Laying Siege

I logged in at about 10:30 and saw while farming that Besieged was about to begin. I had already asked Lust if he needed my services for his party but ATM he didn’t. So, with Test Answers and a Rusty Dagger in hand I warp back to Whitegate.

This time, I learned something – those temporary items that the Empire gives to Besieged mercenaries are freakin’ sweet! I tried checking inventory several times before and never saw them so I assumed it was either random or you had to get them from NPCs. On the contrary, the items supplied are in the gobbiebag and are fantastic!

Two pots boost HP and MP, to about 1700/1300, while other items provide speedups, refresh (IIRC) and Reraise. There’s also a Megalixir for full HP/MP reload and some TP boosters.

Using this gear I was a little more durable but I still died once. I also DCed once in the middle but managed to get back on without incident. At the conclusion, I got the victory cutscene and afterwards, just before the XP announcement, the connection R0’s again! But fortunately, it came back just in time and I got another 700-odd XP.

So for about 15 minutes of work I got some nice combat training and a fair XP payout. I can’t help but think being in a party would net more XP, especially if that party slayed any of the invaders. But I don’t think it would be fair to party up on my flaky connection.

I re-flagged for an XP party and tried to get ahold of Lust, who had asked for me during Besieged. No response… I eventually got an invite from Kirista and she took us to Aydeewa Subterrane for some Defoliator (crawler) extermination.

Once we found an open camp it was clear this was going to be a lot of work. Three pulls, 350+xp per, but like 5 minutes each and low mana on the mages. Too much downtime. A couple of people besides me suggested a retreat to the Colibri camps and she eventually agreed. It took some doing but we finally settled on a good chain-pulling rhythm and were getting 4’s and 5’s often. I went up about 6,500 xp total.

When it was time to leave I offered to find a rep, suggesting a WHM58 closer to their levels than my 60. She said they were done with WHMs. With a RDM, DRK and her job (BLM?) I can see why they’d want more DD, and in fact a SAM by the name of Kidwithgoofyhat took my slot. I’ve always loved his name so I was glad to see him “in person”. But I took her curt reply a little personally and thought, “Have fun not having
“–ra” spells and Haste/Erase support! I wonder if they went back to the crawlers?

I’m now 60, with a decent buffer and about 904/641 on stats. Gotta work on AF this weekend!