Beastmaster Decu | Blog

Taking a break..

Sun, 08 Mar 2009 21:37:03 GMT

As some probably already noticed, I have not been actively blogging lately, wich is due to the fact that I took a break from Final Fantasy XI last year a while before Christmas. Currently not sure when I will return to the game, but I am certain that I will eventually. I wish my in-game friends and the rest of the playerbase, happy adventures with fruitful rewards every so often! Take care of yourselves.

I actually updated!

Mon, 02 Jun 2008 10:12:31 GMT

So here I am, just popping in for a little blog update, before heading to work. This is really how I should be doing my blogging habits.

Anyways.. on saturday, I did another Nyzul Isle Assault run with the static, that to be quite frankly, was some of our worst in a while. The maps wasn't all to blame, but they surely did help. God I hate those frog bosses.

Other than that, I've hunted Rose Garden some more, but still as fruitless as ever, stupid overgrown flower.
/grumble

And yesterday we did another Tier 2 Einherjar run, wich resulted in a loss due to time running out. Such a shame, but next time we'll crack it!

I really should blog like this, some short and common updates. That saves me the hassle of processing loads of pictures, and it also isn't as off-putting to write a little text compared to a smaller essay. It's all about priorities anyways, so we'll see. But alrighty then, off to work!

Summer is here, it's time to update!

Sun, 01 Jun 2008 18:56:45 GMT

It's Sunday. It's June. The summer has finally arrived.. and I've been absolutely shite at updating my blog these past months!

But that doesn't mean I haven't been around Vana'diel and experienced tons of things. And by the gods, I have aquired tons of equipment as well! But with all my tries and all the times I have attempted to get myself a Vilma's Ring, there has still not been any rewarding encounters. Damn you Rose Garden, damn you to hell!

Anyways.. time to get this blog moving, so why not start with the fact that I've attended a couple Limbus runs with Chroma..

..where we also farmed a Yovra organ for a fellow LS member who needed it for his necklace.

I've advanced my Assault ranking a bit..

..and experienced new highs in WS damage, during some of my Campaign battles.

My wife surprised me during the Feast of Swords event, having obtained all three nation teleport necklaces for me, when I got home from work! Much love goes out to my wife, Yumi. Don't you wish she was your wife? ^_^)b

When nobody else answered a tarutaru call for help, I went with Suicidalsnowman from the LS, to help out with his Samurai Artifact NM, Ubume..

..before we went and ravaged Kirin up in Tu'Lia with the linkshell later that evening.

We've also had a few "bad luck" runs in the Nyzul Isle Assaults as well, one such hilariously enough caused by a single little Slime that raped us. Fun times, fun times..

We've done some Sea farming, wich we do not wish to speak of.. (Since Temperance Torque never drops!)

..and some more Kirin's.

And even if we wipe to slimes, we've been doing Nyzul Isle Assault as we have been since late last year, twice a week, and finally got rewarded with a Denali Bonnet! Congratulations Vyvyan!

But not only that, we also saw a second Askar Zucchini.. Uh- I mean Zuchetto! The thrill I felt as it dropped to my inventory can not be described.

Haste equipment complete? Check.

I've been hard at work re-ranking my Campaign rank as well. (And I have most likely lost it again as I am writing this, hehe..)

Chroma did some Ouryu action..

..and we've been working on our Einherjar progression.

We milked Tu'Lia for what it's worth in pop items, to prepare for the future god run.

And yet again Team Nyzuuuul's been hard at work getting more drops.. wich has surely paid off. Congratulations to Scudley, on your new Denali Jacket!

And I think I can even congratulate myself a little, having obtained full the Askar set, ready for use on the future Paladin, and even currently used by my Beastmaster in different scenarios. I feel hot. Very hot.

More Einherjar has been done..

..together with more Sky farming, hehe..

..followed by even some more.. wait for it.. waaaaait for iiit! -- Einherjar!! Grlbrlllbrphrrrssss! (Yes, I just went mentally insane.)

Then finally, we have yet again managed to catch up with the present, with yesterdays sky farming on the menu. As for myself, I managed to get myself a pair of Suzaku's Sune-Ate for my Ranger and Ninja..

..but not only that, I also got myself a Neptunal Abjuration: Hands abjuration! I could hardly wait to finally go and uncurse my Cursed Gloves -1!

When sky was over, I rushed as I always do, over to the cathedral in San d'Oria. And.. obtained... /drummroll.. Hecatomb Mittens +1! Yahoo!

Until next time, enjoy your summer!

PS: This blog has been written pretty rapidly and text hasn't been given too much thought. I'll try and blog a little more often, with a little more context in the future.

Yes, I am alive and well!

Sun, 04 May 2008 13:17:31 GMT

God, it's been ages since I updated now! Come to think of it.. I didn't update throughout all of April! (Although, I did have a set of pictures processed and ready for use though, hehe..)

To be honest, my lack of entries as of late, is due to the fact that I got sick for a longer period of time, then shortly after my wife got home from a very long vacation, and then we celebrated our anniversary not long after that again. Not to mention the fact that I have had alot of late-evening shifts at work, leaving little time to blog when I would attend linkshell events with Chroma right after getting home.

Anyways, to get on with the blog, we can start this entry off with when Blaize got his Goliard Trews in Nyzul last month and I appraised a Dryad Staff at the end, wich the static were so kind as to let me lot, for my up and coming White Mage (currently Lv.62).

My wife and I, also quested ourselves the Recall-Pashh spell and got the Pashhow Gate Crystal so we could teleport back to the past...

...and I located and got myself Monomi: Ichi for my Ninja as well a little later in the day.

Chroma claimed a King Behemoth also that week, wich rewarded us with a pretty decent Wyrmal Abjuration: Head, that Penelophe (Daniph) got. Congratulations Peneliph, on your Duelists's Chapeau -1! ^_^)/

The Nyzul Isle static did it's first floor 100 run, wich resulted in a Death Sickle for Zexy, our first Nyzul Isle weapon. Hope it may be of use in the future!

Chroma has also in the past months, started to show an increasing interest for LS-only Dynamis runs as well, and have reaped plenty of good rewards by doing so, including the following from the last run I attended..

Going to Nyzul Isle earlier on this week, I found as a pleasent surprise that I managed to get myself a pair of Askar Manopolas for my Haste set that night! Yay, finally I am near completion on my Haste gear, and the only remaining thing that I need now, is the Askar Zucchetto!
Also congratulations to Inflames on the Goliard Cuffs, for his newly leveled Red Mage job.

I've been keeping up with my campaign addiction...

...and I got off my lazy bum and unlocked Scholar not too long ago. It's not much to write about to be honest, but I figured I'd put it in here for filling things out a little, and bringing a little variation to the blog.

Then I did some more campaigns again, hehe.

When we did Nyzul Isle Assault again later that week, Blaize finally got himself a pair of Goliard Clogs for his Lv.69 Red Mage! Congratulations!

I also managed to pick up a weapon I have been after for a while now, the Double Axe, wich is supposed to be the first building block of the new "Nyzul Relics", as they are popularly referred too. Recently the Beastmaster one was revealed as the axe, Aymur, with stats yet to be disclosed.

That's it for now.. I better try keep up to date on my blogging in the future, or I will have another nightmare on my hands again. This took forever to blog, felt almost like work.. but now I can finally relax a little and have fun. Time to hit the Campaigns!

PS!: I know that this is uploaded a bit later than the date I wrote it on, but I am too busy to edit that now, haha! Got an Ouryu to do.

Pictures speak more than words.

Wed, 12 Mar 2008 10:29:13 GMT

Long overdue blog update!

Mon, 10 Mar 2008 15:11:31 GMT

I did it again.. I waited way too long with updating my blog! Since obtaining Ridill last month, I have been fairly busy.. both with work out there in the real world and with in-game events and other things I have been doing inside Final Fantasy XI.

First of all I did Nyzul Isle with the static, but it didn't provide us with any drops worth mentioning.

Some linkshell friends and myself also started a static that will keep doing the Kraken Club BCNM until we all get one of those. Hehe, yeah I know.. that's going to take a while.

We did Proto-Omega with Chroma, wich resulted in double Homam Cosciales, one for Breemer and the other for Imafairy. Congratulations guys!

Later the same day, we did a couple Bahamut v2 fights, resulting in Blaize obtaining his Bahamut's Mask and Vyvyan a pair of Bahamut's Hose!

The next day we claimed another Fafnir..

And I finally got myself a Loquacious Earring! Utsusemi macro items are always welcome. (And yeah ok.. I can use it for Red Mage as well, I guess.. hehe.)

The next day, Daca and myself did some more escorting, but no Demonic Tiphia this time around since there was already somebody there camping (and we don't like to intrude).

Then afterwards we did another attempt at the Swift Belt NM, Balor, this time netting me a new Swift Belt! Woohoo, my Haste setup is nearly completed! ^_^)/

Then later on, Chroma claimed yet another Fafnir, and got yet another Ridill! That is the second Ridill we got within 1 week! Congratulations to Tommi's Dark Knight on a spanking new Ridill!

Some time later, Chroma did some more Einherjar. Hopefully soon everyone has gotten themselves past the tier 1 rooms.. /cough!

Also, I have been doing alot of Campaign lately as well, trying to get myself enough points to buy some equipment and also to rank up with. I think Square-ENIX did a great job when it came to Campaign and I must admit that I enjoy it alot. I always end up tanking though..

We did some sky farming with Chroma the next day. Congratulations to Trey on the Indra Katars, hehe..

I did some more Campaign battles and ranked up to get my new medal! I will need to keep this up and get myself more medals, because this is fun!

Chroma has also done some more Limbus..

And sea farming..

I decided sometime last month that I would buy back my Maneater as well, and use it together with Ridill. Yes, I know.. I do have Temperance Axe, but the damage difference on most foes are minimal and Ridill does not consume or take up an ammo slot, so the choice was rather obvious.

Later that day, I did some more Kirin TP Burn with Chroma..

And some more Nyzul Isle Assault with the static, this time getting myself the Sable Cuisses for my Dark Knight Lv.72 Zerg equipment! (I paid the rest of the static 100,000 gil each, so I sort of bought them for 600,000 gil, but now I won't need help to farm them.)

I also did that bloody ENM "Pulling the Strings" again.. and yes, obviously it had no drop again -.-)p

The next day, Daca and I did some more escorting.. this time also including a stop at Demonic Tiphia, but sadly it dropped nothing. I also got to do some oldskool Crawler's Nest pulling of the zone to the zoneline.

I bought my Red Mage a Serene Ring..

Before we did some sea farming with Chroma again.. where I even got myself a Fortitude Axe for my future Dark Knight and Warrior. A welcome present.

Since Demonic Tiphia never drops the ammo, I decided to just buy a Tiphia Sting.

Then finally we have caught up to date, and I did another Proto-Omega with Chroma yesterday..

Wich incidentally I killed, hehe.. Congratulations to Sephris on Homam Cosciales and Tommi on Homam Gambieras!

Then later on, we did some Tier 2 Jailers in sea, where I obtained myself another Jailer weapon, this time the Justice Sword. More of a toy for my Red Mage and future Paladin I guess, but welcome all the same.

And that's what I have been up to since the last entry back in February. From now on I really have to try my best to write more blog entries, so I can prevent myself from drowning in images to process, text to write and so on forth. I hope you have a good week!

Beastmaster with a Ridill!?

Sat, 23 Feb 2008 22:55:57 GMT

Had a few late shifts at work this week, so sadly I had to miss out on some events with Chroma, while others, like our attempt to take out Vrtra for the first time with the linkshell (not my first though), didn't result in anything worthwhile blogging thus far. So I'll pick up from our Nyzul Isle Assault runs on wednesday instead.

Regardless of how the week had been so far, this Nyzul session was at the very least fruitful, dropping first Goliard Trews for Obev on floor 40 and then Goliard Saio for Inflames on floor 80. Congratulations guys!

I also had a go with the "Pulling the Strings" ENM again, hoping once more for a Deadeye Earring.. but no, it didn't want to drop this time either. Funny how I would have spent all the enchantment charges by now.. -_-)p

Nothing specific happened the following days, that is.. before today... when Chroma claimed Fafnir and Ridill dropped! Tommi and myself were allowed to lot against eachother and I was the (very happy and) lucky winner. So thank you so much, Chroma! Thankfully there was also a N.Abjuration: Hd. in the loot pool, that Tommi won for his Hecatomb Cap. Plus congratulations to Charles on Aegishjalmr and Hrotti as well!

Wonder if anything game-related can top the buzz I got from seeing Ridill drop into my inventory today. I probably yelled out a joyful cry, loud enough to wake my neighbours had it been a bit later. But I am now extremely sleepy while writing this. So.. I bid thee good night and sweet dreams.. Ridill, wahoo~! ^_^)/

Lance Corporal Decu.

Mon, 18 Feb 2008 22:00:03 GMT

I spent my Sunday morning, upgrading my Mercenary Rank to Lance Corporal. After running through the Wajaom Woodlands and Bhaflau Thickets, I finally got all five of the Test Tube sample's I needed to create Luminium for the Alchemists' Guild back in the Aht Urhgan Whitegate. After waiting a game day, I was rewarded with the LC Wildcat Badge and 2 Imperial Gold Pieces back at Naja Salaheem's quarters.

I quickly bought the Sentinel Shield afterwards and decided to put my Tatami Shield on the Auction House. Mostly because I am just interested in having something else on my arm for a while, and I don't really use shields that much at any rate.

In the evening we had another Proto-Omega scheduled, wich resulted in Homam Gambieras for Blaize, Homam Cosciales for Tommi and Chroma's first (as far as I know) Homam Corazza for Inflames! Congratulations goes your way guys!

I kinda like how my Beastmaster looks in this new equipment, hehe. And for those that might wonder about the gloves, I am wearing a pair of Storm Manopolas, wich I picked up sometime in 2005-2006. (So no, it wasn't .DAT swapping if you thought that! Hehe..) I'm also planning to do a little testing with Enmity and Snarl one of the following days.

Catching up to date.

Sun, 17 Feb 2008 18:11:31 GMT

This entry will be an attempt to catch up to current time. We did Proto-Ultima sometime last week, wich resulted in Nashira Crackows for Sephris and Nashira Turban for Suicidalsnowman, congratulations you two! And afterwards the rest of us formed the usual line to get our coins of course, hehe.

Daca and I did the Olavia escort quest together again, followed by another attempt at popping Demonic Tiphia.. but after going through 4-5 sets of placeholders, we gave up and I headed for bed instead. Although not before I had used my page from the Miratete's Memoirs on my Dark Knight first.

I also farmed for a Fomor Codex numerous times during the week, but never got one to drop. So I ended up getting one from my wife's account instead, since she wasn't going to use it any time soon.

Chroma did some Kirin TP Burn runs, resulting in a pair of Crimson Cuisses for Zexy and Sephris and a Kirin's Osode for Zatoichina, amongst other things.

We of course did our weekly Nyzul Isle Assault session with the static, wich resulted in nothing dropping on the two runs we could fit in.

And I did another go at the "Pulling the Strings" ENM in hope of getting the Deadeye Earring.. but sadly it just doesn't seem to want to drop. Much to my frustration I might add! Since it costs gil to get ENM key item..

On Saturday we did a linkshell Swift Belt run, but again I had no luck with my Fomor Codex. However Imafairy and Suicidalsnowman were lucky on theirs and had the evenings 2/6 belt drops. Congratulations!

We ended saturday with some Nyzul Isle Assault runs, starting on floor 20 with my disc. And lucky for me, Askar Gambieras dropped wich I happily obtained "freelot". You see, they were signed with me as a secondary wish, but I said it was alright if anyone else wished to lot on them. Nobody did though, so I got them without competition anyways. I won't complain.. I'm a happy Beastmaster, future Paladin and future Samurai with these feet armors. And I like how my Beastmaster looks with them on, hehe..

I also picked up a few ??? items from chests after killing NM's like Bloodtear Baldurf, and when I went to appraise the ??? Shield it turned into a Viking Shield! Our first appraised semi-valuable item from a ???-item!

My life is hectic to say the least as of late, and with this entry, I should be more up to date after having blogged these events. And hopefully I will have some time to blog during the following weeks as well. At least there is no lack of things to write about ^_^)/

A change of mind.

Thu, 14 Feb 2008 15:57:33 GMT

Warning: The start of this blog entry will revolve around things related to the Ranger job, but you can click here to skip ahead, if you have no interest in reading that. Also, I would like to take the opportunity to explain that the reason why the blog is updated so poorly these days, is that since I started my new job, I need to get into a proper day and night rhythm. Entries will come more frequently soon.

As I wrote in my previous entry, I had decided to change the old plans for my set of Ranger equipment. One of the things I wrote that I wanted, were an Vali's Bow instead of my current Selene's Bow, and thus I headed over to Fei'Yin, camping Eastern Shadow for a couple consecutive days. After having lost a few claims, I finally managed to get Eastern Shadow for myself. But obviously, it didn't drop anything though..

..however, after reading some online forums and stumbling over a small discussion between some other Rangers regarding low-hit builds, it peaked my interested into actually calculating for myself the possibility of a 5-hit build with a bow, using a combinations of gear and food available to Rangers. The formulas for my calculations were discovered by the Studio Gobli group, back in April 2006.

Basically what a 5-hit build means, is that I would only need to fire 5 arrows that hits my target, to obtain at least 100% TP (Tactical Points) for Weapon Skilling (WS). It would also mean that after shooting off my initial WS, I would only need to connect another 4 hits before I could shoot another one. Barrage would also return me to over 100% TP most of the time, for an quick extra WS.

This would make the Ranger job capable of shooting out wast amounts of damage, in a very short period of time, and shortens the time needed to gain TP between Weapon Skills greatly. Through calculations and research, I also found that there are currently very little bows available that is capable of a 5-hit build, while still providing a decent damage output. Between the popular ones: Vali's Bow, Selene's Bow and Yoichinoyumi (Relic Bow), only the later two is able to produce the TP required for a 5-hit build when stacking some additional "Store TP" stats, a modifier stat default at 1.0 wich affects the amount of TP gained per hit against a target with +0.1 per each "Store TP"+1. Since I already have a Selene's Bow, and it is by far the cheapest option out of itself and Yoichinoyumi, I continued to calculate and researched what things I would need to get a working build for my bow.

It turned out the magical "Store TP" number I would need, were +32. But to achieve this through equipment alone, is not even possible at this point in the game, so I would also be required to find other means of obtaining "Store TP". By using Samurai as a subjob, I could attain another "Store TP"+15, however I would still fall short, so I had to find an additional way of procuring even more "Store TP". I found that Carbonara would provide both STR+4 and "Store TP"+6, making the total "Store TP"+21.

Then for equipment, Rajas Ring would be required, with its +5, and if I could get my hands on a pair of Skadi's Chausses wich provides +7, I could get a combined total of "Store TP"+33. Wich is a number barely exceeding the needed amount for the build.

Now some may feel that changing the subjob from Warrior to Samurai is a huge loss of potential damage, but I beg to differ. Alot of Rangers use Ninja as a subjob while producing good damage output, and although Berserk and Warcry are nice, Hasso can be kept up at all times, where as you would have to wait 2 minutes for Berserk and Warcry to cool down after they wear. An additional plus with the Samurai subjob is that you get access to Meditate, making it even faster to gain the needed TP for yet another WS.

At any rate, following are some mathematical calculations done on my future planned Ranger build:

Store TP = STP
Delay = D

Skadi's Chausses (STP+7)
Rajas Ring (STP+5)
Carbonara (STP+6, Food)
/SAM37 (STP+15)

The formula for weapons with a 530 to 999 delay, is as follows; (((D-530)*3.5)/470)+14.5

Selene's Bow has a D of 540, while Arrows like Kabura or Demon is D90. Combined they equal D630.

(((630 - 530) * 3.5) / 470) + 14.5 = 15.2% TP per shot.
Note: In reality it is 15.2446^ but FFXI truncates any number after the first decimal, making it 15.2 instead.

As I wrote, the STP modifier has a base value of 1.0, and with every STP+1 you add 0.1 to that base. So by adding STP+33, we set the modifier to 1.33, and with this in mind, we can then calculate our TP gain after adjusting it with STP:

15.2 * 1.33 = 20.2% TP per shot after STP adjustment. Hmm... tempting.

Sometime during tuesday afternoon, Cerberus popped, and Chroma was the first linkshell to gather with enough force to take it out.

Then at night, Khimaira showed itself as well, and again we were the first to gather enough people for a safe claim.

Before heading for bed, I decided to move myself over to Fei'Yin for Eastern Shadow's time of death so I could camp it later. On the way I took a picture just to illustrate how hard it is to see stuff for me when there's a blizzard in Beaucedine..

Anyways, on the next days evening, we had a quick Sky farm run, before heading out to the Valley of Sorrows for a potential Aspidochelone pop.

And what would you know.. Aspidochelone popped and Chroma claimed it! Our first King turtle in ages! Sadly I wasn't in the alliance to document any drops, but we were however rewarded with a double A.Abjuration: Bd. drop! Congratulations to Skyllia and Linkx on your new Dalmatica!

Then on thursday, around noon, me and Daca decided we would go and try our luck with the Swift Belt NM Balor, to see how we would do.. and we were happily surprised about how easy this duo turned out to be. Balor died with little effort needed, but it sadly had no Swift Belt for me this time either.. oh well, now at least it's an easy duo and not any full party kind of ordeal.

Afterwards we did the Crawlers' Nest escort with the NPC, Olivia ("Escort for Hire (Bastok)")...

...and once we had followed her through and gotten our key item, we decided to try pop Demonic Tiphia to find out if we would be able to duo it, and we have talked about getting ourselves some Tiphia Stings. It popped right after killing a single set of placeholders, and we made a pretty quick and easy job of it using our Carries and ourselves to burn it down. No ammo for us this time though, but we are definately going to try and pop Demonic Tiphia every so often when we do this escort quest.

Back in Bastok again, I decided to use this Experience point scroll again on my Dark Knight, wich is now closing in on leveling up from these scrolls.

Then in the evening, we did Sea farming and popped two Ix'Aern (DRG) nearly back to back and got the Jailer of Prudence pop item both times!

Then to almost end the day, we did Nyzul Isle Assault with the static and obtained a pair of Askar Gambieras this time around. Congratulations Zexy, finally some Askar!

The rest of the people went to bed, but for me there was still one more thing to do.. Namely the "Pulling the Strings" ENM for the Deadeye Earring! But alas, I was shafted on drops again. 2000 Experience points are nice and all, but I'd rather get the darn earring already!

The following morning I decided to do some spring cleaning in my Mog House, hehe ^_^)/

Then I had my first real go at these new Campaign battles from the Wings of the Goddess expansion, where I was using my Dancer. It was much more fun than I expected, so I will definately do this every so often.

Later on I helped Daca with Ose, together with Imafairy, and after we popped and killed it, the Assault Jerkin finally dropped! Congratulations Daca!

We then moved over to The Boyahda Tree to help Sizah with killing the Voluptious Vivian that she had popped, but some other HNMLS decided to be a bit unfair (in my eyes, since as I understood they had stood there just watching Sizah kill the placeholder and not done anything of the sorts themselves..) and claimed it before we could get there to help her.. Anyways me and Daca decided to stick around and kill Ancient Goobbue since we were in the area already, but no Great Katana dropped though, hehe..

Saturday, around some time in the morning, I decided I would go try get myself a new Fomor Codex again, and whilst I was there, I recieved a tell from some random person asking me if I couldn't come further inside to raise his party. Being the kind and gentle Beastmaster I am (/cough), I of course went in to help, and when I was asked to help with the Promathia Mission 4-3 fight after raising, I decided to help them and charmed a Blubber Eyes wich kinda semi-soloed the fight. I continued to farm a few Fomor Codex' after helping them, but sadly got none to drop and gave up before the evening event.

A bit before our scheduled Sky gods run, Voluptious Vivian popped again, and this time around we managed to get up there and claim and kill it fairly. No ring, so better luck next time Sizah!

Then quite possibly the greatest Sky farm run I have ever had in my FFXI career was about to occur..

After the failure to gather the whole Team Abjuration Body heroes, we started on our first God of the evening, Suzaku. We did it a combined total of three times before moving on, and I even got myself Neptunal Abjuration: Feet! Woohoo!

Next up were Genbu, but with a twist. The rules were to be nude with nothing but weapons on. The second fight we did with equip on again to speed it up.

Then we did Seiryu a couple of times, with pretty decent drops for the people attending..

..before we got to my favorite encounter of the evening.. Byakko! The Haidate dropped from both our pops and kills and I even got the first pair! This makes us 10/10 for Byakko's Haidate on the last kills as well.

We did Nyzul but ended up with nothing dropping.

I rushed more or less over to San d'Oria to uncurse my Hecatomb Feet +1 after the event as well!

What an absolutely fantastic sky farm! Two awesome items in one night, what are the odds of that. Also, note that this blog entry was somewhat rushed. I wanted to get it over with, having postponed it continuesly for several days now.. Maybe I get some more time to blog in the weekend. On that note, please excuse any poorly written english skills and potential bad spellings. I am extremely sleepy at the moment, since I have a messed up sleep rythm for work.

PS: I might edit it for better use of words and spelling in the weekend.

I got myself a new job!

Mon, 04 Feb 2008 21:13:52 GMT

I started my wednesday morning in the Phomiuna Aqueducts, where I was hunting Taurus for the Fomor Codex pop item. I needed one, for this months Swift Belt event with the linkshell, and also because me and Daca have been talking together about trying to duo the Hume NM, Balor. We always like a good challenge and it will be fun to see if we can pull it off. Whichever happens first of the duo or the linkshell event however, we will just have to see.

After a couple of hours, the alarm on my planner went off, to remind me I had a job interview in a few hours time. Since I knew that it would take me at least an hour by bicycle (I love cycling) to get there, I decided that it was enough farming for now, and went back to the Tavnazian Safehold to log off. And soon thereafter, I found myself cycling down the mile long bicycle roads, on this epic quest I had accepted a few days ago - to seek out the interviewing Galk- uh, I mean..
I was on my way to the job interview o_-)/

I arrived at the lobby of the establishment I was applying for a job at, purposely 5 minutes early and ready for my interview. But.. I ended up having to wait another 15 minutes past my scheduled appointment, on the two team leaders that was supposed to meet me there in the lobby (I think they were eating lunch or something..). Eventually another person from the management decided to interview me at his office in their stead, since they took too long.

It ended up being a pretty relaxed interview, and I quickly felt that I had a good dialogue with the guy I was conversing with. So as I was leaving the office, I had a pretty good feeling, about my chances for a job offer from this place as well. When I finally got myself home, these feeling became an reality, as I got a phone call offering me a job, starting in february. Hurray!

In the evening, we did Nyzul Isle Assault with the static, and we even managed to grab with us two drops this time. We started with floor 80, wich dropped us a long sought after Askar Korazin, but to my disappointment I managed to only lot 45 on it, while Vyvyan lotted some 900+ and won. Congratulations to Vyvyan on this awesome body piece though!

We followed up with floor 60, but got no drops (as usual).. then on to floor 40, where the Denali Kecks appeared in the loot pool. Since nobody was signed up for them, they were freelot and I managed to win these at least (with most people passing them). It was a little comforting, after having lost on the body armor I have wanted for a very long time, and even want more than an Armada Hauberk. I hope some near future floor 80 runs will drop another one. The Denali pants will be used on Ranger and Dancer for the curious.

The next day, we started to camp Fafnir again. And with every other linkshell gathered up in the Behemoth's Dominion, we got a totally uncontested Fafnir pop. This was also Chroma's fastest Fafnir kill to date, clocking in at just over 8 minutes with a measly 7 seconds past. As I was in the add party with Sizah, I have no imagery of the loot pool, but we got an Aquarian Abjuration: Hands, wich Linkx got and soon thereafter uncursed into a pair of Zenith Mitts +1! Congratulations on a fully decked Black Mage, Linkx!

Since there were still some time left of this evening, we did Einherjar and managed to kill the boss with about 3 seconds to spare.. but that just resulted in us getting ported out, since the chest didn't spawn quick enough. Meh! I want Einherjar "points"!

On friday, I did another morning hunt for a Fomor Codex. This time around I had a bit more time on my hands, with nothing else needing my attention outside in the real world. Also, I managed to get the Fomor Codex after a short time anyways. I'm ready for a duo, or the linkshell event now.

Fafnir window was about to open again later in the day, and Chroma gathered up in the Dragon's Aery. Yet again, there was nobody but us up there, as everyone else was gathered at the Behemoth's Dominion hoping for a King Behemoth pop. Halfways into the window, a member even managed to pop Voluptuous Vivian, so we Escaped out and went over and killed it. No drops though.

A couple more windows passed, and we had now gotten competition. But when Fafnir finally showed himself, we did get the claim on it. The drops was alright, since Zatoichina needed an Aegishjalmr. And Becky got the Aquarian Abjuration: Feet, so congratulations to them both on their loots!

On saturday we didn't manage to get claim on Fafnir as it spawned, but rather got to watch another linkshell kill it.. however, when we did Nyzul Isle with the static, we did get a drop on floor 80! It was not Askar Korazin as I was hoping for, but it was a pretty good sloppy seconds. Denali Jacket for my Ranger! It was a freelot, but still everyone passed it on to me. Thanks guys! ^_^)/

Due to getting this Denali Jacket, I decided I would change the goals for my Ranger equipment, and take it a bit more seriously. I bought myself a Behemoth
Ring +1 and looked through what other things
I wanted to change.

One of these things was the current Velocity Earring earring, for a Deadeye Earring obtained from the "Pulling the Strings" ENM, so I decided to give it a go. It turned out to be a pretty easy solo ENM, but sadly I didn't get any drop though. Maybe on thursday?

For now, I decided I would go pick up the Fenrir's Earring, since I already had the whisper saved up. It is after all a decent earring during night time.

So anyways, this is basically how my Ranger will be looking once I get the other pieces of equipment I want, as it is only invisible equip that I want to replace.
(Ring, Earring, Neck etc.)

To be more specific, what I wish to replace is the Fenrir's Earring for a Deadeye Earring, Peacock Charm for a Hope Torque, Precise Belt for the Buccaneer's Belt (Einherjar: 15,000 Ampoules of Therion Ichor) and maybe the Jahlzan's Ring from completing the Treasures of Aht Urgan Mission 44. Then all I need to replace is the Selene's Bow with a Eurytos' or Vali's Bow.

The following day I did Limbus with the linkshell on my Ranger, and I must admit it was tons of fun to shoot the Ghost Clot for 3540 damage etc., and I also got the Smalt Chip wich makes us 3/4 chips for Proto-Omega, so we should be doing that soon again as well.

Please forgive the fact that this entry had "alot" of content about Ranger. I am most definately a Beastmaster, to the full extent of the word. But as I previously wrote back when I got the Hunter's Jerkin +1.. I do once in a while enjoy disguising myself as a Ranger, to go hunting on the monsters that prey on my pet friends. The hunters becomes the hunted. Think of me as an avenger.

The rich only gets richer?

Tue, 29 Jan 2008 21:31:58 GMT

A short time after waking up on Sunday, King Vinegarroon popped and the linkshell members that were online, gathered up to kill it. Again the drops were absolutely lolworthy, as it dropped nothing again. We can still only hope for future kills being a bit more generous.. stingy scorpion!

I continued the rest of the morning, finishing my quest for the Angelstone and upgrading my gobbiebag. These quests for the Deathstone and Angelstone are very entertaining, and I give it my warmest recommandation as something to do. I also assume they are required for something else in the Wings of the Goddess expansion at some point in the future.

Then finally Japanese midnight had passed, and I could go pick up my new weaponskill pants, the Beast Trousers +1! It took me a while before the Fetid Lanolin dropped, but now that I have these in my possession, it was well worth the wait. I love them!

We did Limbus right after I picked up my pants, and I even got to clear up an inventory space by using my Scarlet Chip. Got a few coins out of it as well, wich I am now saving up to purchase a Loquacious Earring with.

In the evening, we had Jailer of Love to pop, but needed a Jailer of Prudence in order to be able to pop Love twice. Prudence was taken care of quickly and then we continued to pop and kill the two Jailer of Love's.

Our first Jailer of Love took us about 57 minutes to kill as well, wich was a new record for Chroma. The second one gave us a bit of trouble, but on the other hand, it also rewarded us with a full drop though!

Congratulations to Sizah on Novio Earring and to Aminore who wasn't there, on the Novia Earring!

The next morning I decided I would go take a look, to see if Taisaijin was up. It wasn't, and soon after I had to go out for a job related meeting, so I decided I would just log out in Ranguemont Pass for now.

When I came home from the meeting, I found Taisaijin on my widescan, so I ran up there with Carrie by my side and engaged this elusive foe. Taisaijin had surprisingly more health than I would have imagined, but me and Carrie still made an easy job of it. No Spelunker's Hat this time though.

And although I didn't get any Spelunker's Hat, I do enjoy the title it gives, wich is not too common to see either. I will definately try get my hands on the reversed Optical Hat though.

Later in the evening, Ancient Goobbue got another visit from me, but he didn't want to give up any Great Katana's this time either. Still living in hope.

I then went back to Bastok and outpost warped to the Elshimo Lowlands (Yuhtunga Jungle), to see if I couldn't find Rose Garden up and lurking. It sadly wasn't up when I got there, but soon afterwards it showed itself. But.. no ring. Meh!

Then finally me and Daca had the time we wanted, to do that escort quest we had started on, so that we could recieve our experience points scroll. Mine nearly provided my Dark Knight Lv.37 with the full bonus, falling short of just 37 experience points from 1500.

Before going to bed, I did a little skillup with a couple linkshell friends. Got my Scythe skill to 200 and learned Guillotine, wich I can't use on Beastmaster anyways..

As it was getting late, I decided to move myself over to the Castle of Oztroja entrance, since I am after the Ajase Bead Necklace dropped by Coo Keja the Unseen.

As I woke up, glancing over at the monitor, I saw Coo Keja staring me in my face! I quickly got out of bed, claimed it and discovered that this NM also has more health than I would have expected (but nothing deadly). Eventually I killed it and happily found that the Ajase Bead Necklace dropped into my inventory. My Dark Knight Lv.72 equipment is growing more and more complete.

Around noon I decided to clear up some space in my Mog Safe, and crafted the Siren's Hair I got from my "failed" KS99 on saturday.. what a great choice! I nearly jumped out of my chair as I saw the -1 appear on my screen. I guess my KS99 orb wasn't such a failure after all, when this is taken into consideration..

Nearly instantly I had two people asking me if I would sell them. I hesitated, but then one of them offered me 12,000,000 gil for the mitts! With such a great offer, I just couldn't say no, and sold them right away. Normally I would have kept them around and checked if a linkshell member would want to buy them for the current material cost, but when I get shoved that amount of gil in my face.. it's hard to say no.

The rest of the day I spent hunting for Taisaijin again, but it seems some selfish person had killed the Taisai to reset timer for themselves.. I hate when people do that. I also looked for Rose Garden, but there was no pop. King Vinegarroon popped, but before we had enough there to kill with, it managed to depop again. Nidhogg was claimed by another linkshell.

Basically it was a fairly uneventful day after the mitts, except for a duo with Daca versus the Ancient Goobbue before going to bed. It was a nice way to end the day.

I am still in near disbelief that I managed to make another 12 million today. It's not like I am anywhere near being called poor in this game. And I also have another 20 Siren's Hair on my mule.. the day my gut tells me to craft, I might get lucky again.

Also, is there no end to these awesome days I am experiencing lately? Oh of course, don't get me wrong, I want more of them for sure! But my luck since I came back to the game.. it is nearly ridiculous! But who am I to complain, hehe. If I could only channel this luck into one item, say the Ridill.. hmm.

What a great weekend!

Sat, 26 Jan 2008 21:45:57 GMT

Friday morning, I decided to go back to try and get the Thief's Knife pop item again. Soon after arriving, my newly established choice of tactics to let Carrie tank the Tonberry's for me, sort of backfired.

Seemingly our summoned pets share the Beastmaster's hate, so she was killed nearly instantly to about the same damage I would have taken from Everyone's Grudge. It took me nearly an hour to calm her down and make her forgive me afterwards, the poor gal.

Eventually the pop item dropped and soon thereafter Carrie and myself, found ourselves fighting Sozu Rogberry. The fight is relatively easy using Snarl, but as a word of warning to any other Beastmaster's out there that might be inclined to go and do this.. either reset your Tonberry hate or bring multiple jugs.

Near the end, Sozu Rogberry decided to Everyone's Grudge Carrie again and I nearly wasn't able to make her come back out when I tried to use Call Beast, but I had to wait a little while for her to cool off. Anyways, Sozu died, and I now have a Thief's Knife ready for my future Thief job ^_^)/

Later Daca and I decided we would go do some escort quests together, since quite frankly Beastmaster's are pretty awesome for that kind of things. On the way to pick up my quest in San d'Oria, I stumbled upon Lumbering Lambert walking around in the La Theine Plateau, as I was riding through on the Chocobo I had rented at the Crag. Wanting the horn it drops, I jumped off and quickly killed it together with my lovely Carrie.

This brought back memories of finding the Morbolger in Ordelle's Caves once, and getting the Morlbolger Vine drop. In fact I am getting quite close to being able to upgrade to a Black Belt now, and Monk is also a thing I have been thinking about getting up into the higher levels eventually.

While in San d'Oria however, we learned that Cerberus had popped and had been claimed by another linkshell who wiped, so we decided to put our escorts aside for another day and head to Mount Zhayolm instead, to try and help claim Cerberus if we got the chance. The linkshell that had wiped, ended up grabbing Cerberus again before we could get there however, and thus we spent the next two hours watching it's health slowly trickle downwards before they finally killed it.

Afterwards it was "late enough" to start farming in Sea, so we went up there and started off with the obligatory Ix'Aern (DRG) farm pop (we always do this one as we really needed the Deed for a month now). Afterwards a group of people went to try get the map for the Grand Palace of Hu'Xzoi and some others for organ farming. But then for some reason, it was suddenly decided out of the blue to go pop Jailer of Temperance instead of the scheduled Jailer of Prudence that we had cancelled (lack of people)! I was of course thrilled to hear this.. hehe.

It was ages since I had done Temperance (some years in fact), and it was really fun to go back and do it as a Beastmaster this time around. In the end, Carrie even delivered the killing blow! Good going, Carrie!

I am very happy over having finally gotten the Temperance Axe, as I had been passing it multiple times back in the days when I focused my time on playing as a Red Mage, and it has been agonizing me ever since I got Beastmaster to 75 and decided to turn that into my new main. The same goes for alot of equipment I want to be honest.

The rest of the night I spent getting a bit further on my Treasures of Aht Urhgan missions, and are now in need of a group to do ToAU 29..

...but then right before going to bed, I stumbled across something pretty awesome, and even for a pretty cheap price at that! Dusk Ledelsens +1, mine!

My haste setup has gotten a bit better with these new boots, and they weren't so hurtful on the wallet either. I believe this was quite possibly the best friday I have had in Final Fantasy XI for a very long time now.

Also, with the various gear I have been aquiring lately, I have been starting to feel the need of upgrading my inventory limit, with the two new Gobbiebag Part VII and VIII quests.

And since you can get the more expensive items of those two upgrade quests from a couple Wings of the Goddess quests, the following morning I travelled back into the past, for the second time since I got the new expansion.

After deciding I wanted to ally myself with the Bastok of the past as well (as I am allied with Bastok of the futu- err.. present as well), I proceeded to complete the intiation quests and recieved my commendatory Sprinter's Shoes and Bronze Ribbon of Service § medal. Remind me to do some Campaign Ops and battles from now on!

I then had travel to San d'Oria of the past, so I could actually do the two quests that rewarded the items needed for the gobbiebag upgrades. My travels took me through some familiar and also some new areas, including Jugner Forrest, Vunkerl Inlet and East Ronfaure, before I finally arrived in
Southern San d'Oria.

I did the first quests needed, and recieved my Deathstone. But at this point in time, it was getting near our evenings event with Chroma, so I had to wait with completing the following quests to aquire an Angelstone for the second upgrade. I did however travel back to the present, over to Jeuno and increased my gobbiebag limit to 65 slots!

This evenings event was to be the KS99, Early Bird Catches the Wyrm. Before entering, the people with Themis Orb's rolled, in wich I managed to get the second highest roll, meaning I would be the second person to go in. My gut was screaming a belt is going to drop.. but not on your orb `nyanya-njy-nya-nyah`!

Sadly, my gut is never wrong, and on my orb there were no Speed Belt and rather mediocre drops at that. But however..

..I was quite right about the feeling of someone else getting the Speed Belt drop though. Breemer was the lucky git this time, so congratulations on your new 20 million, Breemer! In total I think we ended up doing around 8 or 9 runs. Drops were decent for alot of people, some had totally horrible orbs, but eventually we got through them all.

To end the day, the Nyzul Isle Assault static did another run. This time with another guest and old friend of mine tagging along, Lordwafik. Our regular static Thief were still unable to log in, and so we required (ideally) another Thief to come with us.

On the first run we bumped into Taisaijin alot, and when I saw it cast Refresh on itself, I just had to take a picture as I found it rather funny..

..but other than that, there were no drops this evening. Probably since we did so well last wednesday. It has been such a great week thus far though, with some very nice upgrades for my Beastmaster. And I can't hide the fact that I am very happy about it as well ^_^)/

Carrie wants equipment too.

Thu, 24 Jan 2008 21:32:47 GMT

Yesterday evening, we had Sky farm on the schedule, wich turned out to be pretty alright. I was in the Despot group and could therefor gain a little experience points on the side, while waiting for it to pop.

Eventually it graced us with it's presence, and upon death, the Scarecrow Scythe appeared in our loot pool, wich is a relatively rare Sky weapon. Nobody wanted it (not so surprisingly), so I lotted it for my Beastmaster. Granted, I don't tend to use Scythe alot, but I guess this one can come in handy for the times that I actually do.

After Sky was done, Daca and I got ourselves over to the Labyrinth of Onzozo as usual, and popped Ose, yet again hopeful that it would drop an Assault Jerkin for Daca this time. But alas, it didn't drop anything. We have some mighty bad luck on that Jerkin it seems.

Also, although Daca doesn't seem too interested in the Octave Club, we popped and killed Lord of Onzozo again as well. After all, it is a fun fight to do. No drop this time though, but then again, it was the day after our first drop after all, it was to be expected.

Before going to bed, I decided to go and check on Rose Garden, and although it was not up when I arrived there, I waited a little while preparing for bed and soon after it had popped. Good timing for me to go there I guess. There was a lack of drops again though, hehe.

Then today we had Sea farming of the tier 2 Jailer's scheduled with Chroma, and we took out Jailer of Hope, wich provided Vyvyan with a new Ninja Torque (Congratulations!), Jailer of Justice and Jailer of Prudence. Although the two later did not give us any Torque's, we got the pop items we wanted, so that we can now do another Jailer of Love soon.

After the linkshell event was over the Nyzul Isle Assault static, gathered together to do some runs. We had decided that today we would climb to the bosses at F40, F60 and F80, in that order. Also since one of our regular members was unable to log in, we had the pleasure of bringing another linkshell Thief with us for Treasure Hunter this time.

First boss we faced was Fafnir, and to my great pleasure, the Askar Dirs dropped as it took it's last breath. Although I plan mainly to use these for solo and kiting with pets at events, they are a very welcome addition to my collection of useful Beastmaster equip.

Next up was F60, and we quickly climbed up to the boss, wich turned out to be a Hydra. Sadly, we got no Askar Manopolas for Zexy, but I am hopeful that next time our luck changes. After all, I want these gloves too after him for my Haste setup, hehe..

Then on our last run of the evening, we faced Khimaira at F80 and got another body piece drop! This time it was the Denali Jacket, wich Vyvyan had signed up for. Congratulations to Vyvyan on your new town gear! And I would almost suggest that you level your Ranger. Because when you get both Hope Torque and Denali Jacket in a single day.. that's just a sign, that you need to be shooting arrows, haha.

It's been an eventful day, so now I can go sleep and embrace the coming weekend with a smile. PS: Don't I look darn good in those Askar Dirs? Carrie absolutely loves them! ^_^)/

I got to stop doing this!

Wed, 23 Jan 2008 22:11:11 GMT

I really need to stop waiting a few days to post new entries on things I have been up to. Yet again, I have a pile of imagery and words to compile, so I hope you are prepared for another huge blog entry, quite possibly the longest I have done to date.

But wait.. what is this? Keep reading to find out.

On saturday, a short time before our evening event, I popped Lord of Onzozo again. I was talking with my friend Vyvyan at the time, and told him it had popped. Daca had been Away all that day, and was still not back, wich I told Vyvyan as he wished me good luck.

I wanted to duo it, as I find it to be slightly more fun to do that, and there were someone that reminded me of gilsellers (BLM74x3) farming the required Torama's that I needed for a safe solo, so it would also be better with a duo in that regards as well. Vyvyan told me he could come on his Monk, and I figured that it wouldn't exactly hurt if he did. If he could maintain minimum hate, so I could switch pets easily while he "tanked" in the meanwhile, it would certainly help make things run smoother.

It worked out most of the time, but Lord of Onzozo still wanted to come beat on me, at more than one occasion. In the end however, none of us had died and we had managed to kill it, with the use of only two Torama pets.

With only minutes to spare before the event, we rushed over to Aht Urhgan Whitegate, teleported to the Azouph Isle Staging Point and ran over to Nashmau, as we were doing Einherjar and Sky farming as this evenings events. Not exactly alot of people showed up for Einherjar, but we still attempted to complete another Grimgerde's room. It sadly ended with failure..

..wich turned out was all for the best, as Khimaira popped while we were recovering from our wipe. We rushed over there as soon as we could, but sadly we ended up seeing another linkshell claim it right before we could get enough people there to make it a safe tag. The competing linkshell took ages though, so Sky farm was cancelled, while we waited around to see how things progressed.

You see, they were rather low on numbers, and as suspected, around 11%, after about 3 hours had passed, they wiped. We claimed it and quickly finished it off in somewhere around a minute and a half. At least this was the fastest kill we have ever had from claim to death, hehe. Drops was pretty fruitless, but I don't think we would have deserved anything better at any rate, getting it at such a low health. It was late, and I could finally head for my bed.

Sometime in the afternoon the following day, King Vinegarroon decided to show itself, and Chroma gathered over there before a scheduled meeting with Proto-Omega. Sadly King V didn't want to give our dedicated camper his helm, but we always hope that next time will be more rewarding. Notably, it had a good timing on showing itself for once, this time.

Afterwards, although a bit delayed, we got ourselves over to Sea, entered Limbus and took out Proto-Omega. I even got myself a Lanolin Cube in the process as well! So this coming Sunday, I can finally upgrade my Beast Trousers and be another step closer to my end goals for Weapon Skill gear! I can't wait! Also, congratulations to Inflames with Homam Cosciales and to Zexy on Homam Gambieras! But after 3 years, I am also pretty darn pleased about getting a Lanolin Cube!

Later in the evening we did a Bahamut v2 TP Burn fight. (I was on Ranger since my Beastmaster needs a bit more equip to be optimal for any type of HNM TP Burn.) Congratulations goes out to my friend, Linkx, on his Bahamut's Staff, wich basically completed his Summoner equip and of course to Shiroh on the Bahamut's Mask.

Also, since no day would be complete without a daily Lord of Onzozo kill, and this day being no different. I popped and soloed it this time as Daca had already logged off. Alas, it didn't result in any club this time either. But it was fun though, wich is 90% of the reason behind me killing it all the time.

The next day as I woke up, I went to The Boyahda Tree, to see if my friend the Ancient Goobbue was up and about. He was indeed, and since Linkx had asked to duo with me sometime, I asked if he wanted to come now. He has access to Daca's character, so he used that, and we proceeded to kill the oldie. It resulted in no Great Katana this time either, but I do enjoy a daily dose of Ancient Goobbue anyways.

Rest of the day I spent doing some various things and camping NM's that didn't want to show themselves. But in the evening, I popped another Lord of Onzozo again.

I asked if Linkx wanted to duo some more, since he had requested that we would do so after the Ancient Goobbue kill. He wanted to come, so I waited a little for him to get there, this time playing on his Summoner. It worked out very well also, but we got no club drop though. It is rather to be expected from his lordship anyways. Ending the day, I went to bed and had myself a good nights sleep.

When I woke up, I decided I wanted to complete the Saga of the Skyserpent questline, that I wrote about a few days back. I had one more General to learn about, namely Mihli, and by far, this was the coolest part in story of the generals, with loads of cool, action filled sequences. I can't help but recommend everyone who has not done this quest series to go look it up and get it done. You shouldn't be disappointed.
After completing this questline, I decided to pick up on the Treasures of Aht Urgan Missions again, where I left them back in 2006 (since I quit). After a handful of easy and soloable missions, I had Khimaira 13 coming up, and decided I would want to try and solo this as well.

Knowing that a Beastmaster would stand little to no chance in this endeavour, basically due to lacking available pets and Call Beast having a far too long recast to even bother attempting it with that, I decided to switch to the stealthier side of myself, and went as a Ninja. A handful minutes later, to my great pleasure, I found myself having managed to solo it quite easily, on my first attempt. It was quite pleasing in fact.

I then got invited to come merit by a linkshell member, so I did that for a few hours before we disbanded and I did some more missions. But then got to a part where it required me to wait until after Japanese midnight before I could continue, wich had been 5 minutes earlier.. Doh! I hate when that happens!

Since I had no choice on the missions but to wait, I decided that I would go try and get a pop item for the Thief's Knife, now that they have changed the spawn conditions and all.

Then on my way to the Temple of Uggalepih, I figured it would be wise to take a look and see if Rose Garden was around as well, since I also want the Vilma's Ring. It turned out that was a smart choice, because as I arrived there, Rose Garden was up and about, crawling around on the lower grounds. Knowing there is little point in waiting around for Voluptuous Vilma (as other people would kill Rose Garden if they passed by anyways), I just killed it, and recieved as expected, nothing for the minimal effort it took Carrie to kill it ^_^)/

I continued my travel to the Temple of Uggalepih and started to kill the Tonberry Pursuer's, wich drops the pop item for Thief's Knife. But after three times of getting hate from Carrie, and instantly getting Everyone's Grudged by the Pursuer for over 3000 damage (I don't want to reset the accumulated hate), I gave up as it wasn't worth the experience points loss, or travel time back to the temple for that matter. Next time I will just let Carrie fight them for me on her own. I'm sure she won't mind.

Daca logged in around the time I decided to stop doing that, so we went together to see if Ancient Goobbue was up again. It was and we killed it without a single mischarm. No Great Katana, but gil is gil, experience points are welcome and the fight is still fun.

Afterwards we travelled to the Labyrinth of Onzozo, wich seems to have become a daily home for us two these days. Upon entering the area, I checked my Widescan and found that Mystixmaker Profblix was up, so we went there to kill it for the money, that is, if nobody was camping it. It turned out nobody was actively camping it, and it was just walking around on its own, so we killed it.

It was no earring that dropped, but none of us was in need of that anyways, and it was only a Thundaga III wich got autolooted to me and I sold for a measly 15,000 gil later that dropped. Then again, 15,000 gil is quite decent these days I guess. Pays for some consumables, hehe..

We managed to pop and kill Peg Powler as well and Daca got autolooted the "awesome" Schwarz Axt!

Then we popped Ose in the hopes that Daca could get an Assault Jerkin drop, but it was not our day in regards to that. Hopefully next time it drops! As a funny note, there was another party that arrived a good while after we had started to kill the Ose placeholder, that obviously was after Ose as well.

They followed us all around after we got the claim, and once we started to switch our Torama pets, they seemed to have gotten the idea that they wanted to get us killed, by attempting to kill every single Torama out there. Luckily there is a bit too many Torama's for anyone to do that without a proper alliance, so we managed to kill Ose. But I found it cheap of them to lower themselve to such tactics. Ironically they clapped and cheered once we killed it.. hah!

And lastly, no day as said, is complete without a Lord of Onzozo kill, and he popped just before Daca decided to go to bed. There were something in my gut, that just told me while we were busy fighting,
that `Today is the day, but..`

And as I already know, I need to trust my gut more often. We got the Octave Club to drop! Daca then told me to lot it, wich I of course happily did...

..and lotted a 87. I had a feeling I would lot poorly on the club, there was that `but..` feeling I had earlier. But then Daca just passed it and I found myself with a new club in my inventory. O' happy days! Thank you very much Daca, for letting me just have the club like that.

I will actually put this club to decent use soon in the future as well, since I plan to "finish" my Dark Knight up to Lv.72, obtain a bit of "zerg" equipment, then bring it for HNM TP Burns (at the very least until my Beastmaster can perform decent enough numbers for that). It was a really great way to end the day, and also a great way I feel, to end this blog entry. Until next we meet again, keep safe, and feed your pets!

Too much spilling of blood.

Fri, 18 Jan 2008 22:57:08 GMT

Picking up from our last Adamantoise, we proceeded to capture and kill another one the following day. This time around, it was a sad loot pool that filled our screens. And although happy about the claim, someone uttered `Failturtle is fail` just as we got teleported out of the area. And I have to admit.. it does kinda describes what we all feel about this regular Adamantoise. It just fails to be worth 3 hours of camping.

Afterwards we did a Limbus run with Chroma, and following that, my Nyzul Isle Assault static did a pair of runs on floor 80. But it sadly resulted in no drops worth mentioning this time around.

The next morning, I was asked if I wanted to tag along for Daca's Dagger WSNM, and I of course happily helped out. The NM was taken care of with little trouble at all, so congratulations to you Daca, on unlocking your Evisceration Weapon Skill!

Afterwards I went back to the Labyrinth of Onzozo to try and pop Lord of Onzozo again. 16 minutes later, he spawned and I quickly asked if Daca, who at the time were located in the Quicksand Caves, wanted to come duo it (or I would just end up soloing). Daca arrived in the Labyrinth shortly afterwards, as enthusiastic about another duo kill as I was (it is fun!). Am I the only one, noticing the irony in using cats to kill a "fish"?

While we were killing Lord of Onzozo, we noticed there were another duo, in the form of a Ninja and a Summoner, present in the Labyrinth and killing Ose, another NM that had popped after we had engaged the Lord of Onzozo. Around the end of his lordship's lifebar, the other team ran into trouble and the Ninja died, so they asked us for assistance to kill Ose, wich we gladly agreed to do once we were done with our current NM.

Half a minute later, our loot pool filled up with junk, so sadly we got no Octave Club this time around either. We quickly invited the Summoner from the other Party, engaged Ose and raised his Ninja friend. But Ose didn't drop the Assault Jerkin wich they were after, wich is too bad. At least me and Daca got a fun fight to do though ^_^)/

Hungry for some more to do, we managed to pop Narasimha on the first placeholder we killed, and killed him as well. We decided while fighting, that our next destination would be The Boyahda Tree and challenges we could find there.

We travelled to the tree and found our main goal, the Ancient Goobbue, walking about on the lower floors near a beautiful cavern waterfall. As a duo, this NM is a joke, and we watched as our pets slowly trickled it's life down to zero. No Great Katana's for us this time though.

In the evening, Chroma had Jormungand scheduled, so we gathered up on the top of the Ulegurand Range. Admittedly I didn't particularily enjoy this event, as it took a while, I was playing Red Mage, were fulltime in the add party and Jormungand has nothing that makes it worth the while and effort it takes, by giving anyone of our members a decent upgrade in the equip department.

At least Tiamat has Herald's Gaiters, Vrtra has Sheikh Manteel materials. Jormungand? He has a Mercurial Pole, wich incidentally dropped as well. Sephris won the freelot on that pole, so congratulations on your new skillup weapon, Sephris! And of course, congratulations to Chroma on a first Jormungand kill! At least it can be crossed off in a book as something done. Chroma claims the title; World Serpent Slayer's.

Afterwards, we did a quick floor 60 run with the Nyzul Isle Assault static, but alas, it resulted in dust and we got yet again shafted on drops. Hopefully Saturday has a bit more luck when we do my disc on floor 20, to farm tags for our main disc, held by Blaize.

This morning I logged in to find a random Ninja had killed the first placeholder for Lord of Onzozo, just as the window had opened. Lord of Onzozo popped, and I stood around watching it for a little while. When the Ninja finally came back, I asked if he had anyone coming to help him, and if not, if he wanted to "team up" up for it (that would have been a solo by me, that he would've watched more likely). He answered he had a Thief and a White Mage friend coming, so I just stood back and waited for his friends to arrive. I watched them kill and got the Time of Death for another day.

(I could have claimed Lord of Onzozo easily today, but I personally don't like claiming things that others have worked for by popping. I find that to be rude and inconsiderate, so I try to steer clear of doing that. Although today the Ninja left the area, so I wouldn't have felt morally wrong taking it. But I have my set of principles.)

Afterwards I decided I wanted the A l'Outrance scythe, so I killed Hellion's placeholders and 16 minutes later it popped. It was an easy fight that only required the use of a single Torama, with a little added help in contributed damage dealt from myself.

I then decided to toy around with my new skillup scythe, and tried to pop Peg Powler. But after clearing the Flying Manta room five times, I got bored and casted Teleport-Holla, got myself up into Sea, ran over to the Updraft and traveled down into the Tavnazian Safehold. Where I stayed idle most of the remaining day as I had to go outside for a doctor's appointment.

When I came back in the evening, some volounteer's had decided to go Sea farming for fun, and to help out the linkshell with pop items.

I joined up with them, and the Sea farm ended up being overally pretty successful. We first went hunting for the Ix'Aern (DRG). But in a bittersweet way, that only resulted in the Vice for the Astute Cape. And although I am happy to see another member of Chroma getting a useful upgrade for themselves, I would have wanted the Deed of Sensibility to drop too, as that was what we were after. But congratulations to Aminore on the nice cape though! And to think you even got all three jobs at Lv.75! I am glad we got the Vice.

We then traversed up to the Jailer of Faith, and punched it's lights out. Then following Faith, we messed around a little by doing a quick kill of Ix'Aern (MNK). But it took more time to get to Ix'MNK than to actually kill it! For this kill, we would have preferred the Vice however, since we already have a bunch of Ix'Aern (MNK) Deed's in the linkshell storage. But maybe next time.

And I even got something out of the evening as well!

Hurray for my around 50th Virtue Stone Pouch! Now I really just need a Temperance Axe, so I can start clearing some inventory space.. hehe. Luckily we are in need of a Jailer of Temperance soon, as we have only one of the pop item it drops left in the linkshell. One of my dreams, is a Haste setup with Temperance Axe mainhand and Ridill offhand, hehe. Who knows what the future will bring? I may fulfill my dream.

One title after the other.

Tue, 15 Jan 2008 22:59:57 GMT

This morning, I woke up to find that we were gathering for Tiamat and was asked to come on my Beastmaster (yay!), as there were nobody there to take care of the adds that might link. Admittedly it is a bit boring at times, since there isn't exactly a constant flow of adds on Tiamat, but I took care of the bombs and Arch Corse's regardless and we ended up with another pair of Herald's Gaiters dropping. Congratulations to my friend Sizah, you totally deserved these boots!

Later during the day it was time for another Xolotl kill. This time around we were four people from the linkshell who gathered. Daca, Elmario, myself and also Breemer. With us four, the fight became a very care free and easy ordeal and he was easily disposed of, resulting in.. dust and Experience points. Shame we got no drops, but the fight itself is always fun anyways.

Nearly right afterwards, Adamantoise window was approaching and we gathered up in the Valley of Sorrows. Where we proceeded to get the claim as well. For once the normal version was welcomed, as we saw the Adamantoise Egg in the loot pool. Congratulations Acheron, on 2/3 Black Belt items!

Then to end the day, me and Daca decided to go to the Labyrinth of Onzozo, for some NM hunting. We ended up only being able to pop Lord of Onzozo, but happily took it out. This resulted sadly in no Octave Club, but yet again more "dust" and Experience points. But that is to be expected of Lord of Onzozo anyways.

It turned out to be another pretty fun day at least.

Sign me up for a Ridill, please!

Mon, 14 Jan 2008 15:11:21 GMT

Finally! After having seen plenty of other linkshells claiming the Ground HNM's for a couple of weeks now, we got ourselves our first claim of 2008. Our victim as it were, was to be Fafnir - the prince of Dragon's Aery! Upon his death, following a pretty painless fight.. the word `Ridill!` soared through the linkshell as we saw Chroma's third Ridill (in 3 months!), fill the loot pool.

Lior, who was the only person present that plays a Warrior, was happily allowed to lot on it uncontested. You lucky git! Hehe.. Congratulations are in order, Lior - on this sweet blue and gold dream of a sword! Much envy my friend, much envy ^_-)b

And to think a couple weeks back, you were considering to quit Final Fantasy XI because of Byakko's Haidate never dropping for you. I bet you are glad you listened to me when I said, good things come to those that wait.

After this third drop, I signed myself up on the loot list as well, wanting this lovely sword, now that there are nearly no other people with jobs that are being steadily used and that benefit from meleeing with a one-handed weapon. Other than Daca also being signed up, there are a few Ranger's, a Dark Knight and Samurai's etc. written on the list as well. And I even think that a Ranger, are (sadly) allowed to lot on the same level of priority as a Beastmaster, and there are plenty of Ranger's signed as wanting it. Hmm...

I can't say I wouldn't love getting a Ridill, and with an already capped Sword skill, merits in that department and a massive Accuracy build - I already know I would be able to connect my hits. But if the future will grant me the luck I need however, is yet to be seen. What a great way to start our day though!

Later on, we did Ouryu as our evening event, and came successfully out of that, with some more drops for the linkshell bank funds, and a new Monarch's Orb for future planned Bahamut v2 fights.

Other than that, I have been enjoying a questline from Aht Urgan, wich depicts the story behind the Skyserpent General's founding and soldiers. It is a highly entertaining questline and I would like to advice anyone with a sense for good storytelling, that enjoys long and action filled cutscenes, and that has not yet gotten around to doing this quest, to go look up the quest Saga of the Skyserpent.

Below are a few screen captures from the questline, but they should hardly spoil anything. I would rather hope they actually inspire you to go do the questline instead, to see what it's all about.

Wonder what the following weeks will bring. If I can wake up to more days like this one, I won't exactly complain about the angel dust in my eyes. Today was yet again, a totally awesome day. And maybe some day, I too will be wielding a Ridill as well, beside my fellow Warriors of Chroma.. Everyone's allowed to dream, right?

I got a haidate!

Sat, 12 Jan 2008 22:22:04 GMT

This Friday, two of the members in Chroma, Acheron and Mattchoo, had farmed themselves pop items for a double Byakko pop and asked if the linkshell couldn't come help kill the Sky God. As we had no objections to this, we gathered a small group in Sky and killed the two Byakko's. After all, the helpers had a chance to get some Abjurations, and the Seal of Byakko goes to the linkshell, helping with future Kirin pops.

Luckily it turned out that both of the God pops resulted in a dropped Byakko's Haidate and I was also quite happy myself, since I got my hands on the Dryadic Abjuration: Legs, wich is a good "temporary" substitute for my own Ninja, wich is yet to recieve a Byakko's Haidate as well. Some day Byakko! I will come for your pants! So you better be wearing a belt if you want to keep them on, tiger boy..

Later that night, Zexy and Azriel was planning to duo a Ullikummi, and once they realised I was awake as well, they asked if I wanted to tag along, wich I gladly did.

Then after some hunting around, I managed to locate a pair of rather cheap Cursed Haidate -1, and went straight to San d'Oria to appraise them! Even though they are no Byakko's Haidate, they are a very welcomed acquisition until I can finally get a hold of the kitty pants. Also with my Monk and Samurai as planned future jobs, they will be put to good use in the future.

Today we did Swift Belt as a linkshell event, and a total of 9 people was ready with a Fomor Codex pop item each. Our first pop even resulted in a belt, wich my new Beastmaster friend Daca got, and all things seemed to lead up to a greatly rewarding evening. Except.. when the following 8 pops, resulted in just dust and some mediocre EXP. I suddenly remembered why I quit back in 2006, when I got fed up with all the stupid game mechanics, similar to this...

..but it quickly passed as we claimed Khimaira later on and got another Seveneyes drop. Congratulations to Mattchoo this time, yet another Red Mage, on this fantastic Conserve MP club! And of course, I am very happy on Daca's behalf, with the Swift Belt drop! Congratulations Daca!

Afterwards we did Nyzul Isle Assault with the static, and as we killed Khimaira on Floor 60, we recieved our first pair of hands drop in the loot pool. As nobody had signed up for the Goliard Cuffs, we freelotted and our outsider visitor of the evening (not in the static) was the lucky winner. So congratulations on your nuke and solo Red Mage gloves, Elmario!

Regardless if Swift Belt reminded me of alot of stupid things in Final Fantasy XI, I still enjoy the game. But I had a bad feeling for a while following the "failed" event. You can't help but wonder, what posseses Square-ENIX to create such horrible drop conditions? They can't honestly believe it will make us play longer? It has rather the opposite effect.

Sea farming.

Thu, 10 Jan 2008 21:01:54 GMT

Today was rather calm, most of the day was spent in bed to try recover from my flu, and evening was spent doing a little farming, up in Al'Taieu. Congratulations to Shiroh, on his new Astute Cape.

Ix'Aern nearly back to back.

Perseverance prevails!

Wed, 09 Jan 2008 22:01:22 GMT

As I have been writing these past days, I have spent some of my spare time camping Quu Domi the Gallant, in hope of obtaining the Sarutobi Kyahan for my Ninja, to take it one more step towards my completed all-round set for this secondary job. It started off as an adventure full of optimism, followed by slight frustration and gritting teeth, to having nightmares while sleeping about Yagudo Heralds coming to assasinate me in my bed, staining the sheets with blood! You have any idea how hard it is to get blood stains out of your bed sheets?!

Anyways.. today didn't seem to be much different, as Quu Domi, upon Quu Domi, continued to shaft me on the boots dropping. I tried everything I could to see if it would affect the drop rate. Granted, I spent most of the day in bed, as I am sick, so I didn't get all claims either.

Eventually it was ground HNM camping time, so I got myself out of bed and I moved myself to Dragon's Aery, in an attempt to help Chroma claim Fafnir. But today wasn't our day, and another linkshell claimed him, while we watched it die. After this, the Nyzul Isle Assault static group gathered, to do a little low level climbing for points on the main disc, and then a third go up to floor 80, wich resulted in our first win, a saved disc and a body piece drop! Congratulations Obev on the first body drop, a spanking new Goliard Saio!

As I wrote, I have been feeling sick lately, but decided to park myself in Castle Oztroja, in hopes that when I eventually woke up, I wouldn't feel so sick that I wouldn't be able to hunt Quu Domi the Gallant a couple more times. Well chances had it, that I got a couple claims alone with absolutely no competition, but alas no drop. I went to bed and slept, then woke up because my body had to get rid of some waste. If I have to be very obvious, I had to throw up.

After collecting myself from this horrible experience (I hate throwing up..) I decided to give it a go on Quu Domi again before heading back to bed. While I was trying to spawn him, a little tarutaru Ninja named Ruthless, came running in and was clearly camping as well. We spoke a little, and decided to team up so we both had the chance on the NM, and the drop. Quu Domi spawned soon after, and finally he dropped the Kyahan! We wished eachother luck, and lotted. I hesitated a little on my lot, had a bad feeling about it..

..but it turned out I worried for no reason at all! I won the lot and the Sarutobi Kyahan dropped into my bags.

The extreme joy filling me at that moment is unparalleled to recent events. Although I have been very happy over other accomplishments, the fact that I had needed to throw up, resulted in me finally getting the pair of boots I had been hunting all week.. it just seemed too good to be true. I had to pinch myself, to make certain that I wasn't still sound asleep!

I am so happy, I can call myself done with camping in this god forsaken place! Hehe.. Good night! Hopefully I will feel less nauseous after sleeping. PS: I stayed and camped some more Quu Domi the Gallant's with my new tarutaru aquaintance, but no more boots dropped. Bleh! Hope he gets them sooner than I did!

Beastmaster Decu and Daca.

Mon, 07 Jan 2008 15:11:31 GMT

I don't think I ever told about, Beastmaster Daca. You see.. fate had it this way, that when I joined Chroma, it turned out there was already another Beastmaster named Daca in the linkshell! And you just got to ask yourself.. what are the odds of that?! So anyways, today was the first time we actually decided to go team up for something, and with Elmario, a Red Mage, at our side, the three of us went to face Xolotl and his undead minions in a battle until death!

Today luck shone down upon me, and I had a powerlot! Wich was highly welcome, as this was part of the gear set I have as a goal for completing my all-round Ninja outfit. I'm lacking another 4 things before my Ninja can join my Ranger and be completed on equipment. We also decided we would team up more often and Xolotl would be on a more steady schedule to equip our linkshell with the two goodies Xolotl can provide.

We could really be sister and brother Beastmasters!

After this Xolotl kill, I got to know that Khimaira had popped in the meanwhile, and with a heavy heart, feeling that I probably would be missing this kill, I rushed to Caederva Mire. But my fears manifested and it died just as I turned the corner down to Khimaira. Regardless, I was happy to learn that another Seveneyes dropped, and would like to congratulate Obev's Red Mage on this awesome club!

A part of my Ninja equipment that are wanted, are the Sarutobi Kyahan, and I have of course continued to hunt and kill Quu Domi the Gallant.

But no.. there has still not been a drop. Maybe next one will get me closer to my dream set! ^_^)/

Happy birthday to me..

Sun, 06 Jan 2008 22:01:31 GMT

Today is my birthday, so I decided to give myself a little present and are with that, ready to call my Ranger completed with this new and upgraded body piece. Although my heart lies with the Beastmaster, I do occationally enjoy disguising myself as a hunter and going out in the wilderness, shooting arrows at the monsters threatening my little beast friends.

Chroma claimed a Cerberus the other day (uncontested), and killed it in about 35 minutes, wich I found to be reasonably fast. It did however, not drop any Algol this time either, so better luck next time to our two-handed melee friends!

We also popped a bunch of Unstable Cluster's on Saturday, for the Soboro Sukehiro. So Congratulations are in order, to Vyvyan, Azriel, Pasha and Soultear on your new Great Katana!

Today we took down Proto-Omega, resulting in double Homam legs drop. Congratulations Zexy and Blaize on your new Haste legs! Now I'm going to go enjoy the rest of my birthday.

Happy New Year!

Thu, 03 Jan 2008 22:22:38 GMT

2008. Another year has gone by and a new one followed, just like last year, and the year before that. I sit here pondering what adventures will come my way this year, as I prepare some food for Carrie by the fireplace of my Mog House. One thing I feel is for certain.. this is going to be a great year. If only for myself, this year is going to be historic! I can't wait to see what challenges awaits, and who or what comes knocking on my door.

I am still pretty busy outside the world of Vana D'iel, but do however find a little time to go do what I enjoy as well, like going on adventures and hunts. Since this year is the "Year of the Rat", there was a new, New Years event added to the world of Vana D'iel, with Qirirn's running around in various parts of the world, accepting traded items, wich in return yielded some fun new furnishing for my Mog House. Can you guess wich, belongs to what nation?

I have also been camping for the Sarutobi Kyahan as of late. But alas.. I have yet to see these pair of elusive boots fall into my bags after numerous defeated Quu Domi's on my kill records. At least I get alot of vendorable Strider Swords to sell! ^_^)/

And of course, we have had some events going on with Chroma as well now that the holidays are over. And we got in example, a Khimaira claim the other day, wich provided Sephris with a new "D2 Conserve MP Club"! Congratulations! More Red Mages need to sign up for the Seveneyes club! Excellent for Convert and buff cycles!

I hope you all have a very happy new year, and I look forward to seeing more of you in the months to come! Hopefully my schedule out here in the real world calms down more, so that I have a little more time to spend on Final Fantasy XI and my blog.

It's been a long way.

Thu, 27 Dec 2007 22:00:00 GMT

A milestone has been reached. In the five years since I started playing, I have now played for five-hundred and fifty-five days. And most of that would be without being away for bazaaring, as I use a little tarutaru friend for that. Now you can calculate that for yourself,
((555/5)*100)/365 = 30% a year in average spent on Final Fantasy XI.

Anyways, we did another go with Nyzul Isle Assault yesterday, climbing up to floor 45 and saving, then we went down and killed the boss on floor 20 wich granted us Goliard Clogs. Congratulations to Mattchoo, who came with us to help, on obtaining new Bard and Red Mage feet! We also bumped into a pretty strange name, with an ironic drop..

That's all I got for now, the holidays are keeping me somewhat busy outside the world of Vana D'iel.

A couple early Christmas presents.

Sun, 23 Dec 2007 21:15:19 GMT

We got ourselves a Fafnir fight today, and although he didn't drop a Ridill, he did provide a Chroma Paladin with a Hrotti and a Black Mage with a pair of Zenith Mitts. A couple welcome Christmas presents in the holidays. Congratulations Orunatia and Mrjd!

Notice how Charm claim is made of win!

We also claimed a Behemoth yesterday, but I totally forgot to take pictures of it, except for the drops, wich was like a typical Behemoth would be.

The holidays are here.

Fri, 21 Dec 2007 19:11:30 GMT

I forgot to blog when I got my Cursed Gloves -1 a couple weeks ago. And although I don't currently have the Neptunal Abjuration: Hands, I am hopeful that one day I will be lucky enough to obtain it and uncurse these beauties. Now the big challenge will be, to locate a Cursed Cap -1 that don't cost me my shirt and panties. Because those things are really expensive!

Christmas has arrived, and as a tradition each year, the Starlight Celebration seasonal event are bringing various people together in the towns, exchanging gifts, and helping eachother out. This years new reward is the Dream Boots, with the HQ version granting you Sneak once every two hours and enchancing the effect. This might not seem like much, but I see it as a free Silent Oil while running up to Dragon's Aery. The two times I used them, they lasted all the way up to the Aery from the Korrigan's room. In the long run, this means I am saving money, and I love saving money.

I also finally got myself the Rabbit Belt as a event reward, wich allows me to transform into a rabbit, making myself able to get even more in touch with the beastly side of my life.

If I don't see you before after the holidays; Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you and yours!

Keeping myself busy.

Mon, 17 Dec 2007 09:33:11 GMT

Our Nyzul Isle Assault static has luckily been getting some more drops lately, and have thus decided to progress to floor 80 as soon as possible, skipping past floor 40 and 60 farming, until after we get the body piece drops we want. But before this decision was made however, we were able to get a couple more boot drops on floor 20! So.. congratulations to Obev on his new Goliard feet!

And congratulations to Blaize on his new tank feet!

We also did another Einherjar Chamber with Chroma on Thursday, and with that completed, even more people are ready for Wing 2, and the linkshell are some steps closer to facing Odin.

Then on Saturday, we had Sky Gods on the schedule. Wich turned out to be a good day for me. First thing we did was Byakko, and although he had no other drops worth mentioning, I at the very least, was happy to see the following Abjuration drop.

Some God kills later, once the event was over, I rushed to get them uncursed. (3/5)

But incidentally, Wyrmal Abjuration: Hands dropped as well from Seiryu, with nobody else wanting them. And having had Cursed Fng. Gauntlets -1 stored up in my Mog House since.. well, sort of forever.. I was happy to get these uncursed as well. Thank you Chroma!

So not only did I get manage to get HQ Armada feet, but I also got myself HQ Blood gloves. And although it's not exactly for my BST, I am still quite happy about it. Two HQ uncurses in a single day. Yay!

Late at night, Cerberus decided to show up, and Chroma got a group together and killed it. There were no special drops though. And yes, I am on lolRDM.

Then on Sunday, we had Early Bird Catches the Wyrm KS99 runs with the linkshell, with 8 or so orbs ready to be used (We had like 16 orbs in the LS though). And then on the second to last orb, Altana shone some luck down upon the orb owner! So congratulations on your new steaming, fresh of the press~ 20 million, Sephris!

Then sometime late at night again (let's just say it was some time after midnight), Khimaira decided to pop, and we scrambled together a smaller group to kill it with.

Sadly it didn't provide us with any of the "desired" drops (Hauteclardie), but the kill was fun none the less at those hours. I was very sleepy at the time too O.o)b

Also I am still busy leveling my Dancer, and are currently closing in on the 60-70 level range. Admittedly, Dancer is partly the reason for my slow Blog updating. I really just wish to attain Lv.75 as soon as it's possible and be done with it. So I spend alot of my free time leveling the job.

Hopefully I won't have slow parties like I did from 50 to 55. Those levels were a pain and slow, with lack of tanks and people understanding how to play the game.

PS: I want my Artifact armor!

Wings of the Goddess arrived!

Wed, 12 Dec 2007 17:54:05 GMT

Ok, it's been a while since I wrote a entry here now, and the simple reason behind this, is that I got the Wings of the Goddess (WotG) expansion, on the 5th of December. Wich got me busy with exploring and to unlock and start leveling my new sub job, Dancer. Well, and there has been a majority of events lately I have attended with Red Mage. We need more RDM's in our linkshell, hehe.

Early on last week, I decided that since getting myself a Hecatomb Cap +1 will take some time, I would go and get a "temporary" head piece for my Weapon Skill equipment.

Then on the 5th, as soon as Wings of the Goddess arrived, I hastily started to explore once it was installed and updated. Firstly heading to the Carvernous Maw in Rolanberry Fields for a nice opening sequence. (Hopefully these two pictures won't spoil it for anyone.)

I got transported to Batallia Downs (S), where I quickly discovered some new skin textures on tigers named Smilodon. They lost their color over time I guess.

After visiting Eldieme Necropolis in the past, I ventured into Pashow Marshlands (S) where I found a new type of pet to spend some time with. These slugs by the name Lou Carcolh, were rich in numbers and I used a few to fight some new Tough rated dragonic looking monsters, called Peiste. Wich on a second note is rather nasty with their AoE Paralyze effect..

Then while I was questing to unlock my Dancer sub job, I had to travel to Jugner Forrest (S), where I found a new beetle family, the Biddybug. These will aggro at Lv.75 and comes both in flight and ground based versions. Order yours now, for free-ninety-nine!

Later that evening we had Einherjar on the menu in Chroma, and cleared another chamber, providing access to the second Wing for a few people.

The following day, our unlucky no drop streak with the Nyzul Isle Assault static ceased, and we finally got to see our first drop!

Congratulations Vyvyan!

I also bumped into a little NM while passing through (purposely, under New Moon) the Konschtat Highlands. A fomor by the name of Bendigeit Vran, wich granted me a nice leveling Chakram for my Dancer.

Then on Saturday, we did a total of around 8 Bomb Queen spawns with the linkshell for various members.

Followed by two spawns of Jailer of Love the following day. Wich further more, resulted in 2 Torques and both a Novia and Novio Earring. Big congratulations to Sephris for the BOOM earring! Jailer of Love sure was generous this time, and Absolute Virtue decided to spawn after both kills as well, being satisfied with only killing Sizah on the first spawn! O_o)

When doing Nyzul Isle afterwards, we got another drop, and my Ninja, Ranger and especially my future Dancer, are very happy about that. Thank you, very much!

Wich brings me to the end of this blog entry.. My DNC is now Lv.50 and rising. And I am definately taking it all the way, as I find it interesting to play and may want to use it occationally for end-game related events. It's now been 7 days since I got WotG, with the first day maybe consisting of 2 hours to explore.

Am I leveling too fast? Or too slow?

The beginning of a epic journey.

Sun, 02 Dec 2007 03:00:00 GMT

I had heard at a local tavern, rumors about a Goblin in the lands to the north. A Goblin blacksmith, that was supposedly able to restore the old axe I had recovered, to it's true potential powers. It was an old weapon of excellent craftsmanship and I had sensed there was something special about this axe. But to be told it was the legendary, Guttler. Such statements seemed ludicrous. However.. it intrigued me.. and with Carrie by my side, I made my way to the desolate lands of the northern region, finally arriving there at nightfall.

These cold lands was plastered with undead and demons, a haven to their kin, and home of the Shadow Lord. A cold chill went down my spine, at the thought of his ever lurking presence over these lands. Winds were gusting in my direction, blizzards ripped across my face and through my clothes. I couldn't give up now, I had come so far.. I could see the glowing lights of the fortress in the distance. But I couldn't walk anymore, my legs gave way below me. I had been reckless with the weather, it was too cold, and I collapsed.

Carrie moved up to my side, nudging herself against me, telling me she wanted me to grab hold of her shell. But I was too weak, exhausted of the hardships these lands had put me through. Carrie grabbed hold of me with her claws, and dragged me along through the snow, up into a cave in the mountain side. It was a miracle we had made it this far alive. In here, out of the blistering cold and gusting winds, I gathered some strength, and set up a camp for the night. Never had I been so glad to have with me the subliminal knowledge of a Black Mage, that allowed me to cast the spell, Fire, to keep us warm. With Carrie guarding me, I drifted off into a light sleep.

The next morning, the weather had cleared up, and we made our way to the fortress, sneaking past a handful of demon guards on the way. Once we finally arrived at the entrance, I asked Carrie to stay outside and keep a lookout. I didn't want any of these demons sneaking up on me from behind..

As soon as I entered the fortress, not far from the entrance I spotted a Goblin. Thinking it was one of the Shadow Lords minions, I clutched the axe firmly in my hand and charged in to attack..

`Hold it right there, pal! Is that a relic axe you're carrying? The power hidden behind that worn appearance is making my old Gobbie ears twitch. Trust me, I'm a blacksmith. I don't kid around when it comes to weapons. Hrmmm. It'd take a lotta work, but I could make that power shine through again. Okay, adventure-boy, you got something to write with? To forge the relic axe, I'm gonna need a piece of angel skin, a Chronos tooth, and a feather collar +1. Yep, that's the bare minimum. Bring along the relic axe with those three items and I'll get to work for you. I've told you what I need, the rest is up to you.`

I was stunned for a second, it was the goblin blacksmith that I had been told about! The way he spoke about the weapon.. could it truly be.. Guttler? I memorized the list and told him I would return some day with the items he required. I set my course for Jeuno, estimating that my chances to obtain these things, would be best there. Upon arrival, I took use of my skill in tailoring and crafted the feather collar +1 with extra care. I bargained the remaining items I was enlisted to get for him from other crafters and sellers. Weeks passed by, but when I finally had all three of them, I returned to the fortress, taking extra care of the weather before I went this time...

`You got me what I need? Lemme see here, a piece of angel skin, a Chronos tooth, and a feather collar +1. Good work. Did I mention that I don't work for free? I'm gonna need a little something up front--don't trust you sneaky adventure-types. Oh, and I got no interest in gil. My fee for this job is 3 Lungo-Nango jadeshells. You people pay each other for stuff all the time, right? Well, this ain't no different. You pay my fee, your weapon gets fixed up.`

Having slain several beastmen in Dynamis, that had been carrying these ancient currencies, I had already attained several times the fee required of me by Switchstix. And although slightly annoyed over the fact he had not told me of this fee before now, I handed him the 3 shells.

`You brought me my 3 Lungo-Nango jadeshells? Right, time to get to work. My forge is hot and ready to go. The Goblin way of smithing is a little different from your fancy-schmancy "synthesis." I'm gonna need some time to get this job done. You kept me waiting for the materials I needed, now it's your turn to cool your heels for a while. Fair's fair, right?`

Kurrea.

Sat, 01 Dec 2007 22:03:30 GMT

Had a short little event today, where we popped Kurrea for some linkshell members. So congratulations to Azriel and Pasha on their new Galliard trousers. I had fun killing this mean ol' Bugard again, as it has been a long time since I did it. Nearly 2 years in fact.

Later we did some Nyzul Isle Assault with the static group, but I was on RDM so didn't bother documenting it. But I can of course state.. it had no great rewards.

A slightly delayed entry.

Thu, 29 Nov 2007 22:41:11 GMT

Been a few busy days, so the blog entries was delayed. Thus I have combined the last couple of days worth of entries here into one instead. We had another Kirin TP Burn scheduled yesterday. But some hours earlier, there was a emergency maintenance on the horizon, when Voluptuous Vivian popped. We quickly scrambled together a group and took her down.. but alas, this time there was no golden ring to loot.

After the maintenance we spent some more time in Dragon's Aery, checked if Vivian was back up, and took a little time to see if we would get a Fafnir or Nidhogg. But after someone else claimed Fafnir, we went up into Sky and annihilated Kirin within a few seconds..

..wich resulted in something very nice for another friend of mine, Vyvyan. I can only congratulate you yet again, and share with you my happiness on your behalf! You are one cool looking Monk now, in your brand new, Shura togi +1!

Following this, the Nyzul Isle Assault static did 3 runs, wich didn't give any rewarding drops. Let's see if we can't have a little more luck on Saturday.

So now we have caught up with the present, and today there was Sea farm on the schedule. We started out with killing Aw'aern to pop Ix'aern (DRG), wich took us a pretty long time, since he just did not want to appear for us. Sadly there was no Vice for the cape once he did pop and was killed, but we got what we came for, the Deed, so it was not a waste of time anyways.

We then located the ??? for the Jailer of Faith, and popped it twice, both times sadly resulting with no torque. But, then again, we were there for the pop item at any rate, so we got what we were there for as well.

At the end of the day, a linkshell member, Jedinight, asked for some help to kill a UFO (Yovra), and since Chroma are not one to turn down a member in need, we escaped out, located and killed a Ul'yovra, and got him his Yovra Organ. The last item he was in need of for the Soil Gorget. It has been a couple of productive and fun filled days.

Voluptuous Vivian delivers.

Mon, 26 Nov 2007 20:33:33 GMT

Following the server maintenance today, we were running up to an unclaimed Fafnir, when we discovered that Voluptuous Vivian was up and roaming about as well. Another LS claimed Fafnir before we got to him, so we were instructed to prepare for killing Vivian instead.

It sure paid off, so major congratulations on obtaining one of the best rings in the game, Obev! Now I need to find something to interest me tomorrow and other free days, due to Chroma deciding to take a break from camping the three ground kings. Preparing myself for it to be some boring weeks, considering how much I enjoy doing those GK's. At least we have the scheduled LS events I can look forward to.

A totally awesome day.

Sun, 25 Nov 2007 21:01:00 GMT

Prepare yourself for another huge blog entry. Things are happening around me quickly and at a constant pace. And to top it all off, I am lucky enough to be allowed to take a part in most of these things on the job I love, Beastmaster, and today was no exception!

First we traversed up to Dragon's Aery in hope of reuniting with our friend from yesterday, Fafnir. (Wich coincidentally dropped a Ridill for Inflames!) And today we won another claim, over a pretty low number of competition. I guess most people are too busy with Wings of the Goddess, to bother camping the Ground HNM. I am however not complaining, hehe..

About 14 minutes time later, it was loot time.

Since nobody wanted the E.Abjuration: Hn., I was allowed to lot them uncontested! And with my storaged Cursed Muffler -1 clutched firmly in my hands, I hastily traveled to San d'Oria to visit one of the priests, in search of aid to uncurse these wonderous gloves.

Words can not describe how happy I am, seeing these fitted on my Beastmaster hands. 2/4 Armada. I thank you yet again, Chroma!

A little while after this, we went and camped Aspidochelone, wich turned out to be another Adamantoise. Wich.. we didn't claim. But since it was a NQ spawn, it wasn't really given much thought.

With Jailer of Love, scheduled for today, I went up to Sea, and at first, spent some time soloing the EM/T creatures in the area together with Carrie. (Snarl isn't so bad after all! And I will write a more in-depth blog entry on the new ability some day.)

Then once everyone had gathered together, we did a quick Jailer of Prudence, to prepare a second pop set for Jailer of Love.

Jailer of Prudence proved stingy, and did yet again disappointingly not want to give up any torques. But once that was over and done with...

We went and engaged Jailer of Love! (I know, I am making it sound a bit more dramatic than it really is..) It is a very Beastmaster friendly fight, since it's long and allows you to build accumulated damage together with your pet. Obviously, I wouldn't dream about using anyone but Carrie, she is my best friend after all.. `Don't look at me like I'm lying, Carrie.. it's true!`

A while later, Jailer of Love was no more, and we found some very nice drops in the loot list. Torque and Novio Earring! So congratulations to Namarelo on Love Torque and Linkx on Novio Earring! Very happy on the behalf of both of you. Ultimately it helps strengthen the linkshell further! Wich is a good thing for all.

Absolute Virtue decided to pop as well, and wiped the whole alliance.. except Carrie, Linkx and myself. Not quite sure if me using Snarl removed my threat from Absolute Virtue, but he didn't decide to go after me once he had cleared out the alliance. How Linkx escaped a imminent death, I am not sure about either. We have divine protection, possibly..

And then, to finish the day, I finally got myself around to obtaining the weapon skill Decimation, with a little help of course, from a LS friend. So thank you very much, Zexy ^_^)/

What a great day! (PS: For the curious, I placed 5th out of 23 on the damage done at Jailer of Love, with 6,85% and 9144 damage being provided by myself and Carrie. That is not too bad, considering my gear is not yet what I personally see to be on par with the top of the board today. So it can only get better and I look forward to trying Jailer of Love again in the future, to see how my damage parses, once I have some more of the gears I have set as goals.)

Nyzul Isle Assault

Sat, 24 Nov 2007 22:10:29 GMT

Finally got myself into a Nyzul Isle Assault static, put together with members of Chroma. Since they started last week with me on the outside, and stopped after floor 5, we started from floor 6 today, with our goal set on floor 20 within the evening.

On our first floor, we stumbled over a familiar face. He didn't have any Rabbit Charm for us though, hehe..

After floor 10 and 15, we stopped to save our progress, and moved back to Aht Urhgan Whitegate, to pick up a new Imperial Army I.D., then we went back at it.

We arrived at our destination. Floor 20. And found out that Adamantoise had hid itself up here since it was killed a couple hours earlier, when we had been camping it. Not posing any immediate threat, it was.. like always, quickly disposed of.

And nothing dropped! But at least we are saved for floor 20 now, so we can farm it until those that wanted boots, has what they want, so we can progress further. I can't wait! Nyzul is loads of fun.

Nidhogg, Adamantoise and Sea.

Thu, 22 Nov 2007 22:00:22 GMT

Today was a good day for Chroma. And one fun day to be a Beastmaster on as well. First we went to Dragon's Aery to camp everyone's favorite dragon, and got a welcomed and pretty much uncontested, Nidhogg pop.

Since I wasn't in the main alliance at the end, I couldn't document the drops, but it ended up with another good LS friend getting one of his dreams fulfilled!

Congratulations, Tommi! Very happy on your behalf, and it was so nice to see the joy you radiated when you got the Adaman Hauberk. We quickly moved over to the land of Adamantoise...

...and we even claimed! Sadly it wasn't the big brother, Aspidochelone, that came out to play, but we will always settle ourselves with the younger brother, Adamantoise as well. Although.. it was quickly disposed of like a empty can of soda. Thinking about it like that.. we are kinda mean to it, poor thing.

Afterwards I had a bid war with the Auction House! It was an epic battle but I prevailed in the end!

It remains to see if I can uncurse them though..

And to end the day, we went up to "Sea" and killed Jailer of Prudence, to prepare another pop set for Jailer of Love, wich is scheduled later this week. `Go on Carrie, you can do it! Pinch that evil goldfish!`

Today was a very fun day. `You have deserved your rest tonight, Carrie. Good girl.`

Halfway there?

Wed, 21 Nov 2007 10:54:17 GMT

Maybe I can even uncurse them some day? hehe..

Einherjar: Siegrune's Chamber

Sat, 17 Nov 2007 21:07:30 GMT

Did my second Einherjar today. We have done another one once before as well, but I forgot to blog it (slightly purposely, mainly due to the lack of pictures to add about it, since I forgot to take any screen captures). But this time around I took a few screenshots, and are now the happy owner of a new key item.

Tiamat, Ouryu and Behemoth.

Fri, 16 Nov 2007 10:22:25 GMT

Whew.. it has been some busy weeks since I joined Chroma. And I have gotten to do all this with my BST, wich is the best part of it all! I feel accepted in my job.

Ok, so I was on the add team. I still count that as pulling my weight around Tiamat. Not like there is so much else for a BST to do on that fight if not in a BST alliance.

But we did Tiamat twice during these weeks, and the second time I was in the alliance so I could document the drops better, and of course bring my little lucky charm ability.

This resulted in some nice new boots for my new LS friend, Linkx! (Yes, that is me on my RDM.. /shudder.) Let's see if I can't produce you some Cursed Mitts -1 as well later this month ^_^)/

So that's it for a summary of the past weeks in Chroma. (In reality I was just too slow to update blog with these events, so I summarized them in one entry instead.)

Zuug the Shoreleaper.

Sun, 11 Nov 2007 15:11:31 GMT

Was camping Charybdis for a LS member and figured we'd pop this old guy.

Farming Sky.

Sat, 10 Nov 2007 22:11:31 GMT

Rampage Ammo!

Thu, 08 Nov 2007 07:01:44 GMT

Never got myself around to hunting these RSE armors, but finally decided to spend a morning killing the Aroma Crawler's in Maze of Shakrami. It paid off, the second spawn dropped me my WS ammo. Another step in the right direction for stronger Rampages.

Kirin TP Burn.

Wed, 07 Nov 2007 21:08:23 GMT

Kirin was on the agenda today, and TP burn was the main course of action. Being a lolBST I was on the sidelines, together with BLM's and RNG's, but I enjoyed it none the less. I even captured a video of it.

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2lGeDEVVpk

Chroma.

Mon, 05 Nov 2007 14:01:00 GMT

I joined a LS today. Chroma is it's name, and so far these guys seems to be very nice people.

I was asked by a little Tarutaru up in Dragon's Aery when I was watching the Fafhogg fights if I was looking for a LS, and that her LS was recruiting Beastmasters and were nice people. So I asked around a little, got good words from other old friends and decided to make an application. Today it was processed and I got in as a Trial. My first ever EU LS!

I am very happy to be in this LS ^_^)/

I met another Beastmaster.

Sun, 04 Nov 2007 20:03:30 GMT

Armada Celata.

Fri, 26 Oct 2007 11:11:11 GMT

One step closer to my dream DD setup. 1/3 Armada.