Aetherflow - Winter 2018

WINTER

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2018

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02 C O N T E N T S 2

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Rebirth by Fire

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Hydaelyn’s Hearth

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A thank you letter from our Editors to you!

Take a deep dive with Bounding Fox into Allagan history.

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Does winter have you in a decorating slump? We can show you a fresh new take on cozy.

Ever wa to know to make scales?

Mathis i guy.

Letter from the Editorial Team

Aetherstyle Winter glamours for this coming season.

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Eorzean Fables Think you know Alice in Wonderland?

Think again.

Lymlaen’s Locales Check out all the snowy vistas Eorzea has to offer!

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Augmenting with Arya Learn how to manipulate light and dark in this quick and easy tutorial.

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Should We Disband?

Dzoesn’t Dzemael just make you want to dzestroy something?

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Fashion Focus Inspired by lovely earth tones, we show off the gorgeous glams of Rayah Corvus!

Curio of Cos

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Dear Claus

We write thank yo our wish the grea Clause!

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osities splay

anted w how e Au’Ra Kyle is your

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Yoshise

e both our ou’s and h list to at Yoshi!

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Interview with the Lore Team!

Learn the deepest secrets of FFXIV lore!

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Fan Art Feature Showing off the fantastic ink work of Nika.

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The Joy of the Culinarian Prepare a Starlight feast for you and your closest FFXIV friends!

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Glamourous Vederah challenges herself to find the perfect glam for EVERY occasion.

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Interview with the Gear Design Team!

Yoshi-P and Ayumi Namae gives us in-depth info into the behind the scenes of gear design.

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Guiding the Community FFXIV guidemakers get their time in the spotlight. This time with Miu of Teamcraft!

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What to Do and How to Do It Our resident master crafter gives us the breakdown of how to get good at crafting.

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Screenshots of the Season We show off the best screenshots we’ve collected over the months from you dear readers!

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Want to Win a Signed Encyclopedia Eorzea II? A contest of knowledge is your proving ground.

Study up, you’re going to need it!

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LETTER FROM THE EDITORS 4

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Hello Dearest Readers!

We’d like to take this time to during this holiday season. Yo such an amazing community how excited we are to contin

We’d also like to give a massi moment we all started this g is a fantastic escape from lif brought people together from hard fought victory. Never ha

At the end of the day, this isn is a relationship between a p granted all the things you do time, your work, your passion knowing that not all of us are content. We thank you for co be able to play this game. We

… At least until Shadowbringe

With love, Serena (Editor-in-Chief), Arya

o thank each and every one of you. Here at Aetherflow Media we have a lot to be thankful our support, your time, and your feedback are invaluable to us and we are so grateful to have y support us. Everything we make, we make for you and we cannot adequately express just nue making content for you in the months to come.

ive thank you to the FFXIV Team at Square Enix, without which we would not exist. From the game, we felt it was something special. For many of us it was our first MMO and for others it fe and all the other games out there. We want to thank you for creating something that has m all over the world, with whom we share every moment of triumph, failure, laughter, and ave you shut us out. Never have you stopped asking for our opinion, even when we get angry.

n’t a one-sided experience and that is thanks to you and your continuous hard work. This passionate team and a passionate fan base, and that can be lost as we sometimes take for o for us. So from all of us at Aetherflow Media, thank you FFXIV Team. Thank you for your n, and your creativity. We thank you for thinking of us before every decision you make, while e going to agree with it. We thank you for considering our thoughts when bringing us new ontinuing to put us and our experiences in-game before anything else. We are truly lucky to e are truly lucky to be able to call ourselves Warriors of Light.

ers.

a (Artistic Director), Lolae (Lead Layout Designer)

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seeking community team members Aetherflow Media is currently seeking staff members who enjoy interacting and keeping up with the FFXIV community to fill our Community Team ranks. This role is meant to be fun, creative and interactive, so communication imagination are key! If you’re ready to join the Aetherflow team and bring your ideas to our table, apply today!

We look forward to hearing from you!

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Aetherflow Media would certainly be nothing without the support of the Final Fantasy XIV community members! While much of our original expenses have come out of pocket from the staff members, this humble project has many large goals for the future and we need your help to achieve these goals. Even the tiniest donation goes a long way towards helping us maintain and improve our processes in order to provide you with the finest quality content that we can.

Should you be interested in donating, click here.

With love, Aetherflow Media staff

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Winter Wonderland TEXT BY CELESTA ESTHEIM - PHOTOS BY CELESTA ESTHEIM AND LAELE NORA - LAYOUT BY ARYA ROSE

Winter is rounding the corner in Eorzea.

As the temperature drops and the weather changes, it doesn’t mean your spirits and fashion sense need to drop!

Cure those winter blues with these cute outfits!

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The Ice Royal Family What if Eorzea had a Royal Family in a Kingdom of Snow and Ice? No, I’m not talking about Frozen. We have a whole set of glamours based on a Royal Family. Grab three of your closest friends in Eorzea and dress up royally!

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Ice Queen Ruler of the Ice Kingdom, the Queen is loved by her subjects and feared by her enemies.

Known for her sense of duty and her devotion to a life of service, she has been an important figurehead for the kingdom.

Make sure that you have Pure White dye on you, this look calls for it. The pieces that are dyed Pure White are the Hakuko Dogi, Songbird Sirt, and the Angelic Thighboots.

To accessorize, put on the Angelic Chaplets and never, ever forget the crown. A queen must always have her crown.

We used the Augmented Hailstorm Crown of Healing, it’s perfect for royalty.

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Ice King Many would argue that the Ice King is overshadowed by his wife. But, it’s quite the opposite! He lead armies into battle and helps the Queen herself govern the kingdom.

Every Queen needs a King by her side.

For this look, we picked the Alpine Coat in an Ice Blue and paired it with the Butler’s Slacks dyed Soot Black. Slip on the Shire Philosopher’s Thighboots to finish the attire.

Now to accessorize!

We chose the Primal Earrings of Casting, the Sapphire Ring, and the Diamond Ring! Lastly the crown, put on the Augmented Hailstorm Crown of Casting dyed Ice Blue. Now go out and rule with your Ice Queen!

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Ic P

Loy P

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ce Prince and Princess

yal to his Princess, the Prince is always by the Ice Princess’ side. For the loyal Prince, we chose the High House Justaucorps in a cool Ice Blue and matched it with the Best Man’s Slacks.

Combine this look with the Elezen Gloves and Archaeoskin Boots. Don’t forget a piece of Weathered Jewelry such as the Weathered Ring. Now you’re ready to go out and be by this side of your dear princess.

Loved by many, the Ice Princess is the beautiful daughter of the Queen and King. Always out and about with her Prince, she always shows her royal subjects a kind smile.

This set is only three items! Three pieces, you say? How very simple and easy! All you need is the Hailstorm Crown of Healing for that beautiful headpiece.

And for the rest are the Gown of Eternal Passion and Boots of Eternal Passion! No need to dye anything!

You’re all ready to go out into the Ice Kingdom with your Prince!

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The Nutcracker “Nutcracker”, the story of a young girl’s adventure into a magical land on Christmas Eve, is easily one of the most famous ballets of all time. During the Christmas season, families all over make it an annual tradition to attend a performance. The music and dancing are bound to mesmerize you. Let’s bring the wonderful world of the “Nutcracker” to Eoreza!

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Clara Clara plays an important role in the story. She’s given a wooden nutcracker doll by her godfather on Christmas Eve. Once she falls asleep later that night, she’s teleported to a magical place where she travels to the Land of Sweets with the Nutcracker Prince.

Clara’s look is fairly simple, but very elegant. Throw on the Bridesmaid’s Dress in cool Ice Blue and put on the matching Bridesmaid’s Sandals in Snow White. To add to a simple touch of glamour, add the Blue Tulip Corsage to match.

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Nutcracker Prince The title character, the Nutcracker is also known as the Nutcracker Prince. He is the doll given to Clara on Christmas Eve. He is transformed into a handsome prince and accompanies Clara on her adventure.

For the look of the Nutcracker, I thought the Skallic Cap of Aiming dyed a Dalamud Red worked wonderfully. I paired it with the Serge Gambision of Aiming in Dalamud Red and the Skallic Bottoms of Aiming in Soot Black.

To finish the look I chose the Sky Pirate’s Gloves of Aiming, again in Dalamud Red, and the Bonewicca Tracker’s Sabatons in Soot Black. This look can go with anything, but you really need to go Lalafell for this to make it perfect!

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Sugar Plum Fairy The guardian of the Land of Sweets, the Sugar Plum Fairy, welcomes Clara when she first arrives. The Sugar Plum Fairy is shown as beautiful and elegant, by far one of the most popular characters.

For this look, almost everything in this set is Pastel Pink. Get ready to see lots of pink in this look.

I based this look on a female Elezen, I thought that it worked best.

They’re tall, beautiful, and elegant much like the Fairy. So, I recommend doing this glamour as an Elezen! We start off with Hempen Camise for the top and added the Quaintrelle’s Ruffled Skirt.

Put on the Thavnairian Armlets and the Bridesmaid’s Sandals to add to the Pastel Pink outfit.

Don’t forget the crown! I used the Koppranicel Temple Chain dyed a shiny Metallic Gold to complete the look!

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Mouse (Moogle) King The Mouse King is an evil and scary creature that, along with his rats and mice soldiers, battles the Nutcracker and toy soldiers.

Now when we were throwing around ideas in the Aetherflow Office, we were most excited for the Mouse King. Instead of the Mouse King, how about the Moogle King? And make him a Lalafell. I fell in love with the idea and made this.

Start with a Lalafell (this is important), and throw on the Moogle Head! I donned the look with the Alpine Coat in a Metallic Gold and paired it with the Thavnairian Sarouel. The look isn’t finished without the Werewolf Arms and Werewolf Feet in a Pure White to match the Moogle’s fur. Now, the look is complete! Go terrorize Eorzea as the Moogle King!

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Drosselmeyer Clara’s mystical godfather.

Drosselmeyer is a toy maker, and also a mysterious, fun magician. He presents Clara with her Nutcracker doll.

This was, by far, the most difficult look to come up with. But, I had fun coming up with is one! If you didn’t spend your MGP on mounts, grab the Gambler’s Trenchcoat in Midnight Blue and the Gambler’s Boots in a dark Soot Black. Put on the Halonic Exorcist’s Breeches and Saurian Gloves of Casting. For the finishing touch, throw on the Augmented Shire Philosopher’s Hat in Midnight Blue.

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A lice ’ s A dvent

by elessia s

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tures in

stormborn

E orzea

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CHAPTER 1

A CURIOUS SIGHT Alice lounged on a chaise lounge in the garden behind her house, lazily twisting daisies together to make a marvelous crown for her cat, Diana, who lay crouched nearby eyeing a vividly blue butterfly. She laughed as she watched the cat twitch her tail, wiggle her rump, and pounce, but the butterfly fluttered just out of her reach.

“Oh, silly kitty,” Alice said as she sat up, picking up the cat and nuzzling it against her face. “You will be a huntress yet!”

Diana struggled in her tight embrace, still eyeing the butterfly as it descended upon a nearby flower. Just then, a rabbit - a very white rabbit - jumped out of the rose bushes. Alice gasped. This was no ordinary rabbit! It was wearing a small, red jacket, and matching trousers, and muttering to itself in great distress. “Oh dear,” the rabbit said. “I’m late. I’m so very late!” And off it went, running on two legs rather than hopping on four. Curious indeed, thought Alice.

Alice stood up as Diana jumped from her arms to chase the rabbit which had disappeared into the dark wood surrounding the garden. “Oh Rabbit!” she called. “Please wait!” She peered into the gloom of the dense thicket just in time to see the rabbit jump down a large hole at the base of an ancient oak tree—a hole large enough for a girl about Alice’s size to follow, perhaps? “You stay here, Diana. I must know where that funny rabbit is going!” With that, she leapt straight into the rabbit hole.

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CHAPTER 2

DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE Down, down, down she fell, her blue dress billowing out around her, slowing her descent into the darkness. A light penetrated the shadows from below and she softly landed, finding herself in a brightly lit chamber. A red sofa floated before her as well as other odd pieces of furniture like a wooden chair and a massive armoire. Gripping the railing on the platform, Alice made her way deeper into the rabbit hole, dodging the suspended furniture and followed an upside-down staircase, which wound its way down into the cavernous abyss.

A chandelier blocked the way before her. The fixture hung from the floor upwards, and Alice realized she was standing on the ceiling rather than the floor. How strange and wonderful, she thought. A maroon rug ran the length of what should have been the floor. Keeping one hand on the wall, Alice wound deeper into the rabbit hole until she entered yet another room, this one with a tiny door at the end; this door was far too tiny for Alice to fit, but it seemed to be the only way out.

She crawled on the floor and peered through the keyhole. A lush forest awaited her on the other side, along with… Alice gasped… the white rabbit! Oh, but she was too big to fit through the little door! It was then she noticed a small table. Had that always been in here? she wondered. A single pastry rested on the table, bearing a note that read “eat me.” “Hmm,” she said to herself. “Well, it is tea time, and I am stuck here. Don’t mind if I do!” She broke off a piece and popped it in her mouth.

All of a sudden, her stomach lurched and churned, as if she was plummeting from a great height. Alice clutched her stomach and uttered a small “oh!” She closed her eyes, feeling the world spin around her, and waited for the sensation to subside.

Only when it stopped did she let herself peek. Alice gasped. Suddenly the table towered above her! Why, the sweet morsel had made her shrink! And she was just the right size to fit through the tiny door. She turned the gold knob and ventured out into the strange world in search of that elusive, white rabbit.

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CHAPTER 3

CURIOSITY KILLED THE CHESHIRE CAT Alice stepped onto a clearing with a small bridge leading over a slow-moving brook. Lady bugs the size of small dogs roamed around along with little fungus-like creatures who froze in their tracks the moment she looked over at them. “Well,” she said to herself, “stranger and stranger, curiouser and curiouser!” “You know,” a tiny voice called from behind her, “one could look at you and call you strange!” “Yes, yes, strange indeed!” piped in another voice.

Alice turned around and was greeted by the sight of two very short and very round twins, both dressed exactly alike. “Hello there, pleased to make your acquaintance,” she said, bowing. “How do you do,” said the one on the left. “I am Tweedle Dee and this is my brother, Tweedle Dum.” “Nah,” said Tweedle Dee’s brother, “I’m Tweedle Dee; he is just dumb!” They both burst into a fit of giggles.

“How do you do?” asked Alice. “We do just fine,” said Tweedle Dee. “Perhaps you can help me? I followed this white rabbit down a peculiar hole and here I am, and I must find him! Did you see which way he went?” “Why must you find him?” asked Tweedle Dumb. “Because I’m curious is all.” “She said curious, Tweedle!” “I know I have ears, too, you know! Curious indeed!” “The Cheshire Cat was curious too and look what happened to him!” said Tweedle Dee. “Oh, what happened to him?” asked Alice smoothing her skirts beneath her and making herself comfortable in the grass next to the stream.

Taking a seat on either side of Alice, both the Tweedles began to tell the story of Titan and the Cheshire Cat. “Titan, a behemoth made from granite and stone, worshipped by the Kobold clans for his benevolent and kind nature, resided in the shroud, not far from where we are now. But beware, misfortune would befall anyone who dared to trifle with this mystic beast, for his anger was beyond compare; the very earth trembled and heaved under the unstoppable fury of his monstrous bulk.

Cheshire Cat, being of a curious nature, wished to lay eyes on this colossal beast, to see for himself if the legends were true and Titan truly existed. With just a staff, his coat and a few meager provisions, he set out on this journey into the U'ghamoro Mines, where Titan lived, see. His inquisitiveness took him deep into the heart of the caverns.

Upon entering the vast underground chamber, the cat got his first glimpse of the fabled brute but it was too late: he had awakened the primal! The floor dropped from around the cat, who locked eyes with the beast, and he stood alone with the huge Lord of Crags and laughed. His laughter and his curiousiyy ignited the anger within the primal, and he launched a landslide straight at the cat, who, unfortunately, had never learned the art of dodging. And thus, dear child, curiosity killed the Cheshire

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CURIOSITY KILLED THE CHESHIRE CAT Cat!” “I see your point, dear man. However, my curiosity,” said Alice, “is only about a small, white rabbit who has nothing to do with any sort of scary, mythical beast.

But I thank you for sharing your fable and its moral. I will try to be less curious in the future. Now if you will excuse me, I have a rabbit to chase!” And off she went, in the direction she presumed the rabbit had taken, over the bridge and into the wood beyond.

Tweedle Dee looked at Tweedle Dum and they both grinned. “Little does she know; a small rabbit can lead a curious child right into the dragon’s lair. But you can’t say we didn’t warn her!”

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CHAPTER 4

KUPO

Alice skipped along the bridge, following a path into the wood. Glancing behind her, the two Tweedles faded into the distance until she once again found herself alone in the strange land at the bottom of the rabbit hole. She slowed to a walk, following the trail as it meandered through the tall trees, the sun peeking through, casting dappled drops of light on the dirt trail. As she walked, she sensed movement in the trees, as if she were being watched. Who knew what kind of creatures lurked in the thicket? She picked up her pace.

She emerged into a glade, and the path became paved in cobblestones leading up to a small, pink house. "What a darling house!" Alice thought to herself as she approached the little cottage. A sound behind her made her jump and she turned to see the white rabbit! “Why, hello there!” called Alice.

The rabbit stopped, pulled out a pocket watch. “Oh dear,” he said staring at the watch, “I am so late, so very late.” Glancing up from the watch, he then noticed Alice. “Oh, Mary, thank goodness you’re here! Please run inside the Moogle house and fetch my white gloves from the dresser in my room. I fear heads will roll if I waste anymore time! Just meet me at the Mad Hatter’s and bring them to me there!”

He turned and began scampering back the way he had come. “Oh rabbit!” Alice exclaimed after him. “What is a Moogle and who is the Mad Hatter and however will I find him?”

“I have no time for questions! But a moogle, my dear child, is a cat but not a cat and can fly or not fly. Please, hurry! And follow the signs to the Mad Hatter. Kupo!”

With that, he dashed into the wood, leaving Alice to find his white gloves, for surely, she didn’t want heads to roll because he was late for whatever it was he was late for!

She ran up the stairs and into the house, noticing the small cat-like furry creatures with small wings adorning the home. "Cats, but not cats. Hmm." She ran up the stairs to find the rabbit’s bedroom. She found a dresser and rummaged inside, emerging with a pair of pristine white gloves; these had to be what he was looking for.

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CHAPTER 5

A MAGIC MUSHROOM "Just follow the signs," Alice thought to herself as she followed the rabbit in the direction he disappeared. Follow the signs. She turned on the spot. Follow the signs. She squinted into the trees. “Well, I don’t see any signs!”

She kept walking deeper into the woods until the path split, one leading right and the other left. “Oh no,” she said aloud, “which way now?” Suddenly, a sign post popped out of the ground, an arrow lit up and pointed to the path leading left, toward a clearing in the distance. “Well, I guess that must be a sign.” In the clearing, she spotted a giant cactus dancing among the heather, humming to himself.

“Hello,” Alice called out. “Hellooooo!” the cactus replied and motioned for her to come closer.

“I am trying to find a White Rabbit, he is wearing a very smart looking jacket and always glancing at his watch shouting ‘I’m late’. Have you seen him? I have his gloves, and they seem to be very important for what he is late for,” she stammered, half out of breath, trying not to think about the fact she was talking to a cactus of all things. “He isn’t here,” said the cactus. “Well I know that!” said Alice, crossing her arms. “But do you have any idea where he may have gone? Oh! Do you have any idea where the Mad Hatter is?” “Did you follow the sign?” asked the cactus.

“Why yes I did, and it led me here, to you.” “Then you are on the right track, keep following the path until you get to a tree and wait for the signal.”

“Signal?” “You will know it when you see it, my dear. And let me offer you some other advice. You are very small in a very big, fantastical world. There are mushrooms along the path to the Mad Hatter. One side will make you grow large, the other will make you small. You will need to be small, but sometimes, my dear child, you will need to grow up!” He then handed her a small piece of a mushroom. The cactus then began turning in circles again and humming, clearly finished helping Alice find the rabbit and the hatter, whom everyone seemed to think mad.

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CHAPTER 6

TIME TO GROW UP “I will wait for the signal” sighed Alice to herself. Walking through the clearing, she noticed a pretty flower, as tall as herself. It then moved and turned toward her, and it wasn’t a flower at all, but a tiny person half fairy, half flower; all purple and pink, with a sour look on her face. “What kind of flower are you supposed to be?” the fairy asked. “I’m not a flower at all,” replied Alice. “And you certainly are not any sort of flower I have ever seen!”

“I am a sylph, and these are the Sylphlands, where my kind live. And you are trespassing and are obviously some kind of weed trying to infest our lands. Be gone with you, weed!” The little Sylph let out a growl, and thorns grew up around her and looked quite menacing. Alice looked down at the piece of mushroom the cactus had handed her and took a bite from the right side. The Sylph let out a screech and Alice looked down at her, having grown to her normal height. The Sylph was but a tiny flower to her now.

“You’re lucky I have no desire to pick you,” said Alice. “But I want you to help me find the Mad Hatter.” The Sylph looked up at her with big eyes, trembling. “Follow the path behind me into the woods, where the path diverges wait for the signal.”

“Thank you.” Alice turned and headed toward the path, not bothering to glance behind her at the quivering Sylph.

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CHAPTER 7

CATS DO HAVE NINE LIVES Sitting on a tree stump, some hours later, Alice wondered how she had found herself in such a state. The path had not diverged in the wood, but rather had gone on and on, deeper into the forest. Her feet hurt, and she could sense her hair was a mess.

Her dress was ripped and stained, and her tights had a hole in them. Everything seemed hopeless and tears streamed down Alice’s face, making tiny rivulets down her pink cheeks. How was she supposed to find the White Rabbit and the Mad Hatter in this dreadful place? And how was she ever going to find her way home if she did find them?

“Why are you crying?” Alice turned; seated next to her was a cat dressed in purple, with pink hair and striped socks. “Because I am lost and can’t find the White Rabbit and I have his gloves, and no one will help me, and everyone here is absolutely bonkers,” she sniffled, wiping her nose with the back of her hand.

“We are all mad, here, you’re mad, I’m mad, we are all mad. But then to ourselves we are perfectly sane. Was it insane of me to confront Titan with just my staff and my charming personality? Seemed sane to me,” the cat laughed. “OH!” Alice exclaimed. “You’re the Cheshire Cat! I thought, well I reasoned and figured, you were dead, and some monstrous beast threw you to the bottom of a chasm!”

“Yet here I am!” he stood up and did a little dance. “And at your service.”

He bowed then seated himself back next to her. “I don’t think you can help, no one has been able to help. I need to find the Mad Hatter and get the rabbit’s gloves to him. I know it’s silly, but it seems like a rather important quest and I must see it through.” “Well, the Mad Hatter is that way,” the cat said, pointing behind him.

“Or rather, is it that way?” He looked around him and shrugged.

“See, no help at all. I’m supposed to wait for the signal,” Alice said. “Well that’s the maddest thing I have ever head! Just follow the sign.” And as if by magic (well, it must have been magic, actually), a sign appeared, pointing the way to the Mad Hatter’s. Alice giggled. “Everyone is certainly mad here, Cheshire. But you seem to be the sanest of them all. I thank you. Now I must hurry so the rabbit doesn’t lose his head! Good bye! Good bye!” She ran toward the direction the sign pointed, hoping she wasn’t too late!

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CHAPTER 8

THE TEA PARTY Alice wandered into a little courtyard of a large house. A sign hung on the door which read, “Welcome to the Mad Hatter’s, won’t you please come in?” “Don’t mind if I do,” said Alice to no one in particular. She opened the door and witnessed what looked like a tea party. Two cats, both with pink hair, and one with a top hat sat at the table. Alice assumed the one with the hat must in fact be the Mad Hatter.

“Hello,” she said. Both cats looked over at her; a little mouse peered at her from behind a teapot. The Hatter waved her over. “Come in, come in. You are just in time! We are celebrating!” Alice smiled. “What are you celebrating exactly?” “Why nothing!” replied the Hatter. “Nothing? That is the silliest thing I have ever heard.”

Alice crossed her arms and stared at the two cats, who were busy pouring tea, more on the table than into the tiny porcelain tea cups. “I am looking for someone, have either of you seen-” “Sit down, sit down!” interrupted the other cat. “But I-” “Sit down!” she yelled, and Alice did as she was told, falling into the empty seat across from them. The kitty without the hat crawled onto the table and sat before her. “I am March Kitty,

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CHAPTER 8

THE TEA PARTY and today is not my birthday. Nor is it Christmas! What a day to celebrate!” She grabbed the tea pot and poured Alice a cup, sloshing the tea onto the saucer. “I don’t want your tea!” Alice said. “I am looking for the White Rabbit. I have something of his that is important.” The little dormouse peeped around her tea cup then scurried behind March Kitty.

“How rude!” said the Mad Hatter. “Yes, rude!” agreed March. “You can leave now, and don’t come back! We don’t take kindly to rude people, especially peculiar ones with yellow hair!” “I didn’t want to stay anyway, I didn’t want your yucky tea! I just wanted to know where the rabbit went!” “Well, I will tell you! He went to the trial.

It’s just down the road at the Queen of Heart’s castle. A rude girl like you certainly should stay away, though, for you will surely lose your head!” The Mad Hatter laughed, and the March Kitty joined in. “You would have to be mad to go there.”

Alice thought to herself, not as mad as these two. And I must go, the rabbit needs me. She stood up, pushed the chair in, made a polite bow and left the tea party as fast as she could.

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CHAPTER 9

THE ALL-SEEING GUARD Seething, Alice stomped through the gate and back onto the forest path, following its twisting and turning through the dense wood. Hopefully, she thought, she would see some sign of the White Rabbit and her journey would have some purpose beyond chaos and mad people! The path suddenly stopped, and a black imposing gate blocked her way.

“How very peculiar for a gate to appear here in the middle of these woods? And haven’t I been this way earlier,” she wondered aloud. She pulled on the gate and it didn’t’ budge. Peering through the iron bars, Alice could vaguely make out the shadowy form of a very large mansion. “Who goes there!” came a voice from behind.

She turned and saw a large floating eye, with small wings, a tail, spindly little legs and a wide mouth full of razor-sharp teeth.

“Oh my!” exclaimed Alice. “It’s just me, Alice. Just on my quest in search of the White Rabbit. I assumed everyone knew about me by now.” “Your journey, I’m afraid, ends here,” the eye said. “Are you going to eat me? Oh dear, this isn’t how I envisioned my death at all. Mind you, I’ve never seen a floating eye before, but I did think I would pass like my grandmother, in bed and cranky about everyone hovering about!”

“Do you ever stop talking? No, I’m not going to eat you. But everyone is mad beyond this gate, and the Queen, why, she is the maddest of them all! Beware the Queen of Hearts!” “But I’ve come so far, and I must see the White Rabbit!”

“None shall pass.” And with that, the eye disappeared, and the gate remained locked except for a small gap underneath. Perhaps, if she were smaller, she could squeeze through! Taking a bite of mushroom from her pocket, she shrank once again and crammed her small body beneath the bars. She then stood before the mansion and went inside, for the door was open, expecting her.

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CHAPTER 10

THE NOT SO TEENSY TURTLE Stumbling through a well-lit hallway, she could hear voices coming from a room just at the end of the hall. Peering inside, she saw a small woman with a crown on her head bellowing at the…why it was the White Rabbit! “Oh Rabbit!” Alice called out. “I have your gloves!” She rushed in and thrust the gloves at the rabbit.

“Why who is this?” the Queen of Hearts asked. “For your rude intrusion, you must play a game of chess with me! And if you lose, OFF WITH YOUR HEAD!” Her face became a that of bright red tomato and Alice could not help but giggle. “Are you laughing…” Another more maniacal laugh interrupted the now fully enraged Queen. Alice turned to see the Cheshire Cat grinning.

“Hello, dear Queen, did you forget about me? Our chess game where I crushed you and then you blathered on and on about removing me head?” The cat then proceeded to remove his head and Alice gasped. “OFF WITH HIS HEAD!” roared the Queen.

Suddenly the room was filled with the cast of characters Alice had met on her journey. The Mad Hatter, the March Kitty, even the little dormouse and they all

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CHAPTER 10

THE NOT SO TEENSY TURTLE began arguing what would be the best way to remove his head, since it was already removed! Curiouser and curiouser, thought Alice.

“ENOUGH!” The queen slammed down her scepter and glared at Alice. “You, journey to the great turtle and ask him to solve this problem! Go at once. The gryphon will take you.” Suddenly, Alice found herself flying on a great bird, on her way to speak to a turtle of all things. The bird landed gracefully in a clearing miles and miles from the Queen’s castle. Alice hopped down and made her way through the tall weeds in search of a turtle. “Oh, however will I find a wee turtle in this place?” She climbed on top of a large boulder and noticed just in front of her, a very large turtle indeed! “Hello,” she said. “I beg your pardon, but the queen needs to know what to do with the Cheshire Cat and his floating head?”

The turtle turned towards her and smiled a great wide grin spanning across his wrinkled, ancient face. “My dear, you must return at once. You are the key witness to a very critical trial and if you don’t go now, you will be stuck here forever!”

Climbing back on the gryphon, Alice wondered what other craziness the Queen had in store for her.

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CHAPTER 11

OFF WITH EVERYONE'S HEAD “March Kitty, you have been charged with the crime of stealing the Queen’s tarts.”

Announced the White Rabbit. “I call the first witness, the Mad Hatter. Mad Hatter, do you promise to tell most of the truth to the best of your ability with only a few white lies intermixed to show how guilty the March Kitty is of this crime?” “I do,” said the Mad Hatter.

“Why this is utter nonsense, your majesty!” cried Alice. “Quiet, it’s not your turn!” said the White Rabbit. “Oh dear, where was I? Oh yes, where were you on the 15th day of August?” “I was hosting my un-birthday party with the March Kitty. I know it was my un-birthday, because it wasn’t my actual birthday, you see. And March Kitty appeared with all these wonderfully yummy winter berry tarts! Yes, and I remember thinking, it’s summer... Why does she have winter berry tarts? And then I realized I was hallucinating from the mushrooms I had earlier, so I’m not even sure if March was there at all? And I think it was pecan cake with carrot frosting, if I recall correctly.”

“Next witness!” cried the White Rabbit. “Alice, please take the stand and read this letter to the jury.” The Rabbit handed Alice a crumpled note. Climbing up on the stand, Alice began to read the letter, but it made no sense at all. “Why this is utter nonsense! It doesn’t have anything to do with the queen’s stolen tarts!” “Read it!” squawked the queen. “Twinkle twinkle little bat, how I wonder where you’re at?

Like a blueberry in the sky…” she read.

“THAT’S IT! OFF WITH HER HEAD,” the Queen stammered looking at the March Kitty. “It was a blueberry tart!” “This proves nothing!” yelled Alice. “It’s just a silly little poem!” “And you are a silly little girl! So OFF WITH YOUR HEAD!” “I am hardly a little girl!” Alice quickly pulled out the last bit of mushroom from her pocket and plucked in her mouth and swallowed. She grew tall very fast and stood over the Queen and laughed. “Just try to remove my head now!” Suddenly, the room began to twist and turn, the colors bled together, the checkerboard became a swirly design. Everything went dark.

Waking, she found herself in the garden with her cat. She sat up, rubbed her eyes and stretched. “What a dream. Oh, it must be close to tea. Let’s go, Diana, I am expecting there will be blueberry tarts.”

The end.

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CREDIT S

Author: Elessia Stormborn Photographers: Daiyu Elani Vanity Skrully Matsuyama Lylynn Kree Elessia Stormborn Reno Emiya Laele Nora Shenova Shadowheart Moon Bunny Layout and editing: Lolae Demort Styling: Vederah Kilmister Models: Big Alice: Daiyu Elani Diana: Fat Cat White Rabbit: Moon Bunny Little Alice: Daiyu Elani, Tetemui Temui Tweedle Dee: Lylynn Kree Tweedle Dumb: Elessia Stormborn Cheshire Cat: Reno Emiya Mad Hatter: Skrully Matsuyama March Kitty: Laele Nora Dormouse: Nutkin Queen of Hearts: Rosey Nora A special thanks to the FFXIV community.

Without them this project would not have been possible!

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TEXT BY BOUNDING FOX | PHOTOS BY WATERLESS FISH | LAYOUT BY ARYA ROSE

THE RISE OF THE ALLAG Little aid is required to give the ordinary Eorzean individual images in their mind’s eye of awe-inspiring or perhaps ominous ancient constructs when using the word ‘Allag.’ Two walks of life found these remembrances: one of faith and one of discovery. Saint Coinach was the man who built the bridge between these two nearly six centuries ago, and through his efforts, we have come to acquire some of the most significant archaeological revelations of our present day.

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THE TOMESTONE: TRASH TO TREASURE An innumerable amount of provided access to an ancient record from Saint Coinach’s initial breakthrough and the centuries that followed exist in the form of objects called tomestones. They appear as simple stones strewn about the remnants of ancient superstructures, but with the ingenuity of magitek provided

by Garlond Ironworks, we have come to learn that these stones hold reams of information gathered by the Allagans.

Countless subjects and works that allow us to know what they knew and to see how they lived are accessible today. Of the countless questions one might seek revelation for, we have an answer to one that might cross the thought of the curious researcher: Where did the Allagans gain their strength?

The answer to that begins with the sun.

THE THIRD UMBRAL CALAMITY: DIVINE JUDGMENT BY FLAME Data from these tomestones allow for publication on documents that cover eras of history far removed from oral tradition and song. One of these

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eras, on the eve of the Second Astral, begins the story of the Allagans. Churches were the head of state but the deities they chose to venerate rejected their demonstrations of wanton destruction, deciding instead to lay low their pride through the searing of the sun. Records describe the sun waxing immense in the sky, its rays turning all livelihood to a cinder, and rendering civilization weak.

This Calamity of Fire though would turn the fearers of the heavens into its challengers, as those pockets of survivors that saw through the heat hesitated to place their motivations upon deities any longer, feeling a sense of betrayal from the centerpieces of their previous states. Those who cast aside gods entirely decided to place faith in a different source of strength: that of self.

POWER WITHIN: THE EGO AT THE FORE An effect of focusing solely on one’s self and the inherent ability that resided in each gave rise to the development of some of the greatest minds that history has allowed us to know. Records boast to us that advancements in technology and science surfaced at a daily pace, each a stepping stone to a more significant discovery or invention. The ingenuity of this era gave birth to things such

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as new elements and alloys of hardnesses unrivaled, materials that could restore antiques to their original states, and enhancements upon natural resources of local animal and plant life around them allowing the people to benefit from their qualities even further.

The fecund social and experimental environment of the dawn of the Third Astral Era would bring forth what history calls the leader among the brilliant minds of this time, the man who would be named Xande, titled emperor of Allag.

XANDE: DEFINING THE FUTURE WITH THE PAST History would have us recognize first and foremost that Xande was an individual in possession of a distinct form of ambition wholly unique to his person.

This ambition saw him through the rising of a nation that would one day be regent over the entirety of the Three Great Continents. However, afore any of those achievements would take place, Xande would set the keystone of the Empire’s rise with his founding of a new scientific method.

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The Second Astral Era that ended with the flames of the waxing sun was time to a breed of magi who defined the very fundamentals of arcane manipulation that we inherit today. Though their deeds were against the heavens themselves, their prowess is one not to be glossed over. This power is what Xande recognized.

Instead of casting aside magic due to the disaster it had brought upon their world in a previous era, he granted its descendants a sanctuary from the hatred of the current society. There they increased in might under his protection, and he learned more of how their power functioned. Using their abilities in acts of war, he quickly began to subjugate neighboring states under the arcane force of these men and women he gave asylum.

AETHEROCHEMISTRY: THE ULTIMATE KNOWLEDGE As Xande’s nation rose, he took the freedom he granted magic in his growing territory and applied it to scientific principles. Simple machines and technology were enhanced by magic to surpass the limits of their reach, granting Xande

even more capacity to control and dominate the lands around him. They could conquer, build, fortify and march forward with precision and force entirely unheard of prior in any era thence and forthcoming. Where they dominated they took their magically enhanced science to all fields: medicine, agriculture, transportation, communication, whatever science that was to aid man became even more potent and furthered under aetherochemistry.

IN SUMMARY Our understanding of the rise of the Allagan Empire concludes with the writings extracted from tomestones which tell us that they would have never thrived if it was not for aetherochemistry.

This science - wrought forth by the ambition of a single man born in an era that allowed for the focus in one’s innate talent and ability over faith in gods gave the Allagan Empire the might to extend its reach to every conceivable part of the star. Even now, Allag continues to affect us in the menacing progress that the Garlean Empire currently has with its magitek founded in Allagan discoveries, and with the damage caused to our realm during the Battle of Carteneau.

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So much remains to be understood of the Allagan Empire, and so much continues to be revealed, and as we learn more about this nation that has remained impactful upon us even now 5000 years later, we may find ways to combat the hostile use of Allag’s advancements and focus such discovery on the betterment of our own lives. - BF

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LLYMLAEN'S LOCALES TEXT AND PHOTOS BY MALLERS SAMA - LAYOUT BY ARYA ROSE

With winter fast approaching, it’s time to grab your favorite fuzzy mittens, and your warmest scarf and coat, because we are going to be showcasing three wonderful winter locations!

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A REALM REBORN Coerthas Central Highlands The first location we are heading to is Coerthas Central Highlands. There are many wonderful locations for that perfect winter shot you are looking for. From firepits, to creepy dungeons, and the view of Foundation, this place is without a doubt, a good location!

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HEAVENSWARD The Dusk Vigil The Dusk Vigil, is the perfect snowy backdrop for good shots.

You might ask, “But Mallers, why is this a good spot; it's a dungeon, and I’ve run it so many times before that I’m sick of it.” I’ll tell you why, though it has so many factors.

It has the castle portion of Dusk Vigil in it, which makes a stellar background. Along with planning your spot just right, you could even catch Opinicus in the background of your shot! Even if you are not wanting castles and griffins in the background of your photo, but are looking for a more frozenover, indoor cellar feel for your photos, you’re in luck. The Dusk Vigil provides that exact atmosphere once you get past the second boss, in a few of the rooms that follow.

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STORMBLOOD Eureka: Pagos You may be complaining already about this, because either you loved the grinding of chaining mobs, and hated that they added the train back; or maybe you’re disappointed in this step of the relic, and all that light farming you need to do. Rest assured, that's not what we are here for. This location has many hills and valleys,

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and its completely blanketed in sn can capture the feel of a cold winte and cozied up in your favorite win Grab all your friends, also in their and have a snowball fight. Or, do dance in the snow to summon th (Not guaranteed to work, Sorry!).

now. Here you er, all bundled nter glamour. r winter gear, your favorite he snow days

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AUGMENTING WITH ARYA TEXT, PHOTOS, AND LAYOUT BY ARYA ROSE

Photoshop can be intimidating. There are lots of tools, terms, and probably four different ways to do the same thing. That's where I come in; I'm going to teach you some integral and awesome techniques to take your screenshots to the next level.

Whether you have reshade, mods, or a PS4, there is no reason why you can't make those shots extra polished with Photoshop.

Let's jump right in shall we?

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CURVES This month, we are taking a look at Curves.

Probably one of the most underused and underappreciated tools in Photoshop.

Curves gives you absolute control over the tones and contrast in an images. It’s easy to learn and simple to use.

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INITIAL OBSERVATIONS Here is the photo we’re working with today.

I chose this one because it doesn’t have a lot of color, so it is easy to find the lightest white and the darkest black in this photo!

Plus this is a great pose to work with. The sly smile is really powerful. But there isn't a lot of contrast. If we could increase the intensity of the darks and lights in this photo then we might just have something here. Let's get to work.

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LET'S START CURVE ADJUSTING After you make a duplicate background layer, open the Curves window and you’ll see what looks like a graph, some dropper icons, a presets dropdown and some options you can toggle on and off. Don’t get intimidated! Stay with me! Let’s break it down into some more bite-sized chunks.

This is where you can select a Preset. You don’t have to, and unless you are editing a bunch of photos taken in the same lighting and setting, you probably shouldn’t apply the same preset to every image. An image taken inside a cave or a dark dungeon will not look right if you use the same preset for a sunny day in Dravania.

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This histogram shows you where your tones are the most concentrated.

Every photo will have a different histogram, for instance this one has a lot of dark(er) tones but hardly any black or darkest tones. Same on the white/lighter side. A lot of the tone is focused in the dark end and the light end, but there is no TRUE black or white in this photo.

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3

you w chan artific lookin

4

what medi This the t photo

5

plan (imag

5 2

6 3

7 8

4

This is your curve line. Right now it’s not very curvy.

However, depending on how want your photo to look, you can nge the tones of an image so it cially creates the tones you are ng for.

The input is very important.

These droppers will change the histogram depending on t you set as the brightest light, ium tones, and darkest shadow. step alone can entirely change tone, and even the color, of a o!

These two toggles are purely for either RGB images (images you don’t on printing) and CMYK images ges that you do plan on printing)

Sometimes a printer will not want to print their images too dark, thus saving themselves a lot of black ink.

(FUN FACT: did you know that black ink is the 5th most expensive liquid substance on the planet, coming in right behind Insulin and Chanel °5.

Crazy stuff.) But if you don’t plan on printing your image, keep Light selected.

The grid can be toggled to be more precise or less precise depending on how exact you want your tones to be. I usually do everything by eye, so I don’t use this toggle at all. However that does not mean you shouldn’t use it. Whatever makes the experience more enjoyable for you is what is most important.

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I keep these all checked because I like having the most information possible.

However, you may not need or want to see everything. So toggle on/off as you see fit!

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Previewing your work is always a good thing. Make sure you toggle it on and off to look at your photo with and without the curves. Sometimes this can help you from overdoing a change and it saves you time!

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Now that you know w thing does it doesn’t scary right? Now let’s newfound confidence Here on the left is the ph working with today. I c one because it doesn lot of color, so it will b us find the lightest w the darkest black in th Let’s take a look at histogram..

You can check the h either one of two way photo has been conv smart object, (right cl photo layer, the selec to smart object) it every action so you c or delete them late harming the original this is the case, use object method . If yo isn’t a smart object o working with layer m you should use the la method.

Looking at the histogr right, we can see a lot white tones in the p background, her hair fur on her jacket is cause. The darker ton horns, knives and jack darker tones the hist picking up on.

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what each t seem so s put that e to use! hoto we’re chose this n’t have a be easy for white and his photo! it’s curve

histogram ys. If your verted to a lick on the ct convert will save can toggle er without photo. If the smart our photo or you are masks then ayer mask

ram to the t of lighter photo. The r, and the the likely nes like her ket, are the togram is

SMART OBJECT METHOD

l a y er mas k M E T H O D

Lighter tones

er dark

tones

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To acheieve the more c effect we want, let’s dropper tools to pick lightest color. I chose o light pieces of fur by However you could h chosen the light on he even the background. you have selected th color in the photo you see a change.

The picture has shifte more yellow image t blue-ish image. This me personally selectin in her jacket which wa tinted yellow, so P decided to select a co to balance the look to pure white.

Now if we look at the h we can see that som lines have been adde indicate the colors t shifted to make the tone that we selecte pure white.

Now you could stop why not take it a step Why not add some sty actually make some c

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contrasted s use the up on the one of the her neck. have also er knife or . Now that he lightest u will likely

ed from a to a more is due to ng the fur as slightly Photoshop older color achieve a

histogram, me colored ed! These that were e lightest ed a more

here. But p further? yle to it and curves?

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FINISHING TOUCHES If you want to make a picture look more faded or softer you can make your histogram look like this:

There are so many different combinations! You can also add points by clicking on parts of the line and moving them however you want. The key is to experiment and practice on lots of different kinds of images: dark ones, light ones, sunsets, stars, forests, mid battle. Try things out and remember that there are always a million ways to achieve an effect in Photoshop.

So keep searching, keep exploring, keep practicing and happy editing.

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Hydaelyn's Hearth Text by Serena Sparkles - PHOTOS by Arya Rose - Layout by Lolae Demort

To many Hydaelyn citizens, winter decoration oftentimes lead to gaudy garlond floating around the room and fake presents under the trees to insinuate that they have more gil to spend on their Free Company members than in reality.

While the limited options of Starlight Celebration decorations leave little to the imagination, I once again turned to my Pinterest account for inspiration. Shifting my focus to the bedroom this time, I gingerly scrolled through the various results on my board until one caught my eye, and I immediately accepted the challenge. Far from the traditional and gaudy ornament decor style, this bedroom’s atmosphere is light, bright and surprisingly warm, despite the season it clearly represents. But could this be replicated in my apartment?

Please step into my Winter Wonderland and see for yourself!

Obviously there will be some differences, since, for example, curtains, at the time this was written, do not exist in the game. In addition, other alternate options are available.

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gorgeous mix of luxurious fabrics, elegant textures and a dreamy color scheme. The rather organic and not overly perfect placement of every single item and the combination of hard and soft... This very picture was the main source of inspiration for our room design.

The interior designer opted for non-traditional colors; instead of the typical red-and-green palette, they mixed metals and different fabrics with vintage elements, like the chandelier and the statement piece above the bed. The vibrant greenery on the headboard is a wonderful detail and really ties everything together and completes the design.

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Our source of inspiration

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Items used Brass Picket Double Feather Bed Encyclopedia Eorzea Falcons Banner Glade Bench Glade Chandelier Glade Drawer Table Grade 1 Picture Frame Hingan Chair Hingan Wardrobe Imitation Square Window Sheep Rug Starlight Celebration Advertisement Starlight Ornament Sumptuous Dimension Castle Vase Wall Planter White Partition

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Items used Double Feather Bed Empty Twinkleboxes Falcons Banner Glade Bench Glade Wardrobe Hingan Chair Imitation Square Window Sheep Rug Starlight Sentinel White Partition

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Items used Brass Picket Double Feather Bed Encyclopedia Eorzea Falcons Banner Glade Bench Glade Drawer Table Grade 1 Picture Frame Hingan Wardrobe Imitation Square Window Sheep Rug Starlight Celebration Advertisement Starlight Ornament Sumptuous Dimension Castle Vase Wall Planter White Partition

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Items used Assorted Candles Grade 3 Picture Frame Hingan Wardrobe Star Ruby Music Box Starlight Ornament Starlight Wreath

Brass Picket Double Feather Bed Encyclopedia Eorzea Glade Drawer Table Starlight Celebration Advertisement Starlight Ornament Sumptuous Dimension Castle Vase Wall Planter White Partition

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SHOULD WE DISBAND? D ZE MA E L DA R K H O L D

text by Mio Ryota - photos by Laele Nora - Layout by Lolae Demort

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nother day, another leveling roulette! You finally got a group after waiting somewhere between ten seconds and 60 minutes and after everyone accepted the invite, you zone into the dungeon. However, the joy you felt from getting a queue pop suddenly turns into regret as you recognize the familiar and rather dark design. It’s that one dungeon you once did because you wanted your next grand company rank so very, very badly Dzemael Darkhold.

You take a quick look at the party list, hoping to at least have a white mage in the party. But obviously you end up with one of the healers with inferior AoE, or more realistically, a white mage whose sub you definitely do not pay. Holy is completely overrated after all. At least all DPS have their AoE at this point, which makes the thought of running the dungeon slightly less painful. You just hope they possess enough brain cells to utilize their class to the full potential on bigger trash pulls (spoiler: they won’t) and decide to not take the thirty minute penalty.

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The tank starts pulling the first pack and stops. I hope you didn’t expect that he’d know the damage reduction from staying in purple zones existed, and obviously he’s not going to read party chat for another four pulls. Occasionally the all-seeing eye visits, dropping a nice 1000 damage on everyone, and at least one of your party members feels like it’s really necessary to stand inside the magitek terminal to open the optional room and explore the entire dungeon. After all, the achievement won’t complete itself and you never know when you need the 180 MP a Hi-Ether can give you!

With slight complications your party slowly kills off the final enemies inside the crystal veil and somehow opens the room to the boss. Obviously someone who isn’t the tank gets the first hit on the boss and complains that the tank isn’t getting aggro and pulling the boss into the crystal veil, before awkwardly realizing he is literally unable to gain aggro with the boss being invincible. Shortly after that the veil disappears, people again shout at the tank to pull it into the next one, the cone AoE gets aimed at the party and adds overrun the group, but you magically manage to kill the boss with the healer on no MP and the tank on the floor. You already regret not leaving, and you know the worst is yet to come.

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It’s time for everyone’s favorite part of Dzemael Darkhold! That one big room you wipe at least once in every time you do this dungeon. You think it’d be simple - small, controlled pulls with everyone standing behind the tank - but really that’s just boring, isn’t it?

First of all, the tank is gonna pull way too many enemies! On top of that, there’s multiple ranged mobs, so pulling them together for efficient AoE (let’s pretend you’ve got competent players in your party that know how to pull this off) is obviously impossible. Breaking line of sight? Not without pulling another group! And take a look at the healer’s MP, quickly draining while the tank’s HP is dropping faster than the first savage turn every raid patch. And if you’ve somehow survived this far, a ninja toad will appear! He will either drag one of your DPS down the cliff, pulling even more enemies, or someone will get hit and get knocked right into another group. Nothing more refreshing than a wipe in a dungeon!

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After a few painful deaths and slowly progressing through the room, the remaining path to the next boss is actually fairly simple - aside from the part where someone is obviously going to get clipped by the easily avoidable exploding crystal. Healers adjust! At least it’s now time for some DDR - the dungeon dance recess. For the next boss you’ll be simply dancing between AoEs. Shoutout to all the casters out there, have fun!

We’ve finally arrived in the final part of the dungeon, where you just have to slay some enemies and stand inside magitek terminals, which are conveniently placed inside more exploding crystals! And since, obviously nobody thinks ahead, no one’s going to stand in those timers until the enemies are dead.

Everyone is going to stack inside the same timer instead of splitting up, ignoring the fact that the number of people doesn’t speed up the process, and take a nice chunk of damage. What else will the healer do? Give them some hitpoint bars to fill!

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Finally you’re standing face to face with Batraal, and it’d be too simple if everything went right. The DPS aren’t going to notice when the boss turns invulnerable, attacking him instead of destroying the annoying crystals. If you’re lucky, they’ll even get hit by the bosses’ cleave! Void zone below me? Better finish another cast and take a huge amount of damage! And let’s not forget the nice column attacks, paired with crystal explosions, sure to annoy all melees trying to destroy crystals!

Congratulations! You’ve somehow managed to clear the dungeon, and only half the party is dead on the floor! But maybe, just maybe, it was worth it after all: Now you can finally open the treasure coffer and have the opportunity to acquire one of the most magnificent and classy pieces of gear Final Fantasy XIV has to offer: The legendary Pince-nez.

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FASHION

FOCUS Eorzea’s most stylish individuals brought into focus.

Interview, photos and layout by Lolae Demort

Rayah Corvus - Cerberus

How would you describe your personal style?

I’d say my personal style would be the use of earthy tones to give a more natural look all while looking somewhat presentable but also a bit rough and tumble.

What do want your current style to say on your behalf?

I imagine my character as an always on the go adventurer rarely spending a lot of time in a single place so I try to pick pieces that look as though they could 102

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be made in the wild or found in various towns and villages so I try to make my style fit this theme on pretty much all of my sets. Have to wear something comfortable and practical with all that running we do!

Do you have a fashion petpeeve?

I don’t really have many fashion pet peeves but I do hate that moment where you want to try a new hairstyle out and you’re slowly looking through them thinking about how well they

would go with your current glamours and you finally settle on the style and colour only to wear it for a full 10 minutes because you actually miss your old hairstyle. I guess the same could be said for pieces of glamour I purchase from the market board.

If you could name or label your personal style in (max) 3 words, what would it be called?

A Wandering Crow.

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WEAPON: Ox tongue HEAD: Trailblazer's scarf, Soot Black dye BODY: Gnath Torax HANDS: Woad Skylancer's armlets LEGS: Woad Skylancer's breeches FEET: Glade shoes, Snow white dye 104

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HEAD: Beech Mask Of Healing, Soot Black Dye BODY: Serpentskin Vest, Mud Green Dye HANDS: Pagos Field Dressing, Soot Black Dye LEGS: Indigo Ramie Skirt Of Healing, Mud Green Dye FEET: Serpentskin Thighboots Of Healing, Soot Black Dye NECKLACE: Mythrite Necklace Of Aiming 109

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WEAPON: Baldur Bow HEAD: Scion Rogue's Bandana BODY: Nue Togi, Loam Brown Dye HANDS: Skallic Gloves Of Aiming, Mole Brown Dye LEGS: Woad Skyhunter's Breeches FEET: Eastern Lady's Crackows, Soot Black Dye EARRINGS: Omicron Ear Cuff Of Aiming NECKLACE: Mythrite Necklace Of Aiming Make sure to check out Rayah on Instagram!

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CURIOSITIES OF COSPLAY It’s late on the East Coast, and I’m watching in real time as Kyle Mathis, known online as Ex-Shadow, types his extensive replies to my questions. “It was a nice break from my vectoring,” he assures me when I voice concern over taking time out of the busy schedule he balances between a day job with Arda Wigs and his cosplay work. He is vectoring metal details for a Red Mage

cosplay he is designing and sewing for a friend. Surely the only explanation for the time he finds for all his projects is a summoning of the primal Alexander itself to stop time.

Or perhaps it’s his admirable dedication to his work, both personal and professional.

After reading his interview, dearest Aetherflow readers, I believe you’ll find the latter far more likely.

Text by A’onisya Dehf Photos by Carl Martin, Vontography and World of Gwendana Layout and editing by Lolae Demort

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Tell us a little about yourself! How did you get your start cosplaying?

You could say from the beginning. Even when I was in elementary school I wanted to make costumes. I would cut up an old coat and put gloves on my feet to be King Kong, or make a mecha Godzilla box and tin foil costume. I always made sure to ask my parents to buy me extra Halloween makeup so I could save it and use it throughout the year.

Fast forwarding to late high school I was starting to put together closet costumes,

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and then in college I started to learn how to sew and craft. That was 12 or 13 years ago now, it’s all been downhill from there!

There are dozens of beautiful armor and class gear sets in Final Fantasy XIV. What drew you to this particular Dark Knight design?

This armor set and the announcement of Dark Knight is what brought me to the game. My wife had been playing for a few months, and they had just announced this new class with spiky gothic armor and a huge ass sword. That’s basically

my aesthetic s give it a try. I s Heavensward Warrior before I was probably Balmung to get I never missed Tomes. And, of mile and upgrad be dyed.

I’ve tried other g the years since back to that se my first major c

so I decided to hop in and started a half year before dropped and played as switching to Dark Knight. y one of the first people in t the full set of Chaos gear. a week of capping out on f course, I went the extra ded all items so they could

glamours for my DRK over e then but I always come et. So naturally it had to be cosplay from FFXIV.

The depth of color and texture in your Dark Knight armor is truly stunning, and my personal favorite detail. Is there a part of your Dark Knight cosplay that you’re most proud of? Anything that was more difficult than you expected?

I would say that my favorite part of the costume is a tie between the paint job and the patterning.

I have a Bachelor's degree in Illustration and I’ve been an artist my whole life, so when I started diving more heavily into cosplay and armor crafting in particular, that knowledge and experience gave me an edge. Cosplay is very different from what I was taught in school, but I still love the aspects of it that tie directly to drawing and painting.

Dark Knight was my first foray into worbla, so I would say that was a fair challenge to overcome.

There are some parts I’d still like to go back and revisit because of my lack of experience with the material at the time.

Your Dark Knight cosplay is mostly armor, but you’ve mentioned that you’re designing a Red Mage cosplay for a friend, which is

a lot more sewing and cloth Your portfolio displays a st of armor and cloth costumes generally enjoy creating other?

I would say that I favor armor an over full sewing projects mostl tackling really epic and ofte costumes. But a lot of times a will still involve a fair amount of it gives me a nice balance. Hav sessions in between crazy arm sessions can be relaxing after practice with. There are a millio a set of armor or a giant prop, b number of techniques for sewi mental stress is reduced.

When you started cospl ever imagine you would on resources for other cospl armor pattern for Simplicit horns you’re currently des

Never! When I was little I paleontologist because of Jur

oth patterning. stunning range mes, but do you one over the

and mascot outfits ly because I enjoy en times insane armor or mascots sewing as well, so ving those sewing mor and prop build so many years of on ways to create but there are a set ing, so a lot of the

laying, did you ne day develop layers like your ty and the Au Ra designing?

wanted to be a rassic Park. I was

obsessed with dinosaurs! But when my art really started to develop my parents encouraged me to pursue it as a career choice. By the end of college however, I was pretty burned out on traditional art just from my education, so I was a bit lost. I ended up doing small time jobs for a while until Malinda (my wife) and I were hired by Arda Wigs.

It gave us the financial stability to pour more time and effort into our costuming projects. Over the years of cosplaying I learned a lot and made a lot of connections. Simplicity was a connection I made through work, and I was very happy to have such an amazing opportunity.

Are there other resources you would like to develop?

Always! With every single costume project I have ever taken on, I have always challenged myself to learn a new material or technique. I continue to strive for improvement even now, and I hope to become a true master of all areas in costuming eventually. The Au Ra horns and scales I am currently making are actually the first steps for a prop business I plan to launch soon. Keep an eye out for Mountain Tortoise on Etsy. I’ll be making a lot more FFXIV props!

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I imagine working with Arda Wigs has been a great way to connect tons of creators in the cosplay community. Can you tell us if any particular opportunities allowed you to tackle cosplay projects you might not have taken on otherwise?

Quite a few! I made Ganondorf from The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess as a collaborative effort with many of my coworkers so that we could do a makeup and prosthetics demo at Dragoncon last year. We repeated the demo this year at C2E2. It was a lot of work but also a lot of fun! Similarly the year before I contributed to a Splicer group from Bioshock, and we did a Makeup demo at Dragoncon and C2E2. Both projects were a blast for me, and I hope to be able to do more awesome collaborations with my friends and coworkers in the future.

Your intricate and detailed cosplays require knowledge in every aspect of the cosplay process: prop-making, sewing and patterning, wig styling, photoshoots, even drawing and vectoring. You’ve most recently started working with LED lights to bring your Deathbringer Ultima sword to life for Fanfest!

Which part of cosplay creation has had the steepest learning curve for you, or been the most interesting?

I feel that every costume tends to bring about new challenges.

Dark Knight was my second full set of armor but my first with worbla, 120

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so the familiarity in con armored costume wa with the new mate projects always requ change my proportion character, so that tend plenty of obstacles. In costumes I have to c hot I may get, and I ha to learn new ways to pr from dying of heatstrok

Comfort is something t think of last, but have to focus more on at t of a new project. One r to revisit parts of my armor is so that I can of the shapes up more sit and bend my back I’m stiff as a board in And I will say for sure the smartest person w to computers, as mu them. So learning the these lights is probably challenge I’ve faced in I’m lucky enough to h helping me to learn.

Do you have any cosplayers who wan a level of detail in the like your own, but intimidated on where

Yes! Dive into the deep fear. I have been co more than 12 years no say with absolute certa only thing to hold you fear. Fear of not knowin or being afraid that y won’t be good enough your peers.

nstructing an as challenged erial. Mascot uire me to ns to fit the ds to give me n any of my consider how ave continued revent myself ke.

that I used to really started the beginning reason I want Dark Knight n break some e so that I can k more easily. n that outfit! that I am not when it comes uch as I love e coding for y the biggest n a while, but have a friend

advice for nt to achieve their cosplays might feel here to start?

p end without osplaying for ow, and I can ainty that the back is your ng what to do, your costume in the eyes of

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I definitely still feel these fears now, especially with the bar I’ve set for myself in previous costumes.

But life’s way too short and busy for me to worry about messing up. To quote good old Miss Frizzle from the Magic School Bus, “Take chances, make mistakes, GET MESSY!”

Another great habit to form is documenting your progress through social media posts. This has a two fold benefit of having something to reference back to so that you can grow, and can also build up a following of fans or fellow cosplay friends over time who will support your endeavors.

That was the motivational advice. As for where to start in a project, I tend to start by getting as many reference pictures as I can, and I start to take notes on the differences between my body and the character’s body so that I can make adjustments as I go to either make myself have similar proportions or simply make the costume look good on me.

This may sound foolproof, but it definitely isn’t.

It’s just a system that tends to help me get to the end, which is your goal. How good you do along the way really doesn’t matter until you consider yourself finished. What I want to emphasize is that you have to be willing to learn from any mistakes you make, and you have to keep striving through the hardships.

I also try to make a list of all the things I will need for each piece and start collecting materials.

Whenever I’m not sure what I want to make something out of I will ask fellow cosplayers personally or look up online what other people have done for that costume or something similar.

As you get further into your project, continue checking your time estimates and adjust them according to your timeline. Try to pace yourself so that you have plenty of small breaks but continue to progress.

Any future FFXIV cosplay plans?

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I'm hoping to squeeze in a reversible outfit for both Hildebrand and Godbert Manderville before Fanfest. I also really want to make Odin; it’s been kind of a dream costume for a while. I had wanted to make it this year but work ended up keeping me far too busy, so perhaps next year I’ll dive into it. I have some pretty cool ideas in mind, so please look forward to it! If I don’t make it in time then I will work on it afterwards.

Check out Ex Shadow on

Instagram

Facebook Etsy

"Every costume tends to bring about new challenges."

Tell us a bit about your character in-game!

What is your main class, and what is your favorite way to spend your time in Eorzea?

Of course my main class is Dark Knight!

Work and cosplay take up most of my time, so I usually only have enough time for some casual content, but I have always enjoyed keeping in touch with the meta for any game I play. So I tend to read up on the community’s thoughts for class balance through patches, the best rotations, and the best gear.

Eventually I want to give end game content a try, so that I can have an in game Deathbringer Ultima to match the one I am making in real life. I find it terribly ironic that it’s easier for me to make a real version of the weapon than it is to obtain a digital version.

Thank you so much for your time! Is there anywhere our readers could find you online if they’d like to see more of your work?

Of course! I would be delighted if you all check out my work on Instagram, Facebook, or visit my Etsy store!

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LETTE

YOSHI C

With the holidays coming up, we tho our favorite community! In honor of T most grateful for in FFXIV and wh

THANK YOU FOR 1. Aetheryte buttons on our map 2. The unique storyline 3. Our Chocobo saddle bag 4. The housing system 5. The glamour dresser

6. Having everything on one character

7. The amazing friends we made along the way 8. Duty/party finder 9. Versatile gameplay 10. The expansive crafting system

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ER TO

CLAUSE

ought it would be nice to hear from Thanksgiving, we asked what you're hat's on your Christmas wish list.

PLEASE GIVE US 1. Ishgardian housing

2. No class restrictions on glamours 3. More dyes 4. The Dancer class 5. No gender lock on gear 6. Category sorting for our inventory 7. An even bigger glamour dresser 8. A PVP rewards revamp 9. Bigger apartments 10. Ways to spend achievement certificates

Layout by Lolae Demort

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LORE TEAM INTERVIEW

As we ready up to become warriors of darkness and heed the call of the void, it seemed like the perfect time to dive deep into the complex and twisted lore of FFXIV. How do they come up with these epic storylines, our favorite characters and the ones that we'd like to punch in the face?

We recently had the chance to talk to Banri Oda, the main scenario writer and Michael-Christopher Koji Fox, one of the translators and the co-lead world/lore developer. They told us everything we ever wanted to know about Eorzea's folklore.

Text by ECHO MIZUKI - Layout by Lolae Demort

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HOW MUCH DO THE PREVIOUS GAMES INFLUENCE THE LORE OF FINAL FANTASY XIV?

ODA I think it’s fair to say that they influence FFXIV quite a bit.

With its constant updates, FFXIV perpetually remains a brand-new installment in the well-established series of Final Fantasy, and we’re keenly aware of that as we work.

IT’S NOTABLE THAT FINAL FANTASY TAKES A LOT OF INSPIRATION FROM FOLKLORE OF DIFFERENT CULTURES (ODIN, LAKSHMI, ETC.). HOW DO YOU DECIDE WHICH TO PULL FROM AND HOW TO APPLY IT?

ODA: Folklore is usually incorporated in one of two ways. In some cases, our primary goal is to pull from older FINAL FANTASY 128

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titles. For instance, Scylla in the Crystal Tower alliance raid wasn’t added because we wanted something from Greek mythology, but rather because the dungeon’s theme is “FINAL FANTASY III.” This isn’t to say that mythology is ignored entirely that element is still incorporated into our Scylla’s backstory, in which she was originally a human woman, but has been transformed into a monster.

In other cases, like when we add new characters such as Susano, it’s most important that they fit with the existing setting and narrative. In choosing to draw upon the Susano that appears in Japanese myth, we considered what sort of god the sea-dwelling Kojin might worship, the Ruby Sea’s resemblance to the real-world Pacific, and the divinity’s

connection with sacred relics, for instance.

YOU’VE MENTIONED IN PREVIOUS INTERVIEWS THAT THE STORYLINE IS WRITTEN A YEAR OUT, HAS THERE EVER BEEN A TIME WHEN THE STORYLINE IS WRITTEN, AND AS YOU’RE IMPLEMENTING IT, YOU DECIDED TO CHANGE IT LAST MINUTE? IF SO, WHAT COULD HAPPEN IN DEVELOPMENT THAT COULD MAKE YOU SUDDENLY STOP EVERYTHING AND MAKE A CHANGE?

ODA: The schedule for voice recording is extremely tight, so we never change the story at the last minute.

KOJI: Unlike non-voiced text (which is often tweaked until right before the patch), voiced text has to be

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"WE O INSPIRA BOTH HISTO MODER 130

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OFTEN TAKE ATION FROM ORICAL AND RN EVENTS"

fixed fairly early in the development process. This has to do with actor and studio availability, the time it takes to actually record the lines (which can fluctuate greatly depending on the difficulty of the dialogue, or importance of the scene), the time required for post-processing and implementation…not to mention the fact we have to somehow accomplish this simultaneously for four languages.

As retakes can be costly and time-consuming, we are pretty much locked into the storyline that was fixed before recording.

If anything has to change, it needs to be done in the nonvoiced text, and even then, there is only so much that can be achieved without creating too much discrepancy between voice and non-voiced content.

Long story short; once the recording is finished, the story is not changing.

DO YOU HAVE THE STORYLINE WRITTEN OUT, AND THEN LATER FLESH IT OUT WITH MORE DETAIL, OR ARE YOU VERY STRICT WITH WHAT MUST HAPPEN, WHO IT HAPPENS TO, AND THE GENERAL DIRECTION OF THE GAME?

ODA: We start with general themes.

For 3.0’s Heavensward, for instance, the concepts “set in Ishgard” and “a clash between dragon and man” were decided first. Then we come up with the general outline of the story, and fill in the details afterward.

KOJI: Yoshi-P has made it clear that previously established lore should not hinder our game creators from telling the story they want to tell. In other words, instead of the lore dictating the story, the story should dictate the lore. The broad strokes already in place are there as guides, but it is up to the lore team to figure out how to make each story work in the world we’ve created. Sometimes that means we need to create new rules or exceptions…and make sure that those work with what has come before. It’s during this process that a lot of the story is fleshed out.

ALONG WITH TAKING INSPIRATION OF FOLKLORE FROM DIFFERENT CULTURES, DO YOU CREATE FFXIV CONTENT WITH DRAWING REAL LIFE PARALLELS IN MIND? FOR EXAMPLE, THE CLASS DIFFERENCES IN THE FOUNDATION, THE ORPHANAGE IN IDYLLSHIRE, THE WIDOW’S & ORPHANS FUND IN RHALGER’S REACH, ETC.

ODA: As you may have noticed, we often take inspiration from both historical and modern events. Our userbase is on the older side, and we can’t avoid drawing parallels to real events and social conditions if we’re going to create a story that’s convincing and realistic enough for adult players. We take care, though, to not use our game to push a specific political message.

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The game is set in a medieval European-style fantasy world, so if you think about it, some things that don’t at all reflect our modern values are bound to happen. We take that into consideration and make holistic decisions when outlining the story.

THROUGHOUT THE STORYLINE, YOU SEE A DEFINITIVE SEPARATION OF THE RACES, WITH LITTLE TO NO OVERLAP. THERE HAVE BEEN CASES OF ORPHANED CHILDREN UNDER

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THE CARE OF FAMILIES THAT WERE NOT OF THE SAME RACE (SUCH AS MINFILIA AND HER ADOPTIVE MOTHER F'LHAMINN), BUT ONLY ONE STORY OF AN INTERRACIAL CHILD (HILDA WARE, IN HEAVENSWARD). WILL THIS BE A MORE COMMON OCCURRENCE IN THE FUTURE WITH THE ONGOING ALLIANCE?

ODA: There are some interracial children aside from Hilda.

Arenvald, for instance, is part Garlean, part Hyuran though

he was an unwanted child, born between enemies rather than allies. I think that there are probably quite a few more children of mixed race out there.

CAN YOU PLEASE END THE ARGUMENT ONCE AND FOR ALL - IT IS WIDELY REGARDED THAT THE AU RA RACE IS ACTUALLY CLOSELY RELATED TO DRAGONS, CAN YOU CONFIRM THIS OR DO WE HAVE TO PURCHASE THE SECOND ENCYCLOPEDIA EORZEA TO FIND OUT?

ODA: I don’t believe we’ve explicitly said that dragons and Au Ra are related, or put anything in the story to support that theory… In any case, no, they aren’t related.

Miqo’te have catlike ears and tails, but they aren’t half-Hyur, half-cat, you know?

ODA: In Return to Ivalice, players were introduced to the nation of Dalmasca and the Bangaa,─there may be more cases like that in the future.

WITH THE INTRODUCTION TO THE FAR EASTERN LANDS (AND THE HOMESTEAD OF THE AU’RA!) ARE THERE ANY LOCATIONS ON HYDAELYN, WITH LANDSCAPES WE'VE NOT SEEN YET, AND NEW

WITH THE RECENT ADDITION OF DOMA AND THE CITY-STATE ALA MHIGO, TO THE EORZEAN ALLIANCE BRINGING THE TOTAL MEMBERS FROM FOUR TO SIX, ARE WE SEEING, ON THE

RACES AND CULTURES TO BE INTRODUCED TO?

HORIZON, A CONCLUSION TO THE JOURNEY WE’VE TAKEN AS THE WARRIOR OF LIGHT?

ODA: Just to clear up a slight misunderstanding: Doma is not part of the Eorzean Alliance. The Alliance is currently comprised of the five city-states of Limsa Lominsa, Ul’dah, Gridania, Ishgard, and Ala Mhigo. Anyway, as far as the Warrior of Light’s journey goes, I think that when it ends is up to each of you, rather than us!

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IF YOU COULD MEET ANYONE FROM THE WORLD YOU CREATED FOR AN HOUR, WHO WOULD IT BE AND WHAT WOULD YOU TALK ABOUT? (ASIDE FROM THE WARRIOR OF LIGHT, I’M ASKING THE QUESTIONS, HERE!)

ODA I would like to meet Matoya.

She should know a lot about the world, meaning that if I asked her about things like history, legend, and aetherology, and took copious notes, I wouldn’t need to ruminate so much on the lore anymore!

KOJI: I would probably challenge Lominsan Admiral Merlwyb Bloefhiswyn to a drinking contest, much like the one held at Marion Ravenwood’s Nepalese tavern in Raiders of the Lost Ark. There would be people yelling and betting, lots of colorful comments about each other’s mothers, and I’d most likely end up on the losing end… Damn, what a glorious 15 minutes it would be.

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"I WOULD PROBABLY CHALLENGE LOMINSIAN ADMIRAL MERLWYB BLOEFHIWYN TO A DRINKING CHALLENGE" 135

ᄒan ᆃၰt ᆈeaၷure NIKA Interview by Serena Sparkles Art by Wanderpus Layout by Arya Rose

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Thank you for sharing your work with us, Nika! Let’s start off with you telling us a bit about yourself and your art.

Thank you for having me!

First, a little about me: I’m a self-taught artist, I grew up in NY, and now live in Washington state with my two derpy sphynx cats, Dr. Terence Englebert Crumplecorn and Sir Rupert Digby Von Beauregard (you’re welcome). I consider myself a pretty straightforward being, though I have had exactly one person describe me as “passionate, creative, positive, driven, mellow, funny, determined” and that all sounds pretty reasonable so we’ll consider it canon!

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Artistically, despite what most people see me draw these days, I fundamentally consider myself a digital illustrator at heart, who’s been focusing on experimenting with physical media for just about a year now. I mostly stick to character portraits in general because I love drawing faces, and definitely favor a fantasy lean, flavor-wise.

I started streaming creative endeavors on Twitch about a year and a half ago after months of my roommate encouraging (badgering) me to give it a try, which has been SO fun and fulfilling. Friday nights, when I do my FFXIV character portrait giveaway stream, has turned into a fantastically social experience, where we have fostered an environment that can be fun and immature and goofy, while still being able to immediately pivot to having real, relevant 139

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conversations about serious topics with equal ease.

I’m proudest of the fact that there is this undercurrent of being respectful and engaging listeners, where even hotbutton issues can be discussed with civility and empathy.

Somehow Friday streams have evolved way beyond an art giveaway, turning into a thriving community of amazing, emotionally intelligent individuals- which I believe has a lot to do with the fact that the FFXIV community itself is wellknown for being a step above other MMOs in disposition, and that carries through.

Aside from giveaways, I also stream my own art- plus I just recently started uploading speedpaint videos to YouTube weekly (and Patreon bi-weekly), too, which also has been really enjoyable!

Looking through your Instagram, a lot of your artwork seems to be done in marker. What made you choose this as your primary medium?

Honestly, while I’ve owned markers and played with them on and off for years. It was only as of October ‘17 that I started really using them. During a bit of technological failure before a stream at the start of the Inktober art challenge, I decided to switch on my camera and start doing marker portraits instead. While the early ones were pretty abysmal, there was something therapeutic about using physical media. I think it allowed me to loosen up, forcing me to be able to live with results, rather than obsessing about fixing every detail, which is something that I absolutely get stuck on in digital work.

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The marker portraits were so positively received, that I’ve continued to do them, both for giveaways and for my own character art.

Do you initially sketch with pencil before proceeding to markers, or do you start out immediately with markers?

OH I SKETCH! I sketch a LOT! I think it’d be a fun challenge to start right off with markers, though, I’ll have to give that a try!

How did you get into art? What drew (haha pun...) you to FFXIV fan art?

Like so many artists, I started very young, and it’s just been something that’s followed me always. Even during the spans of time I wasn’t focused on it, I still would doodle this or that, just because. I could not imagine my existence without art in it!

For the FFXIV art specifically, I had the idea to draw character portraits pretty much immediately once I decided I was going to start streaming, for a few reasons.

First, I knew I would be VERY nervous drawing in front of others (my hands used to shake when anyone watched me draw!), so I knew I had to start with something I was comfortable with, and faces have always been my go-to, comfort-zone thing to create. Second, since I already liked to draw portraits, I figured having a steady stream of new faces to draw would help me improve, without me getting stuck figuring out what I should draw next. Lastly, I had recently moved to Balmung from my original server,

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Midgard, and figured doing the giveaways would also help me connect with the community more (in the early days, I used to do server-specific streams, though now it’s open to all servers). Luckily for me, all of those things worked out exactly how I wanted them too- plus more!

Do you offer commissions of characters outside of Final Fantasy XIV? I absolutely do! I’m happy to take characters from anything, really. I like being able to mix it up and try drawing something I haven’t done before! Beyond drawing game or tabletop rpg characters, I’ve also been commissioned to draw fantasy girls/fellas with just general prompts (colors, themes), which I lovelovelove doing!

What is your typical process for stream work? Does anything differ for your commissions?

The portraits done on stream are pretty similar to commission work. Since they’re both smaller scale 5x7in portraits, the process is pretty streamlined. I get a feel for the character via screenshots (or “in person” on stream if they’re from my server), sketch out the design, lighten it up by rolling an eraser over it, ink with Copic and Micron liners (or lightly outline with colored pencil, for a softer look), and then color with Copic markers. I add fine detail with colored pencil at the end, and finish it off with white gel pen highlights, and occasionally metallic or iridescent watercolors for fancy accents!

The commission process is about the same. I take payment first, and then usually complete the work in one sitting, unless I have a bunch, then I batch process them at each step- sketching them all, inking them all, etc. The biggest difference for commissions is that they simply have more time invested into them. While the free portraits have time and content restraints (no elaborate

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headgear!) due to wanting to make sure I finish at least 3 in a sitting during the evening, commissions have the luxury of a more relaxed pace, which means a better end product with more detail.

What are the options you offer for your commissions?

My current commission offerings can be found here.

I currently have two options, by medium: Physical portraits are $25 USD. Digital portraits are $35, with a $5 option to have a print made and shipped to the buyer. Both have free shipping within the USA. The content can be any character, and usually is from the neck or shoulders up, with a simple outline or geometric shape background to finish it off. I do occasionally take larger commissions, but on a case-bycase basis only.

Where can our readers find and follow you?

Click the icons below to find me!

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T H E

J OY

O F

T H E

CULINARIAN Text and photos by Tetemui Temui - Layout and editing by Lolae Demort

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Charming winter

Winter season in Eorzea means that the Starlight Celebration is approaching.

Families gather, sing songs, gift each other presents, eat a festively prepared Starlight Dodo… or not!

While celebrating Starlight with your family might be the highlight of the year to many people, some prefer a quieter approach. May it be your significant other, or a good friend you haven’t met in a long time, the Gourmet Supper Set for two people is just right. It’s special enough to feel festive, and it’s not an expensive pompous 70-course meal.

So, let’s get started!

Gourmet Supper Entree Kaiser Rolls, Green Salad Main course Dzemael Gratin, Sauteed Coeurl Dessert Starlight Log

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kaiser rolls

Nothing beats the smell of freshly baked bread in the house. A versatile staple; it can be the canvas of your next sandwich creation or a simple side dish in your 70-course meal. And it’s so cheap and easy to make! You can even prepare them a day ahead, if you like.

Preparation time: approx. 2 hours Baking time: approx. 30 minutes Serves 2

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You will need: • 330 grams (bread) flour (approx. 3 cups) • 10 grams of active dry yeast (approx. 3 tsp.)

• 1 ½ tsp. salt • 1 Tb. sugar • 165 ml lukewarm water (approx. ¾ cup) • More water for brushing and while baking

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To prepare the dough, simply mix all the ingredients together and knead it until it is no longer sticky, at least for 10 minutes. Bread dough is actually a great way to vent off any resentment you’ve been bottling up over the entire year punch it, bang it on the counter, stretch it until it tears! The more aggressively you treat it, the fluffier it will become.

Keep kneading the dough thoroughly, until it’s elastic and slightly springs back when you touch it. Try it, it’s like poking lalafells, with the only difference being that bread dough won’t bite your the finger or kick you in the shin.

After all that kneading, it’s time for both you and the dough to rest. Use a clean kitchen towel as a blanket and let it sleep for at least 30 minutes at room temperature.

Preheat the oven to 200°C (approx.

390°F) and wake up the sleeping beauty by giving it another kneading massage.

Divide the dough into little balls of approx. 80 grams (~3 oz.) each.

It’s time to bring these little buns in shape! First, you flatten your dough ball with your hand. Then fold the outer edges into the center. Flip your creation and gently massage the dough between your thumb and the rest of your finger, slowly

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pulling the dough towards that hidden center (I shall refrain from commenting on what this process may or may not remind you of), and thereby giving it a round shape. If you have absolutely no idea what I’m talking about, check out this video.

Why the hassle? Well, you could also just roll them any way you like, but by adhering to the (slightly weird) process described above, you create tension.

This will allow the rolls to remain round and not take on weird shapes while expanding in the oven.

Line a baking tray with baking parchment and put your rolls on it, keeping a slight distance from each other. Brush the rolls with water and cut an X on the top with a sharp knife. Fill an oven-proof bowl with water and put it at the bottom of your oven.

Bake your rolls for about 20-30 minutes, until they are a golden brown color.

If you want to serve the rolls the next day, reduce baking time to 10 minutes and let cool down completely. On the next day, brush rolls again with water, pop in the oven and bake for another 12 minutes or until golden brown.

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GREEN SALAD

A lovely and rather healthy salad with simple, healthy ingredients and somehow magically goes with just about everything. If you use lovely fresh leaves and dress them properly, even the most basic salad will taste absolutely amazing. The combination of oil and acid used in this recipe helps our bodies to absorb more of the nutrients from the veggies.

You will need:

Preparation time: approx. 30 minutes Serves 2

• •

• • • •

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100 g lettuce (approx. 1.5 cups) ½ small red onion or shallot 6 cherry tomatoes 4 mushrooms (any type that is in season e.g. button, chanterelle, porcini etc.)

7 Tbs. Olive oil 1 Tb. Lemon juice or sweet balsamic vinegar ½ Tb. Mustard Salt and pepper

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We will first start with the dressing: Mix 6 Tbs. olive oil, lemon juice or vinegar and mustard and season with salt and pepper. You can alter the ratios to your liking - prefer it to be more sour? Add more lemon juice or vinegar. Don’t like mustard? Then just leave it out. This is your salad and you get to choose how to make your dressing! You can even be extremely lazy and just purchase that bottle of dressing that’s on sale at your local grocery store. I won’t judge you (but maybe your dining partner will, so maybe hide it before they come). Just remember to not drown your salad in dressing. A little goes a long way!

Wash the remaining vegetables.

Shred the lettuce and halve the cherry tomatoes. Toss in the warm vegetables.

Pour dressing over, toss again and jiggle your body to leave that extra special impression on your dining partner. Serve in individual bowls.

Clean the mushrooms with a damp paper towel or brush and chop into pieces.

Avoid washing mushrooms under water, as they get soggy and lose their flavor.

Peel the onion and slice thickly. Heat 1 Tb. olive oil in a small frying pan and sautée both onions and mushrooms over medium heat until both are tender.

Set aside to cool slightly.

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Dzemael Gratin

An utterly irresistable and creamy potato dish with very few ingredients but oozing with flavour. Your starlight celebration just won't be the same without this lovely gratin.

Preparation time: approx. 1 hour Baking time: approx. 40 minutes Serves 2

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You will need: • 4 large potatoes • 100 grams (approx. 1 cup) shredded cheese (or breadcrumbs) • 200 grams (approx 1 cup) of heavy cream • 50 grams of bacon • Some butter • Salt, pepper, and grated nutmeg

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Pre-heat the oven to 180°C (approx.

350°F). Grease two large ramekins or other oven-proof dishes with butter. Set aside. Chop the bacon into tiny morsels, thinking of that last vendor at the Market Board who undercut you again by 1 gil.

Thoroughly wash the potatoes and cut them into very thin slices. Yes, don’t peel them unless you are allergic to them.

They carry all that nutritional goodness there. Arrange the potatoes and bacon bits in your ramekin in whatever pattern you want, just as long as you stuff enough for one serving.

Sprinkle your seasonings over the potatoes like the Salt Bae Meme that you are. Pour half of your heavy cream into each ramekin and top your gratin off with shredded cheese. Now, the amount of cheese you put is totally up to you.

If you don’t like it cheesy, you can cut the amount by half, if you want it extra cheesy, you can add more. You can even omit the cheese entirely and sprinkle some breadcrumbs instead. Whatever option you pick, dollop the top with about a tablespoon of butter.

Bake your gratin for about 40 minutes, until the potatoes are soft and the crust is golden. Once done, take out of the oven and let it cool for about 5 minutes before serving

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Sauteed Coeurl

With coeurl meat not being readily available in most supermarkets, we chose to replace it with steak. The red wine gives a hearty flavor to this delicious beef and vegetable dish.

Preparation time: approx. 1 hour Serves 2

You will need: • 2 steaks - whatever cut you prefer; to make it even more fancy, choose venison meat • 1 large onion • 200 ml (about ¾-1 cup) dry red wine • 200 ml (about ¾-1 cup) port wine • 200 grams (about 8 ounces) baby carrots • 200 grams (about 7 ounces) broccoli • 6 Tbs. butter • Some canola oil • 2 Tbs. sugar • Salt, pepper

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Wash your vegetables, chop them into bite-sized morsels and cook them whichever way you like (steam, microwave, boil) until just tender. Keep your broccoli warm. Melt 5 Tbs. butter in a small pot over medium heat and bathe your carrots in them. Add sugar and stir until dissolved and your baby carrots are all sparkly and shiny. Keep the carrots warm as well.

Heat some canola oil in a deep frying pan over high heat. Cook your steaks to your liking (approx. 3.5 minutes on each side for medium, regardless of whether it’s venison or beef). It’s perfectly fine if the meat does not seem fully medium. After cooking, wrap the steaks in aluminium foil to keep warm.

Peel and chop onion into thin slices. Fry the onion slices over medium heat in the same pan and add 1 Tb. butter. Once tender, add both the port wine and the red wine, scraping all that delicious roast aroma from the bottom of your pan. Let the wine simmer until it’s about half its original volume. Congratulations! You just reduced red wine sauce! Mix in the remaining butter to make it creamy and oh-so-good. Mmmmmh...

Serve the steaks with a serving of the vegetables and sauce. Enjoy!

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Starlight Log

It's the season to be festive, so why not serve a slice of Starlight Log for dessert?

It can be easily prepared in advance and kept in the fridge for up to 2 days before serving. Curious as to how I made this dish? Follow our social media to find out when we release this delicate dessert!

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TEXT BY VEDERAH KILMISTER - PHOTOS BY VEDERAH KILMISTER - LAYOUT BY ARYA ROSE

CROSS GAME COSPLAY There's a saying that goes “imitation is the sincerest form of flattery,” and I suppose that is how cosplay was born. There’s something so delightfully unexpected about seeing familiar characters from our favorite games or shows wandering about in a setting totally outside the norm. It’s always a positive experience. We look the outfit over, we fangirl/boy, and our hearts feel a little fuller knowing that someone else loves and appreciates something just as much as we do.

This is no longer an experience totally reserved for conventions alone. For those of us who

would end up in the emergency room if left alone too long with a pair of scissors or a sewing machine, there’s another way to cosplay. From the comfort of your computer chair, you can galavant from dungeon to dungeon in designs representative of other nonFinal Fantasy games you love and adore. The only cost is putting the time and research into finding the pieces that will be right for the job!

To provide just a pinch of inspiration, we’ve put together a few examples from games both myself and some of the staff members have played throughout the last few years.

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WORLD OF WARCRAFT Tyrande Whisperwind and Thrall With Battle for Azeroth dropping in August, there was bound to be quite a few of us who temporarily jumped off the neverending Eureka NM train and headed back to continue the feud between the Alliance and the Horde.

Whether you’re shouting “For the Alliance” as you fly over an Horde-run outpost, or typing out “KEK” knowing that it reads as “LOL” to that gnome you took out in that battle ground- we’re all on the same side when it comes to good glamour. Or in World of Warcraft’s case, “transmog”.

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Two tops immediately came to mind for her look: The Eastern Lady’s Togi and the Thavnairian Bustier. To choose between the two, you have a few things to consider. Does the shape of the garment match what we are trying to portray? Do the colors in the piece match fairly well to what we need? The shape of the Togi was quite similar to the more traditional Tyrande look, while the look of the Thavnairian Bustier would be great design-wise for the more updated Tyrande model.

The problem with the bustier,

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for me, was that I could not get over the gold trimmings.

Tyrande’s look has always been very cool toned and celestial looking- lots of greens, blues, and silvers. So it was important that I tried to emulate that as much as possible. The silver arm detailings of the Eastern Lady’s Togi, as well as having that higher neckline, was what really set it apart from the bustier.

The other detail I wanted to get just right for her was the headpiece. Since her chest piece catered more to the old school version of her model, I wanted to stay away from the more elaborate headpieces and go with something small and delicate. I fell in love with the design of the Valerian Shaman’s Temple Chain (or for a similar and dyeable optionthe Koppranickel Temple Chain). This item features a metal charm that could easily be viewed as a sideways crescent moon. Who wouldn’t want that as a priestess who worships the goddess Elune?

TYRANDE

I was always biased towards loving Tyrande. Darnassus was my favorite city to “AFK” in, and she was always the best dressed leader of the Alliance. I knew her more from a time when her robes were simple and elegant, but several expansions later the ol’ girl has upgraded herself with more gem encrusted bling than Liberace. While there were many different options for her cosplay, I chose to make this rendition of Tyrande a marriage of both old and new models of the Night Elven high priestess.

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Many people who cosplays try to glamour with the they are playingthis particular bea a little tricky. Tyran portrayed on ma occasions as bot as well as a hunt may be drawn to r likeness as well. D Beyonce’s of the most of this glam be made, cross-c You may not be those temple cha Legacy Warrior C a light grey would substitute.

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o do in game match their e actual class which made auty’s glamour nde has been any different th a priestess ter‌ so bards recreating her Do not fret my e Battlefieldmour is, or can class friendly. able to wear ains, but the Coronet dyed d be a perfect

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Thrall

The Horde has often gotten the shaft and cast under the light that they were the more “villainous” faction of the twowhich isn’t fair. You know you have one or two... or more bad eggs and it just ruins your entire reputation. However, Thrall always seemed to be the exception. From leading the Horde, to eventually leading every single one of us in the battle against the great dragon Deathwing, and finally bringing Garrosh to justice for his crimesthe orc just commanded your respect. He had been through a lot, and had seen some things- but above all else he made primitive glamours look REALLY good.

It can be hard to make mixed clothes and crudely sewn together animal skins look more chic than neanderthal-like, and Thrall does it without flexing a single one of his permanently bulging muscles. Not only that, but the guy boasts enough confidence that he sports an overwhelmingly massive, redgemmed necklace without feeling his masculinity is the least bit threatened. Yes, Thrall!

Work it! Nothing in this world should be more intimidating than someone who knows how to accessorize.

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and there’s very little size adjustments between them all. While we won’t necessarily make Mr. T. jealous with the size of our necklace, we can at least represent Thrall’s statement piece by replicating its color and beaded style by using the Red Coral Necklace. In this moment we can pity the fool who thinks size ultimately matters here.

The Thrall we have here is a throwback to when he was the central protagonist of the Cataclysm expansion, when he began truly embracing being a shaman. In order to do that, this glamour needed to focus heavily on textures, as well as accessories, in order to take Go’el out of the Barrens and plop him down in Thanalan.

The most important thing about this glamour was, by far, the necklace. It’s been the one constant in all modern representations of Thrall, from Cataclysm all the way up to present day Battle for Azeroth.

Unfortunately, the jewelry selection in FFXIV is just a smidge on the lackluster side.

Almost all the pieces are just recolorings of one another,

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Once we had that signature item nailed down it was time to move into trickier territory.

The chestpiece that I felt suited our Thrall the best was, by far, the Anemos Pacifist’s Vest.

On males it boasts the open shirt look that I was going for and features a brilliant combination of animal skins, furs, and rustic cloths that the old Orc Warchief was known for wearing. However, tying yourself down to a specific class like that does come with consequences.

You know what monks didn’t have at the time these glamours were first constructed? The long skirts that I needed. Prior to the release of Patch 4.4, there was a distinct lack of floor length skirts that didn’t require real life money to obtain. And even then, there was only one long skirt that was gender neutral listed

on the Mog Station. In a game that made at least 30 different representations of skirts and tights for females, you mean to tell me we couldn’t be bothered to give melee the option of wearing a skirt to a fist and leg fight? Sure the Spring skirt WAS an option, but tulip hems don’t exactly scream “rugged” to me. My two favorite options were the cash store bought Far Eastern Nobles’ Petticoat, as seen here, as well as the crafted option- the Rakshasa Hakama of Striking. Both are not only long, but also don’t feel too “clean” and can pass as a tougher looking material.

We want a down and dirty Thrall, not a manicured one.

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Danganronpa Shuichi Saihara and Enoshima Junko A murder/mystery style anime video game? Yes, please! This unique video game series functions like a strange crossover between the Deadman Wonderland anime, the Ace Attorney games, with a pinch of Law and Order that I’m not mad about. What I am mad about is now I have the Law and Order theme song stuck in my head.

Imagine, if you will: a homicidal toy bear forcing a group of teenagers into a life or death scenario where the only way to escape is to murder a classmate.

Being the protagonist though, you must solve said murder of a classmate.

Twists and turns are around every corner, and despite what would be a very tense and stressful series of events- these students are able to handle the pressure all while being, by far, the coolest dressed kids in school.

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The Flat Cap is as close to a baseball hat as we have ever come. This particular hat is a touch oversized, but that exaggerated bill is what made this hat a forerunner for me. The only con is that instead of an all black hat, there are two brown leather panels on each side of the cap that, unfortunately, do not dye. It’d be one thing if it would change to white, or at least to grey, in order to mimic the white pinstripes the character is known to have throughout the rest of his look, but we can’t always have everything we want. Or so people tell me, at least.

Two hats immediately come to mind for our Ultimate Detective- The Flat Cap, as well the Boulevardier’s Hat. These pieces look drastically different, however they share some similar properties with Shuichi’s hat that make them both suitable choices.

The alternative that can stay all black is the Boulevardier’s Hat, the male answer to the absolutely adorable, femaleonly Quaintrelle’s Hat. This cap features a smaller, rounder bill, as well as having a side-tilted orientation as it sits upon the head. Ultimately,

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Shuichi

Shuichi’s wardrobe is a delightful mix of street casual and uniform, that transitions very well from the halls of the Ultimate Academy of Gifted Juveniles to the streets of Eorzea. Overall his look is very simple and classic. It’s also very low maintenance when it comes to getting the coloring right- soot grey all day, everyday.

The two most stand out parts of his ensemble are his jacket and his ballcap- two things that FFXIV doesn’t necessarily have a whole lot of. But the options we do have are very workable for recreating his signature look!

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Saihara

the stylistic choice is yours to make. Remember, there isn’t just one correct way to cosplay something.

The other focal point to his look it that double breasted jacket. Who doesn’t love a double breasted jacket on a guy? It’s just so classic! The absolute perfect item for this is no doubt the Company Tabard.

Dye that sucker jet black, and it’s a sleeker jacket than both the Best Man’s Jacket and the Spotted Spencer combined. I don’t even care how much you love leopard print. What makes this tabard so perfect is those faint stitches do a decent job of giving off a pinstriped effect from a distance.

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Enoshima Junko

Hold on to your seats, guys and gals- this erratic beauty’s glamour is cute enough to turn everyone’s heads. From her massive pigtails to her undone school uniform top, and super short mini skirt, she’s bound to become everyone’s dream waifu! Now while they’re few ying/yang styled wardrobe pieces in our closets to use for her signature look of changing personalities, we’ve got a fairly simple color scheme that makes it easy to recreate her schoolgirl look.

I feel like a lot of these glamours so far really required a spot on headpiece in order to properly present these looks, and Enoshima will be no exception.

The twin-bear hair clips she wears is the actual visual representation of her shifting personalities, so we needed an item that had a similar visual effect, even if it was just through basic symmetry. Item of choice?

The Shisui Mengu of Fending!

It may not have those two bear faces on them, but the two clips fit the overall color scheme of the glamour completely.

As tempted as I was to use the Scion Adventurer’s Jacket for her top, I couldn’t get myself past the fact she’d be missing the red bow on her lapel. Picky, I know… but you have to admit for a glamour that wants to show a bit a skin, the jacket wouldn’t allow for that either. The alternative I chose required taking part in the most wildly entertaining side quests in the history of this game: Hildibrand. One of the many items you get from following the crazy detective around on his shenanigans is the beautiful Manderville Coatee. What made this top the perfect fit? Besides being slightly more revealing, it also hosts a large rose on the same side that Enoshima’s bow is on.

Unlike pizza and pineapple, this top and glamour were made for each other.

Now this gal’s boots were a bit of a chore. While you may think that plain black boots with red accent laces would be an easy find in this game, you’d be mistaken. There have been numerous times while

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glamming that I have convinced myself that I have found the perfect laced shoe combination in game, then when I go to dye them the laces also change color to something boring and drab. It’s heartbreaking. Like digging into a bowl of jelly beans and taking a bite into what you think is a cherry one, but really it’s cinnamon. Womp womp. But determination is paramount when it comes to being a cosplay-glamouring champion, and if you search hard enough you will almost always be able to reap your rewards. And let me tell you my friends, the Blackbosom boots were my cherry Jelly Belly.

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Monster hunter Sophia and Poogie Who’s heart doesn’t flutter at the idea of venturing out into the world, slaying majestic beasts or dragons with a talking cat sidekick at our side? Well let me finish attaching this AED strip to my side and shock myself back into rhythm, because my heart definitely just went tachycardic right there.

Those who don’t play this game independently may be familiar with some of it’s characters since several months ago FFXIV and Monster Hunter World collaborated on cross-over content that occupied many of us for weeks. We fought the force that was Rathalos, forgot to use our healing potions, and died numerous times in the attempt to gain the iconic wyvern as a mount. Or to get that adorable pig in pajamas minion... Or you know, for glamour. All the things for the glamour.

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There is not a single part of Sophia’s outfit that doesn’t make me smile- from her brim, to that capelet, to the vest, etc. etc. Don’t mind me while I gush

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all over this look. There are just so many quirky details and patterns that make for such a unique and killer costume. But, sometimes those details can be a bear to work around, and you have to fudge some things to make the cosplay work with what we’ve been given.

The showstopper piece of her look, without a doubt, is that capelet. That piece is the most important one to hit as close to target as you can in order to make this glamour work. Now, if you 100% wanted to stick true to a cape, there’s really only the Vampire’s Vest. But, if we’ve learned anything by now is that you have to weigh different aspects of a piece against one another to determine whether or not it fits with your cosplay. For me, Vampire’s Vest just wasn’t going to cut it. Instead I opted for the Augmented Scholar’s Gown. This item not only gave me a green jacket, but also a very earthy, yellow undershirt

Sophia

When we started the game, how many of us became attached to the proprietors like Mother Miounne in Gridania or Momodi in Ul’dah? I actually was attached to Momodi because of that adorable hairpin, but that’s beside the point. The answer is not many. When cosplay gets involved, most of us want to dress up as pivotal characters to the story like Yda or Thancredwhich is understandable.

But, sometimes those lesser characters are worth a look as well! Though Guildmarm Sophia may not have had a massive part to play in the Monster Hunter story, she was still a character with a lot of interesting quirks if you took the time to notice them. She also had one of the cutest outfits I’ve ever seen.

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to represent the color of her vest. I would’ve loved to have a brighter green tone to the jacket, but unfortunately dyeing the item would cost us the color of the shirt as well. And that just isn’t a sacrifice I was willing to make. I have limits, guys.

The rest of her look just kind of flowed together naturally: Spring Bottoms for her shorts, and hidden hand slots to allow for easier doodling of all her favorite types of monsters. The helm is the piece that had the

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Poogie

FFXIV has Moogles; Monster Hunter World has a townfamous pig that you could dress up in costumes named Poogie.

Were you honestly expecting me not to pay my respects to a porker with fashion sense?

Especially one with the name ‘Poogie’? You’re silly. Of course I was going to. After all, I had already created and released a Palico glamour; this was the next logical step!

Please enjoy this portly, comedic intermission with our favorite little porker built by creating mock “stripes” with the Adventuring Sweater and the ever popular Valentione Skirt!

Well, and the Swine Head… it was pretty obvious the Swine Head was going to be used here.

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Guild wars 2 Caithe and Dinky Guild Wars was a sort of unique entity in the vast world of the MMORPG universe- it was one of the only games that was responsive to a character’s personal choices and actions. Because of that, players got to choose NPC allies to grow and follow along with their journeys as they progressed through the game. In my brief tenure playing this game- my favorite NPCs were always Caithe and Dinky.

Caithe was a Sylvari- a plant like race who, on occasion, would seem like more flower than foe. Dinky on the other hand was a Charr- a very large feline race that made even our fiercest Miqo’tes look like kittens chasing around a laser pointer. It’s one thing to cosplay from one elf to another. It’s a different ball game to try to recreate a look that relies so heavily on the body that wears it- especially when one is a race we don’t even come close to having. Needless to say, I met my match it these two looks. But it’s nothing a little bit of liquid confidence and a couple hours of swearing wouldn’t help push me through.

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For both of these glamours, I focused heavily on their overall shape and design of their typical outfits. Dinky’s gear, for example, was very armour heavy on one side of the body, and quite minimal on the other.

The chestpiece I liked the most that catered to that design was the Anemos Brutal Lorica.

When dyed a light shale brown, the cloth piece on the shoulder becomes lighter- true to Dinky’s actual design.

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A pleasant surprise for this glamour was actually how well the Shire Custodian’s Gauntlets work. I’ll admit I’ve always found the Shire sets to be a little lackluster, but I hoarded them because people say I have a “huge glamour problem.” Pftwell, case in point! These gloves, that I probably haven’t touched since my tank left level 60, had a similar spike detailing that I was looking for to recreate this glamour. Put that in your pipe and smoke it, naysayers!

The most difficult bit for his glamour was, by far, the boots.

It’s quite common with more beastial looking races to have their feet and claws come through naturally. Take shoes on a Miqo’te in this game and instead of claws we’ll find ten little piggies ready to get on their way to market. Not quite

Dinky

I found it physically impossible not to pick Dinky when I leveled my Charrs. He’s the classic underdog story- runt of his litter, and not the brightest. But Dinky acknowledges his shortcomings and fights even harder to prove how much of an asset he really is. That alone earned him all the respect Aretha Franklin and I have to give.

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as cool looking, to say the least.

Fortunately many of the PVP designs that have been brought to us over the years have been very animal inspired. The one I found most suitable, especially when dyed, was the Feet of Undying Twilight. Take a look at those claws! Way more intimidating than a couple of tiny snausages‌

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CAITHE

Have you ever been so enamoured with how a character looks in a game that it overrides all your senses of wanting to know who they are or what they’re about?

You just stand there looking at them in awe hoping to the deities that you someday can acquire whatever gear they’re wearing? That was my reaction with Caithe. The “armour” for the Sylvari looked very much like it was just grown out of their skin and just embraced them… I just couldn’t get over it. When I started down the road for this article, I knew I wanted to recreate her. I wanted the challenge. And my god did she test me.

As I did with Dinky, I looked first for a chest piece that would share a similar shape with her leaves that form around her. I wanted that high neckline. I wanted those leaflike protrusions. I wanted that second glass of wine- this is tough work and I think I deserved it! Those type of details are hard to find in any game, but I found it in the Chimerical Felt Tabard of Scouting. I celebrated with a third glass of wine.

The wide scarf around the neck gave the perfect amount of height to mimic the leaves at her shoulder, and the sharply scalloped leather panels that spread out from her waist fed

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into the illusion that leaves were wrapping around her. It was perfect.

Her arms were a unique feature as well. Branches and leaves wrapped around them and faded down towards her fingers.

While not necessarily the same shape, I used the Augmented Torrent Armguards of Scouting because of its winding trim, that had the similar effect as the branches, as well as a flowy sleeve that belled like a flower.

The boots in this glamour were really what brought this whole look together. As if it wasn’t hard

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enough finding a plant-looking shirt, I now was going to have to find boots that wound up the leg like husks. At this moment the shape of the boot didn’t matter as much to me as the pattern of it would. Patterned pieces in this game are amazing for providing illusions when it comes to cosplaying unconventional things. A pair of boots with any sort of filigree work or curved lines was going to be more than enough to serve my purposes.

The Iga Kyahan has wonderful line work that flows out and up along the legs making it a terrific choice for this cosplay.

There we have it friends! Just a scratch on the surface of all the cosplaying possibilities this game has to offer. Will you dare to delve deeper and create some cosplays of your own? Don’t forget to stop by our discord and share all the amazing cosplay glamours you build!

Until next time, friends! Stay original, and stay glamourous.

XoX,

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GEAR D team INT

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INTERVIEW BY ECHO - LAYOUT BY ARYA ROSE

DESIGN TERVIEW

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FFXIV is known for its amazing concepts art and gear design. But behind every armor set is a story, a vision, and most importantly, a team of designers. Ever wonder how the beautiful gear we get to wear was created? How gear sets get decided on and what inspires the desingers? We had the chance to sit down with Ayumi Namae and Naoki Yoshida as they told us all we ever wanted to know about gear, how it's designed, and what we can expect in the future.

WHAT IS THE PROCESS OF CHOOSING A THEME FOR NEW GEAR?

Ayumi Namae The process for deciding on a theme varies depending on the type of equipment we are creating.

For Raid rewards, Dungeon rewards, PVP rewards and equipment you exchange tokens for, we get a specified theme to work to from. The items team and the art team then create the art based on that. For equipment such as

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the Garlond II equipment (Scaeva equipment) and traditional adventuring gear used to level characters (Acolyte equipment, Foestriker equipment), the item team and Producer and Director Mr. Yoshida will set the theme in line with the nature of the items and where they are found etc.

For seasonal event equipment and the aesthetic equipment that crafters can make, most of the time the art team proposes several ideas (themes) with rough images and we then sit

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down with items team to discuss these and narrow it down to the final idea.

Because seasonal events give out reward items every year, we have already done most of the obvious ideas that are immediately recognisable as themed around the events in question, so the design team must strive to come up with ideas for what different concepts we could use that year. Our standard barometer for judging what kind of equipment to do for new seasonal events is usually “is this something that would be fun?”, but when the nature of the content itself has already been finalised, we also consider if the reward item will feel right for the event content and not stick out as odd.

Designing the AF (job specific) equipment added with each new expansion pack also involves the art staff producing several rough thematic proposals, before we discuss them with Mr. Yoshida to narrow all the ideas down to alight on the final theme. We take care to create ideas that properly capture the essence of each job in our rough proposals, and mainly consider what ideas

are the catchiest (most stylised) and best fit the new locations when narrowing them down.

WHERE DOES THE DESIGN TEAM DRAW INSPIRATION FROM?

Namae Each member of the art team has their own specialisations and strengths, and it appears to me that we each get our inspiration from the things we like as individuals. For example, some of our staff who are good with science fiction themes will take structures and designs from robot action figures, and these individuals will invariably also be collectors who own lots of those kinds of figures.

Some of the staff who work on the designs for monsters and minions will often base their designs on things from comics and animated characters, adding in their own touches and re-working them to make characters for FFXIV, while other monster designers will use reference pictures of bizarre creatures that exist in the real world or animals that they have a fondness for. Seeing what each individual designer’s interest alights on is fascinating.

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In my case, I am mainly responsible for creating clothing and equipment, so every day I gather up information from fields like fashion, stage wear, film costumes and the like. I often go to galleries to see exhibitions relating to clothing and accessories. I am always stimulated by the texture of the materials and feeling of weight that you only experience when you see these things first hand, and it gets my creative juices flowing, as I want to make something similar for myself!

I have always loved looking at clothing, so it feels much more like I am going to see these things because I like them anyway, rather than because I need to for my work.

Another thing is that because there are always new cities and nations being added to the world of FFXIV, it is very important to differentiate them by creating a solid setting and culture for each one. Because of this, I get the impression that all of the design staff pay particular attention to films and related cinematic resources.

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ARE THERE PLANS FOR MORE UNISEX DESIGNS IN THE FUTURE? STYLES PURELY FOR GLAMOUR, LIKE THE CRAFTED LEVEL 1 GEAR, FOR EXAMPLE MOONFIRE FAIRE GEAR GIVEN OUT AT THE 2018 EVENT - THE ONE SET CARRIED OVER FOR BOTH GENDERS.

Namae We are still in the early stages of discussion but the development team are making preparations to be able to meet these kinds of expectations a little at a time. We hope everyone can be patient while we work to make it a reality.

ARE THERE ANY FASHION DESIGNERS THAT INSPIRE MORE PIECES THAN OTHERS?

Namae Alexander McQueen and John Galliano.

I loved the work of both of these designers ever since I was a student and looked up to them a lot. Their outfits are romantic, elegant and steeped in fantasy, but at the same time modern and powerful. They change the overall taste for every single collection, using influences from ethnic and national dress around the world, as well as from multiple different periods like Rococo, Baroque or La Belle

Époque, freely re-arranging and re-building concepts like sci-fi, the circus or a toy box. There are many things to learn from how they arrange these ideas and concepts.

In the late 90s and early 2000s, the fashion shows put on by both McQueen and Galliano put a lot of effort into the performance aspect too and had the kind of impact you would expect to see in a stage show. They were shows that brought together all the beautiful things from around the world, from the models to the clothing to the locations… and the fact that each of these fleeting visual extravaganzas would be over after a few minutes made it like being in a beautiful dream. I am always touched when I think back to those shows.

WHAT IS THE HARDEST PART OF GEAR DESIGN?

Namae With operation of the game carrying on for so long and the amount of different equipment in the game always expanding, the hardest thing for us is creating designs that gives the impression of being something new.

For example, even though there are various sets with

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a sci-fi styling to them, such as the Allagan equipment, High Allagan equipment, Lost Allagan equipment, Ironworks equipment, Scaeva equipment and Omega equipment, we strive to differentiate the designs for each of them. Obviously we could not sit down at the beginning to plan out exactly how each one would differ from the others, and it gets harder and harder to make them stand out as more new sets are added.

We also use a lot of trial and error to work out what kind of arrangements and combinations will delight the players most (e.g. be easy to use in glamours). For example, with the Republican Signifer's Fingerless Gloves, we made the upper section like ring bracers to expose the character’s skin and allowed the torso armour to be adjusted to have halflength sleeves and synergise with the design. For the Star Velvet Hoods, we wanted to depict the shape of the hood while still showing the wearer’s hair, so we made it an unfamiliar looking shape that you don’t really find in the real world, but still managed to get it to work in a way that did not stick out.

We experiment every day to try to give the players the variety they are looking for within the structure of the current dressing up system.

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WHAT CATCHES YOUR EYE WHEN JUDGING OR IMPLEMENTING GEAR DESIGNS FROM SE CONTESTS?

Namae When we judge the contests, a panel of development staff, mainly from the art, character modelling and item teams, do an initial survey of the entries and vote for the top ones. This is the first round of judging.

At the staff survey stage, we focus on our emotional reactions to the entries, e.g.; whether we like something, it is interesting, intriguing or feels new. Whether or not the entry could actually be realised ingame is a secondary concern.

We then take all the entries that made it past the first round and representatives from each section of the team get together with Mr. Yoshida to discuss them and make the final decisions on the winners and runners up.

One of the main criteria used when judging the final winners who will have their designs implemented in game is whether something similar has been done in FFXIV in the past. For example, the Lost Allagan equipment from the tank contest had a classic sci-fi style to it and was rooted in the

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culture of Eorzea, fitting in to the world perfectly, but nothing along those lines had been made before. The Scaeva equipment from the healer contest had a retro-futuristic vibe to it that was also not something we had seen in FFXIV before. Finally, the Bonewicca Whisperer equipment from the caster contest and its design with the cloak connected behind the arms was something we had avoided doing before as it was not optimal to implement, but we decided to use the contest as an opportunity take on the challenge.

For every project we put forward multiple rough ideas and then pick the final direction to go for from those. We always work like that, so even if an idea is not selected at the time or is not workable, we don’t fixate on it and simply put it aside, thinking that it might be nice to do some other time if we can.

The contest entries are always really nice and interesting designs and it is always great fun judging them.

DO YOU FOLLOW THEMES WITH GEAR DESIGN? IT SEEMS CLASSES LIKE PALADIN AND BLACK MAGE HAVE A SIMILAR STYLE THROUGHOUT THE GEAR SETS, BUT ASTROLOGIAN SEEMS TO VARY FROM SET TO SET.

HAS THERE EVER BEEN A THEME THAT DIDN’T WORK WITH ALL THE JOBS? DID YOU HAVE TO GIVE UP ON THE IDEA BECAUSE OF IT?

Namae I file away lots of ideas that I would love to do one day on a daily basis, but the designer’s job is to provide proposals that fit with the orders we receive, so if I have an idea that does not work with a request, then I won’t put it forward in the first place.

In that sense, I never really feel that I had to “give up” on an idea.

As long as I keep doing this job there will always be chances to use these things at some point in the future.

Namae One of the most important points when designing the job specific equipment for each new expansion is to make sure that the look captures the essence of the job in question.

Things like Paladins and Black Mages have a certain uniform look across the previous FF games and in other fantasy works too, so we always try to keep those signature elements,

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such as Paladins looking heroic and Black Mages looking mystical.

As the Astrologian is not one of the traditional FF jobs, and we kept in mind that this is a FFXIV original job when designing its first job specific equipment, the Antiquated Welkin attire.

When this set was introduced in patch 3.0, the setting for the story was Ishgard, so the design was based on a European styled dress. In contrast, the Constellation attire was added for 4.0, where the setting was now Ala Mhigo, so we based the design on middle-eastern style ethnic garb.

IS THERE ANY OPPORTUNITY/ POSSIBILITY IN THE FUTURE TO ALLOW CUSTOMIZATION TO THE GLOWS OF WEAPONS, SUCH AS ALLOWING SOMEONE TO TOGGLE THE GLOW ON/ OFF, OR "DYE" THE GLOW COLOR ITSELF?

Naoki Yoshida To do that we would need to make significant changes to the core system and it would have a big influence on how the data was made. I think we would even need to make adjustments to the FFXIV graphics engine. We have no plans to do this kind of thing at the moment, but if the game continues to do well then there is certainly a chance you might see it at some point in the future.

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WILL MORE DYE COLORS, TO BE USED ON GEAR AND FURNITURE ITEMS, BE IMPLEMENTED, SUCH AS NEONS?

Yoshida Technically speaking, neon would not be treated as a regular colour, but would use a different method called “emissives” to get it to glow. Thus, customizing it would involve adjusting the “emissive” colour. Allowing this to be switched on and off with an external switch and changing the colour would need the same changes as I mentioned in the answer to question 8 above.

ARE THERE PLANS TO EXPAND THE GLAMOUR DRESSER? TWO HUNDRED SLOTS GO PRETTY QUICKLY!

Yoshida Yes, we do have plans to expand the capacity of the Glamour Dresser. At present we are prioritizing doing what we can to expand the locations where the plates can be applied and add more locations where the Glamour Dresser can be used, but when we have got that to a certain level, we will move on to increasing the capacity. Please be patient a little longer.

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DO YOU THINK YOU’LL EVER REMOVE RESTRICTIONS ON GLAMOUR AND ALLOW A BLACK MAGE TO GLAMOUR A WARRIOR SET, AND VICE VERSA?

Yoshida Strictly speaking, the answer would be “No”. We have no particular plans to unlock specific job equipment for other jobs and that is one of our design policies. However, we are working on slowly amending some of the fixed role equipment to be available to all jobs and classes, so if there are any specific items you really want unlocked, please go and say so on the forums!

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Guidin͂ the Community The People Behind the Resources and Guides of FFXIV TEXT BY RYMMRAEL BHALDRAELWYN PHOTOS BY LAELE NORA - LAYOUT BY ARYA ROSE

Miu of Teamcraft We’ve all been there. Reached some point in Final Fantasy XIV that has left us lost and confused; be it a quest we don’t know how to advance, an item we don’t know how to find, a craft we don’t know how to complete, or a boss we don’t know how to down. We don’t know. So we turn to those who do.

We utilize guides and resources created by the people in the FFXIV community who spend their free time not just playing the game, but in helping the rest of the player base as well.

They write blogs and forum posts, or create Youtube videos, or code entire websites, all in order to help us find the information we need and get back to what is actually important: playing the game.

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One such resource is FFXIV Teamcraft, an incredibly helpful website designed to help players with all things crafting and gathering related in Final Fantasy XIV. Need to find the location to gather a certain raw material? The Teamcraft site has that. Need to know what time a rare node pops up and how long it will last? It has that too and an alarm to remind you.

Want a full breakdown of all the mats required to craft an item?

What about multiple items at once? Check and double check.

But those features, as indispensable as they are, are fairly standard for a crafting/ gathering resource and Teamcraft does not have a monopoly on them. Where the website really shines is the fact that it not only incorporates all of those things into one single, easy to use location, but also offers several unique features and quality of life improvements that other sites lack.

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FFXIV Teamcraft allows you the option to import your character to your profile from the Lodestone and keep track of which Mastercraft books you have learned. Not only can you create lists of items to be crafted and share them with the community, you can even create Teams with other users if you are working on group projects and track that project’s process in real time. The site has a tool that lets you build your own rotation (or import a preexisting one) for any item in the game, save it, share it, and generate macros for it. It even includes a macro translator if you found a good crafting macro but it’s not in the same language as your game interface. The Commission board feature helps connect crafters to those on their server who are in need of their services. On top of all that, the downloadable desktop app allows you to use all of the features of the site, without needing to open a browser.

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There are already a lot of features packed into this one website, many more than the handful I mentioned above, but Miu, the creator of FFXIV Teamcraft, is far from finished. He was kind enough to sit down with me and answer some of my questions about himself, his website, and his plans for its future: SO ABOUT HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN PLAYING FINAL FANTASY XIV?

I started the first day of early access, with my girlfriend and a friend of mine. Played a bit of beta 1.0 but I didn't like it at all.

BUT YOU DECIDED TO STICK WITH IT? OR DID YOU LEAVE AND COME BACK AGAIN AFTER A BREAK?

I left twice for a small break, at both X.4 patches (2.4 and 3.4) because my Free Company (which is 80% IRL friends) stopped playing and I was struggling to find some motivation. Then came back for expansions, because the hype is strong.

WHAT ACTIVITIES IN THE GAME DO YOU SPEND THE MOST TIME ON- CRAFTING, GATHERING, RAIDING, ETC.?

At the moment, mainly crafting.

I used to raid ~6-8 hours per week in a blind roster but we disbanded because some of us were stopping FF due to not enough motivation. To be honest, I don't play a lot these days. (These days refers to the last month I'd say.) I really like the game but I'm enjoying coding more and I don't have a lot of objectives in-game for now.

IS THAT COMBINATION OF CRAFTING AND CODING WHAT LED YOU TO CREATE TEAMCRAFT?

Yeah, I was using FFXIV Crafting a lot but I found some features missing. I thought, "Maybe I can just wait for them," but I ended up starting my own tool. It started as a small student experiment with realtime stuff and I found it to be pretty powerful

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so I bought a domain name and started to communicate about the tool.

DID YOU BUILD THE ENTIRE SITE AND DO ALL THE CODING FOR IT

BY YOURSELF?

I did all the coding and the design, yes. I have some external contributors for translation (I handle EN and FR by myself) and a few people send some Pull Requests (modification proposals) to the code repository to help me fix small bugs, etc. I used a lot of help for data and some logic elements though and today I have some "main contributors," contributing bigger feature blocks or modifications to help me even more. But overall, I'm the author of ~98% of the code base.

WOW, THAT SOUNDS LIKE A LOT OF WORK. HOW LONG DID IT TAKE YOU TO GET THE SITE UP AND RUNNING? AND ABOUT HOW MUCH TIME DO YOU PUT IN ON A REGULAR BASIS TO MAINTAINING IT?

The first version was made in two weeks of intense work, probably around 90 hours in total as I was on holidays. Since this first release, I probably spend at least 12 hours per week (including weekends) on

the website, to add new features, fix issues, etc.

DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA THE NUMBER OF PEOPLE WHO ACCESS YOUR SITE ON A REGULAR BASIS?

Sure, I'm using Google Analytics for this kind of measurement.

It's growing since the release and at the moment it's around 1,200 users on a daily basis.

This number is tripled on patch weeks.

AS SOMEONE WHO IS FAIRLY FAMILIAR WITH FF14 CRAFTING IN GENERAL BUT NEVER USED YOUR WEBSITE BEFORE, I FOUND IT REALLY EASY TO DIVE RIGHT IN. WHEN DESIGNING THE UI, WAS MAKING IT INTUITIVE A MAJOR GOAL FOR YOU?

At first, not at all. But then I began to get questions like "How do you do X?" and I understood that the UI was bad, so I tried to make it easier and

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it seems like it's better now. I'm currently working on a brand new UI that will hopefully bring intuitiveness to a whole new level. Because I'm trying to learn UX (User eXperience) and Teamcraft is the perfect project for that.

E specially at this moment, since I'm rewriting almost everything.

YOU SAID THAT YOU FELT THAT OTHER SITES WERE MISSING FEATURES AND THAT IS WHY YOU WANTED TO START YOUR OWN TOOL. WHICH SPECIFIC FEATURES OF TEAMCRAFT ARE THOSE?

The main one is real-time.

If you share a list to a friend and he opens it, he'll see list progression update as you check items in it. And it's independent from language, which is another thing I was missing a lot. Integrated timers were missing too, as you had to use two different websites for them. Same for desktop app version, as it's very convenient to have the app available without a browser opened.

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THE DESKTOP APP, I UNDERSTAND THAT’S A FAIRLY RECENT ADDITION TO TEAMCRAFT. WAS THERE A SPECIFIC THING THAT PROMPTED YOU TO PROVIDE THIS NEW FEATURE OR WAS IT SOMETHING YOU WANTED FROM THE START?

I had some people having issues I couldn't reproduce because it was related to a given browser version, or an extension. And I was curious about Electron (the library I'm using for desktop app, which is what Discord uses for instance.) Also, I had a lot of issues with web notifications.

So I decided to add a desktop app, to have a good solution to issues related to X browser or X extension. And because it connects directly with Windows' notifications system, notifications are way more reliable.

ARE THERE ANY OTHER FEATURES YOU HAVE PLANS TO ADD IN THE FUTURE OR WOULD LIKE TO LOOK INTO DEVELOPING?

With the new version I'm making (or remaking) I'll add quite a lot of new things, yes.

But before this gets released, I'm planning stuff like an Ariyala import, to create a list from an Ariyala link, including materias with an estimate of how much

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you'd need. This will most likely be in a 4.4.X release.

OR INCLUDE SOME COMMENT ABOUT?

5.0 (the big rework release) will add things like leve lists generator, 3D model preview of gear piece items, way better performances, custom items (for day1 crafting), custom alarms (same, day1 gathering), GC turn-in lists generator, and more, since I get feature requests from users and in 90% of the cases I end up adding the feature.

I think the only thing I really want people to know is that the next version is going to be a real complete rework and I really hope people will get to know more about Teamcraft and that it'll help them better every day.

I'm planning some Teamcraft tutorial videos, dunno yet if I'm going to do them by myself or not, but I will for sure. There's a lot of features that are a bit too hidden and people could use for sure, like navigation map, pricing mode, and search filters.

IT SOUNDS LIKE YOU HAVE A VERY AMBITIOUS PLAN FOR THE FUTURE OF TEAMCRAFT. DID YOU THINK WHEN YOU STARTED WITH A SIMPLE WISH FOR A FEW MISSING FEATURES THAT IT WOULD GROW INTO THIS BIG OF PROJECT?

Oh hell no, I would never have imagined that people would actually use it and participate like this. A lot of feature ideas are made by the users and their questions, their needs. Like the very unknown layout system.

(Panels showing details of a list are entirely customizable, their content, ordering, title, split into tiers, zone breakdown, etc.)

WERE THERE ANY ASPECTS OF TEAMCRAFT OR FF14 AT LARGE THAT YOU FELT PARTICULARLY PASSIONATE ABOUT AND WANTED TO SPEAK MORE ON

THANK YOU SO MUCH! NOT JUST FOR TAKING THE TIME TO SIT DOWN AND TALK WITH ME TODAY, BUT ALSO FOR ALL OF THE HARD WORK AND DEDICATION YOU’VE PUT INTO TEAMCRAFT. GUIDEMAKERS LIKE YOU WHO HELP SO MANY OTHERS THROUGH THEIR PROJECTS ARE ONE OF THE THINGS THAT MAKE THE FF14 COMMUNITY AS WONDERFUL AS IT IS.

Thank you for the kind words.

If you or anyone wants to add something into Teamcraft, have an idea they want to add or anything, just DM me. I'm always open to new ideas.

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WHAT TO DO AND HOW TO DO IT: CRAFTING My name is Qih Mewrilah and I’m that insane person that spends almost all of his time crafting in game, rather than running dungeons or enjoying any type of combat. Being self-sufficient and able to help others with gear, food, and potions has been my main goal ever since I started playing in 2014, but I wasn’t prepared for how complex the crafting in this game can get.

My goal for this guide is to get people up to speed with the current 4.4 patch of Stormblood and how to set yourself up for success in the future! This guide will assume that you’re nearly at 70, or at 70 with all crafters and you’re wondering where to go from there.

Text by qih mewrilah - PHOTOS by Makoto Magika Layout by Lolae Demort

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Why don't we jump right in and talk about gear. There are a couple of different ways to attack the gear setup for crafters in 4.4. Most people will tell you that you have to spend millions of gil to get the best in slot gear, and they might not be fully incorrect, but it honestly comes down to a time investment. Gil lets you skip that time investment, but overall you get out of crafting as much as you put into it.

First, we’re going to try and to hit a stat threshold. The current floor for crafting the newest sets is 1500 craftsmanship and 1350 control. There really isn't a determined number when it comes to CP, except for “as much as possible.”

I know there's tons of discussion when it comes to CP in crafting and I will tell you that, without a shadow of a doubt, it is the most important stat to have as a crafter. You can have all of the Craftsmanship and Control in the world, but without enough CP to actually use the abilities, it doesn’t mean a thing.

So we know the minimum requirements for making the current BiS Crafting/Gathering gear, as well as the i380 battle

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gear that everyone is clamoring over to pad their iLvl, but how exactly do we get those stats?

Well, we simply pay a visit to our old friend Rowena, over at Rhalgr’s Reach!

If you’re going slow and steady, Yellow Scrip gear is a fine (and probably the best) place to start. It’s nowhere near the best (you should just ignore the item level on crafting/gathering gear, it’s a complete and utter lie), but will at least help you start on the right track. Click here to see what a full set of yellow scrip gear would look like.

Awesome! You’re sitting at 1645 Craftsmanship and 1529 Control! More than enough to craft the newest, shiny gear.

But look at that third stat, 400 CP. That may seem like a lot, but the current cap on CP is 493 at base. So that is a far cry from where we want to be.

Also, for that specific set you’re looking at spending 8,550 yellow scrips. Over 4 times the cap. That’s something you can get by marathon crafting tons of collectibles for your gal-pal, Rowena, while watching your favorite shows on Netflix, but we’re out for at least a little bit better than that.

"CP IS, WITHOUT A DOUBT, THE MOST IMPORTANT STAT TO HAVE AS A CRAFTER"

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A small aside, but for the love of Byregot do your weekly custom deliveries. They’re free scrips and even if you don’t need them, it’s something you can turn into items and materia to sell.

We haven’t even looked at melding the gear yet, and that’s because the yellow scrip set cannot be melded, what you see is what you get for stats.

Click here for an example. I’ve swapped out the scrip left side with the crafted accessories, and only melded a CP 6 materia in the guaranteed slot so we’re not having to sacrifice any Lalafe-- I mean goats to the RNG gods.

We’re now looking at 1642 Craftsmanship, 1527 Control and 435 CP. A very small sacrifice to two stats to get a huge boon to another.

I feel like this is a very good starting point for ‘baseline’ as far as crafting goes in 4.4.

It may require you to have to buy a piece or two from the marketboard, or find a friend or FC buddy that can craft them for you if you provide the materials, but you will start to be able to make your own gear and upgrade to the best in slot gear from there!

On the opposite end of the spectrum, on the other hand, is BiS and fully melded. What does that look like? Click here to see it. 1682 Craftsmanship, 1810 Control, and 493 CP, all at base values without food or medicine applied. This is full insanity in gear form. Each piece of gear is pentamelded with a grade 6 materia in each first overmeld slot.

For our ‘baseline’ we established above, here’s a rotation that we can use to make both the crafter/gatherer sets as well as the i380 gear. The rotations will assume that you have completed all of your crafter quests, have access to all crossclass skills, and will be using HQ Matcha and HQ CP Tea to meet the stat requirements. (You did finish all the quests right?)

This is not for the faint of heart; I blew up nearly 150 million worth of gil to do this to my own gear. There is a silver lining on the dark cloud of throwing yourself to the whims of the RNG gods, however: With these stats, you can almost assuredly craft HQ items with little or no need for initial quality in a craft.

This speeds up your crafting time immensely and will give you more time to craft, or other things. (But seriously more time to craft is invaluable!)

So we’ve looked at gear, but what are we going to do with those stats? We want to make the new gear and if it doesn’t have the HQ symbol in its name, then it’s worthless! (This counts for glamour as well, seriously, don’t NQ glamour. We have standards to uphold.) Let’s look at rotations for crafting.

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You remember our old friend Maker’s Mark and Flawless Synthesis, don’t you? Well, they’re back. Yes, the rotation is 58 steps, but damn if it’s not consistent. The main point with Flawless synthesis is building CP back in conjunction with Comfort zone. This rotation does take some very large liberties, however. See the three Tricks of the Trade? We need those proc’d during the Flawless Synthesis phase or we’re not going to have enough CP to complete the craft.

The good news is that you can take those ANYWHERE inside of the first part of the rotation, but they’re necessary. If we only get 2, you can drop the very last basic touch before Byregot’s Blessing to ensure we have enough CP to finish the craft, but you will need more initial quality to guarantee an HQ finish. It may not be pretty, but it’s easy to complete.

For the crafting of the sub-materials, our friends Maker’s Mark and Flawless Synthesis are back again!

This rotation is pretty much the same as the one above, just smaller due to the nature of 35 durability. (Seriously, 35 durability crafts are the absolute worst thing in the game). Tricks of the Trade procs taken where you can, drop the last basic touch if you don’t get 2 good procs.

Easy!

As you make gear and meld more CP into your items, the need for abusing the combo of Flawless Synthesis and Comfort Zone goes away. Once you can hit that magical threshold of 493 CP, the world is your oyster and your rotations change for the better.

The following two rotations I personally use and got from the Balance Discord, and they require either no initial quality, or 2 mats at most with BiS stats.

Click here to check it out!

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Yanyangs’ 35-Durability Non-Specialist Macro

PostMortem’s 70-durability Non-Specialist Macro

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So you’ve made the BiS gear, melded to the nines! Now we can actually begin crafting! It’s time to make some gil. Undoubtedly we’ve sank tons of gil and time into our own gear, so let’s recoup some losses or make some money!

If there’s one thing to take away from the second half of my article it’s this: patience. If you are not patient, you are not a crafter. In order to not get frustrated while listing items on the marketboard, or waiting for the right time to buy materials at a cheap price, you'll need tons and tons of willpower.

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Sometimes you will have an item listed on the MB for weeks at a time before it sells, sometimes it will sell within minutes of posting the item. It’s all about how much patience you have.

Take some time to look at the markets on your server. For each piece of gear, what’s selling, and for how much? How often does it sell? Are there large gaps in between sales?

Keeping your finger on the pulse of the market is an easy way to make money over other people that don’t pay attention to that sort of thing. I’ll give a few examples all from my own server, Adamantoise.

When 4.4 hit, there was a lot of speculation on what the final tier of gear was going to include. Of course it was going to have some kind of Alchemist component, but the potion was a giant question mark to everyone I talked to.

When the patch dropped, we were met with the booming text: “GYR ABANIAN ALCHEMICS.” The price of them rose nearly 5000% on day one. Now this is falling victim to market hysterics and shouldn’t be the norm, but stay with me.

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Currently, alchemics are the thing to buy with your yellow scrips. (Unless you’re a flannel freak like me and occasionally spend some on the glamour item, seriously I’ve made hundreds) Even if you don’t feel confident with your skills as a crafter yet, selling the alchemics that you acquire through scrip grinding is a simple, guaranteed way to make gil.

Looking at what makes up a craft is always something I look into before diving head-first into a market. If the craft requires a lot of aethersands, there may be a lower profit margin on it overall due to the fact few people on my server farm those and the price is always inflated.

Sometimes a piece of gear will barely cost more than the components it was made from! Items like Evergleam Ingots, Procoptodon Leather (Seriously SE, we have to use TWO mendacity mats to make the leather again?) and the like will randomly spike when the pool of mendacity mats on the MB dries up. You should look at something like this like your perfect chance to move out of the crafted gear market and straight into the crafted materials market.

"KEEPING YOUR FINGER ON THE PULSE OF THE MARKET IS AN EASY WAY TO MAKE MONEY"

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Lastly, materia. I don’t know where the meme came from, but people were convinced that we were getting a new set of gear in 4.4 for crafters and gatherers. “But the Onishi set isn’t blue!” cried the masses.

They were wrong. (And if I’m wrong then you can all feel free to point and laugh at me.)

What this means is that the overwhelming majority of people were completely holding off melding their gear for the longest time. Materia prices were plummeting as supply was oversaturated and demand was sparse. Now we have the inverse. Everyone is clamoring to meld their gear to stay ahead of the curve and it’s never been a better time to farm red scrips for materia to sell.

One last point I’d like to make is how powerful networking can be. The marketboard is the PvP for all crafters and gatherers, but what if we could skip that entirely? I have many friends that gather about as much as I craft and I can place orders directly with them for items I need gathered. I get to skip marketboard taxes (Sometimes getting items cheaper) and they know they can come to me for gear with a similar discount.

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Building a network of crafters and gatherers benefits everyone mutually.

In closing, it may seem like a daunting task to get caught up with everything, but remember, it’s not a race. There’s no trophy to be had here, just the satisfaction of knowing that at the end, you’re able to craft anything in the game and helping other people out by making gear for them as well. I hope that this guide has helped some in pointing you in the right direction as to where to go and how to do it.

All screenshots of rotations used in this article are from the Teamcraft website, which is the absolute best for anything crafting related. I use it religiously and you should too.

Click here to visit their website.

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By Sir Foxwood - Coeurl - Unedited Music Genre: Jazz Album Name: Moonlight Blues

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SCREENSHOTS OF THE SEASON 255

By Zayuna - Adamantoise - Unedited Hell’s Concierge

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Mallers Sama - Ultros - Edited Cabin in the Woods

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Qih Mewrilah - Adamantoise Music Genre: Hip-hop/Rap Band Name: Q & Red Ablum Name: Husltin’ Ain’t Easy

Would you like your screenshot to be featured in our next issue? Make sure to join the Aetherflow Media Discord channel and share yours. Keep in mind that these don’t have to be seasonal, anything goes!

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SIGNED BY FOXCLON!

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WIN A SIGNED COPY OF ENCYCLOPAEDIA EORZEA VOL II The Encyclopedia Eorzea is a collection of tomes penned by the realm's most illustrous scholars, and what better defines a scholar than a test of knowledge? Here at Aetherflow Media we're giving readers a chance to take the mantle of scholars of the Three Continents by testing their knowledge behind the events in FFXIV, the reward being a copy of the second Encyclopedia Eorzea signed by Toshio Murouchi, also known as community team member Foxclon!

Rules and information on how to enter coming soon! Stay up to date on the contest by following us on social media!

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