MMM
After our usual Sunday afternoon ENM/ISNM runs (which we have down to virtually a science now), Fuuji managed to convince me to gather up some AP people to go /poke MMM again. I'm in the high double-digits for the drop for this event already, having soloed the weakened version of the NM more times than I want to remember, even back when Utaru was playing (expensive solo too since I need every bit of TP to WS it and use a lot of Echo Drops), to doing it many times in a single day with people copying my maze to go against it. Purushamriga is a pain to fight because it can one-shot most people with Stomp, has regular hits for 300-400, is highly accurate and can spam Healing Breeze for over 4000 HP per use. Soloing the weakened version on DNC/NIN is a very careful balance of counting shadows, using Fan Dance and using TP as much as possible to deal damage. Even then, luck plays a large part in the win since if he decides to use Healing Breeze, there's not much you can do to kill it.
This time, I took a look at the mazes that could be purchased by the goblin and found one combination that popped Purushamriga, but had more runes compared to mine and was very popular. Specifically, it had the Elemental Magic and Enfeebling Magic runes, which let the dhamel cast spells in addition to being a pain to kill. Took a small group of AP people, me on PLD/NIN, Fuuji on RDM/WHM, Teia on DRG/SAM and Yasu on SCH/RDM. Initially, it looked like we would not be able to kill it as Healing Breeze was keeping it at 100% HP for almost 10 minutes, then it used Berserk and managed to one-shot Teia xD Still, once it used Berserk, killing it wasn't too hard, especially when it stops to try to cast long spells like Flare.
First attempt dropped just some crafting runes, but the 2nd run FINALLY dropped it:
Whee... more evasion for DNC! Usable by DRG, COR, PLD and even PUP too, so it might have some amusing uses xD Compared to my Adder Jambiya, this is an additional +4 evasion, and higher damage and DOT. The minuses are that it does not have the HP+15, nor the evasion down effect, but the bigger problem is that it has a hidden "Beast Affinity" effect that means that plantoid-type mobs can possibly intimidate me. I'm not sure how often that has an effect, but it would make fighting mobs like Cactuars more dangerous.
Still, this is a very much wanted and welcome dagger! Big thank you to Fuuji for encouraging me to try again long after I'd given up, and thanks to Teia and Zu for helping with the fight! I'm currently debating whether I should sell my Adder Jambiya, or if I should keep it around for the... erm... occasions that I need my high evasion against plant-type enemies. I guess... that the specific scenario would be rare enough that it should not come up except against one specific cactus :o
Now I'm considering pushing my evasion build to an even higher level. In my full evasion setup, the only slots which I do not have any evasion gear in are the ring slots, so I'm considering picking up a pair of Wivre rings to get another +4 evasion(and +30 HP). This should push me up to an evasion level that can avoid 90% of Sabotender Corrido's attacks without using my Hydra Spats or relying on the nighttime evasion effect of Fenrir's stone.
Oh, and for those who might be interested in any of the MMM rewards... I'd say go look at the popular mazes that you can buy instead of trying to build your own. Chances are that someone else has already made the maze that pops the NM that you need to get your drop already so you can just buy it and use it. I'm holding onto my Ermine's Tail maze for now, and I might go back to try for a Koggelmander at some time in the future.
Odin
Sunday's Einherjar was an Odin run! This time, I asked to come as PLD instead of my usual support on SCH/RDM. Fuuji was the one who suggested this again xD I don't normally ask for specific jobs, though I had been wanting to fully tank Odin at some point. It's also been a while since I've tanked a serious fight, and Odin is about as serious as it gets considering that two tanks are holding down the fort for nearly 36 people! I think this was also the first time I've tanked with Fuuji as my partner. Previously, I've duo-tanked with many others, including Rooks, Weaponx, Talint, and even Wutangwarrior.
This is a PLD/NIN type fight, against a highly accurate boss that will definitely strip your shadows, and has lots of fun AOE moves that can give terror, curse, silence, as well as summon lots of fomors to come beat you up! With Fuuji and our support team, I'd say that this was a near-perfect tanking experience, trading off hate at perfect times when all shadows were down, keeping each other healed up, and even specific times when the alliance would hold off on doing damage so that mages could recover their MP.
I say "near-perfect" because of one little thing. At 10%, Odin can do a "death" move which kills anyone in range. The only way to avoid the move is to be out of range, or be in the /heal position. Of course, this is a little hard to do when you're being beat up, so the general idea is to disengage, use Invincible, then /heal and hope for the best. Well, we tried to do that, but... we were just a split second too late xD
I found it kind of funny that our macros came up next to each other, considering the battle spam xD Oh well... one second too late! The only drop of significance to me was the Hecatomb Cap abjuration. I considered spending points on it, but decided that if I were to get something from the Einherjar drops, I would want it to be something that only came from Odin like the Valkyrie's fork.
Gil draining activities (Part 1)
Late last night, Fuuji went to poke the silly cactus one last time before he went to sleep. Strangely, this was the time it dropped:
This is the piece that turns an Ebon Harness into the THF/NIN/DNC usable piece, the Ebon Vest with Synergy. This is a surprisingly revealing "vest" piece that Fuuji found one person wearing in Lower Jeuno. I managed to find a pic on Google of the full set:
The fun part about this system is that you can actually customize it somewhat... to add specific effects using Evolith, and more importantly, change the color to either a red, or white version! The vest itself is... well, it's okay, Dex+6, Accuracy & Evasion +7, Critical Hit Rate +2%. I'll probably get it and change it to the DNC specific piece just to have a unique look, though it would clash with the rest of my gear unless I try to get the full set! That unfortunately means that I do need to unlock Synergy now xD
The Evolith customizations are... well, complicated. To get evolith, you have to use the Hunt Registries, then go out and kill specific NMs. Some are always up, others are popped NMs, and yet more others have different requirements. I think the evolith system is nowhere near fully explored, and there are probably other types of evolith that have yet to be discovered, or have not yet been added to the game since, well, face it, there are even fewer people doing Synergy/Evolith compared to MMM when that first launched. Who knows, there may be a hidden +Haste or +Accuracy evolith that nobody has found yet. For now though, I can't figure out any interesting evoliths that would be useful on the Ebon Vest to fit in one of my DNC gear sets (on DNC, I'm mainly interested in either haste, accuracy or evasion).
In fact, the only evolith I've picked up so far is:
Unfortunately, not very useful for me since I do not have NIN leveled up. I've tossed it, and the +2 version that I also got. Each different NM that you can hunt seems to have their own specific evoliths. The only randomness is in the amount it enhances.On the other hand, the PLD version of this gear might have some interesting applications in PLD/RDM... I have the Aptant for that (as does Fuuji), so we need to get it crafted and see what we can do with it :)
Gil draining activities (Part 2) - RNG & COR
Looks like AP's regular exp activities have started back up again. I've decided to go the COR route for a few reasons... the main ones being that it is a rare job, and that it exposes me to two new aspects of FFXI: buffer/support job and ranged attacks. Plus, there are tons of Bards out there, even mule-bards xD
Buuut... I ran into one little complication as soon as I tried to prepare to level COR. The NPC that sells the various dice in Al Zabi was kidnapped xD I've been checking since Saturday, but so far he has not yet been rescued, so I can't even buy the most basic of my dice x.x I'm not sure if he'll even BE rescued really, but... well, worst case I'll have to get some friends together and go on a rescue mission if I can't find a secret stash of dice x.x
Meanwhile, I've been leveling RNG. May as well get that to level 37 for subbing. Since AP is pretty much full of mules, a lot of PLing goes on so the more damage we bring out, the faster our exp flows and a COR/RNG would be more useful compared to anything else. I'm finding a couple of things interesting and amusing about leveling RNG:
- I have no idea what good gear is xD I *think* I'm making the correct decision on bow/arrow & crossbow/bolts, but the rest of my gear is... well... pretty much non-existant
- Constantly having to hit the "Ranged Attack" macro is annoying. There should be a way to automate this >.>
- Inventory management is surprisingly painful. Between keeping both bow & arrow, as well as crossbow & bolts on me, I have to keep on unquivering stuff to keep shooting and making sure I have room. I think right now I'm at 10 slots free in total among all my storage thanks to the extra gear from RNG & COR sitting around
At this point, I want to get RNG up to 37 as soon as possible so that I can get rid of the archery/marksmanship gear. At least with COR, it's only one type of ranged attack xD I have a feeling I'm going to have to go through my storage options carefully and sell pretty much everything that isn't immediately useful (like some random weapons, or my Scorpion Harness set) to make room for this new job x.x
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