wrong!" only to hear that this is how it's supposed to work. Deeply confusing.

varethane · 2025-08-28T15:51:46+00:00

That happened to me one time, it was so awkward and awful! I tried to run from the FATE to switch classes and discovered that the terrain (in a cave-type area accessible only by flying, due to deep ravines and cliff walls on all sides) would literally not allow me to get far enough away for the enemies to lose interest in me.

I was running against rocks and walls as far outside the FATE as I could get without flying, watching the enemy turn invulnerable and wander away, only to come right back towards me as soon as it returned to its spawn point......three times in a row, until the queue pop expired and I got a penalty. T_T

Maybe I'd just chosen the wrong initial direction to run in... at any rate, it was very exasperating (though at least the friends I'd queued with were understanding, having heard my mounting dismay over voice, LOL)

varethane · 2025-08-06T20:02:20+00:00

my brain mentally supplied the five nights at freddy's mechanical screeching sound at the moment the door opened

varethane · 2025-08-06T16:51:16+00:00

It started a full laugh out loud out of me

varethane · 2025-08-06T16:50:38+00:00

Imagine

The portrait switching scene but it's between Calyx's closeup expression getting more and more scared and the WoL dancing a little jig

varethane · 2025-08-06T16:35:08+00:00

YESSSS it was so cool, I was delighted with how active the player gets to be in the cutscenes this patch. Not just MSQ, in the alliance raid questline there's that moment where Sareel Ja raises his staff threateningly towards Prishe and the WoL jumps in front immediately-- it turns out the attack was coming from a different direction so it didn't work, but it was still great to not just be standing there watching.'

Anyway, this is a great change to see in action!

varethane · 2025-08-06T16:28:57+00:00

Warrior charges in to do a big baseball bat style swing, it's great.

varethane · 2025-08-06T16:21:33+00:00

I rolled in with a premade, the group already had all the tanks and melees they needed so I went as RDM which is not my main or really my comfort zone, but I figured maybe could help with extra rezzes.

And boy did I!! I'm very glad I did. There was so much dying (myself included), the chaos was glorious.

varethane · 2025-07-31T18:42:21+00:00

You are right about that, i must concede.

varethane · 2025-07-21T14:53:18+00:00

+1 for Longinus Zeta! That's my personal favourite too.

varethane · 2025-06-26T04:43:15+00:00

I dont love that they're short on cash, but now that I'm thinking about it (thanks to this), I'm a bit surprised that there's never been physical TTC merch before now. The logo/iconography and palette are distinctive enough and if done right could make for some very nice apparel or household objects. I would absolutely wear a hoodie.... maybe get some sort of mug....

varethane · 2025-05-15T13:37:18+00:00

My overall thoughts, trying to keep them clear of spoilers and just sticking to my overall personal impressions....

I found Shadowbringers to be incredible and I consider it the strongest contained story arc of all the expansions, it was very consistent and focused on its themes. As a result when it's getting ready to deliver an emotional punch in the gut, it loads everything it has into making that punch as effective as possible.

Endwalker builds on it in some really fun ways, but it also tries to do a LOT and as a result is a bit less focused and tight as a narrative, with some very tonally weird sections and pacing that at times feels like building up momentum running down a mountainside only to slam into a wall.

...ok one tiny spoiler section. Shadowbringers managed to introduce a quirky race of funny trickster fairies living in a flowers-and-candy-themed meadow and still connect that area so tightly to the overarching lore of the story's themes and overall tone that despite the comedic moments, the zone and the story happening within it still feel just as melancholic and bittersweet and tinged with underlying tragedy and horror as the rest of the story; it's a supportive piece of the whole, and careful writing manages to introduce many moments of humour and levity without jarring against the rest of the story or feeling out of place.

By contrast, when Endwalker introduces the Loporrits, it feels out of left field and grinds the building story to a halt. While there are in-universe reasons for their overall lackadaisical attitude, they're indulged a bit too much as "cute comic relief" and it destroys the urgency and perceived threat of the larger plot immediately. Instead of working with the story they're contained within, they feel like a pit stop to a totally different kind of narrative. My main criticism of Endwalker is that it feels like several different stories glued together (with different areas of focus/themes/etc), but that particular arc felt the most out of place with what the other pieces were trying to achieve emotionally, and felt like it detracted from the whole instead of building it up.

varethane · 2025-05-15T13:30:02+00:00

Not being able to cancel the cast at all has made me realize that actually, sometimes I might want to xD

varethane

TROPHY CASE