I don't know why, but I picked up another magian weapon today. Some days, I don't even bother trying to figure myself out.
Anyway, the trials are fairly simple for this one. Thinking this would be a relaxing way to start my weekend, I got a few kabobs and was on my way to the sandbox. While there, something dawned on me.
People are jackasses.
I've seen some shady behavior there and all around but the jackass gene was in full force today. I was on the receiving end of some of it, but I also just watched others for a bit too. People provoking enemies right as someone else gets to it with their weapon drawn. Casting Dia on enemies that someone has slept. Black mages running around sleeping 4 or 5 enemies just to keep them to themselves. RDMs running past dead people just so they can get claim on lizards, and all sorts of other nonsense. I even saw some MPK action with Killer Johnny.
Then I went to Whitegate. Of cousre, it's relatively quiet there now, but only because people are in Abyssea. Once that dies down a bit, Whitegate will become the same drama-arena it's always been.
Of course, this got me thinking. It's pretty common when someone bitches about FFXI to hear "go back to WoW with all the other kids" or things of that nature. It's been said that the FFXI crowd has a more mature audience overall. If there was a survey done in the past which brought about such a perception, then I'd like to see another one done in present time and check the results.
Based on my overall experiences here, I really don't see the general crowd of Vana'diel as the epitome of maturity. In fact, I see the opposite. Perhaps I started out on the wrong sever, or happened to be unlucky enough to be part of presumably the worst server merge. I am at the point where I would not recommend visiting Vana'diel to anyone who has not already been here. Not because this is a bad place, mind you, but because of the overall attitude / behavior of the population.
Personally, I love Vana'diel. It's beautiful, expansive, and has endless hours of activity. I am both frustrated and enamored with this world. However, I think that my stay is mainly because I was lucky. I ran into a group of wonderful people early on and that helped to solidify my place here, even during my darker periods.
Yet, I'm hesitant to bring in any friends from the outside. I know I personally would not be able to be with them 100%, and would leave them to their own devices from time to time. Sadly, that thought bothers me. I've said it before, but FFXI is not a new-person friendly place.
From the way I hear it, WoW is full of young adults and teens who run rampant through the game and have a very immature disposition. I doubt this is 100% accurate, but it seems to be the general consensus. However, that raises a question. If WoW is the immature gamer's paradise, and FFXI is supposed to be for mature people, then why the hell does such a vast majority of FFXI players seem so childish?
You would expect such behavior in a playpen of toddlers who don't know any better. Has Vana'diel become that playpen? Of course, there are many people who don't fit in the group. I happen to be friends with a lot of them. Still, they are in the very small minority.
July 30, 2010
But Dude...It's FREE!
Let's get something straight...Trial of the Magian weapons are NOT FREE!!
The only "free" part about these ordeals are the shitty base weapons that you can grab from that splintery chest by the Magian Moogle. That's it. The rest of the process is the furthest thing from free that can be imagined.
It doesn't matter which version of the weapon you're aiming for. Every one of them costs something. Somewhere along the line, you're going spend something. You're going to use food, potions, reraise items, or something else on your path to create whatever weapon you feel is going to help you in your endeavors. At the very least, you're going to spend a ton of time on these.
I don't know about you all, but time isn't cheap in my world. These weapons take days, if not weeks or more to complete. There are some weapons that can be "done in a day," but even that's a lot of time. If by "a day" you mean a 24 hour stretch, then that's a long ass time to run around chasing various enemies under particular conditions.
I won't say these magian goodies aren't worth the effort, but don't ever try to tell me that these things are "free." Well you can try, but I'll slap you silly if you're within reach.
The only "free" part about these ordeals are the shitty base weapons that you can grab from that splintery chest by the Magian Moogle. That's it. The rest of the process is the furthest thing from free that can be imagined.
It doesn't matter which version of the weapon you're aiming for. Every one of them costs something. Somewhere along the line, you're going spend something. You're going to use food, potions, reraise items, or something else on your path to create whatever weapon you feel is going to help you in your endeavors. At the very least, you're going to spend a ton of time on these.
I don't know about you all, but time isn't cheap in my world. These weapons take days, if not weeks or more to complete. There are some weapons that can be "done in a day," but even that's a lot of time. If by "a day" you mean a 24 hour stretch, then that's a long ass time to run around chasing various enemies under particular conditions.
I won't say these magian goodies aren't worth the effort, but don't ever try to tell me that these things are "free." Well you can try, but I'll slap you silly if you're within reach.
July 28, 2010
Elitists...
I'm warning you now. This is a rant. A vulgar rant. There are curse words. Lots of them. Don't read this and get mad because you're no longer a virgin to vulgarity.
I warned you.
For as long as I can remember, I've always been the modest type. I don't brag, boast, or hold people to super high standards. In gaming, I'm more or less the same way. I believe in giving everyone a chance. We all have to start somewhere, right?
It pains me to say it...God it pains me so much, but I discovered something scary:
I'M AN ELITIST BITCH!!!
Goddamn it people. Seriously. How in the granddaddy fuck do you not understand how some of these events work? Why do you feel that it's up to the alliance to babysit and explain how lights work in Abyssea? Do you not realize there are 400,000 pages of wikipedia and various forum information that breaks this shit down?
I just got out of a party that so far ranks among the worst that I've seen. I'm not even kidding. Granted, I was only there for an hour, but that hour was more than enough to get me to find a replacement and get the hell out.
Some shit just doesn't make sense to me. Understand your damn job, and DO IT! When you have 2 BLMs, 2 RDMs, and a BRD....there is absolutely no fucking reason that the BRD should die due to a lack of sleeps. Same goes for the THF. There's just no excuse. If the lullaby gets resisted, RDMs should be on Gravity, BLMs on Stun. Sleeps in Abyssea should be like sleeps in Dynamis. That shit should be spammed. Every single person with the ability to sleep that enemy should be doing just that. It's not like you'll run out of MP there.
Oh wait, that's not true. You can run out of MP in Abyssea. Know why? Cause stupid fuckers refuse to open the goddamn temporary items chest. How fucking stupid is this? It's a free bonus people! Who cares if you use a key to open it? You get cruor by the assload and you're worrying about using a bit of it on a key? You "lol" and boast about buying every piece of gear there is, but you're hesitant to spend 500 on a key that can open a chest with items for MP, HP, and attack boosts? Really?
Now let's talk about lights. Without going in too deep, the concept of them is pretty straightforward. You want time extensions? Go for the azure light. You want more blue chests? Pearlescent's the way to go. If you don't want big gold chests popping up, how about not using your fucking key on the amber light chests. During the beginning of the party, no less. Fuck amber. Fuck ruby. Fuck anything that isn't helping to get time extensions when you're first starting out.
Goddamn it. Fucking think of what you're doing when you're in that place. We're against the clock and stupidity has no place in an Abyssea alliance. I just don't get it. You people are 75+; is it really that damn difficult for you? Oh shit, wait. Not everyone there is 75+. I don't mean the key-person. I mean the other people who now feel that they have to come in at 55+ and whiff there way to 75 while everyone else does the work. Get the fuck out of my alliance and go do FoV or campaign.
Then there's the questions. There's always the questions. Why do you wait until you are INSIDE the maw to start asking questions? No one gathers fast for these events, so it's not like you don't have time to ask whatever you want to know during the gathering phase. Someone there is going to hold everyone up. It's a requirement. Either they don't have Teleport-Mea, the gate crystal, enough gil for a chocobo, or they lose connection before entry time. One of those four is guaranteed to happen. So avoid being the Abyssean idiot and ask your questions before we start.
/sigh
My name is Jacinda, and apparently I'm an Elitist. I'm sorry Bhinasha.
I warned you.
For as long as I can remember, I've always been the modest type. I don't brag, boast, or hold people to super high standards. In gaming, I'm more or less the same way. I believe in giving everyone a chance. We all have to start somewhere, right?
It pains me to say it...God it pains me so much, but I discovered something scary:
I'M AN ELITIST BITCH!!!
Goddamn it people. Seriously. How in the granddaddy fuck do you not understand how some of these events work? Why do you feel that it's up to the alliance to babysit and explain how lights work in Abyssea? Do you not realize there are 400,000 pages of wikipedia and various forum information that breaks this shit down?
I just got out of a party that so far ranks among the worst that I've seen. I'm not even kidding. Granted, I was only there for an hour, but that hour was more than enough to get me to find a replacement and get the hell out.
Some shit just doesn't make sense to me. Understand your damn job, and DO IT! When you have 2 BLMs, 2 RDMs, and a BRD....there is absolutely no fucking reason that the BRD should die due to a lack of sleeps. Same goes for the THF. There's just no excuse. If the lullaby gets resisted, RDMs should be on Gravity, BLMs on Stun. Sleeps in Abyssea should be like sleeps in Dynamis. That shit should be spammed. Every single person with the ability to sleep that enemy should be doing just that. It's not like you'll run out of MP there.
Oh wait, that's not true. You can run out of MP in Abyssea. Know why? Cause stupid fuckers refuse to open the goddamn temporary items chest. How fucking stupid is this? It's a free bonus people! Who cares if you use a key to open it? You get cruor by the assload and you're worrying about using a bit of it on a key? You "lol" and boast about buying every piece of gear there is, but you're hesitant to spend 500 on a key that can open a chest with items for MP, HP, and attack boosts? Really?
Now let's talk about lights. Without going in too deep, the concept of them is pretty straightforward. You want time extensions? Go for the azure light. You want more blue chests? Pearlescent's the way to go. If you don't want big gold chests popping up, how about not using your fucking key on the amber light chests. During the beginning of the party, no less. Fuck amber. Fuck ruby. Fuck anything that isn't helping to get time extensions when you're first starting out.
Goddamn it. Fucking think of what you're doing when you're in that place. We're against the clock and stupidity has no place in an Abyssea alliance. I just don't get it. You people are 75+; is it really that damn difficult for you? Oh shit, wait. Not everyone there is 75+. I don't mean the key-person. I mean the other people who now feel that they have to come in at 55+ and whiff there way to 75 while everyone else does the work. Get the fuck out of my alliance and go do FoV or campaign.
Then there's the questions. There's always the questions. Why do you wait until you are INSIDE the maw to start asking questions? No one gathers fast for these events, so it's not like you don't have time to ask whatever you want to know during the gathering phase. Someone there is going to hold everyone up. It's a requirement. Either they don't have Teleport-Mea, the gate crystal, enough gil for a chocobo, or they lose connection before entry time. One of those four is guaranteed to happen. So avoid being the Abyssean idiot and ask your questions before we start.
/sigh
My name is Jacinda, and apparently I'm an Elitist. I'm sorry Bhinasha.
July 27, 2010
Looking back while catching up
(UPDATE: The page is working now! Turns out that it wasn't the CSS at all, but a spacing issue within the Content Editor. I tried to make things easier for me to read and it backfired. >.> )
First, I have to apologize. I really should have put some type of warning or notice about my last post. That must have been the longest entry I've done since this blog was created. For those of you who managed to get through all that and actually comment, you have my thanks. Even I struggled reading it all the way through the second time around.
With that said, on with the pictures! (and a bit of reading)
Looking at the Front Door
Old school rap reference for the win. I made a post awhile back where I questioned how my linkshell was being run. Actually, I expressed my opinion more than anything. At any rate, it lead to rather heated discussion in the comments and has given me something to think about since the. I've said it previously but, I truly like the people there. I do wish that I had the bond with them that is evident among other members, but it just doesn't seem to be happening.
On top of that, there are just so many things that I want to experience while I'm here. Maybe I came to this game too late, but that doesn't change my desire to take part in various events. At the same time, I can't expect them to have the same interests that I do. It would've been great to do all of these things with them, but it's not a realistic expectation. Rather than drag it on, I decided to part ways. I am going to miss them, but hopefully friendship lasts longer than linkshell membership. We'll see.
Dancing with Bugs
Tifachu was working on her Magian weapon and she needed to kill either 400 or 500 Wamoura type enemies. I can't remember which, but I decided to help her out with some Dancer power. For the record, meleeing Wamoura Princes absolutely sucks. Christ, that Heat Shield they have is deadly. I'm sure it's easily managed with a fire resist set, but how many people do you know that carry one around while they're fighting?
Anyway, the group grew from 4 of us to an entire alliance once Firesday hit and the Monks came out in droves. You'd think that would make it easier, but it just turns into enemies spamming TP moves back to back. It's like campaign, only with death penalties. It was pretty fun until somebody accidentally pulled a Wamoura NM which promptly kicked several people's asses due to no one being prepared. Gogo MPK.
Abyssea, Abyssea, A-freaking-byssea.
Who *isn't* doing this? Well, DrJones might not be, but I'm sure I'll see a post about it in time. :p I have a bit of a love-hate relationship with this. Personally, I want to hurry up and get the leveling / meriting portion out of the way so I can really explore the zone and fight some NMs or do quests. There’s actually a lot of really nice gear in Abyssea, and I’m certain I‘ll be ranting about how crappy the drops are once I get started.
As expected, I absolutely love the exp you get there. You simply just can’t beat it. Sure, a one hour merit party will beat an Abyssea party of the same length, but after that...Abyssea just can’t be touched. I’m halfway through with leveling my 75s to 80, and I’m tossing various merits around into all of my jobs as I go. By the time I finish reach the cap, I *should* have all 12 classes fully merited. Better yet, I *will* have it done.
What I hate about Abyssea is the alliance nature and random grouping. It's awesome in a sense but, as I've already expressed, there is idiocy in large groups. Especially when you don't know everyone. Still, I think this can actually work out for the better because you are exposed to so many more people than you normally would be.
Trial of the Magians: Update!
Well, I'm almost as far as I can go with my Kartika path. Athame is more or less dead until I come into a metric assload of gil or find an LS that won't chicken out at the mention of Verthandi's name. I've still got two sets of VNMs left, Feuerunke and Tammuz. Supposedly, these last two are pretty simple. It's just a matter of getting a group for it. Oh, and for the record:
FUCK HOVERING HOTPOT!! /rage
More random stuff
No explanations for the rest of these. Just a few random shots from various events or happenings. As always, thanks for reading and I'll see you in game!
First, I have to apologize. I really should have put some type of warning or notice about my last post. That must have been the longest entry I've done since this blog was created. For those of you who managed to get through all that and actually comment, you have my thanks. Even I struggled reading it all the way through the second time around.
With that said, on with the pictures! (and a bit of reading)
Looking at the Front Door
Old school rap reference for the win. I made a post awhile back where I questioned how my linkshell was being run. Actually, I expressed my opinion more than anything. At any rate, it lead to rather heated discussion in the comments and has given me something to think about since the. I've said it previously but, I truly like the people there. I do wish that I had the bond with them that is evident among other members, but it just doesn't seem to be happening.
On top of that, there are just so many things that I want to experience while I'm here. Maybe I came to this game too late, but that doesn't change my desire to take part in various events. At the same time, I can't expect them to have the same interests that I do. It would've been great to do all of these things with them, but it's not a realistic expectation. Rather than drag it on, I decided to part ways. I am going to miss them, but hopefully friendship lasts longer than linkshell membership. We'll see.
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Dancing with Bugs
Tifachu was working on her Magian weapon and she needed to kill either 400 or 500 Wamoura type enemies. I can't remember which, but I decided to help her out with some Dancer power. For the record, meleeing Wamoura Princes absolutely sucks. Christ, that Heat Shield they have is deadly. I'm sure it's easily managed with a fire resist set, but how many people do you know that carry one around while they're fighting?
Anyway, the group grew from 4 of us to an entire alliance once Firesday hit and the Monks came out in droves. You'd think that would make it easier, but it just turns into enemies spamming TP moves back to back. It's like campaign, only with death penalties. It was pretty fun until somebody accidentally pulled a Wamoura NM which promptly kicked several people's asses due to no one being prepared. Gogo MPK.Abyssea, Abyssea, A-freaking-byssea.
Who *isn't* doing this? Well, DrJones might not be, but I'm sure I'll see a post about it in time. :p I have a bit of a love-hate relationship with this. Personally, I want to hurry up and get the leveling / meriting portion out of the way so I can really explore the zone and fight some NMs or do quests. There’s actually a lot of really nice gear in Abyssea, and I’m certain I‘ll be ranting about how crappy the drops are once I get started.
As expected, I absolutely love the exp you get there. You simply just can’t beat it. Sure, a one hour merit party will beat an Abyssea party of the same length, but after that...Abyssea just can’t be touched. I’m halfway through with leveling my 75s to 80, and I’m tossing various merits around into all of my jobs as I go. By the time I finish reach the cap, I *should* have all 12 classes fully merited. Better yet, I *will* have it done.
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What I hate about Abyssea is the alliance nature and random grouping. It's awesome in a sense but, as I've already expressed, there is idiocy in large groups. Especially when you don't know everyone. Still, I think this can actually work out for the better because you are exposed to so many more people than you normally would be.
Trial of the Magians: Update!
Well, I'm almost as far as I can go with my Kartika path. Athame is more or less dead until I come into a metric assload of gil or find an LS that won't chicken out at the mention of Verthandi's name. I've still got two sets of VNMs left, Feuerunke and Tammuz. Supposedly, these last two are pretty simple. It's just a matter of getting a group for it. Oh, and for the record:FUCK HOVERING HOTPOT!! /rage
More random stuff
No explanations for the rest of these. Just a few random shots from various events or happenings. As always, thanks for reading and I'll see you in game!
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July 22, 2010
Abyssea and the bitch within
/sigh
Lately, I've been on an awesome streak with Abyssea. For the past few days, parties have lasted at least 5+ hours, with the most amazing one being a 15+ hour party right after maintenance. Boring as they may sound, I have a hell of a lot of fun in Abyssea. Exp doesn't immediately start out as awesome, and there's a joy to be found when you can get a bunch of relative strangers working together to achieve these phenomenal results.
So why the /sigh, right?
I was in a party yesterday / last night, and the "nice side" of me snapped. By the end of the run, I had already been called a "royal douchebag," a "cunt," and I was also dealing with the belief that the alliance fell apart because of me. Sounds like a story, yes? Well read on.
So there I was; standing around Jeuno as I had just recently hit 78 Scholar. As I said, I was on a roll with Abyssea and I had just finished RDM the night before and couldn't wait for my next run. Instead of waiting to be invited, I was feeling a bit more confident and figured I'd start asking people already inside if I could join.
After scanning Tahrongi, I found a guy that I did a run with the night before. Just so happened that he was a party leader this time. After chatting with him for a bit, he said to come on out. w00tage. I was certain that I'd have level 80 and this would be an awesome run. It was early in the day and I was ready to turn this into another all-nighter.
I arrive on the scene and immediately get to work. I do find that Scholar is a blast when you aren't forced to constantly swap arts all the time, and Abyssea is great for that. Depending on the aura you're attempting to build, the Scholars can stay as a support role or go as all-out offense whenever the alliance needs it.
A short while in, someone has to go. You kind of expect this. What I didn't expect was being asked to find that person's replacement. I was actually the newest arrival to the group, and you want *me* to get a rep? So I start browsing the list of people and search for someone. I had a few friends online, but I didn't want to pull them into a group when I didn't know how it was going to pan out. This turned out to be a good thing because our party was struggling for awhile.
Auras weren't building up fast and time extensions were few and far between. Some people had mentioned that we were sitting at comparatively low exp for quite some time. One of the hardest things I've learned about Abyssea and parties in general is that it's difficult to get a group of strangers to work together. This also becomes a problem due to what I consider Abyssea's only real flaw: all of the strategies for aura building work.
This is a problem because it allows people to become comfortable with whatever way they've been exposed to. You can go into a party and build up your ruby aura from the start if you want, or have mages get the kill and build azure. Of course, the end goal is always exp and time extensions, but when you have so many paths that lead to the same thing, getting a bunch of strangers to see things your way can be daunting. Especially when you start getting people with the "that's not how it works" complex.
News Flash: Yes it does work that way.
The most common way that I see is the pearl > azure path. Build up the frequency of the chest drops, then work on azure to get time extensions. This way, your group has plenty of time in the zone and gives you flexibility to work on other paths without much worry. While this is great, this usually only works with people who already have an abundance of time because building that pearl light seems to be a challenge. Mages nuking at 40% while you have your DD foaming at the mouth with their weaponskills ready just spells trouble for building a light that's based on a regular attack kill.
I'll have to talk more about paths later but, in short, the path you take should be based on the amount of time you have when entering the zone.
So anyway, back to the main story. I find a replacement and they're on the way. Soon after, another person leaves and it's left up to me to get someone else. As more and more people rotate, I end up becoming the alliance recruiter, key holder, and backup strategist. It got to the point where I was getting requests from people not in the zone or affiliated with anyone already in the alliance to join us. What made them think to ask me was anyone's guess. Mind you, I wasn't the alliance leader when this was going on; just a regular party member.
The pace was picking up and our TEs were coming in steadily and exp was rising. I actually got a few /tell compliments for keeping the alliance alive despite the number of people leaving. Admittedly, that felt really good to see on my screen. Now the entire party was actually asking my permission to bring in their friends. I tried to bring in a few friends of my own, so of course I'd let them bring in theirs. At the same time, I was working to maintain job balance. We started becoming light on the mages and I had to start telling some of future newcomers to hold off until I could re-balance the group. I know it's hard to believe when a stranger says that they will look for you when a spot opens but I truly do my best to remember people and call on them as I can.
Time was passing and the exp was great. A few were at the 550+ mark and I hit level 80 and capped exp / merits. Time to make a switch. I head out and start changing to BLM. Yeah, I know. While changing, I'm still getting tells and trying to find replacements for the people who have to go. I get one message from Key saying "Boy, we need you back here." That is never a good thing to see. He mentions that things are ok, but a couple of people died due to lack of sleeps on pulls. So now I'm rushing to get back.
This is where the trouble starts. With so many people being replaced, it's only natural that the alliance aura begin to fade. From my understanding, you normally don't want the new people getting kill shots due to them having a low or nonexistent aura. What happens when the majority of your group is new though, or returning from a trip to spend merits and change jobs?
You guessed it. You have to start over. In the meantime, the paladin who invited me is getting ready to go and now I have to find a tank as well. The exp is still flowing and things are somewhat stable. One of the members suggests a tank and I get in a chat with him. This was probably the most annoying chat I had. I say annoying because when I ask for a certain job, I ask because I *need* that job. He wanted to come as a Ninja when I asked for Paladin. Granted, he was higher as NIN than PLD, but we were up against mandragoras that have a near constant double-attack rate. Shadows just aren't going to last forever. There was one RDM in his party and no bard because the one we had disconnected and never returned. I didn't want to refuse him, but I had to be firm in my request. Eventually, he decided to come as a paladin.
In the meantime, the PLD we had was ready to go....but he asked the group a favor first. There's an NM there that drops a neat little ammo piece he wanted. The enemy was a Mandy, so we hoped it wouldn't break the chain. Some people were against the idea and disbanded the party to keep their exp chain. Our PLD said he could get it later, but that's not how it ended up. They went on to fight and eventually killed it. Of course, this battle meant less time getting actual exp / chests and people's timers were counting down. He ends up leaving and now we're sitting around waiting on a tank to arrive. My stress level was rising.
One of the people that temporarily disbanded was one of our thieves. He comes back in and the PLD arrives as well. Back to the grindstone. We were basically at "level 1" and had to get in gear quickly before time ran out for some of the people. Suddenly, pulls were going very, very slowly. Kill speed was fine, but we weren't getting enemies to camp like before. I also invited Lisa to the party earlier, so I asked if she'd take over pulling because our original puller went afk after returning to the party.
She happened to be THF/DNC at the time, so I said I'd make sure I'd keep her alive until our main puller returned. He did, but things were weird. He wouldn't pull at all. Just engage the enemy and attack. I sent a tell asking him to take over pulling. No response. A couple of people were getting sleepy / had events and asked for replacements. While I was doing that, the new PLD was getting annoyed with the lack of pulls. I send our THF another tell. Again, no response. Now I'm getting ticked. Don't come to the party and then ignore me when I'm being polite and asking you to do something.
I try to send a tell to one of our WHMs that's in the same party and say that if our THF doesn't pull within the next 5 enemies, drop him and I'd get a replacement. However, I wasn't paying attention and the message went straight to party chat. Oops. Well, I didn't want to make a scene but it was too late now. So I said in the chat that I need him to pull and if he's not going to do as I ask then he can find another party. I meant what I said, but damn I felt like a real bitch. I don't want to treat people like kids or be mean in general. That's just not my nature. At the same time, I had an entire alliance of people that were trying to accomplish a goal, and it required everyone to work together.
Still no response. I watched and counted the enemies. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. I then had him removed. The mages and Lisa worked together to bring in some enemies to fight, and I also got an unexpected tell from the leader of one of our member's LS saying something about his members not doing as he asked and then requested to join the alliance. That one blindsided me, but we had room and I could definitely use a puller. Now we're back in action. We've got a puller, dd, and plenty of sleepers / healers. We were getting low on time, but I believed we could pull it off.
Then I get another tell a short while later. From the recently removed thief. Not a mean one, mind you, simply "{Invite to Join Party}". I sat there for a moment. Is he serious? I ask multiple times to help the alliance and don't get a single response, and now I'm being asked to rejoin?? I explained why I removed him, and then I found out exactly why he never responded.
It wasn't him playing. It was his 12-yr old cousin.
We still had a spot, so I asked if this was the original person or the 12-yr old. It was neither. Instead, I was now talking to his fiance. Rather than go on and on, I told her that if she can keep a steady pull going, then it's fine with me. Otherwise, I'd have to say no. People were running out of time and I needed everyone on their "A game." After a short pause, she then responds with something along the lines of me being a royal douchebag and that she'd help enforce my decision not to bring him back in. So she warped out.
Back to the party. We're struggling to build those lights and I can see everyone is really trying to get things going. I kept thinking that we should just stop, but how can you tell a group to give up when you see that they are doing their best to keep moving forward? Then I got another tell from someone in the group asking if they could go change jobs. I told him that wouldn't be a good idea because of our aura strength, and we needed to get things stable before I lost more people or tried to add new ones.
Finally, I decided to cut our losses. I felt so bad for doing it, but I didn't want everyone to lose whatever time they managed to build up. I really thought we'd be able to pull it off, but things just weren't happening the way I had hoped.
As I sat in my Mog House, I get yet another tell. From the original thief, stating what a "cunt I was towards his cousin." And here we go... How the hell was I supposed to know a kid suddenly took over the controls in the middle of an event? Did I get a /tell, a statement in party chat...anything? No I didn't. So we talked for a good while and I found out that he wanted skill ups at first and was upset that he died when he first started the group. We had some sleepers that either missed the sleeps or, like our original bard, got constantly resisted. Eventually, he went to lay down and his cousin took over.
One of the people that temporarily disbanded was one of our thieves. He comes back in and the PLD arrives as well. Back to the grindstone. We were basically at "level 1" and had to get in gear quickly before time ran out for some of the people. Suddenly, pulls were going very, very slowly. Kill speed was fine, but we weren't getting enemies to camp like before. I also invited Lisa to the party earlier, so I asked if she'd take over pulling because our original puller went afk after returning to the party.
She happened to be THF/DNC at the time, so I said I'd make sure I'd keep her alive until our main puller returned. He did, but things were weird. He wouldn't pull at all. Just engage the enemy and attack. I sent a tell asking him to take over pulling. No response. A couple of people were getting sleepy / had events and asked for replacements. While I was doing that, the new PLD was getting annoyed with the lack of pulls. I send our THF another tell. Again, no response. Now I'm getting ticked. Don't come to the party and then ignore me when I'm being polite and asking you to do something.
I try to send a tell to one of our WHMs that's in the same party and say that if our THF doesn't pull within the next 5 enemies, drop him and I'd get a replacement. However, I wasn't paying attention and the message went straight to party chat. Oops. Well, I didn't want to make a scene but it was too late now. So I said in the chat that I need him to pull and if he's not going to do as I ask then he can find another party. I meant what I said, but damn I felt like a real bitch. I don't want to treat people like kids or be mean in general. That's just not my nature. At the same time, I had an entire alliance of people that were trying to accomplish a goal, and it required everyone to work together.
Still no response. I watched and counted the enemies. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. I then had him removed. The mages and Lisa worked together to bring in some enemies to fight, and I also got an unexpected tell from the leader of one of our member's LS saying something about his members not doing as he asked and then requested to join the alliance. That one blindsided me, but we had room and I could definitely use a puller. Now we're back in action. We've got a puller, dd, and plenty of sleepers / healers. We were getting low on time, but I believed we could pull it off.
Then I get another tell a short while later. From the recently removed thief. Not a mean one, mind you, simply "{Invite to Join Party}". I sat there for a moment. Is he serious? I ask multiple times to help the alliance and don't get a single response, and now I'm being asked to rejoin?? I explained why I removed him, and then I found out exactly why he never responded.
It wasn't him playing. It was his 12-yr old cousin.
We still had a spot, so I asked if this was the original person or the 12-yr old. It was neither. Instead, I was now talking to his fiance. Rather than go on and on, I told her that if she can keep a steady pull going, then it's fine with me. Otherwise, I'd have to say no. People were running out of time and I needed everyone on their "A game." After a short pause, she then responds with something along the lines of me being a royal douchebag and that she'd help enforce my decision not to bring him back in. So she warped out.
Back to the party. We're struggling to build those lights and I can see everyone is really trying to get things going. I kept thinking that we should just stop, but how can you tell a group to give up when you see that they are doing their best to keep moving forward? Then I got another tell from someone in the group asking if they could go change jobs. I told him that wouldn't be a good idea because of our aura strength, and we needed to get things stable before I lost more people or tried to add new ones.
Finally, I decided to cut our losses. I felt so bad for doing it, but I didn't want everyone to lose whatever time they managed to build up. I really thought we'd be able to pull it off, but things just weren't happening the way I had hoped.
As I sat in my Mog House, I get yet another tell. From the original thief, stating what a "cunt I was towards his cousin." And here we go... How the hell was I supposed to know a kid suddenly took over the controls in the middle of an event? Did I get a /tell, a statement in party chat...anything? No I didn't. So we talked for a good while and I found out that he wanted skill ups at first and was upset that he died when he first started the group. We had some sleepers that either missed the sleeps or, like our original bard, got constantly resisted. Eventually, he went to lay down and his cousin took over.
When his fiance was talking to me, he was a few feet away and didn't realize the conversation that was taking place. He was under the impression that I wouldn't invite due to him not pulling. Technically, this is true. However, if she would've said that she could maintain a pull, then I would've let her back in. Since that didn't happen, I made a choice not to bring him back. I hate being mean to people or telling them no in this game, but when I have an alliance depending on my choices, the bitch within apparently wins out.
This is why I really don't like leading parties. >.>
This is why I really don't like leading parties. >.>
July 20, 2010
Emotional Journey to the Other Side
Lately, Abyssea has been all the rage for the residents of Vana'diel. You'd be hard pressed to find anyone *not* actually interested in going there, primarily due to the incredible amounts of exp that can be acquired. Oddly enough, I find this area much more enjoyable than any "lolibri" party imaginable.
So far, this place has everything. Challenging enemies, free-roaming NMs, VNMs, incredible armor (even if a bit uninspired in design), and exp setups that are actually designed for large groups. As one person described it earlier this morning, it's a DDs wet dream party.
After a run today, I had quite a bit of time built up. More than the system would allow me to carry over. So rather than waste it, I decided to wander around the zone and unlock all the confluxes as well as see what I could find out there. Besides stating the obvious NMs and other things that you expect to find, I came across something a bit more poignant: Abyssea's emotional state.
You probably wouldn't notice it when you're with a group because you aren't really paying attention to the area. Sure, the zones are eerily pretty and the music is nice for the whole 30 seconds it takes to arrive at camp. From that point on though, I doubt that anyone really gives a damn about what's really happening around them.
As I wandered Tahrongi Canyon, I made it a point to speak with every NPC I could find. As I said, I had a lot of extra time to stick around. None of us really know what has happened, but it's obvious that the people of Windurst have gone through and are still going through hell.
Apparently, everyone that we run into in the canyon was originally stationed in the city of Windurst, and not just some nomadic campers who got caught in the crossfire. The city was invaded by the Abyssean hordes, and when the Star Sybil realized that they couldn't win, she used a teleportation spell as a last resort to transport the survivors out of the city limits and to someplace safe. Unfortunately, the spell didn't deliver the results she was hoping for.
Everyone was transported, but they were scattered about the canyon in small clusters of survivors. So each group made a small encampment and has been doing their best to survive ever since. As you speak with each person, you can get a sense of desperation in their words. At one camp, there is a young Galka sobbing for one of his kind to return, saying "please come back...don't leave me...alone." Further into the zone you find the Galka in question, and for whatever reason, he is determined to tear down a mountain, stone by stone. He mentions that his body is weak, and the skin from his hands are torn away, but he will not stop.
There is much more to be said about the current state of affairs, but it does make you wonder. Just what the hell happened out there, and what are these creatures after? We have two more expansions to find out. I do hope that SE turns this mysterious introduction into a story as epic as Wings of the Goddess, and not just a quick way to farm XP and get items.
Apparently, everyone that we run into in the canyon was originally stationed in the city of Windurst, and not just some nomadic campers who got caught in the crossfire. The city was invaded by the Abyssean hordes, and when the Star Sybil realized that they couldn't win, she used a teleportation spell as a last resort to transport the survivors out of the city limits and to someplace safe. Unfortunately, the spell didn't deliver the results she was hoping for.
Everyone was transported, but they were scattered about the canyon in small clusters of survivors. So each group made a small encampment and has been doing their best to survive ever since. As you speak with each person, you can get a sense of desperation in their words. At one camp, there is a young Galka sobbing for one of his kind to return, saying "please come back...don't leave me...alone." Further into the zone you find the Galka in question, and for whatever reason, he is determined to tear down a mountain, stone by stone. He mentions that his body is weak, and the skin from his hands are torn away, but he will not stop.
There is much more to be said about the current state of affairs, but it does make you wonder. Just what the hell happened out there, and what are these creatures after? We have two more expansions to find out. I do hope that SE turns this mysterious introduction into a story as epic as Wings of the Goddess, and not just a quick way to farm XP and get items.
July 12, 2010
8 > 18
Two heads are better than one. There is strength in numbers. The more the merrier, etc. etc.
Sayings like these are meant to strengthen the belief that it is always better to have more people when performing tasks. In a lot of cases, this is true. There are just some things that are easier to get through when you don't have to go it alone. Moving, divorce, childbirth, orgies, and other things are better with more people.
In the world of gaming, this still holds true. Usually. Enter Abyssea.
I was hanging out in Port Jeuno because I was bored and wanted something to do. I'm not sure why Jeuno is becoming the hangout for the unoccupied, but that's where I usually find myself. I guess it's because Whitegate has started crashing people and the shout drama is getting stale. Who knows, I spend most of my time in the sandbox anyway.
There was an alliance shout for a farming run that caught my attention. I sent a tell and asked if he wanted a Corsair. I was just in the mood to spin some cards and shoot things in the face. He gladly accepted the request and I went to change. Now, I'm a /RNG kind of Corsair. I don't do that /WHM stuff. No offense to all you COR/WHMs out there but, if anyone expects me to show up to an event wielding a loaded gun and think I'm only going to spin cards and spam cures / erase, you can kiss my ass. I'm there to buff the party and kill shit. That's just how I "roll".
So anyway, I'm geared up and ready to go. We have a full party and then the leader decides to run to Whitegate and grab more people. I'm still fairly new to Abyssea, but it's my understanding that an alliance can clean house in there, and it ends up being better overall for everyone. That works for me, so I just lounged around and watched people running through the zone. The party we aligned with wanted to fight an NM out there first and then use the rest of the time to farm. Admittedly, this concerned me.
Now that we were after an NM instead of just farming, it job assignments started becoming more specific. In a normal party, this isn't so bad. Adjusting the jobs of random people in an alliance; however, is a bit more complex. First, these people want to just get out there, farm the exp, and hopefully get some nifty items. When you start telling them that we're taking time out to kill an NM that has nothing to do with them and they probably won't get any share of the drops, you can imagine that they aren't going to be chomping at the bit to do the fight.
Still, everyone stuck together and decided to go do this to help this other party out. They mentioned a fight strategy and then they said they killed it last time with only 8 people. A fairly simple fight, according to them. So the original party leader mentioned that if they killed it with 8, then we should destroy it with 18.
Famous last goddamn words.
After an hour or so of waiting in Port Jeuno, we take off and get to the maw. As a side note, screw you Square-Enix. What the hell is with the skyrocketing Chocobo rentals? I'll rant about that later though. We get to the maw and not everyone was ready. On top of that, they wanted a White Mage, so we waited a bit longer. More specifically, an hour longer. I love pickup groups.
We finally enter the zone and get started. We find the spawn area and track down the NM. We fight a couple of regular enemies and then someone aggros a mimic. We get to a semi-open area and go over the fight tactic. Things start off smoothly for the first twenty seconds or so.
Shortly after the pull, we get a link. The leader says to pull it away from the babies and move back. Nothing happens. He repeats the instructions. Nothing happens. Someone dies. We get more aggro.
You can guess what's coming, but let me spare you the story details and sum it up with a picture:
Everyone raised and we tried the NM again. We ended up winning, but the THF who was supposed to be our TH person ended up dying during the fight and didn't hit the NM again. So when it was all said and done, we fought it without TH and nothing dropped. I thanked the group, but figured it was time to go. Better to save some of my time for another run than waste the little time I had left.
An interesting thing though. Before we left, one of the members made a statement just after that "we should destroy this NM" comment. His statement was "8 smart people is better than 18 dumbasses."
Statistically speaking and mathematically accurate, more is usually better. In the case of FFXI NM fighting though, 8 is definitely greater than 18. Especially 18 random people.
Sayings like these are meant to strengthen the belief that it is always better to have more people when performing tasks. In a lot of cases, this is true. There are just some things that are easier to get through when you don't have to go it alone. Moving, divorce, childbirth, orgies, and other things are better with more people.
In the world of gaming, this still holds true. Usually. Enter Abyssea.
I was hanging out in Port Jeuno because I was bored and wanted something to do. I'm not sure why Jeuno is becoming the hangout for the unoccupied, but that's where I usually find myself. I guess it's because Whitegate has started crashing people and the shout drama is getting stale. Who knows, I spend most of my time in the sandbox anyway.
There was an alliance shout for a farming run that caught my attention. I sent a tell and asked if he wanted a Corsair. I was just in the mood to spin some cards and shoot things in the face. He gladly accepted the request and I went to change. Now, I'm a /RNG kind of Corsair. I don't do that /WHM stuff. No offense to all you COR/WHMs out there but, if anyone expects me to show up to an event wielding a loaded gun and think I'm only going to spin cards and spam cures / erase, you can kiss my ass. I'm there to buff the party and kill shit. That's just how I "roll".
So anyway, I'm geared up and ready to go. We have a full party and then the leader decides to run to Whitegate and grab more people. I'm still fairly new to Abyssea, but it's my understanding that an alliance can clean house in there, and it ends up being better overall for everyone. That works for me, so I just lounged around and watched people running through the zone. The party we aligned with wanted to fight an NM out there first and then use the rest of the time to farm. Admittedly, this concerned me.
Now that we were after an NM instead of just farming, it job assignments started becoming more specific. In a normal party, this isn't so bad. Adjusting the jobs of random people in an alliance; however, is a bit more complex. First, these people want to just get out there, farm the exp, and hopefully get some nifty items. When you start telling them that we're taking time out to kill an NM that has nothing to do with them and they probably won't get any share of the drops, you can imagine that they aren't going to be chomping at the bit to do the fight.
Still, everyone stuck together and decided to go do this to help this other party out. They mentioned a fight strategy and then they said they killed it last time with only 8 people. A fairly simple fight, according to them. So the original party leader mentioned that if they killed it with 8, then we should destroy it with 18.
Famous last goddamn words.
After an hour or so of waiting in Port Jeuno, we take off and get to the maw. As a side note, screw you Square-Enix. What the hell is with the skyrocketing Chocobo rentals? I'll rant about that later though. We get to the maw and not everyone was ready. On top of that, they wanted a White Mage, so we waited a bit longer. More specifically, an hour longer. I love pickup groups.
We finally enter the zone and get started. We find the spawn area and track down the NM. We fight a couple of regular enemies and then someone aggros a mimic. We get to a semi-open area and go over the fight tactic. Things start off smoothly for the first twenty seconds or so.
Shortly after the pull, we get a link. The leader says to pull it away from the babies and move back. Nothing happens. He repeats the instructions. Nothing happens. Someone dies. We get more aggro.
You can guess what's coming, but let me spare you the story details and sum it up with a picture:
Everyone raised and we tried the NM again. We ended up winning, but the THF who was supposed to be our TH person ended up dying during the fight and didn't hit the NM again. So when it was all said and done, we fought it without TH and nothing dropped. I thanked the group, but figured it was time to go. Better to save some of my time for another run than waste the little time I had left.
An interesting thing though. Before we left, one of the members made a statement just after that "we should destroy this NM" comment. His statement was "8 smart people is better than 18 dumbasses."
Statistically speaking and mathematically accurate, more is usually better. In the case of FFXI NM fighting though, 8 is definitely greater than 18. Especially 18 random people.
July 9, 2010
Where the hell are you?
Goddamn it. You know what really sucks about having friends that aren't in your linkshell?
You hardly see or do anything with them. At least that's how it is in my case, and it's really starting to bother me. It seems so trivial but I get bored out of my damn mind when I'm alone. I'm tired of the sandbox and I'm sure the raptors and beaks are tired of getting their ass handed to them by me as well.
I want to do things again, but with friends instead of random pickup groups. I'd love to do things with my LS too, but I'm not even going to worry about that anymore. I did my bitching about that situation already. There are days when I feel like "one of them" but most days I just mind my own business and do things myself.
It would be nice if I had awesome relationships with the people here that I consider friends. That doesn't sound right. My relationship with them is fine; it's the time spent that I lack. When I check my friend list, they're off with their LS or whatnot, doing events and all that. So obviously we can't do anything. Otherwise, I'm the one in an event. If we are both free, it's usually late in the evening and I either can't keep myself awake or I have to go to sleep for work in the morning.
This is driving me nuts. Fuck, why does it seem to be so difficult to spend time with the people who actually make this game worth playing? It would be so awesome to have a close group of friends that I did most of my things with. That group of people who have their picture drawn and posted on deviantart or some other forum to show how close they are. Hell, it would give me something else to post about other than the things I personally do. We'd have some silly antics to laugh about and inside jokes; we'd play together so much that we knew each others play styles and could go tackle all sorts of NMs and low-man shit just for the hell of it.
Am I the only one who feels this way? On a server of almost five thousand people and a nearly full friend list, I can't help but feel that most of my in-game time is spent by myself, and it just shouldn't be like this.
You hardly see or do anything with them. At least that's how it is in my case, and it's really starting to bother me. It seems so trivial but I get bored out of my damn mind when I'm alone. I'm tired of the sandbox and I'm sure the raptors and beaks are tired of getting their ass handed to them by me as well.
I want to do things again, but with friends instead of random pickup groups. I'd love to do things with my LS too, but I'm not even going to worry about that anymore. I did my bitching about that situation already. There are days when I feel like "one of them" but most days I just mind my own business and do things myself.
It would be nice if I had awesome relationships with the people here that I consider friends. That doesn't sound right. My relationship with them is fine; it's the time spent that I lack. When I check my friend list, they're off with their LS or whatnot, doing events and all that. So obviously we can't do anything. Otherwise, I'm the one in an event. If we are both free, it's usually late in the evening and I either can't keep myself awake or I have to go to sleep for work in the morning.
This is driving me nuts. Fuck, why does it seem to be so difficult to spend time with the people who actually make this game worth playing? It would be so awesome to have a close group of friends that I did most of my things with. That group of people who have their picture drawn and posted on deviantart or some other forum to show how close they are. Hell, it would give me something else to post about other than the things I personally do. We'd have some silly antics to laugh about and inside jokes; we'd play together so much that we knew each others play styles and could go tackle all sorts of NMs and low-man shit just for the hell of it.
Am I the only one who feels this way? On a server of almost five thousand people and a nearly full friend list, I can't help but feel that most of my in-game time is spent by myself, and it just shouldn't be like this.
July 1, 2010
A reckless adventure
Part of me doesn't want to post this because I feel it's boastful but, at the same time, I'm overjoyed at what happened last night and I want to share it.
Yesterday was a day of fun at the sandbox. I pretty much spent my entire afternoon there doing pages since I didn't feel like looking for a party. Near the end of my night, I saw a ranger that was asking if anyone would team up. I figured we'd do a couple of pages and then I'd go to sleep. As luck would have it, Keyoku showed up when we were on the last page. No rest for the weary and all that.
We did a couple of other pages and we were ready to call it quits. Just then, Aydgon (the rng) mentions that Kreutzet is up if any of us wanted the dagger. I'm not at the level to use it yet, but what the hell. I hear some people have horrid luck on the drop rates, so I might as well get started on it now. Being able to use a weapon and not having it is more annoying that getting it early. So the three of us rush out to see if it's claimed.
On the way to the spawn area, I spot two dead people by some Manticores. I felt bad, but none of us could raise and stopping to create a "{Raise}" shout would be inviting someone else to get the claim. We arrived and I noticed another person dead in the middle of the area. This led me to think that they were trying to solo or got caught off guard and died. Now I'm getting nervous. There are people around so I know other people are aware of the NM being available. Off in the distance, I spot three more people, but Kreutzet is just standing there unclaimed. My first thought was that other people had to be on the way and it was basically "now or never." So I threw my chakram and tagged it. Mind you, we had just finished a page and none of us were at full HP/MP. In hindsight, what I did was pretty stupid, and put us all at risk of a wipe. Live and learn I guess.
So there we stood; our BLU with less than 200 mp, RNG with roughly 40% HP and me with about 60% HP and 0 TP or finishing moves. To top it off, I was DNC/SAM, so no shadows and Seigan only works with two-handed weapons. Thankfully, Meditate was up and I used that to at least give myself a small heal. At first, I was going to tank while Key and Ayd did most of the damage. Apparently, Kruetzet had a different plan. No sooner than the fight started, he began with Stormwind spam. This was bad for us all, especially with everyone being so low on health and magic. I tried to keep everyone healed, but the near-constant spam of that move was just a little much to stay with. The next best thing was to have them get out of range and I'd just focus on healing myself while they actually rested.
This fight would have been so much easier if I had used Dancer's damage mitigation ability, but...yeah I don't have that unlocked yet. Shame on me I guess. Add on yet another disadvantage for this fight. Thankfully, I was able to keep up TP with Reverse Flourish and luckily landing all of my steps (thanks to Urd's gift). Key helped me out with a few cures when he could that also gave me an attack increase.
Just so happened that Ayd mentioned he had TH4 (!!) but didn't think he'd make it back in time. We took a chance and had him go switch midway through the fight. Things started getting interesting. I wasn't dodging as much, and I got pretty nervous. More stormwind spam, critical hits, and then that damn Triple Attack move dropped me to less than 100 HP at one point. It was sheer luck that I got a TP cure off and Key had just enough MP to heal me one last time. With the NM at 7%, Ayd zones back into the Cape. To prevent killing it before he arrived, I turned my back and tried to hold it off. Bad idea. Very bad. I'm guessing evasion doesn't work so well when you aren't facing the enemy. I wasn't going to make it that way, so I switched positions and went back to fighting. Checking the map, Ayd was basically one grid away from us now.
Kreutzet's at 2%, Key runs out of MP and I use the last bit of TP to heal as I turn away because it would only take a couple of hits to kill it. I get hit again and now have 117 HP. One strike and it's game over. Ayd appears and tags it with TH4. Key gets a head butt in and I turn to face the NM. It attacks and I get lucky with a parry. I quickly put up Third Eye in the hopes that we can drop this thing before it attacks me again. At that moment it uses Triple Attack and somehow, third eye anticipated it. That's a 3-hit attack...how the hell I avoided it is beyond me. Down goes the NM, and we're rewarded with a bit of exp, a bird feather, and 1/1 on the Sirocco Kukri!!
I'm sure things could have gone much smoother and simpler if we actually prepared, but the fact that we just ran in without a plan and still pulled it off made the fight really exciting and fun. Even without the dagger, I'm still incredibly proud of that fight.
These are the kinds of fights that I love being a part of. ^_^
Yesterday was a day of fun at the sandbox. I pretty much spent my entire afternoon there doing pages since I didn't feel like looking for a party. Near the end of my night, I saw a ranger that was asking if anyone would team up. I figured we'd do a couple of pages and then I'd go to sleep. As luck would have it, Keyoku showed up when we were on the last page. No rest for the weary and all that.
We did a couple of other pages and we were ready to call it quits. Just then, Aydgon (the rng) mentions that Kreutzet is up if any of us wanted the dagger. I'm not at the level to use it yet, but what the hell. I hear some people have horrid luck on the drop rates, so I might as well get started on it now. Being able to use a weapon and not having it is more annoying that getting it early. So the three of us rush out to see if it's claimed.
On the way to the spawn area, I spot two dead people by some Manticores. I felt bad, but none of us could raise and stopping to create a "{Raise}" shout would be inviting someone else to get the claim. We arrived and I noticed another person dead in the middle of the area. This led me to think that they were trying to solo or got caught off guard and died. Now I'm getting nervous. There are people around so I know other people are aware of the NM being available. Off in the distance, I spot three more people, but Kreutzet is just standing there unclaimed. My first thought was that other people had to be on the way and it was basically "now or never." So I threw my chakram and tagged it. Mind you, we had just finished a page and none of us were at full HP/MP. In hindsight, what I did was pretty stupid, and put us all at risk of a wipe. Live and learn I guess.
So there we stood; our BLU with less than 200 mp, RNG with roughly 40% HP and me with about 60% HP and 0 TP or finishing moves. To top it off, I was DNC/SAM, so no shadows and Seigan only works with two-handed weapons. Thankfully, Meditate was up and I used that to at least give myself a small heal. At first, I was going to tank while Key and Ayd did most of the damage. Apparently, Kruetzet had a different plan. No sooner than the fight started, he began with Stormwind spam. This was bad for us all, especially with everyone being so low on health and magic. I tried to keep everyone healed, but the near-constant spam of that move was just a little much to stay with. The next best thing was to have them get out of range and I'd just focus on healing myself while they actually rested.
This fight would have been so much easier if I had used Dancer's damage mitigation ability, but...yeah I don't have that unlocked yet. Shame on me I guess. Add on yet another disadvantage for this fight. Thankfully, I was able to keep up TP with Reverse Flourish and luckily landing all of my steps (thanks to Urd's gift). Key helped me out with a few cures when he could that also gave me an attack increase.
Just so happened that Ayd mentioned he had TH4 (!!) but didn't think he'd make it back in time. We took a chance and had him go switch midway through the fight. Things started getting interesting. I wasn't dodging as much, and I got pretty nervous. More stormwind spam, critical hits, and then that damn Triple Attack move dropped me to less than 100 HP at one point. It was sheer luck that I got a TP cure off and Key had just enough MP to heal me one last time. With the NM at 7%, Ayd zones back into the Cape. To prevent killing it before he arrived, I turned my back and tried to hold it off. Bad idea. Very bad. I'm guessing evasion doesn't work so well when you aren't facing the enemy. I wasn't going to make it that way, so I switched positions and went back to fighting. Checking the map, Ayd was basically one grid away from us now.
Kreutzet's at 2%, Key runs out of MP and I use the last bit of TP to heal as I turn away because it would only take a couple of hits to kill it. I get hit again and now have 117 HP. One strike and it's game over. Ayd appears and tags it with TH4. Key gets a head butt in and I turn to face the NM. It attacks and I get lucky with a parry. I quickly put up Third Eye in the hopes that we can drop this thing before it attacks me again. At that moment it uses Triple Attack and somehow, third eye anticipated it. That's a 3-hit attack...how the hell I avoided it is beyond me. Down goes the NM, and we're rewarded with a bit of exp, a bird feather, and 1/1 on the Sirocco Kukri!!
I'm sure things could have gone much smoother and simpler if we actually prepared, but the fact that we just ran in without a plan and still pulled it off made the fight really exciting and fun. Even without the dagger, I'm still incredibly proud of that fight.
These are the kinds of fights that I love being a part of. ^_^
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