Healfest 2007

The day started innocently enough. We lost in Besieged against a lvl 8 Undead Swarm, though it was midday and only 300~ people were even present. Not a huge blow, but it kind of set a damper on the rush that you usually receive from besieged. Of particular accomplishment was this little gem:


That made me feel like I am not just there to raise the people who cannot reraise themselves.

About the only time I did not die was lvling my 10 warrior sub in Tahrongi Canyon and the Maze of Shakhrami. I hope to one day take up PLD when my WHM and SMN both hit the 75 cap. So until then, I will only lvl it if someone in my ls or flist is doing a low job as well. I got a funny pic of us standing in the canyon passes, looking like a school teacher to them.


I used this as a refresher course on tanking (something I have not done in almost two years) so that I could get ready for...


THIS!!!

You may be scratching your heads wondering, "Don't you do promys all the %^&$ing time already?" AAhhh, but the difference is this time, I am tanking and not maging. Its a world of difference to me at least.

I guess Cerebrator recognized Kia and I from last month's run, and is still frightened by us. Look at him cowering there behind that corner.


"Hai j00 gaiz. I can has we be freendz nao?"

We won the ENM, but then wiped on the mission boss.


Later on, Makina needed some sturdy adventurers to help her out with her PUP AF hat. Getting to Talacca Cove is simple enough, so we entered the BC thinking it was going to be a simple fight.

We were wrong. This little automaton had defense that make PLDs drool, and began pummeling us mercilessly. It took everything we had just to survive the encounter. I spent most the fight resting for MP, standing up only to Cure IV the PLD before going back to resting again. Our second WHM was on paralyze and healing duty as well, and we still had to bounce Curing duties between the two of us due to how much dmg the automaton was dishing out.

We lost our war/nin early on in the fight, and had to proceed with just the pup, pld/war, and whm/blm x 2. It was not until almost the very end of the fight I had enough MP to raise Thekid without fear of missing a crucial healing spell. We ended up surviving the fight, but not winning the battle.

We eventually got booted for running out of time, something I was very shocked about. A full half hour of spam curing our PLD had felt like a mere ten minutes to me. I was too focused on the battle to take any pictures, but I did get one of Thekid face down outside the Rock Slab. Sadly, his head seemed to be embedded in the ground. This was promptly dubbed "Heal Fest 2007" by Makina.

I always seem to get this poor galka killed when we party together T.T

On a final note, here is some future Jeopardy Champ of a BLM's response to us kicking him out of a party for meleeing, and not casting you know, black magic spells:

{Death}ga Inc.

The day began as many others do, looking for a party with no invites coming in. Someone was shouting for a Promyvion-Dem run in Aht Urghan whitegate, so I went along to help, get me summa that sweet, sweet boss xp, and just for something to do. I ended up doing Promybion-Mea with them as well. Got three people their Lufaise Meadows access, so I consider it a success. Also managed to break the record on the Mea run:



I spent over four hours in Riverne Site A01 after that. Judecca and I jumped into a pick up group for CoP 2-5 as a way of gaining firsthand experience about the fight. We did not realize what we had commited to.

Our first two wipes were a result of us settling on a tactic, and getting comfortable in the BC. The rest, were a combination of bad pulls, lack of meds by that point, and just general bad luck.

I am honestly surprised people stayed around as long as they did. Usually, a wipe among strangers sets tempers aflare, and a second one results is a disbanded party. Not so tonight. After our fifth attempt on the fight, I jokingly said, "Okay guys, I only have five more wipes in me. Let's get this right." Little did I know how prophetic that statment would be. Yes, we really fought the mammets ten times. It took over four hours total. We also lost every fight, though several came really close.

I am looking forward to trying this again soon with an ls party. I feel like Jude and I have enough firsthand knowledge of where and when things can go wrong that we can troublshoot our way out of almost any situation in there. I also like the way the xones look. Here are a few of my favorite screencaps of Riverne Site A01:

The veiw from Misareaux Coast.


The skies are always clear above the clouds.


Nightfall. Broken land near Monarch Linn.


Most valuable lesson of the night? Getting DC'd from FFXI while dead with reraise up erases it.

Hoo's in Giddeus?

I logged on knowing I needed to pt as WHM, but not really in the mood for it. Seeing how not many people my range were even on, I decided to just farm away on my nin/thf mule. As it so happens, an ls mate, Miur, was just heading out to Giddeus needing yagudo beads for Norg fame. This was the perfect oppurtunity to do something boring, but with someone you know, which always makes it a little better.

I have not been on melee for quite some time, so to just tear things up as nin/thf was exciting to me. Few people were in the zone, so I decided I wanted to try and camp Hoo Mjuu while using my TH powers to get Miur his beads. I managed to get the claim, and wonder upon wonders, I actually got the drop!



Unfortunately, I was also full on items most the time I was in there. I had been throwing away so much worthless trash, it became second nature for me to hit discard. I went to lot on the signa (Miur graciously passed), and hit "Pass" by mistake. I fealt like such a damn n00b. Watching that coveted cash cow drop off into oblivion was a sad moment indeed.

Refusing to let one bad experience put a damper on the night, and because I still needed more beads, I came back and began another round of camping. Once again, I got the claim, but this time only the Zeolot's Mitts dropped. Can't win them all, now can we?



Still optimistic and believing Treasure Hunter will come through for us in the end, we began another round of camping. We had some competition, but once again, we managed to claim the NM. And once again, we were rewarded with Zeolot's Mitts.



At this point I was starting to get tired. Running around a small area trying to grab mobs as fast as you can before someone else hops to it can be frustrating, even with the successes we had been having on claims. This time, Hoo was taking forever to pop. Our spawn times went from an hour and fifteen minutes to two and a half hours. By this point, we were the only ones even trying for this bastard, so of course we got it and killed him. No Zeolot's Mitts this time. Oh no. This time we got S-E's way of saying "F*** you!" to the player base. I would have actually been happier had nothing dropped, rather than the dreaded loldeodorize scroll.

LS ENM runs

I completely forgot to post in the first blog a major event of the week. The only explanation I have about how I forgot about our LS Promyion ENM run is I was happy with finally getting my characters back. Anyway, here is a quick recap of the Imperial ENM hunt of 09/26/07:

Zarovich proved himself to be my hero when he did not boot me from the group for wanting to attack the wandering NM in Promyvion-Dem. This was our only wipe all night, caused by an unfortunate link. Like true Imperialites, we regrouped, and within ten minutes showed that NM what true valor was.



Before the regroup, Kia and Jude decided to express their feelings for each other on a job (almost) well-done against Satiator. We expect to hear bells in Northern San d'Oria Cathedral soon.



Envier was a mean bastard. I think it died to a Dia II right after this shot. This was the hardest straight fight all night, and the one which yielded the best drops. Imperial teamwork should be taught in universities. Promyvion-Mea, second ENM fight of the night.



A quick photo shoot in La Theine, relaxing before the final ENM of the night in Promyvion-Holla. Back row L-R: Judecca (bst), Thayos (pld), Kiabrightblade (pld).Front row L-R: Kaerwyn (whm), Zarovich (blu), Makina (pup), Aurorae (drk), and some random tarutaru, Overburn, who would not leave us in peace.



Yes, we showed Promyvion-Holla what experience counts for. Third wandering NM down that night, and Third Promy map attained as well. Aeora (bst) replaces Zarovich for this last run.

Et tu, sixty?

The night started off on a negative note. My main AH items were returned unsold to me, and not too many people were looking for parties in the early 60~s range. After getting a few rounds on Pankration in, I got a pt in Bhaflau Thickets.

The xp was wonderful. We were getting around 250-300 at the end of our chains without xp rings. I hit 61 (and Cure V) within fifteen to twenty minutes. Then, an unfortunate pull while both rdm and myself were low on mp put a damper on the winning streak. I couldn't keep the ninja up for long, and he fell almost right away. Our rdm couln't get a sleep to stick, so we began playing hot potato with the crawler's hate. We lasted surprisingly long, nearly ten minutes passing around hate this way, until the last people fell, or zoned. Strange how the tank fell so quickly to the crawler's attacks, though us softer mages and melee types almost outlasted the fight. My death reintroduced me to lvl 60. Luckily, I got a Raise III, so I popped back up as lvl 61.

I feel like I was doing this all night:


We decided to try to continue on with this camp, though one of the members took some aggro on the way back from Halvung to the camp, leading to another almost near wipe. Once again, I was lvl 60. I got an R2, and had about 110~xp into my lvl. Our pt decided to move back to Wajoum Woodlands and chain puks, so we moved camp. Sadly, few people had sneak oil or invis powder, so I had to do the honors myself.

I made a friend during our little flight. I call him Darth Zaro:


During one of these recasting sessions, I managed to anger a puk with my presence, and once again, I was back at 60. This time, the Raise I got from in party did not get me my lvl back. Sad how the death with no tank present took longer than my death surrounded by my own party.

After getting a decent buffer on 61 finally, our party disbanded, and a call came from Imperial to help a newly started character run from Windy to Valkurm. This turned out to be more fun than I thought it would be, visiting Mhaura and places I never see in my usual grind. Standing on the deck of the boat unafraid of pirates, fish, or crabs brought a smile to my face, as well as protecting the fledgling taru black mage I was escorting.

Naturally, being a white mage coming into proximity with Valkurm Dunes, someone in ls mysteriously dies and needs a raise. With my attention turned elsewhere, my taru black mage runs off and gets himself killed in the bat tunnels -_-;; Tsai and I just started randomly hitting monsters in our way as we walked to the tunnels, when behold, a damselfly drops its worm. Both of us pass, and our currently dead taru is now in possession of 1/3 of his subjob items. He is not even alive to lot or do a dance for us. Joking around we can get Reitu his crab apron as well, Tsai and I split up and each hit a snipper. Second kill and the apron drops. Our little taru is currently 2/3 on subby items, nine lvls away from even starting the quest, and too dead to even lot on the items. Of course we never would have started a lvl 10 character on their subjob quest, so it stands the reason if Reitu had not died, he would not have gotten his subjob items tonight.

Sometimes death can be a cruel mistress, stealing repeatedly that which you have worked so hard to gain; sometimes death can also be the mischievous prankster, showing us our first impression may not always be the correct conclusion to jump to.

AF GET!

This past week has been a milestone for me in Vana'diel. It all started out with an old friend returning to FFXI after being away for a long time. Ickabob came onto Imperial randomly during the morning, and I was shocked to see someone I had not played with for over two years just pop in so randomly. He and I have been bouncing around pretty much the same ls'es our entire adventuring careers, so it was a joy to see him invited to Imperial.

Mambypamby, Thayos, and Ehrrren decided that night to head to Beadeaux to get Thayos his coffer key for PLD AF. Seeing as these folks are much more in tune with where I am at than I myself am, they invited me and I accepted, thinking I was simply helping an ls mate out. Thankfully, they knew the final step in my WHM AF required a key as well, so I managed to get my coffer key at the same time as Thayos. Just one step before I could put that key to use, and that was Fei'Yin...

Altedour I Tavnazia has been a royal pain in the ass for the last week and a half for me. This week proved a little different than my previous three attempts to take him down. What started out as a simple duo party between a JP ninja friend and myself quickly snowballed out of control into a mini-alliance. We were seriously over-geared for this, as we had been trying to kill it as a duo. I was happier than Hell to finally get out of my ugly green justacourps and into my stylish new Healer's Briault. 4/5 on WHM AF at this point.

Shortly thereafter, I finished my xp partying and hit 60. Almost immediatly after disbanding from the party, two ls members wanted to hit Darkspark for me, so how could I possibly say no? Kiabrightblade and Thayos managed to put that bomb in its place, and allow me the honor of owning my first full set of Artifact Armor. I had always wanted to see myself in a full set, though somehow always felt it was something far away and difficult to obtain. Now I realize I just needed a little more faith in my ls friends.



Immeasurably more shocking and satisfying to myself was the Return to Vana'diel drive Square-Enix is currently running. After four days (and three phone calls with S-E) my original character from winter '03 was returned to glory. In a strange twist of fate, my current mithra has outpaced my first one quite a bit, meaning Kaerwyn will continue to be my main, while Kilill will have to be relegated to alt status for crafting or farming purposes. Not exactly a full victory, but I am just pleased running around Windurst Woods and seeing the name Kilill appear above my head after two long years. One mithra for melee, one mithra for maging.