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!