New Linkshells and Experiences

Most of this last week was spent on my SCH. I managed to bring it up to 43, making it my second highest job, edging out BLM and SMN recently. While I really love Accession and Sublimation, I have been trapped in too many level sync parties to take full advantage of them, making me feel like I am not learning crucial skills to use later on. Most my magic has remained at cap, though I noticed Dark Magic was uncapped at 43. Sadly, I spend 90% of my SCH time in a party as main healer, so not as much chance to bring it up as I would like.

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.

Missions, missions, missions galore!

The day started off simple enough, but with a bang. And a quick thud. A simple besieged raid by the undead swarm turned out to drop me like rocks. I died about three times the entire time, never once from anything I could see. Easy enough xp though, so it was not really frustrating.

Spending some time in Whitegate after repeling the lamia attack, I happened to come across someone shouting for some help for CoP 2-5. Once again, I grasped at the hope that I might better understand this fight by replaying it several times, and decided to tag along. What a mess it turned out to be. I love Riverne Site A01. It is a gorgeous zone. Yet, I hate how it leeches people of their senses, like the lvls being stripped away by the restriction cap also takes the knowledge of what you have learned during that time with it, rather than simply limiting your abilities and gear. I forget exactly how many times we died, but it was frustrating to not even get close on any of those attempts. I will have to look into my friends list to see who still needs this, as I have always had better luck with my friends doing this than with random strangers.



Thankfully, my Imperial ls mates stepped up, and fully delivered what I had been craving. We continued last week's ToAU static party and faced the Shield of Diplomacy battle (AU 22). I think the little imp in the cutscenes has to be my favorite new NPC to watch. I seriously screenshotted him more than anyone else I can think of. Maybe because he reminds me of something that would appear in Disgaea. Anyway, I am calling him Impy McFly. Oh yeah, the battle was pretty fun too.


We decided quickly to not take the easy road, and show both Shantotto and Khimaira 13 what Imperial can do on the battlefield. Whlie Shantotto's spam casting Ancient Magic IIs definitely helped, it was clearly an Imperial victory. Everyone but Zarovich would drop at least once during the fight, yet we all popped back up and continued to fight, unwilling to let our comrades in arms down. After taking a pounding from Makina's Shiva, Shantotto's AMIIs, and Zaro's nukes, Thayos and Kia managed to tank and kite the beast to the point it just collapsed. Check out a moment from the midfight here:

In addition to spam nuking though, Karababa was trying to "coach" (or is that berate?) us into an effective party. Here are a few of the tips she passed on midfight to us:



After the regular planned LS event, I was able to find some help for a mission NM of my own. I had to warn Fort Karugo-Narugo about a yagudo sneak attack, and rescue poor widdle Ajido-Marujido from an NM. The fight itself was not too difficult, though the stupid amounts of damage the War Lynx could dish out caused my PLD to cry out "LAWDY!" once as a single attack dropped him by 982 HP.


The resulting cutscenes managed to inspire as well. I got to see Perih Vashai when she had sight, dropping yagudos like it was nobody's business but her own, got to see Ajido-Marujido disciplined while still a troublesome youth, a peek into the inner turmoil between mithra and taru politics, while being introduced to a mysterious new War Warlock. Last series of cutscene events I had the chance to undertake (bringing me to the end of the current WotG storyline) involved getting eaten by a maw (again) and meeting up with Cait Sith.

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.

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.