Patch 4.2 trailer drops!

PHHHANNNTOOOMM TRAAIIIINNNN!!!

Okay, so i'm a VI fanboy but i have been wanting this since the Doomtrain comments back in ARR's quests in Thanalan. Final Fantasy VI might tie with IX for my favourite but personal tastes aside Doomtrain/Phantom Train was one of those bosses i see like Ruby Weapon in the upcoming FFVII remake. You just think "how do they even make that in a modern 3D Final Fantasy game?" and i'm pleased to see Doomtrain looks like what i expected from the XIV fight team. Yes i know its probably the Phantom Train but either one is good and i'm a sucker for a spooky old Ghost Train!

 Now ghost train boss aside what else do we see here? It looks like Gosetsu might be coming into conflict with the Prince over the amnesiac Yotsuyu in his charge. Is she the same monster waiting to happen again? or was her traumatic past what made her who she was and this is a chance at a fresh start? Should she even be given the chance after all she did? or do those crimes even apply to this girl who shows no sign of being the person who ordered them to be committed?
Its a bit of a tropey story hook for a jrpg but its a nice change on the old potential redemption arc. Is this a case of the good guys getting too bloodthirsty in the name of revenge? is it right to stand by as the warrior of light when we are teaming up with Nero to fight Omega when he has probably done far worse things in his time as one of the Legions commanders?
Its more of a shade of grey than the usual stuff and that tends to be when Final Fantasy is at its best. I look forward to the story developments quite a bit.

Next up we have an envoy from Garland leading us into the new 'four devas' Primal hunting storyline. The maps have shown 4 figures on the map based on summons from the earlier games and sure enough Byakko, the White Tiger Lord is first on the hit list. Considering the line about the Garlean Emperor wanting to work with us maybe its a case of pragmatism and after beating Zenos he considers us the best men and women for the job? which when you think about it says something. Does this mean we have taken down the strongest forces of the empire already? or are they distracted dealing with some greater threat, something worse than a raging Primal?
 Along with this we see Krile meeting a new character, an older Lalafell woman who might be a family member or mentor based on her reaction in the trailer. More interestingly it cuts to a new location with signs of chaotic violence around a town with a seaside dock and its own aetheryte. Unless thats the first use of a town crystal in a cosmetic function perhaps this is out first example of a new open area added in a patch beyond the 2.0 beast tribe areas in places like La Noscea?
Sharlayan, Kriles home, has been on the new world map since 4.0 but its far too small to be an expansion destination. Perhaps its been a post patch zone in the making? Unlikely of course but with FFXIV you never know. Nobody expected stuff like Lords of Verminion to show up after all.

Finally we have the Sigmascape. Lots of nods to FFVI including sprites right from the game but most significantly an ending shot of a man in clown make up with a very familiar laugh...

So overall first impressions are good. So far the post launch content of Stormblood has left me a bit cold. Its not been bad but its also not been terribly interesting to me personally. This on the other hand has me very excited. Maybe as much as the patch where we fought Alexander or Nidhogg. Lately i've let levelling my combat classes fall behind. I got RDM and NIN to lvl.70 and im slowly chipping away at DRK and AST but everything else has lagged behind. SAM in particular for me is still in the mid 50's!
After spending the time getting all gatherer and crafters levelled and geared and in the yellow scrip farming/money making stage this is a patch coming at the right time (if Monster Hunter World doesn't steal all my attention) to get me back into PVE content in a big way, so roll on 4.2!

Workshop Wisdom #2

 I've finally gotten around to maxing all my crafting and gathering jobs. All the quests done and back to the more comfortable state of one set of gear for both roles which makes things much easier on my Armoury Inventory.

 Overall its an interesting difference compared to the far more time consuming and expensive levelling content of Heavensward. Clearly they want crafting to be a lot easier. To get to the cap at least that is.
 Instead of relying on Beast Tribe Dailies -at the time of writing there are none for none combat classes in Stormblood yet- or having to farm items to craft complex recipes from your growing repertoire you are given 4 quests to make one item from one maguffin they give you. Still got the macro i posted back in 2016? great. If you have the best gear for your level from the vendor in Kugane you hit those two buttons, turn in the quest and jobs done. With leves doing the filler in between. Meaning if you have the gil to burn you can just go to the marketboard and for some jobs like Weaver never leave Kugane and go from 60-70 in minutes. Only the actual speed of taking and turning in leves holding you back.
 So yeah. Nerfed isn't the word here. Not that i'm complaining when its a cumulative 540 levels for crafters alone nowadays. Did i hate it? no but i wouldn't call it satisfying either.

 So where does the title come in here? well its time to talk about Crystals, Clusters and farming. Everything you make in the game takes Crystals. I mean it IS Final Fantasy after all so its not surprising right? You grab your Miner and go farm them one by one for dozens of hours to stop running out across those 540 levels, right?

 Of course you don't. Sadly i've noticed recently that not everyone knows this. So its time to talk about one of the games myriad subsystems a lot of folks don't seem to know about: Aetherial Reduction. 

 What is it? well its essentially desynthing collectibles. What are collectibles? well during Heavensward levelling a new system was added to use a 'collectors glove' ability to mine, fish, harvest or craft and item not as the item per say but a rated token version. It cannot be used but can only be turned in to an npc. Unlike the Ixal tribe or the Grand Company turn ins however these will only be accepted if the rating is at a certain cap. For example the lowest Stormblood Mining item -Molybdenum Ore- needs a rating of 470 collectibility or higher. Higher the rating the more 'scrip' tokens you get in return. These can be used to buy gear and items beneficial for none combat jobs after vendors offering no more improvements for Gil.

 However mid HW they also added a new system for the players asking "theres nothing left to buy with Scrips, so whats the point of collectibles?" and the easiest answer was 'for making money!'

 So on paper its pretty simple. Check online for the spawn dates for 'Ephemeral Nodes'. These are the nodes that only spawn for a small, set period of time per in game day. Different ones in different zones but the mechanic is the same. Instead of Blue or Gold a Brown node icon appears on your map. Usually offering stone or herbs that when mined don't appear to have any in game use at all. What you want to do is hit that collectors glove buff, have 600 gp and a higher set of gathering stats and use a rotation like the following -though as gear improves there are others- to get a high rated collectible.

Step 1: hit the node

Step 2: hit collectors Glove

Step 3: select an ore or herb, not the crystal and begin collectible mining

Step 4: Discerning Eye

Step 5: Impulsive Appraisal II

Step 6: If a proc of Discerning Eye occurs hit Single Mind, if not Discerning Eye

Step 7: Impulsive Appraisal II

Step 8: If a proc of Discerning Eye occurs hit Single Mind, if not Discerning Eye

Step 9: Methodical Appraisal

Step 10: collect

Now you have your collectible. Next you need to check your ability list for 'Aetherial Reduction' and add it to your hotbar. Simply hit it to open a window that will show any ephemeral node collectibles -don't worry it doesn't mix your scrip collectibles in- and simply go through your goods and break them down. This will net you hundreds of Crystals and dozens of Crystal Clusters. 

In the longrun this is a good source of Gil since there is always a demand from crafters who either don't know about this or cannot be bothered to do it themselves and in the short term this is a way to save gil by not having to buy yourself while getting all 8 crafters from 1-70. Ensuring you have more Gil left over to start getting Materia and some crafter gear to start getting into the true endgame of Yellow scrips and supplying endgame players with rare goods.

So get out there and start Gathering Adventurers!