The End

Well, it's been nearly two years of blog-writing, and sadly, I think I'm now writing to myself on here.

Since I left the TheHelpingHand a couple of months back, apart from BBK and Aka, no one has contacted me, which is sad, but to be honest, not unexpected.

Despite helping many, many people out over the years that I've been on THH, and despite trying to lead the shell in Kitty and Kellie's absence to get members their Limit Breaks or Artifact Armour Pieces, or get people through missions, no one has helped me out in return except the usual few loyal people.

Well it's this selfishishness that has forced me to leave Unicorn and today I transferred to my new Server. Fortunately, I have a few close friends coming with me, and we have people waiting at the other end who want to help us out and get involved in doing lots of activities, something this LS has never wanted to do, unless it has benefitted them.

So, a big thanks to all those who have helped me out - it will not be forgotten, but as for the rest, I won't be sorry to leave. Such as shame it's come to this.

Overshadowed

I was off work today so I had a whole day to game. I didn’t have any commitments, so I decided to go and camp Gargantua for the Miraculous Dale quest, and farm more Tundra Tigers whilst waiting on Golem pops.

When I got there, I noticed two players had cleaned the place out of Golems and Tigers, and whilst I’m aware that it’s courtesy to team up with others wanting the NM for the quest, I was there to farm too and I didn’t want to compete with them for Tigers, so I went over to Fei'Yin to farm there.

I'd never, ever farmed in Fei'Yin, so I made a mental list of some of the things I needed or could get. Reraise II, from the Killing/Hellish Weapons, and a Wandering (?) Bulb from the Utukki (for the Opo-Opo Crown). I also looked up some NMs there, noting the four Shadows and Goliath as quite doable, although looking at the Shadows’ pop time of 16-32 hours, and nice items, I never thought I’d get a chance at them.

So first I went downstairs to the Weapons and on my very first one I got the scroll. Although I was really chuffed, I did kinda think, "now what", but I decided to try to pop Goliath. After killing a few Colossi in the little rooms off the western corridor, I gave up and went upstairs where I realised the Shadow NMs were found.

The area was silent – no one was about – and to my shock, there was the rare and much sought-after Eastern Shadow, lurking above the dead body of a Galkan SMN. There was nothing I could do to Raise him, but I did shout for one, then pulled the Eastern Shadow. You can watch the fight here.

I didn’t get the drop but I was amazed I could solo it as I had thought these NMs were supposed to be super-hard but I guess not. I then thought, well, what if no one’s come here for awhile and the others are due to pop? So I carried on, working my way round the four rooms killing the Spectres and sure enough, to my amazement, I popped the Northern Shadow! You can watch the fight here.

This one was much easier. The Eastern Shadow took of my shadows easily (as Ranged Attacks guarantee a shadow loss) but this one did nothing but melee and used the occasional Dimensional Death. Again, I got no drop though.

After a couple of hours I noticed that I had tabbed onto a Strange Apparatus, and after a short while of checking the walls I discovered a trick wall which led me to the machine much like the one in Crawler's Nest. I never knew there was one here before! I took an AFK break there fore dinner and came back to carry on later.

Another couple of hours went by and I was getting tired, but just before I was about to log, WOOT, there was the Southern Shadow! This one opened with a Stonega III and took off almost 500 life, so I began to panic, but I managed to keep the fight under control. You can watch the fight here.

AGAIN – no drop! Man, I didn’t level THF to L75 for nothing, nor get my hands on a Thief's Knife. Still, it’s all about the thrill of the camp, isn't it?

When I was about to log out to watch 30 Days of Night, I tabbed onto none other than Goliath (through the floor as you sometimes do) so I ran down the stairs and back round to the corridor where he lurks and found him in one of the side rooms. He was so big I could only see his lower half on my screen, but if you want to you can watch the fight here.

I got full drops from him, including the Slab of Granite, but I don’t think it's worth much. I'm not fussed though, I’m just chuffed I got so many NMs in one afternoon, including 3 that have a 16-32hr spawn time! It would have made my day if I'd got the Retaliators and Vali's Bow though; would have been enough to make me level MNK and RNG!^^

A Pin in the Ass

Next Saturday Teila, BBK and I are moving to Phoenix so in return for me choosing to move us to a busier Teila asked me to help her camp the Valkurm Emperor and Leaping Lizzy before we went.

We started with the Valkurm Emperor and the second I turned up in the Dunes and popped up Widescan, VE was already up so I hit Flee and legged it. Unfortunately, there was already a THF there, daggers drawn so there was nothing I could do. He killed it with ease and I said {Congratulations!} but he didn't respond. I'm guessing he got the drop because he Warped and then was logged out five minutes later.

This meant that whatever the minimum pop time was until next spawn, we had to wait it out, but we decided to kill PHs anyway. BBK, obsessed with camping, came over to help, but being a Saturday (and therefore busier), there were randoms running around making it sometimes hard to determine the PH.

Eventually BBK had to go, but his son, who also plays, took over his character and between us we carried on killing PHs. Precisely 1hr and 10mins later, I saw a shadow appear over my Taru and as I spun the camera round there was VE, hovering above my head.

I got the claim and got the drop, so that makes me 2/2 on VE, not bad considering how low some people say the drop rate is. Teila was so chuffed!

Next we tried Leaping Lizzy and this one was harder. Looking at the Wiki it seemed there were two groups of five Rock Lizards near the top of Widescan (ignoring the couple of Rock Lizards right at the top), and that the PH was the bottom of the first group of five. Problem was, this was South Gustaberg on a Saturday and not only were there plenty of others camping, but there were lots of people levelling too.

Anyway, somehow we managed to get on top of the PH in the top group, but to make sure, we also killed the Lizard in the bottom group too, in case that was also a PH.

An hour or so later, Leaping Lizzy appears on Widescan and off I dash, getting the claim. She dropped in one Acid Bolt, but no drop. This continued for several hours, and I'm positive on one occasion we spawned her from taking out the Lizard in the bottom group too, meaning to me that there are two PHs for LL. After four claims, we got no drop and gave up for the day.

Getting Booted

As I had logged out in South Gustaberg I continued camping LL with Teila for most of the morning and into the early afternoon. We got the claim on every spawn but still no Boots, even with TH1, TH2 and a Thief's Knife. How did I get mine on my first kill last year?

In the early afternoon I gave up and went to continue with the series of Bastok quests which lead to the Adaman Ingot fight. There was a lot of running around to do, such as going to Grauberg and trading Goblin Chocolates, but eventually I was ready to go.

I went AFK in Pashow Marshlands (S) to wait for other LS members to get ready for the fight too. When we went in, we were surrounded by Sapphirine Quadav, and there was nowhere to go, so we had to fight. Pulling one in a group meant pulling all, but like the Yagudo BCNM in Ghoyu's Reverie, they were pretty easy.

What I failed to notice however was that one in each group was actually a Sapphire Quadav (not Sapphirine) which was like the "NM" of the group – more powerful and able to use Benediction. As we only had to defeat seven Quadav, we didn't need to pull these, but I pulled two by mistake!

It was an easy fight, and I logged out in the Marshlands after. You can watch the fight here.

In the evening Teila obtained her Leaping Boots (whilst I was offline), so we're all set for the move to Phoenix now!^^

Waltzing with Worms

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity since I got my last (or actually, first) Dance (Drain Samba), I got my first Curing Waltz, which also meant I hit L15 on DNC. Teila and I were duoing outside Bastok Markets (S) again and were getting braver, heading out almost as far as the tower which overlooks the path down the cliff, where the Lycopodium on drugs sits.

We tried to stick to Worms onry this time, to simply get through them as quickly as possible and it was much quicker than the night before. When I did level up to 15 it was weird as I didn’t know where to stick the macro, and I also kept forgetting to use it because it had been ten levels since my last Dance.

Going to try to take on tough Dhalmels next time.

The Bardha's Tale

Yesterday I went into Limbus for the very first time to see what it was like. I went as a duo with Teila as she'd solo'd it a few times before as BLM, so I thought I'd help out as COR for mage buffs and Light Shot.

We decided on Apollyon NW, which was the ghost one. In keeping with CoP's usual vague-ness, I had to go and get some detergent from Sagheera in Port Jeuno and combine it with a key item Red Key Card (how we know we're supposed to do this, I have no idea, but Teila knew from before), so after I'd shelled out 30k for the detergent (key item: Cosmo Cleanse), we Teleported to Dem, entered the crystal and ran across Al'Taieu until we found the Aw’Euhvi NM, which, conveniently, was located beneath a Yovra.

Using the Sleep-nuke tactic, we killed it with little danger to our health, and both received a key item Red Key Card from it, so headed on over to the Swirling Vortex, and entered Apollyon.

It was silent inside, and like being in a purple Promyvion. There were two portals inside and a Sentinel Column, which can be clicked to see who is inside Limbus (as you cannot enter an area if someone else was in).

Apollyon NW, the area we wanted, was free, so in we went.

Inside, we saw an area which had a "main street" through some Prommy-style ruins, with several ghosts (known as Bardhas), and a giant Doomed (known as Pluto), which walked up and down the main street. I noticed that all the Bardhas and Pluto followed a set left-to-right, or back-and-forth walking pattern, similar to Guivre in QS Caves (only Guivre can change direction).

Amongst the mobs, there were also different coloured chests. Teila explained that some gave 5min time bonuses, and others gave MP and HP for example, so we took note of some of them for reference.

Anyway, after buffing with Wizard's Roll and Evoker's Roll, we began fighting. These mobs were designed for alliances and didn't go down easily but we got through a few in the time limit and got some Ancient Beastcoins, which was good.

Sampling Saplings

Today Teila and I ran over to North Gustaberg (S) for a change of camp. We ran around outside the entrance to Bastok Markets (S) and fought the Tunnel Worms there, which checked as DC to us at L13. For a DNC with Drain Samba and a SCH with Healing Magic they were no problem so we decided to take on the Walking Saplings too.

We were in for a big shock. They crit regularly for 40-50 points of damage and these were DC mobs! It took nearly all Teila's MP to keep me alive (remember, I'm Taru with not much HP)! Worst thing was, despite their difficulty, we still only got around 50 to 60 XP with the Emperor Band on.

Anyway, we tried to leave Saplings alone as much as possible and concentrated on Worms, which were much easier. I could take down half their life with one Combo, which meant that we could rake through them.

When we both hit L14 we stopped and I logged out to have an early night.

A Pinch of Salt

BBK wanted some help with getting through the weighted doors in the Quicksand Caves so that he could get his Ancient Salt, so we headed off to the Desert to meet with him. This was the last item he required for the Opo-Opo Crown, so he was very excited.

Unfortunately, I led them through the wrong door and ended up zoning them into the Chamber of Oracles, so we had to exit and run on foot back round to the correct door. Both Teila and I then nearly DC'd amidst a group of EP Anticans too, but fortunately we regained connection at the last minute and made it to the hieroglyphic tunnel.

From there we dropped to the ZM Pot location and proceeded to clear the room of everything so we could reach all the Sand Diggers without hassle, but even with my THF and Thief's Knife I got nothing in an hour. Teila had to log out for dinner, and I had to log out for an online meeting with Sesh, but BBK was able to continue alone with the two near the zone to the Desert.

Eventually Teila logged back in to help some more and just as they were about to give up (2.5hrs after we'd begun) the Ancient Salt dropped. He was so chuffed and went to pick up his Opo-Opo Crown straight away.

La Grand Canyon Danse Macabre

It was back to the Tahrongi Canyon with Teila as DNC and SCH, and this time we started at the entrance to Buburimu Peninsula and practically worked our way around the entire perimeter of the zone taking on any EPs and DCs we could find.

Before long we had both reached L13 and decided that we'd try levelling in a new area next time, so opted to move to North Gustaberg (S).

I then returned to the Glacier to have a second attempt at camping Gargantua, but even though the area was mine to myself for awhile, my luck was no different to last time. Made a couple more stacks of Black Tiger Fangs though (Thief's Knife FTW!) so it wasn't a waste of time.

Phantastic

We were going to camp Ixtab for BBK’s Miraculous Dale quest earlier in the week but due to constant DCing on the night we were supposed to go, we postponed until tonight. Ixtab is a L71 NM Ghost in Upper Delkfutt’s Tower who drops the Cheviot Cloth used to make the Cheviot Cape, a mage piece with Damage Reduction -5% on it.

Before that, however, I went off to the Beaucedine Glacier to farm Black Tiger Fangs. The Tundra Tigers were Too Weak and dropped Fangs like hotcakes, which can be exchanged in San d’Oria for 2.1k Gil per three Fangs.

Whilst there I also decided to camp Gargantua, an NM Golem for the Miraculous Dale quest, but in the three hours I was farming I was unable to spawn him.

In the end, I returned to Windurst and took the OP Warp to Qufim where BBK was milling around. We teamed up and he suggested we try to pop Trickster Kinetix whilst we waited. We ran up the spine just outside Lower Delkfutt’s Tower and killed all the Dancing Weapons, but we did not have any joy.

When Teila, Aka and Voltor arrived, we went inside and made our way to the top of the tower using the Delkfutt’s Key. At the top was Mimas, a large NM Gigas, so we took him down but he didn’t drop his Heavy Moth Axe.

We got a little lost trying to find the way up from the tenth floor, but eventually we found the eleventh floor and Ixtab wasn’t there. I suggested we split up (as Ixtab can pop over two floors) but no one listened. In the end I went up to the top with Teila to check on the second pop point, but Ixtab was there already!

We pulled him and he must have gone down in under a minute easily. We didn’t get the Cheviot Cloth but we were able to record the death in our Data Analyser Log.

Whilst resting up and deciding what to do next, I pulled a Jotunn Hallwatcher for fun, and lo and behold, it dropped a Hoary Battle Horn, a Rare/Ex item with a description that read it was used to summon Pallas to battle.

I ended up with the Horn, and we agreed to pop him for fun. Aka located the pop point, so we dropped through a hole in the floor and started to clear the centre of the room. When we were ready, I traded the Hoary Battle Horn to the ??? and along came Pallas, a black Gigas with tattoos. He was even easier than Ixtab and no one even broke a sweat bringing him down. Unfortunately, the Pallas Bracelets didn’t drop, which, in turn could be used to pop Alkyloneus (sp), an even “harder NM” that might drop the Alkyloneus (sp) Bracelets, a very rare and expensive hand piece with awesome boosts.

After that we went back outside and returned to camping Trickster Kinetix. We must have been there for around an hour and a half killing the Dancing Weapons at the spine, so eventually we gave up and I logged out.

Evading the Question

This is more a summary blog entry of the week’s events as I have remained in Caedarva Mire all week (with the exception of returning to Whitegate twice to sell off my Imp Wings and Dark Crystals).

Having used up my Anniversary Ring for this year, I’ve resorted to milking my Emperor Band. Instead of going THF/WHM to the Mire, I’ve dusted off my pirate attire and geared back up as COR/WHM, as I can buff much more effectively, giving Evoker’s Roll and Corsair’s Roll.

I’ve also upgraded some of my accessories lately, so I had more Ranged Accuracy than before (e.g. dual Behemoth Rings), plus a Higher Marksmanship score than before, so I brought some stacks of Steel and Iron Bullets with me. I was pleasantly surprised at how often I hit. Across the course of the week I went from 233 Marksmanship to 247 Marksmanship, putting me 3 from cap! I don’t think I’m going to Merit Marksmanship though, even if it would benefit both THF and COR.

I made around 9 or 10 Merits this week. I managed to start and finish Evasion meaning I have an extra 8 Evasion skill (bringing me to 250 on THF (250/284 with Merits)), which is awesome, but still a long way from cap. With 284 Evasion I expect to get missed a lot, especially in my Evasion build, which I’m still working on.

With THF to L75 my levelling work is done. Well, almost. There is the slight matter of having other alternative sub jobs to NIN, and a good solo one is DNC. In fact, DNC is a very good solo sub for most jobs, or so it seems.

A Broken Heart

Today we returned to Cape Terrigan and entered through the northern tunnel to XP our NPCs, and to continue breaking the latent on my Heart Snatcher.

We experienced many strange DC problems today, which had happened a couple of times recently, but not as much as today. It starts with a R0 and a “time out” error, which ejects you to the title screen (all the while your internet connection is fine), but as soon as you log in again, you will DC a second time without an R0 from the packet meter and this will take you out onto the desktop; again your internet connection will be fine. Lots of people are experiencing this and forums are saying this “double DC” has only been happening since May.

Nevertheless, there were no untimely deaths from this and the day was really successful. I got around 8 full levels of Evasion skill and after suddenly noticing huge damage from a WS, I realised I had finally broken the latent on my Heart Snatcher (wooooohooooo!) and I was able to confirm it by noticing the damage was the same as my offhand damage, as opposed to half.

Upon my return from Cape Terrigan, I went to Whitegate and decided to scrap the idea of an Attack and Store: TP build, and focus on a Haste build after all, so I bought a thousand Imperial Bronze Pieces and donated them to the chap in Al Zahbi for my Walahra Turban, and dusted off my Rapparee Harness. The main point of the Turban is the +5% Haste, and the focus of the Harness is the +4% Haste, so +9% isn’t bad. I now need to get hold of a Swift Belt from the Sacrarium, for a further +4%. Another plus is that the Turban has a purple strap on the back which looks awesome with the Harness, which, in turn goes nicely with the Cobra gear I already have. For the first time ever, I think I look quite badass!

A Merit to the Force

With six uses of the Anniversary Ring left, I went to Caedarva Mire again to duo on Heraldic Imps with Teila. For the second time running, the first camp (right outside the zone to the Alzadaal Undersea Ruins) was empty meaning we didn’t have to do the death run across the field of Soulflayers. Anyone who was reading my blog from around September/October 2007 will know what I mean when I say how deadly this place is.

I was talking to Seshamaru whilst we duo’d them, and I told him that I was aiming to get 20k in one and a half hours and he laughed, saying “good luck”. I reminded him that I was an Incredibly Tough Taru and lo and behold, I managed to make 15k in around the same time, so that’s one and a half Merits for me. Just need another two and a half and I can max out my Critical Hit ratio. Add that to the Heart Snatcher and that’s an extra 10% chance of critting, and if I ever get the Pahluwan body, that’s another 10%. 20% extra crit chance plus a THF’s natural high DEX makes for a very very high crit chance!

In other news, the latest episode of Limit Break Radio was aired yesterday, and featured Sesh, who was there to talk about Vana’diel Profiles. The episode was recorded around a month ago, so it was just before we began to get big, but thanks to his appearance now on both PFA and LBR, plus the interview with Aniero, the floodgates have opened and we’re getting tonnes of new members every day. More members means more admin for the site, so Sesh has taken on board Dualmikauzero as a new admin. Aniero gave Sesh so much praise about how good the site was, and Sesh sold it so well too, so I’m hoping this is enough to make the launch of our Podcast a success.

It better be anyway! We’ve gone to a lot of trouble to arrange the launch show to feature Aniero and Kallo from LBR and Steak and Fusionx from PFA, so it should be an amazing pilot. Having spent hours on Skype discussing the name and content layout for the show, we’re all but ready to go, but we need to spend a bit more time organising the Level Down (Podcast name) page so that it is ready to accompany the launch.

I’ll keep you posted, but for the latest information, sign up and create a profile at Vana’diel Profiles – I’ll add you to my friend list.^^ So far, BBK, Teila and I are there from THH.

Thieving & Achieving

Due to “popular demand” from certain members of TheHelpingHand Linkshell, I am going to start writing my blog for this site again. This does not mean I have any plans to return to the Linkshell right now; there are far too many users who have deeply upset me, plus there are now certain members of this Linkshell who are on my /blacklist. I am saddened by what this Linkshell has turned into and although I did my best to try to organise/lead since Kitty’s departure, due to factors outside of my control, the Linkshell has come to stand for something I cannot associate with.

Needless to say, my best in-game friends remain on this Linkshell and it is for them that I continue this blog. Throughout everything, they have continued to support me and talk to me, both in and out of game, which is fantastic. I will always help you out in return.

So it has been nearly a month since my last entry and a lot has changed. As you may recall, I started a three-year Web Design & Development course in April which, on top of a full-time job which keeps me out of the house for twelve hours a day, has severely restricted my in-game play time. I therefore don’t play every day anymore, but I do come on as much as I can.

I have also begun work on a community site called Limit Break Radio, which was a dream come true as this guy is like an FFXI hero of mine. The interview is now accessible from the Vana’diel Profiles home page (June’s article) in both audio and text format. At the time I didn’t have a microphone (I was using a built-in one on my laptop) so my quality is appalling, and as I was nervous, I waffle immensely when I ask the questions. It’s worth hearing, however, as Aniero is an incredibly talented speaker, having a background in broadcasting.

Last week Sesh and I had the pleasure of interviewing Steak and Fusionx from the other popular FFXI community and Podcast, Pet Food Alpha and due to a new microphone and a bit of rehearsal, my delivery is much better. This article will be available in July. Steak is another great presenter, and also very funny. Worth checking these Podcasts out if you have the time.

But in the meantime, keep an eye out for Level Down, and you can slowly track my rise to FFXI stardom! And, if you haven’t already done so, create a page about yourself on Vana’diel Profiles – I’ll add you to my friend list.

In game, I’ve been hard at work with levelling THF, and last night I got 30k duoing with Teila in the Mire and hit L75!

Hallelujah, hallelujah!

I have been levelling THF since around January 2006, when my WHM seemed to have come to a halt at L58. I then took THF to L50, went back to levelling SMN, then went to WHM, then went to THF again and took it to L60, then went and took COR to L75, and THEN got back on the horse with THF. So in the time it took me to get L75 on THF (nearly 2.5yrs), I managed to get two other jobs to L75. This was seriously hard work, but I’m so pleased as it’s the job I’ve been passionate about ever since Bassmundo sold it to me with his dagger-spinning antics many moons ago. I’m now determined to Merit it to the hilt, get the best gear ever and then try to solo impossible odds.

I also helped Akashea and Teila recently take on Cailleach Beur, a Skeleton NM for the Staff Weaponskill, Retribution, which was found inside Ifrit’s Cauldron on a bridge above a river of lava. BBK organised the run, asking members to come and help “someone who always helps out others”. Whether people came out of the kindness of their hearts or because they felt guilty I don’t know, but we got an alliance of THH members together for the fight, which was very easy.

We then stuck around to get BBK a Wyvern Skull for the Opo-Opo Crown quest, and when one dropped really quickly, I asked if they minded hanging about for one for me. Although I do not have BRD levelled, I do have some of the items already, so I thought I would take the opportunity now whilst I was here.

With the new update (which I’ll get onto later), there is a new quest available from Lower Jeuno, called The Miraculous Dale, which involves fighting around twelve to fifteen unpopular NMs for a total of just under 60k. As three of the NMs are the Boreal mobs from Xarcabard, we thought we would kill two birds with one stone and tick those off the list whilst getting Sirdante her LB2 done at the same time.

Again I was surprised at the turnout as we ended up with seven of us from THH, and the three mobs were down in seconds. The damage the front-liners were doing was incredible. Just a shame we can’t get this many to turnout to regular events – we could do the tier 1 ZNMs for fun (see update bit).

Now for the update. There’s been a lot of new things implemented into June’s update, including an increased level cap for Fellows (L70), a Fellow points system, new WotG missions, quests and Campaign rank, amongst other things. I managed to uncap Yawawa from L60 (she’s now L62), but I found out afterward the points system with the NPC is backdated for so much time, and the points you have available the first time you speak to him is based on XP your Fellow has got during that time. As mine had been stuck at the level cap for around a year, I didn’t have many points to spend. It’s cool because now you can really customise your Fellow with appearance and weaponry, plus increase the amount of mobs she can kill etc.

The new missions are simply amazing. I did them on the night they came out. It’s a tonne of really long cutscenes and just one fight, but the cutscenes are the best I’ve ever seen with cinematic technique found in proper cartoons, plus realism of animation never seen before (check out Lilisette’s dancing). The story is great and it’s so begging for a twist. We KNOW we won the Crystal War, so this expansion can’t just be about what happened. Cait Sith is meddling for a reason. I just want to know why.

Another update was the implementation of the ZNM system. This was to give parties/Linkshells a fairer option at fighting NMs in Aht Urhgan, by adding a points system from completing quests. When enough points are achieved, they can be exchanged for pop items which, as implied, pop these NMs so you don’t have to compete with others for claims, nor wait hours for a pop.

To begin with you have access to nine tier 1 NMs, then by beating them you can progress to tier 2 etc. Each tier is significantly harder and parties have been known to wipe to tier 1 mobs. The drops are worth it though, and rumour has it that beyond tier 4 (the last known guaranteed tier) is a tier 5, as the name Pandemonium has been found in the .dat files. Could he be the new megaboss of this system?

There is also Dark Ixion, a HNM that runs away when approached, unless you throw a piece of Stygian Ash at him from the correct distance. He drops some nice items, but has taken Linkshells around 2 to 3 hours to beat with a full alliance. What is really bad about this though, is that Stygian Ash only drops from Pixies.

Let’s not forget our old friend the Sandworm. Now he has been given the ability to eat you, which transports you (and your party – unconfirmed) into the Campaign Ops zones (Ghoyu’s Reverie, Ruhotz Silvermines etc.) which contain various NMs such as Serket, and apparently these NMs found here drop some great gear, such as the Antares Breastplate.

Happy hunting!^^

Kasha in the Attic

Kazia needed a Coffer Key from Castle Zvahl-Baileys so BBK offered to help come along for the company. In exchange, I agreed to help farm him a Demon Pen for the series of Moblin quests in Movalpolos.

It didn't take us long to get the Coffer Key from the middle-level Demons there but the Coffer's location wasn't obvious.

Before we went to go and find the Coffer, we dropped into the lower tunnels of the Castle and began farming Demon Generals for the Pen. The Demon Generals had a really low repop time meaning that we sat there waiting for ages on the repops with nothing to do.

Bored, BBK offered to help try to break my latent on my Heart Snatcher, so suggested Shark Bite --> Tachi: Kasha for a Light Skillchain. Problem was, by the time I got my Weaponskill off, the Demon was practically dead so BBK finished it off with his Weaponskill, rather than the Skillchain finishing it off, so we gave up on that idea.

After awhile the Pen dropped so I went to scout around the Castle for the Coffer before telling Kazia and BBK to follow. I found it in a really awkward place amongst the nasty hard Demons and the Ahrimans. We had to clear the area, and when Kazia popped the Coffer, we legged it out as quickly as possible.

Squids In

Managed to squeeze in another Sea Organ farming session before bed after trying to get more coursework done. The farming run was pretty good until Teila’s screen froze up meaning she was unable to deal with the newly spawned babies of a mother Ul’Xzomit and we both wiped. A Reraise II later and a reboot and everything was okay again.

The Fantastic Four

I logged in tonight to find no one but the Fantastic Four logged in for the Subligar Farming which specific absent LS members promised to do with us last week as Aka and Teila did not get their RDM Subligars in the Phomiuna Aqueducts.

It’s getting really upsetting to see that people are getting what they want and not helping us out in return; I don’t know how many times I’ve said this recently, but it’s getting really depressing. I can scream and shout about it until I’m hoarse but it does me no good as no one pays any attention. If I kick butt and demand people start helping others as they have been helped I’ll usually get a few promises for the first week but then it’s all forgotten.

At least I know I can count on Aka, BBK and Teila and then can count on me. I bagsy The Torch though. BBK can be The Thing.

I then rearranged Subligar farming for Thursday this week, putting a clear /lsmes up about it asking for people to help Akashea and Teila (in the hope that others will recognise the help they have given them in the past).

With nothing to do I noticed that a L8 Besieged was on its way (Mamool Ja), so I used my Olduum Ring and got on a Chocobo to Al Zahbi. Due to several of the Serpent Generals being defeated, we had few meds, including the absence of the Instant Reraise scroll, which meant every fight was a big risk. I died on numerous occasions, but managed to make 1.6k XP for my efforts.

After Besieged it was off to Al’Taieu for more Sea Organ farming. With my THF’s Knife and Anniversary Ring it made the session much more enjoyable as I made a further few K XP and got numerous Organs.

Horrid Holla

We had the biggest LS turnout ever today for Promyvion-Holla with the aim to get Balbir and Kazia their first Prommy done, and Iliona access to Lufaise Meadows. We had ten people turn up from TheHelpingHand, including three SMNs so it was going to be a walkover.

Or at least it was supposed to be.

Although we had several tank jobs in the Alliance, Iliona and Kazia were the only melee to enter the BCNM for Holla, and unfortunately, as Doffo had been using Iliona’s character for other purposes requiring Healing Magic, she still had a /WHM sub on which meant she was a PLD with no ‘Voke and even less damage than she would have had normally. As Kazia was a WAR/MNK (and not WAR/NIN), she had Provoke but could not mitigate the damage.

The run up was very successful and rather easy, especially with ten people. The BCNM, however, was a humiliation. I had asked everyone to bring Poison Potions, as the Holla boss uses Shadow Spread, an AoE Sleep and Curse move, but as always, there were several people who forgot their Poison Potions (I sometimes wonder if people want to actually win BCNMs sometimes) so these were shared around by some generous people. The three SMNs were to use Astral Flow when ready to utterly annihilate the boss with a total of nine Diamond Dusts from Shiva to beat it in seconds, and Doffo, believe it or not, was the WHM!!!

At around 80% I called for Astral Flow and one of the other SMNs and I used it, but the third didn’t see my call and held off. I saw my Diamond Dust land, but nothing from the second, and then when the third finally used his, his Shiva didn’t release a Diamond Dust either. I put it down to heavy resistance, and popped a Hi-Ether and waited for my next Astral Flow. At this time I saw NO Animas being used and in the end I had to use my reserve Anima just to help us out! I had promised not to use it unless we absolutely had to as I needed to concentrate on quaffing MP Meds.

I released a second Diamond Dust which also landed, but STILL nothing from the other SMNs and I began to worry. Doffo was doing an excellent job of healing, and Iliona was also doing backup healing as Kazia tanked really well, but I was really concerned as to what the other SMNs were doing.

Sure enough I soon figured it out. For those who don’t play Summoner, if you don’t Assault a mob, your Avatar sits beside you waiting for your command. If you try to use a Blood Pact whilst it is not engaged with a mob, it’ll miss, as it will be trying to follow you around. You must use Assault then Diamond Dust and Shiva will always land her Diamond Dust (unless the mob is rapidly moved some distance away).

In the end we wiped as with no Astral Flows landing and we did not have the damage to win without them. I was furious as not only did poor Iliona not get Lufaise (or Kazia, who tanked her heart out), but I wasted nearly 50k (Reraise Earring, Poison Potions, Animas, Hi-Ethers, Food, Yags etc) in meds and we will now have to do it again next week. I don’t mind spending money and actually trying but to spend all that money and then lose because people can’t be bothered angers me.

What really rubbed it in was not only losing with three SMNs, but we fell out of the BCNM dead to land in front of a Japanese party who laughed, so we just looked like noobs.

Then get this, we Allianced back up to do the ENM, an EASIER version of the main boss, and WE LOST TO THAT TOO, even with TEN PEOPLE! Poor Omni also DC’d at the start of the fight.

We went back in and everyone forgot their Poison Potions, so within seconds the whole Alliance was asleep (except me), so I had to Cure the WHM who began Curing everyone else. Unfortunately, for some bizarre reason, the Curing then stopped (I guess people were put back to sleep on subsequent Shadow Spreads and kept quiet) and the melee began dropping like flies (SMNs cannot backup heal in BCNMs as they need all their MP for Blood Pacts), and although we had AGREED to put our Avatars onto the three spawned babies when they were summoned NO ONE except me put their Avatars onto the Weepers that spawned and I got my a$$ kicked trying to deal with all three.

Again we wiped. A TEN PERSON ALLIANCE against a weak version of the main boss.

I’m not shouting for fun, but if you want to win at CoP, BRING MEDS, BRING ANIMAS and PLAY YOUR JOB PROPERLY. You CANNOT breeze through CoP and have others just carry you through. I cannot stress enough how hard and expensive CoP is. If you cannot afford it, do not try it without your meds in the hope others will cover for you – prepare and farm in advance.

We rescheduled for next week but I am NOT coming unless people prepare properly next time. Well done to those who tried – there were some good efforts but to lose twice with the firepower we had was appalling for a LS as experienced as us.

Stubborn as a Mule

Have you ever seen the low-level areas so busy? Heading out into places like Ronfaure and Gustaberg to level mules for the Mog Bonanaza it feels strange having to compete for mobs, but thanks to the Anniversary Ring you can get mules levelled to L5 in a record amount of time!

Despite the tedium of levelling mule after mule to L5 in a short time as possible I stuck too it and got eight mules levelled! Almost done, just one more to go!

Meating Needs

I decided to take BBK's farming advice and head to the Sanctuary of Zitah this morning to farm Coeurl Meat and Hides from the Master Coeurls as I was off work today.

The aim was to make sure funds were topped up quickly to ensure all mules had enough Gil to purchase ten Bonanza Marbles each.

The session was actually a real success! In a short while I had made two stacks of Coeurl Meat and filled up my inventory with around 20 Coeurl Hides! I even managed to get a parrying Skill-Up, which is both embarassing and a blessing!

The highlight of the session came when I discovered an NM Funguar called Noble Mold lurking near one of the entrances to the Boyahda Tree. I had heard nothing about this NM but I decided to fight him, armed with my Thief's Knife to increase chances of a drop. Little did I know that the Noble Mold is one of those ultra-rare NMs that only pop under certain conditions such as at certain times of the month and under specific weather conditions!

You can watch the fight here.

Unfortunately I didn't get the drop (Rain Hat) but it's always fun to come accross an unsuspecting NM.

After that it was off to Beadeaux to get a Coffer Key which took some time but I got several levels of Evasion Skill-Ups so I will be returning there soon to get more!

Before I logged out I returned to Port Windurst to find that not too far from the OP Taru was the Mog Bonanza Moogle, so I thought I'd go and get my lottery numbers.

Unfortunately I was only able to get one of them. I had assumed that they would be Key Items, but alas no, they take up inventory space. Guess I need a Mog House clearout!

Hook, Line and Sinker

As I had logged out in the Sea Serpent Grotto I logged in today to find the one I was looking for, Mouu the Waverider, lurking nearby with no one around. I also noticed he was another DRG not a THF as expected but I thought to give it a go anyway.

I was shocked how hard this was. I had assumed all the NMs behind the Mythril Door were the same level, and as Pahh the Gullcaller, who was a mid-50s NM, was really easy, I expected a relatively straightforward fight.

Little did I know Mouu was a L66 DRG NM, who ate through my shadows before eating through me and summoning a Wyvern to eat me some more.

Despite Perfect Dodge and Bloody Bolts I couldn't keep up and died with no Reraise in the middle of nowhere. I had to bite a 3k+ Home Point but it was a lesson well learned!

Luckily there was a Troll Besieged coming so I was able to recoup 1.5k XP.

Dragon and Done It!

I know I refer to milestones a lot in this game, but I don’t think I’ve passed such a big one for a long time. A lot of THFs say that when they get to L60 they are so used to SATA that they find it difficult to separate their SAs and TAs (due to the Trait Assassin) and they need to relearn their job. As I had been using TA on my NPC since L50, even though it was largely ineffective, I was already used to separating my SA and TA by the time I got to 60 so there wasn’t much to relearn.

Then in my mid 60s I learnt to macro gear properly giving myself a melee Build, an Evasion build and a WS build but tonight I got L73 and became able to equip my end-game JSE, the Dragon gear.

For the majority of their careers, THFs are “told” to equip Accuracy for their melee build and at end-game, Accuracy can be forgone to some extent and replaced with Haste and more damage, provided that Dagger is kept capped and Merits are put into it. Of course everyone can do their own thing, but I am a firm believer that a THF shines in its SA or TA plus WSs such as Sneak Attack + Dancing Edge means I can pull off weaponskills of just under 1000 damage on Campaign mobs, and I’m a Taru!

So now that I’m technically end-game, what do I melee in? I cannot afford a Haste build yet, so do I now drop my Accuracy build and go for Attack, as the Dragon Gear has a lot of Attack on it? I am loathe to drop my Store TP gear as I have a total of +9 Store TP on and my TP is rocketing up. Anyway, I also bought a Potent Belt (STR+3, Accuracy +8) to replace my Life Belt and bought an Ecphoria Ring (Accuracy +4, Store TP+1, Cure Amnesia X100 charges) to use until I could get my hands on the Ulthalam’s Ring once I complete ToAU. Although I haven’t finished breaking the latent yet, I have my L73 Dagger, the Heart Snatcher so once I break that, it can replace the Hoplite’s Harpe (my green sickle-shaped dagger). Whilst I like the way the Hoplite’s Harpe looks, I am a sucker for Rare/Ex gear and the more I can get, the more non-Ex gear I can sell back to the AH.

So anyway, I went back into Campaign to try out my new gear and was very impressed with the numbers. Only problem is I now pull hate very easily and need to get my Evasion skilled up to compensate.

After Campaign I was very tired so didn’t speak on the LS but I went with Teila to the Sea Serpent Grotto to get a Coffer Key for Balbir’s SMN. I enjoy putting Treasure Hunter to good use, but ironically the Coffer Key dropped from a Rock Crab that I wasn’t fighting. We soon found a Coffer nearby so Balbir unlocked it to find his Old Gauntlets.

At the same time I noticed an NM lurking by a pool nearby called Worr the Clawfisted. It aggroed me from a reasonable distance, linking in with a couple of Sahagin, so I had to clear the normal mobs out of the way ASAP to concentrate solely on Worr.

As his name might suggest, he was a MNK NM and therefore had lots of HP and attacked twice, meaning my shadows didn’t stay up for long. Due to his level (can’t have been more then L60), I was able to land Bloody Bolts easily so I was able to Drain regularly, and as I had my NPC Yawawa out, I could TA onto her so she could take the hate.

I was pretty tired so I didn’t play to my best and was pressing the wrong macros/forgetting to Drain etc, but it wasn’t too bad, especially when Teila and Balbir caught up with me and assisted. We also got the drop, a L60 pair of Hand-to-Hand weapons for MNK, which were pretty good.

You can watch the fight here.

Balbir then returned to Jeuno to try to put a party together for Dark Spark whilst Teila and I stayed a little longer to see if the other NMs were up and sure enough the second of the three behind the Mythril Door was there, Pahh the Gullcaller. Pahh was much easier and the two of us took her down in half the time, again getting the drop, a Rare/Ex icy-blue Polearm which has a hidden effect of allowing you to eat raw fish even if you are not a Mithra.

You can watch the fight here.

We tried to find the third NM which drops a nice Rare/Ex Dagger (I need more Daggers for capped events) but despite trying to pop it by clearing the Sahagin, didn’t appear. There was another THF running round who may have got the claim before we were there.

Falling asleep at the keyboard, I logged out in the Grotto to see if he was there next time I logged in.

A Good Kicking

I seem to recall a year ago that things on the LS had got so tense and upset due to numerous factors that certain people got a bit annoyed with one another and I took a few weeks out from the LS. The last straw was a terrible run in the Phomiuna Aqueducts which was so full of stupid mistakes that it was downright unenjoyable. Tonight was another Subligar run in the Phomiuna Aqueducts and as if the place was cursed, another bad night on the LS.

A certain member of the LS (who will remain anonymous, but many of you may know who) joined the LS and was very friendly but soon became very rude and selfish pestering myself and another LS Sackholder with /tells demanding we do this, that and the other because they wanted something done regardless of the feelings of others. During a recent even run they even lotted on an item they didn’t want just to have something rather than nothing when another LS member needed that item.

In order to reach a peaceful agreement, TheHelpingHand agreed to go on another run tonight but the person in question still wasn’t happy and went on Friday night to get their own Subligar, and succeeded. Obviously not in any rush now, the person said they would join us tonight for a little while. This was fair enough, I guess.

However, forty minutes before the event was scheduled to run, I saw the person shouting for their own party in Whitegate, for which they got four people and took off to the Phomiuna Aqueducts. This upset not only me, but several of the members of the Linkshell too, who expressed that they did not want to go with randoms, for although it might be easier to kill with a larger group, it would mean staying for many, many hours trying to find the correct Fomor and get the correct drops for everyone; besides you never know who you can trust.

So, without asking, the person forms their own party and sets off for the Phomiuna Aqueducts because they could not wait for us. This meant we would be competing for claims against a rival party led by one of our own LS members. I therefore questioned the LS member to which the summary response was “WTF my friends come first”.

It was that line alone which prompted me to then kick the member from the LS. TheHelpingHand is not a Linkshell that promotes such selfishness, and if such friends come first, why not join their LS and not screw us around like that. Kicking this member was welcomed by some but upset others, but to those who wondered why I did it, you have to remember that this wasn’t a long-standing member who had done lots for us, this was a new member who had been nothing but selfish since they joined despite us going out of our way for them since. No thanks, no acknowledgement of such, but plenty of /tells to me and another member saying “I want, I want, I want, when do I get?”. I wouldn’t have the balls to behave like that on a LS I’d been a member of for five years, let alone one I’d been on for two weeks.

Myself and a couple of others had begun dequipping the LS every time this person was on and we should not feel we have to do this on our own LSs. Therefore I just hope that to those who were against my action will come round to understanding.

The run itself, although soured by this, wasn’t too bad. Once we were inside, we looked up on the net where the Fomor we wanted were located in a party of three behind a locked gate deep within the Aqueducts, a RDM, a SAM and a PLD (although we did not know until later Aka wanted the Libra Subligar dropped from BRDs).

We had anticipated wiping to these Fomor (as a link was unavoidable) but whether due to skill, Merits, better gear or what, we managed to survive and get into a nice rhythm of killing the Stegotaur who popped in our camp, and then fighting the Fomor when they popped.

Teila agreed to kite the PLD Fomor whilst we dealt with the other two, but she (expected to and) ended up dying every time, but this allowed one to depop. We felt horrible she had to die each time, but she insisted she didn’t mind. It was a shame that she did not get the Scorpio Subligar she wanted from the RDM as it was all for nothing. BBK, Voltor and Doffo got their Cancer Subligars for SAM, and I got a Pisces one for PLD too. Aka didn’t get her Libra one as we were unfortunately nowhere near the BRD Fomor but we agreed to help next week.

Now some good news – the Anniversary Rings are back with the arrival of the Adventurer Appreciation Campaign 2008. I have posted my stats below:

Everything is Permitted

Last Sunday we attempted the Uninvited Guests ENM in Monarch Linn and failed miserably, but had to wait five days to get a new Key Item to reattempt the fight. We also had to wait until the next Conquest update to reobtain the quest Spice Gals, where we had to get Rivernewort from Riverne Site #B01 and trade it to Rouva in Southern San d’Oria.

Anyway, we reactivated both quests and headed into Riverne Site #B01 to farm Drake Scales from Pyrodrakes. When we got there, we found that the area was quite busy with a large alliance of people standing near the first Spatial Displacement. For anyone who hasn’t done CoP or read our guide to CoP, Riverne was once a beautiful cape not too far from the city of Tavnazia. Due to a bizarre magic accident, the cape was “destroyed”, and it broke into many pieces which now float in the sky above the seas west of the Tavnazian Archipelago. In order to traverse the Cape to the summit (Monarch Linn), you need to “jump” from island to island using Spatial Displacements.

However, it’s not so easy. Some Displacements are unstable, and require a Giant Scale to make it temporarily stable so you can use it to reach the next island. Until this day I have not been able to find a clue or an NPC anywhere who explains to do this, so I bow down to the person who first discovered this.

Anyway, we pulled the Pyrodrakes and began fighting them (we being the usual bunch, Aka, BBK, Teila and me), and got a Giant Scale from nearly every single one. After getting four, Teila and I headed back to our Home Points to change jobs for the ENM. The plan this time was for Teila to solo one and BBK to solo the other, with Aka healing BBK and me healing Teila. We also agreed to lock them into their BLM forms (ironically) as their melee forms were physically stronger with insane weaponskills.

Our route up was trouble-free and we all got the Key Item: Rivernewort, but BBK was discovered by a Lunantishee (Malboro family), which, did you know, is the name of a tribe of fairies who guard blackthorn bushes (I like to look up the origins of obscure FFXI mob names). Anyways, the Lunantishee beat him up a bit, but he Reraised and we entered Monarch Linn.

We waited for BBK to unweaken and Teila asked if we should buff up outside but I said that buffs would be removed upon entry. Turns out I was wrong so anyone doing this BCNM and wanting their record time not to be spoiled by buffing and resting, buffs are NOT removed upon entry to Uninvited Guests.

Teila ran in first and grabbed aggroed the Mammets, and BBK went in second, taking one off her. We had agreed to keep them apart so that the –ga spells would not harm everyone. Teila and I pulled ours to the start of the arena but I think I blinked and I missed it, but BBK’s Mammet-800 was dead in under ten seconds. He had Meditated twice at the start, used Sekkanoki (sp) and his 2hr to use five weaponskills and his 2hr, which is some serious damage.

I normally think Teila mows mobs down with her fully-Merited BLU, but even she was surprised that BBK had killed his so quick. Anyway, BBK and Aka came to join in and the second didn’t survive much longer, but it did keep using Tremourous Tread to Stun everyone.

The record for the ENM was 34secs, which is amazing, but had we known about being able to buff outside first, we could have perhaps tried to rival it.

I was going to log out at this point, but I agreed to go to Purgonorgo Isle with Teila to fight an Elvaan NM for her series of Goldmane quests. Before that, we all ran back to the Tavnazian Safehold to speak with Justinius to receive our rewards for the Mammet fight.

50% of the time Justinius gives you a Page from Miratete’s Memoirs, and 50% of the time you receive a random item which could be worth something, or might not be. The top prize is a Mannequin Body, which is an ultra-rare drop. I received a Dragon Bone, Akashea received some kind of Risotto dish, Teila received a Page from Miratete’s Memoirs and BBK received… the Mannequin Body, his just-reward for camping VE for me! We also received new titles.

After that we went to Sandy to obtain our Memoirs for the Rivernewort quests, and I got around 1.4k for my THF, making it 9k to L73 and his JSE Dragon gear! I then went to Bibiki Bay with Teila and whilst we waited for the Manaclipper to Purgonorgo Isle, we fought Efts in the hope we could pop Intulo for the Magic Slacks, but no joy.

I’ve always maintained that Purgonorgo Isle is the most beautiful place on Vana’diel, and my most favourite in-game area, on par with Wajaom Woodlands. It really does remind me of the island from island, with its crystal-clear waters, lush greenery and the lone mountain in the middle and it’s just a shame that we cannot climb it.

We ran round the island, past the ??? Warmachine (which brought back memories of CoP) to a clickable Weathered Boat sitting in a small cove. Teila clicked it and spawned an Elvaan bounty hunter with a silly name, and, upon my request, stood back to let me fight it, but he was easier than I thought he would be.

After that it was time to log out, but I stayed to watch the sunset on Purgonorgo Isle before I did. As the sun went down behind the cliffs the water between the rocks sparkled many different colours, resembling a reflection of the sun on the water. However, the way it was done was almost magical and really tranquil to watch. I don’t think this occurs anywhere else on the island and it’s little touches like this which remind me that the developers are not as lazy as people say. It was a truly special in-game moment.