Garwoofoo

I think they are level gated at the very least so you get a couple at 50, a couple at 60 etc. Then you need to have the appropriate expansions for the later ones too. Some of the new jobs do look very interesting.

Been really enjoying FFXIV. And by "really enjoying" I mean "hopeless addicted to, all over again". It's really stood the test of time well, hasn't it? It looks great for a game that originally came out on the PS3 and while I'm aware that the original Realm Reborn content is far from the best the game has to offer, it's still really good fun.

I've come to terms with the excessive amounts of XP by levelling multiple jobs up at the same time, switching between them every time I outlevel the MSQ by more than a few levels. So the net result of having extra XP is that I'm making really slow progress! Currently got a Black Mage, Summoner, Marauder, Paladin and Lancer all between levels 27 and 32 (a couple of them still to get their full jobs) and I'm still outstripping the MSQ so I might have to go back and level up a Ninja or something too. Every dungeon I do just levels me up by about 6 or 7 levels at the moment, which is ridiculous.

Of those, I love Summoner and I'm enjoying the two tanking jobs a lot (they are very similar). Black Mage is a bit dry and Lancer is dull as fuck. I'm sure they'll all change as they level up though. Jobs in general seem WAY simpler than I remember, I recall my original job at 50 having bar after bar of different moves and chains to remember and timers to hit. But that's fine, I guess they need to spread the content out now over 100 levels and that wouldn't have been sustainable. And you used to be able to use abilities from other jobs you had levelled but that also appears to be gone now.

It's much more of a single-player game than it used to be too. Comms are restricted on the free trial anyway but I haven't once felt the need to plug in a keyboard. Duty Support is a great feature and allows you to familiarise yourself with the dungeons without the stress of a party of real players who have run them a thousand times before and just want to do them as quickly as possible. It's more immersive this way, too.

Anyway I'm loving it and I can't believe they give away the whole game and three full expansions for free. That's hundreds of hours of play, minimum. It certainly shows confidence in the game and that people will still want to subscribe after all that time.

Mixtape

I warmed to this a bit as it went on but I definitely didn't relate to it in the way others seem to. Its nostalgia feels very superficial (here's that song you liked! oooh, who remembers cassette tapes?) like an extended version of MTV's "I love the 90s", and while I get that the main character is probably meant to be annoying, that doesn't mean you necessarily want to spend several hours in her company.

That said, it is an audiovisual masterpiece, and superbly well put together, so it's worth playing on that basis alone. And the soundtrack is pretty good.

Hmmm, I've played a bit of Mixtape and I'm not really feeling it. It looks and sounds amazing but everyone in it is wildly annoying. Maybe if your teenage years involved chilling with your confident wise-cracking friends in your massive houses before getting on your skateboards and hanging out at the mall then this will strike a chord, but I had a shit grey 1980s UK childhood and I suspect I'm not at all the target audience for this game.

Realised I had some sort of starter's ring equipped which was giving me EVEN MORE XP so I've taken that off and things are settling down a bit. Switched to Arcanist and that's a lot more fun than Thaumaturge, I even got to do a few side quests though I'm still levelling up fast.

A lot has changed though. Have they removed the requirement to level a second class as well before you get your proper Job at 30?