FFXIV – Unexpectedly Hard Dungeon

Last night I only had time to play one game, so I decided to play some FFXIV again, as part of my as-yet unannounced goal of catching up with the Main Scenario before the expansion arrives. I was stuck at a point in the Main Scenario where the next quest requires level 58, but I was only at about 57.8. So I thought I would do a few quests to start getting a feel for my character again.

Then I remembered the Duty Finder, and especially the Leveling Dungeons Duty (which I still think of as the Low-Level Duty). I popped into a queue, thinking I would get into something like Sastasha or Haukke Manor or one of the other low-level dungeons and have a leisurely stroll to level 58.

Imagine my surprise when the queue popped five minutes later and it was The Aery, a level 55 dungeon!

I’ve done it before, more than once, months ago. But did I remember anything about it? Hell no! I spent the first few minutes trying to figure out how I managed to get into a dungeon that I’d never seen before. Then I realized that I had (almost) all of my abilities, so not only did I have to remember the dungeon, but I had to remember how to play the new-fangled Wanderer’s Minuet-style Bard.

It ended up fine, with no wipes and no deaths. As we got to the bosses I started to remember the mechanics, and managed to avoid at least some of the damage. The healer easily made up for any of my missteps there. By the end I sort-of had my rotations closer to where they should have been. But it was a lot more stressful than I expected, and by the end I was a nervous wreck. I got a neat tunic to go with the pants I got before, so that was cool. (They are too low level now though, but I could use them for glamours.)

I still didn’t get enough experience to hit level 58, so I finished a couple more quests and that put me over the top. Now I’m ready for another Bard quest and the next part of the Main Scenario.

Speaking of glamours, I don’t know if I’ve mentioned this before, but FFXIV seriously needs a more modern wardrobe system. Carrying around fifty thousand sets of gear to get the look you want is not cool. (Also not possible due to inventory restrictions.) Even World of Warcraft, which was previously the undisputed worst at customized wardrobes, got a transmog update! That pretty much leaves FFXIV as the worst wardrobe system, at least in terms of user interface. If we can’t get a wardrobe system, can we at least get a place to store unlimited sets of gear?

P.S. I’ve played a couple of ESO dungeons in the past week too. What a world of difference there is between a FFXIV dungeon and an ESO dungeon!