I’ve had a bit of time with Patch 5.1 so far, and I have to say I’m generally impressed. Following up the incredible Shadowbringers 5.0 launch, I was both excited for the next major patch and a little nervous. The new expansion launch was so good that I wasn’t sure the next installment could ever live up to the hype. Having dipped my toes in most of the new content, though, I’m glad to say that we’ve got a high quality patch on our hands.

The new Main Scenario chapter raises a lot of interesting questions for the future, suggesting that “Ishikawa’s wild ride” isn’t over yet (but I’m going to avoid spoilers here!). The story is well-paced, includes a number of voiced scenes and a fun dungeon, and has me just as hungry for more story as 5.0 left me. The new NieR raid is a delight, visually striking, challenging, and a lot of fun to play through (but as with every new Alliance raid, it’ll take some time for the community to have a general level of comfort with the new mechanics, which are at times pretty tricky). The new Pixie Beast Tribe quests seem like they’ll be a fun, too, complete with their own subzone that will be built up over the course of the quest line.

If I’ve one complaint, it’s simply that the armor drops from the Copied Factory raid have gender-specific morphing. While the gear for males is largely patterned after 9S’s uniform from NieR: Automata, the female sets take after 2B instead. Considering that an all-classes glamour version of 2B’s uniform drops in a special coffer at the end of the raid, players of female characters get a little shafted here: their versions of the armor re-use some models of the glamour set, meaning that they’re overall getting fewer new glamour toys than male characters this patch.

As is my usual fate, though, I’ve not had a ton of luck when it comes to gear drops just yet, so I’ve yet to really play around with anything new for glamour either way. Right before the patch hit I did put together a new one for Samurai, though, since the remnants of the one I used for leveling Monk didn’t sit well with me once armed with a katana.

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Glamour Components (Requirements: MNK/SAM 74, Female)
Weapon: Augmented Scaevan Magitek Samurai Blade (Ul Brown
Head: Reading Glasses (Ul Brown)
Body: Pixie Cotton Acton of Striking (Pure White)
Hands: Replica Allagan Gauntlets of Striking (Jet Black)
Legs: (Common) Makai Manhandler’s Quartertights
Feet: Atrociraptorskin Thighboots of Striking (Jet Black)

Though I started Shadowbringers with a black and gold glamour theme and stuck to dark colors for a good portion of the patch, I’ve since had a bit of a rebound, becoming partial to white again. I’m back to using my favorite Stormblood tank glamour, and that led me to Pure White on the new Pixie Cotton Acton as I was browsing around for new Samurai ideas. I’ve always had a fondness for the model (and it was in the running for my initial Shadowbringers Ninja glamour), but the other versions always disappointed me a bit in the area of dyes.

This one dyes incredibly well, though, leaving behind solid gold and black accents that are perfect for guiding choices for companion pieces. That of courses led me to some old favorites in Alahra’s normal glasses and the reliable Allagan Striking gauntlets. Rounding things out, I went with the Makai shorts, which match the leather texture on the Gauntlets pretty well. (They’re sadly no longer available but something like the Lady’s Knickers work well enough!) The new Thighboots from the Acton’s set (which have always been one of my favorite models, now finally available to Monk and Samurai) were the perfect compliment to everything else.

I’ll probably be leveling Samurai mostly through daily quests for awhile, so I’ll likely sit on this glamour for quite some time. I don’t like it as much for Monk as I do Samurai, so it won’t be displacing my AF glamour at 80 just yet, but once Samurai hits 80 I’ll probably have to do something to unify the two since I only have so may glamour plates. That’s a long while off, though, and who knows what the new goodies in 5.1 will do to upend my glamours (I am very excited to play around with 2B’s thighboots once I have them)!