Map and Rutters 1/1

The week has started out good for me. I logged on in the Labrynth of Onzozo and found Vay there killin' PH for Ose uncontested. I teamed up and we got the NM shortly after; no drop. Then, we decided to head back out to Newton Molvapolos to see if we could get a coffer key/coffer and also kill Matman for my Rutter Sabatons.

Vay changed to /THF and we ran to the NPC to gamble our way to Mine Shaft #2716. It cost me 58k total to get my key item, then get warped to the entrance to the mine shaft. We buffed up and went in to find a coffer key. A short while later, we must have linked the entire zone, but eventually were able to get a coffer key and another Sylvan Stone off the same mob. A short trek later and we found the coffer. Now, I have a nice new map of the zone! It is so much less stressful trying to navigate the zone with an in-game map!

We headed to the Matman spawn and cleared the area. We made fairly short work of the NM, who generously dropped my Rutters Yay for 1/1!

Vay needed to go get some studying done, and I needed to go work out, so I ran myself back to the labrynth and went AFK. I came back 2 hours later to find another PT there killin' PH. I buffed up and started killin, as well. Vay came back and joined me a few minutes later. About 20 minutes after he showed up, we got the claim on Ose and took him down. Unfortunately, we didn't get the drop. I'll be heading back out there this afternoon to kill more PH and hopefully take the NM down once or twice more before Nyzul Isle tonight.

The other group that was out there included a DRG named Kongal. Apparently, Kongal used to be a slayer, but dropped his pearl when he quit a year ago. He's back, now, however and got another linkpearl from Vay after we claimed and killed Ose. Part of me wonders if he just wants a pearl because we can help him get his Assault Jerkin. Part of me also wonders if he expects to be able to get it before Vaynard or me, since it is obviously a more important piece for a DRG than it is for RDM. I'm not really sure how I feel about this. It's not like Ose's window is very predictable, so getting ToD isn't all too important. But at the same time, Vay and I have been spending a lot of time in the last week trying to get the armor. So, who should get the drop (if it drops)? If Kongal does get it, should we expect him to leave the LS after? I just don't know...

If we could manage to snag an Assault Jerkin and Goliard Pants today, I think it would make this week a good week drop-wise (and I don't think Vay would disagree)! Add an Askar helm on top of that and it could make the week epic!

I'll keep my fingers crossed.

Posted Sep 29 2009, 08:56 AM

More CoP

Over the weekend I got a bit more CoP done.

Managed to take down Diabolos after 4 dry runs. It turned out to be quite easy once we got our strategy down (and used 2-hrs).

We attempted to fight Diabolos prime, but never could quite get him down. NOt a big deal, really, since I don't plan on levelling SMN any more. I just wanted the avatar for completeness.

I spent some time getting the Pso'Xja map. It makes it so much easier to navigate through that zone with the map. I hope to be able to get the Riverne maps soon, too. All I've gotta do is scrounge up a few more ppl to help me with the 3 moblin NMs in the 50-cap area.

Headed up to Monarch Linn to do CoP 4-2. We managed to squeak a victory out. It's nice to finally be progressing in CoP. Next big task is the Professor ghost NM in the Sacrarium. I'd like to get a map of that zone ASAP, but I'm not gonna hold my breath. Sacrarium access means that I can work on my swift belt, too. Maybe I can do that some weekend soon.

I managed to get my promotion and earn my Starlight Medal. This allowed me to spend 200k allied notes. I picked up the Cobra Harness for when MNK gets to be 68. I also picked up the Ariesian grip (for hMP), Sturm's Report (for M.Acc), and the belt with Dark Magic skill on it for sleeps/aspir/drains. I had to change my alliegance to Bastok in order to be able to afford all of the stuff that I wanted. Maybe someday I'll work on getting the body pieces from Sandy and Bastok, too, since they're so pretty ^^

Maybe, with a little luck, I'll be past 4-3 by this weekend!

Posted Sep 21 2009, 09:02 AM

Weekend of Joy

Well, it turned out to be a fairly productive weekend. I was planning on getting a lot of playtime in this weekend, since my wife was going to be out of town and Braego was coming up to hang out with me and the kids. I had decided on making this the 'weekend of NMs' since I was hoping to get a chance at my Joyeuse, and Braego was still looking to get his hands on OBow (we had failed at getting the drop the weekend before).

Friday night, I ran down to SSG in the hopes of getting ToD. I spent the next few hours running back and forth between my PC and Braego's trying to get a wireless USB nic working. With each hour, more and more people showed up to Charybdis's room, so I assumed that the window was open. I decided that even if I was solo, that I would try to claim the NM if I could, even though it would kill me. Eventually, Braego fell asleep and I gave up on his PC, so I called Wack out so we could attempt to duo.

I'm not sure how long we were waiting, but the entire time I was a little worried about my lack of a fully-meritted Phalanx II and Bio III. Eventually Vaynard saw that we were going to try for claim, so he started making his way down, since he wanted a Joyeuse, too. Wack got claim when it did eventually pop (just a little before 1am) and we started the slow duo. About 15 minutes in, Vaynard showed up to lend a hand, but ended up d/c'ing ~10 minutes later and never was able to come back. There were quite a few people there waiting for us to wipe. A few who offered to help ("invite me to help kill lol. You're taking too long. Check me I already have Joyeuse!"), sent tells to try to buy the sword or a chance to lot ("200k for chance to freelot sword?", "250k?"), and other less-than-helpful ideas (like the discussion in /say about not helping us if we got an add or a link so that when we wiped someone else could claim). One NIN even tried to MPK us by bringing the other Devil Manta up onto the ramp next to us (between myself and Charybdis/wack) then just standing there, engaged, but turned away from the mob... Eventually he just 2-houred and home pointed... Which simply resulted in his mob de-spawning).

Despite all of this (the lag was TERRIBLE!) we were able to whittle it down and get the kill in just a little over 35 minutes. I was so happy to finally have this sword. The best part was that we had the ToD for the next pop, and it was at a convenient time, too! The next window opened at 9:30 AM, so we agreed to meet down there at 9 to get ready.

The next morning, we had Braego(WHM/SCH), Protecus(PLD/BLU), Phaze(BRD/WHM), Timotheaus(SCH/RDM), and myself(RDM/WHM) down there and ready to fight by 9AM. Window opened at 9:30. By 9:40 we were fighting Charybdis again for claim #2. This time he went down extremely fast. I have to credit Tim for that. I think his helix spells did wonders for our kill speed (which was right around 12 minutes, I think). Protecus got his Joyeuse, and we were making plans to come back just before 6PM when the next window opened.

Between pops 2 and 3, We headed down to Gustav Tunnel for more Wyvernpoacher Drachlox camping. He was actually up and wandering around when we got there! Of course, whenever there is an NM that you want wandering around unclaimed, you start to panic a bit. It was just Braego and myself down there, with Phaze and Protecus otw after going to change jobs. One other person was down there and we didn't want to lose the chance to claim, so I pulled it; it brought 3 of his closest friends, and two of their pets >.> It took a little while to get all of the adds under control, but eventually we were able to and focus on bringing the NM down. No drop put us at 0/5. We were down there for a couple more hours (after Phaze and Protecus went AFK to get some sleep) and get one more claim on the NM (0/6) before we headed back to SSG for another camp.

This time, we had Protecus, Braego, Timotheaus, Veronyca, and myself down there camping, although we weren't sure if Protecus was going to ever wake up from his nap. Eventually Protecus did show up and Tim had a party to attend IRL, so he just went AFK and we were joined by Liqueenas. This Charybdis was shy and waited for 3 hours to show up. Liq got claim w/ provoke and we were able to take the NM down. Joyeuse #3 went to an AFK Timo and the rest of us headed back out to Gustav Tunnel.

Once in the tunnel, Liq changed to THF and Phaze came back down on WHM. I'm not sure how long we were down there, but we started to get desperate! I suggested the nekkid trick to get the NM to spawn. Everyone took off all of their visible gear except for hats and weapons. The next time the place holders spawned, we found oursleves with the NM! We made short work of him (I did the entire fight w/o pants) and were rewarded with an O.Bow for Braego!

Braego and I went back down to Gustav Tunnel, even though the next window opened at 5:30 AM and neither of us were going to be able to make it. This time, the NM popped early in the window. Phaze, protecus, Timotheaus, and Veronyca were out there and managed to outclaim the entire population of Asura (apparently). They made short work of Charybdis and Joyeuse #4 went to Veronyca! Next window opened at 1:30 PM, and I was ready!

This pop was really interesting. Middle of the afternoon, prime play time for EU and NA. We were the only PT down there. The ONLY one. There was a solo NIN and a solo BLM there for ToD. Also Moooodydude was down there being annoying, but ultimately, we had zero competition. Charybdis wasn't shy this time either and popped on the 3rd or 4th set of placeholders. Protecus, Phaze, Braego, Timotheaus, Veronyca and myself brought the NM down very quicly and Joyeuse #5 went to Phaze. The next window opened at 11:30 PM, which is too late for me to be up, unfortunately. Protecus and Vay were planning on going back down there for #6; I hope they got it!

While down there, we killed the DRG Sahagin NM thrice. Once, we even got the polearm for AFK Tim! We also killed the WHM Sahagin NM, but got nada.

The total count of NMs killed over the weekend: 12.

Also, I finished running around, killing NMs, and getting my Pso'xja pass. Now, all I need to do is go through and kill Diabolos to finish CoP 3-5.

It was an incredible weekend in-game!

Posted Sep 14 2009, 11:24 AM

Long time, still no Sea (but I'm workin' on it!)

Got a random /tell from a stranger last night as I was doin' some FoV in sky. The dude said that he found me on FFXIAH.com and noticed that I was on CoP 2-5. He wanted me to join him. Unfortunately, I was just wrapping up (I could hear the kids upstairs; awake from their naps) and we had ENM at night, so I had a very small window. He didn't care. He said we could put a group together now, and take off later in the night. By the time I found out what job they wanted me on (NIN) and I ran out there, it was getting kind of late. I think we got to Riverne A01 at 9:00, and Monarch Linn at 9:30.

We had PLD NIN WAR BLU WHM WHM and about 13 yellow liquids. Plan was for the PLD to kite two of the mammets, with a WHM for support, while the WAR BLU other WHM and I killed the other. We went in for a dry run first which was meh. I felt that the WAR wasn't paying attention and hit the mob a lot during transmogrification. We wiped (which was expected) without even killing one.

We decided to go for it once weakness wore and everything went without a hitch. I think it helped that the mammets only used transmogrification once in the whole fight. We cleared in about 10 minutes. It was surprisingly easy to keep hate with Yonin and cureskins from the WHMs.

I didn't have time to do any of the legwork for chapter 3 yet since I was already late for ENM (thanks for waiting, guys). I did a little bit this morning before work (3-1 and 3-2 are done). I hope to do a bit more this afternoon, maybe kill Overgrown Ivy and try to solo the antlion this afternoon during nap time.

This weekend should be a weekend of NM camping fun! (or frustration) We're gonna camp Charybdis for Wack, Vay, and myself, and between windows, camp the OBow NM for Braego. I hope we can get some good luck with claims and drops!

Oh yeah, and in the last 2.5 months, I've finished my enfeebling magic merits, unlocked Bio/Dia III, made a little bit of gil, spent a LOT of gil, and have generally just taken it easy both in-game and out.

Posted Sep 11 2009, 07:50 AM