Beastmaster is currently at 55 and on hold for the time being.
Lately I've gotten back to my love for mages and support roles and I went back to Bard. Now I'm essentially the type of Bard that most career Bards hate, a 3rd job merit whore. I'm not leveling Bard because I want a new main, I just want a side job I can use in merits, most people who share the same goal as me tend to be crappy Bards who rush to 75 and I can understand why the career Bards hate that.
I never really could imagine being a career bard. Sure they have tons of awesome endgame gear choices, more than most jobs, but the job is just so limited to me in use at 75 that I would never want it as my first and only 75 job. We've had Bard mains in our LS, sure they can come along on the odd event like a NM and things like that but when it comes to most things, they just don't fit in much. Things like assaults, bcnms, ksnms, and CoP missions that have defined setups that work (commonly referred to as cookie cutter), often times there just wasn't room for a Bard. And during my time in endgame linkshells, the only purpose the Bard ever served was being a Ballad whore for the Black Mage pts. I'm sure a career Bard could argue they're more useful than just what I mentioned above but for my case and what I do in the game, I just view Bard as a very limited job.
So no I'm not leveling Bard to take priority over my current jobs, it's just a situational 3rd job that can come in handy every now and then, such as merit pts. This absolutely does not mean I'm gonna be a gimp Bard, I do understand where the career Bards are coming from and I do take the time to make sure my gear is comparable to the Bard mains out there. I obtained the HQ staves and +1 instruments I need, I spent hours in Phomiuna to get a Gaudy Harness, I camped the minstrel's coat, I got all the items for an opo-crown, and I splurged on a wind torque. Even if I'm just gonna be a merit whore, I'm gonna be the best damn merit whore I can be.
Monday, November 26, 2007
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
The New Bst
Ok now that I'm level 50 I consider myself to have entered a whole new realm of Bsthood. All of these minor changes that add up to produce a new Bst for me. Firstly level 50 means my whm sub is 25, w00t! What this means is now I can not only sneak but invisible myself making it so I can now go pretty much anywhere in the game for free, as well as sneaking/invising others which is immensely helpful. Nextly.. I can now raise people, another thing I've been looking forward to, a Bst can be your best friend if you happen to run into one when you're in trouble. And auto-regen is always lovely as well.
Another great thing about being 50 is new gear! I finally get to put on my Gaudy Harness and will now never find myself with not enough mp to cast what I want when I want. This body piece grants auto refresh till 49 mp which is more than any Bst ever needs to get through a fight, also comes in handy when you need to keep sneak/invis up for extended periods of time. No more normal melee gear for me, I've always acquired 4 pieces of the crow gear set which gives a total of +18 evaison and -20 enmity, perfect for the Bst job for soloing anyway. If I want to return to pting, I'm gonna need a more DDish melee set, but now that we're getting into Aht Urghan territory (for xp pts that is), I'm not all that wanted in pts anyway.
So I have a whole new look, some great new spells, and a new a renewed attitude to kickass as I approach the higher levels of the game.
But before I get back into pting, there's just one thing I had to take care of.. the thing I've been waiting for most since I started this job.. Bst AF!!
Ok like all my jobs with AF now, I like to just breeze through it and get it all out of the way at once, I was able to get 4 of the 5 pieces done in just a few hours, the only one missing the Garlaige coffer, not being able to get the people at the time due to an inactive LS.
Doctordub enlisted himself to help me and together we set out on getting the Oztroja and CN keys I needed, finding the chests and finishing those. Killing Dark Spark and duoing my AF3 NM (I solo'd the AF2 NM before he joined the team whm/nin style), and then I went to pop the Beadeaux coffer myself since I happened to have a key in storage. I don't really find AF quests as fun as I did when I first got my whm set, this being my 4th set now, but it was an enjoyable time and we got through it all fast.
Now to begin my trek through the 50's, more to come!
Another great thing about being 50 is new gear! I finally get to put on my Gaudy Harness and will now never find myself with not enough mp to cast what I want when I want. This body piece grants auto refresh till 49 mp which is more than any Bst ever needs to get through a fight, also comes in handy when you need to keep sneak/invis up for extended periods of time. No more normal melee gear for me, I've always acquired 4 pieces of the crow gear set which gives a total of +18 evaison and -20 enmity, perfect for the Bst job for soloing anyway. If I want to return to pting, I'm gonna need a more DDish melee set, but now that we're getting into Aht Urghan territory (for xp pts that is), I'm not all that wanted in pts anyway.
So I have a whole new look, some great new spells, and a new a renewed attitude to kickass as I approach the higher levels of the game.
But before I get back into pting, there's just one thing I had to take care of.. the thing I've been waiting for most since I started this job.. Bst AF!!
Ok like all my jobs with AF now, I like to just breeze through it and get it all out of the way at once, I was able to get 4 of the 5 pieces done in just a few hours, the only one missing the Garlaige coffer, not being able to get the people at the time due to an inactive LS.
Doctordub enlisted himself to help me and together we set out on getting the Oztroja and CN keys I needed, finding the chests and finishing those. Killing Dark Spark and duoing my AF3 NM (I solo'd the AF2 NM before he joined the team whm/nin style), and then I went to pop the Beadeaux coffer myself since I happened to have a key in storage. I don't really find AF quests as fun as I did when I first got my whm set, this being my 4th set now, but it was an enjoyable time and we got through it all fast.
Now to begin my trek through the 50's, more to come!
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Bst Adventures lvl 43-49 and More!
Ok sry for the long post, but I've been busy over the past week or so and haven't had much time to stop and write about it. Though I don't imagine many would be interested in my progress on Bst anyway, unless they were leveling one themselves but I also included some events on the side as well as my pts with LS members just so this isn't completely about me. The LS is still very much apart of my day to day experience on Vana'diel, even though I play what is considered a solo job.
Level 43
Most of this level was spent in West Altep. I felt like getting away from the mainstream leveling spots for awhile and had a relaxing xp session in the desert. Now I camped by the Korroloka Tunnel entrance in West Altep (the one most people don't know about) and I never came into contact with another play my entire time there.
It's pretty close to Rabao being just southeast of it and you can roam up and down the area, the level range is consistent. My pet was always spiders, there was a good mix of DC and EM spiders at lvl 43 and the prey was.. everything else. From Dhalmels, to anticans, to the very best prey.. WORMS! Spiders took down worms incredibly fast and they popped all over, but the only problem was, worms only spawn in the desert from 18:00 to 6:00. But when they're out, the xp went very fast, otherwise it was just decent.
Break
After that I took a break from leveling because I was set on getting my gaudy harness, which you can read about a couple posts down.
Level 44
Had a nice party with doc's taru mule who was blm at the time. Just your typical crawler's nest party. Now I've never been a fan of this zone, always got lost trying to figure out the right tunnel and the way to the secret room.. till I got the map anyway. However as a Bst, I have a newfound love for this zone and I can forsee myself spending a lot more time in it.
Break
After that party, Shadow asked for help on his mnk AF which was a coffer key in.. what other zone but.. Crawler's Nest! W00t. Cyaan came along to help and we got the key to drop in about 15 minutes and had little difficulty locating the coffer. We also found that Demonic Tiphia was up so we had to attempt that.
Now let me just say, this is the most annoying NM I've ever seen, not only does it have an unlimited source of MP to cast spells like sleepga2 and Cure V, but it can also use its Pollen TP move to restore 3,000+ HP.. which it used quite frequently.. along with Cure V.. ugh. Also the NM is known for using Final Sting when it gets too low on HP almost always guaranteed to take out the person tanking, which it did! Poor cy. After that a quick Dark Spark fight and Shadow had his mnk AF gloves.
Taking a break from Crawler's Nest.. for awhile anyway.. we did a BCNM60, which was successful! Lots of deaths but every orb was a victory and everyone got a worthwhile torque, looking forward to doing more in the future.
Ok back to Bst:
Level 45-46
I had 2 successful party's both in Quicksand Caves, the first pt I got to spend time with Buggman and his drg but other than that, nothing special to report here.
Level 47
I decided to go to Gustav Tunnel, I've always had successful party's there and I've always stated it would make a good Bst zone because of the vast amount of charmable monsters throughout the entire zone. However I wasn't a big on goblins so I was a bit hesitant at first, I never had much luck fighting gobs in the past.
Oh how very misguided those doubts were. I had an AWESOME time here, fastest xp I've ever gotten on Bst! Now that I'm a much higher level than the last time I fought gobs, things are much different. Firstly Bomb Toss is much less threatening, now that I have protect/shell, cure3/regen, blink, and barfira, fighting gobs is no longer scary. Also at this level, there's much less chance that you'll get hate with a good pet.
All my pets were DC or EM leeches, and omigod leeches make efficient killers! A DC Leech could easily take on a T gob, and this level range of monsters stretched the entire first floor of the zone. So if there was a xp pt that came and started pulling gobs and such, you could just move down the zone a bit and keep on going. I hardly touched flies just because there were way too many of them around and linking is dangerous but I did do bats when I ran out of gobs (rare). The suicidal bomb toss gob made for some nice chains and fast xp, I really enjoyed my time in Gustav and hit 49. :)
Death or Intense Moment: Killing lots of gobs in Gustav I managed to spawn Goblinsavior Heronex, and of course being a reckless Bst I just had to try and solo it.. regardless of its level which I didn't know at the time.. still don't. Well I threw my leech at it and just kept throwing anything in the area at it until I ran of DC/EM pets. Surrounded by Gobs on all sides of my camp I couldn't really run off to some other part of the zone to continue without getting a gob link. So I started charming Toughs.. but mischarms got the better of me and I ended up dead. I'll have my BSTly revenge one day!
Level 48
w00t level 48! New shiny Viking Axe and a Life Belt for a total of +20 accuracy.
Ok at this level Gustav became alittle too low, most of the gobs conning EM, so I went back to good ole Crawler's Nest. This time around I played in the back entrance map of CN which also makes a nice Bst playground, everything charmable, lots of places to camp. I was using the Labyrinth Lizard camp, 2 big rooms interconnected by an aggro-free tunnel. I would do Lizard vs Lizard whenever I could find a EM one, now this wasn't the fastest xp, but it sure is a profitable spot. The lizards drop a shitload of things such as crystals, beastmen seals, lizard skins/eggs/tails (all stackable), and chest keys. And the nice part about the chest keys are there are 6 spawns in my camp alone. I opened the chest 3 times while I was there finding gems, gil, and a 15k war/drk great axe. It was an enjoyable time, however it's also a high profile spot. Subject to farmers, xp pts, and just people running by killing things.
I didn't stay the entire level for 48, I had my flag up and got invited to a xp pt in the basement to Garlaige. This is the first time I was asked to pull as Bst so I had a fun time pet pulling, it was also nice never having to worry about links since I could just despawn them, I hit 49 in this pt.
Level 49
I went back to my godly Lizard farming/xp spot in Crawler's Nest today only to find a XP pt there, BOO! They easily had control over the entire camp so I went to the basement of CN with exorays, beetles, and soldier crawlers among other things. This ended horribly in one battle when an Exoray's AoE took me out fast so I went back to Gustav.. good ole Gustav! And I grinded the level out.
Level 50, yes! More to come..
Level 43
Most of this level was spent in West Altep. I felt like getting away from the mainstream leveling spots for awhile and had a relaxing xp session in the desert. Now I camped by the Korroloka Tunnel entrance in West Altep (the one most people don't know about) and I never came into contact with another play my entire time there.
It's pretty close to Rabao being just southeast of it and you can roam up and down the area, the level range is consistent. My pet was always spiders, there was a good mix of DC and EM spiders at lvl 43 and the prey was.. everything else. From Dhalmels, to anticans, to the very best prey.. WORMS! Spiders took down worms incredibly fast and they popped all over, but the only problem was, worms only spawn in the desert from 18:00 to 6:00. But when they're out, the xp went very fast, otherwise it was just decent.
Break
After that I took a break from leveling because I was set on getting my gaudy harness, which you can read about a couple posts down.
Level 44
Had a nice party with doc's taru mule who was blm at the time. Just your typical crawler's nest party. Now I've never been a fan of this zone, always got lost trying to figure out the right tunnel and the way to the secret room.. till I got the map anyway. However as a Bst, I have a newfound love for this zone and I can forsee myself spending a lot more time in it.
Break
After that party, Shadow asked for help on his mnk AF which was a coffer key in.. what other zone but.. Crawler's Nest! W00t. Cyaan came along to help and we got the key to drop in about 15 minutes and had little difficulty locating the coffer. We also found that Demonic Tiphia was up so we had to attempt that.
Now let me just say, this is the most annoying NM I've ever seen, not only does it have an unlimited source of MP to cast spells like sleepga2 and Cure V, but it can also use its Pollen TP move to restore 3,000+ HP.. which it used quite frequently.. along with Cure V.. ugh. Also the NM is known for using Final Sting when it gets too low on HP almost always guaranteed to take out the person tanking, which it did! Poor cy. After that a quick Dark Spark fight and Shadow had his mnk AF gloves.
Taking a break from Crawler's Nest.. for awhile anyway.. we did a BCNM60, which was successful! Lots of deaths but every orb was a victory and everyone got a worthwhile torque, looking forward to doing more in the future.
Ok back to Bst:
Level 45-46
I had 2 successful party's both in Quicksand Caves, the first pt I got to spend time with Buggman and his drg but other than that, nothing special to report here.
Level 47
I decided to go to Gustav Tunnel, I've always had successful party's there and I've always stated it would make a good Bst zone because of the vast amount of charmable monsters throughout the entire zone. However I wasn't a big on goblins so I was a bit hesitant at first, I never had much luck fighting gobs in the past.
Oh how very misguided those doubts were. I had an AWESOME time here, fastest xp I've ever gotten on Bst! Now that I'm a much higher level than the last time I fought gobs, things are much different. Firstly Bomb Toss is much less threatening, now that I have protect/shell, cure3/regen, blink, and barfira, fighting gobs is no longer scary. Also at this level, there's much less chance that you'll get hate with a good pet.
All my pets were DC or EM leeches, and omigod leeches make efficient killers! A DC Leech could easily take on a T gob, and this level range of monsters stretched the entire first floor of the zone. So if there was a xp pt that came and started pulling gobs and such, you could just move down the zone a bit and keep on going. I hardly touched flies just because there were way too many of them around and linking is dangerous but I did do bats when I ran out of gobs (rare). The suicidal bomb toss gob made for some nice chains and fast xp, I really enjoyed my time in Gustav and hit 49. :)
Death or Intense Moment: Killing lots of gobs in Gustav I managed to spawn Goblinsavior Heronex, and of course being a reckless Bst I just had to try and solo it.. regardless of its level which I didn't know at the time.. still don't. Well I threw my leech at it and just kept throwing anything in the area at it until I ran of DC/EM pets. Surrounded by Gobs on all sides of my camp I couldn't really run off to some other part of the zone to continue without getting a gob link. So I started charming Toughs.. but mischarms got the better of me and I ended up dead. I'll have my BSTly revenge one day!
Level 48
w00t level 48! New shiny Viking Axe and a Life Belt for a total of +20 accuracy.
Ok at this level Gustav became alittle too low, most of the gobs conning EM, so I went back to good ole Crawler's Nest. This time around I played in the back entrance map of CN which also makes a nice Bst playground, everything charmable, lots of places to camp. I was using the Labyrinth Lizard camp, 2 big rooms interconnected by an aggro-free tunnel. I would do Lizard vs Lizard whenever I could find a EM one, now this wasn't the fastest xp, but it sure is a profitable spot. The lizards drop a shitload of things such as crystals, beastmen seals, lizard skins/eggs/tails (all stackable), and chest keys. And the nice part about the chest keys are there are 6 spawns in my camp alone. I opened the chest 3 times while I was there finding gems, gil, and a 15k war/drk great axe. It was an enjoyable time, however it's also a high profile spot. Subject to farmers, xp pts, and just people running by killing things.
I didn't stay the entire level for 48, I had my flag up and got invited to a xp pt in the basement to Garlaige. This is the first time I was asked to pull as Bst so I had a fun time pet pulling, it was also nice never having to worry about links since I could just despawn them, I hit 49 in this pt.
Level 49
I went back to my godly Lizard farming/xp spot in Crawler's Nest today only to find a XP pt there, BOO! They easily had control over the entire camp so I went to the basement of CN with exorays, beetles, and soldier crawlers among other things. This ended horribly in one battle when an Exoray's AoE took me out fast so I went back to Gustav.. good ole Gustav! And I grinded the level out.
Level 50, yes! More to come..
Thursday, October 18, 2007
LS Drama ftw
Ok so apparently this happened late last night when I wasn't on. Peeknut went crazy on lar and jean and called their relationship illegal, lots of drama ensued, he was kicked and now seems to have a personal vendetta against the LS and our blatant support of pedophilia. /sigh
Anyway I log on today and jean gives me the brief summary of the event followed by peeknut having a wonderful conversation with me, to which I have posted below. Another lovely display of LS Drama ftw. None of the conversation has been censored, the things blacked out are from other /tell conversations and the party I was in at the time.
(you can click each image to see it larger if you can't read it)
He also added at the end that I disgust him, didn't get that shot though. orz
Anyway I log on today and jean gives me the brief summary of the event followed by peeknut having a wonderful conversation with me, to which I have posted below. Another lovely display of LS Drama ftw. None of the conversation has been censored, the things blacked out are from other /tell conversations and the party I was in at the time.
(you can click each image to see it larger if you can't read it)
He also added at the end that I disgust him, didn't get that shot though. orz
Subligar Farming - Gaudy Harness
Now I've always despised subligar farming and avoided LS pts that went there. Mainly because I hated Phomiuna Aqueducts as much as the Promyvion zones. I never was a leader for any of these beginning CoP missions so I never learned my way around the zones nor did I care to. Not to mention I didn't really have a subligar I needed but now I have a reason to go there. To get the godly Gaudy Harness which is an uber body piece for both bard and Bst, two jobs that I'm currently leveling.
The Godly Harness
So I sucked it up and decided to get a pt together and go kill Fomors in Phomiuna. I found two people in the shell that were also after subligars, Asphe and Doc, so we went there as a nin, smn, bst trio. Now I honestly had no idea if this was even enough to take down fomors and if bringing no raise was a good idea but I had confidence in my regulars as they typically know their role and how to perform well in difficult situations. It turned out to be justified because Asphe, Doc, and I had no problem killing Fomors over and over again for 4 hours that night, later joined by Ari and her friend Rown for awhile at the end too. Among the subligars we got were rng, smn/whm, blm/smn, and nin. However the two we didn't get which happen to be the best items were thf and bst.. after 4 hours, and with TH there part of the time.
Asphe, Doc, and I trioing Fomors
So with 4 hours of time and 3-5 people netting us no Bst subligar I was determined to get it so I set out to do this solo early afternoon that next day.
It was right before work, I literally had about a half hour before I had to be in my car driving to work but I figured I could get away with being 10 minutes late if I had to. So I outpost warp to Tavnazian Safehold and quickly grab all my Bst gear, I also break out my monster signa and tuna sushi which I haven't used in a long time since I need all the +chr I can get for this crazy strategy. I buy a stack of Zeta food (best pet food on the AH, heals 350 hp and adds regen) and I set out for the Aqueducts.
Dodging Taurus' and moving as fast as I can, now having memorized my way to this camp not needing to look at maps I get to the camp with little difficult. Now in order for me to solo this I need a VT/IT slime pet that I then 2hr to make it mine for a guaranteed 30 minutes with increased power. The hard part though.. charming a VT/IT slime and not dying.
So I find my target and set out trying to charm it with all the +chr I could pump into this little taru bst. Mischarm.. after mischarm.. after mischarm.. thankfully the slimes are slow and don't chase you long so charming from a maximum distance and running way out of the tunnel that the slime is in (hoping a stegosaur isn't waiting at the exit) usually makes it lose interest in you fairly quick. Well after 8 tries or so I finally charm and quickly hit my 2hr Familiar, now I have this awesome slime pet ready to kill some fomors.
Only I'm not actually at the fomor camp, now I have to drag this pet across a room full of Taurus' and hope I don't get aggro, now keep in mind I only have 30 minutes with this pet so time is NOT on my side, waiting for the Taurus' to move can be costly. But I manage to get past all of the True Sight dinosaurs and into the Fomor camp in about 2 minutes time.
The room where the Bst Fomor spawns has 4 fomors in it, 2 hell bats that link with the Fomor Bst's bat, and a NM that's 8 levels above me when I'm at a 40 cap. So I sent my slime in for the Bst Fomor and pull it back to the safe hallway, this slime is amazing. It kills the Fomor's pet bat in about 6 hits with my help and then goes to town on the actual Bst. The slime hits so hard he easily tanks the entire battle and his AoE move Fluid Toss does an added 150-300 damage, completely destroying the Bst Fomor with no difficulty at all. First kill, I get a bronze key which was nice but I wanted the subligar.
Now the Bst Fomor is on a 14 minute respawn which means I'll only be able to kill it once more before my 2hr is gone and I lose my IT Slime on steroids. I take the time I have to kill the Hell Bats in the room so they don't link and a VT Diremite in the hallway just to avoid hitting it with my slimes TP AoE move, all the while building up 300% TP for ourselves. The 2nd Bst Fomor respawns, this time we pull it fast enough so it doesn't have its pet with it. So of course this time we kill it even faster and make this poor Fomor look worse. My 2nd kill soloing as a Bst, the subligar drops!
Knowing I basically now own a Gaudy Harness (once I do the quest) I head off to work 10 minutes late a happy little Bst! It amazes me what this job can do solo, I'm in love with Bst right now. :)
The Godly HarnessSo I sucked it up and decided to get a pt together and go kill Fomors in Phomiuna. I found two people in the shell that were also after subligars, Asphe and Doc, so we went there as a nin, smn, bst trio. Now I honestly had no idea if this was even enough to take down fomors and if bringing no raise was a good idea but I had confidence in my regulars as they typically know their role and how to perform well in difficult situations. It turned out to be justified because Asphe, Doc, and I had no problem killing Fomors over and over again for 4 hours that night, later joined by Ari and her friend Rown for awhile at the end too. Among the subligars we got were rng, smn/whm, blm/smn, and nin. However the two we didn't get which happen to be the best items were thf and bst.. after 4 hours, and with TH there part of the time.
Asphe, Doc, and I trioing FomorsIt was right before work, I literally had about a half hour before I had to be in my car driving to work but I figured I could get away with being 10 minutes late if I had to. So I outpost warp to Tavnazian Safehold and quickly grab all my Bst gear, I also break out my monster signa and tuna sushi which I haven't used in a long time since I need all the +chr I can get for this crazy strategy. I buy a stack of Zeta food (best pet food on the AH, heals 350 hp and adds regen) and I set out for the Aqueducts.
Dodging Taurus' and moving as fast as I can, now having memorized my way to this camp not needing to look at maps I get to the camp with little difficult. Now in order for me to solo this I need a VT/IT slime pet that I then 2hr to make it mine for a guaranteed 30 minutes with increased power. The hard part though.. charming a VT/IT slime and not dying.
So I find my target and set out trying to charm it with all the +chr I could pump into this little taru bst. Mischarm.. after mischarm.. after mischarm.. thankfully the slimes are slow and don't chase you long so charming from a maximum distance and running way out of the tunnel that the slime is in (hoping a stegosaur isn't waiting at the exit) usually makes it lose interest in you fairly quick. Well after 8 tries or so I finally charm and quickly hit my 2hr Familiar, now I have this awesome slime pet ready to kill some fomors.
Only I'm not actually at the fomor camp, now I have to drag this pet across a room full of Taurus' and hope I don't get aggro, now keep in mind I only have 30 minutes with this pet so time is NOT on my side, waiting for the Taurus' to move can be costly. But I manage to get past all of the True Sight dinosaurs and into the Fomor camp in about 2 minutes time.
The room where the Bst Fomor spawns has 4 fomors in it, 2 hell bats that link with the Fomor Bst's bat, and a NM that's 8 levels above me when I'm at a 40 cap. So I sent my slime in for the Bst Fomor and pull it back to the safe hallway, this slime is amazing. It kills the Fomor's pet bat in about 6 hits with my help and then goes to town on the actual Bst. The slime hits so hard he easily tanks the entire battle and his AoE move Fluid Toss does an added 150-300 damage, completely destroying the Bst Fomor with no difficulty at all. First kill, I get a bronze key which was nice but I wanted the subligar.
Now the Bst Fomor is on a 14 minute respawn which means I'll only be able to kill it once more before my 2hr is gone and I lose my IT Slime on steroids. I take the time I have to kill the Hell Bats in the room so they don't link and a VT Diremite in the hallway just to avoid hitting it with my slimes TP AoE move, all the while building up 300% TP for ourselves. The 2nd Bst Fomor respawns, this time we pull it fast enough so it doesn't have its pet with it. So of course this time we kill it even faster and make this poor Fomor look worse. My 2nd kill soloing as a Bst, the subligar drops!
Knowing I basically now own a Gaudy Harness (once I do the quest) I head off to work 10 minutes late a happy little Bst! It amazes me what this job can do solo, I'm in love with Bst right now. :)
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Bst Adventures lvl 40-42
I know there's a gap in my journal going from 37 to 40 but I honestly don't remember when or how I gained those levels so lets pretend they never happened.
Level 40-41
Kyss the Bst has returned! Starting fresh at level 40 I've ditched the taru RSE and I'm sporting a whole new set of armor and a nice new AF axe (first AF weapon I've actually used seriously). Now an interesting thing happened today, I changed to Bst and within a few minutes of being a bst/whm I get an invite for a party.. no flag up or anything. Most people would never consider a non-LFP Bst for a party, hell many wouldn't invite us with our flag up either =p. Turns out the invite came from another Bst around my level who knew how nice they were in parties. So our party went to Gustav and I gained 2 levels that party, not much more to say about that.
Level 42
Okay I'm back to the solo life now, no random fortunate party invites today. But that's fine because I was looking forward to being on my own again. Now I have over 6 zones to choose from that have viable camps such as SSG, Crawler's Nest, west/east altep, yhoator, and zitah and every one of them seemed appealing. Now my previous camps have always been in remote locations where people barely ever go (like the islands in bibiki, random parts of SSG), however this time I thought I'd go to higher traffic location.
I chose crawler's nest, and I'm glad I did, this camp completely got me back into Bst. The camp was the first ballroom, which is a popular lvl 36-38 party spot so I got to see some familiar faces like vamp and doc which was fun as I was leveling. The Surprising thing about this camp is that I didn't die once, and it's a lot riskier than a lot of camps I've been to. The main strategy was charm the many even match (at 42) lizards in the room and use them against the crawlers, sharing with the xp pts.
Now a small cramped room full of lizards.. that link by sound.. means one mischarm and I have a nice train of lizards after me. And this happened at least a few times during my stay here. Now I said I didn't die, but that doesn't mean I didn't come close to dying several times, I always seemed to do the right thing at the last possible moment. Is it skill? My Bst instincts? Pure luck? The Bst gods easing me back into the job perhaps? Well whatever it was, it was damn exciting! I had so much fun at this camp, even the bad situations that I somehow always managed to live on got my heart racing and made this an awesome xp session.
Me in a piece of armor I never thought I'd see myself in.
I mentioned the lizards linking on mischarms being one downside to the camp, the other is obviously the ongoing xp pts coming in and out, as well as people who just wanna kill your lizard pets for farming or the hell of it. While the majority of the time when I was soloing there was only 1 pt and plenty of crawlers for the both of us, by the time I had hit 43 there were 3 pts and not enough crawlers for anyone. Some of the upsides to the camp are that lizards kickass versus crawlers. Crawlers are soft squishy creatures and lizards make very effective pets against them, they also intimidate them as do I when I have hate. All of the crawlers offensive TP moves are frontal AoE which means as long as I stood behind the crawler and didn't have hate I never had to endure a poison or a slow attack. As for the lizard TP move, mostly bland but petrification sometimes would keep the crawler immobile for half the battle which was nice.
Overall it was a fun time and I was able to hit 43, I look forward to doing more with this great job.
Level 40-41
Kyss the Bst has returned! Starting fresh at level 40 I've ditched the taru RSE and I'm sporting a whole new set of armor and a nice new AF axe (first AF weapon I've actually used seriously). Now an interesting thing happened today, I changed to Bst and within a few minutes of being a bst/whm I get an invite for a party.. no flag up or anything. Most people would never consider a non-LFP Bst for a party, hell many wouldn't invite us with our flag up either =p. Turns out the invite came from another Bst around my level who knew how nice they were in parties. So our party went to Gustav and I gained 2 levels that party, not much more to say about that.
Level 42
Okay I'm back to the solo life now, no random fortunate party invites today. But that's fine because I was looking forward to being on my own again. Now I have over 6 zones to choose from that have viable camps such as SSG, Crawler's Nest, west/east altep, yhoator, and zitah and every one of them seemed appealing. Now my previous camps have always been in remote locations where people barely ever go (like the islands in bibiki, random parts of SSG), however this time I thought I'd go to higher traffic location.
I chose crawler's nest, and I'm glad I did, this camp completely got me back into Bst. The camp was the first ballroom, which is a popular lvl 36-38 party spot so I got to see some familiar faces like vamp and doc which was fun as I was leveling. The Surprising thing about this camp is that I didn't die once, and it's a lot riskier than a lot of camps I've been to. The main strategy was charm the many even match (at 42) lizards in the room and use them against the crawlers, sharing with the xp pts.
Now a small cramped room full of lizards.. that link by sound.. means one mischarm and I have a nice train of lizards after me. And this happened at least a few times during my stay here. Now I said I didn't die, but that doesn't mean I didn't come close to dying several times, I always seemed to do the right thing at the last possible moment. Is it skill? My Bst instincts? Pure luck? The Bst gods easing me back into the job perhaps? Well whatever it was, it was damn exciting! I had so much fun at this camp, even the bad situations that I somehow always managed to live on got my heart racing and made this an awesome xp session.
Me in a piece of armor I never thought I'd see myself in.I mentioned the lizards linking on mischarms being one downside to the camp, the other is obviously the ongoing xp pts coming in and out, as well as people who just wanna kill your lizard pets for farming or the hell of it. While the majority of the time when I was soloing there was only 1 pt and plenty of crawlers for the both of us, by the time I had hit 43 there were 3 pts and not enough crawlers for anyone. Some of the upsides to the camp are that lizards kickass versus crawlers. Crawlers are soft squishy creatures and lizards make very effective pets against them, they also intimidate them as do I when I have hate. All of the crawlers offensive TP moves are frontal AoE which means as long as I stood behind the crawler and didn't have hate I never had to endure a poison or a slow attack. As for the lizard TP move, mostly bland but petrification sometimes would keep the crawler immobile for half the battle which was nice.
Overall it was a fun time and I was able to hit 43, I look forward to doing more with this great job.
Monday, October 15, 2007
BST Memories
I actually wrote this a longass time ago but I never posted it, but I figured it'd be a good post to get back into BST mode, I still laugh over this situation as it reminds me about how fun playing BST is.
Old Post (past):
In current news, my BST is back in business, currently lvl 42, and I hope to be able to write about BST for a long time to come :)
Old Post (past):
So today I started levelling BST again, I haven't touched BST in a long time so I kind of forgot how to play it. When you're a BST all alone in a camp or secluded part of the zone as you often are you really need to be more attentive than you would in a normal XP situation. Cause when things go wrong, there's usually never anyone around to help, which means if you want to live, you need to be able to think and act fast. There's no whm behind you to throw out that emergency cure or that blm to sleep a link, or that war to voke something off you. As I was saying, I had forgotten how to play this job, so on with the story.
I scrambled through my mog safe, mog locker, and mule to grab whatever BST items I had left and discovered, to my delight, I hadn't sold most of the equip I used when I stopped playing the job. I filled in the remaining gaps by buying some Merc Captain's armor with my overabundance of conquest points in Windurst. I figured once I hit 40 I'll be redoing much of my armor anyway so I didn't spend much.. or any gil.. on BST for this level.
After browsing the BST forums on Alla to refresh my memory on the prime levelling locations, I settled on Yuhtunga Jungle. Seemed like a good choice.. at the time.
I had loosely read the directions on how to get to the camp and found it with little difficulty by use of Outpost Warp. It felt good, being in the wild, on my own, just me and native jungle inhabitants, I really missed this playstyle.
I then went back to the forum to make sure I was in the right camp and to read what the strategy was here. As I'm doing so, I hear the aggro noise that we've all come to know and love. Quickly going back to FFXI, I realize I parked my char at a crappy spot, and had a Very Tough Goblin Robber hitting me. Lovely.
So what came next, panic of course. My first instinct was to run, which I started to do. Though some point between noticing I was in yellow HP and figuring out which direction I was running I realized I was a BST and BSTs could Charm! There were two perfectly good Soldier Crawlers in front of me, which would've made great pets, only when I opened my macro set.. I was on my BLM set. /sigh.
So I'm running away, dodging further gob aggro, and fumbling through my macros to get to my BST set when I come to the open area by the outpost. I find the macro set and I'm able to Charm Bind the Gob that's chasing me to get alittle further ahead.
By the outpost the only Charmable pet around are Easy Prey Young Opo-opo's, which are resistant to charm might I add. I take the risk and Charm one figuring it's just Easy Prey and to my relief I now have an EP pet. I quickly send it to fight the gob chasing me and I have a moment of relief. A brief moment..
Thinking I'm home free I run what I think is a good distance away from the intense battle between my monkey pet and that gob to Cure myself up. Was it a good distance? Nah, so my cure II grabs hate and the goblin loses interest in my pet and starts running toward me again. Joy.
So I begin kiting it around the open area of the Outpost till my pet could regain hate, only as I was doing so.. I catch aggro from a Goblin Furrier in the area. My pet finally catches up with the Goblin Robber and they begin to fight again but now I'm stuck with the Furrier still on me. Thankfully it's only Easy Prey so I decide to engage it.
It didn't take long for the VT Robber to finish off my EP Opo-opo and I did notice this. Only managing to get the Furrier down to 75% I had to disengage to get another pet. Again the only thing in the area being Opo-opo's I go for another one. This time.. it fails.
So here I am with a Young Opo-opo, Goblin Furrier, and Goblin Robber all heading after me, at this point I'm thinking I'm pretty dead so I decide to make a run for it and see how far I get. I figured I'd head for Sea Serpent Grotto and to my surprise, I manage to drop down the correct hole and I'm down by the waterfall heading to SSG with a nice lead on all my enemies I managed to make.
I had 22 HP as I'm heading toward the waterfall, I'm pretty much home free though. Figuring I'd just avoid the Sahagins and all would be good. I was feeling pretty good right about now.
Then it happens:
The River Sahagin starts casting Dia II.
NO! 22 HP, knowing my death would come fast I stopped to cast cure II, only I didn't look at my MP and didn't have enough for a cure II. So I start casting cure I and by that time the Sahagin catches up to me and kills me.
----------
Looking back on this situation there are so many things I could've done differently had I remembered more about playing BST. Not going AFK in a spot where I'm likely to get aggro would've prevented that whole situation. Being prepared and having my macros ready would've ended it quicker as well. Remember all the abilities of the job I had available to me such as the stack of Jug Pets in my inventory which would've come in handy had I remembered that or properly using Tame to stop a mischarm which also could've helped. I could've used Reward too to make Opo-opo last longer to give myself more time. Also I was wearing a pair of powder boots at the time which would've given me Flee that I could have used as well. Even just using my chocobo whistle to scout the camp and not getting off my chocobo till I was ready to start could've done the trick too.
My survival instincts will come back to me, but I do feel like I'm learning how to be a BST all over again.
In current news, my BST is back in business, currently lvl 42, and I hope to be able to write about BST for a long time to come :)
Thursday, September 27, 2007
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Bi-Quarterly update!
So a ton of stuff has happened for me since I last updated. I am now a 75 RDM! Dang ok how long has it been since I posted. Well I just dinged 42 on my BLM on my long road to 75 on a second job. I did get to 41 on DRK before I realized that BLM might be more of a sought after job in my new end game ls. That was until I got my Patroclus's Helm earlier this morning.
This was after we had just killed Bune (no drop ; ;) which we killed after we lost claim to gil sellers then got claim back from after a call for herp. But prior to that we actually did lose claim of Baobhan Sith to a group of taru blms in the area. I have a screenshot of our interchange after I was murdered(which brought my buffer to an all time low of 1.3k >.>). The good news was right before that we got claim on Wyvernpoacher Drachlox. Now what the hell were we even doing out there? I don't even know Talbain was leveling drg down in Gustav and pointed out that the bow nm was up and so Vit and I made our way out there right before a thief did and got jooed on the drop as always. After all this was done I went back to windy and then got another call, Biast is up! So off I went to the Vahzl OP to claim a reason to keep whiffing as a dark knight and bagged me a Patroclus's Helm.
Ok so I haven't slept yet but I also killed Cactrot Rapido on Sunday.
This was after we had just killed Bune (no drop ; ;) which we killed after we lost claim to gil sellers then got claim back from after a call for herp. But prior to that we actually did lose claim of Baobhan Sith to a group of taru blms in the area. I have a screenshot of our interchange after I was murdered(which brought my buffer to an all time low of 1.3k >.>). The good news was right before that we got claim on Wyvernpoacher Drachlox. Now what the hell were we even doing out there? I don't even know Talbain was leveling drg down in Gustav and pointed out that the bow nm was up and so Vit and I made our way out there right before a thief did and got jooed on the drop as always. After all this was done I went back to windy and then got another call, Biast is up! So off I went to the Vahzl OP to claim a reason to keep whiffing as a dark knight and bagged me a Patroclus's Helm.
Ok so I haven't slept yet but I also killed Cactrot Rapido on Sunday.
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
Honesty
I know many have noticed I haven't been on and as you've probably guessed, school is back in session. Now between the 20 hours a week I'm in class and the 30 hours I'm working (need all the gilz I can get), I really haven't had much time for FFXI. Not even just to level BST like I had originally intended when school started, not yet anyway. I suppose in a way it's a good thing, I do actually have my priorities right this time around, putting aside the addiction so I can focus on school. However I do plan on spending some time in Vana'diel, once I get a more solid schedule and get back into the rotation, I'll be able to better manage my time.
Anyway, that's just a quick update about what I'm doing currently, but that isn't why I'm writing this post. I've wanted to say this for a long long time now, but never really found the right time or the right way. I know there'd be mixed emotions, possibly some upset, some not caring, probably a lot of questions. So I figure why not write everything in one long and messy post and get everything out in the open, with answers to all the common questions and all.
The truth:
Nikki, the person who plays Kyssandra, doesn't exist. My name isn't Nikki, I'm not a girl.
If that's all you wanted to know, you can stop reading here, for those who are interested, keep going.
History Lesson:
My first [graphical] mmorpg was Everquest Online Adventures for ps2. I knew very little about RPGs at that time, I did understand the concept of role playing though, assuming the character of the hero, saving the world, etc. I remember a npc guild leader (no relevance to my current status I assure you) on a MUD named DragonRealms, she was powerful and very wise if I recall correctly (again no relevance to my current status.. of course). I figured I'd design my character after her, she was a druid, master of the wilderness, now in all the time playing EQOA, as I went on to make great friends and run a very successful guild, it never really occurred to me that people thought I was really a girl. When I finally did realize that minor little detail, I was alittle too into the role to back out, didn't want to ruin any friendships over this. As the guild began to break up and we all made the move to FFXI, among them Cyaan, Famanor, Truce, and Thallis, I kept the same name and same identity as we began to start anew in the world of Vana'diel.
Why did you do it?
As I said in the history lesson, I just got into the role and it was pretty fun. There didn't seem much harm in it at the time, and I hope that continues.
Why tell now?
No particular reason really, it did get a little annoying not having a real picture or not being able to participate in voice chat and having to lie on many occasions due to things like that. But some people already did know, and more people found out that branched out from telling those people so I figure why not get it out in the open.
---
I still don't know how everyone's going to react, but I'm sorry if anyone was hurt in this lie (cause you know.. that'd be kind of sad). Just to let you know that's about the only lie I've told (that's probably a lie). I really am in school for pharmacy, second year now, I do work at walgreens, I do love FFXI, and our awesome LS we have. And yes I can be a dick (bitcharu?) when I want to be.
Anyway, that's just a quick update about what I'm doing currently, but that isn't why I'm writing this post. I've wanted to say this for a long long time now, but never really found the right time or the right way. I know there'd be mixed emotions, possibly some upset, some not caring, probably a lot of questions. So I figure why not write everything in one long and messy post and get everything out in the open, with answers to all the common questions and all.
The truth:
Nikki, the person who plays Kyssandra, doesn't exist. My name isn't Nikki, I'm not a girl.
If that's all you wanted to know, you can stop reading here, for those who are interested, keep going.
History Lesson:
My first [graphical] mmorpg was Everquest Online Adventures for ps2. I knew very little about RPGs at that time, I did understand the concept of role playing though, assuming the character of the hero, saving the world, etc. I remember a npc guild leader (no relevance to my current status I assure you) on a MUD named DragonRealms, she was powerful and very wise if I recall correctly (again no relevance to my current status.. of course). I figured I'd design my character after her, she was a druid, master of the wilderness, now in all the time playing EQOA, as I went on to make great friends and run a very successful guild, it never really occurred to me that people thought I was really a girl. When I finally did realize that minor little detail, I was alittle too into the role to back out, didn't want to ruin any friendships over this. As the guild began to break up and we all made the move to FFXI, among them Cyaan, Famanor, Truce, and Thallis, I kept the same name and same identity as we began to start anew in the world of Vana'diel.
Why did you do it?
As I said in the history lesson, I just got into the role and it was pretty fun. There didn't seem much harm in it at the time, and I hope that continues.
Why tell now?
No particular reason really, it did get a little annoying not having a real picture or not being able to participate in voice chat and having to lie on many occasions due to things like that. But some people already did know, and more people found out that branched out from telling those people so I figure why not get it out in the open.
---
I still don't know how everyone's going to react, but I'm sorry if anyone was hurt in this lie (cause you know.. that'd be kind of sad). Just to let you know that's about the only lie I've told (that's probably a lie). I really am in school for pharmacy, second year now, I do work at walgreens, I do love FFXI, and our awesome LS we have. And yes I can be a dick (bitcharu?) when I want to be.
Wednesday, July 04, 2007
Should I stay or should I go?
Again let me start off by apologizing for another rambling post.
So it's been a few weeks now, since I've put a stop to me playing FFXI. And for the most part its been going smoothly. I've been going out and experiencing life away from the game. I even had a few friends convince me to go to, what they call a lan party, which I've never heard of until now. A party where everyone brings their laptops and plays games all night, kind of similar to what I used to do.. only the games they played were mostly first person shooters. Which I horrendously sucked at, but it was still a lot of fun. I did get some respect back when we played Starcraft, since I had more experience with that game.
However, every night when I get home, I look over at my computer and still have that desire to log on. To join the fantasy world of Vana'diel, to get on and connect with a completely different group of people. People who I've known and played with for years, my friends who I'd be happy to see and (most of them) I'm sure happy to see me. It's hard not to log on, just yesterday when I was briefly on to deliver some gil, it's hard to ignore my friends saying they want me to come back. It's hard to walk around for awhile and not wish I could be part of it again. It's hard listening to people asking for help and knowing full well I could be the one to assist them but resisting the urge to do so. And this all happened during the 15 minutes I was on that day.
I mentioned this in my last post
I don't know anymore. I knew by not playing, it would make me want to play more. But I always thought as I began to do more and more things away from FFXI, you know in that so-called real world, I would want to play less and less. For awhile that was exactly the case, but now I seem to have regressed back to an earlier stage in the withdrawal. I'm beginning to think I should just start playing again until school rolls around this September. Then work on getting off the game so I don't make the same mistake I made last school year. But we'll see.
Doc and I sightseeing atop the mountain in A. Chasm
So it's been a few weeks now, since I've put a stop to me playing FFXI. And for the most part its been going smoothly. I've been going out and experiencing life away from the game. I even had a few friends convince me to go to, what they call a lan party, which I've never heard of until now. A party where everyone brings their laptops and plays games all night, kind of similar to what I used to do.. only the games they played were mostly first person shooters. Which I horrendously sucked at, but it was still a lot of fun. I did get some respect back when we played Starcraft, since I had more experience with that game.
However, every night when I get home, I look over at my computer and still have that desire to log on. To join the fantasy world of Vana'diel, to get on and connect with a completely different group of people. People who I've known and played with for years, my friends who I'd be happy to see and (most of them) I'm sure happy to see me. It's hard not to log on, just yesterday when I was briefly on to deliver some gil, it's hard to ignore my friends saying they want me to come back. It's hard to walk around for awhile and not wish I could be part of it again. It's hard listening to people asking for help and knowing full well I could be the one to assist them but resisting the urge to do so. And this all happened during the 15 minutes I was on that day.
I mentioned this in my last post
"Play casually? That's not possible. There is absolutely no way I can play FFXI without being hooked and wanting to play more. Even when I tell myself I want to stop, I can end up playing into the late hours of the night and into the next day. The game just has that much of a hold on me at times."I still agree with this to some extent. But I have begun to wonder, maybe it is possible to balance FFXI and the other things in my life. If I can not log on FFXI to play for this long (3 weeks now), it shows I do have some willpower against the game, even though that desire to play is still there. But between work, going out, and once September comes around, school, will playing FFXI even be an option? If I can stop myself from playing FFXI now, I should be able to do it once school comes around if the need arises.
I don't know anymore. I knew by not playing, it would make me want to play more. But I always thought as I began to do more and more things away from FFXI, you know in that so-called real world, I would want to play less and less. For awhile that was exactly the case, but now I seem to have regressed back to an earlier stage in the withdrawal. I'm beginning to think I should just start playing again until school rolls around this September. Then work on getting off the game so I don't make the same mistake I made last school year. But we'll see.
Doc and I sightseeing atop the mountain in A. ChasmFriday, June 29, 2007
Thoughts
I don't know if people still read this but I just wanted a place to get down my thoughts. Now that I'm done with it, let me point out there's no real organization to this, it's just me rambling on.
I no longer want to play FFXI.
That is to say, I no longer wish to have a desire to play FFXI. But wishing and wanting isn't enough. You can't just stop doing something that you've been experiencing and enjoying regularly for the past 3-4 years just like that. But I really need to get away from this game.
Game.
I keep telling myself it's just a game, you can move on. But then again it's not just a game, it's a service, it's a world, it's a community. Anyone who refers to FFXI as merely a game is usually missing the point. But furthermore, it's an addiction, one I need to get away from.
Addiction.
Changes have been made in life as of recently that allow me to rely less on FFXI as a form of entertainment. Coupled by the fact that I also want to do much better in school this coming semester, I need to break the addiction. The changes that have occurred have allowed me to stay away from FFXI as of late however that desire is still there. Everytime I go to a website, read a blog, watch a video, or come into contact remotely related to FFXI.. that desire surfaces. Sure I could stop viewing FFXI related content but I don't want to cut off all contact, I just don't want to play.
It's so hard to move away from, just thinking of all the memories I've had. All the friends I've made, the friends who I know are still there and still play. The friends who I know would be happy to see me if I ever returned. It's a second reality, that for a long time, took the place of having to deal with the real world. Not that what's going on in the real world is a bad in any way, shape or form at the moment for me, it's just different. Something I've never really experienced before. I'm happier than I've been in a long time, but I'm not sure if that means I want a life without FFXI.
Play casually? That's not possible. There is absolutely no way I can play FFXI without being hooked and wanting to play more. Even when I tell myself I want to stop, I can end up playing into the late hours of the night and into the next day. The game just has that much of a hold on me at times.
I'm not going to say I'm quitting, cause I don't know if I am, if I'm gonna want to come back like I have in the past. For all I know this could just be some extended break, things in the real world may not work out, I could be back, and I want to leave that possibility open. This leads you to think how can I want to move on and wish to have no desire to play yet want to leave an option open for doing just that? If everything works out, I'll be able to completely let go of the game, if it doesn't, FFXI will always be my fallback reality.
I want to log on right now, see everyone in the MoogleArmy. I want to know what's going on, what people have accomplished, see what events were planned for the night. All of that just makes me smile, even something simple as someone saying they've levelled. I love seeing people progress, and helping them progress. I love that out of all the linkshells people could be in, they choose to be in this one, MoogleArmy, they help make it the large and active community it is today. Every one of them, even if they're not the most talkative of people or participate much, just their presence in the shell increases our memberbase, gets one more blue pearl out there, and contributes to our large community of members. The very least I can do is listen to what our members do, and I always get a great feeling of enjoyment hearing their accomplishments. Some people tend to think when I respond with my congrats and all rights and smileys I'm just doing it to be nice. Honestly though, when it comes to this, that couldn't be further from the truth.
I do hope in my time away from the game MA continues to be a strong and active shell. I trust all of the current sackholders to stay true to the shell and not abuse their powers and keep us in one piece. You know, I always thought Coldwind would make an excellent leader of MA, he should be encouraged to step up and take charge since I won't be around. He's very loyal, very helpful, very trusting, very unbiased toward anyone, and the among the nicest people I've ever met on FFXI. If anyone could lead a shell like MA, it's him. Then there's Jean, who is a good friend of mine, but not exactly leadership material (sorry Jean).
Lots more to write about but I'll stop for now, probably enough of a boring read as it is.
I no longer want to play FFXI.
That is to say, I no longer wish to have a desire to play FFXI. But wishing and wanting isn't enough. You can't just stop doing something that you've been experiencing and enjoying regularly for the past 3-4 years just like that. But I really need to get away from this game.
Game.
I keep telling myself it's just a game, you can move on. But then again it's not just a game, it's a service, it's a world, it's a community. Anyone who refers to FFXI as merely a game is usually missing the point. But furthermore, it's an addiction, one I need to get away from.
Addiction.
Changes have been made in life as of recently that allow me to rely less on FFXI as a form of entertainment. Coupled by the fact that I also want to do much better in school this coming semester, I need to break the addiction. The changes that have occurred have allowed me to stay away from FFXI as of late however that desire is still there. Everytime I go to a website, read a blog, watch a video, or come into contact remotely related to FFXI.. that desire surfaces. Sure I could stop viewing FFXI related content but I don't want to cut off all contact, I just don't want to play.
It's so hard to move away from, just thinking of all the memories I've had. All the friends I've made, the friends who I know are still there and still play. The friends who I know would be happy to see me if I ever returned. It's a second reality, that for a long time, took the place of having to deal with the real world. Not that what's going on in the real world is a bad in any way, shape or form at the moment for me, it's just different. Something I've never really experienced before. I'm happier than I've been in a long time, but I'm not sure if that means I want a life without FFXI.
Play casually? That's not possible. There is absolutely no way I can play FFXI without being hooked and wanting to play more. Even when I tell myself I want to stop, I can end up playing into the late hours of the night and into the next day. The game just has that much of a hold on me at times.
I'm not going to say I'm quitting, cause I don't know if I am, if I'm gonna want to come back like I have in the past. For all I know this could just be some extended break, things in the real world may not work out, I could be back, and I want to leave that possibility open. This leads you to think how can I want to move on and wish to have no desire to play yet want to leave an option open for doing just that? If everything works out, I'll be able to completely let go of the game, if it doesn't, FFXI will always be my fallback reality.
I want to log on right now, see everyone in the MoogleArmy. I want to know what's going on, what people have accomplished, see what events were planned for the night. All of that just makes me smile, even something simple as someone saying they've levelled. I love seeing people progress, and helping them progress. I love that out of all the linkshells people could be in, they choose to be in this one, MoogleArmy, they help make it the large and active community it is today. Every one of them, even if they're not the most talkative of people or participate much, just their presence in the shell increases our memberbase, gets one more blue pearl out there, and contributes to our large community of members. The very least I can do is listen to what our members do, and I always get a great feeling of enjoyment hearing their accomplishments. Some people tend to think when I respond with my congrats and all rights and smileys I'm just doing it to be nice. Honestly though, when it comes to this, that couldn't be further from the truth.
I do hope in my time away from the game MA continues to be a strong and active shell. I trust all of the current sackholders to stay true to the shell and not abuse their powers and keep us in one piece. You know, I always thought Coldwind would make an excellent leader of MA, he should be encouraged to step up and take charge since I won't be around. He's very loyal, very helpful, very trusting, very unbiased toward anyone, and the among the nicest people I've ever met on FFXI. If anyone could lead a shell like MA, it's him. Then there's Jean, who is a good friend of mine, but not exactly leadership material (sorry Jean).
Lots more to write about but I'll stop for now, probably enough of a boring read as it is.
Wednesday, May 02, 2007
If your bored at work
I've found a great site that hosts a lot of different movies joox.net. After watching Mission Impossible 3 i realized something, Tom Cruise runs like a retard.
Sunday, April 22, 2007
Victory @ Ro'Maeve
After having vamp get her YY Robe I knew Berm really wanted one too so we continued to gather people together at the window each day to try our chance at claiming. Now from what I hear, the past few days we've actually gotten the claim each time, but due to mpk attempts and wiping we never got to the point where we can kill it.
This time around was different, we had plans of going to the window after ZM4 was done, ZM4 taking longer than usual due to incidents on the way there but we just barely made the 3:00pm window (which I'm convinced didn't start right at 3). Of the ZM pt, berm and I were the first to arrive with jean and pal already waiting in another pt. We had daeana, chriseh, and ari enroute from chocobos and ron came along too to help out so when we were all there we had 8 people.
Berm announced it popped to the east right as the rest of the ZM pt was zoning in, clearly other pts in the area knew too as everyone was heading over east where I and a few other mages were standing. Now with a lot of magic-aggroing statues in the way no one dared to cast magic at the time so one of the other linkshells voked a statue to try and link shiki out of hiding. It worked and once it was up I threw out a quick stun and berm threw out a charm and Shiki was ours! Since there was really none of us in the area at the time I ended up taking enough hits and died before anyone could get it off me.
Chaos.
The fight was crazy, not only did we have at least 40 people in that small little path watching us but many of them at the beginning were fighting statues right on top of us in a mpk attempt which created a ton of lag. I ended up being more of a backup healer than a blm that fight since I had died and couldn't do a lot in the way of nuking, ended up dying again later on in the battle and losing my level permanently. We ended up getting a link which of course no one outside our alliance bothered to take but jean rose to the challenge and tanked/kited that thing till he almost died as a rdm/nin allowing us to continue focusing on shiki.
It took us a good 10 minutes but we killed off the NM (with an overdramatic thunder III at 1%) and Berm got his robe!.. which he can't use for another 5 levels. We were criticized by the end game shells for the length of time it took to kill and how many people we brought but who really cares. We walked in for the 4th time, got the claim (all 4 times), and walked out with the drop. Being nothing more than a chat LS not pimped out with an arsenal of lvl 75's with uber gear, I was very proud of MA, this was an awesome accomplishment.
The pt trying to fight in the middle of 40 people with Jean soloing a link in the background.
This time around was different, we had plans of going to the window after ZM4 was done, ZM4 taking longer than usual due to incidents on the way there but we just barely made the 3:00pm window (which I'm convinced didn't start right at 3). Of the ZM pt, berm and I were the first to arrive with jean and pal already waiting in another pt. We had daeana, chriseh, and ari enroute from chocobos and ron came along too to help out so when we were all there we had 8 people.
Berm announced it popped to the east right as the rest of the ZM pt was zoning in, clearly other pts in the area knew too as everyone was heading over east where I and a few other mages were standing. Now with a lot of magic-aggroing statues in the way no one dared to cast magic at the time so one of the other linkshells voked a statue to try and link shiki out of hiding. It worked and once it was up I threw out a quick stun and berm threw out a charm and Shiki was ours! Since there was really none of us in the area at the time I ended up taking enough hits and died before anyone could get it off me.
Chaos.The fight was crazy, not only did we have at least 40 people in that small little path watching us but many of them at the beginning were fighting statues right on top of us in a mpk attempt which created a ton of lag. I ended up being more of a backup healer than a blm that fight since I had died and couldn't do a lot in the way of nuking, ended up dying again later on in the battle and losing my level permanently. We ended up getting a link which of course no one outside our alliance bothered to take but jean rose to the challenge and tanked/kited that thing till he almost died as a rdm/nin allowing us to continue focusing on shiki.
It took us a good 10 minutes but we killed off the NM (with an overdramatic thunder III at 1%) and Berm got his robe!.. which he can't use for another 5 levels. We were criticized by the end game shells for the length of time it took to kill and how many people we brought but who really cares. We walked in for the 4th time, got the claim (all 4 times), and walked out with the drop. Being nothing more than a chat LS not pimped out with an arsenal of lvl 75's with uber gear, I was very proud of MA, this was an awesome accomplishment.
The pt trying to fight in the middle of 40 people with Jean soloing a link in the background.Friday, April 20, 2007
Bst Adventures lvl 36-37
Lets talk about food, before 35 I used meat, in pts, and solo, just cause it was cheap, gave me a boost in str (among other things), and it was something to eat. Now that I'm more into my stats and soloing, I've been looking into other things. Now the first thing that popped into my head was sushi since accuracy imo is the most important melee stat a BST should have to worry about (more on that later), but sushi was expensive, and I'm only lvl 36 so I'm not quite ready for that. Then by use of the somepage food guide, I discovered Rice Dumplings. They added +5 to accuracy which was acceptable to me as well as +17HP, +3str, +2 vit, +1agi, +20% attack (caps at 45), and +2 to HHP and HMP. I really liked the hp and mp regen while resting, the accuracy, and the str/hp/vit was always helpful. And at roughly 7-9k per stack I figured they'd be a good bridge between meat and sushi.
Level 36:
Seeing too many DC's in Bibiki I decided to make the move to Sea Serpent Grotto. This zone is a BST paradise! I stayed by the zone within the first "loop" on the map running circles around it charming EM leeches and fighting tough bats and sahagins. Now this camp isn't the safest since sahagins aggro sound but at this point in your BST career, avoiding aggro should be second nature to you, or if you do get aggro you can sic a pet on it, charm bind it, and zone. This camp goes untouched most of the time, lots of high levels running through the area since it's by the zone entrance, some even tossed a cure or stuck around to watch.
I stayed for till about halfway to 37 then got called away to help Chriseh do his Savage Blade WSNM followed by a Rostrum Pumps run with SotL.
Level 36-37:
Later that night Jean had a spot in his party after Bermont left with a few LS PLs so I took the opportunity to go into PT BST mode. The PT had jean as nin, 2 wars, a rdm and blm and me as BST. We were in Crawlers Nest and the XP was great for a pt this level. Not only did I finish my level and get to 37, but stayed for another full level and hit 38. Now as I stated in my last BST post, we're by no means a gimp pt job just because we can solo. While alone I wasn't the top DD, but combined with my pet, I greatly outparsed the top warrior.
Combined with my Funguar pet I did 25,573 damage total, over 7,000 more than the top melee DD. And my pet wasn't fighting 100% of the time, sometimes I had to use Leave to shed aggro then wait for the Call Beast recast so there were 2-3 battles where it wasn't participating. Bringing a BST to your pt at this level is like bringing 2 DDs, don't underestimate a BST with its flag up. I'll continue to solo of course, but I'll always be open to pting.
Level 36:
Seeing too many DC's in Bibiki I decided to make the move to Sea Serpent Grotto. This zone is a BST paradise! I stayed by the zone within the first "loop" on the map running circles around it charming EM leeches and fighting tough bats and sahagins. Now this camp isn't the safest since sahagins aggro sound but at this point in your BST career, avoiding aggro should be second nature to you, or if you do get aggro you can sic a pet on it, charm bind it, and zone. This camp goes untouched most of the time, lots of high levels running through the area since it's by the zone entrance, some even tossed a cure or stuck around to watch.
I stayed for till about halfway to 37 then got called away to help Chriseh do his Savage Blade WSNM followed by a Rostrum Pumps run with SotL.
Level 36-37:
Later that night Jean had a spot in his party after Bermont left with a few LS PLs so I took the opportunity to go into PT BST mode. The PT had jean as nin, 2 wars, a rdm and blm and me as BST. We were in Crawlers Nest and the XP was great for a pt this level. Not only did I finish my level and get to 37, but stayed for another full level and hit 38. Now as I stated in my last BST post, we're by no means a gimp pt job just because we can solo. While alone I wasn't the top DD, but combined with my pet, I greatly outparsed the top warrior.
Combined with my Funguar pet I did 25,573 damage total, over 7,000 more than the top melee DD. And my pet wasn't fighting 100% of the time, sometimes I had to use Leave to shed aggro then wait for the Call Beast recast so there were 2-3 battles where it wasn't participating. Bringing a BST to your pt at this level is like bringing 2 DDs, don't underestimate a BST with its flag up. I'll continue to solo of course, but I'll always be open to pting.
Thursday, April 19, 2007
New End Game Shell
So with my first experience as an actual member of an end game shell that I applied to now at an end, I'm happy to say I came out with my first end game item. The NM was Alastor Antlion (AA), a tricky little NM. It's a popped spawn by trading an antlion trap to a ??? in Attowha Chasm. However the NM doesn't just appear, instead another NM appears named Feeler Antlion that you have to keep alive until it spawns the main NM, Alastor. Feeler has a random chance of spawning AA everytime it uses a tp move, if it doesn't spawn AA, it will spawn another NM called Executioner Antlion (EA), which the alliance has to quickly kill off. It will keep spawning EA's even after AA spawns so you have to kill off the Feeler Antlion quickly after it spawns AA or you'll have a whole mess of Antlions to deal with.
The runs varied with our random luck, sometimes AA popped on the first tp move used by Feeler, other times we had to kill off 5-10 EA's until we saw AA. In either case, everyone got their Rostrum Pumps who went that day with only 1 wipe.
The shell I joined, Sanctuary of the Lost, is full of great people. They kept me laughing and made me feel very welcome and useful. Got several compliments, including one from the leader which made the event even more enjoyable for me. I think what made it better is how they let me get my Rostrum Pumps when it was my very first event with them. Having vamp there and watching her get her pumps was also nice to see. I look forward to doing more events with them in the future.
The runs varied with our random luck, sometimes AA popped on the first tp move used by Feeler, other times we had to kill off 5-10 EA's until we saw AA. In either case, everyone got their Rostrum Pumps who went that day with only 1 wipe.
The shell I joined, Sanctuary of the Lost, is full of great people. They kept me laughing and made me feel very welcome and useful. Got several compliments, including one from the leader which made the event even more enjoyable for me. I think what made it better is how they let me get my Rostrum Pumps when it was my very first event with them. Having vamp there and watching her get her pumps was also nice to see. I look forward to doing more events with them in the future.
Bst Adventures lvl 35
I dinged level 35 in a Garlaige pt, I was the top DD pt between me and my jug pet. My tiger jug pet did the most damage in the party and combined with mine just shot me up even there even further. This was the case for a few reasons: First off, melee DD jobs don't have access to the best gear at this level, meaning they hit for less and a lot less often. This makes my tiger look awesome in terms of its accuracy and damage compared to the average melee DD. In later levels the pt BST doesn't shine as much but in this range, there is absolutely no reason why anyone wouldn't want a BST for their pt.
So now that I have Leave, a most awesome ability, I chose Bibiki Bay to test this ability. For those that don't know Leave is the defining ability of a BST.. well I suppose you could say Charm is the defining ability of a BST since without Charm, a BST is just a bad warrior. But in any case Leave gives us the ability to solo the most effectively from 35 to 75 than any other job in the game. When you kill a monster with a charmed pet, you take a 30% xp penalty so the goal here in every battle is to end the battle alone with no pet, finishing off the monster yourself. What Leave lets us do is dismiss a pet with no aggro at any point in the battle, most often used when the monster has between 3-10% HP left, then the BST simply has to finish off the monster and get the full xp. At 35 and beyond your pet not only acts as a great DD but also a tank so you can melee alongside your pet and hardly ever have to worry about taking hits. Leave has other great uses to avoid links and shed aggro but this is the primary use, anyway more on BST tactics in later posts.
Level 35:
Bibiki Bay was a wonderful experience, by the zone to Buburimu you had Dhamels, Ravens, Efts, Rarabs all between DC and Tough with an adequate number of Even Matches to charm. The XP, while still not as good as a standard xp pt, was consistent getting around 150 per kill no ring. I was able to hit chain 4 once due to the plentiful number of good pets and prey around. There was some competition at times, I had at least 3 blu's show up trying to learn Wild Carrot off rarabs with some high level friends, but they just stuck to rarabs, also had other bsts show up but there were more than enough monsters to share the camp. Then the last thing was when high levels wanted to camp that NM by the docks which can be annoying but it was a big area so it wasn't too bad. I stayed here alittle over 36 then there were too many DC's around so I decided to make the move.
Me soloing in Bibiki, sporting kat's sexy taru RSE.
So now that I have Leave, a most awesome ability, I chose Bibiki Bay to test this ability. For those that don't know Leave is the defining ability of a BST.. well I suppose you could say Charm is the defining ability of a BST since without Charm, a BST is just a bad warrior. But in any case Leave gives us the ability to solo the most effectively from 35 to 75 than any other job in the game. When you kill a monster with a charmed pet, you take a 30% xp penalty so the goal here in every battle is to end the battle alone with no pet, finishing off the monster yourself. What Leave lets us do is dismiss a pet with no aggro at any point in the battle, most often used when the monster has between 3-10% HP left, then the BST simply has to finish off the monster and get the full xp. At 35 and beyond your pet not only acts as a great DD but also a tank so you can melee alongside your pet and hardly ever have to worry about taking hits. Leave has other great uses to avoid links and shed aggro but this is the primary use, anyway more on BST tactics in later posts.
Level 35:
Bibiki Bay was a wonderful experience, by the zone to Buburimu you had Dhamels, Ravens, Efts, Rarabs all between DC and Tough with an adequate number of Even Matches to charm. The XP, while still not as good as a standard xp pt, was consistent getting around 150 per kill no ring. I was able to hit chain 4 once due to the plentiful number of good pets and prey around. There was some competition at times, I had at least 3 blu's show up trying to learn Wild Carrot off rarabs with some high level friends, but they just stuck to rarabs, also had other bsts show up but there were more than enough monsters to share the camp. Then the last thing was when high levels wanted to camp that NM by the docks which can be annoying but it was a big area so it wasn't too bad. I stayed here alittle over 36 then there were too many DC's around so I decided to make the move.
Me soloing in Bibiki, sporting kat's sexy taru RSE.Thursday, April 12, 2007
Black Mage
I need a place to get my thoughts down and seeing as how neither Jean or I has posted on this in well over a month, might as well write something.
Black Mages, like many DD jobs are currently suffering from a lack of invites into what you could consider the normal XP pt setup these days. However for BLM it's different because there are several factors affecting this.
1. The traditional XP pt is mostly dead post-Aht Urghan. Yes the good old xp pt where you make skill chains and magic bursts do not really exist once you hit Aht Urghan content. This is where BLMs shine pre-60 and now that's no longer the case. People realize it's much faster to just spam your best WS for spike damage than to coordinate TP and weapon skills and magic bursts.
2. Colibri. Yes these birds that give excellent xp in the low to mid 60 range reflect magic. Since these are what almost everyone wants to pt on this range, BLMs take a hit in invites here. This is the starting stage that contributes to their lack of invites in pts.
3. TP Burn. The truth is mp is just plain inefficient. In a TP Burn post-70 the melee jobs can just burn through a monster fast, then move onto the next. A BLM, while able to keep up damagewise with Rampages and Asuran Fists, have to rest back that mp when they're done. This creates downtime and is extremely hindering to the TPBurn pt style. The bards and main healers don't expend as much MP per battle as a BLM and due to the high refresh (sanction, items, subjobs, refresh whores) they can typically keep up with their role in a roaming TPBurn.
However what many people don't realize and as I've been pting (making all my pts) I do see people pointing this out a lot, BLMs don't just stop xping at 75. It's true you don't see them in Caedarva Mire and Bhaflau Thickets because those are both TPBurn areas. They have adapted to the Aht Urghan changes to pting and as a result can get just as much xp as a TPBurn can in their own areas. Unfortunately the BLM has to actually make it to 75 before they can join these nice areas.
Currently 68 and slowly making my way to 75, still very rare that someone wants me but pting with LS members and making pts is making the process go somewhat faster.
Black Mages, like many DD jobs are currently suffering from a lack of invites into what you could consider the normal XP pt setup these days. However for BLM it's different because there are several factors affecting this.
1. The traditional XP pt is mostly dead post-Aht Urghan. Yes the good old xp pt where you make skill chains and magic bursts do not really exist once you hit Aht Urghan content. This is where BLMs shine pre-60 and now that's no longer the case. People realize it's much faster to just spam your best WS for spike damage than to coordinate TP and weapon skills and magic bursts.
2. Colibri. Yes these birds that give excellent xp in the low to mid 60 range reflect magic. Since these are what almost everyone wants to pt on this range, BLMs take a hit in invites here. This is the starting stage that contributes to their lack of invites in pts.
3. TP Burn. The truth is mp is just plain inefficient. In a TP Burn post-70 the melee jobs can just burn through a monster fast, then move onto the next. A BLM, while able to keep up damagewise with Rampages and Asuran Fists, have to rest back that mp when they're done. This creates downtime and is extremely hindering to the TPBurn pt style. The bards and main healers don't expend as much MP per battle as a BLM and due to the high refresh (sanction, items, subjobs, refresh whores) they can typically keep up with their role in a roaming TPBurn.
However what many people don't realize and as I've been pting (making all my pts) I do see people pointing this out a lot, BLMs don't just stop xping at 75. It's true you don't see them in Caedarva Mire and Bhaflau Thickets because those are both TPBurn areas. They have adapted to the Aht Urghan changes to pting and as a result can get just as much xp as a TPBurn can in their own areas. Unfortunately the BLM has to actually make it to 75 before they can join these nice areas.
Currently 68 and slowly making my way to 75, still very rare that someone wants me but pting with LS members and making pts is making the process go somewhat faster.
Saturday, February 24, 2007
Stalkers!
Ok I just found this funny and thought I'd share it with you all. I use ffxiah a lot when searching for items because it's faster to find a price of something than scrolling through the AH in laggy whitegate. I usually search my name too every once in awhile to see my own records however in all my time of going to ffxiah.com I never thought I'd be a most viewed player -_-. I think I have some stalkers on Bahamut.
Monday, February 19, 2007
The Return?
Ok my last post a week and a half ago (see below) I stated why I've been gone for awhile. Well today it was revealed that I was leaving for good and a new version of Moogle Army was made to have a change in leadership. Through the course of that night I received several messages telling me about the state of the LS and how many people were feeling down about the news. I wasn't initially going to log on to say good byes but write the LS a message on the website, however after being convinced about all that was going on, I decided to install FFXI where I was and log on that night.
I only intended to log on to check in and maybe bother jean for a pearl to the new LS but within literally a minute of me being on people spot me (despite being on invisible mode) and vamp pops into the main LS to welcome me back, followed by lopsider, and eventually the rest of the LS on at that time and before I knew it everyone was happy to see me back. This really got me thinking of all the people that I loved to see everyday that I was missing out on. A new member who I never saw before until today made this observation:
I want to continue to help out and be apart this great LS, even though I know you would strive on without me there, FFXI and the Moogle Army is just too hard to let go of. So I suppose I could say I want to return, just hope I can make it possible. :)
I only intended to log on to check in and maybe bother jean for a pearl to the new LS but within literally a minute of me being on people spot me (despite being on invisible mode) and vamp pops into the main LS to welcome me back, followed by lopsider, and eventually the rest of the LS on at that time and before I knew it everyone was happy to see me back. This really got me thinking of all the people that I loved to see everyday that I was missing out on. A new member who I never saw before until today made this observation:
I want to continue to help out and be apart this great LS, even though I know you would strive on without me there, FFXI and the Moogle Army is just too hard to let go of. So I suppose I could say I want to return, just hope I can make it possible. :)
Saturday, February 10, 2007
Where has the leader gone?
Ok I know I haven't been on in quite some time and people have been asking questions. To start, no I don't play WoW, I actually haven't been playing any games lately. I guess the simple answer is I've really been letting myself fall behind in school, especially last semester. Before I let myself fall behind this semester as I was fully ready to do so, especially with my love of the black mage job, I told myself to just "stop, get off the game and start focusing on your education." So for the time being that's what I'm doing, trying to get off my addiction to gaming and catching up on everything I missed out on last semester so I can actually understand wtf I'm doing this semester.
I'm not cancelling my subscription to FFXI (for now anyway) nor do I plan on not coming back, I'm just on an extended break from the game. I do wish you all the best of luck and I hope the Moogle Army continues to strive on as it always has, I'm sure I'll have plenty of things to hear about when I get back.
I'm not cancelling my subscription to FFXI (for now anyway) nor do I plan on not coming back, I'm just on an extended break from the game. I do wish you all the best of luck and I hope the Moogle Army continues to strive on as it always has, I'm sure I'll have plenty of things to hear about when I get back.
Sunday, January 28, 2007
Saturday, January 27, 2007
Our love will not be denied! <$
5 long hours of o hat runs it can be a little tiring. I swear i will never do this again. But i said that last time. And the time before that.
Friday, January 12, 2007
Ulli = 8 hours of wasting time
'As i said RDM/NIN is soro onry you get other people in on the action they eff it up and get there mob stolen... by us. More late breaking news later!
T_T twinsies
If only she wasn't a dirty jap and understood what i was telling her. I can never get anyone to do synchronized dancing with me ; ;
I'm back
Sorry for the lack of posts. This really happened too a few weeks ago. Coming up soon my Jormy fight and more frilly Elov!
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Look at little Josearu, his only crime was being born poor. By only giving 30 gil a day you can make sure he has enough to eat, a chocobo stable over his head, and a vermy cloak. "Pweesaru Mistuh I'm so hungy!" - Josearu