In a long-running MMO like Final Fantasy XIV, developers add plenty of new things from time to time to keep people engaged. Players new and old alike can find themselves bitten by the bug of collecting minions, achievements, and mounts. Each can potentially involve hundreds of hours of grinding, which makes streamlining processes essential.
Luckily, the Silkie mount introduced in Patch 6.25 shouldn't take as long to grind out, even if it does involve some optional gameplay.
How to get the Silkie mount in FFXIV
Before players can unlock the adorable, massive rodent, they'll have to first unlock Variant Dungeons. The first step to this is incredibly easy. Players who have completed the quest "Endwalker" can make their way to Old Sharlayan at X: 12, Y:13.4 to take up "An Odd Job". A short conversation with Osmon will unlock Variant and Criterion Dungeons.
To properly unlock The Sil'dihn Subterrane, players just need to bounce to a different quest in Old Sharlayan. At X: 12.0, Y: 13.3, the quest "A Key to the Past" will be waiting. The Shallow Moor will give a few tasks before the Variant Dungeon will unlock. This also mostly amounts to talking to folks in different areas to get some further information.
Technically, this mount is tied to an achievement. Dig Deep: The Sil'dihn Subterrane can only be obtained by unlocking all Survey Records within the Variant Dungeon. These differ from normal dungeons as they're a bit less linear, offering some choices as players race through to fight enemies. There are three major gates available, and all three will need to be completed to obtain all survey record pages before this achievement will pop. Once it does, players will be rewarded with the Silkie Whistle.
There's certainly some grinding involved, but because Variant Dungeons can be completed solo, it shouldn't prove as difficult as some other grind-based achievements in FFXIV.
