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Thursday, November 29, 2007

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.

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

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)

Sunday, November 25, 2007

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.

Sunday, November 18, 2007

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.

Friday, November 16, 2007

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!

Thursday, November 15, 2007

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.

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

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}

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

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!

Monday, November 12, 2007

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…

Saturday, November 10, 2007

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

Friday, November 9, 2007

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!

Thursday, November 8, 2007

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.