Laying Siege

I logged in at about 10:30 and saw while farming that Besieged was about to begin. I had already asked Lust if he needed my services for his party but ATM he didn’t. So, with Test Answers and a Rusty Dagger in hand I warp back to Whitegate.

This time, I learned something – those temporary items that the Empire gives to Besieged mercenaries are freakin’ sweet! I tried checking inventory several times before and never saw them so I assumed it was either random or you had to get them from NPCs. On the contrary, the items supplied are in the gobbiebag and are fantastic!

Two pots boost HP and MP, to about 1700/1300, while other items provide speedups, refresh (IIRC) and Reraise. There’s also a Megalixir for full HP/MP reload and some TP boosters.

Using this gear I was a little more durable but I still died once. I also DCed once in the middle but managed to get back on without incident. At the conclusion, I got the victory cutscene and afterwards, just before the XP announcement, the connection R0’s again! But fortunately, it came back just in time and I got another 700-odd XP.

So for about 15 minutes of work I got some nice combat training and a fair XP payout. I can’t help but think being in a party would net more XP, especially if that party slayed any of the invaders. But I don’t think it would be fair to party up on my flaky connection.

I re-flagged for an XP party and tried to get ahold of Lust, who had asked for me during Besieged. No response… I eventually got an invite from Kirista and she took us to Aydeewa Subterrane for some Defoliator (crawler) extermination.

Once we found an open camp it was clear this was going to be a lot of work. Three pulls, 350+xp per, but like 5 minutes each and low mana on the mages. Too much downtime. A couple of people besides me suggested a retreat to the Colibri camps and she eventually agreed. It took some doing but we finally settled on a good chain-pulling rhythm and were getting 4’s and 5’s often. I went up about 6,500 xp total.

When it was time to leave I offered to find a rep, suggesting a WHM58 closer to their levels than my 60. She said they were done with WHMs. With a RDM, DRK and her job (BLM?) I can see why they’d want more DD, and in fact a SAM by the name of Kidwithgoofyhat took my slot. I’ve always loved his name so I was glad to see him “in person”. But I took her curt reply a little personally and thought, “Have fun not having
“–ra” spells and Haste/Erase support! I wonder if they went back to the crawlers?

I’m now 60, with a decent buffer and about 904/641 on stats. Gotta work on AF this weekend!

No Rest for the Weary

Christmas Break (12/21-12/25)

Wow – in a late-evening orgy of Wajaom XP parties, I made about 35k XP in around 6 hours. I’m about 3k from 60, so clearly it’s time to get on the ball re: LB3 and AF gear.

All this XP was made on Lesser Colibris and in just 3 parties, each lasting about 2 hours. The first was a chain-pulling frenzy, where even with Ginger Cookies for the MPR, I was having a hard time keeping up. The second was also a chain-pulling crew but they had 3 healers total (DNC, PLD, WHM) so I had little to do besides Hastes. The third was a little more methodical with fewer chains and more gaps between. However, with RDM, BLM and WHM plus a PLD, I had very little to do since the RDM (and his rep) both insisted on Hasting as well.

Christmas Day evening I logged in and caught Fhox online. I told him about my growing suspicions of Bigbirdfly and Dijena being RMT and he tells me to take care of it. Nice. So, basically, I have to try to coax some explanation from them about their suspicious AH history and completely silent behavior since joining several days ago. And kick them from RDB if I’m still convinced they’re RMT…

However, since bumping into Bigbirdfly, anonymous, in the Goblin room in Horutoto (prompting my suspicions) I haven’t seen either of them. I honestly think the STF got them. Better the faceless STF than little ol’ Aer – I don’t know how organized the GSers are but I surely don’t want to be on their naughty list.

Fhox also said we might be able to work on AF this weekend, if I were to start playing weekends again. I lol’ed and said I’ve been playing daily, but on weekends I don’t usually start until late. Usually around midnight and then I play while watching the Action block on [as].

I did have an interesting combat trial: In the third party, our puller accidentally targeted a NM Colibri that was clearly our better. It was smacking us around pretty fiercely when someone called orders to {Log out}. However, the PLD wasn’t able to execute a clean logout because by this time she and I were the only two left and she had aggro. I tried (unintentionally) to cover her escape but she died not long after. And then it was my turn. I *did* have enough sense to hold Benediction – I was aware enough of the battle progress to know it wouldn’t help, and it wouldn’t protect the full party since the rest were dropping off rapidly.

Immediately I saw {Reraise}? in chat and being sensitive to the 3 Japanese, replied with the /yes emote.

After Reraising and fixing up the PLD, we moved camp to the Leypoint and had no other trouble. Well, besides me almost missing the nuke aggro our leader Deleon pulled after unleashing an Ancient BLM spell. I was too busy watching the chat log trying to figure out what he was doing and I got a lot of help on cures before the tank regained hate.

Also also, I gave Besieged another crack. While I still had the ClearWire, I was able to complete one and got 748xp! Later, on dial-up. I DCed 3 times ><. I missed the end (another win) by about 3 minutes, so no reward for me. Damn! I did take heavy damage through cure-aggro (727 on a one-shot!) and figured I would be in line for more XP had I been able to close the deal.

Gotta get broadband…

Fast Flowing XP

Ape was feeling lousy all day so I planned on spending the evening with her, and after last night’s Christmas Card grind, I wasn’t sure I even wanted to play. I wound up cooking dinner and taking care of Ape, and we watched some TV (Smarter Than a 5th Grader and Don’t Forget the Lyrics) before she turned in.

Since I had Mom’s internet and router, I set that up and took care of the PS3 2.10 update, and on leaving Ape, played a little GH online. Prime2003 beat me on “One”, I took “Flames”, and was leading on “Devil” when he DCed. Chump! Yay – I finally win against a live player!

Anyway, I don’t log in until close to 11 and flagged up on WHM. I think I had a full 10 minute wait before receiving 2 invites. I had already taken the first from Nasla when the second came in from Chigs, so I had to apologize and remember to flag down.

We set out for the Leypoint in Wajaom by bird and once all 7 (Smokebud’s brother PLed) of us were present and ready we started. I quickly realize I’m not going to have a lot to do and ask permission to melee, which I get. So aside from Dia II’s I swing my trusty Staff and try for Divine and Enfeebling skillups. I actually get 2 on staff, 1 on Enhance, 5 on Enfeeb and 1 or 2 on Divine. I wish I knew why Enfeeb moves so quickly – I’m at 84% of the cap now, with most everything else in the 60-70% range…

Once our PL left I stopped all melee and took up the buff and Haste cycles, forgetting early on how quickly Haste wears and losing the notices in the fast-scrolling chat log. But aside from three times our Tarudin Qasim got orange or red, I kept the party solidly healthy.

I even tried asking Qasim if he minded me Flashing for Divine skillups but I think he must be Japanese. I think his reply asked me if I wanted him to stop so I tried to convey both of us, to which he said, {I see.}w. If I understand my Japanese emotes, w is short for わらう, to laugh… Nice.

So I only got one Flash in, when he went AFK a bit, and I got .1 for my trouble.

The party ended when Nasla and 2 or 3 others took off for a Limbus run just after 1am. Arthias and I were left to our own devices. I warped home and ran a 3k tele for Scilina to Mea, but I never was able to collect. Apparently, a gil-only trade still fails if inventory was full. I really didn’t want to toss anything (but for 3k I should have ditched some crystals ><) so I gave it to her free. I said I was in a good mood having come off a great XP party. She said being happy was good, and Medicine (one of her mates) thanked me for the freebie.


I warp back home and then free-warp to Jeuno, winding up in Saromugue. I was fiddling about with Flash for skillups when Nasla runs by and kills my target – lol.

I end the night by putting 4 Colibri beaks and 1 Blind up for sale at Jeuno’s AH.

Final Thoughts

So, for about 90 minutes of work, I wound up with about 9,800 XP, or about 100 a minute. And that was on just one EB charge. I think that’s the fastest or second-fastest XP I’ve ever received. This was mostly because we were chain-5 or chain-6-ing the Colibris regularly. Most pulls happened just before or just after the current one’s death, and as RNG, our puller could reach out and touch them from afar.

Even though I now sport +17 MPR, I may yet have to resort to buying Refresh drinks. The Elemental Seal + Aspir trick only works every 10 minutes, netting about 20-30 MP. Heck, our SCH Houri ribbed me about it. On chain-pulls I run out too fast, especially from Hastes.

I’m now less than 6k from 58!

Also, I haven’t seen Fhox or Chucho on since Monday, and Lust only once. And the new recruits don’t ever say anything!

Christmas Card Delivery Dilemma

Most of today was spent continuing the Christmas *ahem* Starlight Celebration event. Most of this involves partying up with a stranger, talking to the event moogle and getting a clue on your real target, who will receive a present. You then disband and fill the air with shouts for a particular race, gender and job.

I wound up receiving a couple goodies – Dream Platter and Dream Stocking to decorate with, and Dream Boots and Boots +1. I gave up looking for an Elvaan female with a 38+ job for my next gift so I took off. I also had no luck delivering the Smilebringer’s “present for the kiddies” to any child NPC. But there was a S-E note about some issues with this event so, hopefully it’ll work later.

I also spent some dough, finally dipping into Ferenan’s gift. I bought a Windy tree (10k) for my MH that’s supposed to give you a higher drop rate or an extra present or something. I also bought the Beak Necklace +1 (130k), Holy Phial (15k) and tried to buy the Curing Earring (also 15k) but couldn’t. I used up about 80k of his once my own funds were out.

I priced out the Baron’s set, and it looks like that one is about 250k… Time to try Test Answers again, maybe?

Spelunking

Today was early release from work, and Family Day until about 10:30. We watched Bran’s last football game (they finished second in the playoffs!) and then did a little shopping and saw Enchanted, with Trevor tagging along. Then it was McD’s drive through and home. I had a massive migraine and took some Nyquil for it and the cold that’s been brewing since Sunday in Avondale. I only had strength for about an hour online.

I spent almost all of it searching Kuftal for the chest again (no deaths this time!). I gave up empty-handed and entered Cape Terrigan to pop the OP run. I warped home to Whitegate ready to log out but ran a tele to Mea for 1k. On returning I decided to investigate the notice I’d seen just before I zoned out – something about a Mamool Ja incursion into Al Zahbi.

I walked from the MH entrance to the Al Zahbi gate and upon entering automatically found myself in battle. People seemed to be popping in and out rapidly and I tried curing up those I could target long enough. Some people shouted for Besieged party invites and I even pulled someone in but they left not long after. I saw Barak and Tieryn there, deep in battle with Mamool Ja and beastie assailants. Two or three War Wyverns sat near the Wajaom exit, using a breath attack that dispelled player effects like my Reraise.

I was doing what I could when I got DCed, but I wasn’t too surprised. The lag was bad and I never could do Garrison reliably either. I didn’t bother to log back in to say my goodnights. I’ll have to explain later.

I’ll also need to figure out what the deal is with Besieged to find out if it’s worth doing. It seems like it’s a pretty lengthy affair but it also looks like a good crucible to refine my skills in too!

Walking Memory Lane in Old Town

I spent much of tonight with Fhox farming in Oldton Movalpolos. He was treasure hunting and invited me along. I think we were there for about 90 minutes in all. What was interesting is how much we chatted about RDB history. It all started because on my way through Bastok to meet Fhox, I bumped into Monkeylori.

We said our cursory greetings and she asked where I was off to. I said farming in Oldton with a shell-mate. “Fhox?” she asked. A bit surprised, I said yes, and she wished me luck and mentioned what a creepy place Oldton is.

When I finally made it in, I had to agree – it looks like a mining facility straight out of “Temple of Doom” complete with crazy mine cart track runs and rickety wooden platforms jamming out of the rocks every which way. I told Fhox who I’d seen and he said he was surprised she acknowledged him, and thus began my first real lesson into the origins of RDB.

The shell was apparently co-created by Monkeylori (!) and Blueeyed. There was apparently a fight, not sure what about, and then Blueeyed split. Later, Lori would leave and Fhox assumed control then (I believe). There was apparently further tension when Fhox allowed Blueeyed back in. Fhox seems to think he may have PLed me early on.

Fhox asked how I knew Lori, and I said from random parties and bump-ins. He said she left the shell before I came in. Interesting. If she has any ill will towards RDB, she’s never shown any toward me ^^

Somewhere along the line he also told me Chucho was a founding member but had taken time off, and I came in during that break.

As for the farming, we got me a key and he let me open the next chest for the area map. We never did find another chest for the key he’d been holding. And all that for a top payout of 6k. I teased him about tele-whoring himself thinking his /WHM would be leveled enough for the core teles. (But I now think he’s more like RDM65, so…)

He said he wouldn’t because he hates sitting around. Hmph! I hate running in circles fighting low or no XP mobs for a chance at only 6k… I appreciate the time we spent and the history lesson, but damn, I could’ve pulled 6k in for a lot less effort.

The good news is I upped my battlefield skills a bit – I changed my Sleep and Silence macros from targeting to after we pulled several Moblin and Bugbear links involving spellcasters or serious damage risk. I’m feeling a little better about how I handle things.

I left Fhox to give the Vollbow OP run a shot, now that I knew I could get there. I made it to Kuftal Tunnel, coffer key in hand, and began looking for the chest after buffing up and sneaking myself. Maybe 10 minutes later I suffered a double-death at the hands of an Air Elemental that seemed to sense me from very far away while I applied Invisible so I could run past it into the main tunnel.

That little accident cost me about 1,700 XP and now I’m only 300 or so into 57 – another death without a buffer and I’ll delevel ><

Also, I think tonight is when Fhox introduced us to Benvolio, yet ANOTHER Bastokan. I really think I’m the only non-Bastokan in the shell now!

White Mage Refresher

Today was going to be a few hours of Dancer-leveling before the troupe headed off to dinner and the annual Riverside Luminaria festival. I managed to ding 12 and was headed to Jeuno’s AH to get some better gear in hopes of getting a Dunes invite.

I used the free warp Taru in Al Zahbi and wound up at the Qufim Island zoneline. As I made my way to Port Jeuno, Drewman PMed me and asked me if I was near an AH and if I wanted to have some fun. I told him I’d be at Jeuno’s in a couple of minutes and asked what kind of fun. Turns out he wanted healing support while he killed a NM Orc called Marauder Dvogzog. It might have been for Sandy 7-1. No orb was required (I didn’t want to spend any seals away from RDB activities) and so I said yes.

At the AH, he asked for one Silent Oil, and I grabbed that and level 11 Brass gear for Dancer. I met Drewman in Chateau d'Oraguille and we made our way through its basement to the West Ronfaure area with the ??? to pop the Orc. He used the oil between basement floors and wound up needing Sneak from me. I only bought that stupid oil because I thought he needed it to pop the NM or to trigger a CS. He knew I was WHM so why he did that…

Of course, he paid up front, which I refused, and he resent it anyway. The money was never the issue – I just wish I knew that’s all he needed it for so I could’ve saved him a grand. Anyway, I owe him bigtime – he got me LB1 along with Mrbill, and later Fhox, so 10k would have not been enough to repay that.

Anyway, on to the fight… We got to the combat area at about 1:10 and we buffed up. He warned me that Dvogzog is a MNK and would be using Hundred Fists. I told him I had no idea what that meant and he lol-ed me and said I could fight if I wanted, just to be ready on the cures.

It only took 20 seconds of fighting for me to realize I wasn’t going to have time to blow my nose, much less fight. Even with Drew as SAM75 (IIRC) and over 1400 HP, he was taking damage a couple hundred at a time. I threw C3s and C4s with abandon, never pulling hate.

I tried to keep Drew Hasted and Dvogzog Dia-ed, but my MP was falling very fast. I eventually used Bene, expecting to die but the Orc never looked my way once! I healed Drew for over 1k on the Bene and then rested up about 300MP before coming back up. Drew was deep in the yellow again and so I Divine Sealed a Cure IV for nearly 800, then rested up a bit. I ran out of MP as both Drew and the orc were down to vapors. Fortunately for our efforts, Drew got in a big hit and did the job. It was maybe 20 minutes in total.

We chatted a bit, he expressing appreciation for my work and asking if I needed anything. I told him I was glad just to be there and that I had just had the most fun on WHM doing the fight. I also mentioned that I needed to hone my battlefield support instincts to keep me from losing focus in bad spots and letting people down. In hindsight I wonder if a Flash now and again would have helped any.

He split to carry on his mission and I eventually warped back to continue working on Dancer. Fhox had been quizzing me just as the fight ended and I told him what I was up to and why. Mag offered to help, not knowing we were already through ^^

Fhox and I had a brief chat, the gist of which went like this:

Me > I need combat experience to fix my instincts.
Fhox > Bad things happen
Me > Doesn’t mean I have to like it
Fhox > Sometimes others (puller, tank, etc.) are the ones who make things bad
Me > True, but I want to make sure I’m not one of those people making it worse
Me > I feel like I hesitate or make bad calls when trying to react to bad pulls, links, etc. and I don’t like doing that. I don’t like people dying in my care.

Fhox said something about needing to improve his RDM front-line tactics. I felt like maybe I came off snobby, implying other people (not specifically RDB) don’t try to improve or care about how they affect others in the party. I certainly wasn’t trying to slam anyone at all – I just want to be the best WHM I can be!

I finally got my Mog Locker sorted to make some more room for all this new gear. I also changed into my new Dancer duds – ugh! Why do certain outfits look like they were made to insult the wearer? What’s worse is that this dominatrix-y outfit is what NIN and WAR and possibly PLD will have to wear on the way to 20. /sigh

I outposted to the Dunes before leaving for dinner. On returning around 11pm, I flagged up for about 25 minutes and eventually gave in. I was too tired to do anything but one grind through Giddeus for another 4 Yag Necks. Monday night I need to check my Norg fame and pop the Vollbow region outpost via Kuftal Tunnel. If I can I need to get the Kuftal chest as well for the map.

After Friday’s marathon I thought I might be losing the passion for WHM but today helped reaffirm it. I really think helping others is my true calling in Vana’diel. That’s why I’m happy Dancer is what it is – a front-line support role.

Fhox had asked me earlier to help him in his party but then found out I was WHM57, too low for his crew. He told me to level up, which I’ve been doing. The XP gaps TNL are getting quite large now. I definitely want to get to 60 or 61 soon for RR2 and C5.

Oh yeah, two new Brigaders: Bigbirdfly and Dijena.

Chatting with a GM

Today’s schedule was to get Dancer as far as possible. Starting from 10 I got deep into 11. But that wasn’t the exciting part of the day. As usual, I couldn’t find Ferenan. So I put in a GM call. I waited about 20 minutes, using the time to move from Whitegate to Sarutabaruta. Just as I entered the zone, I got a tell from [GM]Claav. Here is the transcript, taken straight from the chat log.

…

So basically, the money is mine per Claav. I still don’t want it yet but I think I’ll stop obsessing about searching for Ferenan. I never asked Claav directly but implied pretty clearly that I wanted to PM Ferenan or otherwise contact him, which Claav didn’t offer to assist with. And since he said he couldn’t verify RMT involvement, that check was out too.

Hmmm… So I guess I’ll sit on it for a few more days and then decide what to do. I do have things I can spend it on – Beak Necklace +1 and Pilgrim Tunica for WHM MPR +3 and the Baron’s set for level 20 characters. Those items would easily consume 300k.

I should also consider sharing with the shell. Maybe 10-20k per, keeping notes to make sure no one double dips. And only those that were live when this happened.

I’m beginning to wonder if maybe Ferenan “cashed out” and quit playing. Not seeing him ONE TIME in 7 days is odd to me, especially for a high-level player. I’d think someone that high would be on doing end-game stuff. Maybe he burned out and decided to throw his gil around before leaving.

One week more and then I’m going to do something with the gil. Heck, I chatted with Mag after the GM call to thank him for his support and to update him and even he said it’d been long enough and that it was rightfully mine at this point.

A Long Night

Today was almost all party. I got an invite pretty quickly after flagging up at around 1am. Our leader initially took us to a Puk camp in Wajaom Woodlands. After three pulls it was clear I was going to have a long night. The Puks have a massive wind-based AoE that drives its targets back several meters and does high damage. Our stunner was having some luck stopping the attacks but we were getting hit pretty hard.

Then, to make things interesting, we wound up with a link. I slept one once I realized what was going on and then popped Benecide. I died, just after two of the party dropped. While all this was going on, the other 3 DC. I was left weakened with two corpses to tend to. While waiting for MP, the others come back just as I exclaimed “Whiskey Tango Hotel – what was all that about?!!” I thought they ditched us to avoid dying and were leaving the party for good.

I took leader from one of the downed players, re-invited everyone and then gave lead back to Opium. We elect to move camp to Cape Terrigan, which I’ve never been to. I warned the leader I wasn’t sure if I had the necessary access because I thought getting there required a quest. Nope – just a long run through Kuftal Tunnel.

Where I died. AGAIN. I had RR up so it was no big, but damn, how embarrassing >< Sneak had fallen and I recast, but a Crab followed me anyway and since I ran, it pulled links. Oh well.

Once there, we got into a groove requiring little downtime, thanks in part to the COR’s refreshing rolls. I dinged 57 and realized the time – 4am. I tried to beg off but the leader asked the party to stick around for her level, so we all did.

At the end, it was D2 for everyone but me and then it was time for bed. I finally got to use that Shellra III scroll I’ve been dragging around for ages.

Staying In Bed

I logged in close to 11pm, couldn’t find Ferenan, and planned to level Dancer. In fact, that was the gist of the brief LS chat I had at login. Chucho happened to be on BLU9 in the Gustaberg area and he and I agreed to duo.

It took me forever to make my way to Bastok, with MH zoning gaffes and wrong teles. I realized I should have simply taken the Airship from Jeuno and did that in the end.

Just as I exited Bastok, I got a blind invite from Kanji, in the Dunes. I thanked him and politely refused his offer. But I wonder if this means I don’t need to be 15+ to party there…

I finally made it to South Gustaberg where Chucho was at around 11:35. We partied up, and killed about 5 chumps before Chucho pulled a Rock Lizard that must’ve been at least EM if not T. We both died. I netted about 100 XP to that point. /sigh

Since it was almost midnight, and he and I both needed sleep, we each homepointed and resolved to try again later.

I did learn that Chu is from western Canada! I already knew he was married and has a young child (IIRC) but I didn’t know he was that far north!

Sinz-ful Dancing

Today was another really short, straightforward day. I logged in, found no sign of Ferenan and got ready to head for Windy and more Dancer leveling. I was only 100 away from 10 and figured I could get halfway to 11. There’s some good gear coming up at 11 and 15, so…

Just as I was leaving my MH, Fhox asked if I wanted to farm with him and Puma in Oldton. I told him my plans, and that I only had an hour or so. Sinz however, piped up and asked if I wanted company. His THF was at 17 so I told him he’d need something closer to 10. He said he had a WAR12 and was near Bastok. As he headed in for the change, I teled over and made my way there as well.

I cursed my decision to not travel through Jeuno because the Blind Knife +1 I wanted wasn’t available in Basty. Sinz offered his Beestinger, which I can’t equip. He then ran off, spent CP and traded me Legionnaire’s Knuckles. Immediately I see a problem – they’re only +2 ACC versus +4 on my Cesti +1s, and the delay is nearly double. But I didn’t want to be rude and refuse his gesture. I saw Chucho running around here too.

We headed out and I quickly dinged. On switching to the Knuckles, it’s apparent the delay is going to keep my TP too low to dance and combo. I stick with them until we reach Dangruf Wadi (my first visit!) and we die to a Wadi Leech that was T. I switch back to the Cestis.

While dead, we watched a trio: Sirjason, Madamtitsalot and Ihaveapeeniz. I had already lol-ed at the names but thankfully, Sirjason was Raise-capable because he got us both back on our feet. Not before commenting on what we looked like from his view – “Thong city”… We chuckled and wondered if he’d be shocked to learn the truth of our genders. I did comment aloud that we Mithra tend to die that way for some reason.

This is when I got confirmation that Sinz is male also, with a wife and 2 kids whom he plans to bring online soon. I have no idea how old he is.

After that, we found a rhythm and made slow but steady progress. I finally convinced him that 30-40 XP kills that die in less than 30 seconds beats walking all over looking for EM or T mobs for 60-90.

At around midnight, Ape calls me saying she can’t sleep. >< So I say my thanks and farewells, and give him back his Knuckles, along with a 1k rental tip. I don’t think he even saw that part. He said I could’ve kept them but I insisted they were his – his points, his item. He should use them or sell them. I certainly won’t be using them – I’m getting ready to abandon H2H anyway.

I think I got around 1,200 XP – not bad for mostly EPs and being a duo.

Killing Time

Tonight was a slow 2 hours. I logged in with no signs of Ferenan anywhere, so I flagged up. A short time waiting for tele business only led to frustration –Tauu pipped me for a 3k Vahzl tele for Scilina. I /cheered him on and gave up.

I then headed out to the Mamool Ja areas to pop their Runic Portal. Apparently Sneak and Invis aren’t enough because I got butchered by the side of a tranquil stream. I then accepted Sinz’s request for PL assistance on his THF13.

I hung out with him for about an hour, enough to ding 14 and get a small buffer.

And that was pretty much it!

Back in the Saddle!

Ya~a~ay! I finally had my first party in the Near East! It only took from November 25th (when I finally got ToAU registered) until last night. 16 days. And that doesn’t take into account that over the last 6 weeks or so I only had one other XP party – the one that got me back to 56 with a buffer.

First things first – I logged in and immediately searched for Ferenan but no luck. I was already in Windy prepped for Dancer leveling so I did that. I stopped by the gate for Signet and to dump my expired Supply Run package (Vollbow) and to see what was now available. Finally, Kolshushu was ours! Now I have a faster way to get to the Mhaura port!

I soloed for about an hour getting within 100 of 10 when I headed back in to dump loot. I tried naively to OP since I was XPing near there on Gobs and Yags. I guess I forgot the part about the level restriction…

On the long run back home, Sinz asks via shell if he can get a ride to Dem. I tell him I’m almost there for a job change and can assist. After taking him, I re-tele to Mea, choco to the outpost in Buburimu and claim another OP warp.

It’s around THIS time that I get a blind invite from Shadowmantis looking for a healer in Wajaom Woodlands. I beg off since it’s almost 11:30, but he says an hour is OK. Desperate for the interaction of a real party again (PLing just doesn’t cut it) I accept and after a bit, find myself back in Whitegate renting a choco.

I was honestly afraid I wasn’t going to remember how to run my role but as it turns out, the mobs they were fighting (Lesser Colibris) have no AoE or elemental attacks to Bar-spell, and Shadowmantis is a Dancer. At his level, he can use Enhaste to greatly speed up attacks. Also, my Haste spells stack with his effect, shortening delay even more. I really didn’t have to do much besides the Haste cycle and keep the buffs up. A Regen II here and there or a C3 as needed was all the healing I had to do (save one C4 on a rough pull).

I pulled around 7k experience and even stayed until just after 1am since I was having such a good time. I fortunately found a rep, a SCH59 when I was ready to go. This was good because I was likely nerfing their XP being the lowest level after an early ding on their other 56.

Shadow didn’t seem to think it worked that way but we left it at that… I hope to XP some more soon.

On leaving, I tried one more time to find Ferenan. Nope, still not on. Tuesday morning I popped on to try again but still no luck… Maybe a weekend warrior? Time for a GM call perhaps. I want to do the right thing but I want to do it SOON!

Oh yeah, my Cesti +1 finally sold in Windy, for 18k. Now I can stop yelling at my Moogle for bad sales luck! I really blew it on the two Cestis not checking in Jeuno first. As long as I can get around 10k for the other one I’ll be essentially even. It’s about time anyway to look for better gear, especially if I plan to level Dancer in Valkurm.

Test Answers, OTOH, aren’t selling for crap. That brief spike must’ve been a fluke or a run of new DRKs and BLMs. The more time passes the more I really start to think all those sales were going into the RMT machine. ><

A Bank Error in My Favor

December 7-9, 2007

Ran ToAU 4-11, 12 flagged (first fight in series – 12 farms key item, 13 is the fight)

Popped Nyzul Isle portal

Leveled a bit on DNC, to 9. Duoed with Japanese called Thikaru and chatted a tiny bit in Japanese.

Lust planning on creating a HNM LS and wants me in as WHM. Offered to level with me once he gets closer to 56 on DRK (at 52 ATM)

Checked DB on leaving at 5ish to pick up Ape from babysitting – Got 300k payment for Rusty Dagger in Windy. Turns out Ferenan seriously overpaid but haven’t seen them on to settle. Jeuno AH history seems to be for a high-level NIN and/or PLD-type DD. He spends a lot on high end items and ammo.

Confirm char level upon meeting

When I told RDB, pretty much everyone except Mag expected me to keep it or share it. Lust had overpaid some time ago on an item and wasn’t able to get his gil back (so keeping mine would be fair). Sinz wants some ‘cos he’s poor. Fhox thought I should split with shell (prolly a /wink), I can’t remember if Chucho was still on, and Mag was fiercely defending the honorable position – “You (Aer) know what to do” and he won’t take any cut.

I always liked Mag but now I really like ‘im. He actually PMed me to see what I was going to do. I assured him I had no plans to keep it. When I told the group what had happened and their first “lucky dog” tells came through my response was “I can’t actually KEEP it!” I added that even though the GMs couldn’t make me give it back (their assertion, not mine) my inner compass would. I play White Mage for a reason.

I sincerely hope Fhox wasn’t really expecting me to keep it. Or said another way, that he won’t be pissed when I give it back. I don’t really blame people for wanting a sniff – 300k is a LOT of money in this place. But not only should I not keep it if Ferenan made an honest mistake, I need assurance that even if he doesn’t want it back that this isn’t GS blood money before I’ll hang on to it.

Privates

Ran through first 3 AU missions, popped 1 portal, 3 teles,

The Orient Express

I fell asleep early Monday and never logged in (sick and frustrated at work) so today’s goal was to reach Aht Urhgan and set my HP there. I was all set to go when Sinz asked for help farming his subjob items in Valkurm. It was already after 11 and I knew that doing both the SJ farming and ferry trip to AU would take a long time.

But I decided to help him out. We met up near the Konschaht zoneline and I let him solo 3 flies while I PLed, getting him 200xp per. But these were taking too long and I was getting impatient so he kindly agreed to duo and we decimated about a dozen flies in short order. As midnight loomed, I told him we’d duo 2 more then he could solo one to end the night and luckily, the first of these 3 dropped the worm. Elated, Sinz stayed in Valk while I made ready to try my luck with the AU ferry.

I’m pretty sure I took out the Aragoneau Region OP at this time, leaving only Vollbow (Cape Terrigan).

I board the ferry with about 5 other players, many who appear to be low to mid level. I think at least 3 of us were Near East first-timers. Not knowing what horrors lurked in these waters, I made straight for the wheelhouse upon leaving port. Sure enough, an Ocean Kraken pops and I can hear a few ooohs and ahhs from the rest of the passengers. It checks EP to me, and feeling bold, I decide to engage it, after buffing up of course.

I manage to stick a fair number of enfeebs on it while whittling away with my staff (skillups too) and Light and elemental magic strikes. While this is going on the rest of the gang emerge from the hold to watch, and Terry, whom I’ve had the pleasure of partying with, gives cure support. I’m not generating much hate because even on measly Cure IIs the Kraken makes for her on more than one occasion but I’m able to regain its attention before any serious harm.

Other than a nasty AoE that gets two bystanders, the fight is uneventful, although very long. I’m at about 50% HP and 20% MP at the end, and all I got for my trouble was 26 XP and a Seashell. Well, and much love from the crowd. That was cool!

I thank them all for their support and PM Terry expressly for her risky help. I cure up those with boo-boos and we eventually land in Aht Urhgan’s port. I take the time to find my way to the MH, after lucking into the MH multi-exit quest NPC. That’ll prolly cost about 3k to activate… I set my HP and actually run a tele. And I dropped 10k on maps…

After a brief trip to their AH and some other minor sightseeing I have to log. Tomorrow’s plan is to start the mission series (many are easy CS or fetch-quests) and hope to learn how the Runic Portals work.

Road Warrior

November 30 – December 2, 2007

Pretty much all of this three-day gamefest was directed towards securing an Aht Urhgan Boarding Pass. I didn’t know I even needed one! Friday Night I had flagged up and was messing around with my MH and a new RDB recruit when I hopped on the Al Zahbi ferry from Buburimu. I got thrown off for not having a boarding pass.

So off to the interweb to find out how to get one. The quest is started in Jeuno, at the Tenshodo and offers a few choices of item fetches to earn the pass. Since I didn’t have any of the coffer keys for the Advanced path, and didn’t want to farm chips from a dangerous zone I’ve never been to, Intermediate was out. 500k gil? {No thanks} So the only path I had was Easy, which meant collecting all 6 subjob items at one time.

/sigh. Friday night ended with me in Valk and two items, the Damselfly Worm and Crab Apron. Saturday was better – I got the other 4 items pretty quickly (Magicked Skull, Bloody Robe, Wild Rabbit Tail and Dhalmel Saliva). I turned these in but was told I’d have to wait one day. I didn’t realize I had made the trade after midnight…

Fhox and I chatted a bit while I was running around Qufim raising people and working on the SJ items. He warned me that Lust may have been banned from his first account for GS activities or assisting them. I assured him I had no interest in risking my investment in Aer to do anything stupid.

Sunday I logged in around 10pm expecting to pick that pass up but was told I had to wait a day. Oh yeah, midnight… Chucho asked me to PL his party in the Crawler’s Nest and after thinking about it I decided to go help.

Maybe I shouldn’t have… I got to the Nest via OP warp and while looking for his crew ran into a Doom Scorpion nest. Since I hadn’t bothered cloaking they aggroed. I slept them both and ran out, around the corner to the other tunnel, and into Chucho. I let him know there might be company coming. He thought that would be cool.

On reaching camp I start buffing up and resting and sure enough, one of the scorps walks in. The party engages and eventually put it down. While all this was happening, the other one waltzed in and I slept it since the first wasn’t dead enough. Turns out that this was a really bad move because Repose must pack a lot of hate. I never engaged or did anything else to that scorpion but it wouldn’t let me go. I eventually had to call for help and then we all proceeded to beat it down.

On the next pull (or next to next) their puller returned with a pair of Soldier Crawlers that were beating the party down hard. Chucho posited escaping but I went ahead and slept one while they finished the other and rested.

Once the crawler awoke, it came after me and wouldn’t let go. I suggested having their WHM cure me to voke but all that happened was a two-hit death on Tgunz, their Taru WHM. Crap. CRAP! Eventually it’s clear nothing is going to get this thing off me and at Galiba’s order, I leave, looking for a quiet spot far from camp that won’t pull links.

I re-sleep the crawler, run to the party and raise Tgunz with my last MP. I return to the crawler and try unsuccessfully to rest and formulate an attack strategy. I can’t get a second sleep off (only 39 MP recovered ><) and die. So does Chucho, for some reason. Apparently he got whacked by an Exoray, but got a raise someplace.

During all this confusion, Galiba says “MPK GM {Call Beast}”, implying he’s reporting me for the MPK on Tgunz, even though I didn’t pull the link and died trying to fix things. Nothing seemed to come of it and once we recovered from weakness (and I re-raised Tgunz from a second death during weakness while I was still out of the room) we got rolling. Once Galiba started endraining, the mobs fell pretty fast. I kept their 4 melees hasted and cured and the rhythm built up.

I had originally only planned to stay for about 20 minutes in order to pick up my pass at midnight but out of guilt, stayed to about 12:45. Chucho DCed and then others started leaving. On his return it was clear the rest were done. I offered teles to anyone but had no takers, and so Chucho and I warped out.

I did, however, pick up my pass! I also popped one of the 3 new OP runs that opened after the Conquest Tally.

Now that I have AU access, I need to hurry up and figure out how to make it work. I need to be able to move quickly between Jeuno and the regular locations and AU, its portals and any OPs it has, especially once I start partying on WHM again.

And that new member? Tieryn, a PLD70, BLU40 who originally mistook RDB to be a Mithra-only shell. We chatted for about half an hour and eventually she asked to join. After more group chat I bolted, to begin the subjob item farming. I’ve seen her on but not in our shell so I don’t know if she’s going to stay…

Fun with Fhox

November 28-29, 2007

Despite having all the expansions now I haven’t been doing any leveling on WHM yet. I think I need to figure out Aht Urghan before I try partying in its regions. I have been popping OP supply runs as they come up and looking into the CoP and ToAU mission series.

I’ve also been working on leveling Dancer some more. I think I’m going to spend time researching AU and leveling DCR in parties for a week or so before trying to move WHM to 60.

Wednesday night, Fhox got on around 9:30 and invited me farming in Davoi. I figured why not. Maybe I should have figured some more… Being rusty on WHM as a defensive/support player versus the DD I’ve been wallowing in meant I made some boneheaded moves. Davoi is crawling with mid and high level orcs. Some of them were TW or EP and we fought or ignored those. But Gladiators and Footsoldiers were another matter. As were the Veteran and Warchief Fhox was after.

My first death came when I got aggroed resting by a Footsoldier I thought was way around the bend. Either he moved when I wasn’t looking or another one found us. In any event the first one brought two friends and my attempts to Banishga II and Earth Crush left me very dead. I also used Benediction prematurely making it unavailable when we really needed it.

I did have RR up and I had already asked Fhox if I could take a break, so I stayed down and tended to Ape who wasn’t feeling well. Her shoulder was really hurting to the point she couldn’t move her arm and was covered in pain-sweat. I left about 25 minutes later thinking she was in bed, but that wouldn’t last.

Coming back to Fhox, I raised and we carried on, eventually finding the Warchief near the western bridge. We buffed up and Fhox pulled some of the surrounding lower orcs to prevent later links. We cleared the Veteran and thought the coast was clear for the chief and so Fhox brought him to me on the bridge and we started. Fhox had asked me to stay back-line until 25% was left on the orcs we had been clearing but I started in on the Chief immediately assuming it was our last pull.

Not hitting him once I went back-line again and kept buffs up and Fhox hasted. While healing, I attracted the attention of a Davoi Wasp which wasn’t really hurting me but kept me from resting. In hindsight I should have started in on him to clear the way and to build TP. But I didn’t. I swear my tactical grasp of FFXI fighting sucks sometimes.

Not long after that started a nearby Gladiator joined the melee and I tried to keep him slept with Repose. That worked far better than my Silence attempts on the chief meaning Fhox had to take that chore in addition to meleeing.

We were making steady but slow progress on the Chief when I suddenly started taking rapid damage. I died at about the same time I figured out the cause: A Footsoldier joined us from the opposite side of the bridge which we weren’t watching. About this time Fhox tries to Escape and gets interrupted the first time. I die then, much to our mutual frustration. He gets the Escape off the second time and says he’s coming back for me. I told him not to worry and that I would RR and warp. It took a few minutes but I made it back to Jeuno safely.

Now, it’s 11:30 and I decide to call it a night. We make plans to seek more orc revenge as soon as we can and I log out.

Upon shutting down, and watching a little Robot Chicken, I head to bed only to find Ape on the couch crying in pain. We try to get some sleep but it’s a rough night…

. . .

Thursday meant the discovery Ape had dislocated her already-dorked-up shoulder. She was able to get an appointment that afternoon with plans to reset it Friday. So we watched a great Survivor and then with the help of Mr. Codeine, I put her to bed and went to the living room.

Tonight was very quiet, with only Lust and Chucho on. Lust doesn’t say much but is a leveling machine. Chucho needed some fishing help for a quest and I eventually settled on just buying him the fish.

I spent most of the time leveling DCR and working on a job-specific macro bar. I almost dinged 7 and escaped death narrowly twice. I can’t wait to get her up high enough to party and see the effects of all those steps on the party and mobs.

I have also been able to farm and sell Test Answers again. I don’t know if the market is legitimately back or if the GSers just opened new accounts or what, but I’m glad for the money. I think I might have screwed up with the Cesti plan. I spent about 30k on two and will soon need neither. I hope I can get at least 20k back.

The good news is it looks I was wrong about Dancing expenses. All her steps, sambas, waltzes and jigs are TP moves. I still need to fork out for armor and weapons but hope I can find stuff that will work well enough on DCR, NIN and WAR, and maybe PLD.

I really want to get some of this subjob stuff settled so I can get back to WHM. I really hate being out in the world not being able to help other players in any way. I don’t think Dancer and Ninja have any non-party assistance available to them, and /WHM doesn’t make sense.

Oh well. I plan on playing hard tonight and possibly taking WHM out again if I can get help reaching AU. I wouldn’t mind working on AF coffer hunts either. I also want to take a crack at fixing up my WHMblm and RDMblm palettes. I’m missing a few items on WHM for lack of room and some of that is due to RDM stuff and useless BLM spells.

Terpsichorean?

November 26-27, 2007

Leveled DNC to 6 and unlocked Endrain

Farmed two TAs

Did Valk supply run and gave Raise while finishing run

Did CoP 1-1 and started 1-2 to get Promy access after failing to get access Monday night with Fhox

Bought cheaper Jeuno Cesti +1 to sell back in Windy (Monday’s Windy one cost 20k on 30k history, Jeuno’s 10k on 13~k history)

Slow Expansion

November 21-25

This Log will summarize the progress I made over 4 days of owning the Vana’diel Collection for 2008. It has every expansion in it so it’ll allow me to finally be area-complete. And since it has a brand-new expansion, I’ll finally get to explore new areas right along with everyone else. In theory, anyway…

Wednesday, en route to Tennessee, we stopped in Columbia and headed to Best Buy. It took some searching and head-scratching, but I finally found the game. Their computer had said there were FOUR in this store but they were still on a shelving cart I was lucky to find. I asked Ape if I could rub the game on my privates, a’ la Gabe but she threw cold water on that idea.

I really just have to wonder how many people Sony and Square-Enix expect to walk into a retail store and grab this (or the WotG expansion). Random gamers who think it looks nifty may or may not have the necessary gear and the manual I got didn’t helpfully suggest PS3 owners can easily get in on the fun. I wonder how many people are going to unwrap the case and realize they’re boned.

We got in late Wednesday and I didn’t get a chance to install until Thursday because it requires some net access and I didn’t have the condo WEP key until the morning. Media install was fast, at about one hour for everything, but then it wouldn’t connect to register.

It wouldn’t connect that night or Friday afternoon.

It wouldn’t connect Friday night either.

During a 2-hour Wii marathon with Josh I tried over 30 times and managed to get Wings and Promathia registered but not ToAU.

I did get Ninja most of the way to 11 in Giddeus though. I also started the DNC (yes, they went with DNC instead of DCR…) job quest but missed a chat and therefore wasted 720 gil on a bird in La Theine. And all of this on keyboard only.

I didn’t bother Sunday morning since we had to pack and drive. Upon returning home at 11pm Sunday night, a message from the support staff indicated they had fixed the reg server problems, previously detailed in 6 earlier posts. Sure enough, ToAU registered almost instantly. /sigh

I played for about 90 minutes before turning in. I returned to Jeuno, properly flagged the Dancer quest, and went to San d’Oria for that leg of the run. While sitting AFK helping Ape unpack, Crippler PMed me asking for PL assistance for – get this – 20k to get him 2.5k XP. I wasn’t going to but figured on an Empress Band that should be maybe 15 kills.

While waiting for him to meet me I did the Sandy part of the quest – “dance” on the Lion Springs’ stage. It’s an unwinnable event wherein you look like a tool, but later the pro dancers in Jeuno hear of your strong spirit despite lack of talent and take pity. Ha! Then we set off for La Theine.

He picked on an assortment of mobs that he said were T (and likely DC and EM as well) and it didn’t take too long to get the ding and a small buffer. He then proceeded to try to trade me 20k. I told him I thought he said 2k and said that if he insisted to make it 4. He went 10 instead which I went ahead and took.

I told him I was just happy to see a Dancer in action and to get a feel for how they melee. Turns out, pretty well with their endrain dance.

As he left, a BST that picked on the wrong Akbaba got flattened and I was out of XP to stop it. I raised him when able and watched over a couple other players waiting for his weakness to pass. When it did I topped off his HP and buffed, then went back to Jeuno to continue the Dancer quest. Apparently now I get to travel into the mists of history.

I fixed my search comment to reflect my new all-access pass, and I did get a blind invite earlier (before Crippler’s offer), but I had to turn that down.

I’m beginning to wonder if I can whore myself out as a PL for the new wave of Dancers and Scholars. Might be easy money and a good way to skill up my magic. I’ll have to wait and see I guess.

Believe It!

November 17-18, 2007

Saturday was very busy with car stuff and yard work until about 6:30. Ape was off with Charlene at the Corn Maze and would eventually go to dinner while on the road. I decided to log in and see how far I could get with Ninja before I had to quit. And since I’d be soloing that would be easy to do when I had to.

Once I was in, I saw Lust had already made it to Nin11! I hadn’t even been to Norg yet. So that was next. It took me some effort but I finally figured out the route. It’s a pretty easy ride/walk, comparable to other taxi routes. I got the final key item in Norg after triggering a cutscene – it seems I completed ZM1 without even trying!

Back in Port Bastok, I complete the quest and watch a touching scene involving Ensetsu, his dead Ninja wife and his two daughters - /cry. Then I head to Windurst to get started on my shinobi training.

It doesn’t take long to realize that I need to reorg my inventory to allow for all the farming drops, and to get space for gear. After a few loops through East Sarutabaruta, the AH and back, I set my homepoint in Windurst. Leveling goes pretty quickly and I don’t fall in battle once on my way to 6. I did die TWICE from poison though, once right outside the gate and once at the steps of the Residential Area. I guess I know have proof you CAN die in a town! I was able to get raises both times – many lulz aimed my way I expect – and kept on.

At some point close to 10 Fhox finally appears. I hadn’t seen him in two days. I update him on my progress and we chatted a bit about Stoik. Fhox said that Kitty was very upset at how he had handled her. I think Fhox meant the before-Vahzl-disaster flirting and failure to prepare for 5-2. He also mentioned all the time wasted and I made my last statement of apology for my part in it saying the time I wasted was what made me so angry at myself. I think Fhox is OK with it though. Kitty too. They seem far more concerned with Stoik’s non-activity (still WAR45/NIN18).

Lust also chimed in and we mentioned we were Ninjas. In fact, when Fhox logged in he must’ve checked the link list and seen my new job because one of the first things he said was “O.o Aerin=Ninja?” Lust also asked if he could get a pearl for his buddy Ronrico. He had wanted temporary sack status but Fhox just wanted to meet him and trade. However they took care of it, Ronrico was in the shell not long after.

Not much else happened except that I got Ninja to 8, bought a Wakizashi, and started work on Norg fame for the ninjutsu scrolls. I’m getting decent returns on my farmed goods too.

From what I’ve been able to read up ninja-wise it seems I need /WAR for this one too – urgh. I didn’t want to level yet another subjob. But I guess I will. I think I’ll hit NIN10, try out dual wield on WHM and RDM, and then think about leveling PLD with /NIN then WAR with one or the other.

Monday probably won’t see a lot of play because Ape and I are celebrating #13 again. Tuesday will be the last day before the Wings of the Goddess release and I’ll be in Tennessee for that. It looks like I’ll have to buy WotG up there and get my reserved copy credited back.

I know I plan to unlock and level Dancer and after reading the Fan Festival notes it looks like DCR will be even better.

Ninja is already a terribly expensive job and I expect Dancer won’t be much cheaper. I wish the Test Answers market hadn’t died… I need to find a good way to make gil and fast.

Oh yeah, Chucho was looking for 4-1 help late Sunday night. I had to beg off but then he realized it was late too and we said we’d give it a go Monday if possible.

In any case, once I can get back on after the expansion opens I’ll have a lot of options – I flagged AF3 and 4, so I can work those or do the coffer drops for 5 and 6. I want to go after the new jobs. I have 3 unlocked jobs to level and learn. The Shell is growing and Fhox is gonna want to start ranking up again.

And finally, the revised VanaCalc spreadsheet rocks! The Skillcaps page is really handy and works very neatly, allowing easy job pairing what-ifs and skill analysis.

Even More Progress

Tonight was another busy, productive night although this one didn’t involve any XP…

I logged in around 10 or 11 and once again had no joy on farming. T-T was a little better though. I thought about shouting for AF2 assistance but decided to head out to Oztroza and see what I could do solo.

I was able to make it to the second door (the four-lever binary counter) by myself stealth-style, but decided going in solo was likely a death sentence. I shouted {Please assist.} {Yagudo} {Holy} {Water} {Can I have it?} {Reward} {You can have this.}. A very short time later, Yagna replies asking what it drops from. I tell her Abbots, in the 53 range. She arrives a few minutes later, and as it happens she’s on an AF quest of her own.

After some trouble with the door she gets it open and we start in. The Abbots are spread a little thin but as she is subbing /RNG she can Widescan their locations. She asks if I want to hang back and I tell her no, that I need the skillups. So we party up and kill every bird we see. We fight most of the Yags solo with only a handful of links until we reach a large room swarming with them. Four befall us and we go to work. I’m curing and enfeebling and she’s beating them down but eventually both of us wind up in the deep yellow HP-wise. I fire off Benediction and a few blows later they’re all toast. Also, one of them had a canteen of Holy Water, so I lot for it.

Yagna refused my offer of reward and after mutual thanks and appreciation, we split up and she continues on. I rest up a bit, return to Jeuno for the Moccasins, and then head to San d’Oria to finish AF2 and get my Healer’s Duckbills (feet). They actually look quite nice with the rest of my RSE. And now I have SIR -30% between my new boots and my Druid’s Rope.

I head back to Jeuno and pass some time with a couple of teles. Barak (Ertai) runs by and we chat a bit. He’s working on his Paladin AF1 but needs info on the quest so I look it up and tell him the important details. He sets off and then I get a shout from Brandonn for Holla. I take him and before I can bolt he asks for a linkpearl. I’m not sure exactly what he wanted with it but I give him one and he equips it. He logged not long after, but we did get to chat a bit about gaming and family.

I see Stoik on the platform – I swear he hasn’t moved since LAST Saturday… I warp back and do more Jeuno time-wasting when Lust gets on. He’s working on Ninja. It’s just after 1:00 now so I didn’t want to go with but I gave him the relevant details. However, the desire to finally close this one out gets the better of me and we make our way to Port Bastok to visit Ensetsu.

He has a great deal of trouble flagging the quest until he visits Warehouse 2. Apparently he had already done some of the prelim work and forgot. With the quest properly flagged, we head out to Korolloka via the Zeruhn Mines. I keep him stealthed and it’s not long before we reach the Korolloka Leech spawnpoint.

We take out the two normal Leeches for TP then prepare ourselves. I pop the NMs and we do our best to beat them down. Once I hit 300 TP I unleash Earth Crusher, doing mighty damage and leaving little life left in the leeches. I even Flashed and did my best to blood-tank. We got through pretty much unharmed, touched the ??? for the key item and then headed back to Ensetsu’s. I had to log at this point because now it was after 3am. I expect there will be two more Ninjas in the Brigaders by tomorrow!

About Damn Time – Ding!

After 18 days I finally went out XPing! /cheer I logged in a little before 10 and flagged up. I had more poor luck with taxi runs and so I decided to hit Valkurm and PL a bit.

(Side note: The more I think about it the more I wonder if the recent drop in farming and taxi profits has to do with this week’s account bans. Most of my taxi customers were known players so I don’t know, but it’s got me wondering. That, and Krii is too damn fast with his invites >< )

I tried the usual spots – Oasis > Siren > OP > Whitebone > Tunnel - and didn’t find anyone not already being PLed. Just as I was going to scoot elsewhere, I get a tell from Katy asking to party. I confirm the intended camp since she was in Whitegate, and she says {Aht Urghan}. I reply that I can’t go, explain why and expect to hear nothing more. However a minute or so later she comes back on asking if they changed camps would I go? Hells yeah I’d go! I told her anywhere as long as it was a Zilart area. By now, some of the others are partying up and the campsite convo kicks back and forth and then they settle on Bibiki Bay.

I get a bad feeling, and while waiting in Jeuno now, I look it up. Uh-oh, it’s a CoP area. I jump in and say so, at which point I get ruthlessly teased. I explained the PS2 situation which helps, but they still threw a few more barbs. Ultimately we picked Boyahda Tree and I offered teles. Katy was going to take one, then decided riding from Jeuno would be faster. Silly Mithra – Nobody beats the Wiz!

Dragonn (BLM) was waiting at the zone and Ravenous (BLM) was inside. I decided to pick a fight with a golem which I shouldn’t have but then Dragonn joins in and I grab a few skillups. As others arrive we run around bashing stuff until Katy calls us in.

We reach the camp (no competition today) and realize we lost Dragonn. We press on BLU-less until Katy finds a replacement Kiriza (sp). We make short work of Robber Crabs and Knight Crawlers but the XP is kinda lame. I don’t know if it was a level-spread issue or just that it was an improper camp for 56-58…

I got teased a bit more and I managed to hold my tongue – I wanted to say, “OK then, good luck with my replacement WHM… Oh wait, there AREN’T ANY!” But I kept quiet, desperate for the XP.

With a couple of close calls but no deaths, we wrap up about 90 minutes later with me finally reclaiming 56, Raise II, and a 3k buffer. Daysitae (NIN) got dropped to double digits before I could cast - Yahoo Mail was lagging me badly! But no deaths.

On closing up I got some more teasing but I got mine in – According to Ravenous, in ToAU areas, the Taru are worshipped. I corrected him saying people only kneeled so we could hear little tarus ^^ My rep, Milokov (BLM) and Ravenous D2ed everyone else so they could carry on in Whitegate areas.

I stuck around looking for the coffer but gave up after sweeping the first floor. I didn’t log until 1:20 - /panic!

I think now that I’m 56 I might get a few more invites although getting all areas next week will cinch it. But now, I’m beginning to wonder if not having AF is going to hurt me. I really need to get a couple of the armor pieces ASAP.

Batty Battles

I wasn’t able to write up Wednesday night’s adventures the next day so hopefully I remember the important details.

I stayed off until 10pm to hang with Ape and ease some of the Vana tension. When I got online, I didn’t get a lot of taxi action and decided to go ahead and sell the Raven/Crow pieces I was testing. I really want the Beak Necklace +1 for its MPR +2. My Test Answers failed to sell, so I put them back on. RMTers must’ve gotten caught by the latest swing of the Banhammer…

Not too much later, Fhox, Chucho and Puma are preparing to do a NM run called Wings of Fury. It’s a 20-seal gig at the Ghelsba hut. At first I didn’t think they were going to need me for anything and then Fhox asked if I’d tele the crew and hang out for Raises if needed. I’m just thrilled he’s talking to me – I’ve spent a few paranoid days since the Saturday cock-up worried that I might’ve caused too much trouble for my own good.

Before we tele’d, Chucho and I chatted privately about a few random things including the fact that his wife’ll farm for him. Hear that Ape? We also talked about kids and other fun topics. We also chatted strategy and on his request I verified what spells were available to his /WHM10. He mentioned not having two of the early Bar-spells so as payback for letting him die yesterday I grabbed both for 2k total and gave then to him.

By now, Fhox and Puma had shown up and we partied up for the ride out. Chucho and I were still finishing the trade when Fhox /slapped me. “Bad Fhox! No slapping!” I told him I was paying Chucho back but I didn’t say what for. Chucho was very appreciative tho’. WHM Respect!

I think we got to the hut near 11 and they kicked off the fight. Their plan was to charm the NM Colo-Colo’s Fury wingmen into attacking it and then finish it when the Furies died. I stopped watching when Colo went down to about 60% because I thought they were going to cakewalk it. I decided to try getting Staff skillups on the orcs, but after several kills I don’t think I even got a tenth.

I came back to the hut just as they appeared outside – and dropped dead. I Raised them and while they waited for Weakness to pass I tried more skillups. A bit later they went to the door and stood there for like 5 minutes. It turns out someone brought the wrong orb and they were done. I teled them all to Dem and they logged off about midnight-ish.

I went back to Jeuno and had a rather interesting run-in with a Taru called Neillissthe (sp?). I had just done a T-T and he came up to me asking me for “2000 {gil} {chocobo} {key} {Can I have it?}” It took me a bit to realize he wanted Gausebit Grasses for the Choco Wounds license quest.
I’m not in the habit of handing out cash, nor have I ever been asked to before. I held him off a bit by saying I was checking with my shell for grasses he could have. While I was trying to research grass prices and eventually his AH history, he gave me a pathetic /cry then badgered me a couple more times.

It turns out he’s likely a newly-20 player fresh in Jeuno cos his AH history started on the 12th wherein he sold 4 stacks of crystals for 4k and bought Cure III for 6. Heck, no handout buddy. I told him so suggesting he farm some more crystals quoting his history at him. He proceeded to run around the counter, presumably begging others.

A second later, someone /disgusts my panhandler buddy and I strike up a chat. I mention the request and the history, to which this taru responds by saying he gave cash.

Hmmm, I think it might’ve been a two-man shakedown. I did quote the AH history to this guy too, so if it was a shakedown they know I saw through it.

Whatever. I’d love to help some other way but straight cash donations? {No thanks}

James Bond, WHM

/sigh. I killed another one… But I’m getting ahead of myself.

Tonight at 7pm was supposed to be another 5-2 run, for Diosa and Puma this time. I had to go home at lunchtime to pick Matt up (home sleeping) and logged in to run supplies. I got an update screen instead. So, looking at the 1:30 estimate, I wonder what will happen to our 7pm start time.

. . .

After eating dinner and helping Ape with some stuff I log in promptly at 7, and half the shell is missing. While I wait I give farming a shot but get interrupted by Puma seeking a Raise in Valkurm. Since I really hadn’t gotten to the farm, I bailed on the Ruins, teled out and began the choco ride to Puma’s position.

When I arrived, the party (led by Pshoww?) was waiting and resting. I raised him and they started up again, with me PLing. They were very appreciative and did a nice job with holding vokes. Puma had said he wanted 400 xp to get his level back and I figured, 5-6 pulls and I can go back to farming. 10 later he still hasn’t dinged. This is about the time it dawns on me he’s not IN the party. I’ve been PLing the wrong target! ><

I came to this realization about a minute before he got popped by a gob link. So I tell the party I have to leave and that I wished them well and appreciated their fine efforts. Now focused on Puma, he gets his level back with 5 direct pulls on gobs and bats.

I was going to head to Qufim to help Lust with the Kazham Airship Pass quest but couldn’t – first because of the delay PLing Puma back to 20 and then because of Fhox’s summons.

At around 9, Fhox makes it in and asks if we’re ready. I warp to Jeuno and wait at the guide stone with him and Diosa. Puma is getting ready and Fhox is seeking additional firepower for the other two slots. I asked Diosa how Darksanzo took back to back deaths and she reamed him for overpulling and not waiting for mage MP. Unfortunately Diosa DCes at about 9:15 and doesn’t return. Fhox comments that she’s been having some personal problems and I told him I hoped it was nothing too bad because I hate seeing people hurt. He agreed.

At 9:30 he scuttled the mission and the two of us set out to beastman strongholds to recover crystal shards as part of the Crystal War Revisited! Event – reward is red-tinted shades with daylight Acc+, night Acc-. As it turns out, one shard gets you the normal pair, 20 gets a HQ version. Unfortunately I didn’t have time to do much with Fhox because the most you can get is 4 or 6, depending on stronghold and only if you kill a NM. Otherwise it’s one at a time.

I don’t think I’ll worry about the HQ but I did pick up my base reward. Aer looks way too much like Trinity from the Matrix, and upon getting his pair, Fhox spontaneously said as much. It’s too bad the shades and Coven Hat use the same slot… I also used this time to tele out to Xarcabard for the last open supply run, bringing my total to 8 OP routes opened.

Ape had been fussing at me about how long I was on so I finally went AFK around 9:50 and hung out with her until almost 11:00.

On returning I went back to Valkurm to PL Chucho. I don’t recall if I checked to see if Lust was still on, but when I left at 9, he had just joined an XP party. I need to look for him again tonight.

So, back in Valk I find Chucho and he’s already briefed the party. This group, led by Faline, did a great job with vokes and making sure I was good on MP. They pulled mostly pugs, gobs and snips at 19-20 levels, but the kills came super fast and they must have been getting some chains. Chucho complained about the XP but I mentioned that XP per kill isn’t the end-all of leveling. I wonder if people get tired of me saying that?

Chucho did ask what he should do while I Pled. I suggested skilling Divine with Banishes and looking into Enhance and weapon skillups.

Other than Kiliwag, their DRG tank, there wasn’t much damage to worry about other than on gob hunter ambushes. So imagine my surprise when Chucho, my LS mate, dies standing behind me. As with Darksanzo, I didn’t see the attacks, but this time the erstwhile corpse was behind me and wasn’t appearing in my target sweep. He never called for help and I really don’t know what he could have done to get that much hate. I suspect he got picked off by a gob, but I never found out for sure.

While I was recharging, I expressed sorrow and personal aggravation at losing yet another charge. He told me it was cool to which I replied, “No, not really…” I almost made a crack about not wanting to meet the WHM that takes deaths casually, but I realized in time HE was a WHM and held my tongue.

It wasn’t much longer that I bade farewell to the group (at the pre-scheduled time of 12:30) and complimented them on their excellent work. Their replacement PL (D-something) was asking about {Ninja} {Provoke} which was answered by {No thanks!} I wonder if he was asking who the tank was, not asking for voking.

So yet another day ends in Vana’diel and I add another notch to my Lost Adventurers belt. Off to make those tweaks to the PL guide, for real this time!

Power-less Leveling

This one’s a shortie. I got a new supply run done, no T-T action and no invites after logging in around 8pm. I managed to farm two sets of Test Answers when Fhox asked me to join him in Garlaige PLing Diosa. I agreed and was soon shoulder to shoulder with my LS boss, working on keeping the party Diosa had joined alive.

One observation – PLing in Garliage requires a whole lot of MP – it’s about 50/50 Cure II versus Cure III. And damage comes much faster from Borer Beetles and the various bats. Fhox actually stayed the whole time and even with BOTH of us I was resting every third fight or so.

I noticed Fhox did a lot of Hasting in addition to curing. I need to think about that, since Enhance isn’t close to capping. Also, for some reason, I only got a single point in Healing over an hour PLing. Fhox helpfully suggested I use C3 which I had been, as needed anyway.

And then it happened – I let another one die. I don’t feel too bad when someone dies under my care if it was likely – link, IT++ mob versus poorly DEF’ed player, etc. Things happen. But once again, as with Fhox’s WHM swap, I let someone die without casting the first bit of mana. Darksanzo, the party’s Dragoon, got a good view of the floor under my not-so-watchful eye.

What I still haven’t figured out is HOW, since their PLD tank Verbalkent was taking all the damage from the bat and I never saw anyone else take a hit. I cycled targets as usual but on that pull I only saw Verbalkent taking any real damage. Nonetheless, he died, and Fhox raised him. I was denied even that restitution gesture!

And here’s the really twisted bit – I told Fhox I was going AFK to eat dinner and while I was gone (less than 5 minutes) Darksanzo bit it again…

I tried to engage him by asking him, “This party has been hard on you, huh? ^^” – no response. Fhox later asked what I thought of the Citadel and my answer was “meh.”

I sometimes really wonder if I have what it takes to PL – I care a lot (the Curse) but it seems I’m often on a different game, using my 007 license far too often. I really need to figure out how to do this better. And worse, I was overcuring the paladin because I didn’t know he was a paladin. I need to tweak my guide a bit…

The Curse of the White Mage

Hoo-boy. Saturday night was bad – capital B BAD. Here’s the skinny:

Fhox and company had planned another run on 5-2 for Stoik, Kitty and Bene (IIRC). Start time was 9 EST. I was on earlier than them so I used the time to farm and futz about with T-T runs and flagging AF2, but at 9 we started checking in. Stoik almost didn’t get in because he had gone AFK in Sandy. He did finally reply and so we were off. Kitty was leading the effort because Fhox wasn’t on and she asked me to escort Stoik to Castle Zvahl Keep, from Sandy, because Stoik still didn’t have his crystal.

OK, I can do that, right? I meet Stoik at the Ronfaure/Ranguemont Pass zoneline and we start through. About 5 minutes in (having started close to 9:30) he realizes he STILL doesn’t have 5-2 flagged, despite Kitty’s repeated invectives earlier in the week after 5-1. So he runs back and I wait. He returns to the gate at about 10, at which point Kitty mentions we have a problem. The tank she’s picked out (Jago or Jano or…) can’t stay long enough.

She asks if any of us know anyone high up enough to tank/DD the Shadowlord for us, since the rest of us are 45-60-ish. I see that Dezmo is likely free and ask if he can meet us at the Vahzl crag in exchange for a reward. He can, and I let Kitty know. Dez teles out and waits, annoyed, for about 15 minutes while I’m trudging Stoik through. Sneak and/or Invisible keep falling off him shortly after being cast but we’re pretty lucky with aggro. This is about when Kitty mentions that not only is her buddy sticking around (making 5) but that he has a friend too, filling the party.

Crap-o. So I have to tell Dez we don’t need him and I let him know that I’ll tele him out once we arrive, ETA 5 minutes. That is, until a supposed EP Demon Pawn aggros and bludgeons both of us. Pwned by a Pawn. I told Stoik to disengage and run for the crag to get crystal and then I died. Stoik dies about a minute later. Care to guess what happens next?

Now I have a dilemma – I don’t yet have Tele-Vahzl and I need to make TWO trips to the crag, one to relocate Dez and the other to return myself and Raise Stoik. So I HP, buy the scroll for 61k, tele, re-tele Dez, pay him 5k for his time, and tele again back to Vahzl. I Raise Stoik and as I STICK a Cure III, he is killed by a Lost Soul’s blizzard. >< So I tractor him to an empty hilltop and raise him again. So far so good, but knowing that weakness lasts 5 minutes and being fearful he’ll get aggroed again despite my best efforts, I tele him out to Mea to rest. Here’s the paraphrased conversation (mind you Fhox has logged in by now and is nearby):

/p We’ll rest here until weakness passes, and then I’ll tele… Oh, crap…
(Stoik) What?
/p CRAP CRAP CRAP CRAP CRAP CRAP
(Stoik) WHAT WHAT WHAT WHAT WHAT WHAT
/l Someone please shoot me!
What happened?
Did you die again?
/l I just screwed up bigtime.

I go on to explain that in the fog of war I didn’t realize Stoik never got his crystal, and that I basically undid all the traveling we did over the last hour. At this point it’s after 11:00 and the crew reforms, adding Fhox in Stoik’s place and dumping me. The 5-man crew continued on to 5-2 and I told them I’d take Stoik back to get the crystal so that he would at least be able to move quickly to the zone once the next run was made. Fhox said Diosa and someone else (Chucho?) still needed it so Stoik could go then.

Stoik and I actually made good time to the crag despite buffs constantly falling off him. Once I had him positively verify the gate crystal was in his permanent key items list, I teled us back to Holla and gave him 2500 for his trouble and the birds he had to use. I said my goodbyes to him. However, Stoik chose this time to start downing Bacardi 151’s and somewhat hopelessly repeated in LS tell, “So when do I start?” Kitty tried hard not to strangle him electronically but she was clearly upset.

I threw myself at their mercy knowing I had not only cost Stoik his shot but made the rest late as well. Kitty switched to private chat and we talked about it and she was very supportive of me and didn’t blame me for the accident. She was madder at Stoik for being unprepared again. I kept insisting it was at least partially my fault that he lost his shot at rank up and told her it was the curse of the WHM to care too much. She offered more kind words at which I told her she had eased the sting. She replied that it shouldn’t sting at all. /cry

It was more or less at this point in the convo that Fhox pulled his usual {Amateur} tease out and I hotly replied, “Dammit Fhox, I feel bad enough already!”

Kitty must also have said something in /tell to Fhox because he soon joined us in private, echoing Kitty’s assertions that I shouldn’t be too hard on myself and that Stoik is causing unacceptable amounts of trouble. I hopefully mentioned Stoik is going through a lot, and that his life changes were why I was willing to try so hard.

I told Fhox that I wasn’t going to bail on him or anything but that I was very upset with myself. I told him I was going AFK and that if I didn’t make it back (ahem) I’d see them all Monday.

I would be mad at myself over the next several days, in-game at least… The anniversary trip to Orlando was magnificent, and pretty much took my mind off my bungle, until Monday’s session. /sigh

Reputation (Not the Quick Kind)

I’ve been thinking about FFXI a lot lately. And not just because I’m very likely clinically addicted, or that I’ve got about 860 hours logged in under 11 months. I’ve been thinking about what the game means to me and why I’m so into it, and what I want to get out of it. It helps to know what my motivations are, especially when trying to explain such a timesink to non-massive gamers, or *gasp* non-gamers! ^^

One thing I’ve found very interesting is that my online persona, aside from being represented by a hot cat-lady, is essentially the opposite of my real-life one. Anyone who knows me IRL knows I’m not a socializer. I have great people skills but I don’t go out of my way looking for people to skill up on, as it were. I try to interact with non-family as little as possible.

In-game however, I love helping out people and don’t mind doing all manner of favors. It’s one of the main reasons I dumped RDM in favor of WHM – it’s the premier job for selfless people. From my first weeks in Vana’diel I resolved to help anyone I could since I got so much random help from higher-ups just as I was getting started. Usually simple things like Protects or Shells or a little curing. As WHM I do a lot of random curing and enhancing, and have gotten many chances to show off my Raise macro.

But now, the more I think about it, I think there’s more to it than wanting to help people. If Squeenix were to ask me directly what I valued most in-game, be it experiences, activities, people, inventory, anything, I think my answer would be my reputation. Yes, I do have a couple of e-peen items, and I have a great linkshell boss and crew (yay Fhox!) but I really think my rep is the most important asset I have.

From my first days of partying back in March, to PLing now, or running missions with the Brigaders, I’ve worked very hard to maintain high standards of behavior. Not just as a solid, dependable White Mage, but as a member of the community people wouldn’t be afraid to approach for assistance.

Mainly, I’ve done this by following some simple rules, and the other night, got some recognition for it (details follow). Now, since some of this pertains to my teletaxi business, don’t spread this around too much:

• Never bail on a party. Warn the leader at least 15 minutes in advance (30+ if possible) and be prepared to look for a rep if time permits.

• Fulfill expected job duties and make sure (as WHM) everyone stays enhanced and vertical.

• Don’t demand restitution for simple favors like Raises, teles, PLing or guidance. In months of being a T-T, I’ve never argued about an offered tip, have given away countless freebies, and basically work on the idea of “You pay what you offered, even if the offer is 0, because that’s what I accepted.”

• Stop to help someone on the bad end of a pull or link (if possible). In several trips through Valkurm I’ve managed to save lots of bacon, but I was seconds too late on several as well. I don’t recall ever walking/riding past someone who clearly needed help.

• Follow through on the Mentor badge. Actually, I don’t think this thing gets me noticed the way many seem to fear. I’ve had some random tells asking for help, teles, or other assistance which I always try to respond to. But it’s equally likely they found me by level/job search as by Mentor search. Still, I want people that see me hanging about to feel they can approach me.

• Be fair and diplomatic in all communications. I try to stay professional and mature whenever chatting with others. I can get silly/jokey sometimes, and angry (usually in-Shell only), but I try to be polite to everyone.

• Never underestimate the power of a kind word or emote. Following from above, I do a lot of bowing and scraping either in-party to my leader, or when helping others. Or in cases where I’m being helped. Lately, as a PL, I’m trying to leave newer players with a better impression of higher-ups like me. Not every higher-up wants a quid pro quo or has an arrogant attitude. I help out with gameplay tips and answers when I can.

I keep a party log, and I suspect many others do to. I don’t know what others document, but I know almost everyone I’ve ever partied with and I do have a few people I’d avoid in the future. I don’t want to find myself on other people’s lists if I can help it, at least, not for behavior. I know I’ve pissed off some leaders as a melee-mage, but lately I’ve pretty much given up on that.

And now, the event that pretty much convinced me to write this whole thing up. I was tooling around in Jeuno Tuesday or Wednesday when Espoira sent me a private tell asking for a favor. I was afraid she was going to ask for Vahzl which I don’t have yet, or try to invite me to a party, which I didn’t have time for. Nope, just a routine tele request, to Dem I believe.

So I start casting after she parties up, and she tries to pay me. I refuse, and just as she’s about to try again, insisting “tip”, the spell fires and we zap over to Dem. On arrival, I throw down my usual Protectra III and she starts talking tip again which I refuse. At this she says something like “You’re a very good person. If you ever need help with a mission quest etc. just ask.” I told her “Same” wrt missions and quests.

Now, I honestly don’t know if this was a true assessment or just gratitude, but it really made me feel good inside!

Last-Minute One-Shotting

Last night I logged in around 8 with the thought of doing a little farming, T-Ting and possibly hanging with the Brigaders. Fresh from Tuesday’s 5-1 run for Kitty and one other (Stoik didn’t show), I was worried Fhox would try to start 5-2 tonight and I wasn’t going to have time.

However, Fhox wasn’t on and the rest of the crew on were doing their own thing. So I went ahead and farmed up a set of Test Answers and returned to Jeuno to auction them and wait for T-T action. I got a couple runs and then decided to go PL in Valkurm.

I rode in and checked the Oasis and then the OP for parties. I thought I had found one at the OP pulling flies and proceeded to dismount. Then I saw their PL, Ibbit, whom I somehow missed on my way in. >< So I walked to Siren Sands (nobody) and then Whitebone Sands. Still nobody. There were supposed to be upwards of 20 people here according to the search window. I hoofed it to the secret beach entrance and found a group there working on gobs.

I immediately began throwing out the Cure IIs and located their leader, Cupofjoe. He was one of three Taru mages in the group, and for some reason, he appeared to be AFK. He didn’t answer my question about him minding my help, and he wasn’t casting. So I kept on PLing figuring he’d come back. I repeated my query just to be safe.

After about 5 minutes, he did return and said it was fine. I think possibly he was waiting to see if I was going to demand money before responding. Maybe, just a hunch. In any event, we got to work and it wasn’t long before they realized it was time to find bigger fish to fry, literally. In fact, one member said out loud to “ask” which was soon followed by their puller asking if I’d go to the beach and help them with pugs. Of course I said sure and escorted them down.

Once on the beach they went straight for pugs. I think they might have read my guide because it seemed, by word and action, that they were choosing their first targets carefully and their vokers weren’t constantly pulling off me. One of their BLMs even started meleeing, but wasn’t hitting very often.

We did this for a little over an hour, enough for Cupofjoe to hit 20. When I had said I was getting ready to leave at about 10:15 he asked me to stick around for about 1,200 XP which would probably happen anyway by that time, give or take a few. On what was planned to be the last boss for me, he gets hit hard, and then the pug finished him with Screwdriver (about 158 damage he said). I believe BOTH my Cure IIs landed and I think he actually got hit 3 times in a row, but his HP bar looked pretty full before the TP finisher.

I Raised him and was willing to get him back to 20 but luckily he had enough of a buffer and stayed 20 post-Raise.

Things went really well and I think everyone leveled. With just that one accident (I never did figure out what he did to get so much hate!) it was a really nice PL party and I told them so, complimenting them on working well together even on links and for good voking. I also thanked them for letting me hang with them.

I really need to keep a better eye on my skill levels because I did lift Healing a couple points, but I don’t know how many. I need to try to estimate skillups per hour so I can figure out how long it will take to cap Healing, and possibly Divine when I start leveling myself past 55 again.

After we split up I went back to the Ruins and grabbed a second set of Answer Sheets and a dagger (in like 10 minutes!), warped back, and put them up before logging.

PL Guide

Here now, is my first attempt at a powerleveling guide, both for the PL and for the party or player receiving PL assistance.

The Powerleveler

I don’t know yet if there’s a hard and fast rule about what job(s) are best to be a PL, but almost all I’ve seen were WHMs or RDMs. Certainly a Raise-capable job setup is a must! Since a PL can’t use any enfeebs or elemental spells, and is not a member of the party, the PL is limited to Cures, Protects/Shells, Haste and Raise (I believe – please correct me if needed). Actually, the PL can also use –na spells to cure various status ailments – think Paralyze or Blind. But those don’t come up often.

Also, PLs need to be far higher in level than those they are PLing. Probably not an absolute rule, but you’ll need lots of mana and the ability to take a hit or three without dying. Plus, higher-level job abilities like auto-regen and clear mind help a lot, as do higher-level stat gear like Light/Dark Staves or Cure potency/INT+/MPR gear.

Use a macro with <stpc> for curing and keep it active. This way you can cycle only player targets and drop a cure quickly once someone gets knocked around. You might consider standing so the party is all to one side of you so you can just cycle in one direction repeatedly.

However, be careful of roaming party members – if a ranged melee or back-line mage chooses to relocate behind you they may not appear in the target sweep and if they are ambushed you may not find out until after they die. Sweep the campsite periodically with the camera to see if anyone is standing in your blind spot, or to look for a better position to make watching the whole party easier.

Find out, either by /search or by questioning the party, who is tanking and if they are PLD or NIN. While the powerleveler tries to hold hate, once the mob refocuses on the party their tank needs to be effective. Overcuring a PLD tank or failing to Haste a NIN tank can limit their ability to control hate. Also, overcuring a PLD could lead to a waste of MP for you or the PLD.

Consider using Haste especially on blink-tanks. If nobody takes damage, the party can keep killing, building up chains and TP. Haste increases the success rate of Utsusemi casts by giving the blink-tank more chances to cast around the mob’s attacks.

[Added 12/13/07] Dancers are formidable party enhancers and moderate DDs in their own right. Because all their abilities use TP, Hasting a Dancer will help them build TP faster and then allow more dances per mob. Dances work as enfeebles and enhancers so it’s a win/win for you and the party if they are productive.

Since you won’t have direct visible access to each member’s total HP, what looks like a good amount on the “percent bar” for one player (Galka Paladin) can be downright near-death for another (Taru Ninja). Pay attention to race and job to know who might take severe damage easily. You can always ask the party to relay its numbers if you aren’t sure.

Also, consider coordinating with the party leader on the player roster so you know who to watch if the camp is crowded or if there’s a lineup change. You can also work with the leader to decide how to handle links or unexpected aggro. The PL can use their full arsenal on unclaimed targets but if the party engages multiple mobs (on a link for example), the PL’s going to have to work harder to keep everyone alive.

[Added 01/22/08] While you as the PL can use various spells for crowd control, any mob so hit will not give XP if your party kills it. In my experience the mob’s name never changes from yellow on a Flash or Repose but recent field testing shows that they still are claimed briefly and so shouldn’t be killed by the party. If crowd control is needed the PL should aggro the mob and kill it fast since it is only cluttering up the area and wasting time the PL could use otherwise on the party.

You can also work with the leader to set rules like, “Don’t provoke off me”, “Have mages avoid curing unless party gets into orange or red”, and so on. The best thing you as a PL can do is pull hate and keep it, allowing the party to focus on beating on the mob uninterrupted. Again, the less damage the party takes and the less mana it uses, the longer it can keep a run going.

Random or needless Provokes from the party once you have got the mob trained on you must be avoided. Such voking defeats the whole purpose of a powerleveler. If the PL can absorb attacks, especially AoEs like the Goblin Bomb Toss or Damselfly Cursed Sphere, then the party won’t take much damage, if any. With someone voking every 30 seconds, the mob ping-pongs between the voker and the PL and interferes with the DDs ability to hit.

One way to make the vokers’ lives easier is to position yourself opposite the party’s regular mages, so that you, the melee core and the back-line form a straight line. This way, it will be obvious when the mob is headed for vulnerable back line members versus headed to the PL’s position. If this positional arrangement is workable in your campsite, it can lead to fewer needless provokes. Due to “party creep” you may need to realign between pulls, especially if the mob hate on you is causing the party to follow it to your spot.

Powerleveling is a great way to repay community kindness, help out friends and scout recruits for a linkshell. It can also be a way to boost healing and enhancing skills so don’t neglect such spells by using Cures only.

The Party

Rule #1 – Don’t voke off the PL unless the PL has requested it! A possible exception is if a strong mob has a go at your mages – a timely Provoke then would be better than hoping your mage doesn’t get one-shotted by a TP move following a powerful attack before the PL lands a high-level cure.

Rule #2 – Mages should not heal except in emergency situations (bad AoE, links, etc.) and should consider switching to offense, skilling up magic or combat skills. Check with your PLer first – I have known one to find mage-melee very offensive leading to a dust-up between the mage, the leader and the PL!

Rule #3 – Do continue your usual enfeeble cycle – anything that leads to faster kills or less damage for the party is a good thing.

Rule #4 – While being PLed, start pulling IT++ mobs – try one to be sure but with a PL keeping the party healthy and taking some damage for the party (and with all members on offense) killing much stronger mobs should be very feasible. Look for 200 XP per kill, unbanded. But if the only “tough” mobs are taking far longer to kill than the party’s usual diet, switching back to improve XP per minute is advised.

In many cases, a PL is only doing this for your party as a favor to someone or because they’re waiting for their own invite. Annoy them at your peril.

Remember, the only way a PL can hold hate is through curing and limited enhancing magic. Don’t waste the limited time a PL can hold the mob by voking constantly. DO use full attack and don’t worry if a large nuke/SC pulls hate – just take the hits and the PL can re-pull by curing.

In summary, assuming the PL is on board, don’t do anything to generate hate ASIDE from full attack, or initial enfeebs. The PL’s cure-hate will more than equal that but artificial hate from provokes or Flash or other non-damaging means is a waste.

Power to the People

While waiting the last couple weeks to pass Genkai 2 and break the level 55 cap, I’ve been playing power-leveler. I’ve focused on LS parties because Fhox has brought a lot of new blood into the Brigaders family and it’s an easy way to pay back all the kindness I’ve received.

Plus, sometimes people pay to be PLed and I’d better know what the heck I’m doing!

Here now, is my first attempt at a powerleveing guide, both for the PL and for the player/party receiving PL assistance.

The Powerleveler

I don’t know yet if there’s a hard and fast rule about what job(s) are best to be a PL, but almost all I’ve seen were WHMs. Since a PL can’t use any enfeebs or elemental spells, and is not a member of the party, the PL is limited to Cures, Haste and Raise (I believe – please correct me if needed).

Also, PLs need to be far higher in level than those they are PLing. Probably not an absolute rule, but you’ll need lots of mana and the ability to take a hit or three without dying. Plus, higher-level job abilities like auto-regen and clear mind help a lot, as do higher-level stat gear like Light/Dark Staves or Cure potency/INT+/MPR gear.

And my favorite tip – use a macro with for curing and keep it active. This way you can cycle only player targets and drop a cure quickly once someone gets knocked around. You might consider standing so the party is all to one side of you so you can just cycle in one direction repeatedly.

Consider using Haste especially on blink-tanks. If nobody takes damage, the party can keep killing, building up chains and TP.

Also, consider coordinating with the party leader on the player roster (I’M SORRY FHOX!) so you know who to watch if the camp is crowded or if there’s a lineup change. You can also work with the leader to decide how to handle links or unexpected aggro. The PL can use their full arsenal on unclaimed targets but if the party engages multiple mobs (on a link for example), the PL’s gonna have to work harder to keep everyone alive.

You can also work with the leader to set rules like, “Don’t provoke off me”, “Have mages avoid curing unless party gets into orange or red”, and so on. The best thing you as a PL can do is pull hate and keep it, allowing the party to focus on beating on the mob uninterrupted. Again, the less damage the party takes and the less mana it uses, the longer it can keep a run going.

I have tried to PL several times in Valkurm Dunes and every time, I have a problem with someone voking off me once I’ve got the mob trained on me. That defeats the whole purpose of a powerleveler IMHO. If the PL can absorb attacks, especially AoEs like the Goblin Bomb Toss or Damselfly Cursed Sphere, then the party won’t take much damage, if any. With someone voking every 30 seconds, the mob plays ping-pong between the voker and the PL and interferes with the DDs ability to hit.

The Party

I’ll keep this section a little shorter:

Rule #1 – Don’t voke off the PL unless the PL has requested it!

Rule #2 – Mages should not heal except in emergency situations (bad AoE, links, etc.) and should consider switching to offense, skilling up magic or combat skills. Check with your PLer first – I have known one to find mage-melee very offensive leading to a dust-up between the mage, the leader and the PL!

Rule #3 – Do continue your usual enfeeble cycle – anything that leads to faster kills or less damage for the party is a good thing.

Rule #4 – While being PLed, start pulling IT++ mobs – try one to be sure but with a PL keeping the party healthy and taking some damage for the party (and with all members on offense) killing much stronger mobs should be very feasible. Look for 200 XP per kill, unbanded. But if the only “tough” mobs are taking far longer to kill than the party’s usual diet, switching back to improve XP/min is advised.

In many cases, a PL is only doing this for your party as a favor to someone or because they’re waiting for their own invite. Annoy them at your peril.

Remember, the only way a PL can hold hate is through curing and limited enhancing magic. Don’t waste the limited time a PL can hold the mob by voking constantly. DO use full attack and don’t worry if a large nuke/SC pulls hate – just take the hits and the PL can re-pull by curing.

In summary, assuming the PL is on board, don’t do anything to generate hate ASIDE from full attack, or initial enfeebs. The PL’s cure-hate will more than equal that but artificial hate from provokes or Flash or other non-damaging means is a waste.