/blacklist, You can have this.

So I knew this day was coming. This day is the day that I use an auto-translate phrase in the title of a post... LOL. No, really this day is the day that I just rant like crazy. And today, I have a very good reason to rant. Some people have no ability to work with other people, and if you are one of these people, I have a piece of advice for you. Do not play Final Fantasy XI. If you have not noticed, this game generally requires cooperating with other people. If you are incapable of communication, cooperation and generally the ability to be in the presence of other human beings, then perhaps its time to go back to Diablo II so you can dupe hack your way to glory.

I have this to say about the blacklist function. I never use it. I don't hide from people that are annoying. I have to deal with enough debaters on a day-to-day basis that I have the ability to abstract myself from someone that can't help but act like a jerk. So no one has ever been on my blacklist, even the most stupid people, the most ignorant people and the meanest people. My thought is that people change and I will never deny them the opportunity to fix the past. I just recently had a person apologize to me for acting like an idiot during a Promyvion run about a year ago, this is a person that deserved to be blacklisted just for sheer stupidity, but they changed and I wouldn't know it if I had them blacklisted. Also as a DRG, I didn't want to ever miss a chance at an invite LOL. Last night was the closest I have ever come to putting someone on my blacklist.

The scenario: Omoi/Kira and I were supposed to level WAR and BRD but she was busy with some RL stuff so I started to put together a party for my SAM. I pick up two NIN's, a WAR, a WHM, and a BLM. Now for this party to work, you need two Darkness skillchains from the NIN's and the SAM and the BLM bursting off of them both. You also have to fight mobs that dont really have any buffs or require healing for AoE damage. The best options for this are trolls and dhalmals. Both hit hard but swing very slow, so very easy to blink tank, they dont really have buffs you have to dispel (Whistle AGI Boost, LOL). So, after the party was full I asked if anyone had a preference for trolls or dhalmels. After a couple of minutes, finally one of the NIN's peeps up and says that he doesn't like Trolls because of Diamondhide. So I said thats a good enough reason to go fight dhalmels. So I said, we will head to fight dhalmels. And this is where things get good.

The Blm responds in a form of broken english and autotranslate (you know the kind, this is not someone that doesn't know how to speak english, this is the kind of child that doesn't have the time to be bothered with typing in a comprehensible fashion) that he only wishes to XP in an Imperial Standing area (in a quite rude manner), then immidiately disbands. I was in shock. When I asked the party what they wanted to camp against, the BLM did not say a word. Immidiately after the BLM disbanded the WAR and one of the NIN's said that the guy was a jerk, that they were not surprised that he did that, and that they were glad he was gone.

I then had this wonderful conversation with our benevolent BLM:

As you can see, I was dealing with one of the brightest minds of their generation. The amount of irony that was lost on this poor soul was truely mind boggling.

The funniest thing that you can see in the middle of the conversation that I had already replaced the BLM with another one that wasn't even seeking. But I am sure that our friend Krashport made a huge amount soloing that night. It was kinda funny, because he was still seeking when I went to bed several hours later. If soloing was so good, why was he searching? Hmmm?

Oh well, what a wonderful way to start a party. Well, after that fiasco I managed to pick up that new BLM, but our second NIN DC'ed, so I hunted around and found a nice JP RDM. The RDM didn't say much besides "Hello," and "Thank you, Party" at the beginning and end of the party, respectively. But you know that is the best kind of RDM, one that you dont even notice because they are doing their job so well. This party got about 10k in about an hour and a half before a couple of people had to leave. So we headed back to Whitegate, and I started making another party. I didn't mind disbanding this party because the WAR wasn't really paying attention and it made lining up SATA a pain in the ass.

It seemed that it was going to be the night of interesting parties, because as soon as I got back to Whitegate I managed to pick up a NIN and two WAR's, a WHM and a RDM soon followed and we were off to Bibiki Bay again because everywhere else was packed. I was a little worried about TP burning on Dhalmels because of Healing Breeze, but I was surprised how well it went. We were doing really good xp, and always got chain 5. This was going pretty well until the RDM said they had to go about 30 minutes after we arrived >.< Well, the only other job that was searching was a WHM, but no one seemed to care, so with two WHM's we managed to get the same xp, if not better.

Now, Vesp and I have been fighting about what the coolest looking weaponskill in the game. And he is just wrong on this one. Tachi: Gekko is totally badass looking. I mean, you jump into the air with a freaking moon! And its got ancient text and everything! He claims its Asuran Fists, because its an 8-hit weaponskill and thus it hits 8 times. To wit I say: BAH! I got the freaking moon in my weaponskill. And here is the photo evidence for my claim. What do you have, Vesp? WHAT DO YOU HAVE?

Jumping to the moon in one hit:

Landing with my blade behind my back, like a total badass:


While I was in this nice little party I managed to break my Tachi: Gekko 100 TP record.That is pretty good for the level, but I am still trying to get that nice unresisted Darkness skillchain to go with that for the 2000+ total WS damage.

The party went long enough to get me to see this: I changed equipment right before the level-up animation, so it didn't go off >.< Oh well. I finally hit 71, so I can get my Tachi of Trials and start working off the latent to get Tachi: Kasha. Finally I will be able to make a Light skillchain. Then its basically a straight shot to 75, leeching off of burn parties, woot!

Now that I have hit 71, I can finally equip these:and I wont be wearing my gimpy level 25 Windurstan Kyahan any longer. I can't believe their aren't any better feet options between the two. LOL, I just now realized that I could have also been wearing my Warwolf Belt last night after I got to 71, and that I even had it on me, but I forgot to put it on or put it into my macro. >.<

Well, now to my meta-commentary on my DRG and NIN gear (see the previous post for the list of my gear for each).

For my DRG, I am pretty set on TP gear. I think an Amemet Mantle +1 is a good place to start, also I am interested in picking up a Potent Belt, which will probably be better for my WAR than for my DRG because I would still be swapping it back to Warwolf Belt for WS. For my WS gear, the first thing is of course getting Hecatomb Mittens. I have the money to pick those up today. I just need to get the abjuration, and with the bans that are happening more frequently its probably going to get easier. But they still need to drop, LOL. I could also do with some better hands for both TP and WS. For non-god situations my Wyrm Finger Gauntlets are too much accuracy (unless of course I am eating meat dishes), but I hardly ever xp on my DRG anymore, so I dont have a pressing need to replace them. But on my WS I am using Barone Manopolas and the bonuses are not that impressive. I am thinking about getting a set of Tarasque Mitts, or investing in a set of Gigas Bracelets. I need to just convince myself that the Gigas Bracelets are necessary (even though I hate the stats on them).

For my NIN, I am pretty set and I am more happy with my gear here than I am with my DRG. For my Evasion set up, I think a new evasion earring (a Ethereal Earring would be very nice, and I am very close to being able to get it) and a Corse Cape would be nice, but outside of that I am fine. Maybe some Koga Kyahan to improve Ninjitsu resists on Blind and Slow. For Tanking gear, I am not well set up but I dont really tank heavy duty things on my Ninja very often, but this gear seems to be good enough.

Now onto the brass tacks. My TP build gear on my Ninja is surprisingly good. Outside of the obvious need for Byakko's Haidate, everything else is pretty much square. I also could have Shura Togi or Koga Chainmail, which are very nice, and I assume would be better than my Haub, but the Haub is a good place to start. On WS's, I would like the have the Shura Kabuto and now I have the abjuration for it, just saving up some money for it.

In general, I could use some much better earrings, including a Minuet Earring and a Fowling Earring. Also I am dying for a Suppanomimi and a Brutal Earring. I could also use a Flame Ring for all of my jobs. If anyone has any other suggestions, I am all ears.

Thats about it for today, how was it for you?