Adventurer Appreciation And Advancement.

Level 75 Bard! Thanks to Unification LS for the great party!

Ahh, memories. Kreutzet's return. No drop for Sodako on this meeting.

One BCNM, one desired drop, one decent plan, one dead Draco.

This town sure has gone to shit.

I dressed Draconum up nice to deliver his Adventurer Appreciation stats:




That's all the time I have for today's entry. More to come!

Come Together.

Little by little, things are moving along in this last month or so. Having some fun, getting a variety of things done. If I didn't know better I'd almost think Draco is really back! But alas, no long-winded post this time. Photographic montage!

Random Picture of the Day:
I kicked a bird. In the face.

Promathia Mission 4-2: The Savage

"Come, brothers! Prepare shitstorm!"

Tenzen: "FFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUU"

Fatass.

These pics are a little outdated. Each Wednesday night I've been going on CoP mission runs with a friend of mine and his Linkshell mates. As of this writing, we are going to be doing Promyvion - Vahzl next Wednesday, having completed Ouryu and Sacrarium (albeit with hiccups).

Since returning to FFXI this time around, I've been more focused and goal-oriented. There are far fewer of my friends left in the game these days. That's certainly not the way I want it but it does come with the positive aspect of fewer distractions. Fewer people to do quests for or help out in whichever way means more time for doing what I actually need or want done. Less random funny stuff going on means the enjoyment of the game comes from a different place now, for me. So far, so good.




Galbatorix and Jogace from TheSolonavi have made recent appearances, and I'm told Djohn has poked his head in as well. Sodako returned shortly after I did and as of a week or so ago my brother Anacalius is back. Fields of Valor everywhere - we're having fun so far. We'll see how long it lasts. I'm trying to get focused on perhaps some events and endgame but my work schedule is going to make it interesting.

The "Chief" returns: Galbatorix and I are ready to get into trouble!


We killed the Tachi: Kasha beetle NM for Thazienne:


Level Sync parties with buddies!

Anacalius death!

Jogace and I rest up for Dark Spark - completing his Dark Knight Artifact quests.




In other news, Dancer got a couple levels while screwing around in a Level Sync party in Qufim:




Chaining nicely in merit party:




Ro'Maeve soloing on Monk:


And on Samurai in Qufim:






Finally some time alone with a Mithra:

HOSED.

This game hoses me so often, it's a wonder I haven't drowned. I went on a Sacrarium run for Chains of Promathia mission progress. I come prepared, with extra healing items and so forth. I follow directions from the guys who've done the missions before. Overall I think I'm doing pretty well.

We get to a four-way intersection with a "True Sight" monster (read: he sees you even if you're invisible). All you have to do is wait for the mob to turn and walk down one of the paths a step or two and then you run behind him and go about your day. Simple enough. Except when the universe notices that Draco's trying to do something positive.

My character gets glitched through the floor when I go around the corner of this intersection. I end up down in the pool below (where there is no entrance nor exit normally). There's no way for me to get back up. The monster sees me, and drops down to kill me. Sodako calls for a GM in hopes that s/he will move my character back onto land I can actually walk around on. We wait. For an hour.

After an hour, of course, my corpse is automatically home-pointed to San d'Oria. The GM shows up and essentially tells Sodako that shitsux sometimes and wished us better luck next time.

Now in all honesty, I expect to be robbed of things from time to time. I actually think it's good for me 'cause it keeps me from getting too comfortable. The part that annoys me is that there were six or so other people on that run. They all had their night ruined because of my glitch. SE's glitch. Whomever it belongs to. Point being, I felt badly, and irritated.

Draco: I'm here to win.
Game: FUCK YOU!

Don't Call It A Comeback.

I took a glance at this journal recently and noticed that I haven't posted since I relocated. In fact, it's been a long time since I played FFXI for more than a couple days in a month span. So, time to rejoin the ranks and document a few changes. There's far too much to cover but I'll start somewhere...

I moved from where I was living to my own house. This happened after my last entry, about seven months ago. I bought a car I love and I've been pretty much keeping busy. I play Xbox 360 when I'm not working or hanging out with friends or what have you. During this time I've reactivated Draconum a time or two but have only visited Vana'diel a few hours at most throughout the entire month, then I canceled again. It just wasn't practical nor was it fitting into my schedule.

Lately, I've had a few things change in my life, and FFXI has apparently changed a fair amount too. There were a few major updates while I was still playing, and since I've been gone Square-Enix has implemented even more changes that have positive effects. During a visit to Fmtwo's house, he and I discussed many of these new aspects of FFXI. I decided to reactivate while I was there (had my laptop with me) and I joshed around a bit.

Fields of Valor did the trick. I can now get bonuses to EXP and gil (as well as other extras) just for killing specific targets. In combination with the bonus EXP levels given for killing "easy prey" and "decent challenge" monsters, a player can now solo (or duo/trio, etc) effectively without need for a party. This is mainly a useful way to be able to spend a little time making progress in FFXI without having a lot of time before work, or whatever the case may be. There have been numerous changes and updates that make FFXI easier to get into for newcomers, easier to play in shorter bursts of time, and more. Needless to say, I'm fairly impressed. I wish the game had been like this all along, but I'll take what I can get.

Now that I've been gone so much for so long, the most annoying dimensions of the game are no longer real issues, because much of it seems fresh to me again. So, in tandem with the way things are in my life, these changes have carved a place for me to toy around as Draconum and have some more misadventures. I'm happy to be back, but it should be noted that many (most, in fact) of the players I have spent my FFXI career with are now gone. Be it retirement or server transfer, TheSolonavi LS is all but barren, and my Friend List ingame is essentially desolate. Sodako has (at least temporarily) made a return with me, so I'll be keeping to myself and focusing on the last few remaining good friends I have.

So without further ado, on to the pics!

First we have FM and me killing stuff in Kuftal Tunnel:

Partying a little with MNK:



Random weird conversation:



Soloing in Xarcabard on MNK after figuring out Fields of Valor
(chat log shows the bonuses I got):



Monk does not respect the genitals:



Bard hitting 74:



I have a lot of Seals:




CORNER OF DEATH!
Valion:

Second victim!
Fmtwo:

More will follow as I snowball some progress or as I perpetuate the illusion of progress, depending. It's a new phase and to an extent, a whole new can of worms. We'll see how it goes.
Until next time~