Three (Mage) Door’s Down

This weekend saw some action but not a lot. Here’s the basic wrapup:

Saturday at around noon I logged in and got the completed statue from Mulaujeant that I need to return to Rauteinot in Kazham. I also went ahead and tried to flag the Holla scroll quest but didn’t have the fame. As it turns out, one of Sandy’s “quick fame” quests is an easy one involving delivering fish to one of two brothers in Port San d’Oria. I happened to have 7 Moat Carps taking up space in my MH, so I picked them up and set off to find the fishing brothers.

Fortunately, 7 was all I needed to go from 3 to 4 in Sandy fame. I didn’t want to have to buy a stack or two of Moat Carps since they were over 2k per. That settled, I went back to the Cathedral to see Eperdur and flag the quest. I think I was back getting my scroll in less than 20 minutes. In Sandy, the price history is over 30k, while Jeuno sells them for less than 10k. I’m gonna give Sandy’s AH a shot first in the hopes a desperate San d’Orian WHM hasn’t heard of FFXIAH.com.

I also made it back to Kazham to finish THAT particular quest and logged after trying out the scroll.

. . .

Late Saturday I logged back in, probably around 1am. Once again I tried the shout for Windy 3-2 assistance. After the second shout I got a reply from Ibbit, a RDM looking for the Test Answers drop to get Aspir. We waited a bit for a BLM to bite but decided to try in Windurst. As luck would have it there was one, Gurf (sp). He needed Windy 3-2 as well so we all eventually made our way to Lily Tower and down into the Inner Horutoto Ruins. After an uneventful walk we made it to the dreaded Three Mage door and opened it.

After rushing through, I had to get the others over to one of the “dead ends” and show them the false wall. Once through, Ibbit began beating down Wendigos. I helped for a bit then Gurf and I set off to find the Gate of Light to complete our missions. Once the cutscene ended, Gurf took off. I stuck around to help Ibbit get his drop. WHMs do make excellent undead killers, even if their other offensive skills suck.

We got the drop after about 15 minutes of bone crushing, and I wanted to make sure he got it. He lotted and I passed, and I even tried to set treasure distribution to Quartermaster so I could pass to him if the lot screwed up. Well, I guess I need to read up on that mode because it gave me the Test Answers and him a little scare. I was so freaked out I forgot they’re not Ex and so once I calmed down I just traded them.

Mission accomplished, we split up, and he was kind enough to refuse my offer of the scroll of Gravity that had also dropped. Cool, easy 2k for me! By now it was very late so I went to bed.

. . .

Sunday was a pretty calm day. Once again, as on Saturday and Friday, almost no tele-shouts. *grrr* I set of to Windy again to look for a Rolanberry so I could trade it in at Heaven’s Tower and get a Portal Charm allowing me to solo the Three Mage door. I happened to find one berry on Windy’s AH after Jeuno’s had turned up empty. I bought it, traded it it and made plans to start farming Test Answers in the morning slot. They’re going for 15-20k now and if I can get 10+ per I’ll be thrilled.

I decided to try seeking on BLM again after no joy last night. I actually switched jobs upon arriving in Windy so by the time I had done the work to get the Portal Charm it had been about 20 minutes. I warped back to Jeuno and was preparing to switch back to WHM when Jazzanova invited me to Yuhtunga as BLM. I jumped at the chance.

After a short wait for the remaining two members we got to work grinding Mandies. We had a pretty solid crew but there were two problems: Aujir the DRG dinged 26 early on and nerfed XP for the rest of us, and Omni, our WHM, seemed reluctant to use anything other than Cure. I wound up throwing out a lot of Cure II’s during melee…

Jazza politely asked Aujir if he minded leaving. He seemed to take it hard, dropping out curtly. So, we waited a bit to find a rep who turned out to be Hiketun, a NIN I had seen seeking before I joined. She wasted no time lol-ing me on being a “melee-mage” ^^ Nobody seemed to mind though and I got my licks in.

I asked Omni in private chat if he had Curaga, which he did. Later, when we were getting slept regularly, I party-chatted a suggestion to wake him ASAP and then he could wake the rest of us using Curaga. He seemed shocked, asking if I knew how much hate that brings, to which I replied yes, because I do it all the time. Of course, the VERY NEXT PULL, he tries it and we have to zone. That particular mandy wasn’t going down. I joked that he was never going to let me live it down.

This of course after both of us got killed by a Smithy we had agreed to try out. We got a raise from ??? when she changed jobs at the Nomad Moogle’s hut. Oh well.

Then it happened – Ape called asking me to drop the boys off to her so she could head off to dinner with Charlene to celebrate Char’s birthday. I begged for 10-15 minutes from the group and it turned out I needed *40*. Ape needed me to meet her at Arby’s instead of JoAnn’s, so that’s what it took. I expected to be dead and party-less upon my return but wonder of wonders, they not only kept me but also kept fighting. I got like 1.5k XP sitting on my fuzzy butt! Much thanks to Hiketun for suggesting I wait outside with them rather than in Kazham!

As soon as I came back, I started spamming Cure II’s because more than one member was in the yellow. Omni was still on the Cure-only kick. After the pull I threw myself at their mercy and begged forgiveness for the tardy return. They shrugged it off. But I bet someone logged it in their journal… And not only the wait, I DCed as well. But we stuck it out for about an hour more all told before disbanding.

After the group split up, I once again apologized to Jazza and said I try really hard to be professional, and was therefore mortified to do that to the group. Again, he shrugged it off. I hope I can find some way to repay the group’s patience!

About Onmi…I may not be the best WHM in the game, far from it. But I learned long ago that standing back-line just doesn’t work. Sleep AoEs still reach and every time the mob decides to go for White meat the time it’s walking from and to the fighters is time the DDs aren’t hitting and regaining hate.

Yes, I know that Curaga, and especially Divine Seal + Curaga or Benediction are the WHM’s super-effective Provokes, but come on, please grow a set and join the party. Done right, with a macro warning the group it’s coming, should be more than enough in most cases to get the rest of the crew to either pull hate or backup heal the WHM until the mob is refocused.

This is precisely why I melee as all three mages – by standing toe-to-toe, the DDs don’t ever stop hitting. Yes, the mob gets to me faster, but a proper party setup should minimize the risk.

I’d also like to remind Omni, or party leaders like Jazza, that WHM gets Regen at 21. Regen is loads more effective than Cure I in terms of HP recovered, and it’s cheap MP-wise as well. I’m actually surprised party leaders haven’t asked me more often if I have everything, or at least key spells. I think I’ve only been asked once or twice and that was early on in my WHM career.

I may or may not try talking to Omni but I’ll damn sure be wary if he turns up in future parties as WHM.

P.S. Almost forgot – Lucylulu chatted me up again – she seems to really think I should know her, or someone called Icekid. She said we partied a lot way back, but neither are in my log. Hmmm…