Nail in the Coffin

I was determined to beat The Black Coffin fight in Arrapago Reef today, after that frustrating DC the other day, so I spent the morning levelling in the Oubliette before picking up a few Yagudo Drinks and a Pro-Ether +3. I went to Dvucca Isle Staging Point and ran across the Mire to the Reef and entered the battlefield.

Much easier this time! The Crew hardly dented me, and keeping Gessho alive was the only minor annoyance. The only real issue was the Captain's Vulcan Shot, taking huge chunks out of me, but thanks to the Pro-Ether +3 and Chivalry, I was able to keep up enough MP to Cure myself out of trouble!

After I finished the fight, I did all the cutscenes I could before the "wait for JP midnight" barrier and then went to Al'Taieu to gain access to the Grand Palace of Hu'Xzoi. I had to travel around Al'Taieu to find the Rubious Crystals, and touching each one spawned three NM Aerns. These were no problem for me, so I dispatched them easily and was able to enter the Palace.

Fit Birds

I had logged out in Caedarva Mire where the Slough Skuas were, Anniversary Ring equipped but I'd forgotten to activate it earlier, so I had to use it and wait an hour for the next charge. Before going to work this morning, I managed to make another four Merit Points, something I'd not seen since the days of duoing Heraldic Imps on Heldiva Isle with Teila.

This time I decided to change camp, moving to the eastern exit from the Skua area as opposed to the southern one near Jazaraat's Headstone. There's more room here between the Marsh Murre that pops on the path, and less chance of links from other Skuas. So again with Shantotto, Gadalar and Ajido-Marujido, I burned through them, for over 1k XP, making them extremely viable mobs for Meriting at L85. Before going to work I remembered to use my Empress Band!

This evening I logged back in and continued to beat up the Skuas. I soon settled into a rhythm of:

Summoning Shantotto, Gadalar and Ajido-Marujido / killing two Skuas / resting / killing two more Skuas / killing the Marsh Murre in the passage / releasing the Alter-Egos / repeat

This method allowed for the least downtime, and helped me to get chain #5s.

Logged out with 12 Merit Points, so I need to make sure that I spend them on uncapping to L95!

A Re-Zeiding Storyline

Today I pressed on with the Bastok rank missions and began with 8-1, The Chains that Bind Us, to search for the Talekeeper Statue in the Quicksand Caves. I don't think I'd ever been to this part of the Caves before, and it was full of weighted doors, so I was thankful I'd recently got my Lodestone.

Examining the Talekeeper Statue popped three Anitcan NMs, which were no match for my Alter-Egos and me, so I finished them off and continued with some very interesting cutscenes about Galka folklore. I sort of have an inkling about what's going on with this storyline but then am not quite sure.

8-2 was pretty straightforward and involved killing three ghosts from Quicksand Caves. There were lots of people there fighting Robber Crabs, so I only had to deal with the Haunts. I cleared the part of the room by the cliff and spawned them. As a PLD they weren't difficult, but they did have a few nasty spells. I liked how the cutscene after explained the presence of so many Haunts in the room.

9-1 was very challenging. I had to go deep into Gustav Tunnel to retrieve some Miraclesalt, and upon examining the ??? I spawned a Gigaplasm. With this mob, when you kill it, it spawns two Macroplasms, then killing them spawn Microplasms, then Nanoplasms (so 15 Mobs in total). I hate slimes anyway (Fluid Toss!), but followed the suggested strategy of killing one branch at a time rather than trying to mow through both. It started off slow and tough but killing each 'layer' of slimes they got weaker, but faster.

Unfortunately I lost most of the party, and in the end it was just Zazarg and myself. I had to use Invincible and Chivalry, then ended up using Sanguine Blade whenever I could just to top up HP. I thought I was going to get aggro from the roaming undead but they left me alone. By the time I had finished off the last Nanoplasm, Zazarg was down to double-figures and I didn't fare much better!

The final mission, Where Two Paths Converge, pitted me against Zeid the Dark Knight in the Throne Room of Castle Zvahl. It was a bit of a trek getting there (nothing like the old days of being low level and getting aggro trying to open every door in the Keep though!) but fortunately there was a nice Home Point by the entrance to the Throne Room so I'll never have to make that run again!

Zeid was a bitch. He hit very hard (60+ with Protect IV, Defender and Tavnazian Taco) and his accuracy was top-notch, critting regularly for over 100. His first form was quite doable, and when I got him down to 70% or 65% life I got a cutscene and Volker joined in. I cast Protect IV on him and rested to full.

As soon as we started fighting Zeid again it all went wrong. He instantly summoned two 'shades' of himself, which hit just as hard and added to Zeid's Stuns, it became impossible to Cure or to Keep up with curing. I got him to 50% before wiping. I either need to level up or try it with NIN sub.

After that I went to Caedarva Mire to pick up another Ephramadian Gold Coin from Jazaraat's Headstone and thought I'd explore a bit. I'd never ventured past the graveyard so I carried on going north and came to a field of Slough Skuas (a type of bird found in a marsh apparently), which checked as VT. I thought I'd give it a go, and summoned Luzaf, Kupipi and Nanaa Mihgo. Got some decent XP from this and thought I'd try to Merit a bit. It was OK but a tad slow, not good without a book really.

I then thought of trying the BLM nuke approach and summoned Gadalar, Shantotto and Ajido-Marujido. The birds went down in a matter of seconds! Managed to get to four Merit Points before logging out and tonnes of skill-ups too!

Trans-mission

I really wanted to progress with the ToAU mission storyline today, as anyone who knows me knows that ToAU has always been my favourite expansion (but then I've never completed most of the mission storylines, so what do I know?).

I went off to Nashmau and headed out into Caedarva Mire to pop Jazaraat, a former Ashu Talif captain bitter about the loss of his fleet. With my Trust Alter-Egos out, I popped him and beat him up to get the Ephramadian Gold Coin key item, which I needed to use as payment to get into the Ashu Talif fight.

With Jazaraat laid to rest, I returned to Whitegate, and then took the Dvucca Isle Staging Point and made my way to the cutter in Arrapago Reef. I then boarded the Ashu Talif and buffed up. I even popped Gessho the Yagudo NPC a Protect IV. The fight went pretty smoothly, with me holding all the aggro and taking little damage. Gessho seemed to jump around the deck, hurling enfeebling magic at the crew rather than meleeing.

After the first wave, the second wave of Fomor crew members appeared, this time with the Ashu Talif Captain, and this is where things went wrong - not because I couldn't handle him, but because my computer lost its bloody internet connection and I was booted out! When I came back I had been killed and had been left lying in an unceremonious heap in Arrapago Reef. Needing another Ephramadian Gold Coin to enter the fight, I left and went to do something else.

I thought I'd give Rise of the Zilart another go, so I headed off to the Quicksand Caves and made my way to the Chamber of Oracles (LOL to the home point just outside). I was nervous about this fight as anything involving multiple mobs that includes a PLD and a BLM is going to cause a problem - if you try to take out the BLM first, you get melee'd by the other two - if you try to take out the PLD first, you spend so long beating it up that the BLM kills you!

This fight was exactly as I feared, and was too much of an MP-sink. I took the PLD first and the BLM indeed nuked me down. After awhile I thought I'd try to kill the BLM first but couldn't Cure fast enough. In the end I warped out.

I then decided to continue with the Bastok Rank missions and my next fight was in the Waughroon Shrine against four Quadav, a WHM, RDM, DRK and WAR. I can't remember the order I took them out in, but this was a very hard yet rewarding fight. I kept up Yagudo Drinks, had a few minor meds from brown treasure caskets and a Tav Taco. I had to use Invincible and Chivalry twice, as this fight took a good portion of the allowed BCNM time. Four mobs means lots of hard-to-time Cures, and I got interrupted on more than one occasion.

Naturally this got easier as I killed them off, but honestly, if it wasn't for Sanguine Blade, my newest weaponskill, I wouldn't have been able to have done this fight. I beat it, but only just!

Manual-mission

After some serious levelling in Bostaunieux, I decided I'd progress with some missions. For as long as I could remember, I'd been sat on Bastok 6-1, which involved killing to manticore mobs in Western Altepa Desert. Many a time, mobs have seemed easy, but in reality they can be tough even for high level characters, especially if there's more than one. There was a lot of talk on the Wiki about the Western and Eastern Sphinxes, so I was a little nervous about soloing them - but the I remembered I had my Alter-Egos!

These guys were a joke, and I don't know what I was worrying about. Don't think they Silenced or Dispelled or anything remotely nasty and I don't even think I took a real hit! Whilst I was there I continued with Headstone Pilgrimage, and went through the Quicksand Caves to get the Earth gem or whatever it's called.

Next up was the Sanctuary of Zi'Tah. I remember finding it really hard to locate the Headstone in this area, and sure enough I still found it tricky! I spawned Doomed Pilgrims and to my utter shock and horror nearly died before I got my stuff together! This thing hit me for over 200 a pop, whilst I fumbled to tab onto it. I hadn't got Protect or Shell as I needed to engage for Kupipi to cast.

Once I got going I was fine, but Luzaf took a bit of a beating! Can't believe people were doing that at Level 60 back in the day, but I suppose there were more alliances. After that I went to Ordelle's Caves to pick up the Water gem but on my way I met Morbolger! Last time I saw this guy was the night before I transferred to Phoenix Server back in 2008, when Teila, Sirdante and I stayed up until the small hours or so to camp it against competition, but this time he was just wandering round unclaimed. I pulled him and got the Morbolger Vine thing.

Later on it was off to Ifrit's Cauldron for the Fire gem and thought I'd coincide it with the fight against Salamander and Magma for the Bastok Rank mission. Salamander and Magma were piss easy, the only annoying thing was waiting for the flame spout to die down, as it took forever and there were no Ice Clusters in stock.

The Fire gem was always the hardest to get, because of the long trek through Ifrit's Cauldron, having to drop Invis to get past the the flame spouts with Bombs by them, dodging the Ash Dragon etc. Nevertheless, I managed to make it safely out into the Yuhtunga Jungle and spawn the two Opo-Opos at the Headstone. I even remembered to bring a garnet so that I could get the Opo-Opo Necklace. On my way back in, I thought I'd be daring and see if I could do the Ash Dragon, and he left me no choice, as he was staring at me, blocking my route back.

No chance. This guy hit like a truck and as soon as I cast anything, all the Bombs in the room seemed to come bobbing along and added to the fray. I decided to Warp out instead and leave him for another day!

Palad(w)in

With such quick levelling in the Yuhtunga Jungle as my DNC, I went back yet again, but this time to continue with my NIN. I had DNC sub, which was probably a little stupid as at L37 I had no Quickstep or Animated Flourish, so I had to use Valaineral and Kupipi to make life a bit easier against the Makara and Sahagin.

This made things a lot slower than expected, and when I did finally get Animated Flourish and Quickstep, I noticed that with DNC sub, I only got one finishing move for each Quickstep rather than the two as DNC main. Eventually I was able to drop Kupipi and bring in Joachim, but by L44 I was pretty bored so I gave up and returned to PLD. Next time I go back as NIN/DNC, I might just bring out two other damage dealers and Joachim, and see if I can hold hate a little better with Yonin (a new job ability which allows you to hold hate and increases your evasion at the expense of accuracy). As I had Valaineral out, I had been using the other new ability, Innin, which increases accuracy, attack, Ninjutsu damage from behind at the expense of evasion. I say these moves are "new" as last time I played with a NIN in the party these moves didn't exist.

As Chinchii had got to L60, she had returned to Bastok to get a new polearm, before attempting to do the Lesser Colibri outside Al Zahbi. Whilst there she met a player who said that he had started out as DRG and wanted to help her, so with a friend, he crafted her a new Dark Mezrak, and gave her some new earrings and a Scorpion Harness, whilst wishing her well! That's the FFXI community I remember from the old days! So with her new gear, she went out to Wajaom Woodlands and mowed through the Lesser Colibri for chains over over 1k XP a kill with the Empress Band on.

Meanwhile, I was looking for somewhere to level my PLD that wasn't Abyssea, so after a bit of research, I found out about the awesomeness that was Bostauneaux Oubliette. Back in the day I remember this was a place where no one went unless it was for the Asuran Fists weaponskill, but with the high volume and fast repop rate of Bloodsuckers (leech mobs), you could keep going all the way to L99 using the Grounds Tome and Records of Eminence quest, as these never stopped checking as EP--.

I had to "share" the camp (LOL) but both of us took a wing of the lower level each and stayed there. Something I'd never noticed before (as hardly ever did Grounds Tomes) was that with each completion of the book, XP increased, so after awhile I was getting in excess of 3,500 XP every ninth Bloodsucker! I had to log out for dinner eventually, but not before I'd quickly gone from L80 to L83. After dinner I started again and made it to L85 in no time, but that was also thanks to completion of some of the other Records of Eminence quests such as Total Number of Enemies Vanquished I and III, plus Spoils (Water Crystals) on repeat. :) Levelling is so easy now, with Records plus Trust, it's just so different to how it used to be - and in a good way!

At L85 with a decent buffer I suggested to Chinchii that we try Titan Prime before logging. I always insist on opening brown treasure caskets so I'd picked up quite a few ether-based potions in the Oubliette. I also remembered from my solo attempt yesterday that buffs don't wear on entry so this time I fully buffed up at the Grounds Tome in Quicksand Caves before going in.

Either it was just me, but the extra five levels seemed to make a world of difference, as Titan hit me for very little. Not that his physical hits were ever a threat, but his Enstone effect was nasty the other day, and it wasn't even Earthsday. Today even his Enstone was weak. With Chinchii damage-dealing, overall the fight wasn't a problem, but I did have to heal from his Geocrushes. This wore me down over the duration of what was quite a long fight (maybe 15mins I don't remember), but Chivalry and a Pro-Ether +3 came in handy. I told Chinchii to run away at 50% health just in case Earthen Fury hurt her, but it didn't come until around 45% or so. She was out of range and it only touched me for around 200 damage, probably thanks to Rampart, Shell IV and Grim Cuirass.

All in all, a long but not a difficult fight, and we won!

Well Aern'd

Started off the morning deciding to beat Tenzen, but to do so I wanted more BLM-type trust NPCs, or at least ones that could cast BLM spells. I'd been getting a lot of Copper A.M.A.N Vouchers, so I looked them up and found that you could exchange them for almost any currency in the game, including Assault Points. With a jump for joy, I exchanged them all up for Assault Points and went to buy Ovjang and Mnejing Ciphers so I could summon those hilarious automatons.

After that it was off to finish Curses... Foiled Again and Curses... Foiled A-Golem so that I could obtain Shantotto. Remembered doing Curses... Foiled A-Golem back in 2005 on my old account and being well-scared of Fei'Yin. It's nothing these days, even with higher level monsters too. Finished those up quickly and picked up Shantotto.

So with Ajido-Marujido, Shantotto and Ovjang (Ovjang being a RDM, not a BLM), I went off to Sealion's Den. Entered the Tenzen fight and let rip. Shantotto spams her strongest BLM spells back-to-back, so she quickly took the hate. I used Cover on her (although I've never actually seen it work on a Trust alter-ego yet) and continued, but we only managed to get him down to around 30-something % life before wiping. I then HP'd, came back and tried again, this time, taking the time out to individually Protect IV and Shell IV each of them. Fared about the same.

Still needing more firepower, I went back to Aht Urhgan to try to complete Embers of His Past, the final Serpentgeneral quest, so that I could obtain Trust: Gadalar, and get a third BLM. Still no Hydrangeas in stock, so back I went to Mount Zhayolm to try to farm one.

I was quite lucky as after an hour or so, I managed to find the bloody key item plate thing which opens the Black Gates of Halvung, allowing me into the Hilltroll encampment in the middle of Mount Zhayolm. I went in the western door and camped behind it, cycling between the Hilltroll Warrior and the Hilltroll Puppetmaster, which had relatively quick respawn timers. These babies checked as Tough or Very Tough (can't remember) at L80 so thought I'd be in for a hard time. However, when you have only two mobs to fight, and you can afford downtime, it's more than OK to have a party of nukers. I picked Shantotto, Ajido-Marujido and Ovjang again, and absolutely annihilated each Troll. Then rested for a bit, grabbed the other one, and repeated for over an hour until the Hydrangea dropped.

A few cutscenes later (and may I just state that the final cutscene on Mount Zhayolm with General Gadalar is worthy of applause) and I had completed the chain of Serpentgeneral quests, and obtained Trust: Gadalar.

It was then back to Tenzen and I won on the first try using three BLMs. He seemed to do little else but use Firaga II and Firaga III, but then, anyone who has seen just one cutscene with Gadalar wouldn't expect anything less. A short while later and I was in Al'Taieu!

I'm sure there are many veteran players who remember that feeling the first time they landed in Al'Taieu. OK, so it's not really that difficult to get there anymore, but I remember getting there pre-nerf and feeling like I'd really achieved it. I did feel quite similar today, as I'd had to work hard to get Gadalar and beat Tenzen. I also knew that my Rajas Ring was right around the corner! So, I wandered around Al'Taieu for a bit, farming a few things and generally feeling quite nostalgic, before Warping out to do some... housework!

Later on I logged back in, and decided to try to unlock some more Aht Urhgan Staging Points. I already had Azouph Isle, Nyzul Isle and Halvung, so I went for Mamool Ja next. Got a bit lost off the beaten track and ran into two true-sight mobs (dodged the Treasurer, but had to fight the Lurker). Eventually got through Mamook and activated the Runic Seal. Next up was Dvucca Isle, which was a pretty easy one. Whilst I was there I thought I'd try my hand at a few Lamia Idolators, and man they were hard as. Dunno why, I just fancied beating them up.

Chinchii had been levelling her DRG a lot and had been talking about doing the Prime fights with me at some point. I thought that I might be able to do them at L80 so I picked up some Yagudo Drinks, Tavnazian Tacos (spot the old-schooler here) and headed out to the Cloister of Tremors to try Titan. His physical hits were relatively weak (esp. with my new Grim Cuirass), but his Enstone was nasty. Although I could hold my own, I couldn't beat him fast enough and slowly my MP just seeped away and I had to Warp out. Would have been fine with Chinchii there though, so I told her I was confident we could duo them.

The last thing I did today was to get my WAR to L50. It had been sat at L48 for two years, and I wanted to round it off. It took scarily longer than I had anticipated to get those final last two levels but eventually I dinged and could happily rest knowing I'd never have to level it again!

I was about to log for the night when I saw Meww the Turtlerider. I've got this thing about fighting Sahagin NMs (I had been working towards doing all of them as my L75 THF back in the old days), so I had to try my hand at Meww. I had DNC sub, but this guy was so hard, especially because he kept healing himself and used Benediction mid way through. But eventually I beat him and got the Oliphant, should I ever continue with BRD.

DRGing on a Bit

Today I helped out Chinchii get her final piece of DRG AF, the body piece from Quicksand Caves. We entered from the eastern side of Eastern Altepa Desert but the mobs here just weren't dropping coffer keys. After an hour or so, I looked it up and the Wiki said they dropped a lot more frequently from the Western Altepa mobs.

Decided to leave and go over to the eastern entrance in Western Altepa Desert, where the harder Helm Beetles are. We ran down the slope into the open area full of Antica, and just fought our way through until an hour or so later, another key dropped.

Finding the Coffer was a big of a schlap in itself, as we had to keep trying different entrances until eventually we found it tucked away in a side room. I stood guard whilst Chinchii got her final piece of AF!

A Pirate's Knife for Me

Tonight was the fifth "login day" of the Repeat Login Campaign #10, so I received my 500 points, bringing my total up to 600. For some reason this wasn't working properly under the last campaign, but this time there was no doubt, I was going to be able to purchase one of my favourite FFXI NPCs, Luzaf! I dashed over to the Greeter Moogle in Port Bastok and picked up the Cipher for 500 points, traded it to Clarion Star and tested him out!

Luzaf dual-wields and melees more than I thought, although his favoured opening tactic seems to be an elemental shot (e.g. Ice Shot). He does use ranged attacks, but tends to melee. I've also not seen any signs of Phantom Roll, but then each NPC only tends to use some of their abilities (e.g. Curilla doesn't Provoke). Perhaps one day we'll be able to get Qultada, who may fight less, but use Phantom Roll.

With that I went to Castle Oztroja to try once more to get the O Kotes and the Sarutobi Kyahan from Mee Deggi and Quu Domi. I still remember how I got these first time as a THF on my old account - I've lost count how many times I've not got this on my new account, or for a friend. Still, camping is quite fun these days, as you can choose a Records of Eminence "Conflict" quest to repeat, meaning I could rapidly kill too week mobs and quickly complete the RoE quests. I didn't manage to pop Mee Deggi, but I did get my fourth Merit Point needed to uncap to L85.

I then went to help Chinchii do her AF3 fight for her Drachen Armet - the one against the two Shadows in the Temple of Uggalepih. FFXIclopedia mentions you must have your Wyvern out to pop the NMs, so she had no choice but to come as her L50 DRG. I didn't think this would be a problem except the respawn time in the room was too quick - as soon as we'd clear the tonberries, they'd begin to repop.

Nevertheless, she Sneak-popped and I pulled over the Warrior, Cleuvarion M Resoaix, who hit like a truck, even on my L80 PLD. I used Defender, kept up Flash and Phalanx, and cast Reprisal when I could. He started off hitting quite fast but seemed to slow down after awhile. It was slow and I wasn't sure I was going to make it but gradually the fight got easier. Eventually he used Mighty Strikes, which I countered with Sentinel, but as Sentinel began to wear, I bottled it and hit Invincible. I cured myself back to full, and when TP was 100% used Chivalry to keep my MP up. As Invincible wore, I used Holy Circle to intimidate, and was able to finish him off with little problems. By this time, the other Shadow had de-popped so Chinchii was able to get her final cutscene and her Drachen Armet!

Kixtrot Rapido

This morning I decided to continue with Ninja. I'd got to L14 so quickly last night (still can't get over how cool Trust magic is), that I thought I'd be able to get to L50 by the end of the weekend. I was a little too high for South Gustaberg so went over to Tahrongi Canyon and continued levelling there. Now that I'd discovered the Records of Eminence conflict quest for each area, I wasn't too fussed about following the book mobs as the repeatable conflict quest is similar, only it doesn't matter what mob you fight.

Meanwhile Chinchii was continuing to level her DRG,and had almost hit L40. Knowing that Peregrine, her AF weapon, was L42, she sped past 40 and got to L42 by the time I'd got back from Tahrongi and Meriphataud and changed to PLD. I used the OP warp to get to Kuzotz and waited for her by the spawn point.

She popped Decurio I-III, a NM Antican PLD, who took a surprisingly long time to beat given that I'm L80. However, my gear isn't exactly awesome and I'm not merited, nor do I really do mega-damage, but nevertheless, I hardly took any damage and the fight was won easily. Chinchii returned victorious for her AF polearm, and I returned to Aht Urhgan Whitegate to do a Mamool Ja Besieged. Just a few thousand more LP off being able to uncap to L85.

After that I returned to Korroloka Tunnel as NIN and powered through to L30, before hitting the Desert before I stopped at L32. Given how many levels I'd got, I felt a bit like Cactrot Rapido!

A Warrior's Farce

With my recent blitz through Chains of Promathia, now that you can bring Trust NPCs into all CoP battlefields, I defeated the three pre-Tenzen NMs (Dalham, Bogglemann and the Cryptonberry Assassin(s)) and then stepped boldly into the final fight before Al'Taieu access, "A Warrior's Path". Like the Snoll Tzar, I decided to go for as much damage as possible, so picked Ajido-Marujido, Zazarg and Tenzen himself. I stepped into the fray, and took the hate. It was all going fine until the little Tarus started casting -ga III spells and Tenzen's weaponskills started to eat into me faster than I could cure myself.

I was very close to winning, but was finished off with an Oisoya (bow weaponskill), doing almost 1k damage! I did a bit more research into this and thought that maybe if I brought in Mihli for some healing and some fighting I'd be OK, but I fared even worse this time - just not enough damage with a tank, healer and two melee. Again I was beaten down with an Oisoya. One final attempt, same setup and I gave up (might try to unlock Shantotto), to go and farm my Speed Belt. I started off in the Aqueducts, mowing my way through everything, and even ran into Eba again (still no drop). I fought more Taurus' than I could count but no Fomor Codex. I did, however, bump into Tres Duendes again (I always find this guy), and decided to fight him seeing as I still needed his Vampiric Claws.

Not a single drop this time, so went off to continue farming. After awhile I got bored of the Aqueducts and moved to the Sacrarium. Managed to pick up a couple more subligaria (although these days the gear for Brygid the Stylist Returns seems to be non existant) and got my hate up to the required level so I could spawn Lobais. Unfortunately, I underestimated the rarity of Taurus mobs here, and with a PUP soloing the spiders, we were competing somewhat, as he was killing them when they popped on occasion. I did manage to get two chest keys and an ingot for one of the gobbiebag quests, but didn't get the Codex in the end.

Following that, I went to Norg to see if I could get some NIN scroll quests and low and behold I could get all of them! I instantly went to do the Utsusemi and Tonko ones (and did Glyryvilu for the Light Buckler), and couldn't resist starting my NIN. I hit South Gusta, activated a conflict record of eminence, picked up a book, used my Empress Band, summoned my Trust NPCs, and burned through levels 1-12 in no time! I also learned that I had to resummon my NPCs once I'd levelled as they don't automatically level with you.

One to be Sneered

I didn't play for very long today but decided to continue with the Chains of Promathia missions. I'd finished the Three bloody Paths, done the Warders and the necessary cutscenes, so I was ready to do the infamous Airship fight, One to be Feared. Admittedly, I would not have been able to have done this without the latest version update to allow me to bring in Trust alter-egos into the battlefield, but even then, this mission fight was nothing compared to what it used to be, capped at L60.

OK, so I was uncapped at L80, but I was 1/16 on this back in the old days before CoP was nerfed, so I can say, hand on heart, that I've experienced it the way it was meant to be fought, so I'd earned myself this reprieve of doing it the easy way. The Mammets were a joke, and I'm not going to waste time even typing about them, so I'll move straight to Omega. This guy wasn't much of a problem really, with the exception of Pile Pitch, which dropped my HP into the red (5%?) but fortunately reset hate, so one of my Trust companions tanked whilst I healed up. Omega soon went down.

Ultima was harder purely because of Equalizer and Anitmatter, two frequently-used AoE attacks which actually killed one of my Trust NPCs. I was able to get cures off between shots, but maybe I shouldn't have been so quick to sneer at this baby. Trust part member AI is only so good, so word of warning to anyone else who isn't L99:

Equalizer and Antimatter hurt.

The Three Laughs

I was really quite chuffed at the version update yesterday, mainly because they'd just allowed Trust alter-egos to be brought into all CoP battlefields from chapter five onwards. I'd finished Louverance's Path (and most of Tenzen's Path) back in 2012 and had left it there, so I was ready to start Ulmia's Path and do the final Pso'Xja cutscene for Tenzen.

I got to Boneyard Gully and entered the battlefield Head Wind, which used to be capped at L50. This is the one against the Mithran Sin Hunters, Shikaree X, Y and Z. Once inside I went to summon my alter-egos and to my horror I'd misread the update which said that they must be summoned before the battlefield is entered. As I was already in and also 30 levels higher than the fight used to be capped at, I decided to give it a go anyway.

It was surprisingly(?) easy and the only thing that caused a smidgen of a problem (and I use the word 'problem' very loosely), was that the wyvern's healing breath got a bit annoying, so I decided to take that out first. Their skillchains didn't bother me much at all and they soon went down.

Next up was the Snoll Tzar! I hated the very thought of this guy back in the day, so wondered if I still had enough firepower to do this even as a L80, as I couldn't be bothered to farm up the Shu'Meyu Salts (and for anyone thinking I have it easy now, remember on my old account I completed both the Blackened Siredon quest and the Shu'Meyu Salt quests before you could buy them from the AH) and Trust alter-egos don't use Icarus Wings or take meds, or use 1hr moves.

This time I remembered to summon my Trust alter-egos before entering the battlefield. I decided to forego any healing and chose Ajido-Marujido, Tenzen and Zazarg. Truth be told, this was a close call. Heimal Storm finished off Ajido-Marujido, and, of course, he nuked randomly rather than assessing the Snoll's weakness as the real Ajido-Marujido would have done, but the other two were fine. As a PLD, there wasn't much I could add in terms of firepower, and the Snoll got to his biggest form before we managed to do it. I swear the fight lasted longer than 45s though, so they must have done some sort of further nerf. I really thought he was going to use Hyperthermal Combustion.

With that done, I had finally finished the Three Paths, so I triumphantly picked up the next load of cutscenes before heading to Misereaux Coast to fight the Spheroids - Warder Aglaia, Warder Thalia, and Warder Euphrosyne.

These babies weren't hard back in the day (don't think they were supposed to be) and they were even easier today, but I'd forgotten just how far their knockback actually sent you! After a few more cutscenes, I was ready to take on the biotechnological weapons Omega and Ultima, but it was a bit too late to try, so I logged out there.