Harvesting

It was actually more: Muling, harvesting, muling, synthing. Pretty much in that order.

Not much else.

Help with the ghost fight, Harvesting

I started the evening off helping Colacub out with his mission in Aht Urghan. He was currently on the "obtain the coin for the black coffin" fight. Someone else needed the coin but they missed out because they forgot to touch the ??? after the fight.

Poor Autumnal messed up her turn in of her Sapara of Trials, so she has to get a new sword and break the latent again. Not fun.

Got some harvesting done.

Harvest, Assault and Savage Blade

Saturday

I started the day late. Since people were busy doing things I continued doing some harvesting. Then I got the call for a single Assault run. This was one of the smoothest assault runs I've ever been on. Devious, Thundar and Vexen (or something like that), needed a new RDM. Their previous DD bailed before the last run and Vexen went to change from DD to RDM. Only 1 aggro and we got the mission done withing 20 minutes. Most excelent.

Also the ??? Necklace that dropped turned out to be a Spectacles. This is currently going for 400k on the AH but since I've always wanted one, I decided to buy out the rest of the people. So I gave 100k to each of the other 3 and I now have my Spectacles.

Spectacles

Very happy with my evening (short though it was), I logged for the evening.

Sunday

We had talked about doing a Savage Blade run today. But it was late when I got on, and Autumnal (who also needs it) was not on at all. Cane also hasn't broken his latent on his Sapara. So I figured we wouldn't actually go on any run.

However the run itself involves the Altepa Gate. This is a little more tricky as it involves clicking 4 column scattered over inaccessible places in Western Altepa Desert. Then running to a specific gate and getting through it before it closes. Neither Devious nor Thundar knew the exact route, so I printed the instructions out and we set of to "reconnoiter" the route. We then proceed to wander about the desert and the associated Quicksand Caves. Homing in on the various columns we need to examine. Since we were only 3, we did it in the following order: Emerald, Sapphire, Topaz and finally Ruby. During the run around we actually managed to go through the eye of a tornado. Very funky. Topaz and Ruby were already clicked by someone else and we ran to the gate and got thru the gate. A quick zig zag later and we were in the room with the ??? for savage blade.

Heading for the eye

Well we're here. And we know we're good. So Thundar tells Devious to start pulling mobs in the room. Sure enough we clear out the room post haste. The mobs being only DC means they went down like ten pins to the Monk/Bard/Red Mage trio (poor poor Atticans). I then popped Girtablulu, the Scorpion NM for Savage Blade. This was obviously a longer fight. With me laying on the full layers of debuffs and Devious alternating between double marching Thundar and double ballade-ing me. With me hasting and healing Thundar. Soon enough the NM fell. I got my Annals of Truth key item and it was off to San D'Oria for my weapons skill.

After the usual airship waits, I made it to the Chateaux and got my Weapon Skill.

Savage Blade is now Mine. I now have all the main weapons skills a red mage can get (I think, I'll need to check club).

Savage Blade

After that I headed off to bed. Well satisfied with my weekend.

Synthing the harvest, Lightning clusters

Well, I got a lot of stuff synthed, then ran out of crystals. So it was off to Delkfuts. Delkfuts was annoyingly weather less, so I wasn't on a lot yesterday.

Well THAT was annoying...

I got on and got a request to help out with mission ZM4 because I had an unlit lantern. So I told people I'd meet them in Den of Rancor since I had to go get it at windy. My first clue that this was a little disorganized was when I get to the paintbrush room and people are surprised that I'm there. It's not like I hadn't mentioned where I was along the way, but somehow they managed to be surprised anyways.

So I lead the way to the lighting point to find an gil farming party clearing the room around the altar. How convenient. It's at this point I find out that I'm the only one with a lantern.......

Strangeone>> You're shitting me...

Needless to say I was less than pleased at this development. All my previous runs of this had been with people courteous enough to make sure there were at least 4 lanterns in the party/alliance so that it was much faster to do. So I dragged everyone down there to the torch area with instructions to keep the area clear. The red mage in the main party managed to get mass aggro and get killed. I managed to get manageable aggro and didn't. Then it was off doing laps ass fast as tarully possible. Bleeding inconsiderate blighter.

Then after the run, while I'm getting organized Dev and Thundar do some Assault runs with Eoware. So at least I managed to get some farming in before tucking in for the night. I did manage to get another stack of Red Moko amongst other things.

Not a lot - except helping Devious

Humm, lots a homework. I didn't get a lot of time over the last two days to do much. I think it was mainly shuffling of Inventory and some crafting day before yesterday, with a time out to help devious with something... I know he asked, I know I helped... Just can't for the life of me remember what we did... Ping!, ah yes, The antlion for CoP missions 3-3. Tore him a new one.

Yesterday was more of the same followed by helping Devious get his rank 8-2 mission done.

Two days woth of harvesting and assaults

Well Sunday I basically did nothing but harvest for all of it. I no longer need to bring a stack, I got about 60-70 items harvested for the cost of a single sycle. I'd love to know what harvesting rank I am, but I'm getting prety up there. Anyways need to concentrate on getting cotton and red moko for the barrons set I'm making.

Monday, didn't have a lot of time, basicaly, logged on and was immediately sucked into Preemptive Strike x 3. All went relatively well. The first was the smoothest with Brolly. Then the next two with Eoware were agro city. Lucky Dev and I are prety good RDM and BRD team. Kept everything under control and the DD's alive. I now have over 5k Mamool Ja assault points.

Latent of my Sapara of Trials

What started off as a slow evening ended up pretty good. I started by going for some harvesting. Barely started that when I got a call to come help Thundar get his SAM weapon skill NM. This ended up being Thundar, Bradley, Autumnal, Devious, Lone and myself. Poor nm never stood a chance.

Then Autumnal and I got her Kuftal Map from a key that dropped while we were bored waiting for the party to assemble. That done with we got to work on some weapons skills. Autumnal and I trading off on the Fusion SC. Eventually she had to leave and I managed to break my latent with a few more SC with Devious. At one point it was the most over powered skill chain/skill up party you've ever seen.

We also discussed getting Devious to use up some of his seals. He needs Utsusemi Ni and he's sitting on over 1000 seals. Translation: we need to do some Worms Turn. Lots of em.

Aborted Promivion run, Assault

Well I tried and failed to organize some Promivion runs for those who needed it. Mainly because they didn't show. Such is life. I did manage to get a whole set of anima and a backup set of recollections. I also bought an entire set of Shade Armor +1 for when I run more Promivions.

I did end up doing 3 Assault runs with Thundar and Devious and someone named Vion. So 3 wins in Preemptive Strike (Mamool Ja Staging Point - PFC). I also managed to get prepared for the serious amount of harvesting I'm going to need to do soon.

Out of the dunes forever

well I did it, I managed to get out of the dunes. BRD20. Done. Now the only job I have left bellow 20 is BST, but I can do those 3 levels in Tharongi and Buburimu. As stated before.

After the obligatory jig. I went and moved oodles of stuff around so that my level 40 stuff is accessible, and my level 30 stuff was on me. Once that was done I did a bit of farming with Jelley. We got some Recollections. If all goes well, this weekend should see some Promivion action.

I can almost taste it

As you can see, I'm putting a push on getting through the dunes. I'm almost there 2k more exp on BRD and there's only BST left (which I can do in Tharongi and Buburimu). Not much to report except the party was once again slower than molasses in spring.

And another dunes party for 100 posts

This is my 100'th entry in this blog. To celebrate it I did.... another dunes party. At least this one went faster. Mainly because I was pulling. Ah well, BRD19 at least. I should just need 1 more party and that will be it for my BRD for now. I'll just have BST left to get to 20 and it's Jig time.

The horror, the horror

Yep, you guessed it another sucky dunes party. When the BRD/COR is pulling hate you know there's problems. When the puller insists on asking for a confirmation that it's safe to pull when the party has full MP, you know there's problems. When there are 2 white mages, a red mage and a bard in the party and the puller STILL waits to pull, you know there's a problem.

3 hours, 2.5k, 1 level. That's less than 1k an hour. It was like pulling teeth without anesthetic.

Blech, excuse me while I go wash the taste from my mouth...

Airship dizziness and a rant

Since I got COR to level 20, it's now time to address my last two jobs that are below that magic dunes avoiding number. Namely BRD and BST. So I start with the prep-work necessary to get BRD ready for action. Let me state that getting a bard ready for action takes much longer than most other jobs. Mainly due to the skilling up you need to do to get the singing/instrument skills capped. I tend to cap these BEFORE going partying (unlike most of the rest of the dunes that are totally clueless as to why this would be a good idea).

I also needed to get all 3 of the next scrolls I'd need since I intend to level to 20. Might as well get them ahead of time. After the conquest update, and a little research, I learn that I basically have to hit a vendor in every major city from where I am. I decide to do it without changing jobs. The result is I spend most of the day as a BRD/COR going from city to city by airship and waiting on the darn airship to arrive (although sometimes the scenery was mighty fine).

Scenery

In the good news side of things, I've managed to skill-up singing to it's max. I made good progress on Stringed and wind instrument skills. I made some Poison Katars, both for sale and for the guild, thereby getting the max points for the day. And I've bought Mary's Horn and acquired some bard food. So I'm now ready to rock and roll down to the dunes.

Skilling up bard skills

Of course it's at this point that the call goes out for some Assault and what not. I get ready and no one else is quite prepared so I take the opportunity to book it to Rabao and get the last tunning fork.

Ready for any Avatar run

I'm now ready for any avatar battle that needs an RDM to help out. At this point I take a break for dinner (went out and had some great pasta with a friend). And when I come back since no one else is still quite ready, I decide to go on a pick up Assault.

Rant Time

For the love of all that's holy, people, if you're an RDM, LEARN YOUR F---EN ELEMENTAL ENFEEBLING ORDER. We lost twice with what should have been a no brain-er operation.

The standard doctrine is as follows: Get party with 2 Dark Magic mages (RDM or BLM) and 2 DD's. Monks are preferred in the DD slot but anyone should do if they do decent damage. Everyone casts Invisible at the start. Get by the first bomb. All 4 of you kill the first wall. This should take 5 minutes. At this point the party re-invisibles and splits up. One of the RDM/BLM or BLM/??? heads on up to the northern wall, while the rest of the party goes for the 3 walls that are in a row. The guy at the northern wall should finish his soloing of the northern wall before the rest of the party gets through the 3 walls they are assigned. Mainly because DoT ownz this mission. You'll notice: one guy solo's a wall while 3 guys go through 3 walls. Once the guy on the Northern wall finishes his wall he books it back to the room where the Rune will spawn to end the mission. When the last wall falls, he pops the chest (optional if there's enough time remaining) and nails the rune. Sounds equitable right? Especially since both teams have good DoT mages? Right? I will even diagram the assault for the short of attention (click on it to blow it up):

Da Plan

Not how it worked out for these two runs. Both had their problems. None of which were due to the RDM/BLM assigned to the northern wall (myself). No, no, the OTHER RDM/BLM does not seem to have learned the magic aggro range of the bomb family of mobs. He manages to pick up a bomb aggro at least once on BOTH runs!!!

Now my soloing of the Northern wall was a work of art. I manage to get it done in about 15-17 minutes from the start of the missions. You will note that this is ample time to take a leisurely stroll back to the rune room. But thanks to aggro boy in the first run I know we're behind the curve so I hurry it to the party after my wall goes down only to find them STILL killing the 2nd wall at the 10 minute mark. So I help out with that wall and enquire if someone should be sent back to the rune room. We eventually dispatch the other RDM to that room. I go totally berserk at the end including a chainspell nuke. The 3 of us manage to get the last wall done in time. But aggro boy manages to be late to the rune. Loss.

We're pissed but we figure that we were so close, if we manage to avoid aggro we should be fine for the next run. You'd think so too. The run starts off promisingly enough. The MNK has been replaced by a SAM but that should have minimal impact on the overall run. We get thru the first wall and immediately learn that aggro boy hasn't learned his lesson. He manages to aggro the bomb on the OTHER side of the entrance wall this time. Lucky that this one can be safely slept and ignored since he'll be far enough away by the time it wakes that it'll loose aggro along the way. So minimal time was actually lost this way. But more indication that dude is not the sharpest pencil in the pocket.

So I get my wall finished and am on my way past the three bombs in the big room when the SAM D/C's I start my way back up to the 3 walls area when he gets re-invited. I figure ok, minimal time lost, SAM still has his 2 hour. Things should be OK so I reverse course once again and head to the rune room. Once I'm in position I learn exactly where they are in the wall progressions. 10 minute warning and they are still on wall #2. This is not a happy happy sign. They soon manage to get to wall number #3 and the last wall we need to kill (the walls are named: entrance, northern, #1, #2 and #3). And we were down to like 1/5 hp of the last wall when we ran out of time. Loss.

At this point The leader disbands the party in frustration. I don't blame him and I'm pretty pissed myself as I upheld my part of the run, flawlessly both times. My leg got done with oodles and strudels of time to spare. The 3 other players would normally also have had plenty of time...

So I inquire of the leader if he had noticed any problems with the other RDM. He says that he assumed we would all know our jobs so wasn't paying attention. Side digression to all potential leaders: Never assume, it makes an ass of you and me. So I politely inquire of the RDM in question as to what sub he was using. He informs me quite full of pride that he went /BLM so as to cast the enfeebles: Shock->Rasp->Burn... And I know for a fact he wasn't melee-ing either.

At this point I wished GM Dave was real.

If you are not an RDM or a BLM or have never played the game, you can be forgiven for not realizing why the above sent me ballistic. In this game magic is proportioned amongst 8 different aspects. Six of these aspects are considered elemental aspects. The other two are Light and Darkness. Now each these 6 elemental is considered strong against the next element in order. So that Fire is strong to Ice is strong to Wind is strong to Earth is strong to Lightning is strong to Water is strong to Fire. In a circle. Where this comes into importance is with elemental enfeebles. These are spells that have dual effects. They affect some stat of the target they are cast on and do some damage over the duration of the spell. Hence their classification as DoT (Damage over Time) spells. Well one of the rules is that an elemental enfeeble can't co-exist with an other enfeeble that is of directly stronger or weaker than itself. The most recent one causes the other to erase itself. Don't take my word for it, go experiment with it.

Experiment:
Control results: Find a mob that will last long enough but won't endanger you. Cast Burn->Choke->Shock on it. Notice that after a certain amount of time they all 3 drop off the mob in the order you cast them. The system notifies you when they go down off the mob. Very nice.
Actual test: Now on the next mob (or the same one if it'll last long enough), cast Burn->Rasp->Shock. Notice all 3 stick fine. Now wait for the wear-off messages. Notate the ones that wear off.
Results: Notice there are only 2 messages.... Figure it out.

The thing is that by level 60 EVERY RED MAGE ON VANA D'IEL SHOULD KNOW THIS!!!

*pant* *pant* *pant*

This guy was about 3/5'ths as effective as he could have been. He was casting 2/3 of the elemental enfeebles he should have been, and wasn't adding the melee DoT he could have been adding with a good sword/dagger (not much compared to the DoT damage I know but it would have helped, it's not like the walls hit back or have TP moves they can use). At this point I suspect his melee skill of being severely sub-capped. The thing is in this fight he's supposed to be providing about 50% of the offense against the 3 walls he's been assigned. No wonder they seemed major gimped.

God I hate idiot RDMs....

Rant off

Anyways after that I went on 2 other runs of Ilrusi Atoll with Thundar and Devious and those at least got me some points. Not to mention unlocked the PFC quest. Also during these two runs I managed to pull some rabbits out of my hat when Thundar ran into trouble. Including two raises. and multiple fish aggro control on the second run. But at least we got the win. Unfortunately there were no imp wings on the AH when I checked so I logged for the day. I'll get the quest finished tomorrow.

COR, Subanna/Heather

I started the day off with a quick session where I had to death warp and book it to windy walls. The main reason for all this hurry was to get Subanna a world pass so that she might get back in the game. Having decided to re-start from scratch that is. So I managed to get a Gold world pass as I was aware that this was going to be a brand new account. Don't bother trying the number, it's been used as you'll see later.

Gold world pass

Later on it was back to the dunes and I managed to get to 20. Like pulling teeth but it's now done. Nothing special to report. Just your usual dunes party.

After re-equipping for bard and doing a bit of crafting for Autumnal I thought that I had logged for the evening. But no, I get a message on MSN indicating that Subanna created her char and was back in the game. So in I go to go give her a pearl. She's now called Heather.

Introducing Heather

So now in 40 days we should be able to get the funky hats. This time I managed to log for the night.

Forks, AF, COR

I started off determined to get all the forks so I would be ready to go on any avatar run that needed help. This of course involved a lot of running around. I did manage to check which item was the Alchemy item of the day, get my chocobo whistle re-filled and got the moon bauble as well. It's only now, as I'm writing this, that I realize I'm still missing the Rabao fork. Ah well, next opportunity I'll get it done.

Jelley then indicated she was going to go with a WHM that wanted to try to solo her AF NM. Now this is a little nuts. The NM in question is renowned for spam-ing magic and Dimensional Death, a particularly vicious job ability. Not to say it can't be done but it's tricky as hell. -Ga spells striping shadows, DD messing with your HP. A certain amount of luck is needed.

Jelley indicated she was having no luck getting anyone else to take her up on the NM fight. So she was considering taking the guy up on it just in case he might be able to pull it off. It was at this point I had finished going for the forks (well except Rabao, but I had forgotten that one). So I decided that a little extra RDM back up was called for. Good thing I did. The other WHM in question was actually pretty good and was giving a good demonstration of what a combat load out WHM/NIN is capable of. But then a few -ga spells in a row, an Aspir and some nasty DDs and things were not looking so good any more. I started out by simply slapping a Refresh on the boy, then plowing in. Even with the two of us it was a tough fight. Especially at the end when the mob was spam-ing DDs. The WHM died to one too many DDs at the very end of the fight and I was down to 3hp with a Firaga III on the way when I managed to kill it. Close bleeding fight. So Jelley only has the CN coffer key AF left to get.

Then I switched jobs to COR/BRD and it was off to the dunes. Typical semi dis-functional dunes party that did manage to get some decent exp. Got all the way to 19 on this run, just half a level to go to 20.

Helping out with AF

Well this evening was one of helping out with the AF needs of the LS. Well mainly Jelley since she's the only one currently cruising through the AF stages. We went to Beadeaux and pretty much died on the first pull. RDM are resilient but not when we get behind the MP curve against 3 quadav near the dome zone. So Jelley re-raises and things go much smoother from that point on. Krolm eventually reaches us. We get the key and then take a break.

Once Devious frees himself up from Besieged, we head off to Castle Zvahl Baileys. There Jelley, Krolm, Devious and I take care of Dark Spark (poor guy never really had a chance). And once I got to Aht Urghan, that was it for me for the night. Colds suck.

Capping Cooking

Early in the day, I do a bit of AH shuffling. While this is happening, I manage to find the NPC that plays back the missions you're been on. I immediately instruct him to play back various missions so I can get some good screen shots:

Naja is sooooo vain

The King of Hearts goes Yoda on a poor puppet

Level Up

Comparing notes with Gessho

Ouch that's gotta hurt

Later in the evening, it was time for my 3 point plan. Namely Get to 60 Cooking while waiting for Thundar and Isyan to free themselves up from the Tenzen fight. Do some Assault runs. And help Jelley progress her AF.

About to start another Assault run

That's pretty much the way things went. With just a quick side track to go raise Madness (and give him some yag potions to get rid of them). Skilled up on Yaggudo Drinks so my Cooking is now capped at 60, the 3rd of my crafting skills to cap out. Did 3 Ilrusi Atoll runs (Still no PFC). Got the Tavnazian Bell off of the first mob (Jelley has horse shoes).

Besieged and some crafting

Earlier in the day I managed to get some muling done. I've decided to empty out my mules of various items in order to free up some space. We'll see how it goes.

Then I started the evening off with little idea to do and less time (because of the late hour I got on). So I finally decided to get some cooking skill-ups. After 4 stacks of dark crystals I managed tot get to 57, so only 3 more levels to go till I cap it at 60

Before I could get going on the next 4 stacks Besieged started. This was great on many fronts, but mainly on the get some dagger skill-ups and the get me some IS levels. One of these days I'll be in a party for these things, but not till my combat skills cap.

That was it for the night.

AH and Muling

Short night. Only on for a few minutes. So moved stuff arround the mules and put stuff up on the AH. That's it.

Blink Blink

Well strip me naked, color me purple and make me dance on Parliament Hill. Microsoft came out with something cool. A Final Fantasy Desktop Theme. Check it out.

Assault, Salvage, Key farming

I started the evening off with the acquisition of the Fire and Water tunning forks. That way when there are any avatar runs I'll be ready. Then it was off to an assault run. After a bit of confusion due to Scab thinking that Assault took all the points from a particular Assault area instead of just 2k points from a particular area. We went on the Leujaoam Cleansing assault mission.

Start of the Leujaoam Cleansing run

This started out well enough and we were ripping along but people got over confidant and an attack in the last room went ahead without checking for adds (they got too far ahead of me and the bards). We could have won after the first 3 deaths but then people got a little over anxious resulting in more deaths. Even with a chain raise for that we were already too far behind the 8 ball. We failed on the before last worm finally. Moral of the story: Don't get ahead of your sleepers. Make sure they are in position BEFORE you start pounding.

After that it was time for another Salvage run. I think this will become our usual Sunday night fare. My social LS is slowly morphing into a Social/Assault/Salvage LS. This can be good or bad. Good because we DO need more people. Bad depending on the type of people. We'll see in the long run how people fit in.

So After making sure I had all the right items, it was off to Bhaflau Remnants. I took the usual Bhaflau Thickets to Alzadaal Undersea Ruins route. Note to self: get the damn map to this place. Once at the entrance point to the salvage run, I waited while I made my portion of the hi potions. Note to self: next time take a picture of the thing above the door.

The door to Bhaflau Remnant

We were off to our usual start. There were a bunch of no-shows so we were once again reduced to a farming run. We went West at the start this time. Please note that this has the consequence of blocking off a portion of the Remnants. We've come to the conclusion that going east is good when you have a mage heavy party, but going west is good when it's a melee heavy party. This is mainly due to the mobs available.

The usual start - naked

The usual progression thanks to Isyan's leadership is Biffrons till 3-4 weapons unlocked and some HP/MP-> Wamouracamps for a bit of armor -> Wamouras (flying type) for some magic/job abilities -> wipe the floor. Mind you at about the half way point it started going a little more roughly. Namely Thundar accidentally used his firefly. This is a bad idea as it boots you from the run. Lesson learned. We also lost Bonoandedge for a while to his dinner. During this period, we managed to learn that a RDM with his spells HP/MP and a weapon make the absolute best tank in terms of not needing to be healed. Phalanx totally owns the first floor. This has the implications that one of the first orders of business is for any salvage run to unlock their RDM's magic as soon as feasible as we make the perfect link handler/healer for once the hi-potions are gone. The first floor is also weak enough that the melee/tanks need to wean themselves of the desire for utsusemis. They do not need these on the first floor once a WHM or RDM has his magic back. Sure the casting needs to be unlocked by the 2nd floor but not on the first. Casters need to be a priority over any utsusemi. Magic is just 10 times more flexible than shadows.

Once most of the equipment has been unlocked

The run ended without very many drops or NM's encountered. This was our 3rd run as a team and the post run hash session was much more animated than the first two. The main complaint Devious and Scab had was felling useless for a farming run with a small party. Loath as I am to leave any ls member out from activities, they do have a point that if they aren't feeling like they will contribute, it's not fun for them. It was pretty much agreed that till we get more people and necessitate 2 bards for a run, they might be better off alternating weeks and save their assault points. We're at the point were we need to do a bit more research and start putting together a plan of attack with the objective of getting to the gears and stuff. We're starting to get our feet under us in there, but there are things to improve: We need to use the people that are not un-gimped early in the run as scouts. We need to improve the point at which we decide to move on. we definitely need to unlock some stats by the 2nd floor.

Note to Devious and Scab: you may still both get drafted if we're short on personnel for a full 6 person run. But such is life in a small linkshell. Oh and everyone feel free to use the comments section here to continue any post run hashing.

After that it was off to the Crawler's Nest for me to help with Jelley's AF key farming. We only got a bit of farming done (I forgot my /THF) before we needed to log for the night. But I've discovered why Jelley keeps complaining about her soloing ability: She doesn't have Drain/Aspir like she should at this level and she has no soloing armor set. This is one of those situations where the blazing speed with which she is leveling is having it's consequences. This game is set up to really limit your options if you don't pay attention to gear and character development.

Key farming in the CN

One of the reasons I go on these farming runs is that it allows me to work on my Sapara of trials. I still plan on unlocking Savage Blade before resuming leveling. Not that I wouldn't help out even if this wasn't the case, but it's always nice to have a 2nd reason to go.

Dunes and AF

Well today was a Dunes day... Yep, got myself in my COR/BRD wear and headed to the evil place itself. First party was good with a PL, got my level. Took a break, then 2nd party sucked (only got half a level). Even with Jelley PL'ing me at the end. Some times it just is sooooo slow.

Killing things for the coffer key

Once that was over with, it was time to go help Jelley with her next piece of AF, so off to the Citadel and some key mob killing. Devious joined up part way through, and we got the key. Then there was a bit of a wait while Isyan came along to make 4 so we could get through the gates. Even this was no problem, and we managed to get the coffer near the zone out. Jelley now has her AF head piece.

Jelley with AF hat

Went to bed at that point.

Quests and ODS

I started off the day with the idea of doing some quests. But first I needed to move stuff around my mules. As I'm wandering from mog house to auction house, I get a tell from a player called Jinxed. I soon find out that /nameless to protect the guilty/ is back in the game. His previous character got sold. So unfortunately he has to start from scratch. I give him a pearl and all is well.

Then I run into one of the types of people who play online games who really do need to go see a psychotherapist. Luve is a 75MNK/37NIN Tarutaru either likes messing with people or is whacked in the head. I don't know about you but anyone who declares their love for you after meeting your char for all of 2 minutes is a little emotionally unstable. Especially when they complain that their previous bf lied to them about many things. Followed by very weak attempts at emo manipulation. Shades of Cinnamonlips no thank you.

After that very weird episode, I decided to do the new years event. After talking with Devious, I proceeded to do the event. He was quite right the watercolor you get is by far one of the best furnishings you could get. As far as looks anyways.

This new year's event furnishing

I logged soon after that, but came back on later that same evening. This time it was to find out that an ODS run was being organized. This is a KS30 BCNM at the Waughroom Shrine in Palborough Mines. It involves a fight against 6 scorpions. Hence it's name: Operation Desert Swarm. Eventually we got it underway. There are two main ways to do this BCNM. The first involves mana burning the mobs. The second involves people soloing the mobs in areas away from each other so as to no get any AOE damage from other scorpions. A little shaky on the first run, but otherwise fine. 5 runs, only 1 death no losses. Scab got the Katana that dropped on my run. Otherwise it was so so drops up until the last run when Yasmine got some fine drops like the V-Claw and stuff.

As a side note. It's not a good idea to go AFK with Thundar and Scab in the area. (I'll upload a short clip once I can find some editing software to cut it down to size).

I logged soon after that it being very late.

Fluffy!!!

Started the evening out where yesterday left off. In search of the new staging point. One white teleporter and a bit of a zig zag later the runic portal was found. Two of em actually. There's some really funky stuff in the windows down there.

Funky stuff down in the Subterrane

Then it was off to join Thundar and Isyan for 3 Assault runs. These were no problem as they were the one at the Atoll. So I now have plenty of points for the next Salvage run.

Then I got lucky. There was a shout for a Fenrir fight. They were looking for a BLM and a RDM. I immediately indicated my willingness to join the fight. We gathered over at the tower in east Sarutabaruta. Then it was off to full moon fountain. The fight itself was surprisingly easy (except the 2h, that was tricky). No one died, although Trix the tank admitted to luck as she parried a hit while she had only 33 hp and no shadows. Towards the end of the fight I had to take over healing duties, but not for long as Trix decided to end the fight with a Mijin Gakure.

Long and sort of it is, I can now summon Fenrir:

Fluffy!

2nd Salvage Run

I started off the evening by putting some warp cudgels up on the ah. Prices are nice and high at the moment. The main reason is that Windy has been out of first place for 2 weeks in a row and it's the middle of the week. If windy stays out of first place for another week, expect to see 50k a cudgel soon.

Then things go busy in the linkshell. We didn't have much time before the salvage run so we booked it it Ilrusi Atoll to get the extra points needed. Only Devious and I needed the points. So Devious went to the chest spawn spot and I became Thundar's battery for the run. As usual, things went very smoothly and we got the points and the Remnant permits necessary for our salvage run.

Gathered for the Salvage run

So off we went to Bhaflau Thickets and the northern most entrance to Aydeewa Subterrane. I still don't have the new new staging point, but I'm going to have to learn how this works. Once all gathered and in a party: Thundar, Devious, Scab, Isyan, Autumnal and myself started up the Run proper. We were our usual gimp selves at the start of the run

Gimp party

Parts of this run went smother, parts not so smooth. I really need to make sure I have a Salvage kit out ready to go for the next time. I ended up dieing twice. First time due to in-attention of the melee segment of the party, 2nd time due to casting cure IV while weakened and getting one shotted. We got unlucky with weapon drops this time. Getting weapons first is very critical. We also need to get better at doing more of the first floor. We definitely need to get smoother at the start of the run. We also need to get better at getting the calling out of who should get what. It would be good if someone tracked the important cell drops. that way less time is wasted after a particular drop.

Partially Un-gimped

I didn't feel like I was up to par this run. Partly because I started the evening with a brand new cold. Yuck. We did manage to get Thundar a pants drop. Our first salvage item that leads to one of the new sets. The BST/RNG/THF/??? Pants (norn set???) dropped from one of the 3rd floor ranger mobs. Thundar won the lot vs Isyan, the rest of us didn't have the right jobs. We'll have to do more.

I logged in the subterrane and will have to get the new staging point next time.

BLU 20

In the dunes again when I logged on. I must be a glutton for punishment. The evening started off pretty good. Had to bail out of a sucking party to go have dinner. When I got back had a party with Colacub that went OK. I managed to get to level 19 with that party. But it eventually fell apart. Typical Dunes action. I had another abortive party. Finally got re-formed and Colacub was randomly in this party as well. This went much more smoothly as Thundar came over to PL for a bit. We managed to get both of us to 20 in very short order. Thanks Thundar!

Then it was off to the assault run. We took Excavation duty this time. This one is fun for a RDM since you are usually sent off to solo one of the out of the way walls. Again this was no problem, although they main party did miss-count and ended up finishing mine off after they miss-counted and thought mine was the last. Nope they only did 2 in the time it took me to get to 25% on the one I was doing. I would have soloed it if they had gone on to the next one like they should have. Ah well. All was good in the end since we won that run.

Almost ready for the Assault run

Oh, I also got the latest gil from my warp cudgel sales. Going to have to make another batch today at some point.

The dunes...

I logged on just outside Selbina. So dunes it was. Ok party. We started off with me tanking but the PLD took offence, so I said I'd backup tank. That worked much better (not so much for me but to keep the peace in the party). Was a pretty smooth party all round. Except for some leechers the puller pulled in. The one I was tanking we killed, the one Quaigonjinn was tanking... not so good, (darn thing Cure III'ed 2 times):

Ah, Dunes sand, tasty!

In the end though I got my level and a buffer. So I'm now a level 18 BLU. I also managed to get Cursed Sphere. The fly move I needed to get. So over all a pretty good session, though short. I was feeling meh-ish. So I went back to the gate near Selbina and logged there once again.

Naja is broken

Well I did the last mission available currently in the Aht Urghan story line. It was most excellent. This is basically where some more plot exposition happens and Shantotto gave me my marching orders. She did manage to break Naja though. That'll teach Naja to mess with such an experienced operator as Dr. Shantotto.

Broken Naja

She unfortunately still has my crown. Lucky me though, I got 5 Imperial gold coins and immediately went and upgraded my mog locker. I can now store up to 70 items in my mog locker.

The rest of my linkshell was either away at new years eve parties or doing stuff on their own. I decided to go try and level BLU a bit. This involved getting to Bastok and switching jobs. I got my equipment switched around and then headed in the general direction of the marshes. The flies were a little to tough so I headed to Valkurm. There I called up Yawawa my NPC Fellow and although things went well at the start, it quickly deteriorated. I ended up running for the La Theine zone.

Yawawa and I in the dunes

I decided that getting further spells might be a way to go. So it was off to Gelshba and the orcs. First up was trying to get Bomb Blast from the orcish war machines. This turned out to be no problem as I got it on the 2nd one. In the following picture you will note the normal blue mage technique of waiting for the mob to build up TP by wailing away at one's self until they make the right move. This is a slow painful process (literally):

Ouch

Then of course the monster with my next move was nearby so it was off to some Cheiropteras in the tunnel system and up on the plateau. Interesting discovery: Bats are not linking. As you can see I am well withing the sound distance of the non-engaged Cheiroptera, but it is not linking into my existing fight.

Humm Shouldn't this be linking???

After 3 of them, I managed to learn Blood Drain so it was off to Valk once again. Where I immediately got into trouble and died right in front of the gates to Selbina. Brilliant way to show my skillz...

After the raise, I waited around a while for a party, but nothing happend (except I spotted the rare red chocobo). I ended up logging for the evening there in hopes that things would look up the next evening.

A Red Chocobo in the dunes

Have a Happy New Year everyone!!!