First JoL

I did my first Jailer of Love fight yesterday, with my endgame LS Sinister. This is also my first sea NM fight.
I want to try COR80/RNG40 and DD more for NM fight events so I just sub RNG without asking the LS leader what to sub XD.

(P.S If I ask what to sub on COR in this game 99% of time I'd get the answer "/WHM", even if /WHM isn't really the best for that situation, so I learn to stop asking the leader and decide myself, and only ask when I can't make a decision.)



First JoL fight.

I have no idea what's JoL fight like, so I assume it's like other high level NMs that CORs have hard time landing hits, therefore I decided to eat sushi. In the end it turned out that I didn't really need racc, my WS and ranged attack didn't miss much, apparently it's capped or close to cap. JoL seems to have low eva(or maybe it's because the THF was using Feint). I could have done a lot more dmg if I use Pot-au-feu, /SAM or /WAR, Shadowbind from /RNG doesn't help this fight anyways. Sinister haven't post the parse result, so I have no idea how bad I did.(wrong sub, wrong food, d/c when HP%40 etc)

Besides that, I ranged TP with steel bullets, and WS+QD with Oberon's Bullet. JoL kept switching elemental weakness, and I don't carry all elemental cards due to limited inventory space, so that makes my dmg output more lame.

I'm still pretty noob for building a ranged TP set. Now I kinda just throw together the ranged attack gears I got from mission reward without thinking and testing XD. Prehaps it's time to work on tweaking and improving my ranged TP set, such as a set with more rattk in high racc situation(such as yesterday), or maybe work on a lower hit build. Sinister has a few pimp RNGs, maybe I can learn a thing or two from them. Then again, RNG and COR is different, COR has to deal with it's lame racc constantly. But most of the CORs I know on this server never really try hard to DD on this job, so I can only learn from RNGs XD.

I d/c when JoL @40%, by the time I got back both me and JoL were dead. And AV popped after JoL defeated, so I can finally get a chance to meet this legendary HNM in Vana'diel. With level 99 coming and new Primeval Brew, this HNM may no longer be such a godly existence in the future, so challenge it and got pwned while I can!



HelLO, nICe to MeET yOU

Subjob test

After the level cap increase I'm interested in testing some new subjobs.
Planning to test:
BLU80/COR40: Hmmmm, BLU doesn't get much benefit from /COR since BLU can't use a gun, that means no QD. But subbing COR at 80 gives Evoker's roll, which gives refresh to whole pt including myself. Worth a try.

BLU80/RDM40: I often solo EP mobs subbing this, mostly because I don't have DNC and don't really need /NIN for EP mobs. For events, this sub is versatile, has magic def bouns and magic attack bouns, can quickly swap to nuking gear and nuke when mobs with strong physical dmg resistance popped. Fast cast is good for headbutt spam. But the survivability is lower than /NIN.

BLU80/WHM40: BLU now gets haste when /WHM, quite possibly making it a viable main healer for a 6 ppl pt if the pt can't find a real healer.

BLU80/SCH40: Probably not as good as before since /WHM and /RDM getting better.

BLU80/DNC40:I need to level DNC for this.

BLU80/WAR40:I need to level WAR for this.

BLU80/SAM40:I need to level SAM.....(omg repeat D:)

COR80/RNG40:RNG is already one of the best DD sub, now with Shadowbind it may be a new best sub for events. High AGI to land QD is just a bouns.

COR80/WHM40:An overused sub for COR already. At 40 it gets haste, making ppl sticking on it more. No, it's not a new sub, but I haven't get a chance to try it after COR 80.

COR80/SCH40:I always prefer /WHM for support, I love Stoneskin and haste more than SCH abilities.

COR80/BLU40: I don't recall /BLU gets any good new spell at 80...it also has no magic attack bouns II like /RDM, this sub is not really attractive......BUT I WANT TO CAST HEADBUTT ON COR!

COR80/RDM40: Magic attack bounsII yay!

COR80/SAM40:Repeat

COR80/WAR40:Repeat

Troll hunt

Posting some pictures of Gurfurlur the Menacing fight with Esca on July 17, it was pretty fun. I never thought I'd have a chance to travel to the deepest part of Halvung, such a long and dangerous trip.




Evil switch that requires 6 ppl to open.



Hiding in corner, waiting for NMs to go back home.



Don't we all see this somewhere in LoTR before?



Rush to the throne!





Fighting adds



Fighting the boss

Abyssea EXP pt, love and hate

Appearantly, Abyssea is SE's new way to EXP from 75~99, it gives large amount of EXP at once, and a pretty smart way to get player to level 99 without grinding forever. My only problem is, Abyssea EXP pt takes too damn long, and EXP won't be good until 3hr+ of pting, a bit too much for me.

When Abyssea was out, it's kinda of a new way to EXP, instead of pt with 6 ppl, you pt with 18 ppl. Instead of getting 10k/hr, 20k/hr or 25k/hr, you get 50k/hr, 60k/hr and so on. Instead of pt for 2~3hr and you disband, you pt for 6hr, 8hr or 15hr (omg). The amount of EXP it gives makes level 75 pink bird merit pt lol.

Some people likes Abyssea EXP pt, because some jobs such as BLU or BLM usually don't get invite, but they're needed in Abyssea pt to get Azure light. Even if the job is not good for EXP pt, or level too low, ppl can still open chests and leech.

At first, EXP in Abyssea is new to me, and I kinda like it. But now I really hate Abyssea EXp pt, hate it hate it hate it D;.......I think.

I've been trying to join an Abyssea EXP pt and get my COR to 80 for a while, but having trouble to find enough time to do Abyssea pt. Pt for 5~6 hr+ at once is just a bit too much, with all the events in game and in real life. In the end, I skipped Dyna and some shit to do irl, just to get my COR to 80 within one day.

And.....DING COR80!

Hurray!

But I sacrificed a lot of stuff I gonna do irl, and probably no longer the first in line after my pirate hat in my Dyna LS. Lost and gain. I said I hate it and yet I fell for it.

I like to get 200k EXP per run, but now I kinda miss the old pink bird merit pt, when you pt for 1.5hr and disband. Or FoV or campaign, where I can go semi-afk and do something else, then come back later and still gets EXP. I hope SE can make another new way to EXP that gives more EXP/hr than campaign or FoV in next update, but no need to sit in front of the computer for such a LONNNNNGGGG time.

Corsair dead atm

I noticed I really haven't touch COR for a while after the update. One reason is because 1 stack of steel bullet is fking expensive now for no reason (25k a stack, used to be 12k only), and the new lv 80 bullet is 3k EACH. (Yes, that means every shot I fired 3k gone) Therefore I just entered lazy mode so I don't have to worry about my gil. Another reason is because BLU is way too fun after the update, but COR really doesn't get anything new besides 10 min No.11 and 2 new rolls. So I kinda just stick with BLU atm.

BLU finally gets DW, refreshII and haste after the update, therefore there are many new ways to play with it. I especially like to Diffusion + battery charge, refresh my pt member and /laugh at them if they're the "refresher" job who used to refresh me. I'm also not used to telling the RDM "No need to refresh me, I can refresh myself". However, casting refresh and haste spell on myself every once a while also makes me miss the old day when someone else is taking care of my haste and refresh, now I have to do everything myself, no lazy mode, engage the enemy and afk D:

Getting DW on BLU also means I can try some other subs I usually don't use, such as /RDM, /WAR, /SAM etc. However DW job trait is such a BP eater for my meritless BLU, I may actually have to remove haste and ask the mage to haste me if I want to set DW.

In the end, I leveled BLU as my first 80 job, just like it's my first 75 long time ago. I get it to 80 mainly by joining an Abyssea EXP pt, Abyssea gives such a huge amount of EXP/hr that I not only ding 80, but also got my sword to 8/8(I merit sword mostly for COR actually D:), picked up full set of Aurore and Teal gears. Now finally have some mage gear to use. Also, after months of waiting, finally got my fast cast pants from limbus.



Sadly this pants is no longer the god like pants for BLU. It's beaten by PINK legs for TP, and Teal full set for fast cast.

After I picked up my teal set I start to practice NM solo with Regurgitation, it's actually not as easy as what video shows, with HUGE MP problem (Well before the update it's necessary to use meds, was trying to solo without meds but with /RDM convert and battery charge only) And most important of all, bind doesn't always land and doesn't last long, if bind doesn't land then bye bye in 5 sec lol. Time to merit more on blue magic skill level and work on more macc gears >.> After 1 year of playing this game I still can't play my first job like a pro, lol ><. Atm /NIN, spamming head butt and shadows with fast cast is still the easiest way for me ><.


Damn I know I should go back to COR and get it to 80 for events, and unlock Leaden salute. PLEASE FORGIVE ME IF I'M NOT 80 BY JULY 19 Q__________Q.

Goodbye, CoP

Ever since the update, I found more and more ppl running around with titles obtained from CoP missions. Apparently, being able to solo/duo CoP missions makes the whole thing a lot easier, those missions are less hardcore now and more accessible to those not willing to spend hrs and hrs making a pt and finding ppl for CoP. This is both a good thing and bad thing. More causal players or new ppl can now catch up and obtain sea/limbus gears easily, but one of my favorite aspect of this game is now gone, forever. And unlikely to come back in the future.

So, what is my favorite aspect of this game? My favorite aspect of this game is just same as every other FF titles, adventures and stories. Enter a dungeon with a group of companions and fight your way through, fight the boss, save the world. As the story progresses, the player get to explore more and more new areas. And the players get the chance to try different pt setup and strategy for every boss fight. This traditional RPG element is what I enjoy the most in all RPGs, even in FFXI, which is a MMORPG.

I entered the world of FFXI after CoP is nerfed, and did my first promy mission when my highest job reached 36, with my second LS Gamblers (which died shortly after). We were a bunch of noobs with pretty much zero experience for mission BC fights except rank mission 2-3. Promy fights are our first real mission BC fights that requires some item preparations, strategy and balanced pt setup, one of the first real challenge for us noobs. I still remember, our pt setup was PLD DRK BLU WAR WHM BLM, which is a very bad pt setup. After killing mobs aggroed and Memory Receptacles on the way, we finally reached the boss fight. Well, in the end we failed the boss fight. But this was my first group event ever. I will never forget this experience.

One month later, I retried promy with Axiom, with some of the veterans guiding I finally learned promy needs yag drink for mages, needs right job such as NIN or DD/NIN for frontline jobs, needs full set of animas for everyone, etc. And when we finally cleared promy and being teleported to Lufaise Meadows, I felt a great sense of accomplishment. There are other tough but memorable fights that requires some organization, such as 2.5 mammets fight, or Diabolos fight, I enjoyed them all.

After that I left the LS and formed my own CoP and add-on mission static, I learned to search FFXIAH.com for people on the same mission and have the jobs I need for the fight, if I can’t find ppl then I asked friends for help, it’s really painful to do all the organization, especially for a lazy player such as myself D; , however, after I’m done with all those missions it became an experience I’ll never forget in this game.

One reason why I like to do all those missions with a pt instead of solo/duoing is because it gives the feeling of the old FFs, you always face the challenge with a bunch of companions, not alone. Sometimes ppl in my pt had some interesting and funny conversations when watching the CS, which makes the CS even more interesting than it should be.

After the promy removed, I had an EXP pt in promy. Our group climbed up to the top floor, raping Memory Receptacles on the way, killing them within 5 sec. those Memory Receptacles used to be some sort of mini boss on the way to the final boss of promy. I really want to ask SE, what’s those Memory Receptacles for, if they no longer serve as some sort of gate keeper for players to challenge them?

Pretty much every challenging and memorable mission fights that requires a lot of organization and balanced pt setup, may be soloable/duoable at 99. ToAU last boss (The only BC fight I tried more than 3 times for clear) ASA last boss (possibly the hardest mission BC in this game at 75 if you don’t SMN burn it)ACP and MKE and so on. Those fights may be as laughable as rank mission 5.2 Shadow Lord battle in the future.

I understand that getting a pt together for CoP is shit. IMO, the best way to solve this problem is to give better reward (such as 10k EXP instead of 1k, or some super good EX/RARE augment items), so you can get ppl to help easy. If everyone all solo through the entire story, and only do story so they can get gears, then there is no difference between FFXI and one million MMORPG out there. Which is all about gear grind, gear grind and more gear grind.

Goodbye CoP. No, CoP is still there, but it's no longer the CoP we hate and love.

Nyzul Isle CLEARED!

One week after the new lv 80 update, my Nyzul static attempted to clear 80~100 floor, and I noticed Nyzul is much easier than before. All the DC mobs now EP, and die really fast.


Anyways, Nyzul Isle CLEARED! Congratulations to everyone that needs clear.





This Nyzul static pt is the best pt I’ve ever been to, with the highest success rate ever, and better than many /shout pts out there. Most important of all, no one in the static has any “special” or “hard to obtain” gear. Everything we were using is just average stuff. That proves, once again, you don’t need to spend 10000 hr of your life to obtain some rare gears to clear shit in this game. Just  some average gears would do.




Special thanks to this taru. He spent his time and helped us climb all the way to F100. And also special thanks Phantasie, who once joined our pt while we were still Nyzul noobs and gave us some suggestions on climbing. And there is Sotongball and Phantasic too, who were once in the static also. THANK YOU!