Galka Guru

Back up to full speed

2009-09-25T02:55:00.000-07:00

Well, the summer is over. Back from my overseas trip which lasted three months. Hopefully I will get off my lazy ass and stop being lazy enough to add some much needed updates to my blog. Lots of stuff has been going on, even since before my summer trip, but I've fallen behind on trying to document things as much as I could. =( Real entry soon.

Red Mage stuff and ZNM solo's

2009-02-25T16:29:00.000-08:00

Most of my entries thus far have glorified my melee damage-dealing jobs and my most recent work-in-progress, Paladin, but just because I've been neglecting to mention RDM as much does not mean it takes a back seat to any of my other roles! In fact, I've been putting off writing about RDM mainly because of the sheer amount of detail there is to delve into. Probably the busiest job in the game and definitely one that takes a lot of time and experience to play correctly, I really enjoy work involved in playing it. It is also the most challenging job I get to play with.

The first thing that comes to everyone's mind is lolGalka mage. I really don't believe the Galka's poor MP pool plays out to be such a disadvantage as everyone thinks. It does hold back from maximum RDM potential, but only for the first few minutes of a full MP pool. What I mean is, gearing for MP is not all too difficult at all for Galka mages, as my Convert build easily outdoes most of my RDM peers in the MP category without worrying much about maintaining HP balance.

This equipment set didn't take a whole lot of effort to put together, and still leaves me with 900+ MP after Curing my HP back to full after Convert. The major drawback is that this is indeed a build made specifically for +MP only. A decent Enfeeble set (to land Sleep on most mobs that are Sleepable, or Gravity, etc.) already brings my max MP down to ~850 (swapping in AF body, Relic hat, appropriate staff + grip, Nashira Seraweels; MP gear remaining unchanged on hands/feet/accessories), so that's already a big drop from the Convert MP. Full INT Enfeeble for the most reliable Sleeps, Gravitys, Binds, etc. dips MP down to ~600. Full MND build drops MP down to a measly 591 MP on /whm.

It's a pretty large gap between my RDM's maximum MP capacity and its true RDMing potential. It's tough to give up almost half of a maximum MP pool in order to utilize the best in RDM performance gear. For this reason I chose to maximize Convert recast merits. A lot of RDMs don't feel the need to minimize Convert recast, but Convert really is the tool that makes RDM what it is. I judge myself to be a pretty MP-efficient mage, so Convert recast wasn't a huge deal to me at first. But as my RDM gear collection improved, I found myself gravitating toward using MND Enfeeble potency builds a lot more as they become easier to rely on. Having Convert readilly available helps me out much more when it comes down to this. So for the most part, during the first 350-400 MP after a full Convert, I'm just finding things to burn MP on and tossing out generous Cures before I enter the more "useful" MP threshold.

Anyway, enough about how I play RDM and how, when it comes down to it, race is not really a major obstacle in playing a job to its full potential. The pro's and con's all balance out in the end. A Taru PLD may not have the most HP in the alliance, but his massive MP pool will allow him to cap cumalative enmity values quicker as well as have an easier time maintaining it more consistently than a lot of other PLDs since he has more self-Cures at his disposal; just an example.

On to some of my latest RDM accomplishments! I was blessed with a Duelist's Chapeau shortly after last Christmas after lotting RDM in Dynamis for almost a year and a half. This year started off with an even more grandiose goal that I've arrived at:

Yay!! Not even my main preference Salvage body armor (Ares'), which makes me feel that much more gratified. I've had no trouble performing my RDM duties for the last two years without a single Refresh equipment piece (well, there is Balrahn's Ring for the times I RDM in Salvage), but with these two recent additions I am much more comfortable letting go of a lot of +MP gear early on. As I mentioned above, the abundant 900+ MP after a Convert and full Cure sits idle for a while before the MP pool is depleted enough to swap over to the more effective RDM builds that lie around ~600 MP for me. Now, if there's absolutely no HP to be Cured in sight, I will just throw away that surplus 300 MP if the situation calls for it. Two MP/tick Refresh is almost a second Refresh spell! This has improved the way I can play RDM a lot.

Last patch saw the introduction of MMM. People need to be more excited about this! The gear to be farmed is not something to overlook. One of the top BLU swords, an earring with the most MND you can find in that slot, a nice Evasion Dagger (and nice DNC Dagger in general), are a few notable items amongst the list of other goodies. After a couple weeks of farming marbles and collecting/purchasing Runes, it didn't take us that long to farm up our desired items.

I obtained my Mamool Ja Earring in only two attempts using a rune set-up and formula suggested on BG. The theory suggests that resonating only one element at a time, corresponding to the drop that you want, will yield the drop. Everyone is hyped about an item giving Reraise III, but are people really overlooking the fact that it has the highest MND bonus in one earring slot? I try to refine my job builds as close to absolute completion as I can and this beauty was a must-have for RDM.

One step closer to finishing MND build! Naturally high MND on Galka make us a very nice race for Red Mage. I've seen too many RDMs who claim to be "end-game" players (maybe successfully bot-claiming HNM is considered end-game now) neglect this important facet in their job. MND build is to RDM as WS build is to SAM! Fact of the matter is, most bosses at end-game that are susceptible to Enfeebling will likely not require an all out Enf. skill / M. Acc build to land Enfeebles successfully. This is where a "MND potency" gear set comes into play. You are widening the difference between player MND vs. target MND and yielding greater effects of Slow and Paralyze. MND Enfeebling in staff + Enf. skill / M. Acc is reliable and is probably the first thing beginner RDMs should aim for, but using that all the time is just silly.

One area where my RDM gets a lot of action is in Salvage. This build pwnz Chariot bosses! They can so easily be Enfeebled it's sad! Being susceptible to Ice element magic only makes full MND Paralyze more e-peen worthy. It's like RDM Extenz! Granted, some Chariot fights that do get drawn out will result in minor tweeks in a full MND build to add more Enf. Skill or M. Acc. Even so, I usually never have to resort to staves. Replacing Errant body with AF body will do the job just fine once Enfeebles start to resist, or wear off progressively faster. This tactic just applies to my Slow II and Paralyze II Enfeebling. Blind and Poison II are still performed under full Enfeebling Skill / M. Acc > INT equipment setups, and Gravity is not an option with Chariots. Full MND builds do not just apply to Salvage and Chariot bosses. A lot of end-game mobs will be susceptible if they don't flat out resist RDM Enfeebling all-together. For now I'm aiming to acquire a Cursed Mail to increase my RDM MP capactiy while switching to full MND. A free-lot Macha's Pigaches wouldn't be too bad either. Shadow Clogs don't look too bad either, but I've only seen it drop once out of five or six Odin runs so far.

Zeni!I've also been back on the ZNM grind. I was a little discouraged last year when we lost our first Sarameya attempt and all that effort to build up that pop set had gone to waste. Our later attempts were successful, and even though Sarameya is in a league all in its own compared to Tinnin and Tyger, it's still the most rewarding and I will continue to push for my goal toward Hachiryu Haidate as we start to nail this fight and it becomes easier. If only more people were interested in the ZNM system and its rewards, we'd be spending more time in ZNM instead of some of the mundane activities that've been around for five or six years lol!

I guess Zeni farming really does suck that much. I've been pretty lazy, and resorting to just farming 60-70 Soul Plates of Aw'euvhi NMs at a time and storing them across mules. One tip for those who don't want to go out and look for the suggest subject matter, make sure to kill off your Aw'euvhi before the 20 minute rage timer is up! Or else you will die!!!

Yup, these guys mean serious business! If you go over the 20 minute rage timer, it's over lol. Still, farming Aw'euvhi for Zeni is a lot faster and more convenient then hunting out the recommended fauna. And across me and Numi dual-box'ed, I can collect a hefty amount of Soul Plates to turn in for a while.

AnantabogaI've been farming for solo Sarameya pops while my other Sarameya pop partners aren't available to kill ZNMs. Soloing Brass Borer might not yield as much gil from possible drops as killing Ob, but it's a quick and efficient way to build toward Sarameya.

For Tier 2, I've been soloing Anantaboga, the Dahak ZNM. The first time I fought this was pretty tough, didn't know what to expect. Actually, the pull is probably the hardest part of the whole solo. The mob is pulled way south from its spawn point through the field of Wamouras and past the Navukgo Execution Chamber zone, through a tunnel and out to a wide open area full of Wamoura Princes. It's a very safe area to kite this guy, and the only real threat comes out at night which is a Ghost, but if you're dipping into yellow HP then you're doing something wrong.

The first time I fought him, it took a little over two hours! I guess I let him rage and wasn't able to stick Poison II for the last 20% or so of his HP, so that drew out the fight a little longer. After killing him numerous times though, I've cut the fight time down to about 45 minutes including the 5 minute pull (he's so damn slow).

The main point to realize during the fight is that Anantaboga is a BRD. If his target is out of his singing range, he will sing self-buff songs on himself, which take a while. He casts stuff like Minuet, Paeon, Minne, etc. As long as you are out of range. This singing period is ample time to move in to re-apply DoTs or nuke. The trick is staying just far enough while kiting to be out of his casting range but close enough to see him actually stop to cast (watching chat log for mob actions). The comfort zone is about 22' to 28' distance. Any closer than that and he will cast songs on you and being further will not give you enough time to double back and get off a nuke.

If Anantaboga does gain ground on the kiter, Elegy isn't that big a deal; Finale is a short-casting spell but shadows eat that right up; Viralei doesn't pose that big a threat even if you do get hit (shadows are wiped)--you can take all the time to recover after you are uncharmed since you will lose aggro.

The only major concern is if you are way too close when he starts singing Horde Lullaby. I find that as long as you have at least a 13-14' distance head-start you will outrun Horde Lullaby. Once it does hit, however, you can get in a little trouble. He will follow through with a melee attack that will deal no less than 300-400 dmg (I haven't geared for Physical Dmg Taken -% outside of Terra's Staff yet, so I'm sure this can be greatly reduced; though it shouldn't be needed if you're kiting and killing correctly) and sometimes he will Double Attack. Once you're awake, and if you're lucky, you can gain your kiting distance back. If he decides to screw you with another Horde Lullaby after eating up half your HP though, you'd better prey there is no Double Attack or critical.

He doesn't have enhanced movement speed, and I don't have Crimson Cuisses. I would think a red legs user would be at a disadvantage in this fight as he would out-run Anantaboga by too far a distance and miss the text in the log when Anantaboga starts singing on himself.

The window of oppurtunity to nuke while he sings on himself isn't that long. A quick tier 3 nuke starting in Fast Cast (Wlk. Chapeau / Duelist's Tabard / Loquac. Ear) will just get off by the time he starts moving again, so it is imperitive that every second he is buffing himself is utilized (which is why it is so important to maintain minimal kiting distance just outside his casting range). I find I only have time to apply Poison II and Bio II everytime he stops to sing, so that should indicate how soon he will be back on the move again!

I ran into Energetic Eruca on my way back through Mount Zhayolm during one of my Anantaboga nights. Made a quick 50k from the Hanzo Tekkos. Not a tough fight for RDM/NIN, and I didn't even carry my melee Haste gear with me since it wasn't really needed for kiting Anantaboga; just AF hat, Relic body, and Nashira Seraweels did the job. These gloves should sell for more!

Upsetting more Relics!I posted a couple of parses in my last entry from merit parties with Jayiiq shortly after he finished his Apocalypse. I came pretty close to overcoming the half a % difference between our results. In a subsequent party we had, there was no LS RDM available so we decided to let Trixter leech on his LV70-something SCH. Low and behold... I've discovered Jay's weakness! Lack of Haste spell made Apocalypse Catastrophe spam fall short of SAM/DRG Hagun. The tables have turned! This is still a dual BRD setup at G. Colibri + Wivre. The results look surprisingly similar to the last parse I posted in the previos entry, only Jay and my numbers are flipped around.

I also got to merit with a Gungnir for the first time. We went to G. Colibri for this party, so I was expecting to lose this parse noticeably. I managed to outparse the DRG, but with his wyvern included I fall short of the win. Well, when I saw the DRG enter Alzadaal making his way toward camp as DRG/BLU I thought it was an error on their part, so I politely pointed out that fact; but, apparently, they like to merit using that job combo. I think had the DRG used a more offensive subjob, Gungnir woulda owned me pretty bad. As it was, Drakesbane average was only 30 more dmg than my own baby DRG's Drakesbane average on Colibri, but resorting to Wivres to keep chain will fuck up your numbers.

Another Relic I can cross off my list of weapons to put to shame!

I was a little surprised at encountering a Relic owner who was not completely enamored with flexing his e-peen; a breath of fresh air really. Getting Magic Fruit after a getting hit by a reflected Lullaby was nice. It was a fun party and I hope I have chances to play with this Gungnir DRG again. Until next time!

currently listening to: Telepopmusik - Don't Look Back

Confessions of a meripo fiend

2009-01-22T01:06:00.001-08:00

Dragoon is 75! It was probably one of the longer grinds I've had leveling a job, mainly due to a lack of real interest and a lazy leveling partner. It also didn't help that my only real motivation to level it to 75 was so that I’d have a new job to dump merits into. Being locked out of meripo due to being totally capped in merits sucks, especially when meriting is one of my favorite things to do in FFXI.

DRG was a fun job to level, but at the end of the day it takes a back seat to my DRK and SAM, which I've already dedicated so much work and effort and time into that they easily overshadow any up and coming melee job I bring up. Anyway, it was nice to have most of the high-end gear for the job ready for me to use. One downer is not having proper WS equipment in a few slots. Using Alkyoneus's Bracelets on any multi-hit weaponskills is never a good thing, especially when Drakesbane's DEX mod comes into play. Lack of Hecatomb Mittens isn't that big a deal though, I guess. It's also nice to see a couple new very nice body pieces for DRG introduced recently, and I kinda have my eyes set on an Aurum Cuirass, though I'd rather focus my ZNM efforts on Sarameya for the time being. And who knows, maybe there’s an Ares’s Cuirass in my future. So for now, I will be full-timing Askar Korazin for both my TP build and weaponskill for DRG. Anyway, I'm still content with 1100+ averages at G. Colibri camp (although SAM/WAR with polearm can still come close to this), but I've yet to break 2k so I will keep tweaking my DRG as I see fit.

I'm probably due for a mage job now. Four melee jobs, tank, and RDM... I'm just not sure which mage. Although one recent, unexpected surprise really has me leaning toward a certain nuke-happy role that I'd like to tinker around with:

BLM a-gogo? I’m happy I finally have a Salvage body nearly completed, even if it isn’t the original piece I opted for. And because of this, I’ll have to fund it myself since I’m still waiting for an Ares’s Cuirass for my one LS-funded Salvage body. As of now I have all the materials for the Imperial Wootz Ingots, as long as there are no critical breaks. The only thing I’m missing still is Nemain’s Robe. I wish SE would assign WOTG jobs to Salvage armor already. If SCH were on Morrigan’s Robe set, I’d be all over that in a heartbeat.

Along with this nice little treasure, I also finally saw a Duelist’s Chapeau drop into my inventory a couple of days after Christmas. It only took 14 months to finally get it! Q_Q Ended up with a 970-something lot! The same day I saw my long-awaited Relic hat, my long-time Humbaba friend and Dawn overlord Jayiiq completed his Relic scythe! Congratulations Jay, for completing a feat only a handful of people in the FFXI community will ever complete!

Yes, this is me sobbing because Apocalypse is such a beautiful piece of work.

Apocalypse now!
And of course what's a Galkan Guru blog entry without some meripo goodness! With a new lv. 75 job I can finally meripo without wasting merits again. And I finally get a taste of what a real Relic user fights like. I've parsed with an Apocalypse DRK before, and I don't know if it was the lack of a second BRD that diminished that DRK's Catastrophe spam potential, but this time versus Jayiiq I really didn't think I had a way to keep up with him. In retrospect, those old parses with Eka were of relatively small sample sizes--I realize Catastrophe spam is more of a DoT build up resulting in monstrous numbers compared to the spike damage Guillotine playstyle of most DRKs. This time, in LS meripo we got a good 3-ish hours of results in as well as the proper two BRD merit-pumping machine setup.

Setup: Cinnabun: SAM/DRG; Jayiiq: DRK/SAM; Destrac: MNK/NIN; Kanaye & Teorem: BRD; Krish: RDM

Round 1

Round 2

To be honest, I was expecting to keep up rather closely with Jayiiq. Once we got going though I knew there was no room for slack, at all. Unfortunately I fell behind more than I should have in the first parse; busy on the phone, etc. Being slow on finding mob pops (BRD pulling simply wasn't enough), and not Overwhelming as much as I should really held me back (805 average WS is an indication). But once I hung up the phone on the ol' ball and chain it was time for srs bizness! Second round: time for upping the ante with 80% of the time on Hasso to keep up with Jay's incredible speed and his Hasso. I can only see this getting worse for me Q_Q as Jay completes his DRK gearing soon, that is if Jailer of Justice puts out and he comes back to Limbus to get a pair of Cosciales.

At any rate, it's a lot of fun to finally play with someone who knows how to put their Relic to full use. Next time, I'll see how my own DRK holds up, since I had orginally outparsed Eka's Apocalypse on that job. It'll be a good benchmark to see which of my jobs is the stronger meripo job, too.

currently listening to: Daft Punk - Aer OBAMA

Graduating from Mercenary Camp!

2008-11-24T02:23:00.000-08:00

Finally, we've gotten around to using up last year's Fanfest BCNM entry items. Just in time, since Fanfest '08 is rolling around. Too bad none of us this year even got a chance to consider buying tickets because they sold out so fast. At least last year a few of us got to kick it together, and even then, once I had considered to get tickets, those sold out as well. SE needs to learn to cater to their fans more. Anyway, we scored a bunch of BCNM-style orb items for 4 different battles. One was The Gathering Storm, an Assault style fight taking place in Mamool Ja Staging Point where you and fellow marauders plow through endless waves of weak-ass mobs a la the SM Assault Blitzkrieg (in fact, this one is probably easier than the normal Assault). We did this one a while back since it was the quickest battle field to get to. The reward for this one is one of my favorite titles: Bloody Berserker.

The other three fights took place in the Stellar Fulcrum up in Delkfutt's Tower. Since our Sunday nights are no longer occupied with Nyzul farming/climbing, we took a break from our new shift toward Sunday Salvage for a fun night of battles vs. NPCs we've only gotten to know through storyline cutscenes. The titles are pretty much the only rewards for the four Fanfest fights. There was one extra special reward that we were granted after the fight with the four Aht Urgan Serpent Generals Mercenary Camp, which is the screenshot above, along with the title, "The Sixth Serpent;" pretty cool.

This fight was probably my favorite, just because I liked the storyline behind the Serpent Generals a lot (one of my favorite questlines involves a bunch of backstory for all the Generals: "Saga of the Skyserpent"). Each of the Serpent Generals used their unique weapon skills that I rarely see them use in Besieged. General Rughadjeen's Victory Beacon showed one big "V." I wasn't lucky enough to capture any other General's weapon skills myself, but Cybaster took a screen of Mihli's Scouring Bubbles that looks pretty fun:

There were no victory poses after the other fights, but they were still pretty fun. Hero's Combat (title: "Superhero") was a brawl with the lead male figures of the three nations: Trion, Volker, and Ajido-Marujido.

As you can see, Trion plays dirty!

Heroine's Combat looked to be a little tougher than the male equivalent, but I guess just because there are four ladies to fight doesn't mean that they will be stronger than three guys! Needless to say... we raped em! =X

In recent Einherjar news, we've gone through our second and third Odins now. I'm really hyped about my new body Abjuration. Koenig Cuirass still looks hot after all these years! I guess I'll just have to kiss Dalmatica goodbye though, but oh well. One MP/tick Refresh is really not all that hot. I passed on Valhalla Helm because I'd rather have a Breastplate sometime in the future.

Three Odins now, but no weapon drop yet, and only one Valhalla piece. =(

Another one bites the dust!
More Samurai raves without the rants. Even with all my new escapades on PLD, my SAM obsession still continues. In my efforts to tweak out maximum performance on this job I've churned out another Relic-demolishing parse! Yay! This was my first time meriting with Spharai MNK. I announced I was parsing so I can only hope these results reflect all participants' top-notch meriting efforts. First name listed is MNK/NIN with Spharai and Shura Togi +1, second is me SAM/DRG, third is SAM/WAR Spear-spam with Engetsuto:

In a small sample size of all my recent SAM/DRG parses on Greater Colibri, I can safely say my WS average has capped out at a crap-tastic 830-840 average with 2x Minuets, spamming Meat Mithkabob. This seems to be as high as I can push it; it's been a small bump up from my old numbers but my new Orc helm and semi-new Usukane Hizayoroi has added some welcoming damage improvement. With a Minuet+Chaos Roll combo, however, I've been consistently pushing 880, granted, all these numbers are taken from numerous Greater Colibri parties and they don't have the highest defense to penetrate. (Current WS build)

I only have one or two large Mamool Ja (Tadjana Islet) parses on SAM/DRG so far, and the numbers are pretty underwhelming--just subtract around 100 dmg from the previous numbers lol ._. Haven't parsed with updated gear on SAM/WAR in a while, so I dunno how that stands currently. I most likely will not bother with /WAR until my Polearm setup gets some much needed improvement. Still, I've found using /DRG with my A+ weapon is so much more fun then Penta Thrust spam on birdies.

Anywho, looking over that parse I'm surprised at the Spharai's low Asuran Fist average. I don't remember if he kept up his food, because I think I've seen Destroyers putting out higher averages, but it might be because of a COR, I really don't recall. I don't merit with MNK companions as much as I used to nowadays so I don't remember a lot of those results. I've also heard that a H2H Relic's improvement over the next strongest weapon in its class is the smallest margin amongst all other weapons' and their correlating Relics. =( This parse isn't a blatant going-all-out MP sponging in order to win, either. I'm still courteous to my other PT members and do still manage to balance my Seigan and Hasso usage 50/50, as well as using a physical damage reduction gear set when needed.

So, the score's in favor of me, as follows: DRK defeats Amano & Apocalypse; SAM defeats Spharai! Yay. I really would like a rematch with that Relic DRK though. A little under 100 mobs might be too small a sample size to properly judge the results, and there was only one BRD in that party, with no COR to boot; weak merit setup to really parse and compare. Too bad I can't make a clone of myself, so I can parse my DRK vs. my SAM. I'm really curious as to which job can out-do the other; especially with some udpated gear additions that put my SAM in a much higher tier than it was before, I really don't know which, between the two, is more powerful in a merit setup. Okay, /endrave and /end e-peen stroke.

currently listening to: Isley Brothers - Footsteps in the Dark

Why can't you just quit me girl?

2008-10-30T02:37:00.000-07:00

Lots of FF fun still to be had! Trying to keep outside life and FF balanced is kinda like a juggling act. Doesn't leave much time in between! Hopefully this is just part 1 current post, so much I'm leaving out still. I'm having lots of fun though now, taking up new leadership responsibilities in Dawn now too. Pretty satisfying to help your fellow gamers achieve and accomplish and have a great time together. Anyway, on to some (read: lots) of the things I've been up to.

Downing 1/3 of the TOAU Beastmen Kings, a part of the first quest involving Mythic Weapons; Gurlurfur the Menacing was definitely no push-over, but after our first failed attempt, we got the method of killing down perfectly and it went very smooth. Very fun fight, another unique experience on my PLD! Can't wait for Medusa and Jar Jar Binks, as Spunks would put it.

Too bad the Mythic Weapon quests just get more and more ridiculous.. trade in a Pandemonium Warden pop set? WTF? I'm not even Captain yet, but thinking about re-logging all those Assaults makes me a sad panda!! Hunting the three TOAU Beastmen Kings seems like child's play compared to the other quests.

I've also become a 1337 3inherjar!!! Dusk has come far since we started running Einherjar as a small group on Dawn. Now that we have the resources in Dusk, I see us dominating this activity and milkin' it for all it's worth! Odin's rewards are nothing to shrug off. It's good that SE has made it a little bit more accessible to most end-game linkshells. Our first Odin ever wasn't too shabby, but could've used some Odin gear. Oh well, can't win 'em all.

Things in Wings of the Goddess has been shaping up to be pretty interesting as well. I sense an epic expansion for us in this! This month, South San d'Orian's Iron Ram forces have been able to take La Vaule (S) twice now. The first time it was taken over, I gathered some friends together to form a static to spam the Campaign Ops that is accessible once La Vaule (S) is controlled by our nation.

"Splitting Heirs" yielded us, in total, 8 Cuchulain's Mantles and 2 or 3 Witch Sashes. We ended up each getting our own mantles and doing whatever we wanted with them. I sold my mantle and bought myself a Witch Sash, which complements my new MND potency build for RDM quite nicely. Though, La Vaule now in its second week of San d'Orian occupation in one month, I foresee a steady decrease in these prices. Especially with people snatching up the supply fast and server-transferring sales for big bucks.

In more La Vaule news, I had a lot of fun leading our raid to annihilate the NM bosses scattered throughout Davoi of the past for the new "Sealed Container Notorious Monster." Surprisingly we were able to seek and destroy all 8 of 'em in one event, which prompted us to be ready for the instanced SCNM battle the following week.

Needless to say, I'm super happy we got nice drops from this new venue, and my good-lot-of-the-month did not go to waste ^-^ and I'm very content with my Samurai's progress now! Thank you Dawn! Next up, Beadeaux (S)!

To end this post, an epic journey finally complete!! Our Nyzul group has finally acquired a Runic Key for all members, along with all the desirable weapons and most of the armor. Finally! We are definitely long over-due for a Nyzul break. Now.. what to do with our Sunday nights? Extra Salvage, yes please!

FFXI Cold Chillin!

2008-09-05T04:03:00.000-07:00

A little over three weeks since I came back from my trip to Asia, but the LS and I are zooming through the goals we've set for 2008! I probably am at my peak of having fun with FFXI since I started playing again. I guess I'll start with our Einherjar progression. Dawn has added a new faction, sub-Linkshell if you will, appropriately named Dusk, strictly for Einherjar events. We now include outsiders that join our Einherjar faction, because our regular 21-24 Dawn heads at any given time is just not enough to progress past Wing III. It's working out great so far, and we are now 3/3 Wing II chambers and preparing to tackle the third wing of chambers.

Did I mention how fun this venue is? And it's only 30 minutes... of intense mayhem!! Einherjar being relatively new to me, I plan on improving my WAR (which I have been neglecting a lot) for this.
Originally I was just going to save for 100k Ampoules, but I just couldn't resist. ( RDM posts soon I swear! )

On to another new venue for the LS, ZNM. I guess not too much of it was done while I was away, but now that I'm leading the ZNM branch of LS I hope to get lots of TIV ZNMs murked soon enough. Well the TIII's that we've done so far since I came back were super fun. The induction of ZNM is one of the best updates I've seen in a while, I have to admit. Although the pop system sucks to work out as an LS, having the chance to kill heavilly-camped ToAU HNM amongst other fun mobs is very refreshing.

On the road to getting all the Avatar pre-requisite fights for "Waking the Beast" Carbuncle fight. I suck because I missed like 4 of the previous Avatar fights while away in VN for summer.

.

lol i can has? Who cares about Black Tathlum!

SAMURAI Update:

Finally got to use SAM/DRG to make use of this earring normally used for SoulKraken.. and let me tell you it was ridiculous. I been tryin to do this before Ruke's SAM/DRG post, but my DRG stayed lv. 34 for a very long time. Gear is same as the post below, except Merman's Earring ► Wyvern Earring.

I probably ended up eatting a billion DMG because of trying to utilize full haste+Hasso, but it's okay I had to put our LS's new RDM tryout through a real ordeal. Anyway, the results were amazing. Teorem is an Ares DRG (meat) and Peach is Spamwinder (sushi) and I am of course SAM/DRG (Hedgehog Pie), Tadjana Islet Mamool Ja camp:

The above parse (SAM/DRG) I was attempting to see if I can use Askar Korazin, due to the /DRG Accuracy Bonus, but had I full-timed Haubergeon +1 I'm sure the accuracy would reach 90% at least.

The bottom parse shows another PT I had this week vs. Greater Colibri, after finally capping my Polearm and breaking the latent on Gondo-Shizunori. Teorem: DRG/SAM, Tabby: THF/NIN, me: SAM/WAR (Polearm, with 2 merits in it). During this PT we had March x2 and Minuet x2, spamming Mithkabobs. I think I'm satisfied with my Penta Thrust returns for now, but I guess I could work on my TP build for SAM/WAR Polearm vs. Greater Colibri. Using /WAR with a 5x hit WS is very nice for /WAR's innate Double Attack. I opted to add to my Crit % using the Claymore Grip, while still keeping the Brutal Earring for additional DA bonus. I think it worked out nicely:

That about wraps up this post. Here's a nice screen of my most recent goal of my next lv. 75 job. Just hit lv. 47 with Penta Thrust open to me now, too bad my Fellow Balu-Falu hasn't leveled up at all the whole time we were using this camp:

currently listening to: Zero 7 - In the Waiting Line

Samurai ShoDown!

2008-08-26T04:36:00.000-07:00

Well all right then! I guess I've been focusing on PLD a lot lately (at least in my blog--HAY it's fun), so let's toss it up a lil'. My Samurai is actually now showcase-worthy, so I'ma dedicate this post to SAM. I got lvl. 75 in late Nov. '07, and I think I've pretty much topped it off this week. Aside from brand new Sarameya dorps (and lolmonopolizedSandworm tathlums) that I'll eventually work toward, my TP set and WS set are now complete! :]

Too bad the Wyvern Helm +1 belongs to the homie Brubion. I have access so I jack his shit all the time, fucking rich bastard (hi2u whitebox-EVERYTHING). Haubergeon +1 build is for pretty much 75% of SAM-play, whereas Askar build will be used in Salvage, Greater Colibri meripo, and other farming instances where mobs will not evade too much. That WS build is pretty solid, sometimes I use an Askar Korazin WS build for the lulz, and it puts up ridiculous digits but not consistent enough to rely on. Set-up on the left is defense macro, for when Third Eye isn't up in time. Could use an HQ Arhat's Jinpachi +1 some day; NIN will definitely be lv. 75 eventually anyway. That lovely Shadow Mantle was incentive for me to level up PLD, recently, too!

I think everyone doing end-game waiting for dorpz, by now, knows about SAM's secretive l00tz tactics, i.e. Tachi: Koki Treasure Hunter +50. Well, if you didn't know, now you know. Please believe it:

The two loot screens on the left are from one Arrapago Remnants run! Got some lv. 35 Hizayorois this run (few months back). Was hella amped, this was only our second Hikazu Hakama out of God-knows-how many Arrapago Archaic Chariots!

Yeah, some people just don't believe! But what now? Even after this and so many other successful TH+50 (probably even MOAR TH than that!) attempts, people still have to be skeptical. No Cybaby, your TH+3 ain't cuttin' it buddy.
You need to believe in the power the Koki gods can grant us humble FFXI denizens! If you merely hop on the Koki-fan bandwagon, the Koki gods will shun yo' ass and you won't get shiet for it! If you truly beleive, Koki gods will make your wildest dreams come true.

Tachi: Koki Treasue Hunter is for real, people! But you have to believe! Believe in Koki! Haha Cyb (~>) really got pissed when I claimed my Koki TH granted us the following Macha's dorp last week instead of his myuun~ TH+3 - ummm who's Thief's Knife is it that you have in your possession again? xD It's okay, maybe the year of the Good-luck Galka will follow up with Tresure-Hunter Taru soon. Or, you know... you can just start doing Dynamis again... Sure could use a couple more relic Armlets in Dawn!

[ In only two weeks since I've been back from Asia all this dropped ] :

Combination of SAM and MNK Galka worshipping

Aaaand finally, the one to rule them all!
The lvl. 25 Salvage legs piece I've been waiting for!

I have a lot more Koki TH screens, but I'll get to 'em maybe some other time. For now I'll end this entry with a new video the homie Almostbilly made for me. It's a solo 6-WS Darkness skillchain after I finished my SAM WS builds. Billy's also planning to make a Phoenix old-school players video compilation and this'll be part of that one as well (click the link and view the high quality version!):

Another purtiful SAM screen, /amazed at two same DMG WS's in a row:

currently listening to: RZA - Samurai Showdown (Raise Yo' Swords)

Brick Wall Back in Action

2008-08-19T00:50:00.000-07:00

It may look like my blog has been dead since the beginning of summer, and while I was meaning to update it before I took off on a 2 month vacation overseas, my laziness consumed me before I could pull that off. Anyway, I'm back in action now that summer's nearly over and in full swing again for a promising new season of some FFXI gameplay. Instead of delving into some of the more hectic events that have occured lately, I'm gonna look back at the fun things I got the chance to take part of before my break, and some recent ones after.

Anyway, I've talked a lot about Paladin in recent entries and I still haven't had enough of it. Maybe I'm a PLD fanboy now, or whatever, but the job is just plain awesome and perfecting the style of play is my ultimate goal. Shortly after the events that took place in my last entry, I took PLD out for some more HNM-tanking first experiences. I must say, so much of this job depends on figuring out the best equipment in every situation. Nowadays most boss battles in FFXI are unique in their own way, and when situational gear comes into play, the effects of such gear tweaks prove to be very apparent. I'm not even talking about having high-end PLD gear such as Ares's Cuirass, Aegis, Hauteclaire, etc. Any pea-brain with enough time on his hands can join a massive bot-a-thon linkshell to obtain the best equipment available for any job, that still doesn't mean he knows how to play the damn role.

Thankfully, due to the impressive customization options in FFXI's macro system, the thought-out usages of each piece of equipment can be utilized with ease. Personally, I think this is where a tank job truly shines. My PLD folder is the largest macro folder I have, and each macro is laid out down to an obsessive amount of detail. Wait commands in the tenths of a second are used in most my PLD macros, precisely timed to take advantage of all the different types of equipment a PLD can take benefit from.

Here is one example of my macros, this one for casting Cures as PLD/NIN. My PLD/NIN idles in [ear1] Loq. Earring all the time, but I added it in the second line of the macro to clarify the example. The 1.5s wait is actually within the window of the casting time of the Cure (wearing Loq. Earring and Homam Cosciales). After the 1.5s, right before the spell fires off, both earrings are beneficially swapped, as long as the addition of neck and back enmity pieces.

Explanation: this works greatly to my advantage and allows my PLD to perform efficient to my standards. The Fast Cast benefits of Loq. Earring take effect the moment I start casting a spell (the lowered recast after spell is done from Fast Cast is not a big deal). Therefore, before the spell is done, my Magnetic Earring serves more purpose than a (very) minimal shortened recast of the spell [sidenote: I never considered leveling PLD before just recently and was enjoying RDM very much, hench my choice in Apocalypse Nigh earring]. My idle PLD/NIN neck of Parade Gorget that is equipped normally is swapped to an Enmity+3 neck. My normal ear2 is Hades Earring+1, but in casting Cure I swap in Hospitaler Earring before it is done casting for a +5% Cure potency. Boxer's Mantle is my PLD/NIN choice of back, but in casting a spell the Enmity+2 in Resentment Cape takes precedence for a split second. This same method of macro mapping is the same in PLD job abilities as well, with gear swaps targetted toward Enmity+, so you get the idea. I just love it when I receive a /c from someone bashing me for not wearing any Enmity. It's already been tested that standing and being hit reduces your Enmity values, but +Enmity does not lessen the Enmity loss, so it is pointless to wear Enmity full time like so many PLDs do.

People think I joke when I say I spend hours at a time setting up macros (I caught this bug while I was leveling RDM a while back). In fact, in retrospect I could delve into an even more obsessive amount of equipment detail through macroing but I think I've already reached a good balance that isn't too much of a waste of time. Anyway, call me crazy, but I am a perfectionist when it comes to video-gaming, and this is just indication of what a nut I can be.

This is one of the jobs I have taken the most seriously out of my 5 lvl. 75 jobs. Because it's more than just dishing out the biggest numbers, or keeping my party Refreshed; it's keeping my party alive, allowing everyone else in the linkshell to serve their purpose and perform their job without worrying about failure. I can definitely say being PLD is the most exciting time in my FFXI experience.

Well, that's enough of my ranting. On to some recent accomplishments I've been meaning to get around to since before I left for vacation. In order of succession since I lvled PLD and after the last entry:

▪ Jailer of Love This was only a few weeks after attaining lvl 75. I forced my ass into the role of PLD instead of suicidal Kraken DRK I usually am for the UFO. I definitely can't say this was one of my favorite fights, but it was my first oppurtunity to tank as PLD/mage. Utilizing the MDB/Magic Damage Taken -% build I posted in my last entry, I was amazed I was taking up to 75% less damage then a well-equipped PLD (not well-equipped for the situation, unfortunately) who used no MDB/MDT-% gear. The average difference though was actually much less, but still very significant. 33% HP saved against JoL's spells compared to a tank with no MDB/MDT-% builds. Since then my build has improved, with the addition of Iron Ram Hose; too bad Bru jacked his Lamian Kaman+1 back while I was away on vacation.

The fight itself is very basic. As PLD/RDM my pattern of spell usage rotation is as follows: Blind, Bind, Blaze Spikes, Barstone, Sleep/Dispel; Flash and JA are thrown in when available. Because of JoL's constant Dispelga, possibly removing a couple of Ballads or Refresh, the higher cost Enmity generators, Sleep and Dispel, were thrown in only every other rotation (once hate is established well and Enmity cap is almost reached). It is also worth macroing from Iron Ram Lance back to Macuahuitl +1 and Koenig Shield if Shield Bash is up. It doesn't hurt to stun an -aga or tier4 spell. That about rounds up my thoughts on JoL, this one was generous with us granting full drops. Grats Kesh.

▪ Ouryu Because JoL can cast spells of every element, I saved myself the trouble and stuck with my MDB/MDT-% build. Wyrms, however, are a different story. Probably the easiest Elemental resistance build is Ouryu. Though I had to go through the trouble of going 1/5 on Maldust Ring from some ghost NM in Gusgen Mines and soloing Garuda again for a Wind Belt, it was well worth the effort after seeing the performance at Ouryu. Too bad I couldn't get a pair of Sand Gloves before the fight, but I did spend a day or two afterwards to obtain it, 1/6, stupid Nutsucker. The Earth resist build is quickly swapped out the moment Ouryu lands. The few seconds that go by while a BLM readies an ES+Sleep II could result in an unlucky streak of multiple crits from Ouryu. My PLD/WAR straight-tanking build comes into play as Ouryu is on the ground.

I opted for PLD/WHM for the fight. WHM offers Magic Defense Bonus II innate trait. Though some people swear by the Enmity generation from /RDM, /WHM is just as good, if not even more efficient. Having a quick Erase for this fight is also very beneficial for a tank (Ouryu uses Slowga). The spell usage rotation is as follows: Poisona [me], Paralyze, Paralyna [me], rinse and repeat. Flash and Erase are thrown in there as needed. This procedure glued Ouryu on me 80% of the time.

Okay, so that kind of damage is in the extreme low end. The average fire(rock breathe?)-ball damage is anywhere from 30-50, without Phalanx (2) or Stoneskin. The Earth resistance build I have totals 144. Another 100 Earth resistance (maybe more, unsure what Enhancing gear is available to WHM completely) can easily be attained from a WHM, and +50 from BRD, as well. A possible total of almost 300. Tally in the effects of a Bar-spell merited WHM or if the tank PT is lucky enough to have a COR, the Magic Defense Bonus elevates the defense from Earth resistance to great heights. In the future I will eat Steamed Catfish for this fight, instead of worrying about dying after flight-landing and eating Tavnazian Taco (BLMs should be compenent enough to Sleep on time).

▪ Wyrm KSNM99 More Wyrm-type action. This fight is always fun. PLD/NIN is definitely more suited toward this fight than a NIN/DRK, merely due to the defensive security measures athat a PLD can take if Terrorized. Not a lot to say about this simple battle. Regular MDB/MDT-% build was used during flight mode, which is normally not a long phase at all. Terror poses are done in Kiting gear, which is essentially my highest attainable Defense without usage of shield. (0/5 Martial Abjuration gear is sad :[ ) Most of the fight consists of Flash, Curing trigger-happy SAMs, self-Cure3s (HP-/HP+ allows for a 210 HP difference for a comfortable Cure3), and a teeny bit of Ninjutsu tossed in.

Aaaaaaaaaaand I think that about catches me up on the fun PLD activities I've been doing. Toss in a few tier1 Jailers and regular Limbus/ZNM/etc. events and that's pretty much the jist. I guess that wraps up my PLD coverage. I have taken quite the effort to play the job as well as I can, and optimizing it for every different situation even if I don't have the best end-game PLD gear yet. Time can only bring improvement and I'm looking forward to spending a lot of that time tweaking my tank style.

currently listening to: Wiz Khalifa - Say Yeah

Aww.. baby PLD's first steps!

2008-05-17T03:58:00.000-07:00

I'm so mad at myself... for not leveling a tank job sooner! This might just extend my FFXI life a whole lot more. I'm a n00bie PLD that didn't have to endure the hardships before it got super-buffed, but, boy, am I glad I took on the role after it got suped up, with uber updates to the job. What f u n!!! I've had my PLD 75 for not even a month yet, and I've already tanked quite a few fun and challenging HNMs and grown into the job so comfortably!
Long live CinnaPLD!!! xD

Which brings me to another point. How can PLDs die?? Haha... ok let's deflate my dome a little bit. I guess PLDs that just go thru the motions will be brought down with the quickness. But in all the events I've tanked so far within the first month I've even had PLD, I can count the number of times I've died on one hand. Well, pair this with the fact that Dawn's healers are on top of their games. But, really, the job is just so damn [Incredibly tough] that you'd have to really try, in order to die. Anyways, on to some fun this week.

Tanking Proto-Ultima... 2 updates ago, I wrote an entry about the -Magic DMG taken% and MDB gear I have set up for occasions such as tanking this Bio-Weapon. I was surprised at the results. Well, not really surprised, but I was actually able to reach the cap for the damage that Citadel Buster (countdown devestation move) does to my PLD. Below I have 3 different CB scenarios.

▪ The first of the Citadel Busters that I recorded, I have no additional Magic Defense buff (lol I thought Saline Coat was AoE):

▪ Second CB, I am able to receive Shining Ruby (Carby Bloodpact) for a 10% increase in Physical and Magic Defense:

▪ The last CB that I ate to the face, my Rampart does nothing to lessen the DMG I take:

Updated Magic DMG-% setup, newly acquired Askar Gambieras enables me
to reach DMG taken -% cap (w/ Shell5), so B.Q. Ring replaces 1 Coral ring

Unfortunately, after dying mid-fight due to Terrorize and a coupld of crits by Ultima, I came back without a Shell 5 buff, so the 1083 cap DMG I took from Citadel Buster was all under my measly lil' Shell 3. The results are still pretty satisfying for me. Only 1 death due to an unfortunate Terrorize round whereas my poor veteran PLD homie Trixter lost 7000 exp (ya I'm talking shit on you). Sorry mang, I told you I ain't just messing around here! This past week Proto-Ultima wasn't all the fun to be had, either! Buncha Limbus/Dynamis on PLD and some long-awaited, fun Sea and Sky adventures!

Aside from my first Jailer of Temperance tanking, I did a pretty good job versus Byakko, which finally put out and gave me a mouthload of Byakko's Haidate!! haha... took long enough. Now my WAR isn't unbearable to use anymore, and my SAM is pretty much complete! Dawn's unlucky Byakko streak ends, the cat gives up his panties 4/5 times. I only co-tanked with Trix for 4 pops, as our new resident NIN/DRK came up a lil' late and wanted to get into the action too. Of the 4 sessions, I died once because of some slow Aerial Armors. ( yea yea... I wanted to PLD/NIN too but Dawn is too old-skool to get with the times and it's just an unthinkable task to have 2 Bards in a tank PT with PLD/NIN or NIN/DRK tanks... -.- )

new LS NIN/DRK pwning washed-up PLD/WAR Trix lol

So, with a brank-spankin' new tiger pantsu under my belt, I took my WAR for a spin in some Nyzul Assault (only 1 drop this week, an Askar Gambieras that went to waste) and a meripo where I let a Japanese RDM72 and his RNG72 buddy leech for some 20k+/hr EXPz. 2 BRDs ftw. Was able to get 2 upgrades in Rampart recast. So far have Sentinel recast maxed, Guardian @2, Chivalry maxed, and still debating on more Guardian or a Fealty (probably Fealty..)

new WAR set-up with Haidate!

Cosmic Elucidation is the new Darkness!

currently listening to: Tiesto - Adagio for Strings
PLUR 4ever! Don't stop the rave

Outparsing Relics, one job at a time

2008-05-12T01:20:00.001-07:00

Back to the basics! This has been a great couple of weeks, and I'm very far behind on updates. Anyway, getting to the juice of this entry, I've finally gotten a chance to test my true DRKness against another top-tier DRK. Back to my straight up DD roots... Being the first NA Dark Knight to reach lv. 75 on Phoenix ages ago and still being revered as the OG DRK, I feel I do have a lot to live up to, especially since I took such a long hiatus where a lot has changed within the bulk of FFXI's lifetime that I've been absent from. I've also grown to love meriting and think it's a great outlet for one to test his overall potential and skills in an easilly controlled environment.

Finally, pitted up against an Apocalypse...
So, finally getting an oppurtunity to test my own DRK strengths against a fully-equipped, Ares' Cuirass-wearing, Apocalypse-wielding meripo machine, I am surprisingly pleased by my performance. I call this DRK a meripo machine because an Apoc DRK spamming Catastrophe under true meripo (March/Hastes) circumstances is technically unstoppable. This person also knows how to compete in a parse during merit parties, as he knows better than to ever be disengaged (although a lot of times, he'd move on the the next nearest Collibri well before the current one being fought is even close to dying-a tad annoying). Even though he makes use of his Catastrophe spam by keeping Hasso up for most of the duration of the party, the ability to drain through the relic's additional effect helps a lot in the non-MP-sponge factor.

Between the two of us, probably only about 5 Souleaters went off through both rounds of the entire party, so yeah, we were quite limited as to how far we could push damage. I really don't think winning a parse is about unleashing as much damage as humanly possible and being in critical-low HP the whole time. But with Apocalypse's Drain effect, he's able to get away with a lot. Although I wouldn't consider this an exact comparison benchmark between two different Dark Knight builds (the presence of only 1 BRD really detracts from the normally powerful 2xBRD or BRD+COR meripo experience where the DDs are able to go "all-out," pushing their limits), the results are still something I'm still very proud of.

First half:

Second half (after short break):

The other 2 DDs were a SAM/WAR and a below-average WAR/SAM, who was ironically the PT leader.

I was very surprised at these results, because for one, Eka -the Apoc DRK- really kept up with the meripo pace, never disengaging and always amongst the first to connect a swing on a pull. This is one of the key's to winning a parse in most circumstances, but I would consider myself a dedicated meriter also, and perform in the same fashion. So with parse results like this, you can see why I am a little befuddled. Though, in all honesty, during the majority of the first half, Eka was up by an average 1.5-2% on the parse, which I am assuming is when the PT members were at their peak performance. As time goes on, especially in a pick-up PT, certain mages like to slow down their Haste rotations, and lag on the song-singing, which is how I guess I caught up and even surpassed the Apoc DRK by a small fraction. Catastrophe-spamming really, really depends on maxing out on weapon delay and Hastes and Marches (in this case, only 1 March and 1 Minuet) are vital to pushing out maximum dmg.

Which brings me to another point-- had there been a second BRD and 2x Marches and 2x Minuets received, I'm sure I would be blown out of the water. But given that this was a pick-up PT with only 1 BRD, I'm glad I was able to hold my own. The second half also seemed a little less fast-paced as well, with the BRD having trouble keeping pulls ready and melees having to run and pick out our own targets.

Our equipment set-ups were pretty similar, except for the absence of Ares' Cuirass and Apocalypse on my part. I didn't check the Ares/Relic DRK, but I do remember a while ago in Whitegate, that person would always wear a Blitz Ring, which has me completely astounded at why a person with this type of gear would even consider this an option. Not surprisingly, just today I noticed that a notable DRG I've merited with recently is in the same LS that this DRK is in, and he sports a Blitz Ring as well. The DRG on the other hand only has an Askar Zucchetto on hand, so I don't understand why he doesn't opt for the Walahra Turban and just put on a Sniper's/+1/Toreador's. I could say the same for the DRK, but since there is an Ace's Helm in that build along with the Apoc, I guess I could see why the Blitz is there. /shrug~ Anyway, this is my normal TP and WS builds, not considering Lurker-type evasive mobs:

TP gain

WS build

unidentifiable gears: Abyssal Earring & Justice Torque

I've come a very long way on my road of Dark Knight, and as of now I feel I'm done (at least until the new Nyzul relics are released, then we'll see how ridiculous those upgrades will be). I remember being so amped about outparsing a friend's new Amanomurakumo last year, without even having my SAM SJ available yet! I don't remember if it was after the re-nerf of the outrageous 2-hand buff or before it (I think it was after the toned-down 2-handed weapons modifications), but it looked a lil' sumpin' like this:

top to bottom: DRK/NIN, SAM/WAR, RDM/WHM, COR/???, BRD/NIN, WAR/NIN

It was this PT, bout half a year ago, that I pulled off my highest Guillotine on a regular defense high-level mob (2800~ on G. Collibri, screenshots are gone because I accidently formatted over my external HD -.- ). Also was a nostalgic night, since Ivede made one of his rare come-back appearances. This guy was amongst the first DRK 75s as well, probably a couple months after me. Too bad he ditched his DRK roots for the over-hyped WAR/NIN Ridill/Joy set-ups. I think this old parse included his Ridill/Joy swapping to Maneater/Ridill half-way.

What's Kraken?
Anyway, in keeping with the DRK theme of this journal entry, today I had some fun at Dynamis Lord. Yes, another parse. For this DL, I kept my graphics minimal, effects unshown, AIM/MSN/BitLord/Winamp shut down, in order to keep an accurate parse of the 20-something melees beating the living day-lights out of this overgrown, sunburnt Galka. Another parse I was surprisingly overwhelmed with.

The three Kraken-DRK users are high-lighted within the red border. We received dual-Marches, Hastes, and I think Rogue Roll and some other useless Roll. Jayiiq (Dawn OG) and I ate Carbonara. After my Drain 2 I was sitting at around 2200 (forgot to record this -.- but have gone upwards 2300 @ DL with minimal Dark Magic/M.Accuracy gear that doesn't compromise max HP gear).

One factor that seems to have skewed the average hit dmg is I engaged and swung 3-4 times before activating Souleater/Bloodweapon, which the other 2 set off before drawing their weapons. I was DRK/DRG (lolDRG lv. 34), Jay--DRK/NIN, Vandyr/Therin--DRK/???. I am ecstatic at how well the Wyvern Earring performed, boosting my normal Kraken dmg vs. DL a great deal. Normally, I am only a few % ahead of Jay's DRK zerg, but this time, getting in an entire twenty more swings than the second highest-parsing Kraken-DRK is just too [Incredibly tough].

With Dark Seal and an Anrir Obi, Dynamis Lord seems so damn non-resistant to a Drain 2 by a well-equipped Dark Magic user, I'm pondering on whether I should relieve a little more of the Kraken-HP gears for some more Dark Magic skill+ gear. As it stands, the gear I macro in for a Kraken zerg only offers me substantial max HP along with only +20 Dark Magic skill in gear and +11 M. Accuracy, and whatever effect Full-weather Benefit is (Anrin Obi). This places me at only 307 total Dark Magic skill. In my regular full Dark Magic build, I sit at 322 skill, along with a +18 M. Accuracy. I guess I wouldn't be comprising too much HP by using Abyss Flanchard +1, since's it's only giving up 8 HP for another 7 Dark Magic skill.

Kraken zerg Drain 2 while maintaining max HP+

Maximum Dark Magic skill, Januwiyah +1 and Bomb Queen ring not shown

And this is the regular Kraken-DRK build I use, complete with the lolShield Torque. [I spent a day time-stamping for the Ajase Beads (+20 HP Necklace) NM, but to no avail. I'll probably head back there again after an update or if I'm overly busy and just want to AFK timestamp the ToD.] Look at that gimp SJ, and an lolSniper's in Ring1 slot. Really could use some Bloodsucker ToDs too! Anyway... Jean-Claude Van DAYUM this entry turned out to be fucking long. And here I was wanting to blog about my crazy PLD aventures these past couple of weeks. Guess I'll save that for another day. ~Peace in the Middle East~

currently listening to: K-Dee - Ain't Nothin' Poppin'

Wyrmal Inauguration!

2008-04-27T03:10:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we held a "winter formal" debutante celebration. The theme was "Paladin's First Dragon," and the setting was Uleguerand Range. In the harsh, frigid mountains surrounding the Dark Kindred realm of Xarcabard, lay the ancient dragon Jormungand. There, this overgrown, colassal lizard was awaiting a challenger to set foot in her domain to make a feast of; though little did she know, she would be in for the fight of her life.

I volunteered to organize this Saturday LS event (mainly 'coz I wanted some new PLD fun, but it turned out to be pretty fun setting up LS events..), and it was quite the successful Jormungand battle, which was already a departure from our normal Saturday sky/sea/KS/Ouryu etc. farming events. Actually, it was, personally, only my third Jormungand ever! Maybe it was just because I was in the front lines tanking, but it seemed to be a very quick fight compared to our last bouts against the mountain's ice-cold guardian. I remember around the time I quit playing, 3 ½ years ago, that was when CoP was fresh and these HNMs had just been introduced, and I never was able to participate in the first battles versus the grand Promathia dragons. Nevertheless, I've done my research and was confident that I had what it takes to get the job done! What better way to break in my brand-spankin'-new, baby PLD than to throw myself into a Wyrm's dinnerplate!

(Granted...), this is probably the easiest Wyrm in FFXI, but it is still a learning experience, nonetheless. And it was these kinda fights that I was really looking forward to as I lvl'ed my Paladin. Recycling the best DRK gear I had into premium PLD/NIN equipment was a major plus and gave me an edge in entering the world of Final Fantasy XI Paladin. I believe the fight lasted no more than 1 ½ hrs., which seemed pretty short compared to the past two encounters I've had this year vs. Jorm on my Samurai. We did have a couple more Summoners than the last Jormungand fights, which more than likely almost doubled our killing speed.

It was very encouraging to be able to tank the Wyrm for most of the duration of the battle; probably a good 70/30% split of enmity between Jay's PLD and me. I made an extra effort to glue the beast onto me, as MP was maintained well and I spammed my self-Cure, moreso than any enmity-generating tactics my co-tank could perform, along with the properly-timed spread-out JAs. Though in an easy fight such as Jormungand, this enmity-hogging doesn't pose a threat, I could see how not cooperating with your co-tank could lead to some serious problems in some of the more difficult fights. Hell, this is a already a given, from Subjob-Ninja 101... Anyway, the drops weren't so great. Just a few Molybdenum Ores (did we get a M. Pole???), but the fun times and new job experiences more than made up for our shitty Dawn-dorpz luck!

Walking away from my first LS event as PLD, I could say it was a pretty successful learning experience for me. Being my first front-line wyrm experience, I could really use some practice positioning these gigantic things when they get up in the air. The only thing I wasn't prepared for at the fight was the take-off period, in which wyrms will spam magical attacks at you while they are in-flight. To counter this damage, I just saved Rampart during the wyrm's flights as I really didn't need it as a last-resort hate tool during the fight at all. Even without specialized Magic Defense gear, I was still quite surprised at Rampart's effect versus the wyrm:

This week, however, I was able to work on my Magic Defense build a little bit more and made an equip-change macro for such occasions where I'd need it. Preparing for our next Proto-Ultima, I geared myself for maximum Magic Damage Reduction to counter her devastating Citadel Buster.

This set-up offers me exactly 25% Magic damage taken reduction, in addition to 6 raw Magic Defense Bonus and a total HP of 1564 (PLD/NIN).. With a once-merited, Shellrva V (unlocked only), I'm at the Magic damage taken -% cap already, so I could see some improvement in this set-up with more Magic Defense Bonus traits and/or more total HP.

Another fun incident during Jorm that I was pretty amped about was Shadow Mantle processing on an Utsusemi: Ichi cast! Yeah, my gimp ass doesn't have Boxer's Mantle yet for a Shield skill+ build, so I macro in Shadow Mantle during Ichi casts on PLD/NIN (full time this thing on PLD/WAR). Too bad I didn't SS it though! I used to think macro-ing in Loquacious Earring for Utsusemi on my melee jobs was a bit over the top, but now with PLD, I don't think it's too much at all. My specific Utsusmi: Ichi casting macro for PLD is looking like this:

Maybe if I were in a position with two Bards in a tank PT with dual Ballad and dual Marches running at once, I could opt for Gallant Leggings full-time for +10 Shield skill, instead of the Homam (most PLD probably substitute the Wal-Mart Turban for a high-enmity piece, such as Aegishjalmr or Bahamut's Mask, but since I have neither of these, a Shield+ piece in place wouldn't be out of the question). If only PLDs were able to have as much EQ-swapping freedom as normal DD's... but the consistent maintenance that a healer-role is responsible for wouldn't bide well with a constant blinking tank. As it stands, the only visible (blinking) EQ-swaps I have are for my Magic Defense set, which in most cases won't call for heals or status ailment spells much to begin with.

Guess that about does it for the recap of my first real HNM PLD experience... hopefully there will be plenty more to come!! I'll try not to neglect my other dedicated jobs as much either, but I'm just havin too much damn fun!

currently listening to: Chicane - Saltwater

Paladin... all about PALADIN!!

2008-04-25T02:07:00.001-07:00

Finally! Paladin lv. 75! Didn't take too long to grind and it was sure hella fun to do! And the fun's just starting. I am feeling really ambitious about my new job, and really can't wait to take on all the fun events with PLD. I should've lvled a tank job sooner! Even though I've always been meaning to. Having played many DD jobs already and Red Mage, I feel there's much experience I can bring to the round table of Paladin. Even my DD roots are apparent in my PLD:

Probably the highest Vorpal Blade I'll ever see. Outside of meripo instances I don't see how any of my sword weapon skills will ever reach that level again, and it's not like I'll be meriting on PLD any more. It was a lot of fun to push the PLD DD threshold during the final stretch of my stint to lv. 75. Parsing along the lines of an average-above average merit-style WAR/NIN using a job known for its weak damage output was pretty fun. With the grind out of the way, I can focus on becoming a real Paladin.

Unlike a DD job where you can take it out for a merit PT to test its potential and tweak the way you play the job, I'm stuck looking for things to tank. We have so many people with multiple versatile jobs in Dawn that I really hope my PLD will get his oppurtunity to shine. Shortly after attaining 75, craving some blood, I went out Campaigning in search for some action. Initially I went PLD/NIN because I'm pretty well geared for that set-up already, so am pretty favored toward it. I don't have much on the PLD/WAR side of things, aside from a Shadow Mantle and some hax Galka HP and VIT. Anyway, since it's a new day and age in tanking, we probably won't see much blood-tanking occur too much anymore; I figure it's best to start practicing the art of PLD/NIN!

So I fixed myself a self-Cure3 macro and went out hunting big game. Found some pretty exciting Campaign battles the first night on PLD. I soon realized regular mobs are a waste to try to shadow tank and bosses, as fun and entertaining as they may be to tank, really deplete your resources without real support. Some fights I was lucky to find competant mages to Haste me and help Cure me, but those types of players are really hard to come by in Campaign. I could rant on and on about Campaign, but I'll save that for another day. I found myself in a pretty crazy battle in Jugner (S) that night with one that seemed to last an eternity.

Since I was sitting on Credit Ops for a while already, I kept spamming the battle-related Campaign Ops for some big points. I had kept failing Aegis Scream III, an Op where you had to participate in 5 battles defending your nation's territories or a battle with at least 5 waves of enemy advancements, but eventually after one long fight I was able to complete it. Paladin is really an ideal job for Campaign, since all you are able to fulfill so much of the criteria for performing well by taking constant damage, dealing out a considerable amount, and Curing as much as you can.

Anyway, after some fun it was back to business again. Having gotten lv. 75 so fast my Shield skill was significantly low. It was only 209 by the time I finished leveling PLD. Being one of the most important aspects of PLD tanking, I determined it was best to cap this combat skill ASAP. Referring back to some threads on KI and BG about Parry skill-up, I took my Taru slave out to Boyahda for some massive skill-ups. In a very short amount of time (probably about three hours total within just two sessions), I was able to reach from 209 to about 262!! Wow I wish Parrying was this easy to skill. Trixter the dinosaur PLD gave me shit about it because he had to cap his during the old-fashioned pre-Shield buff days. Didn't help that he didn't have a secondary RDM account to keep him alive, either. :p There are so many possibilities when you have a dual-box RDM at your disposal!

My third Shield skill-up session took me into the dark depths of the Den of Rancor (actually the ideal camp is right there near the entrance). Another couple of hours here allowed me to cap my Shield at 276. The screenshot shows 274 only because I forgot to take one at 276. :( Progress was a little slower since I played it safe and only had 2 Pucks beating on me this time, whereas I was able to support myself with 3 in Boyahda Tree. I was also able to get 1-2 points of Parrying while at it as well. I'm only 3-4 points shy of capping Parry on PLD, but once I have some free time I'll take my Samurai out for real Parrying skill-up sessions.

Looking into some situational set-ups for my PLD, I found a nice little cape that not only isn't a bad substitute for Cerberus Mantle or Valor Cape, but has a great Magic damage taken -5% on it. I have a few ideas already on some magic resist gear, including the easily obtainable Iron Ram Lance that I have more than enough Allied Notes to spend on. I can't wait for the next Proto-Ultima to roll around to see how well I manage against Citadel Buster. Anyway, this cape drops from a 21 hour on-the-dot Tonberry NM. I had no idea what the ToD was so I just turned on Timestamp and sat my AFK ass in Yhoatar Jungle while I was out for the day. Incredibly, a few minutes after coming home the NM popped right in front of me. Going 1/1 on the drop and putting in minimal effort, I was pretty lucky. P.S. Koki did it.

Happy 420!

2008-04-20T13:38:00.000-07:00

Happy 420 friends! Blaze up!

One extremely long post

2008-04-01T16:32:00.000-07:00

This entry warps up the first month of blogging I did. I wanted to condense it into one post so I could use the earlier entries as web pages that I could link to within the blog and write about other stuff.

03 01 08
Dawn Comes Again...

I've always enjoyed reading about people's experiences in Final Fantasy XI and the kinds of fun that are had in this vast online world. I guess now with my FFXI career kickin' again on full steam, it'd be nice to keep an account of the experiences I've had and will look forward to in the world of Vana'diel and having fun with friends in my first and only end-game/social FFXI linkshell Dawn.

It's been a little over a year since I came back and I've already accomplished so many goals I didn't even think I should be setting for myself so soon! It was a lil ironic when I acquired this character that I'm currently in posssesion of. It was like I came back exactly where I had left off.

A good friend of mine and an old player by the name of Ominub had his Dark Knight equipped basically the same way I left mine at, three and a half years ago. The screen to the right was actually taken when I first came back and had Omi's name changed to my original nick. Only big difference was there wasn't a second lv.75 job (I had DRK and WAR both 75 before leaving) and his Galka model... is... just not attractive. That's what .DAT swaps are for though! My old avatar was the brown spikey hair look, but now I'm sportin' a much more sophisticated slick-back 'do.

I guess being amongst the first NA players to accomplish distinguished feats on Phoenix server (Nidhogg slaying, Kirin captivating, etc.) brought on a humdrum sense of the game that I wasn't prepared for. Sure, it was an exciting time and Dawn LS, one of the first organized end-game/HNM NA linkshells on Phoenix, was held in high esteem by the community, but having "conquered" these far-reaching goals so early brought a stale taste to my FFXI experience. Not long after Dawn's dominance in the end-game scene started to peak, I up and left the game, selling my character for an undisclosed sum of money. :( Everyone knows money can't buy happiness though! Few months after having come up on the cash and spending it all, I really regretted letting go of all the work I put in and missed the FFXI gameplay as well.

Being my first true MMO (Phantasy Star Online was just kinda like getting my feet wet.. [edit: Cyba says this is not an MMO, oh well]), I really didn't know what to expect and the continuous rewarding experience of gameplay was not something I was familiar with. This time around I've really been getting the most out of the FFXI experience (enjoying it while I still can!) and, not only having re-united with my old cronies, have developed tight bonds with awesome people I would otherwise never have the oppurtunity to meet! This time around I'll be hangin out in Vana'diel so long as there's fun to be had and friends to enjoy it with! o_o-b

watch out now... The OG Galka is Back Yall!

03 05 08
From a Reaper of Death spawns a Holy Knight of Guardian

This past year during my second stint with FFXI I can say I've accomplished quite a lot and am pretty happy with what the game has had to offer me thus far. I was able to catch my Warrior back up to 75 (my original character had achieved WAR75 shortly before I stoppped playing) and with both DRK and WAR under my belt again, I set out to fill up merits on WAR completely, mainly to have a strong job for optimal merit party setups.

I then turned my attention toward a goal I had last left off with three years ago: leveling a mage job! I had left my old character in the early lv.20's of Black Mage, but this time around I had my eye set on being an RDM. I wanted to experience a different aspect of gameplay and diving head-first into the world of RDM certainly broadened my view on the FFXI gameplay and made me appreciate it that much more. After achieving a strong RDM and honing on my always-developing skills on the job, I took a step back to my roots and took on another DD: Samurai.

SAM was always an appealing job to me, I had always loved filling the front-line, heavy-duty damage dealer role in whatever I play, and DRK and SAM are amongst the top tier of 'em. SAM was definitely the funnest I had in FFXI in a long while. And now, having taken my DRK, WAR, RDM, SAM to an incredible level of personal achievement, I move on to a new aspect of FFXI gameplay that recently has caught my attention: Paladin!

The vital role in end-game events of tanking and being a life-line in any given situation was what really attracted me to the job. Initially I had debated on whether I should become a Ninja or a Paladin, but having recently acquired some very useful tanking equipment that was also optimal DRK gear, I leaned toward PLD (I think obtaining a Shadow Mantle was what solidified my decision, thanks DB! Though I don't know how much usage this item will see in the new age of PLD/non-WAR tanking, it is still an invaluable asset to a tank's arsenal!)

The transition from a melee-class pure DD (DRK, WAR, SAM) to a tank was a lot of fun. As a heavilly-equipped DD, I often found myself on the receiving end of some nasty damage intake, and have found ways to mitigate this and keep myself alive. Being an RDM and accumalating enmity from foes through the form of healing and enfeebling has also taught me much about hate-management. Applying all this to the real-deal front-line tank job has proven to be a learning experience. I'm having a grip o'fun lvling PLD, even if it seems I am zipping through the grind. I only have some great friends to thank for this, as the set party that Trixter, Cybaster, Kanaye (West), and late-arrival Teorem, have established washes away all of the nasty n00b PT tastes of the level grind. We are reaching the final stretch and I can't wait to take my PLD out to the fields to sacrifice my own blood, sweat, and tears for the good of the linkshell!

Anyway, enough boring stuff! Onto some things I've been up to! Last week proved to be pretty productive for the linkshell. Though the week started off with a rare Dawn loss vs. Proto-Ultima, this did not slow down our progress at all. We paid a visit to the Garden of Ru'Hmet for some long-awaited sea-farming again. Even with a slow start (due to heavy occupying within the area), we ended the night with a couple of victories versus the DRG Ix'aern and the Jailer of Fortitude. No cape/torque drops though, this is Dawn after all (still in awe at 2 Justice Torques dropping in our last 2 JoJ's).

I was able to get a couple of First Lieutenant Assaults to cache some points in toward Salvage runs. These big reward Assaults help tremendously as it has proven difficult to keep up points for 3x Salvage permits while doing 4 Nyzul Isle Assault runs per week. My AP reserve will soon dry out and I will need to figure a better way to keep myself in the Salvage game while finishing up Nyzul Isle Assault farming.

Saturday was a very good day! After a couple of failed battles versus Long-Armed Chariot in the past few runs, we were able to tweek our kiting-from-room-to-room strategy and people have adapted well when LAC starts Brainjacking. I was ecstatic to receive the second piece of my Usukane Sune-Ate, making me 2/3 and getting the hardest components out of the way already! All that awaits is a simple run to the fourth floor Porrogo Madame within the Zhayolm Remnants to complete my first piece of Salvage armor! I'm pretty grateful to Dawn in helping me accomplish such tremendous goals in such a short period of time.

My first piece toward Usukane!

Later on this Saturday, our two Salvaging teams regrouped with the rest of Dawn at Rivern Site #B01, where the Wyrmking was scheduled to Descend. We came back with a vengeance after suffering some unnecessary bloodshed last month, and were rewarded appropriately enough with two Bahamut's Masks! Congrats bossman Jay and nublet Ice!

Dawn versus the Wyrmking at Dusk

The week was topped off with me winning a nice pair of Valor Gauntlets that went completely free lot in Dynamis - San d'Oria. These gloves offer a little HP and the same enmity as Homam Manopolas. The Askar Manopolas offer even more enmity, a whopping +4, but at the cost of HP. At any rate, I do hope our luck in Nyzul Isle Assault picks up... Our Sunday night Nyzul Assault group finished early because Dynamis was cleared pretty quick. A Cerberus, two Khimairas and a Hydra later, we end another week with zero boss drops from Nyzul Isle. West organized a U/O fight for Ayden and I tagged along before heading off to bed. This fight's always fun and it felt good getting revenge on that bitch Ultima after she screwed us over earlier in the week in Temenos.

03 06 08
ZOMG PLD UPDATES!

No, not job updates SE promised us last November that are supposed to be implemented around this time (I'm hearing March 11 for the long-awaited update), though not a glimmer of light has been shed on these job additions promises. This is just a quick update on my turbo-speed PLD grinding. Granted it isn't leveling as fast as my SAM did back in November, with a super-broken, buff-ass Soboro Sukehiro, a dual boxxed PL at my side and pet camps galore till 70 when I rode along a couple LS 23k/hr meripo's, but I'm happy with the rate we are going.

Got the last little bit to hit lv.67 on Monday and am pretty close to another ding. Started a lil late due to my evening classes on Monday, though Cybaster's all the way in Singapore now which doesn't always work out for all of us. Trix had already gone to bed as well and was grumpy having to wake back up at 3 AM, so we didn't grind as long as we normally have been since it was pretty late. Probably will be taking a lil break come this weekend too since some of the guys will be outta town.

you can see the 3 box'd characters PLing us for 13k exp/hr :D

A new week in Dawn events resumed Tuesday, just clearing 1 Temenos zone this Limbus day. Another successful Silver Sea Remnants run. Even though Hammerblow Majanun was greedy with the goods, Long-Armed Chariot yielded us two lv.35 Skadi Cuirie body pieces! The Zhayolm team didn't have as much luck farming Poroggos over there.

ze Long-Armed Chariot dorps!

Congratulations to Chrio and Trixter, who isn't very interested in completing Skadi Cuirie but there aren't many other people wanting it either so he now has a full 15/25/35 set for the body. Not sure when we'll see the finished product, but congrats anyhow! Maybe you should level THF for a lil incentive to wearing Skadi. Don't know if it's that hot a piece for his COR and BST.

I had to miss out on Wednesday's Dynamis - Beaucedine cuz of some homework/studying for tomorrow's exam which I had been putting off all week. I didn't even get anything done during the time Dynamis was goin on!! My procrastinating has gotten pretty worse lately. Well i underestimated the work needed to be done and got it outta the way pretty quick. I missed out on 3 potential pieces that dropped tonight; Dueslist's Tabard which is my main prerference lot, an Abyss Cuirass which I could have free-lotted along with a free-lot Saotome Domaruuuuu! The DRK relic was the only piece I need to store the set ;_; Even have a new Flanchard after upgrading Abyss Flanchard +1. What luck..

03 09 08
There Will be Blood!

Blood Weapon! HA! (Okay that was lame.) One of the last fully-buffed Rune Chopper zergs in history (just before the nerf)! I'll get to that later. Anyway, another entry, another blur of adventures dart by. Wrapped up the week foraging through the Silver Sea Remnants again. It's all I've seen beneath the Alzadaal Undersea Ruins for the past couple of weeks. Not as much success with Long-Armed Chariot these past couple of runs. Friday's expedition left us exhausting too much time clearing up to the Gyroscopic Gears, which not surprisingly doesn't drop Deimos's Cuisses. LAC remained intact with 30% HP left before we exited.

After another LAC disappointment today (this time due to bad kiting+unnecessary deaths), we made our way to Bahamut's lair in the sky for the second week in a row. More incredible luck for us as we score two more Bahamut's Mask (congratulations Trix and Garaku!), and a pair of his Hose. Too bad those pants couldn't be a Zaghnal instead. Rune Chopper DRK zerg really shines in this fight, seeing as how the duration of the battle is less than 30 seconds. Desperate Blows is godly! Needless to say, the king of dragons fell within 25 seconds of facing Dawn!

i normally filter missed hits by party and alliance, though my own accuracy is always left unfiltered

Made a triumphant return to the Campaign battlegrounds. With my Holyknight Emblem dwindling down to the end of the 30-day period, I figured I should put in some over-due work to get up to date for the next ranks that should be implemented Monday.

I had forgotten how fun these battles could get. The new Campaign tweaks sound pretty interesting, and hopefully will provide for more of a challenge for the campaigning nations to hold control over territories. Can't wait for that! Should add a little more depth to Campaign, which I've grown a little bored of after campaigning a whole month straight.

The night started off as I ventured out seeking 1500 xp I lost (I forget doing what) on DRK. After a couple of battles and capping DRK, I took out my SAM/NIN for some much needed xp after my parrying skill-up escapades left me in an xp drought. Deswolf found me fending off the hordes of Beastmen by my lonesome, and decided to join me for a little NIN/DNC fun. Turned out to be an awesome night, him and I going gung ho every battle versus the commanding Beastmen NMs alone! We were able to make for some truly epic fights against these fierce fighters. Normally I would stick to pulling mobs off to the side to solo for some easy xp, but with Deswolf tanking most of the time and his fancy healing, duoing the NMs made for a much funner time in Campaign. After a few battles our objective shifted from xp to finding and destroying the NM commanders of each advancing wave, while other cowardly adventurers were occupied with the footsoldiers.

Boss Fight!

De'Vyu Headhunter

Bo'Dho Hundredfist

Muu Buxu the Elusive

Kazan the Peerless

The long night of fighting was finally over. The warriors defending the lands against the hordes of invading beastmen have emerged victorious! After being 12,000 xp away from cap on SAM I went home with my full 44,999 xp buffer again. After a few weeks away from Campaign, jumping right back into the action was a blast. When I have places to allocate my merits again once my PLD is 75, I'll be spending a lot more time on the battle fields again.

03 15 08
The Long-awaited...

Brawl!!! Since Super Smash Bros. Brawl came out, haven't found time to update this week. Well, lotta my FFXI time has been impaired too. Usually am quick to make most of big updates, but now I'm finding myself back-logged with quests!! Hehe,.. though this is good as it'll keep the update stretching out for me a bit more. Everyone's been waiting for this update so let's hope it's worth something. My PLD grinding has also come to a sudden halt, though tonight we vowed to xp Friday night and Cybaster will not drag me on to Brawl with him.

So I've gotten a lil better at Brawl too (add me and leave a comment with your FC! ~mine is 3308 4239 7806), even though I've only done the first hour of Subspace (the campaign mode of Brawl) and only gotten to Ness' playground level, I'm spending a lot of time kicking Cyb's ass with Ike online. Tonight's marathon mostly consisted of this:

Excuses detected Martin, I owned your ass with Ike tonight! ...Teo's next!

Anyway, my adventures in Vana'diel have recently found me on the almighty threshhold of Samurai perfection!!!(!!!~Sorry I dun wanna come off as arrogant, I'm just so damn amped bout this!); this week we've finally arranged a Zhayolm Remnants run and I was able to nab the lv.15 Salvage piece "Hoshikazu Kyahan!" Yes, being a n00bie to Salvage with only about 3-4 months under my belt, I lucked out majorly and scored a Hikazu Sune-Ate and shortly thereafter a Tsukikazu Sune-Ate from Long-Armched Chariot, within a few weeks of each other. But with Konigwolf's leadership in Salvage I knew as an LS we'd be successful in a short time. With a completed Usukane Sune-Ate, my SAM's 6-hit / haste build is almost complete!

The only thing that eludes me at the moment is a stinkin' Byakko's Haidate from that cheap ass stingy tiger! The last couple Byakko's have been very stingy with the pantsu drops and before that, the sky run prior, I had come up empty in some strange twist as well. Anyway, this piece isn't that far away; at any rate hopefully I can net me a Barbarossa's Zerehs while we are desperately trying to attain more Gem of the Wests! Today's foray back into sky granted us a just a Gem of the East. Took a while for Steam Cleaner to pop too, which is why I guess people were tired after a failed Despot camp after SC (wish they'd just make Despot a pop-NM as well..) to keep farming in sky. Seems a lot of LS members are wanting new sky gear for new jobs,etc. but only a fraction are willing to dedicate some bonus farming time outside of our normally scheduled sky farming times (which is like once a month). Hopefully Phoenixblade and I can get the ball rolling on this effort starting Saturday morning, though I doubt we'll be able to avoid the sky-farming rush-hour even at this time.

Bohgo also finally purchased and registered his WotG expansion today. Finally, I'll have a way to re-buffer his BRD/WHM/etc. xp after getting him killed on my dual-boxxing adventures!! Took him through the San d'Oria (S) path (coz, you know.. all the cool people are in Sandy (S)!), he seems to dislike the whole campaign thing a lot. :p He'll get around to enjoying it eventually, like most of the other expansion newbies. We spent a good 1.5-2 hours getting from his initial Sauromugue Champaign (S) drop-off, to the Rolanberry Fields maw, then back to Garlaige (S), where we picked him up a Red Letter and a Vunkerl map, all the way to South San d'Oria (S) where he got his first taste of Campaign Battle! Took a lil detour to turn in a Gnole Claw for "Better Part of Valor" Bastok (S) quest and also started Recall-Pash quest in Garlaige (S) as well.

So I mentioned earlier I'm trying to find some Barbarossa's Zerehs. Since a good buddy of mine Andhalas has an Ashu Talif static who spam all 3 fights in the quest-line twice(!) a week, I got myself in since all 6 members have these pants already. Even if my long-awaited Byakko's Haidate is just around the corner for me, these Zerehs will be a nice addition to my arsenel, especially once I have DRG at 75 (which I'm planning to do some time this year)~ at least for a WS piece. I had to go through the second Ashu Talif fight before I could get into the third one, which drops the leggings. "Royal Painter Escort" was such a pushover, as three of us SAMs barged in to find the boss and zerged it within less than a minute (where has all the strategizing gone in this game Q_Q). Not sure exactly what it was but the seemingly simple "Targeting the Captain " tier3 Ashu Talif fight ended with Kiljaeden and me kissing the wooden deck. Nevertheless the final fight in the quest-line was won, unfortunately no Zerehs were to be found. Maybe next week!! Was fun and satisfying to finish this quest-line anyway! Thanks Kent, Kil, Seal, Elva, Kall and Ice!

03 09 08
The fun don't stop!

Finally getting around to enjoying some of the new content now that I've got the initial Brawl onslaught out of the way. Seems everyone's goin ape-shit over SCH after the update, which is nice. The job sounds like it has a lotta potential, and heck it even sounds good to me. Though I probably would just level it to see my Galka looking highly-edumacated. Really like the AF introduced in this update. Each new job's AF really captures the sense of the expansion it portrays, I only wish there were one or two new jobs added with WotG. The cutscenes in the quests are pretty spectacular too, but now we're left high and dry with the story line cutting short abpruptly as we wait for yet another update. If only SE released WotG with at least a little more significant amount of content in terms of storyline and quests/missions..

This weekend the LS got around to doing some more Ouryu runs, with two outside-LS Monarch Orb purchases and Andhalas's orb. We're improving a bit every time we go in versus the dirty brown dragon. The last run of the night with only 15 members we got a 27 minute clear, which isn't too bad considering our low fire-power.

<~ I absolutely love fighting CoP Wyrms. These grand beasts really bring about a sense of magesty when these marvelous dragons soar in the air like that. I can't wait until my PLD is good enough to pitch against these monsters!

Before Ouryus we had a run-in with Battleclad Chariot in Zhayolm Remnants... and DORPZ!! Congrats to Valintin for finishing his Usukane Somen! And Konig's new Tsukikazu Jinpachi (lv.25 Usukane body)! Now if only we could pull Citadel Chelonian..

Galka in yo face!!

And yay for finally xping again! First time camping in Mamook versus spiders and it didn't start off too hot. Link on top of link didn't work out too well. Also, overcamping (or is it under?) these hard-hitting spiders meant ugly Sickle Slashes. Poor Teo can attest to that, I think he died three times before switching to THF sub for his MNK. This worked out quite well especially with the brilliant RNG that loves to open fights with Sidewinders. Used an Empress Band before starting and picked up an Emperor Band, in hopes of catching up to West but with him dying a couple times himself during the party I guess that makes me the highest in our static now. This camp was pretty fun once we found the right spot to stay at and exp was starting to roll in; just a lil over 10k till some Joy-toy goodness now!

Ended Monday night with some stress-relieving exercises for Teo after his unfortunate mishaps being on the receiving end of some fatal Sickle Slashes. Didn't keep score but I think I had the upper hand for the most part with Ike vs. his Samus, though I guess it's when he switched to Ness and I was feeling sleepy that I started to slip and lose more.

03 27 08
Goodbye Opera... Hello Blogger!

My short-lived blog on my.opera.com now finds new life on Blogspot, which I find a lot more attractive and easier to use. Dunno why I didn't just start it here to begin with. Recap since last post:

Story...

Getting around to doing more of the quests to see the story unfold in Wings of the Goddess. So far the cutscenes from the Windurst quest line have been my favorite. Surprisingly, the Windurst sequences have provided the most action of the three quest lines. I guess this is apparant in the war-torn environment in and around Windurst Waters (S). Also, having young Romaa Mihgo prancing around in her prime still doesn't hurt either <3

Windurst under siege!

We are also finally introduced to a Manthra! I thought it was just another Mithra upon first inspection, but he is referred to as just that: "he." I guess it's just the cliche Square feminine-male hero character (though I'm not sure he's such a hero, kinda has some villanous undertones). Seems Windurst is in desperate need of some assistance during these times and (as in the screenshot in my last journal entry depicts) summons the Elvaan nation of San d'Oria to back them up.

Windurst isn't the only nation seeing a dark age fall upon it either. Trouble's-a-brewin over in Bastok as political assassinations are taking place. The Bastokan story-line has less of a militaristic battlefield vibe goin on and more of a mystery-driven story. Struggle for political power in the nation,back-stabbing, secrets, deception: it's all present in this well-written story. It's quite the tale of mystery and intrigue.

Probably the least enjoyable quest line so far is the San d'Orian one. It's more of a light-hearted story-telling mode, I guess due to the Young Griffons involvement in its story so far. Windurst and Bastok have us exploring unknown territories, exploring the abyss even. Each story line ends with an NM fight, Windurst and Bastok's fights take place in a new instanced BC-style zone, versus numerous Quadavs and Yagudos, whereas Sandy's NM is just a simple 1-NM pop from a ??? in Jugner (S), that's pretty much a pushover (only trouble I encountered was the Gnole that aggro'd, in which it was easy to keep slept anyway). Come on San d'Oria! Step it up! Anyway all the stories so far are pretty interesting, let's just hope we don't have to wait another half-a-year for the next WotG update. And let's see some real content added that we can have fun with. PLEASE.

Other activity...

My first wedding! I attended Chrio and Reigami's wedding on Friday. Congratulations to them! Had fun helping to direct our guests and had some laughs when we had an anonymous Galka wedding crasher run rampant down the aisle before he realized it was a wedding taking place. Afterwards he politely sat in the corner and behaved, observing the event. Garaku invited him for some group pictures but it seemed he couldn't stay still enough for that and ran around some more.

The "Good Luck Galka" strikes again! Just a week after we obtain the lv. 25 Usukane body piece, we have our first successful Citadel Chelonian attempt with an amazing lv. 35 drop and Konig's Usukane Haramaki is now complete! Though it'll still be a few weeks before we'll see the finished product, due to the Missnasty's Morrigan's Robe's materials that still needs to be completed and Khroma Ores at sky-high prices.

The day after that, I had my first attempt at targetting for Dynamis. I'm glad it was at Dynamis - Beaucedine because city zones prove to be very laggy on my PC. My main goal for Dynamis - Beaucedine was accomplished finally, Duelist's Tabard get! Although I kinda really wanted DRK relic body to drop so I could free up 4 storage spaces more... I still haven't worked the tabard into my RDM macros yet and really can't think of any better application for it since I already have Goliard. Maybe to cast Stoneskin faster? I need to think of situations where it'd be more useful then having Goliard Saio on, since my equipment is geared heavilly toward Conserve MP and the Haste+4% is almost on par with the Fast Cast enhance on relic.

parading around in my new pimp attire

The week ended nicely as we finally see another Askar drop on 60th floor Nyzul. Only one pair of gloves left and we can move down to legs, then maybe I can finally replace ugly AF+1 legs for SAM TPing!

Spunkymage also came for the second week to nab some free Goliard Cuffs that would be lost anyway, since all of us primary players, and the dual-boxxed whores, and their mothers and mannequins have em already. Luckily and not surprisingly, the Morrigan's -1 aka Goliard Cuffs did drop.

Congrats to Spunky, and to me! Teo kindly passed the Askar Manopolas to me probably knowing I am still Homam-less in the hands region. Speaking of Homam...

Tuesday's Proto-Omega run yielded amazing results as well, with another pair of Homam Cosciales dropping (twice already this year, the first in which I was rewarded with!--this has probably been our rarest drop all of last year!). Passed on the body piece because in all seriousness I will probably get no use out of that at all, aside from the rare ultra-evasive mob that needs to be Kraken-zerged, in which case Feint and multiple BRD songs will probably be available. As for my future plans to lvl DRG, well that's far off and I'm pretty sure we'll have enough Homam bodies floatin around by then.

PLD is lv.72 now and now we're going the leech-merit route. With BRD and COR already at hand, we can net 20k/hour PTs easily and only Teo and I will take turns leeching our lowbie jobs to 75. With some help from willing LS merit-goers we'll be 75 in no time.

04 01 08
Stronghold raids and UFO abductions!

Last week was pretty fun. Along with finally getting around to using one of the JoL pop sets we've been sitting on for the last few months, the LS gathered in full force to invade Castle Oztroja (S). It was a wild idea to see what we could uncover at the top. Incredibly enough, there was nothing up there! I did manage to snag some Gnat Pellets and will probably attempt the Bloodlapper fight some time soon, though those Vicious Mufflers seem pretty useless for my DRK, unless SE gives us something to benefit with from MAB, other than tier 2 black magic. Even though we got nothing out of it, fighting our way up the fortress through endless amounts of Yagudos was a lot of fun. If only SE would introduce new raiding instances in this manner. Sure we have Dynamis, but we've been doing that in the same old darkened setting versus the same old monsters for the past five years!

Salvage this week saw the completion of Jayiiq's Morrigan's Pigaches and Spunkymage now has both lv .25 and 35 pieces for his Cuffs. We only got around to doing one Jailer of Love pop, unfortunately, Absolute Virtue didn't come out for us to play around with. I was hoping I'd get to go to JoL as SAM to test out my potential in that fight, but for some reason we did not want to use any melee aside from a BLU to set up skillchains and a sacrificial Kraken DRK. :p So instead I came RDM, which wasn't too boring since I was constantly RDMing for our 2 NIN Phuabo-holding party, instead of being a Refresh whore for the BLM PT or something. I was quite surprised that the two summoned Phuabos never built up any resistance to my enfeebling over the course of the entire JoL fight.

So PLD leveling is up to full speed again, and our "merit" PT leech plan is working out pretty efficiently. I think I came in starting at lv. 72 earlier in the week. Got two night's of xping in and got lv. 74. Now I should be seeing 75 in no time, if we continue the 20K+/hr PTs and are lucky in finding good camps. We were pretty lucky Saturday night as I was scouting camps and happened to stumble upon a party that was leaving, after asking how much longer they were going to use the camp.

Switching PLD to full DD mode was a lot of fun. I just felt like i was one of those gimp, pick-up WARs out there. I was performing a lot better than I was really expecting I could. I guess I could attribute that to the BRD and COR at hand, but I'll just say my PLD/NIN is good like that ;) I was holding my own and fell short of Teo's MNK by only a small percentage, though this was before the night he unlocked his Destroyers.

Also got around to doing some more Royale Ramble KS30 runs at Balgas Dias. Teo, in need of his Destroyers to start with, and Cyb wanting a nice shiny Coffinmaker for his aspiring COR, and I decided to invest some of our seals in tryign to attain some new gear. I've been wanting this polearm since I saw a WAR wreak havoc with it in a merit party. I can only imagine how stronger it could perform in the hands of a Samurai. This was a relatively easy fight that I've done before and was confident in the strategy so I dual-box'd Numiumi RDM/NIN to tank one of the Cardians in the fight while the rest of us took care of the other two mobs. Luckilly, Ayden logged on as we were about to finish our round of orbs (surprisingly, all the desired weapons dropped consecutively after 3 orbs, leaving us an extra one because I had acquired one on Numiumi for safe measures). We were pretty lucky to see another pair of Destroyers drop for Ayden, and after finally using up a total of five orbs I am also the new owner of a shiny pair of unlocked Destroyers as well. A few Orichalcum Ingots and miscellaneous stuff to sell that ain't too shabby either.

Even more shinies! Ended the week with a fruitless Dynamis - Tavnazia run (except for another Hydra Beret drop for DB) and no luck in Nyzul Isle Assault, and attempted to dig up some Zerehs in The Ashu Talif. No new haste pants for me, but I got a nice consolation prize nevertheless. I guess the Assault group had some extra ??? boxes from a built up number of "Targeting the Captain" fights they wanted to unload and I snagged a free pair of these gloves, which will probably be nice once I have my SAM/RNG up and ready. That wraps it up for this segment of my boring journal. Let's hope for more excitement this week!

2008-03-31T21:16:00.001-07:00

2008-03-20T13:59:00.001-07:00

2008-03-20T13:34:00.000-07:00

2008-03-20T04:33:00.000-07:00

2008-03-20T04:13:00.001-07:00

2008-03-20T03:37:00.000-07:00

Recollection

2008-03-20T02:59:00.000-07:00

I set foot into Final Fantasy XI on October 28, 2003--the NA launch date for the PC version. It was a nonchalant venture into MMORPG, something that I didn't think would still grasp ahold of me more than five years after first playing. What a trip...

The Twinkling Treant event was so much fun..

Every adventurer has his humble beginnings. Just like my other games, I chose the most barbaric race and enlisted in the most primitive and brute of classes: Warrior. By the end of my first week of playing, I was amongst the first batch of my NA players to make it past the intimidating boundaries that surrounded our starting nations. It was an awesome feeling as I took in the grandeur of Jeuno when I initially stepped inside its walls. Stumbling upon a haven of EXP areas beneath the city was another memorable moment. I relentlessly grinded up to my level 20's the first night I came across Qufim, and held off sleep until the early hours of the morning.

Day and night became a blur

It didn't take too long to surpass most of my peers in levels and become known amongst the community of players on Phoenix server. Sleepless nights and simple Japanese phrases were what pushed me through the initial grind. As obnoxious as it may seem on my part, I could not have achieved the completion of my first set of Artifact armor without the aid of random Japanese strangers whom I sent tells to in romanji phrases asking for help. The kindness and selflessness of those Japanese strangers that were willing to help really stood out to me, which is why I guess I hold an affinity toward the Japanese that play FFXI. This was before the majority of the NA player base was even past Genkai 1 level 50 cap, so the Japanese were all I could really turn to. It would probably be nigh impossible to pull this off nowadays though.

The OG Dark Knights of Phoenix... Galkas!

I quickly found myself amongst a great group of players dedicated to making the best out of their playtime in FFXI. Together we formed the first NA "HNM" linkshell on our server.

A couple of other NA groups quickly followed suit, but in the first year, Dawn dominated the scene alongside the most powerful, already well-established Japanese shells present at the time.

It was a great feeling to be amongst the "elite" select few, and this really kept us pushing for bigger and better things. We quickly found ourselves in the top position of players who sought high-end equipment and items and nothing really stood in our way. It only took a relatively short amount of time; Dawn members learned to work together and rely on one another during the most intense battles. As a team, we could accomplish anything and everything. Our goals and aspirations were quickly being realized, but all this didn't come without a price.

I became the first member of Dawn, and the first NA player on Phoenix, to receive a coveted Adaman Hauberk!

I still remember my jaw dropping after seeing this beauty on a high level Japanese player when I was a wee-lil' lowbie adventurer. It never realistically came across my mind as to owning one for myself, but it was fun to fantasize about it and have something to try and reach for.

Once the day came when I sported my own Adaman Hauberk, I was ecstatic and in a state of shock. I even went so far as to plow through to LV75 Warrior soon after that so that I could have another job to use it on, aside from Dark Knight. In such an early point in the game's lifetime, I had already reached my "Holy Grail," so to speak. It was extremely satisfying to be able to reach these goals early on, but eventually it became the downfall of me.

As we began to progress through the end-game aspect of FFXI, my drive and motivation of playing began to dissolve. I guess at this point, after being able to accomplish so much in so short of a time frame, I had become jaded. Maybe it was the fact that I felt I "completed" my Final Fantasy XI experience. At this point of the game,I don't think there were Relics yet. There was pretty much Ridill, and Adaman Hauberk. It's a good thing I didn't win a lot on a Ridill, or else that would've gone to waste as well. Or maybe it was the strenuous everyday obligations of an HNM LS that was beginning to bog me down. Whatever it was, it didn't take long to take its toll on me. Not three months after my momentous occasion of crowning our first Adaman Hauberk, I sold my character on an impulse without any prior indication to my fellow LS mates.

Same ol' thing everyday..

Fast forward three and a half years later, after multiple attemps at restarting the game which ended at a pathetic LV7 at best, I was fortunate enough to get ahold of one of my peers who leveled the same job I did when we first started playing. I was surprised he had achieved much of what I had before I took off. His decision to retire was my oppurtunity to get back into the game with one of the two LV75s I had before, an identical set of eqiupment and of course a further mission progression than what I had available at the time I had sold my character. It was like starting up again from exactly where I had left off.

After taking over the account and changing the name back to my own, I took on a new humble perspective during my gameplay. I reunited with my first and only end-game LS, Dawn. Seeing lots of players, both Japanese and NA, with newer, rarer gear, and exploring the vast amount of content which was completely fresh to me, I set my sights high. And with SE actually giving the player base what they want with heftier updates again and again, my motivation and drive to keep playing this great game was rekindled and I felt like I did the day I first stepped foot in Jeuno. And so began the second ongoing part of my journey through FFXI.