Resolved: Make more lists.

I tend to play FFXI in the moment. I pick some gear that I want and I do that event until I get it. I don't really worry about gear for jobs that I am leveling because they will be 75 soon enough. In fact, I never buy HQ or e-peen gear for a job that I am leveling because it just doesn't matter. The reason that it doesn't matter is not because I don't care, it's because the difference in stats is tiny, and therefor doesn't justify their purchase. End-game gear is the only place I believe that money should be spent in quantity, any other time you are just renting gear on the AH and you hardly ever make a profit on that. Anyway, bit of a tangent there, but the point is that I don't really look ahead outside of knowing the gear that I want, so I hardly ever think about my plans more than a week or so into the future, and I never really think about resolutions for the game.

So as a twist I am going to do it this year, I may even add them to the side of my blog so that I can keep track of them. So, let's get started.

1. Level BLM to 75, gear it well, learn how to play it well and figure out how to use spellcast to be optimal at the job.

This one should be relatively easy if a little bit expensive. I just got level 46 last night and Iz and I have been getting about a level each time we get to XP. I think it will be a month or two but I hope to have BLM to 75 by the time of the next update. So the leveling shouldn't be much of a problem, but gearing may be a little more complicated. It will be a little bit expensive too. I haven't even looked too much further than my AF, which I know is relatively decent compared to some other AF, say like WAR. :) I will have to get all the staves that I am still missing, and I should probably get HQ staves for at least the important elements like, I think, Thunder, Ice and I heard Dark is important too. Learning how to play it is going better than the last time I talked about BLM, but I still can't use the menu to save more life, of more importantly, to save Iz's life. I had hoped that I wouldn't be as macro dependent on BLM, but it doesn't look like that is going to be the case. I don't think it is a bad thing, and it may actually get easier to do at end game because the spell casting time is longer giving me more time to select the next spell. I don't think I will move away from macros though, because it's hard to unlearn using macros as I have for years. I think spellcast might be helpful for this and it might be a hindrance because I am used to using a controller and I think it is more keyboard friendly. Well, we will see.

2. Finish merits on all of my useful jobs.

I still haven't finished Samurai yet, I need at least two more merits into Blade Bash to top it off, but that is all for Samurai. Monk is already done, and Ninja isn't getting anything new because it is nothing more than a tank job now. Ranger on the other hand needs a whole lot of merits, including Archery merits, all my Tier 1 merits and a load of Tier 2 merits. After that I will probably focus on meriting my BLM, but that is still a while off yet. I guess I could start Elemental Magic skill and then Enfeebling Magic skill, but that is a while off. I still need to do my WHM merits too, almost forgot that.

3. Start working on Nyzul, and limit down Salvage somewhat.

I love Salvage, but right now I go 5 times a week, and that takes a lot of time and precludes Nyzul Isle for the most part, even though we have given it a bit of a stab from time to time. Omoi and Iz both need gear from Nyzul, namely Askar head, and I wouldn't mind picking up a few Goliard pieces. We also need level 100 disks and a whole lot more weapons to get the WS for our main DD jobs. Doing Nyzul is pretty easy compared to Salvage and is more luck based when it comes to the mobs you face even if Salvage is far more luck based when it comes to getting the drops that we need. Either way, I still like Salvage very much, and Nyzul is pretty fun, but I wouldn't mind something new sprouting up as something fun to do with Iz and Omoi.

4. Get leathercraft to 100 and make some decent money.

Making money has always been tough for me, I just don't like to spend the time on it. My leathercraft is now 71, and I am moving into a relatively easy range to level and make money. Either way, I think I will be able to get to 100 by next year, but the question really becomes "Am I going to do anything with it?"

5. Start my new grand project.

If I get the help that I need, this will happen sooner rather than later. Hopefully everyone will think it is as epic as I hope it will be.

I think that is enough for today. I might add a few more on Monday, but I am not sure how much I want to promise myself. And really none of these are too hard to complete anyway, I would get them done in the course of playing anyway. Maybe I should come up with something that would be more difficult to complete? I can't really come up with much that I am not doing now that I really want to do. There are a few things here or there that I want to get but nothing that makes me drool or keeps me up at night because I don't have it.

Maybe, I should start really working on a relic...

:)

Nah.