Morning in Vana'diel: Internet has problems; SE to blame.

So the "Walk of Shame" saved us a Salvage run last night. Both Clubber and I were the fuck ups of the century and didn't get our soap for Limbus (we both checked the NPC before we could get the soap and weren't paying attention when it denied it) and we didn't get our Salvage tags, and while running back to pick them up the server message came up and said that POL was going down. So, while we both did completely ruin our Limbus run, we did manage to save some points by delaying the Salvage run enough to prevent us from going in.

So being a fuck-up can be helpful sometimes... but we won't talk about Limbus though. >.<

I don't know if it was even entirely SE's fault the POL servers were having connection issues. I have been having intermittent internet issues all day and I know other people have been too. This is what you call connecting two completely unrelated things. :)

In another one of my "I just don't get it" moments, I was looking at the thread about the POL connection issue on BG and noticed that some people would declared their hatred of SE and their crappy game for having connection issues to the game that SE makes that they are being denied. Maybe it is a higher form of irony that I don't just get, but I thinking that is the kind of cynicism that goes so far that it comes back around again. If you hate everything about SE, and SE has problems letting you connect, and you hate them for that, then... like... shouldn't you like them? Confusing to me, that's for sure.

So basically yesterday was a complete waste for me. I fucked up and couldn't do Limbus, then I fucked up and saved us from doing a Salvage that we would have missed anyway. I hope that I can actually play FFXI tonight instead of just running around to places and not doing anything of importance.

Also wanted to mention something about my Q & A post. You guys suck. I didn't get one good question. Not one. I suppose that if you read this blog you pretty much know a lot about me anyway, but I thought someone would at least be interested in something different.

I wanted to mention that Izman got a Pachipachio recently and has been letting me borrow it to do some eyeball testing on it. My conclusion is pretty much the same as it is with any other GKT: it's awesome for lower level, low defense mobs, but can't compete with Hagun on anything that matters. I used it in Salvage once and it was an absolute wrecking ball on lower level mobs, but it just couldn't compete with Hagun on boss damage. Once I get my parser working again, I am going to do some comparisons in Salvage and Einherjar to get more of an idea of what I am looking at.

How about that... a real post... first in a long while. :)

So the "Walk of Shame" saved us a Salvage run last night. Both Clubber and I were the fuck ups of the century and didn't get our soap for Limbus (we both checked the NPC before we could get the soap and weren't paying attention when it denied it) and we didn't get our Salvage tags, and while running back to pick them up the server message came up and said that POL was going down. So, while we both did completely ruin our Limbus run, we did manage to save some points by delaying the Salvage run enough to prevent us from going in.<br /><br />So being a fuck-up can be helpful sometimes... but we won't talk about Limbus though. >.< <br /><br />I don't know if it was even entirely SE's fault the POL servers were having connection issues. I have been having intermittent internet issues all day and I know other people have been too. This is what you call connecting two completely unrelated things. :)<br /><br />In another one of my "I just don't get it" moments, I was looking at the thread about the POL connection issue on BG and noticed that some people would declared their hatred of SE and their crappy game for having connection issues to the game that SE makes that they are being denied. Maybe it is a higher form of irony that I don't just get, but I thinking that is the kind of cynicism that goes so far that it comes back around again. If you hate everything about SE, and SE has problems letting you connect, and you hate them for that, then... like... shouldn't you like them? Confusing to me, that's for sure.<br /><br />So basically yesterday was a complete waste for me. I fucked up and couldn't do Limbus, then I fucked up and saved us from doing a Salvage that we would have missed anyway. I hope that I can actually play FFXI tonight instead of just running around to places and not doing anything of importance.<br /><br />Also wanted to mention something about my Q & A post. You guys suck. I didn't get one good question. Not one. I suppose that if you read this blog you pretty much know a lot about me anyway, but I thought someone would at least be interested in something different.<br /><br />I wanted to mention that Izman got a Pachipachio recently and has been letting me borrow it to do some eyeball testing on it. My conclusion is pretty much the same as it is with any other GKT: it's awesome for lower level, low defense mobs, but can't compete with Hagun on anything that matters. I used it in Salvage once and it was an absolute wrecking ball on lower level mobs, but it just couldn't compete with Hagun on boss damage. Once I get my parser working again, I am going to do some comparisons in Salvage and Einherjar to get more of an idea of what I am looking at.<br /><br />How about that... a real post... first in a long while. :)

Morning in Vana'diel: Plain Old Fun Vs. Shiney New Fun.

Morning in Vana'diel is your daily dose of FFXI and all things Vana'diel. Give us your thoughts on the interesting topics of the day! I don't know about you, but I am not having less fun in game but I am having less fun anticipating having less fun in game.

I have no internet at work this morning so I have no idea when this is going to be posted. And in this moment without instantaneous entertainment I am left to think about things a little more slowly, and a little more globally. I made me wonder how the developers really think about monster and event creation.

Now it is obvious that SE really isn’t putting anywhere as much heart into their events as they once did. The last two updates have seen events that mirror one of their oldest event systems: Garrison. Maybe they decided to use it because no one uses this kind of semi-instanced event anymore, but I have a feeling it is more to do to the need to spend less time developing new programming for events so they can work on the mini-expansions and FFXIV.

These events are not bad at all. The ANNM and Fey Weapons events are actually quite challenging and rewarding. They do require a little more thought than some other things that have been introduced lately and some of them like the Xarcabard Fey Weapon battle are actually very difficult. It is not the challenge or the reward I am concerned about, it is how they come up with the events they do implement.

There are weird balances between the different events. Some of the things they come up with are very interesting, intriguing and challenging. Salvage, for example, is probably the best implemented idea SE ever had, or at least after they added the crate of cells at the beginning of the run. Some zones were hard, some thought provoking and some required trickery, but all were interesting. But then you have something like Pandemonium Warden and Absolute Virtue, which are nothing more than insane puzzles that only the developers have the answers to the riddles. Why even create challenges that are not meant to be defeated? If we were reading a story or watching a movie these would be fine, but in a game are challenges that are too challenging even worth the development time?

[Note: Of course, Pandemonium Warden has become increasingly defeatable, but that is only because of the changes that occurred because of the way it was originally designed.]

<a href="http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/ffxi/images/0/0e/FayCrozier-Augmented.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/ffxi/images/0/0e/FayCrozier-Augmented.png" style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 366px; height: 120px;" /></a><span style="font-weight:bold;">Morning in Vana'diel</span><span style="font-style:italic;"> is your daily dose of FFXI and all things Vana'diel. Give us your thoughts on the interesting topics of the day! I don't know about you, but I am not having less fun in game but I am having less fun anticipating having less fun in game.</span><br /><br />I have no internet at work this morning so I have no idea when this is going to be posted. And in this moment without instantaneous entertainment I am left to think about things a little more slowly, and a little more globally. I made me wonder how the developers really think about monster and event creation.<br /><br />Now it is obvious that SE really isn’t putting anywhere as much heart into their events as they once did. The last two updates have seen events that mirror one of their oldest event systems: Garrison. Maybe they decided to use it because no one uses this kind of semi-instanced event anymore, but I have a feeling it is more to do to the need to spend less time developing new programming for events so they can work on the mini-expansions and FFXIV. <br /><br />These events are not bad at all. The ANNM and Fey Weapons events are actually quite challenging and rewarding. They do require a little more thought than some other things that have been introduced lately and some of them like the Xarcabard Fey Weapon battle are actually very difficult. It is not the challenge or the reward I am concerned about, it is how they come up with the events they do implement. <br /><br />There are weird balances between the different events. Some of the things they come up with are very interesting, intriguing and challenging. Salvage, for example, is probably the best implemented idea SE ever had, or at least after they added the crate of cells at the beginning of the run. Some zones were hard, some thought provoking and some required trickery, but all were interesting. But then you have something like Pandemonium Warden and Absolute Virtue, which are nothing more than insane puzzles that only the developers have the answers to the riddles. Why even create challenges that are not meant to be defeated? If we were reading a story or watching a movie these would be fine, but in a game are challenges that are too challenging even worth the development time? <br /><br />[Note: Of course, Pandemonium Warden has become increasingly defeatable, but that is only because of the changes that occurred because of the way it was originally designed.]

Morning in Vana'diel: Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want This Time.

Morning in Vana'diel is your daily dose of FFXI and all things Vana'diel. Give us your thoughts on the interesting topics of the day! You know all those times where things never go a planned? Well, last night it was the rare occasion of the opposite.

Normally, things are a bit of a mess. Someone misses a cure, misses a WS, forgets a piece of gear, didn't refresh as quick as you would like, or some other minor annoyance. This is every day stuff, it never really effects the outcome of an event or a fight, but you know it is there, and you know you aren't an exception either. It's nothing even worth complaining about, we all play with other people and they can't always play at 100%. But rarely, every once in a while, everyone is hitting on all cylinders and it seems like nothing can get in your way. There are some places that are more conducive to that than others.

For me, one of the hardest place to do that is Zhayolm Remnants. This is a run that gives me a lot of stress, because of the cell distribution, because of the monitoring of cards and entrance times, because of the charms, and because of the randomness of the drops in the first room of the second floor. All of these things make this run more difficult than the normal Salvage run. It is easy to go from having a ton of time to very little if the frogs get off some chain charms. But last night, oh wonderful sweet last night, nothing went wrong. Everyone got their cells in order, all charms were stunned, and we even finally got Ninjafox's Skadi's legs. We finished the run with 25 minutes left. It was a work of art.

I was quite pleased with Ninjafox finally getting his Skadi legs, he has been waiting on them for a long time, and the one other time we had them drop Ninjafox wasn't on the run, and Kallo got them. Not like Kallo didn't deserve them, but Ninjafox had definitely been waiting for them a long time. I am just pleased that they both have them now. But in the end, I was even more pleased with how the run went. It was symphonic and brilliant. It is definitely one of my greatest pleasures in this game to have a good day. No complications, no yelling, no frustrations. It will be back to the grind stone today. But for an hour and fifteen minutes, I had goosebumps like I did back when I was a newbie.

Do you have good days? Do you have a story about a perfect run? Does everyone else you play with make you want to rip out your hair? Would you be happy if they just finally created an internet stabbing device? Or is everyone run perfect? Or maybe you are just a calm normal person? Leave a comment and tell us what you think!

<a href="http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff151/ringthreetheicp/Skadi_legs-1.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff151/ringthreetheicp/Skadi_legs-1.png" style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 148px; height: 400px;" /></a><span style="font-weight:bold;">Morning in Vana'diel</span><span style="font-style:italic;"> is your daily dose of FFXI and all things Vana'diel. Give us your thoughts on the interesting topics of the day! You know all those times where things never go a planned? Well, last night it was the rare occasion of the opposite.</span><br /><br />Normally, things are a bit of a mess. Someone misses a cure, misses a WS, forgets a piece of gear, didn't refresh as quick as you would like, or some other minor annoyance. This is every day stuff, it never really effects the outcome of an event or a fight, but you know it is there, and you know you aren't an exception either. It's nothing even worth complaining about, we all play with other people and they can't always play at 100%. But rarely, every once in a while, everyone is hitting on all cylinders and it seems like nothing can get in your way. There are some places that are more conducive to that than others. <br /><br />For me, one of the hardest place to do that is Zhayolm Remnants. This is a run that gives me a lot of stress, because of the cell distribution, because of the monitoring of cards and entrance times, because of the charms, and because of the randomness of the drops in the first room of the second floor. All of these things make this run more difficult than the normal Salvage run. It is easy to go from having a ton of time to very little if the frogs get off some chain charms. But last night, oh wonderful sweet last night, nothing went wrong. Everyone got their cells in order, all charms were stunned, and we even finally got Ninjafox's Skadi's legs. We finished the run with 25 minutes left. It was a work of art.<br /><br />I was quite pleased with Ninjafox finally getting his Skadi legs, he has been waiting on them for a long time, and the one other time we had them drop Ninjafox wasn't on the run, and Kallo got them. Not like Kallo didn't deserve them, but Ninjafox had definitely been waiting for them a long time. I am just pleased that they both have them now. But in the end, I was even more pleased with how the run went. It was symphonic and brilliant. It is definitely one of my greatest pleasures in this game to have a good day. No complications, no yelling, no frustrations. It will be back to the grind stone today. But for an hour and fifteen minutes, I had goosebumps like I did back when I was a newbie.<br /><br />Do you have good days? Do you have a story about a perfect run? Does everyone else you play with make you want to rip out your hair? Would you be happy if they just finally created an internet stabbing device? Or is everyone run perfect? Or maybe you are just a calm normal person? Leave a comment and tell us what you think!

You are not your fucking Skadi's Cuirie.

You are not your fucking... is a series of articles dedicated to profiling a variety of equipment. Brought to you every Monday, this series will discuss why it is a good piece of gear, why it fills your needs, why you should get it or any other reason it could be useful. It could be something obvious, or it could be something off the beaten path, but it will always be useful in some way or another. Today we will take a look at one of the most annoying Salvage pieces to obtain, the Skadi's Cuirie.

The Stats: Salvage provides some of the best gear in the game, and that is very well known. Some of that gear is very good for one job on it's job list, but not some others. Some of it is situational, some of it is WS gear, and some of it covers different roles for different jobs. The http://wiki.ffxiclopedia.org/wiki/Skadi%27s_Cuirie is a great example of that. Finally, a piece for this column where the stats speak for themselves. This is a RNG and THF piece, obviously, but it is definitely situational depending on what you are using it for. The nice thing though is that there are many situations where it is good which is unlike most "situational" gear. Large portions of DEX, AGI and CHR make this stand out as a THF WS piece first and foremost. It has been suggested that it is the best WS piece in the game for THF, at least for http://wiki.ffxiclopedia.org/wiki/Dancing_Edge, because it has a ton of modifiers (even if no STR) and because of the additional Accuracy on this piece. Yes, not only does it have good WS stats, it also comes with a good portion of Accuracy and even a little Attack on it too. It can even been a really good TP piece depending on what else you have, and what situation you are in. Definitely not as good as Homam Corazza, though pretty close, and Rapparee Harness is only situationally better than Skadi's and those situations (high vs. low accuracy) don't really over lap. For RNG, it's utility is not as universal, but it is still a very good piece. First of all for Barrage, where Ranged Accuracy is critical, it is the best. But it is also a very nice Sidewinder/Slug Shot piece for higher evasion mobs, basically anything higher than XP mobs. Finally, it has -10 Evasion, and I don't know why, and the stats on it are so good it doesn't matter.

The Get: Ok, this is the hard part. This is probably one of the most difficult items to get from Salvage, and that is not necessarily because of drop rate. First of all you need the three items from Salvage. The 15 is the Njord's Jerkin from Jakko, which if you are doing Zhayolm Remnants you are going to get inevitably. The Freyr's Jerkin is the 25 piece which drops from Long-Armed Chariot, not the most difficult but one of the more annoying Salvage bosses, and also time consuming which is a problem if other people in your group need the Usukane 35 body because that route in Silver Sea Remnants. Finally, the Freya's Jerkin drops from the Peryton in Bhaflau Remnants which has a chance to drop the 35 if they even appear, and that is all after you kill the previous 10 Archaic Gear in less than a minute without having them disappear because of random weather effects, or aggro, or linking, etc. And then after you get all of the items, you get the glory of collecting 12 Imperial Wootz Ingots which are horribly expensive. Toss in 10 Imperial Gold Coins, and the Skadi's Cuirie is finally yours.

If you like this series, but are wondering why you never see the items you are looking for, then leave a comments and we might just feature you favorite item next week!

<span style="font-weight:bold;">You are not your fucking...</span><span style="font-style:italic;"> is a series of articles dedicated to profiling a variety of equipment. Brought to you every Monday, this series will discuss why it is a good piece of gear, why it fills your needs, why you should get it or any other reason it could be useful. It could be something obvious, or it could be something off the beaten path, but it will always be useful in some way or another. Today we will take a look at one of the most annoying Salvage pieces to obtain, the Skadi's Cuirie.</span><br /><br />The Stats: Salvage provides some of the best gear in the game, and that is very well known. Some of that gear is very good for one job on it's job list, but not some others. Some of it is situational, some of it is WS gear, and some of it covers different roles for different jobs. The http://wiki.ffxiclopedia.org/wiki/Skadi%27s_Cuirie is a great example of that. <a href="http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/ffxi/images/0/0e/SkadisCuirie.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/ffxi/images/0/0e/SkadisCuirie.png" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 366px; height: 136px;" /></a> Finally, a piece for this column where the stats speak for themselves. This is a RNG and THF piece, obviously, but it is definitely situational depending on what you are using it for. The nice thing though is that there are many situations where it is good which is unlike most "situational" gear. Large portions of DEX, AGI and CHR make this stand out as a THF WS piece first and foremost. It has been suggested that it is the best WS piece in the game for THF, at least for http://wiki.ffxiclopedia.org/wiki/Dancing_Edge, because it has a ton of modifiers (even if no STR) and because of the additional Accuracy on this piece. Yes, not only does it have good WS stats, it also comes with a good portion of Accuracy and even a little Attack on it too. It can even been a really good TP piece depending on what else you have, and what situation you are in. Definitely not as good as <a href="http://wiki.ffxiclopedia.org/wiki/Homam_Corazza">Homam Corazza</a>, though pretty close, and <a href="http://wiki.ffxiclopedia.org/wiki/Rapparee_Harness">Rapparee Harness</a> is only situationally better than Skadi's and those situations (high vs. low accuracy) don't really over lap. <a href="http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff151/ringthreetheicp/Kallo_Skadi_Body-1.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff151/ringthreetheicp/Kallo_Skadi_Body-1.png" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 259px; height: 400px;" /></a> For RNG, it's utility is not as universal, but it is still a very good piece. First of all for <a href="http://wiki.ffxiclopedia.org/wiki/Barrage">Barrage</a>, where Ranged Accuracy is critical, it is the best. But it is also a very nice <a href="http://wiki.ffxiclopedia.org/wiki/Sidewinder">Sidewinder</a>/<a href="http://wiki.ffxiclopedia.org/wiki/Slug_Shot">Slug Shot</a> piece for higher evasion mobs, basically anything higher than XP mobs. Finally, it has -10 Evasion, and I don't know why, and the stats on it are so good it doesn't matter.<br /><br />The Get: Ok, this is the hard part. This is probably one of the most difficult items to get from Salvage, and that is not necessarily because of drop rate. First of all you need the three items from Salvage. The 15 is the <a href="http://wiki.ffxiclopedia.org/wiki/Njord%27s_Jerkin">Njord's Jerkin</a> from <a href="http://wiki.ffxiclopedia.org/wiki/Jakko">Jakko</a>, which if you are doing Zhayolm Remnants you are going to get inevitably. The <a href="http://wiki.ffxiclopedia.org/wiki/Freyr%27s_Jerkin">Freyr's Jerkin</a> is the 25 piece which drops from <a href="http://wiki.ffxiclopedia.org/wiki/Long-Armed_Chariot">Long-Armed Chariot</a>, not the most difficult but one of the more annoying Salvage bosses, and also time consuming which is a problem if other people in your group need the <a href="http://wiki.ffxiclopedia.org/wiki/Hikazu_Hara-Ate">Usukane 35 body</a> because that route in <a href="http://wiki.ffxiclopedia.org/wiki/Silver_Sea_Remnants">Silver Sea Remnants</a>. Finally, the <a href="http://wiki.ffxiclopedia.org/wiki/Freya%27s_Jerkin">Freya's Jerkin</a> drops from the <a href="http://wiki.ffxiclopedia.org/wiki/Peryton">Peryton</a> in <a href="http://wiki.ffxiclopedia.org/wiki/Bhaflau_Remnants">Bhaflau Remnants</a> which has a chance to drop the 35 if they even appear, and that is all after you kill the previous 10 Archaic Gear in less than a minute without having them disappear because of random weather effects, or aggro, or linking, etc. And then after you get all of the items, you get the glory of collecting 12 Imperial Wootz Ingots which are horribly expensive. Toss in 10 Imperial Gold Coins, and the Skadi's Cuirie is finally yours.<br /><br />If you like this series, but are wondering why you never see the items <span style="font-style:italic;">you</span> are looking for, then leave a comments and we might just feature you favorite item next week!