Joined a Salvage linkshell and been doing around two runs a week.  We've been spamming Bhaflau to beat the boss after farming it a little bit before we moved on.  The original strat was to dual tank it, and we've used everything from Nin/War to Pld/Nin to Rdm/Nin and just havn't had the luck we needed.  Lowest we got it was around 43% before an unfortunate homing missle would erase hate on a tank, and than take down the DD.  Well the LS leader decided to switch things up a bit and:



I realize there is a bit of death there, but thats only because of spamming it at the end.  We still had two tanks, but had them kite when they could get hate.  We had two buffed up monks with drinks from the run Hundred Fist at the start, along with a chainspell Stun from me.  With the buffs they were able to take off about 30-35% of his HP in 30 seconds.  After that the Blm/Nin just proceeded to nuke and kite as they got hate.  We also had a Rng this run, and they were able to do a fair bit of damage.  The deaths all mostly happened at the end, so was a much safer and much faster way to take him down.  Got pieces of the Morrigan body and the Skadi legs.

After that, we went to Arrapago Reef, and while we killed a few NMs there, that zone is a huge pain.  I can see why nobody has gotten to the boss yet.  Horrid drop rate, and the final floor just looks nasty.

So far on our runs i've won a piece of the Usukane hands.  I've decided to go after that set instead of the Morrigan, mostly because with a few exceptions, i'm pretty happy with my Rdm gear.  It does what I need it do to, and with a few exceptions of gear that would be nice to have, its basically finished.  

Decided to work on leveling Rng.  I got it to 24 over 2 years ago, and havn't touched it since.  It bothered me to have it just sitting there unfinished, but the more I play with it, the more I think I might keep going.  I always wanted a job that would put big numbers up, and i'm having fun doing it.

So whats been going on... 

Dynamis, Limbus, ENMs, Assault for the most part. I'd like to add some Salvage to this, but it seems it is going to be a case of if you want it done, you have to do it yourself. 

Some pretty cool stuff SE sent down the pike with the latest update. Since there are plenty of places discussing the new gear, i'll keep it to personal interest.



The only items of interest for me on an individual level are the head and legs. Head, while not as much acc as Optical hat, and not as much haste as Walahra, is a combination of the two that I would wear full time. Its as simple as that. The legs give me a "Fuck B. Haidate" kind of feeling. I don't think if I had a Shura Togi that I would straight swap for this body, but that might just be personal feel. Be awhile before a parse can show anything. Enmity on the feet is not Monk friendly, and Dune Boots are hard to beat here. The hands are kind of a nice solo piece, but not worth dumping AF2/Bando/OKote for. My opinions on Body/Hands/Feet might change depending on how much haste you get for having the entire set equipped, but until that happens, my opinions are here.

As for Rdm:



Some pretty cool stuff. The feet are sex on a Mnd build. The body is the best nuking thing anyone can wear, and in a pinch replaces Dalmatica. That is not to say that Dalmatica doesn't have its place, but its no longer the only option. A magic defense build still favors Dalm. Hands replace Z. Mitts. Legs are better than Mahatma/Jet by far. Head is meh, but thats because i'm a RDM and my AF/AF2 will always rule that slot.

So Mnk head and legs, Rdm body, legs and feet.... half tempted to start farming crafting materials for them now... but i'm patient, won't have any of this for a long time.

One good thing about maintenance is it usually happens while i'm at work, which means NMs are popping about the time I get home. What this generally means is login and run to Behemoth's Dominion, Dragon's Aery, or Valley of Sorrows as fast as possible. First HNM Linkshell there with people gets a free Fafnir or whatever else. Everything dies pretty quickly, and everyone goes back to their normal lives.

The bonus here is all the other NMs pop as well. So its generally pretty easy to hunt down that 21 hour spawn you've been waiting months to have time to kill. Enter Sabotender Bailarina. Its not just that I havn't had time to camp him, its more that finding time, and than getting help at the same time is generally difficult. However, right after a maintenance, people are running around looking for something to do.... which leads to...








TP gear for monk, but enhances kick attack damage by 30, or the equivalent of having a weapon with DMG +30. I have been currently wearing Taru RSE which adds 4 str and 4 vit, which I will probably keep around as it makes a pretty good WS Macro piece. Now if I can just get my hands on some Shura.....

Have not done a decent entry in quite awhile, mostly because my interests are currently not FFXI related. Been playing FFXII and loving it. The only reason I ever started FFXI was because I wanted to play an FF game, and realized that they weren't going to be doing an offline one for quite awhile. And now that i've got one, i'm engrossed in it.

The only thing left to do is finish merits, which means more XP. Bleah. I just dont have the motivation to do that anymore. And anything in game that isn't a BC or spawned NM is controlled by RMT. Claimed the last Nidhogg and the last KB. I know we don't have it as bad as some servers, but its getting there. While they didn't kill Nid, they did kill KB, and only a matter of time before they can kill Nidhogg. It's just depressing to see. I've essentially given up on any item in game that doesn't come from a spawned mob, and that includes Kirin because of Ulli.

Unfortunately, endgame FFXI is all about loot. If your not striving to get something, there is nothing to do. Killing things just to say you did it no longer holds any interest for me. It's a selfish premise, and I could play the game simply to help other people get stuff, and I do login for raids to help people, but it gets boring.

Currently playing FFXII and enjoying every second. Got FFIII coming for my DS very soon, followed closely by the Wii and the new Zelda game. So lots to occupy my off hours and I think FFXI is gonna take the fall. I considered leveling another job to maintain my interest, but thats grasping at straws at this point. I've got a lot of friends in game, and RL friends who still play, so I doubt i'll walk away anytime soon, but why pay for something your not having fun doing?

This isn't to say i've given up on the MMO idea. Obviously i've spent a lot of time on FFXI, and I realize I enjoy the format in some capacity, even though WoW wasn't for me. So i've got my eye on a few games in the coming months that i'm probably going to give a fair shot. Gods and Heroes is one of them, and probably the biggest interest at this point. I love mythology, so an MMO that sits me in that era is fine by me. Also a big fan of being able to control minions, so we'll see how that goes. Doesn't come out till Feb at the earliest though, and i'm fully expecting a pushback on that date.

Oh well, we'll see where it all goes from here.

-edit-

HAHAHAHAH http://www.playonline.com/pcd/topics/ff11us/detail/1013/detail.html

That is all :) /cheer /hurray

It took me two months to go from lvl 70 to 72. There will be no screenshots until I hit 75. That means no great Asuran Fists backflip shots, even though I have them...

Someone XP with me god damnit!!!

Dinged lvl 70 on Monk last weekend. Started Saturday at 12k until lvl 69, and ended the day at 200 past 70. 44k experience points in one day. Was pretty much exhausted, but was one of the most fun parties i've ever been in.

Someone suggested XP'ing off of chigoes, which are the flea/tick things running around in the new Aht Uhrgan areas. Turns out IT Marid's spawn these things. So you have a tank fight the Marid, than gangbang the chigoes as they spawn. What it does is one pull can net you chain 10-12 depending on how many chigoes are spawned. So basically around 1k xp per pull. Chigoes were giving anywhere from 40-110 xp each, and they can be one shotted by a Blm pretty easily.

Only kicker on the the chigoes, is it seems that one hit melee kills (read WS) or critical hit kills yield no xp. Occasionally screwed up the xp chain, but usually another would spawn fast enough to keep the chain going. Like I said, very fun party.

Apparently thats all the good karma my Monk had built up, as I havn't had a sniff of an xp party since. Too bad too... only 34k xp from being able to start the Asuran Fists quest, which is the ultimate goal anyway. I wanna backflip ^^

-edit-
Just realized the windower console is showing in the pic. I use windower, so sue me.