Final Fantasy XI Discussion [Archive] - Page 9

RPGuru1331

November 24th, 2004, 07:00 AM

My research and personal knowledge on Leaping Lizzy:

Spawn is a placeholder spawn. The only way to get him to spawn quickly is to slaughter the Rock Lizards there. He has a chance to spawn in place of a normal Rock Lizard. As far as I know, most NMs work on this schedule. However, HNMs work on a more timely schedule. Lizzy's drop rate is, in general, low. I've heard some pretty nasty horror stories, and the only kill I've gotten on her was no drop. If you can... IF... I suggest camping Emperor Twice to camping each once, selling one Hairpin (It's Rare, so send your first Hairpin to yourself, or if confident,put it in the Auction House.)
That's what I'm doing on Monday at least, but I got Empy on a very lucky streak; literally no one out there was set up to kill him; There were a bunch of /THFs and /WARs, some of whom were too low levelled to get him anyway. Anyway, you can probably beat him at 40, but since you want to be Ranger, that might not be practical. If you MUST camp Lizzy, then my suggestion is to equip a Boomerang or other non-projectile ranged weapon, whenever a Rock Lizard comes up in lizzy's spawn, run (Not flee) to it, engage, toss your ranged weapon, and resume spamming Widescan. This same strategy will work on wide spawn NMs (Another example is Stray Mary).

Another way to get money for either boots or hairpin, depending on costs at your server, is to do your RSE. I'm not sure what you can actually use as a RNG, since you're Hume and I'm too lazy to check, but if it's good, you can use it, and it's crap, you can sell it for, on Levi, a minimum of half the gil required for Boots/Hairpin.

...Not each, by the way. I mean the whole set. Think hard before selling RSE though. You can only get it once, and you never know if you'll actually want to level a job that CAN use it.

Solid-Snake

November 25th, 2004, 04:01 PM

Name:Hariel Level:13 Redmage Town:Bastok Area:Vulkrum Dunes Server:Alexander.

~Neo~

November 28th, 2004, 03:44 AM

Lizzy on average spawns somewhere in the time range of every 1-2 hours. But going by the nature of the spawn, it can go to either extreme. (As early as 5 minutes to as late as 3+ hours.) My personal record with Lizzy is 1/11 with 16 sightings total. So yeah, the drop rate is fairly low.

Odyssey

November 30th, 2004, 12:01 AM

Updated profile for my Char. -> http://ffxi.allakhazam.com/profile.xml?39445

RPGuru1331

November 30th, 2004, 10:07 AM

Whoama Boaga, did anyone check out the planned updates for December 12? They've got a freaking huge laundry list, all of which were concerns voiced by the gaming community at large! I thought this sort of thing was on City of Heroes, not FFXI... Jesus H. Christ...

Odyssey

December 2nd, 2004, 07:06 AM

saw that. new thf job trait being added.... interested in seeing- er, hearing what it is. g/f in the game is thf, so she's relaly interested also.

oh, I'm getting married soon too. just gotta raise the gill and then do the application and all that junk.

Lacan

December 2nd, 2004, 07:41 AM

I'm starting over in FFXI, and I'm going to choose a place like San D Oria or something forrest like. And after I level up a few levels I might try and join a party or some people.

Jon

December 2nd, 2004, 04:16 PM

I wanted Final Fantasy XI, but i don't know what type of internet connection it requires and if there is a monthly fee or not.

Lacan

December 2nd, 2004, 05:05 PM

I think it requires at least a 56K Modem connection *Broadband Recommended*, and the first month its free but every other month its around 10-12 dollars.

Jon

December 2nd, 2004, 05:27 PM

OK cool, i have highspeed now so i guess all i need to do is convince my parents to pay the fee.

RPGuru1331

December 2nd, 2004, 10:42 PM

You'll be more likely to get your parents to agree by saying you'll pay, and using their card to do it. And actually paying, I mean. Also, if they're afraid of being hacked, remind them that the number's actually going to Sony. They're big enough to be easily trusted.

JOJO

December 3rd, 2004, 07:03 AM

I'm starting over in FFXI, and I'm going to choose a place like San D Oria or something forrest like. And after I level up a few levels I might try and join a party or some people.

Just curious...are you starting over mostly because you want a different race or because you don't like Bastok? In any case, Sandoria is the most "foresty "one and once you reach level 10, you'll have an easier time reaching Valkrum than if you were from Windurst (like me).

As for me, I've been really busy updating my RDM. Just got Dispel last week for 65,000 and can see why it's so important. Garliage Citadel is so frustrating for our pullers. Got into a new LS which was coincidently given to me by the same person I first partied with on my first day playing. ^_^ Hopefully, my semi-static party can really get going starting in Crawler's Nest (RDM/WHM-me, BLM/WHM, PLD/WAR).

RPGuru1331

December 3rd, 2004, 10:15 AM

You changed to Red Mage? Heh. I'm curious, what's your highest level now? You seem to be moving right along, in any case.

On a side note, Garlaige is where you seperate the men from the boys, puller-wise. It's where I learned 90% of the tricks I use now.

Lacan

December 3rd, 2004, 10:55 AM

I really don't like desert places since they are kinda blah, I like the feel of walking through a forrest.

RPGuru1331

December 3rd, 2004, 10:59 AM

Er, Lacan, it's probably just better to reselect your citizenship in Sandy then to recreate your character.

That said: Bastok > All. We have Cid. The only country that comes close is Windhurst, since their prime minister is judged to be level 125, since he manhandles some of the highest level Yagudo in the game.

Aelice

December 3rd, 2004, 11:08 AM

Ajido is HOT for a Tarutaru. <3 I second that.

RPGuru1331

December 3rd, 2004, 11:24 AM

Ah, I was wondering what his name was. Thanks for reminding me, Aelice. Aijido-Murajido, right?

JOJO

December 3rd, 2004, 12:59 PM

Well, I was doing multiple jobs. I probably could have been in the 50s had I stuck to 1 combination, but it's fun to experiment. My jobs in order of level: RDM-33, WHM-28, THF-26, WAR-18, RNG-16. My original plan was to do RNG/NIN, but start out as THF. Before getting the subjob, I just wanted to experiment with a mage type and did WHM for a bit. I eventually needed a subjob for it and since I don't like BLM, I went RDM. Now, I really enjoy it with the multi-tasking and such. I still would love to do RNG and had a lot of fun doing so much damage even at lower levels. But since I'd feel gimped without Leaping Boots, Emperor's Hairpin, Utsusemi (got NIN, but no scrolls yet), I decided to wait till I have the money.

RPGuru1331

December 3rd, 2004, 01:48 PM

Heh. I'd probably be in the 60s if I could be bothered to level.
Just FYI, the price on luxuries is falling. Fast. SE's announcement that they're breaking monopolies has EVERYONE scared. My personal theory is that they're going to make BCNM or craftable replacements. After the update, I wouldn't be surprised if they were affordable.

Oh, and as a Ranger, you can do without Boots/Hairpin. Noct +1 gear is acceptable. It's not top notch though. But I understand the feeling. I eventually broke down and got Noct +1 Gaiters instead of Leaping Boots though. AF Boots are close enough. I know, it's horrible for me to say that, but still -_-.
Besides, DRL and Hiko are waiting on me to catch up with them. I dont' have time to farm atwill.

DragonRebornLee

December 3rd, 2004, 07:43 PM

The talks of the great leaders of the countries had to make me come back here, I don't suppose you all know that the weapon that ended the great war was made by San d'Orians? That's right, and the weilder is still in our country, and rocks hardcore.

Aelice

December 3rd, 2004, 10:09 PM

DRL, MARK SPOILERS! O_O

But mind, the San d'Orians are fools. What ended the great war also shattered Tavnazia. Tavnazia was supposed to protect it, but idiot San d'Orians tapped into its strength. Also, San d'Oria is who doomed Tavnazia in the first place; they planted false plans on one of their soldiers, leading the enemies to Tavnazia so that San d'Oria wouldn't be crushed.

Elvaans are truly cowards deep, deep down.They STILL want to regain access to the weapon, even if it risks such danger at the current time.

RPGuru1331

December 4th, 2004, 02:22 AM

I'm with Aelice here. The Elvaan sacrificed their sister country in an attempt to save their own skins. Ever wonder why Garlaige and Eldieme are filled with undead? The Elvaan tried escaping there. And guess who those fallen majors and refugees are. Yep.....

Odyssey

December 4th, 2004, 04:06 AM

ah well, guess it's good to know the 'noble' race ain't so noble... pity I'm an Elvaan. still good for major beating though.

I'm going to end up going through this game missing so much of the storyline it's not even funny... man that really sucks >_<;;

RPGuru1331

December 4th, 2004, 08:07 AM

Big tip: Pay attention to quest text. Even what seems to be a simple fetch quest. I've had my fetch quests yield some insight into Vana'Diel, even though it seems like they wouldn't. I'm not saying that every one will, but that some will.
It also helps to read spoilers that other people have found ^_^

DragonRebornLee

December 4th, 2004, 09:20 AM

The point is we got the job done. Leading the enemy away from the main continents saved millions of lives, the sacrifice of the few was necessary, only a few want back the powerful weapon that ended the war, I stand with the side of my people that don't want anything to do with it, the Temple is alot better off than the insanely power hungry Royal Knights. And if we want to go looking at atrocities, let's look at the mines outside of Bastok, children ghost are floating around out there, CHILDREN, not to mention they slayed the Quadav who were merely protecting their young, and let's look at the Tarutaru, they're slowly draining their land away of all it's magic, so that it will end up being pretty much a wasteland before long, so before you go off on the rampage bashing us elves remember the humes, tarutaru, galka, and mithra aren't all clean either.

RPGuru1331

December 4th, 2004, 09:20 PM

Actually, Mithra are probably best off, as they were in Kazham, not damaging things.

..Until the next Tonberry/Sahagin spoiler
Moreover, you're mixing your Galkan crimes. You'd be better off claiming the massacres of Anticans they did before they were beaten off of Kuzotz by a massive Antican military. Remember: The Galkans tried to stop the Quadav killings.
Equivalently, the truth about the Tarus and their Cardians is probably a better story to tell.
And no, none of that is equivalent to stabbing your own brethren in the back. I must wonder why you long-necked giraffes aren't better thieves; After all, you're quite capable of sneak and trick attacks.

Oh, and I'll summarize my experience with CoP as I stated on another board:
So far, I've only given a cursory look at Oldton Molvalpalos, and I must say, I love this place. The Moblins may look like the Goblins you've been fighting the whole game, but they have different WSs. Frying Pan, which is as hilarious as it sounds; The Moblin pulls out a huge frying pan and ladle and claps them together like cymbals, with you in the middle; The other is Crispy Candle, which is like a frontal AoE flamethrower attack. Also, Crispy Candle can fail like Goblin Bomb, which is highly entertaining to look at; I won't say why, it's just plain great though.

Second, onto the missions. Thus far, I have only entered Promyvion-Dem; I am given to understand that the Promyvions all operate the same, with the difference being the BCNM at the end. We went in with one party, knowing the stories; The stories lie! It's doable with a 6 person party, provided the party is indeed capable of winning the BCNM. Here's how a Promyvion breaks down:
You will be capped at 30, and must reach the Spire of the Promyvion. They are split into 4 floors of exploration. On each floor, you will find Empty-type monsters, which look VERY odd, and will aggro you on every floor. The first floor's monsters are EP-DC. The second, EM-T. The Third, Exp Mob range. The fourth, IT+++ (Death to a single party). On the first 3 floors, you will fight something called a Memory Receptacle (MR). The MRs are surrounded by little peons called Strays. Strays are aggro, but not linking. What you do is pull the strays one by one, and fight them before you start on the MR. Now, there's something very important to remember for the MRs: You can NOT fight them in melee. They spam two WSs: Empty Seed, which will taret whoever has hate for moderate damage, and knock them back completely out of attack range; I mean no spells, no ranged, nothing. This attack is guardable by Utsusemi. The other is an AoE, massive knockback attack that deals decent damage and spawns a stray, which is then sent after whoever has hate. Our strategy was to engage the MR at range, using whatever you can that will actually hit and do damage (I.E. no pebbles, 'rangs, or any of that). When it spawns a stray, one of the melee will provoke it and solo it, while the others remain engaged with the MR. The WHM should concentrate on healing, of course. While RNG and BLM would appear to be the only ones, I assure you now that either a THF/NIN with dual Archer's Knives or a SAM/RNG with one could hold their own, with a good bow and good arrows, of course. We personally were defeated, but that was because our BLM AoEd a bunch of Strays, and they were no longer complete weaklings, but rather, threats for the squishies, all of whom died, except myself. The melee made it out of that okay, but died later.
Minor note: Promyvion battle music rocks the cazbah

Sadly, I have no strategies for the BCNM fights, but I'm given to understand that they're kited.

What have y'all done?

Aelice

December 4th, 2004, 09:53 PM

San d'Oria only had THEMSELVES to blame for any tragedy. Why? They wanted to conquer the world. So Bastok and Windy worked hard to develop new technology to prevent this. Instead of concentrating on how the beastmen were growing, arrogant Sandy ignore their progress and ended up suffering TERRIBLE losses to Bastok. :) Though Bastok, forcing to survive in a wasteland, ended up choosing to slaughter Quadav to advance. Which I personally feel is better than what the Tarutaru did: let the Yagudo walk all over them, and take their magic technology to share with other beastmen.

Dem boss is easy. Just hold off main boss until he drops spawns, then 2 hour him.
Mea boss is the most challenging, with its AoE attacks. Make sure the melee and tanks macro high potions. Have Antidoes macroed too. And it MUST be kited between 2 blink tanks, he simply hits too hard. Holla boss gives a lot of status problems. Curse is a big one. Be sure to keep poison potions ON! He can SLEEP you :P

RPGuru1331

December 4th, 2004, 10:34 PM

Heh. Explain this "Drops spawns" a tiny bit, and I think I'll understand. The rest is easy, just not that

Aelice

December 4th, 2004, 11:02 PM

Heh. Explain this "Drops spawns" a tiny bit, and I think I'll understand. The rest is easy, just not that

He drops mini versions of himself. ^^;;;; I had to SV + Lullaby. Very hard to get sleep to stick, though!

Lynx

December 5th, 2004, 04:26 AM

Lots of nationalistic pride in this thread ^_^.

I used to be 100% San d'Orian. Then I got a bit bored and decided to learn more of the storyline in the other nations so I switched to Windurst and tried their missions. So far I'm rank 5 at both nations and plan on doing the same thing for Bastok. Square Enix packed a lot of story into the game. Like RPGuru said, pay attention to the quest text. Down the line as you learn more of the story past events from quests/missions will make more sense and become more releavant. Just be careful not to get spoiled too much ;). I've spoiled a lot for myself reading threads like this but there's still a lot I don't know and am playing to find out. Most of Zilart and Promathia I'm still clueless about and am trying to keep it that way. I want to wrap up my AF before I start tackling those missions.

Odyssey

December 5th, 2004, 05:15 AM

Aelice

December 5th, 2004, 09:11 AM

Well, I'm spoiling myself away. need to otherwise the only thing i'm going to have under my belt is experience with battles and the control snad quests/missions I've done/are in book ^^;;;;

So, I'll just hope RPGuru, Aelice and DRL keep giving out these wonderful spoilers ^_^

Random spoilers: XD kekeke

The Duke of Jeuno is EVIL! XD Really! He and his brother are Zilhart.

The Tonberries weren't always that form. :P They were a race that opposed that the Zilhart were trying to reach the Gods, and were cursed into the forms when they ruined the Zilhart's plans.

Not much to spoil about Bastok. Volker was a whiny bitch and killed what's his name because he couldn't believe Cornelia was in love with a Galka. His rage turned him into the Shadow Lord. SNORE.

This game goes REALLY deep. My friend was telling me about Fenrir/Windurst

DragonRebornLee

December 5th, 2004, 07:50 PM

No surprise to me Aelice, look at Jeuno, it's way too advanced for it's own good.

Aelice

December 5th, 2004, 08:03 PM

No surprise to me Aelice, look at Jeuno, it's way too advanced for it's own good.

Not to mention those two just REEK of evilness :P

~Neo~

December 6th, 2004, 07:53 AM

mmm... they reek of evilness alright :P

I am wondering what exactly this patch is going to do about gilsellers. Also wondering what the new job trait for thiefs is going to be. lol

Aelice

December 6th, 2004, 08:44 AM

I am wondering what exactly this patch is going to do about gilsellers. Also wondering what the new job trait for thiefs is going to be. lol

Gil Finder 2, I bet :)

~Neo~

December 6th, 2004, 09:06 AM

Gil Finder 2, I bet :)

Probably.. won't be enough for me to go back to being THF main. lol.

RPGuru1331

December 6th, 2004, 11:59 AM

We Thieves hope it's a very high level (65+) trait that either enhances Critical Hits, thus improving our DoT and our sneak attacks, which by end game (Hopefully when the trait is given) are sorely lacking. Another idea is an ignore defense trait, since that would make us more powerful against ITs, but not help against TWs, since we (And any other melee class) are already ignoring their defense. Note that we're not betting on it.

My current theory on how they're going to stop gilsellers relates to the news no one is mentioning yet: The new BCNMs. What I believe they will do is introduce new gear that is higher level, with lower stats then popular gilseller targets (Ochiudo's Kote, Archer's Rings, Cross Counters), since that will offer a players something between the uber 1337 item and something far less effective.

As an aside, even though I'm not high enough level to see how our damage falls behind, I have no intentions of giving up Thief. It's probably the class I have the most fun playing, there's no point in changing mains.

Edit:
Emote of the day: Utsusemi
('('(' ')')')

JOJO

December 7th, 2004, 02:25 PM

I also heard they could just make all the NM drops Rare/Exclusive so there would no point to camp NMs for money. As for THF, I think GF2 is probably the new trait. I heard they might get Wide Scan, but then they would be extremely overpowered as farmers. Anyway, after a few great parties recently, I reached level 40 for RDM. Almost have Refresh.

RPGuru1331

December 7th, 2004, 03:13 PM

Well, making all NM drops Rare/EX sounds good on paper, but you have to consider there are players that make the vast majority of them aren't camped; Everyone who declares that that's a solution is thinking "Emperor, Lizzy, Stroper, Mee Deggi, and Hoo Mjuu". They're not thinking of the hundreds of other NMs in the game. Now I don't know about you, but having to actually go camp, say, a Mithran Scimitar, or a Beestinger, would be a pain. But I can pay some farmer who lucked out and got the drop for them. That's how the overwhelmingly vast majority of NMs are handled. To make them all Rare/EX would not only add an annoyance for everyone, but it would also devalue gil, thus increasing the inflation rate and making everything else more expensive. Trust me on this, NM drops are fine the way they are.

Grats on 40, by the way. Reminds me that I need to go level so you don't catch up ^_^

Gatomon

December 9th, 2004, 01:03 AM

Been playing the game since May.
When I was recovering from an operation.
I rather Enjoy the game. Nice chars Intresting quests and missions.
You find friends in strange places and you grow in exp and power as you level.
My main char is a Level 50 red. Brandychan.
Her Sub jobs are 41 white, 17 black, 13 summoner, 1 dragoon.
My sister char Brandychann is a Level 22 warrior.
I find the Level caps Highly annoying and the L1 mission hard to do without Major help.
My server is syph

JOJO

December 9th, 2004, 05:40 AM

Cool, someone on the Sylph server too. I think I remember seeing you or at least someone with "Brandy" in their name. I take it you usually go RDM/WHM, which is my current main as well. :)

Gatomon

December 9th, 2004, 06:26 AM

I'm around lots.
Right now My char Brandychan has been White/black so I can teleport.
Look for her in an Opaline dress. She will be dress so for teleporting.
her sister char Brandychann is a Warrior and has a great sword taller than she is. She is currently wearing beetle armor.

Brandychan the Mage is a Renk 5 char.
Brandychann the Warrior is rank 2.
Both on sylph.

Lacan

December 9th, 2004, 02:57 PM

I restarted FFXI fresh today *As I told people* and now I'm on the Hades Server at San D Oria. I'm a level 3 Warrior, and my Name in FFXI is LacanZZ.

Also the reason why I restarted also is because the PC version ran too slow on my PC which made the game less enjoyable. So now that I got the PS2 version, I restarted fresh, and now I'm enjoying myself with FFXI.

RPGuru1331

December 9th, 2004, 03:01 PM

Uh, it wasn't necessary to restart if that was your reason.. You coulda kept the work you put into it already..

Lacan

December 9th, 2004, 03:07 PM

Yeah, sorry, and I didn't really level up that much, before I restarted.

Gatomon

December 14th, 2004, 09:26 AM

ZeroRyoko1974

December 14th, 2004, 01:02 PM

I am still on Titan server, Zeroryoko. You might have seen my mule occasionaly in Windhurst, Zeroryok. Shes a Mithra that usually doesn't wear any armor running between AH and the Residential Area. Zeroryoko is a Rank 5 F Elf Currently a lvl 37 Pld. I haven't been leveling as much because I have been woodworking (currently lvl 30). My other jobs are 29 war/25whm/13 Drk/11 Thf/11 Rng/11 Smn/6 Blm/5 Mnk/2 Drg/1 Rdm/1 nin/1 Brd/1 Sam (well, will be one if I can ever get back to Norg alive)

Lynx

December 14th, 2004, 01:23 PM

I'm now starting on the Expansion.
I loaded the expansion and had my fiirst few cut scenes with it.
I have the amulet from the strange boy. I then went up to the Rue area as instructed and talked to all the NPC's And got one cut scene. I'm now stuck at that point. Has anyone gotten any farther?

Once you're done with the cutscene and have talked to all the NPCs your next step is to beat Promyvion. You can enter from any of the shattered telepoints at each crag (Dem, Holla, Mea) and you'll have to get to the top floor for a BCNM battle in each. Level restriction is set to 30 for all 3 of those promyvions.

I'm currently at the same point you're at now. I've yet to complete any of the Promyvions but my LS plans on getting it done eventually after all the AF business is handled. From what I hear, they lowered the difficulty dramatically after the last patch so it should be easier to defeat even with one party.

JOJO

December 15th, 2004, 06:02 AM

That reminds me...I need to finally install CoP this weekend. Anyway, I've reached level 48 and will be needing to do the L1 and AF1 quests soon. I'll also need to farm a lot and maybe start leveling WHM or RNG again. BTW, I saw you a few times, Gatomon. You really do hang around Jeuno often.

Gatomon

December 15th, 2004, 06:11 AM

Sandy is where I do my Teleport Biz. :)
It's not as lucrative as Juneo. (Yes you can make Huge Bucks there)
But my typing skills are slow. That costs me Biz.
(Juneo is cutthroat)
I don't mind only doing a few ports and not the hassles of the masses of
Juneo. :naughty:

Right now I'm waiting on a level 75 White to get unbusy so I can complete my L1. I have only the paper to get to finish and that;s the hardest.
Licths are level 60

RPGuru1331

December 17th, 2004, 10:10 AM

My LS is doing Promyvions on Tuesday, and I will go, as a Mini-Ranger (THF/NIN, decked out for Ranged Attack/Accuracy). I did a fair job when I went last time, but our BLM cast a -Ga spell on the last memory receptacle, which screwed us over completely, as every single Stray was on us at that point, as opposed to the few that we were handling.

I hit level 50, and broke my cap, big shout out to Dyluck (Scarface) and Anarchy, since the two of them got my paper and Mold (3 Liches, 2 Funguars. Go Treasure Hunter II ^_^), and Dohohoempson and Demonsamurai for my Bomb Coal.

Now that we're high enough, me, DRL, and Hiko are forming a static. And in this time, I must farm 220k (140 if I wait till after the Promyvions, 100 if I can get Lizzy) for Corsair's Knife and Royal Knights Belt.

Fury

December 17th, 2004, 01:33 PM

I'm doing the Promyvions with my LS in a few hours ^^

They did them when CoP first came out and again last week but I missed both of them because of the bad time difference, I didnt want to get up at 5am and 7am to do them. This time its at 1pm though :)

Lacan

December 17th, 2004, 04:01 PM

I need to get back to FFXI *Busy with other games and personal things that happened*. If I remember correctly, I'm at a Level 4 Hume Warrior, at San D Oria at the Hades server. And my Character name is LacanZZ.

Fury

December 17th, 2004, 11:56 PM

We only did Promyvion-Holla today and we didnt beat the boss :(

I was the WHM and died very early, I used a cure III which I shouldnt of used and it nearly got me killed before the warrior voked it again, a few seconds later I used a couple of cure II's which made it attack me again and killed me.

My party did very well against it though without me healing (there was still a RDM to help heal) they got it down to under 1/4 of its health before losing.

We went in an alliance of 12 so 2 seperate parties fought the boss. The first party to go in had the same problem with the WHM getting killed first so I really should of been more careful.

Gatomon

December 18th, 2004, 12:14 PM

Woha! Just seen one of the Goblins from the hidden city.
He's standing by the Optistry building in Windy waters.
He has that special breathig apparatius on. :naughty:

Santa must hate me! I have all the Christmass trees.
But, I cannot seem to find the right kid and give away the present and bet the letter. :P

JOJO

December 19th, 2004, 01:17 AM

Gatomon

December 19th, 2004, 07:19 AM

I finally completed the L1 quest!
However, I died 3 times helping others with the bomb coal.
Once was because some dummy trained a wall of bats to us at the banishing gates.
I then partied for several hours and am 2 k from 51 now.

Aelice

December 19th, 2004, 10:19 PM

NEVER NEVER NEVER use Cure III in Promyvion boss battle. Cure 2 isn't even a good idea, just keep spamming cure 1 and have your vokers sacrifice some gil for potions. Remember for Holla fight, keep poison potion on you at all times. AoE Sleep = Death.

RPGuru1331

December 20th, 2004, 06:24 AM

I hit 50 on Wednesday and Rank 5 on Thursday. Only need the Bomb Ash for Limit 1 and may begin a static soon. Guru, you just broke L1? I thought you had a 75 NIN. Anyway, it's cool being in the mid-game now and having an airship. I seriously need to farm, though.
Heh. I do NOT level that often. 1-63 is exactly halfway to 75. That's how far in we are. Nice little shaker-upper, ain't it? Now that I'm waiting on a friend of Hiko's to hit our level, I can finall go get my own Leaping Boots and return Scar's, and I appreciate the opportunity. Then vacation for a week, come back to work/school etc, and set up a static so I can actually commence to exping. I DO suggest you take a break from levelling though. And I don't mean to farm, or anything like that, just check out what you couldn't before. Like Molvalpalos, if you have CoP. The Moblins there are awesome. You haven't fought Goblins until you've seen Frying Pan and Crispy Candle, especially when the latter fails.

As a side note, though I am only midlevelled, I also have a rather vast amount of data that I've collected on mobs.... which is part of why I'm not so high levelled. Experimentation usually is followed by death, in my experience... Not a big part, but part.
I also suggest you find some of the other content in this game; A good test of how good a player you are can be found in EFs and Garrisons, as well as most of the Promathia missions zones.

JOJO

December 21st, 2004, 06:22 AM

Yeah, I heard about the halfway point and can see how the "next level" amount increments by thousands now. I'm going to install CoP soon, just too lazy to do it as of yet. I guess I should try exploring as you said, but I don't EXP nonstop or only farm. I actually try competing quests and helping people and such. Anyway, I hit 52 yesterday though I hadn't planned to level. It's those random invites I just can't turn down. I could go anon, but it just doesn't feel right to me.

Lynx

December 22nd, 2004, 07:53 PM

Finally got rank 6 San d'Oria. :dance:

It was an awesome fight and a lot of fun. I'm looking forward to doing it again for when I switch back to Windust. Now the story looks to get a lot more interesting. I caught the first cutscene for the my next San d'Oria mission and also started the Zilart missions by watching the first 2 long cutscenes.

I'm currently at 57WHM/28BLM and got to start leveling up again. Lots of AF3 quests are in the pipeline for the next few weeks for many people in my LS. I want to at least hit 60 so I can make use of the Healer's Mitts sitting in my mog house.

Michael

December 26th, 2004, 12:20 AM

Hay guys, what's going on in this thread!?

Man, I have to admit, I really miss ninja, best MMORPG class I have ever played.

I don't, however, miss playing FFXI itself, heh. I just couldn't find the motivation to keep going. Of course, I'm starting to believe this is a generic problem. I don't know. I'm having trouble keeping myself going in EQ2 all the same. I want to blame the fact that I really miss ninja, but then again, like I said, I have no desire to play FFXI. It's just a vicious cycle. I love most of EQ2 (save having to unlock every god damn next area, which is just as bad as having to unlock every 5 levels).

Square should make a new online Final Fantasy using all of what they already have using current MMORPG technology. Instancing is very nice, especially when applied correctly (EQ2 didn't apply it correctly at first but they're working on it).

FFXI just needs more flexibility. Sure you can make groups work, but it gets to the point where it's not even worth the effort. When you need over 30,000 xp to level, it's hard to settle for anything less than an optimal group. 5000xp/hr got to a point where it wasn't impressive, it was on the bottom end of average. It got to the point where accomplishing more wasn't even based on the makeup of your group, but on how many other people were xping. I would jump at the chance to play a new online Final Fantasy if they could address, at the minimum, these things.

A major bonus would be more raid content, more choices in the player's hands. FFXI was too linear. Something I always liked about EQlive was the way factions worked, especially at higher levels. I'd love to see multiple forms of the same level AF armor, depending on a path choice presented to you.

One thing I love about EQ2 is that at level 20, you're already presented with class armor quests. They're annoying (not as much as FFXI's, though), but they're nice to have at such an early level. Given they aren't class specific as in, specific player class, but as in armor type. All of the heavy/vanguard wearers get the same armor, all of the chain wearers get the same armor, etc. The stats are balanced considering the classes that have access to that armor.

You're also presented with real raid content as early as 20, but I've never actually seen it used. ...well, I saw a raid of levels 15 to 20 try and take out a level 20 raid dragon, and watched all 18 of them burst into flames and fall to the ground within 10 seconds.

My real problem with EQ2 is the fact that they seem to have abused the quest idea. I started in Freeport. I had to quest for access to Fallen Gate, the second dungeon in the area. I had to quest for "The Depths of Fallen Gate," a second, deeper dungeon within Fallen Gate (which I haven't even gone to yet). I had to quest for Bloodskull Valley, a raid zone (which I haven't gone to yet, you need 12-24 people to even enter). I'm currently working on the quest for Nektroop's Castle, and one for Cauldron Hollow. I have to start the quests next for both Enchanted Lands and Zek. I'm only level 25, and I have all this content to unlock. It's getting tedious. It's hard to find groups on the spot for specific things, because there are multiple parts to them as well. You might be on one part of the quest, but the group that's forming is on the next step, so you just have to sit there and wait for more, or say "screw it" and focus on experience. But then you know the experience and loot is much better in those next areas, but you can't get the group to get into them yet. =p

It's not as hard as I might be making out to be, it's nothing like the annoyance that FFXI gave me when it came to even the simple task of finding a group as a freaking high end ninja. But, ugh.

I don't know why I'm ranting. I think I just want to play FFXI, but I don't. I want to play EQ2, but I don't. I want them to make a baby so I can play ninja and not have to deal with the major design flaws of FFXI.

ZeroRyoko1974

December 27th, 2004, 11:59 AM

I got my Pld to lvl 40 this weekend. Going to do the AF1 quest sometime this week, and then probably go lvl thief, or rng, or nin. I really should do thf, but its hard to find parties in the dunes at lvl 11, and soloing at that lvl sucks. Maybe I need more +agi and dex stuff.

Cloud_Vll

December 28th, 2004, 08:21 AM

YAH i got FF11 for X-Mas and i just wanted to post my lvl and class

Zole, lvl 6 Warrior useing great-swords

if anyone is on Unicorn and would like to party just PM me... (man this game rock)

Michael

December 28th, 2004, 08:58 AM

agi/dex gear isn't going to help you at 11. ;p

Soloing isn't bad at 11 though... sub white mage and run around Konschtat killing decents (bees, lizards, saplings) between the crag and Valkurm zone in. You can probably get twice as much xp from decents than you can evens with each full bar of hp/mp. If you've ever taken the time to build bow, that can help a lot, a shot or two before the mob even gets to you can destroy their hp.

And as for Cloud, just from the point of view of effectiveness (which this game easily becomes), do you plan on staying warrior? If you do, great sword is the last thing you want to have wasted 30 levels on. You'll need to catch up both axe and great axe. The only job that uses great swords effectively is dark knight (spinning slash Lv3 light skillchain is amazing).

It's a really good idea to plan things out, instead of just jumping into something and paying for it later. ie, if you want to play paladin, use sword and shield, if you want to play dragoon, use polearm, if you want to play dark knight, use g.swd and scythe, though I'd say use g.swd a lot more, because you'll be using scythe until 65, but having the first 30 levels worth of g.swd out of the way will really help. If you want to play ninja, sword and shield. Samurai really doesn't matter. They can use some swords, and some polearms, but there's no reason to (anymore). Beastmaster would be axe, as well as ranger (raging axe > fast blade, helps a lot for those early levels). Warrior itself is based on the axe. Nothing they can do with great sword will touch their great axe skills.

I started as a monk, subbed thief to 30, and then I went dragoon. I had to level warrior up, which felt like a hassle. It's not that fun having to level another job before you can effectively play the one you want. When I started to lose interest right before EQ2 came out, it was because I was having to level warrior 32-37. 30-45 are my most hated levels in the game, and I'm sure people here can tell you why. God I hate that place.

RFFC guy

December 28th, 2004, 12:57 PM

best parties i ever had were 30-45. did 36-41 in one day , started the grp at 8 am , left it at 11 pm. got up at 8 and joined it again ! only did til 43 the next day tho :( , still was the most fun ive had in FFXI , CN aint that bad

JOJO

December 28th, 2004, 12:58 PM

Crawler's Nest or Garliage Citadel? Anyway, WAR is a good safe start if you plan to play any of the melees. As Michael said, concentrate on G.Axe/Axe if you want to be most efficient. It's the only acceptable sub for PLD and NIN (for experience parties) and the most basic sub for every other melee at lower levels (1-30). You can definately keep it as your main but fewer people actually do so out of bordem. They can't do as much damage as DRK or tank as well as PLD, but they're pretty balanced at both. At 50 on, you'll see more WAR/NIN, probably dual-wielding Axes and blink-tanking. Again, they won't be as effectives as NIN/WARs at it until level 74 (Utsusemi Ni), but that's way out there. Regardless, WAR is a very flexable job and is worth leveling.

As for me, I'm guessing that the 50s are the most busiest time to level. Not only are you concerned with Genkais, but you have to worry about coffer hunting and AF quests. It's great when you accomplish some of it but so frustrating when waiting to set it all up. I recently got Limit 2 done and have my AF1 and AF2 for RDM (level 55 atm). I got some extra coffer keys in my inventory, but still need the one in Eldimine Necropolis (my most hated place so far) and Castle O.

Aelice

December 28th, 2004, 04:36 PM

But the Necropolis is COOL ; ; One of my AF was there. XD Everyone nearly died because NOBODY listened to my instructions. Thank God for Horde Lullaby. O_O

Michael

December 29th, 2004, 11:51 PM

I hate CN because it's just absolutely ugly, and a pain to get around with half-assed pick up groups. One idiot ruins the party. The 32-37ish main area with all the tunnels isn't too bad, but as soon as you move on to the hidden room and beetles and soldiers, and later rumblers, everything goes down hill. The only time I've had a good group down in CN was with a JP group that went to some random camp I'd never been to before, and we had 6 rumblers all to ourselves (read: endless 5 chain). Oh the joys of having the jp client and enough knowledge to pretend I'm one of them!

Warriors are actually really bad ***, they're just overlooked because their a "basic job." The downside to warrior is the fact that they aren't consistant. A main warrior can have double attack activate on any strike, whereas sub only works on the first. I have seen warriors do 1200 damage with both Raging Axe and Raging Rush. Just that the next one may only be 500. My static on ninja from about 45 - 64 we had two warriors. There's something special about raging rush > raging rush. It's disgusting.

Warriors typically main hand an axe, and offhand whatever is available. In the 50s there's a really good sword they can offhand (I want to say it's a windurstian conquest item). There are also things like bloodsword and dainsleif, which are fun offhand weapons (drain hp).

Probably the biggest bonus to warriors though is that they're so flexible. Depending on what jobs they are grouped with, they can change how they function entirely by visiting their mog. This really comes in handy when you've got a ranger. A warrior can sub samurai, and easily keep up with a ranger's TP. It was incredible having a raging rush > sidewinder > fragmentation > thundaga III chain every single battle, hitting for around 50% of the mobs life.

Tank as well as a paladin, teehee. Ninja > Paladin majority of the time for experience grinding. Post 37 anyway. Before 37 you need two ninja that know what they're doing to get the same effect~. There are encounters where you definitely want that paladin, I won't deny that. But ninja can outgrind a paladin anyday~. The only thing that stops a ninja is lack of mobs, or a poor group.

As for your AF, at least you don't have to compete with Astral hunting Thieves anymore. That has to be very nice. As a ninja I was always willing to help friends with their coffers there. It could get extremely out of hand with the thieves there looking to just pop coffers, not even caring that someone is looking for their AF.

I've only coffer hunted once in Necropolis. We always avoided that as much as possible, and somehow I was lucky enough to never have to participate in it. Majority of my key hunts took place in Oztroja. I hated tanking for stupid crap like keys. People seem to think ninja have infinite sources of money, and wanted me to tank birds for three hours for them, wasting shihei. Sure I want to help, but I have a dragoon I could use, or I could just skill up something on ninja like everyone else, but they always expected me to tank without question. I had to start asking for shihei upfront. :/

Michael

December 31st, 2004, 12:12 AM

Pft, I broke down, I'm starting ninja over. As much fun as EQ2 is overall, there's no ninja, and I couldn't shake the urge to play me some.

My friend and I are both starting over since our characters are sort of dead. Of course, we won't be grouping much because he's really interested in ninja, and I refuse to play anything else. We're headed to Remora, which it doesn't seem anyone here is on that server.

From what we understand though, power tends to be more in the NA hands on Remora, as well as there being less gilsellers. It should be an overall more tolerable server.

Going Hume 3B this time. Wee. Will hopefully still be Kanzen, else there will be much anger. I can't imagine myself being anything but Kanzen anymore.

Absolute fresh start...this is going to be crazy.

Aelice

December 31st, 2004, 12:17 AM

Fresh start? You masochist. I miss my Bard so damn much! :P I may pick him up again. Dunno. I am VERY tempted to play WoW, though. But I dont want to fall into another MMORPG obsession, I want to get some major details and jobs in life sorted out first. ^^;;

Michael

December 31st, 2004, 09:10 AM

Well, I had Kanzen and a hume female, Miyuki, on the side. She wasn't too bad, but I never did get her up to 50 to have to repeat the genkais and all that crap. No matter, leveling ninja again will be hella fun, because ninja is fun regardless.

Worst part is going to be farming for an emp pin as a level 30 warrior. And doing the faction work again for ninjutsu quests. And then getting Utsu2 at 37.

Need a freaking worldpass though, I can't random my character to Remora even though my odin characters aren't active. :(

DragonRebornLee

January 1st, 2005, 07:16 AM

First post in...forever? Well anyway, all of you should just move to Leviathan and come to the linkshell I'm in, SamuraiSpirits, no one is gonna have a better name than that, cept for BandoftheHawk..but I digress...no we aren't all Samurai. :P

JOJO

January 4th, 2005, 06:32 AM

I accomplished quite a bit the last weekend. Got my RDM AF gloves, legs and body (though I can't wear it yet) as well as gained 5 levels for my WHM sub (33) and 1 level for my RDM (57). I finally installed CoP too. Once I get my pimp hat, I plan to start really leveling my Woodworking, which is only level 12 right now and join some more skill-up parties.

Seijuro_Hiko_IX

January 4th, 2005, 10:27 AM

Yeah, I still play FFXI, and I've made zero progress with my SAM since my last post here, I think. That's because I quit for 5 months and now I'm waiting for my static.

But I'm too concerned with leveling and all that anymore. I have a better reason to always be on FFXI now. And that reason is a level 50 WHM Mithra named Nakaruru.

And I still have no AF other than AF1. I was the same level I am now when DRL started playing and he's already got his AF boots. I seem to recall him telling me that I'd be the first to get my AF once he got to my level. Yeah, not one person except Nakaruru has offered to help me. But I expected as much. AF is the reason I quit after all.

Aelice

January 4th, 2005, 11:42 AM

Dang, I'm playing again XD

Rinlocke, level 56, no rush to level, more interested in getting AF pants and PLing LS members for fun :P Also oggling Elvaans again, Gods I've missed them.

Kessen

January 4th, 2005, 02:24 PM

I hate you all, I really do........

I know how you feel man....

JOJO

January 5th, 2005, 10:30 AM

Yeah, I know how getting help for AF feels and it's so frustrating. The worst are those coffer key hunts. Either people have to be really close friends with you, extremely nice, or need skill-up (most practical case) to help you out. Someone offered 100k to solo the mobs, but I'm not that rich to spare 100k yet. If others just got their key before you, chances are they're going to leave given the slightest excuse (ie emergency escape, 1 death, someone afk). Luckily, I had a really nice 70 RDM to help for free in Eldieme Necropolis and a BST in Garliage Citadel for another drop. I joined a skill-up/coffer party for Castle O., including a 75 RNG. He still died twice, though, on a bad link. Camping wasn't so bad since I'm a mage, though there certainly was competition in Castle O.

Part of the reason I chose RDM, besides being so versatile, is because I am able to help a lot of people in need. After I get my last head piece and before trying to get AF2 equipment, I'd love to help other players out who ask with quests/missions/PL (to an extent).

Fury

January 6th, 2005, 02:30 AM

I got my woodworking to level 30 today! :)

The hardest part (maple sugar and silver arrows) is now over and I'll be making profit all the way up to level 59.

Now that I am a novice I'm going to start saving guild points for lumberjack. For those who dont know, lumberjack is a key item that lets you use bundling twine (75gil) to synth 3 logs at a time using only 1 crystal. I will be able to make a pretty good profit just making lumber when I get it :)

As soon as I can make fang arrows I'll start leveling my ranger. (its at level 14 and fang arrows are level 15) Fang arrows are better than iron and beetle and cost more to buy but they are cheaper to make than beetle are to buy. They dont quiver so they would be a pain to sell off so I'll just use them to level my ranger.

RPGuru1331

January 6th, 2005, 09:25 AM

Damn, my vacation was mistimed. You all restarted and I didn't even know about it. I'm still having fun, I gotta say, except for my minute long yell when I saw Corsair's Knife prices doubled inside of 2 weeks, which wouldn't have annoyed me except that I had the cash at the start of this 2 weeks and figured "Eh, how much could prices change?" THAT'S a rude wakeup call, lemme tell you. I'm levelling BST and WHM while me, DRL, and Hiko are assembling a static.

I must say, I may not enjoy BST as much as Ninja or Thief, but it's still a very fun class. I even grouped with it, because I find groups entertaining, even though soloing is a much different (And more difficult) ball game. However, I'm in a small space between where I can't group without leeching, as I'm 22 with it at the moment, and that's too high for a Valkurm party, but far, far too low to charm monsters on Qufim, and Jug pets are a level away. Plus, I REALLY hate Qufim (Although ironically, I love the dunes). As to the costs of levelling with a jugpet? Feh. Shihei runs way more, and lasts less, so this is nothing. One advantage is that once I have BST up to 30, I can take it instead to the EF. While EFs are a true test of a Thief's skill, due to the chaos inherent in alliance battles against multiple mobs, it's nice to shake things up some, especially since my role basically comes down to checking for Beastmen Banners, and although I'm usually good at it (DAMN YOU MERIPHATAUD MOUNTAINS! DAMN YOU AND YOUR CREVICES!), it gets kinda old. That, and we're usually undermanned, and at lower levels, HQ Jug Pets almost function as an extra DD, since they have superior HP and defense.

WHM is for my coffers as Thief. The tradeoff for halfway useless AF is that we don't have to work NEARLY as much as the rest of you. Just find the coffer and pray you succeed on the lockpick, and risk death on a Mimic. The only part that worries me is Dark Spark, but that's because I don't WANT to have some bored high levels baby me through it just cause they can. I'd rather wait in Jeuno for weeks looking for an alliance of 50-60s then that, honestly. Or even level without them, when they're awesomely good for SATA, although I will stick with my Legionairre's Mittens for standard attacks. Similarly, I will put off my bonnet, since that's doable by a party of 57s and since we're setting up a static...
Chandelier may have to be an exception though, to be honest. I've heard nothing but bad things about it, and knowing my luck, it can and will one shot me with Self Destruct.
I'm never gonna complain about how hard I have it though. Hiko's a SAM, and since we'll be doing his AF, that means we get to go to the Temple of Uggalepih. If we wanted to play completely safe, we'd get one door open every 5 minutes, assuming there were no Bees around. Frankly, I agreed to help him on his AF for that Helmet fight though. 3 NM Demons that can't be slept or silenced, one of whom who calls in a friend? Motherlode. Fights like that are why I play this game.

Oh, and on a side note, Mini-Ranger doesn't work nearly as well as I thought it would in the Promyvion BCNMs. And the price for Archer's Knives crashed after I learned this >_<

JOJO

January 7th, 2005, 06:09 AM

I'm actually going to try to level WHM sub to at least 38 in order to make money off teleports then hopefully, be able to really level my woodworking. Oh yeah, the Dark Spark fight was fun for me (not the actual fight, but the journey there). We had an alliance of 16 people (overkill I know) since so many actually needed the quest done. There was aggro on the way as expected but nothing much. Right before we got to the spot where Dark Spark spawns, 7-8 demons came out of nowhere and attacked us. Somehow, I had a lot of hate and almost died but we all survived in the end. Nobody said a word during the fighting cuz it was so unexpected but it was one of the most memorable moments. Glad we had that alliance afterall.

Got to wear my Warlock's Tabard after reaching 58 on Wednesday. I need to update my sword to the Royal Guard's Fluret now.

RPGuru1331

January 7th, 2005, 08:10 AM

Heh. Grats, JOJO, both on the Pimp gear and the level.

That said, me, Scar, Hiko, and a WHM friend of Hiko's took on the NMs for his boots yesterday. The battleplan was for me to kite the Shadow while the other 3 took the Ghost. I don't know about the Ghost, but the Shadow is a wuss, to be honest; He's only as strong as an exp mob, if even that. The WHM died just before the Ghost did, and I ended up dying about 1 minute before the WHM managed to get back. In that minute, Hiko and Scar killed it dead; The Shadow has less HP and defense (200 on a regular SA? Wimp) then an exp mob, hits about as hard (Dimensional Death excepted, of course), is a slower attacker (Then Beetles, at least), and since it's a BLM, his 2 Hour is useless. The Ghost I can't say, but from one of my rounds around the secret beach, I saw that it drains a bit of HP off of every hit. I figured the Shadow would be a DRK or SAM though, to be honest; I wasn't expecting a BLM, but did fine until Firaga -> Sleep II.
I got Raised by a WHM who was planning on doing his AFI with some friends... we helped. It was a nice revenge to kill Marchelute in under one minute.

Michael

January 8th, 2005, 11:17 PM

Lynx

January 9th, 2005, 12:57 AM

Ah yes, skill up PTs. I've long stopped going into these coffer/skill up PTs expecting anything other than to be main healer. I've yet to get into one where I can actually skill up my weapon skills instead of heal 99% of the time. I still help with coffer keys when I can but when it comes to weapon skills, I've found I'm better off getting a few LS members together for that specific purpose or just soloing when feasible.

I must agree the economy sucks worse than before. Many of the methods I've used to take my WHM through 58 levels have started to become counterproductive to the point where it's just not worth it. It sucks but I take solace in the fact I don't have any really expensive must have equipment until level 70 (Raise 3 which was at 1.1 million and climbing last I checked).

Aelice

January 9th, 2005, 10:55 AM

You're back on Odin!!! :P Yay.

XD I beat DS and Shadow Lord yesterday. Yay the new missions are looking sexy, finally. I joined a REALLY nice LS. All they do is help each other and level on the side. O_o I really miss that community feeling.

I feel really bad, because when I thought I was going to quit, I sold my gear and lent the gil to a high level crafter in my old LS. I told him I might come back, and he said that was OK. He wont pay me back (half a million), so I have mediocre equipment on on loan. X_X;

Still cant gather a PT for castle oz skillup/key. XXXD I want my paaants. I was in 2 PTs before, but nobody brought a THF so of course the drop rate was ridiculous. Ugh.

Michael

January 9th, 2005, 06:06 PM

Drop rate is always rediculous. Thieves pretty much mean jack when it comes to rare/ex drops. If you get one, it's luck. I've been in Oztroja for hours on end with a thief, multiple thieves, etc, then gone in with just a few friends and had a key drop within 10 minutes.

If you want to make money, you want a thief. If you want to get your AF, or find yourself a sexy little rare/ex weapon, you want to pray to the mechanical gods known as the Final Fantasy XI server boxes.

If you can find people, I'll help. I need throwing, and I'd like to skill up great katana for absolutely no reason other than looking bad *** (sorry samurai, but elvaan AF ninja with a g.katana > AF samurai). I refuse to tank though, unless you want to pay me 7k per stack of shihei I end up using. And if for some reason I do end up tanking, I can't guarantee hate, because I'm using g.katana (140 maybe?) and throwing (70), and I'm not going to be debuffing (unless again, you want to pay 16k for my hojo and 8k for my kurayami, maybe ~20k for my jubaku). But still, I'll gladly be another body!

RPGuru1331

January 9th, 2005, 06:07 PM

Don't worry about Dark Spark. A balanced group of 50s can literally decimate him. He doesn't need an alliance at all. If you're doing it in an alliance, you're being babied through it just as much as you would be if you got a couple higher levels. I penta'd him for 1114! When I help people on ninja, I like to mijin for the kill. Nothing beats out self-destructing a self-destructing mob.

And for Chandelier, when he is summoned, no one, NO ONE hits auto attack, hits a spell, hits an ability. The tank first engages it, then provokes, and that's it. Once the tank has provoked, people can join in. Don't let people use their abilities right off either, let the tank build some hate, and just chill out for 25% life at least, then start going all out. Healing is an exception of course. You want the chances of him exploding to be at bare minimum, and when you start going all out and risking it, you want him dead before he can even consider that choice.

Oh, and if he turns on you for any reason, he'll one hit (well, double attack) you anyway. 500+ damage per hit on my dragoon when I helped a few thieves. 300% Penta > Med > Penta and he turns to me, double attacks me, I'm dead, instantly-- no window for healing.

I'd prefer ninja myself for coffer hunting. Regardless you're going to want to be carrying invis powders (more expensive than tabi) and silent oils. Things that aggro magic can corner your mage sub, and you must have a back up (unless you want to start over with a warp scroll!). I also feel a little safer having utsusemi than blink-- there's an extra round of combat worth of "oh crap" time to hit perfect dodge and reach for the warp scroll.

Level that white mage regardless though, it's definitely nice to have for situations for non-primary tank classes. Especially in key/skillup groups. This is somewhere I strongly agree with the Japanese. It's not fair to the mages in key/skillup groups, because they can't do any "skillup." They have to waste majority of their time /healing because they're keeping everyone else alive. When everyone subs white mage, the problem is eliminated because everyone is self-reliant.

P.S., I couldn't start over again, I'm back on Odin. I joined probably my worst ever high end group (which I guess doesn't really count since I've staticed most of everything above 50). Japanese, and they got a white mage, red mage, and summoner for a ninja tank group. On top of that our damage classes were monk and thief. 6000xp in 2 hours. Ugh.. In a REAL party I can make ~5-8k an hour.

6500 to 65. I get Vorpal Blade when I level, which I guess will be a nice concelation prize. I need 66 for Blade: Ten.

Oh, and I can't believe how bad the economy is, and I'm already having second thoughts because of it. Making money can be too much of a freaking hassle, but when I have to spend 18k on the "leet ninja food (squid sushi)", 5-7k (in Sandy for christ's sake) per stack of shihei, and hojo is up to around 18k... this freaking sucks. One party just cost me three times as much as it used to before I quit in October.
Heh. Inflation does indeed suck, but one thing I've noticed is that it is real inflation; Prices seem to have gone up across the board, except on things that haven't been outmoded (Such as Mercenary Captain's Gaiters). As to magic aggro, they have that in Castle Oz/Davoi? I was under the distinct impression that there were no Bombs/Pots/Dolls in those zones. I mean, don't get me wrong, I thought about it for a LONG time before levelling WHM; I have a strong distaste for playing a truly support class. I also don't like the loss of Stealth from Ninja. Not only does it come in handy (At least, I can see a definite difference), but it also throws me off; I'm used to that shorter aggro range except when I'm in pulling mode, since the link detection range isn't changed by Stealth. Only time I died running around in the Quicksand Caves was when I was exiting and forgot that Sneak/Invis is cancelled when you zone. I want Teleport: Altepa... I just don't want it ruined for me ^_^

Nice to hear about Dark Spark though. I was under the distinct impression that it was an alliance battle. Is it the same for a lot of the AFNMs? I know that Climbpix Highrise and Gambilox Wanderling are party capable, but not things like Altedour I Tavnaznia, Miser Murphy (Technically soloable, but not the point), and others, and everyone seems to mention "Alliances". I was planning on having our static go get DS at 55, which is behind for some of us, early for others, but if it's doable for all of us now, that'd be excellent as well.

Michael

January 9th, 2005, 06:20 PM

Your AF body is in Castle Zvahl, which does have elementals~. Davoi and Oztroja are also primarily invis. Doubtful you'd even come close to finishing off a stack of tabi between oz and davoi, probably even have a hefty amount left after Zvahl too. I'm just jaded though, I don't mind spending that extra money and feel reassured that I have the easiest way out with my life, should something go wrong. I don't trust mages. I guess this goes double when I look at the fact that ninjutsu isn't technically casting. Seems cheaper to keep tabi and oils than oils and powders. Though I guess if you end up not using any powders you could sell them back... tabi have pretty much infinite application though, especially if you sub ninja most of the time~.

As for the AF NMs, Dark Spark isn't a job story specific mob, so he's not that difficult. Gloves are more of a speed bump along the way (unless your gloves are 60, like ninja). Your AF3 mobs are typically alliance fights. There are exceptions, when there are strategies that can be exploited. Again, Ninja (absolute joke of AF). AF3 involves spawning 3 sahagin, but with the way it's scripted, you only need to kill one. Normally when you spawn quest monsters, they despawn after a given amount of time. The trick is to spawn the sahagin while sneak is active, then have a summoner single pull the easiest of the lot (bard). You can duo that single sahagin, and by the time you're done, the other two will have despawned, and you can click the ??? again for your item.

Anyway. Most people have a big unavoidable boss battle. Others just get lucky.

RPGuru1331

January 9th, 2005, 06:43 PM

Oh, Castle Zvahl.. Good point. Well, I don't have to take the same option on every Coffer. And it'll be reassuring to have Stealth back. I feel naked without it. I don't really maintain Utsusemi or Blink while travelling though, so that's a non-issue for me. As to Tabi being cheaper then powder... damn skippy. I wasn't aware that taking /WHM was so recommended on Coffer Hunts though, actually. Never really looked into it. I'm considerring using those as a method for moneymaking though; Just help people with coffers in zones with Beastmen, I mean. I've had a fair steal rate so far throughout the game, and if my target was valuable enough (Like possibly Mythril or preferably Gold) beastcoins, that would support me as a player for a long time. Anyway, I am getting behind on my gear, but not by as much now that I have my Corsair's (Altepa and some fast farming handled the gap much quicker then expected). All that's left is a R.K. Belt, which isn't but 70k, and my AF Gloves, which I guess we can do soon.
Edit: Oh, and it turns out they moved Astral Rings to that BCNM 50 of 2 mimics and the real treasure chest. Pso'Xja was wrong. Which is good for mages, I suppose; No sane thief would coffer camp Pso'Xja.

Michael

January 9th, 2005, 07:16 PM

Coffer key mobs carry gold coins~!

The thing about subbing whm is that it has yet to catch on with NA. NA are too freaking selfish/disorganized to figure that out. JP will outright demand it. If you ask to join their skill up pt for a key, and you don't have whm sub, you don't go, plain an simple. NA will waiver, NA won't even ask, NA expects a mage to heal, period. "I know you want hexa, but you're the white mage, so heal!"

I tend to be more gear-centric along with majority of the NA, where the JP are more flexible. Eh, it all depends on the issue, certain things just make a lot of sense to me.

RPGuru1331

January 9th, 2005, 08:30 PM

Heh. I say Mythril based on my one personal experience stealing from a mob that carries coffer keys; Ants. Maybe Ants just hate people, maybe they're poor, but the bastages drop keys and only carry Mythril ; ;

But that means my sub of choice for stealing in Castle Oz will definitely be /WHM. If it's an NA party, they apparently won't care, if it's JP, then I stand a chance in hell of getting in, and even I know that Skill Up parties are more convenient for stealing then by yourself. Plus.. it's free (Now that WHM is up anyway). When my sole goal is to make money, that's a mighty powerful motivator.

Last question, you suppose 55 is high up enough for DS? I mean, if now, that's fine, just trying to make sure I'm not getting us all killed.

Michael

January 10th, 2005, 02:55 AM

Hm. I usually don't consider the xp mobs that happen to drop coffer keys as coffer mobs, just because uh, you're not going out of your way or anything. That and I didn't think about the anticans dropping them. Most of the easy keys I was thinking of weren't beastmen (crabs, beetles, spiders, funguar, crawlers, etc).

I guess there are some coffer mobs that are cake, but the ones you'll literally spend hours and hours helping with are going to be gold coins. Oztroja, Beadeaux, Davoi, etc. Eh, Sea Serpent's is probably mythril too, but soloed by a 60 dragoon, so pft! =p

A 55 group would destroy sparky. Just make sure every single one of you has the quest up to that point. Only one person needs to touch a torch. Everyone needs to remember which torch he touched and all touch the same one after the fight.

RPGuru1331

January 10th, 2005, 08:21 AM

Righto then.

A question for you, Michael, or anyone else who can answer it, really: Have you, in the games you've played, found that staticking hurts the players themselves? A thought occurred to me: Almost every trick I've learned, I learned by watching a pickup member do, such as disengaging before the mob died to grab the next, or even SATAWS. With a static, this influx of new tricks will halt. While I'd love to think I know all the important ones, one can never be too certain.

Edits galore, because I read the posts above mine for once:

Sorry to hear that Aelice. I hope your friend wises up and pays you back at some point.

Aelice

January 10th, 2005, 10:39 AM

Thanks so much, Kanzen! :) If you did end up tanking, I'd provide you 2-3 stacks of Shihei. I know how NIN eat that stuff up. O_o

XD I wonder if I can kidnap 3 THF friends, the drop rate would be orgasmic?

It's OK, RPGuru. No need for me to stress over what I cant control, eh? :P I made my error in judgment to trust him. Since I cant level, I've been meeting a lot of awesome people doing their own AF quests. ^^ And I'm finding a lot of people I met when I was a newbie WHM. XD Lots of fun!

RPGuru1331

January 10th, 2005, 10:45 AM

Heh. Just one minor note, technically THF's help on Coffer keys.

But of course, I use Technically for a reason.

We just increase the overall drop rate. For instance (Disclaimer: I'm making these numbers up) instead of 1000 items dropping out of 2000 mobs, 1100 do if you have a Thief. Now, let's say the drop rate on a coffer is 1% out of all drops; Instead of 10 keys, you'd get 11. Since we don't make the drop rate go to a more noticeable difference in drop ratios between drops, people assume TH doesn't work on Rare/EX stuff.

Note that it's been confirmed by SE that the more people you have in the party, the higher the overall drop rate is. So a full Alliance is actually best to coffer hunt.

Michael

January 10th, 2005, 11:08 AM

I like statics. There's not much you miss out on, because the only tricks I can think of are basic skills of the game. If you're a thief, I don't see why you wouldn't be SA/TAing in a static, and if you're a tank or a primary melee, it's not hard to figure out what's going on.

Honestly, I hate SA/TA. I don't like having to wait on other people to get my hate. One thing that I liked about my terrible damageless party the other night was the fact that the thief let me get all the hate I wanted up until the skillchain, then the monk pulled and he SA/TAd to me.

You could get a lot of thieves and try it, as the fall of thieves in large key raids tends to lie in the fact that it chooses one person to check after each fight, so the more thieves you have the higher chance you have of the increased drop rate.

There was a theory for awhile going around that keys won't drop if there's not a coffer up, which would explain why Oztroja would have sucked, but not why Beadeaux sucks so much, or how I would get 8 keys in a few hours in Kuftal popping coffers every 30 minutes. =p

ZeroRyoko1974

January 10th, 2005, 11:16 AM

/em yawns.
I feel like the dunkin donuts guy, only, its time to kill the yags, time to kill the yags. I am so bored with killing yags for necklaces. I wish there was an npc that sold zinc ore. Oh well, I am a little over a 100 necklaces traded, will have to go back to Jueno and check the stinkin rice balls again. I had Norg hp, but I reset it buy accident changing jobs to death warp. And I hate the whole SATA thing as well when I am tanking as a Pld. One day we only had a thf, drk and myself meleeing. THe drk had like no defence so him tanking just wasn't going to cut it, so I am like just let me get the hate and just sata off the drk. And the drk is like I don't know where to stand, and I am like, well if I am tanking, the head is facing me, the other end is the a$$ end of the crawler, get back there.

Michael

January 10th, 2005, 11:26 AM

You could buy zinc from the Bastok AH, it's just expensive.

400 average, need around 25 turn ins, 25x4=100+1=101(initial zinc quest is only one ore)x400 = 40400, probably minimum cost there because as you get to the bottom of the zinc supplies it's likely it will jump to 500 per.

I did the buy zinc route on my alt back on Odin, I think it took her around 30 turn ins just because I had done absolutely nothing for her to have gotten any other Norg fame.

If you don't get the fame though, you end up shelling out a lot more buying your spells when they're up on the AH since you wouldn't have the fame to quest for them. I did yagudo the first time around because I wanted to spend as little money as possible, I'd do two full turnins of the necklaces, then use the gil profit from my yagudo slaying and necklace turnins to buy another batch from the AH to turn in. 2 runs, AH, repeat~

RPGuru1331

January 10th, 2005, 12:00 PM

The other scroll quests help the fame.

And I farmed my necklaces. not as efficiently as Michael, since I needed my gear, and it took some time, but it felt nice knowing I was the direct cause of my fame. Probably would have had some cash if I farmed the cash/turned the Zinc in though. If you don't have WHM at 20, you'll also need Silent Oils for the quest, and take care! EVERYTHING in that cave aggros. I never knew that pugils or Crabs could aggro at all til then. I ended up finishing the quest, then dying to the Octopus standing over the ???.

I like statics. There's not much you miss out on, because the only tricks I can think of are basic skills of the game. If you're a thief, I don't see why you wouldn't be SA/TAing in a static, and if you're a tank or a primary melee, it's not hard to figure out what's going on.
Well see, thing is, the thought never would have occurred to me that they stack together. SATAWS? Same thing. I was given a crash course in the mechanics by a Thief much higher level then me, who I later learned was in the same Linkshell as me. He walked me through it pretty quick, really; Told me to try using Wasp Sting (Still 31 at the time) after Viper Bite, then taught me why Thieves close SCs; Gave me a near failproof macro setup after the fact (Sneak Attack, wait 1.5, Trick Attack, wait 1.5, then disengage, /attack, wait 2, WS), It only messes up when the WHM starts casting on me just as I'm drawing my weapons. I'm not sure if it's a bug that keeps a melee from drawing or what, but it's annoying. Anyway, I can't help but think I'm missing something, but that's me. I mean, I'm not a complete idiot or anything, just feels like there's always something obvious I never knew.

JOJO

January 10th, 2005, 12:47 PM

Right now, I have a lot of things to do including getting my AF hat, Genkai 3 and completing rank 5 missions. Last weekend, I got to level 60 unexpectedly. I joined a party at level 58 as main healer at Gustav Tunnel, so I was skeptical at the experience. Setup was RDM/WHM (me), BRD/WHM, PLD/WAR, RNG/NIN, MNK/WAR, THF/NIN. We stayed together for 35k experience and even beat Wyvernpoacher NM by ourselves. Well, 4 of us died and it didn't drop the bow for our RNG, but it was such a close fight even though the MNK didn't have 100 Fists. It came down to the THF soloing it while the BRD running away, both in the red. Somehow, the BRD got hate and the THF was able to SATA it. It was so cool!

I also tried mission 5-1 off a random invite. We got the the BC after a while since we needed a guide that kept going afk. When we got there, our PLD couldn't enter though he had the mission started (needed to talk to someone, I guess). So we were without a tank and a MNK (couldn't find one), but we tried it anyway. Setup was RDM (me), WHM, BLM, BLM, BRD...pretty suicidal with only mages. We actually almost won with the boss only having a sliver of life left. Our tank came back after fixing the mission and we tried again. Trouble was that only me and the PLD had their 2-hours ready, but they were getting impatient and wanted to get it over with. We came close again with the tank, but without 2 Manafonts and Benediction. Well, at least I know how much easier this would be when we're all prepared or had a MNK but I'm in no rush to complete it now.

As for static parties...that was the intention of my brother and my cousin when we first started but due to conflicting schedules, we just went our separate ways helping each other when we had the chance. I think in the long run, it's much better to play pick-up parties through your first main job. Not only do you get to party with different types of jobs, but also with different styles and party setups where you have to adapt constantly. We do, however, would love to do a 3-man BST static. That would be really cool.

Michael

January 10th, 2005, 02:36 PM

Gustav in the right parties can be great. I haven't really XPd there since dragoon though, and uh... back when I played dragoon, doing goblins was just suicide. Enemies gain the same tp you do when you hit them, +3 (or something like that). So... Lv60 drg/sam penta med penta jump jump penta = 3 bomb tosses one right after another in unison with my pentas. Yeah, that sucked.

Having spells cast on you locks your character regardless of what he's doing. This screws up thieves who SA/TA at the start of the fight who are also to puller. This screws ninja up when the caster decides to buff, regen, cure me, whatever right as the mob is incoming, so I can't provoke and get started on my debuffs right away. Cast lock really needs to be fixed.

I don't get into the static thing until higher levels when it slows down because when you want to xp, everyone else your level wants to camp keys, and when you want to camp keys, everyone else is xping. Dragoon got into his static around 54 I believe. Ninja started earlier, maybe 49ish. There really isn't that much to the game; by level 50, you should know your role well enough in relation to others that regardless of the party set up, you know what you're doing.

Regardless of how the party is set up, the basics remain the same.

I like statics because I don't have to sit on my *** staring at the wall for 5 hours hoping I get an invite and trying not to be the guy half way across the world when there are two others right there in town also seeking. I like statics because I know when I can farm, when I can level other jobs, and I can do it without worrying about what's going to happen to my main.

Odyssey

January 11th, 2005, 05:09 AM

All you people are on Odin aren't you? oy vey, I'd love to join the fun there, but I'd be so behind >.<

In other news... I've still yet to hit 40 w/ my drk... I do not lvl often as, for whatever reason, leveling doesn't interest me much... probably the having to seek for an hour and then hope the pt is good thing... that and the eventual farming to get gil and new equipment...

<- wants to join odin server now >>

RPGuru1331

January 11th, 2005, 05:15 AM

I'm on Leviathan. I think JOJO's on Sylph, Michael and Aelice are on Odin, I know that much.

Last night, I got an invite on my WHM to do BCNM 20: Wings of Fury with a BST and a Paladin. It's a 3 man fight vs. 2 Furies, Triple Bat type monsters, and Colo-Colo, a large bat. Mind, these mob types are... meaningless, except for basic information. While they do use their standard WSs, they have magic, and they have extra WSs on top of their normal ones. The Colo-Colo spams Poisonga, so there's no point to healing poison, and all 3 cast Drain/Aspir. Colo-Colo I didn't see too much of, but I know that one of his extra WSs is Marrow-Drain, which drains MP. He didn't use it til towards the end of the fight, which leads me to believe that he doesn't use it until he's actually out of MP. The Furies have Turbulence, which is basically wind elemental damage equal to an AoE Jet Stream when unresisted. Needless to say, it hurts like friggin' hell, and they have Slipstream, which is an AoE Accuracy down. Damage starts to drop a bit when they have you under both Slipstream and Sonic Boom, since you hit for less, and less often. You have 15 minutes to complete the battle. The two I partied with told me they've never won without using one of their two hours, and on the 3rd fight, we got... hosed. Well, basically, what we did was the BST would charm one of the Furies and send it after Colo-Colo, while the 3 of us went after the other Furies. Either the BST would 2 Hour, or the Paladin would 2 Hour after the first uncharm, and start passing hate as best he could between Colo-Colo and the Furies. I used Pie and Drinks, he used Fishkabob and Drinks, and the BST used Chamomile and Persikos au Lait. One thing I noticed is that if when I cast Slow on the Colo-Colo, the 2 Houred Furies could beat him, with a small amount of HP left. If that happens, the BST has to log out a.k.a. Ghetto Release the pet, since it won't uncharm for 30 minutes. We got a Thunder Spirit Pact and a Platoon Lance as the valuable drops, as well as a Platoon Pole (Worthless), Bat Wings/Fangs, and some minor tradeskill items. They invited me to do it again tonight, and given that I got 80k for maybe 20 minutes of work, I'm more then game. I want to see if we can beat them without the two hours ^_^. I'm thinking the BST would have to bring Mithkas instead and just forego the poison damage. I'd bring BST, but he needed a Monster Signa to land his charms, so I'm thinking that's a "No", since I don't have one, and I'm not about to get a Signa, which I wouldn't even use when levelling BST (I melee with my pets), before I get my Leaping Boots.
On a side note, I'm 0/6 on Lizzy at this point. She hates me, I can tell.

Oh, and Micheal, am I right in Thinking Cast Lock only prevents Abilities and WS? I still got a SATA off each time.... it's just that there was no Viper Bite attached.

Michael

January 11th, 2005, 07:03 AM

If you're cast on right as you're hitting SATA, you'll just stand there like an idiot until it finishes. You can't freaking move.

Happened to me a few times when I was playing thief on Miyuki.

Also prevents me from provoking on Kanzen from time to time. I tend to provoke as soon as the puller gets it within the max distance, then start debuffing so I can land blind and be majority of the way through casting Hojo by the time it even tries hitting my shadows.

RPGuru1331

January 11th, 2005, 07:20 AM

Well, it doesn't stop normal attacks, and since I precharge my SATAs it only affects my WS. The SATA still goes off, just no VB... so no distortion chain, and a false "/p Using Viper Bite", which throws the mages off. I never realized it affected Voke though. That's pretty damn serious O.O

Michael

January 11th, 2005, 07:33 AM

The problem with SATA is if you stop to cast it, and a mage hits you with a cure, the macro might have activated in time, but you're not going to be able to get behind the tank. The higher you get the less places to have to go, the longer pulls can be, the more of a hassle using SATA before you pull becomes.

When I get hit by cure lock, I can't move around to try and get things started, I can't draw my weapons, etc. Like with crawlers it's usually the best idea to turn the mob away from the casters, but if they cure me at the start of the fight, I hope they like getting poisoned.

It's never long enough to actually affect anything when I can't move/provoke, it's just that it makes it a little harder for me. No one's going to take any extra damage, because like I said, I provoke at max distance, so I have plenty of time to make sure I can voke again. It just makes it harder for me because I like to have kurayami and hojo up and not have to worry about refreshing shadows in between. If the mob is already on top of me when I provoke, and I can't pull my weapons to parry any hits, it just makes it harder for me.

If I'm relying on a thief to sata me, and he's stuck standing beside me with his timers dropping because he hit his macros right before he pulled, it makes it harder for me.

JOJO

January 13th, 2005, 02:19 PM

I finally completed my RDM AF set and broke limit 3. L3 was pretty simple as long as you're careful. The AF hat quest was pretty fun, especially the Guardian Statue fight. We had to fight it (and Miser Murphy) 4 times for each RDM. The first 3 were simple enough, but the last one really caught us by surprise. It started doing AOEs really early and in no time almost everyone was in the orange with 2 dead. Anyway, looking forward to exploring new areas and not having to worry about AF for a while.

RPGuru1331

January 13th, 2005, 02:31 PM

Yeah, the Evil One hates me. 3 more claims, still no boots. I'm starting to get discouraged. However, I find hope in that one guy on Allakhazam has killed NMs a total of 240 times (13X if you discount Stroper Chyme, but I don't), and still hasn't gotten one of their drops. As long as I'm not like him...

PanzerGrenadier

January 16th, 2005, 06:55 AM

Hey anyone here on the server fairy?

Mercenary

January 16th, 2005, 10:12 AM

I am highly considering playing again, but I will most likely be starting over since it has been around 5 or so months since I cancelled (I think they delete characters after 3 months of inactivity, but I don't know).

I will probably end up on the Ragnarok Server this time though since I have some friends there who want me to play. Although I am not entirely sure since it would be nice to see some of the people I knew on Odin again. But on Ragnarok I am practically guaranteed a static party right from the start which is nice, so I can finally be a Monk without worrying about having to wait 2 hours for parties all the time. :) Although if my character is still there I will of course continue to play on Odin.

Is it just me or does it seem everyone is rejoining FFXI again? A bunch of people here, then a bunch of other people I know are also all rejoining lately.

Edit: Almost forgot, if I remember correctly they work on an end of month basis. Like charge at the end of each month. So then if one joined today or tomorrow wouldnt they then be paying 12.95 for only half a month? I seem to remember that when I rejoined once before it was that way, but maybe it has been changed or I just remembered wrong. Anyone know?

Lynx

January 16th, 2005, 10:48 AM

Is it just me or does it seem everyone is rejoining FFXI again? A bunch of people here, then a bunch of other people I know are also all rejoining lately.

Edit: Almost forgot, if I remember correctly they work on an end of month basis. Like charge at the end of each month. So then if one joined today or tomorrow wouldnt they then be paying 12.95 for only half a month? I seem to remember that when I rejoined once before it was that way, but maybe it has been changed or I just remembered wrong. Anyone know?

I notice a lot of people rejoining too. Despite its flaws the game still has its good (i.e. addictive) qualities.

I recall reading about someone getting charged a full month when they returned just 2 days before the next billing cycle. Just to be sure I'd recommend you wait until the next billing cycle before you sign back up.

Mercenary

January 16th, 2005, 11:05 AM

I looked it up in the book at it says
Full monthly fees are charged for purchase of new content ids or reactivation.

So yeah itd be 12.95 for me for the rest of this month.
And yeah my character is gone :|

I may join this month anyway, as when purchasing games I consider it worth the price if I get a 1hr to 1$ ratio. Thus as long as I get 13hours before the end of the month I consider it worth the purchase, and I know ill get much more than 13hours (id get that by next weekend)

Michael

January 16th, 2005, 04:59 PM

My activity in game has already dwindled. Heh.

Yeah, the 3 month thing is like clockwork. When I went back for a few days between WoW closed beta's end and EQ2's launch, I never activated my trade mule. I saw him disappear when I came back this month. He was there for a day or two into the month, then poof, like he was never there.

EverQuest Live was never up on that. Hell, they would have patch messages saying they were purging all of the level 1 characters across the servers that hadn't been used in awhile, yet all of mine still remained (I was a jackass back then and when a new server openned I'd jump on 8 different names). My level 1 characters are still there, I'm sure.

PanzerGrenadier

January 16th, 2005, 05:45 PM

Is there anyone here who has characters on Fairy?

RPGuru1331

January 17th, 2005, 05:12 AM

So anyway, I was walking through Jugner to finish the Norvallen supply quest, when I mention on my LS that, War Dance aside, Orcs are wimps. The WHM, a Sandorian who has died a couple times in Davoi doing Paladin, said that I wouldn't think so if I went to Davoi. Being the foolhardy, deathseeking guy I am (Plus having visited Castle Oz and Beadeaux for extended periods, both of which are worse), I told to put her money where her mouth was; Bet that I could or could not find a Coffer in Davoi, flying blind (No maps of any kind). She took the bet. I ported back to Bastok, bought a stack of Skeleton Keys, ported back to Norvallen, looked for the Davoi entrance, and went in. Lemme say, that place is hell without a map. I never got aggro or anything like that, but there are so many dead ends.. Jesus. Anyway, I ended up finding a coffer, and getting my Old Gloves, so that's done. I decided I'd explore some more, and headed into what turned out to be the Monastic Cavern. As I'm running around, I see the Orcish Warlord, and think "Hey, isn't that the HNM Orc..?"
Orcish Warlord Begins casting Aspir
/l Hey guys, I found that Orc HNM.
Ixquic uses Perfect Dodge
Ixquic uses a Scroll of Instant Warp

Lemme say, thank God he's a Dark Knight. If he were a Summoner or Mage I'd have been slaughtered. At least, I think he's a Dark Knight, as he nuked then rushed me. I coulda sworn he was a Paladin, but meh.

And Merc, I'm surprised to see ya back, but then, I suppose everyone else on AN is.

Lynx

January 17th, 2005, 09:37 AM

It feels like artifact armor quests, coffers, and fights are all I've been doing for the past 2 months. Just finished helping with DRG AF3 yesterday which brings the brunt of AF to a close leaving just a few more fights scheduled. A few things I've learned on the way...

Easiest places to get keys and find coffers in my experience were Crawler's Nest, Quicksand Caves, and Kuftal. Beadeaux coffer key was a pain to get but finding the coffer is incredibly easy. Ifrit's and Castle Zvahl were also a pain to get keys but since not many people run those areas, there generally wasn't stiff competition for a coffer. Worst places for a coffer are Eldieme Necropolis and Garlaige Citadel. Anyplace that requires more than one person to find a coffer essentially doubles (and quadrouples in Garlaige's case) the danger.

NIN AF3 is the easiest one I've participated in so far. I'm pretty sure the NIN in my LS could have soloed it himself but I happened to be in the jungle at the time so I gave him a hand. We duoed the WHM NM sahagin while the other 2 NMs despawned, granting him easy access to his AF's key item.

WHM AF3 is not a lot of fun. A shadow that loves to spam dimensional death and upper tier -ga spells really puts a hurt on the alliance. There was rarely a pause in between cures through the whole match.

PLD AF3 I've done 5 times now. The RNG Orc's Eagle Eye Shot is the big thing to look out for in that fight. Lost a WAR who pulled too much hate and almost got one shotted by that attack alone. He didn't survive long enough for the Cure IV to complete casting. The PLD orc isn't a huge problem. He just has a very high DEF making his fight last a while longer.

DRG AF3 wasn't difficult at all. Just sneak the DRG and pull the mobs one at a time. Only time we had any real problems was when mobs started respawning in the room and interrupted our fight, causing the second NM to despawn. We ended up clearing the room once again and restarting the fight.

WAR AF3 isn't hard if everyone in the alliance follows a simple strategy. Have a minimal ammount of people keep the two of the goblins preoccupied while the rest kill the third. The most important thing to do though is keep the goblins separated. Having 3 goblins dropping gob bombs one after the next in the middle of an alliance is no fun :\. Luckily nobody died, although there were a ton of curagas going around.

SMN AF3 reminded me a bit of the WHM battle against the shadow. In it you face a Manticore type mob that uses some pretty nasty moves. I couldn't keep track of everything in the fight because I needed my eyes glued to the PLD's HP bar. We had a 62 PLD tank and he unfortunately died that match. The manticore likes to cast silencega and also dispel. Being silenced and losing protect equals an extremely fast loss of HP >_<.

For BST AF3, bring at least 2 BSTs and most of the work is cut out for you. Two tigers and a hound spawn for this fight. The tigers are charmable so with 2 BSTs there's no worries from them. Everyone just focus on killing the hound and the match is as good as done.

Upcoming is WAR AF3 (again) and RDM AF3 which I've heard is a very hard fight. We also may do SAM AF3 if our SAM ever returns (he's been missing :().

Michael

January 17th, 2005, 06:22 PM

The only AF3 I hate is thief. But that's only because I was stupid enough to go drg/sam and 2x penta a bomb. Oops.

Thief and WHM are probably the worst I've ever done. WHM is just a pain because everytime I've gone there has been at least one death. Thief AF3 I've gone and had no deaths, except me being a jackass.

I've only done Miser Murphy for RDM AF3, which is cake as long as the people around you aren't idiots. We had a few people die one time just because some people can't freaking sit still and started fighting all the trash around the fountain. Someone pulled a revenant right as Miser spawned, the person didn't say they'd pulled, so we started working on Miser. At least I didn't die. ;p

Never done SAM or DRK. Can't say I've ever heard anything about SAM's AF3... I know what it is, but there aren't many sam I've ever talked to about it. I hear DRK can be a pain, but I wouldn't know how it goes.

Monk fight never ends. Never. ends. God I hate monks.

Aelice

January 17th, 2005, 09:01 PM

As I'm running around, I see the Orcish Warlord, and think "Hey, isn't that the HNM Orc..?"

LMAO guess where my Bard Body AF was? XD Had to spawn a ghost NM there. I joined an alliance headed to Davoi for Paladin 2 orc fight, and me and another bard asked if they could also do Monastic, since it's not too far. :P A stupid PLD didn't know about his 'true sight', but luckily everyone else was fine, we gathered in a tunnel, buffed up, killed warlord then killed the ghost and I FINALLY finished my last AF quest at that. *dies*

I am so, so lucky to have started playing again AFTER Castle oz's coffers were gimped, finding AF pants there weren't a problem at all.

Michael

January 17th, 2005, 10:11 PM

Man, that ghost was gimp. That fight was literally over in 5 seconds. Lv3 Light...splat.

JOJO

January 18th, 2005, 06:09 AM

Took a break from levelling although I did reach 61 recently. Spent a lot of time getting the Teleport Mea, Holla, Dem and Altep scrolls. I just want to level my WHM to at least 38 to make use of them now. Also completed Limit 4 (easy quest) and missions 5-1 and 5-2 consecutively. 5-2 was a lot of fun and I just love the music. Glad I had a WHM sub for the mission since we didn't have a WHM in the party. We endured all the AoEs with Chainspell Curagas.

Michael

January 18th, 2005, 04:48 PM

5-2 is...ugh. Once you get to the end, it's so awesome, but the climb up the castle is just freaking terrible. So much aggro dodging, it's insane. I hate having to rely on large groups of people to get through areas like that. If I could, I would have ran up there alone and just went afk for 2 hours waiting for them.

The boss battle itself though... amazing. I did 5-2 originally back before my ninja was leveled, so I went on Dragoon. We had a paladin tank. I couldn't help but laugh as he took a massive foot to the chest.

I helped some friends do it later on with ninja, which was even more amazing (given that it was ninja). I especially liked the fact that I had something to do for both forms. I could slice him up (not like I do a lot of damage but still) until he switched over, then I was able to blast him with my elemental wheel until he switched back.

Mooserocka

January 18th, 2005, 05:53 PM

former 26 thief/18 monk really hate the game now. i hate the game for all the hours it made me waste. its not fun at all. no ones really interactive on it like ragnarok. i used to play that a long time ago. that game was fun because the peopel that played it like if it was a girl u could sit and like talk to her in ff 11 its just want to party ok. thats is no interaction.

Aelice

January 18th, 2005, 10:26 PM

Man, that ghost was gimp. That fight was literally over in 5 seconds. Lv3 Light...splat.

Nobody had experience fighting him. :P And it was hard convincing people to go, until a friend's like, dude, Warlord isn't that hard to kill with 2 PTs. XD

Mercenary

January 19th, 2005, 11:23 AM

Seems I have an obsession with magic, even with starting fresh I had to be a mage, although at least this time I will actually do damage. Taru Blm. :)
First leveling whm to 20 to get chocobo in jeuno then will switch to blm and not have to worry about a sub until lvl40ish, so that'll be nice.

btw, now I am on Ragnarok, name is Mercenary. (Currently lvl14 whm)

Also, I was thinking it might be a good idea to make a seperate topic that keeps a record of each persons name/server. People list them in here, but then you have to try and scroll through to find each one. But whatever...

RPGuru1331

January 19th, 2005, 02:51 PM

Heh. I have my Profile from Alla up in my Sig, but it's been an ungodly amount of time since I last updated it.

Oh, and Aelice... when you say you were in Monastic... did you mean your AF is past the Orc HNM? Because if so, that's just plain cruel.

Michael

January 19th, 2005, 11:31 PM

The ??? room is right next to one of the rooms where warlord can spawn.

Still, I don't think I can ever respect that ghost. Sure we had some level 70+ people, but literally, that thing dropped in seconds from one skillchain.

Aelice

January 20th, 2005, 12:22 AM

Using level 70s is a cop out. :P We had 4 level 60-65 who got him down to 10 percent, but stuffy happened. XD

RPG: http://ffxi.allakhazam.com/db/bestiary.html?fmob=1511 Not that one :P

This one. ;) http://ffxi.allakhazam.com/db/bestiary.html?fmob=579

He's only a problem because there are a ton of orcs in the area, so we had to get them one by one first. ;_; Stupid altar. It's not too bad if everyone is organized, but a ton are not familiar with the quest for the poor BRD AF, so it took me a while to find helpers. XD

Gotta hit level 60 so I can wear my full AF :P

Right now I've been raising clothcrafting. Breaking even. ^^ Harvesting while also camping Hoo Mjuu. The regular campers have this freaky accurate schedule, so I just sneak in between it.

maidenceres

January 21st, 2005, 12:16 AM

I've been gone from AN's forums for 3 years, and I return to a 213/214 paged FFXI thread. @.@

Anyways, I also play FFXI, or did play FFXI... My stats were, before deleting my character:

Name: Lillianna
Race: Mithra
Job: 50 WHM/BLM
Nation: Windurst
Server: Titan

I'm gonna return to the game in a few months. ^^ I miss the game soooo much now. ; ; Though, when I return, I'm going to be on both Titan & Diabolos. >.> I have friends on both servers.

XD I'm gonna return to play as the same jobs, for both servers. I love being a white mage! It's soo much fun... well, at least to me.

Mr. Shadow

January 21st, 2005, 02:29 PM

I've remade my character so many times I can't keep track of them all. Normally I hit level 30+ , get advanced jobs and level them to 20+ and then remake my character on another server... :lol:

Anyway, currently my stats are:
Name: Fearoric
Race: Galka
Job: 25 MNK/WAR
City: Bastok
Server: Remora

I do however remember my first character:
Name: Cerilius
Race: Hume
Job: 30 WHM/BLM
City: Bastok
Server: Seraph (I miss this server)

Odyssey

January 25th, 2005, 02:45 AM

Ok, cool. I finally got my Dark Knight up into the 40's (41 atm). Me and a few friends on Ifrit are going to be doing a few BCNM40's (Palborough Mines worms one) for the gil I need (by lvl 45 I need about 400k...or 1.7mil if I want Brigandine +1).

I really like Crawlers' nest. it's about 20x better than Garlaige, and equally as good as the Deserts. I've so far only had one problem with CN, and that's when there ended up being about 30 Crawlers at the Zone, including one or Rumblers. I stood outside the zone shouting not to enter for about half an hour and stopped when the lvl 56+'s finally cleared them all out. ^^ *goes off to update Alla profile and put in sig*

ZeroRyoko1974

January 25th, 2005, 06:47 AM

I hate when people zone them, but I have been to the area where they come from, and it can start as one, and they all just kind of come along for the ride. I am at lvl 42, about half way to 43. I am a Pld. I wouldn't have minded having the earth doublet, but its never in stock in any of the AH on Titan server. Pld don't get invited to BCNM's so I will just do without and wear the brigadine armor at 45. Personally looking at the Iron Musketeer armor for lvl 50, its not that much better that I would switch to it, other then that its pimpin cool looking.

JOJO

January 26th, 2005, 06:24 AM

ZeroRyoko1974

January 26th, 2005, 06:40 AM

Where is a good place to party at lvl 43 for a Pld. I am getting kind of tired looking at the same old Crawlers Nest, I want to explore other areas. I have heard that quicksand caves are good, or the dessert. Should I just get a tele to Atep and try and find a party or get one together in Jueno?

Aelice

January 26th, 2005, 12:56 PM

Gather the PT in Jeuno, THEN go to Altep :P

JOJO

January 27th, 2005, 05:45 AM

Yeah, Western Altepa Desert is good for your level. At 44, you can also go into Quicksand Caves from the Eastern Altepa Desert entrance. Just be careful of Sickle Slash from spiders and Silencaga from Anticans, but beetles are good.

Odyssey

January 27th, 2005, 06:26 AM

I'm finally trying to level BLM at least to 17 just for warp so I can teleport people with my retired WHM. Since AF is done, I'm just trying to update my other accessories and get my Dark Staff and Erase (about 450k on Sylph). Working on getting the Promise Badge, Cunning Earrings, Aquamarine Earrings and Red Cape +1 for now. We tried to level yesterday with not much success at Boyada Tree (level 62-63 party). We had no WHM and the NIN tank wasn't working well there. Steel Shells are way more annoying than Robber Crabs. :(

Just get a pt together and go do a few BCNM40's in Palborough Mines... the group I went went 4/6 (which we thought was pretty good) and got Erase drops twice and I think Utsusemi: Ni wice as well.
I was 41 when I started doing those but I dided I think.. 3 times, and barely dropped back into 40.

Be glad to tell you how we did the BCNM if you care.

JOJO

January 28th, 2005, 05:54 AM

Just get a pt together and go do a few BCNM40's in Palborough Mines... the group I went went 4/6 (which we thought was pretty good) and got Erase drops twice and I think Utsusemi: Ni wice as well.
I was 41 when I started doing those but I dided I think.. 3 times, and barely dropped back into 40.

Be glad to tell you how we did the BCNM if you care.

That's cool, but I don't think RDMs get invited to that particular BCMN and although my WHM is close to 40, they kind of expect you to have Erase anyway. But I've seen my brother do it several times and know what you have to do. He's a 52 BLM so he gets invites to those. However, he failed each time to get any of the good drops (Erase, Phalanx, Utsusemi Ni) so I'm not so optimisic about that. Besides teleports and woodworking, I do plan to do BCNM 20 (the bats one) with BSTs to make more money but that's much later. I hope to update the rest of my equipment before I hit level 64, about 43k experience away.

Lacan

January 29th, 2005, 12:03 PM

I'm going to get back in playing FFXI soon, probably today. The reason is that I didn't have much time so far, but now I might get more time, plus its annoying to unplug my cable modem and move it to my PS2 and then hook it up. I wish I could play FFXI on my PC, but it runs too slow on my PC, even after I upgraded it, and the fact that my PC can only use PCI Graphics Cards. My PC is fast enough for FFXI, but it doesn't have at least a AGP port for a good enough graphics card to run FFXI at a decent speed.

Mercenary

January 29th, 2005, 01:49 PM

If anyone wants to play on the Ragnarok Server, then here is a pass.
6981869623

I bought it and only needed one use, so it should still have four left.
I don't feel like saying PM me, so whoever sees it and uses it first gets it. :|

Lacan

January 30th, 2005, 10:17 PM

I got joined into my first Party today. The experience was awesome, and I made some new friends, and I even joined a Link Group. But right now I realize that we must level up alot first, then go out after those Orcs and then do Quests and Missions etc.

JOJO

January 31st, 2005, 06:12 AM

Seijuro_Hiko_IX

January 31st, 2005, 09:54 AM

I hit 55 finaly. Although when you think about the fact that I was 51 five months ago that isn't very impressive. Yeah, I took a bit of a break, but anyway I'm back and now I'm remembering why I quit: AF.

I got some help with the quest for my Myochin Sune-ate and I actually have those now. But I don't even have the key to the Quicksand Coffer yet so get my Myochin Haidate which I can wear at 54. I have the Kuftal cofffer key for my Old Gloves to fight Dark Spark, but I've already died trying to look for the coffer. If I can't even get these so-called "easy" coffers, then how the flying frick am I supposed to get the one at the Temple of Uggly?

I need that Kuftal coffer by the end of the week because the rest of my static is doing the Dark Spark this weekend. At this rate I'll be the farthest behind in exp. Which is quite a feat considering how far Guru is behind.

neojedi

February 2nd, 2005, 10:21 AM

For Kuftal, use Silent Oils to keep Sneak up and do a single patrol of every coffer spawn point once every 2 hours. Here is the link if you need it... searching for the chest without knowing the spawn points takes too long. You won't have a map yet, so you need to follow along from the bottom of map #1 and keep track of where you are. Notice that you leave map #1 and come back to it before reaching the top part. The entrance passage on map #1 leads to the bottom of map #2... unless you take a wrong turn, you won't need maps #3 and #4.

http://www.speakeasy.org/~sticks/ffxi/treasure/title.html

For Uggalepih, get help. Most of the spawn points can't be reached without dropping Invisible to open a door, which will get you aggro from mobs on the other side of the door and get you killed. Two of the spawn points can't be reached without killing an NM first, and two others require additional keys to reach.

Seijuro_Hiko_IX

February 3rd, 2005, 08:12 AM

I got my Quicksand coffer and my Kuftal coffer finaly. I still have to kill Dark Spark for the gloves but at least I have the coffer done with.

And I am rather worried about the Temple of Uggly, everywhere I read or hear about it, it keeps sounding worse and worse to try and find the coffer.

RPGuru1331

February 3rd, 2005, 09:54 AM

I finally got my Dark Staff (long overdue) for 195k and finally leveled my BLM to 17. I stayed in the same party in Valkrum Dunes from levels 10-17 where I led most of the time. Next on my list is Erase and the Enfeebling Torque, both priced around 500k each. :(

It hit level 63 on Friday, which I hear is the half-way point and helped my brother (53 BLM) with Dark Spark. ^_^
Yeah, 63 is the halfway point. Also, for Erase, I recommend you set up the BCNM, and handle the items/money. At the end of the night, look at the entire amount made, and deduct Erase from your share. If the share is still negative, make up the difference yourself. It's still cheaper then buying it.

Michael

February 3rd, 2005, 10:36 AM

Meh, if you want to RDM BC40, find yourself a ninja and a monk. Go to Fei'yin and do the skeleton BC40. Same drops as all the others (erase, phalanx, utsu2, etc).

Of course, the ninja has to already have a copy of utsu2, heh.

It's one single skeleton that keeps respawning. First 3 forms are dark knight, last 2 forms are black mage. Black mage is where it gets sticky, because of ga spells ruining shadows. In the end though, you get all the same drops, and only have to split it up between 3 people. I went on a burst where I did it like 5-6 times, sold 4 erases, and made 300k right there. With all the other sales we did of drops (utsu2, weapons, shields, etc since they were new selling high), I walked off with around 800k for a couple hours of work.

It's just hard finding people who want to go. Even harder finding people who want to go with a ninja that spend all of his seals and doesn't want to level a low job just to get more.

RPGuru1331

February 3rd, 2005, 11:33 AM

Hehe... can't believe I forgot about that. It's an awesome fight. Only annoyance is that it's in Fei'Yin, which if you're getting level 40s will be kinda dangerous for them, but the odds of that are low.

Just one comment about that Skeleton: He hits harder and faster with each form he goes through. Just a warning. Bring Drinks and Pie, melee need their food, and Au Laits for full safety.

Thief/Monk kinda sorta works, but a Monk would definitely be leaps and bounds better.

AnimeFanKazuki

February 3rd, 2005, 04:31 PM

I quit playing about two months ago, but now I really miss it... I was such an idiot, now I have to farm everything back that I had becuase i'm returning... T_T

Anyone still play Ragnorak? ^_^

Solid-Snake

February 3rd, 2005, 04:46 PM

I quit playing about two months ago, but now I really miss it... I was such an idiot, now I have to farm everything back that I had becuase i'm returning... T_T

Anyone still play Ragnorak? ^_^
I called them today and they said you have 90 days to reactivate the account after you cancel so I would hurry.
But yea I called to cancel as well today.

AnimeFanKazuki

February 3rd, 2005, 04:52 PM

I called them today and they said you have 90 days to reactivate the account after you cancel so I would hurry.
But yea I called to cancel as well today.

Yeah. I already reactivated it today, but thanks for informing me.

Lantis745

February 3rd, 2005, 05:07 PM

Yuffie

February 3rd, 2005, 05:55 PM

Hello people!
I am new here and I just wanted to say that I think that FFXI has the best graphics and I want this game soo bad and my brother in law has it. Look at me now I'm rambeling. Anyway it kind of sucks that you have to pay to play this awsome-o game but I'll bet it's worth it huh?

RPGuru1331

February 3rd, 2005, 06:51 PM

I have a question about starting up. Is it worth it if you start playing now? Its been out for awhile so i dont know the fun factor of being a newbie to this game if you know what i mean. I dont wanna be the only lvl 1 running around or something like that and do alot of ppl still play? I apreciate any replies.
There are still plenty of people who play. The EU release was relatively recent, so there is still a relatively large supply of new people (On a side note, I almost wept with joy when I heard some Rank 1s in the dunes say, in all seriousness, "Subjob quest? What's that?"). There has been a good deal of inflation since the game's creation, but since it's basically spread across the board, it's not really problematic if you don't farm Quest goods.... It's not gotten to the point where Leaping Boots are expected on your level 15 Thief, so I wouldn't worry about being new.

Michael

February 3rd, 2005, 08:57 PM

Unless your ninja sucks, you shouldn't need anything other than the pie for the redmage! (arrogance!)

I've lost twice (so probably 8 runs or so total), but it was the first couple times we did it trying to figure out how it worked. We ran out of time, because we were being careful with my monk pulling hate off of me.

Honestly, gear doesn't mean anything. People might comment, but people aren't going to be up on you looking at your character before they invite you. If you can prove you're a strong player, that's all that matters. Just because a thief has maxed out gear doesn't mean he's a good thief.

I really wish I could stand playing. I'm sort of gear centric, and while I would like to give samurai a shot (it's already 30!), I don't want to level without access to snipers and eventually a haubergeon. That means I need to get seals and take some friends to farm the crap out of my favorite BC40 to make a lot of money, but that takes too much effort. I'd want to have at least 120 seals, and it'd suck to raise them. :(

Lacan

February 3rd, 2005, 09:37 PM

I'm at level 8 going on level 9 Warrior Class. I'm going to plan on doing a quest so I can become either a Paladin or Dark Knight. So anyone know which class is better?

Michael

February 3rd, 2005, 09:58 PM

Can't compare paladin to dark knight-- completely different ends of the spectrum.

Dark Knight is a damage class. Paladin is a tank class.

Do you want to be the pillar of the group, making sure that the mob hits you and only you? Do you want to take all the damage, live on the edge, and be the last man to run, and the expected to be the first or the only one to die? Paladin.

Or do you want to support the group, putting up large numbers of damage and making the mob die? Dark Knight.

Haha, one thing I love about ninja is that I can sacrifice myself for the lives of my group, and it doesn't cost any xp (mijin gakure). That is, when people are smart enough to run. I wish I could understand why people feel the need to stay behind after their tank tells them to run. "Oh look, he didn't run, I better stay!" <mijin gakure> "OHNO I BETTER RUN NOW. OH MAN, I DIED RUNNING AWAY." :(

Odyssey

February 4th, 2005, 01:00 AM

All I can say about the choice between Drk and Pld aside from what Michael has already said is this: After 30, do you feel like potentially waiting 3hrs for a party? Drk

Do you feel like getting invites even when you're not seeking? Pld

I speak from experience. I best friend in game is a 45 PLD (and I a 44Drk now). He commented the other day that he gets 3-4 invites a day even when not seeking.... I wanted to kill him >.< I stand in jeuno for quite a while before someone invites me... damn Melee classes for being dime-a-dozen... /sigh

Aside from that... up to you lol (Oh, and don't get me wrong, I LOVE being a Drk lol, it's a fun job!)

JOJO

February 4th, 2005, 06:07 AM

Thanks for the info. on the Fei Yin BCNM. I never thought about that one. I'm still looking forward to doing the BCNM 20 (bats) with some BSTs since it's cheaper and you can get Astral Rings to sell. Other than that, I don't mind farming. After I get those 2 pieces, I do want to level some crafts. I think I'll take Woodworking to 60 (only 20 now) and possibly specialize in Goldsmithing. I know it's the most expensive, but I just like the sound of doing it. Although I didn't plan on leveling recently, I hit 64 after a few good parties in Bibiki Bay. It's a really nice place for both scenery and leveling.

As for PLD and DRK, that's about it from what was already mentioned. You just have to try a little harder to get into parties as a DRK in later levels (40+) like putting your equipment/stats in your search comment or more commonly, start your own party. Almost all my parties in the 60s have been started by a DRK or DRG while the mages/tanks/RNGs just sit pretty and wait. You don't have to know everything but at least be knowledgable of some Skill Chains (SCs) and common leveling areas.

Lacan

February 4th, 2005, 01:14 PM

Here is my Stats, etc:

World: Hades
Where I live in FFXI: San D Oria
Warrior Level 8, almost to Level 9
Has a level 10 Sword that I can't use yet
Trying to upgrade my Armor also, so I don't have to wear the skimpy Warrior *AKA Heman* Armor that I was wearing.

I'm feel very dizzy today and sick, so I won't be playing FFXI today...Or maybe I will later at night time or middle of the night?

Michael

February 4th, 2005, 02:50 PM

Paladin slows down. Same reason white mage slows down. More paladins/white mages than there are active parties. That and ninja can steal your invites.

I have seriously thought about giving paladin a try. I think it'd be pretty fun, but one of the things that stopping me is the fact that they have some lame AF quests. Ninja was so easy, Dragoon was fairly painless (I got lucky on an AF3 invite). Paladin is actually a pain in the *** (Beadeaux, coffer in Garliage is so annoying, Castle Zvahl).

Another thing is I'm not sure I'd enjoy it as much as ninja, ninjutsu is more fun than heals. Hm.

Oh, and elvaan sword/shield stance is freaking lame. I'd have to play something else. I'd consider my alt, Miyuki, but then I don't much care for hume female sword/shield either (better than elvaan). Kanzen would look freaking terrible as a paladin, haha.

I haven't grouped with a drk or a drg since probably mid 40s on ninja. Not for experience, anyway. Always been a warrior, since they can best adapt to me as a ninja. That and I fake like I'm JP, and there are more JP warriors that have to build their parties. ;p

RPGuru1331

February 4th, 2005, 11:11 PM

Astral drop rate is horrible. I'm doing it. Repeatedly. I've seen two thunder spirit pacts in... oh... 8 wins. That's all, of note.

Seijuro_Hiko_IX

February 5th, 2005, 10:45 PM

Oh, and elvaan sword/shield stance is freaking lame. I'd have to play something else. I'd consider my alt, Miyuki, but then I don't much care for hume female sword/shield either (better than elvaan). Kanzen would look freaking terrible as a paladin, haha.

Agreed. I hate the way Elvaan hold 1h swords. And they look really goofy with a dagger too.

Anyway, we managed to get Dark Spark and Genkai 2 done in the same night. /hurray for us.

Michael

February 6th, 2005, 12:39 AM

I don't mind elvaan dagger. It has that arrogant "bring it" sort of look to it.

Sword wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't for the left hand, which looks even worse when you have a shield equipped.

RPGuru1331

February 6th, 2005, 11:43 AM

Yeah, I agree on that. If they had his hand out in a more standard fencing stance, then he'd look like Zorro. And as we all know, Zorro is a God.

XKamishiroX

February 6th, 2005, 02:30 PM

I play FFXI, but I quit at one point and gave my brother some of my gear and right now I am farming it back. >_< Here's my current stats in the game.

Name: Kamishiro

Race: Elvaan/Male

Server: Diabolos

Level: SAM60/WAR30/THF34

Artifact Armor: COMPLETE

TaruTaruMan

February 6th, 2005, 04:29 PM

I am trying to level clothcraft and it is really draining my money. So, I was wonder if there was a good syth I could do to make some money at lvl 24 clothcraft. Making Soil Hakis are expensive.

Mercenary

February 6th, 2005, 06:12 PM

Just take a Lightning Crystal + Goblin Armor = 2 to 8 cotton threads...

A stack sells for 8k... of course that varries but its usually around there
So spend 1k, make 8k :)

It doesnt level up the skill, but it can make some money to be able to pay to level up the skill.

Edit: Err, probably spend more like 3k and make 8k, but still around 5k profit. It can very though, but id say 2 to 6k profit per stack.

RPGuru1331

February 6th, 2005, 06:52 PM

Try and get a moghancement: Desynthesis while you're at it.

TaruTaruMan

February 7th, 2005, 03:40 AM

Thank you, I will try that when I get the chance. And also, do Moghancments work wherever you are, or just in the town your recidence is in?

JOJO

February 7th, 2005, 06:39 AM

Congrats on L2 and Dark Spark, Hiko. My brother finished L2 as well. As for me, I just realized there's a Spider Torque which gives +5 Enfeebling, but costs 400k less than the Enfeebling Torque (+7 Enfeebling). I almost have enough gil for it and it'll save me a lot of time farming for Erase...then I'll be set for a long time without having to get anything short of the "elite" equipment (Enfeebling Torque, Pluto Staff, Penitent's Rope, Scorpion Harness).

I know I tried to farm nonstop until I got those items, but I hate to turn down invites and don't like to go anonymous. So now, I'm at 65 and I love Bibiki Bay. :) As for crafting, is there anyone into Goldsmithing? I know it's the most expensive but I like to try to specialize in it after I get Woodworking to 60, or I can try Bonecrafting instead.

Aelice

February 7th, 2005, 08:10 AM

Organized a CoP static PT because I dinged 60 BRD (full AF, kyaa <3). ^^ LMAO at this rate, I'll get Sky2 before Sky. :P

Mogenchancements apply everywhere. I used the fishing enchancement when I needed rusty items for NIN scroll quests.

RPGuru1331

February 7th, 2005, 11:26 AM

Ah, so the Bibiki Bay camp is valid then? I've planned on using it, so it'll be good to know it works. What I heard makes it insane though. Exp all night on 5 mobs? Madness.

JOJO

February 7th, 2005, 02:19 PM

Yeah, Bibiki Bay is great to experience and for scenery. It seems that it becomes a standard leveling place at 63+ where hobgoblins get tougher as you go deeper. I remember getting 250 exp without a chain and 350 on chain 2 once. It seems to me that you can actually level there earlier as I've noticed some lower level gobs (Furriers, Smithys) as in the Jungles. Just never drop Barfira and silence the BLM gob immediatly.

RPGuru1331

February 7th, 2005, 03:19 PM

Eh, standard fare then. Honestly, silencing mage mobs should be a reflex by 30. Ditto for Barfira on Gobs. I'm not aware of a Bibiki Bay lower level camp, but I know that the Manaclipper/Purgonorgo Island are good at around 33-34.

Lacan

February 7th, 2005, 09:15 PM

I gotta get back to Final Fantasy XI! I've haven't been feeling well, and I don't want to dissapoint my Link group that I'm in.

Aelice

February 11th, 2005, 09:45 AM

http://www.livejournal.com/users/aelice/21938.html#cutid1

Any of you get your panties yet? XD

Lacan

February 11th, 2005, 11:31 AM

I did had a He-Man type armor on with a leather thong in FFXI, but I'm glad I switched to leather armor *not skimpy leather btw*, that covers me up. I just don't want people looking at me in FFXI wearing that kinda stuff...Sorry.

RPGuru1331

February 11th, 2005, 03:47 PM

Nein, Aelice. If I was going to give a gift.... it would definitely be some sort of wax sword.. Water crystal, Alchemy. But Alas, I have no valentine, cause I'm me.

XKamishiroX

February 11th, 2005, 05:08 PM

I wish Samurai got partys faster... -_-

Odyssey

February 12th, 2005, 05:21 AM

http://www.livejournal.com/users/aelice/21938.html#cutid1

Any of you get your panties yet? XD

hah, no... sadly I'm not capable of getting to wherever that is I'm pretty sure.... besides... an Elvaan in panties... sexxy!... kinda >>
I remember when I first started playing and I was in full bronze armor... I really felt like I was part of some kinky fetish game or something... I've noyworn subligar's (except beetle) since lol

Aelice

February 12th, 2005, 09:29 AM

Nein, Aelice. If I was going to give a gift.... it would definitely be some sort of wax sword.. Water crystal, Alchemy. But Alas, I have no valentine, cause I'm me.

And I was going to decay you something, my love, with my Twilight crystal... XXXXD

CapnTylor

February 12th, 2005, 02:51 PM

RPGuru1331

February 12th, 2005, 03:34 PM

And I was going to decay you something, my love, with my Twilight crystal... XXXXD
Shh... our love is a secret ~_^

Yeah, Dark and lightning people just got hosed. I THINK Ice was as well. I can think of low level synths that can be done with anything else... up to, and including, the panties...

Oh, and Tarus are probably the best race for RDM, if we're going to munch out. Most a RDM's melee damage seems to be coming from their enspells.. so yeah, STR.'s not an issue too much. DRL's DoT seems to be decent, even sans enspells, probably cause he's Elvaan... but he's mentioned how much more he can do with 100 MP.
I mean, in all honesty, I would say if you're unsure, be Hume. You'll probably be using this character for a lot of stuff, not just your intended class. Humes are usually number two, at worst, number 3. Just never the number one.

Seijuro_Hiko_IX

February 13th, 2005, 08:48 PM

Now Guru, I got the Torrent crystal too, and I did slightly better than a Wax Sword for my someone special. And I had 0 craft skill too. Granted I'm 200k in the hole now, I don't mind at all since she liked it.

Alchemy 0 to 20 in about ten hours. Had to hurry before she got home from work. Didn't actually finish with my final synth until a few minutes after she got home. It was a mad rush though, I was basicly throwing gil at the AH the whole time. But it was all worth it in the end. It was the level 16 ninja kodachi, with a silence effect, that I made and signed. I made two of them, or course, since Ninja use two kodachi. But I could only sign one of them.

Odyssey

February 14th, 2005, 03:27 AM

oh the joys of having gil, lol.

I got a twilight crystal, lol. nobody to give anything. my girl dumped me and made a new char a monthe or so ago, mreh. I'll just keep it around, since it's a dark crystal w/ a cool name haha.

in other news, hit 46 last night, so I'll be updating my char prof/. on Alla soon.

I'm so lonely on Ifrit sever, no friends from AN there lol

DragonRebornLee

February 14th, 2005, 06:07 AM

I'll make one OJ out of that, Torrent Crystal, and keep it for maybe when I feel like it deserves to be given to someone.

Edit: Capn, you have two real options here if you want your Red Mage to stand out in anyway: Elvaan if you want sheer strength with weapons and the ability to take alot more punishment than any other mage can possibly handle. Or Tarutaru, you won't be near as strong as Elvaan in melee, or can take as many hits, but by the time you have Convert and Refresh, you will NEVER run out of MP. I exclude the other races here for several reasons.
Humes: Balanced, that's all they are, they won't stand out, nor be downgraded in anyway.
Mithra: Almost similar to Humes in magic stats, they hit harder but not anywhere near a Elvaan. They are more or less alittle gimped for Red Mage (don't start with me Guru, I said Red Mage, not any other class).
Galka: Can take hits, can dish out better melee than Elvaan, that's about it, you go Galka RDM you are playing MP catch up the rest of the time, even the almighty Astral and Serket rings won't help you.

That's my view on it, being a Red Mage the majority of the game, my favorite class, take my advice or not, it's your experience, enjoy it how you want.

JOJO

February 14th, 2005, 06:42 AM

I'm getting XI on Monday, and I was wondering what the best race would be for a Red Mage. I was thinking about getting a Tarutaru, because they're the best for magic, but Red Mages are also OK fighters...

It all depends really, since Red Mage is such a versatile class. You also have to consider what benefits you want in both party play or solo. In party play, you want a good balance of mage stats such as MND, INT and MP. In which case, I'd say the best races are indeed the Tarutaru, followed by Hume. At 75, Hume will have identical MND/INT, with the second highest (tied with Mithra) MP. On the other hand, Tarutarus will have the highest INT and MP by far...and although they are tied with Mithra for the least MND, it's only slightly lower than a Hume. Mithra and Elvaan make decent RDMs (in party play) as well. Humes are just plain better than Mithra, since they have identical MP, INT, but slightly better MND. Elvaan have the worst INT second lowest MP, but they have the best MND by far. This is really important because a RDM relies heavily on MND-based enfeebles such as Slow, Paralyze, Dia and Silence. That leaves Galka being the worst without decent gear...lowest MP by far, second lowest INT, average MND. For solo play, any race is good imo. Weakness in mages stats will be made up in melee stats (DEX, AGI, VIT, HP) depending on the race and vice versa. But if you want to be as balaced as possible, you choose either Hume or Mithra as they have the most balanced stats. I'm a Mithra myself since I like to have the best DEX/AGI.

Anyway, my brother and I lucked out recently. He was farming in the tower in East Saruta when he ran into an alliance doing the BLM AF3 (Vivi Hat). We joined and he eventually got it, but can't wear it yet as he's only 56. I also helped him get the Eldimine Necropolis :( coffer key for his AF legs as well. All he needs now is the BLM body. Afterwards, some of the alliance needed to do mission 6-1 for Windurst and so I completed it as well. I've been meaning to farm/teleport for Erase, but those invites just keep coming. :P So I hit 67 and accepted the fight against Maat, but I'll wait to 70 and updated gear/skill-ups to "guarantee" a win.

Gendo

February 14th, 2005, 06:44 AM

For all you high level folk, here are some picture of Al'Taieu (or simply, "sea" as players are calling it), the new region being relesed (supposedly) at the end of the month. Area is expected to contain lots of good endgame content, simmilar to Tu'lia ("sky"). Completion of some Promathia missions is almost guaranteed. As of now you can get up to chapter 7.

http://www.playonline.com/ff11us/information/img/050201_1.jpg

http://www.watch.impress.co.jp/game/docs/20050210/al14.jpg

http://www.playonline.com/ff11us/information/img/050201_3.jpg

http://www.playonline.com/ff11us/information/img/050201_4.jpg

RPGuru1331

February 14th, 2005, 01:41 PM

Er, are you really having such issues with a 350k item? It's really not that bad a sum of cash, you just have to buckle down and farm for a day or two. I mean, I may not be as high a level, but 200k isn't really more then a few hours of work for me. You've got hundred's more options for farming, it shouldn't be that much of an issue.

On that note, I recommend Ahrimans and Demons out in Xarcabard, in your case, provided you have a good deal of inventory space (Full MH + Full Gobbiebag, maybe some storage too). Demon Horns, Ahriman Tears, Ahriman Wings.

Oh, and Hiko, no bragging about your alchemy skills... I'm the one who figured out what you should skill up on ;)

JOJO

February 14th, 2005, 02:42 PM

:) Thanks for the tip, Guru. I know there's so many options out there, but I've been too lazy to try new farming areas or even knowing what sells well for that matter. That, and I've always been spending the gil on some other equipment before Erase which isn't bad though. The tower behind the 3-mage gate is good, especially if you get test answers but it's bad if there's competition. Goobues are also heavily camped. I'm eager for my brother to catch up, then we can easily duo a lot of mobs with sleep/nuke method like OSE. I should also take up a craft full-time like Goldsmithing or Bonecrafting.

RPGuru1331

February 14th, 2005, 05:32 PM

No worries.. it doesn't negatively affect me for you or anyone else to know these spots.. though functional, the inventory space required makes them undesirable. For me, at least.

Lynx

February 14th, 2005, 06:39 PM

I've been at a standstill at level 59 with my WHM for over a month now. I haven't gotten a shred of XP (except from Promyvion, but that doesn't really count) so the scroll of reraise 2 and my Healer's Mitts have been sitting in my mog house collecting dust. I just haven't had the motivation to spend hours leveling up recently. My LS is starting to pass me up further so I need to play catch up if I want to keep participating in upcoming missions and quests. Instead of leveling I've been crafting like a madman. I decided to leave my cooking at 60 since I'm not sure I'll take that all the way and I raised my alchemy to 51. Once that reaches 60 I think I'll try my hand at bonecrafting or leathercraft.

Anyone excited over the next update? Square's been very forthcoming with a lot of info lately. Everything from fishing to new abilities has piqued my interest and has me wondering what else they have in store that hasn't been announced. Perhaps this will be the extra kick I need to return to fishing and level my WHM again.

ZeroRyoko1974

February 15th, 2005, 10:53 AM

/sigh I have made it to lvl 47 as a paladin...3 times...in the past week...well actually I am only 46 now. One party abandoned me against a rumble crawler in CN, one I got aggro from a beetle, and so aparently did the rest of the party, as everyone died, just trying to get to a hunting place, and one other one we decided that lvl 47 was ok to fight in Garliage basement, I got killed once, raised, tried to get the hell out of there, and promptly got killed again.

RPGuru1331

February 15th, 2005, 02:20 PM

Learn it. Love it. Never, ever leave Jeuno without it. (http://ffxi.allakhazam.com/forum.html?forum=10&mid=1096838303937842675&num=42)

Odyssey

February 16th, 2005, 06:02 AM

Learn it. Love it. Never, ever leave Jeuno without it. (http://ffxi.allakhazam.com/forum.html?forum=10&mid=1096838303937842675&num=42)

looked over it... that is very helpful. lol I'll have to remember that post.

Figured out what I'm gonna do. I'll hit 50 and get capped (or 49, since it'd be pointless to get a pt and get capped out 20 minutes later or something). from there it's off to farm and do other things like get Sam and Nin. after I've farmed for a while if friends haven't caught up to me yet, I'll start work on lvl'ing Sam for Drk sub (I'm looking forward to belting out WS's lol). once some friends have caught up, go out and do LB1 (I already got Exo mold, so the rest should be a breeze), then back to lvl'ing until next LB.

I got to do some MAD farming too... I really need a Valk mask, and if I could get +1 Mythril armor that'd be sweet... just not likely. All I really know is I need to farm, and I need to farm BAD lol >.<

SuperHiko

February 17th, 2005, 10:35 PM

mmm

FFXI.....will the love for this game ever come back to me........

RPGuru1331

February 18th, 2005, 12:33 PM

Remember kids, when you go to get your coffers, don't leave your keys/lockpicks at home. It's just plain stupid. And it's also infuriating to see the coffer and not realize it til you get there.

JOJO

February 21st, 2005, 06:27 AM

So that happened to you, Guru? Well, it's cool how you guys can just pick the coffers. If you activated the quests, is it guaranteed to be your AF when you pick it?

Anyway, I just hit 69 so I might as well get as close to 71 before preparing for Maat and updating more equipment. Win or lose, I'm going to record my matches with him. I also need to get rank 8 (7-1 Windurst atm) to get my Master Caster's Bracelets.

RPGuru1331

February 21st, 2005, 07:17 AM

I'm not quite sure how pure coffer AFs work at all (Although I ASSUME that you're allowed to grab them as soon as you trigger your AF2), but I'm relatively certain that it works the same as any other class, minus the part about a key. As to what happened, I started laughing, used my warp scroll, grabbed my Lockpicks, and went back for the Hamma Pants. I ended up getting them. The alliance that was there, which apparently included a bunch of RDMs and DRKs, was still fighting coffer mobs in a corner, and they didn't seem too happy with me picking the coffer, judging by the /slaps and emotes I got. Haven't been levelling, but rather, doing CoP, with the static.
We wiped in Holla due to a rather grievous error in judgement on my part: That the bosses wouldn't be as fast as a player. The real problem with that is the Holla boss hits like a ton of bricks compared to Dem. At any rate, I have a new strategy, so all is good in the world; Specifically, Anima spam. I farmed full sets for/with everyone for a reason, I'll be damned if we don't use them.

Oh, and since it's not mentioned, how 'bout them updates? New Merit Point JAs available at 75 for every class, new JTs for WHM and SAM, new Fishing system (One that seems fun enough that even I might take it up, and I HATE fishing), and ENM (Empty Notorious Monster) battlefields, which grant, to quote, substantial exp rewards and unique items. And Al'Tiaeu in a month. Not that I'll be going to Sky-2 any time soon, since I'm still on CoP Chapter once, but nonetheless.

...Still though, DAMN! The Holla wipe ticks me off because if they had just listened to me after me and Scar (The NIN tanks) dropped, we MIGHT have pulled a victory, or at least, a lack of deaths, out of it. I orderred a Terro anima to be used (30 seconds of the mob running around like a complete idiot), so someone could give me an HP report and I could properly guage the situation, but all I got in return was a "We're screwed, and can't win". On the other hand, I did that was still a most egregious error to make, assuming that the boss would be slower then Normal Empty (Whom are EXACTLY as fast as a player), so a not listening to me after a screwup like that, although annoying, is completely understandable.
If you plan on doing the Promyvions, you have basically two options. Either:
A: Level one of the "chosen" jobs, that every idiotically believes are the only jobs capable of completing the Spire (NIN, WAR/NIN, RNG, SMN, WHM, BLM)
B: Farm anima, and work for it.
Despite having NIN levelled, I choose B. Mostly because the idea of not working for my victories bothers me.
I suggest either Dem -> Holla -> Mea, or Dem -> Mea -> Holla as the order to do them in. Dem is easiest, and you'll want to cut your teeth on the Progenerator before you start in on the Wreaker or the Delver.

DragonRebornLee

February 21st, 2005, 08:52 AM

You also have to understand where we were coming from. You died, no Animas had been used, and everyone was getting in the yellow on health, in a situation where these rare/ex items are used and literally change the tide of battle, it'd be for the best to have everyone use them and kill the monster, had we used them, we very well would've died anyway, and then be Anima less, which means more farming, and more wasted gil, and according to everyone, they are all pretty much broke. So that's a counterpoint to you there Guru.

RPGuru1331

February 21st, 2005, 09:13 AM

Dood, I said Terro first. I at least wanted to guage the thing. Terro is NEAR useless, and easy to farm. Hearing it being at 60% after one of the 3 Blasts from a SMN 2 hour, with all those standing with all of us at full anima, is NOT good sense. Those 4 Terro were time to rez me and Scar. Then our two terro would have bought some more time for weakness to wear. Followed by full anima spam? I don't think he'd have lasted, even if 1/3rd of one character's 2 hour supply was burned. And even more especially with Hiko spamming RA, and presumably you nuking as much as possible. Seriously, that was more then doable from there, if we had just calmed down and played smart.

And again, me and Scar burn Shihei on these things, and a lot of it. We burn food. We're ALL spending on it, and I've been running on empty cash reserves for the last two runs. You're not spending as much, period. That's not even adding in my Persikos (You'd have to burn 3 Yag drinks to approach that), The Hi-Pots I've used occasionally, the Shuriken, or the Poison Potions/

Gendo

February 21st, 2005, 02:35 PM

full list of things for update.

All Worlds Scheduled Maintenance (Feb. 23)

At the following time, we will be performing FINAL FANTASY XI server maintenance on all worlds. During this period, FINAL FANTASY XI will be unavailable.

*The client software will also be updated at this time. Once this maintenance is completed, the client update will start automatically after logging back into FINAL FANTASY XI. Please follow the instructions that appear on your screen.

Thank you for your patience.

[Affected Period]
Feb. 23, 2005 from 9:00 to 12:00 (PST)
*Maintenance completion time may be subject to change.

[Affected Services]
FINAL FANTASY XI

[Important Update Details]

- New Chains of Promathia missions will be added.

- The new region "Lumoria" and the new area "Al'Taieu" will become accessible.

- Many new quests centered in the Chains of Promathia areas will be added.

- Major improvements will be made to the fishing system.

- Bargain-priced multi-tickets for barges and manaclippers will become available.

- New routes and times will be introduced for Carpenters' Landing barges.

- Mannequins will become available for purchase.

- An NPC that will store artifact armor as a key item will be introduced.

- The limit for adjusting existing abilities using Merit Points will be raised.

- Additional categories will become available for the use of Merit Points.

- Shields will reduce the amount of damage taken instead of negating all damage.

- The white magic spell Banish will inflict more damage on undead monsters.

- The white magic spell Banish III will become available.

- A new job trait for white mages will be added.

- A new job trait for samurais will be added.

- Logging will become possible in the Misareaux Coast.

- Logging results in the Lufaise Meadows will be adjusted.

- There will be additions and changes to some of the items required to fulfill guild contracts.

- A new key item called "Alchemic Ensorcellment" will become available for purchase with alchemy guild points.

- The number of guild points required to purchase the key item Anima Synthesis will be reduced.

- The number of categories available for search comments will be expanded.

- NPC chat filter settings will be refined.

- Various other fixes.

Kinda sad about this, having gotten far into Chains of Promathia so far, im expecting Diabolos to be next summon avatar released, and it's not on list. Oh well, maybe it will fall into the usually huge "various other fixes" category.

For those who will be wanting acces to "Sea" It's probably granted at start of Chapter 7 or 8. Right now the farthest you can get is Chapter 7-2 from what i've heard. This is after the BIG BCNM fight on the airship for chapter 6-4. Im on chapter 6 going to make an attempt at the airship tonight. 3 BCNM fights one after another. 45 minute timer, should be fun.

DragonRebornLee

February 21st, 2005, 03:48 PM

Guru, I said most, I didn't say all of us, I'm aware of my spending and that I am not spending as much as some, I just pointed out that the others said they were broke.

RPGuru1331

February 21st, 2005, 04:17 PM

...Yeah, I guess.

They didn't mention the ENMs in this udate, so it'll come later, I s'pose.

Oh, and Gendo..

Diabolos hates people. He's not going to be a summon. Phoenix is a maybe. But not Diabolos

Gendo

February 21st, 2005, 05:43 PM

wont give away what he was doing in the cut scene, but there is a cut scene with diabolos where he pops out of the ground with a summon circle and does full summon animation. In this cut scene he also apeared smaller than he does when you BCNM fight him in chapter 3.

The animation has already been done for him, thats why people think it's him. As of chapter 6 we've never even seen Phoenix, just know he's in tenzen's sword.

Lynx

February 21st, 2005, 07:48 PM

I mentioned the update a few days ago. Guess nobody read it :\

Since they announced it, I'm now looking forward to getting more mannequins for my mog house. I regularly help out with all sorts of capped missions so I have tons of gear stored on my mule ranging from levels 20-50. Being able to keep them in my mog house will make it much easier to access instead of having to switch to a mule and go back and forth to send over armor. I just hope it isn't too expensive to purchase.

I can't wait for update day when the announce all the other changes taking effect.

On another note, I think I'm addicted to ballista. I played my first game with a level 60 cap in Passhow Marshlands yesterday. It was ultimately a lot of fun although I ended up learning a lot of hard lessons on staying alive by dying countless times. I followed that up by playing 2 level 60 cap matches and 1 uncapped match today. The 60 cap matches were fun and all but the uncapped match was just a ruthless no-holds-barred slaughter. I may as well have came on the field with a bullseye on my chest. I was the only WHM in my alliance and was a constant target no matter what anyone would do. One 75MNK/NIN in particular stormed our lines just to use a WS on me with his Kraken Club. I need to level up my BLM so I can do some real damage. BLMs were also targets but at least they had more spells at their disposal to kill the enemy before it killed them.

RPGuru1331

February 22nd, 2005, 01:50 AM

What are you, Lynx? I'm not sure what you are, but I've seen every class played to great effect in Ballista, so I ask. My personal favorite targets are those squishy black mages. SA Viper Bite just sort of drops them... ^_^

Lynx

February 22nd, 2005, 06:15 AM

My main is a 59 tarutaru WHM. I just added my character profile on my sig.

Even though I was a target and died countless times it was still quite fun. There's a certain rush when you're kiting a MNK while 3-4 of your melee run around beating him up^_^. Although many times I didn't make it through the kiting -_-;. That was pretty much my story most of the uncapped match since the second I threw out a cure spell the person on the opposing team would ignore who they were fighting and run straight for me. Either that or backup would arrive to take me out quickly while the melee were occupied. Blink/stoneskin only lasts so long before my HP starts dropping like an anvil and being a low DEF tarutaru doesn't help in that department.

RPGuru1331

February 22nd, 2005, 07:17 AM

Is your enfeebling capped? You have native skill in it, so you should be able to land Sleep on a non /NIN. Now granted, everyone and their mother subs NIN for these. Does Cure break invis? I know they can see the magic animations still, but you SHOULD make targetting yourself a big enough bitch. If you can wear nonstandard weapons or heavier looking armor, that might help. Another thing that you can do is Banishga into a fight with /NINs, then Sleep them and run (I assume you sub BLM). You have native enfeebling, if it's capped, you should be able to land spells from it.

Aelice

February 22nd, 2005, 09:24 AM

Ballista is just awesome :) You think WHM drop easily? Try being the ONLY Bard in the entire match. I was able to slightly camoflauge myself; some people mistook Gaudy harness as Scorpion at a distance, and panicked when I Horde Lullabyed them. XXXXD kekeke. All of my LS was on the other team, so I'd make fun of them for falling victim to songs. XD A THF and NIN from my LS took it out to finish me off. Ended up kiting the THF to a BLM friend, and silenced the NIN and led him to 2 DRK. ^.^

RPGuru1331

February 22nd, 2005, 10:29 AM

...BRDs have a Gravity? Wow, learn something new every day o.O

Oh.. and I've never gotten the chance to kill one.. Horde Lullaby hits me, but doesn't unveil me.. so I could try if I had TP.. but I doubt I'd get it..

Lynx

February 22nd, 2005, 08:10 PM

I've yet to see a bard main in any matches I've been in. Closest I saw was a RDM/BRD who was actually pretty good.

My enfeebling is about 10 under cap and I had a hard time landing enfeebles. I chalked it up to being the level difference since it was and uncapped match. At the 60 match I didn't get as many resists. Instead I stuck with tossing out -gas to wipe shadows so the melee could actually do damage. Cure does cancel invisible so there's no hiding when I start to assist my PT. I'm already planning my next match though. Probably switch in my earth staff for -20% physical damage and switch out my briault for my Holy Breastplate. It probably won't help a whole lot but it'll be fun to try nonetheless. Ballista seems the most appropriate place for uncommon equipment options/job combinations (PLD/NIN anyone?).

RPGuru1331

February 22nd, 2005, 08:20 PM

Earth Staff is nice.. and yeah, weird subs are VERY common. Not just /NIN either. There's a Monk on my server, Saiver.. subs BRD.. sounds stupid.. then he tears you a new one with the Att+ song.. Paeon for out of combat regen... At least, last time I fought him, he subbed BRD, same as all the others.. I swear, the second I heard singing.. I panicked.

Aelice

February 22nd, 2005, 10:36 PM

LOL! BRD sub, eh? XD

I used Carnage Elegy and normal 'Slow'. ^^;;

Gendo

February 23rd, 2005, 11:08 PM

Made it to sea.

here's some pictures.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v247/DrForester/sea3.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v247/DrForester/sea2.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v247/DrForester/sea1.jpg

RPGuru1331

February 24th, 2005, 04:59 AM

Since you've been, mind giving me an idea what the new mob families are capable of?

Gendo

February 24th, 2005, 05:32 AM

No clue. It was late. I want to sleep after I got in and snaped some pictures. They dont apear to agro, but do seem to follow you arround for a bit at some point.

SuperHiko

February 24th, 2005, 07:47 PM

Promys are fun......

Gendo

February 25th, 2005, 02:33 PM

Man story wise, square didnt get to much further in COP. Seems the story deosnt go much past entry into sea. There is 1 mission in sea so far, but it's not very hard. When you seem to finish it, the mission log doesnt go past 8-1. But at least you get something nice out of it. Unlike Zilart, there have been 2 rewards so far for doing the missions.:

Ducal Guard Ring: (rare/ex)
This ring warps you to Ru'Lude Gardens in Jeuno. lvl 1 ring. 5 charges, 24 hour wait between uses. Efforts are underway to see if it can be recharged or bought once you've gotten one already. Given to you after first Airship Battle (Chapter 6-4). Given that things do open up the farther in prmathia missiosn you go (Besides new areas, you do get access to Jueno AH from safehold once you hit chapter 4)

Tavnanzia Ring: (rare/ex)
This ring warps you directly to Tavnanzia Safehold. lvl 60 ring Unlimited uses, 24 hour wait time. Given after (supposedly finishing) Mission 8-1 in Sea.

Little more about sea. Mobs are non agro, but there's a catch (Kinda like sky). In Sea you walk on the water. Monsers on top fo the water will not agro you. THere are goldfish mobs that will agro and follow you, but wont attack (Supposedly at some poit they will, but I have yet to see it and i've had plenty following me). Under the water there are goldfish and stingrays. Approach either and they will come out of water. Goldfish will follow but not attack, stingrays will attack if they come up. None of these mobs are very hard. They have soem status attacks, but nothing serious. I think this will be a very good place for lvl 65-70 parties to exp someday. 1 NM has been foudn in sea so far. This NM is in the sky (High in the sky, pretty much have to go into first person mode and look up to sea it). It's a big jellyfish. Walk under it, it agros.

JOJO

February 28th, 2005, 07:41 AM

I fought Maat for the first time as 70 RDM. I wasn't really prepared at all and wanted to try it for the heck of it since the testimony is easily soloable (Ruby Quadav). Anyway, I failed to realize that the fight has only a 10 min timer so I lost with the time running out and learned a lot in the process. Here's how my first fight went:

I entered the BCNM naked on Lightning Day (neutral day in regards to Aero and Sleep) without borrowing my brother's +INT gear and no medicines. I don't really know if that trick about stats work, but I tried anyway. I re-equipped and buffed up with Blink/Stoneskin/1 Refresh/Apple Pie once inside. I ran up to him and saw him standing in the middle, knowing he won't aggro until I attack. He started buffing like crazy so I had to start with Sleep 2. I began to use Dispel until his Shell was gone. The first was absorbed with Blink. I completely forgot about that and remembered to use Paralyze to get rid of it. Without my sub, I wasn't used to my menu and forgot where Paralyze was, so I panicked and wasted another Dispel to get rid of the shadows and finally, his Shell. While still sleeping, I ran away and started to rest again. I didn't want to nuke/sleep yet since he'll build resistance to sleep and I still thought I had 30 min. Big mistake. :(

He woke up and then I threw an Aero III while my Blink/Stoneskin protected me from his attacks. I then had to Sleep II him again while he was casting Thunder II, which hit me. I rebuffed and started resting again. Once he woke up, I casted Sleep II again (instead of Aero III) cuz I wanted to rest more. He resisted and I started running away to cast Sleep I. Due to lag and myself running, I interruped my own Sleep and Maat busted right through my buffs and my HP dropped to 300 (from around 700 since I got hit by Thunder II earlier) in no time while I ran again. He's so scary when he's running after you...he literally runs like a Ninja, lol. I eventually got off Sleep I and rested again. This basically went on (Sleep/rest without me nuking much) until time ran out. Well, at least he didn't kill me. :)

Next time, I'm going to come prepared on Darksday or Windsday with more skillups, gear and medicine. Plus, I'm just going to rush him down with non-stop casting, maybe resting once.

RPGuru1331

February 28th, 2005, 10:13 AM

Half health he'll 2 hour and go on overdrive... if you can, Silence him at that point.. RDM 2 hour hurts, but not as bad as SMN or a lucky SAM's 2 hour.. don't know enough about red magery to comment on the rest. Good luck on him though. And yeah, be fully skilled up. It doesn't hurt, since he always will be fully skilled up.

Thanks for the Sea info, Gendo, by the way. Interesting stuff. Can't wait to get there... but it'll be a while.

DragonRebornLee

February 28th, 2005, 01:51 PM

I'm going to try him around 68, cause he doesn't have that Godly Monk ability that can one shot me.

Gendo

February 28th, 2005, 02:31 PM

RDm maat fight is by far the hardest of allt eh maat fights from what i've been told. I've known people to take up near 10 tries to beat him. The fight is like 10% skill and 90% luck. The RDM testimony should be stackable.

Michael

February 28th, 2005, 07:09 PM

Yes, RDM Maat fight is pure luck spamming the hell out of Aero III.

If warrior were tolerable to level, that Maat fight would be so amazingly fun.

"Hi." Raging Rush > Raging Rush.

JOJO

March 1st, 2005, 06:18 AM

From what I've been told from other RDMs who've beaten Maat, he has Asuran Fists (71 WS) no matter what level so that's what I'll assume. I also heard that trick about develing to 69 and using the Chronocles to gain a level during the fight, but I'll use that as a last resort (I'm about 10k into 70). Bringing enough medicine should be ok for now.

BTW Gendo, what job are you? I assume you're a 75 WHM judging by the screenshots...that's pretty cool. I'm only up to ZM6 and haven't started CoP missions yet, but I hope to gain access to Sky and Sea soon. The Zilart missions are fun so far. :)

Gendo

March 1st, 2005, 06:42 AM

I'm a 70 WHM. Not 75 yet.

If you liked the Zilart Missions, you'll love CoP missions so long as you have the time. The story is must much better for CoP, and the NPC characters are very fun. In CoP the missions are split into chapters, with sub missions in them (Kind of like the Cities have their rank missions, and missions in between the ranks). Some of the Chapters are bigger than all of Zilart's missions put together.

In Zilart there are 5 BCNM fights total, More depending on if you do "Ark Angels" or "Divine Might" for mission 13. You have to fight the crystal warriors. Ark Angles you fight one at a time, Divine Might you can actually do a full alliance BCNM and do them all at once, and also get to choose between some real nice earrings if you win. Then a few NM fights (I think 5 total as well).

Up to 8-1 in CoP, which will bring you into sea, and also get you through a mission in Sea that will get you your Tavnanzia Ring, there are a total of 12 BCNM fights (all before sea). In addition, there are 17 NM fights (3 fights in sea for that last mission), some soloable, most not. There's also a ton of running arround for the huge ammount of cut scenes. In 2 of the chatpters, the missions branch into 3 sub missions for different characters who have gone to purse different paths. So you have to do each branch before you continue (Remember FF6 when everyone got split up escaping form the returners hideout, it's like that). Then you have to vary your equipment for different caps for various capped area's and BCNM's. Sea is uncapped so far.

Chapter 1 - 30 cap.
Chapter 2 - 40 cap
Chapter 3 - 40 cap
Chapter 4 - 50 cap
Chapter 5 - 50/60 cap
Chapter 6 - 60 cap
Chapter 7 - uncapped