In the Making of History

The Dynamis-Bastok Sunday was a great success!



I managed to get Samurai to 65 a few hours prior to the event, so I was able to lot both Samurai + Monk for Kiila. And... both dropped! And I won both! I have to make a note here that both Vacious and Kiila got their first two AF2 pieces 1)in the same run and that, 2)both times, it was Bastok. Very interesting- apparently Dynamis-Bastok likes me.



I also managed to get Kiila the win before having to rush off to a work meeting. A huge Thank You! to Vedder and the rest of the Immortality crew for allowing me to change it up and bring Kiila.

On that note, I feel I should do a little explaining. Way back in March 2004, before there was ever a Green Top-Knot-headed Taru named Vacious, there was a pretty Mithran Monk named Kiila. In fact, Kiila was a month old character before Vacious (who was actually a mule) was created. I never planned on leveling Vacious- he was my Windurst mule. (Funny note here: all of my mules [save Skylei] have subjobs and are Rank 5, not to mention some are fairly high level...like Berri's 40WAR, Seraphic's 30BRD... so much for plans!) When I started playing with all of my RL friends (Darkcow and I were the first ones, then others slowly trickled in), one of the guys (Blackarms, a now-defunct Galka) suggested that we have someone level Black Mage, and that Tarutaru made the best BLM.

Back then, I wasn't aware of the minimal racial differences in stats at 75, so I decided to start leveling Vacious, get him a subjob, and catch him up level-wise to the others (around 30~ at the time). The next thing I know, his BLM is approaching 75 (August 2006, I want to say, is when he hit 75BLM), his Summoner (43 then) has Fenrir and has solo'd all of the avatars, and he's fairly high Rank. Fast forward to today, Vacious is Rank 10; is a decent way through all missions; has leveled a ton of jobs, including 3 (almost 4) 75s; has fought Gods & beaten Dynamis(es?).. It's crazy to think that back then, he was just an item holder. Today, Kiila has a 75MNK, 65SAM and 58COR, has leveled a ton of other jobs, is Rank 9, is really behind on missions... and that's about it. And now has the title Dynamis-Bastok Interloper, while Vacious celebrates his Dynamis-Buburimu Interloper title.

It all turned out great in the end. I love my Tarutaru (even though sometimes I wish he was a girl so I could dress him up..lol.) and I've really enjoyed my time spent crafting Vacious into what he is today. It's just too bad that I haven't ever had that kind of time to develop Kiila.. a character 5 years in the making.

But back to what I was saying before the huge historical rant! I EXP'd so much I kind of burned myself out. So this week I haven't logged on until today, and I only did that to craft some items to sell. And I missed Einherjar last night, which I totally didn't mean to.. sigh.

EXP like burning.

Wednesday Dynamis a gogo! Dynamis-Beaucedine was taken (or, about to be. We don't steal zones. Yay for us not being total scallywags!), so we went for Dynamis-Buburimu.





We had some truly epic 'Ved-Pulls' (Mandragoras and Dhalmels just love us!), but it was a good time.




We only got like 1-2(? I only remember one- the DRK cape..) accessories, some AF-1 and a handful of city AF2 (SCH, BLM, SAM, BLU..of what I can remember). I lost the lot on BLM Gloves, but congrats to Elphaba for 'em! Actually, congratulations to all those who won! It was good fun!
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I actually went out and partied as Kiila, for the first time in a long time. I managed to get to 260TNL 64 Samurai before my party abruptly "LOLdisbandingKBAI"'d on me. But I went out and solo'd (thanks to Darkcow's help) to get my level and some buffer into 64.



I'm working on getting 65 before Dynamis tommorrow since... Kiila is doing her first Dynamis run! Since Vacious doesn't really need anything from our next zone (Bastok), Vedder has given me the OK to bring Kiila. Not only can she go, she can lot! YUS! I'm really excited about it. I hope my Monk Lady doesn't let anyone down!
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After my emo crapshoot of a party ending, I got a merit party as Black Mage. :O



I managed two merits, finishing off my Flare II. I really need to finish all my merits... as I said I would... this year!
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And, as everyone knows, the talk of the town is the recent Ban for Salvage duplication. While I hate to see a lot of people go (Mogknight I knew from Cerberus, made me sad..), I'm of the opinion that 'you knew it was wrong when you did it.' To hear that some people think no one goes by the ToS, I would be one of those people who does. I've never used a third party hack/prop/program; I've never been interested in cheating because I worked too hard to get where I am. I tried for a YinYang Robe for three years before I got it. I got my first Dynamis pieces & sky gear in 2008. Why tear the world down when you've only just begun to build? I haven't seen anyone from Cerberus banned yet, which I'm glad to hear (though I'm sure some are out there..).

Snap Snap

K so, Einherjar & Dynamis-Jeuno were fun..!

In Einherjar, our first mob set consisted of Imps. Not too bad, save the all-annoying Tantras. The second set was Slimes, which got out of control a bit since they wouldn't Sleep..



The Boss of this run was the Dahak-- which was accidently aggro'd early on. Even though the kiter pulled him away, we eventually wiped to the Einherjar Brei. I think Einherjar hates me. :X But! Ampoules of Therion Icor were earned, and overall it was fun.

Right before we entered Einherjar, another Linkshell entered Dynamis-Jeuno, so there was a bit of a wait before we could enter.



We had more hiccups than usual in Jeuno, with some of dying upwards of ten times.. including myself.



Previous EXP: 6,100. Current EXP for BLM: 210. I don't think I've deleveled so many times at once before. Lol. But it was all good- we cleared Jeuno, netting a few good AF2 (including Darkcow's Cleric Pantaloons, Congrats Cowzie!) and quite a bit of gil for the LS & money lotters.
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I've kept the Bard leveling up! I managed to get to 62 last night, and donned my fancypants Minstrel's Coat.



I can't wait until I get to 65 for my Opo Crown. I've noticed there are a lot of people who really hate leveling Bard- I've actually enjoyed it a lot! Even if I am singing Blade Madrigal + Advancing March a bazillion times over. I've gotten quite good at pulling with Bard, especially learning to gauge the speed of the party and how fast to pull. It's been a learning experience! I'm hoping to hit 63 before Dynamis-Beaucedine tonight.. which I hope showers us with AF2 and goodies. And candy!

Singing Songs, Dancing & Getting Eaten

...by mobs, of course. I've gotten quite a bit done since the holiday rush died off! (I thought I took like 50 pictures for this post, but I only had 3... hrmm. Might have them on my laptop..) Anyway!

First, leveling. I've managed to get Dancer to 25 (which is really all I wanted for now- Spectral Jig and the new Waltzes) and Bard to 60! From 56-60 in 3? days = awesome. I'm currently in a party trying to get 61 (only a few more fights!) before Einherjar and Dynamis-Jeuno!

Speaking of Dynamis, today's will be our first Dynamis back with the group- last Sunday, we had some electrical issues and the power wasn't back on until about an hour after Dynamis-Buburimu had started. Because shit tends to happen that way. Especially on my day off. Le sigh. I hope everything goes well today- I just want to have a good time with the LS after so long away.
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Gearing my Bard has actually been a lot of fun. Thus far, I'm looking like this:
Head: Noble's Ribbon (until 65 with Opo-Opo Crown)
Body: Gaudy Harness (Minstrel's Coat at 62; Yigit Gomlek at 72)
Hands: Choral Cuffs (No major upgrading these, unless I get Sea and AF+1)
Legs: Choral Cannions (Pretty good until 75 from what I hear.)
Feet: Cobra Pigaches (Sha'ir at 72? I'm dreaming of Oracle's Pigaches, but that's a lengthy road.)
Weapons: Terra's/Apollo's Staves (Don't think there's anything better?)
Grip: Bugard Strap (Earth/Light Grips once I hit 70)
Neck: Star Necklace (I plan on getting a Wind Torque down the road.)
Earrings: Melody Earring +1 x2 (Unless I manage to get Sea + Ancient Coins quick, I won't have a Musical Earring for a while...)
Rings: Nereid Rings / Loyalty Rings (Trying for a Minstrel's Ring ASAP!)
Back: Jester's Cape +1 (Best I can get from what I understand.)
Belt: Gleeman's Belt (Same as above.)

So there are a few things I'd like to get, but overall I've got a pretty solid BRD mapped to 75. I'm hoping to have Sea access by the end of the year- it's January, I don't see why not!- In all actuality, since I've had so little time since August 2008, I've gotten to where I don't want to waste time on little things that don't advance me as a character. I plan to really overcome some obstacles this year!
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A few days ago, Darkcow and I (ridiculously) tried to duo the Cernunnos NM for the WotG Mission Daughter of a Knight.



Darkcow went as WHM/DRK, and I was SMN/RDM. While we did manage to dent his HP via Carbuncle kiting, Stunning and Dispelling, he eventually caught me off guard with Stonega III. Needless to say, the Tarutaru Summoner ate Junger Forest dirt. D: That will definitely take more people than just us two..
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I also tried the Treasure and Tribulations BCNM, in hopes of 1)winning, 2)not dying, and 3)maybe getting some loot, specifically the Minstrel's Ring. It went like this: Yukobe + Darkcow say "MEDIUM CHEST!" and they're both really good guessers. I send Carbuncle out (went as SMN/WHM) and hit the Chest.



Nope. Before I could make it back to the Burning Circle to exit, I was drawn in and pwnt. I know it's Russian Roulette, but hell it was worth a shot.
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Anyway, it's Einherjar time!

First time to Einherjar & Other 2009 Goals

Since Darkcow and I were both off today, we started by finishing up the last string of San d'Orian quests for the Wings of the Goddess missions. In a Haze of Glory was the only one left, and it involved defeating an Orcish Turret in Ghoyu's Reverie. With so many people having easy success soloing this, Darkcow and I figured it'd be easy with WHM/NIN and SMN/WHM. The first try, we hurried in before Maintenance and got bombarded with aggro and had to warp away. After maintenance though, we headed back in for a confident second try.

This time went much smoother. We simply took out everything that stood in our way, and made it safely to the Turret.
 
(...which I noticed during editing that it is an assload bigger than me.) We took the Turret (and the Orc within) down within a few minutes, and walked away with our Fullmetal Bullets.

Not bad for free!

Once the quests were squared away, we were free to move on with the Wings storyline. We're now waiting to fight Curnunnos for the Daughter of a Knight mission. And the story is so good!
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Today was our first regrouping with Immortality after the holidays! It was fantastic seeing everyone again, since I had to take a long LS hiatus due to RL issues/events (as I'm sure everyone knows). But now, Cow and I are *hopefully* back in full swing and ready to roll out 2009!

Our goal for the night was to do a section of Wing III in Einherjar. This was the first time for 'Cow and I, but it was exciting!

Our first mob group consisted of Soulflayers. Rapture, as you can imagine.

We took them down with *minimal* death & destruction, and moved on to Huginn, who gave us some well-needed Dusty Ethers and Milks. Oh, and our Boss was...Motsognir.

We killed off several of the Demons (and, as you can see, they killed off a Vacious or two) before everyone finally succumbed to the demon beatdown.

Even with losing to Motsognir & sons, we each gained 1,360 Therion Ichor and had a ton of fun!
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On the leveling front, I'm still working on Dancer as Vacious, which is sitting at 23/37 right now, and White Mage for Kiila, currently at 28/37. I'm just so damned antsy to keep working for a 75 job-- Kiila's Samurai or Corsair.. Vacious' Bard or a melee job? I spose I'll choose soon enough! Or I'll end up working on two of 'em at once to keep my sanity.
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Oh! And falling in line with the current fashion, here's my 2009 To Do List!:
**Finish all potential subs for Vacious.
    -This includes Dancer, Thief, Scholar, Samurai, Blue Mage... hoi, I've got a lot of subbin' to do.
**Complete all merits.
    -That's a hell of a task with three 75 jobs on Vacious alone, then Kiila's Monk, but I want them finished!
**Bard to 75.
    -There's no reason why I shouldn't be able to get Bard and another job to 75 this year, since most main subs are leveled and ready, not to mention most gear is pretty easy to obtain.
**Complete a frickin' expansion.
    -I can't name a specific one, but finishing out another one would be dandy. I doubt Wings will actually be finished anytime soon (release wise), and I really want Sea..
**Keep having fun in Vana'Diel.
    I wanna try to keep on enjoying the game (and not wanting to throw it out the nearest window). Seems easy enough.. this also includes really getting back into the swing of things with the Linkshell, and working hard to get where I need to be as a well-developed character.

Hot fried brains!

This ought to be one heck of a lengthy~graphic laden post!

While I still haven't had a mass of time to play in, I've gotten a bunch of random stuff done lately, some of it by accident!

My first time logging back on, Resheph informs me that a friend of his got killed by Cemetery Cherry, and that we should go try to kill it. Because that's what we do best! When we got there, the party was a BLM, THF, Resh as PLD and myself as SMN. I didn't really understand this guy's spawn conditions until we got there; all of the Cherry Saplings must be defeated before he will pop.

So we got started on these little guys. After about 10 minutes of killing Saplings off, Cemetery Cherry popped!

The fight started out pretty well, with the BLM and I hangin' back on MP to keep everyone happy and healthy, with me using Rage Blood Pacts when available. This guy has an absurd amount of HP- like, 40,000 to be exact. We whittled him down for a little while... and then Resheph died to a nasty pinecone bomb. It was all downhill pretty quick from there, with me being put to Sleep as the last survivor and not getting Carbuncle out fast enough. Sigh.

We got eated. :[ But it was interesting~! And made me emo, thanks to the Home Pointing I did as Summoner...
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In other news, the time has come (and gone) for the Starlight Celebration event! The event itself was interesting, having you run all over to punch out boxes for Tokens.
 
This year's item, the Dream Bell, is pretty cool. And useless. But it's fun to hear jingle~jangle when you hit stuff!

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Darkcow, Resh and I decided to try the new Moblin Maze Mongers for the first time, too!

It was a little confusing to figure out at first, but I gots it. I'm still not sure which Runes do what.. Anyway, our first maze was great- nothing but Wind Elementals.

Needless to say, with a Summoner, Paladin, and White Mage, we failed by Time Out.

The second time we went in, I changed to BLM/WHM, and Darkcow changed to NIN sub. We got Crawlers as the first set, which we walked through, and the second set was nothing but Efts.. with these little buggers, Time Out. Again, we failed.

On the third try, we learned that we could bring any level and the mobs would auto-adjust to the lowest person, assuming you were on Tabula 01. So we brought Darkcow's level 12 Ranger! Needless to say, a 75 BLM + PLD decimates that stuff. So does a 75 MNK + PLD with Darkcow's alt., Bluemary's 36 WAR!

At the end of the day, we all walked away with the new~and awesomely bad ass Eyepatch!
 
And we all look totally awesome. ♥ And now, the fashion shots!
 
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After all that craziness, I decided to work on Kiila's subs some. I Level Synced + Fields of Valor'd it up with Darkcow's Paladin (and then Eruntalo's THF!).

I got Ranger from 35 to 37, and I'm currently working on White Mage with Bluemary's Warrior. Just hit 28! I'm actually thinking that, instead of just working on Vacious' next 75, that I should work on Kiila's Samurai or Corsair. They're closer!

Gettin' Down + Random Business!

Since getting Paladin to 75, I've been trying to buckle down and get subjobs up. Thus far, I've been working on Dancer.

It's 18 19 20 right now! I'm actually level syncing with Darkcowzie and Reshpants as I type. And I'm getting my face eaten. I'm enjoying DNC a lot (again)!

(Somehow we all lined up in that pic. EPIC.) A lot of my Dancer EXP has come from the new Fields of Valor-- specifically the one in Buburimu Peninsula. (I haven't done much else with the new update, though I have seen some nice stuff!) 1 Mighty Rarab, 7 Sylvestres = 475 bonus EXP and gil.
 
I got a few Treasure Caskets, and the only Locked Casket I managed to open had an ECHO DROP!! Total excitement. But it was free~. It's nice to just get a bonus without strings, especially considering how little I get to play.

On that note, I've noticed a lot of people have had a problem with the "easier content" that was released.. thus far, I think it's great. Just because we have something quick and painless, doesn't mean that everything in the game just got easier, or that my level 3 Corsair can now defeat Absolute Virtue with a stick. Though I wish it could. Then again, I just enjoy the game for what it is.. After almost 5 years, I'm good with what I've got.
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On another totally unrelated note, I'm itchin' to get back into the swing of XI-life. Like, rly rly. I guess I just want to be involved in something I love (again), since all I ever do is work. Like, say, pimping out my next job. *LIKE SAMURAI! Soboro~ yusplz* And I really miss Kiila...
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After our awesome Dunes experience, Darkcow, Resheph and I decided to try and catch up on Wings of the Goddess quests, so that we could complete the new Missions. We went with the San d'Oria leg, since we've got all of the previous quests done. The story of the Young Griffons Swiftwing Griffins is actually pretty cool. And I got to ride a fancypants Sandorian chocobo for the first time. :O

The storyline(s) for WotG are really top-notch so far. I can't wait to get further along!
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And then~ random Christmas Vacious + Mannequin lady!

Another one bites the dust.

Ew, a whole month without a post? :(

It's not like I've had anything UBER exciting to talk about, but still! Today marks another achievement complete- 75 Paladin!

It took a TON of Campaigning in my off time, but I finally have it. And I'm so freakin' glad it's over. It's one of those jobs that's great to have at 75, but got so tedious to level. I don't plan on meriting with it either-- I'll use Summoner or Black Mage for that, kthx. And I spent the one random merit I had on Sentinel Recast, as it seems to be one of the most useful Group 1 items. I suppose I'll actually follow the plan and start working on Bard now. Except, for some reason, I really want to just hit things for a change. But then, I want to level Scholar. Seriously, that hit me out of nowhere. Scholar just seems intriguing to me. Hmmm! It's funny what you end up thinking when you can't/haven't been playing XI- you start wanting to do things you never wanted (like a Corsair Vacious? Hrmmm? Pirate~aru Taru).

Aside from that, a lot has happened (mostly IRL) in the time since my last post. *Most* of it has been really good-- I got a promotion at work to Store Manager! Which means... I (mostly after Christmas; retail = hell for the Holidays) will have Sundays off again! Which means... IMMORTALITY EVENTS! YAY! I have missed everyone so much, I'm excited to actually get to play with them again.

Resheph will be in town for the Holidays! We're supposed to try and grind some Chains of Promathia missions. Let's see how that works out. :P I'd really like to, considering I want a Swift Belt and Sea access..

My PLD EXP hurts. + Friends!

Today, I saw Return of the 'Talo, Part 2! (Or is it 3? I forget..)
 
It was good to see/talk to him again. I lubs my Eruntalo-- all of our lives have gotten so busy, it's understandable. I hope he's Home to stay this time.
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Since Windurst has control of Castle Oztroja (S), I'm reaaally curious to try the Plucking Wings Campaign Op. You can get some pretty cool drops, though it does seem kinda hard. But what's the point of adventuring without a little danger? Besides, I'd love to get back into exploring and trying new stuff with Resheph & Darkcow (and maybe Talo soon enough!). We really need to kick some Missions' asses so we can have Sea access and such. Sigh. Maybe I'll go finish up some Aht Urhgan cutscenes tonight.. there are so many things I want to do on XI, just time's not permitting..
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More campaigning as Paladin for EXP. WHOO! I know, reading that is SO much excitement. I'm currently at 7,702/42,000 til level 75. Paladin makes me feel kind of numb; I don't hate it or want it to be over per se, but it's not exactly exciting (save the almost-dying parts), either. I tank, therefore I am! ..does that make any sense? I'm hoping to get a party and really grind that last bit of experience and celebrate the end of Paladin EXPing. Because I'll get buffer later. Lawl.

Paladin-a-gogo.

I finally hit 74 Paladin!

It only took, what, two months? Sigh. Last night when Resh and I formed a party, Qufim was too full of asshats, so we packed up and moved to The Sanctuary of Zi'Tah. Umm, yeah...it was awesome, maybe?! We were Chain 5-ing everything and its mom (oh yeah, I went there). We got nearly 10,000 exp in maybe 1-1.5 hours or so, before we just got eaten by tons of repop aggro...lol. Then today, I logged on and immediately got another level sync invite- Level 68 versus Imps. Awww right. And Believer was in the party! YAY! I haven't gotten to see or do anything with any Immortality people since the semester started. I'm praying that next semester will be lighter and I can get back to having Sundays off to at least do Dynamis with them. Anyway, we beat down on Imps and now I'm sitting roughly 6,000 into 74. I was giddy!
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Although I don't have a lot of time to play, I find that making goals in XI still helps me...do something constructive...when I do get a chance to log on. (In hindsight, isn't that kind of what goals...are?) After Paladin hits 75, I'll probably just merit as Summoner, fill up what I need to, and work on getting Bard to 75 next. It's not exactly what I want to do, but it's sitting at 56- why start something from scratch when something else already (almost) halfway done? Besides, I do like Bard. I just wanted to be a TaruMNK or DRG next. All the more time to collect pwnage gear, I suppose! So...I made a chart.


Enhanced for your reading pleasure~. (I had way too much fun making that in MSPaint.)