Ramping Up.

It has been a couple of months since the 'Navi and I were out making messes and creating chaos around Vana'diel. Recently, however, it's been getting back to normal. Despite my hectic work schedule I have currently, I've been trying to get online more often. Instead of just sit in my Mog House or at the Chocobo Circuit chatting, I've been getting out and about to make things dead.

Skilling up is always a quality excuse to kill. Nearly every job class in the game has multiple weapons available to it. More often than not, one weapon takes precedence over the others and the lesser-used tools of the trade become useless by comparison. In the case of my Paladin, a traditional Sword & Shield is the norm, while other weapons which are not required can still be skilled and used for fun or specific desired effects. Staff, for instance, has a Weapon Skill called Spirit Taker that becomes quite useful in a pinch. If my PLD runs low on Magic Points, I can use Spirit Taker to convert damage to MP, making myself considerably more durable against a tough mob.

Par for the course, Galbatorix and Sodako were more than willing to take to the caverns of Kuftal for mass crab-slaying for skill points. I was wielding a Great Sword, Soda worked on Club, while Galb stabbed away with Dagger on his newly-75 Red Mage. It's going well so far, forcing the three of us to get used to each other again, and banging the rust off ol' Draco's hinges.


Meanwhile, my brother's new character Anacalius makes progress each day. He's already acquired his subjob and has been leveling Warrior/Monk so far. With the 2-handed weapon update recently, WAR was given one of the best boosts in my opinion, considering WAR can equip and adequately use a number of different 2-handers. In my bro's case, he's using Warrior's A+ rated weapon, Great Axe. It always was my personal WAR weapon of choice, but the status quo was Dual Wield w/two 1-hand Axes. Finally, the populace should accept that GAxe is the way to go and Anacalius should enjoy chopping monsters like so much firewood.

Here are a few shots I took of us while he was leveling his Monk:

Furthermore, Anacalius ("Cali" to his friends, it seems) has obtained his Airship Pass to Kazham, a rite of passage into the 25+ range of leveling. He's also taken to travel, jet-setting all over Vana'diel to complete what is affectionately referred to as the Stone Monument Quest. The reward is a map to one of the more confusing zones in many players' minds, Crawler's Nest. Cali is wearing mostly borrowed gear due to the slow process it can be to get ramped up in FFXI with a new character. However, despite being gone so long, he's fairly familiar with game mechanics and is quickly familiarizing himself with current trends, party dynamics, and other such nonsense. I'm sure he'll surpass his old character in no time.

To close, here's a pic of a recent trip to Kuftal where Sodako and I ran into Amemet, a lizard NM which is usually monopolized by the local gilsellers: