So, about a week into Dawntrail now. Almost to the third dungeon in the storyline. Thought I'd take a few minutes and journal down some of my thoughts on the trip so far. I'm not including Storyline thoughts in this one because A) not finished yet, and B) that'll be it's own journal entry with the appropriate Spoiler tag in the title.
--Viper & Pictomancer: Coming into Dawntrail I was pessimistic about Pictomancer and curious about Viper. Pictomancer sounded a little too animated (I guess?) for my tastes, and in game still is a little too much visual splatter for me. But I find myself interested in the class actually, and I like the middle ground they seem to be treading between Black Mage that Always Be Casting and Summoner that doesn't know what a cast time even is. It seems to land close to Summoner in terms of complexity for me (translated: almost not at all), but that may change once I actually start leveling the class.
Viper though is teaching me to be careful what I wish for. I've been hoping for combo-based actions (ex: GNB's Gnashing Fang combo) to get stuffed into one button like it is in PvP or for npc role play quests, but Viper seems to have taken that a step too far. I don't really know what each skill is based on the icon, and my only indication that I'm doing something right is I get 3 buffs, enemy has a debuff, and I get to drop a death rattle on something. Is the 1 - 3 - 1 (2 is my Death Rattle) combo supposed to hit from the flank? Rear? DOES IT EVEN HAVE A DIRECTIONAL?! If so what's the 3 - 1 - 1 combo do?! I'm so lost with this thing.
--What you runnin': Contrary to everything I planned pre-Dawntrail, I did not switch my "main" class from Black Mage to Sage or Machinist. Apparently I became a Reaper instead. The decision was entirely based on the fact it was the only class that was able to get a full set of A.Credendum the quickest. I only had to buy Rings & Bracelet and then pay the 100 tomestones per piece to augment what I had. Now I'm working to get a healer set. Reaper is currently rocking 95 or 96 (eating well on the MSQ exp) while my Sage is up to 94.5 (Roulette runs) with Reaper being the only class to see Dawntrail dungeons and the first trial (where I really... REALLY wish I had a gun). Reaper though has been quite fun. I really like the new 92 skill, and I don't feel quite as glass as I probably would be if I was on a ranged class.
--What you craftin': This seems like a weird expansion for crafter / gatherer. Materials are scattered around so far and not in the usual order this time. I have the tier 1 and tier 3 metals for Blacksmith and Armorer, but still can't access the area with the Tier 2 metal? There's a lot of enemy kill materials as well (which sucks super hard for me cause both of my retainers are currently re-leveling to new jobs). That said, I am really liking what skills I'm seeing added for Crafters. Gatherers, though, feel like they were forgotten this go. Another skill that only applies to Collectables (and only increases the % chance of something else working better, still not making it 100%) and Revisit. Revisit is a mixed bag for me. On the one hand, having it proc on a 6 gather attempt after I've burned 650 GP to King's Yield and Field Mastery the node to fully restore GP and give me 6 more swings is glorious. However, on 4 swing nodes with no effects, I don't want to dump GP on the hope of getting Revisit to refill me, but if I do get Revisit I waste the GP refill. I'm complicated, I know.
--In the Dungeons: So far I'm 2 dungeons and 1 trial into the new stuff. I'm not sure if I'm liking what I've seen so far though. I'm not a fan of the dungeon bosses summoning adds that then do something and ditch (or worse, stick around and continue to be a menace). It gets to be a little too much for me to keep my attention on. Each of the 3rd bosses in the dungeons though were quite fun and I enjoyed those fights. The trial felt appropriately brutal until I started to recognize the mechs and then I came to enjoy that fight as well.
I think that's it for now. I'll be back with a story entry and maybe another dungeon entry after I finish the MSQ (it will be Spoiler tagged, so please listen to that if you're avoiding spoilers for the MSQ).
