Pee your greaves good.

Ok, this was going to be a really boring recap post. It really was. I mean yesterday was Kirin then Sacrarium then bed. I have pictures and stuff, and I will show them first, but man, the info giving out by SE in the last two days is enough to cause a grown man wet themselves with joy.

But first, your regularly scheduled Kirin. Or maybe not. Now, you would think that when you are doing Kirin you would pay attention. Well, sometimes that doesn't happen. Kirin was popped, Seiryu was summoned, and Seiryu was slaughtered. He is a big wimp with two invincibled PLDs. Then came Suzaku, and things went all crazy. Apparently, my Wheeling Thrust to open Light was enough to make him two hour at 80%. This was bad, because right after he got bound, he got hit with the spells that were supposed to be the magic bursts, breaking the bind. So with Suzaku running around Kirin decided it was a good time to pop Byakko. And the fun began. The funny thing was that we actually got an ES Bind to stick on Byakko and finish off Suzaku. Then we had like one tank, two dragoons and a thief on Byakko. Rei tanked it for about 75% health then Solidsnake finished tanking it with Perfect Dodge. Genbu was out and running around at this time, but he was just pinging around and no one really paid the turtle much attention. This is the alliance after a short recovery:
After Genbu was put down, we regrouped and fought Kirin like normal. Light skillchains and straight tanking after the two hour.
Mirra actually got a stun to land for a split second on Kirin. Pretty decent feat for a Drk.
Now apparently the RDM's were having a pretty decent time enfeebling Kirin, in fact, Iceblazek managed to land a couple of gravities. To which Tamarisk was very impressed. ^.^ (Hi, Ice!)

Kirin dropped S. Cloth and an Osode which went to Charlet.

After Kirin, we went to do Sacrarium for Reikoyi, Azeryus, Iceblazek and Lucella. Before this though, I wanted to finally get my Lvl 50 SAM JSE made. I have had the subligar for a little while and I figured that it would be way better than my NQ Brigandine. So I head over to Brygid in Bastok to get it made. I walk up in my Iron Scale Mail and my Wool Hose ready to trade my subligar when I find out she actually want plain old Hose. So I have someone check the AH and I come to find that their are none available in the Jeuno AH >.< Then I run to check the Bastok AH, none their either. >.< x2!

So what does a resourceful adventurer with level 30 clothcraft do? Thats right, I crafted up my own set! (Not something you will see very often from me.)
So with my new Hose wrought from my own blood, sweat and tears, I head over to Brygid again. After she approved of my outfit, I happy traded over my Cancer Subligar. To which she approved of the look, the feel... and the smell. What a little perv.

I was happy to get my Shinimusha Hara-Ate and get the heck out of there.

The stats on the Shinimusha dont appear to be that great, but when compared to Brigandine, and the fact that you get .9 more TP per swing with a 450 Great Katana, it is pretty impressive. I have been thinking about picking up the Shinimusha Haidate, but I can't see paying for 300k price tag even thought the total TP bonus would be 1.5 per swing for both. I just wouldn't be using them enough.

And so we headed out to the Sacrarium. Now, we are doing a Swift Belt run this weekend after Sky, so no one really wanted to get rid of their Fomor hate, as you need a ton of it to spawn the Swift Belt NM. I already had a Sealion Crest Key, and a Coral Crest Key, which wasn't that helpful because I wouldn't be able to trade both keys (which actually now that I think about it, I might have been able to do because there would be time to trade both if I was quick), but Luce had one on her already so they got the first cutscene. Since we didnt want to wait for another key to drop, we were going to let Glacian stay behind the door until we were able to kill the ghost NM for the last key item key.

As luck would have it someone *coughOmoicough* got aggro from a Fomor on the way out of the room and it dropped a key immidiately, so Glacian was able to come and help. We went and started clearing the rooms of Fomors, and we were able to get the ghost to pop on the second room. Took him down pretty quick, then headed back to the Reliqium to get the CS.
And that was my evening, relatively uneventful.

Now onto the pee your greaves good stuff. Now yesterday I did mention that SE had announced changes to a couple of different jobs. I was excited when I read what they said they will be doing to the Dragoon merit ability Empathy (see yesterday's late post), but that was nothing compared to what I saw this morning.

From: The POL Development Page

The uber SAM buff. And when I say uber, I mean UBER. If these changes are half as good as they appear to be they will be amazing.

· Hasso (Level 25; Recast: 1 minute; Duration: 5 minutes)
Grants a bonus to attack speed, accuracy, and Strength when using two-handed weapons.

· Seigan (Level 35; Recast: 1 minute; Duration: 5 minutes)
Grants a bonus to Third Eye when using two-handed weapons.

Seigan and Third Eye
While Seigan is in effect, the recast time for the Third Eye job ability will be decreased by half. In accordance, the duration for "Third Eye" will be adjusted.

This makes SAM a ton stronger, and probably makes SAM a viable sub for my Dragoon over War. They have also changed Zanshin to a level 20 ability which will partially make up for the fact that we will lose Double Attack from subbing WAR.

Here are the real questions though,

1. How much of a difference is this going to be for a SAM main? Will a SAM be able to sub WAR now without missing every third WS?

2. Does this make SAM a viable sub for two handed weapon wielders (DRK, DRG and GA WARs)?

3. Can SAMs tank now?

Gonna have to wait for the update to see for sure.

I am thinking that they truely want people to stop having to sub WAR, so the changes are going to be impressive. And for SAM mains, the merit abilities are going to make a ton of difference now. Third eye recast just became much more important, as well as Ikishoten, because if they are giving Zanshin at level 20, then it is probably going to be a tiered ability like dual wield with an increased chance to proc at higher levels.

This may make SAM strong enough to the point where they are the new uber job, even over WAR's. We will have to see, but damage denial ability make SAM's able to go nuts in merit parties where they had to sub NIN or THF to prevent themselves from being slaughered.