The Melting Pot of Decision-Making.

Random Picture of the Day: Eternal Ice in U. Range

Dynamis-San d'Oria went well this week. I got the win I needed and picked up my Wyrm Greaves and Relic Lance. Essentially Sandy is finished with until my BRD gets high enough to wear the Relic hat.

Been working on getting Liabelle (my NPC) a new outfit. She's been wearing a Scorpion Harness for way too long. Fighting in beastmen-controlled areas can eventually give her a Demon's Harness, which'll be a decent change. Unsure which leg armor I'll do yet. Perhaps some haidate for the time being. Anyway, while slaying Goblins in Oldton I did this:

Always fun.

Server migration has been implemented by Square-Enix. I'm ambivalent on the idea as of yet. I can see it being a good thing, but possibly causing a few problems as well. I am automatically suspect of someone who wants to change servers, simply because I don't know the reason they left the one they had. Could be any number of valid, innocent reasons, but it could also be that the person was run off from their server due to poor behavior. We'll see.

One thing is fairly assured: Odin (my server) will see another return of its laughably pathetic troll, Feiwong. I don't want to give ol' Fei another 15 mins of fame in my life, nor this post, except to say that if and when he purchases/steals another account and comes to Odin with it, there will be comedy. His vulgar behavior, arbitrary antics, and self-absorbed paranoid delusions create a melting-pot psychosis that is almost interesting to watch. I'd prefer to be able to sedate him and put him in a mental hospital for observation though, rather than the world allowing him to run amok amongst regular citizens and FFXI players.


Still on the agenda: Aht Urghan missions, CoP (I'm redoing the Promyvions on Sunday), Ose NM drop, and make a little money to purchase a few things for whichever next job I focus on. Paladin and Dragoon are finished leveling (meriting when there's free time), Bard and Thief are 65+ and randomly climbing (most gear acquired or is cheap), and I have quite a few jobs lying in wait. When I get some time, I'll sort out what to do next. Let's take a look:

I do intend to get Beastmaster up a bit, hopefully in a duo. The idea since as far back as I remember was to duo BST with Encino. We've done a really, really bad job of getting that done. I ended up moving mine to 18 and he's trying to pick it up since his return. He needs to catch up a few levels, which will likely mean I powerlevel him the rest of the way.

Samurai was actually going to be one of my next jobs, decided after I got it to 37 for DRG sub. However, Sodako is currently working on SAM, and Encino has expressed interest in taking it up again. Having other Samurai in the LS doesn't stop me from anything, of course, but I tend to like to have something different going on than those in my surroundings if possible. This keeps us from comparing our advancement in that job, as well as gives me personally some variety in what I see and hear about in LS chat. Furthermore, and most importantly, I realized a more direct reason I didn't want to take up Samurai just yet: since using DRG/SAM so much, I'd essentially be playing the same job again when playing SAM main. Two-handed weapon, Skillchain starter, TP-hound DD. Not sure I need to go through that again just yet.

Warrior could be a viable next option, since it's a damage dealer I enjoy and would also be a somewhat easy and cheap job class to level. (Cheap and easy, just how I like it.) Only 6 levels off doing yet another set of AF, though I'd only need a couple pieces of it more than likely, due to the myriad of gear I own already. I'd be able to play with Great Axe or Dual Wield Axes with Ninja subjob. This'd be a little different than the Distortion-crazy SAM or DRG days.

Monk is something I'd probably play at some point, but I'd want to do it well. Since there aren't many options as far as Job Abilities or play styles, that's gonna mean I need good gear. O-kote NM being hateful to me (another run on Thursday for 6hrs or so went fruitless) and a 500K Brown Belt kinda put that off for now. Those two items are in the current levels with MNK, and until I want to spend the money to get them (roughly 1.4Mil if I never get the NM drop), I think it'll go on hold.

White and Red Mage are both 50 and will move probably in LS static form only. Black Mage kinda sucks as an Elvaan due to low INT and MP natively, and it's not a favorite job of mine anyway (though I did enjoy the 30s when taking it up for subjob). Unless the event occurs that I need to beat Maat with BLM for a Maat's Cap, BLM will probably never go further.

Dark Knight is essentially in the same boat as Warrior, though for some reason I'm gravitating toward WAR more strongly.

Ranger is an expensive job to level, which is okay. I'm not really hurting for money so much as thinking "Why throw it away when I could use it for something else?" I'd like to get RNG up to 37 at the least, for a subjob possibility (either for NM camping or maybe actual use).

Corsair is a job I'd probably level for either of the following two reasons:
1) I was really bored and wanted to blitz through a job that would get good invites.
2) LS party assistance, due to Corsair's buffing ability.
Neither of these two things is going on at the moment, so COR is on the shelf.

Blue Mage and Summoner are jobs I'd maybe level sometime, but they've never exactly been a hot topic to me. Bother require some pre-usage spell acquisition. SMN actually has most of the Avatars already, missing three if memory serves. BLU requires near-constant trips into the wild to boringly stare at monsters while they daintily decide whether they'd like to use their magic skills on you. Not my idea of fun right now. Both jobs are strong in their own ways, but more along the lines of having them as an ally rather than actually being either.

I'm not willing to stipulate that lolPUP is worth a second thought right now. Puppetmaster is a weak job option from my standpoint, and that's all there is to it. I'm open-minded and more than willing to see a PUP in action to prove its usefulness. I'm more than willing to learn. I just have had very little positive experience with lolPUP, and until that changes I have zero desire to degrade myself and waste my time leveling it.

Last up is Ninja, a job that would be an interesting prospect, if nothing else. Seems like everyone is a NIN these days, since it's a definite bandwagon mindset to minimize MP and hastily cut through XP mobs. Sad part is that so few Ninjas are actually good enough to offset the hate-holding weakness, as well as the disastrous occurrences when a NIN loses its shadows and gets dropped like a bag of dirt. I'm certain I could play NIN well, but this is another job that requires money loss, as Ranger does. I've already got a 75PLD, so I can tank. Ninja would be a departure from Paladin style, and might be entertaining. It's going to require a willingness to burn gil and probably a couple friends to coax me into taking NIN further.

That narrows it down, doesn't it? Decision-making is always a lovely chore, but in FFXI it's so much more fun to mull over. Off to work with me; until next time~