So, for so many years Shmii always used to mock the Elvaan red mages who stood around town subbing ninja, dual wielding in a combination of AF and evasion gear. Particularly the "white slacks". He always liked to harp on the "Scorpion Harness and white slacks."

Well, having just hit 60 red mage, and missing having Shmii around in game, I've decided to give him an appropriate tribute. It's not entirely accurate since I'm dual-wielding my actual solo'ing sword and then a random purchase for the picture. To be completely accurate, I should have 2x Wise Wizard Anelaces. But the point is made!



On a serious note, this is my second-to-last job for Maat's Cap to get 60+. Summoner is rotting at level 14 atm...will be starting that tomorrow, hopefully will have Maat's Caps by Christmas. I know I'm really late to the Cap party, but I'd like to think that I'm doing it in a classier fashion than most (not all! Some good players reading this have Caps...) by actually playing the jobs in a proper fashion with real gear and some semblance of respect for the job...not just blowing through it and then standing around town in my gimp-ass thief or samurai gear. -.-;

Does ANYONE run a Limbus group that would have me on board to be lotting Homam and corsair AF+1 gear that runs on late night EST (after 9:00 p.m.) schedules Sun-Thu? (that is, any combination of nights that don't include Friday or Saturday night) If on Monday and/or Thursday it would have to be after midnight.

Seriously. In all the years I've done Limbus I keep ending up having to leave/having shells break when I'm next/second/etc. on the list for Homam and for fuck's sake it's getting old.

I don't want to merc this stuff. I have better ways of spending 8-10 million gil than trying to buy Homam pieces at inflated prices. But I really would like the gear and at this point, unless I can find a group, it's my only option.

I'm interested in doing Einherjar. If any of you are in groups who would be willing to have me along and in your lotting system for just Einherjar (I unfortunately do not have the RL schedule to commit to a full endgame ls), please post your run days and times in response. Most of you here know that I'm at least semi-competent and you won't be eating wipes because I run off and aggro an entire group of mobs/decide to slug shot something like Fafnir from the rear (heh...memories), etc. Also, though I've not spoken to her about this specifically, expect Mirnen to be along for the ride too unless it's very late light EST, because I'm sure she's just as interested in the event and drops unless she can't make it to the times.

I just wanted to share this with everyone because I wanted it to be clear that the kind of idiocy I've previously been bitching about really does exist. This is an invite Mirnen got today seeking on samurai.

I mean...really?

What the fuck is wrong with samurai on Seraph?

"I only wanna sub ninja because I always die subbing warrior."

"I don't want to provoke because I'll get feather tickled and lose my TP."

"I'd rather gimp myself than actually sub warrior when I have healers and support mages WILLING to let me /war in meripo."

/nin has it's place. That place is growing smaller with every update.

Stop. Fucking. Subbing. Ninja. Especially when I, as the party leader, ask you not to do so.


Good day.

So I still really want Salvage body pieces. I still have no way to fund them other than mining the ores. So despite my shitty luck in the past, I tried again today.

12 stacks of picks, two-boxing two characters rotating through points; one standing static at a two-point spawn, one running around finding them. Each zoning at least once an hour to "reset" the the time in zone per SE's stupid HELM restrictions on time/zone/obtainment ratios.

Results were better than before monetarily...I made ~150k (3 adaman ore, other finds synthed into ingots/etc. for sale).

Still zero khroma ore throughout my entire mining career.

The -worst- estimate I think I've seen for khroma ore drop rate is .4% on ffxiclopedia.

I'm 100% sure I've gone through at least 500 picks (that's a little over 40 stacks). I'm not as positive that I've gone through 1,000 (~83 stacks) but if I haven't, it's closer to 1,000 than 500.

Still ZERO khroma ore throughout my entire mining career.

Assuming I've done 1,000 picks exactly, and assuming I walk out there tomorrow, one pick swing, and get a khroma ore, that's less than a .1% excavation rate on khroma ore for me.

You need TWENTY-FOUR of them for ONE Salvage body piece. Assuming your smith doesn't break any.

I have always maintained I want AT LEAST two Salvage bodies (Ares's and Usukane) and possibly a third (Skadi).

Since I managed to sell off some things and buy ingots for Mirnen's cuirass, ingots have gone from 800,000g per up to almost 1,300,000 per. About a 60% increase. And SE has PUT MORE WAYS TO OBTAIN THEM INTO THE GAME since then.

I would really, really appreciate a way to get khroma ores/imp. wootz ingots/salvage body upgrades without having to be involved in an HNMLS that requires I play the game every waking moment of the day.

Tired of gear and skill being considered equal in FFXI.


Yes, gear is important. It's hard to be, for instance, a quality monk without haidate and a black belt.

But just because someone has the most amazing gear does not making them the most amazing player.

Inversely, there are some really fucking shitty players (at least on Seraph) with really awesome gear.

Take offense if you want, I don't give a shit anymore. But gear != skill. Nor can skill entirely make up for gear.

You've got to have both. And too many people have only got one or the other anymore and it's really making this server's endgame population kinda sickening.

...Attention shitty players:

Stop playing paladin and corsair.

Edit: removed the rest of the text. Explanation unnecessary.

Just figure out whether it applies and if it does, fucking comply.

Whelp. I did it. Laugh at will.

Thoughts relating to Maat's Cap:

1) Why do the majority of people with a Maat's Cap have a horrendously geared thief, and THIS is the job they choose with which to idle in Whitegate showing off said Cap? (And if it's not thief, there's a good chance it's an equally gimp samurai).

2) Why, of all the Maat's Cap that have popped up around Seraph, does it seem that with MAYBE one or two notable exceptions, everyone with a Maat's Cap who doesn't suck is in BtL? (This doesn't save them from the thief question! I think half the time I see Miggy, it's still on thief. It's just better geared.)

I'm going to cure you.

I don't give a shit about your e-peen sorcerer's ring.

That is all.

My 2009 stats...it's too early for me to be mathing. So I'll do that later today/this week.



Also did some KS99s yesterday...sure my orb -could- be a little worse. I mean, you could throw in abjurations instead of crap weapons...but this has to be the worst KS99 haul ever for practical intents and purposes. I think two other people got Strider Boots though out of about 10 runs. Luckily, at least Mirny got her last black belt item from one of the runs...so I think I'm going to keep 99 on hand for doing Wyrm, otherwise go back to doing KS30s.

FUCK!!!


That is all.

....is every other Dynamis ls leader on the server (at least that I deal with) convinced that -they're- the one with the right to whatever zone they want exactly when they want it and everyone else can go screw? They were here first or they posted their schedule first or they're just better or WHATEVER.

This goes for my friends who run other ls'es and people I don't get along with so well alike.

Making a schedule anymore is a giant fucking pain in the ass because no one is fucking willing to work together or give at all.

It's like the scene in Reservoir Dogs where Joe's talking about guys picking their own names.


"MR. PINK: Why can't we pick out our own colors?

JOE: I tried that once, it don't work. You get four guys fighting over who's gonna be Mr. Black. Since nobody knows anybody else, nobody wants to back down. So forget it, I pick."


It's like the internet is the amazing mask that lets you be a total douche. I mean, fuck.

I mean, I realize I'm kind of a dick sometimes too...but that's not because it's the internet. I'm a total asshole in real life, too.

Okie, well. Mirny and I have been largely inactive for the past two weeks or so in game, just logging in for Dynamis more or less. Why? A few reasons!

For one, we're finally moving out of this crummy hole-in-the-wall apartment into a new townhouse some miles down the road. So we've been busy first looking at places, haggling with landlords and now packing, arranging things, sorting, throwing things out, sorting more things and generally tripping over every last piece of junk we've owned for the past three years.

And as if that weren't enough...we also got around to getting officially engaged too. Granted it's a surprise to literally no one - except maybe her mother, who was probably pretty sure I'd never actually do it - but we've sorta been taking care of a lot of RL business recently so apologies to our various in-game groups for flaking out. I hope it's understood we're not trying to rock the boat or fuck things up for people, just trying to get our lives adjusted to various changes.

That said, we have been on a bit at least and I've managed to achieve a few things. Nyzul, Dynamis, Salvage and Limbus have all been coming along well...though we're really starting to have problems attending Salvage due to the lateness of the runs. We're just not able to do the crazy late nights anymore and still get up for work at 7:00 a.m.

But anyhow, stuff!


1) Usu hands, finally, after what seems like a ridiculously long time of killing various 35s for me and just not having anything drop.

2) TH4...yay?! Will make alchemy ingredient farming a little easier maybe.

3) Denali legs at long-fucking-last. My Nyzul group is officially finished as far as drops go. We still have little things we each want, but we've gotten the big things we set out to get...almost 20 months later. We're going to be working on a captain static now...I've only got 3 clears needed for that, but most of them need a lot more so it will be nice to get a good section of the reclears done in the event I ever do a Mythic weapon.

And that's it for now! And probably will be it for some time to come again. Just really busy...likely won't have anything more to report until we get moved and everything settled.

Ok, so. Here's how it is. I don't merit corsair without a bard in the party, and I don't pull. Bard, subbing ninja, can do two things in meripo, essentially. Sing and pull. Keeping four songs up and pulling is not difficult. Just like keeping four rolls up and pulling is not difficult.

The difference comes in what you can do between those other things. Corsair pulling and keeping rolls up is lost damage potential. Brd/nin pulling and keeping songs up is lost potential for...wait...what...I forget...

Oh yeah. NOTHING.

Bards make parties amazing, as long as they're competent and the other members aren't retarded. But subbing ninja they can't cure and they can't do any damage to speak of without CRAZY good gear(especially compared to a corsair on birds). Whereas a corsair can actually do some pretty respectable damage output between rolls.

So what it basically comes down to is lazy bards, or bards with a grudge.

What brings this up? This bard, with whom I've partied before and was par for the course, at best, got all pissy upon my joining the party today.



And upon disbanding, his search comment went from this:



To this:



So either he hates me and thinks I'm the world's worst corsair, has had a ton of bad experiences with other corsairs (which I admit, is a possibility; there are a lot of shit corsairs out there), or he's just fucking lazy.

Look what salvage has done to my once-illustrious assault point totals. =(



But really...Nyzul needs to hurry up and drop the shit our members need so we can be done with it...really need to focus time on Salvage assault points.

Or, SE could just allow for use of Nyzul points for permits. <3

Game:

Really tired of having my trust betrayed by folks in this game I've tried to help or put my faith in.

RL:

Picked up my Buffett tickets for this year, really happy about that! Hoping this year will be the best yet.

Stop fucking leveling paladin and refusing to play any other job.
Stop letting friends new to the game level paladin as their only job.

Too many fucking paladins out there, and most of them suck, don't have the gear, or don't know how to use what gear they have.

FUCK.

I'm fucking sick of this. I've been running a Dynamis linkshell for well over a year now. I've always deferred to those whose shells existed before mine and I've always done my best to work with people who needed a zone we had that night. I've not always been able to move for them, but if it's been viable, I have. I've even tried to help other shells when I see they have conflicts by alerting both parties involved and trying to make sure we're all in zones and not left out in the cold.

My shell is small and they work very hard to maintain a level of performance normally attained only by shells that are larger or have much better geared people. They don't deserve to have our scheduled zones jacked by shouted-up groups and the like.

I can't even describe to you the near blinding-rage I feel when shit like this happens. I'm just going to post the discussion I've had with two folks who have absolutely no regard for those who have come before.

I admit I have a poor history with the second of these two folks. I think very little of them, I always have, and that makes it even more aggravating that they're still about as reasonable as they've always been. I also take exception to my reputation being called into question. I realize I've not always been the most level-headed and I've burned some bridges I shouldn't have, but last time I checked, most of the current HNM/Endgame shells contain members with whom I am friends and/or have activities with every week. I know some people totally hate me. I'm ok with that. I have never sought to be universally loved. But I am, as far as I've always been able to tell, at least reasonable well-liked. I don't buy gil, I don't associate with RMT, I don't lootwhore beyond reason.

I don't play this game to put up with shit like this, and people like this drive good players away, imo.

Anyhow, unedited, names unchanged!