I Don't Think I'm Over the Arcadion Yet

15 Jul, 2026

I know I know, I keep bringing this game up when my goal is to like, quit FF14 forever. But I suppose it's hard to just be done with something you love. It's like a fucking vice at this point. It's got me in a grip. There's nothing I love more than the exhiliration of Savage and Ultimate raids. Hell even Alliance raids can be really good if the dominos fall the right way (near wipes saved by being one of the last few standing to save us all from the brink.) But that's not what I'm here to talk about. I'm here to talk about the latest raid series, The Arcadion, since we're at the end of the expac.

It feels weird to talk about a raid series where you only ended up actually raiding one tier, that being Cruiserweight (5-8). Before you come and say "oh but you did weeklies for Lightweight (1-4) & Heavyweight (9-12) and most people do normal" uhhhhhhhhh idk. My standards are probably way too fucking high for most people. Savage or bust has always been my thoughts, but I also don't hold people to that mentality. It's like, my own thing. Because that's what I like to do.

I won't lie and say this entire expac has been generally an off feeling for me. It's weird to be at the end of it. It's weird to not have both of the Ults unlocked and not attempted in some form. I'm not sure if it's burn out or what, because like, I generally really liked the Arcadion. I didn't feel burnt out by the content itself, and even having attempted to pug M9S (albeit on Primal and that did not go great...) I think it's the people I surrounded myself with that made me generally feel burnt out but like go figure. I dunno. Everytime I saw stuff for it, I just thought "Wow, that looks fun." But then I couldn't bring myself to go after a group or commit to a schedule. I dunno, just felt so tiring.

IDK, I don't want to get into raid politics here. It's always a back and forth with no clear resolution. And god, if I dwell on that type of stuff long enough I'll just go crazy.

I think generally though, there was an energy from the Arcadion that we hadn't really seen in a while. It reminded me of like Alex & Omega raids simply because things were moreso on the whimsical side and less like what we got in Eden & Pandaemonium. Like I dunno, maybe I'm just Alex brainrotted or something, but I really think the energy that those raids had was just so much overall fun. And same with early Omega. Nothing beats that Kefka reveal, that is just, idk, one of the things of all time in FF14? I think I scream about the Clown way too much in this game

I feel kinda dumb to come here and make a journal entry on the feelings of energy and whimsy the arcadion had and then having nothing past "Uhhh I like these silly little guys I didn't read the story cos I always get rushed through raid stories but I like them either way just from being in the arenas." Like... Dancing Green? Love that guy. Couldn't tell you shit about him. But I really like him. I love his little frogs. I love the fact that he's just Yosuke Hanamura (lmao), I ... i hate that they made his skin white when transformed that feels really weird. But I love that we got to fucking dance at a discotheque. Like, that's awesome. What a fucking stage. I love how the music matches where you're at in the fight. It makes hitting enrage kinda interesting cos you're at the end of the song. It's so cool. I love fumbling and crying on the dancefloor it's so fucking awesome!

Also like, I'm sorry to anyone who's done only normals and didn't do savage because like, M6s was really REALLY fun and I am not over the fact that you could just get mauled by so many things. There's like an insane level of fun to that that I really appreciate. That adds phase had to be hyper coordinated, the healing was hella strict, and you never had a moment to breathe. And you also had to be ontop of watching for the Jabberwock as the shield healer or that thing was gonna come and maul you to death. Yans were like everyone's number 1 fear, especially the tanks. And like, they're so cute, theyre so funny, they're so silly. I love them. I sculpted like 10 of them. It's weird to be in a raid that made you want to make something.

Brute Abominator Exists.

M8s was also really fun. Like, I know everyone likes to make fun of "The Gundam Furry" but also like, the fight was cool? The Arena was really cool. The adds phase here was also unique. Hell, this was an interesting tier for adds in general. We had so many. 3 whole fights with adds. It's been a while since we've had those. I remember P3S and everyone being mad over those adds (to be fair they kinda sucked but that entire fight sucked SOLELY DUE TO HOW RED THAT SHIT WAS.) But like funny enough, here, it wasn't as bad to have 3 floors with adds. IDK, I learned a lot about healing from a shield healer perspective, because I mostly raided as a regen healer. It's really interesting to see how much shielding does for the group. But I realized how easy I had it on regens. Playing regens is like babymode in comparison to playing Scholar. It gave me a real appreciation for actually progging from 0 on a scholar rather than doing it as an alt job that I could take in with others whenever they needed a fill.

Oh yeah the fight. Part 2 of the fight is actually really basic, but since it's quick paced and frantic, it's kinda neat. Like yes, I know it brings nothing all that interesting to the table. Tether passes and tower soaks, and shit like that. I think P4S phase 2 did towers a bit neater but it's whatever. The music and the general mess of everything going on made it kinda interesting in the moment. It could be bias though because if I was on WHM I'd probably have just yawned and stuff and been whatever.

I guess I should talk briefly about the other fights, but I have no savage experience with them. But I suppose that's okay.

I don't really have a lot to say about Black Cat or Brute Bomber but I think Honey B. Lovely was really neat. We saw idol pop in FF14 which was kinda cool, having been into idol stuff myself quite heavily at some point. I also really found her design interesting, and the dub going with a southern belle choice for the accent was kinda unique. It made her like really cute. I know a lot of people make fun of those accents and what not but idk she was really quite charming? Inb4 "BLAH JP >>> ENG DUB ALWAYS" sorry I don't play in JP I literally cannot concentrate during raids because I will start trying to translate what they are saying. It is hard to tune them out for me.

Wicked Thunder was also pretty neat. It was interesting to see Ixion implemented in a new and unique way. I love the music here too. God the music was actually so fucking good for these raids and it just kept getting better each tier. It was legit amazing.

Vamp Fatale got me to pug. And that says a lot because I hate pugging. I have a lot of bad experiences and sometimes my expectations are way too high for party finder to the point it's just straight up not fair to others, so I really prefer to stay out of it. Like IDK, I don't ever wanna be the guy who shows up and ruins someone's day. I prefer not to talk in PF/DF unless I have to, to be quite honest. Like, I dunno, people will report over anything so it's just better to keep to myself, especially because I would say I'm pretty argumentive when it comes to FF14. I also tend to use The Abacus. And sometimes The Abacus got me actin' unwise. And it's really not fair to people to do that so it's just... IDK, I dislike pugging! I don't want to put myself into a situation where I make other people's day worse (No really I'm super afraid of being too mean to someone just because I run out of patience because everyone deserves patience in a raiding situation.) But still, for her I pugged. Because like... God. I don't know how to put it into words but she's so good I want to marry her why are all the Elezen women in this game so fucking pretty I SWEAR TO GOD AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA.

Vamp Fatale I wish I could say I was ur #1 fan, but I'm like ur #32 fan or something. Please kick me with your heals repeatedly.

M10 & M11 both looked really fun from watching a friend on stream. I also really like the music. I love how they incorporated different types of rock music to really flesh out the characters. The eXtremes having this theme that really evoked the feeling of west coast surf culture was really neat. I saw some people calling it skaa, but it doesn't feel super skaa in my opinion? Maybe I'm not educated in skaa enough to judge tbh. I'm talking out my ass really. Don't take anything I say here too seriously ever because I am just a dumbass on the internet. M11 having this very hair rock vibe to it with a guy who goes around calling himself The Emperor was also a really awesome choice. Felt very KISS inspired and I could really get behind it. Like, just generally perfect choice all around.

I thought M12's boss aka The Lindwurm was kinda lame from a mechanics perspective (Not keen on wallbosses), but like, the music is so fire. Like they really popped off here. Thank you Tom Morello. Such a fucking cool choice. I keep hearing people calling it the WoL's theme and it definitely has that vibe to it. It's super cool solely because of that. Phase 2's theme is also really neat. I love the choice of a medley to represent the entire arcadion. The entire fight looks really cool. I kinda wanna do it. I know I still have time to do it still, even though it's not 7.4 and is in the later patches, but like I don't got a group. So I will probably pass. But just know that there's something there I really love. That and the time mechanics were kinda interesting. Theory is it's stuff off the cuttingroom floor for FRU, because it really looks like that, but that's fine.

I feel like all I did was talk about the music and then get thirsty over Vamp Fatale...

Oh well, I guess. I'll miss you when you're gone, Arcadion.

Next expac, I probably won't raid. I want to do the Alliance raids because they're Evangelion themed, but I don't know if I'll do much more than that. I don't really care for the new changes they're doing for the combat system and honestly the best thing for me to do at this point is step down. I know people hate the 2 minute meta. I don't like it either. But I would rather have it then just throwing things out the window. The new battle system just kinda makes me grimace and I know people will always say "Well, why would we listen to the absolute high end junkies on this" but like, idk, I know it's not our place to speak up at times, but I just do not like this. I've been told it's a skill issue to not want to adapt, but I'm sad that I have people who don't actually want to learn this game at it's current high end (which is super dumbed down in my opinion) and then act like people must be stupid if they don't like this new system. I get that there's button bloat, but I don't like the healer solution at all still. I hope it changes, but I don't have a lot of hope. I won't be watching the upcoming fanfest. I couldn't care about it to be quite honest. I'm disappointed that this is the direction they're deciding to take. I'll never not be disappointed. I don't know how I feel about the idea of "Any button above a certain level can be used in any instance now" and what that will do to other Ultimates. I suppose that's the thing I'm most interested in. Whatever, I suppose I'll be around to a degree because of that curiosity but I'm just not happy still.

I suppose this is why I'm glad that the Arcadion was as fun as it was. This expac was a very low point in FF14 for me, moreso because of personal reasons rather than what the fandom claims is the issue (AKA the story but I'm just so... whatever on that. I don't have time to argue with people on that topic anymore.) It was truly the only thing I gave a shit about this expac because most of the exes were whatever, and I could honestly not give a shit about things like mounts outside of savage stuff, I don't like casual content like maps & what not. I really only like housing & alliance raids for casual stuff tbh. I could keep going on about the things I do and dislike about this game, but we'd be here forever. Despite all it's flaws, I'm still kinda dragging my feet on fully letting go. I hate using the excuse "It's just hard." "It hurts." Eorzea has been a place I've called my digital home for a long time. Far before this game was well recieved. I've been here since the tail end of 2.3, right in time for Shiva to show up. I've changed character, changed data center and worlds, been through many FCs, joined many groups, done so many things with others. So it's like, hard to let go. Because it's not just letting go to this digital world you live in, it's like having to let those memories just be memories.

But I guess like, everyone moves on at some point. I know people on my blog who are from Neocities probably don't really know my character, but on the off chance that the people I played with, whether it be Savage or Ultimate statics, or just friend groups or FCs... If they pass by here, I would like them to think that when Halo Two is gone and forgotten, no longer gracing the log in lists of anyone's friends list or anything like that, that she's just partying nonstop in the Arcadion. Or perhaps even more fittingly for this blog, she's trapped somewhere in Alexander's Liminal Space. And that's where she'll remain.

Oh yeah shout out to Ushiromiya Battler since its July 15th. Happy Birthday. I would write something about Umineko one day, but I think this entry has gone on far too long. It's on the backburner, like so many others.

3 AM Thought Vomit

14 Jul, 2026

It's insane to me how like, not doing a single thing will have your brain in an uproar sometimes. I work on my site, my brain is happy. But I say I'm going to finally do something I've been meaning to and that I've put off for over a week, and it's like ripping bandaids off slowly and nothing about it, even making a dent in that to do list, can make you happy. I just feel exhausted by it.

Basically, I'm telling myself to make space and clear out some of my figures. But the mere idea of simply sitting down and listing them has me unable to concentrate on the task. I'm just restless. I did 4 today, I'm telling myself to do another 4 tomorrow, if not more, and just rip off the bandaid. But god it feels like so much work even if it's "snap 4 photos, upload a copypasted sentence, and send it out into the world." Like, this isn't hard work. So why is the mental hurdle there?

A friend of mine that I talked to said that it's probably something related to being exhausted with the hobby that makes me sit there and have to really evaluate what a figure is worth and the mere act of putting it up for sale means i need to be conscious of it. Perhaps that's it. I'm now conscious of about 45 items that I wish to purge from my collection at a price that may or may not be fair. I think my prices are fair though? I dunno.

I did get told that maybe it's also having things coming in that adds to the stres, and it's like, not really. I know some people said "well, your collection kind of exploded recently" because I slowly got in a lot of stuff that was in warehouse or just added into existing orders. And maybe, I guess? I dunno, having a shrine hasn't made me feel bad. In fact, I just feel better about it. I feel like my room radiates the energy of sunshine and love and I know that sounds stupid and corny but like hear me out: Keeping things inside for around 2 years and struggling with feelings as I hung around people that just kinda weren't kind to me about having those feelings, especially because I identify as a lesbian (and apparently liking a fictional man somehow changes my preferences for real living women in the flesh?) and like... I dunno if I've said it before but like, if it wasn't for certain people in that group just kinda making me feel like I couldn't talk about certain interests or just in general, I wouldn't have made this website. Like yeah, this website has been a huge outlet in me just wanting to talk about silly stuff. So when I hear people be like "oh well you're too roped in you need a reality check you need to stop buying stuff of him" I'm like just... I get the idea of slippery slopes and what not, but people really acting like liking a single anime boy has drastically changed me as a human being. Hell, I rarely bring him up to people. Most of who knows is a handful from Treefort and 3 close friends and 1 Other Person. It's just a thing. I don't think it changes anything really, past the balance of my bank account (which is pitifully low now.)

Yeah I dunno why my brain went off on that tangent either.

I suppose there's a lot of things weighing on my mind when it comes to productivity though. Sometimes, I still wonder if I do enough for this site even, but like, it's not my job... So I don't have to. Like yes, I have goals, but like, that's it.

The other thing on my mind is all the US customs bullshit, especially with them marking plush as some sort of dangerous item that can't be like brought into the US that like, really pisses me off. Like that's been really weighing on me. Mostly because I have a plush in warehouse and I really wanna buy a few other things. Maybe not a few. Maybe I have a lot of goals still. Maybe my collection is getting out of hand. Or maybe I'm just going stir crazy.

Maybe I should fix my sleep schedule. Do something. I dunno, I keep having moments where I keep waking up at like 3 PM and the day feels wasted. I don't like it. Like, at all. It's really frustrating actually.

I suppose other than those things, it's just... Man I don't wanna sound like an elitist, but sometimes the figure collecting community really bugs me. There's a lot of things that get said that just piss me off. People begging for price drops on everything, people expecting super cheap prizes to be the same quality as scales, people not having any patience, people crying about delays, etc. I dunno, they're all so annoying to me. And I see it so often because so many of my friends talk about collecting that like, it's not just easy to block out the "bad opinions." But other times it's also people getting mad about like MFC Pic of the Day and stuff like that. And like, I dunno, it just escapes me. I don't see certain people worth blocking or saying how you wish they'd stop making pictures. Like, it's just photography. Like I get it some people are absolute clout goblins and what not and boost their views n shit but like, I think at some point, everyone on MFC has taken part in that probably. It's so whatever. Even if people post pictures of figures I don't like, I mean, a customer photo is still a customer photo. Always helps to have them.

I realize at this point I'm essentially just complaining about plastic.

Maybe I should stop talking about plastic. Or maybe because my site has a lot of things on it lately and it's very lacking in plastic, I should talk about it in a more productive way. I dunno.

It could just be the time of night (3 am) but I feel like I'm babbling. Maybe even going in a circle. But I'm getting things done, I suppose. I feel like the site had an explosion of content occur recently. But it's always a work in progress. Maybe I'll start gathering materials to make a shrine soon. I ... still need to figure out how to talk about characters in a shrine that is like... idk visually interesting and also generally informative.

But I wanna get a lot of my planned work done first too, so it'll have to wait.

Honestly, I need to be better in finishing my plans all the way through. I think my website is proof that I suffer from that.

Idk, I guess I'm closing this out on that thought: To keep working, even if my brain is screaming from the supposed exhaustion. Maybe I'll get up early tomorrow and do a lot. I'm going to pray for more productive days in the future. You should too. For you, not for me though. But any prayers sent my way are appreciated, I suppose.

Though, a question: If you're going to start a shrine for your favorite character, how the hell do you start it? As you can tell, I'm quite bad with these things.