Apkallu Attack.

Well, I guess I will start with the bad news. We lost out first Ultima yesterday because both of our PLD tanks DC'ed during the fight, LOL. Never seen anything like that happen before. Basically, we had only one tank for almost all of the fight, and we still got it to 12%. Also, we learned a ton about the fight and we would have easily won without such mass confusion. We had decided to make 10% the zerg point, but I think next time we will make it after the first Citadel Buster. The thing that really screwed us was not the Citadel Buster, but the Armor Buster that it used right after the first Citadel Buster, which was targeted on a mage and wiped most of the alliance. It would have been stunned normally if we had any tank up at that time. LOL Ah well, considering the insane circumstances we did incredibly well, and I was just really massively impressed with how well everyone dealt with the situation. I also liked the fact that Elfaria was pissed that we didn't win, that is a great attitude to have honestly, because we should be able to win during any fight, no matter the circumstances. BTW BLU for this fight is totally cheating, like 90% of Ashhhhh's stuns landed... LOL We will definitely win next time, and we did all this with one of our best players, Eternalpain, who could have come PLD/NIN or BLM, on vacation. The actual fight was fine, very few people died through out 88% of the fight, although we could have been better at the start with stunning Antimatter. Once we got going though the stunning was mostly great, but I think we will shift to pairs of stuns so that one person isn't locked into doing nothing just waiting for the next move especially considering most of our stuns are RDM's which are busy as hell during this fight. RDM's make a huge difference in this fight because Slow 2 and Paralyze 2 slow Ultima down to nothing, and stacked with Elegy our PLD/NIN's had no problem in general keeping shadows up and having a death grip on hate before they DC'ed LOL. One hilarious moment was during Lucella's DC when she couldn't act and Mirra was trying to fix hate, and finally pulled hate, after it hit Mirra once, it turned back to Lucella because she had so much hate still while DCing LOL. Anyway, the fight went on with only one tank and Jess and I were lucky enough to get some Holy II's and I finally died from a late Equalizer. But we got back up and started fighting again, we also found that before 19% when it starts using Citadel Buster it is very easy to just hold it, not give it much TP and wait if you need to for someone to come back from a DC or unweaken.

Anyway, enough with Ultima, and the silliness around it. I got my MNK to 57 in a decent party yesterday. I can finally wear my Scorpion Harness and I like the boost in accuracy even though I look like an idiot now with the SH and RSE legs. I really feel that I should be moving more quickly through some of these levels, but I haven't been. I think it might be because I haven't been able to find a good time to XP on my MNK, or maybe that I haven't felt compelled to deal with making a party for it. Meh, I still like it a whole lot, and hopefully this weekend I will get some free time to level it for more than an hour or two. Once MNK is done I think I will focus a long while on meriting so that I can start making my end-game jobs more complete. I hate the feeling that I don't have a lot of the things I want merited on my end-game jobs especially because I believe that our mages should have certain things merited for a lot of our fights. It isn't really fair. So I am going to resolve that.

After Ultima, we had our normal Monday Assault runs. Before the runs I finished up my Rank 8 quest and got to see Hellz/Abquhbah playing strangely with Naja's Morning Star and even more strangely Naja getting a little too frisky with her Morning Star...
My group managed to get three more wins for ranking up putting me only two wins from the final rank an my Perdu Blade. Apkallu Seizure was a very close race to get some Apkallu back to the Prof. This one was kind of annoying, because leading the birds aren't that difficult, but getting them to take the fish and start off is a lot more complicated that it sounds on the Wikipedia. Also they tend to move in a strange fashion and sometimes the birds will turn and you will need to quickly run around behind them which is hard to see, especially since they have turned only 45 to 90 degrees and they kind of do it without warning. But we won that one and will only be doing it again to get people to people wins. In a change of pace from that one we did Apkallu Breeding which was much less difficult and much more fun. We basically got 7 pairs out of the 8 before we ended it which was a decent chunk of points. And the silly Apkallu were all cure when they feel in love. Finally, we did Stop the Bloodshed and although there was a little bit of death from aggroing some of the Chiqoe Breeders we managed to win pretty quickly. I really wanted to be able to get rank 9 before this next update and I should be able to get them on Friday then do the rank up quest. I may hold off on getting my Perdu Blade until after the update just to see if the rank 10 items will be worth the 56k in ISP they will likely cost, but I already have over 100k in ISP, so I don't think it will be that much of a concern.

Finally, I want to mention the new update notes, about Chocobo Racing. I don't really care at all, but some of you might so here they are:

For months now, the denizens of Vana'diel have been racing the chocobos they have lovingly reared. Starting this month, the new Chocobo Circuit will allow adventurers to join teams and vie in direct competition for points, bragging rights, and items. Players will also get the chance to put their money where their mouth is with the introduction of chocobets.

What is the Chocobo Circuit?

By popular demand of breeders from all corners of the world wishing to prove the superiority of their birds, the Chocobo Circuit has opened at last. By now, many adventurers have gotten a taste of how fun and challenging chocobo racing can be. This will be the last major update to chocobo racing. Any future changes will only be minor modifications.

After painstakingly raising chocobos from the shell to the stables, breeders can now enter them in races against other adventurers from around Vana'diel. In addition, both breeders and common spectators alike can now enjoy a day at the races, complete with chocobets which allow you to lay down gil on the birds of your choice! These features will make the Circuit an enjoyable pastime not only for those already hooked on chocobo racing, but also for those who have yet to try their hand at it.

Adventurer Races

Adventurer Races will follow the same basic format as current chocobo races.
The main difference is that players may now compete against other players. Players will be able to earn gil, as well as accumulate points that will unlock other races and items.

Below is an explanation of some of the points of difference between current chocobo racing and the new Adventurer Races:

- Race Participation
Unlike current NPC races, Adventurer Races will allow a large number of PC participants to compete against one another, much like Ballista.
After participating in a race, players will be required to undergo a waiting period before being eligible to race again. This is to prevent some players from monopolizing the race system (and to give chocobos their much-needed rest!).

- Victory Points
In addition to being awarded gil and chocobucks, players can also amass Victory Points for their triumphs at the races. The winner of a race will receive a certain number of Solo Victory Points, and the team with which they are affiliated at the time will be granted Team Victory Points as well.

- Solo Victory Points
Accumulating a certain number of Solo Victory Points will give players access to higher-grade races. In such races the stakes are much greater, as participants will be fighting for more prestigious titles, larger purses, and better prizes.

- Team Victory Points
The three officially recognized racing teams of San d'Oria, Bastok, and Windurst will acquire Team Victory Points every time one of their members wins a race. These points will be tallied in the same manner as Conquest Points to determine weekly standings.
The first place team will have unique items available for chocobuck purchase, as well as offer its members other benefits at the track.

Chocobets

A chocobet is a gil wager made on an Adventurer Race. When placed, a player picks the two chocobos that they believe will finish in first and second place.
Winning bets will pay back an amount determined by the size of the bet and the odds for that race.

The details of chocobetting are described below.

- Placing a chocobet
All racetracks have a Chocobet Center where players can purchase Chocobet Tickets. The value of the ticket is determined by the number of quills the player would like to buy (1 quill = 100 gil). A single Chocobet Ticket can contain up to 999 quills.
Because of the nature of the betting system, direct control in races will be prohibited to prevent any misappropriation of gil.

- Odds
Odds determine how much gil a player can win per quill. They may be different for any given race, and for any two-chocobo pairing you select. The final amount of a player's winnings is calculated based on the number of quills on the Chocobet Ticket and the odds.
When a chocobo pairing is not favored to win, and consequently has few bets placed on it, the odds for that pairing will be relatively high. Players stand to win more money, should they bet on such a pairing and win. Conversely, well-known chocobos with a good chance of finishing in the top two will generally be the pick of many Chocobet Tickets. These pairings will therefore have relatively lower odds, resulting in less gil per quill. Of course, should a player lose, they will receive no gil, regardless of any odds.
While we hope that players will enjoy the new racing and betting system, we also ask that they understand the risks involved and act responsibly.

That's it, Kirin today, then some time to XP I think.