I am a Damage Dealer.

I've moved!

2008-12-13T21:39:00.003-05:00

I've moved to Wordpress.com. The new address is:

http://arwenne.wordpress.com

this blog will no longer be updated.

Diabolos, owned! FoRstyle.

2008-12-05T11:59:00.002-05:00

Oh, neat. I have dreamworld dynamis access now.

Tenzen is hawt.

Check it out! Vashwood defeats!!!

Considering my pt wiped the first two times we tried this, Diabolos with FoR was remarkably smooth. Good times. :D I'm so lucky I get to get sea with my friends.

death by mandy

2008-12-03T17:53:00.002-05:00

FYI - mandies link. Like a bitch. From all the way across the zone. From all the way across other zones.

I'm serious. I'm pretty sure that last one was a Yuhtunga Mandragora.

I miss campaign

2008-12-03T17:39:00.002-05:00

Since I had to reinstall and can't access WotG at the moment, I'll post this pic of Anshii and I poking the Last Unicorn.

salvage!

2008-11-04T13:33:00.002-05:00

a boat-riding hippo-killing day

2008-09-29T12:04:00.008-04:00

It was a day for old friends.

Z and I played tourist in Bibiki Bay while we caught up. So good to see him again. :) While we were there I discovered a NM we need to get for Vashy's drg.

And then I got some much-needed AF NM help from a good rdm friend. War Hoop get! :D

I'm actually really liking the dnc quest storyline. This cs especially was cool.

Aye, Garuda!

2008-09-29T11:58:00.001-04:00

Aww, Garuda's so pretty. But she's no Leviathan, which mean she's still gettin' turned into gilz. >:D

farming + homework = postal

2008-09-26T13:55:00.002-04:00

So, just FYI, don't try to farm and coerce a stubborn 5 yr old into doing homework at the same time. Cause first the asshole COR takes all three mobs in front of you and aoe's them while somehow keeping all three purple, and /slaps you and says NICE TRY in /say. Then your 5 yr old starts screaming that ican'twritemyname!i'mhungryiwannawatchcartooonsiwannaplayoutside
iwannawatchstarwarsmybuttitchesi'mboredwhat'reyoudoingwhy'syourfacepurple?

ohhh, I need a beer. >< Quiet you! I know it's only 9 am. How's that song go? It's 5 o'clock somewhere, bitches!

And in other news, that COR needs to go die in a fire.

Carmine, oh Carmine... /sigh

2008-09-24T19:06:00.002-04:00

Ode to Carmine, courtesy of James Blunt:

You're beautiful, it's true.
I saw your face in a crowded place,
And I don't know what to do,
'Cause I'll never be with you.

You're beautiful. You're beautiful.
You're beautiful, it's true.
There must be an angel with a smile on her face,
When she thought up that I should be with you.
But it's time to face the truth,
I will never be with you.

oh, how I want that damn fly. ;;

GILZ, aka your friendly neighborhood avatars

2008-09-24T03:30:00.002-04:00

This is us owning the avatars. We've actually done 5 so far. Notice I only have 2 screenshots...

That's mostly because I forgot to take screens for Garuda and Titan (oh noes, no Thong Man shots!!! ><) and partly because Ifrit handed me my ass with a 1636 INFERNO. -.- So Ifrit does not get to have his face in my blog.

I really wanna trade all these in for the avatars, but I really need the gil for mnk. Today, mnk > smn.

Rank 10!

2008-08-29T12:33:00.003-04:00

After joining fallofrubicant, I noticed that nearly everyone was San d'Orian, and rank 6. I was rank 6 in Bastok, and going nowhere fast, so I changed nations to Sandy, and we all got rank 10 together. Hella fun was had by all.

I have to admit, I thought I would feel like a defector, but Sandy was my starting nation on my first toon, Theodora. I spent a lot of time there when I first started playing this game, so it really felt like I was finally home.

One step closer to my Voyager Sallet.

2008-08-29T11:32:00.002-04:00

In the course of getting two scales, I deleveled 3 times >.> but I had fun and reaffirmed that mnk/dnc is full of badassery, even at 40cap. Now to camp and get my Voyager Sallet this weekend! /hope

pass it on

2008-02-20T20:20:00.000-05:00

What, no OMGWTFBBQ75!!! post? Maybe because I've come to a bit of a realization lately. Now that miss Wenne is finally 75 after 2 years, I've realized that there is something so much more enjoyable and rewarding than the endgame scene.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. Let me back up a bit. :)

I think it started when I hit 70, and beat Maat on the first try, in what I must admit was a shockingly easy fight. I joined a dynamis LS, and got 75 a few weeks later. But, it doesn't stop at 75. There are always more merits, better gear, harder fights, and more and more time required to be THE BEST.

The game rapidly lost its appeal when I realized I'd put 2 years of my life into this to get my character to the top, only to find that I was still nowhere near the top.

Disillusioned, I continued to log in every day into this world that was still home. Bored and aimless, I farmed and tele'd to pass the time. One day, I saw a shout.
(Teleport-Dem) (Can I have it?) (please) 500g. Not 2 seconds later someone else shouted, Wow, haven't seen a 500g tele in years! The guy replied that if he had more, he'd give it. Being a sucker for hardluck stories, I invited him. Remembering how I felt at the random kindess of strangers, I refused his trade. When we got to dem, he thanked me profusely, and said 'I owe you.'
I said, 'No, you don't. Just pass it on.'

A few days later, I was farming and got a tell, asking if I was looking for Carbuncle's Ruby too. He said he'd been trying to get it for weeks, but every time there was someone else there, and as a 44mnk he was really in no shape to be outclaiming anyone. I spent 4 hours with him, and we finally got that stingy ruby to drop. He was ecstatic, and I remembered again how I felt at all those firsts.

So while my fellow 75s and lsmates are busy being the best DDs and mages in dynamis and sky and sea, I'll be that noob 75PLD running around doing what she's best at - being a friend.

Paragon of Paladin Hawtness

2007-08-22T23:47:00.000-04:00

Ya know what? I'm gonna let the pictures do the talking. ^_^

Thanks to the valiant and selfless efforts of my three TrueRune lsmates, I am now resplendent in full paladin AF. Damn I'm hawt. :D

I truly never thought I'd see this day. Thank you guys. :) I can't wait until I can return the favor.

Now that the festivities are over, it's time to break in this shiny new armor and actually earn that title I'm carrying around.

:D

Life > FFXI, right?

2007-08-15T16:30:00.000-04:00

Real life happened, and I've been a gone a long time. I miss this game. More than that though, I miss my friends.

So, I managed to get 60 finally. And whm to 56, war to 42 and nin to 30. I stopped leveling pld because I couldn't get anyone to help me get my AF body. That's one of the drawbacks of leaving the game for so long. >.> But, I worked my butt off and got a hauby, which I know is no AF but it'll do. And I look so hella cool in it. >:D

I just wish I had more time. ;; Might be a while yet before I can truly be back. And when I'm back, I'll be on Odin. Woot! A fresh start is nearly always a good idea.

I HAVE RAISE!!!!!!!!!!

2006-12-09T23:49:00.000-05:00

Ok, sorry. I just realized I never did a level 50 post. So yeah... I HAVE RAISE! Finally! ZOMG!!!111one1eleventy! lol

51 O.o

2006-12-09T23:27:00.000-05:00

Never thought I'd see the day, especially with how little I've played lately... but I finally get to run around with the dark and light staffs a really cool friend gave me. (wheeee!) Thanks to 3 Besiegeds in a row and a Garlaige party of all things O.o, I finally got 51.

Ya know what I learned? I need to change my tanking strategy. >.> Hate domination doesn't work so well 50+, appparently. >.>

And of course, I have screens to post later. :D

Now I'm gonna go catch up on all my friends' blogs. ^_^

First day back in a while

2006-09-12T10:30:00.000-04:00

I'm baaaaack. >:D

I spent my first few hours back in Vana'diel in Qufim, killing wights and banshees and catching up with all my friends. I got a little stupid with my staff's AOE ws, and at one point I was fending off 2 wights, a gigas, a clipper and dark bats. lol Then I ran into a friend who was leveling his ninja, so I followed him around and pl'ed him for a while. It was awesome, being able to help someone who'd helped me out so many times. :D

My fiancee and I are scheduled to do mission 5-1 with our friend on Saturday. I'm so excited! It's great to really be back, finally. Now I just gotta find enough time to level my poor paladin. :D I think I'm gonna see what I can do tonight. I miss leveling soooo much.

There's so much I need to do. o.O Gotta level my paladin, whm, blm, nin, thf & war. o.O Gotta level cooking, and skill-up my staff, axe, and greatsword. Gotta get rank 6. Gotta get pld AF. Gotta help my friends. :D

I love this game. {/cry}

700!

2006-08-21T10:26:00.000-04:00

As you know, my favorite part of the game is Besieged. It's fun to get in there and help defend Al Zahbi. However, sometimes I get stupid. Like when I shield-bashed this lil dude:

He got really mad. And then no one wanted to come raise me 'cause he wouldn't get off my corpse. 0.o lol

Yesterday's Besieged was awesome! We got a full party, it was my friend's first time, I died 6 times, and .... I got 700!!!!!!! It was a hard-fought battle for sure - lasted over an hr, which is the longest I've ever seen. But we won! And I got 700!!!

Ok, enough of that.

Bastok is in first!!!!!!!! Well, tied for 1st with Sandy. I'm so proud. As soon as I saw the conquest update I flew straight home and /shouted congrats to my awesome city. I don't care what anyone says about it - I love Bastok and I'm fiercely loyal. :P

Hmm, what else. Oh yeah, we got three new outpost warps - Jugner, Meriphataud, and Xarcabard. I'm so pleased with myself - I navigated myself and my friend all the way to Xarcabard without maps! I used internet and book maps, and . That was scary, and fun! :D

I guess that's it. I think I'm going to be spending a lot of time this week with Mehr on Odin, and getting pld to 50. After that, gonna have to start farming again. -.- lol

3 more levels ...

2006-08-15T09:22:00.000-04:00

I was reading the other day, about tanking styles, and one experienced 75 pld wrote that a good paladin knows to to manage hate. Apparently, hate domination is a not the best strategy.

...

I dominate hate. My party members very rarely, if ever, get hit. Maybe I'll have to adjust my playstyle as I get higher. Haven't really had any complaints yet, though. My DDs love being able to pull out all the stops and not have to worry about getting smacked in the face.

Went out again with my LS static tonight, and 2 of us leveled. Poor rdm bit it twice though, so he didn't make it before we had to disband. I just have to say... the whm we had tonight was just amazing. Ya know, most people know how to do their jobs, and they do alright. But this guy was GOOD. Except for the tiny part where he kept overcuring me XD lol. It was kinda funny. As soon as I dipped below 600 hp, the whm, smn and rdm instantly started casting cure 3 on me. Nice to know I was taken care of, but I coulda used a bit of a buffer for my own hate-inducing cure 3. :P lol

Overall, it was a good night for me - I got 47 and then got to warp straight into Besieged and into a party with my 2 favorite Besieged defenders. Woot!

Only 3 more levels, then Raise is mine. ^_^ I'm determined to have Raise by the end of this weekend. :)

Hey Ya

2006-08-07T14:43:00.000-04:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FEA_omDbtWo

raise....

2006-08-07T13:40:00.000-04:00

Right now, I'm saying I just want 50 and raise. Only FIVE more levels! My life would be complete!! But then, as soon as I get 50, you'll see the AF post. I just want 60 and my AF ;; Anyway, no more screenshots til 50. My gear looks so stupid right now.

lol

Oh, and as soon as I get 50, we're going to start doing Assault. XD

That reminds me... I finally got to do another Besieged!! I got 416 exp. lol And I only died twice. I was so proud.

on NIN tanks...

2006-08-03T15:47:00.000-04:00

Quote from a career WHM:

With NIN tanks I'm stuck scanning the log and hp/mp bar... scanning....
scanning... still nothing to do.... scanning... scanning... bored... scanning...
feeling like a leech here... scanning... maybe I'll cast Regen..."OH ^#*@!!!!!"
CANCEL REGEN!!! CURE II! (which is being careful cuz he could really use a
DS+Cure III) and then BAM! MONSTER STABBING ME IN THE FACE!!!! AAAAAAHH!!

HAHAHA! QFT

(I'm a pld first, and a whm second. Even though my whm is only 17, I gotta say - I concur. -.-)

Guilty.

2006-08-01T12:51:00.000-04:00

Every now and then I read through the "You know you've been a paladin too long when..." thread on Alla. The higher I get, the more I'm guilty of. :D

This is one of my favorite quotes:

"When all the other members voke or try to pull hate off of you because you are in the red but you voke, shield bash, flash, and live anyway because you can."

That's me. :D A few more:

Thf's have exactly 5 seconds to pull off SATA before I voke. -.- Even then, I die a little inside every time I have to give up first voke. I'm excessively fond of my engage macro. ; ; (Provoke, wait 1, /attack) :D

Always /laugh at the nin trying to voke off me. Everyone else will get a polite /tell - 'It's ok, you don't need to voke' after the battle.

I used to remind the DDs at the start of every party to wait until after my 2nd voke to do weapon skills or special attacks, so they wouldn't grab hate off me. Now, I don't bother, because it doesn't matter. :D

I love this job. XD

Honor Sword

2006-08-01T08:07:00.000-04:00

First of all, I gotta say - my friends are the awesomest. I love you guys! *sniffle*

I went to go pl a friend's party, and as usual, I planned on just being emergency back-up, and I tell my friend to let me know if I'm over-curing. 'cause I hate to piss off the whm. He lol'd and said kk, which I thought was odd, but I didn't think anything further about it. But then, after a few kills, I looked over at their 'whm' and noticed he was wearing some odd gear. I checked him, and the 'whm' turned out to be a blm wearing fishing gear and little else. O.O And then I realized there were only 5 people in the party. A blm, a drg, a drk, a mnk and a war. lol... So I took over the healing AND the tanking, which SO goes against my principles, but at least my pal got some good exp out of it.

After that, two ls mates (love you guys! XD) took me out to Ordelle's and got my AF sword for me. :D <- that's me grinning from ear to ear. My first AF piece. :D It was truly a momentous occasion. I did get a ss, but the Honor Sword looks exactly like the Grudge Sword. Oh, but it sure doesn't fight like the Grudge Sword. DMG: 28 Delay: 240 VIT +2 MND +2. So far I've only gotten to use it when we went to Davoi to get one of the guys' rdm af weapon, but I'm already in love. :D

I also got to /wave and /stickoutmytongue at the Orcish Dreadnought, which was quite the thrilling experience. o.O

/dance

2006-07-31T09:15:00.000-04:00

Level 42 is mine. :)

I'm lucky enough to have 2 LS mates (a rdm and a smn) leveling with me now, and it's been awesome. XD And now that I'm 42 I can get my AF sword. O.O I'm going to see if I can talk a couple of friends into helping me get it tonight. :D

I also got my first staging point! The Halvung staging point, and can you believe it? I forgot to take ss's. That was my first time In Wajoam Woodlands, and I was absolutely floored by how pretty it was. But the most important thing is that now I can get exp from Besieged! I cannot wait for my next Besieged now. Wheee!

I know it sounds silly for a level 42 paladin to be going to Besieged, but I've actually gotten really good at helping and even staying alive. As soon as I get hit, I (run away!) and rest up and jump back in. I've only died once or so since I figured out that there's no shame in running! :D

We fought the Mamool Ja during the last one. I found the NM and just for fun, cast Blizzard on him. I did one whole point of damage and I was so proud. :D I've gotten to fight all three armies now, and I prefer the Undead Swarm because they're much more interesting. However, their charm ability is not fun. There's nothing quite like seeing

/sh Kill me now, I'm charmed!

spammed over and over in the middle of battle. o.O

Silliness

2006-07-31T09:00:00.000-04:00

Check out the fireworks. Very cool. :D

However, after three days of listening to them every night... I think it would be fair to say that the novelty has quite worn off. :P

Of course, I had to try out the spirit mask thing (the fireworks moogles sell them).

Then, on the airship I ran across what is very possibly the cutest thing I have seen, ever. He was a good sport. :D

My linkshell held its first (soon to be weekly) chocobo race on Friday night. I came in last place and lost 1k, but it was still a lot of fun. ^_^

pfft

2006-07-25T14:13:00.000-04:00

I guess I won't be doing Azimuth Circle tonight. Apparently, it doesn't start til next Monday.

/sigh

Sunbreeze festival

2006-07-25T10:45:00.000-04:00

The summer festival has started! I'm so excited. This is going to be my first real event. :D (didn't really get into the feast of swords or the egg thing.)

Me and a ls mate are going to do Azimuth's Circle tonight. XD I can't wait! And I heard it's repeatable, so I'm gonna try to drag every last one of my friends out there with me before the festival ends. ^_^

I can't imagine actually being 40.

2006-07-24T10:39:00.000-04:00

I really love the Crawler's Nest. There's just something about fighting these big cute fluffy things. ^_^ But this picture wasn't as easy to get as it looks. Those things are damn squirmy and don't really like to sit still for photo ops. o.O

Let's see... leveled from 37-39, which is memorable because of Flash, new armor, and my beloved Grudge Sword. Gotta love that thing. I now have +8 enmity. And the silly ninjas still try to voke off me. tsk, tsk. So there's me, posing in the new stuff. :D Looks gooood. I know. Uh huh.

After a while, I got bored and did the Qufim outpost warp run. Will I ever use that warp? Probably not, unless we do Garrison out there. But I wanted it anyway. Then I ran around soloing a few giants, just because I could. Got some decent experience. I did make sure no parties were trying to xp off them, though. Also cleared out the wights. Got quite a few thank yous for that, as well as a scroll of Tractor. I wonder what else I can get from those things.

Then it was back to farming. Those gear upgrades are awfully expensive. ;; Farming can be pretty relaxing though. While I was in the middle of it, I took this ss because it reminds me of what I love so much about this game. It really is another world, but it's also not all that different. I know it's corny, but I love the Vana'diel sunrises as much as I love real sunrises. I'm a morning person in the game, and out. :D

Around 2am this morning, I'd actually gotten to the point where I couldn't think of anything else I wanted to do (I know... the horror!). Besieged was about to start, and suddenly one of my LS mates said 'Come do Besieged with us!' My first thought was o.O. But I warped out and joined their party as a PLD39/BLM19. All I was supposed to do was help cure people, and I did, but I still died 3 times. That was kinda funny. :D I'm so glad you don't lose exp in Besieged. o.O

So that was fun. I hope I get to do it again with them soon, even though I can't really be much help yet. :D

And the goal for tonight is... 41! At 41ish, a LS mate promised to start lvling his rdm with me. :D It really is so much more fun to level with friends. XD

Bi-Worldal (yes it's a word. My word.)

2006-07-20T09:02:00.000-04:00

I just became bi-worldal! We'll get the pics out of the way first. I know, I'm really not very good at taking pics, but at least you guys look spiffy. ^_^

(Arwenne's long-lost baby sister)Ani arrives on Odin:

Then, Prettz and Eshana joined me on Carby:

You guys are awesome. Here's to lots of good times on both worlds. ^_^

O.O

2006-07-19T07:13:00.000-04:00

mood: ecstatic

Finally got back to leveling pld, and I must admit - I'm somewhat speechless with happiness at finally being back where I belong. I've now had a chance to try many other jobs, and nothing compares to being a paladin. I love my job. XD

It's kinda funny. A week or so ago I adjusted my macros to be more efficient, and I've been struggling with forgetting the order ever since. But the second I was back where I belonged - in front of the mob - it's like it just clicked.

I'm lucky, because my static partner has a knack for making some great parties. We must've gone through about 4 rotations of different people (seems there's hardly anyone seeking on weeknights anymore), but it went so smoothly. And about halfway through, we lost the whm, so the rdm/blu and I divided up the healing. Except for the fact that I had to deathwarp back to get a couple of stacks of antidotes (crawler poison><) . Tell ya what - a crawler and 2 Doom Scorpions makes for some quick deathwarping. O.O lol It's been too long since I've been in a real party. I know this because immediately after we got to camp I realized my head slot was empty. >.> I'd forgotten my mask. And my empress band. And, I forgot to get signet and a warp scroll. Even more >.>. lol Seriously, there should be a party checklist tacked up on the mh wall. I know I need one, anyway.

Oh, and btw - I absolutely love the Crawler's Nest! It's very pretty, and crawlers are fun to kill. ^^ However, I bet I wouldn't like being a puller in there. Which reminds me. At level 36, I'm no longer afraid of links. That probably sounds really funny (or sad), but last night was the first time I've been in a party that could competently handle them.

So yeah, it was fun. I'm just thrilled to be back to doing what I love most.

And now, for the touristy screens from my first visit to Whitegate. I'll have to get some better ones later. o.O

I dunno what that egg thingie in the mh is, but it looks cool. :D

homepoint: Whitegate

2006-07-18T08:19:00.000-04:00

So I log in last night and find myself standing on the dock right where I left me (yay!). I wait and wait, and finally get to Mhaura. Then I wait some more, and decide to go buy Regen since I had a minute. Then I get back to the dock, and there's the boat!! omgomgomg, I'm finally going to Al Zahbi! As the boat pulls away, I /tell all my friends and the ls the happy news. But before the congrats can start pouring in...

You do not not possess a boarding permit. You were not permitted to board the ferry.

Area: Mhaura

Whaaa? WTF? :( I think I actually got a little teary. So after getting laughed at by no less than 3 people.... >.> I looked it up and discovered that I never did actually get the boarding permit from that jerk Faursel, 'cause you have to zone and wait a game day and come back. Luckily I was still subbing blm ^_^ and warped my butt back to Jeuno posthaste.

I'm slightly lazy, so I got the permit from Faursel, warped myself back to the mh (what? 5 minutes to run from the tenshodo back to Port is a really long time o.O), took the airship to Bastok, warped to Boobooreeemooo, and trotted back out to Mhaura. I actually made it with about 1 minute to spare, and this time, I didn't get kicked off the ferry.

I have screenshots.... >.> but I stayed up til 3 am talking to someone and forgot to send them again. ; ;

I tell ya, I felt like such a tourist. For like 10 minutes after I landed in Whitegate, I just stood there looking stupid. lol It was worse than my first day in Jeuno. :D Then I remembered what Akanea said (thanks^^) and I bothered all the NPCs I could find until I got the map guy. I did the mh exit quest next, and picked the 'no, I didn't see anything' option. What, it seemed more polite. o.O But for one heartstopping moment, I thought I wasn't gonna get the mh exit. But I did! yay!

I promptly ran home, set my new hp, then exited to Al Zahbi and found the warp taru. He's so cute! He sent me to Battalia Downs, which scared the eeek outta me, but it was ok because it was right near the zone and there were no mobs in sight.

Now I just need to see if I can get a good deal on some oils and powders, and go exploring. Those'll be some interesting screens. :D

Fun night, for sure.

Garrison and Aht Urhgan

2006-07-17T07:53:00.000-04:00

I'm going to Aht Urhgan! I finally got the last item I needed, talked to Faursel (who is one hawt elvaan, btw o.O) and as of right now my character is standing on the Selbina dock. Two more boat trips away, and I'll be in Al Zahbi. ^^

I also did garrison with my friend's linkshell. Now, that was interesting. The lag... o.O That must be a small taste of what Beseiged is like. I got two drops... and because I wasn't familiar with prices, I gave up the one that was worth 700k. >< The one I kept was only worth 2ok. *sigh*

Now it's back to leveling blm & whm until my best friend catches up to my pld. Only 2 more levels. >.>

(just for the record)

2006-07-15T10:44:00.000-04:00

I wasn't mad that I died from Benediction. I full expected to, and knew that if I didn't pull it and sacrifice myself, we all woulda died.

What upset me was that the mob was thisclose to dead, but the three members with voke just stood there and watched me die. It was only after I hit the dirt that they finally killed it.

Then, the sj-less rdm proceeded to tell me I deserved to get killed because I should have been curing all of them faster, and should have been using C2 more often. Even after I explained that spamming C2 draws a ridiculous amount of hate.

If he had simply been uninformed, and not such an ass, I would have stayed.

Mushroomy

2006-07-14T07:56:00.000-04:00

All I did last night was update my whm spell list, discover that roast mushrooms are way better whm food than ginger cookies, and then get insulted by an ignorant noob rdm after I saved his ass with Benediction and then died to an IT++ gob because the other noobs in the party weren't bright enough to even try to voke it off me. That was the very first pull, btw.

/don't stoop to his level
/hp
/pcmd leave
/gaze sadly at my wasted empress band
/shutdown

/sigh

I then proceeded to actually get 7 hours of sleep! I'm now somewhat giddy with non-exhaustion. o.O

And warping always makes me happy, so here's another random screen.

Wheee!

2006-07-13T08:55:00.000-04:00

As I'm sure you've noticed, it doesn't take much to thrill me. >.> Hence, the fact that I've recently aquired both Warp and Curaga is enough to put me firmly on Cloud 9. ^_^ Oh, and Blizzard is pretty cool, too. XD

It all started Tuesday night, when I was determined to solo my blm to 17. However, after about 10 minutes, I realized I was horribly bored. (Soloing 14-16 is apparently quite different from 16-17 ><.) That's when I got an invite. And against my better judgement, I accepted.

By the time I got to camp, 3 people had already died, and one of them had died twice. Then I got there, and we all died. All this before we'd even started. I furiously hp'ed to Jeuno and was ready to disband, but something told me to stay. So I paid for a teleport >.> and ran back out.

It was a rocky start, to say the least. But I am SO glad I stayed. Even without my empress band (which had run out while I was waiting for the pt to get started), I went from 16-19. I'm not gonna go so far as to say it was a good party, but we held it together long enough to get some great exp.

Then last night I dusted off my whm, upgraded my gear, and set out. After waiting forever, and then being invited first by a sj-less thf who disbanded because we didn't want to xp in Jugner, and then being invited into a party with 4 (yes, FOUR) whm's, I started to wish I'd leveled whm back in the good ol' days. Back when there were actually more DD's seeking than whm's. Nowadays, tanks are the hot commodity in Valkurm. :P

I finally got a decent party, and we were doing great. Then my LS mate came out on his 52rdm/blm and and pl'ed the heck out of our party. I made it from 15-16 in no time flat, since he never had to stop for mp. I was more than grateful for his help, but normally I don't really like being pl'ed. Especially as a whm. lol 'cause ya know - WHM+PL=whm leech. :P Good thing my healing magic is already capped for these levels. ^^

I'm having fun leveling whm. I think I'll keep at it until my friend catches up and I can go back to my one true love (pld, of course).

BLM soloing, FTW!

2006-07-11T08:14:00.000-04:00

Almost done! Soloed blm from 14-16 last night. BLM soloing is incredible! I absolutely love it. Fire and Blaze Spikes, FTW! Fire is my favorite spell... "Die in a fire!" lol

As probably any blm knows, in the beginning it's easy to go a little mad with power. o.O So there I was, happily nuking a swathe of fiery destruction through the highlands, when I came across an Onyx Quad. Completely in badass mode at this point, I didn't even check it or get back to full HP and MP before I cast Fire on it. Well, turns out I bit off a little more than I could chew. That thing hit hard and fast, and I couldn't get a spell off because it kept getting interrupted. So yeah, I got my ass handed to me. And I had to hp. :/

I was furious that I got stupid and ended up wasting so much time, so I logged and watched TV for a while. Then I decided to email myself the screens I'd taken, and as I looked at them, I couldn't help but grin and think about how fun I'd been having. So after analyzing my screw-up so it wouldn't happen again, I came back and got 16. I was able to take on DCs and EMs with no problems at all after that. ^^

This is a screen I took from my day of hell in the Dunes. The mage's life is not for me, and after I get warp tonight, you won't be seeing me like this again for a loooong time. At least, until I start leveling whm again. o.O

19 levels

2006-07-10T12:57:00.000-04:00

Lots of progress was made this weekend. 19 levels total - whm and blm are now 14, and cooking is 50. Woot!

I know I said I'd never go to the Dunes again... but I did. And oh, the horror. The horror! After the longest day ever, my poor blm went from 7 to 14. I soloed with help from 7-10. Then spent the better part of 6+ hrs leading one pt after another getting 10-11. Then soloed from 11-13. That was when I got into what I thought would be a great party. Everyone was rank 5 or higher! But alas, it was not to be. The moral of this story: SOLO TO 20. lol I'll let you know how it works out for me.

BLM is a fun job, for sure... Fire and Blaze Spikes are crazy fun XD. But honestly I have much more fun soloing with it than being in a party. I'm only going to take it to 17-18ish (for warp and whm sub) and then I'm going to put it away with war and thf for a long while.

I do want to start leveling pld again, but I kinda wanted to at least get warp out of the way so I could put blm away and focus solely on pld. Hopefully I can make short work of blm because when my pld hits 42 I'll have my own personal rdm static partner and maybe a whm too, from then on. :D I'm excited. :D

And now, I have a confession to make. As I leveled whm from 9 to 14 this weekend, I realized something. I ... like ninjas. ; ; I do. It absolutely kills me to say this (yes, I died a little, thank you), but a good ninja can really make for a very effcient party. However, that experience certainly didn't turn me into a nin-onry whm. Pretty much any tank who can keep hate makes me very happy. Unfortunately, that is EXTREMELY hard to come by in the dunes. /sigh

A NM and 35 again

2006-07-07T13:00:00.000-04:00

First of all, my ls mate helped me get 35 back. ^_^ That was also my first trip to Bibiki Bay. At least I know how to get there now. o.O

Then another ls mate and I decided to help my friend level his puppetmaster in Qufim (he was soloing to experiment with different methods, I think.) When all the sudden I started getting the ???? beat outta me, and when I turned around, I saw this guy:

According to Alla, Epialtes is a NM soloable by a 40ish+. >< Luckily, my ls mate was a taru 45 whm/blm, so we were able to finally beat him down. And of COURSE, as soon as we engaged the NM, my friend got aggro'd by another gigas. :P That was interesting - getting smacked around by a NM and curing my friend at the same time. o.O Good times...

I make this look gooood

2006-07-07T08:06:00.000-04:00

My friend Pancake has model viewer and made this for me. (I rearranged it a bit.)

I cannot WAIT to get my AF. Damn, I'm gonna look good. :D Next she's going to make one with the Adaman armor. o.O

Bunny in the Big City

2006-07-06T10:16:00.000-04:00

I saw this in Jeuno the other day:

((Huh?!)) I wish I knew how he did that! :D

You know, I've been playing this game just over 4 months now, and all the little things like that are still new and exciting to me. For example, I think it's great fun to run around on my pld and help my friends lvl their lowbie jobs. But everyone else I know thinks it's horribly boring. o.O Also, I just discovered there's an entrance to Carpenter's Landing in N. Sandy. COOL! :D lol

I hope the novelty of FFXI never wears off for me. XD Sure, I feel like a newbie 99% of the time, but it's so much fun.

Ow :(

2006-07-05T08:15:00.000-04:00

Guys, Arwenne's little pixelated heart is broken. :(

Stroper prevailed not once, but twice! I lost nearly 800 exp ... and Auto Refresh, and my Drone Earrings, and my Medieval Collar. :( For the first time I get to report not a level gained, but a level lost. And I never even got to try out Auto Refresh in a party. :(

In other news, I got cooking to 43, made about 300k, and killed the Tremor Ram again. :)

But I lost Auto Refresh. :(

Auto Refresh!

2006-07-03T08:58:00.000-04:00

The coolest thing to happen to me all weekend was discovering that as a lvl 35 paladin, I now have Auto Refresh. WOW. This is quite possibly the coolest thing since sliced bread. Seriously.

I haven't gotten to try it out in a pt yet, but I can tell you it makes pl'ing a breeze.

I need to lvl, but I have a tiny smidgeon of a mental block. o.O I'll be going to the Crawler's Nest, and new places intimidate me just a bit. I wish someone would go with me, but I'm embarrassed to admit that I'm scared to go by myself. >.> You'd think at this level I wouldn't need someone to hold my hand anymore. :P lol

I'm gonna get over it and try going tonight. The prospect of my Jennet shield and Grudge sword, (already purchased XD) and then the level 40 armor is more than enough motivation. :D

PLD34/WAR17

2006-06-30T07:46:00.000-04:00

Wellll, that was interesting. o.O I have a few screenshots, but as usual I forgot to email them to myself.

After I first got on, I turned down 5 invites while I was helping a couple of friends with some things. I was kinda hoping that would mean good things for when I actually started lfp, but you know how FFXI goes... :P Around midnightish EST when I started looking, it was dead. DEAD.

But honestly, I didn't have my flag up that long... maybe 20 minutes while I was crafting my melon juice. I'm not really known for my patience, though, and I REALLY wanted a party, so I swallowed my fear of leading and got down to business.

My /tells to potential invitees go like this: ((Hello!))(Experience points))((Party))((Garlaige Citadel)) @3 ((Member)) PLD COR WHM 33-35 ((Do you need it?)) I still got ignored a few times, but not nearly as much as I used to before I started using that format.

After a million frantic questions to the only ls mate who has patience for me, and asking about 15 NA & JP players, I finally filled my party. We were 3 NA and 3 JP, which actually turned out really well. The one and only problem I had was that the jp whm was really bad about overcuring me, and I couldn't for the life of me think how to communicate my request. Somehow, ((Cure))((No thanks.)) inspires visions of angry ((White mage)) and lots of gory ((Paladin)) ((death)). o.O

The afore-mentioned ls mate came and stood watch over me. Too nice, that one. xD We didn't really need a pl, but it was nice to have the company and the security of knowing that a Cure IV was trained on me if I needed it (which I did, but only once! lol)

The more parties I lead, the less intimidating it gets, but... I'm not leading anything again for a while until I get used to the Crawler's Nest. I've not been there yet... hell, I don't even know where it is! lol This should be quite the interesting weekend. I plan on getting at least 36.

Arw & Arc, Exterminators Extraordinairres o.O

2006-06-29T11:07:00.000-04:00

I logged on bored out of my mind with nothing to do. Ever have one of those days? :P But, I found out that when you're having a bad day, there's nothing quite as cheering as grabbing a friend and wreaking poetic vengeance on the Dunes.

My friend Arc and I set out to get my items for the Road to Aht Urghan quest, and in the process mowed down every goblin in our path (and about 30 that weren't in our path). ^_^ We also cleared out the Cave of Death a time or ten.

In the middle of our jolly little bloodbath, I glanced over and noticed a bogy that looked just a little too pleased with itself. Turns out it was hot on the heels of some poor guy running for his life towards Selbina. Even though I was at just over half hp and mp, I didn't think twice about tossing out a cure II and voking it off him. Brilliantly, I waited until it started smacking me around before I began to wonder what level these are killable at. o.O But Arc and I pounded on that thing til I was almost dead, then he voked it and we were finally able to finish it off. Wooo, that was fun! O.o

So, we got to save some people, and I got 3 of the 6 items I need for my quest. Yup, for having started out bored as hell with nothing to do, it turned out to be a good night. ^_^

The best compliment

2006-06-27T10:10:00.000-04:00

I've spent the majority of my ffxi career as a tank, and nothing is better than seeing those six little words: "I can't get it off you!" When my hp is in the red and 2-3 vokers are doing everything in their power and the mob doesn't blink... that means I'm doing my job. ^^ Even as a war/mnk tank last night in Garlaige (*shudder*) with a drk stubbornly playing a hate war with me, I still saw that line many times and ended what seemed like every other battle one hit from death. lol

Pld is now 33, and I gotta be honest - the whole run from 29-33 is a blur. It was a long weekend. o.O Fun, though. I got the privilege of pt'ing with a fantastic drk, who did crazy damage but had enough sense to let me get a 2nd voke in first. ^^ She made my day when she complimented me later for being able to keep hate from her, which I guess was really unusual. Drks generate so much hate, and it was very refreshing to meet a drk who was actually a team player and understood the dynamics of hate management.

I am really glad I got that chance to tank again on my war/mnk last night, because it made me realize how much I love being a paladin. But, I won't be lvling it again for a little while. My puppetmaster friend just came back to the game, hopefully for good this time. ~.~ I need to make some money and level cooking anyway.

Speaking of cooking, I just discovered I can make jack-o-lanterns! ^^ I can't wait to see how much those sell for. o.O

Why do you play?

2006-06-23T12:30:00.002-04:00

Someone posted this question on one of the forums I frequent, and it got me thinking. The general consensus was that everyone plays for either the story, or to get to the endgame stuff. But I don't play for either of those reasons.

I play for my friends. I level up my jobs so that I can be helpful some day. All I ever want to do in this game is help people, and spend time with my friends. I bet I'm not the only one.

LS Drama + mindnumbing exhaustion = bad day

2006-06-22T08:05:00.000-04:00

It's a sad day when your own friends manage to reduce you to tears twice in one night. A sad day, and probably a pretty clear indicator that you're completely exhausted. o.O

I won't go into exactly what happened, but there were two separate major LS blowups yesterday, and through no fault of my own I was smack dab in the middle of both of them. The 2nd one upset me so badly I had to /shutdown and walk away. I reflected on everything for a bit, and came to the conclusion that I was so tired of the drama and bad feelings and I was ready to leave the game for a while. But it didn't feel right, and then I remembered that I am not the kind of girl who can just roll over and accept defeat. And if I let that one stupid ignorant character drive me away from my friends, my linkshell, even my game - that would totally be letting her win. So I cooled off, logged back on, and got everything cleared up in record time. Turns out that 99.5% of the problem was my sheer exhaustion. :P lol

After that little mess was cleared up, a couple of ls mates and I got into a pt and my pld hit 29! XD I can wear my eisen armor now. ^_^ *happy place*

The difference between newbies and noobs.

2006-06-21T13:28:00.000-04:00

You know me, I don't mind dying. In fact, I rather enjoy sacrificing myself on a regular basis. But it's dying for the idiots that really gets me peeved.

I've caused a party wipeout before. I know what it's like to be new. Hell, I'm still new. However, I don't remember ever being as dumb as the rank 1 noob we pt'd with last night.

She's not the leader. But from the moment I arrived, she's throwing around ridiculous orders, desperately trying to sound like she knows what she's talking about. She didn't listen to anyone, had to be told what to do three or four times before she began to comprehend, and was just generally the classic example of a noob. Almost immediately after I got there, she pulled a gob that we couldn't handle and weren't even ready for. Of course we had to zone it, and damn my pld instincts, but I pulled it off her without even thinking. But after a few seconds, I realized the Smithy train (there were two of them now) had done an aboutface and was headed back to smackdown our whm who had been valiantly throwing out cures. Yeah, that whm wasn't dying on my watch. I voked them off him with 32 hp left >< and made it about 3 steps before I was facedown in the dirt. But the whm made it! So it was worth it. And luckily, my ls mate who'd been out there to join us anyway was able to raise me. ^^

Anyway, back to my point. I've caused a pt death or two. But I have never, and I repeat - NEVER - lol'd and said 'my bad!'. Oh my god, kid. Seriously. Just... wow. Unfortunately, "she" was most likely a 12yrold "he" on summer break. o.O

I did get one level. But the whole experience and the way the night ended just sorta left me with a bad feeling. I want to keep lvling pld, but it's so hard to get a pt during the week, with my schedule the way it is now. Guess it's time to try a new schedule, or better yet, take a break for a while.

FFXI videos, ftw!

2006-06-20T10:11:00.000-04:00

This may be wrong, but I cannot stop laughing to save my life. LOL!

"You've been bad taru taru"

That helpless feeling

2006-06-20T07:47:00.000-04:00

I watched my friend die tonight.

He was a 25bst, and I was a 33war. I was out there, ostensibly to save his butt in case he needed help. There's not much else a 33war is good for. And, everything was going smoothly for a while. Then, he decided to take on what must have been an IT battrap. After his third charmed pet was defeated and the battrap still had half health, I realized this wasn't going to end well.

I stood there next to him, and watched helplessly as his hp bar went lower and lower with each vicious hit from that ugly plant. I had the little bitch targeted, my hand hovering over my voke macro. Call for help, dammit! But he didn't. And then he died.

Ugh. That is the worst feeling in the world. I was so frustrated I ended up leaving as soon as he had a raise on the way. At least it was good motivation to hurry up and lvl pld and whm. Because kicking ass with my great axe is fun, but turns out it's not nearly as much fun as not feeling helpless. :/

Dunes >> {death}{you can have this}

2006-06-19T08:31:00.000-04:00

I'm not going back to the Dunes. I'm not. You can't make me. As it stands now, I'm going to beg Z to pl my thf to 20, but if I have to, I will solo it. I'm not going back to the d00ns. ;;

This sucks the big monkey balls, because I really need to get thf to 20 so I can start lvling war again. On another note, I learned that I can lead my own pt's, and I'm not that bad at it. At first I thought, 'this isn't so bad, why do people hate being leader so much'? Then I realized that the job comes with a huge bullseye on the back of your head. You get blamed for EVERYthing. I left my last pt on Saturday and was done for the whole weekend because being leader burnt me out way faster that just being a member. However, I did some research on pt dynamics, level-appropriate campsites, and what NOT to do as a leader, and I really think I did ok. The worst one was my Dunes pt, and 2 of the little brats got a tad belligerant with me. My only response was: do you want lead? No? Didn't think so. Stuff it. >:(

Focusing

2006-06-16T09:08:00.000-04:00

I leveled my thf a bit last night, and got halfway to 13. I'm going to wait and get a pt in the Dunes this weekend. That was some seriously fun leveling, even though it boring after a while. THF/MNK does some wicked damage, and compared to the other jobs I've been leveling lately (whm, blm, pld and thf using a dagger: *shudder*), this is just too much fun.

I haven't used ranged much at all, but since my primary job up to 37 will most likely be puller, I've started lvling archery. I got the Self Bow and Bone Arrows (from the same NPC) and was really proud that my archery got up to level 9. Then this morning I checked the skill limit database, and the archery cap for THF12 is ... 35. ><

After I took a break from the leveling, I finally got around to organizing the mess I'd made of my gear. One main and 3 mules - should make for some easy organization... you'd think. But I got so excited about leveling other jobs that I ended up with whm, thf, war & pld gear strewn all over the place. It's back to a semblance of normalcy now. And after this, I think I will keep that third mule until I can sell off some of the more worthless junk I've aquired with all my lowbie lvling.

Tonight, I'm going to get back to the business of lvling either pld or thf. I don't really want to lvl war any higher until I have the option of subbing thf for damage dealing. I plan on putting in my search comments that I can sub either /mnk for tanking or /thf for DD. Hopefully I'll get lucky and someone will let me tank. But the reason I want to wait to level war any more until I have /thf is because DD as a war/mnk is no fun at all. :(

The mess I recently made of my inventory is evidence enough that I need to try to focus on one job. But for me, it's two. :D So I'm putting my war, whm, blm and mnk away for a while, until I can get thf leveled up enough to 20 at least. And of course, lvling pld is going to be a big priority.

One other thing. As I've said before, the people are what keep me coming back to this game every day. And therefore, people can be what drives you from it. I miss some of my friends who haven't been on in a while, and at least one person is making my FFXI life more cluttered than it needs to be. Methinks the /invisible feature was put there for a reason. :P

I can't believe I'm saying this...

2006-06-15T11:13:00.000-04:00

I've just now - JUST now - decided I'm going to level thf as my other war sub. o.O

Why? Because I just discovered I can take war/thf higher than 40, keep my great axe, do ungodly amounts of damge, and actually get invites.

{fun}{excitement}{do you need it?}

XD

My first JP pt

2006-06-15T07:41:00.000-04:00

I keep forgetting to email myself the screenies! Grr.

Anyway, tonight I logged on and decided I was gonna get a pt. First I tried putting my flag up on war. Waited 10 minute or so, nothing. I'm not known for my patience, so I decided to grab my mnk gear from my mule and see if I could get a pt in the Dunes. Halfway into that, I decided I would save myself the grief, since this was in the middle of JP primetime (and I've NEVER been invited to a JP pt before), and just level whm some more. So I changed back into war, because I was too embarrassed to ride the airship in my gimped whm soloing gear (XD) and the moment I stepped out of my mh I got an invite.

Ye gods, what is this madness? An invite? Without my flag up? During JP primetime? On my WAR/MNK?!?!

I was pretty sure I must've fallen asleep, so assuming this was a dream, I was like Hell yeah! Let's do this thing. I put my war gear back on and trudged my ass out to Garbage "you know what". Hate that place. >:( But it was a dream, right? How bad could it get.

Well... turns out I was, in fact, awake. Not a dream at all - more like a waking nightmare. o.O I didn't get to tank... no, the taru paladin got that honor. And I couldn't stop missing. I must've missed at least 50-60% of my hits. And when you're swinging a great axe with over 500 delay... *ouch*. More than a little embarrassing, to say the least.

I've come to the conclusion that I dearly hope I get into more JP pts in the future. Even though they could've been laughing their asses off at me for all I know, it was a fantastic pt. Probably the most incredibly smooth pt I've ever been in. I got one level, and the only bad thing was that we broke when I was only 400 away from 34. 400! ;; Oh well. It was just so much fun to be playing warrior again, but I really hope that next time I get to tank. So far there's still nothing I love more than tanking with my great axe. :D

I'm supposed to be waiting for my friend to level pld with me... but that's really starting to hold me back. I need to figure something out. In the meantime, I'll keep leveling war. However, this weekend I really have to start leveling mnk again. I only have two more levels on war before my sub will become gimped. o.O Can't have that, now can we? :P

Then, I helped some a LS mate try to get his friends rank 3. That was fun, because he asked me to look up the mission and walk them through how to do it. The LS mate has helped me out a lot, and met me when I was a very newbish newbie, so it was nice to be able to show that I've matured somewhat as a player, and I'm not a helpless newbie anymore. :D

And, that's about it. Damn, I'm in a good mood today. Here's hoping it stays. :D

It's a game, folks.

2006-06-14T09:57:00.000-04:00

And the other players are essentially just people you've met on the internet. Yes, they're real people. But what do you know about them, really? People lie, and even if they're not malicious about it, it's so easy to make yourself sound different from what/who you really are. Also, even if/when you do find out more about them, 9 times out of 10 the ONLY thing you're going to have in common, is the game.

I have many wonderful friends in this game. And all but two are male (though several of them play female characters). Thankfully, most of them are mature/cool enough to just play with me instead of hit on me. After 4 months of playing, I can tell you there is nothing more frustrating than being hit on for no other reason than the fact that I'm a female character. Guess what? Hit on me, and you'll win a shiny new spot at the top of my blacklist. I'm afraid I've run out of patience. This is a game, not a dating or 900# service.

Granted, there are exceptions to that general rule. But not many.

Recently though, I think I've come to understand some of the reasons behind people falling for each other ingame. First, it becomes incredibly easy to get caught up in your character. After all, most FFXI players spend several hours a day ingame. Because of that, it becomes easy to fall for someone based on the way they interact with your character. If they're very helpful, or are fun to pt with, emotions can develop. Why not? This is someone you're interacting with every single day. But it's important to realize that you're falling for someone based on the way they play a video game. This doesn't have a lot of bearing on how they are in real day-to-day life.

I understand that FFXI is an online community, full of real people, and this kind of thing is going to happen. I guess I wish more people would just play, and enjoy playing with each other, instead of running around looking for an ingame romance.

/end rant

Rank 5 newbie

2006-06-05T16:02:00.000-04:00

Talk about a productive weekend. I got rank 4 and 5! woot. According to PS, I'm one lucky bitch. lol Evidently 4 months into the game is rather soon to be rank 5 (hence the title). I've said it before, and I'll say it again - I'm blessed with some amazing friends. I'll never take them for granted.

I have screenies, lots of screenies. But I'll have to post them later.

In other news... I may be giving up on being a paladin. It's entirely too frustrating dealing with dumb people who expect me to be back up voke for a ninja. It's hard to believe there are still people who don't understand that paladins can only do one thing - tank. Ugh. But I have some great paladin mentors, and for their sake I'm giving the job one more shot. I'm adding a search comment (Main tank only / {backup}{provoke}:{No thanks.}) and I'll be making absolutely certain when I join each pt that I'll be main tank. If this same s??t keeps happening (i.e. being informed that the nin will be tanking after I arrive), then I will absolutely politely excuse myself from the pt immediately. It's not worth the aggravation. And anyway, there's no point at all in playing a job in such a way that I'm not having fun or learning anything, just to get exp.

And, now that I'm finally rank 5, I think a little vacation is in order. Hopefully when I come back it'll be fun again.

Hero Therapy

2006-05-31T12:34:00.000-04:00

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}

2006-05-25T13:47:00.000-04:00

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!

2006-05-23T08:34:00.000-04:00

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...

2006-05-23T07:31:00.000-04:00

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 ><

2006-05-21T13:44:00.000-04:00

"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.

2006-05-18T09:00:00.000-04:00

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. :)

2006-05-17T08:21:00.000-04:00

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

2006-05-16T08:27:00.000-04:00

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.

2006-05-14T23:30:00.000-04:00

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

2006-05-12T09:03:00.000-04:00

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.

2006-05-11T14:09:00.000-04:00

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.

2006-05-08T11:35:00.000-04:00

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.

2006-05-04T10:05:00.000-04:00

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.

2006-05-01T12:51:00.000-04:00

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!

2006-04-26T13:36:00.000-04:00

What tanking means to me:

"It takes a certain personality type to tank. I can't speak for others, but I'm a tank because I want to protect people. It's easy to say that, but I do mean it. I consider it a failure when others die before I do."

-from a post on Alla

2006-04-26T12:23:00.000-04:00

Looks like it's also time for another gear upgrade. Beetle armor & earrings, shield earrings, garrison hose, flame boomerang, fish chiefkabobs, and the Neckchopper.

2006-04-26T11:41:00.000-04:00

I hadn't been in a party for weeks, since I hit 20. Qufim intimidated me so badly, that I just kept putting it off. Last night I got my first party in Qufim. There are mostly only BLUs and PUPs seeking these days, so as a tank I was a hot commodity. It was a pretty good pt - lots of action and not much talking. When I arrived I just jumped right in, and instantly realized how much I'd missed being in a party. There is just nothing I love more in this game than tanking. ^^

I love being a tank. Even though I died twice last night, sacrificing myself for the party. Guess I'm getting some practice for paladin. lol

One of the guys who was in the party last night is a rank 10 player that I keep running into as he's leveling different jobs. (Yes, while I've slowly been leveling WAR, he's leveled at least 2 other jobs past me. :P) I have so much respect for this guy, and it really bugs me that even though I've partied with him several times, he probably doesn't even know I exist. I guess I'm just tired of being a newbie. I really want to make a name for myself as a good player, but I'm starting to wonder if I can pull that off.

Well, I think I'm going to get a teleport and go back to Windy to unload some stuff before I head back out to Qufim. My inventory is just getting ridiculous. Might as well take advantage of the jacked-up economy in Windy right now. :P

2006-04-25T11:48:00.000-04:00

I don't like Qufim. It's probably just because it's a new place. Or it could be because as a level 20 I have to pt near Delkfutt Tower, and no one looking, and the only way to get there is to have a nice mage friend or spend a fortune on oils and powders.

2006-04-19T13:58:00.000-04:00

So there I was, leveling THF in Windy. It probably took me an hour to get there, and I was quite proud of taking my first cross-nation trip alone. I was feeling on top of the world, and was pretty sure I could take on anything. So when my armor-challenged little THF hit 4, I decided to attack a yag. Decent challenge? And I only have 2/3 of my HP left? Ha. This'll be cake.

Fifteen seconds and 2 steps from zone later, I found myself staring at the hp ... in lower Jeuno. Yes, folks. Jeuno.

I was so furious that I rode back out to the dock in Selbina and then logged. /sigh Try, try again, right?

Get Mea crystal? Check.
Set hp in Windy? Check.
Try not to act like such a noob? Check.

2006-04-19T13:45:00.000-04:00

You know who are you. I miss you with every breath I take. You are so far away now, and the distance is a painful fog that shrouds my heart and mind. It's finally spring, and I know that the world is beautiful today, full of greens and blues and new life. But I can only see the vast grey skies keeping you ever farther from me. Time and space can be so cruel. Sometimes I want to run away and keep on running until it stops hurting, but deep down I don't think I really want that. If it stops, then you will truly be gone forever.

2006-04-17T10:15:00.000-04:00

So it looks like the best way for a 20WAR/10MNK to make it to Windy alive from Jeuno (without help) is to take a chocobo from Batallia to Jugner La Theine to Valkurm to Selbina, boat to Mhaura and then use prism powder through Buburimu to Tahrongi and then just ride or run to Windy. Whew. I'll be getting that Mea gate crystal so I can just pay for a warp next time. lol

I wonder if it'd be cheaper to pay for a warp to the Konschat, and then ride to Selbina and go from there. Bet that'd be quicker. I just hate the thought of having to shout for a tele in Jeuno. lol

2006-04-17T09:11:00.000-04:00

Weekend accomplishments:

Finally hit 20 with war. PS trotted me and Z out to Jeuno, after hitting Dangruf. I got three of the clumps of grass I needed, so I only had to buy one in Jeuno. Then Z hung out with me for 6 hours while I completed my chocobo quest. I am now a proud licensed chocobo rider. Woot!

After hearing about a certain someone's experiences in the game, I am more grateful than ever that I have so many wonderful friends to rely on. I am a lucky little warrior. lol

Since I sorta almost ran outta gil after my last WAR gear upgrade ><, I think I'm gonna take a break from the leveling grind for a while. I'm gonna take a chocobo out to Windy and start leveling THF/MNK to 15. I heard that once you get TH, farming for silks and stuff is really easy. I hope so. Because I'm of the mindset that I'd rather take a break from leveling and farm for a while, instead of being a party liability with gimped gear. I am a career tank, and the right gear is essential for that job.

Oh yeah, and I decided that I'm taking WAR to 37, and then PLD to 75. PLD/WAR is my kinda tank. Because I hate ninjas. I will never be a ninja. Never, ever ever. So there.

2006-04-14T10:52:00.000-04:00

I hit 18 with WAR last night, so I'll be headed back to town tonight to do some shopping. woohoo!

My shopping list:

selbina milk
boiled crayfish (as long as base def is under 90) & steamed crabs
mutton tortilla for att? or more meat jerky
dhalmel mantle
lizard armor
Kingdom gloves/lizard gloves/bone mittens? choices, choices...
kingdom bandana/lizard armor?
Scale gorget (can't wait for the spike necklace!!)
Moth Axe

2006-04-14T10:01:00.000-04:00

Yeah, it's been a while since I posted... since I couldn't figure out how to get back into this blog. ><

The big news is that while I was leveling WAR with the intention of using it as a sub for MNK, I discovered the joys of the great axe. At one point I was killing EPs with a single hit, taking no damage at all, and consequently I was leveling at the speed of light. It was freakin' awesome. But, once I got to level 12, that was when the job started sucking big monkey balls. Everything I could find was either too weak, 15 exp, or way too friggin' hard. As you know, WAR takes forEVER to heal, so I was starting to get very frustrated (this was before I learned about Selbina Milk :P).

I grudgingly admitted that pts were my only option, and proceeded to suffer through one whole day of excruciatingly awful pts. The fact is, I'm a tank, and a damn good one, and no, SAM cannot outtank me. Ugh, people. But the next day was much better, and I lucked out by getting into THE most fantastic pt I've ever been in. Yes, they did compliment my tanking skills (I believe the exact words were: "Oh thank god, a tank that can actually tank!"), but that's beside the point. I made 3 levels! Woot! Oh yeah, and I ran into Okiawa and Zaeon. Hi guys! (poke) lol

I'm starting to discover the joys of linkshells. The only thing that intimidates me about the one I'm in is that it's full of very high-level players, and I always feel like I would be boring them if I talk about my adventures. Eh, I'll probably get over that when I start to get to know everyone better.

Damn, this game is fun.

2006-04-06T15:04:00.000-04:00

So guess what I did last night? I was in a pt for less than an hour, and cleared level 14 after a random pl bestowed her kindness upon us. Then I had to leave for a bit, and lost that pt.

I got back, and met up with my best girl friend in the game, and we ran around the highlands squashing bees and hiding from gobs for a while. We each tried a few sheep and quads, but we were leveling 14 and 12 jobs, so they kinda kicked our asses. I could take them, but they always poisoned me and I decided that with 2 antidotes left, I'd better stop pushing my luck. :P

I had my flag up while we were running around, and I got an invite which I decided to decline, because my comrade and I were having too much fun. So I took my flag down and went back to merrily punching the hell out of tiny plants. Not five minutes later, I get a tell from the same guy. "/really nd you." Awww, it's fun to be needed. I said "/ok, give me a few minutes." He was quite grateful, and so I finished up with my buddy and headed for the dunes.

Casually strolling into the dunes, I whipped out my map to see where my new best friends were holed up. That was when I realized, to my embarrassed horror, that after I created this new character last week, I neglected to obtain a map of Valkurm. Grrrr. After sheepishly admitting this to my new pt, I then waited 10 minutes for the last pt member to show up and escort my newbie butt out to camp.

So there we were, a 14mnk and a 15rdm, otherwise known as tasty gob appetizers. We ran like mad across the unforgiving sand, dodging gobbies right and left. Then we get to the tunnel. I have no idea what it's called, but I like to think of it as the CAVE OF DEATH, since I died there 3 times in a row one afternoon. Well, as you probably know, sand bats enjoy hanging out in the middle of the tunnel, and unless you're packing silent oil, you're gonna get aggro'd.

Since I can credit sand bats with at least 75% of my deaths to date, I'm just a tad skeeved by the nasty little buggers. So when my dashing rdm escort trotted us right through TWO gangs of the winged horrors, I'll admit my heart dropped out just a little. He immediately caught aggro, of course, and my first thought was to try to zone and leave his ass to die, but I really had no chance of surviving if I did that. So I whipped out my 2 hour and proceeded to beat the holy hell out of both set of bats. I've never seen anyone so grateful to be alive as that rdm was. That, I must say, was my finest hour (ok, 30 seconds) of my entire FFXI career (3 weeks, but who's counting?). Moments like that are why I enjoyed being a monk.