I normally don’t like this style of farming but figured it’d be fun to hang out with a group of Bridagers. After putting up last night’s loot at the AH, I made my way there and eventually found them.
While I expected I wouldn’t get to do much more than heal, it turns out the orcs we were killing were high-enough level-wise to offer skillups. So over the course of about an hour I got 2 in Staff and I think one each in Divine and Healing. I really need to update VanaCalc…
We found ourselves in low HP situations quite a bit since Fhox, Archer and I were the only high-levels. Ali, Enzio and Isabiel were here in their 20’s, and some of the AoE spam would really hurt them.I did my best to hold or share hate with Fhox and Archer to minimize risk on the other three but Fhox and Archer’s RDM nuking and enfeebling made that hard. I could usually pull hate through my own AoE, Banish spam, or Curagas.
We had a number of deaths, too. Enzio bought it twice, and I did as well. Fhox had Escaped us during a major aggro beat-down but Enzio was dead and stranded. Fhox and I ran back in to get him and as we’re making our way to the tougher section of the map, my Reraise falls. I didn’t put it up immediately because Fhox was rushing to find Enzio and I figured we’d find a safe spot and tractor Enzio before raising him.
Unfortunately, I passed an orc (Warchief?) that thought a WHM68 would be fun to sharpen his blade on. Thinking Fhox was almost to Enzio, I try to run the mobs the other way so he can get Enzio to safety. This is about the time I realize I don’t have RR, and I can’t get Stoneskin up because of multiple hits coming from several directions. So I wind up dead in a corner.
Enzio must’ve been under guard because it took Fhox several minutes to get him raised. He finally made his way to me and cast Raise. I immediately threw up RR2 thinking we were going to relocate on foot. Instead, he cast Escape, just as RR2 landed. And, as FFXI loves to do, I managed to die, again, *after* the warp animation. A Farkiller started shooting arrows at me and although he missed initially, once he connected, it was a one-hit kill. After the warp.
So Fhox is outside again and I’m still dead. I explain what happened and he comes back in. Several more minutes later, he’s casting Tractor. It fails because RR breaks Tractor for some reason. I didn’t want to dump RR2 because I was losing enough XP, but left it to Fhox to call. He didn’t care but wanted me to do something fast, as a few orcs, including my murderer, are now beating his Stoneskin to nothing.
I go ahead and pop and immediately cast Tele-Mea since it’s a faster cast than Warp or Escape. Well, I would have, but I was out of MP. And Fhox had managed to Escape. ONCE AGAIN, I’m stuck by myself amidst a group of bloodthirsty orcs. But at least this time, I’m still alive. I manage to get sneak and invisible up just as the orcs “unlock” from Fhox. They turned towards me but didn’t aggro.
I am literally sweating as I try to find a place I can rest and finally cast my way out of this deathtrap. I pick a corner behind a hut and wait for my refresh to do its thing, fearful that I’d pull hate by resting. Once I can, I zap myself away to Holla and rejoin the gang after a long run. We pretty much split up at this point because it was late, Archer had a company tour to arrange in the morning, and I was past time too.
Actually, as we were playing the “find a way to keep Aerin alive” game, Matt and I watched Naruto together from 10:30 to 11, as he was bored and banned from his DS. We chatted about the repetitive structure of the show and the sheer amount of dialogue. By the time Naruto had ended, I had wrapped things up and teleported Enzio and Ali to Holla and logged off.
Quotable quotes:Fhox: {Amateur}
Me: These orcs don’t think I’m an {Amateur}. They consider me a {Veteran} pincushion!
Fhox (Upon returning to raise me): Who’s yer daddy?
Me: Well, you *do* have the Pimp Hat on, and I *am* a tele-whore, so….
Reflections: This was a lot of fun but with too much frustration, mostly because I died a lot. I’ve clearly been away from WHM for too long if I let RR fall so casually. I should have done a better job keeping my buffs up in full tank mode but I didn’t. Also, Enzio didn’t need to die that one time – I thought he was Converting but he wasn’t even on RDM…
Speaking of RDMs, I chastised both Fhox and Archer for not party-warning ahead of Converts. This is one of my pet peeves as a main healer. Normally, the RDM wouldn’t be in battle and would often be where I could see them, and see they were just fine. But since this party was in {Full attack!} mode, both Fhox and Archer were taking damage regularly. So Converts just really freaked me out. As it turns out, Fhox did add a party chat line for his Convert macro, but it doesn’t have a delay between the warn and the ability use… And Archer wanted to but needed macro help.
I’m going to spend time this weekend and move the screenshots I’ve taken from the PS3 to my Yahoo account. I really want to get some good ones pulled and added to the blog. Every time we do a Brigader party, Fhox asks if I brought the camera. I try to remember to take screenies (I did today) but I don’t do anything with them.
And finally, I’ve been thinking a lot about Aerin as a character. I’m cool with her looks and basic mannerisms, but she needs a voice! I’ve turned over several “she sounds like” voices, and haven’t really found one I like. I started wanting something a little raspy or guttural to go along with her feline nature and the odd “grunts” that play during combat.
But the more I think about it, I may have to raise the pitch a bit in light of her small size. Enzio had fun standing next to me making me feel small, again. For now, the kind of voices I’ve considered for Aer sound like these: The Major (GitS), Lady Tsunade (Naruto), Faye Valentine (Cowboy Bebop), Amy Lee (Evanescence), Elaine (Seinfeld) and Cuddy (House).
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