Wings of the Turkey Day.

Here you can see Gaea, the Corsair who partied with us for quite a while one night. She's the leader of Revelations, the Einherjar LS I've run with. I need to get back on track with timing and figure out which runs I can attend, but I'm trying.

Gaea also happens to have all jobs 66+ and has a Maat's Cap, which is one of those goals many players are secretly aspiring to but many of those players also sorta hope they never reach. (Sodako used to tease that I was on my way to getting one, and lately I worry it'll actually happen...)

White Mage is about 5K off hitting level 65. The static, which has been comprised of three people (Galb, Soda, me), caught up with Encino's PLD and thus we have added him. Then it was realized that Sicfreak is a level 65DRG. Valion's COR is not far ahead, and thus we now have a six-person party covering the bases. Hitting 75 should be enjoyable, provided we can manage so many schedules.

I had to take this shot of Popstar on his Bard simply because it looks so goofy. That's not a dig directed at him specifically; Bard just looks fashionably-challenged almost the whole way to 75. We made three separate trips to the Bird Cage to get his Artifact leg armor, which was frustrating Soda but gave yours truly plenty of targets to kill.

This is Draco-BRD being musical even when traversing Southie. My Bard is now 68 and is ever-so-close to being finished up. The levels are long but at least the invites are plentiful. I can essentially log in and get some Bard XP any time I please, which not many jobs can boast.

Wings of the Goddess has officially released! I was actually not anticipating picking it up right away. However, on Wednesday I was in a Best Buy and couldn't resist. Chains of Promathia didn't excite me much when it was released. Treasures of Aht Urghan was interesting and I wanted it, due to some pretty serious new areas and content that sounded great.

This time around, I was ambivalent. Right away when they announced the concept (going back in time twenty years to actually participate in the war that shapes FFXI's backstory), I was intrigued. I have loved time travel theory since I was a little boy, and I've always obsessed over videogames that implement the feature.

Then Square-Enix announced there'd be two new jobs. I kinda cringed because we don't need more jobs, and I knew this was an effort to hook people into keeping the game going longer. It could of course be argued that's what the whole expansion is, but I mean from a balance aspect. Eighteen jobs is honestly plenty and it's not like we're at a lack of content in this game. It'd take a normal person ten years to get through all this stuff (and it's taken half that for the people who... well, let's call them the "More/Less Fortunate). I decided if they're adding new jobs, certainly one of them is going to be a tank, because that's the only class we're severely lacking. Two out of eighteen jobs can viably tank (one, if you count the fact Ninja is usually lame).

After raising a stink about Chocobo Knight being the new tank, partially in jest and partially in high hopes, I was disappointed to find that we're just getting two more amalgamated hybrid jobs. I don't really have anything against adding jobs, but it just seemed unnecessary to add things for cool factor rather than what we need as a community.

As details surfaced of content, new monsters, areas, and jobs, I was becoming fairly disinterested overall. However, in the days leading up to release, I got pumped up to see what Vana'diel looked like twenty years ago. I'm thinking that the time travel alone sold me on Wings of the Goddess, because I don't know what else I'd want. That said, I installed it last night. I'll give details of my first evening with WoG in a later blog entry.



Thanksgiving is upon us and in full swing as I write this. I've got food cooking and family/friends around me. On a serious note, there's a lot that gets taken for granted in life, and it's all-too-easy to get swept up in the problems while forgetting what we've actually got. Personally, I have felt I was on top of the world at times and I've felt like I was at the bottom of the barrel. It's important to me to keep life in some sort of perspective. A great many life-changing things has happened to me sporadically over the last couple years and again with some major events the last few months. I know what I do have going for me, and I'm thankful that I have a life worth the struggle.

On a lighter note, I'd like to take this little opportunity to say that I appreciate the friends and family I have around me. Regardless of situational factors, I've got a crew of zany characters who're always at the ready, either to make life more enjoyable, to hassle me, to help me out when I need, to give me something to do, or just be around so I'm not wandering around aimlessly like a stray cat.

Here's hoping everyone has a safe and happy holiday. A toast to good health, good friends, good times, and good food.

"Let us remember that, as much has been given us, much will be expected from us, and that true homage comes from the heart as well as from the lips, and shows itself in deeds."
~Theodore Roosevelt