leopard after dark

Missons, /blist, and more pics~

2009-12-09T22:40:58Z

Posting cuz Alpha Coney

I've slowly been making my way through the past nation quests and have finally somewhat caught up on the San d'Oria line of quests. I think so far, this line has touched me the most - I was almost brought to tears during several cutscenes. Excenmille is one awesome little kid and I'm looking forward to seeing what he and his band of imps will be doing in the future. Bastok still has to be done, along with completing the new set of Wings of the Goddess missions so that I can be 100% caught up and completed with WotG quests/nations. Besides, I want to get my hands on that Kitty Wand. Hopefully I can get them done before classes resume in January.

:o What happened..?!

I think this would make a nice desktop image.

This past week also has Superfesty, Tsuruya, Deuteu and Shemc completing The Celestial Nexus in a jiffy.

ENMs
Riz and I got lucky with ENMs this week obtaining a Hedgehog Bomb for each of us from Brothers and a Hagun from Sheep in Antlion's Clothing.

We have yet to get lucky again on Pulling the Plug, but hopefully we can get another Toreador's Ring before the year ends.

Dynamis
>< Don't remember how Dyna went. I should really post more often so I don't have go to rummaging through my memories for what happened or what notable drops there were. Oh! One thing I do remember from this past Dynamis-Jeuno is that two HQs dropped. Zoop and huzzah!

Blist Thoughts
Thus far I've never had a person in my linkshell permanently make it onto my blacklist. I'll toss a name on there when I'm super annoyed with someone, but then remove them when I'm feeling better. I think it's counter-productive to have someone I need to work with be on my blacklist. But what about someone who isn't in my linkshell that's on my blacklist that might get pearled to my shell? I know the adult thing to do is remove that person from my blacklist and be as civil as possible, but I'm stubborn and my dislike for this person borders on hatred. I've never before felt anything even remotely like this for anyone else in the game. I know I'm harboring grudges, but the old adage, "actions speak louder than words" really sticks in this case, to me anyway. I don't know, I suppose I shouldn't jump the gun in case this person doesn't get pearled.

Random pictures
Random pictures are random because I've got nothing else to put down. Click to enlarge and re-click to super enlarge!

The MNK party that Alpha Coney broke up T^T

Shem likes to sit with kitties.. sometimes in pairs, sometimes in bubbles!

Love my mods ♥

Lucky rolls and fail-y rolls

General TsuKitty

Wai Hai, Taisai~

2009-11-17T14:57:10Z

It's been a busy two weeks since I got my account back. I've been trying to make it to as many LS events as possible while still trying to get my school work done. I really should try updating more often - I forget details or events or even pictures!

Mostly a picture post because the words don't want to come just yet.

NMs

Nothing but crystals. Would've liked to have seen the drop even though it's meh.

Post's namesake! Got an alliance of Title-Wanters

Random Jabber
Lots of standing around waiting results in a lot of random chatter.

Combo'd by Code T____T

Salvage Chatter

Moar Salvage Chatter

Sea Talk

Achievements

Finally capped on BLM

'Cause you gotta have Faith! Faith! Faith!.... BAYBEH!

Gotta love maintenance!

Glitch?!

While Riz and I were attempting to duo In a Haze of Glory, we were resting when suddenly his cloak disappeared on my screen. I found it odd so I checked him and apparently his cloak turned into a garment made of invisible thread! Talk about an emperor and his new clothes.

I'm back?

2009-11-02T22:11:13Z

So Elphaba's back but it was bittersweet. My first scare happened when I saw, "You must rename this character" upon my first time logging in since my account was restored. I panicked a bit, thinking that someone had created a character with my between the time Riz deleted the mule he made for me and my actual login. Turns out I just had to re-type in my name. I was hoping for my data to be rolled back to the Friday before I got hacked, but unfortunately it looks like I was rolled back at least two weeks in time. This means I lost BRD merits, my mannequin and my FL and SL assaults and my Storm Fife! I was... disappointed, but told myself that at least I had my account back. The upsides are that I was able to re-purchase 2 items at lower than what I had initially bought them for, I had stuff I had mailed and received (I think) still in my dbox, and now Riz can potentially complete Captain rank with my Assault static.

I have to re-purchase a few things - thankfully FFXIAH can help with that.

Here's to hoping I don't get hacked again.

Not FFXI related - Please vote for my friend~~

2009-10-21T01:07:10Z

Please vote for my friend Sheryl Ng (#14). She's a great girl - creative, smart, and runs her own business! (Vote everyday if possible~ much cookies to be had by all ^^) Voting ends on Friday~~

T_________T

2009-10-20T16:53:00Z

Still under investigation :/

I know who hacked me.... Well, an accomplice anyway :/

2009-10-17T23:25:53Z

So ever since the day I was hacked I've been visiting FFXI ah daily looking for high-priced items that I had that would have been put up on the AH. I had no luck until today when I saw this. AH history begins on October 17th and that looks to be some of what I had lost. I'll be keeping an eye on this 'person' to see if other things it sells matches with what I had. I don't know why I'm looking at it - I can't do anything about it now. I feel so completely and utterly helpless. I hate knowing that these people are getting away with it. Hate knowing that even if I get my account back, someone is profitting off of my hard-work.

Why move me to Valefor? Why bother to dress me in R/E gear? To throw it in my face that my account got hacked and there's nothing I can do to catch the thieves?

I'll be contacting SE on Monday to see how progress is coming along on my rollback.

I hope I get my data recovered. I've never had a GM called on me, I don't have any warnings.

I don't understand the 'why'.

RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWR

Incorrect log-in or password whut?

2009-10-13T03:37:09Z

So I woke up this morning and was going to log on to help Riz with KA when I was greeted with one of the worst messages I have ever seen. "Cannot login to play online. Incorrect login or password" (<-- not verbatim but close I think!). At first I thought maybe I added a character to the login password as I was ALT-tabbing around, but unfortunately that wasn't the case. Riz told me Requieme (Taru mule) was logged in. I knew then I had been hacked. He called a GM and tried to get my account frozen but couldn't because I couldn't provide sufficient data. (Name of all 6 mules, level and job for at least 3). I couldn't believe it. Then he tells me that I've been moved to Valefor. "What the fuck.." The whole thing doesn't really have me flustered. I'm more annoyed by the fact that even if I get a rollback, someone out there will have profited off of my hard work, not to mention probably being charged for something I didn't do.

I'm pretty sure I know exactly why I got hacked. No, it wasn't because of FFXIAH or BG, it was because I was an idiot and decided that I wanted to remove a linkshell off my FFXIAH profile once and for alll and the only way to do that was to log into SE's linkshell community. Yep, you read that right - I was twice the fool for using that site for such a trivial thing. I surf with Firefox and have NoScript, Ad-Block Plus and Flashblock active all the time. I run a system scan every night and my anti-virus is never turned off. Someone asked if maybe my computer was infected by something I had downloaded, but I put this system together not that long ago and have been extremely cautious since then. And hey, if they were going to nab my account, why not nab my friend's, too? He's got much more than me in both items and gear. Anyway, I'm waiting for an email from SE to find out if the rollback was successful. I'm hoping it doesn't take all 7 days.

There was some talk in LS about people with security tokens getting unlimited rollbacks. This makes me want to get one as I don't want to risk losing Elphaba permanently. However, the CSR I spoke with told me otherwise:

Mayflor G: I heard that having the token gives a person unlimited rollbacks
Mayflor G: I didn't want to get it before, but now I kind of od
Mayflor G: do
SEA Gene: No, the token doesn't provide unlimited rollbacks, but it does add security to your account.

I want to know for certain before I dish out money for something I was so adamant against. No, I wouldn't be buying it for the added 'security'. There's really no security to speak of with this game, at least as far as I'm concerned. On Saturday night a linkshell mate was hacked before our very eyes. He was fortunate enough to have his account frozen before it got moved anywhere. I don't know why, but I contacted a GM regarding Game Data Recovery - the website left me a bit confused as I was expecting a button to click on to indicate that I agreed to the terms of the GDR. The GM I spoke with was nice and not curt:

Aside from that everything has been okay in-game. I thought I was quitting for good at the beginning of September, but my school year isn't being as difficult as I thought it would be. I regret tossing some of my equipment, namely my Perdu Voulge, but that's easily acquired. I kept all the gear that I would use for BLM, BRD and MNK. I was going to gift my staves to some random BLM to keep Riz's signature alive, but it looks like I'll be keeping if I get my account back. I hope the signatures stay on them as well! I'm quite proud of my Rizelmine signed staves. My assault static has been progressing very well, too. We need one more win to attain Captain rank. We went 1/1 on everything but the Khim mob which proved to be more difficult than expected. We were supposed to attempt it this week but circumstances won't allow for it. I told Evan that I didn't mind if the group continued on to try and get the win, but apparently AP is needed!

I hate you! Ruiner of full 1/1 T__T

Salvage has been coming along nicely, for me anyway. I completed Marduk feet and am now 2/3 for Marduk head. I totally failed at my job on Friday night when we went to do Bhaflau Remants. I don't know why but I just wasn't on the ball. I put Elegy on the wrong wamouracampa and almost MPK'd my party. Evan saved us all with the power of Repose and some mad WHM kiting. I also landed an (impressive) requiem that killed the gear that was supposed to be slept. Bah. I wanted to crawl under a rock and was waiitng for someone to yell at me. I would have grumbled at myself if I wasn't feeling so foolish.

I've been doing some work on 3D renders since I want to make a new forum signature. I'm slowly getting the hang of applying shadows/light/mirror effects. It's time consuming but I find it very enjoyable. I hope I can make a sig as sexy as some of the ones that were displayed on KI. (Yes, I found the tutorial on KI). These are what I've produced so far:

Not bad, but not amazing either.

Screenshots of randomly random things

4 simultaneous merits all together, ya!

Circle of dead mages! Someone tried to run, but couldn't get away!

Fake GM, rly.

Omg so close! LaVaule [S] NM fight.

I walked into this one....

Recorded forever, one of our BRDss being told to come WAR :D

My best friend, love, and I. Effects brought to you by an Unstable Displacement

G'night!

Screenshots Onry

2009-08-29T15:45:51Z

Okay! Incoming screenshots are incoming. I had to crop a few and re-size (T___T I don't want to resize, but I don't want unnecessary scrolling).

Odin!

Gonna strike us down!

Run, Zec, run!

Dynamis-Jeuno

VPK at its finest

The aftermath. Smart Wazzy found a corner.

Tinnin

Blinded by the light!

Nosferatu
Low-manned Nosferatu with YC for Deta.

Face off!

Tag-team.

Randoms

Take it easy, Xeph. It was good adventuring with you.

Good bye, KupoRing T_T

I can haz eyez.

Yay!

I don't know what it is, but my pictures don't look as awesome as they do on my PC. I'm thinking it's a combination of resizing the pictures and saving as JPEG, but saving as BMP will make the files huuuuuuge. :/ Meh!

Gilgamesh Reborn

2009-08-27T18:23:02Z

Well, not really reborn, more like just born. About two weeks ago the video card on my laptop decided to die shortly after my group started Salvage. The symptoms were the same as the last time my video card decided to die. The screen was 'fuzzy' and I had 6 images of the Windows start up screen taunting me when I restarted. It took about 2 weeks total to order and receive parts. I assembled Gilgamesh on Thursday and I was up and running just last week Friday. For the curious my new system consists of:

Motherboard: ASUS P5QL Pro ATX LGA775 P43 DDR2 1PCI-E16 2PCI-E1 3PCI SATA2 Sound GBLAN Motherboard

Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo E7400 Dual Core Processor LGA775 2.8GHZ 1066FSB 3MB Retail

HD: Western Digital WD10EADS Caviar Green 1TB SATA 32MB Cache 3.5IN Hard Drive OEM

RAM: Corsair XMS2 TWIN2X4096-6400C5C 4GB DDR2 2X2GB PC2-6400 DDR2-800 CL 5-5-5-18 240PIN Memory Kit

Optical Drive: Samsung SH-S222A/BEBE 22X Dual Layer DVD Writer Black IDE OEM

Video Card: ASUS EN9600GT SILENT/2D/512MD3 GEFORCE 9600GT, PCI-E 2.0, 512 MB DDR3, 256BIT, DUAL DVI-I

Case: CoolerMaster ELITE RC-330 ATX BLACK CASE RoHS w/350W PSU

Monitor: 22'' Dell Widescreen (max resolution 1680x1050)

I can now run FFXI with everything at max and not worry too much about lag or killing my video card. :D

Salvage
This past Monday my group paid Bhaflau another visit and I saw my first ever Salvage NM!A total of 3 Macha's Cuffs dropped, one of which I won.

Limbus

Got locked out of Limbus on Tuesday because some genius decided to go ahead and pull a mob when not everyone had zoned in. I heard my hum and before I could click to enter, my hum disappeared. I was pissed as hell. It's been a long time since I've gone on a run and I'm now looking to get what ABCs I can without buying them. The upside is I got to log for the night and take care of things outside of game.

Jobs

Took a look at my BRD gear and there are a few pieces left that I want to get:

Storm Fife
Bard's Roundlet +1/Marduks Tiara
Choral Cuffs +1/Sha'ir Gages
Choral Cannions +1/Marduk's Shalawar
Piper's Torque (only if I can get it to drop - I won't pay for it)
Astute Cape
Loquacious Earring/Delta Earring

I don't have a FC/-SST set yet, but I would really like to have one done. I also need to work on my Minstrel's Ring set up so I can have it proc. on every buff/lullaby. FFxigear is down so I haven't had the chance yet to play with potential sets. Maybe when I get home today.

PLD dinged 60 the other night and overall I'm happy with my progress. I need a bit more practice with timing Shield Bash and Sentinal but that will take care of itself in parties.

Short and sweet post is short and sweet. Screenshots to be posted later after I crop them. Everything looks so sexy!

The Only Trouble is... Gee Whiz~~

2009-07-09T14:00:03Z

I will have been playing this crazy game of ours for 6 years come this December. In that time I've made many acquaintances, few close friends and have only been a member of a handful of linkshells. I can still remember my line of shells and all of them have been social. I've always been very committed to my shells, feeling uncomfortable and guilty at even the thought of spending time in another shell. Through thick and thin I would stay, generally being able to get along with most everyone, if not at the very least be cordial. That is, however, until this past year or so.

There was drama in one of my shells that, to me, pretty much changed the dynamic of the shell and its members. People were zealously given pearls without first going through a process that was set up to filter out those that would not fit in the environment of the shell. A flood of people came in and then a flood of very good, very decent people left rather than deal with the rabble. I blame absentee leadership, and I use the term lightly, for the slow crumbling of a once highly regarded shell. No one was around to keep people in line, and when they were, they did nothing.

The following is an excerpt from the words of our founder:

So... what is *********** all about? *********** is about providing a mature and respectful environment where people can spend time ENJOYING the game, helping each other progress, and accomplishing great things. To accomplish this, we hold a high standard for ethical and mature conduct and behaviour. I, for one, do not wish to spend my time adventuring with asshats. And i believe this is a common feeling throughout the LS. It has no place here. So we require that members ALWAYS remain respectful towards each other and maintain a mature demeanour[sic] when dealing with issues that may arise. This truly is the golden rule of this LS. We don't have to agree all the time... but we MUST all agree to maturely disagree^-^...

...Basically, if a situation should arise or inappropriate behaviour is seen, it is very likely that a sack will send people a /tell to chill out or what have you. Please do NOT interpret this as a sack telling you that "You're wrong" or something... they are simply trying to alleviate the situation before it escalates into something bigger. Every sack has been in this LS for quite some time... and as a result, knows very well the tolerance level of different people which a newer member may or may not be aware of. Consequently, please view such a /tell from a sack as simply a warning that things will likely escalate if their advice isn't adhered to. Please listen to the sacks as it is an attempt to keep a situation under control.

From there, we've run into incidents where /tells do not stop a member from continuing to act disruptively in LSchat... Each sack has now been asked to publicly (in LSChat) ask a person to unequip their pearls in such situations. Failure to unequip a pearl when asked by a sack to do so. under any circumstance, will result in an immediate and permanent removal from the LS. Unfortunately, i do not have the patience for people who willingly and knowingly try to escalate a situation, whether right or wrong, even after someone tries to mediate...

The mature and respectful environment is long gone. Some people in the shell seem not to respect the varying and sometimes opposing views of others, resulting in words flung and an increased use of the Caps Lock key. I became a sackholder once, thinking I could make a difference, but it's hard to make a difference on your own. I had called a meeting of sackholders to try and deal with the issues in the shell and to work on a recruitment method that would bring in fresh blood and fresh perspectives that would be conducive to the shell. I thought that we should break the shell and create something new, seeing as we had strayed away from the original goals put out by our founder. Others wanted to bring the shell back to what it was, but by that time, it was too late. Besides, effort needs to be put in on all fronts, not just one. Good intentions are just intentions unless action is taken, and here, there was no action. Almost a year down the line, no action has been taken by people who said they would do specific things to bring about change and to foster goodness.

I have tried my hardest to stay in the shell, tried my best to deal with the bullshit that goes on, the tempers that flare, and the innane chatter but I can't do it anymore. I dropped my position as sackholder, essentially giving up on trying to deal with certain members. My tolerance for the annoying seems to have gone down - I can't be in that shell when certain people are in it for the simple reason that they take away from my enjoyment. I put on the pearl reluctantly, almost like a courtesy appearance to soothe my guilt and to see the few friends I have in that shell. It was a tough decision but one I had to make to preserve my enjoyment of the game. I'd rather remove myself from the situation than blacklist. It's passive-aggressive, I know, but it offends no one. At least, I don't think so.

So why bring this up?

It seems like a new trend in my endgame shell, now. There are a select few who I'd like to blacklist but it wouldn't be conducive to events. I admit I did it once but then removed the person when we had an event to do. I see the dynamic in my endgame shell changing as well and not necessarily for the better. I know and accept that change happens, I just don't like it when it's due to a small contingent of annoying players. Maybe I'm just getting older and my tolerance for the annoying is dwindling. I've become increasingly sarcastic to certain members and, without fail, will mention illiteracy when someone asks for something to be repeated when it has been said many times. My participation in linkshell conversation has diminished quite a bit, I think, and this is mostly so that I don't end up ranting and raving at the undeserving because someone annoyed me.

I am glad for the reprieve that our LS vacation is giving me and I'm hoping that over the course of the next two weeks I can find the bits and pieces of me that seemed to be have an infinite amount of tolerance and patience for everyone and everything.

Ding! Ding! Ding!

2009-07-08T13:34:02Z

Jobs and XP:

Warrior:
First thing first:

Yay for 75 no. 4!

WAR hit 75 on Sunday night after a gruesome two days of Extreme Leveling. I have no idea how I did it and honestly, I feel so lame sitting at my laptop for 7 hours each on Saturday and Sunday to complete my goal - satisfied, but lame. Since I dinged in a level sync party, I couldn't switch to xp from merits and didn't build up a nice buffer. I'm delighted that I can finally get rid of gear and free up some space for when I start my next leveling spree. When Immo's break ends I'll be making a point of attending events, yes - even *shudder* sky, to finish my final build. As it stands, this is my current TP setup:

Perdu Voulge | Pole Grip | Bomb Core
Walahra Turban | Peacock Amulet | Assault Earring | Brutal Earring
Haubergeon +1 | Dusk Gloves | Sniper's Ring | Toreador's Ring
Forager's Mantle | Swift Belt | Byakko's Haidate | Fighter's Calligae

Off the top of my head I want to replace my Bomb Core and Fighter's Calligae with a Fire Bomblet and Aurum Sabatons, respectively. Hopefully Riz and I get lucky with either ENMs or Big Bomb so I don't end up being too poor to feed myself. I need to remember to farm Zeni, too, but oooorz, I dislike farming Zeni (even though that's the primary reason I leveled Black Mage in the first place).

My Raging Rush Setup is:

Perdu Voulge | Pole Grip | Bomb Core
Optical Hat | Peacock Amulet | Assault Earring | Brutal Earring
Haubergeon +1 | Pallas' Bracelets | Rajas Ring | Victory Ring
Foragers Mantle | Warwolf Belt | Byakko's Haidate | Savage Gaiters

I've been told to get Hecatomb pieces but presently that's not a possibility so I'm going to do my best with what I can pick up at the AH. I really want something else on my feet - it must be a psychological thing because S. Gaiters are level 29 and I feel like I should be wearing something closer to my level. Moar QQ, right? Any suggestions from more experienced WARs?

Paladin:
I made some good headway on Paladin last night going from 24 - 29 in one party. I thank the almighty Emperor Band, Annivesary Band and Kupofried Ring for my progress, and also my party which was neither great but not really all that terrible either. I really enjoy tanking and keeping hate from melees and felt a small surge of pride when the SAM in the party didn't even make the mob look at him after a Tachi: Enpi and a Provoke. Delighted! Elated! More shopping for gear will ensue and hopefully I can get into another party tonight after my Assault static ends.

There was a hiccup of annoyance when one of my party members consistently /em farts (without a period!) throughout the night. Not to mention the Mithra that must have been a role-playing fiend and had what I must guess were /s included in not only her Provoke macro, but definitely something else. (There were 3 different /s lines that she pumped out.) She was promptly blacklisted and I'm hoping that over adventuring career someone will nicely tell her to keep her /s macros to herself.

Assault:
Since Evan's computer died I've nervously taken up the reigns to lead our Assault static. I'm not really comfortable with the mantle of leadership - I don't think I have enough knowledge or experience to lead people through events, but I didn't want the static to fizzle away. Veo is only 5 away from reaching Captain and he's repeated quests for the rest of us and I didn't want his time, or the rest of our group's, to be wasted. We completed 3 new missions last week resulting in Tsuruya and myself:

Yay! Access to Perdu Voulge, go!

The 3 we do tonight should finish up Corporal for me, Super and Deu. No one's replied yet to Evan's post asking if people were going to take from a break while Immo is on break, and I'm really hoping that no one does.

Miscellaneous:
So this week was a new for Super Kupopowers and guess what?

Huzzah!

Talking to the moogle in Ru'Lude resulted in:

Infinite Sprinter's Shoes!

and

Burning you on PLD~~

Rant:
So this is partially my fault for not heading in with a buffer but I wasn't expecting people to tag along and then not help cure. I had wanted to skill up because Cerb. has Martial Master this week and my G.Axe is still underskilled - not terribly, but it's not blue and to me that's bad enough. So 4 YC members decided to skill up in Uleguerand Range as Boyahda Tree was busy. So we go, and a mob links, and another mob links.... and I die.. and delevel. That's only been the second time ever in my FFXI career that I've leveled down and it didn't sit well with, especially not after my leveling spree over the past two days. So I was miffed and sat on my 300TP for the remainder of the skill up 'party' that, thankfully, broke not too long after I unweakened. I disbanded and got 75 in campaign. I was miffed at one person in particular because it seems like he always half-asses everything he does with the group and, to me at least, is selfish. I feel better now and am trying to take out my aggression with my Sim who wants to be "The Emperor of Evil".

EinheRAWR

2009-07-02T12:38:23Z

So.. Einherjar last night both amused an annoyed me. I don't know exactly why it happened, but we ended up with 3 people outside of the chamber. Normally party leaders are told to make sure all their members are there before lamps are handed out. Maybe it was the lateness in the day, or nerves, but that didn't happen last night. (I'm thinking this should be routine and not something someone has to be told to do). One person was, I assume, AFK without notice. 2 people being left behind I understand, but three? There was some miscommunication inside and the puller thought he was being addressed when a go ahead was given. Plenty of "wtfs" I'm sure, though not in /l or /p. I, myself, was ranting to Riz whom I was speaking to on MSN chat.

One of the people left behind was a BRD that was supposed to rotate through parties with me. I was perplexed as to why I got invited into a party with another BRD before I realized that he was left behind (AFK). Maybe I'm expecting leadership to remember things such as having a 3rd BRD that could rotate, and maybe that's too much to expect. I told our other BRD to rotate with me, addressing which party leader should invite him first. I ranted a bit to Riz at that - I think people should be able to think on their feet and adapt as necessary to changes in a situation. To me it's an important skill that should have been acquired on the journey to 75. It's times like these when I wish SE would bring back mobs trailing a person to a zone and that mob potentially aggroing everyone around. It keeps people on their toes and exercises the ability to adapt and think quickly.

Morbol Emperor was the boss to defeat and it seemed like we were constantly slept. Bad Breath would occasionally hit us with poison and I was -__- when someone asked for it to be removed. Come on, people, by this time we should all know that being poisoned prevents you from being slept. It's not difficult to remember and I'm sure that by this point in a person's FFXI career s/he has had poison on them/used poison pots. to stay awake. I made a mental note to add poison pots to my list of things to always bring to Einherjar. Too many mages were left asleep, too many 2 hours eaten by sleep.

We did win, with just a little over five minutes to spare, and were grace with H.Feet that Veovis won.

Tikal did a great job with the BRD rotation last night. I'm certain that including a /t macro with my disband macro helps out quite a lot.

Before bed I found a txt message which I assume was from my LS leader poking fun at my rawring over things that go wrong over events. I was puzzled until this morning when I looked up the area code and stalked on FB. I KNOW IT WAS YOU, BOSS MAN!! :/

Assaults
My assault static forged ahead and completed 3 new wins with the help of Riz. We were short two regular members - one who's PC got fried thanks to a lightning strike, the other to birthday revelries. Had Super come along, LC would have been completed for 3 people. Tsuruya and myself got our promotion quests, and I believe Tsu completed hers that night. If we win 3 new assaults each week, we should all be FL in about 11 to 12 weeks. I'm excited and happy that our group is doing so well. Captain, here we come!

Pew Pew!

2009-06-29T22:41:28Z

N.B. This update is brought to you by a kat mindlessly typing whilst listening to an audiobook. No order will be found in the post herein.

Lately it seems like my desire to play FFXI is waning. I find myself logging on to do a quick event then promptly wanting to log out. It might be the busy schedule I find myself having coupled with a full day of work and hitting the gym. I've got Immortality events on Tuesday, Wednesday, Saturday night and all of Sunday, Salvage on Monday and it seems like Friday. It feels like there aren't enough hours in the day for me to go about doing my own thing in VanaD. I'm very grateful for the upcoming break the LS is taking. It's going to be nice frolicking around VanaD without worrying about an event that's going to start up.

WAR hit 71 on Saturday and I've been looking at gear I can/should get. I feel odd not having bought much since my Hauby +1, almost like I should be buying something. I think now most of the gear required to fill certain slots will be Rare/Ex. I can't wait until 75 so I can get rid of some capped gear that I've kept to wear in level sync parties.

I won 35 Marduk body in Salvage last week and I've been trying to think of ways to come up with 12Mil Gil. I can possibly do it in a decent amount of time if I craft everyday and my items sell quickly. There are ENMs, too, but Riz and I have been unlucky with that lately.

Oooorz, audiobook getting more interesting than post.

My highest drain ever! (I think :o)

Dazzled by Queen Titania

Flying Vee!!

:o They love me~

Gotta love that maxed SS - +55 MND {All right!}

I'm a pain in the ass. Trust me!

There's some overlap. I lulz'd at one particular person >.>

The Rawr in ElphaRawrKat

2009-06-14T02:52:24Z

I've never done this before, but dammit it's getting harder and harder to be nice to people I don't like.

It's really too bad I didn't get a SS of this shot which added to my dislike of this person.

xxxxxxxxxx>> hey ï'womanï(
>>xxxxxxxxxx : xxx
>>xxxxxxxxxx : my name isn't woman
xxxxxxxxxx>> shit i forgot
xxxxxxxxxx>> sry elphy!
xxxxxxxxxx>> dont keel me
xxxxxxxxxx>> on that same note that brings up a question that i have
>>xxxxxxxxxx : you've got until I get to my MH
xxxxxxxxxx>> if your husband called you sweety (hypothetically)..would u keel him?
>>xxxxxxxxxx : no
xxxxxxxxxx>> so why be critical of others
xxxxxxxxxx>> ?
>>xxxxxxxxxx : do I have the same relationship with others as I do my husband?
>>xxxxxxxxxx : No?
>>xxxxxxxxxx : Well there's your answer.
xxxxxxxxxx>> same friendly relationship i'd presume
>>xxxxxxxxxx : it's a wrong assumption
xxxxxxxxxx>> husband is more intimate.. friends are similar in ways
>>xxxxxxxxxx : is this the reason why you wanted to talk to me?
xxxxxxxxxx>> actually, no. lol

Maat Masher in Training

2009-06-12T16:50:57Z

So my WAR finally hit 66 earlier this week and I decided to try and beat the old man early. Rifling through forums I found the favoured method was Raging Rush > Icarus Wing > Raging Rush > hope for Fragmentation. I bought Hi-Potions in case I needed them and ended up not using them at all. It looks like Maat only attacked four times. 3 attacks were absorbed by Blink (praise be to Altana for Blink Bands!) and his fourth hit knocked me into yellow. He was at 20 percent by that time and gave up. Oddly enough I wasn't really nervous for this Maat fight. My heart race for MNK, BRD & BLM. So that makes it 2/4 jobs that I've gone 1/1 on. I'm hoping the streak continues on with my future 75s.

I got WAR to about 1/3 of the way to 68 last night. I was reminded of my dislike for /p chat macros. I don't mind informative macros, i.e. updates on TP, MP, or HP. What I do mind are lame jokes and 'funny' provoke macros. Also.. does anyone find BRD /p macros to be useful? i.e. The name of the song being sung or the effect of the song being sung. Personally, I don't find them necessary and are a waste of log space.

This past Sunday was a busy one for Immortality. I missed Einherjar due to lunch with the family and logged on for Dynamis. I didn't really feel up to heading to sky afterward and so skipped out on Kirin. I haven't been feeling events much, lately, also skipping Tuesday's Limbus and last night's Sky. I think I need a break, though I'm not sure if it's for events only or a break from the game overall.

It looks like Salvage is being postponed until 10:00 EDT tonight. Hopefully I can get some xp in before then - WAR needs to hurry and finish!

/pcmd add rly

2009-06-04T17:26:32Z

Disclaimer: I have never been in the position of being the party leader that invites BRDs. The following rant is purely from a BRDs perspective. Why don’t I be a MNK and lead a party? Because in Einherjar apparently BRD > MNK.

Over the past month or so I have been attending Einherjar as a BRD. At first I was relegated to buffing just one party and everything was hunky dory. It appears that there are now more people that can/will come BRD and so a rotation ensues. I remember party leaders being told to make macros to invite BRDs – this was when I still attended as MNK. The syntax is simple as I’m sure everyone can attest, /pcmd add Name. 2 BRDs? Then make 2 macros. 3? Then 3 macros.*

On the surface it looks like a very easy thing to do – hit the macro for the right BRD whenever the /l message comes up. Simple, right? Apparently it’s a very difficult thing to do. I never realized hitting two buttons was such a taxing endeavor.

Last night’s Einherjar had me throwing my hands up once again in defeat. I was left without a party for several minutes and more than once I was re-invited into a party that I had just left. Is there too much battle spam? Should I mash my macro more? During one Odin I was so flabbergasted by the inability to invite the right people that I ended up changing my /l macro to:

HAI2U DON’T WASTE TIME ~* {Please invite me.} *~ KTHNXBAI
I figured the caps lock would attract attention but it seems like it doesn’t.

I only know one person right now who is good with his invites and is mindful of his invite order. If he can do it, why not the others? Why is someone that is DBing made a party leader? Apparently the DB’d character was only supposed to be active during the boss fight but it seemed like he may have been active during the rest of the fight as well. I really don’t know.

Last night made me realize, too, that I should just stop caring. It doesn’t seem to matter to anyone else so why should it matter to me? ”You should be fine without an invite for a few minutes.” BRD songs last for approximately 2 minutes but is lengthened with +Skill & +Song gear/instrument. A long wait between invites means that melees can be left without songs. If that’s okay, then why bother rotate in the first place? Why bother having BRDs to buff parties?

I’m sure this is going to be read as overreacting, but frankly I don’t care. It happens every time a rotation is put into play. I don't find it acceptable, instead deeming it inefficient and a waste of time.

Will I be caring about performance in Einherjar? No, not anymore as apprently it doesn't matter. My macro is going to revert back to something simple and I'll find something else to do while I'm standing around LFP.

Lazy Post

2009-06-01T18:04:36Z

Go server maintenance! I guess I can use this time for an update.

Actually, last week is somewhat blurry for me. The usual happenings with Immo but nothing outstanding. I'm 2/3 on Marduk feet but aren't really in a rush to get it done since a completed piece will mean I'm out a certain amount of gil. I've got random parts in my locker that I need to note down. I forget which but I'll see if I can remember to do it when the servers are back up.

My warrior hit 64 the other day. It's really nice leveling a melee job again. WHM bores the hell out of me and BRD, enjoy it as I might, gets repetitive with pulling and songs. Then again, so does meleeing. I like the change, I guess. 11 more levels until I'm done with WAR and then I can continue on with PLD. It'd be nice to get rid of some gear, too. Great axe skills are moving on up nicely but axe and polearm still need work. I've been told that it's a useless endeavor to work on with WAR but I can ignore the naysayers. Getting it done now means I don't have to do it later.

Pointing out to Del that his beetle did have an eye

Cocksure with a head cocked...

2009-05-22T14:40:56Z

Wow, it's been a while.. 2 weeks or so? I keep meaning to update but I have been too lazy to fire up Photoshop and resize/sharpen what screenshots I have taken. It's been a busy 2 weeks with ENMs, BCNMs and questing tossed into the usual Immortality fare. I was supposed to take a break but that flew out the window. It's been a long year and all I want to do now is enjoy myself.

Dynamis
Wednesday's Dynamis was a lot of fun and I agree with Kalian who said that it was the most fun he'd had in Dynamis in a long time. Dynamis is one of those events where I'd like to have a movie playing or an audiobook to listen to. It is boring and tedious and sometimes very unrewarding. No one really wants to sit in one place for 3-4 hours straight (mind you, this happens when people XP but that seems to feel... different). Vedder pulled what I think to be one of his best pulls in my time with Immortality. I'm guessing that the link range for Cockatrice must've been large because normally Vedder doesn't bring a whole fleet of mobs with him at once. We were all shocked, I'm sure, but also very, very amused. It was the catalyst for unending cock jokes that lasted even after the last Cockatrice was dead.

It started with a kiss....

Clannagh was in there, somewhere in the throng of cocks

Wiped out by a mass of cocks too big for even us to handle

Clannagh had sent me a tell, I'm not sure if it was this run or another, asking me to be BLM onry for Dynamis events. I'd like to but a girl needs change! Pulls like this are good practice for crowd control and keeps BLMs on their toes. Sometimes sleeping mobs gets boring (I know!) and focus gets lost or people become more easily distracted (hai2uFamilyGuy) and pulls like this forces people back on track. I might not be the best Black Mage in our linkshell, but I'm damn proud of my ability to sleep things (yes, it's minor but shhhhh...!!).

Adamantoise
Rizelmine and Clannagh have been very kind in camping Adamantoise when they can/if they have ToD/when they feel like it for what seems to be the elusive Adamantoise Egg. I gave up on Black Belt a long time ago because I refuse to pay another linkshell for something that they would otherwise let fall to the floor. Certain linkshells use unsavory ways to claim mobs and I don't really want anything to do with that. The offer has been put on the table to collaborate with aforementioned linkshells but it doesn't sit well with me. I'm grateful for the effort put out by those two and by those friends that come along to help out. I'm still not getting my hopes up and still firmly believe that should the egg drop and Rizelmine is there, that we both lot on the egg. Yes, I've been a MNK for almost my entire FFXI career, but he's the one putting out the effort to be at the spawn location, the one to get ToDs. I want to gear as best as I can, but gear doesn't mean as much to me as it does for other people. Only with outside influence do I really care.

Adamantoise get, rly.. Ascetic's Fury likes to make things black

It's a Detanita in a box!

Salvage
My Salvage group has been moving along well. I'm getting a better hold of lotting/passing cells and now am not so nervous anymore. Vedder mentioned that BRD makes for the best puller in Salvage so I think I'll make a point of remembering where we go (though I don't really need to know since we all run together). Once again, I don't recall drops aside from me getting Marduk 25 piece and I think Mirallia getting something as well. Or was it Evan? Have I mentioned that I hate frogs? Getting frogged again and again is funny at first, but becomes annoying as it happens more often. In Salvage, time is of the essence and getting frogged is wasting time. No, this hasn't affected my opinion of frogs in real life, just ones that have managed to evolve opposable thumbs and can hold a staff.

Is a group of frogs called a pod? No, that's whales.. A herd?

Einherjar
Odin was a ton of fun and a different experience on BRD. I think the last time I went I was a BLM and I felt pretty useless. Resisted nukes are huge blows to the ego. Being BRD also allows for good screenshot taking opportunities! Our last run cut it pretty close as we went with a smaller group and Wodie wasn't there. Rizelmine got the N. head that he's wanted for a while and I'm very happy that it dropped and he got it. I bet now he's going to hustle in on some A. Body action! Though.. I think that should primarily go towards the WHMs or RDMs in the LS. Thus far, I haven't had a need for MP on BRD and I'm usually standing with Ballad on anyway.

Hai2uOdinFren

Other Stuff
My NPC has finally seen some action these past couple of weeks. I'm digging his new armor and am rewarding him by leveling him up as I go to skill up sword. He's very close to 65 and hopefully our bond will have increased enough for me to flag the final NPC Genkai quest. I'm looking forward to smacking the haughty attitude out of him! It's nice to have him come along when I skill up since I'm subbing NIN on BRD to skill up two weapons at once. And... BRD can onry sleep so when/if the shit hits the fan, I'm fairly dead if I can't sleep and run away/warp out.

Deulmeaux is awestruck by the waist-high sparkle..

Did some Up in Arms runs with YC as well and as usual Kraken Club did not fall. It was fun, though, and we managed a clear time record (this was, of course, because no one had done it before...). Also did Double Dragonian runs for Rizelmine so that his MNK would have Destroyers. That was fun and went by so much faster going in as a BLM team instead of a melee team. I knew there was another reason for leveling BLM up.

Thoughts on Level Sync
I'm sure I've already talked to other people about this but the past couple of weeks has been a reminder of why I dislike this feature. I was never a big fan of Level Sync to begin with and as time passes I'm growing more and more to dislike it. Yes, it's a great way for friends to xp with each other, or for parties to be formed without having people having been LFP for hours but that doesn't outweigh the negatives. My primary objection to this feature is attaining skill. While under Level Sync, skills are capped to what their respective level would be to the level of the sync. This means that someone could be level 63 and only be getting skills up to 37 if they were synced down to that. To some this may not be an issue, but to me it is. I have always tried to keep my skills capped as much as possible. I spent hours outside of my moghouse singing songs on myself so that Wind and Singing wouldn't be underskilled. Not a big deal, right? Now that I'm leveling WAR, I see that my skill is so far under what it should be and I don't like it. It's not only my Weapon Skill that's affected, but I see also things like my Parry Skill. Yes, I know parrying is difficult to skill but in the 'normal' duration of getting a job to 75 prior to level sync one would have more opportunities to get this leveled up. What if I was xping PLD? What happens to my shield skill? What about WHM? Healing Skill {Where?}. Personally, I'm going to have to put restrictions on what I level sync down to. I don't really want to do anymore 37 parties on my WAR and would much rather level something closer to that particular sync level.

But that brings in another entire issue with Level Sync.

Certain levels have better places to camp that have a great xp/hr ratio compared to others. As such, many people will always try to sync down to these levels almost forcing others to sync down or have no party at all. I've yet to go out on my WAR with "Level Sync OK 50+" to see how long it will take to get a party invite. Orz, this entire thing makes me :/ I like my skills blue, I like going to different camps. Etc, etc.

New things!

2009-05-05T21:03:55Z

Sunday was the usual fare of Einherjar and Dynamis. Einherjar was a loss due to rampant dog mobs running all over the place. I think that was the first time we ran into those mobs. I might go ahead and invest in a Nursmaid's Harp for the additional range on lullaby. It shouldn't be too bad if I sing Bewitching Etude on myself first (haha like I'll have time to do that between singing songs for my melee and my mages XD).

Dynamis-Valkurm was a lot of fun thanks to Vedder and his notorious Vedder-pulls and near VPKs. My only gripe was that it seemed like the majority of BLMs were resting on their laurels when it came to sleeping. I know that in my party, at least, it was mainly Nariseth and I sleeping. I can see your actions in my filters, BLMs! *shakes a fist*. I found it amusing when the one time Clan mentioned sleeping it was when I was resting for MP. I think BLMs main job in dynamis is not to nuke down mobs but to make sure that mobs are slept and are kept slep to the best of their ability. I'll hold off nuking if I think my mobs are going to wake up soon as I don't want to be mid cast when they wake up. Not just for my group, but for me as well. Who are those mobs going to chase after when they wake up? My defenseless ass! Aaaaanyway. More Ved-pulls, please! None of this pansy 5-mob pulls! (In context, I think we could've handled all of those cactaur had every BLM been on their toes with sleeping.. *nodnod*)

Little did we know that Vedder was behind on his child support...

Sunday was also Immortality's first foray into the happy land of Ouryu Cometh. We did very well and averaged a finish time of just under 30 minutes. I'm not expecting much by way of gil from loot which is why I sold my Evokers. >.> I likely will again should I ever come across another evoker. ^__^ I'm very happy that the BLM and I were somewhat coordinated with regards to nukes and threnodies. Hopefully I can run into more CHR pieces so that I get fewer resists.

Ded ded ded

Yatta!

Monday night was the second run for my salvage group. We did SSR and got to the boss. 15s and 25s fell (I forgot which ones >.> I'm not well versed in salvage!). Is there a way to /blockaid party members? I know Esuna is good for the party, but it's difficult to get songs on melees and then do the mages individually. I was getting annoyed with my WHM for standing *right by the melee*. I couldn't really have moved further away for melee songs because then I would've aggro'd something. Poor Riz made do without ballad for most of the night. SE, hear the plea of this minstrel! Let there be a way to block party member actions >.>.

My memory fails - it happened hours ago!

2009-05-03T15:38:10Z

Last night was Sea night for Immortality. We split up to take on Jailer of Faith & Jailer of Fortitude. Sadly, no torques from either jailer. (I think anyway, I was part of the Faith group and wasn't paying much attention when Fort drops were announced). The rest of the night was spent outside with Justice, Hope & Love. The only drops I noted were from Love.

Why hai2u Lovey

JoL #2

Running away from AV... who drew me in later T_T

Jol #1 gave us another Novio.

I'm starting to think more and more of what I could reap from Sea. I'm not really one to try and pimp myself out, but I see that changing. Faith Torque would be great for my MNK and I still want that Astute Cape. Novio is being considered, but I don't know if I should seeing how I feel about my BLM. Then again, I should gear to the best of my ability, right? Temperance torque would be nice for BRD, too, seeing as Piper's Torque is not something I'm willing to pay for right now.

The night was finished off with Uninvited Guests and Fire in the Sky (where I stand around and... stand around).

Productivity.. I love you.

2009-05-02T13:06:19Z

On Thursday I went to help out Rizelmine with King Arthro. I'm not big on camping - I don't see how waiting around for a mob to pop can be consider fun. It's a waste of time whether you get the intended item or not. I've never camped KA before and was a bit nervous, which I tend to be any time I do something new in game. I don't remember how long it took, but it finally popped and I claimed it! I was really excited since there were plenty of people from Armada there, including their (Boss) Kommission.

Take that!

Sadly VBelt didn't drop and I don't think I'll be able to go and camp it with them again any time soon.

Friday was a busy day for me. Rizelmine wasn't home and the rest of YC weren't around. I ended up going to Riverne #B01 with Wonton to help him get a Giant Scale. Going up there without a THF is a pain and a hassle. Wonton and I killed maybe 4 without getting a drop before Diabloiii and Gomwyn came up. Dia's TH2 netted us 7/9 Giant Scales. Riz and I can finally do Uninvited Guest again! Not to mention that sweet extra XP scroll.

Kaboom!

Afterward was ToAu 34 Mission fight. I wasted time by running aaaaaaaaaall the way back to the boat instead of taking a few steps to get to Talacca Cove. I have super speed sandals to thank courtesy of Riz. This fight was much smoother than the last 3-4 times I tried. We got Gessho down in about 7 minutes that felt much longer than 7 minutes. We're meeting again next week Friday and hopefully I can have ToAu done before the end of May.

I love the cutscenes for Treasure of Aht Urgan.

Free Odiiiin! You can do it Odin!

Did Temperance afterwards and got no drop. A few silly things happened resulting in unnecessary deaths. It bugs me when people don't pay attention or don't think or do stupid things like 'voke an aern without looking at where the other aerns are. Waste of time. Waste of lives. RAWR. No torque but points made up for it.

The night didn't end on a high note, but I'm glad I got a lot done.