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Back To Vana'diel

That's right, it's been 14 years since we last marauded our way through the world of FFXI, but with the game's 20th anniversary being celebrated this year a couple of us have found ourselves dipping back into Vana'diel.

An awful lot has changed since we've been away, but we're slowly finding our feet and having fun doing it.

Fancy dusting off your old account, or even making a new one and jumping in to give the game a go?  Let us know on Discord and one of us can help you get setup (there's a few hoops to jump through if you're a returning player), point you in the direction of the starter information you need, and meet you ingame!


FFXIV STR Estate

After two housing lotteries lost and many hours spent planning, designing, building & tinkering by M.Steiner & Isileth, we are now the proud owners of a fully furnished Free Company estate in Empyreum on Omega!

If you'd like to pay us a visit you can find us in Ward 10, Plot 8. Alternatively, MS has posted lots of screenshots on the forum as well which you can see here.

Good luck out there if you're braving the housing savage too, we know those plots are not easy to come by (or any, for that matter)!


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WoW-EU Group Video Unearthed

It might have been a long time since the STR have been active in WoW-EU, but since when has that stopped us unearthing old, cool memories of times gone by?

Yes that's right, we're at it again!  After finding a treasure trove of Final Fantasy XI Group Videos a couple of years ago, we've only gone and stumbled over one of our WoW-EU days too!

And naturally, that means we're going to share it with you!  Interested?  Here's where you can find a very cool recording of our Last Day on Bladefist back in 2006.

Our thanks to Rarwen for filming this for us at the time.


Endwalker Early Access

We're almost there, folks! As we say our goodbyes to Shadowbringers, the FFXIV servers have now gone down for maintenance in preparation for the early access launch of Endwalker (6.0), due to go live at 9am GMT tomorrow morning!

Endwalker is the final chapter of the Hydaelyn and Zodiark storyline, bringing to an end this decade-long saga in what is reported to be the games biggest expansion yet. Unlike previous expansions which would continue their stories into the post-launch patch cycle (Shadowbringers ended in 5.3 for example), Endwalker will begin & end in 6.0. With it comes brand new zones, cities, dungeons, jobs and a whole lot more. - The full patch notes have been published here.

See you guys on the moon!


STR returns to Eorzea

As you may be aware, FFXIV has seen a massive influx of both new & returning players just recently with a newfound popularity on Twitch and the game not only breaking its concurrent players record on Steam (repeatedly I may add) but Square Enix even managing to sell out of digital copies on both their US & UK storefronts!

With this new popularity and us being in the run-up to the new expansion pack (Endwalker) we have this week made a bit of a return ourselves as well with the return of Anubis, Isileth & myself. Not only that but joining us ingame for the very first time are Snow & Rain who some of you will remember from our days in WoW:EU! So great to have them with us!

· Have an inactive sub & fancy returning? From now until Monday 23rd August you can log in for free for up to 14 days via the Free Login Campaign

· Want to buy the game & subscribe? The Complete Edition is currently 60% off for just £14.00/€16.00/$23.99 on PC & £17.99 for PS4/PS5 too which includes everything you'll need in preparation for Endwalker's release in November & comes with 30 days of free game time.

· Also did you know that this critically acclaimed MMORPG has a free trial which includes the entirety of A Realm Reborn AND the award-winning Heavensward expansion up to level 60 & with no restrictions on playtime? Why not come join us?! You can find us on Omega (EU)! https://freetrial.finalfantasyxiv.com/


STR Pride Month Avatars

In support & celebration of Pride Month I thought it'd be nice to design a new set of LGBTQ+ STR avatars whilst I've been following all of the E3 streams. You can now find these as a permanent addition to the forum avatar gallery and viewable here. - Thanks for adding them, Anny!

If there's a particular flag colour scheme missing here (I know there are quite a few more hehe) which you'd like to see represented & turned into a matching avatar just give us a shout & I'll see what I can do!

Happy Pride Month & hope you're all enjoying this years E3/Summer Game Fest coverage! <3


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Masks available on the STR Store

Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic a number of countries have made the wearing of face masks & coverings compulsory in public spaces. As they are (or should be) becoming a part of our every day life and will be for the foreessable future I thought it'd be nice to provide a few STR mask designs on our store for anyone who may fancy one.

These masks have two layers of washable 100% brushed woven polyester with over-ear elastic straps & for every mask sold, RedBubble will donate a blank cloth mask to Heart to Heart International. To see what masks we have available please click here.

Stay safe! <3


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STR (Finally) Returns to Finish Off Bahamut

If you've been following our FFXIV group, you'll know that last year we made our first forays into unsynced group content by tackling Twintania from The Binding Coil of Bahamut. Well, not before time, we've finally returned to the Coil to finish the job!

Our now much more competent band of heroes sent Bahamut packing and completed our first unsynced raid series in the process, and we dropped some screenshots in the Gallery to celebrate the event!

Congratulations to our successful party of Isileth (master tank, loremaster of mechanics), M.Steiner (almighty handler of the sacred healing arts) and Anubis (mostly just a master of dying a lot whilst flailing with his trident)! Our next trial awaits!


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The Moogle Treasure Trove

The Moogle Treasure Trove event begins on Monday which will introduce a temporary new set of tomestones to be dropped from a number of duties within FFXIV.

These tomestones can then be spent on a number of cool items - some new, some existing and some which are (until this event) no longer obtainable. Mounts (2 of which are only usually obtainable from HW extreme primals for example), minions, MGP tokens, Triple Triad cards, glamour stuff etc. There looks to be something for everybody!

The event will run from Monday (30th Sep) until the release of 5.1, which is currently slated for late October. More info here.


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15th Anniversary Website Updates

Crazy as it is to think about, we're going to be 15 years old in a month's time (in our current incarnation anyway - not counting the SSC years)!

To celebrate, we've carried out an overhaul of our website, bringing things up to date and tidying the place up a bit. Most of all though, we've gone through and given all our old group websites fresh designs and updates to bring them into 2019 - to help highlight all the great content we have and show off what exactly we get up to around here!

We hope you enjoy. Links all in the main navigation, and more detail can be found on the forum too. If you fancy leaving feedback, drop a reply on the forum or hit us up on Discord as always!

Here's to 15 more years!


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