Campaigning Without Politics.

I've been punching my way through any creature I can find for EXP. It's been a slow and tedious process at times, but I'm enjoying it. The statistical inefficiency of soloing and fighting in Campaign battles is offset by not having to deal with idiots or pay attention to the game for long periods at once if I just want to half-ass it. Some would argue that I always play half-assed but we're gonna ignore that for the time being.

I've certainly fought plenty of different targets in the Campaign battles, and here are the pics from the last few weeks:

Sometimes I get killed. Y'know, once in a while...

Sometimes I get hugged. Monsters are just insecure after all...

I've thrown a couple of "legit" parties into the mix, generally when friends are available.

At long last, the culmination of the last couple months' effort, reached while doing Fields of Valor in Cape Teriggan:

Now that Monk is 75, I will pick something else to finish off. I'm thinking Thief could be my Campaign job (so I can continue to rank by participating) and White Mage can be my partying job. They're 65 and 66 as of this writing, respectively. My brother is doing Warrior at the moment so that doesn't really appeal to me. Samurai and Dancer are still geared up and ready to go, so I might putz with those and see what trips my trigger. Ninja is pretty much ready to go but that'll be a non-party project more than likely.

Now for a couple oddities.


My brother and I replied to this comment at the same time, which was a little amusing:

For the finale today, a chat log that warrants an explanation but isn't going to get one:

Monk-ey Business.

Since returning a couple months ago, I've had a lot of fun but I remain somewhat frustrated with the game overall. Despite the steps in the right direction which I've discussed in previous entries, in the big picture FFXI is still fairly incompatible with what I want out of it / myself. In other words, as I get more "serious" about upgrading gear and doing events, I am once again reminded that it's very difficult (if not impossible) to fit this game into a real life schedule with work and other commitments. I don't see how some players manage it. Whining aside, we've still accomplished a fair amount lately. And more importantly, I've had some good times with long-time friends, so it's worth staying in Vana'diel for now. Plus, I do have the Popstar to insult and motivate me.



My main focus in recent weeks has been Monk - a dedication the likes of which I've not been able to muster for a long time. I am loving the job. The push for 71 to get Asuran Fists and 73 for my Destroyers (likely the last weapon I'll ever use on MNK) has been enjoyable and pretty efficient so far.

Supergirl and I apparently shop in the same clothing section.

Yesterday was a merit party which was an EXP party for me. We got to what I believe is my highest chain so far but I can't remember for sure. Thus, since I've recorded this one, I'll go from here.

Happily using my Monk for various tasks and raids now as well. This was a coffer key run in Eldieme:

Last night, the 'Navi went on two NM runs. The first was for my Asuran Fists Weaponskill. It was a Skeleton-type which can be difficult. Unless you have blunt damage. Who does blunt damage? Oh, three Monks will do the trick. Supergirl and Bloodless both came as 75MNK, I was on my 72MNK, Sodako came as 75WHM to make sure we didn't commit dumbicide, and another helper named Knowledge came on 75BLU. Overkill? Yes, it turned out to be, but that's a very good thing. Why, you ask? Because I'd rather just steamroll a fight than end up with what happened next.

I had promised Jogace we'd finish up his first set of Artifact Armor, for his Dark Knight. So, we headed to Delkfutt Tower on Qufim Island to fight what we figured would be a fairly straightforward battle. One Arcana-type "Weapon" monster, and two skeletons. For whatever reason, 'skeleton' didn't register with me that we should be sure to bring Monk support, in spite of the previous events that very hour. So, Sodako was on SAM/DNC, Jogace was on DRK and I was on PLD.

We lost pretty huge. Soda says it was largely due to the BLM-job Skeleton hitting him with an ancient magic (read: el rape-o). In my opinion it wasn't looking good anyhow. I don't mean to be pessimistic, but when I'm holding the other two NMs as a PLD while they kill the first, I can generally tell how it's gonna go. My health was dropping pretty quickly in comparison to the damage we were doing. Skeletons are just bitches like that and the Weapon was no pushover either.

To wrap up a long story, we got lucky when farming up the pop-item for Round 2 (second kill, in fact) and we went back with Supergirl on Monk, Sodako on WHM (which always seems to be an ingredient for success), me once again holding two mobs with PLD, and Jog still on DRK. This went much better. I almost even completely solo-killed the Weapon, but it had nasty MP and TP-draining abilities which slowed my progress. Anyhoo, we won and Jogace got his Chaos helm.



Upcoming for Draco: Assault should be tonight with Galbatorix and Sodako (I'm 5K points from my Amir Boots, so this week is it!) and I'll use Campaign battles to get my last 11K of EXP for 73MNK, thus equipping Destroyers and starting on the WSpoints to unlock them. I can't wait! Wednesday night is one of the Dynamis run times for a Linkshell I just picked up. Sounds like they could use a Paladin and I could use some Relic. I'll give that a shot this week and see how fast their mages fuck up and let me die. I've also geared up quite a few of my other non-essential jobs so I can pretty much jump on anything (now that Level Sync exists) and be helpful or have fun.




Here's our parting shot - a "you had to be there" moment but even if you don't get it, I'll get a smile out of it when I look back!

There goes the bravest naked knight in all the land of Norg. (Deathwarping ftw)

Until next time, Draco clocking out~

Going Organic, And I Don't Mean Bananas.

I got a pretty sweet slasher.

I plan to use this as my Paladin's toy until or unless I get a Joyeuse. My Company Sword isn't going anywhere, either. They're not pictured in the shots below, but I have set myself up an attack/accuracy outfit for Paladin so I can more efficiently destroy things when on raids. I don't do endgame PLD outside of Dynamis (at least yet) so I'm unconcerned about having what everyone thinks you're supposed to wear as a tank. Therefore, spare me the criticism. Matter of fact, my unconventional Paladin setup always worked great throughout my career up until now, so I'm not exactly insecure about knowing what I'm doing.

Couple weeks back, the 'Navi LS mates were partying on Lesser Colibri and we took in a new member of the family, so to speak. Mrbuckets was a Samurai in the party, and while I'm not completely familiar with his repertoire, I know he's also a DRK75, as can be seen below. Here's Bloodless, Sodako, and yours truly helping Bukkkets with his Ground Strike NM:

He seems like a cool guy so far. I'm glad he came.

I actually have quite a bit to write but alas, I have to go to work so I'll post early in the A.M. with more. I've been a fairly busy fella and I have a few plans for upcoming FFXI goals and adventures. Signing off for now~

Oh, my Monk wants one of these, by the way:

Spankings and Beer.

I've been doing a lot of killing Weapon mobs in Ro'Maeve. Mostly solo but sometimes Sodako joins me and most recently, Kidari came back and joined me with his Monk for a bit. Using Fields of Valor pages, I get 1300 bonus after six kills. The RDM targets are the rough ones, but other than a few deaths it's been pretty smooth. The second picture here is of a Rare/Exclusive head piece I got from a treasure casket in Ro'Maeve. It's useful when soloing here because the Arcana Killer effect acts like a Paralyze spell at random times. I'm level 67 as of this writing, and I'm now anxious to get 75 and to get my Destroyers weapon.

"Meet Promathia" Zoot says as we reach the chamber housing a statue of the Twilight Creep. CoP is going well so far with Unification LS. I like the CoP storyline a bit, though in the interest of full disclosure, I tend to dislike reading story in this game. Perhaps because I see so little of the story at a time that it becomes difficult to follow what has been going on despite there being quite a deep and involving backstory behind everything that's going on in Vana'diel.

The Promyvion - Vahzl run planned for last night (Wednesday) was in danger of cancellation when the leader/organizer had something come up and had to log off. I asked him before he left for some tips since he's done the missions before, and he obliged. So with the help of Acacia and Sodako (thanks guys!) we fumbled through organizing ourselves and heading into Pso'Xja and then Promy - Vahzl. Despite some doubts on my part that things would go smoothly, we in fact ended up going well. Might have had one death from aggro somewhere along the line but that's about it. We made it to the Spire of Vahzl, meaning we now can warp straight to the final boss. Cross your fingers so SE doesn't find out I'm making progress and send ghost assassins after me.

There was a Puppetmaster running around by himself, which led to the comments in the chat log:

Scenery:

Various beasties in Promyvion:

More chat log innuendo:

It might just be me, but this is a funny pic/chat log combo. Take a look at what is going on first, and then read the chat log. Tell me you don't see that.

My brother and I were in a party recently with Zooted and another LS member I hadn't met yet. I played White Mage for them in Yhoator Jungle at level 27ish, level-synced. Let me tell you if you don't already know: Playing a mage job in low-level areas with the Fields of Valor bonus Refresh is amazingly easy. I didn't think it'd be that much of a difference, and maybe it was just the fact that the party was pretty good anyhow, but it just seemed so much more efficient.

Here are the comments that spurned the title of this entry:

Finally, in an effort to keep an eye on the prize, a pic of the boots I'm trying to get with some tedious repetitions of Assault in the Mamool Ja area: