We are officially in Month Zero for the launch of Stormblood, appropriately preceded by the single largest information wave we’ve gotten on the expansion. I talked a bit about the Ninja changes on Wednesday, and while I could probably do similar write-ups for every class (as well as more general things, like Role Actions), I’ve only got six posts on the normal schedule before Early Access begins, and there are far better outlets than me (who didn’t even go to the Media Tour) to really dig into all of that. Instead, there’s glamour to be had, and if I’m ever going to finish those Retrospectives I started, I don’t have much time left!

After I finished putting together the last attempt at a Red Mage glamour, I set out to do the same for my initial Samurai glamour. All I really knew was that I wanted white to feature prominently…and it actually ended up being much easier than I thought it would be once I opened my thought process a little.

Glamour Components
Head: Elegant Rimless Glasses (Halatali Yellow) | Body: Direwolf Shirt of Striking (Pure White) | Hands: Replica Allagan Gauntlets of Striking (Currant Purple) | Legs: Storm Elite’s Trousers | Feet: Direwolf Thighboots of Striking (Jet Black)

The Direwolf Shirt is one of the few level 50 Striking pieces that doesn’t pick up some amount of grey when dyed Pure White (one of the others, of course, is the Saurian version of the same model), but I’ve had a pretty hard time working it out for a Samurai glamour. This isn’t the first time I’ve tried to use it. Up until now, though, I always got stuck on gloves and the leg piece.

As I’ve showcased before, I really like the Guardian Corps Skirt alongside the shirt model, but it doesn’t mesh as well with the Direwolf version in Pure White as I would have liked. The Striking version of the Picaroon’s Trousers (my other go-to for pairing with the shirts) are black and red, so they don’t particularly work with this version of the shirt either. That’s always left me a bit unsure of what to do with respect to a Direwolf Samurai glamour.

For the gloves, since I don’t like the sleeves on the shirt, I’m left with only four options: the Allagan Gauntlets (which I did end up using), the Foestriker’s Mitts and Brand-new Gloves, or the High Allagan Gauntlets. Normally, I’ve had a bit of an issue with the Allagan Gauntlets, since their metal accents are gold (as opposed to the silver on the Direwolf Shirt and Thighboots), which has left me with the Brand-new Gloves, the purple on which doesn’t match the purple on the Direwolf stuff.

The Storm Elite’s Trousers solved several problems at once, though. They’re black and white, so they already go together really well with the Direwolf gear. Since they have some gold on them, too, they also make the Allagan Gauntlets seem less out of place. Once I topped everything off with a matching shade of yellow for the glasses, I had a glamour I liked so much I very nearly used it to replace my last PvP glamour for Ninja instead of Samurai, which is why this post is marked for both gearsets, since everything can be worn by Ninja too (thanks to that wonderful time when Ninja was on pre-2.4 Striking gear).

I’m probably all set for Samurai and Red Mage now, which feels great! I’ve only got a few things on my pre-expansion checklist to finish up, and then it’ll finally be time to start Alahra’s long-awaited journey to Doma (and Ala Mihgo, too, I guess!).