FFXIV seems to have a way of making certain creatures very popular with players. Take Shoebill, or beloved Axolotl, which is based on Mexican axolotl and is even a reward for Pandaemonium raid’s Savage mode.

Fat Cat is another example. Although it doesn’t appear often throughout the game’s story, it has inspired players to obtain some minions from the game with no additional FFXIV Gil. What’s more, you can even get it if you are using Final Fantasy 14’s Free Trial, it just takes a bit of luck.

How To Get A Fat Cat Minion?

There are actually several ways to get a Fat Cat Minion, some of which cost a little FFXIV Gil, and some of which take some time.

Preparation

The first method first requires you to obtain a retainer - this is an NPC you can hire, who can store Gil and Final Fantasy XIV Items, and you can also assign them tasks. They will start at level 1 and can gain experience through these adventures.

However, retainers are limited in how high they can level up, and cannot be higher than the player’s level in a particular Job. For example, if the Warrior of Light is a level 10 magician, then the retainer as a magician cannot exceed level 10, and only after you surpass this level can he reach a higher level.

If you plan on continuing to play the rest of Final Fantasy 14 while you level up your retainers, the best adventure option is the 2-hour version. This way you can keep checking on them and send them back every few hours as they complete their tasks. However, if you’re just trying to reach a fishing level and plan on not playing the game for a long time, the 18-hour option is a better choice.

First Way

To get Fat Cat, you need to send retainers on Waterside Exploration ventures. The rewards you get are based on the level of the retainer you send out on the fishing job, so you need to raise the fishing job level to at least level 50 so that they can gain a certain amount of experience and level up.

To begin your fishing adventure, head to Limsa Lominsa and visit the Fisherman’s Guild in the main square. Here you can answer the question, “Do you want to be a fisherman?” This is a prerequisite task, after which you will be presented with the Fisherman’s Guild class task, giving you direct access to the Fisherman class. You should be able to store your tools in your space.

For the Waterside Exploration ventures mentioned above, it requires a minimum level of 50 and a gathering rating of 200. This minion can also be found in Waterside Exploration XV, XVI, XVII, XVIII, XIX, XXIV, and XXV, which are your earliest chances to get it, as other ventures may require higher levels and gatherings.

Once the retainer is sent out, you will need to wait 18 hours in the real world. It is worth mentioning that even then, there is no guarantee that the Fat Cat Minion will be among the rewards brought back, which means you may have to try multiple times.

Second Way

The second method requires you to get Fat Cat Minion from Material Container 3.0, which requires you to talk to Quartermasters of various Grand Companies to get 20,000 Company Seals. You must be at least Captain level of a Grand Company to exchange for Material Container 3.0. Here are Quartermasters you need to talk to:

• Flame Quartermaster can be found at Ul’dah - Steps of Nald
• Serpent Quartermaster can be found in New Gridania
• The Storm Quartermaster can be found on the upper deck of Limsa Lominsa

Again, this does not guarantee you will get Fat Cat Minion immediately. In Material Container 3.0, you can get a variety of rewards, including two mounts and dozens of minions, but it is not necessarily a one-shot deal. So you also need to try multiple times.

Read More: What Quality Of Life Updates To Expect In FFXIV Dawntrail?

Easier Way

For those who don’t want to go through all the hassle but still want to get Fat Cat Minion, there is an easier way.

The first is to get it directly from Itinerant Moogle in exchange for irregular tombstones during Moogle Treasure Trove event. However, since Moogle Treasure Trove event is a limited-time event with no fixed time, you can’t predict when it will happen again. So you have to wait, and this waiting time is also very random.

The second way, and the easiest way, is to use the market board, which means you will need to spend some FFXIV Gil. For new players, the price of these minions may be a little high, but as you progress in the game, its price will get lower and lower.

For Fat Cat Minion in this guide, a new player may need 20,000 Gil, while some advanced players only need 6,000 Gil. It also depends on the difference between the data center and the server. Anyway, after you get this minion, you can put it in your inventory!

After reading this guide, do you want to possess Fat Cat Minion more? Then enter the game and find it! I wish you have a happy game in Dawntrail!

Did you know that with the official release of FFXIV Dawntrail on July 2nd, you’ll still have access to some really nice changes in the game even if you don’t own the in-app expansion?

Here I’ll highlight some changes I know from the preliminary patch notes that affect all players, including base gamers. If you’re preparing to jump into the new expansion, don’t miss this guide. Let’s get started!

Before Entering

Before we get started, I want to remind you that these patch notes are available on the official FFXIV website. The patch notes will let you know which items require which paid expansions to unlock. For example, if you only own Stormblood, any 2.x items will work for you, but as soon as you sign up for Shadowbringers, you’ll also get access to 5.x content, and so on.

But here I’m going to focus on the content that all players have been able to access since the official release of the expansion on July 2nd.

Quest Changes

The first item we saw was the quest they added to give everyone a free Fantasia to go along with the graphical upgrade. This will show you where you can pick up the quest, the name of the quest giver, and the requirements. For example, if you are class level 1 or higher, and you complete the quest “Scions of the Seventh Dawn”, which is about 30 quests in ARR MSQ series.

You can temporarily hide the display of nearby player characters when interacting with quest-related NPCs or objects. It will be in your character configuration menu under General and “Quest Progression Settings”.

You can also choose to automatically advance on-screen text dialogue during voiced conversations. And, quests where you type in “say” chat will be a little more lenient with your input. Think of some quests that had punctuation or uppercase letters before, which looked like lower case letters.

Some Former Beast-Tribe Quests will now be Allied Society Quests in an attempt to improve relations with the more refined members of the aforementioned groups.

Also, some quest battles can no longer be played with limited jobs. For example, Blue Mage is OP, and Beastmaster is even more so. They won’t let you play with them on MSQ.

Quality Of Life Changes

The studio has added new craftable items for any FC leader, as well as new areas and items for Airship/Submersible programme, and new levels for Submersible.

They have also changed the settlement classifications for sparsely populated worlds. You can now kick people out of your house and lawn (10 days).

There will be new prizes in Gold Saucer, including new Furniture, Orchestrion Rolls, Aquarium Fish, and Seeds! Card numbers have been added to the item descriptions of all Triple Triad cards.

If you already own Shadowbringers, you can also play as a female Hrothgar, with a new hairstyle.

The layout of Blue Magic Spellbook has been adjusted, and the execution of Monk and DRG Limit Break animations has changed. Buffs may disappear when changing areas, and each job below your highest level now gives a 100% Armoury Bonus until level 90. Then 50% from levels 90 to 99.

New World and Preferred World character rewards now apply to all jobs at level 89 or below. You can pick up Viper and Pictomancer weapons from Deep Dungeon Vendors (like PotD vendor).

Duty Finder has been reorganized. Level 50/60/70/80 Roulette is now High-level Dungeon Roulette. You can now leave mid-fight if you enter out of sync.

New Items

New items in Wolves’ Den for Trophy Crystals and Wolf Marks! New PVP Serieses Face wear becomes a slot. Some fashion accessories will become face slot items, so if they are missing from your fashion accessories list, make sure to pick them up from Calamity Salvagers in your starting city. They will give you an equippable item of equivalent.

Fantasia and Retainer Fantasia now looks different. Dyes have also changed a lot, you can add 2 colors to many pieces of gear, and more colors will be added in additional patches. As long as you have enough FFXIV Gil, you can change the appearance of your gear to any amount you want!

Men and Male Viera can now wear princess dresses. And new armor can be obtained in exchange for Silver Chocobo Feather.

Allied Society now has some new items. Survival and Engineering manuals now tell you when you need to read them again. Crafters’ and Gatherers’ Scrips have changed color. Spiritbond when gathering will be based on the gear level of the gear instead of the item level. You also get extra Spiritbond when you catch a big fish. Desynth caps and stacks still work even if you accidentally click on a single item.

There are also new mounts, minions, and fashion accessories. After using Fantasia, you have 60 minutes of in-game time to re-edit your appearance.

Other Changes

The new and improved Blacklist has a bunch of new features. You can also mute people and filter messages with specific terms from the chat.

What’s more, Retainers can now be assigned adventures from the companion app! This is a big deal for people who actually pay for and use the app, as any additional features will make it work.

That’s all for today. While not an exhaustive list, here are all the things I felt were noteworthy in the latest patch notes. Hopefully, this helps! We’ll see you guys in-game!

With the release date of FFXIV Dawntrail getting closer, here I will talk about the two new jobs that will be added in the new expansion, Viper and Pictomancer.

In this guide, I will give an overview of these jobs and their play styles. I will not discuss job potential at all, mainly because this is pre-release, so the numbers are not final. At the end, we will also talk about my personal thoughts on the two new jobs.

Before I get into it, I want to remind you that it is very important to have enough FFXIV Gil if you want to unlock the new jobs in the new expansion as soon as possible and make it to the level cap. Let’s get straight into it.

Viper

Viper is a job that combines Monk, Samurai, and Reaper with an extreme simplification. Its Awakened mode is basically like Enshroud, but somehow even more busy and flashy, and the base rotation is a more complex version of Monk Combo Tree.

One of its attacks applies a debuff to enemies, just like Reaper, while the other two buffs apply damage and speed buffs to you, just like Samurai. On top of that, it also has a resource giving attack that gives you access to three more attacks.

Let’s break down the most confusing part, the main combo. This is probably because, despite being very similar to Samurai, the combo is condensed down to just two buttons.

We have the basic form with two buttons, one of which applies a debuff to your target for 20 seconds, stacking up to 40 seconds. Whichever button you press, both will move to the second step. One of them will give you an attack buff, while the other will give you an attack speed buff.

Depending on which of the two buttons you press, they will move to a different pair of buttons. Two rear position skills, or two flanking positions. The speed buff always results in the rear position, while the damage buff results in the flanking position. The way these positions work is that they have a set pattern. You can start the fight with any of them at will. After that, they will combo with each other specifically.

This part is mostly automated. The on-screen sword gauge will tell you which skills you should use, but the game will also light up the skills you need to hit in the correct order to follow the buff sequence.

All in all, the only part you really need to pay attention to is the first time you hit the combo to ensure the debuff on the boss stays put. The rest of the time, you just need to press another button.

Next, for its two skills, they share cooldowns and recharges, but we’re only focusing on this single target version. This will grant you one Red Gem, up to three, and apply your debuff to the target.

Red Gems are used for this skill, which is also an AoE, and each use of this skill will enable you to make three additional attacks. The two “proc” skills are hooked up to your buffs, and they will give you damage and speed buffs, respectively.

They also have positions, the same as the main combo. The attack up button is the flank position, and the speedup is the rear position. You’ll want to use these, of course, but it’s not as simple as just pressing them.

Using a Red Gem or attack buff will cause the button on the left to light up, and pressing that button will cause the button on the right to light up for the combo. Pressing the speed up skill will cause the button on the right to light up, combo with the button on the left. You can use oGCD exactly twice, so you need to follow the correct combo order.

Overall, this is actually a pretty simple job. The confusing part is what’s hidden behind the button condensing and procs.

Pictomancer

Moving on to Pictomancer, this one is completely different. I would describe it as an upkeep job. You have to constantly upkeep on your paintings to get the most damage.

At the start of any mission, you need to paint on all three canvases, which have long cast times in combat, but no cast times outside of combat.

We have a basic spell combo for a single target and AoE. Completing this combo will grant you 25 gauge and a color splotch. With 50 gauge, you can use Subtractive Palette, which turns one of your color splotch into a dark splotch.

If you don’t have it on the palette, the buff will be applied the next time you get it. If you have a dark splotch, you can spend these on Holy or Dark Comet. Naturally, Dark Comet is more powerful because of the restrictions.

Subtractive Palette also allows you to use a combination of minor spells with three Aetherhue GCDs. These spells take longer to cast, but do more damage. Despite requiring Subtractive Palette, this combination also gives you a white splotch.

With the paintings, things start to get complicated. We have creature, weapon, and landscape, in that order. The creature section will cycle through four different paintings.

The weapon painting here is a little weird. Hitting oGCD does not cause an attack, but gives you access to a dedicated button to instantly cast a three-hit combo. Finally, the landscape painting gives us access to a two-minute cooldown.

Next up is Inspiration. The cast and recast time of Star Prism and Aetherhue spells will be reduced by a quarter. Star Prism can be used once, which also gives you Starstruck. Hyperphantasia is the stack you want to deplete by using Star Prism, Aetherhue spells, and Comet.

Your special Rainbow Drip skill will go into effect immediately after you use up all your mana, and it has a long cast time, so it might also be a good pre-pull cast.

So let’s wrap it up. The key to this job is to use your base combo to get gauge and paint splotches. Subtractive Palette can darken them and get a more powerful combo.

Your entire toolkit is pretty much AoE skills, too. You just need to swap AoE versions of the two combos to switch between the two.

We also have other non-offensive skills. The first is Tempera Coat, a 20% max HP shield. The other is Tempera Grassa, which turns your coat into an AoE that gives 10% max HP to the team. So protect yourself or protect the team. It’s your choice.

That’s all I know about the two new jobs, Viper and Pictomancer. If you know of some details that I didn’t pay attention to, please share! Good luck!

Final Fantasy XIV released Endwalker at the end of 2021, and since then, the seeds for the game’s future have been planted. Dawntrail, the fifth expansion for the long-running MMO, is the product of those seeds. It takes players to a Mesoamerican-inspired Tural, also known as New World.

Publisher Square Enix recently provided a small preview of Dawntrail, and I could explore it, including the new dungeon and two new jobs in the new expansion. In addition, I could discuss other goals of the development team with game director Naoki Yoshida.

Based on the feedback from some preview players, Dawntrail will be an exciting and deep expansion for Final Fantasy XIV.

Summer Vacation

There is a running joke in Final Fantasy XIV that just when everything seems to have settled down and Warrior of Light is ready to rest after saving the world, another conflict begins to emerge and prevents players from taking a well-deserved rest. The same is true for Dawntrail, which will pull players to a brand new map. But game director Naoki Yoshida told us directly not to worry, and to think of Dawntrail as Warrior of Light’s summer vacation.

Tural is the new continent that appears in Dawntrail, and it seems to be the perfect place to spend a summer vacation. Because it is located in the tropics, it looks very warm. Many of Tural’s cultural inspirations come from Mesoamerican countries, such as Mexico. And it will be released in June and July, just like a real island summer vacation.

The development team also promised to introduce a lot of interesting new plots, including but not limited to the tournament storyline that everyone will be very interested in. Although the preview version I played only saw a small part of the interaction with the people of Tural, it looked like a part of the real Mesoamerican continent!

Latin American Culture

Throughout the conversation, we talked about the inspiration for Dawntrail. Naoki Yoshida told us that during the long period of Latin American immigration, Latin Americans have spread all over the world and formed their own culture and language in each region. Dawntrail and Tural are two completely different cultures because the creative team wanted to explore a place that had never been explored before.

Naoki Yoshida said that before creating a new culture, the team had conducted detailed research on Latin American region in order to give players an immersive feeling in the game. Of course, Naoki Yoshida also understood that players wanted to see tacos in the game. He smiled and said that considering that food is a cultural carrier with a large differentiation, and adhering to the key strategy of understanding, tacos were not added to the game.

When we wanted to ask Naoki Yoshida and his team if they were excited about exploring a culture beyond their scope of authority, he shook his head and refuted it. He emphasized that the team did not think that Final Fantasy XIV’s research on Latin American culture was to absorb different cultures for some kind of quota.

Instead, Naoki Yoshida wants players to think of him and his team as a magician who can conjure up more fantasy for players, and hopes that players can see his love for Final Fantasy universe. He has shaped Final Fantasy XIV into what players like time and time again, because he obviously puts the feedback of Final Fantasy XIV community first. Because of this, the preview version of Final Fantasy XIV Dawntrail has received unanimous praise.

In addition to the cultural research, Yoshida and his team are most proud of how they handle the food of each culture. As he said, food is the touchstone of any culture, and the various towns and villages around Tural, such as the center of Tuliyollal, will have their own food, which differs from each other.

So don’t expect to find the same dishes or exports that you can get with FFXIV Gil in Urgopacha that you can find elsewhere. This shows that the team at least took the time to make sure the many differences in Latin culture are represented throughout Tural. Incidentally, the names of every place on Dawntrail are very Latin American.

Summer Jobs

Besides some of the above updates, Dawntrail also offers players brand new jobs to apply as they take on Tural’s new challenges. These jobs are melee DPS Viper and ranged DPS Pictomancer. They are so different both visually and tonally that it’s hard to believe they’re in the same expansion.

Viper has a roguish, swashbuckling pirate vibe. If you have seen the Dawntrail trailer before, you have seen the Warrior of Light’s stand-in wearing Viper’s costume. The Viper isn’t just complicated by her gimmick, it’s also complicated by her extensive equipment and skills. Her weapon starts out as a one-handed weapon, but later becomes a double-edged sword.

See More: What Quality Of Life Updates To Expect In FFXIV Dawntrail?

Things That Don’t Change

While the preview has a lot of new gameplay and quests, the main event-a lone dungeon-remains the same. Players shouldn’t expect too much from it, but it’s still an exciting quest.

You’ll have three boss fights in Dawntrail, each with its own set of mechanics that you’ll need to master to survive. The first fight is relatively simple and requires you to use dodge in order to survive.

There are also some comprehensive changes to Final Fantasy XIV’s graphics, which make Final Fantasy XIV more beautiful and more visual fidelity in version 7.0. All things considered, Dawntrail is becoming a promising extension.

This is not only a big step forward for the game and its team but also a huge step forward for Final Fantasy XIV development team. Now all that’s left to do is see if Dawntrail can successfully give players the best summer vacation possible when it arrives on July 2, 2024.

Today, I picked out some of the important quality of life settings in Final Fantasy XIV. These settings are all essential and can give you a huge boost while playing. So, let's get started.

First, I want to say that these settings today are options that can be found in Character Configuration menu. You can access this menu by navigating to the system icon in the bottom right corner of the screen, or by pressing Esc key, then selecting Character Configuration from the menu options, and you can start the following settings.

Hotbar Display Settings

One of the most important aspects of FFXIV is managing your skills effectively, so our first tip is how to make an easy-to-read recast timer so that we no longer have to guess how much time is left on a skill cooldown. In order to make this adjustment for a smoother, more immersive gaming experience, you'll want to go to Hotbar Settings section in Character Configuration menu.

Then select the Display submenu and find Recast Timer Position. The option to change the cooldown timer is the first item listed. All you have to do is make sure the box is checked, then also change the drop-down menu to Type 2: Centered, which will not only center the timer but also make it larger and easier to find and read.

Error Message Settings

Next up is how to customize the error messages you see. While knowing if your actions failed is important, you probably don't want to see constant error messages or altitude messages after unlocking flying. The good news is that you can pick and choose which messages to keep and hide so you can focus on the action without these unnecessary distractions. You can choose which error messages you want to see.

In Character Configuration menu, go to Log Window Settings and then choose General option. You will see 3 types of error messages at the top of the list:

• Display error messages when actions fail. - I usually turn this on because I want to know why something failed. Like if I was too far away or if an action was wrong.
• Display recast timer error messages. - I recommend turning this off because you can repeatedly cast your next skill while waiting for the last second of the recast timer. We don't want to see error message every time.
• Display altitude error messages. - I also turned this off. When flying, the game only limits your altitude and I don't think error messages are really needed.

Battle Effect Settings

If you've ever been to the first open world special event in Final Fantasy XIV, it was almost impossible to see anything in the chaos. That's what I'm talking about. I want to show you how to turn down the battle effects.

Under Character Configuration menu, go to General Settings section, then choose Character submenu, you should see Battle Effects Settings. Here you can choose from Show All, Show Limited, or Show None for various player groups.

The settings I have right now are Show All for me and my party, then Show Limited for others. While these may change for me in the future, for now I feel this provides a good balance between seeing important effects and various spell spams.

HUD Settings

Now let's talk about a quick and easy way to improve your combat awareness, being able to see the health percentage remaining on your target. This will give you a better idea of ​​how much damage you've done, and how much more you still have to do to defeat your enemy. Of course, don't forget to bing enough FFXIV Gil along with you.

Unfortunately, this isn't a setting that's automatically turned on when you start the game. So you'll want to make sure you set it up in Character Configuration menu. Select HUD option in the submenu of UI Settings on the left. You'll need to scroll down a bit to Target section, but the last item on that list is 'Display target's remaining health percentage', which is the box you want. Make sure you have it checked.

Target Settings

My next tip has to do with targeting. Now everyone has their own preferences and you need to experiment to know what you like, but these are a couple of settings I used to make it easier for you to find your target. Go to Character Configuration menu and select Control Settings. Select Target submenu at the top of the screen and change the following settings:

First, I changed the target type to Type 2: Cone. I find this setting keeps the target right in front of me instead of in a weird random location with a cone, and the settings tags will go from left to right, from closest to farthest.

Next, select 'Limit ring movement to target range'. This is specifically for AoE abilities. I like this setting because I like to do ground target AoE. This setting will limit the range of my abilities, and instead of guessing and potentially getting another error message, I choose 'Disable targeting for pets and minions when in battle'.

Lastly, I turned off all Auto-target Settings. This may be a little controversial, but I found that after dealing with an enemy, I would automatically start attacking things I didn't want to attack, turning off auto-target fixed that issue, and now I have to press the Tab key to target my next enemies while it's an extra key movement.

Hopefully, this list will help players who need it to improve their gaming experience in Final Fantasy XIV.

In FINAL FANTASY XIV, there are hundreds of different dungeons and raids to randomly match, and sometimes your daily life can get stale and boring. So this time, I will select 6 dungeon themes with music to allow players to immerse themselves in the game. Let's dive in!

Mt. Gulg - In The Belly Of The Beast

In this penultimate dungeon of Shadowbringers' main setting, the stakes are high. Vauthry has escaped and created a new paradise atop the floating volcano of Mt. Gulg. The entire realm of Norvrandt has come together to make sure you succeed in your endeavor to free the world from the all-encompassing light, and the music swells as you make your heroic and triumphant climb right to Vauthry's doorstep.

The trumpets sound your steady march up the mountain. The Heavenly Harp guides as you strike down Sin Eaters by the droves. The drums pound like your heart as you try that one huge pull at the end and pray your healer knows what they're doing, and the tank knows how to use their invulnerability at just the right moment.

There's something about Mt. Gulg where, despite it being an old dungeon in today's terms, it still provides a decent challenge from the trash mobs more than the bosses themselves, and the music always gets me in the mood to DPS to make sure that tank lives long enough to kill 3 different groups of mobs.

The Burn - A Land Long Dead

Grounded in a sandstorm while on the hunt for a friend in the unending waste of The Burn, we are met by an almost eerily peaceful piano softly introducing the fact that, outside of our party members, we are adrift and alone. The song is sorrowful yet mystical as we wander through Monster's Den, adapted to this harsh environment, completely devoid of Aether and Last Remnants of Allagan Empire buried below the sands.

The song also always stuck out to me because, unlike most dungeon themes, this one doesn't reflect the Overworld map it relates to or is a version of a previously notable song. Mostly because The Burn is topographically located far and away from inhabited locations of Eorzea.

Instead, it gives us a small auditory sneak peek of the expansion to come - Shadowbringers. If you listen closely to the beginning of the song, you can hear a lot of similarity to Shadowbringers main theme, as though we're being prepared for what ultimately befalls the same companion that we're searching for.

Vanaspati - As The Sky Burns

The screams fill the air, and the Scions race into the nearby jungle in pursuit of a horrid creature and watch as one by one, the Tharians they've rushed to save turn into monsters straight out of a nightmare. All the while, the sky burns.

The song encapsulates the heart-pounding fear and adrenaline we feel when Etheirys' final days finally come, complete with up-tempo drums, frenetic violins and female vocals in the second half. This one stuck out to me because not only did it capture the culture and the aesthetic of Thavnair, but it also kept the dread and helplessness of the moment in the scenario.

The Fractal Continuum (Hard) - Unbreakable

The Enterprise pitches to land, and you are met by a swarm of Allagan Chimeras and other creations left to inherit the ruins of the Fractal Continuum. As your tank pulls on the first group of mobs, the guitar swells, and you know you're in for one hell of a ride. So, have some FFXIV Gil ready to tide you over.

Overdriven guitars get your feet tapping as 'Unbreakable' mixes with Alexander's theme. The drums go hard as you nod your head. All the while, the pulls are getting larger and so are the Allagan Monstrosities. Every now and then, there's a moment of peace and curiosity as you wander the halls between the waves of combat with an unexpected tag-a-long search for the truth.

Ktisis Hyperboreia - Miracle Works

Your fantastical trip into the past has reached its heart-pounding conclusion. With 3 allies at your side, you need to stop or witness the beginning of the end. Ktisis Hyperboreia is home to many familiar and new concepts that you must face and put down as you climb the never-ending tower to the skies.

The music is otherworldly peaceful, and then it jumps in intensity. The piano, violins, and harp mix with synthetic waves of music in a frantic yet beautiful piece that wonderfully completes the experience of this dungeon and, without a doubt, deserves a spot on this list.

The Heroes' Gauntlet - Where All Roads Lead

Spectra Phantoms from other worlds block your path, causing you to stray from your destination for months.Their garb, spells, and combat tactics are familiar to you, yet have a foreign uniqueness to them that sets them apart. Still, you are the Warrior of Darkness, and you are needed now more than ever.

You cut a path through Amh Araeng, Il Mheg, and Lakeland. The motifs of the 3 zones are interwoven masterfully into this song, yet with a fierce and powerful melody that reinforces the need to press onward to save The First, with your deeds not being forgotten as allies great and small appear to assist you.

Hope that what I mentioned today can give you some inspiration and enhance your gaming experience.

Final Fantasy XIV lets players change the appearance of their characters to their liking in the game, and Aesthetician is one of the best tools to customize Warrior of Light’s looks. This tool can be used with Fantasia and use it with Glamor to make your character stand out. Those who like to figure out the next step in making their characters look good and can stand out will find a lot of fun in this tool.

Initially, as a developer, Square Enix’s most popular feature was that in this MMO game, it provided players with many choices in the player character selection interface. It’s also an annoyance that makes it difficult for those who have difficulty choosing between hairstyles, colors, tattoos, makeup, and more. But once you have an Aesthetician, you can’t fret. This allows you to make changes to your character to keep it fresh and fashionable. So let’s have a look at how to use this great tool!

Before reading this guide, players can spend FFXIV Gil to get the weapons, equipment, houses, furniture, mounts they want. With it, players can continue to improve their skill levels and increase their gaming experience!

How to start it?

Starting requirements

Players must be above level 15 and have completed Call of the Sea in Main Scenario Quest. Players need to go to Limsa Lominsa to accept and complete the mission. If you are in Ul’dah and Gridania, you can also enter Limsa Lominsa via airship. There will be subtitles in the game to show how to use the airship. Such “laziness” is acceptable in the game.

Beauty Is Only Scalp Deep

If you’ve already entered Limsa Lominsa, you can complete Beauty Is Only Scalp Deep and unlock Aesthetician! It’s at Miqo’te NPC S’dhodjbi (X:11.1, Y:11.0). This NPC is set in Drowning Wench in Limsa Lominsa Upper Decks.

She will alert Warrior of Light that a dangerous person is lurking in Lominsan streets and ask adventurers to help find him. But when you find this sneaky guy, he says he’s Jandelaine and denies being a bad guy. The most interesting thing is that he will also use a very dramatic state to ask you to help him restore his work tools.

Steps

Jandelaine explained that there are three different NPCs that we as players need to find: Forgemaster H’naanza of Naldiq, Vymelli’s, Guildmaster Beatin of Gridanian Carpenters’ Guild and Severian at the Alchemists’ Guild in Ul’dah. Players can go to their respective cities and just talk to them without completing additional tasks.

You can start with H’naanza (X: 10.5, Y: 15.4) as she is an NPC siting in the current city of Limsa Lominsa. Players need to go to Blacksmiths Guild near Limsa Lominsa Upper Decks (Aftcastle is the nearest ethernet point) to talk to her. She would blame Jandelaine for his dramatic behavior and his frequently missing tools. In addition, she will also give the adventurer a package to complete subsequent tasks.

After completing the above tasks, we can follow the adventurer to Gridania. Next to Aetheryte Plaza in New Gridania, we will meet the second NPC. He also dislikes Jandelaine’s behavior very much, but still hopes that he can change it. Similarly, this NPC will also give the adventurer a package.

The last NPC can be found in Alchemists’ Guild, in Ul’dah - Steps of Thal (Hustings Strip). He differs from the previous two NPCs. He sympathizes with Jandelaine very much and is very willing to help. This is indeed interesting.

Jandelaine will be waiting for you where you just talked. After giving him the new tool, he seemed to have become a new person, radiant. As an Aesthetician, he would immediately change Lalafell's appearance and completely impress Lalafell. After completing this task, players can use the functions of Aesthetician, and will also receive Gendelein's token reward, which means that players can have the right to try Aesthetician for free once.

Change character appearance

After unlocking the Aesthetician, players can use it by entering Inn rooms. There you can use a Crystal Bell to summon an Aesthetician. Please note that each summon costs 2000 Gils, but if you don’t make any changes, you don’t have to pay for it. What is worth celebrating is that it will not always be 2000 Gils. As players progress through the game, it will become cheaper and cheaper.

Summary

At this stage, the only things that can be changed through Aesthetician are hair, eyebrows, lip color, scars, tattoos, face paint, some other facial features, and earrings. But race, sex, skin color, and other such features require the use of Fantasia.

In Final Fantasy XIV, in addition to those hairstyles provided by the developer on the character selection screen, players can also get new hairstyles by using Manderville Gold Saucer points (MGP). Other special hairstyles can be dropped by completing tasks such as Palace of the Dead and other Deep Dungeons, and can even be selected on the Mog Station. Most hair styles can be found on the Market Board by searching for “Modern Aesthetics”, although they are usually not cheap.

After reading this guide, do you know more about the Aesthetician in Final Fantasy XIV? Hope this helps you have a better gaming experience! Happy gaming!

With just over a month left until Final Fantasy XIV: Dawntrail’s official release, the developers recently shared some of the big changes that will be coming to the expansion. This time focusing on a number of changes being made to every single job.

In a lengthy clip, the developers detailed a host of changes, with several jobs like Monk receiving the most radical changes. More than anything, these changes seem to be contributing to a growing feeling among some longtime players that Dawntrail will represent a reboot for Final Fantasy XIV, as well as a fresh start to attract new players.

In this guide, we’ll talk about some of the major changes that will be made to FFXIV’s jobs in Dawntrail expansion. While there may not be a lot of job changes that can be covered here, we’ll cover some of the bigger ones to help you get ready.

Of course, if you want to see everything, you can watch the entire clip on FFXIV’s official website. As we said, there’s a ton of information here, and there’s even a detailed look at the new jobs, Viper and Pictomancer. The developers even released a 20-minute Job Actions trailer showing off the new level-100 actions being added in the expansion.

If you don’t have more time, this guide will give you a basic understanding of the changes to jobs in Dawntrail. Also, I need to remind you that if you want to have a pleasant trip once you enter Dawntrail, it’s definitely a wise choice to stock up on FFXIV Gil in advance. Without further ado, let’s get started!

Monk

Monk will be the most changed job by far, as the entire rotation has basically changed. The job will no longer be centered on maintaining buffs or dealing damage over time. Instead, performing actions in a certain order will increase the effectiveness of the next action.

The developers say that while the essence of the job will remain largely unchanged, new UI elements will be introduced. These changes are mainly to alleviate the uncertainty of what to do when the rotation is interrupted, whether it’s by an enemy or trying to avoid something.

Dark Knight

On the tank side, Dark Knight is seeing the biggest changes, with a focus on streamlining the burst phase, laying the groundwork for making the job more unique in 8.0.

To that end, the job is seeing fewer inputs during the burst phase. Blood Weapon is getting an upgrade to Delirium, and effects of Blood Weapon are being added. Additionally, the developers are adding a new action for Living Shadow to use.

Astrologian

Finally, Astrologian looks to be the most significantly different as far as healers go. The biggest change here is the card mechanic, which no longer randomly draws buffs.

You’ll now draw cards with offensive, defensive, and healing effects at the same time, and you’ll be able to choose the most effective card depending on the situation. You can draw four cards every 60 seconds.

To go with this new style, Astrodyne will be removed entirely, but the new trail will increase the number of stacks of Essential Dignity.

Role Actions Changes

Every job has these changes, with some jobs changing overall and others offering only minor changes. Besides these job-specific changes, there are also some changes being made to role actions as a whole.

For example, the healer’s Swiftcast recast time will be reduced to 40 seconds across the level 90 range. DPS potency of Second Wind will be buffed across the level 90 range. The 30% damage reduction buff for tanks will also be buffed across the level 90 range.

Final Thoughts

Overall, the developers say that all of the job changes are about improving ease of use, which seems to indicate a lot of what’s going on with Dawntrail.

You could argue that a lot of these tweaks are homogenizing the job system in FFXIV, and to some extent that’s true, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

As Endwalker represents the end of a decade for FFXIV, the development team is now eager to create a foundation that they can build on for the next decade. Dawntrail is clearly intended to be a new foundation for MMO, with a massive graphical update, a brand new zone and story, and now these job changes.

While massive job changes are definitely not going to please everyone, the impetus behind these changes is to make the game easier for newcomers to learn. Especially those who want to start with Dawntrail without being limited by a decade of expansions and story.

FFXIV is a phenomenal MMO, but it's not easy to get into. If you really want to catch up, there are hundreds of hours of story missions to sift through and nearly two dozen jobs to choose from. There are rich crafting options, alliance raids, and more.

That's a ton of content, but creating a new baseline starting point with Dawntrail could help MMO attract a new group of players. It might not be the most favorite move among existing players, but ultimately, it's a smart move when it comes to making more iterations and improvements in the years to come.

What do you think of the changes to jobs in Dawntrail expansion? Which changes do you like or hate the most? Let us know what you think. We’ll see you next time!

With the arrival of new events, there's now a powerful incentive to dive back into the Final Fantasy XIV and get some exclusive rewards that would otherwise be hard to come by. Moogle Treasure Trove: The Second Hunt for Genesis is available now, kicking off on Tuesday, May 14, and running until Monday, June 24. If you're looking for events before the release of Dawntrail, this one is perfect for you.

How To Start This Event?

To begin this limited-time event, players must first locate one of the various Itinerant Moogle NPCs scattered throughout the world. There are 3 different locations where these NPCs can be found, and I have listed all of them:

• Limsa Lominsa Lower Decks
• New Gridania
• Ul’dah - Steps of Nald

Once you visit one of these locations, you will be able to obtain the Mogpendium, which is required for this event. Additionally, you can exchange the Irregular Tomestone of Genesis you collect for various prizes with these NPCs.

How To Get Irregular Tomestone Of Genesis?

The core of the FFXIV Moogle Treasure Trove Event 2024 is to collect the Irregular Tomestone of Genesis, a new currency introduced to this event. These Tomestones can be exchanged for new mounts, minions, and other rewards. To earn these Tomestones, players need to complete four different types of objectives:

• Standard Objectives: Basic duties such as dungeons, GATEs in the Gold Saucer, and ocean fishing.
• Weekly Objectives: Timed missions are available once per week, offering a substantial number of Tomestones.
• Minimog Challenges: Weekly challenges that provide a significant amount of Tomestones.
• Ultimog Challenges: These are one-time challenges per player for the entire event, but they yield the most Tomestones.

Each submenu contains a list of tasks, duties, and activities that you can participate in daily or weekly to earn Tomestones. Each duty and event contains information on how many Irregular Tomestones of Genesis you can obtain for its completion, so make sure to check each thing individually, depending on what you like to do.

This is a very welcome change compared to the previous ways of obtaining Tomestones, as you can do so without going out of your way. You can choose between them, and there's no need to endlessly repeat certain dungeons or duties if that’s not something you're interested in.

Standard objectives can be completed repeatedly, whereas weekly objectives, as the name suggests, can be done once a week. Minimog challenges also happen weekly, but are slightly different. Ultimog challenges are unique in that they can only be completed once per event, but they offer a substantial amount of Tomestones.

Event Rewards

There are plenty of new rewards introduced with the Moogle Treasure Trove system this time around.

Emerald Carbuncle Earring

One of the most exciting rewards is the Emerald Carbuncle Earring, the most expensive item available, costing 100 Irregular Tomestone of Genesis. Despite its small size, this earring is a Moogle Treasure Trove exclusive, making this event the only opportunity for players to obtain it.

Mounts

Mounts serve as personal transportation in FFXIV, coming in various sizes and appearances. They are typically rewarded for completing special quests, defeating powerful bosses, or engaging in specific grinding activities.

While some mounts can only be obtained by completing challenges, others are tradeable and can be sold on the market board to players willing to spend FFXIV Gil. The mount rewards available from the Second Hunt for Genesis are the Ufiti, Auspicious Kamuy, Direwolf, Rose Lanner, Gabriel Alpha, Gullfaxi.

Minions

Minions are miniature creatures that accompany players in open world areas, often act as in-game enemies. Similar to mounts, minions are typically obtained by fulfilling unique requirements, such as completing significant quests, receiving them as rare drops from bosses or dungeons, or purchasing them with specialized currency.

Some minions can be traded between players and sold on the market board, while others must be earned directly by the players themselves. The minions available from the Second Hunt for Genesis include: Behemoth Heir, Domakin and Petit Pteranodon.

Other Rewards

While mounts and minions are among the most popular collectible items in FFXIV, the Moogle Treasure Trove offers much more. Players can obtain Orchestrion Rolls featuring music from the game, Triple Triad cards showcasing characters from the Final Fantasy franchise and beyond, fashion accessories that allow players to adorn themselves with unique embellishments in open world areas, and more.

Hello fellow adventurers. In this guide, I want to give you an overview of what it’s like during an expansion release, specifically for casual players, by looking back at my personal experience with previous expansions. I’ve been playing Final Fantasy XIV since 1.0. So I’ve seen quite a few versions of the expansion and feel pretty confident about what to expect.

Additionally, I wanted to show off a tiny detail that people may have missed before that adds to the charm of each expansion update. There is no maximum uptime and readiness check, perfect time management and fastest upgrade experience. Just a look at the next two months, from one casual player to another.

From now on, I will go through it in chronological order until the release of Dawntrail. Before we start, I still want to remind you that if you want to have a comfortable gaming experience after entering the new expansion, it is a wise choice to purchase FFXIV Gil in advance.

Will Dawntrail Conduct A Media Tour?

First, let’s start with the media tour. By the way, all times and dates are from a European perspective.

The media tour will be held from May 15th to May 30th. This is an exclusive event for media, where invited media guests and influencers will get the first look at new abilities, trailers, and test job changes through a limited run of play, usually the first dungeon of an expansion.

Additionally, they will have the opportunity for exclusive interviews. All of this will be done in secret, and you won’t hear much about it until the embargo is lifted.

PLL

During this media tour, there will also be a letter from the producer live on May 16th. In this demo, we regular players will also see at least a job action trailer, some job changes, and possibly a new start screen for Dawntrail.

The second letter from producer live is scheduled to be sent out on Friday, June 14th. This will probably feature a release trailer.

The launch trailer is a story-focused video showcasing actual footage from the game. It will contain a lot of spoilers that many people may want to avoid, so they don’t know what to expect in the next expansion.

In the trailers, you’ll see and hear things that are completely taken out of context, and there are often a lot of red herrings.

Maintenance

The next big thing on the list is Early Access starting on Friday, June 28th and the associated major maintenance.

Every expansion release to date has been subject to 48 hours of maintenance, and this release also has one scheduled for maintenance. But there is a chance it can be extended to 72 hours.

This is because not only did we get a big software update, but the data center also got a physical update with the implementation of a new EU DC called Shadow. Obviously, preparations are already underway, but these times could still change.

On Lodestone, you’ll get actual maintenance times for your region and the usual patch notes. While these patch notes will be quite lengthy this time around, please note that some notes may contain spoilers, such as quest names, potential bosses and screenshots of cut scenes.

Typically, around half of the downtime, updates to the new launcher client and the game itself can be downloaded and installed by opening your usual launcher.

As a reminder, you must be logged in to get game updates. Simply opening the launcher will only update the launcher itself, so be sure to log in ahead of time and get game updates.

Early Access

The official release date is Tuesday, July 2, but most players will need to pay some additional fees to get into Early Access on Friday, June 28.

During this period, the logging queue will be very long. So be prepared to wait, maybe even up to an hour, for the line to finally clear up.

Frequent errors and queue crashes were common on Early Access launch day. Once you successfully enter the game, there is always the possibility of disconnection. So please be patient.

Also note that there is usually an auto-disconnect feature active that automatically logs you out if you haven’t moved for 30 minutes to avoid wasting time.

Because of new graphics updates, loading times may increase and overall frame rate and performance may decrease significantly. There will definitely be a detailed guide to the new graphics settings on Lodestone. Take the time to study them beforehand and it is recommended to set them up to your liking before jumping into MSQ.

Tips

The new main scenario quest will probably begin in Ojika Tsunjika in Old Sharlayan, where the previous quest ended.

Also, this small entrance hall can be very crowded. Check which button on your keyboard or controller is set to target the nearest NPC. By the way, please don’t stand on top of any quest NPCs so people can target them more easily.

It is important to note that one thing that can be activated to reduce the load on the server and clients is so-called instance. In the past, all new regions would have a maximum of three instances when the expansion launched. You can use command /instance to check the instance your character is currently on.

To switch to a different instance, you can go to Aetheryte in the area and select the instance you want to go to. Alternatively, if you have access to the zone border, you can exit and return to get a prompt asking which instance you want to access.

This comes in handy if you’re playing with a group of people, as party members may appear in different instances, even if you travel and teleport together.

Each extension update brings new job actions and abilities. Additionally, some may change and be updated or replaced. Please check your hotbars and the functionality there, and read the tooltip carefully to see if any changes have been made. You will read all the information about job changes on Lodestone in advance.

To unlock the latest area of flying, you may need to collect Aether Currents again. With Endwalker, Aether Compass, a device that helps you locate them, changes from a key item to a collection entry.

Once you complete all available main scenario quests in an area, the mount’s speed on land will increase. However, SDS Fenrir Mount allows you to drive faster on land in no time. If you plan on moving forward as quickly as possible, you may want to consider purchasing a store-exclusive mount before the expansion releases.

As for flying, possibly using Bicolor Gemstones or other new currencies to purchase additional riding maps will also increase flying speed.

As for inventory and items, make sure you have some form of food ready for the 3% XP bonus, as well as enough free space for all the loot and items that will drop.

Easter Egg

There may be a slight variation at the end, some even call it Easter Egg.

The extension may update images of Roulette of Duty Finder. For example, graphics of Expert Roulette and the highest level dungeon Roulette will always feature newly added jobs and races.

In Endwalker, this is Sage, Reaper and Male Viera. So in Dawntrail, expect to see Viper, Pictomancer and a Female Hrothgar appear in these images.

Now the last and most important thing is to have fun and take your time. You can only experience this new story chapter for the first time once. So you can explore new worlds at your own pace. Have a nice day!