The Grumpy Paladin » Me

It All Began with a Stone… Or Something.

Tal — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 05:23:26 +0000

I’ve often said that I am a very bad MMO player. I’ve never had the stomach for it, and that for six years, I’ve played this game wrong.

My friends (my actual in-real-life friends) were coming down from a Phantasy Star Online high. We had thoroughly exhausted ourselves on months of playing. One of my friends from the group was looking forward to Final Fantasy XI, and was doing his best pitch to sell us all on the idea. Now, I had no intention from the beginning to ever play Final Fantasy XI. MMOs weren’t my thing. Nonetheless, his enthusiasm was contagious, and pictures of alluring artifact armor basically sold me on the idea. Our group meticulously doled out jobs, and I basically was trying to decide which AF I wanted more/which role I’d be happy with.

I basically had a choice between paladin and dragoon. Take a moment to imagine this blog if my first job leveled was dragoon. Yeah, okay. Stop laughing. In the end, my love of swords beat out jumping really high. And thus, a tank was born.

My other friends didn’t last very long. EXPing and getting money was far too much of a grind, and had lacked the fun of PSO. Their spirit of adventure died early and fast. Others lasted for a while, but by that point the damage had been done. Our group was split, and we all had to fend for ourselves as best we could. It wasn’t pretty, and sort of regretful, since “playing with friends” became, “playing with strangers to get things done and play with friends as best and when we could”.

I was determined to get my AF though. Shouting in Jeuno for days until an entire alliance could help with AF3. In the end, I was rewarded with my patience. I still have the pictures I took immediately afterwards.

I thought my adventure would end there. Level 60, and I have AF, who needs anything more than that? Not to mention, I’m off to study in Japan for a summer.

Little did I know that when I’d come back, I’d enter my first endgame linkshell, Epic.

To Summarily Answer Everyone’s Question at the Same Time:

Tal — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 13:43:01 +0000

NO I AM NOT GOING TO PLAY FINAL FANTASY XIV.

Seriously. Why does everyone in the known universe keep asking me this?

Honestly.

Hello, Cerberus

Tal — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 18:42:39 +0000

This makes server #3 for me.

I was originally on Carbuncle, with the name Roric. But then I transferred to Hades and lost my name. True story. Now I’m on Cerberus, still as Talint.

Talint and Roric are both names swiped from other video games! Bonus points if you can figure out which.

My Dirty Little Secret

Tal — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 21:40:39 +0000

The 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.

White Mage? On my character?

Tal — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 01:41:05 +0000

So, in a post that will surely make me the target of more ridicule and mockery by my non-FFXI friends, I’m contemplating leveling white mage, to fulfill out my desire to have one tank job, one attacker job (well, two now), and one support job (DNC doesn’t really cut it since I don’t use it anywhere, and I have to push to get it included sometimes).

I’m hesitant. For one thing, it would be another job I’m completely devoid of gear. My inventory can barely handle the four jobs I have, let alone a fifth.

For another, I don’t have SCH to 37, the now defacto SJ for WHM.

But, could I handle leveling a true support job? It could easily relegate me to WHM every event for the rest of the time I play FFXI. Also, I have this annoying “I have to be good at all my jobs” obsessive/compulsive problem.

I took bard to 57, but soon stopped when I realized that I’d more or less be stuck coming BRD to every event possible. It’s also kind of monotonous.

But could I handle a haste cycle?

Food for thought.