The Adventures Of Pirotess: How To Choose A Good Free Company And Fun With Treasure Hunts

When you're brand new in a game like Final Fantasy XIV, it can be overwhelming trying to find a good free company. Basically a free company is a guild full of fellow adventurers that you can play the game with. Choosing a good one does not have to be a daunting task. Think about what you want to do in the game. Are you interested in just the story? Are you all about doing epic raids? Do you like running around in PVP, are you all about the great events, or do you want to do all those things? These are just a few of the things to think about. The other things you need to think about is how much time do you have to play? Many people have limited schedules due to work, school, or family. When looking to join a free company you need to consider these factors in order to find a free company that's the right fit for you.

In choosing my first Free Company I was very lucky, that a friend I knew was in it and invited me. Flames Of Paradise was a great start for a newbie like me because they understood that I was not on a lot due to my work, but when I was able to play they were incredibly friendly and helpful. I got a lot of story dungeons and raids done because of them. When I switched servers, again they were very nice about it. I do have an alt character on the original server I started and am still with them because all of them are great people and were my first home in the game.

Fashion show event with Flames Of Paradise. 

The only reason I switched servers was for my dear friend Sekilini. She had been one of my dearest friends for a very long time. She was one of the first friends I ever made playing Final Fantasy XI. She has been a friend to me and my husband, Ron since Final Fantasy XI. We all played together, so Sekilini really wanted us to come join her and some of our old friends from Final Fantasy XI  who were all playing Final Fantasy XIV together. I did ask questions about the free company. Sekilini was more than happy to tell me all about them. They were very much my speed with focusing on having fun and not worrying about being the best ever at the game. That was how I joined Shortbus. 

Shortbus is all about having fun together and if we fail a boss fight or a dungeon, we just get up and try again. There's lots of joking around, laughing, and a fun time. I have enjoyed the game more because of them.

Hanging out with Shortbus for an event.

Last week, all of us in Shortbus decided it would be fun to use some treasure maps to go on a treasure hunt. This is an event where the person who has the treasure map goes to the specific location marked on the map. Everyone works together to fight the monsters that appear and then a portal opens to the treasure dungeon. 

Portal to the treasure dungeon opens.

Once you're in the treasure dungeon you need to fight the monsters that appear. This is where it gets tricky because once you defeat the monsters you have to guess which door is the correct one. If you guess right, you get to move to the next floor. If you guess wrong warning lights flash, an alarm sounds, and you get booted from the area back outside. 

Fighting all the evil sheep in the treasure dungeon. 

It was just eight of us in the treasure dungeon, but everyone had such a good time. There was a lot of joking around, exploring, and everybody just enjoying the company and having fun playing the game together. Some of the dungeons were hit or miss as we got the incorrect door a couple of times, but we didn't care because it was all about having fun. We did get to the end of one or two which was also very cool. 

All of us having fun on a treasure hunt. 

Everyone is different, but this is what entails a good free company. People who are friendly, welcoming, and understand that it's only a game and games are meant to be fun. You also want them to be flexible about your schedule and understand if you can't play the game for a few days or have to take a break due to real life happening. A good free company will understand that real life comes first. It's okay to take your time in order to find the right free company for you. When you do find it, you make great friends in the game and have fun playing together which is a pretty fantastic thing. Thank you to Flames Of Paradise and Shortbus for being amazing people. I appreciate all of you. See you at the next adventure, everyone! 

We're ready for another adventure!

*Final Fantasy XIV is available to play on the following platforms: PC and Playstation 4

 

Mother Gamer Dips A Toe Into Twitch Streaming

Recently I decided to try Twitch streaming. This wasn't something I ever thought I would do. I am horribly shy and don't like being on a mic or being in front of a camera. The idea of doing this at all for a bunch of strangers really scared me. The wonderful Warframe community on Twitch really inspired me to challenge myself to do something that scared me. This was one of those things. Some people asked me if I ever streamed or would ever stream. The answer was no because I am shy and I don't want to be in front of a camera live or talk on a mic. People were understanding about it and pointed out that I did not have to be on camera if I did not wish to and could just type in chat during the streams. Others said I could practice talking on mic, just talking to myself or with friends I trusted.

Mothergamer is shy! Not really me, but cute bunny that gets that across.

Setting everything up, was kind of a challenge. Adding the about me, and trying to figure out how discord and other things worked required a lot of looking things up on Google and tons of tutorial videos on YouTube. I was pretty pleased when I had it all set up though. I even added links to the Mother Gamer blog and the MyLAKnits knitting shop. I also slowly but surely figured out how to set up some of the chatbot settings and alerts for my streaming channel. Huge shout out to Rainbowwaffles, Adimouse, and AlizaDreamer for helping me figure all of those things out. Also, thank you to my dear friend Tifad0esart for the adorable picture she drew of me knitting which is featured on my About me section on my Twitch channel.

Wonderful art drawing of me knitting, by Tifad0esart.

I have been playing Dragon Quest XI and I decided it might be fun to do a PS4 broadcast of it. I figured it would give people a chance to see how the game looks and how the gameplay is. The first night I didn't use a mic. I just typed in chat. I only played for about an hour because I was very nervous and I was still trying to figure out how things worked. I had a few people come in and they were all very nice. The first night was not perfect, but I felt really good that I did it.

You can check out that first video here: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/307341815

The second night that I streamed, I decided to try and face my fear about talking on the mic. This night was not perfect either. I was feeling really shy so my voice wasn't as loud. Also, the game music and voices were so loud they were drowning my voice out. Thank you to my friend 0oCadeto0 for pointing that out because it helped me to adjust the settings. Once I had done that, it went a lot better. I was still a little shaky because of nerves, but I hung in there and did it. This streaming session went a little longer because I was having fun and a couple of friends came into the chat and hung out. Thank you to everyone who did that, it encouraged me and helped a lot.

Second night video is here: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/307765986

The third night, it was more streaming of Dragon Quest. I feel that the third night was a lot better. My voice was better, I was a little less scared, and had some very cool interactions with people in chat. Unfortunately we did have one troll in chat who made an inappropriate joke about suicide, something I take very seriously as a human being and as someone who is living with depression and anxiety. We had a serious moment where I talked about it and everyone was understanding. Then we got back to doing some gaming and a couple of good friends of mine RainbowWaffles and Adimouse who are streamers raided me and brought some more people in. They totally made my night when they did that and it felt great to have my friends supporting and encouraging me.

Third night video is here: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/308236064

The fourth night, I did two back to back broadcasts. The first one was Warframe with my good friends Seki, Kav, and Bennzo. We did some Warframe missions for an hour and everyone was talking. It was a lot of fun and we discussed things ranging from grinding to get parts for building the Gara frame to the fact that you can actually buy stock in Digital Extremes, the company that creates everything for Warframe. It was a really good time.
After that, I switched to Dragon Quest XI. This went really well too. Had some nice people in chat who love the game and were enjoying talking about the mechanics for battles and level grinding. I had another raid from my friends RainbowWaffles and Adimouse which brought some new people in and some more awesome conversations. My voice was much better and more relaxed all around this night and the fear of talking on a mic was lessening.

Warframe video is here: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/308616097

Fourth night Dragon Quest Xi video is here: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/309029584

The fifth night I decided to take a small break from Dragon Quest XI and stream some of my second playthrough of Fallout 4. My voice is much better here. However, the game sound was a bit low. I had adjusted the settings because I worried that the voice and music for the game would overpower my voice like Dragon Quest had. I tweaked it a little, but it's still very quiet. That doesn't mean the night was terrible however. I was able to add a couple of mods to my chat who I trusted and had fun playing the game. I also had another raid from my friends and had a nice time chatting with everyone. Once the stream was done I raided another fellow streamer who I mentioned in my Warframe Community blog post, Makarimorph. He was very kind, giving a shout out to my streaming channel and gifting me a sub to his channel. It was an amazing night all around.

Fifth night Fallout 4 video is here: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/309432725


Honestly, while figuring out how everything works on Twitch has been challenging here and there I have found that I love it and that is because of the community and friends I have made. Everyone has been so supportive and incredibly kind. It has been truly humbling receiving so much love, kind words, and encouragement from all of them. I'm trying to maintain a pretty consistent schedule with streaming and with the discord channel that goes along with it. It looks like I'll be a late night streamer, starting at midnight EST and going for a few hours. So it looks like Friday through Monday I will be streaming and then Tuesdays and Thursdays I'll have a day off from streaming. This is just my first week of streaming and yes it's just PS4 broadcasts (PC may come later, I don't know), but I am enjoying myself because of the great friends and community.

I just want to say thank you to the following streamers: Rainbowwaffles, Adimouse, Tifad0esart, Gooperatives, GlamShatterskull, DadRage, and Makarimorph. You all inspired me to try and do something that scares me and were so encouraging and supportive of this little newbie streamer. It means so much to me to know so many truly kind and amazing people who are incredibly welcoming. I appreciate all of you and I am grateful for all the kindness you show everyone every single day. Special shout out to AlizaDreamer as well. You have been one of the kindest and most welcoming people to me from day one. Thank you for helping me with all my silly tech questions. I love how sassy you are and you're an incredible person!

If you would like to check out my Mothergamer Twitch channel you can do that here: https://www.twitch.tv/mothergamer

You can check out Glam Shatterskul and his amazing horn playing skills here: https://www.twitch.tv/glamshatterskull

You can check out Gooperatives and have great conversations about mental health while enjoying gaming here: https://www.twitch.tv/gooperatives

You can check out RainbowWaffles here: https://www.twitch.tv/rainbowwaffles

You can check out Adimouse here: https://www.twitch.tv/adimouse

You can check out Tifad0esart and her amazing art streams here: https://www.twitch.tv/tifad0esart

You can check out DadRage and his amazing Dad joke skills here: https://www.twitch.tv/dadrage

You can check out Makarimorph and his fantastic art skills and Warframe skills here: https://www.twitch.tv/makarimorph

Thank you to everyone who reads my Mother Gamer blog and who has been so supportive of it. I hope you will support the Mothergamer Twitch streams also and the MyLAKnits shop. It is all of the fantastic people like you that make it a joy to write about gaming, all my nerdy stuff, and the gaming/nerd community. Thanks for reading, everyone. See you at the next adventure!