And now for your lunch time reading pleasure.

I am back from vacation. Yeah, whatever, I didn't think I was going to update much while I was gone, but I am completely back now. Shall we review my innocuously named "winter break?" Yes, lets.

Ranger: 61. I was hoping for a little more, but its not bad. I have all my AF and unlike for some jobs, it is actually useful. I have been putting some thought into getting Deadeye Gloves but I think I am a bit cheap for 3 more ranged accuracy. Its not like I am eating meat in XP parties and need every drop of Ranged Accuracy I can get or something. They come from an ISNM, so I will check out the strategies to do it, its not like I don't have the IS points to burn. I am set on a bunch of gear until level 70, then I will just be growing into gear I already own.

Warrior: 53. I got to level this a bit more, and I would really like to finally get it to 55. I would get Rampage and I would also grow into a bunch of gear that I already have like earrings and legs, then further to 59 were I would get Haubergeon and the Sipahi gear I have left over from leveling SAM. Also, I already have my Tungi and Fransisca, so basically the higher I get on WAR the more money I make which is a weird set of circumstances for me that is for sure.

Dark Knight: 9. Sigh, leveling another job from 0 can be a bit depressing. LOL But its necessary. I am going to try to focus this in my down time, using the Empress Ring and soloing what I can while looking for parties. The faster it gets to 37 the faster I can sell off the junk that I have for leveling it.

The next job: Well, the next job is probably going to be Corsair because I already have the gear for it and my Marksmanship is already leveled. But do I really want another job where I am shooting gil at the mobs? I will probably be doing less shooting that on Ranger, but still guns and bullets are expensive. So I was thinking I would finally try out a mage job, as some people have been indicating that I should do this anyway. It think before I commit to one I will finish getting WHM and BLM to 37. Anyway, here are the "mage-type" jobs that I am interested in leveling: WHM, RDM, BRD. I am not interested in SMN, has no real appeal to me, and BLM seems to one-dimensional to me. BLU is just another melee job with MP. COR might be considered in this list but I am already decided on leveling it some time, just waiting on RNG and WAR for that.

So, I think I will put it up for a vote to my readers. Which job next? WHM, RDM or BRD? I really like the idea of all three of these jobs so I will listen to what you have to say.

Other interesting developments: I have almost all of my wins to go to Dynamis-Tavnazia which Ailee has been bugging me about for quite some time. Just need a Qufim win. I think its kind of ridiculous that the largest Dynamis LS on Odin can't seem to get a win there, and that people keep bailing on Tavnazia right before the run. When there is more than an hour before the run there will be a full run and a ton of people on the waitlist, but less than an hour before and you have 14 people signed up. Obsidian still has some major issues, and its funny seeing people being yelled at when they are trying their hardest and some people doing nothing and not getting a word mentioned. Even with that, it seems to be getting better again, because the general attitude has improved. I hope it continues.

Ahh, merits. Now here is something I want to dabble into. Back in a minute. Ok, back. I finally got to level 5 STR. I don't know how much of a waste level 5 STR is but at least it is complete. Now, I am not a super merit-oholic or anything but I do like to XP a lot, so it was nice to get it completed. I have finally decided that I am going to put merits into Katana and here is the reason. My best meriting gear is on my NIN and I can say it is pretty decent, and it will probably be the job that I do almost all of my meriting on, so its finally time to bite the bullet, and go 8 Katana merits. For the other 4 Combat merits I think I will be putting them into Archery because RNG and SAM both benefit from this. I know that Omoi would prefer to have me put them into Evasion, LOL, but I doubt I will do that. After that, I think I will put some merits into Subtle Blow, it wont hurt anything and it will only help with XPing and tanking in general.

Speaking of this I wanted to talk about the new XP camp that has opened up with the new areas now accessible through Tandjana Islet. Now when we first went there it looked like there were limited camps, but in reality it is alot better than it first appears. I believe there are at least 4 different camps in this really small area, even when the area is packed, because there are different mobs you have to focus on to make this work.
This list assumes the area is packed, there is another camp right after you fall down the first drop where you can pull Bugards and Mamool Ja but you can't really do it if there is more than one party.
1. Main Mamool Ja camp: This would be right outside the entrance to the Alzadaal Undersea Ruins or the other entrance back into Mamook or Halvung (not sure which). You will pull links here, the idea is to just limit them. Kill Mages, then Dragoons, then Ninjas, then Thieves.
2. Main Bugard camp: This camp is on the second drop down. Everyone except for the puller from the lower area will need to stay on the second ledge. The puller in the lower area will need to be a mage or BRD, it can not be a melee, because for a good portion of the time they will not be able to reach the mobs. This will allow you to pull all 8 of the Bugards in the area. From using this camp, my guess is that there are 8 total Bugard spawns in the area with up to 5 and as low as 3 in the upper and lower areas.
3. Upper Greater Colibri camp: Now you are saying to me, WTF? XP on Colibri, and I am saying, HELL YES! They are all VT, and they die fast, but they have a good 160 xp base, and there are TON's of them. Yes, you are right, you can't use food, and you will need a BRD or COR using an Accuracy buff, and I would suggest haste as the other buff for BRD or Double Attack for COR. As they are VT you don't need as much attack bonuses you would for like Trolls or Bugards. Things to remember here: A. NO FOOD! You will lose it, so its not useful. B. These Colibri link, but its only by sight and they are very easy to pull, and once you have started killing them they pop fast enough to never run out, but there are not enough to worry about links. Yes, you heard me right, there are like 10+ pops here, you will NEVER RUN OUT! I think I had to pull one Greater Colibri from the lower area one time before they started repopping and I probably missed some.
4. Lower Greater Colibri camp: Same as the upper area, but just down the second drop.

A couple more notes: You can only fight Colibri if someone else is fighting Bugards, because the Bugards aggro and are a tough fight without food. As much as some people hate it, RNG's, DRG's and THF's are insane on the Colibri. Pentathrust, Sidewinder and Dancing Edge will take up to 50% of their health.

There are literally tons of good camps in the new areas if people just explore a little, and now that Tuufless is back I hope that they get on top of them! I will help in anyway that I can.

Limited pictures today, I had too many to sort through so I just basically dumped them all and I will restart with pictures tomorrow.