I’m accumulating games I’d like to play – so far it’s Genshin on pause, Hogwarts Legacy (barely touched it, entered and slayed a troll in Hogsmeade), replaying Starcraft I campaign in its Remastered version (Carbot and Hi-Res version of an old RTS hit back from when Blizzard was cool), and Stray – haven’t even launched it yet. Some day, some day – I keep saying to myself, and yet I invent more and more stuff to enjoy in FFXIV.
First of all, I decided I put reputations on pause for now. I’m in a good place now: I’ve seen Arkasodara, Kojin and Moogles up to Bloodsworn on my main, and all the the rest can wait until less urgent times.
My primary focus are Manderville weapons (the orange 630 ilvl is the current threshold), and I have only 7 of 19 to go. Yet* :) The other thing is farming Euphrosyne for 620 head > feet gear, and I discovered it in a bad way – I’m at an equator now, and I don’t get to be picky. I need to roll every piece I don’t have yet, or I risk another weekly run.
* While actively running raids and roulettes, I found myself in a situation where I have little choice of jobs. Six-seven is not enough for variety… you’ll be laughing, but also not too surprised if you follow this blog long enough. I decided to level all combat jobs on all three alts.
My situation’s not that dire though, as I’ve leveled quite a number already, and many jobs don’t start from level one:
Still, it’s a big endeavor, and that’s what I’ll be doing in the for many reasons:
- I’m a completionist.
- I want a variety for roulettes on any given alt.
- Leveling is my most favorite pastime in any game, so I’m enjoying the process. It’s not a chore for me at all.
Yet, it will take me some time – I think the mid-end of the Summer is a valid prognosis.
It’s hilarious, but all the last week I almost didn’t play video games at all, FFXIV or otherwise. The reason? I discovered a new hobby, and that would be Warhammer 40k miniature painting.
I’m a mild fan of the universe. That is, I know the basics of lore, but not too deep, I completed DoW: Dark Crusade RTS several times on different factions, I read a couple of moderately horrible books, and I watched Ultramarines movie and excellent fresh Hammer & Bolter antology series. The overall universe is excellent, and I guess it was just a matter of time when I turn my eye to miniatures.
As they say, the grown up boys divide into three types: the ones who loved playing with toy cars in their childhood, the ones that loved playing with toy guns, and the ones that loved playing with toy soldiers. This bounces back in adulthood – choices of profession and videogames. I’m definitely type 3, so it’s always been RTS, RPG, collecting action figures and such.
Well, long story short, I decided to try the water with my foot, and bought my first set:
I picked Death Guard aka Plague Marines – the heretic faction that worships one of the four Chaos Gods, Nurgle.
As WH40k wiki says, “The Death Guard are one of the Traitor Legions of Chaos Space Marines. They worship and devote themselves exclusively to the Chaos God Nurgle and as a result of his mutational “gifts” they have become Plague Marines who are eternally rotting away within their power armour and infected with every known form of disease and decay but who are immune to all pain or minor injury.”
Two reasons I picked them first: one, I’m an all-time fan of body horror, physiological races and factions (zergs and stuff), two – as plague marines, they’re forgiving to painting mistakes. In fact, the messier – the better, as they have to look sickly and tainted, so you’d rather add more stains than paint over them. Perfect for a beginner!
Obviously, I watched a shitload of tutorials – and I figured that while painting techinques are all the same, each and every guy applies them as he sees fit. So I decided that I follow the basics, but reach to the style that I want to see in the end – that is, bright and bubbling, sickly version.
Still, I made a number of novice mistakes, even if I were warned, but managed to steer out of them – more or less.
And so, after a weekend and busy evenings in the working week, my Nurglites’ debut is done:
I’m more than happy with the result, and I mean to continue with the hobby. I’m not aiming to play a tabletop wargame – as it requires assembling an army, picking weapons and stuff – no, I just want to collect and paint squads from different factions to put on the shelf.
The whole process was super fun and exciting, and I enjoyed it a lot.
Next? Some “good” space marines, as I want to try the opposite – utmost precision and clarity in painting, and fewer details. Then I’ll pass on to other factions.
Resume: never keep searching and trying for new stuff.
Gnomecore 