New Kids on the Blocklist

During the early afternoon I helped Teila get some moves for her BLU in the Basement of Lower Delkfutt's Tower (accessed via the Cermet Doors on the ground floor using a Delkfutt's Key). It took a while to get the moves we wanted, as someone was running from room to room killing all the Magic Pots he could lay his hands on, but farming Light Elementals for Clusters made it worthwhile.

Afterwards, whilst Akashea went to Besieged, Teila and I went into Batallia Downs and finally got Pinecone Bomb from the Treants, making her practically up to date until the 40s. We quickly Warped back to Whitegate and ran into Besieged, but I had barely cast Protect when it ended, but it was the easiest 24xp I had ever made.



Akashea, Teila and I then formed a party for our usual Assault on Periqia. Whilst I was shouting, I got a /tell from Shishio who wrote "I'm down". Me being the Englishman that I am, told him I didn't understand (he was in a party and I thought that maybe he was dead from Besieged or something, hence the "I'm down"), but he meant he was "down" for the Assault – must have been American slang! He remained in a party for a while after (lag?) but eventually I was able to invite him. We also had Koov as our tank – a quiet but good NIN from our Diabolos obsession era. Hydrowizard as a THF made the sixth.

At Dvucca, we rolled for the Assault bonus item and Shishio won it (he won it both times by a few points - jammy!) and proceeded to lead Excaliace as planned. It all went fine until we hit the Pugil tunnels, because I could see from the macros that they had gone straight from fighting Arrapago Crabs to Debauchers. I could see before long that Koov had died as the Pugils aggroed them from behind. I managed to Raise Koov and he carried on Weakened. Poor Akashea kept running out of MP.

We managed to get Excaliace to the final room with less than a minute to spare, so I popped the Chest and zoned us out with the ??? Gloves but no meds. It was appraised to be a pair of Cuffs and nothing else.



The second time in went better but not by much. One member of the party proceeded to start on the Arrapago Crabs in a room that Excaliace totally avoided despite us reminding him to bypass that room. He also ended up going completely randomly down a tunnel away from the party and tried to solo a Pugil (and failed). I had to ask Akashea to hold Excaliace whilst I ran back and Raised him.

The Debauchers took a long time to kill this time, and I had to run in and use Benediction, but we made it to the end with around five minutes to spare. This time we got a ??? Box from the Chest but it turned out to contain nothing more than an Igneous Rock. Oh well, I guess the Storm Manopolas (Rare/Ex Gloves) and Kosetsumonji (Rare/Ex Sword) will have to wait. Apparently, the Cleaning Tool Set (Furnishing) is the best ??? Box item, which Teila now owns.

After Assault, I stuck my flag up with THF and got a party relatively quickly. We were soon at five, with a Japanese RDM and a BRD. We had a NIN tank and a WAR/NIN DD. We were stuck at five for ages…. And then I noticed a BST, a MNK and a BLM seeking.

"Why don't you grab the MNK, I suggested?"

But the MNK was Japanese and wasn't responding (something that bugs me about a lot of Japanese players) but then the conversation turned sour:

(Kixxi) What about the BST or the BLM?
(Player1) BSTs suck in parties and DD > BLM at this level.

I could have sworn BLM was a DD…

(Kixxi) BSTs do not suck in parties, that’s a myth.
(P1) It’s not a myth. I know it’s a fact.

A few seconds of mumbling later…

(P1) I’m going AFK, Joubian you’ve got leader. Get us a 6th.
(Player2) KK.
(P1) And I don’t want any of that DRG, SAM or DRK crap either.

Blood boiling…

(Kixxi) That is stupid.
(P1) What is?
(Kixxi) You have just named three of the best DDs in the game.
(P1) WTF LMAO! Um, no.
(Kixxi) ??
(P1) I'm a 75 DRK, I know they suck at this level.
(Kixxi) Are you a 75 DRK now?
(P2) LMAO ok, ok, look…
(P2) He's got a point, they don’t get good til around L60.
(P1) Yeah I have multiple L75s active.

At this point I was moaning on the Linkshell to Akashea about this moron and we both agreed he was just a bratty kid.

Very tired and resigned…

(Kixxi) /sigh, OK you’re the leader. I just disagree is all.

Later, at our camp (1.5hrs after joining) we’re about to start…

P1 examines you.
(P1) ?? No Harness?
(Kixxi) ?
(Player3) Who?

Silence. I had been hoping that he was going to say "Kixxi doesn't have his SH on" so that not only could I tell him to mind his own equipment, I was also going to remind him that as he had "multiple jobs to L75", he should know a SH is L57. Moron.



The XP wasn't bad at all once we got going. I made them get a DRG who was seeking insisting that DRG would be excellent as piercing weapons do more damage to bats, and the BRD agreed with me, saying she too was getting impatient.

The problem was, P1 insisted on pulling but went AFK after nearly every fight. I know this because he died and took over ten minutes to accept the Raise, despite calls. I got really annoyed…

(Kixxi) About time.

Silence.

(Kixxi) Seriously it's late in the UK.
(P2) He's not from the UK.
(Kixxi) No, I am.
(P3) I'm going to restart.

That was my cue. I told them I was going as this was taking the piss and I left, sending a /tell to the polite Japanese RDM saying why. She was real nice about it.

My /blist increases ever more…