BRD4LIFE!

It's been a week since I finished FFXIV on Paladin. Since then I've mainly been toying around with Archer/Bard while waiting for other people to catch up to 50 so that we can start farming the endgame activities. (For those who aren't playing FFXIV, you start the game as a "class" but at level 30, you get the ability to unlock specific "jobs". For example, the Gladiator class unlocks to become a Paladin, the Arcanist class can unlock two jobs, Summoner and Scholar. The Archer class unlocks the Bard job)

As expected, since I did all the quests the first time around. for Archer/Bard, the main way I got exp was through FATEs. With FATEs, you average about 1 level every 45 minutes or so, so if you play intensely, you can probably get from 1-50 in about a week's play.

Together with Kuraikaze, Zurar and A'sanya, we decided to also throw in some dungeon farming for some loot. Specifically, the Brayflox dungeon (level 32-35) as the gear at this dungeon pretty much lasts until you start to get your AF pieces at level 45.

Plus, the design on these armors are unique! This is the "Infantry" set which is used by all physical DDs

Specific dungeons have sets with unique looks. Like the Foestriker set from level 15-18 dungeons or this Infantry set from level 32-35

The FFXIV community is still extremely toxic, people throwing names at each other, shouting insults, dropping from duty finder, etc. Turning off shouts and ignoring the rest of the community is quite advised, at least until the toxic people leave. I'm guessing that this will start to happen at around the end of the year as they finish up the content, get bored, and other MMOs start to be released.

Meanwhile Archer, or Bard has been a lot of fun and a different change from tanking. It's a ranged DD (and technically support) so it has mobility, isn't in a lot of danger, and can put out a sustained amount of damage. Being able to shoot while moving is a huge advantage as well, so unlike all the other DD jobs, I'm not as hindered by needing to avoid boss moves. I never thought I'd say this, but I'm probably going to stick with Bard for the long-term.

In any case, while playing around with other jobs, I also played a lot of Marauder and Lancer. This was mainly to get them up to use their abilities as subs for other jobs. Of course, along the way I also used them for dungeons, and also did some of their class quests!

AXE SMASH EVERYTHING! CART! LITTLE BOY! GIANT RAM!

A dyed scale armor set ~level 30

Oh, SE also released the "Moonfire Faire" event, which mainly consists of a simple FATE and buying swimsuits! The towns were filled with people running around in "fire resistant gear" on Tuesday, feeling much like a festival!

Fireworks too! Lots of fireworks!

By Thursday, the towns were completely deserted again... making the decorations look very sad.
Anyway, here are a few other random pics!

I want this Miqo'te's outfit... looks like a real Archer!

It's pink! (Also, my current UI layout. I'm finding that I've been using the "Recommended" section a lot to see what quests or hunt mobs I have available when I enter a zone)

Ascie Lotte on Excalibur! It's a mini-me! (though I haven't tried contacting anyone on Excal yet)

Old guy teaching me how to use a... bow-harp? What do you call those things that Bards use to shoot and play songs! It's like a gunblade but is a bow that turns into a harp o.o

More recently in the week, I've been farming the Dzemael Darkhold (level 44+) dungeon with Zurar, Kurai, Vanh, Fuji, even Val and Rooks at various points. The first boss of this dungeon drops a few... unique model armors for mages and DDs.

It's Kurai the clown!

And Fuji coming on to a cat not in heat!

Vanh and Fuji having a moment...

And here's the crowd! (Yes, Fuji *is* wearing the mage gear drop. Vanh's just wearing the male swimsuit from the Moonfire Faire xD)

Of course, I also got a set too...

Bikini Fighter! (Seriously, this is a level 44 armor set from FFXIV. The body piece is good till 50 ~.~)

Side note, that's a METAL top, so they don't bounce :P

End of 2010 pics!

Wow, has it been a month already since my last post? Lots happening in FFXI, most of it fun. I figure this update would mainly be for those who stopped playing so that they can get an idea of how things have changed.

The main changes would be... the level cap is now 90 and that the Abyssea content is now finished. The level 90 cap pretty much makes any old-world content a joke and everything significant/fun is in Abyssea now, including almost all the gear. About the only thing that isn't purely Abyssea that is 80+ are the magian weapons, and a good number of their trials do require items from Abyssea.

So... anyway, I've been working on my magian dagger, the "occasionally attacks twice" high damage version. The good news is that since finishing the initial VNM step, and the two "get drops from NMs" piece, the dagger has become fairly easy to maintain, just using points from various new battle systems that popped up (bastion & Dominion)

The armor everyone is after now is what people have been calling "AF3", the job-specific armor. The base pieces are fairly easy to get, with some work needed to get the +1 pieces which is where they start to become useful. The +2 pieces are where the job specific armor really shines, and we've just barely started to work on getting those pieces for everyone. Here's a pic of my DNC +1 set

New armor & weapons mean newer mobs to fight, right? Exactly! Bigger, meaner battles including this one!

Raja is one of the more fun tanking fights I've done on DNC. Lots of large AoEs, gives silence, amnesia and more. Basically I'm the only one engaging it/tanking it with the rest of the alliance spread out to support me and come in to do damage when possible. Abyssea NM fighting also requires more attention compared to fights in the past. Now we have to perform specific weaponskills at specific times, cast certain BweaponsLM/BRD/BLU spells or even turn away from the mob when it does certain moves. Many NMs now absorb physical or magical damage depending on the situation or move that they make. A single person not paying attention could end up healing the NM for thousands of HP.

One new game mechanic that was added with Abyssea was the concept of "atmas", buffs that you can get inside of Abyssea. These include things like more HP, regain, additions to attributes and more. There are some funny ones like Auto-Reraise III, and significantly increase the damage of everyone, especially 1-handed jobs like THF, NIN and DNC, which leads to funny weaponskill damage like this:

All three Abyssea expansions have been released now. These mini-expansions have a plot of sorts, though the story itself is much shorter and more straightforward compared to even the previous mini-expansions like the moogle and Shantotto ones. At the end of it, you get to fight this:

and meet some old friends:

After everything is done, one of the things you get is the ability to buy the Primevel Brew, an item that gives you +999 stats, +9999 HP/MP, crazy amounts of regain, regen, refresh, etc. for 3 minutes for 200k cruor. It's basically the cheat code for FFXI and lets you solo anything inside Abyssea. You can WS constantly, and with Chainspell, RDMs can nuke down anything in the time.

I'm still figuring out the optimum way to use the brew myself... my weak DRG managed to do this:

but this is really weak compared to what other people have done, or what my DNC can do xD I still have to figure out how to best use the brew.

Finally, some more random pics! Seems like this is the new DNC uniform as I'm seeing tons of us running around like this!

Kelhor(Rooks) & I went to do more WotG quests... Interest for WoTG is at an all-time low even though they.. i think they actually finished releasing it all? Anyway, it's been so long since the last time anyone did anything in WotG that I've forgotten most of the details of the storyline. There isn't any significant rewards at the end, and the way they split the questlines up makes it nearly impossible for people to cooperate in WotG. I consider this expansion to be the most well done story & cutscene wise, and the biggest failure of FFXI simply due to the game mechanics and how long they took to release it.

Anyway, here is a pic that I'm calling "attack of the clones"

That's it for now! Happy New Year!

DRG relic completed, Abyssea exp, job stuffs, FFXIV

I guess Dynamis probabilities worked in my favor last week!

6/6 on DRG relic armor. That's the 5th complete set of relic so far with BMO/CTR and more importantly, +4 inventory spaces! Currently missing the PLD body and back pieces for my last job. I'm also missing only a couple of pieces for WHM, BST & PUP, all jobs that I would have considered leveling if not for the level cap increase.

I'm not too hopeful of being able to complete the PLD set given the stupidly low drop rates of these items, especially considering that we've been going after these items in every Dynamis for as long as I can remember.  I'm also not very hopeful of completing my DNC relic +1 pieces. Funny thing is that I'm only missing the relic -1 feet & hands which are not the super-rare Tav pieces.

In any case, Dynamis seems to be wrapping up as an event. With almost everyone at level 80 now, the event itself is becoming a joke at how quickly we plow through the mobs. Unfortunately the drop rate for the things we need is also a joke since we're barely getting any drops at all now (yes, with TH4) and rarely anything people actually want. With new events and new items popping up now with Abyssea and Walk of Echos, I wouldn't be surprised if interest in Dynamis started to taper off. Unfortunately, there are still lots of items in Dynamis that have attributes that can only be obtained via Dynamis. Many of the newer jobs like SCH & COR for example, have job-specific buffs that can only be found on relic armor.

Abyssea exp
Nice part about Abyssea exp is how quickly you can finish a job... The bad part is that it really requires a dedicated amount of time to do.

This past Saturday, we did yet another Abyssea exp alliance... 9am - 3pm Pacific time. I managed to take SCH from 17k into 75 to capped at 80 plus two merits in that time. This was the 3rd job I took to 80 (or near 80) using Abyssea, and 2nd last job that I have to complete. My COR is my last sub-80 job at level 77 and will likely be completed next weekend during another Abyssea exp session.

The draining part about Abyssea is simply the time it takes to do. Even in a properly executed Abyssea exp alliance, you're still looking at spending at least the first two hours getting into a proper chaining position where you can expect chest drops and time extensions, as well as the exp rate to increase to a reasonable amount. It really makes it tiring to actually do one of these sessions, but the alternative -- spending many more days exping in various parties in different locations -- is even more painful to get a job to 80.

Still... I can't imagine doing this all over again for all 6 jobs for the next level cap increase.

Job Stuffs
Since getting more jobs to 80, my perception on my jobs has changed somewhat.

* Dancer
Still overall my favorite in terms of soloing and healing capability. The ability to do heal people outside my party has made this job even more powerful, though I am disappointed that Healing Waltz does not work. The changes to the job itself haven't been really that useful -- I rarely use Presto and Climatic Flourish is amusing, but overall not something I would really use for damage. The biggest change has really been Sekkinoki since that gives DNC/SAM a lot more damage dealing potential. DNC/NIN still wins for overall survivability and damage reduction in nearly all situations.

* Paladin
Native Phalanx and that new Divine Emblem job ability have really enhanced the ability of a PLD/NIN to tank. However, the nerfing of the RDM enmity spells has also severely crippled a PLD/RDM's ability to hold hate. PLD is no longer my #2 favorite job simply due to this, though I still like tanking in PLD/NIN situations.

* Blue Mage
BLU was my first job due to the flexibility and capability of the job, going from anywhere from heavy DD to magical nuker, debuffer or even a full-time support job. The main reason why I avoided playing BLU was due to the support that it required in terms of Refresh. This update gave the spell Battery Charge, a 4MP/tick Refresh that lasts for 150 seconds. Yes, that is higher compared to the RDM Refresh spell, and pretty much means that I almost never run out of MP on BLU anymore.

BLU also got some other interesting spells, including a new full-strength Haste spell that lasts almost twice as long as the normal Haste spell, a new healing spell that also increases attack & magical attack, a regen spell and some more magical nuking spells. Furthermore, BLU/RDM gains the ability to Convert, meaning that a BLU could effectively go on forever. However, I haven't dared to actually use BLU/RDM for anything yet given the amount of hate BLU already pulls simply from doing damage and casting healing spells

Since the update, I've actually been pumping my merits into BLU. Just one more upgrade to Assimilation, then I can move on to completing Enchainment, Chain Affinity Recast and Physical Potency. BLU may end up being the 2nd job I actually finish meriting!

* Dragoon, Scholar
Both of these jobs are now 80. Neither has really gained much from the update. The most I can say is that DRG/SAM can now WS a little more often, and SCH/RDM can now Convert and never run out of MP.

FFXIV
The Final Fantasy XIV beta has started up, and I popped in for a quick look. Pretty much nothing has changed. It's still just as laggy and slow as before. It's also just as pretty as before, graphics looking like they are taken out of a CG movie. However, gameplay is pretty horrible and boring still, with no direction for plot, no guidance and... well, considering this is the second time I played through the opening sequence and it *still* took me about 20 minutes to figure out how to get out of the very beginning area... (it's not obvious and there's a gate preventing you from running directly out) You should see the shouts of people asking basic things like how to fight or form parties! (actually, how do you form parties? I still don't know how to properly do this)

Except for the opening cutscene, there really hasn't been any real NPC dialog, with everyone I talk to so far giving very generic, forgettable statements. It's as though someone turned off the storytelling element that SE used to be good at? Also, I thought that SE added a "new player" tutorial/set of quests in FFXI recently... years after the game launched... You'd think that they would be applying the lessons they learnt to their new game? I haven't seen anything resembling a tutorial or anything to teach you how to do anything in XIV. Keep in mind that this game is supposed to launch in less than 2 months.

Still.. it's amusing to see hundreds of people camping rats like NMs :)

Skill of playing FFXI

Last night I went for a brief merit party at the Mamool Ja Staging Points with Jurgos, Supermday, Styles and two others. Thanks to this merit party, I was able to get my 7th HP upgrade, and 3 more merits towards my final HP upgrade. Just two more merit points left to before I complete HP merits and I move on to focus on something else... maybe more job-specific merits, or maybe a Strength upgrade.

This was also the first real exp party I've had since I equipped my DRG at 75 so I was curious to see if I could hold up against other DDs, or if my lack of focus on DD jobs would deem me unacceptable for this sort of role. I hope I did decently, but lacking any sort of parser, I can't really tell xD Still, after poking squishy mobs with a pointy stick for an hour or so, my mind started to wander and I started thinking about what it took to be skillful at playing FFXI, and hence, came up with the idea for this blog post.

So... think about the major job types and what it takes to be considered "skilled" at each role...

DDs - SAM, DRK, DRG, WAR, RNG, BLM, etc.

At the end of the day, the goal of a DD is to do a ton of damage without getting killed. Intelligent use of the various job abilities to enhance damage, as well as to mitigate damage you take are a part of playing a good DD, but at the end of the day, what makes the difference between a good DD and an excellent DD will be gear and merits.

Basics are pretty simple... accuracy, attack, eating appropriate food and putting together gear sets for TPing and WSing. Throw in some expensive gear, and tons of merits into crit hits, strength and weapon skill and you'll get a good DD. During the actual fight, there really isn't that much you can do except use your JAs when appropriate, and WS when you hit 100% TP.

So... to be a good player in a DD role, seems to me that the main judgement in performance is in gear and merits. The hard work of being a DD is done outside of the actual job, where you prepare your gear and various macros to maximize damage done.

Healers - WHM, RDM, SCH, DNC, BLU & /WHM jobs (BRD/WHM, COR/WHM, even BLM/WHM)

Preventing people from dying, as well as removing status effects are the main jobs of the healers. This makes the main thing that healers need is situational awareness and reaction speed. A healer who is too slow to cure someone might result in that person's death. Leaving a status effect on for too long might result in the loss of damage, or the person's death.

The best healers are those that anticipate the need to cure someone and time their spells to go off at exactly the right time, leaving as little time as possible for the target to be in danger. I think the best example of this is the Tier IV ZNM mob Tinnin. In a perfectly executed Tinnin, you'll see healers casting Cursna even before the TP move Nerve Gas goes off, timing Cursna to land right after the curse effect hits the tanks. The best healer/tank combinations can even follow it up with the tank curing him/herself right after cursna, reducing the time that the tank is vulnerable to 1-2 seconds.

For healers, reaction speed is key, with the best being those who can anticipate the need to react.

Enfeeblers - RDM, WHM, BLM, BRD, DNC, COR, BLU, etc.

Similar to the DDs, enfeeblers are those that go up against the targeted mob. Hence, equipment plays a large part in the effectiveness of an enfeebler's role. After all, if you can't land that Paralyze, or that Lullaby, you can't do your job.

However, another aspect of the role is situational awareness. Enfeeblers also have to be aware when their spells wear off from the mob, or if a mob has removed it and to reapply it as necessary. Similarly, jobs who can Dispel need to know if a mob has an enhancement that can be removed, and remove it as necessary.

So... for enfeeblers, equipment and awareness are what separate good from average.

Enhancers - RDM, BRD, COR, WHM, SCH, etc.

The main job of an enhancer is to keep the enhancement up on everyone... that is, songs, rolls, haste, even appropriate weather. The best enhancers are those who can keep the enhancements up full-time without requiring prompting.

The very best would be those who re-apply enhancements as soon as they wear, or refresh them just before they wear. Being good at this would involve... well... mostly having awareness of time and getting into the rhythm of keeping buffs up.

Tanks - PLD, NIN, SAM?

This is a little strange for me... whenever I tank, I found that the problem I face is that of resource management. I want to hoard my hate tools so that I use what is appropriate for the situation. Knowing when to use Sentinel, or Chivalry to restore MP are part of looking at the situation and figuring out what to do. When tanking on SAM/WAR, sometimes I'd hold back a WS until the beginning of the next mob in order to establish hate early on, or I'd use Meditate to get an extra WS in to get more hate.

Of course, the other part of tanking is that gear does play a part... The right gear to reduce damage taken, or to have enough haste to keep shadows up full time.

Finally, tanks do need situational awareness in large events such as Dynamis or Einherjar. A good tank will be grabbing mobs as they come in, and will know who to heal in order to get hate on the mobs and what spells or job abilities to use at what time.

So... gear, resource management and awareness are critical for tanks.

In summary...

Well... at what point are you actually playing FFXI, and at what point are you letting the game play itself? How much of ones performance is dependent on you, and how much is reliant on what you have?

Maybe that's what attracts me to certain jobs over others...

Tactics Slots

Been playing a lot of Dragon Age: Origins lately... Mainly I want to finish that so that I can lend it to a coworker, but the plot and character interactions of the game are pretty fun. Ahh... soon I'll have to choose between Alister and Lelianaa... decisions decisions...

One of the features I like the most about DA:O is the "Tactics Slots". Basically, simple programs for your party members to follow. It's basically the same feature as in Final Fantasy XII, or in Mass Effect where you can set actions for your party members to follow when in combat, like when to heal, when to attack, and what spells to cast. Manual control is also possible, like I don't want to cast a huge Blizzard spell unless I have the area under control.

Still... sometimes I wish I could just set tactics for my other party members in FFXI and have them obey... sample tactics:

PLD

1. Self HP less than 75% -- Cure IV

2. Flash [t]

3. Sentinel [me]

4. Rampart [me]

5. Reprisal [me]

BLM

1. Stoneskin [me]

2. Blink [me]

3. Self HP less than 50% -- Drain

4. [target] has MP -- Aspir

5. Self HP > 50% -- Blizzard IV [t]

6. Self HP > 50% -- Thunder IV [t]

DD

1. Attack [t]

2. TP more than 100% -- Weaponskill

BRD

1. Cast March/Minet

2. Cast Ballad

3. If ally HP less than 50% -- Cure III

Healer

1. If ally HP less than 70% -- Cure V

2. If ally enfeebled - Appropriate -na spells

3. If ally HP less than 90% -- Regen

4. If [target] has AoE -- Stay at long range

5. Cast Stoneskin

6. Cast Protectra & Shellra

Then again, isn't that what we do whenever we start up a group event? We assume that other players have their tactic slots set up correctly based on their past experience, and that they can execute their tactics appropriately. Unfortunately, that isn't always the case and we have to adjust their tactics on the fly as we discover holes, or simply a lack of available slots. Every person/player is configured slightly differently and may need adjustment to fit in with what the leader of an event might require... or might not have enough "slots" available to use as they become overwhelmed with what they need to do.

Unfortunately, unlike Dragon Age, we can't take control of them and manually take over for a few commands before letting the program resume.

Dragoon - Further Impressions

I think I'm getting to the point where I'm comfortable with using DRG in most situations. A couple of things happened in the past few days to give me more "on the job" training on DRG.

DRG/mage

Had a little crash course on DRG/WHM fighting Roc. Kurai found him wandering around and got me & Radack over... I think Lumiere did fairly well for healing, and I learnt that Horde Lullaby is a pain when your main healer is a Wyvern that can only be woken up once every 3 minutes. Made some decent progress here, but DRGs really do not make for a good tank since our Jump abilities are designed to shed hate.

Besieged was a better test as DRG/BLU. With Giant's Drink, Lumiere's healing capabilities skyrockets as the HP trigger level is a lot easier to reach, and Lumiere heals for a lot more. I think she surprised Fuuji with how she was basically spamming Cure IV on me (and him) while I ended up tanking the mob. Interestingly enough, I think DRG/BLU is actually a better Besieged job compared to PLD, my former favorite. The only issue is keeping Lumiere alive so that I don't lose my main healer... If I were to do more DRG soloing, I'd probably fully merit Spirit Link.

DRG/SAM

Got bored of DRG/SAM quickly in mass group events like Dynamis. Once I figured out my gear swap macros, the only thing to do was just WS and stuff... I think I want a little more practice on being main assist, but beyond that, I have more fun on PLD.

However, during the ASA fight at Full Moon Fountain. After a bad start and losing both main healers at basically the beginning of the fight, the only thing that kept the DDs going was our sheer remaining HP and Fuuji doing his best with Cure III on BLM. Unfortunately, /SAM means that I can't trigger Healing Breath in any way, but there are still a few tricks that a DRG can use.

Lumiere & I were getting low on HP when I decided to try a risky Spirit Link -> Spirit Surge trick to get my HP up to high enough to survive an avatar's 2-hr. I was looking at our HP bars and figured that Lumiere would be dead from the next 2-hr, and my HP would be too low to survive the next Fomor's 2-hour. Spirit Link followed by Spirit Surge gave Lumiere enough HP that I ended up with a net gain of HP, back to nearly full, and gave me back my Jumps and enough TP to pull off yet another WS. Getting Super Jump back at exactly the right time let me avoid one more Astral Flow, so that kept me & Talint in the game long enough for us to do enough damage to kill the remaining Fomors.

DRG was definitely the right choice for a DD for me... Being able to adjust hate as I see fit, tank if necessary, and the flexibility to be configured as a healer all fit nicely with the way I like to play :)

Show & Tell

Whee… been a while since a show & tell post. Since Zu was saying that I’d be posting pics about this, may as well put them up sooner rather than later!

Last night, I took my new DRG75 up to part 1 of sea and was… well… mostly disappointed. I just wasn’t doing that much damage to the regular Aern mobs we were fighting in the palace… 200ish WS damage. I guess this is partly due to my slightly low polearm skill, which was 7 under cap when we started, but I wasn’t expecting it to be that bad. I guess this is part of the “new 75” job syndrome where I spend a few events tweaking my macros and gear choices until I figure out a combination that works for me. Sea mobs are pretty evasive, so I ended up with a new WS macro that pretty much stacks accuracy to get every single hit in, bringing my WS damage up to 500… Not that good… I’m still trying to figure out what the right balance should be for WS gear. Probably should look into getting sea gorgets for at least Drakesbane and Penta… UFO hunting time~

Last night also was my first merit party on DRG… I haven’t actually been in a merit party for a long time, not since I first finished DNC. I don’t remember the composition of the party, but I remember that I was main healing and pulling on DNC, which is pretty rough due to the delay on throwing weapons. I think I only managed to get up to chain 24 before the chain would break.

Well, this was a completely different beast. Party setup was 2x RNG, DRG, SAM, RDM & BRD. We had Fuuji & Ghiren on RNG/NIN, with Fuuji going from 74-75 for this party, Weaponx on SAM/WAR tanking and taking the bulk of the damage, Caoihme on RDM/WHM saving all of us, Zurar on BRD/NIN annoying the party on the middle floor by pulling some of their birds, and me on DRG/SAM, doing my best to keep up @.@

Let’s see… what was fun…

First big milestone was chain #100, which Fuuji dramatically got us to with an Eagle Eye shot

During the first 100 mobs or so, I was adjusting my gear and macros and experimenting with Drakesbane and Pentathrust… I’m still trying to figure out the right balance between accuracy gear, str gear and various other pieces for using weaponskills. Drakesbane’s damage appears to be really weird, with damage ranging from as low as 500 to 1100 even when I manage to get all 4 hits in, with an eyeballed average of 700-800 or so. I guess this has to do with the critical hit capability on Drakesbane. I have 4/4 crit merits, but since that is still random, the damage will vary from WS to WS. Penta was a little more consistent, doing around 800 if I get all 5 hits in, sometimes spiking at 1000 or so. Still, after so many levels of Penta, I really wanted to see a different WS. Besides Weap was using Penta and doing about twice my damage xD

I think this was about the highest Drakesbane I pulled off:

Only buffs were Hasso and one Minuet… Other had just wore before the WS. I’m guessing this was being lucky with a few critical hits, as well as double attack from my Brutal Earring and Pole Grip kicking in. Still have some tweaking to do on my gear macros I think, and I don’t even know what is normal damage for DRGs in merit parties… I guess I need to spend some time observing other DRGs.

Anyway, the party went on for about 3 hours before we decided to wrap things up. Big thanks to Caoihme who managed to keep us alive and keep up a Haste cycle.This also marks the record of the longest chain I’ve had yet x.x

In total, I got 6 1/2 merits in that party. I already had 2 merits before we started. I spent them on unlocking Deep Breathing, putting another upgrade into Angon to bring the duration to 45 seconds, and put one into Polearm. I’m debating whether I want to lower my sword merits (currently 7/8) and put some merits into Polearm. I’m also debating whether I want to put some extra merits into a mixture of Str & Dex. At the moment though, I’m more focused on putting up another Angon upgrade (5 merits) to bring the duration to 1 minute, and finishing off my last two HP upgrades (10 merits)

Now for the rest of show & tell! First up… largest number of relics I’ve seen inside a Dynamis treasure pool. Looks like this was on November 18th, Dynamis-Valkrum run:

And finally… I’m not entirely certain, but I think this NPC just insulted me ~.~ Click through for the full version. The blog design cuts it off.

And… that’s it for this post!

Merits

Alright, so another job is ALMOST done... what next? Well, for starters, I think I need to get some merits and starts unlocking some stuff.

First thing's first... what are the "must-have" meritable things for Dragoon? I usually spend a few merits here and there to get the critical merit job abilities or traits as soon as I hit 75... For example, on BLU I unlocked Diffusion, on SCH it was Stormsurge, on PLD it was Chivalry and Fealty. DNC has the distinction of being the only job where I've gone all out and completed my job specific merits there...

So... what is necessary for DRG? And in what ratios? What are people's opinion on this?

Currently, I'm thinking:

Group IIs:

- Angon - At least 1 to unlock, possibly 3 upgrades total to bring it to a duration of 1 minute. Is this enough? or do people usually go 5/5 on this?

- Empathy - 1 to unlock. I can use Spirit Link multiple times to get other effects on my Wyvern. I'd put in maybe a 2nd upgrade to in theory, get Protect & Shell on Lumiere

- Deep Breathing - This looks like an interesting ability for soloing at least... but I'm not sure what other applications it may have... I barely notice Lumiere's extra breath damage as is... one to unlock?

Group I:

- Jump recast seems to be a no brainer here... more jumps = more damge & TP. I'm thinking this, and high jump merits would be most effective for DRG Tier 1?

So... I'm estimating a bare minimum of 6 merits to start with DRG to unlock Angon and Empathy, with another 9 merits to get Angon up to a reasonable duration... after which there's a ton more merits that need to be done at a more leisurely pace xD The "low priority" merits would take another... 49+ merits if I were to do them all...

As for other merits:

General

- HP merits - 2 upgrades left (10 merits)

- Sword Skill - 1 upgrade left (3 merits)

- Considering maxing either "Spell Interruption Rate" or "Enemy Critical hit Rate" - (10 merits)

- Attributes? Not sure if i want to do more on this... they are expensive x.x I'm also not sure if I'd want to do Dex or Str merits here.

- Magic skills - Might want to do some Elemental Magic skill increases... not sure if it's worth it for SCH

Blue Mage

Nice part about waiting a little before doing too many merits is that I can determine what my playstyle would be... most BLUs max out Assimilation, which I was on the path towards. Now I'm thinking of:

Group 1

- Chain Affinity Recast - Max this out. More CA = more damage, especially when combined with Enchainment merits (14 merits)

Group 2

- Max Enchainment - 15 merits for a 50 TP Bonus. I tend to simply do Chain Affinity -> Spell whenever possible, not necessarily with a pure self-skillchain. Enchainment would also give the TP bonus even when I did a self-SC since my TP at that time would be 0.

- Reduce Diffusion by another 2 upgrades (9 merits). This would bring Diffusion down to 15 minutes, which would make it usable twice in a Nyzul situation... alternatively, I could just stuff them into Assimilation

Scholar

Group 1

- Ironically, if I had merits to burn, I'd probably spend them on maxing Grimoire Recast and Helix Magic Accuracy/Attack. I do like switching between modes, and I have sadly, often been in situations where I switched too hastily between modes and had to wait a timer out x.x

- MV merits really aren't worth it unless you're stacking it... and the way I use Sublimation as a cheap, more effective Refresh, I don't benefit much from Max Sublimation

Group 2

- Max out Stormsurge to get the full +7 attribute benefit (19 merits)

- Unlock: Enlightenment - For those annoying times I need to use Erase while in Dark Arts or something similar... I'm not too sure if it needs anything more than that though. This situation does come up, but not THAT often

- Two each into Tranquility and Focalization. I have a general feel when the next AoE Stoneskin will generate too much hate, but I still do it anyway... Tranquaility might help with that... Focalization would help in the few times where I have to nuke something really, really large o.o;

Paladin

Paladin is the one job that would benefit the most from merits. It also, ironically, has the merits that I can't quite figure out....

Group 1:

- Sentinel recast - Max this out. Sentinel is awesome (15 merits)

- Then... I don't know what to do here. Holy Circle, Cover Length are unnecessary... Shield Bash might be tempting, but there are some mobs you just don't shield bash... sleeping mobs, or mobs that develop a resistance to stun. Not sure about Rampart recast either... I tend to throw Rampart up as an afterthought to sentinel

Group 2:

- With Fealty and Chivalry unlocked already, I'm not sure what else to put here... I tend to use Chivalry as a "last resort" type thing, so if I need to watch the recast on that we're already in trouble. Fealty is something I still haven't mastered the use of, and I think I've only effectively used twice in a tanking situation. Iron Will seems interesting, until you consider how short Rampart lasts, which leaves Guardian for the reduced enmity loss while using Sentinel... that kinda confuses me, since with Sentinel up, you're not taking that much damage and hence, there is less enmity loss in the first place?

DRG nearly complete, lack of DNC, Limbus over

Let's see... been over a week since my last post, so... here's a brief update:

Dragoon

DRG73 now, just 2 more levels, or about 77k exp left to go till 75. I'll probably get a buffer before switching to merit mode, though this time around, I'll probably stop at 10-15k instead of my normal 25k buffer.

DRG/SAM at 70+ is a lot more fun with the ability to switch between Hasso and Seigan. In last night's party, I was intentionally WSing early and using Third Eye to try to avoid damage as much as I could and rarely used Super Jump. I'm guessing that this is what the job really is like at 75, plus the occasional Angon for big fights. I'm generally liking it as there are enough "buttons to push", though tactically wise, it's pretty brainless... Either do as much damage as possible with appropriate job abilities and jumps, or survive and jump out of the way.

I've considered taking DRG out to events... 73 is almost there... but truthfully, the main reason I don't want to yet is that... my gear right now looks super-ugly xD At least at 75 I'll get some better armor to use... too bad it's all 75-only!

Big thanks to everyone who replied to my DRG gear post, whether through the comments or privately with /tells... so, based on talking to everyone, I've picked up the following

Weapon: Thal is good, try for a Fey Lance for something cheaper that would match Thal's performance. Would need to setup a group to do this... anyone wanna try for more fey weapons?

WS gear/Str: Bring in as much STR as possible for this. Ruby Ring (Str+4) for 45k is reasonable. Flame Ring for 700k is not xD. Pick up a Millefleurs sachet for another Str+1, macro in Warwolf Belt, etc. Grab some Hecatomb gear. Grab some sea gorgets x.x

WS-gear/accuracy: Weap points out that Penta and other multi-hit WS would benefit more from accuracy gear depending on the situation. Definitely something that needs some experimentation. May want to swap in the Potent Belt instead for Penta

Healing Breath: I haven't done any soloing since the 30s, so these macros desperately need updating... Teia and Weap both point out that the effectiveness of Healing Breath depend on Wyvern HP, as well as my HP. I knew about the trigger HP levels for myself, but I had not considered macroing in +HP gear to get to that level artifically. I didn't even know that how much healed depended on the Wyvern's HP level either. Once I hit 75, I'll have to play with these macros and start experimenting.

Lack of Dancer

Not sure if anyone's noticed, but I haven't been on Dancer for the last few weeks... mainly out of laziness since for most events, people prefer that I come on PLD or SCH, so I don't bother changing jobs too much. The other main reason is that DNC really excels in low-man events or small groups, neither of which I've done much of lately.

The other sad part about DNC is that I think I've figured out what happened to Roundel Earrings. The last Roundel Earring sold on the Hades AH was at the end of September. Prior to this it was selling at a decent rate, about 2-3 sold every month, then suddenly it stopped completely. My guess is that SE succeeded in banning enough of the RMT that the ones that previous did importing of the Roundel Earring from other servers to sell at a higher price were all banned, preventing this from being brought in.

And... since Hades sucks at campaign (can't blame us... even I don't do campaign anymore since it's so boring), there's no chance of us getting the earring natively since the campaign op that drops it is never available. Soooo... chances are close to nil that I'd get a Roundel Earring unless I somehow managed to convince someone from another server to transfer one over... somehow...

Which means I can probably take my gil and spend it elsewhere... Hecatomb stuff is expensive, so... maybe there ~.~

Limbus Over

Last Saturday was the last meeting for Shinjiku, the Limbus LS that... I don't know who founded, but it was my first "endgame" event ever. I had just reached sea on my "not quite 75" BLU as my first job when I joined in to take a look and get a Brutal Earring. Well, 1 1/2 years later, full homam and seeing at least 5, maybe 6 full homam sets completed, as well as numerous other people getting random pieces, the LS finally disbanded.

Pity really... we had the low-man Omega down to an art... 2x tanks, 1x RDM/DRK, 1x healer, 1x BRD, 3x BLM and maybe 1 random melee damager was enough to take Omega down consistently. Any extra people beyond that would simply ensure that we could kill it without taking any deaths.

Sad part is that it died rather suddenly. I was hoping to have some of the newcomers take over the basic farming portion, with the old-timers popping in to help with hard zones and for Omega. It only takes 5 people to effectively farm the chips necessary from all the zones. Fuuji had already gone on the "semi-retired" state for a while, Vanh was taking a break from FFXI for his house stuff, and we were able to farm the chips until recently. What suddenly changed was in November, we had two members take "take a month off" -- aka "quit". We knew about that, and it wasn't too big of a deal since we had enough people and mules to carry on. What ended up killing things was that two other regular members suddenly disappeared without warning and stopped logging into FFXI. Down to 3 regular members and two semi-regular, there was no way to continue. After trying for 2 straight weeks, we called it and decided to disband amiably (for the most part... though one of the newer members was "pissed at saving points").

So, that makes for the 2nd FFXI event that I used to do that has been successfully shut down. Nyzul was the first, though we do have the option of starting that up again if people are interested. Still, getting more free time back is always good! Especially since I'm heavy into other non-FFXI games now xD

For other events I'm semi-running... I doubt ZNMs will go away anytime soon! That's still going strong, and unfortunately drop rates are low enough that we'll be plugging away at that for a long time before people start to be satisfied. And... that's it! Everything else I go to is run pretty much by Rooks :)

DRG equip at 75

So, I figure the 3 readers of my blog (Hi!) might want to read something less depressing than how SE and FFXI has been sucking lately so I decided to put together something more forward thinking, as well as ask for some help!

Exping on DRG has been pretty fun for me so far... unfortunately, as many people have told me, DRG really does not get much equipment during exp levels. It's not until 75 that DRG gets good gear, which suits me just fine since I don't like buying too much gear while leveling only to just sell it later xD

DRG69 now, just 6 left till 75, so I'm looking a little ahead at 75 and looking for advise on how to gear up this new job. It's my first melee-type DD, so I have a feeling that I'm probably not considering some aspects of a DD job at all xD

Sooo... here's the gear I have and think I'll end up using at 75... if you have suggestions on easy replacements, like AH gear or similar, let me know in the comments.

Weapons

* Main - Thalassocrat - DMG:94, Delay: 492, HP+10, Dex+2, Vit+2, Effect: Impairs Evasion

About 220-300k on AH... not too bad to get I guess? I still need to buy this at some point

* Sub - Pole Grip - Double Attack +2%

I'm told this is the standard grip for 2H DDers?

* Ammo: Tiphia Sting - HP-25, Accuracy+2, Attack+2, Evasion -2

I macro this in for DNC whenever I'm not pulling, so it just made sense to use it on DRG

Armor

* Head - Askar Zucchetto

* Body - Askar Korazin

* Hands - Homam Manopolas

* Legs - Homam Cosciales

* Feet - Homam Gambieras

This is my "PLD in campaign" armor set. Mainly the Haste & Accuracy pieces from homam (9% haste & +14 accuracy), plus the Haste/Double attack pieces from Askar (+4% Haste & +2% Double Attack). Oh, and some +str & attack thrown in as well. I guess a patchwork set of armor is the norm?

Accessories

* Earrings: Brutal Earring (Double Attack & Store TP) & Fowling Earring (Str+1, Accuracy+3)

Currently, I'm using Spike & Minuet. I figure Fowling would be a good replacement for Minuet Earring for cases where there isn't a BRD around, though... I'm wondering if I should still keep the Minuet Earring for when there is a BRD? Brutal Earring just seems to make sense with the double attack enhancements

* Neck: Love Torque (Dex+5, Polearm skill +7)

Got this in the day of epic lootwhoring with TO xD Nice part is that it also has +dagger skill, so it applies to DNC as well. I do not have the sea gorgets for DRG (only have Soil Gorget). I'm wondering if I should full-time the Love Torque, or switch to Chiv chain for WSing?

* Rings: Rajas (+5 Str, Dex, StoreTP) & Blood Rings

Rajas seems like the ultimate DD ring... For the 2nd slot, my standard for any melee job is the Blood Ring. Might consider keeping the Ecphoria Ring on if the +1 Store TP makes a difference somehow.

* Belt: Swift Belt (+3 accuracy, +4 haste, -5 attack) with Warwolf Belt (Str, Dex, Vit+5) macroed in for WS.

Haste for general meleeing, then switching to something that hits harder for WS. On DNC, I macro in my Nu Sash (+10 accuracy) for WS... maybe I should switch to using Warwolf for DNC WSing as well

* Back: Amemet Mantle +1 (Str+2, Attack+15)

Standard melee piece?

and... of course, the nice part is that other than the Thalassocrat, I have everything on the list above already for my other jobs, so DRG really hasn't taken up that much inventory space.

There's also some other situational gear that I didn't list above such as:

* Dragoon's Earring - Chance to use angon without depleting. Enhances wyvern's "breath" accuracy

This is a weird one... I can see how you're supposed to use this with Angon, macro it in before you use the Angon ability, but how would you use it for a wyvern breath? Put it on before you WS to trigger the breath? Put it on right after the WS goes off, but hopefully before the breath goes off? I'm not sure on the timing on how to use this effectively

* Ethereal Earring - Attack +5, HP+15, Converts 3% of damage taken to MP

For /mage use... this should effectively allow DRGs to go on forever when soloing... or so I'm lead to believe?

* Various AF/relic gear

Not that I have any relic yet, but at least the AF gear can be macroed in for Jumps, and for Healing Breath... I really should figure out how to use the Drachen Mail's "Wyvern Regen" effect to keep Lumiere alive better xD

Anyone have other suggestions on stuff to get?

If I were a good...

If I were a good Blue Mage...

- I'd probably have some +str gear for physical spells

- I'd probably have a +HP set for Breath spells

- I might even have a +def set for Cannonball!

- Crazily enough, I might even have a +chr build for Eyes on Me

- ... and a +dex build for specific spells

- ... and a magical nuking build that includes +int

- and macro in accuracy gear for Head Butt

If I were a good Scholar...

- I'd have a lot more -enmity gear

- I'd have some +cure potency stuff

- I'd get a Refresh body and macro it in for when Sublimation is down or fully charged

- I'd have some +int gear for nuking

- ... and more HQ staves

If I were a good Paladin...

- I'd have a lot more -damage stuff

- My shield skill would be capped, and I'd have more +shield gear

- I'd have some sort of +movement speed gear

- ... and would macro in +cure gear for curing

- ... and a ton more +HP gear

If I were a good Dragoon...

- I'd definitely have more +str gear

- I'd have macros to put in +HP gear for healing breath

- I'd macro in my AF helm for offensive nukes somehow

- ... and wouldn't be using level 25 armor at 65!

annnnnnnnd... if I were a good any of the above, I'd have more merits in each job instead of just the basics!

If I were a good Dancer...

- I'd have a Roundel Earring... if only...

Well, truthfully, I think I'm okay at Dancing, so that's what you get!

HQ Lootwhoring!

Been a while since I've had any fun FFXI news... just not that much happening! This week though, I think I may have finally matched, if not at least come close to Fuuji's legendary lootwhoring week a few months ago when he got both Hachiryu and Novio in two days xD

Monday night ZNMs was pretty normal. Smoothest Tygers we've had so far, with near-perfect stunning of Fulmination (only one got through), me and Rooks pretty much tanking him the whole way through, and an army of Rangers and Summoners doing distance damage to take him down twice with only one sacrificial Bard who kept on dying! (Hi Dolly!) FFXI is really starting to feel less like an RPG, and more like a RTS with the way we do things these days. I mentioned it to Rooks last Thursday during the Odin Einherjar. The way we have people organized, Rangers standing together and firing tons of arrows into a single mob, really reminds me of how RTS units group together and shoot.

(Of course, Rooks also says that he's been playing XI as a RTS for years now xD)

Still... that might be an interesting game mechanic if a guild leader can take a different interface, take a seat back and give people direction from a higher perspective. Move people around, give commands instead of having to type it all out, or talk over vent(which most people don't have in XI). It might make for an interesting game mechanic... someone go implement that? Maybe in some sci-fi MMO where it would make sense? I seem to recall that there was some FPS game which had a "commander" role who could give orders to individual players who were actually playing the FPS.

Anyway... time for the loot!

ZNMs: Antares Magic Atk Bonus +10, Magic Accuracy+10, MP+20

This dropped on the... I think last Tyger we did. It's on my list for two reasons... First, I really don't want to buy all the elemental staves and have them take up tons of inventory. I have the basics... dark staff for /heal, light staff for curing, and the important one is the HQ Ice Staff since a SCH does the most damage with Blizzard due to the way Hailstorm provides +int. I have a NQ Thunder staff just cos Thunder IV is my highest spell, though Blizzard IV consistently outperforms it. Everything else I don't have anything specific... so... Antares would come in! Magic Attack Bonus & Magic Accuracy would help with casting anything else from the other elemental magic, to Dia, Slow or Gravity where I do not have the elemental staff. And the +20MP does push my initial max MP up by another 20 up to 864MP when I add in the shield slot. Of course, that initial MP is only good for stuff like initial buffing as my other equipment quickly brings my "operational MP" down to about 650.

Secondly, having it look like a wand with a star on the end turns me into Sailor Ascule so I must use it to defeat evil!

aaaaaaand... a minor point was that I didn't have any other ideas on things I would have wanted from ZNMs anyway xD

Sea: Jailer of Love

So... erm... ya... I think this is the definition of lootwhoring!

Ya... that's... everything JoL dropped last night xD Sorry DO, this time the Novio earring didn't drop ^^;

After the last three JoLs didn't drop the Novia earring, I was getting fed up with him. Also, over the last few weeks I've been coming up in DRG levels (63 now!) and I'm quite enjoying it, so I decided that the Love Torque would be a really nice piece to have for both DRG & DNC. The Love Halberd of course goes for 1 point to whoever feels like getting it that day. I looked over my points and realized that I actually had enough points to get everything in one shot judging from previous bids on the items, and I'd been winning the Novia bid for the last few runs anyway, just that it wouldn't drop. I gave Rooks some warning that I might be doing something like this last week, but even I didn't think that this would happen. Sooooooo.... last night I went all out, won bids on everything and... surprisingly, JoL actually liked me and dropped it all xD Epic lootwhoring!

Love Halberd - DMG: 60, Delay: 396, Dex+7, Virtue stone equipped: Occasionally attacks twice. Lv. 73 SAM/DRG

Soo... if you look at the stats of the Love Halberd, it really isn't that good for DRG. It's low damage compared to other polearms, which means that Jump will not do as much damage... Low delay as well, so you don't get as much TP per hit. Even with the "occasionally attacks twice" part and the +dex, I'm pretty sure you'd end up coming out low in terms of DD output even by spamming WS since the WS would also be weaker...

The main reason I'm interested in this is... the double attack. Due to level sync, I'm pretty sure that by the time I hit 75 (or even 73), my polearm skill would be quite a bit out of date. Skilling up takes forever, so I'm hoping that using this with the double attack trait, it should go a bit faster. And it helps that I have 15 stacks of virtue stones sitting in storage, so that's up to almost 1500 double attacks xD

Novia Earring - Evasion +7, Enmity -7

I always call this "the evasion earring that JoL drops" because when I first became interested in it, I wanted it for my DNC evasion set. Truthfully, both aspects are very useful.

Dancers have a crazy high amount of evasion, second only the THF. Coupled with Fan Dance, our native healing abilities, and of course, /NIN and Utsusemi, we're crazy hard to kill by anything that doesn't one-shot us. I believe that this is the last piece I needed for my DNC evasion set, and it replaces my Velocity Earring (Evasion +4). The only other evasion piece that I do not have on DNC would be Ermine's Tail (Evasion +8) which would supplement my Adder Jambiya (Evasion+4), but not replace it due to the Beast Affinity aspect of Ermie. I'd be curious to try out DNC/NIN against something that is evasion tanked like Charby sometime... too bad Charby is so heavily camped and that you really don't want to risk losing claim.

I didn't really think too hard about the Enmity-7 in the past. On Dancer, while I was leveling up, I did stack on -enmity gear so that a tank could maintain hate. However, at 75, I strongly believe that DNC stops wanting -enmity and switches over to +enmity simply because it can survive that much better compared to the people we're healing. If I'm in a party with DDs, I want them to be able to do damage, stay alive, and keep Hasso/Berserk up. I can evade hits, have shadows and have Fan Dance to reduce the damage I take, so I'd rather have the mob on me. DNC relic reflects this with +enmity compared to the -enmity on AF, and there have been many times in Einherjar where I'd end up tanking the later half of a large wave simply from building up hate from spamming Divine Waltz (having a BRD in my party that sleeps the mobs pretty much guarantees that I'll become a target in a large enough pull)

It wasn't until Kaeko's post on the use of an Enmity Down set on SCH that I thought about using the -enmity side of things. I've added it to my Light Arts set so I can do more spamming of AoE buffs, Cure IV-gas and more. On the Dark Arts side, I'm considering adding it in, but currently I have two nuking earrings... Moldy for magical attack+, and I got a Sapphire Earring with Magic Accuracy +2 from the ACP chest... lucked out there with one good piece of augmented equipment. I rarely nuke in anything outside of a full BLM party anyway, so not having the -enmity is no big deal since I'm usually outdamaged by BLMs, or I actually *want* to pull hate in order to get the mob off the BLMs so that they can stun/bind/sleep/live.

Love Torque - Dex+5, Dagger & Polearm skill +7, Lv. 73

I already had my eyes on this due to the +dagger skill. This should beat my Peacock Charm for dagger accuracy, and of course, WS damage. It wasn't until I really decided to take DRG to 75 that this became something I really wanted. Poking things should be a lot more effective with this :D

Only question I have... would Love Torque or Chiv Chain be better for TPing/WSing on DRG? On DNC, it's not a question since in the past I was previously full-timing PCC. Plus on DNC I mainly use a Haste setup with minimal consideration to StoreTP. On DRG, StoreTP becomes a consideration to get to 100% TP for the next WS... also, isn't Str a modifier for WSing? so would it be better to WS in Chiv Chain, or Love Torque?

In any case... I think this also makes my Peacock Charm obsolete :o It's my main piece for DNC, but that just got replaced. My DRG is already post-60, so I've been using my Chiv Chain on that already. I've moved my PCC to my mog satchel for now in case I need to use it for some reason (like skilling up staff on hard mobs maybe?) but I'm really considering selling it as it *would* complete my Roundel Earring fund... not that there are any of those for sale at the moment ~.~ Still... I do have a sentimental reason for hanging onto the PCC since it was one that our BCNM40 group that Utaru put together got... and that Ashle let me have first cos I was leveling DNC at the time...

Aaaanyway... lots of macros have been changed to accommodate the new gear! Lots of testing needs to be done to make sure all the macros work properly too...

The melee code

Rooks said something funny during Saturday's Dynamis-Tavnasia about asking the only 4 DDs we had with us to "break the melee code" and stop dying. Funny part is that I finally understand why people like to play DDs so much.

I've caught up on so much stuff on Hulu... this season's Family Guy, Simpsons, American Dad and Dollhouse. Add to that Conan & Leno and I pretty much a ton of stuff that I can watch while I'm exping or DDing or whatever on DRG! Best part is that even when I'm spending most of my time watching TV, I'm still doing my job completely as a DD! Jump, Jump, WS... Jump, WS... etc. etc.

I guess the melee code involves putting out as much damage as possible. Dying is, of course, a side effect of the WHM/RDM/DNC/BLU/BRD/SMN not curing or the PLD not tanking properly! xD

(Of course, I'm completely joking... I... think... maybe DDing also involves getting a lobotomy)

Meanwhile, other updates:

Dragoon

DRG56 now, in exclusively LS parties... I thought that I'd catch a bug and try to finish DRG to 75 in any party no matter what, but so far the desire hasn't hit me. I had time on Saturday to go party, but I decided that cleaning my room and re-organizing my closet had a higher priority! Of course, having Zurar setup fairly regular exp parties also helps, so DRG is making steady progress to 75. With some luck, I might be DRG75 by Thanksgiving!

3/5 on DRG AF right now, with thanks to Zurar for helping me poke the NM on the hard to get to island in Battalia Downs, as well as Tasya for helping escort me to the coffer in Ifrit's Cauldron. Still need to get the key & coffer in the Boyada Tree, poke Dark Spark and fight a NM in the ugly temple to finish the full AF set. I'm not sure what people are complaining about for DRG AF... So far the pieces seem quite useful to macro in!

On Sunday afternoon, we were in Ifrit's Cauldron poking bombs for Bomb Queen pops as well as farming a coffer key for me... I was half asleep during the whole run, but I'm under the impression we also poked a few NMs, including one that triple-attack WS'ed me with one shot and dropped some weird Gae Bolg polearm :o Not sure how good it is, but it joins my polearm collection which includes a Narval, the Nyzul WS polearm and hopefully a Love Halberd soon :o

At DRG56, I'm nearing the point where I'm finishing off my gear set and can sell the low level gear. I'm pretty much set for gear from now till 75, and have my polearms lined up except for one I'll use at level 75 xD Hopefully I'll finish this job soon so I can sell or put away the lowbie gear.

Other random stuff

Last night I picked up some other random things... after ZNMs, Tasya organized the Bomb Queen run that she's been threatening me with for the last few months. Like the Joyeuse, this is another thing Tasya dragged me out to go farm the pop items for (by telling me I could get my coffer key for DRG!) then organized the people to go get it done. The fight was surprisingly easy... I was under the impression that it required a full alliance of people with tons of death, but a simple party of 6 managed to get it done xD Big thanks to Fuuji, Weaponx and Vengence for coming to help us xD

I'm still not 100% sure what to do with the Bomb Queen Ring... +75 HP is crazy nice, but the -75 fire resistance scares me since I'm not sure what that would mean with a single Firaga III xD Still... that much extra HP should push me to about 1500 HP on PLD... I'm close to that on BLU/NIN already :o

Oh ya... also picked up Aurum hands since nobody wanted it. Might be funny to get more Aurum pieces and run around in it sometime xD With random gear pieces, I'm starting to run low on storage again so I'm starting to throw out random quest items that I picked up but have no intention of doing, or the random AF+1 pieces that I have in storage... threw out WHM last night, and I think I still have BST, BRD, SAM & RDM pair sitting around.

Other random non-XI stuff

So... Fry's had a sale on the PSP Go last weekend ($50 savings! $249 BEFORE savings... tricky ad. Nearly missed it). It's Fry's, so I figure that if I didn't like it, I'd just return it...

So far, I'm liking the hardware... it's small, and with the docking cradle, easy to pick up and put down to recharge. Downloaded a bunch of demos for it, though I haven't really started playing it yet. I like how there are no carts or UMDs to change when you change games, and that you can just download games using the on-board UI. However, I don't like that the games I actually want to BUY aren't available. I've been curious about that Dissidia game for a while and was planning on buying it... but... it's not available on PSN ~.~

Other games are available, but it's still a limited subset of everything on the PSP. I still have about 20ish days before I have to decide whether I want to keep this or not... hopefully Dissidia will come out by then, or else it'll probably go back to Fry's.

Routine week, trouble with relic +1

So, last week was fairly routine with nothing too special to write about. No fun pictures from the last week either since everything was routine. Only variation from the normal stuff is that I did the Brothers ENM with Tasya, the Antlion(Hagun) ENM with Zurar & Fuuji, and some ISNMs. Got SOME drops, which did help increase my gil supply to a point where I'm slightly more comfortable. Before this, I was running at near empty and could almost not afford to buy food xD

Some EPIC FAILs during the week in Dynamis(so I hear, I missed Wed's run) and Limbus (shortest limbus evar with 2 minutes 15 seconds in zone!) However, we made it for it on Saturday with a successful Dynamis-Tavnasia, followed by a routine, successful Omega (congrats Tassy & Kasan for their new pieces!)

Sunday night, we went back to Nyzul for some farming... been a while since the last one, so I'm pretty happy that we managed to finish all 4 runs successfully. Even better that we got 2 drops out of the 4, even though they weren't exactly the pieces we were hoping for. Still, getting some armor is better compared to none!

Dragoon

Dragoon is proceeding slowly but nicely. Level 26(almost 27) now, so I have access to Spirit Link. I think I'll be one of those annoying DRGs that make healers go crazy from using that ability to keep Lumiere alive xD

I'm still amused by this job... I've gone out soloing a few times as DRG/BLU, but I'm not very good at it. The low HP trigger (33% of max HP) needed to trigger healing breath is low enough that I can tackle one EM and a couple EP at the same time, but if a Tough or 2nd EM aggros, I tend to die... so far, I've died about 4 times from just aggroing extra mobs either by not seeing them, or HP aggro. Pretty sure soloing isn't for me for now. Maybe I'll try it again after I get my AF helm which raises the healing breath trigger up to 50%.

In a party situation, DRG is just too simple... Jump, Double Thrust. I guess it gets a little more complicated later when I get High Jump, which would change the routine to Jump, Jump, Double Thrust. Still, it's a nice, relaxing change from the busier jobs that I've been playing. I'm still debating which DD job to take to 75, DRG or SAM. DRK is currently out of the running just cos... I... don't... want to... slowly... kill 100 mobs one at a time with a super-slow Great Sword.

Comparing DRG to SAM:

- DRG is less work. SAM I had to tank all the way to 37 as SAM/WAR. DRGs aren't expected to tank

- DRG cannot pull since we don't have any Ranged Attack

- DRG comes with a cute pet!

- DRG is cheaper and easier to gear compared to SAM! At least for me that is... I think I already have most of the needed DRG gear for a decent DD-type DRG at level 75. The only thing I'd need to pick up is a good polearm, which can be had for under half a mil gil.

- DRG/SAM gets most of the benefits of SAM anyway. The only things that SAM main would get are sekkinoki and the full 100% TP of Meditate

- I don't have to level extra subs for DRG xD /WAR, /SAM, /NIN and /mage are all that are needed

- There is only one weapon to skillup xD

Looking a little ahead to if I finish DRG, besides AF & relic, I was trying to put together a list of gear that I might want from various events... So far, I've only come up with:

- Dragoon Earring (T1 ZNM mob Chamrosh)

- Love Torque (JoL drop... on my list anyway since it's used by DNC)

- Love Halberd (JoL guaranteed drop... nobody wants anyway xD)

- Valkyrie's Fork (Odin drop... probably a long line for this, but whatever xD)

- Some expensive polearm that I need some gil for... still, no matter what this won't be as bad as the Hagun xD

Gear wise... I'm still kinda wondering if my current PLD "DD" set is the right combination. Right now, I'm using Askar Head & Body, Homam hands, legs and feet while I go DDing in campaign, or during boss fights where there is no chance of me holding hate on PLD anyway. Any comments on that? I'll probably end up with the same combination on DRG for TP.

Trouble with relic +1

During Saturday's Dynamis-Tavnasia, I became the owner of a pair of badly damaged Etoile Tights -1. So, this goes into the queue for the many +1 pieces I have to ask Sagheera to upgrade. However, I ran into a critical snag with this piece. It turns out that the material needed to craft this item is a square of Smooth Velvet, which according to the AH, is *never* sold ~.~

Even worse, the items needed to craft it(Wind Anima and Light Anima) are also virtually never sold, so I'd have to find someone to craft them in the first place. Aaaand... the materials to craft these two anima are RARELY sold... not never, just... very rare since they are stupid Promy drops -.-;

So... right now I'm looking for:

1. Someone to sell 4x "Remnants of a Fleeting Memory"on the AH. I managed to snag 4x Radiant Memories from the AH so at least I'm ready to craft Light Anima

2. A level 75 or higher Alchemist

3. A level 47 or higher Clothcrafter with Cloth Purification

All that... before I can craft the material needed for these tights ~.~ I took a look at the other materials for the other Etoile +1 pieces and none of them are as much of a hassle as this x.x

Anyone out there on Hades who can help me? xD

8th GM call this week

Strange week... Previous to this, I had only 1 GM call for... I think I was stuck somewhere xD

This week I've started receiving the infamous /tells from random /anon characters saying that I've been accused of a) hacking a character, b) illegal GOLD selling, c) illegal gil selling. I guess there are still stupid people out there who fall for this sort of thing.

Normally I don't bother with the GM function. I haven't bothered with the selling gil, or buying gil tells out there... They're kinda fun to watch the market fluctuate, but impersonating GMs went a little too far so I've been reporting every single one of them. I'm kinda amused that there's a stock message that they send to you if it's a character that they've already investigated.

Then last night I started getting harassing /tells and emotes from a level 1 galka in Bastok Mines. Lots of tells asking for gil while I was selling stuff on the AH. Then he started overlapping my character with his, and followed me around doing /wave emotes at me -.-. I didn't reply at all, and put in a GM call for harassment just before I OP'ed out to Qufim for more exp.

Sad part is that I'm not sure if this galka was a RMT or not. He didn't have a keyboard-smash name, but he definitely wasn't a new player if he knew how to overlap characters, send tells and use emotes. Are old players using these stupid harassment tactics now? Who actually gives gil to newbies they don't know? ~.~ This time I actually got a response from a GM about 5 minutes after I put in the call, so I guess this galka wasn't spamming the whole server. I /blisted the Galka, and the GM said that he would investigate. I also asked the GM about other obviously RMT tells.

So... turns out that the GMs seem to be handling RMT /tells manually? The GM told me to report any RMT /tell I received with the GM function ASAP so that they can put a stop to the character. So... given how easy it is to do a report, and the automated message that they give you doesn't take too much time to read, I'll probably be reporting lots more RMT as they send /tells. It's ALMOST as easy as WoW's "report spam" function. There are a few more clicks, and you actually have to type, compared to WoW's simple "right-click->report spam".

Dragoon 24

So... leveling a little faster then I thought I would... went 1-12 on Wed night thanks to a short limbus, 12-14 Thurs morning during a boring phone conference, and 14-24 Thurs night in a maze->Qufim PL'ed session. Mostly in my Christmas outfit xD I was really gimp and only had a level-appropriate spear and my leaping boots. Well, I'm properly equipped for a level 24 DRG now, so maybe I'll outdamage my Wyvern now ^^;

What I've learnt from DRG so far:

- Wyverns are really weak All it takes is a couple of AoEs, or worse, a few /pokes from the mob to kill Lumiere ; ; I don't know how DRGs survived before they made Call Wyvern a 20 minute job ability

- The "Status Parameters have increased" is actually a "level up" for Lumiere as she always gets her HP reset to 100% whenever this happens. I guess that does help keep her alive a little longer

- DDing is boring~ And simple... at least at this level... Jump, Double Thrust... Jump... maybe a Provoke here or there. Then again, I also found PLD boring at this level... and SAM... THF was slightly less boring since I went out to pull. Hopefully things will pick up somewhat in a few more levels

- Spirit Surge is a really good "oh crap" 2-hour. I really didn't know much about what Spirit Surge did... except that the DRG eats their Wyvern and they're supposed to do damage more xD Well, since leveling DRG, I've used it 3 times so far to get out of sticky situations. The HP restoration, additional TP and resetting of Jump was more than enough to keep me alive and deal out enough damage to kill what should have been killing me!

Still need to try out some DRG/mage, probably DRG/BLU soloing to see what that is like. I've been DRG/WAR so far and it's... well, just a straight DD job really. I hope the later job abilities will make things a little more interesting.

SE RMT Activity

This is kinda amusing... SE's latest RMT activity is... a "Silver Dog Tag". For... $106.99 -.- Choose whichever nation you are most loyal to for the design, and they'll also engrave your character name and server on the back.

I guess it will be useful for when FFXI players take on WoW players in some LARPing? However, being outnumbered 22:1 does not make for good odds, so chances are you'll need these dog tags to identify all the dead FFXI bodies!

Mmm... well, for over $100, most people are complaining that it's overpriced. However, this is actually about right for Japanese trinkets ~.~ SE sells their "nation rings" for $116.99 per ring, and apparently they are popular enough that they've actually sold out of them in the past. If you go down to Akihabara in Tokyo, you can see tons of expensive anime/game trinkets for sale at around that price point. When I was there, I spent waaaaaaay too much on my Marimite Rosary just cos it was identical to the one in the anime ^^;

I'm not too surprised that this customized dog tag costs that much. In fact, if I were to market it, I would have sold it later, maybe just before FFXIV came out and marketed it as a "buy a keepsake of your former character before you quit" xD Assuming even a 10% attach rate, 50,000 people spending $100 = $5M. Even a low 40% profit that's a nice addition to FFXI's contribution margin.

Soo... I don't see any issues with this new "collectors item" piece... might get one myself if I feel like it when they release it... What would cause me to have an issue with it is if they tie an in-game item to it again like the Tidal Talisman.

Now THAT would be blatant RMT ~.~