Firefall Faire—Bombards Ablaze! (08/08/2011)

[Hiroishime]

http://lodestone.finalfantasyxiv.com...c8d343296f1ccd

http://static.finalfantasyxiv.com/to...4e18a885219ead


Connecting all lands and peoples in her everlasting embrace, the sea bears to Limsa Lominsa the wisdom and voices of a thousand shores.

In today’s edition, The Harbor Herald takes a close look at the sea change that has been brought about by the appearance of a maelstrom…

http://static.finalfantasyxiv.com/to...aa7170e896b8a4

Smallest Flint Sparks Grandest Fire
Never take a pirate at his word. Theirs is a lot given to exaggeration and hyperbole—those of our own Lominsan waters not least of all. For something in the pirate mind compels them to lay claim to the greatest boast, no matter how unlikely or unbelievable. No doubt they would all swear before Llymlaen herself to having seen a sea serpent as long as a galleon, or a dazzling storm of shooting stars that light up the night as bright as day. Ever have these free souls of the seas told the most grandiose lies at every possible utterance, just as naturally as they cast their sails or row their oars. But such is not always the case, as I recently discovered...

Allow me to share with you a certain tale from the lands of Coerthas in the north, told to me by a pirate who earns his keep sailing up the White Maiden to sell off his plunder. The following words are his own, untouched by mine own quill.

“Aye, ’at bleedin’ meteor plopped down right there on the outskirts o’ Owl’s Nest, it did. ‘Fore I knew what was what, a bomb bigger’n an aldgoat rose up from that selfsame spot. Watched with me own eye as it took to eatin’ e’erything around it, growin’ bigger ‘n bigger all the while. Finally made its way right up to the gates of Ishgard, it did. Gahaha, I bet them fancy-as-you-please knights roastin’ in their armor made for a tender meal! Tell me they didn’t! Gaha— Hm? What else, you say? Not much, really. I heard them Ishgard folk are callin’ the thing a Bombard, but that’s all I know, Twelve take me if it ain’t.”

Were this but a sole account, perhaps it would be easy to dismiss as idle banter—the boastful stylings of some pirate raconteur. But what if I were to tell you that before ever speaking to this man, I had word from one of the Herald’s own correspondents in Ishgard? A man of unquestionable character, he claims that a tremendous explosion could be heard and felt throughout the city from the direction of the Gates of Judgment. Moreover, a number of fully armored knights were reported to have suffered severe burns, and a wave of heat washed over the entire city and lays there still now, plaguing the Ishgardians day in and day out.

By now no doubt all have heard of the Firefall Faire being prepared for in Eorzea’s cities. But tell me this—do you not find something strange about these festivities? Why, I ask, in the midst of these the year’s hottest days, must we be forced to look upon balloons fashioned in the likeness of bombs, and everywhere reminded of this unbearable heat from which we constantly seek even the briefest of respites?

And is it not a particular peculiarity that the Adventurers’ Guild, in dire straits as it is in recent days, has seen fit to affiliate itself with these so-called faire chaperones? Little and less of this faire sits well in the belly of this reporter...

One rumor maintains that said guild received an extremely generous boon from the city-states’ coffers in exchange for rallying adventurers to help eradicate these infernal bombs. And what of the balloons, then? All part of the plan, it would seem. Some go so far as to make them for decoys meant to deceive the eyes of these explosive monstrosities. Perhaps you thought yourself safe behind city walls? Perhaps you thought that such tales were no more than stories told by wetnurses to children in faraway lands? The fact remains that a meteor fell to Eorzea, and an outbreak of fiery chaos has followed in its wake. And as if that were not foreboding enough, I leave you with this final disquieting thought...

An entire storm of meteors has now been confirmed to have fallen in the vicinity of La Noscea.

Yumah Molkot

Firefall Faire Dates & Times
Thursday, August 11, 2011 at 1:00 a.m. – Monday, August 29, 2011 at 7:59 a.m. (PDT)
How to Participate
1. Speak to any of the Firefall Faire chaperones, who will appear in each of the three city-states.

Faire Chaperone Locations

Limsa Lominsa, Upper Decks
http://static.finalfantasyxiv.com/to...4cfcc7a36bbf63

Gridania
http://static.finalfantasyxiv.com/to...3cdc43724c5dd6

Ul’dah, Merchant Strip
http://static.finalfantasyxiv.com/to...36fe7d845d73b5

2. Faire chaperones will ask you to take part in the Bombard hunt, and provide you with special heat-resistant swimsuits.

3. Travel to the hamlets the chaperones direct you to, and there speak with the dispatched Cascadier NPCs.
Eastern La Noscea (34, 18)
Western La Noscea (14, 21)
North Shroud (21, 13)
South Shroud (43, 48)
Eastern Thanalan (40, 19)
Western Thanalan (14, 33)
Coerthas Eastern Lowlands (58, 30)
Coerthas Western Highlands (18, 24)

4. Use the following emotes as instructed by the Cascadier NPCs to enrage the Bombards.
/wave
/laugh
/rally
/dance
/pose

5. Lead the Bombards to the nearby Festive Furnaces to incinerate them!

6. Speak to the Cascadier NPCs once more after incinerating a Bombard to collect the remaining ashes.

7. Return to the city and present the ash to the faire chaperone to collect your reward.
* Throughout this entire process, the location of event-related NPCs can be viewed in the journal.

Collecting Additional Swimsuits
1. Obtain ash of a color you do not possess and exchange it for the corresponding firework.
* The color of ash left by Bombards varies between regions.
2. Use the Festive Mortar located in any of the three cities, or on the ferry, to launch your fireworks.
3. After setting off your fireworks, receive a swimsuit from the nearby attendant Cascadier NPC.

Festive Mortar Locations

Onboard the ferry connecting Limsa Lomina, Lower Decks (3,5) and Western Thanalan (4,26)

Limsa Loiminsa, Lower Decks
http://static.finalfantasyxiv.com/to...4ed4744e39144c

Gridania
http://static.finalfantasyxiv.com/to...8c629ffd085758

Ul’dah, Merchants Strip
http://static.finalfantasyxiv.com/to...3e18897e8b46ff


Collect All Swimsuits and Create Your Own Original Wallpaper
Once you have collected all of the available swimsuits, visit the Lodestone to create an original wallpaper of your character. Commemorate this year’s Firefall Faire with an unforgettable image using the swimsuit, pose, and background of your own choice!
http://static.finalfantasyxiv.com/to...74932a003b565a



Wallpaper Download Availability
Thursday, August 11, 2011 at 1:00 a.m. – Monday, September 5, 2011 at 7:59 a.m. (PDT)
How to Download
1. Collect all of the swimsuits available during Firefall Faire.
2. Log into the Lodestone and click the Firefall Faire commemorative wallpaper banner to go to the wallpaper creation page.
3. Select the desired components and generate your wallpaper!
4. Once complete, download your original Firefall Faire wallpaper!
* For further details, please view the Creating a Wallpaper instructions on the wallpaper creation page.

[Xanthe]

Not bad. And it doesn't involve ringing a single bell! The wallpaper bit is a really nice touch, too.

[Null]

The artwork got me. Love the fleeing tarus.

[Gokulo]

Lmao, what the artwork.

[NEmINIS]

In the german version the pirate is referred to as "Pirate P." =O

[Hiroishime]

Gotta love 60's ad style.
http://www.fotos.org/galeria/data/57...s-Godzilla.jpg

[Corrderio]

One thing that strikes me odd is how there's 5 different colors (Red, Blue, Green, Silver, and Gold) but only 4 regions.

[Gulkeeva]

Last for completion of all of it maybe?
Overall swimsuits + /pose , should be interesting

Going to join join the miqo'te orgy after work o_O

[Xanthe]

One thing that strikes me odd is how there's 5 different colors (Red, Blue, Green, Silver, and Gold) but only 4 regions.

Initial swimsuit going into event, general event reward, three region-specific ash rewards.

[Shuichi]

Love that poster. This even looks pretty fun! Must have wallpaper.

[Corrderio]

Initial swimsuit going into event, general event reward, three region-specific ash rewards.

Oh right, my bad.

[Draylo]

lol I like the artwork

[Katlan]

Love the Game of Thrones (A Song of Fire and Ice) reference and the artwork

[miokomioko]

The campy 60's film poster is amazing.

[Dooom]

The artwork is amazing, 10/10

[Xcrunner]

Great artwork lol

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk

[Jamison]

The artwork is great! I've noticed that under Yoshi-P the art direction on a number of things has been changing, and the response to this poster is very positive!

[Vuitton]

Love the artwork and I am looking forward to completing this event and creating my poster. :3

[miokomioko]

Here's a little update and mini-guide on how to get your swimsuits.

• Go to any city and find the event NPC. They will give you the silver swimsuit to start the quest "The Heat is On" and tell you to go to any hamlet and help defend against the Bombards there.

• Travel to any hamlet and find the nearby Bombard NPC and start doing the emotes /rally, /laugh, /pose, /dance, and /wave at it to herd it along towards the nearby hamlet where the incinerator lies in wait.

• The Bombard will occasionally get attacked by a group of three Rank-15 Chigoes, so kill them off because you will have to start over if the Bombard dies (explodes).

• You must be wearing your swimsuit for your emote to affect the Bombard. You will get a sparkle animation when it does.

• You may cure and buff the Bombard to keep it alive.

• After the Bombard enters the incinerator and is disposed of, speak to the NPC that's been following alongside it. You will receive a Bombard Ash of a color corresponding to the zone you did the activity in and the Bombard will respawn at its starting point.

• In Coerthas, it's a black "Bombard King" and Rank-35 Fire Elementals spawn instead of Chigoes.

• The following zones drop the following colored ash:

La Noscea: Red
Black Shroud: Green
Thanalan: Blue
Coerthas: Black

• In order to get other colored swimsuits, you have to bring back at least 3 ash of a single color to the NPC in the cities to trade for a firework item of the same color. Take the firework to the city's firework mortar and fire it off to receive a swimsuit of that color.

• Each of the fireworks costs 3 of the same colored ash except for the gold one... it costs 3 ash of all 4 colors.

• If you plan on collecting all 5 swimsuits (silver/green/red/blue/gold) you will have to incinerate a Bombard 6 times in the Black Shroud, 6 times in Thanalan, 6 times in La Noscea, and 3 times in Coerthas. In other words, collect 6 red. 6 green, 6 blue, and 3 black ash.


• You can also spend the ashes on crappy little sparkler fireworks that are just like the ones from XI that stick to your hand.

• You can also buy/sell ash in bazaars.

• It's entirely possible to leech the event by just standing at the incinerator, waiting for other people to herd the Bombard in and just getting ash from the NPC.

[Woozer]

Sooooo male lalafell...in the swimsuit...yeaaaaah. I'm just waiting for my character to have a Paris Hilton, crotch slip moment, and the top half of my cheeks are just hanging out in the breeze >..>

As a sidenote though: I do think it's cool that they're finally starting to add different under garment gear.