From the mouth of babes: Defending Kings.

You might notice that I don't really think that King's are worth the effort for the most part, but I am not so naive to think that people don't want the gear, or have a different opinion from myself. Sure, the simple answer is to say you can do King's and the alternatives, but is the time spent really worth the rewards? So in an attempt to illustrate the other side's point of view I am posting a comment from Iceblazek on the issue. Before I do that though, let me state a couple of things. First, I don't necessarily agree with some of Ice's assessments of the gear, but I get where he is coming from. Second, I wouldn't normally just post a comment, and definitely not one of Ice's comments, :) but I think his comment does a lot to encapsulate and unbiasedly present the other side of the story. His paranoia of course shines through in the end, but that is Iceblazek's wheel house, so we roll with it.

Iceblazek said...
Ill never understand why people bash kings gear! Items like Heca head and legs can not be replaced with any of the current equip out there. Ridill is still better then gaxe, Ebody is better then ares and A body is still useful for those RDMs that dont want to spend 12M for the refresh effect. Im not going to mention d ring cause its way too much work. Plus there is always the BB items.

Now is where everyone starts mentioning Odin... Its the exact same shit, we just get another oppertunity at some of this great equipment that we used to get from kings, minus ridill and dring, but replaced by odin gear. It still takes a lot of work and probably just as much time when you figure the amount of people that you need to do einherjar is far greater then whats needed to kill nid.

Kings can be boring a lot of the time but that doesnt mean they are boring all the time. We have all got to the point where we **need** nothing to make our characters work, its now got to the point where we are seeking the very best and you have a far better chance of doing that if you do kings and einherjar at the same time.

Also!! there really is something fucked up when it comes to the servers coming down during NA time, it happens a lot more then it does when kings are in JP time.

Is it worth it to camp Kings? Is Einherjar really a panacea or just a pacifier? Is the effort really worth the reward for either? Tell us what you think!

<a href="http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff151/ringthreetheicp/FafnirStatue.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff151/ringthreetheicp/FafnirStatue.jpg" style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 183px;" /></a>You might notice that I don't really think that King's are worth the effort for the most part, but I am not so naive to think that people don't want the gear, or have a different opinion from myself. Sure, the simple answer is to say you can do King's and the alternatives, but is the time spent really worth the rewards? So in an attempt to illustrate the other side's point of view I am posting a comment from Iceblazek on the issue. Before I do that though, let me state a couple of things. First, I don't necessarily agree with some of Ice's assessments of the gear, but I get where he is coming from. Second, I wouldn't normally just post a comment, and definitely not one of Ice's comments, :) but I think his comment does a lot to encapsulate and unbiasedly present the other side of the story. His paranoia of course shines through in the end, but that is Iceblazek's wheel house, so we roll with it. <blockquote><span style="font-weight:bold;">Iceblazek said...</span><br />Ill never understand why people bash kings gear! Items like Heca head and legs can not be replaced with any of the current equip out there. Ridill is still better then gaxe, Ebody is better then ares and A body is still useful for those RDMs that dont want to spend 12M for the refresh effect. Im not going to mention d ring cause its way too much work. Plus there is always the BB items.<br /><br />Now is where everyone starts mentioning Odin... Its the exact same shit, we just get another oppertunity at some of this great equipment that we used to get from kings, minus ridill and dring, but replaced by odin gear. It still takes a lot of work and probably just as much time when you figure the amount of people that you need to do einherjar is far greater then whats needed to kill nid.<br /><br />Kings can be boring a lot of the time but that doesnt mean they are boring all the time. We have all got to the point where we **need** nothing to make our characters work, its now got to the point where we are seeking the very best and you have a far better chance of doing that if you do kings and einherjar at the same time.<br /><br />Also!! there really is something fucked up when it comes to the servers coming down during NA time, it happens a lot more then it does when kings are in JP time.</blockquote><br />Is it worth it to camp Kings? Is Einherjar really a panacea or just a pacifier? Is the effort really worth the reward for either? Tell us what you think!

Mr QQ Says: Is King Kupofried still having personal issues?

Mr. QQ Says is a column detailing information on FFXI technical issues, server issues and other minor SE issues.

Another week, another emergency maintenance? Well, it's not that bad, but it looks like SE is taking down the servers again, but there is no indication at this time as to why they need to do it. The only clues that I have seen so far have been on BG saying that there is a bit of an issue with the text reporting the buffs from the Kupofried event. As this is event is different than most as it is ongoing rather than just a week or two, it would seem that if it was necessary to take the servers down to fix the issue it would be better to do it now than wait until the next full update. It does seems relatively minor assuming it isn't the "everyone on my server has been DCing, so they must be fixing that when it is just probably my own crappy ISP" complaint that normally happens when people can't figure out why an emergency maintenance happens. Is it important enough to screw up Kings for the people that care? Should we even care about Kings? Are the buffs from Kupofried now better than most King gear anyway? The emergency maintenance is from 10AM to 12PM PDT which is... whatever time it is where ever you are at the time.

UPDATE: Looks like the fixes really were for Kupofried, and two other issues, one with server transfers that doesn't really look like it matters much and "an issue where gil could be obtained using an improper method". Looks like they stuck it to the RMT again.

<a href="http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff151/ringthreetheicp/QQ_Hi-2.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff151/ringthreetheicp/QQ_Hi-2.png" style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 200px;" /></a> <span style="font-weight:bold;">Mr. QQ Says</span> <span style="font-style:italic;">is a column detailing information on FFXI technical issues, server issues and other minor SE issues.</span><br /><br />Another week, another emergency maintenance? Well, it's not that bad, but it looks like SE is taking down the servers again, but there is no indication at this time as to why they need to do it. The only clues that I have seen so far have been <a href="http://www.bluegartrls.com/forum/75871-all-worlds-emergency-maintenance-jun-1-a.html#post2769807">on BG</a> saying that there is a bit of an issue with the text reporting the buffs from the Kupofried event. As this is event is different than most as it is ongoing rather than just a week or two, it would seem that if it was necessary to take the servers down to fix the issue it would be better to do it now than wait until the next full update. It does seems relatively minor assuming it isn't the "everyone on my server has been DCing, so they must be fixing that when it is just probably my own crappy ISP" complaint that normally happens when people can't figure out why an emergency maintenance happens. Is it important enough to screw up Kings for the people that care? Should we even care about Kings? Are the buffs from Kupofried now better than most King gear anyway? The <a href="http://www.playonline.com/ff11us/polnews/news16309.shtml">emergency maintenance</a> is from 10AM to 12PM PDT which is... whatever time it is where ever you are at the time.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">UPDATE:</span> Looks like the fixes really were for Kupofried, and two other issues, one with server transfers that doesn't really look like it matters much and "<a href="http://www.playonline.com/ff11us/polnews/news16313.shtml">an issue where gil could be obtained using an improper method</a>". Looks like they stuck it to the RMT again.

Morning in Vana'diel: Talking to SE.

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! This morning we talk about talking to Square Enix.

While, I was gone there seemed to have been a whole lot of bluster and very little results when it comes to talking to Square Enix. First of all SE has introduced what is essentially a blog ring for FFXI, something that TTO has been doing for a couple of years now. While TTO does have some issues, and doesn't fit everyone's needs, it still in the end is probably does a better job of getting FFXI blogs out to the players than this new SE site does. And that is before you mention the rather restrictive policies has to register as a community site. And what does being a community site get you anyway?

From the lack of results to the bluster, there was a new "hard-hitting interview" on 1UP with part of the FFXI Development Team and the A Crystilline Prophecy writer. I am still trying to figure out how you can ask hard-hitting questions from within the bung hole of the interviewee. And that brings us to the topic for today, why is everyone on tip-toes when it comes to talking to SE. I have heard excuses from "well at least they are finally talking to us" to "hey those were hard-hitting questions" but in the end they are just nerds that run a video game, they aren't your parents, and it's not rude to ask real questions about the quality of an expansion as poor as ACP. What questions would you ask SE? Would you just give them softball questions about gear in ACP or would you ask why the hell they are handing out crappy content instead of working on a real expansion? Would you roll over for SE like they were your Grandparents, or would you stop acting like a fan boi and actually ask them about FFXI instead of how great the Dev Team thinks they are doing?

Leave a comment and tell us what you think!

<a href="http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff151/ringthreetheicp/breakfast-chat.gif" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff151/ringthreetheicp/breakfast-chat.gif" style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 85px;" /></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! This morning we talk about talking to Square Enix.</span><br /><br />While, I was gone there seemed to have been a whole lot of bluster and very little results when it comes to talking to Square Enix. First of all SE has introduced what is essentially a <a href="http://www.playonline.com/polapps/s/fansite2.lnk.Top?polg_loc=en">blog ring</a> for FFXI, something that <a href="http://www.tarutarutimes-online.net/">TTO</a> has been doing for a couple of years now. While TTO does have some issues, and doesn't fit everyone's needs, it still in the end is probably does a better job of getting FFXI blogs out to the players than this new SE site does. And that is before you mention the <a href="http://www.playonline.com/polapps/s/fansite2.lnk.RegGuideline?polg_loc=en">rather restrictive policies</a> has to register as a community site. And what does being a community site get you anyway?<br /><a href="http://www.playonline.com/pcd/topics/ff11us/detail/4552/4552.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://www.playonline.com/pcd/topics/ff11us/detail/4552/4552.jpg" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 415px; height: 100px;" /></a><br />From the lack of results to the bluster, there was a new <a href="http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?pager.offset=0&cId=3174358">"hard-hitting interview"</a> on 1UP with part of the FFXI Development Team and the <a href="http://www.playonline.com/ff11us/addon/index.html">A Crystilline Prophecy</a> writer. I am still trying to figure out how you can ask hard-hitting questions from within the bung hole of the interviewee. And that brings us to the topic for today, why is everyone on tip-toes when it comes to talking to SE. I have heard excuses from "well at least they are finally talking to us" to "hey those <span style="font-style:italic;">were</span> hard-hitting questions" but in the end they are just nerds that run a video game, they aren't your parents, and it's not rude to ask real questions about the quality of an expansion as poor as ACP. What questions would you ask SE? Would you just give them softball questions about gear in ACP or would you ask why the hell they are handing out crappy content instead of working on a real expansion? Would you roll over for SE like they were your Grandparents, or would you stop acting like a fan boi and actually ask them about FFXI instead of how great the Dev Team thinks they are doing? <br /><br />Leave a comment and tell us what you think!

Shut it down!

That's it kids! This is the last post before I head off to vacation for a week. When I get back, there will be a lot of things to go over! The staff for the new website. The columns that will appear on the new website. Our goals, agendas and schemes for world domination!

Have fun while I am gone and I hope you are looking forward to the new site as much as I am!

That's it kids! This is the last post before I head off to vacation for a week. When I get back, there will be a lot of things to go over! The staff for the new website. The columns that will appear on the new website. Our goals, agendas and schemes for world domination! <br /><br />Have fun while I am gone and I hope you are looking forward to the new site as much as I am!

Morning in Vana'diel: The Rapture Cometh!

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! This morning we consider the end of times and what it means for FFXI.

You might have heard of SE's next MMO project if you don't live in a box. We really don't know much at all about this project besides the fact that it is codenamed Rapture and that they are using the Crystal Tools engine to design the game. That is the same software engine that is being used for FFXIII and it's siblings. Those are the only concrete details we have on the game itself so far, but there has been some other information about it's development. For example, it has been stated that the FFXI team is also working on this new MMO, and that it will not be Final Fantasy XI-2 or Final Fantasy related. This information is rather old though and there has been little confirmation besides random comments during unrelated interviews. There have been several pictures released over time of FFXII renderings using Crystal Tools which are supposed to depict this new MMO, but those should be discounted as just tests and demos of what Crystal Tools can do, in much the same way as this old picture.
The really funny thing is the rampart and mostly false or baseless speculation involved with Rapture. SE has dispelled many of these online myths but rumors and uninformed internet "media" still report things like the death of FFXI, Rapture being FFXI-2, or game design decisions. Don't believe the hype. The real truth is that we don't really know that much, but that should be resolved pretty soon. It has been heavily speculated that SE is going to reveal Rapture at E3 this year. While I still have my doubts (like why reveal your flagship MMO in the US instead of Japan?), it looks like there is some evidence that this might be the case.

I have no doubts about the life of FFXI, because MMOs basically never die, but if the same team is now working on two games instead of one, what does that mean for FFXI? Will content slow down? Does it explain the lack of content in Wings? Does it explain the completely unambitious and underwhelming "expansion scenarios"? Assuming resources were shifted to Rapture in the short term to prepare it for a demo at E3, will things start ramping back up in FFXI? Tell us what you think of Rapture, what it means for FFXI, and what you think of the situation!

Why bring this up two weeks before E3? I am going on vacation all next week! That means when I arrive back it will right around E3, and we will probably have some solid information on the situation finally!

<a href="http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff151/ringthreetheicp/megaton-1.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff151/ringthreetheicp/megaton-1.jpg" style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 125px;" /></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! This morning we consider the end of times and what it means for FFXI.</span><br /><br />You might have heard of SE's next MMO project if you don't live in a box. We really don't know much at all about this project besides the fact that it is codenamed Rapture and that they are using the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crystal_Tools">Crystal Tools</a> engine to design the game. That is the same software engine that is being used for <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Final_Fantasy_XIII">FFXIII</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Final_Fantasy_Agito_XIII">it's</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Final_Fantasy_Versus_XIII">siblings</a>. Those are the only concrete details we have on the game itself so far, but there has been some other information about it's development. For example, it has been stated that the FFXI team is also working on this new MMO, and that it will not be Final Fantasy XI-2 or Final Fantasy related. This information is rather old though and there has been little confirmation besides random comments during unrelated interviews. There have been several pictures released over time of FFXII renderings using Crystal Tools which are supposed to depict this new MMO, but those should be discounted as just tests and demos of what Crystal Tools can do, in much the same way as this old picture. <a href="http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff151/ringthreetheicp/Rapture.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff151/ringthreetheicp/Rapture.jpg" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 226px;" /></a><br />The really funny thing is the rampart and mostly false or baseless speculation involved with Rapture. SE has dispelled many of these online myths but rumors and uninformed internet "media" still report things like the death of FFXI, Rapture being FFXI-2, or game design decisions. Don't believe the hype. The real truth is that we don't really know that much, but that should be resolved pretty soon. It has been heavily speculated that SE is going to reveal Rapture at E3 this year. While I still have my doubts (like why reveal your flagship MMO in the US instead of Japan?), it looks like there is <a href="http://petfoodalpha.com/4445/ffxi-community-team-members-attending-e3-2009">some evidence</a> that this might be the case.<br /><br />I have no doubts about the life of FFXI, because MMOs basically never die, but if the same team is now working on two games instead of one, what does that mean for FFXI? Will content slow down? Does it explain the lack of content in Wings? Does it explain the completely unambitious and underwhelming "expansion scenarios"? Assuming resources were shifted to Rapture in the short term to prepare it for a demo at E3, will things start ramping back up in FFXI? Tell us what you think of Rapture, what it means for FFXI, and what you think of the situation!<br /><br />Why bring this up two weeks before E3? I am going on vacation all next week! That means when I arrive back it will right around E3, and we will probably have some solid information on the situation finally!

Holy Crap, I'm a Black Mage.

Yes, BLM. The job you were afraid I would level. Well, that much at least you can blame on Izman as he was the one that came up with the idea of us doing this, but I can’t say that I didn’t think it was a good idea. We have duo’ed a lot of the way to where we are now (which is halfway through 73 for me), but lately we have been able to leech or synch down some of our friends to us. Since I am going on vacation after today, I am sure that Iz will and should be 75 by the time I get back. Then it’s on to merits.

I have to say that I am both excited and apprehensive about using Spellcast, which is pretty much requisite for most BLM these days because of all the conditional combinations of gear you need to use to maximize your damage and efficiency. I have started lobbying a few windower developers through a thread on BG to try to get them to make a graphical interface that you would input variables into and it would spit XML out at you. Some people think it should be easy and some think it might be difficult. Being an optimist in general and blissfully ignorant of the programming acumen necessary to design something like this, I think it should be totally possible. I am even considering offering a cash prize to the first person that develops something that works comprehensively.

Although I have put a lot of thought into the process of playing BLM, the real pain is being felt in my pocketbook. I have spent close to a half million on things that I know I am going to replace with better gear inevitably, but it is gear I can’t go without in the mean time. At least some of the gear I was able to pick up in Einherjar and some of it I am ignoring until I have the gil to deal with it. So let’s look at my shopping list.

Igqira Weskit: Check
Igqira Tiara: Check
Mahatma Slops: Check (Yes, Ailee I DO want signed ones from you, but you need to make them and we can swap)
Cursed Mitts: Check
Those are the things that I have picked up so far, but they aren’t the only things that I need. For example, I am missing a bunch of different spells. Fire IV, Blizzaga III, a bunch of Stone spells, and of course Poison II, which I will not buy just out of spite. Why the hell does a BLM need Poison II anyway? The gear I still need includes Snow Rings, Enfeebling Torque, a better second nuking earring, maybe a Demon Helm (Is 1 INT worth the MP lose from the Wizard’s Petasos for an Elvaan?) and Yigit Feet.

That is going to take some gil and time, but it going to be nothing compared to my Macha’s Coat. I am still paying back the gil I borrowed to get the Imperial Wootz Ingots for my Usukane Harimaki and I am going to need to get 12 more after that. :( Iz is going to have the same problem, but he is lucky that he already has all the pieces for Morrigan’s Body, Hands and Feet. I wouldn’t be surprised if he already has the hands and the feet already completed. I will also get to level into my Omega Ring, which will be very nice for Dark and Enfeebling.

Now, you might have noticed that I said I need a better second nuking earring. That is because you grand old gimp has finally gotten a Moldavite Earring. I just wanted to pick up a Sacrifice scroll for my WHM and the Goblin Alchemist that drops the scroll could be found in Labyrinth of Onzozo, so I figured why not try to get my Moldavite while I was there. So, I not only got a Scroll of Sacrifice for myself, Omoikitte and Iceblazek, but I also got my Moldavite Earring and I am not so gimp anymore. A special thanks to Iceblazek, Izman, Omoikitte and especially to Whmrock who helped me get it even though he still doesn’t have one (while still being a very capable BLM). We are going to help Whmrock get his earring as soon as we can!

So, there I am as a BLM. I was happy to find out that level 73 is “good” level when BLM gets their end-game gear and moves from being pretty lame to pretty cool. Only 20k to 74 then 42k for 75, and then another 44k to cap my XP. And then I need to merit, and merit for all of my jobs not just BLM. My WHM has been pretty much completely neglected when it comes to merits and that disappoints me really. My RNG is also in dire need of merits because it barely has any at all. At least BLM will let me solo some of those merits if I can’t drag Omoi and Iz to merit with me! ;)

Yes, BLM. The job you were afraid I would level. <a href="http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff151/ringthreetheicp/BLM_73.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff151/ringthreetheicp/BLM_73.png" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 280px;" /></a> Well, that much at least you can blame on Izman as he was the one that came up with the idea of us doing this, but I can’t say that I didn’t think it was a good idea. We have duo’ed a lot of the way to where we are now (which is halfway through 73 for me), but lately we have been able to leech or synch down some of our friends to us. Since I am going on vacation after today, I am sure that Iz will and should be 75 by the time I get back. Then it’s on to merits. <br /><br />I have to say that I am both excited and apprehensive about using Spellcast, which is pretty much requisite for most BLM these days because of all the conditional combinations of gear you need to use to maximize your damage and efficiency. I have started lobbying a few windower developers through a thread on BG to try to get them to make a graphical interface that you would input variables into and it would spit XML out at you. Some people think it should be easy and some think it might be difficult. Being an optimist in general and blissfully ignorant of the programming acumen necessary to design something like this, I think it should be totally possible. I am even considering offering a cash prize to the first person that develops something that works comprehensively. <br /><br />Although I have put a lot of thought into the process of playing BLM, the real pain is being felt in my pocketbook. I have spent close to a half million on things that I know I am going to replace with better gear inevitably, but it is gear I can’t go without in the mean time. At least some of the gear I was able to pick up in Einherjar and some of it I am ignoring until I have the gil to deal with it. So let’s look at my shopping list.<br /><br />Igqira Weskit: Check<br />Igqira Tiara: Check<br />Mahatma Slops: Check (Yes, Ailee I DO want signed ones from you, but you need to make them and we can swap)<br />Cursed Mitts: Check<a href="http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff151/ringthreetheicp/A_hands.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff151/ringthreetheicp/A_hands.png" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 233px;" /></a><br />Those are the things that I have picked up so far, but they aren’t the only things that I need. For example, I am missing a bunch of different spells. Fire IV, Blizzaga III, a bunch of Stone spells, and of course Poison II, which I will not buy just out of spite. Why the hell does a BLM need Poison II anyway? The gear I still need includes Snow Rings, Enfeebling Torque, a better second nuking earring, maybe a Demon Helm (Is 1 INT worth the MP lose from the Wizard’s Petasos for an Elvaan?) and Yigit Feet. <br /><br />That is going to take some gil and time, but it going to be nothing compared to my Macha’s Coat. I am still paying back the gil I borrowed to get the Imperial Wootz Ingots for my Usukane Harimaki and I am going to need to get 12 more after that. :( Iz is going to have the same problem, but he is lucky that he already has all the pieces for Morrigan’s Body, Hands and Feet. I wouldn’t be surprised if he already has the hands and the feet already completed. I will also get to level into my Omega Ring, which will be very nice for Dark and Enfeebling.<br /><br />Now, you might have noticed that I said I need a better <i>second</i> nuking earring. That is because you grand old gimp has finally gotten a Moldavite Earring. I just wanted to pick up a Sacrifice scroll for my WHM and the Goblin Alchemist that drops the scroll could be found in Labyrinth of Onzozo, so I figured why not try to get my Moldavite while I was there. So, I not only got a Scroll of Sacrifice for myself, Omoikitte and Iceblazek, but I also got my Moldavite Earring and I am not so gimp anymore. A special thanks to Iceblazek, Izman, Omoikitte and especially to Whmrock who helped me get it even though he still doesn’t have one (while still being a very capable BLM). We are going to help Whmrock get his earring as soon as we can!<br /><br />So, there I am as a BLM. I was happy to find out that level 73 is “good” level when BLM gets their end-game gear and moves from being pretty lame to pretty cool. Only 20k to 74 then 42k for 75, and then another 44k to cap my XP. And then I need to merit, and merit for all of my jobs not just BLM. My WHM has been pretty much completely neglected when it comes to merits and that disappoints me really. My RNG is also in dire need of merits because it barely has any at all. At least BLM will let me solo some of those merits if I can’t drag Omoi and Iz to merit with me! ;)

Play Better, Suck Less: New Windower 4 info!

Play Better, Suck Less is a column dedicated to getting the most out of your FFXI experience in game and out. Whether Windower improvements, new game-play techniques, sweet strats or new tech, it will all be covered here!

Azaril, the person that appears to be the main developer for Windower 4 has been slowly releasing more and more details about the features that will be included as part of Windower 4. Most recently he has released pictures of what he simply calls "Bar" which is a much more eye-pleasing and integrated space for add-ons to appear on screen. Azaril has also indicated that we will not just be seeing the graphical improvements of the interface for Windower 4, but many useful plug-ins will now essentially be directly integrated into this "Bar" function, including popular add-ons like Infobar.

Additionally, Azaril has indicated that Windower 4 should be able to parse information without having to have all information unfiltered. This will be a godsend for those that want to be able to collect data from the game and actually still be able to read the combat log. It will also mean that things like an enmity meter might actually be possible in the future, although that does not appear to be a project that Azaril is personally working on.

Here are a few preliminary shots of what the Windower 4 "Bar" will look like inside: and outside: Are you as excited about this as I am? Well, maybe not, because I am probably a bigger nerd than you, but you can tell us what you think anyway!

<a href="http://www.windower.net/wiki/" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff151/ringthreetheicp/Windower.jpg" style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 191px; height: 100px;" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;">Play Better, Suck Less</span> <span style="font-style: italic;">is a column dedicated to getting the most out of your FFXI experience in game and out. Whether Windower improvements, new game-play techniques, sweet strats or new tech, it will all be covered here!</span><br /><br />Azaril, the person that appears to be the main developer for Windower 4 has been slowly releasing more and more details about the features that will be included as part of Windower 4. Most recently he has released pictures of what he simply calls "Bar" which is a much more eye-pleasing and integrated space for add-ons to appear on screen. Azaril has also indicated that we will not just be seeing the graphical improvements of the interface for Windower 4, but many useful plug-ins will now essentially be directly integrated into this "Bar" function, including popular add-ons like Infobar.<br /><br />Additionally, Azaril has indicated that Windower 4 should be able to parse information without having to have all information unfiltered. This will be a godsend for those that want to be able to collect data from the game and actually still be able to read the combat log. It will also mean that things like an enmity meter might actually be possible in the future, although that does not appear to be a project that Azaril is personally working on.<br /><br />Here are a few preliminary shots of what the Windower 4 "Bar" will look like inside: <a href="http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff151/ringthreetheicp/BarLatest.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff151/ringthreetheicp/BarLatest.jpg" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 312px;" /></a> and outside: <a href="http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff151/ringthreetheicp/barlatest_2.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff151/ringthreetheicp/barlatest_2.jpg" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 312px;" /></a> Are you as excited about this as I am? Well, maybe not, because I am probably a bigger nerd than you, but you can tell us what you think anyway!

Morning in Vana'diel: Tuning Out on New Gear.

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! Today, a quick look at Mythics and gear statistics.

The problem with the Mythics so far is just like the problems that SE has with almost all of it's gear. They can't decide how good they want their gear to be. Too many times they just make the gear without considering the alternatives that people use, instead of tuning the gear they are making to fit in some kind of pre-existing order. For example, why doesn't SE look at the highest tier of regularly available gear/weapons before making new gear. I believe the only time they may have actually considered this was when creating the Salvage gear. I don't know why, when creating a different tier of extremely hard to get weapons, they don't consider what is already available as a benchmark.

This is true of Mythics and Relics as much as it is true that there hasn't really been anything added that can beat HQ staffs. It's like Blizzard and SE are the Odd Couple. Blizzard is all math and formulas and DPS, and SE is all crazy ideas, weird innovations and huge spikes in damage. What all MMO'ers need is World of Fantasy-craft XI! What do you think? Does SE just make new gear without consideration of older gear? Does SE actually like how gear currently works and likes the itemization that already exist? Tell us what you think!

<a href="http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/ffxi/images/d/d3/ImperialOmelette.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" style=""><img alt="" border="0" src="http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/ffxi/images/d/d3/ImperialOmelette.JPG" style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 366px; height: 70px;" /></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! Today, a quick look at Mythics and gear statistics.</span><br /><br />The problem with the Mythics so far is just like the problems that SE has with almost all of it's gear. They can't decide how good they want their gear to be. Too many times they just make the gear without considering the alternatives that people use, instead of tuning the gear they are making to fit in some kind of pre-existing order. For example, why doesn't SE look at the highest tier of regularly available gear/weapons before making new gear. I believe the only time they may have actually considered this was when creating the Salvage gear. I don't know why, when creating a different tier of extremely hard to get weapons, they don't consider what is already available as a benchmark.<br /><br />This is true of Mythics and Relics as much as it is true that there hasn't really been anything added that can beat HQ staffs. It's like Blizzard and SE are the Odd Couple. Blizzard is all math and formulas and DPS, and SE is all crazy ideas, weird innovations and huge spikes in damage. What all MMO'ers need is World of Fantasy-craft XI! What do you think? Does SE just make new gear without consideration of older gear? Does SE actually like how gear currently works and likes the itemization that already exist? Tell us what you think!

POL News: Podcast Tour post is a day late and a...

POL, awesome as ever at delivering news to us in a timely manner, has reported that the Podcast Tour is now available for people to listen to... or you could have just gone to their respective sites when the final Podcast Tour event was finished last week on Limit Break Radio. The other two Podcast Tour "stops" were released even earlier, both happening two weeks ago. Along with LBR, the Pet Food Alpha and the He Says, She Says podcast were pretty much complete fluff pieces, there were a few nuggets of information provided about how in-game events are handled, how the community team communications with the development team and how the community team keeps up with the community.

It was interesting to learn that the community team does read multiple forums and blogs. Add that to the fact that the community team actually posts on some of the forums, although still very, very rarely, and you have some actual customer contact from SE. Now, if it was just 2004 instead of 2009 it might be groundbreaking. But I guess we shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth on this one, right?

<a href="http://www.playonline.com/pcd/topics/ff11us/detail/4536/4536.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://www.playonline.com/pcd/topics/ff11us/detail/4536/4536.jpg" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 415px; height: 100px;" /></a>POL, awesome as ever at delivering news to us in a timely manner, has reported that the Podcast Tour is now available for people to listen to... or you could have just gone to their respective sites when the final Podcast Tour event was finished last week on <a href="http://limitbreakradio.com/?p=1647">Limit Break Radio</a>. The other two Podcast Tour "stops" were released even earlier, both happening two weeks ago. Along with LBR, the <a href="http://petfoodalpha.com/4137/episode-150-community">Pet Food Alpha</a> and the <a href="http://asktamandsoo.com/site/podcast/he-says-she-says-episode-115-square-enix-says-special-podcast-tour-episode/">He Says, She Says</a> podcast were pretty much complete fluff pieces, there were a few nuggets of information provided about how in-game events are handled, how the community team communications with the development team and how the community team keeps up with the community. <br /><br />It was interesting to learn that the community team does read multiple forums and blogs. Add that to the fact that the community team actually posts on some of the forums, although still very, very rarely, and you have some actual customer contact from SE. Now, if it was just 2004 instead of 2009 it might be groundbreaking. But I guess we shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth on this one, right?

Morning in Vana'diel: What would you do if you won?

As you might have heard the Mog Bonanza is Imminent but what would you do if you won a first place prize? Would you go for the Gil? Or would you go for the items? Unlike last year there is no way to know how much Gil you will win before hand, and I doubt it is going to be as much as it was last year. 100 million was a whole lot of Gil, and I can't see this Bonanza handing back that much Gil again, but you never know. The items are a mixed bag just like they were last year, with some impressive items from different HNM from around Vana'diel, and some are definitely better than others.

So what would you take? Would you even level a new job to make use of some of the more impressive items? Would you level SAM just to be able to use Futsuno Mitama? Would you level DRK just to be able to zerg your heart out if you picked the Kraken Club? Would you take the Gil even if you didn't know how much it was going to be?

Let us know what you would get by leaving a comment!

<a href="http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff151/ringthreetheicp/Mog_Bon.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff151/ringthreetheicp/Mog_Bon.jpg" style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 158px; height: 119px;" /></a>As you might have heard the <a href="http://www.playonline.com/ff11eu/guide/mogbon/index.html">Mog Bonanza is Imminent</a> but what would you do if you won a first place prize? Would you go for the Gil? Or would you go for the items? Unlike last year there is no way to know how much Gil you will win before hand, and I doubt it is going to be as much as it was last year. 100 million was a whole lot of Gil, and I can't see this Bonanza handing back that much Gil again, but you never know. The items are a mixed bag just like they were last year, with some impressive items from different HNM from around Vana'diel, and some are definitely better than others.<br /><br />So what would you take? Would you even level a new job to make use of some of the more impressive items? Would you level SAM just to be able to use <a href="http://wiki.ffxiclopedia.org/wiki/Futsuno_Mitama">Futsuno Mitama</a>? Would you level DRK just to be able to zerg your heart out if you picked the <a href="http://wiki.ffxiclopedia.org/wiki/Kraken_Club">Kraken Club</a>? Would you take the Gil even if you didn't know how much it was going to be?<br /><br />Let us know what you would get by leaving a comment!

POL News: Kupofried loses treasured relics again.

You would figure if these were treasured relics of all Moogle-kind that Kupofried would keep better track of them, or at least like put them under a mattress for safe-keeping or something.

SE has posted Mog Tablet Quest Redux! on the front page of POL. It's just an update to the initial post on the subject but it does provide new information about the on-going event.

Interestingly enough, from the description, it looks like the normal Kupofried event is going to be slightly different from the first week. The time frame for the tablets reappearance is 8 to 24 hours which can put it into any timezone. This is a good choice on SE's part, not only is there variation based on when the tablets are picked up but also on when they reappear. Also, beside he fact that we will only be getting three random buffs instead of all eleven buffs, it looks like the targets will be harder to find now, but I am sure that those that use Ap-radar will be able to pick them up faster than everyone else. :(

<a href="http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff151/ringthreetheicp/Kupofried.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff151/ringthreetheicp/Kupofried.jpg" style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 200px;" /></a>You would figure if these were treasured relics of all Moogle-kind that Kupofried would keep better track of them, or at least like put them under a mattress for safe-keeping or something.<br /><br />SE has posted <a href="http://www.playonline.com/ff11us/index.shtml">Mog Tablet Quest Redux!</a> on the front page of POL. It's just an update to the <a href="http://www.playonline.com/pcd/topics/ff11us/detail/4483/detail.html">initial post on the subject</a> but it does provide new information about the on-going event.<br /><br />Interestingly enough, from the description, it looks like the normal Kupofried event is going to be slightly different from the first week. The time frame for the tablets reappearance is 8 to 24 hours which can put it into any timezone. This is a good choice on SE's part, not only is there variation based on when the tablets are picked up but also on when they reappear. Also, beside he fact that we will only be getting three random buffs instead of all eleven buffs, it looks like the targets will be harder to find now, but I am sure that those that use Ap-radar will be able to pick them up faster than everyone else. :(

Forum Fishing: Magic Damage Calculator with backsolver for mob INT.

Although this thread is a necrobump by the author, Bashfr, I think it's one that we should all be glad that got bumped because it looks like he has created one of the best looking, easiest to use and most capable Magic Damage Calculator that we have available right now. The best part is that if you provide a little bit of testing you will be able to solve back the INT of just about any mob in the game.

It's too bad that really interesting and valuable resources like this are lost so often in forum drama and complaints. To prevent that from happening as often, I will be adding them here and onto the new site so people will have them into the future. This new column will be called Forum Fishing and will provide any interesting tidbits that may float across the variety of forums and websites that support the FFXI community. Hey, when you don't have Blue posts to latch onto, who else is going to sort the wheat from the crap posts, right? Anyway, this one is definitely worth a look at even if it is just to get a better understanding of the math behind the damage calculations. If you are going to use this MDC I would suggest that you take the time to do just a few of those requisite tests to figure out the INT of whatever you happen to be nuking at the time and just add it to the wiki, so that other people can have the information in the future.

<a href="http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff151/ringthreetheicp/Mine_Fish.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff151/ringthreetheicp/Mine_Fish.jpg" style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 200px;" /></a>Although <a href="http://www.bluegartrls.com/forum/64726-magic-damage-calculator.html">this thread</a> is a necrobump by the author, Bashfr, I think it's one that we should all be glad that got bumped because it looks like he has created one of the best looking, easiest to use and most capable <a href="http://bash.e3b.org/FFXIcmd/index.php">Magic Damage Calculator</a> that we have available right now. The best part is that if you provide a little bit of testing you will be able to solve back the INT of just about any mob in the game.<br /><br />It's too bad that really interesting and valuable resources like this are lost so often in forum drama and complaints. To prevent that from happening as often, I will be adding them here and onto the new site so people will have them into the future. This new column will be called Forum Fishing and will provide any interesting tidbits that may float across the variety of forums and websites that support the FFXI community. Hey, when you don't have Blue posts to latch onto, who else is going to sort the wheat from the crap posts, right? Anyway, this one is definitely worth a look at even if it is just to get a better understanding of the math behind the damage calculations. <a href="http://bash.e3b.org/FFXIcmd/index.php" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff151/ringthreetheicp/logo.jpg" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 600px; height: 174px;" /></a>If you are going to use this MDC I would suggest that you take the time to do just a few of those requisite tests to figure out the INT of whatever you happen to be nuking at the time and just add it to the <a href="http://wiki.ffxiclopedia.org/wiki/Main_Page">wiki</a>, so that other people can have the information in the future.

You are not your fucking Noble's Tunic.

Not everything is going to be rare or hard to obtain, sometimes even the most mundane items are incredibly critical to playing your job and that is definitely the case of the Noble's Tunic.

The Stats: This is the first item where we can look the bonuses and see how good they on it's face. The Noble's Tunic is a key piece of WHM end-game gear. The DEF like almost all Mage gear is pretty much irrelevant, and the MP is actually pretty meager but that is also pretty irrelvent once your WHM can wear this item. The reason this item shines is because of it's additional stats. Even though there are other items with Refresh on them, there are none that have Cure Potency on it. Some people choose not to spend the money on the Noble's Tunic, instead preferring to go with something like a Cleric's Briault, Dalmatica, or even a Marduk's Jubbah. The problem with this is that even if you can find the refresh in other places you can't find the Cure Potency, and for some people that is even better than the Refresh. The Cure Potency scales as you use heal for more, making it scale with the higher level of cure that you do. In essence this means that you are actually saving MP over time which probably amounts a different kind of Refresh. There are other ways to increase the strength of your Cures without increased Cure Potency like by increasing MND, but they don't compare to the abilities of a straight increase in Cure Potency percentages. Here we can see a baseline Cure strength graph for a WHM without any Cure Potency and here we can see what happens when we add just 20% Cure Potency from a Noble's Tunic and the standard issue Light Staff. The difference is pretty huge and it gets stronger for stronger Cures. So, even if other body pieces have Refresh on them that is no reason to pass up a Noble's Tunic as you will be gimping your Cures, and stronger Cures can mean fewer Cures and more MP saved. This is especially true with the introduction of Afflatus Solace and it's additional Stoneskin effect.

The Get: The Auction House of course, and it's a pretty penny too. It's also worth all of those pretty pennies. If you are looking to get one crafted, the main ingredient you are going to need to pick up is that Shining Cloth, which you can buy off the Auction House or get from various high level NM's or KS99's. If you are going to buy the parts and go for the HQ, remember that your Clothcrafting is going to need to be at least 87, but that does mean you should be able to get to Tier 1 on it.

Not everything is going to be rare or hard to obtain, sometimes even the most mundane items are incredibly critical to playing your job and that is definitely the case of the Noble's Tunic.<br /><br />The Stats: This is the first item where we can look the bonuses and see how good they on it's face. <a href="http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/ffxi/images/8/80/NoblesTunic.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/ffxi/images/8/80/NoblesTunic.jpg" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 366px; height: 104px;" /></a> The Noble's Tunic is a key piece of WHM end-game gear. The DEF like almost all Mage gear is pretty much irrelevant, and the MP is actually pretty meager but that is also pretty irrelvent once your WHM can wear this item. The reason this item shines is because of it's additional stats. Even though there are other items with Refresh on them, there are none that have Cure Potency on it. Some people choose not to spend the money on the Noble's Tunic, instead preferring to go with something like a <a href="http://wiki.ffxiclopedia.org/wiki/Cleric%27s_Briault">Cleric's Briault</a>, <a href="http://wiki.ffxiclopedia.org/wiki/Dalmatica">Dalmatica</a>, or even a <a href="http://wiki.ffxiclopedia.org/wiki/Marduk%27s_Jubbah">Marduk's Jubbah</a>. <a href="http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff151/ringthreetheicp/Nyzul_fafnir.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff151/ringthreetheicp/Nyzul_fafnir-1.png" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 262px; height: 274px;" /></a> The problem with this is that even if you can find the refresh in other places you can't find the Cure Potency, and for some people that is even better than the Refresh. The Cure Potency scales as you use heal for more, making it scale with the higher level of cure that you do. In essence this means that you are actually saving MP over time which probably amounts a different kind of Refresh. There are other ways to increase the strength of your Cures without increased Cure Potency like by increasing MND, but they don't compare to the abilities of a straight increase in Cure Potency percentages. <a href="http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff151/ringthreetheicp/Cure_0_0.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff151/ringthreetheicp/Cure_0_0.png" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 250px;" /></a> Here we can see a baseline Cure strength graph for a WHM without any Cure Potency and here we can see what happens when we add just 20% Cure Potency from a Noble's Tunic and the standard issue Light Staff. <a href="http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff151/ringthreetheicp/Cure_20_0.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff151/ringthreetheicp/Cure_20_0.png" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 250px;" /></a> The difference is pretty huge and it gets stronger for stronger Cures. So, even if other body pieces have Refresh on them that is no reason to pass up a Noble's Tunic as you will be gimping your Cures, and stronger Cures can mean fewer Cures and more MP saved. This is especially true with the introduction of <a href="http://wiki.ffxiclopedia.org/wiki/Afflatus_Solace">Afflatus Solace</a> and it's additional Stoneskin effect.<br /><br />The Get: The Auction House of course, and it's a pretty penny too. It's also worth all of those pretty pennies. If you are looking to get one crafted, the main ingredient you are going to need to pick up is that <a href="http://wiki.ffxiclopedia.org/wiki/Shining_Cloth">Shining Cloth</a>, which you can buy off the Auction House or get from various high level NM's or KS99's. If you are going to buy the parts and go for the HQ, remember that your Clothcrafting is going to need to be at least 87, but that does mean you should be able to get to Tier 1 on it.

Mr. QQ says "Emergency Maintenance for Kupofried? Oh Noes!"

Looks like we are in for a little bit of maintenance in the near future to fix something with the Kupofried ongoing event. SE did a bit of maintenance last week to fix the issue with mobs moving too quickly when they were in a fully rested state. Insert jokes about spaghetti code here. This might bring back the considerations I brought up in my late post about whether SE should or should not take down the servers in the case of a minor but important repair that might need to be done.

As much as I don't have a problem with it, the issue of King's is relevant for those that do camp them. It is important that the times of King's rotate through the day so that all time zones get a chance to claim the different King's. This actually can take quite a bit of time depending on when they previously spawned, so it is important to keep the servers up for extended periods of time. It may also raise the question of why there are still mobs that require this situation to exist, and that it is far past the time to consider doing away with 21-24 (or longer) spawns.

A site note: This is the beginning of the new format style even if the new format has not yet changed. Mr. QQ will be the column for information on technical issues, server issues and other minor SE issues.

<a href="http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff151/ringthreetheicp/QQ_Hi-2.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff151/ringthreetheicp/QQ_Hi-2.png" style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 200px;" /></a> Looks like we are in for a little bit of maintenance in the near future to fix something with the Kupofried ongoing event. SE did a bit of maintenance last week to fix the issue with mobs moving too quickly when they were in a fully rested state. Insert jokes about spaghetti code here. This might bring back the considerations I brought up in my late post about whether SE should or should not take down the servers in the case of a minor but important repair that might need to be done. <br /><br />As much as I don't have a problem with it, the issue of King's is relevant for those that do camp them. It is important that the times of King's rotate through the day so that all time zones get a chance to claim the different King's. This actually can take quite a bit of time depending on when they previously spawned, so it is important to keep the servers up for extended periods of time. It may also raise the question of why there are still mobs that require this situation to exist, and that it is far past the time to consider doing away with 21-24 (or longer) spawns. <br /><br />A site note: This is the beginning of the new format style even if the new format has not yet changed. Mr. QQ will be the column for information on technical issues, server issues and other minor SE issues.

Reversal of Fortune.

So a couple of weeks ago, I was getting a little bored with the game, and little sad with events and a little bit emo in general. I would space out during events and not play my best. Hey, it happens to everyone. But now I am super happy about the game and ready to do events! The problem is that I am now super busy and about to go on vacation! LOL But things flip-flop like this all the time, and I am sure that better soon I will be going to events and getting bored again. :)

Anyway, I have been working and arranging a few things, and starting Monday I will be starting to post in a closer manner to how I hope the new site will function. I think once I start doing that it will make it clearer exactly what I plan on doing. I have already lined up a few people to help, and I am aiming for mid-June to be the launch window, but that is all up in the air still.

Remember even after I start the new site, I will still be maintaining this site, but it will become more of a personal blog than an informational or instructional blog. Those kind of posts will go on the new site and the new site will also have much more input and it will have input from people that have actual real-world experience with writing. I will go over the initial line-up of writers closer to the date of launch. I am still looking for additional people to work on this project, so if you have any experience writing or designing a website, just send me a message or e-mail me.

I found something a little thought provoking while scanning the internets today. It seems that WoW has issues with their programming too. It seems that one of their classes isn't putting out the right amount of damage, and that Blizzard knows about it, and most surprisingly, they don't know what is causing it. This isn't a problem for me because I know that coding games this dynamic and this huge are incredibly difficult tasks, and that changing one thing can unexpected change things somewhere else no matter how good your code is. Now, I know all the script kids out there are going to tell me that I am wrong and if they were doing it there would never be any mistakes, ever and they would give everyone Ridills and make Behemoth pee gil. The fact is that some people act like they know anything at all about the programming behind the game when they don't really. They don't know the tools that are used by the programmers in-house and they don't know how many different people with different ideas and styles have programmed before the current team.

Mr. QQ says "Don't QQ about downtime, kids!

It's just like people that complain about servers going down in FFXI. They really have no perspective at all. WoW's servers go down every Tuesday like clockwork and since their last update they have had continual extended and unexpected downtime. Couple that with the myriad instabilities, hot-fixes, glitches and other unknown problems and FFXI looks like the rock of Gibraltar in comparison. So, lets try to keep some perspective when it comes to server uptime, fixes and things like that. Especially considering that SE has definitely improved in that department as of late.

Would you be ok if the servers were down more often if they fixed problems faster? Or do you think SE should keep the servers up even if they know there is a problem? Leave a comment and tell me what you think!

So a couple of weeks ago, I was getting a little bored with the game, and little sad with events and a little bit emo in general. I would space out during events and not play my best. Hey, it happens to everyone. But now I am super happy about the game and ready to do events! The problem is that I am now super busy and about to go on vacation! LOL But things flip-flop like this all the time, and I am sure that better soon I will be going to events and getting bored again. :)<br /><br />Anyway, I have been working and arranging a few things, and starting Monday I will be starting to post in a closer manner to how I hope the new site will function. I think once I start doing that it will make it clearer exactly what I plan on doing. I have already lined up a few people to help, and I am aiming for mid-June to be the launch window, but that is all up in the air still.<br /><br />Remember even after I start the new site, I will still be maintaining this site, but it will become more of a personal blog than an informational or instructional blog. Those kind of posts will go on the new site and the new site will also have much more input and it will have input from people that have actual real-world experience with writing. I will go over the initial line-up of writers closer to the date of launch. I am still looking for additional people to work on this project, so if you have any experience writing or designing a website, just send me a message or e-mail me.<br /><br />I found something a little thought provoking while scanning the internets today. It seems that WoW has issues with <a href="http://blue.mmo-champion.com/28/16474242555-whats-going-on-with-elemental-shaman-dmg-.html">their programming too</a>. It seems that one of their classes isn't putting out the right amount of damage, and that Blizzard knows about it, and most surprisingly, they don't know what is causing it. This isn't a problem for me because I know that coding games this dynamic and this huge are incredibly difficult tasks, and that changing one thing can unexpected change things somewhere else no matter how good your code is. Now, I know all the script kids out there are going to tell me that I am wrong and if <span style="font-style: italic;">they</span> were doing it there would never be any mistakes, ever and they would give everyone Ridills and make Behemoth pee gil. The fact is that some people act like they know anything at all about the programming behind the game when they don't really. They don't know the tools that are used by the programmers in-house and they don't know how many different people with different ideas and styles have programmed before the current team.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff151/ringthreetheicp/QQ_Hi.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff151/ringthreetheicp/QQ_Hi.png" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 392px; height: 400px;" /></a>Mr. QQ says "Don't QQ about downtime, kids!<br /></div>It's just like people that complain about servers going down in FFXI. They really have no perspective at all. WoW's servers go down every Tuesday like clockwork and since their last update they have had continual extended and unexpected downtime. Couple that with the myriad instabilities, hot-fixes, glitches and other unknown problems and FFXI looks like the rock of Gibraltar in comparison. So, lets try to keep some perspective when it comes to server uptime, fixes and things like that. Especially considering that SE has definitely improved in that department as of late.<br /><br />Would you be ok if the servers were down more often if they fixed problems faster? Or do you think SE should keep the servers up even if they know there is a problem? Leave a comment and tell me what you think!

On the strange damage effects of the mythic weaponskills.

In general the new mythic WS's are pretty unremarkable, they don't do a huge amount of damage (normally) but they do skillchain very well. There is Drakesbane which is very good and on par with Dragoons other very good weaponskills. But I am not really interested in the general usefulness of these weaponskills, I am more interested in the strange spike damage that sometimes occurs on these weapons.
This is my hypothesis: These weaponskills have the same kind of damage multiplier that the relic weapons have on normal attacks. That would mean that two-handers should get a 2.5 multiplier and the single-handers and hand-to-hand would get a 3.0 multiplier.

This is just my hypothesis right now, and it is going to need some testing. It would explain the spikes in damage and it's randomness. I don't know the frequency, but I am going to keep a parser open and I am going to doing a few more Ranas than I was doing before.

In general the new mythic WS's are pretty unremarkable, they don't do a huge amount of damage (normally) but they do skillchain very well. There is Drakesbane which is very good and on par with Dragoons other very good weaponskills. But I am not really interested in the general usefulness of these weaponskills, I am more interested in the strange spike damage that sometimes occurs on these weapons. <a href="http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff151/ringthreetheicp/Tachi_Rana.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff151/ringthreetheicp/Tachi_Rana.png" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 305px;" /></a><br />This is my hypothesis: These weaponskills have the same kind of damage multiplier that the relic weapons have on normal attacks. That would mean that two-handers should get a 2.5 multiplier and the single-handers and hand-to-hand would get a 3.0 multiplier. <br /><br />This is just my hypothesis right now, and it is going to need some testing. It would explain the spikes in damage and it's randomness. I don't know the frequency, but I am going to keep a parser open and I am going to doing a few more Ranas than I was doing before.

A face lift and a new look.

I am going to be gradually changing the format and the style of my blog. As you can see this has already started with the addition of the "You are not your fucking..." and "A Deeper look at..." series, and it will continue until I see fit! :) In the end, I don't think this place is going to look much like it does now. There is going to be more varied content, more reporting on other blogs that I find interesting or relevant and much more useful content.

No one wants to read daily reports of things they already do in game, so that will slowly be phased almost entirely out of the new format. I do still want to keep a blog of what I do and the fun stuff that I achieve, but that will be held separately in a different location, which will keep the name of this site. The new site, where all the universally relevant content is going to go will be linked but will be all new, and I am looking to coordinate with a few people to have them add content to that blog (usually just through the reposting of their own blogs and a few unique pieces of content here). If you are interested in having your blog linked to this new site, or helping to contribute to this more global blog idea just let me know. :)

I am going to be gradually changing the format and the style of my blog. As you can see this has already started with the addition of the "You are not your fucking..." and "A Deeper look at..." series, and it will continue until I see fit! :) In the end, I don't think this place is going to look much like it does now. There is going to be more varied content, more reporting on other blogs that I find interesting or relevant and much more useful content. <br /><br />No one wants to read daily reports of things they already do in game, so that will slowly be phased almost entirely out of the new format. I do still want to keep a blog of what I do and the fun stuff that I achieve, but that will be held separately in a different location, which will keep the name of this site. The new site, where all the universally relevant content is going to go will be linked but will be all new, and I am looking to coordinate with a few people to have them add content to that blog (usually just through the reposting of their own blogs and a few unique pieces of content here). If you are interested in having your blog linked to this new site, or helping to contribute to this more global blog idea just let me know. :)

You are not your fucking X's Knife.

In the second installment of my gear review we will be going over the dagger that almost every THF drools all over, even in their dreams, the X's Knife.

The Stats: Looking at this is almost like looking at the Hagun, but the base stats are even a little better in this case. The X's Knife is the very simple bone-style knife design, and looks no different in game than a Behemoth or Bone Knife. Again, in following with SE's general laziness when it comes to recycling weapon models this is rather generic, even more so than most other weapons. In general, this is a bit higher on delay than most daggers, but it does have a pretty high weapon damage so this is probably going to be a main hand dagger for non-relic users. The damage does put it in the upper echelon of daggers too, but that really isn't the main benefit of this dagger. That is in the simple additional bonus of "Increases critical hit damage". This effect not only works on regular critical hits, but also on forced critical hits like from Sneak Attack and Trick Attack which means that for a THF this bonus will apply to almost every WS they do and to Evisceration also. As you can see, this damage will apply pretty often for just about any THF, and since it can be used so often we should look at what exactly this bonus does.

Now, for a long time this dagger was known about but not really tested, but after the testing the realization about how good and how important this dagger really is started to spread. There is still a bit of speculation on what effect the X's Knife has on critical hits, but the generally accepted idea is that it raises the pDIF (that is basically the damage range of any damage on by a weapon) for critical hits by 0.3. That is a pretty complicated way to say that you are looking at about a 10% increase in damage on critical hits across the board. It is going to be higher for things that are lower level and have less defense and lower for things that are higher level and have more defense, but that is true of anything that effects pDIF. The effect on pDIF can be seen here: There are some people that believe that it is a straight 10% increase in critical hit damage, but I kind of doubt this because when it comes to weapon damage SE generally likes to do the changes within the damage formula, unlike magic. This bonus applies to both the main hand and the off hand, so you don't necessarily have to main hand this dagger, but there are very few situations where you would not want to main hand this dagger, especially because you can still use a Blau Dolch in the off-hand and still maintain it's bonuses too, and it is wicked quick which is what you are generally looking for in an off-hand dagger. There are some higher damage non-relic daggers that could justify off-handing the X's Knife but using those would mean giving up the much better Blau Dolch.

The Get: Now, this one isn't that easy to get, and it is Rare/Ex so you can't even try to save up and buy one. The X's Knife only drops from the quest battlefield in Boneyard Gully called Requiem of Sin which requires another Boneyard Gully quest battlefield called Tango with a Tracker, all of which requires you to complete CoP and talk to Despachiaire in Tavnazian Safehold for a key item to start all of the quests. Sadly, it can only be done once a week and it has about a 10% drop rate, so you will be doing this quests for a while. There are a bunch of strategies available, but if you get a couple of friends together and pick a time weekly, you should be able to get this after a while.

In the second installment of my gear review we will be going over the dagger that almost every THF drools all over, even in their dreams, the X's Knife.<br /><br />The Stats: Looking at this is almost like looking at the Hagun, but the base stats are even a little better in this case. <a href="http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/ffxi/images/5/5c/Xsknife.PNG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/ffxi/images/5/5c/Xsknife.PNG" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 366px; height: 88px;" /></a> The X's Knife is the very simple bone-style knife design, and looks no different in game than a Behemoth or Bone Knife. Again, in following with SE's general laziness when it comes to recycling weapon models this is rather generic, even more so than most other weapons. <a href="http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff151/ringthreetheicp/X_knife.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff151/ringthreetheicp/X_knife.png" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 292px; height: 400px;" /></a> In general, this is a bit higher on delay than most daggers, but it does have a pretty high weapon damage so this is probably going to be a main hand dagger for non-relic users. The damage does put it in the upper echelon of daggers too, but that really isn't the main benefit of this dagger. That is in the simple additional bonus of "Increases critical hit damage". This effect not only works on regular critical hits, but also on forced critical hits like from Sneak Attack and Trick Attack which means that for a THF this bonus will apply to almost every WS they do and to Evisceration also. As you can see, this damage will apply pretty often for just about any THF, and since it can be used so often we should look at what exactly this bonus does. <br /><br />Now, for a long time this dagger was known about but not really tested, but after the testing the realization about how good and how important this dagger really is started to spread. There is still a bit of speculation on what effect the X's Knife has on critical hits, but the generally accepted idea is that it raises the pDIF (that is basically the damage range of any damage on by a weapon) for critical hits by 0.3. That is a pretty complicated way to say that you are looking at about a 10% increase in damage on critical hits across the board. It is going to be higher for things that are lower level and have less defense and lower for things that are higher level and have more defense, but that is true of anything that effects pDIF. The effect on pDIF can be seen here: <a href="http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff151/ringthreetheicp/Xknife_pDIF.gif" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff151/ringthreetheicp/Xknife_pDIF.gif" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 384px; height: 400px;" /></a> There are some people that believe that it is a straight 10% increase in critical hit damage, but I kind of doubt this because when it comes to weapon damage SE generally likes to do the changes within the damage formula, unlike magic. This bonus applies to both the main hand and the off hand, so you don't necessarily have to main hand this dagger, but there are very few situations where you would not want to main hand this dagger, especially because you can still use a <a href="http://wiki.ffxiclopedia.org/wiki/Blau_Dolch">Blau Dolch</a> in the off-hand and still maintain it's bonuses too, and it is wicked quick which is what you are generally looking for in an off-hand dagger. There are some higher damage non-relic daggers that could justify off-handing the X's Knife but using those would mean giving up the much better Blau Dolch.<br /><br />The Get: Now, this one isn't that easy to get, and it is Rare/Ex so you can't even try to save up and buy one. The X's Knife only drops from the quest battlefield in Boneyard Gully called Requiem of Sin which requires another Boneyard Gully quest battlefield called Tango with a Tracker, all of which requires you to complete CoP and talk to Despachiaire in Tavnazian Safehold for a key item to start all of the quests. Sadly, it can only be done once a week and it has about a 10% drop rate, so you will be doing this quests for a while. There are a bunch of strategies available, but if you get a couple of friends together and pick a time weekly, you should be able to get this after a while.

A Deeper Look At... The Future of the Past: Walk of Echoes.

Another new event here for my blog, I am going to start doing a series of posts about places you might not know about because they are unreleased, because they are hard to get to, or because you have never needed to go there. This week we will start with a look into the Future of the Past: The Walk of Echoes.

So, a while ago I wrote about some information on the zone that would eventually turn into the area used for Einherjar. I found this zone interesting because it was absolutely huge, 9 consecutive chambers all the size of a small zone but just small enough so that you can see the other side of the zone, leading to a huge chamber at the end that was even bigger than the rest of the chambers.

Now, I thought they could have done a little more with this zone, but after some tweaks Einherjar turned out to be pretty challenging, and not as daunting as it first appeared. The adding of ampules even if you didn't have the zone completed really was the clincher for general use of this zone. Now, I think that people that whine about making content easier are just assholes that can't think about anyone else besides themselves. I don't know why it would bother someone that someone else was able to do something if it doesn't hurt your enjoyment. It's not like they really made Einherjar easier. I also take a bit of umbrage with those that wanted to Einherjar to scale, because I don't remember them ever saying they were going to do that, but I do remember a vague reference to them considering it. The point is that some things should be kept for larger groups and small groups shouldn't really be able to do all the content in the game. Let me preference the next statement by saying that I very much love doing small group events, in fact that is how I do Salvage and ZNM's right now, but that being said, I think that some people take the ability to small group things as justification for being completely antisocial and justification for being a douchebag.

That was a long-winded rant that I didn't mean to start because it is completely off of the topic of what I want to get at today which is new end-game events in the past. This is what I really wanted to talk about: That is the area that is designated the Walk of Echo's, or at least that is an rendering of the area by a kind JP fellow. Much like the Einherjar area this area is apparently friggin' huge if the size of the Hydra is to be believed. I have basically two ideas for this area. Either it is going to be one comprehensive area like Sky or Sea, which I kind of doubt because there is no map for this area, or it is going to be broken down into sections like Einherjar or Limbus, which I think is a little more boring but at least it means that SE is listening to requests for individualized or instanced content. This area also just plain looks cool. :)

The general area looks much like what appeared in the trailer for the Wings expansion, but lets take a further look at some of the areas of the zone. First of there is the battlefield area and this is the entrance to it. Pretty impressive and pretty big, because the Taru should be to the correct proportion. Though that is pretty impressive, inside looks even better. This is a great area to have almost any battle. Something like Salvage? Maybe. Something like a Limbus final areas? Maybe. Something all new, maybe even like a raid in other games? Maybe. Here is an overhead picture of the area. This I want to touch on because we don't really have areas like raid in other games, in that our instanced areas don't really tell a story like other the instances of other games. I guess they might in that I just have done them so many times that I don't really think about it, but to me they more seem like puzzles that I have already solved rather than something that has storyline importance whenever I do it. I don't know, it just seems different in my mind but I have never done instances in other games so I might just be romanticizing them. Anyway, the next picture shows depth the pit in the center of the zone, which is pretty deep. There is also quite a regal entrance way, and you can see Lilith for comparison because I don't think necessarily that she is bound to this area. The entrance way overlooks the pit but it is kind of unclear how exactly you would enter the pit area, probably some kind of intra-area teleporter. Here is one last shot of Lilith looking down on the pit area. I want to finish this up with two youtube clips that go over both the arena area and the entire Walk of Echoes area. I hope this whets your appetite.

Next week: Other unreleased past areas.

Another new event here for my blog, I am going to start doing a series of posts about places you might not know about because they are unreleased, because they are hard to get to, or because you have never needed to go there. This week we will start with a look into the Future of the Past: The Walk of Echoes.<br /><br />So, a while ago I wrote about some information on the zone that would eventually turn into the area used for Einherjar. I found this zone interesting because it was absolutely huge, 9 consecutive chambers all the size of a small zone but just small enough so that you can see the other side of the zone, leading to a huge chamber at the end that was even bigger than the rest of the chambers. <br /><br />Now, I thought they could have done a little more with this zone, but after some tweaks Einherjar turned out to be pretty challenging, and not as daunting as it first appeared. The adding of ampules even if you didn't have the zone completed really was the clincher for general use of this zone. Now, I think that people that whine about making content easier are just assholes that can't think about anyone else besides themselves. I don't know why it would bother someone that someone else was able to do something if it doesn't hurt your enjoyment. It's not like they really made Einherjar easier. I also take a bit of umbrage with those that wanted to Einherjar to scale, because I don't remember them ever saying they were going to do that, but I do remember a vague reference to them considering it. The point is that some things should be kept for larger groups and small groups shouldn't really be able to do all the content in the game. Let me preference the next statement by saying that I very much love doing small group events, in fact that is how I do Salvage and ZNM's right now, but that being said, I think that some people take the ability to small group things as justification for being completely antisocial and justification for being a douchebag. <br /><br />That was a long-winded rant that I didn't mean to start because it is completely off of the topic of what I want to get at today which is new end-game events in the past. This is what I really wanted to talk about: <a href="http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff151/ringthreetheicp/WoE.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff151/ringthreetheicp/WoE.jpg" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 371px;" /></a> That is the area that is designated the Walk of Echo's, or at least that is an rendering of the area by a kind JP fellow. Much like the Einherjar area this area is apparently friggin' huge if the size of the Hydra is to be believed. I have basically two ideas for this area. Either it is going to be one comprehensive area like Sky or Sea, which I kind of doubt because there is no map for this area, or it is going to be broken down into sections like Einherjar or Limbus, which I think is a little more boring but at least it means that SE is listening to requests for individualized or instanced content. This area also just plain looks cool. :) <br /><br />The general area looks much like what appeared in the trailer for the Wings expansion, but lets take a further look at some of the areas of the zone. First of there is the battlefield area and this is the entrance to it. <a href="http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff151/ringthreetheicp/WoE_entrance.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff151/ringthreetheicp/WoE_entrance.jpg" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 311px;" /></a> Pretty impressive and pretty big, because the Taru should be to the correct proportion. Though that is pretty impressive, inside looks even better. <a href="http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff151/ringthreetheicp/WoE_battlefield.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff151/ringthreetheicp/WoE_battlefield.jpg" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 311px;" /></a> This is a great area to have almost any battle. Something like Salvage? Maybe. Something like a Limbus final areas? Maybe. Something all new, maybe even like a raid in other games? Maybe. Here is an overhead picture of the area. <a href="http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff151/ringthreetheicp/WoE_overhead.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff151/ringthreetheicp/WoE_overhead.jpg" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 311px;" /></a> This I want to touch on because we don't really have areas like raid in other games, in that our instanced areas don't really tell a story like other the instances of other games. I guess they might in that I just have done them so many times that I don't really think about it, but to me they more seem like puzzles that I have already solved rather than something that has storyline importance whenever I do it. I don't know, it just seems different in my mind but I have never done instances in other games so I might just be romanticizing them. Anyway, the next picture shows depth the pit in the center of the zone, which is pretty deep. <a href="http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff151/ringthreetheicp/WoE_Pit.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff151/ringthreetheicp/WoE_Pit.jpg" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 311px;" /></a> There is also quite a regal entrance way, and you can see Lilith for comparison because I don't think necessarily that she is bound to this area. <a href="http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff151/ringthreetheicp/WoE_Lilith.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff151/ringthreetheicp/WoE_Lilith.jpg" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 311px;" /></a> The entrance way overlooks the pit but it is kind of unclear how exactly you would enter the pit area, probably some kind of intra-area teleporter. Here is one last shot of Lilith looking down on the pit area. <a href="http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff151/ringthreetheicp/WoE_Lilith_Pit.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff151/ringthreetheicp/WoE_Lilith_Pit.jpg" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 311px;" /></a> I want to finish this up with two youtube clips that go over both the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8sLOZbheIVU">arena</a> area and the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nS409oZdViY">entire Walk of Echoes area</a>. I hope this whets your appetite.<br /><br />Next week: Other unreleased past areas.

You are not your fucking Hagun.

Starting a new Monday morning trend here. I am going to profile a piece of equipment every Monday morning and 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.

The Stats: So to start off lets go with something completely essential instead of something interesting, the Hagun. The Hagun is one of those big-bladed Great Katana's that look more like a gigantic meat cleaver than a Great Katana. The look is good but it is so ubiquitous that is does get a bit tired after a while, especially considering the fact that it is a mostly recycled model (bad SE!). The base delay on it is completely unremarkable, because it is the same as just about any other Great Katana except for exceptionally rare versions. This means it has the standard requirements for Store TP to reach a 6-hit build, and that most people with just a little bit of work will be able to put together what they need even if it means a few trade-offs. The damage is actually quite remarkable in that it is so low, at 77. The damage really is a deception thought because it has a quire remarkable extra stat that makes up for the rest. The TP Bonus on this item is what makes it stand out from the crowd. The TP Bonus adds an addition 100 TP to any weapon skill done with the Great Katana. Now there are a bunch of different weapons that have TP Bonus on them and most of them are mediocre to poor because the TP bonus really doesn't do anything compared to other available stats. For Samurai though the TP bonus is huge, for example on Yukikaze, Gekko or Kasha the modifier for damage is increased by 20% at 100TP which for a SAM STR based weapon skill is huge (and just remember, if you are spamming TP always use Gekko, it's stronger, it's been tested). In the end this increased TP modifier turned poor and unremarkable stats into the best Great Katana you can get off of the AH and by far. There is nothing short of the super-rare that you can get that even comes close to the damage.

The Get: As I said before you can get this on the AH because it is a pretty old piece of gear, made back when SE thought it was OK to actually use the AH to by and sell end-game gear. Right now though you will pay a pretty penny for one with most servers going for around 3 mil to pick one up. If you don't want to pay to play you can always try to do get it through the ENM Sheep in Antlion's Clothing. Up to two of them can drop but the drop rate isn't that high at about 10%.

Starting a new Monday morning trend here. I am going to profile a piece of equipment every Monday morning and 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. <br /><br />The Stats: So to start off lets go with something completely essential instead of something interesting, the Hagun. <a href="http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/ffxi/images/5/5a/Hagun.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/ffxi/images/5/5a/Hagun.jpg" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 366px; height: 72px;" /></a> The Hagun is one of those big-bladed Great Katana's that look more like a gigantic meat cleaver than a Great Katana. The look is good but it is so ubiquitous that is does get a bit tired after a while, especially considering the fact that it is a mostly recycled model (bad SE!). <a href="http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff151/ringthreetheicp/Groundburst_Resist-1.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff151/ringthreetheicp/Groundburst_Resist-1.png" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 222px; height: 400px;" /></a> The base delay on it is completely unremarkable, because it is the same as just about any other Great Katana except for exceptionally rare versions. This means it has the standard requirements for Store TP to reach a 6-hit build, and that most people with just a little bit of work will be able to put together what they need even if it means a few trade-offs. The damage is actually quite remarkable in that it is so low, at 77. The damage really is a deception thought because it has a quire remarkable extra stat that makes up for the rest. The TP Bonus on this item is what makes it stand out from the crowd. The TP Bonus adds an addition 100 TP to any weapon skill done with the Great Katana. Now there are a bunch of different weapons that have TP Bonus on them and most of them are mediocre to poor because the TP bonus really doesn't do anything compared to other available stats. For Samurai though the TP bonus is huge, for example on Yukikaze, Gekko or Kasha the modifier for damage is increased by 20% at 100TP which for a SAM STR based weapon skill is huge (and just remember, if you are spamming TP always use Gekko, it's stronger, it's been tested). <a href="http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff151/ringthreetheicp/Hagun_graph.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff151/ringthreetheicp/Hagun_graph.png" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 205px;" /></a> In the end this increased TP modifier turned poor and unremarkable stats into the best Great Katana you can get off of the AH and by far. There is nothing short of the super-rare that you can get that even comes close to the damage. <br /><br />The Get: As I said before you can get this on the AH because it is a pretty old piece of gear, made back when SE thought it was OK to actually use the AH to by and sell end-game gear. Right now though you will pay a pretty penny for one with most servers going for around 3 mil to pick one up. If you don't want to pay to play you can always try to do get it through the ENM Sheep in Antlion's Clothing. Up to two of them can drop but the drop rate isn't that high at about 10%.

The return of Fire Resist.

I had put together a Fire Resist build for my NIN a long time ago, but I never had much use for it, so I ended up selling it off. But recently, I have developed a use for a Fire Resist set for my SAM, and I wanted to go over that now.

I wanted to say something first about Fire Resist. In general for most things, even really hard things Barfira and Fire Carol will keep you alive in the case of an AoE fire move, but that's about it. You will still take a chunk of damage and you won't be able to take sustained damage this way. It is in the Fire Resist gear that you really spike your resist rates and see those ridiculously low damage spells from very high level mobs. But without Barfira and/or Fire Carol, the Fire resist gear isn't really going to cut it for anything at all. I think this is because the spell buffs include a good amount of Magic Defense while the gear only includes Resist stats. I am doing some more testing on this as I type this but in general, make sure you have those buffs because without I don't know if the straight Fire resist is going to help you all that much.

So, for my SAM this is the gear I am looking at.
Head: Wyvern Helm - +10
Neck: Buburimu Gorget - +10
Earrings: Triumph Earring x2 - +22
Body: Scorpion Breastplate +1 - +10
Hands: Hanzo Tekko - +6
Rings: Ruby Rings x2 - +18
Back: Cerberus Mantle - +10
Waist: Water Belt - +20
Feet: Suzaku's Sune-ate - +50

That gives me 156 Fire Resist, which most people consider above the cut off for an effective Fire Resist set which is about 150. I don't have a Cerberus Bow because it is very expensive and completely useless outside of a Fire Resist set. I don't have anything in the legs because really they items for that slot for SAM on Fire Resist are pretty crappy. The really expensive piece for this set is the Cerberus Mantle, but I think it was worth it. I will use it on NIN for tanking a little too, so it's not a complete waste.

And there you can see the effect of a good Fire Resist set on the Groundburst of the ZNM mob Gotoh Zha the Redolent.

Now hopefully soon we can put them to the real test. :)

I had put together a Fire Resist build for my NIN a long time ago, but I never had much use for it, so I ended up selling it off. But recently, I have developed a use for a Fire Resist set for my SAM, and I wanted to go over that now. <br /><br />I wanted to say something first about Fire Resist. In general for most things, even really hard things Barfira and Fire Carol will keep you alive in the case of an AoE fire move, but that's about it. You will still take a chunk of damage and you won't be able to take sustained damage this way. It is in the Fire Resist gear that you really spike your resist rates and see those ridiculously low damage spells from very high level mobs. But without Barfira and/or Fire Carol, the Fire resist gear isn't really going to cut it for anything at all. I think this is because the spell buffs include a good amount of Magic Defense while the gear only includes Resist stats. I am doing some more testing on this as I type this but in general, make sure you have those buffs because without I don't know if the straight Fire resist is going to help you all that much.<br /><br />So, for my SAM this is the gear I am looking at. <a href="http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff151/ringthreetheicp/Fire_Resist.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff151/ringthreetheicp/Fire_Resist.png" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 487px; height: 303px;" /></a> <br />Head: Wyvern Helm - +10<br />Neck: Buburimu Gorget - +10<br />Earrings: Triumph Earring x2 - +22<br />Body: Scorpion Breastplate +1 - +10<br />Hands: Hanzo Tekko - +6<br />Rings: Ruby Rings x2 - +18<br />Back: Cerberus Mantle - +10<br />Waist: Water Belt - +20<br />Feet: Suzaku's Sune-ate - +50<br /><br />That gives me 156 Fire Resist, which most people consider above the cut off for an effective Fire Resist set which is about 150. I don't have a Cerberus Bow because it is very expensive and completely useless outside of a Fire Resist set. I don't have anything in the legs because really they items for that slot for SAM on Fire Resist are pretty crappy. The really expensive piece for this set is the Cerberus Mantle, but I think it was worth it. I will use it on NIN for tanking a little too, so it's not a complete waste. <br /><a href="http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff151/ringthreetheicp/Groundburst_Resist.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff151/ringthreetheicp/Groundburst_Resist.png" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 257px;" /></a><br />And there you can see the effect of a good Fire Resist set on the Groundburst of the ZNM mob Gotoh Zha the Redolent.<br /><br />Now hopefully soon we can put them to the real test. :)

Job recap? You hate it, I love it.

Ok, this post is for me, not you. Everyone hates the recap post but I am going to do one because I haven't done one in a while and because the post that I really want to do I am saving up for Kallo to do on LBR if he ever has me on.

Nothing much has happened to my melee jobs. The only thing of not is that I have now completed my merits on MNK and SAM. I haven't really gotten anything new at all for either of these jobs for a long time. The only thing that I am really looking at is a Cuchulain's Mantle which I haven't really thought too much about because the cost is still too high for it's use to me right now.

My WHM has been pretty lucky lately though, I got a brand new Goliard Chapeau which is causing me to have to redo all of my macros for WHM, which is a joke because I just have a curing set and a resting set right now. I really need to work on my WHM macros considering how often I use my WHM now, which is pretty often. Omoi hates me on WHM because I still tend to run ahead of the party or alliance as if I was the tank, but I have never really been one to follow others or wait for instruction. :)

My BLM is now 69 (and I just bought my scrolls up through 70) and my gear has pretty radically changed for that in the last couple of levels and next level I will finally be forced to get the Einherjar pieces I have been putting off picking up. I will get to those tomorrow.

Ok, this post is for me, not you. Everyone hates the recap post but I am going to do one because I haven't done one in a while and because the post that I really want to do I am saving up for Kallo to do on LBR if he ever has me on. <br /><br />Nothing much has happened to my melee jobs. The only thing of not is that I have now completed my merits on MNK and SAM. I haven't really gotten anything new at all for either of these jobs for a long time. The only thing that I am really looking at is a Cuchulain's Mantle <a href="http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/ffxi/images/5/55/CuchulainsMantle.JPG" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/ffxi/images/5/55/CuchulainsMantle.JPG" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 366px; height: 104px;" /></a> which I haven't really thought too much about because the cost is still too high for it's use to me right now. <br /><br />My WHM has been pretty lucky lately though, I got a brand new Goliard Chapeau <a href="http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/ffxi/images/4/46/Goliard_Chapeau.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/ffxi/images/4/46/Goliard_Chapeau.png" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 366px; height: 136px;" /></a> which is causing me to have to redo all of my macros for WHM, which is a joke because I just have a curing set and a resting set right now. I really need to work on my WHM macros considering how often I use my WHM now, which is pretty often. Omoi hates me on WHM because I still tend to run ahead of the party or alliance as if I was the tank, but I have never really been one to follow others or wait for instruction. :) <br /><br />My BLM is now 69 (and I just bought my scrolls up through 70) and my gear has pretty radically changed for that in the last couple of levels and next level I will finally be forced to get the Einherjar pieces I have been putting off picking up. I will get to those tomorrow.

For all the Robs...

I make Rob sad when I don't post so here is a post for Rob.

Anyway, I am still overwhelmed by my work right now, it's much less free time that I am used to so much less blog writing time.

May as well do a quick update, but I do want to note I wrote a big long blog entry about trying to get a Yoichinoyumi that got nuked by the Gods of the Interweb. That makes the baby Ringus sad.

Ok, lets see. Where to start. I haven't really "accomplished" much lately because I have been busy with in game events and stuff. I have gotten my leathercrafting to 74 and once I get to 75, I can finally try to make some Marid Leather without having them explode.

I have done a bunch of ANNM so far but the rewards have really tailed off. I think SE uses some kind of averaging system for rarer drops and right after an update you will see a bunch of different rare drops but the longer it has been since a server reset the less certain items drop. You can observe this anywhere in the game really but it is really obvious with really rare drops like the Imperial Wootz Ingots, Star Sapphires and other rare drops in the ANNM's. The first couple of days after the update we got a bunch of these but since the week after the update we haven't gotten anything major at all.

Honestly, I know I have lived with this system for a long time, but I don't think it's very good. You should have the same chance for anything to drop no matter how many times you do it. I understand the need to regulate drops over time, and I have no idea what SE's system is based on, but I do know that it changes over time. I think it is only fair to the players that it be the same no matter when they do an event. Maybe they want to increase reports of potential drops after a major update, but I don't know why they would want to increase the hype then only lead people to frustration after the fact.

I have a lot of gil-based ambitions right now, but I don't really have the gil to back it up. I hope this Marid Leather thing goes well because nothing else I have done has really been that helpful for collecting the gil I need for everything.

I make Rob sad when I don't post so here is a post for Rob. <br /><br />Anyway, I am still overwhelmed by my work right now, it's much less free time that I am used to so much less blog writing time.<br /><br />May as well do a quick update, but I do want to note I wrote a big long blog entry about trying to get a Yoichinoyumi that got nuked by the Gods of the Interweb. That makes the baby Ringus sad. <br /><br />Ok, lets see. Where to start. I haven't really "accomplished" much lately because I have been busy with in game events and stuff. I have gotten my leathercrafting to 74 and once I get to 75, I can finally try to make some Marid Leather without having them explode. <br /><br />I have done a bunch of ANNM so far but the rewards have really tailed off. I think SE uses some kind of averaging system for rarer drops and right after an update you will see a bunch of different rare drops but the longer it has been since a server reset the less certain items drop. You can observe this anywhere in the game really but it is really obvious with really rare drops like the Imperial Wootz Ingots, Star Sapphires and other rare drops in the ANNM's. The first couple of days after the update we got a bunch of these but since the week after the update we haven't gotten anything major at all. <br /><br />Honestly, I know I have lived with this system for a long time, but I don't think it's very good. You should have the same chance for anything to drop no matter how many times you do it. I understand the need to regulate drops over time, and I have no idea what SE's system is based on, but I do know that it changes over time. I think it is only fair to the players that it be the same no matter when they do an event. Maybe they want to increase reports of potential drops after a major update, but I don't know why they would want to increase the hype then only lead people to frustration after the fact. <br /><br />I have a lot of gil-based ambitions right now, but I don't really have the gil to back it up. I hope this Marid Leather thing goes well because nothing else I have done has really been that helpful for collecting the gil I need for everything.

Hopefully, I wont be here much longer...

I am sitting in the office of the place that is working on my car. I expected this to take an hour tops and it has already been 2 and a half hours. This freaking sucks. My battery is about to die so I can't even stay on for very much longer.

I am going to start working on a new RNG post on Monday. And no it is not "on the cheap" that is still on the back burner because of time and lack of knowledge. I am going to discuss the benefit of trying to get a 5-hit build while using an E-bow. Using a S-bow it is actually pretty easy to achieve if you have Skadi legs. With the E-bow it is a little more difficult. The problem is that to take real advantage of a 5-hit build you need to be to anticipate using it at 100TP and even though some people claim they can hit anything while eating meat and full WS gear and that anyone that can't sucks, I think that is overstating the situation a bit. And they are ass monkeys.

I think that to use a 5-hit build is probably the best increase in damage you can do considering the trade offs. Some people claim you shouldn't do it straight up because /WAR and about 20 Ranged Attack is better than /SAM and a 5-hit build. Now I haven't parse that, but I can't really think of a way a sane person could say that. What you eat really doesn't effect the situation all that much, but if you eat meat and then store to 150 TP before shooting for the increased accuracy then you are basically wasting the benefit of a 5-hit build. So you really need to go with Sushi to do this in anything more than an XP party.

This is all going to lead to some place that you may not really want to be in. Meaning the mob is going to be eating your face if you are firing off Sidewinders every 5th shot. So the problem with a 5-hit build for RNG with an E-bow or an S-bow may be rather problematic either way. If you have to hold your TP to prevent the mob from killing you 2 minutes into the fight then you can just pitch the benefit of a 5-hit build out the window...

But there is a solution to this problem...

A very expensive solution...

A very expensive solution that I am considering...

It would mean changing some things around and I don't really know what I would get rid of merit-wise at this point, and hopefully SE will just up the amount of combat merits at some point before it matters all that much.

The reason that it is a solution is because, and I am not completely clear on what causes this at this point but either Yoichinoyumi or Namas Arrow has a massive enmity reduction attached to it.

And so my wild dreams of getting a relic start again. At least this time I am starting it with a higher level craft. :)

I am sitting in the office of the place that is working on my car. I expected this to take an hour tops and it has already been 2 and a half hours. This freaking sucks. My battery is about to die so I can't even stay on for very much longer.<br /><br />I am going to start working on a new RNG post on Monday. And no it is not "on the cheap" that is still on the back burner because of time and lack of knowledge. I am going to discuss the benefit of trying to get a 5-hit build while using an E-bow. Using a S-bow it is actually pretty easy to achieve if you have Skadi legs. With the E-bow it is a little more difficult. The problem is that to take real advantage of a 5-hit build you need to be to anticipate using it at 100TP and even though some people claim they can hit anything while eating meat and full WS gear and that anyone that can't sucks, I think that is overstating the situation a bit. And they are ass monkeys. <br /><br />I think that to use a 5-hit build is probably the best increase in damage you can do considering the trade offs. Some people claim you shouldn't do it straight up because /WAR and about 20 Ranged Attack is better than /SAM and a 5-hit build. Now I haven't parse that, but I can't really think of a way a sane person could say that. What you eat really doesn't effect the situation all that much, but if you eat meat and then store to 150 TP before shooting for the increased accuracy then you are basically wasting the benefit of a 5-hit build. So you really need to go with Sushi to do this in anything more than an XP party. <br /><br />This is all going to lead to some place that you may not really want to be in. Meaning the mob is going to be eating your face if you are firing off Sidewinders every 5th shot. So the problem with a 5-hit build for RNG with an E-bow or an S-bow may be rather problematic either way. If you have to hold your TP to prevent the mob from killing you 2 minutes into the fight then you can just pitch the benefit of a 5-hit build out the window... <br /><br />But there is a solution to this problem... <br /><br />A very expensive solution... <br /><br />A very expensive solution that I am considering... <br /><br />It would mean changing some things around and I don't really know what I would get rid of merit-wise at this point, and hopefully SE will just up the amount of combat merits at some point before it matters all that much. <br /><br />The reason that it is a solution is because, and I am not completely clear on what causes this at this point but either Yoichinoyumi or Namas Arrow has a massive enmity reduction attached to it. <br /><br />And so my wild dreams of getting a relic start again. At least this time I am starting it with a higher level craft. :)

Stranger in a strange land, part 2.

I don't think I really covered everything that I wanted to say yesterday, and while I did finally have something I wanted to discuss on my blog, I think I will continue this today to complete my thoughts.

Anyway, I am bound by what I do. That is not to say that I do not have friends and that I don't always do things with them, in fact, quite the opposite is true. I would kill for many of my friends and while I feel free to be critical of them and them of me in our own circle, I would never let anyone from outside of my circle criticize them and I would defend them to the hilt. But in the end, my goals are derived from in-game content. I do understand that some people do not feel that this is important, but in the end this is a game that I play with friends. For me it is not a form of instant messenger or phone call. I play this game for the objectives that it provides. The problem is that I am running out of objectives. Does this mean I want to stop playing or that I am getting bored? Not at all, in fact the opposite is true, I want more objectives and I want more things to do. I want to be entertained. Salvage was perfect for this because it was long term and repetitive but it did feel like it was possible to complete at some point in time. It was not like doing some pick up XP party or on the opposite end of things like getting a relic. I like that kind of consistency and form in function. In regards to this I think that recent SE has really been letting me down and letting down the most hard core and critical players. I understand the want to develop content for new players and for the more easy going of players, but in the end these players are transient from the start and trying to satisfy them is a nice goal but ultimate futile. FoV isn't going to fix the ADD generation, they will come and go as they please. Balancing this lighter content with hardcore content should not be hard and it should not be so difficult that you have to pick one or the other as SE is doing right now.

I don't like having to look for things to do in a game that I want to play. I should not be coming up with a game within a game just to entertain myself. This is what I am paying SE to do. I can not occupy myself for some reason. When I get bored, I tend to get cranky and angry and then after a while depressed because I feel alone. I hate being alone. I am probably a tragic co-dependent but I have never been a loner and never will be. That is one thing I have always loved about FFXI and I don't know if I ever would have gotten into MMO's if it wasn't for the need to party for absolutely everything in FFXI. It just fed my co-dependency really, which may or may not have been a good thing but what is done is done. I am hard to please I suppose. I want content that I can do with my friends and that I can drag Omoi kicking and screaming with me to do. :) I have no need for a very large chunk of the content that has been presented in the last few updates. I want the high-level areas they have promised. I want new challenges, and I want to do those challenges with my friends, not just because my friends are great but because they are great players.

Does that make me a dick? I don't know really. I had initially thought that I play with people I like to be around, but I know that I will do things with people I dislike even detest to fulfill my goals or the goals of my friends. But I don't really do that all that often. I think it may be because I can put off those that I don't enjoy being around. I am rather consistent in my friendships, and very, very rarely do I choose to stop being around someone even if I dislike them. I don't know if I am passive-aggressive, but I think I am good enough at giving a cold-shoulder when necessary and I also don't back down in the face of arrogance or stupidity. That is actually probably a good thing, I guess.

I don't think I really covered everything that I wanted to say yesterday, and while I did finally have something I wanted to discuss on my blog, I think I will continue this today to complete my thoughts. <br /><br />Anyway, I am bound by what I do. That is not to say that I do not have friends and that I don't always do things with them, in fact, quite the opposite is true. I would kill for many of my friends and while I feel free to be critical of them and them of me in our own circle, I would never let anyone from outside of my circle criticize them and I would defend them to the hilt. But in the end, my goals are derived from in-game content. I do understand that some people do not feel that this is important, but in the end this is a game that I play with friends. For me it is not a form of instant messenger or phone call. I play this game for the objectives that it provides. The problem is that I am running out of objectives. Does this mean I want to stop playing or that I am getting bored? Not at all, in fact the opposite is true, I want more objectives and I want more things to do. I want to be entertained. Salvage was perfect for this because it was long term and repetitive but it did feel like it was possible to complete at some point in time. It was not like doing some pick up XP party or on the opposite end of things like getting a relic. I like that kind of consistency and form in function. In regards to this I think that recent SE has really been letting me down and letting down the most hard core and critical players. I understand the want to develop content for new players and for the more easy going of players, but in the end these players are transient from the start and trying to satisfy them is a nice goal but ultimate futile. FoV isn't going to fix the ADD generation, they will come and go as they please. Balancing this lighter content with hardcore content should not be hard and it should not be so difficult that you have to pick one or the other as SE is doing right now. <br /><br />I don't like having to look for things to do in a game that I want to play. I should not be coming up with a game within a game just to entertain myself. This is what I am paying SE to do. I can not occupy myself for some reason. When I get bored, I tend to get cranky and angry and then after a while depressed because I feel alone. I hate being alone. I am probably a tragic co-dependent but I have never been a loner and never will be. That is one thing I have always loved about FFXI and I don't know if I ever would have gotten into MMO's if it wasn't for the need to party for absolutely everything in FFXI. It just fed my co-dependency really, which may or may not have been a good thing but what is done is done. I am hard to please I suppose. I want content that I can do with my friends and that I can drag Omoi kicking and screaming with me to do. :) I have no need for a very large chunk of the content that has been presented in the last few updates. I want the high-level areas they have promised. I want new challenges, and I want to do those challenges with my friends, not just because my friends are great but because they are great players. <br /><br />Does that make me a dick? I don't know really. I had initially thought that I play with people I like to be around, but I know that I will do things with people I dislike even detest to fulfill my goals or the goals of my friends. But I don't really do that all that often. I think it may be because I can put off those that I don't enjoy being around. I am rather consistent in my friendships, and very, very rarely do I choose to stop being around someone even if I dislike them. I don't know if I am passive-aggressive, but I think I am good enough at giving a cold-shoulder when necessary and I also don't back down in the face of arrogance or stupidity. That is actually probably a good thing, I guess.

Stranger in a strange land.

I have found that I can not focus on things as well as I once did in game. I think this might have something to do with completing and perfecting quite a bit of what I wanted done in game. I have full Usukane and I am not fully merited on MNK and SAM. There are a few pieces I could do with having still, but they are all purchased pieces and spending gil to buy items although necessary has never been a driving force for me.

I still find it difficult to put together time to level BLM as much as I would like. I know that Iz is a little burned out on BLM at the moment, but I wouldn't mind getting it up a little further. Part of the problem is that we are kind of in between camps, so it is getting a little more difficult to find a place to go or to get XP quickly. Another problem is that we have a lot of things we do in the mean time that consumes time that I would have had in the past for leveling and such.

Salvage for a long time was my main focus, even after getting full Usukane. There are still several Skadi pieces that I want well, pretty much everything but head which sucks and feet that I already have. The body would be very nice I think to TP in because there are many times that I really wish I had more accuracy on RNG and also because it looks really cool. The legs will be part of my RNG gear because the accuracy is almost as good as my AF2 legs, but the other stats are great and if my plan works out after reading up on /SAM and Store TP, I think I will be able to manage a 5-hit build on RNG with E bow. Finally, the hands are excellent WS pieces for RNG. If I do get all these items then I would seriously consider picking up THF again. I am also interested in getting Morrigan's gear and even some Marduk's gear too. There is something about the Salvage gear, even if it isn't that great it is still very appealing to me.

The problem for me is that Salvage is now winding down. My group still goes, but the press to do it is not as active as it once was. Celestria and Blaize are taking a well deserved break from Salvage but consistent tempo of 5 Salvage runs a week used to keep me focused. 3 runs a week doesn't seem to have the same pressing need as it once did. The other thing is that we used to use Salvage as kind of a base point for doing other things like ZNM's or anything else we had planned. It just now feels much less focused and organized for some reason. I think part of my problem is that I go through cycles of enthusiasm and burn-out, but when I was burned out in the past I could rely on other people to help pick me back up. Right now, I am worried that I am going to fall behind or that people are going to move on without me. It's a bit paranoid I guess, but without the structure we had before, I guess I feel like I am just floating in space and relying on other people to pull me back in to do things. That is not how I normally exist as a person, so I am left feeling lonely even when friends are around me.

Meh, /emo.

I have found that I can not focus on things as well as I once did in game. I think this might have something to do with completing and perfecting quite a bit of what I wanted done in game. I have full Usukane and I am not fully merited on MNK and SAM. There are a few pieces I could do with having still, but they are all purchased pieces and spending gil to buy items although necessary has never been a driving force for me.<br /><br />I still find it difficult to put together time to level BLM as much as I would like. I know that Iz is a little burned out on BLM at the moment, but I wouldn't mind getting it up a little further. Part of the problem is that we are kind of in between camps, so it is getting a little more difficult to find a place to go or to get XP quickly. Another problem is that we have a lot of things we do in the mean time that consumes time that I would have had in the past for leveling and such. <br /><br />Salvage for a long time was my main focus, even after getting full Usukane. There are still several Skadi pieces that I want well, pretty much everything but head which sucks and feet that I already have. The body would be very nice I think to TP in because there are many times that I really wish I had more accuracy on RNG and also because it looks really cool. The legs will be part of my RNG gear because the accuracy is almost as good as my AF2 legs, but the other stats are great and if my plan works out after reading up on /SAM and Store TP, I think I will be able to manage a 5-hit build on RNG with E bow. Finally, the hands are excellent WS pieces for RNG. If I do get all these items then I would seriously consider picking up THF again. I am also interested in getting Morrigan's gear and even some Marduk's gear too. There is something about the Salvage gear, even if it isn't that great it is still very appealing to me. <br /><br />The problem for me is that Salvage is now winding down. My group still goes, but the press to do it is not as active as it once was. Celestria and Blaize are taking a well deserved break from Salvage but consistent tempo of 5 Salvage runs a week used to keep me focused. 3 runs a week doesn't seem to have the same pressing need as it once did. The other thing is that we used to use Salvage as kind of a base point for doing other things like ZNM's or anything else we had planned. It just now feels much less focused and organized for some reason. I think part of my problem is that I go through cycles of enthusiasm and burn-out, but when I was burned out in the past I could rely on other people to help pick me back up. Right now, I am worried that I am going to fall behind or that people are going to move on without me. It's a bit paranoid I guess, but without the structure we had before, I guess I feel like I am just floating in space and relying on other people to pull me back in to do things. That is not how I normally exist as a person, so I am left feeling lonely even when friends are around me.<br /><br />Meh, /emo.

Soooooo... guess I reconsidered.

Turns out ANNM and Augments don't suck. This update was actually pretty win.

Turns out ANNM and Augments don't suck. This update was actually pretty win.

Bitching and moaning.

I am completely and utterly disappointed in yesterday's update. In an attempt to not force anyone to listen to me rant about it, I am just going to leave it at that.

I am completely and utterly disappointed in yesterday's update. In an attempt to not force anyone to listen to me rant about it, I am just going to leave it at that.

The difference between you and me.

I am very frustrated with this update. I feel like we have been sold a bill of goods. I feel like we were promised the world and just given mere trinkets for Manhattan. Now, before Omoi yells at me for being a pessimist again, let me explain why my complaints are legitimate and why others complaints are not.

I am a very optimistic person in general, but I am also very cynical. It is a very weird combination. I have many hopes and I think that puts me squarely in the optimist camp, but I do understand the nature of people and the world and that can cause people to think that I am quite negative and pessimistic. So, that is probably a complete contradiction but it is my general view of life and it works for me.

The problem that I have is that I think that most other people complain too much. I can be long-winded, but I usually have a limit on the number of total complaints I have. I do tend to dwell quite a bit, but that is because of my general feeling of an issue and my inability to let go of an issue.

Anyway, I am dancing around the point. Let's get to the meat of the matter and explain the difference between "your" complaints and mine.

You: The Square Enix Security Token is a rip off!

Me: Look dumbass, you aren't in high school anymore and you can afford the $10 to start with, but that misses the real point. SE has to be losing their ass on these things, but they know that they will save a lot more money on not having to deal with people complaining to them about losing their accounts.

You: Square Enix is RMT for adding the Gob Satchel to the Security Token!

Me: No, just no. First of all, SE is allowed to make money on their game, always have. If you think this is RMT, then stop paying for your account because your definition of illegitimate transactions is so broad that you would include any process for paying for the game, including your account. Second, as I mentioned above, SE is probably losing their ass on these things, the only way they can balance that is by having everyone use them so they can decrease their customer support for lost accounts. The best way to do that is to include an incentive so large that everyone will want it. This is only logical, if you can't accept that then I can't deal with you because you are completely illogical.

You: ZOMG, next they are going to sell E. Bodies!

As for dealing with the ZOMG soon they will be selling E. Bodies! Again, retarded. First of all, they aren't. This is a specific scenario that to external logical analysis makes sense to both the players and SE. They have never sold any gear that makes any kind of difference to in game mechanics. You may say that the Satchel does that, but again I will say that you have to give up logic completely to ignore the fact that in the real world then need to provide an incentive to get these things in the hands of the players.

Ok, now that I have smashed my very own strawmen, lets get down to my complaints, because for the first time in a while I am quite disappointed in the update notes so far. This is especially upsetting considering the fact that it started off so well. The reason it sucks is not because of what is coming or what is missing it is because of the short-term promises that have gone unfulfilled.

Example 1) Summoner Avatars? Seriously, I could give a shit less about SMN Avatars but why promise them and not deliver? I mean it has been forever since they got a new Avatar and they should be getting something. Why mention something that could be available relatively easily and then not deliver? It's not even like you are going to give them something new or devastating that none of their other Avatars don't already have.

Example 2) Northlands? Why hold out on these? We haven't had a decent end-game area added in the game since Wings was released. This is supposed to be our new area, this was supposed to be the high level area that SE had promised in more than one interview. Why not add it now? I have ranted about this before, but seriously, the last interesting thing added to the game was Einherjar. SCNM's were OK but nothing really that important. There are no "large-scale-events" as they like to put it that have been added. When are we getting the Northlands? When are we getting the Walk of Echos?

Now, those are real complaints. Bitching about paying $10 for something you can choose not to use? That is worthless.

I am very frustrated with this update. I feel like we have been sold a bill of goods. I feel like we were promised the world and just given mere trinkets for Manhattan. Now, before Omoi yells at me for being a pessimist again, let me explain why my complaints are legitimate and why others complaints are not.<br /><br />I am a very optimistic person in general, but I am also very cynical. It is a very weird combination. I have many hopes and I think that puts me squarely in the optimist camp, but I do understand the nature of people and the world and that can cause people to think that I am quite negative and pessimistic. So, that is probably a complete contradiction but it is my general view of life and it works for me.<br /><br />The problem that I have is that I think that most other people complain too much. I can be long-winded, but I usually have a limit on the number of total complaints I have. I do tend to dwell quite a bit, but that is because of my general feeling of an issue and my inability to let go of an issue. <br /><br />Anyway, I am dancing around the point. Let's get to the meat of the matter and explain the difference between "your" complaints and mine.<br /><br />You: The Square Enix Security Token is a rip off!<br /><br />Me: Look dumbass, you aren't in high school anymore and you can afford the $10 to start with, but that misses the real point. SE has to be losing their ass on these things, but they know that they will save a lot more money on not having to deal with people complaining to them about losing their accounts. <br /><br />You: Square Enix is RMT for adding the Gob Satchel to the Security Token! <br /><br />Me: No, just no. First of all, SE is allowed to make money on their game, always have. If you think this is RMT, then stop paying for your account because your definition of illegitimate transactions is so broad that you would include any process for paying for the game, including your account. Second, as I mentioned above, SE is probably losing their ass on these things, the only way they can balance that is by having everyone use them so they can decrease their customer support for lost accounts. The best way to do that is to include an incentive so large that everyone will want it. This is only logical, if you can't accept that then I can't deal with you because you are completely illogical. <br /><br />You: ZOMG, next they are going to sell E. Bodies!<br /><br />As for dealing with the ZOMG soon they will be selling E. Bodies! Again, retarded. First of all, they aren't. This is a specific scenario that to external logical analysis makes sense to both the players and SE. They have never sold any gear that makes any kind of difference to in game mechanics. You may say that the Satchel does that, but again I will say that you have to give up logic completely to ignore the fact that in the real world then need to provide an incentive to get these things in the hands of the players.<br /><br />Ok, now that I have smashed my very own strawmen, lets get down to my complaints, because for the first time in a while I am quite disappointed in the update notes so far. This is especially upsetting considering the fact that it started off so well. The reason it sucks is not because of what is coming or what is missing it is because of the short-term promises that have gone unfulfilled. <br /><br />Example 1) Summoner Avatars? Seriously, I could give a shit less about SMN Avatars but why promise them and not deliver? I mean it has been forever since they got a new Avatar and they should be getting something. Why mention something that could be available relatively easily and then not deliver? It's not even like you are going to give them something new or devastating that none of their other Avatars don't already have.<br /><br />Example 2) Northlands? Why hold out on these? We haven't had a decent end-game area added in the game since Wings was released. This is supposed to be our new area, this was supposed to be the high level area that SE had promised in more than one interview. Why not add it now? I have ranted about this before, but seriously, the last interesting thing added to the game was Einherjar. SCNM's were OK but nothing really that important. There are no "large-scale-events" as they like to put it that have been added. When are we getting the Northlands? When are we getting the Walk of Echos? <br /><br />Now, those are real complaints. Bitching about paying $10 for something you can choose not to use? That is worthless.

Longview weekend.

It's a Saturday, but honestly, I have been so bad about updating my blog I should really be doing this now.

Let's start with a quick general update.

Well, Salvage is now winding down. As you may know I go with two groups, my own and Celestria's. Well, Celestria's group has obtained the last time items that we were really trying to get before ending their group/runs. They will still go with us when they have the time, but I think they would like a short break from Salvage and I can not begrudge them that, it is well deserved.

Now, for those two last pieces. I think I might have mentioned them before but let us review. After over a year in which Iz was the sole lot on Ares's Legs they finally dropped. I was in disbelief really because I just didn't think they were going to drop until after they adjusted the drop rates in Salvage, which apparently they may not even be doing in this update. If you can go this long and do Salvage as much as we do it, then you need to fix the drop rate. Iz's Ares's legs are really sweet, and I am so glad he finally has them. :) Now, the other item that we needed was the 35 for Omoi's Marduk legs (Legs being the general bane of our existence) and that was an even more epic drop situation. I have posted this before I believe but it goes with the general narrative so deal with it. :) That still amazes me really, and although I would have loved to get that Skadi body, I am just glad that Omoi got her legs and got them made that night. :) The amazing thing is that after that we started getting a whole bunch of 35's. When it rains, it pours. We got another two Marduk legs which went to Darkdawn and Qtipus. We got another Skadi body which Kallo got and is already up to 8 Imperial Wootz Ingots. Iz also got a pair of 35 Morrigan's gloves. Ninjafox is the king of missing important Salvage drops, and he missed a Morrigan's body which went to Blaize, then he missed this nice Morrigan's body which went to Iz, and Iz's BLM is only 66 right now. :) But he finally showed up at the right time and Ninjafox got his Morrigan's 35 body. Congratulations NF! Additionally, we got an Usukane 35 head for Blaize! :) I think we might have gotten a few other pieces but I don't remember right now and it's getting late so if I forgot anyone, meh. LOL

Outside of Salvage I have been doing a lot of ZNM work. I currently have a completed Cerberus set and I am working on another set. Again, learning from Celestria (you may be seeing a trend there) I have started tossing really weak mobs into Pankration so that I can build up Jettons quickly to purchase the HQ camera for more plates to turn in for Zeni. And as the title mentions, we were doing the tier 3 vampire for Cerberus tonight. If kited it really is a lot easier and can be low-manned, if fought straight up it can take a lot more people and it can be a lot harder, if not near impossible because of it's TP moves and it's love to drain everyone in sight. We are building up and preparing to do a semi-low-man attempt at Cerberus and the other Tier 4 ZNMs. I will tell you how that goes when we try it. I still need to build a fire resist set-up for this but it doesn't seem that it will be too hard to piece together. We were doing a Nosferatu when I started doing this and in general I don't know if 4 people is enough to take the vampire without a dedicated healer. I also found out that going /SAM is not good for this guy because unless you get lucky and hit Third Eye right before he summons, you are going to get hit and you probably won't be able to take more one set. /NIN is definitely the better way to handle Nosy even if you are a mage, actually, especially if you are a mage. I have my pop item for the first part of the second Cerberus set I am putting together.

It's miscellaneous time! I have a whole bunch of pictures and I can't really come up with a better way to organize them, so I am just tossing everything together. :) Einherjar is going very well for us, and we have fewer and fewer losses. There are some rooms that just appear to be impossible, but honestly I have luckily missed those for the most part. :) Taco got the M. Body, and with how often he wears it it is quite obvious that he loves it. It is actually one of the first "Kings" drop we have in the LS. I think it is actually the second. The first was an N. Head which was a lot won by someone that promptly left the LS the next week.

I have been working on the Wings missions in anticipation of the update on Wednesday. It is interesting but at times it really feels like it isn't going anywhere in particular. The CS's are definitely funny and enjoyable though, and the interactions with Cait-Sith seem like will have future meaning. I guess I will take a moment to now say that I will be incredibly disappointed if they do not open up the Northlands in this update. There are only supposed to be quest storyline extensions for this update so there may not be a storyline driven reason to open up the Northlands, but it is time that we get something new for real end-game use. There has been very, very little involved with the new expansion and end-game areas. ZNM's may have been introduced after Wings but they obviously weren't part of the expansion. I do think that tomorrow or the update day we will get the big announcement, but honestly MMM does absolutely nothing for me and although the SCNM (or whatever people call them) are decent have have a few decent rewards, there is next to nothing that is game breaking enough to justify more than event or two a month on them.

Well, that is good for today, I have been leveling BLM a little more and I will talk about that at some point.

It's a Saturday, but honestly, I have been so bad about updating my blog I should really be doing this now. <br /><br />Let's start with a quick general update.<br /><br />Well, Salvage is now winding down. As you may know I go with two groups, my own and Celestria's. Well, Celestria's group has obtained the last time items that we were really trying to get before ending their group/runs. They will still go with us when they have the time, but I think they would like a short break from Salvage and I can not begrudge them that, it is well deserved.<br /><br />Now, for those two last pieces. I think I might have mentioned them before but let us review. After over a year in which Iz was the sole lot on Ares's Legs they finally dropped. <a href="http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff151/ringthreetheicp/Ares_legs.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff151/ringthreetheicp/Ares_legs.png" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 144px; height: 400px;" /></a> I was in disbelief really because I just didn't think they were going to drop until after they adjusted the drop rates in Salvage, which apparently they may not even be doing in this update. If you can go this long and do Salvage as much as we do it, then you need to fix the drop rate. Iz's Ares's legs are really sweet, and I am so glad he finally has them. :) <a href="http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff151/ringthreetheicp/Iz_legs.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff151/ringthreetheicp/Iz_legs.png" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 1268px; height: 1043px;" /></a> Now, the other item that we needed was the 35 for Omoi's Marduk legs (Legs being the general bane of our existence) and that was an even more epic drop situation. I have posted this before I believe but it goes with the general narrative so deal with it. :) <a href="http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff151/ringthreetheicp/epic_drops.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff151/ringthreetheicp/epic_drops.png" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 432px; height: 466px;" /></a> That still amazes me really, and although I would have loved to get that Skadi body, I am just glad that Omoi got her legs and got them made that night. :) The amazing thing is that after that we started getting a whole bunch of 35's. When it rains, it pours. We got another two Marduk legs which went to Darkdawn and Qtipus. We got another Skadi body which Kallo got and is already up to 8 Imperial Wootz Ingots. Iz also got a pair of 35 Morrigan's gloves. Ninjafox is the king of missing important Salvage drops, and he missed a Morrigan's body which went to Blaize, then he missed this nice Morrigan's body which went to Iz, <a href="http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff151/ringthreetheicp/Machas_1.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff151/ringthreetheicp/Machas_1.png" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 447px; height: 257px;" /></a> and Iz's BLM is only 66 right now. :) But he finally showed up at the right time and Ninjafox got his Morrigan's 35 body. <a href="http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff151/ringthreetheicp/Machas_2.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff151/ringthreetheicp/Machas_2.png" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 412px; height: 1136px;" /></a> Congratulations NF! Additionally, we got an Usukane 35 head for Blaize! :) <a href="http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff151/ringthreetheicp/Usu_head.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff151/ringthreetheicp/Usu_head.png" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 372px; height: 1037px;" /></a> I think we might have gotten a few other pieces but I don't remember right now and it's getting late so if I forgot anyone, meh. LOL <br /><br />Outside of Salvage I have been doing a lot of ZNM work. I currently have a completed Cerberus set and I am working on another set. Again, learning from Celestria (you may be seeing a trend there) I have started tossing really weak mobs into Pankration so that I can build up Jettons quickly to purchase the HQ camera for more plates to turn in for Zeni. And as the title mentions, we were doing the tier 3 vampire for Cerberus tonight. If kited it really is a lot easier and can be low-manned, if fought straight up it can take a lot more people and it can be a lot harder, if not near impossible because of it's TP moves and it's love to drain everyone in sight. We are building up and preparing to do a semi-low-man attempt at Cerberus and the other Tier 4 ZNMs. I will tell you how that goes when we try it. I still need to build a fire resist set-up for this but it doesn't seem that it will be too hard to piece together. We were doing a Nosferatu when I started doing this and in general I don't know if 4 people is enough to take the vampire without a dedicated healer. I also found out that going /SAM is not good for this guy because unless you get lucky and hit Third Eye right before he summons, you are going to get hit and you probably won't be able to take more one set. /NIN is definitely the better way to handle Nosy even if you are a mage, actually, especially if you are a mage. <a href="http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff151/ringthreetheicp/Nosy_drops.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff151/ringthreetheicp/Nosy_drops.png" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 730px; height: 529px;" /></a> I have my pop item for the first part of the second Cerberus set I am putting together. <br /><br />It's miscellaneous time! I have a whole bunch of pictures and I can't really come up with a better way to organize them, so I am just tossing everything together. :) Einherjar is going very well for us, and we have fewer and fewer losses. There are some rooms that just appear to be impossible, but honestly I have luckily missed those for the most part. :) <a href="http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff151/ringthreetheicp/Odin_drops.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff151/ringthreetheicp/Odin_drops.png" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 292px; height: 229px;" /></a> Taco got the M. Body, and with how often he wears it it is quite obvious that he loves it. It is actually one of the first "Kings" drop we have in the LS. I think it is actually the second. The first was an N. Head which was a lot won by someone that promptly left the LS the next week. <br /><br />I have been working on the Wings missions in anticipation of the update on Wednesday. It is interesting but at times it really feels like it isn't going anywhere in particular. The CS's are definitely funny and enjoyable though, and the interactions with Cait-Sith seem like will have future meaning. <a href="http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff151/ringthreetheicp/Silly_kitty.png" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff151/ringthreetheicp/Silly_kitty.png" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 747px; height: 1080px;" /></a> I guess I will take a moment to now say that I will be incredibly disappointed if they do not open up the Northlands in this update. There are only supposed to be quest storyline extensions for this update so there may not be a storyline driven reason to open up the Northlands, but it is time that we get something new for real end-game use. There has been very, very little involved with the new expansion and end-game areas. ZNM's may have been introduced after Wings but they obviously weren't part of the expansion. I do think that tomorrow or the update day we will get the big announcement, but honestly MMM does absolutely nothing for me and although the SCNM (or whatever people call them) are decent have have a few decent rewards, there is next to nothing that is game breaking enough to justify more than event or two a month on them. <br /><br />Well, that is good for today, I have been leveling BLM a little more and I will talk about that at some point.