4 years in the making…

After the 4 years I’ve played FFXI off an on (really probably more like 3 years), I finally have a single job to 75!.. All in time for them to up the cap and have it not matter.. LOL!

Is ok though, least I will have a high level for a couple weeks before the update.. hehe. I was out level syncing with Blindrage in Western Altepa doing the Field of Valor when I finally reached 75 off of a Desert Beetle. Shortly after Blindrage reached level 56 too.. 🙂

Originally our level-syncing session had started out in Eastern Altepa by the Outpost working Field of Valor book. The mobs were a bit too easy for 55 PLD & 55 WHM combo, so we headed over to Western Altepa. Here is a pic from Eastern Altepa though

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Last week I had been able to finally sell my summoning earring, and was able to get a little gil, so we got a few new armor pieces for Blindrage as he had been sadly lacking for awhile.  Looks pretty good in his up to level armor! 🙂

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The night before, I had spent some time in Campaign

I was there gaining back the exp I had lost during a mishap while level syncing in Xcarbard the night before.

We had been doing just fine level-syncing and working the Field of Valor book when we spied the Shadow Dragon. I had remembered from the past that the Shadow Dragon always gave good gil, so we ran over there and fought him without incident. He spawned back down in the bowl a few minutes later, and so grabbed him again. Gil is always welcomed right?

After we defeated the second one, a very odd thing happened. The Shadow Dragon  laid sprawled out beside us defeated with his name grayed out for about 30 seconds when all of the sudden it stood back up. Its name now showing as “Biast” it quickly froze Blind, and killed him it three swats before turning and repeating the process on me..  Aw well, Now I know. Third time isn’t always the charm.. 🙂

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Another fun adventure this past week was that since before I had quit last time, (over a year ago) I had left my Bard at level 54. I had the AF quests open for that AF set, so one of the days last week, Blindrage accompanied me to Crawlers Nest to see if we could find a coffer key for me. As we explored, we finally found a Crawler Hunter, (a scorpion that FFXIclopedia.org cited as dropping the coffer key). So between my 74 WHM and his 55 PLD, we defeated the monster and low and behold… it dropped the key! I’ve never had a key drop that quickly. We warped out, and Blindrage logged for the night.  I decided to head back out there as BRD/DNC  to see if I could find the coffer.  I have to say I really appreciate the single application of sneak & invis that the Spectral Jig gives…  much love .. hehe.   I was able to successfully and stealthily  infiltrate through the maze that is Crawler’s Nest, and find the coffer.  I Recieved my Bard AF Hat.. Yippee!!

Sorry for jumping all over the timeline.. lol!

After I reached 75 on Whitemage, I changed over to Bard so that I could sport my new hat for a bit.. it was fun 🙂

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Here is just a pretty shot.. 🙂

Event, Bard, Party , Alchemy

I’m a sucker for events.. not sure what it is really, but very rarely do I not participate, if I’m online during the time they happen. So I had to go take a look at the Halloween Event this year. Here is a link for the Guide, but here is my brief summary:

 You talk to the moogle outside of a starting city, you get restricted to level 1, then go fight Wraith Bats. Once you have defeated a few, (I did 9, because thats what someone told me), then you talk to the moogle again and they give you “enlight” status. Then you go find Pyracmon and hopefully with a few people, you defeat him. If you or a party member gets the last hit it, you’ll get a Federation Stables Scarfs, Republic Stables Medals, and/or a Kingdom Stables Collars.
I did end up getting the Eerie Cloak +1

 kinda cute 🙂

Was able to party a couple times on my Bard with Blindrage, Cozmos & Bobbyk. Was really fun, and I even pulled, which I’m not so great at (died a few times.. darn taru hp.. lol). We partied in Kuftal Tunnel, and for some reason, we either had really good group of people, or something,  because aside from my questionable pulling abilities, we did quite well. Much easier than any party I had their in the past.

Am now 54 Bard! 🙂 One Level till Mage’s Ballad II – uh oh.. better farm a bit.. hehe

 Since I’m broke as usual, and after listening to Frohike and Audessa talking about crafting, I spent a little time  working on Alchemy. I reached skill level 51. Yay me!.. lol

FLEE!! / Avatars / Static

So… last week after work, I had been soloing my thf in Yughotto Grotto. It has been my goal to get to 25 on thf to get Flee. Since I really don’t have enough time to take on a regular party after work, I decided on soloing to get there. It took me about 4 evenings, but I got from 23 to 25, and finally got FLEE!! … yay me!!    Here is a pic

Saturday, I farmed a little in the morning, and then we did avatars the rest of the day. We beat Garuda and Titan, then I turned in my whispers for the moon bauble so that I could then help out with Leviathin, at which point Kauri was finally able to turn in her whispers. Later on after Kauri had to log, we tried Shiva, however that one we failed. Maybe too much of a good thing.. I don’t know. The first three had been relitively painless, but Shiva didn’t go so well, and I actually ended up deleveling in the process…. twice. 😦

Here is a picture of us Heading out to Leviathin, with some of my most favorite people in the game.  We had got aggroed by these bees.. lol. Luckily Kinkykitty had the path all figured out, it was just keeping snk & invised while getting there.

 

Sunday morning we started the static. We killed Puks, thinking easier faster kills were the way to go. I died once to an Air Elemental that popped right on top of me. After I healed from that, I was much more aware of watching for the little weather symbol. 

Later on, it popped again and was fine for awhile, I moved to the other side and things seemed alright as the elemental left for a bit, but then it aggroed someone.. I don’t even know who, because everyone had magic except for Squeekers.  We thought we were done for, Kinky 2hr’d with Invincible, Kauri chainspelled half its life away, Squeekers 2 houred his monk, I waited a little, and then when it pulled an Aeroga II on us, I used Benediction, thinking that it would come kill me, but surprisingly it didn’t even look at me. We finally got it down to a good 2-4% and then the Bluemage used Self-Destruct and took it out, but not before it finally killed Kinky. I was actually amazed the majority of us lived. It was kind of fun.

“Let the rain of what I feel right now…. come down… Let the rain come down”

I do have to say though, I really think Leveling past 60 takes entirely too much time. It kind of aggrivates me that I can spend 4+ hours and not really get very far. Especially when I have a real life to deal with that needs my attention. I want to have fun in this game, thats why I play, but when I don’t seem to get anywhere, it starts feeling more like a job. I sometimes wonder if its even worth it. There are so many things I want to do and try, but it all seems so far off. We all have real lives too.. so schedules and balancing things, thrown in with medical problems here and there.. makes it difficult.

 I know others are real frustrated at the rate of progression we have as well, and I’m starting to think that while I love leveling with these people, maybe we aren’t really doing each other any favors. I get the feeling some people feel trapped and are longing for “freedom” but are too nice to really say anything. I don’t want to have this be a bone of contention for anyone…  I really love playing with my friends, but I guess at some point a decision needs to be made.. I don’t want them to not be having fun out of frustration.  And I don’t want to force people to stay or go… but sometimes it seems that no one wants to be the one to make a real decision. 

I think some of it too, is out of fear. Fear that if we don’t have this “static” thing, that we are going to loose out on this bond of friendship we’ve created. I don’t want to lose it, but at the same time I can’t stand the fact that people may feel like the static is holding them back. I just don’t have any answers, I’m frustrated, tired, and sad at the possibility of losing some of these friendships. I’m not even sure that I’d even want to level with just anyone..  

Paper Knife / PUP / Skill-up

 

This past week, Kauri helped me to get my Paper Knife (Bard AF Weapon). It was a very quick fight. Its cool that we are starting to get to the point where we are actually able to do some of these things on our own. Thanks again to Kauri!

Also, I ended up using the treant bulbs I had from farming. I had about 4 stacks in total. Those along with some water clusters I’d farmed, I headed to Whitegate’s Alchemy area. Once there I sat in front of the guy that gives you free support, and ended up making a stack or so of vitriol. Had some breaks, but is not so bad since I can get the ingredients pretty easily. I ended up getting my alchemy to level 37. I can use the vitriol recipe up until level 43, so since it is a very cheap synth for me, it is my plan to do so. I sell what vitriol I get on the AH or to the NPC depending on amounts on AH. If I remember correctly, I get 121 gil or close to that off of each vitriol I sell to the NPC, and since I’m not buying anything for the synth, I don’t feel too bad doing that.

Water cluster prices are so low, its been almost worth just NPCing them as well now. They used to sell for 1k each, now they are around 400 -600 gil and sometimes lower. I only get 202 gil when I NPC them, but its almost not worth paying the gil to put them on the AH.

We static’d with our 20’s group (which I’m going to have to start calling our 30’s group soon.  Kauri (pld), Kinkykitty (drg), Katella (pup), Squeekers (rdm), and Talishe (whm). It was fun to play PUP again. it had been so long. I had missed Serenade. I reached 28 and a few reached 29. It was fun though.

Sunday, our static got canceled, as Kauri was the only one available to pick up some extended family at the airport at the last minute, so we went to go find some fire weather for Minianne and Amras. Didn’t end up getting any fire weather unfortunately. I did however end up skilling up on bee’s and bombs. Amras only died once as a level 30 thf/pup ^^  we were surprised he did so well. lol ^^  I ended up getting a key for the map out of the deal, and also ended up getting some much needed skill-ups on my club. It went from 176 to 185. My next weapon skill is Judgement @ 203, so I’m kinda excited I’m getting closer.

Memorial Weekend

Since it was a three day weekend because of the Holiday, we had no statics scheduled. So I ended up spending most of the weekend working on my Bard with Blindrage & Pitbull. The partys we had on Saturday and Sunday were pretty good, and I ended up getting to 33, and was able to learn Magic Finale, thanks to a nice Delivery by Velsol.

Bard is pretty fun, and I’m liking it alot. It is kind of funny that I’ve leveled that job quicker than any job I’ve had, even/especially my whm which still is dear to my heart. But I have to admit, Bard is I think growing on me and is running a close second, tied with PUP at the moment. Here is a shot of what happend though after a bat link that wouldn’t go back to sleep. Bard Down!

We also worked on Blue Mages this weekend, when people came back from the Holiday.  Thanks to the help of my LS members and especially Kauri, I think four of us reached level 16. It was nice being able to use healing breeze.

Alchemy is now 30, although I think I’m going to have to stop progress for awhile, as leveling it, and buying new songs has depleted me pretty badly, so I need to focus on some kind of farming at some point this week. Especially if I want to continue to level Bard.

Busy Weekend – NM hunt, NPC, Statics,Craft

Friday night, I logged in and went to Carpenter’s Landing with Squeekers to get his Bard’s level. We went there, I went as my 19 PLD, and  pulled out my NPC Gunnar to help.  Squeekers attained  level 20!

After that Aerie had logged in, and was offering to help with something, so we decided to go to Ordelle Caves and see if we could find the NM there that Squeekers needed for his Monk belt quest. We killed a few slimes, goblins and bombs etc, and then decided to try the other NM in B. Glacier.  That one is an NM called Nue.  There was one other person there camping it as well, and when it popped, they ended up getting the claim, so we cheered them on. They didn’t end up getting the item to drop either. It was late, so we decided to call it a night.  Not as productive as we had hoped, however we had fun hanging out with Aerie and getting to know her.

Saturday Morning, I helped Blindrage and Pitbull get thier NPC’s. I was nervous, because long ago when I had went to get mine, it didn’t go well, however I was trying to solo it as a clumsy still pretty new level 30 whm.  We went to Eldieme, Blindrage popped his Skeleton NM, and I did a Cure V on it, a couple hits, and it was done for. He spoke to his NPC pal – a small taru with grey hair named Burg-Ladarg.  Then we did it again so that Pitbull could get his NPC, also a small taru, only with blue-ish hair named Balu-Falu. 

We then ended up in Ghelsba Outpost at the hut, so they could fight the Carrion Dragon.  Now everything I’ve read on this has said that they could go in at the same time, but they would have their own dragons to fight, and couldn’t help each other, but this is not what happened.  They went in, and only one Dragon appeared, and so they fought the one dragon, both their NPC’s came out to help, and they defeated the single dragon, and both got their quest finished. After that we went to Qufim to try out their NPC’s, it was fun. 🙂

When Squeeker’s and Jedafu & Velsol logged in, we went to Kazham to party.  Here’s a picture of us waiting for Jeda & Vel in Kazham^^

Jeda was RDM, I was BRD, Blind was PLD, Pitbull on DRK, Squeeks on BST, and Vel on BST. It was fun.. and in the process I got my Brd to 26.

Sunday Morning, Blindrage, Pitbull & I all met up again to party some more. We trio’d in Qufim and I ended up getting Brd to 27. Both Blind & Pit got to 28, so Blindrage was happy that he could now use his Kite Shield.

When people started logging in for our 60’s static, I headed to Bibiki Bay. We got there and noticed that the birds are getting alot easier, so I think we are going to need to look again for another place to party.  In the process of this static, both Kauri & Squeekers leveled. Kauri got 64 rdm, and Squeeks got 65 on his monk.  He also got his long-awaited weaponskill “Dragon kick”. I took a picture of his first use of the new WS, but being a mage in the back, I really didn’t get to see it that well. I guess he does a somersault of some kind, and its cool looking. I mostly just saw rocks coming up from the ground… maybe its dirt..  Here is the picture I got though.

After that we went and helped Talishe do her Mission 3 dragon fight. Kauri went as bluemage, and actually was able to sleep the dragon with sheep song.. lol.  It was a pretty quick fight.

Then we headed out to work on our 20’s. It was getting late, so we didn’t get to stay long, but a few of us leveled.  Squeeks stayed behind after we disbanded and helped Fuddy and I get our levels. 

After that, we ended up on another Rank 3 Dragon fight, this time for Amras. We headed to Palborough mines this time, and defeated his dragon.  By this time.. I was tired.. lol  so I logged for the night.

And at somepoint during the weekend, I got Alchemy to 27 ^^

Quick Update

Sorry, just a quick update for the weekend.

Sunday during static, I finally reached 64 whm.  /cheer ^^

We got Pitbull up to 19 so that he and I and Blindrage could party together. So far its just the three of us, I’m on Brd, Blindrage is on Pld, and Pitbull is on Drk. But the three of us ran around the basically empty dunes and exp’d off mobs there.  If this past weekend is any indication, I only saw one regular party at the dunes, everyone else was just people duoing or trio-ing, or people with powerlevelers following them.   Has the dunes become too difficult to party in? with the change in position of the undead and the goblin bounty hunters?

Well got to get back to real life, so take care all, and hopefully I will be able to update more later.

More leveling etc..

So this week/weekend I ended up gaining a few levels across a few different jobs. My War is now 14, RDM is now 21 (again – yay.. I got Gravity back.. lol),  My Bard is now 19, and last but not least, my static Pup is now 23! (now I can wear my Great Doublet) /cheer ^^

My cooking skill hit 52, almost to where I can start making my own yag drinks, but not quite. If I read correctly, I need to be 55 before I attempt those as they are capped at 60. Before I reach 60 I also need to start leveling a different craft (most likely Alchemy since its the next highest) so that I will actually get other levels … or something like that.. I’m not sure I understand it all.. guess I’ll look it up some more.. lol.

Saturday I had a new experience, I went with my friend’s Eliktro, Kundala & Lathander to their LS’s Garrison Event. It was in West Ronfaure, and I ended up going as thf/nin. That is quite the lag they have going on during one of those.. hehe. It was fun, I ended up getting a manniquin feet out of the deal. I’d like to “Collect all 5” and get my own manniquin for my mog house, but I also hear that it costs alot. It would be nice to put a set of armor on one though..  I’ve always thought they should let you group your armor a little better.. we’ll see how it goes.

We started our static this week on our 60’s got 5k+ and then switched to our 20’s group.  With the 60’s we are now 63-64 range, and party in Bibiki Bay. With our 20’s we are 22-24, and party In Qufim at the tower. I’m kind of anxious to get to 70 on my whm, but it is a nice break to work on pup too, and I do enjoy pup. I want to fight Maat as crazy as that sounds.. lol. I think its more of a validation thing, that I want to know I can accomplish something, and that I did something without having to have someone do it for me.. ><. It would also be nice to learn the spells sitting in my Mog House. I have all but three that I would need to finish out whm to 75.  I think I’m missing Protect IV (I bought the -ra version first), Banish III, and Curaga IV, and then I’d have them all waiting for me to use.  Gil is as always an issue.. (funny how much it can be like real life.. hehe) so I’m holding off until I actually can afford & use them.

sorry no pictures this week, I didn’t seem to remember, with everything going on, and with real life stuff like taxes etc.. lol. 

My little Tortuga linkshell seems to be growing, which is cool but makes me a little nervous too.. lol.  My core people I absolutely adore, and we mostly only give pearls out to friends and friends-of-my core people. We do have a few that we didn’t know very well, people we’ve met while partying and so on, and so far so good. Last night for the first time we actually had someone out of the blue ask for one, so we gave them one. I’ve seen LS’s totally destroyed in the growth process, as well as totally poisoned by a single added individual, so I’m hoping that it won’t happen to this one. Should I be worried, maybe I worry too much over nothing.  

I helped one of our LS mates camp the Hoo.. something Yagudo in Giddeus yesterday. When it finally did pop, they were able to get the claim, but it only dropped Zealot’s mitts, and they were hoping for the Monster Signa. It took awhile, and I wasn’t even out there near half as long as my LS member had been there. Made me wish that more NM’s were forced pop’s instead of claimed.. lol.

Treasure Hunting / Friends ^^

Made this banner out of a screenshot I got this past week. Click on it to see full view, I thought it turned out cute !!

 Mostly this past week, I’ve been leveling lower level jobs with my wonderful friends in the Tortuga Linkshell. It’s been fun. I’ve gotten a level on my war, monk, pld, and almost on my bard.  /cheer

Other thing that has taken some of my time is dealing with my constant inventory issue. So two things occured this week because of that. First was that I took my Ordelle Chest key out of my Safe with the intention of finally using it. The picture above is actually of that. I timed it just right and ended up with a magical pattern to which I promptly took to Jeuno and turned in for the Wonder clomps, which I then placed on the Auction House since I have some already. Mostly chose those because there was none in stock. Hasn’t sold, but hopefully…

The second was that I realized that if I bought a couple items, I could actually synth some things and relieve some MH space that way. I ended up getting my cooking to 51.6  with a combination of Orange Au Lait and Crayfish balls.  Opened up a few spaces, but I still have a long way to go.. lol.  I am always running around with about 2 to 5 spaces open if I’m lucky, and that fills up pretty fast.

Egg Hunt / Leveling

So.. I told myself that I wouldn’t do the Easter event this year, however I’m such a sucker and the Jeweled egg’s pull was too enticing, so I went ahead and did it.  What I couldn’t believe is the amount of people who were selling eggs for 15k , 10k, 5k, and even 3k a piece!  The incredible part was that people were actually buying them at those prices.  I however did not, I figured I had a week and all, I’ll sit and collect them myself.  Patience is a virtue that is lost I think.. lol.  Out of the 13 eggs I needed to get the jeweled egg, I ended up buying two letters at 1k each.. so the event this year cost me 2k, which isn’t bad at all compared to what others must be spending. I threw the other letters I didn’t need up on a mule for way cheap, and they all sold very quickly.

Here are my spoils for this year’s event:

    And It changes color!

  

Monday & Tuesday I leveled with Squeekers, and Fuddyduddy and Kauri  a little this week. Here we are in the maze.  Squeekers & Kauri both were Dragoons, Fuddy was DarkKnight, and I worked on Paladin. I ended up getting to 15 or 16, (can’t remember now.. lol)  but it was fun.. Jedafu came out and helped us for a bit too..