FF14 glamour hunters: the sneakerheads who kill God in the name of fashion

I thought final fantasy 14 The Glamor Hunters — the players who devote hundreds of hours to collecting pieces of gear and pieces of the in-game wardrobe in Square Enix’s MMORPG — were an unlikely group of players. From the outside, they seem capable of clearing any and all raids, regardless of difficulty level. They are lone ranger hunters in search of blood, and are extremely focused on achieving their goal. They have the composure of a great white shark chasing its prey (which, in this case, would be a shirt or pair of pants – known in the game as “glamour”). I was wrong.

When I reached out to a handful of glamor hunters on Discord, Reddit, and Twitter, hoping for a response, I was greeted with enthusiasm. When I asked the ESPN anchor about the highlights of his glam hunt, expecting to hear something like a play-by-play, I learned that “sport” wasn’t even the right metaphor for glam hunting. For deeper players, hunting is closer to language.

It makes sense if you consider glam hunting to be a true part of the fashion conversation—these players are right up there with sneakerheads, Vivienne Westwood retainers, or devoted Fragrantica reviewers. Because lurking on the griddle or depop for limited edition items, the equivalent of jumping into a tough raid like Savage, is only part of the experience. “Being in fashion” is also about chatting about why you’re into Ann Demeulemeester or exchanging tips on what to wear with a cute top or platform boots. The same applies for glam hunting; despite being within ff14The style-forward hobby is more concerned with the outcome than the hunt itself. What I learned about the art of glam hunting is that it’s the goal of glam hunters themselves: not only to collect great dresses, but to share them with a strong community of fashionistas and find like-minded people.

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Image: Square Enix via Leon Aquitaine

the nature of ff14 Being an MMORPG that launched in 2010, relaunched in 2013, and has received four expansions over the years means that there is a wide range of activities and different ways to play the game. If a player is only interested in crafting, they can focus most of their time on developing hands-on skills such as leatherworking and blacksmithing. If they’re partial to mahjong and minigames, the in-game amusement park The Gold Saucer has everything they need. Then there is glamor hunting.

god behind ff14 Be very careful in making glamor impressive. Players often find costumes related to the story or area in the main story quest. endwalker, the fourth expansion pack that concludes the years-long storyline between Zodiark and Hydaline, rewards players with a black sophist’s robes at Elphis, a research facility set in the Unsundered world. Players can wear black robes over their armor to blend in with the Ancients. Player Monsoon (short for Monsoon-in-a-Mug), a regular ff14 The Glamor subreddit told me that she often uses glamor that matches the setting when traveling with the main story. “It’s funny because at one point in the main story they send you somewhere cold. Like they keep telling you how cold it is there,” Monsoon said. “They even go out of their way to provide you with a coat and everything else. How can you not trust him?”

Glams are threaded into other parts of the game. You don’t need to “hunt” for glamor if it’s not your focus. Gear will automatically drop if you follow the main scenario quest, and with MSQs it’s not difficult to get pieces for the next dungeon or raid. It’s only a hunt if you scour the Beast Tribe’s repositories, sort through items brought by retainers, and commit to running the same dungeon multiple times to get a specific piece.

Image: Square Enix

There are many reasons why sportspersons indulge in glam hunting. Some people told me they love dressing up together in real life so why not ff14 Very? Another candidly told me that he didn’t even enjoy glam hunting, but still glam hunts because it’s a means to an end in pieces. (Fair.) Monsoon said she started looking for glamor because it provided a focus point amid the whirlwind and overwhelming amount of activity in the game.

Several players also stated that the desire for glamor led them to try fights they would not otherwise have tried – especially Savage.

The toughest raids are in Savage ff14 And completely optional. You don’t need to complete them to advance in the main story quest, but they do present a challenge for those looking for a more extreme combat experience.

It’s hard to describe how grounded you will be when trying out Savage for the first time. To be successful requires spending a tremendous amount of time with your raid group to have a clear understanding and clarity of the optimal rotation of your work. It’s like a regular date night with seven other people, but instead of something romantic, players are slaying a deity in the game.

ff14 player iggy She said her most memorable glam-hunting experience was her first Savage run. “I was slapped,” he said. But he also said he doesn’t regret all the time he spent finding guides, practicing rotations, and asking his free company (the in-game guild run by players), Because it has made him a better player.

Another player, Lizzie, had a similar story about the entry point in Redding. “What really motivated me to raid was getting my FC to join Omega Savage Raid so I could get my White Mage and Dancer tops,” Lizzy said. “It’s not too hard to accomplish them these days, but you still have to put in some effort.”

ff14 Player Cassie, on the other hand, gave the raid-finder a first try because they wanted “chestpieces from basically all Nier raids”.[s], (No wonder, from the glamorous near automata cooperation with ff14 was a huge hit.)

Raids and dungeons are the main places players get Glam, and most of the players I talked to focused on getting Glam from those areas. But Monsoon is one player who likes to look for glamor in unlikely places.

She pointed out that there aren’t too many offbeat discovery awards. ff14, but they do exist. within reach of Rhalgr stormblood There is one such quest, called “Ant Juice”, and it leaves players blindfolded. It’s a short quest, and the player just needs to sprinkle a powder to attract a monster, defeat it, and return to NPC Ranulf for the reward. Monsoon’s personal favorite lesser-known glam item was found via a Kuggen search titled “The New King on the Block.” After obtaining scales from a defeated wyvern-looking monster named Rathalos, players can trade them in for armor that – as you’d expect – looks very wyvern-y. It’s easy to miss, Monsoon said, because the game doesn’t specifically mark it.

“Most of the offbeat ones are things that have kind of been forgotten about. Many Beast Tribes reward the representative with a set of armor that looks like them,” Monsoon said. “If you hang out with Kojin long enough you might end up looking like a turtle man!”

Image: Square Enix via Lizzie

In form of Why During this time spent exploring digital clothing, players often came across the various glam communities they participated in and how they helped each other – whether by exchanging advice, planning hunts together Create, or participate in themed challenges.

The Arozia Collection, a site that catalogs glamours and a place where anyone can upload photos of their glamours, came up in almost every chat. Iggy is a maintainer of the site and participates regularly in the Erzia Collection Discord. Each month, contributors vote on a glam challenge and share glam related to the winning theme on Community Discord. Past themes include handmade fashion, handcrafted glam and the story that followed endwalker Concluded, Newfound Adventure Costumes.

ff14 Player Wynn is also part of another glam community called the Crumpets. The group holds weekly glamor contests in Gridania’s amphitheater. Wynn also participates in themed glam with other players, and was also part of a five-person glam theme based on natural elements. Vyana said, “I was the embodiment of fire and my friends were water, lightning, wind and earth.”

“I have a group of friends who enjoy similar activities, and we decided to work on the Elemental set – a type of armor with rare emissive details,” ff14 said player Leon Aquitaine. He added that they had a blissful few weeks together at Eureka, and that they felt happy when they earned the pieces together.

For Lizzie, it’s like an in-game book club of sorts. “Every time I create a new glam, I send it to my static lead, and she’ll send me hers.” Lizzie enjoys exchanging glam advice with other players and engaging her FC in search of materials for ready made glam such as chocobo pyjamas. “Most of the questions I get asked in terms of glamor advice are dye related, because a lot of gear in the game doesn’t always dye well,” Lizzy said. “If someone is asking me for advice I usually start by asking what kind of atmosphere they want to create with their look. Does the outfit look balanced? Are you looking to mimic the classic jobber look? Create the most cursed costume you’ve ever seen? It also helps a lot for new players to figure out where items come from, are there duplicates that are easier to get or are they better painted?”

Cursed Dresses?

“I think in general,” says Lizzie, “anything that involves animal costume heads and normal costumes is 100% cursed and inauspicious – especially a frog head.”

Many players who regularly glam hunt do not do it alone, and in fact, glam hunting is not a solo hobby. It’s a way to learn other people’s stylistic language, get inspired by other people, or host a Fat Chocobo Head glam gathering at Gold Saucers.

Leone tells me about the moment she really got into glam hunting, an activity she hadn’t paid much attention to before.

“One day, flipping some stocks in Firmament, a kind stranger sent me one saying how nice that glam was, how much they liked it, and that I should upload it to the Erzia Collection… and the rest, as That, they say, is history,” Lyon said. “So to you, kind glamorista stranger: Thank you so much for those words of encouragement! I would never be here without you.”