So it begins

Obviously, you've all heard of the upcoming merge and the impending cries of players saying this is the end of FFXI as we know it.

I'm not surprised about this server merging. I haven't been around for an incredibly long time, but long enough to know that our server is less than eventful and has a declining population. Think I'm kidding? Try shouting for ANY event during a Level 8 Besieged and see how far you get. 230 people in Al Zhabi = no one else available to do other events. Every now and then, we get some decent drama shouts in Whitegate (it's sad that I actually believe drama to be an event now), but it's usually just the same few people trying to get somebody to help with something. Or Ozirus trying to get someone to play in his casino.

In short, things are boring on my server. Sure, if you have an awesome LS that you always do things with, maybe it's not so bad. My LS; on the other hand, isn't the hold-hands-and-let's-all-do-stuff type of shell. We do our own thing for the most part, and meet up during events or special requests. So I'm kind of excited to actually meet new people and possibly make new friends. Plus, I get to meet my FFXIAH buddy, Savannah. ^_^

Of course, with anything remotely good on the horizon, there are an equal amount of concerns. For one, the preparation that shells are going through now. No matter which LS I talk to, everyone is on some farming craze now. Not farming so we can hurry up and spawn whatever NMs we deem necessary to get gear for everyone, but farming so we can have pop items when we transfer. I'll be the first to admit that I'm not the strategist in any of my shells but, what the hell kind of thought process is that?

I can understand farming if the reason was to get as many NM fights in before the merge as possible, but why wait until the transfer? Think about it. Server populations will be combined and NM camps will be bloody packed from the moment we're able to log on while people try to get claim and make a new name for themselves or maintain e-peen dominance. It's bad enough having to wait in line against your own shell members and the LS's of your home server, but now we'll have to wade through umpteen other shells just to get to spawn the NMs. I can see it now: a bunch of shells in sky or whatever, playing "Poke the ???" just to see who can trade the pop items fastest.

If anything about this pisses me off, it's Dynamis. We're moving to a server that doesn't use any type of reservation system and is solely first come, first serve. My shell is notorious for never starting an event on time, for whatever reason it may be. We only do Dynamis once a week as it is, and you know damn well the iceland / dreamland zones will be camped to hell and back when we merge. Which means we may end up getting stuck with the craptastic zones until things settle down, if ever. I have a feeling we'll be stuck in Dynamis-Windurst for a long time coming, because no one ever wants to do that zone.

I hear talks about many people quitting when the update comes. Of course, this is coming from the same people who were going to quit four updates ago and threatened to after each update since then, so who knows what the hell they're doing. Personally, if you're going to quit, just go now. Why torture yourself sitting here waiting for something to happen that you really don't want to deal with? Save yourself some dignity and leave.

All I know about this upcoming update is that I have an actual reason to get my campaign rank back and do more WotG missions. As for the new avatars...yeah. Let's give them avatars they can only call out during Astral Flow. I see the only practical application of Alexander is during a zerg, and even then it's unlikely. Odin's attack seems awesome, but anything in FFXI that seems awesome on the screen is usually pretty meh when you actually get to use it.

Anyway, enough bitching for now. Almost 75 Bard, and I'd like to get that wrapped up this week. Well, if the farming craze doesn't take up all of my time of course. >.>