Phoenix down, back from the brink
The fall...
You may remember my work from before our journeys into the world of Eorzea. The writings of an expectant, and high spirited gamer waiting for the chance to enter the realm of FFXIV. Upon the time we were allowed into that great world I was in a state much akin to having been spellbound; an experience like no other, exploring the world with reckless abandon to my safety (which often ended badly.) However I began to see one thing which saddened me greatly... A lack of content beyond the grind. The higher my level went the more I began to yearn for something more, something I felt was not yet there. I could not bring myself to keep the optimistic awe I had entered the game with, and began to play less and less, looking to other games that I hoped to rekindle the feelings I had began with when I began my journey. This was the beginning of my exodus from FFXIV.
During my leave of FFXIV I tried a few games, none of which satisfied my yearning for a great game that would once again rekindle that connection to the world FFXI, and later on FFXIV had for that short time. Terraria was great fun, and its combination of sandbox style creation, and its emphasis on exploration led to many late nights but eventually it became predictable, and I began to feel that nagging feeling that I once again needed a new experience. This in turn led to the MMO Champions online, a game in which you are able to fully customize your hero to save millennium city from the evil Dr. Destroyer. The customization is one of the great aspects of the game, and once again had me up many nights with both its character design, and its gameplay, merging the classes together to make my own. Yet still after awhile I found myself wanting more, something that Champions online could not offer me. I believe my long time friend Rafadra felt the same, and so I began to speak to my good friend Alistor Heiral in FFXIV to learn of what had changed since our absence. What I learned from him excited me greatly; from dungeons, and auto attack, to new NMs, and the grand companies. It was then I decided to return to Final Fantasy XIV. With that decided, my long time MMO partner Rafadra Redsun, and I re-entered the world of Eorzea.
The return...
That first night of my return I felt as if I had come home after a long journey. The feelings I had lost before came flooding back all at once. The trees of Gridania, and the black shroud, the canyons, and cliffs of Thanalan, the sea cliffs, and caves of La Noscea. I knew at that moment I had found what I had been yearning for during my long exodus from the game, belonging. As I ran through the twelveswood that night I knew what I had missed, and what other games had failed to provide. Many games make you feel as if the hero, the center of attention, the only one capable of saving them. So very few games however give the feeling that you are something greater, but that you cannot be, and are not alone. So many games give you the feeling that you are in a world that is small, restricted, or lifeless; devoid of all but a stage, and a setting. So very few grant you a glance into a living world; expansive, and mysterious. These were the feelings I had missed, and these are the feelings I now have once more. Walking through Eorzea with my good friend Alistor Heiral, and my long time MMO partner Rafadra Redsun I found what I had lost.
As I have played these last few days, learning of everything that has changed I'm still in awe of all of the new content, having left just as they were beginning to add NMs into the game. Since then I have tried many of the new features, and while there still exist bugs I see this game, I see this world only growing. Dungeons, the grand companies, NMs, npc quests, and auto attack are all new to me, and very exciting features to return to. With the coming of patch 1.19 I believe we will see even further evidence of the growth of Eorzea; of its mysteries, its people, and its dangers. I believe that patch 1.18 was very much a turning point in the right direction, and a stepping stone of the great things to come.
Eorzea...
I have returned...
Guide my blade, and still my shield...
Though beast and army draweth near...
I shall fight to dying breath...
To save the home I have found once more...
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