Trial of the Magians, Vermin complete!

Last night, teamed with a BLU, I finished Trial 161, Vermin x 500.



I made a little video to show how easy it is, especially for Lv.85 RDM with Refresh II and Regen II paired with Composure. The poor BLU was struggling and died twice despite my casual upkeep up his HP and MP. Mind you, we made sure we were split up, close enough to get exp/credit for the kills, but far enough away to not get slept or paralyzed from Karakul TP attacks.

Next, I have to kill 600 demons (super family), which means that I am going to be living in Castle Zvahl Baileys for a while. Uhh, cool. Unless I find some EP imps out in Aht Urghan with pleasant respawn times.

How long has it been!?

It has definitely been a while since my last update. I have definitely been playing, though significantly less because of my traveling job.



Since my last update, the newest mini-expansion has come out. Just yesterday I hit level 85 in a spectacular Abyssea - La Thiene leveling party. Quite literally, I got 17 merits (170,000exp) and LV 80-85 (about 200,000exp). It was great.

I've also made slow but steady strides on my Trial of the Magians weapons. I'm on Morbols for my AGI/Evasion sword, and I'm doing Vermin x 500 as we speak for my "Occ. attacks 2-3 times" sword. I have a nifty little Chigoe-killing system, having them be constantly spawned by Karakul in Caedarva Mire. Meanwhile, I hope Karakul skin drops and I can get my leathercraft up on Karakul wool and consequently my clothcraft up on Karakul thread.

Last, but not least, Darkcow and I have made more strides in our Chains of Promathia duo. We managed to beat the Airship Omega/Ultima fight, and zoomed up to the final pre-sea-access fight vs. Tenzen and the tarus. Well, we aren't sure if we're going to manage this one without someone else, unless we wait until level 99, which I don't think we're going to do.

Trial of the Magians UPDATE

Trial 150: Serpopard Ishtar x3
Trial 151: Tottering Toby x3
Trial 152: Drooling Daisy x3
Trial 158: BirdsSF x400
Trial 159: Clusters x300
Trial 161: Vermin x500
Trial 162: DemonsSF x600
Trial 163: Rafflesia x400
Trial 1205: Arcana x600
Trial 1206: WamouraJA x450



Trial 164: Leeches x50 any weather
Trial 165: Sea Monks x50 light spectrum weather
Trial 172: Any monster x50 Day/Weather: Wind
Trial 173: Vermin x75 Day/Weather: Wind
Trial 174: BirdsSF x150 Day/Weather: Wind
Trial 175: Morbols x200 Day/Weather: Wind
Trial 1212: Beasts x200 Day/Weather: Wind
Trial 1213: Puks x250 Day/Weather: Wind

Abyssea - Tahrongi, Swift Belt, BLU

Once I finished getting my Red Mage to 80, I began wondering what other things in the game, other than leveling, that I want to get done. One of the first things to pop in my head was the new accessibility of the Swift Belt in Sacrarium.



Now, I hadn't put any effort whatsoever on the Swift Belt before now. I haven't so much as even farmed for a Fomor Codex before, but I knew who dropped it. I figured Sacrarium would be packed, so I headed to Phoumina Aqueducts to farm it off the tauri that reside in there. The first room was already being camped, so I moved on further, where my and my friends used to subligar farm. It's a weird feeling, walking around in Phoumina Aqueducts and not being scared of dying. The only thing I had to fear was Mortal Ray, but I am competent enough to turn around when that happens.



It only took about 5 tauri for the codex to drop, which I must admit was much faster than I imagined. I quickly cast Escape, out of that area, and made my way to Sacrarium. I already had max fomor hate, so after making up for the tauri I killed by killing about 3 fomor, I popped Lobais, the Tarutaru Fomor Swift Belt NM. His elemental was the only really annoying part about him. Being 80, he was hitting me for 0 with Phalanx/Genbu's shield up, and my ice spikes were keeping them from attacking too often. Well, first kill: no drop. I wasn't surprised, I know it's a 30%ish drop rate. The annoying part was having to get my fomor hate back up, since spawning the NMs reset your fomor hate.



About 20 fomors and one Terrotaurus later (first kill, codex!), I was ready to spawn him again. Another easy fight, and this time, I got the drop. Considering how easy this was, in reality, I wasn't the happiest guy in the world, but it's something that I wanted for my thief, and now I have it. I warped home to Windurst and began muling. Now I was going BLU spells from the Chains of Promathia areas that had previously been capped, stopping them from being easy without a group.

While muling, I saw shouts in Port Jeuno for Abyssea - Tahrongi, and since I want that 78 RDM/etc gear set so badly, I decided to join. 3 hours and 20k exp later, I was 3750 cruor closer to the body piece (the main piece I actually want).



Afterward, I did manage to get Frightful Roar and Filamented Hold, but failed to get Jettatura, Radiant Breath, or Refueling. Refueling is the main one that I want, but I can continue to live without it. One day, when I muster up the patience, I will head back and give it another go.

I was busy yesterday, wasn't I? :)

Level 80 Red Mage

I haven't done a whole lot in the past few days, since I bought Dragon Quest IX for the DS. But, what I have managed to do is this:

Trial of the Magians, WHM sub

I have completed quite a bit more of my Trial of the Magians swords since my last post. First of all, I am now working on birds for my double attack sword. Funny enough, I have finished birds on my AGI/Evasion sword. I am not on Marlboros x 200, which has proven to not be an option in Aht Urghan area. I am thinking about heading to Riverne B01 to get that done near the end of the area. Those are low EP and don't have a mean TP attack that makes RDM suck.



Darkcow has been powering up his Samurai to make our duoing a little more exciting and open up new opportunities for us. He has gone from 16 to 42 very quickly, and tonight we are duoing Yhoator Jungle fields of valor as my White Mage and his Samurai, level synced to my 37WHM. As we speak, I am about to hit 38, which is 2 levels from the 40 cap at which I will certainly stop, because I despise White Mage.

Trial of the Magians x 2

After hitting level 78 Red Mage, I had a sudden urge to get back into the Trials of the Magian lines. I looked at the new additions, and decided I definitely was going to work toward a Joytoy equivalent, but I wasn't going to give up on the one I had worked so hard on. I've gotten through 2 of the NM sets on my new one, and I've made more progress on my wind elemental sword. That's pretty much it.



Trial 150: Serpopard Ishtar x3
Trial 151: Tottering Toby x3
Trial 152: Drooling Daisy x3
Trial 158: BirdsSF x400
Trial 159: Clusters x300
Trial 161: Vermin x500
Trial 162: DemonsSF x600
Trial 163: Rafflesia x400
Trial 1205: Arcana x600
Trial 1206: WamouraJA x450



Trial 164: Leeches x50 any weather
Trial 165: Sea Monks x50 light spectrum weather
Trial 172: Any monster x50 Day/Weather: Wind
Trial 173: Vermin x75 Day/Weather: Wind
Trial 174: BirdsSF x150 Day/Weather: Wind
Trial 175: Morbols x200 Day/Weather: Wind
Trial 1212: Beasts x200 Day/Weather: Wind
Trial 1213: Puks x250 Day/Weather: Wind

Red Mage, MMM

I've been doing all that I can in my spare time to get my Red Mage up, minus groups. I just have no desire to group with randoms in this game and dedicate time that I don't feel like dedicating.

Fields of Valor paired with Campaign got me quite far into level 76 toward 77. Well, tonight I got a group for Moblin Maze Mongers, and I have shot past 77 and am working my way toward 78. We have a couple more mazes to go through, so here's to hoping that it continues to go well.

Visions of Abyssea, Chains of Promathia, Red Mage

Finally, the expansion update has come, and the level cap has been increased to level 80.

Almost immediately, Darkcow and I proceeded to power through the CoP missions that we had failed to finish. In one night, we powered through Riverne #B01, Sacrarium, as well as Promyvion - Vazhl. We called it a night on the 3 Paths, which seems annoyingly long.

Also, I am now level 76 Red Mage.

Aside from the great news about CoP missions becoming easier to do (finally) for Darkcow and me, I have been leveling my Leathercraft periodically since I left Chicago. I've been in San Francisco, which hasn't left me much time at all to play, but I did manage to play some today.

I'm currently trying to figure out my next crafting route.

I'm thinking Karakul Wool (lv.14 cap) just so I can make some Karakul Thread (lv.55 clothcraft).

Chains of Promathia unfettered!

Chains of Promathia Areas Unfettered! (05/24/2010)
The next version update will usher in a change of Twilight God proportions with the lifting of level restrictions in Chains of Promathia areas. Tweaks bound to further enhance your adventuring experience in these areas are also in the works.

The upcoming version update will see the lifting of level restrictions in Chains of Promathia areas. In light of the planned level cap increase, the level and distribution of enemies in certain Promathia areas will also be adjusted to pose a worthy challenge to players level 75 and beyond. A journey of rediscovery to your favorite areas of old awaits!

Level restrictions will be lifted in the areas below:
Pso'Xja / Promyvion - Holla / Promyvion - Dem / Promyvion - Mea / Promyvion - Vahzl / Phomiuna Aqueducts / Sacrarium / Riverne - Site #B01 / Riverne - Site #A01

Promathia Missions Level restrictions imposed upon mission battlefields will also be lifted, making the Chains of Promathia missions more accessible than ever before. Adventurers who have yet to delve into the dark secrets of the Twilight God may now proceed with easier hearts! *No changes are being planned for the storyline or mission progression. Level restrictions will remain in effect for ENM quests.

Leathercraft and the return of the Broo

You know, it didn't take me very long to remember why I abandoned crafting for as long as I did. If you aren't willing to shell out the cash to powerlevel, it's a real pain in general to undertake a serious leveling session.

That being said, I managed for farm up the aforementioned 5 stacks of rabbit hides, and along with my grass threads that I have accumulated over time, I started grinding out Rabbit Mantles. I didn't even hit 6 on these (starting from 5). I caved and ran to the Tanner's Guild and purchased the remainder, and powered to 7. Sure, it only cost me about 5000 gil, but if I get into this habit, later levels are going to suck.

The next craft on the leathercrafting guide I'm using suggests that I start spamming out Solea (Lv. 11 - Wind Crystal: 2x Sheep Leather). Funny enough, one of my first posts on this blog was about me farming for clumps of sheep wool, which I crafted from sheepskin, which dropped most often off of Broo in Beadeaux.

I bought my boatload of dark crystals, Windurstian tea leaves, and distilled water, and made my trek to Beaudeaux and started killing them. Drops are going pretty well, but I'm not gonna return from the area until I finish my 7 stacks, and after I make a few Wool Cloth out of sheep wool too, just for extra cash.

That's all for now, I guess. I just wanted to show you guys pretty pictures that have nothing going on in them other than my silly thief farming gear.

rabbit hides

After last night's post, I spent the rest of my time out in East Ronfaure farming rabbit hides for my leathercraft. They drop at a pretty high rate and I only really need to get 2 levels off of them, but my goal is to get 5 stacks.

28 SAM, Leathercraft

After crafting a few of the Windurstian/Federation Gi set, I proceeded to power through the mid 20s, and am currently sitting at LV28 Samurai. I have refrained from using my
new Anniversary Ring on Samurai, as I plan on using it on my Blue Mage.

I've kind of overdone it with my SAM, though, so I decided that I am going to spend a little time farming up my Leathercraft. My goal is 20, but 10 is my immediate goal for now. It seems like a simple craft, and is useful for Clothcraft, much like Smithing/Goldsmithing/Bonecraft. I really need to work on my subcrafts, jeez.

Eruntalo as of May 2010

Here is my adventuring life in a nutshell!

SAM

Instead of leveling my BLU like I said I would, I've been leveling my SAM.

It has gone from 16 to 24 in the past few days, mostly by duoing FoV with Darkcow's Corsair.



I'm doing my normal FoV run:

Buburimu Peninsula > Pashhow Marshlands > Rolanberry Fields > LV 37

BLU

Level 58 Blue Mage achieved.

There isn't much else to say. Work keeps me from playing that much, but it's probably a good thing. Hopefully by the end of the month my BLU will be 60.

Blue Mage + Dancer + Chicago

I've been in Chicago living in a hotel since 26 April, and the internet at the hotel is pretty atrocious during peak gaming hours, which for me is 6-10pm since I work 8am-5pm. Some nights it'll work a decent amount of time, and other times it doesn't.

I have gotten things done, but overall I haven't gotten a whole lot done, unfortunately.

My Dancer is now level 37, so that is done forever.

I have since been focusing on my Blue Mage. It was 56 before I came to Chicago, and I occasionally do the Fields of Valor in Altepa, or I level sync with whatever Darkcow wants to level if he's playing with me, and we do Fields of Valor wherever applicable.

I did, however, get in my first real exp party since my dancer party that got me from 27-31. That party pushed me to level 57 Blue Mage, and after last night I am almost level 58. I need to buy the mats for my BLU AF body, so I can be pretty.

Dancer-town

Darkcow and I have messed around here and there with leveling random jobs, but lately we have done a lot of work on DRG and DNC, me specifically.

I have gotten my Dancer from level 31 to 36 in a few days, and am about to hit 37. As for my Dragoon, I leveled it a lot a few weeks ago, and am currently level 24 from level 14. Ultimately I decided that there was no really good reason to level it unless I wanted to take it beyond 37, which I very well might, but I will not at this current time, so I quit.

I also recently made an attempt to level my Goldsmithing and Bonecraft simultaneously by making Cornettes.

Cornette (14 Goldsmithing, 14 Bonecraft)
Wind Crystal x1
Brass Ingot x1
Bone Chip x1

I farmed my brass ingots by farming worms in Giddeus and synthing the brass ingots msyelf, which got my Goldsmithing to 7, which I felt was a good distance to start making Cornettes. I forgot, though, that at lower levels it's best to craft things near the cap, since they tend to skill up regardless and you do not fail the synth for a loss, while at more than 5 below the cap, you only skill up on a successful synth.

Leveling my Dancer in Rolanberry Fields has also gotten me many silk threads from the crawlers, and I've actually gotten a few more skill ups on the ugly silk road, and I am slowly approaching level 53 at no out-of-pocket expense. I have 2 stacks of silk cloth already, worth quite a bit, but instead of blowing my load simply for the gil, I am going to save it and try to use it to skill up, as meagerly as it will allow me to do so. Perhaps some day I will take the time to specifically farm the silk, but for the meantime I am going to continue at it slowly.

I certainly would like to hit the 60s and declare clothcraft as my main craft, as I have always intended, but since I have not quite hit that point yet, I never have had to do so.

On a spur-of-the-moment invite, Darkcow and I managed to complete Bastok Mission 9-2, and achieved rank 10!

+30 XBOX Achievement points
+100,000 gil

;)

@ 24 Dragoon

Earrings complete! - Synergy, Fishing

I have completed my set! 1/16 on EE, and 1/7 on BB, and now I can spend time doing other things, finally.

I have been using my spare time fishing in Sea Serpent Grotto, because of the profitability of it.

Halcyon Rod + Shrimp Lure -> Norg Shell, Cobalt Jellyfish, Nebimonite.

Every time I get a Norg Shell, I run back to Norg and either put it on that AH, or send it to my mule Hai in Jeuno to sell. (10,000 gil a pop)

My general round is 4 norg shells, then quit until all 4 sell. I don't want to flood the market. I have gotten about 4 stacks of nebimonite in the process (and hit 22 fishing because of them). Nebimonite sell for about 9k a stack, so I have made good, quick money there, too.

Cobalt Jellyfish go for a steady 3k a stack, which isn't awesome, but I'm getting them anyway, and may as well sell them.

Right before the maintenance that is occuring as I type this, I went and got my Synergy key item, and am now reading up on how to powerlevel my Synergy. It seems pretty easy, and I think I'm going to do it. Some of these ebon pieces actually seem good, especially equipped with good evoliths.

One more earring to go!

Eldritch Edge: 1/16 !!!!!

Quick update #2

Eldritch Edge: 0/11
Blighted Brand: 0/4
NPC Fellow: Lv50
TotM: 20/100 No.173

I've pretty much just done those and Immortality Events.

Quick update

Blighting Brand: 0/1
Eldritch Edge: 0/4

Fellow NPC: Lv49
TofM: No.173 - 62/100 remain

A Crystalline Prophecy: Final Seed/BCNM
Completed all Fellow NPC Missions, all that remains is last level cap increase.

Dynamis - Qufim, Operation Desert Swarm, TotM No. 173, T1 VNM

I swear, having this game on XBOX360 has increased my play time drastically.

I went to Einherjar Wing 3 and Dynamis - Qufim yesterday. We had back luck in Einherjar with mobs (Eyes, Dragons, Vampyr Jarl) and didn't finish, and then we went to DynaQufim. Easy win, full farming, and I got my Red Mage relic pants! Woohoo.



I spent the rest of the day messing about doing random things.

Trial of the Magians
Last night I finished No.172 (100 EP+ Windy/Windsday), and activated my 4th of 6, No.173 (100 EP+ Vermin Windy/Windsday). Every windsday since then (except when I slept), I go out to Bhaflau Thickets and kill Aht Urghan Attercops. I am down to 69/100 to kill, now, and I get spider webs out of it! 2000 gil each!

Voidwalker Notorious Monsters
I decided to try my RDM/NIN tanking skills out on a Tier 1 VNM. I grabbed my clear abyssite from the NPC in Ru'Lude Gardens and went to West Sarutabaruta and eventually found the beetle one. I soon found out that composure is actually your enemy when you are straight tanking a mob on RDM. Without bind or gravity, you need those recast timers to be as low as possible. Anyway, I beat the beetle pretty narrowly, but my abyssite didn't change, nor did it break, so I must kill another. I may ask someone to do this with me to speed up the process. Soloing these guys is cumbersome.

Operation Desert Swarm
I asked Darkcow to go with me on my first attempt on RDM/BLU tanking this KSNM. Well, with the Taco I get to nearly 700 defense, and it showed too. These guys didn't hit me very hard at all. I had trouble with interruption, so I was thankful that Darkcow was there to help heal me in emergencies. I did make a pretty grave mistake though, allowing phalanx to be down for too long and Darkcow was low on MP, so after having almost 3 killed, we wiped, and I died in a poor place. It was a good practice run, and I know that we can beat it next time, and whenever we want, so there's a bright side. For sure, though, I am going to pull them to the hallway next time.

Brothers ENM
I will be doing this every chance I can forever, for the chance at drops. You don't lose EXP so I don't care if I lose sometimes.

Ouyru Cometh, Sky, Trial of the Magians

Last night, I completed the CoP BCNM "Ouyru Cometh" in Riverne A01 5 times with my linkshell, Immortality. The first one didn't go that smoothly, but we won, then every fight thereafter we improved our time.

I got 10k gil from Black Beetle blood that I won the lot on, as well as a Tutelary, which I will eventually sell, but for now I am actually using it in my DEF setups.

Afterward, I returned to the Labyrinth of Onzozo and completed the second trial for my sword, No.165.

Today, I kind of messed around figuring where was best to do my current trial:

100 EP+ mobs on Windsday/ Windy weather.

Oddly enough, I returned to Labyrinth of Onzozo, because they are very low-end mobs and are the easiest for me to kill in a chaining method.

Eventually I bailed on doing this because it was time to go to sky with Immortality. They had 8 Byakko pops, 1 Seiryu, and 1 Genbu. I healed/refreshed as RDM/WHM and got my Genbu's Shield today! Yay.

Now, to pinpoint my future endeavors:

1) Solo Operation Desert Swarm as RDM/BLU. I've watched videos and I have the gear to do this, so I think I'm going to try it soon.
2) Solo the Brothers ENM. Again, watched a video, and I feel like I have the skill to do this.
3) Finish my stupid sword then start working on a THF dagger.
4) Camp and solo Charybdis for my Joytoy, I will I will I will.

Trial of the Magians

I have already completed my first trial of the magians, trial 164.

"Defeat 100 leeches under weather conditions."

After Darkcow and I did some of his (100 tigers) in Uleguerand Range, we level synced to his 25COR and did all my leeches (well, he was AFK for about 50 of them).

So, I now have a Soulsaber and am on Trial 165:

"Defeat 100 Sea Monks under Light/Thunder/Fire/Wind weather."

Now to find a place that meets that.

I am currently doing Ouyru Cometh with Immortality.

Bastok Rank 9, A Moogle Kupo d'Etat, other

Darkcow and I have officially hit our duoing road block in the Bastok missions. And wouldn't you know it? We're stuck on the final battle. He and I just can't keep Volker alive, and it's because we don't have enough dps to get those shadows down fast enough. Honestly, one more person would make a huge difference.

So, we're rank 9. We did 8-2 and 9-1 last night, winning both of them on our first attempt. Once we get this last fight done we can finally start San d'Oria, which I'm really not excited about, either, especially since we have to fight Taber'quoan again.

Today, we decided to do the first mission of A Moogle Kupo d'Etat add-on scenario, and it was mindless farming for drops, but it is now done.

And lastly, right up until about 30 minutes ago, Darkcow and I level synced my BLU to his 15 SAM/WAR and we duo'd in Dangruf Wadi. We zoomed through it, and Darkcow was almost 17 when we quit. This was a much more entertaining way for me to level my Blue Mage, for sure.

Oh, also, we did MMM this morning and I got Maze Run 096. Maybe Darkcow and I will eventually try the synthesis voucher.

Servers Merged, Rank 8, BLU, MMM?

Today, the servers came back up, but with 8 less servers. My server, Cerberus, has acquired the Hades server, nearly doubling the current population. I am happy about this, for certain. More people = more action, and maybe I could even party my Blue Mage instead of soloing in Xarcabard.

Darkcow and I attained Rank 8 in Bastok on Sunday evening. We blazed through 7-1, demolishing the golems in Ro'Maeve. Duo'd as 75THF/NIN and 75WHM/BLM.

Then we went to Palborough Mines and into Waughroon Shrine and fought the 4 Quadav BCNM (4 Yagudo equivalent in Windurst) and won in 25 minutes of the 30 minute time limit. It wasn't terribly easy, but we were never really scared of dying except for maybe once. Duo'd as 75RDM/BLM and 75WHM/BLM.

The Antican fight (Bastok 8-1) was certainly difficult, but we managed it. As RDM/BLM I pulled them all the way to the zone, and Darkcow waited on the side and cast Repose on the Warrior NM. After zoning to Altepa, we rezoned to Quicksands and duo'd this rather tough Antican, and got our cutscene.

3 missions remain until Bastok is complete. 8-2 is an easy ghost fight, when sneak-pull is used. 9-1 is the Gigaplasm fight, which is apparently a nightmare, so that will be fun for us. And last, but not least, the 9-2 fight vs. secret enemy. He's easy except for the fact that he spawns two shadow adds. I am thinking that, if they can't be slept, that I will go as RDM/BLU and fight them separately while Darkcow stays on the secret enemy. We'll see, that's the one I've always been worried about us duoing since we have low damage per second output but high survivability.

My Blue Mage is now 56, and still aiming to get to 60 as soon as possible. I need to work on getting spells though. I've gotten pretty far behind.

And, finally, Moblin Maze Mongers.

I have been doing a lot of reading on this. It seems incredibly fun and a potential place to gain experience in a closed but easy way. Darkcow and I gave it a try doing it legitimately, but it was taking too long and we got Tigers, and their paralyze hurt us. (He went as NIN/DNC and I as BLU/DNC.) We beat the tigers, but got to the Mandragoras and realized we had too little time left. Either we need to get another person to play it with us, or we need to go as two strictly damage dealing jobs with no MP to rest up.

Paragon of Blue Mage Excellence, Salvage

As you can guess from my title, I have defeated the Nepionic Soulflayer NM for the final AF quest for Blue Mage. I saw a Japanese fellow shouting for it this morning and decided to join their group, if they would let me. They did, and despite the THF getting one-shot by a huge spell, we won pretty easily.

To celebrate, I decided to level my BLU a bit, and am further into level 55 now. The 50s are where the EXP gaps get bigger at a much faster rate, and it's getting tedious now that it's exceeded 10,000 experience per level. However, I very much want to hit level 60 Blue Mage, and soon. I love Blue Mage, I really do, and I want to wear all the AF, now.

4/5 on BLU AF armor, only missing the lv58 body piece now.

As for Salvage, I went to a pick-up group one today, and it was terrible, but at least now I can say that I've done it? :)

Salvage is incredibly cool in theory, and I wanted to see if it really was as cool as it seemed. Well, it is, but you need non-retards for it to go well, clearly. I wish I had more friends on this game.

On a side note, I may pick up mining in Mount Zhaylom soon. Khroma ore goes for 400k? I want to have the gils. I know it's a "very rare" thing to mine, but if I keep with it, I will get one. Even just one would make my millenium.

BLU, DNC, AF

I have been leveling BLU more since Taber'quoan, and I am now up to level 53. I am, at this moment, in the Sanctuary of Zi'Tah doing the 3rd page of the Fields of Valor, and am one page from leveling.

Once I hit 54, I will be heading to Whitegate to purchase the BLU AF pants that are equippable at level 54. I know they aren't great, but I plan on wearing full AF while I level (though I may wear my Scorpion Harness instead, I haven't decided). Besides, I am sick of wearing the dirty diaper Republic Subligar.

Since my DNC is not yet leveled to 37, I was approaching a point where BLU/DNC was going to be gimped because of a low dancer sub, so I leveled Dancer a bit today, going from 27 to 31. It seems like a big leap, but easy fields of valor and a nice party make that happen pretty quickly.

One last note, I tried to solo the final BLU AF boss, Nepionic Soulflayer, as RDM/BLU for Head Butt since that's the only form of stun to which he is not immune. He kicked my ass. I will need Darkcow for it, I think, but even then, I'm not sure if we can duo him. He's rough. These are times I wish I were Summoner. He's a joke with a summoner soloing.

Bastok - Rank 7; NMs!

Darkcow and I had a sloppy night on Saturday night. We made our first attempts at duoing the Mission 5-1 fight, vs. Taber'quoan. We had one reraise earring between us, which allowed for 6 fights.

We ultimately realized that we needed more MP drinks if we were to be successful.

So, tonight (Sunday @ 9CDT), he and I made our way, again, to Fei'Yin and fought Taber'quoan. Our first match didn't go that well, and then our second we timed out at 2% health! It was awful, haha. We thought we won, but there was no cutscene. But we had our strategy down.

After we got the two mages down, Darkcow would focus on Taber'quoan and I would MELEE down the incoming warriors and Head Butt/Bludgeon Taber'quoan inbetween, rather than waste MP on battle dance, meanwhile helping keep Darkcow (and myself) alive with Curing/Divine Waltz.

We won on our third attempt of the night in 12min 25sec.

We did not celebrate long, and quickly made our way to Castle Zvahl to fight the Shadow Lord to get Rank 6. We made quick work of him, duoing as RDM/BLU (me) and WHM/BLM.

Darkcow was hopped up on energy drinks and I never sleep, so we decided to aim for Rank 7. The first fight was very simple. Darkcow Teleport-Altep'd us to the desert, and I sneak-spawned the two sphinxes, and we only fought the Eastern Sphinx. The Western Sphinx had despawned by the time we defeated the other, and we received our key item from the ???.

Bastok Mission 6-2 was a little more difficult, and more time-consuming, but it was still easier than anything we ever had to do in Windurst. We traveled t'Norg, talked to our old friend Gilgamesh, then we took our 30,000gil adaman ore and sneak-spawned Magma, a NM bomb. He hit like a truck, but we outlasted him, especially after he spammed berserk instead of self-destruct. We made quick work of him, defeating him in 4 minutes.

We returned to Bastok after turning in the frag rock to Gilgamesh, and now Darkcow and I are one rank closer to never having to see Bastok again, at least unless we have to do some silly side-quest there at some point in the upcoming expansions.

As for other adventures, my BLU is now 51, closing in on 52 so that I can wear the AF boots that I got from doing the BLU AF2 quest, defeating an Immortal Flan in Navukgo Execution Chamber.

Also, after losing to Taber'quoan on Saturday night, Darkcow and I went up to Upper Delkfutt Tower as THF/NIN and WHM/BLM and farmed Jotunns up there for gil, Gigas socks, Gigas necklaces, and the rare/ex items used to spawn NMs Alkyoneus and Pallas. In due time we managed to get both items, and we duo'd both of them. They both dropped socks, but not their heavily-sought bracers.

On the bright side, I often HQ the desynth of the socks.

Gigas socks + 1 lightning crystal =
(NQ) 2 wool thread
(HQ1) 4 wool thread
(HQ2) 6 wool thread
(HQ3) 8 wool thread

We gathered 2.5 stacks of wool thread out there, which sums to 28,000gil alongside the gil dropped by the gigas (~150gil per kill).

And last, but not least, I did get the Spellcaster's Ecu from Mucoid Mass in Ranguemont Pass. I went 1/2 on that 25% drop.

Longest post I've had in a while, eh?

BLU and NM hunting

Having FFXI on XBOX360 has gotten me to play it a whole lot more than I used to. I got my Blue Mage to 50 yesterday, finally, so Darkcow and I are ready to duo Archlich Taber'quoan. We have scheduled to attempt that on Sunday, and then, after we win, we will do the Shadow Lord, and perhaps aim to hit more ranks that day.

I camped Yal-un Eke in Lufaise Meadows for a little while against a pretty obvious gilseller (Ciic on Cerberus), who has been monopolizing the NM for apparently months for the 150,000 gil drop (10% rate of drop on a pretty frequent spawn window).

I got bored with that and decided to get started on my Blue Mage artifact gear, which begins with the sword. That was a really simple mission, and now I have to wait until tomorrow to begin the quest for the Lv52 BLU AF shoes.

Now, I'm in Ranguemont Pass camping a couple NMs.

Hyakume, who drops this --


and Mucoid Mass, who drops this--


I'm mainly here for the Spellcaster's Ecu so that I can use it while I level my BLU while I sub DNC, since I may as well have some kind of shield. It's only worth 30,000gil, and I could just buy it, but I would rather farm around a bit and see.

I am currently 0/1 on both drops, farming on my 75THF with Thief's Knife, so TH3? Anyway, I will continue farming these (getting a lot of Mercury this way too, which is 7000gil a stack on my server), at least until Darkcow and I head to do the BLU AF shoes fight in Navukgo Execution Chamber.

Archlich Taber'quoan 50BLU/DNC Duo Strategy

Archlich Taber'quoan Strategy:

Set-up:
Blue Mage Spells:
- Bludgeon & Smite of Rage = Undead Killer
- Healing Breeze & Sheep Song = Auto-Regen
- Wild Carrot (for emergencies)
- Battle Dance = AoE Physical
- Cocoon = Defense Boost
- Blank Gaze = Ice Spikes Dispel

Items:
- Yagudo Drinks
- Lv50-appropriate meat
- Reraise Earring
- Regen Drinks (au Laits)
- Icarus Wing (1 each)
- Poison potions (2 each)
- Ether x 6 (emergencies)

1. Walk to the edge of aggro range and use all 5 items.
2. Cast Cocoon.
3. Darkcow runs in and fights Archlich Taber'quoan. (Save Head Butt for nasty spells. Otherwise, only use Bludgeon for MP conservation. Sleeping is always an option if you need to rest, assuming Eruntalo can manage to grab every warrior that runs in.)
4. Eruntalo goes in behind him and grabs both of the sorcerers, and drags them to the doorway, from where the warriors will run.
5. Eruntalo slowly fights down both sorcerers, and then joins Darkcow to finish off Taber'quoan.

Note: Use battle dance only when there are 3 warriors on you. Otherwise, it is a waste of MP.

Bastok - Rank 5; more BLU

Around leveling my Blue Mage (which is now level 45), Darkcow and I have managed to get Rank 5 Bastok as well. The magicite mission was easy, as you would expect for a pair of level 75 characters.

We are leveling our Blue Mages so that we can attempt at duoing the Archlich Taber'quoan fight, rather than asking for help. I probably mentioned this in the previous post.

Well, I've also been purchasing gear here and there to be at maximum potential for that fight. I really want this to go well because I have a good feeling that we can duo all the way to Rank 10. The only fight I see real issues is the Zeid fight at the end, once we beat Taber'quoan. But I also think the Zeid fight is doable. It's a hell of a lot easier than the Windurst Rank 10 fight. Good lord.

Bastok - Rank 4; BLU

Darkcow and I have done a little more work the past few days in terms of progress through the Bastok missions. We are now Rank 4, and once we do the fairly easy, but time-consuming Magicite mission, we will be Rank 5.

The first fight in Rank 5 for every nation is Archlich Taber'quoan, whom I despise, and have a very mean name for that I will not share on the internet.

Darkcow and I are leveling our Blue Mages to 50 to try to duo this LV50-capped fight. The strategy, I think, will be 2x BLU/NIN, we take down the 2 mini-boss adds, which causes Taber'quoan to summon a bunch of little adds, on which Darkcow and I will alternate casting Sheep Song.

This time, we need to remember to take reraise earrings, though. ;)

Bastok (GROSS)

Today was a pretty action-packed day on FFXI'diel for Darkcow and me.

First, we FoV'd our BSTs synced at 46 (and eventually 47), and got his to 47 and mine to 51.

Then we moved on and decided to get our rank up a little bit in Bastok, since it's in third which makes changing to it cheaper than usual. We managed to get Rank 3 and also finished the first quest on the way to rank 4, as well as collected items for the Beaudeax magicite portion of mission 4-3.

Doesn't sound too action-packed, but that second part took up most of the day. I look forward to more fun times.