Back Again, Again

Once again I took a hiatus from FFXI that was forced upon me, this time by the credit card Gods. They had the card listed to expire one month after it actually did expire. After some fist-shaking at the bank, everything is sorted out now. Fortunately I didn't have to do that new security feature that was introduced in late July.

I don't really know what's going on in-game now. It looks like some long-time friends have left (perhaps indefinatly) for various reasons. I'll still be around to help the Blue members with whatever they need doing, but I can't help feeling that this time is the swan-song for FFXI. For me, I'll be heading to FFXIV when it arrives (on the server where the majority of my Blue-buddies are hanging out.)

This leads me to constantly question any long-term goal I set for myself in FFXI; the reason being I simply won't be around long enough to finish it. That being said, it's important to set goals for when you log in or else you stare at the moogle at the mog house for a rediculous amount of time. So here are my current ones:

My Neglected Chocobo

The forced break was right in the middle of raising my second-generation chocobo. She now hates my guts... but a least she has first-class discernment! The other stats are lacking though. I'll use this chocobo for the Hot and Cold game while preparing to raise a new one. Hopefully I'll be able to go online for the duration of raising the next one. First-class discernment is nice but I'll like it to move at a decent speed as well.

Bug Cages

Val was awesome enough to save some event items for me to make the summerfest cages. Now I just have to gather the rest of the materials to make it. Dogwood seems to be the big barrier here: prices have recently skyrocketed (hmm, I wonder why?) I might go logging for the dogwood, but I'll need a level 30ish or above woodworker the turn the logs into lumber. I'll also need to skill up my own woodworking from 10 to 15 as the synth for the cages has a level 15 woodworking rating. I suppose I could try it at level 10 but losing the bug items would be disasterous.

I have other stuff but I gotta go. I'll post soon, I promise.

My Endgame - Campaign

In the months I've been gone the members of Blue seem to have gotten into a pretty set pattern of what they're doing on any given day in FFXI. I've been able to weasel my way into Salvage and ZNMs on Sundays but I'm still left struggling on figuring out what to do during the rest of the week. I've spent some time trying to figure out what my "endgame" will be. I considered leveling a craft like goldsmithing and fishing. However, fishing has been boooooring in the few times I've tried it. Goldsmithing? I feel a distinct lack of motivation to level a craft with FFXIV looming on the horizon.

So I've dabbled in Campaign. I gotta say, I really enjoy it.

Not so much the "means to an end" aspect where people just milk the system for exp, but the overall war picture; trying to weaken enemy bases, fighting for control of the Bastok areas, etc.

I've decided to do whatever I can to make as many of those region dots blue as possible. I just recently read up on how to recruit "freelance" mercenaries to your city. After that I looked around town and was sad to see that NONE of them were in Bastok. I'll be going out of my way to try to recruit these guys. Unfortunately, I'm only one Taru. Most Bastokans only seem to care about how much exp they can get from Campaign.

I also want to complete all the Campaign Ops at least once. Some of them I'll have to ask for help to do (like Pit Spider). I dunno how many Blue members are allied to Bastok in the past... hopefully at least 2 more?

With the impending arrival of the "Union" system I also hope to max out my Campaign rank before the new content hits.

So that's where you'll see me when nothing else is going on. During the course of it I'll slowly max out my WHM merits too!

I'm Returned-ed!

I'm back! After many months of trying to figure out what's wrong with my PC I came up with nothing, so I picked up the xbox360 version of the game. Thankfully the Blue linkshell welcomed me with open arms.

On my first initial night back we did some Moblin Maze Mongers. Yevna scored a nice sword out of the deal. Personally it was a good chance to remember how to play WHM again. The new job abilites and spells really change the job; I have to learn it all over again. A basic thing I forgot was how to rest MP though. Whoops.

I had fun doing MMM. I'll try to convince peoples to do MMM more often because I enjoy the randomness of it. I got a "Fleetfoot" rune which I want to use to totally overwhelm us in a future run.

Tonight is Salvage. I'm going to try to weasel my way back into it. Although the Salvage gear is not the end-all be-all for WHM I quite enjoy the uniqueness of the event itself.

It's good to be back!

Flawless Assaults, Flawed Moblin Maze Mongers

Mondays and Wednesdays assaults went pretty much perfectly this week. Despite having no real tank for Nyzul Isle we went 3/3 with three Nyzul armor drops! Guest stars Gaffy and Shinku were certainly rewarded for their volunteering - Gaffy got both Askar body and Askar legs for his troubles. I'm sure many people would kill for such a good looting of Nyzul that Gaffy got. Shinku also got the Denali footwear. He wasn't singing the item's praises on chat but I'm sure he's glad to have those boots.

Wednesdays assaults also went just as well, with another 3/3 week. Everyone in the group now has all the assualts complete up to First Lieutenant. We'll be taking a bit of a break from Wednesday assaults for a while in preparation to tackle the dread First Lieutenant boss fights. I hope to join some random assaults in the meantime in order to keep my assault points total up so I can afford Salvage.

Moblin Maze Mongers apparently works now. I can't wait to try it out once I get some free time... Thursday to Sunday for me is most peoples' Monday to Friday in terms of work time.

I was pumped for my first Limbus yesterday, but like everything else in life I waited till the last minute to log in and the update download made me late for the event. Instead of begging for people to wait I decided to try Moblin Maze Mongers instead.

But wait... it was broken at the time. Disgusted with myself, I did lots of Campaign to relieve my frustration. I got a Copper Emblem of service out of it though. I've been slacking in Campaign and am far from the highest Campaign rank but I have lots of time to catch up. I'm sure that whatever the Wings of the Goddess "end game" content ends up being will require at least the highest rank medal. I'm also thinking that you'll need to complete all the available campaign ops at least once, so I want to get started on that. Currently I need to collect 4 roast mushrooms for an op. Funny stuff. It's an excuse to buy a stack though, hehe.

Nyumomo Doll Blues, Lancaster Highs

Another version update has arrived and with it, the excitement of new quests and missions. I always like to do these right away because you can't "look it up" yet and you get to keep that thrill of discovery (which is what adventuring is all about). Unfortunately I've hit a brick wall in the form of having to get an Ex doll to drop from only 2 mob types in the game. Of course, by the time I got to Batillia Downs the mobs in question (which previous were probably virtually never fought) were being camped all to hell. My FFXI playtime in the forseeable future will involve wondering around Batillia Downs hoping for a rare drop. /sigh

On a brighter note, Blue's salvage efforts have resulted in Lancaster scoring some Marduk pants. Similar to Val's boots, the Marduk Shalwar is the undisputed best pants on the game for Bard. It makes me really happy to see Blue members get things like this; more happy then they probably know. I can't wait to see what this non-descript linkshell is able to accomplish in the future...

Perhaps more than any of us thought possible.

Moon Charioteer and Runic Key

So far it's been a great week in FFXI for me. This past Sunday we finally completed a Salvage area by defeating the Long-Armed Chariot. It was a long and grueling battle that had some iffy moments. The repeated Brainjacks serve to make the fight even longer than it needs to be. I died toward the end by casting Curaga II in a situation where hate was bouncing all over the place. I certainly deserved to die there and everyone else agreed by not saying anything.

Blue got the title of Moon Charioteer and Valenia somehow managed to get all three pieces of that MNK/NIN/PUP whatever footwear. After looking it up, this seems to be the best footwear in the game for MNK. Grats Val, you deserve it for putting all this stuff together.

I'm also so proud of the LS in general for completing one of the toughest events in FFXI. I'm so happy that I can do these events and complete them without selling my soul to an HNMLS. You guys are awesome, I hope you know that.

The next day the Nyzul Isle group skyrocketed from Floor 86 to 100, going 3/3 and defeating a totally overwhelmed Kaihmera to earn a runic disc for the 5 members who've been there from the beginning. We've been hammering away at this assault for a looong time. There have been many disappointments along the way. In the end we finally got there though. Next up is lots of Nyzul hat farming! Congratulations to Terre, Evele, Zaanea and Valenia.

And thanks to them for sticking with it for so long.

Four is Plenty

Apparently people read this, so I'll make an effort to make more of these.

Today was Nocturnal assault Wednesday; Chief Sergeant edition. Tamyaa was a no-show... which kinda sucks because there's going to be some repeat assaults next week just to get Tamyaa through them. Sometimes I feel like I'm dragging this group kicking and screaming through the assault missions. /sigh

First up was Operation: Snake Eyes. We failed horribly at this last week (which I would've blogged the hell out of if I wasn't lazy) and we had even less members this week but somehow we got the job done. The DD's ooh'd and aaaah'd at their damage numbers versus the Qutrub at the beginning. I was too busy to do a /rolls his eyes emote.

The stupid belly-dancing Lamia was finally taken out. I was right about it trying to bring a charmed group to the charmed second general; in a scary moment the Lamia seemed to be bringing us there at Flee speed. Fortunately charm wore off just in time. Terre figured out that you could stun Belly Dance, then get everyone to turn around the potential-Belly Dance TP move the Lamia will use after stun wears. Smart thinking, Terre!

The final Lamia was a BLM. This fact wasn't hammered in until I got Sleepga'd. Shinku did some fancy footwork kiting the charmed general and something about Shadowstitch. It was a close call at the end (as all these types of fights seem to be) but we managed to clear this one with just four people! That, and a first time clear bonus meant a hefty assault point reward for everyone.

Second was Imperial Code. This one was straight-forward; kill the NMs, avoid everything else. Terre learned the hard way that although the Kusa have true-sight aggro, they also have true hearing at small range. He tried to squeeze between 2 of them and they both turned around at once. Funny stuff.

Last was Deserter, where you have to break the Lamias' weapons, not kill them. Nobody told Shinku, Krysten and Terre this though. They slaughtered almost every Lamia they encountered. We got a paltry assault point reward for it but Terre got the clear which is what matters.

Next week will be the final three Chief Sergeant assaults that the group needs. Hopefully everyone shows up! *cough* They say that half of everything is showing up but after my experiences with Nocturnal Wednesdays I'd say it's more like 80%.

In the future, I'll blog about Nyzul on Mondays, Nocturnal Assaults on Wednesdays and actual WHM stuff any other day.

...odd... I just got the sensation that a monkey has gotten off my back. hmm