You little bitch...

Tonight was a night where shit was just bound to go wrong. I got lost in sky and, being the only healer, my LS wiped to Mother Globe. They ended up leading me to the pile of bodies and we got things together. Sky finished on a good note by the time everything was said and done though.

So now I'm hanging out in Port Jeuno, when I get a tell from Tidis about "turtle time." I'm always up for some turtle action, so we set out to try our luck. The last few times we did it, we had help. This time, it was just us as the damage dealers, and Caldar came to lend us the power of his treasure hunter.

Naturally, Chukwa's not up when we get there. 20 minutes of running around and still nothing. Eventually, it spawns and we get the claim. Of course we would; no one else was there. Shortly into the fight, we get a visitor. An Elvaan BLM named Skimpy. I'm off in the distance, so I can't see what's going on. Not to mention, I'm focused on trying to kill this damn turtle.

I end up getting closer for some casts, and I catch a bit of the conversation he's having with Tidis. Basically trying to find out what items we're after. Since I already had the bow, the collar was the only item we wanted. Well, Tidis wanted it, and that's why we were there. So when Skimpy finds out about it, he says "bah" and goes on his way. Although, he doesn't leave. Instead, he follows us around.

So it begins. He was waiting for us to mess up so he could get a chance. I'm a carebear, and I realize this. If I saw someone fighting an NM, I'd stick around for a ToD, and if they die I'd raise them if I could and either help them out, or ask if they mind me trying. Yes, I'd really do that. I don't expect anyone else to be like that. What I do expect is that people have the damn decency to wait until we've wiped before attempting to claim an NM that you clearly see us fighting.

Oh no, not this guy. We get this turtle down to 40%, and I run out of MP. I tell Tidis that I'm resting, and for them to maintain hate. Chukwa goes yellow for just a moment, and Skimpy hits it with Sleep II. Now as I understood it, you have to be high enough on the monster's hate list in order to to claim it from someone else. That's how it is in Terrigan or any other place I've seen. If something aggros you and another person tries to hit it, the monster still chases the initial target until the other person does another action to move them higher on the hate list. How the hell Skimpy got it with a Sleep II just boggles my mind.

Regardless of the mechanics, the little fucker took the NM. Go ahead and say the famous "yellow is fair game" bullshit line that so many people like to spout. Yes, yellow is fair game when no one is bothering it. When said enemy goes unclaimed because you're out of range for half a second, then that's not fair game. You know you're trying to steal it; stop hiding behind bullshit technicalities.

You might say that I'm "butthurt" or whatever the hell people say now, but I'm just flat-out pissed. I don't care what kind of "game mechanics" you try to say in order to defend yourselves. What was done was wrong and pretty childish. Skimpy's from Armada, an HNM shell here, if I'm not mistaken. Guess what? Chukwa's not an HNM. It's an NM on a 30 minute timer. Are you really so desperate that you can't wait for 30 minutes while we kill this thing and go about our way? Do you honestly have to lurk around the corner and try to take whatever opportunity you can to take an enemy that you clearly see someone else fighting...and actually winning?

Those are redundant questions, because his actions clearly shout "YES" to every one of them. Luckily for us Skimpy is about as smart as his name implies. He wasn't actually damaging Chukwa. I almost want to say he was attempting to just hold it, because spamming Bio II would never kill it. It wasn't long before he made a mistake and got killed. So we took it right back.

I'm normally a passive person, and I don't like confrontation or the "eye-for-an-eye" way of thinking. However, this wasn't done to just me. If I were there by myself and this shit was pulled, yeah I'd be just as pissed, but I'd just say hell with it and come back later. That wasn't the case. This was done to my friends, and that made this very personal.

Now we're back in the game. Skimp gets up, and now has friends. Tidis takes a look and finds that they are also with Armada. These two were a bit more aggressive with their "bitch tactics" that Skimpy was. Staying right behind Tidis, blocking his path, and just being a general annoyance.

Dizzmal comes out to help, along with Caliburn. Neo and Shaan are heading towards us to give a hand too. I made some mistakes and got myself killed, which caused a domino effect and Chukwa goes unclaimed again. As expected, they took it. On that claim, I was pissed, but not as much as before. We screwed up and they took advantage. Lo and behold, they died again and we took it right back.

Shortly thereafter, I just said fuck it and started casting whatever. Of course I died again, but I wanted to make damn certain that I hit it hard enough that it wouldn't go unclaimed. The rest of the guys took it down and we got another bow.

Perhaps judging an entire linkshell based on the actions of 3 people is harsh, but I'm a believer of guilt by association, or in this case, bitch by association. So to the Armada linkshell (and especially Skimpy), if this is the kind of player behavior that you condone and practice, all I have to say is fuck off, and fuck you.