BLM kiting Campaign Battle NM? {|Death|} {|You can have this.|} {|Please|}

I’ve been pretty involved in the Campaign Battle part of the Wing of the Goddess expansion since its release. The missions are probably interesting, but I don’t really care about those even if you do get to meet a male Mithra. My only complaint so far is the blms that actually think they can kite every mob that shows up. Guess what? You can’t, you idiot. Not only will they run you down and kill you, I’ll be trailing behind them to /laugh at you and /dance4 on your stupid corpse. Because you’ve earned it, douchebag.

What Kind of Idiot Has a Disband Macro? Apparently, Me.

With Warrior at 75 and Scholar being a boring pile, I decided to go back to Samurai for a while. It’s already 59, so I figured I could just do Campaign Battles to level it up until I could afford some non-gimp gear. One of those would be the Daihannya, a nice Great Katana. It drops off the Keeper of Halidom in the Sanctuary of Zi’Tah, and according to wiki the drop rate is an awesome 0.6%. Since I’d be farming Goobbues while camping the NM, I thought it would be okay. So I headed out to Zi’Tah to where the big guy spawns and get the 2 Goobbues there locked down, killing each one right as they respawn. A thf/nin was out there too farming just tree cutting, and we got to talking. (S)he would help kill the NM and keep the cutting and 2 clumps of moss it drops, and if the sword drops I’d get that. So I started a pt with the thf and got to work. About 20 minutes in, guess who shows up?


Yes, I am farming wearing a scorpion harness. Anyway, we kill the NM and the Daihannya actually drops! So I cast my lot and hit ctrl+7, my warp cudgel equip macro. At least, I thought that’s what it was. Apparently I hit the up arrow a time too many switching between sam and war macros and ended up on my old blm macro list. For some reason I’d made a pt disband macro, and I’ll give you three guesses to pick with number it was assigned to. That’s right ctrl+7. The pt disbands and all the treasure the Keeper of Halidom had dropped are totally lost. Now I’m stuck in Zi’Tah until I can get another daihannya or make enough gil to just go buy one….

The Joy of Joyeuse

During my recent ZNM exploits with Mogwae and his linkshell (I never bothered to /check anyone to see what it’s called), I was able to get the time of death of Charybdis, one of the game’s more pursued NMs. While it’s not as grand a monster as Fafnir or King Vinegaroon, it does drop the Joyeuse 100% of the time. The sword itself looks a little fruity, but it attacks twice 45% of the time without double attack. So for a warrior, there aren’t many swords that could be better. For me, it’s probably the best sword I could ever get. Ridill might be better, but I’ll never get that. Ever. Anyway, Mogwae, myself and a few of Mogwae’s ls buddies all headed down into the Sea Serpent Grotto to find the flying octopi and take his sword. After killing a few Devil Mantas, the big guy showed up. I myself did very little fighting, which was gay. The six or seven other people there to help killed Charybdis with little trouble, though. I don’t think any of them came close to dying the whole fight. So I got my new sword, and they got Charybdis’s time of death, allowing them to come back 3 more times (I think) and get swords for the people who didn’t yet have one. Here are a couple pics of me with my new sword.

Sandworm Wrangler: Not Quite What It Sounds Like

A couple weeks back, I logged on and headed to Windurst Waters[S] to do a few Campaign Battles while lfp. As soon as I stepped into town, I saw someone shouting {|Sandworm|} {|Title|} {|Do you need it?|}. I knew the Sandworm was a notorious monster added when WoTG was released, but had never seen it in person. I sent the guy a /tell asking for an invite, and a few seconds later I was part of a 14-person alliance and running out of town to meet the Sandworm for the first time. Because this is FFXI, this Notorious Monster often spawns near the outposts, right where most Campaign Battles will be taking place. Cresting the last hill, the Sandworm came into view. For those of you that haven’t seen it, it’s a massive creature.



One of the alliance’s black mages cast a quick Dia on it, and the battle was on. Since the Sandworm is about lvl 80 and this is FFXI, it’s a pain in the ass to hit with melee strikes. So, me and the like 5 sams that came along ran around killing bunnies and birds and crawlers to build up enough tp to run up to the Sandworm on the rare occasions it stood still and let loose with the weapons skills.



This went on for a while, as the Sandworm’s hp was very, very slowly chipped away. I myself got tired of running off to kill bunnies and decided I’d just run after the damned thing and melee when I had the chance.



After nearly half an hour, a Campaign Battle started right around us. While that actually does sound really cool, it was really annoying because all those mobs and npc were causing a lot of lag. The Campaign Battle ended with the Sandworm at about 5% hp, so I got impatient and provoked the big bastard. As a paladin had joined the alliance and was doing the same thing, it turned out to not be as suicidal as I first expected.



Forty-five minutes after the fight started, the Sandworm fell. I got 200xp, an earth crystal and a shiny new title out of it, which was a pretty good deal considering how little I actually contributed to the fight. Without all those sams, everyone would’ve died pretty quick. I’d survive just because I don’t mind warping out on a pt when things look bad, but then I wouldn’t have gotten the title of Sandworm Wrangler.

Thoughts on Thief

After hitting lvl 73 on war, I decided I should probably lvl the possible subjobs I may need. With ninja and samurai already done, it was time to pick thief back up. I stopped lvling thief at 20, so I had a way to go before I’d be done with it. Thief in the early lvls is basically a weaker war, but you won’t be tanking. I myself don’t care for tanking so that part I like. On the other hand, you’re usually going to be the puller. I dislike pulling more than tanking, especially when you’re the lowest lvl in the pt and the others bitch because an IT mob to you is only VT to them and they don’t get a big enough xp bonus from their empress bands. Fucking whiners, the whole lot of them. Once I hit 30, things got a lot better. “Better” meaning I had access to SATA. Once newer players see the damage SATA puts up, they want to see it every battle, which I’m more than happy to do as long as everyone sets up for it. Although having to teach tanks about SATA takes a little time, the majority of them will get the hang of it pretty quick if they don’t want me SATAing onto the other pt members and Fleeing as they die. Only had to do that once with a Goblin Smithy before the pt would listen to me. Hopefully, the job will still be fun all the way to 37 & beyond.

Who are the People in Your Neighborhood?: Quickswipe

Bahamut is home to a diverse group of people. The longer and longer I’ve played here, the more I’ve come to realize that nearly all of them suck. Severely. There are some though, that have managed to prove themselves not as stupid or annoying as the rest. Most, if not all, of these people belong to the MoogleArmy linkshell like me. One of the recently returned members is the next one I get to ask several semi-random questions to, Quickswipe. As always, questions will be in BOLD. All responses are unedited and will appear in ITALICS. Any additional comments by me will be in parentheses ( ).

How long have you been playing FFXI?
Ive Been playing XI since March or April 2005, since then i've been playing on and off.

How did you choose your character’s name?
Well my first characters name was Jaruto (I didn't know Naruto existed at the time so to answer any burning questions, no i didn't draw inspiration from there.) was a thief. When i came back in the summer of 2006 i deleted him and decided to that i was gonna make another thief so i named myself Quickswipe.

Why did you choose to make your character a Mithra?
I chose a Mithra through process of elimination really, Humes were played out. At the time you were /laughed at for being a Galka :P. The latter applies to Elvaans too. Tarutaru were too short and i was left with the choice of a Mithra, so i said what the hell.

I usually see you playing as a MNK. What other jobs do you enjoy playing?
Puppetmaster for sure, I just love the versatility of the job, not to mention your the underdog of the the job system, i like being the underdog :). Corsair is also a great job and i plan on finishing thief. (lol yeah right.) (I'll have to remember to cut out the parenthesized comments unless they're mine...)

Which do you like less: Norg or Jeuno?
Norg for sure, its all the way out in the middle of nowhere, not to mention its home to my least favorite but necessary job to level: Ninja.

Which do you like more: Bastok or San d’Oria?
San d'Oria. The fact that there so religious over nothing cracks me up. Oh and orcs are the coolest beastmen ever. (I myself cannot get past Fag d'Oria's stupidity to appreciate orcs.)

When you were leveling THF, I let you borrow some of my awesome gear. How great am I?
Too great for words Omael, too great for words. (I agree.)

Are there any linkshell members you really dislike?
Not really and if there was i probably dont know it because i subconsciously ignore them.

Are there any members you like more than the others?
Kiris, Cold, and Ky stand out the most. Kiris' macabre sense of humor always cracks me up. (I don't see my name on this list...)

What would you like to see SE add to the game?
A new Automaton frame, and more WoTG content.

What would you like SE to change or remove completely?
Valkurm Dunes, let newbies start on a tutorial server >.>;.

If you could be any ingame monster, which would you choose and why?
I'd be an Orc. There funny and crazy violent.

When you leave FFXI forever, what do you want people to remember about you?
I want to be remembered as the person who everyone got along with and the person that always remained true to the LS.



I don't have a nice screenshot with Quick in it, so here's the ls sig image from the MoogleArmy forums:

Elvaan are the worst race in FFXI.

Disclaimer: If you don’t agree with my opinions, or play as an Elvaan and like it, good for you. Now fuck off and go away. This is my blog, not yours.

As the linkshell I belong to already knows, I despise the Elvaan race with 1 ½ exceptions. The 1 being Roninhiroishi, who helped me get rank 6, and the ½ being Jeangallo, who is ½ because I usually see him as Mogwae or doing some kind of dual-box thing. Other than those two, I’d greatly appreciate it if SE would eliminate them from the game. I know they won’t actually do it, but it would be so cool if they did. Here, in no particular order are the reasons I don’t like the Elvaan:

1. They look stupid.
It’s something that a lot of people have noticed since the game came out. Elvaan are gangly creatures with disturbingly long, giraffe-like necks. Why the long necks? Are they some kind of bisexual race and the men need the necks like that for deepthroating each other? If that’s true, why to the females have the same necks? Could this entire race be transsexual? My personal research says yes, that’s the entire reason.

2. Where are the women?
Each of the sexually reproducing races of Vana’diel have two genders: Male and Female. Galkas don’t count, since they reproduce asexually making them a relative of the earthworm. Although hume female faces 5 and 7 look pretty butch, you can still spot a hume female. Elvaan, on the other hand look exactly alike in terms of gender. In some cases like RDM and PLD AF, female characters wear a shorts/garters getup rather than pants. Elvaan are no exception, but when I see it I assume it’s some Elvaan guy showing off how gay he is.

3. The high STR stat attracts the worst players.
In order to make up for being the ugliest race, Elvaan get the highest strength in the game. I guess to balance this out the stupidest person in the pt will usually be Elvaan. Not only will they be stupid, but they’ll either be face 1A and have the word Sephiroth in their name or be named after some other anime character. (For anyone that didn’t play FF7, Sephiroth was the game’s villain. He was also fucking stupid.)

4. Everyone hates something about this game.
I just happen to really hate two things: Elvaan and San d’Oria.

I’ve never felt better about hitting an old person.

After some help from Godofangels and Houzukimaru, I’d finally gotten Raging Rush and was ready to fight Maat. I myself was worried; any burning circle fight that doesn’t require picking a chest usually means death for me. I read up on the best way to beat the old man into submission, gathered all the items I’d need and a blink band just in case. The fight itself was disappointingly short for all the stories I’d read from losers that had gone 0/5 or worse before either winning or quitting. Counting weapon skills, Maat lasted all of 9 hits before he gave up. I think the really hard part starts now, though.

No more Samurai, and How to Make Money the Hard Way.

The Campaign Battle is probably as close as Square-Enix will ever come to perfection. Easy XP. No need to pt with idiots that can’t remember what a skill chain or magic burst is, not they could use the second one since nobody invites Black Mages anymore. I myself like the Black Mage job. If I were ever to level a mage job I’d be Black Mage. After leveling Samurai to 59, I was struck by something: For all the fun and badassed-ness of being a Samurai, it’s kind of boring. The job is supposed to be the master of the skill chain, but if nobody will skill chain with you then you might as well be the master baiter. That and the price tag on a Hagun is asinine. Yes, it is probably the last Great Katana you’ll ever need. No, I won’t buy it. So instead, I went back to warrior. I sold my Daihannya and Ochiudo’s Kote, giving me enough gil to buy a new assault earring with plenty of gil leftover. Some of you know that I have a few mules for gardening. I used to have 10, but keeping track of 100 tree cuttings is a bitch. Why gardening? I’ll explain in broken, hillbilly English. You buys tree cuttin’s. Mules done hold fiddy items in them there ol’ Mog House. My dang ol’ Woodworkin’ skill be high enuff fer me to make ‘bout dang ol’ plenty o’ dem Workbenches an’ Tarutaru Desk. Both dem ol’ boys add moghancement: Gardening. Dat dere Moghancement keeps dem purty floers alive lil’bit longer, so’s you don’t gots to check on ‘em likes you wuz checkin’ dem dang rat traps fer dinner. With a little more leeway on the plants, growing elemental ores isn’t nearly as impossible as it normally is. The best I’ve ever done harvest-wise was 26/100. I only use earthen flowerpots. My average was about 15/100, back when I had 10 mules all gardening. There were a couple times when I harvested nothing but Kitrons. Fucking lemons!