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!

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.

Haven't we been here before?

Flame gorget go! I couldn't get a party to try it out though :\



I've been pushing to make progress with Bastok missions, and so far got from Rank 2~5


My third (and final) run in with the mission 2-3 dragon. Much easier solo on BLU than it was for RDM. I filled my inventory with hi-potions, and ended up using 2 (which I would have lived without anyway) so now have a ton of them to shift.


Rank 3 involved trading crystals to skip the pointless missions! Also mission to Jeuno to save the ebassador guy who randomly wanders into Delkfutt's tower (for NO reason, and still doesn't explain after you save him) and gets knocked out in a place that is inaccessible unless you climb ten floors, kill an NM for the key, then travel BACK DOWN to reach the basement. Good thing the key is re-useable and I've done it twice before! I climbed the tower anyway, to grab the key item for ACP 11.


Magicite. Did this all as WHM to tele/warp around faster. Turns out Otzroja is a bit annoying solo at level 42. And some of the levers (the door you need the torch for especially) are really annoying to open because you have to be in a really specific position.


5-1 next, just need to borrow a mnk (or almost any other job would do, I imagine). Northlands outposts would be nice as well...

Apart from all that, I spent some 3 hours in Sacrarium helping people farm subligars. We had a good drop rate at first, but then the THF had to go and it fell to 1/109580185 kills. Fortunately the guy who wanted THF subligar d/c'd so we managed to get subligars for everyone else who was left and gtfo. At least I got some Conquest Points out of it? Yay.

I saw an ACP 11 shout while I was looking for a party, and decided to give it a go, since I'd just farmed the key item. Typically, the last guy who joins doesn't have the key item and we have to escort him up the entire tower, killing/kiting everything in the way (no sneak/invis and I can't cast on him when he's level-capped). Thankfully it wasn't in vain.


Everyone knew what they were doing! PLD had magic damage gear, and could actually hold hate for a bonus (and didn't get charmed once). The only difficult part was the THF (designated clone-killer) was on the opposite side of the room, so we had to run into aoe range if they needed curing, and they had to run into aoe range to pull the clones because they were running towards us. Coupled with the fact it was spawning clones in pairs for some reason, things got a little messy towards the end when the THF got hit with Seed of Judgement and died, leaving me to nuke the clones (but was running out of MP) and my Thunder got resisted on the last clone (which then killed the SCH), so I used weapon bash, stunned the crystal again, and was about to melee the clone to finish it off (was out of options!) but luckily the SMNs kept up the damage on the crystal and finished it off.

So even with a good group it can get messy.


WAIT LOL, HOW DID WE EVEN GET HERE???

look, it's that bit from the starting CS and I'm not in it:(

So anyway, the entire ACP storyline is pointless and confusing because it revolves around Aldo's sister who has being missing since Tavnazia got owned, but has been in the game since the start.


Except that she does have a different name, and that was never explained either. I'll try talking to her to see if she says anything different.

So, ACP is a mindless nonsensical expansion, with a 'storyline' that opens more plot holes than it closes. But if you want to try for some neat augmented items, and a shiny new body piece, then go ahead by all means.

Kupo.

Old news, but whatever man. I'm not playing a great deal due to exams, still a week of those to go D;

Basically people need to run around and find 11 tablets (which were all found by the time I knew about the exams), and can be found across the original/zilart areas.

From what I gather, anyone who finds a tablet gets this ring and extra goodies:



And when all the tablets are found, you get a bunch of spiffy bonuses:

"Thrifty Transit": Outpost teleport sites will operate free of charge!
"Martial Master": As an added Signet effect, battle skills will increase more rapidly!
"Blood of the Vampyr": Signets will be boosted with the abilities of Regeneration and Refresh!
"Treasure Hound": Signet will grant you the Gilfinder and Treasure Hunter abilities!
"Artisan's Advantage": The chances of losing ingredients due to failed synthesis will be significantly lowered!
"Mystery Boxes: San d'Oria": Treasure Caskets will appear more frequently around San d'Oria!
"Mystery Boxes: Bastok": Treasure Caskets will appear more frequently around Bastok!
"Mystery Boxes: Windurst": Treasure Caskets will appear more frequently around Windurst!
"Mystery Boxes: Frontier Lands": Treasure Caskets will appear more frequently in the north and other distant lands!
"Swift Shoes": Adventurers who are fully rested and healed will temporarily be able to run with great speed!
"Ease of Exploration": A teleport service connecting the towns of Mhaura and Selbina to the three nations will appear!

Which are pretty awesome, especially movement speed+ (though I've not noticed a major increase), skillups and regen/refresh from signet. Best part is you can still get these bonuses after the adventurer appreciation campaign, even if it's only three random ones/week. But getting the SAME DAMN MESSAGE every time I zone for the rest of my life might get a tad annoying.



The only downside to this event is how it coincides with my exam period, so I can't actually take advantage of it, and I've just changed nations.


So my signet duration sucks right now :\

Stuff what I done: first Ultima!


It went pretty smoothly, until the end where it decided to spam Citadel Buster and some magic shield almost exclusively, when we only had BLMs and one MNK for damage (other DD forgot to buy soap...).

Dynamis was supposed to be Valkurm, but we ended up doing Windy due to low numbers, which is pretty much the worst case scenario possible for me. Not only do we miss out on a nice short dreamlands run (particularly the zone that drops the D.chap -1, which is about the only thing I -really- want from dynamis now), but we have to do the most annoying city run, that features fun things like AOE stun moves on every normal mob, sleepga/slowga/paralyga from statues, silencega from pets, Death house, etc etc.

Of course no DDs are capable of subbing anything other than WAR (DRK/war what is this I don't even?) so I have to main heal a party full of people fecklessly taking damage just trying to prove they are the BEST AT DOING DAMAGE EVAR! Along with my usual sleep/debuff/nuke stuff regime, because of course we would have one less than the bare minimum of BLMs again. With that said, it wasn't a terrible run (actually better than a typical windy run) but we still might have actually cleared had people got themselves fucking killed less (hello /nin) and we had a better strategy for the Heaven's Tower mobs.

I think I'm just grouchy because I've not gotten anything new and shiny in game for nearly two months (although I shouldn't complain since the last thing I got was RDM hat). When exams are over I'll get back to the soul-crushing work of Aurum boots I think. Doesn't look like I'm getting homam any time soon, so I think I can justify the effort. I would buy N. head for DRG if the price of the cursed cap wasn't so ridiculous (thanks, gobbiebag quest!). If I could just find someone to sell me Bodb's slops I can die a happy person.