It’s A New Record!

June 5-10, 2008

I had an interesting few days as I worked on my lower-level jobs.

While running around Saruta I see a RDM03 called Niihih struggling with some mobs. I cured him and he asked for help. I told him I wouldn’t be much help as a PL but that I was glad to try. It didn’t work so well… The first crawler we tried killed him and he HPed. I finished it off for great XP. I think the prior claim only voids XP if the other player isn’t killed. I’ve done this like 3 times now and I realize that the times I got XP were when the original claimant died.

I saw Niihih again running around trying to kill stuff. As I was working on my own XP needs, I see Snowman run by, followed by probably every single Crawler and Yagudo in the zone. I tried to help but then realized he was high-level and not in any danger. So I said, “Mob train! Whoo~whoo~” which he chuckled at. Then he started PLing me.

I let him for a couple kills and then politely asked if he’d go help Niihih who needed it far more. In fact, I wasn’t having any trouble on PLD taking DC and the occasional EM. He didn’t respond but a few seconds later Niihih /shouted for help (again) and I ran off to see if I could find him. I never did, but some time later found Snow helping Niihih. I bowed to Snow and cheered Niihih on, and then left.

The next night, at PLD08, I decide to see if I can get a duo going and find a WHM seeking. Logjammin agreed to join me and we started killing everything in sight. With his cure-help and the DD he could deliver, we killed nonstop for quite awhile. We both dinged and then he asked if I could help with his first Windy Rank. Thinking that the Ruins were a little hard at around level 7-8 (though we were now 8 and 9) I recommended switching to WHM68. Turns out my memory might’ve been off, because there was little aggro and when he was done with 1-1 and death-warping home, it took some time for the two gobs to kill him. Oh well!

Now for the record-breaking bit… Saturday I logged in at around 7:30 to solo PLD to 11 in preparation for the Dunes. I got there and headed home to gear up in my Brass set. On flagging, it wasn’t too long before I got an invite and I finished my inventory management and AH sales and outposted. The party proper began at about 9:30 or so.

SIX HOURS LATER, I was halfway to 18 and didn’t die once! I need to get my notes from home but this was a great group, with a couple of replacements as time wore on. It began as a Mithra-burn having 4 of 6 slots taken by tail-wavers. It took us a bit to find a groove but we did eventually and even worked out skillchain/magic burst timing and used it regularly.

The only real problem we had was when a MNK who had tried to join earlier but DCed found his way back to us. Bigdawg was an obnoxious ass who kept harassing our leader and spamming stupid party and emote text. In fact, one of the BLMs told him to shut up.

Eventually, he decided he was done and summarily ran off without checking with our leader. Bad form all around >< He then tried to beg for money! We told him to piss off, and our leader used her PL char to say so in public.

Sunday was basically auction and a little WAR leveling. I’m finally starting to get rid of gear I no longer need since I think I’m done with melees. Once BST and WAR hit 16, I can ditch the Brass gear and start using the full five-piece Bone +1 set I grabbed. NIN, PLD, WAR and BST can all use it and for the most part, the upcoming major sets work on all four jobs. So my goal is to try to keep these four as close together as possible so I don’t need lots of gear sets lying around.

Monday was the June Update and no playtime happened.

Last night was another WAR party, where I split tanking duties with Gothicprincess. We never really found a good camp and after about 2 hours we disbanded when the puller overdid it (again) and we finally wiped. He insisted on brining ITs and wasn’t checking the def/eva stats. On wiping, three people bailed immediately. Luscious even came by to chuckle at the body count.

I decided to switch to BST and try getting it to 16. I only managed 14 and a half but did OK. I saw Tieryn again, as she was PLing someone in the Canyon and bailed me out of a bad goblin aggro.

Over the next few days I’m going to try to get WAR and BST up to at least 16 and then go back to NIN and PLD. So far, PLD tanking owns, with NIN close behind. WAR tanking is boring, and doesn’t get enough hate-controlling tools. The cool thing is, as the tank for so much recent activity, I’ve had to learn what life is like on the other side of the PL. I did my best to position myself so I could see when vokes were really needed and tried to never pull off the PL. All in all, I’m happy with that part of my performance.

The marathon party gave me a good chance to work on my macros for TP announcing and skillchain firing. As PLD I was the opener, and later on WAR I was the closer.

Fhox finally returned and there was some chatting. I never got to announce the two new Brigaders I picked up while on PLD. I did crack a pocket fisherman joke after Archer asked for pole recommendations. Fhox chained by referring to my staff… I was speechless O.o

If I remember my levels, it looks like this:

WHM68
DNC27
PLD17
BLM36
RDM33
SMN10
NIN17
WAR14
BST14

I’m pretty happy with this arrangement of jobs. The only other two possible new job candidates would be SCH and BLU, although I think BLU would have to be a total boredom thing. SCH looks like the ultimate sub for WHM especially in Campaign settings.