►March 2nd, 2010 | Category: MeThe wonderfully narcissistic nature of a blog allows me to talk about myself from time to time (if not, y’know, all the time). With the revelations of raised level caps and server mergers, I guess it’s time to fess up something I’ve known for almost a year know, and take an unusual step away from being Talint, grumpy paladin extraordinaire of holding grudges, burning bridges, and all around obnoxiousness, and instead talk about me, Matt, the real life author of said character.
Talint’s shelf life is about to expire.
Unless things go horribly, terribly wrong, I’m beginning a new life in a few months. One where I simply won’t have the time, energy, dedication or focus to play an intensive MMO like FFXI anymore. It’s going to be great; the pursuit of a dream I have long hoped for has actually begun to materialize. I’d be remiss to say if part of it wasn’t thanks to Final Fantasy XI.
I had hoped that, in the few months before this happens, to slow down my game a lot, write about things I had kept my mouth shut about, and eventually fade into oblivion. With the server merging announcement, as well as the announcement of raising the level cap to 99 over the course of the next year, plus all three add-on scenarios, that simply just won’t be the case.
Talint currently has four jobs at level 75: Paladin, Warrior, Dancer, and Ranger. I don’t know how much about potential EXP required, but I imagine it’s going to be a lot, even if implemented in increments. As it stands, I will probably only be around for the first level raise to 80. That means leveling at least four subjobs (WHM, RDM, NIN, SAM), as well as those main jobs. This doesn’t even cover the new gear or the new content that’s going to make themselves available with the new level cap. I wish they did this earlier.
If I decide to focus on just one job, then it means abandoning goals that I wanted to end with: Procure a Heca Cap, procure Homam feet, and finish up Ares Body. If I only take WAR, I can forego Ares Body and Homam feet. If I only take PLD, then I could forego Heca Cap. I doubt DNC is going to get better any time soon, even with a raised level cap. RNG is a great, fun job that I’ve been enjoying over the last few months, but it’s not the best job to only have at 80.
This could be said of any of the jobs, really. FFXI evolved into a game where having more than one job was required, so you could attend any event to fulfill any role as needed. Now, players are going to go crazy trying to get the EXP necessary to level up as they see fit.
So, maybe it’s time to retire, a bit earlier than planned. If I was younger and still had all the time in the world, I’d be all over this announcement. As it stands, though, it just looks daunting at best. It’s something I just won’t be able to participate in.
►February 27th, 2010 | Category: Miscellaneous, The PlayerbaseIf you have ever worn this combo:
That is, crimson legs + goliard feet…
…You are a fashion nightmare. STOP IT.
And actually, looking at that specific picture, that Morrigan’s Robe doesn’t exactly add anything either.
This is my bird, Kikuichimonji:
He is my pride and joy. I bred and raised him for racing. His stats are:
Strength: SS
Endurance: SS
Discernment: B
Receptivity: F
Abilities: Gallop and Canter
He is, through and through, a racing bird. When equipped with a Speed Apple, he wins most races… Except for C1 races and the Passhow Swamptrot. It’s not like he’s placing Second or Third in a C1 race. He goes from placing first in a C2 to not placing. That means I’m out 10,000 gil on top of 74 chocobucks. There’s very little I can do besides change his item, and anything that’s not a Speed Apple isn’t worth using at all. If I had not maxed out his Strength or Endurance, then I could equip a different saddle on him to improve his stats, but because I maxed out his racing stats (since, y’know, he’s a fucking racing bird) there’s really nothing I can do about it.
And don’t get me fucking started on the Swamptrot… Hey look, the sheep and the rabbit each use Sheep Charge and Wild Carrot three times. That’s totally cool and fair.
Just another example of, “Hey, look, I did everything right. Oh well, too bad for me!”
First of all, I’d like to thank the dipshit who has decided to take this time, with the influx of khroma ore after Bonanza, to skill-up his smithing skill to 100 and keeping the price of said ore at 500k, rather than try and let the market crash for a little while so everybody benefits. You are a very valuable member of this game, and I hope that your myopia and impatience (while not unexpected) continue to serve you well.
Anyway. If there is a time in which how awful I am at the endgame has shown itself, it has been upgrading this Ares Body. I got the pieces back in October/Novemberish. I didn’t seriously start trying to upgrade this body until January. It’s now February. I have four ingots, with materials for two more ready to be made. Obtaining gil has always been difficult. My strategy before (and had worked well) was to play the market, namely buy things low, and sell things high. This is how I was able to fund assorted PLD pieces and most of my WAR gear.
However, age has taken its toll on this game. Through repeated bouts of inflation and stagnation, all the gil in this game has been more or less consolidated into two groups: HNMLSes and RMTs (at least on Hades). Through my own myopia, I burned most of the HNMLS bridges a few years back since I didn’t want to be a part of that corrupt, insidious nonsense of ePenis waving and faux elitist bullshit. I hadn’t expected for them to simply just start fucking selling everything that dropped, but I guess everyone wants a fucking relic weapon. And RMT is, well, RMT. It just cheapens the victory. Plus I’m poor and can’t afford to throw that kind of money around.
So I joined a sky merc linkshell. Again. Because I never fucking learn ever. After about two weeks of piss-poor payouts and remembering how much I hate sky, that didn’t last. Spending twelve hours a week to MAYBE get a million gil wasn’t even close to worth it. I could spend those twelve hours mining Zhayolm. Getting two khroma ore in those twelve hours would actually meet the best expectations in mercing a sky linkshell.
Oh, and thanks to the other linkshells selling Haidate for 3.5m, forcing us to meet that price to stay competitive. You’re cool people.
►February 1st, 2010 | Category: Game Mechanics, Loot and LootingWhat my Dyna linkshell hit roughly on Dyna-Tav over the weekend.
18 Hornets
9 Demons
3 Tauri
15 Fomor
46 Leeches
16 Makara
10 Vanguard Eyes
3 Timer/SJ mobs
Total AF/-1 gained: DRK Hat x2, DRK body, WAR legs.
I honestly don’t know if that’s a decent amount of mobs hit. It feels like it is. Especially when you can only bring 18 people for two hours, and there was an unfortunate wipe towards the end.
What I do know: It’s a bit fucking tiresome doing DynaTav over and over again to barely get any -1. It’s also really stupid to put a megaboss in a zone that does absolutely nothing upon a kill.
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