It's like wearing a neon flashing sign that says "I am terrible at my job."
Why can't I have nice Dynamis runs?
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Sunday, April 24, 2011
Soloing in a Broom Closet
While it's not exactly a noteworthy accomplishment to solo a level 70 Notorious Monster when you're level 80, today's adventure feels noteworthy all the same.
It got pretty hairy when I got caught with Convert down.
That room is so tiny.
I've been meaning to get to Sky and I've started the legwork on the missions. Today I've been going around to the Cermet headstones and collecting fragments. But enough with the exposition.
I wandered into Cape Terrigan and tackled Axesarion the Wanderer. He's a Shadow and takes reduced damage from magic, so my nukes weren't exactly melting his face. The tricky thing though, was that he's located at the end of a tunnel that's constantly patrolled by goblins, meaning I couldn't exactly kite him over long distances. In fact I couldn't really kite him more than a few feet. The room was incredibly tiny and the goblins were all breathing down my neck the whole fight, but I somehow managed to keep enough distance between me and the NM that he couldn't swing at me while bound.
This is sort of the problem I've always had with the concept of kiting NMs, there's always an entire zone full of aggro waiting to ruin your attempt if the NM doesn't. Today I started learning some basics of how to get around this. You really don't need much space at all if there's a clear spot that doesn't have aggro. Just enough space that the monster can't swing at you. It kind of blew my mind when I realized what can be done with just a broom closet of aggro free space.
It got pretty hairy when I got caught with Convert down.
That room is so tiny.
Monday, April 18, 2011
Dear Mages...
Cast Haste.
Even Quadavs know how to cast Haste. Why don't you?
I'm tired of being the only competent mage in Abyssea pickup parties. Don't make me Haste the entire alliance by myself, stop slacking.
Even Quadavs know how to cast Haste. Why don't you?
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Abyssea's effect on low level pickup parties
I have now seen the aftermath of Abyssea firsthand and it isn't pretty.
Tonight one of the newer players in our linkshell basically said that the lack of low level parties caused by Abyssea was discouraging him from logging in.
Sure we've all had nights where we sit around with our flag up and no invites, but I think it's reaching the point where there are enough people forgoing low level parties that it's actively driving players away from the game.
Tonight one of the newer players in our linkshell basically said that the lack of low level parties caused by Abyssea was discouraging him from logging in.
Sure we've all had nights where we sit around with our flag up and no invites, but I think it's reaching the point where there are enough people forgoing low level parties that it's actively driving players away from the game.
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
A little too easy
Well it's nice that the servers are back online again. I was beginning to go crazy from the lack of FFXI in my diet and had to find something else to fill the void. But now we're back so it's all good, right?
Wrong!
I've been dodging this whole Abyssea thing for a while but now that I'm past Maat I figured it was time to venture into that mystical place everyone's been raving about for the last few months. So after some time with my flag up I landed myself an Abyssea party.
My first impressions were not good. Actually seeing a whole alliance exping together shattered more than a few dreams. There was little to no organization that I could discern. People were constantly pulling in multiple mobs, but no one bothered sleeping anything. There didn't seem to be a designated /assist, it was more just a free for all of Damage Dealers with some Healers tacked on for good measure. I honestly had no idea what was going on and felt largely superfluous to the whole operation. Things were dying too fast to bother with enfeebles other than the occasional Dia, no one was coordinating Haste cycles, Cures were already thoroughly provided for. It left me wondering why I'd been invited in the first place.
Another issue I had was that with a group that large there wasn't much in the way of chatting. That's something I liked about the six man parties, you could usually get one where folks were laid back enough to shoot the breeze so everyone had a good time regardless of how the exp was. In Abyssea....not so much. It was pretty much just maul, maul, maul, oh have to replace someone, maul, maul, maul. That's no way to meet people.
The exp flow's pretty silly. I went from 72 to 75 + capped buffer in under two hours. I can see the appeal for folks looking to race another job to the level cap, but that kind of leveling speed really just took all the satisfaction out of finally hitting 75. You know, one of my big goals for the game...now it's totally not an accomplishment. I feel dirty for taking that party now.
My Little Pony: better than Abyssea.
Wrong!
I've been dodging this whole Abyssea thing for a while but now that I'm past Maat I figured it was time to venture into that mystical place everyone's been raving about for the last few months. So after some time with my flag up I landed myself an Abyssea party.
My first impressions were not good. Actually seeing a whole alliance exping together shattered more than a few dreams. There was little to no organization that I could discern. People were constantly pulling in multiple mobs, but no one bothered sleeping anything. There didn't seem to be a designated /assist, it was more just a free for all of Damage Dealers with some Healers tacked on for good measure. I honestly had no idea what was going on and felt largely superfluous to the whole operation. Things were dying too fast to bother with enfeebles other than the occasional Dia, no one was coordinating Haste cycles, Cures were already thoroughly provided for. It left me wondering why I'd been invited in the first place.
Another issue I had was that with a group that large there wasn't much in the way of chatting. That's something I liked about the six man parties, you could usually get one where folks were laid back enough to shoot the breeze so everyone had a good time regardless of how the exp was. In Abyssea....not so much. It was pretty much just maul, maul, maul, oh have to replace someone, maul, maul, maul. That's no way to meet people.
The exp flow's pretty silly. I went from 72 to 75 + capped buffer in under two hours. I can see the appeal for folks looking to race another job to the level cap, but that kind of leveling speed really just took all the satisfaction out of finally hitting 75. You know, one of my big goals for the game...now it's totally not an accomplishment. I feel dirty for taking that party now.
My Little Pony: better than Abyssea.
Saturday, March 5, 2011
The oddest of findings
There's something I've been noticing lately. I've recently added the following line to my search comments while seeking for a party:
{Support Job} : {Scholar}
Ever since I added that, I've started getting invited to Japanese exp parties more often. I can't be certain but I think there may be a correlation. It weirds me out a little but I don't mind since they bring me Paladins and usually make for more relaxed parties. You've got to love a tank that will cure itself for you.
The Bunnies are coming...
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Idling in a Red Cap
With Maat knocked out of the picture I'm starting to feel like I'm at loose ends.
Back when I first got into this game I had very simple and realistic goals for myself.
The obvious choice would be to find myself a complete set of relic armor, or to be more precise: pimp hat 2.0. But then, that's just another list of gear to get and while satisfying, it isn't really what I want my main focus for the game to be. To go through the game with nothing but the intent to get more shinies seems like a good way to burn yourself out.
My previous list of stuff to do was more about the journey to the top, but now that I'm getting up here I find myself losing perspective. When I was a small and inexperienced Red Mage I used to be all about the running around to dumb places to exp and couldn't understand why folks wouldn't want to sync down. But now that I'm all the way up here at level 70 I'm starting to understand. There's an definite appeal to keeping all of your abilities and spells, because they're a lot of fun to use. The higher you go the more you can do with the job and the more fun it gets. On the other side of the coin is a gradual erosion of that mystical sense of adventure you had when you first joined the game. No longer do I run headlong into Dangruf Wadi to smack bunnies and evade goblins for the thrill of it. Instead I find myself sitting in exp parties wanting to strangle my various party members for being horribly inept.
Somewhere in that journey something changed in me, and it's not a change I like. My fear is that if I continue playing primarily for the acquisition of shinies that it will only cause that change to fester until it turns me into a very bitter player.
Back when I first got into this game I had very simple and realistic goals for myself.
- Complete my Arfifact armor
- Beat up Maat
- Reach level 75
The obvious choice would be to find myself a complete set of relic armor, or to be more precise: pimp hat 2.0. But then, that's just another list of gear to get and while satisfying, it isn't really what I want my main focus for the game to be. To go through the game with nothing but the intent to get more shinies seems like a good way to burn yourself out.
My previous list of stuff to do was more about the journey to the top, but now that I'm getting up here I find myself losing perspective. When I was a small and inexperienced Red Mage I used to be all about the running around to dumb places to exp and couldn't understand why folks wouldn't want to sync down. But now that I'm all the way up here at level 70 I'm starting to understand. There's an definite appeal to keeping all of your abilities and spells, because they're a lot of fun to use. The higher you go the more you can do with the job and the more fun it gets. On the other side of the coin is a gradual erosion of that mystical sense of adventure you had when you first joined the game. No longer do I run headlong into Dangruf Wadi to smack bunnies and evade goblins for the thrill of it. Instead I find myself sitting in exp parties wanting to strangle my various party members for being horribly inept.
Somewhere in that journey something changed in me, and it's not a change I like. My fear is that if I continue playing primarily for the acquisition of shinies that it will only cause that change to fester until it turns me into a very bitter player.
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