Nations Complete

I finished off the Rank 9-1 and 9-2 missions today, completing not only Bastok's storyline, but all the starting nations of Vana'diel's stories. While the nation missions past Rank 6 were never anything amazing, I do feel that Bastok's story was the weakest of the three. It involved lots of emo galkas and a very underwhelming final boss. Zeid was angry at Volker because his uncle killed a galka thirty years ago, challenged him to a fight, and when he lost all was right somehow as long as he learned the meaning of friendship with his Mythril Musketeers. On a more interesting note, I used Zeid II trust companion from the Rhapsodies of Vana'diel storyline in the fight with Zeid. In the end, Zeid was guaranteed to win.

Zeid on Zeid violence.

I had been having trouble killing things quickly playing on WHM. With trusts that can heal, it felt a bit of a waste to play WHM in a non-party setting. So I went ahead and leveled my black mage up to 99, and used that to plow through the missions. I completed the Bastok missions with BLM, and have been using it on Wings of the Goddess as well. I am roughly halfway done with WotG now, and have been pleased with how the story is finally starting to pick up, and not just seem like a bunch of fetch quests and cameos of future important figures.

 DINB!

Killing mandys in a jungle setting brings back fond memories of xp parties in Kazham and Yuhtunga Jungle. Ceizark Battlegrounds is a beautiful place when you stay near the beaches.

Not everything has been done on BLM lately. I attended a mini-LS event on WHM to kill some anticas for a SCNM. While doing so, I accidently stumbled my way into a Moogle Kupo d'Etat mission I had not completed there, and we ended up fighting a famous cat burrrglerrr and her goblin lackeys.

"meOW!!!"

I picked up some eminent weapons with sparks from Records of Eminence, and they are a godsend for skilling up underleveled combat skills. I took out an eminent scythe and was able to hit things that were lvl 100 reliably even though my native skill was merely 61 (when I started, its 100+ now). It made me want to start a melee character up. I have always toyed with the idea of playing one, I just never quite  settled into which one I wanted to devote time to: PLD, DRK, DRG, or SAM. I am leaning towards PLD or DRK at the moment, but we will see how I feel when the urge to level a lowbie class comes along.

The Endless Gear Grind

Throughout most of my adventuring career, I have been a white mage. I rarely soloed, I spent my time in groups with allies around me. The new trust system leaves me a bit lonely, and makes me feel like I should change to something else, as an NPC alter ego can now do the same amount of healing as I can. I have no problem playing other classes, I've had a blast playing around with scholar and blue mage in the 75 days, but I keep coming back to WHM as my main always.

The equipment that I have worn as a WHM has not really changed much in my 75+ career. Almost since the beginning, I have been wearing a mix of noble's tunic and blessed gear. It has a distinctive blue and white color scheme that compliment each other in a way that always assured me they were meant to be worn together as the same set. I actually think the white and blue colors are more fitting than the red and white peppermint color scheme of the artifact and relic WHM sets. I am beginning to outgrow my beloved blessed/noble set, however. It was time for something new.

Fynlar took me to Abyssea to farm up the seals and coins I needed to upgrade the base empyreal set (I had the cap at +1 from Zephiris and Zadine pulling me through Abyssea when I came back briefly in 2011). In two days I went from one +1 piece and four base pieces to a full five-piece orison +2 set.
I could not see fit to sell off my old set, though. I just have too many fond memories of it, and it will always be in my eyes The WHM Set. So instead of just having some old gear sitting in my moghouse collecting dust, I did some aggressive bazaar shopping and managed to get the final two mannequin pieces I needed to finish off my quest. I now have a permanent reminder of what a WHM should aspire to be, noble, blessed, and orison (prayer).

Pictured left: Noble's Tunic, Blessed Mitts/Trousers/Pumps, Blessed Hammer

Pictured right: Orison Attire +2 set and Chatoyant Staff.

Return Home to Vana'diel, 2015

It has been a very long time since I have set foot in Vana'diel. Nearly four years away now, so even the smallest things seem to be new again. The last chapter of Abyssea had been released, as well as a new expansion, Seekers of Adoulin which was completely new to me. The current content being released is from a free mini-expansion, Rhapsodies in Vana'diel.

Rhapsodies is a bit of a bittersweet experience. It stands as the very last content update FFXI will ever have, though the game will continue in life support mode for some time afterwards. It's storyline will weave it's way through all the previous stories, and bring final closure to the myriad trials of Vana'diel over the past thirteen years. As much as I thought I was done with Vana'diel for good, I knew that I wanted to be here to see the ending for it all. There were also a few things I had always wanted to do ingame, and it seems like it is now or never, speak now or forever hold my peace towards FFXI.

My first impression upon returning to Vana'diel was how everything felt so familiar, and yet the mechanics of everything felt alien once again. I stumbled through my first couple days not knowing where to go, forgetting where the warp NPCs were, and even forgetting how to join a group. I was only level 90, with the level cap raised to 99 after I had quit.

This last one might remain a mystery to current players, as it seems FFXI has made a complete 180 in terms of content. Long gone are the days of waiting with your party flag up to do a quest or get some xp, now you can summon multiple trust NPCs to fill out the roles, whether you need a healer, a tank, or just damage dealers. It makes for an instantly satisfying experience because now you can solo experience levels, farm for materials, or finish most quest and missions without needing to wait on anyone else to help out. It can lead to a somewhat lonely playtime, however.

Not really sure where to start again, or how to meet people, I decided to change allegiances to Bastok, the only nation I have not been a member of yet. I started leveling a thief to get a feel for the mechanics, but quickly changed back to WHM to progress through the mission ranks. With no help and only using trust NPCs, I managed to get to Rank 9-1 in only four days.

Around this time, Thayos had heard that I'd come back, and was preparing to come back as well. He pointed me towards a friend of his, Fynlar, who would prove invaluable in my acclimatization with the current state of Vana'diel. He introduced me to the Rhapsodies in Vana'diel storyline, which carries with it strong key items that aid in leveling, He carried me and plowed through the battles so that I could gain the necessary rhapsody key items to level up quickly. In the process I made level 99 with my WHM, and had a lot of fun running into characters from past missions, as well as enjoying the new character, Iroha, who is a central character in Rhapsody's story line. I finished off chapters 1 and 2 with Fynlar, and next week the third (and final) chapter will release as the F I N A L content update for Final Fantasy XI. I hope my home of seven years will get the proper send off it deserves.

Current to-do list: Captain's Rank, Apocalypse Nigh, Rank 10 Bastok, WotG "Lest We Forget", level up melee job (PLD, DRK, or DRG maybe)
Playtime on return: 192 days.