Hero Therapy

Last night I was in an awful mood, so I decided to go out to the Dunes. I ran around saving people from gobs and clearing and re-clearing out the bats in the Cave of Death. It cheered me up immensely. I can't wait til I'm higher and I can go to Qufim and chain all the Wights and Banshees. *happy place* ^.^

I have to wait for a certain Puppetmaster to hurry up and catch up before I can level pld any more. So tonight I'm going to Windy to start leveling cooking, or resume leveling my whm. Haven't decided yet.

{Paladin} {Power}

I finally organized all of my stuff between my main and two mules. Armor, weapons, spells and mage food are with the taru in Windy. All the misc crap like crystals and items, along with all my fishing gear is with the elvaan in Sandy. And all my current gear and all melee and regen food stays with my main in Bastok & Jeuno. It's a good system.

Three ls mates offered to come level new lowbie jobs with me, but when I was ready one was too busy, one was too high, and one hadn't unlocked PUP yet. lol So I bought myself some starting gear, hit South Gustaberg and got my pld to level 6 in about an hour. I *heart* Stoneaters and Dingbats. ^^

I had my first official Paladin moment last night. I had just finished a fight, when I noticed a blm getting smacked around by two quads. So I charged in and started pounding on the link, even though it conned as EM and I was nowhere near full health... I actually made it out alive with a few precious hp to spare, which I was rather happy about because I'd left my hp in Jeuno. lol When the blm thanked me profusely, I told him I was a Paladin, and I was just doing my job. He thought that was pretty cool.^^

I already love this job so much.

{Paladin}{Power} ftw! (lol)

Whee!

This is a useless post, but I killed a Goobbue, and I'm awfully proud of it. :D


Arwenne>> Dude, you need a haircut.
Goobbue>> Rawr! I'm bigger than you! You look small and tasty!

Arwenne>> Why, thank you. You look ... fat. Here, let me hack some of that off for ya.^^
Goobbue>> Bwahaha! Fear my piggish eyes and rows of rotten teeth!


Arwenne>> See, now wasn't that fun? You look prettier already.
Goobbue>> Um, can you shout for a raise?

Thank you...

I unlocked Paladin on Sunday night. That was a great feeling. Just 5 more levels, and I will be putting my warrior away for good for a long time. I will be saying goodbye to my great axe and its awesome damage, and I will begin living and dying by the sword.

You know me and screenshots. These are kind of boring, but I had to have something to commemorate the special event. ^^ This is in Ordelle's Caves:


This is somewhere in Davoi. Man, that place was freaky, even with a PLD75/WHM37 for a bodyguard.


And this is my mentor, right after the big moment. I'll admit, I was a little excited and made quite a spectacle of myself. :P

I'm still so excited, I really can't think of much else to say. But yeah, it was a good night. ^^

Evil white mage ><

"Arwenne was defeated by the white mage." That's what it should have said, instead of 'Arwenne was defeated by the Yhoator Mandragora.' But more on that later.

I started the weekend out at 26, determined to make 30. But I made a little side trip to Sandy to help a pal with a mission, and had to chocobo back. You know how it is, when you're riding along, and you get bored, and you start checking the the mobs along the way, getting all excited when you see that the same things that were IT last week are EP now... when all the sudden you realize that you accidentally hit Attack instead of Check...

I found myself off the chocobo in the middle of Jugner, I think it was. I squared off with a couple of goblins, and the really good news is that with Sturmwind I hit one with 379 points of damage. Yeah.. 379!!!! But then I died.


It was ok, though, because it got me to Jeuno a little faster. o.O

The weekend parties were generally alright. One was full of drama. Stubborn boys and their drama. *BAER*

I met the most fantastic monk ever. We both agreed that we never want to party without each other ever again. lol I love parties with her, because I get to tank.^^


The 2nd party of the weekend with her was when I got 30.

I didn't want to leave just then, and I was advised to get 31 before I left so that I wouldn't have to come back to the jungle for a while. So I got close to 31, and everyone was getting tired, so the pt leader (my new best buddy) asked everyone if it was ok if we disbanded after I got 31. Everyone said they were ok with it.

We got to the last battle, and it was a mandy. It should have been easy. But after a few hits, we all realized the whm wasn't curing the tank (me). I got down to 45HP, and everyone was screaming at him to cure me. He actually laughed, and said that I would be leveling in a second.

I died.

Oh my god, I was furious. LIVID. I've never really been angry at anyone in this game, but this guy really did it for me. That was cold! And so obviously intentional. Everyone knew it. We disabanded immediately, and he tried to to act like he was sorry, but I couldn't even bring myself to respond to his apologies.

He's now been blacklisted by two entire linkshells, so I hope it was worth it. And at that level, people really start to remember you, and now he's going to be remembered as a ????ing ????. Maybe he'll think twice next time about being a complete ass. So, that kind of ruined my happy night of getting thirty, but the fact that my friends had my back about it definitely cheered me up. ^^

So today I'm going to solo the rest of the way to 31, and then hopefully work on getting PLD unlocked next week.

I have one word for last night...

WOW.

Let's see... my first night of exping in the jungle, and my favorite PLD hit 75!! And I was there to see it! That was awesome.^^

Last night started off fairly boring, as usual. I sat in my mh and talked to people, because my fish weren't selling and I couldn't think of anything to do. Then my LS ordered me to go level, so I ended up going out to Kazham with two LS mates who were also leveling. Oh, and by the way, if you store your armor with an NPC you can get it back from any of the armor storer NPCs, not just the original one. Handy little piece of info to have, right there.

This is me on my first night in Kazham (which was actually yesterday) :P



Anyhoo, after about 10 ignored invites and a lot of confusion, I got into a pt with one of my LS mates. And I have to admit guys - the first 20 minutes or so of that pt were by far the most humiliating moments of my entire FFXI career. I've started to notice that the higher I get, the faster the parties seem to move. Everyone expects you to know exactly what you're supposed to do. And I sucked beyond horribly. To say I was running around like a chicken with my head cut off would probably be a fair assessment.

Luckily, we had a pl'er, so after several fights and several questions, I found out what I was supposed to be doing, and got balanced again. The pt went very well after that, and my LS mate was beyond cool about everything. I'm very lucky. I hit 26 before people started leaving. Three new people later, and the party became completely awesome. I was kinda shocked that even though they had a war/nin, they still had me main tank. Now, granted, the war/nin was a Taru and had 100 less hp than me... but still. lol I was surprised, and more than a little relieved because main tanking is still the thing I know how to do best.

I would have hit 27, but I was getting very tired, so I left to go chat with a friend for a bit. After he left, I was gonna hit the sack, but the pld was really close to 75, so I stayed to witness the momentous occasion. And I'm so glad I did. That was amazing!! I've never been so excited for anyone. I know this is probably old stuff to you guys, but to a 3-month FFXI newbie - watching someone hit 75 is beyond cool.^^

And that's about it. I only got a few hours of sleep, but it was absolutely worth it. :)

I love Tarus. There is nothing, NOTHING, on the planet cuter than a Taru melee. *dies*

Here's a taru dance macro I found.

/panic motion
/wait 5
/joy motion
/wait 5
/clap motion

LOL

On an unrelated note, I was informed yesterday by a guy (with multiple jobs at 75) that I would never be taken seriously if I tried to take war/mnk past 40. I'm not dumb enough to think I could TANK with war/mnk past 40, but I thought I could at least still be a DD. I mean, seriously. I HATE thf, and I HATE nin. War/mnk is my favorite job combo (not that I've tried too many others). I know this guy doesn't know everything and doesn't speak for everyone, but it made me sad to think I may be looked at as 'gimped' if I keep my mnk sub. :( He said /mnk brings nothing to a party if I'm not tanking. But I know that's NOT true, because when I wasn't tanking, I was consistently out-damaging everyone else in my last party.

By the way, Kazham is very pretty. I took a screenie, and tonight I'll try to remember to send it to myself so I can post it. ^^ Then I think I will drag the pld out there and get another picture. 0.o lol

I think that I may start fishing during the week, leave my armor in NPC storage, and then party my ?ss off on the weekends. I like to be able to stay in parties for more than a couple hours, and that just doesn't work on weeknights. Besides, I have a regular fishing buddy now, so it's not nearly as boring. The only thing that's sorta annoying is that I'm going to have to empty my inventory as much as possible and then make a run to Kazham again for more bait. I'm not going to waste my time going to Windy because they're always out.

I had to rebuy the game, but I got RoZ and CoP registered. Woot.

My friend thinks I may need to take a break from the game. But I don't think I need a break from the game, I think it's something else. We'll see.

Apparently, I'm a 'nice' newbie. :P lol I guess that's better than being a n00b. *shudder*

I'd have to say this was probably my most productive weekend ever. I was in an amazing pt on Saturday and hit 25WAR/12MNK. I tanked for the first half of the pt, and died 3 times. By the way, as a result of all the death I've suffered in Qufim pt's, I have totally accepted death as part of my job. Now I always set my HP as near camp as possible, because usually I die, HP, and then run back and help finish the fight. But I still made 2 levels in that party, and while dying is sort of annoying, I have to admit that getting this apology: 'sorry, we couldn't get the hate off you - you just kicked too much ass!' totally made up for it. But the dying ceased during the 2nd half, when the ninja blink-tanked. I've realized I'm actually not that great of a back-up voker, so for the rest of the party I got to enjoy being nothing but a damage dealer. And DAMN that's fun!^^ I still want to do PLD eventually, but last night convinced me that I will most definitely be taking Warrior past 37. The amount of damage I was doing with a capped Great Axe was just stunning, and it can only get better. I still think Warrior is the perfect job for me.

And then With a little (ok, a LOT of) help from a fantastic 74PLD, I got my Kazham keys today! Man, that was fun. ^^ I got to see Giddeus and Yhugot (sp?) Grotto. But, then I found out that my RoZ reg code doesn't work, so I can't access Kazham or anything else. Man that sucks. I'm going to have to call POL tomorrow and attempt to get it resolved. /cry

Other than that, I also started fishing more. Moat carp stacks, FTW! lol Oh yeah, and I also visited the moogle for Adventurer Appreciation. I forget what my numbers are, but I'll post them after I check it again to get my prize. And, that was about it for my weekend.

Since I know you're reading this... Jeg savner deg, Zaeon. Skyndt deg! :P

Well, hell. I learned something new last night.

Turns out ninjas do tank alright before 50, but they CAN'T MAIN TANK. Yeah, you heard me. They can't. Those shadows go down, and BAM! Dude is bleeding hp like water through a sieve.

So I get invited to a pt literally 2 seconds after I log in. New record for me, by the way. I asked if I could be the tank, got the affirmative, and I was on my way. Then when I get there, I'm informed that a ninja is on the way, and he'll be tanking. I would be back-up tank. *huge sigh* So we get started while we wait for Mr. Perfect Shadowy Tank Man, and I s?cked big time for the first few fights, like I always do. Then tank man arrives, and tells me I need to watch for his shadows to drop and then voke. This is where the I learned something new part comes in. I'd never had to do that before, so I asked. I should have figured this out, but it turns out that the way you know the dude's shadows have dropped is when he takes a hit.

We fell into a nice little rhythm, and the party was actually fantastic. I made almost 2 levels. Very steady. Everyone did their thing, and I discovered that being back-up tank wasn't half bad. I learned to watch the chat log and watch Prissy Shadow Boy's hp bar very closely. I'm a lot less intimidated by Qufim now, because we took on the giants. There's nothing like fighting those giants... damn. I was so distracted during the first fight because those things are HUGE. And UGLY. And just downright freaky. Gah!

I left the pt around midnight, and my Galka friend came to fetch me back to Jeuno. I was gonna go to bed, but he had a pl'er from his linkshell, and wanted me to go kill stuff with him so he could level his whm. So off we went, back to the island, and it was awesome. I got to level 23, and was getting skill-ups like crazy. Great Axe hit 70 and I got Sturmwind! OMG, that is such a f???ing cool WS. I hit 72 before we quit to go to bed. That was fun. I'm very lucky to have some good people to call friends in that game. :D If you're reading this - *mwah!* Luv ya!

I'm going to keep trudging on in Qufim til I get to 24. I'm going to get some stacks of meat mithkabobs, since I probably won't be doing much main-tanking anymore. *sigh* I wonder if I should put away the shield earrings and get the beetle earrings for the +1 att. Probably. *big sigh*

Oh well. Just 14 more levels until I unlock PLD, and then no one better ever tell me I can't tank.

Wow. I badly need help with my war macros, and this post from Lady Seryn makes the most sense I've ever seen.

Target Macro
/echo Target: [bt]
/target [bt]

Provoke Macro
/ja "Provoke" [t]
/p (Provoke) [t]
/wait 30
/echo -- Provoke Ready! --

Use the Target macro at the start of the battle to make sure you have the right mob, and use the Provoke macro throughout the battle to provoke the enemy. It's also worth setting up a /ja "Provoke" [stnpc] macro as well, so you can properly Provoke a link when necessary. (Or just use the menu -- it happens rarely enough)

Quote:
(note: you might have to change [bt]to [t]to voke an unclaimed mob... honestly not sure)

If there is no existing battle target, [bt] will provoke whatever you currently have targetted. If there IS an existing battle target, then no matter what you do, it will provoke the battle target (assuming you are in range). If there is more than one battle target, it is dangerous to use [bt] because it can choose either one of them. (I'm not sure what criteria it actually uses, but it is not predictable enough for most people to use when there is more than one target, in any case)

Quote:
ONLY USE DEFENDER WHEN YOUR HP IS RED. So many Warriors I see keep it up non stop and wonder why the mob never looks twice at them

A trick that does work well is to use Meat Mithkabobs, and use Defender to boost your defense whenever you are fighting a heavy hitting mob. Your ability to control hate WILL drop a bit, but the Meat Mithkabob will help compensate, and you will not cost your WHM as much MP. With fewer cures, the WHM is less likely to pull the mob off of you. As long as you can keep hate on you instead of the other party members, this works very well. Turning on Defender a little later into the battle after getting a few good hits in to build up some hate also helps. When you pull a weaker mob, you can simply not use Defender, and the attack bonuses from the Meat Mithkabob will make it that much easier to control hate.

I've been avoiding Qufim like the plague. In the meantime, I've leveled thf to 10, and whm to 6. I hate thf - just doing it for TH at level 15, but I really do love whm. I think it's good to be well-rounded, and I believe whm will be my only other main job besides being a tank. However, tonight I'm gonna get back to Qufim and resume leveling. I find myself missing the thrill of the hunt.

There has been quite the influx of new players lately, and I've very much enjoyed being able to help out. Over the weekend I helped an 04blm do Windy Mission 1-2, because I didn't have the heart to tell him he'd have to wait because he'd get killed doing it on his own. Then when I was on whm, I decided to level my healing magic by following an 06war around E. Sarta. After he leveled, I gave him a set of leather armor, taught him about the AH, and gave him a Butterfly axe. Thankfully he was open to the idea of the great axe, and was pretty excited when I told him how much fun he was going to have with it. The Great Axe Challenge lives! lol I got so much help, and still do get so much help, and it made all the difference for me when I first started. The game is so much more fun when you know what you're doing and know you can get help if you need it. :) It just felt good to pay back a tiny bit of the help I've received.

So, if anyone reads this (I doubt it), wish me luck in Qufim. I'll need it.

When I first heard about Alla being bought by the parent company of IGE, I was very disappointed.

But after reading the site owner's own posts, I'm not so sure. Time will tell, I suppose. I am not a premium user, so I can happily afford to wait and see.

I finally discovered who the 4 warp tarus are in Windy. WTF, is this a well-guarded secret or something? Sheesh. lol

Woods <----> Waters
Port <-----> Walls

Woods - Pattsu-Yabittsu (K-12) Near the choco stables
Waters - Tonana (G-8 ) Down the flight of steps, near the Moblin
Port - Machu-Kuchu (E-7) Above the Orastery
Walls - Komulili (J-11) Above the far end of the Auction House

This is gonna make life in Windy sooo much easier. Yay!