Potato To You!

The past week has been pretty hectic on my FFXI playing, with classes starting again and the fever and flu kicking my butt. Nevertheless, I accomplished quite a bit of things, mainly getting myself a Hagun for my SAM.

I had to make a few sacrifices in getting a Hagun but so far I am not disappointed with the results. For those who don't know what the Hagun does exactly, the Hagun is a Great Katana weapon that has the special property of "TP Bonus," which are the weapons that were introduced with ENMs a few years back. Now, what is "TP Bonus?" TP Bonus is not to be confused with Store TP, a job trait that acts as a multiplier to your TP Gain. TP Bonus, instead, gives you a +100% TP Modifier to your Weapon Skills. That means if you do a WS at 100% with a weapon that has TP Bonus, it'll be as potent as a WS done at 200%.

For a lot of jobs and weapon skills, this doesn't show too much benefit. Often times there will be a weapon that is significantly better. For SAM and GKT however, this weapon is a godsend since damage is multiplied every 100% on GKT WS. I will say, the numbers do not disappoint as I'm WSing for quite a bit more damage than I did before. Being able to achieve WS damage by swinging 6 times instead of 12 times is pretty sexy.

On a total side note though: Hagun looks more like a huge butcher's knife than a GKT... <.< But that's just me nitpicking.

Among other things:

3/5 on SAM AF2 (That was pretty fast)
GKT Merits 4/8
Chocobo is probably gonna be yellow: making it into a digger chocobo.

I'm most likely gonna be staying home tomorrow, stupid fever.. or flu... or feverflu. >: But hey, Sky is up tomorrow, I might land something good. <.<

Hmm... quickie post :3

Askar Head... Askbar Body... I just hope I can live without the accuracy.

>.>;

Skilling Up Fishing... The Stupid Way

I decided for one day to stop fishing Moat Carp and attempt to work skilling up fishing. After doing a bunch of researching, there was one method that I found that really doesn't consume money (if at all) and in fact can turn out a small profit. Unfortunately, it is still slow and skilling will take awhile.

I call this the "Lazy Taru's Method of Skilling."

The target is Gold Carp, which caps your fishing at level 51 (so you might want to be around level 30 for this). All you will be getting will be Gold Carp or Rusty Items, no Moat Carp at all. You can use any real rod (I use a Halcyon) paired with a Shrimp Lure. Go to Windurst Woods (though I think Walls/Waters work just fine but I haven't looked into it) and just start fishing. Your bite rate will be pretty low (might get one Gold Carp every 12 some casts at times) but your only real fish will be Gold Carp. You will know that you're going to fish up a Rusty based on how fast you drain your target's stamina, so let go of those as they can potentially break your line (and lose your Shrimp Lure).

Now, I know I should be getting Moat Carp, especially since I have like 80% to go. But that is the thing about FFXI, sometimes you just want to tackle on things differently even though it might not make logical sense. Also, I only fish in Windurst Woods since I get Moat Carp and Gold Carp occasionally with Insect Balls.

I could use some Cup o' Noodles right now... its pretty cold. @_@

Current Fishing Skill: 35.0

Valentine's Day. You know what that means.

I would like to take this moment to once again bring out my object of love, Liseth.

We've been through a lot of weird times, fun times, stupid times, silly times, and a whole bunch of other times. Though while we're pretty separate (in location, in Linkshell, and in time zone because I'm still friggen awake at 5 in the morning and she probably already got her 8 hours sleep), we chat a lot on the phone, over Teamspeak and over /tells. All those moments, all those few seconds that I get to nab her attention, I hold them all in my heart and never wish to let go. Obviously, she means a lot to me and I hope I mean a lot to her too. Honestly, if it wasn't for her, I would not be continuing my life in FFXI and I'd probably would continue living life in a really crummy way.

So, here is to my Valentine, my lover in-game and in real life, Liseth.

":3"

I hope everyone who reads this finds some sort of happiness with another person, be it romantic or not.

Oh yeah, interesting tidbit. For some reason in Japan, there's a Valentine's Day and a White Day (which is on March 14th). Apparently, the girls give the boys gifts on V Day while the boys give gifts to girls on W day... except 3 times as much.

For more information, check out this Wikipedia Article.

So that's how they're gonna play it...

After looking at the new update teaser (yeah I call them teasers... because more likely than not, they end up being disappointing in the end), I can kinda see where SE is going with the storyline and mission layout for Wings of the Goddess. It seems as though they are going to have 3 parallel storylines with Windurst/Bastok/San d'Oria, which you can easily go through all three of them at any time you want without having to go through complicated nation changes and so on.

This kinda bugs me, tbh.

While so far I like the story presentation and the fact that you can instantly hop from one to another, it kinda feels like your standard episodic storyline here. By that, I mean cliffhangers and waiting 2 months for 15 minutes of story. I mean easily, a direct story is probably the least of anyone's concern in any MMORPG, and I'm not too much for the story in FFXI. What kind of upsets me is the fact that you have this feeling that nothing new is gonna came out of all this. I mean, they imply new areas with the beastmen areas being unlocked in the next update but honestly, I want to see something different, not something old and revamped. I think WotG did it right with Campaign because it was new and different but other than that, remaking zones is not gonna keep people's interest all that long, especially when these zones have nothing of interest to do outside of campaign, not even any fancy high leveled NMs to speak of.

Now I will admit, when CoP came out, there wasn't really much offered to the table on the first month. You just had Promies, a few new zones (which were nice) and Tavnazia Safehold. Of course, this was during the time where the PS2 users just came on that same exact year and a lot of people were still in the leveling phase.

What do I want to see in the next few updates? Honestly, I can't answer that question. The reality is that I feel that FFXI is already scraping the bottom of the barrel here, in fact I feel it has been doing so since ToAU, heck, even more so in CoP. Honestly, new content will have to be just that, NEW content. I don't think revamping or making slight adjustments is going to please a lot of people, but I do feel that SE was doing a great job updating ToAU and actually taking some risks. For example, the 2 handed weapons overhaul. Yes, it got really broken to the point where some jobs aren't even the same any more but at least they did it and readjusted it. It made the game feel fresh and I like that. I like to see different things happen to the world that we're used to.

Anyways, it is still only early Feb and the patch comes out March. When March rolls around though, I hope that something spiffy and new comes out that will be over hyped.

Mog Style: SAM75 TP Equipment (General Use)

Hello folks! Now we will have another glance at my current equipment. >.>



Main: Onimaru
Sub: Pole Strap
Head: Walahra Turban
Neck: Chi. Chain
Ear1: Fowling
Ear2: Brutal
Body: Haubergeon
Hand: O. Kote
Ring1: Ulthalam
Ring2: Rajas
Back: Amemet +1
Waist: Swift
Legs: Byakko's Haidate
Feet: H. Sune-Ate

In total this set gives:

Attack: +44 (Not counting STR)
Accuracy: +25 (Not counting DEX)
STR: +18
DEX: +25
Double Attack: +7%
Store TP: +12
Haste: +14%

Obviously, there could be better upgrades for certain items.

Hagun
Justice Torque
Busha (Which I don't intend on getting for the mean time)
Speed Belt (Which I don't intend on getting.. any time soon @_@)
Forager's Mantle (which costs too much for just 1 extra STR)
Usukane Feet
Hauby +1

Now some things I'm not too entirely sure on switching in and out just yet.

Dusk Gloves/SAM AF1+1 Hands

I haven't really done much meriting, I also don't have these gloves just yet, so I'm kinda in the dark as to how much of a difference these things will make.

Well, they finally done it...

Square-Enix finally posted up the video of them killing Absolute Virtue, along with tossing some hints at the side.

The video can be seen here. (Note that this will open up your media player and stuffs.

I just did a /sea at Al'Taieu... pretty busy already... pretty busy already...

Edit: Okay, there's no one at JoL's spawn point. <.< Ah well...

The Road of Lu Shang

Lu Shang Progress: 2173/10000

I can taste it! It tastes like CARP! @_@

From PS2/360 to PC: Shifting Over

Now, there are a few players out there that enjoy playing on the PS2 or the 360 version and really enjoy the use of their controller. I originated as a PS2 player and then I shifted to my PC (since it just runs much better overall), so I can understand how being forced on a keyboard can be difficult.

So, for those thinking about changing to the PC version, I give you:

Mog's Spiffy Guide to Controllers

In FFXI, you are able to use any controller. In theory, you could use any type of PC-Compatible controller. However, for full functionality, we will need a controller with the following properties:

2 Analog Sticks (and can function as digital buttons as well)
1 Digital Directional Pad
10 Buttons
Rumble Feature

If you were to take out everything that was considered optional from a full setup:

2 Analog Sticks (and can function as digital buttons as well)
1 Digital Directional Pad
7 Buttons

Now, for those who just want any kind of controller and don't want to use their PS2 or 360 controller, I present to you:

The Logitech Rumblepad 2 >:O

This controller is about 30 dollars, about the same price as a PS2 controller, less than a 360 wired controller. Its good, the only complaint that I have with it is that the diagonals are too pronounced on it, but the D-Pad is great and I find it to be perfect if you play any emulator systems on your computer. For FFXI, perfect enough to do anything like a PS2/360 controller.

But, if you're a purist like me and you need to use your PS2 or 360 controller, lets start talking.

For the PS2, you have an option of buying a PS2 to PC converter. Now, there are a lot of them on the market and they either suck or they work just like the real thing. One issue that you'll run into with these converters is the lag issue from your button press to the game's reaction to it. Personally, I use the Red Octane Universal Controller Adapter. It allows you to plug a PS2 controller into your PC, your Xbox(1) and your Gamecube(or Wii). Unfortunately, Red Octane does not sell this any more, your best bet is to check eBay. This has absolutely no lag and it makes it great for using your PS2 controller for games that need that sort of precision with your controller (fighting games are a good example). Now, you can get away in FFXI with any other controller converter really, since most converters lag about .3 seconds, so really the Red Octane isn't the must-get adapter for just FFXI.

If you're on the 360 and you have a wired controller or bought the Wireless Receiver, you're probably disappointed to all hell, right? Yes, the drivers that were released for the controller is horrible. Unfortunately for right now, wireless controllers aren't going to get much of a fix until a bit later. For now, for you people that are using the wired Xbox 360 controller, you can download these custom drivers from XBCD Plus and can edit the inputs of your wired controller to function more like a regular controller (i.e. making your analog buttons more like digital buttons).

And of course, you could always give up the way of the controller and use your keyboard... but who would want to do that? <.<

The Misadventures of Ranger Mog

One thing I wanted to get done before I move to anything else is getting RNG up to 37 for my SAM. While I'm not geared yet for SAM/RNG, at least I got a Soboro to start it all off. Figured before I start working on getting an Osode and a few other things, I'll need to get my RNG to 37 anyways.

Soloing as a RNG can be a pretty painful job but you can often times pull more EXP than you can with a typical Dunes party. To give me a little leeway for survival, I subbed BLU for Metallic Body, which gives Stoneskin. Then I just grabbed whatever I can to maximize my range accuracy and damage.

I can tell you this: You're still gonna be missing a lot of shots. >.> Sometimes that one shot you need can determine if you live or not too! Soloing is not an easy task at times.

Worms are going to be your primary target when you solo. There are located all over the place in Vana'diel. What you want to aim for specifically are the worms in Konschtat Highlands, Korroloka Tunnel, Qufim, and Maze of Shakarami. Worms can't move, worms can't melee you from afar but they do have spells that hurt like crap!

When dealing with worms, you have to think about these factors:

1. Anything else that may aggro around you.
2. Any other worms that can link.
3. Can you put 30' Distance between you and the worm to avoid spells easily?

Sure, all of this sounds easy but once you get out there and mess up once...!

Only real suggestions I can give you to make it easier:

1. Memorize the layout and the respawns of the mobs.
2. Before you take a shot, PLEASE look around you! @_@
3. Stonega sucks, but there is really no way to avoid it other than running out of range, that means your accuracy and damage will take a hit. Use food to compensate for this.
4. Sharpshot whenever you can and make good use of that time.
5. If you can convince a friend or a significant other to PL you (hint hint Liseth >.>), attempt to do so. It will reduce your downtime and gives you more leeway in taking risks during the fight.

Also note: You will be spending gil on this. <.< Probably not a LOT but it will take a hit on the wallet.

Talk about Random Encounters...

I couldn't sleep tonight, so I decided to hop on FFXI and see if I can do something until I felt like sleeping again.

I realized that I need to get the quest "Inside the Belly" active before I can even think about getting some nifty things from fishing. That, in itself, requires a chain of quests that needed to be done prior. One of those quests require that you encounter pirates on the ferry.

For those who don't know how to tell if a boat ride will encounter pirates, let me inform you. :3

When you zone into the Ferry, take note of the chat log and the fade in transition into the zone. If the zone appears and the "=== Area: Ship bound for X ===" message appears at the same exact time, it will be a normal ride (read: boring unless you're fishing or Sea Horror spawns). If the message appears in your chat log and the zone takes awhile to appear on your screen, you will be invaded by pirates.

So, what happens when you get invaded by pirates? Well, you go outside and wait a bit... you'll see another ship that will ride by (the pirates). Now, pay attention to the Humes that appear on the ship. If you see a Hume in a V. Cloak, he will summon Blackbeard (if going from Mhaura -> Selbina) or Silverhook (if going from Selbina -> Mhaura). The target that I'm looking for are the Crossbones, those mobs drop the Sand Charm item that I need for the chain quest.

I went on the ferry for about two rides and we got invaded by pirates... and unfortunately, a Hume was wearing V. Cloak was on it.

Sure, you figured "Eh, it's a Ferry, the Blackbeard and Silverhook are probably easy to kill!"

Well... yes... if you had the right job and gear for it. I, unfortunately, didn't.

Anyways, I was pulling Crossbones off to the side (thankfully they don't link) and killing them off, hoping for a sand charm. This fisherman (who was a THF) pulled Blackbeard into the cabin. I thought "Oh, he can solo it np!" Then after I killed my Crossbones (which btw, didn't drop the charm), I targeted him and he was at near 10% HP! @_@

Being the noble hero that I am, I quickly cured him and invited him to party. I was unprepared for the situation and my HP dropped down ridiculously fast! I quickly got control of the situation (without 2hr mind you) and we managed to beat the thing with like 10% HP each. The Sea Robber Cudgel dropped (which I can't use since its WHM onry) and the THF didn't want the cudgel so he let me have it. This will look nice on my mannequin.

Well... I'm still not tired, probably gonna take a few more trips back and forth, hopefully a pirate attack will occur again.

... And maybe I'll get to fight Silverhook. <.<

Seriously, why is it hard to break a friggen rod?

Lu Shang Progress: ~2000/10000

Today I decided to try to do things a bit differently and try to work on my Woodworking skills as well. The Hume Fishing Rod can be repaired with a light crystal and caps at level 72 WW. I figured "Why the heck not?" and proceeded to check around to see how I can break the rod intentionally so I can skill up off the repairs.

So, first stop was going to Qufim Island! >.> *yay*

From what I researched, if I took some sliced cod and fished off to the south of Qufim, I'll fish up things that will break my rod...

... After about 2 hours of fishing, I don't think I landed a single thing that broke my rod.

Giving Qufim Island up, I went to Gusgen Mines with a bunch of meatballs a bit later in the day. However, I think my fishing fatigue hit... though I think I was supposed to be getting items to break my rod. Well, I was personally too tired to continue around there so I decided to pack up and leave.

Hopefully a few rids on the Ferry tomorrow will do me good, got to donate a few hours of Sea tomorrow too and I got a paper to write as well! :D Ahh... the college taru life.

Short Review of Nov 07 Update + WotG

Well, its been roughly 2-3 months since the expansion came out and it will be roughly a month before the next update. I'd like to take this time to kinda review what was presented with the Nov. Update along with WotG expansion being included.

Now mind you, I was gone from the game for about a month prior to the release of WotG and also I transfered servers and also note that if you're reading this and you're from another server, it might be different on your end.

Anyways, lets get started.

Execution of the release

When this expansion came out, the shipment for the PC version was delayed in NA. That sucked... bad. We would be without the expansion for roughly 3 or so days due to the fact that it was released on the week of Thanksgiving. The release date of it was also pretty bad in general, as people with family would not be able to experience the expansion on the first day, and usually those days are the most interesting.

Poorly executed release, though for those who managed to get it for the 360, PS2, or used other methods of obtaining access to WotG without the PC discs but bought the codes from the 360, PS2 release, it was a pretty nicely executed experience, and everything was fairly streamed nicely.

Ease of getting to the new content

For the most part, it was a bit rough to get to do exactly what you wanted to do. The new jobs were easily accessible as it required short quests that can be done within less of an hour's time with very little effort. The main problem was trying to figure out how the Maws worked when you first got in them. Many players went into the past and exited out of the Sauromugue Champaign Maw and then they warped or died or whatever without seeing the other Maws. That was a bad thing to do because they would have to go back to that Maw to go back to the past. The said Maw can only be reached by going through Garlaige Citadel in the present, which is a pain the butt.

As for going through the campaign, it took a bit of effort and figuring out. It took me about a good 5 hours before I was able to partake in my first Campaign, and most of it involved running through unknown territory.

The new zones look very nice and seeing the older zones in a state of war was much exciting. However, I was not fond of the fact that the position of certain Maws and Campaign Arbiters are located in areas that involved a bit of off walking. While the Maws can be understandable, the Campaign Arbiter locations would require a player to spend time and effort and maybe even their EXP should as it involves wandering around dangerous areas even to a 75. I believe some locations were fixed after a few updates.

Campaign Ops, for the most part, can be ignored and does not reward too much of anything. While they are "free" to do, we also have Assaults that are also "free" to do and they reward so much more.

The ranking system in Campaign is a bit of a toss up. The rewards for having a high rank is not as apparent as it should be, the EXP limit that you get from campaign isn't balanced enough to warrant a rank up, except for the fact that you have to keep attempting rank ups to even keep your rank. I found this to be a bit bothersome and even useless at times. While it unlocks more Campaign Ops, the Ops themselves still feel rather meaningless, and many aren't even fun to do.

However, the campaign battles themselves are probably the biggest great addition to FFXI. Being able to solo EXP/Merits/buffer in these Campaigns make life easier for jobs that cannot normally land a party. While this may not replace parties, it is a good filler for times where you are looking for group. One thing that I don't like about Campaign is the fact that everyone solos it to the point where those who are getting beat up will most likely die because there is no support going on. With that said, if you are to do campaigns, bring a healing buddy with you or sub WHM for reraise.

Along with the expansion, they got rid of the Rent-A-Room system and just made it so that you can just walk in and you're set. Inventory was increased to 70, which is a godsend. People can be invited to your Mog House, which is a nice feature but one that can easily be forgotten.

The update itself changed many things, but that is because there was an expansion with it. The next update will most likely continue the story and so far we know there will be changes to campaign. What I would like to see is more Campaign Op changes and probably a better implementation of being able to see when Campaign battles will occur.

FFXI isn't just all about grinding EXP and getting phat lewt >;3

Upon hitting 75 with my Samurai, I decided to take a break from leveling more jobs and started to focus on doing the things I've meant to finish up a long time ago. With the new school semester starting up for me soon and the fact that I am actively working on a video game project (which I must keep underwraps for various reasons), I probably won't even have any time at all leveling another job.

The Wonderful World of Fishing @_@
Fishing. It goes great with the word "slow," "boring," and often times "stupid." Yes, fishing is slow, it can get really boring and sometimes the things that you need to get while fishing to further enhance your fishing experience is stupid. Fortunately for me, I am immune to most of these! :D

Here are my current fishing plans and goals:

Get Lu Shang (Currently ~1500/10000)
Get Ebisu Rod (Will be awhile before I even think about getting it)
Get fishing skill to 100 (currently 33.0)
Get revenge on Ryugu Titan
Get fishing skill+ equipment for Guild (can't while under Woodworking contract)

Main Focus right now: Lu Shang Rod

Fishing is one of those things that people either enjoy or not. Those that don't often do not understand just how much researching and patience is required to fully enjoy the finer aspects of fishing. And often times, a lot of people just don't have time for it, when honestly, this is one of the fastest things you can do in the game at one time.

Fishing can get you money, fishing can get you a lot of money. Fishing can also get you a lot of headaches and might even burn a hole in your wallet. Therefore, fishing is a lot like everything else in this game. Only real stipulations is that leveling is much slower and you can only catch ~200 things per day (the reason why I say "things" is that fish and items count towards this.) Crafting can net faster skill ups, allowing the fact that you have the money to do such a thing. Crafting has no limitations on how much you can craft per day. So, why pick fishing as a trade over crafting?

Well, for one, you don't do such a thing. Fishing does not affect your crafting in any real way. You can get fishing to 100, you can get a craft to 100 as well without having either conflict another. You can level a craft and fish at the same time without any problems. However, fishing will not rape your wallet full of gil as fast as crafting, so you can fish more often than crafting in the long run. This is what makes fishing a good thing to do when you're killing time every day or night if you choose to do so.

What if you are one of those people that want to rush through things? Well, fishing might not be for you since it is a slow and limiting process that cannot go any faster due to the limitations placed on it. If you still wish to fish, you can choose to buy a Lu Shang rod and skip the Moat Carps altogether. However, Lu Shang really does not show it's true benefits until level 50 fishing, where you start running into the more troublesome fish. You also might want to consider leveling your woodworking to 80 so you can fix your Lu Shang if it breaks.

@_@

THE LU SHANG ROD BREAKS?!?!?!?!?

Well, yes. <.< The Lu Shang rod can break under certain legendary fish. However, don't be afraid. If you fail the synth, you will not lose the Lu Shang rod but will just lose the crystal. There is also an NPC that will fix your Lu Shang for a few items.

So, what is this Ebisu rod that you may have heard about? Well, that would be the fishing rod that is better than the Lu Shang rod. It is the only rod in the game that is unbreakable and is also the only rod that is rare/ex, so don't expect to buy one of these.

If I ever get to the point where I can attempt for the Ebisu rod, I'll start writing about it. Until then... Moat Carp go!

Chocobo Hot and Cold >.>

Remember that minigame from Final Fantasy 9? No? You know, I am surprised a lot of people here in FFXI has never played another Final Fantasy game before...

Anyways, Chocobo Hot and Cold is a minigame in FFXI that allows you to bring out your Chocobo that you raised and try to dig up the treasure box. To help you do so, the game will prompt you via "Kwehs" to help tell you if you're closer (hotter) or farther (colder). Depending on what stats and abilities your chocobo has will also aid you in your treasure hunt. Once you've located it, enjoy your awesome rewards... such as a crap ton of greens. <.<

The treasure pool doesn't sound so exciting at first, in fact, it generally stinks. But, considering how the game is free to play (though limited once a RL day) and sometimes you get some neat pocket change from these items, not a bad thing to invest your time in.

In the beginning, you're limited to certain areas but once you spend a week or so digging successfully, you can unlock more zones to dig in, usually better items too! ;3

No real goal here for me to tackle but I am raising a new Chocobo... lets see what happens.