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!