No place like home

BLM:75 WHM:64 SMN:42 THF:75 WAR:59 RNG:43

Be it ever so humble, there is no place like home.

Sometimes you get to feeling that you left something really valuable when you leave your loved ones behind(like your old ls). That is how I felt recently as I tried to solo the three detector type mobs at the Dilapidated Gate in the Misareaux Coast. That was the next set of monsters I had to kill for PM 6-2 Echoes in Time.

Here is a picture of my crew that beat the Snoll Tzar.

Erecia's Guide said it was difficult for a 75 job to solo so since there are three mobs, she must have meant difficult for a BLM cuz who else can Sleepga? Well, I practiced using Freeze II > Fire IV, then tried Freeze > Freeze II combos on some Orcs and Gigantobugards nearby.

The first time I went was a complete disaster. I had planned to use my ES + Sleepga II macro and the stupid cordless keyboard decided that ws the perfect time to talk to it's buddy in Mars. No signal. By the time I realized I had to hold the keyboard "up" towards the sensor, the mobs were hitting me and then interrupted me... then death and delevel to 74.

No problem right? Wrong. You lose Freeze II when you hit 74. This is easily my most damaging spell and it has a shorter casting time.

I lost so quickly that I hurried back to try this stupid thing again thinking I could do it with a 74 job but it didn't work. I used Freeze > Fire IV > Blizzard IV > Fire III > Blizzard III > Blizzard II and then I was out of mp and the mob I was working on was still alive and zapping me for dmg. Not a lot of dmg but I needed to kill it off quickly to rest mp before tackling the next one but, no dice. I died away from the spawn spot at least.

Last time I died too close to the spawn spot and I had RR up and went up and then down. In hindsight, it would have been better to homepoint cuz I just had to homepoint after they killed me again.

So I gained my level back from being under only like 45 exp during Besieged and it put me at about 1500 over, and now, after 3 deaths, I am like 2800 tnl to 75. UGH!

I guess I better find a ls to love. I guess I need a manaburn soon too.

I hang out in my Dynamis LS sometimes just to have a spot over my head and Mr. Fabiancito tells me to go get a real ls. What a WETBACK! lol. He's lucky I can't d2 him. He's also lucky I didn't start with the Spanish insults. I guess I'm lucky too then, lol.

I saw Sabrial the other day and she was still kicking it in Mount Zhayolm with a bunch of the old people from her ls, Nobodyzangel. It's amazing that they are still around and together. I haven't seen a lot of Vekien though. He did a lot for that linkshell. As a matter of fact I haven't seen Cornnholio at all. I hope he didn't give up the game after everything he put into it.

BST owns Bugbear

BLM:75 WHM:64 SMN:42 THF:75 WAR:59 RNG:43

I used my WHM yesterday to take on the Bugbears at Shaft #2716. I wasn't going to suggest getting a group together since me and Nobodyhere spent close to 2 hours trying to get a group to go the other night. But this time it was a totally different story. We got 4 people to come just like that. So I didn't ask them what jobs they were gonna bring but I knew what the strategy for this was and I had most roles covered due to my multiple high level jobs.

The fight is capped at 60 and has a Bugbear and four goblins each a WHM, BLM, RDM, and THF. That strategy I read and used was to have a kiter kite the bugbear and then kill off the WHM first. This would require as jobs, a kiter, a healer, a tank, and whatever else DDs that could kill off a mob quickly.

We went as BST BST BLU SAM SAM WHM(me). Kind of funky huh? You are probably thinking "How many times did yall wipe?" But we got it on the first try. BST jobs are amazing kiters btw so having two of them helped keep the Bugbear from helping his buddies. The BLU was truly amazing and did some great dmg along with the SAMs. Our party was laughing at how pathetic this BC was but in reality it was just the knowing of how to handle the mobs that kept us with the upper hand. These mobs can't be slept so this is like a prelude to the Mammet fight that we will have to endure during the airship battle coming up. Since some of them haven't finished all of The Three Paths, I will have to say goodbye to many of the people that helped me with these fights. Hopefully it won't take them too long to finish of the other paths.

As for me, I am all set to finish off the cs and get to the airship fight asap. I need to get some guy to help me kill off some NMs at the dilapidated gate so I can get to the cs with Cid where I can farm items for the CCB Polymer. Or I could just buy one and go thru the cs with the group.

I am broke though.

I had 20k to my name and I gambled with the Moblin foolishly 1k at a time and then 10k once and just lost it all to the moblin. I was lucky enough to have one person stay behind and trade me gil. Thank the gods for nice people. I will pay them back of course but wow, talk about pull me out of a jam. The whole party was at Shaft# 2716 and me and this guy were still gambling and I run out of gil. We would have been stuck for like an hour while I went back and started farming beehive chips and waited for them to sell in ah.

You think?

The other guy had a Snow Lily on him and he couldn't get him to accept it so I dunno what happened there.

Now it's off to make more printouts of stuff that I need to do in the future for COP. I will add a link to a neat guide I found that is perhaps more useful that Allahkazams info.

Nighttime is the right time

BLM:75 WHM:64 SMN:42 THF:75 WAR:59 RNG:43

At night is when I get most lucky with invites and such. This character Angelsoul used to hang out with me and Aust and go fishing sometimes during the off hours when everybody else was asleep. It would be nice to get a group like that again I guess and just go fish but I dunno. I like being alone and feel more confident more often when I get people together to do things my way. It's funny to think about though cuz in some ways I am a leader and in others I am an outcast. I realize it is totally up to me.

I finally acheived my long awaited triumph against the Snoll Tzar and earned my title "Ulmia's Soulmate". Why was Louverance in the cutscene and Ulmia giving you the title you ask? Good question.

The people that invited me were JP though. I was able to read enough of their JP message to get myself invited and since I had a Shu'Meyo Salt, they were satisfied. We took a PLD and a WHM. (People don't listen to me when "I" say bring WHM.) The other BLM was supposed to hit Flare and then use Flood since Flare would make the mob weak to water. I didn't have Flood but instead of doing the Flare > Waterga II > Water III > Firaga II combo that I had planned, I realized that Flood would then make the mob weak to Lightning. So I casted my Flare, using my skillchain macro that they asked for, and then when the MB went off, I used my salt and then hit it with Burn and started casting Burst. It took a very long time to get the spell off and people were doing WS like crazy and the other BLM was out of MP close to the end. But it was beautiful. I had no hate. It was like waiting for the time bomb to hit. I wasn't going to get messed with and if they could just all stay alive, we would win. I sound off "6 secs" and the silence is something right on the edge of insulting. If we run out of time, I would be the villain.

But we didn't.

Burst landed for 956 dmg on what was probably 200 hp of life the mob had left and we got our win. All in all, one person died during the fight. Just after we zoned though, I tried to pull up the log to see what everyone else did but the screen went black and I got kicked out. I was just itching to read it though to see how we won but I guess I will never know.

That's what I love about JP people. They always prove me right. I guess you have to just get the right sort to work with you, plus you need to speak JP.

Not all of them are nice though. Heh heh, "cough".

Yesterday I was invited to do plain old Excavation Duty mission where usually I go solo the North wall and everyone else takes down the next 3. Well this was a JP message and I responded and got the invite. But they only wanted to take 4 people. It was very weird. It was me and a WAR and a MNK doing the other walls and we got to like under 5minutes in time remaining but we got the win. I got the impression though that I didn't do well cuz after the fight they just booted me. I guess I'm lucky I don't speak JP. Maybe they just wanted to do it the one time, who knows.

Last night I went with some people to go skill up my club which sorely needed it. I want to get True Strike at 175 and of course Hexa Strike which isn't too far off either. WHM/SMN is the perfect job to take to these events since there isn't a lot of healing needed if you have a NIN tanking and you are able to Protectra IV the party which is a nice bonus. And the MP regen means you always have a supply of MP coming even without resting. (I wish I had a Vermy to double that effect though).

I fell asleep.

I woke up and found myself dead and I go "Oh whoa, someone raised me" so I raise but then a crab walks over and punts me. Ouch.

Later the PLD in the pt comes over and gives me a raise but Guivre shows up. Yep, Guivre. I hate that wyvern. We all had to bloodport, esp me cuz even though ppl were nice enough to offer to come raise me so I could raise the others... I know how this show ends. Guivre > all. I was 10k into the level and now I am 7500 after that little sorte. It was fun though while I was awake but next time I do this, it won't be at 2am.

I got a better idea...

BLM:75 WHM:64 SMN:42 THF:75 WAR:59 RNG:43

Well as it turns out I didn't need to sell my Darksteel Claymore +1 after all. I did a KS30 with some peeps and it turned out to net just enuf gil to get my Spectacles that I had been wanting for my THF. So now that I finally have THF where I want and BLM is doing Dynamises, I wonder if I really should level WHM. I guess one more level couldn't hurt.

I learned today about forming parties in Lower Jeuno. If someone asks you to form a party 73-75, and you are in Jeuno, they must be new to the game somehow. Today I had these people ask to go level in The Boyhada Tree. I had to scratch my head on that one. We ended up fighting steelshells at level 74.

After two hours of doin nothing with that party, I finally got a good party. I always get a good party when it's late. For some reason, people at 5pm want to play until like 8 or 7 even. ??? But if you party at 2am, people stay til 6am or 7am even. The exp is better then too cuz the camps are usually not very congested.

We did Dynamis this Tuesday but the one we did didn't earn me any points. Boo.

I got to level 75 today but instead of building a buffer like I would have liked, it was set to limit mode from when I had my BLM doing manaburn and now I earned an extra merit with THF but he is at 44 exp into 75. I would have rather have had the buffer.

There are so many 75s now out there, it is a wonder people aren't doing merit parties all of the time. I was going to check out what neat abilities my merits could get my THF after the party was over but maintenance of the worlds was just announced and it told us to log out immediately.

How the hell should I know what PST means? The message should say, "In 10 Minutes we will boot you and take any nice food stuffs you may have on your character and delete them for not logging out properly when we asked. "

What? That was nice!

The view from here? not bad

BLM:75 WHM:62 SMN:42 THF:74 WAR:59 RNG:43

This is a view from Beaucedine Glacier. I love what the upgrade in my video card did for the picture. I often wonder if it's possible that the XBox version might look better. I still haven't bought the game for it even though that was the purpose of me getting the 360. Oh well.

I have to finish the 4 cities to be able to attend the Dynamis-Beaucedine run so since I can't go I am gonna skip it the next session of Dynamis. I have finished 2 of the cities now though so only 2 more to go.

I like working on Dynamis runs as BLM/WHM. I tend to focus on helping kill the mobs more than Sleepga II since there are usually plenty of other BLMs with that task and that have their personal vokers set up. I think I really add a lot to the run. This past week I was in a party with a BRD this time and I was seldom out of mp. I kind of wished I had SMN sub but bah, I was healing all over the place with DS + Curaga II. It was scary how much of an impact I had. Still I am way at the bottom of the point totals so it will be a while before I can lot on anything. Who cares. I am happy just to help and be impressive.

The THFs and the PLDs die every once in a while though and I have to say that the more I learn and practice, the more I will be able to save their butts I think. It is probably impressive to some people to see me casting Blizzard III for like 500 dmg and ppl are like huh? That's because I have my Ice Merits up.

What I really need to do though is to get in on some Besieged and max up my Healing and Enfeebling skills so that I can sleep better. If I don't use Elemental Seal, I usually get resisted, even with my Dark Staff equipped. I never realized this but rather than use Besieged for a good times kill whatever party, I can and will use it as skill up session from now on. It's just perfect for that.

Bye bye Darksteel Clay

BLM:75 WHM:62 SMN:42 THF:74 WAR:59 RNG:43

Well I have decided to sell off my GSD. I loved that GSD. But I don't expect to be using my WAR for very long time. I want to level my THF to 75 and then level up my WHM to 65 so that he can be of use in the city Dynamis runs. I think I have hit a real gold mine with this ls because at least THEY don't allow insults, which is what I have been harping about all along.

I can't figure out though if they are going to keep tabs on the points or if I am going to have to keep track myself. Their website is like our old ls website from DVX and is rife with info but it's a bit scattered.

I would like to level but I also want to be ready for the run as soon as I get home. I also would like to skill up my staff and club like I was doing but now I really have a pressing need to level so that my jobs are helpful to the group.

Cadillac among Pintos

BLM:75 WHM:62 SMN:42 THF:74 WAR:59 RNG:43

What I should have done last time is what I am going to do now and that is focus on Dynamis for a while. I do have 2 level 75 jobs after all and in Dynamis is where you meet most of the play-all-the-time people that are useful in getting other stuff done like COP and Aht Urghan missions and Assault and stuff.

More importantly, I need to use this information to better myself among the pillar peeps of our community. The best part is that this will be a whole new set of people which I guess is what I am good at. I am good at making new friends but not so good at keeping old friends interested.

My WHM is gonna have to take a back seat for a while though because even though I almost capped my experience as BLM before I got my merits and such, I now am close to deleveling again. And, if there is something I learned about Dynamis last time is that Dynamis = Party Deathga.

But these people seem to have a good handle on things and I am confident I will perform well. I just have to find a way to make money to support the Echo Drops and Poison Pots supply. I prob should get a RR2 Hairpin but not just yet.

I can tell I am getting old just because of how I regard young people now. I used to just think they were stupid but now I actually find myself admiring them a lot more.

The best part is that these ppl go on two nights that work very well for me. My car has problems and I have to fix it so that I can take it out to play pool sometime. It's ok though cuz I still have my other car.

I went back to play poker with my old friends this weekend and things seemed back to normal but under the surface things are different. The friendship is strained like it's been stretched over too much bread. Even my job seems in jeopardy lately.

I have more outbursts now esp towards other employees that annoy me. I am SURE they annoy me on purpose but I wonder if in fact it is me that is getting closer to getting fired. You can't fault someone for coughing and tapping and interrupting you while you are talking, but you can fault someone for yelling.

At the turn, I wonder if they will see that I wasn't the antagonistic one.

It's my own fault though. I'm like a Cadillac among Pintos. I know everything about everything there not just because of my education but due to my experience. After all, even though I have done the job 15 years, it is just a phones job. Most people don't even have to pass a test if they sat on the phone once as a receptionist somewhere.

I get a lot of value out of my job though because I get to talk to many people all over the country about credit which is very related to my field of study which is Finance. Plus, I have good contacts from the many great people I have met there over the years. But the new people would just assume lose their jobs tmw. And, if I annoy them in some way, they prob don't have any ethical qualms with losing their job and in the conflict, costing me my job along with theirs.

That's my biggest fear. I should own up to the fact though that I must annoy them also and, that in SOME way, I had better calm down and try to be a better part of the group.