Today was a pretty non-event. Basically, I got Throwing to 7, and not much else. I tried T-T again while LFG on WHM and got beat every time on 4 or 5 runs. I switched to Ninja to level some so I can continue on Dancer or consider – shudder – Warrior. I dinged 11 and pretty much packed it in.
The time just before shutdown went to inventory management and a garage sale. I really need to up my Gobbiebag but to do that I need to up my Jeuno fame via the Selbina shepherd’s quick-fames. I’ll probably take both Millioncorn and Boyahda Moss if they’re available and then pop Gobbie V and finish LB4.
Oh yeah as I was wrapping up, Olibhear spammed Windy with Tele-Holla shouts and I eventually took pity, changed jobs, and took him for 1k. And there’s yet another Brigader whose name completely escapes me.
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Thursday, January 31, 2008
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Three
I logged on tonight, flagged up hopefully on WHM and very quickly took my flag back down. I wouldn’t have more than 90 minutes tops with a 6am morning ahead of me for Matt’s tour at Kirby-Smith.
So I decided to take a shot at the tele-taxi thing. That worked out very well – 11k in about 15 minutes. I even ran into Brandonn and three of his mates, but I don’t think he remembers asking me for a RDB pearl. And seeing that a Holy Shield was allegedly on sale in Jeuno again, I made my way there and was able to pick one up.
What to do, what to do… Fhox was on with another (!) new Brigader, Reonia. And Sunoco was on. And a Mamool Ja incursion was brewing, though only at level 1 at the time. I decide to teleport to Holla, ride into Sandy and level my Dancer’s throwing skill using my super-expensive Republic Frisbee.
At the crag, Furee made me wish I could D2 – she was shouting urgently for a home-warp first for 10k, then 15, then 20! Oh well… The ride to Sandy is uneventful and I soon find myself in my dancing shoes. I see Sunoco is in this area now too.
Running towards Ronfaure, I catch him and a buddy rushing somewhere. I wave to him and his buddy says “Popular much?”, and I lol Sunoco in PM assuming that was meant for me. They don’t stop but he does reply.
We chat a bit in generalities and eventually I find myself alone in the fields outside the castle working to make the most of my time. Oddly, Sunoco emails me a smiley and PMs one as well. I did ask him what was up, offering him the chance to ask me for help, PL, etc., but he didn’t say much else.
So I work out a macro to throw three times per click and while watching TV, do what I can against worms and a few bunnies and Orcish Mesmerizers. My best is three points. For about 30 minutes of work and super slow kills. Ugh… I don’t know if there’s a better way to go about this but I’m wondering if I need to focus on high-level worms or sub out RDM for binds.
Oh well, at least I have points in another skill!
So I decided to take a shot at the tele-taxi thing. That worked out very well – 11k in about 15 minutes. I even ran into Brandonn and three of his mates, but I don’t think he remembers asking me for a RDB pearl. And seeing that a Holy Shield was allegedly on sale in Jeuno again, I made my way there and was able to pick one up.
What to do, what to do… Fhox was on with another (!) new Brigader, Reonia. And Sunoco was on. And a Mamool Ja incursion was brewing, though only at level 1 at the time. I decide to teleport to Holla, ride into Sandy and level my Dancer’s throwing skill using my super-expensive Republic Frisbee.
At the crag, Furee made me wish I could D2 – she was shouting urgently for a home-warp first for 10k, then 15, then 20! Oh well… The ride to Sandy is uneventful and I soon find myself in my dancing shoes. I see Sunoco is in this area now too.
Running towards Ronfaure, I catch him and a buddy rushing somewhere. I wave to him and his buddy says “Popular much?”, and I lol Sunoco in PM assuming that was meant for me. They don’t stop but he does reply.
We chat a bit in generalities and eventually I find myself alone in the fields outside the castle working to make the most of my time. Oddly, Sunoco emails me a smiley and PMs one as well. I did ask him what was up, offering him the chance to ask me for help, PL, etc., but he didn’t say much else.
So I work out a macro to throw three times per click and while watching TV, do what I can against worms and a few bunnies and Orcish Mesmerizers. My best is three points. For about 30 minutes of work and super slow kills. Ugh… I don’t know if there’s a better way to go about this but I’m wondering if I need to focus on high-level worms or sub out RDM for binds.
Oh well, at least I have points in another skill!
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Wardrobe Change
I got logged in tonight around 11:15 and soon had an invite to Qufim from Puni. This is of course about 3 minutes after flagging down, moving my HP to Aht Urghan and switching to White Mage for some tele-taxi action. Of which there was none…
So I tell him I’ll be about 10 minutes and that I’ll be OP warping. He sais it’s no prob because he’s still building the party. Uh-oh. I warn him of my time constraints.
Of course, with my HP in AU, I can’t OP warp from here, so I use the warptaru to Jeuno, buy the Republic Disc and head downstairs. There are only three of us in the party when I get my invite, and we all wound up near the Jeuno zoneline in Qufim. Well, immediately I get aggro from a Dancing Weapon and zone it with like 17 HP to spare.
I return as Dancer and we eventually make our way to the worm camps but I get hate again and this time Auddie died after voking it off me. I ran back upstairs, changed into WHM and took care of the Raise II.
Finally – we get set up and the others join us. We have two PLDs, a WHM (Puni) and me for healing and this time I ask when I should cast. They clearly want me to back-up heal, waiting for orange. So I do. At the Delkfutt zoneline we pull snips and pugs and the odd Giant. For the most part, we ice these mobs with no trouble. On some I barely have time to put two layers of Slow down before they drop. Well, when I could get them to stick.
We’re pulling in pretty solid XP and Puni compliments us more than once. There’s really only one cure-panic that I help with, and we avoid any battlefield deaths. Another party wasn’t so lucky – there were three corpses littering the area near the OP teleporter.
Puni handles my rep perfectly and on their arrival I say my goodbyes and drop out. I’m less than 1k from dinging 22 and gimping my sub. I wish them well and rush back, because…
In the middle of the party Sunoco gets on PM and asks me if I still want the vermy cloak. Hells yes! I repeat that I can really use it but that I want to do something to earn it. We dance around like this and eventually settle when he says that’s what friends do. Rich friends maybe – I don’t know if anyone who busted their ass farming or xNM grinding would be so quick to give it to someone else. I /bow and thank him profusely. He offers to deliver it in person after he stops by the Jeuno AH for a Bronze Bed he needs for the MH expansions.
I tell him I can’t use it now on Dancer and he can mail it to me if it’s easier for him. Not long after I see he’s back in San d’Oria on a new job so I can only hope he did. So naturally I rush back from the party to my MH and check my mailbox.
It’s there!!! Yay!!! I can party on WHM again and hopefully not mess up chain pulls or cure-panics for lack of MP! I still might opt to have a Yag drink or two on me but from what I’ve read about this cloak its refresh effect of 1MP per 3 seconds should stretch my reserves through a chain 5 nicely.
I think I’ll wait until the weekend to try it out because I want my next WHM party to take me as close to 63 as possible for the Protect IV.
I think I’ll also help Sunoco by PLing if he needs it.
Now, here’s an issue. I know he says he’s set gil-wise from his brother’s 80+ mil account plus high-level items. But I want to treat this thing like a loan. Meaning, if he ever needs it or its value back I’d hand it over. But here’s my problem: In about 6 levels I hit 68 and need to switch to the Noble’s Tunic. I think I’ll use the Vermillion Cloak until then, sell it, buy a Noble’s then keep the proceeds separate so if he needs me to return his gift I can re-buy one or just cash out the Noble’s and give him gil.
I don’t know how long it’ll take me to reach 68, especially seeing as how I need to level BLM very soon, finish my AF set and am really engrossed in Dancer. Meaning I also have to level Ninja and work on the Utsusemi quest.
Maybe by then it won’t matter but I still owe him bigtime!
And in Brigader news, Raki was on again using Paddybear. Fhox and he were exchanging barbs and he had no problem admitting he was on Paddy. I avoided calling him out on the “sister” because she could still be real. Anyway, the subject of conversation was Fhox’s flirting with Miri. Hehe!
So I tell him I’ll be about 10 minutes and that I’ll be OP warping. He sais it’s no prob because he’s still building the party. Uh-oh. I warn him of my time constraints.
Of course, with my HP in AU, I can’t OP warp from here, so I use the warptaru to Jeuno, buy the Republic Disc and head downstairs. There are only three of us in the party when I get my invite, and we all wound up near the Jeuno zoneline in Qufim. Well, immediately I get aggro from a Dancing Weapon and zone it with like 17 HP to spare.
I return as Dancer and we eventually make our way to the worm camps but I get hate again and this time Auddie died after voking it off me. I ran back upstairs, changed into WHM and took care of the Raise II.
Finally – we get set up and the others join us. We have two PLDs, a WHM (Puni) and me for healing and this time I ask when I should cast. They clearly want me to back-up heal, waiting for orange. So I do. At the Delkfutt zoneline we pull snips and pugs and the odd Giant. For the most part, we ice these mobs with no trouble. On some I barely have time to put two layers of Slow down before they drop. Well, when I could get them to stick.
We’re pulling in pretty solid XP and Puni compliments us more than once. There’s really only one cure-panic that I help with, and we avoid any battlefield deaths. Another party wasn’t so lucky – there were three corpses littering the area near the OP teleporter.
Puni handles my rep perfectly and on their arrival I say my goodbyes and drop out. I’m less than 1k from dinging 22 and gimping my sub. I wish them well and rush back, because…
In the middle of the party Sunoco gets on PM and asks me if I still want the vermy cloak. Hells yes! I repeat that I can really use it but that I want to do something to earn it. We dance around like this and eventually settle when he says that’s what friends do. Rich friends maybe – I don’t know if anyone who busted their ass farming or xNM grinding would be so quick to give it to someone else. I /bow and thank him profusely. He offers to deliver it in person after he stops by the Jeuno AH for a Bronze Bed he needs for the MH expansions.
I tell him I can’t use it now on Dancer and he can mail it to me if it’s easier for him. Not long after I see he’s back in San d’Oria on a new job so I can only hope he did. So naturally I rush back from the party to my MH and check my mailbox.
It’s there!!! Yay!!! I can party on WHM again and hopefully not mess up chain pulls or cure-panics for lack of MP! I still might opt to have a Yag drink or two on me but from what I’ve read about this cloak its refresh effect of 1MP per 3 seconds should stretch my reserves through a chain 5 nicely.
I think I’ll wait until the weekend to try it out because I want my next WHM party to take me as close to 63 as possible for the Protect IV.
I think I’ll also help Sunoco by PLing if he needs it.
Now, here’s an issue. I know he says he’s set gil-wise from his brother’s 80+ mil account plus high-level items. But I want to treat this thing like a loan. Meaning, if he ever needs it or its value back I’d hand it over. But here’s my problem: In about 6 levels I hit 68 and need to switch to the Noble’s Tunic. I think I’ll use the Vermillion Cloak until then, sell it, buy a Noble’s then keep the proceeds separate so if he needs me to return his gift I can re-buy one or just cash out the Noble’s and give him gil.
I don’t know how long it’ll take me to reach 68, especially seeing as how I need to level BLM very soon, finish my AF set and am really engrossed in Dancer. Meaning I also have to level Ninja and work on the Utsusemi quest.
Maybe by then it won’t matter but I still owe him bigtime!
And in Brigader news, Raki was on again using Paddybear. Fhox and he were exchanging barbs and he had no problem admitting he was on Paddy. I avoided calling him out on the “sister” because she could still be real. Anyway, the subject of conversation was Fhox’s flirting with Miri. Hehe!
Monday, January 28, 2008
Provocative Dancing
I logged in close to 11:30 and wasn’t flagged up very long before giving up. While flagged for about 30 minutes, I soloed my way back to 20 and set up macros for my new moves, the dancer’s provoke called Animated Flourish and my first dancing enfeeb – Quickstep. I worked out the kinks of this system on a couple of chump mobs and then headed back to Windy knowing if I did get an invite it would likely be for Qufim, not the Dunes.
However, by midnight I had no takers and took my flag down. I wasn’t bored for long because about 5 minutes later I got a blind tell from Avalen asking if I wanted to party. I told him I would but that I had to go at 1am, not really all that long when travel to Qufim is factored in. He says it’s cool because he has a Monk waiting in the wings.
I opt for the OP warp to Qufim rather than the boat in the interest of time. However, I screw up Rotatta’s selection of destinations and wind up back in Valkurm. /grrr I tell ya, this OP warping is costing me a fair amount of my loot proceeds! I really need to do the T-T thing again for a day or two…
Once in Qufim I sneak my way to the zone entrance, avoiding the nighttime Wights and soon meet up with two of our party. There’s only 4 on the list and Avalen is almost to us. With 4, we opt to try our luck with worms and despite me having to 2-hour to save our bacon when the BLU Vonn stayed AFK the whole fight, we did OK, pulling in close to max XP per kill. Soon, we were joined by another Japanese WAR and a WHM called Molecules.
So, off to the lake we go and we grind away worms, Bounty Hunters and Snips. As with the other recent parties, Avalen is pulling non-stop, and at first, Molecules was having difficulty casting on the right targets. He also seemed slow to the punch when people dipped into the orange/yellow zone. After awhile, he started to fall into the rhythm, but I wound up doing the bulk of the healing. Which was a lot considering the pull rate ^^
But as I said before, I don’t care. I’m a WHM at heart and I picked Dancer because I get to be the melee-“mage” I can’t be on White. I also used my enfeeb and voke a few times for fun, and once or twice to pull hate off one of the WARs who had gone red.
We had three deaths, once when I lagged out and wasn’t able to heal Avalen, and Vonn died once somehow. Avalen had died earlier on trying to zone hate or something when the rest of us were still at the lake. Fortunately, Miketaru was nearby and helped us out with 2 raises and some Banshee crowd control.
I stayed on until 1:20, dinged 21, and was replaced by a COR19 I had recommended earlier. All in all, a much better night than before. Oh, Fhox didn’t know who Chubby was but agreed it was a nice gesture on Chubby’s part. And Alamiriyah joined RDB.
Now, some notes:
The Dancer’s voke doesn’t seem as strong as the Warrior’s, or I’m not delivering enough damage in the meantime to hold the hate. I know I won’t likely ever weaponskill again, so pure melee is all I have. Now that I’m 20, it’s time to toss the Cestis and upgrade to twin daggers.
I haven’t figured out what party leaders and White Mages think of Dancers or how we fit in. I don’t know if my hyperactive healing reflexes are putting off the WHMs or lulling them into a sense of complacency, but I try to wait a bit before casting and lately in these level 15-20 groups the WHMs really seem gun-shy. I’m wondering if I should clarify in advance whether or not I should main-heal while the WHM buffs, enfeebs and panic-heals or what.
Voke works on any enemy but enfeeb will only work on an engaged target. Also, it might be time to switch my macros to <bt> and <stnpc> targeting.
I screwed up my ranged purchase. I dropped 15k on a level 28 chakram. The level 20 item costs 120k and is a NM drop. I have that much gil and I’m wondering if after I upgrade armor and weapons (assuming enough is left) I should go for it, level throwing, then sell the expensive one back at level 28.
I’m almost out of cash – test answers are dead dead dead. Not one sale since the last STF sweep. There is no doubt in my mind these were tied to RMT, but how?
However, by midnight I had no takers and took my flag down. I wasn’t bored for long because about 5 minutes later I got a blind tell from Avalen asking if I wanted to party. I told him I would but that I had to go at 1am, not really all that long when travel to Qufim is factored in. He says it’s cool because he has a Monk waiting in the wings.
I opt for the OP warp to Qufim rather than the boat in the interest of time. However, I screw up Rotatta’s selection of destinations and wind up back in Valkurm. /grrr I tell ya, this OP warping is costing me a fair amount of my loot proceeds! I really need to do the T-T thing again for a day or two…
Once in Qufim I sneak my way to the zone entrance, avoiding the nighttime Wights and soon meet up with two of our party. There’s only 4 on the list and Avalen is almost to us. With 4, we opt to try our luck with worms and despite me having to 2-hour to save our bacon when the BLU Vonn stayed AFK the whole fight, we did OK, pulling in close to max XP per kill. Soon, we were joined by another Japanese WAR and a WHM called Molecules.
So, off to the lake we go and we grind away worms, Bounty Hunters and Snips. As with the other recent parties, Avalen is pulling non-stop, and at first, Molecules was having difficulty casting on the right targets. He also seemed slow to the punch when people dipped into the orange/yellow zone. After awhile, he started to fall into the rhythm, but I wound up doing the bulk of the healing. Which was a lot considering the pull rate ^^
But as I said before, I don’t care. I’m a WHM at heart and I picked Dancer because I get to be the melee-“mage” I can’t be on White. I also used my enfeeb and voke a few times for fun, and once or twice to pull hate off one of the WARs who had gone red.
We had three deaths, once when I lagged out and wasn’t able to heal Avalen, and Vonn died once somehow. Avalen had died earlier on trying to zone hate or something when the rest of us were still at the lake. Fortunately, Miketaru was nearby and helped us out with 2 raises and some Banshee crowd control.
I stayed on until 1:20, dinged 21, and was replaced by a COR19 I had recommended earlier. All in all, a much better night than before. Oh, Fhox didn’t know who Chubby was but agreed it was a nice gesture on Chubby’s part. And Alamiriyah joined RDB.
Now, some notes:
The Dancer’s voke doesn’t seem as strong as the Warrior’s, or I’m not delivering enough damage in the meantime to hold the hate. I know I won’t likely ever weaponskill again, so pure melee is all I have. Now that I’m 20, it’s time to toss the Cestis and upgrade to twin daggers.
I haven’t figured out what party leaders and White Mages think of Dancers or how we fit in. I don’t know if my hyperactive healing reflexes are putting off the WHMs or lulling them into a sense of complacency, but I try to wait a bit before casting and lately in these level 15-20 groups the WHMs really seem gun-shy. I’m wondering if I should clarify in advance whether or not I should main-heal while the WHM buffs, enfeebs and panic-heals or what.
Voke works on any enemy but enfeeb will only work on an engaged target. Also, it might be time to switch my macros to <bt>
I screwed up my ranged purchase. I dropped 15k on a level 28 chakram. The level 20 item costs 120k and is a NM drop. I have that much gil and I’m wondering if after I upgrade armor and weapons (assuming enough is left) I should go for it, level throwing, then sell the expensive one back at level 28.
I’m almost out of cash – test answers are dead dead dead. Not one sale since the last STF sweep. There is no doubt in my mind these were tied to RMT, but how?
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Down in the Dirt
January 25-27, 2008
Another long weekend but this one isn’t nearly as fun. I focused exclusively on Dancer, for reasons I’ll get to in a sec. I took her from 17 to almost-20 in a series of parties on the Dunes and in Qufim.
None of the parties was very remarkable although one was very level-tight. Gambino led two of them, one each in the two aforementioned zones. Omii was along for the ride on both as well, on WHM. I found myself doing at least as much healing as he did although I really don’t mind. We didn’t have too many danger zone incidents and he stepped up when it counted.
To be fair, Gambino was pulling a little enthusiastically and not giving Omii a lot of time to rest. I think I saw Omii down on one knee during several pulls, but who could blame him? He did keep the buffs up which was especially handy against the gobs Gambino chose for us.
In one party I wound up next to Roo who had rep’ed a non-responsive member. She’s a Dancer also but showed up wearing Bone gear and some other accessories. I didn’t see any obvious Acc+ items but she was carrying a fair amount of evasion. Before the Qufim party I would go shopping, blowing about 50k on Dancer-compatible items like a Traveler’s Mantle, the Chakram I’d be using to pull with and some odds and ends for WHM.
It seemed she was hitting about as often as I was but was hitting harder. She was using Republic Cesti but I don’t recall if I saw any STR or ATT boosters. In any case, we never coordinated on who would buff or heal so I just did it whenever I felt the urge. Nobody seemed to mind and I kept my TP up enough to handle cure panics.
I used this time to refine my macros to include party tells for use of the Sambas or TP notices after cures. I hope people understand how dancing work! By the time the final party ended, in Qufim, Gambino and I were a few pulls away from dinging. He had said we would stay for both our levels but abruptly bailed with me 400xp shy. Oh well, I should have no trouble soloing that, right?
Well, I logged in late last night hoping for an invite but after being flagged up for 45 minutes I take my flag down at midnight and head to the Dunes to solo. I’m almost there, working off bunnies and a snipper when I go after a Goblin Tinkerer. I make sure to move closer to the outpost to avoid links and for help if need be and promptly beat him down to about 25%.
Then I start taking crazy damage and I see a Leecher has joined in on the fun. I run for the OP then turn and fight knowing I’d never get the teleport home off in time. I almost finish off the Tinkerer but fall face first in the sand. Cavell, a magey-looking fellow shouts for a raise on my behalf and I thank him and joke about the linky. At least one party passes by and I thought I saw a Red Mage PL but I got no raise this time. After 15 minutes dead I homepoint and return and find myself at 550 tnl, meaning I lost close to 350xp. Grrr! It’s close to 1am but I want to ding so I find a Leecher by himself and pull him to the front of the OP.
I didn’t realize at the time but it was a Tinkerer I wanted, not a Leecher. In any event, we fight to a draw since he cast Cure III on himself FOUR TIMES… I did get to try out the Dancer 2-hour called Trance. It lets you dance your pants off at no TP cost for about 30 seconds. It allowed me to rebuild TP to about 120% but it was clear I wasn’t going to be able to finish this guy off. And this was after about 20 minutes of pounding away!
So I called for /help and a group nearby runs over swings a few times and I’m free. I thank them and log out near the OP’s teleporter, Medicine Axe.
But that’s not the good stuff! I had three interesting run-ins this weekend. First up is Sunoco. He PMed me in reply to my Jeuno shouts for the Holy Shield and Ebony Wand. He said his brother’s account has a lot of goodies he’s been rifling through since his bro left him the account on his way to Azeroth. I jokingly asked if he had a Vermillion or Royal Cloak stashed in there and Sunoco said he’d look. I beg off saying I wouldn’t be able to afford it if I wanted. He said it was no problem – he didn’t need money since his bro had 86M in gil and who knows what in inventory.
He says he’ll look for the Shield and Cloak and send me what he finds after he finished his party. Later on, I run into him in Selbina, doing the quick-fame quest. I was there finishing off LB4 and he remembered me right away, saying he didn’t find the shield but thought he saw the cloak. I asked him what I should pay him when the time comes and he said not to worry, again. This is why I avoided WHM, BTW. I want to see if I can have the Vermy Cloak on before my next Aht Urghan party.
He spends the next day and a half in Kazham and as of midnight last night hadn’t sent the cloak. I managed to get the wand myself off the Jeuno AH and pulled that Wanted listing, but so far, no one has put up the Shield or responded to further tells.
OK, next encounter: Brooks. While in San d’Oria Saturday for that leg of LB4, I comment to the Brigaders about a group of 9 or 10 people all from the same shell gathered together. Kitty and Fhox wonder if they’re up to a Garrison run. As I head past, Brooks runs up to me and PMs, “Are you really a girl irl?” I tell him no, and he asks, “So you’re a guy for sure?” He also asks for a Brigader pearl. I check with Fhox first, noting that Brooks’s title is “New Adventurer” and that he’s a WAR1. Fhox gives the go-ahead so I hand him one.
He switches on immediately and almost as fast, begins to be obnoxious. He pops back to his shell and they go do their thing. Kitty then mentions he had been chatting her up and annoyed her. She said she thought he was whacking off while talking to her. Later Goldy would say that he tried talking to her but she had been AFK and he apparently “Grrr”-ed her and that made her mad.
Weird. Anyway, he popped into the LS once or twice more but I didn’t see him Saturday night or Sunday.
And lastly, shortly after logging in last night and while I was headed through Port Windy, Chubby PMs me saying he knows me. I reply with “Oh? From?” and he says someone talked about me a lot. Paraphrasing, he said so-and-so referred to me as their right hand and that I saved them many times. He didn’t remember the name. I guessed Fhox but he wasn’t sure. I also said as a career WHM I try to save everyone so it might have been that. But he seems to think it was a personal connection.
I didn’t see anyone else from the RDB on so I never got to ask who knows Chubby. But I told him his message was most appreciated. He said he just wanted to let me know people were saying nice things about me.
I wonder if it *is* a Brigader…
Also, as a public service to RMT-watchers everywhere, I saw Ferenan on again. He was in Sea Serpent Grotto, the only place I’ve ever seen him the 2 or 3 times he happened to be on when I was looking for him. I’m really wondering if he’s RMT since he’s always anonymous and always in a party. I’ve heard from people on forums that SSG is one common place to find RMT campers.
And the fact that I’ve spent almost half of his gift makes it more than likely that I’m gonna keep it (mostly) guilt-free. He’s had over a month to contact me if he was concerned and he wasn’t on for like 16 consecutive days right after.
So tonight, my plan is to log in, ding 20 on Dancer and try out the new moves. I’ll also work on pulling now that I have a ranged attack. I did pull a couple for the earlier parties but not regularly.
I’ll also hope to find a present from Sunoco but won’t pester him about it. And I’ll hopefully learn more about Chubby.
P.S. Fhox is working on Summoner now.
Another long weekend but this one isn’t nearly as fun. I focused exclusively on Dancer, for reasons I’ll get to in a sec. I took her from 17 to almost-20 in a series of parties on the Dunes and in Qufim.
None of the parties was very remarkable although one was very level-tight. Gambino led two of them, one each in the two aforementioned zones. Omii was along for the ride on both as well, on WHM. I found myself doing at least as much healing as he did although I really don’t mind. We didn’t have too many danger zone incidents and he stepped up when it counted.
To be fair, Gambino was pulling a little enthusiastically and not giving Omii a lot of time to rest. I think I saw Omii down on one knee during several pulls, but who could blame him? He did keep the buffs up which was especially handy against the gobs Gambino chose for us.
In one party I wound up next to Roo who had rep’ed a non-responsive member. She’s a Dancer also but showed up wearing Bone gear and some other accessories. I didn’t see any obvious Acc+ items but she was carrying a fair amount of evasion. Before the Qufim party I would go shopping, blowing about 50k on Dancer-compatible items like a Traveler’s Mantle, the Chakram I’d be using to pull with and some odds and ends for WHM.
It seemed she was hitting about as often as I was but was hitting harder. She was using Republic Cesti but I don’t recall if I saw any STR or ATT boosters. In any case, we never coordinated on who would buff or heal so I just did it whenever I felt the urge. Nobody seemed to mind and I kept my TP up enough to handle cure panics.
I used this time to refine my macros to include party tells for use of the Sambas or TP notices after cures. I hope people understand how dancing work! By the time the final party ended, in Qufim, Gambino and I were a few pulls away from dinging. He had said we would stay for both our levels but abruptly bailed with me 400xp shy. Oh well, I should have no trouble soloing that, right?
Well, I logged in late last night hoping for an invite but after being flagged up for 45 minutes I take my flag down at midnight and head to the Dunes to solo. I’m almost there, working off bunnies and a snipper when I go after a Goblin Tinkerer. I make sure to move closer to the outpost to avoid links and for help if need be and promptly beat him down to about 25%.
Then I start taking crazy damage and I see a Leecher has joined in on the fun. I run for the OP then turn and fight knowing I’d never get the teleport home off in time. I almost finish off the Tinkerer but fall face first in the sand. Cavell, a magey-looking fellow shouts for a raise on my behalf and I thank him and joke about the linky. At least one party passes by and I thought I saw a Red Mage PL but I got no raise this time. After 15 minutes dead I homepoint and return and find myself at 550 tnl, meaning I lost close to 350xp. Grrr! It’s close to 1am but I want to ding so I find a Leecher by himself and pull him to the front of the OP.
I didn’t realize at the time but it was a Tinkerer I wanted, not a Leecher. In any event, we fight to a draw since he cast Cure III on himself FOUR TIMES… I did get to try out the Dancer 2-hour called Trance. It lets you dance your pants off at no TP cost for about 30 seconds. It allowed me to rebuild TP to about 120% but it was clear I wasn’t going to be able to finish this guy off. And this was after about 20 minutes of pounding away!
So I called for /help and a group nearby runs over swings a few times and I’m free. I thank them and log out near the OP’s teleporter, Medicine Axe.
But that’s not the good stuff! I had three interesting run-ins this weekend. First up is Sunoco. He PMed me in reply to my Jeuno shouts for the Holy Shield and Ebony Wand. He said his brother’s account has a lot of goodies he’s been rifling through since his bro left him the account on his way to Azeroth. I jokingly asked if he had a Vermillion or Royal Cloak stashed in there and Sunoco said he’d look. I beg off saying I wouldn’t be able to afford it if I wanted. He said it was no problem – he didn’t need money since his bro had 86M in gil and who knows what in inventory.
He says he’ll look for the Shield and Cloak and send me what he finds after he finished his party. Later on, I run into him in Selbina, doing the quick-fame quest. I was there finishing off LB4 and he remembered me right away, saying he didn’t find the shield but thought he saw the cloak. I asked him what I should pay him when the time comes and he said not to worry, again. This is why I avoided WHM, BTW. I want to see if I can have the Vermy Cloak on before my next Aht Urghan party.
He spends the next day and a half in Kazham and as of midnight last night hadn’t sent the cloak. I managed to get the wand myself off the Jeuno AH and pulled that Wanted listing, but so far, no one has put up the Shield or responded to further tells.
OK, next encounter: Brooks. While in San d’Oria Saturday for that leg of LB4, I comment to the Brigaders about a group of 9 or 10 people all from the same shell gathered together. Kitty and Fhox wonder if they’re up to a Garrison run. As I head past, Brooks runs up to me and PMs, “Are you really a girl irl?” I tell him no, and he asks, “So you’re a guy for sure?” He also asks for a Brigader pearl. I check with Fhox first, noting that Brooks’s title is “New Adventurer” and that he’s a WAR1. Fhox gives the go-ahead so I hand him one.
He switches on immediately and almost as fast, begins to be obnoxious. He pops back to his shell and they go do their thing. Kitty then mentions he had been chatting her up and annoyed her. She said she thought he was whacking off while talking to her. Later Goldy would say that he tried talking to her but she had been AFK and he apparently “Grrr”-ed her and that made her mad.
Weird. Anyway, he popped into the LS once or twice more but I didn’t see him Saturday night or Sunday.
And lastly, shortly after logging in last night and while I was headed through Port Windy, Chubby PMs me saying he knows me. I reply with “Oh? From?” and he says someone talked about me a lot. Paraphrasing, he said so-and-so referred to me as their right hand and that I saved them many times. He didn’t remember the name. I guessed Fhox but he wasn’t sure. I also said as a career WHM I try to save everyone so it might have been that. But he seems to think it was a personal connection.
I didn’t see anyone else from the RDB on so I never got to ask who knows Chubby. But I told him his message was most appreciated. He said he just wanted to let me know people were saying nice things about me.
I wonder if it *is* a Brigader…
Also, as a public service to RMT-watchers everywhere, I saw Ferenan on again. He was in Sea Serpent Grotto, the only place I’ve ever seen him the 2 or 3 times he happened to be on when I was looking for him. I’m really wondering if he’s RMT since he’s always anonymous and always in a party. I’ve heard from people on forums that SSG is one common place to find RMT campers.
And the fact that I’ve spent almost half of his gift makes it more than likely that I’m gonna keep it (mostly) guilt-free. He’s had over a month to contact me if he was concerned and he wasn’t on for like 16 consecutive days right after.
So tonight, my plan is to log in, ding 20 on Dancer and try out the new moves. I’ll also work on pulling now that I have a ranged attack. I did pull a couple for the earlier parties but not regularly.
I’ll also hope to find a present from Sunoco but won’t pester him about it. And I’ll hopefully learn more about Chubby.
P.S. Fhox is working on Summoner now.
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Creepy Crawlies
Before logging in Ape and I watched a couple of hours of TV and I spent a little time researching weapon and armor upgrades for WHM. Turns out there are a few clubs that put out high damage at or near 62, and one has a Stun effect that might work on Maat when that time arrives. I also saw that my only real option shield-wise is the Holy Shield.
So when I logged in still next to Maat, I prepped a /shout for Ebony Wand +1 {Reward:}10k and Holy Shield {Reward:}30k and let fly once before entering my MH. I collected some more auction receipts, changed to Dancer and flagged up, and then exited in Lower Jeuno.
I shouted some more for the two items and also threw out shouts for the AF3 or AF4 runs. I was waiting for at least half an hour and got no takers on Dancer or offers for items. I did chat briefly with Sandyclaws, a Galkan WHM interested in AF3. He said he had a NIN75 willing to help out but wondered if the three of us would be enough. I told him I thought possibly but that we’d need to farm bells first anyway.
He seemed unsure so I told him I’d be on for a couple more hours if he changed his mind. I then verified the AF6 coffer key mob strengths – of the three that drop the key in the Crawler’s Nest, the Soldier Crawler*, in the high-40’s, would be the easiest to try soloing. And its level would likely grant skillups in both Club and Shield.
Giving up on Jeuno, I ride out to CN and start looking for Soldiers. Nothing aggros thankfully, and I try out the regular Ebony Wand I bought for kicks. I pick a Worker Crawler and beating it down took longer than I expected. And I took a good amount of damage. And since they’re closer to 40, I don’t get any skillups ><. This makes me nervous for the Soldier fights…
I eventually find a tunnel with 4 of them paired up 2 x 2. I buff and wait for one to move far enough away as not to link, and pull it. This fight is longer and harder than with the Worker, but I win. No drop of course. I change my strategy from nuke & cure to blink-tank and enfeeb. By alternating Blinks with Stoneskins and making sure all 4 enfeebles are in place, I take out a handful of worms without needing to cure. It does wipe most of my MP, but I feel like a proper tank. It’s certainly good experience for my future Paladin or Ninja tanking days.
I change up my buffs a bit by trying out Ice Spikes and Blaze Spikes on two more crawlers. I think Ice is the way to go for the free Paralyzes (still the most effective non-DoT enfeeble IMHO). And the damage it deals when I get hit helps.
I also use Haste only when slowed but I might start with that as a pre-fight buff. It really isn’t taking that long to recover MP since HP isn’t taking any real damage.
I think I soloed 7 or 8 of these guys before checking the time. So I say my goodnights to the Brigaders and begin to log out when it dawns on me* that I soloed the wrong* worms*! It’s Helm Beetles, Knight Crawlers and RUMBLE Crawlers. Argh… But I did skill up Club +5, Shield like 2 or 3 and Divine (from the Banish spam).
I like my new WHM Tanking strategy but I wish I could fight tougher mobs, especially with Rumblers being like 52-55. And that it didn’t take so long. I think I might look into Acc+ gear for both WHM and DNC as well as whether or not I want to start eating tank food. I’m not farming much and with my HP outside of Jeuno and AU I’m not tele-taxiing either.
As for skillups, it looks like the logic is working – take current skill level, figure out what level caps it (to know a mob minimum level), then figure out what level caps the new target (say +40). Then hunt down mobs of that new level using a bestiary or camp resource. I wonder if that “cheat” of using a 0-damage weapon on a slept mob really works. I have a club and staff pair from holiday events that’s like DMG 2. I think I’ll try, but I thought to get a skillup the hit had to connect AND do at least 1 point of damage.
So when I logged in still next to Maat, I prepped a /shout for Ebony Wand +1 {Reward:}10k and Holy Shield {Reward:}30k and let fly once before entering my MH. I collected some more auction receipts, changed to Dancer and flagged up, and then exited in Lower Jeuno.
I shouted some more for the two items and also threw out shouts for the AF3 or AF4 runs. I was waiting for at least half an hour and got no takers on Dancer or offers for items. I did chat briefly with Sandyclaws, a Galkan WHM interested in AF3. He said he had a NIN75 willing to help out but wondered if the three of us would be enough. I told him I thought possibly but that we’d need to farm bells first anyway.
He seemed unsure so I told him I’d be on for a couple more hours if he changed his mind. I then verified the AF6 coffer key mob strengths – of the three that drop the key in the Crawler’s Nest, the Soldier Crawler*, in the high-40’s, would be the easiest to try soloing. And its level would likely grant skillups in both Club and Shield.
Giving up on Jeuno, I ride out to CN and start looking for Soldiers. Nothing aggros thankfully, and I try out the regular Ebony Wand I bought for kicks. I pick a Worker Crawler and beating it down took longer than I expected. And I took a good amount of damage. And since they’re closer to 40, I don’t get any skillups ><. This makes me nervous for the Soldier fights…
I eventually find a tunnel with 4 of them paired up 2 x 2. I buff and wait for one to move far enough away as not to link, and pull it. This fight is longer and harder than with the Worker, but I win. No drop of course. I change my strategy from nuke & cure to blink-tank and enfeeb. By alternating Blinks with Stoneskins and making sure all 4 enfeebles are in place, I take out a handful of worms without needing to cure. It does wipe most of my MP, but I feel like a proper tank. It’s certainly good experience for my future Paladin or Ninja tanking days.
I change up my buffs a bit by trying out Ice Spikes and Blaze Spikes on two more crawlers. I think Ice is the way to go for the free Paralyzes (still the most effective non-DoT enfeeble IMHO). And the damage it deals when I get hit helps.
I also use Haste only when slowed but I might start with that as a pre-fight buff. It really isn’t taking that long to recover MP since HP isn’t taking any real damage.
I think I soloed 7 or 8 of these guys before checking the time. So I say my goodnights to the Brigaders and begin to log out when it dawns on me* that I soloed the wrong* worms*! It’s Helm Beetles, Knight Crawlers and RUMBLE Crawlers. Argh… But I did skill up Club +5, Shield like 2 or 3 and Divine (from the Banish spam).
I like my new WHM Tanking strategy but I wish I could fight tougher mobs, especially with Rumblers being like 52-55. And that it didn’t take so long. I think I might look into Acc+ gear for both WHM and DNC as well as whether or not I want to start eating tank food. I’m not farming much and with my HP outside of Jeuno and AU I’m not tele-taxiing either.
As for skillups, it looks like the logic is working – take current skill level, figure out what level caps it (to know a mob minimum level), then figure out what level caps the new target (say +40). Then hunt down mobs of that new level using a bestiary or camp resource. I wonder if that “cheat” of using a 0-damage weapon on a slept mob really works. I have a club and staff pair from holiday events that’s like DMG 2. I think I’ll try, but I thought to get a skillup the hit had to connect AND do at least 1 point of damage.
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Swiping at Shadows
Today, other than meeting Allicia, another new RDB recruit, in LS chat, I worked on the Sorcery of the North quest for the Teleport-Vahzl scroll. I teled myself to the Vahzl gate and made my way to Fei’Yin. Even with the tele help it’s a long slog through Beaucedine Glacier and its tricky ledges. But the good news is, I can say that at least last night, the Skulker’s Cape worked very well!
I soloed a couple of mobs near Fei’Yin for skillup testing and then entered the ruins. I got the AF3 cutscene and after that buffed up and started looking for Ore Golems. I eventually locate their room and take out three of them plus a trio of Undead Bats. The fighting is hard and I’m getting taken into the red, but Cure V and a Divine Sealed C4 take care of that. My enfeebs, feeble though they are, help mitigate damage, and the golems drop after about 5 minutes apiece. With nearly that long to rest up and rebuff I have DS available pretty much every fight.
I also got bold after the second or third golem and stopped worrying about Sneak and Invisible – it looks like the first-area mobs will not aggro me (unless I heal too close to one – Hi bats!).
After emptying up Miser Murphy’s room of golems I find one of the Shadow rooms and decide to go for it. The pattern is the same as with the golems – Protect, Shell, Blink, Stoneskin, Aquaveil, Haste…then cast enfeebs and spam Banish. The Shadows hit a little harder IMO, and their TP move, Dimensional Death is worse than the golems’ crystal attacks. But they also seem really weak to light-based attacks so between Dia, Banishes and Starburst weaponskills, I’m handling my business.
I take out three Shadows and one more golem but get no keys. I did see that the Ranger Shadow is pathetically inaccurate, missing on almost all his ranged attacks as well as one DD.
I decide to warp out and take the airship to Jeuno to sell more stuff at the AH and flag the LB4 quest. My clues are basically these:
* A man who took to raising his own sheep to get good wool
* A man who is so quiet his boss wants to call him “Silent Mountain” (so-o-o Galka)
* A boy who thinks only of his own mother
* A girl who is tired of being left out all the time
I think maybe 90 minutes of work on this and then I can focus on my Maat fight, which I plan to try at least once as a melee-mage. I did skill up Staff 4 more levels while in Fei’Yin. Maybe I’ll try skilling Club and Shield on my next go ‘round.
I soloed a couple of mobs near Fei’Yin for skillup testing and then entered the ruins. I got the AF3 cutscene and after that buffed up and started looking for Ore Golems. I eventually locate their room and take out three of them plus a trio of Undead Bats. The fighting is hard and I’m getting taken into the red, but Cure V and a Divine Sealed C4 take care of that. My enfeebs, feeble though they are, help mitigate damage, and the golems drop after about 5 minutes apiece. With nearly that long to rest up and rebuff I have DS available pretty much every fight.
I also got bold after the second or third golem and stopped worrying about Sneak and Invisible – it looks like the first-area mobs will not aggro me (unless I heal too close to one – Hi bats!).
After emptying up Miser Murphy’s room of golems I find one of the Shadow rooms and decide to go for it. The pattern is the same as with the golems – Protect, Shell, Blink, Stoneskin, Aquaveil, Haste…then cast enfeebs and spam Banish. The Shadows hit a little harder IMO, and their TP move, Dimensional Death is worse than the golems’ crystal attacks. But they also seem really weak to light-based attacks so between Dia, Banishes and Starburst weaponskills, I’m handling my business.
I take out three Shadows and one more golem but get no keys. I did see that the Ranger Shadow is pathetically inaccurate, missing on almost all his ranged attacks as well as one DD.
I decide to warp out and take the airship to Jeuno to sell more stuff at the AH and flag the LB4 quest. My clues are basically these:
* A man who took to raising his own sheep to get good wool
* A man who is so quiet his boss wants to call him “Silent Mountain” (so-o-o Galka)
* A boy who thinks only of his own mother
* A girl who is tired of being left out all the time
I think maybe 90 minutes of work on this and then I can focus on my Maat fight, which I plan to try at least once as a melee-mage. I did skill up Staff 4 more levels while in Fei’Yin. Maybe I’ll try skilling Club and Shield on my next go ‘round.
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Little Birdies
Just before logging in I tried out Friend List Plus, POL’s web-based friend monitor and basic messaging client. It lets you see your friend list and their online status. You can also send and receive messages. But these are email-type messages, not chat ><.
I messaged Fhox who was offline about wanting to know where he’d been. Once I logged in at around 10:40 he had made it in and replied – God of War II was competing for his attention. Anyway, I chatted with him and Puma while I handled my auctions and spell storage (and a free tele). Puma beat Maat since the last try and had already dinged 71.
Around 11, I got an invite from Ameena for a Colibri party. We got started close to 11:30 and thankfully, she didn’t plan on pulling anything but Colibri. Well, actually, at the camp we chose (SW corner of the Thickets) there’s not much besides the pink toucan lookalikes. Also, a bonus, our Paladin Nile was fantastic, our Dancer Lilangel did her thing and co-healed, and I rarely ran low on MP.
We pulled almost all chain-4 and 5’s pretty much non-stop for two hours. I warned Ameena well in advance that I had to go close to 1 but she didn’t respond and there weren’t any healers seeking at our level. I eventually had to tell the party I was getting ready to leave and she piped up that a rep was coming. That WHM bailed however and she eventually found Woofin, a RDM I’ve seen around.
All these delays meant what was supposed to be 90 minutes wound up being about 135. The great news is that I dinged 62, raking in just over 17k in xp! That’s around 6,800 an hour, for next to no effort.
Actually, I was often bored between doing a few heals on Nile and Fultum (a Taru DRK with an occasional WS that ate about a third of his HP) and the Haste/Buff cycle. I eventually asked for permission to melee a bit for Staff skillups and Ameena said OK but I wanted to ask the party who ignored me. Well, Furea said {That’s too bad.} but I think that might have been in response to a chain-break.
In any case I didn’t melee until the WHM rep bailed and I was forced to wait even longer to leave. I was a little annoyed and didn’t care at this point. It did dawn on me that at least 2 and maybe more of our crew was Japanese, so I threw out “{White Mage} {Attack} {Short time} OK” in party chat and set to work. Either my skill is too low for this level of mob or my Accuracy blows, but I was only hitting about 15% of the time, and many of those hits were zeroes, granting no en-Aspir MP or skillup points.
But I did get most of a full Staff level and healing started jumping up too. I ran out of MP pretty fast without Furea’s hMP and Refresh Corsair rolls and so I put away my weapon and went back-line again, and had to use Bene almost immediately… Three of us were in the yellow and Nile was low on HP. It all worked out OK though – I only took a hit or two and the yellow HP cleared right up.
All in all a great party with fantastic XP and great support from everyone. Well, Ameena and Fultum were pretty much pure melee so they did their jobs on the mob but Nile, Lilangel and Furea were a delight, making my job really easy.
Now that I’m *62* I think I’ll give Sorcery of the North another go and work on AF parts. I’ll try to stick to leveling Dancer and Ninja in the meantime.
And I absolutely need to do some skilling up on both Staff and Club!
I messaged Fhox who was offline about wanting to know where he’d been. Once I logged in at around 10:40 he had made it in and replied – God of War II was competing for his attention. Anyway, I chatted with him and Puma while I handled my auctions and spell storage (and a free tele). Puma beat Maat since the last try and had already dinged 71.
Around 11, I got an invite from Ameena for a Colibri party. We got started close to 11:30 and thankfully, she didn’t plan on pulling anything but Colibri. Well, actually, at the camp we chose (SW corner of the Thickets) there’s not much besides the pink toucan lookalikes. Also, a bonus, our Paladin Nile was fantastic, our Dancer Lilangel did her thing and co-healed, and I rarely ran low on MP.
We pulled almost all chain-4 and 5’s pretty much non-stop for two hours. I warned Ameena well in advance that I had to go close to 1 but she didn’t respond and there weren’t any healers seeking at our level. I eventually had to tell the party I was getting ready to leave and she piped up that a rep was coming. That WHM bailed however and she eventually found Woofin, a RDM I’ve seen around.
All these delays meant what was supposed to be 90 minutes wound up being about 135. The great news is that I dinged 62, raking in just over 17k in xp! That’s around 6,800 an hour, for next to no effort.
Actually, I was often bored between doing a few heals on Nile and Fultum (a Taru DRK with an occasional WS that ate about a third of his HP) and the Haste/Buff cycle. I eventually asked for permission to melee a bit for Staff skillups and Ameena said OK but I wanted to ask the party who ignored me. Well, Furea said {That’s too bad.} but I think that might have been in response to a chain-break.
In any case I didn’t melee until the WHM rep bailed and I was forced to wait even longer to leave. I was a little annoyed and didn’t care at this point. It did dawn on me that at least 2 and maybe more of our crew was Japanese, so I threw out “{White Mage} {Attack} {Short time} OK” in party chat and set to work. Either my skill is too low for this level of mob or my Accuracy blows, but I was only hitting about 15% of the time, and many of those hits were zeroes, granting no en-Aspir MP or skillup points.
But I did get most of a full Staff level and healing started jumping up too. I ran out of MP pretty fast without Furea’s hMP and Refresh Corsair rolls and so I put away my weapon and went back-line again, and had to use Bene almost immediately… Three of us were in the yellow and Nile was low on HP. It all worked out OK though – I only took a hit or two and the yellow HP cleared right up.
All in all a great party with fantastic XP and great support from everyone. Well, Ameena and Fultum were pretty much pure melee so they did their jobs on the mob but Nile, Lilangel and Furea were a delight, making my job really easy.
Now that I’m *62* I think I’ll give Sorcery of the North another go and work on AF parts. I’ll try to stick to leveling Dancer and Ninja in the meantime.
And I absolutely need to do some skilling up on both Staff and Club!
Monday, January 21, 2008
Sky Breaker
January 18-21, 2008
Wow – yet another weekend marathon, and this time, a lot of good things happened! Also, a lot of non-Vana’diel activities too:
• Matt and Bran each win “People’s Choice” awards for their Scout Pinewood Derby cars – Matt got “Most Unusual” and Bran snagged “Funniest”. Patty said upon our arrival that she was looking forward to what we had come up with this year.
• Matt’s basketball team “The Wizards” won a nail-biter on a last-minute bucket. Final was 23-22 yet they were down 18-10 going into the fourth.
• TK and Rachel take a much-deserved win in Amazing Race 12.
• Green Bay loses to the Giants in OT on a 47-yard field goal from their kicker who missed two shorter tries in regulation.
• Spent MLK day out and about in Mandarin – lunch, the park, shopping, cleaning up Tyler…
Also put in like 15 hours and pulled off the following feats:
• Soloed the Beadeaux Crest run and soloed Oztroja up to the 4-lever door. I passed a 60PLD called Kaiji in Beadeaux in the Crest area of Qulun but wasn’t able to stick around and help. I got my crest and had to warp out because of aggro.
However, in Castle O, I saw him run by me headed to the second password statue as I was headed to #3. I told him both #1 and #2 to show him I was ahead. When I popped #3 I told him that one too. As I waited by the 4-lever door for the two Yags to be somewhere else, he comes running up and opens the door allowing me to pass. He doesn’t make it in and instead has to deal with aggro. I think for a moment about whether or not to help and ultimately decide that I must. I open the door and join him and we party up for the remainder of the castle.
Because of occasional aggro and a door snafu on my part we don’t reach the password trap door before midnight ><. He suggests going back but I tell him we need to just try passwords off the net, which actually works. We make it to the High Priest’s dais and are able to easily walk up and get our crests only getting aggro well after. I Escaped us and we split up, after much mutual thanking and respecting. I only died once to his twice but he seemed OK.
• I helped Taftpaul with one of the keys needed for the Kazham Airship pass, Giddeus. It didn’t take long and he was happy for the help, only finding me through shouts in Jeuno. He was very appreciative saying his LS wasn’t helping and I told him I didn’t mind because I like to help, hence being WHM.
• Shadee struck up a long convo with me just as I made my way to my MH hoping for a party. He said he was bored but it turns out he was flirting too. He called me out for my Bazaar comment once I had to let him know I was a dude IRL. Told him that comment was originally written assuming I’d be RPing. Also, it’s the one place I use a female description of my char – otherwise I’m not shy to admit my real gender if it comes up. Anyway we had a really nice chat. Now I just need to find him in-game and trade him a cookie. Oh yeah, he claims to have 594 DAYS in-game!
• Had a pair of major parties on WHM for about 7k and 12.5k and that was enough to put me at 61 with a 4k buffer! Finally I can use Cure V and maybe party with Fhox and the others! One of the parties was led by a Japanese called Firry who led a chain-pulling frenzy of Colibris and Date Erucas. I learned that these worms don’t poison, they roast! Our paladin died once to a massive two-shot that neither I nor our leader (DNC62) could stop, and she died once to a link. The rest of us were able to put down the pair of Erucas and get her patched up.
I was very apologetic to the party for the Paladin’s death because I could have easily stopped it if I had been paying attention to the Eruca’s use of Incinerate. But Firry’s death was someone else’s problem ^^. I did have another issue though – early in I got a blind tell from Rebelion requesting a raise in the area just east of our camp but Firry wouldn’t let me go. And besides me there were only like 3 raise-capables in the area and ALL were in parties. I need to find a way to make it up to him…
This party worked well enough regarding MP and downtime but it’s still clear I need to find a better way to keep MP. Also, I think Firry and I ended on good terms. Early on she kept asking for me in party chat as if she thought I wasn’t doing anything. Hell – buffs, hastes, Barfiras, curing, one Benediction… I was VERY busy! I still hate crawler mobs for their Sticky Thread Slow attack – Haste costs me far too much and I have to cast it a LOT these days…
The other party sucked – that paladin couldn’t hold hate if it came in a bucket. He wouldn’t cure until it was C4 time and by then the mob had been eating away at the other melees. He also wasn’t using his paladin abilities like Sentinel or Defender without having to be asked. Corina, our leader and I chatted about him off and on. I think the rest of us were relieved when it was DB time.
• I PLed Raki for about an hour in the Dunes. The whole thing with his “sister” hasn’t come up again even though “she” has popped on briefly a couple of times since. I still have a feeling that Raki is just yanking my chain but who knows… In any event he and I had a nice time. I also learned that just using Flash for crowd control invalidates that mob for anyone else – 0 xp! Time to update my PL guide again…
• Tried Besieged twice – once for 1450xp and the other was a bust. Even though I was logged in just before the CS with the Besieged icon, and had tried out my new Cure V scroll on many people, I got bupkus… I did see Kaiji and knelt to him.
• Chatted very briefly with Kaloli to see if she wanted PL assistance but she was farming in Gustaberg. By the time she had joined a party I was already tied up.
• Bought more scrolls – I’m now WHM-complete through *70* which if I understand LB4, I can solo easily. I think all I’m missing is Curaga IV and Reraise III. Everything else is sitting in storage ready to go.
• I don’t really like my HP being in Windy. I can’t T-T effectively but at least returning to Aht Urghan is still quick, be it for a party meetup or Besieged. Since I should be able to take WHM all the way to 70 I don’t know if I’ll spend much time on Dancer or Ninja. I should prolly try to split up the time on WHM with the other subs just so I don’t burn out on WHM again. But since breaking 60 I really feel “alive” again as a mage.
Also, with my HP in Windy I’m spending a lot on Mr. Ibwam and his teles. Dammit Monk, I’m the tele-whore around here!
• Now that I’m 61, I really need to buckle down and pick up my AF legs, body and hands. Also, I need to get the Vahzl tele scroll done for the cash. I think just before logging out last night in Jeuno I had seen a mage AF shout but I don’t recall which mage…
Wow – yet another weekend marathon, and this time, a lot of good things happened! Also, a lot of non-Vana’diel activities too:
• Matt and Bran each win “People’s Choice” awards for their Scout Pinewood Derby cars – Matt got “Most Unusual” and Bran snagged “Funniest”. Patty said upon our arrival that she was looking forward to what we had come up with this year.
• Matt’s basketball team “The Wizards” won a nail-biter on a last-minute bucket. Final was 23-22 yet they were down 18-10 going into the fourth.
• TK and Rachel take a much-deserved win in Amazing Race 12.
• Green Bay loses to the Giants in OT on a 47-yard field goal from their kicker who missed two shorter tries in regulation.
• Spent MLK day out and about in Mandarin – lunch, the park, shopping, cleaning up Tyler…
Also put in like 15 hours and pulled off the following feats:
• Soloed the Beadeaux Crest run and soloed Oztroja up to the 4-lever door. I passed a 60PLD called Kaiji in Beadeaux in the Crest area of Qulun but wasn’t able to stick around and help. I got my crest and had to warp out because of aggro.
However, in Castle O, I saw him run by me headed to the second password statue as I was headed to #3. I told him both #1 and #2 to show him I was ahead. When I popped #3 I told him that one too. As I waited by the 4-lever door for the two Yags to be somewhere else, he comes running up and opens the door allowing me to pass. He doesn’t make it in and instead has to deal with aggro. I think for a moment about whether or not to help and ultimately decide that I must. I open the door and join him and we party up for the remainder of the castle.
Because of occasional aggro and a door snafu on my part we don’t reach the password trap door before midnight ><. He suggests going back but I tell him we need to just try passwords off the net, which actually works. We make it to the High Priest’s dais and are able to easily walk up and get our crests only getting aggro well after. I Escaped us and we split up, after much mutual thanking and respecting. I only died once to his twice but he seemed OK.
• I helped Taftpaul with one of the keys needed for the Kazham Airship pass, Giddeus. It didn’t take long and he was happy for the help, only finding me through shouts in Jeuno. He was very appreciative saying his LS wasn’t helping and I told him I didn’t mind because I like to help, hence being WHM.
• Shadee struck up a long convo with me just as I made my way to my MH hoping for a party. He said he was bored but it turns out he was flirting too. He called me out for my Bazaar comment once I had to let him know I was a dude IRL. Told him that comment was originally written assuming I’d be RPing. Also, it’s the one place I use a female description of my char – otherwise I’m not shy to admit my real gender if it comes up. Anyway we had a really nice chat. Now I just need to find him in-game and trade him a cookie. Oh yeah, he claims to have 594 DAYS in-game!
• Had a pair of major parties on WHM for about 7k and 12.5k and that was enough to put me at 61 with a 4k buffer! Finally I can use Cure V and maybe party with Fhox and the others! One of the parties was led by a Japanese called Firry who led a chain-pulling frenzy of Colibris and Date Erucas. I learned that these worms don’t poison, they roast! Our paladin died once to a massive two-shot that neither I nor our leader (DNC62) could stop, and she died once to a link. The rest of us were able to put down the pair of Erucas and get her patched up.
I was very apologetic to the party for the Paladin’s death because I could have easily stopped it if I had been paying attention to the Eruca’s use of Incinerate. But Firry’s death was someone else’s problem ^^. I did have another issue though – early in I got a blind tell from Rebelion requesting a raise in the area just east of our camp but Firry wouldn’t let me go. And besides me there were only like 3 raise-capables in the area and ALL were in parties. I need to find a way to make it up to him…
This party worked well enough regarding MP and downtime but it’s still clear I need to find a better way to keep MP. Also, I think Firry and I ended on good terms. Early on she kept asking for me in party chat as if she thought I wasn’t doing anything. Hell – buffs, hastes, Barfiras, curing, one Benediction… I was VERY busy! I still hate crawler mobs for their Sticky Thread Slow attack – Haste costs me far too much and I have to cast it a LOT these days…
The other party sucked – that paladin couldn’t hold hate if it came in a bucket. He wouldn’t cure until it was C4 time and by then the mob had been eating away at the other melees. He also wasn’t using his paladin abilities like Sentinel or Defender without having to be asked. Corina, our leader and I chatted about him off and on. I think the rest of us were relieved when it was DB time.
• I PLed Raki for about an hour in the Dunes. The whole thing with his “sister” hasn’t come up again even though “she” has popped on briefly a couple of times since. I still have a feeling that Raki is just yanking my chain but who knows… In any event he and I had a nice time. I also learned that just using Flash for crowd control invalidates that mob for anyone else – 0 xp! Time to update my PL guide again…
• Tried Besieged twice – once for 1450xp and the other was a bust. Even though I was logged in just before the CS with the Besieged icon, and had tried out my new Cure V scroll on many people, I got bupkus… I did see Kaiji and knelt to him.
• Chatted very briefly with Kaloli to see if she wanted PL assistance but she was farming in Gustaberg. By the time she had joined a party I was already tied up.
• Bought more scrolls – I’m now WHM-complete through *70* which if I understand LB4, I can solo easily. I think all I’m missing is Curaga IV and Reraise III. Everything else is sitting in storage ready to go.
• I don’t really like my HP being in Windy. I can’t T-T effectively but at least returning to Aht Urghan is still quick, be it for a party meetup or Besieged. Since I should be able to take WHM all the way to 70 I don’t know if I’ll spend much time on Dancer or Ninja. I should prolly try to split up the time on WHM with the other subs just so I don’t burn out on WHM again. But since breaking 60 I really feel “alive” again as a mage.
Also, with my HP in Windy I’m spending a lot on Mr. Ibwam and his teles. Dammit Monk, I’m the tele-whore around here!
• Now that I’m 61, I really need to buckle down and pick up my AF legs, body and hands. Also, I need to get the Vahzl tele scroll done for the cash. I think just before logging out last night in Jeuno I had seen a mage AF shout but I don’t recall which mage…
Thursday, January 17, 2008
Slow Dance Party on the Beach
Before logging on I had been reading up on LB3 and how likely it would be to solo at least the Quadav Crest. It seems very likely, actually, assuming I’m willing to death-warp after receiving the crest. So, I logged on and checked for my buddies – Fhox wasn’t on and Puma was trying his hand at the Maat fight for LB5! I cheered him on and flagged up on Dancer since I was still on that job.
I planned to shop for better gear and if no invite, switch back to WHM and head to Beadeaux. But before five minutes had passed, Spookyx asked me to party. I told him I’d be 10 minutes, that I was getting a better weapon.
I saw in Windy that the Kingdom Cesti, a level 15 item with Att+, Dmg+, Delay- and Acc +3 was open to Dancers but it would likely be 30-40k. The lightbulb eventually went off and I checked Jeuno, where several were up in the 15k range. So I had Ibwam teleport me to AU, and I started for the free warp Taru when the bulb flickered again – AU and Jeuno are linked. So I bought my new toy for 16k in AU and used an Instant Warp, then outposted to Valkurm.
I found Spookyx’s party soon after but Spookyx wanted me to rep *him*, so I had to wait for the leader to invite. Which didn’t happen because he didn’t know you can invite people flag or no flag… In any case, we worked it out, I joined up, and Onix (sp?) warned me this wasn’t a very good party. I said nothing, but on the very first pull Onix is killed and homepoints. He was quickly replaced by Akael, another WHM.
I’m not sure what was going on but a couple of problems surfaced immediately: Voking was off leading to too much hate on the WHM (who was having to over-cure because of…), there was too much downtime because of overlevel-pulling, and coordination was off. I know this is the Dunes, but damn… I did try to share some insights on White Maging with Akael but I don’t know if he was interested.
We toughed it out for about an hour working mostly with Damselflies, when Blaydzrain was killed by a Bogy that blood aggroed him. The rest of us run for Selbina to zone. I stopped and watched behind and didn’t see the Bogy so I turned around – I think he didn’t care about the rest of us because no one put any hate on him. I shouted for a Raise. However, there were only 2 Raise-capables in the zone tonight.
While waiting for the party to reassemble, I took on a T Snipper, but apparently con ratings apply to all players regardless of being in the area or not. I managed to get a voke as the other four were returning with only 18 HP left and apologized for the screw-up. Our leader then tried for Blaydz’s Raise and eventually, Blaydz gave in and homepointed.
This basically ended the party which was fine, being close to 12:30. I’d had enough and only gotten about 2k xp out of it.
My hit rate was pretty poor but a lot of these mobs checked IT to me so I guess I need more H2H skill or Acc+ boosts. Dancer still proved a capable healer because I managed to fill in the gaps on the many hard hits and AoE’s we took.
However, I’m not convinced these Cesti are any better than my last although I appreciate the Delay-. I might try some experiments on EM bunnies to see if there’s a clear difference in hit rate or damage output as would be expected by the raw stats.
As I was logging out, Puma gave me the bad news – he lost to Maat and was in Bedeaux himself farming another Testimony for Maat.
Once DNC hits 20, I have to shop for daggers or small swords to dual wield. I also have to think about a good set of level 20 armor. And I’ll have to level NIN some more to avoid gimping. I wonder if I’ll see Ferenan again. I want to make that deal right but I could really use the dough…
I planned to shop for better gear and if no invite, switch back to WHM and head to Beadeaux. But before five minutes had passed, Spookyx asked me to party. I told him I’d be 10 minutes, that I was getting a better weapon.
I saw in Windy that the Kingdom Cesti, a level 15 item with Att+, Dmg+, Delay- and Acc +3 was open to Dancers but it would likely be 30-40k. The lightbulb eventually went off and I checked Jeuno, where several were up in the 15k range. So I had Ibwam teleport me to AU, and I started for the free warp Taru when the bulb flickered again – AU and Jeuno are linked. So I bought my new toy for 16k in AU and used an Instant Warp, then outposted to Valkurm.
I found Spookyx’s party soon after but Spookyx wanted me to rep *him*, so I had to wait for the leader to invite. Which didn’t happen because he didn’t know you can invite people flag or no flag… In any case, we worked it out, I joined up, and Onix (sp?) warned me this wasn’t a very good party. I said nothing, but on the very first pull Onix is killed and homepoints. He was quickly replaced by Akael, another WHM.
I’m not sure what was going on but a couple of problems surfaced immediately: Voking was off leading to too much hate on the WHM (who was having to over-cure because of…), there was too much downtime because of overlevel-pulling, and coordination was off. I know this is the Dunes, but damn… I did try to share some insights on White Maging with Akael but I don’t know if he was interested.
We toughed it out for about an hour working mostly with Damselflies, when Blaydzrain was killed by a Bogy that blood aggroed him. The rest of us run for Selbina to zone. I stopped and watched behind and didn’t see the Bogy so I turned around – I think he didn’t care about the rest of us because no one put any hate on him. I shouted for a Raise. However, there were only 2 Raise-capables in the zone tonight.
While waiting for the party to reassemble, I took on a T Snipper, but apparently con ratings apply to all players regardless of being in the area or not. I managed to get a voke as the other four were returning with only 18 HP left and apologized for the screw-up. Our leader then tried for Blaydz’s Raise and eventually, Blaydz gave in and homepointed.
This basically ended the party which was fine, being close to 12:30. I’d had enough and only gotten about 2k xp out of it.
My hit rate was pretty poor but a lot of these mobs checked IT to me so I guess I need more H2H skill or Acc+ boosts. Dancer still proved a capable healer because I managed to fill in the gaps on the many hard hits and AoE’s we took.
However, I’m not convinced these Cesti are any better than my last although I appreciate the Delay-. I might try some experiments on EM bunnies to see if there’s a clear difference in hit rate or damage output as would be expected by the raw stats.
As I was logging out, Puma gave me the bad news – he lost to Maat and was in Bedeaux himself farming another Testimony for Maat.
Once DNC hits 20, I have to shop for daggers or small swords to dual wield. I also have to think about a good set of level 20 armor. And I’ll have to level NIN some more to avoid gimping. I wonder if I’ll see Ferenan again. I want to make that deal right but I could really use the dough…
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Slow Dancing on the Beach
I logged in at about 10:30 and hoped Fhox, Puma and I would be able to tackle AU12, but Puma was muling on his alt, Destructiveecho. So I switched to Dancer and outposted to the Dunes. I was flagged up for an hour and while waiting looked for anything I could beat on to kill some time and get some XP.
Fhox was out here somewhere with Kaloli, now a level 12 THF! She’s from Hong Kong, according to Fhox. I was looking for bunnies and pulled a DC but while moving back towards Selbina to avoid gob aggro I pulled a link. I zoned the hate with about 30 HP left and after resting up went back out.
Once again I found a DC Sand Hare to engage but began rapidly taking damage. A Goblin Gambler had aggroed me and I ran for the Oasis since I was near it anyway and began yelling in shell for Fhox’s aid.
Fhox didn’t see me and Kaloli said “He busy”. Turns out they were in the lizard camp ><. Fortunately, the group I had seen earlier in the Oasis had a PL called Ladycindy who raised me immediately. I recovered, moved closer to the Selbina entrance again and tried a THIRD time. I finally got into a groove and took on DC, EM and T, although the T’s take a long time and leaves me open to too many high-damage TP moves. But I learned how neat Dancer can be using TP for abilities – I cured over and over and still had plenty of TP.
It didn’t hurt that on one particular pull I had a little cure and buff help from Ihm.
I actually dinged 17, having ground out about 1.4k, and immediately returned to Windy and made ready to quit. AU12 would have to wait for another day. I did take a quick look on the AH for throwing weapons to use on DNC to pull with but the first doesn’t come up until level 20… /sigh
Being 17 means I may need to think about better gear also, but I don’t have the fame in Jeuno to pop Gobbiebag V yet. I may need to spend a day doing quick-fame because I need the room.
Fhox was out here somewhere with Kaloli, now a level 12 THF! She’s from Hong Kong, according to Fhox. I was looking for bunnies and pulled a DC but while moving back towards Selbina to avoid gob aggro I pulled a link. I zoned the hate with about 30 HP left and after resting up went back out.
Once again I found a DC Sand Hare to engage but began rapidly taking damage. A Goblin Gambler had aggroed me and I ran for the Oasis since I was near it anyway and began yelling in shell for Fhox’s aid.
Fhox didn’t see me and Kaloli said “He busy”. Turns out they were in the lizard camp ><. Fortunately, the group I had seen earlier in the Oasis had a PL called Ladycindy who raised me immediately. I recovered, moved closer to the Selbina entrance again and tried a THIRD time. I finally got into a groove and took on DC, EM and T, although the T’s take a long time and leaves me open to too many high-damage TP moves. But I learned how neat Dancer can be using TP for abilities – I cured over and over and still had plenty of TP.
It didn’t hurt that on one particular pull I had a little cure and buff help from Ihm.
I actually dinged 17, having ground out about 1.4k, and immediately returned to Windy and made ready to quit. AU12 would have to wait for another day. I did take a quick look on the AH for throwing weapons to use on DNC to pull with but the first doesn’t come up until level 20… /sigh
Being 17 means I may need to think about better gear also, but I don’t have the fame in Jeuno to pop Gobbiebag V yet. I may need to spend a day doing quick-fame because I need the room.
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Miscellany
January 10-15, 2008
In no particular order:
• Partied in the Dunes on Dancer and made it halfway to 17
• New LS members: Rakithebrave, Paddybear (his sis, apparently) and Kaloli
• Chucho’s back! He moved recently and just got back online
• Ferenan is also back – may try to talk to him about the Dagger overpayment
• Finally popped the Garlaige chest (9.7k!), so one less key in my MH
• Still can’t find the coffer in Boyahda – is it up in the trees?
• Bought Skulker’s Cape to see if it helps with Sneak/Invis – so far, meh
• Popped 2 more Runic Portals – now only the 2 toughest remain
• Fhox, Puma and I are now all on AU12 and plan to trio it
• Farmed again on 1/15 and got 4 Gravities, 5 Daggers and one Test
• No luck yet on LB3 – may need a weekend or offer major reward
• Also no luck with AF3 or 4
• Need to party on WHM to rebuild buffer and to be ready for 61
• Completed the Lure of the Wildcat series and moved HP to Windy
• Tried a Besieged with Monkeylori but could not get in despite 20 minutes trying!
• Fhox partied with Lust and saw Ronrico recently – Fhox is near 64
Raki is a new Brigader who was recruited by Kitty (!). Raki has a smart mouth and is a teaser. But he seems solid. His sister (if indeed she is not just a prank) chatted with me on 1/14 on Raki’s alt, Paddybear. She flirted a bit and didn’t seem to mind that I had a wife. I joked that wives often have True Sight so nothing was gonna happen. She pouted and said she wouldn’t leave unless she got a good night kiss. I quipped about suspecting a Punk’d Vanadiel setup but eventually gave her a kiss on the forehead.
She said she was going to have Raki make her a sexy Mithra char to torment me with and that she’d see me the next night. She also called me Aery, a new variant on the nick. (All of the above was chat-only – I have yet to see either Raki or Paddy in person)
The next day Raki asked me what I said to her and I gave him the 15-second summary. He then said “No Mithra for her”. I still think this is some kind of put-on both because of how Paddy joined the convo originally claiming to be Raki on an alt and just how he seems.
As for Kaloli, Fhox recruited her last night as THF5, and I wondered how she was so familiar with MMO convention. She did say Kaloli was a new char, and later Fhox PMed me asking me to keep tabs on her because he thinks she may have a past.
In no particular order:
• Partied in the Dunes on Dancer and made it halfway to 17
• New LS members: Rakithebrave, Paddybear (his sis, apparently) and Kaloli
• Chucho’s back! He moved recently and just got back online
• Ferenan is also back – may try to talk to him about the Dagger overpayment
• Finally popped the Garlaige chest (9.7k!), so one less key in my MH
• Still can’t find the coffer in Boyahda – is it up in the trees?
• Bought Skulker’s Cape to see if it helps with Sneak/Invis – so far, meh
• Popped 2 more Runic Portals – now only the 2 toughest remain
• Fhox, Puma and I are now all on AU12 and plan to trio it
• Farmed again on 1/15 and got 4 Gravities, 5 Daggers and one Test
• No luck yet on LB3 – may need a weekend or offer major reward
• Also no luck with AF3 or 4
• Need to party on WHM to rebuild buffer and to be ready for 61
• Completed the Lure of the Wildcat series and moved HP to Windy
• Tried a Besieged with Monkeylori but could not get in despite 20 minutes trying!
• Fhox partied with Lust and saw Ronrico recently – Fhox is near 64
Raki is a new Brigader who was recruited by Kitty (!). Raki has a smart mouth and is a teaser. But he seems solid. His sister (if indeed she is not just a prank) chatted with me on 1/14 on Raki’s alt, Paddybear. She flirted a bit and didn’t seem to mind that I had a wife. I joked that wives often have True Sight so nothing was gonna happen. She pouted and said she wouldn’t leave unless she got a good night kiss. I quipped about suspecting a Punk’d Vanadiel setup but eventually gave her a kiss on the forehead.
She said she was going to have Raki make her a sexy Mithra char to torment me with and that she’d see me the next night. She also called me Aery, a new variant on the nick. (All of the above was chat-only – I have yet to see either Raki or Paddy in person)
The next day Raki asked me what I said to her and I gave him the 15-second summary. He then said “No Mithra for her”. I still think this is some kind of put-on both because of how Paddy joined the convo originally claiming to be Raki on an alt and just how he seems.
As for Kaloli, Fhox recruited her last night as THF5, and I wondered how she was so familiar with MMO convention. She did say Kaloli was a new char, and later Fhox PMed me asking me to keep tabs on her because he thinks she may have a past.
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
One Down!
The last few days have been pretty slow (long day of farming on 1/6, off 1/7 and farming/map questing on 1/8) so it was good that things worked out tonight like they did. I logged in around 9:20 and went AFK immediately to tuck Ape in. I was anxious though because both Fhox and Puma were on…Would they help with LB3? I came back on at 9:35 and sure enough, that’s what Fhox was planning.
We got rolling close to 10 after Puma’s job change to WAR69. Fhox is at least RDM63 and I’m stuck at WHM60. However, with Puma tanking and Fhox for refreshes and enfeebs, I really thought this would be pretty easy.
The Crimson Orb part was fairly straightforward, allowing for Puma’s death at the hands of an Orc Dragoon (~level 70) right at the bridge to the questaru’s place. It took some time to get back to him, Fhox having Escaped us. We got him patched up, Fhox and I flagged the quest and we started the runaround for the 4 pools needed to turn the White Orb into the Crimson opener of Banishing Walls.
The 4 pools are located mostly in EP/TW mob areas so we didn’t have too many problems. We farmed off some of the poolside mobs and I even got some staff skillups. Once we made our Orbs we headed to the Wall of Banishing that leads to another, tougher part of Monastic Caverns. This section is rife with high-level Orcs and some Truesight bosses. Fhox and I both died in here. Actually, I died twice, once earlier in the “regular” section of the Caverns.
While Fhox tried to get some help from Siloette, Frostyknight and Truirony (people we helped earlier with Raise and healing support near the old cottage) I saw my chance to reraise and make a run for the crest which Fhox said was near. Miracle of miracles, I made it. I grab my crest and try to stealthily return to Fhox but a Warlord spots me despite being fully cloaked. I keep running, with perhaps 5 Orcs tailing me. I die just leaving the large chamber so once they all despawned I hoped the non-TS mobs would let me reraise.
However, Fhox did get the help and Frostyknight tried to tractor me further into the tunnel. I had the RR pending and we learned that apparently RR blocks Tractor, and for a time, Tractor’s effect blocks regular raises. He pulled aggro (intentionally or not I don’t know) and I took my chance, resurrecting and warping out as fast as I could. Fhox got his raise and they Escaped out to Jugner Forest.
I thanked the two of them profusely for the help but wondered how the Beadeaux and Oztroja runs would be seeing that Davoi took a little over 3 hours to clear! I think with more high-level support we could fare well but these sure are time-consuming!
On warping home I got a blind tell for a Tele-Vahzl from Moonshorty. Since I was rushing back to the crew thinking they were still in trouble I was going to decline but after Fhox’s “all clear” I zapped back and picked him up. Turns out this was a freebie but that’s OK. Once in awhile it’s good to be generous!
P.S. I need to thank Frostyknight – Fhox says he should have been ok and that he’s likely a 75 but I still need to be nice!
We got rolling close to 10 after Puma’s job change to WAR69. Fhox is at least RDM63 and I’m stuck at WHM60. However, with Puma tanking and Fhox for refreshes and enfeebs, I really thought this would be pretty easy.
The Crimson Orb part was fairly straightforward, allowing for Puma’s death at the hands of an Orc Dragoon (~level 70) right at the bridge to the questaru’s place. It took some time to get back to him, Fhox having Escaped us. We got him patched up, Fhox and I flagged the quest and we started the runaround for the 4 pools needed to turn the White Orb into the Crimson opener of Banishing Walls.
The 4 pools are located mostly in EP/TW mob areas so we didn’t have too many problems. We farmed off some of the poolside mobs and I even got some staff skillups. Once we made our Orbs we headed to the Wall of Banishing that leads to another, tougher part of Monastic Caverns. This section is rife with high-level Orcs and some Truesight bosses. Fhox and I both died in here. Actually, I died twice, once earlier in the “regular” section of the Caverns.
While Fhox tried to get some help from Siloette, Frostyknight and Truirony (people we helped earlier with Raise and healing support near the old cottage) I saw my chance to reraise and make a run for the crest which Fhox said was near. Miracle of miracles, I made it. I grab my crest and try to stealthily return to Fhox but a Warlord spots me despite being fully cloaked. I keep running, with perhaps 5 Orcs tailing me. I die just leaving the large chamber so once they all despawned I hoped the non-TS mobs would let me reraise.
However, Fhox did get the help and Frostyknight tried to tractor me further into the tunnel. I had the RR pending and we learned that apparently RR blocks Tractor, and for a time, Tractor’s effect blocks regular raises. He pulled aggro (intentionally or not I don’t know) and I took my chance, resurrecting and warping out as fast as I could. Fhox got his raise and they Escaped out to Jugner Forest.
I thanked the two of them profusely for the help but wondered how the Beadeaux and Oztroja runs would be seeing that Davoi took a little over 3 hours to clear! I think with more high-level support we could fare well but these sure are time-consuming!
On warping home I got a blind tell for a Tele-Vahzl from Moonshorty. Since I was rushing back to the crew thinking they were still in trouble I was going to decline but after Fhox’s “all clear” I zapped back and picked him up. Turns out this was a freebie but that’s OK. Once in awhile it’s good to be generous!
P.S. I need to thank Frostyknight – Fhox says he should have been ok and that he’s likely a 75 but I still need to be nice!
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
Testing My Limits
I logged in at about 9:30 hoping to either get LB3 help or ding 15 on Dancer (2k tnl). As luck would have it, Fhox (RDM62) and Puma (WAR69) were on. Fhox said we were going for LB3, just as I’d changed into my Dancer’s armor. Puma couldn’t come because he got an invite but Fhox said we’d just duo it. I was in Jeuno already so I stopped by the AH to grab Reraise 2 and Shell 3. I am now WHM-spell-complete through 61.
I wanted to be done by about 10:30 or 11:00 in order to spend time with Ape and maybe get a good night’s sleep for once. Fhox opted for the Davoi leg and I thought things were going my way when Fhox said he already had the Davoi crest. This meant he’d already done the mini-quest to open the Wall of Banishing. We were thus hopeful it wouldn’t need to be redone.
However, he couldn’t get the wall open and I died when Invis fell with three Orcs nearby. Fhox managed to Escape but died returning to me. I gave RR2 a shot but failed. Upon HPing I found myself still level 60 (yay) but only by 81 xp (boo).
After all that Fhox was set to try again, asking me to meet him in Bastok but it was already 10:40. I begged off explaining I couldn’t restart something that would likely take us past midnight, and apologized for wasting his time. I thanked him profusely but had to go.
I didn’t tell him the complete reason, of course! /wink I climbed into bed just before 11 and was asleep not long after. However, all my plans of a restful night came to naught when the hallway door came open at 3am setting off the house alarm…
I wanted to be done by about 10:30 or 11:00 in order to spend time with Ape and maybe get a good night’s sleep for once. Fhox opted for the Davoi leg and I thought things were going my way when Fhox said he already had the Davoi crest. This meant he’d already done the mini-quest to open the Wall of Banishing. We were thus hopeful it wouldn’t need to be redone.
However, he couldn’t get the wall open and I died when Invis fell with three Orcs nearby. Fhox managed to Escape but died returning to me. I gave RR2 a shot but failed. Upon HPing I found myself still level 60 (yay) but only by 81 xp (boo).
After all that Fhox was set to try again, asking me to meet him in Bastok but it was already 10:40. I begged off explaining I couldn’t restart something that would likely take us past midnight, and apologized for wasting his time. I thanked him profusely but had to go.
I didn’t tell him the complete reason, of course! /wink I climbed into bed just before 11 and was asleep not long after. However, all my plans of a restful night came to naught when the hallway door came open at 3am setting off the house alarm…
Tuesday, January 1, 2008
Happy Birthday Aerin!
December 28, 2007 – January 1, 2008
I don’t have really good notes on what I did over the New Year’s break, so loosely and in no particular order:
• Did a Besieged with Monkeylori with a 45+ minute wait, numerous DCs and no reward. She was afraid I was mad or annoyed with her because I complained about spending 90 minutes for no xp payout. I assured her I was glad to have spent time with her and a few others I’ve partied with before like Rum and Sirjason. Brandonn was there too. This time, I was in her party and allied with two others for a peak total of 17.
• Did two others – one DCed at reward (no cs) the other just before the retreat and I couldn’t get back in before reward. Gotta get better internet ><
• Finally got a party on DCR, in the Dunes, as part of a poorly-constructed pickup group. Too much mana, not enough melee. However, it’s clear that Dancer is not a tank – I rarely pulled DD hate over many pulls. The BLM was getting much more hate than me. Also, we got level-screwed because our WHM9, Vizio, got separated from the rest of the group FOR THE WHOLE PARTY and never leveled when the rest of us did. Our leader bailed on us once two of us hit 14 and Viz was still at 9.
• 2k more on Dancer and I get the Cure Waltz, and hopefully more invites and greater survivability.
• Got to play using my new DualShock3 (Ceramic White) so no more spell interrupts from a wandering joystick. Also, miracle of miracles, rumble works on at least this PS2 title. Will need to check others.
• Much frustration on the LB3 front – only one bite for several shouts for help, and Altrage backed out once he realized it was LB3 I was after. Nobody seems to want to do this one! Never could get Fhox and Mag on board either. Maybe now with holiday break over…
• Also, my solo runs on the Davoi leg ended with me dying twice and losing my buffer on WHM60. So I can’t risk that or the Kuftal Coffer run solo anymore until I party some WHM xp.
• Got a spontaneous PL from Luscious while waiting for a new Dancer party that never happened. She came up to me at the OP, threw full buffs + Haste and then said to get killing. She was bored waiting for her own invite and thus the help. We chatted a bit between long kills (VT and IT don’t work solo; Dancer is *not* a DD) and she’s working on her WHM and MNK AF. We might be able to duo each others’. Last night she was in Dynamis the whole time, so another time.
• The AH is still being kind to me – I’m trying to run Test Answers through three or four times a week in addition to T-T runs whenever I can find business.
• Still no sign of Bigbird or Dijena. I have written them off. If I see them online again and they’re still using the RDB linkpearl I’ll have to quiz them then.
• Saw Sinz last night, and Fhox got an invite from Lust. Told Fhox to tell Lust he’s a slacker for still being DRK62. Fhox lol-ed. Fhox saw Chucho and Puma was on last night or the night before as well.
• Aerin is one year old as of yesterday! Just over 1000 hours logged with virtually no “idle” hours. Honestly I’d say definitely less than 20 and likely less than 10 true “idle/AFK” hours. Average playtime is about 2.75 hours A DAY, and using an 18-hour waking day, I’ve played 55+ such days out of one year! Yikes!
• April still hates FFXI.
• FFXI New Year’s Resolutions ^^ - Get WHM to 75 with at least all of AF set, consider DCR75, remaining active jobs to 37.
• May need to think about changing shells if RDB doesn’t get more task-oriented. Most of us are still R6 and there’s a lot of gear we all need. I don’t mind a social shell and I really like Fhox and the gang, but I need help! And I’d like to give help too. Maybe I can push Fhox now that we’re back.
待った明日ね！
I don’t have really good notes on what I did over the New Year’s break, so loosely and in no particular order:
• Did a Besieged with Monkeylori with a 45+ minute wait, numerous DCs and no reward. She was afraid I was mad or annoyed with her because I complained about spending 90 minutes for no xp payout. I assured her I was glad to have spent time with her and a few others I’ve partied with before like Rum and Sirjason. Brandonn was there too. This time, I was in her party and allied with two others for a peak total of 17.
• Did two others – one DCed at reward (no cs) the other just before the retreat and I couldn’t get back in before reward. Gotta get better internet ><
• Finally got a party on DCR, in the Dunes, as part of a poorly-constructed pickup group. Too much mana, not enough melee. However, it’s clear that Dancer is not a tank – I rarely pulled DD hate over many pulls. The BLM was getting much more hate than me. Also, we got level-screwed because our WHM9, Vizio, got separated from the rest of the group FOR THE WHOLE PARTY and never leveled when the rest of us did. Our leader bailed on us once two of us hit 14 and Viz was still at 9.
• 2k more on Dancer and I get the Cure Waltz, and hopefully more invites and greater survivability.
• Got to play using my new DualShock3 (Ceramic White) so no more spell interrupts from a wandering joystick. Also, miracle of miracles, rumble works on at least this PS2 title. Will need to check others.
• Much frustration on the LB3 front – only one bite for several shouts for help, and Altrage backed out once he realized it was LB3 I was after. Nobody seems to want to do this one! Never could get Fhox and Mag on board either. Maybe now with holiday break over…
• Also, my solo runs on the Davoi leg ended with me dying twice and losing my buffer on WHM60. So I can’t risk that or the Kuftal Coffer run solo anymore until I party some WHM xp.
• Got a spontaneous PL from Luscious while waiting for a new Dancer party that never happened. She came up to me at the OP, threw full buffs + Haste and then said to get killing. She was bored waiting for her own invite and thus the help. We chatted a bit between long kills (VT and IT don’t work solo; Dancer is *not* a DD) and she’s working on her WHM and MNK AF. We might be able to duo each others’. Last night she was in Dynamis the whole time, so another time.
• The AH is still being kind to me – I’m trying to run Test Answers through three or four times a week in addition to T-T runs whenever I can find business.
• Still no sign of Bigbird or Dijena. I have written them off. If I see them online again and they’re still using the RDB linkpearl I’ll have to quiz them then.
• Saw Sinz last night, and Fhox got an invite from Lust. Told Fhox to tell Lust he’s a slacker for still being DRK62. Fhox lol-ed. Fhox saw Chucho and Puma was on last night or the night before as well.
• Aerin is one year old as of yesterday! Just over 1000 hours logged with virtually no “idle” hours. Honestly I’d say definitely less than 20 and likely less than 10 true “idle/AFK” hours. Average playtime is about 2.75 hours A DAY, and using an 18-hour waking day, I’ve played 55+ such days out of one year! Yikes!
• April still hates FFXI.
• FFXI New Year’s Resolutions ^^ - Get WHM to 75 with at least all of AF set, consider DCR75, remaining active jobs to 37.
• May need to think about changing shells if RDB doesn’t get more task-oriented. Most of us are still R6 and there’s a lot of gear we all need. I don’t mind a social shell and I really like Fhox and the gang, but I need help! And I’d like to give help too. Maybe I can push Fhox now that we’re back.
待った明日ね！
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