So, about that guy...

Lets see here, I wanted to talk about this guy for a while now: Now, this is not a post designed to bash anyone, because you never know the circumstances of their situation. Could be that they are just messing around, could be that they just got hacked and this is all they had available, but at some point we do have just misguided players that just don't know what they are doing and or how to properly equip themselves. Lets start with the obvious here, the off-handing of a Martial Axe. This is obviously not a wise choice for off hand, the damage is relatively low, without a major improvement in delay, and most importantly assuming of course that they are using Rampage (at the Greater Colibri camp) the TP Bonus effect is near useless, even worse for the off hand where it would only effect one hit of the WS, if it even has an effect at all. The weird thing is that there are much better very cheap alternatives to this. 2 Tabarzins, or Main hand Tabarzin and off hand that Reserve Captain's Pick. Maybe it's just me, but I would not enjoy this game so much if I did not have at least a simplistic idea of game mechanics. I mean what is the point of getting new gear if you have no idea what you are going to do with it or why the gear is good. I suppose there are those rear creatures that just play the game to do quests, but ultimately our gaze falls upon those with better gear and we wonder if that gear is attainable. But if we don't know that the gear is better, why would we even care? Mind-boggling really, and these people are all over the place. I wonder if the case is that their friends are just afraid to mention the problem to them? Are they stubborn and refuse to take criticism? Perhaps for some reason they prefer the set-up? I don't know, but I doubt it.

I look at my gear for jobs like my NIN, and I wonder how good it is. I use a Raja's Ring full time, instead of another Sniper's Ring, perhaps because I am cheap, but I do like it even though the Sniper's Ring would likely be better. I do not generally use meat while XPing on my NIN, while it has been suggested that people do otherwise, because I do believe that more haste with sushi is more damage over time than more accuracy and meat. Is this a preference? I don't know, because I believe what I am doing is the correct action to achieve the best damage. Could I be wrong, perhaps, but in my experience the difference has panned out in my favor. Other decisions I make because of the situation. In my XP parties, I generally tank so I prefer my Koga Chainmail over my Haub +1, as it can make my life a bit easier during longer XP parties. The difference is minimal, but likely there. This is a preference that I have decided fits my needs best. Also, I compare gear, and I find that my Koga Chainmail is much better than Ninja Chainmail, honestly I don't understand why people use it, I never have. Yes, dual-wield is great, but it still needs to be compared to what else is available in those slots. Giving up the bonuses, especially the accuracy and attack seems like far too much for me for a non-haste based delay reduction. What I guess I am asking is that, to myself, I have justified my gear selections. Do other people do this? Or to they just say to themselves, this is an axe, its as good as any other axe. Or perhaps, I don't really care about this so I am going to make no effort. Or even, durrrrr shiney! Makes you wonder...

This is all going some place, trust me. Now, most people usually XP with at least a few people they know to start off with, but often they have to pick up other people, and when searching for those filler slots there is only a limited amount of information provided. For example, there are things that we don't get in our search comments like: I have good gear, I care about getting XP in the best way possible, I am willing to share responsibilities with people in my party. Other, perhaps more important things we don't get include: I am going to leech, I just bought this character, I have an IQ of 12, I am dual-boxing another character in Einherjar (yes, this really did happen). The thing I wish more than anything else is that I could instill into each player that they may be playing to enjoy the game, but that their enjoyment effects other people's enjoyment also. So when you do a crappy job, you are likely ruining someone else's day also. Sure, in our culture, this may be the way to do things, people are so self-centered anymore that they couldn't care if they ruin a complete stranger's experience, and in fact I wonder if sometimes people actually enjoy doing just that. The point is if everyone would just try a little harder to do the best job they can, then everyone will benefit.

Ah well, yesterday was a bit of a wash. A decent day in Sky, and we did a Seiryu which finally dropped something nice. In fact, I was almost ready to call "crap drops" again, but we did get W. Hands and Kote from it, not so bad at all. I did find something interesting during the fight. After Seiryu did back to back Fang Rushes I was left with no shadows for a good 20 seconds, and during this time while fully buffed I was taking sub-200 TP moves and critical hits and around 100 for regular hits. Phalanx 2, Cocoon, and other buffs helped I am sure and I wasn't checking to see if they had been dispelled or not at the time, but I thought these numbers were great. I even took a Fang Rush with no shadows later in the fight for less that 450. This was with my full defense gear on except for Suzaku's Sune-ate, I have to say I was rather impressed with my damage reduction. Oh, and this was without food. I wonder if I would be able to straight up blood tank Seiryu reasonably. I doubt anyone would let me try, but it would be fun. ^.^/