Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Return to Vana'diel
One of the main goals that I have been working toward is attaining Captain's rank with Aht Urghan. I have been grabbing random pickup pickup parties, and managed to climb to First Lieutenant within the month. This leaves me to steel myself for the long road of convincing/bribing others to complete all the assault missions with me. Even the hard ones worth almost no points. I guess it is a challenge worthy of placing as a top priority.
As for linkshells, CatTail is dead (surprise there). I got invited to Shibby by Zephiris, and it has worked out very well so far. I have run into someone who loves assault as much as I do, and they do not have any requirements of needing to show up for endgame events. I am glad to be back in a social shell that just casuals endgame again. It feels a bit like returning home (just, with different people living in the house now ^.^;).
The majority of my time though, has been spent pushing my blue mage up those final few stairs to that great DINB at the end. I have only had one xp party in the last month, so my xp diet consists largely of campaign, Besieged, and FoV. I am currently sitting at lvl 71, and just today broke my Sapara of Trials and killed my WSNM for Savage Blade. I went straight out and started spamming it in a campaign battle, and every time I took off in a gravity-defying leap, I could not help but chuckle and grin to myself. Now I just want to get myself a Perdu Hanger and Assault Jerkin, that will set me for BLU equipment. Then comes farming all the spells I am still missing . . . /fear
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Hello again.
The Summer Breeze festival is running at the moment. This is one of my favorite times. The music that plays at night is one of my favorites (though it seems to be everyone else's hated song ^.^;). I missed out on last year's swimsuits, but took part in all the festivities and got my paws on some good event items. I spent quite some time dancing for the hope of all Vana'Diel, and helping the Fantastic Fraulein Mumor defeat her rival, Uka Totlihn. It was good, cheesy fun watching them drop hearts and stars on each other's heads through their dancing techniques.
I particularly like the new yukata, and the way it matches with my new face. It is a mithra port of Lillisette's face, with purple eyes. It matches very well with the lavender floral print. Here is a moment of frustration during a bombing run in Sauromugue Champaign [S], with Zephiris and Kipupu in the background. The imps kept eating my bombs. The little bent ears help make this picture as well.
I have been campaigning like crazy lately. I know, there is a possibility I have gone mad listening to all those drums, but it is a means to an end. That is what I tell myself, anyway. I am currently 66 on my blue mage, and am trying to get a full set of the cobra panty (err... harness) set. This means I have been seeing a LOT of death lately.
But I also managed to break my previous record with this nice little lump of XP in Fort Karugo-Narugo [S]:
Bluefenris has a dancer just a little lower than I am, so we have been duoing as well. FoV has been my main course of XP ever since starting a melee job. I was having trouble with the RDM weapons, and the fights were lasting too long, when Bluef (as he hates to be called) ran up and helped, despite being too low to stay there on his own. It helps make killing weapons in Ro'Maeve a little more stable and minimizes deaths due to links. The downtime has been cut also with a second, so its a good setup.
We have also almost got our static back together in Tuesday night assaults again. Makai is probably not coming back, so we have been subbing in other people we know. This has worked somewhat well so far, and I am currently sitting pretty on Second Lieutenant (5/25). The promotion exam involved not-Naja schooling us in Officer's camp, and for some reason it involved a galka and a lot of baby chocobos. Yeah, I have no idea why either, but it was pretty damn cute.
I also have a static with some former Team Suicide members for Nyzul Isle on Saturday mornings. Not sure why I picked it up just yet, as I am not a big fan of Nyzul, but it will be nice to finally reach Floor 100 and be done with it. Einherjar picked up for a little while, and we cleared all the Tier I wings. We seem to have hit another block now, and have been having problems with the Tier II wings. At the moment, I am one win away from an Omega Ring.
Speaking of TS, it seems everyone I know is burning out on their events. I have already stopped running Dynamis (on account of my deep hatred of anything Dynamis related) with them, and only attend their Monday Limbus and Sunday Einherjar events. In looking for a shell that was less endgame-oriented and more just friend-oriented, Zeph suggested I start my own social shell. It ended up being called CatTail and is still uber small, but every person in it knows everyone else. So that is a nice little return to prioritizing little things done together. It is also the very first shell I have ever led. Oddly enough, despite the name, I am the only mithra at the moment. I still think KaersKrew would have been a better name. =3
Ishkur seems to be online more often, which is good because it seems all the people I have known for awhile have been gone more often than not. He helped Emi and I out by tanking some mobs we were trying to learn BLU spells from. Diamondhide is a pain in the ass, but I learned Zephyr Mantle and Enervation in this party. I helped him out as well by jumping into a Nana Mihgo BCNM (I still do not even have Moogle Kupo d'Etat -_-;) and killing some THF AF NM for his buddy in the shitadel.
Finally, here are some strange little WTF moments. Thayos and I were campaigning (again in Fort Karugo-Narugo) when I pulled a rafflesia while we waited for the yagudo to arrive. Methinks he plays RDM too much.
Also, I spotted this little beastie in Xarcabard [S] and had to literally stop and recheck to make sure it was not just my eyes and imagination playing tricks on me.
Sunday, April 26, 2009
trying new things
Responding to a post on Alla's Garuda page, I joined a Divine Might run setup by some of Verrick's EU friends. We did the run with many Imperial members, as word spread quickly among those of us who needed it. It meant waking up at 9 o' freaking clock in the morning, but Zephiris, Emilliana, and I all got the win! Verrick, friend taru and WHM mentor, joined us, but he really does not need any of the missions I am ever on. Damn his leetness.
After finally hitting the later levels of SCH, I realized I had just spent 67 levels playing a WHM by another name. Now, SCHs do make good WHM standins, but I had neglected the other aspects of the job, the nuking aspects of it. I joined a few BLM burn parties in Mount Zhayolm (this went well, though I learned I am horribly geared for nuking at the moment), practiced some soloing in Mount Zhayolm and Aydeewa Subterrane (this did not go over so well, I perform better in a duo or group then solo), and even a few parties as main healer in Caederva Mire all lead to one thing: DINB!
Yes, I got my second job to 75 in less then a year after my first job hit 75. Of course I leveled other jobs as well, but it is nice to be able to sit on two 75s at the moment. I am just terribly frightened at the amount of gil it looks like I will be dumping into SCH to get the standard nuking and enfeebling gear. I am going to be so poor. ;_;
I also took ninja up to 37, just one level lower then my first character's main job was. I finished off my red mage for now, leaving it at 37 as well for subbing with my scholar. Finishing off ninja really gave me a taste for leveling a melee job, so I took up blue mage (partly because I also accidently won the homam head from Proto-Omega and had no job to use it on).
The first few levels were brutal; spell farming almost made me quit before I even hit level 5. Thankfully, things sped up a bit once I raised my blue magic skill up a bit, helping me to learn pollen and cocoon. Both helped me terribly much while both XPing and spell farming.
The downside is, no one really wants a BLU in their party. I spend hours upon hours searching, going for two or three days with my flag up before I get an invite to a group ten levels or more lower then I am. I have become intimately aquainted with Fields of Valor in this time, which has also helped me farm spells on the side. It has spoiled me though, as I am severely dependent upon the book's refresh and reraise. Being without them, my buffs bar just looks sad and empty.
Assault has been sad of late. Bluefenris, Makai, and I had a good couple of runs spamming Apkallu Breeding for points, but we have hit a dry spell. I am doing only one or two assaults every few days, and barely managed to eke out enough to rank up to Chief Sergeant. Now I just have to earn 10k more Imperial Standing to pick up a perdu weapon!
In sad news, the Imperial/Imperium shell is no more. It broke due to several members losing interest in FFXI, and leaving for WoW. The shell only ever seemed active on our CoP night, and even then members would just fail to show up for not particular reason. After waiting for two weeks, we were frustrated and had enough. This prompted the remaining Imperialites (sans Verrick or Emilliana sadly) to join our Dynamis LS, TeamSuicide full-time.
We found enough members there (along with Kael, a friend of mine from the Garuda boards) to flesh out a party and kill the pots and roll straight into Promathia (more on that below, in case you missed it). However, even though we had joined TS full-time as a social/event LS, we could not let CoP outlive our beloved Imperial LS. Zephiris, Zadine, Lordstorm, and myself all donned the familiar pearl for our final fight. We held a brief ceremony after our victory, remembering all the people we gained and lost (around forty) among the three shells (Imperial, Legion, and Imperium) we tread during our journey. It was a rough path, but Imperium was there to see it to the end. We could not let Chains of Promathia kill our linkshell.
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Slowing down.
I have been lvling SCH (slowly) and am sitting at 67 at the moment. While in Xarcabard doing some Fields of Valor with Thayos, I got a strange cutscene with Prof. Schultz in it, inviting me to bring him a testimony to finally prove my worth to him. Once I get 70+, I will farm one of them and fight him, just for completion's sake. It will not get me anything special, it does not even count towards a Maat's Cap, but I pursue story more than gear, so I will need to finish this final fight to prove to myself that I am a scholar worth my AF.
I have also been running through a few new assaults. I am happy to try out a few new ones, getting my static past the first two tiers that I feel I have spammed far too many times. We tried our first Superior Private missions today. Our first run went really well considering it was just two DDs and two WHMs. We got down to the last three trolls in Lebros Cavern. We went back to Whitegate and shouted for two more to join, and completed it with around eight minutes remaining. Piece of cake.
Even more noteworthy, I finally achieved a full 2o,ooo points in Leujaoam Sanctum. I picked up my Yigit Seraweels just a few days ago. Of course I was happy (I salivate over anything that contains MP+ while healing), so I took a shot of myself right outside the Imperial Palace wearing them. They look odd after getting so used to the Noble's/Blessed combo I am usually in, but I still love the look of them. And the hMP! =D
We also did the impossible (or at least improbable) a second time this week. Imperium stepped up one more time to face Omega and Ultima in the skies above Sealion's Den and Lufaise Meadows. Once again, we triumphed over them, though this time was a lot closer than the previous run. We began wiping so very close to the end of the battle. At the very end, everyone had died and was reraised except myself and one melee, when Ultima turned its attention towards me. I targetted it, saw it had only 01% life left, and began a desperate cast. I never finished. Ultima hit me the moment Verrick came to his feet and chainspelled it. Verrick's nuke landed the moment Ultima's hit did, so we died together. The funny thing was, I never feel to my feet. My HP was 0, my bar was depleted, yet I stayed on my feet for that short lag time between killing the boss and when the cutscene begins. Comedy.
I did another Dynamis run with TeamSuicide. This one went a lot better. I was able to follow people easier and it was less an all out zerg then the past one. I managed to snag a Cleric's Cap on my second run. Plus getting the win is good as well. Perhaps Dynamis is not as bad as I thought (I was also not the only WHM this time around either). After only two Dyna runs and an Einherjar, I can say I like the LS. They are not what I expected an endgame shell to be at all.
Sunday, October 12, 2008
New Linkshells and Experiences
I managed to blow through almost all the remaining Lance Corporal assaults with Ishkur and friends, finishing up Demolition Duty (easy one in Ilrusi Atoll with an automaton tearing down walls while you protect it) and Shanarha Grass Conservation (painful one in Leujaom Sanctum pitting you against 20+ bunnies that all link). After spamming just a few lower tier ones, I managed to rank up to Corporal today, easily finding the Warhorse Hoofprint in Wajom Woodlands (take THAT Caedarva Mire >.<). That leaves only the Mamool Ja assault left for the Lance Corporal rank before I have a completion of those tiers.
My OTHER assault static, LegendarioSalvages, has started basic forays into Salvage recently, which I am happy about. Our first run was jumpy, though not nearly as bad as I thought it would be. We had no pt deaths, only deaths from people scouting without sneak/invis on. Enyo's leggings dropped, but our run was cut short by a flan on floor two. We wiped hard, and had to HomePoint because I died before I could get another reraise up. At least the melee types died in a circle, holding each other's hands:
Our second run through Bhaflau Remnants went smoother, though we actually did not get any drops. We lasted the full time limit though, and climbed to about floor five I believe. At least this run, we got almost fully geared, instead of barely unlocking anything and trying to finish the run naked. We faced down a strange NM, a gate that shoots bees at you. I wonder if Jhonen Vasquez had any influence on this mob's design:
In sad news, Imperial is in the process of repearling. It was first changed to EternalEclipse (I had nothing to do with this name, it was decided while I was working), and later changed more sensibly to Imperium, a vast improvement. The subtle name change helps to solidify that the core LS is staying the same, even if our leader has left Vanadiel.
A final picture, taken in Jugner Forest [S] with Light Ixion/Auroral Alicorn will bring this entry to a close. Its horn was broken, and it was losing life. I cured it a few times, but then the war drums of campaigning orcs scared it away.
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
A Manifest Problem
I also managed to get a good party for the quest "A Manifest Problem", which I have been looking for help with for a few weeks now. A random shout in Whitegate found me with a DRK, and I invited Demesis along as RDM. We picked up a PLD randomly trying to solo it in Fort Karugo-Narugo, and had more than enough to pass it with ease.
We had to plow our way through many yagudo in the undertunnels of Ghoyu's Reverie.
We finally found the boss (or rather, he found us) and managed to spank him down in no time flat.
The situation in Windurst was much more grave, though. We had merely stopped the reinforcements, not the main force, and we entered to see the tarus and mithra clashing in the very streets of Windurst Waters. Even the young students of the Aurastery contributed to defending their homeland. Though Tzee Xicu was there, the yagudo relied too heavily on their reinforcments.
The victory came at a price though. There were political blunders to be addressed after the ambush, and many dead and wounded to be tended to.
There was a small consolation to be had for the mithran mercenaries after the skirmish. The surprise of seeing Lehko Habhoka, the first male mithra many of them had seen, was enough to cause them to forget the fierce battle and focus instead on him. It seems his milkshake brings all the cats to the yard. ^.~
He seemed to think I was merely a pawn in his mysterious game, and my suspicions are telling me he is not an entirely noble character. At least he has that sauve sense of evil surrounding him, though.
Other quick news, I am done with Valkurm and Korroloka again. Finally up to 21 ninja and getting crab hunting parties in Qufim Island. It is a relief to finally start feeling like a ninja, and less like a thief with dodge tools. I finished up all my current ninja scroll quests, and just need to level now until I can use them all. I also met and befriended a cute little mandy who can take some serious pain as well. Vana'Diel, the only place you can see a flower and a gnat fight, while one shotting everyone around them.
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