Well, quite frankly I feel that I just don't have that much FFXI info to post enough in this blog. As much as I love this game, I don't have that many groundbreaking updates to post about exclusively.
The fact of the matter is that I have too many other interests around and I really want to write about. Plus, I have my own web space that I am paying for and I would definitely like to get more use out of it (besides just testing PHP code). I think having a general blog would be a great use of that space and will allow me to develop my site a lot more.
So I bid this space farewell. I will keep this (small) archive up for now. Check out http://www.ndtex.com in the future for my new blog. FFXI will always have a spot in there without a doubt.
I hope all those that have read this blog will continue to read my new one. It will definitely be much more of me and not just "Stiker".
November 10, 2008
October 2, 2008
Can I Say "I Called It"?
So if you remember in my last update, I touched on the new changes to AV. For those too lazy to scroll down to my post-update entry, here is what I wrote:
Can I say that I called it?
While I was out on vacation, Absolute Virtue was finally defeated. The zerg attempts, with a bit of luck, finally succeeded. The setup? Tons of DRKs with Kraken Clubs using Soul Eater and Blood Weapon, otherwise known as "Kraken-Eater DRKs".
Let's just take some time to analyze what happened here. A LS was able to produce an alliance of this caliber (with included support), and, I am assuming, more DD subs to come in. Just think of the small, small subsection of FFXI endgame that can actually produce such an attempt.
Seriously, think about it. Your LS has memebers that (1) has the time/gil to get DRK to 75 and gear it very well and (2) has great luck in the BCNM that drops the club or tons of gil for it.
Am I going to be another one of those people that is going to start crying and whining about this? Hell no. Why would I? If you have an LS that is able to pull this kind of tatic off, you should be able to do things that other people shouldn't. You should be able to do the "impossible" task of zerging AV. If your LS has managed to pull of something that allows you to set an alliance made of pure ass-kicking win, why should you not be able to do this?
I suppose we should ask SE. They again ninja-patched AV so that he now builds resistance to Soul Eater.
Are you kidding me? SE are we now really resorting to nerfing yet another tactic to actually killing AV? And no less SE nerfed a tatic that very few LS can even use.
They are continuing to be that subborn teenager I referenced in my last entry. We didn't do it there way, and again they got pissy and placed in yet another patch. It isn't as if every LS in FFXI is all of a sudden going to pull a K-Club and fully leveled, geared and merited DRKs out of their rears for the sole purpose of downing AV. There will still be people trying to figure out how to do it the "right" way.
The whole community knew it wasn't the answer. Even amongst all the whining that occured after the kill (e.g. WAH WAH Kraken Eater isn't fair), there were still several posts on BG admitting that this was just one way and not the way. People were still calling for and saying they would attempt AV in a normal fashion. What people were not saying was "ok guys, clearly the answer is that every LS needs to ensure they have a Kraken Eater setup."
SE, we knew we weren't doing it right. We don't deserve the kick in the junk that you have yet again given the end-game community. There is always more than one solution to a problem. Take yourself out of the damned box you have your vision in and stop giving your player base the finger.
-Stiker
Regarding AV and PW the message is clear, SE is still the stubborn teenager in the corner that wants you to kill those mobs their way. They are plugging their ears to any cries that they are being unreasonable in this line of thought. And now, they are making their big bad enforcers lash out harder than ever before it seems -- and then running away after two hours when you just won't listen to them anymore.
Can I say that I called it?
While I was out on vacation, Absolute Virtue was finally defeated. The zerg attempts, with a bit of luck, finally succeeded. The setup? Tons of DRKs with Kraken Clubs using Soul Eater and Blood Weapon, otherwise known as "Kraken-Eater DRKs".
Let's just take some time to analyze what happened here. A LS was able to produce an alliance of this caliber (with included support), and, I am assuming, more DD subs to come in. Just think of the small, small subsection of FFXI endgame that can actually produce such an attempt.
Seriously, think about it. Your LS has memebers that (1) has the time/gil to get DRK to 75 and gear it very well and (2) has great luck in the BCNM that drops the club or tons of gil for it.
Am I going to be another one of those people that is going to start crying and whining about this? Hell no. Why would I? If you have an LS that is able to pull this kind of tatic off, you should be able to do things that other people shouldn't. You should be able to do the "impossible" task of zerging AV. If your LS has managed to pull of something that allows you to set an alliance made of pure ass-kicking win, why should you not be able to do this?
I suppose we should ask SE. They again ninja-patched AV so that he now builds resistance to Soul Eater.
Are you kidding me? SE are we now really resorting to nerfing yet another tactic to actually killing AV? And no less SE nerfed a tatic that very few LS can even use.
They are continuing to be that subborn teenager I referenced in my last entry. We didn't do it there way, and again they got pissy and placed in yet another patch. It isn't as if every LS in FFXI is all of a sudden going to pull a K-Club and fully leveled, geared and merited DRKs out of their rears for the sole purpose of downing AV. There will still be people trying to figure out how to do it the "right" way.
The whole community knew it wasn't the answer. Even amongst all the whining that occured after the kill (e.g. WAH WAH Kraken Eater isn't fair), there were still several posts on BG admitting that this was just one way and not the way. People were still calling for and saying they would attempt AV in a normal fashion. What people were not saying was "ok guys, clearly the answer is that every LS needs to ensure they have a Kraken Eater setup."
SE, we knew we weren't doing it right. We don't deserve the kick in the junk that you have yet again given the end-game community. There is always more than one solution to a problem. Take yourself out of the damned box you have your vision in and stop giving your player base the finger.
-Stiker
September 9, 2008
It's a Whole New Game
There aren't enough tanks to level. There aren't enough healers to level. There is no one that wants to level a lower job. BLM and PLD aren't wanted in parties anymore. Dynamis drops are horrible. Dynamis and Limbus are too expensive in the current game economy. Campaign is broken. Trying to keep tons of capped gear around is too much of a pain. There are too many long fights/events with too little reward. No mob should take hours upon hours to fight because "we aren't doing it right".
This game is dying.
Those are just some of the myriad and quite legitimate complaints about the world of FFXI. Frustrated wouldn't even be the word to use for some of the horrible oversights in the game. The player base had matured and settled into the game -- the game however didn't.
FFXI hit puberty September 8th, 2008.
SE has finally taken a good long look at FFXI. Most importantly though, they have stepped outside of what they have wanted the game to be and have finally looked at what we have made it and how we see it.
FFXI hasn't been "dying" per se. The playerbase had simply outgrown it.
Non-merit parties have become an exercise in keeping your seeking flag up and praying for a tell. And then you would be thankful if you had 5 other people that knew what in the hell they were doing. Compound that with the fact that key jobs were missing. Where are all the tanks? Where are all the healers?
FFXI experience and party system simply cannot function without those important jobs. It didn't take too long for all of the important tank and support jobs to leave everyone else in the dust. Why in the world would you want to level that BLM that no longer gets invites to parties past the mid 50s when you can merit like crazy on your SAM? How in the world would you merit that PLD without leveling another job?
Enter Campaign.
PLDs had their merit grounds, and jobs that had been seeking for their parties could now actually get EXP. But this didn't fix the main issue. What is that level 20 DRK going to do? People resorted to going /BRD and self spamming songs -- even to the point of botting the action, as a desperate attempt to progress through this game. All the while parties still struggle to form.
Enter Level Sync.
Finally, SE injected FFXI with the lifeblood that could finally sustain their game. Jobs that now struggle to find parties such as PLD and BLM now have an alternative to party. Parties that were now missing those crucial jobs can now ask their friends to come on down and join in -- not only that, they could come as they are, no gear changes needed.
So what does this all lead to? Simple -- a more enjoyable experience. Hate pick up parties? Team up with your LS mates and friends. Hate seeking a party for hours or there is no one at your level seeking? Put in your search comment you will take any level sync party.
And everyone progresses. In doing this last night with LS mates, I gained 2 merits, another member got 1 merit, a RDM hit 70, and the two members that were the lowest levels each reached level 49. That's a lot of widespread progress in just one EXP party.
What of the other problems though?
Dynamis has been considered a necessary evil for quite some time now. Drop rates are horrible for AF and at some times it was a gigantic loss of gil to just get in compared to what you got out of it. Go up into the Northlands and CoP Dynamis zones and the drop rates just became abysmal.
This is now no more.
Not only did Dynamis costs get slashed in half, but drop rates were finally increased. The time put in is now actually worth the rewards that you can get out of it. Gone is the mindset that we should spend 4 hours once or twice a week for peanuts. Gone is going through multiple Northland runs without seeing anything of worth for months and even years.
And what of the hot topics that are Absolute Virtue and Pandemonium Warden. Were we really expected to spend an entire day on these fights?
Not anymore. HP of these mobs are reduced, fights will last no longer than two hours as well. In the case of AV, whom would randomly appear, we will now see him 100% of the time when the Jailer of Love is defeated. We can finally make efforts to take these guys out without wasting our lives away.
However, hitting puberty doesn't mean growing pains and mistakes go away.
The gear scaling doesn't quite yet seem to hit on par. Right now, things seem to be heavily slanted to benefit tanks and mages -- as the scaling of some DEF and MP stats seem to be the least affected of all stats. However, for melee jobs, you are basically wearing NQ vanilla armor no matter how badass your 75 pieces are.
While it's great you don't have to keep level capped gear to be functional, you sure can't really use what you have to be anywhere close to what you could be with the best armor at that level. An exact match isn't needed, but when B Kote gets dwarfed by the lesser O Kote by 15 attack, something isn't quite right.
AV and PW are by no means easy either. While there hasn't been another PW attempt since the now infamous 18 hour attempt by BeyondTheLimitation on Seraph, AV has been fought a couple of times already.
He is no pushover even with his "nerf".
His two hour combinations are as deadly as ever. His spells are still extremely devastating, and now you can no longer kite him. He also has a nasty new habit of charming DDs that are attempting to "zerg" him, leading to tons of screaming death.
Regarding AV and PW the message is clear, SE is still the stubborn teenager in the corner that wants you to kill those mobs their way. They are plugging their ears to any cries that they are being unreasonable in this line of thought. And now, they are making their big bad enforcers lash out harder than ever before it seems -- and then running away after two hours when you just won't listen to them anymore.
However, just with any whiny teenager lies much potential, and that's what this update has done. SE has already stated that Level Sync scaled gear will continue to be adjusted for one. But that system as is already has opened so many doors for players to progress through EXP faster than they ever have before. Not only that, merited veterans can step in these parties and be extremely effective.
Personally, I know I tanked so much better now than I previously did. Add on to the fact that my DEF was stacked (and it actually matters at those levels!), I still had shield, parry, sword, HP and enmity merits in play as well. This made me an absolute friggin' brick wall and it was a absolute thrill to play like that.
Better Dynamis drops will also finally reward those LS that have been going this event for years. These shells will finally see their long awaited rewards. I can't wait to watch my LS become more and more pimped out with every run now.
And as far as AV and PW go, I believe we finally have the opportunity to finally test out these mobs on a more regular basis. This is for certain now for AV (PW is still up in the air at the moment in my opinion...), with it always appearing now. Plus the mob in general has been reported as much easier to tank. These two facts allow us to be better prepared to actually face AV head on as we are now actually expecting him.
Of course, there are tons of more goodies that have been added as well, but I believe it hit the major game-changing hi-lights that are now before us. It's a whole new game now, and I have never been this excited about the amount of potential that is now out there.
With that done, a quick blurb for my personal update:
-Stiker
This game is dying.
Those are just some of the myriad and quite legitimate complaints about the world of FFXI. Frustrated wouldn't even be the word to use for some of the horrible oversights in the game. The player base had matured and settled into the game -- the game however didn't.
FFXI hit puberty September 8th, 2008.
SE has finally taken a good long look at FFXI. Most importantly though, they have stepped outside of what they have wanted the game to be and have finally looked at what we have made it and how we see it.
FFXI hasn't been "dying" per se. The playerbase had simply outgrown it.
Non-merit parties have become an exercise in keeping your seeking flag up and praying for a tell. And then you would be thankful if you had 5 other people that knew what in the hell they were doing. Compound that with the fact that key jobs were missing. Where are all the tanks? Where are all the healers?
FFXI experience and party system simply cannot function without those important jobs. It didn't take too long for all of the important tank and support jobs to leave everyone else in the dust. Why in the world would you want to level that BLM that no longer gets invites to parties past the mid 50s when you can merit like crazy on your SAM? How in the world would you merit that PLD without leveling another job?
Enter Campaign.
PLDs had their merit grounds, and jobs that had been seeking for their parties could now actually get EXP. But this didn't fix the main issue. What is that level 20 DRK going to do? People resorted to going /BRD and self spamming songs -- even to the point of botting the action, as a desperate attempt to progress through this game. All the while parties still struggle to form.
Enter Level Sync.
Finally, SE injected FFXI with the lifeblood that could finally sustain their game. Jobs that now struggle to find parties such as PLD and BLM now have an alternative to party. Parties that were now missing those crucial jobs can now ask their friends to come on down and join in -- not only that, they could come as they are, no gear changes needed.
So what does this all lead to? Simple -- a more enjoyable experience. Hate pick up parties? Team up with your LS mates and friends. Hate seeking a party for hours or there is no one at your level seeking? Put in your search comment you will take any level sync party.
And everyone progresses. In doing this last night with LS mates, I gained 2 merits, another member got 1 merit, a RDM hit 70, and the two members that were the lowest levels each reached level 49. That's a lot of widespread progress in just one EXP party.
What of the other problems though?
Dynamis has been considered a necessary evil for quite some time now. Drop rates are horrible for AF and at some times it was a gigantic loss of gil to just get in compared to what you got out of it. Go up into the Northlands and CoP Dynamis zones and the drop rates just became abysmal.
This is now no more.
Not only did Dynamis costs get slashed in half, but drop rates were finally increased. The time put in is now actually worth the rewards that you can get out of it. Gone is the mindset that we should spend 4 hours once or twice a week for peanuts. Gone is going through multiple Northland runs without seeing anything of worth for months and even years.
And what of the hot topics that are Absolute Virtue and Pandemonium Warden. Were we really expected to spend an entire day on these fights?
Not anymore. HP of these mobs are reduced, fights will last no longer than two hours as well. In the case of AV, whom would randomly appear, we will now see him 100% of the time when the Jailer of Love is defeated. We can finally make efforts to take these guys out without wasting our lives away.
However, hitting puberty doesn't mean growing pains and mistakes go away.
The gear scaling doesn't quite yet seem to hit on par. Right now, things seem to be heavily slanted to benefit tanks and mages -- as the scaling of some DEF and MP stats seem to be the least affected of all stats. However, for melee jobs, you are basically wearing NQ vanilla armor no matter how badass your 75 pieces are.
While it's great you don't have to keep level capped gear to be functional, you sure can't really use what you have to be anywhere close to what you could be with the best armor at that level. An exact match isn't needed, but when B Kote gets dwarfed by the lesser O Kote by 15 attack, something isn't quite right.
AV and PW are by no means easy either. While there hasn't been another PW attempt since the now infamous 18 hour attempt by BeyondTheLimitation on Seraph, AV has been fought a couple of times already.
He is no pushover even with his "nerf".
His two hour combinations are as deadly as ever. His spells are still extremely devastating, and now you can no longer kite him. He also has a nasty new habit of charming DDs that are attempting to "zerg" him, leading to tons of screaming death.
Regarding AV and PW the message is clear, SE is still the stubborn teenager in the corner that wants you to kill those mobs their way. They are plugging their ears to any cries that they are being unreasonable in this line of thought. And now, they are making their big bad enforcers lash out harder than ever before it seems -- and then running away after two hours when you just won't listen to them anymore.
However, just with any whiny teenager lies much potential, and that's what this update has done. SE has already stated that Level Sync scaled gear will continue to be adjusted for one. But that system as is already has opened so many doors for players to progress through EXP faster than they ever have before. Not only that, merited veterans can step in these parties and be extremely effective.
Personally, I know I tanked so much better now than I previously did. Add on to the fact that my DEF was stacked (and it actually matters at those levels!), I still had shield, parry, sword, HP and enmity merits in play as well. This made me an absolute friggin' brick wall and it was a absolute thrill to play like that.
Better Dynamis drops will also finally reward those LS that have been going this event for years. These shells will finally see their long awaited rewards. I can't wait to watch my LS become more and more pimped out with every run now.
And as far as AV and PW go, I believe we finally have the opportunity to finally test out these mobs on a more regular basis. This is for certain now for AV (PW is still up in the air at the moment in my opinion...), with it always appearing now. Plus the mob in general has been reported as much easier to tank. These two facts allow us to be better prepared to actually face AV head on as we are now actually expecting him.
Of course, there are tons of more goodies that have been added as well, but I believe it hit the major game-changing hi-lights that are now before us. It's a whole new game now, and I have never been this excited about the amount of potential that is now out there.
With that done, a quick blurb for my personal update:
- I have finally hit captain!!! HUZZAH!
- I recorded my first 100 piece win in Dynamis (gogo Aegis???)
- CTB has taken down two Bahamut v2 fights (need to finish my BRD to join in!)
- We have recorded our first tier 3 clear in Einherjar!!! (two more to Odin)
- Ritter Gorget obtained!!!
-Stiker
June 18, 2008
It's Been Two Months...So...
Update time!
One day I'm sure updates will happen on a much more frequent basis.
*Marks Down a Resolution for 2009*
But anyways, I guess I should first discuss the reason I am so very, very slow in updating this thing. Well you see, I usually update this when I have a lull in work. However, as I said in my last update, I have found myself on the council of CTB and with that job, I've made myself quite busy doing many other things during my lulls in work.
Most of the time has been spent updating/administrating our forums (or breaking them...often...) and I've also been helping to get all of our strategies up on the forums. It's been a big help I think to have some of these things up for all to see, especially for some of our newer events that we are now doing.
I've also been spending time on several web tools for our members to use. It's helped out a lot to have these, especially for keeping track of people's wishlists -- there are just too many people/drops to keep up with now and using a forum system isn't always the best way. Most of my recent free time has been spent in this avenue. It's a large project I decided to undertake (and sometimes regret attempting so with the shear amount of code that goes into it), but I know once I finally finish it, it will be an amazing tool for the entire shell and make everyone's life much easier.
And then SE added an update that will cause me even more work. I love the ZNM system SE, I do, but fuck you for adding to my code to-do list. ; ;
So yeah, that's why this blog rarely gets updated. If I have free time, I'm usually buried in my code.
Now for the in-game stuff.
It's been interesting to see my role as a leader in CTB develop. More specifically, the type of events I lead. Instead of trying to get sea/sky events when I have the time, I have a much more regimented schedule as of right now.
For instance, CTB has now undertaken Einherjar full force. The event started when one of our members, Siona, decided to try to get the event going. It was something I had always wanted to attempt, but didn't know anything about it, so I was grateful to see some interest in this event from non-council members.
We got off to a great start, and CTB really gained a lot of knowledge and skill in Einherjar. Eventually, Siona felt the need to hand the reigns over to council to continue the event (and force people to show up!!!) and I ended up taking the lead on it. I must say I'm quite proud to see us progress in this event. We are currently in Tier II now, and, thanks to SE's latest update, we have been able to make it a self-funding event as well. I just can't wait until a big showdown with Odin!
I've also started up a second Limbus run for CTB. We have always had Wednesday runs, but there were always people that couldn't make it (I fell into this category during the school year due to church volunteering) or wanted a second run for more coins/gear. We keep the two pop item pools separate, and just last week, the Saturday group took down it's first Omega, allowing myself and another member, Serix gain our first pieces of Homam gear (both of us got leg pieces)!
And of course, I still have the Assault static in full swing. I have now reached First Lieutenant rank, and our static is preparing to tackle the Second Lieutenant level assaults tonight. Ten more clears, and we will all see our captain promotions.
It also appears, due to popular demand, that we do two Einherjar runs a week. Most likely (from the poll results so far) this will also look to be happening on a Saturday. We also have another one of our council members running ENMs every Monday as well. And with ZNMs going on, there always seems to be something to do.
I must say, this is all really something else. It is awesome to have these events recurring on a schedule like this. They are all so much more fun than the usual sea/sky farm. And while we will still always have a place for those, it is awesome to have all of these events in there to anchor everything down.
It's been keeping me quite busy for sure. Trying to do other things like fish and level other jobs always seem to get put on the back-burner at times, but with all this going on now, I really can't complain.
I seriously have had more fun in this game in the past month or so than I have in a very long time and I hope it keeps up.
Until next time,
-Stiker
One day I'm sure updates will happen on a much more frequent basis.
*Marks Down a Resolution for 2009*
But anyways, I guess I should first discuss the reason I am so very, very slow in updating this thing. Well you see, I usually update this when I have a lull in work. However, as I said in my last update, I have found myself on the council of CTB and with that job, I've made myself quite busy doing many other things during my lulls in work.
Most of the time has been spent updating/administrating our forums (or breaking them...often...) and I've also been helping to get all of our strategies up on the forums. It's been a big help I think to have some of these things up for all to see, especially for some of our newer events that we are now doing.
I've also been spending time on several web tools for our members to use. It's helped out a lot to have these, especially for keeping track of people's wishlists -- there are just too many people/drops to keep up with now and using a forum system isn't always the best way. Most of my recent free time has been spent in this avenue. It's a large project I decided to undertake (and sometimes regret attempting so with the shear amount of code that goes into it), but I know once I finally finish it, it will be an amazing tool for the entire shell and make everyone's life much easier.
And then SE added an update that will cause me even more work. I love the ZNM system SE, I do, but fuck you for adding to my code to-do list. ; ;
So yeah, that's why this blog rarely gets updated. If I have free time, I'm usually buried in my code.
Now for the in-game stuff.
It's been interesting to see my role as a leader in CTB develop. More specifically, the type of events I lead. Instead of trying to get sea/sky events when I have the time, I have a much more regimented schedule as of right now.
For instance, CTB has now undertaken Einherjar full force. The event started when one of our members, Siona, decided to try to get the event going. It was something I had always wanted to attempt, but didn't know anything about it, so I was grateful to see some interest in this event from non-council members.
We got off to a great start, and CTB really gained a lot of knowledge and skill in Einherjar. Eventually, Siona felt the need to hand the reigns over to council to continue the event (and force people to show up!!!) and I ended up taking the lead on it. I must say I'm quite proud to see us progress in this event. We are currently in Tier II now, and, thanks to SE's latest update, we have been able to make it a self-funding event as well. I just can't wait until a big showdown with Odin!
I've also started up a second Limbus run for CTB. We have always had Wednesday runs, but there were always people that couldn't make it (I fell into this category during the school year due to church volunteering) or wanted a second run for more coins/gear. We keep the two pop item pools separate, and just last week, the Saturday group took down it's first Omega, allowing myself and another member, Serix gain our first pieces of Homam gear (both of us got leg pieces)!
And of course, I still have the Assault static in full swing. I have now reached First Lieutenant rank, and our static is preparing to tackle the Second Lieutenant level assaults tonight. Ten more clears, and we will all see our captain promotions.
It also appears, due to popular demand, that we do two Einherjar runs a week. Most likely (from the poll results so far) this will also look to be happening on a Saturday. We also have another one of our council members running ENMs every Monday as well. And with ZNMs going on, there always seems to be something to do.
I must say, this is all really something else. It is awesome to have these events recurring on a schedule like this. They are all so much more fun than the usual sea/sky farm. And while we will still always have a place for those, it is awesome to have all of these events in there to anchor everything down.
It's been keeping me quite busy for sure. Trying to do other things like fish and level other jobs always seem to get put on the back-burner at times, but with all this going on now, I really can't complain.
I seriously have had more fun in this game in the past month or so than I have in a very long time and I hope it keeps up.
Until next time,
-Stiker
April 2, 2008
Can I Haz Update?
Yes, it has been far, far too long since I have updated this, and dear God is there updates to be told. In general, work has been far too busy and with what free time I've had, it's been mostly spent on the game.
So let's get started.
First of, the journey for the Lu Shang is OVER. It ended around the beginning of March. I saw the shit-storm of work coming my way, as well as a gap in our LS Calendar, so I knew I would have to really double my efforts and finally finish the damn thing.
I put Campaign, farming, and EXP all aside and just fished and did what LS events we had. If I was at home and there was no event going on, my ass was planted at the Knight's Well in Ronufare.
All my gil went to moats as well when I capped out. Since I was no longer farming, I took the Allied Notes I had piled up and sold gear to get more funds (and then SE went and released awesome Rare/Ex gear a month later...thanks guys...). Within a couple weeks, I got the rest of my carp for the rod. I now present to you a new signature in celebration of these efforts:
Brings a tear to my eye...
About a week or so after, I saw my in-game life get much busier as well. Our Linkshell's Council (leaders) had seen a couple changes in recent months. Patroklis, our leader, decided it was time to stick some new life in the Council and have two members elected. In the second election, I emerged as the winner and was named as council.
Apparently 23 of my fellow LS-mates lost their minds and voted for me.
I like to think that I've done a rather decent job in the small time that I have been on Council (let me have my moment...). I've been leading a few events, but most of my time has been spent doing a lot of administrative stuff around our website and forums (which is where most of my free work time has gone). I'm still working on a lot of other things behind the scenes and I'm hoping near the end of April I will have implemented all of them.
It's been crazy, hectic and at times stressful, but I'm loving the challenge so far.
As far as my own personal gain, I really haven't done too much save for the Lu! I've finally had some time to have everything settle down (and build up my gil again!) so I set out to do a shit-ton of campaign to make up for all the Allied Notes I've spent for the awesome Iron Ram Rare/Ex gear that just got released.
As of now, I was able to get one piece of that gear, the Iron Ram Sallet (head piece) to go along with the Lance I have. In that time, I was able to collect quite a few merits as well. Brining my merit total (time to laugh!) to:
That's about it for now. I don't feel like writing all too much more at the moment and I've covered the main events that have happened to me. Hopefully I'll be able to start adding more soon.
-Stiker
So let's get started.
First of, the journey for the Lu Shang is OVER. It ended around the beginning of March. I saw the shit-storm of work coming my way, as well as a gap in our LS Calendar, so I knew I would have to really double my efforts and finally finish the damn thing.
I put Campaign, farming, and EXP all aside and just fished and did what LS events we had. If I was at home and there was no event going on, my ass was planted at the Knight's Well in Ronufare.
All my gil went to moats as well when I capped out. Since I was no longer farming, I took the Allied Notes I had piled up and sold gear to get more funds (and then SE went and released awesome Rare/Ex gear a month later...thanks guys...). Within a couple weeks, I got the rest of my carp for the rod. I now present to you a new signature in celebration of these efforts:
Brings a tear to my eye...
About a week or so after, I saw my in-game life get much busier as well. Our Linkshell's Council (leaders) had seen a couple changes in recent months. Patroklis, our leader, decided it was time to stick some new life in the Council and have two members elected. In the second election, I emerged as the winner and was named as council.
Apparently 23 of my fellow LS-mates lost their minds and voted for me.
I like to think that I've done a rather decent job in the small time that I have been on Council (let me have my moment...). I've been leading a few events, but most of my time has been spent doing a lot of administrative stuff around our website and forums (which is where most of my free work time has gone). I'm still working on a lot of other things behind the scenes and I'm hoping near the end of April I will have implemented all of them.
It's been crazy, hectic and at times stressful, but I'm loving the challenge so far.
As far as my own personal gain, I really haven't done too much save for the Lu! I've finally had some time to have everything settle down (and build up my gil again!) so I set out to do a shit-ton of campaign to make up for all the Allied Notes I've spent for the awesome Iron Ram Rare/Ex gear that just got released.
As of now, I was able to get one piece of that gear, the Iron Ram Sallet (head piece) to go along with the Lance I have. In that time, I was able to collect quite a few merits as well. Brining my merit total (time to laugh!) to:
- Shield - Level 4 (Capped)
- Enmity - Level 4 (Capped)
- Sword - Level 2
- Chivalry - Level 1
- HP - Level 1
That's about it for now. I don't feel like writing all too much more at the moment and I've covered the main events that have happened to me. Hopefully I'll be able to start adding more soon.
-Stiker
February 8, 2008
Happy Birthday to Me!
Yes it's my birthday bitches, go buy me a drink.
Seems I've fallen off track with updating this again. I would make a joke that I update more than [GM]Dave now in his humor blog, but alas he has started again...hell, Goblin Smithy might even come back.
Damn him...
Anyways, I have been amazingly busy in the game and not so much RL for once. I've been logged on quite a bit during my free time and have accomplished quite a bit.
First off, the new expansion...it released barely anything yet has given me so much to do. Campaign is a damn Godsend for PLD. I've actually been able to merit on a regular basis. My shield skill is now fully capped out and I've tossed a merit into Sword and Enmity+. I've also been able to keep my PLD near or at the EXP cap without a problem now. Not only can I do all that, but it is just so much damn fun. Parties become a grind after a while no matter how good they are, but I don't ever feel like I'm grinding out EXP/LP while doing battles. Hell, I get REWARDED for blood tanking.
Holy crap I get to play PLD like I want!
And then you have the pure sexiness that is Dancer.
/NIN is so 2007 :P
Seriously, if you have not tried it out, /DNC is an amazing sub for any melee job. PLD/DNC is just a freakin' rock. Build up a decent TP base, and PLD/DNC is damn near impossible to take down. Healing dances, your usual MP Pool for Cures, Drain/Aspir Samba, Erase dance...just wow. And for melees more on the DD side it is great too. Every job now has amazing soloing capabilities that were previously unthinkable.
And DNC itself is a great main job for EXP. I got it up to 36 (get last dance for sub at 35...leveling it the rest of the way on Campaign ops), and partying was great. You are like duct tape for a party. Don't have a solid tank? DNC can back up as one. Don't have much of a main healer? DNC will pick up the slack. Don't have much debuff power? DNC can try to pack a little punch there.
You'll by no means take over any main role, but you can easily save a party from saying "Well we don't have X, none seeking, guess we are done."
Plus the real beauty is that DNC thrives in small parties. You can easily solo/duo your way to 20. And in parties of 3-5 you can still pull down great EXP. In my last party as DNC, we had a lot of people leave, but 3 of us were close to our next levels. We were PLD DNC DNC and in the Citadel. We were taking out the very same bats and beetles we were EXPing on without a problem. Fights weren't fast, but when you are getting 200/fight and still able to get to chain 2-3 easily, you stop caring. We got about 2k exp trio in under 30 minutes. It was great!
In other news, my mission static is still kicking. Scheduling around our schedules and LS events has been a little rough but we see the light at the end of the tunnel. We are now poised to take on Apocalypse Nigh, and just need to crank out a couple more WM ranks for 2 of our members. Then all we will have left is WotG missions, which a couple members haven't completed yet. And then whenever SE decides to release more, we will be all over it.
Speaking of statics, I am now leading one myself. I got tired of seeing how many of our members were low Assault rank (including myself) so I made a static that gave priority to the lowest ranked LS members. We've been going for two weeks and so far all is well. My goal is to have us hit Captain rank and also move in to Nyzul Isle for more fun. It is quite a lofty goal, but one that I'm sure we can achieve!
In the endgame scene, I have finally, finally seen another drop some my way for the first time in damn near a year, and it's a big one.
/clears throat
W LEGS ARE MINE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We did a Kirin last night, and they dropped and went to me (and on the day before my birthday - hell yes). Now all I have left for PLD in sky is M Head -- btw, I find it funny that I got W Legs before that...damn Seiryu...lol.
I like to think that going so long without W Legs and doing quite a bit of kiting in that time should make me one hell of kiter now. At least I hope so! There are no excuses now!!! Needless to say I am quite happy and I love running around 12% faster at all times (P.S. Sprinter's Boots stack with Fast Pants and is just amazing for having to do footwork!).
That's been about it for now. Now I just need to make more time for fishing and get my last 2.5k carp out of the water for my Lu Shang's!!!
--Stiker
Seems I've fallen off track with updating this again. I would make a joke that I update more than [GM]Dave now in his humor blog, but alas he has started again...hell, Goblin Smithy might even come back.
Damn him...
Anyways, I have been amazingly busy in the game and not so much RL for once. I've been logged on quite a bit during my free time and have accomplished quite a bit.
First off, the new expansion...it released barely anything yet has given me so much to do. Campaign is a damn Godsend for PLD. I've actually been able to merit on a regular basis. My shield skill is now fully capped out and I've tossed a merit into Sword and Enmity+. I've also been able to keep my PLD near or at the EXP cap without a problem now. Not only can I do all that, but it is just so much damn fun. Parties become a grind after a while no matter how good they are, but I don't ever feel like I'm grinding out EXP/LP while doing battles. Hell, I get REWARDED for blood tanking.
Holy crap I get to play PLD like I want!
And then you have the pure sexiness that is Dancer.
/NIN is so 2007 :P
Seriously, if you have not tried it out, /DNC is an amazing sub for any melee job. PLD/DNC is just a freakin' rock. Build up a decent TP base, and PLD/DNC is damn near impossible to take down. Healing dances, your usual MP Pool for Cures, Drain/Aspir Samba, Erase dance...just wow. And for melees more on the DD side it is great too. Every job now has amazing soloing capabilities that were previously unthinkable.
And DNC itself is a great main job for EXP. I got it up to 36 (get last dance for sub at 35...leveling it the rest of the way on Campaign ops), and partying was great. You are like duct tape for a party. Don't have a solid tank? DNC can back up as one. Don't have much of a main healer? DNC will pick up the slack. Don't have much debuff power? DNC can try to pack a little punch there.
You'll by no means take over any main role, but you can easily save a party from saying "Well we don't have X, none seeking, guess we are done."
Plus the real beauty is that DNC thrives in small parties. You can easily solo/duo your way to 20. And in parties of 3-5 you can still pull down great EXP. In my last party as DNC, we had a lot of people leave, but 3 of us were close to our next levels. We were PLD DNC DNC and in the Citadel. We were taking out the very same bats and beetles we were EXPing on without a problem. Fights weren't fast, but when you are getting 200/fight and still able to get to chain 2-3 easily, you stop caring. We got about 2k exp trio in under 30 minutes. It was great!
In other news, my mission static is still kicking. Scheduling around our schedules and LS events has been a little rough but we see the light at the end of the tunnel. We are now poised to take on Apocalypse Nigh, and just need to crank out a couple more WM ranks for 2 of our members. Then all we will have left is WotG missions, which a couple members haven't completed yet. And then whenever SE decides to release more, we will be all over it.
Speaking of statics, I am now leading one myself. I got tired of seeing how many of our members were low Assault rank (including myself) so I made a static that gave priority to the lowest ranked LS members. We've been going for two weeks and so far all is well. My goal is to have us hit Captain rank and also move in to Nyzul Isle for more fun. It is quite a lofty goal, but one that I'm sure we can achieve!
In the endgame scene, I have finally, finally seen another drop some my way for the first time in damn near a year, and it's a big one.
/clears throat
W LEGS ARE MINE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We did a Kirin last night, and they dropped and went to me (and on the day before my birthday - hell yes). Now all I have left for PLD in sky is M Head -- btw, I find it funny that I got W Legs before that...damn Seiryu...lol.
I like to think that going so long without W Legs and doing quite a bit of kiting in that time should make me one hell of kiter now. At least I hope so! There are no excuses now!!! Needless to say I am quite happy and I love running around 12% faster at all times (P.S. Sprinter's Boots stack with Fast Pants and is just amazing for having to do footwork!).
That's been about it for now. Now I just need to make more time for fishing and get my last 2.5k carp out of the water for my Lu Shang's!!!
--Stiker
December 20, 2007
Sometimes, It's All About the Little Things
It has been quite a while since I have written in here. RL is again to blame; however, now I have a job -- a job in which I now have the time to take some breaks and um...well...write in here. So this might actually see a regular updating schedule somewhat.
Considering my track record, this would be beyond shocking (especially if I actually stick to it).
Despite the holidays and other RL conflicts for my rank mission static, we finally achieved rank 30!
...well kinda...two people couldn't make it so we still have to catch them up eventually...rank 29.5 maybe?
Either way, progress is definitely being made in the mission department. Now all I am looking at personally is taking down my remaining ToA missions and AN, and for the first time ever in this game, I will be completely caught up in major missions. Now if I can just find a way to get through assault, I'll be golden. Plus our static is going to stick together for anything WotG throws at us, plus most likely we will do some of the other random quests out there that you just can't complete on your own. I'm definitely looking forward to all of that.
That really leads me into the main topic of today's posting. Really, if you think about it, these aren't the "huge" things people shoot for in the game. Once I found myself trust into the endgame world, I found myself with a shift of mind. Item wish lists, dyanmis runs, limbus runs, battling big bad NMs, and the such. Now don't get me wrong, I enjoy all these things a ton. But damn is it a grind -- doing the sky and sea farming alone can really suck the joy out of these fights. Plus, the reward at the end? Maybe an item off your wish list if it either (a) drops and/or (b) you are actually in line to get said item.
New pixels and stats on my character? Yay?
Hell the fight itself is more fun half the time I think. I'll get excited for sure if I do see one of my long awaited items drop my way, but the joy is fleeting. It isn't like I'll be the only Paladin running around Valefor with say, a pair of W Legs or M Head on. In, the end all I've really done is make myself statistically better in those fights. That's what the endgame really lacks in my opinion. The tangible rewards are a little lacking in this humble Paladin's opinion as far as accomplishment goes. I treat those fights like a boss fight, and at first that was the big deal to me...but it is slightly so odd when said bosses keep resurrecting themselves in a never-ending string and you continuously beat them down. Then you have the issue of expecting to kill these baddies, and it is surprisingly odd to have this mindset after a while. While yes, we should set a high expectation for our skills as a Linkshell, we can often times find ourselves with undue and unwarranted frustration in being beaten by mobs that SE made to be hard just do to a couple screw ups.
With the completion of any mission line, and even some quests, you get a little bit more. You get a great storyline, and a sense that few things in this game can offer. A sense of completion. Not only that, you get things like a nation's flag, a fancy ring, and a nice crown just to name a couple things that serve to remind you of said conquering glory. With the gods and HNMs, the item you get is more a show of the repetitive killing of the bastard and the patience to finally have the luck of being the next in line or finally having a winning lot. I don't care how much you love this game or even the endgame fights, I highly doubt a single person can say they just get utterly thrilled with repeating the same thing over and over again. Just imagine how much further the endgame would suck if the fights weren't entertaining too!!!
I love being able to tank in endgame, being involved in the fights, and having the shots to get some pretty badass items. But I think it should be well noted just how much fun some of the little things in this game really are and how easy it is to loose total sight of that in the grind of endgame. Hell, all I did after I logged into the game last night after work was do the Christmas event, messed around decorating with my MH (and trying to get more storage and not screw myself out of my CP enhancement), and fished for a little bit and I had a blast. In the end, I wasted quite a bit of gil, a ton of time, but loved every minute of it.
Take a breather every now and then. It's a big game out there.
--Stiker
Considering my track record, this would be beyond shocking (especially if I actually stick to it).
Despite the holidays and other RL conflicts for my rank mission static, we finally achieved rank 30!
...well kinda...two people couldn't make it so we still have to catch them up eventually...rank 29.5 maybe?
Either way, progress is definitely being made in the mission department. Now all I am looking at personally is taking down my remaining ToA missions and AN, and for the first time ever in this game, I will be completely caught up in major missions. Now if I can just find a way to get through assault, I'll be golden. Plus our static is going to stick together for anything WotG throws at us, plus most likely we will do some of the other random quests out there that you just can't complete on your own. I'm definitely looking forward to all of that.
That really leads me into the main topic of today's posting. Really, if you think about it, these aren't the "huge" things people shoot for in the game. Once I found myself trust into the endgame world, I found myself with a shift of mind. Item wish lists, dyanmis runs, limbus runs, battling big bad NMs, and the such. Now don't get me wrong, I enjoy all these things a ton. But damn is it a grind -- doing the sky and sea farming alone can really suck the joy out of these fights. Plus, the reward at the end? Maybe an item off your wish list if it either (a) drops and/or (b) you are actually in line to get said item.
New pixels and stats on my character? Yay?
Hell the fight itself is more fun half the time I think. I'll get excited for sure if I do see one of my long awaited items drop my way, but the joy is fleeting. It isn't like I'll be the only Paladin running around Valefor with say, a pair of W Legs or M Head on. In, the end all I've really done is make myself statistically better in those fights. That's what the endgame really lacks in my opinion. The tangible rewards are a little lacking in this humble Paladin's opinion as far as accomplishment goes. I treat those fights like a boss fight, and at first that was the big deal to me...but it is slightly so odd when said bosses keep resurrecting themselves in a never-ending string and you continuously beat them down. Then you have the issue of expecting to kill these baddies, and it is surprisingly odd to have this mindset after a while. While yes, we should set a high expectation for our skills as a Linkshell, we can often times find ourselves with undue and unwarranted frustration in being beaten by mobs that SE made to be hard just do to a couple screw ups.
With the completion of any mission line, and even some quests, you get a little bit more. You get a great storyline, and a sense that few things in this game can offer. A sense of completion. Not only that, you get things like a nation's flag, a fancy ring, and a nice crown just to name a couple things that serve to remind you of said conquering glory. With the gods and HNMs, the item you get is more a show of the repetitive killing of the bastard and the patience to finally have the luck of being the next in line or finally having a winning lot. I don't care how much you love this game or even the endgame fights, I highly doubt a single person can say they just get utterly thrilled with repeating the same thing over and over again. Just imagine how much further the endgame would suck if the fights weren't entertaining too!!!
I love being able to tank in endgame, being involved in the fights, and having the shots to get some pretty badass items. But I think it should be well noted just how much fun some of the little things in this game really are and how easy it is to loose total sight of that in the grind of endgame. Hell, all I did after I logged into the game last night after work was do the Christmas event, messed around decorating with my MH (and trying to get more storage and not screw myself out of my CP enhancement), and fished for a little bit and I had a blast. In the end, I wasted quite a bit of gil, a ton of time, but loved every minute of it.
Take a breather every now and then. It's a big game out there.
--Stiker
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