/facepalm

First the good news: I finally dinged 37 on Dancer! Subjob complete!

Still need to find a seller for Black Belt Items.

Congratulations to Sim on his Forager's Mantle from the ENM on Monday.

Monday was a disaster with TN. Ultima owned our group. Our plds did a decent job, only one was able to tank consistently well, and he died due to lack of support. I'm pretty sure the BLMs were retarded, as I saw one Manafont right after Magic Shield. If a group of 17 cant kill ultima, we have no business being there. We wiped at ~7%.

The following Salvage was equally as retarded. We attempted to farm Bhaflau Thickets. Unfortunately for our group, in order to farm Bhaflau NMs, you must pop the Ramparts. We did not see a single one. A giant 'FUCK YOU' to the douches who can't read simple battle instructions. RAGE.

Nyzul will conclude on Saturday, regardless of our degree of success.

finally

congrats to sim! After ~4 months of ENM, we got our second Hagun last night, and Simkiel was next in line. (Nice lot(11), lol) After acheiving T9, Sim was also able to score his Perdu Blade, effectively making him a Rajas Ring away from total Ninjar pimpage.

Speaking of Rajas... Sim is also very close to receiving his. His CoP static was able to destroy Tenzen on Monday, netting him sea access!

Sometime we will have to go farm some sea organs for the WS gorgets/elemental obis.

Oh, and our NIN/THF/BLM/SMN static is now 51- so close to the Aht Urgan Areas. I have about 64 levels to go before Maat's cap (~1M exp). Only a few months to go!

update

The lowbie static that we started last week has been going well, as we have gone from 31-44. Too bad it will only be smooth sailing for another 10 levels or so, and then we will have to get creative with party setups and camps. It is becoming more and more difficult to find a competent 6th member, so in old zones I have pretty much just given up. Too many people are afk while seeking, or princess players who are unwilling to sync or move out of their comfort zone. I think this attitude is part of what is killing this game.

Assaults are progressing smoothly! We won 3/4 tags last night, suffering our first loss in a long time. We are T8, with only 12 assault missions left until captain. Sim only needs T9, and he can get his Perdu Blade. He also finally beat U/O, so he is only a few CoP missions away from that almighty rajas.

ENM has continued to yield nothing. It has been fairly depressing.

Also, Grenkinne will be migrating to Diabolos whenever we achieve Captain rank. He will be missed.

new static

Surv and I destroyed maat on ninja and war, bringing our total maat jobs to 11/15!

Our new setup will be Ninja (Gren), Thief (Simkiel), SMN (Circa), and BLM (Survive). While I don't know how efficient this setup will be, we will give it a shot anyway. Hopefully it will work until 55...

We will probably do some Assaults tonight. This will bring us to T7+10/25, bringing us ever closer to perdu weapons.

I did salvage with Revelations last friday, and scored some lol15usukanelegs. Apparently everyone else had the drop, so it was nice. We wiped on LAC.

ENM on Thursday, exp all weekend. Maybe ISNMs if Cheki joins us.

t6

Congratulations to all who ranked up last night! We are now T6, which is halfway done with all of the Assaults!

We also did another ENM run, but we didn't get anything to drop. We also tried the 'Shadows of the Mind' ISNM, and wiped 2/4 runs. I'm thinking we should push this back until one of us hits 75BRD, as we had too many deaths.

Sim has CoP tonight, so tonight is free. Unless anyone else has any better ideas, Thursday-Sunday will probably be solid exp, where we should be wrapping up another set of jobs (66).

I have about 95 levels or so until Maat's cap, so I am starting to draft out what I would like to do once Surv and I have completed it. 75MNK, blackbelt, and salvage are on the list, but Maat's cap is the priority at the moment. Hopefully we can get it by the summer. I know surv is working on aquiring a full set of HQ elemental staves, and I know there are some other pieces that she would like as well. Perhaps after Assaults are done we can start farming Nyzul Isle a bit. Who knows? We might just score some NM drops as well.

I recently spoke to a old LS leader, Zephir/Ventulus/Khao, who is on Diabolos. Apperently the whole crew that I used to roll with is on that server now. He mentioned something about maybe coming back to Siren eventually. It would be nice to hang out with those guys again.

victory

Last week we attempted to do the Leujoam Sanctum T3 Escort Assault. We attempted to leeroy it, and it did not turn out well. Yesterday we came back for a second shot at it. Sim led the charge as Ninjar, Gren came as Thief, Surv and I came White Mage (repose spam) along with Cottoneyejoe, who also needed the win. Sim and Gren, with their movement speed+ gear, went and trained most of the mobs around the zone. Surv, Cej, and I took turns sleeping mobs that were in the path of the NPC. Fortunately Gren and Sim were able to stay on top of Reraising themselves, so us white mages could sleep. Sim and Gren each died at least once, but we were able to get the win, thanks to their sacrifice. This was the final T3 fight, so we all (including Cottoneyejoe) were able to rank up to T4 Lance Corporeal (Gren was able to rank-up to T5). Congrats!

Over the weekend, Survive beat Maat on Samurai, and I beat him on Ninja. We now have 10/15 Maat jobs. All Right! We are now all geared up and ready to go for the THF/NIN/WAR/RDM static, which is now 52 (400 tnl), hoping for 54 (yay birds!).

Sim's dynamis shell has been flakey lately, so I'm not sure if he has that tonight or not. If he doesn't get dragged to that tonight, I'm thinking we can burn the rest of our tags in Assault, then hit up some ENM. If Sim is busy, perhaps Gren, Surv, and I can burn Under Observation.

le weekend

Friday, Sim returned from his deathbed to join his CoP static for Promyvion - Vzahl. Surv, Gren, and I joined his group to escort them up to the spire, and to do the ENM 'Pulling the Plug'. Sim's group was able to win the battle (Congratulations!), while we didn't fare as well, wiping with the mob at ~30% (I should have 2hr'd).

We then did some T3 assaults. After losing twice to 'Sagelord Elimination' earlier in the week, we decided to take another crack at it... This time, we cleared all of the trash mobs, and were able to take the Sagelord down with relative ease. We then proceeded to win the Lebros Cavern and Illrusi Attoll T3s, which were quite easy. Sim forgot to grab a tag earlier on, so we had to stop. I think we are now 15/25 of the way to T4.

Saturday and Sunday were centered mainly on exp. Over this weekend, we went 59-63. We mostly grabbed a level 57 or 58 and 5-manned Lesser Lolibri. We also 4-manned for awhile to skill up. Surv got Tachi: Yukikage, which is very nice with her Zanbato. Survive and I only have 2.5 levels left on Ninja and Samurai! Maat's cap is pretty close now, as surv and I only have about 100 levels, and about 6 Maat fights to go.

Saturday we were able to do Sheep in Antlion's Clothing ENM again... and we finally got a decent drop! We got a Hagun! Gren passed, and I won the lot, meaning I cannot lot on the next 3 Haguns. I am waiting for this Hagun to sell on the AH, so I can buy a Kirin's Osode, Alkyneous' Bracelets, and a Flame Ring, which will essentially complete my buyable gear for Samurai.

After the ENM, we forced Simkiel to come with us to the Boyhada Tree to camp Aquarius/Skill up. We killed a round of Robber crabs, and Aquarius popped. Surv noticed someone running towards it, so she claimed it and got owned while we tried to kill the Robber Crab we were engaged with. She homepointed, and as she was on her way back, Gren aggroed it. We decided to fight, hoping that Survive would get back in time. Simkiel tanked it well, took a few hits, and hate was shared between him and Gren for awhile. Samurai weaponskills and skillchains did virtually no damage to it, but yuki and kashi both were lifesavers for the blinding and paralyzing additional effects. Sim and Gren got into red for awhile, and were finally taken down, with Aquarius at <10%. My shadows were stripped and I was taking a few hits when Aquarius finally went down. Survive showed up shortly after, and Sim was able to get his shiny new Francisca. That was an exciting fight.

stuff

I suppose I should probably update this... It's been nearly a week.

NIN/SAM/RDM/BST static is now 59 (/hurray), and we were parsing ~15k/hr 5-manning birds at level 58. That was pretty fun. Surv (SAM) and the random DRG were destroying birds with polearm skillz. Sim was hitting decent rampages, too.

We have been on a slight exp break following the byakko success. This has been due to the need to farm. On... Sunday? Grenkinne, Survive, and myself did some more Under Observation runs. Nothing dropped, save for a Peacock Charm (Mine). We also did ENM on Monday, and got a Forager's Mantle... our first decent drop in ~12ish ENM runs. Continuing my lootwhore status, I won the lot on it. My Peacock Charm finally sold, and I was able to buy some Cursed Haidate -1, which (using the Dryadic Abjuration: Legs) turns them into Shura Haidate +1. At 2.2M, they are pretty nice pants... that I cannot efficiently wear yet.

Speaking of gear that I need/want: Gren, Surv, and I have been up in Upper Delkfutt's tower the last few days. We have been slowly meriting/farming shields. So far we are 0/3 on Pallas, and 0/6 on Alky. I want the Alky bracelets for SAM, hoping to save myself ~700k. Last night Gren and I went over 2 hours without a single moldy buckler drop. That was beyond annoying.

In order to wear Byakko's Haidate (tp)/Shura Haidate +1 (ws) and maintain a 6-hit, I need to cap the Store TP Group 1 Merit Category. This has also been a focus this week. I joined a crappy merit party, and got nearly 4 merits in a few hours. As of this posting, I need <2k exp to cap Store TP. Woot.

Sim has been sick this week, so our plans to camp Aquarius for him havn't been a reality as of yet. His CoP static, normally on Wednesday, was moved to Friday. I think we will probably join his group to escort them up to the spire. There is also an ENM at the top, so we might be able to do that too. We will probably go as RDM SAM SAM- and maybe get a Toredor's ring out of it. That would be nice. Either way, it will be fun.

Sheep in Antlion's clothing on Saturday night.

win

Never again. No more sky! Thursday night marked the last 3 Byakkos per our deal with Revelations. Fortunately for us, we were able to get everything we had hoped to get. We started off popping the 3 Ullis, and farmed Aura Statues while we were waiting. We ended up getting another Diorite, so we stuck around to pop another. We then traveled to Byakko to pop him 3 times. The first pop yielded no useful drops. (1/4 on Haidate overall, 0/3 on the last 3 kills) The second pop dropped Byakko's Haidate and Dryadic Abjuration: Legs (Shura Haidate)!!! Being next in line, I lewtwhored and took both. (2/5 on Haidate overall) The third and final pop dropped Survive's Haidate, and we were able to walk away victorious. (3/6 on Haidate overall). Thanks to everyone in Revelations who came out and killed Byakko for us! Good times.

I am saving up for the Cursed Haidate -1, which cost ~2M. If anyone wants to hit up some BCNM/KSNMs, I am down.

Grenkinne spent the evening in Sacrarium and got Dulce a Swift Belt! Congratulations to her!

Tonight we will probably finish T2 Assaults! Over the weekend we will probably exp/farm/AF, with ENM on Monday. Simkiel will be starting up Dynamis again (Saturday and Tuesday), and will be resuming CoP on Wednesdays.

Now that our sky goals are complete, our focus has returned to exp, assaults, and ENM. Salvage at this point will probably be a distant future event.

assault

Last night we decided to do a few assaults. Sim, Surv, and myself were Private Second class, so we were still stuck on the T1 fights. We did Leaujoam Cleansing, Excavation Duty, and Seagull Grounded. Sim and Surv had forgotten to get tags on prior days, so we were unable to do a fourth Assault.

Leaujoam Cleansing was cake. NIN SAM SAM RDM made short work of the worms (Rana>Gekko ftw), and Sim wondered how we lost on a prior run. It was our first time doing Excavation duty, and we really didn't know what to expect. We won with a few minutes to spare. BLM is essential in that fight, by the way. The most eventful mission was Seagull Grounded. Survive wore her crimson cuisses to direct the npc, and Gren, Sim, and I took care of the mobs. As this was our first time attempting the assault, we didn't know that the NPC freaked out at the sight of non-aggroing mobs. It took way too long for the NPC to get past the initial crab areas, and we lost valuable time figuring this out. We finished the mission with <10 seconds to spare, and didnt even open the chest. It was fun though.

Survive and I were able to rank up after Excavation Duty, and Sim just needs Golden Salvage to advance to Private First Class. I'm glad we were able to start stockpiling assault points for our eventual salvage runs.

We finished assaults around 8:30pst, so we ran out to do the Sheep in Antlion's Clothing ENM, which we could start at 9:54. It took about 30 minutes for everyone to get to the top of the mountain, return to the NPC, then run to boneyard gully. We got fairly unlucky with the ENM, as everyone died once except for Sim. Two of the lesser ants popped in close proximity, and Surv's Sleep II was resisted. Regardless, we were able to get the win... but we didn't get any of the big money drops. We will probably end up doing the ENM again next wednesday.

Congratulations to everyone! We went 4/4 on all of our events!

Probably will end up exping tonight and over the weekend, with assaults on either sunday or monday. Next week we have sky (need 3x despots, 3x ulli kills (diorite obtained), and 3x byakkos). Hopefully this will be our final sky session.

Saturday 11.15

Saturday was... well, interesting. Simkiel has been working on the Chains of Promathia expansion, and his static needed a bit of help with Mission 4-3. Surv, Hoss, and I went out to Sacrarium to give him a hand. Sim's LS, inappropriately named 'ProfoundWisdom', was clearly unorganized. The leader clearly did not know how many people would be needed on this run, which jobs would be advantageous, etc- and this was their second attempt at this mission. Very frustrating- I blacklisted the leader, as her /wrists emo attitude was clearly unrestrained.

After clearing several Fomor rooms with no professor pop, we moved camps. Unfortunately one of the members was afk and decided to aggro half the zone. Needless to say he KO'd in a lovely spot, and upon raising him, we wiped trying to save him from his blood aggro.

3 hours later, our LS left the CoP party, without even fighting the NM.

0/1.

We took a break, then decided to do an ENM run as NIN RDM SAM SAM (Sheep in Antlion's Clothing). We attempted to enter, and Sim was unable to do so. Not to waste our chance at a Hagun, Surv, Hoss, and I attempted to trio it, and were unsuccessful in the attempt.

0/2.

We took an even longer break, as Sim was pretty frustrated. Came back and decided to do something we knew we could do- get Sim Bastok rank 8. We did 2 missions, and completed it with ease. We were also able to snag Hoss his SAM AF helm while we were there.

1/3.

We then hopped on BST for a short time, and 4-manned in Eastern Altepa Desert. Sim, Surv, and I all got a level, and Hoss (who is lvl 66) got a buffer. We had a few deaths, but most of it was learning the zone, and having all our pets die at around the same time. Compared to earlier events, I consider this a win.

2/4.