The MogBlog has been moved~

... and hopefully TTTO doesn't like... implode with duplicate posts on my new blog.

But anyways, I'll be moving my blog from blogpost to a Wordpress Blog (with thanks to Rianoncat :3). All the posts (except for this one) should be imported over and while there might be a few posts that need to be edited (namely the ones with the big pictures in them), it's really good to go, I just need to work on the theme and this is already a huge run-on sentence. >:3 rawr

You can find my new blog (without anything fancy in it in the mean time) at

http://www.rianon.net/mogknight/

See you guys there~

The Final Stretch!

Here, we have MNK70 Mog



Here, we have (predicted and probably having the wrong model for destroyers) MNK75 Mog

The goal right now is to hit 75 before Friday. I'll be missing some key items on MNK but I'll worry about that when I hit 75. Pretty much what I'm going to need is...

- Destroyers
- Rest of the Black Belt items
- Faith Torque
- Rest of the Usukane items (Body 15/35 and Hands 25)
- ... And I think that's it. @_@; Oh yeah, gil to buy a Cursed Togi~

Shouldn't take me long to get... I hope @_@

I'm Not Bad Luck

I'm Not Bad Luck
I'm Not Bad Luck
I'm Not Bad Luck
I'm Not Bad Luck
I'm Not Bad Luck
I'm Not Bad Luck
I'm Not Bad Luck
I'm Not Bad Luck
I'm Not Bad Luck
I'm Not Bad Luck
I'm Not Bad Luck
I'm Not Bad Luck
I'm Not Bad Luck
I'm Not Bad Luck
I'm Not Bad Luck
I'm Not Bad Luck
I'm Not Bad Luck
I'm Not Bad Luck
I'm Not Bad Luck
I'm Not Bad Luck
I'm Not Bad Luck
I'm Not Bad Luck
I'm Not Bad Luck
I'm Not Bad Luck
I'm Not Bad Luck
I'm Not Bad Luck
I'm Not Bad Luck

I have to prove this to Lissy that I'm not bad luck!

Edit:



I... take that back.

See you at Fan Fest 08!

Ticket registration started for Fan Fest about 12 minutes ago. If you're going to buy tickets, it seems that it doesn't work if you use Firefox... that means you're gonna have to bust out IE for that one slight moment ; ;

Anyways, me and a few peeps from Carbuncle are going to be there including Chinchilla from PFA and Liseth from DRF. Even though this is just one day and only one day, it's still nice because it's really just an excuse (at least for most of us) to hang out with other LS members and friends. That's kind of the whole point for Fan Fest really, the extra information that we learn and get to experience first hand is just icing on the cake.

On a side note, we can also run around Hollywood as an unruley crowd and check out stuffs. Rah! And open bar @_@; Oh boy.

The Worst Luck

I've kinda been thinking about it for a bit and I never really found any sort of correlation to this (not that luck can be related to anything really)... but, I have came to the solid conclusion that I am fucked for the rest of my FFXI life.

Reasoning: Everything involves me getting shafted in someway.

Now how did I come to this reasoning? I've noticed in the past few weeks/month/years that I really have gotten the blunt end of a lot of things. Now, this isn't me saying that I rightfully own this amount of gil because I put that much effort into it... but rather, it's me complaining about the fact that when there is an opportunity to get something, I get the shit end of the stick.

Let me give some examples:

1. KS30 ODS with some LS members. The rule: Their Orb, Their Drops. If I recall, 4/6 of the runs had a V. Claw in their drops, I wasn't one of them.

2. Gration with NQ Shield Pop: Did about a good run with 4 NQ involved... 3/4, I didn't get a Tatami Shield on mine (nor have I ever did in my entire FFXI life for my own personal benefit).

3. The week I left Cerb, old LS did Xarc, ended up with a Surcoat that would have gone to me. Have not seen a single Surcoat drop sense.

4. Camping KV for a duration of time, never ending up seeing it many times. Had a good stream of KV kills and I never got an Ace's Helm for myself.

5. Liseth went on an ENM run without me (twice) and ended up getting great drops (twice). btw, I'm not bitter about her going without me, I'm kinda upset that these items just decided to drop when I'm not there. This included a Hagun and a Cloud Evoker.

6. A horrible Joyeuse story that I do not wish to get into.

7. I leveled woodworking to help increase my money profits... now it's pretty meh money compared to the rest of the synths I could have worked on.

8. Chocobo Racing and betting on Chocobos... never got me anywhere.

9. I've only won the BS50 BC once out of 6 tries, got nothing out of that one win.

10. Constantly being woken up throughout the middle of the night to kill Cerberus, with me sorta wanting an Algol. I passed it many times and I never got one, probably won't because Cerberus is not really our active target any more... I got a mantle at least.

11. I mysteriously always break my Robber Rig whenever I try to skill up fishing within the first few casts. The line would break even on zero HP.

12. My WS accuracy on SAM just feels horrible. I'm loading up on accuracy all the time and when there is a situation where I need a WS to come out to save my life, I whiff it.

13. All I've been getting is crappy level sync parties for my MNK outside of LS with pick up parties. Most of my XP have been with my LS members because of this.

14. I have stupid horrible luck on NMs that I've camped. The only good NM I've been lucky so far with is Mee Deggi. Everything else have been pretty mean to me, especially with the Purple Belt Ram NMs not spawning for 10+ hours.

15. Prior to joining Chin's group for Nyzul, I've been having horrible luck in trying to get one working. I'm glad this one is working because I was about to punch a train.

There are a few things I'm lucky with... very few things but the unluckiness completely overshadows those things. Like my real life, I'm pretty good and nothing truly negative comes all the damn time. In FFXI though, I hit these walls many times and I'm really starting to get horribly sick of it.

I've had a bunch of bad things happen to me. I mean there is worse: I could get hacked or my character data might suddenly disappear with no recoverable means or something like that. But, I think of those as a huge punch to the face. It'll hurt and knock you out for a bit sure. But, the problems I've been having is like rapidly light jabs to the face, which will bruse and be pretty damn annoying because it's gonna keep going to annoy you.

For the most part, I think I deserve this much, just this much... to have something great happen to me. Like, I don't want it to be an item or anything like that. I want something that will make me feel great about my own situation in FFXI , where I no longer have to say "Man, I have some shit ass luck." Looking at my gil with only 5 digits every day and having to pay for Limbus, having to buy food for parties and so on and so forth, I can only afford these things so much and as much as I'd love to be frugal and not have to pay for them, I have to and until I find something that will net me a huge amount of gil, I'm going to be stuck in this situation where I can't advance and I'm going backwards. It's something that can drive me insane and will probably cause me to take a huge break just so I can figure out how to make gil with how the economy is nowadays.

That's pretty much my rant for the day. Really, maybe I'm not looking hard enough to find something that will increase my luck or to better take advantage of things. I do know this much though: I think the next time I can "fairly" reach out and grab something, the opportunity and such... I should not let it pass. I don't think it really pays that way and it just makes me feel more miserable in the end rather than making me feel good that I passed up something for someone else. There will be exceptions but exceptions are exceptions for a reason.

When the Dust Settles.

Okay folks, time to the take off "Happy Go-Lucky" face and put on the serious face for once. There has been a really great reason why I haven't been posting many blog posts as of late. Most will notice a decrease from June to July to August to September. Here is your reason why:

There has been a large amount of stupid drama in my LS that I had to deal with and I have been surrounded by it for quite awhile. I did not have much motivation posting about my own personal ordeals because it all boils down to LS drama that shouldn't be happening in the first place.

So, to those reading this from my own LS or heck, my own server, here's the story of what has been happening.

It all started pretty well when the LS was erected. Got to meet people from FM and a whole slew of other people, even got to meet the famous Chinchilla. I still yet to believe that someone that comes out of my iPod would be someone I'd be teaming up to kill stuff in the game. Things are still going well and things have always been going well, at least that is what the eyes conceive. There are always things amidst going on, no matter what LS or organization you run. This thing has been bugging me for over 3 months. What upsets me is how long this ended up happening and how the fire did not stop burning for over a month.

Now, I'm not gonna get into details about what happened from July to September but I will start with what I thought "should" have ended the drama but it didn't.

Upon hitting the mid of September, it was the day that I thought I'd be rid of all the drama that existed in the LS. Of course, we all know that never happens, despite how close it is. What ended up happening was that one person who I hated with a burning passion was booted (not by me mind you and it was for legit reasons) and this other person (who was a sack and I felt was causing trouble in the LS) server transfered... took a Ridill with him but whatever, it's a toy item nowadays anyways. I think some of you guys might know who I'm talking about. It was gonna be that day, that day that I can say "whew.. shit is no longer putting me down, I am happy as fuck!"

That's where it should have ended... but it all got extended.

The result of that have triggered a minor rebellion where we had two select people (Medwyn and Bobbyray for those keeping track) pretty much going against us. And, this is where it just shocks me and I don't know why this had to happen, but it did and it ended like a stinky bomb tossed into a vent.

What pretty much happened was it started becoming personal to them. Of course, anyone that wants to have the perfect LS want to try to do anything in their power to make it the perfect LS. That becomes an obsession sometimes. An obsession where you do anything, even rebel the very leader who built that foundation just to make it perfect. An obsession where you become surrounded by the absolute truth that you created yourself that is the absolute right in your eyes and blinded by everything else. An obsession where you have no meaning or idea of what it means to others, only yourself. That is when your obsession becomes pointless. Instead, what become the obsession of Medwyn and the influence of Bobbyray... became their weapons to attack the foundation of this LS. There has been harassment, there has been attempts to topple over the leadership and there have been attempts to belittle greatly the integrity of the shellholder and the sacks.

Obsession is one thing that you should try to avoid in life. Obsession with perfection is even worse. What happened in the LS for the past few weeks have been a motive of obsession. They may be correct that there were some problems in the LS that needed to be corrected but there was lies being tossed in, there were jabs being shot out and there were a lot of threats being tossed up behind the scenes. All while having this being done in front of the LS, not because of the choice of the leaders but because Medwym and Bobbyray decided to draw it out there.

They made this obsession a personal battle. One that ultimately leads to no one being happy in the end.

Bobbyray was a friend to me. I talk to him on Vent or in-game about a bunch of personal stuff. But he let this obsession, this attempt to bring a perfect LS into this world and make everything completely perfect, trying to control something he limited control over, destroy friendships with not just me but with several other people. I'm just a sack in an LS and I give my opinions to the leader and I listen to the leader and carry out what is required from that leader, who just happens to be my girlfriend. I listen to people, I tell Lissy about it as that middle man. I know it annoys her but I give my opinions out regardless from these people. I listen, I don't order things unless I have to. Because of this, I get ignored from a person that I once called friend. Why? No reasoning was given and it just all felt like I was just packed into this group that "followed the leader" and now I'm branded as a bad guy.

Trust me, the past few weeks were harsh on me and a few others. In the end, both of them left the LS on some pretty bad terms. At least they decided to keep their dignity and walk out silently. Most tend to anyways.

Our LS isn't dying though. Nothing massive happened to cause damage to it and really, life will go on as it always does. This little battle has ended. It didn't end in the way that I wish for it to end it but I can put it behind me now... I'm just worried about what could happen next. If it does happen, will we survive it? I dunno but I'll keep going for as long as I can. I have no obsessions... I just have a loyal bond to Liseth, one that I intend to keep for as long as possible.

The Month in Review (Short Version)

- Level Sync is pretty awesome. Managed to get my MNK from 26 to 51 as of this writing. Aiming for 75 by hopefully the end of October.

- Randomly made it on as a guest on the PFA Podcast. Was funny how I ended up on it.

- Lissy bought a new PC, introduced her to awesome Windower Macros.

- Salvage slowed down a tad, still managed to get some nice things (3 35s within less than 5 runs?) Almost 4/5 on Usukane set. I should go all the way.

- Did a bunch of ZNMs, Cerb ZNM isn't as hard as people put it out to be. The Cerb ZNM path is a pain in the butt the first time but it becomes easier once you know what you're up against.

- Did a horrible Xarc run on patch day: 0 AFs.

- Did another Xarc run yesterday: 16 AFs.

- Lazily working on DRF website: going pretty slow.

- Desperately looking for a Nyzul group. Still lacking Tachi: Rana. Anyone need a Taru? :3

- SAM buffer diminishing to really low levels: 10k buffer @_@;

- Hating the fact that I have to wait until next month to play Mega Man 9 on my 360.

I guess that's that. To be really honest, there's nothing really eventful going on my end and... heck, there's nothing really eventful to note because all I've been doing is grinding MNK XP, going through a weird drama phase with a few people in FFXI and pretty much feeling blunt end of all of it. Gotta move on though, I have many things I need to accomplish and I'm not gonna do that by sitting around and licking old wounds all day. :3

My goals for October are as follows~

1. MNK75
2. Complete Nyzul with a Runic Disc and obtain Tachi: Rana
3. Help construct a solidified Salvage group with new job
4. DNC37
5. RDM37
6. Create the Mogknight Army~


:3 Hopefully october gets better.

Not FFXI Related: Mog and Street Fighter 4

So, I got to play this today...

Yeah, those cabinets with Street Fighter 4 in them... that's what I played on.

Over at Roland Heights, CA, there is this place called Arcade Infinity. With arcades being such a dead thing nowadays, what with consoles being so much more powerful and competition being just a simple ethernet cable away, we have kinda lost the whole actual being near a human competition and instead things are kinda blocked from each other. Granted, it brings the world closer but it moves the local people further. Having Street Fighter 4 come out after... 9? years since Street Fighter 3: Third Strike, brought not only fans of Street Fighter back but it also brought many old school fans back too.

Street Fighter 4 plays a lot like Street Fighter 2, very simple and easy to pick up. That was one of the things that drew people away from SF3 was that the game, at that point, was getting too complicated and too complex for most people to want to deal with. When you talk to people about Street Fighter, they automatically think of SF2 and playing it with their friends on their SNES or Genesis or whatever.

To be honest, that's what this game feels like: it feels like I'm that kid again playing in the arcades, enjoying competition. None of this internet thing where you can't see your opponent groan at that well executed combo you setup or the mashing of buttons from a frustrated player or anything like that. Just you, the joystick, the screen, fighitng the person right next to you. That's the thing I love about arcades, you can't talk shit and hide behind it and really, everyone is there just to have fun, bring out their best game and line up their token/quarters all day.

But anyways, I played about 12 bucks worth today. Each game is, unfortunately, a dollar but a dollar well spent in my opinion. The setup you see here is probably the best in the United States right now and really, the owner of the arcade has gone above and beyond what he needed to do to even get the game running in the first place. He made the cabinet himself, bought 2 HD 42" TVs and hooked up the SF4 kits in. It costed him quite a bit but to have this thing out there and having it there for the fans just makes you want to pay a dollar or even more to play it. It was the best 12 bucks I've spent really and I intend on going back for more.

The game itself, again, is pretty simplified compared to the SF3/SFAlpha line of games. That is not to say the game is exclusively like SF2, where it's all fireballs and dragon punches. They kept the things that made SF3 good (throw system, EX moves) and what the final version of SF2 (Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo) had (Super Moves) and made a pretty awesome system that new players can easily learn and still keep the game interesting. What we end up with is a fighting game system that is concentrated mainly on offense and less emphasis on defense.

I could go into deeper details about it but I think nothing more really needs to be said about it: it has to be experienced. Sure, you see youtube videos and they look nice... but when you actually sit down at an arcade and play it...

:3

And yes, I realized I made another post about my real life, go screw! >:3

And I don't know how to filter this out of TTTO... so... uh... @_@; wyred herp~!

So, the FFXIclopedia stuff and the drop rates...

You see this random FFXIclopedia page?

You may have noticed that grayed out percentage number next to each item.

No, it's not just a made up number someone made without proof.

It's a number generated by 2 numbers: drop/kill.

I just wanna point out to everyone that edit these things: Please don't be an idiot and guesstimate. And for the love of god, if you killed 300 of something and you finally get the item that dropped, don't just update that item only, update all of the items. Get a parse or something or just don't hand edit the drop rates. Makes things a bit more accurate for all of us.

And hopefully, a full post soon! Toodles~

I Feel Young Again...

... But, wait, I'm only 23 years old! @_@;

I'm in love with the new level sync function that was introduced in today's update. I wasn't so much concerned about how stats scaled down, I just wanted a reason to play with LS mates and friends of different levels. Unfortunately, prior to the patch, to do such a thing would require you to keep your levels the same or just go up to 75. I would have difficulty trying to get people who once played the game to return, mainly because they would be unable to play with me until I had a job around their levels.

I've been around the block, 5 times to be exact. Unless you static and kept that static going, you'll most likely going to end up in pick up parties. You run into some jackasses, you run into some nice people... but you don't have control over that. While the theme of FFXI is to rely on a community to reach your goals, often times we would have many things conflicting to prevent this from happening...

... Today removed one of those conflicts.

Today, me and a few of my linkshell mates (Lissy included!) went out to Buburimu with a level 13 MNK to act as our level sync designator. It was a very fun experience, being able to sit down with friends and LS mates that know what they're doing and not be bothered by trying to keep party levels close or anything. It was also nice to just simply ask someone in the LS if a replacement is needed. We got him up to level 18 and got my MNK from 26 to 28 as well. I had a lot of fun tonight and I just know that it will be a smooth ride through to hit 75 all over again.

Now, there were many complaints about the level sync system. The most common one I heard was the fact that stats were sharply capped. Now, I can see why everyone is pretty upset about this but I don't think such a thing is a problem. The idea is to give those that are higher leveled with something to just work with, nothing to make them over powered and nothing to make them on par with the "highest" equipment at that level. There is a reason why this is so: level sync is meant to be in case there's no possible way to build a party otherwise. It would be recommended for a solid party to be as close to the same level as possible. For stuff like ENMs or BCNMs that are capped: If you're really serious about winning, you'd gear it properly for it. It is really no different other than to just not walk into something naked.

Another complaint is the fact that skill level won't increase while you're capped. This makes total sense and really the only solution would be to just to take the time to skill it up. It's difficult to skill up something when you're so far behind so really, just try not to be completely behind on it.

I do have some complaints myself. Don't get me wrong, I don't think this is the most perfect thing in the world.

1. Whenever the target member levels or delevels, it automatically resyncs. While it is nice that it does that, it also removes your buffs and your TP. It is slightly annoying but I can live with it but it would be nice not have to run into a battle as if we just started every time the target guy levels.

2. Just as a point of reference, I'd like to see who is the targeted member for level sync. There's no way to tell until they level and the level gets resynced.

3. Resync should not work with the target player being 75. Someone can be a total jackass of a leader in an event and can remove all your buffs when they enable level sync (which I happened to have done by accident!). Kinda not a cool thing.

4. A way to tell in /search if someone is level synced or not would be a good idea.

But anyways, try it out with some friends if you got the time. You'll enjoy it quite a bit. It brings me back when I was a wee lil' Taru and I had no worries of the responsibilities of an End Game LS. I just felt like I was playing the game as a game again.~

The BLM Journal: A Month Later

After about a month or so, my BLM has grew slightly yet still significantly. My skills as a BLM are also coming along nicely as I've been learning a few new things here and there. If I have to give myself a self assessment, I'd give myself a 1/10!

So harsh on yourself Moggie... ;_;

I still have some glaring weaknesses that I'm trying to get out of the way, the most important one would be stunning. Despite the fact that I'm doing it straight out of reaction as best as I can (and I know my reaction, as long as I'm focused on it, is pretty top-notched), I usually end up completely missing the stun altogether while other people seem to land it just fine. Granted, some of these people that I'm comparing myself have some fast cast equipment on them (a DRK in my LS with Homam), I think I would still miss it regardless.

This leads me to think it is one of two things:

1. My computer is more than capable of running FFXI at high resolutions. However, I do have outside programs running and those things could be lagging me up.

2. I'm lying to myself and my reaction speed is really not all that great as I think it is. But to support that, I do play a lot of fighting games and I get things down to the exact frame. But to go against that, sometimes it is a bunch of predictions.

Now, the prediction thing is pretty hard for me because I'm not dealing with a human opponent right now, I'm dealing with a computer brain that runs through a script that randomizes itself. I've been told various many times to just "feel" the mob and stun. While, I feel, this would work in a fighting game (ex. You do a Dragon Punch in Street Fighter 2, you do it too early, you can still throw another one out), making this work in FFXI is pretty bad because once you miss a stun, that's 45 seconds (not counting haste and such) where you're unable to stun again. Now granted, there might be more than one person stunning but that isn't really an excuse there, he has the potential of messing up a stun as much as you do.

I still have yet found a way (or time) to practice this. With the frustrations I've been having with it, I may just end up keeping this my weakest skill and concentrate on my strong points. Maybe, like some other things, I'll just "magically" get it some day.

As far as my BLM has progressed in gear... really, there isn't much to say about it. Other than getting a few bare necessities :3 Nothing truly outstanding came my way... I mean, other than these Zenith Hands :3 Nifty~ (Thanks DRF!). Gil has become a problem with me though, hopefully I'll get lucky with some ENMs or something... I hope.

Kinda wished I had more opportunities to play my BLM more. I feel hindered without a proper RDM sub as I'm not really able to solo much of anything too well. It'll be something that I'll work on when the Level Sync thing comes into play (this monday actually!).

I recently also got my first Elemental Obi. I'm kinda worried because I am going to grab 2 more Obis and I'm probably going to be struggling with inventory space. Unfortunately, it's not the problem of storing these items (I am technically balancing 4 jobs: PLD/WAR/SAM/BLM), it's just making use of my 70 inventory spaces. Eventually, I'm going to have to dump some things back into the Mog House that I really don't need like some of the staves for example. In fact, lets analyze that right now!

Earth Staff = Used for Idle (Damage Reduction)
Water Staff = Used for Stoneskin (Kirin's Pole would replace this once I get one)
Wind Staff = Gravity and Kirin is all I can think of
Fire Staff = Nuking in it isn't so bad... I guess
Ice Staff = :3
Thunder Staff = :3 :3
Light Staff = Used for healing, don't need it /NIN
Dark Staff = :3 :3 :3

Well... that didn't help at all, did it? ; ; Any input on this?

I guess that's about it for today. My LS has been making some great strides lately but I'll post all that in a separate blog post, probably tomorrow.

G'day!

Mog vs FFXI's UI Part 1

It's one of those boring nights where you can't really sleep so you decide to do something silly just for shits and giggles... And I decided to mock up a redesigned UI for FFXI. :3

First off, some rules:

1. The UI must still reflect the game's theme somehow. (Assuming no actual 3D area graphics on screen, you can still recognize it's FFXI).
2. This is ignoring PS2 limitations (lol)
3. This will assume that the "worst" system is the Xbox 360
4. The UI must still reflect the fact that it is meant to be played with controller, keyboard, and mouse.
5. The UI can display more data but cannot go beyond a certain reasonable limit
6. The UI is meant to be displayed on TVs and Monitors.

With all that in mind, lets look at the game itself with nothing on it.

So, we see a Taru (me :3) in Tahrongi Canyon and there's absolutely no overlay or anything. This is 800x600, which is bigger than your standard TV resolution (I think it's like 720x480?). Not counting the fact that it's all interlaced and whatnot, lets work with 800x600.

First thing's first, lets look at the current UI (note that this has FFXI Style's dat mods so text and stuff that you see right now may not reflect your current screen!)

This is the bare screen that you see without having any menus on.

Here it is without the overlay.

Lets analyze the overlay a bit (btw my mouse sucks right now)

Again, this is just the area that you can visually see without menu obstructions but I tossed in the things that are going to be on constantly. As more and more menu items appear though, your vision becomes more obstructed. Thankfully this isn't the resolution I normally play at so I can view more things even with all the menus open.

This original image was 1280x800 (downsized due to Photobucket). As you can see, the higher your resolution, the more open space you have. However, while this can be possible on the 360 version (it can go up to 740p for games, not sure about 1080i or p), this would still put a handicap for those playing on a standard TV or a underpowered machine. Our job is to remove this to the best of our ability~!

First, lets determine what we need that is currently being displayed:

1. Chatlog
2. Character/Party/Alliance HP/MP Status
3. Connection Status
4. Compass
5. Clock
6. Target Info
7. Menus

Next, lets see what we can add to the UI

1. Distance to current target
2. TP information
3. Timestamp for chatlog
4. Moonphase information
5. Various random stuff that we can add

Now, the most important thing we should add first are the menus.

1. Main Menu
2. Action Menu
3. Macros
4. Inventory Menu
5. Status Menu
6. Item List
7. Ability/Spell List

So, we got the main menu... which is split into two menus. In my opinion, that's too damn much. Here is what we have:

Status
Equipment
Magic
>White Magic
>Black Magic
>Songs
>Ninjutsu
>Summoning
>Blue Magic
Items
Abilities
>Job Traits
>Job Abilities
>Weapon Skills
>Ranged Attack
>Pet Command
Party
>Seek Party
>Find Member
>Autogroup
>Languages
Trade
Search (Not even gonna bother listing everything)
Linkshell
Friend List
>To List
>Messages
>Online Status
Region Info
>Conquest
>Besieged
>Campaign
Map

Missions
Quests
Key Items
View House
Bazaar
Macros
Config
Help Desk
Play Time
Current Time
Shut Down
Log Out

Okay... lets try to condense this a bit. There are 24 menu items, 12 each side.

First off, the status menu is used to see you main things: Your XP TNL and your skills, along with your title. Yes, it has your attributes there... but you're not gonna look at it there, it's already in the equipment menu! So, instead of just making a bunch of buttons to display stuff like like that, lets just have your Status Menu display everything. So, no more having to click through crap.

With this in mind, lets put in some other things along with it like the playtime option (which btw 908:22:21:12 as of this writing).

One button gone!

Next, equipment is just fine on its own, so we'll leave that be.

Magic... personally, I don't think magic or abilities should be cast from the main menu. Now, I know that there is the whole Ctrl+M thing to call up the magic menu. This is how I think it should work.

Ctrl+M: Opens the magic list with the magic that you are allowed to cast with your current job.
Action Menu: It functions as the same as Ctrl+M
Main Menu: Magic Sort usage only.

With the magic sorting, it would go straight to manual sort with the option of auto sort. If you auto sort, you can put some nice things like putting certain type of spells up first (Enhancing, Enfeebling, Elemental). But anyways, auto sort should prompt you if you want to auto sort everything. If you select this menu as a BLU, it should be like selecting equipment as a PUP where it'll ask if you want to Sort or Set Spells as a BLU. So, cleaned up the Magic Menu a bit!

Items/Key Items/View House should be combined.

Now, Ctrl+I and the Main Menu Item Function are the same, should be kept that way. The action menu brings up items that you can use at the moment, so that's fine. View House and View Key Items should be in the + Menu to the side. You're really not going to be accessing your Mog Safe or Key Items all that much so lets reduce it down to the Item Menu but not prioritize it so that you have to click extra buttons just to hit your normal item menu. So, that's 2 buttons merged.

Abilities... I want to go with the same mentality that is the magic menu... except what is there really to sort? Maybe give me a second to think about this.

Now, the party command is fine... Auto Group will probably be changed to Level Sync.

Trade is kinda like putting Check in the main menu.... it kinda doesn't belong there, so lets put that in the action menu only. Plus you usually see games like that anyways where trade only appears if you target someone.

Search is fine~ Linkshell is fine~ Friend's List is fine~ Map is fine, Conquest is fine~

So first menu we got...

Status
Equipment
Items
Magic Sort
Abilities
Party
Search
Linkshell
Friend List
Region Info
Map

I would move Friend List over to the next menu and Abilities I'm still thinking...

Next side!

Missions and Quests... just combine them, done!

Key Items and View House are gone.

Bazaar should be moved to the + Menu on Items, which makes much better sense.

Macros and Config are fine but lets fix up the Config Menu a bit (btw, PC and console are different, this is for PC)

Gameplay has

Auto Target
Volume
Gamma
Inventory Sort

Chat Filters are chat filters
Font colors are font colors

Windows are basically chatlog stuff. By the end of the UI mock up, we won't need this menu.

Misc. has

Damage Display
Character info
Shadows
weather effects
Character models displayed

Misc 2 has

Clipping Plane
Foot Steps
Animation Frame Rate
Keyboard Type
Aspect for Widescreen
Key assignments

Effects for effects

Mouse/Camera control

Global shit.

Okay...

We have a mess...

First off, lets sum it up more like this:

Gameplay
Audio/Video
Chatlog Options
Control Config

Gameplay will have

Auto Lock On (because that's what it really does)
Auto Target (which makes better sense, new but whatever)
Inventory Sort
Damage

Audio/Video will have

Sound Volumes
Gamma Control
Shadows
Weather
Models
Plane
Foot Steps
Frame Rate (this should be removed)
Aspect Ratio
Effects Sub Menu

Chatlog Options will combine everything in Filters and Font Colors along with Curse Language filter

Control Config will allow you to set keyboard stuff and combines the Mouse/Camera menu

No auto disconnect menu option either... seriously, who has that on and uses it?

Help Desk needs to stay there because yeah... gotta call a GM somehow.

Playtime would be merged into status
Current Time will be better implemented into the UI that this option will be useless

Shut Down and Log Off will be combined.

Lets see what's the final set of stuff we will have.

Status
Equipment
Items
Magic Sort
Abilities
Party
Search
Linkshell
Friend List
Region Info
Map
Missions/Quests
Macros
Config
Help Desk
Log Off

16 items... 8 per side... not bad I would say :3

Lets re-sort this!

Status
Equipment
Items
Magic Sort
Abilities
Party
Search
Map

Missions/Quests
Region Info
Linkshell
Macros
Config
Friend List
Help Desk
Log Off

Hmm... an unbalance there.. but I'll figure it out somehow!

So that's the main menu, condensed down and pretty much, all set to figure out what to do with this new mock UI. I typed in quite a bit of things so I'll be showing more graphical work and actually show something once I get to work on it. Until then: Photoshop is an awesome tool~ Toodles!

Oh, so that level sync thing

Actually, there's a crapton of topics of events that have occurred throughout the recent weeks. I might as well get down and dirty with them.

Absolute Bullshit and Pandemonium Whatthefuck

As we know by now, SE is planning on changing these monsters (and JoL, which many might scoff at but it is probably related to AV) to make them to be easier/shorter fights. Of course, until the update comes out and we see what is changed to make it an easier battle, kinda no point in talking about what they could do to make it so, especially since I, myself, have not fought any of the two.

On a side note: I've done JoL 5 times total in my entire FFXI career (believe it or not) and I haven't seen AV at all during those 5 times (believe that or not).

So, what we know about the AV we have now in the game, SE claims that it would take 16 some hours to beat it, 10 at the mnimum. Now, a lot of people have gone crazy about this and rightfully so. Me, on the other hand, didn't think too much about it. To me, AV was designed to be something that wasn't meant to be killed easily at all. Like, lets look at the items it can drop:

First, you have Ninurta's Sash, which aside from MNK's Black Belt, would be the best belt in the game. Imagine if AV was to be placed at a difficulty level that is significantly easier. No one is going to want to camp KA, no one would want to do Wyrm KS99, and pretty much, there goes two things that went obsolete there. Granted those options are still there for those that are not in any End Game LSes. Ninurta's Sash would become the benchmark item and dare I say it, it might be easier to obtain than a Swift Belt if AV was made too easy.

And then you have the Mar's Ring, which is the best melee ring in the game for the most part. Compare these two items to some of the stuff that is in the other ZNMs and HNMs and so on and you'd pretty much be saying that AV just has some really overpowered items.

Then you got Futsuno Mitama which, if I knew what activated the latent, could be better than Hagun.

And then there's that +8 Magic Accuracy ranged weapon.

For the most part, this NM has some nice things and to let these items loose would be pretty bad I would say. Like, what if some of the things in Salvage and some of the things in Dynamis Northlands just dropped to you just like that and everyone ended up getting those things? It would make quite a bit of items before it useless, you wouldn't even want to consider trying to get any older equipment. Now granted, yes, there are items out there right now that are pretty useless due to us knowing better or just signficantly better equipment out there.

Personally, if they make AV an easier fight, I would hope that it either has a horrible drop rate or something that makes the fight really difficult but wouldn't force the players to spend all day and night to kill. I want some of those items, that's a definite. I just don't want those items just handed to me on a silver platter because the fight was made easier.

And now we have PW. I totally respect everyone in BtL who gave it a shot and pretty much with their own drive and ambition, took the fight for as long as they could. Without their patience, we might just end up still with no changes on AV or PW. The press just jumped on this thing pretty bad. While I don't think the press forced any sort of pressure on SE, I'm sure SE was more concerned of the fact that the players themselves have made a strong reasoning as to why these two NMs needed to be changed.

It was kinda funny because even among my RL friends, we were joking about this whole PW business because heck, it's all over the news. It's also like a game of telephone where some information just doesn't get through. Personally, I welcome the changes that are going to happen, though I doubt that a finalized plan on how to kill these two things won't come about for awhile.

I will say this though: Vrtra has been ninja'd and I think most consider it as unkillable now. Granted he doesn't drop anything awesome but still...

So, how about that Talisman?

I like collecting stuff. I have all of the FF releases starting from PSone up to now (including GBA and DS), I still have that pendant from Lunar 2: Eternal Blue, and I have an 8-bit figurine of Simon Belmont, colored to his Simon's Quest colors (red/black/white).

Now SE has started a new thing where they sell in-game merchandise. The first item they have for sale is a Tidal Talisman. If one purchases one, one can pick up an in-game item which is kinda nifty. This wouldn't be the first time they've done it since they did release an harpsicord with the Piano Collections.

While I welcome this idea, I do have some problems with it.

1. wtf is a Tidal Talisman? It isn't in the game at all (yet). You couldn't even say it's an FFXI item or an item that represents FFXI. Like, if I bought one and wore it, people who lets say... never heard of this item before but plays FFXI... and they look at me, they're not gonna go "Oh, you play FFXI?! :D :D :D" Like, if you're going to make a collectable item, at least the first one, make it some sort of FFXI trademark item, not something you made up on the spot.

2. The in-game item is very nice... but it's on a 40 hour recast timer.

40 hours? ;_;

Sure, it's a bonus item that comes with the necklace and not the other way around but for what it does, why do we have to wait almost 2 days to reuse it? 24 hours would be nice and considering how long it takes to reach these areas (20 minutes at the very most), maybe even less than 24 hours.

3. I don't live in Europe and I don't live in Alaska or Hawaii but from what I understand:

- Europe doesn't get this deal.
- Alaska/Hawaii have to pay 20 dollars for S&H, the other 48 states + Canada pay around 8.

I mean, that's like half of what you're paying already.

But on another note: Full Resin Shadowlord for 230 USD. I doubt I'll get it but it does look very nice.

Oh and apparently, if you have this on, you teleport people and thus making their lives easier... you'll be "the best from now."

Campaign still not gonna be fixed

Yes, the whole /BRD singing stuff will be fixed... but that just means some of the jobs that actually DO have a hard time getting XP by themselves in Campaign will just simply not have Campaign as an option, thus eliminating whatever interest is left for the person that wants to get some of the things in Campaign but are unable to because they have to spend so much more effort to even equal up to what a melee or any other job that has an easy time in campaign.

Though I could have sworn they said something about fixing that aspect but I didn't see it in the notes. This doesn't really affect me all that much because I have SAM/WAR/PLD to do my campaigning work. However, those that are low level or those that just have a hard time getting those points in for campaign... basically screwed until they get to a higher level or level another job. Yeah, you can potentially build around campaign and I'll be looking for information about that for those jobs that have a hard time doing campaign... but I kinda hope for something that can benefit magic users and make their lives easier.

Oh, so that level sync thing

So yeah, I had a dream once. After doing a bunch of Salvage, I was thinking "Hey, if they ever make another expansion with missions like CoP that are level capped, what they should do is enforce a stat cap but let us keep our equipment and stuff on so it's not a pain in the ass."

Lo' and behold, that dream came true for the most part. Yeah, there's some bad things I can see from it (skill levels being hurt a bit, relentless invites for CoP missions) but there's a bunch of good things from it as well so... Hurrah for SE for making this decision.

And no, no Aegis/Excal PLD is going to party with you.

So how about that Mogknight?

Well, I came back after Vegas and started up fishing again. I'm currently fishing up Shall Shells, both for profit and to skill up on. Oddly enough, there are some good things you can fish up and simply NPC... which I'm sure all the RMT are on that. Unfortunately, they're still all over the place so what can one really do about it? I did have this funny idea where your HP decrease as you keep fishing and you would have to stop and heal yourself. This would also make fishing a bad idea at low levels because your HP would drain pretty fast. Like, this wouldn't kill you but if you were reduced down to 1 HP, you would automatically give up your line.

But, silly idea aside, fishing is probably all I'm gonna be doing for awhile before/after events. I do have a lot of merits and even items to get for BLM but I want a flow of gil going so this is gonna be devoted to that time.

Nothing really changed for my SAM or BLM. SAM is something I don't expect to get anything for the job any time soon. With the exception of Ace's Helm, Hachiryu Haidate, and maybe Askar Body, nothing else I want NM or event wise. BLM, on the other hand, I still have quite a bit of things I want but it will take time and really, I have all the time the world.

To be honest, I want a change of pace and fishing is doing that for me. I love my linkshell and all and as an officer, I make sure things are running smoothly. However, there are just times where I kinda want to just spend time with Lissy or whoever else and just kill random stuff, be it some pop NM or small man sea farming or whatever it may be. I still need those Mufflers or even A Hands so... lets not even start with the fact that I'm lacking stuff like RR Pumps, Uggy Pendant and a multitude of AF1+1s. Like, we have Limbus every Tuesday and optionally every Friday (though Tuesdays are optional, we tend to fill up and usually it ends up being a required limbus due to it being Proto or something). I kinda want to take a Limbus day off and solo an area as best as I can, even though I don't have Gaiters.

I wouldn't want to do it all the time... just once in every great while. I'm happy with the way things are so I wouldn't mind if I never get the chance to do this stuff. Plus, it would kinda help me clear my mind of any ill-thoughts I would have about anyone.

On that note: even though you're doing a bunch of end game stuff, remember that there's a lot to this game that can be seen as a escape to an escape. Sure, you play FFXI to escape from real life... but then you gotta escape from the in-game drama as well... what better way to do it with some fishing, crafting, or some chocobo digging? :3

Well, I tried!

Kinda late to the party~

Unfortunately, I haven't been able to keep up with my blog (this goes with my other blog as well).

To be really honest, I don't have much to talk about because I'm usually on for events and off to do my own thing outside of the game after events. It's not that the game doesn't interest me or anything, it's just that I have stuff I need to do outside of FFXI. Therefore, my own solo adventures have been kinda blank as of late.

Another thing is that I have vacation plans and also I gotta get ready for the next school semester as well. There will be more blog posts and it'll start coming in more consistently once everything is settled. I'll be gone to Vegas this upcoming weekend and then I'll have a week to kinda chill and then classes start up again.

For the most part, this is just a quick filler post so... what can I fill it up with other than excuses? :3

Well... here's Mog from FF6.

Post filled! See you next week~

The MogCompy is back up!

Oi... after going through a bunch of weird stuffs, I managed to find a replacement mobo and pretty much, I'm up and running again. I decided to format both of my hard drives (I have a 150gb and a 300gb) after backing up most of the stuff and pretty much decided to start over new. Unfortunately, I get to reinstall FFXI and patch it all up again... nifty~ Thankfully I picked up a copy of Vana'diel Collection 2008 so I have all the expansions and stuff on one DVD.

I'm just happy I got my computer up... nothing really much to post so... history time! I mean, I could talk about Pandemonium Warden and how screwed up it is but I'm sure you guys have already heard about it eleswhere.

But uh... lets see... lets talk about how I started this game.

I guess the official date that I started was April 7th 2004, which was a few weeks after PS2 US release. At the time, I always wanted to play FFXI but my computer was pretty outdated (it was sporting a TNT Ultra 2 at the time) and when the PC release came out, I frankly did not have the money to pay for it at that time. When PS2 release came out, my PC was actually decent enough to run FFXI and I was playing on a friend's account for a short period of time. I was more convinced at that point to play FFXI so I bought the PS2 version after trading in some of my games... like Phantasy Star Online Episode 3, which was complete garbage because the system was broken in that game!

Once I got all that running, I was ready to play the game and ironically enough, I just played it on my PC, didn't really bother playing it on my PS2, especially since I had no USB keyboard for my PS2 at the time. I started the game as a BLM and I really wanted to just be an uber mage. I figured I like playing something that was pretty simple and didn't involve having to run in and beat up on stuff. For the next 10 levels, I was in heaven. I was ignorant of everything around me, I was just a simple Taru with a simple plan: nuke the shit out of things. And, while I often find myself refering back to the past on many things and often dwell too much on them, I often don't focus on the "good" parts of the past and I'm taking that time right now.

This would be the very first screenshot of many

It's interesting looking back at my old journey I had going on in FFShrine.org. Actually kinda feels like I was a totally different person... yet I'm kind of the same.... and some of these posts... @_@;

We did meet a cool WHM in there named "Aphrimi" who raised me and healed us a few times... but we couldn't handle the bats in the deeper regions. We both left the ruins and leveled up on our own outside.

Later I would realize that their name was "Aphrini" and later I would realize that this person would be some SMN that I would meet later on in my first Dynamis LS. Who to thunk it?

Wow... :3 I sound like a jackass~

One thing a party must need: A White Mage. It was surprisingly hard to find one in the Tah. Canyons and the Maze. Eventually I ran into a party which had one and.... well... the warrior just sucked nuts. While I was blasting on a Goblin in the Maze, the Goblin turned at me because I raised his hate. The Warrior saw him attacking me and said "Run!"...

...

...

...

Yeah, you heard me... he said run.

So, why did he tell me to run? Was it because his provoke was warming up? In fact no... while I was lying dead, I asked and he said "What does provoke do?"... I soon disbanded.

... I really don't remember me typing that.

... o_o;

After going to the Valkrum Dunes for awhile, I leveled up to 17. Upon hitting 17, I basically had only 600 EXP. Since I could not find a party in the Dunes, I set sail to Mhaura.

Upon returning however, I was told that I could handle Maze Makers as long as I had a WHM near me to recover me and back me up if I can't finish the job.

So into the Maze of Somecrap I go. I met a WHM Taru and I went from 600 EXP to the next level (4000). UPON hitting 4000 though, my Taru accidently cast Dia on a stink bat... and thus more stink bats came and we couldn't get out alive. LEVEL DOWN.

I was sent back to Mhaura (my HP) and left to the Maze again. This time I ran into one of the worst parties I've ever been in. For some odd reason, whenever I tell someone to not attack a bat, they end up attacking one and killing off most of the group (me included). This happened twice (I leveled up twice and I leveled down twice). After being fustrated, I just left the Maze and picked off my last 300 EXP with stray monsters outside. After hitting 18, I dashed towards Windurst and that's where I am right now.

:3 Jebus...

So anyways, uh... maybe... in the next four years, I'll look back on this blog and question myself again... or something. @_@;

God, is this even me?!

Campaign Shenanigans

In the great ole past of the golden Windurst days... *ahem* I mean, in the horrible beat up past in Windurst that just so happens to be influenced greatly by players of the future... we have tons and tons of mobs, beating on our fortifications. Of course, some of those mobs are stupid and heck, some of those mobs are "smart" for the wrong reasons.

Yeah, you see that Shadowhand Cuirassier? You see how it's lodged up in that wall? Guess what? You can't hit it, cast anything on it, and unless you find some other mob next to it to do an AoE spell, you can't do anything at all to it.

How did this situation happen? Well, I manage to get aggro on one of these things and pretty much, I was expecting NPCs to be in this area (and there are, NPCs can spawn here) and I was running around the area and lost aggro... and then I noticed it started to glitch through the wall and beat up on the fortification there. Even I explained it to Ennayram!

And really, I couldn't cast crap on him, even from above or to the sides. Eventually the NPCs showed up...

And yeah, that clusterbunch of Mithra there just went to town on those NPCs.

You figure this is just some rare random occurrence and it doesn't happen more than once... right...?

I was about to cast Thundaga 3 on the one siting out there but then someone ended up pulling that lone one before I got the spell off... again, had to wait for reenforcements.

Oh boy... Campaign... ftl.

In other news, we (the Salvage group) finally beat all 4 Salvage bosses and I feel pretty stoked about it... but at the same time, I also feel pretty sad as well. Except for a few 15 pieces in Zhaylom and like 1 or 2 more 35 NMs... I've pretty much almost seen everything in Salvage. It's sad because I've enjoyed it every since I started it and to have some of the excitement and challenges just "end" like that is kinda... kinda sad really. It's really no more amazements or shock value or anything (which Einherjar has so I have that to fall back on) but still, after seeing everything in Salvage and having such a great group to do them with, it's really all about optimization from this point on, much like trying to get the highest rank on Trauma Center for a certain operation or beating a time attack time in some racing game. I want to keep doing Salvage, even if I end up getting 5/5 Usukane. I mean, yeah I have BLM now and Morrigan's is nice but I'm not even thinking about them right now and I have so many other things to get before I even think about them. Really, to have a full set of Salvage gear is already accomplishing a lot so I'm in no rush... besides, I want to get myself a Mystic GKT. :3

... At least I think that's the term now... Relic for Dynamis based Weapons and Mystic for Nyzul based Weapons. Makes sense I suppose.

Even though people may get upset with the fact that you can keep grinding these areas and will probably not see a drop most of the time, I will still enjoy Salvage. I will admit, Salvage has some dry spots, mainly the early floors. I hope that WotG introduces something similiar to keep the game fresh.

Oh and.... fancy bling bling for your FFXI player? :3 Somehow, I don't think buying Lissy a "Tidal Talisman" would fit her fancy. Now if they sold a Duelist Chapeau, a real life one that also comes with a free in-game one... !!! She's bound to pelt me with hugs and kisses!

*prays*

Still without a Computer

I've been trying to make due with my 360 and my laptop for FFXI for the past week. So far I've been managing okay except for a few freeze ups that have been happening. Right now, I am doing Campaign/Soloing stuff strictly on my 360 while everything else on my laptop. The reason is that as much as I would like to play on my 360, I'm stuck with "PS2 Limitations." Pretty much, I'm really not all that excited to rewrite a bunch of BLM macros and having to readjust my playstyle accordingly to each of those systems (where I might have to hit 2+ some macros to prep up for a spell rather than hitting simply one.) My SAM is just as it would be on the PC since that really doesn't require too many equipment changes to switch from one set to another. My laptop is also not meant to be a gaming system either and it suffers from massive graphical lag issues even on lowest settings. Attempting to load up Firefox while playing FFXI will often freeze FFXI, so it is pretty hard to look up something unless I have a Firefox window open already.

Honestly, not even the 360 is doing well under laggy conditions as my laptop. Really, I froze like 2 times in campaign within the past 2 hours I've been campaigning and I properly vent my 360, both the PSU and the system itself. I will say though that on my flat screen monitor, the game looks very nice and crisp... but unfortunately, the frame rate just hits the drain when there's too many people and can often times freeze my Xbox.

I know I can play BLM on my 360... but even on my PC, I'm still trying to find ways to make the job work for me and not have to tumble around stuff too much (in terms of hitting buttons and finding the right spells). I've been trying to mimic Lissy's macro pallete setup and while it seems to be working "ok" for me right now, I still find it a bit off. There is really no way to fit everything you want onto 20 macros in one set (which if I was playing on the PS2 version like I was years ago, it would be HORRIBLE with the sudden lag that occurs when you change sets) so I'm going to try to limit it to at most 2 and reduce manual changing as much as possible.

Well, with that on my mind, time to make a wishlist of stuff that they should put in FFXI! T_T;

1. Premade Sets.

The premade sets idea is basically allowing you to create an equipment set and allow you to compact it into one line on your macros. For example: Lets say you want a WS set. It can be as simple as going to the equipment menu and on the Triangle/Y/+ menu to the side, have a "Edit Set" menu and have like... I dunno, 20 should be enough for one character. Then you simply build it together with the equipmenu menu UI. Another addition to that is if lets say you don't want to equip anything to a particular slot (like weapons for example), you can choose a (No Change) option that would be placed on top of the equipment list.

If I had photoshop, I'd draw out a mock example.

Once you save it, you can recall it in a macro like "/set 1" or "/set SAMWS" or something of that extent. You can also toss in more equipment stuff into your macro for specific cases like /set SAMWS and then /equip neck "Snow Gorget" for Tachi: Yuki/Gekko for example.

2. Finally show TP for christ sakes.

If SE wants an incentive for SC/MBs, they are obviously going to need more than simply what is given thus far This only really helps it. Only real question would be how to display it since having a small number in that corner would just look pretty icky

(side note: My 360 froze again...)

3. Show the distance between the player and the target.

Really not hard to implement. It really isn't a mystery any more and seriously, making this aspect easier for players isn't going to break anything. Things are hard enough as it is even for those using all these windower plugins anyways.

4. Make a brand new UI.

Lets admit, the one that is in the game sucks. You can barely see the HP/MP on a regular TV with the 360/PS2 versions unless you squint your eyes. In fact, the game just becomes hard to read in general off of a TV. What's even worse is that there is no room to add anything of further interest into the existing UI without having it slapped on and being a random number on screen. Granted, it would be hard to make a new UI with how the PS2 is limited (does that thing even have progressive scan for FFXI?) and really, the game is about to hit the end of it's life cycle (not to say it'll die but it is going to hit a point where interest will die out and the game will slowly progress further in terms of development).

How would I make it look like? No clue! I'll mock one up once I have a working PC!

5. Do something to reduce graphical hiccups.

FFXI will rape your processor. That's how it is on the PS2, that's how it is on the PC and that's how it is on the 360. While I can understand it is trying to load all of these different textures and models and stuff, it's rendering each of those frames of animation that is making your game lag like molasses. Like really, I don't understand why there's an Animation Frame Rate type of deal (you know, the one that makes the game look like it's Electric Football). That isn't gonna save you. I can understand that sometimes when a game is online, there's some sort of connection error and your game freezes or some weird bug or whatever.

But, to have the game freeze up on you when there's too many on screen and not have a limitation for it... Really, why does that happen? Take a note from old 8-bit or 16-bit games, they had sprite limitations. Like, that slider that reduces the amount of players on screen.... while it does something, it doesn't do enough. Like, seriously~ Lets do this~

If there's a shit ton of characters on screen:

Always render your character
Render mobs
Render NPCs
Render your party
Render your alliance
Render non-party characters

It shouldn't be flipping and flopping around where I can't see a Fafnir but I can see like half of the LS beating it and only one of my party mates. Like, a priority system would be nice and just having a hard limitation of how many models on screen at a time would be nice too, even having a custom limit that is reasonable for the game to not appear like it's a ghost town.

And for the love of god: the glowing effects on the avatars should have an option of being able to see it or not.

NEXT!

6. Make this damn Xbox 360 Messanger Pad work on FFXI

You see this item?

It's pretty nice when you just want to sit back and not have to tumble around with a keyboard and such. It's a nice chatpad too for messaging people. I think it's about 20 bucks and even comes with a nice headset for voice chatting (mainly because it uses the base and it needs a different plug).

Nice item for 360 and pretty nice for FFXI... right? Well, guess what? Shit doesn't work on FFXI. You can type stuff but special characters that involve hitting the Squareish button on the bottom left corner (which include a bunch of things like / and quotations and so on) is a total pain in the ass to do. See, whenever you hit that button, it removes the UI, much like hitting the back button. Stuff that you're supposed to tap and "holds" it for you don't work (like if you tap on Shift, it "holds" it for you until you hit a key).

It's such a nice thing for FFXI, especially when you just don't want to pull out a keyboard or anything and just want to play FFXI on the comfort of your own bed or something. Like, this works fine in Phantasy Star Universe... but not in FFXI. Sure, you might want a keyboard for stuff that you want to relay information fast but to type a simple macro with this without the problems it is would be very nice. Another thing to consider is having keyboard shortcuts on this chatpad. It would give me the funtionality of going to the menus really fast but just simply tapping a button on the chatpad, as if CTRL or ALT are constantly held down (which this chatpad lacks btw). Such a nice item, I've tossed a few suggestions to SE via Mail Form several times about this but it basically went ignored. It would be very nice if they added this but.... oh well, that's why we call it a wishlist I suppose!

7. Make a different icon for every single buff/debuff

You know, there's already a few UI mods out there that lets you change the icons to be unique... but why the hell do we have to rely on that for? They did it for Utsusemi (granted that thing looks like ass but hey, it's different), but what about other things like BRD songs, COR rolls, Hasso/Seigan, a crap ton of Debuffs. I guess this is starting to sound like a rant list now but hey, all I'm doing is Campaigning. Like, it isn't like you're pointing to one icon in the data. The icon is simply copy and pasted over and over so it's not like you're "hacking" the game to point to a custom made icon.

8. Make a new Raise spell

You know, I often don't care what raise I get any more, in fact, really don't unless I die going on the way to Einherjar or die to something retarded and time isn't pressed on us. EXP problems are now gone with the introduction of Campaign (though, given how my Xbox froze like 3 times, maybe it isn't the case) and really, it isn't going to hurt us much to get XP back again. So, how about make a spell (lets call it Arise, since that seems to be what Full-Life or whatever is called in the later FF revisions) and instead of raise with sickness, raise with full HP but give a penalty to the WHM casting it (the spell itself should cost quite a bit of MP and it should prevent the WHM from casting anything for a duration of time or give them a weakness of some sort) and restore no XP to the person being arised. The person that was hit with arise should either have all of their MP drained away or no MP gained from the spell. Hmm... though with all those restrictions, it might not even be a spell worth casting, would it? :3 BALANCING: It takes time!

9. Nerf Lissy

She's too over powered. :3

10. Make different music tracks for Campaign

do do do dodo dodo do do do dodo dodo do do do dodo dodo do do do dodo dodo...

; ;

Yes, I can always turn on my Winamp or use the Xbox 360's Custom Soundtrack function or even use Vanatunes Plugin for Windower.

11. Please... pretty please... Do something about the

Make the either quieter or match with the sound volume. Yes, it's made to bring your attention... No, it isn't made to give you a damn headache over your headset when you're listening to people over TeamSpeak/Vent.

12. Call of Help? More like "Cause Some Drama"

Honestly, why use this? More often than not, unless you're in some place where high level players pass around like a newbie zone or something, this isn't going to save you. The only real thing this function is used for right now is for grief tactics. I mean, it's like giving the player a "Fuck People Over" button. Like, why is it even there? I mean, sure there are some people out there who are respectful enough to not do such a thing but why even give them the option in the first place? If you're going to die, you're most likely going to die anyways unless you have a PL with you or something. Even calling for help on adds from Kirin is not even seen any more.

13. Make Dynamis instanced

You know, I can see how doing the current system isn't going to work. For stuff to be instanced and to involves zoning, it seems like everyone has to be zoned all at the same time. Assault requires this, Salvage requires this. BCs can do this because this doesn't require zoning, and Einherjar isn't instanced from what I believe. So really, where does that leave us? Is it possible for Dynamis to be instanced and still do the whole Glass/Trade system? With what the Mog House visitor system showed us, maybe it is but that's juat a Mog House with very little information tossed in. It would require quite a bit of rewriting to make Dynamis instanced. With how some people finding people in their Mog House without their permission though... it would have to be one secure rewrite.

I think I got it all out of my system now ; ; I'll be a good Moggie now~

... oh wait one more

14. Give credit for people that d/c during Campaign

While I can understand why this wouldn't work in Besieged since it would be abuse of the system (though honestly, increase the cap of how much XP you can get in that to like 5k or 6k or something, it is a damn hour), this would be some sort of compensation in case you disconnect during campaign. I mean, it sucks having to do one for like 45 minutes and then have it all disappear when your system goes poots on you. Like when you zone or d/c, give the credit then remove their tags. At least they won't get screwed out of losing those XP points they earned.

OKAY, now I'm done!

... I want my computer back. ;_;

A New Month, A New Struggle

Well, things are rolled around nicely around here for my linkshell DownRightFierce and my own FFXI life. Unfortunately, due to a few problems involving my computer, I now have a dead motherboard and it was a fairly old mobo (about 3-4 years) and due to how we have transitioned to new technology really fast, I would have to buy a new processor and a new video card (it's AGP, not that new fancy PCI-E stuffs nowadays). This is gonna run me quite a bit of money so... yeah, being able to play FFXI on a reliable PC system is not a current option right now.

In the DownRightFierce side of things (and yeah, I have no screenshots of any of this on me), we managed to get quite a few things. We've been tackling a crap ton of HNMs and for the most part, none of them really dropped anything until recent. We managed to get ourselves a Seveneyes from Khimmycat (which went to Bobbyray) and Gaiters (which went to Zarion). We got two Algols from Cerberus (Fidelis and Iskara) and well, a bunch of Cerb Claws and Hides that went towards a bunch of things (Valk Breastplate and a few Hades Hands). I'm actually still sitting on a few of them that I intend on selling so if you're on Carbuncle and you want a Cerb Hide and I haven't sold it yet, bug me about it~ Claws maybe, we're thinking about what to do with them.

I haven't had the time to relaly sit down and play on my own leaisure, given the circumstances of my computer and losing all of my macros. I aim to hit all the elemental obis while getting my Uggy Pendant. I also need vicious mufflers... So many things I have to do on my BLM! So little time! ; ;

I should really look into how I can get those vicious muffler pop items... maybe that'll encourage me to work on it.

Ah well, FFXI on my laptop isn't so bad except for the inconsistant freezing that just seems to happen every other minute. :3 I'll get my computer up and running again... JUst need some spare money.

Campaign: The Legit Way

... Because we know song spamming is gonna get squashed!

Some people don't like to campaign, a bunch of good reasons why. Frankly, if I was playing this on my 360, I'd probably cry because I think the chances of it freezing up would be pretty high. I haven't tried it on my 360 yet so who knows!

Anyways, to kinda add on to my previous post about Campaign (link), having a basic understanding of what you can do to squeeze off as many XP caps as you can to add on to your healing/damage XP gain is key to getting 4-figures.

As a melee, this is horribly easy. Just run out there with your weapon and beat the crap out of things. Just try to treat it as a merit/TP burn party, toss out any self enhancements JA/Magic that you have (just note the exceptions) and pretty much, unless you're a few levels low or you get knocked down too many times, you'll most likely keep up with the cap.

As for a mage job... they have it hard. The majority of their XP is from emptying out a resource that they do not have unlimited amounts of. Pretty much, your MP is being converted into XP. Lets face it, unless you're a decently geared RDM or WHM, you're most likely not going to melee for crap.

That's a quick overview, lets get into details!

First, Sigil. There's really no reason to not have it. It gives you Signet bonuses along with Sanction effects along with the ability to stack up Regen/Refresh/Food Duration all at the same time. This will help you a lot during resting periods where you want to get your HP/MP back up. This is especially true for melee since there many be some situations where a cure just might not come to your aid.

The key to getting XP is keeping yourself alive by yourself. It may sound like a selfish thing but consider that when things get really busy and your HP meter isn't exactly apparent to other people, relying on a random cure from people during the times where you need it most isn't exactly smart thinking. As a mage though, feel free to cure yourself and others, it's XP. Pretty sure people that do campaign regularly is going to be on the look out for those with low HP just to get some XP out of it. It's a mutual benefit: They get XP from curing you, you stay alive longer to milk in more XP.

Plan out your Campaign. Don't just grab a tag and do random stuff, have a plan of attack for how you can milk the most XP. Lets have a look at what I have for BLM:

1. Immedately when a campaign battle starts, get a tag.
2. Cast Stoneskin/Blink/6 Barspells. Cast Reraise if needed. (Covers my 8 self enhancing)
3. Look around for anyone that needs a cure.
4. Rest until an attack wave shows up.
5. If unruly mob of players gang up on Boss in the wave, debuff/drain/aspir only.
6. If unruly mob of players gang up on underlings, nuke accordingly and melee at the same time. Try for a killshot.
7. If death is a definite, die in a place where you can be safe to raise.
8. Repeat 3-7.

It's a pretty solid plan, usually nets me a good chunk of XP. To into specifics about my plan though:

1. Getting a tag immedately when a battle starts is a good thing due to the XP time cap (which differs based on your rank.
2. Self enhancing caps at 8 repetitions, a total of 150 XP.
3. You need to cure 5000 HP to hit cap. That's about 25 Cure 3s or so based on your gear.
4. Having MP = important... that goes without saying.
5. Bosses suck as they can potentially one shot you. Try to keep your distance and keep your hate to a minimum. Resists count towards your debuff, you need to do 20 of them.
6. This is where the majority of your damage will come into play. Remember to keep yourself alive.

Now of course, if you're on a melee job (like my SAM), the only real planning you have to do is simply keeping yourself alive out in the battlefield and having a good weapon on your side. Just go out there and beat the crap out of things.

Some points of interest~

- While I'm not so sure about the Bastok/Sandy side, the Yagudo's Divine Pilgrims are basically free nukes. All they are sent to do is go in and erect either a turret, a belfry or bomb the fort. They don't attack at all so just throw out your big nukes without worry about hate.

- Did I ever mention that Stoneskin is the greatest spell ever made? Use it. It might not save vs Bosses but it'll save you against certain AoE attacks for a bit.

- Getting new tags, on the same line as song/spell spamming, can actually pretty good to reset your caps on certain XP things. Try doing it while you're waiting for the next wave of mobs.

- Almost everything can be aspired. Use that to your advantage.

- If you have a Love Halberd and you're main SAM... :3

- Bosses are usually bad news to engage first. Try to plain out avoid them if you can and just target the weaker ones. If you have a strong NPC force though, you can go nuts sometimes.

- Cure NPCs. They have so much HP that a Cure 3 will usually only heal 2%.

Truth be told: Campaigning on BLM (or close to any Mage job really) sucks. You can be trying to do everything to your power to get as much XP as you can but you'll never really reach the cap. However, if you really want to go campaign on your BLM, it can be fun but the XP will be substandard and you're often better off soloing stuff in Sea. To be honest though, to have something like this as just simple clean fun... it's a nice thing to do when you just don't want to really think and just let it all roll. You also don't lose XP when you die and screw up so maybe the overall XP gain isn't so bad for soloing. Either way, it gives me an excuse to bust out my DS and wait between Campaign fights!

Maybe I'll come back and reorganize this post a bit... For now, just rough typed out info. See you next fight!

The BLM Journal: Mentality

I decided to start a new series of posts that I will call "The BLM Journal." It simply acts as my output and "thinking" pad for my trials as a new BLM75 (which I recently got :3 Thank you Lissy for helping me with the final set of XP).

For the most part, I'll be posting probably a lot of things people will either say "duh" or "Isn't that common knowledge?" While that's true, there are some things that I really don't have much of a direct answer to (/RDM vs /WHM) and some things that I think I need to touch on a bit more so I can be more efficient on the job. Like I said before, I'm really passionate about my SAM job and I would like to do the same for my BLM job as well. So, lets start with the basics.

Mentality - Doing whatever you can in your ability to not become a liability

One of the main reasons why I avoided BLM for so long is that I think the job can be pretty demanding at times. You basically have an ability to a large amount of damage and it relies on you to maintain that balance of damage and hate control. Not only that but you have access to probably one of the most powerful spells in the game: Stun. There are a lot of responsibilities of a BLM that frankly, after fighting a few Tiamats and a few other things, it's a lot of pressure being placed on just one single BLM. Of course you would use BLMs bunched up and in a huge group but even then your survivability will be heavily reliant on your ability to do so.

BLM is also probably one of the jobs where while you can be lazy as all hell, it can end up screwing you over in the end. For one moment where you're not really paying attention, that could be the end of you and your XP buffer. At least as a melee job, you can take a few hits. As a BLM, you're most likely not gonna have Stoneskin or Blink or whateve rup when such a situation hits when your mind wanders off and BOOM, you're down to half HP because you threw out a Thunder 4 without paying attention. That is another thing I feel about BLM though: Sometimes you might end up doing a lot of nothing because you're waiting for that hate to stabilize before you throw out your nuke. I feel that my understanding (dispite playing PLD prior to this) of hate is a bit minimal at best. I can't really "feel" my tanks hate all that much and I feel this is because I didn't party for the majority of my BLM career, most of it was solo XP. I suppose I will improve on this as time goes on when I play BLM more often.

Sometimes I feel that people level BLM and not really care for it too much. I'm guessing it is mostly due to the fact that they leveled BLM first then leveled a melee job and found that to be more fascinating. It isn't relally the other way around for me though, I still love SAM to all hell and I am enjoying every single moment as a BLM. I'm actually doing Campaign right now as my SAM but I really want to get on my BLM to nuke stuff... I just need SAM buffer though. Even as a SAM or a BLM or whatever, I find it odd that people would level a job, play that job often but do the bare minimum. Now, I have BRD leveled and I really don't care too much for the job, so often I just don't play it. If some LS want me in as a BRD, I'll refuse. If one doesn't care much for something, they will do a bad job for it. Unfortunately, BRD doesn't require much from the player to do what people expect them to do, at least in the end game environment. For all they care, you can be naked and it won't matter to them because you can still do Double Ballad. BLM, ont he other hand, requires a lot off of the player to maintain good damage and survivability, which irks me because people don't really try too much in this department, at least from past linkshells that I've been in.

With all of this in consideration, I have to think about the following few points when playing BLM:

- Maximizing my survivability
- Maximizing my damage/hate threshold
- Maximizing my ability to throw out spells fast
- Get the most out of my resting set
- Being able to make all of my spells as efficient as possible
- Making sure my skill stays fresh and improves over time

A little too hardcore? Well, maybe... There are also things to consider that will probably hurt me a bit since I have melee jobs leveled:

- No Tamas (Not a huge deal, just lose -enmity)
- No INT merits (Gonna hurt for maximizing BLM)
- No shared equipment (SAM and BLM basically have no equipment they can share other than certain haste items)
- No MP merits (HP will probably help me more here though)

Well, I still have a long way to go on my BLM and hopefully I'll have a "satisfiable" BLM soon. Gearing it up will be nice but I'm more concerned about my ability to play the job, as that will ultimately determine how successful I am at the job.

Valkyrie's Breastplate

Congratulations on your Valkyrie's Breastplate, Dionicio! :3

Hurray for Odin~

I'm a leet einherjars~

Yesterday was a pretty pumped up day for DownRightFierce. Unfortunately for me, I barely got any sleep the previous night so any sort of positive energy that came around just simply flew by me. Regardless, a few fancy things have happened yesterday!

First off, we missed a chance at Cerberus due to this random JP LS that showed up. Frankly though, I was entertained. Not so much that they were doing bad (they were struggling) but it seemed like a pretty small group that never really fought Cerberus all that much before, or even any real HNMs because I've never seen them anywhere at any time. So, being able to get together and fight something that they seem to not have a lot of experience on kinda made me smile a bit, not to mention taking it down at a pretty good rate.

Anyways, for all intents and purposes, lets call that a bad start to the day. I attempted to go to sleep only to be awaken one hour by Lissy. After having my face stuffed in my pillow going "Oh god, don't tell me he's up..." I got out of bed and lo' and behold, Tiamat is up and claimed by us. With my BLM barely at 73, they asked me to come on it to handle adds. Never having to deal with anything serious with BLM before, I was kinda initimidated and really, it felt like my first few days of playing PLD at end game all over again. Fortunately, I retained a clear head and picked up what I need to do within a matter of seconds... which, now that I think about it, wasn't so hard in the first place!

I gotta say though: Skilling up on Tiamat is the only way to go.

Only real thing I found myself doing during this entire fight was:

1. Handle Elementals and Bifrons (not Corses, while I can outrun them, the initial pull might eat me alive!)
2. Nuke Tiamat with Thunder stuffs while he's in the air. Because my stuff ends up being resisted a lot, I usually go with the one-shot critical hit-or-miss Burst routine.
3. Talking about how uber I am... though that's probably my sleep deprivation that's doing that.

Tiamat ended up dropping a wyrm horn... wryyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy.

Someone shouted out Manaburn in the LS chat and... for whatever reason, I decided to take it even though I need sleep BAD at this point. I got about 20k xp before I had to throw in the towel. I took a "nap" and had Lissy wake me up about an hour prior to fighting Odin. This time, I would be taking PLD to kite adds.

Odin is not hard. It isn't the most easiest thing in the world but it isn't ridiculously hard like the usual Tier 3 or heck, even Tier 1. I wasn't really disappointed though, it's freakin Odin! It's the guy that was in all your old Final Fantasy memories and he goes in with his fancy-pants Zentetsuken and one shots people! The fight ended up being relatively easy but also pretty short (30 minutes). We got E. Body, H. Hands, M. Legs, and P. Body. No Odin exlusive items though...

Other than that... got 2 more Assault wins off of my chest and got some fishing done with some LS mates... oh and a Sand Charm so I can finally start that Inside the Belly quest. Maybe someday I'll tackle the legendary Ebisu Rod... or maybe not.

On a complete side note: FFIV is out on the DS this week for NA. Git it!

My BLM vs My SAM: The Epic Battle for Supremacy

Sitting here, soloing on my BLM (currently at 72, yay), I was thinking about how I would apply my BLM to my end game LS (DownRightFierce). As we all as well know: BLMs are uber that it kinda dominates a lot of circles in end game...

But... Well, lets have a look:

Sky: I'd most likely be SAM without a single doubt.
Dynamis: I'd most likely be SAM without a doubt.
Sea: Might be BLM but might be SAM the majority of the time (heck, even end up being SAM for JoL might be better off for me at this point, unless they need someone in adds)
ZNMs: Based on what the mob is... but lower tiers will most likely be SAM.
Einherjar: I'd most likely be SAM without a doubt.
Variety of HNMs: I'd most likely be BLM.

Honestly, I'm just kinda sitting here going "wtf am I gonna use my BLM for?" It's fine though, I really just leveled this to do small-man things with Lissy and whoever else, also the fact that I enjoyed every moment on BLM... minus the "trying to find a place to level and trying to nuke something I can take" ordeal.

Will I take BLM as serious as my SAM? Honestly, I can afford to. The only thing that I would be doing that would be gimping myself (if you even want to call it gimping, I don't even know at this point) would be not being able to merit INT because I have STR merits. Other than that, Elemental and Enfeeb can go 8/8 and I have enough equipment space to hold all the gear. Really, if I truly felt like it, I can have a really powerful BLM to go with my really powerful SAM... which, oddly enough, I can have a really powerful MNK too all at the same time without gimping a single one of them.

I think I have decided my final 3 jobs that will be my best/main jobs: SAM/BLM/MNK.

This is, of course, not to say I won't level other jobs though, but...

WAR: I have leveled to 75 but SAM has kinda replaced it. Haven't had much application for it anywhere over SAM really.

THF: I have no interest in. I think it is a great job that can do a ton of damage and can farm stuff and survive on its own really well... But, I don't think it suits me too much. That and THF tends to have a bunch of exclusive equipment to the job.

WHM: Most likely not going to happen because I have an aggressive playstyle and this could hurt me while playing WHM.

RDM: I could very well level this job too but after seeing a ton of RDMs emoing about the RDM AF2 Hat... I'll pass!

PLD: It is still in hiatus until the time calls forth where my PLD is needed again. For right now though, it will rest until then.

DRK: A job I once have considered leveling but I eventually chose not to. Mainly because I would find nothing to do with this and it feels like I'd be doing nothing with it except pull it out and slash a few things.

BST: No.

BRD: Doesn't exist.

RNG: I has no munnies, though I will get it to 37 someday.

NIN: I has no munnies but I did consider it at some point... but I already got one tanking job, don't need another.

DRG: 37 someday, but not 75.

SMN: No.

BLU: Eh.

COR: Maybe someday.

PUP: Honestly, maybe I will level this to 75... just to wear Usukane on it.

DNC: 37 at the most, I don't see me soloing anything with it at 75.

SCH: Maybe... maybe not.

Oh, and Maat's Cap is something I'm probably never gonna consider... probably for a good reason that I wish to keep to myself. >:

Final Fantasy XIII on Xbox 360 O_O;

Just announced by Wada in the Microsoft E3 Press Conference: Final Fantasy XIII is indeed coming out on Xbox 360.

Source? Well.... You'll see it all around in a few minutes, I'm sure.

E3

If you're a hardcore gamer like me, you're probably paying attention to E3, where most of the new stuff gets announced for the consumers (like you and me!).

While it felt like it was a pretty bad/boring weekend (well, it was the whole week for me last week), at least this week should be entertaining for all the PS3/360/Wii owners out there.

And yes, I know this is another short post. Still recovering. ;_;