tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-319831402024-03-06T20:41:07.230-08:00Jack of all TradesUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger107125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31983140.post-52294886597405944902011-08-10T14:06:00.000-07:002011-08-10T15:32:50.641-07:00Final Fantasy XIV is going to be an excellent game, and here is whyA few days back I picked up FFXIV, and while a few days is certainly a small period of time to gauge the quality of the game, I'm convinced that this is going to be one of the best MMOs on the market by the time its first expansion came out. Does it have serious crippling issues right now? Absolutely. But those can be fixed, and the new developers seem to moving quite strongly in that direction. A lot of the mechanics of the game are quite complicated to explain, so for the purposes of this article I will assume a basic knowledge of how the game is currently set up.
<br />
<br />5. Crafting and gathering. Simple as that. When I first started hearing information about the way FFXIV was going to do classes/jobs/whatever you want to call them I was a little hesitant to believe that it could work well, but having played the game now I actually enjoy crafting and gathering more than combat. It's no secret that combat in MMOs tends to be pretty repetitive and it's no accident that the word grind is used to describe the process of leveling up. To an extent, that's just the nature of MMOs. However crafting in all of the MMOs I've played has always been the worst in that regard. The few times it deviated from the basic 'choose-ingredients-hit-craft-pray-to-RNG-gods' standard, it just involved gimmicky minigames and headache inducing mechanics that players had to fight to comprehend in order to maximize their chance at a higher quality item. FFXIV's crafting and gathering mechanics are transparent and simple enough to make them easy to understand, but at the same time allow for sufficient depth to make the process entertaining.
<br />Now, you might feel like gathering in FFXIV falls under the gimmicky minigame category, but a few aspects of it separate it out in my opinion. It's sufficiently simple to make it easy to do however many times, while still allowing some variation. The slider, while fundamentally an extremely simple thing, seems to influence what item you are able to get on that attempt, but it's also randomized such that you can't just put it at the top and always get one type of thing, so you have to rely on the hints. You also rarely get a situation where you would have definitely gotten the item if you had just one more chance, largely because it appears to give you an extra chance if you're close enough. This is extremely important because it makes it so that you almost never get the feeling that you just got unlucky, you always have a good chance to get the item, and it keeps you at least somewhat engaged in what you're doing.
<br />Then there's the crafting. For some reason developers usually think that hiding variables from players in crafting is a good thing and make the entire process one giant paranoia headache where you wonder if what you're doing is right. The FFXIV system is pretty complicated and you could probably write an article as long as this one about how it works, but the overall point is that it's pretty clear to the player what is going on and what is up to them. On top of that, with the choices that the player makes during the crafting process you get all kinds of choices and approaches to finishing an item, and it creates a much more interesting process. The simple idea that your approach when crafting normally is different from when trying to get a high quality item, outside of using more bonuses or doing it on a specific game day or whatever vaults FFXIV's system far ahead of it's competition.
<br />
<br />4. It's FFXI-2. A lot of english speaking people who played FFXI forget that the game was released in Japan well before it came out in North America, and that Rise of the Zilart was an expansion, not the vanilla game. Ultimately, people know this as a fact, but don't consider it when talking about FFXI's launch. It was a long time ago, and I don't remember much of the details, but as I recall FFXI's launch was also pretty terrible. Now, FFXI had loads of problems even after it got on its feet, and you can say what you want about Abyssea and all the little dumb mistakes that were made in the game's development over the years, but at the end of the day, it had a very solid niche it lived in, and it was successful as an MMO. I contend that WoW is not a benchmark that you can use when talking about other MMOs simply because it's a giant snowball that has been rolling down a mountain for years and years now. Yes it is an MMO, and yes it is and was ridiculously successful, but that kind of success just isn't possible with other MMOs, and it's unrealistic to try for or expect it. Based on all of the time I spent playing FFXI, and the responses I've seen from FFXIV's development team, FFXIV's developers are better than FFXI's were. I'm not saying the FFXI devs were bad, or even anything less than good, but the new FFXIV devs are just on another level. Part of that is their interaction with the community, which I'll get to later, but the conclusion that all of this forces me to draw is that while both FFXI and FFXIV sucked at launch (and you can argue which was worse, it doesn't really matter), FFXIV has a better team than the team that built up FFXI into a quite successful MMO. Based on that, I'm quite confident that this development team can do the same thing even better with FFXIV.
<br />
<br />3. FFXIV is FFXI-2 again. Yea I know, same idea in two points? It's an entirely different aspect though. FFXI had TONS of little problems that just made no sense. Needless obstacles to the player. Some people would call the POL viewer one, and that's fair even if I don't agree. The whole windower situation was another, and not just the ability to play the game without it being full-screen. Some of the plug-ins that windower had, such as the one that made recast times easily visible to the player. How much time was left on status effects. All of this was information that the player could access but could not access easily. We could argue about whether or not using these plugins with windower was cheating, or ethical, or whatever you want to call it, but ultimately these were simple variables that made sense to not show the player easily that the game just chose not to. Certainly, difficulty has always been part of FFXI's and presumably FFXIV's niche, but that doesn't mean that you want <span style="font-style:italic;">artificial</span> difficulty. FFXIV, in my admittedly limited experience with it, has addressed this and made these variables available to the player. I don't think they've addressed all of these issues that FFXI faced, but many of them, whether the artificial difficulty or just random dumb stuff variety, have been addressed.
<br />
<br />2. Community management. It's absolutely unbelievable how much Square-Enix's philosophy for managing their online communities has changed since FFXI. In this respect, the initial failure of FFXIV is a good thing. Even a year ago, if you told me that FFXIV would have even half the community presence from the developers as it does today I would call you an ambulance to save your life from the massive overdose of whatever drugs you were on. Having real meaningful responses from the developers does so much to help players understand where the devs are coming from. Any good relationship is based on a foundation of communication, and the relationship between the devs and the players is no exception. You could easily argue that this is the most important and the most promising change from FFXI to FFXIV.
<br />
<br />1. The developers. These guys are brilliant. It might be hard to see for a lot of people because the outlook the developers have right now is by necessity a long-term one, whereas for most people playing the game right now short-term is what matters, but I have more respect for these developers than I have for any others in the entirety of the game industry. If you go through any of their posts on the community forums, any of their interviews, anything at all virtually every word that comes out of their mouths makes perfect sense and they're taking the game in the exact right direction (making it FFXI-2) for this to be a respectable pay to play MMO. These guys are taking a train-wreck of an MMO with a gem of a game hidden with in it, cleaning off the crap, polishing the gem, and adding new content at the same time at an impressive pace. Is it tons of new content? Of course not. Are they going to be able to fix the game overnight? Of course not. They are however doing EXACTLY what needs to be done, in exactly the right way, and they deserve a lot of respect for that. You can argue about short-term things like balance changes and things to that effect, and you're certainly well within your rights to do that, but at the end of the day those are just short-term changes, which will undoubtedly fluctuate periodically. The long-term changes, the ones that will define what kind of game FFXIV will be in the future, are the ones that we need to pay the most attention to, and they are fantastic.
<br />
<br />FFXIV is indisputably flawed. It is far from perfect, or even good, but the future holds loads of promise. To be clear, FFXIV will not be a game for everyone, and it was never meant to be. It isn't a WoW-killer, and no one should expect it to be. What it will be is an EXTREMELY solid niche MMO that may very well be the second or third most successful MMO on the market for many, many years. If I had to guess, it'll be free to play until the first expansion, which will coincide with the PS3 release, and Square-Enix will play it like a re-release, essentially treating it like a new release. I know it's hard, no longer being able to play FFXI because Abyssea changed it into something that you no longer love, but there is hope for the future, and while FFXIV disappointed us all, its future should not.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31983140.post-22190945830841998042009-07-16T10:02:00.001-07:002009-07-16T10:04:02.202-07:00Lamps: Nemesis of the RetardedWhat part of "say / after you hit your lamp" is so god damn hard to understand?Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31983140.post-24921716703572766352009-07-09T06:21:00.000-07:002009-07-09T07:02:21.775-07:00Things that happened in the time it took SE to realize circle abilities were shitA whale exploded in Taiwan.<br /><br />CIA admitted there was no imminent threat from WMDs in Iraq.<br /><br />Bush was elected for a second term.<br /><br />Tony Blair was hit by a purple flour bomb (I don't fucking know).<br /><br />North Korea banned cell phones.<br /><br />Reagan died.<br /><br />Florida took it up the ass from multiple hurricanes. Seriously there're like 4 in one month.<br /><br />A fire broke out in a Canadian submarine, many people became aware that Canada has submarines.<br /><br />Martha Stewart went to jail.<br /><br />Ubuntu was released.<br /><br />Massive earthquake caused a tsunami and devastated Indian ocean region.<br /><br />Ireland finished converting to the metric system.<br /><br />Youtube came into existence.<br /><br />France passed a law requiring their teachers to make colonialism sound like a good thing.<br /><br />Pope guy died.<br /><br />Hurricane Katrina happened, white American collectively asked "who the fuck is Kanye West?"<br /><br />And much more. . .<br /><br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004">2004</a><br /><br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005">2005</a><br /><br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006">2006</a><br /><br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007">2007</a><br /><br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008">2008</a><br /><br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009">2009</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31983140.post-7795694478471071272009-07-05T01:41:00.000-07:002009-07-05T01:50:52.333-07:00Why play?No I'm not going to whine like a DRK about how SE sucks and the game is horrible. That isn't what this is about.<br /><br />The reality of my time in the game at the moment is that I have about two months left before leaving for university again, and I don't need to jeopardize my grades by playing FFXI. So the question is, knowing that I'll be gone for 8 months (or forever) in a while, what motivation is there to play? Sure, there's some stuff, like I'm leveling SMN because I always wanted to wear the AF. Bigger picture though, why go to dynamis? Well, for that it's because I like the people there (mostly, loldrama and lolidiots), but as a more general thing, knowing that you're going to be leaving, and having a definite date really drives home the point that everything anyone does in FFXI is meaningless.<br /><br />It's a really strange feeling, and a lot of people I know would benefit from feeling it.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31983140.post-50242285965171395482009-06-22T21:44:00.001-07:002009-06-22T21:48:42.553-07:00What the census actually tells usMost White Mages suck, but we kinda already knew that.<br /><br />Every time you spend merits on Protect or Shell V, god creates a PUP. Or a DRG, either or.<br /><br />They are bad and you should feel bad.<br /><br />Thank god no one merits holy circle recast, but whichever DRGs merited ancient circle recast. . . .Unknownnoreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31983140.post-68863556822703741012009-06-19T00:26:00.000-07:002009-06-19T00:42:17.908-07:00Public Service Announcement: Black Mage<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h220/evilution33/wtfBLM.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 421px; height: 312px;" src="http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h220/evilution33/wtfBLM.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />Being a decent BLM is not hard. You don't even have to think very hard about it. All you need is some staves and whatever INT gear you can find, and for the run of the mill stuff you're set, at least for stuff like the beetles in Sauromug[tab] [S].<br /><br />Now, I understand that earrings aren't that big of a deal, and, hey, I didn't get any either, so I'm not going to talk about the AGI earrings, but for fucks sake. What the fuck are you doing with a dusky staff at 51? What the fuck are you doing with a dusky staff EVER?<br /><br />It ain't money, because I'm looking at Seer's Slacks +1 which offer a whole +1 MP over the NQ, and with the price difference there you could almost afford both a dark staff and an ice staff, and by NPCing the fucking dusky staff OH HEY LOOK THAT'S ENOUGH MONEY!<br /><br />Y'all are fucking retards sometimes.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31983140.post-53265617115841329292009-06-15T03:25:00.001-07:002009-06-15T03:58:35.854-07:00WOAHSHIDynamis currency from Campaign? PLEASE let this signal a change in how things work with relic.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.playonline.com/pcd/topics/ff11us/detail/4593/detail.html">the stuff</a><br /><br />I have a lot I wanna talk about and I was kinda waiting to be in the mood to write something but holy shit! I hope its a substantial amount!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31983140.post-72663027399371930092009-06-09T06:06:00.000-07:002009-06-09T06:22:43.977-07:00Work it harder, make it betterDo it faster, makes us stronger.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h220/evilution33/cloth65.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 336px; height: 33px;" src="http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h220/evilution33/cloth65.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h220/evilution33/leather37.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 373px; height: 34px;" src="http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h220/evilution33/leather37.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h220/evilution33/6666.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 112px; height: 280px;" src="http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h220/evilution33/6666.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />Crafting is such a joke when you're having fun. Pretty much same deal with soloing BLM, though I'm going to take a break from that probably because I absolutely HATE the Temple[tab] camp. The Torama there is such a total dick.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31983140.post-18781167252763057242009-06-05T08:51:00.001-07:002009-06-05T08:59:57.532-07:00FINALLY<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h220/evilution33/63cloth.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 336px; height: 33px;" src="http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h220/evilution33/63cloth.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br />I never want to see any carapace powder ever again. Also, why is desynthing so retarded? How can they justify making something fail more than 75% of the time when 53 levels over its cap?<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h220/evilution33/clericspanties.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 366px; height: 104px;" src="http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h220/evilution33/clericspanties.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br />5/5 WHM relic now, somehow I managed to get the only useful piece other than the briault last. I mean even if its only macro'd into barspells, barspells are still pretty important.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h220/evilution33/samrelicfeet.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 366px; height: 88px;" src="http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h220/evilution33/samrelicfeet.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br />Got my second piece of SAM relic too, except it's honestly useless to me because just a few days before I got these, I got. . .<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h220/evilution33/amirboots.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 366px; height: 104px;" src="http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h220/evilution33/amirboots.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br />Which I'll probably full-time on SAM since quite frankly the WS accuracy even with all the shit I leave in for WSing is retarded.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h220/evilution33/cooking60.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 310px; height: 34px;" src="http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h220/evilution33/cooking60.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br />I also got cooking to 60 finally, not that it helps me really compared to what it was at before, but hey, its there. Haven't decided if I'm going to take cooking higher or just leave it there for now.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h220/evilution33/joyeuse.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 212px; height: 17px;" src="http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h220/evilution33/joyeuse.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br />Oh and I got this thing.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31983140.post-55592409734759305942009-06-04T07:46:00.000-07:002009-06-04T07:47:56.051-07:00A thoughtExamining people while you're /anon is somewhat hypocritical isn't it?Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31983140.post-83219731002042796342009-06-02T20:19:00.000-07:002009-06-02T20:21:13.244-07:00No one actually thinks it'll be out in 2010 right?I mean doesn't that sound kind of ridiculous? How long ago was FFXIII announced?Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31983140.post-73614614915857246832009-06-01T06:36:00.000-07:002009-06-01T08:57:02.742-07:00Happinessis trying to get Charybdis' ToD and watching the Prot/Shell V WHM not get the claim.<br /><br />Anger is then seeing that there will be maintenance in 3 hours, and not really knowing what that means for the window.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31983140.post-60013799643516671342009-05-31T03:31:00.000-07:002009-05-31T04:04:58.679-07:00Oh for. . .So I was too busy bitching about a moron to notice that I was writing my 100th entry. Fitting, really, but still kind of stupid of me.<br /><br />I can't really think of anything decent for a faux-100th entry, so I guess I'll just do some pictures.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h220/evilution33/advapprestatsfinal.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 797px; height: 185px;" src="http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h220/evilution33/advapprestatsfinal.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h220/evilution33/jobsmay2009.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 252px; height: 161px;" src="http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h220/evilution33/jobsmay2009.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h220/evilution33/gothicfinal.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 448px; height: 605px;" src="http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h220/evilution33/gothicfinal.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h220/evilution33/kreutzet1.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 368px; height: 53px;" src="http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h220/evilution33/kreutzet1.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h220/evilution33/clothcraft61.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 335px; height: 34px;" src="http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h220/evilution33/clothcraft61.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h220/evilution33/lolwhmkimmfinal.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 278px; height: 53px;" src="http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h220/evilution33/lolwhmkimmfinal.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br />Not shown: 3 Duelist's Chapeaus and 2 Assassin's Armlets in 2 xarc runs.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31983140.post-73852235916948519262009-05-30T01:09:00.000-07:002009-05-30T05:41:33.579-07:00It's just a fucking game, what is wrong with youWhen someone comes to help you, and dies doing it, most people react by thanking them for their sacrifice. Arilayne however, is not most people.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h220/evilution33/arilayneisabitch.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 566px; height: 33px;" src="http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h220/evilution33/arilayneisabitch.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br />Arilayne's (and her group of flunky's) reaction is to, BEFORE THE FIGHT IS OVER, start talking about kicking the people who died and stayed down because they aren't that interested in grinding their buffers down for someone who has never helped them and isn't even a friend.<br /><br />Oh, and why don't we keep talking down to them after the fight is over and she has her drop. Yea, that quote is from when the fight was already over, and after one of her sycophantic 'friends' started yelling at people to pass immediately.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h220/evilution33/arilayneisabitch3.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 573px; height: 49px;" src="http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h220/evilution33/arilayneisabitch3.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br />No one flaked on you, you whiny ass, you and your goons treated them like shit after they came to help you and they left because of it. Next time me or my friends take time out of our days to help you, don't fucking treat us like leeches, and while you're at it, try to appreciate the help you're getting. Enjoy your sword, I hope you fall on it.<br /><br />I apologize for the lack of more screenshots showing all the shit that went down, but none of my friends there managed to get a shot of the log and I had Arilayne and a few other people blacklisted for most of it. I'm sure this'll start some pathetic little war in a few people's minds, and I guess some people reading this would wonder why I would post it if I knew that. First, because I need to vent, and second, because I know some or most people get a kick out of this stuff. I'll leave the comments open since it'd be boring not to, at least until it gets boring or someone crosses a line.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31983140.post-87463569722051534512009-05-23T02:14:00.000-07:002009-05-23T03:01:44.792-07:00Old Diary found in Behemoth's DominionAn adventurer traveling through Behemoth's Dominion uncovered an old diary last Windsday, apparently detailing another adventurer's attempts to acquire special boots that the various monsters in Behemoth's Dominion carry around in large coffers for seemingly no reason (most of them don't even have feet, let alone room for a coffer).<br /><br />When asked to comment, the adventurer who located the diary simply said "fucking bots stole KB again."<br /><br />The following are select entries and excerpts from the diary outlining the adventurer's slow descent into insanity and addiction.<br /><br />Day 1<br />After ensuring that I had all the necessary supplies, I have begun my journey to Behe[tab]. Hopefully this will not take long, but many such journeys often do, so I have resolved to keep a log of my progress. No luck finding the boots today. Promising success opening the coffers though.<br /><br />Day 4<br />I am almost out of supplies. I can feel myself slowly slipping away into a Potion +2 addiction, but I cannot allow myself to leave without finding the boots. I must push forward. They may be in the possession of the next monster I defeat.<br /><br />Day 9<br />Khuma won't respond to my calls for help. She just keeps saying shes almost out of time and then mysteriously teleporting away, completely ignoring my weak, emaciated body and leaving me alone in this harsh environment. Next time she comes, I will attempt to eat her. It is wrong, but I don't have a choice any more.<br /><br />Day 11<br />54-93 60 80 3 4 5 83 84 85 84<br />20 40 60 80 6 7 8 66 46<br />10 30 50 70 90 0 1 2 50 70 90 71<br /><br />Day 13<br />THOSE ARE MY BOOTS<br />GIVE THEM TO ME<br />YOU ARE A COEURL<br />THEY DON'T EVEN FIT<br /><br />Day 17<br />I have achieved enlightenment. If anyone finds this diary, you may seek my wisdom at the summit of Mount Zhayolm. I will go there because that seems like what enlightened people do, I can only assume I will learn why upon my arrival. Oh, and I found the boots, but I gave them to a Cursed Weapon since its feet looked cold. How can they walk barefoot in this frigid cave?Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31983140.post-78577532860589890142009-05-19T08:47:00.000-07:002009-05-19T08:51:10.191-07:00Love hate love hate love hate treasure casketsThey're fun.<br /><br />Until you really WANT whats in them.<br /><br />Fuck you Gothic Sabatons, fuck you.<br /><br />But please still. . . . see I can't decide, is it called "drop"? Because they aren't really drops, its a chest, so what do we call that?<br /><br />But seriously, fuck you, stupid sexy awesome for my PLD and probably NIN and dammit I want them shoes.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31983140.post-32278445997432006002009-05-18T01:41:00.000-07:002009-05-18T01:56:23.177-07:00Eight months away and still angryFirst thought I had in the first trip back to Whitegate after being away from the game for either months?<br /><br />Fucking gimp hachiman SAMs.<br /><br />I guess I haven't changed. At any rate I'm back, and thoroughly enjoying things like Field of Valor and actually having JA's on WHM that I didn't have to merit for (Divine Seal and the two hour don't really count).<br /><br />Unfortunately many friends are gone or out of the circles I tend to hang in (I don't wanna be that guy who spends 10 minutes in 6 different linkshells every hour), but there're new people to meet too, so I guess that's just how life goes.<br /><br />The future right now mostly involves determining how deeply into end game I'm willing to delve (not very) and who I should do that with, since I honestly want to spend my time with Versus because they're an excellent group, but I don't really have the time to do all their stuff so I'm unsure what I should be doing there.<br /><br />Of course, I'm already back doing dynamis because I loved the shell I was in even more than I loved Versus, no offense to Versus. It was also quite nice to see that they had enough faith in me to throw me right into WHMing the tank party on my second run back, that really helped me get back into a groove.<br /><br />Don't really have much to complain about really, at least beyond people doing back to back blog entries and putting themselves on TTTO three times in a row like a child pestering his mother for attention. Bet that pisses someone off and they leave an angry comment, but I guess that's pretty much why I'm saying it.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31983140.post-83135653423159832502008-09-11T03:11:00.000-07:002008-09-11T03:26:34.688-07:00lolWoWApparently someone complained about people putting their blog on TTTO and then talking about WoW.<br /><br />Personally I think it's stupid to begin with, and it irritates me a bit when I go on there to read stuff about FFXI (and the entire point of the thing is to list blogs about FFXI) and then half the people are talking about another game or even something else even less related to FFXI. Occasional stuff is, ya know, whatever, but people repeat it and some days its kind of stupid. The front page is getting cluttered as it is within single days now.<br /><br />A person responded to the guy who complained and claimed that there isn't a lot to post about for most people (about FFXI).<br /><br />What this person should have said is that they have moved on from FFXI and are doing other things, but are either to lazy to remove their no longer relevant content from TTTO, or don't want to give up the exposure that the site brings.<br /><br />As far as the particular person goes, I don't give a shit and it doesn't matter. No idea who they are, don't really care, but I'm tired of finding my water replaced with vodka.<br /><br />Personally I'd be content with some kind of feature to prevent certain blogs from appearing on what shows up when I visit TTTO while logged in, but whatever. No one is paying Wyred to filter lack of judgment.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31983140.post-41739963592361415602008-09-07T01:31:00.000-07:002008-09-07T01:50:32.818-07:00I cast the magic that makes the things do damn near anythingRandom, just because its an awesome song:<br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/UXCIBHMMIUs&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/UXCIBHMMIUs&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br />Anyway, I've kinda looked at what I enjoy doing in FFXI a bit and, more and more, I'm thinking that what I really enjoy is being the mage. Specifically the very back-line ones that die fast and use MP. Melee is great and everything but. . . I'm not sure, I just don't get as into it these days, maybe I never really did, I don't know. I've thought about selling my SAM stuff, but people still want me on that sometimes and SAM/DNC is quite a lot of fun.<br /><br />THF. . . eh, selling off THF gear would be heresy. Chances are I'll cut down on gear for both SAM and THF and hopefully have just the necessary junk. BRD also needs to be whittled down some, which is unfortunate because I'm sure once that hits 75, people're gonna be wanting it out, even though I'm better with my WHM than I'll ever be with BRD (though I have hit my groove a few times pretty hard).<br /><br />I'm also thinking about picking up SCH next and demoting NIN to only doing anything when Draco is around to duo. SCH at high levels seems REALLY cool, and pretty fun, in addition to being versatile as anything out there. On top of that, I'd like it at 37 anyway for WHM; sublimation makes a very nice addition to WHM overall. Maybe I'll start it once BRD 75s, or immediately after the update so that 7-10 and beyond takes even less time. The only part I'm really hesitant about is dealing with the dunes, but I think I'll be able to figure out a way around that, somehow.<br /><br />Also, the freaking hockey season needs to start. NOW.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31983140.post-66260616625556742852008-08-25T04:03:00.000-07:002008-08-25T04:28:40.157-07:00I'm not going to write an entry about Level SyncBecause everyone else is going to and I'm tired of going to TTTO and seeing 5 entries about the same thing (PW media frenzy anyone?) that offer nothing new whatsoever and just say things that've been said on every forum thread or blog entry about the damned topic. I'm also tired of seeing people do more than one entry a day, but that's something else entirely.<br /><br />Shit, now that I actually go to write about something that isn't the level sync bit I can't think of much.<br /><br />I think I've mostly decided that I'm going to do RDM and NIN next, and probably ignore BRD in the short term. The RDM situation in my dynamis linkshell at the moment is a little spotty, but then so is the WHM situation so I'll probably just stick with being the WHM, because its what I'm good at for now. Its also a hell of a lot easier and I get RR3, so, no complaints.<br /><br />My reasoning for RDM is. . . well, honestly, I just think its a cool job. I can solo stuff with it and it gets some really cool looking gear (I don't care what anyone else says, AF body + mahatma pants looks cool). It is also kind of like WHM except a lot more flexible and functional. I'll have WHM for things that need WHM, and if hardcore healing isn't really needed, I could just use my RDM and do other stuff too.<br /><br />For NIN, honestly the primary motivation is soloability and its functionality in low-manning things. I do not really plan to use it in a party, mostly just duoing and soloing, probably with draco. With the new level sync thing it'll probably be quite easy and relaxing to get something nice going too.<br /><br />Today I did my first tier 2 einherjar run, and it was Versus' first too. We did really, really well overall. I was a little sad that we didn't win, after getting the boss down to 21%, and knowing that bats and spiders really wasn't the scariest thing we could get (even maybe one of the easier combos), but then I realized we had gotten the flan, and that we had only two BLMs. So, all things considered we did an EXCELLENT job and we had some really good insight into what changes we might benefit from after the run ended. I'm extremely pumped that I'm with a group doing einherjar that is actually winning instead of just dinking around on T1s losing over and over.<br /><br />We also did two KS99s, which I really wanted to be a part of (ie. use an orb) but I /random'd a 45 when we were picking orb holders, so tough. As it turned out, the first person who went (actually might have been our leader, I wasn't on the run because we had too many people) lost their orb because. . . I don't know why, but they lost. The second one was a success, but no speed belt, and that was the end of it.<br /><br />Then we had Dynamis - San D'Oria. Or we did until some japanese shell went in and over-lapped with our time which was already scheduled an hour later than we had intended originally. So instead we did Dynamis - Jeuno and well. . . it kind of sucked. We got something like MNK MNK BLM THF, and wiped 3 or so times. Wipes shouldn't be happening in Dynamis - Jeuno, especially that number of times, so I started kinda brainstorming solutions with a couple other members, and I'll probably bug our leader about it a bit later and see if we can improve ourselves any.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31983140.post-300881855065588092008-08-24T03:48:00.000-07:002008-08-24T04:22:13.418-07:00Thief v. 2.0: The Weeaboo ThiefSo now that I've finished thief, one big question is "what now?" I've thought about it, and people have asked me. . . but I'm not completely sure.<br /><br />I've got Red Mage at 59, Paladin at 41, Bard at 70, and most of all White Mage, Samurai, and Thief all need merits.<br /><br />However, I've also been considering Weeaboo Thief, more commonly known as Ninja. It has a lot of things in common with Thief. For instance, there's no discernible reason for me to actually want to play it. It is hard, and while I suspect I'll manage to do a better job of it than most Ninjas do these days, I don't expect to enjoy it. Both jobs are also not all that capable of taking many hits (or dishing them out until much later).<br /><br />I guess part of the motivation comes from wanting to be useful, on top of being able to solo stuff. There's also a tiny, extremely suppressed part of me that likes the traditional Japanese style of things (shapes/colors), however thanks to all the retards who can't talk about anything but anime I can't enjoy that stuff without feeling like a moron.<br /><br />I'd also like to level Black Mage some if SE actually delivers on its promise of making mage + melee parties more viable again in the September update, but honestly for the time being I'm just going to assume they're completely full of shit and it'll just shift things to screw a different group over (I wonder if its Bard's turn?). Either way I look forward to the update if only to see what happens.<br /><br />At any rate I have a history of saying (thinking) many things and not necessarily going along with them (at least not immediately), so we'll see what happens. For the moment I'm trying to farm up my elemental Ni spells for Ninja, and so far I've gotten the first four REALLY fast, and then nothing for like 4-5 hours. During a full moon too, so I'm tempted to just go buy the last two, even though I have this bizarre. . . I don't know what that prevents me from buying things I can farm, simply because I don't want to spend the money unless its a huge pain to farm or a low amount of money (less than 5k).<br /><br />To close on an incredibly cute note: my cat has been meowing to get into my room for a while but I don't really want to let her in because she just wants to go out again a little after and I'm allergic to her (bad times on the bed), so she just poked one of her toys under the door and is now trying to stick an arm under the door to swat at it. I think she went and found it, then picked it up and brought it to the door to do that, because I threw it across the house yesterday.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31983140.post-32870982920465620292008-08-23T01:45:00.001-07:002008-08-23T02:15:49.172-07:00An End<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h220/evilution33/THF75text.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px;" src="http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h220/evilution33/THF75text.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />I finally did it, 75 Thief. It happened maybe a week ago, but I didn't quite feel like writing about it, so I put it off until now. I guess part of me feels like this should be more significant to me than it is, but, its been. . . . I suppose satisfying, but the primary thing is that a large chunk of my motivation has disappeared. I don't think its entirely because I finished off thief, but a part of it is.<br /><br />Regardless, this is what I started, and now (besides merits), it is done. I made my account on December 24th, 2003, and chose to make a mithran thief from San D'Oria. I had the same model as I do now, right down to the size. Now, here I am, my third 75 finally gets finished. I do not know why I enjoy thief, honestly leveling it was a pain in the ass and often not enjoyable (though 74 to 75 was the most fun thing I've done in a long time simply due to a combination of daggers, sushi for the first time, and lolibri). It doesn't get great invites, and its not something that you'd jump to include in a small group of good jobs to have on an event.<br /><br />It doesn't do the greatest damage, it doesn't have any amazing abilities. . . why do I like it? Do I even in actuality like it, or is it what I think I ought to like, and I simply convince myself to without ever having a reason at any part of the process?<br /><br />I don't really know, though I was definitely happy to be breaking 1000 damage by a good margin with Trick Attack Dancing Edge on Greater Colibri while getting 75. Either way, at this point I've at least convinced myself I enjoy the idea of it, so I'm proud that I've completed this. Leveling thief to 75 is not easy, and doing it while not sucking and leeching off of the other 5 members of your party is even harder. I am proud that my thief is 75, and I am proud that I'm not gimping it up like most thieves are.<br /><br />Do I consider myself one of the better/best thieves out there? Hell no. There is a lot I could do to put out a bit more damage, and I admittedly dismissed the idea of using sushi out of hand until recently out of blind disgust for the standard melee mentality that is currently in place. However, for some reason. . . I feel like what I've done getting to this point with thief, and what it is now is more significant than anything else I've done in the game. There's no logical reason for it, that's just how it is.<br /><br />It feels very weird, after 5 years, getting this job that I've cared about and been interested in the entire time really to 75 finally. I guess that's what I'm trying to say.<br /><br />The one thing that bothers me now is, part of me thinks that this is something like the fake ending in an RPG where the story really SHOULD have ended, but they wanted to let the player play around with all those spiffy end-of-the-game items they picked up in the final boss's dungeon, and then find completely broken max stat weapons in side-quests after all meaningful parts of the story have ended. Those never really feel right to me.<br /><br />Well, enough of that I guess. The reality of it is that I ought to quit being sentimental about a number and keep making memories. Debating the contents and motivations of my thoughts with myself isn't terribly effective anyway.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31983140.post-16991104471911798482008-08-16T23:33:00.000-07:002008-08-16T23:35:00.415-07:00(|Huh!?|)I don't even really know. Pretty out of it right now, too tired.<br /><br />Lots of crap happened, some of which I'm not going to talk about because it needs to be in a post of its own, but some of it:<br /><br />My dynamis shell's co-leader mistakenly invited feiwong. After a few of us let our leader know who Boktai was, I had the pleasure of breaking his pearl. He sent a number of us /tells and said some things in /say, and I have screenshots of the stuff that was in /say or /tell'd to me, but I'm going to send those to Wyred once I stop being lazy about cropping them instead of posting them here.<br /><br />That being said, I'm terrified because feitard is going to find my non-existent myspace page and somehow use it against me! Oh no!<br /><br />I also decided to sell off all my gear that isn't for SAM, WHM, THF or BRD in an effort to focus more on my highest jobs so that I can finish them off and THEN worry about lower level stuff.<br /><br />Lastly, I joined Versus. Its a pretty interesting group, I find myself comparing them a lot with my dynamis shell for some reason, not really because they're similar or anything just kind of like I dated the dynamis shell first and versus is the new chick I'm hanging around. Its pretty nice, no one seems like a lootwhore or anything, which isn't something I can say about at least one person in the dynamis shell.<br /><br />We apparently do Jailer of Love tomorrow, which is kinda lol for me because. . . I have noooooo idea what to expect, but thats kind of the fun part I guess. The first thing I did in versus was WHM for back to back Kirin fights, which was one hell of an initiation, given that I had no idea what my job was and I basically just joined the parties I was told to join and filled whatever role seemed the most appropriate. I mean, its kind of a no-brainer as a WHM, you get told who is tanking and you cure everyone, the tanks in particular, but it was still adrenaline filled and pretty fun in that it at least felt like a challenge.<br /><br />Anyway, thats all for now, though I need to do a big post soon. I'm fucking tired.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31983140.post-12930895726706567932008-08-13T23:05:00.000-07:002008-08-13T23:43:07.132-07:00Public Service Announcement: White Mage<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h220/evilution33/lolwhm.gif"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px;" src="http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h220/evilution33/lolwhm.gif" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br />Yes you can gimp it up and still do your job fine. Should you? No. Knock it off and put some effort into the job like everyone else does.<br /><br />And what the hell is up with Prot/Shellra V? Particularly Protectra V, why in the hell would you ever merit that? You get 68 defense from a fully merited Protectra V, and 55 from Protectra IV. I know absolutely no tanks who would ever prefer 13 defense over getting 250 MP every 10 minutes. Seeing WHMs merit Protectra V and Shellra V together over Devotion makes me sick to my stomach. Why would you ever spend 220,000 experience on 13 fucking defense?<br /><br />As far as Shellra V goes, at best you go from getting ~21.9% magic damage ignored to getting rid of ~27.4% the stuff. Lets say, best case scenario, you've already finished EVERYTHING else, you have Devotion capped, and you're trying to decide between Shellra V and Martyr. Are there going to be big nasty NMs where you would want 5% more magic damage reduction? Sure. Ok, how about an instant 29 MP (Stoneskin) cure for ~500 HP every 10 minutes?<br /><br />55 damage ignored out of 1000 from Shellra V's benefit vs. Shellra IV. For Shellra V's usefulness to keep up with Martyr, the total collective magic damage dealt to everyone with your Shellra on them over ten minutes would have to be NINE THOUSAND AND FUCKING NINETY MAGIC DAMAGE BEFORE REDUCTION. Fifteen magic damage a second. Does this ever happen? Sure, I haven't done HNMs, but seriously? Does it?<br /><br />The only remaining argument that you can make in Shellra V's favor is that it gets put on 6 people, and that Martyr is single-target. I'm praying that no one really thinks thats a good basis for picking Shellra V over Martyr, but I figure there're always going to be idiots. . . so. . .Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31983140.post-14267893165958874252008-08-04T09:03:00.000-07:002008-08-04T09:05:53.796-07:00WOAHSHI500k entry cost for dynamis FUCK YES<br /><br />Does this mean I have a hope in hell of getting a relic now? Maybe.<br /><br />No, really, does it? No. But I'm still happy.<br /><br />In before butthurt relic holders cry about how their relic is more legit because they paid more for it.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0