The Road to Ungimpness

I've been mentioning more and more than I need to merit my jobs. This is becoming more apparent as I begin to understand more and more about my jobs. (read: as I compare myself to others.) Not to mention, I've been out of the endgame scene for a bit since my ls is "on break" and it gives me more time to really look at my jobs and how they are laid out.

In short, I'm gimp as hell.

So rather than bitch and bitch like I normally do, I'm on a mission to change all of that. Unfortunately, I have a short attention span when it comes to self-improvement. Rather than focus on one particular aspect of my jobs, I'm working on everything at once. One job at a time of course.

Job 1: Samurai

You knew I would pick this one first. It's a fun job to play, and I like slicing things.

When I first reached 75, I made it a point to campaign and get enough merits to cap Store TP. Then I stopped. I absolutely hate meriting. I'll have to make another post because my thoughts on it are far too long for this one. Anyway, once I had that category capped, I didn't bother with anything else. I turned my attention to gear, thinking that a Kirin Osode and Hagun were going to put me up there with a half-decent SAM.

I was horribly wrong.

The most important thing I have learned about jobs in FFXI is that a single piece of gear doesn't mean a damn thing. This game is all about sets. Everything depends on something else. In my ignorance, I was happy as hell when I got that Hagun. I just knew I was hot stuff then. I was 75, had the best great katana next to a relic weapon, and had my first merit category capped. It's a little different now.

So here's the plan. Obviously, it's time for a gear upgrade. I've been doing a lot of reading about the standard 6-hit tp setup, and I've already got more than enough Store TP for that. Now to remove the excess Store TP gear and replace that with something a bit more helpful. My current targets are these hands and legs. This will give me a nice bit of Haste and Dexterity over what I currently have. Not to mention, they look better. Once I get the Askar helm, that will replace my Walmart Turban. I'll take a picture of my current gear so everyone can point and laugh.

In addition, I've been working on getting the sea gorgets to help out with my weaponskills. The torque is a wet dream for now, but dreams keep you motivated. I've had a few friends help out with the organ harvesting in Al'Taieu, and we even had a go with a couple of jellyfish (Ul'Yovra).

These fights are pretty fun. I do need to work on Scholar merits to be more effective against them. However, that will have to wait or I'll never truly focus on getting Samurai up to speed.

Of course, when I'm not doing Nyzul Isle or farming in sea, I'm meriting. Well, kind of. Basically, I spend my free time in Cape Terrigan and just spam Fields of Valor until I get bored. Or I might campaign if Yoko or Bhin bug me enough. It pales in comparison to a merit party, but I already know people wouldn't let a gimp SAM in one anyway. On a related note, Sush has been kind enough to invite me another merit party and I had a blast as a Corsair.

So far, I am 6/8 on Great Katana, 5/5 Overwhelm and 5/5 Store TP. I will probably merit Shikikoyo, but I'm honestly leaning towards Blade Bash more. People don't seem to care about skillchains unless it's latent time, and I'm not giving up my tp just so you can choose to not chain with me. >.>

I'm sure there's more to work on, but the goal is to be a "decent" SAM, not a godly one.

From gimp to pimp; the journey begins!