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.

The Emperor's New Clothes

Having not played since Wednesday today was a Campaign blitz, but even then I didn’t get on until the early evening due to other commitments. The weather in England at the moment is stiflingly hot and the heat in the room where my PC sits makes playing for extended periods uncomfortable.

I made around 11k in Campaign, but BBK, without my asking him, or without any kind of prompting, took off to Valkurm Dunes to camp the Valkurm Emperor, which, as many of you probably know, drops the famous Empress Hairpin, a Rare/Ex version of the Emperor Hairpin.

In the “old days”, prior to the implementation of SE’s Special Task Force Unit (STFU) which were set up to tackle RMT issues, most NMs dropped sellable items such as Argus and his Peacock Charm, Lord of Onzozo and the Kraken Club etc. Valkurm Emperor was no exception and he only dropped the quite-sellable Emperor Hairpin. During those times, the Emperor was so heavily camped that no one could get a look in, and as a result I had to farm 3.5mil Gil to pay for mine (but it was easier to make money in those days too as due to the inflation, you could farm anything and sell it for decent Gil.

Anyway, since the STFU got involved, SE have made it so many of these NMs now drop Rare/Ex versions of these items, which means Gilsellers cannot profit from them. Argus now drops the Peacock Amulet, Lord of Onzozo now drops the Octave Club, and Valkurm Emperor now drops the Empress Hairpin. As I am approaching L73, when I can equip the Dragon head piece, I was tempted to sell my Emperor Hairpin to make some money, and BBK reminded me that with the Empress Hairpin being a Rank 4 prize in the new lottery, the price of the Emperor Hairpin will plummet, so best to sell it now.

He was there for around an hour, or maybe an hour and a half when I couldn’t take it anymore. I was so unfair that he camped a Hairpin for me whilst I gained XP in Campaign so I left and went to the Dunes to meet him, making sure I brought my Thief’s Knife to improve the drop rate. Within five minutes of me being there the Valkurm Emperor popped and BBK got the claim. I ran over and joined in, and we annihilated it in seconds, getting the drop first time! That makes 1/1 on Leaping Lizzie and now 1/1 on Valkurm Emperor.

So now I have a nice new piece of Rare/Ex head gear that I can macro in for my Evasion build or use for lower level jobs, and I won’t (or rather can’t) be tempted to sell it!

Thanks mate!^^

I Love Rock n' Troll

One of the first quests I obtained from Whitegate on the day that ToAU came out was to assess the weaknesses of the ToAU Beastmen and to report my findings back to the guards, so that they can launch an effective assault on them.

In over two years I had not even begun to attempt this quest but I had accepted a quest to investigate the Mamool Ja. Teila on the other hand, had accepted a quest to investigate the Trolls, and this involved popping a Troll PUP NM called a Speculator on Mount Zhayolm. This one is pretty tough to solo, even for a L75 RDM (as the Automaton hits very hard), so I agreed to help her.

The idea was that as the Troll double-hits (Hand-to-Hand), it would eat through my shadows (I still don’t have Ni), so Teila was to solo the Troll whilst I kite the Automaton until the Troll was defeated. So we popped the NM and out he came with no Automaton. At this point we both duo’d the Troll.

Eventually he summoned his Automaton (a PLD) and I switched targets to get its attention, whereupon I began kiting it around Mount Zhayolm.

I switched to my Evasion build and everything went really well for some time until my shadows went down a bit sooner than normal and my timer wasn’t up yet. I just completely lost the flow and no matter what I couldn’t get Utsusemi up again. Hit down into red (over 100 a punch), I had to Flee into Halvung.

When I came back out Teila had the hate of both, and because she began Curing me back up it became difficult to peel it off her. As a result I ended up meleeing it alongside her and although I was able to knock it down substantially, I couldn’t evade its attacks and I went down when it had a sliver of life left.

Fortunately, Teila finished off the Speculator at this point but to our horror the Automaton didn’t vanish. Teila was in red life at this point so I Reraised up and Trick Attacked her to take it down quick – we finished off both with around 50hp or less.

This fight was very hard to duo, mainly because of the Automaton and for the fact that the Troll regularly used Rock Smash on Teila to Petrify her, meaning she could not reapply Utsusemi or Stoneskin. I filmed it from start to finish and although the whole fight too around 15 minutes I had to cut it down to just over nine for YouTube.

You can watch the fight here.

After that it was the usual slog in Campaign for an hour or two before logging for the night.

After a Fashion

Being 6k to my third stored Merit, I decided to attend Campaign as a WHM in order to get the Limit Points (LP) to get the final needed Merit and raise my Critical Hit Ratio some more.

Going to a Campaign Battle as a WHM is an easy but thankless job. Like Besieged you just buff people and toss out Cures as and when (plus you have Reraise) but very few people will acknowledge your presence. I learned long ago not to Raise dead people without seeing if they are present at the keyboard (due to those irritating AFKers who waste your MP) but I was surprised as to how many people I sent /tells to saying (Raise) (Do you need it?) to and get no response, only to watch other people Raise them a minute or so later and see them get up straight away. Bizarre or rude, who knows?

Anyway, after that I went out to lunch with T and then it was time to meet up in the Phomiuna Aqueducts for a Subligar hunt, the likes of which we haven't done in almost exactly a year. I didn't need a Subligar but I said I would take a NIN Subligar if no one else wanted it. I knew T needed a THF/DNC Subligar and a RDM/BLU Subligar, Aka needed a RDM/SCH Subligar and BBK was after a BLM/SMN Subligar (I think). Surprisingly enough, we were joined by quite a few others, including Omni, Doffo, Gotrunks (played by Iliona), Jiii (a new addition to our Linkshell), her friend Darknis and Nyclia, a friend of Jiii and a former member of our old Dynamis Shell, so we had an alliance of ten.

Doffo wanted a SAM Subligar, Omni wanted BRD/BST, Gotrunks wanted THF and PLD, Jiii wanted RDM/BLU and BRD/BST, Darknis wanted DNC/THF and Nyclia wanted BRD/BST, so there was much work to be done.

In the very first room I aggroed a Taurus hiding behind a wall (I didn't even see him and he saw me through the wall which was a little unfair) so we decided to kill them all to see if we could get a piece of Spruce Lumber for Aka, BBK and Doffo and also hope that some Fomor Codexes (Codei??) dropped too.

Aka got some Spruce Lumber and Teila took us to the ground floor Fomor camp, and we began pulling them.

The drops were terrible at first and there was something in the atmosphere to make me feel uncomfortable (possibly remembering the disasterous run last year) but the hours went by and gradually our inventories began filling up with the Subligars we wanted (except for Teila who kept rolling Lots like 6 and 28)!

We spent so much time in the Phomiuna Aqueducts that I made over 4k (including deaths) and several people levelled up!

As it began to get later and later, we decided to head upstairs to the ancient libraries, guarded by Fomor "duos" (they are actually in parties of two, so you cannot avoid a link), and in the corridors outside are large Stegotaurs, IT Taurus' with Mortal Ray, a move that inflicts Doom.

We pulled the Stegotaurs and Gotrunks (Ili) soon mastered the back-tanking approach to this move, clearly watching the log and turning every time this move came up - I've never seen people tank this properly before, so it was quite impressive! BBK was kitted out as his uber NIN, so he was set to back-up tank and 'Voked if Gotrunks (Ili) ever got low.

As we were split into two parties, Akashea main-healed Teila's group and Nyclia, who was BST/WHM, main-healed my group and both did a great job.

I was the puller, so I had to run up to the libraries and grab pairs of Fomor, run back and Omni would Sleep one using Foe or Horde Lullaby, but before we began, Teila and I scouted the areas by checking the libraries with Sneak on. To my joy, the map ??? was up and I was able to grab it quickly before it vanished for a map of the Phomiuna Aqueducts!

Omni did a good job of Sleeping as his Lullaby was Light-based and stuck a lot of the time on the Dark-based Fomors. There were a few occasions where Sleep didn't stick or a pull went wrong and a couple of people died (mainly Aka and me) but on the whole it wasn't bad.

Surprisingly we pulled a huge number of BRD Fomors and not a single Subligar dropped so Jiii got quite upset despite getting a RDM/SCH Subligar. We didn't get a PLD or a SAM Subligar either, but Doffo got a COR/RNG Subligar and Gotrunks (Ili) got a THF Subligar so everyone got something.

At midnight we logged out, having arranged another run for next week - everyone did a great job but I can't help feeling that people weren't as happy as they could/should have been.

Birds of a Feather

We had two events scheduled for tonight - an "Assault" style fight in Ghoyu's Reverie against a horde of Yagudo followed by an ENM fight in Monarch Linn against Mammet-800s.

We met in Fort Narugo-Karugo (S) for and couldn't find the entrance to Ghoyu's Reverie, but eventually BBK located the Coloured Door and I led Aka, BBK and Teila into the fight (surprise surprise, same bunch).

A horde of Yagudo had sneaked beneath the Fort to launch a surprise attack from inside, and we had to follow them and intercept before they reached the surface. Inside, we caught up with the Yagudo (there were tonnes) and began the fight.

They dropped like flies as we unleashed hell on them, with even my Banishga IIs taking many out in the process. It was a fun fight but I became concerned at one moment when I took hate from more than I could comfortably manage but Teila threw me a Magic Fruit and I was okay!

After that we got a concluding cutscene to the current mission quests from Windurst and a Rare/Ex Mihgo Mithkabob, a powerful food item.

You can watch the fight here.

We then used our Tavnazian Rings and grabbed food and meds from the Safehold before venturing out into Riverne Site #B01 to take on the Mammets for the ENM quest Uninvited Guests. For every two party members there will be once Mammet 800 to fight, so with four of us, there were two.

On the way up to Monarch Linn there is an Unstable Displacement that requires trading a Dragon Scale (from the Wyverns in Riverne A and B) but fortunately we didn't have to fight them as Aka had one in her Mog.

On the way there, we encountered a half-dead party hanging on by the skin of their teeth and eventually they all wiped despite us asking them if they wanted Raises and us to help them.

They ignored every tell we sent them but out of the kindness of my heart I gave their RDM a Raise so he could Raise the rest of them. He jumped up and began resting so I angrily wrote "You're Welcome" with evil eyes and Teila added "Some people.." with a /fume emote. Not a single one said thanks until eventually one said "Thank You" in Auto-Translate.

A short while on, we had to deal with Wyvern aggro and despite being a naked party (except BBK) we killed it with no deaths when they wiped as a fully equipped six-person party - it gave us some small satisfaction.

Near Monarch Linn, we found a ??? that gave us a Key Item: Rivernewort for a Sandy quest called Spice Girls that can be done once per week for a page of Miratete's Memoirs. We all got this except Aka who unfortunately had forgotten to get the cutscene in Sandy so we agreed to come back another day.

Inside Monarch Linn the ENM was uncapped so this was the first time we'd encountered uncapped Mammets but the guide on the Wiki said a MNK can solo one, so we were quite confident. We were in for a shock.

We locked the Mammets in "sword form" (they change between Lazers-from-their-hands form, Sword, Polearm and Staff (BLM) form, so we locked them in Sword form but this was a mistake for their Weaponskills (Sonic Blade?) did almost 700 damage to Teila and BBK, and their standard hits alone were nearly 200.

In short, we wiped. Looking back, we should have locked them in BLM form (yes, BLM), so Teila could use Hundred Fists and interrupt every spell, whilst I could heal BBK and Aka each time they took a -ga spell, as their spells did less damage than their melee Weaponskills!

Afterwards I returned to Sandy to pick up my reward for handing in the Rivernewort and I received a page of Miratete's Memoirs, which I used on my SMN. This gave my SMN 1249XP, bringing it to the edge of L54.