SCNM, Sky, and 74!

We went back to have more SCNM fun a couple of days ago, and this was a much better run than the last few that I can remember. Surprisingly, we had less people than before. We got through every NM in the area with only major mess up, and managed to build up an entire set for another boss fight. Perhaps we'll go today, but I'm really not certain.

I don't know what was different about this run. Although I had to go as PLD/freakinNin, I enjoyed this trip more than most. Maybe it was the near wipe at Observant Zekko, or the fact that I didn't die when fighting Ra'Dha Scarscute and that damn Dark Knight Quadav. It was just an overall enjoyable night. I can only hope that if we go, that damn RNG helm drops and I'm able to get it. That would be quite sexy, even if that hat itself is fairly ugly.

This was a previous run. Links plus a DRK NM who absorbs damage = not fun.

Miliani's attempt at an MPK was quite successful. ^^

Probably more successful than she wanted...

Pitchy pudding says hi.

EP and I dual tanked the remaining NMs for the rest of the night. ^_^

Last night was a date with Gods for SoV, and that was pretty groovy. I'm guessing Dizzmal decided to teach me a lesson by having me go as PLD/WAR since I don't personally like shadow tanking. Of course, Dierdren had me change from SAM when I was 5 seconds away from the crag. Twenty minutes later, I was ready to go. I swear I need more inventory space.

Anyway, while I'm personally more comfortable overall with /WAR tanking, I can see the merits of /NIN. Especially given the method SoV uses with every DD as /THF. This allows the DDs to control shifts in hate moreso than the tanks, at least from what I saw. Granted, I would provoke just after I saw most of the DDs on my side SATA me, then let the other half do their thing at the other end. Dizz managed to nearly MPK us at Suzaku because he wanted to be greedy and try for one more Atonement when Suzy chainspelled. Good recovery by everyone and it was a nice way to let go of any tension for the rest of the fights.

He wasn't the only one with a silly moment though. During the fight with Seiryu, he warned me about which abilities to hold and when to use them. Well, right when Hundred Fists went off, I got caught up in macro gearswap lag and hit Sentinel too late. No I didn't die, but I didn't pull enough hate in time to save Tidis. Poor guy dropped almost instantly. I'm afraid that death might give SoV one more reason to make Tidis come as RDM to events more instead of PLD. Cause you know, Tidis loves RDM.

I know I was an MP sponge, but the group did an excellent job of keeping me and everyone else alive. The overall drops seemed decent, but I think just about anything with the R/EX tag is decent, so what do I know. So yes, PLD/NIN is useful. I still don't like it.

I have more pictures of the event, but I'm at work and didn't mail them before I left.

If payouts were on the 1st of the month, this would be an official SoV Welfare line.

Now then, about that 74...

I decided to take another shot at Odin. I've done the fight 4 times so far, and only lost once due to some bad luck and some poor casting choices on my end. We were going to do a six member Summoner Burn this time. The last time I used this method with Epic (the person, not the LS), we blew through this with extreme ease. So, naturally, I was confident that we'd be able to do this again.

All I kept saying was I wish Epic was here...

I can understand being nervous when it's your first time going against Odin. You don't know what to expect, and he looks pretty intimidating. However, when every statement you make is countered with a "what if," the nervousness becomes flat-out annoying. You're 75 people; you should have a basic grasp of what to do in a bad situation. There are only so many "what if" occurrences that require a unique response to any given situation. The majority are a combination of common sense and experience. Needless to say, we wiped. Hello 74.

I should start bringing more reraise items to events.

Afterwards, we all said we'd try again. Thankfully, I happened to have another Talisman on me after helping Keyoku farm his earlier. Luck was on my side when I went to get it checked by the Qiqirn, so I got my items and then waited for everyone else to get ready. During this time, I learned a few things about my group.

The one thing that stuck out most was a SMN who mentioned they were astral burned. I do have my opinions on the burning method, but after reading umpteen forums threads about people defending it, I do try not to /rage at anyone who has taken a job all the way to 75 by spending couple of hours in the tunnel.

However...

When you know that you're about to do an event against something like Odin and every member is a key piece to the strategy, don't you think it would be nice to at least get your skills beyond level 12? Now some people will say that SMN magic skill is essentially worthless, but I beg to differ.

Of course our fail wasn't blamed on that. No no, it couldn't have been that. Instead, it was because no one was kiting the Odin Images. Despite the fact that I've done this several times with no kiter, that had to be the reason we failed. So this time, our underleveled SMN changed to RDM and attempted kited the images. Death still ensued, but we managed to pull out a win. One quick trip to the sandbox and it was back to 75 for me. I think this would be a perfect time to get in on some tunnel action and get a nice exp buffer so I don't delevel anymore. >.>