Critical Break: The Weekly Finale

Critical Break is our crafting and economics column written by Qtipus. Q is an experienced crafter and also well versed in using the Auction House to turn a decent profit. Enough so that he was able to fund his own relic, Gungnir. Every Tuesday you will find Q's rants, raves and good crafting practices here. This week, Q becomes a victim of "Real Life Happens To Other People".

After nearly 7 months of weekly rants, reviews and guides, I've come to a point in my real life where I simply cannot guarantee a weekly column for Ring's blog. This isn't saying I won't contribute anymore (Synergy still needs reviewing), it just won't be as frequent.

The writing of this column usually happens in the mornings at "work". I do IT consultation work from 8AM-Noon for a local company here and it's far easier for me to write a column there than it is for me to write one at home due to fewer distractions. Unfortunately, those distractions are going to start becoming more frequent in the near future due to my acceptance of a larger role in the company. The hours won't change much, but there definitely won't be anywhere near as much time spent waiting for something to break as there is now. Outside of "work", I own a small computer repair shop that eats up most of the time I have past noon. FFXI time is generally spent between scans running or updates installing on computers I have picked up for service (usually between 10-20/week).

When I agreed to do this for Ring's blog, I really had no idea what I was going to discuss. Many of the columns I wrote prior to the 0-60 Series were things I just thought of the day before it was due for publishing or because of someone's random comment about something crafting- or money-related. I knew I had a lot to say given the amount of time I've invested in the crafting sector/market, but there are only so many ways you can say "Don't be a financial dumbass" and felt the column would run out of topics far sooner than later.

The explanation of all this is a minor reason for this post today though. The major reason is I wanted to take the space to thank everyone who made contributions and comments on my writings. It's a very rewarding feeling to receive positive comments and tells from complete strangers on my work. Thank you all very much! The ride's been fun and this isn't goodbye by any means of the imagination, but instead of "see you next week", it'll likely be "see you next month".