FFXIV Checklist Update (September 21st, 2024)

(aka: the final cohost update)

Click here for the main Checklist

• Dancer to 100. It is almost identical to how it used to be pre Dawntrail, but there are two key differences: If you keep Flourish going, every other Standard Step will actually be a Finishing Move. This actually takes away some of the annoyance of the Dancer burst windows, as keeping the Standard Step cooldown running while doing your burst was incredibly annoying before. The addition of Last Dance also gives you one more thing to keep track of. It's not a lot, Dancer is still a simple class, but I like these very minor additions to the gameplay that don't make the class harder but do make it a little bit more interesting.
• Red Mage to 100. The biggest change in the class is at 96 with Grand Impact, which effectivel ygives you two instant cast spells every time you press Acceleration, which is surprisingly great for movement. Neither Prefulgence nor Vice of Thorns meaningfully alter the class's gameplay, and it otherwise got no real changes other than some QoL with their AoE and Moulinet. It's kinda funny that at times, Red Mage feels like the least mobile of the casters, though.
• Black Mage to 100. This one is interesting: The class sees functionally no changes before 100, and what changes is functionally minor. Astral Flare is one extra button to press every fire rotation, which isn't too interesting, and Retrace is often way less useful than you'd think it is. The main differences between Dawntrail and Endwalker are not in the levels, but in the reworks: The change from being Universal Tick based to being Casting Based makes the class way more responsive, and the change to Umbral Soul makes the class incredibly convenient, since you don't have to spin yourself sick during downtime. The changes to Firestarter (and more importantly, Thunderhead) end up giving the class a lot more QoL, and the return of Paradox means that Ice phases might as well have you playing as a Ranged Physical. Third Polyglot is just funny. Convert becoming just a "skip ice phase, do fire phase again" button is a little uninspired, but I can't deny its power. It's hard to find space for it though.
• Pictomancer to 100. This class makes me angry, not because I dislike it -- I actually think it's my favorite caster -- but because of the places where it falls short. Hyperphantasia was very clearly built for being used at level 100 and it feels awkward to use before that. Burst phases can be a little complicated because of it, and there is no reason why this class has so much button bloat -- why are the subtractive and additive abilities on different buttons? Why are the muses and the motifs on separate buttons? What the fuck? -- it's almost hilarious how few buttons the class has once you consolidate them all. It's a very simple class, but a lot of its complications come from knowing the fight in advance, knowing when you have the space to paint a motif, and when downtimes are so you don't do it in advance. I find it to be a less extreme version of Black Mage, and a very fun one too.
• Oh god levelling Y'shtola and Krile is going to suck.

If you read these at all here on Cohost, thank you. I'm not sure if my ramblings were useful or entertaining to anyone, but I thank you nonetheless.