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.