Silly kupo hats

Next mini-expansion to come with the update it seems.

The rewards are going to be similar to ACP, but in the form of hats this time. I guess we're going to have more potentially decent augmented items from the missions along the way as well.

I don't like the hats. Well, the MNK/COR/PUP/whatever hat (medium armour) looks decent, and they all look like they'll match with the respective body piece from ACP. But I don't like the look of the mage one or the heavy melee one (which looks especially silly).


Looking at the list of augments, I could get a lukewarm replacement for w. turban, or a pretty zomg Drakesbane piece (since I don't/won't have n.head) or a 6MND/cure potency hat for RDM. Probably won't go for the RDM option, because I do have limited inventory, and RDM gear is pushing that limit often, not to mention when I'm in need of more skill/accuracy on debuffs, the first thing to swap out is the head, since that's the biggest skill gain for the least amount of MND lost.

If the store TP option came with haste or accuracy instead of evasion, I might have made use of that in a TP build, but it would be pretty weak compared to most 6-hit options. So it looks like I'm going towards a drakesbane piece (but that hat is ugly as sin :( ). My options are:

1) STR+4 WSacc +15 / DEX+4 crit damage+2%
2) STR+4 WSacc +15 / AGI+4 ws damage+2%
3) STR+4 WSacc +15 / acc +10 att +5

I'm lacking a lot of DEX in my drakesbane build, which is why the DEX+4 was attractive, and a bonus to crits is nice on top of that.
Option 2 is the least convincing, AGI being useless for my WS, and even on a 1k damage WS, the 2% extra will add 20 damage. Do not want.
3 looks really nice, even though it seems like a broken amount of accuracy (25) on one piece of gear, it might even be changed before they release the expansion. Acc+10 and att+5 makes my Pahluwan hat redundant for DRG, and both augments together will completely destroy wyvern helm as a WS option (-1 STR, +25acc, +5att in comparison). 3) is the winner here I think, as long as they don't nerf the augments in the near future.

Hero among Heroes.

YESZ

Now my mog house is sporting Aht Urhgan, Jeuno, Windurst, Bastok and Sandy's flags.


I had to make room for Bastok's though, and this painting is probably my favourite furnishing :( More MH space please, SE?

And now unless they add something new (probably the Kupo d'etat expansion) this may have been my final visit to Castle Zvahl's throne room.


The fight was a little messy because we aggroed him twice before getting a 1st nuke off, but luckily I managed to squeeze in a convert without dying (volker took hate for a second) before getting in a final nuke for the win! We broke the record too, but a group of 5 or so JP players entered just after us so they'll probably beat that record, even if it was only 3 or so mins.


I'll be switching back to windy soon, I'll wait for the next conquest tally because Bastok is in 3rd and Windy in 1st, so it can't get any more expensive than it is now D:

Although I do prefer the salute for Bastok/Sandy, I like my outposts more and Windy just feels more 'homey'.

As far as storylines are concerned, Bastok >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Sandy. It's been a long time since I did Windurst, so I can't really compare but I have the feeling it was on par with Bastok, if not better. And certainly much better than Sandy's limp excuse of a story, which accomplished nothing more than fuel my loathing for the dull, arrogant inhabitants of San d'Oria (except them sexy elvaan ladies :o).


Gration (NQ pop) duo! Took us less than an hour to get it to 5%, at which point Juli went to swap to THF while I kited. Somehow, I lost all hate and it ran off while I was on the opposite side of the house we were kiting it around. I ran after it, eventually caught up to him to find he had regened to 50%...

So, if you're going to duo this and have someone change jobs at the end for TH, use a warp item. Or just make sure the kiter has enough hate, since we did the same thing when we got it to 5% for a second time, I just made sure to spam sleeps/dispels/blind etc to keep it on me.

I only got hit by one thundaga III (plus one that juli tried to mpk me with ._.), which don't kill you outright with stoneskin and you may be able to survive as RDM with shell and a little over 1k HP. I didn't get any magic damage gear because it's still on a mule and I'm that lazy. There was one point I got trapped in a corner and only -just- got out of range from the -aga, so pay attention to where you're kiting and always leave room to escape an -aga cast at any time. Duo is much, much, better than solo because you can nuke more freely (partner doesn't have to wait for it to cast spells, and don't have to mess around trying to time it well) I found T4s were eaisest to time nukes after, and poison/bio can be done any time he's not casting since they're fast enough to cast before he gets to you.

It's also possible to get a raise off while kiting in full fast cast gear when he stops to cast an -aga III or Burst (don't ask how I know).

No drop of course!

Tentacles and slimes

Found this in my delivery box. Ew.


So I had to retort, take that ya jerk >:|

Also Bastok 9-1 solo:

Just need to pull it from the bottom map of Gustav tunnel, and then kill the first form by the zone, sleep II one of them and zone in/out to lose hate on the other, then just kill yours as normal. I'm not sure what happens to the other; it could depop after 3 mins, or slither its way back down to the ??? before depoping so I may have inadvertantly MPKed some people down there.

Just make sure not to be standing next to it when you kill each form, because the babies attack faster and faster as they split so it can cause trouble if they are on top of you when they spawn. But they get less HP and take more damage as you go on, so it's easy to kill them fast. T3s were doing 1.2~1.3k on the smallest slimes :3

Now I need a BLM for 9-2 and I'm done with my flag collection!

Tea and medals

I'm working my way back up to the max rank in preparation for the new ranks/campaign bodies after the update.

Got back to doing Bastok missions again, and have gone from rank 8 to 9.


Needed help going through the doors in quicksand caves, easy fight though.


Zeid isn't the best artist in the world, but at least he's better than Angelica.

I had to kill a ghost after this, no pictures because lolghosts.


Angry Galka D:<


Slightly miffed, but not quite as angry as before Galka :|
I got 80k for this at some point, but I don't know who gave it to me...guess I pickpocketed the crowd while they were mouthing off about the tunnel being closed.

My next mission will have me collect salt (what?) for the fat senator guy who I had to get eggs for in earlier missions. How he still hasn't been sacked is a mystery.



Juli said it was impossible to duo the NM, so I'll solo it to show him! There's a RDM solo guide on the wiki but it looks like it was written by a five year old, so if they can do it, so can I!

Do you even know what you're getting yourself into?

I ran into someone who has just started the game (can't imagine why anyone would bother at this point in the game, especially with XIV on the horizon). I introduced him to the tutorial NPC, who should keep him busy and explain stuff like the Auction House etc so I don't have to.


The main reason I wanted to help, apart from having nothing better to do, was so I could actually use the mentor icon legitimately for once.

I had to look up the tutorial NPC on the wiki since I'd never used it, but they give you some nice stuff like free food, a reraise earring, exp ring, free exp and some gil for completing quests. I told him about the wiki, which is probably the single most useful thing anyone can tell you starting out, but he said he was on xbox and presumably had no PC access(thus no keyboard, and my own experiences of typing with the xbox controller are not positive ones). Realistically, I don't see him lasting long, especially starting as BLM. But as long as he's enjoying himself more power to him.

I did let him know BLM was rough to start out on, but his response was something along the lines of "but I liek to cast teh spells!" which is cute, but swinging teh axe is a more popular approach to leveling these days, but I'll leave it to someone else to crush his hopes and dreams. I told him to get a keyboard too, since I think the game would be plain unenjoyable without being able to interact with others properly.

I'll be surprised if he gets past 30 days.


Stuff I did that I didn't really mention because I was too excited about my new hat:


ACP augment spam! Only two items from the Fei'Yin quest pictured above (I got two other beak necklaces with useless junk on), other than those I've got a bunch of gil items, the worst being a potion+1 and the best being a gold ingot (18k). I'm hoping for a decent acc+6 mantle, or something like a free penitent's rope.


Standing around in whitegate! Here's some naked Galka antics.


MMM stuff! Soloing is difficult, so bring friends! More marbles for me, but miles away from getting a spade/hat.


Helping kill crabs-inside-worms. I had to stun stuff. RDM Aspir actually works better on this guy than it does on most Dyna-Xarc demons.

Also, new Wings of the Goddess missions in the coming update.


Who knew.

:]

Moar MND

Just need to finish morri legs/feet, aslan cape, Mistilteinn, Mahatma body and a better MND earring for ear2. Only Morri legs and feet are going to be possible in the near future, but at least they're the biggest improvements for this set so I'm happy. Mahatma body may be my next purchase for extra whitebox :O
Morgana's choker would also be hot because I lose alot of MP from switching from idle to this set (morrigan's will help with that too), but it's no more MND than what I have already.

Mog Bonanza 2009

About sums it up :/


Although I did get 1 Rank 5 on my main, and two rank 5's on a mule, so I could get one of each Faf/Behe/Turtle statues, which do look very nice at least.


Disappointing waste of 120k though :(

Campaign about to become worthwhile!

Campaign Gets Reinforcements! (15/06/2009)


Brave warriors of the Allied Forces of Altana, heed these words! New battlefields and new orders await you with the coming of the new version update. Your mission will not be easy, but rest assured that you will be rewarded handsomely for your efforts.

If you would take up arms for the cause, you may read on for your briefing.

Icelands areas? New ranks? New bodies? Yeah, yeah, saw this coming.

But they are going to add something interesting:

Great riches await triumphant Unions, including but not limited to the ancient currencies obtainable in Dynamis, a wide assortment of synthesis materials, and the spoils of vanquished Beastman Confederate captains. Such rewards will be distributed via Union treasure caskets after the conclusion of each battle.

Hopefully the stuff from Beastman bosses are interesting bits of gear, but I predict alot of Campaign-triggered latents :\

Ancient currency is cool, but I won't be looking for any by the time this comes out and it obviously won't be provided in vast quantities so city dynamis isn't going to be rendered completely obsolete. Synthesis materials? More star sapphires please, then maybe I can afford the HQ rings/earrings sometime in the next decade.

Hat sex +1

This was more of a dream piece for me, I never actually expected to get it, especially not so soon. But we had incredible luck in a 1 hour Valk farm, and two dropped (I got the second) along with a smn cape and a pld cape, which beats most full runs we do.

Now I just need 22 bronzepieces to fix it :|
I wanted to get it handed in before this conquest tally, but I don't think that's happening now because of the ridiculous prices in Rolanberry (15~17k each) so I'll have to wait a couple of weeks to get them discounted from the ls (9.5k each) which will save me around 100k.


Misc things I did include getting Tavnazia outpost for Bastok, getting a steel ingot from the Fei'Yin ACP key and failing to solo another MMM maze


I cleared the first set of mobs (flies) without much trouble, although I linked a couple and had to kite around the big pillar to lose them, which wasted time. Then I had fire elementals with 15 mins left, so I killed one and just warped out.

I still suffer from inexplicable lag inside MMM, which really doesn't do much to help me.

Flam also came back to the game for a bit, was nice to see him again and I threw him into the deep end by making him solo the BLU guy in Red vs. Blue xD
We also did some Besieged, which I normally avoid like the plague but it was a welcome addition to my buffer/Imperial Standing after all.

One gobbiebag to rule them all...

80 inventory/satchel space :D
I ended up spending just under 400k for the last ingot, when it had been going from 350~420k and back again for a while. I was in Jeuno already for Limbus so I thought I'd get it out of the way while I was there. Now that I have it, expect the price to plummet to a steady 100~200k.

Anyway, aside from the usual dull events (though we did do a nice smooth Ultima, but that was mainly because he was being friendly and didn't spam magic shield in CB phase), I got another rank with Bastok (almost done!).



I also tried a Ro'Maeve Fields of Valor while I was here, which gave a nice 1300 exp and 130 tabs so I could afford to warp myself home from the book.


Silly turtle men.


Silly hume with his nasty olde man tash and bad dress sense. I'm not a fan of Karst, he's almost as ugly as the dreadlocks/massive earrings hume M model.

Incoming Version update!

Next Version Update Scheduled for Late July! (08/06/2009)


We're pleased to inform you that the upcoming version update is on track for a late July release! The development and quality assurance teams are hard at work cooking up a whole slew of exciting new content that will feature the continuation of the Wings of the Goddess missions, new areas in past Vana'diel, job adjustments, additions and refinements for Campaign and Moblin Maze Mongers, and much, much more.

Details on all the new features will be released here in the coming weeks, so keep your eyes glued to this space!

Campaign bodies finally! Chances are they won't be very good... I was interested in the Windurst mage body for a time, because looking at the rest of the set it would be similar to Goliard (HP/MP, conserve MP) but now I have Goli body, it's unlikely the WoTG one will be better.

New missions are bleh, because nobody is doing them and I've not done the latest set of quests because I've been busy enough. I don't do MMM or Campaign, and job adjustments aren't going to be as epic as the WHM ones they just did (BLM's turn maybe?). Not excited.

Anywho...


/poke


/poke


Promote!

Bastok got Fauregandi

Yay. At least I have 1 northlands OP now.


Shame I got past 5-1 so won't be with Bastok much longer. From a quick glance I can solo up to Rank 9, until I need people to get through the doors in Quicksand Caves.

Soon I can be back in Windurst ~


Don't do this
Tav ring is sellable for 20 gil! Considering it's one of the most useful re-usable teleport items which can't be re-obtained I don't know why they even let you do this. I hate to think if there was some poor guy who used it thinking it was one charge ever, then NPC'd it after :x

Arrapago Remnants gave us something nice too:


I don't think it's that uncommon though, I've seen a load of Ares 35s' and not a single Morri 35 body ever. Still, a nice drop to see. Not pictured: also Morri feet 25 dropped from the boss, which I got. So I'm 2/3 on feet and legs and both pieces drop in the same zone! Unfortunately doing 6f madame and the boss in one run isn't easy and I don't think we can manage it, at least not yet. I've not even set foot in Zhayolm Remn. for a year or more, and since then they've apparantly nerfed frog chorus (charm AoE) duration, which is great because that really slowed runs down.


Me and some frens vs. JoF.

JoF won.
Kept killing our tank (MNK) with -aga > WS lameness. Was easy to kite with gravity when we waited for weakness after the first two deaths but it resisted way too much on the 3rd. More magic defense bonus gear for -agas, or more people (dedicated tanks and DDs) would help. But where's the fun in asking more people?


k I'm done. You can go now.

End of the world is nigh.

Maintenance. In JP prime time, and not EU prime time for the first time ever.

Holy crap, you can tell the end of FFXI is coming.

...I wonder if this will finally fix the area-wide lag in Whitegate?

GG Siren.

Siren World's Undefeated Besieged Record Eclipses 2000 Mark!
(04/06/2009)


Ever since the introduction of Besieged to Vana'diel approximately three years ago, Siren has emerged as the only world to maintain an immaculate, undefeated record. And as of May 27th 2009, this record has reached an amazing 2000 consecutive victories!

We would like to offer our heartiest congratulations to all the denizens of Siren World, and wish good fortune to those in all worlds who do their part in the frenetic defense of the Imperial Capital, Al Zahbi.

I've not commented on the POL news stuff for a while, but this is quite impressive, especially that they went that long when a two week period on Hades without losing the Astral Candescence is considered a 'good stretch'.

Misc stuff:

People carpet :o


Seems we can't do dreamlands with less than 30.


Cool damage bro. This was on Bhaflau remn. 4f gears, I thought it was good since I normally average around 1~1.2k. Had double minuets and angon for it (coeurl subs as food), so no surprise here.

We linked a couple of gears, and the pickup guy didn't know to kill them fast so 1 warped while fighting, so we got about 7/10 overall. Still managed to kill the boss and complete some Usu legs!

Bye-bye, FFXI

http://www.finalfantasyxiv.com/

Only day 1 of E3, can expect to hear more...if not, there's still TGS to go :O