Real Life is Full of Fail
Of the things that make me sad perhaps I should be more direct, I'm looking at you cancer. About three weeks ago my grandfather, the only stable male role model I had growing up, was diagnosed with an aggressive form of lung cancer. I'm not certain of the name, but I imagine it is something horrible. At any rate without chemo he was given 6-8 weeks to live, with chemo they think they can add another six months, and there is a rare outside chance that he could last another six years. For that last time-frame one must be a very healthy person to begin with, which my grandfather is not, he's already in the early stages of Parkinson's and he just had quadruple bypass surgery in October, oh, and did I mention they discovered the cancer while he was in the hospital for pneumonia? To further complicate things my grandfather has stopped prepping properly for chemo (drinking fluids), I think he's giving up and the worst part is, I would to if I were in his shoes.
So on top of my grandfather, I was talking to my brother this weekend and it seems his cancer fears are creeping back into the picture. My brother, whom some have met in game as Abile, has suffered most of his life from bouts of Melanoma (skin cancer), he's had least three incidents and fortunately each one was caught in time. Now whether his concerns are a manifestation on what my grandfather is going though or he really has something to worry about is irrelevant, he needs to go to the doctor for a check up. The problem is he's unemployed with family and too proud to ask for help, and since he lives nine hours away I can't always play brother's keeper and make sure he gets his shit sorted out.
And it doesn't stop there, I spoke to my vet today (the cats had their annuals on Friday) and my oldest cat had elevated calcium levels in his blood tests. Now this can mean many things for cats, but one of them is cancer. The vet doesn't seem to think this is a likelihood since he appeared to her as happy and healthy, but he's been awfully needy lately and I'm concerned. We'll be doing a followup in July or so on his blood tests to see if the calcium levels were an anomaly or not. I hope it's not cancer, I had a cat die from Leukemia when I was a teenager and it was an awful experience for me, and probably even worse for my cat.
Wings of the Goddess
I started the new missions for this and as usual, it seems all the action and dialogue revolves around San d'Oria. It's frustrating because all the cool shit is going on in Windurst and Bastok, but the main story revolves around a gay dude and a bunch of elves talking about how awesome the are. At any rate, I'm as far as I can go, and unfortunately me and Rudi's static fell apart when Dean and his wife quit the game. We're gonna have to go back to the drawing board and find people with all the city missions complete if we want a 100% finish to this expansion. Sigh.
I checked out two of the three new areas that were added, Baileys and the Keep, for anyone hoping that they could warp directly to these zones, guess again. It's like the other Beastmen castles, you gotta walk there, which means inv and snk the whole way. The layout is a bit different than it is in the present and there are some new "structure" NMs throughout the castle. I avoided these when I found them as they looked like a belfry and I was worried something might pop out if I hit them. I've since discovered you can "kill" them, though their exact purpose has yet to be determined.
They also introduced the last two medals, and I'm happy to report that I was one of the first people in the world to get the Medal of Altana and the Lex Talionis sword. Personally I was disappointed with both, you get a slightly longer cutscene with the medal, but nothing memorable and for something that, at the very minimum, takes 95 days to complete, I was hoping for a bit more. And speaking of hoping for more, I can't begin to describe how disappointing the new Campaign only weaponskill Glory Slash has turned out to be. Here is something that you need the Medal of Altana AND 100,000 Allied Notes to obtain and at best it does 450 damage, my Blade: Jins routinely top that. Yes, Glory Slash is AOE and yes it does stun the mobs, the AOE is nice if you can get group of mobs corralled by the NPCs, but other than that it's more likely to get you in trouble than anything, and the stun is damn near useless, it lasts maybe three seconds at best. Very, very disappointed, I was hoping for a WS that routinely did 1k damage and if not that then at least make the stun last like 10 seconds or more. Sigh, I guess at least NIN can cap ACC on Campaign mobs with a sword, some of the other jobs that can wield this don't even have native sword traits, it must be a massive wiff-fest for those folks.
Overall, I find the new WotG content to be a disappointment, sure there is some great gear to be had if your are a PLD, but beyond that, no one really benefits from any of it.
Trial of the Magians
There is one word that best describes this new feature: frustration. Nothing is overly hard to do at this point, but it's insanely conditional (be it weather, weaponskills, triggering additional effects, etc) and as such can be very disheartening. That said, in the end all the frustration is rewarded worth some fucking awesome augmented weapons!
Lots of folks seem to be flocking to the super damage weapons and the Occasionally Attack Twice weapons, but imho, the really kick-ass stuff is in the other weapons. The super damage ones I understand, the Ninja katana Mozu, for example, has a DPS of 11.37 when fully augmented, there is only one katana in the game with a higher DPS and that's the relic Kikoku (which, ironically, can be augmented to a DPS of 12.86 through the Trials). The Occasionally Attacks Twice stuff, though, I simply don't get. Not only do they do low damage, but fully augmented they have longer delays, these Trials are too much of a pain in the ass for this nonsense if you ask me. Using NIN as an example again, a fully augmented Isatu has a DPS of 8.79, which is surpassed by a metric shit ton of katanas, many with much better attributes, for me the term "Occasionally" isn't going to cut it if I'm trying to hold hate, it needs to be "Often".
So what does have me so damn excited? Well it's the Kuina katanas, there are two types with buff and debuff attributes. The buff katanas have a DPS of 10.75 and the debuff katanas have a 10.86 DPS, there are only two katanas that can top those and I discussed them in the last paragraph. For me, I'm looking at three buff katanas in particular, AGI +4/EVA +12, VIT +4/Physical DMG Taken -5%, and MND +4/Magic DEF Bonus +5, any combination of these three will go a long way to making me an awesome tank (and should I be able to wield two of the same katana at the same time, then holy shit!). All in all, I think the addition of the feature is a plus for the game, for me, I now have something else to do on my own when I'm bored with Campaign, I can't wait to get some fully augmented katanas!
This weekend Obsidian plans to do some passes at the new VNMs, which drop some insanely awesome rings. The system looks similar to ZNMs and should be a lot of fun to test out.
Stating the Obvious
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
That's the Name of the Game
So Sunday SE drops the mother of all bombshells on the FFXI Community by stating they will raise the level cap to Level 99 and then they said a bunch of other stuff. I have quite a bit to say about Level 99 (as does just about anyone with a blog who plays FFXI, and rightfully so), but like I said, SE said a bunch of other stuff and most of that was good stuff. So let's get to it and review the other interesting things that are coming up.
Wings of the Goddess
WotG is set to be concluded in the September update, which I won't go so far as to say, "about time" but it has been a long time coming. The last update left the fates of Windurst and Bastok hanging in the balance, and those damn kids are still alive in San d'Oria. Many questions remain, with the largest (imo) being is there a connection between the Walk of Echoes and Tavnazia? This has been an exciting, though frustrating, expansion and I can't wait to see how it ends.
Walk of Echoes
Speaking of the Walk of Echoes, SE has teased us with a new endgame event and all signs point to this being that event. Yet, I find myself puzzled as it is coming to us in two parts in the June and September updates. Why would an endgame event come in two parts? Just what the hell do the have planned here? Will it be like Dynamis or will it be like Einjerhar? And finally, will Gawayne be ready to adjust the website so Obsidian can be on the front lines exploring this new content? Aside from the .DAT screenshots, no one quite knows what to expect here. I'm excited, that much I can confirm.
Campaign
SE has been keeping the most intriguing piece of Campaign under wraps as no one was prepared for Castle Zvahl (S) being added to the action. Even better, the Shadowlord himself will get involved from time to time! They are also completing the medals in the March update, something that has been long, long overdue, why they dragged their feet so long here is anyone's guess. In addition there will be new Allied Notes rewards (woot!) and we will somehow be able to access the weaponskills the NPC Generals use. How that last part is implemented is a good question, but it will most likely involve obtaining the highest medal and spending an absurd amount of Allied Notes. All in all, the updates to Campaign sound like all kinds of win.
Job Adjustments
So far they have announced adjustments specifically for BST, SMN and PUP, with the promise to make tweaks and changes to all the jobs. Does this mean NIN will finally get the Ni tier of spells completed, or that San spells are forthcoming? How about BLM getting Tier V nukes and Tier IV -ga nukes? With 24 additional levels there's a lot SE could add to the jobs, I can't wait to see what they come up with.
BST - I'm not sure how this is a job adjustment, but they are adding new synergy recipes for what sounds like new kinds of jugs. Personally I think this is just SE forcing Synergy on the population, but in the end it's lolBST getting the ugly end of the stick, the rest of us can continue to ignore the madness that is Synergy.
SMN - Summoners rejoiced at the news of getting two new avatars (Odin and Alexander) for about five seconds, then SE announced the catch. These Summons can only be called during Astral Flow. While I don't care much about what happens to summoners, even I have to ask if that's all the Summons are going to do, then what took so fucking long to add them?
PUP - A job that actually gets a useful update! People will really need to consider what a PUP can bring to a party with an A in Hand-To-Hand AND an automaton. Definitely a good update for an oft ostracized job.
Trial of Magians
If I've understood this correctly we will be able to upgrade our gear WITH the upgrades we want through quests. Finally, they fucking get it, let us choose what upgrades we want and people will actually bother with it. For over a year now we've received one shitty Augment system after another and almost everyone has lost interest within a week of implementation. I have a feeling this will tie in nicely with the Level 99 developments by letting us keep our current gear and pimp it out.
New Abyssea Expansion/Add-Ons
To me this feels more like an expansion as opposed to an add-on. They are adding new zones, new gear and new monsters, not much else is known, but the screenshots look very promising, I'm sold.
New NMs and HNMs
I've had a lot of fun with the new NMs, buggers are everywhere and it's always nice to challenge them despite the awful drop-rates. I expect more of the same here, but obviously the NMs will be harder for the level cap and the HNMs are bound to have some awesome gear that most of us will never see! :D
Removal of CoP Area Level Caps
Fucking win! They can keep the caps on the battles, but it'll be nice to finally explore these zones (and finish getting the maps I need) without fear of instant death. Plus there are a few NMs that I wouldn't mind getting some payback on.
Job-Specific Emotes
Kind of depends on the actual emotes I guess, but I like where they are going with this. In truth it's not something we need, but unlike the damn bells, it's something everyone can have fun with.
Merging Servers and Opening Odin and Bahamut
Another one of those things that has been a long time coming. I reside on Odin, and while the JP side of the house has hardly dwindled, the EU and NA communities have taken massive hits and it's been depressing. Now with the server reopened, all the people who got conned into leaving can come back, yay! Another benefit is we can create mules again, I don't have any mules I want to create at the moment, but I never liked the idea that I was stuck with what I had. The drawback to reopening the server is the damn RMT will be back (and my guess, in force), and who knows what kind of bullshit and mayhem will follow.
As for the servers merging, I feel bad for those folks. 16 server worlds are going to be turned upside down overnight, their economies will change, all the shells from the lesser server will have to be recreated, people's character names will get changed, it all sucks. I feel for these people, but it was bound to happen eventually, doesn't take away from the sucktatude though.
Level 99
And now for the biggest game changer of all (by far), Level 99. There's a lot to be excited about here and a lot to be concerned about. The first thing that jumps out at me is everything that was hard is now easy. Everything. If they don't implement zone or battlefield level caps, virtually every current monster in the game becomes Easy Prey. Need Kitty Pants? Well you can get the pop item and solo Kirin. Want Nashira? Then grab a friend or two and smack Proto-Ultima around. The problem with this is that all the end-game content just became soloable or low-manable, which means linkshells for those events are going to die. Even Dynamis will see a big hit, now a solid group of six can clear pretty much everything, which means even MORE scheduling conflicts. I'm not opposed to those events becoming easier, but with less people needed to do them, I fear our sense of community will dwindle away. I hope whatever Walk of Echoes turns out to be that it is so hard and the rewards so awesome that everyone is forced to go in massive groups.
On a individual (i.e. my character) level this is a real drag because now I have to level all my subs again and my main two jobs. I'm still working on merits for crying out loud, 24 more levels will just gimp me for that much longer. As I've said before, I hate leveling and this is going to be one hell of a grind (thankfully I only have 2 75s to worry about, I would hate to have a dozen or more to level). I just want to complain and whine, but we're all in the same boat so me and everyone else are just going to have to accept it and move on.
That said, I'm seeing a lot of people scream bloody murder over the level raise and I just don't get the rage and the threats to quit. Sure, you'll have to level more stuff but you get to continue playing the game. At least this way SE is giving us progression and not five more years of the same thing. To me, a lot of the people upset by this are looking for an excuse to quit and it's a very convenient thing to latch onto. I wish them luck, I may piss and moan about the grind, but I still want to keep playing.
All in all, I welcome the changes and am excited to see what FFXI-2 will turn out to be like. I think SE has breathed at least a few more years into the game and bitch all you like, that's a very good thing.
Wings of the Goddess
WotG is set to be concluded in the September update, which I won't go so far as to say, "about time" but it has been a long time coming. The last update left the fates of Windurst and Bastok hanging in the balance, and those damn kids are still alive in San d'Oria. Many questions remain, with the largest (imo) being is there a connection between the Walk of Echoes and Tavnazia? This has been an exciting, though frustrating, expansion and I can't wait to see how it ends.
Walk of Echoes
Speaking of the Walk of Echoes, SE has teased us with a new endgame event and all signs point to this being that event. Yet, I find myself puzzled as it is coming to us in two parts in the June and September updates. Why would an endgame event come in two parts? Just what the hell do the have planned here? Will it be like Dynamis or will it be like Einjerhar? And finally, will Gawayne be ready to adjust the website so Obsidian can be on the front lines exploring this new content? Aside from the .DAT screenshots, no one quite knows what to expect here. I'm excited, that much I can confirm.
Campaign
SE has been keeping the most intriguing piece of Campaign under wraps as no one was prepared for Castle Zvahl (S) being added to the action. Even better, the Shadowlord himself will get involved from time to time! They are also completing the medals in the March update, something that has been long, long overdue, why they dragged their feet so long here is anyone's guess. In addition there will be new Allied Notes rewards (woot!) and we will somehow be able to access the weaponskills the NPC Generals use. How that last part is implemented is a good question, but it will most likely involve obtaining the highest medal and spending an absurd amount of Allied Notes. All in all, the updates to Campaign sound like all kinds of win.
Job Adjustments
So far they have announced adjustments specifically for BST, SMN and PUP, with the promise to make tweaks and changes to all the jobs. Does this mean NIN will finally get the Ni tier of spells completed, or that San spells are forthcoming? How about BLM getting Tier V nukes and Tier IV -ga nukes? With 24 additional levels there's a lot SE could add to the jobs, I can't wait to see what they come up with.
BST - I'm not sure how this is a job adjustment, but they are adding new synergy recipes for what sounds like new kinds of jugs. Personally I think this is just SE forcing Synergy on the population, but in the end it's lolBST getting the ugly end of the stick, the rest of us can continue to ignore the madness that is Synergy.
SMN - Summoners rejoiced at the news of getting two new avatars (Odin and Alexander) for about five seconds, then SE announced the catch. These Summons can only be called during Astral Flow. While I don't care much about what happens to summoners, even I have to ask if that's all the Summons are going to do, then what took so fucking long to add them?
PUP - A job that actually gets a useful update! People will really need to consider what a PUP can bring to a party with an A in Hand-To-Hand AND an automaton. Definitely a good update for an oft ostracized job.
Trial of Magians
If I've understood this correctly we will be able to upgrade our gear WITH the upgrades we want through quests. Finally, they fucking get it, let us choose what upgrades we want and people will actually bother with it. For over a year now we've received one shitty Augment system after another and almost everyone has lost interest within a week of implementation. I have a feeling this will tie in nicely with the Level 99 developments by letting us keep our current gear and pimp it out.
New Abyssea Expansion/Add-Ons
To me this feels more like an expansion as opposed to an add-on. They are adding new zones, new gear and new monsters, not much else is known, but the screenshots look very promising, I'm sold.
New NMs and HNMs
I've had a lot of fun with the new NMs, buggers are everywhere and it's always nice to challenge them despite the awful drop-rates. I expect more of the same here, but obviously the NMs will be harder for the level cap and the HNMs are bound to have some awesome gear that most of us will never see! :D
Removal of CoP Area Level Caps
Fucking win! They can keep the caps on the battles, but it'll be nice to finally explore these zones (and finish getting the maps I need) without fear of instant death. Plus there are a few NMs that I wouldn't mind getting some payback on.
Job-Specific Emotes
Kind of depends on the actual emotes I guess, but I like where they are going with this. In truth it's not something we need, but unlike the damn bells, it's something everyone can have fun with.
Merging Servers and Opening Odin and Bahamut
Another one of those things that has been a long time coming. I reside on Odin, and while the JP side of the house has hardly dwindled, the EU and NA communities have taken massive hits and it's been depressing. Now with the server reopened, all the people who got conned into leaving can come back, yay! Another benefit is we can create mules again, I don't have any mules I want to create at the moment, but I never liked the idea that I was stuck with what I had. The drawback to reopening the server is the damn RMT will be back (and my guess, in force), and who knows what kind of bullshit and mayhem will follow.
As for the servers merging, I feel bad for those folks. 16 server worlds are going to be turned upside down overnight, their economies will change, all the shells from the lesser server will have to be recreated, people's character names will get changed, it all sucks. I feel for these people, but it was bound to happen eventually, doesn't take away from the sucktatude though.
Level 99
And now for the biggest game changer of all (by far), Level 99. There's a lot to be excited about here and a lot to be concerned about. The first thing that jumps out at me is everything that was hard is now easy. Everything. If they don't implement zone or battlefield level caps, virtually every current monster in the game becomes Easy Prey. Need Kitty Pants? Well you can get the pop item and solo Kirin. Want Nashira? Then grab a friend or two and smack Proto-Ultima around. The problem with this is that all the end-game content just became soloable or low-manable, which means linkshells for those events are going to die. Even Dynamis will see a big hit, now a solid group of six can clear pretty much everything, which means even MORE scheduling conflicts. I'm not opposed to those events becoming easier, but with less people needed to do them, I fear our sense of community will dwindle away. I hope whatever Walk of Echoes turns out to be that it is so hard and the rewards so awesome that everyone is forced to go in massive groups.
On a individual (i.e. my character) level this is a real drag because now I have to level all my subs again and my main two jobs. I'm still working on merits for crying out loud, 24 more levels will just gimp me for that much longer. As I've said before, I hate leveling and this is going to be one hell of a grind (thankfully I only have 2 75s to worry about, I would hate to have a dozen or more to level). I just want to complain and whine, but we're all in the same boat so me and everyone else are just going to have to accept it and move on.
That said, I'm seeing a lot of people scream bloody murder over the level raise and I just don't get the rage and the threats to quit. Sure, you'll have to level more stuff but you get to continue playing the game. At least this way SE is giving us progression and not five more years of the same thing. To me, a lot of the people upset by this are looking for an excuse to quit and it's a very convenient thing to latch onto. I wish them luck, I may piss and moan about the grind, but I still want to keep playing.
All in all, I welcome the changes and am excited to see what FFXI-2 will turn out to be like. I think SE has breathed at least a few more years into the game and bitch all you like, that's a very good thing.
Monday, February 22, 2010
Drakus the Ranger
So I've been toying around with RNG for some time now with the intent of taking it to 75, but there are two things that have been holding me back. The first is leveling, I fucking hate it, getting me in an XP party is akin to a dentist drilling your teeth without Novocaine, in other words, it doesn't happen often (and in fact my RNG is almost 38 and it's been entirely solo). I can not stress how much I hate leveling, but this is something we all have to do and at some point I'm going to just need to get over it, whether I want to or not. The second issue has been gear, I'm reaching the levels where gear selection and macros are actually important, but I have yet to set time aside to map out my gear to 75 (in contrast, I had gear mapped for BLM when it was just level 10). I'm not sure why I've dragged my feet on gear, it might be that I haven't quite determined what all a RNG does (I know it shoots stuff because that's what I've been doing while soloing), I dunno. At any rate, after what happened in Dyna Tav yesterday I feel like I have to get off my ass and start pushing this job through (I got RNG body and RNG legs -1 yesterday) because I don't want people to think I'm being a lootwhore.
Did I mention I hate leveling?
Did I mention I hate leveling?
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
The Skill-Up Grind
FFXI has a lot of options one can do on their own when they are sufficiently bored, FOV, Crafting, Campaign, etc. I generally do things until I'm sick of them and my latest foray into completely wasting my time has been to cap my weapon skill levels. This bug seems to hit me about every 3-4 months and I have weapons for everything I can equip.
Katana
I capped and merited this a long, long time ago, it's 285.
Staff
Staff is one of those skills that is so underskilled it's kind of embarrassing. Many moons ago I used my WAR to get staff to 114 so that when I subbed /BLM (yes, I do this and I like it) I would have max skill for the sub (it is not a native skill for NIN). As part of my recent skill-up madness I wanted to get this to the point I could at least hit EP mobs so I could break the Mythic Weaponskill Vidohunir. I teamed up with Feiko and got this to 157, it's still drastically underskilled, but I can work on my latent at least. I'm not sure how I will ever be able to get far with the BLM skills on my own, it's one thing to do this stuff on a tank job like NIN, it's quite another on a squishy job like BLM.
Scythe
Scythe is a lot like Staff, I had help from around 150 on and I'm still not quite there (currently 182), but I love wielding this in Campaign for BLM. The scythe I have is an augmented Ogre Sickle with Magic Critical Hit Rate +8 and Blindness +5. I'd love to have Stun on this, but it hasn't been that big of a deal since I sub a Platinum Grip.
Dagger
I actually capped Dagger a couple weeks ago, what I finished up on Thursday was breaking the latent on the Dagger of Trials. With a bit of help from friends I was able to get Evisceration and actually make this a useful skill to have. There are a number of very good Daggers NIN can equip (Blau Dolch, Adder Jambiya +1), but the cost for those is in the millions so they aren't realistic options for me at this time (especially for something I can only use on occasion), so instead I have a pair of Behemoth Knives. I've been considering upgrading these to +1 now that I feel Dagger is actually useful, but that's not a high priority. As for BLM, it is job can actually wield daggers (skill cap is 210), but there are simply better weapon options out there (the MP drain Weaponskills would be nice though). If I ever get the urge to get daggers for BLM I think Misericorde +1 and Titan's Baselard would be at the top of the list.
Club
This is another of those dual skills I can use on both NIN and BLM. All the skilling of this has been on NIN with a pair of Shellbusters (there aren't a lot of options for NIN here) and I capped it for NIN at 200 over the weekend. Because Shellbusters aren't exactly awesome clubs it took awhile, and killing mobs was very slow. On NIN this is a completely pointless skill to have, I'm honestly not sure why it's an option, but on BLM I can take it to 230 and get access to Black Halo, something that might be very useful in Campaign or soloing. Of course the problem is getting it to 230...
Sword
When I started this Friday my skill was at 90 and it was solely from when I actually played WAR. I bought a pair of Cermet Swords +1 and went to town skilling-up. I really enjoyed this skill-up, the delay was in between Dagger and Katana so I was able to get skill-ups and cap it rather quickly. It's a damn shame NIN can only get 225 skill on this, I wouldn't mind using Swords.
Great Katana
I've grown to fucking hate this, the skill-ups seem to come few and far between and it's a lower delay weapon than I'd prefer to deal with. There are a couple of Assault GKs that would be nice to have, but as it stands I currently use a Gold Musketeer's Uchigatana, which looks a lot like my NPC's GK (if memory serves, she has a Hosodachi). My skill on this is at 185 and the cap is 220, there really is no point to capping this as GK is not a solid alternative weapon for a NIN. I'll cap it eventually, but I'm not sure I have enough steam to finish it off this round.
Hand-To-Hand
This is a slow, grinding skill-up that is almost as pointless as GK and club, almost, but thankfully I'm close to finishing this as I only need 16 more levels with my skill currently at 184. An evening with my NPC should be enough to finish this off. My knuckles of choice have been Cobra Unit Baghnakhs, they have a low delay and do decent damage, but the ultimate goal is to have a pair of Hades Sainti since those would be part of a hate/speed build to use in Salvage or on Gods.
Archery
This is a skill I worked on for RNG initially, I got it to 114 and stopped. I use a Lamian Kaman because of the low delay (and because I can use it for my magic resistance gear set) and Wooden Arrows because at 3 gil a pop they are just dirt cheap. The problem with working on this skill has always been (like any ranged weapon) that I simply can't generate enough damage to actually outlast mobs that are 60+ so I have to engage them. This means the mobs tend to die quickly and the skill-ups tend to go slowly. I've found with the mobs that are 70+ I can't tank and shoot arrows effectively because of the damn delay after shooting can fuck up shadow casting (there's roughly a second after each shot where you can't do anything, you may as well be stunned during this time). If I put shadows first then the skill-ups are even slower, if I put skilling-up first then I run the risk of the mob catching me with my shadows down. It's a vicious circle and as a result I've stalled at 175, which is good enough for Sidewinder (with /RNG), but I want to see that blue 200.
Marksmanship
An obnoxious skill-up that NIN can only obtain through shooting guns, which have an ignorantly long delay (realistically I would think a gun would have the shortest delay, but this ain't reality). Because of the delay I've been reluctant to work on this skill, but between WAR and RNG I managed to get it up to 102. My weapon of choice is a Military Gun because it has the shortest delay for the guns NIN can equip and just plain ole Bullets for ammo. Bullets are what turn a lot of NINs away from skilling this, and understandably so, the cheap ass ones I use cost around 5k a stack depending on whether or not crafters are in a generous mood. Fortunately I don't have to spend over 5k if I don't want to because I can craft the damn things myself. As for the skill-ups on this, it's just like Archery, but with longer delays, there is simply no way I'll be able to get past 175 on my own. As it stands now my skill is at 132, that means I went through 4 stacks of Bullets for 30 levels. I figure it will cost me another 30-35k to get to 175 and Slug Shot, that's not a lot of cash in the grand scheme of things, but it would only cost me 7-8k to do the same thing with a Crossbow. On a side thought, when have you ever heard of Ninjas using guns outside the game?
Throwing
I actually don't put any effort into working on this, I tend throw things on a fairly regular basis during events. I really want an Ungur Boomerang here, but camping him sucks because I can't do it solo. I hope it eventually drops in Nyzul, however, as it stands now I use a Rising Sun. My skill is at 235, and slowly making it's way to cap.
Evasion
Like Katana I capped this and merited it a long time ago, it sits at 277 now.
Parrying
Ugh, the motherfucker of all skill-ups, my skill currently sits at 181. You might ask yourself how I've managed to have a NIN 75 for over a year and this is all the higher my skill is. My response would likely involve giving you the stink eye, because I have no good answer for this, I've just been horribly unlucky. For a long, long time I lingered in the 150 range, but recently I've been averaging a skill-up or two a week. I hate this skill with a passion, but I'll be a pretty awesome NIN once it is capped.
Ninjutsu Magic
I capped this a long time ago in Dynamis, but it's only been recently I dropped any merits into it. I used four merits here to get my skill at 277.
Elemental Magic
One of the easiest skills to get to cap in the game, I haven't put any merits to it yet so it currently stands at 276. Because I used four merits on Ninjutsu I will only have four available for Elemental, but unlike Ninjutsu, it's a whole lot easier to get skill gear and I don't think the I'll miss the merits that much.
Enfeebling Magic
This is a critical skill for BLM and I've had to work my ass off just to make it decent, thankfully I was able to spam Dia in Besieged and cap it. I currently have 4/8 merits applied to it and I'll get 8/8 before I even start on Elemental.
Dark Magic
I remember spending a ton of time in Besieged spamming Bio to cap this, it's just not something you use enough that you'll see quick returns so I took the easy route. It's at 269 and baring any changes in the Merit structure that's likely what it will forever be.
Enhancing Magic
This dumbass skill is so random. I have a skill level of 168 on this, it's kind of like Parrying on NIN, a slow grind where I see a skill-up once a week or so. I've tried spamming bar spells but I've found that far too boring to bother with.
NPC
Okay so she's not technically a skill-up, but without her I wouldn't be able to solo in the Boyahda Tree (capping skills on Goobs), and over the weekend she finally capped her level at 70. I still need to get Yasha Hands and Dandy Spectacles for her and increase her maximum active time. All told that is around 170k Adventuring Fellow Points, so even though she can't go up anymore in level, there is still work to be done.
Katana
I capped and merited this a long, long time ago, it's 285.
Staff
Staff is one of those skills that is so underskilled it's kind of embarrassing. Many moons ago I used my WAR to get staff to 114 so that when I subbed /BLM (yes, I do this and I like it) I would have max skill for the sub (it is not a native skill for NIN). As part of my recent skill-up madness I wanted to get this to the point I could at least hit EP mobs so I could break the Mythic Weaponskill Vidohunir. I teamed up with Feiko and got this to 157, it's still drastically underskilled, but I can work on my latent at least. I'm not sure how I will ever be able to get far with the BLM skills on my own, it's one thing to do this stuff on a tank job like NIN, it's quite another on a squishy job like BLM.
Scythe
Scythe is a lot like Staff, I had help from around 150 on and I'm still not quite there (currently 182), but I love wielding this in Campaign for BLM. The scythe I have is an augmented Ogre Sickle with Magic Critical Hit Rate +8 and Blindness +5. I'd love to have Stun on this, but it hasn't been that big of a deal since I sub a Platinum Grip.
Dagger
I actually capped Dagger a couple weeks ago, what I finished up on Thursday was breaking the latent on the Dagger of Trials. With a bit of help from friends I was able to get Evisceration and actually make this a useful skill to have. There are a number of very good Daggers NIN can equip (Blau Dolch, Adder Jambiya +1), but the cost for those is in the millions so they aren't realistic options for me at this time (especially for something I can only use on occasion), so instead I have a pair of Behemoth Knives. I've been considering upgrading these to +1 now that I feel Dagger is actually useful, but that's not a high priority. As for BLM, it is job can actually wield daggers (skill cap is 210), but there are simply better weapon options out there (the MP drain Weaponskills would be nice though). If I ever get the urge to get daggers for BLM I think Misericorde +1 and Titan's Baselard would be at the top of the list.
Club
This is another of those dual skills I can use on both NIN and BLM. All the skilling of this has been on NIN with a pair of Shellbusters (there aren't a lot of options for NIN here) and I capped it for NIN at 200 over the weekend. Because Shellbusters aren't exactly awesome clubs it took awhile, and killing mobs was very slow. On NIN this is a completely pointless skill to have, I'm honestly not sure why it's an option, but on BLM I can take it to 230 and get access to Black Halo, something that might be very useful in Campaign or soloing. Of course the problem is getting it to 230...
Sword
When I started this Friday my skill was at 90 and it was solely from when I actually played WAR. I bought a pair of Cermet Swords +1 and went to town skilling-up. I really enjoyed this skill-up, the delay was in between Dagger and Katana so I was able to get skill-ups and cap it rather quickly. It's a damn shame NIN can only get 225 skill on this, I wouldn't mind using Swords.
Great Katana
I've grown to fucking hate this, the skill-ups seem to come few and far between and it's a lower delay weapon than I'd prefer to deal with. There are a couple of Assault GKs that would be nice to have, but as it stands I currently use a Gold Musketeer's Uchigatana, which looks a lot like my NPC's GK (if memory serves, she has a Hosodachi). My skill on this is at 185 and the cap is 220, there really is no point to capping this as GK is not a solid alternative weapon for a NIN. I'll cap it eventually, but I'm not sure I have enough steam to finish it off this round.
Hand-To-Hand
This is a slow, grinding skill-up that is almost as pointless as GK and club, almost, but thankfully I'm close to finishing this as I only need 16 more levels with my skill currently at 184. An evening with my NPC should be enough to finish this off. My knuckles of choice have been Cobra Unit Baghnakhs, they have a low delay and do decent damage, but the ultimate goal is to have a pair of Hades Sainti since those would be part of a hate/speed build to use in Salvage or on Gods.
Archery
This is a skill I worked on for RNG initially, I got it to 114 and stopped. I use a Lamian Kaman because of the low delay (and because I can use it for my magic resistance gear set) and Wooden Arrows because at 3 gil a pop they are just dirt cheap. The problem with working on this skill has always been (like any ranged weapon) that I simply can't generate enough damage to actually outlast mobs that are 60+ so I have to engage them. This means the mobs tend to die quickly and the skill-ups tend to go slowly. I've found with the mobs that are 70+ I can't tank and shoot arrows effectively because of the damn delay after shooting can fuck up shadow casting (there's roughly a second after each shot where you can't do anything, you may as well be stunned during this time). If I put shadows first then the skill-ups are even slower, if I put skilling-up first then I run the risk of the mob catching me with my shadows down. It's a vicious circle and as a result I've stalled at 175, which is good enough for Sidewinder (with /RNG), but I want to see that blue 200.
Marksmanship
An obnoxious skill-up that NIN can only obtain through shooting guns, which have an ignorantly long delay (realistically I would think a gun would have the shortest delay, but this ain't reality). Because of the delay I've been reluctant to work on this skill, but between WAR and RNG I managed to get it up to 102. My weapon of choice is a Military Gun because it has the shortest delay for the guns NIN can equip and just plain ole Bullets for ammo. Bullets are what turn a lot of NINs away from skilling this, and understandably so, the cheap ass ones I use cost around 5k a stack depending on whether or not crafters are in a generous mood. Fortunately I don't have to spend over 5k if I don't want to because I can craft the damn things myself. As for the skill-ups on this, it's just like Archery, but with longer delays, there is simply no way I'll be able to get past 175 on my own. As it stands now my skill is at 132, that means I went through 4 stacks of Bullets for 30 levels. I figure it will cost me another 30-35k to get to 175 and Slug Shot, that's not a lot of cash in the grand scheme of things, but it would only cost me 7-8k to do the same thing with a Crossbow. On a side thought, when have you ever heard of Ninjas using guns outside the game?
Throwing
I actually don't put any effort into working on this, I tend throw things on a fairly regular basis during events. I really want an Ungur Boomerang here, but camping him sucks because I can't do it solo. I hope it eventually drops in Nyzul, however, as it stands now I use a Rising Sun. My skill is at 235, and slowly making it's way to cap.
Evasion
Like Katana I capped this and merited it a long time ago, it sits at 277 now.
Parrying
Ugh, the motherfucker of all skill-ups, my skill currently sits at 181. You might ask yourself how I've managed to have a NIN 75 for over a year and this is all the higher my skill is. My response would likely involve giving you the stink eye, because I have no good answer for this, I've just been horribly unlucky. For a long, long time I lingered in the 150 range, but recently I've been averaging a skill-up or two a week. I hate this skill with a passion, but I'll be a pretty awesome NIN once it is capped.
Ninjutsu Magic
I capped this a long time ago in Dynamis, but it's only been recently I dropped any merits into it. I used four merits here to get my skill at 277.
Elemental Magic
One of the easiest skills to get to cap in the game, I haven't put any merits to it yet so it currently stands at 276. Because I used four merits on Ninjutsu I will only have four available for Elemental, but unlike Ninjutsu, it's a whole lot easier to get skill gear and I don't think the I'll miss the merits that much.
Enfeebling Magic
This is a critical skill for BLM and I've had to work my ass off just to make it decent, thankfully I was able to spam Dia in Besieged and cap it. I currently have 4/8 merits applied to it and I'll get 8/8 before I even start on Elemental.
Dark Magic
I remember spending a ton of time in Besieged spamming Bio to cap this, it's just not something you use enough that you'll see quick returns so I took the easy route. It's at 269 and baring any changes in the Merit structure that's likely what it will forever be.
Enhancing Magic
This dumbass skill is so random. I have a skill level of 168 on this, it's kind of like Parrying on NIN, a slow grind where I see a skill-up once a week or so. I've tried spamming bar spells but I've found that far too boring to bother with.
NPC
Okay so she's not technically a skill-up, but without her I wouldn't be able to solo in the Boyahda Tree (capping skills on Goobs), and over the weekend she finally capped her level at 70. I still need to get Yasha Hands and Dandy Spectacles for her and increase her maximum active time. All told that is around 170k Adventuring Fellow Points, so even though she can't go up anymore in level, there is still work to be done.
Friday, January 22, 2010
Ack!
Avatar
Let me first start out by saying this is an amazing movie that MUST be seen in the theater and it MUST be a 3-D screen. It's fantastic and beautiful with a look and feel of something one might expect to see in a Final Fantasy game. This is a movie that will change the way we watch movies, for me personally I hadn't seen a 3-D movie since I was a kid and even then it was just a gimmick. What Avatar is able to do is amazing, there is depth and presence in every scene, it's not the occasional graphic that seems to float in front of you, it's everything. I won't go so far as to say it makes you feel like you are right there in the action, but one does get a sense they could just reach out and touch anything they see on the screen, whether it's in the foreground OR the background.
Ok, so with that said, why I am I about to start bitching? Well there are two things, the fans and the sequel(s). Let me start with the sequel, James Cameron is on record saying this is in the works. To me, this is a horrible idea, Avatar should be left as the amazing epic it is, expounding upon it where the good guys win (they have to) is playing with fire. It's like The Matrix, I enjoyed the sequels (the highway scene in the second movie was an amazing 20 minutes of pure adrenaline), but after seeing them I really wish they had left well enough alone. The same goes for Avatar, while sequels are likely to be enjoyable, they will not be able to carry over the raw originality of the first one. What's worse is we all know what happens when humans want resources they desperately need, they destroy EVERYTHING in their path. Given that it's 200 years in the future and mankind is capable of interstellar travel, it's not a stretch of the imagination that we could conduct a scorched earth policy from space and never set foot on Pandora. If you display people as we truly are in a sequel then you have to build a story around the fact we will wipe out every living thing in our path to get it. Look at it this way, try as they might, did the Native Americans beat the Europeans? No, the Europeans had such a vast lead in technology that they wiped out or nearly wiped out numerous indigenous peoples when populating North and South America and this was BEFORE nuclear and biological weapons. Who honestly wants to see that, and who would find it believable if mankind didn't do that, further, how do you win against an enemy capable of destroying you from space if all you have are spears and arrows?
The second thing I'm annoyed with are these dorks calling themselves "Avatards", the only positive thing I can say about these people is they have the "tard" part right. They are learning a made up language, naming their children characters from the movie, taking anti-depressants, etc. I mean, what the fuck people?! It was a three hour experience, there's only so much there, it doesn't evolve, it doesn't change, it's the same damn thing no matter how many times you watch it. How can you name your kids after this is beyond me, I play FFXI at least three hours EVERY DAY, I'll be damned if I ever name a future kid of mine Drakus (though I won't rule O'Drakus out just yet). Hell I wouldn't even name my pets after characters in the game, but if people did I would kind of get it. FFXI is something that the average person can spend 300 hours a year playing, and it's a constantly evolving and changing environment. That, folks, is how you get to the point in which the above nonsense is a bit odd, but acceptable. How pathetic do you have to be if you're so depressed as to be suicidal from watching a movie!? Get a life losers! It took five years to make the first one, I'm not sure if these fucktards can wait that long for another one, here's hoping they can't.
Nyzul Isle
Tuesday we finished up Floor 100! I got to say when I first started Nyzul I almost gave up on it, I had lost on the first five floors 7-8 times, but for whatever reason I agreed to go one more time. Since then we probably haven't lost that many times in the entire climb. Congrats to everyone who needed the climb, and thank you everyone for helping me with mine. The gear drops on the boss floors have been non-existent (we've seen one piece in a dozen boss fights I think) BUT we did get an appraisal for Trotter Boots on Tuesday and that was pretty damn awesome. I've also managed to get all three weapons for my jobs, I should have Blade: Kamu unlocked sometime this weekend, Vidohunir is going to have to wait until I get some more Staff skill and Trueflight will obviously have to wait until my RNG is 75.
Dynamis - Tavnazia
Obsidian has added these runs back to our schedule, however, they will no longer be done in conjunction with the other Dreamlands runs. As such I was on the second run Wednesday and ended up being the puller, which was my first time pulling for this zone. I feel like I pulled a little slow and probably could have done more to help with crowd control, but I also spent half the run weakened so more often than not I was hanging back so I could avoid any AOEs. Nevertheless, we got to all the extensions with ease and there was never any doubt we'd miss one. It's just a damn shame the only drops we got were open (SCH body and WAR legs), and the coins were pretty light also, I think we had around 70-75.
Drakus vs. a Logitech Rumblepad 2
Just to provide a bit of background, I've been a console player since I was 7 years old, anything on the PC was stuff like SimCity or Roller Coaster Tycoon, so learning a complex game like FFXI came more naturally through a gamepad. Anyway, mine started acting up on Wednesday, making this the third one I've killed in two and a half years of playing FFXI. The problem is, I bought this one in the summer, it should have lasted longer. Last night I got locked up in the game again and decided maybe I just need to clean the thing up a bit and figured (correctly) that it probably had cat hair inside it (my cats get fur into fucking everything). I took the screws off and fiddled with a bit, when the cover came off the buttons comically scattered in a dozen directions (ironically one of them landed on a cat and was temporarily lost in his fur). However, taking it apart turned out to be a bad idea. When I pulled the gel cushion off for the directional pad I couldn't get it to fit back in place correctly (it has four gel pegs that hold it to the circuit board, these wouldn't go all the way back in) and it managed to jack things up even more. To add to that I'm not certain I put all other gel pads on in their correct positions as I was too busy watching the buttons scatter to make note of where everything went. So now the damn thing is more fucked up than when I started and by trying to delay the inevitable outcome of buying a new one, I have to buy one on the way home tonight if I want to play FFXI again (cause I sure as shit am not gonna try and learn how to use the keyboard to play). So just to recap, the Logitech Rumblepad 2 beat Drakus by TKO in the 8th round, a rematch is pending.
Let me first start out by saying this is an amazing movie that MUST be seen in the theater and it MUST be a 3-D screen. It's fantastic and beautiful with a look and feel of something one might expect to see in a Final Fantasy game. This is a movie that will change the way we watch movies, for me personally I hadn't seen a 3-D movie since I was a kid and even then it was just a gimmick. What Avatar is able to do is amazing, there is depth and presence in every scene, it's not the occasional graphic that seems to float in front of you, it's everything. I won't go so far as to say it makes you feel like you are right there in the action, but one does get a sense they could just reach out and touch anything they see on the screen, whether it's in the foreground OR the background.
Ok, so with that said, why I am I about to start bitching? Well there are two things, the fans and the sequel(s). Let me start with the sequel, James Cameron is on record saying this is in the works. To me, this is a horrible idea, Avatar should be left as the amazing epic it is, expounding upon it where the good guys win (they have to) is playing with fire. It's like The Matrix, I enjoyed the sequels (the highway scene in the second movie was an amazing 20 minutes of pure adrenaline), but after seeing them I really wish they had left well enough alone. The same goes for Avatar, while sequels are likely to be enjoyable, they will not be able to carry over the raw originality of the first one. What's worse is we all know what happens when humans want resources they desperately need, they destroy EVERYTHING in their path. Given that it's 200 years in the future and mankind is capable of interstellar travel, it's not a stretch of the imagination that we could conduct a scorched earth policy from space and never set foot on Pandora. If you display people as we truly are in a sequel then you have to build a story around the fact we will wipe out every living thing in our path to get it. Look at it this way, try as they might, did the Native Americans beat the Europeans? No, the Europeans had such a vast lead in technology that they wiped out or nearly wiped out numerous indigenous peoples when populating North and South America and this was BEFORE nuclear and biological weapons. Who honestly wants to see that, and who would find it believable if mankind didn't do that, further, how do you win against an enemy capable of destroying you from space if all you have are spears and arrows?
The second thing I'm annoyed with are these dorks calling themselves "Avatards", the only positive thing I can say about these people is they have the "tard" part right. They are learning a made up language, naming their children characters from the movie, taking anti-depressants, etc. I mean, what the fuck people?! It was a three hour experience, there's only so much there, it doesn't evolve, it doesn't change, it's the same damn thing no matter how many times you watch it. How can you name your kids after this is beyond me, I play FFXI at least three hours EVERY DAY, I'll be damned if I ever name a future kid of mine Drakus (though I won't rule O'Drakus out just yet). Hell I wouldn't even name my pets after characters in the game, but if people did I would kind of get it. FFXI is something that the average person can spend 300 hours a year playing, and it's a constantly evolving and changing environment. That, folks, is how you get to the point in which the above nonsense is a bit odd, but acceptable. How pathetic do you have to be if you're so depressed as to be suicidal from watching a movie!? Get a life losers! It took five years to make the first one, I'm not sure if these fucktards can wait that long for another one, here's hoping they can't.
Nyzul Isle
Tuesday we finished up Floor 100! I got to say when I first started Nyzul I almost gave up on it, I had lost on the first five floors 7-8 times, but for whatever reason I agreed to go one more time. Since then we probably haven't lost that many times in the entire climb. Congrats to everyone who needed the climb, and thank you everyone for helping me with mine. The gear drops on the boss floors have been non-existent (we've seen one piece in a dozen boss fights I think) BUT we did get an appraisal for Trotter Boots on Tuesday and that was pretty damn awesome. I've also managed to get all three weapons for my jobs, I should have Blade: Kamu unlocked sometime this weekend, Vidohunir is going to have to wait until I get some more Staff skill and Trueflight will obviously have to wait until my RNG is 75.
Dynamis - Tavnazia
Obsidian has added these runs back to our schedule, however, they will no longer be done in conjunction with the other Dreamlands runs. As such I was on the second run Wednesday and ended up being the puller, which was my first time pulling for this zone. I feel like I pulled a little slow and probably could have done more to help with crowd control, but I also spent half the run weakened so more often than not I was hanging back so I could avoid any AOEs. Nevertheless, we got to all the extensions with ease and there was never any doubt we'd miss one. It's just a damn shame the only drops we got were open (SCH body and WAR legs), and the coins were pretty light also, I think we had around 70-75.
Drakus vs. a Logitech Rumblepad 2
Just to provide a bit of background, I've been a console player since I was 7 years old, anything on the PC was stuff like SimCity or Roller Coaster Tycoon, so learning a complex game like FFXI came more naturally through a gamepad. Anyway, mine started acting up on Wednesday, making this the third one I've killed in two and a half years of playing FFXI. The problem is, I bought this one in the summer, it should have lasted longer. Last night I got locked up in the game again and decided maybe I just need to clean the thing up a bit and figured (correctly) that it probably had cat hair inside it (my cats get fur into fucking everything). I took the screws off and fiddled with a bit, when the cover came off the buttons comically scattered in a dozen directions (ironically one of them landed on a cat and was temporarily lost in his fur). However, taking it apart turned out to be a bad idea. When I pulled the gel cushion off for the directional pad I couldn't get it to fit back in place correctly (it has four gel pegs that hold it to the circuit board, these wouldn't go all the way back in) and it managed to jack things up even more. To add to that I'm not certain I put all other gel pads on in their correct positions as I was too busy watching the buttons scatter to make note of where everything went. So now the damn thing is more fucked up than when I started and by trying to delay the inevitable outcome of buying a new one, I have to buy one on the way home tonight if I want to play FFXI again (cause I sure as shit am not gonna try and learn how to use the keyboard to play). So just to recap, the Logitech Rumblepad 2 beat Drakus by TKO in the 8th round, a rematch is pending.
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